Are We Too Young For This?

15.

Sitting in shock and in disbelief, he quickly takes his phone and checks the date, October 26th, it is his birthday... Mrs. Verlice placing her soft and warm hands onto his shoulders "How old are you now sweetheart." Sage stares into the flames, hes never really had a proper birthday since he was born, that was the only time people ever seemed to really care about his existence and celebrate his life. "S-Seventeen...I-I'm now seventeen." Hearing this Bane finally nods his head "Ah, I finally get a confirmation of your age now, only took a good while of knowing you." Sage rolls his eyes and smiles "T-Thank you guys.." Aurora and Bane go and walk to the other side of the coffee table, in front of Sage. Bane recording him with a gigantic smile on his face as they sing happy birthday to the boy, hearing the song makes tears start to form in his eyes, once they come to the end of the song Sage looks up at them before blowing out the candles. Bane and his mother cheering him on before turning on the lights and giving him big and tight hugs which Sage doesn't even complain about. Bane wipes the boy's eyes, "Whats wrong Hun, did you not like it...?" Sage quickly whips his head around and looks at his partner "NONONO I DO, I ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT! It's just that this is the first...like...birthday I have ever officially had...I usually pass my birthdays like a normal day, nothing eventful, nothing special. Just me and the earth, living, breathing, and going by the day like nothing."  Bane and his mother look at each-other in unison before turning their attention back onto Sage "So Chico, for this amazing occasion, we are going to take you shopping!" Mrs. Verlice walks and grabs her keys, Bane gets up and waits at the front door and stares at the boy "Why aren't you getting up? Put your shoes on, lets go baby, whats the matter." Sage just sighs as he speaks softly "I don't want anything, I'm fine with what I have.." "Yeah but if it was a carton of Cigarettes you'd be all over that huh." Hearing this causes Sage to actually break out a little chuckle "Probably, but I really don't want anything." Aurora walks out with a jacket and her keys, Bane shaking his head, walking to his room to fetch the boys shoes before coming back and throwing them at him. Sage just lets out a sigh as he puts his shoes on and leave the house with the two. The car ride mostly consisted of Sage staring out the window and talking to himself, while Bane and his mother sing songs chat about whatever the fuck, Sage wasn't paying attention, it was probably about Jesus or something. The car suddenly come to a stop, when Sage comes out of his thoughts he watches the two get out of the car, scrambling out the vehicle and following their lead he sees that they had taken him to the mall, he hadn't been here in a while, he stopped coming here when he stopped hanging out with people he realized were toxic. The moment the three of them step foot through the big double doors his face lights up as if he's a kid in a candy store. Bane looks over at him, putting his hand out in front of his mother she hands him her card then putting his other hand out to Sage. "C'mon! We can explore!" Sage looks down at the boy's hand, then up at his face before walking past him. Bane closes his palm and brings his hand down. "I should have known." Turning around and jogging to catch up with the boy, Sage is looking around the place as if its paradise, Bane would just look over and stare at him, he has never seen Sage smile so much at once, never mind smile much at all. Despite saying he didn't want anything he seemed real interested in a lot of things, getting little glimpses into his eyes Bane can see his inner child slowly beginning to heal just from this little shopping trip, Sage has always been pretty stubborn so he had always stayed with his statement that he didn't want anything. Every time he'd hear him say this, his partner would just look at him with a blank face, he wasn't going to let his boy leave this place empty handed, so, he had watched the items he found high interest in, the ones he's pick up then put back, constantly having to drag him to the checkout of almost every store they had a good amount of stuff that, Bane carried. Hours had gone by since they first arrived, it was getting dark so the two boys meet with Mrs.Verlice at the food court, the moment they spot her, they walk faster, Bane's arms aching, tired of carrying everything for his boyfriend. Eating and chatting the three of them share laughs and stories they finally decide its time to head back to the house, the car ride back Sage was a lot more vocal, instead of talking to himself he was talking to Bane and Aurora, They were having an amazing time, Sage was real happy, the car suddenly got quiet, the energy in the atmosphere got cold and full of stressful energy as the expressions on Bane and his mother's face harden, pulling into their usual parking spot they let out a hard and heavy sigh at the same time. "What..? What is it? C'mon!" Sage asks eagerly, leaning forward in the middle to look at the two, Bane slowly turns to him and softly speaks. "He's Here..."