maskormenacelogs | ( closed ) i want my friend back

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( closed ) i want my friend back

WHO: Hal Jordan and Clark Kent
WHERE: Clark's place
WHEN: Some random date before Christmas
WHAT: Hal Jordan whines about Oliver Queen
WARNINGS: n/a

[Oliver Queen had told Hal he had no idea who he was and it was like his whole world came crashing down. Their friendship should have been a universal constant. He didn't think it was possible for them not to know each other. He had refused to believe it at first, but as time passed it slowly started to sink in. It got harder to live under the same roof as him. Every time he saw the other man he kept expecting a moustache to appear and for him to make some remark on poverty or chilli and then Hal spent less and less time at the apartment given to him.

Today he's avoiding going back by hanging out with Clark. Hal had asked to meet up but he's mostly moping and flicking through all the channels available on tv. Eventually he sighs and turns it off before looking over at Clark.]

Did you know Ollie's here?

[He had to say something about it to someone eventually.]

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[Clark had patiently waited for the other shoe to drop the moment Hal had called him.

It wasn't that he never hung out with the man, or that they didn't spend time together. Especially now that the hero:civilian ratio was almost event and they didn't have to run every time there was a catastrophe, or that Hal didn't have to go back to the Guardians every Tuesday. But he wasn't so blind, he knew the difference between hanging out and... "hanging out", and it was obvious something was bothering Hal enough to need an ear to talk to.

As soon as he speaks, the reason is clear.]

Is he? [He must have missed it. And he knows it's almost impossible to miss a certain man as he yells around about poverty... which means this man wasn't yelling. Which means, it wasn't their Ollie.

Hm.]

Is he very different?

He doesn't know who I am. He seems to know Dinah, but I might as well not exist.

[To Hal that encapsulates everything different about him.]

I thought-- I thought it'd be neat being able to see people from different times and stuff. But this isn't worth it. Arthur's acting weird too, but you know he's always weird so I could deal with that.

But Ollie.

Yeah. Ollie.

[Because he'd be saying the exact same things about Bruce, if he could. At least he has been... friendly towards Clark, if such a thing can be applied to Bruce Wayne. So it wasn't like he'd lost a friend, he just had to get him back.

But from the way Hal's talking about it, the meeting with Ollie must have not gone well.]

How weird is he acting? I mean, even if he doesn't remember you that has to be... intense. But maybe you just have to rebuild the friendship?

[That makes Hal even more upset than he was before. His best friend didn't know him and wasn't even interested in getting to know him. Hal pulls his phone out to replay his message and then buries his head in his hands.

"Whatever Oliver Queen you knew- I'm not him! And right now, I'm not very interested in ever. Being him."]

You know me, Bruce knows me, Arthur knows me, Wally knows me, but my best friend wants me to fuck off.

[He opens his mouth, then closes it. He'd thought he could do this, because at the moment it'd just been an abstract idea. Keeping Bruce's secret so he could still make the villains fear him made sense.

But he made his promise and he can't really break it now.]

He sounds really altered and angry. [Which really, Ollie. No surprise.] Were you arguing with him at the time? People say things they don't really mean when they are mad.

[Hal finally raises his head to look at Clark with wide eyes.]

No more than usual! You know how we are, I thought he was pulling a prank on me, seeing how long it'd take me to notice.

How do I fix this?

[Alternate universe or no, Hal needed them to keep some kind of contact.]

Well, of course I know how you are. But thing is this [He motions at Hal and at the phone.] isn't 'you'. If you were trying to rile him up as usual you have to think how it might have looked to a stranger. Of course he reacted badly.

I think you need two things to fix this and you aren't going to like either of them. The first thing is that you need to apologize for making him uncomfortable.

The second thing you need is time.

[Hal looks crestfallen at the advice.] He's my roommate.

[Time is a luxury he can't afford when he's going to be living in close quarters with him. He's not going to be able to create the distance needed to get over this.]

I have to deal with this now.

Hm. [That does makes things a bit harder.]

And I'm guessing moving out isn't an option? I mean, it's not like I spend a lot of time with my neighbors, I barely see them at all.

[Hal has always been broke this is not going to change in a different world.]

Can't, I just got here so I don't have any savings and since I'm new I'm expected to build up more credit before I can get a loan.

