oliver sparks ☆ oliver queen. (nock) wrote in dunhavenic, @ 2018-05-11 22:38:00 |
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Entry tags: | !log, * kit, * terri, c: finnley sparks, c: oliver sparks |
WHO: Oliver Sparks & Finnley Parker
WHEN: Friday, May 11, 2018; Evening
WHERE: Finnley’s House
SUMMARY: Oliver has a question :3 :3
WARNINGS: None? Mentions of Arrow spoilers.
Oliver had had a lot to consider over the past month, the ring his mother had given him an ever present weight of the choices he needed to make and conversations he needed to have. The conversation with his mother had been the first of them, but talking to Jonas had been the most important person he needed to talk to. Just last week, he’d taken his son out for burgers and a second viewing of the latest Marvel movie in theaters, and had used the opportunity afterward to broach the topic of what Oliver wanted most: to make Finnley an official part of their small family. Jonas, predictably, had been all for it, not the least because he was pretty sure Finnley becoming a permanent fixture in their lives meant more pizza rolls and less weird gourmet cuisine. His son’s enthusiasm at the thought of Finnley filling the maternal role he was missing in his life was a bittersweet tug at Oliver’s heart, a reminder both of what his son had missed out on and what they could possibly have for their futures. Of course, no one’s desire for Finnley to be in their lives on a permanent basis meant anything until Oliver actually asked her if that was something that she wanted for herself. A large part of him was confident that they were on the same page, mostly because they’d been very open about where they stood for each other. The rest of him, though, had been plagued with recurring dreams of another life where the future didn’t feel so certain. While dreams up until recently had mostly come as fully fleshed out scenes from this other Oliver’s life, the new dreams felt more like glimpses, a keyhole view into very specific moments and the emotions that accompanied them. He’d dreamed of a souffle topped with a diamond gone wrong, a proposal ending in bullets and blood, and promises made in hospitals that for better or worse had started long before he’d asked Felicity to marry him. And then he’d caught glimpses of vows that were simultaneously sincere and like a hundred arrows to his heart, each word a reminder that he’d lost his chance with the one light in his otherwise dark and dangerous life. While Oliver knew that his life here had nothing to do with the dream life he still couldn’t explain, it was hard to shake the emotions that came with experiences that still very much like they were now his own. His certainty in his relationship with Finnley felt taut with the apparent knowledge that he had the power to ruin everything he wanted for himself, his son, and the woman that he loved more than he’d thought possible. And so Oliver had come to a simple conclusion. He’d gone over so many ideas for how he could bring up the future with Finnley. Some had involved potatoes stuffed with pickles and rings. Others had involved a grand gesture with the assistance of the impossible-to-say-no-to Jonas. At the end of the day, though, Oliver knew two things to be true. One, things were better when it was just them. And, two, things were best when they were transparent. Keeping it simple seemed the best idea. Just Finnley and himself and a few moments of laying bare what he saw and wished for them. Finnley came from an extravagant upbringing, but she had never struck him as someone who wanted extravagance. If he knew her at all, he knew that something more intimate was the grandest gesture he could make. That was how Oliver now found himself with the night off from the restaurant, a spread of the very first meal he’d made for Finnley set for two on her dining room table, waiting for her to arrive home from work. He’d told her he was going to make them dinner that night, and that he’d be at her place while Jonas stayed the night with his mother. He thumbed the small ring in his pocket nervously, his nerves buzzing with the anticipation of what was to come. Taking a deep breath, he reminded himself that, regardless of whatever happened between Oliver and Felicity, he and Finnley were writing their own story on their own terms. To say that it had been a crazy day would have been a serious understatement. Finnley had barely been able to concentrate at her afternoon appointments. Between the events of the morning and the knowledge that Oliver was waiting for her at home - or what would only still be home for a short period of time - she was tightly wound. As soon as she had left her office, she headed straight home. The temptation to tell Oliver the good news of her morning had been strong, but she thought it was best announced in person. Instead of ruining the surprise, she had just tried not to think about it, but the fact that someone had just shown up wanting to buy her house was