Archive of Our Own ^beta

Part One

You’re just a daydream away. I wouldn’t know what to say if I had you. And I’ll keep you a daydream away. Just watch from a safe place so I never have to lose.

“Look,” Ollie said through a mouthful of french fries. They’d stopped at some roadside diner that had to have been cooking on grease left over from the 50s, not that Hal minded. There was something magical about places like this. Stuck in time. Jukeboxes in the corner and records on walls and waitresses in blue dresses with waist aprons. “All I’m saying is that Superman and Batman have got to be fucking.”

Hal laughed out loud, nearly choking on his Coke  as he glanced across the table at his best friend. “You’ve got to be kidding me.” He  shook his head. “Batman couldn’t get laid if his life depended on it.”

Ollie shrugged and leaned back against his side of the booth. “They’re too close, man.  I’m telling you.”

“You’re seeing things.” Hal rolled his eyes and finished the food on his plate.

The trip was coming to an end, and the pit of his stomach twisted into knots every time he thought about it. 

The past several weeks had been nice. Better than nice, if he were honest with himself, something he rarely was. Just him, Ollie, an open road, and a new city every night. Three time zones, fifteen states, one shitty motel after the next. Sitting in the crappy truck and finding one terrible classic rock station after the next.

“So two more days till Star?” Hal asked, shifting to mimic Ollie’s posture on his own side of the booth.

“Something like that,” Ollie nodded, pulling out his phone and scrolling through it.

“You’re addicted to that thing,” Hal commented as he stacked their empty plates, more to give his hands something to do than anything else. He’d always been full of nervous energy, even as a kid.

“Most people are,” Ollie replied with a shrug. “Shame there’s no cell service in space.”

A small grin formed on Hal’s lips at the comment. Yeah, it would definitely be nice to have some resemblance of a connection to Earth when he was… away. If only to know what month, or hell, even what year, it was. But he figured there were worse sacrifices to be made than not having LTE more months than he did.

He fought the urge to roll his eyes when Dinah’s ringtone went off. He’d gotten used to it by this point. ‘Drive’ by The Cars. Ollie and Dinah had danced to it at their first wedding, and it was almost so sickeningly sweet that Ollie kept it as his ringtone for her that it almost gave Hal a cavity.

He liked Dinah. He really did. She and Ollie were the couple to beat, and she and Ollie were the epitome of everything he would never have. Billionaires, true love, and all that other bullshit he’d never earn on his own.

“Sorry, gotta take this,” Ollie shot him an apologetic look before heading out of the diner.

“Yeah, whatever, man,” Hal called after him, watching the door swing shut behind him.

There was nothing worse, Hal couldn’t help but think, than falling in love with the wrong person. Carol had been… He shut his eyes and took a breath before opening them again. Not a mistake. Not a mistake but certainly not something he wanted to brag about. Not when they still had… whatever the hell it was that was going on between them.

And now his stomach was starting to backflip whenever he was near Ollie (a hell of a lot these past few days), and he tried to fight it down. Ignore it. Push it far, far away, lock it up, and never bother thinking about it again.

Because Ollie was married. Because Ollie was out of his league. Because Hal never stood a chance in hell with him.

The waitress had already left the ticket at the table by the time Ollie headed back in. Hal watched as he reached for it and headed up to the cash register before Hal could even think to do it. Not that Hal was going to complain. Between jobs again and the Guardians didn’t exactly pay them for what they did.

He followed Ollie to the truck, climbing into the driver’s seat and bringing the engine to life.

 “You okay?” Ollie asked as he slid into the passenger seat.

Hal just nodded in response.

He was always okay.

He had to be.

They stopped for gas at some middle of nowhere station in middle of nowhere South Dakota. They’d fallen into an easy routine during their time on the road. Ollie pumped the gas, and Hal went inside and bought snacks like an unsupervised five year old who had been given twenty bucks.

$33 of fuel, two bottles of Mountain Dew, a bag of Funyuns, and two things of Chex Mix Bold later they got back on the main interstate. Hal switched over to the passenger seat and fiddled with the radio, trying to find a station that wasn’t a) static, b) country (modern pop with a twang if you asked him), or c) yodelling (where the hell had that one even come from anyway?)

“What the hell flavor did you get?” Ollie questioned, setting his bottle back in his cup holder. Hal frowned and tilted his head to look at the older man. “It tastes like someone mixed Mountain Dew and blue Powerade.”

“I dunno, it was on sale,” Hal shrugged and turned to stare out the window.

South Dakota, he decided, was full of a hell of a lot of nothing.

He finally landed on a pop station, not his favorite, but he was tired of hitting the ‘Seek’ button, and hey. It wouldn’t kill him to get a taste for the latest music hits, right? Besides. Maybe then he’d actually be able to recognize half the shit Kyle was constantly humming.

“So what did Dinah want?” he asked after a long stretch of silence that felt like an eternity.

“What?” Ollie blinked and turned slightly.

“Road, Oliver,” Hal reminded, watching as Ollie’s eyes snapped back onto the road in front of them. He shook his head and fought the urge to kick his feet up onto the dash. “Dinah? Your wife? She called an hour ago?”

“Oh,” Ollie nodded. “She was just checking in.”

“Was an awful long check in.

“That’s married life,” Ollie responded with a shrug, his tone suggesting the conversation was over. “How’s Carol?”

“No clue,” Hal sighed and turned away from his friend as best as they could in the confined space. 

“Broken up again?”

“Something like that.”

Because he could never really be sure with Carol. The last time had been the last time. And so had the time before that. And the time before that. They were full of ‘no more’s’ and ‘never again’s’ and ‘I love you’s’ and ‘I hope you die’s’. 

He was pretty sure he’d heard a song along those lines when he’d been in one of his in-between jobs. And it’s a funny thing, but now that you’re gone, I don’t wish you were dead anymore.

“I keep telling you you’re too good for her,” Ollie commented. Hal watched as his grip tightened on the steering wheel. Hal was too good for Carol? Yeah, right. Everyone knew it was the other way around. Always had been. Always would be. “Seriously, Hal, you can do better.”

“Can we drop it?” Hal asked, an edge creeping into his tone.

Carol was… a sore subject. He’d failed her more times than he could count, and deep down he knew it was never really going to work out. Even if he wanted it to. Did he even really want it to?

“Seriously, buddy,” Ollie continued. Hal shifted and rested his head against the cool glass of the window, watching as his breath fogged it up. “You’re going to find someone perfect for you one day.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Hal rolled his eyes and focused on the empty fields and odd farmhouse along the side of the road. 

Everyone loved to talk about happily ever afters and true love and all that other bullshit.

But the truth was not everyone got a happy ending.

Not everyone got to fall madly, deeply in love with a person that madly and deeply loved them back.

And wouldn’t it just be his luck of the draw if he were one of those unlucky bastards?

Besides.

It was easier being alone. Safer for sure. Attachments meant dragging someone else into the mess he’d fallen into. Attachments meant people could get hurt. And he… He shut his eyes tightly. He didn’t want to do that again.

It wasn’t worth it.

“Earth to Hal?” Hal blinked and turned to face Ollie. “I asked if you needed me to stop? Next gas station’s not for thirty miles?”

“Huh?” Hal blinked, trying to let the words process. How deep in thought had he been? “Nah, I’m good,” he assured and reclined back in his seat. Another hour or two and they’d switch again until they both decided they were exhausted and made a stop at whatever shady motel still had vacancies.

“You sure you’re okay?” Ollie pushed.

“Yeah, great.” Hal nodded in response. It was amazing how good a lie became when it was repeated over and over again. Because no one really wanted to know how he was doing. (Maybe Ollie did, but Ollie was different and always had been). Everyone else wanted a nod and a ‘Fine, thank you,’ and to move on with their day content that they’d contributed the absolute bare minimum to the conversation.

But not Ollie. 

Ollie genuinely wanted to know, and Hal was starting to think maybe that was worse. Because it was so damned easy to drop his guard around Oliver Queen. To tell him things he wouldn’t have dared say to anyone else.

He never had particularly liked vulnerability.

Trust was a tricky thing. After all, he’d trusted Sinestro and look where that got him. But Ollie wasn’t him . Ollie would never betray him like that. At least, Hal was pretty sure of that.

But then again, when had he ever really been the best judge of character?

He laid his seat back further and shut his eyes. “Gonna get a nap in before my turn, okay?”

He groaned when Ollie turned the radio up full blast in response.

“If I can’t sleep, neither can you.”

All roadside motels, Hal figured, must have been designed by the same person. Same outside doors. Same shag carpet that hadn't been updated since the 70s. Same sense of desperation and same moldy scent in the air. There was something disgusting about a cheap, roadside motel room, and something nostalgic about it as well.

He had to hand it to Ollie. He was impressed the billionaire was keeping his sanity in places like this night after night. Hal was sure he would have insisted on a nicer hotel that Hal would have felt desperately out of place in. 

But. Then again.

The man had spent months on end on a deserted island.

Hal pulled the room key out of his back pocket, twisted it in the lock, and pushed the door open, groaning when he saw the inside of the room. There was nothing particularly wrong with the room (that he wouldn’t have otherwise anticipated, at least) but…

“We asked for two beds,” Ollie spoke before he could.

“We did,” Hal nodded, entering the room and throwing his bag on the rickety looking chair by the sole bed in the room.

“We can go complain?” Ollie offered, leaning against the door frame.

“It’s three A.M.,” Hal responded, voice deadpan. “We have been on the road since eight yesterday morning. I’m tired and want to go to bed.”

“Okay,” Ollie shrugged and tossed his bag next to Hal’s. “You’re sure you’re cool with this?”

“I’ve been in a confined space with you for two weeks now,” Hal responded, falling into the right side of the bed without bothering to change his clothes. “I think I’ll live.” He propped himself up on his elbow and turned to face Ollie. “Are you cool with it?”

“Please,” Ollie responded and climbed into the other side of the bed. “I can sleep anywhere.”

“Whatever you say,” Hal yawned. He stretched, letting his back pop, and maneuvered under the blanket, noting that Ollie made a point to stay above it. “Sleep tight,” he flipped the bedside lamp off and shut his eyes.

