Chapter Text
Oliver drummed his fingers on the table, checking and double-checking his watch every few seconds. His hair felt stiff. Crap, he probably put too much product in. He knew he shouldn’t have trusted Kaz to help with his hair. He should’ve asked Chase. Even though Kaz gelled his own hair every day and Chase didn’t, Oliver had seen Chase do his sister’s hair before, and he seemed much more proficient. That and Oliver trusted Chase infinitely more not to prank him.
Oliver adjusted his sleeve cuffs more than necessary, feeling the back of his neck bead sweat. He kept repeating vague half-remembered snippets of Bree’s coaching in his mind, beginning to tap his foot as he scanned the menu without really reading it.
According to her, he needed to order something that wasn’t messy or could leave a bad breath smell. She had given him breath spray in case, as well as dug through Chase’s colognes to find one that would complement his “vibe”, whatever the hell that meant. Apparently, Oliver’s usual cologne didn’t. Good to know.
As he sped up his leg, he began chewing his cheek. Keep light conversations. Show interest. That one might not be so hard, considering they’d met at a comic shop. She probably liked the things he liked. Hopefully. He would show interest regardless, of course. Chase didn’t like comics, and Kaz didn’t particularly care about science. Skylar wasn’t all that crazy about art, like Bree was. It couldn’t be that hard to not like all the same things and still get along. Right?
The suit Chase had altered for him was a dark gray two-piece. He wore a well-ironed, nice V-neck underneath it. He wanted to look decent, but not ridiculously so. In the blazer pocket rested a small piece of volcanic rock. Skylar had tucked it in there for him. He knew it was a symbol of good luck on Caldera, and he loved her for giving him something with such meaning, but if it fell out, he didn’t know how to explain it to Eleanor.
Oliver checked his watch again, going back to boring a hole through the menu.
“Oliver?”
He’d made sure to order all the kinds of bread to avoid choosing the wrong one.
“Oliver?”
He’d also ordered waters from the bored-looking waiter, just in case she was feeling warm from her walk across the parking lot. It was the beginning of summer, after all.
“Hello?”
No one had recognized him yet. To be fair, he really only got recognized if he was out with the whole team or Bree or Chase, but he really didn’t want to be signing autographs and posing for pictures. Felt a little too schmaltzy for a first date.
“Um… Oliver?”
Oliver jumped. He looked up, immediately flushing.
Eleanor was standing next to his chair, slightly bent over. She was maybe the prettiest girl he’d ever seen, wearing a casual deep-olive dress that cut off above her knees. Her hair was down, black and sleek, curling around her shoulders. The contrast of the green and black made her warm brown skin glow under the lighting. Oliver realised that he was stupid about a second later, as she was very much wearing that glittery body spray that he’d seen Bree use for some of their press tours.
“Oh, it is you,” she straightened, putting her palm to her chest. She had on dangling gold bracelets and dark red nails that matched her lip gloss. She also smelled nice. Creepy, Oliver chided himself. “I couldn’t see your face, so I thought I was just standing over a random guy for a second,” she chuckled a little.
Oliver was still staring, awestruck. Not that he hadn’t noticed how pretty she was at the shop, it was just hitting him all over again.
“Um…” Eleanor adjusted the strap of the small white bag slung over her shoulder. “Can I sit?”
First thing is: EVERY time, pull out her chair for her. Bree’s command echoed in Oliver’s head. He shot up, startling Eleanor, and clambered over to pull out the soft velvet seat across the table from his.
“Yes,” he said stupidly, awkwardly gesturing for her to do so.
Eleanor paused for a moment before giggling. Oliver’s heart fluttered a bit. “Okay, thanks.”
“Yep,” he replied just as intelligently, tucking her and her chair back to where it belonged before hurrying to his own. He sat like a plank of wood. Always sit straight. Slouching is a number one turn-off, got it? Oh, and keep eye contact. That will show her your interest.
A beat of silence.
“So–” they both spoke at the same time, aptly closing their mouths again. Another beat. Oliver tugged at his cuffs. Eleanor glanced up at the ceiling. “Uh–” they said in unison.
Another beat.
Both of them began laughing.
“No, you first,” Oliver offered, letting his laughter patter off.
“I’m sorry,” she kept laughing, brushing under her eye. “Ugh, this is so stupid.”
He nodded for her to continue.
“I’m like… so nervous.”
“Really?” Oliver replied. “See, I thought I was playing it super suave.”
They chuckled together.
“Can I be honest?” Eleanor asked. Oliver nodded again, feeling a small involuntary spark of anxiety. “I feel absolutely ridiculous,” she gestured to her outfit.
“What?” he spread his hands. “You think you look ridiculous? I look like a walking ad for hairspray. You’re stunning.”
She blushed. “Oh… thank you. The glitter isn’t too much?”
“Not at all,” Oliver answered genuinely.
She smiled small and bashful, making eye contact. “You look nice too, y’know.”
Oliver blushed as well. “C’mon, the hair is definitely too much.”
