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The sweet melodious symphony of singing voices carried themselves from Suzie’s radio towards the kitchen, where a certain pair were attempting to brainstorm about the whereabouts of the remaining Pillar Men.
Surprisingly, the brunette within the pair didn’t initially allow himself to be distracted by the sound. Perhaps it was due to the fact that he had never heard the song before; to him it was entirely different from the jazzy music he was used to listening to in the states.
Or maybe it was because he and Caesar had made quite a few good points in their thinking process, and he knew that the Italian would likely grow more irritated than usual if he tried to change the subject at such a time.
One more earful of the tune, however, and Joseph unwillingly lost himself to the music. All of the talk of the boring whatever-their-names-are men had left his mind completely, and he found himself humming, swaying, and drumming his fingers along the top of the wooden table he and Caesar were sitting at.
The blonde furrowed his eyebrows at him briefly, likely wondering why he had randomly decided to start making such a cacophony.
A few more minutes passed, the Joestar sitting with him had yet to put a stop to his one-man-band, and Caesar chose to directly ask Joseph why he had randomly decided to start making such a cacophony.
“JoJo…” Caesar began, pausing for the dramatics. “What are you doing?”
“Having fun, you stick-in-the-mud,” Joseph replied, as if the answer were the most obvious in the world. “What does it look like I’m doing? I’m dancing.”
“JoJo… that doesn’t look like dancing,” Caesar commented in the least “hate to break it to you” way possible. As far as Caesar was concerned, the way that Joseph was forcing himself from side to side seemed as if he were more so trying to dodge an enemy’s punches rather than dance.
“Oh, really?” Joseph challenged, glaring at Caesar and putting a pause to his rhythmic moving. His brain had hatched an idea. He slowly brought himself to sit on his knees, smirking. “How about we go and ask Suzie to choose which one of us can dance better?”
Caesar didn’t respond; instead, his shamrock green eyes slowly trailed off away from Joseph’s and towards the source of the music: Lisa Lisa’s office.
Suzie Q was inside, humming happily to herself as she tidied the collection of miscellaneous knick-knacks lining one of the shelves. She’d lost herself in the task and the moderately loud tune playing; so much that other sounds attempting to drift into the small room were ignored. Suzie, being the bubbly person that she is, was oblivious to this.
Joseph’s eyes followed Caesar’s gaze towards the room, a single eyebrow raising. “What’s wrong? Is dancing some type of crime here, too?” He mumbled, growing a bit frustrated with the seemingly over-strict rules of the island.
“No, that’s not it JoJo,” Caesar replied, cutting his eyes away from the room and casting his eyes downward towards the table. “I just don’t want to, is all. Besides, we’re supposed to be focusing on the Pillar Men, and-”
“Are you sure, Caesar? I mean, it looked like you were really pondering it for a second there,” Joseph insisted, resting his cheek against the palm of his hand as he gazed towards him. “You know… if you ask me, you seem a bit afraid-”
“I’m not asking you!” Caesar cried almost immediately, catching Joseph off guard. The unexpected outburst was more so one that would’ve left the Italian’s lips a few weeks prior, before their friendship was as solid as it was now. Or, at least Joseph thought so.
Caesar quickly let out a heavy sigh as his eyes darted toward the floor. “Ugh… sorry, JoJo. I didn’t mean to yell.”
“You apologizing? That’s even scarier!” Joseph cried jokingly, eyes widening as he continued to study the other boy. “Are you sick or something? No, let me guess… you’ve been possessed by Wamuu!”
The brunette leaned away from the table, fingers playing with his chin as he pondered. “Now, let’s see… would the real Caesar want to dance? Who am I kidding, Caesar goes against me in literally every single thing that we do, so obviously he’d…”
There was that word again. Dance. Caesar took note of the usage as Joseph continued blabbing on in the background. What he didn’t take note of, however, was when Joseph happened to catch a glimpse of the smallest hint of red forming its way on Caesar’s cheeks.
“Are you done yet?” Caesar questioned after a while, exasperated. He had to make sure to distract Joseph somehow. Much to his displeasure, however, the boy was already onto him.
“Are you… blushing?” Joseph accused as he jumped to his feet, causing Caesar to gasp. “That’s impossible! Now I know you’re not actually Caesar! I’m going to go get Coa-”
“N-no! No, it’s still me in here, idiota!” Caesar exclaimed, Joseph turning his head to face him with actual alarm in his expression. Just great, the Italian thought to himself, he really thinks that I’m possessed.