He felt Ollie shift beside him, probably trying to get comfortable, and tried not to think of how close they were to each other. The bed wasn’t exactly small, but then again neither was Hal or Ollie. Years of training did not a small man make.

He shifted around a bit, finding a comfortable position, and shutting his eyes, trying to fall asleep.

It was amazing, he thought, how damned easy it was to sleep with someone and how damned hard it was to sleep next to someone. 

They were inches away, probably closer to centimeters. But there might as well have been an ocean between them for all Hal cared. Because he was an idiot who wanted the one thing he couldn’t have. Because he had a tendency to chase after things that were bad for him, even though he knew Ollie was probably one of the better influences in his life.

Right person, wrong time, and all that jazz.

And wasn’t that the story of his goddamn life?

Because he was scared to let himself be loved and he was scared that no one would ever really love him and didn’t that just make for the world’s worst combination?

And besides. What was the point in love anyway?

Ollie shifted beside him, snoring like a freight train, and Hal adjusted himself, trying to get comfortable on the lumpy mattress.

He pulled the blanket up around his shoulders and was sound asleep in record time.

Sometimes Hal despised his internal clock. 

It seemed like he was up at 5 A.M.  no matter how late he’d stayed up the night before. Two hours of sleep was less than ideal, but he’d gone by with less before. He stretched as he sat up, turning to look at the sleeping form beside him.

Ollie slept on his side in a straight line, so different from how Hal slept, all spread out like he was in freefall.

He shook his head, trying to clear it. Sharing a bed hadn't been weird. But watching his best friend sleep?That definitely crossed some sort of line.

He rummaged through his bag, pulling out an old t-shirt and pair of jeans before heading into the bathroom and turning the water on, swearing when it wouldn’t get any warmer than cold. But, for thirty bucks a night, he guessed he really couldn’t complain that much. He scrubbed down and turned the water off before drying off his hair and wrapping the towel around his waist.

The mirror was cracked in the corner, not that he cared too much. He knew what he looked like, after all.

He wasn’t sure how long he stood there, staring at that broken mirror when a knock at the door made him jump so high he was lucky he didn’t end up flying through the roof. 

“You still in there, buddy?” Ollie asked through the door.

“Yeah, just a minute,” Hal responded, throwing his clothes on as fast as he could before opening the door.

“Hal?” Ollie cocked an eyebrow, and Hal couldn’t help but think he looked like he was about to crack up laughing.

“What?”

“Your shirt’s on backwards.”

Hal felt his blood rush to his cheeks as he slowly glanced down. Sure enough, he could see the tag poking out of the front of his collar. Well. Back of the collar, he guessed. Technically the back of the collar. “I’ll go fix it,” he said, hand reaching for the doorknob behind him.

“Since when do you change in secret?” Ollie raised an eyebrow, and Hal felt his throat go dry. “It’s nothing I haven’t seen before.”

“You trying to get me naked, Ollie?” Hal asked, mimicking his body language.

“You wish,” Ollie snorted.

Hal nodded slowly and made his way back to the bathroom, trying to ignore the feeling of his heart sinking into his stomach.

If South Dakota was full of a hell of a lot of nothing, Montana was also filled with a hell of a lot of nothing. Not that Hal minded too much. It was definitely better than the absolute monotony of open space. Nothing but darkness and the odd star for miles and miles and miles. 

At least right here, right now, he had someone with him. Someone he enjoyed spending time with, even if he wished it could be more. Even though he knew it would never be more. That it never could be more.

He kept his eyes on the road and his hands at ten and two, trying to focus on driving and not on Ollie and definitely not on  the thoughts that had been swimming through his head since the night before.

“How’s Dinah?” he asked when the staticky station they’d had on several miles longer than they should have finally cut out.

“She’s fine,” Ollie answered. Hal saw him move his hands behind his head from the corner of his eye. “Been pretty quiet back home, she said.”

“That’s good.” Hal nodded and chewed at the inside of his mouth, a bad habit he’d picked up as a kid and never really broken. “You know, one day I’m gonna get you in a plane with me.”

“Whatever you say.” Hal wasn’t sure if he’d imagined it or not, but he thought he saw an eye roll there.

“What?” Hal questioned. “Would you rather fly with Gardner?”

“I’d rather die,” Ollie answered without missing a beat.

It was Hal’s turn to roll his eyes before focusing back on the road in front of him. 

He tried not to think about what happened after all of this. When they made it back to Washington and went their separate ways, just like he knew they had to. Because really? What excuse did billionaire Oliver Queen have for spending any amount of time with some random test pilot with a dishonorable discharge?They didn’t run in the same circles. Hal’s schedule was nightmarish at best.

It was…

It wouldn’t work out.

It was never meant to.

They spent their last night of the trip like any decent best friends would do: with a case of beer that would certainly result in a killer hangover the next morning that would probably leave Dinah wondering why she ever agreed to let them go on the trip in the first place. Nothing said ‘welcome home’ quite like ‘we’re hungover as fuck.’

Hal set his bottle down on his nightstand, trying to remember which one he was on. He’d stopped counting after three and was pretty sure he was north of five.

Ollie, to his credit, was keeping up with him.

“I’m telling you I can drink you under the table,” Ollie slurred, moving to sit on the floor beside Hal’s chair.

“Please, old man,” Hal rolled his eyes. “I’ve been drinking with Gardner for years now.”

“Yeah, but you’re a lightweight,” Ollie replied in a sing-song voice, a damnable smirk on his lips.

Not, of course, that Hal was paying any attention to his lips. That would be… They weren’t… He tried to shake the thought of what he’d like Ollie’s lips to be doing out of his head.

“‘M not a lightweight,” he groaned, finishing his drink and cracking open a new one. 

“You’re drunk, Jordan,” Ollie said with a laugh.

“‘M not drunk, ‘M Hal.”

“Whatever you say, drunkass.”

Hal rolled his eyes and rolled off of the chair and onto the floor next to his friend. He lay on his back and blinked up at him. “Hey.”

“Hey,” Ollie laughed and finished his drink. 

“Hey.”

“You said that already.”

“Oh,” Hal sighed and looked off to the side, staring at the peeling paint on the wall across from them. 

“It’s okay,” Ollie laughed. “You’re cute when you’re drunk.”

Hal felt the blood rush to his cheeks.

Ollie probably didn’t even mean anything by it. Just something a drunk friend said to a drunk friend.

But Ollie had never called him cute before…

Hal inched closer and moved so his head was resting in Ollie’s lap, grinning like an idiot when Ollie started running his fingers through his hair. “Do you use conditioner?” Ollie asked.

Hal glared up at him. “Do I look like I use conditioner?”

“Well, your hair’s really soft,” Ollie commented, and Hal felt his cheeks get redder still. 

It shouldn’t have been a big deal. Friends complimented each other, right? 

But this felt… different. Not that he would know. He was always better at doing the flirting than being flirted with.

Besides… Ollie wasn’t flirting with him. Ollie was married to an absolute knockout. Why the hell would he want Hal Jordan?

“You should come home from space more often.” Hal saw Ollie set his drink down out of the corner of his eye. “We should have done this trip years ago.”

“I don’t exactly set my own schedule,” Hal responded, shutting his eyes. “Space crime doesn’t stop just because I want a day off, you know.”

They sat like that, for how long Hal wasn’t sure. Eventually, Hal opened his eyes, looking up at his best friend, who was smiling down at him. 

“What?” Ollie questioned.

“Nothin’,” Hal replied without moving. 

They were so close.

He just had to lean up and…

And what?

Ruin everything just like he always did?

Dinah would hate him, and Ollie would never speak to him again.

Besides, he wasn’t even sure if Ollie even batted for both like he did. Or if Ollie even knew that about him in the first place.

They were so, so close…

He started to lean up but thought better of it. 

Not today.

“So,” he pulled himself up to a sitting position, legs criss-cross applesauce. “Superman and Batman are fucking?”

Part Two

I should be over all the butterflies, I’m into you. I’m into you. And baby even on our worst nights I’m into you. I’m into you.

It must have been nice, Hal thought, to have ‘fuck you’ money. He’d dreamed about it, sure, what kid didn’t? But dreaming about ‘fuck you’ money and knowing someone who actually had ‘fuck you’ money? Two very different things. 

Ollie had ‘fuck you’ money, and that fact had always been more than a bit intimidating to Hal.

The Queen Manor never ceased to amaze Hal, no matter how many times he’d been in it. A long drive, a hell of a yard (garden, his bad), and a multi-story mansion nicely tucked behind a big, brick gate.

“You should stay,” Ollie commented as he pulled into the circular drive, killing the engine and stepping out of the truck. “Dinah won’t mind.”

Hal started to argue. They’d spent the past few weeks together, and Ollie was probably eager for some… alone time with his wife. But it was late, and he didn’t really have anywhere else to go, so… “Yeah, sounds great. Thanks.”

He grabbed his bag out of the bag and followed Ollie inside to the polished, spotless foyer.

“You’re home early.”

Hal glanced to the archway separating the foyer from the living room. Dinah was leaned against the trim, arms crossed over her chest. 

“A little bit,” Ollie nodded. “Not much traffic on a Sunday.”

Hal watched Ollie cross the room, pulling Dinah into a kiss. He tried to ignore the ugly feeling in the pit of his stomach. The one that wanted to rip them away from each other so he could kiss Ollie himself.

Because Ollie and Dinah were stupid in love. Because they would move mountains for each other, and nothing was going to get between them ever. 

It almost made him sick.

Green was a good color on him, but jealousy was never pretty on anyone.

“So,” Dinah spoke as she pulled away from Ollie and turned to face Hal. “You find yourself on your little man trip?”

Hal blinked and stared at her. “What?” he asked before the words could completely process. “Oh, yeah, something like that.”

He watched as Ollie draped an arm around Dinah, as Dinah melted into his side, a gesture so familiar, so comfortable that Hal felt his stomach twist with that same ugly feeling again. 

“Mind if Hal crashes here for a few days?” Ollie asked, tilting his head to the side.

“No problem,” Dinah replied without missing a beat. “We’ve got the room.”

“Thanks,” Hal murmured, following after Ollie and Dinah when they gestured for him to.

Up the stairs, a sharp left, and two doors later, Hal was ushered into a guest room, nicely decorated and definitely better than any place he’d ever stayed in before. “I’ll be out of your hair as soon as I can,” he assured as he placed his bag on the perfectly made bed.

