Brothers

"This is all your fault, you know," Roy said.

"How do you figure?"

"I told you to hold back, let me take the lead."

"I did! But that guy was right behind you!" Connor exclaimed.

"I saw him."

"No, you didn't!"

"Did too!"

"Are you twelve years old?"

"Look who's talking."

"I'm sixteen."

"And yet you still can't follow orders."

"Orders? You're not Green Arrow. I don't have to listen to you." Connor glared at Roy. The two of them were in a closet, wrists bound with rope behind their backs. It wouldn't be hard to get loose, but there wasn't a handle on their side of the door, so they weren't working very fast at cutting themselves loose.

"Yes , you do. One, Green Arrow's not here, so someone needs to be in charge. Two, I'm older. Three, I'm better at a bow and arrow than you. And four-"

"You are not better," Connor interrupted.

"And four, GA trained me a lot longer than he trained you."

Connor's voice gained a sharp edge. "Don't you dare. "

"Good to see there's actual emotions behind that Zen master thing," Roy said smugly.

"Shut up, Harper. Of course I'm angry. My father abandoned me as a baby. Left me and my mom."

"Yeah, well, my mom left me as a baby and you don't see me crying over it."

"Sure. Your whole 'mad at the world' thing proves that you're totally well adjusted."

"You're jealous," Roy said, with sudden realization. He softened his tone. "You're upset that Oliver chose me, that I got your dad."

Connor didn't answer.

"If it makes you feel any better, my life wasn't sunshine and roses." He lowered his voice. "My dad died when I was a kid. He was a firefighter, you know. One night, he didn't come back. A police officer came to the door. 'Sorry for your loss' and all that. Then he went back to his family, 'cause he still had one. Then my foster father died after a few years. Then Oliver died, temporarily, so I'm oh-for-three on living dads."

"Oliver's back," Connor said quietly. "We're not going to lose him again."

"Yeah? And you know that how? This is a dangerous life, kid. We're not going to live to see retirement."

"Says who? Some of us who look before we leap might make it. And don't call me kid."

"Whatever." They descended into silence. "Are they going to come at any point?"

"Green Arrow and Black Canary?"

"The losers who captured us. I'm getting bored. I wish they would just come in already." The door opened, and the two young men exchanged looks. They hoped that the bad guys' arrival was just a coincidence, because they had been sloppy by calling each other by their civilian names. It wouldn't be good for these thugs to figure out that Oliver Queen was Green Arrow. One of the men stood by the door, propping it open. The other two moved closer to the captives.

The shorter man drew a knife and tried to look menacing. The larger man went over to Connor and hauled the teen to his feet. "I'm getting real tired of capes interfering with my work. I move from Metropolis to Central City to here, and guess what? More heroes." He looked at Connor with disdain. "Not too hard to take down the young heroes, though, is it?"

"Tell that to your five men we knocked out cold," Connor said evenly. The man shoved Connor against the wall.

"Hey! Watch it!" Roy said.

"What, you his keeper or something?"

"He's my brother," Roy said. He saw Connor's surprised expression at the declaration.

The man chuckled. "Right. The two of you? Well, let's get this started. We beat the two of you up, and if I'm feeling generous, I'll let you live. You go home and don't mess with things too big for you to handle."

"I have a better idea," Connor said. "Red Arrow?"

Roy stood suddenly, the ropes falling from his wrists. He punched the man closest to him in the face and relieved him of his knife. The man went down like a stone. Connor dropped to the ground and swept the larger man's legs out from under him. Roy cut Connor's bonds and pulled the teen upright. Both heroes approached the last man, who was currently backing away from them. The man realized that he had a gun and was trying to draw it while walking backward. Roy grabbed the edge of the door before it swung shut. They stepped into the hallway and Roy knocked the gun out of the man's hand. The weapon skittered across the tile floor. "All yours," Roy told Connor, gesturing to the man.

Roy could swear that he saw Connor roll his eyes before the teen shoved the thug against the open door. "Where are our weapons?" Connor growled. Roy suppressed a smirk.

"D-Down the hall. On a table."

Connor knocked him out. He turned to Roy. "So. Thanks."

"For the save? Don't mention it."

"No, for-" Connor looked embarrassed. "Never mind."

Roy crossed his arms and waited expectantly.

"For standing up for me. I've never had a brother before."

"Yeah, whatever. Eventually, you'll need to stand on your own."

"Anything you say, big brother," Connor teased.

"Shut up, kid."

-End-