Work Text:
"Come on, just answer me already," Johnny mutters to himself as he stares at his phone on his lap. He picks it up and turns it on, booting up discord. He ignores most of his notifications as he scrolls through his Dms. He clicks on the user SoftNWet. Johnny groans when he sees that he's the last person to send a message. He sends another message.
Joekid1890: Hey I got off the plane. Where are you?
Johnny places his phone down and wheels forward. He does not want to be here when everyone else on the plane gets off.
His phone buzzes and Johnny snatches it, turning it back on.
SoftNWet: we're here dont worry
SoftNWet: r u still at the undocking place
Joekid1890: Yeah. Where else would I be?
SoftNWet: idk can u meet us at the luggage place
Johnny sighs.
Joekid1890: Yeah, sure, I'll meet you there.
Ugh. Why didn't that kid just give him his phone number instead of his discord? This would've been so much more simpler if he just had his number. It's weird enough that he has to spend a whole semester in Japan with his two new uncles and cousin, why don't they just add another layer of bizarre and refuse to give Johnny a number to call.
"Uh, pardon me sir?"
Johnny looks up and comes face to face with a random stranger.
"Can I help you?" Johnny says.
"I was just asking," the man begins, "do you want some help with your whe-."
"No. Leave me alone." Johnny glares at the other.
"Oh, alright." The other raises his hands. "I was just-."
"I don't care about your shitty excuses, just go." Johnny starts to leave.
"But-"
"Shut up." Johnny wheels away faster, hoping to lose the other in the crowd.
~~~~~
"We're meeting at the luggage pick up," Gappy says to his two dads.
"Okay," Yoshikage responds as he starts heading to the area.
"Hey Jojo, what does he look like again?" Josefumi follows the other adult.
"Uh well he's blonde, kinda has long hair, but it isn't that long by hair length in general," Gappy says, waving one hand around. "In the picture he sent me he wore a beanie, but I don't know if he's wearing that now. His eyes…. I think his eyes are blue. He also-."
"Don't you have a picture of him Josuke?" Yoshikage says. Gappy nods. "Then why don't you just show us a picture of him?"
"Oh. Oh, okay." Gappy scrolls up and looks for the selfie the two exchanged. After a few seconds of searching, he finds the picture he was looking for. "Here's the selfie." He clicks on the picture and shows Yoshikage and Josefumi. They inspect it thoroughly.
"Do you know what he's wearing?" Josefumi asks. Gappy shakes his head.
"Well that's going to be a problem, he looks like every other American in this airport," Yoshikage says.
"Well, he is, uh, in a wheelchair." Gappy mumbles.
"Ah." Yoshikage and Josefumi exchange looks.
"Well that makes things easier." Yoshikage continues to walk.
"Tell him we're coming," Josefumi says.
Gappy nods as his fingers fly over his digital keyboard.
~~~~~
Johnny arrives at the luggage revival place. Thankfully nobody else decided to be a good samaritan and offer Johnny a hand. God, it gets on his nerves when people do that. Johnny is perfectly capable of getting around. He doesn't need help, he can handle this just fine.
Johnny casually scans the suitcases and backpacks, looking for his bag. His phone buzzes and he checks it.
SoftNWet: we're heading over to the luggage claim thingie
SoftNWet: cant wait to see you :B
Johnny makes a face.
Joekid1890: Don't use that emoticon.
SoftNWet: ? you mean :B?
Joekid1890: Yes.
SoftNWet: why
Joekid1890: It's giving me homestuck flashbacks.
SoftNWet: whats homestuck
Joekid1890: God, I wish I was you. I'll tell you when we meet.
SoftNWet: k
Johnny looks up from his phone and spies his suitcase. Problem is it's moving away from Johnny. Johnny drops his phone and hurries over to the conveyor belt, trying to claim his bag before it disappears behind the curtain of rubber. Luckily for Johnny it doesn't move behind the curtain. Unluckily for him, someone else grabbed it and started to inspect it.
"Hey! Don't touch that!" Johnny yells as he heads over.
"Hm?" The other looks up. He looks back at the bag, then to Johnny. "Oh. This is yours?" He extends the bag to Johnny, his long brown hair shifting as he does so.
"Yes, and you have no right to be holding it." Johnny snatches it out of the others hand.
"Ah. I thought it was mine." The stranger says, his thick Italian accent prominent in his words.
