Chapter Text
There wasn’t much time left before the bell was due to ring, but it didn’t stop him from taking a detour to the janitor’s closet even as he kept an eye out for Chloe. By his watch, she should be heading in this direction any minute now. And there she was. He reached his hand out, catching her arm and pulling her into the closet with him before shutting the door and leaning against it, grinning at her playfully.
She gasped, her eyes widening and she barely had time to register anything until she was in the closet with him and the door was closed. “Are you insane?” She asked, and even though she was still shocked, a smirk was starting to appear on her lips.
“Depends on who you ask,” he said with a shrug, reaching out and setting her bookbag down on the floor at their feet. Then he wrapped his arms around her, tugging her close and kissing her on the mouth.
She kissed him back instantly, wrapping her arms around his neck as she stepped closer.
“There is a good reason to come to school,” he sighed and leaned his head against hers a few moments later.
Chloe grinned and shook her head. “Would be easier if we weren’t in school anymore, but I guess this will do.”
“Until tonight anyway.” He arched his eyebrows.
“What is tonight?” She asked, cocking her head. They hadn’t seen each other as much since the Luthors got back in town a couple of days ago, and while it was only the first day back to school after the winter break, she was eager to figure out a plan with him so they could hang out without being seen.
“I have a date set up for us. Just inside the woods from Crater Lake. Tonight at 8. Think you can make it?” he asked hopefully, holding onto her hands.
Her heart skipped a beat but she bit the inside of her mouth to stop herself from grinning. “I suppose I can make an effort...”
He smiled at her, leaning in and kissing her once more. “Excellent. You won’t be disappointed.”
When the bell rang, Chloe looked up and took a deep breath. “I’ll see you in Bio?”
Nodding, he kissed her one last time, pulling away to let her get the door. “See you soon.”
She squeezed his hand and grinned then ducked her head and quickly stepped out of the closet.
* * *
As promised, Chloe parked just by the edge of the forest a couple of minutes past eight. She was anxious to see him, she had literally been looking forward to this all day. She grinned when she saw his car and, after zipping up her jacket because of the cold, she rushed over to it and knocked on the window on the driver’s side.
He waved at her, and then motioned her away from the car before he climbed out, grinning brightly. “Hey, Beautiful.”
Chloe took a step back and grinned up at him. She never thought she’d be okay with pet names like that, but she definitely didn’t mind it coming from him. “Hey.”
He dipped his head, kissing her cheek lightly, and reaching out to take her hand. “Come on.” He led her toward the edge of the woods.
She took his hand and started toward the woods with him, arching her eyebrows. “Are you sure you wanna go in there?” She asked, holding her breath.
“It’s not far. I have a surprise,” he admitted. He glanced at her sideways as they walked. “Are you scared?” His voice wasn’t teasing, just quiet.
“I’m not scared,” she said quickly, straightening and shrugging. “But there is a large concentration of meteor rocks in this area, I don’t know how safe it is. I mean, I’ve met a guy who was infected just by falling into the lake.”
He pursed his lips. “The rocks are bright green, right?”
“Usually,” she said. “I don’t know, but I have the impression that they kinda glow, sometimes?”
“Well, I didn’t see any green or glowing rocks when I was setting things up. But if you see any and you want to leave, we can just go sit in one of our cars,” he assured her.
“Setting things up?” She asked curiously. “I’ll look around when we are there, but hopefully we will be okay. Now what did you set up?”
“It’s a surprise,” he told her, amusement tugging his lips upward.
Chloe tugged on his hand and pulled him toward the forest. “Show me.”
He chuckled. “Now you’re just being impatient,” he teased, squeezing her hand and leading her into the woods a little farther. He pulled her over to where he’d set up an area for a campfire. A few things were set around, including a large bag of marshmallows, and a canteen of something.
Chloe held her breath when she saw the set up and turned to grin at him. “Please tell me you brought crackers and chocolate too?”
“It’s entirely possible.”
She stepped closer to him and kissed him softly. “Maybe the sneaking around thing will work out really well.”
“Because I’ll be feeding you junk food?” he teased.
“Because you are going through all this effort just so you can see me,” she told him, her face bright.
“Well. I think you’re worth it,” he said softly, stepping closer to her. He lifted a hand to her cheek.
She leaned into his touch and smiled, shrugging a little.
He kissed her softly, tucking some hair behind her ear. “Come on. I’ll build a fire.”
