:November 10th, XX46; Sunday.

:SIMMER DOWN.

•~~~~•

"You're getting pretty good on that thing, I gotta say."

Joe glanced over to his best friend with a smile as they rode together on their skateboards. It was a pretty boring day, so the two decided to just go wandering a bit with each other, since they really didn't have much better to do.

"Hah. Thanks. I guess I learned from the best."

"You sure did."

Joe pushed some hair out of his eyes as he rode across the sidewalk. They had been going for a good while now, with no destination, just enjoying the day. It was a surprisingly decent temperature outside as well, at least in November standards.

"Oh, hey, is that your uncle's field up ahead?" Sage suddenly asked. Joe glanced to where he pointed, and they noticed a familiar, small, flimsy sign planted in the ground indicating the field, some cars parked on the grass behind it.

"Huh. Yeah, it is."

They slowed down. Sage frowned over at him. "...You still getting ghosted by them, then?"

Joe sighed. Yep- ever since the play, his Uncle Remy wouldn't answer his texts, and Joe didn't even have the number of his other uncle. He really wasn't sure why- everything else in his life was going perfectly, though. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that his parents seemed to be on edge lately?

"Yeah, I am. I still don't know why. It was so random, too. And- oh my god, is that Oliver's mom's car?"

Sage and Joe looked to one of the cars behind the field sign, and they immediately recognized the bumper stickers to belong to the woman they were thinking of. Joe grinned and got off his skateboard, picking it up.

"You wanna go look for him, then?" Sage asked, chuckling.

"Yeah, duh! If he's with his mom he probably wants an excuse to get away. He can come wandering with us, we won't go too far."

"That could work. His mom is really strict, though. Might not let him leave her side."

"There's no use in not trying."

"That's true." Sage got off his skateboard as well. "Alright, lead the way, my good sir."

Joe and Sage carried their skateboards and walked a bit into the field. They very quickly spotted Oliver and both of his parents up ahead, and so they began towards them. Oliver himself soon noticed them and clearly perked up a bit.

"Oh, hey, Joe. Hey, Sage," Oliver greeted when they got over. He seemed mildly uncomfortable. His mom glanced towards them three and then went back to a conversation with her husband, which Joe quickly noticed to be quite heated.

"Hey! We didn't know you'd be here today," Joe smiled.

"Hah- yeah. Just wanted to get out of the house, I guess."

"So... Sage and I were just wandering a bit, you wanna come with? We won't go far."

Oliver's face lit up. He mouthed thank you, and then turned to his mom. "Mom? Hey, can I go walk around with them? We won't go far, they said."

She rolled her eyes and looked back at him. "Sweetie, I'm in the middle of a conversation."

"Oh, sorry, but I just wanted to know if-"

"Whatever. Just go. I guess your friends are more important to you than your family, aren't they?"

"...Thank you, mom."

"You're welcome, daughter."

The three of them gritted their teeth and began walking away from the two adults, walking back towards where Sage and Joe had come from but closer to a nearby forest. Once they were far enough away, and just about entering the forest, Oliver and Joe linked hands.

"So did your parents just come to the field where Joe's uncle died to argue?" Sage asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I thought Joe's uncle was stabbed in the ne- oh, wait, you mean the serial killer one that killed the other uncle and stabbed him in the neck, don't you?"

"My family is very confusing," Joe mumbled.

"Hah- uh, I don't know then, I guess." He sighed. "They've been doing that a lot lately. Arguing, I mean. Not that I really care. I didn't wanna come with them here today but now I'm kinda glad I did," he smiled up at the other two, who smiled back.

"...Off-topic, but do you guys think we're gonna get lost in here?" Sage glanced around the forest as they walked.

"Nah, I at least have my phone. We can always navigate back to the field." Joe answered. "Oh- speaking of off-topic, Oliver, we need to go buy prom admissions tickets before class tomorrow."

Oliver blushed a tad. "Oh, right. You think we need to get them that early? It's not a limited capacity, I don't think."

Joe shrugged. "I know. Just might as well get them now since they're there. We should all put our names in for the prom king thing, too, when we can."

Sage rolled his eyes with a smile. "None of us are gonna get that. We stick together, hardly anyone else knows we even exist. Plus, we're all queer in a mildly-conservative Florida school."

"You have a chance, though, Sage," Oliver commented. "I mean, you're so involved in theatre, I'm sure some people there would vote for you."

"Oh- huh, you're right. Yeah. It's just you two that don't have any other friends," he teased. Joe laughed a bit.

"I think we're just fine like that."

"Sure you are."

The three chuckled to themselves, and then all were silent again. It was comfortable, though- they just kept walking. The idea of them wanting to stay close to the field was out of sight and out of mind soon enough. They weren't sure how long it had been after a while, but they never seemed to change their direction of walking in the slightest.

"...Is that a shack?"

They all stopped as Oliver pointed out a small, almost shed-looking structure ahead to their left. Joe stared at it for a moment and then blinked.

"Oh. Huh. Maybe it's Remy's..."

"Remy Café had a shed?" Oliver raised an eyebrow.

"It's Cafe, technically- but, yeah, he told me about it."

Sage's eyes widened. Joe's then widened, as well, as Oliver gave him a very confused look. Oliver didn't know. Joe still hadn't told him, had he?

"He told you?"

"...Oh, sorry, not Remy," Joe laughed awkwardly. "I meant- uh, I was doing some research and I emailed someone that had been researching his life to learn a bit more and that guy told me about it. He said that Remy supposedly lived in a shack in these woods after he escaped from jail."

"Huh," Oliver nodded along. "That sounds... kinda made up, but if there's a shack right here maybe we should check it out. See if we can find anything?" He smirked a bit. "Might as well learn about your heritage, I'm sure your dad would like to know more about his highschool boyfriend."

