94Arrow's Flashpoint
Summary: When Barry Allen learned that his crush, billionaire playboy Oliver Queen, and his hero, the Starling Vigilante, were one in the same, it turned his whole world upside down. The accident that made him the impossible also allowed him to get closer to the Arrow than he ever dreamed. But Oliver didn't know how the kid had managed to weasel his way into his heart; until it was too late.
Pairing: Oliver Queen X Barry Allen (aka Flarrow). Mentions of past relationships and crushes will occur, including; Linda, Sandra, Iris, Felicity, Shado, Helena, Isabel, Laurel, Becky, Sara, Nyssa, OC, etc... Aside from that, pairings are canon.
Warnings: Action, Adventure, Alcohol, Amnesia, Angst, Assault (Physical), AU-ish, Bisexuality, Black Comedy, Bullying (Mentioned), Character Deaths (Minor Canon & OC), Child Abuse (Mentioned/Implied), Crime, Dark Themes, Depression (Mentioned), Drama, Drugs, Family, Fluff, Friendship, Homosexuality, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Inappropriate Humor, Language, Lemons, Love, Medical Babble, Mixed Fandoms, Murder, Non-Beta'd, Non-Canon Pairing, Possible OOCness, Psychiatric Talk, Religious Talk, Romance, Science Babble, Self Harm (Implied), Sexual Abuse (Mentioned), Sexual Themes, Slash, Song Lyrics, Spoilers, Suicidal Thoughts (Implied/Mentioned), Superpowers, Time Travel, Twins, Violence, etc.
Point Of View: 3rd Person POV, past tense, story form, italicized thoughts/flashbacks/dreams. The main focus will either be on Oliver or Barry, depending on the scene. If they're both in the same scene, chances are it'll alternate between the two of them.
Sebastian was exhausted.
He would never tell his brother that, of course, Barry was going through enough shit as it was, but he was completely worn out, physically and emotionally. It had been just over three weeks since the CSI got the news from Felicity. The younger man wouldn't even say what had happened at first, but the fact that he was crying told Sebastian all he needed to; it had happened.
Whatever he had been waiting for.
The sensation of foreboding that led him to come to Central City in the first place finally lifted, and was replaced with confusion and concern for his little brother. He had clammed up for two days before Sebastian finally managed to convince Barry to tell him what had happened.
When he found out, he was beyond furious with Oliver Queen, for causing his sibling to suffer, and when he got the full story from Felicity? He wanted to track down this Merlyn guy and punch his fucking lights out.
But he couldn't: Barry needed him.
The past couple of weeks had been hell, but he suffered through it, because his younger brother was in pain and God knows what he would do if he was left to his own devices. Considering he was going to be a psychiatrist, Sebastian paid very close attention to the psychological and emotional behavior the CSI was displaying, and what he noticed was worrying.
His baby brother wasn't sleeping most of the time - certainly not well. At first he couldn't get to sleep at all, so he would come out of his room and they'd just sit on the couch and watch movies or something together, sometimes in silence, but other times they would talk. He avoided any and all painful subjects - Oliver, their parents, etc.
Eventually Sebastian would end up crashing, usually around three or four, and wake up to the sound of Barry having some kind of nightmare. It was different (in its own horrific way) every time. He ended up doing what he did when they were kids, wrapping his arms around the younger man and just holding him while they slept.
It was kind of sad that, in a way, this was the closest they'd been since they were teenagers.
Doing all of this was honestly okay. Sebastian didn't complain even once, or argue with any of the ridiculous things his brother did - even when Barry insisted on going to work when his face was ashen, with dark rings circling under his eyes.
However, when his brother suddenly fainted while he was getting ready to leave one morning? That was when the older man realized he needed help.
He didn't know what else to do, so he called S.T.A.R. Labs.
Convincing them that he'd managed to guess Barry's identity hadn't been too difficult, because in a way, he had. Plus, they were twins, he simply said that the younger of the two had never been able to keep things from him, and they'd accepted it right away.
