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“Can we get a hotel? My legs hurt,” Joseph groaned, running a hand through his spiky brown hair.
Sea-green eyes glared at him from under blonde hair. “Seriously?” Caesar raised an eyebrow. Just a few hours ago, Joseph was running around and firing off his Hamon willy-nilly. That kind of overuse could be exhausting though, and now that the adrenaline had long left both of their veins, the pain was starting to set in.
Joseph was probably especially tired. He had trained with Hamon a lot less than Caesar had, so he had to put extra stress on his body. Even still, his talent probably rivaled (or possibly even exceeded) that of his blonde companion.
“Please?” The brunette sounded desperate, and Caesar felt his heart soften a bit. He really did care about Joestar, even if it didn’t seem like it.
Perhaps it went even past simply respecting him as a fellow Hamon user; as someone who also hated Dio. Perhaps it went past even caring about him as a friend, as the grandson of his own Grandfather’s best friend and trusted companion.
That wasn’t what this throbbing in his chest was. Even if he didn’t want it to be what he knew it was, there was only so much he could deny it.
Besides, Joseph definitely didn’t feel the same way. He was a skirt-chasing, lecherous, Casanova. Women were head-over-heels for the handsome brunette. He was strong, with wide shoulders and a flawlessly handsome face. Those jawbones could cut steel, and his green eyes were like deep oceans, vast and endless. He was definitely heterosexual. It was hard to find a man that was more manly than Joseph Joestar; let alone one more heterosexual.
Caesar liked women. There was no mistaking that. His Italian smooth-talk seemed to be quite effective in making women swoon over him.
This was the first time that he’d found himself attracted to another man, however. Instead of the guilt he’d expected to feel, he simply felt peaceful. It felt like he’d finally found a piece of himself that had long been missing. Despite what he was taught as a kid, having been born and raised in a traditional Italian family, he didn’t feel bad about his sexual revelation. The blood in his veins should have been screaming in protest, saying that this wasn’t right, that he shouldn’t feel this way about another man.
Yet, the seas of his heart remained calm.
“We have been walking for a while, haven’t we?” The blonde’s rhetorical question was met with nothing but tired panting from Joseph. “It’s been 6 hours. I’m—I think we’re safe for the night,” the younger man breathed.
‘Has it?’ Caesar wondered to himself. No matter. Joseph was tired, so they should probably stop. It was getting pretty late too, and even the blonde found that exhaustion had started to seep into his bones.
“Let’s look for a hotel,” Caesar told the other calmly. Internally, he was scolding himself for almost having said something unflattering. Had he not stopped himself, he’d have said how tired Joseph must be after having had that intense battle with Esidisi.
Joseph seemed to instantly perk up at that comment, rushing ahead of Caesar, glancing around rapidly. Caesar sighed, deciding to let the Joestar have his fun. The brown-haired male rounded a corner, leaving his friend’s field of vision. “Caesar! I found a place!” He yelled, sounding completely overjoyed.
The blonde rounded the corner, his green eyes wordlessly glancing over the sign written in Italian. It was quaint and looked old, as if it had existed when their grandfathers were alive. Joseph shouldered past the Italian, opening the creaky wooden door that was painted blue.
The interior was nice. It was bright, and smelled fresh. It had a homey atmosphere, if not a bit cramped.
“Ciao!” The brunette greeted the lady at the desk, smiling widely. He propped his elbow up against the desk, winking at the receptionist. She blushed slightly and giggled as Caesar approached the desk. “Due camere, per favore,” Joseph said confidently, completely butchering the pronunciation of the Italian words he was trying to speak.
The receptionist looked confounded, snickering a bit at Joseph’s poor Italian. “Eh?! Did you not understand?” The younger male asked. “My Italian’s perfect!” Joseph insisted. Caesar sighed, shouldering past the brunette and telling the lady they wanted two rooms.
“I’m sorry sir, there’s only one available. We’re pretty booked for the night,” the woman informed reluctantly.
Caesar let out a sigh of irritation. They could always go find another hotel, but he didn’t know his way around these parts, and he hadn’t seen any other hotels for miles.
Any hopes of possibly going to find another place were dashed when, as if brought about by some shitty god of misfortune, it began to rain heavily. The rain poured down in heavy sheets, drumming against the roof of the building, as well as the glass windows. Flashes of lightning lit up the street outside, making the streetlights look like dim fireflies. Thunder rolled above, growling as the gray clouds slid lazily across the sky.
