The Other Side of Life

by Eric_Cartwoman

Summary:

Part 4, except Joseph isn’t the only person on that boat.

Jotaro Kujo, still suffering from Dio related PTSD, has to learn to care for the Son of Dio- Giorno Giovanna, who is placed under his care while in Morioh.

Notes:

This is just an idea I had. Also, it’s finals week so I needed a stress outlet. Enter, Dadtaro and baby Giorno.

Rated T because of Giorno’s canon backstory.

This is my first fic! Title based on the song by The Moody Blues.

Chapter 1: First Impressions

Meeting with that Speedwagon Foundation member, back to back on a bench overlooking Morioh’s stunning beaches, had gone almost exactly as Jotaro had expected it to. He got confirmation that Joseph would be coming by boat to use his Hermit Purple and locate the killer they were after. However, what the SPW told him shortly before he got up to leave was completely unexpected.

”Joseph will have a kid with him. We found him not so long ago, in Italy. He’s the son of Dio Brando. Joseph wants you to watch him, make sure he’s not dangerous.”

Jotaro had to take a second to process that. Too many seconds. He could feel his heart beating faster at the very thought. Tomorrow, the son of Dio would arrive in the Morioh Harbor, and Jotaro was supposed to decide whether he was dangerous or not. Jotaro listened as the man from the Speedwagon Foundation stood up and left with no further clarification, clearly this wasn’t something up for debate. Jotaro… would be the only one able to handle if the boy had a Stand anywhere near as powerful as The World.

And if the kid did… Jotaro wouldn’t have room to mess around with detaining him. Maybe, if he’s as evil as Dio, killing him. But they hadn’t mentioned anything about him being a vampire. Jotaro just had to hope that Joseph would have more information for him when his boat arrived.

-

Of course, Akira Otoishi attacked them before the boat docked, and Josuke was able to defeat him. That didn’t calm Jotaro’s nerves in the slightest, however, because he knew that there may be one more enemy to fight. He stood next to Josuke in the harbor, both silent with anticipation of meeting their estranged relatives. Jotaro should say something to him, try to make him less nervous about meeting Joseph, because Jotaro knows him personally- but, well… Jotaro wouldn’t exactly call Jiji an upstanding citizen, and with how senile he’s become, Josuke has a right to be nervous.

When the Speedwagon crew lowers the ramp from the top of the boat, Jotaro is greeted by the familiar sight of his frail grandfather shuffling down it, cane in hand. When Josuke just stands there stunned, Jotaro takes it upon himself to offer Joseph a hand to help- but instead of taking Jotaro’s hand, Joseph reaches behind himself and takes a much smaller one, from someone just stepping onto the ramp. A small boy, with black hair in a bowl cut, who couldn’t be older than ten years old. But Jotaro can see it in his face, even if he’s still a child.

That’s Dio’s son. The eyes, the face— even if the boy looks completely neutral, if anything a little scared— an expression Dio never wore— Jotaro could see the resemblance. And it immediately made his shoulders tense and his eyes narrow.

“Is that…?”

Jotaro had completely forgotten Josuke was here. But he looked almost disgusted at what he was seeing. Almost. Mostly just confused. Maybe it never set in that his father was THAT old. Jotaro shakes his head, lowering his hat over his eyes.

”Give me a break… Yeah, that’s your old man.” He raises a hand to get Joseph’s attention, “Jiji. Long time no see.”

Joseph’s eyes go from the boy holding his hand to Jotaro as he takes his last step off the ramp, “Jotaro, wow, you’ve gotten old! I-“ he stops talking suddenly when the boy rips his hand away from him, “Oh, did I squeeze too hard? Agh, I swear Holly wasn’t this touchy at your age, kid…”

Jotaro looks down, meeting eyes with the boy. The kid doesn’t respond to Joseph, and Jotaro finally gets why. The kid… looks Japanese. Does he even speak English like Joseph? Jotaro frowns, looking closer at the kid. Japanese, about ten years old, but small. Smaller than a kid his age should be. This is going to be a rough few weeks for Jotaro, but probably rougher for the kid.

…Tough luck. He’s Dio’s son, he’s got a lot more problems down the road than just some language barriers.

Josuke says something to Joseph, which pulls their attentions away, but this kid won’t stop looking at Jotaro, so Jotaro doesn’t break eye contact. It’s like he’s staring down Dio again— Blinking might make him miss a time stop.

The boy speaks to him in Italian first, his voice so low Jotaro almost can’t tell that’s what he was saying at all, but when Jotaro’s eyes narrow in confusion, the boy tries again— just as quiet, but this time, in Japanese.

”…You knew my father.”

Jotaro’s jaw clenches, “Yeah. What about it?”

The kid lowers his head, like he did something wrong. He doesn’t say anything else, and Joseph cuts in after he sees them looking at each other quietly and not saying anything, “Jotaro, that’s Giorno. Giorno Giovanna, from Italy. He’s staying with you for a while. You know why, right? Don’t fight me about this.”

Jotaro rolls his eyes, “Trust me, I know. Don’t expect me to be his freaking foster dad though, got it?”

Joseph scoffs, “Didn’t expect you to. You’re just the only one who can. Nobody knows what to do with him otherwise. I can tell you more about him later.” And Jotaro gets it. Not in front of Josuke. So it must be bad, like the kid is a vampire, or has The World as a Stand, or is just a freaking nuisance to deal with or something.

Just like way back in the day, when Joseph and Avdol took Jotaro to a cafe to discuss Dio, Joseph asks Jotaro where the nearest place to get a coffee and chat is, and they go sit. Joseph, Jotaro, and this Giorno, who hasn’t said a word since he asked about his father and was shut down.

Joseph’s hands are shaky in his old age, but he manages to hand Jotaro the information the SPW gave him to Jotaro, in a Manila folder that Jotaro opens and starts scanning through while Joseph talks.

”My Hermit Purple got an image of him not too long ago, so the foundation followed the lead and looked into him. His name is Giorno, he’s ten, and his mother is Japanese. His father is Dio, but he never knew him. Instead, he had a stepfather who he recently moved to Italy with. …What they found is in the folder.”

As Jotaro looks it over, he immediately puts the abuse together. Seeing the pictures of the house Giorno was living in, and seeing the kid beside Joseph now— plus the record of all the injuries the boy had on intake. And now he’s across the globe once again, no mom, no dad, just this senile stranger and Jotaro. Jotaro starts to feel a little bad for being skeptical about the kid, but Joseph just keeps talking.

”He’s got a Stand already, that much we can tell. No clue what its ability is, but it’s called Gold Experience. The foundation… also ran a blood sample. Got some concerning results. He’s definitely Dio’s kid, and because of the whole body-snatching thing, he’s half Joestar, too. The kid’s technically my uncle. Isn’t that messed up?” He laughs, trying to get a joke out of this, but Jotaro is just appalled at what he’s reading.

He has the blood test results in front of him, and the kid is undeniably vampiric. But only half so. Jotaro glances at Giorno, who he realizes still can’t understand any of what’s being said, and is just sitting with his hands in his lap and his eyes trained on the cafe table.

Jotaro sighs heavily, “Alright, so what am I supposed to do? Just let him follow me around, feed him, make sure he’s not going to kill anyone?”

Joseph nods, grinning at Jotaro like this is no big deal, “Exactly! Plus, figure out what his Stand does. That’s it. You’ve just got to make the call whether we bring him back to his parents or… you know. Whether he’s too dangerous for that.”

Jotaro clenches his jaw as Joseph flags a waiter to pay for their coffee like he didn’t just tell Jotaro he might have to kill this kid. Jotaro looks at Giorno again, who seems even less like he’s… present in the conversation. His eyes are all but glazed over. He just looks… defeated. Jotaro recognizes that look. It’s the one he saw on Polnareff, when they were all recovering in Egypt, and Avdol and Kakyoin were on his mind. Probably the same look Jotaro still has on his worse days.

Jotaro talks quietly to him, in a language he understands, “I’m Jotaro Kujo. You’re staying with me for a while.”

Giorno just nods. Not a conversationalist, Jotaro guesses. That’s perfectly fine with him.

”Alright, well, I’ve got a beautiful son to reconnect with! Play nice, Jotaro!” Jotaro blinks, watching Joseph stand and start shuffling away, “I’ll see you soon to check up on him! Staying in town for a while.” And with that, Joseph is gone. And Giorno is staring at the door like a lost puppy.

“…Come on. You’re tired, right?”

Giorno stares at him blankly. There’s no right answer to that question. Jotaro sighs and stands, which makes Giorno tense.

“I’ll take you to my hotel. You can sleep on the couch.”

-

The taxi ride to the Grand Morioh Hotel was completely silent, but Jotaro did have one observation of Giorno’s behavior. He moves like he’s trying to take up as little space as possible. Like if he’s unnoticeable, he’s invisible. And Jotaro can’t place how disgusted that makes him.

He doesn’t say anything, either, though, just gets out of the taxi, takes Giorno up the elevator, and into his hotel room. It’s basically a one bedroom apartment, paid for by the SPW, so Jotaro is hoping the kid won’t feel too out of place. Those hopes go out the window as soon as he opens the door for Giorno, though, and the kid just stands in the center of the room and looks out the massive window facing the sea.

Jotaro leaves him there, going off the grab one of the blankets and pillows off his bed, throwing them on the couch. The throwing motion gets a flinch out of Giorno (what doesn’t?) but Jotaro keeps moving around the room like he didn’t see it.

