Who: Archie and Oliver, then Veronica What: Training with the Green Arrow When: Bendy times, backdated b/c I'm lazy Where: The prison yard, then Archie's cell Warnings: N/A
Having forsaken his role as a council leader Oliver felt free in a different sort of way. There was no mistaking that he still had responsibility as a Sentry leader but he didn’t have to worry about the choices the prison council members made. He didn’t have to be a figure who carried the weight of choice and it felt good. Oliver just wanted to get his life on the right track now that he wasn’t tied to anything diplomatic. The only thing Oliver had to worry about was his shifts and his training with Archie Andrews.
Whether he cared to admit it or not there was a bond that Oliver had with the young boy who had ambition and goals despite the state of the world. When Oliver looked at Archie he saw progress in the redhead's shooting and fighting skills. Not everything about Archie was perfect but that was fine because the parts of Archie that needed help would get it by Oliver’s hands.
The choice to take Archie under his wing was critical in a lot of ways. There had to be someone who could take on what Oliver had learned in the last seven years of his life sense landing on Lian Yu. There was a lot of things that he couldn’t teach him in a short time frame but there was enough that he could hand off. The hard part was Archie being able to take on what Oliver wanted to give him.
Due to their different shifts Oliver trained Archie on his days off which unfortunately did cut into his free time but he sensed this was something the kid wanted and Oliver wanted to make sure that Archie could properly defend himself and, eventually, take over Oliver’s crusade.
Using a bow was Archie’s first lesson and so far things were going smoothly. Oliver could tell that his pupil was having a hard time focusing on multiple targets at a time which meant that he needed to work on his eye coordination more.
“Just breathe,” he said, watching Archie pull back an arrow. “And remember, you have to be quicker than the person in front of you. If you don’t grab, knock and pull back an arrow in time you’re dead.”
“That’s comforting,” was all Archie said then, trying regain his focus back on the targets. He knew that when it came to the bow, Cheryl was perfect at it but Archie wanted to learn to use it too and he had been practicing in his off time, but he still had some learning to do. He realized quickly that anyone could shoot a gun. That was easy. Or even use a knife. That was easier. Archie wanted to be well rounded in all weapons, he wanted to be useful.
His friends back home were realizing that this place was different and you had to adapt to it. His girlfriend was dabbling in witchcraft while Toni was a shifter. She was learning how to control that. And then when Fangs was here, he was turned into a vampire. But now Fangs was gone and maybe that was better for him. Archie didn’t know what it was like to be a vampire but he also knew that he never wanted to be one.
Alright, enough stalling, Archie thought to himself, even as he could feel the sweat roll down the side of his face despite how cold it was. He finally let go and watched as the arrow flew through the air, a speed to it like nothing else he’d seen.
He hit the target.
But he wasn’t supposed to stop there. He was still too slow. He grabbed another and set it before pulling back and releasing. He did this again and again, aiming for the different targets until he ran out of targets.
Archie let out the breath he had been holding and he nodded before looking over at Oliver.
“I told you I’d been practicing,” he said simply, a small smile on his face.
Oliver always wondered if this was how his own teachers felt, a sense of pride growing and becoming more full as time went on. Oliver had his own students - he had taught Roy whatever he could before throwing him into the field as Arsenal. He did his best to also show Laurel what he was trained in so that she could be better suited in her canary role. Everyone that Oliver came across, everyone on his team had a sense of being trained by “The Green Arrow” and the fruits of those successes gave birth to fighters.
In the end, Oliver just wanted for Archie to be strong. He wanted to give the boy something that he could use in this world that had no love for his survival or the continued survival of his friends. Maybe with this Archie could help a little better. Oliver hoped that one day Archie could save the people he loved because sooner or later it would happen.
“You’re still a little slow but you’ll get there,” he said, tossing Archie a bottled water before motioning him to cover over. There was no need to continue on and on without taking a few breaks here and there and Archie had earned his.
“Just remember - when you’re out there by yourself you have to pay attention to everything around you. Everything has to stay in your line of sight or else you’ll be taken down.” Oliver uncapped his bottle to take a small swig, his eyes falling to the targets with all the arrows stuck to them. “You did good, though. I’ll have to give you that.”
