:October 17th, XX46; Thursday.

:BUILD UP TO ACTION.

•~~~~•

"And so, if you're going to calculate the daily value yourself when reading a nutrition label, you have to divide- ...ah, and we have one minute left in class. Go ahead and pack up, everyone, we'll pick up here tomorrow morning."

Joe suppressed a groan and stood up out of his seat, slumping his backpack over his shoulder. He walked to the back corner of the classroom and over to Sage, who was by now standing in front of Oliver's desk with a mildly concerned expression.

"Everything okay?" Joe asked as he came over.

"Yeah, I'm- we're okay," Oliver smiled up at Joe, but the latter noticed he was clutching his stomach.

"You sure, dude? You don't look so good..." Joe paused. "I-I mean, wait, you look fine, you look handso... uhm, you're just giving vibes that you're sick. Y-Yeah."

"Real smooth," Sage mumbled, smirking. Joe elbowed him in the side.

"Hah... n-no, I'm fine, though, really. Stomach just hurts, that's all."

"Like, cramps? Allergies?"

"Do allergies even do that..?" Joe mumbled.

"-Or you feel like you're gonna barf all over us?" Sage asked.

"You're gross... but, uh, it's not cramps or allergies. So..."

The bell rang just then, and Oliver sighed, standing up and getting his backpack onto his back. Joe frowned and very swiftly stole the bag from him.

"Wh- what, Joe-"

"Nope. You're not carrying that, I'm bringing you to the nurse's office."

"But our next class is across campus, you only have five minutes to get there and it'll take you a bit to come with me. I'll go by myself if you want me to, but-"

"You're not changing my mind on this. Pretty sure our photography class is a study hall today anyways. Now, come on."

Oliver took a second to look at the ground, but then he smiled, rolling his eyes a bit before nodding.

"Fine, fine... okay. Lead the way."

Joe hesitated then, but he made the move to grab Oliver's hand, and with a knowing look from Sage the two walked to the downstairs of the building they were already in. They got to the nurse's office and stood outside.

"Here's your backpack. I'm gonna head to photography, text me when you get home since I doubt you're gonna be feeling any better for the rest of the day."

"I will. I'll see you at school tomorrow though, I'm sure I'll be fine."

Joe checked his watch and then smiled at Oliver, debating hugging him but deciding against it since he only had maybe two and a half minutes to book it across campus at that point. So with one last wave he did just that, and somehow he arrived upstairs in another building at his classroom just in time for the bell to ring, struggling to hide the fact that he was panting from running while he made his way to his seat. Just as he'd thought, class was a study hall, and so he began scrolling through TikTok since he didn't have anything at all productive to do.

About seven or so minutes into class, though, the door opened, and in walked Oliver, an uncomfortable expression on his face and a late slip in his hand.

Joe slowly put down his phone as Oliver walked over to his seat next to him after handing the slip to the teacher.

"What happened? Why are you still here?" Joe whispered once Oliver had sat.

"Nurse told me it was just period pains," Oliver frowned, crossing his arms over his stomach.

"Are you even..?" Oliver shook his head to that. Joe furrowed his eyebrows, crossing his arms as well.

"Maybe just... I don't know, do you think breathing exercises could help distract from the pain? You could try going back to the nurse at lunch if you still don't feel good."

"I think she hates me, though."

"She doesn't hate you, she has no basis. It's not like you constantly fake being sick to get out of class."

"Yeah, but... I don't know."

"You could call your mom at lunch, instead, maybe?"

"She works far away, and so does my dad, they won't pick me up."

"Well there's no harm in trying. If you're still feeling bad by lunch then maybe the duration of it will make her come to pick you up."

Oliver paused. "Yeah, that could work. I'll call her at lunch. But maybe I'll feel better before then."

Joe frowned, staring his crush up and down with a sigh.

"...I really hope you do."

•~~~~•

As soon as Joe's English class ended, he practically sprinted to the cafeteria. Once he got there he saw his two friends in their usual spot, Sage once again seeming a bit concerned and Oliver with his head laying down on the lunch table. Joe quickly sat next to him.

"Oliver? You still not feeling good?"

Oliver turned his head to look up at Joe, and he was frowning, eyebrows furrowed.

"Gonna take that as a no," Joe frowned as well. "Do you want a hug?"

"...Yeah. Not too tight."

Joe scooted closer to Oliver and quickly wrapped his arms around him, Oliver leaning into his chest with a sigh. But Joe didn't fluster at all, at least not until Oliver turned a bit in Joe's arms and got out his phone, pulling up his mom's contact without bothering to move away. Joe definitely wasn't complaining, though.

Oliver hit the call button and held his phone up to his ear, tapping his foot on the ground as he did so.

"Agh, she better ans- ...Hello? Yeah, mom, it's me."

Oliver gulped. "Uh-huh. Uh, can- can you come pick me up from school? I don't feel good. I feel like I'm gonna throw up."

There was faint talking on the other end.

"No, it's not that. And I've been feeling like this since my first class."

More talking.

"It started around 8:30, yeah. I really don't feel good, though, mom. The nurse didn't give me anything to help. Can I please just come home?"

Nagging.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll get the late work from Joe and Sage."

More nagging.

"...No, I don't have any friends that are girls. Can- I don't feel good, at all, mom. Can you please pick me up?"

After a bit more conversing, Oliver finally sighed and hung up the phone.

"She's on her way, I'll probably just go sit in the office after lunch until she gets here."

"I'll walk you there," Joe offered immediately, remembering just then that Oliver was still leaning against him and flustering a bit more.

"You don't have to do that," Oliver smiled.

"Sure I do. We can leave lunch early if you really want me not to be late for class. But my next one is an actual study hall, it'll be fine."