He’s never dealt with someone like this before. Never even dealt with his own child. …What would his ex-wife say, knowing he’s got a different child to watch, but not his own?

Jotaro goes off to the sink to fill up a glass of water for Giorno, and when he returns to the window, he finds Giorno has gotten much closer to it, his hands on the glass, looking down at the cars pulling in and out of the parking lot. Jotaro tries not to scare him this time, standing next to him to watch whatever he’s watching, trying to seem interested as well.

”…Which side of the road do you drive on in Italy, is it different?”

Giorno nods slowly, prying his eyes away from the view to keep an eye on Jotaro. Jotaro holds the glass of water out to him.

”Here. You can keep watching. I don’t give a damn.” He turns back to the window, and is pleased when he sees Giorno in his peripheral vision do the same, the glass of water in both hands.

Jotaro watches the waves on the ocean instead of the cars, staying quiet. He’s met enough people as closed off as Giorno (himself included) to know that the first step to getting through to him is to make him realize that Jotaro isn’t a threat.

…When did that become the goal? When he saw Giorno and realized how young he is? When he read his file and realized that he’s further removed from Dio than Jotaro himself, who shares his Stand ability, is?

Jotaro looks down at Giorno again, watching his eyes move around outside until they settle on the horizon— the waves. Just like where Jotaro’s eyes are drawn. And right then, Jotaro decides that he’s going to get through to Giorno and he’s going to make him loosen up and be a kid again.

”…Beaches are nice in Morioh. We can go down there tomorrow, if you want. I’ve got stuff to do there anyways.”

Giorno glances at him, scans his face like he’s trying to discern whether he’s telling the truth or not, then nods slightly, turning back to the window with the smallest of smiles on his expression.

Chapter 2: The Beach

Notes:

An update within the week? Will she ever slow down?

Yet to be seen, I think.

This one was meant to have more content, but the writing got away from me and I spent more time in one place than I originally expected. For the better, I think.

Enjoy

The first night with Giorno in his hotel goes about as well as Jotaro expected it to when he left the kid to go to bed. He had left Giorno glued to that window, watching the sun set, and told him shortly to sleep when he got tired.

It seemed like Giorno didn’t do that. It seemed like he wasn’t even in the hotel anymore when Jotaro got up to look for him.

Jotaro found the makeshift bed on the couch undisturbed. He swore under his breath, thinking Giorno had run away in the night, eyes widening at the thought of him being gone. Him being loose.

Had he overlooked something? Was Giorno acting shy yesterday just to slip away? To make Jotaro let his guard down?

There was a logical part of his brain that knew that wasn’t true, and didn’t make any sense- but his heart started racing nonetheless. The Son of Dio was missing, one night after Jotaro was tasked with keeping an eye on him. He tore through the hotel, checking the kitchenette, every closet, his own bedroom as if the kid had slipped in there overnight— he checked the bathroom last. When he ripped the shower curtain back, he found him.

Giorno was sitting in the bathtub, his legs pulled up close to his chest, staring at Jotaro like he just witnessed a murder. And with a slice of bread from the cabinet in his hands.

Jotaro blinks slowly, sighing heavily to calm his racing heart, “Good grief. Just hiding in here the whole time, were you?”

Giorno just starts trembling in response. Jotaro frowns, stunned for a second. Shit, he scared the kid, and now Giorno probably thinks he’s about to get his ass kicked or something.

”…Hey. It’s alright. I don’t…mind you hiding in here or anything.” Jotaro kneels down, eventually settling on just sitting on the bathroom tile next to the tub, facing the same way as Giorno so he’s not even looking at him. He thinks he’s figured it out, it’s his height that scares him so bad, and his voice probably, too.

Jotaro wonders how tall Giorno’s stepdad is, and what he sounds like.

Giorno swallows pretty loudly, he’d frozen in fear in the middle of chewing a bite of his stolen bread. His eyes are locked onto the side of Jotaro’s head, watching for movement, or for any indication he’s about to do something. Jotaro pulls his hat down further over his eyes, not great at carrying a conversation, “I’ve still got to go down to the beach today, and you’ve still got to come with me. That’s today's plan. …So you can get yourself ready for that. We’ll get a real breakfast, too.” Is just narrating through what they’re going to do today helping? Jotaro’s got a thing for schedules, so he just assumes if it’s helpful for him, it’ll be helpful for Giorno. Knowing what he’s going to do ahead of time helps Jotaro get through the day without thinking too hard about being alive at all.

And it does seem to at least have Giorno listening to him, instead of just watching in fear and letting everything go in one ear and out the other. So Jotaro continues.

”…Yeah. Breakfast, beach, maybe go get you some clothes. Probably a good idea. Then back here for lunch, I’ve got work to do…” Jotaro glances at Giorno, who quickly looks away and stops staring. “Sound good to you? Could always stay home if you wanted to-”

Giorno gives him a quick head shake. Jotaro clicks his tongue, “Beach it is.” He stands up, fixing his hat again out of habit and opening the bathroom door to step out, “Come out when you’re ready to-” Giorno is up and out of the tub in an instant to go down to the beach, which makes Jotaro raise his eyebrows, “Fine, we’ll just go now. Breakfast first, though, you’re skinny as hell.”

It takes him way too long to catch his language, and by then, it’s too late. Whatever, the kid is the son of the world’s worst vampire and has been through hell. He’s got to know a few swear words already.

Giorno trails along at a pretty good pace to Jotaro. He stays so close to his leg, Jotaro is scared he’s going to kick him. They both keep their eyes down when they walk, though- Jotaro because he thinks the worst feeling in the world is making eye contact with strangers, and Giorno because he’s trying to stay in Jotaro’s shadow.

Together, they just look so similar, it’s easy to tell they’re related.

Jotaro manages to get Giorno to eat breakfast, and tries his best to start a few conversations, but the kid seems selectively mute at best. So Jotaro just lets them both eat in silence, the way he prefers it anyways. Giorno doesn’t eat a lot, at all, but it’s something— although it does make him look a little ill. Jotaro frowns. Maybe letting him get such a sugary breakfast was a bad idea, but he had been staring at the strawberry pancakes on the menu way too intensely for Jotaro to tell him no.

Jotaro slowed his pace a little for Giorno on the walk down to the beach, because the kid looked pale and uncomfortable, but clearly still determined to make it down to the water. And it was worth it. The beaches in Morioh blow Jotaro away every time he stands on the shore, it’s a perfect place to research for his thesis. Which is exactly why he needed to bring Giorno down here— any spare day in Morioh where there’s no Stand user to be seen is one that needs to be spent on his doctoral thesis. The Morioh starfish are perfect for that.

Giorno stands in the sand, breathing a bit heavily from the trek, but Jotaro keeps on walking until he’s close to where the waves hit the sand. He kneels down, takes his shoes off, rolls his pant legs up, and steps in to wade through the water and look for starfish.

Watching from afar at first, Giorno just stands there, debating his options. He can stay back, and stay out of Jotaro’s way…

Or he could go stand in the water, which is everything he ever dreamed it would be.

He very quickly chooses the second option, and copies Jotaro exactly, leaving his shoes next to Jotaro’s in a perfect line and running to the water to catch up. He stands at Jotaro’s side, trying to see what he’s looking at as he walks through the water with his head down to mirror him. Eventually, Jotaro catches on.

“It’s high tide right now, so all the tide pools are under water. That’s where the fish are.”

Giorno looks up at him, then back to the water, clearly searching to find what Jotaro’s talking about. After a little wading, Jotaro stops, and Giorno sees it. A spot in front of them where the water is deeper, a dip in the rocks, and Giorno’s eyes light up seeing colorful organisms fill the space. Jotaro kneels down to see closer, pants already wet from the small, rolling waves, and Giorno kneels next to him.

”See that?” Jotaro speaks with his normal neutral tone, even though he’s talking to a ten year old. He rolls up his sleeve and reaches into the tide pool, grabbing something and pulling it up closer to the surface of the water, but not out of it, “Starfish. I’ve got to find these and take pictures of them.”

While he pulls out a small camera to take a picture of the starfish, Giorno watches in awe. Jotaro is about to put the creature back when Giorno speaks, softly like always.

”…Can I hold it?”

Jotaro raises his eyebrows, “Sure. Give me your hands.” Giorno holds out his hands under the surface of the water, and Jotaro sets the starfish in them. He watches as Giorno holds his breath, watching the animal with wide eyes.

Giorno eventually parts with the starfish, setting it back where it came from, but he’s not looking at Jotaro. He’s got a look in his eye like he’s got a plan. It’s not something Jotaro’s ever seen from him, and he’s not sure how to feel about it.

”…What’s that look for, kid?”

Giorno digs around in the rocks until he finds one about the size of his hand, picking it up. That’s when he calls on his Stand.

Jotaro’s jaw clenches on pure reflex, almost triggering Star Platinum just because he’s so jumpy. He’s got to get that under control, before he ends up yelling Ora and punching some innocent person into the ground by pure accident.

Gold Experience is small, just as small as Giorno is. He’s a golden stand with insect eyes, wearing what looks like a bike helmet on his head. A perfect Stand for a kid like Giorno. When Jotaro scrutinizes it for too long, Giorno catches his attention, “…You can see him?”

When Jotaro nods, he sees a million questions flood into Giorno's mind. It’s like he can see the gears turning. Jotaro sighs, calling out Star Platinum, who kneels beside him in the same position he’s in. Giorno’s eyes just about pop out of their sockets.

