Caesar sat and looked down at the cigarette that Joseph had crushed into the concrete. It was the last remains of their argument. Caesar huffed, looking away from the shredded paper and ashes. He knew he had to admit that he was wrong, and that he didn't mean the hurtful things he'd shouted in Joseph's face. Just thinking about his words made Caesar's heart shrink just a little and he folded his arms tight over his chest as if to protect his fragile heart. The sun was beginning to rest and it draped it's lazy, honey colored light over Venice with calm purity. The light warmed Caesar's face as it was cast upon him, the tears in his eyes shining under the sun and Caesar threw his head back to keep the tears from falling down his face. The last thing he could taste on his breath was the sour of nicotine and death as he tried to come up with ways to apologize for the venomous things he'd said. He let the right replay in his thoughts like a record on repeat.
(Flashback to the fight)
Joseph had walked out of his room after an afternoon of rough training and it was getting harder to train with the ring around his heart. Joseph caught Caesar on the balcony and walked over, happy to see the blonde when they had some free time. Joseph rested his hands gently on Caesar's shoulders and rested his chin on top of Caesar's head, looking out at the view of the city with him.
"Tired?" Joseph asked softly and felt Caesar's shoulders shrug. He paused for a moment, feeling the tension in his gut form. He gently kissed the back of Caesar's head and let his hands fall off of the others shoulders.
"...Are you okay?" Joseph asked in a softer tone and rested a hand on Caesar's back gently.
Caesar sighed and shrugged, holding his arms and refusing to look back to Joseph. He looked down to his feet and held his shoulders tense from the others touch.
"I'm fine." Caesar muttered and Joseph pulled his hand away, looking away nervously. He cleared his throat and tried to change the conversation.
"We should be done with training in a few weeks. You've gotten pretty strong." Joseph smiled behind the mask and stretched his arms over his head. Caesar finally sighed and pulled out a cigarette, lighting it quickly and inhaled, the taste immediately staining his throat. Joseph paused and looked away, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. He didn't know what to do next. He was clearly annoying the blonde. He looked over to see Suzy Q walking towards the courtyard. He smiled and called down to her, waving his hand out. She smiled back at the sound of his voice and turned on her heel.
"Joseph!" She called back and signalled him down.
"I'm going to pick flowers for Master Lisa, want to come?" She called up and Joseph stopped, thinking for a split second.
"Yeah I'll be down in a minute!" Joseph called back, giving her a thumbs up. She smiled and kept walking, knowing Joseph would be behind her in a moment. Joseph said a cheerful goodbye to Caesar, forgetting the tension before Caesar snapped at him.
"Just leave already okay. You're really fucking annoying." He hissed through a puff of smoke and Joseph was thrown so off guard it felt like he'd had his feet kicked out from beneath him. He glared and raised an eyebrow.
"Sorry I'm trying to ask you what's wrong and help you. God knows you couldn't think of anyone but yourself." Joseph snapped back and turned to leave before Caesar's shot back with another insult.
"Well being stuck with you all day is misery enough, and now I can't catch a break ever because you're always right behind me!" Caesar shouted and Joseph felt his shoulders tense and he didn't know if he wanted to cry or not and the confused anger and sadness rushed through his body and he snatched Caesar's collar and pummeled his fist into Caesar's cheek, throwing Caesar off the edge of the balcony back to solid ground where he groaned and grabbed his face. Pain shot through his nerves and he felt like he'd snapped back into reality. Joseph dug the cigarette that had fallen from Caesar's mouth into the concrete and turned away without another word, walking down the stone stairs quickly as adrenaline rushed him and he stormed off to catch up with Suzy Q.
(End of flashback)
Caesar could still feel the sting of the punch and taste the blood in his mouth, but he knew he well deserved it. He let a few tears run down his cheeks and he held his breath as he tried to keep from crying out or gasping. He couldn't think of anything he could do to fix the damage he'd done out of stress and sudden anger. He couldn't blame Joseph for being mad either. Caesar knew he couldn't go find Joseph and disrupt him so early. It'd been an hour that Caesar sat there after their fight and now he just wanted to hug Joseph and apologize until his throat was sore and take back everything he said.
But he didn't know he could do any of those things now. He didn't even know if he could face Joseph without crying now that he knew he'd hurt him so bad. So he stood and walked to his room silently as night fell and climbed into bed, tears streaming down his cheeks and soaking into his pillow as he silently cried and drifted off to sleep, wondering if Joseph was going to come back to their room, or if he'd already moved on and decided to stay with Suzy Q for the night. He began to overthinking and his heart sunk, feeling like hid heart had been smashed and it was his own fault.
He woke a little later, his heart racing as he shot awake. He felt warm arms around him and he felt the same warmth down his back, and another heart beating and another set of lips breathing at the same pace he was. Tears brimmed in his eyes and he rolled over, hugging his face into Joseph's bare chest and letting his tears run into the others skin. He didn't care how hard he was hugging onto Joseph, he was only glad to know it was really him. He must've done something to wake Joseph up, because the lace of his breath changed and Caesar could feel the others heart beating faster.
"Caesar?" Joseph muttered sleepily, looking down slightly. He could feel the tears smeared on his chest and he could feel Caesar's quick, shaky breath on his skin.
"I'm so sorry Joseph." Caesar cried and held Jojo tighter, his heart pounding as he looked up.
"You deserve so much better. I didn't mean it but you deserve better." Caesar cried and huddled back into Joseph's chest as he was hugged tighter.
"Caesar, it's okay." Joseph said softly and it earned a little pinch from Caesar.
"It's not okay Joseph. Nothing I said is okay." Caesar shuddered and hugged him tight.
"You can be mad at me. You don't have anything to be sorry for at all I--" Caesar lost himself in words and Joseph hugged him tighter, silencing Caesar.
"It's not okay, but I forgive you. Please, try to calm down." Joseph whispered and kissed Caesar's cheek gently, letting a few of his own tears stream down his face.
Caesar cried harder and he looked up at Joseph, grabbing onto his cheeks. He wiped the others tears away as his own poured and gently kissed Joseph, gently wiping his tears and caressing Joseph's cheeks with his thumbs. Joseph let his tears out and he kissed back, pulling Caesar closer and gently running his fingers through Caesar's hair.
"I love you so much Joseph." Caesar said shakily as he pulled away for a moment. Joseph smiled weakly and pressed his forehead to Caesar's.
"I love you too."
