Archive of Our Own ^beta

When Linda steps out of her Uber, the first thing she sees is a woman waiting on top of the steps. She’s wearing a red pantsuit that looks both professional and sinful, her hair hanging in loose braids. She looks amazing, put together, and hot . Linda wouldn’t have expected anything else from her best friend.

Iris‘ eyes light up when she sees her. “Linda!” She yells as she starts making her way down the steps.

Naturally, she can’t hide her own grin. Still, out of principle, she calls up to her, “Were you waiting for me or for a certain dark-haired billionaire?” She only waits a second, just for dramatic effect – and, for the record, it does make Iris stop for a moment – before she waves her off. “Just kidding. I know Brucie’s already here. And I also know he’s off limits tonight because he’s got both his kids with him.”

She loves how casual it sounds nowadays. Like, s ure , Bruce Wayne has adopted two kids. Which he can, because he’s literally one of the world’s richest people, so there’s no issue with him being chronically single and living a jetset life. Sometimes she thinks of all the people who desperately try to adopt a child and aren’t allowed to for one reason or another. But Bruce is great with his sons – the second one isn’t officially adopted yet, but that’s only a matter of time. She’s pretty sure nobody thought that would ever happen when they heard Bruce found a 12-year-old stealing his tires a year ago. (Though, come to think of it, of course it would end like this.)

“Damn,” Iris makes, shaking her head in amazement. “You’re literally at the other end of the country and still in the loop, huh?”

She laughs when they meet in the middle of the steps, throwing their arms around one another in greeting. Iris had visited in the summer, and of course they’ve been texting constantly – even if not as often as just a few years ago when they’d all had less to do in their lives – but still. Linda missed her. National City is great and all, but it doesn’t have her best friend.

“Well, I had a little help,” Linda admits when they part. “Ollie texted me.”

“That Bruce is off limits?” Iris asks, her eyes big. She has a point, of course. Oliver would rather be caught dead than pay any attention to whether Iris and Eddie finally get the threesome of their dreams – he’s got a queasy relationship with how they’re after his childhood friend.

“That he’s here,” Linda corrects. “I guessed he’s got the boys with him because there were two shadows visible in that selfie he posted earlier.” The flight here was a long one and she was bored, okay? What else was she supposed to do than check up on everyone else who’d be here tonight?

Iris laughs. “And Ollie–“

“Livetexted the whole event to me,” Linda closes with a nod. It’s a habit he hasn’t laid to rest after all this time. Just like when Linda was working for him, Oliver still runs his speeches and event planning by her. She isn’t paid any more, but she still likes to do it. It’s adorable to watch Oliver Queen freak out, after all. 

“It’s so cute that he still does that,” Iris remarks, like she can read her mind.

“Yeah, if Queen Consolidated ever gives out some Humanitarian Award or whatever, one better be mine. I do all that without payment,” Linda points out. It’s another way of staying in the loop, even if Oliver’s not much around the others ever since QC opened another subsidiary in Central, which Moira put him in charge of. Linda had also had a conference call with Iris and Bar where they had a whole conspiracy theory going on about maybe that had been Moira’s ploy the whole time. She must have had a reason for allowing him to go to college in Central, after all. Moira doesn’t seem like a person to ever do something without a big motive.

“Let’s see if he still keeps asking you for help when–“ Iris starts but gets cut off when the door behind her opens.

They turn around at once. Someone’s making their way through the door without much preamble, just stalking outside as if they had a goal. Someone big and broad and–

Linda doesn’t wait one more second, but runs up the stairs immediately, leaving her bags behind. “Mick!” She yells and throws herself at him.

Mick, of course, catches her immediately. With one arm. “Damn,” he says, “I was just looking for the Bicon.”

“And you found someone way better!” Linda cheers. Maybe she’s still a little mad at Ronnie and Caitlin for having a random shotgun wedding. Without telling any of them until weeks after that fact.

Mick chuckles and lets go of her when she presses a kiss to his forehead. She’s a little sad that her lipstick doesn’t leave a mark. In her opinion, Mick could do with a little color – and the purple would fit to his bright brown jacket. 

“What’d you want from xem?” Iris asks, sounding like she already knows the reason. 

Mick just gives her a blank stare. Yeah, it’s not so hard to guess he’d want some weed. “Also fleeing from ya boyfriend,” he adds.

At that, Iris can’t help but smirk. “Your own fault. He hasn’t seen you since you two hooked up.”

Linda can’t hide her own snicker at that. Yeah, his little goodbye present to Eddie before moving to Keystone wasn’t really thought through. You’d think he’d know better than to assume that sleeping with Eddie would make him let go of an obsession – they all know the guy can’t get enough.

For a second, a sour look passes Mick’s face, but Linda can tell it’s more a joke than anything else.  “Thought it’d stop him from followin’ me to Key,” he says with a shrug.

“You did open a gym there,” Linda says thoughtfully. She definitely has to go there while she’s here. Mick had taken over that gym almost half a year ago and she hasn’t visited once. At least it has an online presence, thanks to Sara. “That’s way too many factors to lure the guy.”

Mick tilts his head a little, as if to agree.

Iris blows a raspberry. “I have him on a tight leash,” she says, even though all of them know it’s not actually tight at all. Linda remembers the few times they tried to go monogamous and the exhausting fights it’s led to. She’s always been at the receiving ends of some teary phone calls from Iris. And sometimes Eddie, too.

“Okay now, time to say hello to the others,” Linda says. She needs to see her people, not just talk about them.  “Cat only gave me so many days off and I have them planned through.” To Iris she adds, “I’m just glad your dad and Singh agreed to a joint lunch with me, that saves some time.” Okay, it’s not like they fought about her – actually, she kinda had to force Singh to agree at all, but she’d rather pretend he has missed her, too. He probably has but is too proud to admit it, she’s sure. 

“I’m more surprised Cat gave you time off at all,” Iris answers, sounding impressed. Linda, despite herself, can’t help but duck her head a little. It’s still incredible to her; not just that Lois Lane recommended her to Cat Grant , and that Cat jumped at it, but that somehow she keeps impressing her. Linda Park is actually one of Cat Grant’s faves. She is Linda Park and can’t fucking believe it.

And on top of it, she’s living with her girlfriend in what’s basically lesbian paradise. (Really. They’ve joked about how there’s a lack of queer women in Central – well, the reason, apparently, is that they’re all in National City, somehow.)

“She thinks I’ll bring her tea on Ollie or Bruce,” Linda fake-whispers as an answer.

“Which you won’t,” Mick states.

“Which I won’t,” Linda nods. She doesn’t sell her friends’ secrets, especially not on such a big day. “But I can collect it for myself , so let’s get going!” She hooks her arms under Mick’s and Iris’ and pulls them inside, ignoring the grumble Mick lets out because, let's face it, if he truly didn’t want to tag along, she wouldn’t be able to move him. 

She’d actually meant to ask him about how the gym is going – not that she doesn’t regularly demand updates. After all, she’d been the first person he told about his plans. If they can even be called his plans since the old owner basically put them into his head. Apparently, Mick had shown up there very often as a troubled teen, back when he still lived in Keystone, and the man had a Good Samaritan side to himself. Mick had never talked about him before, but Linda could tell he’s actually been somewhat sad when the man told him he had cancer when Mick had visited last year. And then he’d been touched when the man had kept talking about how Mick would probably do a good job if he took over. Safe to say, those words hadn’t left his brain for quite a while.

