Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

    “F.F. is asleep, why are you still up?” Hermes asked, stifling a yawn herself. 

    “I’m pulling an all-nighter. I don’t want to be up,” Jolyne said, putting her pen down.

    “That’s an okay answer. Then why is Emporio still up?” Hermes pointed at Emporio, who was currently laying on the floor surrounded by his own set of pens and paper. He was watching the episode of Sailor Moon Jolyne put on as background noise. Emporio froze.

    “Why are you still up?” He squeaked, trying to change the subject.

    Hermes groaned and wrapped herself around Jolyne, arms over her shoulders and resting her chin on Jolyne’s head. Hermes started swaying the two of them gently. “If his teacher calls because he fell asleep in class, it's on you, JoJo.”

    “And? They can’t teach him anything he doesn’t know already.”

    “You got me there. But don’t stay up just because Jolyne is.” Hermes turned towards Emporio and gave him a half hearted stern gaze.

    “He likes the show. It’s kinda cute.”

    “Which one is this?”

    “Sailor Moon.”

    “God. Why are they all called pretty sailor sakura girls or something?”    

    “Come on, Hermes. You should like this one, it made me gay.”

    “Credit where it’s due, I guess.”

    “Due! Argh! Hermes, don’t say that. This assignment is already late, I don’t need to be reminded!” Jolyne shook Hermes off of her and picked up back where she left off. 

    Hermes smiled and started gently tugging at Jolyne’s hair buns to loosen them. Snaking her fingers through Jolyne’s hair, she took out all the bobby pins and ponytails that held them up. In the reverse of Jolyne’s morning routine, she soon had a dozen bobby pins in her mouth and ponytails lining up her wrist. Jolyne continued to focus on her work, but relaxed visibly. Hermes undid Jolyne’s braid the same way, adding to her collection. Using her fingers as a comb, she smoothed out Jolyne’s hair until hung straight and down to her shoulders. “There, now you have one less thing to do when you actually get to sleep,” Hermes said as clearly as she could through a mouthful of metal. She scooped all of Jolyne’s hair and tied it back into a simple ponytail. “Here. Now it won’t be in your face either.” 

    “Thanks, babe.” Jolyne paused to stroke Hermes’ arm.

    “Just make sure you get some sleep.” Hermes kissed the top of Jolyne’s head and started walking back to their bedroom. “You too, Emporio!” she called as she closed the door.

    “Not so loud!” Jolyne hissed.

    “Don't worry, Weather will sleep through anything,” Emporio said, turning his eyes away from the TV. The two of them looked at the couch, where Weather was sleeping. Even with Jolyne, Hermes, and F.F. all sharing a room, space was tight. The couch was a pullout and it’s not like Weather was going to share a room with Anasui. Couldn’t be worse than the prison beds, at any rate. 

    “Anasui won’t!” Jolyne said. She thought she could hear him stirring. God forbid they interrupt his beauty sleep. They would never hear the end of it. 

    “I...think Hermes knows that,” Emporio said nervously.

    Living together these past few months hadn’t been without friction, but there was really no other option when they sat down to think about it. Jolyne still had her parents, but she had no idea how to explain anything that had happened in the past year to her mother. And the ground between her and Jotaro would always be somewhat rocky. Hermes had accomplished her goals and felt lost without revenge driving her. F.F. could survive on their own, but they only lived when they were around Jolyne and Hermes. Weather had no home. Emporio had no family. Really, the only thing any of them had was each other and Anasui.

    “I think my eyes are going numb. Hermes was right,” Jolyne sighed. She stood up and stretched, something that was also long overdue. “What time is it?” Jolyne glanced at the microwave clock. “One a.m.? Shit.” Instead of getting ready to go to bed, she made her way to sit down next to Emporio, being careful not to squash any of his drawings. “What are you working on?”

    Emporio pushed one of the pieces of paper he was done with at her. Jolyne picked it up and studied it. “It’s…” Emporio trailed off before he even started.

   “Emporio, oh my God? Is this all of us as Sailor Scouts? Holy shit, it’s so cute! Although Weather might object to the skirt.”

    “You like it?”

    “Of course! It’s…” Jolyne suddenly felt at a loss for words. She realized this was the first time she had seen Emporio act like a normal kid. He was finally free to be a kid, right around the same age Jolyne had started to feel like she wasn’t. The only word she could find now was bittersweet.

    “What? Is something wrong?” Emporio asked.

    “It’s nothing. But Anasui will probably want his heels higher. He won’t know that it’s perfect already.” Emporio’s beaming smile was broken by a loud yawn. “Man, you gotta go to bed, Emporio. Kids aren’t supposed to be up this late.”

    “Huh? Alright,” Emporio said, breaking into another yawn. Jolyne followed suit.

    “You’ve got me yawning too, damnit. Go to bed, don’t worry about cleaning up, I got this. Just go brush your teeth.” Jolyne started gathering up the scattered paper and pens. Emporio got to his feet. “Wait! Before you go…” Jolyne lifted the baseball cap off Emporio’s head and pressed a kiss to his forehead. “Goodnight,” she said, handing him back his hat. 

