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.

Comments

[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]

Sighing softly, he moved over and poured himself another glass of the scotch. "You should talk to her." His voice was quiet, but not judgemental. He took a drink of the alcohol and turned to face him once more.

"Before the time spans gets any longer."

[neverontime.livejournal.com]

"And say what? Please, tell me and I'd gladly say it."

His volume increased as he started to get more and more agitated. "I'm sorry for leaving, I forgot I left my stove on? You were perfect, the moment wasn't? I suddenly remembered I'm gay? Because all those reasons would make more sense than the truth."

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

"Then what is the truth?" he asked, shaking his head a little. "Because unless you want to completely ruin the relationship you have with her--whether it's friendship or otherwise--you're going to have to talk to her again and tell her something. And Rachel's a smart woman. She knows you pretty well. She's not going to buy anything less than the truth."

[neverontime.livejournal.com]

Bruce cocked an eyebrow at this. "Yeah, well, do you see her here? I can barely get a hello out of her, let alone a lengthy conversation."

He tilted his head back and swallowed his glass, the liquid burning fiercely down his throat. For a few moments he said nothing, before lowering his head and speaking quietly. "I've tried, but the minute the phone starts to ring, I hang up. When did I become such a coward?" He lifted his head, a brief glimpse of pain shooting across them. "I don't remember ever doing this before."

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

"It's because you actually care about her," Oliver told him matter-of-factly, finishing off his own drink. "Trust me. That changes everything." He smiled a bit, then shook his head.

He set his glass down and looked at his life-long friend. "Look. It's going to take more than a phone call. You screwed up pretty bad. But I get the feeling that Rachel's a forgiving person. Just be sincere. And uh--flowers might help."

[neverontime.livejournal.com]

"Have you met Rachel? She'd throw them out." At this, he smiled a bit. "Especially if I sent them under a different name. Like yours. She'd throw them out just to be on the safe side."

He raked his fingers through his hair, trying to ignore the shakiness inside. "No, I have to be creative here. Money just annoys her, so I won't be throwing that at her." He frowned. "Which is unfortunate, because I'm not much good at anything else. This is where you offer suggestions, by the way, my friend."

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

Oliver couldn't say that he blamed her if she did throw out any flowers Bruce might send to her.

"You know her a lot better than I do." He looked at Bruce for a moment. "It's going to have to be something meaningful. And you should probably start practicing your grovelling."

[neverontime.livejournal.com]

Bruce made a face and then stopped himself. Ollie wasn't saying anything he hadn't thought of already. Of course, at the same time, Ollie knew nothing about the Batman angle to this triangle.

"Groveling. Isnt that more your cup of tea than me? I seem to remember you getting us out of certain scrapes in school by just batting your poor orphan eyes."

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

Oliver rolled his eyes. "Just be thankful it worked." He reluctantly let Bruce change the subject. Clearly he didn't want to talk about Rachel anymore, and while Oliver was generally a stubborn guy, he wasn't going to push. Not about this.

"Besides. Need I remind you that you were the one who got us in a majority of those scrapes? And we both know I was cuter even back then." He smirked.

[neverontime.livejournal.com]

"It's true, " he nodded in agreement, trying to hold back a smile.

"It's only with age that you've lost those youthful good looks. So sad." He shook his head, smiling now. "All that potential, gone. I'll drink to that."