++++++ So I know I've been gone a stupidly long time but I just totally lost my muse. It was like she packed up, went in a tiki tour and just never came back once she married a German sugar daddy. But...I'm gonna give this a try and make a few changes to what I'm usually do.
I hope you enjoy, I've put a lot of man hours into defining Cale as a character and I hope you like him.
I do not own.
One
In all his twenty years of life, Caelum Smoak could never figure out how on earth he'd collected so many books. There were hundreds of them, books written by authors such as Edgar Allen Poe, Mary Shelly, Bram Stoker, books on history, languages, science and art...how he'd had the space for hundreds of volumes of all different shapes and sizes utterly perplexed the young English teacher to no end. Sure, each book held a story within like all books did but each of these books held a story personal to him and he was sure that he'd never part with them…
Unpacking them though...that was a bitch. Lugging all twenty-four boxes of books from the rented removalist van to the twelfth floor two-bedroom apartment-that was the first time that Cale had ever wanted to burn every single book. His back was killing him but he couldn't have been happier.
A few weeks ago, he'd been sitting in his one-bedroom apartment back in Las Vegas trying to figure out what to do with his life. Sick of being his mother's go to whenever there was something wrong in her life, Cale decided that it was time to move. He in no way, shape or form bothered to tell his beloved older sister Felicity that he would, in fact, be moving to Starling City. He never even left his mother a message or a note…he just organised himself than up and left within two days.
Felicity was going to be thrilled when he showed up in her apartment with oreo's, M&M's and peanut butter ice cream, that was their sibling thing whilst they watched bad movies well into the early hours of the morning. Only problem was that when he showed up to her apartment, his big sis wasn't home…or anywhere in sight. Cale knew that Felicity had a job in the IT department at Queen Consolidated so he grabbed a taxi uptown and paid the overpriced taxi fare to get there (he lived in Las Vagas growing up so saying something was overpriced meant it).
"This place is massive," Cale gasped as he stood on the sidewalk looking up at the building. "God that's a lot of glass…wouldn't it get hot? I'd like to think it would get hot…glass attracts a lot of heat…" he mumbled to himself before he adjusted his glasses as he did a complete three-sixty degree turn and slammed straight into a brick wall…and by brick wall he slammed straight into a guy wearing an expensive grey suit which was now covered in coffee.
Cale opened and closed his mouth like a fish. "By the power of Grayskull I am so, so, so sorry. I'll totally pay for the dry-cleaning on this…what's the thread count on this…wait I don't even know if I have the funds to cover the dry cleaning on this-hey why are you staring at me like I have two heads?" Cale finally asked when he stopped babbling for a second to realise that the other man was staring at him with an odd, amused expression on his face.
"Don't worry about the dry cleaning," he told him, the amused expression still on his face. "It's just coffee. We're you heading inside?" he asked Cale, clearly noticing how nervous and agitated he was. Cale nodded but despite the words running through his brain, he couldn't get anything out in the way of words. He patted his shoulder and steered him inside to the lobby where it was much, much cooler. "IT department?" he asked whilst the two waited at the lifts.
Cale snapped out of his foggy haze and looked sideways at his poor victim. "Um-yeah…Smoak…I mean I'm looking for Felicity Smoak." He raised an eyebrow when he heard him mumble something that sounded like figures under his breath when the lift doors pinged open. "Do you know Felicity Smoak?" Cale questioned.
"I know Felicity Smoak," he repeated as he took off his jacket and draped it over his arm. "Who are you?"
"Cale," he answered, "well my full name's Caelum, it's a constellation in the southern hemisphere but I prefer Cale and not the plant kale cause that's kinda gross and totally annoying when someone goes what, like the plant-you really gotta stop looking at me like that," Cale huffed when the lift reached its destination.
He laughed at him outright. "I'm just trying to figure out if they cloned Felicity and the process was messed up somewhere and the clone came out male." Cale stuck his tongue out his back when he walked out of the lift. "That's quiet childish Cale," he responded back.
Cale stepped out, following him whilst he looked around at the marble fixtures in the office and the vomiting of gold features everywhere…it dawned on the youngest Smoak that this was defiantly not the IT floor. A small gasp escaped his mouth when he saw the view from the window spaning all over Starling City. "Oh wow…this is amazing!" Cale grinned as he rushed over to the window to look out.
"I guess you could say it is," he agreed, walking into an office. "Felicity!" he called out.
"So, I'm two minutes late with your stupid coffee!" Felicity shouted back as she came in with a coffee in her hands as well as a newspaper. "And you already have one…but you seem to be wearing it…what happened?"
"What happened to him?!" Cale snorted. "What happened to you? When did you become carer girl Barbie?" he asked, seeing his sister walk in wearing a suit skirt with an off-white silk blouse and heals that could kill a man. She'd never told him she'd gone from IT sensation to coffee girl…in fact she hadn't even told their mother. "What is this?" he asked motioning to her with wild hand gestures.
"Cale?!" Felicity gasped, seeing him standing there in his old Voltron, Legendary Defenders t-shirt, faded black jeans and old Converse All Stars, his glasses slightly titled on his face. "Cale what on earth are you doing here? You never called!"
Cale grinned as he rushed over to hug her tightly. "I wanted it to be a surprise. I even came over with crap snacks and crap movies but you weren't there which was uber odd considering every third Tuesday is your day off…or used to be."
Felicity turned. "Do I sound like that?" she asked, laughing when he nodded. "Well, Oliver, I'd like you to meet my little brother Cale, Cale, this is my boss, Oliver Queen."
