AN: New story! Sorry that I haven't updated any of my old stories. They're probably not going to be updated. This story is a one-shot from an OC point of view. Probably will only be this one chapter, unless I can be convinced otherwise and get further inspiration. I can see this being continued.
Oliver was completely out of his element. Night clubs were definitely not his idea of a good time, especially when they were so loud and dimly lit. His best friend of 15 years had dragged him along after he finally caved in after weeks of begging.
"You need to get out more," she had told him. "Meet some people. Meet some guys." She gave him that suggestive, raised eyebrow smirk.
He shot her a sarcastic glare in return. "Jess, I don't need to go out clubbing to meet guys. Guys that go out clubbing aren't my type of guys."
Jessica flipped her long hair and pouted. "Why not?"
"I don't really like people who go out clubbing. It's not my thing." That earned him a playful swat.
"Hey, I go out clubbing. Are you saying you don't like me?"
Ollie chuckled. "You are the only exception, you know that."
She grinned. "You never know. The next exception could be just around the corner." There was a pause. "Come on! You don't really think you're going to meet someone on one of those online forums, do you?"
"No," he said, offended. He hesitated. "Maybe… You don't know."
"Come on," Jess repeated, rolling her eyes. "Get into the real world. With the real people."
"People online are no less real than you or me."
"You know what I mean," she continued, sounding rather whiney. "They only show you want they want you to see."
"How is that any different from anyone else you meet?" Ollie shot back.
"Why must you be so difficult!" She screamed.
Ollie sighed. "If I say yes, will you stop nagging me?"
Jess thought for a moment. "I'll stop nagging you about going out clubbing."
"Good enough."
And so now he was in a loud, crowded room with inadequate lighting, barely enough places to sit and to top it off, Jess had run off on him. Fortunately, he'd managed to find a relatively quiet corner that had semi-decent lighting. He had pulled out his pocket sketch book and was doodling. He drew a small cartoon of the bartender wearing earplugs so he couldn't hear his customers whining about getting the wrong thing. He drew the now invisible Jess with shorter hair, wearing pants and a baseball cap.
In all honesty, Jess would be his perfect girl. Unfortunately, he wasn't really into girls so much. He often wondered if things would be different if he was into girls, or whether he would be a completely different person because of that. He also wondered what would happen if Jess had been a guy, but that train of thought was somewhat disturbing.
It was probably because of Jess that he had never really been with anyone. Not that it was her fault; he wasn't blaming her at all. It was just hard for him to notice anyone else when she was around. He was in love with her, despite the lack of physical attraction. It was infuriating that he couldn't be the person she needed, couldn't be the person he needed to be for her.
He was jerked back to reality as someone brushed past him. He shook his head and glanced around the room. A young guy with tussled hair caught his attention. He was dressed reasonably casually and wore it with a huge amount of confidence. He looked very comfortable in his place and moved with such ease. As he moved, Ollie noticed a bit of a bulge in his back pocket. He wondered what it was. Too large for a wallet.
Oliver continued to watch, unable to draw his eyes away. The young man seemed to chose another guy at random and pulled him out to dance with him. If you could call what they were doing dancing. Oliver's eyes widened and his heart rate increased. He felt a hot, sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. Desire. He hadn't felt something this raw in a long time.
He looked on as the confident man pulled the other one off to one side and out of Ollie's range of sight. He felt a pull to follow them but denied it. He was already strange enough without having to add stalker to the list. He couldn't stop thinking about that guy though. After a few moments he began to draw the man, while the memory was still fresh.
Initially he drew him as he was, in the casual outfit. He drew a few rough sketches in different poses, a few of just his face. He knew he'd crossed the line into obsessive when he caught himself drawing the boy as a pseudo-superhero. He sighed, looking up to see if Jess was around. He had had his fill of this place and wanted to leave.
He had not expected to be staring up into smiling hazel eyes. Ollie froze, staring at the man he had been watching the whole night as he stared back. The other boy broke the gaze first, looking down. "Is that me?"
Ollie looked down and covered the cartoon doodle, embarrassed. "I'm sorry," he stammered. "I didn't mean to…"
"It looks really cool." He moved Ollie's hand away, which caused an involuntary shudder to go through him. "Wow."
Ollie jerked away and slammed the book shut. "It's stupid," he muttered, eyes fixed on the ground.
"Gonna have to disagree with you on that one," the other boy replied. "Looks pretty awesome from where I'm sitting." He raised an eyebrow. Ollie didn't move. "Will you draw me a copy?"
Ollie looked up. "What?"
"I want one. I don't have many drawings of me as a superhero."
"It's not you," Oliver said, flat and unconvincing.
"Well, humour me then," the other replied, flashing a smile. Another shiver went through him. He felt the warmness that had sat in the pit of his stomach rise up to his throat. He nodded.
Ollie quickly doodled another picture of the boy as a superhero. It wasn't as good, the lines were shaky and imprecise. It didn't help that the boy continued to watch him as he drew it, making Ollie's cheeks turn red. He finished quickly and tore the page out, thrusting it towards the other guy.
The boy smiled as he examined the drawing. He set it on the table and pushed it back. "Would you sign it for me?"
Ollie blinked a few times before nodding. He scrawled his name on the paper and shoved it back. "There."
The other boy looked at it. "Awesome. Thank you, Oliver." He folded up the paper and put it in his pocket. He stood and pulled out a baseball cap from his back pocket, shoving it on his head backwards. "Well, I'm gonna shoot off now. Catch ya later."
Ollie hesitated. "Wait! What's your name?"
The boy smiled back over his shoulder. "Call me Jasper."
Few side notes, in case you were wondering. Jasper is indeed T.J. He's using Jasper as an alias, almost like another identity. But the rest should be pretty obvious. Thanks for reading! Harass me in the reviews.
