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Joseph interlocked his own fingers and stretched his arms up, popping his arms. He tilted to the left, then to the right, and lowered his arms after a bit. Sighing, he tilted his head back to look at the sky. Finally, he thought. He was done with training for the day. He smiled to himself, and walked happily to his room on the island. His room was right next to Caesar's, his best friend. When Joseph thought back to when he and Caesar had met, he couldn't help but feel that it was silly when they fought.
As he was walking to his room, he noticed something hanging on the door. A paper? A paper with words. When he got close enough to read it, he did. “You're rooming with Caesar for the night. Consider this as a type of training.” was written. Joseph paused after reading that much, and looked at the bottom right of the paper determined to figure out who wrote it. Lisa Lisa did. Of course. She was their coach, after all. But why was she doing this? Why did she suddenly decide that Joseph should room with Caesar for the night? Joseph had no clue, and he shook his head. He just had to go through it for one night. He walked over to Caesar's bedroom door and knocked.
There was no response. He knocked again, and was met with silence. He knocked louder. Nothing.
“Hey, Caesar! Open up already! I need to get in there!” Joseph blurted out. He was tired from his training, and obviously, a tad bit cranky.
As Joseph drew his arm back to bang on the door, footsteps sounded in the hallway.
“Mamma mia, Jojo. What are you doing to my door?” a familiar voice sounded. Joseph changed his line of sight to the right of him, and saw Caesar walking his way. “I don't believe I'm in my room right now. You can knock again to check, though.”
Joseph's expression turned sour. Caesar had always been sassy with replies towards him, but did he have to make fun of him like that?
“Well excuse me, bubble boy, I thought you were in there getting your precious sleep. My apologies.” Joseph snapped back.
Joseph backed away from Caesar's door as Caesar approached it. Caesar glared back at Joseph before reaching for the doorknob and opening the door, walking into his room shortly after.
“Come on.” the Italian said, his usual sass not leaving his voice. Joseph left no time to spare as he quickly lifted his feet one by one and followed Caesar into his room, delighted he didn't have to explain the situation.
Joseph looked around Caesar's room in a slight shock. It was eerily tidy, and almost an exact copy of his own room, the walls and desks being the same, except for the countless decor in Caesar's room. It was a pretty room nonetheless, but it just ended up looking like Caesar was a tryhard in cleaning his room, in Joseph's opinion.
“Make yourself at home, I guess.” Caesar said before sitting on the edge of the single bed in the room. “But you're sleeping on the floor.”
Caesar had spoken in such a casual tone that it took Joseph a little bit to process what he had actually said, and when he did, his expression changed from one of surprise to one of irritation.
“What? I'm not sleeping on the floor! You're insane. You're sleeping on the floor, bubble boy.”
“I am not. My room, my rules, Jojo. And I say that you sleep on the floor.”
Joseph was about to make a witty remake, before an idea came to his face. He smirked. “Oh? And you're sure you're not telling me this because you don't want to sleep with me, hmmm? Are you so- flustered by the idea of being in the same bed with me, that you won't even be kind and suggest it?” he teased.
Caesar immediately took defense. “What? You're insane, Jojo! I'm not at all flustered by that idea.”
“Prove it.”
“Alright!”
“I'm waiting.”
“Fine, Jojo! We'll share the bed!”
Joseph smirked, and Caesar realized what he had just said. Before he could say anything else, Joseph quickly said-
“No take backs!”
Joseph then proceeded to sit down on the bed beside Caesar, and sighed.
“Wow. I can't believe your bed is softer than mine. I can't believe you were gonna keep this all to yourself, and make me sleep on the ground.”
“Shut it, Jojo. I dislike sharing my bed, and I'm gonna hate it even more since it's with you.” Caesar snapped back.
“Aww.. Little bubble boy is mad. What? Need a little nappy nap to get your mood back in high spirits?” Joseph snickered.
Caesar glared at him before standing up and walked to the bathroom in his bedroom. He picked up his toothbrush quickly, and began to brush his teeth.
Joseph watched him for a second before remembering that he can't get into his own room, meaning he can't get his own toothbrush. “..Crap. Caesar, I'm gonna need to-”
Joseph couldn't finish his sentence before a toothbrush was lightly tossed at him. Caesar finished up brushing his teeth, then walked out of the bathroom. “Your turn.” he muttered quickly, before sitting on the edge of the bed on the opposite side Joseph was on.
Joseph got up, and went to brush his teeth. While he did that, Caesar went ahead and started taking his clothes off. As he was taking his shirt off, he looked to the side to see Joseph staring at him.