Archie caught the bottle of water and walked over to stand over by him. He knew he was a little slow and it was something he was planning on working on. “Yeah, I know,” he told him. Archie did work sentry, he got that his eyes needed to be everywhere but he was going with one step at a time. He knew perfecting it wouldn’t happen overnight. Sometimes he wondered if Oliver felt he was wasting his time. He was pretty sure that if the guy didn’t want to help him, he wouldn’t - but still. Either way, Archie was taking what he could get.
“How’s everything going?” Archie asked him then, switching the topic. Just because he was helping him with his archery skills didn’t take away from the fact that Oliver was his friend too. They had talked about a lot of things and plus, it was Archie who risked a lot by bringing him inside. Something he was still glad to do. He didn’t deserve to be trampled on or anything.
Oliver wasn’t on the council anymore and he knew his personal life was just as crazy. He didn’t judge him for anything. Nothing was really fair here. If it was, then Ronnie wouldn’t be a witch, or Toni wouldn’t be a shifter. And Fangs wouldn’t have been a vampire. It was all a little fucked up if you asked him.
Oliver tried to stay out of the limelight as best as he could. The one thing that Oliver didn’t divulge was his personal life because what he did when he wasn’t working for sentry wasn’t anyone’s business. Oliver’s relationship with Felicity was rocky and it was like stepping on glass whenever he tiptoed around the subject about the future or their marriage that existed but not from the standpoint that she could remember. It was hard to want to talk to someone about how they felt when they didn’t know everything.
In short, Oliver knew that his feelings had changed and it was hard to have Felicity there and wonder how she was doing with everything. While he wasn’t in love with her that didn’t meant that he didn’t care because he did. Oliver knew that he would always care about her but his life in Everett wasn’t going on the same path that his old life had been on.
“It’s complicated,” he said, admitting that his life, including his love life, was more dramatic than it needed to be. While he was trying to figure out what sort of friendship he could still salvage with Felicity there was also the buddening romance with a doctor that was happening at a pace where it seemed too fast but at the same time Oliver felt like he needed her more than he wanted to admit right now.
“Let’s just say I’m glad that I have some free time. Maybe I can deal with my own personal problems for once instead of trying to ignore them.” Oliver knew that it wouldn’t help matters if he left everything where they laid. He had to talk to Felicity at some point to see if she was alright and he needed to talk to Jo about how to move forward.
“Yeah, everything’s a little complicated, isn’t it?” Archie said. It wasn’t really a question because it was just a fact. Even with Archie’s life, there were complications and Archie really didn’t have anyone to talk to. There was Jughead, but they were both busy sometimes and their schedules kind of conflicted. It was a reminder that he and Jughead needed to go out one day, just the two of them. He did miss his best friend.
He wasn’t going to ask him about his personal life, but it must have sucked knowing that your wife was here, but she was from a time that … she wasn’t. Archie didn’t know what he would do. If Ronnie was here, but she didn’t remember everything they had gone through.
“You can’t ignore it. The longer you ignore it, the worse it gets. You know?” Archie tried and shrugged, bringing the water bottle to his lips so he could swallow down some of the liquid. He doubted that Oliver would take any advice from a teenager, but seriously, it was just common sense. And it got especially worse if the other people involved knew that he was ignoring it.
Oliver shook his head because for someone who seemed so young there was something awfully wise about this kid. Oliver half wished that he had the same senses at seventeen years old but guessed that some things just happened to other people a lot sooner than most. Oliver was glad that Archie had that sort of outlook because that meant he would face his problems head on and not just ignore them.
“I won’t ignore it,” he said, nodding slowly because he knew he would face it all at some point. Oliver wanted to try his best to make the most out of everything. He owed it to himself and the people who lived at the prison.
“There you are.”
Oliver recognized the voice but that was only because of that day when he caught Archie fooling around during his shift. Oliver raised his brows when Veronica appeared almost out of nowhere, her dark eyes fixated on Archie which made the green archer smirk a bit. Kids. Oliver recognized that look right away.
“Veronica,” Oliver said, greeting the girl with the small raise of his water bottle. “Archie and I were just working on his shooting.”
Sometimes it was easier to say what was the right thing to do than actually follow it. Archie sometimes avoided important issues that he dealt with but sometimes there were things that just couldn’t be avoided. Veronica, however, was someone he could never avoid. And he didn’t want to. His eyes lit up when she walked up to them and he smiled a little. Even in a zombie apocalypse, his girlfriend still remained stylish, a signature that she didn’t get rid of. It was who she was.
