Prompt: "Coming home to someone is many things. It is a literal action, an abstract idea, a physical feeling. It is more than the sound of the key turning in the door and the voice that calls from the porch. It is a choice, a promise, a declaration. It is a return, not as a person to a place, but as oneself to another. It is one individual saying to another: 'You are the one I choose'." - Unknown
Written for the Olicity Hiatus Project
Home. For the five years that he was away, Oliver had dreamt of going home. At the beginning he'd just wanted to get back to his bed, to his house, to his life. However, as time went on, home became less of a place and more of an idea. Home was somewhere far away from where he was. Home started to feel like a place where he wouldn't belong.
When he finally made it back to Starling, it didn't take him long to realize that he hadn't really come home. While his room may have been unchanged, he was not. He was no longer the boy who'd grown up there, the man who'd refused to grow up there. He was someone different, and the Queen mansion was no longer his home.
Home was supposed to be comfort, to be safe. Oliver hadn't felt either of those things in a long time, and as the weeks passed, he continued to feel lost; he continued to miss "home". He wondered if he would ever find it again.
"Come home."
In the factory that had once been his father's, Oliver started to create a new home. Although not an environment that most would consider to be home-like, the Foundry was a place that Oliver could be himself. A place he could let down his mask and just be.
At first it was just a hideout, a place to get away. Then Diggle came along, and Felicity, and it became as much a place to gather, as it was a place to be alone.
"I need you here."
His time away had taught Oliver to rely on himself, to rely on his own instincts, his own abilities. For five years, he could trust no one but himself. Returning to Starling, he had kept everyone at arm's length, and intended to keep it that way. However, as he began to create a new home, as he began to involve others in his mission, he started to learn to trust again.
Being away taught him that he didn't need anyone, but coming home had reminded him that he did. He didn't have to be alone, but more important than that, he didn't want to be alone. When Diggle needed to go to Russia, Oliver went with him. He wanted to be there for him, to fight at his side. When Felicity was in Central City, he began to feel like a part of him was missing. He hadn't realized how much he relied on her, how much he needed her, until she wasn't there. They were his partners, his family.
Together, they could face anything. Against all odds, they had defeated Slade. A lot had been lost along the way: Oliver's mother, Queen Consolidated, even the Foundry, a place that Oliver had started to call home. Still, Oliver was able to feel at peace.
"Let's go home."
Oliver had never been happier to hear those three words, than he was on the beach that day. For in that moment, he realized that he had found it. He had found his home. It wasn't Lian Yu, and it wasn't Starling City. Home wasn't a building and it wasn't a place; it was a feeling.
Home was his team, his partners, his family. Home was being with his brother in arms and the woman he loved. And Oliver was already there.
