ALIAS • boyxboy | Arrow

3

STAR CITY PIER
Jace Jones

Oliver and I sit together on the bench as we stare out into the bay between Star City and the next door city, Seattle. The moon is bright, and it gives us the right light to see everything perfectly. We both stare at the skyline of Seattle as it doesn't compare anything to Star City's. We both eat our slices of pizza together and we sit in silence as the weather gets chilly.

"So where'd you grow up?" Oliver asks me, starting a conversation as I chew on my slice of pizza.

"Uh- North of Star City. In the more suburban area." I respond and Oliver looks at me paying close attention. "You were always quite the talk growing up. Everyone wanted to be you." I tell him as it's true, his entire life was put on magazines as if they were the Kardashians. 

"Why's that?" Oliver laughs at me and I get nervous saying it to him. 

"Because you had the perfect life. The perfect family." I tell him truthfully and he shuts down becoming serious. 

"No one's family is perfect." Oliver responds and he's right. "The older you get, the illusion of it fades away. One day your father is your hero, and the next he's the public enemy you never knew about." Oliver opens about his father's corruption in Queen's industry and I begin to feel empathy for him. 

"Nothing is ever what it seems anymore." I tell him as it's my truth, hinting at what I am. I have a curse, maybe a gift depending how you look at it. 

"What about your family? Are they still up north?" Oliver asks not knowing the truth and I shut down, becoming distant.

"They died 10 years ago." I finish the conversation there not wanting to continue on with it. As I think about it, I remember the exact moment of the collision of my car meeting the opposing car. I remember our car flying and twirling in the air upside down, and then slamming down on the road. 

"I'm sorry." Oliver apologizes and I laugh it off not wanting to continue with it. I don't want anyone to be sorry for me. 

"No it's fine, don't worry." I smile at him and he smiles back. "It's getting cold." I change the topic as I look around seeing nobody around at 1 AM in the morning. 

"Come here." Oliver moves closer to me until our bodies touch, and he wraps his arm around me as he's warm. I snuggle on him and he sighs in comfort holding on to me tight. Oliver looks up into the sky seeing the bright stars and I look up with him as well starring up with him. "Wow." Oliver says impressed as he observes each and every star as if he knew all their names and shapes. "On the island, the stars kept me company at night. I looked up at every one of them, trying to figure out which was one which but I just gave them their own names." Oliver makes the joke and we chuckle together. "I didn't do so good in school." Oliver looks back down at me and stares at me as we continue to chuckle. 

"What?" I ask him confused not sure if there's something on my face. I feel his phone vibrate with a ringtone and he quickly pulls it out of his pocket. I distance myself a little bit from Oliver giving him space and privacy as he checks his phone. 

"I have to go." Oliver says rushing his sentence as he comes across panicked to me. Oliver gets up from the bench and I do too as he doesn't know what to do. "I'm sorry." Oliver quickly holds my hand and gets awkward and then plants a quick kiss on my cheek, running off.

I watch him run off and I get confused as it must be important wherever he's heading to. I don't give him much attention and decide that it's time to go home for myself. I begin walking towards the subway station, a couple blocks up from where I was. 

Before I enter the subway I hear screaming from a nearby building and walk towards it. As I walk towards the window I hear gunshots and what sounds like an arrow shooting at someone. I hear men grunting and shouting and then suddenly a man flies out the window with an arrow in front of me. I quickly back away hiding from the scene and then I hear the building window shatter and look up seeing the iconic Green Arrow jumping out.