“I’ll look around,” she told him, pulling her phone from her pocket and using it as a flashlight.
He nodded, moving over to where he’d already gathered a great deal of firewood. He began to build it up for their fire, glancing over to make sure she was still there.
She focused on looking around for a long moment, kicking rocks here and there to make sure they weren’t meteor ones. When she was satisfied and she could feel the warmth from the fire already spreading through the area, she turned back to face him and grinned. She couldn’t seem to stop grinning since Christmas, actually. “I think we’re good.”
“Oh, good.” He smiled, poking at the fire with a long branch. “Come over here and help me get warm,” he teased.
“How? By helping you get in the fire?” She teased back, stepping closer and arching her eyebrows at him.
“Not really what I had in mind.” He smirked, holding his hand out toward her.
Chloe held her breath and took his hand, walking up to him and holding his gaze.
Oliver smiled as he gently tugged her over to sit down beside him. “You look amazing. As always.” He pressed a kiss to her knuckles.
“You’re such a flirt,” she teased, not sure what else to tell him as she sat right next to him.
“Only with my girlfriend.” He arched his eyebrows, winding his arm around her shoulders.
Chloe chewed on her bottom lip at that and held her breath. “Girlfriend?”
He hesitated for a moment, not sure why she echoed the word. “Yeah? Aren’t you?” he asked uncertainly.
Her face felt warm and she looked down then shrugged before looking back at him, her eyes bright. “I didn’t know.”
He smiled at her, dipping his head and kissing her softly.
Chloe held her breath and kissed him back as she shifted closer to him, her heart beating fast against her chest. She’d never been anyone’s girlfriend before, she’d never had someone want to be her boyfriend.
“Okay, so.” He pulled away after a moment and looked down at the supplies he’d brought. “S’mores first, or hot chocolate?”
“I have to choose?” She asked, grinning softly at him.
“Only if you want me to pour you a glass first or if you want me to roast a s’more first,” he teased, nudging her lightly.
“I can help you, you know?” She said, looking up at him. “I think hot chocolate first, though.”
“Okay, well I was trying to be romantic here,” he said lightly, winking at her.
“Oh,” she said, surprised. “Well, this is by far the most romantic thing I’ve ever done, so I think you filled that quota for the night, you can relax now.”
He cocked his head to look at her. “There’s no quota on romance,” he told her, reaching out and picking up the canteen.
“I never thought you’d care about something like that,” she told him sincerely, watching him closely.
“Well, it’s important,” he told her, pouring her a glass of hot chocolate and holding it out to her.
She took the glass carefully, wrapping both hands around the warm glass and arched her eyebrows. “Is it?”
“Yeah. Don’t you think so?” He frowned a little.
“I don’t know,” she said sincerely. “I never thought much about it.”
Oliver pursed his lips, studying her. “Well, I have a feeling you’ll be thinking about it a lot more now,” he said lightly.
“I’ll try,” she said, chewing on the inside of her mouth. “If it’s a big deal for you,” she teased.
“It’s important for you, too,” he told her, pouring himself a glass of hot chocolate next. He took a long drink, leaning against her side.
“Is it?” She asked, frowning a little. “I mean, this is nice but I would have been okay with sitting in one of our cars.”
He smiled at that, wrapping his arm around her once more and taking another drink. “Romance is part of how you show a person how you feel about them.”
“Not if it’s forced,” she pointed out, leaning against his side. “I mean, not if it’s expected of you, you know?”
“Were you expecting it?” he asked, arching his eyebrows.
“No, but you could have thought I was expecting it,” she said, sipping on her chocolate.
He chuckled. “Well, I didn’t think that.”
“Then it’s okay.” She smiled up at him. “I don’t know I just don’t want to be like--” she hesitated. “One of those girls.”
Oliver’s expression softened at that, and he shook his head. “Chloe Sullivan, you’re not like those girls at all, and that’s a great thing.” He kissed the tip of her nose.
She grinned at that and arched her eyebrows. “Glad we’re on the same page.”
He smiled, too and then set his cup down, reaching for the marshmallow bag and pausing when there was a flash of bright light in the distance. “Did you see that?”
Chloe was already standing up, her eyes wide. “Yes, it must have been close to the town.”
He stood up, too, frowning deeply. “What do you think it was?”
“Considering the completely lack of clouds in the sky, it wasn’t lightning.” She looked at him and arched her eyebrows. “Let’s go find out.”