“No rush,” Dinah assured as she leaned against the doorframe. “Hey, babe?” she asked, turning her head to glance at Ollie. “Mind getting our guest some towels and an extra blanket?”

“Yeah, no problem,” Ollie kissed her on the cheek before heading out.

Hal wasn’t sure if it was his imagination, but the tension in the room seemed to increase tenfold as soon as Ollie was gone.

“So,” Dinah began casually. Hal watched as she crossed the room and sat at the foot of the bed, crossing one leg over the other. “How long have you been in love with my husband?”

“What?” Hal choked, eyes going wide. Because he wasn’t in love with Ollie. At least he was pretty sure he wasn’t in love with Ollie. Because Ollie was in love with Dinah, and Hal was supposed to be in love with Carol, even though they were very firmly back to being off-again. And besides. How would Dinah even pick up on that from a whole fifteen minutes of Hal being under her roof.

“You need to work on your facial expressions, Jordan,” Dinah leaned back on her elbows. “You looked like you wanted to hit one of us back there.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Hal shook his head. Because this conversation wasn’t happening. Not right now, at least. Not when he didn’t even fully know what was going on in his own head. Not when he still didn’t want to put a name to the stupid backflips his heart did whenever Ollie was in the room.

“Whatever, flyboy,” Dinah rolled her eyes and stood up, starting to leave but stopping in the doorway, turning back to face Hal. “Feelings have a way of making themselves known, Hal,” she said, voice gentle. Hal almost hated how she wasn’t accusing him. How she wasn’t suspicious that he’d try something. How damn casual she was about the whole thing. “Shoving them down’s only going to hurt you in the end.”

He watched as she turned and left, heels clacking against the polished hardwood floor.

The first night in a new bed was always the hardest. Hal had learned that very early on in his military career, and it was a feeling that never really left as he got older. There was something about the unfamiliarity he didn’t particularly like.

At least on the road, he’d had someone with him.

But here?

Ollie and Dinah were in the master, sure, but in the room, he was all alone. Nothing but the quirky art on the wall and his mess of a brain to keep him company. 

Dinah knew. 

Dinah knew, and somehow Hal wasn’t surprised, and somehow that made it even more humiliating. He’d always had trouble schooling his facial expressions, something his brothers and COs had always harassed him over. Hell. He could still hear his mom’s voice in his head telling him that, yes, he had made that face out loud.

He tossed and turned for a good while before flopping onto his stomach, resting his head on his folded arms and staring down at the pillow, covered in a goddamn sham. Who even thought to use a sham?

The worst part, Hal couldn’t help but think, was that Ollie’s place was big, but it wasn’t… that big. It wasn’t Wayne Manor big. It was big enough for him and his family to be comfortable. Big enough to have friends over and not feel crowded. But it never felt… too much.

Still, having grown up alternately  sharing a room with Jack and Jim, everything seemed big to him.

He would have killed to have grown up in a place like this. Then again, he was pretty sure there was some sort of saying about wanting what you didn’t have until you got it.

He shut his eyes and tried to fall into something resembling sleep, but he couldn’t get his mind to shut off. Dinah knew. Dinah knew and put it into words. And the worst part was she didn’t even seem upset by it. 

Feelings have a funny way of creeping up on us.

What the hell did that even mean? That she wanted him to act on his feelings?

He wasn’t even sure he wanted to act on his feelings. Or that he should. Or that they would even be reciprocated in the first place.

His first heartache came at age 12 when he asked the prettiest girl in his class out, and she laughed in his face. That rejection stuck with him, and even now, almost twenty years later, he still hated the idea of rejection more than he hated just about anything else.

And being rejected by the one person he actually gave a damn about? Ruining everything they’d built up through their League connection and their trip?

It wasn’t worth it.

Love was supposed to be worth it. That’s what everyone always told him. 

But where the hell had love ever gotten him? An on-again off-again relationship with a woman who was just as likely to kill him as she was to kiss him?

He groaned and rolled off of the bed with all the grace and dignity of a newborn deer. He crossed the room and rummaged through his things until he found a reasonably clean shirt. He threw it on over his head, making sure it was right-side-out this time, and headed out of the room.

He started down the stairs, hand on the freshly polished bannister, and kept walking till he found the kitchen. He grabbed a glass from an open cabinet and started to fill it with water from the tap when he noticed a water dispenser built into the fridge. He downed the small amount of water in his glass before moving over to the fridge and refilling it there.

Tap water is good for you, Harold, he could still hear his mother telling him. Fluoride is good for your teeth.

He leaned against the corner cabinet, hip digging into the countertop, and drank the glass slowly. He hadn't been thirsty, really, he’d just needed to move. He’d done the same thing when he was a kid who couldn’t sleep. Asking his mom or Jack or the babysitter if he could ‘ please just have one more cup of water.’

He set the glass down, thinking he should probably use a folded up paper towel or something, and stared up at the ceiling’s recess lighting above the cabinets and hanging fixture over the island. 

He groaned and swore under his breath when he heard shuffling from down the hall. 

“Alexa, turn on kitchen light.” Hal shook his head and watched the doorway, trying to act casual when Ollie came in through the open archway. “You’re up late.”

“Could say the same to you,” Hal responded, pushing himself up onto the counter and letting his legs swing in the air. 

“Needed some water.”

“Uh-huh,” Hal crossed his arms over his chest and cocked a brow. 

“What?” Ollie questioned.

“Nothing,” Hal held his hands out in front of him. “I needed water too.”

Ollie nodded and grabbed a glass from the same cabinet Hal had just a few minutes prior. Hal watched as he crossed the kitchen to the fridge, taking the exact same steps.

He pushed himself off the counter and leaned back against the cabinets for support. “It’s a killer kitchen.”

“Should be,” Ollie replied without turning to face him. “Paid a small fortune for it.”

Hal nodded and bit at the inside of his cheek. Really do need to kick that habit, Jordan. He opened his mouth, starting to say something before thinking better of it and closing it again. After all, there was no sense in ruining a good thing. 

Ollie cleared his throat and turned to face him, and Hal fought for something, anything to say.bThe silence hung over them, something thick and tangible, not at all like the prolonged silences they’d shared on the road.

In the end, it was Hal who broke it.

“Listen, I’ll be out of your hair in no time. I don’t wanna intrude or anything.”

“It’s fine,” Ollie assured with a wave of his hand. “We’ve got the room.”

Hal nodded and stared back up at the ceiling.

Ollie was close. A few steps would close the distance between them. He could just…

“I need to tell you something.”

His mouth was moving faster than his brain, and he didn’t like it at all. He prided himself in control. It was something he could never, ever afford to have slip. Not in the field. Not at home. 

So why the hell was this any different?

“Yeah?” Ollie raised an eyebrow and leaned against the island.

Hal’s feet moved without him telling them too. One foot in front of the other until he was right in front of the other man. 

His eyes drifted from Ollie’s eyes to his lips.

It would be so easy to just…

“Hal, look,” Ollie started, but Hal pressed their lips together before he could finish the sentence.

It wasn’t a long kiss. Maybe a few seconds at the most. Ollie pulled away first, hands firmly on Hal’s chest. A warning to stop. That it had to stop. “Hal,” Ollie sighed deeply and pinched the bridge of his nose.

“I’m sorry,” Hal shut his eyes, feeling his heart sink into his chest. “I don’t know what… I’m…” An idiot. A goddamn idiot. “I should go.”

“Hal…” Hal felt Ollie’s fingertips brush against his wrists.

“I’ll go.”

He stayed in his room, staring up at the ceiling until daylight started streaming in through the windows in his room. Breakfast was sure to be an awkward affair, and he was starting to wonder if he could get away with skipping it. Though, he figured, it probably wouldn’t be that easy to avoid someone in their own home.

He shut his eyes and took a deep breath before opening them again, rolling out of bed, and throwing on a fresh t-shirt and cargo pants. 

His hand shook  when he twisted the doorknob, exiting the room and heading down the stairs and back to the kitchen, relieved to see Ollie was nowhere in sight. 

He poured himself a cup of coffee and sat at the same stool at the island as he had the night before, trying not to think too much about that. It had been a mistake. He hadn't been thinking, and  now God only knew what was going to come out of it.

“Morning,” a voice greeted from the entrance to the kitchen, and Hal felt his heart sink into his chest as he turned to face Dinah.

“Morning,” he greeted, trying to avoid eye-contact. Because how the hell was he supposed to look her in the eye after he’d kissed her husband not six hours earlier?

She poured her own cup of coffee and settled into the stool beside Hal’s, leaning toward him ever so slightly. 

A silence hung between them, and Hal could have laughed at the situation. Same scene, different actor.

“Ollie told me what happened.”

Hal nodded slowly and stared down into his mug, not sure what he should say. What he could say. Hell, if he should even say anything at all.

“I’m not mad,” Dinah continued, and Hal’s eyes widened because how could she not be mad at him? Any sane person would have been. “But, Jesus, Hal.” There it was. “What the hell were you thinking?”

“I wasn’t,” Hal shook his head. It wasn’t an excuse. Hell. It was barely an explanation. But it was all he had. And it wasn’t enough. And he would have loved to say he didn’t care, but he was about done with lying to himself.

Dinah shook her head and ran a hand through her hair, and for once in his life, Hal kept his mouth shut. A tense silence filled the room once more, and Hal almost wished Ollie would pop in and break it with some stupid comment or another.

He watched as Dinah blinked and stared up at the ceiling, as if trying to find the words she wanted to say. 

“Look, I’ll grab my stuff and be gone by tonight,” Hal offered, quickly shutting his mouth when Dinah snapped her head over to look him dead in the eye.

“Don’t be an idiot,” she snapped, voice sharp. “You don’t have anywhere else to go.” Hal bit his lower lip, but didn’t respond to that. It was never comfortable to admit that, really. He could crash with Guy or John or go rent a crappy place back home in Coast, but it wasn’t the same as actually belonging somewhere, and they both knew it. “He loves you,” she continued, voice barely above a whisper. “He loves you, and he loves me, and I can’t be upset with either of you about that.”

Hal’s brow furrowed at that.

Ollie loved him? Yeah, right. 

