To Raise a Child, chapter 3

After the discussion with Oliver, Hal couldn't stop thinking about Roy. He wasn't the perfect father, but he didn't act like Ollie either.
So, the next day...

"¿Hal?" Oliver opened his new house's door to find his friend and Kyle waiting there, "¿What are you guys doing here?"

But Kyle didn't wait long and entered the house running like it was his private park.

"Kyle!"

"Let him be, he's just probably looking for Roy... What are you doing here, Hal?" Oliver repeated himself.

"We need to talk, Ollie. Alone."

Oliver took into account the seriousness of Hal's tone before slowly stepping aside. Hal entered and made his way into the kitchen. Oliver shut the door before following behind his best friend.

"Why are you here, Hal?"

"Have you been drinking again?"

The blonde rolled his eyes.

"I'm not drunk, if that's what you're asking" just then, both kids passed running by, Roy shirtless and barefoot "And before you mention it, it's laundry day... God forbid you guys start thinking I don't buy him clothes"

Hal sighed. "Ollie, you're scaring me, man... Look, everyone thinks you're neglecting your kid."

"That's what I don't get. I thought we were friends, why the fuck would you think that? Roy likes me and that kid is the best thing that's happened to me" He took a sip of his beer, "You guys are all jerks"

"Then act like it! Get off your ass and get him cleaned up, feed him, give him a damn bath! This is serious, Ollie, you either get it together or you lose him."

"Are you threating me? What the hell, Hal" he really was not going to discuss "The boy's clean and there's plenty of food here. Or what? If he says he's not hungry, do I have to force feed him?"

"I'm only trying to help you. I'm your best friend, Ollie. You know that. Why are you getting so defensive?"

"Because I never tell you how to deal with your kids. And besides, Roy and I are fine... Or what? Do we have to make things different just because you guys think so? That's bullshit... Roy eats when he's hungry, showers himself... We are fine"

"Whatever, man. Just don't act like I didn't warn you." Hal sighed before calling for Kyle. "Kyle, let's go!"

"Warn me about what? Go ahead and try to call social services, let's see how thay act when I throw a few dollars at them" he was sick of that 'social services' threat. The principal of Roy's first preschool was like that all the time.

"Do you even hear yourself anymore?" Hal asked before yelling for his kid again.

"Sadly, I hear your voice more and it's really annoying"

Hal shook his head while Kyle and Roy appeared. Hal pulled Kyle into his arms before pausing to ruffle Roy's hair.

"See you around, kid."

"Bye, Uncle Hal. Bye Kyle," Roy replied.

Kyle yawned before wrapping his arms around Hal's neck. Hal nodded at Oliver before walking out the door.

Oliver rolled his eyes before throwing himself at the sofa.

"Whatever, Hal" he never thought his best friend would be like that... What a jerk.

"Can we go over to Kyle's? I'm bored in here"

"No," Oliver sharply replied.

"Why not?"

"Because they just stopped by"

"But they didn't stay long"

"Roy, stop it, we're not going"

"That's not fair, yesterday didn't let me have my second ice cream after you said you would, you didn't take us to the park, and now you don't wanna take me to Kyle's…"

"Well, life's not always fair"

"I don't care, this sucks… Why are you mad, anyways?"

"I'm not mad, okay?" he lied "I just got bored… We've been here all day and that washing machine sound is making me go crazy"

"Then let's go out" Roy went and grabbed his arm "I want to go outside, daddy. Let's go somewhere"

"And if we both go out, who's going to wash your clothes, huh?"

"I don't care, my clothes are fine"

"Your clothes are dirty and you don't even have a shirt on. We can't go out like that"

"Why can't I wear my pajamas? Those are kind of clean and more comfy"

Oliver was going to reply that he couldn't just go outside in pajamas, but then it hit him… Why the hell not?

Before he could give up, the washing machine made the annoying sound announcing it was time to take out the clothes.

"Well, maybe in a few hours" he somehow managed to stand up.

"No, daddy, I wanna go outside" Roy pulled harder at his arm "It's not fair"

"Stop it, Roy, I already told you…"

"I don't care, I wanna go"

Now the kid was angry… Great, just great…

"Look, Roy…"

"Nooooo!"

"Hey!" apparently, the kid didn't expect him to raise his voice, because his big eyes welled up immediately. Maybe he was really tired, after all "You stop it right now, or…"

But the boy didn't let him finishing threating him, he started bawling before Oliver could say another word.

"I'm bored, dad! I wanna go outside!"

Damn!

"Well, just wait a few minutes and then…"

"I wanna go NOW!" now he had thrown himself to the floor.

"Stand up" Oliver tried to sound stern, but Roy wouldn't listen, so he grabbed the kid's arm and stood him up. However, the boy kept on with the freakin' tantrum.

"STOP IT, ROY!" Before Oliver knew it, five sharp swats had landed on the kid's bottom.

However, it didn't help at all.

Fuck that child's awful crying…

"Fine! We are going out! Just shut up already…"

And well he didn't exactly shut up, but at least the bawling reduced to sniffling…

"I… I wan… na… go outside" the boy managed between sobs.

"And we're going, but you need to calm down and behave"

Slowly, the sobs became sniffles. Apparently, for once the kid had chosen to listen to him.

Oliver sighed. He hadn't even washed a quarter of the dirty clothes in the house.

"Just put a shirt on, ok? I can't take you outside like that" the kid nodded "And it's just going to be a little while. We don't have a lot of time"

The little boy nodded slowly and Oliver just sighed. Maybe a few minutes out weren't going to hurt anyone.