He didn't plan on revealing his own "ability" any time soon, because he knew the damn scientists would want to do tests and other bullshit, and he wanted their focus to be on his brother only.
Dr. Snow ended up doing some tests on his brother while he was unconscious, and the results of them had pissed off everyone, especially Joe and Dr. Wells, the latter of whom he'd only met once or twice before. They demanded to know if Barry had been eating, and when he thought back on it, Sebastian was pretty sure he'd only seen him actually eat a couple of times. He'd either say he wasn't hungry, or that he'd grab something on the way to the precinct.
It wasn't until they told him about Barry's accelerated metabolism issues that it clicked, and Sebastian felt angry, too. Not just at Barry, although he definitely had a few choice words for the kid about that, but at himself. He'd been so worried about his brother's mental health and his lack of sleep he hadn't even noticed that he was barely eating. He'd lost several pounds in the span of two weeks, and judging by his dangerously low glucose levels it was a shock he hadn't passed out sooner than he did.
Barry's excuses when he woke up were bullshit.
As bad as he might have felt about what his brother was going through, it didn't stop Sebastian from agreeing with Caitlin and the others (they'd pretty much ganged up on him): he needed to start eating properly again. The younger man had tried to get Cisco on his side, but even the normally jovial engineer was completely serious about this, and he made it very clear that if he wouldn't take care of himself, he would no longer be allowed to use his "Flash suit".
It was hearing that and the threat of being held down and force fed if he didn't agree, that finally made Barry comply.
He might have been stubborn as fuck, but there was no doubt about it that he cared too much about the people of Central City to not help them when they needed it.
But Sebastian had enough experience of putting on a brave face that he knew when someone was lying about how they felt, and he knew his brother well enough to see that instead of actually getting (emotionally) better, he was just covering it up.
That theory was confirmed when he called Barry out about it, and the other man had responded by getting belligerent and angry, snapping at him, "You're not MY shrink, Bas, so quit acting like it!", and storming off.
After that, they fell into a sort of uncomfortable silence, not really speaking for most of the day.
When the night came though, Sebastian had jerked awake to the sound of his twin crying out in his sleep, and ran to his room, as he had every evening since the "intervention" when Barry began to refuse to let him help, and would grab him, ignoring his protests, and hold him until he calmed down, just like he did after their mother died.
Barry might have been mad with him now, because they were both stubborn little shits, but his brother didn't deserve to be going through this alone. He wouldn't let that happen.
However, now he was honestly beginning to wonder what he would do when he eventually ran out of fuel.
At this point, Sebastian was afraid that when he did have to go back to Boston, that Barry wouldn't be able to make it on his own. Okay, maybe that wasn't exactly fair, he still had his friends at S.T.A.R. Labs, but he could tell the other man was going to reach his breaking point, and he wouldn't know what to do when that happened.
It wasn't like he could have him committed, and even if he could, Sebastian wouldn't have been able to bring himself to do it.
Sebastian was silently going over that in his mind, trying to figure out what to do, when it hit him. He stiffened in place, blinking and shaking his head, before reaching out and snatching the remote from his brother's hand.
"Hey!" Barry protested indignantly, snapping his head to the side to glare at the other man with a frown. "I was watching that! What are you-" He stopped talking when the older twin hushed him, changing the TV to the news, broadcasting from Starling City.
"A riot has just broken out amongst a group of civilians and mobster Danny Brickwell. It's been over a week since he threatened the lives of official city personnel in order to force Mayor Castle to order all members of the Starling City Police Department to leave The Glades, which has seen a rapid spike in crimes such as vandalism, armed robbery, assault and other violent crime since-"
His brother was staring at the television with a horrified expression. They could clearly see the struggle between the Glades' citizens and gangbangers, who were using everything from guns to baseball bats and whatever else they could find.
"You didn't know about this, did you?"
Barry shook his head rapidly, looking angry for a moment, before his concern took over, "No, I haven't talked to Felicity since..."
He didn't need to finish, Sebastian nodded his head towards the door, "Go. Help."
The younger man was gone in a blur of yellow.
