miss maggie (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
bossymarmalade) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
thejusticelounge2013-07-21 09:28 am
bossymarmalade) wrote in thejusticelounge2013-07-21 09:28 am
Entry tags:
sugar-coated
Oliver dithers over the pastry offerings in the cafeteria, going back and forth with not much luck.
Dickiebird: Go for the lemon cakes. I always do.
Dickiebird takes a couple as well as a small chocolate something, because it looks delicious and sugar is a good friend.
Oliver cautiously selects a lemon cake, and something with a single raspberry stuck on the top. He sighs heavily. “Y’know," he confesses to his tray, “all I want right now is a fucking Twinkie. Or one of those awful cream-filled cupcakes."
Dickiebird puts a hand to his chest. “What? Ollie Queen, leader of the People Against Product Reliance wants a Twinkie? I’m shocked. Want to wash it down with a Coke and a smile?"
Oliver snorts good-naturedly, getting them both some water and wandering along with Dick to a table. “I know, right? And feeling bad about wanting one just makes me want one more." He sits down and gulps half his glass of water, eating the crowning raspberry. “So what’s going on in the land of Grayson? Er, this decade’s Grayson."
Dickiebird chuckles and nibbles on a lemon cake. “Not too… Well, actually, kind of a lot, but nothing too horrible? No deaths or maimings, at least, just same ol’ heartbreak and balancing act. At least the foundation’s better this time."
Oliver: Well, y’know. I don’t mean the deaths and maimings so much as … what have you come back to. What’s the world of Dick right now. Gimme a tour.
Dickiebird: Well…first stop’s the apartment. It’s nice and just the same as I left it, except things are moved around and it seems like half of it’s missing. Then there’s work, and that’s just the same. Partner’s trying to convince me we’re not actually in a buddy-cop movie of our own minds, but I know he’s totally wrong. Then there’s family and that’s…family. That’ll settle down once this all does, so I’ll have a better report on how that’s going later. And last I guess is love life, and that’s… Well, I talked to Bette last night. She’s hurting, but healing. I don’t want to press it. If she’s angry with me, at least she hasn’t cut me out, and that’s a good thing, right?
Oliver: You tell me, kiddo. Is it a good thing? Were you hoping for a clean break?
Dickiebird: I don’t know what I was hoping for, to be honest. I didn’t want to hurt her as much as I did, I really wish I could’ve figured out a better way or a better time to do it, but… I guess right now I’m just hoping she doesn’t hate me. Or, if she does, that it’ll pass. I don’t want to lose her as a friend.
Oliver: You had a chance to talk to Gardner yet?
Oliver puts the entirety of the raspberry thing in his mouth.
Dickiebird toys with the lemon cake still in his hand. “A little bit. Not about this, though. About the break up and what I told her and how everything went in Japan and…. OK, nothing really about this." He eats the rest of the cake whole, immediately wondering afterwards if he really should have.
Oliver swallows, nodding. “I guess what I’m really asking here, Dick, is if you’ve made any decisions when it comes to one or the other. I’ve done my best to stay out of it, since it’s not really my business, but at this point I figure — what the hell, huh? I can’t possibly make it any worse." He gives Dick a wry crinkle of the nose to take the sting out of the comment. (Whether or not this actually has the effect he intended, is anyone’s guess.)
Dickiebird chuckles softly and nods. “I haven’t, actually, but… I’m leaning towards maybe just staying single for a while. I can’t ask Bette to come back to me, that’s not fair after so fast, but Guy and I…. I don’t know if he’d be all right with trying to start again, and, frankly, I don’t know if I would be, either. At the same time, there’s some part of me that says I have a bit of an obligation to try again with Guy, seeing as I told Bette I was too in love with him to stay with her, so not trying would seem like I was just trying to find an excuse." He frowns at his chocolate thing—it’s a fudge muffin, he decides, not really entirely certain as it’s mostly just a mass, but a muffin sounds as good a name as any to call it—and looks up at Ollie, his mouth twisted in a sort of half-pout. “Love is hard."
