Story of Us – Arrow – Ep8

He was ecstatic when he walked through the door.  He had saved up a little money for a week or so (it was surprisingly easy when you weren’t out clubbing every night or buying up fast cars and faster women) just so he could take Laurel somewhere fancy.

“I hope you don’t have plans for tomorrow night,” he said as he walked into the office, “because I just got us a res at that new restaurant, Table Salt, opening night.”

“Isn’t that place ridiculously expensive?” she asked without even turning around.

“Everywhere worth going is,” he replied, but then he saw the concern on her face, “Ah! You have the cutest crinkle in your forehead when you’re worried.

“Tommy, stop,” she said as she sipped her coffee, “This is serious.  I thought you were going to live more frugally.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” he said, “Everybody is grown up, except for me.  Even Oliver has a job.  He’s working on that new nightclub.”

They’d had this argument at least a couple dozen times since he’d told her about his father cutting him off.  But he needed to show to her, to the world that he could live on what very little means his father had left to him, which was not much by any standard.  He looked at her and saw “that” face.

“Okay, you have thinky face.  Why do you have thinky face?”

“Have you ever thought about asking Oliver for a job?” she asked.

“Not even once,” he said intensely. 

“This isn’t a quality that I love most about you, but you do know the club scene and you know how to have fun.”

“You make some very valid points,” he said with a smile and replied in the way he knew would appease her most, “Look, I’ll take care of it, I’ll talk to Ollie later and we’ll see what he thinks.”

“He is gonna think it’s a great idea,” she said with a smile.

She moved in closer to him and leaned in, kissing him on the cheek.  When she pulled back, he couldn’t look her straight in the eye, but he did his best to hide his lie.  He was good at lying, even to Laurel.

“Thanks, I hope so,” he said to her before changing the subject, “So are we good for Table Salt tomorrow?”

She sighed and then gave him a half smile.

“If we go Dutch,” she said, “we’ll go.”

“But Laurel-” he started to gripe.

“No, Tommy,” she said with the smile of a patient mother, “You cannot afford to take both of us there.  I would enjoy the evening out with you and since you already have the reservation, we’ll go there.  However, if you so much as offer to buy me a drink, I’ll walk out on you completely.”

He knew she had him beaten.  He knew she knew, especially when he saw the cheeky grin she shot him.

“Fine,” he grumbled, “We’ll go Dutch.”

“Thank you,” she beamed triumphantly, “Now, you need to go see Oliver and I need to get back to work.”

 “Okay,” he said as he kissed her on the cheek and smiled, “I will see you tomorrow night, then.”

He turned to leave and she grabbed his arm.  He twisted to look at her.

“Go see him, Tommy,” she said, all smiles and teasing gone, “You need his help and he’ll help.”

He just nodded and turned and headed to the door.  He really hated lying to her.  But he knew he wouldn’t ask Oliver for help.  He couldn’t.  Not when he felt the way he did.  If he had to be where Oliver was every day, he didn’t know that he could keep the charade of him and Laurel for very long.  He didn’t think he could keep mum about his feelings at all.  For his sake, for Laurel’s sake…for Oliver’s sake, he needed to stay away.

Part of Three…Complications

They’d been standing in the bar for at least half an hour.  He’d already tried a couple of times to see if they could get moved up in the line of waiting patrons, but his serious lack of funds had curtailed the possibility twice now.  He was feeling like the night was going to be a complete bust when Oliver showed up.

 “Hey,” he said in response to Oliver’s greeting, flabbergasted that Oliver was there. What hurt was that it wasn’t just Oliver, but “Oliver and someone.”

He was stunned by the girl with Oliver.  She was beautiful, stunning, in fact.  He glanced at Laurel and saw the pain on her face.  At that moment, he realized that Laurel had been lying to him.  At that moment, he realized how much it hurt him to know that.

“Tommy, Laurel, this is Helena,” Oliver said as an introduction.

They exchanged pleasantries and almost immediately, the hostess came up to them.

“Mr. Queen,” the hostess said, approaching him, “your table is ready.”

“When is our table going to be ready?” Laurel asked in a haughty voice.

“When it is,” the hostess replied tightly.

“Why don’t you both join us?” Helena asked.

“No, no, no,” Oliver was saying.

“We were just going to have a drink and-” Tommy tried to excuse themselves.

“We’d love to,” Laurel said, interrupting both of them.

