Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

In hindsight, he should know not to drive Thea’s car.

The crash wasn’t his fault (for the first time in forever), but  he’d been driving her car because his was in the shop.

She should be happy he’s alive, really. He could have died, Thea, nice to know where her priorities lay. However, he could have driven their mother’s car. But instead, he took Thea’s, and now it’s badly damaged, T-boned through the back passenger’s side, and Thea was angry.

“Look, Thea, I’m sorry!” Oliver apologized, for what felt like the hundredth time. “I didn’t mean to crash it. It wasn’t my fault!”

“Yeah, well, you drove it, didn’t you? My car. My car.”

“Why do you care so much? We can just buy a new one. We have the money.”

“The money isn’t the point, Oliver!” Thea shouted. “You think you can go and do whatever you want because you’re rich and good looking. You can’t! You need to respect personal boundaries and actually ask to use it next time, like I always ask for stuff from you.”

Oliver threw his hands up in exasperation. “Alright! I’m an idiot. How do I make it up to you?”

Thea’s frown remained on her face, but her eyebrows furrowed in thought. “Anything?”

“Anything.”

“I’ll sleep on it and let you know. Until then-” She turned around dramatically and walked off, the first step to her silent treatment.

“She’s such a child.”

“Heard that!”

Chapter Text

It took two days for Thea to think of something, and when she did, she barged into his room in the early morning, waking him up, and shoving a laptop in his face.

“This is how you’ll make it up to me,” she told him as he was blinking the blurriness from his eyes and trying to comprehend what was happening, “There’s a YouTuber me and my friends are obsessed with. His name is The Scarlet Speedster. His real name is Barry Allen. I want his autograph.”

Oliver blinked dumbly at her. “Huh?”

She rolled her eyes. “Barry Allen. Get his autograph for me and I’ll forgive you. He lives in Central City. I don’t think it’ll be too hard.”

Oliver groaned, “If it’s so easy, why haven’t you gotten it already? Can’t you just flirt your way to get one?”

She glared at him in offense. “First of all, rude. Second of all, he’s gay. I don’t care how, just get me his autograph.”

With that, she left, slamming the door shut behind her. Oliver flopped back onto his pillows with a huff. He looked at the laptop next to him, opened to a YouTube channel for The Scarlet Speedster.

Oliver sighed. Time to research.

-

Some of the research was looking the guy up. According to the websites, Barry Allen was a YouTuber based in Central City. He was twenty-nine, which, hello. What? This kid looked like he’s barely twenty. He’d started off vlogging, but then took to making gaming videos, short films, skits, and even a couple music videos -- both covers and some of his own songs. Barry called it an ‘everything channel’, which was probably why he had so many subscribers.

Over fifteen million subscribers.

He even has a book.

A book.

He also, according to his Wiki page, bought a house where he and three of his friends, Caitlin Snow, Ronnie Raymond, and Cisco Ramon, live with him.

However, most of the ‘research’ was watching some of Barry’s videos. Oliver clicked on the first one, the most recent one, which was published yesterday.

“Gooooood morning, my speedsters! My name is Barry Allen and I am the Scarlet Speedster.” Barry smiled at his camera, talking quietly in the dim lighting. “Apologies for the hair. I only woke up ten minutes ago and I’m still not conscious enough to brush it. Oh jeez, it looks horrendous.”

Barry stared at himself in the flippable camera screen while he recorded himself on one of his vlogging cameras. He ruffled his hair with his free hand and laughed. “Oh well. So I haven’t done a vlog in a while and I figured I’d film one, since it’s Caitlin’s birthday! Happy birthday, Cait! Make a note to future me to put confetti and party blowers and special effects here as a reminder to myself while I’m editing that I’ll never edit out because…”

He stopped. “ Honestly, I don’t really know why.” He paused again. “ Anyway -”

Oliver snorted.

“So as I said, it’s Caitlin’s birthday today, so I figured I’d record a vlog dedicated to her since that’s what I did with Iris and Cisco. So I’m up at five in the freakin’ morning to make her waffles because she loves my waffles and I haven’t made them for her in forever and you better worship me, Caitlin.” His face broke into a wide, bright grin. “I’ll be back!”

The camera cut to Barry taking a selfie video, waffles stacked up on two large plates behind him, and two men on either side of him. He was still talking quietly, and Oliver was surprised at how deep his voice was.

“Alright, so I finished making all the waffles. I made exactly thirty. Thirty, Cait. Remember how much I love you. So I’m with Ronnie and Cisco, and they’re gonna help me out. Cisco is going to be with me, decorating the waffles while Ronnie does out and picks up some extra grape juice because someone ,” the camera panned to Cisco, who smiled sheepishly, “drank it all. Even the spare. So Ronnie is making a grocery call, and he’s going to get grape juice and cookie dough.”

“Cookie dough?”

Barry smothered his free hand over Ronnie’s mouth and started shoving him out of frame. “Shush don’t question it don’t question me just get the cookie dough go.”

When Ronnie was gone, Barry smiled innocently at the camera. “Decorating time!”

The video cut to being sat on, probably, a tripod, in front of the kitchen island where Barry and Cisco were decorating the waffles in time lapse. The time lapse paused so Barry could laugh at Cisco when melted white chocolate splashed into his hair.

The time lapse continued, the two men walking around sped-up and spilling everything like the klutzes they were.

The time lapse paused again when Barry dunked half of a waffle into melted milk chocolate and then dipped it in sprinkles. “We could be chefs, man, look at how beautiful these are.”

“Yeah man. Gordon Ramsay who?” Cisco laughed.

Barry paused his dipping of chocolate, “Who’s Gordon Ramsay?”

The time lapse went on for the rest of the decorating, through all of the tubed icing Barry and Cisco ate, until thevide cut to Ronnie walking through the door with a bag.

“Okay, so it is a little after six thirty and Ronnie’s back from the store. The waffles have all been decorated and Caitlin his still asleep.” Barry said from behind the camera, “Cisco decorated the hallway off-camera, so now all we have to do is put the table together and wait for Cait to wake up.”

Ronnie walked up to the camera that zoomed in on his face and nose. “I picked up some flowers and Cait’s favorite candy to put on the table with the waffles.”

There was another time lapse as they got the kitchen table set up. Then there was a black screen with a digital clock changing time in a time lapse, until it landed on seven fifteen.

“Caitlin is still asleep.” Barry whispered to the camera. “If she’s not up by eight, we’re all going to run into her room and blow an airhorn in her face, because we love her.”

Cisco pulled the camera onto him. “This is what she gets for living with three immature men.”

Oliver watched as they actually barged into Caitlin’s room and blew an airhorn. He also watched as Caitlin chucked a water bottle at them and chased them down the stairs. But it all turned out okay, because they lured her into the kitchen where her birthday breakfast was set up.

Oliver smiled as Caitlin almost cried, kissed Barry and Cisco on the cheeks and pressed her lips to Ronnie’s. They must be dating.

He exited the video and searched his most popular videos.

His first most popular was a video titled ‘It’s Time I Told You’ with fifty million views.

Oliver would come back to that one.

He’d read about it in the Wiki. That’s the video where he came out as gay. He wanted to wait until the right time to watch it. When he knew a little more about him. It seemed to personal of a video to watch without any real context.

He went to the second most viewed, a video titled ‘The Speedster Reacts: Reading Your Comments.’

Interesting.

“Helloooooo, my speedsters! My name’s Barry Allen and I am the Scarlet Speedster. In this react video, I’m going to be doing something I did in a previous video, years ago when my channel was first starting. I’m going to be reading your comments! So what I’m going to do is scroll around in the comments sections of some of my videos and read and react to some of my favorites, or the ones I feel like I need to talk about. Alright, let’s go!”

There was a speeding animation to transition to the next part of the video. Huh, Oliver thought, Clever.

“‘Hi Barry! I live in Coast City and I was wondering when you’d be coming on tour again!’ Well, I got off of tour about half a year ago, so no time soon , but it’ll be less than four years, I can assure that.”

“‘ur hot’.” Barry grinned at the camera, but said nothing. The camera zoomed in on him, until it was uncomfortably close to his mouth. “ Thanks !”

Oliver choked.

There were more comments that Oliver fast forwarded through, until he paused towards the end.

“-new to the fandom, and im curious as to why your channel is called The Scarlet Speedster. p.s. You’re hilarious.’” Barry smiled. “Thank you! I’m glad I can make you guys crack a smile now and then. That’s the goal! And to answer your question, when I was in high school, I did track, and they nicknamed me the Scarlet Speedster because our uniforms were red, and, I guess cause I was fast? There were a lot of better runners out there, but that was the nickname and it stuck throughout high school, so I decided to keep it for my channel. Just ‘Barry Allen’ doesn’t seem to exciting.”

Oliver frowned. He thinks Barry is exciting.

What.

“So that is it for this episode- episode? Show? What am supposed to call these things? What is this? Guys help I don’t know how to do my job whatdoIdo?”

There was a cut of a loud beep and the screen of a windows computer malfunctioning and shutting down, before Barry’s face popped back up with a smile.

“Thank you all for watching! I make new videos e’rry single day, so be on the lookout. As always, I’m the Scarlet Speedster, and-” he paused, and took a deep, heavy breath, “And I need to go to the gym because I just got winded from talking that fast ooooh my god.” He laughed at himself. “Til the next video!” His hand came up to cover the lens, and the video ended.

Man, did this kid have personality.

He closed the laptop and rubbed his face. He needed to get to Central City if he wanted to get Barry’s autograph.

