A Surprise Visit. With neverontime

[olliequeen]

Oliver made his way into Bruce Wayne's living room. He wasn't surprised that Bruce wasn't there because Bruce hadn't been expecting him. Of course, he would have been late anyway. Because he was, after all, Bruce Wayne.

He made himself comfortable on the sofa, folding his arms behind his head, a smirk on his face as he waited for his old friend to show up.

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[neverontime.livejournal.com]

Bruce had, for whatever reason, decided that an early patrol was a good idea. Of course, an hour into it, Alfred was calling him, letting him know that Master Ollie was in the living room waiting for him. With a sigh, and slight confusion, he turned back to the warehouse, scrapping any ideas of a decent patrol. He would have to wait for Ollie to leave before he could go out again.

He strolled into his living room and threw his jacket at Ollie's head. "Careful old man, you might fall asleep there. I know it's a comfortable couch and everything -- more expensive than you could imagine, after all -- but what would the neighbours think if you stayed the night? Your reputation might become, dare I say, compromised ?"

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

Oliver chuckled and caught the jacket easily. "My reputation? I think you're the only billionaire around here that Gotham cares about." He smirked and set the jacket down beside him.

"I'm surprised you're here, actually. Where are all the models?" he mocked, grinning. "Don't they generally follow you around everywhere?"

[neverontime.livejournal.com]

"Ah ha," he exclaimed, heading to the bar. "I knew you were here to steal my things. Did you finally get sick of living with such cheap, hideous furnishings? It's alright to say I'm better than you, Ollie. It won't make you any less of a man...because you're not much one to begin with."

He poured himself a scotch and grinned at his friend. "Drink?"

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

He snorted in response to the ribbing. "How I've missed your sense of humor," he joked, rising to his feet. "And yes to the drink. Assuming you have anything worth drinking. While your taste in furniture might be better than mine, I've always had a better set of taste buds when it comes to decent alcohol." He grinned.

[neverontime.livejournal.com]

Bruce gave a slight nod of acquiescence. "I'm willing to concede that point," he began, walking over to his friend, "but only barely. It's only because I drink so much of the stuff, that my taste buds can't distinguish expensive liquors. It's all the same to me." He handed Ollie his drink and sat down in the chair across from him. Lifting the glass, he took a satisfying sip.

"So. I'm trying to figure out exactly why you're here. Is it because you missed me? Tell me you missed me."

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

"Of course I missed you. I miss you every day." He smirked and sat back down on the sofa once more, taking a drink of the scotch and nodding his approval. "Color me impressed. I think your taste buds have begun to recover."

He leaned back. "Actually I just happened to be in the neighborhood and thought I'd drop in on my oldest friend in the world." He grinned again.

[neverontime.livejournal.com]

"Fair enough then," he replied, swirling his amber coloured drink. "Reminiscing, are we? Of your dreary time before you met me?" A sparkle entered Bruce's eyes as he took yet another sip. He'd have to pace himself or else he'd be a mess for tonight.

"You have to admit, I've really made your life worth living."

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

Oliver studied him for a moment, watching the way his shoulders tensed. "Yeah, I've had a few of those moments." He paused. "Oh.." He rose to his feet.

He was silent for a moment. "You've been in love with her forever. It's not that shocking." He frowned.

[neverontime.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, that's not really the decision I regret." He swallowed thickly and took a deep breath.

"I basically waited until she fell asleep and left." There. It was out and he couldn't take it back. Even though it was completely unavoidable, even though she knew that would happen, it was what he regretted the most. "Smooth, huh? Is that something a man in love would do?"

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

That caught him off guard. He stared at Bruce blankly for a long moment, trying to reason out in his mind what on earth would have made him do that. "Is it the committment thing?" he asked uncertainly, shaking his head a little.

[neverontime.livejournal.com]

Bruce shrugged, his drink starting to slosh in his hand without him meaning to. "I don't know. Is it?" He returned to his seat, sitting down with a heavy sigh.

"You tell me, because I really didn't want to go and yet I did."

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

Oliver watched him intently. "How long ago did all this happen?" he asked uncertainly.

[neverontime.livejournal.com]

"Does it even matter?" He quirked an eyebrow. "Trust me. It was long enough ago that I'm embarrassed about it, but not recent enough that either of us would cry about it."

