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God, monitor duty tonight is boring. No alerts, no emergencies, not even a kitten stuck in a tree.
Sure, Oliver’s grateful criminals have decided to give it a rest tonight, but he’d be more grateful if he could take a nap without getting reamed out by Batman.
Oliver yawns into his palm. At least the Bat-douche isn’t actually on duty with him. That would be a real nightmare.
Hal, his lucky (or unlucky) partner for the evening, kicks his chair, jolting him out of a light doze.
“Whazzit? Did we get an alert?”
“Nah,” Hal drawls, leaning back in his own chair and propping his feet up on the desk. (Batman is gonna kill him.) “Just wondering what your plans were for Valentine’s Day this year.”
Oliver blinks. “Are you trying to ask me out?”
“Jesus, no!” Hal splutters. “I meant with Dinah!”
Yeah, that makes more sense. Oliver tilts his head to the side. “Is it that time of year already?” At least he hasn’t missed it. Been there, done that.
Hal rolls his eyes. “Yes, Ollie, Valentine’s Day is just a couple weeks away.”
“Well, I’ll probably take her out for a nice dinner?” Oliver shrugs. He hasn’t really thought about it much. Shit, he should really get on that. He pulls out his personal phone to google restaurants in Star City. Or maybe he should take her to Paris? Milan? Too many choices. Oliver shoves his phone back in his pocket.
When he looks up, Hal’s frowning to himself, “Nice dinner, okay, duh of course. But Christ, that’s gonna be expensive,” he mutters.
Before Oliver can think too hard about it, the alarm finally goes off.
---
“Do you get her chocolates, too?” Hal drops a complete nonsequitur as Oliver’s trying (and failing) to yank one of his arrows out of what’s left of a nasty slime monster.
“What?” He braces a foot on the thing’s chest (or at least what might be the thing’s chest). It falls right through with a squelch.
“Oh, gross!” Oliver hops back, trying to shake off his boot.
Hal snaps his glowing green fingers in front of Oliver’s nose, “Chocolates, Ollie! Do you get Dinah chocolates for Valentine’s Day?”
Oliver stares at him. Hal floats above the ground, completely managing to avoid the mess. That’s just not fair.
He shakes his head. “Yeah, I usually get her chocolates. Something fancy, you know,” he leans back over to take another crack at the arrow.
Great, another thing to add to his to do list.
Oliver gives the arrow a hard yank. It immediately comes free without any resistance. He goes crashing back onto his ass, arms pinwheeling.
Right smack dab into a puddle of purple goo.
---
A couple days later, Oliver (completely squeaky clean and sans goo) gets a text from Hal that simply consists of a photo of a teddy bear in a green lantern outfit.
The next text pings through almost immediately, “What about this?”
Uhh...what about it? He racks his brain for clues before sending back, “It’s cute?”
And it is cute, but Oliver really has no idea what this is about. Is he forgetting an inside joke?
“Thx,” Hal texts back.
And that’s it.
Oliver contemplates texting him back for about 10 seconds before ultimately deciding the mystery is just not that compelling.
---
Oliver’s grabbing a bite to eat in the Watchtower after a pretty routine clean-up mission. Well, okay, at the moment he’s doing less eating and more staring.
The Flash had also been on this routine mission, and to be fair, he did a lot of the heavy lifting when it came to the actual clean up.
But the way he is scarfing down the plate of sandwiches in front of him is just...Jesus, it’s unnatural. Is he even chewing? Can he unhinge his jaw like a boa constrictor?
As Oliver stares, Hal enters his field of vision, brandishing a huge paper bag with the Big Belly Burger logo on it. He makes a beeline for Barry, sliding the now empty plate out of the way and plopping the bag down in its place. Barry finally stops eating, and grins up at Hal. There’s a smear of mustard on the corner of his mouth. Somehow, Hal doesn’t look the tiniest bit disgusted.
Hal leans in to murmur something in Barry’s ear, and Oliver finally makes himself look away.
He frowns down at his own sandwich. Is he even hungry anymore? His gaze flicks back toward Barry.
Hal’s sauntering over to his table, pulling his eye away from the trainwreck that is Barry eating.
He leans a hip against the table, “Dude! Nice trick with that net arrow earlier- very impressive.”
Oliver grins. “You know me, always aim to impress.”
Hal laughs and claps him on the shoulder, “Consider me impressed,” he points his thumb back over his shoulder and starts backing away, “I’m just gonna get back to-”
“Oh, before you go, I just wanted to thank you for reminding me about Valentine’s Day,” Oliver throws out. “Dinah would have killed me if I forgot.”
