— n i n e t e e n —

her arm through Adam's and dragged him over to one of the duty free stalls advertising samples of flavoured vodka. "Shot for the ride?"

Adam looked skeptical. "Of vodka?"

"No, of orange juice. Obviously vodka," she said, rolling her eyes. "God, don't be so boring, Adam. Don't you want to have fun on this trip?"

Reed rolled his eyes and muttered something rude under his breath. Oliver could've pointed out that none of them were eighteen — he was the oldest of the four of them, and his birthday wasn't for a while — but he didn't think Clair would appreciate him ruining her plans like that. The school term had ended and their flight out to Chambery airport had been the next day, all arranged and sorted for by Adam's parents. Oliver's parents had happily shouldered the cost of his flight and he hadn't been stupid enough to ask Reed how this trip was working out for him financially. It was already an undoubtedly sore point for him. The six of them had already checked in at the airport and had two hours of wandering the shops before they had to board.

"We're not on the trip yet. And my parents are going to be on that flight with us," Adam said, glancing warily around as if to ensure neither of said terrifying parents were hovering nearby. Mr and Mrs Montgomery had left them to wander on their own until their flight. "Do you know how much shit I'd get in if they found out I'd had even a drop of alcohol?"

"Well, they're not here right now, are they. Hi," Clair said brightly, addressing the salesperson stuck offering the samples of vodka flavoured shots. He looked tired and as if he wasn't paid enough for the shit he was advertising. "Could we have a shot each?"

"ID?" he said tonelessly.

"Oh, well..." Clair made a big affair of patting herself down and rooting through her bag for ID, affecting a wide-eyed look of innocence. "That's strange, I don't seem to have any ID on me at the moment! I can assure you that we're all eighteen, though. I don't suppose my word would be enough?"

"What about your passport?"

Clair blinked. "What?"

"Passport," the man repeated, enunciating the word slowly as if she was being particularly dense. Oliver tried to suppress his laugh as a cough and Reed took no such liberties as he broke out into snickers. Even Adam looked like he was trying not to smile. "I seriously doubt you didn't bring your passport with you here, or you won't be getting anywhere beyond Manchester. That would be a much better confirmation of your age than your word."

"Oh, um..." There weren't many moments when Clair was anything but cocky and composed, but Oliver was bearing to witness to one of those rare instances now. "Actually, you know what, never mind. We don't want anything. Shut up," she snapped at Reed, once they had put enough distance between themselves and the free samples. "I don't know what you're laughing about. It's not like you got a drink either."

"It's not like I wanted one." Reed smirked at her obvious irritation. "Although, that embarrassing interaction was certainly entertaining, so thanks for that."

Clair shot him a dirty look and stalked off with one arm still hooked firmly through Adam's, giving him little choice but to be dragged after her. He cast a look back at them was equal parts exasperated (most likely at Reed, for going out of his way to antagonise his girlfriend) and resigned, most likely to his fate for this trip. It was clear it would be a lot of Clair trying to monopolise his time and Oliver left to entertain himself with Reed. Oliver was alright with this outcome for any number of selfish reasons. One, it meant Clair would be harassing Adam rather than Oliver. Secondly, and more important, it meant Oliver got to spend more time alone with Reed. He certainly wasn't complaining about that.

They wandered between shops and stopped at a cafe to buy drinks. "I seriously don't understand why Adam hasn't broke up with her," Reed said, still caught up on the topic of Clair and how much he disliked her.

"I'm pretty sure we've been over this before. She's hot."

Reed rolled his eyes. "I don't care how hot she is, or how good the sex might be, it can't be worth it when the catch is having to spend time in her company. He only dug himself deeper into that shitshow of a relationship inviting her on this trip."

"In Adam's defence, I don't think she gave him much of a choice on that account," Oliver pointed out. "You heard the way she went off on him, right? Inviting her was the only way to stop the arguments."

"He had plenty of choices. Breaking up with her instead of inviting her on holiday, for one. Would've saved us all a lot of headache."

Oliver paid for his coffee and cast an amused look towards Reed. "You really don't like people, do you?"

