Chapter Text
Kakyoin and Jotaro didn’t talk anymore.
Jotaro had tried, only once, to make contact and Kakyoin refused citing his “medical issues”.
Jotrao figured it had to do with Egypt. Kakyoin barely survived the trip, it would make sense he wasn’t well anymore. And he assumed it probably was more than physical wellness. Maybe it was just too difficult to see Jotaro right now.
He wasn’t really well enough to do most things either.
Jotaro kicked himself now, not even believing the phone call he just got.
Man, the Joestar men really had a knack for knocking people up.
Jotaro had a kid.
Him and Kakyoin…
He remembered the night. He thought about it all the time, he thought of Kakyoin’s touch, his voice, his kisses, his everything .
It was a night he wished for so long he could forget, but would think about, well into his marriage. He remembered replacing blonde hair with red, and blue eyes with purple.
How did he not know?
Why didn’t he tell him?
Why didn’t-
Jotaro wasn’t a deadbeat to one kid now, but to two.
At least with this one he had an excuse.
God, he felt like such an asshole.
A part of him wishes he could use Star Platinum, The World, to stop time forever and just sit and wallow in the person he had become.
But he couldn’t do that. He had someone to see.
He closed the car door, he couldn’t even fathom the idea of coming to Morioh to investigate another illegitimate Joestar.
He also couldn’t fathom the fact that Kakyoin had lived in Morioh circa 1999. How he had lived there when Jotaro visited. How he had never even noticed him.
Jotaro had a 14 year old. And he had a 7 year old.
Good fucking grief.
There was a part of him that wished everything could be different. That he and Kakyoin could’ve stayed in touch, maybe, and raised this kid together. That wasn’t to say he didn’t want Joylne to exist, she was the only good thing that came out of that marriage and he ruined any chance of a relationship with her a long time ago. But just like with her, he wished he could’ve been there for that kid.
Jouta .
Kakyoin had called him, clearly intoxicated, and said “I’m not calling you because I miss you. I need your help. Jouta has a stand, and it’s nothing like mine. He needs his dad. So get your ass over here.”
Jotaro stopped short and began to hyperventilate. This wasn’t happening. This wasn’t happening. This wasn’t happening.
But it was.
The next day he called Kakyoin again, using the Speedwagon Foundation to find his number.
“Kakyoin residence, this is Noriaki speaking.”
His voice startled Jotaro and he hung up.
What am I doing? I have to talk to him.
He called again.
“This is Noriaki Kakyoin, how can I help you?”
“Kakyoin…”
Kakyoin began to breathe heavily at Jotaro’s voice.
“Jotaro, I- uh, hello, it’s nice to hear from you. It’s been what? 10 years?”
“You called me last night, Kakyoin.”
“I’m sorry, Jotaro, I don’t seem to remember that. Would you mind telling me what it is we talked about?”
“Jouta.”
Jotaro could hear Kakyoin’s breath hitch. He knew the other man had gone pale.
“How did you-“
“You told me about him. He has a stand. I- Kakyoin I had no idea. I’m-I’m sorry.”
“Well don’t worry about it Jotaro. Jouta isn’t your son, I have no idea why I would call you about anything to do with him. Very sorry to bother you, I know you are busy. Goodbye.”
He hung up.
Jotaro knew Kakyoin was lying, so that’s why he had come to Morioh.
He took a deep breath as he knocked on the door.
Quickly someone opened it. Jotaro expected to see Kakyoin, but instead saw a small child with deep black hair and green eyes quite like his own.
“Dad! There’s a big man at the door!”
Jotaro heard footsteps and braved himself. After 14 years this was it.
“Jouta, how many times have I told you not to answer the door-“
He stopped short.
“Jo…Jotaro. Hello. Jouta, honey, please go to your room.”
“I’m sorry I opened the door-“
“You’re not in trouble, your dad just needs some time alone with the man at the door, okay?”
“Okay.” Jouta skulked away.
“Hi.” Jotaro said.
“I told you not to come here.”
“I had to be sure.”
“Well, you’ve seen him, you can leave now.”
“Kakyoin. He’s my son.”
“No he’s not-“
“Kakyoin. Don’t lie to me.”
“Look, I was going to tell you. When he was older. He’s still too young to understand what all of this means, but he’s old enough to understand that something is going on. He doesn’t need any more change in his life, alright?”
“But on the phone, you said-“
“I don’t know what I said, Jotaro, I don’t remember calling you. I must’ve had one too many glasses of Moscato.”
“That doesn’t change the fact that I can help you.”
“It’s too late for that.”
“Why didn’t you tell me sooner, then?”
“Because I…I cared about you Jotaro, more you cared about me-“
No, that wasn’t true…
“And when I found out, we were still in highschool, and I was scared. I wasn’t even going to keep him but there weren’t many safe avenues for that at the time. And then when he was born, I just, I couldn’t. You had graduated. You were going to college. It was our mistake, yes, but I couldn’t just dump it on you. And then as time went by you got married- and, and, you started your own family and I just couldn’t pull you away from that. I couldn’t ruin your life. So please, go back to your wife and kids, okay? You can visit again sometime if you like, but just go back to your family.”
“My ex-wife and I divorced two years ago. And she has full custody of our daughter Joylene.”
Kakyoin’s eyes widened, then he looked angry, “I’m sorry about that, but that doesn’t mean you get to start over. I’m not going to be your second chance. Jouta is not going to be your second chance.“
“No-I, Noriaki-“
“You don’t get to call me that. Goodbye Jotaro, it was..” he paused, “well, goodbye.”
