PAVLOV'S POTHEAD

He stroked his thumb across Monty's cheekbone as he listened to what he said happened to between him and Parker in the Hamptons. He gave a quiet humming sound, but didn't say anything in response. Though, truthfully, even if that was exactly the way it went down Ollie wasn't really inclined to hold it against Parker. But he didn't think pointing out all the reasons Parker might have said something like that -- she was probably upset, maybe she had put her foot in her mouth, it wasn't that crazy to assume Monty had said Link. Once again he didn't think anything productive would come from pointing any of that out. Perhaps most of all he didn't find this anything to hold against Parker just for the fact that he had accused Jesse of the same thing when he accused him of putting Monty's name in.

"I don't think anyone thinks your that skeevy," Ollie said, frowning at Monty. "I think that, just like you, everyone is scared and lashing out." He wished it wasn't the case. He wished everyone could trust each other. If everyone could just draw together instead of falling apart and turning on each other G wouldn't stand a fucking chance. But life was never that easy. He snorted and rolled his eyes. "If the schools GPA rises because everyone is afraid of what G might do, I will turn into the Joker. I just want you to know that."

He gave another thoughtful humming sound as Monty confessed his issues with his drug guy. "Oh no," he said, sympathetically but keeping a light tone, despite the wary squint in his eyes. Ollie rolled over again until he was sitting on top of Monty, on his thighs. As if he were trying to physically keep him from suddenly changing his mind and wiggle out of talking about whatever was happening. "What's going on?"

Monty was on his back again, rolling over with Ollie's shoving weight, hands magnetized to the other's thighs where they glided up and then back down, squeezing just before exclaiming, "Nooooo." Now he really was whining, brows creasing together and bottom lip jutting out in an exaggerated pout. "You straddling me is supposed to be sexy and fun, not... this." It was mostly a joke, trying to be playful, but Monty still had the tempting want to grab Ollie by his sides and pick up where he left off, keep them rolling until he was on top, but he knew Ollie well enough to guess that he wouldn't let them stop rolling then, and they'd just keep on going until they hit the floor. Then Monty would just have to explain himself from the nasty hotel carpet. Besides, this was something he wanted to tell him! They'd talked about being more open with each other, more forthcoming, to shoulder less alone, so... this was a good place to start, wasn't it?

Elbows dug into the mattress as Monty boosted himself up, trying to not feel so pinned down, even if he was still having to look up at Ollie. His teeth slid over his bottom lip for a thoughtful beat. "I owe this guy some money... Like a lot of money. More money than I've ever owed him before, and he's been kinda gettin' on my case about it." Rightfully, so, too, he guessed, but Monty also knew that a lot of the 'business' lingo Rocco threw around was just him talking out of his ass, and the math wasn't entirely adding up on either end. Arguing when he was already in so deep didn't seem wise, though. "I have a plan to take care of it before summer break, though, and it's gonna be fine, for real." And just because he could, and maybe because he really was a little bit of an idiot, Monty boosted himself up further, shifting from elbow to hand for balance as his other reached for Ollie, making to kiss him.

He was concerned about the G thing as well, but that was a lot more understandable. His mouth quirked in a sympathetic way, and he heaved a sigh. The funny thing was that if Monty had just told Parker what his reasons were she probably would have been a little bit more understanding, even if she still decided she didn't want to kiss him. His eyebrows furrowed as Monty continued, his mouth turning downwards as he listned, letting his head tilt to the side. "Oh, Monty," he said, reaching out and putting a hand on his cheek again. "I don't like that you're being so hard on yourself... We've all done stuff G has asked us to do, haven't we? Send in names, or search through peoples shit for clues, or whatever the fuck." As far as he knew there were only three people who hadn't done what G had asked them to. Himself, Parker, and Milo. And none of them had consistently just refused. Certainly not Milo (at least probably not it wasn't like Ollie was keeping tabs on him). Even him and Parker had literally just done what G had demanded them to do. For as much as they had apparently both refused to send guesses in to whatever each of them were sent, they hadn't even paused to question if they should send in a response to who they thought was the reason Greer had left. He didn't know about Parker, but for him, it was because he was certain of his answer, and he wasn't going to just throw a random person under the bus for a guess. Also he had been pissed and refused because he was being difficult. He wasn't trying to be some noble or good person.

"We're all just trying to do what we can to get through this," Ollie said. "You shouldn't feel bad about that. I don't think we should turn on each other, but that doesn't mean we can't help ourselves." He was completely biased, of course. Monty could send as many names in as he wanted and Ollie probably would think 'well at least it wasn't you'. "I hate to say it but you more than a lot of people have to look after yourself." There were people who couldn't so easily get out of trouble as much as others. He had made a list of people who he would go to bat for over others. People without the money of most of the student body here. His voice softened to a whisper like they might be over heard, and he turned very serious. "And I know this because Sam is still in prison after a year of not having done anything." At least nothing they had put her in prison for. "You should look after yourself. But don't get all weird and neurotic about it. -- Why do you think Parker thinks you're the type to sell out your friends?"