Oliver harrumphs. “Love is /not/ hard, infant. What’s hard is making decisions when it comes to love and not getting your hand stuck in the cookie jar because you won’t drop any of your handful." He crumbles through his lemon cake, pressing down the crumbs into a mass with his fork and eating them like that. “It’s all the dilly-dally shilly-shally that makes it hard. And it’s trying to pretend that situations are working when they’re clearly, *clearly* not." Ollie raises an eyebrow. “Trust me, I know what I’m talking about. That’s why I married Kate and left Hal."
Dickiebird pick up his chocolate thing, his mouth twitching in a small smile. “OK, so, tell me, from an outsider’s perspective, which of my situations isn’t working?"
Oliver: Bette. You pretty much took advantage of her obsession with you and then didn’t have the balls to come clean with her and tell her how much you miss cock.
Dickiebird: That…is certainly a blunt way of putting it.
Oliver: Ahah, yeah. I warned you I wasn’t gonna be polite and dissemble anymore!
Dickiebird grins. “I’ll take it. At least I know I can wrap my head around it."
Oliver: Atta boy.
Dickiebird: So, any suggestions for what to do with that now?
Dickiebird takes a bite of his chocolate thing, makes a face, and sets it down.
Oliver attacks his lemon cake with renewed interest. “Depends on if you agree! I mean, hell, that really IS just my opinion of what’s going on, and even though I don’t think I am, I could be completely bass-ackwards about it."
Dickiebird drinks about half of his water. “Well, I think you’re pretty close on most of it. I really do think I still feel something for her, and that I did, but it might have felt…exaggerated? by what I was going through already and my need for people. Y’know, I told her that even though we weren’t right now, we might be later, and I meant it. I do get that spark, that feeling of happiness when I think of her sometimes, but it’s just not as strong as I’ve felt for others. Like, maybe this is where it should be starting, but I tried to go ahead and make it support a relationship when it’s just trying to put the thoughts in my head. Does that make any sense?"
Oliver purses his mouth and tips his head from side to side. “Sure. I mean, only you know how you feel and what’s going on in your own head, and if you feel there’s a possibility for you two down the road, then hey, who’s to say there can’t be." He drinks some of his water and spins the glass around. “Although I’m not so sure you could manage to stay single for long. Isn’t that what got you into this mess?"
Dickiebird nods, going to his last lemon cake. “Yeah, it was. One of the things, at any rate. I’m just not too good without someone to be close to."
Oliver: There y’go. So if I were you, I’d start looking at what you could do in order to avoid being single long enough to make poor decisions again.
Dickiebird: I could try short-term relationship, I suppose. Or maybe try dating outside of the caped community, although that doesn’t usually work out too well.
Oliver: No, it sure doesn’t. I’m not sure why you’re working so hard to avoid the obvious, really.
Dickiebird: Talk to Guy?
Oliver: Yes indeedy.
Dickiebird “OK. Next time he’s up here, I’ll…" He glances at Ollie’s expression. “I’ll text him today and ask if he’s free to talk."
Oliver grins broadly. “See? Doesn’t that feel better?"
Dickiebird laughs and nods. “Yeah. Yeah, it does."
Oliver hoots and sits back, pleased. “It kinda got there for a while like you’d made an art form of dithering and indecision, Dick," he says pompously, “but MY suspicion is that even though it’s what you default to when you’re lazy or distressed, it’s not your natural state. *I* think you’d be much happier taking control of your own life."
Dickiebird mirrors Ollie, a playful smirk on his lips. “Is that so? Well, I suppose one should make an art form of something now and again, right?"
Oliver kicks lightly at Dick’s ankle. “Awwww, c’mon — you know that you have a shit-ton of admirable qualities and that everybody automatically loves you. It’s why you’re able to get away with being lazy and selfish when you’re in your low moods. And that’s fine, everybody deserves time to act like an asshole — I’ve sunk years into it myself — but, y’know, long stretches of it end up making everything feel insurmountable."