Vacation time.

Chapter Text

Oliver waited another day before he made his trip to Central City. He figured he could do some hands-on stuff at the Queen Consolidated building in Central while he was there. Double task. Not a bad plan.

He went off to Central with a promise to Thea that he would get her the autograph.

He drove himself to Central, got settled into one of the Queen Family Trusted Hotels™, and promptly took a nap.

When he woke up, it was due to his phone going off with a notification. Oliver groaned and rolled over to the side of the bed, arm flapping lazily around for his phone. When he found it, he squinted at the bright screen. Two notifications.

- 10 Minutes Ago

The Scarlet Speedster just uploaded a new video: I Let My Viewers Dress Me

- 4 Minutes Ago

Twitter: @AllenTheBear just tweeted. Come see!

Oliver opened Twitter to find what Barry had posted.

@AllenTheBear: The gang’s out at the Central City library! Come see us!

The library. Oliver could use that. Run into Barry, ask for an autograph, be home in the morning. Perfect! Take that, Thea.

But first-

Oliver went to YouTube to find the latest video Barry had posted. ‘I Let My Viewers Dress Me’. Should be interesting.

“Hellooooo my speedsters! My name is Barry Allen and I am the Scarlet Speedster.”  Barry smiled at the camera, flashing his rows of pearly whites. “Today’s video is a little different. I’ve never done this before on the channel, but so many of you were asking me to do this, I figured it might be some fun, we might get a few laughs from it, and I may become a walking internet joke for the rest of my life, and far beyond that.” He paused, contemplating his decisions in life, probably. “Let’s get started!”

The video had one of those speeding animations, and the video cut to Barry sitting on his bed. His walls were painted a pale red, not quite pink, and there were fairy lights strung up on his walls, above and around a bunch of pictures.

“Okay, so I posted on every social media of mine, ‘Sned’- sned? I misspelled send.” The camera zoomed in on his face, to where you could only see the bottom of his eyes and the top of his upper lip. “Christ- guys, I’ve got a problem, send help .”

In a blink, the camera was back to normal frame. “So I sent out- ‘ Sned in some links to clothing you want me to wear, and maybe I’ll buy them and make outfits out of them for my next video.’Because apparently I cannot dress myself properly. Thank you, Iris.” He started scrolling through the clothing images.

“Wow.”

“Wow.”

“Wow.”

“Wow.”

“wOw.”

“Wow.”

“Oh, wow .”

“Guys, let me get one thing straight here-” He paused. “I’m not. Wai-”

Bombs and explosions and fighter jet animations lit up the screen, over Barry, and Oliver couldn’t help but laugh a little. This guy was ridiculous.

“Okay, no, but in all seriousness guys, you’re sending me things I cannot wear in public wait a minute-” In the space in between his crossed legs and the end of the frame to the right, a picture of fishnet stockings came up. “This is actually kind of cute. Hold on a second. No. I will scar people, with my pasty, bleach-looking legs.”

He paused. “Imma get them anyway.”

There was a sound effect of a zipper. “Okay, bought. Let’s see what else you guys are sending me. Dah dah dah, random noises because I’m awkward and don’t like random silence, beep boop bop. Okay here. This- this is-” he stopped, and the outfit came on screen. “This is a whole mermaid costume. You guys want me to dress up as a mermaid. There’s a blonde wig, tail, guys it even comes with a seashell bra. I know you were all trying to be cute here, but I’m buying it, so what does that say about my dignity, huh? It is-severely damaged. What’s next on the list?”

Oliver didn’t realize how hard he’d been smiling until his upper jaw started hurting.

“Alright alright so back to the first outfit, this shirt is kind of cute. E=MC Hamm-” he stopped again. “Guys this is my merch you can’t send in my merch, I wear them all enough as it is because I’m too poor to buy decent clothing.”

There was another dramatic pause.

“When did this video become so depressing? I am so sorry. Moving on. This shirt is cute. I love the little alien dude hanging out in the chest pocket.” The picture that came up was of a pastel pink shirt that cut off right above the hips, with an alien emoji on a pocket on the chest. “I actually really like this. We’re getting this. We got it, Well, we will get it. I will get it. And then show you in a video. And never wear them again.”

Barry stopped to mumble, “Except those fishnets.”

Oliver inhaled his tongue.

“Okay, shorts! Because I’m not wearing only fishnets and a shirt. Noooo way. So there’s this pair of shorts here, they’re for girls, but I think I could fit into them with some measurement adjustments. Carry the two… okay, fast math. So they should have my size, if I did that math right. They’re not really my style, kind of riding close to my butt? And rips fairly high on the thigh, but I think I can make it work. So! That’s two outfits. Now, one more. I’m gonna look for something nerdy, maybe sciency, because that’s my thing, you know?”

Barry hummed while he looked.   “One plus one equals three, if you don’t wear a cond-” Barry paused mid sentence to glare at the camera. “Guys.”

Then he sputtered into childish laughter.

“Oh, I like this shirt. ‘Screw Your Lab Safety, I Want Superpowers.’ That’s- okay, don’t do that, first of all. That’s not safe, But that’s hilarious. I love it. I’m getting it. Joe is going to attack me .” The shirt was white with green shoulders and sleeves. Oliver thought it would suit him well. “Okay, now jeans, black jeans, those are cute, one rip in the knee. That’s as rebellious as I’m gonna get. I can pair that with my sneakers- wait, Hold on. Are those socks with apples wearing moustaches ? Guys, what are you sending me? You know what? I’m buying them. That’s completing the look. Purchased.”

Oliver pinched the bridge of his nose and fumbled around on the floor for his shoes. He needed to get ready to head to the library.

“So I have ordered all of the clothing items; they are on their way. So when they come in, I’ll finish this video. Until then!”

A speeding transition.

“Okay, so it’s three days later. I got the order speed delivered because I’m impatient and I want my things now, please , and I got them so here we are!” He tore open the first box, staring with a large grin into the camera, not looking at what he was doing as he ripped off one of the folding flaps.

The video cut to Barry pulling everything out of the box for the first outfit. “So this is the science outfit. Hold on, gotta strip.” He stood, took a few steps back, and shucked off his shirt. Immediately, he put on the superhero shirt, but Oliver caught the quick flash of Barry’s abs and chest.

Oliver didn’t know why his cheeks started to blush.

Barry took off his pants, then ran across the room, until he was out of frame, shouting, “Don’t look at me you’ll go blind!”

Eventually, he got the outfit on completely, apple moustache socks and all. “This isn’t too bad, actually? Kinda loving the socks guys, look at this. Fabulous, right?” He laughed. “I’m never going to live this down. Onto outfit number two!”

A speeding transition.

The video cuts to a time lapse of Barry changing shirts. He started kicking off the jeans and trying to put on the fishnets. “How am I supposed to fit in these? How do I put these on. I’m so confused. Caitlin heeeeeelllpp.”

Seconds later, Caitlin came into frame, and promptly laughed at him. “Jeez, Barry. You’re a piece of work.” She helped him get them on up to his knees before she hurried out of frame, still giggling in amusement.

“Okay! Fishnets on. Now, shorts.” It took some struggling, but Barry was able to get the shorts on over the fishnets. He looked at himself in the monitor. “Guys. Guys, this is actually- kind of cute? Wow, this is a look. I love this. I’m such a stereotypical gay. Like, this has never happened before. I think I’m getting in touch with my feminine side. I’m having a nervous breakdown, aren’t I? Caitlin!”

The screen went black and there was a loud beep, before the picture came back.

This time, Barry was sat in the middle of the room, dressed in a sparkly teal mermaid tail, a matching seashell bra, and a big blonde wig.

Cisco collapsed in laughter behind the camera.

Barry stared into the camera, dead on. It was silent.

Silent.

Silent.

“Help.”

The video cut to Barry sitting on his couch, tail and bra still on but wig discarded on the floor behind him. “That is all for this video; I hoped you liked it. I had a lot of fun making it. Thank you so much for watching. I make new videos e’rry single day, so be on the lookout for anything new. I’ll leave the links to every piece of clothing I wore down in the description in case you want to buy them yourself and make different concoctions from these articles of clothing and be a lot more creative than I was. And as always, I’m the Scarlet Speedster, and I need to breathe because even I didn’t understand what I just said. So. Til the next video!”

The video ended, and it took Oliver a second to get moving, because he’s never laughed so hard in his life.

-

He decided to walk to the library, since it was apparently only a few blocks from the hotel he was staying at. It was getting darker out, the sun was nearly gone now, and Oliver wasn’t even sure if Barry was still at the library. But he had to try anyway, so here he was.

He was turning into the drive of the library to get to the parking lot, when he heard someone shouting. Curious, Oliver looked around as he got closer to the doors of the entrance. Against his better judgement -- because this was probably his last chance to get Barry’s autograph tonight -- he took a left at the doors and circled around to the side.

A man had a knife pressed to someone’s side, towering over them with his back turned to Oliver, snarling at the person to, “Fork over any money, you crybaby.”

Oliver, against even more of his better judgement, but never one to shy away from a fight, intervened. “Hey! Why don’t you leave them alone?”

The man punched the guy square in the jaw, and he fell to the ground. The man turned around and tried to swing a knife at Oliver, but Oliver was quick to dodge it and grab the guy’s arm. He twisted it, pulled the man closer and kneed him between the legs, before elbowing the mugger in the nose.

The man collapsed to a heap on his knees, and Oliver growled, “You have three seconds to get out of my sight before I stop hesitating. One.”