* * *
The entire town seemed to be in the dark, whatever that thing had been seemed to have caused a serious power surge. “At least I don’t see a fire anywhere,” she told Oliver as she drove them through the streets carefully. “Keep an eye out, though. This smells like Wall of Weird material to me.”
“Maybe it was just a blown transformer,” he suggested, arching his eyebrows when she said Wall of Weird.
“A blown transformer doesn’t shoot up sparks in the sky like fireworks,” she told him, giving him a look.
“It might if it was caused by an accident or something,” he pointed out.
Chloe took a deep breath and looked over at him. “I’m willing to keep an open mind if you are,” she said as she took a right, frowning a little when she saw a faint glow down the street. “Is that fire?”
“Deal,” he agreed, nodding and then looking ahead when she asked her question. He squinted. “Looks like.”
“That’s almost at the complex,” she told him, holding her breath as she drove toward the townhouse complex where she lived, but not speeding up considering all she had were her headlights.
He reached out wordlessly, resting his hand on her arm, though he sat up a little straighter in the seat and leaned forward.
She glanced at the hand on her arm and smiled a little before straightening too and driving up to the house that was on fire, well, its shed was on fire anyway. “I’ll call 911,” she told Oliver, parking the car and reaching for her phone in her purse.
Oliver nodded, reaching for the door handle. “This is Scott’s house,” he murmured before climbing out of the car.
Her eyes widened and she looked at Oliver at that. “It is?” She knew Scott just from passing, mostly and from a few emails they had exchanged when she was trying to dig up information on Oliver playing defender of the bullied at school. Without waiting for a reply, she got out too and made the call for 911 quickly.
He made his way quickly toward the shed, that was already burning quickly. “Hello?” he called as he approached the half-open door. “Is anyone in there?”
No one answered at first, but a second later, there was a weak cough from inside.
Oliver’s eyes widened in horror and he turned back toward Chloe. “Tell them to hurry!” he shouted. And then, shielding his face with his arm, he yanked the door the rest of the way open and leaped inside.
Chloe had ducked back in the car to get her camera when she heard Oliver, turning back to look at him just in time to see him disappear into the burning shed. “Oliver!” She called, rushing across the street.
Several long moments passed, and then finally, he emerged once more, carrying Scott and coughing from the smoke, his coat on fire. He set the younger man on the ground and shed his coat quickly, wincing.
Even though her eyes were wide and she had been calling for Oliver, she didn’t hesitate before taking a few pictures of him carrying Scott outside. “Is he okay?” She asked, glancing from Oliver to the freshman who was coughing heavily.
“I don’t know,” he admitted, coughing, too and kneeling down beside the other boy. He couldn’t see any burn marks, but the violent way he was coughing couldn’t be good.
Chloe held her breath and glanced over her shoulder when she heard the sirens. “There they are,” she said, looking at Oliver then kneeling on the floor next to Scott. “Are your parents inside? Just nod if you can.”
Scott shook his head a little, coughing again and shutting his eyes.
“You’ll be okay,” she assured him, her eyes wide as she looked up at Oliver, unsure of what else to say.
His eyes were wide, too, and he waved to the fireman who had pulled up to the curb with their fire truck. He was glad to see that an ambulance was right behind them.
“He was in the shed,” Chloe informed the men as they approached them, standing up.
“We’ll take care of him, please back away,” one of the men told her as they surrounded Scott.
“Is he gonna be okay?” Oliver asked as they pushed him back out of the way.
But they didn’t answer. The paramedic joined the firemen a moment later and Chloe pulled her camera up for a couple more pictures before turning to Oliver. “Maybe they should look at you, too.”
He shook his head a little, watching them work on Scott, load him onto a backboard, and carry him toward the ambulance. “I’m okay,” he murmured.
Chloe took a deep breath and watched them take Scott away too before looking over at Oliver again. “I can’t believe you just ran in there like that.”
Oliver turned his head to look at her, too. “I didn’t even think about it,” he admitted quietly.
She watched him for a second then nodded a little. “Maybe we should leave. I’ll come back in a while, after they leave to see what I can find in the shed.”
“We’ll come back,” he corrected her, coughing into his shirt sleeve.
After considering him for a moment, she nodded. “Let’s go find you some water, at least.”
“All right. No arguments there.” He looked in the direction of the ambulance that was pulling away and held his breath.