Chapter Text
Everything up to the Invasion! crossover is canon, except for the ships. So, basically, Felicity & Oliver were never together, and Barry & Iris were never together. Let’s go ahead and assume that Oliver did briefly have feelings for Felicity and they tried to date, but he soon came to see her as a sister. Let’s also assume that Barry is openly gay, and never dated Patty, either. The timeline for both shows will change severely for reasons that will make sense as the story goes on. We don’t hate on Iris, either. Savitar doesn’t exist (yet?) since Barry isn’t in love with anyone as deeply as he loved Iris on the show, leading to Savitar’s creation. Oliver’s timeline is also really different. I had to rewatch all of season 4 and 5 of Arrow just to figure out how to play this. So, to sum up, Oliver isn’t mayor, he still runs Queen Consolidated and never sold it to Ray Palmer, but Ray’s storyline stays the same, he just ended up working with Oliver instead of buying it from him. Oliver has Felicity working with him at QC as well as Thea, to help with the work load. William is still in the picture, but Samantha doesn’t die because I hate Adrian Chase and so he doesn’t exist to the same extent in my universe. Also, the only new recruit he has is Curtis, because honestly, I don’t like Renee that much and it would be an effort to write for Rory and that random white chick who tried to be badass by pretending to be the new Black Canary and then just ended up dying or something idk. You’ll see how it goes. Lmao. I’m very chaotic, I know, but I hope you enjoy this. I enjoy both angst and happy endings. You’re in for a ride, my sweet, sweet Olivarry shippers.
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Barry, Diggle and Oliver stood side by side, waving off Sara and Ray as they got back on the Waverider and disappeared into some other century. “There she goes... off to her spaceship – time travelling as if it’s totally normal,” Diggle began, his voice light, humorous.
“Well, John, it’s like you said; normal sort of went out the window when this one arrived,” Oliver said whilst clearing his throat, the two smiling as they looked at Barry. Barry, in question chuckled sheepishly – albeit slightly embarrassed.
Diggle looked at Barry, his expression somehow relaxed. “I may never understand you man,” he started, holding out his hand for Barry. Oliver looked nervously over at the two. It wasn’t easy knowing how Barry went back in time and changed the past, in turn changing Diggle’s present, but he hoped it would settle down. “But you’re one of the best men I know.”
Barry looked surprised. He didn’t expect this kind of reaction from Diggle after what he did to him. “Thanks, Dig,” he said, shaking his hand. He was nervous. “So... does this mean you forgive me for what I did?”
Oliver couldn’t even bear to look at Barry at this point, or even the interaction between him and Diggle. It was almost like an overload of emotion. He supported both of them, but he wanted things to turn out this way. He wasn’t used to life handing him these little indulgences of things working out the way he wanted.
“Barry, it’s like I keep telling this guy,” Diggle said with a nod at Oliver over his shoulder. “You have to forgive yourself.” He smiled at the younger man, knowing that his earnest eyes and nervous demeanor meant that Barry never intended to hurt him in any way.
“Yeah,” Barry replied, with a small nod. He couldn’t bring himself to smile because he still felt guilty for what his actions did for the other man.
Diggle smiled at him, though. He clapped him on the arm good-naturedly. “Good luck,” he told him, before taking his leave.
Barry nodded again. “Thanks,” he said. As Diggle left, Oliver stepped closer to Barry, who instantly felt more relaxed at having Oliver closer to him. It was an instant effect the older man had on the speedster. He didn’t understand it. But he enjoyed it. “Well,” he started. “We should do this more often.”
“What?” Oliver responded. He knew Barry had good intentions behind the statement but it momentarily took him back, regardless.
Barry shook his head with a smile. “Get together, I mean,” he explained as the two of them chuckled.
Oliver just smiled at him – a rare occurrence for his features, but something he found himself easily capable of doing around the younger man. “I don’t know if the world could take it,” and in some way, he meant his words deeper than what he implied.
“Without the world being threatened, I mean,” Barry said, his nerves relaxing more as his back and forth with Oliver flowed.
