Nothing But Thieves {Fransykes}

5: Oliver

Oliver stares at the wall, hating himself for his own actions.

He met the most gorgeous man, he slept with him, and then he tossed him away like garbage. How could he do that to someone? He knows how that feels, and it sure as shit isn't fun. Oliver just hopes that he hasn't hurt Josh too badly with his own stupid actions.

There's some kind of war going on in his head, a battle between what is safe and what is right. It's safer to force himself to forget Josh, to never think about him again, but Oli doesn't think he can do that. Being with Josh had felt right, the first time he had opened up to someone in a long time. How can he just forget about all of that? He doesn't think that he can.

Fear. Fear was what had driven Oliver to make Josh leave. Fear of Josh finding out who Oliver was, what he did that night, and rejecting him because of it. So Oliver rejected him first, hurting Josh before Josh could hurt him.

"I'm such an asshole." He mutters, wishing that it isn't true. But it is true, he hurt Josh and that's on him.

Oliver has to make it up to him, he just has to, but how can he? He doesn't know Josh's phone number, or his last name, or anything at all beyond his first name and cuteness.

Oliver punches the wall and bites his lip to hold in a cry of pain. That's definitely going to leave bruise, but he can't seem to bring himself to care at all.

He screwed up, and he has no idea how to fix it. How can he even find Josh? Then it occurs to him that he is being stupid again, again because the way he treated Josh in the morning was stupid. Defensive, stupid, self-destructive. That's Oliver, at least according to his old therapist.

This current stupidity is because there is a way for him to find Josh. Oliver picks up the phone and calls the art exhibition. Maybe it's reckless to call up the place that he robbed the night before, but all that Oliver can think about is making it up to Josh. The least that he can do is apologize.

"Hi there, I was hoping to speak to one of your employees." Oliver puts on an American accent, more for the fun of it than because it matters.

"Certainly, if they're here. Who would you like to speak to?"

"Josh."

"I'm sorry sir, but we have no one employed here by that name."

"Are you sure? I met him last night and I could swear that was his name." Oliver is starting to get confused, because he knows for a fact that the man he slept with is named Josh. Oliver moaned it enough times the night before.

"We had some temporary workers in here just for the night last night, I believe one of them was named Josh. But I can't give out any personal information beyond that."

Oliver sighs and rubs his forehead in frustration, "That's alright, thank you so much for your help." He hangs up the phone.

Part of him wants to go back there, to go through their computer files and find Josh's number. He manages to talk himself out of it, because he could easily get caught returning to the scene of the crime. Even if he isn't caught, Josh would just be creeped out that Oli somehow found his number.

Oliver needs a distraction, and he needs it desperately. He needs to steal something. That's what he does when he has no idea what to do; he finds something to steal.

He scrolls through his contacts, selecting one and pressing the call button.

"Calling back so soon? You usually like to take a few days between jobs."

"Shut up, Jordan." Oliver grumbles, "I need a distraction, you got a job for me?" Jordan is the one who helps him to find jobs that meet his criteria, and they've known one another for years.