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helpimhyperfixating · 3 years

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Captive Together - Mer! Jotaro x Mer! Reader P4 (End)

My, what a journey this has been. I cannot understate how blown away I am to see all the love this series has gotten. So, thank you all. Truly. This may be the end of this oneshot (fucking long one) but it is not the end of Mer! Joot cause I can never have enough fish man and will continue to write, hehehehe. Now, without further ado, enjoy fish fuckery for the last time :3

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

Word Count: 16705

While you thought nothing would be able to wake you from your exhausted sleep, a single click was all it took.

Both you and Jotaro shot awake at the same time, your eyes snapping open simultaneously and you crossed eyes for a second, a little confused, as the suddenness of being abruptly awoken from a deep sleep caused your mind to be hazy.

Said haziness was quickly driven out however, when a young voice hissed, warning something to ‘back off!’

Jotaro’s eyes opened in shock as he immediately recognised it, meanwhile you felt your heart drop, realising that, no, the humans had not been lying.

Bolting into action, you both raced the twenty meters to the surface, Jotaro shooting out and grabbing onto the edge of the tank, pulling himself up as he looked into the room, only for his eyes to immediately land on two familiar forms stuck in the arms of humans.

“Josuke!! Okuyasu!” He shouted and both pups snapped their heads to the familiar voice, Josuke’s large puppy eyes tearing up a little as he saw the familiar face of - who he saw as - his big brother.

“Jotaro!” They cried out almost in sync, squirming even harder in the arms of the scientists now, trying to get towards the larger merman.

The scientists cursed to themselves, trying to keep a firm hold on the pups as their size, paired with the slipperiness (despite being wrapped up in towels) caused them to nearly drop them.

Jotaro’s chest rose up and down and you looked at him in surprise before it turned to horror, realising that the exact same pups you were trying to project that got you here, were from Jotaro’s pod, and had now been captured and brought to this godforsaken place.

Your mind raced and, with a quick plan that you maybe should think out more, you leaned onto the glass same way as Jotaro was, getting the attention of the pups.

“Okuyasu, Josuke! Pretend to be really sleepy!”

Their attention turned to you, recognising you a second later as their eyes widened. “Lady!” Okuyasu was the one to pipe up now but there was no time.

“Yes, it’s me, just play as if you’re really tired! Do it now!”

The urgency in your voice made them obey and Josuke started acting really sluggish while Okuyasu just outright pretended to be asleep.

It was not the best but it would have to do. “Science human!” You switched to English, getting the attention of the two guys who were holding the pups as well as the two people overseeing the transfer of them into the small tank on the other side of the room.

Jotaro looked sideways at you, wondering what you were up to, and saw you make a subtle motion, tapping the side of your tail in a slow rhythm. Understanding, Jotaro started making low click noises. They echoed through the room in a steady beat, Jotaro releasing one every other second.

“How long they have no pod?” You called out frantically, playing up your panic and bad English.

“What do you mean?” The head scientists asked you, narrowing his eyes a bit.

“Pups die with no pod! How long?”

“Why is he making those noises?” He pointed to Jotaro, making the merman growl a bit which caused the man to quickly retract his finger.

“To let pups know we’re here. Too long with no adults make them sick and die.”

This caused the scientists to give pause, the one holding Okuyasu having been trying to get him to wake up and move, shaking him a bit, but - to his credit - Okuyasu was doing very well at pretending to be knocked out cold.

“Are they yours?”

“That does not matter!” You called out, undignified. And in this case you meant it. How can humans even be so simple minded that when they see a young in need that it would have to matter who’s it is before you help them. “Please.” You pleaded and the head scientists looked between you and Jotaro, to the two young Mer.

It was a little weird that the two who had been struggling and squirming the entire way up were all of a sudden so slow. But the threat of losing the two - what did you call them? Pups? - was something he couldn’t risk, one of them already seemingly passed out if not dead.

“Alright, get them into the big tank.” The head scientist ordered and the others nodded, starting to carry them over.

Both you and Jotaro backed away from the glass, knowing it would calm the humans more if you weren’t close; especially Jotaro, who had only ever displayed aggressiveness towards them.

Jotaro dove under and watched from there while you stayed on the surface, watching with big and worried eyes.

They first lowered Okuyasu down, seeing as he seemed to be in the worst condition. The one carrying him leaned over the edge of the tank, warily looking at the form of Jotaro who was a few meters below the surface, watching, but the merman stayed put, giving the scientist some reassurance.

Holding out your arms, the man placed Okuyasu down, half in your arms, half in the water, pulling away the towel when he figured the pup was lowered enough into the water.

“Play dead for a little bit longer.” You quietly whispered to Okuyasu, just looking like you were letting him know you were there to the humans. Okuyasu however, took that as a sign to ‘play dead’ instead of pretending to sleep like he had been, his tongue now lolling out of his mouth as he splayed his arms out and let them drift in the water.

“Miss.” Josuke whimpered from above, still stuck in the arms of the scientist.

“It’s okay, they’re gonna lower you now, okay?” You tried to reassure him, sending him a small smile. “Jotaro is waiting just below.”

Josuke nodded, truly scared now that he didn’t even have his friend with him anymore. His little arms were outstretched as if he were waiting for you to pick him up.

Your eyes trailed up from him and you locked eyes with the head scientist. Something in you told you that he was doubting everything that was happening and you decided that enough was enough.

“Okuyasu, swim down. Now!” It was like he got shocked awake in your arms, immediately flailing his tail and rushing deeper into the water.

Simultaneously, you launched yourself up.

Because the scientists were so close to the tank, you had a perfect angle to grab onto Josuke.

He immediately wrapped his arms around your neck while you tightly hugged him to your chest, allowing gravity to pull you back down and rip Josuke out of the scientists arms.

The towel he was wrapped in got pulled along and two of the others tried to jump forward and grab Josuke back almost on instinct but they didn’t get a chance to as Jotaro breached, throwing up a massive amount of water as he did, one claw swiping at their outstretched arms trying to grab you and Josuke while the other tightly grab hold of you, pushing you down into the deep with him.

You both quickly swam down to the bottom, Jotaro having picked up Okuyasu along the way since he was still making his way down, and you both slid down onto the floor, puffing up a tiny sand cloud.

Josuke peeled himself off of you, his eyes even glassier than normal before he turned around to face Jotaro, zipping out of your arms and slamming into the large Mer, Okuyasu copying his friend on Jotaro’s other side, both pups now cuddled into his chest.

“We knew you weren’t dead!” He shouted out while Jotaro just sat with his arms splayed out a little, looking uncomfortable as he looked down at the tiny creatures compared to him latched onto his chest.

You stifled a giggle and scooted closer, taking hold of Jotaro’s hands, making him look questionably at you before you pushed them in such a way until he had his hands placed on their backs, sort of yet sort of not hugging them back.

Jotaro glared at you as they snuggled further into him but you just laughed softly, earning the attention of both the pups.

Okuyasu was the first to break free from Jotaro and swam over to you, happily latching onto you as if he had known you all his life.

“Oh!” You exclaimed a little in surprise, not having expected that, but you wrapped your arms around him all the same. Josuke let go of Jotaro as well and swam the half a meter over to you, a bit more reserved as he stopped in front of you. “You both did really well, pretending to be sleepy and playing dead!” You encouraged and the both of them started beaming, Okuyasu pushing himself up with his arms and grinning widely.

“We totally fooled those humans, right?” He asked and you laughed.

“Totally.”

“Thank you...?” Josuke spoke while Jotaro got closer, loosely wrapping the end half of his tail around your sitting form and placing a hand on Josuke’s back.

You realised that Josuke didn’t even know your name. “I didn’t even get to give you my name last time we met, did I?” You asked and the both of them shook their heads no. “I think proper introductions are in order then!” You gently pushed Okuyasu away from you a bit before putting your hands on your hips. “Hi, I’m Y/N.” You smiled.

“I’m Okuyasu!” Said boy shouted loudly, the enthusiasm in his gritty voice giving him such a charm that you couldn’t help but smile wide. You bowed your head a bit in a formal greeting as if you were meeting a high standing Mer before turning to Josuke, who had simply been watching but now jolted a little since he realised he had to introduce himself as well.

He was quick to puff out his chest though, giving a confident grin. “Hi! I’m Josuke, Jotaro’s uncle!” He seemed to be really proud of it while Jotaro sighed loudly behind him, rolling his eyes.

It was already quite clear to you that Josuke loved flaunting that fact, as if his ‘higher’ family tree status over the older Mer made him automatically just a strong if not stronger. Yet still you couldn’t help but ask. “Uncle?”

“Grandfather dalliance.” Jotaro simply explained and you ‘ooh’ed.

“Da-watte?” Josuke asked but Jotaro grunted out a ‘Don’t worry about it.’

“How did you two get here?” The merman was quick to get to the point as the two young Mer drifted down to sit on the sand just as you and Jotaro were, your tail and Jotaro’s now forming a circle around yourselves, with Josuke leaning against his and Okuyasu leaning against yours.

“We were trying to find you...” Josuke picked at his hands as he muttered that, both their heads bowed down in shame already.

“Gimme a break...” Jotaro sighed. “Why would you do that?”

“Because everyone said to leave it but we knew you couldn’t be dead!”

“When they say ‘leave it’ it means it’s too dangerous to continue. It didn’t mean they thought I was dead.” Jotaro explained yet you were surprised by the gentleness of it. He clearly had experience dealing with pups even if he might not like it. “What happened after?”

“Well... we-“

“We went to where Y/N was taken away!” Okuyasu interrupted with a shout but quickly slapped his hands over his mouth.

“Why?” You spoke up for the first time and the both of them looked up at you guiltily.

“We thought the boat that took you maybe took Jotaro as well.” He pouted and you huffed good naturedly. “Wait!” Josuke suddenly shot up, startling you a bit.

Without warning he pushed you down by your shoulders, with you not expecting it making it easy for him to do so.

“Ack-!” You let out a surprised noise as you folded backwards over Jotaro’s tail - which he didn’t bother removing - your arms falling gently down into the sand behind you.

“What.” You blinked a few times, until you felt small hands pushing on your stomach, making you lift your head to see what the heck Josuke was doing.

Said pup was hovering sideways, looking intently at your left side with a surprised yet happy look. “You healed!” He happily chirped and you let out a confused laugh.

“Yeah?”

“Ohhhh, you’re right.” Okuyasu piped up, having drifted over as well, now poking at the scar that marred your stomach and side.

“Alright, that’s enough.” Jotaro shoo’ed them both away, getting their hands off your stomach before he lifted you back into a sitting position with his tail.

“What’s that?” Josuke suddenly asked as he grabbed Jotaro’s wrist, inspecting the shackle that sat on his wrist. The pup experimentally poked at the metal, Okuyasu just looking at it in slight wary awe.

“Something not nice.” Jotaro simply shooed the pup off his arm. “Go play, we need to talk.” He waved the two away but they only swam a little bit before stopping and turning.

“Where?”

“There’s a ruin there. Don’t get crushed.” Jotaro pointed to the destroyed skull in the corner ten meters ahead of him, not seeming to care it might be dangerous.

Josuke and Okuyasu perked up and Josuke dragged his friend along, happily chittering the entire way.

“Soo...”

“They were the pups you were trying to protect? Really? We got caught for the same thing and didn’t realise?” Jotaro started and you shrugged.

“I didn’t think they were your uncle and his friend!” Jotaro grunted, having to give you the benefit of the doubt there.

Sighing, he pinched the bridge of his nose before looking past your shoulder to the pups now curiously looking at the pile of rocks; Josuke trying to see if he could stick his arms between the cracks and find something cool, while Okuyasu was trying to find the biggest rock he could try and lift, currently struggling with one the size of his head.

“I should have realised.”

“Well, it didn’t matter at that moment really. Besides, we were too busy trying to get out?” You tried but Jotaro sent you a sideways glare.

“Don’t use my own words against me.” He deadpanned.

“Sorry, sorry.” You chuckled before looking up the tank. “You think they realised I lied?”

“After you jumped up and grabbed Josuke when they were already suspicious? Yes.” Jotaro scoffed before turning a bit more serious, looking at you. “They’ll most likely try to get them back.”

“We won’t let them.”

- - - -

The tank was a lot livelier now that there were two hyperactive pups inside. They never seemed to find a moment to sit still; racing each other, play fighting, pulling your tail to see if they were strong enough to drag you (they had unfortunately dragged your face through the sand with that one), or asking if they could play with the balls at the top.

That last one was because you and Jotaro had explicitly stated that they could not go to the surface without either Jotaro or you. Which, of course, meant that you were usually the one dragged up, since Jotaro detested going up there.

Right now, you, Josuke and Okuyasu were eating, Jotaro just sitting to the side with his eyes closed.

Previous experience with the food led to you and Jotaro putting in a system. One would eat, the other wouldn’t. Next time, roles reverse. That way, should the food have been tampered with again, at least one will be awake to defend the other and the pups from being taken.

After eating your fill, you suddenly got an idea. Lazily, you swam over to the collapsed-and-buried-under-rocks skull. Starting to dig through, lifting rocks and placing them back down, peering between cracks, you began searching.

After a bit, you were tail-deep into it, reaching far in and shoving a piece of the skull aside before your hand finally touched what you were searching for.

“Aha!”

A sudden poke on your tail scared you shitless and you jolted, bumping your head into the rocks beside you. “Ow!” Your shout came out muffled from between the rocks, making Jotaro raise his eyebrow in amusement after he had been watching just your tail flail back and forth for about ten minutes, sticking out from the rocks.

“What are you doing that makes you leave me to take care of these annoying brats by myself?”

You wiggled for a bit and popped out of the hole you had created, looking at Jotaro before leaning down and grabbing a smaller rock out of it that had been bothering you. “Hey, they’re from your pod.” You chuckled but Jotaro just scoffed.

“They’re from yours now too.” He spoke with his arms crossed, pointedly looking at you and simply watching as you dropped the rock, the thing sinking down and slowly clattering off the mountain of rocks the two of you were sitting on top of.

Your jaw was slack and Jotaro leaned forward, leaning his weight on top of the rocks on one arm while using the other to push your chin up, closing your mouth while he sported a small smirk.

“R-Really?” Your voice was barely over a whisper as you spoke in disbelief, and Jotaro huffed in amusement, that smirk still on his face.

“Of course. You think I’d let you go after all this?” He cocked an eyebrow and your lip started trembling a bit.

You hadn’t been part of a pod since your old one abandoned you when you got stuck in a trap many years ago. They practically proclaimed you dead while looking straight in your eyes and ever since then you’d been alone.

Right now, with Jotaro in front of you, your brain short circuited and you went back to your first instinct, which was to hide.

Shoving your head into the hole again, Jotaro shook his head to himself as he looked down at your tail sticking out of the pile of rocks, a small smile playing on his lips.

Inside the hole, you had covered your face with your hands, trying not to burst out crying. You then felt Jotaro comfortingly starting to rub your tail with one hand and tried to swallow past the lump in your throat.

Now even more determined than before, you went in search for what you had tried to find from the beginning.

Just a few movings of smaller rocks and you finally saw them: the statuettes you had carved.

A whale, a shark and a manta ray. Only, despite the secure spot you had put them in, when the skull was destroyed, the manta ray had been broken in two, vertically down the middle.

Scooping up the figurines, you momentarily lamented the loss of the manta ray. You had specifically made that for Jotaro and had wanted to give it to him now.

A little sadly, you started to back up to get out, only to freeze. Trying again, you found yourself unable to back up.

“Uh... Jotaro..?” Your voice was tiny, making you even less audible with the muffling from the rocks, but your mate heard, humming a little to let you know he did. “I’m stuck. Help.”

“Good grief, really?”

“Yes, please help.” You whined, feeling like crying again, only this time just out of pathetically feeling overwhelmed.

“It’s alright.” Jotaro assured and you felt him grip either side of your tail, starting to pull. After just a few seconds of him pulling and you trying to back up, you popped out, firmly clutching the carvings in your arm as you tipped back and sank until you lay upside down on the rocks.

“What’s that?” Jotaro pointed down at the items in your arms.

Sitting up with a grunt, you turned to him. “These two are for Okuyasu and Josuke to play with.” You spoke, holding up the two statuettes. “And this one...”

You trailed off when Jotaro plucked one of the halves out of your hand. “A manta ray.” He mumbled and you smiled nervously.

“Yeah. It... broke... though...”

“Y/N?” Jotaro asked when your words came out sluggish and you suddenly started tilting forward. “Y/N!” Catching you on his torso, Jotaro looked down in worry, shifting your body until you were laying more comfortably against his chest.

Stopping for a minute, Jotaro just sat and listened, noticing how there was no extra movement in the water. No fluttering of tails or chattering of young voices. So, putting his arms under you, Jotaro swam left around the column, quickly spotting both Josuke and Okuyasu, smushed together on the floor, sleeping.

Growling, Jotaro angrily slapped the leftover tuna with his tail, quickly leaving it and swimming over to the bed, carefully placing you down on your side.

In all this time you didn’t even stir, just continuing to steadily breathe. Placing your head in a better position, Jotaro gently released you, then turned around and swam over to the two sleeping on the sand.

Picking both of them up at the same time, Jotaro sighed softly. Right now he was just glad you both thought ahead like this and that he was here to keep the three of you safe.

Bringing them over to the bed, Jotaro paused a second, not knowing where to leave the pups. In the end he decided to just lay them against you. He wanted to have you all in the same place together so he could immediately shoot into action if necessary.

Putting the two next to and against your stomach, they cuddled up with each other and almost immediately, your tail curled around them, pressing them deeper into you with a protective and comforting safety for the pups.

Briefly turning around, Jotaro just went to do one last thing.

The scientists were just sitting at and pacing around the table. Despite what they tried, the male had not eaten the drugged food and therefore was not asleep.

They could not get in that tank when one of them was awake, especially the most dangerous one.

Almost as if to demonstrate, a slab of tuna was suddenly flung out of the water, hitting the scientist sitting at the table so hard that he slam-dunked his head into the furniture before toppling off the table and chair, his head ping-ponging a bit as he was instantly knocked out.

The others looked horrified, looking between their colleague and the tank, none of them having been able to see the water be disturbed except for the meat flying out of it.

The male was definitely not happy.

Having gotten the satisfaction of at least hurting one of the humans, Jotaro swam back down with a huff, making sure to monitor every movement in the water just in case while he swam over to the destroyed skull.

The statuettes you had had in your hand before you passed out were scattered around, two of them still on the pile of rocks, while the other two were in the sand. Gently picking up the shark and one half of the manta ray from the rocks, he swam down to the bottom, lifting the whale from the sand and accidentally pulling some of the grit with him before swimming over to the other half of the manta ray, mostly buried in the sand.

Holding everything in his left arm, Jotaro took it from the sand with his right and raised it up to his face.

It was really well made, the shape exactly that of a manta ray, with you having smoothened it out somehow. The wing was not even chipped, despite the pressure the small thing had been put under.

No, surprisingly, it had only snapped perfectly down the middle.

Swimming back over to you and the pups, Jotaro placed the shark and whale in the sand to the right of you, swimming to sit behind you where he carefully placed the broken statue next to him before laying down as well.

He’d get some sleep, but keep his senses on high alert all night.

With his giant tail, Jotaro curled it around yours as always, resulting in the pups now being shielded by two tails, Jotaro’s so large that he was able to bring it up to your face so you could lay your head on it as a pillow, even with the two pups now sleeping in between.

Finally feeling content, he allowed himself to drift to sleep.

- - - -

Being the last to sleep and the first to wake was not something Jotaro expected to happen.

During the night, nothing had happened and the four of you had just been able to sleep peacefully.

Stretching a bit, Jotaro sat up. Shifting his tail a little, he took note of how he felt better than yesterday - less tired and sore - but it was not enough yet. At the rate he was recovering he might have tried to escape the next day with you, but now you had Josuke and Okuyasu as well. Bringing the pups along meant using up more energy. So unfortunately, Jotaro estimated that the four of you would have to spend at least two or three more days in this hellhole.

When after ten minutes not one of you stirred, Jotaro began to grow a little concerned. Maybe whatever was in the food had been too strong? Especially if the pups had been given the same amount as the adults, would they be able to take that?

Quickly, Jotaro moved until he was next to the young. Placing his hands on their chests, he was relieved to find their hearts were beating and they were breathing properly. Starting to shake them, Jotaro tried to wake them up - maybe a little too roughly but he didn’t care.

A small peep came out of Josuke as he was rattled awake, while Okuyasu just hummed a little in question, as if he was used to waking up like that.

“Go play.” He motioned behind himself with his thumb, not even waiting for an answer as he shifted over to you, thinking of the best way to wake you up.

Just letting his eyes rake up and down your form for a minute, Jotaro was snapped out of it when a pair of hands was placed on his right shoulder, a curious face looking over it down to what he was looking at, quickly followed by another pair of hands on his left, Okuyasu following in what his friend did like usual.

“Is she your mate?” Josuke piped up after a few seconds of silence and Jotaro sighed inwardly, already done with the day and the exhausting trek of what taking care of pups and all their questions meant.

“Yes.” He answered without much fanfare, going out to reach for your arm to shake you awake as well when an excited gasp right next to his ear stopped him.

“So auntie Holly was right! Dad said he thought you’d never get one with how mad you always seem but she insisted that you would.” He blabbered happily, Okuyasu humming like a wise sage, pretending to know what was being talked about even if he had absolutely no clue.

“Good grief, of course that old man is gossiping.” Jotaro deadpanned. Not saying anything else, he just leaned forward and gently shook you by your arm, the two pups still hanging on his shoulders.

Stirring a bit, your eyes fluttered open and you tiredly looked to your right where you saw Jotaro hover over you, two faces peeking out over him.

Chuckling tiredly, you slowly sat up, yawning and scratching the back of your neck. “Hi.” You muttered, getting small greetings from the three men in return. “Another day.”

- - - -

Jotaro was up at the surface while Josuke and Okuyasu played with the balls on top. The entire time he was staring into the room of scientists with a menacing glare.

Normally, you’d have gone up there with them but you honestly hadn’t even realised they went up, too focused on the broken item in your hand.

Josuke and Okuyasu had seen you were busy and instead went to Jotaro, asking if they could go up.

After about two hours you finally finished.

“Aha!” You shouted, holding up the one half of the manta ray on a string that you had been working on, only to blink in surprise when you saw Josuke and Okuyasu on either side of you, leaning into your sides. “Huh? Oh, hey guys.”

“Hi, Y/N!” Okuyasu just happily greeted while Josuke simply smiled. Josuke was holding the shark while Okuyasu held the whale, the two of them having been playing quietly next to you and over your tail while you were too focused on the intricacies of weaving a thin yet strong string.

“Good grief, you only just now noticed them?”

Quickly looking up you noticed Jotaro leaning into the column straight ahead of you, about three metres away.

You gasped like a guppy for a few seconds before shutting your jaw with a clack. “It’s intricate work.” You pouted, bringing your hands and subsequently the half of the manta ray down to your lap as you weakly defended yourself. It didn’t work.

Figuring to just escape from his intent stare, you clapped your hands together. “Who wants to play maelstrom?”

At that, both pups by your side perked up. “What’s that?” Okuyasu questioned and you smiled.

“I can show you, c’mon.” You giggled a little as you got up, dragging Okuyasu with you by his hand and just letting the manta ray halves drift to the sand.

Swimming up until you were about five meters above the floor, you let go of Okuyasu’s hands. “Now what?”

“Grab onto my tail fin and hold on tight.”

Confused, he did what you asked and you looked down, seeing Josuke look at you curiously and you sent him a wink before abruptly bending down, shooting forward as you gently took hold of the end of Okuyasu’s tail, starting to spin like crazy as if a snake eating its own tail while imitating a water wheel.

The speed you were spinning at was crazy and Okuyasu started yelling and laughing loudly, devolving into a deranged giggle as you slowly started slowing down, spinning slower and slower until you stopped, hanging upside down and letting go of Okuyasu’s tail so he could catch his breath in an upright position.

He was trying to keep himself straight and head side up in the water but the world was spinning so much that he was wildly flailing to try and do so.

Laughing gently yourself as well, you grabbed hold around his midriff, starting to lead him back to the others while he was dizzily trying to swim.

You yourself were trying very hard to stave off your own dizziness but were doing a lot better than the pup. At least, you were, but that was quick to change when:

“Me next! Me next!”

As you let Okuyasu go to swim down to the sand on his own, Josuke shot forward and into you, knocking you back from the sheer speed he had been swimming with for a second and you laughed loudly. “Alright, alright!”

“Yes!”

You snorted and shook your head with a smile. “Okay, so, hold on tight and don’t let go no matter what alright?” You told Josuke while you got into position. He hummed happily with a big nod and you lightly took hold of his tail fin as well. “Alright, here we go!”

Swimming down to where Jotaro had been watching the entire scene was a lot harder than expected with how dizzy you were.

After Josuke had gone, Okuyasu wanted another round. And after that Josuke wanted to go again. And then they wanted to go at the same time. So you had taken one tail in either hand while they clutched yours together, big grins on their faces. And then they wanted to go about three times before their dizziness finally caught up with them, allowing you to get some rest and make the world stop spinning yourself.

Attempting to swim over to Jotaro proved a mistake as you just completely wobbled the entire time, nearly swimming upside down and right into the column had it not been for Jotaro deciding to take mercy on you and grabbing hold of your arms, swimming back with you to where he had been sitting.

“This is your own fault.” He said a little smugly and you attempted to lightly slap him but everything was double so you very much missed. “Almost.” He teased.

“Shut it.” You chuckled back before lightly shaking your head back and forth for a second, stopping your vision from hazing and just sighed a deep sigh, letting yourself slide down until you were laying on the sand, your head on Jotaro’s lap.

Silence fell with just the vibrations in the water of Josuke and Okuyasu on the other side of the tank as they played.

“So, what’re these that they caused you to not even notice anything around you.” Jotaro broke the silence, asking that as he suddenly held up the manta ray pieces on strings you made.

A shy smile spread on your face as you took one of them from him. “Here.” With that soft uttering, you pulled Jotaro down a little bit before slipping the cord over his neck. “I did the best I could with the materials I can use here, but it should hold for at least a while.”

Bringing up the necklace to his face to look at it, Jotaro gazed at it for a second before looking down past it, to you, still laying on his lap.

Though from an outside perspective he may look as neutral as ever, you had a clear and perfect view of the warm adoration in his eyes, making your heart flutter that you made something he liked.

“Thank you.” He softly spoke before dropping the necklace back to his chest. You didn’t even get a chance to answer when Jotaro was already bringing a cord over your own head, having grabbed the other piece that he had laying next to him and now carefully draping it over you.

His fingers brushed past your cheek and he gently lifted your head from his lap with his right hand, using his left to bring the cord down the back of your head and rest it in your neck.

With a gentle motion he laid your head back down on his tail, leaning back up against the pillar after you had pulled him down as he decompressed a bit, never taking his eyes off you.

His palm drifted down to where the necklace sat on your chest, cupping his hand over it and softly pressing down. His eyes were soft as he looked at it, a content look washing over him as you saw his chest rise in a deep, happy sigh, the necklace prominent as it rose with the muscle.

- - - -

The humans kept trying.

An annoyance and anger flowed in you as you looked at Jotaro, Josuke and Okuyasu all passed out on the seaweed bed.

It was cute to see the giant and intimidating merman sleep so sweetly with two pups curled almost against him, but just the thought that they were forcibly put to sleep because of the food you needed to survive ruined it a bit.

In fact, you didn’t even really need it. Both you and Jotaro would be fine going several days without food, but the pups wouldn’t. And because you needed all the strength you could to regain your energy and be able to escape soon, you and Jotaro just decided to keep eating, using the current safety system in case the food was messed with.

Seeing as there had been food prepared for four and you didn’t eat, there was some left over. You didn’t really want it to start rotting or stink up the tank, so you lifted it into your arms and started carrying it up.

Lifting it over the tank with quite some effort, you let it just plop onto the floor right in front of the scientists who just looked at you a little bit in disbelief.

“Why’d you do that?” One of them asked sadly, as if he was hurt by your action and you narrowed your eyes.

“Food bad.” You spoke.

“It’s not bad!” He defended and your upper lip curled a bit, showing off your teeth as you silently snarled. You were kind of done with the nice act. You and Jotaro were planning to jump out anyways so what was the use of it anymore?

“Food. Bad.” You reiterated.

“Why do you think that-“ In the middle of him talking you suddenly felt something in the water. Whipping around, you saw that something had lowered in the far right most corner while you were talking. Right where everyone was sleeping.

Diving under with lightning speed, you raced around the column and to the corner, quickly spotting a crane like contraption with a claw lowering down, about halfway to your mate and the pups.

Growling loudly, you shot towards it and latched onto the pole right above the claw.

With your nails you started trying to cut through but it merely succeeded in making scratches, this metal clearly fortified with something that kept you from easily breaking through.

Now angry, you harshly bit down on the pole, your jaw strength enough to crush through bone and flesh easily. And, though the pole was sturdier than that, it slowly started to bend under the pressure you were forcing on it.

The claw quickly opened and closed, the crane starting to pull it back up to try and save it before you completely broke the contraption, trying to shake you off.

One of the digits of the claw snagged your upper arm, tearing your skin open but you refused to let go, now starting to grab hold of the claw and break it apart.

By the time it had reached the water surface and you had finally let go, the claw was missing all but one of its digits and was sticking awkwardly to the side in a 45° angle, with you having bent the entire pole enough to no longer have the claw function.

- - - -

“Y/N, what happened?” The husky voice paired with a slight sting on your arm roused you from your sleep and you blinked your eyes open to see Jotaro firmly holding your left arm as he held you laid on your right side, his thumb caressing your skin around the cut that sat there.

“The humans tried to take the little ones with one of those machines while you were asleep. I stopped them.” You would have shrugged sleepily had you not been laying on your side and had your arm also not been captive in Jotaro’s firm hold. “There’s a few metals there.” You pointed up to where the remnants of your battle with the claw lay in the sand.

