To Raise a Child, chapter 5

"What do you want to talk about?" Oliver finally asked.

"I'm not trying to be a jerk, you need to understand that" Hal started that way, "I'm just worried about Roy..."

Oliver looked really tired, he didn't really want to start another argument that late.

"That you're not neglecting the kid for starters."

Oliver groaned. Again with that?

"The fact that I don't baby him like you guys to do with your brats doesn't mean I'm the worst."

Hal sighed in defeat. He'll have to call Dinah, then.

"Whatever, Ollie. Don't say I didn't try to warn you," Hal replied before Ollie left to get Roy. Oliver cursed under his breath as he took the kid to the car.

"Are you mad or something?" Roy dared to ask when they were like 20 minutes from Kyle's home.

"And why would you think that?" Oliver growled.

"Cause your face gets red when you're mad."

"I'm not red, and I'm not mad."

"But you sound mad... I'm sorry, daddy." He hadn't meant to make Oliver mad at him, he had just wanted to go home.

"I'm not mad at you. Just... People."

"What people?"

"Don't worry about it," Oliver answered.

"I wanna know."

"None of your business"

"It is, because when you're mad, you're mean to me."

"Don't start with me again, young man."

"But you are! No wonder Kyle's dad asked me..."

Oliver practically slammed on the brakes as he turned around to try to look at Roy. With an icy tone, Oliver asked, "What did Kyle's dad say, Roy?"

Roy got the feeling something was wrong.

"He asked if you were nice to me..." He answered from the carpet, where he had landed after Oliver stopped the car.

"For the love of Christ, put that damn seatbelt on! And why the hell did he ask that!"

"I don't know, he wanted to know if you yelled at me or if you hit me." The boy climbed to the seat again and started fidgeting with the seatbelt, but it was always difficult in Ollie's car, "Can you help me with this?"

Oliver ignored his request and gripped the steering wheel even tighter. "That damn sonofabitch!"

"Daddy, my seatbelt!" But Oliver continued to ignore him in favor of thinking about Hal. "Whatever! I should have told him you're mean." Roy grumbled.

Oliver reached back to pop Roy on the leg. "Not another word."

"Ow!" Roy let go off the seatbelt and moved farther from Ollie, "I changed my mind, I don't wanna go home anymore."

Oliver completely ignored his son as he pulled into a parking spot in the manor grounds. The manor was closer to Hal's than his own house, so there's where they'll spend the night. Oliver started walking towards the manor grumbling. He completely forgot his child… So Roy got down on his own and started walking.

Realization suddenly sank in. He forgot his kid. Damn. "Roy!" Ollie yelled only to turn and find the kid behind him.

"Can we go to Kyle's tomorrow?" Oliver clearly was mad, and the kid didn't like it.

"No!"

"Not fair! I don't wanna be with you!"

"It's either me or the orphanage."

Roy's eyes opened wider. That had been harsh…

"I'll call Dinah"

"Just stop being such a brat, Roy! If you didn't wanna be here, you shouldn't have called me."

Roy didn't answer, but sat right there on the dirt to start crying. He may be tall, but he was just six, that orphanage thing had been way too mean, and his arm hurt from when Oliver had stopped the car minutes ago.

Oliver just stood there trying to gather patience. Why was always this difficult with that kid?

"My arm hurts..." Roy sobbed minutes later.

"Too bad."

"But-" Roy began before Oliver shook his head

"I'm sick of your attitude."

Roy sniffled.

"I'm telling my teacher you hit me, then" the kid mumbled. He didn't know why, but he knew his teacher wasn't happy with Ollie.

Oliver froze before slowly turning to look at Roy. "Did you just threaten me?"

Uh uh...

"My arm hurts a lot..." He didn't know what else to say, so he raised his injured arm a little for Oliver to see.

"Let's go."

"Where?" He kind of tried to dry the tears and snot on his face with his sleeve.

"Inside," he just wanted to go to bed already.

"But my arm…"

"Come on, Roy, I'm not buying that arm bullshit."

But instead of getting up and entering the house, Roy started wailing even louder. Before the man could do anything, another car arrived and parked beside Oliver's.

"Oliver!"

"Dinah?" What on earth… "What are you doing here this late?" that wasn't even Oliver's home anymore.

"Hal called me, told me about today's and I assumed you'd stay here the night," the woman explained somewhat confused, but her expression turned even more serious once she took a closer look at the child, "Damn it, Oliver!," she ducked down to pick up the sniffling boy, who actually didn't put resistance at all, "Why is it that always I see you two is Roy crying about something? Would it kill you to hug him or hold him once in a while?"

Oliver rolled his eyes, and was about to make some snarky remark when Roy spoke up with a shaky voice.

"My arm hurts."

Dinah sighed, glaring at Oliver.

"Let's check that arm, honey," she started walking towards the manor in a way that was the universal sign for Oliver to open the door.

.

Oliver resisted the urge of slamming the door after Dinah when she left. One thing was Hal, but Dinah?

The man started upstairs towards his old bedroom, where Roy was already tucked in. The arm obviously wasn't broken, but it was somewhat sore because Roy had used it to not hit his head when he fell from the backseat, so Dinah had put some bandages on it and a told him to hold a plastic bag with some ice against it.

Oliver sat on the edge of the bed and started taking off his shoes. He had already been on his sleep clothes before heading to Hal's, so the only thing left was getting some sleep. 

The room was already dark, Dinah had turned them off after exiting, the dim illumination being just the light of the TV screen.

The older archer noted Roy was dozing off already, so he grabbed the remote, turned off the TV and laid down. However, as he tried to get comfortable in the huge bed, a tired voice got his attention.

"Why don't you love me?" What on earth… "I'm not always that bad."

After Oliver's initial shock, the first thought that crossed his mind was another tantrum, but Roy sounded like… too sad. Again, Roy always managed to sound somewhat sad when having a fit.

"You mean because I turned off the TV?" the man looked at him, and Roy actually struggled to sit up a little bit.

"No, because Kyle's dad's not so mean with him… And you told me to go back to the orphanage."

"I didn't said that!" hearing about… Hal angered him enough, he didn't need the kid to put words in his mouth too.

"You said something like that! And I don't get it… I'm not that bad, not always. So, why don't you love me?"