Chapter Text
He loved coffee. The strong aroma and dark colour splashed lightly by little milk and no sugar always managed to make him smile. He usually took a first cup early in the morning and an additional one after lunch. If he had exams, he would sometimes take six. Six was his limit, he discovered that in a traumatic way.
He absolutely adored coffee. However, he couldn’t avoid a grimace of disgust as soon as that watery beverage Americans had the audacity to call coffee touched his tongue.
“What? Got your mouth burned?” Taking off his neon green headphones, the blonde looked at his roommate entering the kitchen. Yawning loudly and scratching his messy hair, Joseph opened the fridge and leaned lightly towards it, shaking in front of the sudden cold.
“Morning,” Caesar murmured finishing his coffee in a single shot and cleaning the mug in the old ceramic sink. Wandering lazily his tongue around his mouth, rubbing his teeth in an attempt to get rid of that disgusting taste.
Joseph hummed, taking the orange juice bottle from the fridge and slamming its door with a firm kick. “Got class in the morning?” Stupid question. Caesar always had class in the morning.
Arching a brow, the Italian looked down at his own body in a silent way of asking him: ‘Why in the hell would I be already dressed at 7:30 AM if I didn’t have class?’ “Don’t you?”.
Joseph shrugged, “Maybe?” He frowned. He always skipped the first period convinced that extra hour of sleep was absolutely worth it.
Caesar took a quick look to his silver wrist watch before taking his red backpack, carrying all its weight on his left shoulder, and putting his headphones on again. Taking the Walkman firmly he nodded at his roommate in a silent goodbye and headed college.
Taking the shortest route to the main building, he tried to enjoy the autumnal views surrounding him. The orange and brownish shades from the leaves gave the city of New York a special vibe. He liked winter better, when the snow covered the floor a couple of inches and the trees adopted a dreamy white colour.
But there was something special about autumn.
After a full year and a month going to the University of New York, his mind perfectly knew how many songs he could listen to during his short walking from his apartment to class. 4 full songs if they were around three minutes and a half long.
“Morning Caesar!” He heard a sweet voice interrupting the fourth song he was listening to: The Riddle by Nik Kershaw.
”Good morning,” he greeted back, turning around slowly taking his headphones and stopping his Walkman. The girl in front of him, dark hair and sparkly chestnut eyes, smiled widely expecting silently any kind of reaction from the man.
Scanning her up and down a couple of times Caesar tried to figure out what was new about that girl. A haircut? No, her hair reached her shoulders where he could perfectly spot some split ends. New clothes? Maybe. It was difficult to tell if a simple white tank top and a pair of high waisted jeans were new. Humming lightly he tried to think faster. That was ridiculous, he didn’t even remember her name in the first place, how could he notice if anything about her had changed?
”New lipstick,” she finally said bringing the blonde’s attention to her full dark red matte lips.
Caesar smiled, “Suits you,” he leaned towards her and gently took a lock of her hair in between his thumb and his index, rubbing it lightly and smiling sweetly.
The girl got tensed in front of the closeness and stuttered nervously. Feeling a light hit in his head, Caesar looked over his shoulder where Smokey, a college friend, was. A thick book in his hand, probably what he had used to hit his head, and a smirk on his face. “You’ll be late,” he informed.
Caesar sighed loudly, “See you later, bella,” he kissed her hand, slightly bumping his nose against her big silver ring.
She nodded before heading the department she studied at, “You remembered her name,” Smokey said, a trace of surprise in his voice.
”What?” Caesar arched a brow as he opened the main building door letting the shortest enter first.
”Bella,” Smokey clarified, “Her name is Bella,”.
”Is it?” The blonde laughed. That had definitely been good luck.
Smokey rolled his eyes, already used to his friend’s playboy attitude. “See you later,” he said before entering the class he had the first period in, Algebra 101.
Caesar followed his path and entered the class at the end of the corridor. Leaving his backpack on a long wooden table he took his thick notebook and pencil case. He wrote the date down and highlighted it in yellow: Thursday October 15th 1992.
As soon as the professor entered the room, a deadly silence was born as the students sat on their places. Looking at the middle aged man walking firmly towards his desk, hearing the light noise his corduroy beige trousers made when his legs brushed each other he prepared himself for today’s tedious lesson.
A couple of hours passed by as mere minutes. Industrial chemistry was an interesting subject and, thanking God he had been paying attention since the very first day of the course, he found himself understating the whole lesson as if it was a mere elementary school lecture.
Playing with his blue pen before keeping it in the pencil case, he took his backpack and headed the lab where he had his next period, “Hey,” he patted his friend’s shoulder as they went upstairs where the Chemistry lab was.
