#mer josuke

He had been there for every year of Josuke’s life, the pup always drifting to his nephew whenever he could. And when Jotaro had his own daughter, his parental instincts awakened for Josuke as well.

Besides, he felt as if he owed it to his granddad.

So, Jotaro vowed to raise Josuke next to Jolyne, both pups over the moon to become even more than best friends.

The large Mer could always be seen swimming around with one or both of his pups on his tail when swimming through the pod territory.

Even if he might look annoyed most of the time, everyone knew Jotaro loved the pair of small Mer.

And then, Giorno came into the pod.

His father, Dio, had been quite the scourge on the sea that the Joestar pod resides in. Jotaro was actually a large part of the reason the evil Mer was finally driven out. But then they discovered Giorno in a cave close by.

It didn’t take too much thinking for Joseph, as the patriarch, to decide to adopt Giorno into the pod. So they asked if he wanted to come and after the pup agreed, they brought him home to the Joestar waters.

It was a surprise to everyone when Jotaro one day decided to take Giorno under his wing.

His own daughter and the golden haired Mer had hit it off like salt in the sea, Josuke the completion to their trio. The three of them becoming best of friends.

After observing for a few weeks, seeing Giorno swim around a little aimlessly whenever not with Jolyne or Josuke, the poor pup just not knowing what to do, Jotaro started to think. And when he saw the pup sleeping in the communal area instead of accepting to sleep in any of the grottos whenever someone in the pod offered, Jotaro’s instincts kicked in. He had swam out, grabbed the boy by the hand and dragged him over to his grotto pocket, not giving him a choice.

He had taken the pup inside and told him to either find a space to sleep or join the other two, making it very clear that he was not leaving the grotto that night. With that, the older Mer swam over to his pups, laying down around them with his tail encasing the two - who hadn’t even stirred since he left to get the blond-haired pup.

Giorno had decided to sleep a little distance away, yet still close enough to the larger Mer so that he felt the safety of having an adult around. A safety he hadn’t really felt while sleeping in a long while.

The next morning, the pup woke up cuddled in between Josuke and Jolyne, the other two’s arms around him as they continued to snore loudly.

Looking around in confusion, he managed to catch Jotaro looking at him with one sleepy eye, a smirk on the older Mer’s face as he tightened his tail protectively around the three pups.

A big, watery smile spread on Giorno’s face and he lay back down, snuggling against the tail he was laying against and into the hold of his friends around him.

From then on, the four of them became inseparable. The little family within the pod complete.

When not being up to mischief together, the three of them were with Jotaro. He brought them along if he went to hunt, teaching them how it worked, he’d take them along if he went exploring, anywhere really. Sometimes the three of them would gang up on their dad, always trying to overpower him yet always failing.

Jotaro raised the three of them to his best ability. Protecting them if necessary, caring for them, just being there as best as he could.

Sure, he had his moments where he fucked up, upset the pups when he didn’t mean to, got annoyed with them, needing some alone time and staying away maybe a bit longer than was appropriate, but in the end, he loved the three of them, happy with how it all turned out.

And now, as his scales on his tail started to fade, once a stark black, now starting to dull and discolour to a purple, silver streaks forming in his hair, he watched as the three of them came back with enough food between the three of them to feed the pod for a week.

A pride swelled in his chest as he watched them swim back into the inner pod waters. And for a moment, just a moment, the three adult Mer before him turned back into those small pups, giving him those big smiles with dull teeth as they looked up at him.

“What’re you smiling for, old man?”

The voice of his daughter snapped him out of it, realising with just a little bit of embarrassment that he had been staring as he was lost in his thoughts.

“Nothing.”

“You were hungry right?” Josuke popped up, looking at Jotaro from over Jolyne’s shoulder with a big grin.

“If you ask me, I would say he looked proud or longing.” A third voice spoke up from behind and Jotaro turned to look at Giorno from over his shoulder, the blond holding a soft yet knowing smile on his face.

“Oh, so you were proud, eh? Whatever for, I wonder?” The green-haired Mer teased.

“And where the fuck did you come from?” Jotaro raised his brow, ignoring Jolyne as he addressed Giorno, said Mer swimming around him, joining his siblings as they floated in front of their dad.

“From behind you.”

“Don’t be a smartass.”

