•All of Oliver
•April 1st, XX47
•Oliver's POV
•Contains: cursing
•this is just a continuation of the first all of oliver chapter except now you have to remember more people's pronouns lmao

•~~~~•

After the bell rang, Oliver found himself standing outside of his school because goddamnit, he'd forgotten to grab Grace's number.

Luckily, she stuck out like a sore thumb at times due to her generally preppy energy and tall height, but then again everyone was preppy and tall to Oliver because he just wasn't, so he just had to hope he'd see Grace coming out of school. They had a project to work on, after all. Couldn't really do that if he just went home. Literally all he needed to was be like, hey, can I get your number? or even what's your locker number? I can meet you there after my last period but no. Of course he didn't say anything like that.

Oh well.

"Hey!"

A voice, and he turned around, and they were speed-walking out of the front doors. Oliver sighed to himself, glad it worked out anyway.

"Hey."

"Are you still good with us working on the project?"

"Yup."

"Sweet! Should we just go to my house? I think that's where we said. Unless you wanna go somewhere else."

"Uhm... no, I don't really care. Your house is fine."

"Cool!" Grace began walking towards the parking lot, and Oliver quickly followed, eyeing the many cars.

"Do you drive?"

She pulled a key holder out of her pocket with two normal looking keys, one car key, what looked like a pepper spray container, and a small mushroom keychain all hanging on it. "Yup. Is that okay?"

"Oh, yeah, it's fine."

They both approached a slightly older looking car compared to all the newer makes and models in the parking lot, a tan or maybe burnt sienna color. With the click of a button the doors unlocked, and Oliver climbed into the passenger's seat, noticing that the seat was already adjusted pretty high up, unlike how Grace's was a bit lower. They closed the driver's seat door and turned on the car with another press of a button. Oliver really needed to learn how to drive.

"You're lucky my brother was the last one sitting there," she said with a laugh, "you're about the same height."

That gave him hope about the rest of her family. "Hah- good."

They began pulling out of the parking lot amidst some other students. "My house is only a seven or so minute drive away, though. Also, I haven't told my parents or anyone what your name is yet, are you good if I do?"

"Sure."

"Cool."

They arrived at a stop light. Grace got out their phone and clicked a few times before handing it to Oliver, who almost froze in surprise of suddenly handling the object. "Can you text, 'on my way home, friend is coming like I said, his name is Oliver btw'?"

"Uhm- y- yeah."

This really felt like a privilege. He looked down at the screen and it was open to a group chat, titled very lovingly The Galanis Bstards. He glanced up to Grace's last message in the chat to get a sense for how she usually typed and then sent the text, quickly putting the phone down between them. He looked out the window. It was probably time to make more small talk.

"I, uh, think I live near here. Haven't really seen the area yet though."

"Oh, really? Well, it's the best part of town, so you're in luck!" They grinned over at him briefly. "Well- I'm joking, of course. It's just my personal favorite. But I'm biased, I live here. Oh- that's my work we just passed, right there. Dunkin Donuts. I think I eat their food three times a week at the very least."

Damn, she was pretty successful in terms of how seventeen year olds can be successful. He should really get on that. "Huh... interesting."

"It pays decent, though. I mean, my parents are gonna pay for my college if I don't get any scholarships so I guess it doesn't matter much. I just like having stuff to do."

Was he gonna go to college at this point? Was there a point? Who knew. Maybe. "That's good."

Grace blinked a few times, tapping their fingers on the steering wheel as they drove. "Ah- are you staying for dinner? Sorry, I should've asked for specifics sooner."

"It's fine. But, uh... I don't really know. It matters when we finish, I guess. I don't think my dad was gonna make dinner or anything special so it really doesn't matter. And- I don't need a ride home, since we live close, I can just walk."

"You sure? By the time we finish my parents might be home, I could ask them to give you a ride or I could just give you one myself, I don't mind."

"No, no, it's fine, I swear."

"Alright, then," she smiled. "We're just about here, by the way. You didn't say you were allergic to dogs, right?"

"I'm not. Got nothing against them."

"Good."

The car pulled into the driveway of a decently largely-sized house considering it was one-story. As both walked up to the front door, Grace got out their keys again, and they knocked briefly, before unlocking the door and stepping in, Oliver following in right behind.

The first thing Oliver noticed was how generally home-y and comforting the vibes of the house were. It felt oddly welcoming, but not odd in the sense that something was off, just odd in the fact that he'd never been there before. The second thing he noticed was a small, Charles Spaniel looking dog on the couch with a small vest sitting discarded nearby, and the third thing he noticed was that the dog was in the lap of the gayest looking middle schooler he'd ever laid his eyes on.