But as soon as they enter the Quiver’s hallway, Linda gets tackled. Which probably looks pretty odd, because she’s still holding onto her companions while Sara all but jumps at her. Not that she could even tell how many people witness this sight – she literally got tackled as soon as she stepped in , no time to access her environment.

She’s gotta say, that’s the kind of greeting she deserves.

“Sara,” Iris chides in an amused tone, “let her breathe.”

“No!” Sara announces while squeezing. Which would be sweet if her arms weren’t wrapped around Linda’s neck . “Never!”

Linda doesn’t even have to say – or rather try to say anything – to make Mick step in. She feels him take his arm out of hers and in the next moment she’s freed of all hot blonde martial artists. (She knows two of those so it’s its very own category, okay?)

Sara just grins at her while Mick holds down her arms. “You guys are mean,” she announces with a faked scoff.

Iris laughs. “Hey, knowing you, this could very well have been a murderous attack.”

“Excuse me? I would never –”

“You did punch Bar in the face that one time,” Linda points out. She’s not quite sure how much that counts, actually, when Bar willingly let her throw punches at their face so that they could show that they most definitely would not flinch. Let’s say, eventually it would have been better if they had flinched as time moved on, because Sara did lose focus after a few minutes. She shoves that memory away and counters Sara’s grin. “Hi, girl!”

“See? Linda is the only one who loves me,” Sara says, looking up at Mick as she shakes off his hands.

“Your girlfriend is literally here,” Iris reminds her.

“Yes, I know that, obviously,” Sara rolls her eyes. “Anyway, I figured as the lady of the Quiver I need to greet people properly.”

“First time you did that,” Mick points out at the same time Linda repeats, “Lady of the Quiver?”

Sara makes the smart choice and ignores Mick in favor of replying to Linda. “Uh-huh,” she nods. "Obviously. I’m the oldest person living here, so naturally I am the ruler.”

Which makes sense in its own odd way, even though officially Oliver still lives here. He mostly spends his time at Felicity’s though, especially nowadays, and Dig has moved out, like, three years ago. He’s living with Lyla now and, as far as Linda knows, they’re thinking about adopting the kid of a friend of theirs who’s died a few months ago. Laurel and Tommy have gotten their own apartment pretty early, but one of them always came back to the Quiver when they thought and/or broke up for a while. That hasn’t happened in quite a while, though.

So yeah, Sara and Lisa are all who are left of the old Quiver Crew – and Sara being the older, that is true.

That doesn’t mean it’s boring for them, though. Because even though Oliver all but moved out, he opens his house for those in need. There’s those two siblings – the older  one of them barely out of High School – who escaped from their abusive criminal father (and really, if Oliver hadn’t already agreed to let them live in the Quiver, the Snarts probably would have killed him). Linda hasn’t met them yet, but Harper looks incredibly cool with her purple hair and her little brother Cullen is just adorable. And then there’s Artemis whom Oliver stumbled over during archery practice – literally, apparently, which earned him a kick in the balls. Let’s just say that whenever Thea, Roy and Sin are visiting the house – because Moira insisted her daughter have at least her own apartment –, there’s not a quiet moment; they get on with the new kids like fire.

Not that there’s much of those anyway, especially since–

“How bummed out is Cayden that he’s not allowed to crash the party?” Iris wants to know from Sara.

“Dunno,” Sara shrugs. “I always have his chat silenced.”

Linda snorts at that, understanding all too well. Back when they didn’t know him beyond the fact that he’s the son of the Porter of Mick and Snart’s old flat (who had the hots for them) they all thought he was funny. After he started college and joined the Queer Club, they learnt that they didn’t know half of it. 

Not that he’s any bad, he’s just… a lot. As they all have been – and probably still are. But it feels different when it’s someone who’s basically a child to you. Anyway, Cayden runs the club nowadays – including parties at the Quiver. Thea is very serious about not having minors at Verdant ever since she took over Oliver’s position there.

“Good choice,” Mick agrees. Then he huffs, announcing, “I’m gonna grab a drink.”

“I’ll go with you,” Iris decides. To Linda, she adds, “I’ll find you later, yeah?”

“I don’t plan on leaving,” Linda counters. They are invited to sleep over, after all. And she still has so many people to talk to, she doubts she’d be able to leave any time soon anyways, if she wanted to.

“I was actually supposed to bring Ava some food,” Sara admits, scrunching up her face. “So I better do that.”

“Uh-huh,” Linda nods. It’s actually cute how doting she can be – while at the same time acknowledging how truly awesome and fierce her girlfriend is. “I’ll go find someone else to drag into a convo,” she tells them before they part their ways.

Now she’s finally able to take in the scene before her. Not that there’s much happening, considering she’s still in the hallway, but there’s a lot of voices making their way towards her. Which fits, judging by how loaden the coat check is, overflowing with everyone’s winter jackets. She manages to find a spot for hers, too, though. Even though it’s early November, it’s still fairly warm outside, so she doubts she’d need it even if she were to step into the garden. It’s actually quite sad – even if Central City rarely ever sees any snow, she remembers getting all cozy for Thanksgiving not that many years ago.

She decides to head upstairs first – because she knows that once she’s set foot into the living room, she won’t be leaving it so soon. There’s only a few people who move so freely around the Quiver that they’d be up there and those are the ones she’s closest to, so it checks out.

Already on the stairs, she runs into someone she really wanted to see here. Truth be told, she wasn’t even sure if Zari would show up – it’s not like she’s really friends with Oliver . But she gets along perfectly with so many of their extended friend group, and she’s been a member of the club back when they went to college, it only makes sense that she’d be here at least for a little while.

Still, Linda can’t hide her surprise – and delight – at seeing her. “Zari!” She all but yells, stopping in her tracks.

As does Zari. She looks positively unimpressed. “Hi,” she says curtly. “Bye.”

“Hey, that’s–”

“Still not interested in an interview, Linda!” Zari singsongs, which might be valid, actually. Maybe Linda had been a little headstrong when Zari was plunged into TikTok Fame after Wally started uploading recordings of their gaming sessions. Linda didn’t even know people still watched LetsPlays.

“Maybe I didn’t want one?” Linda tries, hopefully. She really likes Zari as a person – and she’s in awe of how she’s managed to stay true to herself despite the glow-up her rise to fame has brought.

Zari bites her lip before conceding with a sigh.

“So, how are you?” Linda wants to know. “And, just so you know, everything I hear tonight is off the record.”

That makes Zari chuckle, at least. “That’s good,” she declares before answering Linda’s question. “I’m fine. Wouldn’t be here if Ava didn’t drag me here.”

That makes sense, Linda supposes.

Before she can say anything about that, Zari adds, “She thinks I’m being lonely.” Of course, she rolls her eyes.

“She’s looking out for you, that’s sweet.” She can imagine why Ava comes to that conclusion – with her brother and girlfriend being gone on tour with their band (which also includes Constantine, and Gary as the manager) and Wally, who’s one of her closest friends, being in Tibet on a journey to “find himself”, as he says – he’s taken Jesse’s moving to Blüdhaven and the subsequent break-up of him, her and Jax not lightly –, it does seem like most of Zari’s support system is gone.

“It’s annoying,” Zari says stoically. There’s a small smile tugging on her lips, too, though, so it can’t be too bad.

“How long until The Smell wrap up their tour again?” Linda asks. She has to admit, if there’s one thing she’s not caught up on, it’s– well, whatever the genre of Charlie’s band is nowadays. She thinks it started out as punk, which definitely is what made Constantine join, but since Behrad took his place as lead guitarist, they got much more chill songs, too.

They certainly got a fanbase going – something that only got bigger when Zari became famous in her own right. They’re living in a true symbiosis. 

