Chapter Text
Oliver sighed to himself. The sound of the hangers grinding on his clothing rod was getting incessant. He pulled out the pieces of a powder blue suit, sighing again.
Was it too formal?
Oliver quietly groaned to himself, walking the suit over to the bathroom to have a better mirror. He held the top half of his suit up to his chest, like he didn’t know how it looked already.
The left side of his body was suddenly bathed in orange light. “AGH!”
Oliver jumped, nearly dropping the blazer. He fumbled to catch it. Not like it mattered all that much, given that both Chase and he cleaned the floor pretty obsessively.
Oliver and Kaz both paused, staring at each other with wide eyes. Kaz’s hand was on fire alongside his nose.
“Dude, what the hell?” Kaz extinguished, putting the freshly out palm to his chest.
“What?”
“You’re standing all silent in the darkness!” Kaz exclaimed.
“Well… yeah,” Oliver agreed. “I didn’t need the light.”
“Ooh-kay, Batman,” Kaz scoffed. “I coulda barbecued you!”
“Uh-huh,” Oliver replied absently, holding up the sleeve. He sighed again. Kaz walked into the bathroom after pointedly flicking the light switch on, beginning to stare at the suit intently.
“So… what’re we looking for?”
“I’m trying to…” Oliver exhaled, looking at his reflection. This wouldn’t do. He floated to his closet. Kaz floated after him, watching Oliver repeat his fifth excursion through his clothes.
No. Nope. Absolutely not.
“Ugh,” Oliver tossed his head back. Kaz snickered at the dramatics. Oliver raised his voice slightly louder than his normal talking volume. “Chase, can I borrow a suit?”
His pocket buzzed. Oliver checked the phone screen.
Chase Davenport: Sure.
“Can I ask you to alter it, too?”
Chase Davenport: I have some older ones in my capsule that might fit you better. If not, I’ll alter one.
“Thanks,” Oliver shooed Kaz away as he was hovering over his shoulder to look at his phone.
“Why do you need a suit?” Skylar poked into the boys’ room. She seemed as though she was on her way back from a workout, wearing athletic clothing and holding a bottle of water.
“I was gonna ask that,” Kaz added.
Oliver sighed for the umpteenth time. “Because I have this one,” he gestured to the powder blue suit. “And the ridiculous ones from the press tour. All my other formal stuff is still in Philly.”
“That’s not my question,” Skylar glided in, joining Kaz. “We aren’t gonna give up until you answer.” Kaz nodded.
Oliver tossed them a glare. They gave him kissy faces in return.
Oliver’s ears began warming. “I…”
“Yes?” Kaz waved him along.
“I…have a…” Oliver felt the heat spread across his face. “I have–”
“A what? You’re killing me, man,” Kaz grabbed his shoulders.
“A date!” Oliver blurted out.
Silence fell.
Oliver deflated like a proper balloon as his friends gaped at him. He was pretty sure every inch of his skin was a neon red. Maybe cartoon steam was coming out of his ears as well.
“A WHAT?” both of them shouted.
Skylar squealed, clapping her hands. “Oli! I can’t– yay!” she flew to him, yanking him out of Kaz’s hold and squeezing the life out of his torso in a bear hug.
“I thought I’d never live to see the day!” Kaz theatrically sniffled, clutching his heart. “...You didn’t pay the poor girl, right?”
“I want you to take a long walk off a short pier,” Oliver answered.
Kaz snorted. “Hey, why didn’t you tell us?”
“Because you’d make fun of me.”
“We didn’t–”
“You just did.”
“Well,” Kaz shrugged. “You have no proof.”
Oliver rolled his eyes as Skylar released him. “I also knew you’d make it a huge deal.”
“Well, it’s once in a lifetime!”
Oliver shot him a look.
“Sorry, I literally can’t help myself.”
Skylar laughed. Oliver smiled a little, though he tried to kill it. “It’s not a huge deal,” he turned back to the closet, hanging up the suit.
