Of Kings and Queens

17/Humiliation/

•October, 4th, 3:30pm•

"The other night, you wouldn't believe the dream I just had about you and me,
I called you up but we'd both agree;
It's for the best you didn't listen.
It's for the best we get our distance."

Oliver woke up to a sharp pain digging into his ribs. He was relieved only slightly as it shifted and then he only felt a light pressure on his side. His head was thumping in his skull and he took a few minutes to gather himself before he understood where he was. The obvious hangover made his brain feel like a rusty cupboard full of cobwebs and a dull ache in his temples was annoying him.

He opened his eyes to a grey fluffy material. A cramp in his neck restricted his movement and he wasn't bothered to try and get up just yet. He swore to never trust his cousins again and settled back down into the warmth of grey cashmere, unaware of the ramifications.

Not long after he closed his eyes again, a muffled hum beside his ear caught his attention.

Suddenly he realised where he was.

It was like a cheesy movie montage in his head of all the things that happened the night before and he identified the material he was lying on the jumper of his roommate. He was lying on top of Robin, and that was her arm, digging into his ribs. That was her knee between his legs.

His hangover seemed to edge away from him as his adrenaline kicked in, blood started pounding through his ears. He worried over what he might have said to her in his debauched state. He was just about to get off her and leave while she was still asleep to avoid any awkwardness, when she stirred. He groaned and his temples. He muttered to himself resolutely, "I'm royally fucked when Peregrine finds out."

Robin's eyes opened and her brows furrowed in confusion. "Oliver?" Then realisation dawned on her face. "Fuck."

•••

20 minutes later Robin sat with exactly seven inches between her and Oliver. All that had been said was a chorus of 'Sorry's and 'Ouch's as they tried to manoeuvre their way from each other. There was many gangly elbows and uncomfortable pieces of the anatomy pressed together but finally they untangled their limbs and separated.

"So.." Robin started after an uncomfortably long silence.

"Yeah?" He replied. His voice sounded much lighter now than she had ever heard it. It was like he had taken off a layer of cynicism off of his personality.

"Where'd you get the booze?"

"Booze?"

"American word, for alcohol." She explained.

He had the decency to look ashamed.

"My cousins were having a party. And—" Oliver scratched the back of his neck lamely, "—Me, being the responsible teenager that I am, decided to go and somehow, they 'lost' me in the crowd." He said with an uneasy grin and quotations marks around the word lost. Losing him obviously hadn't been an accident, Robin took away from his statement.

A few more seconds of silence hung in the air.

"I'm sorry I slept on you like a rug." Oliver said to her, turning his head to look at her face. I'm sorry I enjoyed it, goes unsaid.

"I'm sorry too. I promise I won't tell anyone about the man-made-of-stone's one moment of weakness. Or his secret love of cuddling." She grinned at him. I'm sorry I loved the cuddling too, goes unsaid.

He smiled back. And it wasn't a small apologetic smile, it was a real one, as if he actually thought she was funny. He smiled with his whole face despite his now raging headache.

"I know I don't have any right to say this but you can't just go out and get plastered like that again. No offense, but you were a hot mess last night."

"You're right. You don't have any ground to say that." At first she thought he'd be angry and throw something like her dad would, but he didn't, "-But I'll promise in return that I'll try not to cause too much of a racket next time I try to drown my sorrows." He tried to say it jokingly but it ended on a much more serious note than he intended.

Oliver reached out his fist to her, with his fifth finger out. "Pinky promise?" The sincerity in his eyes made him look so young, that he could've passed as his age in that moment. She looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Okay fine." Robin grabbed his finger with hers and twisted it. He yelped.

"Hey! What are you tryna' do? Break my precious finger?" He tried to joke in an indignant voice but his voice cracked half way through his sentence.

"Maybe." She smirked at him. Oliver rubbed his temples, "Ugh. I can't handle people like you this early." He groaned when he hit as especially painful part of his forehead.

"Here, I'll get you some water." A minute later Robin was filling a pint of water in the small kitchenette. "I feel like I'm dying, Robin!" He complained melodramatically from his seat on the sofa across the room.

"Shut up, you big baby."

She turned on her heel to give Oliver his glass of water when there was a quick rapid knock on the door. "Yours?" She questioned, cocking her head to him.

He shook his head.

"It's Bill!" A voice called from the other side of the door.

A smile graced her face at the sight of him and he enveloped her in a bear hug. "Woah! Careful! I have liquid in my hand!" She exclaimed at the sudden embrace, yet she still returned it with one arm.

Bill pulled away from her and looked down at her grinning. "Are you really that thirsty?" She laughed and shook her head. She replied, "No, it's for Oliver. He um—"

"Oliver Roscoe?" Bill said in shock. Then Robin felt a presence behind her.

She sighed, "Yep. That's him, alright."

"William."

"Oliver." Both recited each other's names as if it was off a cereal box. Of their most hated cereal box, maybe.

"It's a pleasure to meet you again." She turned her head to look at Oliver because he sounded odd —even for him— but he was standing so close to her that if she stood on her toes, her head would hit his chin.

"Why are you guys acting so weird?" Innocent little Robin interrupted their staring match with a simple question. They looked at her, "Nothing. Family stuff," Bill replied first.

If only she had understood what it really meant, she would've saved herself a lot of trouble.

"So why are you really here, Bill?" She desperately tried to end the reunion of what looked like bad blood quickly. "I came to see if you wanted to go for a walk through the orchards before lunch classes started." He asked her the question but his eyes flickered back to Oliver's as he said it.

"Sure. Let me go grab a coat, it's kinda cold outside." He grinned at her as she pushed last Oliver to get to her room. When she came out a minute later Oliver was gone and she assumed he was in his room.

"Ready to go?"

"Yeah." He took her hand and led her out of the room, closing the door behind them.