madimpossibledreamer

i don't know what it was about election uncertainty that sent me on a lovecraft binge. really, i don't get it
Josuke didn't pass along that he and Kaulitz fought. Johan's going to figure that out at some point.

Main Points:
Jojo's Bizarre Adventure/Buffy the Vampire Slayer AU
Chapter Summary: Johan and the gang of the odd volumes (for now) meet back up in the aftermath of the statues.
Word Count: 1291
Rating: Teen
Note: HERE THERE PROBABLY BE BUFFY/JJBA SPOILERS

           Fitz doesn’t realize he’s been…well, not quite holding his breath, but definitely not breathing deeply, until he sees Jojo, bundled up. He’s eating junk food again, but at this point Fitz half expects that. Jojo could still be wounded, of course, but Lotus Juice can help out with that if necessary. He’d convinced himself Johan was fine, but that had just been to calm his nerves. He hadn’t fully believed it, been holding onto the hope but cynical enough to think he was lying to himself. The smile and wave is tired but genuine, and it’s a balm, after learning his father—no, Sarde—is involved, and probably part of his anxiety is just…the man abandoned them and then his mother died. To some extent, he blames Sarde for her death—perhaps rightfully, if he was plotting to kill Love, if he’d had a hand in her terrorizing London.
           “You were right about the plane.” Well, at least Johan’s alive, even if he is being excessively cheerful about this whole thing. Despite how exhausted he looks.
           “You crashed?” He swallows. Jojo probably wouldn’t be this cheerful if he’d gotten hurt…but then again, he’s just the sort who would hide an injury not to worry anyone. “I want to call you reckless and say something like ‘I told you so’, but I don’t feel now is an appropriate time.”
           Jojo yawns, looking content. “That’s surprisingly restrained of you. Well, I was right about it, too. I’m alive, obviously.” He’s still far too joyful about the whole thing.
           He winces a little as Darling throws herself into a desperate hug. She’d been worried too, and unless Fitz misses his mark that’s an expression of pain quickly hidden behind yet another smile. He fluffs her hair, and Robin calls her over to join in the conversation with Captain Beefheart, probably so that Fitz can interrogate Jojo and get the story out of him. The archer’s a sharp one.
           It takes Jojo a moment to return his attention to Fitz’s face. He’s running his eyes expertly over Darling and Robin—checking for wounds, the blond realizes once his friend relaxes and returns his attention back to Fitz. There’s that open heart again.
           He crosses his arms and tries to look stern. His friend isn’t intimidated at all. “You’re a menace.”
           “Yep.” Johan takes a moment to look him over. “Nice haircut.”
           He’d forgotten how aggravating Jojo can be. “You can go back to being silent now.”
           The chuckle says he’s not taking this seriously at all. “But what fun would that be?”
           “The point isn’t fun.” He pauses and sighs. “Are you hurt?”
           Jojo finishes the rest of his snack before speaking for once. Which leads Fitz to suspect stalling. “Physically, I’ve healed mostly everything. Mentally, I’m probably a little scarred.”
           All he does is raise an eyebrow in response. “What does ‘mostly’ entail?”
           “You’re not going to give up on this, are you?” The tone is amused, but there’s an undertone he doesn’t quite recognize.
           “I could ask Von Stroheim.” He’d seen the slightly shaken look and isn’t quite sure what that’s about, but if he digs hard enough he might get it.
           “You could, but she wasn’t there for half of that, just on radio. The whole office-slash-elevator escape was all me.” Jojo sighs, but starts listing things off. It might as well be a grocery list, for all the emotion he puts into the voice. “Pretender hurt his legs paper planing me and then in the elevator shaft. Oxygen deprivation because old-fashioned plane. The altitude wasn’t high enough that I needed the oxygen tank, but it still contributed to the whole headache thing. I already healed all the glass cuts from breaking through a window. Kinda aggravated the hands and I got a chunk taken out of my shoulder, again, which I was finally getting healed with hamon, and it’s worse because these are my new clothes and I liked them. Slight ear damage from Cthulhu screaming, but it at least didn’t rupture anything, because I can still hear. Eldritch abomination exposure. Becoming an Eldritch abomination. Punching myself out with Pretender before I ate the world.” The thoughtful look suggests he’s using the silence to double check whether he’s missed anything.
           Fitz blinks, trying to wrap his brain around all of that. The worst part is probably the tone, like that’s a perfectly normal day at the office. Like being in pain…either he’s understated how bad Sunnydale was, or…
           He swallows.
           How good he is at dealing with Darling. Fitz doesn’t want to finish the thought, doesn’t want to even think about it again. He will, probably, but this isn’t the time for horrifying realizations.
           “As useful as books are, I don’t think they have one for ‘what to do when your best friend turns into a Lovecraftian horror’.” That smile is utterly human.
           “Nah, I’d like to think I’m special.” He does, too, but as amused as he is by the thought, the mention of mental scarring. He can’t imagine what something like that would do to a psyche. And on that point—mirroring any Stand has to have some sort of lingering effect, and he hadn’t even considered that. Before he can gather his thoughts and come to some sort of conclusion about an acceptable path to take, one that his friend won’t reject out of pride, the man’s talking again. “So, uh.” Jojo swallows and looks vulnerable. Not to the extent he had when he’d been affected by Whisper, but still. He doesn’t let it show, really. “I’m guessing the haircut wasn’t your choice, given how bad it looks. But, uh, at least you wear a lot of hats?”
           That’s dorky American for ‘are you all right?’, Fitz realizes.
           “Generally exhausted, but then, I think that could be said of all of us here. A little healing here and there, but I certainly didn’t have the, how should we put it, adventure you had.” Relief. Admittedly, Fitz is also happy he’s not wounded, but he’s not okay with the assumption it’s all fine as long as Johan’s the only one hurt. He matters more than he realizes. “We did find the User, though. She committed suicide.”
           Jojo sighs. “Well, that sucks. But hey, it wasn’t Beefheart’s uncle. Apparently Josuke found him, safe and sound.” He makes a face. “Grandpa. Sofu? …Eh, I’ll ask him what he wants to be called. It’s just now hitting me Josuke’s my grandfather.”
           The blond smiles. “I’d say I’m surprised, but—” This time he expects the light shove and moves with the hit. “Speaking of family, mine’s turned up again.” They can’t stay here forever, after all.
           Instantly Jojo looks concerned. He very well might have been just goofing off during the story, but he’d paid attention after all. Fitz feels his heart warm. “Can I have an actual gold star if I observe that turning up now of all the times is not of the good?”
           He could get used to this. It had been a while since he’d allowed himself the connection of friendship. He’s not going to voice that out loud so he can hear Johan’s mocking ‘that explains things’ response, however. “This time, I’d consider that genre savviness—or paranoia, if this turns out to be nothing. Apparently he bought a statue from Miss Love. It may be nothing, but…”
           Jojo reaches out to squeeze his shoulder, and he wasn’t kidding about the wounds. The grip is much weaker than his usual, but the sentiment is there. “I’ll be by your side every step of the way. The others, too, assuming they don’t have an assignment or something. And we’ll find the one who killed Darling’s adopted family, too.”