    Emporio launched himself at Jolyne and hugged her tightly. “Goodnight,” he said. 

    Jolyne ruffled his hair when Emporio released her. “Now, actually go to bed,” she said. Emporio nodded and made for the bathroom. 

    When Emporio was sound asleep and Jolyne had finished cleaning up after both of them, she took Emporio’s drawing and stuck it to the fridge. Goddamnit if Emporio wasn’t going to get the best she and everyone else could give him. The kid deserved it after everything he had been through. They all did.

Chapter Text

    Weather Report’s memory had been a tricky subject ever since the world stopped being on the verge of ending every week since Jolyne had been in prison. Now that he had the chance to regain his memories, on his own terms this time, he wasn’t sure what to do. Especially since Anasui wouldn’t stop reminding him every time he looked at the disc that Weather with his memories was, quote, “a dick.” The disc itself sat in front of all of them, where Anasui was using it as a coaster. Weather leaned over to Emporio who was sitting next to him and whispered something in his ear.

    “Weather says that he doesn’t like you using the entirety of his life as a coaster, Anasui,” Emporio said.

    “That’s the only thing it’s good for, trust me. That guy was a real asshole,” Anasui replied.

    “You don’t have the high ground there, Anasui, “ F.F. pointed out.

    Anasui rolled his eyes. “I’m not the one who turned you guys into snails.”

    “They didn’t really turn into snails,” F.F. looked at Jolyne and Hermes, “But just so you know, I would love you even if you did.”

    “So would I!” Anasui blurted out.

    “That’s just weird coming from you,” Hermes said.

    “What? Why? We said the same thing!”

    “Well F.F. is a plankton colony and you’re a person. If I was a snail it would be weirder to be with a person than a bunch of plankton,” Jolyne explained and Hermes nodded along. “It just makes sense.”

    “You’ve been hanging out with your dad too much,” Anasui grumbled. 

    “He let me marry you, didn’t he?”

    “He what? ” Hermes yelled.

    “When? And why the hell would you? ” F.F. followed suit, grabbing Jolyne’s face to check if she had been replaced by some kind of suspicious imposter. That might be too unfamiliar of an idea, though, sorry.

    “Tax benefits. Relax!” Jolyne said, grabbing F.F.’s hands and prying them off her face. Holy shit, F.F. is not allowed to possess anything ever again it gives their name too much punctuation. “And legally adopting Emporio.”

    “Anasui was in prison for murder! He’s the only one who belonged there! Why would you let him be legally involved with anything involving Emporio? Why would the state of Florida let… nevermind,” Hermes stopped that train of thought. 

    “Well, he’s a married man now. That really helped with the process.”

    “He’s not even in the polycule! Why didn’t you marry one of us?”

    “ Man was kind of the key word. Listen, I wanted it to be as smooth as possible, just have one thing go right the first time. It was Anasui or Weather and Weather doesn’t know what the fuck a social security number is . Anasui was my last choice.”

    “Jolyne-” Anasui tried to interrupt.

    “But Anasui’s not even a man half the time!” Hermes talked over him.

    “Florida doesn’t know that!” Jolyne shouted.

    “Weather is asking if we can get back on topic,” Emporio said quickly.

    “Weather stop talking through the kid, I thought we were friends now,” Anasui said.

    Weather leaned over Emporio and whispered. Emporio really hoped this was an effect of the memory loss, and that this wasn’t the one thing Weather had retained from his memories somehow. At least Weather used mouthwash almost religiously. “Weather says yes you’re his friend but you’re too far away. Talking would feel like shouting to him.”

    “Weather, I don’t understand why you haven’t put your memories back yet,” F.F. said.

    “The last time we were all in the middle of fighting, right? So the snail stuff was probably just because of that. We’re not fighting now, you don’t have to be so scared,” Hermes offered.

    “That won’t work. The snails were unconscious. Weather, or asshole Weather or whatever said so himself. He wasn’t in control,” Anasui explained. “He’s going to be just as dangerous no matter what we do if we give him back his memories.”

    Weather only stared at the ground, refusing to make eye contact.

    “I’m not just gonna give up, that’s bullshit, Anasui. Weather, if you want your memories back, we’ll figure something out,” Jolyne said.

    “There’s nothing stopping us from using the disc,” Emporio said.

    “That’s gotta be an invasion of privacy, right? Like, you could see all kinds of things,” Jolyne said, laughing nervously.

    “It’s not a good experience either,” Hermes said.

    “But if the issue is his Stand-”

    “So we see his memories and what? Relay them? It’s not the same thing, Emporio,” F.F. said.

    “It’s something! And maybe if we tell him first he won’t be so shocked he can’t control his Stand!”

    “Emporio’s right. We should do it, but only if Weather agrees. I guess you won’t really know what you’re agreeing to letting us see, though,” Jolyne said. “Weather?”

