Talking in Your Sleep-5/21

[bluesuedeshoes]

Author:  BlueSuede
Title:  Talking in Your Sleep
Rating: NC17
Genre: Friendship/Romance
Pairings:  Chloe/Oliver, Chloe/Green Arrow, Lois/Bruce, Lois/Clark
Summary:  Intrepid reporter for the Daily Planet, Chloe Sullivan, has her heart stolen by the masked hero, Green Arrow, but can she be satisfied with not knowing his real identity?
Warnings: There will probably be some minor spoilers, particularly for Season 6.  There will also be a ridiculously unnecessary amount of smut.  You've been warned.



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Chapter 1

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Next (Chapter 6)


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One of these nights,
One of these crazy old nights,
We're gonna find out, Pretty mama,
What turns on your lights.

One of These Nights
The Eagles

--5--

After Lois went home that evening, Chloe had to control the urge to rush to her computer, calmly forcing herself to tend to a few other mundane tasks firsts.

Then, after she had pulled on her pajamas and was sitting on her bed with the covers pushed back, she settled her laptop in her lap and opened it, a small thrill tingling down her spine at the sight of a new message.

This was pathetic, she shook her head ruefully. She was behaving like a teenager. Not that the knowledge stopped her toes from curling as she read his message.

I'd rather see you as the Maid Marion of this scenario. You don't seem like the sheriff type.

She rolled her eyes, grinning in spite of herself and feeling a bit of warmth rush to her cheeks. Not that he would ever know that, of course, she reminded herself with a somewhat grim satisfaction. Her hands hovered over the keyboard momentarily, internally debating with herself.

Consider me the sheriff in your life until I forgive you for the knock-out gas. Which may never happen, by the way.

She nearly mentioned the fact that he had deleted her photos as well but decided against it. That one she could understand, even if it was frustrating for her. She didn't have to wait long for a reply. Apparently he didn't have much to do at 8:00 on a Sunday night either, although she thought vaguely of suggesting that he ought to have something to do. She shook the thought away and opened her e-mail.

But it was just a tiny bit of knockout gas. And how about Little John or Will Scarlet? I mean, they're men, granted, but at least they're better than the sheriff.

She had the uncanny impression that wherever he was, he was smirking.

One, there is no such thing as a forgivable amount of knockout gas.

Two, I think you're a little too attached to the Robin Hood allegory.

Three, no, I will not be one of your merry men. And before you suggest Friar Tuck, let me just put an end to that idea right now.

She drummed her fingers idly, waiting for his response. It came moments later, but when she opened it, it was a link to a webpage. She swallowed nervously, opening it and realizing it was a private chat room. She chewed on her lip anxiously before making a decision. She created a screen name and logged in.

Oliver grinned when he saw her log in, instantly amused by her choice of screen name. Before she had a chance to say anything, he addressed her last e-mail.

emeraldarcher1 1.) Does it help if I apologize for the gas?

emeraldarcher1 2.) It's my favorite book.

emeraldarcher1 3.) You're just bringing me right back to the Maid Marion suggestion.

emeraldarcher1 4.) I like your screen name.

She responded almost instantly.

sidekick101 You do realize I practically hack computers for a living, right? I could easily trace your IP address right now.

sidekick101 and 1. it only helps a little. 2. why am I not surprised? 3. I know a losing battle when I see one. and 4? You would.

Oliver grinned as he replied.

emeraldarcher1 call it a leap of faith

emeraldarcher1 1-4: I win.

sidekick101 ...understand that I am exhibiting an awe-inspiring level of self-restraint right now.

sidekick101and it's a cheap victory

He chuckled at her response, supposing it was true. He hoped she could fight off her curious nature for his own sake.

emeraldarcher1 challenges are good for you

emeraldarcher1 so what are you doing right now?

He sucked in a breath unconsciously as he sent the second message, hoping it wasn't too personal for her. He didn't want to scare her off. There was an extra-long pause as he waited on her.

sidekick101 Besides talking to you? Nothing. My cousin spent the afternoon with me and we had a movie marathon.

