Arrow's Flashpoint

Summary: When Barry Allen learned that his crush, billionaire playboy Oliver Queen, and his hero, the Starling Vigilante, were one in the same, it turned his whole world upside down. The accident that made him the impossible also allowed him to get closer to the Arrow than he ever dreamed. But Oliver didn't know how the kid had managed to weasel his way into his heart; until it was too late.

Pairing: Oliver Queen X Barry Allen (aka Flarrow). Mentions of past relationships and crushes will occur, including; Linda, Sandra, Iris, Felicity, Shado, Helena, Isabel, Laurel, Becky, Sara, Nyssa, OC, etc... Aside from that, pairings are canon.

Warnings: Action, Adventure, Alcohol, Amnesia, Angst, Assault (Physical), AU-ish, Bisexuality, Black Comedy, Bullying (Mentioned), Character Deaths (Minor Canon & OC), Child Abuse (Mentioned/Implied), Crime, Dark Themes, Depression (Mentioned), Drama, Drugs, Family, Fluff, Friendship, Homosexuality, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Inappropriate Humor, Language, Lemons, Love, Medical Babble, Mixed Fandoms, Murder, Non-Beta'd, Non-Canon Pairing, Possible OOCness, Psychiatric Talk, Religious Talk, Romance, Science Babble, Self Harm (Implied), Sexual Abuse (Mentioned), Sexual Themes, Slash, Song Lyrics, Spoilers, Suicidal Thoughts (Implied/Mentioned), Superpowers, Time Travel, Twins, Violence, etc.

Point Of View: 3rd Person POV, past tense, story form, italicized thoughts/flashbacks/dreams. The main focus will either be on Oliver or Barry, depending on the scene. If they're both in the same scene, chances are it'll alternate between the two of them.


Oliver was by no means a heavy sleeper.

Several years of having to constantly be alert and ready to defend yourself from death would do that to you, but not only that, he was also a borderline insomniac. He usually put off going to bed for as long as he could, because he knew all that awaited him would be lost figures of the past standing in the shadowy recesses of his mind, watching him, waiting.

It was rare for him to get a good night's sleep.

And yet, upon waking that morning, he found himself feeling unusually well rested and refreshed - it took him several long moments to realize why exactly that was. Perhaps his grogginess could partially be blamed, but he hadn't thought much about how comfortable he was until he actually opened his eyes and looked down.

Laying there, half curled up against his body, head on his chest (right over his heart, in fact), was Barry, still fast asleep. His good arm was wrapped loosely around the vigilante's torso, his smaller frame moving ever so slightly with each soft breath that he took.

He looked so peaceful...

The lines in his face - brought on by stress, pain, and an all too-active mind - were gone, making him appear even younger than he already looked, as impossible as that seemed.

Was it the presence of the younger hero by his side, he wondered idly, that allowed him to sleep uninterrupted for once?

It would be an interesting twist, what with Oliver having stayed last night in order to help Barry get some sleep, only to have it work the other way around too. Without really thinking too much about his actions, the older man lifted the hand that wasn't trapped between his own body and Barry's, and began carding his fingers through the sleeping boy's hair, his emotions running wild.

He found himself tracing every contour of Barry's face, gently, and despite the oddity of it, he was unable to stop. His thumb brushed over the speedster's cheek, tracing under his eyes, and over his lips.

"Oliver..." He froze, thinking he'd been caught, but the kid simply shifted as if to get more comfortable, snuggling his warm body up to the older man's even more, a dopey smile on his lips that showed he was, indeed, still very much asleep.

While dreaming about Oliver.

A sudden unexpected and ovewhelming flood of affection rushed through the former CEO, as he stared down at his slumbering friend, beginning to realize - and not for the first time mind you - just how much he'd screwed himself over by allowing things to progress this far.

He almost wanted to say that what happened yesterday, their second kiss, had been a mistake.

But that would be just one of many lies that he told, and he knew Barry wouldn't be as inclined to believe him this time around, not after all of their revelations which had come into light, so he settled for being simply wary, of where this...thing between them would end up.


About an hour later, the younger man began to stirr, and Oliver was pulled from his thoughts, glancing down.

Barry shifted and his eyes fluttered open, a sigh passing his lips, and for a moment everything was utterly silent, as he soaked in the soft rays of the rising sun. He felt comfortable - cozy, even.

That's when he heard someone speak up, "Good morning."