But he hadn't thought that when it came to Sam.

The hushed tone that Ollie took on made Monty slowly open his eyes. "It's what she said to me." He rolled onto his side in an awkward little maneuver, intent to keep Ollie's hand on his cheek as he did so. "When we were out in the Hamptons and G was wanting to hear who we all thought was at fault for Greer's disappearing act. Parker accused me of sending in Link's name, and then my own to be saved, which I didn't. Either of 'em." Monty had already been frowning, but his expression twisted deeper, echoes of defensive emotions needling in deep, warping his memory of that particular evening that much more. "I don't know how to not be neurotic about all this when I keep having conversations like that with people. Like, does everybody think I'm that fucking skeevy? I feel cornered all the time now, by anything and everyone. It's... I don't know." How many times would he say that? I don't know, I don't know, I don't know. Monty wished he could snap his fingers and have all the answers. "I'm tired of being in survival mode. Suspecting everyone, doubting when I'm told the simplest thing." But then came the guilt, rearing in to remind Monty that he wasn't special, that they all surely felt that way.

"I really have been trying to keep my head down." He could promise that. "Not rocking the boat with G, telling the bare minimum facts to the authorities, only sometimes cutting class..." he trailed off, putting on a comical wince that faded into a small smile. Monty's hand lifted to hold Ollie's in place as he turned his head a little, just enough to kiss the center of his palm. He wondered if now was the right time to mention... but did he really want to when they were staying at a nice hotel and about to have a likely expensive dinner... His wince was sneaking back, looking preemptively hangdog. "I have been fucking up a little, though, uh, with my supplier. With my drug guy."

He frowned as Monty went on to ... try to explain his feelings towards Parker, and how they had developed over the past year. His mouth quirked a little in sympathy, and he laid his head down next to Monty's. "I'm sorry," he said. Half in understanding that Monty was clearly upset about how things were, and didn't seem to be able to manage to fix things. And half because ... Well, Ollie blamed himself for it. Not even because he tended to blame himself for things in general, but because this had started because of him. Despite how many times he'd asked what he could do to fix it, things had probably spiraled beyond him at this point, he got that. But it still had started because of him. He didn't ask if Monty was pissed off at Parker whenever they spoke because he didn't know how to talk things through with people. That seemed unnecessarily bitchy of him at this point.

"I'm asking because I just thought that it was a little weird and that maybe there was a possibility it wasn't just because you were decision-ally impaired. But that there might be some little pest in your phone telling you to do weird things. Or something like that." Ollie shrugged his shoulders and sighed. It didn't really matter in the end, even if it was because G had put him up to it for whatever reasons. In the scheme of things making an ass of yourself in front of someone who already thought you were an ass wasn't the worst thing that could happen. He turned his head and looked at Monty. "Are you okay?" He asked. "This weekend will be fun, but I can still think about what things are like afterwards."

"It wasn't like that, though." Monty deflated with a soft sigh, caving almost immediately as his face turned back to the hotel ceiling. "G told me to kiss Parker." Oooh, so close -- that was almost the truth! But it was accurate enough to what had happened, and exactly what he chose to do in the end, that Monty carried on, not flinching or faltering, even believing it himself. "I feel like the slimiest motherfucker around here, because I keep doing the shit G asks of me when it seems like nobody else is. And like, fuck, sorry I don't wanna personally find out what it feels like to be flambéed, I guess?" He scoffed, nearly snorting, trying to not wince as the image of Ida flashed behind his eyelids on his next blink. Monty shook his head, gaze continuing to pointlessly dart around the ceiling as he spoke, "Parker already thinks I'm the type to sell out my friends to save my own ass, anyway, and maybe I am. Maybe she's right and I should get used to it. Own up to that." Wasn't that a scary thought, to not even really know yourself? It was the sort of loop that Monty got caught up in a lot lately, paranoia coalescing with insecurity, but none of it was really Parker's doing. It was G, it was everything that went down in the Hamptons, it was Monty not sleeping and spending too much time alone. His fractured friendship with Parker had just been convenient to project onto, but that didn't work so well when Ollie was asking for logic and reason.

He smiled up at Monty, reaching up and putting his hand on his cheek. "You're so cute," he said, chuckling a little bit. "You know they don't really have a lot of curse words in Japanese. They have 'kuso'. Which means shit that they use for everything. But other than that they kind of... Japanese-ify our curse words. Like 'fucku'. If you ask a Japanese person, hey how to you say bitch they say something like 'lyana onna' which is pretty much the equivalent of 'nasty woman'. There is also 'shirigaru' which is more of a direct meaning, but people will tell you that they don't say that because it's too bad of a word, so they don't use it." He supposed maybe that depended on the people you socialized with. "And probably say 'that person' really angrily. No one is joking when they say that Japanese is a really polite language." The context and intent were more important in Japanese than the words, really. "I don't know how I'm going to survive. I swear all the fucking time."

