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The small weight in Joseph's jacket pocket felt like it was going to burn right through the fabric, straight down through the ground non-stop until it reached the core of the earth.
This is a bad idea. He shouldn't be-
Fuck.
"Sooo....." he starts, trailing off, unsure as exactly what to say to fill the silence that settled between them after Caesar stopped talking about- something something Suzie Q's latest boyfriend cheating on her. The poor girl had the worst taste in men, honestly Joseph felt bad by proxy whenever her dating life was brought up.
"So?" Responds Caesar Zeppeli, love of his life, stars in his sky, man he can totally not propose to right now holy shit. "Joseph, were you even listening to me?"
"Yes! Yes I was." He blurts out, lying completely.
Caesar frowns, unamused, and yet still manages to look unbelievably handsome, which is completely unfair if you were to ask Joseph. "Alright," he says, "What's eating at you? You've been distracted all night, even before we got here."
Joseph dearly wants to tell him everything, how much he loves him, how the past two years have been the best years of his life purely because he's spent them with Caesar, how it would make him the happiest man alive if he could spend the rest of his life with him. Instead of any of this however, he panics and falls back onto sixteen-year-old-Joseph's specialty: crude humor.
He says, with a wink: "Babe, there's nothing I wouldn't give right now to have you eating at me, if you know what I mean." Immediately afterwards, he thinks: 'god I hate myself'.
Caesar rolls his eyes with an aggrieved sigh and still remains hot while doing so, swatting an arm out at Joseph. "Sei serio? Joseph," he hisses "we're in public."
This is certainly not the tone Joseph wanted to set for this evening, and the small voice in the back of his head that's telling him to pack it in, try another day, not now is getting steadily louder, and he's starting to think he should listen to it.
"Right, right, sorry." He looks around, desperate for a distraction. He had taken Caesar out for dinner at a fancy upscale restaurant that- according to several members of his friends and family- had excellent service. It was either here or the Italian place, something-Trussardi, and he wouldn't dare bring Caesar Anthonio Zeppeli to an Italian food joint in America. "Hey," he asks, trying not to let it seem obvious that he's changing the subject but failing completely, "Where do you think the waiting staff is? It's fairly empty."
Caesar scoffs, but he's smiling that beautiful smile of his, clearly amused by Joseph's chagrined changing of the subject. "Well, I wouldn't know." He says, "Are you sure this is the right place? Nothing like the Kujo wedding incident? "
Joseph splutters. "Caesarino! That was one time!" He whines. "And besides, Jotaro totally gave me the wrong directions I swe-"
"Apologies for the inconvenience," A smooth, deep voice cuts in, heading progressively closer to their table, "may I take your order?"
"Oh, yeah," Joseph looks down at the menu lying on the table in front of him, and then glances back up towards the waiter at their table, "Can I have the- uhh..."
Standing at their table, pen in hand, with a geometric tattoo covering his face is probably the most ripped, massive dude Joseph has ever laid eyes upon. And he was not wearing a shirt.
"Yes?" The Extremely Large Waiter Man asked, jolting Joseph back into coherent thought and away from the voices in the back of his mind that were screaming out in horror that there was someone buffer than Jonathan Joestar in existence.
"Yeah uh- can I have the uh.. Lamb please?" He says, still not really comprehending the mass of shirtless muscle that seemed to be wearing every other part of a waiters uniform except the top.
"I'll just have the salad." Cuts in Caesar, voice unusually subdued.
The Giant Waiter Buff Guy writes down their orders and assures them that they'll be ready in a few minutes. Then he sashays away.
"Jojo?" Caesars voice draws back his attention from whatever the fuuuck he just witnessed, and when he looks over both of the blond's eyebrows seem to have raised well beyond his hairline. "Who exactly recommended this place to you again?"
Joseph blinks twice before scratching his head. "Well let's see." He says, counting on his fingers. "Lisa-Lisa, Suzie Q, Jolyne said she was here once and really enjoyed it, Erina and Jonathan say they come here every now and then..."
