Tales of Emerald Steel

In love with your roommate 3

"Come on Tommy! Faster!" Oliver screamed as his friend and teammate jumped over the bars, landing only a few inches from Nyssa.

They had been practicing for three hours now in preparation for the championship. And while his team was good, he still wished they had more time.

Actual practice was the only way to really get better at this sport, and since he had to teach them everything from the start, they would have next to no actual experience in store when facing against team that had at least two years of experience.

Finally, Tommy's fingers landed on Nyssa shoulders, the coach whisling.

As he was about to go and congratulated his friend, Oliver's eyes caught a flash of blond in the benches. And he was surprised to see that the golden locks belonged to none other than Kara herself.

He quickly shouted a 'well done' to Tommy and walked toward his roommate, who didn't even try to hide the fact that she was probably only here for him.

"Hey there, to what honor do I own your visit?"

"I felt like coming to see my best friend's practice" she smiled

"Barry is on the soccer field" Oliver joked

"It's different! He's like a brother to me"

"Poor Barry, he's in the brozone"

"The only difference is that he only has eyes for Iris. So this time, no one's hurts"

"And where am I?" asked Oliver, feeling bold

"A friend. My best friend." she answered honestly

Oliver nodded, slightly hurt. But while he was at it, he thought that he might take the full blow right now "And... Let's say I would like to get out of the friend zone?"

A sparked of understanding flared through her eyes at his words. She looked down on the ground about it for a moment.

When she looked back at him, Oliver didn't know what to make of her expression. "I would tell you that I'm afraid that if we ever went there, I would lose my rock, my friend, the only one that can get me too sleep, the only one that doesn't look at me like I'm a broken thing."

"You wouldn't lose me Kara."

"Are you sure about that? We're pretty much the reverse of one another, we can't choose a movie, we always argue about where to eat-"

"I don't care." he cut her, passing his leg over the bench so that he was directly looking at her "I don't care if we don't go to the same parties. I don't care if we don't have the same friends, hobbies, and taste in basically everything. I care about you. As long as I get to hold you against me while we're watching The Wizard of Oz for third time in a row in the evening, I would be happy."

Kara looked at him before lowering her head again. She remained silent for a long time before she stood up. "Would I still be your friend if I said no"

"Yes" he answered immediately

She nodded thoughtfully before turning toward him, holding her hand out to him "I have to think about it. Not because I'm not sure about my feelings for you, but because I want to scale just how much I would be loosing if I screwed it up."

Oliver took her hand and pressed a kiss to the back of it. "I will wait" he assured, squeezing her hand.

She smiled at him and walked away, more confused then ever about herself. She needed to see someone, and the only one that would be able to understand without feeling arkward was her sister, Alex Danvers.

And she found her, as per usual besting the crap out of a practice dummy. "Alex!" she called from the entrance of the dojo.

The auburn-haired turned toward her general direction. When she saw the look on Kara's face, she immediately knew that she needed to talk. She gestured toward the toilets and hold out her index, indicating that she would shower, change and then be able to talk to her properly. Kara nodded her understanding and walked out of the dojo, sitting in a bench by the girls' locker room.

25 minutes later, Alex walked out and turned to her. "Hey there, is everything alright. Did that douche approach you again?"

"No" Kara answered, making a mental effort to keep images of Mike out of her head "I need to talk to you"

"Sure, come on. Let's do that around a drink at Nunnan's."

"Alright" she agreed, her schedule being clear for the rest of the evening.

"So, what did you want to talk about"

"It's not what. It's who."

"Well, you said earlier that it wasn't... You know. So who has you so troubled?"

"Oliver..."

"Oliver Queen? What did he do? Punch someone else? Because the journal's photograph sure didn't like being assaulted"

"In Oliver's defence, James just didn't know when to give up. He warned him multiple times and he the last straw was when he tried to track him into a corner to have an interview about his shipwreck."

"You usually never defend violence Kara" Alex said, eyeing her sister carefully

"Well, Oliver had a good reason to! And I'll stand by him no matter what on that"

Alex grew more suspicious by the second "The only other person you really ever backed up like that was me. Oliver certainty became special in the last months."

"Yeah... That's my problem right now."

Alex eye's widened "As in-"

"Oliver likes me. Maybe even already loves me? Yes. He does. He told me before I came to see you"

"And what did you say?"

"Alex I... Apart from you and Eliza, no one had ever been able to calm me during my panic attacks. And yet, after what... What happened two days ago, Oliver is the only one that was able to get me calm enough to fall asleep. He is... My rock. My best friend. My confident. And... And-"

"You fear that if you get in a relationship with him, and that it somehow don't work out, you'll lose that" Alex completed.

Kara could only nod miserably, her gaze fixed on her drink.

"Kara. I know that you can have powers when you take these bracelets off, but you are still aging like a human. And we think we have a lot of time in front of us but in the end, it can change drastically or just end, in a matter of seconds. Don't waste your time thinking about the what-if's."

"What if I regret later?"

"Nothing is irreparable. Relationship aren't either. If you like him how much I think you two love each other, I think you'll work out just fine."

Kara nodded again, the wisdom of her sister's words resonating inside her. Don't waste your time

And she wouldn't, she decided, standing up to hug and thank Alex for listening and advising her.