And I kind of don't want to? This is still Oliver, I'm going to see him as my friend no matter what.

[He's about to offer his place, it's not like he's there much. But Hal continues, and it makes him pause. He figured that was part of it, as well.]

'No matter what'. See? You're coming off a bit aggressive. Especially if you keep comparing him to Ollie. I personally wouldn't want to be friends with someone who is determined to be my friend just because I happen to be an alternate version of someone he cares about.

If you want to be friends with him you'll have to be friends with this Oliver, not try to recreate Ollie.

[He's becoming more and more convinced that he's going to end up tragically pining from afar.]

You know he reminds me more of Bruce? And I have no idea how you get along with him because Bruce drives me up the wall.

I brought Ollie back because I couldn't stand to live in a world without him and now I'm supposed to put up with this guy who I'll probably just respect, but not get along with personally.

I get along with Bruce because he's my friend, if we all got along with the same kind of people the world would be pretty boring. [Which is a safer topic than talking about Bruce.]

Would it help if you gave him another name? Calling him 'Queen' or 'Arrow', instead of your best friend's name. I think if you manage to set them apart in your mind it will be easier. [Says the guy who's pretending there isn't any differences between his Bruce and this Bruce. At all. Really, the only reason this is working for Kal is because Bruce actually wants to pretend to be him.]

[Hal would have preferred to be in Clark's position. He could have talked him into making a road trip around the country and by the end of it they'd have a better understanding of each other as well as laid down the foundations of a solid friendship.

He might be reaching, but it could have happened.]

Queen or Arrow, huh? [He scrunches his face.] Is that what he's calling himself, what's he got against Green Arrow?

[The road trip might be reaching a bit, yeah. But you dream a little dream of friendship Hal.]

I have no idea, you know I do my best not to eavesdrop. Maybe he does call himself that and he's trying to lie low. I was just trying to suggest names that would set the two of them apart in your mind- names are a powerful thing. You and I know that better than most.

[It does seem to make sense. Hal needs to untangle the memories of the Oliver Queen of their world, separate out what he should and shouldn't associate with him and naming them differently should help.]

So distance myself until I've got a clearer idea? If I keep calling him Queen, I'm less likely to think of Ollie. If I don't think of him as Ollie I can try talking to him without getting upset when he doesn't act as I expected.

[Hal stares incredulously at his hands at how complicated this gets.]

This is more effort than I put into my dates. It's not like I want him to fall in love with me again.

[He wants to point out that that's because his friendship with Ollie has lasted way more than any dates he's had, but-]

"Again"?

As in this hypothetical situation that absolutely isn't real it'd be again.

[He looks at Clark as if he's suffered a great betrayal.]

What the hell are you thinking? Ollie's engaged and I'm sort of seeing someone.

Oh. Of course. [The corners of his lips twitch in amusement, but he decides he doesn't want to go there for now. He's engaged himself, and he wouldn't take that kind of jokes nicely if the situation was reversed.]

But you know, the metaphor kind of works. You have to 'woo' Arrow if you want his friendship or respect, you can't just expect it to be handed to you on a silver plate.

[He groans.]

Can we not use that word about me and Queen? Unless you really think asking if he wants a ride on my plane is the right way to go about it.

[That one pick up line of his is ridiculously successful.]

I know you're joking... and I definitely don't mean you try to get him to join the mile high club with you. [He's not blushing, but by the way his ears are beginning to go pink it won't be long. Clark, please, you're an adult.]

But it could work, for bonding? If you're really determined to be friends with him, I mean.

[Hal continues to stare at him incredulously.]

Well now I can't because you put that idea in my head. The mile high club? That's where your mind jumps to?

And for the record I don't do that, I can either drive the plane or drive my dick.

[Clark just kind of

:|]

Yes, Hal, I figured. I also figured we weren't talking literally.

[He points at him accusingly.]

You started it. Keep this up and I'm never going to be able to look at him ever again.

I did not, you're the one that talked about this being harder than making him love you. [Again.]

But to summarize: be nicer, be less on-his-face about it, become his friend. And remember he's not Ollie.

[Hal slouches back into the couch.]

But he could be. I thought it was just because he didn't have the-- [He gestures at his mouth to indicate the beard.] but he might just really be young.