He shot up faster than a speeding photon, nearly tripping as he catapulted himself off of the bed.

If he hadn't looked like a cornered animal, the archer probably would have laughed at his exaggerated reaction.

Oliver sat up, "Barry?" Green eyes flickered in his direction, wide and frightened, but also confused. "Kid, you okay?"

The police forensicist seemed to calm down, once he realized who it was that had spoken to him, and his face flushed lightly, "Um, y-yeah. I just... you took me by surprise..."

"I didn't mean to freak you out."

"It's not your fault," Barry tried to reassure him, attempting to explain, "I-I live alone, and I've never woken up with anyone beside me, so it's a little weird, that's all."

"Never?" he found that a little hard to believe. "What about college?"

Even if the kid didn't date much when he was younger, shouldn't he have at least had a roommate in college?

Shrugging, the hero headed back over to sit cross-legged on the edge of the bed, apparently over his discomfort. "Aside from my brother? Nope. I lived off campus. And I didn't really go out much, I mean, there was Becky and-" he cut himself off abruptly, running his tongue over his lower lip, oblivious to the older man following the action with his eyes, "But... they never really slept over or anything, so..."

"Where did you go after you graduated from high school?" Oliver asked, curiously.

He found himself wanting to know more about the younger man, because as much as they had spoke in the last couple of months, it hadn't really been anything deeply personally. Just exchanging advice, sharing thoughts on whatever they happened to be working on at the time, etc...

A slight smirk appeared on Barry's face, "You don't know? I thought after having Dig search into my past..." he trailed off, full out grinning at the look of dismay that Oliver gave him.

"All I had him do was call CCPD and Google your name, it's not like I had him gather a file on you or anything."

He chuckled, smiling, "In that case - I went to Florida, and attended Sun City University on a scholarship. Double-majored in Forensic Science and Organic Chemistry/Physics, with a minor in Criminology."

"Why Florida?" he questioned him.

"You already asked your question!" Barry said, with an almost pouty expression on his face. "That's not how the game works, I should get to ask you something."

Fair enough.

Oliver chuckled, as he stood up, because he had a feeling the kid would play it like this. "Okay, go ahead. I'm going to go make breakfast, feel free to ask away though."

He seemed surprised by that, not having expected the older male to agree, and headed out of the bedroom to follow him.

"Um, favorite gemstone?"

Giving him a look that said 'seriously?' as they headed to the kitchen, the archer really didn't have to think too hard about it, answering almost immediately, "Emerald."

"Because it's green?" Barry inquired, still tailing him, "Or because it's your birthstone?"

Oliver hadn't actually known what his birthstone was, though he didn't say that.

He considered that for a moment, and found himself looking into the speedster's bright, intelligent green eyes, causing him to lose his train of thought momentarily. "Er...all of the above," he finally answered, in a distracted manner. "What about you?"

"Well, my birthday is in March, and has a bunch of different birthstones depending on the source and region as well as actual date. It's sort of disputed, but generally agreed on being Aquamarine, Amethyst, Jade, Jasper, Bloodstone-"

The elder of the two cut him off, "I meant, what stone is your favorite?"

"Oh... Um, in that case, Turquoise."

Interesting choice, if anything he would of guessed ruby or topaz, or something else red or yellow, since those were Barry's favorite colors, as far as he knew.

"Any particular reason why?"

Barry looked at him, and then immediately averted his gaze, "It's just nice, and, uh..." he mumbled something under his breath that the other man didn't quite catch.

"Hold on, what was that?" Oliver asked, wondering why the forensics investigator suddenly looked so red-faced.

"Mostly, the um... hue of the stone. It..." He ran a hand through his hair, and quickly said, "It reminds me of you."

Wow.

He certainly hadn't expected that.

"Me?" The confusion and shock in his tone must have been evident, because Barry glanced up, worrying his lower lip between his teeth, to the point that the vigilante wondered how it wasn't hurting him.

"Your eyes, specifically," he told him, softly, "They're blue, obviously. But not like Sapphire blue. They sometimes look blueish-green, which Turquoise is sort of known for, and sometimes they have these little flecks of grey..." Barry trailed off, sighing, "It's weird, isn't it?"

Not weird, at least, not to him.

"You like my eyes?" His voice was incredulous now.

The boy flushed, feeling like an idiot, "Well, yeah, I mean, they're very...pretty."

Oliver really didn't know what to say about that, "Thanks?"

