•Mid
•January 28, XX45
•Sage's POV
•Contains: cursing
•you know the drill. sage's gonna be a little gay. in summary, joe and sage decide to hang out in their freshman year after school one day.

•~~~~•

It was almost 3:25.

Sage knew that fact because for the past twenty minutes of his English class, he'd been staring at the clock on the wall ahead of him, completely zoned out and not paying attention to what his teacher was saying.

He didn't have much of a reason to pay attention regardless- whatever books they read in that class, he could just read the chapter summaries on Sparknotes. He'd been doing that all year and his grade in the class was a solid 85, which was fine by him. Besides- he had other things to worry about, especially in that moment, besides a grade in his freshman year of high school.

As soon as that clock hit 3:25, the bell would ring and Sage would go meet up with his two friends outside, and then he'd get to go to Joe's house specifically and hang out with him. They hadn't had a sleepover in a good month or two, but Sage loved any chance he got to hang out with Joe. So this was great. He doubted they'd ever have a sleepover he wouldn't enjoy.

So for now it was just a matter of waiting for the bell to actually ring. Why was time always so slow when Sage wanted it to be fast?

The teacher continued blabbering on about whatever book it was they were reading, and Sage decided to start pretending to follow along just so he wouldn't be called on, until the bell did finally ring and the teacher let them all go. After that time seemed to quicken, Sage rushing to get to his locker and grab everything he needed to for the weekend out of it. But soon enough, he found himself at the front of the school, and there were Oliver and Joe, waiting for him.

"Good afternoon!" He grinned as he came near the two, who were already having a conversation. Both looked over at him and grinned back, and Sage leaned an elbow on both of their shoulders, causing both to laugh. What a benefit it was, to be taller than both of his friends.

"You're in a good mood," Oliver commented, and Sage removed his arm from his shoulder, but wrapped an arm around Joe in a joking matter, shaking him back and forth a bit.

"Yeah, us two are gonna go hang out," he then said. Joe pushed him away with a snort.

"Man, I hope all three of us can hang out sometime soon," Oliver frowned a bit, but then he smiled again. "That would be fun."

"It would be," Joe smiled over at him. "Your parents have just gotta stop being so stupid."

Sage opened up his backpack then and got out his skateboard, which he had stuffed in there that morning. He placed it on the ground and stood on it, and then Joe stared up at him, a bit confused.

"What?" Sage asked.

"Are you trying to be taller than you already are?"

"Pfft- no. I just thought might as well ride this on the way to your house. I'll go slow, though. I brought it since you said you wanted to learn."

"Ooh, cool! We'll see if we have time, you could teach me, then."

Oliver blinked. "Wait, hold on, you guys are reminding me of someone and I can't remember who."

Joe looked over at him. "Was it something to do with the skateboard?"

Sage climbed off the board, and Joe decided to stand on it instead, and with a quick glance between the two, Oliver suddenly gasped.

"Oh my gosh. Harold and George! You guys look exactly like them!"

"Who're Harold and George?" Sage asked.

"Don't tell me you don't remember reading Captain Underpants growing up. They're the main character kids."

"Oh my god, I remember that!" Joe grinned, looking down at himself and then his best friend. "You're right, we totally do."

"Pssht- what? No we don't."

"It's not that hard to look like them, they have a simple character design. But I'm serious! And, like, you even bleached your hair, Joe, it's perfect."

"My hair doesn't look anything like George's, though," Sage raised an eyebrow.

"And yet it really does," Joe got off the skateboard and patted him on the head a few times. Sage fought back a blush with a laugh.

Just then, the three heard a honking sound, and they saw Oliver's mom's car just up ahead. Oliver sighed, but he waved goodbye to his two friends, and he ran off to his car, which left Sage and Joe alone. Sage smiled a bit to himself, and stepped onto his skateboard as Joe got out his phone, and the two began making their way to Joe's house, a decently comfortable silence coming between them.

It was pretty normal for them to walk home together, of course- at least that's how it was then. In middle school the two usually got picked up by their parents because school was far enough away they couldn't walk there, especially when they were only eleven back then, but now their school was close so their parents just let them bring themselves home. Really it was Joe and Sage's choice to walk home, though, the thought of it had made them feel more like adults when they were in the first few weeks of school especially.

"I didn't know Harold was canonically gay," Joe then suddenly mumbled, jumping Sage out of his thoughts.

"What? He was?"