    Weather looked up from the ground and nodded. “I want to know.”

    “So… who should do it?”

    “You, Jolyne.”

    “Fuck, why did I even ask.” Jolyne was cursed with protagonistism. “Anasui, throw me the disc. And get an actual coaster.” Anasui did so, picking up his glass and throwing the moist disc at Jolyne. She dried it off on her shirt first, because her make up was not waterproof. Not really something she needed to invest in with Weather around. “Here goes,” Jolyne said, inserting the disc into her forehead like a human PlayStation. Unfortunately, the exclusives to this PlayStation were Weather’s memories, not Horizon: Zero Dawn. Jolyne basically lived Heavy Weather Part 4 and 5, which is not great to live through to say the least. When the disc popped back out after a few moments, Jolyne looked haggard. Everyone practically tripped over each other trying to ask if she was okay. Jolyne waved them off, rubbing her forehead and throwing the disc back onto the coffee table. Anasui put it back to use as a coaster.

    “What did you see?” Weather asked quietly.

    “I’ll… tell you when we’re alone, Weather,” Jolyne mumbled. 

    “Can you tell me my name?”

    “Um… that’s complicated. But the good news is you were always called Weather?”

    “Hell of a coincidence,” Hermes said.

    “Jolyne, you look bad. What did you see?” Weather insisted. “What happened to me?”

    “I…”

    “Do I even want my memories back?”

    “Weather, let me put it this way. The last memory I saw, you were only sixteen,” Jolyne said.

    “That means… you’ve lived more of your life as this Weather than anyone else,” F.F. interrupted, picking up the thread. “Even if you hadn’t lost your memory, the Weather today would be different from the Weather back then. The memories you have now are just as valuable as whatever you lost.”

    Jolyne nodded. “Yeah. Weather… You’re still you whether you… fuck whether not weather. Give me a second.” Jolyne paused. “What I’m trying to say is I’m not the me I was years ago. It’s the same for you. If you want your memories back to know who you are, you don’t need them. You’re already you, you know? And telling you your memories isn’t going to help, it’ll be like reading a book instead. It won’t feel like it happened to you. At that point, you’re still forgetting your memories. Living it is what you want. But maybe this is something to take advantage of. I know I have some things I wish I could forget. And I think… I think anyone would want to forget those memories. If you want them to have happened to a different person, you have the opportunity to do that and still be you. That’s what I’m trying to say. But we can’t choose for you. We can only help you after you hear your memories and decide. And this disc will be here when you do. We trust you with it.”

    “I understand what you’re saying Jolyne,” Emporio said. He grabbed Weather’s hand and squeezed it. “Weather, you’re not a ghost to us.”

    Weather leaned back on the couch. “I know all that. It doesn’t stop me from feeling like something is missing.” He squeezed Emporio’s hand back. “But I don’t want to hurt any of you again either. I’ll wait until we can be sure that I won’t.”

    “That might not happen,” Anasui said. Hermes opened her mouth to say something but Jolyne shook her head.

    “Anasui’s right. Based on what I experienced, that’s a possibility,” Jolyne said sadly. 

    Weather nodded. “I thought that might be. I can keep waiting. As long as it takes.”

    “Are you sure?”

    “All of you make waiting easy.”

Chapter Text

    "F.F., do you have the soap gene? Or I guess, did Atroe?" Hermes asked.

    "The what?"

    "You know, the thing where cilantro tastes like soap instead of cilantro?" Hermes tore off a sprig of cilantro and placed it in F.F.’s hand. "Try it. You're not gonna have a good time if you do have the soap gene, though."

    F.F. threw their hand up and their head back like they were taking a shot and chewed thoughtfully for a bit.

    "So how does it taste? Like cilantro or like soap?"

    "I don't know. I can't tell without knowing what soap tastes like."

    "Uhhh… I guess it wont kill you. Here.” Hermes grabbed the dish soap nearby and squirted some onto F.F.s hand. "I think people usually mean bar soap but i dont have the soap gene so hopefully this is close enough."

    F.F. licked their hand and stood deep in thought. "Hermes, what if cilantro tastes like soap but I like it?"

    "Then go for the soap second."

    The two of them stood in the kitchen early in the morning, chopping various vegetables and herbs. Not the kitchen in their apartment but the one below it. The nice, if cramped and sweltering and hard to clean, restaurant kitchen. When the dust settled, Jolyne -- with a generous amount of help from the Speedwagon Foundation -- managed to wring out an equally generous amount of money in a lawsuit for false imprisonment. All six of them had been crashing at Jotaro’s place in the time between saving Florida and suing Florida. It was rocky. Half the time, Hermes thought prison was better. At least she could bribe the guards. There was no bribing Jotaro into watching anything that wasn’t boring as hell. With the money Jolyne got, they were finally able to get a place of their own. All six of them. After everything, they couldn’t separate. No matter how hard it would be to find a good apartment.

