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“Josuke! Josuke!” A small voice chirps excitedly. It worms its way into Josuke’s sleepy brain, waking him up from a rather solid nap.
“Whaa?” Josuke slurs, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. With a loud yawn, he looks down, hair falling into his face from where it came undone from his pompadour. Through tangles of hair, he sees little Jolyne tugging on his pant leg. “What’s up Jolyne?” he asks earnestly, the fog clearing from his brain as he remembers what he was doing today: Looking after Jotaro’s daughter.
She’s looking up at him with wide, enthusiastic eyes. “Guess what Uncle Josuke!”
Josuke smiles and pulls her into his lap. “What?” He asks playfully, combing back some of his hair so it wouldn’t be in his face.
Jolyne giggles. “Okuyasu taught me how to play Pokemon!”
Josuke raises his eyebrows. He honestly forgot he invited Okuyasu over to help. Good thing he came over when he did, Josuke didn’t mean to fall asleep and leave Jolyne unattended. She was just so energetic and quite a handful at times. He had put the tv on for a second, planning to rest his eyes while she had a distraction...then BOOM. Out like a light. “That’s great to hear! Where is he now?”
Jolyne turns around and points towards the kitchen. Josuke strains to hear the telltale sounds of someone else in the house. Certainly, there’s quiet clanging going on in there, Okuyasu is humming a tune only he can hear, as well. The black haired teen smiles to himself at how cute his boyfriend is. Making lunch for all three of them. “You wanna go help Uncle Okuyasu cook?” Josuke asks the young girl. Less so for the bonding, moreso for he wants to know more about Jolyne liking Pokemon. But the boyfriend/great niece bonding is a bonus.
“Yes!!” She cheers, instantly scrambling from Josuke’s lap and running to the kitchen.
“Jolyne!” Josuke hears Okuyasu shout joyfully. “Did you go and wake Josuke up?”
Josuke rolls his eyes good naturedly and stands up, following the two voices into the kitchen. “Yeah, she did, actually.”
Okuyasu mock gasps. “How could you, he needed that beauty rest! Look at him, his hair is all messy! He didn’t sleep enough!” He jokes, pointing a spatula at Josuke, who is standing in the doorway, looking like a disheveled mess.
“Hey!” Josuke pouts, crossing his arms. Jolyne laughs.
“Kidding, kidding.” Okuyasu says, laying his tools down and coming over to wrap his arms around Josuke and planting a kiss on his cheek.
“Whatcha makin’?” She asks, trying to peer up onto the stove.
“Yeah, what’s cookin?” Josuke echoes, looking over his shoulder at his partner,“Good lookin’,” He adds with a wink as he loosens himself from the embrace and goes over to the stove himself, leaving Okuyasu blushing.
“A crowd favorite, as always. Drum roll please,” Okuyasu announces, doing the drum roll himself on his thighs when neither Josuke nor Jolyne come to his rescue. “Grilled cheese!”
“Oooh!” Jolyne gasps. “Is it cut into the dolphin shape the way Daddy does it?”
Josuke and Okuyasu glance at each other. Neither one of them knew this little fact. It’s ultimately adorable that Jotaro does that for his daughter. Or….is it for himself?
“No, but we do have dinosaur cutouts from when I was a kid.” Josuke offers after a second, once he’s sure his voice won’t wobble with suppressed laughter.
Jolyne beams. “That’s ok! Daddy is the one who likes the dolphins, anyways.” she says as she goes and plops down on a dining room chair, kicking her feet and humming as she waits.
Okuyasu and Josuke nearly choke as they share a look. This is the most important detail about Jotaro they had ever come across. It totally derails from the stoic, serious image they both have of him. The fact that he eats his sandwiches in dolphin shapes makes him….way more human. Just like the two of them.
“Well, how’re they coming along?” Josuke manages after stifling his imminent laughter. “I see two sandwiches done already, you want me to get the cutout for Jolyne?”
Okuyasu looks down at his feet, gently nudging the floor with his toes. “Actually…” he starts. “Can….can I have a dinosaur sandwich, too?”
Josuke lets out a high pitched laugh, which makes Okuyasu’s heart swell. “Oh my God you’re adorable. Yes, we can all have dinosaur sandwiches, does that sound good?” Both Okuyasu and Jolyne nod fervently. “Alrighty.” he grins, now feeling like the proud dad of their little impromptu family.
As Josuke cleans up their plates, Okuyasu is over at his side. “Hey,” he asks. “Jolyne told me you taught her Pokemon? What’s that about?”
Okuyasu chuckles, picking up a dish from the dish drainer and grabbing a towel to dry it off. “Well, when I came in, she was watchin’ the anime, eyes as big as these plates.” He holds up the one he’s drying. “And I dunno, I guess I just wanted to make her happier, show her that there’s more. Especially because we love it. Something to bond over, y’know, since I don’t know her as well as you do.”
Josuke listens with intrigue, a small smile tugging at his lips. “That’s really cute.”
Okuyasu shrugs as he opens a cupboard and puts the dishes away. “It went well I’d say. I let her play my copy of Red because I hadn’t played it in a while, since we’ve been playing Gold and Silver, so….looks like my Game Boy is Jolyne’s for now.”
Josuke raises his eyebrows, turning on the water to rinse away the bubbles that were left in the sink. He didn’t think Okuyasu would let go of his most prized possession like that. But, people do strange things for love sometimes. “What starter did she choose?”
“Well,” Okuyasu snorts. “She was really upset that Pikachu wasn’t an option.”
Josuke breaks out into a huge smile. “God, me too though. Makes sense because I bet she only really saw Pikachu so far in the show.”
Okuyasu nods. “I think she went with Squirtle, though. Something about how it reminds her of sea creatures Mr. Kujo likes.”
