When Oliver felt a hand on his arm, he jolted up with a yelp, nearly falling out of the chair. His heart raced as his breathing went shallow. "Hey, hey, Oliver! Calm down, it's just me." Steve approached carefully, not wanting to spook him again. "You okay?" Oliver nodded, his breath returning to normal. "Sorry, I had a nightmare and then you— sorry." He dusted himself off, eyes finally adjusting to the darkness.

"What time is it?" He looked at Steve in confusion. "Was there another blackout?" The brunette shook his head. "No, it's like one in the morning. I had the closing shift and totally forgot you were in here. Do you need a ride?" Oli nodded. "That would be great, thanks."

He stood up and the boys made their way out to the back exit. Oliver yawned as he followed Steve to his car. He barely remembered even getting in. As they started to drive, Steve looked over at him as his eyes closed. Normally Steve would turn on the radio for background noise, but he wanted to let Oliver rest. He looked...peaceful. Steve shook his head, sighing when he pulled up to the Wheeler's house. He shook the boy gently. "Hey, we're here." Oliver blinked his eyes open and nodded. "Thanks, Steve." The elder smiled. "Anytime. Sleep well, I'll see you in the morning." Oli waved as he closed the door.

He unlocked the door, stepping inside his house. His mother stood with her arms crossed. "Where were you? It's nearly two in the morning!" Oliver rubbed his eyes. "I'm sorry! I stayed to close up the store with Steve." The woman just sighed and shook her head. "Get to bed, you have work in the morning." He started up the stairs before she called his name. "Yeah?" She looked up at him for a moment. "I love you, Oli." He smiled softly. "I love you too, mom."

Oliver walked out of the break room with a sigh just as Robin snickered and opened the sliding window. "And another one bites the dust," she drew a line down the side of the whiteboard that stated "you suck" in bold letters. The Wheeler tried to hide his laugh with a cough. "You are oh-for-six, Popeye." Steve crossed his arms with a glare. "Yeah, yeah, I can count."

"You know that means you suck," she smiled. "Yep, I can read, too." Oli went behind the counter and grabbed his scooper from the pocket on his uniform. "Since when?" Robin questioned. Steve groaned. "It's this stupid hat! I am telling you, it is totally blowing my best feature!"

"Yeah, company policy is a real drag," she frowned playfully. "And yet I'm perfectly fine and pulling more girls than you ever have," Oliver added. Steve turned around with a gasp. "Don't you even go there, Wheeler." Oli laughed, slipping off one of his rings and putting it on Steve's finger. "I'm telling you, the jewelry is a magnet." The brunette turned back to Robin with a roll of his eyes. "You know, it's a crazy idea, but have you considered...telling the truth?"

"Oh, you mean, that I couldn't even get into Tech and my douchebag dad's trying to teach me a lesson, I make three bucks an hour, and I have no future? That truth?" Steve sighed and crossed his arms with a grumble. Robin pointed. "Hey, twelve o'clock!" He looked back to see a group of girls walking over. "Oh, shit. Oh, shit. Okay...Uh...I'm going in. Okay? Oliver, don't even, just don't." He nodded. "And you know what?" He took off his hat. "Screw company policy."

"Oh my God, you're a whole new man," Robin remarked sarcastically. Oliver rolled his eyes and walked back over to her. "He's hopeless." Robin nodded in agreement. "Oh, for sure."

"Ahoy ladies!" Steve whipped around. "Didn't see you there. Would you guys like to set sail on this ocean of flavor with me? I'll be your captain. I'm Steve Harrington." The girls laughed awkwardly. "Can I get you guys a little taste of the Cherries Jubilee? No? Anybody? Banana Boat? Four people, four spoons? Share it in the booth? Anybody? It's hot out there." Robin sighed and drew another mark under "you suck."

Oliver suppressed a laugh. He smiled sympathetically at the girls as he got started on the ice cream they actually ordered. The girls paid, but one of them stepped aside and waved the raven haired boy over. "Is there something else you need? Are the pecans not crunchy enough?" She laughed, shaking her head. "No, the ice cream is fine. It's just...you're really cute. I was wondering if you wanted to go out sometime?" Oliver nodded slowly before sighing. "I'm sure you're great, I really am. I'm just not really looking for a relationship right now, you know? It's the summer before senior year and I wanna focus on college stuff." She nodded with a slight frown. "No, I get it. Have a nice day," she smiled in understanding and walked off.

Steve turned to him, mouth open in shock. "She— did she just...did you really just— what?" Robin cackled from the break room, covering her mouth when she snorted. Oli couldn't help but laugh himself, watching as Steve huffed dramatically and crossed his arms. "I don't get it! How do the ladies like you more than me? One second, I'm the king of Hawkins High, and the next I'm struggling to find a girlfriend! What kind of bullshit—" Steve rambled on as Oliver and Robin kept laughing at the situation.

It was the middle of the night when Oliver's personal landline started to ring. He flinched, picking up the phone as soon as he could, not wanting to disturb his family. "Hello?" He asked groggily. "Oli! Hi, do you wanna come over— pretty please," Steve slurred from the other end of the phone. "Steve?" Oliver whisper-yelled, looking past how he'd called him by his nickname for the first time. "That's me! You should come over and swim, it'll be funnn," he dragged out. Oliver sighed. "Fine, fine. Just, don't die, please. You're definitely wasted." He hung up the phone with a groan.