Caesar sighs. "I rest my case."
"Nooo," Joseph says, starting to realise that maybe it wasn't the best idea to come to a place that most of his typically-single female friend group gave glowing recommendations, "Jonathan?"
Caesar nods grimly, as if he were a general during wartimes discussing the latest battlefield. "Joseph, Jonathan would do anything for Erina, even if it meant subjecting his mega-straight self to something like that." He finishes as he nods towards where the Buff As Hell waiter left to.
Then, he gives a light chuckle. "Maybe not as mega-straight after a few visits here, though."
Joseph laughed, and kept cackling until well after their food came.
.....
..........
.....
"Alright, so," Joseph starts as he walks alongside his boyfriend "Really sorry about the whole-" he gestures towards the restaurant they had just exited, The Red Stone, "-that." He finishes lamely.
Caesar laughs and god it is the most beautiful sound he has ever heard. "Non ti preoccupare, Jojo, it's fine. Although I can totally see why Lisa-Lisa would frequent the place."
Something ugly and fearful bubbles up in Joseph's chest, but he stomps it back down. He was looking at the guys too, hard not to, so he couldn't feel anything about Caesar doing it also. Even if thats the opposite intention of proposing to somebody and asking them to marry you and oh god he almost forgot all about that this was a bad idea.
"Jojo?" Caesar asks, voice laced with a slight tinge of concern, and Joseph realised he had stopped in the middle of the sidewalk "Are you alright? You know I was just joking, sì?"
His heartbeat was echoing in his ears. His typical wit had all but abandoned him, leaving his mind blank with only what-ifs. What if he says no, what if you embarrass yourself, you shouldn't, you shouldn't, say nothing is wrong and keep going.
"Hey, Caesar.." he says and god his voice sounds weak even to his ears.
This seems to only redouble Caesar's concern. "Joseph, are you alright?" He asks, worry clear as day in his voice.
Joseph nods, the very motion making him feel disorientated, but he pushes through. His chest feels tight with nerves. "Yeah! Yeah I'm fine," a slightly hysterical-sounding chuckle arises from him, involuntarily. "You know, I asked Jonathan about this and once he stopped freaking out, which was after a long time y'know, he kept insisting I do it real romantically, but here I am instead. Middle of the street, eleven at night."
"Jojo?" Caesar breathes, no doubt wondering where this tangent would lead to.
Joseph kneels down, drawing the weighted box out of his jacket pocket and opening it up, and proceeded to ignore the slight gasp he heard because if he stops to react to anything right now he won't be able to keep going and he'll ruin it and all Caesar would be left with would be a fucked up proposal and an even larger fuck-up of a boyfri-
He is calm. Calm.
"Caesar Anthonio Zeppeli," he says, and Caesar lets out a slightly hysterical giggle "that's right, I've broken out the middle name, shit's serious," he jokes a slight bit before he gets back on fucking track don't screw up.
"Caesar Anthonio Zeppeli," he repeats, "for five years you have been my best friend, and for two of those we have been dating. Caesar, would you make me the happiest man on earth and marry me?" He swallows. "Here's hoping that the next line out of your mouth is going to be yes." Too corny, he's going to reject you dumbass-
He doesn't look up, but Caesar's crying. He shakily grasps the ring from the box it is held in in his hands, a simple thing with a small diamond in the centre and the words 'Il mio cuore è solo tuo' engraved on the inside, Joseph's ring looks similar but has the words in english and Caesar isn't speaking did he fuck it up?
Caesar makes a noise that he can't make out. He looks up at his boyfriend, feels distressed that he's made him cry, asks "Sorry what was that?" and realises a second too late that it seems like he's being insincere and what if he said no and was trying to save me the embarrassment oh god what if Caesar thinks I'm being a jackass what do I do then-
Caesar tackles into him and he almost loses his footing even though he's on his knees.
"Ho detto sì, idiota, sì!" Caesar cries, and for once in his life Joseph feels absolutely overjoyed.