ANGEL | caejose

chapter 15 ; the bottom seafloor

"It's so cold!" Caesar complains restlessly, yelping when Joseph firmly hits him on the shoulder. "O-Oi! What was that for?"

"For being annoying." Joseph jokes half-heartedly. "Plus, it isn't even that cold," Joseph's expression is glaring with disappointment but not without Caesar returning it with a doubting look. "You're just not used to it."

Caesar gives a light-hearted scoff and turns his head. "Who wakes up this early in the morning just to walk down the beach, anyway?" The blond whines while stretching his body, simultaneously kicking the wet sand under his sore feet.

"Well, I suppose that would be me." Joseph awkwardly laughs with a scratch to his head. Though his eyes were facing forward, Joseph's attention was suddenly caught by Caesar's hand in the corner of his eye. And for once, his head wasn't filled with thoughts or wishes of their fingers intertwining, mere questioning of why Caesar's hands were twitching so mercilessly near his pocket. "Caesar?"

Giving a short hum, Caesar doesn't care to look over at Joseph to respond. Ignoring the nonchalant attitude, Joseph continues. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Why?" This time, Caesar looks at him with a curious look, tilting his head and essentially forcing Joseph to explain.

"Ah, well, it's just that your hand-" Joseph points towards Caesar's twitching fingers, looking away in embarrassment. "You're not hurt or anything, right?"

"Hm?" Caesar studies his hand for a second, confusion practically radiating in the air until he finally realizes what Joseph means. "Oh, that." Pulling a cigarette box out of his pocket, Caesar shakes it next to his face clearly. "I'm tryna stop smoking for a bit, it's becoming a bad habit." He sighs so sadly that Joseph can't help but share his pity.

"Then why would you bring it along with you, you idiot." Joseph doesn't need to look up to realize that Caesar's glaring right through him.

Shoving the smokes back into his pocket, Caesar continues his walk forward, almost as if he were in a hurry. And once again, something in the corner of his eye drags his attention off the blond and onto the sand. It was a bright red that suddenly caught Joseph's attention this time. "Caesar, wait." Kneeling down, Joseph picked the small item off the ground. "You dropped something."

The blond stopped walking and looked at Joseph's crouching figure, then the item in his hand. "Oh, you can just leave that."

"Hm, why?" Joseph wipes the sand off of it warily. "A necklace?"

"The signorina I gave it to didn't like it," Caesar mumbles while looking away. Joseph's eyes slightly widened as he realized that was the first time he's seen Caesar embarrassed. "Even after I went through the trouble of kissing it and all."

"Can I have it?" Joseph doesn't have the confidence to look up at Caesar.

"Huh?" As he thought, Caesar was confused. "Why would you want it?"

"Well, ya know, I could attach it to a turtleneck, or something." Joseph reasons.

Scoffing, Caesar crosses his arms with a somewhat stuck-up expression. "Attach it to a turtleneck? Are you okay?" Kneeling down next to Joseph, Caesar looks at him suspiciously. "Did you hit your head? Feeling okay, JoJo?" But then Joseph looks down as he understands that Caesar's picking on him.

"If you don't want then I'm keeping it, end of story." Joseph bitterly declares. Chuckling calmly, Caesar picks himself up and continues his walk. "Oi, don't go off on your own!"

Jogging to catch up with the blond, Joseph looks carefully at Caesar's hand, wondering if it's still twitching. With no gloves, it looks cold — almost as if it was about to start shivering. Pale in color, Joseph wonders if warmth were to make it better.

"Joseph?" Snapping his head to meet Caesar's eyes, Joseph is about to choke out an apology before noticing Caesar isn't even looking at him. "How old were you when we met?"

The question surprises him, something he had never thought he would've been asked by many people. "18, I believe."

"And how old are you now?" Caesar asks unconcernedly.

Joseph tilts his head but replies nonetheless. "20..." He hasn't realized it's been that long. 3 years since he's found the bench and 2 years since he's met Caesar. And to think he was 19 when figuring out his love for Caesar, it was pitiful, to say the least. "Weren't you supposed to be leaving?"

"Oh, yeah, I'm leaving in a couple of weeks, actually! Christmas is just around the corner and I plan to spend it with my family." And there it is again, the sudden heavy feeling in his chest, but this time with the exception of knowing why.

"So then why have you been in Rome for all this time?"

"I've been studying under a teacher who works here, I doubt you know her, she's a real racket, so strict too," In contrast to the words he speaks, there's a nostalgic look riddled between the painful memories.

"Sounds a lot like my mother." Joseph plays. Like multiple occurrences before, silence takes over the conversation and the ocean is all that's audible. "Hey, Caesar?"

"Hmm?"

"What do you think is at the bottom of the ocean?" He remembers asking something similar before.

"I always wondered what the bottom of the sea would look like, actually," Caesar stated. "Ever since I found this beach, I've been thinking about that."

"I've always imagined corals and shellfish."

"Ah, maybe whales?"

"Mhm, that would be cool."