Barry hadn't been able to bring himself to actually visit Starling City since he got the news of Oliver's death.
It had been a complete shock. He'd been completely numb at first, the breakdown had come later. Honestly, he thought nothing could have been more painful than what he'd already been through in his life. Losing one of his parents to death, and the other to a wrongful convinction had been hard enough. Then there was what happened with Danny and Jen, drifting apart from his brother, and trying to come to terms with his sexuality.
Just when he thought he and Oliver were finally starting to understand what they were, sort of, he was ripped away from him before they ever had a chance to really be together.
The Kübler-Ross model postulated that there were five stages of grief, following the loss of a loved one.
Like everything that had happened after the accident, Barry supposed that he went through these rather quickly; the first week after his phone call with Felicity had been absolute hell.
But... at the same time, he seemed to be cycling through the first three emotions. First, it was the denial - that Oliver couldn't possibly be gone, he'd survived death more times than anyone, it had to be a mistake. They never found his body, after all. Then it was anger, at everyone - wondering what the fuck he was thinking taking off like that, and why the hell did the others just let him go? After the depression set in, he felt like he couldn't breathe, and he just wanted to curl and hide, let his misery have him. He didn't even get a chance to say goodbye...
Finally: he can't be dead.
Then the cycle would begin again. For three weeks he went through this, repeatedly, but he never seemed to reach the other two stages. He couldn't try bargaining, because there was no one to bargain with; Barry didn't believe in a higher power, not really, so that was out. There was also no way for him to accept what he'd been told. A bloody sword, in his opinion, was not satisfactory evidence. Until there was real, solid proof, he wouldn't accept Malcolm Merlyn's words at face value, and he couldn't believe that the others did.
As angry and heartbroken as he was, he knew he couldn't just by and do nothing. Had he known the Glades were in trouble he would have been there in an instant.
Even if Oliver was gone, Starling City had been pretty much everything to him, which meant that it was everything to Barry, as well. He couldn't let all of the sacrifices the Arrow had made to keep the people living there safe be for nothing, and even if Felicity, Roy and Diggle hadn't actually asked for his help, he had to.
For him.
By the time he got there, it was already chaotic.
Everyone was fighting, and he tried to locate the others, but it was dark and hard to even find Roy, whose costume should have stood out among the sea of black. He started helping out the civilians, who were starting to become overwhelmed by the mobsters, taking down several with quick hits to the head, at just the right speed and force to knock them unconscious.
That was when he saw a man, who he recognized as "Brick", beating a masked man who was already down, before taking out a gun.
Before he could move forward to stop him, a red-painted arrow lodged itself into his chest, making him cry out in pain.
Roy.
The younger man spotted Barry, grinned, and then took off to help the others.
He turned to help the fallen masked man, but saw a blonde woman in all black leather bending down to help him, and confusion swept over the speedster.
The Canary?
But... Sara was dead, wasn't she? Man, he really had been living under a rock. "You're going to be fine."
Hearing that, Barry narrowed his eyes at Brick's retreating form and started to go after him, only for some schmuck to jump him as he headed into the alley, slamming him up against, sending a shooting pain up his back, and winding him temporarily.
"Not another one of you freaks!" The man growled, pulling back a closed fist, before a sharp thwack echoed into the night and he down.
Barry blinked, there was a petite girl with dark, spiky punk hair standing in front of him, wielding a baseball bat.
"Who are you?" she questioned, cautiously, wondering if the guy she'd helped was on their side. She saw a goon and attacked first, without thinking.
"...The Flash."
The vigilante (or "blur") that had been on the news lately? She officially knew her life wasn't normal when masked superheroes with bizarre powers weren't considered fucking weird anymore, "Sin." She told him, before backing off, disappearing into the crowd once more to help her friends.
Shaking his head, Barry zipped further into the alley, ready to grab Brick from behind, when the large man suddenly stopped, staring at the man dressed in heavy-looking black protective clothing, including a garment that covered most of his face.
"Really?" Brick growled out, stalking forward, "How many more of you masks are there?!"
