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madimpossibledreamerWhen I started watching Arrow I should've guessed I'd like the goofball best friend character, i.e. Tommy, and it's fascinating to explore an AU where he was the superhero instead. (I came up with the idea first, looked for other people writing the same AU, and stumbled on the late season Tommy as the Arrow scene. I still haven't finished S1 so I have no clue what's happening there.)
It's fun playing with father vs son themes and the differences between Tommy and Oliver as the Arrow. I figure Tommy would be better able to hide his issues, coming back, and be a little more self-aware.
~Dreamer~
Main Points:
Arrow AU
Summary: Tommy's not ready to go back to Starling City, even though that's what he's been preparing for for a long time.
Word Count: 1038
Rating: Gen
It's fun playing with father vs son themes and the differences between Tommy and Oliver as the Arrow. I figure Tommy would be better able to hide his issues, coming back, and be a little more self-aware.
~Dreamer~
Main Points:
Arrow AU
Summary: Tommy's not ready to go back to Starling City, even though that's what he's been preparing for for a long time.
Word Count: 1038
Rating: Gen
Tommy can’t help but be nervous, which he knows is a little ridiculous. Taking down a bunch of gunmen with guns, no problem. Facing his best friend and Thea and dear old dad? Terrifying.
It doesn’t help that his brain can’t stop evaluating every person as a threat. In some cases, the idea is utterly ridiculous. In others?
Well, his father’s name is on the List. And his father was the one that insisted he go on the Queen’s Gambit, to learn more about business and potentially as punishment for dating Laurel Lance. Just sex, fine, actually dating beneath him, not allowed. The daughter of a police officer just wasn’t good enough, particularly when his best friend had cheated on her sister with her. And it was Robert Queen, name also on the List, that started having second thoughts about the whole thing, and, shockingly he’d wound up dead. Better than anyone, he knew how ruthlessly efficient his father could be in the pursuit of his goals.
That probably puts him in the category of ‘handle very carefully’. He’s not even sure what he’s meant to do. There’s no way he can be in the Merlyn mansion and carry out Robert Queen’s last wishes.
He’s always had a better understanding of people than Oliver. Which is going to be useful. He’s probably got a better chance of pretending he’s fine and manipulating people than Ollie would’ve had.
He tells the doctors he was on the island alone and inwardly smirks at their looks of disbelief. He doesn’t let it show on his face, because he doesn’t want to be committed to any asylum before he has a chance to do anything. When he talks, he does his best to portray someone who’s traumatized but not broken.
It’s Thea who brings up the elephant in the room. It takes him about a minute to realize who she is and forcefully stand down. “Your father went missing three years ago.”
He freezes, and Moira glares at her.
“What? He’s going to find out sooner or later. I don’t think he’s going to be any more stable now than later, so.” She shrugs, but he can see the pain in her eyes. “Oh, and Ollie’s been a wreck while you were away. He had to go to rehab.”
“Not,” Moira states, proper as usual, “…that it took.”
He blinks. Right. He’s an idiot. Of course emotion would be hard. He hasn’t had to do it, hasn’t had to worry about the people he cared about for five years. Given the way Thea’s acting, Ollie’s not the only one on drugs in the family, either. “Give me a second,” he asks, and Thea—older, prettier, still just like a sister to him, though—hugs him tightly. The contact really isn’t helping with his equilibrium, even if it is Thea, because touch is dangerous, touch is a precursor to getting you killed, or controlling you, and yes it scares him. Partly because of what he fears will happen. He’s not safe to be touched, either.
“That sucks,” he responds eloquently, and Thea giggles in response. Moira looks slightly less amused. He’s already putting the puzzle together, and the picture doesn’t help. At all. But he’s also probably not wrong. “Ollie’s not here because he’s taking the fact that I’m actually alive badly and he’s getting drunk or something somewhere, huh?”
“Guess you still know us,” Thea responds with a smirk. “He’s probably getting drunk at a new club downtown. Poison. Max Fuller owns it.”
Tommy winces. And he’d been hoping to make it, what, a day before anyone referenced exactly what sort of jerk he’d been before he’d been reborn. “That’s the guy that…Ollie and I both slept with his fiancé, didn’t we.”
“You’re this awesome castaway story. How could he stay mad at you and your loveable face?” Thea pats his face in a very patronizing way as she pulls away from the hug. A few of the muscles in his arm twitch, but otherwise he keeps the urge for violence to himself.
“I do have a very pretty face,” he agrees, deadpan, before sighing. “And Ollie doesn’t. He’s looking for a fight.”
“Probably punishing himself for being a jerk about his best friend actually not being dead, yeah,” Thea agrees. “I would’ve tried to stop him, but he used previously used and brain-bleach inducing handcuffs to chain me to the table.”
Tommy nods, concerned look still carefully in place, but he’s going into mission mode, cold, calculating, and efficient. “Textbook Ollie. You know, he did that to me once?” ‘Course, that was slightly more panic over a drunken kiss they’d shared, but Thea definitely did not need to know that part of the story. “I, the King of the Deserted Islands, will get your brother back in one piece. I swear.”
“You know, the last time you said that, you said you’d help me with my geometry homework.” Thea’s lip trembles slightly. “I’m still waiting.”
“You’re smart enough, I’d have thought you would’ve figured out circles by now,” he teases, patting her awkwardly on the shoulder. “But yeah, sure, once I’ve dragged your brother back over my shoulder if necessary, I’ll tell you all about all the different shapes and sneak you a soda.”
“Jerk.” She pushes him, but she’s smiling.
