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thejusticelounge2013-02-06 03:33 pm
bossymarmalade) wrote in thejusticelounge2013-02-06 03:33 pm
Entry tags:
smoothing the wrinkles
He’d changed the sheets.
It was only after he’d taken the other set to the laundry that he realized he’d done it. He stopped a moment and laughed at himself, shaking his head. Was he really THAT confident about this little reunion thing?
Well, in a word, yes.
Smoothing his hands through his hair, Hal headed to the bathroom, picking up a clean shirt and pulling it on. Buttoning it up, he looked at himself in the mirror. Was this the same man who had been Parallax? the same man who’d fallen victim to the lie that he could change everything? and make it ‘right’ again? The grey at his temples stood out more starkly in the bright bathroom light…but it wasn’t the same. The hair didn’t ring his head in white, caused by…fear.
“No.”
He shook his head. He was Parallax no more. He was Hal Jordan, and he would only be Hal Jordan. Even with part of Ion’s power, he could stay himself, he could stay…sane. He had to. With so much to live for now, how could he let himself come apart?
Walking back into the main room, he told himself all he could do now was wait…and hope that Ollie really wanted to extend the olive branch.
It was odd, the Coast City house. Even the idea of it was odd, visiting Hal someplace so big and seemingly permanent. All the while Ollie’d known him, the guy had been transient, constantly moving — hotel rooms to the truck to lovers’ homes to outer space — and even though most of the League from the old days knew Hal’s place at 22 Seaview, in the grand scheme of things that apartment hadn’t even lasted that long.
And now he’d up and bought a Green Lantern chapterhouse.
Hal greeted him at the door all freshly groomed and neatly buttoned, smelling of diesel and cranberries and aftershave when Ollie angled to kiss him before coming in. It was a heady enough scent, and the new place was all decorated and everything and piquing Ollie’s curiosity to see what a Hal Jordan den would look like, but they had business first.
“Tell me about Ion,” he said, sitting down unasked and leaning his elbows on his knees, hands clasped in front of him. “Tell me exactly why I don’t need to be worried about it, Hal.”
*And make it good*, was the unsaid implication.
Hal regarded Ollie a moment, then nodded slowly. Explain Ion…hell he might as well have tried to explain the origin of the universe that way. Still, it was a challenge he had to rise to if he wanted things to be ‘normal’ between them again.
“Telling you that Ion is the GL version of Parallax was the easiest way to sum it up,” he said. “Each Corp has an entity, made up of the energy of that corp. Parallax is made of fear, and it feeds on fear.” Because fear was an all consuming power, if left unchecked. “Ion is made of willpower. The blue entity is made of hope, the red out of rage, so on. I hesitate to say they really have “personalities”…Parallax did, Ion doesn’t seem to.” He shrugged. “Maybe that’s the nature of willpower, I can’t be certain.”
He paced a little, running a hand through his hair before he sat down as well, facing Oliver and looking serious…and calm.
“Kyle and I each have a part of Ion in us,” he said. “It’s power is split between both of us, maybe because Ion knew we couldn’t handle all of it alone. With entities, there’s no real certainty. Hell, I don’t think even your favorite blue fascists know that much…All I know is what I feel. I can feel Ion’s power in me..” He slid his ring off and set it on the table, then encased his body in the usual soft green glow. “It’s like having an internal battery that never loses its charge. Yes, I could do a lot with this power…But I know better.”
He recalled his ring to his palm, then slid it on once more.
“I’m not asking you to understand,” he said. “Especially since I don’t fully understand it myself….What I am asking is that you trust me. Trust that I learned from my mistakes, and I will /not/ let them happen again.”
Clasping his hands together, he fixed Oliver with a level look. Despite his calm exterior, there was the smallest hint of tension and nervousness in him. The tilt of his head, the flex of his jaw and neck, the way his thumbs rubbed over each other…All things Oliver would know.
“I wish I had more…but that’s all I’ve got.”
Seeing Hal glow green like that, his ring lying demurely on the table and not on his finger, was enough to make Ollie’s heart thumpa-thump into a more anxious rhythm. “It’s not…” he said softly, then shook himself and met Hal’s eyes again. “It’s not that I don’t trust you, Hal. I trust you more than any man alive. I couldn’t love you otherwise. It’s this entity I don’t trust, don’t you get that? It’s the Parallaxes and Ions and whatever other members of the rainbow pantheon of insanely powerful Lantern beings there are, floating out there, waiting to take possession of mortal beings. I know, I know —” Ollie waved his hands, seeing a tendon in Hal’s jaw jump, “—they’re not all the same, and this is different from Parallax, somehow. But it all sounds a lot the same to me.”
Ollie rubbed at the long, crooked bridge of his nose, remembering what it had been like to feel Kyle using *his* Ion power to heal it up from being broken and re-broken by Bruce and Damian, remembering how Kyle’s work had also cleaned up the lingering pain in his teeth from where Hal had punched him, too. He slouched back against the sofa cushions with a sigh, staring at the table between them. “I mean, jeez, Hal … you *hit* me. You knew I was already an emotional terrified wreck from what happened with Kate, finding out she was lying to me, and just because I didn’t accept this whole Ion business right off the bat, no questions asked …” He shook his head, propping his elbow against the arm of the sofa so he could press the heel of his hand to his face. “It didn’t exactly tell me that you had things under control, y’know?”
Ollie had him there. Hal nodded slowly, sighing a bit and sitting back in his seat. They’d both been far too emotional for that conversation, now that he thought about it.
“I was already riled from listening to everyone jump on me and Kyle, insisting we’d both go rogue again. I…I don’t know why some part of me thought you’d just accept the whole thing, but..Well, we can’t change it now, can we? I’m sorry, Ollie.” Sorry sure, but he still felt Oliver was being selfish. Or he was. Damnit he didn’t even know anymore.
“I know the idea of the entities scares you,” he said. “Hell I always thought the idea of something bigger and tougher than you kind of scared you, to be honest, let alone beings with phenomenal cosmic powers. Believe me, I question myself all the time if what I’m doing is right. I just…” He sighed, folding his arms over his chest and shaking his head. Saying it over and over wasn’t going to help.
“All I can tell you is right now, I’m still me. I’m still just Hal…and I need someone to believe in me.”
“I’m not scared of things that’re bigger and more powerful than me,” Ollie murmured against his palm. “It’s not that at all. I could never have lasted this long if I was. But this isn’t Doomsday or Brick or Killer Croc, Hal. This is cousin to an entity that we both tangled with before that has powers beyond my reckoning, powers that’re capable of levelling planets — and it’s no solace to know that it’s squatting inside’ve you AND Kyle. *That’s* what I’m struggling with.”
Ollie shifted his gaze from the coffee table to Hal’s knees. They looked bonier than usual; when had that happened? “I know I must sound like a broken record to you, Hal,” he said. “But you’re just gonna have to accept it. I’m not good with this. I’m not gonna be. I don’t think there’s any assurance you can give me that’ll make me okay with it. To be honest, it doesn’t sound like you know what’s going on yourself. And you’re not — you’re not still just Hal. Not by a long shot. I do believe in Hal Jordan, I always will. But this Ion is a different matter entirely.”
