Title: Arrow Heart
Category: Smallville
Genre: Drama/Romance
Ship: Chloe/Oliver
Rating: PG13
Word Count: 1,491
Prompt: 20 Heroes, 1 Heroine
Summary: The best way to ruin an opponent was to aim for their heart and Oliver Queen's wasn't located in his chest, but in a snarky blonde sidekick.
Arrow Heart
1/1
Maybe it was bad timing or maybe fate had a cruel sense of humor. Maybe he should've been more careful and maybe he shouldn't have started it in the first place. There were a lot of maybes in an equation he wished never even came to fruition. The would've, could've, should've game was in full play but given the timing, he had to assume it was needed.
The old him would've been buried in a bottle by now; eyes deep in liquor and putting on a brave face despite feeling like complete shit. Instead, he hadn't looked twice at the bottle and the biggest maybe had to do with whether he'd finally learned his lesson.
He made a deal, a long time ago, when he'd been a different man on a very different path. And when Dark Archer came to collect, he didn't want to hear excuses or try to understand the new Oliver. He had only one mission then; destroy Oliver Queen. Oliver wished it was harder to do than his old mentor made it look, and given that he was still alive, maybe it was. But the man knew how to get to the very root of things and so he would set his eyes on the women in Oliver's life. One in particular became the breaking point.
Standing in his high-rise apartment, wishing things were different, Oliver was keeping tight-lipped as his guest waited patiently for him to spill already.
"I've got all night," she muttered, rolling her eyes. "You'll have to tell me eventually, so you might as well just get it over with."
She was tenacious and curious and in the end, he knew, she was even more stubborn than him. It wasn't as if she didn't already know all of his secrets, so what was one more? So he told her everything; from his history with Dark Archer to the latest in trouble between them.
"He'll aim for whoever's close to me…" he admitted darkly. "My weak links."
She scoffed. "No offense, but your weak links are all really strong women."
He frowned. "Two of whom happen to get caught by the bad guy entirely too much."
Pursing her lips, she shrugged. "Yes, but you'll note that we happen to get out of those sticky predicaments as well."
"With help."
She glared. "Not always."
He found his first smile in days. "Is this how you plan on cheering me up?"
Rounding the couch, she walked toward him with a grin. "Who said I was cheering you up? Maybe I just enjoy arguing."
Brows rising, he nodded. "You do."
Chuckling, she stopped a few inches from him, her expression becoming more serious. "Ollie… This guy doesn't know you… Not really." Staring up at him wonderingly, she asked, "What are you more afraid of? That he's here to collect or that he's right?"
Sighing, he reached out and touched a golden curl of her hair. "Who says I'm afraid?"
Rolling her eyes, she pressed her palms to his chest. "You don't think I can read you?"
He half-smiled. "Better than anyone."
She nodded. "So listen to me…" Pausing, she stared up at him until she was sure she had his full attention. "Dark Archer is wrong… You're a better man than he ever expected you to be. And whatever you agreed to before, it's null and void. Because that Oliver is dead… And this Oliver…" Her hand covered his heart. "Is very much alive and doing the right thing."
His palm slid across her hand, squeezing, and with a sigh of relief he leaned down until their foreheads were pressed together. "Thank you…" he murmured quietly.
She said nothing, instead wrapping her arm around his waist and hugging him close. For a few silent moments, they just held each other. It wasn't until the clock chimed midnight, a sign that he was meant to be patrolling, that they drew apart.
She grinned. "Back to work you go, Green Hero."
He chuckled under his breath before ducking his head low and catching her lips in a soft, lingering kiss. He couldn't remember the exact moment their friendship became more, but with each passing moment he became more sure it would last. His mind kept telling him it was time to go, to get dressed in his gear and keep the people safe, but each time he meant to pull back, he'd lean back in and peck her lips once more.
With a laugh, she cupped his face and separated their mouths. "We can finish this in a few hours."
Grinning, he nodded. Taking her wrist in his hand, he drew her hand down and kissed her palm. "Stay safe," he told her before walking backwards toward his secret room.
She scoffed. "Please! I'll be very safely cooped up in my tower while you're parading around the city on thin wires and trading insults with bad guys."
He laughed lightheartedly before changing into his gear, listening for the tell-tale signs as she took the elevator down from the penthouse.
Maybe he should've been paying more attention or maybe he shouldn't have fallen for his faithful sidekick. But in the end, Dark Archer had witnessed the obvious display of affection from his perch on a nearby building, and while Oliver readied himself to go patrolling, Dark Archer was setting his sights on Green Arrow's weak point.
When it was all over and she had a few stitches on her upper-arm to show for it, his first reaction was anger. At himself.
"Self-pity isn't the answer," she said, interrupting his thoughts.
There she was, sitting in the wake of disaster in her home, where she should feel the safest, with a bandage around her bicep and a stern expression on her face. She wasn't even shook up.
"And what is?" he asked roughly, turning away from her.
"I can understand being angry… With him… I can even understand being sad or scared, because there was a momentwhere I thought maybe this was it."
He whirled around, his face flushed with anger. "Don't say that."
She smiled sadly. "I can't say it but you can feelit?" Standing, she crossed to him. "Ollie… I almost died." She laughed humorlessly. "I won't say it's not a big deal, but I'll admit I'm kinda used to it."
He shook his head, turned away and brooded darkly, glaring at the broken glass and dried blood on her floor.
"You can't change what happened," she said from behind him. "And you can't control what happens in the future…"
His head ducked low and he knew what she meant. Already he was wondering if she might be safer without him; if it was smarter to break this off between them.
Her hand touched his back; light, gentle, supportive. "So you either face it… or you spend whatever time you have left dreading it."
And then she was gone, leaving him to think and consider and wonder about every outcome of the night.
If he hadn't gotten there; if he hadn't stopped it…
His eyes stung, his throat burned; his chest ached with the very possibility.
Dark Archer got it right in one… The best way to ruin an opponent was to aim for their heart and Oliver Queen's wasn't located in his chest, but in a snarky blonde who equaled him in every way.
With a dark scowl, he left her watchtower and went in search of Dark Archer. He would end this, now, tonight; forever. She was right, he couldn't control the future. There would be others; many who would come for him or her and maybe, one day, they might succeed. But this one wouldn't, Oliver would make sure of that. He wouldn't stand by and let it happen; he would face it and fight it. Because he was the hero she thought him to be and he finally knew that. There would be no wallowing, no drinking, no avoidance; it was time he accepted himself and his fate as it was.
He was Oliver Queen, the Green Arrow, a hero and a vigilante, and fighter for good and justice. He had made his mistakes, he was human, but he would do everything in his power to make things right. It didn't matter what others thought or believed, what mattered was what he thought and how he dealt with it. The hero in his heart was a live and well, it was scuffed but on the mend. Now it was time to put it out there and get back to the roots he was built from. No more pity, no more apologizing. If Dark Archer thought he could take aim at this Arrow's heart, he was dead wrong.
Watching from afar, a snarky Sidekick and proud lover watched on with a smile. Finally, her hero was back on his own two feet. Somehow, she knew he wouldn't stumble again. But if, by chance, he did… She would be there to catch him.