Dickiebird “You’re telling me…" He lifts his half-empty cup and toasts. “To mounting the insurmountable? Or is that a bit much?"
Oliver barks a loud laugh and lifts his own glass, a teensy bit of water sloshing at the bottom. “I’d say that’s just about right!! It’s nice to have you back, bluebird."
Dickiebird laughs and drinks. “It’s good to be back. I feel like I haven’t been in a while."
Oliver points at Dick. “I better not talk to you tomorrow and find out you haven’t texted Gardner yet, or I’m gonna whoomp your ass."
Dickiebird pulls out his comm and waves it around. “Look! I’ll do it right now, so then there’ll be no whoompings."
Oliver looks intensely pleased and nods approvingly. Dickiebird shows Ollie a flash of text, enough to show words, but not what they say, and hits send. “Aaaaaand done! Mission accomplished."
Oliver: Excellent.
Dickiebird pushes over his chocolate thing. “That’s orange inside, apparently. Might be good, but the lemon and it went to war, so… want it? Reward for good advice?"
Oliver collects his prize with even more pleasure, tucking into it. “I graciously accept," he announces.
Dickiebird: How’ve things with you been? What’s it been like the the world of Ollie?
Oliver slices the cake into numerous slivers. “Oh, this that and the other. Upgrades to Queen Tower, consolidation of my interests, changes to the personal life —" He makes an excited noise. “Roy’s coming back! Did he tell you? Did *I* tell you? I can’t even remember, heh!"
Dickiebird beams. “He mentioned it, but I’m so glad. He needs—they both need lots of family around now. I’m so happy for you all."
Oliver: It really does feel like our families are pretty damn cohesive right now, doesn’t it? All things considered. And I’m liking the feeling.
Dickiebird: Y’know, it’s times like this when I really think that families can thrive in our line of life. Gives me hope for the future.
Oliver: What is it Stephanie says? ‘There’s always room for hope’? Oliver snorts. “It sounds vaguely like a dessert, but then I guess that’s fitting, considering the source.
Dickiebird laughs. “Hope, the lightest, yet richest new dessert for this modern age."
Dickiebird: Go for the lemon cakes. I always do.
Dickiebird takes a couple as well as a small chocolate something, because it looks delicious and sugar is a good friend.
Oliver cautiously selects a lemon cake, and something with a single raspberry stuck on the top. He sighs heavily. “Y’know," he confesses to his tray, “all I want right now is a fucking Twinkie. Or one of those awful cream-filled cupcakes."
Dickiebird puts a hand to his chest. “What? Ollie Queen, leader of the People Against Product Reliance wants a Twinkie? I’m shocked. Want to wash it down with a Coke and a smile?"
Oliver snorts good-naturedly, getting them both some water and wandering along with Dick to a table. “I know, right? And feeling bad about wanting one just makes me want one more." He sits down and gulps half his glass of water, eating the crowning raspberry. “So what’s going on in the land of Grayson? Er, this decade’s Grayson."
Dickiebird chuckles and nibbles on a lemon cake. “Not too… Well, actually, kind of a lot, but nothing too horrible? No deaths or maimings, at least, just same ol’ heartbreak and balancing act. At least the foundation’s better this time."
Oliver: Well, y’know. I don’t mean the deaths and maimings so much as … what have you come back to. What’s the world of Dick right now. Gimme a tour.
Dickiebird: Well…first stop’s the apartment. It’s nice and just the same as I left it, except things are moved around and it seems like half of it’s missing. Then there’s work, and that’s just the same. Partner’s trying to convince me we’re not actually in a buddy-cop movie of our own minds, but I know he’s totally wrong. Then there’s family and that’s…family. That’ll settle down once this all does, so I’ll have a better report on how that’s going later. And last I guess is love life, and that’s… Well, I talked to Bette last night. She’s hurting, but healing. I don’t want to press it. If she’s angry with me, at least she hasn’t cut me out, and that’s a good thing, right?