The girl smiled at him and waved, whispering a really weak “Morning,”.
Caesar arched a brow, “Are you okay Suzie?” He asked, genuine concern in his voice.
She pouted lightly, travelling her stare all around the place as she tried to find words, “Bad throat,” she said gasping every word, “No voice-“ she caressed her neck before gulping loudly. Every syllable pronounced hurt as hell.
”Ah- poor little Suzie,” the boy put his arm around the girl’s shoulder as he caused a dramatic scene in the middle of the corridor, “How will this young rock star sing in her next gig?” He said as if he was reading a Shakespearean tragedy, “Ah! Porca Miseria!” Pulling her closer he clapped his hands and looked at the ceiling, “God please have some mercy!” He yelled in desperation.
Feeling some unwanted stares and hearing some unwelcome whispers, Suzie felt her cheeks get hotter and redder, a strong blush caused by embarrassment. Pushing Caesar aside he frowned angrily, “Idiot-“ she whispered.
“Come on, it was a joke,” he ruffled her hair stopping in front of the lab door and taking his white coat and security glasses from the backpack, “Did you lose your voice after your last concert?” He considered it was way to early to get the flu so he rapidly came to that conclusion.
She nodded looking at him in disappointment, she was about to open her mouth in an attempt to say something but Caesar interrupted her.
”I know, I know, I know,” he said as he entered the laboratory, “I should’ve come to your gig, I promise I will go some day it’s just-“ he cleared his throat, “I had a lot of homework,” he tried to sell that as an excuse.
Suzie punched his arm. It was indeed a shitty excuse since they were in the same course and had the same amount of homework.
Even if she was used to his friend not attending to her concerts, she felt kind of hurt. Smokey didn’t miss a single act while Caesar didn’t even ask when or where they played. He showed zero interest in her non-college-related life.
”Hey, can you bring half litre of water? I’ll go for the acid we need for this shit,” he said taking a look to the lab session instructions.
She nodded still lost in her thoughts about the earlier conversation. Was it because of the music they played? Didn't he like rock? That was impossible, she had Caesar’s favourite songs list memorised and she knew he would absolutely adore her band. She rapidly thought about an alternative possibility, was it because of the group members? That was impossible, wasn’t it?
”Joseph and you don’t get along?” She asked as soon as they met again in the working table.
Caesar clicked his tongue as he realised she hadn’t got over that stupid conversation, “We’ve talked about it plenty of times already...” he sighed scratching the back of his ear, “It’s not that-“
”What is it then-?” She pressed her lips angrily, cursing internally her throat ache.
He hummed under his breath and pointed the instructions in his hand, “Do you wanna keep talking about your band or shall we focus on passing this course?” He said raising his brows and waiting for her imminent nod. “As I thought,” he added taking the necessary utensils for the experiment.
Suzie exhaled sharply. She knew Caesar was always avoiding that topic yet she wished he opened more about such a trivial thing like that.
Since their most recent incorporation to the band, the new guitarist Joseph Joestar, they had gained some new fans and followers getting more opportunities to act in bars and some small clubs around.
As her best friend, the least Caesar could do was making act of presence and going to at least one of their gigs. But there he was. Avoiding it at all costs as if she was trying to drag him to hell. “Idiot,” she murmured as she focused on the practice.
”What?” He asked leaning towards her watching attentively how she carefully mixed HCl and NaOH.
”Idiota!” she forced her voice.
He rolled his eyes still not giving her a proper answer to why he refused to attend one of their concerts.
Letting that topic die, he tried to survive the rest of the day without talking about the band or music or the reason behind her loss of voice. The day past by as any other day at Uni, tedious lectures combined with chats with his closest friends. Lunch with Suzie and back home where he would usually study for a couple of hours. Day weeks were dull and boring yet, something about studying abroad and having the opportunity to meet new people, managed to keep him in a good mood.
Even after living in New York for a full year he found himself still not getting bored of the city. The crowds, the cultural monuments, the Central Park, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Broadway, everything about New York was fresh and exciting. Goddammit he even liked the Harlem.
The only thing he hated though, was the coffee. That stupidly dissolved brown sewer water they called coffee.
Entering the small apartment he lived in, Caesar left the backpack on the floor and jumped onto the sofa sighing loudly after a long day of studying. Looking at the blinking fluorescent in the ceiling, he thought about trivial simple stuff like who won yesterday’s game. He didn’t even like watching sports events yet he was curious about the game. What game? He had no clue about that. People at University kept talking about ‘the amazing game’ of the day before. Baseball? Football? Basketball?
He would never worry about things like that, but, the feeling he had missed something he could use to establish a conversation with a girl bothered him. Caesar was that kind of guy, the ‘Italian playboy’ kind as Suzie liked to call him. In his mind, anything could be used to flirt. Anything. And that damn game was a missed opportunity.