    Jolyne took on most of the apartment hunting herself, partially to get out of Jotaro’s place and partially because she was used to taking the lead at this point. One afternoon, Jolyne dragged Hermes away from job hunting half-heartedly to check out an apartment. The apartment itself didn’t matter, but what was underneath it. Both apartment and restaurant for rent, stacked on top of each other just like Hermes’ old home. The difference was this place had the layout of a 1950s nostalgia diner, but thankfully none of the tacky decor. 

    “I know you said you’ve been feeling lost lately, so I thought… maybe it's best to go with what you know?” Jolyne said nervously, filling in the gap when Hermes didn’t react.

    “Opening a restaurant isn’t that easy, you know?” Hermes said.

    “Don’t say that to me with that tone, it’s so easy to tell you’ve already made your mind up! You think I don’t know you that well or something?”

    “Yeah. I mean,” Hermes cracked a smile and laughed when she looked at Jolyne. “I meant, yeah my mind’s made up. But I did also mean it when I said this won’t be easy. My father’s restaurant was well established before I was even born.”

    Jolyne threaded her fingers through Hermes’. “Me and F.F., we’re here to support you now. This settlement means we’re basically set for life. Or we would be in the cost of living in Miami wasn’t so high. But still… we won’t have to worry about money for years at this point. If you want this, I want to make it happen for you.”

    And Jolyne did. A second start for both of them. College for Jolyne and the restaurant for Hermes. And also renovations for the restaurant. Paid for by the state of Florida. Diner Americana shit wasn’t going to fly. If they kept any remnants, it wouldn’t be long before they multiplied and took over the whole place in a wave of Elvis Photos and license plates. Here F.F. and Hermes were, preparing for service that thankfully wouldn’t have Hermes making burgers and milkshakes for the rest of her life. 

    "You have to taste while you're cooking, F.F.," Hermes said. She dipped a spoon into the simmering menudo and held it out to F.F.. "Here."

    "Are you going to feed me?"

    "Not while we're working. Just take the spoon."

    F.F. grabbed the spoon and popped it into their mouth. They tapped the spoon on their lips as they considered the flavor. 

    "F.F. we don't really have all day here, you have to be quick. Does it need anything?"

    "No, it's good!" F.F. said, dipping the spoon back into the soup.

    Hermes grabbed their wrist. "F.F. don't do that!" she hissed. "You only spit in the food if the customer deserves it."

    "How will I know if they deserve it?" F.F. asked. Hermes’ grip was loose, so F.F. slowly moved their arm up to eat the second spoonful while Hermes answered.

    "They piss off Weather or get along with Anasui. If you need to taste it again, get a second spoon.” Hermes sighed and looked at the broth. “Shit. This stuff takes a long time but, you know, there's the five second rule. It'll be fine. No one will even know so I don't need to remake it. But don't do that again."

    F.F. wasn’t Hermes’ last choice for sous chef, that would be Anasui, but they were close. Although, if Hermes had her way she would be cooking alone. It wasn’t reasonable and Hermes knew that there would be no way to keep up with demand. Originally, she figured she could, when Kiss was an option. Then Hermes thought about it for more than ten seconds and realized duplicating food would have peoples stomachs exploding or the contents of those stomachs coming back to the restaurant in a far more unsanitary form when the stickers were removed. And as fun as having shit literally flying through the streets of Miami would be, it wouldn’t be fun to clean up when it ended up at its destination. But cooking with someone else would feel like she was back cooking with Gloria. It would remind Hermes of what she couldn’t have back. Better to cook alone, make new muscle memories, Hermes thought. Ones where Gloria wasn’t peeling the onions for Hermes because onion skins were annoying and then passing them to Hermes to chop because Gloria cried cutting onions and Hermes didn’t. Hermes regretted not working with her sister more. 

    Have you ever wondered why you meet one person and not another? Hermes didn’t. Gravity was horseshit, as far as she was concerned. She was tired of people telling her what happened to Gloria happened for a reason. It was senseless. That’s all it was and if it wasn’t then it was a mistake. Hermes’ mistake.

    If gravity was real and it was what drew Hermes to Jolyne and F.F. and Emporio and Weather and Anasui then it wouldn’t need to have had such a cost. Somehow, Hermes knew this to be true. 

    Neither F.F. nor Hermes cried cutting onions. It was new, but Hermes had come to enjoy it. It was enough. F.F. wasn’t Gloria, but they were F.F..

    And because they were F.F. they needed to be kept away from the customers. 

    It seemed simple at first. Job hunting wasn’t going great for a bunch of ex-felons so Hermes would just hire F.F., Anasui, and Weather as waiters and have Jolyne help out when she wasn’t busy with school. They worked together in worse situations, plus, there was no commute. 

    Their first service was a disaster. Hermes had hit obstacles every step of the way because these bastards were all so goddamn stubborn. At least Anasui had the good grace to cause problems before he could interact with customers and tank their Yelp reviews.