”I’ve got one, too. They’re called Stands. Never seen anybody else’s before?”

Giorno shakes his head, looking Star Platinum over in wonder.

It reminds Jotaro of Kakyoin. He’d confided in Jotaro in a hotel in Egypt, laying in their beds late at night, exhausted from Stand battle after Stand battle. Jotaro remembers what the hotel ceiling looked like in the dark in picturesque detail. He remembers Kakyoin’s voice even more vividly.

”When I was young, I thought I was the only one in the world with a Stand. I thought… how could anyone ever understand? How could anybody see the real me if they couldn’t see my Hierophant Green? But when you saved me that day… I wasn’t alone anymore. That’s why I chose to come with you, and Mr Joestar, and Avdol. And now Polnareff, and Iggy. I couldn’t have asked for better people to face Death with, Jotaro.”

At the time, Jotaro hadn’t thought much of it. He had told Kakyoin that he was glad someone their age was with them, that he wouldn’t be able to stand Jiji and Polnareff that long without Kakyoin there. But he hadn’t understood the loneliness Kakyoin had felt.

Not until he saw his corpse in that water tower did he truly understand what Kakyoin meant when he said he was alone.

Jotaro had never been truly alone until the moment everyone left him.

Until he let everyone die.

”…Jotaro Kujo?”

Jotaro blinks rapidly, pulled from his thoughts by Giorno calling him by his full name. He lowers his head, surprised he got pulled into thoughts like that right now, of all times. He swallows, “…Just call me Jotaro. Everyone does.”

”…Okay. Jotaro. Your Stand is crying.”

Jotaro blinks rapidly, looking over at Star Platinum. He is. Jotaro’s eyes are dry, but Star Platinum has tears streaking down its cheeks. Jotaro pulls his hat down over his eyes. Get it together, not here.

Something presses against his hand, so he opens his eyes to look. Giorno is putting the rock in his hand, so he opens his fist to let Giorno set it on his palm. Then Gold Experience reaches over, and touches the rock. Jotaro watches as the rock twists into a perfect copy of the starfish Giorno just put back in the water.

Jotaro blinks, “…That’s it’s ability? It copies things?”

Giorno just watches him, and Star Platinum leans over his shoulder to get a better look. The starfish isn’t just a copy, because it starts to move in his hand. It’s alive.

”You…made a starfish. A living starfish.”

Giorno nods, and Gold Experience reaches over again, turning the starfish into a small bird that flies out of Jotaro’s hand and towards the shore. Jotaro looks at Giorno, eyes slightly wide.

”It makes animals. When I want it to. My favorites are frogs.”

Jotaro blinks again, trying to catch up with that. Giorno’s stand can make living things, it can bring objects like rocks to life. Jotaro figures if he can use it right, it can be pretty formidable. But the kid only seems interested in making frogs, he’s ten. It’s the most ten year old thing Jotaro has seen him do.

”…Pretty impressive, kid. This is Star Platinum. He can hit hard.”

Giorno seems to understand, “I call mine Gold Experience.”

Even though Jotaro has heard Jiji call it that already, he nods as if it’s new information. He extends Star Platinum's hand to Gold Experience, who shakes it robotically. Jotaro nods to Giorno again, “It’s nice to meet him.”

He stands up, realizing they’ve been kneeling near this tide pool for a long time. Even though he could stay there all day, he’s got to get more than one picture today, “Come on. Help me find another starfish. And don’t just make one, you’ll skew my data.”

Jotaro tries to keep his mind off of Egypt as they wade through the water and pick up sea life. He tries to get absorbed in Giorno’s excitement, who seems to have finally gotten comfortable, fishing around for starfish on his own and holding them up in the air confidently when he finds one, running it over to Jotaro to photograph. But it’s too late, he’s been reminded of everything he tried to forget, and now it’ll linger with him for the rest of the day at least.

He wonders if the feeling of cold, rushing water he feels standing in the ocean is the same feeling Kakyoin felt on his skin when he breathed his last breath in that water tower.

Notes:

:(

Bittersweet, I think. This one practically wrote itself.

Like always, I like to hear your thoughts. They motivate me to write more.

Chapter 3: Rohan Kishibe, Babysitter

Notes:

I moved out to a remote biological station, so, sorry for the chapter delay. I’m settled in now, so we should get back to regular programming shortly.

As for this chapter, I hope you’re all as obsessed with Rohan as I am. If not, then I hope you can at least see the value in having Heaven’s Door as a good way to air some of the things Jotaro and Giorno just never talk about, because they’re both so quiet.

This chapter has some mentions of blood, so be warned.

It turned out to be easier to get into a groove with Giorno than Jotaro expected. The kid had a natural inclination to be quiet, just like Jotaro, and he always kept up with him wherever Jotaro went. Giorno became a hit among the teenagers helping to search for Yoshikage Kira, and a much needed change of pace for Jotaro some days.

But that was the current problem. Yoshikage Kira.

It felt as if stand users never stopped appearing in Morioh. Day after day, there was always another one to fight, including today. But the real problem was Yoshikage Kira’s escape after dealing severe damage to both Jotaro and Koichi, and killing that woman from the beauty parlor.

Every one of them took that loss heavily. They’d lost two lives now in pursuit of Kira, and they were still no closer to discovering whose identity he had stolen to escape. Even with Rohan on the case, seemingly always tied up investigating, there was no progress.

Jotaro had to get out there and take it into his own hands. But after Shigechi’s murder, and this most recent one, Jotaro was not about to endanger Giorno by taking him out to follow leads.

He’d never left Giorno alone before, since the kid was always so set on following him everywhere, and because he is still supposed to be keeping an eye on him for signs of his father’s genes… but Giorno had never shown any signs of vampirism, and Gold Experience has never done more than grow a ridiculous amount of flowers. It seemed the only thing Giorno had really gotten from his father was that one word, “useless,” which Jotaro still flinched every time he heard, but he honestly thinks Giorno just picked that up from his stepfather or something.

Giorno is still ten years old, though, and Jotaro can’t just leave him alone in the Morioh Grand Hotel all day. He had to find a babysitter.

And he only trusted one other adult in this town.

If he could even call it trust. It’s more like he knows that the man operates for his own good, and that with a threat from Star Platinum, he’ll know it’s in his best interest to do what Jotaro says.

Jotaro goes to the mangaka’s house early in the morning, making sure to knock loud enough to wake the man up if he’s still sleeping— and Jotaro gets the impression Rohan Kishibe sleeps late into the morning, but maybe that’s because he just has a bad impression of this man in general.

Rohan is quick to answer the door, though, and looks put together enough for Jotaro to assume that his assumption was wrong. Rohan, however, doesn’t look particularly happy about the intrusion, “Dr. Kujo, I hope for your sake that you have a good explanation for showing up unannounced.”

Jotaro has to bite back a good grief. He’s asking for a favor, after all, “I’m not a doctor yet. Just Jotaro is fine. Do you have plans today?” While it’s phrased like a question, Jotaro Kujo has always been told it’s hard to tell when he’s asking or telling— apparently his voice just doesn’t carry much emotion. Ever.

Rohan looks suspicious immediately, “Of course I do. Mangas don’t write themselves, killers don’t catch themselves, I’m very busy.”

Jotaro could not care less, “Clear your schedule. I’ll take over the investigation today. I need a favor.”

Rohan rolls his eyes, crossing his arms and leaning on the doorframe. He looks up at Jotaro with a look that just screams that he’s not even going to consider what Jotaro has to say, “I refuse.”

Jotaro is equally stubborn, “You’re going to watch Giorno. I’ll bring him over in an hour. You’re the only adult he doesn’t freak out around and your Stand can handle an emergency. I’ll make it worth your time.”

Now that seems to interest Rohan, “Oh, will you? What could you possibly give me that’s worth an entire day of working on my manga? It’s a bestseller, you know, and if I miss my deadline I’ll lose quite a bit of profit.”

Jotaro has a feeling he’ll regret what he’s about to say. But he really can’t leave Giorno alone all day, “…Name your price.”

Rohan smirks, an evil glint in his eye, “You’re going to let me read you with Heaven’s Door.”

Jotaro can see Rohan’s mouth continue to move, blabbing on about his ability, he’s sure, but none of it registers as words to Jotaro. He’s too caught up on Rohan wanting to use his Stand on him.

Rohan has tried many times. But with Star Platinum’s The World, Jotaro has always just warped six feet away through time whenever Rohan tried to touch him. The last thing Jotaro needs is some asshole with no boundaries fishing around through everything in his head. He keeps quiet about himself for a reason. None of that needs to come out.

Egypt. Dio. Kakyoin, Avdol, Iggy, his ex-wife, the reason for their divorce, Jolyne—

Jotaro sighs, interrupting Rohan’s incessant rambling, “…Good grief. There’s nothing interesting to read in there. Why would you want that.”

Rohan looks proud of himself. Like he’s found a gold mine, “That response is all the confirmation that I needed. You, Kujo, must have something in there worth hiding. And for the sake of my manga, I’d like to read all of it. If you have nothing to hide, then you’ll let me do it. In exchange for watching the brat, of course.”

While Rohan watches him expectantly, and triumphantly, Jotaro frowns, pulling his hat further over his eyes, “…If you agree to one more term.”

Rohan’s eyes narrow, “Well, if it gets too complicated, you might have to sweeten the deal even more for me.”

