Confrontation with thekentboy

[olliequeen]

Oliver had only been home from his visit to Lana Lang-Luthor for an hour when he heard the buzzer from downstairs sound. Glancing at the monitor, he spotted Clark standing there, staring up at the camera.

He sighed tiredly. He wondered how long it would take the super-powered farm boy to show up on his doorstep after that article in The Inquisitor had hit the stands that morning.

Actually, he'd expected a visit from him a little sooner than now. Taking a drink of his lemonade, he buzzed Clark up and waited.

Comments

[thekentboy.livejournal.com]

Clark pushed the elevator gates open and stepped outside, he raised his head once he was inside and straightened his shoulders, nodding once at Oliver as a greeting as he slid his hands into his pockets.

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

"Clark," Oliver greeted him with a slight nod, eyeing him uncertainly. "I'd ask what brought you, but I have a feeling I already know the answer," he said wryly.

[thekentboy.livejournal.com]

He frowned a little and shrugged, "what was that about?" a little more direct than he meant to be, but Oliver didn't seem to want him here anymore than he wanted to be here.

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

"Nothing. We had lunch together and some hack reporter decided to try and make a name for herself by using me and Chloe to do it." He shrugged.

[thekentboy.livejournal.com]

"Did you take care of it?" Clark knew Oliver had managed to do that before, he didn't want his best friend's name being tossed around like that. He'd believed Chloe when she told him nothing was going on, but he felt like he should make sure Oliver was doing something about it.

[thekentboy.livejournal.com]

Clark's arms tensed over his chest, he knew he and Oliver didn't usually see eye to eye on things and most of the time, he let it go, but not this time, "If you're involving Chloe in those missions, I rather make sure it's as safe as possible."

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

"I'd do whatever it took to protect her, Clark." His voice was tense, annoyance level creeping higher.

[thekentboy.livejournal.com]

"So would I." He did trust Oliver enough to know that he meant it, but sometimes he wasn't sure that would be enough to keep Chloe safe.

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

"I'm aware." He stared at him hard, not moving from his stance.

[thekentboy.livejournal.com]

"Good." Clark stared back at him then looked towards the hallway that led to where Chloe was for a moment before looking back at Oliver, jaw still set, "I should get back, tell me if you find Tina."

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

Chloe thought she had heard voices, her first though was Tina, so she quickly got up and opened the door, completely forgetting the fact that she wasn't wearing pants (although the shirt was long enough to cover everything), only to find Oliver, standing there by himself.

She frowned and looked around, blinking so her eyes would adjust to the light, "Oliver?" From what she could tell, he didn't look happy.

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

The unexpected sound of her voice startled him and his fingers tightened involuntarily around the glass of lemonade, shattering it.

"Dammit," he grumbled, moving quickly to the sink. "Stay there." She was barefoot and he didn't want her to wind up getting cut.

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

The sound made her jump and her brain was suddenly more awake than before, she didn't move, her eyes going down to the shattered glass on the floor, "what happened?" She asked carefully.

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

"I broke the glass," he responded without hesitation, although he knew that wasn't what she meant.

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

Chloe sighed, her arms going around herself mostly because it was cold in the apartment, "what made you break the glass, Oliver?"

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

Once she was in the other room she looked over her shoulder to make sure he wasn't behind her and then sighed, rubbing her face with one of her hands.

Had they just almost kissed? He had been about to kiss her and she was about to kiss him back. For that short moment, she wanted him to kiss her. Chloe frowned and shook her head again, it was too soon, it hadn't even been two months since Davis and- what was she thinking?

This was Oliver after all, and while she knew he respected her for her work, even if something did happen, it wouldn't mean anything. He was nice and she really liked being around him but she knew there was nothing more to it.

They were both alone and if she was honest with herself, probably kind of lonely and that was the only reason why they had had those... moments. It was better if she stopped thinking about it now, before she let herself believe it was something else.

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

Oliver remained in the kitchen for a couple of moments, not wanting to invade her personal space anymore than he already had. What had he been thinking, about to kiss Chloe Sullivan? Just because they'd been spending a lot of time together recently, and she'd pretty much become his best friend didn't give him the right to assume she was interested in anything more.

After all, he was, by her own words, the playboy billionaire. And she was far too good of a person, far too innocent and kind for someone like him. She deserved better. A hell of a lot better.

Besides that, everything with Davis had only happened two short months ago. She'd been through a trauma. And here he'd been about to kiss her.

Closing his eyes for a moment, he willed himself to let go of the idea of anything ever happening between them other than friendship. Because it just could not be.

Shaking his head regretfully, he slowly headed down the hall and into the computer room. "What's going on?" he asked quietly.

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

Chloe blinked when he spoke and glanced at him over her shoulder. She had been so lost in her thoughts, she hadn't even checked the computers yet.

She walked slowly and clicked on the computer, reading for a moment and frowning softly as she leaned closer to the screen, "it looks like it found something, but it doesn't look like it's what we want, let me check."

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

"Okay." He remained standing in the doorframe, his gaze lingering on her for a long moment, involuntarily dropping down to her bare legs. He sucked in a breath as he realized she was still wearing his green shirt.

And only his green shirt.

"I'm gonna make some coffee," he said, turning and heading for the kitchen.

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

She frowned a little and looked over her shoulder again, did she say something? The last think she wanted was to make things more awkward than they already were.

Focusing her attention back on the computer, she started typing again, sighing quietly after a while and shaking her head.

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

It didn't take much to realize that however Clark chose to word it, it had really hurt Oliver. "I can still be sorry you had to hear it."

She kept her eyes on him as he walked away and held her hands together tightly to stop herself from reaching out to touch him, to try and comfort him that way. "And I know how much effort and energy you put into all of this, Oliver and I know you deserve better than that."

As she watched him, she felt herself wanting to wrap her arms around him, to reassure him about all the amazing things he does, to make him feel better. Her eyes widened slightly as she also felt the urge to press her lips to his and comfort him the best way she could. Chloe blinked the thoughts away and glanced down quickly to clear her mind before looking back at him.

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

He leaned against the sink for a moment, his back to her. Truthfully he knew Clark was right. He couldn't protect people the way Clark could, and that's what had really gotten to him. The fact that Chloe wasn't as safe with him as she was with Clark bothered him a lot more than he'd ever wanted to admit.

A year ago, Clark had stormed into his apartment and accused him of putting Chloe in danger. Even then, he'd been struck with guilt at the accusation because it had been true.

He always tried to be as careful as he could when it came to his team, but when it came down to it, they were in danger all the time because of him. And that was something that weighed constantly on his shoulders. He closed his eyes and let out a breath. "I appreciate that, Chloe." His voice was quiet.

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

She kept her eyes on his back, she knew there wasn't much she could say, she had been on the other side of Clark's rants before and it wasn't always easy to just let it go.

"If you ask me," she said, getting up and leaning on the opposite side of the counter, behind his back, "you do an amazing job."

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

He paused at that, then slowly turned to face her. "I do the best I can," he said quietly, meeting her eyes. He offered her a small smile. "And so do you."

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

In a reflex, Chloe stood up straight when he turned but she returned his soft smile, "thank you, I'm just trying to keep up with you."