Chapter Text
Almost a year later, Jotaro knocks on Jolyne's door. "C'mon, kiddo, time to wake up."
He hears a muffled nooooooooo from behind the door, so he goes in and sits on the foot of her bed. "Guess who's arriving today, Jojo," he says to the lump of blankets.
After a moment, Jolyne pokes her head out suspiciously. Her hair is a mess and she's clearly barely awake. Jotaro adores her. "Is it… Noriaki…" she guesses.
"Ye-e-es," Jotaro confirms. Jolyne punches the air in triumph. "We gotta go pick him up from the airport, but then he's gonna come back here and live with us," he reminds her.
"I know, Papa. You told me when you came home last year. You've asked me if I'm okay with it like eight times a day every day since," Jolyne says. God, how does a five-year-old get so sarcastic?
"Don't you sass me," Jotaro says, "I don't need this from my own kid."
Jolyne widens her eyes at him. "Then you shouldn'ta had a kid, Papa, these are your jerk genes."
Jotaro laughs and holds his hands up in surrender. "Okay, okay, point taken. Come eat breakfast, Jojo." Jolyne sighs gustily and scrambles out of bed, darts to the kitchen. Jotaro follows her. "... You're okay with it, right?" he checks.
Jolyne whirls around. "Oh my gosh, Papa, yes, I'm okay with it! Noriaki has better taste in kids' books than you do anyway. It'll be an improvement."
Jotaro thinks about 101 Amazing Sea Creatures!, and says, "You wound me, Jojo. Soon you will discover that actually, Noriaki has terrible taste in everything, up to and including kids' books."
Jolyne shrugs and opens the fridge. "I guess that's why he likes you, Papa."
"Wow. Brutal."
--
They arrive at the airport and just hang around in the luggage area for a while, and then finally, finally, Jolyne spots a flash of red hair and tugs on Jotaro's sleeve and says, "There he is, Papa!" She waves excitedly with her other hand, and Kakyoin sees them. His face breaks into a wide grin, and he makes his way over as quickly as he can with the cane.
"Hi, you two," he says, and he leans down so he and Jolyne can do their secret handshake. It seems to get longer and more elaborate every time they do it, but they both know it by heart. It ends with both of them making explosion sounds with their mouths, and then Kakyoin straightens up and kisses Jotaro.
"Hi," he says when they break apart again.
"Welcome back," Jotaro replies.
"No," Kakyoin corrects him, "This time you say: Welcome home."
Jotaro bites back a smile. "Okay. Welcome home."