The King and His Queen

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Roy spent a good portion of his younger years trying to prove to the world (which really only consisted of his teachers and his father) that he's not going to be another statistic. By the time he's fourteen he realizes that's not going to happen. His teachers obviously don't care and his father? Well he can't find the time to swim out of the bottle except to tell him what a disappointment he is and blame him for his mother leaving. So, by the time he's eighteen he drops out of school, does the minimum work required to get his GED, moves out of his father's house the first chance and does odd, not necessarily legal jobs to survive. Ignoring his police record and the hand-me-down haven he calls an apartment, life is going pretty smoothly.

Then one day he assumes some little 'rich bitch' will be an easy mark for him, and finds out the hard way how wrong he is. The length to which Thea Queen goes to find him and get her purse back gives Roy a chance to really look at her. Her eyes give away the pain she keeps bottle up inside (later on when she finally opens up about her not so distant past he regrets ever using the vertigo story on her) and the hard stubbornness that keeps her from staying away from him, that convinces her that he's fixable, makes him wonder how many people have chalked her up to a statistic too. He wants to tell her that she doesn't have anything to prove, especially not to him, but no one has ever said that to him so he's not all that sure how to say it to her.

The first time she kisses him he hates himself for wanting her to do it again. In the days and weeks that follow he hates himself even more for being selfish enough to want her around. He knows one day he's going to fuck everything up, that's he's going to hurt her and prove that he really is just a criminal from the Glades who won't ever change, even for a woman who is dumb enough to love him.

When all hell breaks loose Roy is sure this will be the moment he's been dreading. The moment she begins to see him for what he really is. He surprises himself though. Jumping into the line of fire has never been his MO, but here he is, running into the most dangerous part of the city at the most dangerous moment possible to save the people who never thought he'd amount to anything. What surprises him most, however, is Thea's unwillingness to leave his side, her hesitation to let him go.

He finds her the next morning after the fires have been put out and the people are trying to put everything back together. She's built a fort out of his couch cushions and blankets in his living room. The television is tunes to the news, playing continuous coverage of the earthquake and all that applies. Thea's asleep in a mass of pillows, wrapped in the comforter from his bed, tears staining her cheeks. He doesn't really think when he crawls in behind her, pulls her close and falls into a dreamless sleep.

Thea spends most nights at his house after that. What used to be her home just feels empty now without her mother or brother and he really can't blame her for wanting to keep her distance. Eventually she finds purpose again in Verdant, turning her brother's hobby into a successful business. She opens her doors for anyone and everyone looking for a job. She holds fundraisers and collects donations of clothes, food and supplies. She even lets the mobile blood banks hold blood drives in the main hall of the club. Roy is fairly certain her very public and very selfless acts are the only reason the people and press are leaving her alone. That and the fact that she hasn't been to see her mother since her arraignment.

Roy watches her with a careful eye. He knows everything she does is to distract herself from the fact that her world is falling apart just as much as everyone else's. When Oliver returns it takes every ounce of will power not to deck him. Thea's happy to see him, happy to have her big brother back, but Roy can't get the image of her curled up on the floor after crying herself to sleep. He won't forgive Oliver so easily for abandoning her, and judging by the look on Oliver's carefully guarded face he knows exactly how Roy feels.

Roy has never been the nurturing type, he's not very good at being supportive, but Thea seems to bring out the best of him. So he does everything he can to be there for her, even when she tried to push him away. It comes as a big surprise to him that her mother likes him and wants him to stay. He's never been the type you bring home to meet your parents, but Thea doesn't seem to agree and neither does her mother for that matter. Now that Thea is out of her party girl phase, she's definitely the type of girl you bring home, and if his family were any kind of normal he'd be all too eager to show her off to them. His family isn't normal though and his father is not the kind of person you want anyone to know you're even related to.

Word travels pretty fast in the Glades, so he really shouldn't be all that surprised when his father shows up outside Verdant while he's taking empty crates out back. Roy takes one look at him, shakes his head and keeps walking past him.

"Now, is that anyway to greet your father?" Ben Harper asks as if he doesn't know how much Roy hates him. Roy still doesn't answer him, dropping the crates off and turning back the way he came. "Come on Roy." Ben steps in front of him as he tries to walk away. "I just wanna talk son." Roy's fists clench at his sides as he levels a fierce glare at the older man.

"Don't call me that." He tells him, his voice even, but dangerous. "I'm not your son and I don't want to talk." He steps around his father and keeps going, even as Ben yells after him.

"Hey! Don't walk away from me you ungrateful bastard!" Roy fights the urge to turn around. "You think you're too good, now that you're fucking that rich bitch!" the urge wins out and Roy's almost on top of him when Oliver's voice snaps him out of it. He turns slowly to find Oliver at the end of the alley.

"Thea needs your help." He tells him. Roy takes a deep breath, levels his best glare at his father and slowly walks back into the club. He has no doubt Oliver is using his best-I spent five years on an island doing ungodly things to survive, I'll show you first hand if you talk about my sister like that again-looks. He wishes he could see the effect it has. Oliver finds him later and tells him he doesn't expect his father to come back to Verdant. That doesn't mean that he won't try to get to his at home or out on the street. Roy can read between the lines, if Thea gets hurt it'll be one his head.

When two a.m. rolls around, Roy and Thea are just making it home. He's exhausted and Thea is giving him that look that tells him he won't be going to bed anytime soon. She pulls him flush by his belt loops and suggests they spread out on the floor in the living room (because Roy is stubborn and won't let her buy him another air conditioning unit for the bedroom, she's sweat enough at work she doesn't need it while she's sleeping thank you very much) and Roy is rarely ever capable of telling her no. He's all too aware now of how she always got her way growing up. He can't imagine her father had any more luck saying no to those big blue eyes than he does.

She changes into one of his old hockey jerseys-which even though it's from freshman year, it still fits her like a dress-and then spreads out blankets and pillows on the floor in front of the TV where he's watching the latest report on the 'Arrow'. She rolls her eyes at him before thoroughly distracting him with her mouth. He breaks away with a yawn and she laughs.

"Oh geez, I'm sorry Harper am I keeping you up?" she manages to make her question sound accusing.

"Mmm," He replies with a lazy smile. "I'm sorry babe, it's my boss ya know; she works me like a dog."

"Well, what can I say, you're the best worker I've got, and I'm not just saying that because I get to see you naked every night." Roy laughs, resting his hands on her hips as she straddles his lap. He pulls her down for another kiss. They take things slow, taking each other in in soft slow movements. Lovingly.

Roy pulls Thea to his side as they lay together wrapping the blankets around them. They're quiet, just basking in the warmth of each other. For some reason, the afternoon replays in Roy's mind and a question pops up that he's not sure whether he'll regret asking. "Thea?" he calls softly, not wanting to wake her just in case. She murmurs in reply sleepily. "Why…why me?" he continues and he's not sure she's still awake when she doesn't answer right away.

"What do you mean?" is her mumbled response.

"You're Thea Queen, you could have anyone. Why did you try so hard to get me?" once again he has to wait for an answer.

"We were meant to be." She finally tells him. "I could just feel it." She chuckles. "You're name didn't hurt either."

"My name?" he asks confused. He'd never really thought much of his name. It really wasn't anything special. Just a simple, ordinary, common name.

"Mmm," she yawns, snuggling deeper into his side. "Roy is French for King." He doesn't say anything after that, and eventually he can hear Thea's breathing even out as she finally drifts off to sleep. Sleep came slowly for him that night,