The man ran off.

Oliver made sure he was gone, watching him until he disappeared, then turned back to the person on the ground. The person -- a boy -- was slowly getting to his feet, holding his jaw in one hand. Oliver hurried over. “Are you alright?”

The guy swayed a bit, and Oliver’s arms shot out to keep him steady. “Careful, man. You might have a concussion.”

The guy groaned a bit and said in a slurred voice, “No, man, I’m cool. I’m fine.”

Oliver furrowed his eyebrows, because the guy sounded so familiar, but he let go, and the guy immediately pitched forward, stumbling over his own two feet and right back into Oliver’s arms. The guy blinked up at Oliver hazily, and Oliver froze, because it was him. It was Barry Allen.

Chapter Text

Oliver’s leg bounced impatiently in the uncomfortable plastic chair, sat in the waiting room of the urgent care.. He’d been here for nearly an hour, waiting for the doctor to get done checking Barry over. They’d been concerned, just as Oliver had, about a concussion, but he never took into consideration any internal bleeding or a ruptured appendix, and the tests for all three of those still hadn’t come back yet.

And because Oliver wasn’t family -- was a complete stranger, actually -- the nurses and doctors wouldn’t let him know anything. So he was stuck out here in the waiting room, waiting.

Obviously.

Another twenty minutes or so passed before Barry came out of one of the rooms, a butterfly bandage right above his eyebrow. He said something to the doctor behind him, then went over to Oliver.

Oliver stood up quickly. “Everything okay?”

Barry nodded at him, smiling sheepishly. “Yeah, no concussion or internal bleeding.”

“Appendix still in tact?”

The corner of Barry’s mouth quirked up a little, despite his best struggles. “A hundred percent. I have a bit of a headache, and I’ll probably have a bigger bruise on my jaw, but the doc said I can just take some painkillers and I should be good.”

Oliver exhaled in relief. Thea would kill him if he let something happen to Barry.

Yeah, that’s why he was relieved.

Totally.

Anyway.

“Well, let me drop you off somewhere,” Oliver suggested, “I drove you here, so.”

“Yeah, yeah sure. I live just down the street.”

Oliver, who’d already paid for the examination, directed Barry to his car, and drove him to his house. He listened to Barry give him directions and ramble about all the cool places around town.

“Yeah, just take a left here. Oh! You see that forest over there? It seems like it goes on forever, but it actually is only about two acres. The other side leads to this pond. It’s gorgeous there; so many animals and flowers. My friend, Ronnie, helped a family of ducks get off the road and to the pond. We still visit them, sometimes.”

Oliver smiled and kept his eyes on the road. This kid was adorable. “That’s great, Barry. I’m sure the ducks are forever grateful.

Barry smiled out of the corner of his eye, before he looked down to his shoes. “Uh, I’m sorry. I’m rambling about all this stuff that you probably don’t even care about.”

“No, hey, don’t think that. It nice, how much you love Central. I’m actually from Starling City, kind of on work stuff for a little while. Starling is nowhere as nice as Central. I’m glad you love it here so much.”

Barry blushed, scratching the back of his neck. “Wow. Thank- uh, th-thank you.”

Oliver turned his head for a quick second, to look at Barry and smile reassuringly, “You’re welcome, Barry.”

They turned onto Barry’s street, and soon, Oliver was pulling into his driveway. Almost instantly, Caitlin, Cisco, and Ronnie were flying out the door as Barry and Oliver got out, along with a pretty black woman, an older man, and a younger blond man.

“There you are!” The unnamed girl cried, throwing her arms around Barry. “We were so worried when we couldn’t find you.”

Cisco pushed the girl out of the way and hugged Barry himself. “What happened to you, man?”

Barry pulled back and scratched the back of his neck, like he did earlier. Oliver took note of that.

“I, uh, I got jumped? Behind the library,” he told them, “But it’s okay! I’m fine.” He jabbed his thumb over his shoulder. “He beat up the guy, took me to the urgent care.”

Oliver waved lamely.

Caitlin hurried over to Barry and did her own quick examination. “You’re sure you’re okay? What did the doctor say?”

“No concussion. No internal bleeding. I’m still in one piece, so that’s good. But I’m gonna have a nasty bruise pretty soon.”

The older man hugged Barry, before holding his hand out to Oliver. “Detective Joe West. I’m Barry’s foster father. Thank you for helping him.”

Oliver shook his hand, feeling a little intimidated at all of the sudden eyes on him. “Oliver Queen, sir. It’s no problem, really. I’m just glad he’s alright.”

“Oliver Queen?” The unnamed girl asked, popping up behind Barry. “As in, rich businessman from Starling City, Oliver Queen?”

Oliver shoved his hands on his jean pockets. “Yep. That’s me. I’m here on business for the next couple months.”

Yeah. Business.

“I’m Iris, Barry’s foster sister and BFF,” she greeted, “Can I ask, do you know who Barry is? Like, from his YouTube channel?”

Everyone paused, waiting for Oliver’s answer, and he had a split second to think about the path he should go down. Truth. It causes less problems in the future. He’s sure they’d understand.

“Oh, you have a YouTube channel? That’s cool. But no, sorry, I don’t really watch YouTube.”

Whelp.

“Wait, really?” Barry asked, “Then how’d you know my name?”

Oliver smirked a little, “You told the people at the front desk of the Urgent Care, so they could find your medical records.”

Barry blushed in embarrassment. “Oh.”

“Well, I’m Caitlin Snow,” Caitlin introduced, “This is my fiance, Ronnie, and our friend Cisco, and Iris’s husband, Eddie. You’ve met Iris and Joe.”

“And Barry.” Cisco smirked.

Barry hit him.

Oliver nodded at them. “It’s nice to meet you all.”

“Well, uh, we should let you go,” Barry cleared his throat, “I’m sure you have other stuff to do. But thank you, for everything.”

Oliver’s face softened a little. This kid was too darn precious. “Of course. I’m just happy I could help.”

“Hey! You should come with us tomorrow,” Cisco jumped in, “We’re all going to the park because, we’re adults, what else would we be doing on a Saturday? Not working, that’s for sure.”

Iris nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah! You should totally come! We’re shooting a vlog for Barry’s channel. I’m sure the viewers would love some extra eye candy.”

“Iris!” Barry exclaimed while Ronnie doubled over against Eddie in laughter.

Oliver smiled, chuckling a little. “If you’d like me to, sure.”

Barry looked at him in surprise, before fumbling for his phone. “Oh, um, o-okay. So just, here, put your number in my phone, and I’ll call- no, no text! I’ll text you the address and time. It’s totally fine if you need to cancel, but just- uh, yeah. Here.”

Oliver bit his lip to keep from laughing at the younger man’s nervousness. He put his number in Barry’s phone and handed it back to him. “Tomorrow.”

Barry nodded dumbly as Oliver said goodbye and got back into the car. He drove back to the hotel, then swore loudly. So the autograph wasn’t going to be that quick in getting. He could just ask for the autograph tomorrow, be like, “Hey, my sister is a huge fan. Could you sign this shirt for her?”

No, wait, he told everyone he didn’t know who Barry was.

Maybe “i texted my sister about the incident, and apparently she’s a big fan. I hate to ask, but could you sign this for her so she doesn’t cut off my head?”

Yeah. He’ll do that. Be back the next day, because his business stuff in Central was resolved sooner than he thought.

Yeah. That’s what he’s gonna do. Just a little change of plans.

Totally…

Chapter Text

Barry wasn’t kidding.

They were literally filming a vlog in a park for children.

Oliver had been skeptical when he first walked into the playground, seeing Barry and his friends running around by the jungle gym, pushing each other off the slide. But the minute Barry had caught sight of Oliver and smiled, big and bright, Oliver forgot how to be a grouch.

Whoops.

“Hey! I wasn’t sure if you’d actually show.” Barry greeted him, leading him over to his friends.

“I promised, didn’t I?”

Barry’s cheeks went pink. “Yeah, you did.”

Oliver’s little speech was replaying in his mind, and he opened his mouth to ask for the autograph. Before he could, Cisco came bounding over and jumping directly in front of Oliver.

“No way! You actually came!”

Oliver rolled his eyes. “Why is everyone so surprised?”

“Because, you’re Oliver Queen. ” Barry emphasized, like it meant something. “I’m just some YouTuber.”

Barry was off to help Ronnie get Caitlin down from the jungle gym, where she was clutching one of the bars like a cat above water, before Oliver had the chance to respond.

It took another couple minutes to actually start filming. It was three seconds before Barry pressed record that Oliver realized that Thea would be seeing this video the minute it went up, probably around the end of the day, because Barry was very quick at editing.

“Helloooo my speedsters! My name is Barry Allen and I am the Scarlet Speedster.” Barry grinned at his camera, “And look who I’m with! My team!” He spun the camera so it went right over Oliver’s head and onto the playground, where the others were fooling around. “Nah, I’m just kiddin’. I’m here with Oliver Queen!”

Barry moved the camera to Oliver, who jumped in surprise. Barry threw an arm around his shoulder. “Why he’s here is a long story that I won’t be telling today, but the point is, Oliver agreed to do a video with me and the team, so I figured, what’s cooler than a bunch of adults playing on a playground at ten o’clock in the morning?”

He zoomed the camera in so the only thing that was in the frame was a close-up of his eyes, nose, and mouth. “A lot- there’s a lotta things that are cooler than this. You know what? I’m gonna stop talking-”

Oliver snickered, and Barry grinned at him and zoomed out until the frame was back to normal. “Basically, all this vlog is, is us doing stupid stuff on the playground. A lot has happened these past few days, and I thought it would be a nice change of pace. Well- iris did. Thank you, Iris!”

