Chapter Text
Jotaro knows Jolyne’s awake.
It’s gotten easier to tell over the years when she is, especially when he is trying to sleep.
She usually does two things.
The first one is shaking him gently on his shoulder, trying to get him up. It’s the most effective method for him, scaring him in the moment of what’s going on until he sees her face. Jolyne usually tells him why she is awake after he moves himself off the bed sheets and when she is done, Jotaro takes her back to her bedroom, sings her a song, that being the thing to put her asleep in minutes.
Or there is the second method, the one that occurred more after Morioh.
It’s where she just stares at him for however long she is by his bedside, before he wakes up. A mix of guilt and sadness builds up inside him as he opens his eyes and sees how desperate her green ones look, hating how much that day changed her. Jotaro doesn’t say anything as he lifts the covers up, his daughter crawling inside instantly. She quickly lays her head on his chest, right where his heart is, listening for a heartbeat. He wraps his arms around her as he tells her the phrase that will bring her sleep on these nights; “I’m here.”
He can tell she’s doing the second one, from the way her eyes almost burn into his skull. It’s one that makes his skin crawl with how fierce it is and wakes up entirely, as much as his eyes open. Jotaro moves his head down from the red pillow he was laying on to where it is looking at her. His Vic is rough and deep when he speaks, feeling her flinch slightly from it.
“I know you're awake, Jolyne.”
Jolyne whines slightly, upset that is caught in the act (even though it happens everytime this happens). By the time he opens his eyes, Jotaro sees how she clutches onto her blanket tighter, looking off to the side, lips pouting.
“I’m not,” she tries (but fails) to mumble tiredly.
Jotaro chuckles softly.
“Nice try.”
“I’m not!” Jolyne exclaims as she does not push herself up, trying her best to defend her point. Jotaro just raises his brow, trying to fight a smile to form on his face as he watches her face fall, realizing that what she did just proved his point. She slowly sinks back into herself, laying on top of him to avoid his teasing gaze. She pouts.
“I am tired though, Dad.”
“Sure, your actions don’t show you are awake.”
“Shush!” Jolyne yells quietly because she knows that everyone is sleeping or trying to as she turns her head away from him, huffing.
Just as stubborn as him, huh?
Sometimes, he’s still blown away with how much she can act like him, never believing people whenever someone says she is a spitting image of him. Even though she got her green eyes just like her grandmother, he can see how everything else looks like him. From her eyebrows, lips, and hell, the scowl she has sometimes, it’s 100% from Jotaro. It actually puts him in awe when he thinks about it, not thinking he could love her more anymore than he does.
Though, it did plant a seed of worry in him.
What if she also has the same attitude as him?
As he stares at her right now, Jotaro can see that she does. There were signs of it where she can talk back to people (if they deserve it, of course) and him as well, amazed with the words that come out of her mouth. There are days where panic grows in his chest whenever he sees her smile when he curses or the glee in her eyes when a fight breaks out, even though she promised him to not get another one after the one in 4th grade.
Even with these actions, there are parts of her that remind him of when he was little. Jolyne loves staying outside for as long as she can, coming up to him on the warm summer day with the new butterfly she caught as they spent the entire day researching it and applying fresh paint on the wall of her room of the drawing they did of the creature. Her eyes going as wide as his did when he was little whenever she was ruinous about something, never letting it go until she had an answer, adding another fact to her brain. Finally, like now, where she pretended to make hersel sound sleepily to get off his back, just like he did whenever Mom caught him up late in the night reading a book.
For as heartwarming he finds their similarities to be, there is a real issue at hand.
“Why are you up, Jolyne?” Jotaro asks, putting a hand on her back. He has an idea from her skull burning stare as much as her confirmation of the idea will hurt. She slowly turns her head again, one eye peeking out as the other is covered by his chest from the way it lays on him. Silence falls between them, for the train’s wheels making the most noise outside from the tortoise. Jolyne grips on his black turtleneck tightly, brows furrowed deeply as she gets closer to him.