“I’ll stab them with their own fucking tools.” Jotaro growled darkly, clutching your arm a little tighter and that woke you up a bit more, but you couldn’t help but laugh a little, your heart swelling at his protectiveness yet not knowing how to express it other than a joyous laugh.

At hearing the noise, Jotaro relented his grip on your arm a little before huffing and leaning down, starting to gently lick the cut while that oh-so familiar rumble started from his chest.

You smiled up at him as he was still leaned over your laying down form, lapping at the wound that you had briefly treated the night before.

Jotaro could tell you had but he didn’t care. He wanted to do it.

You could sense his pettiness about that in how thoroughly he treated you now, making sure to go over every inch thrice before finally pulling back, licking his lips a little. “You did good. But don’t get injured next time.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll try.” You stuck out your tongue but Jotaro was quick to shoot forward and nip at it, making you squeak and quickly pull it back in your mouth as your cheeks burned and you looked at him with a shocked look.

Jotaro smirked at your reaction before turning around and shaking both Okuyasu and Josuke awake, basically telling them to go piss off and keep themselves busy, although he didn’t say it like that of course.

- - - -

The next two days passed without any incident. The food was no longer tampered with and for the first time, the pups managed to fall asleep on their own terms.

Surprisingly enough, they got tired quite early, giving you and Jotaro some time to relax; and you had to admit, with how much you enjoyed the peace and quiet, yeah no, you were not ready to have pups yet.

A few hours later, you and Jotaro joined them on the bed, you directly next to them and Jotaro behind you, having his arm slung over you and keeping you close as you both drifted off to sleep.

Tugging on your arm roused you from your sleep, but only slightly, and you turned around to lie down on your other side, trying to ignore the disturbance.

As you snuggled into Jotaro’s chest however, your full wrist was grabbed and you felt it being lifted up and over your head before being pulled back a bit.

Opening one eye, you turned your head to see the waters around you still dark and a tiny Mer tugging on your wrist with another right beside him.

“Guys, it’s the middle of the night... go sleep.” You whined sleepily, turning back and burying your head closer under Jotaro’s chin, which made him grunt a little while Josuke continued to yank at your arm, trying to get you to play with him.

“But I’m not sleepy at all! Come onnn, please!”

“You’ve got Okuyasu.” You grumbled that as Josuke started attempting to yank you along with him, actually succeeding a little bit and making you groan as he pulled you out of Jotaro’s hold.

Lazily, Jotaro opened one eye and chuckled a little as he saw you, left arm stretched over your head where it was being held captive by a stubborn Mer pup who, in turn, had his friend pulling him; the hope that two pups were enough to move one adult from the clutches of another.

Surprisingly to you, Jotaro opened his arms, allowing you to slip away a tiny bit before he helped the pups by pushing you with his tail. You sent him a betrayed look but he just smirked at you, his eyes only half open in his sleepy smugness.

And that was how you started your day very very early, having to steel yourself for a full day of chasing and entertaining two pups.

- - - -

Lazily pacing back and forth, Jotaro was deep in thought; remembering the layout of the building and how far you and him would have to drag yourselves to get outside, thinking about how you two would bring Josuke and Okuyasu along. Preferably, Jotaro would carry the both of them so that you wouldn’t be strained. But he also knew he couldn’t do that. Not only would that tire him out but, if he had both pups with him, there was no way he could defend all of you, should you run into a human.

Just then, Jotaro stopped in his tracks, noticing something was off. While there had been noises and movement in the water all day; now, there was nothing...

Swimming around the column, he found the lack of movement or noise very suspicious - given how there were supposed to be two hyperactive little guppies zipping about.

Yet, as he rounded the corner, he was greeted with a surprising sight that maybe did more to him than he would like to admit.

With a small blush, Jotaro watched as you were laying on the bed, sound asleep and tuckered out after a full day of entertaining pups, your mouth slightly open to try and get enough water in to breathe given that you were laying on your stomach. On your back, Josuke lay splayed out, also sound asleep, his tail tucked under yours as you had curled it up, yet still somehow managing to get the thing partially on your face, and - in contrast to the chaotic toddler on your back - just gently curled up in your tail and against your side lay Okuyasu, also sound asleep, his tiny chest just gently rising and falling.

It was... an adorable sight.

Deciding to leave you all be for now, Jotaro stopped swimming around, just to make as little thrashing in the water as possible while he sat down close by, letting you sleep.

Tomorrow, he decided. Tomorrow night you would all finally get the fuck out of here.

- - - -

It was dark in the tank as you and Jotaro got ready.

About ten minutes ago, Josuke and Okuyasu had woken up on their own accord, confused as to why the adults were not beside them and swimming over to the two of you as you went over the plan one last time. Not that there was much of a plan.

Locking eyes with Jotaro, you took a deep breath and nodded. Time to go.

Taking both the pups by the hand, you led them to the surface and peeked out. In the room, there was just one scientist. Sticking your head back underwater, you softly clicked to Jotaro several meters lower. “Can you reach him?”

“I’ve got him.” Jotaro assured and you watched in slight awe as every muscle in his tail seemed to contract, preparing for the burst of power that would make him shoot out like an arrow released from a bow.

Not a second later, Jotaro shot up, rushing through the water and jumping out of the tank.

He easily flew through the air, halfway into the room as he slammed straight into the human, knocking them to the floor under his weight before he rolled off and instantly whipped around, slamming his tail into them and sending them flying back into the wall where they crumpled into a heap, completely knocked out and broken.

Letting out an angry huff, Jotaro turned around and tiger crawled over to the edge of the tank, where you were now lifting Josuke up and over the edge. Jotaro grabbed the pup from you and lowered him to the floor before reaching back up to grab Okuyasu and doing the same for him.

“Y/N, come on.” Jotaro then urged you, holding out his hands in a silent promise that he’ll catch you.

Dipping down about two meters, you quickly moved your tail and propelled yourself upwards, jumping out of the water and over the glass and right into the arms of Jotaro.

He got knocked back onto the floor due to having no purchase for his tail but safely cushioned your fall nonetheless.

Rolling over, he let you slip to the floor before getting on his stomach and propping himself up.

“The stairs are going to be hell.” He spoke and you nodded with a disgruntled noise before Jotaro turned to the pups who were patiently and anxiously waiting on the floor.

“Josuke, you go with Y/N. You are lighter than Okuyasu.” Jotaro grabbed his uncle under his armpits, lifting him up and placing him on your back. Josuke immediately wrapped his arms around your neck and you and Jotaro looked at each other, with you giving him a small nod. Jotaro lifted Okuyasu with one arm onto his own back where the pup clung in a similar fashion onto Jotaro as Josuke did to you.

Time to get the fuck out of here.

Starting to drag yourself across the floor, Jotaro made his way to the door and ripped it open by just slamming his claws through the wood and pulling, not caring about the lock.

While he did that, you crawled to the knocked out scientist and grabbed hold of the little card thingy hanging around his neck. Ripping it off, you just bit down on the cord and held it in your jaws as you crawled over to Jotaro who was waiting for you.

He saw the item in your mouth and nodded approvingly, him having seen the scientists use that card to open the door he just ripped apart. It was not needed for now but who knew what you would run into.

Going through the door for the first time, you looked around curiously and warily, keeping your ears open for any sounds while you gazed at the concrete walls.

Beyond the door there was literally nothing but a staircase leading down, a silver one with tiny holes all over it that now made the water dripping from both you and Jotaro fall down through it, echoing on the metal where it fell. On the wall there was a plaque with a giant 3 as well as a smaller one saying ‘FIRE STAIRS’ whatever that meant.

“C’mon.” Jotaro took first initiative, going down tail first and looking back over his shoulder to see what he was doing and where he was going, Okuyasu holding on tight as he now had to rely on just his arms to not fall off.

Copying his move, you turned around and started going down, gritting your teeth as your tail rubbed painfully over the corners and bumps of the holes in the stairs, indented markings appearing in your hands as well while Josuke frantically clung to your neck, almost asphyxiating you but not entirely.

It was a slow descent. When you two got to the second floor, you heard some murmuring from inside the door that led to the underwater viewing room and continued dragging yourself down as silently as possible.

Before long, you both reached the bottom floor, coming face to face with a metal door. Jotaro placed his hand against it and Josuke squeaked. “Now what?”

“Now this.” You answered the pup, sending him a reassuring smile as you grabbed onto the door handle and pulled yourself up, showing him the card that you had taken out of your mouth a second ago and shoving it in the slot above the handle.

The red light turned to green and the handle went off its lock, abruptly going down, which made you lose your grip and slam your chin on the floor as the door creaked open a bit.

Jotaro put his hand on your shoulder in concern but you quickly got up, showing you were fine and sent him a grin.

With Jotaro pushing your underside up with one arm, you grabbed onto the handle again with more ease and took the card out before getting back to the ground without issues and properly shoving the door open.

The lights were on and glaring and you needed to let your eyes adjust for a second after the dark, not getting anymore time as Jotaro was already pushing your back to urge you to go.

Taking an immediate right, you were met with a long hallway. At the end, two people were walking away from the two of you. Okuyasu was about to say something but you shot towards him and clamped your hand over his mouth, leaning your elbow on Jotaro’s back to be able to bring your other hand to your lips in a ‘shh’ motion.

Once Okuyasu seemed to get the message, you let go and looked at Jotaro with wide, scared eyes. He jerked his head to the side in a motion to go and you quickly did as you were told.

Your tail was heavy and wet, leaving a wet trail behind you as you dragged yourself forward on your forearms. Jotaro was just a beat behind you, keeping tabs on everything and ready to step in if necessary.

“Left here, Y/N.” He spoke quietly and you looked left to see the door to the filtration room.

Your arms were already feeling like lead but you continued to drag yourself forward, reaching the door.

“HEY!”

The sudden shout made you and Jotaro whip your heads around, looking back the way you came to see someone standing in the door of the stairwell, looking at you both with wide eyes.

“THEY’RE OUT OF THE TANK!!”

“Y/N, go, go!” Jotaro urged and you jammed the key card into the lock above the doorknob, taking it out once the light went green and slamming the door open, Jotaro shoving you inside before sliding Okuyasu across the floor towards you as well, just in time as he turned around and body slammed his tail into the man running towards you.

“Hold onto my arm!” You told Okuyasu and he did as he was told, both pups practically only balls of fear at the moment as they now both clung to you.

Some more yelling and Jotaro threateningly hissing sounded behind you but you knew he wanted you to clear the way. Get the next door open so that you could all move on.

The room you were currently in was filled with large cylinders. Pipes and thick cords running out of them as they were continually pumping - releasing a steady humming that made Josuke try to cover his ears on your back while Okuyasu clung closer to your arm.

You quickly moved past them and to the right a bit, seeing the door Jotaro had told you you needed to go through when discussing the plan.

Behind you, the door slammed shut loudly and you saw Jotaro inside, repeatedly slamming his body into it and bending the door with it, making it unable to open anymore.

Glad to see he was inside, you tiger crawled over to the other door, panting slightly, and grabbed hold of the knob.

Right as you did, the door was swung open violently and you were thrown back, Okuyasu and Josuke getting flung off of you and landing a little bit further away, smacking on the ground with a splat and bouncing once before stopping.

You had slid backwards on your back but now sat up, seeing a massive man towering in the doorway. He held something of a black stick in his hands as he kept his eyes trained on you.

Starting to walk sideways, the man approached where Okuyasu had landed, the pup being the closest, and he leaned down, ready to grab him. Yet before he could, you lunged forward and he was forced to turn to you, dodging back and out of the way of your swipe.

Hissing threateningly, you stood protectively in front of Okuyasu, raising your tail and attempting to slam it into him, only for him to bring the stick up at the last moment, sticking the end against your scales.

A ‘trrt’ sounded and an electrifying pain shot through you, your tail automatically seizing and jerking to the side, trying to get away. You yelled out in pain as the man tasered you, the dampness of your body serving only to conduct the electricity even further and you were writing on the ground in pain.

“Y/N!” Josuke and Okuyasu cried out, terrified as they saw you be knocked down so easily.

The man grinned at the pups, as if to warn them for he could do this to them too. Lifting the taser back only momentarily, he gave you some respite, right before pushing it back on your skin.

All you could do was gasp for air, wanting to scream but unable to as the electricity ran through and immobilised you.

Finally the man let up, as he abruptly turned around to face the merman storming towards him, covering the ground in seconds with an anger and fire burning in his eyes that should have warned anyone to get as far away as fast as possible.

Same went for the guard as he staggered back a bit, taser still poised but slightly trembling.

He had never been allowed to see the Mer they had in the building, so he had no experience with them. He was just told that they got out and that he had to grab one of the little ones so that the adults would follow.

Jotaro lunged forward and grabbed onto the taser, yanking the guards arm down and repeatedly starting to slam the object on the floor. With every slam it broke more and more, falling apart, and the guard just opted for safety, letting go of the device and turning tail to run.

Jotaro’s reaction was immediate as he turned 180° and used his tail to sweep at the man’s legs, one of them letting out an audible ‘snap’ as it broke on impact, the guard collapsing in the doorway.

His fight or flight was on fire however and the man scrambled back up, the preservation of his life more important than the pain as he started running, limping with his broken leg yet sprinting as fast as he could down the hall. And it was the better option, for if he hadn’t, Jotaro would have torn him apart.

There was no time for the merman to go in pursuit so he instead turned around and crawled over to you, worry and anger the main two emotions as he grabbed hold of your face and turned it to face him.

“Y/N? Y/N, come on.” He whispered, lightly shaking your head back and forth to wake you up more when you started blinking. With one more shake, you took in a deep breath, fully opening your eyes much to Jotaro’s relief.

You slowly sat up, Jotaro supporting you along the way.

“We need to go.”

You swallowed. “Yeah.”

While Jotaro tried to get you back to, Josuke and Okuyasu had flopped and dragged themselves over with much effort, now looking up at you with big worried eyes as you slowly got onto your forearms.

“I’m okay, let’s go.” You smiled, putting the pups at ease, though Jotaro knew you were far from it. He had seen you lie to the humans long enough to know when you weren’t telling the truth.

Before he could do anything else however, you had already hauled Josuke on your back. Glancing at Jotaro, you sent him a determined look that showed he wasn’t going to change your mind. You just needed to push on a little, you could rest afterwards.

Frustrated that he couldn’t do anything else, Jotaro put Okuyasu on his own back again. Staying one fin length behind you as you both started up again.

Going through the door, there was no one around in the hall and you all turned left, seeing a door with a glass window about ten meters away.

Your brows furrowed as you caught your breath, staring at the door. There was light outside. Wasn’t it supposed to be the middle of the night?

“Keep going, Y/N.” Jotaro pushed on your back, trying to urge you to go and you started up again.

Every muscle in your body screamed while exhaustion was taking over. Whatever energy you had left was quickly fading but you refused to stop. Ignoring the throbbing pain every move brought, you dragged your heavy body forward.

In the last meter, Jotaro got past and ahead of you, your gait by now so slow that he was easily able to do so.

“Stay back.” He warned as he placed Okuyasu next to you. Dragging himself towards the glass of the door, he brought his arm back before driving his elbow into the glass and breaking straight through.

Immediately, open air rushed in and the sounds of people and cars and living reached your senses. After over a month and a half of near silence, it was almost overwhelming but there was no time for that.

Jotaro pushed the glass shards at the bottom out of the frame, letting them fall onto the ground before slipping through the gap he made.

He wasn’t worried about he glass, knowing his skin was thick enough to not get injured. The same could not be said about Josuke and Okuyasu however.

You knew so too and dragged yourself a little closer, sitting up and grabbing Okuyasu under his armpits and lifting him.

Jotaro was quick to take him over, putting him on his back with some effort before sticking out his hand for you.

“I can smell the sand and the ocean, come on, we’re almost there.” Jotaro tried to encourage you, just to keep you going as he sensed your exhaustion, and you grabbed his hand, letting him pull you out of the window and onto the concrete sidewalk he was sitting on.

“There! Hurry up!”

The shout sounded through the hole in the door, footsteps echoing from inside the building as the scientists started trying to get to the two of you.

That gave you a burst of energy and you swiftly pulled your tail through the doorframe; the smell of the sea hitting you now that your head was a little clearer.

You had to squint at the abrupt glare from the sun, looking up and seeing that it was somewhere in the morning, not night, as it should have been.

You started crawling forward and behind you, Jotaro flicked the broken glass back through the hole in the door with his tail, injuring those who stood directly behind it before he quickly came over to you, joining you as you crawled across the sidewalk.

People just walking around and going to work started to notice, some walking around with nothing but a strange look while others openly stopped, mouth agape and starting to follow.

Jotaro and you managed to get past the building, having escaped through the side exit and now ending up on the street where the main entrance was. If you could’ve, you would’ve gotten away from the building as soon as possible, but crossing the street while cars were driving and you could do nothing but slowly drag your body was a bad idea. All that next to the fact that you were following your noses, going towards the smell of sea salt.

Right in front was a plaza, the road you had been crawling next to bending left, meaning you didn’t have to cross it and could instead move to the plaza. As you and Jotaro got across most of the open area, your tail painfully scraping over the concrete, the small crowd who had been following grew exponentially. The people in the plaza numerous and noticing you and Jotaro all at once.

Almost like flies, they gathered around and Jotaro immediately shot forward, taking Okuyasu off his back and putting him against your side while he put his arm over you and placed it on your left side, hovering over you and the pups protectively, shielding your entire forms with his own body as he growled, warning the people around to back off and stay away.

Josuke, sensing the danger, slid off your back and hid with Okuyasu, pressed into your side with Jotaro hovering over. This allowed Jotaro to get a little lower on the ground, baring his teeth as his scales puffed up to make him look even bigger, his hard and threatening stare circling the people around, the merman looking over his shoulder before spinning his head in a circle, snapping at anyone who was too close for his liking.

The people got the hint and stayed watching the Mer in a wide circle, wondering how the hell they got so far into land.

Stopping like this was bad news for you however. Now that you were no longer moving, you felt the adrenaline that had been keeping you going start to leave you.

Your whole body tingled and ached. Moving your hand, you saw the grain that covered some of the concrete move, but you barely felt it. And that’s when your arms collapsed, no longer able to support your weight.

Jotaro, who had been glaring at someone behind him, felt and heard you collapsing on the ground, his head snapping back around and looking down to see you laying on the concrete beneath him, a true look of dread overtaking his features as he saw your eyes slowly closing.

You just needed a short nap, just something to get your energy back. Yeah, that was it.

“Shit, Y/N, no, no, no. Stay with me.” Jotaro took hold of your shoulder and rolled you onto your back, grabbing your face as he said that. “Y/N, come on!”

Josuke and Okuyasu were letting out small crying noises, nudging your arm and shoulder to try and shake you awake while Jotaro started purring in his panic, hoping it would do something to wake you up.

The people around didn’t know what to do, just watching the previously aggressive and threatening large Mer suddenly cradle the one he was protecting. The cries and wails the young ones let out were heartbreaking, those around just helplessly watching the scene before them.

Mermaids were rare, and they say if you were able to see one in your life, to consider yourself very lucky. This was not how anybody expected to get that luck however.

That weapon had burned all the moisture off of you. And while Mer could survive without water for a bit, if you wanted to have any chance of healing - and more importantly, surviving - Jotaro needed to find a way to get you wet.

Just then, some people came running into the scene with a large bucket. A man and woman had sprinted to the beach and down it the moment they realised what was going on, reaching the ocean and filling a large bucket before carrying it back up together with a firm sprint, now finally reaching the group again.

As they approached, Jotaro immediately put his hands on the ground, hovering over both you and the pups in a protective stance as he growled, warning them clearly and firmly to not come any closer.

The merman then noticed the bucket however, and his growl let up a bit. Scared yet determined, one of the humans pushed it closer towards him, their arm outstretched far until only their fingertips remained to push it closer, to which the human made the decision to retract their hand.

More focused on your survival than anything else now, Jotaro grabbed the rim of the bucket, pulling it closer towards himself with such a tight hold on it that his nails punctured through where he was holding.

“Is she gonna be okay?” Josuke whimpered and Jotaro sent him a small glance.

“She will be.” He spoke confidently, placing his hand on the pup’s head very briefly before grasping the water bucket.

Quickly, he poured some of the water over your neck and gills, tilting the heavy bucket that took two people to quickly carry with just one hand as if it were nothing.

Despite the water, you still weren’t breathing through your gills like he wanted you to, instead still slowly inhaling and exhaling through your mouth.

Jotaro didn’t want to do this in front of all these people, but your life was more important. So, with his right hand still tilting the bucket and steadily pouring water, he pinched your nose shut with his left before leaning down and slanting his mouth over yours, stopping you from breathing through your mouth and nose so that you would be forced to breathe through your gills, possible now that Jotaro was pouring water on them.

After a few seconds of nothing, they flared and started filtering the water, allowing you to breathe.

Staying still for a few seconds, he just let you breathe through your gills, long enough until he was confident it was sufficient.

Dropping his left hand onto the ground, Jotaro let out a relieved exhale through his nose, keeping his lips on yours just a second longer before slowly pulling away, you simultaneously opening your eyes.

This instant was now thought to be proof that the old sailor myth of mermaids having a healing kiss was true.

Cradling the back of your head, Jotaro helped you sit up and propped you against his chest, trying to just keep you awake. Instantly, Josuke and Okuyasu were latched onto you, hugging you around your waist and burying their faces in your stomach.

They were both sniffing and whimpering, Okuyasu even softly crying. “Don’t go.”

You put your arms back around them, keeping them pressed into your side as you answered. “I’m not... Did I not promise- to play maelstrom there where there is an actual current?” You spoke, your voice slightly weak yet sweet all the same.

Suddenly, a splash of water was dumped over you and the pups as Jotaro emptied the contents of the bucket before throwing it to the side, nearly bouncing against someone’s leg if they didn’t jump out of the way.

You blinked a bit in surprise, a little more awake now that you had some reprieve from the sun beating down on your dry skin and you turned your head to the one that did it while the pups nearly sitting on your lap spluttered a bit from the sudden water barrage.

Jotaro placed his hand over the necklace around your neck, feeling the stone and your skin under the palm of his hand right where your heart sat, calming himself with the loving gesture that he had really quickly picked up on doing ever since you made the item.

Some commotion suddenly came from the back of the circle of people. “Excuse me, let us pass please!” Someone spoke with urgency in their voice and the people stepped aside to let a group of about three people through. With them being in lab coats, the people around thought they were here to help, you and Jotaro knew differently though, recognising their smell and the face of one.

Immediately, Jotaro growled loudly, puffing up his scales again and roughly slapping his tail to the floor in a threat display, unable to move much with you still leaning against him and the pups on your lap. Although, if you weren’t he definitely would have tried to rip them apart for hurting you to this extent.

The scientists stopped for a second, nervously swallowing before taking more careful steps forward, immediately making Jotaro hiss and slap his tail again, just a lot harder this time.

At this, two people from the crowd stepped up and started pushing the scientists back. “Dude, don’t! He clearly doesn’t want you closer, it’s dangerous, just give them space!”

“The female is injured, we just need to sedate them and bring them with us so we can treat her.” The scientist tried, but you had gotten enough of your head back to recognise what he was saying.

“No!” With that, you got everyone’s attention. “You did this, I’m not going back there with you! We just want to go home, leave us be!” You shouted, surprising everyone by the sudden English - and the scientists even more with the fluency of said English. Yet you had never seen a crowd of people turn on others like hungry piranhas so fast.

They all started shouting and those next to the scientists started pushing them back and away, throwing one question after the other at them as to why you would say that.

A loud and continuous wailing noise suddenly sounded, getting closer and closer and all four of you Mer covered your ears, the sensitivity of them not made for the noises of life on land.

Tires squealed and doors opened and slammed shut as two police officers came speed-walking onto the scene, quickly followed by firemen, who’s fire truck siren was even worse for you, causing people to try and get them to turn it off, which they quickly did as they came to a stop.

There was a lot of talking and shouting and angry noises that all just became a blur for you, unable to really make out what was being said.

“Y/N, just hold on until we get to the sea.” Jotaro whispered in your ear, his purr starting back up as he sensed your distress over the noise.

Just then, one of the officers approached and Jotaro instantly clutched you tighter, growling a little though with a lot less malice than with the scientists.

The officer held his hands up to show he meant no harm before sitting down a little bit away, just folding his hands in his lap in the hopes it would show he wanted no trouble.

Jotaro’s snarl let up and he took it as a sign to start talking. “I’m sorry but, could you explain what has happened to get you four here?”

Right now, you were surrounded by humans, but these seemed to at least somewhat be on your side. It would be risky to trust them, but you decided talking was no harm regardless. “We were captured at sea and stuck in there for a long time.” You attempted to point at the building you and Jotaro had crawled out of but could not raise your arm higher than your own elbow. Jotaro gently grasped your forearm, not wanting you to waste energy like that and brought the limb back down, very lightly kneading where he held you, which was painful yet relieving at the same time. That action caused the officer to notice the shackle on Jotaro’s wrist, making him narrow his eyes before he turned his head to look at the building you attempted to point at. Thankfully, he seemed to have understood what you meant with your weak point. “Then they captured the pups and we couldn’t stay any longer so we escaped and now here.” You sighed a little, sinking a little further into Jotaro which worried him.

The officer’s gaze drifted down to the pups who were hiding under your arms from all the prying gazes and he turned to glare at the scientists his partner was currently holding.

“How come you’re injured?”

“Electric stick.” You said, not knowing how else to call it. “We just want to go home, please.”

“I know, and we’ll help you.” He assured before grabbing a weird black thing on his shoulder. “Chief, we have a case of people illegally capturing and keeping Mer, later on with two young. It seems like a pretty professional organisation. Requesting backup to arrest everyone involved.”

Something crackled through as an answer and, while you couldn’t understand a word of it, the officer seemed to.

“Hey! How big are they?” Someone suddenly shouted from behind the crowd and the officer stood up, seeing one of the firemen holding the tarp they used to catch people on if they needed to jump out of burning buildings.

Turning back around, the officer took in the Mer. They softly seemed to be talking to each other now, quiet clicks and trills sounding out. “The male seems to be around 5,5 meters. The female 3 or 3,5.”

“Ah, that’s going to be hard with him then.”

“It wouldn’t work either way. I can almost guarantee they’re not gonna allow us to carry them down to the beach one by one and carrying them all together is too heavy. We need to keep them wet and escort them to the sea!”

“Luckily, we have water!” The fireman slapped the side of the fire truck and the two men grinned at each other.

- - - -

Both Josuke and Okuyasu were now on Jotaro’s back. They protested against it, saying they could do it themselves, but Jotaro was having none of it and just glared at them until they obeyed.

The fire truck had brought out a long hose, setting it to a low setting that just made it spray like an overgrown garden hose basically, pointing it at the Mer after some wary looks from them.

It was fresh water instead of salt, but luckily, most Mer had evolved to be able to survive in fresh water for at least a little while, making this no problem.

It seemed to be the first ever fresh water for the pups though, making them screw up their faces at the new taste and sensation before you were all sufficiently wet.

Now, you were both slowly dragging yourselves over the beach. The crowd of people was following from a small distance while the firemen and police were clearing the beach from beach goers or possible obstacles such as chairs or parasols.

A weird high pitched whirring noise sounded as something was flying overhead but none of you paid any attention to it.

The ocean was finally in view, a mere twenty meters ahead of you, but you couldn’t anymore. Your arms felt like they were moulded to the sand. You were no longer able to lift them, just merely dragging them a centimeter every time, making the sand clump up and make it even harder for you to continue. But you just couldn’t. You were so tired. It hurt to breathe, it hurt to move, it almost hurt to think.

Jotaro tried his best to urge you to keep going, pushing on your back or briefly slinging one arm around you to shove you that small bit further before he had to use it to drag himself again, but it was starting to become futile.

Josuke and Okuyasu suddenly jumped off of Jotaro’s back, landing on the sand. “Josuke!” Jotaro warned but the pup merely looked back with a determined look.

“We’ll continue ourselves! You need to carry Y/N more than us!”

Jotaro gritted his teeth as he looked from the two in front of him to you.

Letting out a frustrated noise, he knew they were right and he grabbed your arm, slinging it over his shoulder before he started shuffling you so that you were resting on his back, your arms around his neck.

“Just hold onto me.” He spoke, panting a little himself. You were not the only one who was exhausted, but Jotaro was doing a lot better than you were, physically.

Only having enough thought to link your hands together around his neck, you were a heaving mess as Jotaro started back up, going in pursuit of the pups who were now about two meters ahead of him.

Quickly catching up to them, Jotaro kept the pups in line as you all reached the edge of the water in a few minutes.

Looking back one last time, the merman noticed the people had hung back about ten meters ago and he glanced at your head resting on his shoulder. Seeing how slow your breathing was, he wasted no time in getting into the water, grabbing Josuke and Okuyasu as he passed them and throwing them as far into the water as he could one by one.

As soon as he was deep enough in the water, he swished his tail back and forth, breathing the ocean water for the first time in over a month and a half.

Diving down, finally you were all submerged beneath the water again and Jotaro sighed in relief before letting out a low click to let the pups know to follow as he quickly swam away from the beach, searching for some rocks he could momentarily hide behind.

In no time he found what he wanted and he shot behind it.

“Go see if you can find gramps. But don’t stray too far.” Jotaro looked back at the pups with a stern look, making his point clear and the pups got the hint to get out of there for now.

They swam away together and started releasing the long distance clicks to try and see if someone from the pod could hear them, leaving just Jotaro and you for a second.

Getting you off his back, Jotaro held onto your waist, feeling how tense and locked up your muscles were as he then took note of how shallowly you were breathing.

The water didn’t flow all the way through your gills, leaving you to just try to take in more which resulted in a continuous loop of shallow and not strong enough breaths.

Moving his grip from your waist, Jotaro wrapped his tail around yours so that he could still hold onto you while he gently grasped your neck. What was less gentle, was how he then proceeded to jam his thumbs into your gills, opening them up and allowing the water to flow through, making you take your first deep and proper breath since returning to the ocean.