Sitting forward again, Ollie finally looked up to meet Hal’s eyes. “So what now?” he asked, reaching out to cup his hand over one of those pointed knees, feeling how hot Hal was running. “I’m not deserting you or anything, Hal, never that. But I’m sorry — I can’t be as blasé about this as you want me to be. I can’t just accept that you’ve got Ion in you and act as though I’m comfortable with it on any level.”
The hand on his leg was comforting. Covering the archer’s hand with his own, he squeezed lightly, rubbing his thumb over his fingers slowly. Ollie could never be fooled, not by him. They knew each other far too well for that. Resigning himself to that, he got up and moved to sit next to him on the couch, hip and leg pressed firmly to the blond’s.
“I guess I’ve been kidding myself a little,” he said, looking at Oliver. “Thinking maybe if I acted like it was no big deal, everyone else would take it that way. The others all seem worried I’ll go Parallax on them again and just…I don’t know, start rewriting history. But you…You’re worried about me, aren’t you? My well being in this mess.” He chuckled softly and shook his head.
“Playing host to an entity is a big deal, and believe me, knowing I have this insane power at my fingertips is tempting. Power never loses its allure, no matter who you are or what you’ve gone through. But…I don’t have a choice really. I just have to endure it for now.”
Almost tentatively, he shifted his weight and leaned into Oliver, nuzzling into his shoulder a little. Wood and oil and leather and spice…Familiar scents from Oliver, very calming ones at that.
“If I could give it up, I would, believe me. But…I need to, really.”
“Ahhhhhh, jesus.” Ollie extricated his arm from between them and wrapped it around Hal, digging his fingertips into the smooth muscle of Hal’s bicep. “It seems like a helluva lot to ask of you, you and Rayner both, to have to house this thing and adjust your lives around it. Not to mention the rest of us.” Ollie scowled, poking his nose against Hal’s soft hair. “Next time I see one’a them little blue jelly babies I’m punting it across the room. If you ask me, the Guardians should be more on top of this thing than they are. Isn’t that what they’re *for*?”
Hal curled slightly and took a breath, so Ollie shifted out of “hurling wild imprecations at the blasted Guardians” mode and pushed gently into the other man, asking, “How long will this take, did Yat give you any indication? Is there any way to make it go faster?” He paused for a moment and amended, “That’s probably a dumb question. But, I mean — Guy and John said they’d help, right? What is there to be *done* that we can *do*?”
Blowing out a gusty sigh, Ollie let his head drop back and blinked at the ceiling. “It’s feeling this helpless that’s getting to me, y’know,” he said. “The idea of Ion inside you and nothing to be done about it. The longer it’s in there, Hal, the more chance there is of it fucking with you somehow, fucking you *up*. Even if you don’t go Parallax, it’s not a *good* thing for you. I don’t want anything to happen to you and it’s making me crazy to just … wait and see.”
The arm around him was comforting. It meant that Ollie as at least listening, and a little, and that was progress. Closing his eyes, he sighed and just enjoyed a moment of warmth with him. Even if they were still not completely cool or even or whatever, the moment of closeness offered hope, as did Oliver’s words.
“I don’t know,” Hal said, shaking his head. “I don’t know how long it will be, and I don’t know if there’s anything to be done for it. Waiting is awful, but it’s all we’ve got.” Shifting a little, he pressed a hand to Oliver’s cheek and turned his head to face him.
“We just have to weather it the way we always have,” he said. “Just hold out and do our damnedest.” Tangling his fingers in Oliver’s hair, he just kept him close. “believe me…as soon as I can get rid of this thing, I will. I don’t want it, but…well, the Guardians be damned, sometimes I have to do things for the Corp, you know?
“Just stay with me,” he said. “We’ll get through this, you’ll see. And it won’t get bad. I won’t let it.”
“Well, that’s as close to a promise as I can get for this fucked-up situation, so I’ll take it.” Ollie slung his arms onto Hal’s shoulders, crossing his wrists behind Hal’s neck and leaning in to kiss him, gentle little chaste, lingering kisses on the mouth. “I suppose in one way, you and Rayner having Ion split between you is kind of a blessing — a burden shared is a burden halved, and all that,” he mused, pressing their noses together before pulling back enough to look at Hal as he spoke.
Ollie hesitated a little bit then, wondering if he should continue along that train of thought. They’d spoken before about Hal’s relationship with Kyle, but never specifics, never even casual “so how are you two doing” kind of stuff. Mostly just the big announcement, and then logistical type things, working out schedules and dealing with worldwide and sometimes intergalactic crises. The usual things when a relationship included Green Lanterns.
Really, Ollie’d only just barely started enjoying Kyle on a non-ironic level, and he wasn’t quite sure if it was particularly kosher to start talking about Hal-and-Kyle as a thing. As an entity of their own. It wasn’t that he didn’t accept it, but he still wasn’t clear on where the boundaries of being interested in them started and ended.
But what the hell.
“How’s this affecting you and Kyle?” he asked, and once the question was there, out loud, Ollie realized how curious about the answer he truly was. He moved his fingers up the back of Hal’s neck into the short hair at the nape, skritching gently. “Splitting Ion between you. I mean, it must make things kinda more intimate or something, right? You guys are *literally* part of each other, in a way. Does that make it easier, or harder?”
Chaste or no, the affection was welcomed, and Hal returned it with several soft touches to the other’s face and neck. His fingers trailed along Oliver’s jaw, then he rubbed his thumb against Ollie’s beard. He’d missed it, and if they had been talking, he would have taken the chance to tug on it a bit, just to get Ollie going. But not right now.
Really the question about his and Kyle’s status surprised him. Like Oliver, he’d never really known when it was or wasn’t ok to talk about it. Maybe that was something they needed to work on, since it might help them mend some of the bridges damaged by the whole Ion thing and their initial discussion.
“It’s…stressful, actually,” Hal admitted. He shifted on the couch, leaning back so that he almost laid across his lover, head resting on his shoulder with his body leaning into Oliver’s chest and belly. “Sure in the bedroom, it’s kind of amazing. I can feel what he thinks, and him me. But…” He nuzzled under Oliver’s neck, just to be closer to him.
“Don’t tell him I said this, but…I’m a little worried about him. He keeps saying that we should be allowed to do more. I’m constantly having to check him on it. I don’t THINK he would actually go off and do something, but he thinks about it. Without the full power of Ion, he’s a lot more limited in what he can do.” He sighed, shaking his head and leaning into the blond a bit more. He always felt so safe in those strong arms. “And any big exertion of power bleeds over. I can feel it, and if I had to…I could find him to stop him.
“That’s another reason I needed you so badly,” he said. “I have to support Kyle and make sure he keeps himself on the straight and narrow. I feel confident I can stay there, but…I’ve come to appreciate back up.”
“I get that,” Ollie rumbled, the feel of his voice low in his chest against the warmth and weight of Hal soothing him even more. “I mean, we need to make sure it doesn’t seem like we’re ganging up on Kyle or anything — because I get the feeling it might look that way pretty easy — but I’m here for you on this, Hal, anytime.”
Ollie rubbed the fleshy part of his thumb against his nose unconsciously, slowly saying, “Kyle used his ring to fix up my nose after Bruce broke it. Well, after Damian re-broke it. After both Waynes had a crack at me. Anyhow, the point is, Kyle fixed me up without even blinking, and again when him and me had that skirmish with J’onn, he did some more GL first aid and then blinked me back home. Not flew, like usual, just—” Ollie fireworked his hands in front of them, splaying his fingers, “—poof! Magically transported us from one place to another.”