He released the breath he'd been holding.

emeraldarcher1 fun. what movie(s)?

sidekick101 Valentine's Day, He's Just Not That Into You, and Love Actually

emeraldarcher1 lame.

sidekick101 don't look at me. She chose them. And normally she's more of a The Hangover girl, in her defense.

sidekick101 she's trying to send me a subliminal message

emeraldarcher1 message being?

sidekick101 she thinks I need a man.

sidekick101 ...which, considering the fact that I'm on the internet talking to unknown and potentially psychotic strangers...I'm beginning to think she has a point.

sidekick101 lol

emeraldarcher1 "potentially psychotic?"

emeraldarcher1 ouch.

sidekick101 lol don't take it personally. I have a long history with crazy people.

emeraldarcher1 interesting.

emeraldarcher1 any comfort to know I'm relatively sure I'm not a lunatic?

sidekick101 oh yes. I'll sleep safe tonight knowing you don't think you're insane.

Oliver paused, glancing at the clock. Sighing, he typed something and hit the enter button.

emeraldarcher1 speaking of sleeping safe...

emeraldarcher1 gotta go.

There was another short pause before she replied.

sidekick101 no problem. try not to do anything illegal. and be safe.

She logged out before he could say anything else. He grinned at her last statement. "Be safe." It was small, and stupid, and he doubted she'd even put much thought into it. In fact, it was probably just the only thing she could think of as a response, but something about the fact that she had expressed even the mildest concern over his well-being warmed his heart.

A little over two weeks later, Chloe woke up on a Tuesday morning, smiling for no reason in particular.

She went to the kitchen, humming lightly to herself as she grabbed the pot of coffee waiting for her and poured it for herself, contemplating making some sort of breakfast for herself for once. Fried eggs and bacon sounded especially tempting. The whole apartment seemed cheery and bright, sunlight streaming in her floor-to-ceiling windows, leading onto her balcony. The weather was turning cooler now that it was September, but it was pleasantly sunny.

Sipping her coffee she headed for her computer, like she now did every morning.

From: emeraldarch... Subject: 5 Things

Sidekick,

Tell me five random things about yourself. Here's mine.

1. I'm allergic to peanuts.

2. Neither of my parents are living.

3. I almost designed a boxing glove arrow.

4. I have broken almost every bone in my body at least once.

5. I almost ate a centipede once.

Have a good day,

Archer

Chloe grinned, taking another long sip of coffee before opening up a reply e-mail.

Archer,

Why on earth would you eat a centipede? And is a boxing glove arrow even aerodynamically sound?

1. My diet consists almost entirely of coffee and blueberry muffins.

2. Both of my parents are living. Neither of them speaks to me. One can't. One won't.

3. I believe in aliens.

4. I had my life threatened on such a regular basis in high school that I've actually lost count of how many times I almost died.

5. Tulips are my favorite flowers.

You, too,

Sidekick

Deciding against the extra breakfast at the thought of a blueberry muffin, she stopped at a coffee shop on the way to work instead to pick one up.

At work she greeted Lois and Clark with a smile, not noticing when both of them raised curious eyebrows at her. She ate the last of her blueberry muffin, tossing Lois a bag with a maple donut in it that she'd bought on a whim.

She sat down to her desk and before she looked at what was in her in-tray, she warmed up her computer and opening her e-mail.

From: emeraldarch... Subject: Re: Re: 5 Things

Sidekick,

The centipede thing: It's a long story. I'll tell you about it someday when I have more time.

The bg arrow...no, apparently, it's not.

Why am I so utterly unsurprised at the number of times you've almost been killed? You attract too much trouble.

The alien thing: also not surprised. I may have looked up your work from high school. You have a cult following, by the way. There's a couple of kids named Zoe and Clayton that idolize you.

Talk to you later,

Archer

P.S. Would I get in trouble if I sent you tulips at work?

Smiling she typed up a quick response before turning to her work. She was going to have to go to City Hall. The mayor was holding a press conference about recent allegations that he was embezzling city money. She'd probably take Clark or Lois with her. She headed to the copy room for a cup of coffee before returning to her desk to get to work.

Archer,

I'm holding you to that centipede story.

Stalker. I have a "following?" You're kidding. I'm looking that up later.

Later,

Sidekick

P.S. Yes.

After work, Chloe went out for chinese food with Lois, and as she was talking to her cousin, she was texting on her blackberry under the table.

sidekick101 she's talking about setting me up on a blind date again

emeraldarcher1 I forbid you to let your cousin set you up.

sidekick101 jealous, arrow?

emeraldarcher1 concerned for your well-being, don't trust your cousin.

sidekick101 uh huh

emeraldarcher1 how's the food?

sidekick101 hasn't gotten here yet

"CHLOE!"

Chloe jumped in her seat, looking up. Lois was glaring at her. She swallowed nervously.

"All right," she demanded. "Quit texting Mr. Mysterious under the table. Focus. On me. I'm more important than your Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan affair."