Jotaro shakes his head, “It’s not a hard one. Just that you’ll keep it all to yourself. Once you’ve seen it.”

Everything Jotaro says is only spurring Rohan on, “My lips are sealed. You must have one interesting novel, to want to keep it so secret. I swear on the rights to Pink Dark Boy that I won’t use your name when I publish your entire life story.”

Jotaro rolls his eyes, “Then… you have a deal. I’ll bring Giorno over.”

Rohan nods, “Don’t expect me to entertain him.” And then he slams the door in Jotaro’s face.

Jotaro walks down his porch and back to his car, sighing heavily. There may still be a way out of this. He knows Rohan won’t be able to touch him if Jotaro doesn’t want him to, Star Platinum will make sure of that.

But he can’t risk losing Rohan’s trust, or this investigation may just fall apart completely.

Jotaro will just have to hope that Dio’s diary from Cairo doesn’t interest Rohan enough for him to linger too long on that part of Jotaro’s story. That, or Egypt in general. Jotaro can only hope Rohan just finds his thesis research interesting and focuses on that.

Giorno seems to be having a little bit of a rough morning when Jotaro enters the hotel room to pick him up, finding him laying on the couch, awake but not super alert. When Jotaro feels his forehead to make sure he isn’t sick or anything, it feels normal, but Giorno still looks pretty pale.

However, Giorno hates to be a nuisance. So he sits up and pretends Jotaro can’t tell he’s not feeling his best.

”You’re going out today? And I’m staying here? Why?”

Jotaro shakes his head, “You’re going to Rohan’s house. He’s got all that manga you can read in the meantime. I’ll be back to get you in the evening.”

Giorno looks worried, but with his black hair starting to get long enough to cover his eyes, Jotaro can almost pretend he doesn’t see it, “…Okay.”

Jotaro leaves Giorno on the couch to pack him a day bag while Giorno gets himself around, more quiet than usual. Jotaro had noticed Giorno starting to ask a lot more questions, and be a lot more talkative with him, but it’s like they lost a month of progress. But Giorno also looks super drained, and a little sick— which Jotaro figures is normal for kids his age, to get sick, and it’s just good that Jotaro could find someone to watch him today.

Jotaro gives Giorno his ladybug backpack, stuffed with things for him to do during the day and a couple of snacks, and drives Giorno back to Rohan’s house. He knocks on the door, just as loudly as before, and Rohan answers just as he did not even an hour ago.

”That was quick.” He looks down at Giorno, eyes narrowing, but nodding to him in acknowledgement, “Giorno.”

Giorno bows slightly, an awkward greeting, “Good morning, Mr. Kishibe.”

Jotaro looks at Rohan, serious as always, “He’s not feeling the best. Go easy on him. I’ll be back after dinner to bring him home, so please remember to feed him. I’ll reimburse you. And Giorno,” He kneels down, which catches Rohan off guard, to talk to Giorno. Jotaro’s expression softens, “I’ll be back soon. Keep Rohan safe while I’m gone, Gold Experience can handle it.”

Giorno nods, eyes determined, like Jotaro gave him a mission to complete. Jotaro nods back, and stands again to face Rohan, who is watching the two of them like he’s trying to dissect their relationship with his eyes. Jotaro nods with a quick and quiet “thanks,” before going back to his car to find Kira.

Rohan and Giorno stare at each other in the doorway for a few seconds before Giorno speaks.

”I need to walk the perimeter.”

Rohan blinks in confusion as Giorno steps down the porch, the kid’s head held high. He’s taking this task of keeping the house safe pretty seriously, and Gold Experience is by his side surrounding the house with little bushes behind every step that Giorno takes, making his way around the outside of the house. Rohan rolls his eyes.

He hates kids. They don’t make sense. Rohan can protect himself with Heaven’s Door way better than this ten year old can with some flowers.

Jotaro did say the boy was sick, though. And heaven forbid he pass out in the backyard or something. So Rohan follows him as he makes his little barrier around the house.

”I didn’t give you permission to plant all this nonsense around my property, boy. Stop it.”

Giorno shakes his head, continuing his march, “They’re poison ivy. They’re going to keep the killer out.”

Rohan scowls, “You’re planting poison ivy in my front yard? You little—“

Giorno nods, “You’re welcome.”

Rohan’s eye twitches and he scowls, “Heaven’s Door!”

His little Stand puts a stop to Giorno’s march in an instant. The kid’s face opens like a book and Rohan writes I will go inside and listen to Rohan-sensei in the margins. He huffs, “That’ll show him. Annoying brat.”

Rohan is about to close the book to let Giorno follow the command when a line written inside catches his eye.

My face hurts. I’m tired. It’s too bright. I threw up.

I’m hungry.

I’m scared.

Rohan pauses. This kid is in worse shape than Jotaro must have realized if he left him with Rohan. He huffs, flipping around in the pages for any signs that Giorno isn’t just being dramatic, but it’s hard to fake things on the pages of one’s own mind.

Rohan closes the pages and watches Giorno follow the orders he wrote in the margins, turning and going up the steps of the porch to go inside, head down, eyes squinted. Rohan follows him from a distance, glad he threw that last part in the margins. “I will listen to Rohan-sensei.” That line will make his life at least ten times easier.

Rohan closes the front door, frowning at Giorno, who has decided to just stand in the middle of his entrance room and be unsure where to go. Rohan rolls his eyes, “Go take a nap. I don’t care where. You’re ill and it’s disgusting.”

Giorno has no real choice but to do what Rohan says, but he pauses on his way to the bathroom, where he was planning on finding the bathtub to sleep in yet again, “…I’m not sick. I’m okay.”

Rohan can see Giorno shaking from here. He scoffs, “Yes, you’re not sick, and I’m not filthy rich. Or a good artist. And you’re not ten years old.”

Giorno looks confused, so Rohan waves him off with a scowl, “You have no sense of humor, just like Jotaro. Scram.”

Giorno’s eyes widen at being compared to Jotaro, but he’s forced to turn around and find a place to nap when Rohan gives him the order to scram. Rohan goes right back to his study, he wasn’t kidding when he said he was terribly busy with his manga, and he really does need to get this new chapter out.

Giorno had been tired ever since he woke up, so napping wasn’t a particularly terrible thing for him to have to do. And he does end up curling up in Rohan’s bathtub, just like he had the first night with Jotaro. Sleep hits him immediately, thanks to Heaven’s Door.

When he wakes up, however, all of the pain is so much worse.

He’s been losing energy for a couple of days now, but the most pressing thing about this illness he’s come down with is how badly his teeth have hurt. After his nap, his top two canine teeth are exploding with pain. He puts his hand. Over his mouth, only to catch them as they fall out of his head.

For the first time since he was an infant, Giorno is crying. There’s blood coming out of his mouth and tears streaming down his face as he shakes with fear, alone in an unfamiliar house. He drops his teeth on the bathroom floor and backs away from them, running his tongue over the empty places they used to be.

Only, they aren’t empty anymore. New, sharp fangs are growing in to replace them. He gasps, standing up and hurriedly stumbling over to the mirror to get a better look.

He stops in his tracks when he sees himself.

Long, blonde hair is falling over his shoulders, and fangs are visible just past his bloody lips. He barely recognizes himself. His hands grip the edges of the sink and he stares himself down. His eyes are certainly still his, but his hair…

He looks just like the picture Joseph showed him of his father.

He sits on the bathroom tile, back against the tub, pulling his knees up to hug against his chest. He feels his fangs with his tongue again, willing them to sink back in, but they don’t budge.

Giorno sits there, shaking, for a long time that he has no way of measuring.

It turns out that he spent well over five hours in that bathroom, between his nap and his panic attack, because Rohan remembers he’s in his house around then and decides he’d better be a real babysitter and look for him.

The knock on the bathroom door just about makes Giorno jump out of his skin.

”Giorno, don’t tell me you’ve been napping in the bathroom. That’s ludacris.”

Giorno won’t tell him that. He finds himself unable to answer, and unable to breathe.

Rohan scowls because the door is locked when he tests it. So that confirms Giorno is in there, just being a brat and not answering, “Open the door!”

Giorno flinches hard. The man’s voice yelling at him only reminds him of his stepfather, even if Rohan is significantly less intimidating than him. Giorno doesn’t remember getting up and opening the door, but the command Heaven’s Door left in him willed him to. He stares blankly past Rohan, eyes shiny with tears, and looking like hell.

Rohan stares at him for a second without saying anything. Then, because he’s a truly heartless individual, he scowls, “Did you bleach your hair in my sink? Without telling me? Is your guardian going to be mad about this? I need him to uphold his end of this deal even if he’s mad about you bleaching your-!” He pauses when nothing he’s saying seems to get through Giorno’s head. He frowns, “You know my Stand can make you tell me anything, so answer me when I ask you a question.”

No answer. Just trembling.

”…Are you alright?”

That one gets him a slow and unsure nod, at least. Rohan sighs, “Well, that’s a relief. I’m calling Jotaro.”

He spins on his heel to get to his telephone, mumbling under his breath about stupid kids. Giorno stays there in the bathroom doorway, folding his hands in front of himself and trying to get himself to stop shaking. But the blonde hair in his face is only reminding him of the dull ache in his jaw and the picture of his father.

The one who causes such anguish at just the mention of his name. Dio. Giorno has suddenly become exactly like him.

He must be bad, too. That’s the only explanation.