“Two more weeks, then it’s Christmas break ,” Zari says, making airquotes.

Linda laughs at that. As far as she knows, none of the members of The Smell even are Christians. Behrad, of course, is Muslim, Constantine is, like, a really weird mixture of Wiccan and Pagan, Gary is of the firm belief that Ancient Aliens is a documentary that only proves what’s true, and Charlie is obsessed with Greek Mythology. But who knows, maybe their fanbase consists of hardcore Christians (and wouldn’t that be funny?).

She puts a hand on Zari’s shoulder. “Well, that doesn’t sound too bad.”

“You’d know,” Zari agrees. She’s right, Linda is a pro at long distance. Or, at least, she was. Now that she’s living with Patty, she doesn’t know how she even managed a month apart. As if she’s sensing that, Zari starts to grin. “So, how’s things in lesbian paradise?”

So the nickname’s caught on, then. Good. Linda throws back her head. “Ugh!” She says. “So good .”

That makes Zari giggle. “I need to visit some time,” she says slowly.

“Oh, you absolutely should!” Linda agrees right away. Then, after a second, she add, “But you’d have to hide from Cat, of course.”

Zari blows a raspberry. “Please, if I ever give an interview like that, you’d be my go-to reporter.”

Linda covers her chest with her hand. “Aw, that’s so sweet!”

“That doesn’t mean I am going to give you one,” Zari clarifies with an icy stare.

“You know, I’ll just drop it,” Linda decides, nice as she is. “I am on vacation .”

“Good choice,” Zari says, not without a threat in her voice. “You’re staying for a while, right?”

“A week. There is Hartley’s party to attend,” Linda informs her. She has no idea if Zari is actually invited, given that they barely know each other, But considering that Cisco is throwing it, who joins her for game night sometimes, it’s possible.

“Right,” is all Zari says, clearly not knowing how to continue the conversation. Which is fine, they aren’t close and from what Linda’s heard, smalltalk isn’t her thing. 

So she decides to put her out of her misery. “Speaking of, you don’t happen to know where he is?” Linda asks. “Or Cisco, for that matter.”

The way Zari scrunches up her face in response tells her everything. “They’re upstairs,” she says, gesturing into the direction. “I don’t know if you want to go in there, though. They’ve been all flirty.”

“Oh, I’ve seen them in plenty of bad situations,” Linda assures her, not even exaggerating. There’s been many times where Cisco and Hartley couldn’t behave when they first got together – even around other people. “I’ll manage.”

Zari shrugs. “It’s your eyes that’ll burn out.”

“Damn, Z,” Linda states, “I thought there’s solidarity between gay men and lesbians.”

“Yeah, but not between hypersexual gay men and asexual lesbians.”

Linda laughs. “Okay, fair,” she says. “But that’s not me, so I’ll be fine.”

“If you say so,” Zari says. “Well then, I’ll leave you to it. See you around.”

Linda waves at her, a little awkwardly. She’s pretty good at making conversations, but it’s always difficult when your partner’s not up to it. Not that she blames Zari – that’s just how she is. It’s like how Bar needs a while before they become bubbly and everything. And it’s not like you have to become best buddies with everyone. She likes Zari, and she’s pretty sure that Zari doesn’t hate her either, and sometimes that’s a fine relationship in itself. There’s no need to drag a polite conversation out.

As Zari makes her way downstairs, Linda heads up towards Hartley’s old room. If they’re already up here, there’s no doubt that’s where they’d go. There’s a piece of paper pinned to the door, promising death to everyone who dares to enter Harper’s room. Linda smiles at it – that’s truly some good old teenage girl behavior, if you ask her. It’s also perfectly on point that Hartmon would give a shit about it.

When she opens the door, she doesn’t find them in any compromising situation, at least. Or, rather, not in a sexual position. Whether it is compromising or not, she doesn’t know yet.

Cisco is sitting at the desk, his back turned towards the door. All she can tell, really, is that he’s wearing his hair in a high ponytail – which is such a good look on him, honestly. She can’t see what he’s doing there, though.

Meanwhile, Hartley is standing in front of the closet, rummaging through it. He’s frantic as he moves the clothes on the hangers, like he’s searching for something. 

“Hartley, I don’t think you can find your non-existent heterosexuality, even if you're looking in a closet,” she says loudly, pretty proud of that joke.

To her disappointment, though, Hartley doesn’t react. At all.

Cisco, however, turns around on his chair, a grin on his face. “He can’t hear you, he’s not wearing his aids,” he informs her. “But that joke was so bad.”

But Linda can’t point out how Cisco usually loves the worst kind of jokes, because she’s too distracted. Because Cisco’s smile is framed by a fucking beard . A moustache and hair on his chin and whatnot. 

She can only stare at him with her mouth open. But only for a second, then her autopilot takes over and she basically runs at Cisco, cupping his face.

“ Jesus !” Cisco screams, struggling to keep his chair straight.

It really is a proper beard, Linda learns as she strokes over it. It’s soft and, oh, so real. “Holy shit ,” she tells him, “You have a beard . Didn’t you say it’d look like shit? You look amazing!”

Which he does. It’s such a good look.

“Uh, Linda, not that I’m not happy to see you,” comes Hartley’s voice, “but why are you climbing my boyfriend?”

He says it in such a dry tone that Linda can’t take it. She starts to laugh, her head dropping against Cisco’s shoulder. She can feel him try to keep their balance, and in the end his arms wrap around her body – it’s a nice welcome anyway.

He loosens one hand again to sign – or at least gesture , because signing with one hand is, like, impossible a lot of time – as he explains, “She noticed the beard.”

That makes Hartley laugh. “It’s hard not to notice, babe.”

Linda gets up from – well, Cisco – and huffs. “I didn’t know about this!” She says to Hartley, trying to accompany her words with signs, too. She’s not as fluent in ASL as she would have liked, which bothers her. Especially since Hartley’s hearing got worse gradually and nowadays there are times where even his hearing aids don’t help. It’s why he leaves them out a lot now.

“It’s not like I kept it a secret ,” Cisco hurries to explain. “I just... haven’t posted any selfies in a few weeks.”

“And why not?” Linda demands. Really, even if he claims it wasn’t a secret – that’s another betrayal! She’s supposed to know things! Come to think of it, she should’ve guessed when his face was hidden in his Halloween costume.

“He thought it’d look stupid,” Hartley says. “Even though he should’ve known his testosterone has changed the shape of his face since the last time he tried to grow a beard.” He rolls his eyes. A clear sign that they’ve had this conversation before.

“You’re so considerate about my insecurities,” Cisco says, tone way too light for the content – another sign that they had this conversation before. “I think I’m breaking up with you. I’ll start dating Eddie instead.”

Hartley blows a raspberry. “Fine by me, I’ll move out and live with Wally.”

“You wouldn’t survive one second in Tibet,” Linda points out. Because Hartley may have a lot of weird hobbies and obsessions, but she can’t envision meditation being one of them. And neither do any martial arts fit to him.

“Which is the only reason why that plan doesn’t work,” Cisco says with a snort. He must have translated Linda’s words into better ASL, too, because Hartley’s eyes keep flickering between them. 

“So, what’s with the beard?” Linda finally asks. “And what’s with the closet?” She wants to know from Hartley, pointing at it.

“Rory spilled his soda on me,” Hartley tells her.

“The kid Felicity basically adopted at Temple,” Cisco adds before Linda can ask. “And Hart is convinced he still has a shirt here.”

Linda blinks at him. “Hartley, you moved out five years ago.”