Eleanor giggled again. “Well…”
“See?”
“...It certainly is different from what I was expecting,” she allowed. “Did you do it?”
“No, my best friend did. I’m not entirely sure he isn’t punking me.”
“Aww, that’s sweet. You guys are close?”
“He’s like the brother I never had. I want to wring his neck at all hours.”
“What’s his name?”
“Kaz. You think I’m a comic nerd? He’s like the nerd emperor.”
Eleanor leaned forward. “I bet you I could best both of you in a fact-off.”
“Ooh, daring words,” Oliver leaned in too. “Gamma Girl #73. Who did she fight?”
“Oh, please, try next time,” she scoffed. “That was her crossover issue with Tecton. She helped him beat Megahertz when he tried to explode the city wth a nuclear reactor.”
“Good one,” Oliver acknowledged. “What about–” he trailed off when he noticed their proximity. He sat back, clearing his throat. She did as well. Posture. “Er… uh…”
Saved by the waiter. The waiter who seemed a little surprised at her presence. He probably expected Oliver not to actually have a date.
“Oh, hello,” he nodded at Eleanor. “Can I get you anything besides water?”
“I’m alright,” she smiled.
“Do you guys know what you want?”
“I’ll do the chicken alfredo,” Oliver said automatically, as it happened to be his favorite food and he very much hadn’t read the menu. Oh crap, would that count as messy?
“I’ll just do the house salad,” Eleanor added. “No tomatoes, please.”
The waiter finished scrawling down their orders. He gathered their menus, disappearing back into the kitchen.
“Um…” Oliver rubbed his neck. “You can order whatever you want to. I got it,” he awkwardly patted the wallet sitting in his inner pocket. Technically, he didn’t have it so much as Chase did, and Chase didn’t have it so much as Davenport Industries did, but Chase had insisted on giving Oliver one of his cards so he could splurge.
“That’s so sweet,” Eleanor smiled brightly. Thank you, Chase Davenport. “I’m good though.”
“Sure,” Oliver bobbed his head.
Thankfully, the food came out fast, so Oliver could stop anxiously gnawing on bread and giving clunky conversation.
He examined his plate. Oh boy. It looked messy, maybe the cheesiest alfredo he’d bore witness to.
He picked at it, glancing across from him. Eleanor was pushing her salad around with her fork as well. They made eye contact.
“That looks good,” she offered.
“Oh, yeah, uh– do you want to try it?” Posture. He sat up.
She looked from him to his plate, then him again. “Kinda.”
Oliver fumbled over himself, grabbing one of the unused plates for bread to put some of the pasta on it. He quickly passed it to her. She tried it. He waited in anticipation, as if that was his own cooking. Posture. Eye contact.
“How is it?” he asked.
There was a brief pause.
“Really fucking good,” she admitted.
Oliver blinked in surprise at the sudden statement. “Oh, do you want to order some? It’s no problem.”
Eleanor began laughing. Oliver shifted uncomfortably, unsure why she was.
“Oliver, I’m sorry,” she snorted. “This is so dumb. Yes, I would like to. I didn’t because–” she snickered. “My dorm roommates, they, hah– they gave me so much advice for this. And I thought it’d be too messy, which I guess is a cardinal no-no? This is literally my first date in I don’t know when.”
“Yours too?” he leaned in once more. “Eleanor, my four sat me down for a drill sergeant session of do’s and don’t’s before this. One of them literally whacked me with a rolled-up newspaper.”
“One of mine had those little spray bottles you use on dogs!”
Oliver began laughing as well. “Oh, man, they really want you to succeed, huh?”
“I’m seriously the only single one.”
“I raise you: my roommates are two couples.”
“Ooh, that’s rough,” she cringed.
“Tell me about it.”
“Is that why there’s so much pressure on this?” she tossed her hands up. “Why don’t we just like… actually hang out? It’s not this serious.”
“I’m more than good with that.”
~*~
Oliver carried the bag containing two to-go alfredos, walking beside Eleanor as she talked. She’d tossed her heels into her car, exchanging them for flats as she apparently always wore flats to drive, too scared to do so in heels. She had tossed her hair up into a clip and forgone her jewelry. He’d washed as much gel out of his hair in the restaurant bathroom as he could have, getting rid of his blazer by offering it to her, as it wasn’t cold enough for him to be terribly affected by his temperature regulation.
They strolled through the Centium City streets as the night grew later and later. Oliver hardly noticed the time flying. Eleanor was taking bites of vanilla soft serve between regaling Oliver with her freshman college stories, having much more of a bounce in her step. Oliver had just purchased a cookie from the shop, since ice cream would certainly screw with his regulation. He didn’t mind, happy to munch on it as he listened.
“And when I tell you she was stuck in the refrigerator for an hour–”
“That’s such a core memory,” Oliver snickered.
“Right?” Eleanor grinned. “I wish I had taken more pictures!”
“And this was the night before classes started?”
“About four hours before.”
“Oh man, poor girl.”
“We managed to drag her out. Just for her professor to cancel.”