“Here I am,” he echoed and reached out, his fingertips sliding across her arm. “I wasn’t doing too bad, I just have to work on my speed,” he grinned, bringing his hand back down. He and Oliver had been training for a little while and he was ready to train some more unless Veronica needed him.
And from the looks of it, he was going to say his training was over.
He stood up then, finishing off his water.
“Tomorrow?” He asked Oliver.
“Tomorrow it is,” Oliver said, reaching down to grab his gear so that way he could head off. He knew when someone wanted to be alone and Archie deserved the company. Oliver knew that it was okay for them to just pick up tomorrow right after Archie was finished with his morning shift. “I’ll be on watch tomorrow night so you can meet me here in the afternoon when you’re off.”
“Goodbye, Mr. Queen,” Veronica said, her eyelashes fluttering at the sight of him. Veronica was only teasing as he watched Archie’s teacher walk off, Veronica trying her best not to watch him go because those glutes were definitely something to behold and Veronica turned her head just in time to see a very judgemental Archiekins.
“I was definitely not admiring,” she said, her arms reaching up to hook themselves behind Archie’s neck, her expression nothing short of innocent even though she was sort of checking out the one and only Oliver Queen.
It was hard not to notice others checking out Oliver and he had seen Veronica’s eye wander a few times but as much as she checked out other guys, Archie knew that she loved him. Sure, it was kind of annoying that she checked out other guys but it wasn’t like nobody else did. He guessed he couldn’t blame her.
“Definite admiration,” he said, leaning down to give her a kiss. “Let me grab my gear and then we’ll go.” Archie had a free day today and he figured that Ronnie was doing with her shift for the day too. Which was nice, they’d have a night together. These days those were hard to come by.
He walked over and grabbed his bow and returned to Veronica, his arm already moving to wrap around her shoulder casually.
“So, any big plans tonight?” He teased. Life was really different here than it had been in Riverdale. At least with all the crappy things that happened, there were still things to do. Here, there wasn’t much. They did have a room with a Blu Ray and when the raiders brought in movies, people went through them, they had movie nights but most times when he and Ronnie spent time together, it was usually in his cell. Alec was hardly around. He was usually always on duty unless he was sleeping.
It was all in good fun and it was nothing serious. Veronica could admire the human body and had a very “look but don’t touch” policy when it came to other people. That didn’t necessarily mean that Archie could be staring at others girls because if she caught him doing that she was going to gouge out his eyes and then murder whoever he was staring at. All joking aside, of course.
“I figured I could count the cracks of my cell, fold some clothes and maybe even watch one of those old movies.” There wasn’t much to do in the prison, really. They were lucky enough to have electricity and running water but even that didn’t go so far. Their phones didn’t do much and it wasn’t like they didn’t have televisions unless they went to the recreation room where they had a big TV. It was there that groups of people got together for movie night.
“Or I could spend time with my hubby,” she added, snuggling close to Archie just so that she could be near him. Veronica was taking a small break from practicing magic since Bonnie seemed to be knee deep in her own dramatics. She hardly ever saw the witch at the prison which was a bit of a bummer. Veronica figured that the other witch was trying her best to live life the way she wanted to.
“How are things with Oliver? I know you told me that he wanted to train you but what does that entail? Is he your master now and you his protege?” Veronica had no issues with that given that Bonnie was sort of her teacher and still was. She admired people who were willing to share their knowledge with someone else.
Archie laughed a little when she said all things she could be doing but of course, he knew Ronnie well enough that it wasn’t true. Besides, it didn’t matter what she said, Archie would have argued that she would spend the time with him since they had free time at the moment. He looked down at her when she said hubby and he just smirked. It didn’t bother him and he figured that after high school, they probably would have gotten married anyway. At least that’s how he wanted it. At least to an extent. Her father was still her father, but Archie didn’t care. He loved her.
“Something like that. He wants to teach me everything he knows. Which is really a lot. Because it’s not just the archery. There’s more behind that, but this is what we’re starting on first.”
It was exciting because Archie wanted to learn everything there was to know regardless. It just happened to be Oliver who was taking the time out to teach him.
