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Glowing green neon lights flashed like lightening with the rumbles of seven bikes following as the group shot down the bridge they were driving on like bullets. A purple and black bike was the first to shoot forward, taking over as leader of the pack. Racing toward their destination, to Jojo there was no better feeling than the wind blowing on his face and through his hair or peeling out loudly before shooting off on Vingo's Kawasaki H2r motorcycle. Now favoring his friend's bike over his own since he was gone. One would think two years would be plenty of time to bury one's demons, but lately they seemed to be threatening to swallow him whole. Old wounds ripping open allowing all the raw emotions to bleed freely and fuck up his life. Jojo snarled softly at the thought, revving the engine again, just trying to focus on the freeing feeling riding gave him. He had to get his head right if he was going to be of any help on the job tonight anyway. Yzerr was already on him about how he needed to take extra care, so he was eager to prove himself and what better way to do such a thing then meet up with good friends and steal some pretty, shiny things along with bands of cash.     Red and Turquoise beads were the first thing that caught the group's attention as they pulled up and got off their motorcycles. "Yzerr-san" the man wearing the beaded braids greeted as he walked up dragging his beloved metal baseball bat behind him. "Good to see you and your crew" he smiled widely; the expression was something Yzerr assumed was supposed to come off as friendly but even as polite as the other was, there was always something a bit creepy and off about him when he was around. "Anarchy-sama has been waiting! And I'm ready to play"     "With what? Nothing but that bat" Yzerr inquired with a raised brow. "Gonna need more than that right?" he smiled good naturedly at Red Eye. Was the other really serious about only using a bat as a weapon when they were going up against one of their rival gangs in town. "And how many times have I told you to lay off the honorific bullshit, it's weird..."  he made a face before being attacked from behind by Jojo coming to hang on him.      "Second nature, I know how to address my superiors" Red Eye replied shrugging with an eye roll. Yzerr was such a strange person, he sometimes wondered how he held command over his crew with such lackadaisical and stupid attitude.       The comment caused Jojo to burst out laughing. "Since when is Yzerr superior in anything? he inquired with giggles erupting non-stop from his lips as he spoke. "He can't even cook, or stitch someone up...and he's terrible at cards!" he let out a dramatic gagging noise when Yzerr playfully put him in a headlock. "You have to be nice to me!! Yzerr!!!" he flailed around making everyone in the group laugh.     "I only get zero respect when I have a snot nosed child around me" Yzerr complained messing up Jojo's bun before letting him go. "Where's your Boss man, we gotta figure out tonight." Red Eye pointed up the stairs to his left before mentioning to knock on the first door of the hallway.     "He's lying, none of us respect him." Benjazzy laughed blowing smoke from his cigarette into the air ignoring the middle finger from Yzerr aimed in his direction as he left to talk over the plan with Anarchy.     "Well looks like we're here for a while so better make ourselves comfortable" Bark remarked pulling out a joint and lighting it as he relaxed into the plush red couch underneath him.      "Hey! Puff, puff pass, Bark!" Pato complained beckoning the other to pass the joint in his direction. "If we're making ourselves comfortable... do you happen to have some snacks?"     "Does this look like a blunt? I ain't sharing with you! Back off!" Came the offended complaint making Jojo laugh with a smile as Red Eye made a face glancing from his friend to his crew who sat bickering about nothing. "And you don't need any snacks! We just ate!"     "Are you sure smoking is wise, when we're about raid our enemy’s stash house?" Red Eye commented in the most judgmental fashion he could muster. What type of company did Jojo keep? Was he going to have to spend half the night keeping tabs on everyone just to get the job done. "Shouldn't you keep all your wits about you? I'm there to play whack a mole with my enemies not babysit." he scoffed when Bark blew smoke in his direction.     "You're a pretentious asshole aren't you..." Bark stared the other down moving to say more when Jojo got between them.     "High is Bark's natural state of being....so really it's fine....this is fine...everything is fine" The black haired man excuses flapping his hands slightly in annoyance at the bickering only to jump about 12 feet in the air when someone tapped him on the shoulder. "Can you not?!" he whipped around looking put out at the newcomer about to say something when Bark's protests interrupted.      "See if anything you should be worried about babysitting Jojo! He's twitchy as hell and doesn't know how to keep his blood inside his body...." there was a loud smack followed by more of Bark's complaints as he flopped back down in his spot on the couch. "I ain't saving you now Jojo...you're mean" he smirked watching the other roll his eyes.     "I don't twitch Bark!! I have seizures!" Jojo complained deciding to just flat out attack his friend as he laid on the couch. Flopping on Bark trying to smother him into the pillows before the other retaliated by tickling. "Shut up!!"      "What do you think a seizure is Kid?!" Bark wheezed laughing finally pinning Jojo under him. "ya done?" the two seemed completely obvious to the stares from everyone around them.      "These people are who you let raise Jojo?" Red Eye remarked as he watched the antics play out of the group. "Our mission tonight is doomed..." he eyed the man next to him who'd all been ignored by the group because of the current teasing.     "So it would seem, I think his father would be pleased with the decision." The black-haired man replied with a smirk and a twinkle in his eye about the whole playful situation in front of him. The last time he saw Jojo he was about three feet tall and covered from head toe with blood and sobbing because his entire world was destroyed. It was nice to see that things had ended up okay in the end. He pushed himself up from leaning next to Red Eye to go attempt to introduce himself again.     Jojo was currently hanging upside down half off the couch trying to kick Bark when he suddenly had long black hair smacked in his face from Fuji Trill peering over to get his attention. "Can I help you?" he inquired his tone a bit sassier then he meant it to come out as he stuck a foot in Bark's face, unwilling to let up picking on his friend for the sake of conversation.     "I use to change your diapers, it's nice to finally meet you all grown up." the man remarked with a smile not expecting the comment to make Benjazzy spit out his wine while the rest of the group erupted in laughter again. Jojo looked slightly disturbed as if trying to figure out if the other was joking or serious...why was this night starting off weird. "I used to work for your dad, my name is Fuji."      Jojo tried to flip himself around only managing to fall off the couch and smack his head with a 'ow' "What kind of weird people do you know Red Eye?" he asked watching Fuji closely unsure of what he thought about this new person that was apparently a link from his past. He honestly didn't remember much of how he came to be with Yzerr, and his crew let alone what became of his parents. "The only parent I know is Yzerr and he kinda sucks at it." he rubbed his head wincing. "Nice to meet you though." he smiled shyly     "What are we, chop liver?!" Pato complained raising a brow, "We helped! That's why you turned out to not be such a gremlin..." he stuffed his mouth full of the peanuts that were on the table. "I'm just glad we missed diaper duty" he decided it was best not to bring up the time Jojo and the dog had gotten mad at Yzerr and peed on his stuff. Jojo might attack him next if he was bringing up stuff like that and he didn't really want smelly feet or a sharp knife in his face.     "I don't know which is worse, diapers or dealing with the fact Jojo's really good at projectile puke" Bark complained before having Jojo drop his entire body weight on top of him. "Your ass is bony!! I'm only speaking the truth!! You damn sure can't hold your liquor and as a kid you had this gross habit of picking up every sick..." he was cut off by a pillow to the face with Yzerr and Anarchy rounding the corner just in time to see Jojo trying to murder his friend for what seemed like the billionth time.        Yzerr's eye visibly twitched watching what was going on in front of him. Red Eye just shrugged at him before turning back to watch Fuji try to pry Jojo off Bark. "Why are you always so aggressive, save it for the bad guys!" Yzerr scolded coming over and grabbing the younger man by the ear.      "Aren't we the bad guys?" Pato remarked looking deep in thought about the statement. "You know, five finger discount, drugs and all that." he shrugged while slowly moving to get up off the couch figuring they were about ready to head out.     Yzerr opened his mouth for a moment before closing it and opening it one more time trying to think of a good come back. "We are entrepreneurs just taking care of the competition" he replied with a shrug ignoring Jojo who was flipping him off. "You know, we're trying to make a good impression here."     "I don't think I'm above some playful banter" Anarchy remarked wearing a playful smirk watching Jojo smack Yzerr a second time before stuffing his hearing-aid back in his ear that the other had managed to pull out. "Bark-san is expendable right?" he laughed when the comment made Bark glare now in his direction. "it's all in good fun? What's smothering one another with pillows amongst friends?"     "For your information, no one would save him if I let Jojo just off me" Bark protested as he was tugged up by Jojo, "yeah...yeah..I'm coming Kid, don't pull my arm off..." he allowed the younger man to tug him along in a huff as they followed the rest of the group outside to their bikes. Plan in hand and the revving of motorcycles Red Eye let out a cry of excitement as he held on for dear life to Jojo as he took off down the road again.       It went from excitement to dread in an instant when they pulled up to the old looking, broken down house. Close enough to get a good look at the area but not be seen. A weird feeling of deja vu passed over Jojo as he almost unconsciously pulled out his butterfly knife, flipping it in the usual absurdly flashy fashion in an odd attempt to self sooth as he stared hard at the house they were about to be entering. It had a strange, familiar feeling that he couldn't puzzle out why. He'd never been here before so why did it feel like it was burned into his memory? Deep in thought, Jojo didn't hear someone creeping up on him. A hand reaching out to touch his shoulder, making him jump out of his skin when he was jarred from his thoughts.     "Whoa, easy Jojo!" Yzerr hissed almost becoming a kabob when the other moved to attack him from being startled. "It's just me! What the hell?"     "What do you mean 'What the hell, Yzerr?' you scare the shit out of me and expect to not get almost stabbed?!"     "I didn't think you were holding your knife" Yzerr protested at his clearly put out, snippy friend. "You looked a little lost, so I just wanted to make sure things were okay" he pulled him close into a hug whether the other wanted it or not.     Jojo fussed, grumbling that Yzerr was embarrassing him. He could hear Red Eye's soft chuckle, smiling at the pair before his ears perked and he stared at the house in question again, hearing movement. "Yzerr, if you don't wanna be the first one to lose blood tonight...I suggest you let me go." he complained, making a dramatic grossed out face when the other kissed the side of his head before shoving him off slightly toward the house with Red Eye. "You already kissed my head! I'm fine, what is it a crime to sit and think for a minute...your brother gave me brain damage you know..."     Yzerr ignored the comment about his brother, not wanting to think about any of the past shit when they were here putting their necks out for a job. "Yah..yah...go put those knife skills to good use and get bloody so we can break in without getting found out right away." he ordered smirking, amused by Jojo's eye roll before he stalked off with his friend to take out the first people they found. Yzerr was still slightly worried how the night would turn out, it'd been a while since Jojo was out on a job with them, for good reason, but so far everything seemed to be going as normal as it ever did. He lit a cigarette while waiting patiently for the two to come back, probably covered in blood, to tell them the coast was clear. It didn't take long to see the two bodies drop to the ground from where he was standing with the rest of the group as Red Eye and Jojo checked around to make sure no one else was coming out before making it back to where Yzerr stood. "All clear, kids?"     Red Eye was already covered head to toe in blood; looking oddly mischievous before holding up one of the thug's severed heads with a dumb grin plastered on his face. "I donno, ask him Yzerr-san" he mused laughing at the horrified looks on everyone's faces before using the head as a glorified baseball for his bat. "Oh, come on I'm no worse than any horror movie, and look at your precious Jojo, he's covered in blood too..." Yzerr vaguely heard Anarchy let out a heavy sigh before swatting his underling and pointing at the house and walking off with a cigarette still smoldering from his lips.     "Boy I'm glad he's on our side...." Bark commented rubbing his throat exchanging glances with Benjazzy who simply shrugged seeming mostly unphased, to him it was just business, and it was about to be good once they got rid of their competition.     "That...is gonna give me nightmares..." Pato muttered looking over his shades at Yzerr. "What a shit show this is...." he walked off as well assuming the rest of the group would follow.      Yzerr groaned, flicking the end of his cigarette on the ground while trying to get the image out of his head before regarding Jojo for a moment. Eyes scanning to see the none of the blood he was painted in seemed to be his; yet. "You're way too calm for that...doesn't it bother you?" he questioned his face looking slightly pale, his stomach doing a flip flop which was the last thing he needed right now. "You have terrible taste in friends I'll have you know..." he offered a sly smile trying to joke with his friend.     "What does that say about you then Yzerr?" Jojo mocked with a mischievous grin before his eyes fell on the blood that had soaked through his hoodie and covered his hands. Intrusive thoughts starting to consume his brain when he needed to stay focused. Somehow it was digging up every forgotten, horrible memory and making this kind of job hardly enjoyable like it used to be. "Once you have one of your best friend's brains all over your face everything else seems like child's play" he took off without another word wanting to just get things over with so he could go home, smoke and chill with Henny.     "Sorry I said anything..." Yzerr murmured taken back by the sudden change of demeanor Jojo just displayed. Following quickly after the other wanting to make sure he stayed okay. Jojo had been stuck in his head for the last few days so Yzerr had hoped getting out and doing something with the crew might change his disposition but so far it seemed to only make things worse even though he'd been fine when they were back at Anarchy's hideaway.      Jojo was never one for casual violence in the first place, so clearing room by room felt like more of a chore than anything else as the deja vu feeling hit him again in the form of a more intense flashback as he eyed the door to the basement stairs where Bark and Red Eye beckoned him to follow them. Walking down the stairs slowly, allowing himself to take in every little detail of the stairwell that led down to a dingey, dark room. Only to have his brain suddenly feel fuzzy; like he was outside his body making him misstep the last stair and land on Bark.     "What would you do without me Jojo, I swear" Bark scolded his voice hushed still unsure if they were alone. The basement of some sketchy ass house was the last place he felt like being jumped. "Now might be a good time to pay attention instead of being in your pretty boy brain." he poked Jojo in the forehead before making sure the other man was steady on his feet again before following Red Eye to check one of the rooms for anyone lurking.      Jojo scoffed, he was doing his best, what did Bark know? Letting out a soft sigh, his eyes wondering the dimly lit room. Everything seemed out of place. He would have assumed they would have some semblance of organization if they were dealing out of this house, but everything was thrown everywhere, stacks of money strewn about joined with broken glass from alcohol bottles, pills scattered with other drugs littering the floor. "Fuck… it's a trap!" Someone had clearly beaten them to the punch and now Bark and Red Eye might be in danger. Knife in hand, stumbling slightly as he rushed to the next room over to find both of his friends on the floor, out cold. "Bark...wake up...Are you okay?" Jojo dropped to the ground to shake the other, hoping to get him up after noticing the blood dripping from his nose and the side of his head.      "Well, this looks strangely familiar, doesn't it?!" A click of a gun with a voice that was burned into Jojo's memory, yet he couldn't place the name if he tried. "Should we spatter another of your friend's blood on the floor, Twerp?!" He couldn't believe his luck, being bored paid off when he ended up getting to see his favorite plaything. "Get up, let me see your cute face" The knife in his face excited him as he allowed Jojo to pin him to the near-by wall. "Hi Jojo, I missed you" he put the barrel of his gun to Jojo's forehead leaning into the blade at his neck, blood dripping down staining his clothes.     Jojo glared at the person he had pinned in front of him. Still trying to puzzle out why he'd be so familiar. The blonde braids and tacky style but he still couldn't puzzle out a name or a reason to even go with it. The person in front of him just felt bad and almost dangerous. "Why?" was the only logical thing he could blurt out looking almost annoyed. This person was nothing but an enemy, getting in their way and was about to end up a blood smear on the floor for threatening Bark and Red Eye. "I don't know you, and I don't care to...do you have any other lame ass last words?"      The blond smirked, yes this is exactly what he wanted. He was glad the other hadn't seemed to change too much. Still fiery, head-strong and now apparently a little slow to catch up. His tongue cut the same that lovely knife of his. "That scarf around your head says otherwise, pretty Jojo." he commented tapping on the silk scarf tied around Jojo's head. Blood stains still apparent on the fabric from when Vingo was shot in the head. "Taking up your friend Vingo's tacky style? Really, it's a cute look. I like it." he smirked watching the other faulter, looking deep in thought and yet there seemed to be a strange change that he couldn't quite put his finger on when he noticed the other blinking several times in a row while the hand holding his knife seemed to twitch almost cutting deeper than intended. "Don't you still remember how it happened?" his grin widened seeing Jojo's sudden realization finally hit him. "What up, I'm Lex...we met here before it's nice you'd come back to visit me" he used Jojo's shock of the whole situation to get the upper hand again. Shoving him away as hard as he could but not before snatching the beloved scarf off Jojo's head.          "Give it back!!!" Jojo screamed not giving a care to how loud his voice was. His eyes held murderous intent, the second he got a hold of Lex he was going to gouge out his eyes and make him eat them for daring to show his face again let alone hurting more of his friend's and trying to take what little he had left of Vingo from that day.      The blonde kept cackling, finding the whole situation amusing as he waved the scarf near Jojo's face. "It's waiting for you~ I'm just holding it for safe keeping." Lex remarked with a dumb grin that Jojo was ready to wipe off his face. "Wouldn't want you to get more blood on it." he stood back letting the hand holding his gun drop to the side as if he wasn't interested in retaliation if Jojo tried to take the scarf back. Lex was banking on the fact Jojo would make a mistake with his over-emotional rage. He still wasn't exactly sure what he even wanted to do with the kid as it was. With two of his annoying friends around, there was sure to be the rest of the group as well which left Lex no way to get Jojo to come have a slumber party...yet...but that didn't mean he wasn't going to kill some time fucking with his favorite Twerp instead. He could be patient and wait for the perfect time to snatch him from his precious Yzerr again.     Jojo was quickly on the attack, slashing at Lex with his butterfly knife. "Stay still you asshole!" he yelled as the blonde twirled after jumping away. "Lex! Give it back to me!" he managed to stab Lex in shoulder hoping it would get him to drop the scarf only to end up on the floor himself, his leg's giving out with spasms while his arm started twitching on its own again causing his knife to clatter to the floor. "Not...now..." he held his head feeling the worst headache coming on.     "You know, I like hearing those words come out of your mouth, say it again." Lex cooed looming over Jojo, a curious look on his face. The other seemed to be in pain and yet for once it wasn't from him. "You look like you're having a problem, is that why your aim is so shitty?" He brushed the sweaty hair out of Jojo's face. He looked out of it; his eyes moving slowly to hold eye contact with Lex “You look a little stressed, maybe a drink would fix you up" he had noticed a half empty bottle of Hennessy earlier and grabbed it from the table Jojo was leaning against. "Henny hits pretty good, remember" he popped the cork and dumped the remaining liquor on the barely conscious man.     "Leave him alone!!" Came an unexpected screech that knocked the wind out of Lex's body as a blood covered baseball bat came down on his back. He swore he heard a rib or two crack as he laid on the dirty floor for a moment trying to come back to himself while listening to Jojo's friend fuss over the boy.      "Fuccccck...." Lex groaned, spitting up blood. It was hard to breathe and the wound from Jojo was finally throbbing now the blow. "I thought I killed you, unfortunately not I guess." he sat up to stare at Red Eye noticing the other looking crazed and probably planning to attack again. "All I wanted to do was enjoy my handy work for a minute and see what happens next, but you had to come and fuck it up. SO; I guess I'll take my leave." he slowly got up, being sure to keep his gun pointed at the two as if daring them to try something while he made his escape. "See you soon Jojo. I promise I'll take good care of Vingo's scarf, we're gonna have a party together while we wait for you." he blew the other a kiss while shaking the scarf before darting to the best of his ability to the stairs and up them. Not daring to stop running until the surprised shouting did and he was out of the house and into the safety of the woods.     Jojo looked like a deer in headlights, tears streaming down his face as he stared at the space that had been occupied by Lex before he took off. "No... come back..." he whimpered weakly reaching out a hand to no one in particular. "You can't take it...you have to bring it back." he squirmed away from Red Eye, who was trying to comfort him, moving to get up only to fall back with dizziness.     "You just stay put, I'll get your friends..." Red Eye scolded with a frowned knowing this situation was a little out of his realm of comfort and best left to be delt with by family. "You're okay...I'll get help" he moved to get up to find the rest of the crew and by the time he got back, Bark had things sorta taken care of with Jojo curled up next to him, sobbing.     "Did Jojo fucked up your face Bark?" Benjazzy teased crouching down to their level unsure of what to make of Jojo's odd behavior until the other seemed to panic the second Yzerr came into view.      "Make Pablow go away..." Jojo whimpered hiding the best he could against Bark and Benjazzy, making everyone turn and stare at their Leader. It had been a long time since Jojo had been in that bad a place that he'd mistaken Yzerr for his twin leaving them all to wonder what had just gone down in the basement that had clearly set him off in the worst way. "I have to go...he took it...I have to get Vingo back!"     "Hey...Pablow isn't here or even alive anymore, remember" Benjazzy stated firmly hopping to get through to him. Watching the other close as Jojo dared to look at Yzerr again. Tattoos, braided hair, and sad eyes that seemed upset that he was hurting...nothing that looked like how Pablow was the last time Jojo saw him. Yet it didn't make him any more comfortable with the other man being so close. "You're stuck with us; you can't go anywhere just yet. We're the ones taking stuff, using our five-finger discount as Pato put it. You're not making sense Kid." he sighed slightly worried he might have hit his head, moving to check him over. "Who took what?"     "No you have to fix Bark first!" Jojo protested shaking his head and shoving Benjazzy away. "You have to fix Bark, Benjazzy and then we have to go find him! He stole Vingo!" he let out a loud sigh feeling like no one was listening to him before it seemed to finally dawn on him that he was soaked through with the Hennessy Lex had dumped on him. "I have to change my clothes then I can murder him." he nodded his head to no one in particular.     "Clearly you've been drinking, or twitching on the floor, I'm guessing the latter of the two." Bark commented, knowing Jojo tended to panic if he saw any of them bleeding from an injury. And the fact the other's words seemed extra jumbled which screamed seizure. It was best they wrap up this fun and head for home to relax and kick back. "Normally I have to clean you up, so I think it's only fair you give me a Band-Aid or two first." he hugged Jojo close for reassurance that he wasn't going anywhere. "If anything, you can let me drink out of your shirt and we'll roll a fat blunt and be fine. They finish up the rest of the work gettin the loot together, sound good Jojo?"     "I twitched, so I couldn't get it back..." Jojo mumbled rubbing his eyes and snuggling close, still refusing to let Benjazzy get a good look to see if he was hurt any worse than he was letting on. "Are you sure? What about Lex? I have to get Vingo's scarf back...it's all I have left Bark, why would he do that to me?" he finally broke down again into a loud sob and in that moment wanting nothing more than Vingo to come back to crack a stupid joke or tell him things would be okay. "I just want Vingo! This isn't fair!" it felt like he had less than nothing of his friend now.     "Well yeah, no wasting good Henny, that alcohol abuse" Bark joked running his hand through Jojo's hair to try to calm him. "I know, you miss him, we'll get it back...we'll of course help you..." he was interrupted by an angry voice cutting into his attempts at soothing his upset friend.     "Absolutely fucking not, Jojo!" Yzerr snapped before he could stop himself. "Are you telling me that fucked up, blond haired nut was here, and you didn't kill him?"      "Why are you being mean?" Jojo whimpered staring up at Yzerr with tears still streaming down his face. "I was trying, I didn't even know it was him!"     "You forgot the person who tried to kill you, who literally shot Vingo in front of you?!"     "I literally just forget you're not Pablow, so why are you so fucking surprised, Yzerr?" Jojo shot back putting his head in his hands trying to stop crying. This was all stupid...he wanted to be anywhere but here. He felt horrible and getting yelled at wasn't helping.     "Are you trying to make him have another seizure?!" Pato interrupted standing up between them, he knew the very thought of Lex anywhere near Jojo freaked Yzerr out but that wasn't a good reason to lash out at the kid the way he was. "Shut the fuck up, Yzerr!"     "He took that scarf so Jojo will be an overly emotional wreck when he attacks to get it back. He'd be easy to over-power again." Yzerr snapped as Bark felt Jojo's body tense against him. Everything about the situation was setting him off worse the more Yzerr ranted. "I almost lost him once; I'm not doing this again." he shook his head as Jojo moved to stand again despite Benjazzy and Bark's protests. "Sit down Jojo, you're not going anywhere"     "I'll do what I damn well please! All you're doing is running your mouth and I'm sick of it!" Jojo shouted having flipped out his knife and had it now pointed at Yzerr. A fiery look of determination in his eyes at overhearing the other talk over him like his feelings didn't matter once again. So much for leaving things in the past, it seemed like Yzerr was in his corner when everything was easy, but he felt let down again now that things were back to being messy. He took a few shaky steps forward, trying to decide if he should run or just flat out attack the other. "You won't stop me, and I don't need your help, so just get out of my way"     "You're an idiot, it's clearly a trap like I said, and we have work to finish here anyway." Yzerr sighed trying to look as non-threatening as he could, unsure of how to take Jojo pointing his weapon at him. “Please just stay here where it’s safe.”      Jojo looked taken back, feeling so unimportant to the one person who told him he'd have his back through anything. "Vingo is more important than any drugs or money" he sobbed loudly, rushing forward at Yzerr moving to stab him if he didn't jump out of the way. He just needed a break from them all to collect his spinning thoughts, he didn’t understand why the other didn't seem to care Lex had taken something so precious. "You're just like you're Brother. I hate you." he took off, back up the stairs as fast as he could go.     Seeing that everyone seemed to be in shock of what had just happened, Benjazzy took it upon himself to chase after Jojo. Catching up to the other as he got on Vingo's bike outside. "Jojo! Hey, come back and we'll talk this out." he offered, worried for his friend. "I know you don't feel good, and it's not safe for you to be driving so come back with me." he held out a hand frowning when all Jojo did was revved the engine at him. "Don't be like that...I don't want you to get more hurt, let me help you." he moved to grab Jojo off the bike since it seemed he wanted to be stubborn about things.     "Don't touch me!" Jojo snapped lashing out with his knife, slicing Benjazzy in the arm before peeling off down the driveway into the night.      Benjazzy stood stunned; blood oozing from the open wound, dripping onto his shirt, pants, and the ground. He didn't even realize the others had come outside to join him in trying to calm their friend down before he did something stupid. "Holy shit, you're bleeding..." Pato commented as Benjazzy kept staring where Jojo had left from, his stomach in knots full of worry for the other. Was he going home? Was he going to figure out where Lex was? There was no real way to figure out where Jojo might end up. "He's not stupid we'll let him blow off some steam...he's got his phone we'll give him a ring Jaz..." Pato frowned when the other didn't answer to anything he was saying. "Benjazzy?"     "This is your fault!!" Benjazzy holler turning on heel the second he saw Yzerr and throwing a punch in his face. "If he gets hurt because of you...." Yzerr snarled, glaring at Benjazzy while he held his bleeding nose. "Right now, you deserve every bit of that Kid's hate."     "I do?! For what, trying to keep him safe from that Monster?"     "We are supposed to be helping him, Yzerr!! He already lost Vingo and as much as I fucking hate that scarf, he needs it! Yelling at him is just gonna get him to do some stupid shit without us!" Benjazzy was not about to back down from the situation, advancing on Yzerr again ready to knock him to the ground.     "Alright that's enough, none of this is helping anything!" Bark yelled getting in between the two before Yzerr had a chance to retaliate further and Benjazzy bled everywhere. "You get your ass back in the house and get our shit I'm gonna fix Benjazzy...and then go find Jojo." he ignored the huff their Leader let out at being told off as Yzerr stormed back into the trap house to finish what they started.----     'Just a few more miles' Jojo kept repeating to himself as he drove as fast as the bike would go. Ignoring the red lights in the far distance that had given up chasing him for speeding and not even thinking if any of his friends were following. He couldn't stop until he got where he was going, if he could even make in time before he crashed the bike because his brain wanting to go haywire again. "Bucks will save me..." he slurred to only himself as he rounded the corner into his friend's driveway, hoping they would even be awake at this hour.     The revving of a motorcycle struck Bucks as odd as he worked on getting the house settled and back in order for night before bed. He and his nephews had been doing their usual Saturday night pizza, video games and getting fucked up and they weren't expecting company, especially at this hour. So why was someone trying to clearly get their attention with their motorcycle? "Slowboy! do me a favor and cover me while I figure out what that noise is about." he called pulling out a gun from the drawer in the coffee table before heading out to the front of the house with Slow following after him also holding a weapon. What they found however was not what they were expecting, the bike was still running, perfectly parked while its owner looked like they had dropped where they stood and were currently choking on something. "Shit, roll Jojo on his side" the order was barked out with the two scrambling after figuring out who was on the ground. The last thing they wanted was for Jojo to die from choking on spit and puke as they rolled him over, Bucks choosing to ignore the fact he'd now been basically spit up on as they got the kid to breathe. "Hey, you good? Jojo, open your eyes and look at me..." he felt in a slight panic, wishing the sight of all this got easier instead of harder every time Jojo was in this condition. It didn't take long for them to figure out after Jojo's run in with Lex and Pablow that it had clearly fucked up his brain in a way they probably couldn't fix. Dealing with his outbursts of emotions were one thing but the worst of it seemed to be the addition of seizures. Diamond had her guesses as to why from the bits of what happened she could get out of Jojo but she hadn't seem to figure out how to get them under control just yet and it seemed Jojo decided to show up on his doorstep with some dramatic flair; as if they needed that before bed.     Tears had already started as Slow helped Bucks to get the Kid sitting upright against them. "I'm sorry..." Jojo blurted out his voice sounding a bit raspy from choking on his own spit. "I'm so sorry..." he held his head, everything hurt now and this was not how he was hoping his night was going to go as he rested his head against Bucks's shoulder unable to hold it up.     "Don't cry Jojo, we'll take care of you" Slow offered with a smile, turning off the bike and grabbing the key before helping Bucks get his friend into the house. "What in the world happen to you? Rough night that you reak like Henny on top of a seizure?" Slow whined when Bucks smacked him for the comment.     "Two...that was the second one Slow..." Jojo answered with a frown as he started to come back to himself a bit more. He felt like he could sleep for days, but certainly not in blood and booze-soaked clothes. "I need a shower..." he took the pointed look as a no, not that he blamed Bucks. He probably shaved years off the man's life with this stunt, so there was no way he was gonna be let out of any of their sight.     All he wanted was a shower, but what happen was less of a compromise on Jojo's part with Bucks. The other had agreed to letting him get cleaned up, but only if he was there helping since he didn't trust the other not to end up on the floor again. At this point all that mattered to Jojo was that he was in clean clothes, wrapped in blankets with Slowboy and Zakeru plopped on either side of him on the couch while he pouted dramatically in Bucks direction as he lit a blunt. "Why are you giving me that look? I gave you a bath more than once when you were little, now was no different I was only helping!" came the sigh as Bucks threw his dreads in a ponytail.     "Helping to embarrass me! I could do it myself with or without twitches, thanks." was the annoyed response out of Jojo's mouth. Sure, it was fine even if it was a bit awkward, but he didn't wanna keep being treated different by everyone. It wasn't his fault this kept happening all the time now and they had to just get used to it like he was. "I'm not a kid anymore...and I won't die even if I shake like a tree sometimes"     Bucks blew smoke before passing it to Slow. "No, I suppose you might not die, but you're someone very important to me and a lot of other people, Jojo." he stated smiling softly. "You'd do well to remember that sometimes." he sighed "It seems you got injured enough tonight, I wasn't going to let you add to it. Plus, what would I tell Yzerr, do you wish ill on me? Is that it?!" he was hoping the joke would get a smile out of him, but it only made it worse it seemed.     "Fuck Yzerr, I don't care what he thinks." the black-haired man buried himself in the blanket after the words left his mouth with only some of his wet hair sticking out. "He clearly doesn't care as much as you seem to..." he frowned starting to feel more than a little guilty for hurting Benjazzy in his anger when it should have all be directed at their idiot for a Leader.          Bucks raised a brow, not that Jojo being upset with Yzerr was out of the ordinary, but this felt more venomous than usual. Like the other must have done something pretty hurtful for Jojo to end up here despite knowing it would have been safer for him to stay with the group. "Do you wanna talk about it?" he offered knowing if he pried too much Jojo might start throwing pillows or something sharp if he could find it. "I thought you guys were gonna go have fun raiding a stash house tonight?" he clearly missed something big and was hoping Jojo would fill in the blanks.     "We did...It was fun until it wasn't anymore. I got to see Red Eye and some strange man that knew my dad and changed my diapers." Jojo answered softly peeking out to watch Bucks for a moment as Zakie tried to pass the blunt to him. Refusing to unbundle himself, Jojo opened his mouth for a hit making Zakie hold the blunt while he sucked a lung full of smoke.        "Lazy...." Zakeru teased smiling now passing it to Slow as Jojo snuggled up again. "Are you feeling better?"     "Better is a relative term Zakie..." Jojo answered cracking open an eye to look at his friend. "I'm happy I'm around you guys now. So, I think I'll feel better soon." he kept drifting off, like it was too difficult to keep his eyes open. A loud whine of protest came from Jojo's lips when both Zakie and Slow tried to shake him awake.      "Well, it seems a sleep over is in order, if your parents say it's okay" Bucks teased figuring with the way Jojo showed up no one probably knew where he was. He slowly got up from his chair wondering to where the three sat, trying to get Jojo up to go to bed. "You can sleep by me, I guesssss I'll let you hog my bed." he tugged the other unwillingly up from the couch hugging him close after, hoping to offer some kind of comfort from the long night he clearly had. "We do have to let someone know though. If you pulled the same shit with them as with me, they'll be worried." he gave Jojo a pointed look knowing the sleepy man could be extremely stubborn when it came to his upset feelings.     “I’m literally an orphan, remember? Better get the Ouija board” Jojo replied chuckling to himself thinking he was being funny "Why can't you if we have to?" was the next complaint out of his mouth, at this point, past ready to go to bed. His body hurt, his brain felt like it was going too fast and yet blank at the same time and the last thing he wanted to deal with was Yzerr's bad mood. Yet part of him wanted to at least call Benjazzy and say sorry for lashing out at him with his knife. He hoped he didn't cut Benjazzy too deep he really wasn't trying to hurt him. It was only supposed to get him to back off. Jojo huffed to himself feeling sick about the whole situation, why would he even try to hurt Benjazzy, it didn't make sense. "I just wanna sleep." he ignored Bucks strange look he was giving starting to walk slowly to the stairs.     Bucks frowned, wishing the other would fill him in on what happened when it was clearly bothering him. "I could, but I'm not the one who showed up unannounced at my house seizing on my doorstep without telling anyone else." he answered helping the other up the stairs and to his room. "You don't have to call Yzerr, but you have to let someone know and then we can sleep if that's what you really want." he watched Jojo flop onto the bed, curling back up in one of the blankets. "Jojo...come on..." he blinked hearing the other sniffle. "Hey, talk to me...don't cry..." he was about to say more when he was interrupted by the other's phone going off. "See they miss you already."     Jojo sniffled sitting up the blanket half falling off his head as he moved to check his phone. Bucks jumping, startled when his friend completely burst into tears opening the text that was received. "No, they don't, I have to go...I have to go get it..." he trailed off holding his head, the phone dropping on the bed as he moved to try to get up and leave only to be pulled back by Bucks.  "He took it, I have to go save Vingo!!" loud sobs seemed to alert both Zakie and Slow to peek their heads into Bucks's room only to be snapped at to get lost.     "Jojo, hey! Focus on me..." Bucks called worried at how bad the other was panicking. He had no idea what the other meant by saving Vingo as he let Jojo cling to him. "What can I help with?" it was all he could think of to ask with his friend being an emotional wreck right now. Jojo could hardly catch his breath he was sobbing so hard; Bucks could even feel his shirt getting wet from tears. He was at a complete loss of what to do...even if he knew Jojo probably didn't want him to, he was half tempted to call someone to come get him since he was having no luck calming Jojo down.     Sobs finally turned into tired sounding sniffles, Jojo now laying almost boneless against Bucks as he tried to catch his breath. "Lex took Vingo's scarf and now it's gone forever just like he is!" red, puffy eyes stared up looking lost. "Yzerr was mean and won't help...all he did was yell and make fun of me." he pulled the blanket up over himself. "I hurt Benjazzy....I didn't mean to, what if he hates me as much as Yzerr does now?" he felt exhausted and just wanted to stay under the blanket and never come out.     Lex's name was the last thing Bucks had expected to come out of Jojo's mouth. "No one hates you Jojo" he tried to stress unsure of what to even say as he tried to process the mound of information. He was just given in a string of run on sentences, it felt too much all at once even though he’d been trying to get the full story out of Jojo all night. "I think it would be best if we try to get some sleep." he helped Jojo lay back against the pillows covering him up with the blankets in hopes the worn-out man would get some much-needed rest.     "What about Vingo?! And Benjazzy...what if he's dead? I don't want him to be dead Bucks!!" the tears seemed to start again just as quickly as they'd stopped.     "He's not dead, worried sick about you but not dead." Bucks answered drying tears once again before laying down next to the other in hopes it would keep him calm and help him go to sleep. "We will get Vingo's scarf back, bug Benjazzy and kick Yzerr's ass, BUT we'll do it tomorrow after much needed sleep first." he brushed the hair out of Jojo's face allowing him to snuggle close. "I promise things will be okay, just rest."     "You won't leave?"      Bucks smiled before yawning. "You are stuck with me, you're my favorite person to have a slumber party with anyway...better than Zakie, he snores." he teased watching the other slowly start to drift off. "Sleep well Jojo" he hoped the other wouldn't be plagued by nightmares. He waited to be sure Jojo was asleep before he barrowed his phone to call the others. Happy to let whoever answered know the other was safe for the night and he would bring Jojo back over in the morning when they got up before he settled in himself for some much-needed rest.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Wasn't Sunday supposed to be the one day of rest? Bucks was sure he'd heard that somewhere and yet so far instead of sleeping in or any sort of lounging, his early morning wakeup call was from a pissed off Yzerr wondering why the hell he never called to let him know Jojo was safe. Speaking of the little shit, Bucks practically had a heart-attack after realizing Jojo had woken up before him making him worry that he just took off after all the craziness of last night. Lucky for Bucks he found the trio entertaining Jojo with breakfast and a movie once he stumbled downstairs to see where everyone was. "Did you even sleep? I can't believe you're up before me?"     Sleep was really the last thing Jojo wanted to talk about, most of the night was spent tossing and turning feeling like he was covered in Vingo's blood. Even though he was exhausted, sleep didn't come for him. "Who needs sleep when there's fruit loops" Jojo joked with his mouth full of food before whining when Slim pulled his hair too tight making him resort to cussing him out via their made-up sign language before he finished chewing.      Zakie nearly spit his food out laughing when Slow kept signing about the horrible things they could do to Lex for stealing Vingo's scarf after they got ahold of him. "You can have sloppy seconds Slowboy" he declared noticing Jojo glaring and signing 'shut up you'll give it away' before smiling sweetly up at Bucks who plopped beside them and lit a blunt.     "Whatever you're planning kiddies" Bucks began with a sigh as he blew smoke, eyeing the four in question that were about to make his life 10 times harder he could just feel it. "You just better not, I already got an ear full from Yzerr, and I don't need ANY more drama" he stared his nephews down before giving Jojo an extra scolding look.      "Who said we were planning anything?" Jojo inquired batting his eyes at Bucks hoping to give off an innocent vibe. He didn't need the other telling on him to Yzerr or anyone else for that matter. He didn't care how anyone else felt, he was determined to get the scarf back from Lex. "I'm not sure what you mean. They were just agreeing with me Lex is stupid and needs to be taken care of." that was probably less than believable but whatever. Jojo gave a shrug more to himself than anyone else before batting at Slim who tugged his hair too hard again.     "Kid, quit squirming and it won't hurt!" Slim protested, didn't anyone understand braiding was an art form.     Bucks continued giving Jojo a look. "Because I'm not stupid, I know how you are" he replied as cereal was flicked in his direction. "What I'm trying to say is that I set Yzerr straight and we'll get Vingo's scarf back so don't go doing some stupid shit by yourself."     Jojo frowned not believing anything that had just come out of Bucks’s mouth. Sure the thought of everyone actually helping him sounded nice but he didn't believe for a second Yzerr was going to pull his head out of his ass even if Bucks claimed to have chewed him out about what happened. "I can fuck up my life if I wanna" Bucks busted out laughing at the comment and face Jojo was making with it, pulling the other close for a hug knowing Jojo was still hurting from the situation at hand. "Alright enough with the sappy bullshit, I'm too tired and it's too early." he squirmed trying to wriggle out of his friend's grasp while Slim let out a loud sigh. It was hard to do someone's hair when they weren't sitting still in front of him.     "Do you mind, I still got half his head to braid, and he doesn't sit still for shit." Slim complained dragging Jojo back to his side of the couch.     "I'll stop pestering" Bucks teased blowing smoke towards Slim for complaining. He was happy Jojo seemed better than last night at least, but everything still had him concerned. Lex was bad on his own, but Jojo having more and more seizures just added to the problems at hand knowing there was no way he'd sit back and let the group handle things...not that he blamed him. He was jarred out of his musings by Slowboy in his face, staring. "What the fuck Slowboy!?"      "You were just staring like that weed gave you a out of body experience and I want pancakes!" Slow whined dramatically.     "I was thinking! Can't a guy think in peace around here!?"     Slow hung off the couch to harass Jojo, not bothering to pay Bucks any attention as he bitched. "Paaaaaancakes Bucks!!" he whined again only to get swatted off the couch as his uncle got up to go to the kitchen to make more of a breakfast than just dry cereal. "I love you!!!"      "Yeah....Yeah...should make you get up and make me breakfast, but you did good taking care of our guest, so I'll spoil ya, ya rotten kid" Bucks complained playfully, breakfast was his specialty anyway as he set to work getting out everything needed for cooking. An hour later found the group less hangry, showered and dressed; hopefully ready for the day.     "Do I have to go home? Why can't I just live with you?" Jojo questioned his mood seeming to fall at the thought of having to go deal with things from last night. "I don't want to see Yzerr, I'm mad." he eyed Vingo's bike with sad eyes trying not to have a sudden break down. "I just want Vingo back...this isn't fair!"      "Don't cry Jojo" Slim said, offering a hug. "You look far too cool with your fancy braids to be sad" he was hoping the mentioning something good might cheer the other back up. It was hard to see his friend so down all the time even if he understood the reason why.      "Am I Cool enough to kick Yzerr's ass for being such a dick?" Jojo responded with a sniffle while playing with the tiny braids Slim had done all over his head. "Why couldn't Lex kill him instead?"     Bucks frowned, that was the last thing he wanted to hear out of Jojo's mouth. "You don't really mean that...I understand you're mad, but I don't wanna hear you wish death on anyone else but Lex." he snapped, the words coming across a bit harsher than he intended them now that Jojo was glaring in his direction. "What I think you mean is that you just wish Vingo wasn't dead."     Jojo just shrugged as he got on the bike with Zakeru. "Yeah...that..." he mumbled taking off towards their hide-out leaving Bucks, Slim and Slow to exchange glances as they coughed on dust.     "SHOTGUN!" was yelled breaking the awkward silence as Slim and Slow raced to Bucks's car "I said it first!!!" Slow shouted making the older man sigh. Hearing his nephew's fight over the front seat seemed to be the least of his problems, all this was really gonna be the death of him.----      Four pairs of eyes stared at Lex's unmoving body on the couch before turning to stare at each other. "Is he dead?" one voice questioned the tone less than a whisper forgetting completely to use his inside voice. "He hasn't moved since last night and there's blood on his clothes" he shook his companion standing next to him, the blond twists smacking the shorter man in the face.     "Sticky piece of shit, pull your head out of your ass, Lex isn't dead!" the other known as Only complained swatting his overly dramatic friend. "It's probably not his blood....and if I had to guess he's probably high as balls"     "Not as high as I'd like to be, thank you very much my nosy assholes of friends..." Lex commented out of the blue making the two men jump at the unexpected sound of his voice as he waved a hand beckoning them over. "Nothing a few Mollies and a Band-Aid couldn't fix, I don't think the Twerp would appreciate if I got any more blood on his precious scarf." he pulled the item off his face to stare at it, the blood stains still apparent on the fabric from when he shot Jojo's friend right between his eyes.      "Oooh fancy Gucci...where'd you get that Lexxy?!" Sticky inquired grabbing at the scarf after the two had checked over their friend. "Why would you want something that has blood on it? Who'd you kill tonight?!"      Lex swatted hard at the pink haired man before wincing when it pulled at the wound Jojo had given him. "Sticky little boys should keep their sticky little fingers to themselves when shit don't concern them." he reprimanded, he told Jojo he'd take good care of it and that's the last thing Sticky was capable of as adorable as he was. "I have it for safe keeping, but soon we're gonna have a slumber party." he grinned like an idiot up at both Only and Sticky.     "What the fuck did you take that you're talking about slumber parties and worshipping blood-stained scarves." Only questioned making a face seeing that Lex's pupils were huge. "Are you sure you’re, okay?" he noticed the small stab wound in Lex's shoulder.      "Why wouldn't I be? I almost have everything I ever wanted because of an expensive piece of fabric that I got blood on" Lex cackled with a dumb grin. "I have to rest up a bit first because Jojo wasn't too happy with me" he eyed the wound "nor was his friends..." his eyes moved slowly to regard his staring friends "So about that Molly...and maybe some Xannie too" he smiled in thought as Only rolled his eyes and Sticky just had the same dumb look of shock that he'd been wearing since they entered the apartment.     "You're getting bandaged....that's it" Only scolded with a long sigh tugging Sticky along to come help find their medical supplies.      "Sticky be a good boy and get me the Molly...don't listen to Only" Lex whined flopping listless against the pillows after dropping the scarf back over his eyes. "I'll even share with the Twerp once we kidnap him. It's a party after all!" he had already drifted off again by the time his friends got back to patch him up.-----     70 pounds of dog was never a great feeling when she decided to dive at top speed off the couch and that's exactly what Benjazzy just encountered with Hennessy getting whipped up about something out the window, howling and jumping off the couch at top speed, but not before stepping on his stomach and bandaged arm. "Hennessy!! Bitch, what the fuck are you freaking for?" he snarled holding his arm while the rest of the crew had a good chuckle at his expense. "Yeah...yeah, really funny" he threw a pillow in Pato and Kowichi's direction while they took their turn on the video game they were playing. "I'm gonna go let stupid out and have a smoke...see what her deal is" he pointed at the door making Henny howl again nearly knocking G-Kid over who was going to join him for a smoke.     "I donno what you're going on about mutt" G-Kid teased as he and Benjazzy plopped on the front porch steps each lighting a joint as the dog sniffed around before her ears perked again to the sound of Vingo's bike in the distance and she howled and barked. "How did you even hear that?" he watched Jojo pull up with Zakie on the back of his bike. "Welcome home you little shit!" Zakie looked put out as he got off the bike un-included in the greeting as he followed Jojo up to the front of the house. "Excuse me Zakeru...Welcome home little shits" G-Kid rolled his eyes when the other started laughing after bowing and saying thank you.     Jojo ignored the two beginning to chat, heading straight to where Benjazzy was sitting to wrestle his way in for a hug, clinging tightly making the other fall backward against the wood deck. "You seem really good at trying to off me" Benjazzy teased wrapping his free arm around the other, allowing Jojo to lay on him for the moment. He was pretty sure this was the kid's way of saying sorry and trying to make sure he was okay from what happen last night, and it felt nice to have Jojo so close after being worried sick over him. "As much as I appreciate your affection, I think it would be far more comfortable to sit back up before the dog thinks it's a good idea to lay on us too" just as the words left his mouth Henny appeared back up the stairs to the front porch carrying the biggest stick she could find before deciding to jump on the two of them because of being so excited to see Jojo back home. "Maul him, not me ya crazy Bitch!" he rolled throwing the two off to the side of him so he could hopefully finish his joint in peace while Zakeru and G-Kid enjoyed laughing at the sight of what was going on.     Jojo's laugh was music to Benjazzy's ears as he watched the happy dog lick her favorite human half to death. "Alright...alright, Hennessy!!" came the whine in hopes the licking would cease. "I missed you too, I'm sorry I didn't come home last night" he sighed with a smile when the stick was dropped in his lap. "Is this supposed to make things better? Thanks Henny." he chuckled letting her glue herself to his side while he sat with Benjazzy.     "That's a nice stick...I'm jealous" Benjazzy commented with a smirk as he wrapped his arm around Jojo's shoulder. "Glad you're okay, I heard you had a slumber party with Bucks and the trio last night."     Jojo gave Benjazzy a quick glance before his eyes darted away, fidgeting with said stick in his hands because he was worried the other was going to be really upset with him over last night. "I may have shown up with some dramatic seizure flare on Bucks's doorstep and then proceeded to hog his bed and steal his weed." he explained cringing slightly waiting for the scolding to start. "Slim did my hair fancy...and we got pancakes too so I guess it wasn't all crazy."     "So you had an adventure on top of adventure?" Benjazzy didn't like to hear the other had another seizure, he was lucky he didn't crash his bike because of it. He thought about starting to bitch, until he remembered once Yzerr got involved there would probably be plenty of that. "I'm glad you're okay and didn't crash your bike." he smiled watching the other play with his new hair style, it was much different from his usual bun. "I like the braids, you look cute" he smirked at the eyeroll the comment elicited.      Jojo scoffed eyeing the joint between Benjazzy's lips. "I'm not cute, I'm Jojo" he complained before noticing the slightly bloody bandage from where he'd sliced the other's arm. "Is your arm gonna fall off?" he rested his head on Benjazzy's shoulder feeling really guilty he could attack someone who he loved dearly. It reminded him too much of Pablow and made his stomach hurt at the thought he too could injure someone he considered family. "I'm really sorry, I don't know why I did that...I couldn't think, everything felt too crazy."     Benjazzy rose a brow, smiling thoughtfully at Jojo. The usual child-like dramatics with the statement made him chuckle. Somethings never did change no matter how old Jojo was...not that he wanted the other to change much anyway. "Did you think you cut off my arm?" he exclaimed laughing at the black-haired man's glum expression. "You'll have to try a bit harder next time. It's still here." he ruffled the long braids on Jojo's head. "I'm not mad...." he eyed Jojo's expression of disbelief "Okay, a little mad, but mainly because you took off when you weren't well...not because of this. I don’t want something bad to happen to you." he hugged the other close again as G-Kid and Zakie move to greet Bucks and company who just pulled up. "Though next time you're that mad, maybe try not turning me into lunch meat. I promise you and I are good though." Benjazzy gave Jojo a wide grin and his other joint he'd rolled in hopes he'd understand everything was fine, regardless of what happened. "Now Yzerr on the other hand..."     "Fuck Yzerr, I'm still mad at him" Jojo snapped shaking his head making Benjazzy sigh before getting up and pulling Jojo with him. Hennessy picked up her stick, intent on the fact it also had to go into the house with them.     "I'll be sure to get my ear plugs then..." Benjazzy commented holding the door for everyone to enter, Jojo trying to slink past as quickly as he could knowing Diamond would probably be the next person to stop and scold him if he gave her the opportunity.     "Tiji fucking Jojo!" Was the sharp voice that met the black-haired man's ears as he tried to slip past the whole crew kicked back in the living room. Jojo stopped in his tracks while the owner of the voice, Diamond, stood up from her spot on the couch next to Bark and beckoned him over with a long, beautifully painted fingernail. "If I was you... I'd get your ass over here, don't make me ask twice." she had been worried sick over him all night once the rest of the crew had come home without him. The situation feeling way to close to when he'd come home near death and she was not going to let Jojo off the hook for scaring and keeping her up all night again.     "Somehow I don't think this is a suggestion..." Jojo commented slowly turning to look at her, eyes wide knowing she was about to kick his ass for the stunt. "cuz if it was, I'm just gonna go to my room." he grinned stupidly before letting out a loud whine when Diamond moved the few steps to snatch him by the ear and drag him over to her. "Ow! Diamond. Let me go! Child abuse!"     "Damn you did it now kid" Pato commented smiling as he blew smoke. "Didn't know she even knew your real name...Pretty one"     "Shut it Pato!!!" Came the whine from Jojo's mouth.     "I brought you back from the dead and this is the thanks I get?! You wanna see child abuse...I'll make Yzerr being mad look like a fucking joke, Jojo!!" Diamond snapped shaking Jojo by the shoulders to the point he felt like throwing up. "You think you can just pull this shit?! Don't ever make me worry like that again!!"     "I'm gonna get shaken seizure Jojo, Daimond stop!! I'm sorry!! I'm back now and not dead" Jojo whined flailing around as he was shaken by the shoulders making everyone else in the room laugh at his expense. "At the very least, I'm gonna puke on you if you don't stop!" he sighed annoyed at the rough treatment even though he had to admit it was also nice to know he was so loved that she would smother and yell at him the second she could.     "I'll give you a seizure you little shit." Diamond complained loudly before suddenly hugging him close starting to cry. "Speaking of that...." she dug around on the table for something. "Meds...now...open your mouth." she shook the bottle in Jojo's direction after wiping her eyes.     "I'd rather kiss Lex that take that shit...you don't even know if it works, and it taste like if you smoked weed out of Bark's dirty socks." Jojo scoffed taking one look at what she had in her hand, the small vial making him wrinkle his nose. "I had two of them last night so I'm positive it doesn't work anyway"     "Did you take it yesterday"      "No, because it's old weed in Bark's socks, Diamond" Jojo answered again, looking put out, if she thought he'd take that nasty stuff on his own she had another thing coming. Unfortunately for him, Daimond had other plans; grabbing his cheeks to open his mouth and get him to take the eye dropper full of liquid. Jojo immediately shoved her away; the whole action giving him an uneasy feeling to go with the gross taste of the medicine in his mouth.     "Easy Jojo...please don't be difficult and just swallow it." Diamond sighed watching him drool out part of what she gave him. Knowing her dumb luck, she probably set him off without meaning to. Judging by the deer in headlights look Jojo was giving her, it seemed to be exactly what she did. "I’m sorry. I'm only trying to help, but you're a total pain." she frowned when he seemed to be panicked; looking for something to wash the taste out of his mouth. "Are you okay?"     "I donno, Diamond, do I look okay?" Jojo snapped glaring in disgust at the cup he just drank out of to try to get the gross taste out of his mouth. Why did it have to be Hennessey in the cup? Was that all anyone drank in this house? Everything in the living room suddenly felt suffocating with everyone staring at him expectantly, like they were just waiting for him to freak out. "Just drop it...I don’t wanna talk about it." he wiped his mouth with a huff at the look Diamond was giving him before she sat back down next to Bark. He knew she was just trying to help but why did she have to be so pushy? He let out a loud sigh again before letting himself be tugged down on the couch by Kowichi and Pato both, trying to get him comfy between them.     "Dropping it would good, I didn't come over just to watch you mope" Kowichi teased, putting his arm around the other's body for a hug before offering him a beer. "Alcohol makes everything better"     "So long as it's not Henny" Jojo replied shaking his head looking up to make a face at Kowichi who was laughing at the comment.      "That happens to be my favorite, more for me then, kiddo." Kowichi teased watching Jojo light the joint that Benjazzy had given him.      "I guess I should have saved my shirt from last night for you." Jojo mumbled his annoyance and anger still bubbling at the surface and feeling like Kowichi was making fun of him wasn't helping "You probably could have gotten drunk off it after Lex dumped half a bottle on me." he blew smoke hoping it wouldn't take long for the weed to work its magic.      Pato sighed feeling the sudden added weight of Jojo's head resting against his shoulder as he smoked. He could tell where all this was going, and he wished everyone would lay off so Jojo could just chill and relax from the night before. He could sense the other was about to lose his cool completely and he didn't think it was fair the other's kept pushing his buttons when he was clearly giving off a 'leave me alone' vibe. "Hey, if you need a break, you don't have to hang out here with us Jojo" he whispered softly with a smile feeling the other snuggle closer. He still honestly looked like hell, between having seizures and probably no sleep, Pato wouldn't be surprised if Jojo decided to nap using him as a pillow. "Things will be okay, just try to ignore them for now and kick back. You look like you need it." Jojo's eyes looked watery, like he was about to cry making Pato feel worse. It was a fine line with Jojo to come across as being supportive without too much pity or nagging. "Why don't we go hang in your room, we can smoke a bowl and have some quiet and maybe nap, all of my favorite things." He gave Jojo a grin after the suggestion. It was clear the atmosphere of the living room was just upsetting his friend and Pato wanted him to feel better.       "Are there fruit loops involved?" Jojo inquired offering a smile for Pato's efforts. He wasn't quite sure what he needed but he wasn't gonna say no to more weed and snacks. "My head feels too loud." he rubbed his eyes "Also the pounding headache isn't helping when Zakie and Bark are screaming at the tv" he wouldn’t mind hanging out with just Pato for a while. The other was mellow and a good listener when he just needed someone in the house to vent to without fear of being scolded or becoming in trouble. Maybe if he just went and lounged away from everyone for a bit, he could come back with a level head to figure out his Lex problem.      Zakeru flipped Jojo off when the other stepped in front of his line of sight after Pato had pulled him back off the couch. "Tell Bark to stop killing me off and I won't be so loud." he complained      "Don't suck so bad and you won't lose!" Bark shot back as Jojo continued to shuffle past and step over everyone to finally make it to open space where he could head to his room with Pato and the dog following before he was cut off by Yzerr getting up from the table where he'd been sitting with Bucks idly entertaining a game of cards.     Jojo felt suddenly uncomfortable with Yzerr staring him down, a hand fidgeting with his knife hidden away in the pouch of Vingo's hoodie he was wearing as he gave their leader his best, probably tired looking, glare of defiance. He'd figured Yzerr would have been the first person to reem him about what happened last night, but it seemed he was just saving his yelling for some kind of right moment. "Where the hell do you think you're going now?" Yzerr snapped still angry about last night. "Did you convince Pato to go with you on some half-brained attempt to get that scarf back." he grumbled loudly with a scowl not expecting Jojo to get violent with him right off the bat at the comment, Yzerr now pinned to the wall with Jojo's beloved knife at his neck. "Jojo what the fuck?"     "Don't talk about Vingo like he's nothing!!" Jojo screamed his emotions finally boiling over like molten lava. Between teasing and scolding, Yzerr's words were the final straw that made Jojo see red. Couldn't anyone around here leave him and his problems alone for five minutes? It was the least they could do if no one was going to help him go against Lex for what he did. "Don't make me feel like I'm nothing to you... That scarf is important to me." he felt desperate for Yzerr to act like he cared about him and this hard situation, but it felt the same as before, crying out for him completely fucked up and confused only to realize he wasn't coming to save him. "Don't leave me alone like Pablow..." tears were streaming down his face as he stared at Yzerr, the knife sounding extra loud when clattered against the stunned silence of the room when Jojo let it fall to the floor. He wasn't really interested in hurting the closest thing he'd had to a parent, he'd only wanted to childishly get Yzerr's attention.     Yzerr kept the frown on his face, still staring hard at Jojo while he tried to ignore every eye in the room on him. No matter what it seemed like he'd end up the bad guy on this. On one hand he knew this was Jojo's usual way of trying to beg for forgiveness after some dumb shit had gone wrong or get his attention when he felt like he'd been ignored for too long. At this point it only made Yzerr angrier about the whole situation when Jojo literally could have gotten himself killed driving the bike when he knew he wasn't well let alone everything with Lex showing back up uninvited in their lives. Yelling back was probably only going to make things worse, but Jojo had hurt his feelings too and Yzerr was determined to get his point across. "So now you decide you don't hate me anymore. I'm now the good twin again?" he sneered thinking of his mentioning of Pablow while he looked down at the man crumpled on the floor sobbing. "I'm not helping you on some suicide mission to get something covered in Vingo's blood back! I care about you too much to let Lex do something horrible to you again. I don’t care how important it is. We have Vingo here! You don’t need it anymore." he pointed at the urn on the table before putting his head in his hands knowing nothing was coming out right. Knowing Jojo, Yzerr was sure no amount of yelling was gonna keep him from doing what he wanted about the situation. Yet Yzerr felt desperate to keep him from learning the hard way that some things were better to be let go of. "He isn't gonna give it back to you unless you kill him anyway, he thinks you're the prize because he's a fucking creep." he sighed with a frown daring to look around the room at the glares everyone was giving him. "What you should do is work on moving on from Vingo’s death and focus on what you do have."     "Then I'll fucking do what you should have done in the first place" Jojo snarled wiping away tears. Some leader Yzerr was, he felt like both the twins had abandoned him now. "Well at least you're not trying to kill me, so you have that going for you..." he moved to stand again his legs feeling a bit like jello from the burst of every emotion. "Don't you dare tell me how to feel about Vingo...you weren’t there!! With or without your help I'm getting that scarf back and I'll dye it redder with Lex's blood."      "Then what, so you wear it like some kind of sick trophy??" Yzerr exclaimed moving to get in Jojo's face only to have Hennessey get between them and start growling, seemingly able to sense Yzerr was the one upsetting her Master.     Jojo smirked, petting the dogs head. "You know on second thought, maybe Lex can be my new best buddy. He seems to be a lot more..." he didn't get the rest of his sentence out as Yzerr backhanded him across the floor earning himself a bloody dog bite to the arm for hurting Jojo while everyone else rushed up to do damage control. Blood gushed from Jojo's nose, joining Yzerr's in staining the living room floor red with splatters of blood as he tried to regain his sense of balance. Hennessy nudged Jojo gently with her nose to check on him, barking softly wanting him to know things would be okay.     Yzerr snarled giving Bucks a hard shove away when he tried to get a look at how bad Henny had bit him. "I never wanted the damn dog and now she can go with Vingo gone!" he bellowed holding his wounded arm close, wrapping the bottom of his shirt around it in hopes of slowing the bleeding from the ripped skin. "How did things become so fucked up" he shook his head trying to rid it of the floaty feeling. With emotions running so high and now the bleeding bite he felt lightheaded.            Jojo couldn't believe what he was hearing, Yzerr was even getting mad at the dog that was just protecting him from a perceived threat. He stumbled trying to stand upright again, he almost hoped this brought on another seizure so maybe their Leader might feel bad for once about what he did. "You didn't want me either, so I guess I'll leave too!" Jojo spouted off idly smearing blood across his face when he wiped his still bleeding nose. He wasn't going to stay anywhere that Hennessy wasn't welcome, they were a pair. What did Yzerr even mean about getting rid of her, he didn't understand but he'd sort it out later once he found a good hiding spot that he could sit and try to collect himself. "Come on Henny...I still want you..." he could feel tears dripping down his face mixing with the blood dripping on the floor with every stumbling step out of the living room and down the hall, shoving G-Kid out of the way when he tried to get him to stop to look at his injuries. He wanted away from everyone; he could fix his nose himself...why would the other think he wanted help? "I hope Vingo's ghost haunts you, he'd be sad you're trying to shove even his dog away so that nothing remains of him in our house."     Yzerr stood seething in anger with no one daring to move for the moment, still stunned from the events that just unfolded. "You couldn't just leave him the fuck alone, could you?" Pato finally spoke his voice sharp but surprisingly calm for the situation at hand. He'd seen this scene unfold before, almost in the same fashion, but he wasn't sure Jojo would be so forgiving this time around. "We weren't going anywhere, I was going to try to help him relax, he's upset and..." he could see the look Yzerr was giving like none of what he was saying mattered much in the grand scheme of things.      "And I'm not?!" Yzerr snapped with a wince of pain, huffing when Bucks forced him to sit back at the table to look at the dog bite. "Stupid fucking dog...stupid fucking Vingo..." he shook his head wishing in that moment Pablow was around to strangle for leaving this mess for him to deal with. "We were supposed to be a team...I'm clearly no good with him on my own."     Pato sighed wondering just exactly who Yzerr was meaning to be a team with. The other was starting to look a little pale as Diamond begrudgingly came over to look the wound over.  "Clearly, but you don't get to take it out on Jojo." he stated trying to leave no room for arguing only to have Yzerr cut off his thought again.     "So what? I can't call him out for his childish bullshit. Jojo just gets a free fucking pass??"     "Did I fucking say that?" Pato snapped, starting to lose his cool with the other when he prided himself on trying to remain the calm and collected member of the group under pressure, but Yzerr was really beginning to piss him off with this situation. "Be as mad as you want but you don't get to hurt his feelings more when you are SUPPOSED to be the leader and more importantly you are his parent figure. He's lashing out like that because he wants you to show him you care." he sighed loudly eyeing the others for backup only to receive a shrug from Bark and Benjazzy had already left the room with G-kid probably to calm down before he injured Yzerr worse than what the dog could do. "All things considered...I think all he wanted to hear from you is that things would be okay after having such a wound ripped open again but as usual you have to go and be an asshole."      "I never said I was good with kids, and you know what he's right, I told you to get rid of him when you thought it was a good idea to bring him back here." Yzerr grumbled feeling a little guilty that the comment was something Jojo apparently remembered from childhood. It wasn't exactly one of his proudest moments in life to hit a child. Maybe Jojo was right that he sucked at being the leader, would things be better if he left it to the others? He wasn't really sure, he used to do just fine with Pablow by his side helping to run things, everyone used to joke it was some kind of twin powers but really the other could just understand him completely and keep him in check when he would get out of hand. Everything was off since Pablow's betrayal, and it really didn't help that he took Vingo with him. Yzerr was jarred from his thoughts by a shooting pain through the open wound in his arm when Diamond felt it necessary to prove a point and be mean by cleaning the wound with the strongest alcohol in the house.  "You don't have to be so mean hoe!" he tried yanking his arm back wanting to hold it close from further prodding and poking, much to the amusement of Bark and Bucks who sat watching.     "Oh; I think I do" Diamond began annoyed as she chased the trio off to find her medical bag. "You looked like you were thinking about doing some more stupid shit and I don't wanna deal with it. SO consider that a warning." she made a face looking over the wound again. Some stitches would do it just fine so long as they got it good and clean beforehand. "You're really lucky, Yzerr, I think that was just a warning not to touch Jojo again because she could have done way worse." she gave Yzerr a look when she heard him whine about how much it hurt. "I wanna feel bad for you but you make it really hard, Boss man"     "You know some good head could fix this better than those stitches your about to do."      Diamond sat gawking at Yzerr for a good minute at the audacity before poking him with the needle she was currently threading now that Zakeru had brought her medical supplies. "Rude ass boy don't even!" she exclaimed put out by the whole idea as she started fixing the wound. "Vingo had better dick than you anyway" she smirked at Yzerr's pout before he grit his teeth. Stitches weren't fun without anything to numb the wound and he wasn't even gonna ask, this was punishment he was sure of it more than her being gracious enough to make sure he didn't bleed to death or something. "Just for that...I'm gonna be loud just to spite you."