"Yeah, sure. Whatever." He's just saying that because he was planning on stealing it.
The other hums as he eyes the conveyor belt. Johnny unzips his bag and checks inside, just in case. The stranger sticks a hand into his coat and retrieves a flask, taking a swig from it.
Johnny stares at it.
The other notices. "Want a sip?" He swings the drink over to Johnny.
"How the fuck did you sneak that onto a plane?!" Johnny says, dumbfounded.
The other shrugs and takes another sip from the flask. "I used magic."
"No you did not. Now tell me your secret."
The other shakes his head. "But a good magician never tells his secrets. Oh look, my bag." He grabs his luggage and swings it over his shoulder.
"Mhm, yeah. I can see that." Johnny checks his phone.
"I didn't catch your name." The other says.
"I didn't throw it."
"Then I'll throw mine. Gyro Zeppeli. And you?" The stranger- no, Gyro extends his hand.
"Johnny." He doesn't shake it.
Gyro lowers his hand. "It's good to see that people here have manners."
"Well I'm not from here."
"Then where are you from?"
Kentucky. "Hell."
Gyro smiles. "Does that make you a devil?"
"Sure, why not."
"So that's where you got your devilish charm," Gyro says with a wink.
Johnny groans. "That was the worst pun I've ever heard in my entire life."
"Aww, was it that bad?"
Johnny sees Gyro's frowning face. "...... Fine, it wasn't the worst thing I've heard."
Gyro's frown disappears. "I see. It's good to know I'm punny to you."
"Nevermind, that's the worst pun I've heard."
Gyro laughs. "You're fun. I like you."
Johnny crosses his arms. "Don't be so sure, everyone I know thinks I'm a bastard."
Gyro shrugs. "So? They're not me."
"You'll be the first person to like me."
"There's a first for everything Johnny." Gyro checks his watch. "Oh cazzo, I'm going to be late! Bye Johnny, it was nice meeting you." Gyro waves Johnny goodbye, and walks away.
Johnny watches him leave.
The only person in the world who likes him is some random Italian he met in a Japanese airport. That's a weird feeling.
Johnny turns back to his phone and boots up twitter.
He tweets:
Johnny's in weebland @Joekid1890:
Does anyone know a Italian guy named Gyro who's currently in Japan? I met him in an airport and I'd like to talk to him more. Hmu if you're him (and give me a selfie if you do, I'm not dealing with fakes).
[Below is an attached selfie of Johnny that he just took, a simple picture showing his face.]
~~~~~
Gappy arrives at the luggage pick up. He passes a long haired man who's clutching a flask.
"Wow, wonder how he snuck that through the plane staff," Yoshikage points to the long haired guy.
"He could've just bought it when he got here," Gappy says.
"True," Yoshikage responds.
"Hey, do you see Jonathan?" Josefumi looks around.
"Johnny," Gappy says.
"Johnny." Josefumi corrects himself.
"And no. I can ask him what he's wearing if you want."
"No, we can find him. How hard will it be?" Josefumi says.
"Apparently pretty damn hard. I can barely see anyone in this crowd." Yoshikage stands on his toes.
"Wow, did you forget your old man glasses at home?" Josefumi smirks.
"Shut up, I'm not even 40."
"That's practically ancient. Hey, Jojo," Josefumi taps Gappy, "back me up here."
"Hm?" Gappy looks up from his phone. ".... Oh. Oh yeah, Dad's real old. Boomer aged." Gappy goes back to texting Johnny.
SoftNWet: so youre near the conveyor belt thats close to mcdonalds?
Joekid1890: Yes. Come quick, I can feel myself dying of boredom.
SoftNWet: f
"Did he just call me a baby boomer?!" Yoshikage says as Josefumi loses it.
"Mhm," Gappy hums, barely paying attention.
SoftNWet: so r u wearing that beanie that was in ur selfie?
Joekid1890: What? What selfie?
SoftNWet: the one that we exchanged a little bit back
Joekid1890: You mean the blue one with stars?
SoftNWet: ye
Joekid1890: Then yes.
SoftNWet: bet
Gappy turns his phone off and starts searching for a blue hat.
"Stop laughing, I'm not that old!" Yoshikage says.
"I just,,,,,, I ca,,,,, It's just,,,," Josefumi wheeses.
"I'm only a few years older than you."
