#hermitpurple

Joseph sat with his head resting on his hand, scowling at the rest of the room. He felt a little awkward being there, honestly. But he couldn't say no to Suzie Q, she was so excited about him meeting some of her friends, that he wasn't going to turn her down. He hated seeing her upset and sometimes that wasn't a hard thing to do. Granted, there were times where she drove him nuts, too. But he supposed that was how it was supposed to be. They'd gotten married when they were both pretty young, but it had been a fairly good marriage none the less. Everything he had gone through had matured him a great deal after all. So despite concerns from any of his friends and family--after they all got over the fact that he had lived through his fight with Kars--everything seemed to be going well. Life had, for the most part returned to normal. Erina had seemed to take a liking to Suzie as well, thinking it was a good idea that he found someone to settle down with. He had been a wild card his whole life after all, perhaps having Suzie in his life would force him to be a little less reckless and keep him from getting into too much trouble. He guessed he should have expected that kind of reaction from his granny, but truthfully it had been a little bit of a hit to his ego. So, of course he couldn't say no to Suzie when she had insisted that they bring in one of her old friends. It had been so long since she left Italy, after all. That's what the argument had been. 

(So, I"m just going to sit here for this tea party? I get being a supportive husband and all but this...) 

He sighed as he watched Suzie prepare everything. She was running around making sure that she got the tea brewed, had the cakes set up just perfectly. Everything that seemed appropriate to invite someone over for tea. All the while, he just sat there, slumped in the chair he was sitting in. His elbow was resting on the arm of the chair, and he had set his chin in his palm. He did have to admit though, seeing her smile happily as she perfected the last few things was pretty cute. Her eyes seemed to sparkle with happiness and she was quietly humming to herself as she worked. She hardly seemed to notice how dismayed Joseph was at the moment, lost in her own excitement. Seeing her like this brought back memories. (Some things never do change.) Memories of the way she took care of everything for Lisa Lisa. How she would bustle about with chores and making sure that he or Caesar didn't need anything. She'd been just as cute back then, than she was now. Her habits hadn't really changed much in that department, even being married to him. He didn't think she would ever stop being that way, although if his real estate job worked out, they may eventually start getting help to do all those things for her. That was something that he wanted to do for her at least. Take good care of her, just as she had done for him whenever she had been tending to his wounds after the fight with Kars. He really wouldn't have survived if it hadn't been for her careful care. That was enough to have him smiling a little bit to himself as he watched her. 

It had been about ten years . Ten years since he had defeated Kars and set the world up for peace. Nothing else had really happened since and it wasn't long after he got married to Suzie that the two of them moved back to New York to be closer to Erina. Because nothing had really changed since Kars was defeated, Joseph had started to slack off a little bit on his Hamon training. Hamon was life energy and it could very well keep himself from aging too quickly if he kept up with it enough. He did do a little bit here and there, just enough that he didn't completely forget how to use it, but it was never for anything serious. He had made the decision that he would gradually let it go though because in the recent years he realized if he didn't he may out live Suzie by many years. There wasn't really a need to keep up with it now. Besides, growing old with Suzie didn't sound like a bad thing. They could probably even start a family together and live a normal life. Something no Joestar had really had the chance to do. Both his Grandfather and his Father had lost their lives and his mother had been forced to go into hiding under a false name. After everything that had happened and all that he had done to get to where he was now, settling down seemed like a good idea. He had grown tired of losing things he cared about anyway. Losing people that he cared about.. (Maybe this won't be so bad after all. Doing something that normal people do.) 

"Jojo, could you straighten up please? I want everything to look perfect and you--" Suzie had turned to him as she spoke. She covered her mouth, looking a little amused before she continued, "--you kind of look like a slob." 

"A what?" Joseph blinked, surprised by her words. "A slob? You think I look like a slob? I'm the best looking thing here!" 

It may have been ten years, but he hadn't changed all that much. At least his ego hadn't changed all that much. There was one thing that had though, he had mellowed out a little bit. It seemed that Erina had been right about having someone around to settle him down and have him acting less reckless. The temper that he had always had wasn't as hot as it used to be. So when she had blind sighted him with those words, it wasn't something that had set him off. He had been surprised by them and she seemed to think it was funny--probably because she knew that saying something like that was bound to hurt his ego. His words had sent her into a fit of giggles as she finished up the last few things for their guests. It had done what she had asked though, he had sat up a little bit in his surprise. His eyes followed her as she went to go get the last of the array of deserts she had been setting up. She paused in the doorway, looking over her shoulder at him and gave him another cute smile. 

"I guess you're not so bad looking, even now," She said before disappearing with another small giggle.