Disclaimer: I own nothing! Everything you recognize here belongs to DC, Andrew Kreisberg, Marc Guggenheim, and whoever else might own the rights to Arrow over at the CW. Being sued for copyright infringement by any of these people would seriously suck and be utterly not worth it. Seriously, I have no money of my own.
For all of that though, Lance knew that Oliver Queen had never actually been an alcoholic. He had definitely been a heavy and habitual drinker, but Lance had noted during his teenaged years that Queen really only drank out of boredom. After he had ended p attending his own AA meetings, he had realized that alcoholics were really the people who chose to drink in order to not have to deal with the rest of their problems. Queen and Merlyn had lived the kinds of lives where they didn't really have those kinds of problems.
During the five years Oliver had been gone Lance wouldn't have been surprised if Oliver's rather impressive tolerance had decreased slightly. After all, it had been a deserted island. The fact that the kid had even managed to find drinkable water was nearly a miracle. Lance happened to know for a fact that Queen had never had any form of wilderness survival training. Boy Scouts hadn't exactly been his activity of choice. Then again, before the island he hadn't possessed the martial arts skills to make your typical Green Beret cry.
Surprisingly (or maybe not considering how you looked at it), when Oliver had first arrived back home it had seemed like the partying aspect of is life had hardly changed at all. Lance knew for a fact that one of the first public comments Queen had made upon his return had been "I missed Tequila!" It didn't exactly point to a healthy life style choice.
Watching carefully though, Lance had started to notice that that wasn't necessarily true. When Lance had gone to Oliver's ridiculous prison themed house party he had found the younger man completely stone cold sober and alert. Other events and parties that Lance had attended while the Queen's were also present had shown the policeman that more often than not Oliver would take a glass of whatever was being offered, and then set it back down without drinking any of it.
That was actually one of the biggest behavioral changes Lance had noted when he had first returned. Apart from the obvious physical changes which were obvious. Anyone could see that Queen was standing taller, and he had obviously ended up bulked out. Much as he hated to admit it then, Lance couldn't help but notice that Oliver had gotten more serious.
It was one of the aspects that had fueled Lance's suspicions of Oliver being the Hood originally. If Queen was actually just a returned party boy who hadn't changed at all (despite all of his good reasons t have pulled a character 180) he would be drinking alcohol like water. If Oliver had actually dropped the habit entirely he wouldn't have even bothered pretending to drink. He would have just done a television interview about how his traumatic experience had caused him to make a life change. If you were trying to cover something up, something that required perfect focus and depth perception, you pretended you still drank while not actually taking in a drop.
At least, that was how Lance saw it.
Now knowing the truth, Lance was borderline shocked Oliver hadn't turned to alcoholism. He had heard plenty of veterans with PTSD at his weekly meetings who discussed turning to alcohol as a way to cope with everything they had seen and done. The Kid was clearly a prime candidate for the same kinds of issues so it would have made sense.
But conversely the more Lance watched the less it seemed true. Quentin had really only seen Oliver drink a few times. Once had been at a group dinner at Diggle's house where he had had a beer and watched the weekend football game with John in a stunningly rare scene of domestic normality. The second, third and fourth times had been single shots of vodka consumed on the anniversaries of Moira's and Tommy's deaths, and on Thea's birthday. Lance could assume there had been a few glasses of champagne on celebratory or public occasions where it was unavoidable but he hadn't taken particular notice.
None of Team Arrow actually drank that much. Lance had noticed from watching that Queen's drink of choice had transferred from lighter fluid style alcohol to more pricy Russian vodka. Sara's tastes had apparently transferred from whatever she could get without her dad noticing to authentic Japanese Sake. Laurel was now (thankfully) not drinking. Lance chose not to even contemplate Thea and Roy's drinking. Acknowledging it in thought meant he was ignoring another completely illegal act in addition to everything else he wasn't arresting people for. Diggle was a simple single malt or beer drinker, and Felicity seemed to enjoy red wine.
As Cisco had commented each and every time he had visited. None of the team members drank or had fun nearly as much as you would expect for a group that had spent a solid three years working directly under a nightclub. In a new twist, Lance had overheard Felicity and Caitlin Snow trying to figure out a new alcohol compound that could actually get Barry drunk because apparently it was a lot harder than you would think.
As far as Lance could tell Oliver didn't even use alcohol as a slightly less mind-fogging method of pain numbing. In fact, Oliver didn't even seem to use pain medication. It was like the kid had given up on pain meds and antibiotics. Lance could only actually remember one time he had seen Oliver use pain killers.
