green error

Bruce had been surprisingly allowing about Oliver taking up residence at the league’s headquarters. Both Oliver and Dinah had seemed to somehow know when the other would and wouldn’t be there, and their constant avoidance of each other was so expertly conducted that it would have been impressive if it weren’t so ridiculous. He appeared in the study mere minutes after Alfred had left, a clear indication that he was concerned despite his previous annoyance at recent antics. He knew there was something Oliver had been wanting to talk about, but he had no idea what had made him decide to show up on this particular day. “The meeting is tomorrow.” This wasn’t about the meeting and he was certain of that, but it was a way to start the conversation without betraying the worry that lingered underneath his stoicism.

“I know,” he replied, his hand coming up to touch his lips lightly, as if he was still considering whether or not to impart the worrying knowledge he had. His legs were crossed in a far too relaxed position for the obvious anxiety that had him wringing his fingers in his lap now, looking down at them as if he was willing his hands to stop the nervous behavior. He brought his hand up to his face again, rubbing his jaw with one hand. “I caught wind of Joker planning something new. Something much bigger than the bridge. I don’t know exactly what it is, but I have an informant who goes to Vagabonds pretty often, and he overheard one of the bartenders talking about his new plan. By all accounts, it’s supposed to change the landscape of the city.” 

Sometimes people, patients, treated her like an inconvenience and other times they came to her like she was an anchor of sorts. In this case, with Ollie it seemed she was the latter, even if he couldn’t (or simply wouldn’t) meet with her as often as recommended. Despite being set up in District X now she still did all she could to meet with ALL of her patients because she cared about each and every one of them.

Linda watched Ollie for a moment, taking in his demeanour, the anxiety he was feeling clearly getting worse, “What sort of questions do you want me to ask?” Were her first words, “Begin with the obvious, your nerves,” she gestured at his hands slightly, “Or do you want to go into your coping mechanisms because I really don’t think they’re cutting if for you any more Ollie.” she told him honestly, “You may need to be open the process of something else.”  

Oliver wasn’t new to therapy. He had been seeing a shrink since he was a kid, even before his parents died—and after, it had only ramped up. He knew that if he wanted it to work, he was going to have to put in some work, but frankly, that was hard and Oliver was tired. He didn’t have the time to waste on improving himself when there were so many people in the city who needed the help so much more than he did. Boo-hoo, he was a sad billionaire. People were in much worse situations. 

Ollie sucked in his cheeks and nodded. “Right, uh—it’s been getting pretty bad lately,” he replied. “I kind of, uh...spent last week in my apartment.” When he was rich enough to get everything sent to him, to delegate even the most menial tasks, it was just easier to sink into his unhealthy behaviors. “I didn’t leave for anything. I was constantly terrified of something happening the minute I step out the door and—” He paused again, working his jaw. “I couldn’t stop thinking about the night I got shot.” 

“Seems like I’m saying that to a lot of people these days.” Oliver Queen wasn’t the same kind of transplant as the others he knew from Gotham, but he was still another familiar face where he hadn’t expected to see so many. “I’m holding up. That’s more than I can say for this place.” Or well, it was heading that way.

He straightened his glasses. “I hope you’re putting some of that money to good use.” Jim knew that it couldn’t fix everything. Sometimes it only made it worse. But in the right places and coming from the right people, it could make some changes. Good ones.

“Well, you’re on my turf this time,” he said with a huff of laughter. Ollie sobered up quickly, nodding seriously as Jim continued. “You can say that again,” he replied. “This city really seems like it’s falling apart at the seams, huh?” Oliver had never seen Star City this bad, and this was his city. He felt like he was failing it. 

Dinah exhaled and shifted her weight, turning her head and purposefully avoiding his gaze. Connor getting arrested was sobering. She didn’t want to make this about them, especially because their arguments seemed petty in light of this news. “I’ll talk to him,” she said simply. “You don’t have to convince me.” Normally she would have encouraged Oliver to come with her. She would have done what she could to keep them connected, at any cost, because she strongly believed in the importance of their relationship.

But that didn’t seem like a good idea. Showing up with Oliver would no doubt bring Connor more anxiety than he was already experiencing; he didn’t need to be caught up in their problems.

Somehow, despite the fact that the had been arguing all the time, despite the fact that everything seemed to be a mess, they were still drawn to each other. It was electric. Oliver could never get the thought of her completely out of his head, her love out of his bones. It was intrinsic. It was encoded. “I know,” he replied. “I just—I don’t want you to—” He paused. “I don’t know. I guess I thought I should warn you.” Oliver kept his arms folded across his chest, looking down at his feet for a moment. 

His fingers tapped anxiously against his upper arm. “Can we just—” He paused again, shaking his head. “I don’t know. I miss you. I want to talk without arguing.” He looked up. “You’re my best friend and it sucks when I can’t talk to you.” 

Ollie’s schedule had become such a mess that he was pretty much sleeping through the day these days, a terrible choice for someone who was already attracting all the wrong kinds of attention just for existing. Ollie didn’t need to give them any more reasons to think that the trial from his last life—the trial that had resulted in his acquittal and his death—had any merit. He was just giving away the fodder by being absent during the day and unusually active at night. It was 3 pm and he was in bed because of his ridiculous, night-owl schedule when Diana showed up and he had to kick himself for not remembering that he had offered to help out with a little side project, outside of the Justice League. “Right,” he said when he opened the door. “You wanted to do something about the power dampeners. Right?” 