Oliver considered this a moment and said, “If the world wasn’t being threatened, what would we do?” And he looked at Barry. He really looked at Barry. And Barry looked back at him. There was a sparkle in Oliver’s eyes that Barry felt himself falling into. They were flirting. The way they always did so casually, without there being any actual implication behind the words. And the words always came to them so easily when they were with each other. There was never any awkwardness. It was always so easy with Barry. Oliver used to warn himself to be careful with his words and actions around the speedster. He never wanted to have any reason to be worried that he could fall for Barry Allen. But right now, he didn’t want to worry. He had just saved the world with the man in front of him. He didn’t want to be afraid anymore.
“I have some ideas,” Barry said with a small, hopeful smile. He shoved his hands awkwardly into his pocket as he looked up at Oliver. He wasn’t a stupid person. He graduated from college early with honors. He was aware of how easily he was enraptured by Oliver Queen’s presence. He just never wanted to let himself feel anything because of how much the older man closed himself off to any semblance of emotion.
Oliver felt himself warming up from the inside out. Easily. It was always easy around Barry. He was tired of wasting time. Tired of feeling like he always had to have everything under control. For once, he wanted to see if things could flow, without interruption, and without any extra hindrances. “By all means, lead the way,” he said, gesturing for Barry to move so he could follow. He would follow him anywhere. Trust made you do some crazy things, and Oliver trusted Barry with every bone in his body. Easily.
Barry led the way to the STAR Lab van. If they were about to do this – about to hang out with each other like their lives could be normal, he was going to do it the most normal way he could. He opened the passenger door for Oliver – he was a gentleman. He was also trying to flirt in the most subtle way he knew how, and if this made Oliver smile (which it did) it would be worth the cheesy shot.
“You wanna tell me where we’re going?” Oliver asked, as Barry drove through the city.
Barry shrugged with a sneaky smile. “You’ll find out soon enough, won’t you?” He turned up the music on the fancy radio system that Cisco had installed into the van, and let the music flow softly through the car.
Oliver didn’t say anything to this, he just shook his head with a smile after looking at Barry for a moment. It really would be so easy for him to fall for this man – if he just let himself do it. The two fell into a comfortable silence. Oliver just allowed himself to watch the city move by as he rested his head back on the seat. He’d never had a moment to just feel relieved that the weight of the world wasn’t on his shoulders. With Barry, it felt like the other man took some of that weight for himself, never letting Oliver carry it alone.
They arrived at a local bar several minutes later. Barry parked the van and shut off the engine. “You wanted normal, right?” Barry said, looking at him with a smirk.
Oliver looked at the bar through the windshield. He looked back at the other man with a nod of approval, making his expression more serious for a moment before saying, “Normal.”
The two exited the van and walked side by side into the bar. They found empty chairs towards the back which they sat on. “So...” Barry started after they ordered two beers. “We should probably talk about the elephant in the room.”
Oliver panicked for a moment as he took a sip of his beer. Was he that obvious?
“The fact that you still refuse to believe that I can beat you,” Barry continued with a big smile on his face. Oliver rolled his eyes.
“And what gives you that impression?” he asked him, blue eyes bearing into green. The two feeling sparks fly between them.
Barry chuckled. “Maybe the fact that you haven’t told anyone that you tried to train me twice, and I beat you – both times.”
Oliver huffed a laugh as he took another swig of his beer. “Maybe you just... you know what. I don’t deny it, I just don’t... accept it,” he said decidedly.
“Right, right,” Barry said with a small laugh, taking a swig of his own beer bottle. “I think you’re in denial.”
Oliver shook his head as he took another sip. “I’m just saying, next time, I'm gonna get you.”
Barry’s eyes were focused on Oliver, absorbing every inch of the man that he could see. Drinking him in. He couldn’t understand what it was about him that made him always feel so light. Barry smirked as he responded, “I’m just saying, I beat you twice.”
“The first time was a tie,” Oliver objected, his eyebrows furrowing.