.

By the time Oliver and Roy got back home, it was way past the kid's bedtime. Roy was fast asleep and Oliver was really, really tired. He had had the awesome idea of going walking to the park, so Roy would get tired faster… However, after getting that tired, the boy had fallen asleep and it had been up to Oliver's to carry him home.

Now the one extra tired was the other one, not to mention he still had to do the laundry, clean the kitchen, wash the dishes, clean the fridge… he hadn't even gone grocery shopping either…

Right freaking now, he just felt like sending everything to hell and go to sleep…

With that in mind, Oliver kept walking until he reached his bedroom, threw himself onto the bed, still clutching the child, and somehow managed to pull the undone covers over he and his kid. It's not like they would have visitors the next day, anyways. And they could always order some pizza to eat.

.

It had been a great day for Hal so far. He had had a great morning, a good day at work and apparently Kyle had behaved pretty well at school...

"Well, well, well, shouldn't you be doing your homework?"

"I'm doing my homework, I had to draw my favorite person in the world and that's you, daddy" he showed Hal the picture, who couldn't suppress a smile.

"Well, he certainly is just as handsome as me"

"My drawing is more handsome than you" was Kyle smiling reply, but before Hal could say something about it, his cell phone began to ring…

Oliver's number was in the screen.

"Ollie?"

"You wouldn't believe what just happened at the stupid kindergarten" Oliver was talking as if they hadn't argued the day before.

"Calm down, man… What happened?"

"That damn teacher, dude… That nosy lady called me out of a meeting just to go to the school. I was called at the principal's office because, according to her, my kid was not okay"

Hal instantly got worried.

"What do you mean? Is he fine?"

"He's fine, you wouldn't believe what they called me for"

"Well, if you told me, maybe I would"

"They called me just because today the teacher was reprehending Roy and he raised his arm like trying to cover himself when she tried to approach him. Could they be more disrespectful of my time?" Oliver sounded pissed as hell "And that's not all. Once there, they started bothering about how his uniform wasn't always clean or how his lunch not sometimes is 'too basic', now apparently a fruit and some cookies are just too basic, and how his homework is not always as complete as the other kids… Dude, what the fuck is wrong with everyone?! That annoying teacher even dared mention a psychologist for me!"

"Listen, man, calm down," Hal interrupted him "What did you do after that?"

"What was I going to do? I'm so fuckin' sick of everyone trying to fix my freakin' life! Our lives are fine, just fine, thank you very much! So I told them that… not the fixing my life part, just that we were okay, but they didn't believe me!"

"Okay, Oliver, stop it right there… First of all, try not to get mad to the kid, he was just reacting"

Hal heard a sardonic laugh at the other end of the line.

"Of course I'm not mad at my kid," was the man's reply "I'd also cover myself that if that ugly old bitch came near me too"

'Launguage,' he could almost hear Bruce's voice in his head.

"Okay, so where's Roy?" that was the most important thing right then.

"He's here in the car with me" duh…

"Are you driving while using your cell phone?!" And with that language in front of his child?

"Of course not! Who you think I am? You are in speaker"

"Man, what on Earth is wrong with you?!"

Oliver groaned loudly.

"No, please not this again… Look, whatever, Hal. I'm parking at your house"

"What?"

Just then he heard the sound of Oliver's expensive sports car outside of his house, so he went to open the door, and as long as he did it, a little redhead passed running through him, and suddenly Kyle wasn't doing his homework anymore…

"Can you fuckin' believe it?!" Oliver entered as if he were at his own house.

"Lower your voice, my kid's around" was all Hal could manage.

"I know, but can you believe it?!"

"Actually, Oliver, I can. I told you yesterday and the day before that I don't agree with some of your… parenting style. Anyways, what happened to 'I'll just throw some dollars to Social Services if they were come near me'?

"Oh, I'd still do that… and maybe I'll have to because that damn teacher looked really pissed… But that's not the point. I'm so freaking sick and tired of everyone telling me I suck at this parenting thing… Why can't they see my kid's happy? And we are just fine, okay? It's just that sometimes we don't have the time to do all the things we are supposed to… I mean, look at him, he's okay with how we live"

"Look, I get it man, and I swear to you it's not to annoy you, but you can just be happy and pretend that's enough. Did you know the kid can get anemia if he doesn't eat well? And he won't do as good at school if he doesn't sleep enough either… There are a lot of things that we don't really like but we do because it's what's best for them. I mean, didn't Dinah give you the talk when you brought Roy home?" she surely had lectured Hal

Oliver looked at him as if he were stupid.

"Come on, Hal, you know I must have been just looking at her boobs"

"Well, your loss, she had plenty of useful things to say," that was just too much cynicism 

"And I know It's hard now that you are alone with him, unlike at the Manor Where, you had plenty of help, but if that's the main problem why don't you ask Dinah to move in with you?"

Oliver shot him a look.

"Really, Hal? How should I start? 'You know you're the love of my life, would you like to come live with me, so you can take care of my kid?' Really romantic"

Okay, Hal had to admit it sounded stupid indeed.

"Fine, that's an awful idea… But what you need to understand is that you can pay Social Services all you want, but you are never going to live peacefully with your kid if things stay this way"

Oliver cursed to himself in an attempt to calm down.

"Why would he even try to cover himself, anyways? That dumb teacher must have thought I go all day slapping him around… Which I don't, just in case you're wondering"

Hal didn't say anything. At least he was right in that aspect, he hadn't seen him slapping the boy.