He moved his hand from Monty's cheek to grasp his jaw, pulling him over to give him a kiss on the mouth. When he pulled away again he looked at Monty, his eyes slightly narrowed like he was studying him. "Why did you kiss Parker?" He asked, realizing he hadn't actually brought it up yet, so, hey why not right now out of no where. Ollie loved to spring things on Monty. He had his assumptions on why it happened, but he thought he should ask. "She's really worried about you."

Monty went easily and happily, letting himself be guided into the kiss. He was even content to just sit and stare back at Ollie, oddly comfortable under his gaze in most situations. But then Parker was being namedropped and Monty couldn't help but groan, comically going cross-eyed as he tipped forward again, this time going all the way until their foreheads thunked! together. It wasn't pleasant, noses smooshed against one another, and the vibration of his pained moan trapped between them, but he stubbornly stayed put until inhaling and answering, "I didn't kiss Parker." This wasn't Monty's usual avoidant denial, though, no! His expression was creased, almost pained when he lifted his head again, staring at a point on Ollie's cheek as he thought back. "At least... I don't think I did. I don't remember it exactly. The whole thing is fuzzy." Had Parker told him that they did kiss? Her version of events was likely more accurate, but Monty didn't want to ask and find out.

"She can continue to worry," he said, edging on flippant as he flopped onto his back once more, innocently breezing beyond they question of why for the time being. "Whenever I try to talk to her lately, I just... I don't know, she pisses me the fuck off." Monty couldn't explain it, couldn't pinpoint where this well of frustration for Parker had sprung from. "I think I thought our friendship was different, or that we were closer or... I don't know." His discomfort was rising, embarrassed for not just having emotions, but not adequately managing them on his own. They were his feelings and therefore his problem, so why was he taking it out on Parker or Ollie or anybody? "Why are we talking about this?" He shook his head, Etch-A-Sketch erasing the frown from his face before looking in Ollie's direction again. "This weekend is supposed to be fun. Only good things. C'moooon," he needled, not quite rolling onto his side as he reached out, latching onto the other's arm to give him a shake.

He turned onto his back holding his phone above his face for a moment, thinking about Monty's question, before he tossed it to the side. Not that he had to think about his answer to the question. He was pretty anxious. Like whenever he thought about it it felt like he was developing an ulcer, not that he really knew what that felt like but he thought it probably would feel like that. And he just didn't know if he should even bring that up right now. Was there a point? He was going to be anxious no matter what Monty said to help him out. Ollie bit down on his bottom lip, and shrugged his shoulders. "I'm pretty excited," he finally said, "but it also makes me want to kill myself." He didn't specify if he meant it in a totally nonserious way or not. Sometimes it was really a toss up with him. "Like I know that once everything is done and I'm there it'll be fine, but until then sometimes I feel like just curling in a little ball and dying." Ollie gave a small jerk of his shoulders again. "Sometimes." Not all the time.

He stared up at the ceiling after Monty prompted him to tell him something in Japanese, blinking a few times. He felt like he suddenly couldn't remember anything he wanted to say ever in the history of his life. Did words even really exist? "I can speak it, but I'm not great at reading and writing it." He was getting better though. He even knew some kanji. Elementary school level Kanji, but he'd probably be able to get by on that when he first got there. He paused a minute, before he started to talk. "おばあちゃんに教えてもらったんだけどね。それと、アニメを見て覚えたんだ。だから…おばあちゃんみたいな喋り方と、アニメのキャラみたいな喋り方が混ざっちゃってるんじゃないかしら。みんなに変だと思われそうだわ。でも、なんか面白くて可愛いと思うんだけど！" He shook his head a little bit, with a laugh. "誰かを通して言語を学ぶことの好きなところの一つはねえ…あらまあ、ほら、日本人の女性と結婚して、その奥様から日本語を覚えた大きくて強そうな軍人さんっているじゃないかしら？そういう方がいざ話すと、めちゃくちゃ女の子っぽくなっちゃうんだわ！『ねえ、ぶっちゃけて？』" He made a perhaps telling catty little flick of his wrist, "みたいな感じでね。"

"Well, that's perfect, because there's no way I'd be able to read it, anyway," he chimed in, shamelessly going for a dad joke. When Ollie did start to speak in Japanese, he found his gaze drifting to the other's mouth, watching the way his lips moved while listening attentively. Even when he laughed, Monty's smile split wide despite not being in on the joke. "Okay, so, remember how I said I can't read Japanese" - literally one second ago - "... I have no clue what you said, either." A laugh shook through his chest, quick to hold out a hand to stop Ollie before he could say anything. "But lemme guess, lemme try," he insisted, nudging the other's arm a few times while boosting himself up a bit more, still stretched out on his side. "Uh... you said... that you're excited for this weekend, and that we're going to have soooo much fun," Monty drawled, dragging out his words on purpose, just to be annoying. "And you also said that you know that I know that you're gonna totally kick ass at whatever school go to, because you're crazy intelligent and stupid handsome, which sounds like it should be an oxymoron, but isn't actually. And Japan better watch out." He grinned down at Ollie, faltering only to add, "Oh -- bitch." Monty punctuated it with a copied wrist flick, hand maybe going just limp enough to be considered offensive.