Oliver: You tell me, kiddo. Is it a good thing? Were you hoping for a clean break?
Dickiebird: I don’t know what I was hoping for, to be honest. I didn’t want to hurt her as much as I did, I really wish I could’ve figured out a better way or a better time to do it, but… I guess right now I’m just hoping she doesn’t hate me. Or, if she does, that it’ll pass. I don’t want to lose her as a friend.
Oliver: You had a chance to talk to Gardner yet?
Oliver puts the entirety of the raspberry thing in his mouth.
Dickiebird toys with the lemon cake still in his hand. “A little bit. Not about this, though. About the break up and what I told her and how everything went in Japan and…. OK, nothing really about this." He eats the rest of the cake whole, immediately wondering afterwards if he really should have.
Oliver swallows, nodding. “I guess what I’m really asking here, Dick, is if you’ve made any decisions when it comes to one or the other. I’ve done my best to stay out of it, since it’s not really my business, but at this point I figure — what the hell, huh? I can’t possibly make it any worse." He gives Dick a wry crinkle of the nose to take the sting out of the comment. (Whether or not this actually has the effect he intended, is anyone’s guess.)
Dickiebird chuckles softly and nods. “I haven’t, actually, but… I’m leaning towards maybe just staying single for a while. I can’t ask Bette to come back to me, that’s not fair after so fast, but Guy and I…. I don’t know if he’d be all right with trying to start again, and, frankly, I don’t know if I would be, either. At the same time, there’s some part of me that says I have a bit of an obligation to try again with Guy, seeing as I told Bette I was too in love with him to stay with her, so not trying would seem like I was just trying to find an excuse." He frowns at his chocolate thing—it’s a fudge muffin, he decides, not really entirely certain as it’s mostly just a mass, but a muffin sounds as good a name as any to call it—and looks up at Ollie, his mouth twisted in a sort of half-pout. “Love is hard."
Oliver harrumphs. “Love is /not/ hard, infant. What’s hard is making decisions when it comes to love and not getting your hand stuck in the cookie jar because you won’t drop any of your handful." He crumbles through his lemon cake, pressing down the crumbs into a mass with his fork and eating them like that. “It’s all the dilly-dally shilly-shally that makes it hard. And it’s trying to pretend that situations are working when they’re clearly, *clearly* not." Ollie raises an eyebrow. “Trust me, I know what I’m talking about. That’s why I married Kate and left Hal."
Dickiebird pick up his chocolate thing, his mouth twitching in a small smile. “OK, so, tell me, from an outsider’s perspective, which of my situations isn’t working?"
Oliver: Bette. You pretty much took advantage of her obsession with you and then didn’t have the balls to come clean with her and tell her how much you miss cock.
Dickiebird: That…is certainly a blunt way of putting it.
Oliver: Ahah, yeah. I warned you I wasn’t gonna be polite and dissemble anymore!
Dickiebird grins. “I’ll take it. At least I know I can wrap my head around it."
Oliver: Atta boy.
Dickiebird: So, any suggestions for what to do with that now?
Dickiebird takes a bite of his chocolate thing, makes a face, and sets it down.
Oliver attacks his lemon cake with renewed interest. “Depends on if you agree! I mean, hell, that really IS just my opinion of what’s going on, and even though I don’t think I am, I could be completely bass-ackwards about it."
Dickiebird drinks about half of his water. “Well, I think you’re pretty close on most of it. I really do think I still feel something for her, and that I did, but it might have felt…exaggerated? by what I was going through already and my need for people. Y’know, I told her that even though we weren’t right now, we might be later, and I meant it. I do get that spark, that feeling of happiness when I think of her sometimes, but it’s just not as strong as I’ve felt for others. Like, maybe this is where it should be starting, but I tried to go ahead and make it support a relationship when it’s just trying to put the thoughts in my head. Does that make any sense?"