Chloe rolled her eyes, putting her phone back in her purse. It hadn't taken Lois long to figure out Chloe was e-mailing some mysterious guy, but Chloe had carefully neglected to mention it was the Green Arrow. "Lois, it's not an affair. And I have a strange suspicion that he's not really the Tom Hanks type, anyway," she joked.

Lois looked at the ceiling for help. "Chloe, whoever that is spends way too much time talking to you for it to be strictly platonic. And you can't even try to tell me you don't have a thing for Dear John. You've actually started glowing now. It's so cute it's bordering on disgusting."

Chloe blushed feverishly. "It's not like that. We're just...friends. Sort of."

"Yeah, yeah," Lois said as the waiter arrived with their meals. Chloe dug hungrily into her sesame chicken, relishing her first proper meal in days. She should probably start eating out more. Apparently she couldn't be trusted to properly nourish herself. "Look, a guy sending you that many e-mails: it might as well be love-letters. Why don't you meet the guy in person?"

Chloe sighed. There was no way she could possibly answer that question truthfully. "One, I'm not interested in him that way." Total lie. "Two, you know what the internet's like. He could be a creepy stalker. Or...I don't know...a perv or something," she snatched at excuses.

Lois arched a brow, unfooled. "And yet, with such allegations, you continue to talk to him?"

"Well even if he is a creepy stalker in real life, he's still nice to me," Chloe joked. Then she decided to steer the subject into safer waters. "You hear from Bruce lately?" she questioned.

Lois narrowed her eyes. "Don't think I don't see through your little diversions, Miss Sullivan. But as a matter of fact, yes. He finally called yesterday. Asked how I was doing." She paused dramatically, pretending to look casual as she took a bite of fried rice. "And he wants to know if I'll visit him in Gotham."

Chloe's eyes widened. "Really? Lo, that's fantastic! You're going right?" She frowned at the evasive look on Lois's face. "Right?"

Lois didn't meet Chloe's eyes. "I have work...and...work."

Chloe looked at her amusedly. "I'm sorry, is that a note of fear I hear in Lois Lane's voice?"

"I'm not scared!" Lois protested. "I just don't think I can take off from the Planet. You know how it is!"

"You're totally chicken," Chloe laughed. "You could easily persuade Perry to give you a weekend off, no sweat."

"Look I'm not scared, I just...I don't know. Visiting him is a big step. I mean, when he comes to Metropolis, it's business. I just happen to be here as well. Going to visit him would be like...like..."

"Like going to visit him?" Chloe suggested humorously. At the glare Lois shot her, she surrendered. "Okay, okay. Sorry. But seriously, it just a weekend visit. It's not like he's proposing or something. Shouldn't you be happy? Last time he left town you complained for almost a month about how he didn't call you."

Lois chewed her food thoughtfully, mulling over Chloe's point. "I guess that's true."

"Exactly. And anyways, Bruce is a good guy. I think you'd have a good time visiting him."

Lois smirked. "Oh, we'd have a good time all right."

Chloe groaned. "Crossing into that too much information territory!" she warned.

"You're just jealous cuz you're not getting any," Lois teased. Then she paused, chopsticks halfway to her mouth. She looked up curiously, "Are you?"

Chloe looked surprised. "No. Why?"

"I was just wondering if you and this guy have had cyber sex or something."

Chloe choked slightly on her chicken. "What?"

"You know, 'sexting' or whatever."

Chloe laughed. "What on earth is 'sexting?'"

"Dirty text messages."

Chloe turned red, laughing embarrassedly. "Definitely not."

"That's boring," Lois looked disappointed. "You should try it. I bet he'd be into it," she smirked.

Chloe rolled her eyes. "Uh huh. Unlike you, Lois, my mind isn't constantly in the gutter."

"Oh yes it is," Lois argued. "You just don't talk about it. I, on the other hand, see no reason for such ridiculous pretenses."

"Of course you don't," Chloe sighed, the corner of her mouth twitching in spite of herself.

Later that evening she sat in front of the TV, computer in lap and carton of leftover chinese in hand.

sidekick101 james bond marathon on channel 13

emeraldarcher1 yeah, i was watching it earlier. which is your favorite bond?

sidekick101 other than the obvious connery, probably daniel craig.

emeraldarcher1 seriously? pierce brosnan was so much better.

sidekick101 first, craig is really ripped and therefore extremely hot.

sidekick101 second, brosnan's movies were practically pornographic. too much sex, not enough action

emeraldarcher1 ...exactly?

sidekick101 perv

emeraldarcher1 guilty.

emeraldarcher1 but you've got to admit, the craig films are severely lacking in gadgets, which is half the fun of bond.

sidekick101 hmm. said the man who loves his high-tech toys. shocker.

emeraldarcher1 my gadgets are extremely awesome and you know it.

sidekick101 ...let's not talk about your 'gadgets' anymore.

emeraldarcher1 now who's the perv?