almost too good to be true. It felt like fate, but it also meant that she would have to move soon...and that they would need to find a place together sooner rather than later. She parked in the garage and entered through the interior door. Instantly, she knew Oliver had already finished preparing whatever meal he had planned for them because the aroma of Italian food flooded the house, “Dinner smells absolutely amazing. I have had the most insane day in the history of insane days. Not bad insane, but like...my head is kind of spinning and I’ve been dying to tell you about it all afternoon.” She was talking the moment that she saw him, even as she approached him with a grin, putting her arms around his neck and stealing a kiss for herself, “Also, hi.” One more kiss, and then, “I’m 99% sure I sold my house today.” Oliver’s heart leapt when he heard the front door open and he felt himself stand a little straighter, his fingers wringing in nervous habit behind his back. It was a stance, he realized, that he shared with this alternate self. Fortunately, the heavy weight on his shoulders in his reality was the sort that had the potential to make him very, very happy. Besides, now was not the time to dwell on things that happened in his dreams, especially when he knew that doing what he was about to do never seemed to work out well for him in his dreams. Finnley came in like a flash rain shower, flooding the dining room with her enthusiasm in a way that Oliver was all too familiar with. He loved the way she babbled, the way she could not hardly contain the things she felt inside and had this need to release them all like a thousand welcomed raindrops splashing over him after a long drought. It was an unexpected reminder of the many reasons Oliver was in love with this woman and why he was here tonight in the first place. It was impossible to hold back the laugh that escaped from his lips as his arms abandoned their nervous vigil and wrapped tightly around her, holding her to him as he returned the stolen kisses. And then he heard her final words and, for a moment, everything else in his head went silent. “Wait, really? I thought you weren’t going to list the house until we found something we wanted to put an offer on.” His brow raised in surprise--he hadn’t expected that news today. She could have just stood there in his arms forever. His laugh had a way of working itself right into the spaces of her being that needed healing. He gave her the respite that she needed after long days. He was the shelter that she could come home to, and he had brought endless joy into her life since the day that they had first met face to face. There were a lot of things in her life that weren’t simple, but loving Oliver was as easy as breathing. She was excited to embark on the next chapter of their lives together which would involve moving into the same dwelling, and it meant that she would likely take on more responsibility with being an adult figure for Jonas, too. That part was easier than she thought it would be. She had been nervous that maybe she would not be as good with him as she wanted to be, but the more that she was around Jonas, the more she thought that he hung the moon and she wanted only the best for him. Loving Oliver had come with loving Jonas, too, and she could no longer imagine her life without either of them. It was anticipated that it would be a while longer before they would move - waiting to find the perfect house - but perhaps this would expedite the process. She had found a house that she liked and she thought he would like it, too...even if he didn’t like the price tag that was attached to it, “Really. I didn’t list it, though! I had put out of a few feelers, just to see what the interest might be or if some of the realtors in town knew of anyone looking for something in the area, but that hadn’t really panned out to anything. Then, earlier today, the doorbell rang. At first, I thought I had too much coffee this morning or something because the women that were at the door were identical triplets and that’s not something you see every day. Anyway, they just flat out said they were interested in the house despite not having it listed or any signs out. It feels a little like it has to be meant to be, you know?” She paused just a moment before adding, “There is one listing that I keep going back to? It’s a really beautiful property, but it’s not necessarily smaller than this house.” Oliver continued to smile as Finnley continued on, loving the way her stories were like trees in the way that she spoke her thoughts like branches and her words came out like leaves, all pieces together and deeply rooted into all the little things that made her so perfectly her. “Oh, yeah? I'm going to assume that's the same set of triplets that came to Dunhaven with Jack's brother. I wonder if Leonard's buying the house with them.” He knew Jack's brother had come home with a fiancee and her two sisters, from what Jack had told him and what