Your eyes snapped open at the feeling and you instantly brought your arms up, grasping at Jotaro’s hands to try and get them away from your gills.

“Don’t.” Jotaro’s curt command stopped you from squirming and your brain caught up to what was going on. “You need to breathe properly. Leave it.”

Swallowing thickly you tried to just stay still. “It’s not exactly a nice feeling.” Your voice was a little raspy and Jotaro’s lip quirked up a bit in sympathy.

“I know, but it is needed.” As a way to soothe and distract you, Jotaro leaned forward and gently pressed his lips to yours.

The kiss was soft and gentle, the rumble starting up in Jotaro’s chest again as he started to move his thumbs back and forth a bit, needing to make sure the entire gill was free and open, no matter how uncomfortable it was for you to do so.

After a few seconds, he slid his thumbs out and instead comfortingly smoothed over your gills, deepening the kiss as he cradled your face, slowly moving his lips with yours now that, for the first time, he was certain there was no one around to look at the two of you.

With your gills filtering water and providing oxygen, you could continue to keep your lips locked forever, but Jotaro eventually pulled away, pressing his forehead to yours.

“You’re okay?” He spoke as he looked deep into your eyes, his aquamarine ones shining so brightly, even in the water.

“Yeah, everything just hurts a bit right now.” You answered in a light joke-y tone, making Jotaro chuckle a bit in relief.

“Let’s find the pod and you can rest.” He pressed a kiss to your forehead before wrapping his right arm around your waist, pulling you close as he slung your left arm over his back so that he could hold it and help you swim. (And totally not so that he could also feel your hand pressing against his abs.)

Starting to swim forward, the larger Mer released two low click sounds, Josuke and Okuyasu almost immediately answering as they came swimming in from the right.

“Y/N!” They both happily exclaimed when they saw you and latched onto you, hugging you happily while you wheezed at the tight squeeze and pain that brought. “You’re okay!” Josuke shouted out before Jotaro could reprimand them for not being careful, the pup having pushed away from you while shouting.

“I’m okay.” You smiled.

“We’re going to find the pod now, come on.” Jotaro got them both moving, the two pups perking up in happiness as they quickly started swimming a few meters in front of you.

Whatever energy they used up to crawl across the beach, they had gotten it back tenfold now at the thought of seeing their family again.

Despite feeling a bit better, swimming was incredibly difficult for you, your tail barely cooperating as you just couldn’t get it to move properly; still immobilised from being electrocuted.

Jotaro was practically doing all the work, both keeping you up, as well as swimming, even though he probably was exhausted as well, and you felt a wave of guilt wash over you.

Opening your mouth, you went to apologise or tell him to just let you swim on your own so he could rest, but Jotaro glared sideways at you the moment you did, Sending you a look that showed he already knew what you were thinking and that you needed to shut it.

Clacking your jaw shut, Jotaro let out an appreciative hum before he squeezed your side, pulling you even further into him, if that were possible, while he started purring.

Jotaro left the long distance calling to Josuke and Okuyasu, too busy himself with the rumble in his chest for you. He knew where the pod was supposed to be, the calling was mainly a courtesy to let the others know you were coming; which he was pretty sure everyone would appreciate, given how Josuke and Okuyasu had been missing for several days from there - not even to mention he himself.

Yet despite everything, there was no rush. You all would reach the place where the pod set up camp in about twenty to thirty minutes, maybe longer since you were injured and the pups would get tired, but there was no rush nonetheless.

You were finally back where you belonged.

- - - -

~Epilogue~

Soft, distant clicking alerted the pod something was coming.

It was there but then it stopped again, leaving everyone to wonder if they actually heard it or if it was just something else.

But then it sounded again, closer this time.

Tomoko, Joseph and Keicho and his father were the first to recognise the calls and they got up from where they were, answering with their own clicks as they waited with baited breath.

And then, about thirty meters away, from around the corner, came two small forms, clicking and calling out happily as they spotted the pod further away.

“Mom, dad!” “Big bro, dad!”

The two pups called out happily, waving and smiling as they swam as fast as they had energy left to do.

“Josuke, Okuyasu!” All four of them shot forward, going to embrace the pups while the rest of the pod chittered happily upon seeing the familiar faces after several days, swimming in circles around them.

And then someone else turned the corner, having swam several meters behind the two smaller Mer.

“Jotaro!!” Even from far away, Holly immediately recognised her son, tearing up as she flew towards him as fast as she could, her shout making everyone in the pod look up as well.

Within seconds she had reached him, latching onto his neck and burying her head into his shoulder. “You’re alright!” She cried while Jotaro let out a small noise from the impact, wobbling a bit in the water as he tried to stay upright.

“Careful.” Jotaro grunted as his mother cut off his gills’ water supply. Though that ‘careful’ was not meant in reference to himself.

Holly let go of him and now seemed to notice the Mer her son had his arm slung around.

“Oh! Sweetheart, are you alright?! What happened to you?” Holly immediately started doting on you, putting her hands on your cheeks as concerned chitters left her.

“I’m alright.” You smiled at her but Jotaro clicked his tongue, his brows furrowed down.

“You got fried alive, don’t lie.” He glared slightly but both you and Holly knew it was in concern, not anger.

And that made Holly put two and two together. The closeness, the similar scent, Jotaro willingly touching you, the seemingly matching necklaces, the concern for your well-being higher than all else, even when seeing his own mother for the first time in so long.

The older mermaid gasped happily. “Jotaro, do you have a mate?!”

“Not now.” He tried to brush his mother off.

“Okay~!” She happily said but silently smiled to herself, for, that wasn’t a denial.

Holly then let go of her son and instead went to hang on your right, taking your arm and gently pulling it over her in a similar fashion to how Jotaro had done to you.

“Oh, I- I’m sure I can swim by myself now I-“

“No.” Jotaro’s answer was short and clear, the merman not even humouring your idea enough to look at you.

Even though you were used to him by now and had no problems with his way of communicating, he luckily did have a mother who was a lot better at it. “Nonsense dear, just let us help you.” She smiled at you as the mother-son duo started swimming.

Jotaro mainly ignored everyone as he swam past, them all knowing Jotaro long enough to know that if he was like this it was better to not approach and annoy him. Only his grandfather got a small nod as the pod patriarch when he swam past, the older Mer looking curiously as to what his grandson was doing and who that was with him that got his attention so much.

“Is Y/N gonna be okay?” Josuke’s voice was small as he asked that, fearfully looking at the three Mer swimming away while Joseph’s brows shot up.

“Who is she? What happened, son?”

“That’s Y/N. She was stuck with Jotaro at the humans when we got there. And then we all jumped out to escape but Y/N protected us and got hurt really bad. Is she... gonna die?”

With furrowed brows Joseph looked back, just in time to see the three Mer reach the caves and see Jotaro gently bumping his head against hers to keep her attention, the action way too soft for the grumpy Mer in his grandfather’s opinion.

“We’ll take care of her, Josuke.” Joseph assured his son. Tomoko and Suzie Q, who had joined them as well, looked up for a second, realising this small sentence to the pup was actually a way for the patriarch to accept the new Mer into the pod.

Joseph noticed the women’s looks and he held his hands up. “If I don’t, I think Jotaro will rip me apart.”

“So, you think he finally found a mate?”

“I still think that boy is incapable of that, no one would want him, you know how he is. No, but she must have something of a bond with him. Really good friends perhaps?”

“Oh, Joseph, you really are a fool and way too stubborn.” The matriarch of the pod sighed.

“That was an established fact.” Tomoko smirked, making Suzie Q look at her with a sly smile of her own while Joseph spluttered in the background.

- - - -

Reaching the cave he had called his own for years, Jotaro took in a deep breath, feeling his tense muscles from the past two hours relax and release a bit, the fatigue now really catching up to him.

Blinking to stay up and awake a little bit longer, he swam inside with you and his mother.

He gently put you down on his bed before turning to the other mermaid in the room. “We need some rest.”

Holly understood the silent question and swam over to press a kiss to her son’s cheek, to which he let it happen without fight for once, the month and a half of absence and pure exhaustion resulting in him just taking it.

Beaming a smile, she put her hand on his cheek and turned his head towards her. “Welcome home, Jotaro. I’m so happy you’re back.” She said softly and Jotaro closed his eyes, exhaling deeply as he felt his mother’s touch again.

With that, Holly let go and swam back to the opening, looking back one last time to see her son already joining his mate on the bed, making Holly smile to herself before she fully left.

“Do you think they’ll really be okay with me joining your pod?” You asked, weakly yet worried, and Jotaro put his hand on your waist as he hovered over you.

“They will, especially after you stupidly defended Okuyasu and Josuke and got hurt in the process. And on the slim chance they don’t, I will make them.”

The threat in his undertone made you chuckle a bit which, in turn, made you grimace a bit, the muscles in your stomach contracting and hurting by doing that.

“You’re still so tense.” Jotaro remarked as he squeezed your waist where he had placed his hand, feeling your muscles still locked up and tight.

“Ouchies.” You softly said with a smile at his squeeze.

Jotaro rolled his eyes a little playfully before leaning his face closer to you and getting a little more sincere. “Will you let me take care of you?” He asked quietly, no volume needed when you were so close.

“Always.”

Letting out a happy rumble, Jotaro let it devolve into the continuous purr you were so familiar with, the Merman leaning down to press a soft kiss to your lips while starting to gently knead and massage your muscles.

He started with your arms, knowing those were probably the most troubling areas right now. Pulling away from the kiss, he completely focused on what his hands were doing.

It was uncomfortable and slightly hurt, but at the same time felt incredibly relieving. Jotaro’s purring helped with relaxing your muscles, making it easier for him to massage the stiffness away.

He was careful and meticulous, working on your right forearm; pressing his thumbs down by the inside of your elbow and then dragging them down the entire length of your forearm before moving up a bit and massaging circles, only to repeat that process until he felt no more tension.

Not a single spot was skipped or neglected, to both your relief and your chagrin, cause it meant it would take longer, the uncomfortable almost-but-not-entirely-pain feeling persisting.

As if sensing your dread, Jotaro leaned his face down to your shoulder, pressing a small kiss to it before going down a bit. He had been working on your upper arm but now paused momentarily, instead firmly pressing his tongue against your skin and dragging it up.

Different from when he worked on wounds, Jotaro was not careful or soft. His tongue was instead pressing down just as hard as his fingers did while massaging.

He was not unlike a lioness grooming her cub, the lithe muscle working to relax and slightly numb your pain and discomfort.

As he moved higher, he brought his hands back up, massaging the muscles of your upper arm again where he had just been soothingly licking, his fingers now causing a lot less discomfort as your muscles were slightly numbed and more relaxed.

Seeing you react so positively, Jotaro continued with that method. Licking and preparing the next area he would massage while his hands worked on the previous one.

Your eyes were closed as you let him take care of you, a faint chirr coming from your chest that encouraged Jotaro to keep going.

As he reached your shoulders, moving to sit behind your head to give him a better angle, Jotaro decided to just teasingly lick across your gills. The action tickled and you jerked away slightly, unable to get very far as Jotaro still had a firm fold on you.

He chuckled softly at your reaction and you pouted at him. “And I was just starting to enjoy it.” You whined slightly, making Jotaro bump his head against yours.

“You’ll enjoy it again.” He assured you as he leaned back down, dragging his tongue over your sternum while keeping eye contact with you. His hands started back up on your right shoulder, kneading firmly and lovingly.

Never would Jotaro have guessed he would enjoy taking care of someone this much. But with how protective he felt over you, it seemed only logical. You got hurt because he wasn’t there in time. Not only was this an apology from him to you, it was also to make it up to himself, making sure you were alright when he couldn’t before.

Of course Jotaro knew you could take care of yourself and stand your ground, hell, you had proven you could. But he couldn’t help the protective instincts. But then again, you didn’t seem to mind them too much either, much to his delight.

Returning to the task at hand, Jotaro continued to gently take care of you, and by the time he reached your tail, you had fallen asleep.

Noticing this, Jotaro stopped himself momentarily. His hands were on either side of your hips as he gently held you, looking up as he took note of the steady inhalation and exhalation of your gills, an innocent flutter in his chest as he watched the organ open and close.

Despite everything, you all had made it out. Staying in that tank would have been a death sentence and who knows what else the humans would have come up with.

Just remembering what happened put a poor taste in Jotaro’s mouth but he just sighed, putting his hand on your stomach and looking at it briefly before focusing back on your tail.

Right as he was leaning down and about to continue, a familiar feeling washed over the shark Mer and he growled softly in annoyance.

Lifting himself up again, he immediately got up and swam to the entrance of the grotto pocket he called his own, met at once with his grandfather, mother and, surprisingly, his father - who had just returned from his hunt - trying to act as if they weren’t just trying to spy on him.

“What.” Jotaro growled, annoyance radiating off of him even though he was speaking a little quieter than normal.

“Ah, Jotaro, hi! Uh, nothing.” His grandfather awkwardly chuckled, thankfully having the brain to be a little quiet as well or Jotaro might have lashed out. The Mer was visibly very tired and somewhat agitated now, any small thing could make him throw hands.

“Jotaro, you’re back.” Sadao started, making the tired glare get directed to him.

“Yes. Hi. Get out.”

“We’re just worried about you and curious as to what is going on, Jotaro.” Joseph tried, his gaze specifically honing in on the metal stuck around the younger shark’s wrist, but said shark just let out a ‘Tch.’

“I’ve been spied on and looked at for a month and a half. If you have any questions they can wait.” He growled before slamming the rock that acted as a door shut, pushing it into the opening of the cave.

Jotaro swam back over to the bed in a huff, looking you over and happily noting that you hadn’t woken up or stirred thanks to the commotion. He swam to continue working on your tail but the exhaustion finally caught up with him. His eyes were drooping and even if he did push past it, he wouldn’t do as good of a job as he would like to. He’d finish it tomorrow when you both woke up.

So, with that promise in his own head, he gently joined you on the bed, carefully draping himself beside you before lifting your tail a bit and entwining it with his. It may be a little bit less comfy, but he just wanted to keep as much of you as close as possible.

His arms were gently draped around you and he pulled you into his chest, burying his head against the side of your head. With a content sigh, he finally allowed his tense muscles to deflate, no longer having to be on constant full alert now that the pod was around to protect against danger. And he fell asleep within seconds, holding you close.

You were both home.

The three parents blinked a few times, baffled as they stared at the rock that was just slammed in their face.

“So... he’s alright then?”

- - - -

Bonus:

Tip, don't ever write when it is 2-3am and you are tired as all hell. Cause I did, and then I woke up to this

I w h e e z e

And as a bonus bonus: Some memes made about the fic made by @ahoge-fish

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

#jotaro x reader #jjba #mermaid au #jojos bizarre adventure #Jotaro Kujo #mertaro #au #merman #jojo x reader #mermaid #jjba x reader #fish fuckery #this has been a trip and a half #thank you all for all the lovely support ❤️

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whoreiaki-kakyoin · 2 years

Text

I am a menace so now I’m thinking thoughts about Jojo catboys 🐱🐾

Dio who’s a very proud and aloof longhaired cat. You think that he, Dio, craves your affection? Ridiculous. He’s not following you around, he simply happens to be in the same room you’re in. Is he purring? No, you’re hearing things, but he supposes he’ll allow you to scratch behind his ears if you must 🙄 (Please scratch behind his ears…. He’s too proud to ask.)

Jonathan, who’s the most affectionate boy. Also has long, thick fur, and sheds a decent bit, but will happily let you brush him. Thanks you and nuzzles at you with sweet kitty licks every time. Jonathan will also happily play with you! Keep some balls and stuffed mice or other cat toys on hand for him and he’ll be thrilled. He loves playing catch or fetch with you.

Joseph who’s your typical blustery tomcat, territorial and preens over attention (after loudly demanding said attention). He and Caesar often get into scuffles, but they’re closer than they’d have you think.

Caesar who tries to gain your affection by being sweet and charming, rubbing up against your legs with a rumbly purr. Grooms himself elegantly after you pull him apart from fights with Jojo.

Josuke who will try to puff himself up like a tough alley cat and is very protective of his owner. Secretly, though, he’s the sweetest boy. Loves being petted and groomed, just be careful of his hair please!

Narancia who hates baths. Complains loudly, and will hiss and scratch while cornered. Please make sure to have the fluffiest towels on hand after you’re done. Tell him he was a good boy and he’s instantly purring up a storm, nuzzling against your hand as you try to pet him. (The type of cat boy who will playfully nibble at your fingers when you pet him, but doesn’t bite hard enough to hurt.)

Fugo who’s skittish at first and takes time to warm up to new people. He doesn’t enjoy loud noises, but he’ll gladly curl up in your lap to read with you once he feels comfortable with you. Has a soft and more nasally, snuffly sounding purr.

Kakyoin who’s elegant and sleek, proudly showing off his pretty, glossy fur. He’s very clingy and affectionate, trailing after you happily with soft purrs. A very loyal boy who adores curling up beside you and being petted. He will bring you small “gifts” now and then, even if he’s just placing one of his toy mice at your feet to show off his latest “kill.”

Jotaro who pretends he wants nothing to do with you at first, but will slowly show more and more quiet affection towards you. Starts to come sit by you or give the occasional low, rumbly purr when you pet him. Just don’t let all the others see you scratch under his chin like that, okay? Yare yare, it’s embarrassing….

I could ramble about this forever, but I am cutting myself off here? I may share more catboy (and catgirl!) thoughts later 😽

#hybrid au #jjba headcanons #neko jojos #laur’s writing

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nyxienoya · 3 years

Text

Innermost Thoughts

A KiraShino fic for all your angsty needs

Plot: Yoshikage Kira has fallen in love, but how will he deal with it?

TW; angst

Word count; 3.6k

Fic under the cut

Yoshikage Kira still didn’t understand how he got into this situation; it had been round two months since he escaped the grasps of Josuke Higashikita and changed his face to Kosaku Kawajiri. Unbeknownst to him, more time than he would have liked as Kosaku had passed.

As usual, he lived life with a day-by-day routine which he stuck to by the minute, but one thing Yoshikage Kira would have expected was for his new personal life to infiltrate his business plans.

Before taking on this guise, Kira had no clue what he was getting himself into regarding having a new personal life to fit himself into, living life as a stranger to himself. He was hoping he picked a sad misanthrope much attune to his own desires, to which Kira could continue with his daily life with nothing major interrupting his plans, but alas, the ambush he had received gave Kira a limited time to switch faces. Rather, he got himself into a situation where he was a businessman with a wife and child. This situation was clear to anyone who could psychoanalyze Kira’s behaviour when he was around this family. It was uncomfortable, but Kira quickly learnt how to adapt to having a supportive family life. His ‘son’ Hayato, only aged eleven seemed to remind Kira of himself in some ways, he was intelligent, with a hopeless case of snooping into business that wasn’t his. He seemed to catch onto things quickly, and regarding Kira’s mission, it was not ideal. Despite this, Kira found himself to respect the child, slowly growing a fondness towards him, even to the point of helping him with his schoolwork at the kitchen table in the mornings.

However, Kira was currently pacing back and forth in the attic where resided Stray Cat napping, meowing softly in its sleep. Grasping at his hair, pulling it slightly; Kira groaned. Guilt was pouring into his soul, and it was reflected into Killer’s Queen’s performance, he wasn’t as agile and quick as usual, and all for one small reason. Yoshikage Kira had fallen in love.

Kosaku was married to this gorgeous woman, Shinobu. At first, Kira could hardly tolerate the woman, she was overly clingy and hopelessly in love with this Kosaku, but over these past two months of living this new life, Kira found himself becoming less repulsed by Shinobu’s touches and acts of generosity. It all started when she started to make coffee Kira’s ideal way rather than Kosaku’s without questioning it. The mere thought of that made Kira’s heart flutter. Further on into the relationship, Kira kissed Shinobu on the cheek; seeing her shocked and flustered face made Kira’s stomach pool in anger in the moment. He knew nothing about the past life Kosaku lived with Shinobu and Hayato, but with hints through their behaviour he caught on with the fact that their relationship wasn’t all that healthy due to Shinobu’s compliance, and Hayato’s reluctance to have long conversations with him.

Kira stopped his pacing momentarily, the mere thought of Kosaku’s previous life whether healthy or not made Kira flood with jealousy. How dare that scum have ever laid his hands on his Shinobu. Wait. HIS Shinobu. “Oh dear,” he starts, resting his hand against his cheek. “Why do I feel this way about a meaningless woman. I need to focus on the task at hand, and that is killing Josuke Higashikita, I can’t-“ he stuttered, “I can’t fall in love. It’s not in my nature whatsoever, but when she touches me, or kisses my cheek.” Kira shook his head, trying to stop his thoughts, a faint blush cropping up on his face.

In Kira’s mind, he wasn’t worthy of love, nothing he had done in life could even start to warrant any emotion as strong as love, even from a young child he knew his parents didn’t ‘love’ him. They only had him for the sake of having a child and being parents, this only becoming more prevalent in these recent months with his father helping with Kira’s goal of creating more enemy stand users to defeat and kill more people for him, making it easier for Kira to live a quiet life with no repercussions.

But now, he had a woman who was there for him no matter the situation, loving him unconditionally. Kira almost couldn’t take it, this much exposure to genuine love had him flustered to even the thought of Shinobu giving him a kiss on the cheek every morning.

Taking a deep breath, Kira tried to recollect his thoughts. He cracked open the window shades slightly, letting a ray of sunlight hit Stray Cat, causing it to wake up with a loud hiss. Kira’s eyes widened partially, letting out a ‘hush’ to the same volume as Stray Cat. “Listen up, I need you to distract that boy Hayato, I know he’s aware of your existence and I have plans that I need to get to. Understand?” He asked the cat-plant hybrid, to which he got a response with a soft mewl alongside a nod. “Good. I’ll be sure to leave the shader open slightly so you don’t lose track of your task.” He stated, tightening his tie. He walked over to the exit of the attic and promptly left thoughts of Shinobu ubiquitous in his mind.

As he exited the attic, he saw Hayato hiding around the corner from the corner of his eye, “I can see you Hayato, not as sneaky as you thought you were.” Kira said, a joking tone shining through his words. Hayato then revealed himself from the corner and solemnly held up a sheet of paper, looking down in embarrassment, “Mom’s taking a nap so she can’t sign it; so, can you? It’s for a school trip I have next week.” He said, still refusing to make eye contact. “Of course, I’ll sign it, what kind of father would I be if I didn’t?” He asked rhetorically, he continued; “Just leave it on the kitchen table, I’ll be down in a moment, I just have something to do really quick.” Hayato nodded and scurried off downstairs to the kitchen, then more than likely left to his room.

After hearing the door to Hayato’s room click, Kira took swift steps towards his and Shinobu’s shared room and softly opened the door and entered, being sure to not disturb her nap. Standing by the door, he took in the sight of his ‘wife’, she was sprawled on top of the sheets, napping. Poor woman must have been so exhausted that she passed out right as she touched the bed, even to the point where she still had her slippers on.

Kira stepped towards her, the smell of her perfume wafting through the room. It was a soft floral scent, hyacinths with a mix of honey and limoncello sorbet concomitant to the white flower. Gently, Kira took off Shinobu’s slippers, placing them down besides the bed. He sat on the bed, the mattress dipping beneath his weight, causing Shinobu to stir slightly. He brushed his fingers across her face, brushing her hair out of her face. “You’re so gorgeous.” Kira softly muttered to himself. He was stunned that he even got himself to feel any emotion towards someone which wasn’t just pure lust for their hands, but love. A raw, intimate and genuine emotion Kira had never felt before, it was shocking that he’d even admit it to himself, let alone express it in the form of words of affirmation.

Noticing a blanket placed lonely on the dresser, Kira got up to grab it, unfolding it to place it over Shinobu’s unconscious body. Instantly, she snuggled up in the blanket, a tired smile flashing upon her face, round cheeks rosy. Walking back to her, Kira leaned down and pressed a lingering kiss to Shinobu’s forehead before exiting the room, not before having a longing stare at her form first.

When he did leave the room, he remembered that he had still yet to sign Hayato’s slip, heading to the kitchen, he took a pen out from his blazer pocket and quickly signed it as Kosaku. More often than not Kira would forget that he was living life as Kosaku and not himself, the emotions he felt for the other two members of the household were too strong for Kira to ignore. He genuinely saw himself as a part of the family, as Hayato’s biological father and Shinobu’s husband. Alas, neither of which were true, he knew Shinobu would never love Kira for who he was; he was a serial killer after all. He knew that Shinobu fell in love with Kosaku Kawajiri, not Yoshikage Kira, and what Kira saw in his fantasies and dreams was a life with just that. Him, Shinobu and Hayato as a happy family. Though Shinobu expressed her love quite often to him, she would never know that it was being directed to a stranger and not the man she married. Yoshikage Kira would never feel love aimed towards him directly, he only acted as a barrier to Kosaku Kawajiri. She will never love him.

Realising he was still gripping the pen, Kira cleared his throat abruptly, slipping the pen back into his pocket. Slapping his face quickly with both hands, he brought himself back to reality. Externally, it would look as though those thoughts didn’t affect him, but internally, it felt like an eternal heartache, knowing that he would never be significant enough in someone’s life for them to say those three meaningful words ‘I love you’. However, rather than dwelling on it, Kira decided to make something impactful out of it. Heading towards the front door, grabbing the car keys off a little hook hanging by the door and left.

The plan was to book a reservation at the fanciest restaurant in Morioh and treat Shinobu how Kosaku never did like royalty, it’s the least she deserves for essentially acting as a single mother to Hayato. Stopping by at the restaurant, he booked the reservation for 8pm. Looking down at his watch, he saw that it gave him five more hours to prepare the rest of the night. Next, he drove towards the centre of Morioh, where all the high-class stores were situated. Afterall, he was still Yoshikage Kira, he was able to effortlessly spend copious amounts of money at once and his bank account would hardly break a dent. Kosaku would’ve only wished to buy something as expensive as Kira’s signature suit which he no longer bared. Parking his car, he stepped out and locked the doors quickly before walking towards one of the stores, instantly being blasted by the overwhelming scent of lavender and sandalwood. Shooting a look of disgust to no one in particular, Kira remained stoic and walked over to the women’s section of the store, shooing off any retailer who came up to him. Kira knew what he wanted, and he wasn’t going to let anyone sway him otherwise.

There it was, the perfect dress, it was a long-sleeved, burgundy velvet dress that stopped just above the knee, it lay baggy on the slender mannequin, meaning it was a perfect fit for his wife. He could already envision it. The night was going to be perfect. He took the dress off the rack and laid it over his arm, “Can’t forget about some shoes,” he spoke to himself, walking over to where various pairs of shoes of different colours and heel heights sat. Kira could pride himself on one thing, and that was that he knew the exact styles of shoes Shinobu felt comfortable wearing and what she didn’t. She was a woman in her thirties, married with a child, high heels had no business being in her closet, rather, she was more suited to a kitten heel and pumps as they were less strenuous on her ankles. Perusing all the shoes, Kira came across a black kitten pump, so simple, yet so classy. He found the shoes in her size and took the box as well as the dress to the front desk. “That’ll be 46,294.19 Yen, sir.” The cashier said in a monotone voice. Taking his wallet out, he handed over five 10,000 Yen notes to the cashier, promptly receiving the change. “Have a lovely rest of the day.” Kira called out to the cashier as he left, bag in hand.

He placed the bag in the passenger seat of the car before checking his watch. It had already turned 4:30pm. “Hmm, that took longer than expected, by now Shinobu must already be awake, I can’t surprise her with this now.” A frown formed on Kira’s face before entering the driver’s seat. “Oh well, I’ll just find a way to sneak this into our room.” The car drive home was silent, but Yoshikage didn’t mind it, he tended to live his life in silence prior to changing his life, he almost missed it, but the sound of Shinobu’s voice sparked joy in his heart, Kira couldn’t help but smile at the thought of the melodic tone of his wife’s voice.

Before he even knew it, the drive home was complete, before he exited the car, he looked down at his watch once more; 4:50pm. Three hours left until the date.

He exited the car, bag in hand walking towards the front door, not before locking the car door. He unlocked the door and entered; the house was silent apart from the faint sound of the television playing a news channel in the living room. “Shinobu?” He called out, after ten seconds of no response he kicked off his shoes and walked towards the kitchen where he called out once again; “Shinobu, darling?” To which he still got no response. “She must not be awake still, surprising.” He muttered, placing the bag on the kitchen table and turning to one of the draw and pulled out a notepad and ripped out a page and took out the pen from his blazer pocket once more and started to write:

‘Shinobu, my darling wife,

On the dresser is a bag, be ready by 7:10pm, I’m taking you out on the best date you’ve ever been on.

- Love, Kosaku ♡

Taking the note as well as the bag, he walked upstairs to the bedroom where Shinobu was still sleeping and placed the bag and note on the dresser and promptly left to go do some office work.

Approximately an hour and a half passed before Kira’s trance-like state was broken by hearing a shriek come from Shinobu, a soft smile appeared on Kira’s face. “Well at least she’s awake,” he looked up to the clock 6:20pm “perfect.” He allowed ten minutes to pass for Shinobu to put on the dress before leaving his office and heading to the bedroom. He knocked twice before entering the room.

He was starstruck, stunned in place by the sight of Shinobu in the dress. Shinobu’s curves were accentuated through the dress, even the bulge of her post-partum stomach which had remained over the past 11 years stuck out in the dress. It made Kira more attracted to her than he typically was. Her plump thighs making the dress skin-tight made a soft blush form over Kira’s cheeks. “You,” he stumbled over his words; “you look stunning.”

Shinobu turned to face Kira, a bright smile plastered on her face. “You did this? All for me?” She questioned, just as starstruck as her husband. Kira could only muster a nod in response. He stepped towards Shinobu, cupping her face in his hands, causing a large blush to spread across her whole face. Kira leaned in and pressed a quick, but passionate kiss to Shinobu. The first of which Kira had ever shared in his life, and clearly through Shinobu freezing up in response, it was more than likely the first time she was kissed like that since hers and Kosaku’s wedding.