“You didn’t almost…. die again, did you?” Jolyne asks quietly, voice barely above the whisper. Her question sends him back to Morioh, feeling as helpless as he did in the hotel room as he tried his best to quell her cries.
(Jotaro hates how Morioh became her Egypt, changed forever by it. It breaks him to his core knowing this, wishing she could just be a 10 year old that saw stands as cute and harmless things, not the ones that bring fear to everyone, getting a step closer to the world he sees everyday.)
Jotaro knows Jolyne carries a guilt with her for not being there to stop Kira, just like the one he does with Kakyoin and Avdol. It’s evident with how anxious she gets if they are all alone for too long, shakily calling out for him as she desperately looks for him. Sometimes the thing that ground her the most is holding her hand tightly, signaling to her that he isn’t going anywhere. He takes her on almost every trip now, knowing that it’s better that she’s closer and plus, they're both more comfortable if they are together. Jotaro decided that when she’s older he can let her stay home on some of his trips because a phone call from him can be just as grounding. There are also days where she’ll believe he won’t be here and cry uncontrollably, those are the ones where he stays with the entire day, doing everything she wants to do on that day. It doesn’t matter what she picks as long as she sees that he’s staying, not only will it make her happy, but him as well, heart squeezing from affection to see her smile on those days.
Sometimes, it can even happen in the night and that’s what tonight it is.
Jotaro knows how reluctant Jolyne was to leave him alone and battle Prosciutto, sobbing in his pants when doing so. What got her to peel away from the clothing was his and Giorno’s promise of keeping the both of them safe, believing him after that. He tried his best to make sure he didn’t get a single cut or bruise or any life-threatening injury during that battle, but with how he almost tried to kill Mista and Bruno multiple times ….maybe he went a little overboard with his beating and got carried away to the point where the man could land some good punches on him.
(Still, the bruises he got from Prosciutto is nothing compared to what he got.)
Nonetheless, Jotaro still broke the promise of getting injuries and now it’s got Jolyne all twisted if anything else happened in the battle.
He brings his hand up to cup her cheek, rubbing it slightly, as she leans into it, eyes staring at him desperately. It makes his heart clench painfully, but he does try to put on a small reassuring smile.
“No, I didn’t,” Jotaro answers softly as he uses his other hand to point to the yellow injury on his cheek. “It’s just a bruise.”
Jolyne sinks deeper into herself, hand almost covering her face.
“But, what if it was not only a bruise.”
Jotaro shifts his arms to where he can grab onto Jolyne by the side, bringing her where they are both lying vertical again and he’s got her wrapped up in a hug. She snuggles closer to him, his heart beginning to break when he feels a wet spot form on his shirt.
It’s obvious she’s talking about him dying again, but he means it, it was just a bruise that was left behind.
“I mean it, butterfly. It was just a bruise.”
She stares up at him in disbelief, eyes wide.
“Just a bruise?”
“Just a bruise.”
She goes quiet as she stares off to the distance, him panicking about what could be going on in her little mind. As all the times these nights happen, he falls into the habit of rubbing her back, hoping the contact might snap her out of her daze. Instead, she looks up at him again, chin resting on top of his chest.
“But, I was not there,” Jolyne quivers out, voice wobbly. “I couldn’t be there to know if anything else happened.”
His answer is hugging her tighter, pressing a long kiss to her forehead, trying to convey everything he feels. When he lets go, he sinks down to her level, cupping both of her cheeks.
“Jolyne,” Jotaro starts off, using the softest voice he’s ever used, she blinks. “You don’t have to worry about be being alone.”
Jolyne squirms slightly in his hold, staring at the red cushioning as she grabs onto her blanket.
“Well, it’s just—the last time I left you alone—”
“Nothing like what happened in Morioh happened here, Jolyne,” Jotaro cuts her off, a pain he couldn’t even describe as he hears his daughter talk about a guilt that was out of her control. There are days where Jotaro just tries to figure out what he could have done differently at the clothing shop, preventing the way his daughter almost saw him perish. He knows he doesn’t regret saving Koichi’s life, knowing how grateful the man is for him doing that. What he does regret is Jolyne seeing the aftermath, kicking himself for it. The regrets stay with him all the time, but they are reminders of how he can be quick the next time this happens, allowing himself to make sure he’ll always come home to Jolyne, no matter how powerful the stand user is.