No one really ever loved Hal Jordan. Carol said she did (sometimes), but it had never really been real. Besides. What the hell would someone like Oliver Queen want with someone like Hal Jordan?

“We don’t pick who we love,” Dinah sighed and massaged her temples. “God knows it’d be easier if we did.”

“So what do we do?” Hal asked, standing up and taking his mug over to the sink.

“I don’t know,” Dinah shut her eyes. “I don’t know.”

“Hello?” the voice at the other end of the line greeted him, and Hal fought down the urge to start rambling off everything that had happened because, like it or not he actually needed help from a friend, and he didn’t want to scare him away. “Hal?”

“I’m a homewrecking whore.” He felt the blood rush to his face the second he said it. He hadn't quite meant to word it like that, but he’d always said he’d been born without a filter. 

“You’re a… what?”

“A homewrecking whore,” Hal repeated. He flopped down onto the bed and stared up at the ceiling, trying to figure out how to explain. Trying to figure out how he could even begin to explain.

“Okay, let’s back that up.”

“I fucked up,” Hal continued, his mouth working faster than his brain.

“Yeah, I gathered that. You wanna tell me what happened?”

“I kissed him.”

He heard Barry’s breath catch from the other end of the line, and he was more than glad they weren’t having this conversation face to face. He could imagine Barry’s disappointed expression perfectly well on his own. 

“Yeah. Yeah, I’d say you fucked up.”

Hal wrapped his free arm around himself and shut his eyes, beginning to wonder why he’d even called Barry in the first place. 

A long silence hung between them, and Hal almost checked to make sure the call hadn't dropped.

“Want me to come kick his ass?”

A laugh caught in Hal’s throat, and he felt a grin creep up on him. “No, I don’t think that’s a good idea,” he replied, rolling over onto his stomach and staring at the wall opposite him.

“Seriously,” Barry continued. “I can come kick his ass, and he won’t even see it coming.”

Hal sighed deeply and rolled his neck, trying to get it to pop. “Seriously, though. It was my fault. I wasn’t thinking.”

“Are you ever thinking?”

Hal shut his eyes and squeezed the bridge of his nose. “You know I do have more than one functioning brain cell?”

“Seriously though,” Barry said after another tense moment. “You gotta get this figured out. Ignoring it’s only going to make it worse. Trust me on that, okay?”

“You know I really fucking hate it when you’re right.”

“I know.” Hal could practically hear the smirk on his friend’s face. “Hey, listen, it’s like two A.M. here and I gotta work tomorrow.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Hal nodded and bit his lower lip. “Night, Barry.”

“Night, Hal.”

A click.

A dead line.

And silence once again.

Buying flowers was something Hal had always considered himself to be especially good at. Special occasion? Flowers. Just because? Flowers. ‘I fucked up big time, and we both know it?’ Flowers.

Hal had fucked up. Big time. And that was why he found himself in the floral department of the grocery store, staring at displays of flowers that looked sadder than a kid who dropped his ice cream cone. 

Carol always liked roses, red ones, and if this were Carol, he would have picked up a dozen of them intertwined with those tiny white flowers he could never remember the name of, wrap them up in tissue paper and call it a day. Red roses were romantic, and chicks loved them, and they definitely did not begin to demonstrate his guilt over what he’d done.

“Finding everything okay?” Hal turned to face an elderly woman dressed in the store uniform, name tag identifying her as Edith, the florist on duty. 

“Yeah, just looking,” Hal shoved his hands into his pocket and stared at a display of dyed roses and candy bouquets. Dinah would want actual flowers, she owned a floral shop after all, but Hal didn’t have the slightest idea of what she liked. “Actually,” he turned back to the woman. “How do you say ‘I fucked up’ in flower?”

Dinah was in the living room when Hal arrived back at the manor, bundle of flowers wrapped in colorful tissue paper under his arm. He would have gotten a vase to go with them, but he wasn't sure Dinah would have appreciated him adding to their household inventory with something that wouldn't die within a few days.

She barely glanced over at him when he walked into the room, and he couldn't blame her for it. He wouldn't want to look at him either. "Hey," he greeted, a forced smile on his face.

"Hey," she greeted, tilting her head to look at him.

She didn't wear makeup around the house, Hal had learned in his short stay under her's and Ollie's roof. Not that she needed it, that was. And why the hell was he paying attention to that anyway? He wasn't sure. Feelings were messy, complicated little bastards, and more often than not he couldn't help but think they'd all be better off without them.

"I, uh, got you something," he said, holding up the bouquet so she could see it.

She frowned and stood up, moving over toward him and taking the flowers out of his hand. "You think you can just waltz right in here with a bouquet of the saddest flowers I've seen in my life and everything will be okay?"

He felt his heart sink into his chest.

Had he thought it would magically make everything better?

Of course not. He wasn't that dumb.

Had he thought it was a step in the right direction?

For sure.

"I... It was..." he stammered, not sure how he could respond to that.

"Get a vase," she pointed to the kitchen. "Under the sink."

"Okay," Hal nodded and headed into the kitchen, opening up the cabinets under the sink and grabbing a vase that looked like it would hold the flowers he'd bought.

"These are the saddest flowers I've seen in my life," Dinah commented from the entryway, and Hal fought the urge to snap something he'd regret saying. "You know I own a floral shop."

"And you know I have a whole twenty bucks to my name," he retorted, turning around to face her, nearly dropping the vase in the process.

"Look," Dinah set the flowers down on the island and held her hands out in front of her. "Believe it or not, I don't want to fight with you."

"Yeah, well I definitely don't buy that," Hal crossed his arms over his chest.

"I don't want to fight," Dinah repeated. Hal watched as she gripped the island top, her knuckles turning white.

"Then what do you want, Dinah?" he demanded, leaning against the sink and raising an eyebrow. "I offered to leave and you told me to stay, so what the hell do you want from me?"

"I want my husband to fuck you!”

Her hand snapped up to her mouth before Hal could fully process what she'd said.

"You... you want... what?" he blinked in confusion, certain that he'd misheard. Because there was no way in hell she'd said what he thought she said.

He watched as Dinah took a deep breath, no doubt trying to regain control of herself. “There’s…” she paused as if trying to find the right words to say. “You two obviously feel things for each other. And I don’t know that either of you really wants to admit it. And it needs to get resolved.”

Hal nodded slowly, still trying to process what she was saying. “And you’re… okay with that?”

“And I’m okay with that,” Dinah nodded slowly, as if trying to convince herself it was the truth. 

“Okay,” Hal nodded and slowly turned to stare up at the ceiling, feeling like he’d been pushed into some sort of alternate universe. Because things were working out for once in his damned life and he was sure it had to be some sort of joke. That Ashton Kutcher was going to jump out any minute to tell him he’d been punk’d. “So now what?”

“So now,” Dinah began, moving over to Hal. Her hand brushed against his, and he couldn’t tell if it was accidental or accidentally-on-purpose. “You figure it out.”

There were many times in his life where Hal Jordan questioned every life decision he’d ever made that had brought him to a certain point. And, as it would turn out, one of those times was apparently in the middle of the Arrowcave, flat on his back on a sparring mat, Dinah smirking down at him.

“Not bad,” he commented, taking the hand she extended to help him up. “You’re sure there’s not some pent up aggression toward me there?”

Dinah rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. “You know, not everything is about you, believe it or not.”

“Oh I believe it,” Hal responded, taking a long swig from his water bottle.

“Again?” Dinah asked once Hal had the chance to recover.

“You’re on.”

He stepped back onto the mat, standing across from her. He’d underestimated her in the first round, and his instincts to play gently had taken over his fight mind. Dinah hadn't played gently in round one, and he sincerely doubted she would this time either. 

“On three?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

“On three,” Hal nodded in agreement, never breaking eye contact with her. He’d learned not to break eye contact in a fight when he was a kid getting into scuffles on the blacktop. Bodies would lie about where they were going. Eyes never did.

“One.” Breathe. “Two…”

He ducked down trying to sweep her legs out from under her before she could get to three. A dirty trick, sure, but he always had been a sore loser. 

“Fucker,” Dinah swore, narrowly avoiding a nasty fall. 

“Never said I played fair,” Hal shrugged, swaying to the side to avoid a fist to the jaw. 

“Probably a good time to tell you,” Dinah started. Hal ducked, narrowly avoiding a nasty kick to the throat. “Neither do I.”

Hal watched her closely, trying to come up with a plan. She was a damned good fighter, but so was he. He thought about throwing a construct up, but they’d agreed hand to hand only. 

Dinah lunged at him again, and he moved quickly, grabbing her by the arms and pulling them both to the ground. “Bastard,” she glared and Hal smirked down at her only to cry out when she managed to land a knee to his stomach, forcing him off her and onto the ground.

“I hate you,” he groaned when she moved to pin him. 

He had a solid fifty pounds on her, but she was stronger than she looked. 

“Give?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Don’t think so,” Hal responded, hooking a leg around her waist and rolling to flip their positions. “Give?”

“You wish.” 

Hal raised an eyebrow and moved to pin her down. 

To his surprise, she didn’t try and stop him. 

She’s up to something.

She grinned up at him and he swallowed hard. Because this was definitely not the turn this was supposed to take, him pinning her to a mat and her staring up at him like she couldn’t decide if she wanted to hit him or kiss him.

And the next thing he knew?

He was flat on his back on the goddamn mat staring up at her, not entirely sure how it had happened. “Fuck you.” He glared up at her as she pinned his arms over his head. There were worse places he could be, he figured, than underneath a drop-dead gorgeous woman. Even if she had caught him off guard. 

She shifted ever-so-slightly and something pooled in the pit of his stomach and oh. Oh fuck. Nope. This wasn’t happening. He did not just pop a boner, no ma’am. I can die now, thank you. 

“You like getting your ass handed to you, Jordan?” Dinah grinned, and Hal tried to look anywhere else. The Arrowcave had a nice ceiling. Good lighting. Yep. Focus on the lighting. 

“I had you before,” Hal snapped, his ego outweighing his desire to die on the spot. 

“And I told you,” Dinah leaned down, pressing her forehead against Hal’s. His breath hitched as his eyes drifted down to her lips.

This was definitely not how this was supposed to go.

“I don’t play fair.”

