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Oliver’s fingers tightly grip the phone to his ear as he paces in his living room. He glares at the clock–it’s already half past midnight. The ringtone pulses annoying against his eardrum as he wills Connor to pick up his damn phone. It’s already been nearly three hours since Connor went off the grid, and he’s starting to freak out. He thinks to himself that he should try calling Michaela next when a click in his ear has him pausing mid step.
“Connor?” He shouts frantically into his phone, “Connor?!”
“Y-yeah, it’s me.” The other man’s voice is soft and hesitant, not what Oliver was expecting at all. He thought he’d get frantic apologies, desperate pleas about deadlines and working overtime, maybe a few angry complaints about crazy professors making him work on the weekends.
But he gets none of that.
“Connor? What’s going on?” Oliver asks when the other man doesn’t speak. “You stopped answering my texts, and you’ve been ignoring my calls for hours–where the hell are you?”
He hears the other man take a shaky breath over the phone. “I’m sorry, Ollie. Something came up… I–I’m so sorry…”
Oliver narrows his eyes. “It’s half past midnight, what the hell have you been doing? Did…” He swallows nervously. “Did something happen?”
“No! I–I mean yes…”
Oliver feels his heart sink in his chest. But Connor quickly speaks again, “but not what you think. Nothing like that,” he whispers.
Oliver relaxes a bit, only a bit. That still doesn’t explain why the other man has been ignoring his phone all night, especially when he left this morning saying he’d only be gone a few hours.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” Connor says in a strained voice. “I–I know I should have called you earlier, but–some stuff happened and I can’t really get into it right now…”
“Okay, you sound really weird,” Oliver says, concern overtaking him. “Where are you? You said you were guys were working on new developments on the Hapstall case, and then suddenly you go AWOL on me, and I don’t hear from you for hours–”
“Ollie, I–I can’t really talk about it right now. But s-some pretty bad stuff went down.”
“Okay–but are you okay?” Oliver asks softly. “Where are you? Do you need me to pick you up?”
“No–no I’m fine,” Connor says. But his voice cracks, betraying the fact that he’s clearly not fine. “I’m still with the others but–”
“You don’t sound fine.”
“I–I am. Just–” Connor groans over the phone, and Oliver can just picture him pulling on his hair the way he does whenever he’s stressed. “This whole night has been a nightmare.”
“Okay, what’s going on?” Oliver asks in a low voice. “What happened?”
“I–I can’t get into it right now,” Connor says, his voice strained. “I’ll explain when I’m home.”
“And when are you coming home?”
“I’m not sure…” He says softly. “Probably… probably not for a while. Maybe not even ‘til morning. I–I just called to say… don’t wait up for me, okay?”
“What?! Connor–”
“Just… don’t worry about me… I’ll be home soon, Ollie.”
“Connor, wait! Just talk to me for a second.” He hears the other man take a ragged breath, one right after another. Those sounds are achingly familiar to his ears, and he wishes nothing more than he was at Connor’s side. “Okay, you’re really freaking me out right now.”
“I’ve got to go, I’m sorry–”
“How can you expect me to not worry after this?! I mean,” Oliver throws his arms up in frustration. “What am I supposed to do? Why did you even call?!”
There’s a pause on the other end of the line. “I… I kind of needed to hear your voice,” he whispers.
Oliver sighs, and he takes a slow breath, willing himself not to freak out over what he doesn’t know. “Okay. Just–whatever it is, whatever’s going on–just be careful, be safe. And come home, okay? Promise me you’ll come home.”
Another silence. He imagines Connor’s probably nodding his head before he realizes Oliver can’t see him. “Yeah,” he finally whispers. “I’ll be home. I–I love you, Ollie.”
“I love you too, Connor,” he says softly.
He hears a soft click that signals the other man has hung up the phone. Slowly, he walks around the couch and sits down heavily. The sofa feels far too big without Connor next to him. There’s no way he’s getting any sleep until the other man is home.
So he sits, his phone silent and still next to him, and he waits.