:January 5th, XX47; Sunday.

:ENCOURAGEMENT TO COMPLETE QUEST.

•~~~~•

"Hey, dad! Hey, father!"

Joe came running down the steps of his house into the front room, greeting his parents as he had just woken up recently even though it was near noon at that point. His dad, who was sitting on the couch with Joe's father, looked up and smiled at him.

"Hey, kiddo! You getting breakfast?"

"...Hello," Joe's father mumbled, quiet enough that Joe barely heard him speak. He raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, yeah- you good, father?"

"He's fine, Joe. Just a little tired, he's got a lot of grading going on right now at work."

"Oh... okay."

That didn't seem right, just because usually if one of them had a lot to grade, so did the other. But Joe's dad didn't seem to have any work to do. And Joe's father was practically zoned out, hands picking mindlessly at his fingernails as he stared at whatever sitcom was currently playing, probably not even paying attention to it.

Very weird.

Joe made his way to the kitchen and scanned the scene for a moment, not sure what he wanted to eat.

"Is there cake in the fridge?" He asked, not looking over at his parents but assuming they would hear him.

"No, why would there be?" His dad responded.

"It's your birthday in like... a week or something. Thought we might have cake."

His dad chuckled. "Even if we did have cake it wouldn't be for you to go eating before the actual occasion we'd have the cake for."

"Damn... I don't know what I want to eat, then."

"We have, uhm... everything we usually do. Cereal, protein bars, fruit, whatever else."

"...Rolls," Joe's father added quietly.

"Oh, right- we have bread rolls, too."

"I'll just stick with a z-bar or something."

Joe got one out of one of their cabinets. He leaned against the small counter they had in their kitchen, close to the kitchen bar-resembling hole in the wall where he could view the couch and the living room. He debated joining his parents out there, but when he realized his father was talking to himself underneath his breath he furrowed his eyebrows and ultimately decided against it.

"So, any plans for today, son?" His dad suddenly asked. Joe blinked.

"Oh- uh, I don't know. I might go hang out with Sage. I'm kinda bored."

"That's fine, if you do go then have fun."

"I will."

With that excuse to leave the house- and his strangely acting father- Joe made his way back to his room to tell Sage he was headed over.

•~~~~•

"...So, he's talking to himself underneath his breath, is constantly zoned out and can't talk louder than a whisper?"

"Yep. It's so weird."

At that moment, Joe was sitting with his best friend in the latter's backyard, which was relatively small, but it wasn't too cold out and Sage's parents were out to see some lunch-show Sage's pop had gotten tickets for.

"Sounds to me like he's just going through a mid-life crisis. How old is he again?"

"I don't know, forty-something? Same age as your dads. But I guess that's probably when a person would have one, maybe you're right."

Joe sighed and leaned back, his back landing on the grass behind him. Sage leaned back with him, and they stared up into the sky, quickly covering their eyes since the sun was pretty directly overhead.

"Maybe we should go inside, it's too bright for this shit," Joe mumbled.

"That's true. Don't you wanna go blind, though? Just stare into the sun. Give into my peer pressure," Sage taunted him sarcastically.

"Oh, shut up," Joe laughed, beginning to stand. "Come on, let's go have a conversation in the weirdest place in your house since your parents are gone and we can do whatever the hell we want."

"Sounds good to me," Sage began to stand as well. They both made their way into the house, walking up and down the basement and second floor stairs a few times until they settled on sitting on the floor of the downstairs bathroom, which was relatively small but it was large enough to where the two teenage boys could sit together comfortably. Joe leaned against the door and Sage leaned against the wall opposite.

"What's this conversation gonna be about, now that we have a location, then?" Sage asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I don't know. We're in a bathroom, though. Neat, huh?"

Sage snickered. "So we're hanging in the bathroom?"

"Yep."

"At the biggest party of the fall?"

"...Oh god, no-"

"We could stay right here, or-"

"Your Be More Chill phase ended years ago, we're not talking about that again," Joe vigorously shook his head back and forth. Sage laughed, shaking his head along.

"You're right, you're right. Fine. We should talk about boys or something, then."

"What are we, straight pre-teen girls?"

"Ew, no. You wouldn't pass up an opportunity to talk about your boyfriend, though, would you?"

