"Hey, Ollie." Roy cleared his throat, hoping it would clear the nerves from him. It didn't.
"Hey, Roy!" Ollie (cheerful as ever), quickly answered, Roy practically feeling the face splitting smile on the mans face. Suddenly doing this over the phone made Roy feel bad, but he couldn't face doing this in front of Ollie. The thought of saying this in person sent a shiver down his spine.
"Ollie... I have something to tell you." Roy wanted to cut right to the point. He was never very good at breaking new to people, but he knew that it wouldn't help anyone to beat around the bush.
Ollie went quiet for a second. "Are you okay?" He asked, this time his voice a lot less happy and a lot more fatherly. Roy would hate it if it wasn't exactly what he needed right now.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Roy muttered after a deep breath. "Actually, I'm good. Better than I've been in a while."
Ollie seemed to be considering his words very carefully. "Roy? Are you going to try getting better now?"
Roy felt a little smile creep onto his face. "Yeah... I think I'm already getting there."
"Really?" Ollie didn't sound like he was walking on eggshells anymore, he just sounded genuinely happy. "Have you decided to stop looking for the first Speedy?"
Roy took a deep breath. "I found him, Ollie."
The line went completely silent for a second. When the response came, the shock in Ollie's voice was almost tangible. "What?"
"I found him." Roy repeated, a relieved sigh escaping from his lungs and a relaxed smile finding his face. He didn't need to feel the crippling guilt of living someone else's life anymore. He had found him.
"Seriously?" Ollie still sounded surprised, but now the shock was easing out of his voice to be replaced by happiness. "That's great, Roy! Now you can start living your life."
"That reminds me..." The smile fell off Roy's face as he gravely considered the words he would use next. "I have another thing to tell you, too."
"Is it a good thing or a bad thing?" Ollie asked, and Roy was unable to read his emotion through the phone like this.
"It's a really good thing, but I want you to not be mad or weird or too... Ollie about it." Roy told him, trying to think of the best way to break it to Ollie.
"I promise I won't be weird." Ollie laughed over the line, and Roy could practically see him putting his hand on his heart while his moustache twitched with a smile. "Just tell me what it is. It's a good thing, right?"
"Yeah, it's a good thing." Roy swallowed hard. He wasn't sure how to say it, so he was just do it. "Remember when I married Jade?"
He could hear Ollie laugh over the line. "Yeah, I remember that. How could I forget? It was the first time you started doing crazy things for the fun, not just for work or-"
"Ollie, this is important." Roy mumbled, which got Ollie to shut up pretty quickly.
"Okay, I'll stop. What is it?" Ollie asked, and Roy could hear the curiosity even through the telephone.
"Well, when me and Jade were married, we did a lot of things-"
"Woah, Roy," Ollie interrupted, "I don't need to hear you confess your sins or anything-"
"No, no, that's not where I'm going with this." Roy clarified, heart racing. He was getting nervous about this. "When we were married, we did things, and last week Jade came to visit. She brought someone with her."
"A new boyfriend?" Ollie asked, sounding strangely disappointed.
Roy just carried on. "She brought a baby with her. A little girl called Lian, and-"
Roy heard a whooshing sound and then couldn't hear Ollie breathing anymore. He panicked for a second, but then the phone line went back to normal, except there were more traffic sounds in the background now. "Ollie?"
There was a knock at the door and Roy had a sneaking suspicious who it was before he even answered it. He did pick this apartment building because it was so close to the zeta tubes, which was usually an advantage for him, but sometimes it had his drawbacks.
Roy took one last deep breath before he went to answer the door. He swung door open and barley had time to register the facts that Ollie was stood in the middle of the hall in his fancy expensive pyjamas before he was being crushed in a hug so tight his ribs were in danger of cracking.
"Ollie?" Roy whispered, patting him awkwardly on the back while he let the older man hug him.
"Roy, I'm so proud of you." Ollie whispered, and Roy could see tears in his eyes and tried his best to put on his grumpy adopted son face because he was one hundred percent not going to cry here in front of Ollie and his stupid moustache.
"Thanks, Ollie." And he meant it. He tried to awkwardly steer Ollie inside and shut the door, while the man clung to him like a leech, only letting go when he saw something that demanded his attention more.
"Is that her?" Ollie asked, letting go of Roy in favour of crouching next to the DIY crib that Roy out together himself.
"No, Ollie, that's a different baby girl I just happen to have laying around my apartment." Roy replied, rolling his eyes, but Ollie seemed to caught up in making faces at the sleeping infant to listen.
"Hi, little Lian." Ollie whispered, his chin resting on the edge of the crib. "I'm your Grandpa." Roy scoffed and rolled his eyes again, but Ollie looked too happy for Roy to have the heart to say anything.
Ollie stayed like that for a few more seconds, just staring at Lian like if he blinked she'd disappear. Roy just stood behind him, watching.
"Y'know, Roy," Ollie started, and Roy resisted the urge to roll his eyes, "there's always a room for you back up at the Queen place. So if you ever need a place to crash that's not here, and if you ever need somewhere to go for help or money or what, you can come to us." He stopped and looked up at Roy. "You know that right?"
Roy smiled, a small genuine smile. "Yeah, I do. Thanks Ollie."
They both stood in silence, they only sound in the room being Lian's tiny snores, and Ollie just looked at her adoringly.
"Anyway, Dinah will want to meet her too."