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Tweak says, "Bowties are cool!"

_oliver_queen (_oliver_queen) wrote in omega_reality,
@ 2013-02-08 09:02:00

Entry tags:

*complete, 2013 02, character: oliver queen, character: tommy merlyn

RP: Oliver/Tommy
Who: Oliver/Tommy
When: 2-8-13
Where: Their room
Summary: Whinging Oliver is whinging.

Replies to emails weren't always prompt unless it was essential. Plus, they were all busy from sunup to sundown and sometimes didn't feel like doing anything but going to bed. When Oliver checked his email on Friday night, he muttered profanity under his breath as he typed out a reply.

Tommy entered the bedroom on the heels of Oliver's commentary, and at the questioning look Oliver told him, "These stupid physicals are mandatory and Dr. Isles won't cooperate. She's going to have to pry me out of my clothes if she thinks she's going to get them off."

Only five people had seen his body since he'd returned from the island, and one of them was the doctor who gave him a physical upon his return. His health was fine. He didn't need a stranger poking and proding and asking questions.

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tommy_merlyn
2013-02-08 04:36 pm UTC (link)

Tommy snorted. "Oliver, have we don't anything that it's not mandatory?" He got in bed, dressed like they were ready to go out again. "I have less problem with the physical than... everything else."

He propped himself on his elbow and stared at his friend. "You wanted to be here. You're the one who basically told me that you were going to do this regardless of what I wanted and that I should suck it up. You could follow the rules as long as you got a way back home. Stop being a kid, now. She's a doctor. She doesn't give a damn about your body. You got scars. She won't ask, you won't tell, it's fine. Save your battles for the real important things."

He patted Oliver's arms. "Look, I'm sure they are not as bad as you think. They might be bad for you, because they represent something to you, but her? She cuts up dead people. I doubt they will even register."

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_oliver_queen
2013-02-08 05:08 pm UTC (link)

Oliver scowled at Tommy. "Yeah, point for you. But she is going to ask, and she just told me that if I don't cooperate she's going to not clear me, so not answering is off the table unless I want to sit out." He shut the laptop and deposited it on the floor beside the bed.

"It's not like its obvious these aren't normal scars and that I didn't have medical attention for them." Oliver pulled off his t-shirt and pointed to circular mark with radiating scar tissue on his right pectoral. "How do I explain this?" He pointed to the four neat puncture wounds that formed a crescent on his left abdomen. "Or this?" He leaned forward and motioned at his back shoulder where his Chinese dragon tattoo was located over a burn scar. "And that?"

He folded his arms and stared at Tommy mullishly.

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tommy_merlyn
2013-02-08 05:31 pm UTC (link)

Tommy rolled his eyes. "Right, let's keep track of the score, because we're ten again." He sat crossed legged, staring at Oliver. "Why would she ask? She's a doctor, Oliver. She can ask you if they bother you, if the underlying injury is a problem, but she's not going to ask you how it happened. It's not her damn business or even relevant to making sure you're healthy."

When Oliver took his shirt off, Tommy couldn't not look, but seeing the scars made them strangely better, because his imagination had done a pretty vivid job imagining them, but now, he just saw his friend, his very well built best friend.

Fuck, he really needed to stop thinking in those terms. This dimension was really fucking up with his head.

Focusing on the most urgent matter, he cupped Oliver's face. "You don't explain anything. You tell her if they bother you or not and move on. The stories behind the scars are for you to share when you're ready. That won't change because of a medical exam."

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_oliver_queen
2013-02-08 05:48 pm UTC (link)

"Stop being level-headed," Oliver groused. Tommy acting like a rational adult was not fair, and weird. "Rage with me about the injustice of having some woman poke at your body." Oliver realized what he'd just said and tipped his head back with a shake. "I can't believe those words came out of my mouth."

He sighed and thumped his head against the headboard. "On top of everything, she's going to do a rectal exam."

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tommy_merlyn
2013-02-08 06:02 pm UTC (link)

Tommy snorted. "I'm not. I think that only one of us allowed to whine and bitch and that's me. You have no reason to complain. Look at the way you're built. You're a fucking wall of muscles. You like half of the shit we do, and you have a partner that looks at you like she wants to take you home and feed you all the time."

He bit his lip, trying not to laugh, but then he gave up. "Sorry, Ollie, but that's as much action as I've seen since getting here. I'll take what I can get, man."