Oliver sighed. "Alright, alright. You can walk me."

"Good."

•~~~~•

"And you're sure you don't care that I'm not going to practice?"

Joe and Sage both shut their lockers at the same time, and Sage nodded at him. "Yeah, you're good, dude. I know you mostly go just so you can have an excuse to be near Oliver."

"That's true, but you didn't have to say it."

Sage rolled his eyes, smiling. "Uh-huh. But it's fine. I mean, I know you still love doing tech but when you usually have someone back there with you it's boring when they're gone, I know. And you guys don't even have to worry about doing all the stuff you need to do until tech week. And I have other friends in the show to keep me sane. Go home, text Oliver, whatever."

Joe sighed. "Alright, I'll head home. See you tomorrow."

"See you."

Sage started off towards the auditorium and Joe went to the front of the school, beginning on his walk home. Pretty soon he saw two ghostly figures in the distance nearby, approaching him.

"Hey, queen," Remy greeted as he reached him. "How was school?"

"Uh, it was okay," Joe responded. Emile joined them and they began walking to Joe's house, but Joe got out his phone as soon as they began moving, pulling up Oliver's contact in Messages as he saw he got a text from him.

"As always. Damn, your life really is repetitive. Just going to school and heading home to the same, crusty house every single weekday..."

"I wouldn't say his house is crusty, Remy," Emile commented.

"I suppose you're right. If anything was crusty, it was the shack I lived in after I escaped from jail. Did I tell you about that place, Joe?"

Joe didn't respond, he didn't hear him. Oliver had said he probably wasn't coming to school the next day, and Joe was trying to come up with all the ways Oliver could possibly take care of himself while he was out from school just to ensure he's be back on Monday.

"...Joe? Kid?"

"Huh?" Joe looked up at Remy. "Oh, sorry, I didn't hear what you said. Oliver had to leave school early today because he wasn't feeling good so I'm texting him."

"Awe, I hope he feels better, then," Emile frowned.

"Yeah, so do I. His mom didn't even wanna pick him up at first."

"So she's a bitch, then?"

"A little bit, yeah. She's only ever met my dad and Sage's dad, and thinks they're both married to women that she hasn't met before. If she knew our parents were gay she'd probably not let Oliver hang out with us anymore."

"Jeez. Want me to kill her for you?"

"Remy," Emile scolded.

"What? It was a joke, I can't even interact with most of the living in this plot line." Remy glanced up at the sky, but Joe could've sworn he winked.

"What-? I mean, no, don't kill her. She's bad but that's a bit much."

"Sure it is. She deserves to be stabbed, though."

"Well, I guess if you stabbed yourself, you clearly don't think it's a bad experience," Joe raised an eyebrow. Remy was silent for a moment.

"...Mm. I have been stabbed, yeah. Wasn't the worst thing in the world. Got to see Emile."

"Wait, you were stabbed or you stabbed yourself?"

"Uh-huh. Hey, where's your friend Sage? Doesn't he usually walk home with you? Think we just passed his house."

"You didn't ans- ...uhm, there's theatre practice today. He's at that. I just skipped it because I didn't need to be there."

"Ah. Makes sense."

Joe decided to drop the question he had asked earlier, though now he was a bit confused as to how Remy had actually died. From what he could remember, Remy had never actually said he did stab himself, or say it was any other method of death. It just somehow involved a knife entering his torso. But why would he be keeping whatever it was a secret, if the public had gotten it wrong?

With a bit more chatting Joe reached his house soon enough, and Remy and Emile ended up leaving after dinner, leaving Joe alone in his room, still thinking about the question he had never gotten an answer to. He checked the time- it was definitely after practice had ended, Joe wanted to talk to someone about this and the only person who would understand and listen was Sage. So...

Joe pulled up his contact in Messages and quickly texted him, asking if it was okay to FaceTime. Sage said it was, and soon enough Sage was the one to call, Joe answering it as he set his phone against a spare pillow on his bed. Sage appeared on the screen in his kitchen, wearing AirPods, Joe only able to see half of his face.

"Hey, man. I'm getting a snack. What's up?"

Joe laughed a bit to himself. "Sometimes I think about how different we look when we FaceTime each other."

"Oh, shut up. There's no need to put down your phone somewhere on a FaceTime call unless you're doing something, way too professional." Sage began walking to his bedroom.

"At least I look presentable."

"Sure you do. Did you wanna say something, though?"

"Oh, right." Joe paused for a moment, before lowering his voice a bit. "...So, remember my uncles?"

"The ghosts? Uh-huh."

"Well, we were talking when I was coming home today and long story short, I don't think the one actually stabbed himself." Joe was careful not to say Remy's name because he was 50% sure at this point it triggered a fight-or-flight response in his parents if they heard it.

"Really? Did you ask?"

"Yeah, but he didn't really answer me. I feel like it might've been someone else who stabbed him but I don't know who."

"Maybe he got caught by some murderer that murders murderers and just doesn't wanna admit it."

"Maybe... I don't know."

Sage's phone was then set on his desk and Joe could see the left half of Sage's body as he sat in front of his computer, possibly either doing homework or playing some game. "Wait, he died in the one field, right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"You could bring him there, get him to talk about it more, maybe. I don't know if that would work, though. Could at least see his reaction."

"Eh... I don't know, that kinda sounds mean."

"Guess you're right. I don't know. If he won't tell you anything you could just have a picnic there. It's where your parents got engaged, too, right? Blame it on that. I can come with you if you want. I'll bring the camera and maybe take some more pictures. Could do it some night next week."

"Oh, yeah, that sounds fun. Okay, I'll talk to him about it next time I see him. Or- oh yeah, I have his number. I can text him."

"You have his number? How does that even work?"

"I honestly have no idea."

•~~~~•
nice

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