    “Anasui. Please put on a shirt,” Hermes groaned. The aprons she had given everyone had covered more than Anasui’s miniskirt did, but the top half of Anasui’s outfits were still an issue. Hermes wished they moved somewhere colder so Anasui would be forced to cover up or freeze to death. Not that below zero temperatures could stop him from wearing fishnets.

    “I have a shirt on,” he protested.

    “That mesh nightmare is not a shirt!”

    “Society says I don’t have to wear a shirt as a man and you bet your ass I’m going to take advantage of that!” Anasui yelled.

    “This isn’t Chippendales, asshole!”

    “Well, I don’t even know what that is!”

    “I’m not dealing with this. Anasui come back when you feel like a woman or when you want to put on a normal shirt.” Hermes decided she would invest in “No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service” signs and hang a few of them on Anasui’s door until he got the message. Anasui huffed and walked back upstairs. Hermes sighed and looked at F.F. and Weather. “Okay, now I just need the two of you to be normal when we open.”

    They were not normal. Complaints came in immediately.

    “Hermes?! Are you the manager?” F.F. yelled from the front of house.

    “What? Uh, yeah, F.F., I guess!” Hermes yelled back over an army of sizzling pans and boiling pots.

    “This woman wants to see you!”

    “Fuck,” Hermes muttered. Not dealing with this shit was the reason she worked in the kitchen. “I’m a little busy here!” 

    “So am I! Her issue is with Weather!”

    Hermes looked through the service window to see Weather standing next to F.F. and a very irate customer. Hermes knew she couldn’t leave the kitchen unattended so she summoned Kiss and set her to work. Kiss only seemed a little distressed at having to cook.  Hermes hoped none of the customers were Stand users. Hermes walked closer to the window. “What seems to be the problem?” she asked in her best customer service voice.

    “Your waiter has been getting up in my face every time he talks to our table. It’s weird and disgusting,” the woman said.

    “Yeah. He does that,” Hermes said flippantly. “Oh fuck, I didn’t tell him not to do that.” Weather leaned down next to Hermes and whispered in her ear. “He says he’s sorry and won’t do it again,” Hermes relayed. The woman didn’t seem convinced. Hermes sighed and said, “I’ll comp your food.”

    The woman nodded. “I accept your apology,” she said in her “I’m still leaving a one star review” voice.

    When the woman had gone back to her table, Weather leaned over to Hermes again. “You told me to be personable,” he said flatly.

    “I did,” Hermes said, frowning. “And I know this is personable for you.”

    “What do you want me to do?” Weather asked.

    Hermes had an idea. She grabbed a piece of paper and hastily scribbled out a message on it. She had F.F. fetch a safety pin so she could attach it to Weather’s shirt. It read “Hello, I am mute. Please be patient while I take your order.” When F.F. came back Hermes slapped the note on. “Don’t talk to anyone and you’ll be fine. I’ll get something better later.” God she wished Jolyne was here to deal with all this shit instead.

    It wasn’t more than a few minutes later when F.F. came to the window again. Hermes looked over. The customer standing next to F.F. was the same woman from before. Thank God, Hermes thought, everything would be concentrated in one bad review. “What did Weather do now?”

    “Actually it's me this time,” F.F. said, scowling.

    “ Your ,” the woman started, before she got caught between saying waiter or waitress. “Employee,” she decided, a little deflated. “Is extremely unprofessional and has been drinking water from the same serving tray as our drinks. That’s unsanitary too, probably.”

    “And I said that’s bullshit.”

    “To her face? ” Hermes said, aghast. Their first day couldn’t go any worse at this point.

    “Yeah.”

    “Goddamnit F.F.! You can’t do that! It is unprofessional,” Hermes said.

    “It’s unprofessional for me to drink water? ” F.F. sputtered angrily.

    “Mostly the swearing but yeah, the water thing too. This is America, F.F., it’s unprofessional to sit down,” Hermes said, pulling F.F. aside.

    “That’s stupid. I didn’t steal anyone’s water, I didn’t do anything wrong.”

    “This is why you unwind by bitching about shit after work.”

    “You’re not listening! I need to drink water or I’ll die!”

    “I know! Everyone does! And fuck, you won’t let your water out of your sight, yeah, yeah, I remember. I should have realized this would happen. I’ll fix it.” F.F. was pissed. Hermes figured it wouldn’t be long before they took their anger out on the customer. Fuck, what did Gloria do when I fought with her, Hermes asked herself. “F.F., go to the back, take your water with you. Look over everything, just make sure nothing burns.”

    “What?”

    “Listen, you won’t have to deal with worrying about your water back there. And I’ll be back soon,” Hermes said. F.F. nodded and walked back into the kitchen. Hermes told the woman F.F. wouldn't be a problem anymore and that she would be getting free drinks. F.F. took over for a very bewildered Kiss, who was more used to fighting than cooking. Kiss was very happy to dematerialize when Hermes walked back up to the apartment and bribed Anasui into putting on a t-shirt by saying she’d let him into the polycule. Even though it made him look like Regina George.  