“Maybe soon I’ll be going out there on raids and be able to use something more than just a gun.” Because to Archie, anyone could use a gun. Even if at one time, he swore he couldn’t pull the trigger, now he could. It was just how it was here. Killing zombies with a gun was easy, but using a bow or any other weapon, Archie believed that took skill.
They got to his cell and he put the bow up before he started going through clothes to change into while Ronnie made herself comfortable. “What about you? You haven’t been hanging with Bonnie lately. Everything alright there?” He asked, looking back at her. It almost reminded him of the fact that he wasn’t hanging out Jughead. He was sure that Betty and Ronnie were still hanging out, but for him and Jughead, it just felt like they were drifting. He wanted to fix that.
For whatever reason Veronica was okay with her Archie learning the ropes from Oliver Queen. There seemed to be a connection there between student and mentor and if Oliver could teach Archie all about how to survive then that benefited them in the long run. The more Archie learned about how to keep himself alive the better chances he had to do just that. Veronica didn’t have to worry so much so she was happy to let her boyfriend be manhandled by someone who was twice Archie’s size.
“As long as you’re learning how to protect yourself. It’s a good thing, I think. I’m proud of you.” Veronica meant that as she smiled, her body leaning back against Archie’s bed as she watched her boyfriend change into something a little more comfortable.
“Bonnie seems kind of busy lately,” she said, not sure what was up with the witch. “I’ve been wanting to schedule some sessions but she’s kind of been out of the prison. I guess I need to ask what’s going on. I mean, I guess I could always try spells on my own but I feel safer when she’s around, you know?”
Archie was still a little iffy about his girlfriend doing spells, but so far, she hadn’t turned him into a toad or anything, so he was trying to ease up on that. Because she was trying to better herself, protect herself in her own way, just like he was. Everyone was seeming to change around here and that was the norm. Not being what other people considered normal. Whatever that was anyway.
“I remember a spell you did one night,” he said, glancing back at her as she pulled on a t-shirt and crawled into the bed. The back of his head found her lap as he looked up at her.
“I remember the butterflies.” He smiled a little, remembering the night in the field with her. It was pretty amazing. Then he remembered something else that happened afterwards and that was one of the best nights of his life.
“I think you can do it. You can do anything, Ronnie. If you want it.” And that was the truth. His girlfriend was definitely head strong and if she didn’t know how to do something, she figured it out.
“And you can do anything, too,” she said, wanting for her boyfriend to believe that anything and everything was possible for them. Their main objective was to survive and as long as they did that everything was going to be fine. Ronnie just wanted to wake up and know that her boyfriend and friends were going to be okay. Veronica continued to hope for all of them going home one day but until then learning how to fight was important.
“It’s me and you.” Veronica had said it once before and she met it. She knew that Archie understood what she meant by it. Sure, they had people who were important to them like Betty and Jughead, Toni and Cheryl and the rest of the gang if and when they did show up but at the end of the day it was going to be the two of them having to be there for one another.
“Yes, I learned magic to be stronger but I also learned these spells so I can protect you, Archie. I can’t imagine my life without you in it. I know I can be a real heinous bitch half the time and needy but it’s because I love and maybe I’m a tad bit possessive but who isn’t?” Veronica wasn’t going to change who she wanted to be and she knew Archie wouldn’t want her to.
Archie’s eyebrows lifted at what she said. He knew she loved him, he knew she wanted to somehow protect him and in a lot of ways she did. Without her, he wouldn’t know what he’d be doing right now. He was sure he would get by but he liked to think that it would have been miserably.
“Tad bit?” he asked but he was only teasing her.He smiled and sat up from where he was resting his head in her lap and he looked at her.
“I like it.” The smirk that found his lips was genuine. He liked that someone cared that much about him, he liked that someone would do anything to be by his side and honestly, he would have done the same for her. He loved her that much.
“If you weren’t, I’d have to wonder,” he said, leaning forward and giving her a kiss that sort of lingered there for a second. The thought of being here forever bothered him. He didn’t want to stay here, he didn’t want to live a life here. Just because he was beginning to adapt didn’t mean he couldn’t live without this. He definitely could, but he couldn’t leave here without his friends. He knew it didn’t work that way, that if someone was gone, they were gone.
He just hoped they all left together. But he knew it wasn’t possible.