Oliver purses his mouth and tips his head from side to side. “Sure. I mean, only you know how you feel and what’s going on in your own head, and if you feel there’s a possibility for you two down the road, then hey, who’s to say there can’t be." He drinks some of his water and spins the glass around. “Although I’m not so sure you could manage to stay single for long. Isn’t that what got you into this mess?"
Dickiebird nods, going to his last lemon cake. “Yeah, it was. One of the things, at any rate. I’m just not too good without someone to be close to."
Oliver: There y’go. So if I were you, I’d start looking at what you could do in order to avoid being single long enough to make poor decisions again.
Dickiebird: I could try short-term relationship, I suppose. Or maybe try dating outside of the caped community, although that doesn’t usually work out too well.
Oliver: No, it sure doesn’t. I’m not sure why you’re working so hard to avoid the obvious, really.
Dickiebird: Talk to Guy?
Oliver: Yes indeedy.
Dickiebird “OK. Next time he’s up here, I’ll…" He glances at Ollie’s expression. “I’ll text him today and ask if he’s free to talk."
Oliver grins broadly. “See? Doesn’t that feel better?"
Dickiebird laughs and nods. “Yeah. Yeah, it does."
Oliver hoots and sits back, pleased. “It kinda got there for a while like you’d made an art form of dithering and indecision, Dick," he says pompously, “but MY suspicion is that even though it’s what you default to when you’re lazy or distressed, it’s not your natural state. *I* think you’d be much happier taking control of your own life."
Dickiebird mirrors Ollie, a playful smirk on his lips. “Is that so? Well, I suppose one should make an art form of something now and again, right?"
Oliver kicks lightly at Dick’s ankle. “Awwww, c’mon — you know that you have a shit-ton of admirable qualities and that everybody automatically loves you. It’s why you’re able to get away with being lazy and selfish when you’re in your low moods. And that’s fine, everybody deserves time to act like an asshole — I’ve sunk years into it myself — but, y’know, long stretches of it end up making everything feel insurmountable."
Dickiebird “You’re telling me…" He lifts his half-empty cup and toasts. “To mounting the insurmountable? Or is that a bit much?"
Oliver barks a loud laugh and lifts his own glass, a teensy bit of water sloshing at the bottom. “I’d say that’s just about right!! It’s nice to have you back, bluebird."
Dickiebird laughs and drinks. “It’s good to be back. I feel like I haven’t been in a while."
Oliver points at Dick. “I better not talk to you tomorrow and find out you haven’t texted Gardner yet, or I’m gonna whoomp your ass."
Dickiebird pulls out his comm and waves it around. “Look! I’ll do it right now, so then there’ll be no whoompings."
Oliver looks intensely pleased and nods approvingly. Dickiebird shows Ollie a flash of text, enough to show words, but not what they say, and hits send. “Aaaaaand done! Mission accomplished."
Oliver: Excellent.
Dickiebird pushes over his chocolate thing. “That’s orange inside, apparently. Might be good, but the lemon and it went to war, so… want it? Reward for good advice?"
Oliver collects his prize with even more pleasure, tucking into it. “I graciously accept," he announces.
Dickiebird: How’ve things with you been? What’s it been like the the world of Ollie?
Oliver slices the cake into numerous slivers. “Oh, this that and the other. Upgrades to Queen Tower, consolidation of my interests, changes to the personal life —" He makes an excited noise. “Roy’s coming back! Did he tell you? Did *I* tell you? I can’t even remember, heh!"
Dickiebird beams. “He mentioned it, but I’m so glad. He needs—they both need lots of family around now. I’m so happy for you all."
Oliver: It really does feel like our families are pretty damn cohesive right now, doesn’t it? All things considered. And I’m liking the feeling.
Dickiebird: Y’know, it’s times like this when I really think that families can thrive in our line of life. Gives me hope for the future.
Oliver: What is it Stephanie says? ‘There’s always room for hope’? Oliver snorts. “It sounds vaguely like a dessert, but then I guess that’s fitting, considering the source.
Dickiebird laughs. “Hope, the lightest, yet richest new dessert for this modern age."