And right now, he has to show Jolyne that.
“I admit, Prosciutto had a strong stand, but ,” Jotaro emphasizes the last part because he can see the way Jolyne wilts at that statement, not even knowing that Kira popped in her head instantly at those words. He begins to rub her cheeks. “I was able to defeat him because of Mista and Bruno and Star, all helping him with figuring out the best way to get him.”
“Star’s time stop, too?” Jolyne adds helpfully, voice small.
It cracks a tiny smile from him.
“Yes, his time stop too.”
For the first time since the conversation started, Jolyne giggles, melting his inside instantly from it, pleased to see her happy again. He’s done his job reassuring her, but there is one more thing he has to tell her.
“They also helped him in defeating the stand user because of another thing, butterfly.”
Jolyne stares at him curiously, brow raised.
“What?”
“They all knew I had to come home to my daughter.”
Jolyne beams at that, a toothy smile breaking out on her face. For as quickly as it came, it was replaced by her jumping at him, making him stumble slightly. He catches her with his one arm, putting his head onto her shoulder as she does with her, not believing how much his heart fills with love for her at that moment.
“You’re the best, Dad.”
“I know.”
Jolyne giggles as she breaks away from him, focusing on the bruise on his cheek. Silence engulfs them as she blinks, green meeting blue again.
“So, just a bruise?”
“Yes,” Jotaro laughs quietly, amused by how the conversation seemed to have gone full circle. “Just a bruise.”
“Good.”
“Thank God you finally believe me.”
Jolyne gasps quietly, eyes as wide as saucers.
“Hey! My concerns were important!”
“I know, but it took you a while to convince you that all I got was a bruise.”
Jolyne grumbles to herself as Jotaro laughs softly, happy they are entering the normal way their conversations go. As the minutes went by, he watched as his daughter brought her hand up to start rubbing her eye, awning as well. She leans herself against him again, eyes half closed
“I’m tired, Dad,” Jolyne sleepily mumbles, truly sounding like it unlike before.
“Glad your actions show that this time.”
She grumbles weakly to herself, that being the signal for him to lower them both back onto the couch, grabbing each of their respective blankets to cover them. He places himself down first and then Jolyne, letting her grab onto her blanket to get the warmth she wants.
He expects to hear her soft snoring by now, instead he got her to talk to him again.
“Dad,” Jolyne says softly, opening her eyes a little bit to look at him. “Do you think Giorno can sleep with us tonight?”
It’s a question he has heard her ask a lot during this trip, almost every time they went to bed. Jolyne always goes into vivid details about the sleepovers she will have with the boy, making him do her hair and paint his nails as she talks to him about the lastest stand user they fought and bringing Gold Experience, teaching the both of them of the newest butterflies that we discovered. At the end she would tire herself out, not being able to ask him the question nor did Jotaro want to because he wants the boy to sleep, getting all the rest he can for the next day.
Though with today’s events, he’ll finally ask the question.
(Plus, it’ll show how much he considers his family now. He has been trying to do that all day, allowing to do things with Jolyne that he would never let the others do. He wants to show him that he sees him more than Dio’s son, but as Giorno Giovanna, his uncle and a family member he now loves.)
“Alright, I’ll ask Giorno.”
“Yay!” Jolyne excitedly exclaims even with how tired her voice sounds. With a small smile, he bends down and kisses Jolyne on the head, a grin forming on her face when doing so.
“Good night, butterfly. Love you, and I’m always going to be here, okay?”
“Okay, and love you too, Dad.”
Within seconds, Jolyne is out like a light, hearing the snores he expected to hear the first time around. He lifts himself up, scanning for the room until his eyes land on Giorno.
With the bags underneath the wide awake boy’s eyes, Jotaro knows maybe he needs some comforting too and maybe, a talk and a little sleepover can help with that.