"Lost and Found" (A Beau and Sage Short Story!)

So!!! Quick explanation before you read! Rowdy and I wrote this back in 2020 before we'd even started working on TLLT together! It was a "slam story" meaning, we wrote it sentence by sentence together in a google doc, just for the hell of it. I would write some, then he'd write some... sometimes we'd literally be tripping over each other writing at the same time lol. It was fun (and also a little difficult for me to relinquish control over my characters and let Rowdy be as silly as he wanted LOL).

Rowdy suggested a few days ago that I should share it with you guys, and I was skeptical at first, but after re-reading it, I thought eeeeehh... why not? I spent this morning cleaning it up a little bit (although keep in mind, it's NOT properly edited at all) and... here we are!!!!

Just a warning-- there is a SMALL amount of NSFW in here.

Enjoy!

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Lost and Found

Sage had been working at the Bayley ranch for three years now, and it had been one solid since he and Beau put rings on each other’s fingers. So, you can imagine his surprise when he, after a whole year of working, finally managed to lose that ring. And no, it wasn’t while working on the ranch, which might have been a more acceptable place to lose such a ring, it was in a Wal-Mart.

He lost his wedding ring… at Wal-Mart. Likely in a bin of cantaloupes. And Beau was two aisles down, oblivious to Sage’s increasing panic.

Shit shit shit shit shit shit FUCK shit! WHERE IS IT!? Sage fumbled through the large, overripe melons (Wal-Mart always had shitty produce) searching for his tiny possession. Where the FUCK could it be? Maybe it wasn’t in the melons? Think back. Think. Where did I stick my hands? Where could it have been lost?

Sage stifled a groan, turning to look across the produce section at each lousy fruit bin he’d stopped at before now. He didn't exactly know when the ring had come off, but he knew for sure he’d left home with it. While he and Beau were holding hands driving here, Beau had been playing with the ring on his finger as he usually did.

“He’s gonna kill me…” Sage whispered to himself. How much had that ring cost? It wasn’t anything special to look at—just a dark onyx colored band—but Beau had taken the time and consideration to pick it out for Sage. That was worth something for sure. Not to mention, Sage loved the way it looked on his hand. He felt naked without it.

He tried to mentally retrace his steps. Alright be calm, Sage. They’d been in the store for a good twenty minutes, but they hadn’t covered much ground. Let’s start from the point of entry - the front door. He scurried over to the main entrance and looked about feverishly, almost knocking over the elderly store greeter. “Excuse me, sir. Have you seen a ring nearby?”

“WATCH IT, SONNY! These old bones ain’t what they used ta be! A ring? Nope. No ring! Maybe in the jewelry section...”

Sage ran a hand through his hair and sighed. “Thanks anyway…” He turned to the cart area and squatted down to look underneath some of them. Bottle cap, condom wrapper, tissue, womens underwe-- what the fuck kinda Wal-Mart is this? But no ring. He looked back out at the parking lot through the sliding doors. Was it worth his time to go look by their truck?

No.. No… He was pretty sure he had it on when they got into the store, because… as much as he was trying to push the surfacing thoughts out of his head, they’d gone straight to the bathroom upon arrival. This was his worst fear—the place he was putting off looking for various reasons.

He ran to the men’s room quickly, keeping his eyes on the floor just in case he saw something glimmer under the blinding, fluorescent lights. When he got to the bathroom he went directly into the handicapped stall. The stall where they… they… Sage stopped and stared at the dirty, dingy space, remembering what had just happened twenty or so minutes ago. He grimaced.

Beau could be horny at the most inconvenient times. It wasn’t unlike him to turn Sage down at night, in their bed, when normal couples should be fraternizing, but at Wal-Mart on a Sunday afternoon? NO, of course not. That was PRIME sexy time. Sage rolled his eyes, trying not to think about how disgusting doing it in this bathroom actually was. He focused on checking under the stalls, around the toilets and urinals, and NOT blushing before himself in the mirror (his post-orgasm haze was still there in the redness of his cheeks). He looked around the sink area, and even in the trash can (which had recently been emptied to his horror) and leaned against the wall. Increasing panic.

