#jhashsdds the way i almost wrote 'as serious as a puck to the knee' but resisted at the last second

[zimms]

sorry I prematurely sent an ask lol I meant to say prompt 18 for ollie and wicks for the cliche prompt list :) also I love ur writing

hi, sorry that this took so long to answer. it appeared in my inbox a couple of weeks ago, rather than back when you first sent this (which i am still incredibly confused about)

18 - Fake Dating

Ollie winces as he glances down at where his and Pacer's hands are interlocked on the table. This is fine. This is absolutely fine. He ignores the squeeze of his stomach and instead focuses on taking a sip of his coffee.

He completely understands why Pacer asked him to do this. He really does. Who wouldn't agree pretend to date their best friend when said friend's ex walked into the café? Ollie did what any other bro would do, but there's a small traitorous part of his brain that doesn't seem to understand that this isn't real, that Pacer wouldn't be touching him in such a painfully intimate and gentle way, that he wouldn't be casting such a fond look towards Ollie if it weren't for Luke walking into Annie's.

He lets the coffee wash down his throat, somehow not tasting any of it, and squeezes Pacer's hand in a hopefully reassuringly manner. Pacer doesn't look any less like a rabbit in the headlights, so Ollie's not sure how much it actually helped, but it was worth a shot.

Ollie feels more than sees Pacer start to panic, his grip getting tighter and the entire atmosphere of the café feeling far more tense than it did even two seconds ago. He feels a prescence at his back and he suddenly realises that Luke has absolutely come over to the table and is standing right behind him.

Fuck.

Ollie loves Pacer (loves??? He'll have to come back to that later), but he doesn't think he really wants to end up in a fistfight with Pacer's football-playing ex-boyfriend. Like yes, Ollie is a six-foot whatever hockey forward, but he is not the fighting kind, whereas Luke definitely is.

He turns in his chair and his nervous gulp echoes through his head as he stares up at Luke. "Hi." He plasters a smile on his face.

"Hey." Luke frowns down at him for a second or two before his expression breaks into a grin. "I'm glad that you two finally got your shit sorted out."

Their?? Their shit?

Dude, Ollie's the only one pining at this table.

"You know, especially considering that it was one of the reasons me and Pace broke it off in the end. You know, I just couldn't really compete with what you guys had."

Ollie feels his cheeks heat up. This is- this is oddly nice for a shovel talk from your fake boyfriend's ex-boyfriend? Wait, what did he just say about-

Ollie's brain stutters to a grinding halt. They broke up because of his crush on Pacer?

No, that's not-

He casts a glance at Pace's crimson cheeks and they way he's avoiding Ollie's gaze and suddenly the gears in his head start turning again, but this time it's at a million miles per hour.

Ollie's suddenly very aware that it's been at least a minute since anyone last spoke and the atmosphere at their table is very, very, awkward. He clears his throat and keeps his gaze steadied on Pace. "Yeah, I'm pretty glad we got it sorted too. I couldn't imagine my life without him to be honest." A small, genuine smile creeps across his face without his permission and honestly he isn't mad about it.

Luke claps him on the shoulder and suddenly Ollie's broken away from the moment he'd been frozen in with Pacer. "Good talk, bro. Anyway, my boyfriend's waiting for me outside, so I gotta dash, but catch you later, huh?"

"Yeah," Ollie says, Luke already halfway out the door, "good talk." He slowly turns in his chair to look at Pace and a wide grin spreads across his face as much as he tries to stop it. "So, you guys broke up because of us?"

His best friend goes an even brighter shade of red (somehow?) and buries his face in his palms. "Please," he groans and he sounds genuinely pained and it takes everything in Ollie's power not to reach out across the table and touch him, "don't." Pacer looks up from his hands and he looks destroyed. "It was just a silly crush a couple of years ago. Just- just forget about it. Honestly."

Oh.

Oh.

Ollie reaches out and grabs Pacer's hand where it's laying on the table. "What if- what if I don't want to forget?"

Pacer flinches. "Ol, seriously, please don't indulge me. I'll get over it I promise."

Ollie cautiously draws their joined hands up to his mouth and kisses the back of Pacer's hand. He's like 90% sure that he looks like an idiot doing it, but it has the desired effect as Pace's mouth falls into a gentle 'o'-shape. "What part of this is me indulging you?"

"Are you serious? Ol?"

He squeezes Pace's hand. "Of course. It's kind of difficult to prove it to you with a kiss, considering the-" he gestures with his hand to the table between them "-but if we head outside, I could probably give it my best shot?"

Pacer's out of the door before Ollie even closes his mouth.

#ollie and wicks #my writing #this is from a prompt list i reblogged at the beginning of march #so yikes! #anyway i hope you like this #jhashsdds the way i almost wrote 'as serious as a puck to the knee' but resisted at the last second #omgcp #olliewicks