Work Text:
Jotaro knew he wasn’t going to get that much studying done today.
As soon as he opens the biology book up, he hears Jolyne squealing from her crib, making him cock his head slightly.
He, of course, gets up and observes to see what was wrong, walking quickly to the brown thing. He leans over and lets out a sigh of relief when seeing her giggle up at him, chewing down on the yellow starfish plushie he brought, glad that it wasn’t as serious as he thought.
Jotaro brings his finger down, holding onto her teeny, soft hand gently (a thing he still isn’t used to. He’ll never get over how small she is, just adoring her for it. It makes him emotional for some reason, knowing that his precious daughter is here and tiny , loving her with all her heart). Jolyne instantly noticed this, yelping happily as she grabs onto his finger tightly, a grip that can almost beat Star Platinum’s (and that’s another thing he will get used to, amazed by how strong she was already. It makes him smile, seeing the future where she will be able to beat him in a fight), as her mouth lets go of the plushie, instead opting to put his finger into her mouth.
Just as he usually did, he smiles but chuckles softly as he tries to pull his finger away from her mouth.
“No, Jolyne. You can’t bite on Daddy’s finger.”
But, she didn’t seem to care, already shoving the finger in her mouth. She practically chews on it like it was her food, kicking her feet happily when doing so, the green woozie flooding up slightly.
Jotaro leans his arm up against the wooden frame, head resting on top of it. He watches his daughter fondly, weakly trying to get his finger out as her sudden cries now made sense to him.
“You want my attention, don’t you?” Jotaro asks, even though he knew he was not going to get a verbal response from her. He knew he was correct as she started kicking her feet faster and her loud giggles filled up the small room, making his heart melt on the sight.
She didn’t have to say anymore for him to know she wants him to pick her up.
Jotaro lifts himself up, balancing himself to where his finger would not move out of her mouth. As Jolyne stares at him with her round green eyes, she was able to figure out what was happening quickly and let go of his finger and made “grabby hands” towards him. His smile becomes bigger one sight when seeing this, leaning himself down to where his hands were gently around her back. He raises his daughter up slowly, still afraid of anything might happen to her, and once out of the cushion of the crib, he leans her onto his chest, rubbing the back of her head.
He begins walking around the house because he knows that calms her down sometimes, excited about touching everything she can (but he never goes into the kitchen. The image of her hurting herself from the oven was so vivid to him one time that he couldn’t step inside it for two days). They mostly stay in his room, Jolyne becoming entranced with one of the keychains on his backpack, a gift from one of his friends once she had discovered about his best friend, Polneraff, as a small reminder of him. Her little chubby fingers kept playing with the little French flag at the end of it, yelping every time she saw the way it swung around. The action made him huff slightly.
“You miss Uncle Polneraff, huh?”
“Ah!” was her only response as she continues playing with it, never seemingly getting bored of it.
Ever since Jolyne had been born, he had slipped into the habit of calling all of his friends “aunt” and “uncle.” (Polneraff was automatically called that, even before Jolyne was born. He meant too much to him and was there for those 50 days that Jotaro without a doubt knew he deserved that title. When he called his friend for the first time, he cried for days, never thinking he would get a title as special as that.) The first time he realized he had done this was with his friend John, which made them both stop speaking. For some reason he was about to apologize to him and was completely caught off guard as he started crying and launched at him with a hug, moved by what Jotaro said. After that, he just kept doing it with the rest of his friends, getting a wide range of excited emotions when doing so. Some of them included screaming of happiness, giving high fives to each other, or his personal favorite (as much as he never admits it) was when two of his friends wore a sign for days saying “I’m Jolyne’s Aunt/Uncle,” them practically beaming. That almost got a tear out of his eye when saying that, but he was incredibly touched by everyone being so excited about them wanting to be part of Jolyne’s life since he was struggling a little bit being all on his own.
Without them, Jotaro’s not sure where he would be right now.
But even with all this, it doesn’t mean that there isn’t competition between all of them.
They did everything to be Jolyne’s favorite.
They bought her gifts, treats, food, taking her to different kinds of places, hell, they even took her to their college classes because they knew Jotaro couldn’t find someone to babysit her, making sure to be there with him whenever this happened.
But the moment Polneraff came to visit, they all knew they lost.
After setting her eyes on him once, Jolyne never left his side, letting him be the one to feed her or change her at times. All his friends were in an uproar when seeing this, upset at how she was able to take a liking to him so fast. He just gave an evil grin as he brought her closer to him, saying “I knew this was going to happen.”
So, as much as his friends still try to this day, Polneraff is still the favorite and nothing is going to change that.
It makes him laugh now the longer she plays with it, staring at her adoringly.
“Still your favorite even after only seeing him twice, huh?”
Jolye turns back towards him, now done playing with the metal keychain. She giggles in response, laying on his chest, eyes now paying attention to the golden ridge of his hat. She lifts one of her chubby arms up, enthusiastically trying to grab onto it. Jotaro stops her short, grabbing onto it gently. He brings it back to her side as she lets out a confused noise.
“And just like my finger, can’t touch Daddy’s hat either.”
