Joseph sipped his tea slowly.
The cup rattled in his aged hands, the liquid splashing over the side of the lip and onto the wobbling platter. The drops that made it into his mouth were already cold and the taste was unforgivably bitter, making the old man frown and set the cup back on its tray.
He never could make the tea the same as Suzie Q's.
He looked to the picture of his late wife. She was as beautiful as the day he met her in Italy, her once gold hair a brilliant silver in the photograph.
Joseph sighed tiredly.
He had lived a long life - 92 years seemed like forever and it amazed him to think that he had once imagined that he would not live to see another day. The fighting and the turmoil - the countless friends he lost.
Caesar.
Even after all these years, it still hurt.
There was no one left from that time. No handsome friend, no youthful mother, no beautiful wife. He had outlived everyone despite the fact that he probably should have been the first.
Joseph sighed again.
He set the tea down as carefully as he could on a side table before standing up on old legs that creaked and groaned at him.
If Caesar could see him now!
How he would have made fun of him, laughing at the weakened and wrinkled state the once proud Joestar now was.
He bent as much as he could in his already hunched state to pick the platter back up and shuffled into the kitchen, the gentle rattling of the cup sounding out in the cold and crowded apartment. The walls were covered in pictures from his boyhood up to his recent expedition to Japan as well as various trinkets he had picked up on his adventures. They felt familiar but had long since lost their warmth after Suzie Q's death.
The shattering of the porcelain cup against the hardwood floor rang out, the pieces scattering in various directions as the cold liquid soaked into soft slippers outside the attention of the shoes owner. The breaking cup and wet shoes were paid no care as Joseph clutched at his chest fruitlessly as a sharp sting stabbed at him.
He would have been concerned about heart troubles, and in fact gave the idea a fleeting thought before tossing it out, but he could remember this feeling happening before. Or at least his body was telling him that this wasn't the first time that it had felt this.
The probing throb that felt like something he hadn't even been aware existed there in the first place had been ripped free. His blood heated and swirled in his veins - blood exchanged from a long dead man.
Joseph had never cursed having Dio's recycled blood flowing through him. It was his in the first place, as well as that of his grandfather, and it had kept him thriving long after he should have been dead.
But this feeling, the ache in his chest, was concerning and the old man couldn't shake the thought that vampire had something to do with it.
He felt faint suddenly and tilted, barely catching himself on one of the small kitchen table's chairs. He clutched at his chest, the vague pangs already subsiding, leaving only the phantom pains of a throb that suddenly fled.
The clatter drew the attention of his live-in attendant who rushed into the kitchen, a half-folded shirt clutched in one of his hands.
"Mr. Joestar are you okay?" The attendant's hands rested gently on Joseph's back, his gaze roaming over the broken porcelain before returning back to the old man. "Does your chest hurt? Hold on, I'll call your physician-"
"No, no, I'm fine." Joseph drawled, his hand falling away from his chest as he motioned flippantly to show that there was no cause for worry. "I just startled myself..."
Joseph trailed off, his eyes staring blankly forward before turning to his attendant.
"Actually, could you call the Speedwagon Foundation?"
The attendant watched Joseph warily as the old man went back to rubbing at his chest, but he nodded and left the room to grab a phone anyways.
"Daddy! Daddy! Look!"
Joseph turned to look at his youngest child as she came barreling into the room.
Shizuka had been an interesting girl to raise - a much different experience for Joseph than Holly had been, both because of Suzie Q's initial distrust at her parentage and her invisibility.
Suzie Q had gotten over her suspicion and helped raise the Japanese girl with the same love she had raised her own daughter, but Suzie Q and Joseph had been much older and Suzie Q hadn't lived to see the baby's 3rd birthday.
Being an invisible child had had its own problems, one of which being education, the other her ability to get lost. Joseph had a lot of trouble with her, especially since his wife had passed and he himself was old and forgetful.
The Speedwagon Foundation helped tremendously in both these problems.
A live in attendant, called Gerald on the Foundation forms, for both Joseph and Shizuka was provided by the Foundation to assist in household affairs as well as childcare.
When she reached the age of 6, Shizuka was admitted into a specialty school run by the Foundation for children with awakened Stand abilities. They helped her learn to control her powers as well as teach her general education.
Shizuka currently was capable of appearing visibly for a couple of hours at a time, but the 13 year old was still most comfortable with a layer of foundation and sunglasses to get her through the day. Joseph was trying to ween her off of it, but in true Joestar fashion, she was hardheaded.
"Daddy, look what the professor wrote!" Shizuka crashed into his legs, the chair keeping him from joining his cup on the floor. "He said I was exceptional!"
Joseph patted her head and shuffled around to get the chair pulled out, falling into it with a groan and pulling his youngest closer by her waist to see the sheet of paper she held out for him.
"Ooh," Joseph glanced over the page. In neat script, the professor had noted at the top of Shizuka's paper how advanced her writing was and Joseph jostled her gently and gave the girl an approving smile. "That's great, Shizuka!"
The young girl hummed in reply, her eyes landing on the mess on the floor.
She looked questionly at her father who reached to rub his chest again as he read over her creative writing assignment.
"Mr. Joestar, the Speedwagon Foundation." The family attendant held a phone in his outstretched hand.
"Ah, good," Joseph took the phone, his hand falling from its hold on his daughter. He fumbled with the phone briefly before finally placing it correctly against his ear and mouth, drawling out a hello into the receiver.
"Shizuka, come on, we'll get you changed out of your uniform and organize your homework." Shizuka groaned and leaned away from her perched position on her father's knee, dragging her feet to the attendant's side.
"What about the mess?" The girl motioned to the shattered platter and cup as she smoothed her school skirt. "Daddy will forget and slip in it."
The attendant motioned her out of the kitchen and led her down the hall to her room, opening the door and pointing to her bed where he had laid out her play clothes.
"Change into that while I clean it up."
Shizuka frowned as the attendant closed the door, worrying at the edges of her paper before dropping her school bag on the floor and changing into her after school clothing.
When she was finished, the girl dumped her bag contents into the bed and kicked her school uniform to the side so she wouldn't trip over it.
Gerald had tried to instruct her to fold the uniform after taking it off, but she didn't see much point in it when he was just going to have to unfold it to clean and iron it.
Shizuka rifled through her school work, sorting it out as the family attendant had taught her when she was interrupted by the sound of her father's and Gerald's raised voices.
She stared at the door unsurely, the arguing escalating until it abruptly cut off. Shizuka continued standing in her room, waiting for either man to come get her.
As she expected, Gerald opened the door suddenly, walking in with a sour expression and furrowed brow.
The girl tilted her head in askance at the man who pulled up short when he saw her.
"Sorry, it's a family issue."
Shizuka waited.
The attendant didn't seem to notice and instead crossed to her bed, shuffling through the papers.
"Am I not a part of the family?"
The question seemed to startle the man, who dropped the handful of papers back onto the covers.
"What?"
"Well, you said it was 'family matters,' which I can assume means the Joestar family." Shizuka waited a beat before continuing. "The family that I am a part of."
Gerald looked away uncomfortably. His feet shifting and his fingers rubbing at the recovered pages.
"Yes, of course you are, Miss Shizuka," Shizuka frowned at the title, something the attendant only uses for her when he was mentioning or discussing something he was unsure of. "But it's a matter that you don't need to concern yourself with."
Shizuka looks blankly back at him.
"Because you're too young."
She knew he was lying.