"Hey, Void!" Grace waved to the kid, probably her brother. They were dressed in a hoodie and skirt, both black, along with striped socks and platform boots. Their hair was purple with fluffy bangs that covered their eyes, but they still seemed to be wearing some kind of alt-looking makeup that reached their pale cheeks, and had a septum ring that could've been fake or could've been very real. The dog that was sitting in the lap of the kid raised its head up and began wagging its tail, but stayed in place.

"Hey, Grace," the kid responded. "And friend."

"Hope it wasn't too last-minute," Grace was shoving her keys back into her pocket, "we had a project. This is Oliver."

Oliver waved tentatively, hand staying close to his side. Void got up off the couch and grabbed the dog's vest, the dog in question moving to the other side of the couch. They walked past him for a moment to hang the vest- which Oliver noticed had a few varying service dog related patches on it- on a coatrack with a single jacket hanging off of it already. Void turned back to Oliver then, sticking out their hand.

"Void. She/it/moon."

Definitely gay. "Oh. Uh- yeah. Oliver, he/him."

They shook hands briefly, Void smiling and then nodding at its sister, before walking back to the couch and sitting down. As it walked back, Grace smiled over at Oliver.

"Where d'you wanna work on the project?"

"I don't really give a shit."

"We can just go to my room, then."

"Gotcha."

Oliver followed Grace down a hallway, them passing a few doors and a lot of picture frames- the three people he hadn't met in those frames seemed pretty tall. He hadn't considered the fact Void probably hadn't hit a significant growth spurt yet, since she seemed younger. Oh god. Eventually, though, they got to a door with a piece of paper that read Grace on the front of it in a bubbly font. Grace opened the door and both walked in, Oliver taking note of the currently magenta-colored LED lights and the bi flag hanging in the back of the room, right next to some mushroom-themed tapestry. There were a few squishmallows across the room as well, some on the bed, some on the floor.

"I like your room."

"Thanks!"

Grace methodically threw their bag down on the floor and plopped down nearby it, Oliver taking his spot across from her. Both got out their school-given computers and opened up the rubric for the project they'd been given. After figuring out what they were doing in mostly silence and then proceeding to start the process of doing that, and doing that for a good while, Oliver once again decided he should make small talk, considering the fact that they were definitely friends now. Scary.

"Uhm... your family seems very tall."

Grace looked up, and almost seemed surprised by the word tall, as if she'd been expecting something else, but smiled nonetheless. "Hah- yeah, Void's the shortest right now, but that'll change. I don't want it to, though." A brief frown. "That just means moon's getting older. Ugh- I mean, the same year I start college is when she starts high school."

"Damn. I thought most siblings hated each other, though."

"Nah, we don't. Never have. My whole family is really close, actually. Do you have any siblings?"

"No, just me and my dad right now. But I'll probably move out sooner or later. Go somewhere else. Don't know where yet."

Oliver glanced out the window. It was a big world. It would be cheapest to stay in Nevada, now, of course. That's where he currently was. Grace stared at him for a moment.

"Where did you say you were from?"

"Florida."

"Oh! How's that? Do you miss it?"

"Eh. I guess I do. Probably shouldn't." Perhaps he was more admitting that to himself rather than them.

"Oh. Huh. Is everything okay?"

"What? Oh- shit, I'm sorry, I didn't- mmh." Oliver sucked in his lips, shifting uncomfortably. Goddamnit, it was easy to let your walls down when you were relaxed. Did he even trust them? No. Probably not. Not yet. Grace furrowed their eyebrows and placed a hand down on the floor, not touching him, only near him.

"Hey, no, it's fine! I say stuff without thinking a lot, too. Er- not that that's a bad thing, really. You wanna talk about something else?"

"Yeah. Yeah, sure."

Grace chuckled a bit, taking the hand away. Oliver let out a breath. "Well, uh... did y'think Subway was cute?"

"Subway?"

"Void's dog."

"Oh, yeah. He was."

"She's adorable," Grace laughed. "So tiny compared to all of us, it's kinda funny." With that Oliver was about to correct himself on the dog's apparent pronouns, but Grace kept going. "Or, I guess compared to all humans, really. That's how most dogs are. But especially him. So tiny."

A dog's gender doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things, Oliver guessed. "Yeah. Definitely cute, though." He checked the time. "Uh, what time are your parents getting home?"

