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"Soo, what are we doing today?"
That was the first question Josuke- newly appointed officer Josuke, mind you, asked.
"Sit down first."
And newly appointed officer Josuke did as told, taking a seat that, for once, was not inside a police car,
But on the passenger seat of a pink Ferrari.
And instead of a trusty colleague who was moderately good at driving but awful at parallel parking,
He had him.
Giorno Giovanna.
Not so newly, and appointed by his own self, the head of the italian mafia, Giorno.
Josuke should feel a little intimidated, or perhaps worried, or maybe he should truly be officer Josuke and arrest the man on sight. But he couldn't. His Ferrarri was too pink and his suit was too fabulous for Josuke to cause a scene. The last thing a man like him would want was to kill his relative's Barbie girl moment. He could never.
There were only two things he could do. The first was to buckle in, tight , already awaiting the horrors he would be driven through. Giorno on the wheel made him long for the days he used to ride, and fall from, Okuyasu's bike.
The second thing was…
"...Soo, uhh, Gio! Ummm, what are we doing today?"
Josuke hated to be the cautious cop of the equation - but he was left with no choice. He was the only cop in the equation. And if he didn't press, gently so… Giorno would stay deathly quiet, lean over the wheel, break all speed limits known to man, and drag him to the most illegal and/or deranged programme ever invented.
Josuke had to be careful . As if defusing a bomb. And he knew that he, of all people, could deal with that.
".......Giorno?"
He didn't actually know how to deal with that, because Giorno was something much worse than a bomb.
The more the silence settled, the more awkward Josuke felt. That awkwardness could grow into worry, and even fear, were he one of Giorno's enemies. While Josuke certainly wasn't…
As newly appointed officer Josuke, he could very well be.
"I'm looking for the right words," Giorno announced, killing most of the worry in Josuke's head. But the lack of elaboration only made more space for it to grow.
"...Hey man, take your time, okay?"
"Okay."
…
"No pressure."
"Sure."
…
"...No rush, I'm serious."
"I know."
…
".......Unrelated, ummm, did you know my lunch break actually like, has a time limit- Crazy, right! But you know, you know, no rush-"
Giorno wasn't really paying attention by that point. His eyes, hidden behind sunglasses more expensive than Josuke's entire outfit, were focused on his task :
the re-applying of his light pink lipstick, of course.
He smushed his lips together, and only once he was satisfied, opened his mouth.
"I have found the words."
"..... Cool?? Soooo, uh, let's hear them!"
"We need to break someone out of jail."
"............................... Huh?"
"Your lunch break ends in half an hour, correct?" he said, already turning the car on. "So we should rush."
"You are joking."
"What? No I'm not," he said, as Josuke slowly felt his jaw drop. "...And it's a bit of a drive to that particular station..."
".........How much of a drive?"
"Six hours."
"SIX HOURS?!?!?!!?!" Josuke screamed, shooting up so high he almost ripped his seat up with him. "AND YOU WANT TO FIT THAT INTO THE REST OF MY BREAK????"
"Yes."
"You're JOKING!"
"I'm really not."
Josuke was beyond himself. He could not believe what he was hearing. Something so insane, so nonsensical, so-
…But, Giorno wasn't that type. Giorno was smart. Giorno knew the concept of time.
So, slowly, adjusting his hair underneath his cap as he lowered back down, he spoke.
Officer and accuser Josuke pointed, a finger gun at the ready for a shot he could not miss.
"Are you trying to trick me into not paying attention to the crime you want to commit by distracting me with that crazy made-up travel time? So I'll be so focused on that that I'll forget about your crime? "
Giorno's eyes went wide, and his mouth became a thin slit.
And Josuke, victorious, put his accusing gun away.
"......How could you tell."
" Because, I know what clueless blondes look like, Giogio, and you are not one of them! You are not an alien man!" he exclaimed, and Giorno side-eyed him as if he was fucking insane. "But come on. Why the lie, dude?"
"...Well you have a busy schedule. And I was… worried. I was worried you would not be able to come, and that if I told you the truth, you wouldn't like it. I… I just wanted this… to work," he mumbled, looking down at his hands on the wheel. "...I'm… I'm sorry."