The blonde had to keep from audibly groaning.
“Looks like we have no choice,” he said flatly.
“Okay!” The receptionist woman chirped, reaching under the desk and pulling out a room key with a small tag attached to it. It had a number on it that read ‘417’.
“How long will you be staying?” She asked.
“Just tonight,” the blonde replied.
“Great! Checkout is at 11!” The woman chirped, handing the key to Caesar. “417,” she said happily. He simply nodded and turned to head upstairs. Joseph winked at the woman once again before running off after his friend.
The two of them made the trek up four flights of stairs, Joseph groaning about his legs for most of the time. The two of them entered the hall and made their way towards their room. The blonde put the key in the lock and turned it with a satisfying ‘pop’ noise as the lock opened.
The blonde slowly pushed the door open, light from the hall flooding into the darkened room. His shadow appeared long on the carpeted floor.
Caesar froze up as he noticed it. The light from the hall was barely enough to create a faint outline, but his well-trained eyes recognized it instantly.
He almost dropped the key as his cheeks flushed, and any voice he may have had instantly left his throat in pure shock. How was this happening? Was the lady at the front desk crazy?
“Caesar? What’s up?” Joseph asked, craning his neck to see over his friend’s shoulder.
“I—Th…There’s…” The blonde stuttered, unable to get out what he wanted to say.
The thing he was unable to say to Joseph was that the room only had one bed.
“O-One bed…” The older one breathed, his voice barely above a whisper.
“What?!” Joseph’s pretty green eyes widened, and he pushed Caesar out of the way with one of his strong arms. He reached into the room, slapping around on the wall until he located the light switch, abruptly flipping it on and filling the room with light.
He stood in disbelief, staring at the single bed in the room.
“Is there a couch?” Caesar asked nervously.
“No.”
Fuck.
This was the worst possible scenario. He’d have to share a bed with his crush, unless he wanted to sleep on the floor and have back pain in the morning. Sure, he’d dealt with worse, but sleeping on the floor when there was a bed was a stupid idea.
But the trade-off was that he’d have to sleep with Joseph Joestar, the most handsome man he’d ever met in his entire life. The guy who made him realize he was Bisexual.
Caesar massaged his temples slightly, scrunching his eyes closed as he cursed at fate for putting him in this situation. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to sleep with Joseph, in fact, it was the exact opposite. The idea of it made him incredibly flustered, and he felt like he was going to lose his cool. Any cracks in his serious façade would be the end of him. He could already feel the heat accumulating in his cheeks.
“Well…We can’t do anything about it. We’ll just have to share,” Joseph sighed. Caesar felt himself shudder upon hearing the truth from the brunette’s lips. “Unless you wanna sleep on the floor,” the younger male joked. “That’d probably be really uncomfortable though,” he added.
Joseph closed the door behind them, grabbing the bottom of the tight green tank that he wore, puling it off his muscular form. Caesar almost screamed, wanting to tell the other to put his shirt back on this instant.
“What are you doing?!” The blonde questioned, glancing away from Joseph’s incredibly built form.
It was too late.
The image of the Joestar’s perfect washboard abs, tanned skin, and that perfect ‘V’ shape made by his hipbones was burned into the older one’s brain.
“Taking off my shirt,” the brunette responded casually. “I wanna be comfy when I sleep, and I usually sleep without a shirt ‘cause I get hot.”
“Put it back on!” Caesar demanded, his face burning with embarrassment.
“Jesus, okay. No need to yell,” Joseph responded, looking angry. He grumbled as he picked his shirt up, pulling it back on. Caesar could finally stop holding his breath.
He turned away from the younger male, not wanting him to notice his blush as he removed his headband and scarf, which he never wore whilst sleeping. He fought the urge to glance back and look at Joseph, who he could tell was staring at him.
Caesar shrugged off his blue jacket, rolling his shoulders a bit as he did so. He wanted the other to get a full view of his toned form, especially his arms and back.
Nothing wrong with a little flirting. Besides, it was so subtle that Joseph wouldn’t even pick up on the fact that it was actually a romantic advance.
Once the blonde had folded up all the articles of clothing he’d removed, he set them on the chair, turning to face Joseph. He was nowhere to be seen. The bathroom door was slightly ajar, and he could hear the other’s voice humming a quiet tune, as well as the sound of the sink running.
Caesar sighed and sat down on the bed, burying his face in his hands.
What was he going to do?
Maybe he should get in bed now and pretend to be asleep.
