:January 12th, XX47; Sunday.

:LOSE EVERYTHING.

•~~~~•

"He said he'll be here in a few minutes?"

"Yep," Joe nodded vigorously, standing in front of his house's front door, twiddling his fingers in front of himself. His dad had somehow convinced Oliver's mom to let Oliver come and hang out for the day, while Joe's parents were both going to be out of the house. Of course, she didn't know the kids would be home alone, but that didn't matter. It also apparently didn't matter that Joe's parents couldn't seem to give an actual reason for why they would be gone for the day, it just seemed they wanted to be in a public setting together. For whatever reason.

Joe didn't really care anymore. They could lie to him all they want... all he needed now was his boyfriend.

"Oh, do you think his mom would want to make sure I'm actually here?" Joe's dad asked, coming into the foyer, his husband following him, holding onto his hand. Joe shrugged.

"I don't know. I mean- she might have to know father exists eventually... we could always say he's my uncle or something."

Joe glanced around the room then. That felt like it would've been a good place for his favorite uncle to just barge in and start hanging out, but he supposed he actually would be home alone today.

Joe's dad sighed. "That's true. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it."

"There's a car pulling up now," Joe's father mumbled.

Joe perked up and then grinned, moving to look out the window, seeing Oliver's mom's car in front of their yard. Joe noticed his parents seem to hold their breath when both Oliver and his mother got out of the car, but they eventually sighed it out when she got back in and drove away. Joe opened the front door when the car was out of site and his boyfriend was walking up the driveway.

"Hey, Joey," Oliver greeted with a smile when he got up to the door. Joe grabbed his hands and pulled him inside, and then Oliver gave him a quick kiss, prompting Joe's dad to awwe.

"Alright... you two will be fine here alone, right?" Joe's dad asked.

"Yep," Joe smiled. "Right, Oli?"

"Yep!"

"Awesome. Call me if you need anything, we'll be home in a couple hours."

And so, with a few goodbyes, Oliver and Joe were left alone in the house. The two boyfriends stood silently for a moment, staring at each other, clearly not sure what to do, as this was probably the first time they had ever been left alone together. Especially in the context of a date.

"...Hi," Oliver then said, after a moment, smiling.

"Hey," Joe smiled back. A moment passed, and then he reached forward to grab Oliver's hands, and just like before Oliver leaned in and gave him a kiss, only this time staying kissing him for a few seconds longer. Joe kissed him back and upon parting they both sighed, happily.

"So... what do you wanna do?" Oliver asked.

"I don't know. We could play Minecraft again, watch a movie, sit on my roof, et cetera, et cetera."

"A movie sounds nice."

"Cool, cool."

The two walked over to the couch and sat down next to each other, Joe grabbing the TV remote and pulling up Netflix. He started browsing, Oliver scooting closer to him and holding his free hand.

"There's always Disney," Joe suggested, raising an eyebrow at his boyfriend.

"True. I've always liked Mulan. But the last time us and Sage were together for more than an hour, we watched that, I think. Didn't we?"

Joe chuckled. "Yeah, but that was so long ago. You're the one that suggested Mulan, though, so we don't have to watch it if you don't want."

"Yeah. There's always sitcoms, too."

"Sitcoms aren't movies, bub."

Oliver smiled. "Well, it doesn't have to really be a movie. I kinda just wanted to sit here with you and watch something."

Joe blushed a little bit, and then he smiled back. "If it doesn't have to be a movie then I wanna watch New in Town. Or maybe the one at Radio City, actually."

"Huh?"

"...What? New in Town? John Mulaney? Oh my- don't tell me you've never seen any of his stand ups."

Oliver chuckled. "I don't have a Netflix subscription. I've probably heard like, little snippets of his shows but I've never seen a full one."

"Shut up. Oh my god. We're watching New in Town, right now."

Joe smiled to himself as his boyfriend laughed, both of them settling down after a moment as the beginning of the stand-up started playing. Joe found the courage to wrap an arm around Oliver, who then scooted closer to him, both sighing contently.

"Ah- can you move your head? Sorry, your man-bun is kinda pushing up against me," Joe said after a moment when Oliver laid his head on his shoulder. He brought his head up.

"It's fine. And it's not really a man-bun, it's just a bun."

Joe raised an eyebrow. "You're a man, with your hair in a bun. What else would it be?"