“Hey, you’re dodging the question!” Josuke called out and Jotaro scoffed.

“You can all piss off.” He smirked as he turned on his tail to swim away, only for his eyes to widen when—

“Oh no, I don’t think so!” The siblings all held smirks on their faces as Jolyne was the first to jump her dad, pushing his shoulders down while Josuke pinned his tail, Giorno going for the arms as he grabbed Jotaro’s wrists and tactically pinned them behind the older Mer’s own back.

All the water rushed out of Jotaro’s gills as he was roughly pinned down in less than three seconds, three smirking faces hovering over him as he was stuck to the ocean floor.

The days of him being able to handle and overpower all three were long behind him, a wave of nostalgia once again rushing over the Mer.

“Alright, you’ve proven your point, you can let go now.” Jotaro grumbled, letting his head drift down with his eyes closed.

“You still haven’t answered us, Padre.”

A sigh left Jotaro as he opened one eye to look at the blond. “Are you going to get bored and let go if I don’t answer?”

“Depends, are you willing to wait and see if the others will or will not swim by and see you like this?” Josuke was the one to answer, a smug tone in his voice and Jotaro sent a glare towards him.

“You three are a bother to put up with. Fine, I’m proud. You did good.” Jotaro sighed.

As if on cue, all three let go and Jotaro got up off the floor, rubbing the back of his neck as a bit of coral had been poking him.

“Good grief.”

Unexpectedly, Josuke suddenly threw his arms around the older Mer. Jolyne giggled and latched onto his other side, pulling Giorno with her and stuffing him in the middle, one arm around her dad and the other around her siblings.

“We love you, dad.” She whispered.

Hearing that, a warmth swelled in Jotaro’s chest and he wrapped his arms around the three, holding them close and against himself like he did all those years ago.

And one time, Jotaro got injured during a hunt. He accidentally found himself in a shark frenzy and while he was trying to fight them off, he got injured, his blood causing even more of a massacre and in the end he barely got home, bleeding out from a massive wound in his tail.

The pups were absolutely horrified. Cause… if their gigantic, super strong, awesome dad came home that injured? What was out there in the sea?

Right now, Jotaro was being treated by grandma Holly and the pups had been shooed out of the grotto for a bit. She needed some calm and quiet to do what she needed to do and Jotaro needed rest. So, on their own, swimming to their secret spot, the four of them got to speculating. Everything they came up with was scarier than the next and they were just riling each other up more and more, thinking of what monster sea creatures could be out there. Right up until one of the other pod members came up to them. Only, they first only saw their hand and more importantly - their claws, and in a panic they all yelled and cried as they zipped over to the safety and familiarity of dad.

No one could stop them as they zoomed past everyone into the grotto and dove into Jotaro, who was awoken from his deep sleep by having four pups absolutely slamming into his torso, immediately latched on.

He groaned in pain before looking down, seeing four sets of big, scared eyes looking up at him and he looked down, still a bit hazy from sleep.

“What’s wrong?”

He didn’t get any clear answer as it was just whimpers and hiccups, just the barest sound of ‘monster’ coming from Jolyne.

Sighing, Jotaro realised what this was about and rolled onto his back, his arms encasing the pups as he just lightly held them. Could no one in the pod explain to them what happened? Really? It had to be him? Good grief, he was not getting even a moments rest. “Calm down. It was just a shark.” He explained as he looked down and four heads lifted.

“Just a shark? Just a shark did this?” Giorno squeaked and Jotaro patted his head while he lightly shook his own.

“Well, a lot of sharks.” Upon the collective gasp, he immediately continued, “But they’re not gonna come here. They know this is pod territory.”

“But they hurt you?” Okuyasu anxiously said next and almost immediately, Josuke reached over and grabbed his friend’s hand, Jotaro trying to hold back a smile at the display while he rumbled.

“Because I was alone. So, don’t ever be alone, alright?”

Promises were made right then and there and, content, Jotaro rolled back onto his side, trying to urge the pups to go so he could sleep, but they instead all stayed in his arms, hugging each other while Jotaro held them.

Right when they needed the protection and feeling of safety that came from sleeping curled in a tail the most, he was unable to move the damn thing. So, Jotaro settled for holding them. Not his preferred way of sleeping or doing things in general, but for his pups, he would.