Hal throws a quick glance over his shoulder toward where Barry’s sitting, “Oh, uh, it was no big deal,” he says in a low voice.
“Nah, I really wouldn’t have had time if you hadn’t reminded me about making reservations and buying flowers and chocolate. I totally owe you one.” Oliver finally decides to call it on the sandwich and gets up to throw it away.
Hal gapes at him before shouting, “Flowers!”
Everyone stares at them for a moment, before apparently deciding they don’t care.
“I knew I forgot something!” Hal groans.
He stomps away, leaving Oliver staring after him in confusion.
---
Oliver’s well on his way to drunk by the time Hal finally shows up at the bar. Luckily, Hal doesn’t mind playing catch up. He does two shots in quick succession.
Hal grimaces, but immediately motions for another.
Oliver snorts into his scotch, “What’s eating you?”
Hal sighs, “It’s just,” he hesitates, “it’s been a long week.”
Oliver narrows his eyes as Hal slams back the next shot. “Come on man, spill. You can tell your pal Ollie.”
Hal glances at him dubiously before huffing. “You ever feel like a fraud?”
Oliver blinks. “No?”
Hal scoffs, “Yeah thanks, so helpful.”
Oliver waves him off clumsily, “No wait, what do you mean?”
Hal accepts a beer from the bartender and takes a sip, “Like...with Dinah,” he’s clearly choosing his words carefully, “Do you ever feel like- like she’s gonna figure out you aren’t who she thought you were?”
It’s almost too much for Oliver’s brain right now, but he powers through, “I think,” he chews on his lip, “I think Dinah knows exactly who I am, I’m not secretly a better or worse person than the man she’s known this whole time. I’m kind of shitty sometimes, but she makes me better.” He shrugs, “She knows my, uh, night job, and she knows my,” Oliver glances at the crowd around them, “day job.”
Hal squints at him.
“Did that sound stupid? That sounded totally stupid,” Oliver cringes.
“Nah,” Hal assures him. “I think I’m getting to the level of intoxication where you make sense,” he grins.
Oliver stirs the ice in his glass. “So why do you feel like a fraud?”
Hal laughs, “Well, actually I feel kind of stupid admitting it.”
“If it’s any consolation, I probably won’t remember this conversation in the morning.”
Hal eyes him, considering, before letting out a long breath, “Okay, it’s like this- I’ve been putting in a lot of effort this Valentine’s Day. I’m not- It’s not really my style to do...romance.” Hal takes a big gulp of his beer.
Oliver’s brows go up, “Exactly how much effort are we talking here?”
“I got the dinner covered, the chocolates, the flowers, even a stuffed animal! And it still doesn’t feel like enough!”
“Enough for-”
The burly drunk guy on Hal’s other side leans in and interrupts him, “You guys talkin’ about Valentine’s?”
Hal huffs in irritation, clearly about to shove the man out of his personal space.
The man giggles drunkenly, “I always get my old lady fancy panties.”
Hal does shove the man away at this. “Ugh!” He turns back to Oliver. “You couldn’t have picked a classier joint?”
Oliver tips the mouth of his glass toward Hal, “Lingerie!” His eyes widen in delight, already picturing Dinah in a low cut little number. “Though, to be fair, that’s more a present for you, not for her,” he admits with a giggle.
Hal continues to look affronted at the suggestion.
Oliver pats him on the shoulder a little harder than he means to and pulls him in, “Come on, picture it,” he waves a hand expansively in front of Hal’s face, “something soft, a little lace, some bows and ribbons...”
Hal tilts his head and stares off into the distance. He certainly doesn’t look disgusted anymore. Oliver almost expects him to start drooling.
Oliver waggles his eyebrows, “Maybe something strappy and skimpy.”
Hal sighs wistfully. Then jerks upright in his stool and shoves Oliver away. He points a finger right up in Oliver’s face, “We never had this discussion.”
Oliver laughs so hard he topples off his stool.
It’s not until he’s drifting off to sleep that Oliver realizes he didn’t even get to ask who exactly Hal was going to all this effort for.
(The hangover he’s stuck with the next morning is sufficient distraction.)
---
Barry unlocks the door to his apartment with a tired sigh. What a Valentine’s Day. At least he managed to get home before dinner tonight. Maybe he’ll order a pizza (okay, 10 pizzas) and fire up Netflix.
But when he drops his keys on the entryway table and hangs up his coat and bag, he realizes he can already smell food. It smells like...pasta? Whatever it is, it smells good.