Oliver sighed, poking his hair-man-bun for a moment. "That feels like such an adult term for some reason, but I don't know. It doesn't matter. As soon as I can I'm chopping it off, anyway."

"What do you want your hair to look like, then?"

"Just... shorter. It's braided right now so I'll probably get those taken out. Ugh, I can't wait until I can actually start looking how I want to."

"...I might grow mine out," Joe mumbled after a moment. Oliver raised his eyebrows at him.

"Really? How long?"

"Yeah. I don't know how long, maybe down to my shoulders, maybe shorter. And I also like it bleached but I might just dye it completely white..." he paused for a moment, and then chuckled. "I'll figure it out."

"Oh yeah, how often do you bleach it?"

"Whenever I need to. Which, I might soon, the roots are growing back in brown again. I wish I could just change my hair color permanently."

Oliver smiled. "Do you have the dye stuff here? We could do it now."

"No, I don't- I'll text my parents and ask them to pick some up now. Maybe you can come over again sometime if you wanna watch, or... whatever. Something."

"Sure, that sounds fun."

As Joe got out his phone and began texting his dad, he suddenly felt Oliver's hand card through his hair, which made him immediately fluster and almost drop his phone. But he just sat silently as his boyfriend began to play with his hair, Joe putting his phone down after a few moments when his conversation with his dad was done.

"...That feels nice," he mumbled, letting himself lean into the touch when he got over the flustered feeling that came with it. Oliver smiled and leaned up to kiss his cheek, and in that moment Joe almost melted from just how loved he felt.

"You seem comfortable," Oliver commented after a moment with a laugh.

"I am... I wish I could easily play with your hair."

"Just another reason I wanna change how it is."

Oliver took his hand away and Joe considered protesting but decided against it, instead leaning his head against his boyfriend's, their attention turning back to the TV. They watched through the rest of the stand-up that was playing, which was about an hour or so long. When it was finished, Oliver mentioned being a bit hungry so Joe immediately dragged him into the kitchen, despite him saying he didn't desperately need food.

"Alright- we have, like, a lot, so... what do you want?"

Oliver sighed as Joe let go of his hand once they were in the kitchen. "I don't know. You decide. I really don't need anything, I swear."

"How hungry are you on a scale of one to ten?"

"Like... 2? 1.5, maybe?"

"We have some of those chocolate store-bought cupcakes somewhere in here, is that good?"

"Oh, yeah, sure. Thank you."

"No problem."

Joe opened a cabinet and pulled out two of said cupcakes, handing one to Oliver. It only took them maybe a minute to eat.

"You got a bit on your cheek," Joe commented with a chuckle when they were done. Oliver smiled and rolled his eyes, going to wipe it away but ending up wiping the wrong cheek.

"There. You happy now?"

"That was... hold on, I'll do it."

With a small laugh from both of them, Joe moved forward and placed a hand on his cheek, wiping away the crumb. When it was wiped away Oliver didn't even hesitate before leaning up and kissing him, hands finding his shoulders quickly. It caught Joe by surprise a bit but he leaned into it, and it soon became apparent that neither really wanted to pull away, and so they stood there in bliss for a good while until Oliver's phone began buzzing in his pocket and he was forced to pull back. Joe blinked at him with a light blush covering his cheeks.

"Ugh, it's my mom," Oliver furrowed his eyebrows.

"Why is she calling you now?"

"Don't know." He pressed the answer button and held it up to his ear. "Hello? ...Oh, dad is- uhm, I'm still at Joe's house, mom, I don't really wanna lis-" Oliver's eyes widened a bit and the voice on the other side of the phone got louder. He sighed and covered the speaker.

"I'll be right back," he whispered to Joe, before walking out of the kitchen and into the bathroom. Joe raised an eyebrow as Oliver seemed to lower his voice in the bathroom, as if to be quieter. What was his mom calling him about?

"Hey, Joe."

Joe startled and almost cursed out loud when he heard the voice of his Uncle Remy very suddenly behind him, and he turned to find both him and Emile floating by the front door. He let out a sigh, looking to the ground, wondering why those two always seemed to show up at the weirdest moments.

"Sorry to scare you. How you been?"

Joe pursed his lips. He motioned towards the closed bathroom door.

"Is someone in there?" Emile asked. Joe nodded.