Hal locked eyes with her as she leaned down further, pressing her lips to the corner of his mouth, just for a second, before pulling back.

He fought the urge to pull her closer. To kiss her properly.

But wasn’t Ollie supposed to be the one he was into?

Was it possible to want more than one person at once?

“There,” she leaned back on her knees, still keeping him on the ground. “We’re even now.”

It was a cruel thing, Hal couldn’t help but think, that after one bout of insomnia, others seemed to follow suit. He’d gotten used to spending his nights staring up at the ceiling of the guest bedroom he occupied, accompanied by nothing but his thoughts and inner demons. And boy, were there a lot of those lately.

Things with Ollie and Dinah were different, so, so different from the way things were with Carol.

At least with Carol he knew where he stood. 

But with Ollie and Dinah?

Who fucking knew anymore.

There was something to be said for familiarity. For routine. And he’d always been a creature of habit. Blame his military career, he guessed. Familiarity left little room for surprises. And it seemed like those two were full of nothing but surprises these days.

Hell.

He figured he was full of them too.

Carol was familiar. Safe. Except for when she wasn’t. But at least with Carol he knew what he was getting himself into.

Did he love her?

He wasn’t sure anymore. Especially not when he was feelings he wasn’t sure he was supposed to be feeling for Ollie and Dinah.

Hal sighed deeply and grabbed his phone from the bedside table, rolling out of bed and heading back down to the kitchen, pouring himself a drink.

Hal sat at the marble island, staring down at his phone, drink in his free hand. He scrolled through his contacts til he got to F and hovered over her name. It was easy, really. He’d done it hundreds of times before. Click the name. Click the green button. Talk to someone who was God-only-knew-where and feeling God-only-knew-what.

He stared at her contact, for how long he wasn’t sure. He could call her. He could call her and they’d talk or they’d fight or whatever the hell else it was they always ended up doing. He could call her and one way or another he’d have an answer on if they were done for good or just done again.

He shut his eyes and took a drink and jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulder. “The fuck, Ollie?” he snapped, turning to look the older man.

“You don’t want to call her.” Hal watched as Ollie slid into the barstool next to him.

“What the hell do you know about what I want?”

“I know you don’t want to call her.”

Hal shook his head and glanced back at the screen, tapping it awake again before it could lock. One easy tap. One easy call…

“You do this, Hal,” Ollie sighed and leaned forward and Hal made it a point not to look at him. “You feel hurt or lost or whatever. And you call Carol. And you two get back together just to hurt each other again.”

“You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about, okay?”

“It’s all you do ,” Ollie continued, and Hal never wanted to punch someone more in his life. “You’ll make up. You’ll get back together for a few weeks or a few months and then something’ll happen and we’ll be right back at square one.”

Hal shut his eyes tight and set his phone down on the counter before opening them again.

“Don’t call her.”

“I hate when you’re right,” Hal sighed, moving to rest his head on the cool countertop.

“Everyone does, buddy,” Ollie responded, patting him on the back.

“Asshole.”

Part Three

And I’ve always lived like this, keeping a comfortable distance. And up until now I have sworn to myself that I’m content with loneliness. Because none of it was ever worth the risk.

Falling into a routine with Ollie and Dinah was easy enough. Dinah worked til four, Ollie worked til eight. Q-Core technically closed at six, but Ollie always stayed late, never wanted to leave before his last employee did. Hal had to admit he admired that. It was easy enough to hate a billionaire but damn hard to hate Oliver Queen.

The problem, of course, with Ollie working late and moonlighting as Green Arrow, was that he was never around. Dinah told him to try harder, but how the hell was he supposed to do anything at all when he never saw the man?

Like clockwork, Ollie walked through the door at 8:22. “Hey,” he greeted, leaning in the archway leading into the living area. Dinah and Hal had been sitting on the sectional, watching some dumb reality show more for the background noise than anything else. “God, you two are actually watching that crap?”

“Get in the gutter with the rest of us, old man,” Hal grinned and kicked his feet up onto the coffee table. 

“Sorry, got patrol tonight,” Ollie shrugged in a ‘what can you do’ gesture. “Roy’s out somewhere in the Carribean and Mia’s out with friends, you two want in?”

Hal tried to keep his facial expression neutral as he perked up in his seat. It’d been days since he’d gotten some good action, and he was dying to go do something other than sitting around watching whatever was on Netflix. “Hell yeah.”

“Let me go change,” Dinah spoke, standing up at a speed that had to have been deliberately slow, stretching in a way that had to have been deliberately sexy. Fucking great, Jordan. Get hot for both of them, why don’t ya?

He shifted uncomfortably before standing up. “Ready when you are.”

“All right,” Ollie smiled. “Let’s go kick some ass.”

“You have got to live in the most boring city in America,” Hal said into his comm. He hovered just above the ground, some low-level street criminal tied up below him. 

‘Have you been to Smallville?’ Dinah’s voice came over the feed. 

“Seriously, this is the most vanilla patrol I’ve been on in months.”

‘Be glad we brought you along.’ Ollie’s voice that time.

“Oh I’m so very grateful,” Hal rolled his eyes. “You know I fight space crime right?”

‘Oh no however will we survive the pending alien invasion?’ 

“You want another fuckin alien invasion, Canary?”

‘You can invade me any time.’

Hal nearly came crashing to the ground at that little comment, and it took every last ounce of willpower in him to keep his suit construct up and running. 

‘This is a private feed, right?’ Ollie’s voice that time.

‘Aren’t you the one that set it up?’

‘Look, I just want to cover all my bases.’

“God, you two fight like an old married couple,” Hal rolled his eyes and flew up higher, trying to get a better view of what was going on down on the streets. 

‘Well, we are married. And Arrow is old…’

‘Arrow can hear you.’

‘You know I love you.’

Hal fought the urge to gag at their banter. He wondered what it would be like, to be that familiar with someone else. To be able to tease each other without trying to hurt them. To know what the other was going to do almost before they did. “You two are sickening.”

“I am not old!’

‘Lantern, tell him he’s old.’

“You’re both old,” Hal responded. He hovered over a taller building, scanning the streets below. Still a metric nothing going on. At least nothing worth really getting involved in. Couldn’t the villain of the week make an appearance at least?

‘Wow,’ Dinah . ‘You know I’m only four months older than you.’

“Like I said. Old.” Hal couldn’t help the grin that started to form on his face. For once in his time with them, he didn’t feel like the third wheel. Didn’t feel like a threat.

‘Motherfucker,’ Ollie’s voice came over the comm, sounding more annoyed than genuinely upset. ‘A little help down here?’

“On it,” Hal responded without missing a beat, scanning over the area until he saw Ollie’s form on a nearby rooftop, mid scuffle with some thugs with guns. So. Maybe not the most boring city in America after all. He acted quickly, restraining one of them with a construct and dragging him off to the side. “So tell me,” he spoke, moving so he was back to back with Ollie. “What happens when you bring a bow to a gun fight?”

“Apparently this,” Ollie responded, and Hal grinned when he heard the thrum of a bowstring being released. 

“Fucking amateurs,” Dinah ran up to join them, and Hal wondered how he’d missed that she’d been closer to the scene than he was. He watched as she quickly dealt with one of the thugs, kicking the gun out of his hand and twisting his arm in a way that made Hal surprised it didn’t break. 

“Excuse me?” Hal raised an eyebrow, restraining the last of the men with another construct. 

“I said,” Dinah gritted her teeth and pushed the man she’d been restraining to the ground, flex-cuffing his hands behind his back. “Fucking amateurs.”

Hal shifted from foot to foot, feeling something in the pit of his stomach that he didn’t quite have a name for. 

“Well that was exciting,” Ollie leaned against a utility box once he’d finished calling it in.

“Mind giving me a hand?” Hal asked, nodding toward the two men on the ground, glowing green ropes wrapped around their wrists. “Those go when we go.”

“We got you.”

Hal watched as Ollie more permanently restrained one man while Dinah took the other. 

“What else can you make with that thing?” Dinah asked, glancing down at Hal’s ring.

“What can’t I make with this thing?” Hal retorted. He glanced over the rooftop, wanting to make sure they’d gotten everything. Four guys, three guns… “Something’s wrong.”

“The hell are you talking about?” Ollie questioned. 

“Something’s wrong,” Hal repeated. He flew up into the air trying to get a better look. Trying to find the missing piece.

Why weren’t all of them armed?

He saw movement out of the corner of his eye.

"Get down!" he snapped, darting back to the ground, pushing Ollie and Dinah down with him. He threw up a construct shield, just barely deflecting a bullet that would have landed straight between Ollie's eyes.

Hal stared down at them, trying not to think of how close they were. Trying to remember they were in the middle of a goddamn fire fight and that now really wasn't the time to be having the thoughts he was having.

Dinah rolled out from under him, but Ollie didn't move an inch.

"Holy shit," Ollie breathed, tilting his head to look up at Hal. "Owe you one, buddy."

"Damn right you do," Hal said, trying to regain control of his breathing.  He glanced over in the direction the bullet had come from, swearing under his breath when he saw the straggler.

"Cover your ears, boys," Dinah spoke as she got to her feet.

Hal shrugged and threw up a partition, keeping him and Ollie in a box separated from her.

He watched as she turned to face the man, going full canary cry.

"I hate when she does that," Ollie groaned, covering his ears.

"Gotta admit it's impressive," Hal commented as the man stumbled back, nearly falling off the building, dropping the gun off the side in the process.

Hal took the makeshift shields down and restrained the man long enough for Dinah to cuff him.

"Well," Dinah ran a hand through her hair. "I think that's enough excitement for one night."

"Agreed," Hal and Ollie said in unison. Hal blinked and turned to glance at his friend. He'd been so close to losing him over a careless mistake...

"You're staring, Lantern," Ollie commented without turning to face him.

"You got a problem with that, Arrow?" Hal folded his arms over his chest.

"For the love of God, kiss already," Dinah sighed in exasperation.

Ollie cleared his throat, sounding more like he was choking than anything else, and turned to face Hal. Their eyes locked, and Hal felt like he could swim through the tension hanging between them. 

He wasn’t sure who moved first.

One minute they were across from each other, the few inches between them seeming more like an ocean than something easily crossed. 

