Summary: Oliver finally takes that weekend visit to Central City. Or, more specifically, to visit Barry Allen, hot CSI.
Notes: Part of The Scientific Method series
A Weekend in Central
The CCPD station Barry works at looks very different from the SCPD station Oliver's familiar with. It's brighter and less ding, for one thing. Though Oliver would never share that observation with either Quentin Lance or Laurel. Even if they secretly agreed, father and daughter would argue against him out of pride for the place.
But the point is, the CCPD gives Oliver the immediate impression of being a good place to work. Some place Barry belonged, full of sunshine, warmth, and justice.
... Yeah, okay, so Oliver had it bad. And he'd only known Barry for a short while. Most of their unlabeled relationship had been happening over phone calls these last two weeks. And when Barry'd, briefly, been to Starling City, the two of them hadn't really done much more than make out a few times. Though Oliver had trusted Barry with his secret identity, which certainly meant something.
Well, Tommy had trusted Barry with Oliver's secret identity because Oliver was too busy being unconscious and dying to make that decision. But it had been the right call to make and, despite some initial misgivings, Oliver was glad Tommy had made that call. And that both Dig and Felicity had followed Tommy's lead.
As nice as the foyer at the CCPD was, though, Oliver couldn't just stand around admiring it forever. He looked around for someone who appeared both to work at the station and wasn't too busy... and his eyes landed on a detective - probably a detective, maybe a lawyer - standing over by the stairs with a file open in his hands. Distracted air, but didn't seem like someone who'd be annoyed by a stranger asking for directions to visit their assistant CSI.
"Hi, sorry to bother you, but I'm looking for CSI Barry Allen. Do you know where I might find him?" Oliver asked once he approached the guy.
"Huh? Oh, Allen. Yeah, right upstairs. You can see the open door to his lab from here." The detective - lawyer? - pointed.
"Thanks," Oliver replied, grinning. Then he headed right on up, stopping to stand in the doorway to watch admiringly as Barry bent over a microscope - not bothering to sit down, just... leaning over in a way that really showed off his butt in those skinny jeans and...
Oliver really hadn't been playing up how attractive Barry was in his memories. Barry was just that hot.
"Hey there, stranger," Oliver greeted.
"Wha-?" Barry jerked upright and spun around, nearly falling in the process. But he caught himself on the lab table - which wobbled ominously, but stayed upright. Barry's eyes lit up as he focused in on Oliver. "Hey! You're here. Oh, am I late? I get caught up sometimes and..."
Crossing the room, Oliver put an end to Barry's babble with a chaste kiss. "I'm early," Oliver told him. "I thought I'd surprise you."
"Very surprised," Barry agreed with a grin. "But that also means I..." he checked his watch, "have ten minutes of work left, if you don't mind waiting?"
"Not at all. Do I need to wait outside or..."
"You can wait at my desk, if you want. Computer's locked, so no one should mind. Iris does it all the time when she's waiting for me or Joe." Barry wandered closer and kissed Oliver, fleetingly, on the lips. Then he blushed and ducked his head and was just too damn cute. "I'm glad you're here."
"Me too," Oliver replied and then brushed his own kiss to Barry's mouth, lingering for a moment and enjoying the way Barry leaned after him for a moment when the kiss ended.
It was kind of fun watching Barry work, finishing up his tests and logging the data to write reports with after the weekend ended. He was a bundle of energy and Oliver was rather looking forward to giving that energy a different outlet that evening. Hopefully.
Barry had offered to let Oliver stay at his place for the weekend. And Oliver was rather hoping that meant Barry wanted to...
"So I, uh, I'm on call this weekend," Barry said, interrupting Oliver's thoughts. "So I might have to collect evidence from a crime scene at some point. But once the evidence is collected and dropped off that'll be it and I'll be all yours again. But, uh, hopefully that won't actually happen."
"Fingers crossed. Crime be quiet." They both chuckled and Oliver grinned. He was being a bit of a dork, but luckily... luckily Barry liked it when Oliver was a little dorky.