That was a good plan. That would cut out a lot of the awkwardness.
He stood up and lifted the corner of the blanket, climbing into the bed. Right as he was about to lay down, the bathroom door opened, and he was caught in the other’s sights.
Fuck. His plan was fucking ruined, and it was all stupid sexy JoJo’s fault.
Joseph made his way over to the bed and climbed in, his body brushing up against Caesar’s. He could feel the tension sparking between their skin, and he squeezed his eyes shut, hoping in vain to disappear from this place.
When he opened his eyes again, Joseph was lying on the bed, staring in frustration at the light switch across the room. How was he going to turn it off when he’d finally gotten comfortable?
He suddenly got a genius idea. Grabbing a pen off the desk, he concentrated a tiny bit of Hamon from his fingertips into it. Joseph then threw the pen across the room, hitting the light switch and flipping it off. He let out a satisfied laugh as the room was draped in darkness.
Caesar lied down, trying to get as comfortable as was possible sharing a bed with Joseph. He could feel the other’s warm skin brushing against his own, and was glad that the other couldn’t see his intense blush in the darkness.
The blonde stayed that way for a long time, staring up at the ceiling, occasionally lit by flashes of lightning. The sound of the rain against the roof was punctuated by Joseph’s quiet, soft breathing as he slept.
When Caesar was sure the other was finally sleeping, he closed his eyes, listening to the younger one’s rhythmic breathing. He could feel Joseph’s arm and shoulder touching his own. His skin was soft and warm, and Caesar was cold.
He turned on his side, his back facing the other. He had to resist the urge to press up against him and steal some of his warmth.
Why was he like this? Caesar figured he was just delusional with exhaustion.
With Joseph Joestar’s breathing as his lullaby, the other was eventually able to fall into a deep, dreamless sleep, the tiredness slowly taking over his body.
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In the morning, Caesar awoke to Joseph’s beautiful sleeping face. He looked so dreamy, surrounded by the golden morning light that filtered in through the window. The blonde couldn’t help but smile.
That was, until he realized that he had his arm draped around the brunette’s shoulder. He quickly pulled away, almost jumping out of the bed. Thankfully, Joseph didn’t wake up. He looked so cute and peaceful. He must’ve been exhausted from the previous day.
As if someone else had temporarily taken control of his body, Caesar reached out and brushed a lock of Joseph’s soft brown hair out of his face, his thumb lingering for a bit too long on the other’s cheek.
The brunette’s emerald eyes flickered open, and Caesar withdrew his hand in a flash.
“Good morning,” Caesar said calmly.
“’Morning. I had a really weird dream last night,” Joseph yawned as he sat up, stretching his arms. “What kind of dream?” The blonde asked, heading over to the chair to put his headband, scarf, and jacket back on.
As he tied the checkered fabric around his forehead, holding his blonde hair up, the brown-haired male explained his dream.
“You were touching my face.”
Joseph’s tone was unreadable, but Caesar froze with one arm in his jacket sleeve. He paused for a moment before going back to putting it on. “Weird,” was all he could say.
Holy shit.
Joseph had felt that. How?
“Yeah…Maybe you accidentally brushed your hand against my face in your sleep or something,” the younger male shrugged as he swung his legs over the side of the bed. “Then again, you were cuddling me last night.”
Caesar shrugged his jacket all the way on before freezing up again.
“What?!” He asked, feeling the color drain from his face.
“Yeah,” Joseph laughed. “I didn’t think you were that type of guy, but I woke up in the middle of the night to see you all close to me, leaning against my chest like a woman,” he commented.
“You were probably just seeing things,” the blonde remarked.
“Maybe,” the younger one shrugged. “Or maybe you have a crush on me,” Joseph smirked, his tone darkening.
“Joseph, I don’t like men. I…I was probably just cold or something,” Caesar lied, hoping that his friend could keep a secret.
“I get it,” he nodded. “Don’t worry—I won’t tell anyone that the powerful Hamon-user Caesar Zeppeli was cuddling his best friend,” Joseph told him, placing a hand on the other’s shoulder. “I mean it. A Joestar always keeps his promise!” The brunette smiled warmly. Caesar felt a soft blush dust his cheeks.
He knew he could trust Joseph.
Hopefully, he’d just forget this ever happened. Then again, knowing Joseph Joestar, he probably wouldn’t ever let Caesar live it down.
For some reason, that didn’t sound so terrible. As long as it was only Joseph doing it, and nobody else. It was their secret and theirs only.