"Date" Is Something Bros Do, Right?

Joseph congratulated himself on making it through another gruelling day of training as he leisurely walked back to his and Caesar's shared room. Caesar had been in quite a good mood lately, at least he was nicer to Joseph than he had been prior. He was just thankful Caesar didn't outright hate him anymore.

Although he was a bit jealous that Caesar had gotten to take a few hours off for his 'excellent usage of hamon' that day, he was still eager to see his friend and relax for the rest of the night. He barged into their room and immediately started to take off his sweaty clothes.

"J-JoJo!" exclaimed Caesar, inconspicuously slipping the pulp he had been reading under his pillow. "Knock, would you? Were you raised in a barn, asshole?!" He tried to smile, but his heart was threatening to pound out of his chest; Joseph was the last person who needed to know what he'd been reading.

He glanced away from Joseph's body, trying to control himself.

"...Can't a man get some privacy around here, JoJo?"

"Geez, Caesar, jumpy tonight or somethin'?" He teased heartily as he paused in taking off his clothes. He tossed his shirt aside anyway, digging through a nearby pile of clothes for his pajama bottoms. "The hell do you need privacy for? You have a hot date or something tonight?" He wrinkled his nose at the thought of Caesar bringing some hussie into their room. "Well, I'm not leavin', I'm tired and I just wanna lay down and read some comics. 'Kay?"

"Unless you're a faggot and you want to watch, yeah, a man needs his privacy sometimes," he said pointedly, glaring at him. "I'm sure you don't want me walking in on you, either."

Joseph didn't even bother turning away from Caesar as he stripped down to nothing so he could pull on his pajama bottoms; obviously not the least bit concerned about the other man in the room.

"You know where the bathroom is, go make use of it, Casanova," he replied bluntly. Joseph grabbed his stack of comics from the nightstand and flopped onto the bed with them. "Besides, you had all damn afternoon to jerk off, so why the hell did you wait til now, huh? Sounds like you shoulda planned better."

"...You're an ass," he grumbled, rolling his eyes. "Maybe I don't want to jerk off when I know you can listen. You might do something creepy--perpetually single guys are always desperate." He glared at Joseph's back, wishing to God that Joseph would do something just a little creepy, just once.

"What?" Joseph snorted, almost too flabbergasted to be offended. "What the hell are you even implying?"

Joseph picked out his favorite volume of Superman, the one he had read so many times the corners were beginning to tear off. Coincidentally it was also the one where Lois Lane got kidnapped and tied up. Coincidentally.

"I'm not desperate," he grumbled, almost as an after thought.

Caesar laughed.

"Oh, really? When was the last time you got laid, again--oh that's right. It never happened."

Joseph frowned deeply, feeling worse because he couldn't even deny the statement.

"Yeah well, at least I'm not loose like you," he grumbled in response. "I can control myself around women."

Although this lie was even bigger than just telling Caesar he'd been laid before, Joseph had just sort of let it slip off his tongue.

Caesar snorted; a little bit of resentment caught in his throat. "Yes, because you spent that afternoon so fervently looking for Lisa Lisa's panties because you can control yourself. Nice."

"That...! That's different!" Joseph replied hastily, feeling his face grow hot with embarrassment.

"Besides. Its not like I ever found them anyway..." he muttered. No, Lisa Lisa had discovered him far before then. It hadn't been pretty.

"Why do you think I don't want to be anywhere near you? If you're gay, you'll probably...ask to join." He awkwardly snuck a glance at his pillow; a similar thing had just happened in his pulp.

"Wh...what?" Joseph craned his neck in order to give Caesar his most bemused look. "Dude, that's fuckin' weird, who just asks that sort of thing?"

He cleared his throat, "B-besides, I am totally into women! Especially women like Lisa Lisa but Suzie Q ain't bad either..."

"So you'd ask them to join?" he teased, silently hoping the answer was no.

"U-uh, yeah, obviously," he replied quickly. The sad part was that Joseph knew he lacked the guts to do that sort of thing in the first place. "Wouldn't you?"

He snorted, shaking his head. "I could never treat the object of my affections so crudely. Sex is for after I win her heart. That's why I always take women on dates first."

"...oh," Joseph mumbled, taken completely off-guard by Caesar's actually thoughtful remark. "I mean, obviously," he grumbled, wishing his inexperience with women wasn't so obvious.

"Why...before even a date, I would tell her she was beautiful--not even to win her heart, but because it would break mine if she didn't know." He glanced away from Joseph, the man whose beauty pained him daily.

Joseph rolled his eyes, turning the page in his comic book.

"Whatever, that shit can't actually work on women," Joseph replied dismisally. "If I were a chick, that shit would make me throw up."

Caesar got up and made his way to Joseph, giving his cheek a gentle caress. "You are the most beautiful creature I've ever laid eyes upon. When I see you, my heart threatens to burst with longing--at first I feared touching you, lest my inferior visage smudge your unmarred perfection."

Joseph felt his face turn red almost immediately. He quickly covered it with his comic.

"C-come on, you caught me off-guard!" He snapped out of embarrassment. He shoved Caesar in the chest, but it was a bit more forceful than he meant.

Caesar gently pulled the comic from his fingers and tossed it to the side with a flourish. "Surely you don't understand how genuinely I speak of your beauty, or you'd never hide that face. I don't think my heart knew beauty before I laid eyes upon you." He clasped Joseph's hands in his, pressing closer and kissing his fingers.

Joseph could barely even hear Caesar over the blood loudly rushing through his head. He could only assume his face looked as very red as it felt. Even if Caesar was just doing it to prove a point, it almost felt genuine. He tried to wiggle his fingers out of Caesar's hands, barely even able to look at him without feeling a rush of blood to his face.

"O-okay..!" Joseph exclaimed. "I get it, alright? I can see the appeal," he grumbled, somewhat bitter it had actually worked on him.

"I dare not ask for your attention for an entire night, so instead I would request a kiss," he said, kissing Joseph's hand again. Though he had said similar things to girls before, he felt bizarre. There was a slight quiver in his hands, and all the blood was rushing to his head, and his heart beat like a caged animal struggling to escape from his rib cage. He dearly hoped JoJo would humor him--if he could just give him one kiss, maybe he'd realize how he felt.

"Y-you were the one who got all mad when you accused me of being gay!" He shouted defensively, pushing Caesar away as well as he could. "What the hell, man?!"