    By the time Hermes was back in the kitchen and Anasui took over F.F.’s tables, F.F. had adjusted to the kitchen. Although they were going through even more water. Without even noticing, Hermes found herself passing ingredients and pans back and forth with F.F. and handing food to them to plate. She was moving without thinking. It felt like old times. It was the start of Hermes letting herself truly rely on her friends and partners.

    Hermes always thought better in motion. Planning got her there, but it was when those plans went off Hermes was in the moment. Having to think on her feet when things went sideways. Preparation then execution. The moment before the race and then the motion of her legs. Scoping out the bank and then taking the money and running. Laying the trap and then springing it. Chopping the ingredients and then frying them. Adjusting on the fly to every fight and setback. Quick thinking. Runner’s high, adrenaline rush, the split seconds between life and death. Thinking and acting so quickly they happened at the same time. 

    Hermes let herself stay in the moment. F.F. stayed in the kitchen. Hermes hung a portrait of Gloria in the restaurant, right across from the service window. They could still watch over each other. Life stayed in motion.

Chapter Text

    F.F. loved the changing of the seasons. Although they liked them because Summer going into Fall meant Jolyne would be back in classes, and Fall going into Winter brought a whole new spate of courses and books and knowledge. They couldn’t really give less of a shit about the weather, besides preferring that it rained more often. Although they could just ask Weather to “make it rain” as they did often, while refusing to change the phrasing no matter who yelled at them.

    It was raining now, in fact. Without Weather’s help. It had been a slow day in the restaurant before, and the rain wasn’t helping. Not that anyone minded, every once in a while it was nice to have a slow afternoon before the dinner rush. Anasui and Weather milled about in the front for a while serving the last remaining customers, but settled in one of the few small booths themselves when they realized everything they were doing after the customers left was busy work. So Anasui got out his phone and Weather watched him get in Twitter fights over his shoulder. Jolyne, Hermes, and F.F. were in the kitchen, leisurely preparing for the dinner rush. Jolyne’s laptop occupied the cleanest counter, although it was still getting flecked with bits of flour as the three of them prepared tortillas and empanada dough. Every so often, Jolyne glanced over at the laptop or the clock, anxiously waiting for her scheduled time for selecting classes to unlock.  

    Hermes looked over at her. “You said it was at 2:30, right? You’ve still got like twenty minutes, you’re not going to miss it.”

    “I just don’t want to screw it up this time,” Jolyne said seriously. “It” being the whole college round two thing, and they all knew it. 

    “What are you taking?” F.F. butted in, changing the subject.

    “Some kind of English class, uhhh, math, and psychology or something. I just wrote down the codes I needed honestly.”

    “You’re not taking physics again?” F.F. asked.

    “No! I couldn’t focus on that class at all. Every time we talked about gravity all I could think of was the time I almost pissed my pants and died.”

    “You should have brought that up,” Hermes teased, laughing.

    “You wouldn’t be saying that if you had to fight that guy!”

    F.F. frowned. “If you’re not going to take physics again, can you buy me the set of textbooks for the second course? I was having fun.”

    They had made a habit of stealing Jolyne’s textbooks no matter the subject. Any and all knowledge was valuable, although Jolyne said nothing about the economics class she had to take was worth a damn. F.F. had collected all of Jolyne’s previous textbooks on a shelf in their living room, much to Jolyne’s dismay. She never got to return them even for the pittance of a refund the student bookstore offered, although at that point it was more about the principle of getting someone else to deal with it rather than the money itself. Get someone else to carry that around campus for a while and hope you offloaded the back pain too. Keeping them made F.F. happy though, so Jolyne eventually came to think it was worth it, despite how much space they took up. Usually when F.F. borrowed a textbook for one of Jolyne’s current classes it was after she was done with them. But F.F. sometimes “accidentally” borrowed an especially engrossing textbook until they read it cover to cover, no matter what readings Jolyne had to do. They would try to make up for it by taking notes for Jolyne whenever she didn’t have the energy for a reading F.F. insisted wasn’t boring as hell. Or doing the problems for Jolyne’s math homework because F.F. ended up doing them all and writing the answers in the books anyways.

    “F.F. I'm not going to buy textbooks for a class I’m not taking. Have you seen how expensive they are? I got price gouged less in prison ,” Jolyne said, exasperated. 

    “Money’s not an issue,” Hermes said while starting to fill and fold the empanadas. “Why not splurge on String Theory and You ,” she continued, giving Jolyne a wink.

    “Why are you suddenly on their side? You know F.F. would have me buy out the whole bookstore if they could!” Jolyne cried while using a fork to seal the edges of the empanadas Hermes passed to her.

    “No I wouldn’t!” F.F. protested, grabbing the empanadas and their water and walking towards the deep fryer.

    “Yes you would,” Hermes and Jolyne said. F.F. looked away sheepishly to dunk the empanadas in the hot oil. They sizzled loudly, one of the pleasant sounds of cooking F.F. had come to love. Especially when it drowned out their girlfriends ganging up on them. 