He didn't tell him out loud, but the fact that Barry had paid that close attention to his eye color was rather flattering, he felt pleased by the knowledge.

Deciding to change the subject, he asked, "Are you hungry?"

"Always," Barry answered instantly, clearly having no problems of moving on to a different topic, "Side effect of super speed, my accelerated metabolism causes me to develop acute hypoglycemia and pass out sometimes if I'm not careful." Seeing the concerned look on his mentor's face, he quickly added, "Only if I forget to eat though, which isn't often, so it's cool. Cisco and Caitlin actually made up these high-calorie protein bars for me, which usually does the trick."

"Alright, I'll make breakfast, are you allergic to anything?"

"Cats," The speedster told him, matter-of-factly, "Oh, and no brussel sprouts."

Oliver tilted his head to the side, "You're allergic to them?"

"No. I just won't eat them." He said firmly, and the conviction behind it made the older male laugh, because wow, as mature as he was it seemed like Barry still had some childish traits left. It was kind of endearing. "Do you need any help?"

"I think I've got it covered." Seeing the frown on Barry's face, and figuring the kid just wanted something to do, he told him, "Maybe you should head over to Starling Plaza, it's the hotel where the others were staying at. While you were asleep, Caitlin told me if you were feeling up to it to swing by so she could take off your casts and make sure everything was alright." He paused, "How are you feeling, anyway?"

"A lot better," The brunette answered honestly, "At least, I no longer feel like my entire body is one giant, pulsating bruise. I guess I'll do that, and tell them thanks while I'm at it..." he trailed off, and then sighed, "I'm sorry, for the record."

"Hmm? What for?"

Barry crossed his arms, a little awkwardly, "I know I had you all so worried about me, and I hate doing that. I know I should have called them, or Joe or you - somebody, but as soon as I saw the guy... I couldn't think straight, all I knew was I wanted to get him before he hurt or threatened someone else I cared about."

"You don't need to apologize, Barry." Oliver said once the boy was finished talking, "I know what it's like to want revenge, to be so angry that it clouds your judgement. It took awhile for it to really sink in, but when there's people in your life who want to help - I say take it, because they wouldn't have offered if they didn't care."

A warm smile flickered across the younger man's face, "You're right. Thanks."

"No problem, now go see your team, I'll be right here when you get back." He commanded, his tone light.

The speedster was gone in a flash.


It didn't take Barry long to locate the hotel.

However, only once he arrived there did he realize that he had no clue what rooms Cisco or Caitlin were in, whee they were sharing a room, or even what floor they were on, Starling City Plaza was HUGE. Sure, he could have always just gone to the front desk and asked, but given how he was dressed, he had a feeling they might not tell him.

So instead he settled for simply swiping an extra set of keys from the manager's office and using his speed to check every single room until he found them.

Thankfully, he didn't accidentally walk - or rather, run - in on anything he shouldn't have while doing so, which was statistically most likely to happen especially when combined with his horrible luck in general, but maybe the universe decided to give him a break this time around.

He found Caitlin on the fourth floor, they were staying in a double suite.

When Barry made his abrupt appearance, she didn't even bat an eye, having so gotten used to it at this point that it no longer startled her, she was sitting at the edge of her bed thumbing through some bad romance novel, probably left behind by a former guest.

"Hey," he greeted, "Oliver told me that I should stop by and-OW!"

The young man was now glaring at her with confusion and annoyance, rubbing his now aching shoulder. Caitlin was a LOT stronger than she looked. "What was that for?!"

"Because you're an idiot," The doctor replied icily, but her expression softened a few moments later and she stepped forward, ignoring his flinch, and wrapped her arms around him, "Don't do that again. I was worried sick. You're lucky I only punched you, because I have a feeling that Dr. Wells and Joe are going to do way worse when you get back."

Barry smiled slightly, and patted her on the arm, "Sorry, I guess I got caught up in the moment. Thanks for the heads up though." He glanced around the room, and his eyebrows knitted together.

Where was Cisco then?

"He's at the arcade." She told him offhandedly, guessing his train of thought as she took a step back, "Knew we'd be heading back in the morning and wanted to check it out before we left."

"They have an arcade here?"

Caitlin rolled her eyes, "Sit down and let me examine you, considering you ran all the way here with no problems everything should be all healed up, but I still want to check and be sure."

He knew she cared.


It seemed to come out of nowhere.