“You’re welcome, Bear!” Iris called out, far into the distance from where she was hanging upside down on one of the monkey bars.

“I haven’t been on a playground.” Oliver said as he and Barry made their way to the wood chips.

“Since you were a kid?”

“No. Never.”

Collectively, half of the ‘team’ gasped. Oliver could already hear the sound of a record player scratching.

“You’ve never been on a playground?” Barry asked, almost offended. “Oh my gosh. That’s like- a crime. We need to fix this. I won’t let you be arrested. This- this is a tragedy.”

Oliver’s lips quivered up into an amused smirk. “Barry.”

“No. This is horrible. I’ve never heard such sad news.” He paused, then laughed once, very loudly, then hurried to the plastic tower.

Oliver wondered what that was about.

But, he followed Barry around the whole day. He talked to Ronnie some. The guy was cool enough, curious about how Oliver got his fortune, asked some questions.

“So, how did Barry get the idea of making a YouTube channel?” Oliver asked as Ronnie pushed Caitlin on the swings, in between him and Eddie, who was pushing Iris. “I didn’t know you could have a career off of it.”

“Oh yeah, Barry makes millions per video,” Eddie told him, “It’s crazy to think about it. But people love Barry’s personality, how open he is about himself.”

“He does have quite a personality.” Oliver chuckled. “You don’t meet very many people in Starling with a personality like that.”

He watched Cisco chase Barry around the park with a stick, taping the whole thing on his camera.

“You’ll never catch me!” Barry shouted, two seconds before Cisco tackled him.

Oliver shook his head with a smile. Iris nodded and tilted her head back to look at Oliver. “Barry’s had a camera in front of his face since he was a kid. He didn’t have a lot of friends growing up, besides me. He liked the idea of talking to millions of people all at once, so he started his channel when he was a teenager. It kind of snowballed from there.”

Oliver watched Barry hit Cisco repeatedly with a stick, pondering.

-

“That’s it for this video!” Barry recited his exit to the camera lens. “Thank you all for watching, and a special thanks to Oliver Queen for being here with us today. This was such a stupid video, but you had fun, right?”

Even if he hadn’t, Oliver would have lied just to keep that smile on Barry’s face. “More fun than I thought I would.”

“I’ll take it!” Barry exclaimed. “I make new videos e’rry single day, so be on the lookout. As always, I’m the Scarlet Speedster, and-”

There was a scream, and Barry, Oliver, and Ronnie turned to find Eddie lying on the ground, dazed, with Cisco, Caitlin, and Iris staring down at him over the edge of the plastic tower

“-and I might need some new friends.”

Cisco squawked, and Barry grinned, “Later!”

-

Oliver and Barry watched as the others drove off to handle everything else they had planned for the day. It was a little bit past one p.m., and Oliver had no idea what to do with the rest of his day.

Luckily, Barry had an idea.

“This was a lot of fun,” the younger smiled at him, “Listen, I know you’re probably swamped with Queen Consolidated work, ‘s stuff-”

Work? What was work? Work wasn’t important. Barry, though. Barry was important. Very important.

“-but I was wondering if you wanted to grab some coffee? Or go do something. I dunno. You don’t have to-”

“No,” Oliver hurried to interrupt him, “No. Coffee sounds good.”

Barry smiled, relieved, and went to head to his car, then paused.

“I rode with Iris.”

Oliver struggled to contain his laughter, the sudden statement startling a laugh against his lips. Barry glared playfully at him. “Ha ha. Laugh it up.”

Oliver grinned at him, “I will.” He punched Barry’s shoulder. “Come on; I’ll drive us.”

-

Coffee, needless to say, was wonderful.

Oliver learned that Barry couldn’t go a day without at least two cups, and that he usually drank around four or five per day. He also learned that Barry’s mother had died when he was young, an unfortunate bank robbery that ended with Mrs. Allen being at the wrong place at the wrong time.

“My dad went to Coast City a few months after she died.” Barry told him. “He just needed to get away. He dropped me off at Joe’s for a sleepover with Iris, and he never came back to get me.”

Oliver frowned at him, chest pulling with sympathy. “I’m so sorry, Barry.”

Barry shrugged and took another sip of his coffee. “Thank you. But I’ve long gotten over it. I got Joe and Iris out of it, my friends, and now my channel. It all worked out.

“That’s a nice way to find a bright side.”

“There’s always a bright side to everything. You just have to be conscious enough to see it, to believe it.

They sat in silence for a little while, and Oliver was grateful, because that simple statement left him breathless. Barry was so happy, so sweet. He’d been hurt terribly, and yet he still found a way to smile about it.

“So, tell me something about you, Mr. Grump.”

“I am not a grump.” Came as an automatic response. Then, he settled against the back of the booth. “There’s not much to talk about. I’ve got a sister and a mother, some friends, the company. I’m a pretty boring person.”

Barry rolled his eyes. “Come on. You’re a billionaire. You’re life can’t be boring. That’s not how it works.”

Oliver quirked an eyebrow. “Oh, so now there’s rules?”

“Of course there’s rules! Every novel in existence that has a billionaire main character -- even comic books -- those billionaires have the best lives.”

Oliver’s lips quivered up into an amused smile.

“Okay, they at least have some fun times. But your life can’t be boring.”

Oliver huffed out a laugh. “Well, there’s plenty of boring meetings that I have to attend, constantly. There’s piles of paperwork, people always breathing down your neck, and don’t even get me started on the paparazzi-”

“No, no, not your life as a businessman,” Barry interrupted, “Your life. In general. Just- you.”

Oliver paused a moment, then thought back to any time that was fun that didn’t end with illegal substances or someone in the hospital. He went on to tell Barry the story that his mother always told him, of when he was a toddler, and that he took his first steps trying to get to his mother’s wallet, and after that for a solid year, he’d only walk if there was money as the end game.

Barry was doubled over laughing by the end. Oliver wasn’t even sure it was that funny, but Barry’s face was bright red, tears streaming down his cheeks. People were staring at them, now, and Oliver was sure this was going on some kind of article online within the next twelve hours.

But somehow, he didn’t really seem to mind. So he just leaned back and listened to Barry start talking about some prank he, Ronnie, and Cisco had pulled on Eddie. He watched Barry smile big and bright, saw the gleam of joy in his eyes as he talked about his friends, and ignored the swell of fondness he felt behind his ribs.

It wasn’t until he got back to his hotel that night, falling onto the bed to bury his face in the pillows and replay Barry’s laugh in his head, that he realized he still didn’t have Barry’s autograph.

Chapter Text

It really should have crossed Oliver’s mind a lot more, that Thea would more than likely see Barry’s video. Probably ASAP.

So it shouldn’t have surprised him when he got a call in the middle of his afternoon marathon of crappy hotel tv channel shows, from Thea, who promptly yelled at him the moment he connected the call.

“You befriended him?” She shouted, “ And you didn’t even mention the autograph? Or maybe a picture, or something. The entire reason you’re over there is to get me an autograph as an apology for wrecking my car.”

“I’m well aware, Thea,” Oliver said though his teeth, annoyed, “I’m working on it.”

“You went to the park with Barry Allen and all of his friends and didn’t once remember for the autograph.”

“It was never a good time to ask.” Oliver defended himself, biting his lower lip, “The situation wasn’t right.”

“The situation.” Thea repeated flatly, then paused. “Look, whatever. If you wanna run around with a YouTuber that you know nothing about, for publicity, for the chase, whatever- fine. Go have fun. I’ll see you whenever you get back.”

Oliver frowned, “Thea…”

“Bye, Ollie.”

She hung up before he could respond, and when he called her back, she didn’t answer. He sighed, tossing his phone carelessly to the end of the bed. He ran his hands through his hair, frustrated. He was such a bad brother.

He thought back to Barry, the night before at the coffee shop. He was a nice guy; he’d understand Oliver asking for an autograph for his sister. Barry was understanding like that, and so, so sweet.

And also gullible.

Oliver sat up. He could get Barry’s autograph if they were close enough, and it wouldn’t be awkward. Barry flirted with him, he was 67% sure of that. If he flirted back, maybe Barry would become close enough so that Oliver could get the autograph.

But then Barry would probably want to go out with Oliver- to date. Oliver doesn’t date. Not since the Lance sisters.

Oliver could just book it. Get the autograph, and be gone the next day, never see Barry in person again.

That seemed a little harsh, though.

Maybe get the autograph and explain that he doesn’t date. That’ll work. Like he said before, Barry’s an understanding guy. Oliver’s not gay, but what Barry doesn’t know won’t hurt him, right?

Quickly, Oliver reached for his phone and typed out a text message to Thea.

Oliver

I’m getting you that autograph, no matter what it takes.

3:49 PM

Thea never responded, but he texted Barry, deciding to put his plan into action immediately.

Oliver

Hey, it’s Oliver. Wanna grab some ice cream today? I saw a shop just down the road from my hotel.

3:50 PM

It took a few minutes for Barry to respond.

Barry

Oh! Uh, I dunno, I’m pretty crammed in on editing videos.

3:55 PM

Oliver

Come on. Knowing you, you’ve probably been working all day. Snag a break. My treat.

3:56 PM

It took less time than before for Barry to text him back.

Barry

Alright, alright. Point. 4:30 at...?