Oliver had come in to their new operations base on the top floor of Palmer Technologies with a limp. "Are you okay?" Felicity asked, spinning around in her tech chair and moving to join him at the med table.
"Yeah fine," Oliver said through a slight wince.
Lance saw Felicity roll her eyes. "I know our definitions of fine are incredibly different but you're limping which is not fine in my world and since it's making you limp clearly it's not okay in your world therefore it is so not fine." She was moving around Oliver rapidly as she gathered up syringes, gauze, and medical tape.
Oliver put a hand out, catching her lightly around the forearm, stopping her rant and her anxious movements. "Seriously Felicity," he said with a sort of calming sincerity. "It's not a new injury. Just a flare up in my knee from last May." He moved one hand down and Lance saw that both of his hands were now holding both of hers against his chest. "One quick injection and I'm good to go."
Felicity sighed. "Fine, I'll grab one out of the med fridge of creepy injections. Just-" she made vague stopping motions with both hands, "stay put. And sitting. Yeah, sitting is definitely preferable right now."
"Okay," Oliver promised. Lance actually managed to see the small smile on his face. It made him look almost disgustingly gooey. The kind of sappy look that Lance could have sworn up and down eight years ago would never genuinely cross Oliver Queen's face alcohol soaked, epically high as a kite, or completely and utterly sober.
The blonde tech genius moved away toward the back room where Lance now knew a row of medical freezers and refrigerators stood filled with necessary drug and blood samples. Granted, most of the drugs were the kind that Palmer's science team was trying to work out antidotes for. The blood was also mostly the kind that was kept on hand in case rapid infusions ended up necessary. They were used scarily often.
A moment later Felicity returned holding a vial of pain medication. Lance noted Diggle slipping to the side and towards a drawer that held medical braces. Just in case.
"Thank you," Oliver said, reaching for the vial and syringe.
Felicity slapped his fingers away much the way Dinah used to chastise Lance when he tried to taste her cooking before she was done with it. "No," she scolded lightly. "We are measuring the dosage this time. No random inject the whole vial stuff like you and Dig do."
"I've been trying to break that habit," Diggle chipped in.
Oliver made a face but conceded. "Fine."
Felicity smiled and filled the syringe. She tapped the tube to get rid of any of the bubbles and then hesitated before injecting the liquid. "Okay," she admitted. "So I still think that this part is totally gross and I still really don't like pointy things..."
Lance saw Oliver's expression soften a bit as he took the needle from her and injected it's contents in to his knee. "There," he said, putting the syringe to the side. "It'll be fine in about ten minutes."
"Great," Felicity said. "Then let's head home. And I'm driving. Or Dig is. If your leg goes numb or something while your driving it is seriously going to suck."
Lance heard Oliver laugh slightly even though it sounded like he was starting to feel tired. "I thought the whole point of you doing the correct dosage was that my limbs going numb wouldn't happen."
Felicity waved a hand dismissively. "Well we've never done correct dosing before. Who knows what it might do to you?"
As it turned out, correct dosages of pain killers on Oliver Queen did exactly what it was supposed to do. It eliminated pain, and made him a little bit tired. The slightly loopy edge was incredibly enjoyable for Lance to watch actually. Though on another level it was a little terrifying. Take the most dangerous person around and then take away their normal judgment and self-control. Oops.
To say the least Lance had learned from that particular conversation and it's repercussions why Oliver tended to not really use Pain Killers. Or alcohol, or really anything that was a reflex or control inhibitor. When a loss in control could mean life ad death, Lance could understand why Oliver would avoid anything that could mess with it.
The next time Lance ever saw Oliver drink was at a wedding. If you had told Quentin Lance that some day he would walk Oliver Queen's bride down the isle to the alter he probably would have responded with the words "over my dead body." And yet, there he had been.
He had performed his scripted job as according to Thea who with Felicity's approval and Oliver's credit card had planned everything. Then he had sat down and listened to the vows. He hadn't cried, not a bit, he didn't care what Laurel said.
After that there had been a break for dancing. Which Lance knew Oliver and Thea would have rather avoided due to being forced through cotillion classes but had still included it as an unavoidable part of tradition. Then there had been dinner where Lance had been seated at the very end of the main table next to Laurel who had served as a bridesmaid with Thea and Lyla.
As the night went on most of the main table had veered off, either to the dance floor or as in the case of Diggle and Lyla to take their daughter home. What the emptiness meant was that Lance was close enough to hear Oliver and Felicity talking quietly over the sound of the guests who were still around.