"Opposed to any other normal day...."     "Fine, I'll suck Bark's dick right now instead of finishing this..." She smirked when she noticed Bark's cheeks flush to a dark shade of red in embarrassment with laughing ensuing right after. "Bark...I didn't think you were so shy...don't wanna show off?"     "Women, would you just watch what you’re doing instead of making everyone laugh at me!!" Bark complained flailing his arms. His face still feeling hot with embarrassment. He couldn't believe she'd say such things! He sure wasn't about to whip his dick out just to give everyone a show. What the hell was she thinking? "We gotta go make sure Jojo's okay too you know!!"     Diamond smiled brightly, leaning over to kiss Bark if nothing else to shut him up from his rambling. "I love you...I'm sure Jojo's fine, I think having a break from all of us is exactly what he needs but I won't forget about him. I could never forget to make sure my Pretty one is okay." she replied turning her focus onto the task at hand to get Yzerr stitched up and bandaged. "So long as you don't go pissing off the dog that we're not getting rid of; you should be fine. Next time I'm just gonna let her turn you into dog food." she pinched Yzerr's cheek. "Since you were such a good boy, you can raid my good drugs if the pain sucks too bad, but I demand you give Jojo a heart-felt sorry and fix this shit."     Yzerr hung his head. "I'm gonna let him cool down, but I'll make it right..." he promised softly holding his injured arm close before slinking off to the couch to smoke a much-needed bowl and try to collect himself. He'd really fucked things up and he wasn't sure how to make it right. Even if the others seemed a bit more forgiving of his anger and rudeness, he wasn't sure Jojo would feel the same.     "If you make him run away again, I'm gonna kick your ass because I think we're out of fruit loops" Pato commented coming to plop back on the couch to steal the pipe from Yzerr. "You two shave years off my life..." he noticed the cold glare Benjazzy was giving as he walked past with G-kid. "I think you'll have a harder time getting Jaz to forgive you than Jojo." he passed the pipe back seeing Yzerr look deep in thought.     "This was no place to raise him...he would have been better off without us..." Yzerr mumbled more to himself than Pato as he watched Bucks also sit and join them after the trio had wondered off to see if they could pull Jojo out of hiding.     "Oh yeah, murdered mom...murdered dad...probably living on the street doing the same shit or worse things than we've taught him in a very loving house hold might I add." Pato commented rolling his eyes, Yzerr was always so self-hating when he felt like he'd fucked up. "Okay I lied about the loving part..." he smirked hoping the joke would lighten the mood. "Oh, come on, you can laugh... God, you take yourself too serious and that's half the problem"     Bucks got a good chuckle from Pato's comments. "Of course, this house is full of love, Diamond didn't let Yzerr die of getting an infection just now" he motioned to the bandaged wound before packing another bowl. "And Jojo didn't slit your throat which I'm actually equal parts surprised and glad because blood is really fucking hard to get out of the carpet"     "Thanks for worrying about me." Yzerr teased tilting his head to stare at Bucks. "My neck feels kinda crusty so I'm pretty sure he didn't hesitate in drawing blood..." he sighed touching his neck still able to see Jojo's lost and angry expression as he held the knife to his throat. "I like my head where it's at in any case so let's not go there..."     "Coulda put your head on a pike...warn anyone not to fuck with us" Pato joked grinning only to have Yzerr smack him. "You're scary enough Boss man"     "You're not funny..." Yzerr complained dramatically resting his head back against the soft couch cushions trying to reason out some sort of apology to Jojo for everything. "Maybe the trio will smooth everything over, so I won't get my head ripped off again..." he ignored the other's eye rolls as he stared his bandaged arm feeling guilty about how he'd handled everything in the past 24 hours.      If Yzerr thought Slim, Zakie and Slow would help the situation; he was smoking something more than weed seeing that the trio was currently staring stupidly at Jojo's bedroom door after already being yelled at by Benjazzy to not make the situation worse.       "Are you sure this is a good idea?" Slim whined staring hard at the closed door, this was by far the worst mood he'd ever seen his friend in and did not feel like being on the receiving end of Jojo's wrath. "Jojo's really pissed off, what if he tries to cut us into pieces with his knife?!" he bit his nails at the thoughts entering his brain, Jojo storming out with flames above his head ready to chop him into pieces.     Slow looked unconvinced before remembering the dog had followed Jojo back to his room. "You knock Zakie, then you'll be the one he chops into pieces and feeds to Henny...." he declared dramatically shoving Zakeru more towards the door to Jojo's room. "On second thought I'll meet you guys back in the living room, I don't want to be dog food!!" he flailed when Zakie grabbed him by the ear     "I'm not doing shit, you knock! You make a great virgin sacrifice to...." he was going to continue when the door to the bedroom was abruptly opened by a very annoyed looking black-haired man. "Jojo! Hi! We're coming to cheer you up."     "By doing what exactly?!" Jojo snapped; blood still smeared on his face from his nose which he'd finally gotten to stop bleeding. "Talking shit outside my door?" they were probably joking but it kind of hurt that they would be worried he might attack them.     "It was all jokes; we just really want to cheer you up!" Slow replied making a pouty face. "We didn't mean to hurt your feelings."      "In our defense, you are kinda scary when you're mad" Slim pipped up without thinking "Yzerr deserves it though." he grinned missing Jojo’s disgusted face at the comment.      "Ignore these idiots, how can we help?" Zakeru interrupted trying to smooth things over by smacking his two friends in the back of the head. "Shut it you two, we're supposed to be a comforting presence."     Jojo wrinkled his nose feeling the dried blood crinkle against his skin with the action. The feeling was finally starting to bother him and yet it felt like so many steps to try to find something wet to clean off his face. "Well, you aren't so leave me the fuck alone" he snarled slamming the door in the trio's faces, which was a first. If anyone could cheer Jojo up it was usually them as they stood speechless trying to process what just happened.     Jojo could hear them being scolded by what sounded like Benjazzy but somehow, he couldn't bring himself to care. He couldn’t tell if he felt bad for slamming the door in his friend's faces when they were only trying to help. Honestly the situation at hand left Jojo feeling more unattached from everyone. Like if he could just get away from the house itself and be alone, things would become fine again. Except there was no way in hell anyone was letting him out the front door with what happen the night before or the bullshit now. He was drawn out of such thoughts by Hennessy sighing loudly as she lifted her head from where she lay on Jojo's bed to stare at him. "I agree Henny girl, they all suck." he mumbled flopping down on the bed beside her to open Diamond's jewelry box again. The haunting twinkling melody filled his room making him turn to his good ear so he could hear it better. Calm finally starting washed over him as it played over again, and he snuggled against the soft fur of what felt like his only friend while debating giving into sleep with his eyes feeling heavy and his face sore. Vibrations from the phone in his pocket kept him from drifting off as Jojo groaned hoping to God it wasn't Lex calling, that was the last thing he needed to top off the afternoon of hell. Not bothering to look at the caller ID he answered with and fed-up sounding "What?" before the person on the other line could get a word in hoping it would detour any further conversation.     The childish sounding voice chuckled. "What's up your ass Twitchy?" he inquired softly, sounding in thought at how to take such aggression. "Is this the thanks for calling and checking up on my friend after such a traumatic event?"      "Try being less sarcastic and I might be less pissed off" Jojo answered rolling over to sit up. "I'm still full of trauma, tired from no sleep and another seizure and Yzerr freaked the fuck out at me. SO, it's great over here. Enough about me though, you sound up to something" he conveniently left out the fact Yzerr hit him knowing if Red Eye found out, heads would roll. He was a good friend but a little overprotective at times and more than eager to choose violence over talking anything out.      "Possibly, I could be little Jojo...plotting...plotting...to help splatter that blonde's blood all over the pavement and our faces."     Jojo chuckled, of course if anyone was going to be down to help right off the bat other than the trio, it'd be Red Eye. "He did knock you on your ass, heaven forbid." he teased while scratching Henny behind the ears. If Red Eye knew where Lex was hiding, he was ready to take him out. "Where is he?" Do you know? I have to get Vingo's scarf back, but Yzerr is no help."     "I owe him one, so of course I'll help." Red eye let out a loud sigh. "Of course, Yzerr won't help...some Leader, I told you this! He’s useless." he replied, Jojo could practically see his eye roll through the phone. It really wasn't like that, maybe? Jojo wasn't sure what he thought of Yzerr right now. Part of him knew deep down the other was just desperate to keep him safe but he was still mad over the fact any of this was happening at all. If Yzerr had just sucked it up and killed Lex when he had the chance, none of this would have ever happened. "I don't know where the Lex asshole is hiding...yet! So, in the meantime let's blow off some steam with someone else from Anarchy-sama's little Black book." he could already sense the hesitation before Jojo even said anything. "It'll be fun, sounds like you need a good knifing anyway."     Jojo laughed out loud at the comment. "Preferably someone that isn't me. I guess I could come out and play." he chuckled a bit unsure. Unlike Red Eye, blood and violence for no reason really wasn’t his thing but he could tell his friend was trying his best to cheer him up in the only way he knew how. And who knew, maybe he’d find Lex and could get the scarf and be back before anyone knew he was gone. He lowered his voice before answering Red Eye back. "There's no way to get out other than slip out my window, so text me. I'm looking forward." and with that he hung up, flopping back over to play the music box again, still feeling like everything was too loud in his head.  ---       The smell of weed lingered in the dark building as a trio of people entered. Smoke rising from the mouths of the colorful masked characters that littered the hallways as the blonde made his way into the main room where beautiful half naked girls twirled and hung in the air off poles. Lex could feel himself getting lost in the atmosphere of dazzling, bright, colorful lights flashing before his eyes and loud bass filling his ears and flooding his body with adrenaline. "Sticky boy, leave the pretty girls alone...they're working" he cooed as he pulled his friend along to a plush back booth where an eccentric looking figure was sitting smoking hookah with his legs up on the table, clearly in lounge mode.     "I was gonna pay them honest Lexxy!" Sticky complained clearly more interested in the strippers than selling drugs as he put a few yen in the girl's thong before running up to stand beside Lex and Only. "I'm a gentleman."      "Phsss, would you focus." Only whispered rolling his eyes, the sparkles on his masquerade mask glinting when they caught the light just right. "Ya fuckin idiot..."     "Lex! Good to see you!" The figure remarked blowing smoke before lifting his sunglasses to observe his guests. Long flowing sleeves laid on the table as he gestured for Lex to sit and join him. "Sit, relax...I hear you brought me all kinds of fun things to try and give as party favors."     "Seems like you've started without me" Lex mused smirking not missing a beat to roll a joint as Only and Sticky stood watch beside him "A few things I've been playing around with, only the best for my good buddy, Ozworld" he chuckled grinning. "For the right price of course." he made a gesture for money from Oz and his hired help sitting beside him. "Money my good man~!" he snapped his fingers to have his friends show off the bags of drugs. "Might I suggest the candy hearts~ they're my favorite" he stuck out his tongue where the remnant of a pill remained with the skin around dyed blue.     "They're great if you wanna see your dead best friend turn zombie with his skin falling off all over you!" A muffled voice growled out despite his friend's best efforts to keep him quiet. "Let me go Red Eye!! I'm gonna kill him!"     "Friends of yours?" Ozworld chuckled eyeing the two boys impressed they'd be so brave to attempt such an attack by themselves. "You're either brave or stupid to pull this shit all by your lonesome." his signaled his men to stand up to advance on the two while he sat enjoying his hookah.     "Believe me, he's both..." Lex grumbled more than a little annoyed Jojo had shown up unexpected to interrupt his dealings with Oz.  "Twerp, can't you see I'm too busy to play with you right now? This was kinda invite only." He watched the black-haired man flip out his knife in the usual absurdly flashy fashion. "Though I suppose if you'll teach me how to use that fancy knife of yours, I guess I could make an exception" he spun to hang his upper body over the back of his chair to stare at Jojo and his friend.      Jojo took a few steps towards Lex ignoring the fact his friends were standing right beside him pointing weapons in his direction. "Too busy? I was under the impression you loved me" he remarked his voice dripping with sarcasm.     "Loveable is maybe not the word I'd use, Twerp." Lex responded with an amused smirk before being vaguely distracted by the sound of Red Eye's bat connecting with someone's bones. "Does Yzerr know you're out past your bedtime? And hanging out with such violent friends?" he blew smoke causally from the joint he finally bothered to light while Sticky and Only exchanged glances, confused on why their friend was being so nonchalant with this would be attacker.      Jojo wrinkled his nose at the mention of Yzerr, who did the blond think he was insinuating he had to listen to the every whim of that asshat. "If Yzerr didn't suck at murdering you, I could be enjoying my beauty sleep right now but here we fucking are, Lex..." he snapped daring to get closer ignoring the gun now pointed at his head by Only. "I don't give a shit what Yzerr says I'm gonna gouge your eyes out and make you eat them before making you beg me for death" he pointed the knife at Lex’s throat once again, the tip barely touching his skin.     Lex smirked, blowing smoke in Jojo's face. "Well, good to see you've had WAY too much time to think about this. I suppose it's too late for a simple sorry?" he chuckled not fazed by the threat in the least. "A+ for enthusiasm, but that’s really not that practical...." he hummed pulling Vingo's scarf out of his pocket. "Don't tell me you had a falling out with Yzerr over this?" he smirked at how it seemed to immediately crush Jojo's spirit to see it in his hands. "How sad that your friends don't seem to think it's important...Probably a had to be there kind of a thing." he dared to reach out the small distance between them to wipe the tears that had started to fall off Jojo's cheeks with the blood-stained scarf. “Let me fix it for you?”     The comment was all it took to set off the powder-keg. “You’ll fix it?! This is all your fault to begin with, Lex!!” Jojo screamed not wasting anytime to try to slice the blonde’s throat open, knocking the chair Lex was in back against the table as Sticky and Only dodged bullets shot from Ozworld. A loud groan was barely heard in the commotion as the person Red Eye was squaring off with dropped to the ground from the stray bullets.     “Rude…I wasn’t done having fun…” Red Eye mumbled before ducking a punch thrown his direction from another goon coming to take the fallen man’s place. He spared a quick glance in Jojo’s direction, worried that things were getting out of hand.      Jojo on the other hand had no time to think as he struggled with Lex on the floor. “Do you need some help, Lexxy?” Sticky commented panicked slightly watching the two tangled on the floor. Jojo was trying to get the upper hand, stabbing wildly hoping to draw blood wherever he could before Lex finally flipped him over to pin him as best, he could against the floor.     “No I’m great…never better, why would you even ask that.” Lex finally got the chance to answer a bit breathless sounding before he groaned when Jojo hit him in his stab would from the night before. “You little shit, stay still!”       “You just looked troubled and like that kids gonna kick your ass…” Sticky’s voice was drowned out by Lex snapping at him.     “Sticky get my drugs and my money! I didn’t come out to not to get paid!”      “All your gonna get is murdered, Lex!!” Jojo screamed offended the other was still trying to do business after flaunting Vingo’s scarf in his face.      Lex scoffed; how many times was the kid gonna spout that off. “Are you gonna do it? You seem all talk” he growled annoyed leaning into the knife again as if to prove a point while Sticky scrambled to gather everything off the table while ducking shots from Ozworld over the turn of events. “Here’s your chance, Jo…Jo...You can add something of mine to that dumb scarf!”     Jojo screamed moving to slice Lex’s throat only to end up half across the room with his knife clattering across the floor from a kick by Only. “Do you have a fucking death wish? Come on Lex, we gotta go” he fumed annoyed with whole situation as he helped Lex up to haul ass in hopes they wouldn’t end up shot to death by Ozworld and his goons.     “Wait! Get back here!” Jojo snarled struggling a few times to get up from the floor as he watched Lex run off with his friends. “Lex!!!” he finally was able to force himself up, holding his stomach as he did his best to run after the other in hopes of somehow catching up to get the scarf back. A few twists and turns into the backrooms of the club was all it took for Jojo to become disorientated and lost, not knowing which way Lex had gone. “Lex!! Come out of hiding!!” he called as he entered a wide-open room that looked like it was used for storage. He was so wrapped up in looking for the blond that he didn’t hear someone coming up behind him until he was lying flat on his back from a blow from a cane.

