The Way We Talk

Open (Little Talks #23)

Prompt:  "Tell me the truth."

Ever since his miraculous return from the island, she's been watching him, following him.  He's not the same person he was before the whole Castaway experience, and that concerns her.  He just won't let her in, and all she wants is to be there for him, to help ease some of that pain in his eyes.  Because, you know, she loves him, and that's what you're supposed to do when you love someone.

That's why she confronts him at Verdant, in his office.  She knows he's just come from the super-secret basement he keeps on lockdown (yet another thing she doesn't understand).  She's watched him enter it before, even memorized the codes, but every single time she goes to enter it, it's different.  Whatever secrets he's keeping down there, they're huge and she's tired of letting him just hide them.

She actually knocks on the door this time, entering before he can give her permission.  The instant he lays eyes on her, that lazy, fake smile falls across his face.  She's beginning to hate it; everyone knows it's fake, but he still insists on pretending.  "Thea?" he says, genuine surprise in his voice.  Then, finally, "Hey, Speedy."

Thea rolls her eyes at the nickname she only pretends to hate and never has been able to shake (much to her chagrin).  "Just thought I'd come here while you were actually working," she teases pleasantly as she falls into one of the chairs before his desk.  "I've always wondered what that looks like."

Oliver smiles, but it slowly falls from his face as he studies her expression.  It's clear he doesn't quite buy the story, but his expression is real, for a change, so she doesn't mind.  He sighs and focuses all his attention on her, pushing the papers aside as his eyes do that intense thing.  "What's wrong, Thea?" he asks, suddenly serious.

She huffs, preparing herself to give the speech she's been writing in her head for months.  "Look, Ollie," she begins.  It's a little too confrontational, and she can see his shoulders stiffen in response, bracing for the onslaught of words.  She tries again, a little more gently, "Look Ollie, I know you've been through a lot in the past few years.  I've already said I'm not going to ask you about the island anymore, and I'm not.  But I would like to know why you spend so much time in the basement of this place.

Everything in his body language changes on the word "basement."  His muscles tense, he sits up straighter, and his jaw tightens.  His expression is unreadable for the smallest of moments, and Thea can see something in it that she doesn't expect from her brother.  Something about his expression shows the real Oliver Queen and the man he's become.

And it scares her.

But then, it's gone, and he's smiling like the charming playboy the world expects him to be, blue eyes sparkling playfully.  Thea knows better this time; the thread has unraveled, and now she's going to pull on it until it has come loose.  "What, the basement?" he asks, as though she's the one being ridiculous, and every word out of his mouth isn't dripping with lies.  "That's where all the security features are.  Everything is still glitchy, so I've been supervising while Felicity fixes it all."

The name makes her burn worse, rage swimming all through her.  Felicity, his assistant from work, who follows him around like every other lovesick bimbo in the world.  She's known better, though, since the first time she met her, at that family dinner when Thea had been so rude to her.  She remembers how she just cut her eyes to the side—to glance at Oliver—for only a second, then just simply bit her lip.  She could have spoken up and said to Thea all the things she deserved to be called, but she didn't.  With one glance at Oliver Queen, she cemented her loyalty, showed that she respected his family enough to bite her tongue.  At that moment, Thea only knew that she liked the quirky blonde, and that she wanted to know more about her.

Thea's done her research now, and she knows that Felicity Smoak graduated with honors from MIT with a Master's in Computer Science, so she's nobody's fool.  Through her community service at CNRI—and her visits to the police station because of that—she was able to learn that Felicity was questioned during that whole let's-blow-up-the-Glades master plan for possible interaction with the Vigilante.  It also doesn't escape her notice that, after the guy stops killing everyone, he puts three arrows in a guy who threatens her.  That might just be a little excessive—a little personal, if you ask her.

Not that she and Felicity aren't friends, because they are.  Thea admits that she's a great person to spend time with—and she knows that.  Thea likes the charming, talkative woman whose skills aren't being utilized as an EA.  Not to mention, she gets a kick out of watching her brother and Felicity interact.  She looks at him like he's the most amazing person in the world, while he looks at her like she's the stars, the moon, and the sun.  And the openness, the pure honesty that flows from her rambling mouth is a breath of fresh air, compared to always covert and never honest Queen family.  She's a good influence for Thea and Oliver both.

But the point is, Thea is very certain that Oliver's assistant is in bed with some very bad people, and the last person she wants the newly reformed Oliver involved with is the Vigilante.

Thea huffs as she crosses her arms, not hesitating to call his particular brand of bullshit.  "Tell me the truth," she demands, but then realizes she's encroaching upon hostile territory again.  She winces before taking a deep breath and trying again.  "Tell me the truth," she asks, this time much gentler, "or don't tell me anything at all.  But don't lie to me, Oliver!  Mom's not who we thought she was, Roy's been acting just... weird, and now you're lying to me.  I can't take much more of this!"  By the end, she's yelling loud enough to mask the sound of the techno music blaring from the club floor.

Oliver wipes a hand over his face, his expression grim for a moment.  "Fine," he says, his tone tired and... dark.  It sends a shiver down Thea's spine.  "You want to know what I've been hiding?" he asks her, the darkness fading from his voice.  He rises and moves toward the basement entrance, typing the keycode of the moment into the box.  "Go ahead.  I won't lie to you anymore, Thea."  His eyes meet hers, and the pain in them is endless and ancient.  "It destroys me to deceive you.  But you should know it was always so that I could keep you safe."

And now, the door—the mysterious door that hides all of her brother's secrets—is open.