He was sitting on the bed, listening absently as Caitlin went over the details of the plan to catch the man in the yellow suit, with her pausing to mention how stupid Cisco said it was to call him that and that he needed a better villain name, when she suddenly fell silent, "You're doing it again."

"...Doing what?" Barry blinked at her in confusion.

"Spacing out, you've been doing that a lot lately. I know why, too."

Okay, he had no clue what she was talking about, "Oh? Please, enlighten me."

Caitlin narrowed her eyes at him shrewdly, apparently thinking he was messing around or lying, but he wasn't. Honestly! "It's been going on for weeks. You're going through extreme highs and lows - either you walk around with the biggest smile on your face, or you look like someone just told you your dog died."

"I don't... actually have a dog, but go on." He crossed his arms, a little worried now, because where exactly was she going with this?

"Either you're suffering from Dissociative Identity Disorder, which I doubt, or it's the second theory, which I've been operating under for awhile," Seeing the skeptical look on his face, she pointed right at him, "You're in love-"

Oh, great. She was about to bring up Iris again, wasn't she? This sucked, like on a scale of one to suck, it SUCKED. He really hated lying to his friends, tricking Joe had been hard enough, but now his team? What was he supposed to do when she said-"

"With Oliver."

Fuck.

The open-mouthed look of absolute shock on his face must have been even more obvious than it felt, if her expression was anything to go by, because she gave an exaggerated groan, "Don't even try denying it, Barry, It's so obvious, anyone with a double digit IQ could see it. I figured it out weeks ago."

"O-Oh?" Barry asked weakly, feeling his surprise change into something closer to the "mortified family", "Well then, I...um... think I'll just go find a hole and bury myself in it." He started to get up.

Not fast enough, for once, because she caught him by the wrist and yanked him back down.

"Calm down. Look, it's okay. I haven't told anyone..." he sighed in relief, running his hand over his face, "...Except maybe Oliver."

His head shot up, and he stared at her in abject horror.

"Don't worry! Like I said, you'd need at least half a brain to notice, hence the reason why he didn't believe me."

"CAITLIN!"

The woman chuckled quietly.

Was she making fun of him?!

"I'm going to die." Barry groaned, covering his face with one of those lumpy decorative pillows that really served no purpose other than to annoy people, "It won't matter if we can't catch the yellow man, because I'm going to die of embarassment before he can get to me."

"You're being overly dramatic, I'm pretty sure he feels the same way." Caitlin told him.

Well, yeah, Barry knew that after yesterday, but it didn't change how utterly humiliating it was for him to learn all of this.

"How long have you known?"

"Hmm? You mean that you're-"

"Yes, that." He cut her off, not wanting to actually hear her say the word out loud.

"Months," Barry peeled the pillow off of his face to look at her in confusion. They certainly hadn't been close when he first started training and stuff at S.T.A.R. Labs. "The whole thing with Iris, acting like you were pretending not to be head over heels for her, you were trying too hard, Barry, and I understand why, I mean not really - obviously I've never been in your shoes, but I can at least imagine why. But, you know what?"

He didn't answer, just waiting for her to continue.

It did surprise the speedster, however, when she leaned across the bed to look down at him, hair curtaining her face as a result, and gave him a warmer smile than he was used to, hand on his shoulder, it was so... un-Caitlin like to be this way.

"It doesn't matter, not to me." She said, matter-of-factly, and he merely blinked up at his physician. "It doesn't change the fact that you're Barry, and it won't matter to the others when they find out-" at his panicked look, she quickly added, in a placating tone, "-when you're ready to tell them. We're a...a family. You'll still be the Flash, a hero, and you're still my friend. So don't look so scared, alright? I'm a woman of science, I'm not religious, and even if I were - I can't imagine that the deeply personal feelings of an individual, which they have no control over anyway, would dictate my opinion on them."

A breath that he didn't realize he was holding left him, "Caitlin...thank you." He said softly, unsure how to really express the depth of his gratitude. Despite the fact that he never actually told her anything, or even admitted to it, it felt like a huge weight had been lifted off of his chest.

He'd been lying and hiding for so long, he doubted even Oliver knew the true extent of the younger man's feelings for him.

"Anytime," she told him, brightly, "Besides, the whole concealing who you are thing? It might work for superheroes, but it sucks for romances. If there's one thing I learned from Ronnie..." her eyes got faraway for a moment, "It's that life is precious, and too damn short. Why waste what time we have left beating around the bush? I say if you want something, go for it, because you never known when you might lose the chance."