He sees the subtle signs of her pouting out her lips as her eyebrows furrowed in, fresh tears glistening in her eyes. He hates whenever this happens, never wanting to see his daughter like this. Jotaro lifts her up in the air, watching as the downward expression changes into a smile, loud laughing filling up the room again. She brings her back down to the level of his nose, a light touch shared between the two of them. He smiles softly.
“Maybe one day I'll let you wear it.”
Jolyne giggles at that, Jotaro now bringing her back to his chest. She curls up into him, head smashing right up against his black turtleneck. Her eyes begin to close, snuggling closer to him. He brings himself down and presses a light kiss to her forehead, rubbing her back when he was done.
He makes quiet steps across the wooden floor, careful to make sure she doesn’t wake up. It doesn’t take long since the crib is almost 3 feet away from where his backpack is. Just like before, Jotaro slowly brings her back down into the cushion, satisfied when he sees her curl up into her light green blankets like she did with his shirt.
Oddly enough, as soon as he removes his hands from underneath her back, she wakes up, crying from his attention again.
Jotaro brow shots up instantly, staring down at her curiously as she grabs onto his finger again.
“I thought you wanted to sleep, Jojo?” Jotaro asks as she begins suckling on his finger again, happily munching away on it. She looks up at him happily, kicking her feet once more.
Jotaro sighs, already seeing himself repeat what he just did over and over again, knowing what the end result will be. With an amused huff, he picks her back up, her raising her tiny fists happily in the air, along with the star plushie underneath his arm. Jotaro gives his daughter a glance as he makes his way back onto the bed, creaking slightly from his weight.
“You have to let me study, alright? I just need to pass these exams and I am free from this he—place for winter break,” her tells her, trying to watch his language. There are days when he slips up and it gets him worried whenever she cries happily from that, terrified that one day when she is older, she will repeat those same words.
She gives him what looks like a nod as he places her down on his bed, making sure there is enough room between the two of them and where she can play with the yellow starfish. Jotaro keeps his eyes on her just long enough to see her become glued to it, not paying attention to what her father was doing. He stretches his hand out again, grabbing onto the large blue and white book again. He starts off where he remembers being last: oceanic ecosystems.
Jotaro doesn’t pay attention as the time passes by, the information being soaked up into his brain for the day of his exam. They both fall into a comfortable silence, the only noise being made was his pages flipping and his daughter’s little yelps that pull him out of studying, a smile creeping on his face whenever this happens. Even though it appeared to become darker, the entire room glowing from a warm orange to a cool blue, Jotaro never noticed it, not even aware when Star turned on the light or pathis head.
The thing that truly brought him back into the present was Jolyne crawling on top of his face, her little body slamming into his nose.
“Jolyne,” he starts, lifting her off from his tan face. He gives her a serious stare. “You agreed to let me study.”
His daughter just laughs airly as she begins touching his biology book, playing around with the pages.
Jotaro chuckles slightly at this, shifting himself to where he is leaning against the headboard, Jolyne sitting right on top of his lap. The book is right in front of her, her hands grabbing onto the bag onto the pages once more.
“I didn’t think you would be so interested in marine biology.”
“Ah!”
Jolyne tries to turn the page, but only able to flip it slightly. He can hear the small whimper that leaves her mouth, making his heart squeeze painfully. Jotaro puts his hand on top of hers, flipping the page quickly. He really didn’t care about it because he already knew this material. His daughter claps her excitedly, believing she accomplished the task she set out to do. It makes him let out a small laugh as he looks down at her, eyes twinkling with amusement, she looks up at him with a wide smile on her face.
“Want me to read you some?”
“Dah!” Jolyne answers excitedly as she slams her hand back onto the white pages, causing them to crinkle slightly.
“Alright, butterfly, I’ll do it.”
Jotaro starts somewhere around the predators living there, his deep voice echoing throughout the room. Jolyne enthusiastic during the entire time, eyes lighting up whenever she was (really him) able to flip the page. He once again gets lost in the words and his daughter, only paying attention to two things as he continues on, seemingly to never stop.
That all changes when he feels a weight increase against his stomach.
He pauses, dog earring the page as he looks down to Jolyne curled up into a small ball, soft snores escaping her mouth.
It’s too cute for him to handle
Jotaro smiles softly as he pushes the book off to the side, landing onto the plush cushions because he knows what is coming next.
It’s a trap whenever Jolyne leans on you.
She is just warm enough to where she makes you drowsy, not even hesitating to fall asleep. It’s moments like these where everyone believes they are holding a stuffed animal, the best thing to help you go to sleep, something Jotaro believes entirely.
It’s the same thing that is happening right now.
Jotaro rubs his eyes, the drowsiness already taking over him. He gently wraps his arms around her, staying still to not roll over and crush her, wanting to keep her as close as he can. He sinks deeper into his pillow, the notion of sleep sounding better and better by the minute.
He can always study tomorrow, he did enough for today.
Besides, being with Jolyne is far more important than school.
Jotaro’s out like a light, having his finger being held by Jolyne’s hand, something neither of them decided to remove for the entire night.
It’s the most amazing sleep he has ever had.