"Hey..."

Oliver giggled at him, and then let go of his hand, running ahead of the two to get closer to the building. Sage pursed his lips as he and Joe followed behind.

"You know you're gonna have to tell him eventually," he mumbled to Joe.

"I know, I know..." Joe sighed. "He's gonna think I'm being ridiculous, though."

"We have the camera. Introduce them."

"Well, first I gotta get him to actually talk to me again."

"I found the door!" Oliver called to the two. Sage just shrugged at Joe and walked a bit faster. Joe caught up quick, and they stood in front of it.

"Hold on, it might be dark, let me get out my phone to use as light," Joe said, getting out his phone. He turned on the flashlight. "Also, be careful for spiders or whatever else. There's probably cobwebs and bugs in here."

"Who's gonna open the door, then?" Sage asked.

All were silent.

"Not it," Oliver said quickly, touching his nose, as the game went.

"Not it," Sage replied immediately, also touching his nose. Joe furrowed his eyebrows and groaned.

"Oh, come on, you guys, I'm holding the light! Uh- Sage, you asked the question, you open it."

"I'm not opening it. How about you step up and maybe show your boyfriend you're not a scaredy-cat?"

"Oh, shut up, you two," Oliver stepped in front of them. He grasped the handle and pushed open the door himself. It creaked, sending a shiver down all their spines, and Joe shined the light in.

"Is that... a kitchen?" He mumbled.

"And there's a couch back there," Sage pointed. Oliver took a step in, and the other two quickly filed in behind. It was cramped, and there were empty empty cans of food and drinks and napkins crumpled on the floor, so many that you could hardly tell the floor existed. Sage bent down and picked one up.

"Ew, Sage, don't touch that," Oliver said.

"You're the one who touched the door handle," he said. The thing he picked up seemed to be a plastic yogurt container. He flipped it over. "Expired in XX28... yeah, this might actually be the place."

"Is that a light switch?" Oliver stepped to the side and started reaching for a switch. Sage stepped towards him.

"Oliver, dude, you're literally gonna electrocute yourself," he said, trying to block Oliver from touching it. Oliver shoved him aside, and Joe laughed a bit.

"It's a closed outlet. Worst case scenario, nothing happens.

He pressed it. A moment passed, and then, a small ceiling light flickered into existence. The three stared up at it, confused.

"How is there power all the way out here?" Joe mumbled. Sage made his way over to the small kitchen and to the sink. He turned a knob, and water came out of it.

"Yeah- huh, this is like a working house." He turned off the sink. "But if the food expired two decades ago then I doubt anyone lives here now."

Joe walked to the back of the house, putting away his phone since there was now a light overhead. "There's two doors back here. One's open- I think it's a bathroom."

"What, you need to use it?" Sage chuckled. "I mean, it probably works."

"I'm not going in there, it's probably disgusting."

Oliver began making his way back to his boyfriend. "So what's the other door? It's closed."

"Probably a bedroom," Sage began making his way back as well. Oliver sighed.

"Well, if I opened the front door, I might as well open this one, too."

He reached the door and quickly turned the handle, pushing it open. It creaked a bit less than the front door, but the inside was notably less creepy, as the light switch in the first room seemed to have turned on the light in there as well. It looked simple- an unkept double bed with a single pillow and a comforter, a nightstand, and a small open closet that had one hanger which seemed to have something hanging off of it. While Oliver and Sage went to examine the bed, Joe went for the closet.

And that was when he definitely knew it was Remy's old shack... because on the hanger was a child-size leather jacket. Joe grabbed a sleeve, eyebrows furrowed, running his thumb over a dried brown substance on the sleeve that seemed to cover half or more of the jacket. He then shivered and let it go, realizing it was probably blood.

"Found his leather jacket, and it has dried blood on it," he said with mildly wide eyes, turning back to his friends. He quickly grabbed it off the hanger and walked to the bed, laying it down for them all to see. Oliver took a step back, crossing his arms.

"Oh, gosh- ew. You think he, like... murdered someone in that? And that's their blood? Like, his victim's?"

"It looks pretty small, though," Sage commented. Joe noticed writing on the tag. He then sighed a bit in surprise, leaning in closer to see if he was reading what he thought he was.

"...I don't think it's a victim's blood. At least... not entirely."

"What do you mean? What does the tag say?" Oliver asked.

"Property of Remy Cafe, 7th grade Mrs. Anderson's class. If found return to Remy Cafe, locker 178- or Emile Picani, locker 164... Oh my god, this is Emile's blood."

"Shit..." Sage mumbled.

"Who's Emile?"

"Oh- that one guy also told me that Remy had a boyfriend- Emile- in middle school that, uh, got run over when they were in seventh grade and died. And Remy witnessed it. And then he killed the driver."

"Wow, that's... actually really sad."

"Yeah..." Joe furrowed his eyebrows. He turned over the sleeves a bit more, but found nothing else of interest on the jacket. Remy clearly kept this with him ever since Emile died... would it be something he wanted now? Or did he have no use for it now that him and Emile were married?

"...I'm gonna take it home with me."

"What?" Sage asked, clearly confused.

"I'm taking it home with me. It won't be too hard to get it past my parents and into my room... just as like, a keepsake, you know? And what good is it gonna do in here?"

"I guess it also has your fingerprints on it, and I don't know if that would be a good thing," Oliver commented. "Well, be careful getting it past your parents, then. Especially your dad. I know he doesn't like his ex-boyfriend."

"Oli..."

•~~~~•
awfully sweet of him

see ya in the next chapter!☕️
    ~Maxx(SanderShipper)