“Yeah, and I left shit here,” he shrugs. “Besides, I’ve crashed here often enough to still have something stored here.” Actually, Linda can’t fault that logic – besides, she’s got her own emergency clothes stationed here, too.

Cisco sighs. “Just take one of Harper’s shirts, please. I’ll text her about it.”

“If you want to deal with an angry emo teenager.”

“I’m dealing with you, aren’t I?”

“Am I getting younger on my birthday?” Hartley wants to know. Which is fair – he may be mentally still a teenager, but in a week his ID will read 25 years old.

“It’s not even your birthday yet,” Cisco points out.

“Guys,” Linda says easily. “Focus. You get dressed,” she points at Hartley, before turning to Cisco, “You tell me about that beard.”

Cisco ducks his head, scratching the back of it. “Well, you know, it’s No Shave November,” he says. “Tommy asked if anyone wanted to join, so I thought I’d try.”

“It’s the 4th of November. There’s no way you grew that in less than a week,” Linda says.

“I started a bit earlier,” Cisco admits. “I figured I’d see how it looks and if I didn’t like it, I could shave it before it’s, like, breaking a movement or whatever.”

“Thank fuck it looks amazing, because obviously Tommy would have never let you out of it if you didn’t feel comfortable,” Linda says, voice full of sarcasm.

Cisco glares at her. “Not the point,” he says.

“You kept a secret from me, so I’m allowed to make any point,” Linda counters. “You know how it is.”

“Because you haven’t talked to Ronnie and Cait in ages?” Hartley asks. 

Now Linda turns to glare at him , but she’s momentarily distracted by the shirt he’s chosen to wear. “Hartley Rathaway, you are not wearing a shirt that reads Top Cunt .” She doesn’t even spell it out this time but rather points at it. She’s pretty sure Harper isn’t even a fan of Top Gun in the first place but just bought it because of the humor.

Cisco stifles a laugh. “Linda’s right, that’s just false advertisement.”

“You guys have dirty minds,” Hartley declares. Which is rich, coming from him. “Clearly, this is referring to my character .”

“Well, then it’s accurate,” Cisco says firmly.

“Thanks, ‘Quito. That’s why I’m in love with you,” Hartley blows him a kiss. “You just get me.”

“And here I thought it was because of my Top Cu–”

“ Okay !” Linda says quickly. Seriously, she thinks that with the time, their banter just got cruder and cruder. “Hartley, please pick something else. If Cisco isn’t wearing a graphic tee, I’m sure you can manage without, too.”

Hartley grumbles but turns back to the closet again. Linda hopes this had just been a practical joke of his.

“My graphic tees are all in the laundry,” Cisco informs her, like that’s the only reason why he’s shown up here looking like a normal person. “Hart keeps wearing them to dance practice.”

That, Linda can believe. A few months ago, one of Lisa’s co-workers at the ice rink has told her about this improv dance class. Instead of teaching boring dance routines, the ‘teachers’ just let the couples do whatever they want to do. Linda’s pretty sure the concept was actually aimed at trained dancers, or at least people with experience, and not two people who would hunt each other for sport when they’re bored, but somehow Hartley and Lisa make it work. She’s still not entirely sure how Hartley ended up being the one to join Lisa, especially since most of the time he dances along to the beat since he can’t hear the lyrics while Lisa listens to just those. It’s… interesting, judging by the few recordings that have been sent her way. And Lisa and Hart are actually pretty good at that joint intuition thing.

“Is this better?” Hartley asks in an annoyed tone as he turns around. He’s chosen a classic – and boring, yeah – black hoodie. It’s not chic at all, but it’s not like Oliver and Felicity put up a dress code. Plus, he has the excuse of someone having spilt a drink on him and all that.

“Much,” Cisco says and holds out his hands. Hartley returns the gesture, letting himself be pulled close and into a quick kiss.

Linda rolls her eyes. “I get it, you’re cute,” she says, not without a smile. 

Hartley pouts. “Please, as if we wouldn’t get the same view when we finally visit National City.”

He’s got a point there, she has to admit. Ever since she’s living with Patty, it’s like their relationship got an extra boost. Not that either of them is really clingy , but the need to cuddle up to her girlfriend didn’t get any less, even when she’s seeing her every day usually. She supposes it has been the same for Hartley and Cisco, even if their moving in together was more random than anything else.

“I still think it’s rude you fly to Puerto Rico, like, thrice a year and still haven’t managed to visit me once ,” she points out.

“First, only Hart flies out this often,” Cisco raises a finger. “Second, we literally don’t pay for any of that. It’s either Ollie or Tina.”

“Why are you calling Hartley’s boss by her first name?” Generally, she doesn’t think that it’s too odd – after all, pretty much everyone calls Cat by her first name (though that’s an obvious choice, seeing how her newspaper is literally called that). But as far as she knows, Cisco’s only met Dr. McGee a couple of times.

“Because he’s an idiot,” Hartley says at the same time that Cisco scoffs, “ Please , I’m dating the guy responsible for Mercury’s business down in Puerto Rico, I think I’m allowed.”

Linda thinks that’s not quite the truth – though Hartley has been traveling back and forth to help establish the headquarters not too far from San Juan. At first, they’d just needed someone to help with translations during the negotiations, but Hartley has soon proven his worth – not just his knowledge from working first-hand with Mercury’s analyses and wherever else they do, but also the way he could turn downsides into good things, all helpful while discussing deals. It’s not like Hartley is the head of the operation or anything, not by far, but there’s been promotions and raises involved. And, namely, traveling to Puerto Rico every once in a while. 

Cisco would join him as often as he could, eager to see his abuelo – especially since Armando has had to make the tough choice of sending him to a nursing home. It doesn’t always work, seeing how he has his own work at Spheerical Industries and that collab programme with the CCPD going on.

“He wouldn’t call her that to her face,” Hartley assures Linda. “He’s always super polite at the company functions.”

“He better,” Linda nods. “Next thing you know, he’ll call Singh by his first name.”

At that, Cisco makes a face so horrified that both Linda and Hartley can’t help but break into laughter. “Hey, that’s not funny!” He insists. “I think the man hates me!”

“He hates that you come there once a week and all you do is annoy Eddie or Bar,” Hartley clarifies. “Which is probably even more annoying since he knows you live with one of them.”

Linda laughs at that, remembering the panic Cisco, Hartley and Eddie had about making sure that everyone knows they live together – really, Eddie is still more than traumatized by the whole We-didn’t-tell-Joe-we-know-each-other debacle. As far as Linda knows, he and Iris are still pretending that they didn’t start anything before Joe knew that Eddie knew her all along. They did, however, tell him about their open relationship, because there’s no way Joe wouldn’t have found out and Eddie wasn’t too keen on being shot if he thought he was cheating on Iris. Talking about the fact that Iris does, in fact, have a sex life has been a very awkward conversation until she pointed out that Bar was free to discuss their lack of a sex life with Joe as much as they wanted. Which evened out the playfield, but it’s not like that wasn’t any awkward either.

And it’s not like Cisco moving in was a clear-cut decision either. At first, he’d stayed at Eddie’s and Hartley’s apartment while Hartley was doing business in San Juan for the first time because – and this really happened – a window in his own apartment fell out. Because that’s the kind of thing that happened at Cisco’s old flat. And then he just… never left, really. Not like he hasn’t stayed over plenty before, but before anyone knew any better, they realized that Cisco had moved in. They decided to make it official so Cisco wouldn’t have to keep paying two rents – and then decided to move into a bigger apartment together, because it got cramped.

