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[starmark]

. . . Yare yare. What is it? Hurry up and say something already.



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[OOC: Contact through any format is fine, including action as you see fit!]

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[starmark]

[The good thing is, he's just confused enough to end up going silent instead of doing something less fortunate for everyone concerned, like blurting out random things that cross his mind — which is very good, because one of the first is holy shit, Grandma Suzie's going to kill him and honestly that's probably not what Josuke really needs to hear right now.

(The other thing he almost blurts out is does my mom know, but no, that's not a good place to put roots down in anything, either.)

So he largely just says quiet, expression a little blank as he tries to come up with words in general for all of this...everything, and he's vaguely aware that Josuke is talking again and he should probably focus on that too but he only gets about half of it all told.]

...So you're family.

[There. Much better place to start.]

Do you have the birthmark? On your shoulder. ...When did you develop your Stand?

[the90s]

[Of all things to divert the conversation he was not expecting this. It made sense, asking for proof of some sort. He was a complete stranger after all. Still, no outbursts? There's no reason to think that Jotaro would have a short temper about this but he had gone over the worst case scenario so often for the past few weeks that it's jarring in a way that it didn't occur at all. It was almost going too smoothly for something so out of the blue, it was almost surreal. Least of all being called family right off the bat.

Josuke lifts a hand to his shoulder, pulling the collar of his (normal this time, I swear) sweater down while turning so Jotaro could see clearly. There it is in all it's inexplicable glory, the Joestar birthmark. Once he's sure the other saw it he lets go of the fabric and shrugs his shoulder. He can handle questions like that.]

I've had one for as long as I can remember. [But he does understand enough of the Dio story he heard to guess what Jotaro actually means to ask.] I got really sick when I was four. That would have been the year you went to Egypt.

[starmark]

...Yeah. That's when we all got our Stands. You...were four.

[Jesus. Josuke — Josuke was alive then. Josuke was alive and somewhere in Japan and Jiji showed up and doted on his mom and didn't call Grandma Suzie and oh god he didn't call Grandma Suzie he fucking cheated on Grandma Suzie and Josuke was already alive when his mom got sick and they all got on the plane and all that time Josuke existed and none of them knew and

what the fuck

...

WHAT THE ABSOLUTE FUCK.

God help Joseph Joestar if he ever shows up, he's going to die two feet off the train platform. He's going to punch his head off and regret nothing about it.]

. . .

[AND HOW THE HELL DOES HE KEEP RUNNING INTO THE RANDOM-ASS TEENAGE CHILDREN OF PEOPLE WHO ARE ABSOLUTELY NOT SUPPOSED TO HAVE THEM AS CHILDREN FOR GOD'S SAKE IF MEETING GIORNO HADN'T PREPARED HIM FOR THIS ONCE ALREADY WHERE WOULD HE EVEN BE RIGHT NOW.]

I'm not going to make excuses for Jiji. I'm definitely not going to pretend like I know what the hell he was thinking.

...What's your mom like? Is she doing okay?

[the90s]

[It probably should have occurred to Josuke sooner that the fact that he is technically alive in Jotaro's time would be weird. This wasn't something in the distant future that Jotaro can think about theoretically. He already... happened. There's a wince, quick, but he doesn't backpedal. Just makes a note to try and think before he drops even more bombs. Except he doesn't know what would be hard on Jotaro and what would be safe to mention. He should have talked to him more in the future about this instead of steadfastly ignoring it being a thing.

Yeah, there was no way in hell that would have happened anyway.

Josuke shrugs again and rubs the back of his neck. It's not like he was mad at Joseph like Jotaro must be. It was awkward enough to hear him called Jiji as it was, hammering in the fact that he's somehow an uncle. Ever a fount of restless energy he goes back to leaning against the back of the bench, legs crossed in front of him. He'll stop shifting around one day.]

No, you don't have to worry about anything like that. My mom was the one who decided not to contact him and all. She's tough, you know, didn't want any help with it. [So, it's not like Joseph knew and hid it. But asking about his mom... It's probably best not to share the fact that she was still hung up on him too bluntly.] She's fine. I made sure Joseph didn't meet her after he showed up.