He propped his chin against the top of Hal’s head, rubbing his hand lightly against Hal’s side. “It’s okay for you to talk to me about Kyle,” Ollie said. “We maybe should have talked about this a while ago, but it all seemed a little bit precarious before, y’know? Especially with Kyle being so touchy about everything. But now things feel calmer, and I don’t mind hearing it. Doesn’t upset me.” He thought about what Hal had said, and maybe it wasn’t the most important point, but Ollie couldn’t help asking: “So, when this Ion thing is gone and that aspect is gone from the bedroom, d’you think you’ll miss it? A lot?”
“In some ways, I think so,” Hal said, then shrugged. “But for the most part, I think we already had a close connection. Our rings seem to link with each other without thought.” He chuckled a little, lightly pushing against the other’s chest. “He’s edging on getting closer to the kind of connection you and I have, without help.” He smiled.
After a moment, he sat up and moved to straddle his lover’s lap, just to look at him full on and stay close to him. Every inch of Oliver was just as he’d always known it: solid muscle, deliciously beautiful skin, and the most comely and handsome features a man could ask for. Cupping his face in his hands, he leaned close and kissed him, softly at first, but urging deeper after a moment. It wasn’t hot or demanding, just…comfortable. Finally, he slid his arms around his neck and nuzzled his cheek.
“I’m glad you’re getting comfortable with the whole idea. I think, in a few years, Kyle and I might be somewhere close to you and me. Honestly…I’m so very lucky to have you both. But you..My Ollie.” He took Oliver’s hand and held it tight, rubbing his thumb over the blond’s ring. “I love you so much…And I can’t tell you what it means to me to have you with me now. We’ll get through this.” He smiled a bit, relaxed…happy. He believed those words when he said them, and the confidence of that was amazing.
Ollie hadn’t particularly anticipated ending up with a lapful of warm, affectionate Hal when he’d come over, but he wasn’t complaining. Close physical contact was something he craved anyways, even when he was angry or hurt with somebody, so having Hal curled against him, kissing and nuzzling, did a lot to fill that longing. “Yeah, we’ve gotten through way worse, haven’t we?” he agreed, stroking the greying hair at Hal’s temples. “Managed to make it this far, whole and intact, and land together again after so long. Like I never knew we could, Hal.”
Shifting to make the close contact more cosy for them both, Ollie wrapped his arms around Hal as well, listening to the familiar sound of the other man’s breathing. “I think … I think this might all be part of a bigger situation that we need to deal with. I mean our quarreling and all that. It might not have been so explosive if we didn’t feel we had to keep from talking about certain parts of our lives. Really important parts.” He rubbed his thumb along the hinge of Hal’s jaw. “Kyle and Kate.
“I want to hear about it, Hal. I wanna know how he makes you feel, what you’re annoyed with, what you love about him. I’m not saying you need to make me your confidante about the intricacies of your relationship or anything, but he’s your boyfriend! He spends more of the day-to-day with you than I do! And I want to be able to talk about Kate with you sometimes, because I love her a *lot*, Hal, and she’s so much a part of my everyday, so much a part of me. I mean, can you imagine what it would feel like if we couldn’t talk about each other to *them*? I think it needs to go all ways. No more imbalance. If we’re gonna be a unit and a family in whatever crazy 4-of-4 way this whole thing shakes out, then we have to be able to talk. All of us, about all of us.”
“I think you’re right,” Hal said. “We’ve been…almost distant with each other lately. I know things are changing, but most of it’s for the better.” Stroking his fingers through Oliver’s hair, he smiled then wrapped his arms around his neck. Nuzzling into his hair, he drank in everything about him, everything he’d missed. He missed getting to wake up to that warmth, the soft huffy snore that was so uniquely Ollie. He missed teasing kisses over his lips or touching his chest until he woke up.
“Remember how you used to tell me all about you and Dinah? Every argument, every make up, even a few glosses about the hot nights you two had. I think we should be able to be that open and frank about Kyle and Kate. I want to be able to tell you about how cute he is when he’s working on his art, and I want you to tell me how beautiful Kate is when she’s sleeping.”
For a moment, he just sat there, leaning against Oliver, letting him hold him, holding him in return. They were going to be okay, and things were going to get better. He knew they were.
“We should spend more time together as a group,” he said after a pause. “And you should know you’re welcome here anytime. I have extra rooms here, so space isn’t an issue.” He chuckled and nuzzled him. “Though I have to admit…I miss your bed in the Arrow house.”
“Nothing like being in a kingsize with a Queen, hey?” Ollie grinned and tickled his fingers up Hal’s spine, kissing his chin. “Musical beds I can handle. It’s the way we’ve been drifting and not talking to each other as much as we used to that’s a problem, and yeah, I think it’s well nigh for us all to make a more concerted effort to spend time together. Or at least we can *start* with talking to each other about our partners, considering how much trouble it might be to make four very disparate schedules jive.”
He rubbed a hand lazily along Hal’s back, the familiar curves and planes of his muscles comforting under Ollie’s palm. “It was different with Dinah, though, y’know,” Ollie mused. “She was … even when you and me were together, on the road, Dinah was my *real* relationship. The one I was always gonna go back to. That’s part of the reason I didn’t care if I told you all about her, if I made you feel like second-best or like something temporary. That’s what I was *trying* to do, so you’d know not to count on it lasting. Not to count on *me*.”
Ollie hugged Hal closer to try and offset the harshness of what he was saying. It was true, though, all of it, and maybe Hal already knew that and maybe at this point it didn’t even matter any more, but Ollie needed to tell him anyhow. “And this time around, it’s all better, and I want it to stay like that. You and Kate are both in my life for keeps, and Hal, I would do anything to make sure you know that and feel happy and secure and everything good. I love you so much, baby.” He pressed his nose against Hal’s throat. “Tell me how much you love me.”
Hal listened, remembering the time on the road, when they’d been fighting their feelings, fighting what they knew was there. It was a little hard to hear that Ollie had been intentionally trying to belittle what they did and the feelings they had for each other, but..that was different now. Now they were honest, now they knew and understood that the feelings they had would never go away.
“How much I love you,” Hal mused, then chuckled. “I could sooner number the stars.” He kissed his temple, making a soft noise as he did. “I love you. I feel incomplete without you. I need you to live..and I never want to see a day without you.” Closing his eyes, he leaned his head against the other’s, sighing happily.
“But you know all of that, don’t you?” he said, chuckling. “You just wanted to hear me say it.” He kissed his temple and almost cooed, rubbing his hands over Oliver’s shoulders. Leaning back, he smiled at his lover. “I’d follow you to the ends of the earth and back. We’ve been farther than that before, haven’t we?”
Smiling, he kissed Oliver’s nose, then his forehead, then his cheeks, then finally stooped to catch his lips, keeping the contact firm but loving. He let it stray, let it linger, let deepen before finally breaking. He licked his lips and smiled at his lover, sliding his hands over his neck slowly.
“The bottom line is this,” he said. “I love you, Oliver Queen. I love you, Green Arrow. Now and always.”