And the next?

The next thing he knew he was lip locked with Oliver fucking Queen on a rooftop in the middle of Star City in full view of five criminals and one particularly smug looking Black Canary. 

He wrapped a hand around the back of Ollie’s head, pulling him closer, moaning into the kiss when Ollie bit at his lower lip.

Kissing Ollie was… different from Carol. More aggressive. More passionate. Better in every conceivable way. 

In the end, it was Ollie who broke it. 

He rested his forehead against Ollie’s, breathing heavily, trying to keep his shoulders relaxed. 

“Good,” Dinah spoke. Hal made a noise of protest when Ollie stepped back, only to frown when Dinah moved right in front of him. “My turn.”

“What?” Hal frowned and tilted his head to the side, mind not quiet processing what Dinah had said. He glanced down at the hand she’d placed on his chest.

“Unless you don’t want to, of course,” she looked up at him, a confident smirk pressed onto her face. 

Hal chewed at his lower lip. He’d thought about what would happen if he could have Ollie. He’d thought about it more often than he’d ever admit to.

He’d never even considered he could have Dinah too.

He glanced down at her lips, mind frozen on what to do. 

Dinah pushed herself up on her tiptoes, pressing her lips against Hal’s. Hal blinked in surprise, but didn’t pull back. He wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her closer, fighting the urge to glance over at Ollie to make sure this was okay. Wanting to know if any of this was okay.

He tensed a bit when he felt Ollie’s arms wrap around him from behind, his breath catching when he Ollie’s whiskers brushed up against his ear. “Wanna get out of here?”

He pulled away from Dinah, accidentally backing too far into Ollie, throwing the older man off balance.

“Shit,” Hal swore, grabbing Ollie by the arm and yanking him back upright before he could fall to the ground. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Ollie shrugged, brushing off his shoulder. “So?”

“So what?” Hal blinked.

“We getting out of here or not?”

Hal ran a hand through his hair, glancing between Ollie and Dinah. One decision. One tiny little decision. He could have more than he ever imagined he would and risk everything they’d ever built. Or he could say no and they’d go back and pretend none of this had happened and he’d never know.

Hal Jordan had never been one to shy away from a challenge.

“Let’s go.”

Sex was easy. He’d had plenty of experience at it and was decent at it. Solid six-and-a-half on a scale from one to ten.

Ollie and Dinah were freaks in bed. This was, of course, not a surprise to anyone.

He didn’t quite remember who had dragged who where or how they’d ended up in Ollie and Dinah’s bedroom. He was pretty sure he’d flown them there.

What he did know for sure was that one minute he’d been on a rooftop, making out with both of them. And the next? He was slammed against a wall, Ollie pinning him down.

A low moan escaped his throat as Ollie bit at his neck, his hands slipping under Hal’s shirt. His eyes drifted to glance over Ollie’s shoulder, a grin forming on his lips when he saw Dinah’s hands roaming all over Ollie’s backside. He hissed when Ollie bit down hard, not that he minded too much. He’d always liked a little bit of pain.

He whined in protest when Ollie moved off on him, and watched as Ollie kissed Dinah hard. There was something that felt deeply wrong about watching them like this. Like he was invading on something he wasn’t supposed to see. But he would have been lying to himself if he wasn’t turned on by it. 

He watched as Ollie slid Dinah’s jacket off her shoulders and started on the zipper of her costume, a motion so easy and fluid it was hard to forget that they’d done this before.

Hal was the newcomer, after all.

His hand was moving before he told it to, reaching down into his pants when suddenly “Uh-uh,” a voice jerked him back to reality. He moved to look directly at Dinah, who was standing with her arms across her barely contained chest. “No touching,” she tutted. 

“Oh come on,” Hal groaned, only to be cut off by Dinah’s lips crushing against his own. His eyes flew open and he glanced over at Ollie, who was looking pretty pleased with himself.

“Besides,” she breathed as she pulled away, resting her forehead against his. “I can think of a million better uses for that hand.”

“Oh?” Hal raised an eyebrow, something pooling in his stomach he couldn’t quite put a name to.

By way of an answer, Dinah grabbed him by the wrist and shoved him down onto the bed. 

“Now that’s a pretty sight,” Ollie commented, a smirk on his face. 

Hal propped himself up on his elbows, returning Ollie’s smirk. “Like what you see, old man?”

“So what if I do?” Ollie moved, moving to straddle Hal’s lap. Hal moaned again, shifting uncomfortably as Ollie pressed further into him. He tilted his head back when Ollie went straight back to work, moaning when he pulled at the hem of his shirt. “You,” Ollie tsk’ed, slowly raising the shirt up. “Are wearing way too much.”

“Couldn’t agree more,” Dinah hummed, moving to sit behind Hal, tracing a hand down his back. A shudder ran down his spine, and he hoped she didn’t notice. “Nervous?” she whispered into his ear.

“Never,” Hal responded, not wanting to admit the truth.

He’d been with lots of women and his fair share of men. Just… never at the same time.

“Don’t worry,” Ollie pressed a gentle kiss to Hal’s lips after tossing the t-shirt to the side. “We’ll take good care of you.”

The world’s worst kept secret was that Hal Jordan was an absolute control freak. It was so much easier to be in control. To be the one calling the shots. To know everything that was going to happen and to have a plan for it.

But with Ollie and Dinah?

It was so, so easy to let that all go.

To let them take the lead and be the one taken care of for his goddamn life.

So when Dinah pulled him down on top of her, holding his arms tight so he couldn’t move, and when Ollie started to undo the button on his jeans? Hal felt like the luckiest man on the face of the goddamn planet.

“Wait,” he blurted out when Ollie got his pants down to his ankles.

Ollie frowned and sat back on his knees. “You okay?” he asked. Dinah relaxed her grip on his arms.

“Fine, fuck, better than fine,” Hal breathed, shifting slightly. “I just…” he trailed off, trying to think of how to ask it. Because he usually didn’t ask for anything. Not in bed at least. He had always been okay letting things go where they would, determined to have a good time regardless of the circumstances. But he wanted… “Can I suck your dick?”

He watched as Ollie and Dinah exchanged a glance.

“Hal, buddy,” Ollie started, and Hal felt his heart sink into his chest. Because of course it had been stupid. He’d gone too far and ruined it before they’d even really gotten started… “If I ever deny a blowjob, please assume I’ve been cloned and replaced.”

A stupid grin formed on Hal’s face and he moved to switch places with Ollie. 

“And what about me?” Dinah questioned, running a hand through Ollie’s hair.

“You know I’ll take good care of you,” Ollie smirked up at her.

"Damn right you will," Dinah grinned down at him. Hal watched as she slid out of her bodysuit, pulling her fishnets down after. There were no two ways about it. Dinah was hot. All muscle and strength and one of the nicest racks Hal had ever seen in his life. "Like what you see?"

"Maybe," Hal responded, looking away from Dinah only to focus on pulling Ollie's tights down. He could see the bulge through Ollie's briefs (who would have thought he was a brief man?) and grinned. "Happy to see me?" he asked, palming Ollie's cock through the thin material.

Ollie moaned and shifted slightly. "What can I say?" he asked. "I'm a man of good taste."

Hal smirked and watched as Dinah moved to straddle Ollie's face, Ollie's hands wrapping around her thighs.

He hooked a finger through the waistband of Ollie's briefs, pulling them down past his hips and grinning even wider when Ollie's cock sprang free.

It was definitely better than Hal had been imagining. Long and slender and he could think of a million ways to put it to work.

But right now wasn't about him. It was about Ollie. And Hal was determined to give him the best damned blowjob of his life.

He never had liked doing anything in halves.

He wrapped his hand around Ollie's cock, stroking it a few times before dipping down to take the head in his mouth. A muffled moan escaped Ollie's mouth as Hal started to tease him with his tongue. "That's it, baby," he heard Dinah breathe.

Ollie's hips bucked as Hal took him further into his mouth.

Sucking Ollie's cock was absolutely everything Hal thought it would be and more. He felt himself growing harder still and fought the urge to reach down and stroke himself. Dinah had warned him not to, and the last thing he wanted to do was disappoint her.

And damned if that thought didn't make him ache even more.

It was hard not to be distracted by everything else going on. Ollie must have been good with his tongue if the noises coming out of Dinah's mouth were anything to go off of. He figured they were evenly matched, though. Hal wasn't half bad with his tongue either.

He hummed against Ollie's cock, earning another pleased moan from the man himself.

"You like that, baby?" Dinah purred, voice low and seductive and hot damn, Hal wondered why they'd never tried this before. "You like putting Hal's pretty little mouth to work?" Hal's cock twitched when Dinah gasped in pleasure. "He's doing such a good job, isn't he? We'll have to reward him for it."

A low moan escaped Hal at the thought.

Dinah gasped again just as Ollie's hips bucked again. Hal wrapped his hand around the base of Ollie's cock, moving his hand in time with his mouth. "That's right, Ollie," Dinah moaned. "So close..."

Dinah was quiet when she came, something that surprised Hal immensely. From his peripheral vision, he watched as she tensed, Ollie's grip on her legs tightening, probably hard enough to leave marks. A soft sound escaped her lips, and Hal tried not to let the thought of Dinah coming right in front of him cause him to follow right after her.

His eyes drifted up to her as she ran a surprisingly gentle hand through his hair. "Hal, love," she started. "You're doing a great job. But we can't have Ollie getting off just yet."

Hal made a noise of protest as Dinah gently pulled him away, though it was nothing compared to the disappointed noise Ollie made. "Not fair," the older man protested, and Dinah just rolled her eyes.

"You'll live," she promised, glancing back at him for just a moment before turning to Hal. "Lay down," she commanded. "Face down. And remember. No touching."

"Yes ma'am," Hal responded, the words coming out of his mouth before he'd realized he'd said them.  His cock twitched again, and he had to fight the urge to reach down and stroke himself.

"Good," Dinah praised, not-so-gently shoving him down onto the mattress. "You're a quick learner. Keep that up."

There was nothing better, Hal couldn't help but think, than being told what to do by a woman who could and had kicked his ass.

He let his eyes fall shut and listened to the sound of a drawer being opened and closed. "Good boy," Dinah praised, her gentle hand running across his shoulders.