Pulling away, the two were flustered, they shared a momentary silence before Kira broke the silence by clearing his throat and looking away. “You should probably continue to get ready, you do look beautiful darling, gorgeous even.” He stated, a soft smile present, He placed a kiss to Shinobu’s cheek before exiting the room and heading into his office where he held a spare suit just in case. It was a matching burgundy suit with a black shirt with a tie being reminiscent of Shinobu’s favourite dress, black with white polka dots.

It took almost no time before it was 7:10, and the two of them was in the car, Shinobu did a natural makeup look, deciding to embrace the features she already had, her hair was in a low messy bun. She had never been faced with the need to get all dressed up for a date to the point where she stressed herself out so much that she ended up doing the bare minimum.

The car drive held some small talk about how their days had been thus far, all whilst Kira was holding Shinobu’s thigh, stroking it softly with his thumb.

As they got to the restaurant they were quickly seated in the back of the restaurant on the balcony, only for the upmost private of dates. Like a gentleman, Kira pulled the chair out for Shinobu before seating himself. The sound of a piano, violins and a harp played together synchronically creating a beautiful tune which Kira caught himself humming along to every so often. Shinobu found herself opening the conversation whilst picking up a menu; “Did you really mean it when you said I was gorgeous earlier? It’s just that you haven’t said that since our wedding, Kosaku. And all of a sudden, you’ve reverted back into your old self, pre-Hayato, pre-marriage, what’s up with it?” Shinobu questioned.

Kira feigned a look of shock, he knew Shinobu could quickly pick up context clues, that’s where Hayato got it from, of course, but Shinobu could pick up on it this easily? Despite the fake look of shock on his face, Kira himself even felt stunned slightly. He thought for a moment before responding, “Of course I meant it, love. Why would I fake that, I’m not a liar you know this?” To Kira, that statement was obviously applicable, but regarding Kosaku, he had no idea whether or not he was truthful. He continued; “Plus, I just felt like rekindling the old spark we had, it’s been lost in a mist for so long, and even to this day, I’m still surprised why you’re still with a man like me. You could do so much better-“ He was abruptly cut of by his wife’s voice, anger lacing her words, “Don’t even say that, you know in hopelessly in love with you Kosaku” she went silent for a moment, “even with how you’ve treated me this past decade, I’m not quite certain what I’d be like without you in my life. You mean the world to me.” Tears were brimming at Shinobu’s eyes.

Kira froze, for the first time in his life, he didn’t know how to react to a situation, it was this one woman who finally had the Yoshikage Kira stumped and not the masterful plan from an enemy of his.

How could a woman as perfect as Shinobu fall in love with scum like Kosaku to the point of not being able to leave him out of pure desperation of not knowing where her life would go. Finally, with what felt like eons, Kira finally plucked up the courage to respond to Shinobu’s outburst; “You really are the perfect woman Shinobu, my wife, I know it must have felt like forever ago when I last said this to you, but I love you Shinobu Kawajiri, and I’m proud to call you, my wife. I’ve always loved your feistiness, and how nurturing you are towards Hayato even when you are at the worst point in your life. You are indefinitely the most perfect person I’ve set my eyes on. From your stretchmarks to your eyes, to how much you cling to me, Hell, even to how your nose crinkles when you laugh, it’s all perfect.” Kira ranted, every word he said coming from the bottom of his heart, words laced with love and passion.

As he ranted, Shinobu sat there, stunned. Deep down, she knew this wasn’t the Kosaku she married, but hearing those words that spilled out of Kosaku’s mouth, it made her fall in love all over again. For years on end, Shinobu was longing, waiting to just hear those three meaningful words of ‘I love you’ and at last, after eleven, painful years, she finally got to hear them once again. Tears spilled from her eyes, rushing down her cheeks uncontrollably. As soon as Kosaku had finished his rant all Shinobu could muster to say was; “I love you too, unconditionally Kosaku. My heart has been aching for you to say that. Thank you.” She smiled, tears still streaming.

Kira took one of the napkins and as gently as he could, tried to wipe away her tears to no avail, she was so happy that she couldn’t stop crying. The sight of her made Kira smile, she was finally happy after 11 years, but with him, Yoshikage Kira and not Kosaku Kawajiri, if only she knew that, though. Thinking about that made Kira’s heart shatter, but for now. He’ll keep up the fantasy of Kosaku to keep her happy.

Maybe one day, he’ll tell her. Just maybe. Whatever makes Shinobu happy, Kira will abide by, for Yoshikage Kira had fallen in love.

#jojos bizzare adventure #jjba #yoshikage kira #shinobu kawajiri #kosaku kawajiri #kirashino #angst

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zippers-flowers-and-wine · 3 years

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I have a request! another mer short- reader mer gets separated from their pod and meets/get adopted into a jojo pod

👀👀👀 I am Looking...

(I was so conflicted on what JoJo to write for, but I eventually just rolled a d8 lmao.)

(Also, this is what I imagine mermaid/man tails to be shaped like except with two long spines growing from were the dorsal meets the rest of the tail:

Orcas were awful beasts.

They way they clicked was terrifying, they were coloured in a freaky way, and they were just so damn big. Your pod's fighters always said that it wasn't that scary to be chased by them, that orcas were slow enough that a mer could outpace them as long as they kept going in a straight line...

But you wanted to call bullshit on that.

Because you were going top speed, putting all of your body into swimming away from these damned things and they were keeping up.

They'd ambushed your pod in open waters on one of your annual migrations, interrupting all of you as you'd travelled along the shore, following it down towards the cooler waters were you all lived until breeding time.

Usually, the migration path would have kept your pod over one large coral reef. It made it nearly impossible for large whales, be they False Dolphins, or Orcas, to hunt you. But the presence of human fishing nets in the area made the elders worried about the newborn mers, and it was decided that the pod would go cut across to the other path of coral reefs.

Halfway across, chaos had broken out. One particularly large orca had cut directly into the middle of the pod from below. It sent the mothers racing back towards the Coloured Path - the name bestowed upon the coral your pod usually travelled - while most of the larger mers of your pod immediately went defensive, hissing and snapping at the 3 others that started circling.

You were one of the unfortunate ones, caught up in the whirlwind of panicking gups and scared mothers. With the force of them shoving, and kicking out, you were thrown downwards; a lone mermaid, thrown out as an accidental sacrifice.

Naturally, the orcas locked onto you and here you were.

Swimming for your life as a whole pod chased after you.

You were too scared to look over your shoulder, unwilling to see the teeth that would be a few scant inches behind you, probably excited to tear into your- oh fuck!

Another orca, a younger one based one his size, lurched closer on your right, managing to land a punishing nip on your shoulder. It jerks you to a halt, ripping the wound open wider so you whip around, scratching just beneath it's eye. It squeals in pain, and you veer left squealing and ducking under another that had been waiting on you.

It's teeth snap around nothing, slick belly brushing against your flared spine, and you felt like crying out for your bearer. It was huge, easily 3x your width, and 4x as long as you.

The one that had injured you slammed into its friend with a mighty crash. Glancing back, you can see the two floating in place, clearly dazed from the impact. In your moment of distraction, another orca - also young - darts up from below, its dark body upon you before you can stop. It's teeth lock around your hips, pinning your fins down as it breaches and flings its weight back.

You screech, flailing as you're thrown into a wild somersault, launched out of the water several feet upwards as if you were a simple plaything. While airborne, your tail thrashes in some vain attempt to right you, unfortunately only succeeding in flipping you on your back mere milliseconds before you slam back into the water.

It stuns you, leaving you frozen and unable to pull in a breath as your own weight slowly pulls you down.

The anticipation hits you all at once, and you wait for the teeth. The pain of being torn apart and snapped in half by a whole pod yet...

It doesn't happen.

You can feel them around you: your earfins were designed to feel minor shifts in the water, feel how it gets warmer as bodies brush pass, and how it gets disrupted with every flick of a tail... But the pain never happens.

Peeling open your eye, you look around.

The orcas are a little farther away now, and there's more of them.

Two, no... Three adults, with four adolescents and their clicking makes your head hurt. Two of the adults are circling your still body, the final one - the one that had disrupted your pod in the first place - swimming around one of the unmoving adolescents.

The other three seem anxious, nudging and bumping against their sibling. The adult clicks, swims around him again, then makes a louder squeal that brings over one of the circling adults. They all start making sounds, the adult pulling away from the body with a neon tipped spine in its mouth. It wiggles side to side with it, almost as if...

Your tail fin twitches, and you have to clench your teeth to not cry out in agony.

That was your spine...

Beginning to shake, you've come to a chilling conclusion: They were using you for practice. Your venom spine had just killed the one that threw you out of the water, and the adult was using it to teach a fucking lesson.

Flexing a little, you realize your muscles have relaxed, no longer stiff from impact induced paralysis. Without really thinking - you bolt.

The orca that had been circling you squeals, but it - along with the others - isn't fast enough to react. You've already got several tail lengths ahead of them, and it would be unwise to expend their energy chasing you down, especially now that they were down one podmate.

Keeping up the breakneck pace, you don't stop until you feel well and truly alone.

Slowing, you pant for several long seconds, drifting with the currents.

Your gills are flared as much as possible, the pink slits sucking in water and jetting it out as you slowly turn on the spot.

Dark blue, dark blue, dark blue, dark blue...

Darkness stretched for miles in every direction.

Endless.

Directionless.

Thick, viscous tears well up in your eyes, floating towards surface.

For the first time since you were a guppy, you were alone. The currents pull at your body, pulling at your fins in a taunting manner, giggling and dancing about. All alone, they sang. Little mermaid, all alone, such easy prey.

Wrapping your arms loosely around your belly, feeling too exposed, you look up and sob brokenly. It's dusk, meaning you had been chased by those... Beasts for nearly two hours.

More tears gather in your eyes, floating away like the physical embodiment of your hopes and dreams, drifting out of reach.

You were fucked.

At the speed you'd been swimming, it was very likely that you were miles away from your pod, so all you could do now was pick a direction and start swimming.

You had to eventually run into something... Right?

___

It was completely black when you spotted somewhere to sleep for the night.

A cave, the bottom of which was covered in sand and rotting sea vegetation. Not the most glamorous place you've slept, but it was rather hidden from a distance, and deep enough that your bright colours would be muted to anyone passing by. The mouth of it was also surprisingly small, so anything larger than a shark would have some trouble wiggling in.

You, luckily, were smaller than a shark.

Pressing in head first, you wiggle your tail through, hissing when the sensitive flesh where your missing spine was rubs against the rocky cave mouth. Sliding through, you take a mental note of another entrance opposite of where you're settled as you curl up against the soft sand of the floor, folding all of your fins in tight and staring out into the blackened water beyond.

The stress of the day presses onto your shoulders, more tears well up, and you sob.

This loneliness, the separation... This was your new reality.

___

"Dude!" Okuyasu hisses, reaching out to snag his larger podmate by his shoulder. With a careful flick of his tail, he's leaning over Josuke, ears strained forward with a confused crease to his eyebrows.

Josuke flicks an ear, grumbling as he's used as a lookout post. "What dude? I'm too tired for-"

"Hush, Hishigataka." The young leader bares his teeth over his shoulder, immediately puffing up. Rohan doesn't look over, also staring intently at the neatly hidden entrance to their den. Josuke pauses, immediately losing all fight when he takes note of how restless the cecealia is. His arms are writhing around on another, bristling into various shades of darker green, and sickly yellows as his fins flare slowly.

"Someone is in our den."

Rohan's voice was deadly calm, yet it had an exciting effect on the others of his pod.

Okuyasu shivered, his spinal fin flexing excitedly as a near maniac grin started to twitch across his face. The large mer practically lived to brawl, all too happy to jump headfirst into a fight so he coiled his tail in close, ready pounce down the hidden entrance.

Mikitaka began pacing along side Koichi, the new cecealia anxious about the possible confrontation. Miki didn't exactly like any sort of violent interactions, and would always be the first of his podmates to shy away from any situations that looked like they may end badly, which was odd considering that his new form was well adapted to physical combat. Koichi was much the same, though his siren status made it a bit more understandable, since he wasn't physically capable of becoming as bulky as the other three. It also made him slower moving than them, his tail was really only meant to be flashy to attract any unsuspecting humans closer to him.

Josuke clicks, forcefully pulling their sudden excited agitation onto himself. The young leader keeps an eye on the small, seaweed covered entrance, but motions for them to all gather around him. "Alright, here's the plan. Me and Rohan will check it out, see if it's a pod we should really be worried ab-"

Rohan snorts, interjecting sharply, "I highly doubt it." Josuke sputters in outrage, but Koichi swiftly questions him before the larger pastel merman can freak out.

"W-what's that supposed to mean, Rohan - sensei?"

Smirking haughtily with that all too familiar look of "I know something you don't~", the cecealia points back towards the entrance with one of his thinnest arms. The tendril flicks lazily, matching his falsely carefree attitude s he drawls, "The main entrance hasn't been shoved around." He swims a little closer, with Josuke nearly right on top of him, to point at the thick vegetation growing around the well hidden entrance. "None of the seaweed has been pulled up, or ripped, and the rocks are perfectly in place. There's no scales that got caught on the opening, and the sand still has the faint imprint of the shells that Koichi brought last time."

Mikitaka clicks softly, coiling his limbs in close. "Forgive my ignorance, but what does all of that mean exactly?"

Koichi smiles at him, trying not to be too amused by his bewilderment. The guy had been turned into a cecealia by a particularly mean spirited siren a few months ago, and was still learning how to figure out life underwater.

Also seeming to take some kind of pity on him, Rohan explains, albeit with a rather haughty look. "What that means s that, while yes there is a mer in there, we don't need to be concerned about a pod." Josuke nods, a little more relaxed now that he knows Rohan isn't just disagreeing to get a rise out of him.

"Yeah. If anything, it may be a maid." Now it's Rohan's turn to look surprised, flicking his limbs as he sharply asks how Josuke figures that one. Koichi raises a brow, startled by how nonchalant he is about making that little inference. "Well, you said it yourself. There's no scales caught on the entrance, and even Koichi manages to snag some on the way in. That means it has to be either a cecealia, a guppy, or a mer smaller than Koichi."

Rohan snorts dismissively. "That's a moronic conclusion, Hishigataka."

"Eh!? How so!?"

"Because that doesn't explain how they didn't mess up the imprints of the shells, or how they managed-" Koichi's panicled wheeze cut their arguing short.

Wheeling around in unison, they follow the direction Koichi's outstretched hand. At first they don't see much, the rapidly deepening darkness impairing their vision, but eventually they do see and they want to tell various curses. Okuyasu had, at some point in their back and forth, wandered over to the entrance, slowly picking his way through the forest of green in front of it.

They could just barely see the glowing, golden tips of his venom spines weaving up and down. Josuke launches himself forward, his own bright pink and blue tail snapping as hard as possible to catch him up to his air headed friend, internally cursing his own negligence.

___

Peering into their home, Okuyasu doesn't immediately see anything.

It's dark, and the soft, sandy floor of the cave looks inviting, so he slips in. It takes a small wiggle for his hips to fit through, the fins having to lie flat as he works his tail left to right before sliding smoothly in. Glancing backwards, he wrinkles his nose at his small, dark blue and golden scales that he can see hanging off of the entrance, plucked free of his toughened hide thanks to how loose they were. "Yeesh, we gotta get a bigger den, man..."

Shhhfff...

His fins snap upright, flaring out as he twists in the dark. His pupils, having been dilated in his relaxation, immediately contract into dangerous slits.

That sounded like sand being shuffled around.

Josuke suddenly appears at the mouth of the cave, his bright blue eyes nearly glowing as he hisses, "What the hell are you doing, Okuyasu!?" He shushes him, holding a hand up while carefully swimming closer to the suspicious sound with his fins flared out. Josuke wiggles in after him, fins folded down as he slowly follows after him.

Sucking down water, Okuyasu jets out water and darts around the corner with his claws out, much to Josuke's yowling horror.

He slams into another body, very clearly a mer judging by the scaled tail that thrashes between his claws as he clamps down and sinks his teeth into their side. Another set of claws - smaller and more dainty than his own talons - rake across his back, making him hiss and flick sideways, slamming the smaller mer against the rockwall. They squeal, whipping their fluke at him as they twist. Okuyasu jerks back, twisting out of range of a poisonous spine that makes a lunge for his face. Josuke hisses somewhere to his left, but Okuyasu ignores him, reaching out for the intruder again. Startled, the mer ducks away from his talons, bolting towards the back. Josuke misses, just barely grazing the retreating fluke. The near miss makes him run, full force, against Okuyasu who had been about to give chase.

They both tumble to the sandy floor, sand flying up in great plumes that choke their gills, making both cough wildly. "G- Fuckin'- get off dude!" Okuyasu barks, shoving Josuke to the side. The small mer is frantically wiggling their way through the entrance, their panic making it harder for them to actually wiggle free.

Then they screech, tail flailing differently, now attempting to pull them back into the cave.

___

Oh go oh god oh god oh fUCK!

You're panicking, and you know it, and you know it's going to get you killed.

Being woken up by massive talons sinking into your flank wasn't the best thing to happen to you in your life, which was saying something considering the fact that you'd been chased hundreds of miles away from your pod by killer whales that only wanted some practice.

The mer that attacked you was big, scarily so, and he drove you downwards with his shoulder buried against your chest, and his teeth locked into the flesh just under your armpit. In a blind panic, you clawed at him, scratching at his back with your own, significantly smaller claws. The blood was billowing around the both of you, only barely blurring the outline of another mer pacing nearby. You couldn't see, nor register much of that one because the one attacking you didn't seem to apperciate having claws jammed into its spine. Apparently, it only served to piss it off because the bigger mer immediately used you like a battering ram, slamming your back against the nearby stone wall and stunning you for a beat.

When it backed of for a spilt second, slightly winded, you twisted away. Subconsciously, you thrashed your fluke at your assailant, momentarily forgetting about your missing spine as you made a break for an entrance opposite of where you had wiggled your way in.

The forgotten mer, a pretty streak of pink and blue, lunged for you, and you twitched just barely out of their range. They rocketed past you, ramming into the already wounded met and sending both of them to the floor.

Using that distraction, you started to attempt to wiggle free, cursing all of the inwards facing rocks that were hooking into your scales.

That's when you looked out into the ocean.

A small flicker of green movement.

Initially, you thought your mind was playing tricks on you, so you brushed it off, wincing as you made some progress.

Looking back up revealed two, very distressing details:

1. Your mind had not been fucking with you, that really was sometjing moving.

2. That moving thing turned out to be two moving things, and they were two, very large cecealia.

Freezing for a spilt second, you make eye contact with the shorter male.

His head tilts slowly, a small, razor thin smile playing at the edges of his lips.

With a shrill cry, you start thrashing backwards, deciding you'd much rather try and fight the two mers inside than the two cecealia outside. You're so busy panicking that you don't even notice that another creature has approached until he gasps, gently touching your cheek and making you flinch.

Your head turns, and you meet two big, dark blue eyes. Silvery hair wisps around his soft, childlike face, wild and untamed, just like the hammering of your heart. He seems worried about something, gently brushing your tussled, ungroomed hair back and away from your face as his eyes carefully search yours.

You hardly even notice the clawed hands that gently touch the raw flesh were your venom spine used to be, or the pasty white cecealia that glides up to your side, carefully pulling you free of the entrance, or even the hushed words shared back and forth, whispered over the badly injured flesh of your tail.

All you register are those dark blue eyes that are getting darker...and darker, and you can't...

___

Mikitaka hums when the mermaid falls limp against him, his limbs pulling her tighter to himself in an effort to keep her from harming herself upon collapsing. His eyes flick over to Koichi, who's coughing into his elbow, the younger siren unused to singing for such a long period of time. "Good thinking, Koichi."

"A-ah, yeah... Thanks!" He's grinning from ear to ear, flowy fins fluttering from flustered delight. He's so unused to such positive reinforcements from people that aren't Josuke, Okuyasu, Jotaro, or Rohan that the poor thing practically drinks up any and all positivity.

Miki smiles, mouth opening-

"You. Utter. FOOLS!"

Then closing in a small grimace.

It seems Rohan isn't quite as pleased.

(Okay.... Okay okay, I promise I'll finish it in the next installment, I just like?? Got really carried away 😞)

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redbeanboi · 4 years

Text

Page Duties

originally uploaded to ao3 on 19/01/10.

Rating: Teen/Gen.

Pairing: Josuke Higashikata/F!Reader

Summary: Working at the library is pretty straightforward: reshelving materials and media, helping library patrons find books, reuniting lost children with their parents, and last but certainly not least—dealing with the local delinquents.

Beware: Tooth-rotting fluff galore (gross!!), also spoiler: Josuke’s a total dork

Wordcount: 5.2k

You’d been working at the Morioh Public Library for months and memorized the face of every regular patron. New library patrons would enter everyday, and, much to your frustration, you would constantly have to learn new names and new faces. One of them, however, seemed to stand out to you the most.

Josuke Higashikata.

You both went to Budogaoka High School but he probably didn’t know you even existed. He was handsome. Girls swarmed him, boys picked fights with him, and despite every teacher’s disdain towards his getup, they all generally agreed that he was a decent student. You rarely ever saw him in school, and even if you did you’d usually be greeted with the back of his marvelous head of hair. In fact, you can’t remember ever seeing his face before. Had you not been familiar with his embellished uniform or signature hairdo, you probably wouldn’t have recognized him.

He’d only started coming into the library recently; in fact, you were the one who’d given him a library card. At first you were surprised to learn that he didn’t already own one (don’t they give these out to kids when they’re in elementary school?), but considering his reputation for being a delinquent, you couldn’t say you were surprised. Maybe he lost his? Who knows.

Either way, you only remembered the experience because he’d avoided making eye contact with you the entire time, and mumbled a barely audible “thanks” once you handed it to him. When your fingers accidentally brushed the back of his hand he flinched and ducked out of the library, his friend Koichi not far behind. At first his behavior irritated you—he didn’t have to act that disgusted for having to talk to you—but you couldn’t find yourself able to blame him for very long. I mean, how would you feel if some stranger accidentally touched you?

He started coming in regularly after that—two or three times a week—for the past two and a half weeks now. Josuke never went by himself; he was usually accompanied by Koichi, or his other friend Okuyasu. What puzzled you most is the fact that he never bothered to check out materials. What’s the point of getting a library card if you’re just going to sit at a table for a few hours and read manga? Anyone can come in without a library card and sit at the tables—you only need a card if you’re planning on taking materials outside.

***

Okuyasu sat at the far corner of the table, deeply immersed in the new Shounen Jump. They’d been at the library for hours now, and his patience was running thin. When his eyes wandered towards his friend, a vein pulsed at his temple. That does it.

“Josuke, why are we here? The new Shounen Jump is at the Owson in town. I usually buy it from them anyway.”

Josuke didn’t answer. His head rested in his palm and his eyes were starry. A sigh escaped his lips. Okuyasu could barely contain his restlessness. “Are you even listening—”

“Sh.” Josuke held his finger to his lips, his gaze still directed elsewhere. Okuyasu looked on at his friend in disbelief. Did Josuke just hush him? “Just a little longer, alright Okuyasu?”

“It’s friday afternoon,” Okuyasu hissed underneath his breath. He’d lowered his voice now, maybe that would satisfy Josuke. “We’ve been here three times this week already. And we stay here for hours just sitting here doing nothing. Maybe we should actually do our homework here from now on, so at least we have nothing else to do when we get home.”

Realization washed over Josuke’s face. Of course. “Yeah, let’s do that.”

On their way out, they accidentally walked into you—well, Josuke did. Okuyasu, relieved to have finally gotten Josuke to leave, apologized rather brusquely on behalf of his friend. “Sorry about my friend! He’s a little starry eyed right now.”

You waved it off wordlessly, watching with interest as they made their exit. “So...Josuke Higashikata’s got a crush on someone who goes here.”

***

You immediately drop this theory once the next week rolls around, because he’s suddenly decided to actually study at his usual spot. Okuyasu has joined him in his study sessions too. Eventually Koichi comes, his girlfriend Yukako in tow and helps them review. You’re surprised. Mostly because you didn’t think delinquents would really care about their school work but perhaps you were just being judgemental. Maybe he just developed a newfound love for books.

This could explain why he looked longingly at the shelves every so often. One time, you caught him staring in your direction, his mind clearly wandering off. You wondered what he could possibly be thinking about. Eventually he’d take breaks from studying and would circle around the library to stretch his legs. He’d even pass by you two or three times, and would sheepishly return your polite nods. Studying can get uncomfortable, so it only makes sense to want to walk it off, though he seemed to take breaks pretty often. Sometimes every fifteen minutes. How peculiar!

They all began to sit near the children’s section, meaning they could technically talk a little louder than usual, since the children were fairly loud themselves. It also meant that you’d be seeing them pretty often.

Secretly, you dreaded shelving away items in the juvenile section—mostly because there were so many of them. Kids went through books rather quickly, and much to your annoyance, every one of your coworkers left you to shelve all these materials. After all, the kids seemed to listen to you. You were calm, and very difficult to irritate. You also were successful in getting them to calm down. Kids running around? Your calm and quiet voice often got them to settle back into their seats. A quick “be careful there, you’ll get hurt” and the little ones would quickly quiet down and go back to reading. You’d caught Josuke and his gang watching with interest as you dealt with the kids a few times, and the attention made you uncomfortable. You hoped they would quit staring soon.

After another week, Josuke found it hard to hide his crush from his friends. While they noticed Josuke’s strange behavior, it never occurred to them that it was because of his crush on one of the library pages. But it became all too obvious when they’d caught him spacing out, shamelessly peering at you over the edge of his chemistry textbook.

Their cackles were loud enough for you to notice, and you too ended up catching him in the act. Maybe they were making fun of you? You did trip on some building blocks a few seconds ago. You immediately scurried off to the nearby cart and hid behind the shelves, desperate to avoid any more attention or embarrassment.

“Oh, I see Josuke,” Okuyasu cooed, nudging the pompadoured teen.

Josuke playfully nudged Okuyasu back. “What? She’s cute. Think she goes to our school?”

“I think,” Koichi murmured, glancing back and forth from Josuke to you. “I think she might be in my class.”

After some digging and snooping around, they’d found out that you were, in fact, one of Koichi’s classmates. You were extremely polite, had some of the best grades in your class, and even had a close and affectionate relationship with your parents. Okuyasu and Koichi find it amusing that Josuke’s developed such an intense crush on a goody-two-shoes but welcome this unexpected discovery nonetheless. Perhaps you would be a good influence on him.

They all went back to their work, and eventually Koichi and Yukako left. When you finished your shift, you noticed Okuyasu and Josuke were still hunched over their notes, stuck on the same chemistry problem that they were tackling earlier. Although they were strangers, you felt some sense of familiarity with them. After all, they had been coming to the library for five weeks now, and they were often bumping into you. At some point, Josuke had even asked you where some of the Geometry books were.

Maybe you were well acquainted enough to approach them? Although you were definitely lacking in social graces when it came to people over the age of ten, you figured now would be a good time to push yourself. So what if they’re delinquents? You inhaled sharply, and before you knew it you were already making your way towards your classmates. They hadn’t even noticed you peering over their shoulders. A quick “ahem” brought their attention however.

Josuke jumped when he realized that you snuck up on them. He stared after you in confusion. Okuyasu, on the other hand could barely hide the grin on his face.

“I noticed you’re having trouble with this one problem,” you tapped on the molarity question. “I could help you two if you like. Chemistry is one of my best subjects.”

“Oh? I guess she should help you then, huh Josuke?” Josuke shot a threatening glare towards Okuyasu, but upon remembering that you were still waiting for an answer, he veered his neck the other way to face you.

He flashed a dazzling smile and immediately accepted your help. “We’d appreciate it actually.”

You’d gone through several problems and it seemed they finally understood what you meant. You even worked through an entire chapter with them. Okuyasu immediately caught notice of the time and excused himself, leaving you with Josuke. You awkwardly shuffled your feet.

Ah. So... what exactly happens now? Should you ask about schoolwork again?

“So.” You jumped at the sudden interruption. “Do you have a name?”

You snorted at the question. What a strange way to ask for someone’s name! He’s certainly sillier than he looks. “I-I mean, of course you have a name, I just.. I’d like to actually know it. That way I can thank you properly.”

“It’s y/n.”

“Y/n huh? Thanks for helping out with Chemistry. And, for the library card.”

You nodded and murmured a quick acknowledgement of his thanks. And then silence ensued.

Josuke broke the silence with an awkward cough. “Do you go to Budogaoka High School? I think I would’ve remembered a face like yours.” The quirk in your brow sent him into a panic as he realized what he’d implied. “I-I mean you’re very cute, so—um.” You gave him a few seconds to recover, trying hard not to smile as he shrugged. “Yeah...”

The small smile you gave him in reply was enough to calm him down. “To answer your question, I go to Budogaoka... Class 1-A.”

“Oh that explains it. I’m in 1-B, so it makes sense that I haven’t really seen you around. We’ve never bumped into each other before have we?”

“Actually… we were in the same classes all throughout junior high,” you admittedsheepishly.

“Really?!” Josuke slouched forward and buried his face into his hands.

“It’s really not a big deal! I kind of stick to the walls,” you laughed, patting an awkwardly reassuring hand on his shoulder.

Josuke looked down at you and greeted you with that same infectious smile. “Sorry I kept you here after work…” His voice trailed off, but he continues when his eyes meet yours. “But you really helped us out with reviewing. Do you think you can study with us too? I mean, when you’re not working, obviously.”

His chuckle sent your heart into overdrive. A flash of heat was beginning to burn through your cheeks. Josuke took notice and his lips broke into a goofy smile. “I’ll take that as a yes?”

You nodded your head furiously and turned away, hoping you wouldn’t embarrass yourself any further.