Ollie hummed in response to the question, like he was thinking it over and shrugged his shoulders. "I'm actually a really submissive person Monty. So, I do like to assert my dominance when I can," he said as he laughed. Neither thing was something he really needed to explain to Monty. And his next words had him scoffing. Not exactly offended by the accusation but he did pretend to be. "I have an assignment!" He said, jabbing Monty's chest with his finger. "You'll be happy to know that I'm supposed to be working on other people's assignments too, but I told them to fuck off." He smiled brightly, like he was very proud of himself for setting that boundary, and moved his hand to pinch Monty's cheek. "The unfortunate thing about trying to get into the top school in another country," in the whole world according to a lot of those stupid college ranking lists, "is that I don't get to apply for until the summer and they get to see all of my school transcripts." He tried not to let it bother him, or he pretended not to let it bother him, but it was constantly lingering in the back of his head that he had already failed at getting into one school (THE school in his humble opinion). He had to do better this time.

He gave a thoughtful hum, already reaching for his phone when Monty wrapped his hands around him, making Ollie laugh. "Don't threaten me with a good time if you're not going to follow through," he said grabbing one of Monty's hands and actually moving it up to his throat. Though he was rolling off of him and out of his loose grip a second later to, indeed, put all of his tech bro apps on timeout. "Did you see this app I downloaded? Someone from Japan coded a thing that after you're on your phone for a certain amount of time a big fat orange cat will come out and lock your phone down," he said holding it up to Monty's face so he could see the big fat orange cat. He sighed in a wistful way as he shook his head, "what can't technology do?"

Monty's grin eased up into a relaxed smile as he rolled onto his side to face Ollie properly, elbow bent and head comfortably propped up on his fist. "Are you ready for it?" He took only a breath to clarify, looking on expectantly, "Applying to a new school, and everything? Moving all the way to Japan?" They hadn't really discussed it at all since Ollie broke the news and Monty took it poorly. Which was fair, he guessed, because even just asking to broach the subject now had something confusingly desperate welling up in his chest. Like the sensation of taking a breath to speak, and never managing to get anything out. It freaked him out, to be honest. He hadn't ever expected to grow so attached to anyone he met at college, and yet... here they were, with the idea of Ollie moving thousands of miles away making Monty feel just a little bit like killing himself. But in a totally nonserious, Larry David type of way. He'd be fine. He'd live, life would go on, there was no point in getting melodramatic in the meantime.

Especially when it was Ollie who was on the verge of uprooting his life. He was the one facing bigger changes and greater opportunities, and Monty was stubbornly determined to be there for him every step of the way. "Tell me something in Japanese and I'll guess what you said," he requested, not at all bothered to veer away from talking real world logistics, either, just in case MIT's rejection still really stung. "You've been practicing more, right?"

His eyes flicked upwards. He couldn't see Monty, but he did try. Tilting his head until he abandoned that and shrugged his shoulders. "Well, at least we won't be bothered if we turned our phones off. It would be pretty funny to go back to Ogden and the entire thing is destroyed," he said, laughing a little bit. Of course that would make them look very guilty about it, but he'd probably just be amused at the irony more than anything else. "Pretty bold of you to ask a computer science major to give up his phone though," he said laughing a little bit, reaching around and pulling Monty by his arm and rolling until he had him pinned to the bed beneath him. "But I probably should. I have an assignment due soon and if you don't take my phone away I'll probably be working on that all weekend." He never considered himself a workaholic... but, well... He was wrong to not consider that. "I'm supposed to text Jax every night though. Let them know we're not dead."

Ollie's maneuver wasn't all that stealthy, but Monty pretended that it had been, yelping in surprise and throwing his body into it as he was dragged sideways, toppling over to roll onto his back. A breathless chuckle escaped him as he stared up at Ollie with a bright grin, managing only a few teasing tongue clucks before admonishing, "You just always gotta be on top, don't you?" Not that Monty ever particularly minded the view... The suggestion of doing any school work this weekend had him groaning in earnest, head thrown back with a dramatic roll of his eyes. "Do you have an assignment, or does somebody else?" he asked, gaze narrowed accusatorily when he looked at Ollie again, pointedly raising a brow. Monty'd always thought that he had a pretty solid work ethic himself, but Ollie had some kind of superhuman ability when it came to multitasking. He knew this song and dance well, but -- "It doesn't matter, you're almost out of here. One little assignment can wait." Wasn't that the beauty of being a senior? Getting away with slacking off?

"How about you put all your tech bro apps on timeout or whatever," he bargained, not too hung up on it either which way. Monty's shoulders jerked in the equivalent of a shrug, a sneaking smile fitting to his lips when he continued, "I guess we should keep Jacqui updated... otherwise they might catch on and realize that I drove us all the way out here to kill you myself." And he made like he was going to do just that, reaching up to 'choke' Ollie. His hands wrapped loosely around his neck, jokingly shaking him a bit, more pressure applied to his collarbone than throat.