“So; you’re the little shit that likes to fuck up my drug deals.” Ozworld snapped looming over as Jojo rolled over with a groan, trying to get his wits about him. Trying slowly to get up again from the floor, Oz was not about to give him the opportunity to make any sort of move as he raised his cane and hit him again, this time in the head effectively dropping Jojo unconscious for the moment. “You’re strangely cute…if I wasn’t so pissed off, I might keep you around to make me some money…pitty…” he chuckled bending down to lift Jojo’s head by his hair enjoying the tiny whimper that escaped his lips. “No more problems…not with you…and Lex is….” He stopped a gunshot rang out and he felt something warm pooling out of his chest.     Lex smirked coming out of the shadows having been watching unamused at Ozworld being so unkind to what he considered his and only his to hurt if he pleased. “I’m what…do tell?” he remarked conversational to the now dead body slumped over Jojo. Coming over to push Ozworld off the black-haired man with ease; eager to make sure his favorite Twerp was still alive after so many blows to the head. Lex leaned down to quietly observed Jojo for a moment with a final sigh of relief when he noticed that he was still breathing; watching his chest rise and fall before noticing his glasses where completely smashed on the floor. “You really need to invest in contacts." he idly picked up the broken frames wondering how many extra pairs Jojo might have laying around because of this type of situation. “You owe me Twerp; he made me good money and now I had to go kill him to save your stupid ass.” He knelt to get a better look at how injured Jojo might be, blood oozed from a swollen eye along with a nice size gash on his forehead. Lex pondering what to do with the situation as Only and Sticky came out of their shadowy hiding spots.        “Time to go finally?” Only questioned eyeing the unconscious boy covered in Ozworld’s blood. “Isn’t that gonna come back to bite you in the ass?”      “Perhaps…” Lex mused not really listening as he watched Jojo finally open his eyes. “Oh, you are alive…I was beginning to wonder.” He rolled Jojo over using his foot, smirking when he heard a loud groan accompanied by a ‘Go away’ before Jojo seemed to drift off again. “Twerp, you have to stay awake long enough to make a get-a-way I can’t carry you…”     Only looked shocked, Lex couldn’t be serious about bringing this kid back to the apartment. “Are you serious?” he exclaimed looking from Jojo to Lex “You are fucking serious?!” he couldn’t believe what he was hearing after watching Lex tangle with the clearly unfriendly man.      Lex pulled out the scarf and shook it at Only. “Slumber party, we need all the guests if it’s gonna be fun” he reminded as he tried to get Jojo conscious enough to at least walk with their help. “It’ll be fine, trust me, I think my dear Jojo just wants to sleep and not cause us anymore trouble.” He smiled noticing Jojo watching him close while trying to keep his eyes open. “Go back to mine and I’ll fix you up and you can sleep off that nasty concussion” he grinned widely when Jojo seemed far too agreeable reaching for Lex to help him up.      “Where’s Vingo?” Jojo whimpered tugging at his blood-soaked clothes in distress. The sight of the blood everywhere sending his mind into a traumatic loop.  “My head hurts…I’m covered in blood…I wanna go home…” He rested his head against Lex’s shoulder, snuggling, trying his best to get comfortable with how awful he felt. “We have to go find Vingo…”     “I really did fuck you up, didn’t I?” Lex purred enjoying the position he was in far too much; it was all too familiar to how he and Jojo met. “If you come with me…Vingo will be there…we’ll have a party and it’ll be fun Jojo.”     “Not fucked up….” Jojo complained, his words slurring as he stared at the blonde before poking him in the nose, offended Lex would say such a thing. “You have to be nice to me, I’m injured.” He showed Lex his blood covered hands. “I don’t like it.”     “By that logic you should have played nice with me in the first place” Lex scoffed, grabbing Jojo’s chubby cheeks, and swaying his head side to side with a chuckle. “You’d rather try to kill me though, wouldn’t you.” He smirked before his ears perked to the sound of shouting from down the hallway.      “Time to go NOW, Lex?” Only interrupted more than annoyed by the situation by now and he had a feeling that things would only get worse upon their return to the apartment. This Jojo person didn’t look so good, and he’d never seen his friend take care of anything before let alone some kid that was trying to kill him. He didn’t like the situation…not…one…bit. Though he knew Lex wouldn’t listen to reason as he helped the other to his feet before staring hard at Jojo who had made a failed attempt to get off the floor before reaching for their help again.     “Well don’t just stand there, help the poor Twerp up before we all get found out by who’s ever yelling” Lex remarked rubbing his injured shoulder as if to make it clear he wasn’t tugging Jojo up.     “Oh! It’s Red Eye! You should probably go before he cuts your head off to use as a baseball for his bat…” Jojo babbled still slurring his words together as Sticky and Only did their best to get the discombobulated man to his feet. “Red Eye will help me get home…but oh boy, Yzerr is gonna be mad so at me again…” Jojo paused looking at Lex. “You have to hide me! Not from Vingo, just Yzerr and Pablow…they’re mean.” He stumbled over his feet nearly falling flat on the floor again if Lex and Sticky hadn’t been there to catch him.      Lex burst out laughing, he’d never seen Jojo act anything but hot headed and angry, this was quite the amusing change. “A hide and seek slumber party then, yeah Twerp?” he joked urging them along as the shouting sounded closer. “Let’s get a move on Kids, Time to go home!” he shoved the three along almost making Jojo lose his balance again.     “Can we order pizza if it’s a slumber party, Lexxy?” Sticky inquired with a dumb grin while they slipped out the back entrance just as Red Eye rounded the corner to find everyone gone.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“Yzerr…. just stop and breathe before you do something stupid…” G-kid remarked recognizing the look on the other’s face as he was on the phone. He had no idea what the other was mad about now, but whatever was going on it apparently wasn’t good. Everyone had gone to bed with how late it was, but it seemed G might have to go rally the crew with the look Yzerr was giving before he abruptly hung up and threw his phone into the couch nearly missing G-kid by inches. “Has anyone ever told you that you need anger management?” he raised a brow when Yzerr turned and sent a glare in his direction. “What the fuck…you gonna let me in on the big secret?”