he'd seen in the network. Identical triplets were rare enough that Oliver doubted it was a coincidence. He pressed his lips together with uncertainty then, though. Part of him wanted to steer then back toward what he'd planned for when she walked in, but he also knew that they had to talk about this if someone really wanted to buy her house right now. He'd planned for a lot more time before the had to make any decisions about their house hunting, time to settle on what they wanted to be to each other before they moved forward. Things were moving a lot faster than he'd planned. “How big are we talking,” Oliver asked. “I know it's not a big deal for you, I just really want to make sure we choose something we can go into together. Equally.” He was not at all intimidated by Finnley's money, he just wanted to make sure that he gave as much to their future as she did. He never wanted to feel like he was talking advantage of the things she could provide that he couldn't. It felt important to him. “But if you love it, we should look at it.” Finnley paused a moment, vaguely remembering something about having heard about the sisters now that he mentioned it, but she hadn’t really been on the network much recently and she hadn’t spoken to Jack about the girls, “It would just about have to be. They said they just moved here, but I didn’t make the connection. I suppose he could be? But he wasn’t with them when they approached me today.” She noted the way that he pressed his lips together, and she assumed it was in response to her hedging about the house that she had seen pictures of online. The strange thing about that house, however, was that even though she had never seen the property in person, she could already envision them living in those spaces. She could see them on the porch on summer evenings after work and moving about the kitchen like a dance and playing with Jonas in all that outdoor space that he was sure to love. She was ready to start their lives together instead of this back and forth thing they were doing now. She understood his hesitations about money, but with the way she saw it...they were going to put up the money for the house upfront to avoid paying interest for no reason. She wanted a house that they would be happy in...one that they could grow into and that wouldn’t compromise any of the things that either of them wanted. She never wanted to make him uncomfortable by over-reaching, but she wanted a house that she could see their future in, too, “It’s on the outskirts of town so it’s got more land, but the square footage isn’t that much different than here, really. It’s got this beautiful kitchen and a pantry to die for. The bedrooms all look to be good size and even if a few things would need worked on outside, it looks like a beautiful property.” She paused a moment, gnawing on her lower lip, and admitted, “It’s outside of the budget we agreed on. I stumbled on it by chance browsing new listings, but the Darlings are going to pay well for this house which can all go towards our new one. It doesn’t have to be the one I mentioned, but I don’t think I’ll get another offer like this one from anyone else anytime soon. If I don’t sell it with this offer, I might have trouble finding other interested buyers in the price range. I only want to look at the house if you’re okay with it being outside of what we initially agreed on. If you’re not, we’ll keep looking, and...I can figure out what to do in the meantime if I go ahead and sell to the Darlings anyway. For the record, I could live in a studio apartment with you and be deliriously happy, but...I want a place where you and I and Jonas all get the things that we want and have room to grow. Big or small, I want it to be somewhere we think we could live for the rest of our lives, you know?” She smiled, not wanting to pressure him one way or the other, but she knew that standing on equal ground was important to him. Oliver lifted his hands to smooth back Finnley’s hair, tilting his chin down to press a kiss to her forehead and she dove head first into defending the house that she’d quite clearly fallen in love with. He was torn, then, between maintaining his need for something that wasn’t grossly out of his means, and wanting her to have everything her heart desired. For a moment, his confidence slipped and he found himself wondering if he’d ever be able to give her the things she really wanted and needed in this life, but the thought was gone almost as soon as it had come. He knew it was likely that he still had some insecurities when it came to relationships thanks to the way the most serious one he’d had had ended, but he knew Finnley even better. He knew that she was the farthest thing from materialistic and that all he had to offer her was himself for her to be happy. He also knew that he was ready to offer exactly that to her. Still, he couldn’t help the twinge of concern at the thought of signing the deed for a house that he’d never have been able to afford on