Many people are to thank for the inspiration of this dynamic duo. An entire story wrapped around moments between these two that have never come to pass, but what had the potential to be beyond compare. Please brace yourselves as I fumble around, attempting to bring these two characters to life. I can only hope I do them some semblance of the justice that they both deserve so much. All editing mistakes are mine!
FINDING OUR WAY
CHAPTER 1: TO A NEW BEGINNING
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There was a lot of yelling going on upstairs. And not the cheerful, run of the mill, club happy yelling. No, this was more along the lines of, 'I can't trust you anymore, because apparently while I'm running a club, that we're supposed to do together, you're out spending your nights out as a crazed vigilante.' At least, that's what Felicity is gathering, as she sits at her computer station diligently watching Oliver Queen and Tommy Merlyn, best friends since before puberty, animatedly talk in front of the new security cameras she's had placed in the outer hallway their basement door at Verdant. Since signing on with him just a few short months ago; Felicity managed to talk Oliver into wiring motion sensors and a few well-placed security cameras in the club. It only made sense; reasoning that as there were now two more team members to be aware of entering and exiting Verdant at odd hours of the day. They would need to be more careful if they didn't want to get caught raising more attention than necessary. It's one thing if Diggle were to be seen coming in and out of Verdant, being Oliver Queen's designated body guard, but there are only so many excuses that would be plausible for her to be there. Normally, if a motion senor caught movement in the hallway, Felicity would bring up the feed and depending on who it was, would quickly dismiss the finding. On this occasion though, she was not going to turn her security feed off. Oliver laid bare his nightly secret to Tommy Merlyn just a week before, and to say things are off between them is a grievous error. Oh sure, they put on a good front for the public, at night when the club is fully packed, but during the day as they pretend to be ships passing through the night; things are intense. And it seems things are coming to a boil this early afternoon.
Queen Consolidated had officiated a holiday for their employees today, which is how Felicity found herself at Verdant with Oliver so early. She came down to run some server updates and go over the preliminary reports on their potential target for the evening. Oliver had strolled in some time shortly after her, and began running through a couple of training simulations, which Felicity will admit to, was very distracting to her work, but also enjoyable. After he finished, Felicity thought she heard him say he had to go upstairs and bring some extra water down to restock the small refrigerator they kept tucked away in the corner of their basement. Felicity had lifted her head and turned around from where she was working when she realized that a fair amount of time had passed and there was no sign of Oliver. She was about to carefully peek upstairs to see what was keeping him, when her security monitor beeped at her; alerting her to the motion sensor movement outside the door. Figuring it was Oliver coming back; she quickly went back to her workstation and flipped on the camera feed. And she was right. It was Oliver, only he wasn't alone. Tommy was with him, and neither looked particularly pleased with the other, which is where Felicity is left currently watching each friend start using more wild gestures at each other. For this reason, she's staying glued to the screen with her phone in her right hand in case she needs to call Dig if things escalate any further than they already seem to. Watching these two bicker back and forth with each other, it pains Felicity to watch. The anger and confusion on Tommy Merlyn's face is etched onto his features. Unable to understand what has truly driven Oliver to find himself the path that he's laid before himself. How he could have missed such a change in him as finding out that, his best friend, his own appointed brother, is running around town with a bow and arrow killing people, for reasons he has even yet to comprehend. Wondering how he's ever going to move past such a revelation and if it's even possible to repair what is completely and utterly broken between them.
Felicity has yet to meet Tommy Merlyn in any official capacity. Their eyes met once, as she was seen with Oliver coming into The Foundry, the night following the eventful day of the Dodger, who had that bomb collar around her neck. She still unconsciously rubs her neck from time to time with the uncomfortable and tightening feeling of how dire her situation really was. She can only imagine what was going through Tommy Merlyn's mind when he saw them going through the hallway that lead to the basement. It was late at night, and later than usual by club standards. She knows Oliver had recently mentioned her helping out around the club as a consultant. Tommy asking one day as he caught a wisp of her blond ponytail when she rounded a corner one late afternoon right before the club was supposed to open. In Oliver's world, she was, "on loan", in an unofficial capacity from Queen Consolidated's IT department. Which is actually, not too far off from the truth in some respects, but as Oliver is known for his horrid lies; she closed her eyes, cringing as she heard Oliver up ahead, while walking towards the basement, giving Tommy the excuse that there was a server malfunction that only she could fix, at 1:30 in the morning. Skittishly, as she made her way down the hallway following slightly behind Oliver, she and Tommy locked eyes with one another, which seemed like minutes, but was merely seconds. She's sure she had an embarrassed and uncomfortable look on her face, but attempted a half-hearted smile at him as she passed him by. Tommy on the other hand, had the smallest wrinkle in his brow as he walked towards her, looking over her once, and slightly turning his head to glance at her face in passing. She could see the small upturn of a smile start at the corner of his lips before shaking his head and continuing on to the main area of Verdant. Then it seemed as if time sped up again and she continued on with a head shake of her own. No, she may not have met Tommy Merlyn, but she knows some of the stories, and the bond he and Oliver have shared most all of their lives.
Watching the monitor now, she sees how upset Oliver is, but not at Tommy, not really. She sees what really lies beneath the mask Oliver is wearing. The upset look upon his face is not one of anger, but of fear. Fear of losing the one person who he knows he's always been able to see him through the good and the bad. He wants so desperately for Tommy to understand, but doesn't know where to begin. And so they're both lost at sea at this moment in time. A rift, tearing them apart to opposite ends of the world, and Felicity wants nothing more than to see them overcome this. And they will. She knows deep down in their bones they can overcome this. She just has to convince them to believe in one another. Startled out of her thoughts, Felicity hears the bang of the door upstairs; glancing up towards the noise, then back to the screen in front of her. She sees Tommy pointing at the entrance to where she's residing. Debating back and forth what might happen next, she sees that it appears both men have calmed down some, and Oliver looks as if he's going to unlock the door, his hand hovering over the keypad. Noticing his hesitation, Felicity quickly shuts off the monitor screen and starts walking to the alleyway exit of their basement. With her phone still in her hand; she texts Oliver and tells him, she's leaving for a few hours while updates run their course. It's one thing to have Oliver show Tommy around their basement, it's another to have to explain her being there. It'll just be one less thing they both have to deal with today, and she rather not have either get aggravated and defensive again after it seems they've come to a calm resolution for the moment. As she quietly slips outside, she hears the tell tale signs of the door unlocking above. She can hear their voices now as they trickle down the stairs, and smiles unknowingly to herself when she hears what Tommy has to say.
"Ollie. No offense; but this seems way too sophisticated than what you're capable of."
And for the first time since Tommy has known about Oliver being the vigilante, she can almost hear them turn to each and baulk with genuine laughter. As she cracks the door closed and walks to her car, Felicity thinks that maybe just maybe, things will be alright.
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Review and tell me your thoughts on this first installment?
