Never Take Food From Strangers 1/1
Title: Never Take Food From Strangers 1/1
Rating: PG-13
Summary: “When the guy at the coffee shop flirts with you I can laugh it off, but it’s a totally different story when it’s Bruce Wayne. He’s actual competition.”
Notes: Alright, I want to say ahead of time this DOES NOT HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH 'THE ORIGIN OF UNCLE BRUCEY' You know from the 'Lover Over Time' universe. That being said you are probably wondering why it sounds exactly like it. I blame it on slytherinpunk. We made a deal, she finishes her fic and I write a fic of her choosing. Needless to say she gave me a rather detailed summary and this is the result. Even so, it was fun to write. Of course your probably wondering if I can write this why the hell haven't I finished The Origin of Uncle Brucey. Trust me...that one is going to be much longer. Oh...and here is a link to the dress...as usual.
“So Chloe...”
Oliver turned his head to the side from watching the bartender at the familiar voice and the even more familiar name. He resisted the urge to narrow his eyes and instead lifted his drink from the bar and turned his back to it. Propping his elbows behind him on the polished wood he turned to the man he called friend, sometimes business associate, sometimes business rival, and fellow masked vigilante. At the moment he was something else... He was a bachelor... competition... A single man with appreciative eyes and a contemplative look on his face that Oliver did not like. “What about her?”
“You said you work with her?”
This time he did narrow his eyes. The words... The question... They weren’t suggestive. But the tone behind it... The look on Bruce Wayne’s face... That was. “Yes.”
“That’s it?” Bruce asked as the blond in question came into better view as she walked across the marble floor, weaving her way through random couples and crowds, a pleasant smile on her face. He let his eyes travel from her blond wavy hair to the generous amount of cleavage, down to her small waist and generous hips, and even lower to the material of her dress swishing around her legs, revealing the slit of the dress parting up her white thigh and then down to the stiletto heals that gave her a few extra inches, but did nothing to hide how petite her form really was. As someone walked in front of her, he tore his eyes from her body and turned to Oliver, who had yet to answer his question. “Well?”
Oliver tongued the inside of his cheek, trying to hide his annoyance and force himself to lie. “Yes.”
“Perfect,” Bruce said with a satisfied grin and focused again on the women that had drawn his attention from the moment she had walked in on Oliver’s arm.
Resisting the urge to growl, Oliver pulled his cell phone from his pocket and began typing furiously into it, not the least bit concerned if it was rude or if Bruce thought his behavior strange. Mid text he turned to Bruce, just to see if he did suspect something of Oliver’s behavior, but his eyes were focused on something across the room. Following Bruce’s line of sight he spotted Chloe, drawn into conversation with a couple that Oliver recognized as associates from Metropolis. Relieved that she had gotten sidetracked he turned back to his phone.
Minutes later she joined them, Bruce the first to step away from the bar to greet her, annoying Oliver even more. If it wasn’t for him sending that text...
“I hope I didn’t miss anything,” Chloe said with a small grin as she joined the two men.
“Not at all. Oliver here was just entertaining me with his one worded conversation. It’s remarkable that he graduated from the same prestigious school that I did, he can barely form a sentence.”
Chloe glanced at Oliver with a smirk. “I’ve never known Oliver to be at a loss for words.”
“He is rather opinionated isn’t he?” Bruce added and turned to the subject of conversation who didn’t seem to be taking kindly to being the butt of the joke.
“Pot, kettle,” Oliver said with a frown, refusing to be goaded by Bruce and instead focused on the inevitable phone call.
“Let me get you something to drink,” Bruce said and stepped away from the bar, sliding a hand to her back and guiding her forward.
Chloe smiled her thank you, resisting the urge to stiffen as his thumb suddenly glided over the bare skin of her back.
It wasn’t until Oliver noticed Bruce step behind her, placing one hand on the bar, separating Chloe from Oliver with his arm, did Oliver turn his head, slowly. Her face wasn’t turned to him, at the moment Bruce had his head lowered on the other side of her head, whispering something in her ear. But he could see her eyes turn up towards him, the way she bit her lip almost nervously.
Chloe accepted the glass of wine graciously from the bartender and turned away from the bar, regretting her decision as she did so. Because now the lack of distance between her and Bruce was all to obvious. It didn’t take a genius to know what his body language meant. As she carried on polite conversation, keeping Oliver in sight from the corner of her eye, she kept her back pressed against the bar. As her phone vibrated in her clutch she breathed a sigh of relief. “Oh excuse me.” Drawing it from her clutch she mentally thanked god for the diversion. Any woman would have been thrilled for the attention of Bruce Wayne, bachelor billionaire with looks and charm to sweep any woman, married or single, off their feet. The problem was those woman weren’t in a relationship with Oliver Queen, the only other man that she knew that could rival Bruce Wayne in the lifestyle of a bachelor, money, looks and charm. Not even Bruce’s night-time excursions as Gotham’s masked vigilante hero could have drawn Chloe from Oliver. After all, she was quite satisfied with her own green leather clad hero. “I’m sorry Bruce. I’ve got to take this; work never stops. I’m sure you understand.”
