Roy woke with a start as he felt ice cold water come into contact with his skin. He shot up in bed like a bolt and looked around the room with wild eyes. They fell on a miffed Laurel who was standing above him beside his bed. "What the hell are you doing, Laurel?!" Roy asked, clearly aggravated by his rude awakening. He immediately grabbed his throbbing head after voicing his displeasure.
"Waking your ass up", Laurel replied with her arms crossed across her chest and the agitation that was coursing through her showing on her face. "It's 3 p.m., Roy. We need to get ready for tonight", she finished. Just then, Roy bolted completely out of bed and made a beeline for the bathroom with Laurel following behind him at a slower pace. When he made it to the bathroom, he shut the door behind him and the preceded regurgitate into the toilet. Outside of the bathroom, Laurel leaned against the wall near the doorway and shook her head while letting out a sigh. She would have to help him nurse this hangover. With that thought in mind, she went into the kitchen to grab some aspirin and make a pot of coffee.
A few minutes later, Roy emerged from the bathroom looking miserable. He heard movement and ramblings going on in the kitchen and slowly made his way there. When he reached his destination, he was met with the picture of Laurel setting a cup of coffee, a glass of water, and a bottle of aspirin on the small table. Laurel looked up at him and noticed that he was in nothing but his boxers. Her eyes sub-consciously moved down his form and she immediately adverted them back to his face. Roy was too preoccupied with the pains of his hangover to notice. He made his way over to the table at the same snail pace and sat down before the items. He set his elbows on the table and put his face in his arms. He felt absolutely awful.
Laurel sat down across from him with a sigh and took in the picture before her. He looked absolutely awful. Roy looked at her through his fingers and met her gaze. "What?' he asked his voice gruff and muffled.
"You need to sober up. We need you tonight and you still need to round up people as well", she replied softly. Roy groaned at that and dragged his hands down his face and then reached for the aspirin and glass of water. He downed a pill and sighed.
"How'd you get in?" he asked.
"You left the front door open", she replied." I came over because you weren't answering any of our calls. Roy, we need you, the city needs you to be on your A game." Laurel stated looking intently into his eyes. Her intense stare caused Roy to look away. Laurel reached across the table and grabbed his hand causing him to meet her eyes again. "Please, please do not touch a drop of alcohol for the rest of the day, okay?" was Laurel's plea. Roy looked at her strangely before nodding his head. Laurel smiled at him and squeezed his hand before getting up and leaving the house.
Later that night after the huge battle with Brick, Roy decided to celebrate the win and the return of his mentor with a drink at the bar inside the club. Tonight however, the Verdant was packed with people celebrating the win themselves. After Roy guzzled a shot, Thea came and sat by him. She turned to him with a smile. "Ollie's back", she stated happily. Roy looked at her and nodded knowingly
"I know. The Arrow's back as well. Isn't it strange how they both disappeared around the same time and come back at the same time?" he stated smartly. Thea frowned at him for a moment before replying.
"I guess it is a bit strange but it's just a coincidence", Roy took another shot. With alcohol swirling through his head and effecting his decision making, he decided to tell her the truth.
"No its not, Thea", he replied. "Think about it, really think about it. All the other times The Arrow disappeared so did your brother. Ever since he's been back from the island you said yourself how distant he's been from you. All the times he has bailed out for this reason or another', Roy explained while staring intently at Thea. He then took another shot of vodka. Thea looked at him mouth agape. He couldn't possibly be implying what she thought he was.
"Roy you're not saying-"Thea was cut off by the arrival of Laurel who sat on the other side of Roy. She sent a smile Thea's way before turning her attention to Roy. She opened her mouth to speak but before she could get a word out, Roy turned to her and spoke up.
"I don't think it's good for an alcoholic to be parked at an open bar", he told her with a sneer. He did not feel like dealing with her right now. He knew that she was going to spout her usually, hypercritical crap about his drinking.
"Roy!" Thea cried at his words. She was taken aback by his spiteful words toward s laurel. From her knowledge, she hadn't done anything to deserve it. Laurel's jaw clenched in agitation at his words.
"If that's the case, then you shouldn't be sitting here either", she shot back. Thea looked at her in shock while Roy looked at her with anger.
"For the last time, I do not have a problem!' he practically yelled drawing the attention of others around them. Thea looked around and noticed unlike her two companions who were having a staring contest. She scolded at them to keep their voices down while looking between them in confusion. She was taken aback by Laurel's words. They also made her think of the bottles of liquor that had been disappearing from the bar. Surely that couldn't have been Roy.
"I said the same thing," Laurel told him, her eyes and voice now softer. Roy met her soft, green eyes with a hard glare before looking away. Thea swallowed before speaking.
"Roy, how much have you been drinking lately? I noticed that there were some bottles missing from the bar. Was that you?" Thea questioned quietly. If he did have a drinking problem, then she could understand. She had herself battled addiction. Roy didn't acknowledge her as his jaw clenched at her words.
"It was", it was Laurel who answered. Roy's head snapped towards her direction and he gave her a look of rage.
"Thanks a lot, bitch", he growled before hopping off the bar stool and storming out of the bar. Thea called out for him in anger. How dare he talk to Laurel like that! Roy either did not hear her call for him or decided to ignore her as he continued on his merry way out of the club. Laurel watched as Roy left in a heap of anger and sighed. His anger was something to be expected, however, it was going to be tiring to fight through. She was not going to handle his addiction like Ollie handled hers (AN: That is not how to deal with someone battling addiction/depression. Realistically, Laurel probably would have committed suicide. Seriously). Instead, she was going to be patient and understanding with him. Though she feared that like with most cases such as herself, he would have to hit rock bottom before seeing that he had a problem. If it did get to that she would be there to help him.