It was actually pretty good advice.

The two friends were looking at each other, smiling, she was still leaning over him - almost dangerously close - with her hair tickling his face, hand on his shoulder, while he was on his back, and they were on the bed, together.

And that was what Cisco walked in on.

"Hey Caitlin, you've got to check it out! They have-" The mechanical engineer stopped about a step and a half into the room, his hand on the doorknob, and he was gaping at them, "I...uh..." Words seemed to evade him for a good thirty seconds, while the three simply stared at one another, frozen, "S-Should I come back later, or-"

"Cisco!"

The bioenginner practically yelped his name as she simultaneously leapt away from Barry and the bed itself as though they were on fire, which honestly just made everything look even more suspicious, "It's not what you think... W-We can explain."

Slowly narrowing his eyes at his two friends, the young Mexican man crossed his arms over his chest, "...I'm listening."

Helplessly, Caitlin looked to Barry.

A stricken expression crossed his face, and he opened and closed his mouth several times, before standing up, "Um, right, you see, the thing about that is... Gotta go!"

With a whooshing sound, he was gone.

My hero, Doctor Snow thought to herself sarcastically.


As he was zooming through Starling City, back towards the Queen siblings' loft, Barry couldn't get Caitlin's words out of his head, and while he knew he would probably (more like certainly) pay for leaving her to face Cisco's persistance and inquiries solo, he needed to get out of there and clear his head.

Running helped him think, and the thought of where he was running to sent his heartbeat racing even faster than it usually was.

She was right, he knew she was, knew that the others wouldn't judge him if he told them, and even if they couldn't accept it, did it really matter?

What was the point of living if you were lonely the entire time?

Maybe that was what he was secretly afraid of, and if it was true for him, maybe it was true for Oliver as well.

They'd both see terrible things, they both knew the world was dangerous, and they also both had an advantage against those dangerous things. Did it really matter that one of them could be put in danger at anytime? What did being safe matter if they were miserable?

Looking back on it, there were so many things that Barry regretted.

Not being able to save his mother, not being able to keep his father out of prison, letting himself get bullied day in and day out during school, growing distant from his brother, not handling what happened with Jen better, secretly using Becky and Iris both to try and suppress his own feelings, not being able to save the man that was killed when he confronted Mardon, not being able to save the Metas (Danton, Bette, Tony, the others)... confronting the other speedster without backup.

It was impossible not to make mistakes in your life, but was it possible to turn things around before he made one of the worst mistakes of all?

When he arrived back at the loft, the kitchen smelled amazing, and after all that running he was admittedly famished, but his eyes were focused one hundred percent on Oliver Queen, taking in the sight of him, not just how utterly and bizzarely domestic he looked while making breakfast, but everything about him.

Apparently having begun to pick up on the audio cues of the Flash's entrance, the Arrow turned to look at him, and smiled, that breathtaking, devastatingly gorgeous smile.

"Hey Barry, I'm making pan-"

The archer never got to finish his sentence. His words were cut off as Barry zipped directly in front of him and crushed their lips together, every bit of passion he'd felt for the man since they met expressed through it, all the pain that had been consuming him for years.

Caitlin was right.

Life was too damn short, and he was done with regrets.


Phew, I only wrote the last two or three thousand words today, but up until a few minutes ago I felt like I was getting nowhere with this chapter, so when the inspiration for the conversation between Barry and Caitlin hit me, I HAD to write it, no matter how later it was. This story's starting to getting exciting finally, I feel like I can expand on my own since - while I plan to incorporate Arrow's season three and upcoming four, as well as the Flash's end of the first season and upcoming second, it might not be in as tight of a timeline as the series actually aired, as I explained in my other author's notes. I have a plan for what's going to happen in this story after the Flash's season premiere, and since I don't want to stop writing while we wait for October, I plan to take the story my way but still use the plots that will occur in as of yet unaired episodes, but more as a basic guideline, since this IS a Flarrow story.

For any of you wondering about the girls that Barry "dated" who were mentioned in this chapter, Becky is the "nightmare of a high school girlfriend" that Iris mentioned when he started dating Linda, and Jen is an OC of mine who you'll learn more about later. I hope you're enjoying this so far and continue to follow along.

Be sure to leave a review and tell me your thoughts!