It was tender, light, and fleeting.
・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・JoJo's Bizarre Adventure・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・
The dream was morbid, cruel, and hasty. JoJo was practically terrified when he awoke. The hues of the night entrapped him along with everything in his room, hindering his vision. He needed to get up… He needed to move- to verify it was only a wakeless, yet temporary dream. Nothing had ever scared him more. He hadn't even realized he had been capable of considering such ideals until his subconscious dredged them out of him in a dream. He stood on shaking legs, if not barely, forcing them to remember how to move, his spine how to hold himself straight.
He focused on his destination, his body eventually remembering how to function properly, but was left with a constant, defective shake as he made his way down the corridor. He felt along the wall for support, it notifying him of a change in doors or turns. He reached his destination within due time, his mind telling him arriving here would only get him lectured for conjuring up such thoughts. But he wanted to be sure. He had to be sure. He had to verify it for his own eyes, regardless of the lecture it would wrought.
He slowly opened the door, the hinges nor the weight giving him away; he was soundless upon entrance. He stood in the doorway for a moment as if doing so would allow him to see better. It didn't, only further rousing his paranoia that the form on the bed wasn't breathing like it should have been. He walked over to it, his leg meeting with the bed before the person. It started them awake, quickly grabbing him by his throat and pinning him to the bed. "Gyak…! Caesar… It's me…!" He spoke through thinned windpipes.
The grip was loosened. "JoJo?" Came the questioning resound. "What the hell are you doing? It's the middle of the night- …If you were trying to play some trick-"
"No, no! I wasn't." There was a pause. It was prolonged. "I wasn't!" There was a sigh, and Caesar removed himself from JoJo. "Well then go back to bed. Can't it wait? I'm exhausted and considering, you should be too." The English-American sat up, crossing his legs on his bed, almost as if getting comfortable. In a sense, he was just being in his presence, the dream becoming simply that the more Caesar spoke to him. He took one of his pillows and held it to his chest. "Aha… Well you see I kinda… I just got a little lonely so I thought-"
"…Please get out before I punch you." A harsh finger was pressed against his ribs. "Ow, ow, ow, ow- okay! Ow!" JoJo got up, tossing the pillow at him. "Night, jeeze…!" He exited the room, almost walking into a wall in the process of an attempted appearance of being angry as he left. In all honesty… He was relieved. It was a dream… Caesar was fine. He was alright.
He was alive.
・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・JoJo's Bizarre Adventure・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・
The day went on as usual for them as it had while they were still recovering. They rested, ate, and practiced the basics of Hamon breathing so their bodies wouldn't make it too strenuous upon return to normal training. The pair constantly picked and prodded at one another, yet assisted the other if he was in need (in spite of the verbal disagreement on them needed their assistance, as evident as it was). This time, it was JoJo. "Listen if you're going to just fall over, you may as well go lay back down for now." Caesar warned, one hand gripping his arm, the other on his chest for support. The Joestar was quick to push him away from his person.
"What! No way, I'm fine! I just got a little dizzy that's all!" Caesar sighed. "…JoJo. Pushing yourself isn't good. It's only going to make your recovery longer and more painful- WOULD YOU STOP MOCKING ME?!" JoJo had been using his hands as an imitation mouth that mimicked Caesar's words as they left him. He had heard the speal for the past few weeks and was growing tired of it. "Well it wouldn't be so easy to do so if you hadn't said it already!" He accused, pointing a finger for good measure. "Well then we wouldn't have to keep repeating it if you would just listen! Or did you forget that your ribs were cracked and your arm cut off while fighting Kars among other things?"
