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The woods are cold and silent as you practice shooting targets on your own. You have been out here for hours trying to perfect your aim after failing on your first mission. It was your one chance to really impress Oliver and prove yourself worthy enough to be part of his team. Instead, you made a fool of yourself. You got nervous and screwed up. That shouldn’t have happened and you have been beating yourself up about it ever since.
Due to your frustration, you keep missing the target in the distance no matter how hard you try. When you pull back on the string your hands shake from anger making your shot all wonky.
“Come on… Come on.” You repeat to yourself before releasing the arrow. It completely misses the target yet again. “Goddamn it!” Throwing your bow down to the ground you decide to give up, feeling useless. Oliver will never want you on his team.
When you turn around to pick up the rest of your stuff you are faced with Roy who witnessed the entirety of your tantrum. The two of you stare at each other awkwardly.
“Were you following me?” You tuck a strand of hair behind your ear as you ask.
“Maybe.” He shrugs his shoulders. “Why did you give up?”
“I’ve been practising for hours I’m tired.” You lie but not very convincingly.
“Look I could help you get your confidence back. I can teach you.” Roy suggests and you screw up your face.
“I don’t need your help.” You are rather offended by his proposal. “I can do it myself.”
“From where I’m standing you do.” Roy purses his lips only adding to your anger.
“Okay.” You throw your bag back down and get your gear ready. “I’ll prove to you that I don’t need your help or anyone else’s.”
Roy steps back to watch, leaning against a nearby tree. He watches your every move, from the way you load the bow to the way you position yourself, already noticing the mistakes you are making.
“You’re too stiff, you need to loosen up a bit.” He gets behind you and uses his hands to readjust your stance. “Relax your shoulder and remember to breathe.” His hand slides up to your rather stiff shoulder and you can feel his warm breath against your skin. He’s pretty close right now.
Doing as he says you correct your breathing to a more steady and relaxed pace. His hand then makes its way to your stomach, pushing it in a little gently. For some reason, Roy being this close is giving you goosebumps and a weird feeling in your stomach but a good weird.
“Now pull back.” He continues to guide you through the process. “Release.” His voice is almost a whisper in your ear.
Your eyes widen as you let the arrow go, watching as it flies towards the target at a high speed. It hits dead centre and your mouth falls open in shock at the sight. You did it! You finally did it! All you had to do was calm down and focus. That should hopefully be enough to bring your confidence back.
You practically pounce on Roy out of joy but he doesn’t mind at as he holds you up. Your hands are on his cheeks as you look deep into his green eyes. It is then that you realise what you are doing and your cheeks flare red. He puts you back down onto your feet and smiles.
“See you can do it. Don’t doubt yourself y/n. I– We believe in you.” He quickly corrects himself not wanting you to think he’s coming off too strong. You make him extremely nervous so he really doesn’t want to screw it up or make a fool of himself.
“Thank you for that, Roy. That was exactly what I needed.” He smiles, even more, when you say that.
“Do you wanna go get pizza? My treat?” He puts his arm around your shoulder and the two of you start to make your way out of the dark woods.