"Little brother?" Oliver questioned when he looked between the two. "See…the babbling should have given it away." Felicity and Cale looked at him with mock gasps on their face. "I have my meeting in twenty but I can get one of the other girls to take notes, Felicity go spend some time with your brother before he heads back home."
Cale grinned and shook his head. "Nope. Not going home. I moved here." Felicity looked at him, the surprise written all over her face at the sound of those words. "You'll catch flies," he grinned. "And yeah, I moved here…surprise huh?"
"Surprise?" Felicity snorted. "Yeah…It's a bloody big one! How could you have moved here?! Does mum know? Well obviously, she doesn't otherwise Donna would have sent me a million emails and called me a million times…probably sent me a ham demanding an answer…wow…Cale you moved here? With what money?"
He nodded. "Yup…I did a contract job for the FBI Office in Las Vagas a few months ago, wrote a whole new security program for them…took me nearly a year but they bought it off me…trust me big sis, I got enough money to live off for a while whilst I look for a job." Cale pushed his glasses back on his nose and looked sideways at Oliver. "Besides…you didn't tell me you were working for Oliver Queen?!"
"You totally spilt coffee on him, didn't you?" Felicity asked him. Cale turned bright red and nodded. "Of course you did."
"I have an idea," Oliver smiled, "why don't you bring Cale around to the manor tonight?" he suggested. "We'll have something good to eat and get to know your little brother some more?"
Felicity looked at him with a frown on her face. "Oliver, I couldn't do that to you…I don't think that Cale owns anything aside from fan t-shirts and ripped jeans…" she teased.
Cale stuck his tongue out at her. "Why not F's place and I'll cook?" he suggested. "I can cook anything spicy in a mean way…I was gonna be a chef you know?"
Oliver looked at him and nodded. "Okay. Deal…seven good for you?"
Cale nodded. "What do you drink?" he asked him.
"Nothing cause you're only nineteen!" Felicity cut him off. "Nice try though." She turned to Oliver. "Can Cale wait in the staff lounge whilst we do this meeting? I know more about it than Tessa does."
Cale held up his laptop bag. "I have entertainment. I'm about a season behind on Sons of Anarchy…Jax steals my heart man…" Felicity rolled her eyes as she pushed him out of the office and down the hallway, giving Oliver the chance to change his ruined shirt and jacket. "Sorry about this…was your new job as secretary Barbie supposed to be a secret?"
Felicity smacked him up the back of the head. "Cale…not in my work place," she scolded him. "I can't believe you invited my boss over for dinner…my place is a mess."
"Well you should clean it," he pointed out, earning himself another slap. "Ouch F, that hurt. Child abuse!" Felicity pushed him into the tea room and sat him down at the table. "What if someone comes in and is like you shouldn't be here?"
"Send them my way," she assured him. "Trust me…the only one to watch out for is Isabel Rochev but you'll be okay…" Felicity patted his head and fixed up his glasses before walking back to Oliver's office. "Sorry about Cale…he's usually not a walking, human disaster."
Oliver finished buttoning up his shirt. "It's okay. He's a nice kid at first glance. At least he has a place of his own too."
"You don't really have to come over for dinner," she laughed nervously.
Oliver shook his head. "No. I want to come over and meet your brother properly," he advised her.
"This won't influence the other thing," Felicity assured him. "You know…with the Hood." She coughed and cleared at throat at that last part. "I'll make sure that Cale stays away."
Cale hummed as he sat in a chair in the staff kitchen watching Sons of Anarchy on his iPad when someone taped him on the shoulder. He pulled his headphones out of his ears and looked up to see his sister standing there, the clock on the wall read way past lunchtime. "Oh, that the time?" he asked, his stomach growling.
Felicity nodded. "Sure is. Come on, there's a Big Belly Burger down the street."
Cale screwed his face up. "Ew…all that processed fat and the meat…I wouldn't even call that meat. Don't suppose you got only organic places around here? Processed makes me ill." Felicity rolled her eyes at him and assured him out of the staff kitchen. "So, you ever seen this Hood guy?" he asked as they waited for the lifts.
"Me?" she frowned. "God no. He's a dangerous maniac." Felicity shook her head, "just stay out of dark alley ways and a life of crime and you're good." She practically pushed him into the lift and pushed the button for the ground floor. "You gotta admit though, crime has gone down."
"Yeah but look at that giant earthquake you guys just had," Cale argued back. "And I just moved here so that makes me as brainless as you are…if not more so." She linked his arm in with hers and lent his head on her shoulder. "Missed you big sis…Vegas' not the same without you. Wish you would have come home…" he trailed off.
"Starling is my home now Cale," Felicity replied, "your home to…where's your place?" she asked, inquiring to make sure he wasn't lying.
"Few blocks away from yours," he replied, "it's a bit yuppie but it's perfect for me. Wi-Fi signal is amazing!" Cale laughed. Felicity laughed at her baby brother as the two of them walked from the lifts and outside. "I forgot to apologise to Oliver about his shirt!" Cale groaned.
"Don't worry," she assured him, dragging Cale over to get a taxi. "You can apologise tonight. Oh, remind me before the end of lunch to give you the key to my place. You can get a spare made and start cooking. I think Oliver's gonna bring his body guard."
"Oliver has a body guard?" Cale asked with a snort. "Guy looks like he could just stare at someone and scare them away…but my god F…those arms…I want a man with arms like that to hug and hold me…is that too much to ask?"
It was Felicity's turn to snort. "Yeah don't expect that from Oliver Queen. The guy has a revolving door of women rolling in and out of his life. You're lacking boobs, Cale." She patted Cale on the shoulder and got into the cab before Cale followed her. Sure it was going to be hard dodging her brother when it came to her extracurricular activities but she was damned happy that Cale was here.