Not Together

Getting Friendly

This chapter is so long, it took years off my life lol.

You followed the crowd through the queue, giving the person at the main gates your ticket before your group found a good space out of the way of the crowds to figure out a game plan, looking around at all the various decorations, feeling like you’d been transported to an entirely new world almost; the theme-park like atmosphere doing well to mask the fear of being on a tall ass mountain.

“Alright, I have a map and a plan,” Joseph said, self appointing himself leader as he opened the map the lady provided him when he bought the tickets, “So, if we start over here,” He motioned to the left with his arm, “and work our way over to that side, then we can go down this way, and head back over-“ You lost focus on what he was saying as Jotaro gently nudged you with his elbow. Turning to look at him you noticed that Holly and Suzi were already at a storefront, opposite the direction that Joseph was referring to currently. Jotaro began walking away, you caught in a crossroads between following him or staying back with his grandpa and Rosas, which seemed like the more awkward choice. You stealthily bowed out away from the remaining two, turning to follow the tall teen as he made his way over to his window shopping mother and grandmother.

“-See! I have it all planned.” Joseph announced proudly as he rolled up the map, chest puffed out in pride, “Your next line is, ‘That’s a brilliant plan’!” He twisted around, flashing a smile as he posed pointing back at where his family stood, confident in his ability to predict what people would usually say. A few people nearby gave him worried glances and they edged away from the odd, pointing, loud man.

“That’s a brilliant plan, Master Joseph.” Rosas agreed, bowing his head politely, very accustomed to his employer’s antics. Joseph’s smile quickly dropped as he saw that Rosas was the only one remaining, eyebrows furrowing at the wasted show boating moment as he straightened back up, “H-hey, where did everyone go?” His faithful Butler pointed in the direction opposite of where everyone was supposed to be headed. “Son of a bitch!”

“You hear that?” You asked in disbelief, looking over your shoulder to see who was shouting out expletives at a festival filled with small children. Jotaro sighed, drawing your attention back to him, an unimpressed look on his face as he shoved his hands into his pockets, “Don’t worry about it.” Your lip quirked downwards in disapproval, but said nothing as you both approached the two women who were looking in the large shop display window.

“Look, Mama, they even have little horses!” Holly said pointing through the window at a large, highly detailed model of a village, complete with little ice skaters, lights, and even a train that ran around the table top display. “Jotaro sweetie, did you see?” His mom asked, making space for him even though he could easily see over the top of her head, the teen nodding in response. You could easily imagine Holly using the same tone with a much younger Jotaro on her hip, the small unruly haired boy likely looking on with wonder. Even though Jotaro had gown and wasn’t the small boy you vaguely remembered from the back of your memories, he was still his mother’s child, that was very much evident. You couldn’t help but smile at how Holly doted on her son, very much like her own parents doted on her.

“Let’s go inside,” Suzi said as she ushered you all away from the window, “I’m sure it’ll be warmer in there.” Holly looked around for a moment, “What about Papa?” She asked, her green eyes scanning the crowd for said man. “Oh, don’t worry about your father, dear. Rosas will keep him in line.”

The interior was cozy, Christmas related scents filled the air such as gingerbread and cinnamon, a huge array of every Christmas related thing you could possibly imagine. Santa Claus’ in every shape and size, doing various activities, bells, angels, bears, the list went on and on. Ornaments, stuffed animals, nutcrackers, and even fully decorated trees ready to go for sale. The store seemed more like a maze full of highly breakable items, rooms leading into other rooms which probably housed just as much as the front room did; a fire marshal’s nightmare. “This place is, er, festive.” You said, trying to find the right word for the overload of Christmas décor. Jotaro led the way down a cramped isle, hands in his pockets as he looked through the various ornaments, his mother and grandmother lost somewhere amongst the sea of whimsy. The isle you currently were in was narrow, seemingly made up of the backside of two long running display cases on either side, ornaments hanging from every available space. It made you nervous, making sure to stand in the middle as to not brush against one accidentally and send it falling to it’s doom against the worn hardwood floors. As if picking up on your anxieties, Jotaro turned towards you, “Oi, careful not to break anything.”

You blinked, looking up to argue that you wouldn’t but stopping when you saw that he had a slight smile on his lips. He was teasing you. You relaxed a bit, “I won’t. You’re the one whose shoulders take up the whole isle, you be careful.” You joked, emphasizing by trying to skirt past him only to have him block your way. You tried the other side, only to have him step into your path again. You tried a few more times, only for the and results, muttering ‘you’re a jerk’ in a joking and exasperated tone, accepting that you weren’t getting around him.