It had probably been far too long between their sessions, but at least Ollie had shown up, right? He was trying and he had been doing the exercises on his own, even if he hadn’t discussed them with Linda. It was more than time for him to have another session, however, and Ollie knew that, which was why he had forced himself down to Linda’s office for their weekly appointment, even if he didn’t want to be there in the slightest. 

He pressed his hands together in his lap, wringing them as if he was in a high-stress situation when, really, that was his general demeanor these days. The anxiety that had always plagued him had gotten exponentially worse, especially after Connor went to prison. “I, uh—I don’t really know where to start, so you better start asking me some questions.” 

Ollie and Bruce had always been friends. At least, Ollie liked to think so—in all likelihood, he knew, he annoyed the hell out of Bruce, but he was one of the few people Ollie ever felt leaning on for real help. It was different from other friendships he had with people in the Justice League. Bruce was the one he’d talk to if he made a mistake far beyond the realm of what he had done before. That was why, when he was seeking advice, he managed to find a time when Alfred would let him into the study to wait there for Bruce—even if Bruce might not have entirely been expecting him. Ollie had made some vague mention of dropping by, but that day, he had just showed up on a whim. 

“It’s good to see you again, Commissioner Gordon,” Ollie greeted. He didn’t know Jim all that well, but with the amount of time he had spent in Gotham City trying to do some good there as well as Star City (if only so he would have a pretense under which he could go to the city to meet with Bruce) he and Jim had run into each other more than once. “It’s been a long time. You taking care of yourself?” 

Clark gave Oliver a small nod. “It’d be kind of hard to keep my identities separate when I have to be in suit so often to keep helping people anymore.” He remarked. “And with the testing NOVA was doing, it was easier to conveniently have him leave.” He explained.

“I haven’t exactly spoken to Mera directly except once or twice since I came back to action. I’ve been more assisting with League business indirectly I guess. Bruce and I really even haven’t talked that much..” He hummed quietly.

“You’re sounding an awful lot like Bruce, first of all. Superman and Clark are two different people.” Oliver had gotten back some of his fighting spirit after taking time off and it had worked well for him. He realized that his friends and teammates back here weren’t doing so well and it was starting to make him feel like he needed to do a lot more to make sure none of them went off the deep end. 

“Holy shit, man…” Barry said, frowning a deep frown and looking him over. “I’m glad you’re back with us, but damn…” He said, shaking his head and taking a shot of his concoction. He hissed and coughed some at Oliver’s news. “Ted made those dampeners? There’s some kind of explanation for that, right? Right?” He asked.

Even though they were both very much involved with the Justice League, being around Oliver in that capacity had been relatively tolerable. Maybe that was because Dinah rarely went to the meetings. She came up with a good excuse to give Mera or Bruce, even though she knew they would both know she was full of shit, and was briefed later on what had been discussed in her absence. Right now they both seemed to be avoiding each other like it was a high school melodrama.

This was the first meeting she’d shown up to in a while. What she hadn’t expected was for Oliver to go out of his way to talk to her, and she clenched her jaw as her gaze snapped up to meet his. “What’s the matter with Connor?” She asked abruptly, choosing to believe that this was the only reason he’d chosen to approach her no matter how true that might be.

Oliver and Dinah were like kids with each other. They bickered like children when they were doing well, let alone when they were fighting. They gave each other the silent treatment like petty teenagers then made back up just a little while later as if nothing had happened. Neither of them felt anything in half-measures—so when they were infatuated, they fell hard, and when that infatuated faded, it left a deep vacancy. It was something that the people around them could clearly feel, even if they weren’t privy to all the information about them. 

“He got arrested. He hasn’t been doing well since then,” he said, his lips pursing into a tight frown. “I don’t think he’s going to reach out to you so you should go talk to him. I really think it would help.” Oliver paused, looking down, his arms folded over his chest. “He’s not going to listen to me, anyway.” 

“Hey, don’t look at me. I gave up my civilian life for the time being; so I can’t really blame you for being out here, even if it isn’t really helping matters much.” He stated. “Don’t you talk to the other League members? Hang out with them?”

“Wait, hold up.” Barry said, choking down a drink as Oliver spoke. “Dead? For two years? Damn dude, what exactly did I miss while I was gone…?” He frowned. “I’m sorry.” He added with a quiet sigh. He nodded slightly about the Connor situation and the dampening tech. “It’s dangerous, is what it is. The word on the street is the city is gearing up to give that tech to every law enforcement agent in the City – and if that’s true, we won’t be able to do much of anything if the police are involved…” He said.

Clark waited for Oliver to cross over to the next building before drifting across and joining up with him. He kept his eyes and ears peeled for any situations that could arise, but the silence wasn’t really sitting well with him. “You know… I’m honestly surprised you decided to meet up with me. It doesn’t seem like very many of us are still staying active.” He remarked.

Barry let out a heavy sigh but shook his head. “No, it’s cool Oliver. I deserved that one.” He said, waving his hands lightly. He chuckled to himself as he poured some of the liquor the archer had brought and added a slosh of his special mixture to it, swirling it a moment before clinking the glasses together. “To this nightmare.” He said and downed the liquid with a breath.

“Maybe I should run away again. I mean, it’s a lot of work having to actually plan where I’m running now because of the ‘school zones’ those agents wear on their belts.” He joked.

Ollie shrugged. “I can’t say much. I was dead for two years. It’s not like I was much help.” Ollie nodded and lifted his glass slightly at Barry before tapping it against the counter then downing his drink like it was a shot. He wrinkled his nose in disgust as the liquor burned his throat before coughing and putting the glass down.