"Dinah!" Laurel's head snapped to Thea at the sound of her first name. She looked at Thea in surprise while Thea looked slightly agitated. "I've been calling for the past 30 seconds while you were stuck in la la land. Anyway, I was trying to ask you how did this happen? Roy's drinking I mean", Thea asked her. Laurel shifted uncomfortably in her seat at the question answering that would mean coming incredibly close to telling her about Ollie.
"I don't know. I just noticed that he's been taking residence here at the bar lately. I think it started when The Arrow disappeared", Laurel answered nervously. Noticing her body language, Thea looked at the lawyer strangely. Her answer also brought something to the forefront to Thea's mind.
"Speaking of which, before you arrived Roy was talking about how it wasn't a coincidence that Ollie and The Arrow disappeared around the same time and came back at the same time", Thea stated. Laurel looked at her in alarm which gave Thea the answer she needed. "Laurel, do you know something that I don't?" Thea asked while giving Laurel a look of suspicion. Laurel struggled to find words to diffuse the situation and ended up telling her to talk to Oliver before leaving in a haste.
The next afternoon, Roy woke up groggily with a killer headache greeting him. He sat up and then sat on the edge of the bed putting his face in his hands. These constant hangovers were becoming too much. He felt absolutely miserable but it went beyond the hangover. He felt like there was some big dark hole that had swallowed him up and there didn't seem to be any way out of it. Except at the bottom of a bottle. however, that only seemed to numb the pain temporarily. and for the rest of the time he felt like crap. Being drunk also turned him into a major dick.
Roy grimaced as a wave of shame hit him over his behavior last night. He had been absolutely awful towards Laurel. She didn't deserve his rude comments and he needed to apologize to her the next time he saw her. What was worse was that he nearly blurted the big secret to Thea. In fact he hinted at it enough for her to put the pieces together. The alter egos of Oliver Queen disappearing and reappearing at the same time was strange enough but having The Arrow's sidekick practically spell it out for her most certainly told her what was up. Roy sighed at his thoughts before getting up and heading to the bathroom. He sat in front of the toilet and waited for the nausea to come, it certainly would anytime soon. After a few moments, it hit. He heaved whatever contents that there was in his stomach into the toilet.
After three rounds of heaving his guts out and washing his mouth out, he made his way to the kitchen. As he walked at a snail's pace part of him wished that Laurel was there again to help him out. As soon as he made it to the kitchen, someone knocked loudly on the front door. Roy made a move for the door until he looked down and realized that he was only in his underwear. He ran to his bedroom as fast as his hangover would allow to grab a pair of pants. He grabbed the pair from last night that was on the floor and pulled them on nearly getting tangled up. The person knocked on the door even louder as he struggled to get his pants on. When he finally achieved the goal of getting the pants on, Roy rushed to let the person in. When he reached it, he took a deep breath and opened it. He came face to face with a very pissed off Oliver Queen.
"We need to talk", Oliver growled before pushing his way into Roy's house. Roy stood nervously by the door as Oliver walked further into the house taking in the state of it. There were empty beer cans and empty liquor bottles spread about living room and it also looked like Roy had abandoned cleaning the house at all while he was gone. The beer cans and bottles matched to what Thea had told him. Seeing the state of the house in which he was paying the mortgage for pissed him off even more.
"Uh, wh-what about?' Roy asked in a shaky voice as he closed the door and walked over to Oliver. Oliver turned to face his sidekick, his face set in stone and rage blazing in his eyes. His hard glare made Roy shift and fidget uncomfortably.
"Thea talked to me last night and from what she told me I thought I could give you the courtesy of sleeping in on your hangover"Oliver stated with his voice quite and strained. Roy looked away from Oliver causing him to bark, "Look at me!' Roy jumped and immediately looked at him again with fear in his eyes. "She came to me asking questions about me being the Arrow because of the things you said to her, Roy! I had no choice to tell her about everything" Oliver said his voice rising in volume. Roy winced at his words, he really screwed up last night. "On Top of that", he continued, " you're not a drunk", he spat.
"I'm not a drunk!" Roy spoke up for the first time. He did not have a drinking problem and even if he did he didn't like the way Oliver said that. As though having s drinking problem made him beneath Oliver. Oliver's words resonated through him and they stung.
"You are! I heard about the nights you missed when the team needed you and I heard about you stealing bottles from the bar,"Oliver replied in a loud voice. His blue eyes were flashing and rage was painted on his face. He was disgusted with Roy's behavior just as he had been with Laurel. "Those are things that drunks do"Oliver took a deep breath to calm down before continuing,"you're off the team", he stated calmly. Roy's mouth fell open at that. Oliver couldn't do that.
"You can't do that! This is insane!" Roy cried.
"I can do this and I am. If drinking is more important to you than the city then I won't waste your time. Also, what little money I have left will not be spent on you drinking your life away. I want you out of here", Oliver stated coldly while waving his hand around gesturing to the house. Roy looked at his mentor or former mentor in disbelief. Where was he going to go?
"Where am I supposed go?! You're going to put me out on the streets for this?!" Roy asked angrily.
Laurel opened her apartment door to see a pitiful looking Roy with bags of luggage. Her green eyes shined with surprise while his brown ones looked at her with deep sadness. "Roy?"
"Oliver kicked me out of the house and off the team" he told her miserably. " I don't have any other place to go",
So, here is the third chapter. Oliver was a major dick here because he was a major dick in the comics to Roy when he found out about his addiction. He did in fact kick him out on the streets so that's why I have that aspect. In regards to Oliver paying the mortgage, Stephen Amell stated that Oliver has money in different assets and that his broke is different from ours. Please leave a review telling what you think and any ideas you may have for the story. Reviews give me life.