“You’re dense.” He said, one of his favorite things to call you, which you’ve come to see as more of an odd term of endearment as opposed to an outright insult from him. You mock pouted, arms folded under your chest as you look away from him. Using your current unguarded state to his advantage, he leaned down and gave you a quick kiss on the cheek; a bold and unexpected move from a guy whose mother and grandmother were somewhere nearby.

“J-Jotaro!” Your eyes widened, darting around quickly to see if anyone had witnessed the act. You put a hand to your cheek, the skin warm under your touch, “You can’t do that, people might think we like each other or something.” You teased, keeping up with the charade he’d put into place. He snorted, a small smile tugging at the corners of his lips as he pulled at the brim of his hat. You had to admit, sneaking kisses while nobody was looking had a certain edge to it, especially for someone like Jotaro, who was oddly hit-and-miss on public displays of affections; it was a small little rush of adrenaline. The two of you slowly made your way down the isle, both occasionally point in out an ornament you’d thought the other would like. You and he emerged from the small cramped corridor, coincidentally by his grandmother, who eagerly waved you over to look at something in her hand.

“(Y/n) dear, aren’t these just the cutest?” She asked, a small porcelain turtle in her hands. It wasn’t very fitting with the rest of the store, but it was very cute none the less. “Oh, um, yes. Very cute.” You agreed, feeling surprised at how easily she’d adapted to your presence, your own family members would probably be more stand-offish if you’d brought a boy “friend” to a family function. She definitely was a lot more out going than you were, but it wasn’t off-putting; quite the opposite, really, as both Suzi and her daughter seemed to have a natural warmth about them. It was nice how welcoming the family was towards others, Jotaro being the exception of course, not that you minded that. She pursed her lips, debating on purchasing the turtle or not for a while, even asking for your input, which you stuttered out a neutral response, not wanting to be held accountable for your not-boyfriend’s grandma’s impulsive spending. After a debate she decided against it, commenting off handedly that she had already had a turtle back home. You lifted a brow, wondering if she collected ceramic turtles.

As she turned around her glasses-framed blue eyes lit up, leaning towards you playfully, “Someone is under the mistletoe.” Suzi said in a sing-song voice. You panicked and looked up, inwardly breathing a sigh of relief when you saw it wasn’t you. You looked over to where Jotaro had wondered off to, seeing that it was him, apparently unaware of the likely made of plastic sprig that hung in the archway he was boredly standing in. You felt Suzi’s eyes shift over to you, as if expecting you to run over there and follow the tradition, which you wouldn’t exactly mind if his family wasn’t around and also if you weren’t playing the role of “just a friend”. The acting-Cupid grandmother’s unspoken suggestion was doused as Holly made her way to her son, pointing up as she approached. You couldn’t hear what they were saying from where you were, which was probably a blessing knowing Jotaro and how he spoke to his mother at times. Surprisingly enough, he didn’t resist, instead leaning down a bit to let his mother kiss him on the cheek without causing a scene, cheeks tinted pink as he looked away in embarrassment. You made a mental note to keep away from archways and door frames for the time being as you and Suzi meandered your way casually around the store, feeling it would be too awkward and suspicious to just break away and stick by Jotaro for the whole time.

There was another room, leading further into the store, the doorway free of any tradition carrying plant life, thankfully. This one housed more small models, various themes and different sized displays all around the room. You tried to play it casual as you “coincidentally” picked the same path as Jotaro did, leaving Holly and Suzi to themselves, not that they looked like they missed you, they were having a great time looking at everything. The two of you looked over the small sets, all so intricate and detailed to a ridiculous degree; you didn’t even want to know the prices of the stuff in here. There were small planes suspended on wires, some of them even moving as if flying over the little town in a circle.

“Oh, wow,” You held up one of the small intricate models, “look at these.” You held one up for Jotaro to see, bit instead you saw he already had one in his hands. “It’s a Piper PA-22.” He said simply, causing you to blink. You never imagined the words ‘Jotaro’ and ‘child-like wonder’ ever being in the same sentence, but you were pleasantly surprised to see that you were wrong. He didn’t smile or jump up and down as is usually associated with the word, but instead he gently held the model and looked it over carefully with a gentle smile, inspecting all the details, his eyes focused on the object. He blinked, breaking the moment, eyes shifting over to you, a light shade of red dusting his cheeks as he placed it back down, eyes looking away embarrassedly. “I didn’t know you liked planes.” You said, offering him a smile. “I like reading about them.” He admitted shyly, which you thought was actually adorable. You leaned towards him, “Is it because your grandpa is a pilot?”