At this point, it would likely just be easier for him to claim that Joseph’s ridiculous proposition was correct and that he actually had been taken over by one of the last two Pillar Men. At least then, he’d be able to be temporarily put out of his misery.
Any moment now, and Joseph would realize what it was that Caesar was actually hiding.
Or maybe he won’t, he hoped as he reassessed the situation and the person across from him. I mean… it *is* Joseph that we’re talking about here.
Joseph, however, absolutely knew that something was wrong now. Though the blushing had been enough of an initial sign, Joseph had never seen the blonde act this so uncharacteristically before. Acting nervous and lacking a clever comeback to combat him was never something he thought he’d see from him in his lifetime.
“Let’s see… why is Caesar acting so strange?” He questioned aloud, taking his seat once again and staring the Zeppeli down. “Let me guess… are you sick?”
“No,” Caesar replied, though he might as well be.
“You noticed that your headband had a tear in it?” Joseph asked, raising an eyebrow.
Caesar’s attention was now focused on something else other than their whole dancing conversation, shocked at the thought of something being wrong with the headband he sported daily. “JoJo! You did something to it, didn’t y-” Caesar began, reaching for his headband as Joseph let out an awkward chuckle.
“Heh, I was just joking of course,” Joseph lies. “But nonetheless, don’t check.” It wasn’t his fault Caesar had decided to leave it around him, knowing that he couldn’t be trusted with things.
He allowed himself a bit more time to think before changing the subject coolly. “Hmm… did you happen to swallow another pidgeon?”
“Did I happen to…?” Caesar repeated, face twisting up in confusion. “It was you who caused that in the first place, so that doesn’t even make any sense JoJo!”
“And neither does you blushing!” Joseph was fresh out of ideas by now, but he was desperate to get to the bottom of whatever it is that Caesar’s hiding. He also really didn’t want to return to the last boring conversation they were having. “Let’s see… this all started when I asked if you wanted to go and have a dancing contest in front of Suzie...”
He snapped his fingers just then, as a result of his excitement from an actual good guess coming to him. “Caesar! Can you not dance?”
Unlike all of the past answers, Caesar wasn’t quick to respond this time. This piqued Joseph’s interest, causing him to glance directly at the blonde accusingly. “Caesar…?”
“... I guess there’s no denying it now,” Caesar replied, reluctantly. Joseph released some type of a gasp.
“I got it right!” Joseph cried out, jumping to his feet and pumping his fist into the air. He briefly celebrates his victory before taking what it was that Caesar actually told him into account. “Wait… I can’t believe this! The Casanova himself! He can’t dance!”
He tilted his head back, a string of obnoxious laughs leaving his throat. “And here I am thinking you’d be the type to try and woo every girl in the world with your dancing skills. But how could you do that? With dancing skills you don’t have?”
At that point, Caesar found himself wishing even more that he was possessed by a Pillar Man. His eyes stayed glued to the tiled floor of the kitchen, refusing to pull away. He couldn’t believe such an embarrassing truth as that had just made its way out into the open. And in front of Joseph, of all people.
Surprising even himself, Joseph managed to bring himself to stop laughing after taking note of Caesar’s dejected demeanor. Instead, he reached a hand towards Caesar in sympathy.
The blonde, clearly confused, allowed his eyes to scan Joseph’s hand as if it were some type of evidence of human life and he was an otherworldly creature.
“Well? I’m not doing this for my own health. Take my hand, dumbass!” Joseph spat.
To anyone else, it probably would’ve been deemed as rude, disrespectful, hateful even… but Caesar and Joseph were so used to referring to each other with degrading names such as these by now that Caesar lingered no longer and reluctantly slid his hand into the other’s.
“Okay, there. Happy now, JoJo?” The Italian mumbled before Joseph, without warning, tugged him up from his sitting position. “Gyah! What the hell?”
“What? Did you think I was asking for your hand for my own well-being? Sorry, Caesar, but if you wanted to hold hands so bad, you could’ve asked.” Joseph looked mischievously on towards Caesar, ignoring the angered quivering of his lip from this little remark. “Anyways… I’m gonna teach ya how to dance, Caesarino.”