3:58 PM

Oliver

I’ll pick you up. But, text me your address again? I get a little turned around.

3:59 PM

Which was a lie. Oliver remembered exactly where Barry lived. But he didn’t need to come on too strong, or seem like something was up.

Barry

Okay, yeah, sure. 4:30.

4:00 PM

Barry’s address followed in a text immediately after. Oliver sighed. He was a horrible person.

-

The moment Oliver pulled into Barry’s driveway, Barry was sprinting out the door and down the driveway. He threw open the passenger door. “Drive!”

“What? Why? What’s wrong?”

Iris suddenly hurtled out the door. She looked around quickly, then pointed at the car.

“She wants to ‘talk to you’,” Barry replied, hurried, as he jumped into the seat and slammed the door shut, “Punch it.”

Oliver did as he was told, pulled out of the driveway and sped away, just narrowly avoiding Iris when she jumped at the car.

When they were in the clear, Oliver heard Barry exhale, and he snorted, “What was all that about?”

“Nothing. Iris is always just really protective of me, has been since we were kids, and she freaks out everytime I go out with someone- I mean! Not like this, cause, we’re not going out. I mean, we are going out. Going out to hang out, as friends, cause this isn’t- we’re not dating and this isn’t a date. I just meant-”

“It’s not?” Oliver asked, playing along with his plan. “Oh. Well that’s too bad.”

“I- what?”

“What?”

“You said too bad. That it wasn’t a date. At least, I think you meant it for the date. Which this isn’t. Is it?”

Oliver laughed, breathy, and for a moment, he forgot about his plan in an effort to calm Barry’s frantic breathing. “This is whatever you want it to be.” He shrugged, turning right, “You’re cute, though, so I’d prefer the last option.”

Barry blinked, blinked again, and his face turned bright red, as if someone had turned on a switch. “Oh. Uh- th-thanks. This is- it can be a date. If you want.”

“Do you want?”

“Well, uh, if you want-”

“Barry, stop,” Oliver laughed, glancing at the boy next to him, “Do you want this to be a date?”

Barry had to take a moment to get his breathing to settle. He said, slowly, “Yes,” almost unsure of the movement of his mouth.

Oliver smiled at him. “Good. So do I.”

Oliver’s never seen a smile so bright before.

They made it to the ice cream shop. It was small, and customers couldn’t go inside. You had to order outside while the workers scooped the ice cream from the metal crates behind them. They walked up to the counter and read the menu listed above the small sliding window.

“Now,” Oliver said, “since you’re the citizen of Central City and you know everything about it here, you need to tell me all of the ice cream flavors of this place and which ones are the best so I don’t throw up everywhere.”

It startled a laugh out of Barry, and the younger seemed to finally relax. He went on a ramble of all of the ice cream flavors the store sold, which were the best and which ones to avoid. He rambled, both awkward and excited, about some strange blueberry cheesecake one that looked gross but tasted amazing.

Oliver didn’t realize how hard he was smiling until his mouth started to hurt.

Chapter Text

Oliver and Barry went out the next day for coffee around lunch time. According to Caitlin, Barry had been editing videos nonstop since five in the morning and he needed an intervention. They were more than happy to send Barry on his way with Oliver, and Oliver figured it would be a good time to ask about the autograph.

But then, Barry mentioned from behind his caramel frappe, “Did you know I do games on my channel, too?”

Bingo. An opening.

“Oh yeah. My sister mentioned some old gaming videos.”

He went to ask for the autograph, but Barry said, “Ronnie still laughs at me for the Five Nights at Freddy’s video I did.”

Oliver blinked.

He did not.

“You’re lying to me.”

Barry grinned innocently. “Nope.”

Hurriedly, Oliver sat up and unlocked his phone (he was typing so fast that it took about five tries to actually get into his phone), clicking on YouTube. He searched up the video, and like Barry had said, there was the video posted four years ago.

Barry got up and slid next to him in the booth. He was a warm, solid weight next to him, and he subconsciously shifted his leg to press against Barry’s. Barry didn’t seem to mind.

Oliver clicked on the video. Immediately, Barry’s bright face and big smile popped onto the screen.

“Helloooo everybody! My name is Barry Allen and I am the Scarlet Speedster. So a bout a month ago, someone sent in a request on one of my videos, asking me to play the game because a bunch of other YouTubers had been playing it, and they loved it and wanted to see me scream. So .” At the word, the volume skyrocketed and instantly zoomed into Barry’s eyes to his upper lip.

“After that comment got put onto the internet for the rest of eternity, it kind of started a chain reaction, and suddenly everyone was asking me to play the game. So, here we are, because yes- I am playing Five Nights at Freddy’s, the newest indie horror game that came out just this past August.”

Oliver’s phone buzzed, a string of text messages coming from Dig. With an agitated huff, Oliver swiped them to the side and ignored them. Dig was interrupting Barry and that’s not okay.

The game powered up, and Barry’s webcam slid into the upper lefthand corner. He had on big, bulky black headphones, and he shuddered when he heard the music.

“Ooo that’s ominous.” He clicked First Night, and started moving left and right in the office. “Okay, so first thought. This office seems a little bland -- why is there a cupcake with eyes there--  and there’s four animatronics. But apparently on the first night, only one or two move? And you can close the doors. So I think this should be relatively eas-”

The phone in the game started ringing, and Barry yelped.

Oliver pinched the bridge of his nose, exasperated. Next to him, Barry giggled.

“Hello? I can’t pick up the phone. Hello- oh hi.” Barry said when the phone guy picked up. He listened to what the man said, flipped through the cameras, and grimaced. “That bunny is freaking me out a little.”

When the phone guy stopped talking and left Barry to the game, he continued, “Yeah, so like I was saying; apparently already, people are putting together some lore- and I am not the YouTuber to come to for that kid of stuff, sorry. But I’ve had some friends play the demo previously, and I assure you, I will not be looking up any tips on how to beat the game- Ronnie .”

Like before, the volume and zoom tripled for a brief moment, before returning to normal.

“Anyway…” The cameras suddenly cut out and showed static, and Barry sat up quickly, “Woah woah, that’s not good. Who’s doing that? Stop that. If it’s the bunny, I swear to God-”

Barry flipped down the cameras, and then there was a screeching purple bunny in Barry’s face.

Barry shrieked, jolted backwards and slammed against the wall. His headphones flew off his head and landed against the microphone, emitting a loud muffling sound for a couple brief seconds.

Video Barry took a few moments to breathe. Then, there was a loud beeping sound, and oh my god, Barry just cursed.

Except, it was bleeped out, of course.

“Was that the bunny?” Barry exclaimed, “That was the bunny! ****ing Bonny the Bunny just ate me.” He rolled his chair back up to the desk and put his headphones on again, then loaded up the night again. “I knew I shouldn’t trust him! Her? I think there’s still some debate on whether or not Bonny is actually a male or female. Maybe he’s trans. Trans bunnies, let’s go. I’d take my kid to a restaurant where their mascot was a transgender bunny.”

He stared at the camera, annoyed and deadpan. “Oh wait no I wouldn’t because he eats people .”

Oliver snickered. The video paused, and suddenly, Dig’s contact was taking over his screen, phone vibrating in his hands. Oliver cursed and connected the call. “Hold on a sec, Bear.”

He didn’t notice the blush Barry got on his cheeks at the nickname.

“What, Dig?” He huffed out.

“Why didn’t you tell me you’re in Starling City, befriending a YouTube star named Barry Allen?” Dig asked, a little annoyed. “See, I’m your best friend and your bodyguard. You gotta tell me things like that.”

“Sorry,” Oliver rolled his eyes, “Wasn’t thinking.”

“Thinking? Wow, Oliver, I’m surprised you know that word. I didn’t think it was in your dictionary.”

“Har har, you’re so funny.”

“You know what isn’t funny? You using Barry to get Thea that autograph.”

Oliver sat up straighter. “Who told you that?”

Barry tilted his head, not being able to hear what Diggle was saying, but looked confused at the urgency of Oliver’s tone. Oliver smiled at him reassuringly. Barry smiled back and sipped at his latte.

“Thea told me you’re in Starling to get an apology autograph. Knowing you, I’m sure you decided to use your looks to an advantage.”

“It’s not like that.” Oliver said, but technically- it was. Here he was, flirting with this guy to get an autograph. He wasn’t really sure why he was still doing this. He could have gotten the autograph multiple times already.

“Oh really?”

“Okay, yes, maybe it is. But maybe I can get something more out of it. Store it for a rainy day when I make her mad again.”

“Oliver-”

“Listen, I gotta go. We’ll talk more about this later.”

He hung up before Dig could finish. Barry smiled at him. “What was that about?”

“Oh, just some Queen Consolidated stuff,” Oliver lied, “That was my business partner.”

“Ah.” Barry nodded, straw behind his front teeth like the dork he was. “I gotcha.”

“Mhm.” Oliver hummed. “So where were we?”

“We were watching the Freddy’s video.” The brunet said, “Hey, uh, I wanted to ask you something.”

“Hm?”

“Do you maybe wanna, I don’t know, maybe, go see a movie, or something? Or go to dinner?”

Oliver turned to him in surprise. “Like a date?”

Barry blushed bright red and averted his eyes down to his lap. “Um, maybe?”

Oliver’s chest seized. God, he was so cute.

Oliver blinked suddenly. No, what was he saying? He’s straight. But he needs that autograph. Darnit, he should have asked for it earlier. But-

“Yeah, sure,” Oliver smiled, “That sounds like fun.”