“I’m going to Anarchy’s and I’m gonna to use that bat of Red Eye’s to knock his head clean off his shoulders….” Yzerr spouted already searching for his keys and hoodie. If Anarchy hadn’t beaten him half to death for this shit, he was gonna do it himself; consequences be damned.

“Okay, but you can never give anyone shit for being dramatic if you’re spouting off shit like that from just a phone call!” G-kid replied jingling Yzerr’s keys at him. “That literally told me nothing other than you apparently have a new target other than the Jojo…”

“Jojo is gone!!! It has everything to do with that little psycho friend of his and he’s gonna pay for it!” Yzerr snapped, snatching the keys in a flash, preparing to just leave without saying anything to anyone else before noticing Bark was in the hallway in nothing but boxers having been woken up from Yzerr’s ranting.

“Let me guess….Jojo’s in trouble again…must be a full moon or a Tuesday…” Bark complained, rubbing his eyes with his voice sounding scratchy and tired…more than ready to just go back to sleep. “I can’t get laid…I can’t get my beauty sleep…maybe quit chasing him off and we wouldn’t have this trouble, Boss man” he sighed wondering where his keys were as well because he wasn’t going to let the two figure this out on their own. “Wherever you two are going, I’m going too”

“Maybe put some pants on first…” Yzerr chuckled cracking a smile despite the current situation. “Can’t rescue the Pretty Princess without pants” Bark simply shrugged, walking back down the hall to throw on clothes to get going as G-kid rolled his eyes.

“We don’t even know what ‘gone’ means for all you know he’s at Buck’s house again because he doesn’t want to deal with your stupid ass knowing he'd be in more trouble…” G-kid remarked looking in thought and hoping to whoever was listening for the best in this situation. He didn’t think he was ready for another near-death adventure when it came to Jojo or any of them for that matter. “We’re gonna go and POLITELY ask Red Eye to tell us what happened….” He gave Yzerr a look that said, ‘you better be on your best behavior’.

“And If I don’t like what he says then I can beat him senseless with that bat of his?” Yzerr questioned with a smirk. “If he got Jojo into shit again…”

“Then we’ll figure it out just like last time!” G-kid declared annoyed as he pushed Yzerr towards the door now that Bark had rejoined them in the living room. “No one’s beating anyone!”

“Says you G!” and with that the three were off on their bikes to head across town. A confused Fuji Trill greeting them when they arrived, Yzerr debating on just forcing himself inside to get answers to the situation at hand. “Where’s Red Eye…he has a lot of explaining to do…” he grumbled not even waiting for a response, storming past to the main living area to find Anarchy looming over a body on the floor with blood staining the carpet.

“Looks like you get sloppy seconds, Yzerr…” G-Kid whispered, wincing when he heard Red Eye take a wheezing gasp from where he laid on the floor. The look of confusion written on his face as he exchanged glances with Bark, having no clue what the hell was going on. Wasn’t Red Eye on their side? Basically, Anarchy’s right-hand hitman. So why was he bleeding all over himself and the floor because of his boss.

