Rise Above Racism || Olivan
ollieinthebathroom:
Ollie paused in trying to speak, listening to Ivan and nodding. He closed his eyes and started to breathe in and out through his mouth. His Moms always told him the same thing, to breathe because it would help more than anything. When he was little, his Mom had taught him a trick that he still used to this day. He imagined a balloon in his head once his eyes were closed, when he was inhaling he was inflating the balloon and when he was exhaling the balloon was deflating again. He continued to imagine this balloon until he was able to keep the breaths going at this rate alone.
Ollie still played with Ivan’s free hand, rubbing different patterns onto it and squeezing it. He liked little stress balls and toys for this reason, that he could just squeeze and poke. However, while he had his boyfriend’s hand he fidgeted with it the same way he would one of his toys. He met Ivan’s eyes when he was finally ready to utter the words: “H-he d-din’t p-pick m-me cause…. I-I’m n-not…. wh-white….” He couldn’t help but stutter; he didn’t do this nearly as much as he did when he was little but really only when he was flustered and upset.
He could feel the other slowly starting to calm down, watching as he seemed to focus on his breathing. It was working, he could tell, because he wasn’t holding his head or shaking at the moment. Breathing helped Ivan through his own anxiety and depression, meditation being one of the things he learned while out in L.A. when he was filming. Kissing Ollie on the forehead again, he the other finally speak. Though, what his boyfriend said didn’t exactly make Ivan smile. No, it infuriated the singer and all he could do was grimace on Ollie’s behalf. His gaze was away, pointed at the wall since he didn’t want Ollie to think he was giving him that look. Which he wasn’t, because it was definitely not Ollie’s fault.
“Are you fucking serious? He didn’t pick you because you’re not white?” Ivan inquired in disbelief, not really sure what to say or do at this point. “I’ve got every right to go down there and give that asshole a piece of my fucking mind.” Ivan said, tapping his own foot as he resisted getting up and walking out with Ollie cradled in his arms. “I’m going to call my manager as soon as you’re comfortable and telling him that I’m not going to be associating with that director nor his works ever. I’ll even tell him why.” Nipping his bottom lip, he continued to rub Ollie’s back gently in comfort since he knew his boyfriend needed it the most. “You let me know if you need me to do anything or go public with that because that kind of shit isn’t going to be tolerated.”
