Ollie felt a shiver of pleasure run through him, a thrill that apparently hadn’t yet been dulled by the two of them being together, for real, out in the open and for good. “Hal, sweetheart,” he murmured, smoothing his hands over Hal’s soft, flyaway brown hair. “I do know all that, you’re right. I still wanted to hear it, though. I like hearing you talk to me that way, especially when I’m feeling a little shaken.” He hugged Hal tight, hearing that pleased low hum that Hal did when he was content, feeling Hal’s long fingers push up into his hair.
It was tempting to just stay like that, canoodling on the couch, but instead Ollie took a big, quick breath and brightly suggested, “So how about that tour of the place? My abiding memory of your domiciles before this one consists mostly of the same damn bookshelf and whatever furniture was on sale at the time. I wanna see if you’ve branched out any! Did you build a special cabinet for the ol’ lantern? Maybe a bathing pool in front of it so the Central Battery can symbolically baptize you every time you take the Oath?”
He was babbling a little bit, but it was exhilarating in a way, now that he was more conscious about it — being in *Hal’s house*. It was like going up to your lover’s place for the first time, even with them having known each other for years and Hal staying over at Arrowhome for the better part of the year. Standing, Ollie grabbed Hal’s hand and hauled him up too. “C’mon, show me around.” He paused, kissing Hal’s shoulder. “Then you can take me to bed if you want.”
That kiss and those simple words told Hal everything was going to be ok. They’d have to fake it a little, just to keep things smooth, but when it was all said and done, everything was going to be alright. Hal smiled warmly as he took Oliver’s hand, tugging a little to lead him around.
“It’s not as fancy as it seems,” he said. “Kyle got all excited and picked out a lot of things for me.” He gestured to the drapes in one of the guest rooms (of which there were 2). “I picked this place with the intent that anyone who needed a place to crash would have it.”
He lead Oliver through the rooms, nudging open the door to Kyle’s studio to assure himself the other man wasn’t there before pushing the door open to let Oliver see.
“He spends a lot of his time here, doing this or that for work. I go in there and nap on the couch sometimes when he’s busy, just for the company. He has a sketchbook full of pictures of me sleeping.” Chuckling, he took Ollie through the kitchen, then the dining room. Finally, he lead him upstairs.
“There’s a sort of media room up here,” he said, gesturing to an open area with a large couch (a well used one, no doubt second hand) and a coffee table. “But we just use it more as a lounge. I’ll probably eventually put a TV up here.” He shrugged. “Maybe.”
Finally, they reached the door to his room. He paused, facing Oliver and taking both of his hands in his own. His thumbs rubbed over Ollie’s knuckles, pressing the blond’s fingers into his palm.
“So…that’s the grand tour.”
“Significant draperies in the guest rooms, a sleeping sofa in Kyle’s studio, and no media in the media room. Very impressive, sweetheart.” Ollie bit back a laugh; there were certain … peculiarities about Hal and his ideas about what constituted *normal* that would never really change, it seemed. But his daffyness was one of the things that could be so endearing about him, so Ollie smiled fondly and looked over at the freshly-made bed inside the room. “The main event?” he teased, then went over to it, towing Hal along with him.
He went around to the other side of the bed and divested himself of t-shirt and jeans and socks quickly enough, getting under the covers in his underwear and testing out the pillow. High and lofty and made that plush noise when you put your head down on it, just like Ollie liked them, and he gave Hal an appreciative noise while Hal was getting undressed too.
It wasn’t as if Ollie was feeling particularly … *shy*, or anything, but mostly what he wanted to do was be close to Hal. Hold him and talk to him and kiss him and reconnect and be soft and easy, for once. He was feeling a little rattled with everything that had been happening lately, and once Hal slid into the bed all warm and pretty, Ollie curled against him, slinging an arm over the other man’s chest and pressing his nose against Hal’s bicep.
“I love you,” he mumbled against Hal’s skin, looking up at him. “You have to keep safe and sane and you. ‘Cause you have to keep *me* safe, sometimes.”
Hal was pleased when Ollie undressed without any further prodding. He paused to watch, taking in every stretch and flex of muscle under golden skin, lightly wetting his lips as the light played on the patches of dark blond hair. He took his time taking his own clothes off, tossing them into a semi neat pile. Glancing at Oliver once more, he smirked a bit, hooking his thumbs in his boxers and pulling them down.
“I forgot to mention the house rules,” he said, climbing into bed with Oliver. “No clothes allowed, whenever possible.” He chuckled a little, turning his head to kiss Oliver softly. “I’ll be safe, don’t worry,” he said. One hand smoothed over Oliver’s arm, clasping softly now and again. “I love you too, Ollie,” he said, turning onto his side to pull the other man flush against him.
The feeling of just being that close to him was comforting, like filling in a part of himself that had felt empty before. Breathing in the familiar scent of Oliver, smoothing his hand over his back, nuzzling against his face..it all felt so right. Closing his eyes, he pressed a tender, chaste kiss to Oliver’s lips, humming softly as he did.
“I swear…I could stay like this with you forever.”
“Y’know — right about now, that sounds like a very solid plan.” Ollie held Hal’s face and planted kisses along his temples, breathing in the clean, warm smell of his hair and letting Hal’s contented breathing and humming lull him. “I think I could actually get used to this place and its guest and media rooms and — oh, hey, I should give you a housewarming present! I didn’t really think about it since we had so much important stuff to talk about, but I should do that.” A gift card for a furniture store for an embarrassingly large amount, maybe. After all, what was the point of being a rich boyfriend if you couldn’t buy your honey swanky furnishings for his new home?
Moving his hands down to skim across Hal’s shoulders, his elbows, and finally settling on his flat hips, Ollie settled in close and looked around at the room better. Sparse (he hadn’t expected anything else, considering Hal had a single duffel bag when he’d moved in with Ollie), but not cold or empty. More of a quiet serenity, a little oasis in a big Green Lantern universe.
“I could get used to Hal Jordan, Property Owner, too,” Ollie remarked, rubbing the small of Hal’s back. “This place was a good idea, baby. Suits you. Once you populate it with some more, y’know, stuff—” Ollie tipped his head back and forth vaguely, “stuff” for him with regards to a household encompassing everything from entire media setups to collections of rooster-themed kitchen accoutrements — “it’s be real nice and cosy. Hal-nest.” He let his hand sprawl out against Hal’s side. “But this is perfect.”
Hal smiled as he listened to the other, sliding his arm around him to hold him closer. Long fingers traced the blond’s back and side, stroking the dearly familiar grooves and swells of muscle. He was glad to have Oliver so close, and for them to be so comfortable again. Sighing happily, he nodded a bit, trying to move just a little closer to his lover (as though he could).
“Stuff will come in time,” he said, rubbing a hand over Oliver’s chest. “I always thought it was the people around you that made a place worth being in.”
He moved his hand to push a bit of soft blond hair back, giving him an unobstructed view of two beautiful green eyes. Moments like this, he was astounded by just how much he could love another person, and how deep that feeling could go. Oliver, his Ollie, Green Arrow…His soul mate. And one person he would sooner die than disappoint.
“And now I’m getting mushy,” he said, chuckling and shaking his head. “Ah…But I can’t help it. I love you, and I want you in my life, for every possible second. But more than that, I want you to be happy.” He chuckled and smiled. “And I dare say…you almost are.” He nuzzled the other lightly, then kissed him.