Now, Josuke knew he should be harsher, and more to the point, but…
"...Aw, GioGio. You could have just said all of that!"
"But I was so unsure. I… I really did not want to worry you, or anything like that. I'm… sorry."
"Duude, come on, it's fine!" Josuke exclaimed. Giorno only sunk in his seat.
"...I should not have lied to you…"
"Man, who cares!! I'll- I'll warn my superiors I'll be a little late- I mean, it's not really that far away, right?"
"...It takes one hour, something like that…"
"Aww, that's so much better! Great!!" Josuke exclaimed, patting Giorno's shoulder. And he looked up at him, meek, and Josuke gave him a big, reassuring smile. "Let's go man!"
"Are you sure?"
"Yes!" he said. "And I'm fine about the hour thing. It's all great! I'm not mad."
Giorno nodded. Turned the car on again, and Josuke gave him one last shoulder pat before they were off.
They reached the middle of the road, before-
"Wait a second, I AM MAD!" Josuke screamed again, and Giorno's lips went flat again as he kept driving. "YOU- Did you?! Did you DOUBLE distract me so I wouldn't pay attention to your crime and focus more on your well being and being insecure about taking my time?!?! Was all of that an act???"
Giorno looked to the side. No confession came, but his avoidance was more than enough confirmation.
…God, he was good.
Officer Interrogator Josuke was nothing before him.
"W-Wait!!! Dude!!! I can't- That's a CRIME! Breaking someone out of jail is a CRIME!"
"I don't care."
The full mask-off moment almost killed Josuke on the spot, but he had to keep going. He couldn't lose this one.
"Dude?! I- Okay. Alright! Listen- If your bodyguard got arrested, that's a bummer but I can't-"
"Oh, it's not him that we're rescuing," Giorno sighed, making a turn a bit too harsh for Josuke's liking. "I would not want you involved in that particular problem. But don't worry, I already have a rescue party assembled."
"How many people around you are behind bars???? " Josuke exclaimed. "Dude, this is- This could look so bad for you, you know?? Like, won't your criminal buddies think worse of you for doing a crime- with a cop? "
"I don't think you're known enough for them to care."
Josuke had to make do with both his hands - one gripping at his heart as it shattered into pieces from the sheer disrespect. And his other hand was thrown to the side, before he decked Giorno and sent them and the pink car flying.
But no matter what he could try to say, or do, or shoot,
Giorno would not listen.
"Giogio! Like! Dude!" Josuke clasped his hands. Pleading. "That's not the kinda stuff I can do, man! Like, it's already super out of pocket for me to be hanging out with you–"
"Why."
".... Why? Y- You're the criminal!! But I mean, at least I can say you're the family criminal if my mom gets worried, you know???"
"She is also the family criminal. That should make it alright," Giorno rationalized. "...Hm."
"D-Dude, listen! Wh- Her???”
“....Hm,” Giorno hummed, voice quiet, quieter than when he had been playing up his faux-confession. His gaze bounced around as he looked for words, and found none. "...It seems I've spoiled it."
And the car stopped, as Giorno himself joined his hands together.
"Don't park in the middle of the street!!! Giorno!!!! " Josuke screamed. "And- who the hell is she???? "
".....M…my…?"
"Are you," Josuke started to accuse, "trying to think of another distraction as we speak??"
Giorno's face said it all - because Josuke couldn't see it, as Giorno had turned away. Another clear confession.
But him avoiding eye contact didn't just mean a confession.
It also meant that Josuke could lean over and rip the key out of the ignition, much to Giorno's subsequent horror.
"We are not moving forward until I know who she is!"
"I'm not sharing."
"Then we're not moving!"
“.............Is this, officially, a fight.”
“Yes!”
Josuke and Giorno had a rule - no Stands allowed in squabbles. Josuke had borrowed that one from his own play-fights with Okuyasu - he had lost way too many bits of hair and clothes to allow it anymore.
And in Giorno's case, the rule was even more enforced. His Stand was terrifying, and the last thing Josuke wanted was to witness it in its full, horrifying glory on a Thursday afternoon. Inside a pink Ferrari.