“Oh my god,” Josuke whispers. “That’s fuckin’ adorable. The fact that she chose Squirtle because of her dad is the sweetest thing.”
Okuyasu nods along fervently. “When she chose, I asked her why, and thas’ what she said. So...yeah.” He grins as he dries his hands off. “There you have it! Jolyne now loves Pokemon.” With an evil grin, Okuyasu continues. “I hope Jotaro will appreciate Jolyne’s new fascination.”
Josuke and Okuyasu spend the day watching Pokemon reruns with Jolyne and supervising her playthrough, cheering her on as she sees Pokemon in the game that she already knew from her tv time.
“Josuke, look!” She waves the game system in front of the highschooler. “It’s a Butterfree! What should I name her?”
“Hmm…” Josuke taps his chin for a moment before turning to Okuyasu, who is busy playing Silver on Josuke’s GameBoy. Seeing as his partner is a bit preoccupied, he admits defeat and resigns to needing to utilize his own creative brain power. “What about Princess?”
Jolyne scrunches her nose in distaste. “Not cool enough for a fighting butterfly!” She pouts.
Josuke raises his eyebrows and fights back a smile. She’s definitely Jotaro’s daughter alright. “Alright, what do you wanna name her?”
“Something really cool!”
“What about Amethyst, since she’s purple?” Okuyasu pipes up, barely looking away from his game.
Jolyne goes deep into thought at this. “I’ll think about it. First I have to catch her!” Sticking her tongue out in concentration, she begins to mash buttons, much to the adoration of Josuke.
He knows it isn’t much, really. He’s just sitting in the living room of his mom’s (and by extension, of course, his) house, hanging out with his boyfriend and great-niece playing Pokemon. If that’s all it is, something so simple and domestic, then why does his heart feel so full? As he gazes at the two other people in the room, gaze soft and lips turned just slightly at the edges, probably looking like the embodiment of love, there’s a knock at the door.
Jolyne springs to her feet, all excitement. “I’ll get it!”
Josuke immediately recognizes that’s a bad idea. “Wait,” he swiftly swings an arm out to stop her. “It could be someone you don’t know. I’ll get it.” As he stands up, Okuyasu pats the cushion next to him, urging Jolyne to sit back down. She does, half heartedly picking the Game Boy back up.
Again, a knock at the door. Louder this time.
“I’m coming, I’m coming,” Josuke grumbles, almost tripping over the blankets left on the floor from Jolyne’s pillow fort earlier that afternoon. “Who’s the--Oh! Dr. Kujo!”
There in the doorway stands Jotaro, white coat billowing in the cool evening breeze. As usual, he’s the picture of stoicness. “Good evening, Josuke. Can I come in?”
“Y-yeah! Sorry,” Josuke scrambles out of the way, holding the door open.
As soon as Jolyne hears her father’s voice, she bounds over to him. “Daddy!” She wraps her arms around one of his legs and beams up at him.
Jotaro pats his daughter’s head. “Hi Jolyne. Were you good?”
She nods fervently. “Guess what I did today?”
Jotaro looks cautiously at Josuke and Okuyasu, who has now joined the group and is leaning on Josuke’s shoulder. “What did you do?”
“Josuke and Okuyasu showed me Pokemon! I have lots to tell you about it!” She runs back to the couch to grab Okuyasu’s game system. “I caught a Butterfree!”
Jotaro raises his eyebrows, but quickly hides it with his hat. “That’s…..lovely to hear, Jolyne. You want to tell me about it later?”
She nods, eyes wide. “We watched Pokemon on the TV and then Okuyasu gave me his Game Boy and a copy of the first Pokemon game!”
Jotaro looks over to the two teenagers. “Thanks for watching her for me. Looks like I owe you two one.”
With a grin, Josuke jokes, “You could buy us ice cream in return!”
Jolyne gasps. “Ice cream! I want ice cream!”
Jotaro sighs and pulls on his hat once more. “Good grief. Fine. Do you three want to go now?”
Josuke’s mouth falls open and he whips to look at Okuyasu, who is also just as shocked. He really didn’t think his proposition would work. He was like...half serious. It was probably because of Jolyne. He quickly realizes. It’s sweet, seeing what a soft spot Jotaro has for his daughter. It’s a welcome change from his hardy, impenetrably neutral demaneor.
“Hell yeah we wanna go!” Okuyasu blurts, balling his fists up in excitement.
Jotaro takes Jolyne’s hand, the one not holding the video game system, and begins to lead her out the door. “Alright, let’s go. I’m not waiting.”
“Wait! I need to leave a note for my mom or something, to let her know we’re leaving!” Josuke balks. “And I don’t even have a jacket or my shoes on!”
“Sucks to be you,” Okuyasu teases as he begins to walk out the door. “I’m getting ice cream and you’re not.”
Jotaro actually hasn’t left yet, he’s standing outside the doorframe, just out of Josuke’s sight. It’s kind of mean, but he enjoys seeing the two teens playfully bicker.
Jolyne tugs on his hand, pulling him from his thoughts. “Do you wanna see my Butterfree?”
“Sure, show it to me.” He crouches down to Jolyne’s height as she looks over her Pokemon. “Wait,” he stalls. “Before you do that, what’s a Pokemon?”
He would never admit it, but he loves spending time with his daughter, and he’s extremely grateful that Josuke and Okuyasu got Jolyne into something new that she can share with him. There’s only so much talking about starfish and dolphins he can do with her. It’s much more fun to let her babble about her own stuff. Maybe….just maybe, he’d have to stay in Morioh a bit longer. He rather enjoys the two teens light hearted fun, plus, Jolyne seems to love them.