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madimpossibledreamerMain Points:
Jojo's Bizarre Adventure/Buffy the Vampire Slayer AU
Chapter Summary: Fitz takes advantage of the travel time to ask Johan a few questions.
Word Count: 1342
Rating: Teen (Buffy|Jojo's level violence)
Note: HERE THERE PROBABLY BE BUFFY/JJBA SPOILERS.
Johan—Xander—is no exception, but despite his clear exhaustion and the advantage sleep brings him through his Stand’s affinity with dreams, he has yet to truly fall into any real kind of sleep for long. Even now, with the way he’d slumped over during his nap, he’s not really asleep.
If the blond was inclined to be a gambling man, he’d guess that Jojo is a little embarrassed his head ended up pillowed on Fitz’s shoulder. If it’d been anyone else, Fitz himself would have been highly uncomfortable, since usually he dislikes physical contact, but he supposes Johan is an exception for many things.
“Are you attempting to convince me or yourself that you’re asleep?” he whispers, trying to stay quiet so as to not wake the others.
After a few moments, there’s a yawn as Jojo mumbles, “Fake it ‘till you make it, right?”
Fitz has heard that sort of advice applied to, variously, insomnia, PTSD, and depression, albeit phrased differently. It makes sense, in its own way. “Sorry to disturb you,” he responds and goes back to the quiet, only to get an extremely gentle elbow to the stomach for his thoughtfulness.
“Don’t go back to all this polite, distant crap.” The hurt is muffled by the sheer exhaustion, but Xander powers through anyway. It’s oddly heartwarming, the fact that Jojo cares that much. “Something’s on your mind. What’s up?”
The blond takes a moment to think about the right phrasing. Normally, he wouldn’t, especially with the request to be more casual, but he’s tired too, and while speech is one of the things he can usually do even while severely exhausted, a fact that had certainly aided him in his sales position, thinking of the right words is difficult at the moment. “You’re worried. What should I know about this Wesley fellow?”
He feels rather than sees Johan still. “I didn’t think I was being that obvious.”\
Fitz smiles fondly, leaning back and resting his head against the metal behind him because keeping his eyes open is hard at the moment. “Your jokes are usually terrible, but they somehow get worse when you’re worried.” He seems to be taking the groans as encouragement, but he had been making Darling smile, and despite Fitz’s own wishes, he’s pretty sure his disapproval is overshadowed by his affection. It didn’t help that Robin had joined in, and he’s fairly certain Beefheart muttered a joke in German as she’d gone to sleep in the copilot’s chair, though her enunciation had certainly not been clear.
Xander seems to take that as a challenge. “Well, you’re doodling on your hands,” he points out.
It’s unlikely that from his angle Jojo can see his eyes widen in surprise as he stares tiredly up at the ceiling. It’s shocking that the man would have even noticed, let alone catalogued the habit, since he’d certainly washed it all off the first time they met and the only time he could have observed that bad habit was when they were at the hotel, back when Xander had thought him an enemy. “That’s more a…symptom of boredom than anything.”
The tired laugh is both amused and a little disbelieving, but from his next words Johan’s not going to call him on it. “Well, I’m afraid we’re all out of books for you to read.”
He might as well continue along in the same vein, if it’s going to be like that. “As an acceptable substitute…you’ll do.” Again, the huffed laugh says that the words are being taken as intended. “My eyes wouldn’t stay open to read anyway I’m afraid.”
“Well, if it’s stories you want, I might be able to provide, and maybe it’ll help us both drift off and actually be prepared for this next fight.” Ah. So he’s not just been evading the question. Fitz had wondered. “So, I told you a bit about the Watcher’s Council. The previous one. Wesley was…well, pretty representative of them, I guess. The good and the bad. He started out as the incompetent if naïve pencil-pusher, and the last I heard, he was a lot more cynical and willing to sacrifice anything for…well, we thought it was the common good.” The anger’s mere embers, dampened by his sheer fatigue, but it’s definitely present. “I w-i-s-h I’d come to you first, given how drawing his attention to all of this was definitely a terrible idea. I don’t know if he’s just trying to survive in a cutthroat—in the full meaning of the word—workplace or whether he’s just been corrupted, but…”
It’d be easy to say that Johan is the king of feeling guilty for absolutely no reason, but he’s unfortunately hardly the only one, and just telling him to stop and believing he would is foolish at best. Facts instead. “From what we’ve seen thus far, Wolfram & Hart has a good information network. It’s likely they would have found a lot of the details you freely gave them anyway, without your help. And as for what he’s doing with it, that’s certainly not on you. It’s not a character failing to trust.”
