Soon enough, Roy had permanently moved in to Oliver's house. It was more then large enough for the two of them, but Roy was out the door as soon as he had woken up most days, as if skipping breakfast was preferable to spending another second taking charity from Oliver Queen. Oliver had no idea where Roy was going, and didn't ask. He wanted to bond with Roy, to have a real relationship beyond sharing a house. As much as he wanted to, he didn't, because he knew what forcing Roy to take charity would do, and he preferred not to have to spend months looking for the boy again.

Oliver decided that he wanted to talk to this boy that he knew next to nothing about, so, one day, as Roy was running through the hall, Oliver said "Stay." Roy slowed. He walked back to the breakfast table and sat down. He got himself some cereal and ate. Oliver tried again and again to make a conversation, but Roy just grunted in response. Oliver didn't understand why the young boy was acting like this. "Roy, we used to talk all the time, why don't you want to talk to me now?"

Roy sighed. "It's just that well, ummm…" Oliver was silent. He had the feeling that If he made a single move that Roy wouldn't continue. Roy blushed bloodred and looked extremely mortified. "IneverreallylearnedhowtoreadandIwanttogotoschoolbutI'mtodumbandyouwouldjustlaughatme." with that, he ran out of the room, leaving Oliver to try and decipher what Roy had said. He had said it to fast and quietly for Oliver to understand, but he vowed that he would help this boy with the sad eyes.

When Roy didn't return that night or the next, Oliver panicked. He searched high and low for Roy, and it didn't take him long to find the boy. Holed up in a dark alleyway with books, pen and paper, Oliver was confused as to why Roy was doing this. Eventually, Roy threw another paper behind him, and Oliver understood. On the paper was the alphabet, written in shaky, almost illegible handwriting. Roy was teaching himself how to read and write.

Oliver stood there for hours, watching Roy struggle to sound out the simplest of words and write the alphabet. His heart was currently being crushed into millions of tiny pieces as he processed this new information. He felt terrible that Roy hadn't trusted him enough to tell him this, he certainly wouldn't have laughed in Roy's face or kicked him out. Oliver realized that maybe Roy needed more of a father figure in his life then he had thought. Roy was muttering something to himself, and Oliver strained to hear what Roy was saying "I've gotta get this so that Oliver will like me… he doesn't know me.. I want Dad to be like him….he wouldn't want me if he knew..I'm just a broken kid.."

As he watched Roy start again on the alphabet, Oliver reached out his hand, and, without thinking, steadied Roy's helping him write out the alphabet. When Roy realized what Oliver was doing, he leaped up and started to run away, but Oliver beat him to it, engulfing the young boy in a hug. Roy looked mortified "How much of that did you see!" "Enough." Responded Oliver. Roy tried to force his way out of Oliver's grasp, but Oliver didn't let him go, and Roy eventually returned the hug. "Roy, I could help you learn."' Oliver offered. Roy seemed to consider his offer for a moment before responding "Well, you already know my secret and I have a feeling that if I say no then you won't let it go, so ok." Oliver smiled. "Roy, we'll get you reading in no time.