Barry gritted his teeth, knowing instantly that the Dark Archer had to be Malcolm Merlyn. Anger clouded his thoughts, and as they began fighting he couldn't help but wish that Brick lost, if only so he could take down the other man himself for what he'd done to the Queen family.
When Malcolm had a gun shoved into Brick's bloody face, though, he knew he couldn't just stand by and watch a guy get murdered, even if he was a scumbag.
"Merlyn!" He stepped out of the darkness, "Drop it."
The man looked up, and narrowed his eyes in confusion, not recognizing him, before apparently deciding it didn't matter, "You don't understand, he killed her!" He gripped the gun tighter.
Holding his hands up, he started to inch forward.
Barry probably could have used his speed to try to disarm him, but he didn't want to startle the man in case it made the gun go off anyways, "He's killed a lot of people. You're going to have to be more specific."
He knew if Merlyn killed Brick, he would have absolutely no reason to hold back from taking this monster out, but he wasn't a murderer, and it wouldn't be what Oliver wanted anyways. Because he had changed from the person he was when he first returned to Starling.
Still, Barry couldn't help but wonder about Malcolm. Oliver had told him a lot about Tommy, this man's son and his lifelong best friend, all the good things about him. Right now, he couldn't see any of those good things in the guy's dad, just anger and despair.
"Rebecca! She was my wife! I'm doing this for her!"
The young man's stomach dropped. Of course, he knew about this, Oliver had told him that, too. Losing her had been the reason he became an assassin and began the Undertaking in the first place. He had always assumed that Merlyn had killed the guy responsible for it a long time ago, though. For a moment, he imagined himself in Merlyn's place, with the Reverse-Flash laying where Brick was on the ground, and he hesitated.
"What?" The man groaned out, staring up at the barrel in his face, unflinchingly, and Malcolm grabbed him, furiously, "You don't even know her name, do you?"
He pistol whipped Brick across the face, and still Barry was frozen.
Logically, he knew he should stop Merlyn, but at the same time, he couldn't help but think that the world would be better off without people like Brick. People who widowed men and turned their lives upside down, who snatched the lives of innocent little kids' mothers away.
"Is this the weapon you used to murder my wife?"
Brick spat out some blood, "Every body I dropped was with that piece..."
How arrogant.
Merlyn's hands were shaking badly now, and he seemed to have completely forgotten about everything and everyone else at this point, focused entirely on his wife's murderer, "She was a good person. Decent, kind. She ran a clinic right here in the Glades."
"Brunette?" The mobster asked, before his head fell back, and he laughed, "Yeah, now I remember. She was my first. My initiation into the Orchid Bay Butchers."
Barry could see Malcolm's lips quiver, eyes flashed dangerously, "You murdered her because you wanted into a gang?"
He backed up, seemingly going into shock, and Brick took that opportunity to rise from the ground. "No... Because she was weak! Because she was crying, begging me not to kill her. But you won't get that from me, so come on! Finish it!"
Slam!
The mobster was on the ground again.
"Malcolm!" Barry was behind him in an instant, finally snapping out of it, putting a hand on his shoulder, as much as the man's presence infuriated and disgusted him, "Stop. You don't want to do this."
"Why shouldn't I? He killed her while she was begging for her life!"
"I know." He said quietly, "I understand-"
"Don't!" Now the gun was being shoved into Barry's face, "How dare you-"
The speedster knew he could disarm him rather easily at this point, but he still felt he could talk him down, "My mother was murdered in front of me when I was eleven."
Malcolm seemed to stiffen at that, and for a moment he thought he saw the killer's face soften...
Perhaps he was thinking of Tommy?
"My father was framed and convicted for it. I...I used to sneak into Iron Heights to visit him." He continued, putting a hand over the gun, lowering it when Merlyn n didn't stop him. "You can't see what he's doing, but Brick," he nodded sharply at the man on the ground, "He wants you to end it, that way he won't be rotting away in prison, or constantly looking over his shoulder, waiting for someone to take him down. Don't let him get away with a quick death."