Alright, Sage. What did we do when we got in here? He remembered Beau thought it would be fun to sit on the Koala Kare station in the handicapped stall and get a hand/blow job. He also thought it’d be fun to see how much weight the damn thing could hold up (NOT both of theirs, that was for sure). After Beau had pulled it down and perched himself on it, he’d motioned for Sage to come hither. Without missing a beat, Sage had grabbed hold of his thick hot shaft, looked up cloyingly at Beau’s eyes, and placed his lips lovingly, yet authoritatively, upon Beau’s tip.

Wait.. Hand… Which hand did I use? My ring finger hand??? Oh shit.. No way… Is my ring in.. Beau’s underwear?

No… that can’t be right. Sage knew Beau well enough to know that he’d have complained about the ring on his left hand ruining his hand job from the very beginning. So that means… Sage either lost it before the hand job, or he’d taken it off and stuck it in his pocket, then lost it after…

Sage checked his pockets for the tenth time just to be sure, and no… no ring. And it would have fallen out of Beau’s boxers if for some reason he’d left it there. He considered retracing Beau’s steps anyway, but knew that would mean he’d have to ask Beau what his steps were, since after they finished their excursion (and bent the plastic Koala Kare back into shape), they went their separate ways to finish shopping.

Ugh. I got no choice. Sage begrudgingly left the bathroom to find Beau, knowing that there’d be a cleanup called in aisle whateverto mop up his dismembered body once he found out he’d lost the ring.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Beau had been looking for Sage for ten minutes and he was trying his best not to let his temper get the better of him. Sage had stayed behind in the bathroom to clean himself up (Beau was a little impressed he managed to make Sage cum in his pants hah) but he should have been out by now! Beau had told him to grab a watermelon before meeting up with him by the frozen food section, and now stood, with an armful of things he needed to put in a cart, totally inconvenienced. There was no Sage, and there was no cart. His face felt hot with irritation.

Where the FUCK did that shithead go? He could feel his temperature rising. Maybe he’s in the fruit section.

He walked over to where the watermelons were—no cart, no Sage. He continued walking and noticed an abandoned cart next to cantaloupes that had some grapes, carrots, corn, a six-pack of beer, and… lube. Lube? Sage must have gone on a detour, but no doubt this was his cart. Beau frowned, thinking that if he wasn’t already irked by Sage being missing, he would be irked that Sage picked out a cantaloupe instead of a watermelonlike he’d asked. Dumbass.

Beau dropped his frozen food into the cart and took it with him to go find Sage. He wanted to yell out for him, but refrained so not to embarrassing himself. He supposed… he could go ask the lady at the register to call his name overhead (like Rosie would do when he was a kid and Brennan or Nash would get lost) but that seemed just as bad as yelling. If he had his phone in here with him, he’d have just called Sage, but it was sitting uselessly on the dashboard in the truck.

He made a beeline around the registers, passed a family with some nineteen fucking crying kids, through a few meager clothing racks, and headed for the dry foods area where he hadn’t been yet. Sage always got hung up around the shitty snack aisle. He was probably trying to decide between chip brands again. Ruffles or Lays, original or kettle cooked, it was always a debate.

As Beau approached the chips, he spotted his familiar, wavy-haired, blonde, chiseled partner moving between aisles quickly. He was hurrying towards… somewhere….

Got ‘em. Beau sped up with the cart to try and catch him (which proved more challenging than expected). Sage was quick, and everyone else in his way was slow. He didn’t want to yell, but he was going to have a real fit of rage if he had to keep chasing his husband around.

“SAGE!” He barked, causing a group of younger teens to shrink and look up at him as he passed. “SAGE! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU GOING?”

Beau rounded the corner of the next aisle and caught Sage looking like a deer in headlights at the end of it. His face was seemingly still red from their bathroom trip, but he looked more… mortified and less overwhelmed now.

“You lose something?” Beau scoffed, pushing the cart towards him. He took a single, long breath, trying not to get angry before he heard whatever stupid explanation this man had for him.

“Y-Yeah.” Sage swallowed, rubbing the back of his neck with his left hand.

Beau pushed the cart into his hip a little rougher than most couples would find socially acceptable. “What’d you lose? Beside’s this cart I’ve been dragging all over the store? You look like you saw a ghost.”

Sage looked down, licked his lips nervously.

“Don’t tell me you lost your wallet. I swear to God, Sage, we JUST got new credit cards!”