But the rule also meant the fight was decided. Giorno barely lasted before he was stuck in a headlock, defeated by officer gym-goer Josuke. At that miserable point, all he thought to do was let out a furious wry and bite, his little chihuahua canines failing to pierce through Josuke's uniform.
"Giorno! Question number one! Is she someone from your gang?"
He thrashed against the grip in response. A no, then.
"Question number two! Is she an enemy Stand user?"
More thrashing. Also a no.
"Question number three! Is she your girlfriend?"
The thrashing ceased.
Giorno stopped biting.
And looked up at Josuke.
".......An absolute no?"
" ... "
".......But like whennn are you getting a girlfriend? I mean, like, I've never seen you mention anybody that wasn't a guy friend, so-"
The sheer force of the bite Giorno did was enough to crush bone. His little canines at last managed to cut through, and like an evil little thing, he took the opportunity of Josuke's scream of pain to snatch the key back up.
"D-Dude what the FUCK why do you always get so upset when I ask abour g- Giorno!!!" he yelled, just as the key was shoved back into the ignition. "I swear, if you turn that shit on I'm going to arrest you! Tell me who she is! "
"Fine," he finally said.
And for a second, he visibly tried to lie again. His eyes narrowed, he looked to the sides, thinking up what words to place so he could keep going for a little longer.
But in the end,
The intimidation of officer Josuke worked.
"..............It's Jolyne."
The name, the full confession, at last came. The word dropped like a bowling ball into a lake, splashing and sinking to the bottom at once.
Strike.
".....Oh."
"Her birthday was yesterday."
"...Yeah."
".......Therefore,"
And he turned the car back on, and sped away.
It actually took a bit more for Josuke to speak up. This time, he was the one struggling with finding the right words.
But officer Josuke was also negotiator officer Josuke.
"Listen, listen, listen. Let's make- A deal? Yeah?"
"A deal, " Giorno repeated. "How so."
"Instead of breaking so many laws by taking her out of jail," Josuke said, "why don't we break just, like, no laws by going into the station and? You know?? Visiting hours?????"
Giorno stepped onto the brakes so harshly that Josuke almost went flying out of the car. Seconds away from suffering a known crime of passenger-seat-cop-manslaughter.
“..................That actually sounds more sensible.”
“It IS!”
Jolyne.
A preteen, still - young, way too young to be messing with such things. Of course, Giorno disagreed. He had been a young entrepreneur too.
Josuke, not just officer, but general Josuke, disagreed.
The two followed the rules, for once. Showed documents, explained their request, and officer Josuke used his position for a little leeway. Criminal Giorno kept quiet.
And at last, they were guided to her cell. A non-Josuke officer pointed it to them, and right before leaving, he called out,
“Jolyne, you got visitors.”
And from deep within the shadows of the cell, she came running up.
The sheer hope in her eyes, the wide open mouth of surprise,
Immediately went away.
She fizzled out like a candle blown.
And Jolyne stood before the two. Defeated.
".....Oh it's just you two. Hi."
Both Josuke and Giorno felt the slash of her words go through; their hearts squeezed into mush and their egos destroyed before any true conversation had even started.
But they, as adults, as officer and criminal duo Josuke and Giorno, knew better.
So, Giorno opened his mouth.
"We can leave."
"Wh- No?! I mean!! Jolyne, hi!! We came here to see you! How are you??"
"I'm in jail."
"Hahahaha, great!" Josuke exclaimed, clasping his hands together. Great.
"Is it just you two?"
A little spark of what she had first shown. A bit of hope. Wishful thinking.
"...It's just us."
"...The three of us! The youngsters! Ahaha!" Josuke added on. "Come here, Jo-chan!"
He extended his arms for a hug.
The bars in between them remained.
And Jolyne…
Took a step back. And another, as she sat on the bed within her cell.
"You shouldn't have come. Like, go home."
Josuke's arms fell to his sides. He didn't know what to tell her, and he found himself looking to the side to see what Giorno-
Giorno was walking off.
