Chapter Text
Nate could hardly believe it. He and Liam. Still sharing a chair. And Liam had kissed him. It was a dream and a nightmare at the same time. He was happy that Liam liked him back, but he didn't know how they were gonna announce this news to their friends. Or their parents, for that matter. Nate began to go down a loop of what-ifs.
“Hey,” Liam spoke up. “I know that look. Everything's gonna be fine.” He pulled him into a hug. Nate melted into the hug, craving the touch. He had been wanting Liam to hold him like this for so long, and it was finally happening.
They both pulled back and awkwardly smiled at each other. Nate's face turned a beet red.
“So.” Liam smiled. “Wanna go get ice cream?”
—-------------------------------------------------------
They sat in a booth at the ice cream parlor, eating ice cream. Nate got strawberries, and Liam got cherry cheesecake.
“Why can't you just get something normal, instead of… whatever that monstrosity is? ” Nate joked.
Liam mock-gasped and put a hand to his chest. “How dare you insult my ice cream choices! Have you ever even tried it?”
“No, because I think my taste buds would die immediately from the taste.”
Liam laughed, then offered his ice cream to Nate. “Here. try. It's good.”
“Pff. Yeah, right,” Nate said, but still took it. He swapped cones with Liam and tried it. He tried really hard not to spit the offending ice cream into his napkin. “It's.. uhm. You can have this back.”
Liam sighed. “You're so basic.”
Nate just blushed.
At that moment, the waiter came up to them. She looked around their age and had an excited look on her. Her name tag said “Stella” in cursive handwriting.
“Hi! I don't mean to interrupt, but I just noticed your dog! Are they friendly?” she asked.
“Yeah, Rocky's nice. He jumps, though.” Nate said. They had brought Rocky with them, so they could take him for a walk after ice cream.
“That's fine. I don't mind,” she said with a laugh.
She smiled and bent down to pet him. He immediately wagged his tail and licked her face. She laughed and gave Rocky a good scratch. Nate looked over at Liam. He looked… cold, not in temperature, but his face went dark. He looked kind of upset.
“He's absolutely adorable! Me and my girlfriend actually just got a golden doodle ourselves," she said.
Oh. Nate let out an internal sigh of relief. He did not really want to explain… things to the ice cream parlor girl.
“Well, I should probably go back to my shift. Don't want to interrupt things between you two,” she said with a wink and walked away. Nate swore he was about as red as Liam's cherry cheesecake ice cream. Liam just laughed. Nate liked Liam's laugh. It was bright and sunshiney, like he didn't have a care in the world. It just… hit him right.
“Shall we?” Liam asked, and gestured to the door. He offered his hand to Nate.
“We shall.” Nate grabbed onto Liam's hand, and they began to walk.
“Bye! Have a nice day!” the waiter smiled.
“You too! I wish all the luck to you and girlfriends dog.” Liam said to her. Nate just gave her a wave goodbye.
She laughed, and the doors closed.
“She was nice,” Nate said.
“Yeah. I thought she was trying to hit on you at first.” Liam admitted.
Nate let out a soft laugh. “What, were you jealous?"
“Yes,” Liam said with a charismatic smirk.
Nate went a bright shade of red for what felt like the 70th time today. Liam grabbed his hand. And that was it. Two teenage boys, holding hands in the park without a care in the world. Happy together, no unsaid feelings or extreme pining. It was perfect.