Roy has liked both the Arrow and Oliver Queen since he met them, so, it made perfect sense that they were the same person. And, yet, although he now knew who the Arrow was under his mask, he still had no idea who Oliver was on the inside. When Roy m...
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That day, Oliver came into work a tad late. He had a wonderful nights' sleep, for the first time in at least 6 years. No nightmares. Not visions of Shado dying, endless flashbacks from the island that haunt him like ghosts, the terrible earthquake and the building of doom, demolishing to pieces and crumbling, crushing his best friend. Not his mother's body being pierced with a long, thin, glistening sword and his little sisters' cries of despair and agony over it, the Mirakuru soldiers marching in to destroy his city with helpless civilians running around, screaming for the Arrow to save them. Not guilt, guilt, guilt for all the things he'd done and couldn't do.
Instead, his dreams had been warm, filled with gentle, nurturing light. Glistens of sunshine and the muffled sound of someone laughing.
Laughing melodically, like it was an angel. Oliver never believed in angels, but that sound, God, that sound could convince him otherwise.
He strode into the room, muscles relaxed, a faint expression of bliss present on his eyes. Everyone was standing around in the Arrow cave, already prepared for the day. They seemed to be ready to head out, going... Somewhere?
Noticing Oliver's puzzled and slightly disoriented state, Dig spoke up.
" 'Morning, Oliver. We're heading into A.R.G.U.S. For training, remember?" He asked dryly, raising an eyebrow at the perplexed man in front of him. Oliver's befuddled look slowly dripped off of his face, another one of realization coming onto it, like ocean waves. He opened his mouth to justify himself, instead choking on his unsaid words. Diggle just waved it off, looking down and smiling to himself with endearment, and left the room, signaling for the team to follow him.
Oliver fell behind, instead of his usual place upfront as the leader. Rather, he decided to trail after the rest of his much more composed and organized friends. Dig lead and Felicity was looking down on her phone, typing (as always), right behind him. He joined Roy at the end of their line, giving him a genuine, modest smile. Roy answered with a shy smile back. For some reason, he found it incredibly adorable.
They walked in silence for some time, both timid and unsure of what to say and how to mention the previous night.
What do I say? "Last night was great"? That made no sense, I took him out. It was great, but that sound too much like what people say after dates. That wasn't a date. It was a... Friendly meeting. Between pals, colleagues. Just that, as platonic as it could get. Right?
Finally, Roy decided to break the silence, disturbing Oliver's agitating pondering.
"I won the food fight," he declared out of nowhere. Oliver looked up at him, astounded, and then remembered their brief feud that included French fries flying everywhere and Carlie snickering at them in the background. At that reminder, he started laughing.
Roy joined in, and they did nothing but laugh for at least a minute. Oliver felt like they were schoolboys again - not the dangerous vigilantes with complicated pasts and forever-dark & brooding expressions. It made Oliver so content. He could barely believe there was still someone in this world that could make him forget all his hardships and just be youthful like he was meant to be, before the island corrupted him and destroyed any chance of a normal life he had.
And that someone had really nice teeth. White and sharp, Oliver acknowledged. His mouth was only open slightly when he laughed, covering his gums with those slightly chopped, angular, pink lips. Oliver knew he shouldn't be thinking about Roy's lips, as nice as they were, but he just couldn't stop himself. His jawline seemed even sharper than usual, Oliver continued reflecting. He suddenly noticed that he had stopped laughing and was now indisputably staring at Roy. Roy stared back, a faint blush on his cheeks.
Oliver snapped out of his ecstatic daze, feeling heat rush up to his face. He awkwardly coughed, trying to avoid eye contact with the younger member of the team. They fell into uncomfortable silence.
Roy, being the braver one once again, let out a chuckle abruptly. He had an idiotically brash grin plastered on his face. "So, it's settled, than?" He wondered cheekily, satisfaction seeping through his voice like honey. "That I won the food fight?"
Oliver's tenseness dissolved into air when he herd what Roy had said. Shrugging off the last bit of it, Oliver allowed himself to playfully grin back.
"No," Oliver protested in a stubborn, forceful tone, sparks of humor and enjoyment dancing in his eyes, "No. I do not agree with that," he persisted, sticking out his finger in a teacher-like manner.
And so, the two were back in their usual state - a light-hearted, fun atmosphere, that may have had something more to it... The team finally got to the huge van Diggle had prepared for them, with John at the driver's seat, and began driving only God (and maybe secret agents like Lyla) knows where.
///////////////////////////////////////////////// Hey guys! Another update! Yay! I'm sorry for not posting for a very long time, but, in my defense, I am vacationing and it was my birthday on the 17th! Anyways, I'm at camp now, and I took time and stayed up until 1 to write this... Hopefully I don't die tomorrow😆 I divided my original chapter into two parts because I was very tired but still wanted to update. So, no heated scene here😉 However, this chapter had some more development on Oliver's side. Next chapter will be up sometime this week! Remember to tell me what you think and vote if you like it! Yours, -sofiiva