Tommy cringed at the last part. "Now, that you can bitch about and I will support you a hundred percent." He lay down again, eyes wondering over Oliver's body again. He hesitated a moment and then touched the scar on his chest. "Does it hurt? Do you feel anything?"

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_oliver_queen
2013-02-08 07:06 pm UTC (link)

"That's right. You're the princess in our relationship." Oliver shot him a grin. "Though, you're starting to get some machismo with all that we're doing. It's a good look on you."

Oliver chuckled. "I tried hitting on Margaret and bombed spectacularly. So, yes, I shouldn't be complaining there."

He glanced down where Tommy was touching him. "I can't feel it. It's all dead scar tissue now. Hurt when it happened. Arrow shot through the back. Punctured my lung, I think. Not sure how Yao patched it up, but he must've done it right since I'm still alive. Of course, he was the one who shot me to begin with, thus beginning the long adventure of marring my beautiful skin."

Oliver ran his finger down the tracked, slanted line bisecting his abdomen above the old puncture wounds. "This one was a bad knife wound. Yao sewed me up with real catgut, or I guess hog-gut. Let me tell you, that stuff stinks when you're making it."

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tommy_merlyn
2013-02-08 07:21 pm UTC (link)

"Always been," he answered with a smile. "And if by that, you mean I'm developing muscles, then you'd be right, mostly because I hurt in places I didn't know there were muscles. Maybe I should complain to Isles and get her to declare me not fit for whatever this is. I'm perfectly all right sitting in an office."

He leaned closer. "And unlike you, I wouldn't be desperate enough to hit on Margaret." He rolled back in position. "This is why everyone is gay, I've decided. It's like jail. You aren't gay because you don't like women. You're gay, because it's the only way to get laid."

Tommy didn't take his hand away, because maybe people here were gay because they had no choice, but he was becoming obsessed with Oliver's body. He didn't think it was desperation either. No, he wanted to know Oliver's secrets. He wouldn't ask for them, but he still wanted to know about those five years they'd been apart.

"They are not ugly," Tommy said after a moment. "I'm very grateful for those scares, because they mean you survived and you're here. They could never be ugly, Oliver, not to me, not when the alternative would mean that I'd never see my best friend."

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_oliver_queen
2013-02-08 07:47 pm UTC (link)

"What would you do in the office, besides sit and look pretty?" Oliver asked. "I'm proud the trying Tommy with his developing muscles and skills. Besides, if you were stuck in the office all day, what would you have to complain about?"

Oliver chuckled. "Margaret's a looker still, admit it," he said. "And yes, I'm sure that's exactly why people 'turn' gay - to get laid." He patted Tommy on the shoulder. "I survived five years. It's barely been four months. You'll live."

Oliver scratched his shoulder, where a broken bone scar jagged his skin. "I don't think they're ugly. I don't like being seen as the poor boy who suffered, or to be asked about them. I'm not going to expose myself to people I don't trust. They're not some badge of honor, either. Survival, yes, and I'm glad I'm still around to do what--"

Oliver cut himself off. He shook his head. "We promised each other to find who we are for ourselves, not based on what we're supposed to be or do." It was not easy at all to remember that, to be in that mindset rather than thinking about getting back to Starling City and his mission there.

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tommy_merlyn
2013-02-08 08:01 pm UTC (link)

"Look at porn on the internet?" he said with a smirk, before shrugging. "I don't know, Oliver. I'm trying, and it is better in a way, at least physically, but those brownies? God, they reminded me of a different life. I still miss it, Oliver. Shooting bullets isn't nearly as fun as shooting heroine."

Tommy snorted. "You're an idiot, that's what you are. You don't have to humor me all the time. Just sometimes."

He rested his hand on Oliver's shoulder, squeezing it gently. "She won't. She's a doctor, and I don't either. I see you as my best friend, one who survived to be here with me, to snap me out of it when I start on my pity party. I can't say that I know who I am or what I want to do, but I know that I want to do it with you around. I really missed you, Oliver. I got so much worse when you disappeared. Everyone put it off as me being a rich spoiled brat, but I missed you. We've been inseparable since we were children, and then you were gone, and nothing filled that void, not the women, not the drugs. Nothing. I have you back ad that makes up for everything else. So if Doctor Isles does anything stupid or asks something too personal or pities you, you can tell me and I can kick her ass for you How's that?"