Ollie had never been on a date before. Not if Monty wasn't counting every single time they hung out as a date. Apparently those times did not count. Okay, fine. Ollie had never been on a date before technical, or real. And that was fine with him.

He never really desired to go out on a date either if he was being totally honest. He never thought about it. He would maybe even much rather just hang out and watch movies, but it was important to Monty who seemed to be under the impression that it was important to Ollie. So, here they were in a hotel room (a hotel room not a motel room, it was much nicer than that) waiting for their reservations at some fancy steak house a five hour drive away from Ogden. The space from Ogden was not necessarily part of the date, but that was the part that was important to Ollie. It was good to get away, he just hoped that they didn't both get some random ominous text about how the school was going to suffer another arson attempt while they were miles away. Or maybe it'd be a relief that they were so far away.

"Did you know," Ollie started looking up from his phone where he was laid out on his stomach on top of the bed, "that it's pretty common for gay couples to fuck before they go out to eat, on a date?" He said it like it was a really interesting trivia fact. "Because y'know it makes everything easier. Soooo," Ollie said, like he was being really thoughtful. "If you need any ideas on how to pass the time we have a few hours before our reservations. Just making suggestions over here..." He finished, while laughing to himself.

His thumbs circled and dug in gently, pressing into the sweet space right before the swell of his ass. He leaned forward as he did so, letting his weight settle more solidly against Ollie's body before his hands moved on, continuing to slowly work up along his spine. He only paused once he was nearly horizontal himself, practically blanketing the other's back with his chin hovering close to his shoulder, gaze now trained on his phone. "Should we go off-the-grid for the weekend?" A pause, hesitating as he rethought the blip of an idea. "Or is that dumb, since we already drove all the way out here with our phones on?" He was thinking about G tracking them and tapping their devices... mostly. He was mostly just thinking about G, and not at all about anyone else in particular that Ollie could be texting. Right.

Ollie smiled. Affection being covered up by a small grimace of sheepish embarrassment. "You're so cheesy," he muttered, like he hadn't been the one to ask. Like he hadn't brought it up in the first place. He laughed, and wrapped his arms around Monty's neck, pulling him closer as they kissed. "You should just be feeling horny when you watch me at parties, that's all," he teased him, then he gave a thoughtful sound. "That's probably what it really was." Okay, okay he could take things seriously. And not get immediately embarrassed by sentimentality when it came from another person. Oh, it was so fine when he said cheesy shit. But when Monty said it? I can't believe you're making me blush like this bro. So embarrassing.

He laughed a little bit as his own chagrin, and pulled away from Monty's mouth looking at him. "We should probably get out of here before people start waking up," he warned. His eyes moved up towards the sky trying to judge what time it might have been, and probably being off by hours. "I think the athletic people are going to start getting up soon. You have no idea how early these people wake up, dude." Obnoxious. And he was one of them sometimes? Disgusting.

They weren't about to float around and argue and kiss forever, unfortunately. Countless mornings spent at the beck and call of Ogden's tennis team told him that Ollie was right, the sky already looking brighter than half the mornings he'd schlepped out to the courts. Still, Monty let out a plaintive groan as he forced himself to detach, barely resisting the urge to pout about it. "I guess I shouldn't moon anybody this early..." He'd began to drift away, a few safe feet between them already when his smile snapped wide and he sent a splash of water in Ollie's direction. "Just you!" Monty laughed as he twisted around, quick to paddle back to shore. With his feet on solid ground, he made a beeline for their clothes, once again shaking off like a wet dog as he went. He hopped into his sweatpants first, not wanting to chance any sly clothing swaps, calling out to Ollie, "C'mon, slowpoke!" before actually glancing back. "There's a shower with our names on it."

Ollie circled his arms tighter around Monty attempting to use him as a flotation device and not cause them to both sink into the lake. It didn't work too well, slowly sinking lower and lower until he pushed Monty back up, all while he tried to consider the question. "I don't know..." He said slowly, and truthfully. "Not when you two were together. I don't think back then. I think she might have just thought we were into each other. Or at least I was into you. Not that we had been fucking around with each other." He didn't blame anyone really. Not when the two of them didn't even act any different (in public) from when they weren't together and when they were.

She had kind of implied maybe she had assumed. But he could think of a few reasons why Mari wouldn't have been exactly ecstatic to learn that Monty was with him. Somewhat to do with jealousy. He was sympathetic, really... He wasn't one to say when or how someone should come out. But he did think she would be happier if she did. He kept that to himself, and instead went with the more obvious reason he could think of. "Do you think she was really pissed about it?" Ollie asked, raising his eyebrows. "Or was she just pissed because she was talking to you?" He managed to get the question over halfway out of his mouth before he dissolved into laughing. He thought it was actually a really fair thing to point out. Mostly he just got 'please stop talking to me about your ugly boyfriend' vibes when he brought up Monty with Mari.