“And the second time?” Barry said, raising his own eyebrows with his ever-growing smirk.
“There were no witnesses the second time,” Oliver replied. Barry chuckled as they both took a sip of beer.
Barry put his bottle down and leaned in slightly, his voice dropping to a whisper. “Super-speed arrow duels... our lives aren’t exactly normal.
Oliver put his bottle down, too. He looked at Barry and said, “I told Kara that I was looking to reclaim some normal.” His eyes bore into Barry’s. The intensity of the moment became pregnant with the possibilities of how life could feel normal for either of them.
Barry swallowed hard. The feeling of having Oliver so close to him, in a setting so... normal was unsettling. It was everything he could have had if his life wasn’t so complicated. If Oliver’s life wasn’t so complicated. Things didn’t work out for guys like them. They had to carry the world on their shoulders. They had to be the ones who watched everyone else have normal.
“And how would you do that?” Barry finally said. “How would you reclaim some normal?”
Oliver shrugged slightly and turned back to the front. He circled the top of his bottle with his thumb as he considered his next words. He could feel Barry watching him; trying to decipher what he was thinking. “This is normal,” he said slowly. He turned to Barry at last, looking at him, almost shy. “Right?”
Barry felt suddenly overwhelmed by the direction this conversation seemed to be heading in. It was a direction neither of them needed to state. It was something inherently obvious that grew between them each time they were together. This seemed explosive, and he wasn’t sure if it were in a good way or not.
Barry nodded his head. “Right, yeah,” he said as he, too, turned to the front, taking a sip of his beer, not feeling the effects of the alcohol flooding through his system, but feeling like he needed something steady to hold onto.
Oliver kept his eyes on him, though. If Barry wasn’t looking at him while he spoke, it was definitely easier, but hard regardless. He wanted to keep going, though. He needed to keep going. “So...” he started slowly. “Maybe we could reclaim normal together... with moments like this.”
Barry turned to him, his eyes showing confusion, but more predominantly showing hope. “What are you trying to say, Ollie?”
Oliver looked almost bashful. It was a refreshing change for Barry, as he always felt like he was the bashful one in their friendship. “I guess... I guess I’m asking you out, Barry,” he said with a small smile, his blue eyes big and honest, looking into Barry’s with the most adorable expression that Barry had ever seen on him.
Barry didn’t speak. He couldn’t. It wasn’t his fault, either. He was momentarily in shock by the honesty radiating from Oliver. He was also surprised the world hadn’t imploded on this moment the way it ruined most things for both of them. It allowed them this little indulgence. And if it allowed them this moment, would it allow them more?
“I mean,” Oliver began again, quickly, suddenly worried that he read too much into the situation to such an extent that he imagined Barry’s feelings for him. “I mean we don’t have to – I mean you don’t have to if you don’t want to. It’s just – after seeing how easily we could have died in the past few days... knowing what’s out there... it makes me believe that somethings can just... be,” he looked up at Barry and saw the other man just watching him, a soft smile playing on his face.
“I thought I was the one who rambled here, huh?” Barry began. “Of course I want to go out with you, Ollie,” Barry said with a laugh. “I think I’ve been ready to go out with you since the day I lied about investigating a dead body in Star City and you hated my guts.”
Oliver huffed and took a sip of his beer, though he was smiling. “I didn’t hate your guts,” he claimed.
Barry’s eyebrows shot up at that. “Oh, really, Ollie? You were ready to kill me when Felicity kidnapped me to save your life,” he laughed as he took a sip of his own beer.
Oliver shook his head, his finger wagging as he explained further. “No, no, no. I was just weary of you,” he said.
“Righhhht,” Barry said, laughing.
“No, I’m serious!” Oliver said his voice rising slightly in the way it did when he was actually happy, and joking around. “I thought you had feelings for Felicity! And I thought I had feelings for Felicity then. Well... I did, but that’s a different story. Plus, you can’t blame me for being worried that this random adorable science guy knew my secret.”
