Work Text:
Joseph was early. For once in his life he was actually early for something. Could you blame him? Caesar was coming to visit for the summer. The whole summer! He was going to be able to hold him in his own arms again. He could look at his beautiful face right in front of him, not through a screen or a picture. They could fall asleep together, at the same time, in the same bed!
Joseph paced around the arrival terminal, regularly stopping to scan the crowds for blonde hair and birthmarks.
They made it work. Of course they did. You don't meet the love of your life and give up on them simply because they live on the other side of the world. They've got planes and trains and cars. He'd walk to him if he had no other way.
But the distance slowly, quietly wore them down.
The nightly face times or quick morning calls cut short as one of them rushed out of the house. The sleepless nights and drained days from staying up late or getting up early just for a chance to talk around their offset schedules. The out of time texts and short tempered irritability. Restless, longing nights. Distant days.
Regardless, it was always worth it. Any opportunity to hear about Caesar's day, or how annoyed he was at his siblings, or how stupid his classmates were, or to crack a joke and make him laugh that contagious bright sunshine of a laugh was worth losing a few hours of sleep or being late to class too many times to count.
Joseph bounced on the balls of his feet, all nerves and energy. He craned his neck, thankful his height gave him the advantage of easily searching the crowd. Where was he? He did say he was going to be on the six-fifteen flight, didn't he? He checked his phone. That's nine hours, he should be here. Was his flight delayed? He hadn't called. He checked for any missed messages. The sunflowers in the bouquet Joseph hid behind his back flopped gently to the side, the paper crinkling softly under their weight.
He spun around to check the flights again for the fifth time to see if anything had changed in the last ten minutes. The flights and times remained static, unchanged, and his brows knit together at the consistency. He would have called if something happened. Or at least sent a text. Where-
"Ciao, Bello. Waiting for someone?"
The smile pulled wide across Joseph's face before he'd fully turned around.
The warm sunshine poured out from Caesar's smile. Sunny, summer Sunday afternoons at the park. Joseph's heart ached for less cloud cover and better weather.
And here it was, his own personal sun. Right in front of him shining brighter than ever. His for the whole summer.