“How the hell am I gonna get any information if he’s unconscious and bleeding to death?” Yzerr snapped butting into the situation, grabbing Anarchy’s wrist when he moved to strike Red Eye again.

“Stay…out of it….” Red Eye growled spitting blood as he forced himself upright, his body swayed slightly when he finally managed to stand. Yzerr stared hard at the teen before turning his attention back to Anarchy after he’d yanked his wrist away. “Yzerr….” Red Eye’s voice trailed off as his eyes slid shut and his body pitched forward, luckily having Yzerr to catch him before he hit the ground.

Bark stared at the scene in front of him, was this what he was drug out bed for? Watching Yzerr fuck up another connection because he couldn’t play nice. He slumped in the chair next to him annoyed by the whole situation.  “Can someone just please tell me what the fuck is going on without all the dramatics?? PLEASE??!!” he snapped with his head in his hands, he was over tired and ready to just figure whatever happened before catching a little more sleep before probably having to save Jojo…again.

“Don’t give me that look like I’m a monster…” Anarchy grumbled watching Yzerr drop the unconscious man on the couch before flopping next to him allowing Red Eye’s head to rest in his lap. “Half of the blood on his face is from his nights fun…” he frowned looking over his friend’s wounds, motioning Fuji to get the medical supplies to get Red Eye cleaned up. “He stole my black book for this little stunt, so, I beat him…I doubt he’s learned anything though….”

“Pistol whipping him isn’t gonna solve anything…” Yzerr grumbled before having G-kid throw a pillow at him. “What!?”

“As if you weren’t ranting about how, you were gonna kick his ass Yzerr!!”

Yzerr shot the other a dirty look before being distracted by Red Eye groaning. “That was different, and Jojo related…” he excused not wanting to comment further as he turned his attention back to Anarchy. “What about Jojo, why isn’t he here if you say he snuck out to meet with up with Red Eye.” If the other looked how he did with blood covering his face where did that leave his friend? Was Jojo laying injured somewhere? Or maybe it was worse, he was dead or tangled up with some enemy of Anarchy’s? Why wasn’t anyone filling him in?

“I don’t really know any more info than what I told you on the phone, so why you showed up Yzerr...are you looking for trouble?” Anarchy grumbled sullen and annoyed at the unwanted guests in his home, while Fuji worked on patching Red Eye up from the night’s events. “At the risk of becoming your new target; it’s not like Jojo was a priority.” He shook the small black book at Yzerr who was seriously debating ever helping the other again; among other things if his friends weren’t giving him the look of don’t start more shit.

“If there wasn’t dead weight on me, I might beat your ass for saying that Anarchy.”

“Not…dead yet Yzerr” Red Eye’s voice mumbled curling up against him. “You’re so loud…my head hurts.”

Yzerr looked down with a raised brow. “You’re about to be so don’t go bragging yet…” he joked glad to see the other was awake-ish at least. “Where’s Jojo, I know you know. I know he thinks I’m gonna be mad, but I just want him home and safe.” Bark and G-kid nodded as well still hopeful this was a case of Jojo being a brat and not wanting to get in more trouble with anyone.

“You won’t kill me; you like me too much...” Red Eye murmured with a small smirk, hiding his face in the folds of Yzerr’s hoodie. His eyes barely peeking out, looking spacy, like he might drift off again without being able to tell Yzerr or the crew anything. “What…yes Jojo…I’m awake.” He whined when Yzerr shook him. “I don’t know where Jojo went, he was gone when I finally woke up and went to look for him… the psycho blond, this is his fault…” he groaned loud in pain when he was shaken roughly by Yzerr.

“Lex??? You let him go with LEX?!”

“I don’t know if he went with Lex! It’s not like I…have you tried to keep him away from anything he was intent on?!” Red Eye protested with a wince when Yzerr lifted his head off his lap by his braids. “We went to kill Ozworld but the blond and his friends were dealing drugs when we got there. The second Jojo saw him; chaos ensued! I tried to stop him, but it didn’t go well… as you can see.” His head was roughly dropped back on Yzerr’s lap as the other immediately lit a joint from his pocket the second the words were out of Red Eye’s mouth.

“So he could be at Bucks?” Bark pipped up, snatching the joint from Yzerr only to get smacked while G-kid stared stupidly at him. “ugh…fine I’ll mount the rescue mission. God damn kid…I’m gonna put him in a bubble or tie him to the damn dog so we can keep track of him…” he conveniently left out the fact he had a hunch Yzerr freaking out had everything to do with Jojo sneaking off with Red Eye. “If you could refrain from doing anything else stupid Yzerr, that’d be great.” He watched the other basically shove Red Eye to the floor, abruptly leaving the room.

“You know Yzerr, it was your fault to begin with, I was just trying to cheer my friend up” Red Eye growled sick of the other trying to play high and mighty caring leader now that Jojo was missing when he knew damn well why. “If you had been there for him maybe I….” he was interrupted by Yzerr storming back into the living-room in a rage, yanking him off the floor by his throat. “Let…go…”

“Don’t talk about something you don’t understand you little punk” Yzerr snapped with Red Eye’s face inches from his. The other’s struggling slowing when Yzerr tightened his hands ignoring the clicks of weapons. “I’m doing my best and I fucked up, why don’t you help me make it right instead of blaming me.”

“Yzerr!!” Bark exclaimed managing to snap Yzerr out of strangling the other nearly to death. Red Eye’s body dropping in a heap on the couch holding his throat while he coughed violently. “Did I not just say don’t do some stupid shit?” he pulled him back towards G-Kid and the door. “Red Eye isn’t the problem.”

“Well, it’s been fun, but we gotta go find Jojo….” G-Kid excused as guns were now pointed at the three of them “I am so sorry, we’ll make this up” he bowed slightly in hopes of not adding being shot to his list of current problems.

“Get…. the fuck out….” Anarchy snarled “If I see your face again, I’m putting a bullet between your eyes, Yzerr.” Bark let out a deep sigh, dragging their Leader out of the hideout with G-Kid following hoping they didn’t just blow their alliance with Anarchy over this stunt.-----                 Was this what death felt like? Jojo wasn’t sure. His body felt like lead and his brain was like it had soggy scrambled eggs rolling inside. “I don’t like spicy scrambled…my head.” He moaned softly rolling over, he was laying on something…soft? Where was he? Last thing he remembered was Red Eye yelling at him and blonde hair… “You drugged me, Lex, that’s cheating.” That’s certainly what it felt like, only maybe worse. The mop of blurry blonde hair in front of him told him all he needed to know, how he awful he felt in the current moment was Lex’s fault.

The blonde had been leaning against the couch, stuffing his face full of pizza while waiting for Jojo to stir. “You kinda did that to yourself, Twerp.” Lex chuckled resting his head back to regard Jojo, happy to see him at least conscious…they could work on the making sense part. “I saved you; you could say thank you.” He made a kissy face as he turned around to get a better look at how Jojo was doing after his run in with Ozworld’s cane. “Maybe you should stop picking fights with people every chance you get, huh?” he adjusted the now melty bag of frozen veggie’s on Jojo’s face, glad to see his make-shift cold pack had at least brought some of the swelling down on his face.

Jojo growled softly when Lex got too close for comfort, gently checking over his swollen, blood crusted eye. “Don’t touch me, you didn’t care before! You just made go deaf.” He grumbled having woken up in a clearly cranky mood, weakly slinging bag of frozen veggies at the blonde. “I hate you; I don’t want your help.” He shrunk away from prying hands unable to catch Lex’s friend’s chuckling at the situation at hand.

“50 bucks says I have to clean up Lex’s blood before this interaction is over.” Only mused, waiting for the man on the couch to shank Lex based on his murderous intent back on the club. Why Lex thought bringing him here was a good idea was beyond him, but most things his friend seemed to partake in were stupid so why should this be any different.

Sticky shrugged, a pizza slice hanging out of his mouth, he could care less about what happened to Lex and was far more interested in the new comer and why he was here instead of Lex putting a bullet in his skull.

“So that’s what this is for?” Lex mused digging in his pocket for Jojo’s hearing aid that must have popped out when he was unceremoniously sent across the floor by the blow from the cane. “Are you like deaf, deaf? Or can I just scream at you to get your attention?” he laughed ignoring Jojo’s haphazard attempt at signing ‘What’s it to you’ at Lex after he’d finally got himself slumped upright, blood dripping down his face from the gash in his forehead that hadn’t been taken care of yet. “I’ll just help you out with this.” He stuck the hearing aid back in Jojo’s ear with little resistance from the other. “Wow, you’re being really boring…” he’d seen Jojo completely out of it only to turn right back around and try to murder him so what made things different this time?

Jojo sat staring hard at Lex trying to adjust to hearing things clearly again. His head was pounding, and it seemed like his vision kept getting dark around the edges. “I don’t feel good…” he slurred reaching blindly in front of him. “Lex…twitching…in my brain…” he’d felt like this before only it felt worse than usual. He’d gotten himself in the worst possible place to have a seizure if that’s what was about to happen.  “Lex…” the words felt weird in his mouth while he tried reaching out again, not even sure where his hand landed.

“Are you sure he’s gonna be okay, he keeps blinking and not making sense” Sticky blurted with a wince as Jojo’s hand that had landed in his hair pulled with an almost unconscious jerking motion. Pain was apparently what he got for wanting to come and see the newcomer. “Ow, did you know your new bestie likes to pull hair? Let’s bring him back, he doesn’t play nice.” He tried to pry Jojo’s hand off, but it was as if he couldn’t get him to open his hand.

“Twerp, pulling hair doesn’t make friends you know…” Lex growled in warning, not exactly wanting to hurt the other more than he already was. Sticky wasn’t wrong, Jojo was indeed acting weirder than usual…it reminded him of their meet up the night before at the trap house. “I’ve seen him do this….” He noticed Jojo seemed to be fixated on him. “Hey Jojo, if you let go of my Sticky Boy, we can go see Vingo…” mentioning his idiot friend was usually a sure way to get a response as he snapped his fingers in Jojo’s face in hopes of catching his attention. What he got, however, was nothing he’d planned for. Jojo seemed to hold eye contact with Lex for a moment seeming to be trying to process what was being said before his eyes rolled back in his head and he slumped back against the couch cushion with his body breaking into full convulsions.

“Lexxy, get him off! It feels like he’ll pull my hair out!!” Sticky screeched holding the hand in his hair to try to keep the tugging to a minimum as Only finally looked up from what he was reading on his phone to see that things indeed had turned into a shit show. How did Lex not know this would happen if he knew this stupid kid so well.

Nothing usually shocked the blond and yet here he was, standing stupid unsure of what to do. “What the hell do I look like I can do about it, Sticky?!” Lex snapped, having completely lost his cool in this situation. Why couldn’t Jojo just be sassy like usual, maybe try to stab him a few times while bitching about how he killed his friend. What the hell was going on with the other that he was shaking like he’d been tazed on his couch. “You know Twerp…maybe I deserve this…but can you please stop.” He went to touch Jojo’s shuddering body before Only’s sharp voice distracted his attention.

“Don’t touch him, unless you can find a safe way to lay him down on the couch…” Only snapped knowing Lex getting violent with the other right now wasn’t going to magically snap him out of it. No sooner than the words left his mouth did Jojo fall hard against the couch taking Sticky with him, blood immediately drooling from his mouth after he hit the cushions. “Fuck…and now we have to deal with shaking and more blood.” he paused to franticly scrolling his phone hoping Google would have better answers to this now long list of problems while Lex paced by the couch with his eyes never leaving Jojo’s body. “Well, if it lasts for more than five minutes, we’re supposed to call medical professionals otherwise we’re supposed to leave him till he comes out of it.” He ducked slightly hoping not to become the new target of Lex’s rage for the situation. “And when he comes out of it, have fun with him being over emotional and confused.” He paused watching Jojo drool and get blood everywhere. “And well, bleed on himself.” He kept scrolling on his phone to see if he was missing any information about the situation, they’d now found themselves in.

“Why can’t we call now…we’re not medical professionals on this, or anything! This is scary!!” Sticky complained rubbing his head, now glad to be away once Jojo had been able to let him go. “Lexxy call his friends and dump him…” he let out a cry when Lex backhanded him. “Ow…be nice…I’m just saying…”

“Sticky, shut up, we’re not dumping him off…” Lex snarled quickly, he wasn’t about to lose his plaything so easily and yet he couldn’t shake the oddly genuine feeling of worry he had for Jojo all the sudden. Seeing him in such a state made everything else that had happened between the two of them nag in the back of his mind and it bothered him as to why. He was the person who shot Jojo’s best friend point blank in front of him, taking great pride in the action, yet somehow the annoying Twerp uncontrollably convulsing on his couch seemed to be making him feel…what? Guilty? Scared for him? He couldn’t fathom the thoughts. Even when it came to Sticky and Only, it's not like he thought of their needs really, just what he could get out of them. They weren’t really friends to him, just stupid enough to stick around for some reason. The sound of choking was what brought Lex back to reality from his disorganized thoughts; the nasty seizure was over just as quickly as it had begun and now Jojo was drowning in his own blood and spit up. “Fuck…” he whispered quietly as he got the other man rolled to his side, so he didn’t suffocate.

“I’m gonna get towels…and ice…” Only muttered, more than happy to quickly excuse himself from the awkward situation at hand “We have to stop his mouth from bleeding”

Lex nodded not even registering the words that had been spoken, shooing Only away before getting himself comfy on the couch so he could prop Jojo up in his lap and get a better look on the damage he did with his needless flopping. “Is he okay now, Lexxy?” Sticky pipped softly daring to come closer again to scope things out.

“Does he look okay?” Lex growled not sparing a glance at his friend while waiting impatiently for Only to get back with towels. Jojo was limp against Lex’s body with his eyes shut, bleeding profusely from his mouth where he’d bit through his lip and tongue. Lex felt like it was going to take more than some towels to get it to stop. He didn’t trust the other two to help fix any of it, leaving him to do all the dirty work. Nothing could possibly go wrong in the whole stupid scenario with their already nasty history, Lex almost hoped Jojo would stay out for all this, but against his better judgement he figured he should make sure he was still alive.  “Hey, Twerp, can you hear me?” He was waiting for Jojo to open his eyes when he heard a tiny whimper. “Jojo, wake up.” He resisted the urge to shake him, figuring they’d both had enough of that, but he had a desperate feeling for the other to just open his eyes, even if it was to glare at him.

Long eyelashes finally fluttered open to stare up at Lex just as he was trying to stop his tongue from bleeding by shoving a rag firmly in his mouth. Panic set in immediately with Jojo trying to fight against Lex’s hold while Only sat waiting for him to hopefully calm down so he could stitch up his lip. “So, what’s your grand plan, cuz this isn’t working and it’s starting to look like a crime scene in here…” he’d never seen Lex take care of someone in his life, let alone be a comforting presence and that was about the only thing that was going to fix the situation at hand is Lex’s ability to calm Jojo down.

“Do I look like I have a fucking plan? We are winging this…” Lex snarled doing his best to hold Jojo still. “You’d think you’d be tired after all that and yet you still wanna fight me” he sighed dramatically, feeling worn out by the whole situation. “How does Yzerr deal with you?” He raised a brow when Jojo stilled at the mention of his friend. “Let me guess…I wanna go home” he mustered up his best impression of Jojo’s usual whine.

Jojo seemed to be trying to process Lex’s sarcasm before he threw his head back and smacked Lex in the face before shaking his head violently trying to get the rag out of his mouth, not having the understanding that for once, Lex was only trying to help. Blood going everywhere as Jojo tried to franticly escape Lex’s hold. “I don’t know you, let me go!” The demand was muffled at best as Lex held his nose, his own blood now joining in the staining of themselves, the couch and floor. With the rag dropped in his lap again Jojo finally realized how badly he was bleeding. His tongue felt thick inside his mouth and the metallic taste was making him gag causing Only to panic and bail off the couch thinking he might get thrown up on. “I don’t like it, make it stop….” His brain was foggy and swirling at the same time. “Vingo…wake up.” the sight of all the blood triggering nothing but traumatic flashbacks as he clumsy shook Lex’s arm that was helping hold him up thinking his friend was in front of him.

As much as Lex would rather gloat over the fact he still had the stolen scarf, if Vingo would get Jojo to shut up and sit still so he could get him to stop bleeding half to death then that’s what he’d get. “So, you want to get more blood on your precious scarf? I’m not sure you deserve it back seeing you just broke my nose” he pulled the well-loved looking tan scarf out of his sweatshirt pocket. “If you want your dead friend, I’ll give him to you…” He wrapped the scarf around Jojo’s neck before gently grabbing his chin and tilting it so he could get his attention and hopefully get him calm enough to finally stop the bleeding. “Eyes on me and only me, yeah? I’ll fix you up and we can relax and have a good time.” Jojo’s blood covered look was really working for him even if Lex could strangle him for this stunt “Why don’t you go make friends with Only and I’ll fix this.” Ignoring his protesting shoulder stab wound, Lex maneuvered Jojo’s near dead weight so that he was propped up against Only after he’d convinced the other to sit back down and help him finish the task at hand.

Only rolled his eyes at Lex’s dramatics, not expecting to have Jojo be shoved at him.  “Wait, why me? He probably doesn’t like me anymore than you.” he grumbled not in the mood to deal with more struggling only to be surprised that Jojo went from completely panicked, fighting them to calm the moment Lex offered the scarf. “What’s the catch…there’s a catch…” he was already waiting for something else crazy to happen while Jojo seemed to be more than happy to go from pulling at his blood-soaked clothes to staring intently at the piece of fabric clutched tightly in his hand.

“No catch…we have an understanding…Don’t we Twerp?” Lex mumbled trying to at least be as gentle as he could knowing he’d get Jojo to sit and let him things fix things if he was kinder about it. “You’re a mess” he held the already blood-soaked towel in Jojo’s mouth, despite some weak protests, long enough to finally get his tongue to stop bleeding before debating how to do the few stitches needed in his lip. Then he used the gauze and bandages Sticky was so kind to bring to wrap up the gash in Jojo’s head from being hit with the cane earlier. "Let’s not repeat this….” With everything seeming to be fixed and his precious scarf in hand, Lex hoped the only thing Jojo would be ready for now was sleep.

“Tell that to my brain…I hate it.” Jojo babbled touching the bandages gently, seeming to be in awe Lex would go so far on fixing him up. The usual sass was starting to come back even if he was a bit hard to understand. “Diamond says it’s Pablow’s fault. He smashed my head into the wall and broke my smart glasses.” He tried pushing Lex’s hand away sticking out his swollen tongue signing ‘It hurts…’ he was too tired to talk anymore flopping his head against an annoyed looking Only.