    Jolyne sighed, looking at the clock again. Five minutes left. She looked at the back of her hand, thankfully none of the ink had washed off in all the activity. She was taking all these filler classes to get the requirements out the way while she figured out what she actually wanted to major in. And English classes were usually better with getting the books secondhand. Besides, they were normal books, they were going to be max twenty bucks unlike the science textbooks Jolyne had to get last term. Jolyne glanced over at Hermes, and that sealed the deal. “Alright,” Jolyne said, pointing at F.F.. “I’ll look up the textbooks for that physics class and you can learn all about zero gravity and why it fucking sucks for yourself.”

    “Jolyne! You’re the best!” F.F. said, running over and gripping Jolyne into a tight hug. Jolyne staggered, but hugged them back.

    “F.F., the fryer… nevermind, I got it,” Hermes said, taking over when she saw F.F. was pelting Jolyne with kisses and was in no position to pay attention to anything else. She knew from experience, Hermes had been there herself. Jolyne just had that effect on people, if Anasui was anything to go by.

    “F.F.! I have to register for classes, come on!” Jolyne said, breathless from the one-two combo of F.F. tight hug and her own laughter. She wiggled her way out of F.F.’s arms and over to her laptop, checking the back of her hand again to be sure everything was still ready. In less than a minute, it was over and Jolyne was set. She looked at the clock again, registration had the worst scheduling. “Shit, I should get going. I don’t want to be late picking Emporio up from school.”

    “Here Jolyne, take these so you stop buying apple pies from McDonald’s for you and Emporio,” Hermes said, holding out a brown paper bag with the freshly made empanadas inside. 

    “They’re so good, though,” Jolyne said, grabbing the bag anyways.

    “These are better and if you try to say they’re not I’m breaking up with you,” Hermes said. 

    “What if Emporio says they’re not as good?”

    “He won’t. Emporio has better taste than you.”

    Jolyne rolled her eyes. She grabbed her jacket and kissed F.F. and Hermes before she made her way out of the kitchen.

    “Tell him the Cubs are playing tonight if he’s had a bad day!” F.F. called as Jolyne walked through the door and waved goodbye.

    “And if he’s had a good day tell him to switch to the Marlins!” Hermes added.

Chapter Text

    “F.F., this isn’t the kind of movie you, uh, watch with friends. If you know what I mean,” Jolyne said, grimacing at the title of the movie F.F. had picked out. It was their turn to pick for movie night and so far things were off to a bad start.

    “But Jolyne you said you liked lesbians with stra-” F.F. was interrupted as Jolyne quickly clapped her hand over their mouth.

    “That’s not appropriate right now,” Jolyne hissed.

    “Says Miss I got caught mas- Ow!” Hermes was interrupted by Jolyne kicking her in the shin. “The fuck?!” Hermes cried, curling up and clutching her leg.

    Jolyne released F.F. and handed the movie back to them. Wherever F.F. had gotten a physical copy of that thing was a discussion for another time. “Okay, neither of you get to choose movies until you can behave. I chose last week and if we skip Hermes and Weather because he keeps putting on the same goddamn whale documentary every week, then it’s Anasui’s turn to pick a movie,” Jolyne said.

    “What do you want to watch, Jolyne?” Anasui asked.

    “Anasui, pick something you want to watch,” Jolyne groaned. “Otherwise I’m just putting the Spongebob movie on again.”

    This was a big opportunity. Hermes and F.F. had messed up, Jolyne’s heart was wide open and Anasui had a chance to capitalize. And he had the perfect idea. What better than to watch a tale of perseverance that mirrored his own to get Jolyne to understand how hard he was trying? “I choose Pride and Prejudice then,” Anasui said triumphantly. 

    “Oh my God,” Jolyne, Hermes, and F.F. all groaned simultaneously.

    “What? What!? Jolyne, if you don’t want to watch it, I can change my vote. What do you want to watch?” Anasui asked again

    “No! I’m not doing this, we’re not all going to sit in circles arguing about movies for an hour. We’re watching Pride and Prejudice and that’s that,” Jolyne said. She reached for her laptop on the coffee table and started searching for the least sketchy pirating site. “Hey, Emporio? Is your DS charged? This one’s gonna be real boring for you, sorry.”

    Emporio shrugged. He was sitting on the floor, since the rest of them had crowded onto the couch like normal. “It’s fine,” he mumbled, snapping Jolyne’s old DS open. The Spongebob movie was his go to after they had spent so much time at Jotaro’s place, and he was a little disappointed Jolyne hadn’t given up and just put it on. 

    “Hey, Hermes, can you get the popcorn started?” Jolyne asked.

    “I’m injured,” Hermes said, smirking.

    “You’re impossible. F.F., can you make the popcorn?”