“I should’ve known not to trust him, and if I hadn’t, maybe he would’ve been stalled long enough for the stars to move out of alignment,” Jojo argues, convincingly enough that it’s clear he’s been thinking about this a lot.
“And what, it would have made more sense for you to trust the man who attacked your friends and kidnapped you?” He doesn’t really have any excuses, or at least, all feeble ones not worth mentioning. “I’m grateful, of course, but that seems like the more questionable decision to me. I wouldn’t describe your generous heart as a mistake, however.”
Johan lets out a gust of air—apparently he’d been holding his breath. “Fair enough. Okay, so he’s apparently pretty ruthless now, and is using a ritual to turn into a Pillar Man. In Mexico, probably in one of the pyramids, if I had to guess, though all they wrote down were coordinates. There are a couple volcanoes nearby, but I don’t know if we’ll be so lucky a second time around. I mean, the briefing from Mom didn’t mention W&H getting their hands on a perfect Red Stone of Aja, so we might be safe from Ultimate Lifeform Wesley, but…”
“But even then, Pillar People are no pushovers,” Fitz finishes, ignoring the accidental alliteration. Fortunately, Xander doesn’t acknowledge it either.
“And I’m pretty sure he’s got something up his sleeve, given how easily he played me.” The voice is only slightly bitter.
Awkwardly, Fitz pats his friend’s shoulder. “It will be difficult, certainly, but we’ve got this—after you rest a little. Pretender needs a recharge, I’m sure.”
Jojo settles in a little more. “Thanks for the reassurance, but that was just this side of tempting Murphy. Please don’t.”
“Actually, I was trying to reassure myself, given the Joestar track record with planes,” he corrects gently, but given the fact that the only reply he gets is quiet breathing, he’s not sure if his friend even heard that. Still, he can’t spare the brainpower to worry about that either as he drifts off to sleep.
Jojo's Bizarre Adventure/Buffy the Vampire Slayer AU
Chapter Summary: Fitz takes advantage of the travel time to ask Johan a few questions.
Word Count: 1342
Rating: Teen (Buffy|Jojo's level violence)
Note: HERE THERE PROBABLY BE BUFFY/JJBA SPOILERS.
In other circumstances, Fitz would have looked forward to a chance to fly. He doesn’t exactly have his pilot’s license on him, or any of his identification, really, but his decision to protect the youngest Joestar had been a bit of a hasty one, and he hadn’t really thought through any of it. Robin has much more recent experience, though, and he’s got a good understanding of the airspace, given the ease with which he throws together a flight plan and submits it. This time around, though, even when they’d switched from the helicopter to a more familiar plane, he’s grateful Robin’s the one behind the wheel, so to speak. He’s not sure when the man got rest, but he’s more chipper than the rest of them, most of whom have opted to nap in the cramped back of the plane.
Johan—Xander—is no exception, but despite his clear exhaustion and the advantage sleep brings him through his Stand’s affinity with dreams, he has yet to truly fall into any real kind of sleep for long. Even now, with the way he’d slumped over during his nap, he’s not really asleep.
If the blond was inclined to be a gambling man, he’d guess that Jojo is a little embarrassed his head ended up pillowed on Fitz’s shoulder. If it’d been anyone else, Fitz himself would have been highly uncomfortable, since usually he dislikes physical contact, but he supposes Johan is an exception for many things.
“Are you attempting to convince me or yourself that you’re asleep?” he whispers, trying to stay quiet so as to not wake the others.
After a few moments, there’s a yawn as Jojo mumbles, “Fake it ‘till you make it, right?”
Fitz has heard that sort of advice applied to, variously, insomnia, PTSD, and depression, albeit phrased differently. It makes sense, in its own way. “Sorry to disturb you,” he responds and goes back to the quiet, only to get an extremely gentle elbow to the stomach for his thoughtfulness.
“Don’t go back to all this polite, distant crap.” The hurt is muffled by the sheer exhaustion, but Xander powers through anyway. It’s oddly heartwarming, the fact that Jojo cares that much. “Something’s on your mind. What’s up?”
The blond takes a moment to think about the right phrasing. Normally, he wouldn’t, especially with the request to be more casual, but he’s tired too, and while speech is one of the things he can usually do even while severely exhausted, a fact that had certainly aided him in his sales position, thinking of the right words is difficult at the moment. “You’re worried. What should I know about this Wesley fellow?”
