s i x

whistle a sharp blow. "Alright, team, gather round."

The swimmers milling about the poolside as they waited for practice to start, chattering to each other and stretching out, filed over to where Mr Jeffries was waiting with his clipboard and trusty whistle. Oliver joined the others and glanced in Reed's direction, which was becoming an unconscious habit of his. Things had been considerably better between them this past week, meaning Reed was willing to speak to him and wasn't being hostile anymore. But that didn't mean everything was back to normal. Reed avoided being left alone with Oliver and things still felt a little tense, a little like everything was still a test Reed was waiting for Oliver to fail.

Well, that was okay. Baby steps. Oliver didn't plan on failing.

"As you all know, we have our first meet coming up next Tuesday," Jeffries said. "It's not a particularly important one but it is the first one of the season, so it would be nice if some of you could place. You all know what that means."

Oliver didn't know what that meant, but evidently the others did judging from the groans and sighs in response. "What does that mean?" Oliver asked quietly, addressing Bailey, who happened to be standing next to him.

"Mr Jeffries is doing times again," she replied. "Which, for most people, means rankings and competition. That always makes practice more stressful."

"Not that you'd have to worry," Charlie chipped in. "Considering how fast you are in the water, Oli."

Oliver blew out a breath. "Please don't — "

" — call you Oli, yeah, yeah," Charlie said airily. "But it's so much more interesting than boring old Oliver! Adds a bit of spice, bit of pizzazz, don't you think?"

Oliver opened to mouth to clarify no, he didn't think so and also that he didn't think he'd ever heard the word pizzazz come out of anyone's mouth before, but Reed beat him to it. "You're right, Charlie," he said, his voice entirely serious but the gleam in his eyes anything but. "I completely agree."

Charlie looked surprised. "You do?"

"Sure." Reed shrugged, all unconcerned, but his lips were curling up into a familiar smirk. "I've always thought he suited Oli better."

Oliver raised an eyebrow at him. "Really?"

"Really," Reed drawled.

"As much as I appreciate your opinions, I'm going to have to politely disagree," Oliver said. "I'll stick with Oliver."

"Whatever you say, Oli," Charlie said cheerfully, clapping him on the shoulder as he passed by.

Kessy snorted. "Tough break, mate. When Charlie decides something, he's probably never going to change his mind about it. Especially when it involves being annoying."

The others followed Charlie to take their places as Mr Jeffries started calling people up to take their positions at the lanes but Oliver lingered behind, falling in step next to Reed. He decided to take it as a success when Reed didn't tell him to fuck off.

"You'll regret that," Oliver said casually.

"Yeah?" Reed looked amused. "Am I supposed to feel threatened?"

"Very. Wait 'til we get in the water."

"And I beat you?" Reed said, still smirking. "Trust me, I can't wait. You placing first last week was a fluke."

"If you really think so, how about we place a bet on it?" Oliver asked, appealing to the more daring side of Reed that could never turn down any kind of challenge, no matter how dumb.

Sure enough, Reed's predictable response was: "You're on."

"Loser buys the winner a hot chocolate from Juniper's," Oliver said. "No take back's."

It was an old tradition of theirs and Reed clearly remembered it, judging from the look of momentary surprise on his face. Oliver could clearly remember how their ten-year-old selves would save up the measly pocket money their parents would give them each week, bet each other on the stupidest shit they could think up, then waste all their money on enough hot chocolates to make them feel sick. Reed and Oliver were as different as two people could get, but they had two things in common -- their love for swimming and betting on unnecessary things.

Reed recovered quickly from his surprise. "But don't you owe me a bunch of hot chocolate anyway? In exchange for the two of us being friends again?"

"So we are friends?" Oliver couldn't help blurting out.

Whatever response Reed might have given was interrupted by the high trill of a whistle. "Bishop, Sterling! Enough gossiping over there," Mr Jeffries said, indicating to where the others were gathered by the side of the pool as they waited for their turn. The two people he'd just timed were getting out of the water and Jeffries looked towards them. "In fact, you two can go next. Let's see how our current fastest swimmers fare against each other."