"So, how about we, uh, we drop your stuff at my place and then get dinner."
"I like this plan," Oliver said, nodding. "My duffel is in the rental I picked up after getting out of the airport."
"And since I don't have a car, you can just chauffer me around all weekend." Barry came over and logged back into his computer long enough to shut it down, then retrieved his wallet, keys, and coat. And if Oliver got another teasing kiss on the lips, well...
Oliver certainly wasn't complaining.
"Hey Bar," came an unfamiliar voice from the doorway. "You done for... the day..."
Having done his research, Oliver recognized Detective Joe West standing there. A well respected member of the CCPD and Barry's foster father. He had a wife, Francine West, with whom he was estranged, and a daughter named Iris West, who was studying for her psychology masters. Oliver hadn't dug too deep - he wasn't a PI and he didn't want to invade the privacy of Barry's family. He just wanted to know who the people dearest to Barry were... and a general idea of what anthills not to step in. No doubt Francine West was a topic to stay far away from as it seemed that though, West had never divorced her, she was not a part of the West's family life. He'd looked a bit deeper into Henry Allen, Barry's father who was incarcerated for murdering his wife. A crime Barry insisted, against all odds, that Henry had not done.
Oliver believed Barry and his impossible story of lightning inside the house and a man inside that lightning. But no doubt Joe West didn't believe Barry's story. And he wouldn't appreciate knowing Oliver intended to help Barry find the truth, if he could.
"Joe, this is Oliver Queen," Barry said, taking a step back from Oliver and blushing beautifully. "Oliver, this is my Detective Joe West. My foster dad."
Oliver smiled and took a step forward to offer West a handshake. West just arched an eyebrow and didn't reach back.
"Oliver Queen, as in the CEO of Queen Consolidated? What brings you to Central City?" West asked, as if he hadn't walked in on Oliver and Barry kissing.
"Visiting Barry," Oliver responded glibly. If he didn't let Quentin intimidate him anymore, Joe West wasn't going to manage it either.
"I told you we met while I was in Starling the other week," Barry said firmly. "When the hotel lost my reservation, his family let me stay in their guest room." And that put West's other eyebrow up. "He showed me around Starling some and now I'm returning the favor."
"Is that what you're calling it?" West asked snarkily.
"Also we're dating now, so if you could at least pretend to be nice to him, I'd appreciate it," Barry snapped.
Oliver couldn't help it. He smiled softly at Barry and linked their hands.
"Dating." West's voice went entirely flat. Never had Quentin ever conveyed in one word the sentiment that 'you're making a colossal mistake and I don't look forward to the fallout'. So that was rather impressive on West's part.
"I realize I don't have the best reputation, but if you check up on me... which no doubt you will, I think you'll see for yourself that five years on a deserted island really does change a person," Oliver interjected dryly.
"We'll see. Bring him with you for family dinner tomorrow," West told Barry. "I'm sure Iris will want to meet him."
Barry glanced at Oliver, who shrugged. "We'll be there," Barry promised.
West nodded and then left.
"That could have gone better," Barry muttered.
"It also could have gone much worse. Though I guess unlike Detective Lance, he's not going to threaten to shoot me while we're all in a police station." Oliver grinned when Barry snorted in amusement.
"How are things going with the super soldier thing anyway?" Barry asked.
Oliver grimaced. "Between Laurel and Quentin both looking into things for Thea, looks like Sin's friend is just one in a long line of deaths misattributed to ODs. Trail goes back to sometime in the spring, which is - coincidentally enough - when Sebastian Blood's blood drives began. We're still in the process of figuring out just how many of the dead were last seen at those blood drives, but if I were a betting man..." Oliver trailed off, letting the implication speak for itself. "Tommy wants to put his PI contact on digging into Blood, but apparently the guy is busy looking into Harrison Wells for a friend who lives here in Central."
"Dr. Wells? Huh. I wonder why. STAR Lab's particle accelerator is a marvel of engineering, but particle accelerators themselves aren't exactly rare anymore."
