:October 21st, XX46; Monday.

:BUILD UP TO ACTION.

•~~~~•

"Good morning, Rem."

"Mm. No."

Remy flipped himself onto his stomach as Emile left their shared bed, at six in the morning. After a few seconds Remy heard their curtains open and he groaned, sliding his hands under his pillow and pressing it against his face. He then felt the bed dip next to him again and a hand was placed on the small of his back.

"You were the one who said you wanted to get up early, you know."

"Yeah, and?" Remy moved his head to look at his husband. "Don't listen to me."

"You said, and I quote- Wake me up at the crack of dawn so we can follow our nibling around. I'm gonna groan like a little bitch, but do it anyway. It's for the greater good," Emile imitated.

"Oh, fuck you for having a good memory," Remy flipped onto his side and reached his arms up, pulling Emile down so he was practically laying on top of him. Emile just sighed and carded a hand through his love's hair.

"Come on, Remy."

"No."

"I don't have any clients today, we can do whatever you want when we get home."

Remy thought for a moment. He rolled his eyes. "Ugh... fine. Get off me, then."

Emile snickered and did just that, Remy hauling himself out of bed with another groan. He grabbed his sunglasses off his nightstand and put them on, as he did every morning when he woke up before pretty much anything else.

"I find it very interesting that your love language is being mean to those you like," Emile commented as they both started getting ready. "And then I've seen you flirt with people you hate. Why do you think that is?"

"I'm not doing your therapy shit at six in the morning."

"Fine, fine." The two moved into the kitchen after that, Emile beginning to brew coffee, his husband sitting on the counter next to the coffee machine. Remy then checked his phone and read off something in his mind that he didn't want you to know about. Once the coffee was brewed, Emile poured himself a small cup and got out a larger cup for Remy that he could bring with him to go to Joe's school.

And so, once Emile had finished his small portion of coffee, the two set out. Along the way they ended up running into both Joe and Sage, on their way to school themselves, very conveniently. Remy noticed immediately that Joe was practically bouncing as he walked.

"What's up with you?" He asked as they got closer, and Joe turned around to look at him, Sage noticing that Joe had turned and also looking in the direction he was.

"Is it Remy?" Sage asked.

"Yeah, yeah, it is. Uh, what do you mean, what's up with me?"

"You're moving around so much I can't even tell if your feet are touching the ground."

"Oh," Joe laughed a bit. "Oliver is feeling better now, I get to see him today! I haven't seen him since Thursday."

"I'm guessing you didn't get much sleep last night because this was all you could think about?" Emile asked.

"...Maybe."

"You know, Em, you're always on my case about needing therapy but maybe he's the one you need to talk to," Remy mumbled to his husband, who just sighed in response.

They reached school soon after that. Joe and Sage went right up to outside their first period class, and the four of them stood outside the classroom door, Joe now rocking back and forth on his toes. Remy noticed that he had his back towards where Oliver would probably be coming from, and he raised an eyebrow, wondering if Sage had somehow gotten him to stand like that so he wouldn't know Oliver was coming.

A few minutes passed, and eventually Oliver did enter the hallway they were in and start heading towards them. Joe was not turning around.

"Would it be more cliché for them to run across the hallway to meet each other in the middle or for one to tap the other's shoulder and surprise them..?" Remy whispered to Emile, who just shrugged, smiling a bit. Remy tuned himself into Sage and Joe's conversation so he could witness whichever one of those was about to happen.

"And then, as soon as all the water was cleaned up, the top of the water bottle fell off again and we had to clean it up all over," Sage said.

"Jeez. And this delayed practice how long?"

"Like, at least ten minutes. But it was funny. Everyone was laughing the whole time."

"Wish I would've been there. The one practice I miss, and you actually have a good story from it."

"You probably wouldn't have noticed it was happening, dude. Would've been talking to Oliver."

"Probably. Hey, speaking of, where is- OLI!"

Joe turned around at that moment and as soon as he made eye contact with Oliver, he grinned and practically tackled him in a hug, the latter stumbling back from the force but quickly hugging back with a few giggles. They kept smiling whilst stumbling forward and back together for a few moments, until they both got their balance and pulled back half-way to look at each other. Moving a bit closer, Remy could tell both of their faces were pretty much lit on fire.

"Oh my god, hi!" Joe grinned, wide-eyed.

"H-Hi," Oliver responded, smiling sheepishly.

"You're feeling better? You're good now?"

"Yeah, I am. I was only gone for two days, you know."

"Yeah, but then I didn't see you Saturday or Sunday. So it was four days. I... I'm just so glad you're back."

The two stared at each other for a few moments, to the point where Remy wanted to look away because he thought he was interrupting something, and he considered switching the POV over to Joe so he could do that, but soon enough their eye contact was broken by Oliver looking at his feet.

"...Thank you, Joey."

"Cute nickname," Remy heard Emile mumble. The two hugged again for a few moments, and then they pulled away completely, just in time for the bell to ring. Sage joined them in going into their classroom and sitting down in their seats, and the ghosts hovered by Joe's desk, watching him take a pretty easy-looking, even for Remy's standards, test on physical health. Once they were done they were allowed to take a break, and to Remy's surprise, Joe texted him.

child
8:17 AM

<Texting you because this
classroom is really quiet but uh
<Sage and I were talking on
FaceTime Thursday and we wanted
to have a picnic tomorrow night maybe

ok and>

<We wanted to bring the
camera and take pictures
of you and Emile again

makes sense>
where>

<Well the only good picnic
spot is your field so probably there

since when have i owned a field?>

<I mean the one you got stabbed in
<...Or stabbed yourself in
<Or something idk

ah.>
sure>

<Okay great, I'll tell him

Remy raised an eyebrow and hovered his thumb over his phone keyboard, debating saying something else but instead pocketing his phone. He gently tugged on the sleeve of Emile's cardigan. He leaned his face against his cheek, mouth close to his ear.

"Make an excuse so I can talk to you where he can't hear," he mumbled underneath his breath. Emile smiled and reached up to scratch the side of his head, making it seem like Remy hadn't said anything. They pulled away from each other.

"Joe, we'll be right back, he wants coffee."

Joe glanced and them, and raised an eyebrow, glancing down to Remy's coffee cup he was holding.

"It's empty," Remy said. Joe blinked and shrugged, going back to looking on his phone, leaving the two ghosts to walk out of the classroom. They went into the hallway and a bit farther away from the door.

"What's wrong?" Emile asked once they had stopped walking.

"Joe texted me about wanting to do some picnic tomorrow night in the field I died in, and then was all sarcastic about not knowing whether I was stabbed or if I stabbed myself."

"Huh."

"He's suspicious."

"Well, did you say yes to the picnic?"

"Of course I did, Sage'll be there and he's bringing that ghost camera he owns. Never pass up an opportunity to get your picture taken, babes."

"Ah. Well, when we go, if we just... you know, act natural, he probably won't suspect a thing."

"Right."

"Or you could be honest with him and just say there's some things he isn't ready to know about yet."

Remy scoffed gently. "Have you even met him? The kid can't trust his own parents, obviously. If I tell him what you said, he's not gonna trust me anymore, because the way that kid's mind works is that when someone is keeping something from him it's because they hate him."

"Hmm... well, you wanted to make him into a better person, didn't you? There's some things that people just aren't meant to know."

Remy paused. He glanced up briefly. "That's true."

"And especially you, you've had a hard life. And you're his uncle, there's no reason he should know every single detail about your life. No one has that pass, really." Emile paused, and then he chuckled. "Well, I guess I know everything regardless, though."

"Right."

•~~~~•
😌

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