"I like people who aren't annoying. It's not my fault I have a lower threshold for irritating people," Reed said. "Clair went above and beyond that threshold. She literally smashed the threshold to pieces."

"Do I want to know where I fall on your threshold?"

"Obviously I like you, idiot. I wouldn't waste so much time hanging out with you if I didn't."

Oliver laughed. "Wow, I'm honoured at such high words of praise."

"Don't let it go to your head. That could change at any time."

"What, you liking me? Doubt it," Oliver said, feeling brave enough to sidle up alongside Reed as they left the cafe, close enough that his arm was pressing against Reed's. He was warm and the faint scent of chlorine and lime clung to him, the familiar characteristic scent that belonged to Reed. "You tried living without me for five years. Too painful."

Reed shot him an incredulous look. "I never said that."

"No need to. I can see it written across your face."

Reed gave him a shove but it was half-hearted and he seemed amused, even when he said, "You're full of shit, Sterling, I hope you know that. Don't get ahead of yourself. You're tolerable at best and I only put up with you because you're a decent swimmer."

"You keep telling yourself that," Oliver said, with a casual nonchalance neither of them believed for a second. "We both know you love me really. We've definitely been over that."

They met up with Adam and Clair at their gate when it was time to board, where Mrs and Mr Montgomery were already waiting for them. Oliver tried swallow down the sense that he had done something wrong, an inevitable feeling when in the presence of Adam's parents. Mrs Montgomery kept her sleek blonde hair cut short in a sharp bob and her green-blue eyes, so similar yet so different to her sons, were shrewd with the impression she was waiting for you to make a mistake. Mr Montgomery was even more terrifying. Oliver didn't think he had ever seen him smile in all the time he had known the Montgomery's and disapproval radiated off him in waves.

They're letting us come on holiday with us, Oliver reminded himself, but it didn't little to help with his unease.

"Amanda and I have two seats together up front," Mr Montgomery said in a clipped voice. "The other four tickets are arranged in pairs, one pair of seats front of the other pair. Decide between you who will be sitting where."

Unsurprisingly, Oliver ended up with Reed in the seats behind Adam and Clair. Reed was insistent on taking the aisle seat and Oliver didn't really mind sitting in the middle of the row of three seats, an elderly lady sitting on his other side at the window. Clair was chattering away about all the things they were going to do when they landed in France from her seat and Reed was uncharacteristically quiet, even if it was just because he didn't have a single rude thing to say to her. Oliver watched him from the corner of his eye to see he had a white-knuckled death grip on the armrest and there was a tense set to his shoulders. He kept glancing out of the window edgily as if waiting for one of wings to explode.

"You don't like flying," Oliver guessed.

"How could anyone?" Reed snapped. "We're trapping ourselves in a giant metal container thousands of feet in the air. It's not natural."

"I guess not, but I've been enough flights that I don't really think about it anymore. It's just what you do when you want to go on holiday."

"How nice for you," Reed said, but the snark in his voice was watered down by the palpable note of alarm when the plane juddered to start inching down the runway. "I've only ever been on a plane in my life once before. Hated it."

"Only once?" Oliver asked, surprised.

"Yeah. Most of our family holidays have been local and we just drove there."

Reed stared out of the small window with wide eyes for a moment longer before tearing his gaze away and looked around for something to distract himself with. Oliver watched in amusement as he fished the laminated sheet of safety instructions out of the pocket in front of him, staring at the drawings of the cartoon people.

"Why would we need oxygen masks?" Reed demanded. "We're not going to run out of oxygen, are we?"

"No," Oliver said, having to bite his lip to stop from smiling. He didn't think Reed would appreciate him finding humour at his expense but it was difficult not to, seeing how serious and worked up he was getting over a plastic sheet. "I've never seen those come down all the times I've been on a plane, and I don't think most people have."

Reed didn't look convinced. "Then why have them? Not to mention these stupid life jackets, as if that'll save us if this thing crashes in the ocean."