A light noise coming from Joseph’s room, first door on the left, made him come back from his thoughts. The freshman student would usually come back a few hours after him so he shouldn’t be home by now. Walking slowly through the corridor he gently grabbed the door handle. Whenever Joseph brought a girl home, he would put his scarf on the handle as an indicator -while Caesar used his headband- and then the other would know about the situation and would leave the house for, at least, a couple of hours.
But there was no scarf.
”Joseph?” He asked leaning closer to the wooden old door, “Joseph?” He parroted raising his voice but still getting no response. His first thought? That idiot would’ve probably left the window wide opened and the wind was causing that noise.
Already used to his roommate’s clumsiness, the blonde opened the door only to see Joseph leaned on his bed, eyes shut, humming something indistinguible, headphones on and guitar on hand. His fingers stroke the strings and a bright smile was sketched on his face. He would do that kind of expression whenever he aced a melody he had been practicing for hours, days or even weeks. Caesar had learned that during their short three months of living together.
Taking a red tobacco package from his pocket and resting on the door frame, Caesar lighted a cigarette after putting it in between his lips. “Ah! You are back!” Joseph yelled -even more than usual- as he noticed the blonde’s presence, leaving the guitar aside and taking off his headphones.
”Skipping class again?” The oldest asked, hardly opening his mouth not wanting the just lighted cigarette to fall.
Joseph shrugged, “Taking a day off,” he clarified.
Caesar rolled his eyes, “Lots of days off lately,” he said, smoke coming from his slightly dry lips, “It’s your turn to cook dinner, by the way,” he pushed himself away going back to the living room.
”Imma buy some pizza, what do you want?” He heard the Joestar say from his room.
The blonde sighed exhaustingly, he knew Joseph was not a great cook but, having take-away food thrice a week, was excessive. “Pepperoni,” he answered once he had dropped himself in the sofa eyes fixed once again in the damn broken fluorescent.
”Be right back,” a couple of minutes later, Joseph appeared in front of him zipping his olive bomber jacket and putting on his striped scarf.
“Wait!” Caesar grabbed his attention when he was about to leave, “By any chance, do you know what the last night game was?”
Joseph hummed, scratching his chin, “I dunno man, not really into prof sports,” he murmured taking his keys and wallet before leaving the flat not without slamming the door with way too much -unnecessary- energy.
Caesar stood up groaning loudly before dragging his feet to the bathroom and getting ready to take a shower. He should’ve had bought the newspaper this morning. He bet that cute girl, whose name was Bella, would’ve been interested in talking about the game.
If he was not mistaken, they first met in a University football game where she was a cheerleader. He was not interested in that stupid game but Suzie insisted in going “I’ll introduce you to that guy! Our new guitarist, he’s great! He has just come from England and needs a place to stay, didn’t your roommate drop college last month? Don’t you need someone to split the rent with?” Looking at that scene in perspective, that game was definitely a trap made by Suzie to get Joseph a place to stay.
Was last night game... a football match? Probably, he sighed as he dried his hair with a towel. No, not football. That shitty sport was American football -Special emphasis in the word ‘American’- Real football was the one played in Europe but the Americans decided to call it ‘soccer’. Why would they change its name? That could be confusing and it definitely was fucking stupid.
Opening the bathroom door, letting the steam escape from it, he headed his bedroom and put his pyjama on. “I’m back!” Joseph scandalous voice echoed around the entire apartment as if his stupid mania of slamming the door wasn’t enough to announce his arrival.
Letting his nostrils enjoy the delicious pizza aroma, Caesar looked at the man in front of him taking off his jacket and showing him a VHS tape he had just rented. “What is it?” He asked trying to figure out what the title said.
Joseph smirked, “A classic,” he left the tape on the table before going to his room and getting into comfortable clothes. That was a rule made by the youngest when he first moved in: whenever they had pizza, they HAD to watch a film. It may be a stupid rule but Caesar eventually found himself enjoying those movie and pizza nights in company of his roommate. That rule had evolved into a weekly tradition.
”Terminator,” Caesar read the tape as he ran his fingertips over the image of Arnold Shwarzenegger wearing dark sun glasses and carrying a gun. He looked cool.
”Terminator!” Joseph parroted raising his voice a full octave and taking a couple of cold beers from the fridge, “Come with me if you want to live,” he quoted Kyle Reese as he left the beers on the table.
Caesar turned on the TV and put the VHS before taking his usual seat, just in front of Joseph. Hearing the annoyingly loud chewing noise caused by the man, Caesar turned on the volume, “Could you please eat like a human being? What are you, a pig?” He murmured, “Disgusting,” he took a sip of beer without tearing his eyes from Joseph.