Sage slowed down on his skateboard and hopped off of it, moving to just carry it and walk instead. Joe showed him his phone, which had a picture pulled up that seemed to be a page from a Captain Underpants book. "Yeah, look, in one of the books they show their future selves and Harold married some dude named Billy."

"Oh, huh. That's really neat. But I wonder if that's the real reason some schools don't like those books."

"I think the author puts lots of stuff in the series to make the kids possibly turn out to be, like, decent human beings, so I wouldn't be surprised."

Sage chuckled a bit. "Heh. Imagine being gay." How fun it was to make those jokes when he had a crush on the person he was talking to. But Joe laughed regardless.

"Oh no, I'm one of the gays, I'm a terror to my family and everyone around me," he sarcastically held his hands to his heart, and Sage snorted.

"My good lad, would you like to partake in homosexual tendencies with me?" He then asked, not exactly sure what that was implying, but extending his hand either way, which Joe took.

"Gladly." He winked, holding back a laugh, and Sage bit the insides of his cheeks to hold back the same thing.

A moment passed then, and Joe didn't let go of Sage's hand, and Sage had to hold his breath as well, excitement bubbling up inside of him. He tapped the fingers of his free hand against his leg as he walked to try and let out his feelings without it being obvious how happy he was. It was moments like those that made Sage think that maybe- just maybe- Joe had a crush on him back, but he wasn't quite sure.

He could only really hope at that point.

•~~~~•

"Where the hell did you go?"

Sage glanced over at his friend, who was laying on his back and holding his phone above him. They were playing Minecraft together, a world they had started a few months back and had been playing on for at least a bit ever since they were together since.

"I'm looking for those like, tan colored bunnies that are usually in deserts. Because I have all the other types of bunnies at the base except them."

Sage rolled his eyes, and then Joe laughed, looking back to his phone. Sage rolled over to be closer to him and looked at his coordinates, comparing them to his.

"Jeez, you've gone far away enough you might find one of those mansion things instead."

"That would be sick if I did."

"How many villages have you found?"

"Probably a million," Joe laughed. "At least I got a lot of stuff from th-"

Suddenly, the light coming from Joe's phone went black, and he scoffed, holding down on the power button after a moment. His phone flashed an image of an empty battery.

"-shit," he finally finished his sentence, though having forgotten what he was talking about. Sage sighed and turned off his phone as well, Joe moving to grab a charger.

"How did you not realize your phone was almost dead?" He asked.

"Well, it told me five percent, but I was sure I had a hot second before I had to turn it in, y'know?"

"You're stupid."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

Both of them laughed a bit, and after he plugged in his phone, Joe went and sat next to Sage, who was still on the floor. "What now, then? Wanna watch tik tok or something?"

"I actually brought my computer because I bought The Sims 4 like a week ago. We could play that."

"Oo, that sounds fun. We can go drown someone in a pool, maybe. Can you stab people in that game?"

Sage laughed. "You can't. But the pool thing works."

He got out his computer and loaded it up, and he clicked on the game icon on his desktop, but instead of loading up the game it brought up an updating screen. Both Sage and Joe groaned.

"Guess we'll wait. How long do those updates usually take?" Joe asked.

"Uh... like, a few decades, at the least. That's sure what it feels like. I'll put on my Spotify playlist."

"Sounds fun."

Sage grabbed his own phone from where he'd put it after they stopped playing Minecraft, and he opened his Spotify app, pressing play on his main playlist before throwing the phone on Joe's bed. The beginning of a song from Be More Chill began to play, and for a few moments the friends sat silently, watching Sage's computer.

"...This is boring," Joe eventually mumbled.

"Sure is. Is your phone alive yet? We could play more Minecraft while we wait."

"Eh, we already stopped."

"Let's play some other, like, verbal party game, then."

"Like what?"

"I don't know. Never Have I Ever?"

"That works. I'll look up some questions."

Joe grabbed his phone and began looking up some questions, and luckily his charging cord was long, as he could still sit right next to Sage. The latter looked over Joe's shoulder as he scrolled through questions for a few minutes.

"Ugh, all of these are for stereotypical movie teenagers that have more than two friends."

"There's gotta be some that apply to us."

"I don't know... oh. Never have I ever sang in public," Joe smirked and raised an eyebrow at Sage. Sage gave him a salty look.

"You're working against me."

Joe laughed, and Sage grabbed his phone out of his hands, beginning to look up questions himself.