"Exactly what I mean. You're basically a neanderthal, practically a fossil." Gappy stands on his toes, trying to overlook the crowd.
"I'm disowning you," Yoshikage responds, sending Josefumi into another laughing fit. "I'm disowning Josuke, I'm getting a divorce with you," he points to Josefumi, "and you're going to take Josuke in the custody battle."
"Then you better pay child support old man." Gappy catches a streak of yellow on blue. "I think I found Johnny."
"And what are you waiting for?" Yoshikage asks.
Gappy looks at Josefumi, who's holding his side. "Dad."
"Y,,, you go on without me," Josefumi wipes a tear from his eye.
"No, I'm not going to lose you in this crowd. Josuke, go on ahead and wait for us." Yoshikage says.
Gappy nods as he approaches the yellow and blue hat he spied.
~~~~~
Johnny is going to die if Gappy doesn't find him soon. He's been waiting at this belt forever and he had to shoo away, like, 3 people. It's also extremely awkward just sitting in the way of luggage grabbers. And he needs a distraction from his phone. He keeps on checking it, hoping that the weird Italian interacted with him even though it's extremely unlikely he would've seen it.
Is that kinda weird? Asking the internet to help him find some random dude that he talked to for, like, 5 minutes at most?
……. Yeah a little bit.
But does Johnny care?
……. No, not really. If it means that he gets to talk to Gyro again, then Johnny could care less about how weird he was being.
Speaking of weird, some black haired teenager walked up to him. While wearing a sailor outfit. The kid waves. Johnny raises an eyebrow. That teen seems familiar.
"If you're here to try and help me you can buzz off," Johnny says.
"Uh, hello to you to. I don't think I can just buzz off, you don't know where our house is."
Wait a second. Johnny points at the kid "................ SoftNWet?"
"Oh are we using discord names?" SoftNWet cocks his head to the side. "Then hello Joe-"
"Johnny's fine." Johnny looks around. "Didn't you have dads that drove you here?"
"Yeah, but they're busy."
"With what?"
Gappy hesitates. "Stuff."
Johnny doesn't like that pause. "What stuff?"
"Stuff that's preoccupying them. Do you want me to push you?"
"I can do it myself."
"Okay, got it." Gappy starts reaching for Johnny's bag.
"Woah woah woah, wait a second." Johnny places a hand onto his bag.
Gappy's hand stops. "What? What's wrong?"
"Don't touch my bag. I can carry it fine."
"..... Okay then." Gappy stands there.
Johnny gives the kid a proper up and down.
This kid can't be any older than 18, but he isn't incredibly young for a teenager. Probably 16 or 17. He's pretty tall for a teen though, he looks about 6 and a half feet tall. That's probably an exaggeration, but he's still tall. He's wearing a sailor outfit, including the hat. In public. At least he customized it so it isn't as dorky as it could've been. He has heterochromia, that's pretty neat. There's one main things Johnny keeps on going back to: his star birthmark that's peeking out from his shirt.
Johnny places a hand on his own star birthmark. "So you really are a Joestar, huh," He says, more to himself than Gappy.
"Hm? Oh, you mean my birthmark?" Gappy reaches for his own. "Yeah, I got it from my dad. He says that he has his own birthmark like mine, but he doesn't really show it. I do though, I think it's cool."
"Everyone in the family has one." Johnny looks at Gappy differently. "It's weird, the Joestar family likes to keep in touch with each other, but I've never seen you in person before. I've only discorded you, and that started a few months ago."
Gappy shrugs. "We live in Japan. You live in America. That's probably why."
"Jotaro use to live in Japan, that isn't it…." Maybe it's his uncles? Did they feel weird about talking to them or something?
……. Did everyone just exclude them for who they are?
Johnny's thoughts were interrupted by two older men walking up next to Gappy.
"Oh, hey dads. Found Johnny." Gappy says, glancing at the two.
The older one nods. "Good. Gappy, pick up Joey's bags," The pompadour one says.
"It's Johnny," the American mutters.
"Johnny's bag," the pomp guy corrects himself.
"Johnny said he wanted to carry it himself," Gappy says.
"Then, uh, help him out some other way."
"I'm fine. What would help me if I knew your name." Johnny responds with.
"Oh. Well, my name's Josefumi, and that one's Yoshikage, or Kira. I'm sure you already met Josuke."
