Oscar stood staring at his own reflection in the full length mirror that hung on his bedroom wall. Lost in thought, he started down blankly at his own outfit. He was dressed in a maroon hoodie and khaki skinny jeans, paired with some really rough-looking converse high-tops.

He heard the familiar sound of a car horn outside of his house. This was enough to curb his intense thinking session, and snap him back to reality. He quickly peered out of the window to see Noah's car parked in the driveway below.

He turned back toward the mirror at took one final look at himself before snatching his phone from where it laid on his desk, and making his way downstairs.

He closed the front door behind him and paused for a second to take in the scene. The sun was shining bright in the sky but a slight breeze kept the temperature relatively cool.

He continued down the paved driveway and hopped into the passenger side of Noah's car. He opened the door and was suddenly consumed by the musical stylings of Fleetwood Mac being blasted through the speakers.

"Hey," he said, planting a light kiss on Noah's cheek.

"Hiiii" Noah said, eagerly.

His fingers locked with Oscar's that rested on the console. "You ready to go?" He asked.

"Yeah, all set." Oscar said, using his free hand to pull his seat belt around himself and click it into place.

"I'm so excited. You?" Noah asked.

Oscar paused, "Uh, yeah. I am kind of glad that we're not all driving there together, though," he said.

"Why?" Noah asked.

"I dunno," Oscar sighed, "I thought it might be awkward. Seems like I never know what to say to Damen."

Noah gave his hand a reassuring squeeze. "I'm sure it'll be fine."

"Yeah."

~ half an hour later ~

Noah parked the car abruptly in the sea of other vehicles, surrounded by hundreds of makes, models, and colors.

The two boys got out and started walking hand-in-hand in the direction of the various roller coasters and other rides that they could see standing tall over the horizon.

"Kim and Damen said they'd meet us at the front gates." Oscar said.

"I think I see them over there." Noah said, releasing Oscar's hand to point at the couple standing about 15 meters away from them. He raised his arm and waved it vigorously. "Hi!" He shouted.

"Hello!" The girl shouted back, while the she was with guy just waved shyly.

"Yep. That's them alright." Oscar laughed.

They reached the other couple and Kim wrapped Oscar in a side hug.

"Hey guys! You ready to go in?" She asked.

"Yeah!" Noah answered for the both of them. The group began walking across the gravel parking lot. Damen with his arm around Kim, and Noah's around Oscar.

After going through the gates and buying their wristbands the group started making their way across the fairgrounds. They happened upon a small wooden booth run by a young woman outfitted in a red polo shirt and tan smock tied around her waist.

She stood in front of a beige pegboard attached to the back wall of the booth, that had dozens of balloons in various colors secured to it. In her hand she held three throwing darts.

Suspended from the ceiling of the booth was an assortment of colorful prizes in every color and size imaginable, ranging from a small reflective key chain hanging low in the front, all the way to a stuffed banana wearing sunglasses hanging in the back that was about half the size of Oscar.

They stopped walking and Damen dropped $5 on the counter in front of the woman. She looked down at the money and said, "three darts for $5 or 6 darts for $10."

Damen looked at Kim and pulled his wallet out of is back pocket, depositing another $5 on the counter in front of him. The woman picked it up, "Thank you."

Damen still looking at Kim, pointed at the array of balloons in front of them and asked, "Which ones should I go for?" Kim pointed out 6 balloons to him and he threw the darts with what one could call "lacking" accuracy.

He ran his hand through his hair and laughed, "Well..."

The woman in the red polo shirt picked up the scattered remains of the balloons that Damen had managed to hit and read the tags on the back.

She then picked up a small stuffed frog toy wearing a bow tie from the display and handed it to Damen, who handed it to Kim. She hugged it tightly to her chest and laughed, "Aww, thank you," before pressing a kiss to Damen's cheek.

Noah and Oscar who had been standing behind them looked at each other and Noah asked, "You want me to win you something?" He smiled.

"Oh no, you don't have to." Oscar chuckled.

"Nope. I insist." Noah said, digging $10 out of his pocket. He walked up to the counter and set the money in front of the lady who once again picked it up, and handed him 6 darts.

He threw half of them 1, 2, 3, and not a single balloon popped. "Man I'm shit at this." He laughed.

Oscar also laughing, said, "Alright, step aside," and motioned for Noah to hand him the remaining darts.

