:October 6th, XX46; Sunday.

:MAJOR EVENT.

•~~~~•

"Alright, where's that nibling of mine?"

Remy walked through the front door of the Croft residence, Emile holding his hand and coming in behind him. They stopped in the foyer and looked over to the dining table, where the three family members were eating breakfast together. Joe looked over at Remy and stealthily nodded at him, beginning to eat his breakfast a bit faster.

"What, is your dad not sick anymore?" Remy asked.

"He's probably better by now," Emile commented.

"Ew. That should've lasted longer."

"Rem, don't be petty."

"You do realize who you're talking to, right?"

"...So, uh," Joe suddenly began to speak, "I'm probably gonna go out and wander a bit with Sage after breakfast on our skateboards so just a heads up."

"That's fine, be safe," Logan said. Patton nodded.

"Cool, thanks."

"Ugh, does Logan still wear a polo and tie every day, then?" Remy asked, walking over to Logan. He waved his hand through his neck, and Logan shivered, adjusting his sitting position a bit.

"You still wear the same thing every day that you've been wearing since high school, too, honey."

"I have an excuse, it's because you complemented this outfit the day you died. Had to honor your memory somehow. And plus, I look badass. He just looks like a teacher."

"...Joe, blink twice if your father works as a teacher."

Joe blinked twice, trying to look at Emile the best he could. Emile chuckled a bit and Remy rolled his eyes.

"Mm. Well, I see Patton is still appealing to his husband's daddy issues by dressing like a father. Guess he technically has an excuse now too, but he's done it since high school."

Joe stared down at his plate, probably trying not to have a reaction. He was almost done his food and began eating a tiny bit quicker.

"And see, kid, isn't your middle name Janus, too? You have another perfectly good uncle and your dads really just ignored me. Joseph Remy Croft has a nice ring to it, doesn't it? Perhaps Joseph Emile Croft? Come on."

"Well, they didn't know that you were his uncle, you know," Emile pointed out.

"No shit, but if they're gonna name him after that one kid, might as well make his middle name Remy, too."

Joe furrowed his eyebrows at that. Damn- the poor kid probably thought all this time that his first name was after his dad's middle name.

When he finally finished eating he got up and put his plate in the sink before running upstairs. Remy and Emile waited downstairs for him, assuming he was getting dressed. They were correct, Joe returned downstairs in a few minutes wearing something a bit more presentable and also carrying his skateboard. He said goodbye to his parents and then he was out the front door, Remy and Emile following close behind. Joe got on his skateboard and rode it slowly so his uncles could stay at an decent pace next to him.

"...Uh, so what was that me being named after some kid thing?" Joe suddenly asked. Remy laughed.

"Ah, well, we went to high school with a kid named Joe."

"Oh. What happened to him?"

"Ate some poisonous sushi."

Joe coughed, stopping on his skateboard.

"I- sushi?! Is that why my parents hate sushi?"

"Probably, kid."

"But why would I have the same name as someone you murdered?"

Someone Remy murdered? Remy chuckled at that idea, but he didn't say anything about it.

"Well, it could still be your dad's middle name, since that is also Joseph," Emile commented. "Could be a coincidence."

"Eh... weird. Okay."

They continued moving until they got to a nearby forest, and as Remy and Emile began to walk into it, Joe got off his skateboard and followed. After maybe seven minutes of walking they came across a tall, two-story house, with a sign out front that read Picani's Afterlife Aftermath Guidance. Joe blinked at it a few times.

"This is your office?"

"Yep! Well, we live on the second floor, the first floor is the actual business," Emile smiled over at Joe. "But it's nice."

"When's your next appointment today, Em?"

"Aren't you supposed to keep track of that, secretary?"

"Oh, shut up."

Emile laughed as they approached the front door. "It's in about fifteen minutes, I have one soon after that too but that's it for today. We can get Joe home after the second one, maybe."

"That works for me," Joe said. Remy and Emile phased through the front door of the house, and Joe pried it open, letting it shut with a thump and a bit of dust. Joe gazed around the room. He saw a lot of transparent-looking chairs, with tables near them and magazines sitting on top. There was a TV on the wall that was playing an episode of Steven Universe at a low volume, a small coffee table with succulents beneath it. Near that sat a desk- the only non-transparent thing in the room- with a name tag on top that read Remy P.

"Wow... wait, so ghost furniture exists? Why is the desk the only thing that's not transparent?"

"It's real," Remy answered. "Actually, it's not a desk, technically, either. We found one of those home-bar type things in the kitchen and moved it in here to be the desk with a shit ton of effort. There's a rolley chair behind it, too, but that's a ghost thing. And that's mine. I'll pull up another chair for you."