“Are you sure?” he asked Laurel tightly in her ear.

“I’m sure I’m hungry,” she said with a fake smile.

Tommy could feel the tension between the three of them.  He knew he wouldn’t eat, if only because he was already close enough to throwing up.  Helena seemed to have no clue that all three of them had suddenly gone from casual to edgy in a matter of a couple of heartbeats.

“That-” Oliver tried to say to the hostess and cleared his throat before he nearly squeaked out, “That’ll be great!  That sounds good!” 

Our History Raises Its Ugly Head

He handed the hostess $50 and she walked away to make arrangements.  Within moments, they were all sitting at the table and joking over the beer in the pool.  For a moment, it felt comfortable.  But just as suddenly, they were talking about how long they’d known each other and the history they had and everything got really…awkward.

“You three have a lot of history,” Helena said smilingly.

“Sometimes a little too much,” Tommy replied, seeing the look in Laurel’s eye.  She was enjoying being with Oliver in a social setting again…a little too much for someone who was supposedly no longer in love with him.

“So,” Laurel said, trying to lighten the mood, “how’s the nightclub coming along?”

He knew it was about to all go bad.  Laurel.  Ever helpful, caring Laurel went and opened her mouth.

“Slower than I expected it to.  I’ve, uh, I’ve been busy,” Oliver replied.

“Well, then you must be happy to have the extra help, then.”

 “What do you mean?” Oliver asked.

“Laurel, I’m sure that Oliver doesn’t want to talk about work right now,” Tommy stated.  Yep.  All going to go bad.

“You didn’t ask him?” she accused.

“Ask me what?” Oliver asked, looking between both of them.

“Tommy wanted—Tommy said that he was gonna talk to you about working for you at your nightclub,” she said, finishing weakly.  At least she understood, albeit late, that she’d stepped in it.  Oliver laughed at the possibility and Tommy was mortified.

“Really?” Oliver laughed as he looked at Tommy.  He saw that Tommy was upset and schooled his features before continuing, “Sorry, I didn’t think that you wanted any responsibility at all.”

“Oh yeah, who’d believe that?” Tommy asked, the anger building, the mortification solidifying in the pit of his stomach.  The momentary look of concern and confusion on Oliver’s face made him feel worse.  Oliver had no idea.  He had no reason to know why the job was important.  Admittedly, Tommy had been avoiding Oliver for many reasons, but he had not really ever wanted to tell Oliver about the financial crunch.

“You’ve always wanted to get into business with Tommy,” Laurel continued innocently, “I mean, don’t you remember when we went to Aspen and you wanted to open a ski lodge?”

“The only thing that I remember from Aspen was your father being furious we shared a room with one bed,” Oliver said with a soft, fond smile.  That smile hit Tommy in the gut.  Oliver was still in love with Laurel, despite his protestations.

Tommy caught the distraught look on Helena’s face and completely understood how she was feeling.  Suddenly, Oliver’s date was being clued in on their history and didn’t like what she was hearing.  How could she?  It was obvious Oliver hadn’t explained the complexities of their threesome…and Oliver really didn’t even know all of the nuances that were a part of it, only those he chose to see.

“Tommy, you working for me that could be, uh, fun,” Oliver said, sounding forced as he tried to get back to the actual subject at hand, but Tommy couldn’t take his charity.  Didn’t want his charity.  He honestly felt like hurling at that moment.

“I don’t feel so good,” he said, putting his glass on the table and throwing his napkin over his plate, “I’m gonna step outside.”

He shot a dirty look at Laurel.  He had known that getting the three of them back into the same room would end up with someone hurt.  Before the island, it would always end up being Laurel.  But now it was him and he hated it.  He walked away before the hurt she had caused showed any more than it already had on his face.

Face Off

He hadn’t even made it to the lobby when she was following him.

“Tommy, why are you so upset?” she asked.

“Why did you have to say something to Oliver about the job?” he asked angrily as he headed to the door.

“You were supposed to talk to him,” she said.

“Well, I hadn’t,” he nearly growled.  He knew she would never understand. 

“Okay, I didn’t realize,” she said, continuing to follow him through the bar to the door, “I was only trying to help.”

“No,” he said, finally turning back to her, “you were trying to get Oliver to help.  You know, it’s typical, Laurel.  Always running to a white knight.  It’s Oliver and Laurel.  It always has been.  That’s not gonna change.”