"You...really gonna let some brat in a leather catsuit tell you what to do?" Brick edged him on, "Are you really that weak?"
He gritted his teeth and began to turn.
"Malcolm-" This time he did try to stop the man, but he pulled some sort of fancy martial artist's move and grabbed Barry by his right arm and wrenched it up, pain searing along his shoulder as Merlyn knocked him to the ground, "Sorry, Kid. But I promised her." He actually seemed sincere, but it didn't stop him from closing in on Brick with the pistol in his hand.
"This is for Rebecca!"
23 days.
Oliver had been away from Starling City for nearly a month.
He hadn't expected it to be that long when he returned home, that's for sure. But then again, he had discovered a lot of things he hadn't anticipated, like the fact that all police had been yanked out of the Glades, thanks to the mayor, and it had been over a week now.
Crime had been rapidly going up as a result.
No one was at Verdant when he got there, which was slightly surprising considering it was rather late in the evening, but at the same time a bit of a relief.
It gave him time to think.
He never expected to see Tatsu again, but learning what had become of not just Maseo, but her as well, was painful. He knew the loss of Akio must have been devastating for them. He could empathize to an extent, considering most of his family was dead, but he couldn't imagine what the death of their only child must have done to them.
Even so, he wished he could have convinced them to go with him.
And do what, exactly?, a cynical voice asked in the back of his mind, Get slaughtered along with the rest of you when the League comes back to Starling?
No, he wouldn't let that happen. Oliver knew the others would be pissed off at him when they found out he was alive, that was to be expected, but at the moment he had more important things to worry about. First, stop the Glades from breaking out into an all out bloodbath (again) at the hands of some criminal mobster, and then - figure out how to truly defeat Ra's Al Ghul and protect Thea.
From what he'd seen, the Glades were under siege, Danny Brickwell was extorting people using intimidation and violence, not to mention leaving a wave of destruction everywhere he went. He was lucky that the others hadn't thought to change the locks on the basement door, or the password for Felicity's computer system.
It was only then that he happened to notice that Roy's uniform wasn't on the mannequin, and figured that the others were already out fighting a, currently, losing battle. It didn't explain why a certain blonde tech wasn't here, though.
He didn't have time to worry about that, though, he had to stop the city from getting completely taken over by mobsters.
After this mess was over with, then he could talk to his friends.
He could see the looks of shock on Roy's and Laurel's faces when he showed up amongst the havoc, but he didn't have time to stop and talk to them.
Oliver took off to find Brick, unfortunately, he wasn't the first one. The sight which he walked into wasn't all that surprising, really. Except for the fact that Brick was still alive, for now. Danny Brickwell was on the ground, on his back, soaked in his own blood, his face almost unrecognizable, with Malcolm Merlyn sticking a gun in his face with trembling hands. He noticed someone rise behind him, and realized it was Barry.
How did he get involved in all of this?
Concern washed over him when he noticed the younger man gripping his shoulder, which appeared to be dislocated, before his eyes focused on Malcolm.
Apparently he'd tried to talk him down, and it hadn't gone over too well.
His lips pulled back in a sneer, "This is for Rebecca!"
"Don't do it!" He stepped out of the shadows.
Shock crossed Barry's face, but Malcolm seemed completely unsurprised. Hell, he probably had known Oliver was alive the whole time, it wouldn't have been that big of a stretch. "You're too late."
"Drop the gun." Oliver told him, calmly, "No more death."
Merlyn barked out a laugh that was edging on hysterical, "That's easy for you to say, you just returned from the grave. Again."
He moved closer, slowly, "Killing him won't balance the scales."
"When you've killed five hundred and three people, including your own son, you tend not to worry about scales." The assassin replied cynically, "And don't tell me it won't stop the pain and it won't bring her back because you don't understand!" He glanced behind him, "He does. Just ask him. If he could kill the one that murdered his mother, he would."
Barry looked away.
