Chapter Text
The number of times that Joseph had collided with him in the past two weeks was getting ridiculous.
“Whoops, sorry!” he’d say flippantly as the two of them nearly bumped heads- which Caesar would happily avoid since he got the feeling that JoJo’s head would be as hard as a brick- and Joseph’s hands would come up to grip his shoulders to steady him.
Now that part, he didn’t mind. It’d just be nice to be in that close proximity without the pain involved.
The fifth time that Caesar turned a corner and Joseph almost knocked him to the ground by sprinting straight into him, he had had enough. “Do you ever walk anywhere?” he snapped. He didn’t bother asking if Joseph ever watched where he was going; wherever JoJo went, he usually intended to be there.
“Eh? Of course I do!” Joseph said indignantly as he removed his hands from patting Caesar’s shoulders. “I was just coming to find you.”
“You don’t have to hurry so much,” Caesar sighed, rolling his eyes. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“Of course you’re not. But why go slow when I can see you that much faster by running?” Joseph flashed him a grin.
He hoped that his face wasn’t as flushed as he felt. He was Caesar Zeppeli . It had to take more than that to shake him. Right? “You can’t just say things like that!”
Joseph shrugged and slung an arm around Caesar’s shoulders. “It’s true. Anyway, Coach wants us to train together today.”
He couldn’t help the glances at his friend as they walked side-by-side. It was in Joseph’s nature to be active, but one of these days, he was going to make a fool of himself by tripping and falling. Not that he didn’t do that already, and it would be kind of funny to see… but hey, at least Caesar was thinking about being considerate.
As for what Joseph had said… he tried to keep the smile off his face. It was nice to know that JoJo placed as much importance on their meetings as Caesar did, no matter how much time they spent around each other.
A week later, Caesar was ready. He saw Joseph careening across the hall and braced himself to get in the way.
Joseph made only a cursory attempt to skid to a stop, and Caesar smirked as he grabbed his arms and pulled him close, their eyes meeting and a hairbreadth of space between their noses. “Are you so eager to run into my arms?”
“I thought you couldn’t just say things like that,” Joseph said petulantly. Caesar smiled to himself and let go, satisfied with the red tinge he thought he saw on Joseph’s cheeks.
“We’re going to go for a walk,” he announced, and Joseph kept pace with him as he stepped outside. “It’s going to be relaxing.” He whipped around and held a finger to Joseph’s lips. “And quiet.”
He ignored Joseph’s offended Do you really think that’s going to happen look, turning around to resume his walk instead. “You know, you still have a bruise on your forehead from running into that suit of armor.” He glanced sideways at the fading purple mark. “It looked funny,” Caesar informed him with a smile.
“Like hell it did!” Joseph groaned. “That thing was hard ! And who just keeps a suit of armor lying around anyway?”
Well… Caesar couldn’t hold back his grin. “It wasn’t supposed to be there.”
“Huh?” Joseph frowned at him, but his eyes widened a second later. “You! Did you place it where I’d walk right into it? You-”
“You were moving pretty fast, if I recall-”
“Caesar!”
Joseph grabbed at him, and Caesar laughed, ducking out of his grip. “If it makes you feel better, Suzi Q helped me dig up the thing.”
“Oh, I get it. No running in the house, is that it?” Joseph grumbled at him, and Caesar huffed.
“No, just stop running into people . Me, in particular. Why is it always me?”
“Is it?” Joseph feigned innocence, and Caesar narrowed his eyes. Wait…
“You didn’t seem that bothered when I helped you up or practically held you,” the idiot continued lightly, and Caesar couldn’t put into words the exasperation that rose in his chest.
“Contact doesn’t need to involve physical collisions , you know.” Caesar grabbed one of Joseph’s hands and tugged at it. “Do you have to be so over-the-top with everything ?”
“You’re one to talk!” Joseph laughed, and Caesar tried to stay mad; he really did. But really, it wasn’t his fault that Joseph’s laugh was so contagious.