Word Count: 2580

Waking up naturally, you quietly groaned as you stretched. Opening your eyes, you blinked a few times to get your brain to truly wake up, looking at the clock on the wall to see it was 7:30.

From your left, you heard some rustling from the sheets, indicating Avdol was awake or waking up as well.

Slowly sitting up, you yawned as you sat beneath the blanket, just giving yourself a moment to really wake up.

"Good morning, Y/N." You heard from beside you and you sent the Egyptian man a tired smile, humming a greeting back.

Figuring that was enough lazing, you got out of bed, starting your morning routine, using a delicate dance with Avdol for who goes when. (He let you go first.)

- - - -

Seeing as Avdol was still working on his hair after giving you the bathroom first, you offered to go wake the others, getting a genuine thank you from the man and making you smile to yourself.

Knocking on the first door, you waited a few seconds before, "Polnareff, Kakyoin? It's time to get up for breakfast! It's about 7:50!" You called out to them, waiting a few more seconds before you heard movement. "Guys?"

"We're up." You heard Polnareff drawl out, followed up by a really loud yawning sound.

"Polnareff, can you not, this early in the morning?" Came Kakyoin's irritated voice, thick with sleep, and you figured they were awake enough now; you could let them be.

"I'll see you at breakfast!" With that, you moved over onto the next door, rapping a happy tune onto the door, yet before you could even say anything, the door was opened.

You nearly knocked right on Jotaro's chest, seeing him all dressed and ready standing before you, looking down with a light scowl.

"Ah, you're up and ready already?" You questioned, only to shake your head a little to yourself at the weird choice of words – and why was your heart beating so heavy?

"How can I not be when you're so noisy. I'm sure the entire hall can hear your shouting." He grumbled and you furrowed your eyebrows in worry.

"Really?" You asked, looking around as if other people could jump out of their rooms at any second and yell at you for being too noisy. "I-I didn't want that to happen..." You muttered and Jotaro blinked. He just wanted you to pipe down, not make you feel down. Fuck.

"N- You-" The delinquent just shut his mouth and sighed. "It's fine. Let's go." He ushered you to turn around before grabbing an item of clothing from a chair nearby and chucking it at the other man in the room who was still snoozing on his bed. "Oi, old man, stop falling back asleep and get up already."

The shirt landed directly on Mr. Joestar's face with quite a bit of velocity, scaring him awake as he threw it off of himself and frantically pushed back into the headboard, crossing eyes with Jotaro a second later.

"W-What was that for?"

"Get up." Jotaro reiterated before walking out the door and roughly closing it behind himself, spinning you around by your shoulders and pushing you forward, urging you to go as you walked downstairs to the hotel restaurant together for breakfast.

- - - -

It was a bleary day today, rain pouring down steadily from the sky as you drove past the Malaysian landscapes.

Yet you couldn't help but revel in it, loving the sound of the raindrops falling onto the windshield and roof of the car, providing a constant steady and calming thrum, only slightly drowned out by the music softly playing through the radio, filling the car pleasantly with a chorus of noise to drown out the silence. Apparently, rain made the others rather quiet. Not that you minded.

"Hm, we need to refuel soon." Mr. Joestar spoke his thoughts as he looked at the gauge in front of him, gripping the steering wheel a bit tighter before looking forward again, trying to see through the curtain of rain if there were any signs indicating a gas station.

Finding one was gonna be difficult.

- - - -

Positive! You found one!

Negative! The car ran out before you could reach it.

Five of the six standing in the pouring rain, you and Kakyoin sort of helplessly watched as Polnareff, Avdol and Jotaro pushed the car, Mr. Joestar steering it in the right direction.

The gas station was just up the road, so there was no use in running back and forth with a tankard of gas. This was a lot quicker.

You and Kakyoin had offered to help push, but with three strong as fuck men already pushing – Jotaro on the right, Polnareff on the left and Avdol from behind – there really was no need, nor was there much room. The best the two of you could do was stand outside in the rain with them so that you wouldn't be weighing down the car even more.