“Oh, no JoJo, I think I’ll pass on that,” Caesar exclaimed immediately, attempting to wriggle himself free from Joseph’s grasp on his hand. His attempts proved to be futile, though, as Joseph jokingly squeezed his hand just a bit tighter to keep him from leaving.
“Come on, Caesar. You can’t possibly be that bad,” Joseph teased, releasing his grasp and gripping his chin in thought. His eyes sized up Caesar as he pondered. “Show me what you can do so far.”
Caesar managed to get out a few mumbles of disagreement before the song from the other room seemed to get even louder, every single instrument and voice filling his ears and serving as a tease. It was a particularly melodious part of the song as well, and he felt Joseph’s eyes lingering on him, expecting him to move, pressuring him on.
Jesus Christ, how long is this song?
“JoJo… how about you demonstrate?” The blonde offered after a few seconds, his utter confusion surprising even himself.
“Ooh! You’re really lost, aren’t you?” Joseph snorted briefly, positioning himself where Caesar could see him best.
“Oh shu…” Caesar began, but Joseph ended up cutting him off.
“You just have to feel the music, Caesar, and get into it! Try it with me.” Joseph waited for a few seconds, nodding his head to get into the rhythm before beginning to sway softly along to the beat. “You can do this much, can’t you?”
Caesar stood watching Joseph blankly for a few minutes before coming to the painful conclusion that there was absolutely no way he could get around this situation.
He couldn’t believe this. How could Joseph, the ridiculous and dense individual that he was, be a better dancer than him? Was it in his genetics or something? That was just unfair.
The only other way out of this, of course, was if he gave Joseph the satisfaction of attempting to help him. Although, helping him with this insignificant fact about him seemed impossible and quite useless.
Caesar couldn’t dance.
Well, he’d never actually tried it. There was never a reason to; Caesar’s tragic past hadn’t exactly given him the opportunity to go and dance happily in the streets. There was also the additional fact that he was sure if he tried to dance, the stares he’d likely obtain would be ruthless. Caesar just knew that when it came to him and dancing, he was probably a lost cause.
He was sure that this was never something that would come up on the island, in front of his peers. After all, who had time for dancing when there were rock men threatening the lives of innocent people each day? But of course, Joseph Joestar just had to be the one to change all that, didn’t he?
Caesar failed to realize how far off his thoughts had dragged him until the sensation of Joseph’s fingers against his pulled him to reality. He hadn’t realized how close he was until now, either… standing directly in front of him. Naturally, he couldn’t hide how shocked he was when he came to this realization. “Um, excuse me. J-JoJo, what are you…”
“I’ll just have to guide you myself,” Joseph whispered teasingly into Caesar’s ear, unintentionally sending heavy chills down his spine. Caesar coughed to himself as Joseph backed up and grasped both of Caesar’s hands in his.
That was strange, Caesar had to admit, but maybe feeling someone’s breath that close to your ear would always make a person shiver.
“Guide me, huh?” Caesar quotes. “And how exactly are you going to do that?”
“I don’t actually know… I didn’t think this part through,” Joseph admitted, and Caesar only rolled his eyes in response.
Clearly as confused as the Italian was earlier, Joseph slowly started moving their hands in tandem to whatever beat he had latched onto. It was in such a manner as that of a parent trying to dance with their young child.
After a while, Joseph seemed to grow comfortable with their “dancing”, beginning to incorporate his own strange moves into the mix. Caesar, however, remained still; he still wasn’t sure what it was that he was supposed to be doing.
He didn’t have a single clue as to how he should move his arms or whether or not he should even attempt it in the first place. He hadn’t learned anything because he hadn’t been taught anything.
Joseph was a terrible teacher. Though, he wasn’t sure what he had been expecting.
Caesar could only imagine how ridiculous they looked.
In fact, he was certain he had never felt more vulnerable. If someone were to walk in, right here, right now, how would they explain this? Would Joseph try to do the explaining? Was there even anything to explain in the first place? Was this just Caesar taking Joseph’s act of kindness as something else? Or had he actually-
“What, is something wrong?” Joseph questioned suddenly, as if he heard his name radiate from the boy’s thoughts. “It’s just the two of us here, Caesar, no one is going to judge you. Well, at least not too much anyways.”
Ah, yes. Joseph Joestar, everyone. And Caesar had really offered him the benefit of the doubt and insisted this could be an “act of kindness.” Yeah, right.