He stepped up to the counter and asked, "Okay which ones should I hit?"

Noah pointed to 3 balloons scattered around the board. Oscar threw the darts with surprising precision, even to himself. Noah let out an exaggerated, "Wowww."

The woman picked up the balloons and checked the tags yet again, but this time walked further back in the stuffed animal display, and returned with a large stuffed dolphin. Oscar passed the gray mass of soft fabric off to Noah.

Oscar looked at Kim standing next to Damen along with the small prize clutched in her hand and said, "Well we know which one of us is actually good at sports."

Noah lightly punched him in the arm and said "you're such a show-off," before planting a quick kiss on the other boys lips.

"Yeah, I know," said Oscar, grinning.

~ later ~

The sun began setting and the day had rapidly turned to night.

The group made their way on and off of an array of carnival rides, making sure to play numerous games and stop at plenty of food trucks along the way.

Near the end of the night they had retired to the batting cages that stood at the west end of the fairgrounds.

Noah was inside the cage, now wearing a batting helmet, and stood in front of the ball dispenser with a wooden bat slung over his shoulder.

Damen stood just on the other side of the fence. "Whew, good one man!" He shouted at Noah as the crack of the bat hitting another baseball echoed through the air.

Oscar stood further back from the cages alongside Kim. They both leaned back against a handrail, clutching a beer bottle each.

Kim raised the dark glass bottle to her mouth and said, "Their little friendship is so cute," gesturing to the other boys.

Oscar sighed, "Ha, yeah."

She continued, "Today was really fun, wasn't it? Reminded me of old times."

Oscar hesitated. Before he had time to answer her Noah was walking back from the cage, and in his place now stood Damen wearing the batting helmet that had previously sat on Noah's head.

Noah finally reached the pair and stood at Oscar's side, placing his hand on the small of his back. "Hey, babe," he said, kissing Oscar.

He looked at Kim and asked, "So, what're you guys talking about?"

Her answer was cut off by the voice of another man cutting sharply through the air. "Fucking faggots..."

Oscar turned his head quickly and saw a white guy with blonde hair that stood at about 6'1 glaring at them from the next batting cage over.

"What'd you just say?" He asked.

The man took a step forward. "I said, fucking faggots."

Noah looked back to Kim and Oscar confused and said, "Are you guys hearing this shit? What the fuck man?" He looked back to the other guy.

"You gonna do something about it shit-packer?" Taking another step toward the group, this time placing his hands on either side of Noah's shoulders and shoving him.

"Hey, back up." Kim said, cautiously.

"Who's gonna make me? You?" He asked. Before Noah had time to think, he felt a breath-taking pain in his left eye socket.

Oscar stricken motionless with panic, could only watch as the terror unfolded.

As though from another body, Noah saw a hand swing out and connect with his face. Then the pain hit him.

The blow knocked him backwards into the handrail, but he was still standing. He swung out his own arm to deliver a punch but his reflexes were too slow. He heard a cackle and then with a flash of pain in his side he was on ground, bewildered. The man stood above him, panting, his hand still curled in a fist.

"Get the fuck off of him." A voice suddenly came from behind the man. Swiftly a hand grabbed his shoulder, turning the man around. The force of a fist came down on the his face, launching him backwards. He fell to the ground next to were Noah laid, revealing Damen standing behind him.

Damen kneeled on one knee next to the man he had just knocked down and said calmly, "get the fuck out of here."

Turning his attention to Noah, who was now sitting up. The blond boy felt a stream of blood trickling from his nose down his face. Damen stood and held out a hand to him, which he graciously accepted.

When Noah was back on his feet Oscar emerged from behind Damen and wrapped his arms around the boy in a warm embrace. Noah whinced in pain. "Oh my god I'm so sorry," said Oscar, bringing his hand to the side of Noah's bloody face.

Noah pressed his forehead to Oscar's and said, "No, don't be. It's fine. I'm fine. I promise."

Damen stood back quietly next to Kim. Noah turned in their direction and held out his hand to Damen, "Hey thanks, man."

"No problem." Damen said, still looking rattled.

Oscar, still supporting Noah with one arm, looked at Kim and said, "We should probably get going."

She nodded her head, "No, yeah. For sure. We'll see you guys later."

Oscar turned back to Noah and asked, "You sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, I'm good. Let's just go," he said.

💖