"Might not have anything to do with the accelerator. Apparently the PI was back in Starling this last week, digging into thirteen-year-old car accident reports." Oliver sees something click in Barry's expression.
"Okay, so I may have read Dr. Well's biography once... or twice." Or more, no doubt. "And thirteen years ago was when he was in a car accident that killed his fiancé, Dr. Tess Morgan. Someone left spikes in the road and the case was never solved. Maybe Tommy's friend is still trying to."
It was possible. Hartley tended to express his sense of altruism through charity work, but he did work at STAR Labs. If he thought it'd bring a friend much needed closure, then he'd look into it. Or if he thought his boss was covering something up.
If Oliver didn't have the Mirakuru soldiers to worry about, he might even poke his nose into it. But Oliver had only really brought it up because he thought it might be of interest to Barry. Which it apparently was.
But Barry shrugged it off and squeezed Oliver's hand lightly before pulling him along towards the lab exit. "So, to my place and then dinner?"
"Right."
They make it to Barry's apartment. They do not make it to dinner.
Instead they make it about as far as Barry's bed, pulling off each other's clothes all while kissing and letting their hands wander all over the place. And then there's more languid kissing after, followed by the discovery that Barry's shower is just barely big enough for two full grown men.
Afterwards they order pizza and cuddle together on the couch.
Oliver likes Barry's apartment. It's cozy and warm.
"Joe calls it a deathtrap," Barry murmured, sounding too amused to be offended. "The elevators are out of date on their inspections and it's... not the bad side of Central, but not the good side either. It's more space then I could afford anywhere else this close to work, though."
"Gangs?" Oliver had seen some graffiti outside that could have been amateur artists or gang tagging.
"There's one in the area. But they've never shown any interest in me." Barry didn't sound worried so Oliver didn't push it. As long as Barry didn't do anything to antagonize the gang, then he wasn't likely to attract their notice even with working for the CCPD.
Honestly, it's a nicer area than where Roy lives, if not by too much. And certainly a lot nicer than where Sin lives. It's also far away from Starling, which means Barry's safe from all the troubles plaguing Oliver back home.
Over pizza Oliver tells Barry about Tommy and Thea's first lessons at a local dojo - Thea being much more of a natural fighter than Tommy, much to Tommy's consternation. They're also learning to shoot from Dig because Oliver's too uptight or whatever. Oliver's not too proud to admit, to Barry in private anyway, that he might have pouted.
"I am teaching Felicity, though, because putting Felicity and Tommy together to learn to shoot guns leaves them both way too distracted trying to flirt with each other. And while Felicity and I have done our own flirting in the past, we both kind of figured out we're not interested in each other that way."
"I already know how to shoot a gun, but if you want to give me lessons," Barry teased, waggling his eyebrows, "I am not averse to making excuses to have you standing pressed up against my back, adjusting my stance and aim."
Oliver cracked up and kissed along Barry's neck. It wasn't too long before they made their way back into Barry's bedroom after that.
"So," Barry teased in the morning, while Oliver was brushing his teeth, "you really do penetrate just fine, huh?"
Oliver choked on his toothpaste, much to Barry's clear amusement.
They spend the morning in a nearby park that has a lot of walking trails. Barry is clearly a fixture on the route and he gets a lot of friendly smiles and waves. Afterwards they grab brunch from a little hole in the wall restaurant near the trail that Barry swears has the best chorizo in the city. And the huevos con chorizo breakfast tacos Oliver eats are, indeed, very tasty.
After brunch they walk back to Barry's apartment and hop in the car and takes Oliver to the waterfront. Central City is located on one side of the mouth of a river that emptied into a lake. On the opposite side of the river was Keystone, which Barry joked was 'like Central City but less awesome'. There were lots of little shops along the waterfront as it meandered away from the river and along the lake. Oliver got some touristy gifts he knew his mom, Tommy, Thea, Dig, and Felicity would enjoy. But mostly he just enjoyed wandering around the piers while holding Barry's hand.