Josuke couldn't even scream - his mouth only hung agape in pure shock as the man walked down the hall and disappeared from his vision. A barrage of questions came crashing down in his mind, and kept on as he looked back at Jolyne.
Who was still sitting down. Staring at nothing.
Defeated.
…
Now, Josuke knew he could fix many, many things; and a broken heart was not one of them.
…But hell, he could certainly try.
"...Hey, Jo-chan, I love the new haircut you got. That green looks so cool on you!" he said, walking up to the bars. "But I loved the pink you had too. Ever think of mixing them up?"
"Wouldn't that be too crazy or whatever?" she asked, barely looking at him. "I'm not… even sure about the green."
"Huh?? It looks so crazy cool though!" he continued. "And like, the star on your face? It's giving Prince, Jo-chan!"
"Are Prince vibes a bad thing or a good thing?" she asked, a half smile on her lips as she looked back up at him. Teasing. She knew what he meant, he knew that she knew. And yet,
"Of course it's good! Huh?? It's Prince! " he huffed. "And what about that fancy jacket? Is that what your mom gave you for your birthday?"
He knew it wasn't.
He knew who bought it. He knew due to the major dent in his bank account.
"...No, actually. It wasn't her. I… Maybe it was…? … I don't know," she said, looking down at it. Josuke knew he had made the right choice. The jacket was cut just like something her father once wore, and he hoped that association could bring her some comfort. He didn't care if she didn't know it wasn't actually a gift from him.
"...And like…" Jolyne continued, "she's the one who brought it here, and she insisted so much that I keep it, that I just… had to, I guess. ….I don't really like the blue, though."
"Ehh, the blue is the best part! It looks so cool with your bright hair, too!"
"Does it?" she asked. "...To be honest, I was… kinda thinking on like, customizing it or something? It's super plain which is like, awful, but I don't know if I should?"
"Why not?? It's your birthday gift, isn't it?"
"....Yeah, but…" She puffed up her cheeks. "I dunno. My idea was like, super childish. You'll think it's super embarrassing. No! I won't do it!"
"Ehhh?? But how can I judge if I don't know what it is??"
"It's embarrassing!" she exclaimed, puffing up her cheeks even more and slamming her back against the wall. "I don't want to show it!"
"So you already started it??"
".... No! " she exclaimed yet again, her face red being overtaken by a shade of red. "I did not!"
"Jo-chan! Did you start by trying to draw on the back of the jacket, and that's why you’re hiding your back from me as we speak??"
Her eyes went wide, and her face got so red it almost became purple. He didn't even need to pull out his accusing gun.
"No fucking fair!!!! How… How did you know???"
"I have experience with lies, Jo-chan," officer and already played not once but twice Josuke said. "But did you like, draw on your back while wearing the jacket??"
"...Maybe…"
"But why?? Jooooo-chan, wouldn't it be better to take it off?"
"...But," she said, pulling the jacket close to herself, "if I take it off of me, they could take it away from me."
"...Aw, Jo-chan… Hey. I won't judge it, let me see it!"
She spared him a side-eye, before sighing in defeat. Getting up, and spinning around for him to see.
His smile trembled.
He had no idea of what he was even looking at.
".................Hey, that pink is a really cute color, you know!"
"I guess. It's not badass like I wanted," she said, "I bet you can't even tell it was meant to be a butterfly."
"...Oh! Oh, well, I mean- Are those stars on her wings?"
"Huh? Oh, no, I was kind of giving up by that point," she said, "but I guess stars could look cool. I wanted to give her sunglasses, but by that point I didn't even know where her face was?"
"...Is she also wearing a jacket?"
"....I tried, yeah."
"...."
".......Not even your dumb girly Stand can fix this one, right?"
"It's not girly! It's just half pink!" Josuke exclaimed. "...And did you want to try?"
"...Yeah," she sighed. "As long as you promise you won't, like, rearrange the jacket into a bundle of string, cause I'll be so pissed off at you I'll-"
She cut herself off. Her low-hanging head raised up.
And she looked back at him.
"....Uncle Josuke, did you hear that?"