Rohan returns, frowning, “Jotaro is on his way to come get you. Dealing with whatever this is wasn’t part of our agreement.” His eyes scan the bathroom, “-Are those teeth? On my bathroom floor?”

Rohan feels like he’s going to hurl. What the hell happened here while he was working? His eye twitches, “You have a lot of explaining to do, brat.”

But not right now, clearly. The kid is too freaked out. Rohan pushes his shoulder, “Go on. Go sit on the couch. You look like hell.”

While Giorno shuffles to the couch and sits, Rohan makes tea to bring in. For himself, of course. Though when he sits next to Giorno and Giorno starts staring at it, Rohan folds and just hands it to him with a dissatisfied huff. He hates kids.

Giorno stares at the warm cup in his hands, his tremor calming a little. Rohan will call that a win. The one who should pull the weight when it comes to calming this kid down is Jotaro. Who should be here shortly to deal with this mess.

Rohan is going to make that emotionless bastard clean his bathroom, too.

Notes:

This one was a long one! I hope that makes up for the extra days it took to write.

As always, leave comments! I like to hear what you guys think.

Chapter 4: A Face from the Past

Notes:

Sorry this one took so long to get out, this is the first one that I wrote in more than one sitting, and I completely deleted it and started it over at one point.

Disclaimer: I don’t write fanfiction to be lore accurate. Star Platinum is wildly overpowered in this chapter, purely for the sake of one idea I just had to work in for my own amusement.

Rohan will admit that he didn’t explain the situation very well to Jotaro over the phone. Just that it was an emergency. But he thought that would get this out of his hands as fast as possible.

He was right.

Rohan’s hands were in Giorno’s hair, braiding it out of his face because the kid kept blowing it and seeming annoyed, not used to its length. He thought, just this once, he could maybe do something nice. If only to stay on Jotaro’s good side, so their deal holds after Rohan had to cut the babysitting short.

He would read that man’s novel if it was the last thing he did.

However, Rohan never gets to tie Giorno’s hair off, because the door bursts open and Kujo is on the other side, eyes wide. Clearly taking this emergency thing seriously.

Jotaro had heard Giorno and emergency and immediately feared the very worst. That he had done something. That his time with Giorno really hadn’t amounted to anything and the kid was going to turn into a mini-Dio.

His fears were not put to rest by the sight before him.

Immediately, Jotaro stops time. It’s a reflex at this point. He stares at Giorno’s unmoving expression, seeing only one thing.

His hair. It makes his uncanny resemblance to Dio more jarring, and Jotaro swears he can see his red eyes and signature sneer staring back at him, even if Giorno can’t move during stopped time.

Jotaro steps outside and closes the door before time resumes.

All Rohan and Giorno see is Jotaro appear and disappear like a specter. But the look on his face was visible for a split second. Rohan’s brow furrows, “Where the hell did he go?”

But Giorno seems to get something that Rohan doesn’t. His eyes are locked on the door, his brow furrowed.

Giorno experiences a sense he’s never gotten before. He can hear a racing heartbeat outside, stuttering, and can smell something in the air. It’s fear.

Giorno can smell fear, and it’s coming from Jotaro outside.

He lowers his head. It’s another thing completely unrecognizable about himself. And clearly, it’s spooked Jotaro. Giorno hasn’t gotten this sense before, but he knows it’s from him. It’s his fault.

Rohan scowls when Jotaro doesn’t immediately come back inside, “What a dick.” He drops Giorno’s hair, standing up and turning to storm toward the door, “Wait here. I’ll talk some sense into him.”

Giorno hurries after Rohan, stopping him at the front door by holding it shut. He looks up at Rohan wide-eyed and pale. Practically shaking in his boots. But there’s a sense that overcomes that fear of what will happen on the other side, and it’s the feeling that all of this is his fault, and that he has to be the one to fix it.

Giorno has always had to solve his problems himself, and this one is no different. He has to face Jotaro even if it goes poorly. He’s determined.

Rohan gives him a confused look, pissed at the interference, “What, he just ran away from you, and I can’t have you messing up my chance to use Heaven’s Door on him! What’s gotten into you so suddenly? You were freaking out not ten minutes ago!”

Rohan scrutinizes him, looking him up and down, and finds it almost impossible to tell whether he’s still scared or not. Giorno is shaking, as he has been since Rohan found him in the bathroom, but the way he holds eye contact is new.

Giorno has never seen Jotaro back down. He’s seen him come home on the brink of death from fighting Kira, or the countless other stand users, and Jotaro has never once seemed scared. So even if Giorno is convinced he’s about to be punished, he’s going to face it.

“I’ll fix it.”

Rohan rolls his eyes at that, “Sure you will. How dare I try to interfere in your stupid Joestar drama.” He spins on his heel with a scowl, thoroughly sick of Jotaro, Giorno, Joseph, and especially Josuke.

Giorno turns away from Rohan, hand on the doorknob, biting the inside of his cheek and bracing himself. Not used to his fangs, he breaks the skin and tastes blood, but he hardly notices over the pounding of his heart. He has to go. He made a choice. He twists the doorknob, opening the door to the bright afternoon light.

It hurts his eyes, and it takes a second for them to adjust, even in the shade of Rohan’s porch. He blinks rapidly until he’s able to see, but the brightness never really stops hurting his retinas. He looks around for Jotaro and doesn’t see him right away, until he looks down, where he sees him sitting on the porch steps with a cigarette between his lips.

Giorno’s never seen him smoke, but Jotaro told him once that he used to be a smoker in high school. That he quit.

The longer Giorno stares at him, figuring out his approach, what to say- he realizes something else off about Kujo.

His breaths are stuttering. Not shaking like a normal hyperventilating person’s would- no, skipping. Like his shoulders will be in a different spot as if they’re moving during stopped time. And it happens every few seconds. His cigarette will suddenly be shorter, like he had tapped the end of it while the world was frozen around him. Jotaro is pale, forehead shining with sweat, signaling that it’s a significant effort to use The World this many times in a row with so little pause.

Giorno watches for a few more moments, not sure how to approach Jotaro in this state, but not about to make any sudden movements. Giorno wishes he could go back inside and hide in Rohan’s bathroom. Jotaro is clearly so mad at him that he’s buying himself more time to calm down, and if Giorno interrupts him…

He’s going to be hurt. That has to be what’s coming.

So Giorno lowers his head, tries to be as small as possible, and brings out a more passable thing to call him because he doesn’t want to overstep, “…Mr. Kujo?”

No response. Was he too quiet? He raises his voice the slightest bit, “Mr. Kujo, I’m sorry.”

Giorno gulps when it seems like Jotaro is ignoring him. He slowly steps onto the porch step and sits next to him, stretching his legs down the steps into the sun-

It burns. Immediately, he pulls his legs back into the shade and hugs his knees, eyes wide. Steam rises from his legs up in front of his eyes and he blinks. That’s… also new.

But not what he’s most worried about right now. He’s sure Jotaro has a way to fix that, once he apologizes to him.

Giorno didn’t want to have to touch Jotaro, but it seems like it may be the only way to get his attention. His “skipping” appearance has continued, and his eyes look so distant Giorno almost thinks he’s lost consciousness. But he knows better. He’s seen Jotaro zone out once before, at the beach.

Giorno reaches his hand out, and places it on Jotaro’s arm.

Immediately, something is gripping it tightly, holding it away from Jotaro. Jotaro’s eyes have locked on to Giorno in what looks like a panic, and Star Platinum has its fist around Giorno’s wrist, squeezing. Giorno winces and tries to pull his arm away, and Jotaro looks briefly mortified, dismissing Star Platinum.

”Shit, I- don’t know what happened Giorno, I didn’t mean to do that.” He pulls his hat over his eyes and sighs heavily, coming back to himself. When he inhales, it shakes, much like Giorno was moments earlier.

Giorno pulls his hand close to his chest, shaking his head, “…It’s okay. I scared you.”

Jotaro regains his composure as quickly as he can, wanting to pretend whatever that was had never happened. But it’s like his very soul is exhausted. Which makes sense, because it feels like he’s been out here for hours, but when he looks at his watch it’s only been two minutes at most.

When he looks over at Giorno again, he knows why. His face is what Jotaro has been having nightmares about ever since he was a teenager. Younger, and more innocent looking, but so similar to Dio that Jotaro has to stare for a second to find a difference he can focus on.

He finds it. Giorno’s eyes are blue, like Joseph’s. A Joestar trait that Jotaro must have lost when his mother married a Japanese man. But still distinctly Joestar.

”You didn’t scare me, I was just…”

”I can smell it. You’re scared. I don’t know why, but I can. Your heart is racing.”

Jotaro stares at him, barely recognizing the kid. And all this stuff he’s saying doesn’t make any sense, “…You’ve got a lot of explaining to do. Start now.” Jotaro doesn’t think he can take any more suspense. But when Giorno hesitates, he sighs, realizing he’s jumping the gun, “…First things first, are you alright?”

Giorno blinks, surprised at that being the first question, “…Yes, I think so. Although, I…bled. Quite a lot.”

Jotaro’s brow furrows, “What?”

Giorno looks down, pulling his knees closer to his chest, “It’s better now. I just… took a nap. And when I woke up, my hair was different, and…”

He doesn’t know how to describe what else happened. So he just bares his new fangs at Jotaro.

Jotaro stares for a second, “…Good grief.”

