Ti Amo

Chapter 6

He opened the guest house door.

"I'm back. Hope you're - "

" ... hungry." Caesar was gone. He knew right away, because the light and warmth Caesar's presence had brought was missing.

Joseph dropped the paper bag of groceries and dashed around the guest house, calling his name.

They got him. Maybe I'm not too late - can catch them -

Grim-faced, he flung open the front door – to see Caesar standing there with a bunch of freshly-cut flowers.

Jojo loomed over him, gritting his teeth in anger. "What's wrong with you?!?!" seethed the brunette. "I told you to stay put!!"

Caesar seemed shocked. "I - I just went out to cut you some flowers from your nonna's garden. No one is even around."

"Just - just come back inside." Joseph couldn't believe how much his voice was shaking. Once they were both in, he locked the door. He bent to pick up the groceries, pausing when he realized that Caesar had said he got 'him' flowers. 

The flowers were for him. A smile spread across his face.

Caesar was looking in the cupboards for a vase.

"Here," said the taller man. "Use this." He handed him a glass pitcher for lemonade.

Caesar arranged the flowers in the pitcher. "Look, Jojo. A sunflower. My favorite." He placed the sunflower in the back of the arrangement.

"Beautiful," said Joseph, staring at Caesar's handsome face.

"You aren't even looking at the sunflower."

"What sunflower?" He smirked, feeling much better. He was paranoid, worried for nothing.

He said jovially, "Let's make dinner. I'm starved."

They made tomato sauce, and while it simmered, they rolled the hamburger into meatballs. The smell of the food, and the lights, made the little guesthouse warm and cozy.

Caesar looked at the bottle of wine. "Do you have any candles?"

"I can look. There might be a couple in one of the drawers."

Flowers. Candles. The taller man's heart performed flip-flops.

"Maybe tomorrow we can have beef stroganoff. That's my favorite," said the smaller man.

Joseph's domestic fantasy faded. He couldn't miss dinner again.

He put the last meatball on the plate with the others. "Raincheck. But I'll bring you some fried chicken."

"All right. Being your mistress is going to take some getting used to."

As Caesar dropped that bombshell, he casually got up to add the meatballs to the sauce to simmer.

Jojo was floored. He didn't know how to respond to that.

Caesar said, "In Italy it's not uncommon to have a mistress. Sometimes the wife even knows about it."

"Well, this isn't Italy. Women in America don't like that sort of thing, trust me."

Caesar set the table. "Oh. So you are going to tell her about me then."

Joseph facepalmed. He had walked right into that setup. Caesar wanted him to choose.

Jojo's eyes landed on the jar of peanut butter. It was half-empty. "Oh, you did like that 'crap' after all."

Caesar threw a pinch of salt in the boiling water and put the spaghetti in. "Huh? No, I made peanut butter sandwiches and put them outside. In case my friend shows up."

"Your ... friend. I see." Jojo looked at Caesar. Who knew what he had been through.

The blonde stirred the sauce. The smell was heavenly. 

"Caesar ... "

"Why don't you open the wine, Jojo."

Soon they were eating spaghetti and drinking red wine. The food tasted like the best meal Joseph had had in years.

They talked about Joseph's real estate company, how he had gotten into the business. He plied Caesar with more wine, and funny stories. Caesar laughed behind his hand, while Joseph was practically rolling on the floor.

Joseph stopped laughing. His sides hurt.

"Caesarino. It's good to see you smile, hear you laugh. When we were under Lisa Lisa, you never cracked a smile, not even once."

The blonde man bit into a meatball.

"Who's Lisa Lisa?"

The brunette was stunned. "She was our Hamon master. She taught us ... Hamon."

Caesar chewed thoughtfully. "Was she the little bubbly blonde girl?"

"No, that was Suzi Q. My wife." He leaned forward. "How is it that you remember the pillar of oil and my cropped shirt, but not our sensei?"

"I can remember you, but not much else." The Italian sipped his wine.

"You must have amnesia."

Caesar didn't seem to hear his comment. "I'm remembering more the more I'm with you." He looked down in his glass, swirling the wine. "I do remember deflecting your Hamon while holding a glass of wine."

Joseph hadn't used Hamon in twenty years. He twirled some pasta on his fork, concentrated, and infused it with Hamon, launching it at Caesar.

Caesar deflected it with his Hamon-infused fork.

Joseph grinned. "Nice. Very nice, Caesarino. There is just one problem."

"What is it, Jojo?"

Joseph got up and walked around the table, looming close to Caesar as the blonde sweat-dropped.

"You were kissing someone at the time. If the situation was replicated, would you be able to deflect it?"

"Am I going to be replicating it with you?"

Joseph grinned and nodded, his eyes going from Caesar's eyes to his lips. "That's the general idea."

He took the fork from Caesar's hand and tossed it on the table.

He straddled Caesar's lap, placing his long legs squarely on either side of the chair. The fabric on his trousers whispered as he sat in his lap.

"Oi... oof... heavy, Jojo!!"

But Caesar's complaining faded away as Jojo leaned in for a kiss. Caesar's eyes also darted from Jojo's eyes to his lips as he got closer. As soon as their lips met, Caesar's green eyes closed, but Joseph's remained open.

It was so lovely to see his long-lost face in bliss, his long eyelashes sweeping his pale cheekbones upon which were the purple triangles. 

I could look at you forever, thought Jojo.