"I'm just gonna go down this list regardless of how bizarre it is," he brought up a new website. "Never have I ever been kissed."

"Nope," Joe sighed.

"Me neither." Sadly. "Never have I ever cursed? No shit."

"These are already so dumb," Joe laughed a bit. "The next one is literally about Facebook, it was probably made by a bunch of people who don't know anything about teenagers."

"That's probably right. Never have I ever spoken to my crush?"

"Duh, of course I have."

"Yeah, same."

Joe raised an eyebrow. "Who do you have a crush on, Sage?"

Sage blushed a bit. He glanced around, trying to figure out a good sarcastic answer. "Uh... myself."

Joe rolled his eyes, but he snorted a bit, so Sage considered that a dodged bullet. He wondered for a moment what Joe would've replied to the same question.

"We should play something else, clearly these questions aren't good ones," Joe grabbed his phone back from Sage then.

"What else is there?"

"Uhm... truth or dare, two truths and a lie, like a million others?"

"We could like, combine those first two, that would be fun," Sage suggested.

"How?"

"We do Two Truths and a Lie, but if you get it wrong you have to do a truth or dare."

"Oo, that's good," Joe smiled at him a bit, nodding. "Alright, then."

"Who's going first?"

"You, since you suggested it."

"Fine, then."

Joe smirked. Sage laughed a bit. "Uh... hmm. Okay. My favorite musical is Be More Chill, the shirt I wore to school yesterday was white, and I have the same favorite color as my uncle."

"That's an odd list of things in one, uh, space together."

Sage chuckled a bit. "Take your guess."

"Well, I know your favorite musical is definitely Be More Chill, and I'm pretty sure your uncle was wearing green the first few times I met him so I'm just gonna guess the second one is the lie because I can't remember what you were wearing yesterday."

"You're right, but how dare you."

Joe laughed. "Great. My turn?"

"Yep."

"Okay. Ooh, I have a good one. So, I can't stomach spicy food-"

"Obviously a truth."

"Shut up. I can't stomach spicy food, my father is allergic to cats, and my uncle was left handed."

Sage raised an eyebrow. "Your uncle?"

"Yeah? Janus?"

"The dead one? How would you know his hand orientation-thing?"

Joe laughed. "Just pick one."

"The lie is the second one because it's your dad who's allergic to cats, but seriously, how do you know he was left handed?"

"I-" Joe crossed his arms then, and Sage stifled a laugh. "How'd you get it so easy?"

"Because I'm smart. You still gotta answer my question."

"Everyone in my family has been left handed for like three generations now, that's what it is. Including me, somehow."

"Huh. Interesting."

"You go now."

Sage sighed. "This is so easy, though, we already know everything about each other."

Joe chuckled a bit. "Oh, really? You think you know everything about me?"

"I don't know? Sure feels like it."

He closed his eyes briefly. "What color are my eyes?"

"Brown," Sage answered immediately.

"What's my favorite color?"

"Periwinkle."

"Damnit, one of those usually work..."

Sage laughed. "Whatever, Joseph. Okay. Er, my current grade in Geometry is an 88.7%, my pop auditioned for a Broadway show and got rejected before I was adopted, and my dad dyed his hair pink once in high school."

Joe furrowed his eyebrows. "Jeez. Well, I wouldn't be surprised if the last one was true from what I've heard about how he was so that's probably not the lie. But then it's like, how would you know your exact Geometry grade right now, and why would your pop audition for Broadway when he's just a random actor from Florida?"

"Just choose one, my guy."

"Can I have a hint?"

"Nope."

"Ugh. I'm... gonna say the second one is the lie."

Sage smirked, and crossed his arms. "Nope, my grade in Geometry right now is an A-, so I know it's not whatever number I gave you."

Joe gawked. "Your pop auditioned for Broadway?!"

"Oh yeah. Apparently he did it without my dad knowing, too. Really pissed him off. But it's kinda funny."

"Wow. That's... I mean, yeah, it's funny, but it's also stupid. But it's something he'd definitely do- how did I get that wrong?"

"That's life, Joe. Well, truth or dare?"

"Uh... dare."

"Nice. Lemme think."

Sage stared at him for a moment. He glanced at him up and down, and wondered for a moment if this was a good time to try and figure out further if Joe did like him. Or was that stupid? Maybe it was. And it was the first dare, if he was gonna do something weird, he should save it for later.