The door slammed in his face.
Fuck.
At least Jotaro knew of some good bars in Morioh. He expected to get completely wasted and probably drunk call Marina and beg to talk to Jolyne. She’d hang up as soon as she heard it was him.
What he didn’t expect was Josuke and his crew to be there.
“Nephew? No way! What brings you back to Morioh?”
He sighed, not feeling remotely up to the overly-chipper interaction.
“Hello Josuke.”
Even just seeing the other illegitimate kid made him feel more shitty for his own illegitimate kid. Jesus. What had his life become?
He took a gulp of his drink. It wasn’t good, but it was strong enough to send him back to his hotel and crash to bed without thinking of red hair and purple eyes.
“Jotaro? Did you hear me?”
“Huh?”
“I asked you why you came back. Should we be worried about anything?”
Okuyasu nodded, “We kicked Kira’s ass last time and we’ll do it again!”
“Babe, we did more than kick his ass. That son of a bitch died, it’s gotta be someone else.”
Babe?
Oh Christ. Josuke and the dumbass kid were together now. Good lord. He expected it to happen, he saw himself and…someone…in them. But this was too soon. They didn’t get it yet. They were gonna make the same mistakes he had and the cycle would continue-
“Wanna refill?” The bartender asked, pulling him out of his crushing thought.
He just nodded as the other continued talking.
“Med schools whatever. It’s like ‘where’s the lymph nodes?’ I don’t know, just point to where it hurts and I’ll fix it.”
“Man I wish I had Crazy Diamond down at the shop. The Hand is helpful, sure, but I wanna keep the extra parts and not send them to some void.”
“At least you guys can use your stand in everyday life! Echos is kinda useless past a battle situation.”
They all nodded in agreement, and Jotaro just sat there. They had it all figured out didn’t they? They all knew what they wanted to be. They all knew what they were going to do.
He couldn’t sit there and listen to them complain about their perfect lives all the while watching his fall apart.
Before he knew it, he was out the door and in the parking lot. He reached in his coat and pulled out a pack of Marlboros and his lighter. Marina got it for him on their 2nd anniversary. It was supposed to be a joke, he was supposed to have quit. But of course seeing that lighter with both their names engraved on it wasn’t a reason to never pick up another cigarette, it was a motive.
But whatever. That was then, this was now. And of course the Speedwagon Foundation had got him a “no substance” hotel, which frankly he didn’t even know existed. It probably was his geriatric grandfather’s idea of getting him to quit. Joseph never had substance problems. He didn’t understand that you’ll find a way. He had tried to quit, once, a long time ago, but that didn’t work out so well. Jotaro figured if vampires and family curses didn’t kill him, then lung cancer probably would.
“You know that shits gonna kill ya. Why don’t I steal one off you, save you a couple hospital trips.”
Jotaro just glared at the woman. He didn’t know who she was, but he wanted her gone. He turned the other way and continued smoking.
“Jotaro, right? You’re Joseph’s grandson. I’m Tomoko.”
Oh. This was Josuke’s mother. The last thing Jotaro wanted was to talk with her right now, the poster child for Joestar mistakes. He felt sorry for her. He felt sorry for Noriaki.
“How about that cigarette, huh?”
Pity got the best of him and he handed one over.
“What brings you back? Don’t tell me there’s another kid you gotta investigate?” She laughed, but Jotaro didn’t say anything.
“Shit, is there?”
Jotaro took another drag.
“Damn, I thought I was the only one. Ha. Who’s the lucky lady?”
“Noriaki.” Jotaro finally answered, he just wanted to say his name. Just wanted to admit to his mistakes to one person.
“Nori- wait I know that kid. He’s the, uh, thirty something with the kid. His son just started middle school.”
Jotaro looked at her, “What? Join the PTO once and they never let you leave.”
Jotaro chuckled, slightly at that, and Tomoko sighed.
“I feel sorry for him though. When did he even meet Joseph? Didn’t know he swung that way.”
“Jouta isn’t Joseph’s son.”
“What? Then whose kid is he?”
“He’s mine.”
Tomoko made a face and took a drag of her cigarette and winced as she inhaled too much smoke.
“You probably think I’m a bad mom sitting outside a bar smoking with a stranger. But my Josuke is in there right now and I just- I’m not a helicopter mom, I’m not, it’s just he has a problem with getting into fights. One comment about his hair and he flies off the handle. I just don’t want him getting into any trouble. I don’t want him getting hurt. I made sure he could always take care of himself but, I can’t have anything happen to my son. He’s all I have.”
A tear prickled on Tomoko’s eye and something inside Jotaro wanted to cry too.
“I’m-sorry. That sounds difficult.”
“Thank you, and thanks for the cigarette.”
Jotaro nodded and he continued on to his car.
He didn’t think Tomoko was a bad mother. It just solidified further that he was a horrible father. Tomoko loved Josuke more than anything. And Jotaro…he loved Jolyne, he cared for her deeply. He just didn’t know how to show it. And he wanted to love Jouta, god knows the kid deserved it, but it felt wrong, somehow. Like loving Jouta was loving Kakyoin and he promised himself he wouldn’t do that anymore.
In the altar when he said ‘I do.’ At the hearing when he realized he would almost never see Jolyne anymore. On the phone when he heard his voice for the first time in 14 years.
He promised he wouldn’t love Kakyoin, Noriaki , any longer.
Jotaro had never been good at keeping promises though, you could ask anyone in his life.
Noriaki knew better than anyone.