"Rem, he can't sit on a ghost chair."

Remy snorted. "Oop. Well shit, kid, hope you like the floor. Guess that's for the best, don't need the patients freaking out by seeing a living person in here. You sit tight, now, I'm gonna go get changed. Pass the POV over to Joe for a hot sec."

Remy began walking towards a staircase, Joe raising an eyebrow as he went up it. "Uh- okay."

Emile just smiled and shook his head, going to sit in one of the waiting room chairs. Joe sat on the floor near him, and looked up at the TV.

"What show is this? It looks interesting."

Emile blinked, and looked down at him, furrowing his eyebrows a bit.

"...You're kidding, right?"

"Uh... no?"

"YOU'VE NEVER SEEN STEVEN UNIVERSE?!"

Joe's eyes widened and he almost fell over, not expecting Emile to yell like that, or really express any emotion that wasn't calm.

"I- uh, no-? I'm sorry?"

Emile gasped, and then looked towards the staircase. "Remy!"

"What?" Remy called down.

"Joe's never seen Steven Universe!"

"I know, I heard you yell at him. Don't scare the poor bastard."

"I'm more of a sitcom person, I guess," Joe said in his defense. Emile grinned.

"Awwe, well, the three of us are gonna have to watch it together. It's so good. But, hey, I like sitcoms, too. I watch Friends."

"Good Omens supremacy," Remy called down, seeming to near the stairs.

"I usually watch Schitt's Creek."

Remy got to the bottom of the stairs and took the POV back from Joe without the him knowing. "Mm, is that the one show with the rich people and the pansexual, sassy boy? Been meaning to watch that."

Joe looked over at Remy. "Yeah, you should. You know, you actually kind of act like-" suddenly, Joe's eyes widened and he squirmed back a bit, covering his mouth and staring at Remy's abdomen. Remy furrowed his eyebrows.

"...What, you never seen a man in a crop top before?"

"Huh? I- uh, no, Sage's pop wears them all the time. But, y-you're..."

"I'm..?" Remy looked down at himself, and then back up. "Ah, shit. Bleeding? Yeah. Ghosts have marks from where they died. So I have an eternal stab wound. Emile's got a lot of shit going on with him, but I still think he looks gorgeous."

Emile smiled a bit. Joe blinked. "Oh, yeah, you stabbed yourself, didn't you?"

Remy pursed his lips. Stabbed himself...

"...I don't know, did I?"

Joe laughed, thinking that Remy had been trying to make a joke, which he had been, since he couldn't tell the truth but he didn't wanna lie to the kid, either. He got out his phone and wrote something down, quickly putting it away afterwards.

"Alright, kid. Get behind my desk before someone floats in here and sees you."

"Gotcha."

Remy walked over to his chair and sat down, spinning in a circle as Joe sat down behind him. Soon enough, a ghost did walk in, and they were brought into Emile's office, which left Joe and Remy to sit alone together.

"Mm, heads up, Emile gets pretty loud sometimes."

"Could've used that warning before he yelled at me, but thanks."

Remy chuckled, turning around in his chair to face Joe, who furrowed his eyebrows at him a bit.

"Why can't you have just one materialized chair in here? These floors feel like they're gonna break under me."

"Sucks to suck. Hey, let me give you my number so you can text me in the future if you're ever doing something like you were last night."

"Oh, right, you mentioned that. Sure."

The two quickly exchanged numbers, Remy putting Joe into his phone as just child before both put their phones away.

"So, you got any questions for me, since we're alone over here?"

"Uh... I really don't. Is there anything you think I should know?"

"Huh, let's see... well you got my backstory, high school, jail... nothing really interesting happened in jail. Uh-"

"Oh, wait, that reminds me. We learned in school you never took your sunglasses off when you were there, so like, why do you like them so much? Why do you like that entire outfit so much, actually?"

"Simple. On Emile's last day of living I wore a leather jacket, sunglasses, and a white t-shirt to school. He complemented it, and then a couple hours later got ran over by a car, got blood all over my jacket, made me cry, whole thing. So I bought a new jacket, kept the sunglasses, rarely took them off after that."

"So, it was kinda like to pay homage to him?"

"Yep. Also I was a lot more of a sad bitch than I seemed in high school. Sunglasses hide the tears."

"...Yeah, I guess that makes sense, too. But what ever happened to the other jacket, then? Did you-"

"SERIOUS PICANI: ACTIVATE!"

Remy then started laughing as his nibling startled once more, and then Joe glared at him, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Hah- oh, bitch, you're really gonna have to get used to that."

"He seems like such a calm and quiet person, though!"