"Oliver?" Remy asked. Joe nodded again. Remy smirked, and nodded along with him. "Mm- good, good. I thought he was just gonna call you about this thing he's tell you in a hot second, it being in person is probably better for both of you."

Joe's eyes widened. He gawked the slightest bit and gave Remy a look that read what-the-hell-is-that-supposed-to-mean?.

"Oh, don't get yourself freaked out. I'm only here right now to make sure this doesn't go haywire, but it'll all be fine in the end. Don't sweat it."

Joe gulped, and Emile sighed while shaking his head. Oliver then suddenly groaned from inside the bathroom and then he opened the door, beginning to walk back out to the kitchen while putting his phone back in his pocket.

"...Everything okay?" Joe asked cautiously when he returned.

"Yeah, it's fine."

"Can I ask what that was about?"

"She was just calling to complain about my dad. They've both been doing that lately a bit, they- uh..." He paused, and furrowed his eyebrows, glancing down. "...right. I haven't told you yet, have I?"

Joe glanced towards his uncles. Remy was standing with a neutral expression and his arms crossed, watching them. Emile looked sympathetic.

"Haven't... what? Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, yeah- just... okay. Please don't freak out."

"Okay... I won't. Promise."

Joe glanced once again back to his uncles and then back to his boyfriend. What was going on..?

Oliver sighed. "Uhm... so, my parents are getting divorced, basically. They told me a few days ago."

Joe blinked. "Oh... oh, god, Oliver, I'm so sorry."

"No, it's fine. They- it was gonna happen eventually, they weren't right together. Like, at all."

"Huh. But, uh... sorry, why did you think I would freak out over that?"

"That's not all- I meant something else I asked you not to..." he glanced down at the floor. "It's just... so, they've already decided that only one person is gonna have custody over me, so I'm only gonna end up with one. But the problem with that is, if my mom gets it, she's forcing me to move up to Maryland with her."

"...Oh, uh-"

"But if my dad wins it then I'm moving to Nevada."

Joe's eyes widened. He took a silent breath, and Oliver stared up at him, sadly. "Wait- so, you're moving? Like, either way?"

Oliver nodded, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Yeah- I- I really don't want to. And I turn eighteen in August too, it's selfish but I wish they just could've waited so I wouldn't be forced to move, because I doubt this'll drag on until then. Florida sucks but I love it here so much, and- I've tried to get them to change their minds but I... they're not going to. A-And there's not even a better option, my dad's really the better parent if I think about it a lot but Nevada is a lot farther away than Maryland."

"Oh... wow."

Joe's boyfriend looked to the floor again, seemingly beginning to tear up. Joe let out a breath and immediately wrapped his arms around him, Oliver resting his face against his chest, loosely clinging onto his shirt.

"I really don't wanna leave you guys, I'll miss you so much," he mumbled. "We've known each other for so long."

"We don't want you to leave, either, bubbles."

Wait... we. Right, Sage still existed.

And suddenly, Joe's mind was brought back to what he had learned when they hung out the week before. He used to have a crush on Oliver. Or- "used" to, perhaps was the right way to put it. It didn't seem logical in the slightest, but... why did Joe think these two events might be connected?

He felt guilty for feeling bad when his boyfriend was the one actually dealing with pain here... but in that moment as Joe tightened his grip on Oliver, his eyebrows beginning to furrow, his uncle hummed behind him.

"Should've known you'd react like that, kid."

•~~~~•
okay looking this chapter back over i just realized it rlly makes me look like an asshole (which is true but i digress) so gotta clarify two things real quick:

number one- i don't want joe to kill sage and i can promise you all now that he's not going to. i have literally written as the first thing in all of the chapter notes from here on out (and before now, too) that joe will not kill anyone. and i'm not a very trustworthy person, yeah, i know that, but i hereby swear that if i ever write down that joe's gonna kill someone and it happens, i'll come up with a way to make myself re-live my entire life from the moment i saw emile die. i am not going to let joe do that. i'm not that bad of an uncle. seriously.

number two- yeah. this still seems like a dick move. oliver definitely doesn't deserve the mental stress of it, he's a good kid. but it'll be better in the end, it'll be worth it. obviously i can't spoil the plot but good is gonna come out of this for them two, i promise.

(...and maybe joe's parents are only gonna get worse from here on out, but i don't give a flying fuck about them and you guys shouldn't either. they're not shit.)

alright. that's it.

see ya soon, babes.🍎
    ~remy(mr picani)