And say goodbye to glass number three. Thank god he'd actually eaten supper, so he wasn't too drunk. "Come on Ollie. Have another drink. Make me feel at least somewhat less pathetic about being a womanizer, let alone a drunkard."

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

He snorted. "You are getting old. And losing your vision, apparently," Oliver said wryly, amused. "I hear that happens right before you start losing your hair." He pretended to study Bruce's hairline. "Hmm."

[neverontime.livejournal.com]

"That was not a reassuring 'hmm'," Bruce stated, raising a hand to smooth his perfect hair. "But since you clearly can't recognize class and perfect breeding, you're excused."

He gave a smirk and leaned his head back. "And yet with all these faults, you somehow managed to trick the lovely Ms. Sullivan to woo you. How exactly did you manage that?" Oh yes, it was Ollie's turn now.

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

He smirked at Bruce's remark, enjoying their banter. It had always been this way with them: a teasing competition between two all-too-alike boys-turned-men.

Bruce had been his first real friend.

At the mention of Chloe, Oliver grinned and gave him a shrug. "There wasn't really wooing. We've been friends for a few years. It just sort of happened," he said truthfully. "I don't think either of us saw it coming really."

[neverontime.livejournal.com]

Bruce nodded sagely. "Ah yes. The "I slipped and my penis fell in" excuse. I hope it worked better for you than it did for me."

He grinned, and enjoyed the look on Ollie's face. He wondered if Ollie remembered the first time Bruce had used that excuse, in their last year at Excelsior.

God, it really had been a long time since they'd talked and Bruce made a mental vow to never allow that to happen again. He'd missed having friends, even if he would never admit it.

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

"It usually did," he responded with a smirk after he'd recovered from the surprise of hearing that particular sentence from Bruce Wayne again. He shook his head with amusement, grinning.

[neverontime.livejournal.com]

"My wit is lost on the common folk," he bemoaned. The glass in his head still had some liquor in it, but he was finding himself a little light headed.

Whatever.

He finished the glass and set it down. He wasn't going to drink anymore. Unless Ollie did.

"But seriously, Ollie. She's a good girl. Too good for you. Don't let her get away." He paused in reflection before continuing, the smile gone from his face. "I can count on one hand the amount of women who would have the balls to throw a glass at some crazed psycho's head, no matter that it was obviously very dangerous." He motioned to Ollie's stomach. "Are you okay? I meant to ask you sooner, but I didn't have a chance to."

[neverontime.livejournal.com]

"Then good," he exclaimed, reaching over to pat Ollie on the shoulder. Hard. "Congratulations. If you need anything,let me know. Just not my balls....seeing as you'll be losing yours the minute you say "I do."

And now Bruce was cheerful, knowing that the conversation was as far away from him as possible. "Do you have the ring? You can't even begin to formulate a proposal without a ring, seeing as the whole speech has to make up for whatever the ring lacks."

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

He rolled his eyes. "No. No ring yet. The timing's not right," he admitted. "We haven't been together that long, but, sometimes you just know." He smirked at Bruce. "And when I get Chloe a ring, it won't be lacking anything."

[neverontime.livejournal.com]

"No, of course not, I'm merely teasing, old boy." He got up and headed back to the liquor cabinet.

"This calls for a celebration and you don't get to say no. I bared my heart out, and so did you. So let's drink and be bachelors and call random girls on Craigslist to see how much it would cost to cover them in gummy bears and make them go on a treadmill."

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

"You've always had a really bizarre idea of a good time," Oliver responded with a smirk, taking another drink from Bruce after he'd poured it. "You know that, right?"

He took a drink of the scotch, starting to feel a little inebriated himself, but not overly so. Just enough to grin a little more than normal.

[neverontime.livejournal.com]

"That idea is nothing. Remind me to tell you the time Harry and I decided to body paint Vegas showgirls." Bruce shook his head in laughter. "But you're too old for that. I don't think your heart could handle the shock."

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

"It amuses me that you keep mentioning how old I am when you're older than me." He smirked at him and took another drink, moving to sit back down once more.

"You'd be surprised what my heart could handle." After all, one of his closest acquaintances was an actual alien.