“Yeah?” Barry asked, hopeful, eyes shining with excitement, and Oliver just couldn’t turn him down.

“Yeah. Definitely. Tomorrow? Say, around seven? I’ve been dying to grab some food from Mama Chow’s.”

Barry grinned, bigger than Oliver has ever seen Barry smile. “I love it there! Okay, so yea, seven works.”

“Awesome.”

This is your chance. Ask for the autograph, go on the date, and leave.

“Hey, real quick? Do you mind if I can get your autograph?” Oliver hurried out. “It’s for a couple of my friends. They don’t believe I actually met you, and they’ve been having wifi problems, so they haven't seen that park video yet.”

That was the lamest lie ever, wow Oliver.

“Aw,” Barry cooed, “Sure, man. Is a napkin suitable?”

“Yeah, yeah, that works fine.” Oliver said, wheezed. This was it; he was so close.

“You want a picture, too? Just in case?” Barry teased, scribbling down his signature.

“Whatever you want.”

They snapped a picture, and Barry checked the time. “Thanks for the coffee, Oliver. I should get back, though, if I want to upload in time. I’ll see you tomorrow though? Seven?”

“I’ll meet you at Mama Chow’s.” Oliver confirmed.

“Cool,” Barry whispered, “I’m going on a date with an attractive billionaire.” His face suddenly twisted in mortification. “I said that out loud, didn’t I?”

Oliver chuckled in amusement. “You did.”

Barry laughed awkwardly, then scurried away. When he was out of sight, he lunged to grab the napkin.

To Oliver - hope this was proof enough :D

~ Barry Allen

Oliver slumped back in the booth, disheartened. It said ‘to Oliver’, crap. He’d tear off that part, but some of Barry’s signature got blended into his name and the stuff above.

Oliver sighed. Back to square one.

Chapter Text

So, Oliver’s plan almost worked, until he screwed up with his story, and now he has nothing, nothing to go on except his date with Barry.

Which, okay, it gives him a lot of leverage but not a lot of openings unless he wants to look like a jerk.

His phone rang while he was fixing the cuffs of his shirt. He connected the call, and immediately, Thea was reprimanding him.

“It's been a month, Ollie. Where is my autograph?”

Oliver sighed. “I'm working on it, Thea. It's taking some time.”

“How hard is it to ask someone for their autograph?”

“Very hard, actually, unless I want to come off as an asshole."

Thea huffed, annoyed. “Look, as much as I can't stand you half the time, I miss you. Forget about the autograph, okay? Just come home.”

Oliver's chest clenched. “No. I hurt you, and I'm going to make it up. I'll be home soon, okay, I promise. End of the week.”

“...You'll be home Saturday?”

“Saturday.” Oliver agreed. “I’ll see you then.”

He hung up, and promptly punched the wall of his hotel room. Today was Tuesday. Which means he has four days to get Barry’s autograph.

He's got this.

Hopefully.

He waited at Mama Chow's for three minutes before he spotted Barry walking through the door. To his surprise, Barry looked confident, not bashful and stumbling over his own feet, like usual.

He was fixing the pockets of his jeans, that clung to his hips and around his butt like a second skin. His shirt was a simple grey Henley, and his suit jacket was a lighter grey, crisp and buttoned once in the middle to expose his sharp collar bones and a small sliver of skin when he raised his arms to stretch.

Oliver gulped, and he shifted in his seat a little to readjust himself, when he realized shockingly that he was sporting a semi.

Oliver squeezed his eyes shut for a quick moment. No. He wasn't gay. He didn't like dude. He liked girls. Loved girls. Yeah, girls were nice.

When he opened his eyes, Barry was in front of him in his seat, smiling softly at him. All thoughts flew out the window upon seeing him, and he smiled back, just as warm.

“You look great.” Oliver said, tongue numb around the words.

Barry blushed, a pretty pink color painting across his cheeks. “Thank you,” he replied, “I have to say, I'm digging the rolled-up sleeve look.”

Oliver smirked smugly. “Oh yeah.”

Barry hummed his agreement around the glass of water Oliver had ordered them. “Yeah. Kinda got a thing for biceps, but maybe that’s just the alcohol talking.”

Oliver quirked an eyebrow, “What alcohol?”

“Exactly.”

Oliver snorted in amusement. They ordered their food, and ended up diving headlong into a conversation about the newest Harry Potter book.

That conversation turned into a different topic, which turned to a different topic. They talked through mouthfuls of sweet and sour chicken and lo mein noodles. They stayed way after they'd finished, and when it was time to go, Barry dragged Oliver out the door and down the street.

“Where are we going?” Oliver asked, laughing a little at Barry's eagerness.

“I'll show you. You got a cab here, right? From your hotel?”

“Yeah?”

“Cool.” Barry said, then pulled him into the doors of the hotel.

For a moment, Oliver thought Barry was wanting to hook up, and his semi came back in a blink. But then, the elevator passed his floor, and the floor above that, and the floor above that, until they got to the top.

He followed Barry down the hall and to the stairwell that led to the roof.

The sun was going down when they got to the top. The sunset was painted in pretty shades of pink and purple, cirrus clouds little wisps in the sky.

“Pink sky at night, sailors delight.” Barry said, standing next to him. “My mom used to tell me that when I was little, before she died. We used to watch the sunsets together.”

Oliver looked at him, and saw Barry holding his arms in a self-hug, staring at the sky.

“We'd watch the sunrise, too. She'd come get me in the mornings and carry me outside, because I was like, pretty much dead to the world.”

Barry turned to him, eyes glossy with tears. Oliver reached out and held one of his arms comfortingly. “Thank you for showing me.”

Barry smiled at him, wobbly, and Oliver couldn't help it, he had to kiss him.

He leaned in, slow enough to give Barry an out, but not enough do Barry thought he was hesitating. Barry followed his lead, and suddenly they were kissing, unsure but sensual and Barry was so, so eager that Oliver couldn't help but laugh, pull back and press his forehead against the brunet's.

Barry smiled again, exhaled in a laugh, clasped his hand over the back of Oliver's neck.

“Wow.” He chuckled, and Oliver couldn't agree more.

Chapter Text

Oliver needed that autograph, and he needed to just come out and say it. Say, maybe he lost the autograph and needed another. Or just tell him that his sister wanted one. Barry would understand that she wanted one. It wouldn't be weird.

Oliver doesn't, is the thing.

Instead, he went over to Barry’s house and sat with him in the recording/editing room and watched him edit some little skit that he, Ronnie, Cisco, and Caitlin finished shooting this morning.

“Hey,” Barry said suddenly, sliding his headphones down to settle around his neck, “Do you wanna be in another video with me?”

Oliver looked at him in surprise. “Seriously?”

Barry grinned at him and noses. “Yeah. I was thinking of playing Kinect Disneyland on the X-Box, make a whole series out of it. It looks like it'll take forever, but it seems like it'll be fun for the viewers. Do you wanna be in the first episode?”

Oliver felt a pink blush creep up his neck. “Uh, if you're sure.”

“Totally.” Barry assured. “Let me set up the recording stuff to my tv. You can sit on the couch over there. It'll be more comfortable.”

Oliver got himself situated while Barry hooked up the wires and things so that everything recorded correctly. He did a mic check and a recording check, before he dubbed everything working fine. He pressed record.

“Hellooo my speedsters. My name is Barry Allen and I am the Scarlet Speedster. And I have a very special guest with me today it’s Oliver Queen! Say hi to the viewers, Oliver.”

Oliver waved nervously at the camera. “Hi.”

“Yes, he was in a previous video and no, I'm still not gonna mention how we met because it's a long st-”

“I wined and dined his ass.”

Barry sputtered into laughter at Oliver's seriousness, pressed his head onto the X-Box controller. Oliver’s visage broke and be laughed, too.

Barry heaved in a breath. “That's not true, don't believe a word he says,” he huffed, “Alright, well, hi guys! It's Barry. So I've had this game in my shelf for a while, and I figured it would be fun to play and that anyone out there who likes Disney would enjoy watching it.”

“Plus there's me.” Oliver smirked.

Barry rolled his eyes, as if he was some chore to be around. Oliver’s never met someone (other than Thea and Dig and Laurel) that had the guts to do that around him.

“This is the Kinect for X-Box version of Disneyland, so that means no controllers, and only movements. Oliver, are you ready?”

Oliver nodded, pretending to be overly determined. “I am. Are you ready, Barry?”

Barry nodded fiercely. “Let's do this.”

-

“What are you doing?” Oliver screeched. “We're supposed to be on a mission to find books for Belle!”

“But Ariel wanted us to find the dinglehoppers!” Barry shrieked back at him.

“We're supposed to follow the magic golden trail!”

“But Ariel.”

Oliver snarled. “Okay okay, pause. What if we go on an attraction, and the first item we see, that's the quest we'll do, yeah?”

Barry pouted, but agreed. “Alright, fine.”

They headed into the It’s a Small World ride. They did the hand motions to make the boat “move” and move the cardboard scenery around.

“We're dancing? Oh we're dancing, wait-” Oliver panicked when a girl and boy from -- what looked like -- India popped up and started dancing.

“This is hands down,” Oliver said as be swayed his hips in time with Barry and the boy on the screen, “the weirdest thing I've ever done.”

At the end of the attraction, Barry came out as the winner. He jumped around and shouted his victory, “In your face!”

Oliver grinned fondly.

The exited the attraction, and immediately, a book was in sight. “Ha!” Oliver teased. “Told you. Belle's quest.”