Malcolm seemed pretty shaken up, leaving the man to wonder just what he and the Flash had discussed, but Oliver had already known he was unstable, and brushed it off. "If I had taken care of him back then, it could all be different. The League, the Undertaking, Tommy..." His voice broke, and he sucked in a sharp breath, "Every choice I have ever made since my wife died."
"You make a different choice now," He urged, "For Thea."
His finger tightened on the trigger, and he shook his head at that. "Thea will never forgive me."
"Start giving her reasons to."
"I've been gone, and I'm sorry... Sorry for what the city has had to endure in my absence, but you did endure it, and the evidence of that struggle is lying at my feet. You did not fail this city, and I promise that I will not fail you by leaving it again."
The others were downstairs when he arrived at the Foundry, except for Laurel and Barry.
He wondered why they weren't with them, but figured the lawyer might have been checking in with her father, and the speedster was at S.T.A.R. Labs, getting his arm fixed. He'd taken off before Oliver had the chance to talk to him, just after talking Malcolm down.
"Sorry I didn't come by sooner," He said softly, as they turned around, and Felicity ran over to hug him, "I just wanted to check in on Thea..." He returned the embrace, taking in the scent of her perfume, which he thought he might never be able to do again once he left.
The blonde didn't let go until he assured her he was alright, "Merlyn told us you were killed."
"I was close." He admitted, turning to look at the guys, "And I'm sorry I didn't reach out sooner, I wasn't exactly in a cell service area."
Oliver smiled, and shook Diggle's hand, the normally stoic man was grinning also, "You kept the city together," he turned to Roy next, clasping the younger man on the shoulder, "Saved the Glades. Well done."
That was when he spotted a very familiar sword on one of the lab tables, sans half his blood volume.
"It's a gift," His friend told him, "From Malcolm Merlyn. He went looking for you."
"It's Ra's Al Ghul's, right?" Roy asked quietly, and he felt a dull throb of pain from where he'd been stabbed.
"Yep," Oliver said, and his partner seemed worried, "So what are we gonna do about him? I mean, if he finds out about Thea-"
"Merlyn and I are working on that," He quickly cut in, before bracing himself for shouting and protests from the three of them.
To his surprise, only Felicity seemed to object, "Sorry? For a second there it sounded like you said Merlyn."
"I need to know how to defeat Ra's." Oliver told her, sighing. "Merlyn has the knowledge."
She was staring at him in horrified disbelief, "Merlyn is a monster." He didn't disagree with that statement. "You're in this situation - Thea is in the situation - because of him." Was he out of his mind? Had he hit his head on the way down the mountain or something?
"Felicity..."
"No," The blonde snapped, "Just a few hours ago, I stood right here and swore that there was no way you would ever agree to work with Malcolm Merlyn, not ever." She shook her head, "I guess I was wrong about everything."
Oliver tried to say something, but she turned and walked passed him, "I need some air."
Her heels clacked on the metal staircase, "I'm glad you're not dead."
Well, he was having trouble believing that now.
Since he was half expecting Roy to crack some kind of joke to break the tension, and the fact that everyone remained awkwardly silent was a little offputting. But he figured that neither he or Diggle really knew what to say at this point, so they didn't.
Not knowing what to say either, Oliver headed upstairs, after Felicity.
She wasn't that hard to spot, even in the darkness, wearing that bright pink coat.
Oliver called her name, but she just kept walking.
"'I need some air' really means 'I don't want to talk right now'." Felicity snapped without turning around.
He sighed, yeah, he'd definitely screwed things up with her. Again. "I'm sorry."
"For what?" She finally looked at him, "Maybe you could be a little more specific. For letting us believe you were dead for weeks, or for abandoning every principle you claim to have by getting into bed with Malcolm Merlyn?"
...Disturbing mental image.
She backed up when he tried to get closer to her, and he exhaled, "That's not why you're upset."
Felicity's eyes flashed with anger and despair, "While you were gone for almost a month, I allowed myself to... f-fantasize, to dream that maybe, just maybe... Merlyn was wrong, that you were alive and that you would come back and that when you did you would be different, that almost dying again would give you a new perspective on life, that you would do things differently-" she stopped, blinking back tears at this point, and the sight pained him.