As far as the plan goes, this is only a temporary solution. (A temporary solution that’s lasted for two years by now.) Once Iris finishes her trainee year and earns proper money, she and Eddie will move in together. Linda is excited to see how that unfolds. She could also imagine that they’ll all end up creating a Quiver 2.0 at this rate.

“Also,” Hartley continues, “Singh hates everyone.”

“Not true!” Linda protests. “Singh loves me. In fact, we have a lunch date tomorrow.”

“Oh, what ?” Cisco asks, eyes wide. Then he throws up a fist, almost punching Hartley in the face. “Hell yeah, free reign over the precinct, baby!”

Hartley sighs. “Please behave, babe,” he says. “Else I’ll train Ratthew to sleep in your hair.”

Cisco gasps, pulling away. He strokes over his hair. “You wouldn’t!”

“Don’t test me,” is all Hartley says. Which, admittedly, is kinda scary. They’ve only had Hartley’s new pet rat for a couple months – he didn’t want one right away after Shriek died – which means it would be easy to actually train him to develop that habit. 

“Damn,” Cisco says, swallowing hard. “That was kinda hot.”

“Damn,” Linda echoes. “Zari wasn’t that wrong when she thought you went up here to hook up, huh?”

Hartley looks unimpressed. “You know you are talking to us , right? We’re always horny.”

“As established,” Linda nods. “Anyway, boys. None of that tonight. You’re dressed again, so let’s go back to the party. I still have some catching up to do.”

“Oh, hang on, did you see Felicity yet?” Cisco wants to know. “Because if not, just know that pictures don’t do her justice, she’s so–”

“I haven’t seen her yet. Or Oliver, for that matter,” Linda cuts in. “Which is all the more reason why I’m heading back downstairs, whether you’re coming or not.”

She watches as the two men exchange a glance, probably considering whether they could actually stay up here. Linda clicks her tongue, which ends in Cisco shrugging and Hartley sighing, “Yeah, let’s go.”

“Are you guys staying here tonight?” Linda wants to know as they leave the room, closing the door firmly behind themselves. Not everyone who’s here tonight should be moving through the rooms as freely as they do.

“Probably,” Hartley says. “I mean, we’re not drinking–” Not just because Cisco’s got to work tomorrow, but because it doesn’t mix well with Hartley’s meds. In solidarity, Cisco’s cut back on alcohol, too. “–but it depends on how tired we are, I guess.”

“Plus, we’d never miss out on Linda-quality-time,” Cisco says easily. “Though you are coming to Hart’s party, right?”

“Please,” Linda says. She would throw a glance back at him, but she doesn’t plan on falling down the stairs if she can help it. She leaves the signing to Cisco. “The only reason I got a whole week off is so that I wouldn’t miss Hartley’s sweet 25.”

“Did you promise Cat Grant my dirty little secrets?” Hartley wants to know. He tries to sound serious, but Linda can hear amusement play into his voice.

Once she’s reached the last step, she turns around and answers. “Yes, I promised to bring her some used underwear, too.”

That does make him crack up. “Wouldn’t have thought Cat to be such a pervert.”

“Oh, you don’t know half of it,” she tells him with a wink. She considers briefly whether she should head with them back into the living room before she notices how dry her mouth is. “Okay, I’ll see you later. I need something to drink or else Caitlin will materialize out of thin air to lecture me about staying hydrated and I don’t want that.”

“You can’t avoid her forever, Linda,” Cisco chides her. Which is no surprise. Of course he’d take Caitlin’s side – she’s one of his best friends.

“But I can try!” She declares. “Now, you boys go have fun while I take care of my health,” she tells them and shoos them away. As they go, she can see Cisco signing so fast that she can’t make out what they’re talking about. They’re probably discussing how very rightful her anger at Ronnie and Cait is.

She shakes her head to herself. Of course she can’t ignore them forever – and truthfully, she kinda doesn’t want to. But they did pull quite the stunt there, so of course she’d react like this. They should’ve known better, if you ask her.

She shoves away those thoughts and turns towards the kitchen. Opening the door, she’s interrupting another conversation, judging by the surprised looks she gets from Tommy and Thea.

“Ah, there are my favourite bar-people!” Linda cheers, making finger guns at the two sitting in front of her.

“Huh,” Tommy fakes thoughtfulness. “And here I thought Bar was your favourite bar-person.”

His sister looks at him like she’d just bitten into a slice of lemon. “Wooow.”

Linda grimaces, too. “Hey! You can’t make that joke when there still isn’t a consensus on how to pronounce their name.”

It’s almost funny, actually – six years since they chose to primarily go by their nickname and half of their friends pronounces it this way, the other half that way. Those who mostly know Bar from being chronically online choose to say it like the drinking place more often than not. And it’s not like you could tell people to just derive it from their full name – the first syllables of Bartholomew and Barry are completely different, too! And Bar, as corrupted as they are by Snart, is enjoying the chaos. According to them it’s ‘twice the joke-material’. Hence, Tommy’s bad pun.

At Linda’s protest, Thea chuckles. “Good to see you,” she tells her while pouring a glass of coke.

Linda accepts it gladly when she slides it over. “Thanks. I hadn’t gotten around to grab anything since I arrived.”

“Could’ve said hello,” Tommy points out with a huff.

“I would have,” Linda says and takes a sip of her drink. “But I keep getting dragged around.”

“You like that,” Thea reminds her.

“But I haven’t even had the chance to say hello to your brother yet. Or Felicity, for that matter. Which sucks, because this is their party.”

“Looks like they’re as popular as you,” Tommy says dryly. To anyone else, it might have seemed dismissive but Linda knows that he likes her – more than any other journalists, at least.

“Makes sense,” Linda nods. She props her chin up on her arms and looks from on to the other. “So, what’s new with you guys? Tommy, that’s gonna be a great beard by the end of the month, by the way.”

Tommy strokes over it, a delighted smile playing on his lips. “Thanks!” He says happily. “And the cause is going great, too. You should see my DMs.”

“She’s a lesbian, she really shouldn’t,” Thea cuts in. Which means Tommy is getting dick pics on the reg.

“Excuse you,” Tommy says. “You know that testicular cancer can just as easily affect trans women and non-binary people. In fact, there’s statistics that–”

Linda can’t help but stare at him. Not that Tommy was ever transphobic or… well, not an ally, but seeing him in action like this is awesome . 

Thea, however, rolls her eyes. “Tommy, I know . Plus , both my partners are trans, remember?”

“But neither of them has testicles,” Tommy says smugly.

“Okay, stop. I don’t want to talk with you about anyone’s junk.”

“Which is a problem of society, really,” Tommy sighs. 

Sensing that he’s about to start another rant, Linda decides to cut in. He’s right, of course, and it’s important, but they’ve all been exposed to this particular rant often . And Thea probably even more.

“So,” she says quickly, addressing them both, “where are your partners?”

Tommy doesn’t look too happy about being cut off like that, but it’s not like he’s not used to it. (Besides, he knows that they all care.) So he answers with a shrug. “Laurel’s around here somewhere.”

“Same for Sin,” Thea agrees. “Roy is, uh, not here yet.”

“What do you mean, he’s not here yet?” Linda wants to know. She’d already been fashionably late – and she doubts she was the last person to arrive – but it’s completely out of character for Roy to miss any Queen family functions. Even the ones hosted by Moira.

Tommy snickers while Thea groans. “He was supposed to be flying in from a photoshoot. But his connection from Detroit got cancelled,  so now he’s hitchhiking.”

