Silence filled the room like a thick smoke poisoning the wind, suffocating the air out of their lungs. Neither of the two man said a word— they couldn't. The truth hung in the room by a thread, waiting, teasing, swinging in hopes for someone to cut it down. And when it does, will detonate, impaling them all.
Tommy glared at Oliver. The other man scrunching his face while putting his hand over it to hide his frustration. He just made his bed at the bottom of the ocean.
"What... truth.." Tommy demanded through gritted teeth.
Moments passed and Oliver offered no explanation.
He tried to regain his composure pacing back and forth until he could fine some sort of equilibrium. One wrong word and everything he has planned could go to hell.
"Tommy…" he started to say, reaching out.
What exactly does he say? How can he say it? Should he say it? It's not only him that would go down with this secret. And then there was the collateral damage. Oh god the collateral damage…
Worry crawls up his throat like spiders shooting webs at his lips, forcing them close. Pursing his lips, Oliver just shakes his head.
Shock, disbelief, and finally anger contorts on Tommy's face.
"You can't just say that and not tell me, Oliver. You can't just act like a jealous boyfriend when you have absolutely NO RIGHT to be! We've been friends, best friends even, since we were seven. We've experienced tough shit together, been through tough shit together, but we've always managed to come out the other side!" Tommy breathed.
Then finally loading the gun, he shot out the words, "Whatever this is— Whatever you're keeping that's obviously getting you twisted in knots, remember that you're not the only one affected by it. There's me, Felicity, and Laurel. Have you forgotten about her? Yeah. Your wife. She's in this picture too, Oliver. We're all affected by it. I want to know, to help you. But if you don't tell me… we're through."
Seconds passed until he was able to find his voice.
"Tommy…"
"Oliver.. let me help you."
Could he do this? Can he tell him? Then again, what would all of this be for it Tommy won't be in his life? An internal war blazed into Oliver's stomach, blasting guilt and pain.
"It's more complicated than the next sentence I will tell you. Can you understand that?"
Tommy inhaled, air rushing in his lungs as his chest expanded; as if it created a metal armor on his chest, shielding him from the confusion Oliver's words were about to transfix. Instead of finding words to speak, he just nodded his head.
"Laurel and I's marriage," Oliver started, "…It's fixed."
*5 Years Ago*
A few weeks passed by without another accident, just the good old Tommy, Oliver, and Felicity trio. Summer was passing right on by. Way too quickly, actually.
The acidic burn in the pit of Felicity's stomach only intensified day after day.
"Where's Tommy?"
"I don't know. He told me he was taking someone though."
"Ooooh who is it?" Felicity instigated.
Oliver and Felicity sat waiting in Felicity's living room playing an intense game of Four in a Row. So far they were at a 3-to-3 tie and neither opponent wanted lose in the best out of 7 series.
"Ehh I don't know," Oliver waved off, "he hasn't really told me and I'm not really interested nor do I want to invade his privacy. Ya know?"
Felicity's head shot up from behind the upstanding board filled with yellow and red chips. "Since when?! You've always wanted to know who Tommy was talking to!"
Oliver just shrugged dropping another red chip on the board, creating his trap.
"Well, well. Hell be damned," Felicity simpered.
"I don't know. I'm not interested. I just— well. I kinda like this other girl."
The little smirk on Felicity's face dropped.
"Oh," she breathed dejectedly. She cringed, reprimanding herself internally for being so transparent with her tenor. "Who's this girl?" She quirkily stirred in her seat, hoping to sound as enthusiastic for Oliver as she was for Tommy.
Oliver finally peeled his eyes off the board and looked at Felicity memorizing, hoping, wishing, believing, pleading. Could he tell her? Would it change everything? If he doesn't tell her, would something be better than nothing? If he does tell her, is risking everything worth it?
He couldn't lose her. He won't.
"I uhh… It's nothing. It's stupid anyways," he mumbled.
Great, now even Oliver wouldn't tell her. Aside from feeling a pang of pain because Oliver had eyes for someone else, is she already losing her best friends? Summer hasn't even ended and they were already starting to not communicate with each other.
In a heart stricken compulsion Felicity dropped her yellow chip anywhere it cared to land on the board.
"YES!" Oliver screamed, leaping out of his seat and dropping his red chip. "I WIN!"
Oliver's sudden combustion of happiness yanked Felicity out of her stewing miserableness.
"What?!" Felicity cried.
"I WON. I WON! I. BEAT. YOU." Oliver pointed his two index fingers at Felicity, jabbing the air after every word putting an emphasis on them.
"That's impossible! Wha— How? NO! NO. I demand a replay!"
"Nope. It doesn't work that way Smoak." Oliver put one leg up on the coffee table and pretended to rip his shirt down the middle. "Woooo! Best in the world!"
"This is not fair! How could you beat me? You're not even that good." Felicity mocked, eyes wide in disbelief.
Oliver plastered a forged insulted reaction. "Rudeness Smoak. Just accept the fact that I beat you. And that says something because you know, you are a genius. So that must mean I'm Einstein." Oliver smiled.
"It doesn't work that way, stupid." Felicity retorted.
A fully standing Oliver leaned down to a sitting Felicity, smiling, teasing, "Me thinks otherwise."
The corners of Felicity's lips tugged upwards. Damn that smile.
Oliver's eyes wandered down, the thickness in his throat evident as he tried to clear it sounding like a winded grunt from someone who hit a wall instead. So much for sexy antics.
The thickness in the air enveloped them, forcing them together. It drew goosebumps on the back of their necks, the truth they were hiding trying to break free from the internal restraints, wanting to be known— to be free.
