Facing Fears

Something was bothering Joseph today, one could tell by the way he wrung his hands together and shifted impatiently on the balls of his feet as he stood in line next to his friend—well, his boyfriend. His gaze flitted in Caesar's direction more often than the brunet would be willing to admit later and it was a bit worrisome to see such a loud and boisterous person stay so uncomfortably silent.

'It's not like he's having a bad time," Caesar reasoned with himself, arm hooked around Joseph's, 'he was so excited when I asked him to come out with me. We've had fun so far, fuck we've done so many cliché couple activities how could he not be happy?' The blonde looked up, begrudgingly noting their height difference, and offered a friendly smile. "JoJo, what's up? You aren't usually this quiet…are you not enjoying yourself?" He couldn't help the worry that slipped into his voice, they hadn't dated longer than two months and he couldn't help but feel that perhaps Joseph was having second thoughts on the whole matter.

Joseph snapped out of his reverie, fingers reaching for Caesar's before he spoke. "No! No, I am having a wonderful time; seriously I'm on Cloud Nine right now. It's just…geeze, how do I say it without soundin' like a pansy?" he rubbed the back of his neck with his available hand, grin spreading across his lips in a way only he was able to pull off. "I'm really terrified of rollercoasters and heights? I dunno the ones we rode earlier were pretty fun and I thought I was over it but then you wanted to ride this one and now I'm trying not to panic. But, like, all I can imagine is our cart flying off the track and crashing into the ground resulting in our horrible deaths."

Caesar felt his heart sink down to his gut for a moment, then it hit him. "Wait…you mean to tell me that YOU, Joseph fucking Joestar, are afraid of rollercoasters and heights? You? The guy that jumped from the second story window of his own house to catch his little brother's dolphin snow globe because he didn't wanna see him cry?" Laughter spilled from his lips, expression twisted in pure glee. Joseph's cheeks turned a dark shade of red and he tried to hide it behind his scarf but his hands were jostled away by Caesar's.

"JoJo," he breathed, tears pricking the corners of his eyes, "that is so cute, are you fucking with me?" He spoke just loud enough for Joseph to hear him, holding those trembling hands in his own. Joseph worried his bottom lip between his teeth, shifting his gaze away as they moved with the line, "Shut up, you ass, I'm seriously scared of this shit, okay? But…I wanted to go because I'm with…w-with you and I figured it might be fun. As long as I'm with you it'll be okay."

Oh no, Caesar thought, bringing the hands in his to his lips for a brief second. "Non ti preoccupare, passerotto, sono qui." He murmured, looking up through flitting blond lashes. Joseph didn't need to know what he was saying to understand what was meant, he'd heard Caesar use the nickname he liked to call JoJo, and obviously he'd meant to convey his endearment. One could compare Joseph to a blushing maiden at the current moment. While he wasn't unused to people flirting with him, he wasn't often this flattered by it, and he certainly hadn't had much experience dating someone either. The way Caesar made him weak at the knees, the way just that gaze made him flustered, he wasn't familiar with those feelings at all.

Caesar released Joseph's hands, and instead pulled him up onto the boarding platform. Joseph looked like he wanted to vomit, Caesar felt himself smile wider, and the people running the ride looked bored as fuck. "We're gonna get in the first car." Caesar stated, dragging his reluctant boyfriend towards the front. "CeCe please don't make meeeeee! OH NOOOO!" Joseph wailed, doing absolutely nothing to stop them on their trek to the death-box he deemed the 'first car'.

When they were seated Joseph could barely hide the tremors of fear that traveled down his spine, he held Caesar's hand in a death grip against his thigh only releasing him when the employee made sure they were secured in their car. The brunet felt his boyfriend squeeze his hand, and maybe that made him feel a bit better…maybe. "If I vomit you're paying for dinner." Joseph whispered, clutching the bar holding them back with white-knuckled force.

"I'll buy you dinner anyway, JoJo, but if you don't throw up I might be willing to let you get dessert too." Caesar shot back, fingers thrumming excitedly against the back of Joseph's hand. He felt his own stomach churn in anticipation when the ride started its slow ascent into the sky, "Here we go, babe, hold on tight." Joseph squeezed his eyes shut, pulling Caesar closer and made an attempt to calm his erratic breathing.

Needless to say, they both screamed during the whole thing, one in fear and the other in unbridled joy. When they got off Joseph found the nearest trash bin and promptly emptied the contents of his stomach, whimpering softly when he was finished. Caesar handed him the bottle of water he had sprinted to find, rubbing his back with a shit-eating grin. "It wasn't that bad was it, stella?"

Joseph wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, tossing the water once he'd thoroughly rinsed his mouth of the sting and taste of vomit. "It…wasn't terrible." He admitted voice low, "I was still scared though. Everyone's screaming made me feel like we we're in the middle of some cheesy ass horror film. "

"Speaking of cheesy, let's go get our picture from the ride!"

"What picture?"

There was a long pause.

"What picture, Caesar?!"

"Well, about halfway through the ride they have a camera set up to capture everyone's expressions…it's supposed to be for fun,"

Joseph looked at his boyfriend, expression betrayed, "What the fuck! NO. We are not buying that damn photo! I probably look like a huge man-child!"

"Why are you so upset? It's not like that's any different than usual." Caesar jeered, earning him a very hard poke in the chest. He tugged Joseph behind the stall they were bickering next to and planted a very soft yet very convincing kiss on those plump lips so nearly out of his reach. Joseph pulled his scarf over his mouth when they parted, face just as red, if not brighter, than that of a candy apple. "For fuck's sake…" he sighed, "let's go buy your dumb photo and go eat."

Caesar smiled triumphantly, locking arms with his precious and overwhelmed boyfriend, "You just threw up and you're hungry? The bottomless pit you call a stomach never fails to impress me." Joseph huffed like a child and chose to ignore that comment, "You don't complain when it's your dick that I'm hungry for." He murmured, leaning down to whisper that into Caesar's ear. When the arm encircling his stiffened just a bit he knew he'd successfully flustered the blond and that was enough to be counted as a victory on his part.

Joseph wanted to disappear when he'd gotten a glimpse of the photo Caesar was in line to purchase. He looked like a fucking idiot next to his boyfriend! If you looked closely you could see their hands clasped together but that wasn't what bothered him. Photo-Joseph's face was red and tears were streaming down his face, his mouth parted as he screamed, the wind pushing his hair back in an unflattering manner. Then there was Caesar with his majestic fucking headband and that beautiful open-mouthed smile as he leaned forward just a bit in their car.

"JoJo! See how awesome we look!" Caesar chirped happily, photo held victoriously in between his delicate fingers. Joseph buried his face in the scarf draped around his neck, "Nooooo, Caesar I look so fucking stupid how am I ever going to live this down." He whined, hands covering what his scarf wouldn't. The blond before him laughed, "C'mon, babe, it's really a cute picture! I'm gonna put this in my album, here I even got you a copy!" Joseph took it reluctantly, "Fine…but I only like it because you look good."

Caesar rolled his eyes, "It's not about looking good, JoJo, it's about the memory. So, since this is the first date I've asked you on…I want to have something other than the images in my head." How many times was Caesar planning on making Joseph's heart flutter? "Me too…I don't want to forget any of the things we do together, good or bad." That made the young Italian man smile, gentle this time, "Good. You do look like a dork though." He snickered, dodging his boyfriend's angry shove.

Despite any efforts made of Joseph's part, that photo was passed around the Joestar household that night. He didn't really mind but it was still embarrassing to be caught crying on a rollercoaster.