Barry smile faded slightly, though it was almost imperceptible. Too bad Oliver knew him too well to have not picked it up. “Right. Well, I stand corrected. You didn’t like me,” Barry said, taking a swig of his bottle.
Oliver looked at him a moment. “I like you now, though,” he said. Barry turned to him. Their eyes met and something more changed between them. It was never going to be the same between them now, no matter what happened. Barry said nothing, he just looked at Oliver, waiting. Oliver knew it was his cue to speak. So, he placed his bottle on the counter softly before turning in his seat to fully face Barry. “Barr, I think I've changed like six times since we met. I’ve been with so many people in my life, felt things for so many of them. But... you and I...” he tried to find the words. Words were always Barry’s forte. This was a struggle for him, and Barry knew it, so he reached out his hand, and held Oliver’s that sat in his lap. Oliver’s hands were winded in each other, grasping hard as if he were trying to force himself to keep still. Barry placed his hand on both of Oliver’s, the warmth of his touch spreading through him, filling him, encouraging him to keep going. Oliver looked into Barry’s eyes. “The way you and I move... the way we talk... and blend together so easily... Barry – I've never had that with anyone. You make me feel things I have never felt in my life. You make me want to be better – in fact, you have made me better. As far as normal goes, as long as I have you in my life, that’s the best version of normal that I could have. Even if... you know... it’s not as normal as Dig would like,” he said with a chuckle, at which Barry chuckled too. “I just know I want to hold on to whatever I feel when I’m with you for as long as possible.”
Barry took a deep breath as Oliver finished. “Wow,” he said. He turned to the front of the bar again.
Oliver, looking affronted tilted his head at Barry in confusion. “That’s... all you have to say?”
Barry, looked at Oliver, an amused smile on his face. “Well, yeah,” he said, a playful glimmer in his eyes. “I mean, those are more words than I’ve ever heard from you in the five – six? Six years we’ve known each other so yeah, I need a moment to absorb it all.”
“Barr,” Oliver said huffing out another short laugh. He reached out a hand to place on Barry’s arm.
Barry simply looked from Oliver’s hand on his arm up to the man it belonged to. He placed his other hand over Oliver’s. “I want to try this version of normal with you, too,” he said softly, a small smile on his lips.
Oliver smiled back. He took back his hand and turned to the front of the bar, too. “Alright, but this doesn’t count as our first date, okay?” he said with a smirk. “Oliver Queen would never take a date to a bar of all places.”
Barry started laughing softly. The sound was like music to Oliver’s ears. “You did not just refer to yourself in third person,” he said, still laughing.
“Oh yeah,” Oliver said, nodding seriously. “And I mean it, too.”
Barry smiled, sobering up from his laugh. He looked at Oliver as he said, “Okay, then where are you taking me?”
Oliver looked back at Barry. “Well, this is just assuming you’re agreeing to go out with me?”
Barry playfully shoved Oliver with his shoulder. “Of course, you idiot. I don’t think I’m capable of saying no to you.”
This time, it was Oliver who looked at Barry with a playful grin on his face. “You sure about that? Because I can recall several moments where you have said no to me.”
Barry shook his head, already feeling the argument rising in this throat. “Oh my god, it doesn’t count when we’re on mission, Ollie, and I know you’re thinking about that whole thing with Kendra and Carter, but you have to admit that was a little excessive letting her get trained like that,” he blurted out in one breath.
“Right, right,” Oliver said, his smirk still on his face as he took a sip of his beer. “Guess we aren’t counting missions, then.”
Barry nodded. “That’s right. So, back on topic. Where are you taking me?”
Oliver looked at him with the softest expression Barry had ever seen on him. “I guess that depends,” he started, searching his eyes for any hesitance or any possibility that the speedster would say no to him. “Would you be willing to run 600 miles for me? It is a little hard getting to and fro Star City to Central when you aren’t the fastest man alive, you know.”
Barry leaned in, as close as he could without actually touching his face with Oliver’s. He smiled, deep and honest and true. Easily. “For you? I’d run to the end of the world.”