"They said like... five-thirty? Why, what time is it now?"

"Four-thirty."

"Really? Damn, we've been working for a lot longer than it seems, haven't we?"

Oliver chuckled a bit. "You think we're close to finishing?"

"I think so, yeah."

"Good."

The work went on in still silence, not counting Grace's occasional rocking back and forth on the fronts of their feet, until the two eventually did finish up, and they put their computers away with a shared, relieved sigh.

"Glad we got that finished," Oliver then said, "it was kinda boring."

"A little bit," Grace giggled.

A silence came between them for a moment as Oliver realized he could totally ask to stay for longer if he wanted to, but really what he'd came here to do had now been completed so the only reason he had to stay was because he wanted to. And he did want to. Why did he make a friend? Why did he genuinely want to be around her?

"You gonna get going, then?" Grace finally asked.

Oliver considered it. "If you want me to. If not, I could... stay for a bit, I guess."

"Really?" They began to smile, "Cool! Sure! What do you wanna do?"

"Hah- I don't really care." He said that a lot.

Grace glanced around her room, and clicked her tongue. "Hmm... uhm, we could pl-" Their eyes wandered down to their phone and they stopped talking abruptly as they stared at a notification for a few seconds, before blinking and looking back to Oliver. "Sorry, what was I saying?"

"You were thinking of stuff we could do."

"Oh! Right! I was gonna say we could play Minecraft."

"Shit, I would but I don't have it on mobile."

"Ah, darn. Wanna watch YouTube?"

"Sure, that works."

Grace stood up and walked over to a desk that was in the back of the room, picking up a laptop off the top of it and bringing it over, sitting back down next to Oliver. She let it sit in her lap, and Oliver looked away for a moment as she put in the passcode. His eyes landed on their phone, which lit up with what seemed to be the same notification they'd noticed earlier, as a reminder it was there. It was from the same group chat he'd had to text in earlier, and it seemed to be from their mom, a typical on our way home! text.

"You don't have to go, like, greet them or anything when they get home," Grace then said, noticing he was looking at it. Oliver looked back abruptly.

"Huh? Oh. Okay."

"Since you'll probably see them on your way out, though, you wanna know their names and stuff?"

"Yeah, sure."

Grace grinned. "Jokes on you, now I have an excuse to show you pictures of my family."

With an evil laugh they grabbed their phone, and Oliver couldn't help but chuckle. After responding back to the message from their mom they opened their photos app and a specific album labeled family!, they pulled up a picture of themselves, Void, Subway, and three other people all at a kind of cabin-looking house.

"So that's me and Void and Subway, obviously. And there's my mom-" she pointed to someone holding a cane with brown hair about the same length as Grace's and skin the same color as well, along with glasses and a few piercings here and there, "xe/xem, and if you're wondering, after Void gets taller xe's probably gonna be the shortest in our family which leaves me as the second shortest which is very sad but moving on; that's my dad," a few inches taller than Grace, very pale with blond hair and gentle stubble, "he/him, only cis person in this entire household, love him. Doing great. And finally that's my ren," this person was perhaps taller than Bo Burnham, which was saying something. They had darker skin and split-dyed black and pink braids, and honestly both them and Grace's mom looked like retired alt teenagers, "they/it/vir, usually have to clarify that ren is a gender-neutral term for parent, and also my parents are not divorced in any way they're just polyamorous. Got that?"

Oliver blinked. "Damn. I think so. Your mom and ren look like retired alt kids."

"They were definitely that in college from pictures I've seen so I can confirm, yes, that's true," they grinned. "I love them all so much."

"I can tell," Oliver chuckled. Grace placed her phone down beside her and then turned back to the computer, which by now had youtube opened on it. In the suggested section were things like fungal morphology- aka more mushroom-related things, markiplier videos, Game Theory, video game playthroughs, The Owl House related videos, and other things of the such. Grace looked over at him.

"What do you wanna watch?"

"I don't really c- uhm... no, yeah, I really don't care."

"Clicking on the first one, then."

It was Game Theory. So they sat back and watched.

And Oliver did eventually go home, of course- he just walked. Though a part of him wished he would've stayed longer. But he liked being around them, he really genuinely did. It was nice. So he'd just have to ignore his fears for the time being.

Surely they wouldn't come back up again.

•~~~~•
I went through like a million different options for how this would end but ultimately decided it was better for Grace to introduce their parents rather than show Oliver meeting them because that is so awkward to write omg-

See ya in the next one!