Giorno looks away from him, “…I’m sorry, I didn’t… I was…”

Jotaro cuts him off, “Don’t be sorry. You’ve got no idea what happened either. I’ve got a better idea than you do, I just didn’t expect it to be so… fast. You’ve got no reason to be sorry.”

Giorno shakes his head, “I scared you.”

Jotaro frowns, “…I was being dramatic.”

He’s ashamed that even happened. All it took was a glimpse of fangs and blonde hair to make him completely freak out. He thought he had gotten over those feelings, the lingering fear he’s felt ever since fighting Dio alone, but clearly he hasn’t. He still feels shaky just thinking about it, or maybe that’s just the exhaustion.

Jotaro didn’t even know Star Platinum could do that.

He thought he’d gotten weaker.

…Jesus, he used the World so many times he can’t even keep count. Can adrenaline affect Stands that much?

He shakes his head, looking at Giorno again, “Seriously. You just… look a lot like your father all of a sudden. And I was surprised. Not your fault.”

Giorno goes quiet for a while, staring at the line where the sun meets the shade of the porch.

“…Was he that bad?”

Jotaro needs another cigarette for that question. He lights it and inhales deeply, letting it calm him for the rough conversation ahead.

”He was a real asshole. Some would say pure evil.”

Jotaro gives Giorno a chance to say something, but when he doesn’t, figures it’s best to just tell him everything.

”Your dad and my great- no, great, great grandfather go way back. He was an immortal vampire with a grudge against my whole family. Which is… also technically your family, but I won’t go into that. The main point is, he was a major piece of shit. …But Jiji and I, and… some good friends… decided to try to get rid of him. I was the one who killed him, in the end.”

Giorno’s eyes widen, “…He deserved it?”

Jotaro nods, “Yeah. Killed three of my friends before I could return the favor.” He clenches his jaw, “But you’re nothing like him. I know you, kid, and I knew him. You’re nothing alike other than that new hair.”

Giorno wants to believe him, he really does. But he’s caught up on his new teeth, and these new senses he’s still not used to. But at least Jotaro has calmed down and his heartbeat isn’t so deafening, “…You said he was a vampire.”

Jotaro nods, “Yeah, the bloodsucking kind. Those teeth make it look like you are, too. But we’ll figure it out.”

”…Will you tell me more about him?”

”Later,” Jotaro says, quietly, and lying through his teeth. He doesn’t want to talk about it any further. Doesn’t want to scare Giorno, or himself.

Giorno has to move up a step on the porch as the sun starts to set and the shade recedes further, closer to his feet. Jotaro does the same, just so that he can keep him in view, “The sun bothering you?”

Giorno nods, “It burns.”

Jotaro hums, “Yeah. That’s going to take some getting used to. You’ll have to stay in the shade from now on. And we’ll have to figure out how to keep you fed. ….Guess it makes sense why you haven’t been eating much these days.”

Giorno nods slowly, taking it all in. His body doesn’t feel like his own, and all of his senses are heightened and overwhelming. Let alone the ache in his jaw. Jotaro notices him starting to withdraw into himself and frowns, putting his arm over Giorno’s shoulders and squeezing him lightly.

”…All of that is doable. You’ve done a lot of adjusting lately, had a lot of big changes; a couple more won’t kill you.”

Giorno freezes under his touch, before his shoulders start to tremble and he lowers his head.

Jotaro shifts his hand to the side of Giorno’s head and pushes on it, making him rest it on his shoulder, “I’ll be here. I’ve got you.”

Giorno turns into Jotaro’s side, wrapping his arms around him and burying his face into Jotaro’s shoulder.

Jotaro doesn’t say anything when he hears Giorno sniffle, even if it’s the first time he’s seen the boy let himself cry.

Notes:

I was originally going to have more happen in this chapter, but I got the opportunity to end it where I did and just had to take it.

I think the next chapter might be the last one.

Let me know what you think in the comments, they give me serotonin to replace the happiness I lost thinking about these poor boys :)

Chapter 5: The Past and the Future

Notes:

What to say about this chapter….

It took me a long time to write. And it’s definitely the longest. But I think there was a lot to cover, and I was determined to give it all the attention it deserved.

So, enjoy— more notes at the end.

Jotaro had to wait for the sun to set to take Giorno home, and the time they sat and waited in Rohan’s living room was so quiet, Jotaro could’ve sworn he’d gone deaf. Which is exactly how quiet he likes it. Rohan had asked questions at first, but realized fairly quickly that he wasn’t going to get any answers until Jotaro let him use Heaven’s Door.

Which Jotaro said he would do, as per his end of their deal, but he wouldn’t let him do it today. Not until all this Giorno panic calmed down.

As soon as the sun set, Jotaro drove Giorno back to the Morioh Grand Hotel, where he sat him down on the couch to try to gauge where exactly they were at. He pulled a chair from the kitchenette and sat in it backwards, in front of Giorno.

”I’m going to ask you some questions. Tell me the truth so we can figure all this out. Got it?”

Giorno nods, and Jotaro takes that as a sign to ask away, “Alright. You said you could hear really well now, anything else?”

”The smell. Everything is really strong, and… the lights are really bright. And it’s…cold.”

Jotaro isn’t sure how much of that is relevant, “Cold like you need a blanket or cold like you have a fever?”

Giorno shakes his head, “Neither. I think… Just feel my hand.”

He reaches out toward Jotaro, and Jotaro takes his hand. It feels like ice. Like how Jotaro knows something dead feels. His brow furrows, “I get it now. We’ve got that heated blanket, do you think that would help?”

Giorno nods and stands to go get it before Jotaro can do it for him. That’s also new, it’s like Giorno has completely gotten over his hesitation around Jotaro. Like he’s finally comfortable here. Which… could be linked to his transformation. Or could just be because they’ve gotten so comfortable around each other.

Jotaro can’t think about how this situation isn’t permanent for too long. He’s gotten too used to having the kid around, being this constant reminder to Jotaro that Egypt is in the past, and now he can look to the future. Giorno’s resemblance to Dio almost became a comfort, in that way.

But Giorno is going to have to go eventually. To a real set of parents. Someone better suited to care for someone his age than single Jotaro Kujo who can’t settle down with his own daughter.

Jotaro is going to hate to see him go.

Giorno returns with the heated blanket and sits, draping it across his lap and burying his hands under it, looking to Jotaro to cue him to continue his line of questioning. Which is good, because Jotaro had gotten completely sidetracked.

”Are you feeling anything else out of place?”

Giorno thinks for a second before he shakes his head, “No.”

”Not hungry at all?”

”…I guess I am.”

Jotaro adjusts his hat, “It’s relevant. Your father drank blood like any other vampire.”

Giorno looks at him like he’s hoping for him to take that back, but Jotaro doesn’t. So he just looks at his lap, “…Of course. I won’t do that. Unless they deserve it.”

Jotaro raises an eyebrow, “You’re supposed to say you won’t do it to anyone, kid.”

Giorno’s brow furrows, “Yoshikage Kira deserves it. And every other Stand user you’ve had to fight.”

Jotaro’s eyes narrow, “But not everyone. Besides, we’re not even sure you’ll need to do that. Dio drank blood to gain power, and you don’t have a need for that.”

Giorno frowns. If he’s there when they catch Kira, he’s going to do whatever he can to help. With Gold Experience, and his fangs if he has to.

Everyone here has been so nice to him, even if he’s done nothing to deserve that. Josuke, Okuyasu, Koichi, all of them. They’ve bought him ice cream, and played games with him, and done whatever they can to make him feel at home. He’ll return the favor.

”Good grief, Giorno, you look like you’re already plotting. Stop it.”

Giorno pulls the heated blanket up further, “No, I’m… Okay, I’m sorry. But I’m not that hungry anyways, and…. Maybe I’ll be able to eat now. Normal food.”

Jotaro really doubts it, but of course they’ll have to try it. It doesn’t even seem like Giorno is displaying anything half human, which he technically is. He just seems completely vampire. Like he had seemed completely human before. He can’t even go out in the sun, so there goes their beach days.

Jotaro hopes that won’t be too disappointing. But it’s only natural if it is.

“I’ll get something in a bit. …It’s tricky, you can’t go out unless it’s dark, but going out in the dark is dangerous with this killer on the loose. You might just have to sit tight until we find him. Hopefully by then we’ve got a good idea what happened to you, and what’ll… happen to you when we’ve got to leave Morioh.”

Giorno’s eyes widen, “—We’re leaving? When?”

Jotaro shakes his head, “Whenever we catch Kira. That’s why I’m still here, I only came in the first place to give Josuke a message. Look, let me be real with you. I’m not the best person to take care of you long term, I’m just… the one who did Dio in. You get it, don’t you?”

Giorno’s expression goes blank, “…I do.”

He’s been a burden. Jotaro never wanted him here, and is giving him away to someone else. He’s being left alone again.

He should’ve known.

Giorno closes off immediately. He had been mistaken, Jotaro isn’t his friend. Just because he let him stay here and showed him how to use his Stand and could even see his Stand doesn’t mean he likes Giorno.

Maybe if he hadn’t been such a pain, Jotaro would’ve been okay with keeping him. Maybe if he’d kept all these changes to himself. If he’d hidden his fangs and dyed his hair, he wouldn’t look so much like his father.

But he does. And that must mean something.

Is he pure evil?

Suddenly, Giorno feels disgusting just for existing.