He scoffed, eyes rolling as he looked back towards you, “The old mans crashed every plane he’s ever piloted.” Your eyes widened, clearly not expecting that as an answer. Guess that’s what Jotaro was shaking his head at when Suzi mentioned it that morning. “Wow,” You said, slightly stunned, “alright then. Glad he’s okay,” Your voice lilted up, sounding more like a question, “Um, I guess he’s a lucky guy.” You said, uncertain on how to process this information as well as slightly shocked at how casual he was about his grandfather crashing an airplane; multiple, from the sound of it. Jotaro just snorted as you set the little model back down, careful not to be like his grandfather apparently and wreck it. Speaking of which, he finally joined back up with the rest of his family, accepting that his perfectly planned itinerary was no match against his wife, Rosas diligently accompanying them. Joseph was quick to usher his wife away from the shop, reminding her that you all weren’t here to shop, as well as the fact that they didn’t need to lug more stuff home, alluding that Suzi packed several more suitcases than what was necessary.

You exited a different door than the one you’d entered through, now back out in the chilly air, a large ice skating rink taking up a large portion of the real-estate. You used to roller skate as a kid, but you’d never tried ice skating. “Well, since we’re not sticking to the plan,” Joseph said, eyeing his perfect-plan-sabotaging wife and daughter, “I suppose we can skip to the ice skating.” You looked out over the ice, watching a few people fall, knowing that there was probably going to be a bruise somewhere in your future. “I’ve never ice skated before.” You admitted slightly nervously, Joseph turning to you, putting a large hand on your shoulder in comfort. “Don’t worry, (Y/n), I can teach you everything you need to know.” He said, gesturing to himself confidently.

Jotaro scoffed, “Have you ever even ice skated, Gramps?” He silver haired man flushed red, having been called out by his own grandson. “Ah, well, no,” He admitted, removing the hand on your shoulder to scratch at his beard sheepishly, “but, I once watched Thin Ice with your Great Granny Erina and Uncle Speedwagon. Looked simple enough.” He said with a boastful laugh, hands proudly on his hips as his grandson simply shook his head, probably aware of the oncoming disaster. He led the group over to a small little shack, renting out ice skates, getting everyone, aside from Rosas and his wife, a pair. Suzi insisted that she’d watch from the safety of one of the benches, Rosas fulfilling his role of Butler and bodyguard by staying with her.

Before the Patriarchal Joestar took to the ice his wife called him over to the bench she and you occupied, “Don’t hurt yourself, Jojo.” She said caringly, gently pulling his face down to her with a gloved hand before giving the man a kiss on the cheek, his face reddening a bit as he ran a gloved hand through his hair. He gave his wife a wink before stepping onto the ice, holding onto the side railing for support. You blinked at the nickname. He was also called Jojo? You smiled as you laced up your ice skates, wondering if maybe Jotaro’s name was a conscious thing to keep the nickname going.

You stood up, wobbling a bit on the bladed edges before finding your center of gravity, tentatively stepping over to the ice, following Joseph’s lead and holding onto the rail. You got a decent ways down the rink before feeling brave, letting go of the rail, taking a few steps before promptly landing on your ass.

“Yare Yare,” You turned to see that Jotaro was skating just fine, not faltering in the slightest as he held his hand out for you, “come on.” He lifted you easily, the lack of traction causing you to end up flush against his chest. You turned red and tried to make space between the two of you, looking up to see amusement in his eyes; he did that on purpose. “Thank you.” You said, now on your feet, “I think I got it from here.” You let go of his hand, holding your arms out slightly for balance, only to wobble as you tried to skate forwards. “Here,” He once again took your hand, “I’ll hold onto you.” You weren’t sure why, but this seemed almost different from all the other times that you two had held hands. Maybe it was the atmosphere, but it felt more intimate than normal, perhaps due to you both facing one another, shyly glancing up at him occasionally as you skated. The moment was interrupted as Jotaro quickly pulled you against him again to avoid his grandfather crashing into you, “Don’t break a hip, old man.” He said, steering you away from his flailing grandfather in a single fluid motion, making no attempt to help the older man, instead just watching him flounder around with disinterest. Joseph stood stock still for a second, finding his center of gravity, before straightening up, letting out a triumphant laugh as he flashed you and Jotaro a cocky grin.

“Just had to get my bearings is all.” Joseph said as he began skating, showing off to his wife who in turn offered you all a friendly wave. “I told you I could skate, Jotaro.” He said as he took off, getting a ways away before stumbling a bit, Jotaro just shaking his head before he maneuvered you back away from him, keeping you at arms length as the two of you began skating once again, taking it slow. “Your grandpa is simultaneously the most agile and uncoordinated man I think I’ve ever seen.” You said, him sighing in response as he looked over, probably knowing good and well what you meant from the expression on his face. (We all know the face)