Chapter Text
Joseph's expression was one of absolute betrayal. He had been chatting with Smokey about their upcoming trip and the hotel they were going to book, while Caesar and Suzie were discussing whether or not they should rent a car or take the train.
Joseph had suggested to safe money on the hotel and share a room with Caesar and Smokey, while Suzie would get her own room and Smokey had shot down his idea immediately.
“Joseph, I was your roommate in college. I vowed to myself to never share a room with you again”, Smokey said.
“But why? I'm a great roommate!”, Joseph said and crossed his arms in front of his chest. “We always had fun.”
Smokey rolled his eyes.
“This isn't about your debatable qualities of being a good roommate, Jojo. You snore.”
“I do not.”
“You do”, Smokey said. “This is the first time we go on a vacation since graduating and I refuse to be sleep deprived during it.”
Joseph was pouting now and Smokey knew that he was only one step away from a childish tantrum. He was about to apologize for the sake of keeping the peace, but to his surprise, Joseph turned away from him to yell across the room.
“Hey, Caesar!”
Caesar looked up from his phone, where he had poured over possible routes to their hotel with Suzie, to glare at Joseph.
“What do you want? Also, don't yell at me.”
“Caesar, tell Smokey I don't snore”, Joseph demanded and flashed Smokey a triumphant smile.
Caesar furrowed his brow in confusion.
“But you do snore?”
Joseph's smile froze and his mouth fell open a little as Smokey started roaring with laughter.
“See? I told you so”, Smokey said between wheezes of laughter and Suzie started giggling too.
Confused, Joseph looked between his friends.
“Wait, are you serious? Come on, guys, I can't possibly be snoring that much!”
“You snore every night, Jojo”, Caesar said flatly, but the corners of his mouth twitched when Smokey howled with laughter.
“How do you know that?”, Suzie asked suddenly. She had stopped giggling and instead watched Caesar curiously. “You two have separate bedrooms in your apartment. How do you know that Jojo snores every night?”
Caesar and Joseph both sputtered. They threw each other a short glance before looking away just as quickly. Smokey didn't miss the way Joseph's ears were burning red. He eyed his friends with suspicion.
“Yeah, Suzie's right. How do you know that, Caesar?”, he asked.
“Well, Joseph falls asleep on the couch a lot, so...”, Caesar said trailing off, but Joseph was nodding along in support.
“That's not true”, Smokey said and he could see how both Joseph's and Caesar's shoulders dropped. “Joseph told me, like, a million times that the couch is too small for him because he's a literal giant and he hardly sleeps on it.”
Joseph made a noise of protest, but then something else apparently dawned on him. The argument seemingly forgotten, he instead turned to face Caesar with an alarmed expression.
“Wait, I thought Smokey was just making fun of me, but if I really snore, why didn't you say anything if it bothers you?”, he said and Smokey realized with slight horror that he sounded hurt.
“It doesn't bother me, it's-- ”, Caesar replied, but broke off, realizing a little too late what he had said and clamped his mouth shut.
“What do you--?”, Joseph began, but Caesar was looking away now, blush apparent on his cheeks.
“It's kinda soothing”, Caesar mumbled.
Silence stretched between them. Smokey and Suzie exchanged a look, as they both held their breaths. Joseph was staring at Caesar and his ears were still burning bright red. The color was spreading to his cheeks now and his mouth hung slightly open. Then the air seemed to rush out of him in a soft
“Oh.”
Here is how it happened:
After Joseph had graduated from college, he and Caesar had decided to move in together. Caesar had graduated a year before Joseph and was living with one of his cousins who had moved to the States around the time Caesar was finishing his studies. But Caesar had decided that it was time for him to move out, when his cousin's boyfriend was starting to hang around more and more at their place - not that Caesar didn't like him, but he was painfully aware of being a third wheel in his own household.
So, he and Joseph looked for an affordable place together and moved as soon as Joseph had been done with his studies.
The first few days of living together were filled with moving furniture, buying basic household items neither of them had thought of getting until they realized they needed them and arguing about which movie to watch. They had dinner together most nights and they steadily fell into a comfortable routine.
Caesar and Joseph always had been close, they never really bothered with each others personal space and living together only furthered this. When they relaxed together on the couch, on of them often threw his legs on the others lap or hanging on each others shoulders. They did however, always went to sleep in their separate rooms, saying good night at their bedroom doors or while passing each other on the way to the bathroom to get ready for sleep. This routine went on for the first few weeks of living in their new home.
Things changed one day. Joseph had come home late from his internship completely exhausted and noticed with gratitude that Caesar had already prepared dinner for them. He was also touched to see that he had apparently waited for Joseph to return to eat with him instead of eating alone. They settled on the couch, both tired and leaning against each other as they finished dinner and tried to pay attention to whatever they were watching on TV.
Caesar thought about getting up, washing the dishes or straight up going to bed, but instead he leaned his head on Joseph's shoulder. Joseph had shifted his arm so it was almost wrapped around Caesar's shoulders. Neither of them remembered when, but they both fell asleep on the couch that night.
When Caesar woke up the next morning, he felt oddly refreshed, despite having spent the night on the couch and realized with a start that he was wrapped up in Joseph's arms and that they were lying down on the couch meaning Joseph must have pulled him down in his sleep. Caesar glanced up at Joseph and saw that he was still asleep, snoring softly and Caesar felt himself relax again and closed his eyes, determined to enjoy the moment while it lasted. Eventually, the snoring stopped and Joseph woke up as well.
They laughed the whole thing off, blaming it on the exhaustion. They untangled their limbs with blushing faces and went on with their days.
That night, they were back to their routine, saying good night as usual, though Caesar found himself lingering a bit longer than usual before he headed into his room and closed his door. His mind wouldn't rest as he was lying under the covers and he tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep.
Just when he debated turning the light back on to read, his door creaked open. Joseph poked his head in, catching Caesar's eyes. They stared at each other for a moment, then Joseph entered the room without a word and climbed into Caesar's bed.
They were facing away from each other and although they weren't touching, Caesar could feel that Joseph was tense. Not daring to turn around or speak up, Caesar carefully shifted until his back brushed against Joseph's, creating a small point of contact between them. A moment later, Joseph relaxed. Caesar could feel it against his back and he felt like Joseph's body heat seeped into his back, spreading throughout his own body.
Joseph fell asleep soon after, filling the quiet of the room with soft snoring. Caesar was lulled to sleep as his breathing evened out to match Joseph's.
In the morning, he found himself pressed back to chest against Joseph, a strong arm wrapped around his waist and Joseph's face buried in Caesar's hair. He didn't snore and Caesar's felt his heart speed up as he realized that Joseph was awake.
They didn't talk about it when they got up or throughout the day, but the next night, Joseph followed Caesar into his room to sleep instead of heading into his own bed and continued to do so every night after that. Sometimes they both lay awake next to each other, both aware that the other wasn't asleep, Caesar's heart beating a little too fast under Joseph's palm and Joseph's lack of snoring giving him away, but both too scared to say what they wanted to say so desperately.