Jotaro frowns, “…I know it’s not ideal. But you’ll end up with someone who knows kids, and knows how to do a good job raising you. Some good foster family in Italy. Or here in Japan, or somewhere else.”

Giorno nods along, but only to seem agreeable. Inside, he’s screaming. Back to Italy? Where he barely understands anyone, where the other kids pushed him around? With a new family he’s never met, who doesn’t understand him either?

”You’ll get to go to school. Lay low. Forget all about Stands and serial killers and Dio. It’ll be good for you.”

Giorno gulps, still silent. Jotaro is starting to think he’s pushed Giorno too far, and won’t be able to get him to talk again. But it’s for the best that he knows what’s coming.

Jotaro can’t take him forever. That’s not an option.

Jotaro stands up from his chair, looking down at Giorno, “…I bet you’re exhausted from everything. Get some sleep, alright? We’ll get breakfast and figure more out tomorrow.”

He doesn’t wait for Giorno’s reaction before he’s walking towards the door out of the hotel room, determined to give Giorno some time alone after he’s seen so much of Jotaro today. Usually, he’d want to be close to Jotaro, but the look on the kid’s face for the last part of that conversation was screaming to be left alone.

At least to Jotaro, that’s what it looked like. But he can’t read Giorno’s mind.

Jotaro has a promise to fulfill, anyways. Rohan.

He doesn’t like Rohan, and his Stand really rubs Jotaro the wrong way, but he made a promise. Besides, it’ll be quick, Rohan will chastise him for his thoughts, and then he’ll realize there’s nothing in recent history that’s interesting in the slightest and he’lol let Jotaro go.

That, Jotaro can handle. Still, though, he’s going to need a couple drinks to sit through it all.

He tries not to think about Giorno as he heads that way. He’s gotten too close to the kid, cares too much about him, but he can’t keep him. He’s not a good fit for parenting, he decided that with his own flesh and blood daughter a long time ago.

The smug look on Rohan’s face when he ushers him inside doesn’t make Jotaro feel any better about the whole thing. Rohan physically pushes him towards his couch, where Jotaro had found Giorno hours earlier. Jotaro glares at him, but Rohan just scoffs, “You want to get out of here quickly, don’t you? So just sit. I have to read, it’s not that fast of a process.”

Rohan sits sideways on his couch, legs crossed, and pats the cushions to prompt Jotaro to do the same. As soon as he sits, Rohan has his hands outstretched, “Good. Give me your arm. Unless you want me opening your face but that’s significantly less comfortable for you.”

Jotaro sighs, turning his hand over to Rohan and watching the other man pull out a pen, “You’re not going to find anything manga worthy in here. This’ll be quick. You’ll get bored. Don’t you write mysteries?”

Rohan huffs, summoning Heaven’s Door and drawing on Jotaro’s forearm quickly, which peels open on contact, the pages becoming separated, “Hmph. Clearly you don’t understand the workings of an author like myself. Even to write mysteries, one needs inspiration. And I like to collect my inspiration from interesting people, like yourself. Nothing about your story adds up. At least, not until today, when the mystery will be revealed only to me. How exciting.”

Jotaro watches boredom as Rohan begins to rapidly flip through pages, “It’s more like an action manga than a mystery. The most boring action manga I’ve ever heard of, too.”

”Nonsense-“ His nose scrunches in disgust, “Ugh. You write with no nuance. It’s like reading a scientific journal.”

Jotaro raises his eyebrows, “Probably because that’s all I do nowadays. My thesis. …The style changes that much?”

Rohan nods, “Yes, everyone’s changes drastically. As people age, their thoughts do, too. As I flip further back, the bluntness of your current style will change, too. Which is good, because this would be mind numbing otherwise.”

Rohan starts rapidly flipping pages, trying to go back further into the past of Jotaro’s memories, while Jotaro watches his expression, until suddenly, he sees a lot of color on the pages in his arm.

Rohan blinks, “—That’s more like it. Look, it’s a whole manga! You must remember these images so well, or maybe you read a lot of manga as a teen- I will find out soon enough!”

Jotaro doesn’t answer, staring at the manga panels in his arm. That’s him as a teenager, and he can see Jiji there, too.

And Avdol. Magician’s Red, outside his temporary jail cell. So Rohan has flipped right to the worst fifty days of his life, and Jotaro’s mind is so against him that he’s made those the most interesting pages to look at subconsciously.

Jotaro sighs, “…So it means something, then. That these are pictures.”

”Clearly. The moments before this are back to being written like the usual novel. This must be quite an important time for you. So, Jotaro Kujo, I’ll start here. It may take me some time, so I’ve been a gracious host and left you some light reading on the side table if you need something to pass the time. Though, you could always read what I’m reading as well.”

Jotaro frowns, watching as Rohan flips through his brief fight with Avdol and then to Holly taking the three of them back home. As much as he’d like to tune this out, he’s not sure he’d be able to, “…I was seventeen here. Just warning you that I was an asshole. A lot’s changed.”

”You don’t need to make excuses, Kujo, I can see all of it.”

”…Right.”

He goes quiet, and so does Rohan as he focuses. Jotaro watches, overtaken by a surreal feeling as he watches the moments he heard about Dio, then Kakyoin appearing, then leaving for Egypt. Polnareff shows up soon after that.

”If I didn’t have the ability to read memories, and you told me this yourself, I wouldn’t have believed you. Going to Egypt to kill a vampire as a teenager is such a good action manga premise, I wish I had come up with it myself.”

Jotaro shakes his head, “I wasn’t convinced about any of it either. I also… hadn’t realized how dangerous it was. Star Platinum made me feel pretty invincible.”

”But you haven’t stopped time. Could you not do it? Or were you just that insufferable, you thought you didn’t need to?”

”Just read. It’ll come up.”

So Rohan does. He reads every tarot fight, and every Egyptian god after that. He asks a few questions along the way, but Jotaro just tells him to hurry up and finish reading.

The first time Jotaro saw Dio is a full page. Dio looking down at him from the top of the staircase. Although, his thoughts on the page still haven’t realized the danger yet. He’s still convinced that he and his friends can beat him, despite also frantically theorizing about his Stand’s ability.

Jotaro wasn’t there when Kakyoin died. But he did see him up in the water tower. When that’s written in his arm, Rohan pauses. He just stares at it. Jotaro, on the other hand, can’t bare to look at it.

His friend’s face is there, etched into his memory, he doesn’t need the reminder.

“…That’s number three. If you keep going, Jiji dies, too. And I thought Polnareff, at the time, but he did end up recovering.” His brow furrows, “I don’t care if all that’s a spoiler or something. You’re taking too long anyways.”

Rohan’s brow furrows, “Don’t rush me. You said this would be boring. Not… sad. I liked this one. And from what I’m reading, you did, too.”

Jotaro closes his eyes with a sigh. Obviously he liked Kakyoin. More than liked him, he was Jotaro’s world for those fifty days. The only person that understood him, and Kakyoin was also the only person who ever trusted Jotaro. He saw right through his tough guy act, and fought back against it with kindness.

Kakyoin was so open with him, had confided everything in him. Jotaro gave him almost nothing in return. He wishes more than anything that he could go back and fix that.

Jotaro… more than liked Kakyoin.

He looks embarrassed now, knowing that Rohan knows that now, too.

Rohan keeps flipping pages like he isn’t at all surprised, going a bit faster now that he’s passed Jotaro’s return home from Egypt. It’s almost hard to read, with how there’s this shadow looming over the whole thing. He reads about Jotaro graduating high school, going to college, losing contact with the two people who really understood what he’d been through in Egypt. Joseph calls occasionally, but it’s like Polnareff fell off the face of the earth.

He’s alone all the way up to going to Morioh. His thoughts all center around losing his friends, and every time one of his new companions from Morioh is thought about, it’s accompanied by this looming shadow of his old friends from Egypt.

Rohan’s seen grief before, plenty of times, but Jotaro’s is overstaying its welcome. Rohan glances up at him, “In what world can you compare me to this Kakyoin? From what I’ve read, we’re nothing alike, and I’m actually quite insulted that you’re comparing us constantly.”

Jotaro just shrugs, asking his own question in return, “You’re close to caught up with the present, why are you still going?”

Rohan huffs, “Because I need some semblance of how this ends. Though I suppose I won’t get any. I hate that about Heaven’s Door, there’s no endings. My manga is much better.”

Jotaro rolls his eyes, “Will you hurry up.”

Rohan’s eyes scan over Jotaro’s meeting with Giorno, and the days that followed.

“Are you aware that you’re a complete idiot, Kujo?”

Jotaro’s brow furrows, “What now?”

Rohan rolls his eyes, “I used Heaven’s Door on Giorno earlier, and he thinks the world of you. And you said this to him?”

He shows Jotaro’s arm to him, with the conversation with Giorno from just a few hours ago front and center.

I’m just the one who did Dio in.

You get it, don’t you?

It’ll be good for you.

Jotaro pulls his arm away from Rohan and watches as the pages on his arm close, “It’s a complicated situation, I really can’t keep him. He’s a whole person, and you read about Jolyne, you know there’s a better place for him.”

Rohan’s brow furrows, “I’m not a relationship therapist, Kujo, but I’ve seen these things play out tons of times. I’ve used Heaven’s Door on parents, divorcees, orphans, everyone before. You’re being an idiot.”

”Enlighten me, if you know everything.”

He’s getting defensive, but seriously, this childless, single bastard is criticizing the way he’s taking care of Giorno? He thinks just because he’s read everything that he has any idea what it feels like?

