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[ It hurts a little, the surprise — like her Roy doesn't share the same deep relationship he has with his Dinah. You can't expect everything to be the same everywhere, but it's so difficult to imagine himself without her good influence. She's his rock in this world. ]
Hey, that's all right. We've all got our baggage. Besides, this would be a little hard to explain to Ollie.
[Her shoulders lose some of their tension and she nods in agreement with him, relieved that it doesn't sound like he'll try to convince her to do exactly that.]
I woke up in Star and I was going to tell him, but I couldn't do it. We aren't doing great right now in my world. [She admits, sheepish at the idea of dragging her problems with alternate universe Ollie into this one.]
Dinah knows. I figured if anyone deserved to know, she did. [And it's very strange to talk about the other version of herself like this.]
After I ended up here in Gotham, I ran into some people who offered to help me find my way home and I've been staying here since.
Yeah, sounds like him all right. I'm assuming you mean our nocturnal friends. They're all right. Not how we do things in Star City, but they can be trusted.
Those are the ones. They aren't around where I'm from and they're growing on me. They've been a real help. [And she glances around carefully before returning her eyes to Roy.] Especially Tim. He's the first one I ran into. He reminded me of you when I first met him. [Only in age, but it's part of what had made her give him more of a chance.]
[Laurel laughs loudly and shakes her head in fond exasperation. When she'd first met the Roy of her world, he'd been quiet and uncomfortable in his skin. It wasn't until he'd grown comfortable with himself that she'd begun to realize that he was actually hilarious when he wanted to be.
This Roy is definitely comfortable with himself.]
Is that so? [It feels so good to sit here with him and laugh and before she can help herself, she's raising a hand to lay the tips of her fingers at his cheek for just a second before she drops them back to the table.]
[ No retreat: Dinah hugs and touches him all the time, but Roy's careful not to extend that without invitation. Her laughter hangs in the air, and then Roy turns pensive. ]
[Laurel hesitates for a minute, wondering at the ethics of sharing about her own world with him and eventually decides it can't hurt.]
You-he doesn't live in Star anymore. [Pause.] But even before that, we didn't spend as much time together as I wished we could have. He was always busy with Oliver and...well, it took both of them a really long time to allow me to be part of the team. We were just starting to really get to know each other before he had to go.
[It's the look on his face more than anything else that warns her that she's stepped into unknown territory. Something in her story hadn't settled well with him and without a basic understanding of the differing relationship this Roy has with his Dinah, it's impossible to know what she's missed.]
It wasn't his fault he had to leave. [And there's something hard to her voice this time because she's still not okay with Oliver allowing Roy to do it for him, but when had her opinion ever mattered to any of them?] He outed himself to keep Oliver's secret from coming out and then faked his death to start over. [The disapproval is heavy in her voice, thick with unresolved tension.]
[ After a moment he has the good sense to look a little abashed. ]
Uh, not to open up my suitcase of issues — Ollie and I were never that close.
[ Oh he'd do it in a heartbeat, something thoroughly stupid and self-sacrificial. It's not in Roy's nature to do otherwise, but bleeding for Ollie costs. It costs. ]
[That's somehow both surprising and not. The only person Oliver let in these days was Diggle and the rest of them were left in the dark.]
My-[No. It doesn't feel right to say 'My Oliver.'] The Oliver I know was Roy's mentor. I won't say they were close in a conventional way, but Roy looked up to him.
Me and Roy didn't have much time, but don't misunderstand. I care about him just like family. If I could have given myself up to keep him safe, I would have.
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Hey, that's all right. We've all got our baggage. Besides, this would be a little hard to explain to Ollie.
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I woke up in Star and I was going to tell him, but I couldn't do it. We aren't doing great right now in my world. [She admits, sheepish at the idea of dragging her problems with alternate universe Ollie into this one.]
Dinah knows. I figured if anyone deserved to know, she did. [And it's very strange to talk about the other version of herself like this.]
After I ended up here in Gotham, I ran into some people who offered to help me find my way home and I've been staying here since.
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Yeah, sounds like him all right. I'm assuming you mean our nocturnal friends. They're all right. Not how we do things in Star City, but they can be trusted.
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Yours too, huh? [And then her smile softens.]
Those are the ones. They aren't around where I'm from and they're growing on me. They've been a real help. [And she glances around carefully before returning her eyes to Roy.] Especially Tim. He's the first one I ran into. He reminded me of you when I first met him. [Only in age, but it's part of what had made her give him more of a chance.]
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Please. I dress way better.
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This Roy is definitely comfortable with himself.]
Is that so? [It feels so good to sit here with him and laugh and before she can help herself, she's raising a hand to lay the tips of her fingers at his cheek for just a second before she drops them back to the table.]
I've missed you.
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Do we not... talk?
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You-he doesn't live in Star anymore. [Pause.] But even before that, we didn't spend as much time together as I wished we could have. He was always busy with Oliver and...well, it took both of them a really long time to allow me to be part of the team. We were just starting to really get to know each other before he had to go.
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You're joking, right?
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It wasn't his fault he had to leave. [And there's something hard to her voice this time because she's still not okay with Oliver allowing Roy to do it for him, but when had her opinion ever mattered to any of them?] He outed himself to keep Oliver's secret from coming out and then faked his death to start over. [The disapproval is heavy in her voice, thick with unresolved tension.]
He can't come back to Star now.
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[ After a moment he has the good sense to look a little abashed. ]
Uh, not to open up my suitcase of issues — Ollie and I were never that close.
[ Oh he'd do it in a heartbeat, something thoroughly stupid and self-sacrificial. It's not in Roy's nature to do otherwise, but bleeding for Ollie costs. It costs. ]
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My-[No. It doesn't feel right to say 'My Oliver.'] The Oliver I know was Roy's mentor. I won't say they were close in a conventional way, but Roy looked up to him.
Me and Roy didn't have much time, but don't misunderstand. I care about him just like family. If I could have given myself up to keep him safe, I would have.