Oliver sat up in bed, throwing his legs over the side. He didn't bother packing trunks, knowing he was only going over to make sure Steve wasn't already drowning. He slipped on a random t-shirt and threw on his shoes. Oli didn't want to disturb his family, so he opened the window and stepped out onto the ledge, making his way down to the sidewalk. He walked a good ten minutes or so to Steve's house, knocking on the door.

"Oli!" Steve opened the door happily, a beer in hand. "Where the hell are your parents?" Oliver scolded as he stepped into the house. "Dad left on another trip...Mom went with him I think. They got into a fight— doesn't matter. Let's have fun! Let's swim."

Steve grabbed Oliver's hand and dragged him through the house and to the backyard. "Steve, Steve, no. You need to go to bed," he shook his head. Steve frowned. "Please? Here, have a beer," he tossed one at Oliver. He looked at the beer, Steeve, and then the pool. "...Fine."

Opening the beer, Oliver shook his head with a smile. He only got to take one sip before Steve tackled him into the water. His feet hit the bottom of the pool, Steve having tackled him in between the shallow and deep ends. He propelled himself upward and coughed as he resurfaced, hand still gripping the beer can which was now half chlorine-water. "You bitch," he laughed, dunking his head under to fix his wet hair. Steve just laughed hysterically, climbing out of the pool to hand him another beer.

"My clothes are soaked now! Could've at least let me— wait I didn't bring a change," he laughed at himself. Steve just smiled and jumped back into the pool, splashing Oliver as he did.

This caused the two boys to get into a full on water fight. (Oliver nearly drowned in the process, but that's besides the point.) At some point, Oli managed to catch Steve by surprise and tackle him underwater. The two resurfaced laughing and shoving at each other.

"Want another beer?"

"What time is it?" Oliver asked as they walked into the house. "Around three-ish. You need a change of clothes?" Oli nodded and followed Steve up the stairs. "My head hurts like a bitch— I think it was the beer," Steve smiled as Oliver barked out a laugh. "You think? You're gonna be hungover for the next 48 hours, Harrington." The brunette tossed him some clothes. Oli tugged himself out of the soaking shirt, cringing slightly. Steve stared at him for a moment before turning to do something else. Oliver changed the rest of his clothes, finally grabbing the dry shirt from the bed.

He almost yelped when he turned and saw Steve standing there. "Sorry! I just...uh," he trailed off, eyeing him up and down. Suddenly Oliver felt very self-conscious. His heart was beating at an unusual pace. Steve Harrington was checking him out. Steve. Straight-boy-Steve who used to date his sister. And he liked it? God, what was wrong with him? Oli almost opened his mouth to say something, but his mind wandered even more. The truth was, he had thought about it. For a solid three weeks he definitely had a crush on the Harrington boy, but that was at least a year ago. He was dating Nancy back then, too. It was only a weird interaction at the Halloween party that caused him to even think about it. Now? He didn't know what to think.

Then Steve was leaning in, and Oli couldn't help but meet him halfway. They kissed, and Oliver nearly exploded. Why was his heart hurting? Was that normal? Why did this feel so right even when everyone said it was wrong? Oli could hardly focus on anything besides the feeling of Steve's lips on his own. They separated for a moment, both equally shocked. With the look Steve gave him, Oliver tried to convince himself the other boy was fully sober. Besides, it was just a kiss. Nothing more. It didn't have to mean anything.

Steve pulled him in by his waist, kissing him again. This one lasted longer. Oli wished he could say it was passionate, but it was definitely more lustful than anything. Fuck it, he told himself. He didn't care if it didn't mean anything to Steve. He didn't even care that it might've meant something to him. Oliver wrapped his arms around the brunette's shoulders, pulling them closer than ever. They pulled apart for air again, Steve kissing down his jawline and neck. Oli felt the blood rush to his cheeks, mentally pleading Steve wouldn't remember this whatsoever.

Things quickly started to escalate, and Oliver almost let himself give in. He placed a hand on Steve's chest, but he gently pushed him away. The boy frowned at him. "Did I do something wrong? Did I go too far?" Oliver shook his head. "No, no. It's just...You're drunk. Like, really drunk. Like, tomorrow me and Robin will have to run Scoops on our own because you'll be so hungover. I don't wanna do something that doesn't mean anything." He stepped away from the boy, looking down. "Thanks for a fun night, though. I should get going."

Oliver grabbed his wet clothes from the floor and tied up his shoes. Steve followed by a distance as he went down the stairs. "Wait, Oli," he tried to stop him, but the ravenette shook his head."Thanks for letting me borrow some clothes, Steve. I'll see you tomorrow." He opened the door, stepping outside. "But—" before Steve could finish his sentence, the Wheeler had closed the door. He sighed, cursing himself.

Oliver almost let himself think Steve said some cheesy line from the romance movies he watched. "It did mean something," or some other delusion. Instead, he got into his car and drowned out his wandering thoughts with the radio.

Heather Speaks !
word count: 2,038

pov i updated for once in my life **shocking** **emotional**
hi guys i'm (kinda) back from the dead and this chapter has been in my drafts for honestly too long so here you go 😋
hope y'all like it && pls comment or i will cry