…Jotaro didn’t realize it before, but maybe he’s getting so defensive because he knows he’s wrong.

But it’s complicated. It’s way more complicated than Rohan would ever understand. Giorno is the son of the man from Jotaro’s nightmares. But he’s also a good kid, who deserves better than moving around constantly with Jotaro while he works for the Speedwagon Foundation.

He deserves better than to stay with Jotaro, who can’t look at him half the time because of Dio.

”Hmph. I don’t like your tone,” Rohan huffs at him, pretentious as always. But Jotaro’s heard enough. He stands up from the couch, brow furrowed at Rohan.

”You got your end of the deal. We’re done here.”

Rohan rolls his eyes and mumbles a few profanities, but Jotaro is already on his way out. He knew that whole experience would be unpleasant, but that was worse than he ever could’ve imagined. He slams his car door closed, resting his head on the steering wheel.

He knows it would be better for Giorno anywhere else. He only had to watch him in the first place because the SPW was scared of him. If it were any other circumstance, nobody would’ve trusted Jotaro with a kid like that.

Everyone around him suffers and dies. That’s tried and tested.

He doesn’t want that for Giorno.

Muscle memory guides him through starting his car and pulling away from Rohan’s house, thoughts occupied.

…Hurting Giorno now will be less painful than letting him get hurt later.

Even if Jotaro really doesn’t want to see him go. He’s gotten so used to the kid’s constant presence. It gets harder to think about this when he’s looking at Giorno. Even though he looks like Dio, he also looks like the kid that Jotaro has been getting to know for weeks.

What is he even going to do with himself when that happens?

Writing his thesis has slowed to a halt, but he has more pictures than he ever could’ve hoped for, because that’s what Giorno wants to do pretty much every chance he has. Jotaro figures he’s going to have to credit the kid when he gets it published, since Giorno’s hands are in most of his pictures now. Giorno has listened to him explain his research in so much depth, and always seems so fascinated, even if Jotaro is just mapping a phylogenetic tree to include this new species he discovered here.

He supposes that’s all he has left to do: finish his thesis, and keep doing favors for the SPW.

He’ll be moving around constantly. He has been for a long time.

Should he just ask Giorno if he’s okay with that? Can someone his age even make an informed decision like that?

The kid’s a vampire, Jotaro really can’t just stick him with any old foster family anyways.

The only logical choice is to keep Giorno by his side indefinitely.

As much as he’d like that— and he really would, he’s grown attached to Giorno— it doesn’t solve the issue that Giorno is just going to be in danger constantly like Jotaro is.

There’s no way to guarantee his safety. …But the safest place for everyone else, because of Giorno’s new fangs, is with Jotaro.

Jotaro is taking the elevator up to his room at the Morioh Grand Hotel before he even realizes he’s parked his car. It’s gotten really late, and when Jotaro checks his watch, it’s actually approaching one in the morning, which catches him by surprise. Giorno won’t even be awake for him to fix what he said earlier.

He hates to take advice from Rohan Kishibe, but… he had a point. Heaven’s Door is Jotaro’s new least favorite Stand.

He pushes open the door and walks through the entryway, taking a brief look around and finding all the lights still on.

Giorno is awake, still sitting on the couch where Jotaro left him, except now the TV has been turned on and a nature documentary is playing. Giorno seems completely entranced, watching two male Hercules beetles try to flip each other in a brawl while David Attenborough narrates about pheromones.

Jotaro sits next to him, and with Giorno sitting right in the middle of the couch that’s really become his bed the past few weeks, Jotaro is shoulder to shoulder with him. Giorno tenses for a second, keeping his eyes locked on the screen, but very clearly not paying attention to that. Giorno is gauging Jotaro’s mood and his intentions.

Jotaro has to be the first to speak, as much as he doesn’t want to. He’s realizing he’ll need to work on that, if he wants to have any conversation with Giorno at all.

Although he does acknowledge that if they clear this up and things go back to relatively normal, he thinks they’ll both feel better just sitting in comfortable silence.

”…Sorry I left earlier. And sorry I didn’t really give you a choice earlier, where you want to go.”

Giorno blinks, snapping out of his brief daze and looking at Jotaro. Jotaro wonders if the zoning out is something they should work on, because sometimes, Giorno is anywhere but on Earth.

Giorno is expecting him to continue, so he does.

”I just assumed it’d be better if you went somewhere else. …I’m not good at this. But… You should get a choice. So,” He takes his hat off, messing with it in his hands, “let me walk you through what I’m thinking.”

Giorno nods, reaching for the TV remote beside him and hitting mute to remove background noise. Jotaro wonders if he did that to hear better, or because he’s realized Jotaro doesn’t do great with loud noises while he’s trying to think. He gets overwhelmed.

”I’ve got to finish this paper I’m writing, but we’ve got a lot of on-site work done, so I don’t have to stay in Morioh to finish it after Yoshikage Kira is caught. Which is the first priority. But if— when, we find him, and… hopefully we do without…” He wants to say casualties. But he doesn’t need to scare Giorno like that, even if he’s sure Giorno has realized that possibility, “much trouble. Afterwards, I’m going back to the Speedwagon Foundation. They keep sending me to take care of Stand users, and technically I’ve got a job there doing environmental work when I graduate. I’m not going to stay in one place, that's what I’m getting at.”

Giorno nods along, not sure where this is going. Jotaro sighs, “But if you want to follow me, you can. You won’t go to one school, and you’d probably get sick of me pretty quick, but that’s your first option.”

Giorno’s eyes widen, and he immediately opens his mouth to say that’s what I want to do, but Jotaro has to get the second option out there, because he’s still got his reservations about raising Giorno himself, “Hold it, kid. There’s more to think about.”

”The second way is that I go back to Italy, right? With new parents and without you?”

Jotaro nods, “…Yeah. But, you’d get a nice house, make friends— it’s not a bad option.”

Giorno shakes his head, “I won’t. I don’t want to.”

Jotaro had figured he would say that, and it actually gives him some relief. He didn’t want to say goodbye, either. He smiles, barely noticeable with his head lowered like it is, “You sure? Can always change your mind. I’m not gonna hold you hostage.”

Giorno nods, “I’m sure.”

Giorno watches Jotaro’s expression carefully, watching him smile— he made the right choice. He knows that as soon as he sees that expression, because he’s only ever seen Jotaro make that face when he’s talking about the ocean.

But now, he’s smiling about Giorno like that.

Giorno smiles back widely, fangs showing, more than excited to travel and see everything the world has to offer. And to do it with Jotaro.

”…Thank you.”

Jotaro shakes his head, putting his hat on Giorno’s head and pulling it downward so it’s in Giorno’s face and he doesn’t have to look at that ridiculously cute smile any longer, “Don’t thank me yet, Giogio. You don’t know what you’re getting into. And we’ve got work to do here, first.”

Giorno pushes the hat back so he can see, looking up at Jotaro from below the bill, and Jotaro thinks he might just let Giorno keep that old thing and he’ll get a new one. Giorno tilts his head, “Giogio?”

Jotaro blinks, “…Yeah. Family name. Happens to work for you, too.”

Giorno’s eyes light up. Anything that compares him to Jotaro makes him do that— he really does look up to him more than anyone else. And now they’re both called Jojo.

And now Jotaro is going to stay with him. Be his dad.

Jotaro has a lot of calls to make, namely the SPW, because this’ll be a surprise to them. But he has no doubt that they’ll agree this is for the best, especially if they see the change in Giorno. He was so small and scared when Jotaro first met him that day at the dock. Jotaro had his reserves, too.

But now look at him. Jotaro wouldn’t recognize the kid, even if he still had his dark hair. He lights up the room with that smile. And Jotaro’s watched him get that comfortable with Josuke, Okuyasu, and Koichi, too.

He’s finally safe. Giorno knows that, and it shows.

Jotaro’s not stupid, he knows they’ll have a long way to go. Giorno still has to get used to being a vampire, and he still doesn’t do well with new adults. But Jotaro’s optimistic about that improving. Optimistic about anything for once.

He’s going to keep Giorno safe, and he’s going to make sure he sees all the good things out there that he hasn’t had the chance to. Jotaro needs the reminder, too.

Notes:

Phew, thanks for coming with me on this ride.

This was originally going to be a one shot, but then I just got so many ideas about the way these two would interact with each other and how they’d handle this whole situation and I just couldn’t hold myself back from writing this much.

That being said, this is the end! Although I’m really not done with this idea of replacing the mystery mafia man with Jotaro, so I am open to writing ONE more chapter that’s a flash-forward if you guys are up for it.

As for my next project- A BRUABBA!! I have the entire plot mapped out and I think it’s going to be longer/ more drawn out than this one. And a full Merman!AU even though I missed MerMay :(

So keep your eye out for that if it’s up your alley— I HAVE AN INSTAGRAM eric_cartwoman, DMs are public and open, I like to talk to y’all so pleeeaaaaseeee reach out.

Until next time, see y’all later

EDIT FROM THE FUTURE: Y’all convinced me you’ll get your sixth chapter. Thank you so much for being so invested 😭 It really makes this worth it to know that people share my brainrot and I love you all SO MUCH

Jotaro WILL MEET the Buccigang…

Notes:

Please comment if you notice typos, or just have something to say, or want me to post the second chapter.

Leave kudos if you liked it! I’m actually collecting data about this for a project.