[attr="class","littleollie"] '"...You can go on ahead, Annie. Let's connect again tomorrow and follow-up on today's meeting."

[break][break] The low and deep voice of GIDEON GRAVES is unmistakable. Ollie looks up immediately at the sight of his friend (were they friends?) standing a little out of the way with a woman, murmuring something to her. Green eyes follow Marianne Lovelace as she scurries off. She was cute.

[break][break] As the Museum Director approached, Ollie stood up, brushing the dirt off his knees and also coincidentally leaving the picked-apart petals onto the floor as well.

[break][break] 'Ollie.'

[break][break] Ollie did know better. He winced at the serious, perhaps dehatched nature of the other man's words. But just like he did everything else, Ollie brushed it off. He pretended to be blasé about it, lips quirked into his normally charming smile as he regarded Gideon. As if nothing was ever wrong in the first place.

[break][break] "Course I am!" His eyes glanced back towards the direction that the girl had disappeared to. He joked, "Sorry - did I catch you on a date or somethin', Gids?"

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] GIDEON GRAVES [break]
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[attr="class","littleollie"] The fishing hook didn't bite. Ollie should've known better. GIDEON GRAVES was too smart to be goaded into childish teasing like that. Still, he'd wanted to try.

[break][break] A small, tiny part of him wondered why. Would he have cared if the answer had been yes?

[break][break] Shaking the thoughts away, Ollie followed the professor into the museum. The last time he'd been somewhere similar was when he was with Yuina Higashi, but this seemed like a very different instance than that. His throat bobbed nervously, glancing around at the various employees that seemed to not even cast them a second glance. They were all very studious, very busy.

[break][break] The Head Ranger blinked with surprise and a little bit awe as the employees parted like the red sea for Gideon towards the elevator. Suddenly, Ollie felt sort of small in comparison. He was usually used to being the confident one in their relationship. The more self-assured one. After all, that was generally how Ollie had carried himself all the time — but the recent events at the League Party had been a dip in his confidence, which had slowly eroded over time with each message he sent to GIDEON GRAVES that had been left ignored.

[break][break] Ollie wasn't really used to being ignored, especially not from Gideon of all people.

[break][break] The elevator was dreadfully silent. Green eyes flickered towards his friend, casting a glance at his stoic expression. The sharp line of his jaw, the handsome cut of his face...

[break][break] Suddenly the doors opened, and Ollie blinked, walking through them.

[break][break] The office that greeted him was impressive too. It occurred to him that he'd never met Gideon here. Not in this space, not in his office. Usually it was at the entrance or the garden. Outside. Places he felt most comfortable. Now, he felt like a cat cornered in a cage.

[break][break] "I..."

[break][break] He swallowed, licking his lips.

[break][break] "I wanted to apologize," he said, blurting it out. Best to be out with it first. Honesty and integrity was his bread and butter, after all. "For that night. At the League Party."

[break][break] A hand reached behind his neck, sheepish, as his cheeks burned.

[break][break] "I was really stupid. And you didn't deserve that, not at all Gids."

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] GIDEON GRAVES [break]
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[attr="class","littleollie"] "You're right, I didn't."

[break][break] Ollie winced. The harsh tone of GIDEON GRAVES's voice was unmistakable, rough like sandpaper. And not in the hot way either — okay, maybe a little in the hot way. But mostly in the way that made Ollie's gut twist with misery, knowing that this was going to be a lot harder than expected.

[break][break] "I-I don't know! I was... I was drunk, okay?" The Head Ranger was a lot less eloquent in a response, frustrated, as he ran a hand through his hair. Ollie was was normally charming, good with his words. But it was obvious from the way that he behaved now that the mask had fallen — at least a little bit — and he was betraying his own emotions to reveal a little bit of that frustration in front of Gideon.

[break][break] He was embarrassed, more than anything, for how he'd acted.

[break][break] "That's no excuse, though."

[break][break] Ollie sighed again, turning his head back to his friend. Green eyes gleamed bright with apology as he strode across the room, closer to Gideon now.

[break][break] A hand reached out, gently, to touch his wrist.