“Of course.” He smiled and stepped away from her, allowing her make her exit. “I’m free all night.”
Rolling his eyes at the dark haired man’s comment Oliver felt his spirits rise slightly as he watched Chloe leave. As much as he hated to see her go, in this case he was relieved. Plus, the added benefit of seeing how well her dress highlighted other attributes. Chloe may have been short, but he’d be the last person to complain about the soft, sloping curves of her body. It was nice being able to grasp a handful from the front or the back.
“Do you know how much I like black?” Bruce asked thoughtfully.
“No,” Oliver said sarcastically with a roll of his eyes, “I had no idea. You?”
“Well I suppose it is my color,” he said with a shrug.
“Your color?” Oliver turned to Bruce, Chloe finally disappearing into the crowd much to Oliver’s relief. “Seriously? You don’t own the color.” Even so, he couldn’t help but be slightly pleased that he’d seen Chloe slip into a green lingerie as she got dressed. “Though I must admit, you brood well enough, so a darker color does suit you.”
“Says the man prone to going off on drunken binges.” Turning around Bruce turned to the bar and signaled for the bartender.
“How is the reconstruction of the manor coming Bruce?” Oliver bit out. When the other man turned to him with sharp eyes he grinned. “If you’ll excuse me.”
Finally away from Bruce he went in search of Chloe. The tension had slowly eased as he put some distance between him and the other man and by the time he found her, standing just outside the doorway of the grand ballroom, typing into her phone, he relaxed.
“Hey.”
Chloe turned her face up at the familiar voice and smiled. “Hey you.”
“Done?” He asked and was already taking the phone from her hand and slipping it into his jacket pocket.
“Yeah. AC needed me to send him that intel for tomorrow's job. Said he wanted to look over it. When did he become the honor student?”
“Maybe he has a crush on his professor.” He grinned and wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her against him, thanking AC silently for following the instructions in his text. “We should get out of here,” he said softly, lowering his face, lips drawn to her own.
“We can’t,” Chloe said firmly, regardless of how much she wanted to escape to their hotel room. “Mingle remember? You just joined into a pretty unpopular business venture with Wayne Enterprises. You were the one that said you were here to smooth things over.”
“It’s for the good of both companies.” But she knew that, he didn’t have to convince her of that. Instead she just looked up at him, wide eyed, with that pleading knowing look that always made him cave. “All right,” he sighed. He moved his arm away from her, but then stopped it before his hand slipped away, grasping her hip. “Speaking of people having crushes on you, Professor.” She sighed. “Well?”
“Oliver, come on. I can’t help it.”
He wanted to tell her she could. If she hadn’t worn that damn dress she could have helped it, but then that would have made it her fault, and he knew without a doubt she would not have taken kindly to his opinion on the subject. “Which is why I would much rather leave.”
“Ollie,” she said gently, sliding a hand up his chest, up the smooth line of his neck and over his cheek. “You aren’t usually the jealous type.”
“You’re right, I’m not.” Because he had more than enough going for him to know, regardless of how egotistical it was of him, that the rest of the male population didn’t usually have a chance against him. “When the guy at the coffee shop flirts with you I can laugh it off, but it’s a totally different story when it’s Bruce Wayne. He’s actual competition.”
“Not to me,” she said softly with a gently shake of her head, her brow drawn in concern.
Oliver sighed and turned his head slightly to press a kiss to her palm. “I’m sorry. I’m being silly.” Taking the hand against his cheek in his own he stepped away. Forcing a smile on his face, even if he was still slightly bothered by the other man, he gently tugged on her hand. “Come on, what’s a dance between two people who work together?”
Regardless of the fact that she knew he wasn’t totally over it, she smiled. “I thought you would never ask.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bruce tapped his glass thoughtfully as he spotted the woman that had commanded most of his attention that night. He could multi-task rather well. Which meant that it was no trouble for him to work the crowd over and still remain observant to his most recent interest. Of course, unlike most woman, she had a rather large roadblock. Initially, Bruce had been sure when Chloe had walked in on Oliver’s arm that they were an item. First of all, he had taken her as a date, second, there was no possible way for two people like that work together and not build some kind of attraction. So when Oliver had denied it, Bruce had been rather shocked, although doubtful. But his flirting yielded no real results from Oliver. Still, as she had excused herself, he hadn’t been convinced.
With a grin in place, he placed his cup on the bar and made his way over to her.
