Chapter Text
Caesar had hardly finished clocking in before he was ambushed by a horde of customers. He took a deep breath, clipped on his nametag, and prepared for yet another long shift.
Not enough hours in with too many hours left, Caesar was scribbling down the details of an overly complicated order, phone receiver trapped between his head and shoulder. An elderly woman, making a brave attempt to order programs for her daughter's upcoming wedding, was second guessing the quantity she needed for the fourth time. Caesar put down his pen and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Ma'am, I really think this would go a lot more smoothly if you placed your order in person-"
"Caesar!" Suzy called from the counter. Caesar turned to glance at her, half listening to the woman on the phone as she explained that she couldn't believe he'd expect her to drive all that way just to tell him...blah blah blah, same as always.
His sweetest and least capable coworker, Suzy, was shuffling through a large stack of finished orders, no doubt searching for the one that belonged to the client in front of her. He sighed, of course in the week he'd been gone, the neat packages had lost all order.
"Caesar! We're all out of- Oh!" She finally turned her head to see that he was on the phone, and whispered a quick 'sorry' before shouting out toward the aisles of the stationary store.
"Jojo! Are you busy?"
Caesar furrowed his brows. Jojo? Did he know a Jojo?
"Yeah, but I can make time for you!" A deep voice called from a couple aisles over.
Suzy giggled, blushing slightly. "The print shop is out of cardstock! Could you bring us a case?"
As Caesar tried to explain that no, he couldn't mail her examples of wedding programs they'd done in the past, a stranger approached the counter. The tall brunette stood with a large case of cardstock paper over his shoulder, holding it securely in place with a muscular arm. Judging by the 'Joseph' scrawled across his name tag, this was Jojo.
"Where do you want it?" He asked Suzy with a smile.
The blush returned with a vengeance as she spoke. "Oh! Uh- you can just p-put it anywhere, really. Caesar can move it later if he needs to," she said, gesturing in his general direction.
The stranger gave him a once over and smirked. "I'm sure he can," he replied, moving behind the counter to drop the case.
The woman on the phone finally agreed to come in for a proper consultation, freeing Caesar from his auditory prison. He got to work designing the layout for a client's business card, talking to Suzy over his shoulder.
"So I'm only gone for a week and you're hiring my replacement?" He asked teasingly.
Suzy's laugh was accompanied by the pleasant hum of the laminating machine. "Jojo is Lisa's son. He's just helping out on the sales floor while Loggins is in the hospital."
"Her son?" He didn't know his boss had kids. Then again, she never really talked about her personal life. From what he could tell, she'd thrown all of her energy into the shop since the day she'd opened it.
Caesar looked across the store. Joseph was near the greeting cards, talking to a few middle aged women. One of them made a joke and Joseph let out a loud, warm laugh. Caesar frowned.
"I don't see the resemblance."
As the women approached the counter, Joseph caught Caesar's gaze. To Caesar's horror, Joseph shot him a wolfish grin, and winked. Caesar groaned.
Please don't come over here please dont come over here please don't-
"Hey," Joseph said, leaning against the counter beside the computer.
"Hi," he said flatly, making a point to focus on the screen, and not the vibrant turquoise eyes staring at him.
"What's up?"
Seriously? "I'm working."
Joseph chuckled, not at all deterred. "So, you're Caesar, eh? Suzy told me you're really good at all this stuff."
Caesar adjusted the orientation of the client's logo, clicking his tongue when it still didn't look quite right.
Joseph cleared his throat, holding out a tan hand. "I'm Joseph Joestar, but my friends call me Jojo."
"Nice to meet you, Joseph."
Joseph laughed again. Jeez, can't this idiot take a hint?
A customer approached Joseph, asking for help locating a specific fountain pen. Joseph put on an almost sickeningly sweet 'customer service smile' and led him away.
"Talk to you later, Cae!"
Caesar sighed. "I'm sure you will."