I didn't know him back then. I know I gotta keep Oliver and Ollie separate, but it's so weird.

[He opens his mouth, then closes it. He really is at lost on what to do- even if he told him about Bruce heir situations are so different it might even make things worse. (Or maybe that's him trying to justify his need to keep the promise he made the other Bruce.)]

You could talk to Oliver. Explain this, tell him that you understand he's another person altogether but it will take you some time to adapt.

'Sorry, but I'm probably going to come across as rather creepy for a while because I'm having trouble coming to terms with the fact that you're not the guy I literally resurrected because possessed me doesn't know how to deal without him.'

[Hal's forced to laugh at how absurd this all is.]

Wish me luck.

[Clark shares the laugh... but it's a bit strained and awkward because what are their lives, really. He wishes he could do more to help.]

Good luck, but maybe leave that last part out? Sharing too much weird stuff will probably get him on edge again if he's really as inexperienced as you're making him sound.

Little late for that. When I got back to Earth I flew in through the roof and he was already there.

[He phased through the ceiling and blew his cover on his first day on this Earth.]

I know I should have stuck around to hear explanations before leaving the planet, but I really needed to get out of there I was on Oa before and we'd just gotten some big news.

[Welp.]

Well, there goes not scaring him with weird stuff. How did he react?

He didn't freak out or anything at least.

[Hal didn't realise it, but it was the frozen in shock type of surprise.]

A man in a green suit crashes down the ceiling and probably tells him weird stuff about space and he just nods along and goes with it?

I mean, Ollie was always on board bout this stuff but that's pretty ridiculous.

It can happen. I didn't flip out when I met Abin Sur and got my ring.

[Yes, you did.]

Well, I can assure you I freaked out when Jor-El's hologram popped out of my spaceship and started talking to me. Are you sure he wasn't just in shock?

[Hal hesitates and that's probably a good sign.]

Any other time I'd say yes, but considering we've spent all this time telling me to stop pretending he's exactly how I know him now I'm not so sure.

[He lets himself fall onto his side along the couch and groans.]

I'm never fixing this. I'm gonna have to suck it up and live like this.

[He smiles, reaching to squeeze his shoulder.] Don't be so dramatic. You're already making progress, you'll adapt to this.

You always manage to adapt yourself to everything. [He... doesn't mean to sound so condescending, but alas.]

[Hal knows that's one of his strengths, he's good at improvising and making things up on the fly to counter his tendency to ignore plans.

But he's not sure if he's meant to take that as a compliment.]

...thanks I think. I'm lying on your couch and whining about it, is this really how other people deal?

In my personal experience there's usually more ice cream involved. And a bad telenovela or two, but that's my secret and don't tell Lois.

I can get some ice cream if you want.

That sounds like something out of a chick-flick, are you sure about this? You're not pulling my leg?

[Although he can see the appeal as long as he blatantly ignores how much it sounds like something girls would do. Maybe if they add beer to it it would be much more manly.]

What the hell, let's do it your way. Go get your ice cream and whatever else you need and tell me what shows I need to watch. Kyle got rather worked up about it when he realised I missed the X-Files so do your worst.

[Clark is rather obviously doing his best not to laugh.]

Okay, okay, but you have to tell me what flavor of ice cream is your favorite. It's not comfort food if it doesn't actually comfort you, right? And please tell me he also got you caught up with Bill Nye the Science Guy...

Isn't that a kid's show? [Is that why he's trying not to snigger? Because he wants to inflict children's entertainment on him?]

And just grab whatever you've got, I'm not picky. Do you know how expensive ice-cream is?

Considering it's my ice cream you're going to eat, yes I'd say I know. You get chocolate then, my favorite. [And it's one of the few non-vegan things he eats, so he always savors every scoop.

He stands up to get it, still very obviously amused.] I guess you could say it's kind of a kid's show, in a way. I loved it, though. And I thought it'd be better than whatever telenovela we might catch.

Can we watch it?. They don't even have Mickey Mouse here.

[Thanks KH cast.]

I think so, yeah. It's... pretty weird, isn't it? Some stuff from our world is here, some isn't. Some is still here but with a completely different name.

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( closed ) i want my friend back

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