"What about you?" Ollie asked, a small grin crossing his face. "When did you know?"

Case in point: "When did I know that we were having sex?" His eyes went comically wide, playing dumb just for fun. "Well, I didn't clue in right away..." he trailed off, grin sneaking back before he was chuckling and shaking his head a little. "I don't know if I can put an exact date on it," Monty said thoughtfully. There hadn't been any big, clarifying moment for him. It felt more like he'd stumbled into his feelings for Ollie by accident, clumsy and easy, and even easier to ignore until the pressure was on -- a pressure that had been dutifully provided by G. Would they still have made it here if they'd enjoyed a perfectly normal school year? If G hadn't leaked the time capsule videos and then threatened emotional and bodily harm for months on end? The risk of losing Ollie in any capacity had certainly made him brave, but G was the last person he wanted to give any credit for their relationship.

"I remember there was this one party... well, I don't super remember it, 'cause I couldn't tell you when it happened or why, but it was some stupid off-campus thing, I dunno. Huge house, pool. Richie Rich types. Anyway, I was over it. I was way too sober and thinking about ducking out early, because no one was really buying anyway, but then I saw you." Monty's smile had softened, eyes wandering around Ollie's face for a beat. His shoulders shrugged up an inch. "Not doing anything. You were just... there, talking to people or whatever, but I saw you and I felt this, like, relief. And it felt big somehow. Important, I guess." The memory had him warming from the inside out. Just like whenever he listened to Ollie laugh at something idiotic he'd said. Just like when he would look over the edge of his laptop and watch Ollie studying for a few minutes at a time. Monty made his body heavy to sink lower, trying to cool off and dragging Ollie down deeper with him this time. "If I had any sense, I probably woulda kissed you then, too," he said quietly, water lapping at his chin as he drifted near, closing the gap with a kiss.

He hadn't really meant to lower the mood but he felt it happening by the second. It was hard for it not to these days. Greer's disappearance had felt like a heavy weight since last year, but it was starting to feel like it was impossible to not become crushed underneath it the closer graduation got. How could it not when he was actively still trying to grieve. Her, Ida, Penny, even Sam in a way. Even if Monty was right and maybe they never really knew her at all. He snorted at the small amendment Monty made, biting down on his bottom lip and nodding his head a little bit. He was starting to feel more and more like that as well. That maybe it wasn't just Greer he never really knew, but a lot of people here. Not everyone. But he had a feeling the 'real' version of people might be emerging soon, if G's threats were actually legit.

Ollie hummed a little bit in consideration, and shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe not," he said, "but I don't think I would have been surprised. I mean, yeah, there were a solid two months I thought you were probably straight, but I always thought you were cute, and I'll never write anyone off completely." He gave a cheeky wink, and tilted his head backwards to look up at the sky for a moment as he laughed. "I think everyone probably would have expected this long before either of us did. You know..." Ollie smiled, but hesitated a moment, trying to think of how to word things as to not cause too many follow up questions. "I don't think I ever realized I liked you as more than my bro, whose dick I touch a lot, until Mari implied as much. We kind of owe her for our entire relationship, dude. You should thank her sometime." He was teasing, but it wasn't entirely wrong -- or wrong at all, in fact.

Almost everyone else really did have them figured before they did, though. The idea of their relationship being so openly perceived used to make him feel squirmy (a conflict of emotions that Monty never dwelled on for long, unsure how much of it was internalized homophobia or a fear of losing Ollie), but it'd grown into a reassurance. Milo calling him Ollie's boyfriend wasn't such a dig when it was a reality. Anya being like a living firewall was less intimidating anytime Ollie slept over. "Y'know what I found out?" Monty was already shaking his head and snorting, arms outstretched to drape over the other's shoulders. "After summer, when I was letting people know we weren't dealing together anymore, and I was like, just call me, not Ollie, a few of 'em really looked me dead in the eyes and said: ohhh, so you're Monty?" He devolved into laughter, eyes crinkling and shoulders shrugging up. That really said it all, didn't it?

Mari remained on his mind, thoughts circling back to Ollie's past epiphany. "Do you think she knew we were fucking around?" A pause before Monty clarified, "Mari, I mean. When her and I were dating. You and me." Okay, he could've said that not like a caveman, but he knew Ollie would piece it together regardless. "She seemed surprised when I first told her we'd started dating, but also, like… lowkey pissed about it, dude." And if she'd always suspected he'd been cheating on her… Not that he had! That was a (factually wrong) hill Monty would likely die on.