Josuke walked you home afterwards. As it turned out, he was actually a very friendly and kind person. And while he certainly looked the part, Josuke Higashikata was no delinquent. Your conversation was cut short when a tall and handsome man pulled his car over, rolling the window down to tell Josuke that they needed to talk. Josuke asked his new companion to wait for just a few minutes, before walking you to your doorstep.

“Sorry,” he explained. “My nephew’s in town right now so he’ll want to catch up with me.”

“Nephew? He looks older than you.” you peered over his shoulder at the offstandish stranger.

“It’s a long story…” he laughed and waited until you were inside before going back to Jotaro, whose signature stoic expression faded away, revealing the all-knowing smirk on his lips.

“What’re you looking at Jotaro?”

“Gimme a break Josuke.” He tipped his hat to cover his eyes, sighing loud enough for all of Morioh to hear. “And go flirt with girls some other time, I don’t like to be kept waiting.”

A violent red blush spread over his neck and spilled onto his cheeks. “L-let’s... Let’s go home then.”

***

Josuke started coming to the library every day during the week, and you’d even held conversations with him a few times. At first conversation was hard to sustain, given how you didn’t have anything in common, but as it turns out you were wrong about that—you both liked playing video games. In fact, you both exchanged cheats every now and then.

“No way!” you exclaimed. “I had no idea that you could do that on the final boss...”

The smug expression on Josuke’s face coaxed a few giggles from you. He’s so unbelievably silly. The Josuke fanclub at school would never believe that Josuke Higashikata was not the suave delinquent they believed him to be. “Yeah, I couldn’t believe it when I found out either!”

Eventually you had grown comfortable enough to tease him and act silly. Work was dreadful, but seeing Josuke everyday made it exciting. He was a wonderful friend and even better company, especially during your shifts. You were thankful that this awful job made it possible for you to befriend Josuke. He was so kind and thoughtful. Every shift felt excruciatingly long, and you were often running around the library doing tedious work.

Sometimes, other libraries would request certain books and you’d be tasked with finding them. Before you befriended Josuke, this task would take you around an hour to complete; there were just so many books in the library and people often reshelved them incorrectly. Recently, however, all of these books would—oddly enough—suddenly appear in the cart. You could’ve sworn you’d seen them all magically hover around the library mid-air, but that would just be silly.

After a particularly exhausting day at school, you dragged your feet at work and simply felt too taxed to do anything, much less trudge through a 4 hour shift. Josuke certainly noticed the change in your demeanor, and when you were too busy to even greet them and chat for a few minutes, he’d gotten up from his seat, telling his friends he would be taking a break from studying.

It took him several minutes to find you but once he did, he understood why you hadn’t stopped by.

You were standing on the tips of your toes straining to reach the top shelf, large Geography reference book in hand. To be honest, Josuke thinks it’s adorable; you’ve puffed your cheeks in frustration, hair is haphazardly falling into your eyes, and best of all you hadn’t even thought of using the footstool that lay on the ground three feet away from you. He thinks that bringing it over to you would probably be the nicer thing to do, but nice wasn’t exactly what he was going for at the moment.

Hard at work, you’d been trying your hardest to get this heavy book onto the shelf when a calloused hand comes into your view, and when it hovered overhead, you yelped and fell backwards.

Into Josuke, of course.

“J-Josuke?!”

“Sorry about that,” he hummed softly. “It just looked like you were having trouble… May I…?”

He gestures towards the book in your hands, and your lips part, mouth forming an “o” shape. Josuke came over to help you. You sheepishly relinquish the book, hands accidentally brushing against Josuke’s fingers. It’s just like the time you’d accidentally touched his hand when you’d given him his library card, only this time, he doesn’t flinch or back away. You look up and immediately find yourself lost in those blue eyes. You’ve always thought he was handsome, but now that you’ve gotten a closer look at him you can’t help but smile.

You snap out of these thoughts as soon as he’s finished putting the book away, and mutter a quick word of thanks before walking over to your cart. But you realize he’d placed the book in the wrong spot, and shyly ask him to move it a couple of spots down. Apparently he’d never heard of the Dewey Decimal System, so you give him a quick run through, just to give him an idea of how everything was organized. You realize he may not need your help finding textbooks anymore, but you’re happy to teach him either way.

“And you have to learn all of that?” He asked in astonishment.

“Most people do— I’ve been going here since I was five years old, so I’d like to think I know it pretty well.” You say, eyes gleaming bright.

Josuke can’t help but notice that your movements are a little sluggish today, and when he sees the cart completely covered top to bottom in books, CD’s and cassette tapes, he immediately decides to assist you.

“Josuke,” you started. “I really don’t want to keep you from studying. I know it’s a heavy cart, but I can handle it.”

Josuke shakes his head, pushing the cart at a steady pace. “I needed to take a break from studying anyway.”

He’d never quite understand why you were working here, but he can’t say he can complain; the only reason he was able to befriend you was because of your job.

Of course, you’d never hung out with Josuke and his friends outside of the library. Sometimes you worried whether they truly wanted to hang out with you. Perhaps they just needed help with homework and were nice enough to provide you some company while you worked. But these thoughts immediately flew to the back of your mind whenever you saw them at the library. They were all so kind and friendly. Work really didn’t seem as bad as it used to be.

And that was when when they got you fired.

It was an accident really. And Josuke apologized profusely afterwards.

In reality, it was just like any other day; you were helping the four of them with practice questions in the middle of your shift, and went back to reshelving books as per usual. One of your classmates recently noticed your expanding social circle, and immediately took it upon himself to keep you from associating with hooligans like Josuke Higashikata. He scoured the entire library in search of you and was relieved to find you alone, working.

“Didn’t know you started doing charity work, Y/n.”

You jump at your classmate’s intrusion. “Oh, it’s just you Tooru. Though, I ought to correct you; I’m not volunteering.. I mean I work here, but I get paid next to nothing and my boss is pretty scary, so I suppose you could call it charity work...” Your voice trails off once you realize how awful your job is.

“That’s not what I’m talking about,” He huffed, pointing an accusatory finger towards your friends. “Why would you hang out with people like them ?”

“Them..?” You realize he’s pointing at your new friends, and suddenly get defensive. “You know, Josuke, Okuyasu, Koichi and Yukako are actually really really friendly and kind!” you whispered frantically, hoping your friends couldn’t hear what your classmate was saying.

With that, you turn the other way and push your book cart elsewhere, hoping he would get the message and either apologize or leave you and your friends alone. He does neither of these things, and continues to follow you as you walk away.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me!” he rasped, trying his best to keep up with you. “Did you forget what happened last year? A man was run over by an ambulance last year and they all just “happened to be there.” Don’t you think that’s suspicious?”

You stare at him incredulously, hissing under your breath. “That man was a murderer and their presence that day was probably just a coincidence. They couldn’t have murdered that psycho.”

Tooru brushed it off and insisted you cease any further interaction with them. “Regardless, they attract way too much trouble. You could get into a messy situation if you keep— “

A familiar presence crept behind you. “Is everything alright Y/n?”

“Josuke,” you chirped. When Josuke interrupted, you loosened up almost immediately, realizing then that he’d stopped studying to come to your aid. “Y-You… You need to study for your exam! Let’s go back to the others.”

Tooru doesn’t let Josuke go very easily, however, sidestepping his way into your intended escape route. “Actually, there is a problem. Leave Y/n alone. You’re going to get her into trouble.”

Josuke’s surprised to hear this. In all honesty, he’d been watching you ever since you left their table to go back to work. Your classmate’s sudden appearance caught his attention, and he certainly didn’t like what he was seeing. From his perspective, Tooru was tailing you around the library and getting you flustered. If he hadn’t known any better, he would have guessed that someone was asking you on a date, and harassing you for an answer at that.

Koichi begged him to ignore it, knowing it could cause trouble, but Okuyasu egged him on, warning him that he ought to take his chance right there before someone else asks you out. So here he was.

The boys were at a standoff for quite a few minutes. On the outside both seemed rather calm. Tooru was trying his best to tell Josuke to leave you alone, that he should think of your wellbeing. The lack of cooperation on Josuke’s part pisses him off more than anything though, so he starts to insult you and question your decision making. You never would’ve guessed your classmate would say such things but you’re more worried that Josuke might believe the unbelievable bullshit that’s coming right out of his—

“I think Y/n can make these decisions for herself, so you should scram.” He waves the air in between them, eyes blank and uninterested.

You wonder how he’s remained so calm towards the other boy, because if you were to assess your feelings, “pissed” would be a pretty good word to use. Tooru on the other hand seems pretty pissed at Josuke’s dismissiveness.

Of course, as a last ditch effort, Tooru implores you to simply listen to him. Delinquents are delinquents, he reasoned. Apparently you were above hanging out with “losers like that.” Regardless of whether they were dangerous, you could hang out with much better people than Josuke. You had good grades and people liked you. Why would you need to hang out with losers who sat on the ground outside Owson? It seemed as though he could go on forever, and you wanted him to stop.

Slapping him in the face wouldn’t nearly be enough to tell him off or stand up for your friends but being around Josuke encourages you to exercise self control. Josuke’s probably the most hot headed person you know, and if he can stay calm right now, then how hard could it be for you?

“Tooru sure is an idiot isn’t he, Josuke? All talk and he doesn’t know what he’s talking about—let’s go somewhere else!” you chittered nervously, taking hold of his hand and trying your best to guide him elsewhere. Josuke’s face is beet red at the sudden contact, but you’re too absorbed in your task to even notice.

“Josuke’s got the dumbest haircut the town’s ever seen, and I’m the idiot? What the hell, Y/n!”

You stiffen at the jabs. Josuke could turn into a beast when it came to his hair— you’d never seen it in person, but the stories were almost legendary. All it took to piss him off were a couple of offhand comments. But of all places for this to happen, it just had to be at your job. You quickly let go of his hand and accepted your fate. You were definitely as good as fired now.

One punch. That was all it took to shut him up. He staggered backwards into a nearby shelf and covered his broken, bloody nose with his hands before ducking out of the library. Much to your surprise, Josuke didn’t take it any further. Although the insults certainly rubbed him the wrong way, he held back. Having a big fight at your workplace could get you into trouble, so one punch would have to do. It’s not like anyone saw anyway.

Or so he thought. To your absolute horror, your boss had seen everything. He immediately called you into his office, berating you for flirting with boys on the job and starting a fight in the middle of the library.

You realize that making excuses would only make you look bad, that remaining silent and taking the abuse is better than wasting your breath on your grumpy boss. Besides— if you were going to look at it objectively, you indirectly caused the fight (if you could even call it that) to begin with. While it wasn’t your fault, you still felt guilty. Not towards the library of course; you should have stood up for your friends more. Josuke and his friends didn’t deserve to be spoken of in such a way.

Josuke, Okuyasu, Yukako and Koichi watched as you received the harsh scolding. The walls barely muffled your boss’ yelling, and it wouldn’t surprise you if everyone in the library could hear what was being said. Under any other circumstance you might have felt guilty or ashamed, but you were so fed up with work lately that you were just waiting to be permanently dismissed.

It took nearly every ounce of strength in Josuke’s body to remain where he stood, to leave you be. He nearly barged into the office when the yelling escalated, but Yukako intervened— something about girls not liking boys who stick their noses into other people’s business, and that you weren’t a baby that needed to be shielded from her boss. Josuke agreed but still felt guilty for not being able to apologize on your behalf.

The door swung open and they immediately ceased further discussion. The four of them watched as you subsequently pulled your coat on and exited the building. It takes an additional few seconds for them to realize that one of the librarians has been speaking to them, informing them that just like you, they would be banned from coming to the library again. Koichi is rather distressed about this, and Josuke makes sure to soothe him before running after you.

Unfortunately for him, by the time he’s parted with his friends and exited the library, you are long gone.

***

He searched every square inch of Morioh to look for you. You weren’t at the library (for obvious reasons), he could never quite catch you before you left your house for school, and his swarm of admirers made it nearly impossible to find you at school.

You felt guilty about it, but if he hadn’t spoken to you before you worked at the library, who’s to say that he’d want to keep talking to you after you were fired? And while you hadn’t gone out of your way to avoid him, you still weren’t actively seeking him out.

But Josuke isn’t the kind to give up, so after several long days of looking for you, he is finally met with success.

He’d gone to the rooftop to eat lunch that day. The past few days were discouraging to say the least. You had been fired, thanks in no small part to him. It’s only right that you would be angry with Josuke. The only way he could make it up to you at this point was to apologize.

Although his friends insisted that they eat lunch together, Josuke felt too downtrodden to spend time with anyone at the moment, so he snuck off to the rooftops to eat in solitude. Not the best punishment for the terrible crime he committed against you, but it would have to do for now.

You’re the last person he expects to see there. Part of him wants to sneak up on you the way he used to in the library, but it just doesn’t seem right. So he simply announces his arrival.

“Hey, Y/n... It’s me, Josuke—the idiot who got you fired?”

“Oh, Josuke.” You shuffle your feet a little. “How are you?”

You felt so incredibly guilty for not sticking up for any of your friends. And while it was true that no one hated you at school, people weren’t nearly as kind or welcoming as Koichi, Yukako, Okuyasu or Josuke were. You felt completely happy spending time with them.

But the truth of it was that you’d never hung out with them outside of the library, and they’d never mentioned wanting to hang out with you anywhere else, so now that you were fired, they’d probably lose interest in you.

You’re surprised then, when Josuke apologizes to you.

“I’m really sorry…” He’s sitting next to you now, hunched over his lunchbox. He looked much smaller in this position. “I should have let it go, really... and I shouldn’t care about what people think of my hair, but I do, and now I got you fired and I know you’re mad at me—”

“Are you kidding me?”

He flinched.

You playfully nudge him in the shoulder. “Josuke,” you start with a giggle. “I’ve been dying to leave that awful job.”

He sat there dumbly, staring at you in disbelief. “Really?”

“Yeah!” You paused for a few seconds. Now it was your turn to apologize. “I’m sorry about my classmate… These past few weeks made my job so much easier, so it felt like I just spat on your friendship. I should’ve done a better job of telling him off or something.”

Josuke took your hand and gently gave it a squeeze. “I don’t think any amount of talking will change that guy’s mind. We were more worried about you. But if we're going to be honest, he’s kind of got a point.”

“No," You argue. "He couldn’t be any more wrong about you. You’re all nice people.”

“But, Y/n—" he began in a mockingly authoritative tone. “‘Delinquents are delinquents,’ remember?”

You held your sides and shook violently. It was nice to be able to joke and laugh around Josuke again. “Does this make me a delinquent now, too?”

“Oh yeah,” Josuke nods, matter-of-factly. “You’re one of us now.”

The smirk on his face brings a goofy grin to your face. As a delinquent, you are naturally not afraid of anything, so with this newly found confidence and self assurance, you ask him:

“So… are you doing anything after school?”

#jjba x reader #jojo x reader #josuke higashikata x reader #josuke x reader #ya i know #this stuff's older news #im just.....#trying an experiment...#for ao3commentoftheday's thirsty thursday #ahem #awhhh look at early 2019 juno telling us how frequently they go to the library and how many weeks have passed dkdbsas #how far we have come :o #idk why but this is the one that's ~statistically~ doing the best on ao3 #not that it matters but i wanted to see how it'd fare on tumblr dot com #👀#please praise me for resisting the urge to rewrite this from scratch #that being said i still love this and :-)

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dolphin-enthusiast · 4 years

Note

The villains work at McDonald's and their mortal enemy (aka their respective jojo) drives up to the drive-thru to order. What do they do?

This was acc fate so I hope yall don’t mind if I combine these 2 absolutely glorious requests-

Dio:

- Ok but we can all agree that this fucker wouldn’t wanna work AT ALL, let alone work at fucking mcd. He thinks he’s above that due to simply being “too sexy to work” or whatever dumb argument he comes up with usually. So how did the almighty Dio end up here? Well because he was FORCED to work of course, since all he did was fuck around the mansion all day long and it was about time the government demanded explanations for his constant tax evasion.

- So there he was, bitterly handing yet another order to some random person until suddenly he saw a dark car pull up and surprise surprise, in it there was none other than his worst enemy: Jotaro Kujo. And to make matters worse, sitting right in the passenger’s seat was Jonathan Joestar himself. So much for a family reunion.

- Whilst Jonathan tried to keep his calm and be as polite as one could be as he ordered, Jotaro was already foaming at the mouth once he heard Dio’s PTSD inducing voice. The marine biologist tightly gripped the wheel as he hissed out his order and at this point Dio was already bracing for the impact that was soon to come. The second the pair pulled up, Jotaro’s fist collided with Dio’s face then just as fast the man grabbed the order from the vampire’s claws and quickly drove away without another single word. But hey, at least he paid for his order (at Jonathan’s insistence.) That is one thing Dio is glad for.

Kars:

- Just like Dio, Kars thinks he’s way too sexy to work and rightfully so. Because unlike the self centered vampire, Kars is indeed simply too damn sexy to work even one day in his long ass immortal life. But after the rest of the pillarmen kept complaining that they are going bankrupt, Kars took it upon himself and landed a job at your local mcd drive thru.

- U N L I K E D I O, Kars is actually pretty damn good at his job and doesn’t slack off too much. Even if he internally dreads everything he never lets it show and is always as polite as one can be, even when he deals with rather nasty customers. Hell, me mans even got a damn raise since he’s been on his best behavior at all times. Although we must not forget how this would all come to an end the second Joseph Joestar would pull up.

- Unfortunately for Kars, that’s exactly what happened and Joseph had a straight up aneurysm the second he heard his arch nemesis’ voice come out of the speaker after he placed his order. Needless to say, Kars had to force a smile on his face as he presented the man his order. But Joseph being Joseph, he just HAD to mess with Kars a little and pull the good ol’ “yOuR nExT LinE iS-” bs until he actually paid for the order and took his leave. Either way, from now on Joseph will purposefully pull up at the drive thru where Kars works every single fucking day just to make his life a living hell.

Kira:

- Let’s just say he was so salty from losing his precious job (after they found him fucking around with a random hand that he INSISTED was a prop) that he refused to work until he completely ran out of money and was quite literally forced to land a job at fucking mcd.

- This completely threw him and his balanced quiet life completely off and the man dreaded every single day in which he was required to work. Although he still tried maintaining his professional persona and was as polite to customers as possible, he still sometimes had small anger outbursts that may or may not had influenced his paychecks. For the worst.

- As if things couldn’t get EVEN harder for the man, right as he was in the midst of one of his usual breakdowns he heard the voice of none other than Josuke fucking Higashikata ordering a big mac. It goes without saying that Josuke was just as (if not EVEN more) shocked to hear Kira’s voice respond. At this point he knew his enemy would try something dirty, so Josuke didn’t even bother to pick up his order, let alone PAY FOR IT. Quite the contrary, he full on punched Kira as the rest of his gang cheered him on, Josuke proudly taking his nephew’s example. The manager happened to see him throwing fists with Josuke and so not only did Kira end up with a broken nose, but he was also left jobless once more.

Doppio/Diavolo:

- The mafia business was getting more and more rusty after Bruno’s gang started interfering, so Diavolo was more or less required to seek a job since his income was becoming almost non existent. Yes he was the mafia boss, but not even someone in his position could escape the broke lifestyle™️.

- But as we all know, Diavolo is f e r a l and hates human interaction so he always has Doppio work for him. Poor Doppio is basically overworked at this point meanwhile Diavolo just chills in the void, waiting for the poor man to hand him his paycheck. He’s hella selfish too and never actually lets Doppio buy anything, instead choosing to get whatever his ass wants every single fucking time.

- So we can all agree that Doppio was relieved (to say the least) when Giorno & co finally found out where Diavolo was currently employed and jumped his ass in the back of mcd at 4 am. The gang gave him the beating of his life and told him that he too should work and that he should stop overworking poor little Doppio. The next morning Bruno’s gang pulled up to check if Diavolo kept his promise and oh what a sight to behold he was, wearing the mcd uniform while bitterly asking customers if they wanted anything else. Just to make his job even harder, Giorno ordered big ass meals for the entirety of the gang and it took Diavolo quite some time to prepare all of them. He will have his revenge. But first he gotta get that c o i n even if it means humiliating himself in front of his enemies.

#fattest F for our evil mfs right here they will repent for their sins #jojo's bizarre adventure #jojo no kimyou na bouken #dio brando #kars #kira yoshikage #vinegar doppio #diavolo #jojo headcanons #headcanons #anon #feral tag

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talesofsonicasura · 4 years

Text

Diamonds and Voodoo

You Do Voodoo

A mysterious visitor comes to Morioh. Paths diverge and intertwine with the various townfolks of this crazy, noisy bizarre town. And it all started with a good deed touched by a bit of magic.

Good deeds tend to create ripples throughout what we know as life. Sometimes an act of kindness can lead to great rewards. At rare times the road to hell is often paid with good intentions. Nevertheless, this type of charity has a habit of changing the future of one or many individuals. For sometimes, a grand adventure begins with that very act of kindness.

"Look out!" Morioh, a small town amongst the middle of nowhere quite unlike many cities found in Japan. A type of place that tends to be quiet but also hosts some oddities within its dwellings. Unlike many small towns, Morioh would become ground zero for a strand of very bizarre events and each with their own level of danger.

A car was parked awkwardly sideways between the road and crosswalk. Upon closer inspection, this was a crash as the front end was inward from the telephone pole currently wedged inside the bright red metal. To the side was an abandoned bicycle alongside a police officer and what many from this town could call a foreigner. The officer holded the visitor close to his chest almost awkwardly, the telltale of being grabbed.

The officer was an older and surprisingly buff male, darkened grey hair hidden under his cap, eyes that had a natural glint of kindness despite the concern now shining for the person in their arms. A would-be victim of the car accident was a young woman around her late teens, between 16 or 17 from the bits of remaining baby fat still left on her face.

Her skin was slightly tanned in a more climate related basis, such as sun exposure than natural skin tone, hair a short messy lime green hidden under the top jaw of a dinosaur-esque skull, a 5'8 body that was slim, lean and had moderate bust along with curves, but it was her eyes and her arms that drew the most attention.

The young woman's arms were decorated in wavy almost vine patterned tribal markings with a four toes pad on each shoulder and her eyes had a unique case of heterochromia with the right being a normal orange but the entire left eye was blue except for a single white pupil. Her outfit consisted of dark blue fingerless gloves, red sneakers, light brown cargo shorts, a black bra and opened orange vest outlined in red.

"You okay there missy? That car almost hit you if I didn't pull you away in time." The officer questioned, his voice soft and kind in a sort of grandfatherly way. She merely looked up at him with a large impish smile. Not even scared or off-put that a speeding car almost made the teen paste on the street.

"I'm good mister! Just glad no one else got hurt either. Car accidents aren't something normal folks can handle and I rather get hurt than somebody else! I'm more than capable of taking some nasty hits!" The woman's peppy, slightly loud and light chuckle paired with the slightly morbid words had thrown the officer for a loop before he strangely found himself chuckling too.

"Hahaha. Well aren't you an odd but thoughtful young lady? I wish some of my friends on the force had that kind of energy. Everyone's been down as of late and honestly needs a pep talk or two." The greenette looked at his badge for a moment as if scanning for his name. Something that was quick to find apparently as it read 'Ryohei Higashitaka'.

With that in hand, she then reached into the pocket of her cargo while silently whispering his name. The officer or Ryohei honestly looked a bit surprised when the youth produced a peculiar item. It was a small brown wooden charm carved into a smiling mask. The mask was painted with red lips, yellow with green outlined eyes, large reddish eyebrows and four small feathers ranging from yellow, orange, purple and red.

"Please take this mister as a sign of gratitude. It's a good luck charm carved into the likeness of Aku-Aku, a spirit of protection. This charm shall ward off a great disaster in your future." The older man took the odd charm with a soft smile and looked it over. He softly chuckles before patting her head.

"Why thank you! It's pretty adorable and well crafted! I'll make sure to keep it close. Good luck is something a lot of people nowadays…" His eyes widened a bit upon realization. "Whoops! Careless me! I forgot to ask for a name. I am Ryohei Higashitaka, an officer of the Morioh Police Department. What's your name missy? I need it to file a report for ya and if you want to press charges." She merely gave an impish smile with a bit of her tongue sticking out.

"It's Taki-Taki, Taki-Taki Bandicoot."

Budo-ga Oka Middle and High School, one of the few schools within Morioh. A joint school where grades between 6 and 11th are together instead of being separate. It was also a place that had a quite an amount of delinquents which make up some of the school's student body.

Walking towards this destination from the local town square was a mountain of a man in very odd clothing. Hair was jet black and well groomed, eyes a bright ocean blue, body sculpted like a Greek God from every single inch out of 6'5 and a natural scowlish look on his face. Nearly all his clothes, from his coat, pants, shoes and torn back hat with golden pins stylized to spell Jo were white except for the man's shirt which was pitch black.

The man was currently looking over a paper, a report or letter from highly detailed it was in both text and a few select photos. His brows wrinkled in aggravation before muttering a soft 'Yare Yare Daze' under his breath. "Godamnit old man. You're too old to be causing this type of bullshit." He hissed, rough, husky and slightly aggravated tone to his voice making a few people steer clear of his vicinity.

Well… not just that. Unknown to the raven in question, there was something odd looking over his shoulder. This peculiarity was a mask of sorts. It looked vaguely human but the light blue material used to craft it was spectral from how it softly glow like wisps in the night sky.

An Aztec type crown at the top with four flat points as if it was a piece from a gear, large carved ears with faint spiral at the center, pure white eyes and mouth outlined in mauve, and the same mauve color to imitate flat eyebrows. Bystanders seeing the mask either quickened their step or blamed this bizarre sight as 'too much coffee' or 'no more liquor in the morning.'

"Huh. Guess an old man in his late 60s can get laid. Oh, so that's where the gardens are!" The young man nearly bit his tongue in shock from both the raspy, light and almost nerdy sounding male voice but also the fact it came from a floating tiki mask that took a closer look at his document.

He couldn't get a word out of his mouth as the mask flew off with surprising speed. "A Stand?! That means there's a Stand User nearby! You ain't getting away from me!" A bright golden aura began to burn around the adult upon giving chase to the airborne oddity. On the sidewalk, the man's shadow grew with the addition of a more peculiar one.

A few minutes passed when the chase was called off upon the mask being too far in the air to pursue, the extra shadow vanished as the adult male let a growl in annoyance. He lowers his hat with a curse. "Damn it. If that thing's responsible for the recent incidents going on in this town…" The man then went to a payphone before dialing in a number.

"This is Jotaro Kujo. Tell the heads of the Speedwagon Foundation that there is confirmed Stand activity in Morioh. Look into the database about a Stand in shape of a glowing blue mask and the possibility if it's connected to Dio." The phone was slammed down as the white coat of the man fluttered while he left.

"Poke!" A finger poking the little snout of a box turtle that had swam up from the water of the makeshift pond seated by a small bus stop. Sitting on the curb of the pond beside was the odd Taki-Taki, currently petting the small reptilian much to its pleasure. "You're a handsome turtle, aren't you? Much nicer than the big ones back home." She cooed while the turtle rubbed itself against her hand clearly in love with the kind contact.

A little whimper had the young woman look around in utter confusion. Soft heterochromia eyes soon met bright baby blue ones tinged with a bit of fear. That fear directed to the little reptile nipping at the greenette's fingers.

A 5'11 muscular young man with blue violet hair tended neatly into a large pompadour, a dark violet gakuran pinned with a yellow heart and gold peace on each side of his chest, sunshine yellow shirt that peeked through the gap of his uniform coat, and dark boots were the owner of these baby blue orbs.

"You okay? Look like you're about to pee yourself." Taki-Taki questioned upon the fidgeting male still looking at the turtle as if it tried to eat him. He immediately calmed down a bit now noticing he wasn't exactly alone, cheeks dusting a bright red. "I'm so sorry! Reptiles just give me the willies that's all, mostly turtles." His soft and slightly rough almost if still adjusting practically rattled with nervousness.

She merely chuckled whilst waving off any concern. "It's alright! Everyone is afraid of something so no harm done. Plus this little handsome fellow is much more kinder than the ones I've seen in Turtle Woods. Those turtles were mean and one tried to steal my hat!" Her spare hand pointed at the dinosaur skull on her head since the other was still petting the shelled reptile.

The pompadour wearing young man shivered upon the two words 'Turtle Woods' but was honestly thankful that she wasn't making fun of him for his phobia. Taki-Taki then stood up whilst petting the turtle's head one more time. "I better go! Promised to get some stuff with my friend Lani-Loli and we're supposed to meet up at the gardens! Chou!" And she was gone with a pep to her step.

"My name is Josuke Higashitaka… And she's gone. Maybe I'll see her again." The sound of male cursing grew as the purple pomp prince noticed a bunch of male students coming over to him. Delinquents from their rude, downlooking and glaring faces, something that only made him sigh. Days like these tend to suck.

The Higashitaka household, home to the Higashitaka family which consisted of the older police officer Ryohei, his daughter but also single mother Tomoko and Tomoko's son Josuke. A lively place from the unique personalities of the three living inside. Well, it wasn't like this right now.

Peculiar water slipping away from the house window almost like a cobra finished with their prey. A fact so true upon the still body of the family matriarch lying lifeless on the floor. Face carved in blood coated horror slowly changes to a pristine clean outlook through a soft golden aura. Almost if the man died in his slumber and not of gruesome supernatural murder.

The golden aura belonging to a bubblegum arm coated in crystalline diamond armor soon vanishes inside the body of Josuke. Behind Josuke was Jotaro, the man clad in white being a relative, his nephew shockingly taken into consideration that his grandfather was the pomp prince's father. Who knew?

And the older man could only look at the teen that was his uncle trying to coax his dead grandfather back to life with sympathetic pity. Aquamarine eyes that always seemed stuck in a perpetual glare now softened at the scene. The look of someone who had seen a death like this before. Or to be more precise, had experienced such a grizzly sight.

Jotaro knew that this wasn't the time for grief fueled hysterics. There were more pressing matters and dangers ready to drown them from the inside. "Josuke…" Any further words from the older man, alongside any actions from the teen immediately stopped upon one thing. Subtle movement originating from the chest of the officer's corpse before them.