his own. It was a feeling, he thought, that he probably needed to work on, all things considered. “You should take the offer. Worst case scenario, we get you a storage unit until we get our house and you stay here with us for a little while. But like I said, if you love it, we should look at it,” he said. “If you love it so much that you light up like this when you talk about it, then I’m pretty sure I’m going to love it, too. So let’s go look at it and then we can figure it out.” Try as he might, Oliver couldn’t find a natural way to lead them back to the other conversation he was wanting to have. Finnley’s grin broadened when he insisted that they look at the house anyway. She didn’t want him to give into her whims just because he didn’t want to disappoint her. They could get to the house and he could hate it and he would have every right to tell her so. Even still, she hoped that she liked it as well in person as she did in the pictures. She hoped that she wasn’t giving him an impossible choice, but if she knew Oliver, she knew that he only made choices that he could live with, “Okay. I’ll call and set up a time for us to look at it this week.” She had more phone calls to make. Calls to the Darlings, to her banker, to her sister...but right now, she was just looking forward to the rest of the evening with Oliver. He had gone to the trouble to make them dinner and securing a babysitter for the night so that they could be alone. It was all she needed tonight, and she would refocus her mind so that the rest of it fell to importance at another time. “All of that aside, I am really, really looking forward to having the rest of tonight be just about us because you, my love, have gone above and beyond with date night and I appreciate it so very much.” She grinned, and offered, “Should I walk out and walk back in again? Or maybe I should just start with…” she kissed him once more, lingering there for a few languid seconds, “Hi, again.” Oliver was happy to be distracted by another kiss from Finnley. He gave into it with little resistance, though the few seconds it lingered were far too short, in his opinion. He chuckled, his lips still brushing against hers as he said, “You could leave and come back and I think you’d still come charging in here with things to talk about.” He kissed her again. “It’s one of the many, many, many things I love about you, Finnley.” And again. “Is there anything else you’re dying to tell me before I take my turn?” And one more for good measure. He wasn’t wrong. Finnley was a talker by nature. It was something of a miracle that she had chosen a profession in which she had to be more of a listener, but she liked helping people resolve their problems. As much as she babbled, though, Oliver knew ways to quiet her mind. With every kiss her thoughts had only scattered more, that bubbly and happy and light feeling settling into her chest when he assured her that he loved her loquaciousness. He was steady. He was her rock when things felt shaken, and the tether that kept her grounded. He was the person who had shown her what it was to live a normal life. He had given her new purpose. She could have confessed any of these things, but instead, she shook her head and kept her lips close to his, “No. I think you’ve more than earned your turn.” Oliver was quite the opposite. He was a friendly guy who’d always been pretty popular in social settings, but he wasn’t necessarily a talker. He was always very active, a more physical person than chatty. He was pretty sure it was something he and his brother had inherited from their father. It was the ability to say what needed to be said in just a few words. He could remember talking to his father even now, after he’d been gone from them for so long, and he remembered the man’s gift for putting an entire world of thoughts, and feeling, and opinions into just a few short sentences. There was a large part of Oliver that hated that his father couldn’t be here to guide him in this new step in his life, but the rest of him knew that his father was there because he was nothing if not his father’s son. “Are you sure?” he asked, his voice going quieter as his arms slipped back around Finnley, pulling her closer to him. He wait for a moment, both to give Finnley the chance to bring up anything else that was on her mind and to give himself a second to take a breath before he stepped forward into the whole reason he’d wanted tonight with just her. He took a deep breath, his eyes going up to the ceiling on the inhale, and back to her with a simultaneously nervous and happy smile on the exhale. “I love your words, you know. You have ten for every one of mine and I love every single one of them. I love the way you became a solid constant in my life before I ever met you and how you’ve stayed constant every day since I did. I love that you think pickles on baked potatoes is gourmet, and that you couldn’t make edible pasta to save your life. I love the relationship you have with your sister