Barry’s feet carry him into the kitchen. Where he finds a completely unexpected sight.
“Hal!” Barry’s shocked to see him. “I thought you were off planet this week?”
Hal spins around to face him, covering the pot he was hovering over. “Yeah, I may have lied about that,” he grins sheepishly, wrapping his arms around Barry’s waist and pulling him in for a kiss hello.
Barry eagerly accepts the kiss, but frowns when Hal breaks it, “Why?”
Hal shrugs, “Wanted to surprise my guy on Valentine’s Day,” he says nonchalantly, like this is no big deal.
Barry finally takes in the rest of his surroundings. There’s a pot of something delicious smelling on the stove, and his kitchen table is absolutely covered in boxes and bags of chocolate. There’s a vase of some very odd looking flowers, and a teddy bear dressed like Green Lantern right on top of a wrapped box with a big red bow on it.
“Ohmygod, Hal,” Barry gasps, unable to find the words. He reaches out to touch the petals of the fluorescent flowers- honestly, they actually might be glowing a little.
Hal scratches at the back of his neck, “The flowers are um, well, let’s just say they’re not exactly of this world.”
“I love them,” Barry reassures him.
“And the chocolates are from the drugstore- I’m sorry they’re not fancier,” Hal rambles. “And I couldn’t afford to take you out tonight, so I just made you dinner, but-”
Barry finally shuts Hal up with a quick kiss. “It’s perfect. You really did all this for me?”
Hal’s eyes are soft, “Of course I did. Valentine’s Day is a big deal- you're a big deal.” He takes a fortifying breath. “I love you.”
Barry beams at him, “I love you, too,” he says immediately, no hesitation. Hal is the one known for his courage and fearlessness, but this is something completely out of his wheelhouse. If he can take a leap like this, like saying those three words first, Barry will be right behind him. Always.
He leans in for another soft kiss. But jerks back as soon as he realizes, “Wait, I didn’t get you anything!”
Hal flushes a light pink and smirks, “Yeah, I took care of that, too,” he tilts his head toward the wrapped box on the table.
Barry’s curiosity is piqued. He superspeeds out of Hal’s embrace over to the mystery box. He pulls off the lid to peek inside, getting a glimpse of something red and lacy before Hal smacks the lid back down.
Hal’s smirk turns dirty, “That’s for after dinner, baby.”
---
Oliver trudges into the monitor womb, ready for duty. He spots Big Blue already here, relieving Flash and Green Lantern.
As he gets closer, he hears that the topic of conversation is Valentine’s Day.
“Lois and I took a weekend trip to Keystone- it was amazing,” Clark gushes. Oliver grins smugly as he claps him on the back in greeting. He and Dinah had a way more exciting time than whatever the Boy Scout got up to. “How about you guys?” Supes asks Hal and Barry.
“Two words,” Hal says lasciviously, “Red. Lace.”
Barry smacks his bicep, blushing as bright as his uniform.
“Just stayed in,” Barry says quickly, “Had a homecooked meal, chocolates, flowers,” he smiles softly as he goes on, “even a cute teddy bear,” he laughs.
Oliver rolls his eyes. Lame. He interrupts to tell them about flying Dinah to Milan. He’d planned a way better Valentine’s Day than the rest of them. At least Hal took his advice about the lingerie.
That was the smart way to go.
“There’s this chocolatier on the outskirts of the city, too, so I got her some handmade stuff,” Oliver brags. Hadn’t Hal asked him about chocolates, too? He shakes off the thought.
“And of course, the most expensive arrangement I could get from the florist.” The conversation from the cafeteria pops up in his mind for a millisecond.
“Yeah, yeah, we can’t all be moneybags like you and Bats,” Hal dismisses. “I can’t hang around here all day listening to you brag, anyway. We got plans.”
Hal gives Clark and Oliver a jaunty salute as he pushes Barry toward the exit.
Oliver inwardly pouts as he plops himself in his chair. He kind of wanted to brag a little more. He had actually put in some effort this year.
At least he hadn’t gone the cheesy route like Barry; who wanted a teddy bear anyway? No one. He didn’t know anyone who actually bought their significant other a stuffed animal. Maybe his circle of acquaintances was just too wealthy?
Wait. His mind flashes back to the text from Hal earlier this month.
No way.
He spins around in his chair. His glance immediately falls on Hal’s hand, perched precariously low on Barry’s back as they disappear into the hallway.
Oliver narrows his eyes.
No.
...Right?
art by ChocolateTeapots :D (go check out their fics, too!!!)