Oliver glanced at Reed but he'd already turned to take his place at the head of the lane and looked impatiently at Oliver. "Well? Don't tell me you've already pussied out," he said. "I have a hot chocolate to cash in."

Oliver rolled his eyes but went to the lane adjacent to Reed's and positioned himself ready to dive into the water at the sound of the whistle. Seeing the rippling blue expanse of the water spread out before him, it was easy to tune out the distractions of the other students chattering excitedly about who would win and the fact that he was racing Reed. All that mattered was him and the water. The water was icy cold when he plunged through its depth and Oliver focused on the burn of his muscles, the clean slice of his limbs, until his hand slapped against tile and he had finished the lap. He rose his head from the water to see Reed had just reached the end too, yanking off his goggles and looking expectantly at Jeffries for confirmation on who had won in what had clearly been a close call.

"Draw," Jeffries said.

Oliver pulled himself out of the water onto the poolside. "No hot chocolate for anyone, then."

"No," Reed said, and Oliver frowned at him. He hadn't made any move to get out of the water and his expression was almost annoyed. "Rematch."

"Oh, get over it, Reed," Charlie called, from the side. "Someone can match your speed in the water for once. Big deal! Welcome to the world of us lesser beings who can't always be the best."

Reed, unsurprisingly, ignored him and fixed his icy gaze on Oliver. "Well?"

"Okay," Oliver said. "As long as Coach doesn't mind."

"It's not like I have a bunch of other swimmers waiting to swim so we can pick a group for the meet. But fine," Jeffries grumbled, not quite managing to hide his small smile. Oliver imagined there was something of a satisfaction in seeing the students he trained so invested in his sport, even if Reed was demanding a rematch to prove a point more than anything. "Seeing as you're both our two fastest swimmers I'll make an exception in the spirit of good competition. Have your rematch."

Oliver slipped back into the pool so they were both already in the water for the race this time and made the mistake of glancing at Reed before taking his place. He was thrown off-guard by the intensity of Reed's gaze and when the whistle sounded to signal the start of the race, he wasn't in the right mindset of intense focus he usually gave to swimming. He pushed off the wall a split second after Reed and that delay was enough that he knew he'd lost the race even before it had even truly begun. Reed already knew, too, smirking at Oliver with triumph bright eyes even before Jeffries had announced he'd won. It was clearly meant to antagonise – Reed would have been antagonised beyond belief if Oliver had won and rubbed it so smugly in his face – but it just reminded Oliver of past days, where they'd stay back after practice to relentlessly race each other for the title of fastest swimmer.

Oliver smiled. "Looks like I'll have to start keeping track of how many hot chocolates I owe you."

At the end of practice, Coach stuck with the same six to take part in the meet. There was a big talk about getting written permission from teachers to miss any classes on Tuesday afternoon, what time they'd be meeting at the minibus, who would be swimming when, etc. Oliver tuned out what was being said after they'd been given the time to meet and figured the rest couldn't be that hard to work out. When they were dismissed, Oliver was shoving his things away in the locker and wasn't paying any attention to the scattered conversations around him. At least, he didn't pay attention until Charlie appeared at the locker by his and addressed him by his annoying new nickname.

"Charlie," Oliver replied. "Can I help you?"

"We're going to grab a drink, tradition for the end of Friday practice. Want to join?"

"Who's we?"

"Hmmm. Me, Dex, Kessy, Bailey, Reed," Charlie said, ticking each name off on his hand. He grinned with some realisation. "Those of us who qualified to compete at the meet next week. The winners, if you will."

"Suck a dick, Lockwood," another swimmer called from across the locker room.

"Sore losers never prosper!" Charlie yelled back. "So, what do you say? Drink or not?"

On one hand, it was the end of a long week and Oliver wanted nothing more than to go home and savour an evening of doing nothing. On the other hand, this was a chance to get to know people on his swim team better and if he refused offers now, they'd stop being made. This may have been his childhood home but he was new and it would help to make friends while he had the chance, friends beyond his fragile renewed friendship with Adam and Reed. Oliver couldn't pretend that Reed going didn't factored into his final decision to say yes. Oliver told himself it was just because he owed him a hot chocolate and was nothing if not a man who stayed true to his word.