“NO! No… Not the wallet…” Sage raised his head with a huff. He looked like he was trying to smile, but it came out as more of a wince. “You’re gonna be pissed...” he warned.

“I’m already pissed you ran off and left our cart behind! So, get on with it.”

Sage rubbed at the back of his neck with his left hand again. He looked away, like maybe the words he was searching for were on the shelf with the crackers. He sighed, and finally looked Beau back in the eyes.

“My… uhh…wedding ring.” Sage held up his left hand (that Beau now realized he’d been trying to hide). “Beau, I’m sorry I don’t—

“What?”

“I don’t know where it came off! And I went lookin—

“Sage…”

“I’m sorry, I thought maybe the—

“SAGE.” Beau reached out and caught him by the wrist. “Knock it off.”

“I—I—fuck… Do you think I’m jokin’? I’m not, Beau! I really lost the ring!” His pale blue eyes narrowed, like he was gearing up for the fight that Beau probably would have given him. Y’know, if it weren’t for the fact that Sage was an idiot.

“You didn’t lose the ring.” Beau snorted.

“Huh?”

“Did I stutter?”

“Whaddya mean?” Sage went from white with distraught to white with confusion. He looked all around himself, like it might be stuck to his clothing, or placed on the wrong finger this whole time.

Beau stepped a little closer, holding his forearm with a tightening grip. He was really gonna make him explain this out in the open? How forgetful could he be?

“Back in the bathroom, when I was on the… Koala Kare… I knew you had your ring on. And… remember? I was sucking on your fingers up and down, yknow to tease you a little. Well, I pulled the ring off…”

Sage looked at him like he’d just told him the sky was orange and the grass was pink.

Beau continued, “You know how I HATE when the ring touches my cock, Sage. I spit it out and put it in my pocket for safekeeping! I thought you knew that! Weren’t you paying attention?”

Beau watched the realization seep into Sage’s expression like a sunrise over the ranch. He gaped like a fish, shook his head and blinked. “You have the ring…”

“I have the ring.” Beau rolled his eyes, reached into his pocket to pull it out. He was still holding Sage’s wrist, so he gently slid it back into place over his fourth finger.

“Christ…” Sage laughed with relief. “I thought you were gonna kill me.”

“Kill you? What the fuck are you on about? I’m the calmest person ever when things like this happen!” Beau wasn’t about to admit that it was (maybe just a little) endearing how worked up Sage had gotten over the wedding band. Sure, Beau would have been annoyed, but they worked on a ranch and… well Beau had lost his ring about four times already in the last year. He was just lucky enough to find it before Sage ever noticed.

“You…” Sage began.

“Shut up.” Beau stopped him before he could finish that thought.

“Alright, alright… Whatever. I’m just glad I didn’t lose the ring.”

Beau rolled his eyes, feeling somehow less angry than before when he’d been standing around waiting with an armful of frozen foods. He glanced around them swiftly, making sure no one was watching, then grabbed Sage by the collar and looked deep into his eyes. With a fake glare, and a tiny smile puckered on his lips, he said “You can lose a ring and replace it, Sage. I can’t lose you and replace you.”

Beau placed a kiss to Sage’s stubbly cheek and patted him roughly on the shoulder. “C’mon. Remember I said watermelon?” He pointed at the cantaloupe in their cart. “What the fuck is that, huh?”

Sage smiled, despite himself. “Cantaloupe is better than watermelon.”

“I will leave you in the parking lot if you ever say that to me again.”

“You just said I can’t be replaced, yet you’ll leave me in the parking lot over my choice of melons?!”

Beau winked at him. “Let’s just hurry up and get the hell out of here. I’m not finished with what we started in that bathroom.”

“Course not.” Sage said it like he wasn’t entirely thrilled—but Beau knew better. And he also knew that next time they fucked on a koala care station in a Wal-Mart bathroom, he would tell Sage when he took his ring off him. Idiot.

(END)

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I wish I could remember exactly what spurred this short story... but I think it had something to do with me saying there was nothing more disgusting than Beau and Sage fucking in a Wal-Mart bathroom. And then Rowdy said "What if they fucked on a Koala Kare station!" xD and we had to write it lol. 

Let us know what you think! Thanks for reading <3