“It’s so exciting!” Skylar had taken after Kaz, both following Oliver to Chase’s capsule. Oliver knew his code because he was taught by Chase himself about the bionic technology. He scrolled through the holographic screens showing suit options with little hope. The problem being that younger Chase would be too short and current Chase was too muscular to fit Oliver. And perhaps too short as well. Kaz was also too short, and both he and Skylar were bigger than Oliver in terms of width. Bree, if she even owned any suits, was far too short. Probably would need Chase to alter a suit, then. “When?”
“Tomorrow,” Oliver replied, still scrolling. The blush remained as they continued questioning.
“Where?”
“The nice Italian place down the street.”
“Who?”
“Are we playing 20 questions right now?” Oliver quipped.
“Yes,” both Kaz and Skylar responded, deadpan.
Oliver smiled slightly once more, thinking about her. “I met her at the comic shop. Her name is Eleanor.”
“People are still being named Eleanor?” Kaz gasped.
Oliver ignored that, giving more details when Skylar motioned him on. “Uh… we met because she couldn’t reach the Lord Globnarb figure on the top shelf. So I… y’know… got it down.”
“True straight-people romance novel shit,” Kaz nodded sagely. “Does she know you’re a famous ‘bionic’ hero?”
“Yeah.”
“And?”
“She doesn’t care,” Oliver smiled to himself again.
Kaz and Skylar exchanged a glance. “Uh…” he started. “She’s not a villain, right?”
“Yes, Kaz, of course she is. She whipped out a vaporizer on me.”
They glanced at each other again. Not the first time a girl who didn’t care about their team’s fame came around. Kaz scowled, thinking about it.
“No, she doesn’t look anything like Reese or their family.”
“They’re literally shapeshifters.”
“Kaz, c’mon,” Oliver glared at him.
“Yeah, sorry,” Kaz shook his head. “Why didn’t you ask me about dating advice? I can totally set you up for success!”
“Yeah…” Oliver grimaced. “No offense, but the only person you’ve managed to pull is a dude that spent 14 years in a basement.”
His phone buzzed.
Chase Davenport: Rude.
Oliver snickered.
“Well, what about me?” Skylar demanded.
“Same argument applies,” Oliver shrugged. “Plus, Calderan dates are usually fights to the death.”
“Well…” she repeated. “Yeah, but I could’ve totally made you win!”
“We can put a pin in that, Sky,” Oliver picked out a simple and sleek gray number. A flash of blue made the clothes neatly appear in a folded pile.
“Okay, hold on,” Skylar leaned out of the door. “Babe!” she called.
“Yeah, seconded,” Kaz slightly raised his voice to say that. “Babe, emergency.”
A gust of wind nearly blew the suit out of Oliver’s arms.
“What’s up?” Bree was sipping at a glass of lemonade.
“Hi,” Skylar said, kissing her and taking her hand. Bree grinned, swaying their hands together. “Brace yourself. You might wanna be sitting, actually.”
“Uh… what’s wrong?” Bree frowned. She now had a small smear of black lipstick on her red lipstick.
“It’s not an emergency,” Chase nudged past his sister to get inside the room. Kaz wrapped an arm around him. “Well, no one died, at least.”
“Oliver got a date,” Skylar rushed.
Bree shrieked. “That’s so much more insane than I could’ve imagined!” She turned to Oliver. “You didn’t pay her, right?”
“See?” Kaz implored.
Oliver rolled his eyes again.
“No,” Chase answered for him, shifting his weight into Kaz. “And I performed a background check. She exists.”
“Incredible,” Bree and Kaz gasped in unison.
“Anyway,” Skylar segued. “He doesn’t want our advice because we’ve only had you guys as partners.”
A beat.
“Are you calling us whores?” Bree nodded at Oliver. Kaz and Skylar burst out laughing.
“Wh– I– no?” Oliver was incredulous, feeling red again. “I didn’t even summon you!”
Chase chuckled into his hand. “Alright, guys, give him a break. Is that the suit?”
“Yes,” Oliver spluttered, holding it out to Chase.
“Okay, we’ll do a fitting–”
“I’m sorry, are we all moving on from the fact that he’s got a date?” Bree interrupted.
“Please,” Oliver begged.
“Okay, fine,” Bree surrendered. “I’ll give you some advice.”
“Chase?”
“You don’t want mine with my track record, dude.”
“Oh. Yeah.”