    F.F. sat between Jolyne and Anasui, and they eyed him suspiciously before nodding and walking to the kitchen. Anasui immediately scooted over and stole their spot. Faking a yawn, he stretched and slowly slung his arm around Jolyne’s shoulder. She was too focused on getting a high quality pirated copy of Pride and Prejudice to notice. 

    “You’re supposed to wait until the movie starts, you know,” Hermes pointed out. Anasui glared at her. Hermes grinned back at him before pulling the exact same maneuver Anasui did, both of their arms now around Jolyne’s shoulders. 

    “You’re not even going to wait until the movie starts?” Jolyne asked, turning to face Hermes.

    “You make it hard to be patient,” Hermes said, leaning in.

    Anasui coughed loudly and shook Jolyne’s shoulder, breaking Hermes and Jolyne out of the moment. “Hey, Jolyne, you got the wrong version,” Anasui said, pointing at the laptop screen. “I want the one with Colin Firth as Darcy.”

    “That’s the miniseries! That’s six hours, Anasui! We’re watching the movie,” Jolyne said.

    “That Darcy isn’t nearly as hot, though!” Anasui shouted. That was a critical point of his plan, because if Darcy isn’t hot what’s the goddamn point of watching Pride and Prejudice?  

    “It’s got Keira Knightly, though,” Hermes said. The microwave dinged and the scent of fresh popcorn filled the air.

    “Fine. That’s good enough,” Anasui said, giving in. 

    Their job done, F.F. came back with the popcorn and took Anasui’s old place on the couch. They made sure to sit down fast enough to spill some popcorn on Anasui’s lap. He just picked them up and ate them, though. 

    “That’s everything, right? Can I start the movie now?” Jolyne asked, hand hovering over the trackpad. 

    “Just one more thing,” F.F. said, shoving the bowl of popcorn into Anasui’s free hand. “If you want to be in the middle so bad, you have to hold the popcorn for everyone, Anasui.”

    “Fuck that-”

    “Remember how you said you would work on helping people who aren’t Jolyne? Hold the popcorn, Anasui,” F.F. said gravely. 

    Anasui glared at them, but gripped the bowl tightly. F.F. took a handful of popcorn as smugly as they could.

    “I’m just gonna start the movie,” Jolyne said, clicking play. 

    Twenty minutes later, Anasui figured he was the only one still paying attention to the movie. Weather never really paid attention to anything they put on. Emporio was eleven and therefore infinitely more invested in video games than Jane Austen. Hermes and F.F. had passed out after a long day in the kitchen. F.F. was drooling on Anasui’s shoulder and he was tolerating it as best as he could. Hermes still had her arm around Jolyne and the two of them became even more entangled since Hermes had fallen asleep. But Jolyne had her head on Anasui’s shoulder, which he counted as a victory. 

    Anasui only noticed Jolyne was still awake when she yawned. “Hey, Anasui?”

    “Yeah?”

    “You were right, Colin Firth is way hotter than this guy.”

    Anasui awkwardly turned his head to face Jolyne, trying not to jostle F.F. awake. “What about me?” he asked.

    “Huh? What about you?”

    “You’re spilling the popcorn, Anasui,” Weather whispered over F.F.’s head.

    “Weather, what the fuck!?” Anasui shouted, flinching and flinging even more of the popcorn. 

    Some of it fell onto a disgruntled Emporio, who was already having a bad time trying to block out Anasui and Jolyne’s conversation. Anasui’s shouting woke up F.F., who accidentally headbutted Weather in the face when their head snapped up and the finger guns came out, thinking the group was in danger. Weather clutched his face, blood pouring out of his nose. Jolyne noticed the nosebleed and jumped up to grab some tissues, dragging Hermes halfway off the couch before she woke up. Hermes woke up disoriented, sprawled over the couch and the floor with popcorn stuck on her face and hair. Everyone started shouting at once. Well, everyone but Weather, he just kind of sat there bleeding. 

    “Weather, don’t tilt your head back!”

    “What the fuck happened?!”

    “Is this a Stand attack?!”

    “Goddamnit, I was so close!”

    “Is everyone okay?”

    “Wait, wait, everyone stop shouting,” Jolyne said, raising her hands. “It’s not a Stand attack, Weather just scared Anasui, everyone’s fine. Except Weather.”

    “Why is there popcorn everywhere?” Hermes asked, brushing herself off.

    “That’s Anasui’s fault,” Weather whispered.

    “Half of it is your fault for ruining the moment like that,” Anasui yelled.

    “You don’t have to yell, we’re all awake now,” F.F. said, rolling their eyes. “Sorry about your face, Weather.”

    Weather shrugged. A bloody nose was basically nothing at this point. Despite that, Jolyne rushed in and out of the bathroom, shoveling toilet paper at Weather. F.F. helped Hermes off the floor and then broke out the vacuum. The movie was over by the time everything had settled down. Everyone agreed that Emporio should be the only one choosing movies, if this is what happened when they weren’t watching Spongebob.

    Despite all this, Jolyne and F.F. voted Anasui back into the Polycule two to one.