Oliver Queen

Silently, Oliver watched as Winn set up the red sun lamps. His attention continued to shift between Kara and Winn, studying both, until Kara won out as the most interesting.

Externally, Kara emitted nothing besides confidence and bravado. She was stretching, big, huge, exaggerated stretches. It took Oliver a moment to realize that she wasn't stretching genuinely, but instead as a joke. He allowed himself a grin, something he still felt uncomfortable doing during practice. The last time he had truly enjoyed himself while practicing was with Shado, that was the last time he had truly had fun, and allowed himself to forget what he was constantly up against. Sure, he and Diggle could laugh at times, but the weight of their responsibilities still hung over their shoulders with every punch and block. Shado, on the other hand, was a different story. At that point, he had only lost his father and Yao Fei. His father's death was self-inflicted, and Yao Fei, despite taking Oliver in, was still a relative stranger. In retrospect, Oliver supposed that the true gravity of his situation and the future that it would lead to hadn't set in. When he fought with Shado, it was just him, a girl he liked, and his best friend.

The fake yawns of boredom and the emphasized stretching made Oliver feel that lightness again, but in a way, this was better than the island. For once, he wasn't fighting because he had to, and he wasn't training because of the next threat. He was sparring with a friend, for fun.

"And here… we… go!" Winn said excitedly. Winn then turned to Oliver and Kara, who were standing about ten feet apart from each other. With a devilish grin, he made a large gesture as he flipped a small switch, and pools of red light surrounded them. Excited, Winn announced "are you ready to rumble?!"

The red sunlight's impact on Kara was almost instantaneous. She nodded to Winn, indicating that it had worked, but Oliver didn't need that confirmation. He could see the difference in how she held herself, how her chin didn't jut out the way it only did when she was in her uniform.

But someone would only be able to notice this if they were looking for it. And if they knew Kara, knew the way she moved and behaved. If they didn't know, all they would see is a confident, albeit silly woman, raising her hand in a theatrical signal for Oliver to 'come at her.'

Absently, Oliver noticed Zora, who seemed extremely invested in the fight. He didn't let himself dwell at it, instead turning back to the matter at hand.

Smiling once again, he remained still, waiting for Kara to come to him, as he knew she would. She was too impatient to win this game. Oliver didn't need to tense his body in preparation, because he was always ready for the worst-case scenario. His inability to relax was another result of the island, although it came in handy.

Oliver simply took a deep breath, and closed his eyes, relaxing. He heard Kara try to take advantage of the situation, and dash towards him. Oliver open his eyes before she got too close, and saw the sloppy fist extended. In a move he was sure would infuriate her, Oliver calmly stepped back. Her momentum carried her through, and she stumbled when she reached the spot Oliver was a moment ago.

To her credit, she didn't let it get her down, instead, she immediately turned back to Oliver and charged. Once again, Oliver dodged smoothly.

"Oh, come on Olly!" Kara said, raising her arms in exasperation. At this, Oliver hesitated. No one besides Thea and Laurel called him Olly. Before he had time to process how he felt about this development, Kara ran at him once more, having seen his distraction. Oliver didn't have time to side step, so he blocked instead, and pushed the thoughts of the nickname away as the fight truly began.

Oliver had decided weeks ago that he wouldn't take it easy on Kara, he wouldn't hold back because he knew she would heal when the red sun was removed. He could truly give his all in a fight, without major consequences, something he hadn't done since he sparred with Slade and Shado on the island.

Kara wasn't a bad fighter-on the contrary, she thought through her movements decently, and even without the yellow sun she had serious strength behind her punches, but she was undisciplined. Her punches lacked purpose and connection. She was pretty quick, but didn't always think far enough ahead. And, most infuriatingly, she wasn't making a proper fist.

Oliver got quite a few punches in, punches that Kara was taking exceptionally well, despite her nose bleeding.

She had yet to hit Oliver.

Despite her steady attacks, Oliver could see Kara was beginning to get tired. He knew he would have to stop the fight soon; there were too many people she worked with watching. She couldn't afford to lose the respect of the DEO, of her team.