Oliver laughed, feeling the warm breeze ruffle his newly freed hair. The warm lights of the nightlife businesses and the chatter of citizens enjoying the summer night only added to his jovial mood. He took another bite of his cookie. They were almost as good as the ones Tasha sent in her massive care packages.
“Man, I can’t believe I’ve been here for three months already,” Eleanor mused. Oliver dodged a pedestrian as she continued. “I haven’t even been to the coast yet, can you believe it?”
Oliver stopped walking. She looked at him in confusion at the abrupt halt. He reddened. “Um… we can go there if you want to?”
“That’d be fun,” she tilted her head. “But how? It’s hours away, and we’re pretty far from my car.”
“I… can fly us there?”
“Oh.”
Silence.
“Yeah, I actually forgot you could do that,” she confessed.
“I sure can,” Oliver confirmed.
“Well, yeah, why not?”
“Okay… so…” he handed her his half of his cookie for her to hold. “Um… can I pick you up? It’s probably the safest way.”
“Sure,” she flushed. “Go ahead.”
Oliver bent down, carefully hooking one arm under her knees and placing the other behind her back, taking special care to keep his fists balled to remain as respectful as possible in this stupidly intimate position. He adjusted her to make sure she was comfortable. She wrapped her arms around his neck, causing him to feel like he experienced a system reboot.
“You’re strong.”
“Super- er– bionic strength.”
“Ah.”
“Alright, hold on tight.”
~*~
“Wow,” Eleanor breathed. They’d touched down on the roof of a closed surf shop overlooking the beach. The moon glittered down on the waves that gently rocked against the quiet shore. “This is… wow.”
“Yeah,” Oliver wasn’t looking at the view. “It is.”
“How long have you been here?”
“Almost a year. In September. Before this, I lived in Philadelphia. We definitely didn’t have coasts.”
“I’m sure you had some cool stuff there,” Eleanor prompted.
“Well… we had the Domain,” Oliver smiled as he thought. “I used to go there with Kaz. We had a great cheesesteak place close by. And our friends.”
Oliver felt a pang of melancholy. He should visit them soon. Jordan, Gus, Horace, the Flames, the heroes, hell– even Alan. It had been a while.
“I’ve never been,” Eleanor hummed. “Would love to go sometime.”
“Yeah, you should. There are some really great spots I could recommend–”
“I’m sure you could.”
“Yeah, when are you planning on going?”
“Oliver.”
“Yes?”
“I’m asking you out on another date.”
He buffered. “...Oh.”
“Is that a good oh?” Eleanor nervously fidgeted with her hands.
“Yeah…” he grinned. “Yeah, absolutely.”
She beamed back at him. His heart fluttered again.
“Yes!”
Both of them jumped. Oliver whipped his head around. Kaz? There was a clump of bushes lining the edge of the pier. He’d never seen them before.
“Oh, no way.”
He quickly flew down, slashing his hand through the shrubbery. It rippled like the hologram it was, vanishing and revealing the rest of the Elite Force, crouching within earshot.
“Uh… hey, buddy!” Kaz waved.
~*~
Oliver, extremely flustered, had helped Eleanor off the roof, then introduced her to his idiot teammates.
“I truly thought at least you two were sane enough not do something this batshit,” he glared at Chase and Skylar. The leaders shrugged.
“We wanted to keep you safe,” Skylar defended.
“And make sure she wasn’t a villain,” Chase tacked on. “Which I’ve completed my scan, she isn’t.”
“We also had to make sure you actually had a date,” Bree deadpanned.
“It is a once-in-a-lifetime event,” Kaz agreed.
Oliver facepalmed. “I’m so sorry,” he said to Eleanor. “Please don’t judge me based on these clowns.”
She shook her head, chuckling. “I don’t mind! It’s kinda adorable.”
“Well, you’ve done your jobs. Go ahead and go home,” Oliver shooed them, adding a terse, “Eavesdroppers.”
“Thank you for your service,” Kaz clutched Eleanor’s hand dramatically.
“You must be Kaz,” she smirked.
“The one and only,” he bowed.
“That’s getting lost,” Oliver shoved him away.
“I love your lip gloss,” Bree interjected to Eleanor, elbowing past Oliver. “Did you get it at–?”
“Getting lost!”
“Thanks,” Eleanor dug through her bag. “Here’s my extra one, it’ll look great with your complexion!”
“...Keep her,” Bree ordered Oliver. Eleanor laughed.
“It was nice meeting you,” Chase shook her hand. “Come on, guys, let’s leave them be,” he began dragging his sister and boyfriend away.
Skylar tugged Oliver to her, whispering in his ear conspiratorially. “Don’t fight this one to the death.”
“Wasn’t planning on it,” he rolled his eyes. “Now, I love you dearly. Go away.”
Skylar saluted him, bidding Eleanor goodbye and flying after the others.
Oliver, about half-dead from the embarrassment of being stalked by his friends, turned when he heard Eleanor clear her throat.
“So… about Philadelphia? When are you free?”