A rougher, more calloused hand ran up his leg, resting on his inner thigh. "Damn, Hal," Ollie whistled. "If I'd known you looked this good, we would have done this forever ago."

"Glad you're enjoying the view," Hal smirked against the sheets as Ollie spread his legs apart. He was content to just lay down and let it happen, but a thought crossed his mind. "You ever done this before?"

"No," Ollie admitted, and Hal nodded slightly. Oh well, he figured. First time for everything, he guessed.

"I have," Dinah assured, and he let out a breath. At least this would, in theory, go smoother than some of his other hookups had. And was bound to be better than the latest, some craigslist guy Hal was pretty sure was having some sort of midlife crisis.

And besides. He actually cared about Dinah and Ollie.

And if he were really lucky? Then maybe this would be more than a one-and-done type deal.

Hal’s breath hitched as Ollie and Dinah’s hands wandered all over him. He sucked in a sharp breath when Ollie’s large hand wrapped around his cock. “There we go,” Ollie whispered, running his thumb along the shaft. 

“You doing okay?” Dinah asked. Hal sucked in a breath when he felt her thumb run along his opening. “Just peachy,” Hal responded, fingers curling into the sheets beneath him. He exhaled sharply as she inserted a slick finger into him. 

“What do you think, Hal?” Ollie leaned in to whisper into his ear, his goatee tickling the side of Hal’s face. “You want me to fuck you?” Hal nodded, biting down on his lip to keep from making too much noise. “Good,” Ollie grinned, pumping his hand again. “What about Dinah?” he continued, slowing his motions just as Dinah inserted another finger into him. “Do you want to fuck her?”

Hal nodded again, gasping softly when Dinah found his sweet spot. 

“I can’t hear your head rattling, Jordan,” Ollie snapped, the harshness in his voice turning Hal on even more.

“Come on, Hal,” Dinah purred, never once stopping her fingers as they worked him open. “Tell us what you want.”

“Please,” he gasped, tightening his grip on the sheets. He’d probably worry a hole through them, but that was a problem for later. 

“Please what?” Ollie pressed, pulling his hand away, the bastard. 

“Jesus Christ, Ollie,” Hal gasped as Dinah stroked at his sweet spot. “Fuck me. Please. ”

He didn’t have to turn to see the smirk he was sure was on Dinah’s face. “There we go,” she spoke. “How do you say no to that?”

“Don’t think I can,” Ollie replied. Hal groaned when Ollie moved his hand away, clenching the sheets harder still to keep following Dinah’s command. 

“There’s a special place in hell for both of you,” he grumbled.

“What was that?” Dinah questioned, and Hal groaned again.

“Nothin’,” he muttered.

“That’s what I thought.” He whined when Dinah pulled her fingers out of him. “Sit up,” she commanded, and he moved up onto his knees without so much as a second thought. He watched as she moved to sit in front of him and smiled slightly when her fingers ghosted along his jawline. “Now here’s how this is going to go,” she spoke softly, though her tone still carried nothing but authority. “Ollie is going to fuck you senseless, and you’re going to fuck me until I come again. Understood?”

Hal started to nod, then remembered what Ollie had said earlier. “Yes,” he answered, trying to keep control over his facial expressions. The mere thought of what was about to happen nearly made him come then and there.

“Yes what?” Dinah folded her arms across her bare breasts.

“Yes ma’am.”

He watched as Dinah leaned over to the bedside table, opening the drawer again before shoving something into his and Ollie’s hands. He blinked and looked down at the foil packet. “Put it on, we don’t have all day.”

“So impatient,” Ollie muttered from behind them.

Dinah shot him a glare that would have made Batman himself proud, and it must have been enough to shut Ollie up because he did not hear so much as a single peep from the other man. 

Hal wasted no time ripping the packet open and rolling the condom onto his impossibly hard dick. At this rate, he couldn’t help but think he might come the second Ollie’s inside him and he’s inside Dinah.

He gasped in surprise when Ollie nipped at his neck, tilting his head back to lean against the other man’s chest. A breathy moan forced its way out of his lips as Ollie’s hands wandered down, stopping to tease at his hole. “You think you can take me?” he asked, sliding a finger in. 

“Ollie, please ,” Hal groaned, half sarcastic remark, half desperation, exhaling sharply when Ollie slid another finger in.

It may not have been the best feeling in the world, but Ollie had admitted he was new at this. And hey. At least he was... enthusiastic.

Dinah shifted below him, spreading her legs and grinning up at him. “So pretty, Hal,” she said before hooking a leg around his hips, pulling him down closer to her. He made a noise when he felt Ollie pull his hand away in surprise, but his disappointment didn’t last long. Not when Dinah was guiding him toward her. Not when she was eyeing his cock like it was the most impressive thing she’d seen in a good while.  “I need you in me. Now.”

“Well, who am I to keep a lady waiting?” Hal asked, adjusting to line himself up with her entrance. He pushed the tip in and paused, glancing down at her to make sure he was good to keep going. Her ‘what the fuck are you waiting for’ look silenced the last shred of doubt he had as he pushed the rest of the way in.

“God, you’re so big,” Dinah breathed, tangling a hand in his hair.

Hal hummed out a noise of agreement and moved down to nip at her shoulder, right where it connected to her neck. 

“You ready?” Ollie asked, and Hal fought back the urge to make a snappy remark. 

“If you,” he said through a breathy pant. “Don’t fuck me now. I’m going to die.”

“And if you,” Dinah tugged lightly at his hair. “Don’t start moving now. I’m going to die.”

Hal took in a deep breath when Ollie spread it open, breathing out through his nose when he felt the tip of Ollie’s cock at his rim. An embarrassingly high-pitched noise escaped his throat when Ollie slowly pushed it in. “Fuck, Hal,” the older man breathed. Hal moaned again when Dinah clenched down around him, a gentle reminder that one of them needed to start moving and soon. He pulled his hips back slightly, partially to give Dinah what she wanted, but more trying to get more of Ollie inside him, only to be slammed back inside her when Ollie thrust the rest of the way in, a bit too quickly.

“Jesus, Ollie,” Hal snarled through gritted teeth. 

“Too hard?” Hal could practically hear the wince in Ollie’s voice.

“Little bit,” he responded without missing a beat. 

It was almost too much. Ollie was inside him and he was inside Dinah. Every nerve was on fire in the best possible way.

But man.

Did Ollie have no clue what he was doing.

“God, Hal,” Ollie breathed. “You feel so good.”

Hal made a noncommittal noise as Ollie thrust back into him, pushing him deeper into Dinah in turn.

He’d had worse sex for sure. But this was… not great by any stretch of the imagination.

Ollie’s pace was fine, but Hal was having a hard time matching it when it came to Dinah and there was so much going on it was almost overwhelming. The feeling of Ollie inside him. The feeling of being inside Dinah.

The feeling of finally, finally getting what he wanted for once in his damned life and having it be completely and solidly… fine.

Dinah moaned and raked a hand along his arm, digging her nails in. And Hal could not help but to think it was a forced sound. Carol had faked enough in the bedroom for him to have at least a vague idea of what was real and what wasn’t. 

Dinah shot him a look, and Hal grinned down at her. It may not have been the best sex he’d had in his life, but hey. He’d had worse. Plenty of worse. And besides? The feeling of being inside Dinah while Ollie was inside him?

That was a pretty hard thought to beat.

“You’re awful quiet for once,” Dinah commented, and Hal rolled his eyes. “Who knew this was all it took to shut you up?”

“Fuck you,” Hal panted, another brutal thrust from Ollie pushing him deep inside him.

“Already there, flyboy,” Dinah said with a laugh.

Ollie gasped behind him, and Hal moaned when the older man dug his nails into Hal’s hips. He’d definitely be rocking a few bruises the next day, but hey. He’d have actual proof he had sex with Oliver Queen, right?

Ollie bit down on his neck, and a soft gasp escaped Hal’s throat. 

“God, Hal,” Ollie breathed, thrusting into him again at an angle that wasn’t bad but wasn’t great either. Hal pushed deeper into Dinah, earning another moan that sounded less than sincere.

Ollie’s pace slowly became more erratic, and Hal almost breathed a sigh of relief. Dinah raised an eyebrow and Hal rolled his eyes, a moan escaping his lips when Ollie finally managed to hit just the right spot.

He tried to focus on the feeling of being inside Dinah while Ollie was inside him. How great it was to finally get what he wanted for once in his damned life. And sure, maybe he was fantasizing a little bit about what he’d wished it had been like, but it was working, and he was getting closer and closer and…

“Come on, Hal,” Ollie whispered into his ear, and damned if that wasn’t enough to push him over the edge. “Come for us.”

He didn’t need to be told twice. 

He came with a soft gasp. Definitely not the worst he’d had, but it could have been… quite a bit better, at least if experience was anything to go by. He mouthed an apology to Dinah, who just rolled her eyes in response, a small grin pulling at the corner of her mouth.

He exhaled when Ollie finally pulled out and quickly followed his lead.

“God that was amazing,” Ollie breathed, resting a hand on his chest and staring up at the ceiling.

Hal and Dinah shared a knowing look.

“Yeah,” Dinah stretched, letting her shoulder pop. “We’re gonna need some practice.”

He almost laughed at that.

“That bad?” Ollie asked, turning to face them.

“It could’ve been… better,” Hal admitted after a bit.

“Well,” Ollie shrugged, a slight grin on his face. “I’ve never really minded practicing much.”

Hal nodded and started to move to get up before realizing he was still sandwiched between the pair of them. 

“Where you going?” Dinah asked, running a hand down his bicep.

“To bed?” Hal asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Please,” Ollie laughed, tracing patterns onto Hal’s other arm. “You stay here tonight.”

“Yeah?” Hal asked, turning his head to face the other man.

“Of course,” Dinah answered from his other side.

Okay, so.

Maybe not so bad after all.

Ollie and Dinah were gone when Hal woke the next morning. How they’d both managed to get out of bed without him noticing was beyond him. But then again, their bed was huge, bigger than anything Hal had slept on in his life, so maybe that had played into it. 

He didn’t know why he’d expected them to hang around. Hell. If he’d been smarter, he would have tried to get up and get out before they did.

Because wasn’t that what he was supposed to do in this situation?