It was only after he’d taken the other set to the laundry that he realized he’d done it. He stopped a moment and laughed at himself, shaking his head. Was he really THAT confident about this little reunion thing?
Well, in a word, yes.
Smoothing his hands through his hair, Hal headed to the bathroom, picking up a clean shirt and pulling it on. Buttoning it up, he looked at himself in the mirror. Was this the same man who had been Parallax? the same man who’d fallen victim to the lie that he could change everything? and make it ‘right’ again? The grey at his temples stood out more starkly in the bright bathroom light…but it wasn’t the same. The hair didn’t ring his head in white, caused by…fear.
“No.”
He shook his head. He was Parallax no more. He was Hal Jordan, and he would only be Hal Jordan. Even with part of Ion’s power, he could stay himself, he could stay…sane. He had to. With so much to live for now, how could he let himself come apart?
Walking back into the main room, he told himself all he could do now was wait…and hope that Ollie really wanted to extend the olive branch.
It was odd, the Coast City house. Even the idea of it was odd, visiting Hal someplace so big and seemingly permanent. All the while Ollie’d known him, the guy had been transient, constantly moving — hotel rooms to the truck to lovers’ homes to outer space — and even though most of the League from the old days knew Hal’s place at 22 Seaview, in the grand scheme of things that apartment hadn’t even lasted that long.
And now he’d up and bought a Green Lantern chapterhouse.
Hal greeted him at the door all freshly groomed and neatly buttoned, smelling of diesel and cranberries and aftershave when Ollie angled to kiss him before coming in. It was a heady enough scent, and the new place was all decorated and everything and piquing Ollie’s curiosity to see what a Hal Jordan den would look like, but they had business first.
“Tell me about Ion,” he said, sitting down unasked and leaning his elbows on his knees, hands clasped in front of him. “Tell me exactly why I don’t need to be worried about it, Hal.”
*And make it good*, was the unsaid implication.
Hal regarded Ollie a moment, then nodded slowly. Explain Ion…hell he might as well have tried to explain the origin of the universe that way. Still, it was a challenge he had to rise to if he wanted things to be ‘normal’ between them again.
“Telling you that Ion is the GL version of Parallax was the easiest way to sum it up,” he said. “Each Corp has an entity, made up of the energy of that corp. Parallax is made of fear, and it feeds on fear.” Because fear was an all consuming power, if left unchecked. “Ion is made of willpower. The blue entity is made of hope, the red out of rage, so on. I hesitate to say they really have “personalities”…Parallax did, Ion doesn’t seem to.” He shrugged. “Maybe that’s the nature of willpower, I can’t be certain.”
He paced a little, running a hand through his hair before he sat down as well, facing Oliver and looking serious…and calm.
“Kyle and I each have a part of Ion in us,” he said. “It’s power is split between both of us, maybe because Ion knew we couldn’t handle all of it alone. With entities, there’s no real certainty. Hell, I don’t think even your favorite blue fascists know that much…All I know is what I feel. I can feel Ion’s power in me..” He slid his ring off and set it on the table, then encased his body in the usual soft green glow. “It’s like having an internal battery that never loses its charge. Yes, I could do a lot with this power…But I know better.”
He recalled his ring to his palm, then slid it on once more.
“I’m not asking you to understand,” he said. “Especially since I don’t fully understand it myself….What I am asking is that you trust me. Trust that I learned from my mistakes, and I will /not/ let them happen again.”
Clasping his hands together, he fixed Oliver with a level look. Despite his calm exterior, there was the smallest hint of tension and nervousness in him. The tilt of his head, the flex of his jaw and neck, the way his thumbs rubbed over each other…All things Oliver would know.
“I wish I had more…but that’s all I’ve got.”
Seeing Hal glow green like that, his ring lying demurely on the table and not on his finger, was enough to make Ollie’s heart thumpa-thump into a more anxious rhythm. “It’s not…” he said softly, then shook himself and met Hal’s eyes again. “It’s not that I don’t trust you, Hal. I trust you more than any man alive. I couldn’t love you otherwise. It’s this entity I don’t trust, don’t you get that? It’s the Parallaxes and Ions and whatever other members of the rainbow pantheon of insanely powerful Lantern beings there are, floating out there, waiting to take possession of mortal beings. I know, I know —” Ollie waved his hands, seeing a tendon in Hal’s jaw jump, “—they’re not all the same, and this is different from Parallax, somehow. But it all sounds a lot the same to me.”
Ollie rubbed at the long, crooked bridge of his nose, remembering what it had been like to feel Kyle using *his* Ion power to heal it up from being broken and re-broken by Bruce and Damian, remembering how Kyle’s work had also cleaned up the lingering pain in his teeth from where Hal had punched him, too. He slouched back against the sofa cushions with a sigh, staring at the table between them. “I mean, jeez, Hal … you *hit* me. You knew I was already an emotional terrified wreck from what happened with Kate, finding out she was lying to me, and just because I didn’t accept this whole Ion business right off the bat, no questions asked …” He shook his head, propping his elbow against the arm of the sofa so he could press the heel of his hand to his face. “It didn’t exactly tell me that you had things under control, y’know?”
Ollie had him there. Hal nodded slowly, sighing a bit and sitting back in his seat. They’d both been far too emotional for that conversation, now that he thought about it.
“I was already riled from listening to everyone jump on me and Kyle, insisting we’d both go rogue again. I…I don’t know why some part of me thought you’d just accept the whole thing, but..Well, we can’t change it now, can we? I’m sorry, Ollie.” Sorry sure, but he still felt Oliver was being selfish. Or he was. Damnit he didn’t even know anymore.
“I know the idea of the entities scares you,” he said. “Hell I always thought the idea of something bigger and tougher than you kind of scared you, to be honest, let alone beings with phenomenal cosmic powers. Believe me, I question myself all the time if what I’m doing is right. I just…” He sighed, folding his arms over his chest and shaking his head. Saying it over and over wasn’t going to help.
“All I can tell you is right now, I’m still me. I’m still just Hal…and I need someone to believe in me.”
“I’m not scared of things that’re bigger and more powerful than me,” Ollie murmured against his palm. “It’s not that at all. I could never have lasted this long if I was. But this isn’t Doomsday or Brick or Killer Croc, Hal. This is cousin to an entity that we both tangled with before that has powers beyond my reckoning, powers that’re capable of levelling planets — and it’s no solace to know that it’s squatting inside’ve you AND Kyle. *That’s* what I’m struggling with.”
Ollie shifted his gaze from the coffee table to Hal’s knees. They looked bonier than usual; when had that happened? “I know I must sound like a broken record to you, Hal,” he said. “But you’re just gonna have to accept it. I’m not good with this. I’m not gonna be. I don’t think there’s any assurance you can give me that’ll make me okay with it. To be honest, it doesn’t sound like you know what’s going on yourself. And you’re not — you’re not still just Hal. Not by a long shot. I do believe in Hal Jordan, I always will. But this Ion is a different matter entirely.”
Sitting forward again, Ollie finally looked up to meet Hal’s eyes. “So what now?” he asked, reaching out to cup his hand over one of those pointed knees, feeling how hot Hal was running. “I’m not deserting you or anything, Hal, never that. But I’m sorry — I can’t be as blasé about this as you want me to be. I can’t just accept that you’ve got Ion in you and act as though I’m comfortable with it on any level.”