“Yeah, I was there, remember?” Lex sighed raising a brow at the sight in front of him while he got his own nose to stop bleeding now the crisis had been solved for now. He was completely thrown off by Jojo’s whole demeanor despite knowing his brain was probably completely fried from whatever just made him flop like a dying fish on his couch. “Oh, so for once it’s not my fault?” he inquired curious to what Jojo would say only to have him respond with his hands again. “Okay enough with the weird hand signs, I don’t understand you, Twerp.” He relaxed into the couch with Jojo and Only staring at him. “What…can’t a guy take a moment to breath now that the dangers past?"

“No, we’re all covered in blood and it’s gross…you owe me a new couch.” Only grumbled moving to stand up making Jojo lose his balance and fall against Lex’s body again. “I’m going to shower, he’s your problem now.” The second Only’s back was turned Jojo flipped him off before settling against blonde’s chest deciding to drool the remints of blood from his mouth onto Lex’s hand.

Lex just sighed; annoyed by the action but simply wiped his hand on of the towels not having the energy to retaliate after all the craziness. “This is why your friends get murdered.” He mumbled before he thought the comment through suddenly worried the words might set Jojo off when he was sure he hadn’t bothered to disarm him yet due to all the chaos. “You can’t stab me; I was nice to you and fixed things…” he noticed how swollen the other’s mouth was as he was glared at. “Sorta.” He shrugged “We need more ice but that would require me to move.” He’d lost motivation for the moment, happy to lay on the couch trying to ignore the feelings of guilt and being on edge.

Jojo didn’t seem to pay Lex any attention after the comment, seeming to drift in and out while rubbing Vingo’s scarf in-between his fingers. Lost in thoughts, giving the blonde a moment to just quietly observe him. Lex couldn’t believe the other had actually stayed put, sprawled out against the back couch cushions hogging most of the room while he apparently made a good pillow for Jojo. “I don’t feel good…” Jojo suddenly mumbled out “I just want Vingo and Henny…” the slurred statement was all it took for the water works to finally start after all this. Between the fact Jojo couldn't enunciate his words and the sobbing, Lex was left to stare awkwardly trying to figure out what he’d just said. “I wanna go home…I don’t care if Yzerr is gonna be mad. I wanna go home!” He rubbed his eyes smearing crusted blood and tears across his face before flopping his head against Lex’s chest.

“I gave you Vingo and I’m not sure I’m willing to share my liquor stash with you after all this.” Lex mumbled a uncomfortable feeling creeping into his body, like his skin was crawling from Jojo laying so close acting more like a small child than the fun plaything he was used to.

“I don’t want to cuddle alcohol, I want my dog…” came the muffled response, Jojo refusing to lift his head.

“Your dog…is named after booze?” Lex couldn’t believe it until he heard Jojo explain it was Vingo’s idea and even with the little bit of time, he’d delt with the other somehow it seemed fitting. “I’m pretty sure my apartment has some kind of rules about dogs that will probably rip my face off for fucking with you…but you know what’s better than dogs? Ice cream…with sprinkles!” he tried to play it up and make it sound exciting like it would somehow make Jojo want to stop crying and smile.

Jojo peering one eye out to look at Lex. “Ice cream isn’t better than Henny.” He stated matter of fact with a sniffle as if it had deeply offended him that the blond would make such an assumption. “She’s the best dog in the world, but don’t ask Yzerr, she bit him.”

Lex wasn’t sure he wanted to find out why the dog had a reason to bite Yzerr of all people, so he chose to ignore it hopping Jojo wouldn’t catch on. “That’s because you haven’t had ice cream at my house, I have magic sprinkles…they turn your tongue blue. Or in your case hopefully shrink it back down to size, cold can only help that lisp of yours at this point.” Lex replied exasperated with him before trying to help Jojo sit up right again in hopes of not making a mess if he fed him the sweet treat. “If you ask Sticky boy real nice, I bet he’ll make us a sundae” he was ready to go to sleep after all this but there was no way he was going to let the Twerp sleep in his bed covered in blood. So, a drugged bedtime snack was the obvious solution to make Jojo less argumentative about getting cleaned up and ensure Lex got his much-needed beauty sleep.

“Sticky!!!! Ice cream!!” Jojo yelled suddenly, making Lex jump not expecting him to be so enthusiastic about it after moping. “Lex says ice cream.” They watched Sticky poke his head out of the kitchen and flip them off before the sound of bowls clanging “Don’t forget the magic sprinkles!” just as Jojo asked, one huge bowl of wild looking ice cream complete with Sticky doing his best to crush up pills along with real sprinkles. “These look like little rocks and not sprinkles.”

Sticky looked offended, puffing out his cheeks, staring hard at Jojo before taking a spoon full and sticking it in his mouth. “You pulled my hair and then insult my sprinkle making ability, you’re so rude.” He scoffed looking annoyed when Jojo opened his mouth for another bite. “Don’t you have arms? I’m not feeding you.”

“Aww, Sticky, you made a friend.” Lex purred a hand in Jojo’s hair playing with his many braids. “While you’re at, give me a bite” he opened his mouth earning a smack in his wounded shoulder from Sticky. “Ow, come on, help a homie out.”

“You’re loud, right in my smart ear” Jojo growled stealing the spoon to stuff ice cream in Lex’s mouth “Shut up Lex!” He ignored the blonde’s glare as he clumsily stuffed a few more bites of ice cream in his own mouth before the crushed pills seemed to be having some effect and he seemed to sit dazed before trying to lay back down on Lex, looking pale.

“I’m gonna pretend you didn’t just say that.” Lex grumbled setting the now finished bowl aside so he could get Jojo and himself up off the couch. “Bedtime snack done, now bath and sleep.”

“I don’t want a bath!” Jojo shook his head before nearly falling from his spot on the couch if Sticky hadn’t caught him. “I don’t feel good, I want to sleep.”

“Well maybe you should have thought of that before you flopped on the couch and bled all over yourself.” Lex snapped, starting to finally lose his patience. “Sticky’s gonna help me, and you’re gonna behave, I think you owe me that much after all this.” He got himself standing from the couch, feeling pleasantly swirly from the pills on the ice cream.

Jojo shook his head before letting out a loud groan. “No Lex, I can do it myself!” he exclaimed pushing away from Sticky to stand up shaky on his feet before flipping them off.

“By all fucking means, knock yourself out…” Lex muttered rolling his eyes watching Jojo take a few clumsy steps before crumpling to the ground nearly hitting his head on the end table. “I didn’t mean literally, Twerp.” He sighed motioning Sticky to help get Jojo up, the two walking his half-conscious self finally to the bathroom to get him through the bath and into clean clothes despite tears and screaming from Jojo.

“Is he always like this?” Sticky sighed leaning against the doorframe after they’d finally got him up to Lex’s room. “It’s exhausting, I’m going to bed. Good luck, Lexxy.”

“No, usually he’s fun to fuck with, this is just obnoxious” Lex grumbled with an eye roll bidding his friend goodnight, closing the door where his eyes wondered on Jojo who was sprawled out on the bed with his precious scarf clutched tightly in his fist. “You scare the shit out of me and now you hog my bed.” He sighed feeling comfortable admitting the fact Jojo had freaked him out with this whole adventure now that he was asleep.

“Not hogging it, your bed is small” Jojo slurred rolling over with a wince written on his face, everything in his body was starting to hurt from convulsing let alone everything else that’d happened in the past 48 hours. How could he even think about sleeping despite being so tired and wanting nothing more than to curl in a ball and sleep for days. “Pablow is wrong, ice cream doesn’t solve anything…” he stared hard at the silk scarf in his hand before turning his attention to Lex. “I wanna go home.”

Lex sighed, flopping down and pulling Jojo to him, in some haphazard attempt to comfort the other hoping he’d get some sleep tonight. “Maybe because you’re taking advice from your crazy friend who tried to kill you…” he mused softly, his hand slowly running through Jojo’s braids again noticing the other seemed to doze from the action. “You know what would help? Sleep…I’m not about to get shot trying to bring you home and you can hardly walk straight remember?” he sighed deeply, why was he fighting this? He was clearly not feeling well and overtired so what was the deal? “Past bedtime for Twerps, so close your eyes so I can also go to sleep before I smother you with a pillow. You were just whining to lie down before, and now you got your wish.”

To Lex’s surprise, Jojo snuggled closer to him. Sleepy, blood crusted eyes staring intently at him. Despite getting him cleaned up he could tell everything was starting to take a toll on Jojo, leaving Lex hoping a good night sleep would at least fix some of it. The last thing he wanted to see was Jojo having another seizure. That shit was scary, he didn’t know how his friends delt with that on the daily.

“You have to be nice to me Lex, I’m injured.” Jojo scolded sticking out his still swollen tongue. His voice slurring worse the longer he fought to stay awake.

“What do you want me to do, kiss it better.” Lex teased relaxing back into bed, covering them up with the blankets. Jojo finally seemed to settle enough to close his eyes with the scarf curled tight in his hand. “Sleep well, Jojo.” The blonde closed his eyes soon after he heard nothing but slow, steady breathing coming from Jojo. The position felt weird and no matter how hard Lex tried to fall asleep, the night’s events wouldn’t stop replaying in his brain. The stupid Twerp, drooling blood everywhere while staring at him with dead eyes before starting to shake without signs of stopping. The thoughts made his skin crawl making him crack an eye to stare at Jojo, still sprawled out over half the bed while still using him as a pillow. He wasn’t sure how he wanted to play the situation now knowing Jojo had a habit of almost biting his tongue off and bleeding all over his couch. Did he keep him or send him back to Yzerr and the rest of his rag-tag group of asshole friends?

Speaking of precious Yzerr; Lex found it odd, that even through all of this, Jojo hardly made a peep about going home. Usually, he was a broken record about going home but this time if he did mention it, he seemed to hesitate. Only alluding to how Yzerr might be angry with him when they next saw each other. Left him wondering what the hell happened that Jojo seemingly ran away with his friend only to end up here through some weird, twisted fate. --          Lex wasn’t sure when he’d finally fallen asleep till he felt someone or something disturbing his much-needed slumber. “This had better be good or I’m gonna stick my Beretta in your face Sticky Boy.” He grumbled; voice thick with sleep, debating if it was worth it to murder his friend or just roll over and go back to bed. “Can’t it wait till morning?” He threw his spare pillow in Sticky’s direction before the action made him realize Jojo was not sound asleep next to him. Which only meant his presence was probably needed “Fuuuck…Where’s the Twerp?”

Sticky rocked from one foot to the other. “Well, it is morning, 4am to be exact Lexxy.” He offered hesitantly hoping not to be the next person bleeding. “I think your friend it a little…troubled? Er…am I allowed to say fucked up in the head?” he watched his friend pull out the gun from under his pillow and set it on his lap after he’d sat up to stare at Sticky.

“I’m aware, most of that is my fault…” Lex mumbled cocking the weapon, enjoying hearing Sticky’s audibly gulp. A little easy revenge for being woken up. “What’s your point, Sticky?” he rubbed his eyes, wondering how he’d became the nice person in all this.

“Good! Then you’ll know how to fix it because I tried and didn’t feel like bleeding.” Sticky replied dramatically, still not filling in any details as he tugged Lex up off his bed to drag him downstairs to the bathroom where he’d found Jojo clearly in a crisis.

Lex frowned, taking in the scene in front of him. The tub had been overfilled, with water pooling everywhere on the floor. Jojo’s blood-soaked clothes from before were laying in a wet mess as if he’d been trying to clean them. Annoyed eyes finally landed on Jojo, who was curled up beside them idly playing with his butterfly knife. The blade flipping in and out before he seemed to stop and stare at it like he was in deep thought about something, not even realizing Lex was staring at him. “What the actual fuck is going on?” he exclaimed, his eyes narrowing on Jojo’s body trying to figure out how to defuse the situation. He didn’t feel like adding gushing blood from being stabbed again on top of being sleep deprived. Lex was about to call out to Jojo to see if he could get a response before a soft almost twinkling sound caught his attention.

“Why is there music….” Lex was quick to hush Sticky “Lexxy don’t smack me.”

“Shut the fuck up and roll me a blunt….” Lex hissed, pushing his friend out of the bathroom knowing it’d be easier to deal with Jojo by himself. “Hey Twerp, are you still alive?” he started off conversational sitting on the floor next to him despite the annoying feeling of cold water immediately soaking through his boxers. “I sure hope so because I’m about to kill you myself. How hard is it to just sleep and not make a mess of my apartment?” he tilted his head to stare hard at the man lying on the cold, wet floor wondering to himself why he was bothering with talking when he could be dragging Jojo back upstairs, drugging him to the point of not remembering his own name so he could go back to sleep. He sighed loudly watching Jojo stare at him for a moment without saying a word before he restarted the twinkling music from the phone beside him. “I know you can sorta hear me, brat.” He leaned forward to snatch Jojo’s phone knowing it would at least get a reaction.

Jojo snarled, lashing out with his knife, managing to slash a nice size gash into Lex’s arm before the blonde could weasel the weapon away. “Give me back my phone! This is your fault! Just go away!!” He struggled weakly before noticing the fact he was getting covered in Lex’s blood. “No…. don’t die…Lex, Vingo is bleeding. We have to fix it.”

Lex was speechless, watching Jojo try to stop his arm from bleeding by holding his hands over the gash. “You need fucking therapy and are dangerously close to losing your hand privileges.” He mumbled, trying to ignore the pain Jojo was causing by holding the gash so tightly. “You know Twerp, it’s not that bad…you’ve done worse to other people, I’m sure.” He made sure the knife was out of Jojo’s line of sight before leaning back against the tub, using the towel from before to wrap around the wound. Soft crying filling the otherwise silent room before Lex begrudgingly pulled Jojo close in a haphazard attempt to comfort him, running his hand through the other’s braids seeing how it worked to calm him before. Too many questions were rolling in his head as he watched Jojo try to calm himself. What the hell had he gotten himself into trying to fuck with his favorite toy again.

“You didn’t fix it, he’s still crying…” Lex looked up to see that Sticky had come back. “I stole Only’s weed for this, so you better enjoy it.” He plopped down offering the joints he made. “I thought he could… Oh my God why are you bleeding?” Of course, Sticky would be over-exaggerated about the gash wound as the towel fell off when he reached with his injured arm to grab the offered joint.

“Sticky, shut your dramatic ass up, I’m fine. It’s no worse than him stabbing me the other night.” Lex grumbled staring unamused at the joints, before his friend’s thoughtfulness donned on him. If he got Jojo to smoke, it might solve all their problems for the night so they could get some damn sleep. “Aww so you did make a friend! look Jojo, Sticky wants to share his weed.” He teased trying to lighten the mood. He hadn’t expected anyone to really take to having Jojo around. “In fact, he probably likes you more than I do right now.” He sighed, trying to offer the joint to Jojo, wondering how many times he might get shot If he tried dumping him off at his hideout. Not bothering to see if Jojo was interested in smoking, Lex wasted no time in lighting his joint letting smoke curled into the awkward silence of the room while Sticky worked on patching the gash in his arm.

Jojo tugged gently on Lex’s shirt, trying to get his attention. “Lex, you shot him, there’s too much blood…It won’t stop.” He began, his blood-stained fingers touching the fresh bandage on Lex’s arm before his eyes locked onto the wet clothes beside him. “I was drowning in blood. I had to wash it off…”

Lex sighed at the comment, not that he cared that much if Sticky knew but he didn’t feel like going into the details of he and Jojo’s history on zero sleep. “Have you heard of a washing machine? I have one of those, we could have used instead of waking me up at 4am, Twerp.” He stared at the wet clothes on the floor trying to figure out how it all fit together before it dawned on him all the blood from before when he bit his mouth open probably gave Jojo nightmares and was the reason they were now on the cold, wet floor smoking weed. “Were you wearing Vingo’s clothes? Is that why you’re upset they’re full of blood?” He was beginning to wonder was there even any saving his pretty toy? Or was Jojo broken beyond repair because of his friend being murdered in front of him?

“I don’t think I fit in the washing machine…” Jojo stated rather matter of fact as he stared up at Lex making Sticky giggle and cough on smoke.

“You might after I chop you up into pieces with that fancy knife of yours” Lex warned giving Jojo a sideways glance. “First you stab me in the shoulder, then you scare me half to death being dramatic and now you slice me again after waking me up and here I am being nice and giving you weed. So; smoke your joint before I smoke it for you.” He picked up the forgotten joint, flicking the lighter as if he was going to light it only to have the black-haired man snatch it away.

“I’ll share with Vingo, before I share with you!” Jojo proclaimed childishly, lighting the joint and taking a deep hit only to start coughing to the point the other two men worried he was going to throw up. “I’m fine….” He hacked again “this is fine…”

“What’s a Vingo?” Sticky tried to ask, before being interrupted by Lex again.

“You’re gonna share with a corpse?!” Lex exclaimed before falling over laughing. “Let me know how that goes, Jojo.”

“Actually, he’s a pile of dust no thanks to you!” Lex was lucky Jojo was content with his weed, or he’d stab him again.

“Wait…. this Vingo person is dead and in jar?” Sticky pipped up with a questioning stare, his eyes wide at the two. “Lexxy why does your friend have a people jar?!” He looked mildly concerned only to have ash flicked in his direction.

“By all means, Lexxy” Jojo blatantly mocked Sticky’s voice, a combination of the weed, seizures, and not caring about the consequences finally bringing back his usual sass towards the other. “I think you tell the story, WAY better.” He tilted his head at Sticky again “Also we’re not friends….” He huffed when Lex pulled him close with a wide grin.

“Are you sure? You look pretty friendly resting in my lap, Twerp. Is the weed helping your scrambled brains? Does that mean I can fuckin go to sleep?” Lex inquired playing with Jojo’s hair again. He’d rather deal with his smart mouth than flopping around and bleeding. “I’m glad to see you’re a bit more like yourself, but I’m not sure I envy Yzerr anymore if you keep him up till all hours”

Before Jojo could pipe in Sticky sighed dramatically. “What’s a Yzerr?!” He complained annoyed about being out of the loop. “Can someone please explain this, I’m too high.”

Without missing a beat, both replied to Sticky’s question. “He’s an asshole.” Jojo went back to glaring at Lex while finishing his joint while Lex stared in disbelief that Jojo would ever say something against his precious Yzerr.