"Differently between us, you mean."
The blonde took a few steps forward, so she was looking right up at him, "Before you left, the last thing you said to me... was that you loved me." He swallowed, and nodded, he couldn't deny it. Emotions were running high while they said their goodbyes, and he had told her that, in the heat of the moment.
"Now you're back, and the first thing you tell me is that you're working with the man who turned your sister, a woman you're supposed to love, into a killer, who killed a woman you used to love." She took a deep breath, and met his gaze, steadily.
"...I don't want to be a woman that you love."
Felicity gave him a long, sad look, before turning and walking away, taking a piece of his heart with her.
When he returned to the basement of Verdant, Roy was the only one there.
"Where's Diggle?"
The young man shrugged, "Headed home for the night. Probably a tired, plus he has a kid and all..." he yawned, and the older vigilante frowned, because the kid looked kind of exhausted, and he felt a twinge of guilt. Obviously the team had been overworking themselves in his absence.
"You should go home, too, get some rest."
Roy smiled a little at the concern, "I'm fine, just a little tired from all the excitement tonight, you know? I-" his phone buzzed and he paused, "Just a sec." He checked his message, frowned slightly, and looked up, "You seen Barry?"
Oliver's own frown deepened at the question, "Not since the fight earlier - why?"
The younger archer quickly texted something back, and pocketed his phone again, "Just got a text from Cisco, he said the Flash never stopped by S.T.A.R. Labs to drop off the suit or something, and he's not answering his phone." Seeing the look on the vigilante's face, he added, "We kept in touch after the teamup thing with Harkness."
Well, that admittedly concerned him, where would Barry take off to with his shoulder all messed up?
"Don't worry, I'm sure he just went home or something like that. It's been a pretty brutal couple of weeks, probably needed to get some sleep." Roy told him, "I'm sure it has nothing to do with you."
His words caught Oliver's attention, "Me? What do you mean?"
Why would it have anything to do with him?
Roy hesitated, looking at the ceiling uncomfortably, "Well, I mean, you know. Weren't you two like... together, or something?"
Fuck, did it really seem that obvious that something had been going on?
"I haven't talked to Barry since before I left to face Ra's Al Ghul." Oliver told his partner honestly, not really sure how to reply to that. He didn't want to lie to one of his team members, but truth be told he didn't really know what he and Barry were supposed to be.
"Oh, right. I guess you...right..." He cleared his throat, awkwardly. "That's probably because Felicity might have told him you were dead." He said, and Oliver stared at him, a sense of dread overcoming him.
"Yeah, I mean, I don't know why she did, I'm pretty sure she didn't have a clue about you guys, but according to Cisco he took it...badly. But like I said, don't worry. Maybe he went for a run to clear his head, or took the train home?" he joked half-heartedly, referencing the time they all worked together and Barry admitted that he still did just that when he wanted a nap.
Roy headed passed him now, "I think I am going to head home, actually, hit the hay. But, uh, I'm really glad you're back, Oliver." He said quietly, before heading up the stairs.
The archer sighed heavily, staring at the only empty glass case in the room, realizing that he was going to have to go talk to Barry, which he hadn't gotten to do yet. He'd been focusing a lot on beating Ra's, and his poor explanation to Felicity meant he'd probably lost her for good.
Oliver couldn't stand to do the same to Barry, he had to go see the younger man, make him understand why he left. Then he was done messing around in the kid's life and causing him pain. The best thing he could do for the speedster and Felicity both was to keep things strictly professional from then on.
At least, that's what he kept telling himself.
So, definitely not how I expected this chapter to go. I'd totally planned to do option A, but instead ended up doing a combination of A and B, but because it was getting kind of long I decided to break it up into two chapters. The next chapter, I promise, has Oliver and Sebastian meeting for the first time, and some more Flarrow moments that I think will be just as fluffy as it is angsty.
Who's excited for the two of them to finally get together?