"...Ooh. Go get a bottle of ketchup and chug half the thing."

Joe scrunched up his face to that. "Oh my god, no, that's gross."

"You can't just say no, you picked a dare!"

"Then give me a truth instead!"

"No, come on, go get the ketchup."

"Give me a different one."

Sage groaned. "Uh... gulp down a raw egg."

"No way."

"You have to say yes to one of them! It's not truth or dare if you feel like it."

"But the ones you're saying are so dumb!"

"You're just bad at the game."

"Another dare, come on."

"Let me draw something on your face in sharpie."

"Nope."

Sage groaned once more, which made Joe start to laugh.

"Come on!"

Joe covered his mouth through his laughing. "I- okay, okay, okay. Just give me another one. Don't make it stupid, and make it easy. So I don't have to put much effort into it."

Sage furrowed his eyebrows, but then he felt his arm brush against Joe's and he realized how close they were sitting together, and he bit the inside of his cheeks then, a very stupid dare popping into his head in that moment. He tried to push the thought of it away, as it was something that could let his feelings for Joe out in only an instant, but he felt his face begin to heat up and he decided to just fuck it and say it anyway.

And all he needed was a smirk to hide how fast his heart was beating then. "Alright, fine. I dare you to kiss me."

Joe blinked. "I- kiss you?"

"Yep."

He gave him a confused look, smiling a bit. "Dude, that's..." he was silent for a moment, "...literally so stupid-" Joe cut himself off with a laugh, one of many that night, and Sage's nervousness melted away at the realization Joe thought he was joking. He was a bit thankful, then, because after the initial words had left his mouth he'd realized how much of a mess he'd be if Joe actually kissed him. So really, it was better off with them both laughing the thought away.

"You really have to say yes to something, though," Sage said after a moment, still laughing.

"Well I'm not gonna kiss you, that's literally so dumb."

"I'm sorry you're such a chicken, then."

In that moment, Joe's expression changed, and suddenly the feeling of nervousness returned to Sage's stomach.

"Oh, really? Chicken?" He blinked. "Okay, fine, then."

Goosebumps traveled from Sage's hand all the way up to the top of his arm as Joe gently grabbed Sage's wrist, and Sage was staring down at Joe's hand so surprised that he registered a bit late that Joe had leaned forward and very legitimately kissed him. Sage felt all the air in his lungs suddenly leave him, and he struggled not to take a breath, but then the euphoria of being kissed took over his anxiety and he let his eyes shut, kissing him back for however long the kiss lasted until Joe was the one to pull back, letting go of Sage's wrist in the process.

Sage opened his eyes. Joe looked completely unphased, but Sage was pretty sure his face had never been redder. After only just a moment, Joe began laughing.

"I- oh my god, you look so surprised!" Joe covered his mouth, letting out a few snorts in the process. Sage forced himself to let out a small chuckle, but he was staring at the floor with wide eyes.

As Joe continued laughing his ass off, Sage concentrated on taking deep breaths, but through these breaths he started to fully process what had just happened. The one thing that came to the front of his mind, though, was that now that Joe had kissed him, there was a pretty good chance Joe actually liked him back. And the thought of that being true? Sage's happiness overpowered how flustered he was in that moment.

Sage glanced over at his phone then, which was still laying on Joe's bed, and he began to hear the intro to a song he'd added on it just recently- Under Pressure by Queen. An idea popped into his head, and he grinned, standing up. He pulled Joe to stand as well, though the latter was a bit confused.

"Pfft- what are you doing now, dude?"

"We should dance."

Joe laughed a bit more. "Dance?"

"Yeah! Come on, we gotta, it's a good song."

"Alright, fine, we can dance."

And Sage twirled Joe around to a song that wasn't meant to be danced to, and he felt ecstatic, knowing in that moment that how sweet the kiss they'd shared had felt and how tightly Joe held onto him in their dance could only mean that they shared the same feelings for each other. And that was all he needed to know in that moment. Of course, he'd be absolutely crushed in only a few minutes when they both realized Joe had received a text from Oliver asking about homework, and Joe went back to raving about his crush on him, but that hadn't happened yet. And Sage sure didn't know it would ever happen.

So he was happy.

•~~~~•
Kinda sad ending but at least they get together eventually lmao

Also probably gonna do something with Oliver next because I've thought about his storyline literally non stop so expect that

See ya in the next one!