“He’s… what ,” Linda says, not even forming a proper question. There’s always a danger in hitchhiking per se, but in combination with the word Detroit , her blood goes cold. Not to mention the higher risk that trans people already pose – and while Roy usually passes perfectly, he has had big photoshoots with his top surgery scars on full display and interviews where he talks about what it means to be a trans model.

Tommy cuts in, more annoyed than anything else. “He called an uber ,” he clarifies. “Which, for the record, is also insane. Who even drives from Detroit to Central?”

“Well, it’s not like we could’ve sent a jet,” Thea says briskly. Right, Moira has taken away jet privileges after Thea and Sin had joined Roy for a shoot. In that one there wasn’t even any bare skin involved, but apparently letting any professional photographer take a picture without Moira ’s consent – nevermind the fact that they’re all adults – takes the cake.

“So, what? Roy’s on a Roadtrip here?” Linda summarizes.

Thea nods. “He sends me updates every five minutes,” she adds, unlocking her phone. She turns it around and shows Linda a selfie of Roy with a tall Black woman with the most luxurious red-dyed hair she has ever seen in her life. “This is Kory.”

“I think I just fell in love,” is all she can say about that.

Tommy snorts. “Well, he better not,” he says. “Sin would probably kill her first and then him.”

“I’m so glad you care about your sister’s feelings so much.”

“Please,” Thea says, inspecting her nails. “If Roy hasn’t broken up with me in seven years, I doubt that one car drive would make that happen.”

“I love what stable relationships we all have,” Linda declares. “Even you, Tommy!”

“Well, it did have to stick at some point.” He ducks his head a little, like he’s actually a bit embarrassed about how many times he and Laurel have gotten together and broken off again. To be fair, that hasn’t happened in, like, three years. Oliver has marked it in his calendar.

“Maybe you should write something about that ,” Thea tells Linda. “Something about how, if you break up, like, twenty times, you’ll end up in a happy relationship.”

“Uh, I think I’ll pass,” Linda says, faking actual sadness. “Maybe I’ll pass it on to Clark.”

“Please don’t,” Tommy says. “Any more content on any of us and we’ll end up like the Kardashians,” he adds, giving his sister a look. Which is a fair point, Linda has to admit. It doesn’t help that Moira actually wants to get in on the content creator business, thinking it would be great for all their businesses if they show how interesting they are behind the scenes.

Thinking about it, it’s odd that she’s not trying to spin this here into Instagram story snippets. “Speaking of, how come Moira isn’t here?” Linda asks right away.

Thea laughs and leans over. Conspiratorially, she explains, “Slade very spontaneously came to visit.” Which is code for ‘We begged Ollie’s godfather to come and distract mom ’, as far as Linda can tell. As if she read her thoughts, Thea adds,  “Of course, Oliver asked him to help out, not that mom would know.”

“Wait, is that like the time we thought Eddie’s crazy gay uncle could keep Malcolm away from Roy’s birthday party?”

“Oh God, no,” Tommy says, cringing hard. Back when that happened, there were many hints about how the evening ended in bed . “The opposite!”

“Holy shit, Slade is killing Moira?!”

“Let’s hope he doesn’t,” Thea says dryly. “We’d never hear the end of it if he went to prison for us.”

Linda laughs at that. “At least Verdant is doing well enough that you could bail him out even if Walter inherited everything?” She tries.

Verdant had already surprised everyone while Oliver was still co-running it with Tommy – which isn’t hard actually, since nobody thought it would be successful, given how far off its location is. But somehow the two made it work (with the help of quite a few influential friends, admittedly). When Moira decided to open a subsidiary of Queen Consolidated in Central and pronounced Oliver to be the CEO, Thea took over his spot at Verdant. Which probably wasn’t what Moira had planned, but she didn’t make too much of a fuzz about that. And given Thea’s publicity – which may rival that of Oliver’s actual party days but is actually so much healthier – Verdant is booming nowadays.

It’s not just her either, of course. Tommy is hosting theme nights regularly and they go off .

“I don’t want to spend my money on Slade Wilson ,” Tommy says, almost sounding like he’s offended deeply.

Thea pats his arm. “You won’t have to,” she promises, an amused smile on her lips. Then her phone goes off and she focuses on that. “Oh, hey, Roy says it’s only gonna take another hour!”

Tommy pretends to look at his watch. He doesn’t even wear one. “Which makes him, what, four hours late?”

“Oliver’s invitation stated 7pm,” Linda points out. She hasn’t checked the time in a while but it can’t be later than 9.

“Yes,” Tommy agrees, “but Roy’s always early , usually. So by his standards, he’s, like, super late. We should mark the calendars!”

Thea gives him a sour look. “You’re mean,” she tells him, in the voice only a little sister can produce. She scoffs and declares, “I’m gonna go look for Sin. They’d wanna know.”

Before Linda can ask if or why Roy hasn’t posted his update in the groupchat that she knows the three of them have, Thea has already jumped off her seat and moved to the door. “Good talk, Linda, see you later!” Is all she calls out before vanishing.

Well, that’s not how Linda expected the end of their conversation to go, so she looks at Tommy a little dumb-founded. He just shrugs, probably thinking similarly.

“So,” Linda says after taking another sip of her drink. “You’re doing okay?”

Thankfully, Tommy is long past the times where he would either get embarrassed or annoyed by questions like these. Ever since his diagnosis three years ago and the subsequent removal of one of his testicles by experts at some hospital in Chicago, he’s pretty resistant to those feelings. “Yes, absolutely,” he tells her. “All doctors are happy with me and, like I said, the campaign is going great.”

Not that his efforts for cancer awareness are limited to the month of November – Tommy is loud about it all through the year, trying to shine light on diagnoses that easily go unnoticed. He’s also talked a lot about how it’s affected his mental health and relationships and then there’s been a whole series of reels on his Instagram on topics like these. He’d discuss mental health with Hartley in one video – whose stunt at the QC press conference all those years ago is still discussed to this day – and what being a trans man means for physical health check-ups with Roy in another. They’re very basic, without any big editing, but they’re important to Tommy and lots of people have reached out to him. It’s a project close to his heart, and he doesn’t care about them being big as long as they help anyone .

Now, with so many of their friends joining him for No Shave November, he’s raising money for programmes. He’s got support from Oliver, of course, as well as Thea and her partner. Cisco and Hartley, as established by the former’s beard, and Linda knows Ronnie is at least growing a beard, so xe’s probably in, too, even if he doesn’t have as much of a reach as all the others do. Bruce has also done posts about it, always linking back to Tommy’s account. 

“That’s awesome,” Linda says sincerely. “And I’m glad you’re doing well.”

Back when he’d gotten his diagnosis, it had been quite a scare. Naturally, Tommy had kept it a secret at first, only telling a few people. Oliver knew, of course, and it killed him – he’d been easily irritated and overprotective (even more than usually) for reasons none of them could’ve even imagined.

In the end, it was Tommy who told the groupchat via Oliver’s account just before he’d gone to have his surgery. To the public he’d only opened up afterwards, once he’d known it was successful. And ever since then, he’s not holding back, talking openly about his checkups and progress just to raise awareness.

Tommy smiles at her. “Thanks!” He fills up another glass with coke. “So, uh, if you don’t mind, I’ll try to find Laurel. and if I happen to stumble upon Ollie or Felicity, I’ll tell them you’re looking for them,” he tells her.

“Fine by me,” she answers, raising her glass in agreement.

Tommy grins and goes to leave but stops in the door, “Oh, by the way! Bar and Snart are outside – have been for quite a while, so they better get their asses back inside or else they get frostbite.”