“..Are you going to brush your teeth, or just let the toothpaste drip all over my floor?” Caesar blurted out, making Joseph immediately turn away and start moving his toothbrush again.
Caesar sighed, and continued taking his clothes off until he was in his underwear. He paused a moment before getting into his bed.
“Hey, Jojo. This is a bit of a late ask, but you don't mind me sleeping in my underwear, right?” he asked.
Joseph almost choked on the toothpaste. He spat out what he had in his mouth and rinsed it down the sink before beginning to rinse out his toothbrush. “Yeah! I don't..- Mind at all!”
Caesar didn't waste any time before climbing into his bed and facing away from the bathroom Joseph was in. Meanwhile, Joseph cupped water into his hand and half-drank it, to spit it out and try to get the remaining toothpaste out of his mouth. After that, he wiped his mouth and shook his hands to dry them, then he stripped to his underwear too, similar to how Caesar did.
After that, he climbed into the same bed as Caesar, with his back to the Italian.
Time ticked, and neither of them managed to fall asleep. They both just stared at the wall in silence, thinking the other was sound asleep. The silence lasted until Joseph finally broke it.
“..you still up, bubble boy?” he whispered.
“Yes, Jojo, I'm awake.” Caesar whispered back. When he finished his sentence, Joseph rolled over and faced Caesar's back. Caesar rolled over as well, and he looked Joseph in the eyes. “What are you getting at? I just can’t sleep. Why do you want to know if I’m awake or not?”
Joseph stared blankly at Caesar before frowning slightly. “Just wanted to know. That’s all.” With that, he turned back over and tugged a bit of the blankets to where he had most of them on his side instead of sharing equally.
Caesar sighed, and put a hand on Joseph’s shoulder. “Jojo. You’re not worried or anything, right? Thinking we’ll die?”
Joseph chuckled nervously. “Of course not! I’m not a scaredy cat. It's just, these rings in my body are making me a bit nervous. That's it, Caesarino.”
Caesar frowned, skeptical. He took his hand off of Joseph's shoulder and stared at the ceiling. “Jojo, it's okay to be scared. If we really think about it, the fate of the world is in our hands. Just be honest with me.”
“Well you sure like to pry, huh, bubble boy.”
Caesar glared at Joseph. “If you can't tell, I'm trying to be helpful. If you don’t want me to be, then fine!” He turned and stole a smidge bit of the blankets back that Joseph had.
After a while, Caesar felt an arm wrap around his chest, and found Joseph was hugging him.
“What-”
Before Caesar could let a sentence out, Joseph started speaking. “..I'm sorry, Caesarino. I'm not trying to be mean. I'm just.. on edge.”
Caesar sighed before rolling over and embracing Joseph back. “It's alright. I know you don't mean it. I'm not stupid, Jojo.”
Joseph smiled in relief, and tightened his hold on Caesar. “If you.. don't mind.. could we maybe sleep like this? It calms my nerves.”
Caesar nodded, and closed his eyes. His grip on Joseph softened, and he soon drifted off to sleep, Joseph following quickly after.
The next morning the two were woken up by loud knocking on Caesar's room door.
“Hey!! Wake up, you two! Get ready for the day! If you don't get up quick enough, you two are skipping breakfast!” shouted their coach Lisa Lisa from the other side of the door. Footsteps sounded as she walked away.
Caesar woke up first, and pried himself out of Joseph's grasp. They had managed to sleep the whole night holding onto each other tightly. Whenever Caesar realized that, his face turned red for a moment before he noticed Joseph waking up. He ruffled Joseph's hair before getting out of the bed to take a shower.
Joseph yawned and turned over, staring at the ceiling. He smiled to himself, thinking about the fact that he and Caesar had held each other close the whole night. He swore to himself, once all of this pillar men business was over with, he was going to ask Caesar out.
As Joseph was lost in thought, Caesar finished his shower and walked out of the bathroom with a towel around his waist and one in his hand. He threw the towel in his hand at Joseph softly. “Get up and take a shower. You'll have to use my soap and stuff. Don't take too long, you sleepy mess.”
Joseph stretched, took the towel into his arms, then groggily crawled out of the bed to the bathroom. The water started running, and Caesar began to get dressed.
By the time Joseph was finished showering, Caesar had finished his morning routine of hair gel and getting dressed. Caesar glanced at Joseph before leaving the room to wait in the dining room on the island.
Joseph got dressed as quickly as he could, and since he didn't use the same brand of hair gel that Caesar does, he couldn't do his iconic dramatic swoosh in his hair. He was saddened by it, but he'd just have to deal with it. He sighed, and left Caesar's room.
“That night was the luckiest night of my life,” thought Joseph, as he walked to reunite with Caesar.