JoJo sucked his teeth and rubbed his neck. "Yeah, yeah. I also had a partner who cracked his skull- which I thought was a pretty could feat considering how thick skulled you are!" JoJo wracked on his head although he were a door, a wide, mischievous grin on his face. Caesar growled in pain, his teeth gritted together, the action making his head ring. "Hn~? See, I'm not the only one still working out some kinks!" The Italian was quick to shoot a few bubbles his way along with a glare. JoJo managed to avoid the majority of them. However, it didn't make those that landed hurt any less. "Ow!" There came a sigh from the doorway. "Boys. If you're both just going to play around, you may as well go rest instead." Lisa Lisa said from across the room.
"Lisa Lisa! Ah, we weren't we…" Caesar tried, quickly trailing off from her stance alone. Her arms were crossed and her hips were pushed out to the side. She was having none of their games today. Caesar quietly left the room for his own, JoJo following and grumbling an insult about her age as he trudged past her, earning himself a kick in the ass- quite literally. He yelped like a kicked puppy and kept on to his room- …then stopped and followed Caesar.
"…Can I help you?" Came the curt reply as he stopped walking, looking over his shoulder. "Hn? Ahahaha…!" JoJo rubbed the back of his head. The more he spent time musing on it, the more ridiculous it seemed to be to him- his dream. He was here. He was alive. Wammu never killed him. The dream seemed to vivid, so… This was…
"N-No, nothing, sorry! Nevermind!" He quickly turned on his heel, his wrist being caught in Caesar's hand. "…JoJo." His voice was leveled, calm, and patient. He released him, waiting for him to reply. He could tell him… Tell him how upset his death made him… How he was completely and utterly heartbroken over the loss of his friend. How he felt like just giving up then and there, putting all of his time and effort into digging out what would have remained of his body after it was crushed… He could tell him he was so grateful he was alive. So grateful he could touch him and hit him and yell at him and… He was so grateful for him. "Caesar, I…" JoJo couldn't meet his eyes, instead down casting them to the floor. He was too nervous.
"…I was wondering if you still had that magazine with those babes- I was getting kinda bored actually being in my room all of the time so I was wondering if I could borrow it." He asked, a hand to cover half of his face as he whispered it quite loudly to him. Caesar could punch him. The moron simply wanted porn, that was it. He dragged him all the way to his room, smacking the rolled up magazine into his hands. "If you return it with any of your disgusting baby making juices on it, I'll kill you." JoJo snickered confidently if not at Caesar's word choice of semen. He gave him a huge thumbs up. "Can do~!" He then promptly left, singing a happy tune to himself. It wasn't until he was in the safety of his own room did he drop the act completely.
The magazine was quickly and haphazardly tossed somewhere in the room. He took a shaky breath into his body, the pressure slowly pushing him down onto the floor. He couldn't do it… He couldn't tell him… It was only a dream after all… How childish would he sound? "Hey I dreamt you died and kinda had a panic attack about it so I woke you up at what was presumably 4am to make sure you weren't dead- like in my dream! Because it was a dream and this is reality and here you are- totally fine! Don't know why I'm still feeling like this or what I even want!" He covered his face with his hands and laughed at his own stupidity. It was stupid. Caesar was fine… And he was completely and entirely stupid for thinking otherwise.
・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・JoJo's Bizarre Adventure・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・
"Again!" Came the call from Lisa Lisa as the boys started their next around their custom course. The boys were near their breaking point for the day, yet the woman refused to let up on them. Injury or otherwise, she wasn't going to go easy on them- an enemy wouldn't. Still… "After this you're done for the day." She called to them. Who knows when the next threat would appear… So it was fine to rest when it wasn't apparent, so long as you were aware. The pair made it a game to see who could finish the last lap first- after all, they were both exhausted, so why not push one another?
It ended in a complete and utter draw, both declaring themselves the winner. Suzie Q entered with drinks for each of them, complimenting how hard they had worked for the day. "Why thank you~- then again it's not much harder to work than this tight wad." Caesar's reply was to flick the bottom of JoJo's drink so it was overturned in his hands. "…Oh look at that. You have so much energy left if went to your brain and made it swell, squashing it against your skull and making you forget how to keep the water in the glass." JoJo had to set the glass down or else he'd shatter it. "Caesar…" He grumbled, fists clenched while his counterpart drank his glassful, setting it back down on the try Suzie Q had brought it on and thanking her for it.
