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[For Derek, June 29]
Wrapping up at Semele's the night before hadn't taken long, and Oliver was happy to call it an early night and take Felicity home after Thea left with a quick goodbye. It was nice to have nights like that, where he got to simply be with Felicity and Thea -- to hang out at a friend's bar with those he loves most and do normal things. Those sorts of moments are becoming more common in his life, and the only thing that really stands between Oliver and Thea anymore is the Arrow.
He isn't sure if he's going to tell her yet. Though he saw a possible future in that Seeing Stone where she didn't turn away from him or hate him for it, he isn't sure he can take the chance on telling her. Thankfully, the Arrow doesn't get much press at all, and Thea probably hasn't put two and two together yet.
Not having seen Derek leave the night before, Oliver shoots him a text after his usual workout at Off the Wall. Coffee, breakfast, whatever would work. He knew how to be friends with Porthos, had fallen into a comfortable routine with the musketeer (one that usually involved either punching or drinking), but he was in the midst of figuring out how to be friends with Derek.
It still startles him from time to time to think about the relationships he's forged here, friendships made just by being himself. Maybe it's not a complete version of himself, not the whole that only Felicity ever sees, but it's an improvement from his first two years after returning to Starling.
After a quick shower and a brief call to set up a lunch date with Felicity, Oliver heads out. It's still a little strange to be doing this, to be going through the motions of what normal people do -- have beers, hang out, drink coffee -- but he finds he's missed it a little. Maybe he'll never have the same friendship he ever had with Tommy, and not having Digg around is like missing a limb, but this can be good enough.
He isn't sure if he's going to tell her yet. Though he saw a possible future in that Seeing Stone where she didn't turn away from him or hate him for it, he isn't sure he can take the chance on telling her. Thankfully, the Arrow doesn't get much press at all, and Thea probably hasn't put two and two together yet.
Not having seen Derek leave the night before, Oliver shoots him a text after his usual workout at Off the Wall. Coffee, breakfast, whatever would work. He knew how to be friends with Porthos, had fallen into a comfortable routine with the musketeer (one that usually involved either punching or drinking), but he was in the midst of figuring out how to be friends with Derek.
It still startles him from time to time to think about the relationships he's forged here, friendships made just by being himself. Maybe it's not a complete version of himself, not the whole that only Felicity ever sees, but it's an improvement from his first two years after returning to Starling.
After a quick shower and a brief call to set up a lunch date with Felicity, Oliver heads out. It's still a little strange to be doing this, to be going through the motions of what normal people do -- have beers, hang out, drink coffee -- but he finds he's missed it a little. Maybe he'll never have the same friendship he ever had with Tommy, and not having Digg around is like missing a limb, but this can be good enough.
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Instead, he pulls his phone out and calls Thea as soon as he pushes the door open. When her voicemail comes up, Oliver hangs up and texts Thea instead. Just a quick I'm coming over with no explanation and no checking to see if she's actually home.
He'll wait in the hall all day if he has to.
When he makes it to her building, Oliver takes the stairs two at a time until he hits her floor. The anger has dissipated somewhat on the walk over, only to be replaced with a very familiar frustration that only Thea can bring about.
He knocks, hard. "Thea! It's Ollie."
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She hasn't actually looked at her phone, but having Ollie show up at her door isn't that big a surprise. "Hey big brother," she says with a grin, leaning against the door as she swings it open. "I just made coffee if you want some."
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"Derek?" he asks Thea, disbelief lacing the anger in his voice as he jumps right into it. "You only met him last night, Speedy."
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"Then that's a no for coffee?" She sighs and turns, leaving the door open so he can come in if he chooses. Thea feels like a little girl who's lost her balloon; one moment happy and blissful and the next distraught as she watches something she'd loved even briefly float up toward the clouds.
She stops when she hits the kitchen, going through the motions of making her coffee deliberately. Each movement is a way for her to focus, a meditation and a reminder not to yell at her brother and remind him the myriad of ways this is none of his business. She wonders, not for the first time, what Ollie would do if he knew she'd learned this from Merlyn.
"Actually," she says as she adds the milk, her voice dangerously calm and even. "I have met him before last night, not that it's any of your concern."
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"My little sister slept with my friend, Thea. It's a little hard to not be concerned."
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"Do you really want to do this? Make a lIst of people I can and can't speak to?" She'd done a lot more than talk with Derek, but the principle is sound in her mind.
Thea starts to silently count to ten, only making it to five before she speaks again. "Where does Roy fall on that list? What about my father if he showed up here? Should I run everyone past you?"
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She'd been angry, so angry about being lied to for so long, and then as she came to with what it meant to be Malcolm Merlyn's daughter. To have lost Tommy without realizing he was her brother, to be related to that man.
"I'd hope you wouldn't want anything to do with Malcolm."
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"Does it matter what I want, or does it matter what you want, Ollie?" Thea puts the mug down carefully and deliberately. There's so much time between them and so much she wants to say to him about those months. She wants to tell him that they've had this fight already, and that family was important to her, all of her family. She wants to tell him that Malcolm was the one who showed her how to be safe; to take care of herself. She's always hated Ollie's secrets, but now here she is with secrets of her own.
"He's my family, and I don't have a lot of that left. None of us do."
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He knew Thea was a grown up and had a mind of her own, but he'd never expected this.
"Family?" The man had so much blood on his hands, including that of his own son. "Dad loved us, Thea. He loved both of us. More than you or I ever knew."
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"Dad lied to us, and so did mom. But I guess so did you. It must run in the family." There's a part of her that's still hurt by all of that betrayal, something she rarely lets herself feel. She forgave her mother, she tells herself, but forgiving and letting go are two different things.
"Everyone who's said they loved me left me. Roy, you, when things fell apart you were never there." Thea is saying the things she swore she wouldn't, but she was angry now. "It was Malcolm who saved me in Starling. Malcolm who showed me how to not be afraid any more. He may not be perfect, but none of us are."
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The Arrow gone on to saved the city and they'd stopped Slade and his army, but Oliver hadn't even known his own sister had been in danger. "I thought you'd left," he tells her, the strength in his voice fading with each word. "I didn't know you were still in Starling, Thea. I would have come for you."
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"Sure. Right after you finished doing whatever it was that was more important than your family. Again." The words are more cutting than she intends them to be, but he's apologised and promised what seems like a hundred times. He always means it, and Thea always forgives him.
"You're my brother and I love you Ollie, but this is my life, not yours."
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Maybe now that there isn't something pulling him away from Thea every moment of every day, he can open up to her.
"You're right." About every little bit of it. "I'm sorry, Thea. You're the only one I have left, and I just...I want you to be safe. And happy."
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"I know you do." The thing is, she does know it. She knows that he's here because he cares and that no matter how many times they have this fight it will always end the exact same way. Those years apart hurt them both, and put a distance between them, and the years since haven't treated them that well either. "So can we not do this again? Fight?"
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"I promise to try, Speedy." Needing to make sure they're okay, Oliver pulls her into a hug and kisses the top of her head. "We're both pretty stubborn so I can't say we'll never fight, but I'll do my best."
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"Life would be easier if you just agreed with everything I said," she says sweetly, letting him pull her close. That will never happen, and she's not always right. She knows that too. For now, however, it feels like their fight has passed, and she can pretend for a little while things are all okay.
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