This short fic is for aqua-ref. I hope you like it! Happy Holidays!
Soulmate AU, Rating G, No Warnings
Ollie Queen met Laurel Lance after a thunderstorm. That’s why he was so sure she was the One- his soulmate mark was a golden lightning bolt over his heart. He and Tommy Merlyn snuck out of Tommy’s house to play in the mud, and there she was, pink raincoat and matching boots and her baby sister in tow. They splashed in puddles until Laurel ran off, only to come back with a frog that almost wouldn’t fit in her little hands. Ollie was smitten. Once the frog hopped off, Ollie picked a flower for Laurel. She beamed as she accepted it and then showed him a small flower soulmate mark behind her right ear. They were inseparable after that.
After he came back from the island, Oliver had given up on the idea of soulmates. Laurel had been much better off without him there to drag her down. She was a lawyer, working her hardest to help people. If she had been too good for him when they were stupid kids, he wasn’t fit to breathe the same air as her now. With the things he’d done over his five years of hell, maybe he didn’t even deserve anyone by his side. His lightning bolt was now covered up by one of his tattoos and he had long stopped thinking about soulmates and marks. It made it that much easier for him to focus on his mission of making the corrupt upper class of Starling City pay for their crimes.
It took a little time, but he let some of his walls down. Working with John and Felicity made him feel almost normal again. He half fell in love with each of them at one point or another. It was never like what he’d felt for Laurel, though, that day when the rain had just cleared and her pink rain boots wandered into his life.
Oliver Queen met Barry Allen on a rainy day in a dark Queen Consolidated warehouse. It shouldn’t have been anything special. But, the instant that Oliver saw him, he felt a strange warmness in his chest. It wasn’t like the movies. There were no fireworks, colors didn’t suddenly become more vivid, and Barry didn’t jump into his arms. Oliver felt like a part of him he never knew was empty had filled up and started spilling over. This was much different than Laurel.
So, as Barry babbled on about traffic and Central City, Oliver was rethinking everything he knew about soulmates and everything he thought about himself. Maybe he had changed enough that he deserved a second chance. His hopes were dampened, though, when he saw the way Barry and Felicity looked at each other.
Oliver once again had bigger problems to handle. Trying to stop the few Mirakuru soldiers roaming the city had already almost left him dead. To make matters even worse, Oliver’s most recent brush with death meant that Barry now knew he was the Vigilante. He hadn’t even had a chance to talk to Barry alone and ask him if he’d felt their connection, too.
When Oliver returned to the foundry after rescuing Roy, Barry was gone. Felicity had a big grin on her face and it just soured Oliver’s mood even more until she presented him with a box. From Barry. There was a mask inside, lightweight and perfectly molded to his face. Oliver’s heart sped up and he was embarrassed at himself for acting that way when Barry had spent his entire time in Starling making eyes at Felicity. At the bottom of the box, however, he found a note written in Barry’s almost illegible penmanship. Oliver was invited to spend New Year with Barry so he could meet his family, since Barry hadn’t had a chance to invite him for the particle accelerator launching.