Ollie raised his eyebrows a little bit at Monty's suggestion. Not the blowjob thing, the date thing. That was what was more curious to him. His mind went two different ways. The first was that he absolutely didn't consider last Spring Fling their first date, but maybe he just had a lower threshold for what constituted a date. Monty was pretty ... straight, so they probably had much different ideas. Like maybe they weren't dating at the time but was Monty's birthday last year not a date? Was New Years Eve not a date? Was the rave not a date? Was this Spring Fling not a date? Was this right now not a date? The second was that he didn't really need to go on dates, he was happy with what they did. Maybe that was why he considered so many things they did together kind of being a date. But then he realized that maybe while Monty was framing this as something for Ollie's benefit he wondered if it was more that Monty wanted to go on more actual dates. "Do you want to go on a date with me? We can go on a date. This weekend when you take me out where ever we're going. We'll go and find somewhere fancy to eat, and then we'll see a movie, and then I'll fuck your brains out. Date stuff."

He leaned his head to the side, laughing for many reasons he couldn't really disclose to Monty about him, and Greer, and Monty, and Mari. He sucked in a breath through his teeth like he was considering that idea and shrugged his shoulders. "I think I'm fruity enough that most people just consider me one of the girls," he said, grinning. Then he was quiet a moment, before speaking again. "I think I might have been one of the only people at this school who didn't have some kind of complicated thing for or about Greer, to be honest."

As his arm relaxed, he continued his lazy floating circle around Ollie, palm skimming between his shoulder blades. By the time he could see his face again, Monty's smile had dimmed. It took him a second, mind shifting gears, before answering with a slow nod. "She was a complicated person." It felt significant that referring to Greer in the past tense no longer made him sick on the spot. Which was it, he wondered, acceptance or resignation? "I don't think I can remember my last actual conversation with her…" he mused, possibly more to himself than Ollie as he grappled with faded memories. It had to have been near the end of the school year -- at a party? Or just somewhere around campus, maybe. What had he told the cops? There was a version of events that he told himself was true, but G's involvement had Monty doubting himself more and more. "I'm not sure I ever really knew the real Greer," he admitted, gaze settling on Ollie as he tried not to cringe. "Or the real anybody."

Complicated barely scratched the surface of how he felt about most people at Ogden, but that was the last thing he wanted to get into. Not right now, not here. "Except you," he amended, hoping his avoidance wasn't as blatant as it felt, trying on a hesitant smile. "When we first met, did you ever think we'd wind up here? Skinny dipping together at the end of your senior year." Monty put a little gravitas on that, endlessly amazed both by the concept of time passing and Ollie's fast-approaching milestone.

Ollie flung his arms up to block the splash, and smiled, sinking down into the water as they both relaxed again. He slunk over to Monty, sliding his arms down his back until he could hug him around his chest and hold him up in the water. He kept himself as deep in the water as he could and rested his chin against Monty's shoulder. "I guess that's a pretty accurate way to identify yourself," he said, shrugging his shoulders. He nuzzled his face into the crook of Monty's neck, and grinned against him. "That's kind of what I like about you, you know?" He thought that Monty was far from being a 'normie' but he definitely was just 'a guy'. There was an important distinction there, at least as far as Ollie was concerned.

His eyes moved eastward, checking to see how long before the sun was coming up. The sun definitely at least needed to be out before they got out, because then maybe it'd be a little bit warmer. "So, how are you going to make up convincing me to jump into the freezing cold water?" He joked, lifting his head up and grinning down at Monty. "What's the plan there?"

A huffy, almost-snort flared his nostrils before Monty was cracking an eye open, squinting up at Ollie with a long and thoughtful hum. "Mm… blowjob in the woods?" Kidding! Unless… A matching grin pinged into place after that arduous deliberation. "I could take you out," he suggested more genuinely, head lifting from the water and shoulders bobbing upward. "Somewhere non-aquatic. You'll be very dry and warm, I promise. Did you realize, actually, that last Spring Fling was kinda like… our first date?" And, maybe, technically their one and only. It was a thought that nagged at Monty occasionally. Ollie had asked him out plenty, but what had he done? Getting high in his dorm or showing up to a house party together wasn't really the same as going on a date. It wasn't romantic. It wasn't even any different from what they did on the daily. As tempted as he was to ask Ollie if it'd bugged him, then or now, he didn't think he wanted that confirmation. Instead, Monty snickered at his own thoughts, hands skimming along Ollie's ribs underwater. "You know, when I was with Mari and you and Greer would tag along, I bet a lot of people thought you guys were on a double date with us." Which was pretty damn hilarious, if you asked him!

He listened as Monty described what happened. Maybe getting the whole backstory of how all of that had been exposed didn't matter all that much. It didn't change anything. But he was happy to know how everything actually went down. "You gave the go ahead?" Diego asked, knowing it probably wasn't as simple as that. "What did they text you and say 'hey monty I have dirt on Link and Milo you want me to tell everyone?'" He doubted it. Kind of funny, in a shitty way, that G told Milo what happened. Really not surprising to know everything they did with G was not confidential.

"It's almost been a year, I don't think he's going to tell anyone," Diego said, shaking his head. "I think he probably is just having fun fucking with you at this point." But maybe Monty had already figured that out.