By some miracle, the relentless rain which had been pervading the city the whole day had finally eased up and they walked in relative dryness to Juniper's. It was a bright autumn day, golden-brown leaves clinging to branches before fluttering like butterfly wings to the floor and weak sunlight illuminating every yellowing aspect of nature to a golden hue. Autumn was Oliver's favourite season because it was the perfect balance between warm and cold, along with the strange beauty of decaying nature.

He said as much to Reed, partly just to make conversation and partly because he wanted that old familiarity between them again. "Autumn is soggy and brown," Reed said, eyeing the brown leaves filling the pavement with disdain. "I never liked it much."

"Which is your favourite season, then?"

"Summer. It's warm enough to swim outdoors as well as indoors – just more opportunities to swim in general."

Oliver laughed, despite himself. "Typical."

"What is?"

"You are, Reed," Oliver said, amused. "I forgot how single-minded you could be. Well, I didn't forget, but I wondered if maybe you would make room in your heart for something other than swimming. I guess not."

"What about you?" Reed's eyes had hardened again as if he recalled, belatedly, he needed to have his guard up against Oliver. "Did you make room for other things?"

"Swimming was never as much of a burning passion for me as it was for you," Oliver said slowly.

"No," Reed agreed, his voice not quite as cold. "You weren't like me in that sense." But he didn't ask what, exactly, shared space in Oliver's heart if it wasn't solely dedicated to swimming. He was grateful for that. As much as he wanted that easy closeness again, there were some things they'd have to work their way up to.

Without really thinking about what he was saying, Oliver said, "I wasn't like you at all. Our personalities, I mean," he hurried to clarify, seeing Reed's eyes narrow and how he might take that simple observation in a negative manner. "Remember what our old swimming coach used to say about us?"

Grudgingly, Reed smiled a little. "Like salt and pepper."

"They taste okay on their own," Oliver said, finishing the phrase their coach had been so fond of saying, "but better together."

Reed stared at him for a moment and Oliver was too startled to do anything more than stare back, traitorous heart picking up speed. He had been doing such a good job avoiding Oliver recently that the full force of his attention was like diving into a pool, startling and sudden in its force. There was nothing cold or angry in Reed's gaze, only silent appraisal, that soul-searching gaze that made Oliver feel a little like he was being turned inside out. Reed looked like he wanted to say more but they had reached Juniper's and he glanced away with some relief, putting an end to whatever that conversation had been about to become. Oliver was almost curious enough to press him on it but settled for following him into Juniper's.

It was peak busy period seeing as the weekend had just begun and students were enjoying the lingering good weather. Charlie led them towards a booth in the middle of the room which had just vacated, making a comment about how lucky they were that they'd managed to grab seats, when Oliver spotted a couple of familiar faces. Brooks and Elsie, along with the dark-haired guy Brooks had been with last time and a few others. Elsie beamed with a wave of her hand when she spotted them, but Brooks hadn't noticed them, talking to his friend.

"Hey, it's your sister," Oliver said, nudging Reed lightly. "Should we go over and say hi?"

Reed followed his gaze and his expression darkened. "Pass."

"Why?"

"I'll see Elsie at home in an hour or two anyway. I don't need to say hi."

It took Oliver only a second of flitting his gaze between Reed, who was scowling now, and Brooks, who had clearly noticed them now and was doing a terrible job of pretending he hadn't, to understand where his refusal came from.

"It's because of Brooks, isn't it?" Oliver took Reed's stony silence as all the answer he needed. "What happened between the two of you?"

"Nothing," Reed snapped.

Oliver replied, "Liar."

"It's none of your business."

"But it's Adam's business and you clearly haven't told him either," Oliver said, aware he was trying his luck with how far he could push Reed on a topic he didn't want to talk about. "Why?"

Reed glared at him. "If I go over and say hi will you stop fucking harassing me?"

"Sure," Oliver said, biting his lip to hide a smile. He hadn't thought it would be that easy. "For now. No promises about the future."

"You're a twat," was the only thing he got in response.