The hand on his leg was comforting. Covering the archer’s hand with his own, he squeezed lightly, rubbing his thumb over his fingers slowly. Ollie could never be fooled, not by him. They knew each other far too well for that. Resigning himself to that, he got up and moved to sit next to him on the couch, hip and leg pressed firmly to the blond’s.
“I guess I’ve been kidding myself a little,” he said, looking at Oliver. “Thinking maybe if I acted like it was no big deal, everyone else would take it that way. The others all seem worried I’ll go Parallax on them again and just…I don’t know, start rewriting history. But you…You’re worried about me, aren’t you? My well being in this mess.” He chuckled softly and shook his head.
“Playing host to an entity is a big deal, and believe me, knowing I have this insane power at my fingertips is tempting. Power never loses its allure, no matter who you are or what you’ve gone through. But…I don’t have a choice really. I just have to endure it for now.”
Almost tentatively, he shifted his weight and leaned into Oliver, nuzzling into his shoulder a little. Wood and oil and leather and spice…Familiar scents from Oliver, very calming ones at that.
“If I could give it up, I would, believe me. But…I need to, really.”
“Ahhhhhh, jesus.” Ollie extricated his arm from between them and wrapped it around Hal, digging his fingertips into the smooth muscle of Hal’s bicep. “It seems like a helluva lot to ask of you, you and Rayner both, to have to house this thing and adjust your lives around it. Not to mention the rest of us.” Ollie scowled, poking his nose against Hal’s soft hair. “Next time I see one’a them little blue jelly babies I’m punting it across the room. If you ask me, the Guardians should be more on top of this thing than they are. Isn’t that what they’re *for*?”
Hal curled slightly and took a breath, so Ollie shifted out of “hurling wild imprecations at the blasted Guardians” mode and pushed gently into the other man, asking, “How long will this take, did Yat give you any indication? Is there any way to make it go faster?” He paused for a moment and amended, “That’s probably a dumb question. But, I mean — Guy and John said they’d help, right? What is there to be *done* that we can *do*?”
Blowing out a gusty sigh, Ollie let his head drop back and blinked at the ceiling. “It’s feeling this helpless that’s getting to me, y’know,” he said. “The idea of Ion inside you and nothing to be done about it. The longer it’s in there, Hal, the more chance there is of it fucking with you somehow, fucking you *up*. Even if you don’t go Parallax, it’s not a *good* thing for you. I don’t want anything to happen to you and it’s making me crazy to just … wait and see.”
The arm around him was comforting. It meant that Ollie as at least listening, and a little, and that was progress. Closing his eyes, he sighed and just enjoyed a moment of warmth with him. Even if they were still not completely cool or even or whatever, the moment of closeness offered hope, as did Oliver’s words.
“I don’t know,” Hal said, shaking his head. “I don’t know how long it will be, and I don’t know if there’s anything to be done for it. Waiting is awful, but it’s all we’ve got.” Shifting a little, he pressed a hand to Oliver’s cheek and turned his head to face him.
“We just have to weather it the way we always have,” he said. “Just hold out and do our damnedest.” Tangling his fingers in Oliver’s hair, he just kept him close. “believe me…as soon as I can get rid of this thing, I will. I don’t want it, but…well, the Guardians be damned, sometimes I have to do things for the Corp, you know?
“Just stay with me,” he said. “We’ll get through this, you’ll see. And it won’t get bad. I won’t let it.”
“Well, that’s as close to a promise as I can get for this fucked-up situation, so I’ll take it.” Ollie slung his arms onto Hal’s shoulders, crossing his wrists behind Hal’s neck and leaning in to kiss him, gentle little chaste, lingering kisses on the mouth. “I suppose in one way, you and Rayner having Ion split between you is kind of a blessing — a burden shared is a burden halved, and all that,” he mused, pressing their noses together before pulling back enough to look at Hal as he spoke.
Ollie hesitated a little bit then, wondering if he should continue along that train of thought. They’d spoken before about Hal’s relationship with Kyle, but never specifics, never even casual “so how are you two doing” kind of stuff. Mostly just the big announcement, and then logistical type things, working out schedules and dealing with worldwide and sometimes intergalactic crises. The usual things when a relationship included Green Lanterns.
Really, Ollie’d only just barely started enjoying Kyle on a non-ironic level, and he wasn’t quite sure if it was particularly kosher to start talking about Hal-and-Kyle as a thing. As an entity of their own. It wasn’t that he didn’t accept it, but he still wasn’t clear on where the boundaries of being interested in them started and ended.
But what the hell.
“How’s this affecting you and Kyle?” he asked, and once the question was there, out loud, Ollie realized how curious about the answer he truly was. He moved his fingers up the back of Hal’s neck into the short hair at the nape, skritching gently. “Splitting Ion between you. I mean, it must make things kinda more intimate or something, right? You guys are *literally* part of each other, in a way. Does that make it easier, or harder?”
Chaste or no, the affection was welcomed, and Hal returned it with several soft touches to the other’s face and neck. His fingers trailed along Oliver’s jaw, then he rubbed his thumb against Ollie’s beard. He’d missed it, and if they had been talking, he would have taken the chance to tug on it a bit, just to get Ollie going. But not right now.
Really the question about his and Kyle’s status surprised him. Like Oliver, he’d never really known when it was or wasn’t ok to talk about it. Maybe that was something they needed to work on, since it might help them mend some of the bridges damaged by the whole Ion thing and their initial discussion.
“It’s…stressful, actually,” Hal admitted. He shifted on the couch, leaning back so that he almost laid across his lover, head resting on his shoulder with his body leaning into Oliver’s chest and belly. “Sure in the bedroom, it’s kind of amazing. I can feel what he thinks, and him me. But…” He nuzzled under Oliver’s neck, just to be closer to him.
“Don’t tell him I said this, but…I’m a little worried about him. He keeps saying that we should be allowed to do more. I’m constantly having to check him on it. I don’t THINK he would actually go off and do something, but he thinks about it. Without the full power of Ion, he’s a lot more limited in what he can do.” He sighed, shaking his head and leaning into the blond a bit more. He always felt so safe in those strong arms. “And any big exertion of power bleeds over. I can feel it, and if I had to…I could find him to stop him.
“That’s another reason I needed you so badly,” he said. “I have to support Kyle and make sure he keeps himself on the straight and narrow. I feel confident I can stay there, but…I’ve come to appreciate back up.”
“I get that,” Ollie rumbled, the feel of his voice low in his chest against the warmth and weight of Hal soothing him even more. “I mean, we need to make sure it doesn’t seem like we’re ganging up on Kyle or anything — because I get the feeling it might look that way pretty easy — but I’m here for you on this, Hal, anytime.”
Ollie rubbed the fleshy part of his thumb against his nose unconsciously, slowly saying, “Kyle used his ring to fix up my nose after Bruce broke it. Well, after Damian re-broke it. After both Waynes had a crack at me. Anyhow, the point is, Kyle fixed me up without even blinking, and again when him and me had that skirmish with J’onn, he did some more GL first aid and then blinked me back home. Not flew, like usual, just—” Ollie fireworked his hands in front of them, splaying his fingers, “—poof! Magically transported us from one place to another.”