Josuke was about to say two - no, three things. First, how cute it was that she was calling him by that title, but he was not her uncle, not technically. He didn't know what the fuck he was in relation to her. Second, that his Stand couldn't fix broken hearts and unintentional abstract art.
The third was to ask what sound she was talking about.
Until he himself heard it.
The sound of a car. Rapidly approaching.
Outside.
“...He’s joking,” Josuke said, out loud. He had to be joking. He had to be joking. This was a silly joke.
It was not a joke.
Josuke knew what was going to happen next, and as such, didn’t react. He just stared, his eyes glazed over and his mouth halfway open.
As the wall to Jolyne's cell dissipated into a curtain of vines, and the rest of brick and stone that wasn't caught-up, was run over by the very pink back of the Ferrari.
And Giorno, one hand on the wheel, the other pulling down his sunglasses to look behind at the two,
"Get in."
"GIORNO!!!!” officer and common sense holder Josuke screamed, pointing his accusing finger and considering adding up his gun to the equation. “THAT IS SUCH A FUCKING CRIME?!!?!!"
"I don't care," he said, turning to look at Jolyne. “Do you want to go for a bit of a ride? Half an hour at best. It’s the time he has left from his lunch break.”
Josuke almost fell to his knees. To plead, to reconsider his life, to cry.
But instead, he rose right back up.
“Why!” he exclaimed. “Are you so fixated on that! Giorno!”
“Uncle Giorno, can I really just climb in like that??”
" JO-CHAN!!!!!! IT'S ALSO A CRIME IF YOU DO IT!!!! "
“Yeah but I’m already in jail?? What are they going to do, arrest me some more??”
Her logic seemed to be flawless, in her humble opinion. So much so, that without looking back, or rethinking her choices, or anything like so-
“JO-CHAN YOU'RE JUST IN JUVIE PLEASE THIS IS NOT THE WAY TO GO-”
She jumped onto the backseat. Didn’t even put on her seatbelt.
All she did was look back at Josuke, and Giorno did the same.
“Officer Josuke,” Giorno said, and the way he said those two words made Josuke feel infinitely disrespected. Not like he may have made teachers and the like feel during his delinquent days, but more so… well, like the criminal title of Giorno was really coming into play, for once. “Are you coming or not.”
“ No! Giorno, that’s-”
“Then goodbye.”
He immediately turned around and started the car again. Josuke didn’t have a single doubt that Giorno would, in fact, drive off and commit God knows how many more crimes without Officer Josuke in tow.
And so,
he would have to break their sacred golden rule.
A girly pink and cool blue shadow grew behind him. He didn’t have a choice.
“...”
And his Stand raised both its fists,
and held the bars tight,
and pried them open with the most dejected Dora it had ever let out.
Were it only Giorno, things would be different.
But as he did his walk of shame towards the car,
He met eyes with Jolyne. Her wide, green eyes that started lighting up again with the same hope he saw die out barely minutes before.
So he smiled at her. And she smiled back.
It was worth it.
His delinquent days never ended.
But as soon as his eyes left hers, they met Giorno's.
And as he passed her, he knew there was something else he should do.
“Giorno, could you back up so I can sit in the front?” he asked, one hand behind his head as he smiled again. “I don’t want you to play taxi driver, you know?”
“No. Sit in the back.”
At least he tried.
Officer Josuke was reconsidering his entire life and all the decisions he previously took to get to that point.
His moment of kindness still lasted, but as Giorno drove, his conscience dawned more and more on him.
“Uncle Josuke, can I wear your cap?”
And Officer Josuke had no choice. He uncurled from the roll of shame position he had been in, and smiled.
“Only if you promise you’ll give it back!” he exclaimed, placing it atop her head. Attempting to, as it only bounced off her hair buns and didn’t stay. “And only if I get the like, super cool answer of why- ”
“-No one is following us?” Giorno completed. He let the silence settle for a bit, an ominous wait that Josuke wasn’t the biggest fan of. Since the Stand rule was broken, already…
“I turned all the police cars into frogs.”
Neither Josuke nor Jolyne could think of an answer. The silence was turned against Giorno. And he, awkwardly so, finished it up.