Just then, a piercing ring interrupted the moment. Their moment. But of course, Oliver thought. Pulling the phone out of his back pocket and dreadfully breaking their intense eye banter, he read the text illuminating on his screen.
"Well, it seems like Tommy's already at the movies. Let's go." And with that, they did.
"Oliver, Felicity, this is Laurel. Laurel, these are my best friends Oliver and Felicity." Tommy introduced.
They stood in the theater lobby, exchanging greetings. When the procedural 'Nice to meet you's' were exchanged, they made their way inside.
A good chunk of the movie played on by before every passing second was loud enough to silence whispers. Felicity leaned over to Oliver's ear, the proximity igniting a sensation in Oliver's neck, making him hyperaware of just how close her lips were to his skin.
"Laurel. She's pretty." Felicity whispered.
Unable to rotate his head, Oliver nodded. He focused all of his energy at the big screen in front of him in hopes to not do anything stupid.
"Do you think he's serious about this one?" Felicity breathed.
"Yup." Oliver kept succinct.
Just then the loudest boom ricocheted in the room causing Felicity to reflexively drop her head, hitting Oliver's shoulder. "Ugh. Ow!"
Oliver chuckled. He put his hand on Felicity's hand where she was trying to rub the pain away.
"Why do you have shoulders made of steel? Do you have steel in there? How do you even get passed airport security?"
"You alright?" Oliver inspected her forehead, caressing it. "It's just red. Don't think it will bruise."
Felicity shifted in her seat and Oliver's hand dropped to the side of her face. Oliver watched as promises danced in Felicity's eyes, sure that it mirrored the look in his. He inched his face closer, stopping just as he realized what he was doing. But it wasn't in his hands anymore. He made the first move, Felicity was making hers.
With the little space that was left, she closed the distance. Her lips met his. It was a soft and tender kiss. Something you could only dream about. But at the same time powerful enough that jarred their lives in a way they knew it will never be the same.
And it wasn't.
"What do you mean it's fixed? What do you mean it's fixed?!" Tommy shouted.
"Tommy," Oliver tried to calm his friend, "I will tell you. But not here. Not right now."
"No!" Tommy demanded. "I need to know this! It doesn't only affect you!"
"Let's go somewhere private."
Somewhere private turned out to be in the basement of Verdant.
"Any reason why we're at the basement of Verdant?" Tommy questioned.
"It's the only place without cameras. Can't trust them. Even without audio, people can still read lips. Better be safe than sorry."
Tommy just sat on an empty crate, eyes pointed at Oliver. At that Oliver sat opposite his friend.
"So well um. The worst of it you know, well probably not the worst but the most shocking." Oliver shook his head. Lie. It wasn't the most shocking. "But we'll see."
"Oliver just get to the point."
"Three years ago our whole lives changed." Oliver started.
At the hint of what happened three years ago, Tommy inhaled sharply, the air splicing through his lungs.
"Everything we knew, everyone we trusted were just gone. There were liars. There were traitors. And I'm sorry you and Felicity received the worst end of it." Pain flowed through Tommy's body causing him to look down, hiding his face. "I wanted nothing more but to help you both but considering what happened with our families— I just, I didn't know how."
Oliver let the words hang in the air, letting Tommy absorb it all.
"Laurel saw the pain you harbored. I saw the pain that teared Felicity into bits. The thing about pain is that people process it differently. They react differently. When you went away it tore Laurel apart, Tommy. And then there was Fe-Felicity," Oliver voice broke at her name, remembering the all the hurt she suffered. "She just wasn't the same. There's nothing that hurts more than watching the woman you love change into a person you don't recognize. She first dyed her hair black then she distanced herself from me, from this life, just as you had."
Oliver breathed. Rehashing the story proved to be too painful for either men.
"And it was easy, wasn't it? Felicity was at MIT but then she just stopped talking to me. Soon altogether she just- she just disappeared. No return calls. No updates. No nothing. I tried to give her space until space became a black hole. You left. You went to Europe, and Laurel and I were stuck trying to pick up the pieces. But the worst part of it? I couldn't help. I understood why you two went away."
Silence pierced their ears, the ringing intensifying as minutes passed and no one spoke a word. Then,
"But that doesn't explain why you had to marry Laurel."
"After you two left, Laurel and I started to get closer. We pretty much both agreed that there was nothing more painful than watching the people that you loved, hurt. So we made a pact. And no— we were never together. We promised each other that we were going to help you two with what happened. It started out small and then we dug deeper. Business stuff. Legal stuff. Illegal stuff. It all started to unfold. Before we knew it, two years passed by and I needed to be the CEO of Queen Consolidated. One of the requirements my dad put on his will is that I have to be stable. No more partying. No more random girls— I needed someone to keep me sane. I needed undying love and support. I needed a wife."
"And that's where Laurel comes in."
"Yes. Felicity was still gone... and she was still with Cooper. If I'd show up her doorsteps she would have probably ran away even further. I couldn't take that. Then there was you but we couldn't track down where in Europe you were. So Laurel and I, we made the plan to get married. There's benefits when you merge together her family's law firm and Queen Consolidated. We secretly signed a pre-nup. You two returned. We got married."
"So you're telling me, you two are doing an ongoing investigation of what happened three years ago?" Tommy said in confusion, disbelief, and gratification all at once.
"Yes."
"That's a hell big of a plan Queen."
"It's worth it. You two are worth it to us."
Tommy got up off the crate and paced back and forth, trying to process everything Oliver has told him.
"I might have lied though," Oliver shot out. "Laurel and I's marriage may not be the most surprising thing of this story."
"Then what is?"
"We're going to get your fathers out of prison."