“Oliver and I are over,” she said, shaking her head.

“Oh, really?” he asked, the anger continuing to grow again, “Because you seemed awfully bothered by his new girlfriend.”

“What? Am I supposed to like her?” Laurel asked, apparently more upset by the new woman than Tommy had even realized.

“I do not want to be Oliver’s charity case, okay?” he snarled, “To every day be reminded that I can’t give you everything he could?  You know, losing a fortune I think is going to be easier than losing you, so why don’t we just stop now?”

He turned and ran away before she could say anything and he could start crying.  He stormed to the curb and asked the valet to call a cab since he was currently without even a car to his name.  It killed him that she had betrayed him.  The moment she was in the room with Oliver, all the pretty little lies he had hoped to believe, that he had started to accept about her not being in love with Oliver any longer went straight out the window.  He’d seen it the second she’d seen Oliver. 

And Oliver was no different.  Oliver still had intense feelings for Laurel that he tried to keep hidden.  But at least Oliver hadn’t lied to him about it, at least not directly.  He’d given his blessing and tried to make it comfortable for them all.  But Laurel…Laurel had reminded him as soon as she could that he was no longer rich, that he could no longer care for her the way Oliver had.  Throwing Aspen into the conversation had only reminded him of that fact. 

He looked over at the valet and said, “Forget it, man.  I’m just going to walk.”

He had no idea where he was going, but he couldn’t just stand there any longer.  He turned on his heel and headed off into the dark, hoping it would swallow him whole.

Confrontation and Regret

He surprised himself by showing up at Laurel’s door a few hours later.  She opened the door in her nightshirt and he appreciated her gorgeous legs as he followed her inside.  He tried to explain to her what had happened.  None of it came out right.  He told her the truth, but not the whole truth. 

She accepted his apology with a kiss and a hug, but he still felt he had lied to her.  When he pulled away, he told her so.

“Laurel, what are we going to do?” he asked as he turned away from her, unable to look her in the eye.

“What do you mean?” she replied, “I thought we just established that we’re together and that I’m here for you.”

“Laurel,” he said tightly, “I like you.  I care about you a lot, but-”

“But you are in love with Oliver, I know,” she said, putting a hand on his shoulder gently.

“And so are you,” he said bluntly.

“Tommy-“

“Laurel,” he said, turning back to face her. “You can’t deny it.  Every time you look at him, it’s obvious to everyone who sees you.  You were devastated that Helena was there tonight.  If she hadn’t been, you probably would have gone home with him.”

“I would not have done that,” Laurel denied vehemently.

“You would have,” he said quietly, the quiet in his voice indicating how serious he was about it.

She paused for a moment before she shrugged.

“Okay,” she acceded, “I probably would have…I’m sorry.”

“Yeah,” he said sadly, “So am I.  Because now I know I really have absolutely no chance with Oliver.”

“Tommy,” she said, “that’s crap!  You have just as much chance as the next person!”

“No,” he said softly, “he’s still in love with you.  I can’t fight that.”

“Tommy-” she said reaching a hand back out to him.

“No, Laurel,” he said sadly, “I’m never going to be anything but his friend, I see that now.”

“Tommy-” she said again, trying to get him to listen, “you still need to tell him.”

“Why?” he asked angrily, “Why would I put myself through that?  Why hurt myself like that?”

“Because if you don’t, you will always wonder,” she said quietly, “And so will I.”

Tommy looked at her sharply.  She wanted him to bare his soul so she would know where Oliver stood as well.  There was a sick, perverted sense in that.  He nodded.

“Fine,” he said, “but I need to do it in my own time, Laurel.  I can’t just dump this on him.”

“Why not?”

“Because-” he stopped.  He couldn’t tell her.  He’d said it before, but he wouldn’t tell her again he was scared. 

He was scared. Scared that he was completely broke and had no means of income.  Afraid that what little bit of a relationship they had, while based on his “not being gay” for his dad, still felt better than any relationship he’d ever had.  Fearful that telling Oliver would ruin everything.  Mostly, he was terrified his life would never be the same.  And he was scared that it already wasn’t.

 “Let’s just say because,” he said with a smile half its normal sparkle.  He kissed her once more and took his leave.  He had to sleep on what he was going to say to Oliver and how he was going to break it to his best friend that he was in love with him, not Laurel.

