Nothing But Thieves {Fransykes}

11: Oliver

i had to attach the hannibal bustin through video because of the first line in this chapter

so I'm not attaching a song to this chapter lmao, because this is better

~

"Josh, we really can't just bust through the window like that. It didn't work last time and it won't work this time." Oliver explains patiently, calmly. He cares for Josh, but his style of theft is reckless at best. "If anything it would go worse this time than last time."

The two of them are in Oli's apartment, poring over floor plans of the house they are intending to rob. Oliver has looked over these plans before, in preparation for the last time he broke in, but it never hurts to have them fresh in his mind. Besides, he wants the strategy on this job to be a team effort, so him and Josh are trying to work out a plan together.

Josh rolls his eyes, but he doesn't seem to actually be annoyed or upset with Oliver at all. "I know, it's just more fun that way. Where's the fun in creeping in silently when you can just break something and run?"

"How have you never been caught?" Oliver marvels, amused and mildly surprised that Josh has gotten away with this level of impulsive behaviour for so long. He seems to take the phrase 'break and enter' literally, by always breaking things in order to enter.

"Charm, luck, and white privilege?" Josh suggests, which seems fairly accurate now that Oliver thinks about it. Only that combination can keep a prolific, if heedless of caution, thief out of jail for so long.

"Fair enough, but I don't think that's gonna work on this job." Oliver tells him reasonably, "We're gonna have to keep it lowkey after what happened last time." There is no way that they can get away with a high-profile break in at the same place that they individually tried to rob just a few days earlier.

Josh pouts, which to Oli only makes him seem cuter, "If you insist." He relents, still dramatically frowning in a manner that is far from being convincingly real, despite being extremely adorable.

Oliver smiles at him affectionately, "I'm not risking you getting hurt or arrested." He tries to explain, hoping that Josh will understand. He isn't trying to stop Josh from living his life the way he wants to, but this job is risky enough as it is, let alone if it's a messy break in. He can't see Josh being caught or hurt, can't allow that to happen on his watch. He cares about him far too much, and truly believes that Josh deserves the best in life.

Josh grins at him, "You're sweet." He says matter-of-factly, "Fine, we'll do this job your way. The next one we're doing my way."

Oliver can't help the widening of his smile as a reaction to those words. "So it's not just the one job, then?" He asks, "You wanna partner up?" Imagining continuing his career of theft with Josh by his side sounds rather enticing to him, though he always imagined himself to be the kind of thief who works alone. Strangely, working alone has lost it's charm for Oli. He would much rather work with Josh.

"We can be partners in crime." Josh offers.

Already liking that idea, Oliver nods. "Hell yes, lets do it." He agrees, then smooths down the floor plans on the table, "Now help me figure out a way in, there's no way the door I used to get in is still unsecured. It's gotta be wired up to the security system by now, no way that can be our entry point."

Josh bites his lip, tracing a finger over the perimeter of the house. "Here." He taps one of the walls, "Does the basement extend to this side of the house?"

Oli shuffles through the various pages that depict different floors of the house until he finds the basement one, laying it out on the table. "Yeah." He says, looking it over and seeing that the basement does extend to the exterior wall that Josh was looking at. "Why?"

"The basement is from the original build of the house, it's made of a bunch of stones, no concrete at all. The walls of it rise above the earth, if we can loosen some of the stones we can climb down into the basement and get in that way."

Oliver listens to him, fascinated. "You're brilliant, y'know that?" He murmurs, propping his chin up in one hand and gazing at Josh in admiration. "That plan is perfect."

Josh blushes, "Stop buttering me up and tell me what's wrong with the plan." He urges Oliver.

Oli frowns, "There genuinely isn't anything wrong with your plan." He says truthfully, "I can't think of a better way to go about this. I was gonna suggest air ducts and it probably would've gone badly."

"That's some Die Hard shit." Josh says, laughing. "And that idea's as old as that movie. The place has been renovated recently, there's no way the ducts are wide enough to fit a person."

Now it's Oliver's turn to pout dramatically, though he is partially mimicking Josh's earlier expression. "Rude! It was just a thought, you don't have to be mean about it."

Josh stands up and walks around to Oli's side of the table, straddling his lap. Oliver practically chokes on air when Josh leans in to whisper in his ear. "Let me make it up to you then."

"I-I thought you wanted to take it slow." Oli manages to say.

"Yeah, to fuck." Josh's sudden bluntness has Oliver reeling, "But I can suck your cock."

There definitely aren't words to express how Oli is feeling right now, which likely shows on his face because Josh starts to giggle. "You look shocked." He comments.

Oliver raises his eyebrows, "I am shocked." He admits, "I was- I'm trying to take this slow and you just threw a hell of curveball." He doesn't want to do this, he realizes. He doesn't want to risk moving too fast with Josh, not after how he screwed things up last time.

Josh watches him closely, then slowly climbs off of his lap. "You don't want to."

Sighing, Oliver runs a hand through his hair to keep it back from his face. "I don't wanna fuck this up again. I really like you and I- I get vulnerable after sex. I have trouble trusting after."

Josh pulls his chair up so that he is sitting close to Oli. "Are you comfortable telling me why?" He asks softly.

That takes Oliver a moment to think about, but eventually he nods his head. "I try to cut people loose before they can hurt me." He blurts out, "Because I'm so afraid of giving them the power to do that to me that I do it to them first."

Josh looks down, his voice emerging as a pained whisper. "You mean if we fucked you'd leave me?"

"No!" Oliver protests, taking Josh's hand in his own. "I want to be with you, I just don't want to rush into anything. I've been used and left and it fucking broke me, I just can't risk doing that to you."

The smile returns to Josh's face as he cups Oliver's face with one hand, the hand that isn't holding Oliver's. "You're a sweetheart, I hope you know that."

"I just care about you a lot."

"I care about you a lot too."

~

i think this is the most chapters i've written of a story without a fucking scene?? that's wack cause my stories are usually horny af

at least I'm self-aware

I'm doin my best out here

in case anyone is getting impatient, I promise that they'll fuck in the next few chapters

hannibal bustin' through! and remember to create and destroy as you see fit

-Samira