“...I thought it would be funny.”
Officer and hater of comedy Josuke was no expert in crime, but he knew what time was. And, that could be just him, but the fact that the sun was setting once the car finally stopped was a bit of a clue that he had gone over the time of his lunch hour.
Just a little bit.
Now, as much as bringing the birthday girl to some beautiful cliffside or nice mall area would be nice…
They were in fact fugitives.
Officer fugitive Josuke had a really bad ring to it.
But that was what he was. And, as now criminals, they had to deal with the criminal life, which entailed hiding away. Which was why Giorno had gone off into a dirt road and parked in the middle of the woods.
“Couldn’t we go to Boing-Boing Cape at least?” Jolyne said, looking around the trees. And nothing else, there was nothing else to look at. “This place kind of… blows.”
“Sadly, Josuke would be recognized and get immediately discharged if we went anywhere else,” Giorno said as he exited the car and started walking towards its trunk. “Oh, sorry,” he rectified, doing a salute. “Officer Josuke.”
“ Why are you acting like you respect my position at all?!?! Unbelievable!” Josuke yelled, before spinning around to Jolyne and giving her the biggest smile he could manage. “Jooo-chan! I know, I know , middle-of-the-woods is totally not the place for a party, but! As soon as you’re out, I’m- We are taking you to somewhere decent! Like- Trussardis! Right, GioGio?”
“I’m not sure about that name.”
“I’m not sure I like that!”
“...Hm,” Giorno hummed. Staring at the inside of his open trunk.
Then he looked back up.
And saluted.
“Officer Josuke, I need your assistance.”
“Stop with the fake respect!!” Josuke hissed, ripping himself out of his seatbelt, and seat, marching over to Giorno. “So rude! What is it-”
Giorno didn’t even point. As soon as Josuke was by his side, he saw it.
It was a birthday cake.
And there was something on its top. A message of love.
…At least it was what Josuke guessed was once the case.
The lid of the box it was in was nowhere to be seen.
Glaze, strawberries, sprinkles, crumbs and a mess of green and blue food coloring sat atop the splatter-shaped object. It truly was a birthday cake.
“........Eh.”
“Woooah, that cake looks fucking busted, uncle Giorno!”
“Jo-chan!! ” Josuke cried out, having missed the crucial moment of when she leaned over the open trunk to gawk at it. Giorno fell to his knees. “D-Don’t look! Just don’t look! I- I can fix it!”
And in came his rule breaking, as blue and girly pink started glowing behind him, ready to save-
“Aw, but it’s like, funnier that way,” Jolyne chuckled. “It’s like, the ugliest cake I’ve ever, ever seen.”
Giorno was in shambles.
“...Jo-chan, I can’t even tell what flavor it's supposed to be anymore…” Josuke also chuckled, a million times more awkwardly. “And,”
“And it matches with my jacket, too!” she added on, turning around and proudly showing the mess she still had on her back. “Doesn’t it?”
It did. Josuke didn’t have the heart to confirm it, and Giorno had no heart left after his was shattered by Fate and an improperly closed box.
So all they could do was accept it.
The three got seated again, at the backseat of the pink - but now with mud streaks - Ferrari. Jolyne sat in the middle, the cake placed on her lap.
“Were there supposed to be candles here too?”
Giorno's silence was enough of an answer.
“...Oh, I got it then,” she said, digging into her pockets and pulling a lighter. Josuke and Giorno exchanged a single glance, a single ? and an extra how , but didn’t question it. “Okay, uhhhh… now what?”
“You make a wish?”
“I’m waaay too old for that!” she scoffed. “No way!”
“I don’t think there’s an age for wishing, Jolyne,” Giorno said. “Just think of something you want. And that you’ll fight for. Something you hope you can take and gain.”
“...It doesn’t have to be super intense, though! Just something cool! Something you really wanna have!”
Jolyne looked down at her lighter. With one flick, the flame lit up.
“Something I want… to have.”
The two nodded. She kept staring.
With her free hand, she pulled the jacket closer onto herself.
And went back to staring.
…
Until the flame went out.