He glances back at Moira and sobers a little. Her name is on The List, after all. (So’s Robert Queen, the only name crossed out twice to give it some sort of special attention.) “I assume that with Dad gone there’s a lot of open questions like where I’m going to stay or what the hell’s happening with the company, but unless Queen Mansion is not still the castle of Starling City, you can probably fill me in on all the yawn-inducing paperwork after I deal with your son.”
“You always were a better friend than at times Oliver deserved,” she acknowledges, but there’s a second emotion of disapproval that undermines her words. Then again, if she’s in on this crime infestation web like his father, she’s probably wary of him from that alone, and he can’t blame her.
He's already trying to save a city. What's one more person?
It doesn’t help that his brain can’t stop evaluating every person as a threat. In some cases, the idea is utterly ridiculous. In others?
Well, his father’s name is on the List. And his father was the one that insisted he go on the Queen’s Gambit, to learn more about business and potentially as punishment for dating Laurel Lance. Just sex, fine, actually dating beneath him, not allowed. The daughter of a police officer just wasn’t good enough, particularly when his best friend had cheated on her sister with her. And it was Robert Queen, name also on the List, that started having second thoughts about the whole thing, and, shockingly he’d wound up dead. Better than anyone, he knew how ruthlessly efficient his father could be in the pursuit of his goals.
That probably puts him in the category of ‘handle very carefully’. He’s not even sure what he’s meant to do. There’s no way he can be in the Merlyn mansion and carry out Robert Queen’s last wishes.
He’s always had a better understanding of people than Oliver. Which is going to be useful. He’s probably got a better chance of pretending he’s fine and manipulating people than Ollie would’ve had.
He tells the doctors he was on the island alone and inwardly smirks at their looks of disbelief. He doesn’t let it show on his face, because he doesn’t want to be committed to any asylum before he has a chance to do anything. When he talks, he does his best to portray someone who’s traumatized but not broken.
It’s Thea who brings up the elephant in the room. It takes him about a minute to realize who she is and forcefully stand down. “Your father went missing three years ago.”
He freezes, and Moira glares at her.
“What? He’s going to find out sooner or later. I don’t think he’s going to be any more stable now than later, so.” She shrugs, but he can see the pain in her eyes. “Oh, and Ollie’s been a wreck while you were away. He had to go to rehab.”
“Not,” Moira states, proper as usual, “…that it took.”
He blinks. Right. He’s an idiot. Of course emotion would be hard. He hasn’t had to do it, hasn’t had to worry about the people he cared about for five years. Given the way Thea’s acting, Ollie’s not the only one on drugs in the family, either. “Give me a second,” he asks, and Thea—older, prettier, still just like a sister to him, though—hugs him tightly. The contact really isn’t helping with his equilibrium, even if it is Thea, because touch is dangerous, touch is a precursor to getting you killed, or controlling you, and yes it scares him. Partly because of what he fears will happen. He’s not safe to be touched, either.
“That sucks,” he responds eloquently, and Thea giggles in response. Moira looks slightly less amused. He’s already putting the puzzle together, and the picture doesn’t help. At all. But he’s also probably not wrong. “Ollie’s not here because he’s taking the fact that I’m actually alive badly and he’s getting drunk or something somewhere, huh?”
“Guess you still know us,” Thea responds with a smirk. “He’s probably getting drunk at a new club downtown. Poison. Max Fuller owns it.”
Tommy winces. And he’d been hoping to make it, what, a day before anyone referenced exactly what sort of jerk he’d been before he’d been reborn. “That’s the guy that…Ollie and I both slept with his fiancé, didn’t we.”
“You’re this awesome castaway story. How could he stay mad at you and your loveable face?” Thea pats his face in a very patronizing way as she pulls away from the hug. A few of the muscles in his arm twitch, but otherwise he keeps the urge for violence to himself.
“I do have a very pretty face,” he agrees, deadpan, before sighing. “And Ollie doesn’t. He’s looking for a fight.”
“Probably punishing himself for being a jerk about his best friend actually not being dead, yeah,” Thea agrees. “I would’ve tried to stop him, but he used previously used and brain-bleach inducing handcuffs to chain me to the table.”
Tommy nods, concerned look still carefully in place, but he’s going into mission mode, cold, calculating, and efficient. “Textbook Ollie. You know, he did that to me once?” ‘Course, that was slightly more panic over a drunken kiss they’d shared, but Thea definitely did not need to know that part of the story. “I, the King of the Deserted Islands, will get your brother back in one piece. I swear.”
“You know, the last time you said that, you said you’d help me with my geometry homework.” Thea’s lip trembles slightly. “I’m still waiting.”
“You’re smart enough, I’d have thought you would’ve figured out circles by now,” he teases, patting her awkwardly on the shoulder. “But yeah, sure, once I’ve dragged your brother back over my shoulder if necessary, I’ll tell you all about all the different shapes and sneak you a soda.”
“Jerk.” She pushes him, but she’s smiling.
He glances back at Moira and sobers a little. Her name is on The List, after all. (So’s Robert Queen, the only name crossed out twice to give it some sort of special attention.) “I assume that with Dad gone there’s a lot of open questions like where I’m going to stay or what the hell’s happening with the company, but unless Queen Mansion is not still the castle of Starling City, you can probably fill me in on all the yawn-inducing paperwork after I deal with your son.”
“You always were a better friend than at times Oliver deserved,” she acknowledges, but there’s a second emotion of disapproval that undermines her words. Then again, if she’s in on this crime infestation web like his father, she’s probably wary of him from that alone, and he can’t blame her.
He's already trying to save a city. What's one more person?