Oliver took a longer route in favour of passing by their table and offered up a greeting, with Reed skulking along behind him. He remained silent until Oliver nudged him in the side, prompting a dirty look in his direction, and even then Reed would only look at his sister when he said hi. Oliver noted a few things during the brief interaction – Brooks looked supremely awkward, his dark-haired friend kept shooting Reed less-than-friendly looks, and Reed resolutely avoided looking at either of them, so blatantly it wasn't even subtle. When his gaze did happen to fall on them his face would darken slightly. Elsie kept up an easy conversation with Oliver as if she didn't notice any weirdness but the tension at the table wasn't lost on the rest of their friends, who looked a little relieved when the two of them continued to the other swimmers.

"What was that about?" Oliver asked, when he was sure they were out of earshot. That might have been somewhat awkward but it was definitely worth it for the things he had learnt from it.

"You said you'd stop harassing me if I went over," Reed said flatly. "I went. So stop."

"Fine." Oliver stored those questions away for another day and took a different line of questioning to get the answers he wanted. "Who was that dark-haired guy? The one next to Brooks?"

"Why do you care?"

"Humour me," Oliver said, remembering he'd had the same hostile reaction to Reed when Oliver had first run into Brooks at Juniper's, two weeks ago. There had to be some kind of history there to warrant that response.

"Hale," Reed said. "Elsie's friend from school. And Brooks' boyfriend."

Oliver's eyebrows went up in surprise. Not at the fact that Brooks had a boyfriend – despite the heteronormative society they lived in, he was hardly going to assume everyone he came across to be straight – but at the fact that Reed knew, meaning it was clearly common knowledge. Oliver may not have seen them in five years but Mr and Mrs Montgomery were the type of parents – no, the type of people– that were difficult to forget. Strict and imposing and terrifying, they had very...specific views. Narrow-minded views. Oliver had remembered how nervous he would feel just going round to Adam's house because he felt like his parents were constantly judging him, from the shoes he wore to the eyes he had been born with.

Unless that family had a liberal reformation in the past few years, he couldn't imagine they would be accepting in the slightest of something that skewed their ideal of a perfect heterosexual family.

"Are they...I mean, do his parents – "

"Adam knows," Reed interjected, seeing to understand the question Oliver was struggling to phrase. "Kind of impossible for him not to, considering how fast gossip travels. It didn't matter that they go to different schools. Adam knows, but Brooks must have told him sworn him to secrecy because their parents don't."

"He really plans on keeping it a secret from them?" Oliver asked, with a hint of disbelief.

"You've met that family. Can you blame him?"

That was a fair point.

"But he can't hide it forever," Oliver frowned. "If he has a boyfriend, he'll have to tell them one day..."

Reed shrugged. "Maybe he will or maybe he won't. It has nothing to do with me and I'm not about to ask."

"No," Oliver agreed, "you won't even look at him, forget talk to him."

Reed narrowed his eyes at him. "No more harassment," he reminded Oliver, and slid into the seat next to Bailey.

Oliver bought Reed a hot chocolate, true to his word, and sipped his own coffee as the others debated their chances of placing in the upcoming meet. Oliver was content to offer up the odd comment where he had something relevant to say and listen to the rest of the conversation. He was still thinking about Brooks and how unfortunate his sexuality was considering the family he had been born into (or maybe how unfortunate his family was considering his sexuality was a more appropriate way to consider it) and just how long he'd manage to keep the truth from his parents. Oliver didn't know how long Brooks and Hale had been dating for but he couldn't imagine it could stay quiet for much longer. All it would take was one kid from Lexus, or even from Woodway, mentioning the relationship to parents who knew the Montgomerys.

Maybe that was yet another reason Adam's parents made Oliver so uncomfortable. He hadn't known it at the time, hadn't acknowledged anything to do with how own sexuality back then, but he knew Mr and Mrs Montgomery's views on that subject. He knew they were less than welcoming. Maybe it was why Oliver, and probably Reed, had been freaked out so much by the thought of being anything other than straight.

Adam was their best friend, and if those were his parents views, who was to say they weren't his too?