Oliver knew just how to stop the fight. He repressed a grin as he allowed one of Kara's punches to slip past his defense. He braced himself, tensing against the oncoming force.

Kara's fist hit his cheek, and with it came a satisfying snap of a broken thumb.

That's why you need to know how to make a proper fist.

Kara Zor-El

A string of curse words that Kara had never thought about saying before spewed out of her mouth.

She couldn't help it-she had never experienced pain like this. Sure, she had been hurt, but that was more of a general ache. But this, this was a sharp and precise pain.

She hardly noticed as Oliver barked at Winn to turn the red sun lamps off. She barely noticed when he came up to her, a small smile still on his face, and tried to get her to come to the roof with him. She definitely noticed when he picked her up, and carried her to the roof, but she didn't care enough to stop him—she was too wrapped up in the pain in her hand. It was such a small area of pain, but it was extraordinarily all encompassing.

When they reached the roof of the DEO, Oliver gently let her down, but continued kneeling next to her. He murmured something quickly, but, once again, Kara wasn't paying attention.

Kara watched as Oliver took her left hand. He said something to her, but it fell on deaf ears. Oliver made eye contact with Kara, and she came out of her trance to hear him saying "one, two, three!"

Suddenly, the pain in her hand tripled. Oliver had forced the broken thumb back into place.

"Son of a snagriff!" She yelled, but the pain had already begun to fade. She finally noticed where she was, and why Oliver had brought her here. The roof had the best access to the yellow sun, and it was doing its job.

Kara relaxed, and settled onto the ground as she felt her body absorb the rays yellow sun. As her breathing became steadier, Kara realized that Oliver was laughing. She lifted her upper body off of the ground, putting her weight on her elbows as she looked at him quizzically. He was sitting with his back against the wall of the roof, and his legs folded up towards him, comfortably.

"Son of a snagriff?" He said between guffaws, looking towards her.

"What? I heard my parents say it a lot when I was young, and when Clark took me to the fortress I looked it up… I don't like cursing and Winn, Clark and I are the only ones to speak Kryptonian, so I curse in Kryptonian. What is so funny?"

Oliver just looked at her, his laughter getting louder than she had ever heard it.

Without meaning too, Kara started to giggle. Just as Oliver's did, Kara's laughter grew in volume, until the two heroes had dissolved into hysterics.

Oliver laid his hand that had been hidden beside him onto his stomach, and Kara saw his pointer finger and his pinky were swelling.

Still laughing, she pointed and asked "what happened?"

He continued to smile as he said between breaths "Yellow sun, tight grip."

The usual guilt didn't come to Kara, as she had expected. Kara knew that Oliver had endured worse, and that it would be something of an insult to fuss over that. So, the pair continued laugh, carelessly.

Between their laughs, Kara managed to ask, "What did you do, when we got to the roof?"

"Made sure it'd heal in place."

"Thanks."

"No problem. Happy to help."

When the two of them finally settled, Kara turned to look at Oliver, who was still smiling, relaxing against the ledge of the roof.

"You're right, you know."

"I'm right about what?" he replied.

"I need to fight, and I need to fight well. There are people out there who are just as strong as I am, and I need to be able to handle it."

Oliver nodded, only traces of his grin still on his face.

Kara continued, "Oliver, the things you can do… they're incredible. You are forged like a weapon, and I know you went through the worst things imaginable to get there, but you're there, and James is lucky to have you as a teacher. I would be lucky to have you as a teacher."

Oliver and Kara were both still for a moment, and then Oliver smiled. But this smile, it was different than the stiff and small ones she was used to. This was a teethy, cheeky smile. It lit up his entire face, the light seemed to push the shadows that lived on his shoulders away. Kara thought that, for the first time with her, and maybe the first time ever, Oliver really heard someone when they told him how truly good he was.

And this thought alone made Kara return the smile, the same enthusiasm in her face. Because Oliver Queen, of all people, deserved to know that he was good. And Kara was going to make sure he did.