But Monty wasn't so sure that he was. Or maybe Diego couldn't imagine Milo being as vindictive as Monty was convinced that he was. He frowned, lips sealing together tightly before pointing out, "He told Ollie all about it. Sure had a lot of fun with that." His voice dipped into a begrudging mutter, gaze skittering away as he tried to not dwell on that particular conversation again. "It's a whole big, dumb thing, like I said," Monty repeated on a sigh, taking a beat and then asking, "What's your Link thing?"

He smiled as Monty started trying to grab onto him, as pliantly as he possibly could stand there but Monty seemed to be struggling anyway. Or maybe he was just using it as an excuse to touch him, not that he needed an excuse. But as the saying went, gay people could never flirt normally it always had to be some bullshit like this. "Are you going to throw me, or just hug me?" He teased, and jumped a little bit when Monty tried to toss him over his shoulder, allowing it. At least getting some air before the two of them over balanced and fell sideways crashing down into the cold water below, with a not too surprised yell at the cold, until he popped up from below. He spat some water out of his mouth and wiped his eyes off, laughing as both he and Monty surfaced. "Okay, get your twink ass over here," Ollie said in a mock threatening voice, as he lunged forward towards Monty and pushing him back down into the water. It was getting less cold being in it now, maybe it was safer down there only letting his head poke up from the water line.

"What!" His indignant shout was swallowed up by the water, going under for a second time in quick succession. When Monty broke the surface again, he shook off like a wet dog, water spraying and leaving his hair sticking up at wild, random angles. He grinned playfully at Ollie, treading in place while asking, "Who're you calling a twink, twink? Have you seen these guns?" He proceeded to flex with exaggerated gusto, unbothered by the fact that he fell into the scrawny category more than he did muscular. He was somebody's type, namely Ollie's, and that's all he really needed. Doing his best approximation of a WWE wrestler vamping for the crowd, jaw jutting out to show off his lower teeth, Monty grunted with every minor pose change, biceps curling this way and that. When he finally dropped the act, he also dropped his arms, purposefully creating a big splash and laughing as he drifted farther backwards. "I identify as simply a guy," he informed in a cheeky chirp, gaze still glued to Ollie even as he began tilting as far back as he could manage, water lapping at his ears while he floated.

He shimmied out of his underwear, and headed towards where the water was lapping up onto the shore, frowning down at the water. Was there not just some place to jump in and get it done with? Monty had to chose the worst place to run into? There were docks but they were no where around here so sighed deeply, and after dipping his toe into where the shore line started to feel how cold it was (very cold) he started to dash into the water. It probably wouldn't have been that bad if it was day time and the sun was out, but the sun was just barely coming up at that point, so here they were. He put his hand over his dick as he got up to the waist height water as a way to protect himself from the cold, and dove in. That was how you dealt with it, right? When you jumped in once you got fully submerged it would be better?

He'd adjust to the cold? Right?

Maybe not, but at the very least he did make it to Monty, coming up next to him and grinning. "Has anyone ever told you that you have the best ideas?" Ollie teased, wrapping his arms around Monty's waist and pulling him closer. "You know it's going to suck to get out of here right? I guess we'll just have to stay in here all day. And everyone will be like 'wow they're swimming I guess the water is nice,' and then everyone else will start swimming. And we'll have to pretend like we're not naked or else it will be really awkward..." He said, laying out the story in a light sing-song type of voice and leaned forward to plant a kiss on Monty's lips. "That actually sound pretty funny." To him it sounded pretty funny.

He had considered what a drag it'd be when they needed to leave the water, though, and how much he really wouldn't want to trudge back to the dorms in damp clothes. But his thoughts had also already jumped farther ahead, imagining the ideal scenario of dragging Ollie into a hot shower with him next. Sometimes being an overthinker had its positives. Leaning into the kiss with a smile, he hummed, "Hm, but imagine how pruney and gross we'd get being out here all day." Monty's nose scrunched, fingers curling and lightly dragging down the other's back. "We'd be lookin' like we got stuck on the beach from Old or some shit, dude. Our nudity would be the least of anybody's concern." He snorted, and just because he had M. Night on the brain, suggested, "We should watch The Village sometime." Had they already? Probably.

"Alright," Monty began a declaration without any further preamble, "I'm gonna throw you." Why? He had no fucking clue. They could've just, y'know, swam around. But this seemed more fun. Like a challenge that matched the giddy, exhilarating energy bursting in his chest as he sunk down again, laughing while his arms circled Ollie and groped at the back of his thighs. Nothing was working with him here. The drag of water was slow, rocks were slick underfoot -- this would likely end in a disastrous backwards topple of limbs, but Monty couldn't bring himself to care. Maybe it was the shock of cold to his system, or the way he felt like he couldn't quite take a deep breath still, but something about this moment felt suspended in time. Like he was suddenly twelve again and so, so far away from Ogden right now, with nothing on his mind but dunking his best friend. Monty couldn't quit laughing, his grin pressing against Ollie's skin as he tried to wrestle him over his shoulder, refusing to let go while hoisting him up.