"I'm pretty sure planes float on water," Oliver said. "If the pilot thinks something's wrong, he can do an emergency landing on water."

"Well, that's a huge relief," Reed said, the sarcasm dripping off his words not quite masking the fear in his voice. "Instead of drowning in a giant metal death trap, we can float on the ocean for weeks until we slowly die of starvation."

"Jesus, Reed. Don't be morbid," Oliver said mildly, not missing the startled look Reed received from the elderly lady sharing the row with them. "No one is going to drown or starve. Did you know you're more likely to die in a car crash than a plane?"

Reed looked at him incredulously. "Is that supposed to make me feel better?"

"Well, yeah." Oliver shrugged. "You get in cars everyday and don't care."

"The cars aren't a million miles high in the sky with weird toilets that want to suck you down them."

"No way." Clair looked around her seat with a look of gleeful disbelief. "You're scared of the toilets? Only little kids are scared of — "

Reed gave the back of her seat a vicious kick. "Finish that sentence and that's all I'll be doing the whole flight."

If Oliver thought Reed was panicked then, it was a whole other thing when the plane began rolling down the strip and picking up speed as the world blurred into flashes of colour outside the window. He didn't say anything, but he was gripping his armrest so tightly Oliver was surprised it didn't snap right out. Oliver gave his hand a comforting pat but he wasn't expecting Reed to suddenly grab his hand when the plane tilted upwards and took off from the ground. He felt his face turning hot as he glanced down at his hand which Reed was gripping very tightly, and then up at Reed, who didn't seem to realise what he was doing. He was staring out of the window with a pale face.

It was the most tense take-off Oliver had experienced, and not for the same reason as Reed. Reed held on to his hand for the entire take-off and even as the plane levelled off, with announcements from the pilot telling them they were up in the air, right until the seatbelts signs went off. That's when he seemed to realise he'd grabbed Oliver's hand and dropped it like he'd grabbed a hot poker. "Sorry," he mumbled, refusing to meet Oliver's gaze.

"It's fine," Oliver said, wishing Reed had never let go. He had to fight the urge to thread their fingers together again and settled for offering Reed a smile. "You can hold my hand any time you like."

Reed flushed and glared at him. "Shut up."

Oliver could have pointed out that he wasn't taking the piss and was genuine in his offer, but he didn't think Reed wanted to talk about it. Certainly not with Adam and Clair sitting in front of them. The rest of the two hour flight was relatively uneventfully, with the exception of the episode of turbulence that shook the plane. Reed had managed to drift off into an uncomfortable doze and Oliver was flicking through the movies on offer when the plane shook hard enough to startle him awake. He was freaked out enough that he seemed to have forgotten his earlier embarrassment when he grabbed Oliver's arm.

"What the hell is going on?" he demanded, his eyes widening as the plane shuddered. "Are we going to die?"

"No, you're fine," Oliver assured him, unable to hold back all of a chuckle when Reed yanked on the strap of his seatbelt to tighten it. It was entertaining to see Reed Bishop, who didn't take shit from anyone and certainly didn't care about their opinions, shaken up by something as small as turbulence. "It's just turbulence. It happens all the time."

"All the time?" Reed squeezed his eyes shut when the plane gave another little shudder, which all the passengers remained completely oblivious to. "This can't be normal. The plane is jumping all over the place — how the hell is that normal?"

"It just is. Trust me, nothing bad is going to happen. All planes get turbulence."

"I hate this. I'm never getting on one of these stupid things again. This isn't funny," Reed snapped, when he saw the grin curving at Oliver's lips. "I thought we were going to die."

"I know, I'm sorry. It is a little funny, though," Oliver had to admit, earning him a dirty look from Reed. "I never imagined you'd get so scared of planes."

"I don't understand how anyone is comfortable with this. The whole business of humans being in the air is...unnatural. Wrong. We weren't meant to fly for a reason."

"It sure makes life a lot easier," Oliver said, glancing at the overboard. There was still an hour of the flight left. "Try get some sleep. We'll be there before you know it."