About ten minutes later the tank station was reached, providing cover from the rain under the overhang.

"Alright, good job. Everyone go and do what you need to, we'll be moving again once the tank is full." Mr. Joestar gave a thumbs up before sitting back in the car, turning off the engine and taking the keys out.

Getting into action, you just looked around for a bit but decided to go to the restroom. You had the opportunity, better take it.

After wringing your hair free of rainwater in front of the restroom mirror, you made your way back to the car to see Jotaro leaned against the side of the car, Kakyoin and Avdol standing besides it as well, waiting for Mr. Joestar to return.

"Y/N, come here and let me help you dry." Avdol spoke and beckoned you over. Only once you were in range did you realise why Avdol was standing in the middle. Magician's Red was not directly out – fire by a gas station and all – but the Egyptian man was generating an exorbitant amount of heat.

And you had to say, it was absolute bliss to step into the warm circle.

Unfortunately, there was not enough time to dry completely before Mr. Joestar returned, ushering you all into the car again, Polnareff being the last to join you all.

Not being able to completely dry however, meant that you were now damp. But, you were a warm damp. Sitting on Jotaro's lap suddenly got a whole lot more awkward and uncomfortable again.

- - - -

Sitting in the restaurant, you were glad to see another day of travel over and done with. From looking at the map, you knew you were over halfway through Malaysia. Not too shabby of a track record.

Everyone had drinks in front of their faces and you were now looking through the menu. Thankfully, the restaurant you were in was rather fancy and catered to tourists. Every dish was described in Malaysian but thankfully, underneath, there was an English translation in small text.

You were glad for it, able to actually read what you were ordering for once instead of hoping for the best or letting Mr. Joestar choose. Yet you noticed, someone else sitting next to you wasn't as glad as you were.

He doesn't outright say it out loud but you spotted it, recognising it was the same face Jotaro was making from months ago; when he couldn't understand something you had written when he was reading the research on whales you had done. It was a subtle expression but, recalling where you had seen it before, you noticed it and knew what it meant.

Without a word, you leaned closer to him, trying to spot what was giving him trouble.

"What were you looking at?"

Jotaro was slightly surprised when you suddenly leaned against him and softly asked that, looking at the menu in his hands. Your shoulder was pressed into his arm but, unlike whenever those bitches at school did it, he wasn't repulsed. In fact, he kind of welcomed it. Of course, you had been sitting on his lap for the last few days, but this contact was different. You did this on your own volition, not because you had to thanks to a lack of space.

So, purposefully keeping his menu at an angle that would make you have to keep sitting like that, he simply pointed at the menu item he had been looking at earlier, which he had been trying to figure out in his head. He still wasn't entirely sure what you were doing or why, but he remained quiet, just waiting for you to answer that unspoken question yourself.

"It's a pork loin rice dish, apparently a number two on the spice scale." You explained quietly and Jotaro blinked in surprise. He didn't think anyone would realise he actually didn't know what the English words meant but apparently, you did.

It did something to him to see you figure him out so easily, and he didn't know what.

Only humming in response, he moved his finger to a different dish. This one wasn't that hard and he knew what it said but he wanted to see if you'd do it again; waiting to see if you caught onto his meaning. You did, and almost immediately you had translated. "That's a sweet chicken rice dish. With a side of a fresh salad. Hm, that doesn't sound bad!" You commented in between, pulling an impressed face that made the corners of Jotaro's lips quirk up ever so slightly. "No spice on the spice scale." You quietly finished.

Jotaro nodded and now actually looked for something that he might want to eat, placing his finger next to dishes of which he didn't know what it said. Curse the English language. You patiently just translated every dish for him, not a hint of judgement or annoyance in your voice. You genuinely just wanted to help.