Chloe chuckled. Right. Her mind flashed back to her lunch with Lois and suddenly she blushed slightly.

sidekick101 so how have things for GA been going lately?

sidekick101 no thievery I hope?

emeraldarcher1 and risk your wrath? yeah right.

emeraldarcher1 things are good. unusually slow. kinda nice.

sidekick101 looks like between you and superman Met crime has gotten a lot better.

emeraldarcher1 ...

emeraldarcher1 was that a compliment?

sidekick101 stop smirking.

emeraldarcher1 I have no idea what you're talking about.

emeraldarcher1 the important thing here is that you just gave me a compliment.

sidekick101 barely.

emeraldarcher1 you liiiiiike me.

sidekick101 I take the whole thing back.

emeraldarcher1 too late. we all know the truth now. you think I'm amazing. just admit it.

sidekick101 I'm amazed by the size of your ego.

emeraldarcher1 but amazed nonetheless

sidekick101 my cousin is right. I need a hobby. or a man. anything so I stop spending this much time talking to you.

emeraldarcher1 I'm not letting go of the important fact here: you liiiiiike me.

sidekick101 never complimenting you again. ever.

emeraldarcher1 that's okay. because I'll still know the truth. ;)

sidekick101 you're so annoying.

emeraldarcher1 annoyingly amazing

emeraldarcher1 so how was work today? anything big?

sidekick101 yeah. mayor hosted a press conference. bunch of BS about how he's not stealing funds. which he totally is. I just can't prove it yet. he's on my radar, though.

emeraldarcher1 if I didn't dislike him so much, I'd feel sorry for him.

Chloe chuckled. She debated asking him what he did for a day job, but she usually avoided asking him too many direct questions about his personal life, not wanting him to think she was trying to figure him out. Which she was secretly dying to do. She held back, though, not wanting to mess with a good thing. If he wanted to tell her, he'd do it on his own. For now, she figured he probably thought she was safer not knowing. Which he did.

emeraldarcher1 so how was the rest of lunch with your cousin?

sidekick101 absurd.

emeraldarcher1 oh? interesting adjective.

sidekick101 I'll give you a sample: she thinks we should have cyber sex.

sidekick101 the woman has a one-track mind.

emeraldarcher1 I think your cousin is my new favorite person. you should talk dirty to me.

sidekick101 this afternoon you didn't like my cousin.

sidekick101 and you can't possibly mention my cousin and talking dirty in the same breath and expect me to do it.

sidekick101 that's just disturbing

emeraldarcher1 well, I'd set the mood, but...it's instant messaging.

emeraldarcher1 I don't know how much 'mood' there is to offer.

sidekick101 are you kidding? have you seen the number of emoticons on here? there are more moods than I knew I was capable of experiencing. lol

emeraldarcher1 is there a 'sexy time' emoticon?

sidekick101 I'll say it again:

sidekick101 perv

emeraldarcher1 -sigh-

emeraldarcher1 one day you'll realize you're secretly in love with me.

emeraldarcher1 and then we can finally consummate our cyber love

emeraldarcher1 with incredibly hot cyber sex

sidekick101 I'm never planting one of my cousin's ideas in your head ever again. lesson learned.

emeraldarcher1 does this mean no cyber sex?

Pause.

emeraldarcher1 ...you're giving me the death glare through your computer, aren't you?

sidekick101 yep

emeraldarcher1 I can feel it.

emeraldarcher1 ...

emeraldarcher1 it's kind of hot.

sidekick101 OHMYGOD!

emeraldarcher1 lol sorry couldn't resist

emeraldarcher1 on that note, however, I gotta go. usual reasons.

sidekick101 have a good night. be safe.

emeraldarcher1 you, too. dream about me. ...and then be sure to tell me about it.

sidekick101 pretending you stopped at "you, too"

With which she logged out for the night. Tomorrow morning when she woke up, they went through the same thing all over again.
 

Chapter 1

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Next (Chapter 6)

Comments

[renka23.livejournal.com]

Oh my gosh, I totally love their banter! :)

Great job as always. :D Can't wait for the next update. :p