A sickly sweet scent reminiscent of cherries filled the air along with the soft sizzle of something burning. Thin wisps of smoke coming from the body's chest pocket spurred Josuke to go into the clothing's pouch. Baby blue eyes widened seeing a small brown tiki charm in his hands but specifically the feathers that were turning to dust.

"A voodoo charm?" The purplette's attention immediately went back to the corpse of his grandfather. His still chest slowly began to rise and fall almost as if… "He's breathing." It was the only conclusion Jotaro came to upon the subtle movements. The charm in the teenager's hands fully became ash once his previously deceased grandfather sat up looking purely confused.

"Ooh my head… I don't remember my favorite booze having that strong of a kick. Josuke? What are you doing here since I thought you were going out? Who's this guy? And why are you crying?" Ryohei didn't expect to wake up to such a scene or his own grandson to hug him so hard thinking he was about to kick the bucket.

He was quick however to notice the scent of cherry in the air alongside a missing weight in his breast pocket. "Did someone light a scented candle and where did my good luck charm go? Was I mugged or something Josuke?" The elderly man's inquiry had the two younger men share the same look. They needed answers.

/"You want to know who gave me that charm? Well, it was a young girl around my grandson's age. She had green hair, heterochromia with her eyes being orange and blue, and had what looked like a dinosaur skull on her head. Said her name Taki-Taki Bandicoot and came into town looking for ingredients. The charm was based off of a guardian of protection... Aku-Aku I believe she said."/

Information that had both Jotaro and his younger uncle running through the streets of Morioh in a hurry. Ryohei had been put into protective custody with a short call from whoever the raven had pretty high connections to. Something that man would have refused if it wasn't for the fact his son was crying. Josuke only cried when things were at the absolute worst. This made it easier to search without the man being in danger once more.

"I never thought my life would have gotten this insane. First an escaped death row inmate capable of killing his victims from the inside with water and now a Stand User capable of bringing back the dead! Things weren't like this until you came to town!" The highschooler quipped as if to ignore the harsh ache going through his legs.

"Your life was bound to become bizarre the moment you awakened your Stand, no, the moment you were born with Joestar blood. A curse everyone in this damned bloodline has. So don't blame me for the shitshow." Jotaro fired back in absolute annoyance. Their destination was the place mentioned by the woman when Josuke encountered her, Morioh's Springroll Garden.

"Maybe she can remove it? She does know voodoo and it does involve a lot of curse thingies? Do you think Taki-Taki can get rid of my fear of turtles?" The teenager's question was merely met with an eye roll from Jotaro. He was going to shout back an insult until something caught his eyes.

A lone figure standing amongst a large collection of various flora and vegetation belonging to one of Morioh's famous landmarks. More accurately a lonehuman figure and a soft blue floating oddity by them that was very damn familiar to the male clad in white. "There she is and that's the Stand I saw earlier!"

Taki-Taki was currently plucking a few mushrooms from underneath the bushes that provided their moist dark home and placed them into a small straw basket. Springroll Garden was a place where people could pick their vast garden by purchasing a special ticket and take home an entire basket full of items.

"It's kind of cool that the town has such a garden like this. Especially when it guarantees a free basket of fresh goods for first time visitors too!" The luminescent mask said with a big smile while looking at a bush full of white roses. His green haired friend merely let out a chuckle in agreement before speaking. "Same here pal. Makes it a lot easier to find the things needed to work my magic."

A loud shout had the two look up to see some familiar faces running their way. "Wouldn't you know? Hey Pompadour Prince, fancy seeing you here!" Taki-Taki's nickname immediately had the boy stop in his tracks. Face burning in anger until the words finally hitting turned that anger into pure confusion. The sudden confusion didn't stop the mask from cowering behind the greenette.

"Pompadour Prince?" He questioned while pointing to himself, clearly confused. "You kidding? That's the best pompadour I've ever seen. Also, calling you king is going a bit too far since we've barely known each other and aren't in a relationship." Her words caused the male teen to blush a bit paired with a smitten look and cheesy smile.

Jotaro merely elbowed Josuke's shoulder as the highschooler remembered what they were supposed to be doing. "Taki-Taki Bandicoot, we need you to come with us. We already know about you being a Stand User since your Stand is hiding right behind you but also that charm you gave Ryohei Higashitaka before he was attacked."

The greenette merely had a confused look before it immediately narrowed into glare after the words Ryohei Higashitaka and attacked. Her emotions were clearly being felt through the odd mask as it came out of hiding to glare at them. "I knew something bad was bound to happen upon seeing that dark aura. Tell me what you've done to that kind officer before I rip ya putzes a new one!"

Josuke was thrown off guard by the sudden aggression consuming Taki-Taki's features. It was as if a cloak of pure madness just overshadowed that sunny aura of the greenette. The change didn't deter Jotaro who refused to back down at her threat. As if proving his point, a gold aura started to radiate from his body.

"You need to calm down now. We aren't your enemies but I won't hesitate to knock you out even if you're a girl." The man spoke as something appeared from his body like an apparition. It was a humanoid spirit of sorts that appeared to be an Aztec Warrior or barbarian with similar origins.

Just as big and buff as his summoner but a bit more, soft blue skin that outlined a coral inner pink, black hair that flowed like smoke but sparkle as if it was stardust, soft ocean blue eyes and a body armed with white pauldrons painted in gold spirals, black fingerless gold studded gloves, a white scarf around their neck, black knee high boots and a long white loincloth alongside a dark tasset.

Yet, the strange being seemed to only piss off Taki-Taki even further as she went into her pant's pocket to pull out a small crystal orb. "You're going to threaten me with a giant in his skivvies? Alright jackass, hope your ready to party. For this Ooda-Booga Boogie of mine is going to send ya to the hospital!" And she crushed the crystal orb in her hand.

Both men only had seconds until a large blackish pink fist had punched Jotaro's spirit in the face, the ghost and summoner were sent flying out of the garden before kissing the street concrete. Josuke could only blink before seeing the thing responsible for sending his nephew airborne. "Holy shit!" For what stood snarling in front of Taki-Taki was an absolute monster.

A heavily built 9'6 tall slightly deformed anthropomorphic porcupine with vibrant magenta skin overshadowed by a darkish gray hide. A long singular black horn tipped with hot pink, burning crimson eyes that glared down at the man in white, a magenta muzzle overlapped with an giant overbite of fangs, multiple pink tipped black spikes across their back, their right arm covered in black armor in the form of a riot shield, and crimson hakama trousers with a black paw print on the side.

The beast snarled angrily at Jotaro while a trail of drool came down from their razor sharp maw. It then let out a loud and deep inhuman roar almost if challenging anyone foolish enough to face the beast's wrath. Jotaro had gotten back onto his feet, spitting a bit of blood on the road before wiping the remainder from his mouth. Some of it stained bits of his hat a dark crimson. His spirit staring at the beast with an analysistic glare.

"That's one hell of a sucker punch you got there. Quite an ugly bastard of a friend you have, makes me question which one it is though. Is the beast your actual stand or a byproduct of its power?" The question only seemed to aggravate the greenette and the large creature she called upon.

"That 'ugly bastard' is my friend Quill and what is with this Stand garbage anyway?! What I want to know is did you attack Mr. Ryohei?! My charm doesn't just vanish without fulfilling its purpose even if stolen. Now answer me or I'll beat the truth out of you!" Taki-Taki declared with a snarl that held inhumanely sharp teeth.

Josuke didn't have to be a genius to know if he didn't stop these two right now then things were going to get a lot worse. His nephew's Stand went in for a punch while the greenette's large beast followed suit. Neither attack landing their blow as two diamond covered pink hands caught both fists.

The culprit was a giant pink skinned warrior whose body was covered in Corinthian style diamond armor. He was huge with the same type of muscle like Jotaro's spirit, eyes were a bright baby blue that shone through the darkness of the heart top helmet with concern, wires connecting the back of his neck to his back, heart shaped diamond pauldrons with spikes, armor that over lined the side of his arms, legs and back, and diamond plating rings around the fingers.

Unlike Jotaro's Stand or Taki-Taki's giant beast, this one exuded a gentle and kind aura akin to that of a guardian or protector. Something that made sense from the soft magenta aura radiating from Josuke. "Please stop fighting! I don't want to see my nephew or the person who saved my grandpa hurt each other for something stupid!" The pomp prince's words carried strong as they were sincere.

Something the greenette easily felt upon Quill taking a step back as if backing down from the fight since there was no longer any hostility. Jotaro's Stand disappeared soon after while he muttered a soft 'Yare Yare Daze' under his breath. "Holy shit… I thought things were going to get ugly there. I don't think this garden deserves to be wrecked by a Spike." The mask's quip not being lost on anyone.

Later at the Higashitaka House, cups of tea were placed on the table. Sitting at the table on mats were Josuke, Jotaro and the odd woman known as Taki-Taki Bandicoot. To their left side strangely enough was the greenette's mask and both men's spirits that were conversing with each other or goofing off upon the playing cards between them.

"I still don't believe that Stands are basically the spiritual energy of someone given form. You sure they aren't warrior ancestors? Jotaro's Star Platinum looks like an Aztec barbarian and Josuke, your Crazy Diamond reminds of those old Greek soldiers from his armor." She said while looking at the three oddities playing Go Fish.

A Scrabble holder was being used for the mask or Lani-Loli's cards since he didn't have any hands. He would ask either Star Platinum or Crazy Diamond to put any of his matching cards down and when he needed to 'fish' a card. "Pretty sure. Couldn't I ask the same thing about Lani-Loli over there? Floating masks that can talk aren't normal either." Josuke quipped while pointing to the mask in question.

"Hey! I'm right here you know and I'm way older than all of you combined! And I would have you know that I was human before becoming a Quantum Mask! If I still had hands I would smack all three of you on the head!" The mask fired back in aggravation, some of the cards disappearing in blue wisps of smoke... alongside Josuke's clothes.

"Eeek!" He panicked immediately covering his crotch, Jotaro hiding his embarrassment under his hat while Taki-Taki turned her head away with face hot red in embarrassment. "Great Tikimon! Lani-Loli! Phase his clothes back now!" The mask quickly undoing his magic in sheer embarrassment. Josuke's clothes and the cards popping back into reality with similar blue wispy smoke.

Poor teen let out a sigh of relief knowing he wasn't nude in front of a girl anymore. "Sorry! Sometimes I accidentally poof things out of existence when I'm stressed! And nothing says stress like an escaped convict who kills people with living water!" Jotaro rolled his eyes at the smartass remark. For an all mighty ancient mask, Lani-Loli was an anxious nerd that was a scare away from passing out.

The reason why they were holed up in Josuke's house was that all of them were targets of the Stand User Angelo and his Stand Aqua Necklace.

Angelo was a psychopath with a taste of madness and penchant for violence. The man was arrested repeatedly for brutal acts like murder and even sexual assault before he was landed on Death row. Sadly his execution didn't work properly, allowing the maniac to escape the morgue and reach Morioh. He attacked Ryohei as the cop was the reason Angelo got arrested.

Due to the nature of his Stand, none of them could use water that came from anywhere but a bottle in fear of accidentally swallowing the dangerous entity. "And when do you think it's safe for us to go home? Unlike you guys, my dad will go nuts if I ain't back soon. None of us want to deal with an angry father much less my pops, Crash Bandicoot." Taki-Taki wasn't blind to the nervous look on the pompadour prince's face while he took a sip of his tea.

"Until that Stand User is caught." Jotaro didn't foresee the spray of tea hitting his face from the greenette's spit-take. The grown man was growling in his seat while the young woman tried to settle down her coughs. "You nuts?! That is the stupidest thing I ever heard and this is stemming from the fact my partner does insanely stupid stuff on a daily basis!"

Lani-Loli had flown over to the table so fast that the card pile dispersed from the sudden gust, much to both Stand's displeasure. "You said this guy's Stand is pure water right? What do we do when we run out of water? Wait, here's a better one! What happens if it rained? Shelter becomes a deathtrap in two seconds!" Both men's eyes widened upon the mask's words.

After settling down her coughing fit, Taki-Taki let out a soft whisper. "I think this is what that putz wants. Turn ourselves into sitting ducks and swoops in for the kill until it's too late. And it's going to rain in three days." Silence filled the room upon that very knowledge. The convict was planning to turn their stakeout into a trap.

Josuke could only sigh at the difficult hand. Sure, they now know the guy's plan but if they ignore it then finding Angelo would be even harder. It also meant that the psycho will find out Ryohei is still alive and won't hesitate to attack him again. "Then let's turn the tables back. Turn the hunter into the hunted." All eyes were on Taki-Taki in seconds.

She had a goofy smile on her face with her tongue sticking out in an impish manner. There was also the fact that another crystal orb was in her hands. An item that produced the monstrous Quill but unlike that one, this jewel was a shade of toxic green. Lani-Loli, upon seeing what his friend held, grew a mischievous grin of his own. The odd duo clearly had a plan that almost made Jotaro and Josuke feel an ounce of pity. Almost being the keyword.

Rain had finally fallen upon the house once three days had passed by. Taki-Taki had called her father about being home a few days late since some issues had cropped up. Neither Josuke or Jotaro heard the man's voice but what they gathered upon how the greenette talked, 'Crash' was kindly lenient. Although, both males would have to see him once she got back home.

They spent most of their time keeping themselves from getting bored. Board games, reading, or Taki-Taki crafting some… mysterious concoctions and trinkets with whatever she found in the Higashitaka household. Josuke could honestly admit that he didn't know there was a den of possums hiding in his walls but the witch doctor managed to get some possum fur and nail clippings after one landed on Jotaro.

The greenette at the moment was alone in the bathroom, various ingredients that surrounded a lone bucket. Each item was odd in their own right, rat tails, frog eyes, shiitake mushrooms, yew branches, spoiled milk and a bottle of water. Taki-Taki began pouring the ingredients into the vat starting with the rotten dairy.

She was chanting in an unknown language that eerily sounded like a mix of Arabic and Pig Latin. Bucket began to bubble from her words as the color shifted upon every ingredient dropped into the vat. Taki-Taki's water bottle was currently halfway empty through the process and the cap left abandoned to the side.

Unbeknownst to the woman, rain began to patter outside and something opaque began to build up by the window. It looked like water but it held a more bluish hue and moved too much like a living creature to be normal. Then a pair of sinister pink eyes and a grin full of sharp teeth slithered through.

"You sure this isn't a mango?" Josuke currently sat in the front room alongside Lani-Loli who floated over the teenager's shoulder. Standing on the table was a large orange fruit with a yellow bottom similar to a mango but two leaves that hung from a stem. The teenager currently poking at the fruit that had come from Taki-Taki's home.

"Nope! It's a Wumpa Fruit, a pretty common thing to find on the Wumpa Islands. They're much sweeter than mango and the juice is pretty tasty too. Especially when used for a Wumpa Smoothie, those are really good." Being curious upon the mask's words, the pompadour prince took a nicely sized bite of the fruit.

Tangy sweetness was the first thing that hit the highschooler's taste buds then a rich zesty flavor kicked in a matter of seconds. "Holy shit! This is actually pretty good. Yo Jotaro, you have to try this!" The raven poked his head out of the kitchen upon hearing his name. He let out an annoyed sigh before snatching the fruit out of the teen's hand.

"Did someone put salt in your oatmeal today?" Lani-Loli couldn't help but point out at the man's awfully sour mood added by the harsh bite he took out of the poor fruit or the vicious vice grip. "No. None of you are taking this situation seriously and last I checked didn't get an angry rodent trying to claw up your face." He hissed before taking another aggressive bite.

The sound of footsteps had gotten the two humans and mask turning their heads. Approaching them with an eerily quiet and dead stare was Taki-Taki. Her feet moving sluggishly to the point it was close to that of a sleepwalker… or if heavy weights were tied to the woman's legs.

"Taki?" Lani-Loli's voice thick with concern while he spoke his friend's nickname. Her response was to open her mouth slowly with evil pink eyes glaring back at them in the darkness. "Sorry but your little friend's life is now mine!" A vile, raspy and deep male voice coming out of the greenette's mouth, all to the horror of her friends.

"Aqua Necklace?! You bastard, get out of Taki-Taki now Angelo!" Josuke could only burn brighter in rage from the deranged laugh of the psychopathic water Stand. "And get rid of my only hostage?! Hell no! This bitch is the reason why Ryohei Higashitaka is still alive! She has the power to bring back the dead, a ticket to immortality!" The mask could only roll his eyes as if sensing a monologue.

"I've been watching you this whole time. I saw the giant beast she summoned and that mask phasing things through existence. With her as my slave, I'll be invincible! The world will be my toy box and every single person my toys that I can break for eternity! Once you're all dead, I'll break her until she's a mindless bitch who will follow my every…" The monologue was caught short upon her mouth snapping shut.

Yet, it wasn't the lips that closed the space but an eerie green substance reminiscent to goo. "The hell?!" Aqua Necklace tried to dive down the woman's throat only to run into another gooey green wall. Then he heard laughter. Pink eyes turned to see it was Lani-Loli who was responsible. He was cackling mischievously that tears looked ready to fly from how hard his laughter, much to the confusion of his friends.

"Haha! Hehehehe! You really thought it would be so easy! Taki and I faced way worse than your miserable hide. Oh, and that's not Taki-Taki you putz! Drop the charade Toxic!" Jotaro and Josuke immediately jumped back upon who they thought was Taki-Taki began to melt. All color draining away into a puddle of green slightly clear goo.

Crazy Diamond and Star Platinum were quickly summoned when that sludge started to rise up in the process of a transformation. The slime forming three toed misshapen legs, dripping fat arms with chubby fingers, a large yellow green belly that from its almost clear texture and Aqua Necklace being held inside looked more like a prison, and a roundish hippo like head paired with short pig ears, large deformed inhuman teeth and two alien yellow orbs looking back at it's observers.

The beast or Toxic's appearance could be compared to a 8 ft tall ogre or even an Oni, supernatural beings that tend to punish wicked humans. "Meet the Sludge, a creature made of magic infused ooze with a love for eating utter garbage, like your ugly face! I told Toxic here about your little plan involving my best friend."

Almost on cue, the large oozing beast let a loud snarl before smoke began filling in its tummy. "Aaaaaaah! What the hell is that smell?! It's getting hot in here! Don't tell me this is acid?!" The mask only had a vicious smile on his face that solidified the fact. "People like you make me sick. I've read your entire file and I bet it would even make Uka-Uka himself furious to see your deeds!" Aqua Necklace could only shiver in horror at the mask.

It was like Lani-Loli's nervous self had been overshadowed by pure animalistic rage that his eyes were narrowed slits and teeth were now large fangs held in a snarl. A deity ready to smite a sinner with divine punishment. Even Jotaro and Josuke were taken aback by the sudden shift.

"I may be a scaredy cat but I am still a protector. My name is Lani-Loli, the Quantum Mask of Phase! For ruining the lives of many, threatening my friends and having an unsavory plan for my contractor, I mark you Angelo and his Stand Aqua Necklace, guilty of your sins! And boy do I have a nice punishment for your wicked soul."

The mask then faced the two Joestar blooded men. "Josuke. Jotaro. Taki-Taki left earlier to find this cretin's owner hence my friend Toxic here taking her place. I know where she is and I'm going to need your help with something."

On a street a few blocks from Josuke's house sat a large boulder. This rock had laid on this spot for centuries after a stray storm left it stranded on the land that would become Morioh. Tied to this very stone was an unsavory dark haired man in a milkman uniform bound by chains and gagged with a black cloth. Bruises decorating his body no doubt from the slightly bloody fists of the witch doctor.

Taki-Taki turned her head and smiled upon the sight of her friends coming into view. Aqua Necklace was still trapped within the prison that was Toxic's stomach, who seemed mighty pleased at the abomination's struggle. "Damn, you did a number on the asshole." Josuke said much to the greenette's pleasure.

"I aim to please. Now then, Angelo, since you made a living of ruining people's lives I believe your punishment should be providing good luck." Taki-Taki then pulled from behind the rock was the bucket filled with her concoction. It was a bright bubbling pink and had a smell akin to rotten lavender. She didn't resist dumping the nasty vat all over the convict much to his displeasure.

The man was struggling in disgust before his movements slowed to a crawl as if his whole body was paralyzed except for his mouth and eyes. Taki then yanked the gag from Angelo's lips allowing the man to speak. "You...crazy bitch…! What have you done?" His raspy dry voice almost sounded like a dying cat from how quiet it was.

"A simple potion made to turn you into an eternal good luck charm for all the folks in Morioh! Bet you now wished that your original execution didn't fail. Josuke, this last part is all up to you. Today you will have to make a choice on how this man goes out." Taki-Taki's eyes narrowed as they glowed inhumanly under the dark cloudy sky.

"Ryohei Higashitaka was the one who put this man in jail and stopped his rampage. In vengeance, this scum tried to rob a righteous soul of his life. As Ryohei's grandson, will you fulfill his task and put an end to the man that escaped the grim reaper's blade? If not, then I will perform the deed with Lani-Loli. What do you say?"

The pompadour prince was a bit off guard by the witch doctor's words. Why would she ask him if he wanted to be the one that dealt Angelo's punishment? "Josuke?! Are you seriously going to let her kill me? Sure I tried to kill your grandfather but if you go along with this bitch's plan then you'll be a killer just like me!"

None of them were blind to the man's false pleas knowing it was a trick to let him go. A rat that will only wreak havoc if given a shred of mercy. Angelo's rants were caught off by a fist breaking both his hand and a chunk of the rock. The shocking thing was that the stone merged and encased itself around the appendage much to the psycho's horror.

"Aaah! My hand!! What are you doing?" Josuke merely ignored the man's painful cries. "You really think that we're going to let you go after all you've done. This town used to be a peaceful place before you came and played with people's lives! So for the rest of your days, you're going to pay back every family that you destroyed! Taki-Taki." The greenette smiled knowing what the young man wanted.

"Let's do this Lani-Loli! Armor up!" The cyan mask flew around Taki-Taki with trails of aqua wispy trails that followed from behind. The mask situated himself onto her back while the ghostly ribbons wrapped themselves around her body. Each wispy streak solidified to form a black jumpsuit of sorts which was highlighted by glowing aqua blue chunks of armor reminiscent of Lani-Loli's crown.

Taki-Taki's eyes were now completely glowing blue while velvet sky blue energy followed through the tattoos on her skin and turned her hair into luminous bluish mist. The sudden change to the witch doctor had the restrained Angelo sweating in terror and nearly pissing himself when Josuke's Crazy Diamond materialized.

"Dorarararararara!!!!" The armored spirit let out a battle cry as both him and the armored greenette let loose a barrage of vicious punches. Each strike was as destructive and fast as machine gun rounds, blowing off huge chunks of the stone and merging to the man trapped in the dead center. Neither of them stopping their assault until every piece of stone had been reassembled.

With one last brutal punch, the stone fragments had fully merged Angelo turning the once human male into a deformed boulder. This new shape of the large stone was a malformed face with wide eyes held in different angles, a large flat nose at the bottom similar to a maui and stress lines just like the person it used to be.

Aqua Necklace, who was still trapped in Toxic's belly, quickly melted away in seconds. No doubt the Stand could no longer survive without the life force of its user, thus following its master into hell. Jotaro could only grimace behind the guard of his cap.

[Morioh Landmark 1: Angelo's Rock. No one knows where this mysterious stone appeared from or why. Despite its unnerving appearance, this landmark is a hotspot for couples both old and new.]

'These three are bat shit crazy and have the strength to back it up. Luckily Josuke has a good head on shoulders but…' The raven's eyes drifted to Taki-Taki, her sludge summon and most importantly Lani-Loli still hanging onto her back. She was conversing with Josuke who took the time to look at her changed form and the living sludge Toxic in rapt curiosity.

'Taki-Taki isn't a Stand User but she's just as dangerous as one. Those beasts, Quill and Toxic, whatever they are no doubt has a connection to her origins. And then there's Lani-Loli. I don't exactly know what a Quantum Mask is but I have a feeling he isn't the only one. Just who are you?'

And that is it! This ended being super long since the story revolves around two whole episodes instead of one. It does take place in the beginning of Part 4 and I wanted to stick as close to canon involving them.

Yes, Taki-Taki can call upon Titans, the enemies normally found in the Crash of the Titan series. Unlike a large chunk of people, I actually like the Titan games. They were the first Crash games I played and 100%. I did play Crash The Huge Adventure for the gameboy advance but it got destroyed in the wash sadly before I got the last crystal.

Any version of Crash of the Titans is good but I suggest playing the DS version of Mind Over Mutant considering the console version is more of an annoying chore with tons of backtracking.

My favorite Titans are Spike and Rhinoroller. I especially love the boss version of Spike from the DS Mind Over Mutant but I haven't found the concept art of it yet.

Just like a witch doctor, Taki-Taki does craft all sorts of potions and charms. The Aku-Aku charm acts like a second chance. If someone who has the charm experiences death, the charm will revive them. Deaths done through murder are a bit different.

The charm will hold onto their soul until its safe to revive the holder. Any extensive damage is done and the soul is returned back to the body once repairs are complete. After use, the charm will disintegrate or dull out depending on how much damage was caused.

The Phase Armor given by Lani-Loli is much different for Taki-Taki when she uses it. Reason for it is that she's contracted to him thus the power and magic he provides is much stronger than someone who doesn't have a contract.

Even if Lani-Loli is quite a skittish character,that doesn't mean he won't get serious when needed. Angelo did a lot of horrible stuff that I bet even Uka-Uka wouldn't do. Uka-Uka may be evil but he has standards.

I wanted to try a different writing style for this considering Part 4 is more of a murder mystery. So I wanted to introduce particular areas, new landmarks and important information in a traversing to the next scene.

Until next time folks! Tell the world that your unbreakable!

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dongiovannaswife · 5 years

Text

Fate; Vampire!Giorno Giovanna x Fem!Reader. (Teal and Burgundy part 2).

part 1.

Side note (READ AFTER, SPOILERS): I am aware that most of Giorno’s character behavior is a bit out of hand here, but I wanted to write a darker version of him, aside from that, during the first part he restrained himself from drinking for a long time, it would be logical that he’s a bit out of his mind. Also, reader’s reaction is pretty much based off on logic, and fear. Remember that no one really goes through life expecting their partner to suddenly get sick, keep them away in order to protect them (knowing pretty well what’s happening) and then use them like orange juice.

I wanted to toy with physics theories (was inspired by Kira’s Bites The Dust) and fate, which is a recurrent theme in all JJBA but more noticeable in VA.

Destiny and fate are both different concepts, even if it seems like they are the same. In a way, I wanted to play with both concepts. Honestly, the first part left a lot of work undone (and honestly I’ve noticed the way my skills have improved) and this second part was hard to think and write, both because of GER and for the relationship between Giorno and reader, but then I went for something realistic. We all know that loving someone doesn’t mean losing yourself or hurting them and yourself; and if it happens, then it’s something to think of and work on. It was a bitter end, but sometimes it really be like that and we have to learn which things we shouldn’t do with our partner; Giorno did committed a mistake by hiding all from her, and the way in which he learned that is the most painful, but we all learn like this, don’t we?

Warnings: violence, blood (I mean look who we are talking about), self-harm (remember DIO? Yeah you’ll understand later), language.

Feedback is always appreciated.

“Ora!”

Furious fight.

“You will never arrive at the truth that’s going to happen. None who stands before me shall ever get there, regardless of their abilities.”

Fate engraved.

No one there is really sure how it happened, nor how it fast is was. There’s certainly a sense that something is wrong, there’s a piece missing, perhaps someone. Giorno is no longer there, and in the room there’s only Jotaro and Mista, trying to stand from the ground, both feeling dazed and confused —and then it clicks, the piece missing, that someone missing aside from Giorno Giovanna, is her.

Star Platinum lifts the sofa from his user, who stands as soon as he can, scanning the room. He seems calm, like that time back at Egypt, when Dio Brando made him act and think fast; the difference of power between those two was clear. And now, it felt like the story was happening again, despite his fear. The power difference between Giorno Giovanna and Dio Brando is also clear, it is possible that Giorno is even stronger than Dio, but Jotaro isn’t sure about this. He doesn’t want to pressure himself into making an assumption he may regret later.

“Guido. That’s your name, right? What happened?”

Mista knocks a chair to the floor, looking at it suspiciously; after this, there is only three chairs standing. “Yeah— it’s Giorno’s requiem. His abilities… I don’t know what he’s capable of, but he’s strong. You’ve heard about Diavolo, right?”

Jotaro nods, tilting his hat down with his finger. “Yare yare daze.”

The door tosses open and there stands Fugo Pannacotta, sweating and clearly nervous.

“Tell me he didn’t escaped.”

Mista looks down at the gun on his hands, verifying the magazine with a puzzled expression that Fugo interprets as seriousness, perhaps anger and worry. “Yeah” the gunslinger says, looking up at Purple Haze’s user. “And he took (Y/n) with him.”

Fugo’s eyes are the size of dinner plates as the words hit him. “What the hell are we doing here, then? We have to do something.”

When Jotaro Kujo stands between the two mafiosos, his hands are on his pockets and his expression holds the same resolve from Egypt and Morioh. “From now on, the Speedwagon foundation will make a secret alliance with Passione, Giorno Giovanna is now a fugitive.”

Fugo frowns, “He’s the boss of the most powerful gang in all Italy, he controls the country from the shadows, and you think being a fugitive will scare him? His contacts can hide him, or even help hide his steps.”

“I never mentioned the police or the government. This is all about us, stand users. It’s not the first time a group of stand users assemble to reach a common goal, and you all know it, given your occupations.”

“What are you trying to say? Are we going to kill Giorno?” asks Mista, number five preparing a bullet.

“If we have to, we will.”

•••

“It can’t be-“ says Koichi Hirose, mouth dry and eyes the size of dinner plates, “when I saw him eleven years ago he was… He was shining with the Joestar will.”