Almost Full Disclosure

When Oliver turned from the window, the sadness in his eyes made Tommy want to go to him.  There was something wrong.  But he had come for a specific…okay, truth be told, two specific reasons, but he had to play that second one by ear.

“Hi,” Oliver said, the surprise at Tommy’s being there evident on his face.

“Now, look,” Tommy said as he stepped into the room, “I’m sorry about last night.”

“It just—” Oliver started, then apparently decided to go a different tack, “I let it get too far.  Us sitting at the same table that was…that was not smart.”

“No!” Tommy replied strongly, “I was not smart.  I haven’t been entirely honest with you,” he saw the question in Ollie’s raised eyebrow and continued, “My dad cut me off.  He froze all my funds.  I am living on fumes.”

“Really?” Oliver said, the shock evident on his face, “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Embarrassment, shame, jealousy, probably a few other emotions I’m not used to the feeling,” he said without looking Oliver directly in the eye.

“Tommy,” Oliver said with a small smile, “my trust fund is your trust fund.”

He took a deep breath.  As much as he wanted to smile and thank him and say yes, he knew he couldn’t.  Not now.

“No,” he said, “that is the easy answer, and believe me I have loved easy answers…What I need is a job.”

He saw the furrow between Oliver’s eyebrows and knew what he was thinking, so he continued.

“I’m trying to change.  Not sure into what yet, but…I don’t want to be what I was anymore.”

“It just so happens that I have a general manager position that is available,” Oliver said seriously, and then continued sarcastically, “You’re probably the guy for the job.”

“Will I be getting dental?” Tommy asked cheekily, easily sliding back into his old attitude as relief swept through him, “This smile wasn’t cheap.”

“I will look into that,” Oliver said with a smirk.

“Thank you,” Tommy replied and then said it again as he went to hug Oliver, “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Oliver said quietly, holding him tight for a moment.  As they pulled apart, Tommy saw the sadness in Oliver’s eyes again.

“You okay?” Tommy asked Oliver.

“I’ll be okay,” Oliver whispered, but Tommy could see the hurt in his eyes.

“Did something happen with Helena?” he asked, hoping that was the sadness and not him and Laurel and the disaster of the night before.

“We had a falling out,” Ollie said, hardly able to look at Tommy, “but I have a feeling that I will be seeing her again.”

“Well,” Tommy said, “that’s a good thing, right?”

“No, Tommy,” Oliver said as he finally looked at him, “Not really.”

“Oh,” Tommy said.  There wasn’t anything else he really could say, so he reached out and put a hand on Oliver’s shoulder.  Oliver’s hand immediately covered his and held it in place.  The look Oliver gave him at that moment gave him the courage to follow up on reason number two for his visit.  He knew Oliver was in love with Laurel.  Hell, he’d thought he was in love with Laurel.  He knew he’d never had a chance with Oliver either, but he needed to make one last ditch effort before he moved on. “Oliver, I-”

 “It’s okay, Tommy,” Oliver said, “I’ll be fine.  Really I will.”

“I don’t think you will…And maybe after what I say you still won’t and you’ll hate me forever, but if I don’t, Oliver,” he said taking a jagged breath, “If I don’t tell you…If I don’t say-”

Tommy stopped.  He didn’t know how to say that he loved Oliver without looking a fool.

“Say what, Tommy?” Oliver asked innocently, his eyes sparkling with curiosity. 

Tommy just stared at him.  Oliver stared back.  The hurt grew in Oliver’s eyes and Tommy felt shocked.  He raised his hand and touched Oliver’s cheek before he thought twice about it.  Oliver leaned into his hand and his eyes drifted closed.  Oliver’s eyes snapped open as Tommy groaned lowly.

“Tommy?” he asked his voice nothing more than a whisper.

He leaned in and kissed Oliver lightly.  Before he could retreat and apologize, Oliver wrapped his arms around him with a groan.  Oliver pinned Tommy’s arms just above his shoulders.  He wrapped his arms around Oliver as best he could and deepened the kiss as he pulled Ollie closer.  Oliver opened his mouth, inviting Tommy to delve deeper.  Their tongues battled for dominance as hands wandered their bodies, working them into a fever.  Both hearts raced as the intensity of the kisses grew.  Finally, they both had to breathe and they broke the kiss.  Tommy leaned back from Oliver a bit and shot him a lopsided grin.