Barry huffed dramatically but collected the book. “Okay! Well, we've reached way past an hour, so I think we should call this episode done. Wow, there's still so much more to do. We've barely past 16% of the completed story.”

Oliver whistled.

“So, that's it for this one! Thank you so much for being here, Oliver. This was a ton of fun.”

Barry was smiling at him, happy and bright, and Oliver was helpless to smile back. “Thanks for putting up with me again.”

Barry nodded solemnly, “It is a struggle.”

Oliver threw the water bottle on the table at him.

Barry shielded his face. “I'm being attacked!” He calmed though, and finished his outro. “I make new videos e'rry single day, so be on the lookout for something new. As always, I am the Scarlet Speedster, and-”

Oliver leaped in front of him and the camera, “I totally wined and dined his ass.”

“Blasphemy!” Barry cried, making a move to hit Oliver in the head with the game case. Oliver had a strange feeling that that's how the video would end.

-

Oliver got back from Barry's late, after helping him edit one of his videos and staying to help Caitlin and Iris cook dinner.

Oliver stumbled tiredly into his hotel room, ready to konk out and go to sleep.

However, he couldn't quite do that, because Thea was sitting in the middle of his bed.

She crossed her arms and leveled him with a pointed, disapproving look. “Hi Ollie.”

Chapter Text

“Thea,” Oliver blinked in surprise, “What are you doing here?”

“Intervening.” She replied, standing up, arms still crossed. “What you're doing to Barry is so not cool.”

“What are you talking about?” Oliver scoffed, tossing his jacket on the bed.

“I'm talking about you using Barry.” Thea frowned disapprovingly. “When I asked for the autograph, I didn't mean to pretend to have a crush on him! How stupid are you?”

“Shut up, Thea,” Oliver snapped, “You don't know anything.”

“Really? You're straight, Ollie, and you're going around pretending that you two might be a thing? The whole world is talking about it, making conspiracies, and I really don't think you're ready to see it.”

Oliver clenched his fists. “I'm not using him. If he thinks that us hanging out is a date, then that's on him.” Even though- well, Oliver called their first outing a date, so. That one's actually on him.

Thea glared at her brother. “You really don't give a crap, do you? This is going to crush him, you realize that, right?”

Yeah. Oliver was more than aware.

-

Oliver decided that it was time to get the autograph.

He wasn't gay. He didn't like Barry the way he knee Barry liked him. He'd get the autograph, go back to Starling, and never see Barry again. He'd move on; he's a tough guy.

He took Thea with him to visit Barry at the house. He'd say his sister came to visit and Thea could ask for the autograph. Then, he'd say that business here was over and he had to go home, that it was better to leave their thing where it was.

“Oliver!” Barry beamed when he opened the door to the house.

“Hey Barry,” Oliver smiled, trying to ignore the tug in his heart knowing that this would be the last time he saw Barry, “This is my sister, Thea. She came to help out with some Queen Consolidated stuff. Turns out she's a fan of ours and I figured I'd bring her along.”

Thea seemed to glare at her brother, before turning to Barry with a smile. “Nice to meet you, Barry.”

“You too!” Barry greeted, shaking her hand. “Come on inside.”

Barry let them in, and Oliver was immediately thrown into a hug by Caitlin. “Oliver! I didn't expect you to come by today?”

“Barry invited me. I brought my sister. I hope that's okay.”

Iris popped her head around the corner. “Of course it is! Now we can get all the dirt on him.”

Thea snorted, “Oh you have no idea.”

-

It was dusk, and Oliver still hadn't said anything. When it was nearing time for the Queen's to leave, Thea pulled Oliver aside.

“You've put it off for way too long,” she snapped, “You need to tell him right now.”

“Who says I have to tell him?” Oliver asked defensively. “It's not like we're dating. We can still text. What if I just say we had to leave? No one's feelings get hurt.”

Thea crossed her arms. “You mean your feelings won't get hurt. You leaving no matter what is going to crush him. You can't keep lying, Oliver!”

“Keep your voice down!” Oliver hissed. “Look, it's not a big deal. I'm gonna get the autograph for you, what more do you want?”

“I want you to not me a dick, but I won't be getting that anytime soon.” Thea rolled her eyes. “It's not fair to Barry. You're pretending.”

“Why do you care so much? You don't even know him. I'm getting you his autograph and then we can all go home and forget this whole thing ever happened.”

“You're pretending to like him, Oliver! You're straight, and he's not, and you're using him and his feelings to get some dumb autograph that you could have gotten on day one!”

“What?”

Oliver’s blood ran cold. Thea’s eyes widened in surprise, then her face fell with sympathy. Slowly, Oliver turned around to find Barry behind him, eyes wide and filled with hurt.

“Oliver?” He whispered. “Please, please tell me I heard that wrong, that- that I don't have the whole story.”

Oliver’s head raced with excuses, but he could come up with anything that made sense. Instead, he dropped his shoulders in defeat. “Barry, I didn't mean- it wasn't supposed to go this far.”

It was the wrong thing to say, because Barry recoiled as if he'd been punched. “It wasn't supposed to-? So, so why did you let it?”

“I don't know,” Oliver said desperately, “It never seemed like the right time, and I didn't want to seem like a jerk, and-”

“Well look at you now,” Barry snapped, face flushed with embarrassment and anger, “You know what?”

Barry stomped over to the desk drawer and grabbed a pad of paper. He scribbled something onto it, ripped it off, and handed it to Thea. “I'm sorry you had to get it this way.”

Thea frowned at him sadly.

Barry turned back to Oliver, face going from hard and angry to soft and upset in seconds. “You should probably go. I'm sure you're busy with Queen Consolidated stuff.”

Oliver flinched, “Barry…”

“Oliver,” Thea interrupted, “Don't.”

“Please just go.” Barry said quietly, looking to the floor.

Oliver sucked in a breath, ignoring the urge to put a hand on him to comfort him, to take a step back and respect his boundaries.

“Okay,” he whispered, “I- okay.”

He didn't say goodbye; he didn't look behind him, just grabbed his jacket and walked out

Chapter Text

Oliver’s done some stupid things in his life. This, though- this one takes the cake.

Felicity, he found, wasn’t offering gentle advice, either.

“How much of an idiot can you really be, Oliver?” She scolded,  “Not only did you just ruin an awesome relationship with a dude that sounds super freaking cool — let’s not even start on his looks — but you literally did the most hurtful thing you could do to someone all for some dumb autograph.”

“Yeah, well-” Oliver argued, then spun around to face Thea, “- you needed to stay out of my business! If you hadn’t forced me to end things with Barry, none of this would have happened.”

“Okay, maybe I picked the wrong time,” Thea admitted, tossing her hands up in the air, “but I wouldn’t have had to even come down here if you had just asked for the autograph and come home!”

“My question is,” Felicity interrupted, “why did you even drag it out in the first place?”

Oliver's shoulders tensed at the question, and Felicity caught it immediately. “He’d just gotten attacked. I didn’t really think asking for an autograph while he was in the hospital was respectful.”

“What part of any of this was respectful?” Thea scoffed.

Oliver glared at her, but Felicity stopped him from saying anything, “And after?”

Oliver didn’t have an answer for that.

“You know what I think?” Lyla said from the countertop where she’d placed herself to watch Felicity and Oliver in a smackdown, “I think Oliver had a gay panic.”

“Excuse me?”

“Shh.” Felicity and Thea waved their hands in dismissal at him to shut him up, staring at Lyla intently. “Go on.”

“I think, Oliver kind of liked Barry, and was too scared to ask for the autograph because it would make him seem like an attention whore.”

“Which he is.” Thea nodded, “But continue.”

“I’m right here.” Oliver said, deadpan.

“He never said anything to Barry because he didn’t want to admit he was attracted to a guy,” Lyla shrugged, “I think that much is obvious. And that Barry was basically in awe of Oliver, according to The.”

“Oh he’s totally into Oliver.” Thea agreed. “He’s been Tweeting about some ‘mystery guy’ ever since Oliver got to Central.”

She pulled out her phone and opened the Twitter app, but Oliver grabbed it out of her hands, “What? Let me see that.”

He scrolled through Barry’s Twitter feed, each tweet making his heart clench simultaneously in happiness and in guil

@AllenTheBear: omg this really hot guy just basically saved my life

@AllenTheBear: hot guy and I got ice cream!!

@AllenTheBear: Guys this dude is so sweet honestly he’s an angel and I dont know what to do

@AllenTheBear: Pretty sure he’s straight

RETWEET: @AllenTheBear: still hot tho

@AllenTheBear: Hot guy and I went to the park and honestly hes one of the nicest people ever

@AllenTheBear: did I mention he’s loaded? Because he’s LOADED

RETWEET: @AllenTheBear: both with money and with other things ;)

@AllenTheBear: he’s helping me with editing videos!!!

@AllenTheBear: oh

Oliver couldn’t read anymore. He shut the phone off and shoved it at Thea, refusing to meet anyone’s eyes.

“You need to apologize.” Thea said, crossing her arms.

Felicity was enraged, “You didn’t even apologize?”

“He kicked me out!” Oliver defended.

“I would have to. Good for him.” Dig scoffed from the couch.

“I get it, alright?” Oliver snapped, feeling his eyes start to sting, “I’m an asshole and did a horrible thing to Barry. I know.” He stood there, helpless for a moment. Something wet landed on his finger, and when he looked down, he saw a shiny teardrop on his skin. Hurriedly, he wiped his eyes, before fleeing to his bedroom.

