It's Just Admiration. Really.

It could just be admiration.
Josuke mulled the sentiment over in his head for the hundredth time.
It could just be admiration, he used different inflection this time, as if to convince himself. He sighed loudly.
It couldn’t just be admiration.
Josuke swallowed down the strange feelings in his stomach and in his chest and knocked on the door to Jotaro's hotel room.
Strategy. that was what they were going to be talking about. That was it. What to do when you met another Stand user, how to react and handle the situation. that sort of thing. That was absolutely it.
Josuke bit his lip as he waited for Jotaro to answer the door.

Jotaro answered the door and gestured for Josuke to come in, his expression unreadable as always. He didn't see much point in displaying his emotions normally, but a poker face was especially important today. He had lied to Josuke about the reason for this meeting; in reality, he was curious about Josuke. He had noticed the look in his eyes lately, and he wanted to be absolutely sure of his feelings before he took any action.

Before Josuke could sit down anywhere else, Jotaro sat on the couch and patted the seat next to him.

"Here. So I can hear you."

Already Josuke wanted to turn tail and run. As if being in such a confined, private space with his nephew wasn't bad enough already. He steadied his beating heart as much as he could and sat down next to him.

"So," he began, trying to discern Jotaro's expression. He seemed just as expressionless as always and Josuke soon gave up on that. "What are your ideas? I'll be honest, I don't have a lot of experience with other Stand users, so..."

"I have plenty of experience," he replied, shifting in his seat; he consciously bumped his arms against Josuke, mumbling an insincere "sorry."

"With Stand users, I mean. I have plenty of experience. And I'll tell you, they get predictable after a while. Makes them easy to read."

He felt his face flush unconsciously as he a mumbled a "it's fine" in return to Jotaro's "sorry". He scooted as much as he thought he could get away with whilst still sitting close to Jotaro. This was bad; he didn't want Jotaro to get suspicious or anything After all, it really was probably just admiration gone a little bit weird, is all.

"Okay, so, what are the signs, then?" Josuke asked and he did his best to remain sincerely interested in the topic.

"Well, firstly, unusual behavior. A good sign is normally when someone won't meet your eyes." He lifted Josuke's chin with his hand, forcing him to make eye contact. "See what I mean? If you had something to hide, you'd feel uncomfortable too. Right?"

Josuke clenched his fists, digging his nails into the fabric of his pants. He could hardly believe this was happening. It all seemed like the set up to some sort of strange, surreal and horribly sexual dream of his. In fact, he was almost sure he'd had a dream a bit like this a few nights ago...

He swallowed and nodded, forcing any other thoughts from his mind. Jotaro was teaching him how to survive and nothing else. Anything else was just his imagination. Jotaro was his nephew, they were related, anything seeming more intimate than that was just his imagination.

"Right. Of course. So," he averted his eyes. "First sign is strange behavior. Namely, lack of eye contact. Makes sense. Got it."

Jotaro stared closely at him; there it was again, in his eyes. This boy wanted something. He chuckled inwardly, letting go of his chin.

"You okay, Josuke? You seem uncomfortable. If there's something on your mind, spit it out."

Josuke let out the smallest sigh of relief he could when Jotaro moved away.

"Nothing's on my mind, it's just, ah, kind of hot out today, isn't it?" he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "These uniforms are so heavy when it gets warm out, haha."

"Take it off," he replied nonchalantly, pulling a pack of cigarettes and a lighter out of his pocket. "Want one?" He shook the pack enticingly before putting one of them in his mouth.

It wasn't actually that warm out, but being caught in his white lie would be stupid so Josuke unbuttoned the top part of his uniform and tossed it onto a nearby empty chair. Clothed in just his shirt and the bottom of his uniform gave him a sudden feeling of being exposed but he shrugged it off as he accepted Jotaro's invitation and took a cigarette from the pack. He didn't usually smoke, really, but it would make him seem older, and maybe a bit cooler, right? He reached for his own lighter before he realized it was back in his uniform.

Jotaro lit his cigarette for him, pretending to be oblivious of how close they were. He leaned back in his seat, taking a drag of his own cigarette and puffing out rings of smoke.

"Have I done something?" he asked. "I don't bite, you know--you don't need to sit three feet from me. Saved your ass before, haven't I?"

"Well, yeah, a few times," Josuke replied honestly, and a bit sheepishly as he remembered the times. "I figured you for the kind of guy who didn't really like being near or around other people; no offense, I mean."

Really, Josuke could never pin down what Jotaro was thinking. He inhaled deeply on the cigarette and then exhaled, a bit in awe of Jotaro's smoke tricks. He'd figure out how to do that soon, he told himself.

"This your first time?" he asked, watching him carefully. "Or do you have experience?"

"F-first time?" Josuke blushed before the context of the situation set in and he realized. "Oh! You mean, smoking? No, sometimes me and Okuyasu skip home period and hang out on the roof and smoke and shit."

The corners of his mouth twitched upward for a split second, but he didn't smile.

"Did you think I meant something else?" he asked, exhaling a ball of smoke and sucking it back in again.

Josuke looked away, shrugging.

"N-no, I mean, not really," he replied, waving his hand. "Anyway! So. What are some of the other signs? Of Stand users, I mean."

"You've never fucked someone, have you?" he said bluntly.

"E-eh-" Josuke scrambled to collect his thoughts as waves of both embarrassment, shock and shame in equal parts washed over him. "Wh-what? I mean, that's not really...important, is it?"

Josuke's head was spinning. Normal. This was normal, right? He cleared his throat and hid his red cheeks as well as he could muster. "Well, if you want to know, I'm a bit more of a 'true love' sorta guy, so..."

"So you haven't fucked someone yet, but you want to." He leaned closer, blowing smoke into Josuke's face. "It's not hard, you know. Mainly, it's just fun. Feels good."

"G-great," Josuke replied unenthusiastically as he squirmed in his seat. "But I'm waiting for the right girl to come along, y'know?"

Even as he said it, it sounded insincere. It wasn't a lie. It was mostly that he was kind of scared to do it at all.

"So if I were to offer to show you what sex is like, right now, you'd have to turn me down."

Josuke could barely hear Jotaro over the incessant pounding of his heart. This couldn't be happening. Jotaro was his nephew; they were related. It wouldn't be right, it'd be weird... His palms felt overly sweaty and he couldn't stop chewing on his lip. All of it was unlike him, but this was what he had wanted since shortly after he met Jotaro and it was right there for him to take it.

"Y...yes." he said quietly and hoping this would end this here.

"I don't like liars, Josuke. Are you going to keep lying to me? I'll forgive you this once, but not again." He put out his cigarette in the ash tray and leaned close, gently kissing Josuke on the forehead.

Josuke wasn't sure that his heart could take it. He swallowed again and quietly mumbled, "s-sorry."