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_oliver_queen
2013-02-08 08:19 pm UTC (link)

"I do remember it, Tommy. All those years when nothing mattered but the next party, the next girl, and the next hit. Floating on a drug-induced high that made everything better," Oliver said. "But looking back now, I know that it didn't make things better. It only hid the bad things for a while, or made us do those bad, stupid things. Sobriety might be miserable, but at least you're in control of what you do and I'd prefer that, for me and for you."

Oliver smiled. "I wouldn't want to be stuck on an island in another dimension with anyone else." He had no idea if they would have gotten this close back home, not with him (badly) keeping secrets or sharing anything about his ordeal.

"Kicking ass with all those previously unknown muscles. I'd like to see that," he said, poking Tommy in the side.

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tommy_merlyn
2013-02-08 08:30 pm UTC (link)

"I know that, Oliver. I do, but you weren't there." Tommy rolled away and got up. He started to pace, all too aware that these houses had thin walls that let people hear everything if they wanted to. "You weren't there. My mother was dead. My father? Fuck if I know what he does. He was never around unless he needed me at some event, and you were still dead. It wasn't the bad things that were the problem. It was... it was missing the only two people that have ever meant anything to me. It was not knowing if I could survive another day with that hole in my heart. I didn't want to be in control, Oliver. I wanted to stop the pain."

He took a deep breath. "The only time I got close to numbing the pain was with Laurel, and thinking back, maybe the reason we ended up in bed together was because we missed you, and then you came back, and I still felt like I didn't have you in my life."

He shook his head. "No, I don't think you do remember, because you spent your life trying to survive. I spent my life trying to make the world disappear, and now it's hard to remember how to fight, but I'm trying, because of you."

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_oliver_queen
2013-02-08 08:49 pm UTC (link)

Oliver got up and went to Tommy. He put his hands on Tommy's shoulders. "You misunderstood. I meant now, here, in the present, I want you to be in control of your decisions and your actions rather than take the easy escape. It's hard, and miserable, but you're succeeding in spite of that and I hope you're proud of yourself for keeping on going."

He looked at Tommy seriously. "I can't imagine what it was like for you. I shut down in order to survive and trying to reconnect to feeling anything for anyone else is like trying to climb sheer glass. But I see you on the other side of the glass waiting, so I keep climbing. If it weren't for you being here with me, I wouldn't even try. You're important to me, Tommy, and I'm sorry that I caused you any pain."

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tommy_merlyn
2013-02-08 09:05 pm UTC (link)

"I'm trying to, because I might joke about it, but I don't want you to risk your life for me, not really. I'm self-aware enough to know that it might come to that, but I'll do what I can to prevent that," he said. 'I don't want you to get hurt because of me."

Tommy rested both hands on Oliver's arms, not sure if he wanted to push his friend away or pull him closer. Things always got so messed up and confused in his head when he talked to Oliver, saying a lot more than he planned to ever say.

"Yes, you can, Oliver. You shut down to survive and I shut down. It's not that different. You fought, I used drugs. We both isolated ourselves, we both build walls, and we both know how to smile to make people stop asking questions. The right joke, the right touch. God, Oliver, I'm not that different from you. I've ended up in apartments with women I had fucked before, and I couldn't recognize them at all. I recognized their TVs or their CD collection or whatever, but I didn't recognize the women. So yes, if you want to know what it was like for me, it was much like it was for you. Maybe not the circumstances, but the feelings were the same."

He shook his head. "It's not your fault, Oliver. You didn't cause this. It's my fault. I was home, I was alive, I had all the privileges possible, and I couldn't function without you. I couldn't even tell people. Your mother and sister were mourning you. Laurel had lost you and her sister. Who was I to whine?" He looked up at his friend, trying to find something in Oliver's eyes, maybe some sort of understanding when Tommy didn't even understand. "You're the most important person in my life and I will always be here for you. And, if we can't climb that glass wall, then we'll just have to break it down."

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	_oliver_queen 2013-02-08 09:13 pm UTC (link)
	Oliver hugged Tommy, because Tommy needed it and maybe Oliver did, too. "I'll fight tooth and nail to keep from going anywhere. You're stuck with me, Merlyn. Scars and all." (Reply to this) (Parent)