Tilting his hat down for the fifth time that day, Jotaro’s voice sounds deprived of something, perhaps hope. “He’s Dio’s son, what were you expecting? It was clear that he would become the same shit as his father.”

Josuke was trying to keep his mouth shut, that was noticeable for the painful way his jaw was clenched, but Jotaro’s words made him snap, and if his tone wasn’t messy and angry, constipated with his emotions, it was hard. “Isn’t he Jonathan Joestar’s son, too?”

Jotaro freezes.

Koichi’s voice sounds clear in the destroyed room, remains of an empty battle still there, perhaps it was a thought he said out loud, his emotions out of hand. “The Joestar will… Surpassed by the evil of a man long dead.”

•••

“No, no, no.”

Sitting fast with a hot thread of cold sweat running down her spine, (Y/n) can’t see with the darkness surrounding her, but the voice whispering so erratically and desperate is familiar, and the tone used worries and scares her. Darkness has been linked to terror often by humans, since it represents the fear of the unknown. The fear of the dark is something common, but it can go from being just words to be a reality. A reality (Y/n) finds herself suddenly in after feeling a pair of fangs taking her blood; and to make it worst, the fangs belonged to her boyfriend, Giorno Giovanna.

A pang of sadness and anger clutches her chest. “I don’t know if I will be able to forgive him.” She thinks, trying to get her eyes to adapt, but with the lack of light, it almost seems impossible.

“Wryyy.” A whisper, ice cold and exorbitantly threatening resounds through the room and (Y/n) stops, her head spinning on each possible direction her neck can make. And for a moment, silence takes over. Until it happens again.

“W-wryyy.”

“Giorno?”

Silence.

“Giorno, I know it's you. Where are you?”

No answer. With desperation and fear, (Y/n) stands slowly, finding the wall behind her after taking a couple of steps and groping the wall looking for the light switch until a protuberance with circular edges comes in contact with her hand. Her thumb presses the switch and the light appears. A hiss escapes from the blond, who’s hunched in the floor, his nails sinking on his head. Trials of blood running down his fingers and between his palms, staining his face. His jaw opens every now and then to let a whisper escape, pained and guttural. Animalistic, but still trying to maintain humanity on it. Painful, scared. It’s everything he didn’t wanted to be, and the thing that’s happening nevertheless.

Before she can talk again, Giorno’s broken voice fills the silence, “That man said it. That man knew it.”

“W-who? Who knew what?”

“Pucci. That—“ he coughs, palm against his mouth, pupils blown and sweat running down his back.

Hurrying at his side, she doesn’t get too close before his hand makes a signal for her to stop.

“He said that if I don’t drink, I’ll become a demon.”

(Y/n) freezes, eyes the size of dinner plates, holding tears back.

“Giorno, please, don’t punish yourself like this.”

Giorno’s eyes look at hers, the teal of his orbs is there again, but right around the irises, there’s a halo of burgundy. She’s not sure if he’s becoming a demon, like that man said.

“How do you know that? Who’s that man?”

“He… He said he met my dad. He said that I had to drink soon.” Giorno stops for a moment, noticing he’s starting to stare at her pulse point, and looking at the floor, his voice sounds angry; not at her, but against himself.

“What if he’s trying to use you?”

“Could be,” he says, a little moment of lucidity. “He seemed really adamant about giving me suggestions. I suppose, then, that you’re right, cara. Always so smart.”

Sitting were he made her stop, (Y/n) asks again, nervously thinking about how to make him snap out of it. Despite his behavior now, it is clear that he’s not on his mind.

When he suddenly moves, she jumps back. The look of hurt flashing through his eyes accompanies Giorno’s confession. “You’re afraid of me. Trust me, bella, I don’t want to hurt you. I don’t want you to feel like this, never.”

“Trust you? You want me to trust you after all of this? When this started you didn’t tell me and instead, pulled me away. You treated me like a child. We could have found a better solution for this if you just haven’t pulled me aside.” (Y/n) doesn’t mean it, but her tone is not as strong as she would like it to be and instead, it’s weak. Despite the pang of anger still residing on her chest, the sadness of seeing him like this makes it worse.

They say that love hurts. And sometimes, even if people loved each other, there could still be mistakes that made it seem like love was never there. It takes more than just will to realize that love is supposed to go like that, in a certain way: it is supposed that love is about truth. Sometimes, none of that seemed true.

“I wanted to protect you. But I suppose I was trying to protect myself.”

(Y/n) nods, suddenly realizing that none of this, the reclaims and discussions, will solve anything.

“It wasn’t you the one who drank my blood.”

Giorno shakes his head, smiling sadly. The human color of his eyes is back. “It was me, bella. I was aware of what I was doing— and I know I hurt you; when I asked you out, two years ago, I told you I would protect you. If I can’t protect you from myself first and beforehand, then I don’t deserve you.”

“What are you tr—“Giorno’s gesture asks for silence, ocean eyes holding something she can’t tell. “I know you don’t trust me like you did before. Don’t get so close, please. Help me, (Y/n), help me so I cannot hurt you again.”

“Giorno, you can’t just ask that! You can’t tell me to go away again! There’s something more, it has to b—“

Giorno’s eyes are fixed intensely on her arm, watching with amazement. Realizing this, (Y/n) looks down at her arm, finally feeling the arrow crawling up her arm.

“The arrow choose you.” He says, and then it clicks. “Your will to help me, even after what I did to you is so strong the arrow choose you. Pierce your stand, (Y/n), and fate will be by your side— it’s what you wanted. Take it, cara.”

The Catalyst, (Y/n)’s stand, materializes besides her, gazing at Giorno for a moment and with shaking hands, (Y/n) takes the arrow.

Still, the look she gives to Giorno, who’s still hunched on the floor, hair out of style and tired eyes, makes the don realize how much will he lost once all of this is over.

“I love you, Giogio.”

The sting of the arrow is the last thing she feels and the light emanating from The Catalyst is the last thing both of them see before the endgame.

•••

Awakening suddenly with Mista’s worried eyes on her, (Y/n) doesn’t know why or how, but she’s aware that fate is by her side, gifting her with another opportunity to rewrite the bitter end from another reality.

Rewriting fate. Doubting destiny.

There are plenty ways you can stop a man. However, it’s not sure if the one at three meters in front of her is one, it isn’t sure either if he’s trying to get through her, or if he’s aware of the act of her stand, but it’s sure that he’s not the Giorno she loves.

There are plenty ways you can stop a man. And if he’s a man or a vampire, the only way to stop him is with the power of the arrow and its judgment.

Gold Experience Requiem doesn’t act: in fact, it doesn’t exist anymore, Star Platinum doesn’t attack; both of their users are looking at her as the arrow shows itself on The Catalyst’s chest.

“What did you do, (Y/n)? we are in the same situation from befo—“

“Indeed, you are experiencing the rewrite of a succession of events in your universe. Your memories will be removed if my user desires so.” The Catalyst’s voice sounds so much like her, modified with a pitch of reverb.

Mista’s mouth opens and his eyes shift nervously from her face to Giorno, the gunslinger points at the don, and when Jotaro looks at him, Giorno is kneeling, a hand on his chest and the other on his forehead, forcing his nails to tear the skin open and draw out blood, (Y/n)’s heart sinks on her chest and with a gesture, Mista and Jotaro are dismissed.

“Giorno.” The Catalyst Requiem disappears, and as it vanishes, the arrow hits the floor, making Giorno freeze, startled with his senses now enhanced; the sound, that by human ears should be minimal, is now higher for the now vampire.

“Please,” he chokes out, voice raspy and needy, “don’t let me hurt you again, let me die. Let me die and everything will be alright.”

With tears pricking at the corners of her eyes, (Y/n) shakes her head no, picking the remaining of a wine bottle and once making sure it’s sharp enough by tasting it in a curtain, she looks for the glass he was using. Giorno’s eyes never leave her form. Even if he’s still dazed, pained and oh so deeply mad and sad, he’s still capable of noticing the way she’s fighting for both of them. And it feels like not only did she ask for an opportunity to rewrite everything, but to show him his value. A value he’s not capable of seeing, but she does.

There’s suddenly a glass in front of him; the metallic smell reaches his brain before his eyes can register what it is, and the desperation he was trying to contain starts again; the insistence on his brain makes him look at the ground.

“Please” she coos, desperate as well, but trying hard to sound welcoming. “Take it, accept this, Giogio. Don’t push me away, let me help you. Trust me.”

Looking up, Giorno’s eyes are divided between teal and burgundy. Eyes are often presumed to be the windows of the soul, and if they really are, then his soul is still trying to fight against the nature inherited from Dio Brando and the human side from Jonathan Joestar; he’s not aware of it, but in her eyes, he’s not what Dio Brando or Jonathan Joestar were. Giorno Giovanna is his own person; and perhaps he knows this, but with the current state his mind is in, his thoughts can be screaming a million things.

Helping the glass to his lips, Giorno’s eyes start turning red once the salty taste of the blood reaches his lips.

And then it’s gone.

Gulping the lasts drops of blood down, Giorno stops shaking and the teal color of his eyes comes back. His mind stops screaming, but he’s shaking. (Y/n) kneels, circling his shoulders with one arm while the other remains at her side, the cloth she used helping to stop the bleeding. Giorno can still smell the blood, but his senses seem to come back to a normality he doesn’t know he can call that, but the only normality in the whole situation is the way she presses her head against his neck. Holding her against his chest, Giorno finally let’s himself relax; a waterfall of tears starts running down his face, realizing that he didn’t lose her, but aware that the trust in their relationship needs to be worked on.

“I’m sorry.” He whispers, broken.

“I’m sorry, too. We hurt each other, and while we accept it and work on it, we’ll be okay.”

Giorno hums.

#vampire!giorno #Giorno Giovanna #giorno giovanna x reader #fem s/o #fem reader #spooktober #JJBA Vento Aureo #JoJo's Bizarre Adventure #Jojo no Kimyou na Bouken #Teal and Burgundy #jjba x reader #guido mista #panacotta fugo #Jotaro Kujo #sfw

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crappy-capybara · 4 years

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Jojo’s Barkzarre Adventure: A Day in life of Kira Yoshikage

(I just finished rewatching DIU and I’m def kinkshaming this handy man.

Ps. I ran out of idea, ask me anything about this au pls i beg you)

<Index>

Kira is a cat who lives a quiet life. He is 33 months old. He lives with his human (along with their other pets, how annoying) in the northeast of Morioh. He is in bed by 11 PM, claiming his place next to his human’s hand every night without fail after drinking a warm glass of milk and doing twenty minutes of stretch, which he convinces his human to do it with him so they can get eight hours of sleep and wake up without fatigue or stress, maintaining the beauty of their hands at all cost.

Kira purrs as his human’s soft hand rubs between his ears. This morning is another quiet morning, they’re sitting in the front porch, somehow avoided getting lumped into the rest of the other filthy animals, while his human has breakfast. (Kira makes sure they eat everything on their plate, so they will have enough nutrient to keep their hands soft and pretty.)

Kira likes his human’s hand, while they might not be the most beautiful hands he’d ever seen, the human takes great care of them. They have rough pads from working, but it feels great rubbing against him, especially under his chin so he’s not complaining, much.

He hisses at the other cat who strayed a little too close to Kira’s human. The golden fluff hisses back. Kira’s human sighes as they pick the other cat up and places it next to Kira. He hisses at them in protest, but the soft hand massaging his back makes him melt into the warmth of the sunlight that shine upon the three. The Golden fluff, Dio, makes a noise that sounds somewhat like a snicker at Kira’s blissed out manner. Kira mentally rolls his eyes at the feral cat. He still remembers that time Dio scratched his human’s hands until its’ covered in bandages for days.

Many had taken revenge on Dio, Kira is one of them. No one hurt his human’s hands, and deprive him of its softness for days, without consequences.

Dio mellowed out after that, seeing that other animals still hold grudges over that matter, especially Jonathan and Jotaro, who keep extra close eyes on the cat. So, Dio wouldn’t be making any problem for a while.

Or Kira will ave to take it matter into his own hands (paws).

Soon after, his human has to get ready for the day, with Jotaro and his gang accompany them to work/school. With his human out and about, Kira prefers to lay on his purple cat bed, with a tiny purple cat plushy and a pink flower toy. But it never really goes the way he wishes it to be.

With Josuke and Okuyasu, the stupid pups, running around and bothering him all day. So, Kira slipped out of the house, opting to go and lays down somewhere quieter, which happened to be in a nearby park.

Many Workers on break have their lunch here, he perks up as he catches a scent of something familiar from the wind.

It’s the scent of his human’s hand cream, who sits on the grass with a few of their friends, having a small picnic. He approaches them carefully. His human spot him anyways and calls for him, so he jumps onto their lap and use his head to pushes at their hands, prompting them to start scratching behind his ears.

His human’s friends squeal when they see him, and start petting him immediately. They hands are not as nice as his humans’, but he just sits through it. The picnic come to an end faster than he expects, but he’s content with the petting he’s got so he just decides to wak around Morioh town instead of going home (And face all the destructive pets of yours.).

It’s around noon when he came across another of his house mate, little Corgi by the name Giorno, at the department store. The pup seems to be dep in thought. Kira and Giorno, while not the best of friends, get along quite well, or at least is at each other throats at all time. Kira walks up to him. With a small gesture, the man behind Giorno bends down and picks Kira up. Being placed on the counter, Kira sees the variety of jewelries laid before him. Gior glances at him questioningly, as if to ask which one would suits Kira’s human (He refuses to acknowledge others claims on HIS human) best. They spend a few hours looking around until Kira picks out a ruby ring which will look magnificent on your hand. Giorno give the man a small nod, resulting in the manager almost fanatically put their purchase in an expensive looking box. Giorno them make his manservant carries him and Kira to another store, which they pick up a nice hand cream and a few lotions for their human. (Okay MAYBE he’s let Giorno habe kira’s human, as long as their hands is Kira’s alone)

(In the distance, you feel like one of your pets is up to something again. But you decide not to question anything, lest loose your last remaining sanity.)

(On other note, Giorno somehow manage to schedule you a spa day, with (at Kira’s insistence) manicure and special hands spa on the next weekend.)

Kira heads home soon after, with Giorno stating that he has a few more business to take care of before he go back himself. His human is finally homme at 8 PM. They just sigh at the gift box Giorno’s man delivered on their dining table. Kira nudges the hand cream toward them, making them chuckles slightly as they apply a dollop of cream on their hands and start massaging.

Jotaro and Joseph, who acts as the human’s guard for today look at him questioningly, but Kira just shrugs it off.

As long as he is with his human, he guesses being in this disastrous household isn’t all that bad.

#JoJo's Bizarre Adventure #Jojo no Kimyou na Bouken #Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure #JJBA #jjnknb #yoshikage kira #Giorno Giovanna #pet cafe au

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cheemerthelizard · 4 years

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Crusader of Life 2: Chapter 5

I just want to apologize for this chapter. I’ve been trying to edit it and make it better, but no matter what I try, it’s just so choppy, and I can’t find a way to make it flow well. I hope some of you still enjoy it, anyway.

As Kakyoin, Lily, and Emily walked along the road, looking for a place to eat, they saw a nice-looking restaurant; Tonio’s Italian Food.

“This looks good,” Lily said. “And I’m feeling pretty hungry for Italian food.”

The three walked in, and were greeted by a man in a chef’s hat.

“Welcome, welcome!” he chirped. “My name is Tonio, and I will be serving you.”

“Hello, Tonio,” Kakyoin replied. “I’m Noriaki Kakyoin, and this is Lily and Emily.”

The two waved their hands.

“Why don’t you nice folk take a seat?” Tonio asked. He sat the family down at a table and scooted the chairs in.

“So, what’s available on the menu?” Lily questioned.

“There is no menu,” Tonio replied. “I give you food based on your hands.”

“Our hands?” Kakyoin looked at Tonio, wondering if he was fit to be a chef or not.

“Yes. I read your hands and decide what to give you based on that.”

“This sounds fishy,” Kakyoin whispered to Lily.

“Well, we already gave him our money, so what else can we do?”

Kakyoin sighed. “Fine.” He held out his hands for Tonio to check.

“Hmm,” Tonio murmured while holding Kakyoin’s hands up for inspection. “I see. So, it seems that you’re very fatigued, probably from being a father, and your lungs have a little bit of dried blood stuck inside them.”

“What? How did you know all this?” Kakyoin asked.

“I told you,” Tonio answered, “it’s all in the hands. Although, may I ask why you have dried blood in your lungs? If you know the answer, that is.”

“I do,” Kakyoin said. “But I think it’s best not to tell you.”

“I see,” Tonio nodded. “And now, Lily, wasn’t it?”

Lily held her hands out.

“Ah, I see the same fatigue as Kakyoin, but I also see dehydration and dry skin is a huge problem.”

“Yes,” Lily admitted. “I’m not the best at drinking water throughout the day.”

“And what about the little bambina?”

“Emily? She’s just two.”

“And even children have health conditions sometimes. Please, just let me see her.”

Lily reluctantly let her daughter hold out her hands.

“Well, it’s true. There are no underlying problems concerning her physical or mental health,” Tonio said. “For now.”

“What do you mean, ‘for now’?” Kakyoin eyed him suspiciously.

“I mean, anything can happen,” Tonio explained. “She could get sick, bonk her head the wrong way, eat some expired food and throw up, anything.”

“Well, that’s true,” Lily sighed. “We thought you meant something was inevitably going to be wrong with her.”

“Oh, no, not at all!” Tonio laughed. “She’s a perfectly healthy child. You two should be proud. Now then, I’ll be right back with your drinks.”

Once Tonio was out of sight, Lily turned to Kakyoin. “So, about that dried blood in your lungs?”

“Well,” Kakyoin rubbed the back of his neck, “look, it’s not your fault, but I did have some blood that had dripped into my lungs from the hole Dio punched in my stomach, and although most of it got out, there was still some leftover. I still kind of taste it every time I cough.”

“And I’m back!” Tonio said, startling them both. “Here is some water for Kakyoin, a nice coffee for Lily, and a chocolate milk for Emily.”

“Thank you,” Emily piped as she started drinking the milk.

“Wow, this water is the best thing I’ve had in a while,” Kakyoin said after gulping it down.

“And this coffee is really good, too,” Lily added. “Although, it’s a little hot, and I feel like I’m sweating.”

“You are,” Kakyoin told her. “You’re sweating a lot. In fact, you’re drenched in sweat!”

Lily looked down, and saw all of her sweat glands pouring out liquid onto the floor. “What’s going on?”

“You’re shriveling up!” Kakyoin exclaimed. “You're turning into a raisin!”

It was true. Lily looked like she had been stuck in the desert for days with no water. Kakyoin ran up to Tonio and grabbed his shirt.

“What are you trying to do to her?” he yelled. “Are you trying to kill her?”

“Heavens, no!” Tonio held up his hands in defense. “This is just the healing process! Take a look at her now.”

Kakyoin turned his head, and saw that Lily was now completely fine. In fact, her skin had a nice, healthy glow to it now, and her face was no longer dry and scaly if you looked at it close enough.

“My apologies, sir!” Kakyoin let Tonio go and dusted off his shirt.

“No, no,” Tonio reassured him. “That’s a normal reaction to someone becoming a raisin, I think. Especially if it’s being done to her by someone.”

“My skin feels great!” Lily beamed. “It feels like I’ve taken a dip in the fountain of youth!”

“That’s great to hear!” Tonio laughed. “I always want my customers to feel their absolute best!”

As Tonio left to make the first dish, Lily looked at Kakyoin.

“He’s a Stand user.”

“Definitely.”

Emily looked at her parents. “Stand user?” she said, a little too loud.

Lily hushed the little girl, telling her, “We don’t know if he’s a good guy or bad guy yet, so it’s best if we keep quiet about our Stands.”

“Okay,” Emily whispered.

“And I’m back with your main course meal!” Tonio burst through the doors with curry, spaghetti, and chicken nuggets. “Curry for Kakyoin, spaghetti for Lily, and nuggets for Emily.” He set down the trays and let the others eat.

“This spaghetti is really something,” Lily complimented. “It’s delicious!”

“And so is this curry,” Kakyoin put in. “But it’s super spicy.” He started coughing a little bit, then more, then even more. “It’s so spicy I can’t stop coughing!”

“Noriaki!” Lily exclaimed. “I can see blood flakes coming up!”

Sure enough, as Kakyoin coughed, little flakes of dried up blood came up each and every time. “What are you doing to me?”

“Just like Lily here, it’s all part of the process,” Tonio nodded. “You should stop hacking up old blood right about now.”

Right on cue, Kakyoin’s coughing spree came to a halt. He took a deep breath in, deep breath out. “I don’t taste blood anymore!” he cheered. “It’s a miracle!”

“Not a miracle,” Tonio corrected, “the work of a Stand.”

“Hah! I knew it!” Lily exclaimed. “I knew you were a Stand user!”

“Why didn’t you tell us sooner?” Kakyoin asked. “And how did you know?”

Tonio shrugged. “Couldn’t really bring it up without it being weird. ‘Oh, hey, I have the same ability as you, just so you know.’”

“True,” Kakyoin nodded.

“And how I knew, well, I’m sure you know the answer to that.”

“Our hands,” Lily said.

“Correct!” Tonio replied. “Now, I’ll go get dessert ready for you three!”

After the dessert was done, and the bill paid, the three got their stuff and left the restaurant. “Thank you, Tonio!” Lily called.

“And thank you for letting me serve you!” Tonio called back. “Have a nice day!”

Once the family had closed the door, Tonio went to his kitchen again, put his head down on a counter, and sighed. “I should have told them,” he muttered to himself. “I should have told them about what I saw with Emily. No, it would only have brought worry. But, don’t parents have the right to worry? Especially when it comes to sickness?

“Shouldn’t Lily and Kakyoin have the right to know that if their daughter’s Stand gets any stronger, it could kill her?”

***

“Man, that was some delicious stuff!” Okuyasu said as he and Josuke walked down the street. “I’m never eating anywhere else again!”

“Yeah, it was pretty good, wasn’t it?” Josuke laughed.

“Woah, Josuke!” Okuyasu suddenly dropped his volume down. “Look at that chick over there!”

Josuke turned his head, and saw the girl his friend was talking about. She was about the same age as the two boys, with a curvy crop top that covered just below the chest, and leggings that didn’t leave too much to the imagination. Her skin was flawless, and she used just enough makeup to bring out all of her face’s features.

“Josuke, do you think you can say hi to her for me?” Okuyasu begged. “I would, but I’m not good with girls.”

“Are you kidding?” Josuke hissed. “I couldn’t talk to her even if I tried.”

“No need,” the girl had walked up to them, completely unnoticed. “I just so happened to look over my shoulder and see two handsome boys staring me down, so I thought I’d come and talk to you.”

While Josuke was nervously introducing himself to the girl, who’s name was Reina, Okuyasu was wide-eyed, wondering how he got her to think he was handsome, and also thinking to himself, Finally! Someone who has good taste!

“I see your friend has taken an interest in me,” Reina giggled.

“Oh, Okuyasu?” Josuke nervously laughed, hoping she didn’t think any less of him. “He’s just a little dopey. Come on, have you had lunch yet? I know a good BBQ place down the block.”

“Hey, no fair!” Okuyasu shot at his friend. “I saw her first, meaning I should ask her out!”

“Like you could even hit it off with her!” Josuke argued. “I’m the one all the girls swoon over, not you!”

“Boys, boys!” Reina laughed. “No need to fight! I can brainwash both of you, you know.”

Before either of the two could process what she said, Reina snapped her fingers, and their eyes went from their normal color to a pastel pink. Their faces were completely wiped of any expression, and their bodies were now completely straight.

“Now that I have you under my control,” Reina’s lighthearted laugh became a dark, sinister one, “I want you to go kill Kakyoin, Lily, and Emily. And make it quick, I don’t have much patience.”

The two bowed their heads, and slowly walked off like zombies.

“Good,” Reina said to herself. “Once those three are gone, all that will be left is Jotaro.”

#oc #crusader of life #diamond is unbreakable #jojo's bizarre adventure #fanfiction #my fanfiction

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helpimhyperfixating · 3 years

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Captive Together - Mer!Jotaro x Mer!Reader P1

Okay, fair warning, this oneshot is LONG. Like, really really long. I divided it into 4 parts but still every chapter is a monster. I edited it best I could, but when it takes a whole day to do so, you can get tired and unattentive, lol. This whole thing got out of hand and it is weird, but I like it. With that out of the way, enjoy some Mer!Joot 😌

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

Word Count: 8531

Opening your eyes, you winced a little at the stinging jab of pain that shot through your abdomen. With sluggish movements, you drifted forward until you could feel your hand hit glass.

Right. You were in that human facility...

How did you end up in this mess again?

- - - -

“Quick! Go! Go!!” Your voice was urgent and a little panicked, scaring the two pups in front of you to do as you asked. They didn’t know who you were, where you came from, and if you were even able to be truly trusted, but the looming shadow closing in on your location and the terrifying rumble and roar of - what they thought was - a shark was enough to spur them into doing whatever you said.

You had just been swimming by, travelling from place to place looking for a place to live, maybe even a pod who’d accept you. And that was when you spotted the two pups, all by themselves and playing with the sand on the ocean floor, no adults in sight.

Seeing how big and mischievous their grins were, you quickly realised they had most likely snuck away from their pod; bringing back some memories from when you had done that yourself.

With a good-natured sigh, you started to swim over, deciding to take them back to their pod before something would happen.

“Hey, you two.” You clicked out as you approached them calmly, a warm smile on your face. Upon the sound of a voice, the two - they couldn’t have been older than 1,5 years - shot their heads up, eyes comically widening. “What’re you playing?” You asked as you bridged the remaining gap, letting yourself float down to sit on the seabed close to them about two meters away; giving them a little bit of space yet also sitting close enough, to show them you meant no harm.

“We’ve never seen this kind of sand before.” The pup with a pretty, dark blue tail and impressive hairdo spoke up a little meekly and your smile widened just a little bit more at the sweet answer, making both kids relax a bit.

“So you decided to come out here and play in it?”

“Mhm!” The other pup, with a darker grey tail and two markings running crossed down his face, hummed happily, his voice sounding gruff as if he had spent a week in the Red Sea, even at his young age.

“Soo, you didn’t sneakily sneak away from your pod and parents to go exploring the big blue and happened to stumble across this seabed with sand you hadn’t seen before, right?” You questioned cheekily, leaning your chin in your hand as you raised a teasing eyebrow.

Both their eyes widened a bit and you chuckled while the pup with the hairdo curled in a bit on himself. “Are we in trouble?”

“Not with me, no.” You smiled, making him come out of his shell a bit again. “With your parents however? I can’t say.” Now they were both making themselves small, guilty looks on their faces. “C’mon, I’m sure it will be fine.” You reassured them as you pushed yourself off the seabed, swimming over to the two pups until you were in right by them and placing a hand on either of their backs. “It’s best to get you back to your pod now though.”

“O-Okay.”

You hummed a little and pushed them gently to start swimming, one on either side of you. You looked between them both, seeing the anxious looks on their faces and decided to try and distract them a bit as you chaperoned them back. You happened to have noticed a pod took up residence in this area and these two smelled like they came from it, so you knew where to go. You also knew that pod was quite a ways away so you had to find a way to fill the time anyways.

“So, what are your names?”

“I-I’m Josuke, that’s Okuyasu.”

You hummed a little, giving them both another smile. “So, how long ago did you sneak out?”

“Uh, the sun was about there.” Josuke pointed up to where the sun had stood in the sky when they left, filtering through the surface of the water at an angle that told you they snuck out about an hour ago.

“Hm, well, maybe no one in your pod has noticed your absence yet and I can help you two sneak back in!” You started in a secretive voice, making both pups perk up. Okuyasu drifted a little closer to you and grabbed your hand, Josuke seeing and doing the same on your other side, nodding happily at you.

To be honest, you highly doubted no one had noticed their absence, but swimming with two anxious pups was something you would rather avoid. Not only because you feared your lack of experience would make you unable to handle it, but also because anxious pups meant slow pups, and matching their pace when they were anxiously swimming in dread for what was to come was about the most nail biting experience one could have.

“So, why did you swim out so far th-“ whatever you were going to ask was interrupted when your ears picked up on the distant sounds of a motorboat.

Your eyes widening in alarm, the two pups noticed the warning signals you automatically gave off and soon picked up on the noise as well, seeing as the boat was speeding closer very fast.

Now, humans were aware of the existence of Mer, but this was supposed to be a protected area. So if there were humans here, especially those with the loud motors? That could only mean bad news.

“Quick! Go! Go!!” You wrenched your hands from their grips before starting to push on their backs, trying to urge them to go.

Okuyasu let a feared whine escape from his throat while Josuke immediately employed the tactic he had been taught to use whenever in danger: call out.

“Shark! Shark!” He trilled out in a panic, the trills and clicks of his voice carrying a lot further through the water than at his normal pitch and volume, soon joined by Okuyasu in the same fashion as he remembered what he was supposed to do.

While you were glad they had their security systems in order, you knew how clever humans were, especially those who went against the rules set in place, and you feared that they might hear the two pups.

“Ssh, ssh, I’ll keep you safe from the shark! Let’s hide between those rocks, come on!!” You managed to grab both their little hands again and frantically dragged them along with you as you swam full speed towards the rocks that sat about forty meters away, both Josuke and Okuyasu too shocked by the sudden speed they were being pulled along with to keep shouting warnings in panic.

It was dangerous to get to the rocks. The boat was almost right above you by now and to get to safety, you had to swim with the pups underneath the belly of the thing. The water was crystal clear today and the chances of being seen were high.

Safety for the pups was your one and only priority though and so you gunned it.

With an incredible speed, you shot through the water, making full use of your tail as you dragged the poor kids with you, them trying their best to flap their tails and help swim - although it was mainly for decoration and show by now.

Forty meters,

Thirty five,

Thirty,

You were now swimming directly underneath the boat and you tilted your head, keeping a wary eye on the thing as you saw it suddenly stop and rock, presumably from movement from the humans on top.