Joe laughed a little at that. "I guess you're right... did I tell you what happened at our date the other night, though?"

"You have, a million times. You kissed him," Sage shoved his shoulder a bit, "and then yada yada yada, he's better than you at Minecraft."

Joe smiled dreamily. "Hah, yeah... he's really-" he blinked. "Wh- hey, you can't just go and insult my gaming skills like that!"

"You're literally trash."

"So are you, then."

"How do you even survive in Minecraft without him or someone else there to carry you, then, huh?"

"I don't. I don't need to survive, I usually just go on adventures to get as many pets as I can and eventually set up a base to keep them all in. I just wish it was easier to get animals across an ocean when you only have one boat..." he sighed.

"I guess that's one way to play it."

"It is. Oliver is really good at that game, though, no-joke."

"Oh, you're just a simp," Sage chuckled. "You don't know everything about romance."

"Never said I did."

"Good. I mean besides, we've both had our first kisses now, so-"

"Wait, you've had your first kiss?" Joe sat up a bit, eyes widening, surprised he didn't know about this sooner. When could it have possibly happened, though, when most of the other guys in their school were jerks? Well- of course, there was the possibility it wasn't with a guy, but Joe doubted that. Regardless, Sage smiled and raised an eyebrow.

"Why are you so shocked? You should remember this."

"When was it?"

"Freshman year."

"No way. You're joking. I would remember that."

"I- Dude, it was literally with you."

Joe blinked. "...You mean when you dared me to kiss you as a joke and I did it out of spite-?"

"Yeah! How the hell did you forget that?" Sage laughed.

"Uh-" he laughed a bit confusedly, "that wasn't a real kiss, dumbass. We were fourteen and it was a dare, not to mention it wasn't even in a romantic-kinda sense. Doesn't count."

Sage's expression faltered a bit then, and he blinked slowly, but before Joe could figure out what emotion he seemed to be expressing his face changed and he rolled his eyes with a smile. "Whatever, I'm still gonna count it."

"Because you can't get anyone else to kiss you, I'm guessing?"

"That's true, but you don't gotta say it."

"Well, to be fair, you don't have a lot of options."

"I'm bisexual, I have all the options I want."

"I mean out of the people in our area. The guys are jack-asses and then the girls are... better, I guess? But not really. And then I don't think we have a single non-binary person within a forty mile radius of us."

"No, we absolutely do. It's you."

Joe groaned, tapping his feet on the bathroom tile. "I told you I'm still figuring that shit out."

"I know, it's so fun!"

"I'm going back to what I was talking about now. There's no one good in our area, so who could you ever get a crush on anyways?"

"I see what you mean. I did like Oliver for a bit but I guess I'll just have to go get myself a long-distance significant other that lives thousands of miles away like every other queer person in Ameri-"

"W-Wait, what?" Joe felt his breath catch in his throat.

"Huh? Oh, that I used to like Oliver?" Sage blinked, and then his eyes went wide. "Oh my god, no, don't worry, dude. Don't take that the wrong way. I don't like him anymore, not at all. That was literally just, like, mid to late Sophomore year, not this year. I promise you and him are chill, I'm fine being your third wheel. You guys are really good together."

...Oh. That was still oddly bothering him, though. But why would it? Sage was obviously telling the truth, and even if he did still like Oliver, he sure seemed to value his friendship with both of them so he sure wouldn't try to break them up.

Right?

"...Ah, okay. Thanks."

"Yeah. You're good, I swear. Oh, shit- totally random but I just gotta warn you, I think something weird is gonna happen soon. I'm close to hopping off my astrology-obsession train, which is surprising but I still found out about this- sometime around your dad's birthday something really, really bad is gonna happen to us and possibly your parents, and then like a week or two later Oliver's gonna get hit, too. Also, your father in the next few days is really gonna take a big hit, and..."

Sage's voice faded out, but he was still talking. Joe was just staring at him, blocking out what he was rambling about on accident. He couldn't place why this thing was bothering him so much- the conversation was moving way faster than his mind could process it.

It literally didn't mean anything. Sage didn't like Oliver like that. Oliver was Joe's. But why was a part of his mind convinced that it was all a lie?

(uhm- yea no he really shouldn't of reacted that way,, damnit.)
•~~~~•
backstory unlocked?-

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