HE WHO HOLDS THE DEVIL

oliver grinned, following emmaline down the stairs, shaking his head. “aw, emmy! isn’ot that bad! it’s not really like a prison. you can leave when you wanna!”

“uh--” he scratched at his head, sheepishly smiling for a minute. “gotham! s’where i grew up. kinda. an’--- uh--- oh! bludhaven and central city! some places inbetween there too.” he grinned, rocking back onto the balls of his feet. “’ve never been traveling before so emma an’ i went lots of places---” he paused, cutting himself short. “what did you do?”

“uh---” right. emma had said he didn’t need to go blabbing. gotta keep stuff a secret from people she didn’t approve of. the brunette scratched the back of his head, smiling broadly instead. “i saw a lot of cities! it was really nice! i think i like my dorm better than the hotels we stayed at, though...”

oliver’s eyes widened as he looked at the picture, eyebrows shooting up into his forehead. “wow! that’s so cool! you didn’t have to dye your hair to get that color, really?” scrunching his forehead up as he looked at the picture, the brunette rocked back onto his feet and shrugged. “i think you’d look good and i’m an expert at dark hair. trust me.”

[text to ‘ 💕 💕 lindy!!!!  💕 💕 ‘]: ????????[text to ‘ 💕 💕 lindy!!!!  💕 💕 ‘]: thats a good thing!!![text to ‘ 💕 💕 lindy!!!!  💕 💕 ‘]: it means you like me!!!!!!! :D :D :D[text to ‘ 💕 💕 lindy!!!!  💕 💕 ‘]: what r u drinking? can i come over?

“----so blonde?” oliver tilted his head as he eyed the older girl, brows furrowing up in confusion for a moment. “or like--- ghost hair?” the brunette’s nose scrunched up as he thought it over before shaking the look off. “you should go darker! total opposite! wouldn’t that be fun?”

oliver rocked hesitantly back and forth on his heels, left hand rubbing up and down on his right arm nervously as he fidgeted. he had gone home to see his dad and--- well. he felt bad about leaving. he was bad for leaving his friends like that. biting down on his lip the brunette blinked at the sound of someone’s voice, welcoming the distraction. wheeling around the boy smiled broadly and waved. “i can show you! we’re all on the same floor according to years!”

for the last five minutes oliver had found himself staring intently at a pretty lady across the dance floor. there had been a strange sense of--- familiarity that had surged through him when he first spotted her. he could have sworn he knew her! she looked like someone he knew but--- he couldn’t put a name to the face. at all. he knew he sometimes had problems with his memory, confusing things but--- this was weird. pouting the demonic conduit gave a huff before finally pushing off the wall and headed towards the woman. “hey!” he scrunched his face up. “do i know you? i think i do---”

he had meandered off to a table at some point during the night, boredom and loneliness growing as his friends had wandered off. he didn’t want to dance--- not without his friends--- so for the most part he had been left trying to entertain himself. he had tripped a few people, grinned when they hit the floor but, after a while that had gotten boring too. so, now, he was leaning as far back as he could in his chair, tilting it off the ground while balancing in it. he was trying to keep his concentration, to make sure he wouldn’t fall, which was a lot harder than looked like. oliver wasn’t the best at concentrating. case in point: “avery?” was that his brother--- the chair went backwards, clattering ot the floor with a crash. oops.

“izzy! you look like a toy!” oliver meant it as a compliment, at least. a cute doll is what he meant. he was sure his friend knew what he meant, too. izzy understood him fairly easily and always gave him good advice. he was glad he had found her. “it’s kind of  boring for a party, i think. what do you think?”

even if he had been bored for a portion of the night, (it wasn’t that long but, longer than oliver was use to), the faust wouldn’t say that he hadn’t been enjoying himself. there was free food. that was nice. a lot of people to watch, (and trip), that was also nice. and he had seen some friends and talked to people--- growing up locked away at home save avery had made the boy always hungry for attention and socialization so, whenever he got to talk to people--- even if they weren’t HIS people who made his heart stutter and made him feel like a person--- was nice. so. yeah. he would say he was having a good time. he was happy. having fun. and--- and then he saw her and felt his stomach sink. reine. shame, guilt, and anxiety all settled in the pit of his stomach. he didn’t know why the girl was always so angry with him--- he wanted her to like her because she was important to annie--- and him they said--- but nothing he did seemed to work. worrying on his bottom lip the boy glanced around a moment before tentatively grabbing a plate of food and heading towards the girl. maybe if he tried really hard tonight--- it’d be different. “reine--- uhm---” don’t look at her eyes, keep your head down. shuffle your feet. “you look--- really nice--- are you hungry?”

he had managed to snag an entire tray of little sandwiches from some poor server. oliver wasn’t sure why such a big event had to have such tiny sandwiches, honestly. it was like they wanted you to be hungry. he had no choice but to take the tray. just one wasn’t going to be enough. clearly. generally the boy wasn’t so wrapped up in food but, as of now, he was growing increasingly bored and--- well it was a good distraction. at least until he found someone to bother or someone he knew--- case in point: “annie!” standing up on his tip toes the boy grinned widely as he spotted the smaller girl in the crowd. he threw one hand up and waved, voice raising. “annie! annie come here! i have sandwiches!”

oliver, despite having texting emilia to make sure she was coming, had thus far not yet seen her. he had talked to some other girls, made some new friends, and stuffed his face--- but what fun was there if one of his best friends hadn’t shown up? sure. he had a few friends he could hang with but--- it wasn’t the same. there were certain people that oliver always wanted to be around and it hurt, physically, when he couldn’t see at least one of them once a day. PLUS: who else would sneak into the kitchen with him? or help him do something fun? especially if emmaline was busy? emilia was like his best friend. he was starting to grow dejected, honestly, a little hurt and was debating texting her or calling her--- oh. wait. “lia!” there she was. shoving his plate into some passerbyer’s hands the boy practically ran over to the girl’s side, almost vibrating with excitement. “you’re here! i was looking for you! were you looking for me?”