[break][break] "C'mon, Gids. I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. Let me make it up to you?"

[break]

[attr="class","ooc"] GIDEON GRAVES [break]
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[attr="class","littleollie"] Oh. Oh.

[break][break] He hadn't really thought this far, had he?

[break][break] Ollie had assumed that he would come over, get to see GIDEON GRAVES in the flesh, and bumble his way through an apology like he always did, and be forgiven. Woe be him to find out that this was not actually the case — that the esteemed professor that was GIDEON GRAVES was actually more rock solid than he initially came off.

[break][break] Maybe he should've been a geologist.

[break][break] A light flush crossed Ollie's cheeks as he realized this, and his head inclined, fingers wrapping gently around the other's wrist to pull him closer.

[break][break] "Anything," he blurts. "Anything you want. What would it take for you to forgive me, Gids?"

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] GIDEON GRAVES [break]
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[attr="class","littleollie"] Ollie was far from perfect. In his life, he had done plenty of foolish things. His childhood was practically one littered with mistakes — waking up late and forgetting to do his morning chores, accidentally eating the last slice of pie that had been meant for Eva Morales, falling asleep in the middle of class and not listening to a lecture. He was not perfect and didn't feel like he should be — yet, that didn't mean he was incapable of feeling bad when he did something wrong.

[break][break] Quite the opposite, actually.

[break][break] As practiced as GIDEON GRAVES was in academia, Ollie was practiced in the way of emotion. Of looking and feeling guilty. The sheepish look that wormed it's way into his expression was genuine, his tough feather-light against the other's hand as he inclined his head down towards him.

[break][break] He watched Gideon's face closely, following the softly amber-lit eyes that he inexplicably felt himself drawn to. He wanted Gideon to forgive him. He needed Gideon to forgive him in order to feel settled, even though he couldn't quite explain why.

[break][break] So when the professor finally acquiesced, he released a sigh of relief.

[break][break] "Okay," he said, voice equally soft. "Got it. No kissing at League functions."

[break][break] 'Not even while drunk,' was implicit. 'Not even when under the influence of PENELOPE LIVY's envy.'

[break][break] A pause.

[break][break] Somehow, something mischievous sparked it's way into his expression. His fingers tightened, only slightly more firmly, around the others. A smile in the corner of his mouth.

[break][break] "Just so I know..."

[break][break] With his other hand, he reached to brush a strand of hair out of GIdeon's eyes.

[break][break] "Where else am I not allowed to kiss you?"

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] GIDEON GRAVES [break]
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[attr="class","littleollie"] The first time they had kissed, on that fateful night at the bar, it had been under the influence of alcohol. Then when they had kissed again, at the League Holiday Party, it had also been under the influence of alcohol as well as a burning ENVY in his gut from seeing both PENELOPE LIVY and Caleb Harcourt kiss.

[break][break] But now, in the closeness of this room, in the quiet that exhibited the Museum Director's office — there was nothing to blame for the way that Ollie looked at him now.

[break][break] The way that his breath caught in his throat as he skimmed the back of his hand down Gideon's face, down his shoulder. The temptation to tug GIDEON GRAVES to him, just as they'd done that night.

[break][break] "Depends?" he echoes, blinking gently. Innocently. As if there was nothing at all deceitful about the way his hands tightened around the other's, or the miniscule way that he stepped closer. Heat radiated off his body as he leaned closer, but not quite close enough.

[break][break] They were in public, after all.

[break][break] "What about the park? Or somewhere open, like it was when we saved those Combee?"

[break][break] Absently, his hand brushed against some imaginary dust on Gideon's shoulder.

[break][break] "Or your lab?"

[break][break] Not that he'd ever try there, not when the possibility of Eva Morales walking in was simply too great.

[break][break] Inching slightly closer, one hand intertwined their fingers together while the other smoothed out a wrinkle that he saw in Gideon's shirt collar, palm pressed against his chest.

[break][break] "Definitely not anywhere in the museum, though, right?" he murmured, as if to himself. "Even if the doors were closed."

[break]

[attr="class","ooc"] GIDEON GRAVES [break]
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