“That’s …dumb. …I don’t wanna do it,” she said. “Can I just eat?”
…
"...No," Giorno was the first to speak. "...That's not how a birthday should go."
"Jo-chan, it's just a wish, you can do it!"
"Well like, I don't want to do it. It's dumb. Wishes don't come true just because you… really hope for them. Or wait for them. Or… Or whatever! It's dumb and I'm not doing it!" she exclaimed, dropping the lighter onto her lap, crossing her arms.
Josuke and Giorno exchanged glances again.
And to Josuke's surprise, Giorno acted first.
By picking up the lighter, and flicking a flame up.
"Jolyne. I know what you want to wish for," he said, staring at her. "And I'm not sure it will work, but you must try. Wish for him to come visit you for your birthday," he continued, the words that had been stuck in all three of their throats suddenly out, without warning, without dwelling. "Then, when he shows up.”
And he was silent. Building up his words.
“Kill him. "
"W-Woaaah, okay!! Not great!" Josuke exclaimed, reaching over and prying the lighter from Giorno's hands. Lighting it up again. "....Buuut, totally yell at him a lot, Jo-chan. Call him all the mean words I've told you about! And- The ones Okuyasu told you, too!"
"Make him feel like he's worth nothing, Jolyne."
"...Well, make him feel sorry! " Josuke added on. "But tell him… that you miss him! And that you wanted to see him for your birthday wish! That's all!"
"...Then you can eliminate him," Giorno said, before he reached for the lighter as well. "...But do say those things. If it's what you truly feel."
“Yeah!!”
The lighter was presented to Jolyne once again.
"Make a wish, Jolyne," the two said, in unison. She looked at the flame again, the fire reflecting as a spark within her eyes.
".....God, you guys," she suddenly chuckled. "You two are soo sappy!"
And before either could argue against it, both her arms shot up and tightly wrapped around their necks. She pulled them down with all her strength, their three heads bonking in the middle.
“I don’t need to waste a wish on him when I have you guys!” she exclaimed. “ This is so much better than some lame cell visit!”
And she pulled them closer in. Her arms slid down to their backs. The cake splatter was coming dangerously close to both their clothes, and the flame was far too close for comfort, but…
“...I’m really glad I still have you guys,” she said. “...Thanks. For the birthday gift.”
How were either of them supposed to push her away?
Even if…
Hugging Giorno felt like embracing a Moai statue. Still, rocky, and with a non-expression. Josuke, on the other hand, had been told hugging him was like hugging a teddy bear who hit the gym every single day. An embrace between the two opposing forces - officer and criminal, statue and teddy bear, it was always an awkward mismatch.
…But Josuke still went for it.
He wrapped one arm around Giorno, and brought him deeper in.
And someway, somehow,
Giorno hugged back.
And for that moment, it felt like truly, it was only the three of them.
“...Happy birthday, Jolyne.”
“Happy birthday, Jo-chan!”
“Happy birthday to me!”
They all stared down at the flame. It was almost close enough to burn the tips of their noses.
“...Let’s share the wish!” Jolyne said, the two turning as much as they could to look at her. “Think of something you want, quick - three two one go!”
“I-I wish to not get fired!!! This was just a one-off thing!”
“I wish to turn more police cars into frogs.”
“ I wish that I never lose you guys!”
And, together, they blew the flame out.
They didn’t do much else.
It was getting dark and officer Josuke's mom was getting worried.
The ride back was much calmer, save for Jolyne trying to throw pieces of the cake at every cop they saw. Josuke only managed to calm her down by convincing her to let him also draw something on her back.
He drew on a peace sign. He was about to draw a heart to match, until Giorno, one hand still on the wheel, turned around to join in. No matter how much he was screamed at, he only ceased once he had finished drawing a little ladybug.
The end result was even worse than before.
…But Giorno thought it was funny.
Arriving at the police station, finding it surrounded by frogs, swirling vines, screaming cops and Jolyne’s mom wasn’t so funny.
Giorno was recognized and escaped.
Josuke was dishonorably discharged.
And Jolyne was arrested again,
and she was able to get her only wish.