"Can you move the menu so I can see a little better?" You asked Jotaro after about two minutes of doing this. You had placed your own menu down and were now not only translating for him when necessary but also browsing for your own food on his menu.

"No."

You opened your mouth a little, in disbelief of his rude answer, but when you looked up at him, there was a teasing sparkle in his eye that made you tilt your head curiously, a ghost of a playful smile on your lips. Alright? He wanted to play that game? Fine.

You moved away from his arm that you had been leaning on all this time and Jotaro felt a little disappointment flood through him, only for that to disappear when you grabbed his elbow and lifted it up, ducking underneath it before he even regained his senses to react.

You were now completely pressed against his side, sitting half on your own chair and half on the edge of his – since he took up nearly all of the chair with his massive frame. A victorious smile was on your face as you could now perfectly see the menu.

"What the hell are you doing?" Jotaro growled, letting go of the menu with his right hand to pull his hat down and hide the slight twinge of pink that flushed his cheeks - the arm you were under stayed put however, nicely caging you into his body.

"Looking at the menu." Was your smart reply.

"You two okay there?" Mr. Joestar's voice spoke up and Jotaro snapped his head up to see all the others at the table were looking at the two of you. This only caused Jotaro to pull his hat down again, in embarrassment this time. He forgot the others were still there and of course they were gonna ruin this. Now you were going to move away and that would be that.

"Just looking at the menu." You said the same thing but this time to Mr. Joestar, sending him a smile as you attempted to glance over the menu Jotaro was holding – which was a little hard since you were leaning down at an angle to fit under Jotaro's arm.

"Didn't you have your own?" The older man smirked in response.

"Yes but it seemed a little damaged. There were some drink stains on it that made it a little hard to read. I asked Jotaro to share his but he is stingy."

Your lie was so smooth and natural that it even took Jotaro by surprise. He had enough of a mind to scowl and lightly flick your head for calling him stingy but he didn't really mean it. He realised what you were doing and the least he could do was go along with your lie.

Because, knowing Jotaro for a little while now, you knew he didn't want the others to know he was having troubles. Even if it was with something as small and meaningless as not understanding the English on the menu, there was a reason he just tried to ignore it and power through. And you weren't going to be the asshole that was just gonna embarrass him in front of his friends. There was a reason you had been talking quietly when translating.

To Jotaro's surprise, you didn't move from your spot. He figured you would have gotten flustered or embarrassed and moved away, but you stayed put, looking at the menu to choose your own food, and sending a discreet look up at Jotaro, waiting to see if he needed more help.

In all honesty, Jotaro had already chosen what he was going to eat. But he didn't want to let you move back just yet, so he continued pointing at random dishes on the menu every so often, just relishing in feeling your side pressed against his for a little while longer, even though he didn't really know why.

- - - -

Standing in the lobby of the hotel, you were just holding idle chit chat with Kakyoin, filling the time while Mr. Joestar and Polnareff got the rooms.

The exploding of one Joseph Joestar voice echoeing through the lobby made you look up with a raised brow, seeing Mr. Joestar talk a little heatedly with the woman behind the desk. You didn't know what was being said but Polnareff suddenly pitched in, saying something into the older man's ear that made him seem to calm down. Huh, you didn't even know Polnareff had that skill.

After a few more minutes, the two men came walking back and ushered you all up the stairs.

Once you reached the top of them, you all took a left and walked down the hallway. All of a sudden, a key was shoved into Jotaro's hands and you felt a pair of hands on your back push you towards the door to your left.

"Y/N, Jotaro, you two are in this room!" Mr. Joestar smiled before ushering the rest of the Crusaders along almost immediately. "Goodnight!"

"Wait, what rooms are you in?!" You called back as they were walking away but didn't even get an answer, only managing to briefly lock eyes with Kakyoin as he looked back, looking just as confused as you were as he shrugged.

Well, looks like you were rooming with Jotaro for tonight.

28-07-2021