“Lose your date?”
Chloe turned at Bruce’s voice, her breath hitching slightly, but a welcome smile in place regardless. “No, more like was commandeered by a couple of Luthorcorp share holders that felt they had business to discuss.”
Bruce shrugged. “He’s too accommodating. Most of the time I tell them to go to hell. Of course much more kindly though.”
Chloe smirked in response. “I had heard that about you.”
“Really?” he asked, his interest piquing. Leaning in just slightly, he grinned. “I hope some of what you've heard is at least pleasant?”
Their proximity made her nervous, but not as much as the predatory look in his eye. Very little made her nervous, but she could easily recall how nervous she was the first time Oliver used his charms and sex appeal against her, disarming her within seconds. That had made her nervous. Bruce Wayne had the same kind of assets and the same confidence. Neither one of them were shy about using them. The fact of the matter was while very little made Chloe nervous, men trying to charm her out of her clothes did. Of course there was also the fact that Oliver would look over at any moment.
“Oliver has had a lot of good things to say about you.” There, she did it. She thew the hint out, just as she bit her lip and glanced at Oliver across the room.
He cocked an eyebrow at her, smirking slightly. Movement out of the corner of his eye drew his attention and then he pulled away as the waiter held out a tray.
“Shrimp Pâté?”
“Please,” Bruce said and motioned for Chloe. “You really should try it. It’s very good. I insist.” She rolled her eyes, grinning again, the look of nervousness gone from her features. As she took the shrimp and lifted it to her mouth he shook his head. “Oh no, it isn’t complete without the sauce.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Twenty minutes later, after finally escaping a group of boring men with one foot in the grave he went in search of Chloe, only to find her cornered again by Bruce Wayne. This time laughing. There was nothing uncomfortable, shy, or nervous about it. She was full out laughing, enjoying whatever Bruce said. Screw making nice, he was leaving...with Chloe. Making his way through the crowd, determined to ignore anyone who tried to get his attention, he came to stand by her side.
“Ollie! I was wondering when you would get away. You looked so bored. Bruce was about to come rescue you.”
Oliver turned his eyes to the other man and smiled. “I’m sure he was.” Regardless of how pleasant he tried to appear for Chloe’s sake, Bruce must have caught the warning because he only smirked and leaned against the bar. “Ready to get out of here Chloe, we have an early flight tomorrow.”
“Sure,” she said and placed her glass on the bar. “It was nice to meet you Bruce.”
He stepped forward, wrapping and arm around her waist and pressing a kiss to her cheek before pulling away. “A pleasure.” Turning his eyes to Oliver, who was already pressing a hand to Chloe’s back, he nodded. “Sure you don’t want to stick around a while?”
“We really should get going.”
Taking a sip of his drink, Bruce shrugged and shook his glass gently, glancing down at it with a noncommittal look on his face. “Not sure what’s the rush...your girlfriend just ate shrimp pâté with peanut sauce.” When he glanced back up all facade were gone, instead replaced by a growing anger on Oliver’s face and one of shock on Chloe’s. “Sorry Chloe, nothing against you.” He turned to Oliver and shook his head. “But really Oliver, what were you thinking? You don’t bring your girlfriend out, especially one as attractive as yours, and lead people to believe she’s single.”
Just as Oliver opened his mouth to respond Chloe stepped forward cutting off his retort.
With narrowed eyes she pressed a finger into Bruce’s chest. “I’m pretty dangerous with free time on my hands Mr. Wayne. And since I’ll have a lot of it tonight I suggest you update the firewall system for a certain suspicious cave located underneath the manor.” With that she spun on her heels and walked away.
He narrowed his eyes, brow furrowing in confusion and then turned to Oliver, his face hardening slightly as the other side of him came out. “How does she know about that?”
For the first time since he’d seen Bruce that night Oliver offered him an honest smile. “I told you we worked together, I just didn’t tell you it wasn’t at Luthorcorp. She may be small, but she’s dangerous. You may want to do as she suggests.” With that he turned away and followed after her. It wasn’t until she reached the steps outside did he catch up with her. “You really aren’t going to do that are you?” he asked as she descended the steps, a firm look on her face, eyes narrowed and determined. “Chloe...” he warned.
“No,” she said reluctantly, “but I still might give him a little scare.”
He sighed, resigned to letting her get her little revenge. “As long as you don’t spend too much time on it. I’d rather you spend that time with your toothbrush and toothpaste. Maybe a bottle of mouthwash too. Do we have an epi pen?”
Stopping at the limo, the door already opened by the driver, she turned to him. “I am, and yes we do have one, although I’d rather not use it.” She turned to climb into the limo and then stopped, turning back to him with a smirk on her face. “Besides Mr. Queen...you don’t need your mouth for everything.”