:October 31st, Xx46; Thursday.

:HIGH-ACTION EVENT.

•~~~~•

"Uh... Oliver? How do you spell presumably?"

Oliver giggled, and Joe laughed a bit himself. They were sitting in their science class, second-to-last period, having been given time to put the finishing touches on their science project in class from then until Monday, when it was due at the end of the day.

"P-r-e-s-u... agh, I'm bad at spelling out things in my head. If you type that much and then try your best it should just auto-correct it," Oliver answered. Joe nodded. They were both working on the small essay they were supposed to write together and Joe wanted to sound as smart as he could in it.

"Gotcha."

"Oh yeah, also, you think you could leave history early with me to wipe off my make-up?"

Joe nodded again. It was also Halloween, and the school allowed everyone to come to their classes dressed in their Halloween costumes. Joe went as a ghost- which, he wanted to just go as Remy himself, but he'd rather not give his dads cardiac arrest- Oliver was a cat, and Sage was Jack from Into the Woods. Fitting. Even though practice was canceled that day since it was Halloween, it was still fitting.

"It sucks that your mom didn't want you to dress up, though," Joe commented.

"Yeah... I mean, if she doesn't like the holiday I really don't care but, I just wish she'd let me have my own beliefs and opinions." Oliver sighed. "At least you got to do my make-up this morning. It looks good."

Joe blushed- that had been really fun. He had to lean in pretty close to be able to see what he was doing. "Hah, yeah... it was just like whiskers and stuff though, it wasn't that hard."

"It still looks really good."

Joe smiled. "Thanks."

•~~~~•

"Got the ghost camera? Candy bag? Et cetera?"

"Yup," Sage nodded as he left his house, the sun setting and Joe standing in his front yard. They were going trick-or-treating together, and of course anticipating the arrival of Remy and Emile to possibly join them. And they were correct, the two arrived soon after the kids left Sage's driveway.

"Y'all still trick-or-treat?" Remy asked as soon as he arrived on the scene. Joe looked him and Emile up and down.

"Uh, yeah... but what are you guys dressed as?"

"Marceline and Princess Bubblegum from Adventure Time," Emile immediately answered, beginning to smile.

"Oh, nice. Sage, get a picture of my uncles, they're dressed as queer cartoon characters."

"Oh, sweet!"

"What are you two supposed to be, then?" Remy asked as he and Emile stood still, Sage setting up his camera in a space where no one was walking.

"Sage is Jack from Into the Woods, and I'm, uh... you."

Remy raised his eyebrows, and he looked over his sunglasses. "Me?"

"Well, I mean... I'm more just a ghost and I don't look anything like you because I didn't wanna scare my dads but, uh, yeah."

Right then, when Joe saw that Remy's face had a strange look of surprise and admiration to it, Sage snapped the photo. He cursed and pushed his sunglasses back up, blinking rapidly.

"God damnit- well. That's flattering, kid, but you could've told Sage to wait to take the picture until I had my sunglasses up. Haven't you realized it's supposed to be a sort of metaphor for me trusting people in this book, when I take them off?"

"What-?"

"I don't know what he's saying right now, but Remy definitely wasn't looking at the camera for this," Sage chuckled out. Remy rolled his eyes, walked over to Sage and plucked the picture out of his hands, Sage startling when the picture suddenly flew into the air, crumpled, and fell onto the ground.

"...Yeah, I think he wants you to re-take it," Joe mumbled. Remy nodded, and Emile chuckled.

"Uh, yeah, okay."

After that entire fiasco was over, the night of trick-or-treating actually began- the four walked around from house to house, getting as much candy as they possibly could for maybe two hours. Eventually they had hit most of the houses in the area, and it was getting a tad bit cold, so they started heading back.

"I got a lot of candy," Sage beamed, staring into his bag.

"Yeah you did. Don't eat all of it at once," Joe raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, dad."

"Your dad would say that, wouldn't he? But really. I mean, I'm giving some to Oliver at school tomorrow so you should just do the same thing. It would be nice."

"I'm not the one here who has a gigantic crush on him."

Remy laughed from behind them, and Joe glared at them both.

"You should really ask him out, though," Remy commented. Joe blushed.

"Uh, no, I'm not gonna ask him out."

"Oh my god, that's a great idea!" Sage beamed, clapping a bit.

"Yeah. Do it before someone else takes him."

"Ugh... yeah, I guess you guys are right, but I don't know how I'm supposed to do that. I've never asked anyone out before- I met him in sixth grade and I've never had a crush on anyone else from what I can remember."

"Well, do you think he's gonna ask you out first?" Emile asked.

"Do I think he'll do it first? Uh... no."

Remy pursed his lips. "Gonna have to do it yourself, then, gurl. That's how it works."

Joe groaned. "But what if he doesn't like me..?"

"What if he doesn't like you?" Sage laughed out. "Are you blind? He literally looks at you like you're the only person in the universe. Every single day."

Sage stared at Joe with an eyebrow raised an a smirk, as Joe's face slowly began to turn redder than it already was. He crossed his arms and looked down at the ground, refusing to say anything more.

"You know he's right," Remy mumbled.

"...Okay. W-Well, I mean, uh... I just- I don't know how to do it, you know?" Joe looked back up. "I need you guys to tell me how to do it first."

"We can get together sometime this weekend, maybe."

"Yeah. What would that be, the second and third of November?"

"Better not do it on the third, that's my birthday," Remy butted in.

"Right, right... wait. That's also my father's which means the day before- oh! Yeah, the second is my parent's anniversary so I'm gonna be at your house, Sage, for a sleepover anyway."

"Why?" Emile asked.

"Oh, right! Sweet, okay, if you get them two to come over when you do then the three of us can just coach you together. Perfect," Sage grinned.

"Is there a reason you have to be out of the house for your parent's anniversary, kid? Or..?" Remy trailed off. Joe glanced over at him.

"Oh, y'know, my parents just get kind of possessive over each other and stuff so I just go to Sage's house so they can just chill alone with each other."

Remy furrowed his eyebrows, eyes widening slightly. "...That's definitely not weird. Okay."

"If you're confused, I'm guessing you'll come to my house before I leave to go to Sage's anyways, so you can see what they're like for yourself."

"Ah. Fun."

•~~~~•
definitely doesn't seem creepy at all

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