"If you want to fight, do it with yourself- like how a dog chases his tail. I'm not in the mood right now. Unlike some, a few of us actually try to work hard at what we do."
"You son of a- what did you say?!"
This went on for a moment or so before it resulted in a fist fight. "…Should we let them continue on like that, or…?"
"They both need it- but mostly JoJo. Something's been bothering him for a few days now. Because of that, Caesar has been bothered since he doesn't know how to approach him on the matter. It's best just to let boys handle it however they feel is best." She ultimately decided, turning her back on them and returning inside.
・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・JoJo's Bizarre Adventure・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・
They both lay on the ground, panting and wheezing next to one another. "…Feel better?" Caesar asked him, lightly knocking his shoulder. "A little." JoJo admitted, looking from him to the sky. They paused and caught their breath, JoJo making keen note of when Caesar removed his hand from his person. It was a simple and casual move, but it made his heart lurch. He should tell him… Yeah right, what was the point of that? He just pummeled the crap out of him, what was the point?
"Hey, Caesar?" JoJo asked, looking back over to him and forcing himself to sit up. He had been staring at the sky as well. Caesar followed suit. "Hn?" He turned to look at him. JoJo felt like he should just shut up or make another excuse again, but… If he kept playing this game of cat and mouse, he'd surely not only drive himself insane, but Caesar as well. "…Hold still." Caesar instantly shot him a questioning look, and it only furthered when JoJo got closer to his person. "What are you doin- JoJo- Don't touch me! JoJo!" He yelled, smacking him for a fist was surely too serious in this moment.
JoJo had wrapped his arms around him in a tight hug, not letting him go in spite of being hit. "Come on, it's only a friendly guy hug, relax, jeeze! You're not my type or anything, so relax!" He retorted up into the sky so he wouldn't yell directly in his ear, not letting him escape. "That's supposed to make it better?!" Caesar cried, still trying to remove him from his person. There was more fussing and grunting before Caesar stopped all together and just let the man-child do as he would, his chin resting on his shoulder in silent defeat. He wait for him to let him go… And waited. And JoJo was still clinging to him. He opened his mouth to say something, but JoJo beat him to it.
"…Hey, Caesar. You'd never believe the dream I had the other day. It was so weird I think it almost made me cry." He said with a nervous laugh of admittance. "…I dreamt that you… That you died. That you lost against Wammu. That you fought him and died." Caesar could feel JoJo's grip tighten on him slightly. "I was so horrified I…" His voice cracked and it then occurred to Caesar why JoJo had suddenly hugged him from what appeared out of nowhere. It wasn't nowhere. It was at the mortifying thought of losing his best friend.
"I had to get up and make sure you were okay… It was so vivid and I could practically smell the blood even as I got up and I… You…" Caesar gently shushed him the way you would a child, hugging him back and running a hand through his hair in an act of comfort. "I'm right here. I'm not ever gonna leave you- you're stuck with me, like it or not." He lowered his head onto JoJo's shoulder, hugging him as gently as he could, yet with a grip that let him know he was real- that he wasn't dead. That he was right here. He was right here and would never leave him like that. Caesar heard a sniff and could tell JoJo was either crying or trying his hardest to hold the tears back.
JoJo took in everything; his heat, how he smelled like sweat and sunflowers right now, how his clothes were slightly damp from his own sweat, how he fit into his own person at this moment… And he closed his eyes and burned that exact feeling into his memory. He was here. He was right here. Caesar was right here. He could hear his pulse rushing through his veins, his now deep and calm breaths… He was here…
And he burst into hysterical tears like a child and clung to him, Caesar shushing him and rubbing his back to calm him down. "I'm right here… I'm here… It's okay, please don't cry JoJo… I'm right here…"