because it’s so obvious what family means to you, and the way you let family extend to include mine. I love the way you fearlessly stepped into a role that has never before been filled for my son, even though you didn’t have to and many women wouldn’t want to. I love that my dreams are your dreams, and your dreams are my dreams, in every sense of the word.” He exhaled again, wondering if maybe he did have more words in him than he’d thought. He thought, perhaps, that he was filled with a lot of things he hadn’t thought possible thanks to the woman in front of him. Oliver’s pressed lips couldn’t contain the smile that wanted to burst through, so he let it come. His heart pounded rapidly in his chest as he pulled away from Finnley, so that he could shift them enough that he could reach into his pocket and get down on one knee in the process. “You should know that this next part is the only part standing between you and a pretty damn delicious dinner,” he laughed, the joke coming more from his own nerves than any real need to make a joke about the situation. “So I’ll keep it short. I want to spend more days than I can possibly count finding new reasons to love you, and reasons why I love you. I want the family I could have with you. I want the future I see with you. If you want those things, too, then I just need you to answer one thing. Will you marry me?” And with that, he took Finnley’s hand in one of his and pulled his mother’s ring from his pocket. She had been pretty sure that there would be more kisses that followed. She expected them to have their dinner, and probably curl up together, maybe to watch a movie or just to be tangled up in each other’s presence. He surprised her when he started to talk, and she wondered if he somehow knew that she had been thinking of what he meant to her. He was not usually one to speak so many of his thoughts into life, giving them new meaning with his breath and weight with his emotion. She smiled at first, even laughing as he mentioned her sometimes questionable palate and inability to cook. But the more that he talked, the more her heart seemed to swell in her chest. She would have told him that she was only doing right by Jonas in the best way that she knew how, and that she’d grown to love him, too. Instead, she quieted herself, because she had told him it was his turn to talk and he had taken it to heart, it seemed. That feeling that her chest was too tight to contain the size of her heart only worsened when he dropped to one knee in front of her. A small laugh bubbled past her lips at his joke, an almost ethereal happiness coursing through her veins. She loved this man. It was a fierce kind of love that she had never experienced before. It was the kind of love that made her want to be better than she was. She had never mattered to anyone in the way that she mattered to Oliver. Her family was distant and placed value in how self-sufficient you could be. He had taken all of the pieces of herself that she thought were unlovable and showed her that what she could be loved for was all in a matter of perspective. Even as she clung to his words in the present, she remembered a dream from not so very long ago where a proposal not unlike this one had gone smoothly, but the aftermath had gone awry. The probability of gunmen entering her house and permanently paralyzing her was negligible, but she remembered. It might have scared her if they had enemies, but they didn’t in this life. There was no psycho called Darhk out to get them. Beyond any fear, what she remembered even more clearly was Oliver sitting at her bedside in that hospital, holding that ring as he put it back on her finger and promised her for better or for worse. Through everything, he would be by her side. There was no fear that would ever stop her from taking this leap. This life - this moment - was theirs. It belonged to no one else. The smile had never left Finnley’s lips and she was nodding before she could get the word past her throat, “Yes. Yes!” For that moment, it was the only word she knew. “Yes?” Oliver repeated, rolling the word around in his mouth as though making sure it was the right word, the one he’d been hoping to hear. “Yes,” he said, confirming it, putting life into the fact that, as of this moment, they were completely, without a doubt, making the conscious decision to invest in them, in what was becoming their family. Oliver slipped the ring on her finger and then, with surprising dexterity, he was on his feet, his arms circling around Finnley as he pulled her to him and kissed her as though it were the first time. He supposed, in a way, it was a first for them. Their first kiss as an engaged couple. The first kiss of the next chapter in their lives. He lifted her closer, her feet just barely coming off the ground as he spun her around. “Yes,” he said again, his smile threatening to stretch out past his ears as he kissed her again. It seemed that, for the moment, yes was the only word he knew, too. |