More Than That

Chapter 34

When Saturday rolled around, Fred spent much more time getting the date prepared than he would have liked to admit. He just wanted the date to be perfect, was all. He'd waited so long for it and now that it was finally here he wanted it to go perfectly.

When he had dreamt about going on a date with Sage in the past, he had imagined candles, music, and an intimate dinner of some sort. He didn't know what he was really thinking with that, though. That was anything but what Sage and Fred were like as a couple. They would not have been able to take any of it seriously, they probably would have even got kicked out of the restaurant at some point.

When he pictured going out with her, it never mattered what it was that they were doing. He just wanted to be able to say that he was dating her and wanted to call her his girlfriend. He tested the word out on his tongue multiple times in the past few days and was always unable to keep the smile off of his face, no matter how many times he said it. It was too perfect to be true.

Even though they were only going on a hike, which by definition required casual athletic clothes, he still put way too much thought into what he was wearing. He tried on a few different kinds of athletic pants and multiple different kinds of shirts. Yes, they were going hiking, but it was still their official first date. He didn't want to be underdressed.

George watched his brother amusedly from his own bed, chuckling each and every time Fred changed something up.

"Fred, your hair just does that one thing. You're not going to get anything else out of it," he called out when Fred tried to re-part his hair for the third time.

Fred huffed and dropped his hands from his hair, knowing that his twin was right. He was just nervous and in need of something to do with his hands.

He triple-checked his backpack, making sure that everything was in there, and did another final mental check of everything that he had planned to bring.

"You have everything, Fred," George said fondly. "And even if you don't, it's a hike. You don't need much for that."

Fred nodded and let out a breath. He ran his hand through his hair again, disregarding what his brother had said moments before.

"Should I have bought flowers? Fuck, I should have."

"Fred," George scolded. "Stop worrying. Everything's going to be perfect. And where would she even put flowers anyway? Her desk?".

Fred chuckled and shook his head. "Fuck, I know. I'm just nervous."

George smiled at him. "I know. It's sweet."

Fred glared at him. "I'm not sweet. I'm strong and gentlemanly."

George immediately broke out into laughter, only causing Fred to glare at him harder.

George paused his laughter the best that he could when he saw his brother's frown. "Okay, okay, sorry."

"Say it."

"Say what?".

"That I'm strong and gentlemanly."

George sighed. "You're strong and gentlemanly, Fred." Fred smiled proudly. "And an idiot."

Fred chuckled and turned to look at the clock, seeing that he only had a couple of minutes until he was meant to meet Sage at her room.

"Okay, I need to go," Fred said through a deep breath.

He grabbed his bag and started to head towards the door but George called out, "Fred," to stop him before he left.

"Yeah?" he asked.