Chapter Text
"Whaaaaat?!"
Joseph was in his dressing room getting ready for a group photoshoot when Smokey hands him a tabloid. Joseph looks at the cover with intensity. He cannot believe what's he's seeing. The front cover is a picture of some pompous looking blonde guy with green eyes. Says that he's a new model named "Caesar Zeppeli" who is predicted to be one of the most successful models of the year 2007. "Smokey, who the hell is this guy?! Why haven't I seen him before?" Smokey finds Joseph's frustration amusing. "He's a model from Italy who's recently started doing shoots in America. He's going to be popular here." Joseph crosses his arms and pouts. He's always been in the spotlight and he doesn't want his spotlight to be taken away by some... Italian douchebag! "What's so special about him anyway?" Smokey thinks for a second. His eyes widened. "His eyes! They're gorgeous!"
"And mine aren't?!"
"They are gorgeous. But his are bright green, Which is like, more gorgeous."
"Ugh, whatever! I don't even want to look at him anymore!" Joseph throws the tabloid across his dressing room. Smokey looks at Joseph with pity. He knows his friend loves being in the public eye and although Joseph covers it up with his toxic masculinity, Smokey can tell that he is very scared. Very scared of not being famous anymore. Very scared of being forgotten. "I hope I never see his dumb face in person!" Joseph angrily shouts. Smokey nervously laughs. "W-well, I think I saw him talking to the other models earlier. He's going to be in the group photoshoot too. I think." Joseph's jaw drops. "WHAT?!" Joseph stands up and puts his robe on, ready for a confrontation. Smokey looks on in disbelief. "Jojo?! You never felt this way for any other model! Why are you so pissed?!" Smokey stands in front of the door, not letting Joseph leave. Joseph stares down at him. "With other models, I know I am way more beautiful than them. I know they can't outshine me. But with him... he's might be beautiful enough to take my spot as number one. He's going to outshine me. I don't want him to outshine me. Move." He shoves past Smokey and begins to walk around the building, trying to locate Caesar. He runs into his agent, Speedwagon. He gets right to business. "Speedwagon. Where is Caesar Zeppeli?" Although Speedwagon was caught off guard by Joseph's anger, he points to Caesar's dressing room. "H-he's in there. Why do you ask?" Joseph doesn't answer the question and just storms into the dressing room.
"Caesar?!" Joseph storms into the room to see Caesar sitting at a vanity. Joseph sees that his dressing room is filled with gifts from fans. "This asshole has fangirls already?!" Caesar seems to be talking on the phone and hasn't noticed the other man. "Ahem!" Joseph says, alerting Caesar of his presence. Caesar looks at the man who just entered his dressing room as he hangs up the phone. He smiles with sincere happiness upon seeing Joseph. "Ciao!" Joseph looks at Caesar with extreme offense, not knowing that ciao meant hello and goodbye. "What?! Did he just say goodbye? Is he telling me to fuck off?!" Joseph gets face to face with the man. "You think you're hot shit?" Caesar just stares at Joseph. "... Pardon?" He doesn't know why Joseph is insulting him. Joseph just sneers. "You should take your ass back to Italy. Because as long as I'm in the modeling industry, you aren't going to be shit in the U.S!" Caesar stands up, very nervous and confused. He's a big fan of Joseph and is surprised that one of his idols is insulting him for no reason! "Jojo? What the hell is wrong with you?" Joseph laughs with annoyance. "Oh so you know who I am? Well, you don't have the privilege to call me Jojo! It's Joseph to you!"
Joseph, now seeing red, shoves Caesar onto his vanity. Caesar doesn't want to hit Joseph back, that'll make things worse. So he just stares at him with confusion and a bit of pity. Which infuriates Joseph more. "Don't give me that pitiful expression! It's pissing me off!" Joseph grabs a bottle of hair conditioner and throws it at Caesar, who dodges it as it hits the wall. Speedwagon storms into the room. "Jojo! Stop this!" Speedwagon grabs Joseph's arm, trying to get him out Caesar's dressing room. But Joseph just yanks his arm away and stomps out the room. "I will not do this photoshoot unless this bastard isn't in it! I refuse!" Joseph storms back into his dressing room and slams the door behind him. Joseph caused quite the scene as all the models are now gossiping about what just happened.
"What the fuck just happened?!"
"I don't know! Jojo just attacked Caesar for no reason!
"Ha! Guess he's afraid of Caesar taking his number one spot. Fearful bastard. D-dont tell him I said that..."
Caesar just sighs and sits back down. Seems like everyone around here is afraid of Joseph. Not him, though. He sees right through Joseph and knows that he's insecure. He begins to fix up his appearance. He needs to look his best for the photoshoot, after all. Wow, he never thought that one of the most famous models in the US, and who also happened to be one of his idols, would try to attack him. Caesar begins to comb his hair as he thinks about Joseph's fiery personality. He chuckles.
"Mamma mia."