Josie and Seth's baby in ring 'verse is a little girl who has dark, curly hair and a crooked jaw like her dad and big brown eyes and lots of limb like Josie. Her endowment is healing animals, and she's got a lot of Josh's empathy and strong emotions without Josh's overly buzzy nature. She's very earnest and she's a very hard worker and deciding where to sort her is very, very difficult, but she ends up in Remington.
It was cool for a late summer’s night at the Salem Academy of Sorcery. There was a breeze blowing that rustled the taller grass on Josh’s favorite hill and that made the sticky air almost bearable. The sky was blotted out by clouds, but Josh knew the moon was a waning crescent; years of friendship with Colette had taught him to pay attention.
The feel of the air was what prompted Josh’s abrupt skip into Seth’s room and Josh’s insistence that they head out to the hill. For Josh, the first few weeks of school had felt palpably different from the past four years, and he’d been circling some thoughts through his head to try and make sense of it. He knew he’d eventually have to discuss it with Seth, but the moment had never felt quite right.
That night, though, felt right. There was clearly a downpour headed for campus, but the wind felt electrified and made everything feel important.
It was a good night for change.
Seth hadn’t questioned Josh’s abrupt announcement that he needed to talk. He slipped on his shoes and grabbed his keys and a blanket. The two of them headed across the quiet campus, and when Josh was satisfied with the location, Seth laid the blanket out and the two sat down.
The rustling of the breeze and the chirping of the crickets was the only noise for a moment or two. Josh knew that Seth wouldn’t push him to talk, even after Josh had dragged him outside when Seth probably had better things to do.
Still, Josh came out here to get this out into the open. He took a deep breath.
“So, I’ve been thinking a lot. Like, a lot a lot. You know how I am, right?” Seth nodded, and even the small confirmation reassured Josh. “Well, I think… I mean, I’m not certain, 100% percent, but I think that…” Josh looked at Seth, and although Seth didn’t say anything, Josh could almost hear what Seth was thinking. “Let me guess, use my words, right?"
“Got it in one,” Seth agreed, and he reached over and grabbed Josh’s hand. Physical contact always seemed to help Josh through talking about things that scared him.
Josh took another deep breath and tried to collect himself. “Right. Okay. I’ve liked Cody for a long time, right?”
“Four years is a long time,” Seth agreed calmly.
“And I’ve known for a while know that it isn’t gonna happen, him and me. He’s dating Colette, and he’d be stupid not to be happy dating Colette. He’s probably not even queer. He probably thinks I’m creepy.”
Seth raised an eyebrow. “While I would agree that he’s dating Colette, so anything with you is unlikely, I’m not hedging bets on the rest of that.”
“Okay,” Josh said, because that was fair enough. “Well, the not going to happen was the important part of that, anyway. Anyway, so that hasn’t really changed the fact that I’ve liked him, right? I still had a ridiculous crush.” Josh winces when he uses the word crush, but he figures that it’s probably the most blunt, honest word for it. “And it didn’t go away. I couldn’t get over him.”
“Right,” Seth said slowly. “I think this is one of the few times where I actually have no idea where this is going.”
Josh laughed, and some of the tension dissolved. “I think it’s getting better. I think it’s getting a lot better, Seth. I mean, I’m not completely over it. Over him. I don’t know if I ever really will be, which is stupid, because I’m a stupid high school kid who likes one of his best friends’ boyfriends.”
“I thought you said it was getting better,” Seth commented wryly, but his eyes were gentle and his hand was still tangled in Josh’s.
“It is!” Josh insisted. “After all, I think that I can move past it. That’s what I brought you out here to say. I think I am to the point where I could probably date someone and not feel like I wasn’t being fair to them because I was all hung up on Cody.” Josh didn’t actually believe that there was anyone else who really wanted to date him, but he wasn’t going to bring that up. That wasn’t the moment to focus on that.
Seth looked him in the eye. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah. I actually am.” Josh’s smile was tight, but it was genuine, and Seth wrapped his arms around Josh and pulled him close.
“Then I’m happy for you,” Seth said, “because I know that’s hard for you, and I don’t want you to make yourself unhappy trying to cling to something you don’t believe will work.”
“I feel less miserable already,” Josh admitted as he buried his face in Seth’s shoulder.
“Then that’s what’s important.”
The two boys sat hugging each other on the blanket on the hill for a while, until Josh was finally ready to let go. He untangled himself from Seth. “Okay. It’s out in the open. Things can start to change.”
“They’ll change for the better. You deserve it.”
"Yeah,” Josh said quietly, the grass rustling in the wind almost covering up the sound. Josh stood up. “Okay. I’m good. Ready to head back in?”
Seth stood up and picked up his blanket. “Back to the dorms we go.”
They walked back together, Josh gripping Seth’s hand for reassurance, and before they parted to enter their separate buildings, Josh gave Seth a quick hug.
“Thanks,” Josh mumbled, but he let go of Seth and skipped back to his room before Seth could respond.
