Please (don't) stop talking
- Please, just stop talking -, Joseph ordered, desperate, as Caesar kept blabbing and blabbing nonsense.
- Why? -, Caesar replied, - It was you that asked me if pigeons have feelings. I'm just trying to give you a satisfying reply -.
Joseph sighed. He shouldn't have done that.
- Yeah, great, but now we should sleep -, he said, - Or else who's gonna wake up tomorrow? -.
- As long as you don't ask stupid questions ever again -, Caesar replied.
Sleep didn't come easy for Joseph.
He thought that he would've enjoyed the silence, but he had no idea about how much time had passed and he still wasn't asleep.
As soon as he closed his eyes, he saw the Pillar Men. God they were so intimidating even in his imagination.
He couldn't stop thinking about what they told him, about how much time had already passed. They were so close to that fated day, and he didn't feel ready at all.
- Jojo, stop thinking so loud -.
Joseph shifted slightly.
- You're not asleep too, huh? -, he said then. It was a bit comforting knowing that he wasn't the only one.
- It seems so -, Caesar replied, then he slid his arm around Joseph's waist, pulling him closer.
- What is it? -, he asked then.
- … Just nervous -, Joseph replied, but somehow Caesar's voice was managing to calm him down a bit.
Maybe, if he tried… since Caesar was still awake too…
- Hey, Caesar… -.
- Yeah? -.
- Would you mind if you kept talking? -.
It was obvious that Caesar was perplexed by that, but thankfully he didn't say anything. He would've asked for explanations the next day.
He started petting Joseph's hair as he started talking about everything that passed his mind. He talked about some episodes from his childhood, he complimented Joseph on his progresses, and at some point he started singing.
Joseph figured that it was Italian, but he had no idea about what he was saying. It sounded like a lullaby.
He closed his eyes and he felt so at peace. He had forgotten about his situation, about the Pillar Men and everything else.
There were just them, Joseph and Caesar, and all he could think of was his voice, as he gradually fell asleep.
Disclaimer: before Americans start to nag me about it, yes, I use hyphens for dialogues and quotation marks for thoughts. Why? Because this is how we do in Italy, the country I'm from (actually there's more freedom in Italy but this is how people usually write).
Am I going to change this one day? Absolutely not. This is how I'm used to write and I don't want to change it. If I have to go through hundreds and hundreds of fanfictions where I see quotation marks used for dialogues – something I'm not used to at all – I'm sure you can all go through one story where the style is different without having to point it out every, single, time. Thank you.