Twenty five,

A shape on the boat, barely able to be made out through the distortion of the water, tipped you off to the incoming danger and you immediately pulled Josuke and Okuyasu in, pushing them forward with all your might right before a sharp and searing pain shot past your left side.

From the boat, someone had thrown a harpoon down, the speed and angle serving to graze your side, creating a nasty cut on your waist that ran from there, diagonally over part of your stomach before the thing embedded itself in the sea floor.

A sharp and searing pain came in waves but you refrained from calling out, only hissing through your teeth with a small grunt before you shook your head, ignoring it for now as you saw a rope was attached to the end of the sharp stick. It was slowly wrenched free from the sand and you wasted no time in shooting past it, scooping Okuyasu and Josuke up in your arms as you rushed past them, seeing as they were clinging onto each other in shock as they saw you being hit.

“You’re bleeding!”

“It’s okay!” You chirped back over the rush of water coming past as you tried to swim as fast as possible with the pain, leaving a trail of blood behind as you went.

Fifteen,

Ten,

Five,

“Okay, hide behind those rocks and stay there no matter what happens okay? Don’t come out until someone from your pod comes and gets you, do you understand?!” You shook them both a little, maybe not being the best course of action but you had to make your point clear.

“O-Okay!”

“Don’t make a sound either!” You called back over your shoulder as you started swimming away, secretly looking to see if they were well hidden and stayed put as you asked them to. You saw the both of them look at you with fear and anxiousness, peeking from behind the rocks, and sent them the last best reassuring smile you could muster before turning to look forward again and booking it. You were gonna save those pups if it cost you your damn life.

- - - -

Your fuzzy memory finally began to clear up a bit and you remembered how another boat came and chased the hunter’s one away. You had led the hunter’s boat away from the pups but got trapped in a cove, only for the new boat with science humans to come to your aid.

Upon seeing your injury, they got very concerned and offered to take you with them so they could treat you and help you.

Despite their honeyed words and friendly appearance though, there was one blaring warning signal. These humans that were claiming to trying to ‘help you’, smelled exactly like the ones from the boat that had injured you. Which meant these people had interacted; and not just in passing or a small falling out, no they spent a while with each other to have the scent rub off that heavily.

In other words, these were no friends to you.

Despite knowing this, you had agreed to their offer. Those pups were still nearby, what could you have done? Maybe if they took you along they’d be satisfied, and never realise there were more Mer nearby. And so you allowed them to take you.

“Good news! Today the bandages come off and we are planning to transport you to a bigger tank while you further recover!” One of the humans you had come to see a little more often in your past two days in this tiny tank approached, that easily recognisable false smile on his face. Whenever he approached like that, there was something else behind it. Yet, you pretended to not notice, perking up in happiness and sloshing around in your tank like an excited puppy despite the pain that brought.

“For me?” You asked. Your human English was a little rusty and sounded somewhat garbled, which was no surprise given how you had to use completely different parts of your vocal cords to speak it, but at least it was understandable.

“Yes!” He grinned before stepping even closer. “And! Inside there is a surprise! Around the same time as we found you, we found another Mer, stuck in a fishing net. They’re in the tank you will be transferred to today!” He sounded genuinely happy this time and you realised with a bit of horror he probably saw it all as a big experiment. Most likely wanting to see how two of the same species reacted upon meeting. “It’s that one over there!” He pointed behind himself to a large tank on the opposite end of the large room.

You had noticed this tank almost immediately when you first got to this facility. After all, why were you stuffed into a tiny tank that was more fitted to fit an octopus rather than the large tank that was available right there? But if it housed another Mer then that was logical. Probably a bigger Mer than you as well.

You had seen the scientists hover around it but you never saw any creature inside when you looked at it.

Would it be a male or female waiting for you in there? Given the man’s excitement however, you had a hunch. All you could say was you hoped they hadn’t been injured by the humans to bring in like you were.

- - - -

You spent the rest of the day just trying everything in your power to annoy the ever living fuck out of the scientists around.

You were in a small glass tank, barely big enough to let you stretch your tail out fully and with an open top, allowing you to communicate.

Sloshing around and making water spill over the tank was one of your favourite things to do, your goal to make the papers in the hands of the scientists wet or to make them slip and slam a few teeth out on the floor. If they glare at you, you just acted like it was completely involuntary, having pain in your injury, or the need to move being the cause of you sloshing and splashing so much.

Your next method of annoying scientists was: throwing the small ball they had given you directly to their heads. It was a small yellow thing, apparently filled with air so that it would float on the water. And just the perfect size to lob at someone’s head.

Of course, if they turned around angry, ball in hand, you’d act as if it was all a game. All a game your dumb and simple mind could come up with. And so the scientists just let it happen, picking up the ball and begrudgingly returning it to you every time so you wouldn’t start sadly whining like some puppy.

And that was exactly what your goal was; to convince them you were no smarter than a seal.

Of course, you had the ability of speech, but you intentionally kept your vocabulary in the low. Talking a bit like a pup, with missing or incorrectly pronounced words while the rest of your behaviour mirrored it.

You smiled a lot, indulging the scientists in questions about Mer life that you answered ‘as best you could’ while in reality you were stringing lie after lie after lie. You pretended to be their friend, just like they did to you. What comes around, gets around, after all.

Sometimes though, when you were talking to the humans, you felt as if there were eyes on you. And not the scientist eyes or the camera eyes, but angrier ones.

As the morning bled into noon, you noticed how warily the scientists were being around the big tank. It was open at the top same as yours and reached until about the human’s midriff, but the rest of the tank disappeared into the floor for it was probably a lot deeper than it seemed to you if there was another Mer in there that you’d never even seen before.

But, noticing how hesitant the humans were to stick their head over the glass and look down, you figured you’d test them a little.

No one was really paying attention to- or around you, so you picked up your little yellow ball - the only entertainment you had - and tested its weight a few times before chucking it so hard and so far that it soared over everyone’s heads and plopped right in the bigger tank.

As it landed, you cheered as if it had been your childish goal all along before expectantly looking at the humans. They were, after all, expected to bring it back to you.

Much to your internal delight, you watched how the humans looked back at you in horror and disbelief. It all but confirmed your suspicions that whoever was in there, was very much not happy. And different from you, they decided to go the aggressive route.

When none of the scientists made a move to retrieve your ball for you, you started to make a little whining noise in the back of your throat, making puppy eyes and starting to look all sad.

If the Mer in there indeed went the aggressive route, that meant that your plan was still in full swing. For, if they only exuded aggression, the scientists wouldn’t necessarily see many signs of higher intelligence. They would most likely chock it up to animal instinct instead of genuine anger. Which meant you could continue playing as dumb as you liked without them getting suspicious.

“It’s okay! I’ll, uh... go get it for you!” One of the scientists spoke up towards you and you perked up a little, gripping the edge of your tank and pushing up a bit to mock excitement.

Curiously, you watched as he went to grab a long net on a stick. Was it not within arms reach?

You watched as he walked back over to the tank and warily started inching the pole towards the ball. The entire thing shook with nervousness and you watched in awe as suddenly, out of nowhere, a large Mer shot up, slashing through the invading item and breaking it clean in half before disappearing below the floor again in a flash.

The scientist screamed in fear as the pole got cut clean through, the net falling down into the water before sinking, while one of the other humans went to comfort the scared one.

That was the best thing you had seen in all your time being here.

“What has been said about unauthorised interactment with the large tank?!” A large booming voice suddenly sounded from the door the humans constantly walked in and out of and you, together with all the scientists, turned your heads towards it.

“S-She threw her ball in there, I was just trying to get it back like protocol says!”

“She can go get it herself. We’re transferring her right now.”

All eyes turned to you with that and you shrunk a little, lowering yourself into the water until only your eyes shyly peeked out. Somehow you had a bad feeling about this.

- - - -

Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad! BAD!

You were dangling in mid air on a crane or contraption, some sort of harness put around you and painfully rubbing against your wound. Mers healed faster than humans but your wound was still very much present and open and painful. Did they completely forget you had that or something?? They were even supposed to take off the bandaging today and they didn’t! Although right now it was your only protection from excruciating pain.

Your tail barely had any support and was basically dangling in mid-air, held up only by the fact and grace of being attached to you and your attempt of using your abdominal muscles to keep it steady. Unfortunately for you, that was where your wound was as well, so WAHEY!

You were cursing up a storm as the crane moved you across the room, hovering over the floor as if you were flying. To the scientists, it just sounded like a bunch of panicked clicks and trills, but for you, you were using language so colourful, it would make anyone blush.

Water dripped from you like stalactites in a wet cave and the only satisfaction you had in this moment was that it would make the floor a little slippery for the scientists, hopefully with at least one falling on their face. After what seemed like an excruciatingly long time but was only a few minutes, you were dangling over the larger tank.

Your knuckles were white as you gripped onto the harness holding you up. You looked down and noticed how big it actually was. As you tried to gauge the depth from above the water however, the support holding you up clicked loose and you fell down into the tank, harness and all.

Thankfully, you managed to angle yourself to dive in at least a little gracefully instead of just belly flop in - which would be very bad from that height and with your injury.

As you fell into the water you had your arms protectively shielded over your head and your eyes screwed shut, but now you hesitantly blinked them open, bringing your arms down as you sunk down a tiny bit more before stopping.

Looking to your right, you were surprised to see several scientists looking through the glass. Apparently there was a room a floor lower which gave them perfect view of the big tank and the happenings inside it. They all had clipboards and notes and whatever, ready to record and write down everything that was about to happen.

That was the last thought you could really give it, for you suddenly saw something large and fast move from the bottom of the tank, all the way up to you.

Curling in on yourself on instinct, you looked up only to be met by one of the biggest and most intimidating Mer you had ever seen. His torso was in proportion to you but his tail was absolutely massive, almost twice the size of yours. It was strong and powerful looking, sleek black and probably about four or four and a half meters in length while his torso himself was impressive as well, muscle and raw power screaming from every inch of him.

How in the fuck were those scientists ever able to capture him?

His face was set in a glare and you instantly averted your eyes, displaying submissiveness as you turned your head and bowed it a little.

Now, you had wanted to display submissive behaviour from the beginning, just to keep your act up, no matter what kind of Mer was in here, but when you opened your mouth to try and talk and he growled in warning, you immediately slammed it shut. This shark Mer made it very easy.

After a few more seconds of him glowering at you, you opted for safety and abruptly turned around, swimming down as fast as you could to the bottom of this 20-meter deep tank and shooting into the massive skull that sat there. You had to struggle to fit through the eye, the harness still on you hooking against it and hindering you even more, but with some squeezing and manoeuvring, you managed to get inside.

Looking out of one of the eyes, you saw he hadn’t really moved but was still glaring at you before letting out a ‘Tch’ and casually turning to the side, languidly swimming away and down to the corner opposite of the one you were in.

There was a thick, white, concrete column in the middle of the tank, impeding your vision of him as he disappeared behind it.

Letting out the breath you were holding, you closed your eyes for a second before inhaling the water around you. It felt much cleaner and more crisp than the stuffy tank you had been forced to sit in, though the scent of the other Mer was very present as well.

Looking down at yourself, you hissed a little and cursed out the humans as you grabbed hold of the harness and lifted it as far away from the wound on your side and stomach as possible.

The skull you were in provided cover yes, but it was also half buried in sand and you barely had any room to move or even breathe, let alone try to get that damn harness off. Going out while the shark Mer was around and wary of you seemed like a bad idea however so you just stayed put, opting to wait until night before getting out and trying to get the damn thing off.

So, in the time you were waiting, you decided to try and figure out what the fuck kind of skull you were in. It was slanted and half buried in sand, elongated jaw with big round eye sockets. It sure as hell wasn’t any animal you knew of. You even started doubting if it was a real animal at all. When you touched it it definitely didn’t feel like bone at least.

Several hours passed like that and you finally peeked your head out the eyehole again.

The tank itself was not too bad. The bottom was filled with sand and rocks, water plants and seaweed and such sticking out and growing from it, making it look rather natural.

With some effort, you squeezed yourself out of the eyehole again, hissing as you scraped your wound before settling on the sand right in front of the skull and starting to wriggle and tug at the harness.

Why did the humans do it like this? Weren’t they supposed to take it off? Or were they so afraid of your new tank-mate that they just decided ‘fuck it, you’re on your own’?

Aggravated, you attempted to pull it over your head. Unsuccessful.

You tried to unclasp it. The clasps are at the back where you can’t reach. Unsuccessful.

You attempted to pull it apart. You are not strong enough. Unsuccessful.

By now you were running out of options and just violently tugging at the constricting thing. It sat over your gills on your neck, making it hard to breathe - though that didn’t stop you from spitting every curse in the book at the scientists who were undoubtedly still watching, even if the glass where they stood earlier was as dark as the night.

A flutter of the water suddenly reached your ears and you snapped your head up to see the shark Mer quickly swimming towards you, angry and with a murderous look in his eye.

Under optimal circumstances you would have hidden somewhere he couldn’t fit, like the skull. Unfortunately for you, you were wearing a harness and also wouldn’t be able to get inside fast enough.

With not many options left, you darted to the left, quickly swimming away. Taking a glance back, you gasped when you saw he was in hot pursuit. With his larger tail he was quickly gaining but you shot to the side, cutting the corner around the concrete pillar in the middle as much as possible.

Looking to the left briefly, you spotted a corner where the sand was more tailored than everywhere else, a large indent where a body had been resting.

That was all the time you got to look at it however, since you were already rounding the pillar again to show the skull you had been hiding in.

Right now, you cursed yourself for darting. There was no way you could outswim him. You should have just rushed into the skull back there or stayed still, hoping he wouldn’t tear you apart. Now, all you could do was try to get back in the skull.

That was a vain hope however, as he had already caught up with you.

Your blood froze as his right arm curled around your waist, ready to grab. Yet before he did, he hesitated. Instead, he allowed you to slip away a bit further before clamping his arm around your tail, tightly grabbing hold there as he forcefully stopped your momentum and yanked you back, grabbing your shoulders with both hands once in range.

In one smooth motion, he slammed you shoulders first into the concrete pillar before removing one hand and using the claws on it to rip straight through the harness still stuck on you.

“Stop disturbing the water with your thrashing and sleep!” He growled out, a threatening undertone in his voice while his face was so close to yours.

You were breathing fast and staring back with wide eyes but it seemed he wanted an answer before he backed off so you nodded.

Seemingly content with that, he rudely shoved you aside before lazily swimming away, flicking his hand to get rid of some excess fabric of the harness, his tail swishing side to side as he disappeared behind the pillar again to the corner he seemed to have taken up residence in, not looking back once.

You blinked a few times, looking at where he disappeared for some seconds before you swam up, swimming out of the harness with as little tail motion as possible.

Your breathing finally levelled and you turned back around, grabbing the remains of the harness and swimming over to the skull, draping the destroyed thing over a lip on the outside before squeezing into the eye.

- - - -

Waking from your slumber, you got to work digging.

You had a hunch this skull was going to be your home for the time being, so you decided to make a better way of entering and exiting. Digging through the sand laying in the mouth of the skull, you followed the elongated jaw and dug until you made a nice little opening that you wouldn’t have to squeeze through.

While you were digging, you noticed the other Mer swimming around. He avoided your little hovel but otherwise would not sit still. Making laps, checking the corners, running his hand along the wall of the tank as if testing it.

Everything pointed to him wanting to get out of here, just as much as you did.

For now, you decided to keep staying out of his way though.

Right as you exited your skull, you were met with the powerful and intimidating form of the merman. There goes your plan. “What’re you doing?” He snapped at you almost, his tone curt and to the point.

You were still half inside but decided to just stay there like that, looking up at him. “I’m making an easier and less painful entrance.” You explained, motioning to the blood stained bandage on your side. It was designed to be worn under water but even so you doubted it was doing much good.

“Well, be more quiet, you’re making too much noise.” He growled before turning around, nearly hitting you with his tail fin as he went.

You were about one second away from giving him a well earned tap on said tail fin, but managed to refrain yourself at the last second.

“Wait.” You called out after him and he surprisingly enough stopped, looking back at you over his shoulder while you got out of the skull fully. “What’s your name?”

“...”

He didn’t say anything for a second, just looking intently at you for a second, almost as if he was searching for something. Whatever he found he must have been satisfied with though.

“Jotaro.”

A smile appeared on your face at his answer and that piqued his interest. For, when he had been watching you in the small tank opposite the room, you had smiled so much whenever the scientists interacted with you, and it had annoyed him to the point of making his blood boil. But now? Up close? He could see this was the first genuine smile you had given since arriving in this facility, even if it was timid.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Y/N. Let’s get the fuck outta here soon, okay?”

Before anything else could be said, you heard your name being called from above. You had given it to the humans but that didn’t stop the pit of disgust when you heard it. Your face contorted for just a second before you steeled yourself and twisted it into the sweet innocent look the humans were used to.

Unknown to you, Jotaro warily watched you as you did that, sharp eyes following your form as you went to the skull and grabbed the harness laying on top before swimming up to the surface.

Shyly poking your head out of the water, you darted your eyes back and forth a bit before landing on the man standing right next to the edge of the tank who had called you.

“Good morning.” He smiled and you bobbed your head a bit in greeting. “Where is the harness?” He then asked and you let your hand drift to the surface, the broken harness in hand.

The man tutted a little but then stuck out his hand, taking it from you before moving it to his other hand and using the one in the water to motion you closer, pointing at the bandaging around your waist. “We didn’t have time to take a look at that yesterday. How about now, Hm?”

God how you wanted to bite his hand. Leave that damned harness on all night and then act like nothing happened? Claiming to just want to look at and take care of your wound again? It almost made you regret trying to trick them by acting dumb and nice.

Someone else didn’t have the gripe of trying to keep up the act of being friendly however.

Out of nowhere, Jotaro breached right in front of you, immediately diving back down and pushing you down with him while he violently smashed his tail against the scientists outstretched hand.

Said scientist screamed in pain as several of the bones snapped at the powerful strike, others rushing towards him while Jotaro just left the chaos behind and pushed you further down before abruptly letting go about halfway to the bottom.

“The fuck are you doing.” He snarled and you backed up a bit.

“What do you mean?”

“Interacting with them. What is your plan to get out of here that makes you need to get all friendly with them?”

As he said that, you tried to steady your breathing. No matter his looks or his seeming temper, his mind was clearly not to be underestimated and already proved to be very sharp. He knew you were putting up an act.

“I’m trying to make them think I am no more intelligent than like, what? A four or three year old human?” You spoke, getting a little lost in thought thinking about human ages and their behaviours during it.

“Why.”

Jotaro’s voice snapped you out of it and you focused again.

“If they expect this level of intelligence from me-“ You kept your hand flat and stationary at the level of your bellybutton. “-they will tailor security measures and such around that level of intelligence. Humans like to cut corners. If they think I don’t know how to open a door, they won’t lock it.” You continued and Jotaro had his eyes narrowed at you. “So, when I suddenly show this level of intelligence-“ You moved your hand up and hovered it at the level of your neck. “-they won’t expect it and I’ll be able to get out of here while they try to figure out what happened.

Despite seemingly getting your explanation, Jotaro seemed truly revolted by the idea of buttering up the scientists.

Without another word, a frustrated rumble tumbled from his chest and he turned to the right, starting to swim away, back to his corner. But not before stopping once more and looking back at you. “Don’t let them touch you.” With that, he continued on his way.

Bringing your arm in, you held it to your chest as you watched him swim away.

- - - -

About two days passed and during that, your communication with Jotaro had been minimal. You two more or less avoided each other - though there wasn’t any bad blood between you two.

Just now, a big slab of tuna had been lowered and - while you had planned to just wait until Jotaro was done - he seemed to have other plans. He sliced off a chunk, letting it drift down as if he didn’t notice it falling while he himself continued with what he had. Yet subtly, you could see him look at you, releasing one low click sound from deep within his chest. A non-verbal go-ahead that many leaders of a pod used; to show that it was for you.

Sending him a quick smile, you darted over and scooped up the meat from below him right before it could touch the floor. With that, you then turned around and went to the corner opposite of him. For once, Jotaro was not in his usual corner. And you were going to make full use of it by doing what you had been meaning to for the last few days.

Putting the tuna in your mouth and just holding it there, you started plucking the gigantic seaweed that grew from the bottom, slicing it at the soil with your claws until your arms were practically completely full.

Peeking your head around the pillar, you saw Jotaro still eating and thus silently yet quickly swam over to his corner.

The sand was bunched up in a small hill on one end, a deeper and bigger indent right in front of it, showing it was where Jotaro slept every night. There were some plants growing around it, but not many. None close enough that they would be able to bend in the current and annoy him as he tried to sleep at least. That was good.

Now, you knew sleeping on the sand was fine. You had been doing it yourself, even insulated and kept a little more warm because of your protective surrounding skull. And, while the heap of sand behind the dent was meant for the same purpose - to retain some body heat - you knew from experience that plants were way better at that.

So, you started placing the seaweed leaves on the sand indentation. One by one you placed them down, layering them over comfortably until it padded the entire space.

You were happy you picked a lot because you had underestimated how big Jotaro’s bedding would be, seeing he was quite massive as well.

Next came the tricky part. Getting the leaves to stick together and stay on the sand, paired with getting rid of all the prickly edges.

Opting to make sure it stayed in place first, you curled the edges of the leaves around the edge of the sand indent and buried it firmly in the grain, making sure to tuck it in well and good so that it would not let go. With that out of the way, you began chipping away at the sharp edges.

You worked as fast as you could, wanting to be finished before Jotaro was done eating and would return here.

Finally done with the snipping, you ran your hand across it, satisfied that there was no uncomfortable plant membrane sticking out anymore.

Onto the last step, you started with the hardest part: weaving the plants together. Cutting small incisions in the leaves with your nails, you started interlocking those cut sections, fitting them together like a puzzle until every leaf on the entire bed was interwoven.

You were almost done when you spotted movement out of the corner of your eye. Turning your head, you saw Jotaro swimming closer, a confused yet wary look on his face.

In the blink of an eye you were already swimming away, booking it towards your skull and shooting inside with practiced ease. You were pretty sure Jotaro couldn’t fit through the mouth, so you felt relatively safe in case he got mad about you messing with his sleeping spot.

No angry sounds came however.

- - - -

Several more days passed just like that. You had made a seaweed bed for yourself as well, stuffing it in the skull and spending quite some time digging a little further into the sand so that you would have a true little hovel. Because of this you realised the skull had no lower jaw, which allowed you to dig down into the sand, causing for even more insulation to keep yourself warm at night. Was it necessary? No. Did it feel great to sleep in a warm environment? You bet it did.

Your interaction with Jotaro was still bar to none. Although he did seem more accepting of you, no longer letting out a dangerous or angry rumble when you moved too much or splashed around a bit.

You had gone back to playing with your yellow ball, throwing it at the scientists heads - though they dodged it more easily now that their attention wasn’t divided between two tanks. Still, whenever you did hit one of them, it felt like a huge accomplishment.

While pretending to play however, you took the opportunity to gather information. Pick up on what the scientists were saying, checking the tank walls while you were pretending to swim around as fast as you could - while in actuality you went only about half as fast. In particular, hopping up on top of the concrete column rewarded you with figuring out there were cameras in the thing. They were small, built in and probably very expensive.

So the scientists were watching your every move even if they weren’t watching.

You honestly felt terrible when you figured that out and had retreated back to your skull, not coming out for 28 hours, not even for food.

About thirteen days had passed since you first came here, and you still had no idea how to get out...

- - - -

To say the scientists of the research facility were in excited chaos and confusion that morning was an understatement.

After nearly two weeks of no process at all with the Mer they captured - the two of them only avoiding each other as much as possible - they come in for work, only to see the two of them curled up in the male’s nest and sleeping together!?

“What the hell happened?! John! Get the footage of last night!”

“Right!” Said man immediately sprinted away to get it while the rest stayed glued to the glass, watching the two Mer as best as they could with how far away from the glass they had set up camp.

A few minutes later, John returned and they all watched with baited breath to see what happened.

Operating the four cameras, they switched between them and fast forwarded the footage from last night until there was motion, pressing play.

“What happened that gave them a change of heart?”

- - - -

Disturbance in the water had roused Jotaro from his sleep.

There was absolutely nothing in this tank except for a feeble artificial water current that helped with filtering. So, to suddenly feel such jerking motions in the water could only mean that it was the other occupant of the tank.

Jotaro tried to ignore it for a bit and go back to sleep but the irregularity and violence in which you were moving meant there was no chance of that.

A little annoyed, Jotaro got up and started swimming over to the skull you had taken residence in.

Unlike the last time you had woken him up during the night, you were not in front of it. Furrowing his brows, Jotaro turned up and swam to one of the eye sockets. Gripping the edge of it, he pulled himself closer and peered inside.

It was hard to make anything out in the dark but with the limited night vision he had, Jotaro could see your form, completely curled in on yourself on top of a bed similar to what you had made for him.

Only, then you twitched.

Your whole body jolted for a bit, a barely audible squeak leaving you before you settled again, only for you to jolt again a few seconds later. Your face was screwed up in pain and discomfort and Jotaro let his gaze drift to your waist, seeing if you could be in pain from that, even if it should have healed for the majority of it.

It wasn’t that though. You didn’t clutch at it in pain or explicitly tried to avoid touching it. You seemed to just be having a nightmare.

For a moment Jotaro considered just leaving. You’d wake up from it eventually and would then just go back to sleep. But that thought was quickly chased away.

Not ever had he seen you so... vulnerable. And as he looked at you, something in him screamed at him to protect you. To protect you, to hold you, to keep you close and safe. Only after a few seconds of feeling his stomach twist did Jotaro realise. Wait, shit- did he just imprint on you?

Just like pups would imprint on parents, so could future mates imprint on each other. It didn’t always happen or all that often actually, but something in Jotaro told him that that was exactly what just happened. Fuck.

Stunned for a few seconds longer, it was another small whimper from you that snapped him out of it. Pushing forward, Jotaro got closer to the eye but he could soon see that he wouldn’t be able to reach you through there with his arm, you were too far to the back and he definitely wouldn’t be able to fit. Hell, he wouldn’t even be able to put both his shoulders through there, let alone his tail.

So, with no other option, Jotaro would have to fully go inside another way.

He didn’t want to invade your personal space, but what other choice did he have? With a bit of hesitation, he swam towards the entrance you had dug and looked down into it. While it was big enough for you to be a comfortable and easy fit, Jotaro would either not fit at all, or have to really squeeze.

He got up for a second and sighed. He could hardly believe he was actually gonna do this. With a little stretch of his back and tail in anticipation, he grabbed hold of the roof of the mouth of the skull.

Lifting it out of the sand was less heavy than he had thought, most likely because of the light material of the skull, but that didn’t mean it was easy. The sand was suctioning it quite strongly but he only had to lift it a little bit to accommodate himself, not pull it out completely.

After a few seconds of lifting it up, Jotaro released it, content to see it stayed at the same height he had put it in before he almost immediately ducked down and made his way inside.

Swimming slowly to not scare you awake even more than you probably would be, Jotaro reached where you were tucked in the corner.

“Y/N.” He softly called out your name but it didn’t do shit. With a lack of social skills or experience, and the need to do at least something, Jotaro instead just opted to grab your shoulder. “Wake up.”

In an instant, you came to life. Seeing nothing but a large form hovering over you caused an immediate fight or flight response and you grabbed at the hand on your shoulder, using your other to swipe at your attacker, only for them to grab both your wrists.

“It’s just me, calm down.” The voice of Jotaro spoke and your breath hitched in your throat. Jotaro? What? How?

Any logic was cast out of your mind as your instincts kicked in. Right as Jotaro let go of your wrists, you shot forward and clung to him. The safety that him being larger and stronger provided and the body heat he emitted the only thing playing in your barely awake mind, still half stuck in the nightmare.

Jotaro was taken aback as you wrapped around him, yet, for what felt like the first time in forever, he welcomed the contact. As he raised one arm to attempt to wrap it around you and provide more safety, he instead painfully slammed his elbow against the skull, making you squeak and cling tighter to him before realising it was not a threat and letting up a bit.

As much as Jotaro wanted to, he couldn’t stay here. This skull could barely fit him as is, let alone with another person there.

Patting your shoulder twice, you looked up at him and Jotaro felt his heart seize at the look you gave him. You also understood what he meant however and let go of him, floating back a bit.

Placing his hand on your head, Jotaro turned with a bit of effort and swam out of the skull.

As his tail disappeared from sight, you cast your eyes down. You were so tired and barely conscious enough to keep your eyes open, yet still, going back to sleep sounded like the last thing you wanted to do.

Suddenly however, you felt your wrist being grabbed and Jotaro yanked you with him out of that skull.

Confusion riddled your sleep heavy mind and you barely had enough thought to move your tail, attempting to help swim but mostly being dragged along by Jotaro.

Before long, you two reached Jotaro’s nest and he sat down on it, pulling you a bit closer since you were practically as far away as you could be, stretched out arms and confused. When you still didn’t seem to get it, Jotaro pulled you down with him until you were pressed against him, your back to his chest as he had his arm around you from behind. His tail started curling around you until it fully encased your form, pushing under your head until you were laying it on top, as if using his tail as a pillow.

“Sleep.” Jotaro spoke softly from right behind you, almost whispering it into your ear, making your heart skip a beat. Almost immediately after saying that, a faint and low rumble began coming from his chest, almost as if he were purring, and you could instantly feel yourself becoming less anxious.

The soft vibrations on your back together with the protective arm wrapped over you and the strong, thick tail curled around and in front of your entire body made you feel safer than you had in a long time - maybe ever.

By now, you could barely remember your nightmare, only that it scared you to death. But even then, all those fears were slowly driven away by the comfort of Jotaro’s warmth and the protection he brought.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

#jotaro x reader #jjba #mermaid au #jojos bizarre adventure #jotaro kujo #mertaro #au #merman #jojo x reader #mermaid #jjba x reader #fish fuckery

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