All I Need For Yule Is You

Chapter 10

(Content warning: Homophobic behavior and one homophobic slur used.)

Sam sometimes wondered if he was stuck in a movie or a book. Because things like this seemed to belong there, and yet here it was, happening to him in real life.

"Uh, yeah- hey," Sam stuttered. "Oliver."

Three other boys peeked out from behind Oliver, and Sam recognised them to be Oliver's best friends. The cool gang that hung out in recess and pulled pranks and had nice cars.

Suddenly Sam was feeling very very self-conscious.

"Hey Sam!" One of the boys, Patrick? Peter? Greeted.

"Sam," The blond one repeated.

"Hello. Yes." The third one tuned in, looking at Sam curiously. Not cruel curiosity though. "We were just leaving. Bye Oliver."

"Yeah Oliver, byeeee,"  Peter sang, turning away and winking at Sam.

The second one whacked Peter at that, and the three boys skated away. He thought he heard a giggle.

Sam focused back on Oliver, who was still holding on to him. He had a nice jacket on, and his hair was adorably tousled, his cheeks red against the cold air.

"Um. Merry Yule!" Sam blurted out, horrified by the silence that was building.

"Merry Yule," Oliver seemed to shake himself out of the shock. Well, it's not always that classmates popped up from nowhere and literally slid at you. "Finally ran into you here."

Whatever did he mean by that? Sam didn't know. But Oliver was letting him go, from where he was holding him on the shoulders, the awkwardness palpable. Oliver suddenly didn't know what to do with his hands any more- Sam watched him fidget and then settle on putting them behind the back, the entire private school posture. He probably had gone to a private middle school. Who knew?

"I actually got you something for Yule, it's tradition, but it's in my bag so-" Sam started again, before he could overthink it. Should he be giving Yule gifts to a classmate? No. But to someone who made him a very friendly mixtape? Yes. On humanity grounds and all that.

"Oh, yeah, I got you guys something too, it's - I was googling Yule yesterday and I'm not sure I get the traditions right, but- that's why I had been searching for you ," Oliver explained. "You weren't at the shop, and I saw you in the fields but you were in a ride so you seemed… pre-occupied."

Sam flashed back to how he had been screaming his head off at all the rides and getting flattened by physics and Gabi. Great.

"So I left it there. With Ana." Oliver went on. "Yours is the purple one, Gabi's is the blue one."

"Alright." Sam said primly. "Thanks," He added. "So, you skate?"

Oliver looked around, as if he had to re-realise they were in an ice rink. "Very badly." He said with an embarassed smile that made his eyes crinkle up.

"But not as badly as me, because you're standing without support." Sam pointed out. "I thought it would be easy, but- I was wrong."

"It definitely takes some getting used to, yes."

Sam looked off towards a random yellow flag a bit farther away on the rink.

"We could try, you know?"

"What?" Sam turned back to Oliver.

"Getting to that flag?" Oliver had that mischievous look again. It was still unexpected. It made Sam's heart leap.

"But I can barely stand?" Sam pointed out, laughing.

"I can stand, and you can move forward," Oliver offered Sam his hands, palms up. "Here,"

Sam took them after a moment of hesitation. His mother's words echoed in his ears- he was here to have fun.

He slid a bit, but stayed upright.

"Alright?" Oliver asked, and Sam nodded, which had him grinning. He had very white teeth. Straight too.

And nice hands. Long fingers. Oh god, Sam's hands were probably sweaty and gross.

"Alright then, let's go,"

Sam skid forward a bit, stumbling, somehow not losing his footing, and Oliver followed, keeping both their balance.

Sam skid again, or slid, or whatever the heck this was, and Oliver followed, and then they were  getting closer to the yellow flag.

They were doing it.

Sam laughed, finally getting the hang of it. Or so he thought. The yellow flag was even closer now, and Oliver was closer than the flag, and he was laughing too, and looking at Sam brightly and-

Something rammed into Sam from the side, sending him sliding away. He lost his grip on Oliver's hands, tried to catch his footing, instead landed hard on his front, and continued to slide away.

Blood roared in his ears. His knees hurt.The ice was cold underneath him.

"Oh god, Sam, hey, are you alright?" Oliver was there only a few seconds later- on all fours, helping Sam sit up, looking scared. "Does something hurt?"

Sam found out that he'd slid all the way past the yellow flag: apparently some rogue skater had almost run him over.

Sam burst out laughing again. "Okay, that was cool."

"You're insane," Oliver said, shaking his head, but he was smiling too. "You scared me for a while."

"Naah, I'm alright." Sam winced as he stood up, helped by Oliver, and they did their ice-shimmying back to the railings again. Sam kept wanting to laugh, even though his knee did hurt. Maybe he hit his head or something, but this was really fun.

Oliver was grumbling about careless skaters. "... Could have actually gotten hurt, people really don't look where they're going,"

"Hey, is that Budrioli?" Someone from behind Oliver called. "Hey, nice skating skills, ya poof!"

Sam could feel his own smile drain as he spotted Jason and his friends a bit farther away.

"Done selling your little magic tricks?" Evan was skating closer, and Sam's gut lurched. The boys apparently were planning an entire conversation with him. "Spend all your earnings on the ice rink, did you?"

Blood rushed to his cheeks, he could feel it pounding in his ears. Not safe, his mind directed. Those were big boys. This was an ice-rink. He could barely stand on it. Not that they'd try to shove him around here, not that they ever had tried to, not after freshman year, but-

"Do you have a problem, asshole?" Someone else snapped. It took Sam a moment to realise it was Oliver- because it hadn't sounded like him. Oliver Adler didn't seem like the swearing kind.

He watched Jason and Evan and the rest of the boys' faces fall. They hadn't seen Oliver there, apparently.

They slowed their skating pace.

"Don't be getting all riled up now, Adler." Jason raised his hands, sounding less snarly.

"I'm not getting riled up. You know who is going to get riled up though? Both your parents, when they find out you crashed their pretty cars against each other's last weekend at Mavis', " Oliver was saying. Sam found himself staring at the back of his head, as he was turned away. He felt the blood drain from his face now. Adrenaline was replaced by something uglier.

His eyes stung.

Shame. It was shame, and helpless anger.

Meanwhile Jason and Evan looked like they were reconsidering their life choices.

Evan was saying something back, but Sam didn't stick around long enough to find out. He took off his skates right there, and walked the last few steps shoeless on the rink, and then he was out of there.

A/N: Yikes.
Ps-This is your reminder to drink some water. And also to hit the star button. And also leave me a nice comment to make me feel warm and fluffy, unlike what Sam feels right now.