He feels rather than sees Johan still. “I didn’t think I was being that obvious.”\
Fitz smiles fondly, leaning back and resting his head against the metal behind him because keeping his eyes open is hard at the moment. “Your jokes are usually terrible, but they somehow get worse when you’re worried.” He seems to be taking the groans as encouragement, but he had been making Darling smile, and despite Fitz’s own wishes, he’s pretty sure his disapproval is overshadowed by his affection. It didn’t help that Robin had joined in, and he’s fairly certain Beefheart muttered a joke in German as she’d gone to sleep in the copilot’s chair, though her enunciation had certainly not been clear.
Xander seems to take that as a challenge. “Well, you’re doodling on your hands,” he points out.
It’s unlikely that from his angle Jojo can see his eyes widen in surprise as he stares tiredly up at the ceiling. It’s shocking that the man would have even noticed, let alone catalogued the habit, since he’d certainly washed it all off the first time they met and the only time he could have observed that bad habit was when they were at the hotel, back when Xander had thought him an enemy. “That’s more a…symptom of boredom than anything.”
The tired laugh is both amused and a little disbelieving, but from his next words Johan’s not going to call him on it. “Well, I’m afraid we’re all out of books for you to read.”
He might as well continue along in the same vein, if it’s going to be like that. “As an acceptable substitute…you’ll do.” Again, the huffed laugh says that the words are being taken as intended. “My eyes wouldn’t stay open to read anyway I’m afraid.”
“Well, if it’s stories you want, I might be able to provide, and maybe it’ll help us both drift off and actually be prepared for this next fight.” Ah. So he’s not just been evading the question. Fitz had wondered. “So, I told you a bit about the Watcher’s Council. The previous one. Wesley was…well, pretty representative of them, I guess. The good and the bad. He started out as the incompetent if naïve pencil-pusher, and the last I heard, he was a lot more cynical and willing to sacrifice anything for…well, we thought it was the common good.” The anger’s mere embers, dampened by his sheer fatigue, but it’s definitely present. “I w-i-s-h I’d come to you first, given how drawing his attention to all of this was definitely a terrible idea. I don’t know if he’s just trying to survive in a cutthroat—in the full meaning of the word—workplace or whether he’s just been corrupted, but…”
It’d be easy to say that Johan is the king of feeling guilty for absolutely no reason, but he’s unfortunately hardly the only one, and just telling him to stop and believing he would is foolish at best. Facts instead. “From what we’ve seen thus far, Wolfram & Hart has a good information network. It’s likely they would have found a lot of the details you freely gave them anyway, without your help. And as for what he’s doing with it, that’s certainly not on you. It’s not a character failing to trust.”
“I should’ve known not to trust him, and if I hadn’t, maybe he would’ve been stalled long enough for the stars to move out of alignment,” Jojo argues, convincingly enough that it’s clear he’s been thinking about this a lot.
“And what, it would have made more sense for you to trust the man who attacked your friends and kidnapped you?” He doesn’t really have any excuses, or at least, all feeble ones not worth mentioning. “I’m grateful, of course, but that seems like the more questionable decision to me. I wouldn’t describe your generous heart as a mistake, however.”
Johan lets out a gust of air—apparently he’d been holding his breath. “Fair enough. Okay, so he’s apparently pretty ruthless now, and is using a ritual to turn into a Pillar Man. In Mexico, probably in one of the pyramids, if I had to guess, though all they wrote down were coordinates. There are a couple volcanoes nearby, but I don’t know if we’ll be so lucky a second time around. I mean, the briefing from Mom didn’t mention W&H getting their hands on a perfect Red Stone of Aja, so we might be safe from Ultimate Lifeform Wesley, but…”
“But even then, Pillar People are no pushovers,” Fitz finishes, ignoring the accidental alliteration. Fortunately, Xander doesn’t acknowledge it either.
“And I’m pretty sure he’s got something up his sleeve, given how easily he played me.” The voice is only slightly bitter.
Awkwardly, Fitz pats his friend’s shoulder. “It will be difficult, certainly, but we’ve got this—after you rest a little. Pretender needs a recharge, I’m sure.”
Jojo settles in a little more. “Thanks for the reassurance, but that was just this side of tempting Murphy. Please don’t.”
“Actually, I was trying to reassure myself, given the Joestar track record with planes,” he corrects gently, but given the fact that the only reply he gets is quiet breathing, he’s not sure if his friend even heard that. Still, he can’t spare the brainpower to worry about that either as he drifts off to sleep.