“So…” he started.

“So…yeah,” Oliver said with a suddenly shy smile.

“You, too?” Tommy asked.

“For like, ever, man,” Oliver said,

“Yeah?” Tommy’s grin widened, “Wow.”

“Yeah,” Oliver said with a small smile, “Wow.”

Our Romance

“You know,” Tommy said quietly, “this complicates a lot of things.”

Oliver’s face sobered and he released Tommy.  Tommy held in the whimper of almost physical pain that crept up as Oliver stepped away.

“I know,” Oliver said seriously, “Especially with Laurel.”

Tommy closed his eyes against the pain that threatened to break his chest open.  There it was.  Laurel.  She’d always be something between them.

“Tommy,” Oliver said, “what are you going to tell her about us?”

His eyes snapped open.

“What? Huh?” he said incoherently, “What do you mean?”

“I told you, Tommy, if you hurt her, I’ll snap your neck,” Oliver said seriously, “I was serious.  How are you going to tell her about your feelings for me?  This is going to kill her.”

Tommy just shook his head and grinned, “She already knows, man.”

He wanted to laugh at the look of incredulity on Oliver’s face.  But he already knew he was going to have to explain.

“You know I don’t just love you, right?” he asked, “You know I’m in love with you, right?”

Oliver’s face softened and his smile was genuine when he said, “Yeah, Tommy, I know.  Me, too.”

Tommy’s heart stopped at that.  He had never expected that.  Everything he wanted to say went completely out of his head as he stared at Ollie.  Oliver stared back as if he was shocked at his own words.

“I do, Tommy,” he finally said, “I’m in love with you.  Have been for a very long time.  I just- Well, I never-”

Tommy let the laughter bubble up and out this time.

“Wow,” he said with a chuckle, “we’re a pair of idiots, aren’t we?”

“Yeah,” Oliver said, “I guess we are.”

They sort of fell together again at that moment.  Tommy hadn’t realized he had moved until he felt his mouth on Oliver’s.  His hands found Oliver’s face and slid into his short hair.  Oliver’s mouth opened to him again and their tongues battled.  Oliver’s arms wrapped around Tommy and pulled him close.  Tommy could feel Oliver’s arousal pressed against him and hummed at the sensation.  He pressed back, letting Oliver know how stimulated he was.  At that moment, Tommy realized exactly where they were heading if they didn’t slow down.

Tommy made himself pull back from the kiss.  As much as he hated it, he pulled out of Oliver’s arms and stepped back.

“Tommy?” Oliver said, trying to reach for him again.

“We have things to talk about,” Tommy said quietly, reaching a hand out to grab Oliver’s to ease his own ache of separation.  He knew he was in trouble.  Now that he knew what it was to be in Oliver’s arms, to kiss him, he didn’t know how he would ever want anything else.

“You don’t have to worry too much about Laurel,” he continued, “She’s known for a while.  But there’s something I didn’t tell you about my dad.”

“Your dad?” Oliver asked, “What’s he got to do with this?”

“Dad is the reason I’m dating Laurel,” he said, turning away from Oliver.  He couldn’t stand to see the hurt or anger that might be on Oliver’s face when he told him the whole truth.

“Tommy?” Oliver said, grabbing his shoulder.

“You know how my dad is,” he said, still not looking at Oliver, “He’s a fucking homophobe.  He cut me off because, even though I was dating Laurel, he was positive that I am in love with you.  He’s right.  He’s rarely wrong.  But he’s dangerous when he’s angry, Ollie.  He still suspects that you’re the Hood and if he suspects that you feel the same way I do, I don’t know what will happen.”

“I’ll be fine,” Oliver assured him.

Tommy finally looked at him.  Oliver’s face was open, honest, and trusting.  That was a first since he’d gotten back from the island.  But Tommy knew the fear he had of putting Oliver in danger showed on his face.

“I don’t even know if I actually have you, but I can’t lose you again, Ollie,” he said sincerely.

“You’ve got me,” Oliver said, reaching for Tommy’s face, “but maybe we should keep up pretenses for a while longer.”

Tommy sighed in relief.  He knew when it came to Dear Old Dad, Oliver would understand why the fear was so palpable.

“Thank you,” he said as Oliver pulled him into a hug.

“You’re welcome,” Ollie replied with a small chuckle, “and thank you.”