[And yet that was probably blunt enough for Jotaro to figure out the separation was for his mom's benefit and not the old man's.]

[starmark]

[...Mm. So it was his mom's decision — does that mean, if it hadn't been for the will bullshit, they might've never made contact with each other at all? Would Josuke have just...kept living out his life, wondering where his dad was? What did his mom think of all of it? She's tough — was she mad at him? Did she miss him? Who the hell was she to Joseph Joestar, what did he think of her in return?

And here's Josuke, a kid doing his best with a tough mom and an absent dad and all of a sudden one day the Joestar bullshit sweeps in and turns everything upside-down and he never asked for any of it, either, but here he is.

...That's pretty much enough to settle a lot of things, as far as Jotaro's feelings on the subject go.]

Good. If she'd needed help and hadn't gotten it — I might've actually killed that damn old man for that.

[In his pockets, his hands tighten into fists, but then gradually his fingers loosen and he draws one of those hands out entirely, extending it to Josuke for a shake (or a clasp) instead.]

You're family. No matter what. It means something, so...I'm glad you told me.

[the90s]

[It's something so fundamentally different for Josuke. He knew the Joestars were out there somewhere. Knew now that if they had failed in their quest years ago he wouldn't be around today. And yet... He didn't blame his father's side of the family. Sure, there was the chance that things wouldn't have worked out but they didn't and he didn't know that it could have gone wrong. From his perspective it was all in the past and done with. Here he was, here was his Stand, life would have gone on. It wasn't in the past for Jotaro though.

Simply hearing him take his side in this nonexistent issue takes him by surprise. The last thing he wanted to do was create a rift - unavoidable he just shared that Joseph cheated on his grandma of all things - and having blame land anywhere left a bad taste in his mouth. But it also stupidly reassuring that Jotaro had his back instead of it falling the other way. That was probably selfish. Still.

You're family. No matter what.

Josuke looks away, dipping his head to peer at the toe of his shoe instead. It was so simple. Maybe a bit too simple for how crazy their family really is but that doesn't mean he won't appreciate it. The worst case hadn't happened and that was enough to celebrate. When he looks back up he is smiling and even though it's delayed (oops) he reaches out to clasp hands.]

You wouldn't have gotten to him first. But, honestly, he isn't so bad. [A slightly awkward chuckle. It feels weird to be the one defending Joseph but, well, he can't throw him completely under the bus either. His smile settles onto something bittersweet as he lets his retracts his hand to shove into a pocket.] Thanks. For taking this so well.

[Or for at least keeping a semblance of calm for this conversation.]

[starmark]

Our family's fucked up.

[Someone's got to say it, and usually in situations where a Guy To Say The Thing That Needs To Be Said is required, it ends up falling to him to be the one to do it, so he does.

It'll get weirder when he thinks about it at length later, probably. He'll start thinking about Josuke and Giorno both, and how they exist in a world in tandem with him — all of about the same age now because of the temporal shenanigans that have brought them together, yet the two of them look up to him in some capacity despite all these backwards fucked-up family ties that leave Giorno his...great-grand-uncle? And Josuke his...uncle...

...If there were ever a revelation that warranted a yare yare daze. For fuck's sake, his uncles are younger than him. How. Only in a Joestar family, probably.

But that's for much later. Because there are some situations that don't call for the kind of deep and all-encompassing thought he sometimes falls prey to; some situations demand instinct first, just going with the actions that feel right, and dwelling on all the nuances later on.

Thanks for taking this so well.

He wonders if that means in the future, there'll be people who don't, and show it to Josuke's face.]

I'll tell you stories sometime about how bad he gets. But not right now.

[Or, in his sort of backwards Jotaro-ish way: good on you for sticking up for him that little bit. Loyalty is a good trait to find in a person; it looks good on Josuke, particularly.]

Who else have you told? Am I the first?