Rotten Apples, chapter 2

Oliver took a sip of his beer before changing the cannel of the TV. He really wasn’t in the mood for watching TV, but what else could he do? Take Roy somewhere? The boy didn’t even want to breathe the same air as him after the belting he got…

Work? It’s not like he could just go back into his office at that time of the afternoon. Besides, what for? He couldn’t even think… Hal’s words had been bugging him for a while now. At first he had thought it was because of the audacity of the man of criticizing his parenting, but then it hit him, what if he was even a little bit right? It didn’t seem very likely, but still… If Roy hadn’t improved much in more than 6 years, maybe something wasn’t going like it should. Besides, what else could be? He tried to do things right; the kid went to a good school, had a roof, had clothes, eat healthy… He had everything he didn’t back at the reservation’s orphanage he found him in.

Maybe he was indeed approaching him in the wrong way, why else would he be so damn angry all the time? He sure as hell wasn’t like that when he first arrived Star City.

“Ollie…”

The man sighed tiredly. Speaking of the King of Rome…

“What’s wrong, Roy?” It was the worst moment ever for the boy to start an argument, and given by the rabid expression on his face when Oliver left his room, it was most likely what he wanted to do.

“Nothing, I got bored”

Surprise, surprise.

“Should I get a lawyer already, then?” Roy’s worst disasters had happened when for some reason the kid decided he had gotten bored.

Oliver could totally picture the boy frowning.

“I already told you I’m sorry” he flopped into the couch, right next to him. Oliver rolled his eyes. Of course, he was sorry they got caught. “Whoever hears you speak like that, it’s gonna think I’m the worst…”

The man refrained himself from rolling his eyes again. So dramatic…

“I’m sure there are worse kids around” the eldest answered, wrapping his arm around the boy’s shoulders.

The young teen scoffed, leaning into him and allowing Oliver to hold him tighter, now against his chest.

“What are we watching, anyways?”

“I don’t know, whatever you want, kiddo.” He passed the remote to the boy, allowing him to actually curl himself even more against him like he hadn’t openly hated him for the belting like just some hours ago. ‘Freackin’ teenagers and their mood swings,’ was the las thing he thought before letting his mind focus on the stupid movie Roy had put on.

.

“You can’t be fuckin’ serious!”

“Watch your mouth! And I won’t say it again.” Growled a scowling Bruce Wayne.

“But, Bruce…”

“No, not you too, Richard,” the man cut him off. “I already told you, the friendship with this Harper kid is off limits for you two now!”

“That’s just as stupid as you!”

“JASON!”

“Well, it’s true! You can’t just tell us to stop being Roy’s friends. What the fuck?!” 

“Actually, I can. That boy is just the kind of person I don’t want you to be close with.”

“That’s really hypocrite coming from you, Oliver’s friend.” Dick spoke up.

“I’m an adult, Richard” way less impressionable than two young boys, “And Oliver certainly doesn’t make the same poor decisions as his son.” Not anymore, at least.  

“Well, Roy certainly hasn’t fucked up his life all alone.” Was Jason’s last bitter remark.

“Let’s go, Jay, obviously Bruce isn’t thinking straight” Dick threw him a glare that under different circumstances would have made the man proud.

“Has he ever?” obviously equally displeased, Jason followed him out of there.

.

The next thing Oliver knew, he was opening his eyes at 2 am still sitting in the living room couch. Apparently, the comfortable couch, the stupid movie as a background noise, the ruminant thoughts Hal had planted in his head and the fact that it had gotten dark had made him go to sleep.

He attempted to get up, but he reacted just in time to feel a heavy weight against him. Apparently, Roy (he had forgotten about the kid coming downstairs, to be honest) hadn’t fully registered how big and tall he was now and was fast asleep, half of him onto Oliver's lap, the other half sprawled up in the couch.

Reality slapped him hard as he remembered he had to do something with that kid.

The tired man cursed under his breath and exhaled exhausted, unconsciously combing his fingers through the boy’s hair while resuming his thinking about what Hal had said earlier.

Was he really that bad for Roy as the Lantern had said? It's just… Well, he tried to do what he was supposed to… And besides, if he really were a total failure as a parent, Roy wouldn't want to spend time with him, right? And the kid always looked for him when Oliver was at home… Maybe things weren’t always easy, but he cared about him, It was HIS son... And that had to count for something, right?

.

“So, are you implying that we should forget about yesterday?” Bruce still sounded a little skeptical on the phone. 

“No, not ‘forget’, because we still need to supervise that friendship more,” Hal replied, “But the kids know each other since they were like 7… Yesterday I was angry and said some stupid things, the boys shouldn’t have to pay for that. While you were right about the unhealthiness of their relationship, I think we can work on that, not necessarily finish it.”

Hal heard a sigh on the other side of the line.

“Dick and Jason were pretty upset when I told them I didn’t want them hanging out with the others.”

“Kyle was just the same… Besides, I may not completely agree with what Mia, Jason and Roy do, but that doesn’t mean they’re not good kids.”

Bruce had to agree with that. Damn it…

“They are… I guess whatever behavior issues Roy’s going through, that’s for him and Oliver to deal with… What do you propose?”

“Maybe we can go get lunch with the kids tomorrow. I’ll call Ollie, I’m sure Roy’ll be thrilled”