Chapter Text
There are days when Jotaro can’t sleep a wink, just staring at the ceiling with fear gripping his heart tightly.
It’s usually once a week, but it’s the one day he dreads the most.
He had experienced this before in Egypt, where he just woke up with sweat dripping down his forehead as he tried to calm himself down, trying to get rid of the horrible and vivid nightmare of Mom dying. The nightmares of her death were something he couldn’t handle, just closing his eyes to see her too pale skin almost made him throw up and holding back as he watched her stand slowly die away, confirming him that the worst that has happened.
The only method that seemed to work was just staring at the ceiling in the cheap hotel, hoping to get rid of the nightmare as fast as possible before Kakyoin got up and helped him go back to sleep with no dreams.
The only difference is now instead of Holly, it’s Jolyne.
Those do successfully make him vomit because just standing there in blue waters of the ocean as he sees the life drain away from his daughter sends him over the edge, never feeling so heavy with grief when he wakes up, shaking as he wheezes to calm himself down.
Jotaro knows deep down in his fucking core that he made the right choice with staying with Jolyne because he’s so happy just being her father, but the fear of Dio or Dio’s goons coming after her is something that he hasn’t quite letten go of. He knows it is a reasonable fear because he is the one to kill Dio and they do want their revenge at one point, but he’s always so afraid they are going to go after Jolyne first . There are days where he can’t stop looking over his shoulder just to make sure no one is after them, Jolyne grabbing his hand tightly with a soft look as she mouths to him, “we’re okay,” is the thing that finally makes him stop.
Jotaro only does this because he wants to make sure he protects her from everything , making sure Dio never has to affect her like he did with him.
So, it was only a matter of time before the nightmares changed from Mom to Jolyne, making him feel as if everything he feared would happen, did .
This is the nightmare.
Everytime he has this one, it always makes him scream bloody murder, having to muffle it when he wakes up, hoping Jolyne would not notice what happened to him. It’s the one where he’s in the ocean, standing there as he watches the knives impale Jolyne’s skin, eyes widening the moment one of them enters her throat with his hand trying to reach towards it, inches away from touching it but realizes he’s too late.
And there’s a deep loud voice booming in the background telling him he’s two seconds too late and feels the worst pain of his entire life as he watches his daughter’s body fall limp into the ocean, the scream ready to tore out of him and that’s when he wakes up, hand over his mouth with tears down his eyes, laying himself down for a couple of minutes before he goes to check on Jolyne, relief flooding through his system when he sees her sleeping, chest rising and falling at an even pace.
It’s what’s happening right now, staring at the ceiling, breathing heavily as the urge goes by the minute, his mind now screaming at him to go to Jolyne’s room to see if she is okay.
Jotaro gives into that urge quickly and shoves the covers off of him, not even caring how much of a mess it looks before walking across the wooden floor, not even caring about the creaking it makes as all he hears in his mind is Jolyne, Jolyne, Jolyne .
(He’s never been more thankful for having her room so close to his, easy to spot with the amount of posters covering it, almost making him believe that it is no longer a door.
Just knowing how close she is already puts his mind at ease, knowing that if anything did happen, Jotaro would only be a few feet away from her and be the one to make sure nothing happens to her.)
With 10 steps, he is in front of Jolyne’s room, taking a deep, shuddering breath to get rid of the image of her dead body, trying to ground himself back to reality by gripping onto the golden, plastic handle, just imagining his daughter sleeping to get that out of his mind. The coolness of it sets the picture out his mind a little, knowing he’s just one step closer to his goal.
As quietly as he can, Jotaro cracks open the door, making sure that not a lot of light seeps into the room, disturbing his daughter’s peaceful sleep. He peeks his head into the green area, eyes scanning for Jolyne, until he lands on it and sees what he always does whenever he does this.
Jolyne is sound asleep, bundled up like she is inside a cocoon with her three blankets with her soft snores filling up the room, enjoying her time in her dream land.
A small smile forms on his face when seeing this, eyes softening as the relief surges through him, making him feel lighter than he did before, the fear slowly slipping away from him.
For as quick as the relief comes, so does his realization that he needs to leave.
Jolyne deserves the sleep she needs, so he has to go.
Though, he does have something else to do before he slips back into his bed.
“Love you, butterfly,” Jotaro quietly says as he slowly brings the door towards him. He is only able to close it halfway through before he stops, ears perking up when he hears the shuffling of blankets and a small groan, turning his attention back to her.
“That again?” Jolyne whispers out to him, voice thick with sleep. It melts his heart hearing that as he opens the door again, giving her a small nod.
Jolyne always woke up whenever he experiences nights like this, no matter how many times he tried not to. It doesn’t matter how late it is or how deep she is sleeping, his daughter always wakes up and knows what’s wrong. Without a word, she usually gets up and gives him a tight hug, telling him everything he needs to know and the fear completely disappears from his system. After that, he’d give her a kiss on the top of her head and they both went back to bed, Jotaro watching her fall asleep before he went back into his room.
It’s what he expects next to happen, waiting for her tiny arms to wrap around his waist.
The only thing is, that doesn’t happen.
Instead, she stumbles out of her bed, walking up towards him with her messy green bangs in front of her face. She grabs onto his large, rough hand. She pulls on it and Jotaro doesn’t move, surprise coloring his face.
“What are you doing?” Jotaro asks, confused by her actions. As much as he knows it will boost Jolyne’s ego if he admits this, but he always looks forward to the hug she gives him.
She blinks before giving him a deadpanned look, one she has been getting better at as the years go by.
“Taking you to my bed.”
“Why?”
“I know it will make you feel better.”
(His heart tightens with affection when hearing that. His daughter is the most amazing person, huh?)
Jotaro doesn’t say another word as she drags him towards her green bed, passing by all her books and drawing stuff, until they reach her sheets. There, Jolyne lets go of his hand, her que of him getting in. He climbs on top of it making sure to give her enough room as possible as he leans against the cold wall, bringing his feet up for the too small bed for him. Jotaro looks up at her, mouth open, but she crawls back into her bed, grabbing her blanket and throwing on top of them and curling into his chest. Jotaro stares at her curiously.
“Are you sure you want to do this? I don’t think you can fit.”
Jolyne covers his mouth with her hand, giving him a meaningful look.
“Stay, please. I want you to stay,” she explains as she looks up at him with a small smile.”And I know you sleep better knowing I am here.”
(It’s funny, because it’s what he always says whenever she has these nights like him too, that hearing “I’m here,” even with the other words coming out of his mouth, being enough for him.
He gets how comforting “I’m here” is now.)
Jolyne removes her hand right after, closing her eyes soon after. He gives her a gentle kiss to the forehead, wrapping his arms around her, quietly whispering, “thank you, butterfly,” as a happy hum is slipped out by his daughter.
As Jotaro feels the way the drowsiness overtakes him, making it hard to keep his eyes open, he comes to one realization.
For the first time in a while, they’re getting the sleep they both deserve.