“You know the cold doesn’t bother Snart.” Not that Linda would complain about that pointer – she never minds hanging out with Bar and the fact that she hasn’t seen them yet is , frankly, an audacity. So, really, it’s lovely of Tommy to tell her where they are.

Tommy’s face darkens somewhat. “Oh, low blow, Park. You can’t just quote Frozen at people.”

“But I just did,” Linda laughs. “Besides, your best friend is the ultimate animated movies fan.” Though, actually, the fact that Oliver prefers Dreamworks over Disney has actually been added to his Wikipedia by now. Linda’s pretty sure that one of the groupchat members did it, but she has no proof. And it would be hilarious if it had been just some random person picking it up from Oliver’s Instagram stories.

“At least he can put it to good use soon,” Tommy replies before raising his hand as a goodbye. He opens the door with his hip and bows out of the room, leaving Linda to herself.

It’s actually amazing to see Tommy like this again – his physical health had suffered somewhat while he was in treatment, as had his self-confidence. Now, he’s pretty much back to as he’d been before – maybe even better. She’s really happy for him and how he’s improved as a whole.

She fills up her glass again and decides to head out. Briefly, she wonders if she should grab her jacket, but Oliver’s had patio heaters installed that he turns on whenever there’s a big gathering at the Quiver. She should be fine, at least for a while. Tommy’s probably right when he’s concerned for Bar and Snart, though, because there’s only so much the heaters can actually do in November.

Plus, they don’t have their dog with them to use as an excuse – they’ve left him with Henry. Not that Worf – a huge English Mastiff named after some Star Trek character – has a problem with huge crowds. He’s a chill gentle giant and, even though he’s not a trained service dog, exactly what Bar (and Snart, too, for that matter) needs. But he’s also beautiful and popular so it’s safe to say that if they do bring him into a crowd, that will soon revolve around them – which is absolutely not what Bar needs a lot of times.

So it makes absolute sense that they left Worf with their dad. They’d taken him to their annual fishing trip anyways, so by now Henry should be familiar with the dog his kid adopted only a few months ago.

Linda remembers how much Snart protested that idea when Bar found an ad online saying that Worf needed a new home, citing that their apartment was too small and they both work and and and. But, as everyone knows, Snart is not immune to Bar’s pleading. Also, the fact that the dog was already grown and didn’t need to be trained and the fact that he’s named after a Star Trek character made it impossible for him to say no, according to Bar. And he’s not just Bar’s dog – Snart takes him to work (mostly because laboratories and dog hair don’t mix) and there’s photo evidence of them cuddling up, too. 

Linda hopes she’ll get to meet Worf this week. 

To make up for the lack of a cuddly dog, the two of them have huddled together on the swing seat at the back of the garden. Linda almost feels bad about disturbing the sight in front of her: Snart with his head tilted back, completely looking at ease as his hand brushes over Bar’s shoulder. They’re lying across the swing, their head resting on Snart’s lap and his signature blue parka spread over them.

Well, almost , being the keyword. Because even if Bar’s all cozied up like that, neither they nor Snart should probably stay outside for ages. Though Linda can imagine why they’re outside in the first place – Bar and many people still don’t mix well a lot of the time. 

She feels a tad bad as she calls for them.  “Hey, you love birds! You got room for one more?“

At once, Bar doesn’t just sit up. No, they jump up from the swing altogether, leaving behind a grouchy Snart – and his parka, which falls to the ground. Not that they care. Linda grins as she finds their entire focus on her. Yup, she’s still got game. “Linda!“ Bar squeals, as if they hadn’t already known she’d be here.

Snart grumbles something along those lines, too, as he leans down to pick up his jacket.

Before Linda can reply, she’s got her arms full of Bar. Hugs from Bar Allen are still in the Top 10 of Best Things in the World, if you ask her. She chuckles against where they’re pressed against their chest. “Good to see you, too,” she says, which is true, even if they see each other on facetime regularly – either on Iris’ phone or, less frequently, in a one-on-one sesh.

“How was your trip?” Bar wants to know. “Did you see Iris already? Oh, she’ll be so mad if I saw you before her–”

“Bar,” Linda says calmly, taking their hands of her back and running circles over them with her thumb. “Iris practically dragged me out of my Uber.” She’s actually pretty sure that would have happened if she’d taken any second longer.

Bar immediately looks more relaxed. “Good,” they decide and go back to their wide grin.

“Can’t upset the girls,” Snart declares as he comes up to them. He puts the parka around their shoulders, keeping his hands there to hold it in place. Bar practically melts into the touch.

But Bar does look happy to see her, even if she’s a person like all the people inside, and she counts it as a win. Snart, however, has decided to play up his annoyance. Even though Linda knows he’s missed her. She’s got that feeling.

“Aw, don’t be grumpy,” she tells him. “You have them around all the time.” For emphasis, she lets her and Bar’s joint hands dangle back and forth between them. Really, Snart is the odd one out here.

Plus, it’s not even a lie. Ever since those two have moved in together, they must be practically on each other all the time. Not that she minds – from what she can tell, Hashtag ColdBar is still the OTP to end all OTPs (not that anyone uses that lingo anymore). Sure, they have their minor fights like any couple does, but they are still so sickenly sweet that people always feel like they’re intruding. Before Linda moved to National City, she’d almost thought they’re more in love nowadays. And, somehow, living together only increased that.

“Well, I do have to keep an eye on him,” Bar says. “Can’t let him and Iris get together.”

“Why can’t you–”

“Bar, love,” Snart cuts in, his voice low. “I told you that–”

“Nah,” Bar interrupts, letting go of one of Linda’s hands at last to lift it into their significant other’s direction. “I don’t wanna hear it. Every time you and Iris get together, you argue about work . I’m sick of it.”

That makes sense, Linda supposes. From what she’s heard – from Iris herself, of course, so it’s not like she’s unbiased – ever since those two have to cooperate, they’re fighting even more than usually. Even though they came up with the idea of art therapy together . But it’s a dumpster fire, of course, because Snart is not only annoyed by kids swarming the museum for an hour each week, but because Iris doesn’t even care about any techniques they may use. Iris, however, says that it doesn’t matter because the kids are just supposed to express themselves – if they think it’s important to use a specific style or technique, they would explain it when they talk about it. All in all, it’s a whole new reason for the everlasting tension between Snart and Iris. Poor Bar, being in the middle of that. 

She tusks at the man good-naturedly. “Really, you should let it rest for an evening.”

“ Thank you ,” Bar breathes.

Snart brings his other hand to their other shoulder, squeezing softly. “Just like you shut up about Julian, huh?”

“That’s a whole different situation!” They complain. “You’re basically making me choose between the man I love and my sister , I can only lose. Meanwhile, you never had to like Julian in the first place.”

Linda can’t hide a chuckle at that. She supposes they have a point. “So, you still don’t get along with zem?” She wants to know. If it’s still so bad between the two of them, she probably won’t hear the end of it from Singh tomorrow. Not that she would mind, actually. She still does love her gossip.

Bar cringes lightly. “I mean… it works? We’re not fighting .”

“They’re almost friendly ,” Snart says, some kind of wonder in his voice. He squeezes Bar’s shoulders again, like he’s actually proud of them. What a drama queen. “Probably because they’re mostly working around one another.”

That makes sense, Linda guesses. She remembers when Bar started their job at CCPD – it was… a mess, there’s no better word for it. Because, as it turns out, learning about crime scenes and dead bodies and whatnot is one thing, being at and around one, a whole different one. Especially when you have trauma about literally seeing your murdered mom . Bar – and everyone else, really – had completely misjudged their childhood trauma until they’ve had a full blown panic attack while on the job. 

