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His life was supposed to be happy. Normal. Simple. Un-fucking-complicated but the universe seems to have a serious hard-on for making Jotaro suffer. Through whatever horrible confluence of circumstance, he finds himself at the mercy of one Josuke Higashikata: aged seventeen, hair voluminous, fashion sense questionable, temper? Apocalyptic. Jotaro never asked for this shit. He never expected to become a glorified babysitter for the most unstable teenager he’s ever met (and he trekked across Egypt with Kakyoin so it’s a pretty high bar) in his miserable eighteen years of life. Josuke’s not even supposed to be here and yet, against all sense and reason, he is. He’s just… Taking up space. This whole thing was a favor to Jiji, the kid’s father, and Jotaro can at least gather enough empathy to not hold it against Josuke that he’s the child of an affair. It’s not his fault Joseph can’t keep it in his pants or that his mother is sick or that his grandfather was killed in the line of duty by a twelve-year-old with killer instincts. This entire situation sounds like something out of a bad paperback pulp crime novel but Josuke walks through life like a shonen protagonist with fucking hair to match.
And the worst part of it all is…
It’s not forever.
Josuke is going to be moving to New York at the end of the school semester and be an entire world away from Jotaro. It’s something that should be a good thing. Jotaro can get his life back on track, he can focus on his studies or on hobbies without Josuke peering over his shoulder and making jokes. He can sit on the engawa and have a smoke without Josuke there pilfering one with a cheeky smile and a wink. It’s supposed to be a good thing. Jotaro is supposed to be fucking happy but instead, as he sits there, watching Josuke blow bright pink bubbles and pop them while playing video games on the living room floor, he feels horrible. His chest is caving in at the thought of this eye-sore no longer cluttering up his life.
“I don’t want you to move away,” Jotaro blurts the words, a stupid, impulsive confession and Josuke’s gum snaps as a bubble pops against his face and his thumbs still against the controller. The chip-tune music is the only sound in the living room as Josuke sits up a little straighter and drags his gum back into his mouth. His expression is completely unreadable to Jotaro, which honestly isn’t surprising. Jotaro has a hard time reading faces and expressions unless they’re blatantly obvious, but Josuke’s clever and careful, and guarded about everything. He’s been stressed since the moment they met but so rarely shows it. Josuke tucks his gum in his cheek as he spins on the tatami to face Jotaro properly. He looks up through those stupidly long lashes of his and Jotaro has no idea what the name of this feeling is but it’s Objectively Disgusting and he Hates It. It’s all squirming and warm and his heart palpitates awkwardly against his ribs.
“I mean… That’s where they’re movin’ my mom. Some fancy hospital out in New York. And… Joestar-san seems pretty… Well, I guess he wants to be all fatherly now. I don’t think I can just say no.”
Is this a discussion? Jotaro wasn’t expecting a discussion. He wasn’t ready to consider the possibility that Josuke would try and explain himself or the situation to– to what ? Make Jotaro feel better? Josuke sighs as Jotaro simply stares at him, dumbfounded. He can’t think of a single thing to say but Josuke takes a deep breath, clearly more than capable of speaking enough for the both of them because of course he is.
“I don’t really wanna go either. It’s not like I get to see my mom as it is ever since she got sick. And… I don’t really speak English. I don’t wanna fucking homeschool or whatever. I like it here. I like hangin’ out with you. I’m… I’m gonna miss you, man.”
Jotaro was not prepared– he is not equipped to confront this. Jotaro hasn’t exactly been kind to Josuke since his arrival. He’s mostly treated him with all the indifference he’d give any other unwelcome guest in his house, or at least he’d tried to but looking at them now, at the situation they’re in, sharing space, simply coexisting peacefully it hits Jotaro like a tonne of bricks. Smack. Impact. Crushing defeat. Serious damage. It’s not some one-sided thing, they like each other’s company. And it’s coming to an end and they have no fucking say in the matter, do they?
“I… I’ll miss you too,” Jotaro confesses again, letting out a truth he hadn’t realized he was holding onto so tightly. Josuke smiles and creeps a little closer, crawling on the tatami mats to kneel directly in front of Jotaro. He reaches out and Jotaro’s fight-or-flight instinct kicks in. He lifts his hands, ready for some kind of impact but instead, he pauses and lets Josuke do what he’s gonna do. He lets Josuke pull him into an embrace. He takes in the scent of his hair care products and the warmth of his arms, the feeling of his breath as his chest expands. Jotaro’s arms shake as he reaches back and squeezes tightly. He holds on as tight as he can to this person, this obnoxious idiot that’s about to slip through his fingers.
His life was supposed to be happy…
Josuke makes him happy.