He was just some cheap thrill for them. Right?

He groaned and stretched as he sat up. He climbed out of the bed, grabbed his clothes off the floor, and put them on making sure they were all facing the way they were supposed to before padding out of the room and down the hall. He started to head toward his room before thinking better of it and heading to the kitchen.

Might as well try and rip the bandaid off, right?

He leaned against the archway and took in the scene. Ollie was sitting at the island, coffee mug in front of him as he flipped through the paper. Dinah sat next to him, one hand holding her own mug, the other resting on Ollie’s.

It almost hurt, how perfect they were.

“Are you just going to stand there?” Ollie asked without looking up from the paper. “Or are you going to join us?”

Well.

That certainly hadn't been what he’d expected to hear.

A smile crept its way onto his face, and he moved inside the kitchen. He poured himself a cup of coffee before sitting down on Ollie’s other side. 

“Sleep okay?” Dinah asked, leaning forward so they could see each other.

“Great, yeah,” Hal nodded and took a sip of his coffee, trying not to make a face. It was weird, going from the cheap stuff that came in a giant plastic tub to whatever it was Ollie and Dinah drank. Not that he was complaining. Different wasn’t always bad, he was starting to learn.

“So you sticking around a little longer?” Ollie asked, and Hal blinked in surprise. He’d figured they’d want him out as soon as he could leave, regardless of what they’d said about ‘practice’ the night before. “We’d love to have you.”

“Really?” he asked, trying to keep the surprise out of his tone.

“Of course,” Dinah answered, setting her mug down on the counter. “Stay as long as you want.”

“Okay then,” he smiled, what felt like the first genuine smile he’d had since Carol kicked him to the curb.

“Okay,” Ollie returned the smile. He folded the newspaper and set it down before hopping up off his stool. “Who’s hungry?”

Part Four

Oh my heart is telling me that it’s now or we’ll never be. You take away all my fears. You take away all my fears. 

Life with Dinah and Ollie post threesome was surprisingly easy. It came naturally, like breathing. Like they were a whole that had been broken into thirds and had spent the better part of their lives trying to find what made them whole again.

Ollie and Dinah were great together, Hal didn't question that.

But he couldn't help but think he made them even better.

He sat at the island, drinking his coffee and reading the news on his cheap, out-of-date phone. He grinned when he felt an arm wrap around his shoulders, a slight kiss at his cheek. "Morning, handsome," Dinah greeted.

"Morning," Hal tilted his head back to look at her. "Ollie had an early day?"

"Board meeting," she groaned, moving to get her own coffee before sitting down next to him.

"Sounds awful."

"It is, from what he's told me." She shifted slightly and moved so she was resting her head on Hal's shoulder.

And part of this....

Part of it still felt wrong.

The sex was fine. It had gotten... not quite great, but better.

But casual intimacy?

He'd always struggled with that.

And casual intimacy with Dinah?

Was even trickier than with Ollie.

Ollie was easy to read. Wore his heart on his sleeve. But Dinah was a mystery to him, one he wanted to unravel, but he didn't quite know how to go about it. The ugly part of his mind kept wanting to compare her to Carol, and he knew it wasn't fair to either of them.

But when had love, or whatever the hell this was, ever been fair?

"You ]have to start telling us what you want, Hal," Dinah spoke at last, running a hand down his bicep and sending a shiver down his spine. "We're going to stay stuck at this plateau if you don't."

Hal nodded and stared down into his mug. Ollie and Dinah were constantly giving him hell for drinking his coffee black.

"You're allowed to want things, you know," she added, almost as if he were an idiot.

"I need you to stop talking down to me," he said, mouth moving without his brain telling it to. But it was true. Dinah and Ollie were smarter than him, and he knew it, and he didn't think they were doing it on purpose, but it still bothered him. He'd made good grades in school, but social situations had always been.... tough. He hid behind a mask of bravado and snark, faked it until he'd made it.

He turned to face Dinah, watching as her brow furrowed. "Hal, we never meant to..."

"I know," he assured, placing a hand over hers. "I do. It's just..."

"I'll try harder," Dinah promised. "Okay?"

"Okay."

"But you know that's not what I meant."

"Do we really need to have this discussion at eight in the morning?"

"Only if you want to get laid at five."

A grin crept its way onto his face, and he laughed softly. "You know, I always thought I had a strong libido?"

Dinah laughed and kissed his cheek. “You’re cute.”

“I know,” Hal grinned at her in return.

“Motherfucker.”

Hal stopped in the doorway connecting the hall to the kitchen. Ollie stood in front of the stove, holding his hand. Even from the distance, Hal could see it starting to turn bright red. “Cold water,” he called out.

“On it,” Ollie responded, moving over to the sink and turning on the tap. Hal shook his head and stepped into the room, standing behind Ollie with his arms folded across his chest.

“You know you’re supposed to use the pot holders, right?” Hal asked, stifling back a laugh.

“You know you’re an asshole, right?” Ollie countered right back.

“You know you love it when I’m an asshole,” Hal replied, hugging Ollie from behind and resting his chin on the older man’s shoulder. It was a risky move, one he never would have dared to make even a few days ago. But then again, he figured the rules were different now that they’d seen each other naked. 

A small smile crossed his lips when he felt Ollie relax beneath him.

Ollie opened his mouth like he wanted to say something, but then closed it again. 

So many things they could have said.

So many things they should have said by now.

“Is this ever going to stop being awkward?” Hal asked after a tense moment, stepping away and turning to lean against the counter.

Ollie sighed deeply and turned the water off, drying his hand with a dish towel that probably cost more than Hal’s last set of sheets. “Does it need to be awkward to start with?”

“Look,” Hal began. “If you want me gone, I’ll go. We tried it ad maybe it didn’t work out, and if that’s the case, fine, whatever. I’ll…” He trailed off, Ollie’s eyes locking with his.

“I swear to God, Hal,” Ollie moved, pinning Hal against the cabinets. Hal tilted his head back slightly, shifting to get more comfortable. His heart pounded in his chest, and he swore he could feel the blood rushing. 

He wasn’t sure who moved first.

One minute they’d been standing there, tension so thick he could have cut it with a knife.

And the next?

Their lips were crushed together, bodies moving in sync in a way Hal had never dreamed possible.

It was amazing how well they fit together. Like they’d been made for each other. Like they should have done this years ago. LIke they would have if one had had the balls to make a move.

Hal let his hands wander, sliding up under Ollie’s shirt, tracing the muscles of his tight abs. A low moan escaped his throat when Ollie’s hands moved downward, resting on the curve of his ass.

“Now isn’t this a pretty sight to come home to?”

He’d never jerked away from someone so quickly in his life.

Ollie sprang back, face bright red as he turned to face Dinah.

“Oh no,” she held up a hand. “I’m not here,” she continued, heading for the door. “You boys have fun.”

Hal stood wide-eyed, watching as Dinah left the room, heading up the back stairway. “Did she just…” he started to ask, only to be cut off by Ollie’s mouth on his.

It wasn’t like being with the two of them had been bad (okay so it hadn't been that great). It was just that he’d spent years of his life dreaming about this very moment. Granted in his dreams it had never really happened in Ollie’s kitchen while his wife was off doing whatever a floor above them, but still.

There was a saying he’d heard all the time. That sometimes getting what you wanted wasn’t a good thing.

And this?

It wasn’t a good thing.

It might have been the best damned thing that had ever happened to him.

Kissing Ollie was different from kissing John or Guy. They did nothing but take, and Hal had been more than happy to let them.

But Ollie?

Ollie gave in a way they never had. In a way Carol never had. Like Hal was the most important thing in his mind right now. Like in that moment nothing existed but them. Time. Space. Universes. Gone.

Nothing but him and Ollie right there, right then.

Hal’s eyes rolled back slightly as Ollie moved away from his mouth, trailing kisses along his jaw, his neck, biting where it connected with his shoulder. “Ollie,” he breathed, tangling his fingers in the other man’s hair, wanting to pull him closer. Needing him to be closer. 

And Hal?

Hal gave right back.

Every pent up emotion. All those nights spent dreaming and wishing and hoping and knowing that this would never happen. That this could never

For once in his life, he was glad to have been proved wrong.

Because at that moment? They were the only two things in the universe that mattered. No missions. No Guardians. No Lanterns. No Arrows. Just Ollie. 

Hal had always prided himself on control. 

When all else failed, he could lean back on it. The entirety of his worth as a Green Lantern had depended on it.

But Ollie took control like he was born to do it, and Hal was more than happy to give it up to him. 

No worries. No demons. Just trust. Just hope and love and lust and other four letter words he never thought could never belong to him.

I love you.

I want you.

I need you.

“Tell me what you want, Hal,” Ollie demanded, hand trailing down to caress Hal’s inner thigh. Evil bastard. He knew exactly what Hal wanted but was going to make him work for it anyway.

“I want,” Hal breathed, another moan escaping his lips when Ollie started working at his belt, palming at him through his jeans as he moved. “You.”

“You want me to what?” Ollie pressed, and Hal glared.

“I want you to fuck me, Ollie, Christ.”

“There we go.” A wicked grin crossed Ollie’s face and Hal took in a sharp breath when Ollie pulled his jeans down over his hips. “You know I think I owe you a favor.”

“What?” Hal blinked. Because now really wasn’t the time to talk favors, and besides, Hal had stopped keeping score somewhere around five. 

“You really are dense, you know,” Ollie commented, dropping to his knees.

A smirk crossed Hal’s face. 

Ollie started working at Hal’s belt, pulling his pants and boxers down to his ankles.

“You don’t have to do this, you know,” Hal commented, threading his fingers through Ollie’s hair. As much as he wanted this (and god did he want this), he didn’t want Ollie to feel pressured. Or worse. Like he owed Hal something.

Ollie tilted his head up, eyes meeting Hal’s. “I want to,” he assured. A low moan escaped Hal’s lips when Ollie wrapped his hand around his half-hard member. “Probably worth noting I’m new at this.”

Hal’s cock stirred at that thought. There was always something different about being someone’s first time. And the fact that this was Ollie? Made it twenty times hotter than it had already been.

A soft gasp escaped Hal’s throat.

It was going to be a damn good night after all.

And maybe?

Just maybe?

Maybe this would work out after all.