"Yeah, I did. Can we just head to your place?" Johnny doesn't want to do all this formality stuff while in the middle of a plane station.
"Sure, we'll show you to the car. Do you need help, ooorrrrr….." Josefumi extends his or, waiting for a response.
Johnny places his hands on his wheels. "Or what?"
"Or nothing, lets just leave." Kira says. He turns on his heels and starts to weave through the crowd. The other three follow, trying their best to keep up with each other.
While walking, Gappy says something. "Hey, what's homestuck?"
Without hesitation, Johnny immediately says "Purgatory."
Gappy snorts. "Okay, but what is it really?"
"A webcomic. It's about the end of the world, aliens, and a whole lot of confusion."
"I see." Gappy focuses back to the thinning crowd.
"Okay, you three wait here, I'll go grab the car," Kira says, not breaking his stride.
"Wait, hold up," Josefumi stops him. "Do you remember where you parked it?"
"Yeah, it's in section B or something, right?"
Josefumi sighs. "You're nowhere near close. Let me go with you, it'll take much less time if I tagged along."
"Sure." Kira continues to walk.
"Bye," Gappy waves as the two adults walk out the sliding doors.
Johnny feels his phone buzz, and he checks it. Oh nice, a twitter notification. He checks it.
Hot Pants @CreamStarter
Replying to @Joekid1890
Do you make all of your acquaintances in airports?
Oh. It isn't Gyro, but it's still Hot Pants, so that's better than nothing.
Johnny's in weebland @Joekid1890
Replying to @CreamStarter
No, you shut your up hp.
Hot Pants @CreamStarter
Replying to @Joekid1890
The fact that we met in an airport isnt helping your case.
Johnny's in weebland @Joekid1890
Replying to @CreamStarter
Oh wow, I suddenly can't read.
Johnny's phone vibrates as it shows Johnny a new notification. Someone replied to his original tweet, someone new. Maybe it's Gyro. He clicks on it, a small flicker of hope in his chest.
Go!Go!Zeppeli! @ballcrusher
Replying to @Joekid1890
I'm hitting you up
[Below is an attached picture of Gyro in the dark. His flash is on, and he's flashing a peace sign. It's a bit hard for someone to see Gyro's face, but his hat is visible and so are his notable cheek markings.]
Holy shit, it was Gyro. Johnny went to his profile and followed him immediately. Oh hey, Gyro was already following him, nice. He clicks on the letter icon and quickly types up a message.
Johnny: Holy shit, that was fast. I didn't expect to get a response this soon.
Gyro: I didn't expect you to be searching for me or to be following you
Gyro: Are my jokes just that irresistible ;p
Johnny: Don't push your luck, I can feel myself starting to regret this.
Gyro: :(
Gyro: But who else will hear my jokes?
Johnny: I don't know. Maybe some other guy who you met in an airport that confused your bag with his?
Gyro: Yeah but it won't be the same
Johnny feels like someone's watching him. He turns his head and finds that Gappy was reading over his shoulder. "What the- Hey!" The older man shouts, turning off his phone.
"What? What's wrong?"
"You were looking over my shoulder!"
Gappy blinks. "And?" He cocks his head to the side.
"I don't want you to look at my stuff. Would you like it if I looked over your shoulder while you were on your phone?"
Gappy shrugs. "I wouldn't mind it. It's just my phone."
Johnny rolls his eyes. "Well I mind. Don't do it."
"Okay, I won't." Gappy takes out his own phone and starts fiddling with it. Johnny turns back to his phone.
Gyro: So why are you here in Japan
Johnny: For school.
Gyro: Oh me two. I'm guessing you go to a college?
Johnny: Yeah, I'm from Speedwagon Foundation University and I'm heading over to the Steel Ball University.
Gyro: :O
Gyro: Me two! I'm going to that college also
Johnny: Oh damn, what a coincidence.
Gyro: Hey, you know what we should do?
Gyro: We should meet up and talk about college stuff
Gyro: How does that sound?
Johnny: That sounds like a nightmare.
Johnny: When and where?
Gyro: How about Wednesday?
Gyro: I'll pick you up
Johnny: Oh wow, ominous. That sounds like you're going to kill me.
Gyro: What?!
Gyro: No, I'm not going to kill you :(
Johnny: I'm joking. That sounds good.
Gyro: Great, it's a date
Johnny smiles. Maybe Japan won't be as bad as he thought it was going to be.