"I can't sleep thinking I'm about to die every two seconds," Reed muttered, but obligingly closed his eyes, even if he still looked uneasy. Oliver doubted he got more than a couple of minutes of any rest, and touchdown was just as tense for him as takeoff. Oliver didn't miss that he kept his hands in his lap this time, balled up into fists as if to avoid another awkward hand situation.

Val Thorens, the resort they were staying at, was about an hour and a half drive from the airport. They had to split up between two cars for the journey; Adam and Clair went with Mr Montgomery, while Oliver and Reed were with Mrs Montgomery. Oliver was relieved as she was the somewhat less terrifying of the two parents. It was easy enough to pass the time with polite small talk and Reed was good with parents, knew how to charm them and all the right things to say. Oliver was more preoccupied with the changing landscape outside. The rolling fields and pastel tones to the countryside quickly turned to snowscapes, pure white snow glittering in the bright sunlight.

They drove through the snow lined streets of Val Thorens past all the hotels to pull into the driveway of the chalet they would be staying at. Oliver couldn't believe this is where they would be living for the next ten days and Reed was wearing a similar look of stunned disbelief. It was huge, a towering cabin set into the sloping mountains with wood panelling and glass balconies and a wraparound porch. Cozy armchairs lined the porch to look out at the resort from. There was a hot tub, a fire-pit surrounded by cushions and chairs, an open plan layout inside the chalet with a large fireplace in the main living room.

The four of them helped Mr and Mrs Montgomery move bags and boxes in before wandering the chalet to check it out properly.

"Holy shit," Reed said, as Oliver followed him out through the sliding doors. The outdoor decking overlooked the snowcapped buildings of Val Thorens and ski lifts threaded overhead leading to the snowy slopes surrounding them on all sides. "This place is insane. I've never stayed somewhere so nice in my whole life."

"Tell me about it." Oliver came to join him at the railing. "Did you see the hot tub has different settings? I don't even know what half of them do, but there's a little remote and everything."

Reed shook his head. "Fucking insane. I don't even want to think about how much it must have cost just to rent it out."

"Don't," Oliver advised. "Just enjoy it while you can."

They headed back inside to check out the bedrooms. There were three in the chalet, as it had originally been booked for the whole Montgomery family; a bedroom for Adam's parents, one for Adam and one for Brooks. The change in numbers meant Clair was sharing with Adam, leaving Oliver to share with Reed. Reed paused in the doorway with something of a startled expression and Oliver only had to peer over his shoulder to see what had drawn him up short. There was only one bed. Obviously, there was only going to be one bed, as this bedroom was only meant for one person. Oliver hadn't stopped to consider that when the bedrooms had been divvied up.

"Oh," Reed said. He still hadn't moved from the doorway and Oliver had to give him a light nudge to get him moving. "It's fine. I can sleep on the floor."

"Don't be stupid. We've shared a bed plenty of times before."

"When we were little kids," Reed said, and Oliver couldn't help glancing at him at the strained note to his words. He was staring at the bed as if it was about to grow teeth and try to eat him. "This is...this is different. I'm not sharing a bed with you."

"Should I be offended?"

Reed glared at him. "Obviously not. You know what this is about."

"Do I? Reed, we're big boys now," Oliver said, with a hint of exasperation. "We can share a bed for a few nights without making it a big deal. I promise to keep my hands to myself, if that's what you're worried about." With some effort, he thought, tracing the sharp edge of Reed's jaw with his eyes and the toned torso he knew was beneath his clothes. "I hope you know I'd never do anything you don't want me to."

"I know," Reed muttered. "That's not the problem."

"Then what is?"

Reed finally looked at him and the heat in those icy blue eyes sent shivers down Oliver's spine. "That maybe I do want you to do something," he said.

Oliver stared at him. "Reed — "

But he had already walked out of the room before Oliver had even figured out what he was going to say that. He sank down on the edge of the bed and tried to comprehend the weight of what Reed had just said. It was possibly the closest he had ever come to admitting that not only was there something going on between them, but maybe he wanted it after all.

Oh, this was going to be one hell of an interesting trip.