He propped his chin against the top of Hal’s head, rubbing his hand lightly against Hal’s side. “It’s okay for you to talk to me about Kyle,” Ollie said. “We maybe should have talked about this a while ago, but it all seemed a little bit precarious before, y’know? Especially with Kyle being so touchy about everything. But now things feel calmer, and I don’t mind hearing it. Doesn’t upset me.” He thought about what Hal had said, and maybe it wasn’t the most important point, but Ollie couldn’t help asking: “So, when this Ion thing is gone and that aspect is gone from the bedroom, d’you think you’ll miss it? A lot?”
“In some ways, I think so,” Hal said, then shrugged. “But for the most part, I think we already had a close connection. Our rings seem to link with each other without thought.” He chuckled a little, lightly pushing against the other’s chest. “He’s edging on getting closer to the kind of connection you and I have, without help.” He smiled.
After a moment, he sat up and moved to straddle his lover’s lap, just to look at him full on and stay close to him. Every inch of Oliver was just as he’d always known it: solid muscle, deliciously beautiful skin, and the most comely and handsome features a man could ask for. Cupping his face in his hands, he leaned close and kissed him, softly at first, but urging deeper after a moment. It wasn’t hot or demanding, just…comfortable. Finally, he slid his arms around his neck and nuzzled his cheek.
“I’m glad you’re getting comfortable with the whole idea. I think, in a few years, Kyle and I might be somewhere close to you and me. Honestly…I’m so very lucky to have you both. But you..My Ollie.” He took Oliver’s hand and held it tight, rubbing his thumb over the blond’s ring. “I love you so much…And I can’t tell you what it means to me to have you with me now. We’ll get through this.” He smiled a bit, relaxed…happy. He believed those words when he said them, and the confidence of that was amazing.
Ollie hadn’t particularly anticipated ending up with a lapful of warm, affectionate Hal when he’d come over, but he wasn’t complaining. Close physical contact was something he craved anyways, even when he was angry or hurt with somebody, so having Hal curled against him, kissing and nuzzling, did a lot to fill that longing. “Yeah, we’ve gotten through way worse, haven’t we?” he agreed, stroking the greying hair at Hal’s temples. “Managed to make it this far, whole and intact, and land together again after so long. Like I never knew we could, Hal.”
Shifting to make the close contact more cosy for them both, Ollie wrapped his arms around Hal as well, listening to the familiar sound of the other man’s breathing. “I think … I think this might all be part of a bigger situation that we need to deal with. I mean our quarreling and all that. It might not have been so explosive if we didn’t feel we had to keep from talking about certain parts of our lives. Really important parts.” He rubbed his thumb along the hinge of Hal’s jaw. “Kyle and Kate.
“I want to hear about it, Hal. I wanna know how he makes you feel, what you’re annoyed with, what you love about him. I’m not saying you need to make me your confidante about the intricacies of your relationship or anything, but he’s your boyfriend! He spends more of the day-to-day with you than I do! And I want to be able to talk about Kate with you sometimes, because I love her a *lot*, Hal, and she’s so much a part of my everyday, so much a part of me. I mean, can you imagine what it would feel like if we couldn’t talk about each other to *them*? I think it needs to go all ways. No more imbalance. If we’re gonna be a unit and a family in whatever crazy 4-of-4 way this whole thing shakes out, then we have to be able to talk. All of us, about all of us.”
“I think you’re right,” Hal said. “We’ve been…almost distant with each other lately. I know things are changing, but most of it’s for the better.” Stroking his fingers through Oliver’s hair, he smiled then wrapped his arms around his neck. Nuzzling into his hair, he drank in everything about him, everything he’d missed. He missed getting to wake up to that warmth, the soft huffy snore that was so uniquely Ollie. He missed teasing kisses over his lips or touching his chest until he woke up.
“Remember how you used to tell me all about you and Dinah? Every argument, every make up, even a few glosses about the hot nights you two had. I think we should be able to be that open and frank about Kyle and Kate. I want to be able to tell you about how cute he is when he’s working on his art, and I want you to tell me how beautiful Kate is when she’s sleeping.”
For a moment, he just sat there, leaning against Oliver, letting him hold him, holding him in return. They were going to be okay, and things were going to get better. He knew they were.
“We should spend more time together as a group,” he said after a pause. “And you should know you’re welcome here anytime. I have extra rooms here, so space isn’t an issue.” He chuckled and nuzzled him. “Though I have to admit…I miss your bed in the Arrow house.”
“Nothing like being in a kingsize with a Queen, hey?” Ollie grinned and tickled his fingers up Hal’s spine, kissing his chin. “Musical beds I can handle. It’s the way we’ve been drifting and not talking to each other as much as we used to that’s a problem, and yeah, I think it’s well nigh for us all to make a more concerted effort to spend time together. Or at least we can *start* with talking to each other about our partners, considering how much trouble it might be to make four very disparate schedules jive.”
He rubbed a hand lazily along Hal’s back, the familiar curves and planes of his muscles comforting under Ollie’s palm. “It was different with Dinah, though, y’know,” Ollie mused. “She was … even when you and me were together, on the road, Dinah was my *real* relationship. The one I was always gonna go back to. That’s part of the reason I didn’t care if I told you all about her, if I made you feel like second-best or like something temporary. That’s what I was *trying* to do, so you’d know not to count on it lasting. Not to count on *me*.”
Ollie hugged Hal closer to try and offset the harshness of what he was saying. It was true, though, all of it, and maybe Hal already knew that and maybe at this point it didn’t even matter any more, but Ollie needed to tell him anyhow. “And this time around, it’s all better, and I want it to stay like that. You and Kate are both in my life for keeps, and Hal, I would do anything to make sure you know that and feel happy and secure and everything good. I love you so much, baby.” He pressed his nose against Hal’s throat. “Tell me how much you love me.”
Hal listened, remembering the time on the road, when they’d been fighting their feelings, fighting what they knew was there. It was a little hard to hear that Ollie had been intentionally trying to belittle what they did and the feelings they had for each other, but..that was different now. Now they were honest, now they knew and understood that the feelings they had would never go away.
“How much I love you,” Hal mused, then chuckled. “I could sooner number the stars.” He kissed his temple, making a soft noise as he did. “I love you. I feel incomplete without you. I need you to live..and I never want to see a day without you.” Closing his eyes, he leaned his head against the other’s, sighing happily.
“But you know all of that, don’t you?” he said, chuckling. “You just wanted to hear me say it.” He kissed his temple and almost cooed, rubbing his hands over Oliver’s shoulders. Leaning back, he smiled at his lover. “I’d follow you to the ends of the earth and back. We’ve been farther than that before, haven’t we?”
Smiling, he kissed Oliver’s nose, then his forehead, then his cheeks, then finally stooped to catch his lips, keeping the contact firm but loving. He let it stray, let it linger, let deepen before finally breaking. He licked his lips and smiled at his lover, sliding his hands over his neck slowly.
“The bottom line is this,” he said. “I love you, Oliver Queen. I love you, Green Arrow. Now and always.”
