The Arrow & The Huntsman [The 1st Installment of DC HEROES: CHAMPIONS OF EARTH]

[5] Family Dinner Mishaps

Oliver waited in the hallway for Tommy to arrive as he glanced over the photographs of his family sitting on the table in the foyer. Currently, he was studying the picture of him and his brother at Dearden's college graduation. They were both smiling as Oliver hugged him, while Dearden held up his bachelor's degree and MBA proudly.

"Yeah, I remember that day, too," Dearden suddenly called out next to me him. "Life was so much easier then." Oliver smiled without looking at him saying, "I remember how proud Mom and Dad were that day." He set the picture down and finally turned to his brother. "I remember being so jealous of you growing up."

Dean's brow furrowed in confusion. "Why?" he asked. "Because everyone thought that you were the perfect son and paid so much attention to you," Oliver answered with a sigh. "I think that's the reason why I acted out so much when I was younger. I figured that we already had a notorious genius in the family, we might as well have a notorious douchebag, too."

At hearing his brother's words, a pang of sadness tugged at his heart. He didn't know what to say to that. What does one even say to that?

"Ollie, I..."

Out of nowhere, the door to the mansion opened, cutting Dearden off in the process. They both sighed, knowing that the moment was over, and whirled around to see who had just interrupted their conversation. It was Tommy.

'Great!' Dearden thought.

"What did I tell you guys?" the Merlyn heir smirked. "Yachts suck." Oliver grinned happily, while Dearden had to struggle not to roll his eyes. "Good to see you, Thomas," Dearden snarked, then he looked back at his brother with a subtle look of annoyance. "I'll let you two catch up." He gave Merlyn a final nod, before rushing out of the foyer and into the dining room.

"Nice to know that five years on an island hasn't changed your brother's hatred of me," Tommy japed. "Oh, come on, he doesn't hate you," Oliver argued. Tommy gave his friend his are-you-kidding-me face and replied with, "Yeah, and the Grinch isn't the one who tried to steal Christmas." Without even meaning to, Oliver let out a hearty chuckle that dissipated the tension in the atmosphere.

"Well, to be fair, you did dare me to pee on that police car and got me arrested twice," Oliver snickered. "OK, first of all, you didn't have to listen to me. Secondly, name the second time I got you arrested," Tommy quipped. "Ah, I missed this," Oliver sighed. "It's good to see you again." Tommy beamed at his comrade. "Yeah, you, too."

___________________________

A little later after dinner had been served everyone, at the table was catching Oliver and Dearden up on the current events of the world. "OK, what else did you miss," Tommy began. "Super Bowl winners, Giants, Steelers, Saints, Packers, Giants again. A black president, that's new." "It's about damn time," Dearden declared, taking a swig of whiskey from his glass. "What else?" "Uh, oh, and that show "Lost," they were all dead, I think," Tommy concluded.

"What was it like there?"

Dearden dropped his silverware onto his plate abruptly and Oliver looked at his brother in concern, as dead silence engulfed the room. They both knew that eventually, someone was going to ask them about their time on Lian Yu, but they never expected it would be this soon after they got back home. "It, uh, it was... Rough, I guess," Dearden stammered. "Cold." He quickly downed the rest of his whiskey and avoided his family's gaze of concern. Especially, Thea's seeing as how doubt was still clearly visible in her expression.

Thankfully, Tommy chimed back in and the conversation picked up again. The boys talked about going into the city to check out some of the newest niches that popped up in the five years that they were away. However, despite the change of topic, Dearden still couldn't shake his sister's words. Oliver caught on to his brother's lack of energy and quickly agreed to go into the city with Tommy, before turning to his brother and speaking to him in Russian.

"Are you okay, brother?"

"Yeah, I just didn't expect them to ask about the island so soon."

"Do you want to leave?"

"No, I'll be fine."

Oliver knew he wasn't being honest, but didn't have time to press the matter before everyone at the table realized that the two men just had a fluent full-length conversation in Russian. "Dude, you speak Russian?" Tommy blurted out. "I didn't know you both took Russian in college," Walter added.

"Raisa taught me how to speak, read, and write the language when I was young, and I taught Oliver how to speak it on the island," Dearden cut in. "But anyway, I was hoping that Ollie and I could swing by the office after our little excursion." "Well, there's plenty of time for all that," Walter chuckled lightly. "Queen Consolidated isn't going anywhere, you know." Oliver leered at the CEO and his mother and pulled his lips together tightly. "Actually, what I didn't know is that you wanted to sleep with my mother, Walter," he sassed coolly.

Moira and Walter stopped short, as they looked between each other. Tommy shifted uncomfortably in his seat. And Thea sat back in her chair claiming she didn't say anything. "She didn't have to," Oliver stated.

Dearden propped his arms upon the table and placed his hands under his chin, sending his brother a scolding look. "Ahem, what my idiotic brother meant was... We just noticed that you and Walter seem closer," he said, clearing his throat. Honestly, Dearden thought his brother had no sense of tact when it came to these kinds of things. "It's all right, Dearden. We know what he meant," Moira exhaled. Looking to her youngest son, she proceeded to explain the events which led Moira to marry Walter. "We both believed that Robert, as the two of you, were, uh, gone," Walter chimed in.

"No, you don't need to explain," Dearden sighed. "I, um, I have a lot of unpacking to do upstairs, I'm just gonna..." Then, he rose from his seat and scurried off to his room. Oliver took one last look at his family and friends before he, too, got up from the table and followed after his brother.