Even when Caesar rolled his eyes, though, he couldn’t hide the amused smirk growing on his face from Joseph’s little dumb remark.
Of course, this ended up giving Joseph yet another perfect opportunity to tease him. “Caesar! Was that a smile?”
“It’s more of an irritated smile,” Caesar replied defensively.
“So you’re so irritated… that you’re smiling? That’s a new one. Kind of a scary tactic, if you ask me.”
“Well how else would you like me to show you that I’m irritated?” Caesar questioned. “Do you want me to attack y-”
Without warning, Joseph lifted one of his arms that was meshed with Caesar’s over Caesar’s head and spun him; it sent the blonde whirling around with eyes the size of saucers before Joseph stopped him by firmly grabbing a hold of the hand he’d been holding onto.
Acting as if it didn’t phase him in the lightest afterward, Joseph resumed their strange dancing routine. “You can reciprocate, you know,” the brunette insisted after a couple of seconds when he realized that Caesar was still standing there. “It’s kind of strange, standing here and doing this all by myself.”
“W...well, you initiated this,” Caesar pointed out, coming down from the spinning shock.
Would it be odd to say, though, that he was feeling a bit… relaxed? The boy ahead of him was right to some degree; at the end of the day, he was the only one who would see him. Joseph seemed to be so into the idea, Caesar figured the least he could do was indulge him in a bit of reciprocation.
Of course, if Joseph tried to bring this moment up to anyone else on the island, Caesar could just deny everything.
Letting out a deep breath, Caesar watched Joseph for pointers. He was in the middle of swaying back and forth, and had just gone to the right when Caesar joined him, slowly beginning to try and mimic his movements. He could feel his skin growing warm with discomfort as Joseph took note of his attempts. It was one of the most uncomfortable things the poor boy had ever attempted in his life.
But it was overly endearing and sweet to Joseph, who broke out into a grin. It wasn’t that he was about to laugh; he couldn’t bring himself to laugh at Caesar in this moment even if he wanted to.
The wide smile that crossed Joseph’s face as he watched on, however, was detected as something else by the Italian, who quickly put an end to his attempts and scowled instead. Beginning to slowly remove his hands from Joseph’s grasp, Caesar mumbled, “Really, JoJo? Are you about to laugh at me again, right after you said you wouldn’t?”
“N-no, it’s nothing like that,” Joseph mumbled, growing a bit flustered as he softly tightened his hold on Caesar’s hands, relaying the message that he still wanted to do whatever it was they were doing together.
When Joseph was met with a blank stare from Caesar, the brunette reached his arm up to spin the boy around again. “It’s just... this is so different, compared to the rest of this week. I’m happy, I think.”
A small smile returned on Caesar’s face after he had allowed himself to be spun and his eyes met with Joseph’s. “You think?”
“W-well yeah,” Joseph stuttered out, growing a bit flustered all of a sudden. He didn’t think that his emotions would be challenged, and during such an otherwise gentle moment between the two, at that. “I-I mean I…”
“It’s alright, JoJo. No need to blow a fuse,” Caesar interrupted, a small smile breaking out across his lips. “I think I am too.”
♡ ♡ ♡
Suzi Q stood back and took a second to admire the outstanding job she had done fixing the decoratives of Lisa Lisa’s room. One of her best cleanings yet, if she did say so herself.
The maid began happily skipping towards the radio, positioned on a table by the opened door of the room. Lingering her finger over the power off button with the intent of turning off the music, the sound of two familiar voices from the other room suddenly pulled her attention away. It sounded as if they were arguing again, per usual… but the words of their conversation sparked her interest.
Peeking around the corner, Suzi Q softly gasped as she got an eyeful of Joseph and Caesar danc… well, attempting to dance together. They’d somehow managed to get into a disagreement while dancing, bickering over something that was presumably Joseph’s doing.
“You idiot!” Caesar snarled.
“What? I just did the same thing I always do!”
“You were supposed to spin me the other way.”
“Oh, was I?”
“You can’t just spin me that way without warning!”
“Oh please! You teach a guy how to dance once and he thinks he has all the authority in the world.”
“Well between the two of us, I already had all the authority, stupido.”
Suzi Q smiled to herself, before making the decision to leave the radio on and deciding that for now, she’d find something else in the room that needed cleaning.
For now, she’d let them dance.