An island ago, Oliver might've found something like this a little boring. But these days Oliver knows how to enjoy moments like these. And here in Central, no one is expecting Oliver Queen to be poking around tourist traps with his boyfriend.
Since they had brunch, lunch is more of a snack from vendors at the pier and somehow the topic of golf comes up. Oliver thinks its a waste of perfectly good space that could be used to create parks that are actually good for the environment. Or community gardens. Something useful. Barry agrees but... of course he's got a soft spot for mini-golf. And who doesn't?
Which leads, of course, to them goofing off together at a mini-golf and go-karting place. They do two of the three mini-golf courses available before finally retreating to a coffee shop called Central City Jitters to warm up with coffee.
"Iris works here, but she's got her last exam right now so you won't be meeting her until we go to Joe's. I hope you don't mind having dinner with them, but..."
"It's fine. I'm glad to meet your family, Barry. I'd like to meet your dad too, when you're ready to introduce us." Oliver liked the way Barry smiled into his coffee, blushing prettily.
And Oliver did know just how far down that blush went now too.
"You're leering," Barry teased.
"You're hot," Oliver retorted. "Can't be helped."
Barry's blush deepened.
At the West family home that evening, there's a fire in the fireplace that makes the warm, inviting home feel even warmer. And Detective West's passive aggressiveness from the day before has, mostly, worn away. He tells Oliver to call him Joe, anyway, which counts for something.
Iris is pretty clearly as smart as she is gorgeous, with a whip sharp sense of humor too. She tells stories about Barry that has him groaning in embarrassment for her to stop. She gets Oliver to tell the story of how he and Barry met, which Oliver has way too much fun with. But Barry deserved that after the 'you do penetrate just fine' joke from earlier.
When Barry goes to help Joe in the kitchen, Oliver doesn't really think too much about being left alone with Iris.
"So, seems like you really like Barry."
"I do," Oliver agreed. "He's wonderful."
"Good. And I do hope for your sake that your cheating days are behind you. Because every couple has arguments and hurts each other on accident. The ones that make up and are stronger for it are the ones you know will last. But if you cheat on him or deliberately hurt him..." Iris smiled pleasantly, but the expression sent ice down Oliver's spine. "I've learned a lot, over the years, from listening to Barry ramble on about forensics. Did you know there are a ridiculous number of ways to dispose of a dead body that leave no forensic evidence behind?"
Oliver knew that. He was aware of a lot of those methods himself. Still, she said that with a carefree tone of voice... like she was discussing the weather. Oliver had actually killed people and even he couldn't sound that blasé about it. Though he could identify the sound of someone who meant exactly what they were saying.
"You are... a lot scarier than your dad," Oliver finally said.
"Thank you." Iris' smile was mischievous, but no less sincere for it.
Based on the looks exchanged by father and daughter when Joe and Barry brought the food out to the dining table, Joe knew Iris was the scary one too. And was damn proud of it.
Overall, Oliver was just glad to see how much Barry's family loved him. And if he happened to ask Barry later just how much attention Iris may have paid to his forensic textbooks later on, well... that's between him and Barry. (And Barry's laughter.)
... Apparently she'd paid a lot of attention to those books.
Sunday morning at four AM, Barry gets called in to a crime scene. He stumbles back in at six thirty and the two have a lay in until ten. Oliver doesn't want to get back on a plane that afternoon and leave for Starling because... for just a few days he got to shed his worries and his responsibilities in order to just relax.
"I could, uh... I could come back to Starling for New Years," Barry offered quietly as they got dressed.
"I would love that," Oliver replied, leaning over to draw Barry into a kiss. "Stay at my place again?"
"Mmkay," Barry hummed with a grin and then pulled back to finish dressing. "Getting back from being on call is never usually this nice."
Oliver chuckled in amusement. "So, where's brunch today?" He wanted to savor every last minute he had left with Barry before he had to drop off the rental car and fly back home.