Okay for the Caesar Lives AU just
His reaction to Joseph’s presumed death
Imagine. Joseph had just barely managed to get to the hotel on time to save Caesar. They manage to get him to a hospital to save his life, then get to the Pillarmen to do the whole fighting thing
Lisa Lisa having to be the one to tell Caesar that Joseph died saving the world.
And just….. it absolutely crushing Caesar.
His friend is dead. Sure he died for a good cause, he literally saved everyone on Earth, but he’s still gone
And call Caesar selfish, but honestly….. a not so small part of him would’ve preferred Joseph.
But at the same time, a small bit of ✨imposter syndrome✨ hits because Caesar doesn’t fully feel like he’s allowed to grieve as much as everyone else. He’d only knew Joseph for a month after all. Erina and Speedwagon had raised him and essentially lost their son, Lisa Lisa had actually lost her son as he learns later, and young Smokey who was still a teenager and essentially lost an older brother.
By comparison, Caesar’s relationship with Joseph was so much smaller.
So he decides to put his grief on the back burner and do whatever he can to help the others, because that’s definitely a healthy thing to do. The last time he lost someone, he ran away. He’s not going to do that again.
He helps plan the funeral, lends an ear if anyone wants to talk, makes sure everyone’s taking care of themselves, anything and everything to keep himself busy so he won’t have to think.
But then of course, the funeral itself comes.
And Caesar can’t ignore it anymore.
There’s nothing he can do here. No way to dodge around his emotions, no way to shove the thoughts away, no way to avoid the topic because if he missed Joseph’s funeral he’d despise himself even more. All the thoughts and feelings he shoved to the back of his mind came throttling back full speed and he was powerless.
Joseph is dead.
And he was partially responsible.
If he hadn’t run off in anger he wouldn’t have nearly died. If he hadn’t gotten hurt, Joseph wouldn’t have had to fight them alone. If he hadn’t lost to Wamuu, Joseph would have just taken the damn antidote and not tried to avenge him like the hard headed, sentimental idiot he was-
But he had been Caesar’s hard headed, sentimental idiot
And now he was gone