Oliver smiled back. It was impossible not to. His face almost hurt from the way Barry made it lift so easily. “You’re kind of cheesy, you know that?” he said in a whisper.
Barry shrugged, not leaning back or moving away. “Get used to it,” he said in a whisper back. “Besides, you’re not any less cheesy yourself, you know.”
Oliver looked down, bashful and smiling. It was like he was a goddamn sixteen-year-old again. “I guess you’re right.” He made the mistake of looking from Barry’s eyes to his lips. He licked his own unconsciously. “Would you maybe consider getting out of here?”
Barry swallowed nervously. He looked at Oliver’s tongue sliding across his lips, wetting them, making them so pink that it was actually hard to look away without wanting to move in and press his own to them. Yet, he moved back anyways. “God, yes, please,” he said eagerly, placing his beer bottle on the counter and hopping off the stool. Oliver laughed and got off his own stool as Barry pulled out his wallet and paid the bill before Oliver could object.
When Barry had paid, he turned and grabbed Oliver’s hand with no hesitation. Oliver, not used to something so personal, yet normal, didn’t pull back. Instead, he let Barry guide him through the bar to the door where they walked side by side, hand in hand to the STAR Labs van. Barry opened the door for Oliver again, before hopping back into the driver’s seat. They sat in a comfortable silence once more as Barry drove to the hotel Oliver and his team were staying at.
As Barry pulled up outside the hotel, they saw Team Arrow getting ready to leave the hotel, packing all their equipment and bags into the car they drove into town on.
“So,” Barry started as they watched Felicity and Diggle loading up the car.
“So,” Oliver said, looking at Barry with a warm smile.
“Call me,” Barry told him.
Oliver leaned in, ever so slightly. “I will,” he responded.
“You better,” Barry said in a whisper, leaning in an inch himself. “I’ll be waiting.”
“I won’t leave you disappointed,” Oliver promised. He leaned in some more. There was only about an inch between their faces now. The electricity between them waiting for the current so it could flow through them both.
“Good,” said Barry, and he closed the distance, letting the sparks flood them more than any alcohol in the world ever could. It was like they could feel a current that connected them wholly and entirely. They weren’t inseparable. They never could be. Oliver let his tongue slide across Barry’s lips, asking for entry. Barry gratefully accepted, letting Oliver’s tongue enter his mouth as the two battled for dominance.
It was a knock on the window that jolted them away from each other. It belonged to Diggle, standing at Oliver’s window with his arms crossed, but a big smile on his face. “Hey, uh, Oliver, we’re waiting on you, man,” Diggle said, a sneaky grin on his face. “Anytime you’re uh... ready to join us.”
Oliver nodded his head, looking at Diggle with a caught and almost embarrassed expression on his face. “Right,” Oliver said back.
Diggle’s grin didn’t leave his face. “Yeah, we’ll be right here,” he said, pointing back to Felicity who was watching too, her own face holding its own big grin as she waved her hands excitedly. “Bye Barry,” Diggle called before turning back to Felicity as he started giggling like a five-year-old in a candy store.
Barry, in question, was true to his superhero title and scarlet in the face, looking straight ahead as he sheepishly brushed his hair back. “Yeah, bye, Dig,” he called, still not looking at the other man outside the window.
“I think I’m regressing in age with you, Barr,” Oliver said with a laugh in his voice.
Barry looked at Oliver, an embarrassed smile making its way on his face. “God, I think I am, too,” he admitted. But the two of them laughed. And Oliver leaned in once more, planting a soft kiss on Barry’s lips.
“I’ll see you soon, okay?” Oliver said in a low voice, his eyes on Barry’s.
Barry nodded. “Okay,” he whispered back. And he smiled at Oliver like he hung up the moon. Oliver left the car and walked to the rest of his teammates. Barry watched him go, and when he approached the other two, he started his drive back to STAR Labs where he had to deposit the van, feeling a tingling sensation on his lips from where he felt like nothing in the world could shake the giddiness it flooded him with.