“Do tell…you keep saying Yzerr will be mad and now he’s an asshole” Lex purred grabbing Jojo’s chin to keep his attention. “I’m curious” the blonde was not prepared for Jojo’s explosive response.

Jojo huffed flicking the end of the joint at Lex before pushing him away, His mouth hurt and grabbing it made it feel worse. “Don’t touch…” he held his mouth for a moment with his hand trying to will the pain to go down before finally giving in to all the frustration from the last few days, letting out a loud distressed scream making his two companions cover their ears. A struggle ensued when Lex pinned him to the bathroom floor covering his mouth, wanting him to shut up.

“Lexxy! You’re gonna hurt him more!” Sticky whined trying to pull the other off only to get knocked back.

“I don’t want to go deaf like you” Lex sneered in Jojo’s face his kind façade finally snapping after everything. "I asked you a question and all you do is scream.”

Jojo spit blood, his tongue starting to bleed again from the scuffle. “Yzerr doesn’t care! You certainly don’t care!” he screamed, trying franticly to get out from under Lex. He could barely breathe with the blonde using all his weight to keep him pinned until he wore himself out. “Get off me!”

“You have a lot of nerve…” Lex snarled clearly offended by the statement of not caring. What had he been doing all night, if not being caring? "Should I have let you bleed to death? Maybe let Ozworld finish you off instead of killing a good connection…” he leaned close to whisper the last sentence in Jojo’s ear. “If I didn’t care in the slightest, I wouldn’t even have to deal with this because Pablow would have been covered in your blood.” He smiled watching the realization hit Jojo that his former family member really meant to murder them that night.

“No, Pablow was lying…” Jojo shot back quickly in disbelief. That couldn’t possibly be what was really going to happen. Yzerr would have come and talked him down, just like any other time Pablow or anyone would do something stupid. “You tricked him with the promise of money and power!”

“Allow me to hurt your feelings.” Lex sneered past the point of caring about being nice, if he was lucky Jojo might take the new information and go cry himself to sleep. He got back in the other’s face again, hoping he would finally just shut up about the whole incident. “Pablow is the one who sought me out in the fucking first place. Sick of playing house with your stupid ass and I can see why.” He watched Jojo’s face closely, curious as to how he’d react. “Seemed to be planning all that for weeks really, had some fucked-up ideas on what he wanted to do to you in front of that twin of his…. you must have really been a sore spot. Getting in between that brotherly bond or some stupid shit.” He smirked gleefully when everything he was saying seemed to successfully shut Jojo up, he just sat staring at Lex and Sticky as if trying to process. “So really, I save your pal Vingo from a worse fate…you should be grateful.” He sat back, allowing Jojo to get up if he so chose while Sticky sat in stunned silence watching everything unfold. “Seeing that you’re here and not with Yzerr, I feel like it really says something about the two of them being twins…”

Jojo winced as he sat up trying to get his racing mind to stop. He was beginning to feel nauseous again from the sudden bombardment of flashbacks. “Yzerr hit me because we got into a fight over Vingo’s scarf…” Jojo slurred, holding his mouth as he drooled blood. He squinted at Lex and Sticky when his vision seemed to get fuzzy. “Henny bit him, so I ran away to meet Red Eye.” He seemed to be trying so hard to get the words out with his face screwed up in pain.

Sticky exchanged a worried glance at Lex wanting him to fix this before it got worse. “Lex…he’s twitching…he needs to lay down” he scolded in a hissed whisper when he noticed Jojo’s hands jerking slightly. He got up slowly from the floor to get a clean towel before moving toward Jojo to help get his mouth to stop bleeding again. “Let’s get you cleaned up and ready for bed again before Lex kills us both. He’s so cranky when he’s tired.”

“Oh you’re funny…” Lex grumbled looking around at the mess in the bathroom before forcing his stiff body up. Water would keep till morning so long as the crisis was averted for now. “I’d probably kill you for less right now, but you’re ever so useful and kinda cute so we keep you around Sticky boy.” He eyed the two, Jojo seemed mostly unresponsive which allowed Sticky to get the bleeding under control before trying to help him to his feet. “Twerp, you good?” It was unnerving to see him in such a state after being so explosive with his emotions. “Hey…Jojo…look I have your scarf…” he watched the other shudder and blink several times at him before seeming to come back to himself slowly and sign Vingo’s name before reaching for Lex, wanting the object back. “You can have it if you follow me.” He wasn’t sure if the other had a seizure just now or some kind of weird trauma response, the sooner they got him back in bed and resting the better.

Using the scarf to get him to follow them upstairs, Lex and Sticky were finally able to once again to get Jojo cleaned up and into warm, dry clothes before getting him back in bed. “He looks awful…” Sticky commented noticing how pale Jojo was as he dozed, rubbing his fingers over the silk fabric of the scarf while Lex laid down beside him, allowing Jojo’s shivering body to curl up next to him. “We should take him home Lexxy.”

“I think you should go the fuck to sleep.” Lex grumbled wanting Sticky to just get the hell out of his room now that they were settled.

“You know, a thank you would be nice, Lexxy."

“Thank you Sticky, now get the fuck out of my room before you end up the next person I murder in front of our guest.” Lex warned, now fully intent on fucking with Yzerr before finally getting to sleep and if anyone woke him before the early afternoon there’d be hell to pay. “See you in the afternoon. I have everything under control, he’ll be fine, I promise.” He watched his friend hesitantly leave before turning his attention to Jojo. He had to admit, Sticky was right, the other looked terrible now, if that was even possible. Pale and shivering from sitting in wet clothes for so long, dazed eyes seemed to watch him and yet be looking past at the same time. Jojo was a mess, but there was nothing Lex could really do about it other than hope sleeping would do him some good. “You’ll be okay, just rest…” he wasn’t sure who he was trying to convince at this point, his nerves were officially fried from the night.

Jojo yawned, patting Lex’s face awkwardly before snuggling back close with his face in the crook of Lex’s neck and the hand holding the scarf slung across his chest. Lex waited until he was sure Jojo was sound asleep again before pulling out the other’s phone, intent on making all this Yzerr’s problem before he went back to sleep.-----     Ever since the three had gotten back to the house from Anarchy’s, Yzerr had been up unable to get back to sleep. His immediate reaction was to call Bucks, but the other just confirmed his fears that Jojo had not been seen over at their place since the other night after the Trap house incident. Now with nothing but his thoughts and the bottle beside him for company, he tried to think of some kind of plan to fix the situation he’d made worse.

“You know Yzerr, you’ll be no good to anyone on no sleep.” It was Diamond’s voice calling to him softly as she came down the hall wearing nothing but an oversized T-shirt, Hennessey following beside her as she walked into the living room. “Allow me to fix it…” she came and straddled his waist, sitting in his lap. Lips moving gently against his while the dog plopped next to the couch they were sitting on.

Yzerr sighed turning his head and trying to push her off. “I’m not in the mood…” he grumbled, not that he didn’t appreciate the thought, but having sex was the last thing on his mind. “I thought Vingo had a better dick anyway.” He smirked before being kissed again. “Mmmm that’s cheating, Daimond.”

“I’m good at stopping any protests” Diamond cooed pressing her forehead against Yzerr’s to stare into his eyes. “Vingo’s dust so here we are. I suppose your dick isn’t~ too bad. What; did I hurt your pride earlier?” She kissed his forehead wanting him to just be calm and try to think the situation through with a level head which required him to stop beating himself up for what had already happened. “Even if you’re an asshole sometimes, we still love you.” She kissed him again trying to get him to give in.

“Tell that to Jojo…he’s not too giving when it comes to forgiveness, Diamond.” Yzerr muttered, rolling his eyes, reaching for the bottle only to become distracted by the buzzing of his phone.

Diamond laughed at the comment. “I’m sure you can win him over somehow again.” she teased before also turning her attention to the phone. “Speak of my pretty one” she looked at the caller ID when Yzerr showed her the phone looking confused. “Maybe he wants to kiss and make up after all. Answer it already, Yzerr.”

Before Yzerr could even get a word in; Lex’s voice greeted the two as he was put on speaker phone. “It’s 5am, do you know where your favorite Twerp is?" he inquired trying to sound cheeky and sarcastic, but it came across like he was exhausted more than anything else. “I heard he snuck out his window past bedtime to hang out with his very violent friend only to end up in trouble.”

“You bring my Pretty One back right now!!” Daimond exclaimed before Yzerr could stop her. “If you harm one hair on his head!” She shook the phone as if it would somehow hurt Lex for his kidnapping Jojo again.

“Yzerr, you sound sexy when you’re mad.” Lex chuckled knowing damn well it was probably the girl Jojo was talking about earlier. “Am I at fault for his tongue almost being bitten off? I think I did a damn good job making sure he didn’t die or get to hurt despite no one filling me in on the whole seizure bullshit. Thanks for that.”

“It’s on a need-to-know basis, Lex” Yzerr snarled wanting nothing more the to put a bullet in the other’s skull as Daimond bitched about wanting to beat his ass in the background after he'd switched to putting the phone to his ear. “You didn’t need to know.” He frowned thinking about Jojo having such a bad seizure that he bit though his tongue while stuck with the blonde. “Let me talk to Jojo. Better yet just bring him back. He probably isn’t doing too great after that and needs to be home.”

Lex smirked at the hint of desperation in Yzerr’s voice. “I think he’s just fine with me actually, Yzerr.” He replied softly, feeling a strange fondness for the other as he watched him sleep so soundly now. No nightmares seemed to be plaguing him, just soft even breath, snuggling closer with a tiny whine when Lex’s voice got too loud on the phone. “I got him cleaned up and he even made friends with one of my associates over a slightly drugged bedtime snack.” He conveniently left out the fact he’d flooded his bathroom in his nightmare induced haze, but he’d had worse dealing with Only and Sticky being fucked up. So, was it really sooo bad? “For the record, he came with me willingly after I saved him from nearly having his skull smashed open, which is more than I can apparently say about you.”

“Shut your mouth.”

Lex laughed gleefully over striking a nerve with Yzerr, only to have the noise make Jojo fuss again. “In his condition I don’t think he needs to be backhanded over loosing something so precious, Yzerr.” He began darkly his voice a hushed almost angry whisper. He wasn’t sure what made him angry over the incident, but he could feel the urge for violence against Yzerr raising at the thought in the current situation. “I’m curious, does he confuse you for Pablow? It must kill you inside if he says the name.” he took the silence as a yes. “Do you want to know why he’s so afraid of you sometimes? I can tell you all the gory little details…your brother wanting to teach little Jojo a lesson by making him scream bloody murder while digging in his wounds or maybe you’d like to know how he went from being a sobbing mess with Vingo’s brains all over his face to completely silent and limp in your twin’s grasp after Pablow smashed his head into the wall while his precious glasses shattered and fell on the floor from his blood covered face!”

“Shut up Lex!!!” Yzerr screamed into the phone making Diamond stare at him. “I don’t wanna hear it!!” He tried to keep from breaking down, knowing his enemy hearing him sob would do him no good. He’d already let Lex get the best of him with his words, he couldn’t cry too. There’d be no hope left of getting Jojo back that way. “You won’t be talking like that with my gun in your mouth.” He tried his best to bury his sadness with anger. The comment wasn’t really a lie, he planned on shooting the blond on sight.

“You twins really do have such a temper, I can see where the Twerp gets it.” Lex mused, smirking, rather pleased with how the conversation was turning out. Hearing how Yzerr was talking made him feel a strange sort of protective over Jojo, the idiot didn’t deserve him back. Then again, he’d threatened that the first time that if he couldn’t have Jojo no one could. He eyed the sleeping man beside him curiously wondering if he could bring himself to kill Jojo in front of his friends or if he was now oddly attached because of tonight. “I don’t think Jojo wants to come home to you, we’re having a fun slumber party minus the flopping like a fish and bleeding on my couch.” He paused, eyeing Jojo again before his grin widened. “You know, why don’t we ask him and see what he wants? I’ll allow a meet up to settle this once and for all. I’m not heartless you know.”

Yzerr rolled his eyes but was eager to snatch any opportunity to figure out where Lex might be hiding. Jojo hated Lex with a passion and Yzerr could think of no reason he’d want to stay unless he was being manipulated somehow in his current post seizure condition. “You’re not the fucking saint in this situation. You murdered Vingo and you stole that damn scarf knowing full well Jojo would do anything to get it back. I don’t care how you saved him or how nice you and your friends have been. It’s all a well-played lie that you can’t keep up forever.” he grumbled annoyed by the high and mighty tone Lex had with him. “Our Club, tomorrow…you better be there with Jojo”

“I’m busy tomorrow, and poor Jojo’s brains are scrambled spicy eggs…. his words not mine.” Lex answered back. “Give us a day or two. I’ll be sure to let you know, night Yzerr.” He abruptly ended the conversation, finally annoyed by the other and well past ready for sleeping.

“Why are you loud?” Jojo whimpered softly looking ready to cry again, Lex not realizing the phone call had finally succeeded in waking up his cranky guest. “I’m tired, my hurts….” He pointed at his head trying to make sure Lex understood when his words felt confused coming out of his mouth.

Lex put a finger to Jojo’s blood crusted lips. “Sssh my bad, I know you don’t feel good but, I had to take care of something. Let’s sleep now, Jojo.” he whispered, offering the dropped scarf allowing Jojo to snuggle back down. He took great pleasure in the fact the other was so close to him while across town his closet friend was sitting upset without him. A smirk on his face as he finally drifted off into deep sleep.-----     Yzerr sat stunned by the conversation, tossing the phone on the table with a loud thud. Lex’s words started to eat away at him as he locked eyes with Vingo’s urn on the table. It felt like his friend’s spirit had suddenly filled the room, watching him with a look of judgement. Maybe Jojo was right, and Vingo really was going to come back to haunt him for letting him die along with doing a shit job protecting Jojo after he’d sacrificed so much to try and keep him safe. Was he really like his twin? Capable of being twisted and cruel and able to turn on loved ones for the right price? Or worse, just because they annoyed and made him angry. “I did this…I didn’t mean to hurt Jojo and now he thinks Lex is some fucking savior.” He suddenly blurted. “I’m nothing more than Pablow’s shadow…he’s even said it, Lex is right.” He moved to grab the urn off the table and hold it close with tears falling down his face. “I don’t know how to fix this…”

Diamond shook her head, wiping her eyes, looking sad before getting up and wondering to the kitchen in hopes what she was going to fix up would offer Yzerr some comfort. Bringing water to a soft, rolling boil as she found the tin full of tea leaves from the cupboard. Yzerr’s favorite mug in hand, she set about getting the warm drink ready while allowing him some time to just process all that was happening.

“You made tea…” Yzerr mumbled feeling the couch sink beside him once again as a steaming cup was offered towards his face. “In my favorite cup.” He blew gently on the warm drink before taking a slow sip, trying not to burn his mouth. “My favorite tea in my favorite cup” he was taken back by the kind gesture even if it was something as small as to make him a favorite drink to soothe his soul from the hurt the situation was causing.

Diamond smiled, leaning over to rest her head on his shoulder while she waited for her own cup of tea to cool down. “You act so surprised” she commented softly “It taste better than Henny anyhow.”

“Says you and Jojo, might be better with some Hennessy” Yzerr chuckled before the dog jumped up thinking the other was talking about her. “Hey! I didn’t mean you!” He was attacked by a tongue before the dog settled on the couch with her head in his lap while Yzerr went back to his drink. Letting it work its magic to calm him from the night’s events. “I---I thought you were still mad at me, I wasn’t expecting…”

She cut him off, turning her head to stare at him like he was a dumbass. “Me to do something nice? Like make your favorite tea, in your favorite cup.” Diamond remarked, why was he always like this. “Yes, despite your current round of self-loathing and worry, I wish you could see that you are still so loved by all of us.”

“But”

“This whole situation could have been better avoided by you not being such an idiot!!” Diamond exclaimed exasperated by the fact Yzerr was being so slow to figure it out. “With or without your bullshit I’m sure Jojo would have gone after Lex anyway.”

“Not like this! I chased him away because I’m exactly like Pablow, I’m gonna get him killed, Diamond!” Yzerr protested staring at her, his face still wet from crying. “I don’t want to lose him like Vingo!”

“Do you want to Kill Jojo in the worst way you could possibly think of?” Diamond responded casually without a second thought as she drank her tea.

Yzerr almost spit out his drink making Hennesey give them both a questioning look. “What?! No!” There was a long pause, followed by a howl of annoyance. “If you ignore my feelings about him sneaking out with Red Eye, then no…” he still wanted to beat Jojo’s dumb friend senseless knowing Red Eye was the one who probably suggested sneaking out it in the first place.

“That answers your question then. You’re nothing like your Twin so stop all that.”

Yzerr blinked, staring from Diamond to Vingo’s urn before finally settling his gaze back on the remainder of his tea unsure of what to say to that. “That seems a little over simplified, but thanks for the diagnosis, Doc…” he set the urn back on the table and finished his tea ignoring the look of shade that was being thrown in his direction.

Diamond rolled her eyes. “Well excuse me Mr. I have to be complicated with everything aspect of my life and no one understands my supposed twin powers.” She spouted thoroughly annoyed that this was what was keeping her from being snuggled contently next to Bark. “Doesn’t matter if you have murderous intent or want to save Jojo, you’re not gonna accomplish anything on no sleep, so go to bed Yzerr.” She kissed his cheek before moving to get up, nearly tripping over the stick Hennesey had brought in for Jojo earlier and had now placed at Yzerr’s feet. “Look, you’re not in the doghouse anymore, at least with her…” she cracked up as the dog hopped off her spot on the couch to pick up the large stick to try dropping it in Yzerr’s lap.

Yzerr smiled and scratched Hennessey behind the ears for her effort. “What am I supposed to do, smack Lex with this till he coughs up Jojo?” he inquired, the dog tilting her head and barking happily in response. “You have no idea what I’m talking about Henny…. shut up” he smiled feeling a little better. Safe was a relative term, but Diamond had a point that he could at least try to get some sleep knowing that it didn’t seem like Lex was interested in harming Jojo for now.  “So, about that blow job and goodnight sex…” he got up to follow her back down the hall only to get another annoyed sounding ‘Good night, Yzerr’ and a cheeky smirk before the door to Bark’s room was closed in his face. “For the record, you started it!” he heard Henny whine, staring at him as if to say ‘you’re an idiot’ “What not you too. Can’t blame a guy for trying, come on let’s get some sleep.” He allowed the dog to tug at his hoodie more than ready to flop in his bed and deal with the craziness of life currently in the morning.