Ollie felt a shiver of pleasure run through him, a thrill that apparently hadn’t yet been dulled by the two of them being together, for real, out in the open and for good. “Hal, sweetheart,” he murmured, smoothing his hands over Hal’s soft, flyaway brown hair. “I do know all that, you’re right. I still wanted to hear it, though. I like hearing you talk to me that way, especially when I’m feeling a little shaken.” He hugged Hal tight, hearing that pleased low hum that Hal did when he was content, feeling Hal’s long fingers push up into his hair.
It was tempting to just stay like that, canoodling on the couch, but instead Ollie took a big, quick breath and brightly suggested, “So how about that tour of the place? My abiding memory of your domiciles before this one consists mostly of the same damn bookshelf and whatever furniture was on sale at the time. I wanna see if you’ve branched out any! Did you build a special cabinet for the ol’ lantern? Maybe a bathing pool in front of it so the Central Battery can symbolically baptize you every time you take the Oath?”
He was babbling a little bit, but it was exhilarating in a way, now that he was more conscious about it — being in *Hal’s house*. It was like going up to your lover’s place for the first time, even with them having known each other for years and Hal staying over at Arrowhome for the better part of the year. Standing, Ollie grabbed Hal’s hand and hauled him up too. “C’mon, show me around.” He paused, kissing Hal’s shoulder. “Then you can take me to bed if you want.”
That kiss and those simple words told Hal everything was going to be ok. They’d have to fake it a little, just to keep things smooth, but when it was all said and done, everything was going to be alright. Hal smiled warmly as he took Oliver’s hand, tugging a little to lead him around.
“It’s not as fancy as it seems,” he said. “Kyle got all excited and picked out a lot of things for me.” He gestured to the drapes in one of the guest rooms (of which there were 2). “I picked this place with the intent that anyone who needed a place to crash would have it.”
He lead Oliver through the rooms, nudging open the door to Kyle’s studio to assure himself the other man wasn’t there before pushing the door open to let Oliver see.
“He spends a lot of his time here, doing this or that for work. I go in there and nap on the couch sometimes when he’s busy, just for the company. He has a sketchbook full of pictures of me sleeping.” Chuckling, he took Ollie through the kitchen, then the dining room. Finally, he lead him upstairs.
“There’s a sort of media room up here,” he said, gesturing to an open area with a large couch (a well used one, no doubt second hand) and a coffee table. “But we just use it more as a lounge. I’ll probably eventually put a TV up here.” He shrugged. “Maybe.”
Finally, they reached the door to his room. He paused, facing Oliver and taking both of his hands in his own. His thumbs rubbed over Ollie’s knuckles, pressing the blond’s fingers into his palm.
“So…that’s the grand tour.”
“Significant draperies in the guest rooms, a sleeping sofa in Kyle’s studio, and no media in the media room. Very impressive, sweetheart.” Ollie bit back a laugh; there were certain … peculiarities about Hal and his ideas about what constituted *normal* that would never really change, it seemed. But his daffyness was one of the things that could be so endearing about him, so Ollie smiled fondly and looked over at the freshly-made bed inside the room. “The main event?” he teased, then went over to it, towing Hal along with him.
He went around to the other side of the bed and divested himself of t-shirt and jeans and socks quickly enough, getting under the covers in his underwear and testing out the pillow. High and lofty and made that plush noise when you put your head down on it, just like Ollie liked them, and he gave Hal an appreciative noise while Hal was getting undressed too.
It wasn’t as if Ollie was feeling particularly … *shy*, or anything, but mostly what he wanted to do was be close to Hal. Hold him and talk to him and kiss him and reconnect and be soft and easy, for once. He was feeling a little rattled with everything that had been happening lately, and once Hal slid into the bed all warm and pretty, Ollie curled against him, slinging an arm over the other man’s chest and pressing his nose against Hal’s bicep.
“I love you,” he mumbled against Hal’s skin, looking up at him. “You have to keep safe and sane and you. ‘Cause you have to keep *me* safe, sometimes.”
Hal was pleased when Ollie undressed without any further prodding. He paused to watch, taking in every stretch and flex of muscle under golden skin, lightly wetting his lips as the light played on the patches of dark blond hair. He took his time taking his own clothes off, tossing them into a semi neat pile. Glancing at Oliver once more, he smirked a bit, hooking his thumbs in his boxers and pulling them down.
“I forgot to mention the house rules,” he said, climbing into bed with Oliver. “No clothes allowed, whenever possible.” He chuckled a little, turning his head to kiss Oliver softly. “I’ll be safe, don’t worry,” he said. One hand smoothed over Oliver’s arm, clasping softly now and again. “I love you too, Ollie,” he said, turning onto his side to pull the other man flush against him.
The feeling of just being that close to him was comforting, like filling in a part of himself that had felt empty before. Breathing in the familiar scent of Oliver, smoothing his hand over his back, nuzzling against his face..it all felt so right. Closing his eyes, he pressed a tender, chaste kiss to Oliver’s lips, humming softly as he did.
“I swear…I could stay like this with you forever.”
“Y’know — right about now, that sounds like a very solid plan.” Ollie held Hal’s face and planted kisses along his temples, breathing in the clean, warm smell of his hair and letting Hal’s contented breathing and humming lull him. “I think I could actually get used to this place and its guest and media rooms and — oh, hey, I should give you a housewarming present! I didn’t really think about it since we had so much important stuff to talk about, but I should do that.” A gift card for a furniture store for an embarrassingly large amount, maybe. After all, what was the point of being a rich boyfriend if you couldn’t buy your honey swanky furnishings for his new home?
Moving his hands down to skim across Hal’s shoulders, his elbows, and finally settling on his flat hips, Ollie settled in close and looked around at the room better. Sparse (he hadn’t expected anything else, considering Hal had a single duffel bag when he’d moved in with Ollie), but not cold or empty. More of a quiet serenity, a little oasis in a big Green Lantern universe.
“I could get used to Hal Jordan, Property Owner, too,” Ollie remarked, rubbing the small of Hal’s back. “This place was a good idea, baby. Suits you. Once you populate it with some more, y’know, stuff—” Ollie tipped his head back and forth vaguely, “stuff” for him with regards to a household encompassing everything from entire media setups to collections of rooster-themed kitchen accoutrements — “it’s be real nice and cosy. Hal-nest.” He let his hand sprawl out against Hal’s side. “But this is perfect.”
Hal smiled as he listened to the other, sliding his arm around him to hold him closer. Long fingers traced the blond’s back and side, stroking the dearly familiar grooves and swells of muscle. He was glad to have Oliver so close, and for them to be so comfortable again. Sighing happily, he nodded a bit, trying to move just a little closer to his lover (as though he could).
“Stuff will come in time,” he said, rubbing a hand over Oliver’s chest. “I always thought it was the people around you that made a place worth being in.”
He moved his hand to push a bit of soft blond hair back, giving him an unobstructed view of two beautiful green eyes. Moments like this, he was astounded by just how much he could love another person, and how deep that feeling could go. Oliver, his Ollie, Green Arrow…His soul mate. And one person he would sooner die than disappoint.
“And now I’m getting mushy,” he said, chuckling and shaking his head. “Ah…But I can’t help it. I love you, and I want you in my life, for every possible second. But more than that, I want you to be happy.” He chuckled and smiled. “And I dare say…you almost are.” He nuzzled the other lightly, then kissed him.