”Shut up?” Joseph gulped loudly, cheese and tomato sauce all over his face, “Let me enjoy my pizza, you damn spaghetti Alfredo guy,” he hummed.
Was that supposed to be an insult? Neither of them could really tell. “Hey,” Caesar grabbed the boy’s attention once again after some minutes.
”What?” Joseph looked at him by the corner of his eyes, ready to pick a fight if the blonde dared to mention any other flaw in his table manners.
“How do you find time to be in a band?” He asked out of curiosity.
Joseph blinked a couple of times surprised by the genuine intrigue behind Caesar’s emerald stare, “Well...” he had the decency to talk with his mouth empty this time, “I guess you can find time when there’s something you are passionate about,” he ran a hand through his tawny hair, “You find time to flirt with women,”.
Caesar almost choked while drinking his beer, “It’s not the same!” He coughed lightly, “I mean...” he cleared his throat and lowered his voice almost as if he was scared of anyone hearing them, “You are also in the Uni foot- American football team,” he corrected, “You are a student and you also are in a band, I mean, isn’t that too much pressure?”
Joseph shrugged, “It would be more stressing if I wanted to get good grades,” he admitted, “I took what seemed the chillest subjects and, if you haven’t noticed, I don’t go to class every day,”.
”Still-“
”Look, I know you don’t have much time since you are studying this... this really difficult thing- you know, science and stuff-“
”Chemical engineering,” Caesar clarified.
”That,” Joseph snapped his fingers, “Had it in the tip of my tongue,” he chuckled bitting roughly his pizza as if he was actually attempting a murder, “If I was studying that thing, I would neither play American football nor be in a band,” he said food crunches flying all over the place.
Caesar hummed eyes fixed in a beige muddy mass, which used to be pizza, inside of Joseph’s mouth getting mixed with both saliva and beer. Disgusting.
“You should come to one of our gigs by the way,” Joseph said already knowing the answer to that invitation.
”As tempting as that sounds...” Caesar stood up, dragging the chair legs on the floor causing a loud screeching noise, “I have to decline,” he took his pizza carton and his empty bottle of beer, “Plus, I guess you won’t be able to perform in a while,”.
”Huh?” Joseph mimicked his gestures, standing up and following him to the kitchen, “What do you mean by that?!”
Caesar took a second beer from the fridge and faced the brunette’s impatient puzzled stare, “Haven’t you recently talked to Suzie?” He asked resting his back on the white appliance.
”Not since Tuesday’s concert,”
Caesar sighed loudly already exhausted by the scene the man in front of him was about to cause for sure, “Merda...” he murmured as he realised he had to do the dirty work by telling him about his singer’s state. He stayed in silence for a solid minute trying to figure out the best way to tell him.
”What?!” Joseph trampled loudly, feeling his heart raise getting faster at every second Caesar stayed in silence.
The blonde opted for being straightforward, telling him the news quickly and without beating about the bush. Like tearing off a band-aid. Well, he actually though that was a really bad analogy since, tearing off a band-aid, was indeed a horrible idea, “Suzie has lost her voice,”.
”What?! Where?!” He asked probably unaware of how stupid he just sounded.
”Where...?”
“Fuck,” Joseph bit his thumb fingernail, “Is she okay?”
”Yeah, you know this kind of shit happens all the time to musicians,”
”I guess so...” Joseph took a step closer to the Zeppeli, pushing him away from in front of the fridge and reaching for another beer. “Now that we finally had chosen a name...” he complained in between teeth.
“What is it?” Caesar asked almost as an act of reflex.
”The Devil’s sinful love children,” Joseph smirked.
”Mio Dio-“ the blonde took the small wooden fridge magnet of a Christian cross his sister had given him before leaving Italy. “Padre nostro, che sei nei cieli, sia santificato il tuo nome, venga il tuo regno...” he murmured as fast as he could bringing the cross near his lips and grabbing it tightly.
“Hey! I was kidding!” Joseph poked his chest with his half empty bottle of beer, “Cut the crap catholic boy,” he mocked.
”Jesus Christ... don’t joke about those things” Caesar left the magnet back at the place it belonged, on the right side of the fridge, facing the sink and the cooker.
”We are The Sans-culottes,” he said proudly, “You know, like those French revolutionaries from the 18th late century”.
Caesar couldn’t avoid laughing at that. It was a good name because of its meaning but, as a native speaker of a romanic language, he couldn’t help pointing out how funny it sounded gaining a light friendly punch from Joseph who cursed him and complained about missing the whole movie because of his constant chatting and interruptions.