He locked it shut behind him and yelled, loud as he could, and threw his lamp into the wall. It shattered on impact and fell to the ground. Oliver dropped to the floor with it.

He spent a good fifteen minutes wallowing on the floor, before he got up and grabbed his phone. He sat on his bed and jammed his earbuds into his ears, plugged them into his phone, and pulled up YouTube.

There was no new videos on Barry’s channel, but one of the most recent ones was of their day at the park. He and Barry were the thumbnail, laughing at one another with beaming smiles. Oliver wipes his eyes forcefully and typed into the search bar, coming out.

The video titled “It’s Time I Told You” was the first selection that came up. He clicked on it and braced for what was to come.

“Helllooooo my speedsters! My name is Barry Allen and I am the Scarlet Speedster,” Barry’s soft, cheery voice said to the camera. Oliver missed hearing it in person, “So today is kind of a different video for you guys, and a different set up location. I’m currently against the wall on my bed talking to a tripod, which is weird .”

Barry’s walls were a pastel red — not pink, red — with fairy lights strung up and pictures taped to the paint. It made a soft glow against Barry’s skin, and the stark white duvet on his bed made the scene aesthetic and soft, giving Barry a gentler look than Oliver had ever seen.

“So I’ve been doing this channel for a bit, and it’s gotten pretty big in the timespan of when I first made my channel to now — which, is mind blowing, so thank you . None of this would be possible without you. Which is why I thought it was time to tell you the truth.”

The quiet background music paused for a moment, long enough for Barry to say, confidently, “I’m gay.”

Oliver’s breath caught.

“Some of you aren’t surprised, which,” there was a sudden zoom in on his face and an echoing effect on the words, “ I feel that. ” Then the frame went back to normal. “But in all honesty, I know a lot of you didn’t know for sure, and a lot of you aren’t okay with it. If you are the latter-”

Another zoom-in, “ Bye .”

The frame returned to its original state. “If you’re still here, then hi, welcome, I love you. I love men, too. Men are great.”

Oliver snorted.

“I know it can be hard to come out, or to even admit that you’re not straight. The world has somehow decided on what’s accepted and what isn’t, even though most of us didn’t have a say in it. It’s not fair, but that’s the world we’re living in, and I think it’s time we change that.

“I got bullied really badly in school because of it — high school especially. So I get it, you know? People suck, but you’ve just gotta live with it and move on. Because honestly? They don’t matter. The only people that matter are the people who will be in your life in seven years, or ten years, or twenty. The people who care about you. Who love you.”

I want to be in your life, Oliver thought, I care about you.

“So I want you all to know that my channel is a safe place. Having a bad day? Come talk to me or the comments. Homophobia or racism or sexism got you down? Me and the comments got your back. Because we’re a family. We’ve created a family that will love you and cherish you and put your needs first. Because everyone needs that, needs something or someone that they can escape to. I am happy to be that escape, whether it’s through my videos or my comments sections or my DMs, I’m here guys.”

He stared at the camera long and earnest, and for a moment, Oliver thought that Barry was talking to him specifically. “I will always be right here.”

Oliver locked the screen and tossed his phone and earbuds to the end of the bed. He drew his knees up to his chest, trembling, feeling a hundred different things at once.

He was so caught up in his anxiety that he didn’t hear the knocks on the door, or the door opening, until someone was sitting next to him and dipping the bed with their weight.

“Oliver…” Felicity whispered, sympathetic, and Oliver broke down, leaning into her and curling himself into her chest. She took him in her arms and held him close, running a hand through his hair and squeezing him tight to her.

Barry was the best thing he’d had in his life since Thea was born, and now he’d lost it forever.

Chapter Text

Millionaires have a lot of things. That includes, but is not limited to, mansions, the newest and most exotic cars, and access to thousands of men and women that would marry him at the drop of a hat.

Oliver, though, is a millionaire who doesn’t want that. He wants Barry.

He gets Dig to park by Barry’s house and wait until Barry is alone inside to call him, because Oliver is a coward. By the time Oliver gets down there, he knows he’s only got a few minutes before everyone else gets back, and he’ll get his ass whooped into the next century.

He feels like he’s got a ticking time bomb strapped to his chest as he knocks on the door and waits for Barry to answer. He’s got a whole speech planned out, notecards burning a hole in his back pocket. He’s running through it in his head when Barry opens the door, and everything Oliver was going to say vanishes the moment he sets eyes on Barry. 

Immediately, Barry slams the door shut, but Oliver’s quick and gets his foot between the door and hands on the wood to take the bulk of the swing. 

“What do you want, Oliver?” Barry asks, voice full of annoyance. Oliver flinches. He doesn’t want to be an annoyance.

“I-” he stutters, because he’s never been more nervous in his life, “I needed to apologize.”

Barry rolls his eyes. “I don’t want your stupid apology, Oliver. Just leave.”

He tries to shut the door, firmer this time, and it crushes Oliver’s foot against the doorjam. He winces, breath caught in a pained grunt, and Barry’s eyes soften just a fraction, and he relieves the pressure of the door. 

“Please,” Oliver says, voice hoarse, “just let me say what I need to say. If you still hate me after, I won’t bother you again. But I can’t leave without at least trying to make things right.”

Barry watches him for a long moment, before opening the door all the way. Oliver exhales in relief, then hurries inside. He’s only got a few minutes. He turns when Barry shuts the door, crossing his arms over his chest and staring at Oliver expectantly.

He tries to remember what he was going to say, what he practiced with Felicity and Thea for days, but nothing’s coming to him. He’s too caught up in Barry’s face, the sweep of his eyelashes, his jawline, his eyes, how they only hold hurt instead of joy. 

“I’m an asshole,” is what he starts with, even though that’s not what they practiced, “You know that; I know that. I didn’t— I didn’t mean to hurt you. But I did. And that wasn’t my intention, you have to know. I wasn’t playing— I know what my reputation is like,” shit, don’t mention that, “but it was never about that. I wasn’t trying — you have to understand—” 

Abort. You’re losing it, Oliver. 

“I’m sorry,” he says, in a much higher voice than he would have liked to admit, and watches Barry’s face gentle a little when he noticed the tears in Oliver’s eyes, “I’m really bad at this.”

“Take your time,” Barry nods at him, and it’s an elephant off his chest, because that means Barry’s going to give him the time to explain. 

Oliver takes a long, shaky inhale through his mouth. “I did a terrible thing to you. And it wasn’t fair to you, after everything you did for me, after everything we went through. Thea — my sister — wanted your autograph. That was the whole reason I came looking for you. And then I saw you getting jumped, and I didn’t know it was you, not until I saw your face afterwards. And after that… it just never seemed like a good time to ask. I didn’t want you to think the only reason I was hanging out with you was because I wanted your autograph.”

“Then why did you,” asks Barry, “because it seemed like that to me.”

Oliver worries at his bottom lip, trying to find the words. “My friend, Lyla, thinks I had a gay panic,” he admits, “and I think — I think she was right. But it wasn’t that getting your autograph would solidify the fact that I was attracted to you. I knew the moment I set eyes on you that I was attracted to you. I just kept thinking that, the moment I have your autograph, I had no reason to be here, with you, other than the fact that I was really fucking into you. Am fucking into you. And that was terrifying for me.”

Barry drops his arms and slowly makes his way over. “Oliver…”

“And what’s worse is that I knew. I knew that you were going to get hurt. I knew that I was attracted to men — to you. And I still did it anyway, because I thought that maybe I could get away from it. But I couldn’t, because damnit, Barry, you’re the best thing that has ever happened to me, and I was scared because of it. And I hurt you, and I’m sorry, okay? I’m so fucking—”

Barry clamps a hand over his mouth, but the tears don’t stop coming, falling onto Barry’s fingers and dripping down his hand. “You should have talked to me,” he tells Oliver, and Oliver nods his head furiously, because he knows. But he’s never been good with communication, anyway. “We could have talked about it, taken it slow. I know how homophobic your parents were, and your rich friends. I’ve read the articles; I’ve seen the videos. That’s why I was so surprised when whatever was going on between us kept going. It didn’t just hurt that you used me for an autograph. It hurt because I was worried that you might think like them, and then I told myself that you were different, that you did like me, only to find out that you used me. That’s what hurt the most.”

Oliver sobs out Barry’s name, muffled by the hand over his mouth, but he thinks Barry gets the gist. “You are an asshole,” Barry says, then takes his hand away, “but you’re my asshole, and if I have to cuss out a bunch of your posh friends because they make you feel like you’re invalid just because you like me, I will. But you’re going to have to be able to tell them off, too, because I can defend us until the day I die, but I need to know that I mean enough to you that you’ll do the same for me.”

The “Yes,” gets ripped from his throat hard enough that Oliver thinks his voice might have permanent damage. But then Barry smiles and sweeps Oliver into a hug, and Oliver can worry about his voice later, because now he’s crying into Barry’s hair, holding him tight and close because he’s not ever letting Barry get away from him again.

Barry kisses him, gentle, and Oliver shakes so badly he’s worried he might be having a seizure. Despite him trying to make it rushed and passionate, Barry puts his hands on Oliver’s face and leads, slow and easy, displaying everything that Oliver needs to know, the silent I love you lingering between their lips when they pull away. Oliver pulls Barry back in for a hug, tucks his face the side of his face and breathes, smelling Barry’s deodorant and the apple-scented shampoo that makes his hair so soft.

“Whatever it takes,” he promises, and feels Barry smile against his cheek.