"Usually he is. Not when he's talking about stuff he likes, though. His office also has a shit ton of things related to cartoons he likes so that hypes him up big time."

"Huh."

"Yeah. But I love him. I mean of course I do, I'm fucking married to him. I've seen all the shows he's seen, we watched them when we were alive and the first thing I actually did when I got out of jail was find a place to crash, get my phone back and watch all the new episodes of all the cartoons we used to watch together. I binged maybe four or five series from start to finish at the same time as harassing your parents. And I was only alive for maybe a month and a half after I got out of jail. Fun times."

"Wow. That's dedication, right there."

"Sure is."

"So is that all he does? Therapy and cartoons?"

"Pretty much, kid. Emile does therapy, cartoons, trauma, me, whatever."

Joe's eyes widened. "...You?"

"We're not discussing that."

"Okay-?"

"What we can discuss is the one time your Uncle Janus tried to book an appointment here..."

And so, Remy and Joe continued to talk for the rest of the hour Emile and his patient were talking in the office. Eventually, the ghost left, and another came, and it wasn't until the other appointment was almost done that Joe got a text from Sage.

"Huh-? Oh, hold on, Sage texted me." Joe was still sitting on the floor, his back was hurting a bit at that point but he could care less. Remy was still in his chair, feeling supreme.

"What's he want?"

"Uh... oh, oh wow, he found a camera in his attic that's supposed to be able to take pictures of ghosts."

"Really? Hmm."

"Should I tell him to come over here?"

"Sure."

"Alright, I'll just share my location with him, uh, when is that person gonna be done with Emile?"

"A few minutes. They won't see Sage coming in, he'll be fine."

"Alright."

The patient did leave a few minutes later, and the three of them waited around for Sage, who arrived about ten minutes later with an odd looking camera and a tri-pod.

"Oh, wow, that looks legit," Joe commented, walking up to him. Sage glanced around the room before setting up the tri-pod and preparing to place the camera on top.

"Yeah. Gotta say, this is a pretty empty and creepy house for it to be a therapy office."

"There's actually furniture in here, but it's all ghost stuff. I can't use it. Only real thing is the desk over there."

"Huh."

Sage set the camera on top of the stand. Remy grabbed his husband's hand and they walked in front of it, Sage and Joe now standing on the other side. Remy wrapped an arm around Emile's shoulders and adjusted his sunglasses.

"Well, come on, I look good today. Take the damn picture."

"They're ready for you to take the picture," Joe said. Sage fiddled with it for a moment and then there was a flashing light, not phasing Remy because he was wearing sunglasses but making Emile squint and look down once the picture was taken.

"...Well, uh, it's gonna take a sec to actually appear but I saw the outline of them in that flash."

"Oh, wow."

The picture printed out of the camera and Sage began to shake it a bit, like a Polaroid. It really did look like a Polaroid, too, because whoever the fuck was writing this barely knew shit about cameras.

Remy and Emile went to stand behind the two, seeing that the camera also had a screen, which seemed to be off, but Remy assumed Sage could have turned it on to possibly see the two ghosts as well. The picture formed.

"...Huh. That's... that's him, yeah," Sage mumbled.

"See? I told you, him and Emile, right there. Following me around."

"I believed you, it's just freaky as shit."

"I am freaky as shit, thank you very much," Remy mused.

"What about that little screen on it? Would be be able to see us?"

"Oh, yeah, try to turn on the screen, Sage."

Sage looked around the camera for a moment before groaning.

"Think it might be broken. I'll try to fix it. But you're the one taking a photography class, Joe."

"So what? I just took it so I could talk to Oliver."

"Haha, you simp."

"Shut up."

"Oh yeah, also, look at this-" Sage suddenly got out his phone. Remy glanced over his shoulder with the other two and saw him open his email. He clicked on the most recent that had popped up.

"-Tech assignments were assigned, you got lights with Oliver. And the cast list is being put up in the hallway outside the lunch room, during lunch, tomorrow. I'm so excited, I better have gotten Jack. Or the baker. Mostly Jack."

Joe grinned, obviously happy he got to work more with his crush. Remy smiled to himself a bit and once again wrapped an arm around his husband's shoulders, pulling him closer and leaning their cheeks together. Emile leaned his head on his shoulder instead. Joe and Sage continued to talk.

"Glad our nibling is doing well with his friends," Remy commented. "Gives me hope he won't turn out like me."

"I'm sure he'll grow to have only the best parts of you, Remy."

"Shucks."

"...We really need to get him to watch Steven Universe, though."

"Mm, definitely."

•~~~~•
relative bonding time😌

see ya in the next chapter!👩🏻‍🏫
    ~Maxx(SanderShipper)