The size of the guest list had actually surprised Lance given that he knew for a fact that Oliver and Felicity essentially shared the same ten or so friends, but he realized afterwards that it really shouldn't have. After all, you couldn't really have the wedding of the major owners of two thirds of one of the most wealthy companies in the world without inviting members of the press and political connections.
Felicity poured two glasses full of wine and leaned sideways in to Oliver's shoulder. "So you finally remembered to bring around that bottle of wine," Felicity said with a smile. "I have to say that was easily one of your worst excuses."
Oliver's tone was one of mock offense. "I was actually kind of proud of that one," he said. Lance could just see Felicity's skeptical expression. "What?" Oliver continued. "Rich Kid ultimate scavenger hunt? I thought that was a good one."
"Came in right under running out of sports bottles on the horrible excuse scale," she informed him. "And that one seriously sucked. Wait, would that be below or above on the excuse scale? And by that I mean would it be better or worse. I guess it's like the difference between going one to ten or ten to one-"
Oliver leaned over and kissed her to end the long babble. "Okay," he conceded. "Yeah it was a horrible excuse. And bribing you with wine was not my best move. Still, I would like to think that I came through eventually."
Lance didn't actually know what they were talking about but he was willing to bet there was a good story behind it. Well, if not a good story at the very least an entertaining one. Quentin may have long since abandoned his personal issues with Oliver Queen but he still drew a slightly vindictive joy from his embarrassment and hardships. At least, the non-deadly kind of hardships.
"Indeed you did," Felicity replied. "In incredibly delicious ways." Lance couldn't see it but he could practically hear her embarrassment humming through the air. "I meant-" she started, trying to correct.
"I know what you meant," Oliver assured. "And the wine is definitely good to." Lance made a face. One of the mega-large downsides to overhearing private conversations was hearing things that grossed you out. There was some stuff he just didn't need to know.
"Not that you'd know," Felicity said, and Lance could pick out the teasing tone behind the words. "You've barely had any of it." Lance turned a little in his seat and could see Felicity turn to look completely at Oliver. "This is a good day Oliver," she said so quietly Quentin almost couldn't hear it. "I think you can afford a glass today."
Oliver smiled. "I know. There's just always some little voice inside my head that never lets me completely let it go."
"Well," Felicity admitted. "To be fair the last time I handed you alcohol I did drug you, usurp your wishes, and try to kidnap you out of Nanda Parbat. One time and we don't seem to move past it... In vino veritas I guess."
From his angle Lance could see Oliver's eyebrows dart together in confusion. "What?"
Lance heard Felicity's light, happy laugh. "You speak like six languages and after all of those fancy prep schools you went to you still don't know Latin. I thought that was like, the required language for prep schools everywhere."
Quentin heard Oliver sigh heavily. "Yeah well, if Latin had been a language available at Excelsior or any of the four colleges I dropped out of I can honestly say that I almost definitely wouldn't have taken it. When I learned the other languages it was more about what would keep me from ending up dead than learning a dead language."
"It means in wine there is truth," Felicity translated. "I was actually always a little confused between weather it was just the ancient Roman way of saying 'the proof is in the pudding' or the ancient version of the philosophy of guys always telling the truth when they're drunk."
"I'm not actually sure I ever did tell the truth drunk," Lance heard Oliver admit. "Drunk me pretty much just made bad decisions."
Felicity smiled with a bit of a mocking edge. "Well I think our first three years of knowing each other proved that your version of a bad decision isn't always everyone's version of a bad decision."
"I know marrying you was a good one," Oliver said in the same quietly intense voice that Lance always felt was almost too private to hear. "The best one I've ever made."
Felicity leaned over to kiss him and Lance decided that it was a good time to check in with Laurel for the night. He wasn't the most sentimental person, but even he agreed that all newlyweds deserved private time on their wedding day.
His wedding night was the only time Quentin Lance ever saw Oliver Queen drink an entire glass of wine. And it was a glass of wine with a story behind it.
And that story held an extremely important truth.
A/N: So what did you guys think? I saw an interesting interview with Stephen Amell where he commented on how it was originally written in to the script that Oliver was always eating or drinking something before the writers realized it wouldn't really work with the character. I thought it would be interesting to write something where Lance could note that meaning something. I hope you guys liked the ridiculously fluffy sweetness towards the end! Review for me! xoxoxoxooxoxooxxooxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox
P.S. I have two summer camps in a row starting next week that together will last for about a month. I can bring my computer with me though so I'll try to keep posting but it might be a while in between them. Please be patient with me and don't abandon this Fic if there's a bit of a gap between this and the next few chapters. Love you all!
Reviews are happiness.