Julian, to everyone’s surprise, had been really considerate about it. Ze’d started as a CSI only a few months before Bar had, and while they’d expected zem to be an asshole about it, there was nothing. No, instead ze calmly suggested that Bar could just analyze , like, DNA traces and excrements and weird insects like that dude on Bones. That way they wouldn’t really have to see anything, but they’d still do important work.

Of course, Bar didn’t trust zem at first, thought that ze just wanted to make zemself look more important, but eventually they saw reason. And, wouldn’t you know it, Bar is kind of a natural lab rat, so to speak. They actually enjoy it, as far as Linda has been told. Even if waiting for results is ‘a pain in the ass’, as she’s been informed.

“We actually do talk, sometimes,” Bar adds quietly, like they don’t want to jinx it. “Like, about gender and stuff.”

“Holy shit, there’s miracles,” Linda says with a grin. “You know, I’m meeting Ralph tomorrow night, maybe you should–”

“Absolutely not,” they cut in at once. “I see enough of her when she brings in things she found while snooping around.” Bar’s eyes are serious at that, and Linda raises her hands in innocence. Okay, they might actually see more of Ralph than they want – it’s kinda of upsetting how many of the people around them cooperate with the police, really. Even though Ralph is a Private Investigator by now (thankfully Linda managed to talk her out of wanting to wear Hawaiian shirts all the time like Magnum does), she regularly helps the police when she stumbles upon something big.

“You better listen to them,” Snart nods.

“Yeah, no shit,” Linda replies. “It’s the serious voice.”

Snart starts to grin at that, one of those pleased wide grins that almost look like a shark, if you ask her.

Bar only sees it from the side, and yet they nudge their elbow into his ribs. “You’re impossible,” they tell him.

“Love you, too,” Snart singsongs, trying to press a kiss against their cheek. Bar ducks away, but not without laughing.

“You know,” Linda says, “once you become the director of the British Museum, I’ll do a whole article about how sappy you truly are.”

Snart scoffs at that, but not for the reason one might think. By now, he knows better than to think he could hide how absolutely smitten he is for Bar. Instead, he declares, “The British Museum can go fuck itself.”

“Oh yeah, we all hate the British Museum,” Linda has to agree. Fucking colonizers in action, really. No surprise that even a former thief would have nothing but distaste for them.

“Hey, wasn’t it in the news recently?” Bar wants to know. “Didn’t someone, like, actually steal from them?”

“Yes, fucking legends.”

Linda sighs. “Cat had us write all kinds of articles about that,” she says. Journalist 101: If something happens in the world, literally anywhere, you try to apply it to your own city somehow . There’s been those unfortunate newbies who just had to go to the local museums and be like ‘Hey, have you ever had shit stolen?’ which is like the most basic and boring thing possible. Linda herself, thankfully, could find a different approach.

“Rip loved your piece about the History of Girlbossery in National City or whatever it was,” Snart says with a shrug. He’s totally read it, Linda is sure. And probably liked it, too – not that he’d admit to it. But yeah, that was a fun article to write.

But someone else did a whole investigation based on it. “Clark got to write a whole series on how the Smallville Museum stole from the local Native Americans,” she tells them. He hadn’t exactly enjoyed revealing the dark parts of his home like that, but he knew it was necessary.

“Holy shit, that’s so cool,” Bar starts. “I didn’t even know–”

But they don’t get to reveal what they didn’t know. A loud voice from the door interrupts them. “LINDA?!”

And Linda can’t help but freeze at once. Oh damn , this will be hard.

Because Caitlin sounds so delighted as she calls out her name, and a happy Caitlin is impossible to stay mad at. But Linda needs to be mad. Because she is mad. Should be mad.

“Oh damn ,” she can’t help but whisper.

And Bar, sweet sweet Bar, chooses this moment to show just how badly being around Snart affects them. They snicker at her. Because of course they know about how mad Linda had been when Caitlin and Ronnie decided to elope – they’ve been present (at least digitally) to many rants of hers. But they’re also very much aware of the fact that, just like them – or maybe even more – Caitlin just has an Effect™ on people. They are seeing right through her struggle.

As does Snart. He looks delighted, too.

“Linda, I didn’t know you were here already!” Caitlin calls as she approaches them.

Linda keeps her back turned towards her, closing her eyes for a moment to collect her strength. She will not give in.

Before she knows any better, she’s grabbed by the shoulders and wrapped into yet another super nice hug. Damn those sweet people and their magical embraces. Linda tries her best to stay still.

Caitlin doesn’t seem to notice. “How long have you been here? Have you already had something to drink?” She wants to know as she starts fretting about her.

It’s really hard not to respond, so Linda gives up. But not completely. “I am ignoring you,” she declares matter-of-factly. She doesn’t even look at Caitlin.

“What?” Cait wants to know, sounding actually distraught. “Why?”

Linda presses her lips together.

“She’s still mad you guys wouldn’t invite her to your spontaneous wedding,” Snart says helpfully. That asshole is gleeful about it.

“Oh,” Caitlin makes, like she’s actually understanding it. But there’s confusion in her voice, too. “But… that’s been months ago.”

“That doesn’t make it any better!” Linda bursts out. “You guys have been engaged for so long, I should’ve had a pompous wedding to attend, with all the fun parts and everything! How are you all robbing me of this?!”

“It’s, uh— We didn’t, like, plan it?” Caitlin offers. Which is fair, actually. At least Linda hopes it’s true. If she ever learns that they’d wanted to randomly get married by a Rabbi while on vacation in Pittsburgh, she’s gonna be so mad.

“Are elopements ever planned?” Bar whispers to Snart. 

“ Really not my scene, love,” Snart says, with that little lilt to the word that shows he spends too much time around his boss and the guy’s assistant. “I wouldn’t know.”

Even in that conversation, they’re so cute that Linda has to turn away. Only, unfortunately, she turns right to Caitlin. And damn , that’s a mighty pout on her face. Linda draws in a deep breath, trying to stay serious.

“Really, it was like a short-cut reaction when we heard that Oliver and Felicity called their wedding off!” Cait continues, which is exactly the reasoning she and Ronnie had given when they announced their marriage to the groupchat. And if Linda had been invited , she might be okay with that explanation. That Oliver came to the conclusion that Felicity didn’t actually want to get married but only proposed to make him happy and then called off the wedding, which then resulted in them fighting and taking a break, probably did make them panic. But she wasn’t, so she stays stoic. As much as she can be when Cait looks at her with these wide eyes and actual worry in them. Like she thinks Linda could actually hate her. 

“Plus,” Cait rattles on, “at least we didn’t stay in Pittsburgh, right?”

Apparently that’s news to the others as well. “Woah,” Bar makes. “You thought of staying in Pittsburgh?”

“Ronnie fell in love with the pizza there,” Caitlin explains, her voice quiet like she understands what a ridiculous reason that is.

For emphasis, Snart simply says, “What the fuck.” It’s not even a question.

“I mean…” Bar starts. This time they earn a nudge in the side. Though Linda probably shouldn’t be surprised that they’d agree on the importance of good food.

“But we’re still here!” Cait says quickly, raising her arms in some sort of hooray.

“Yeah, I think the Doc would’ve put up a fight if you’d ended your partnership,” Snart tells her. He sounds serious and at the same time like it’s a casual conversation.

“I wouldn’t have wanted to!” Cait insists. “It’s, like, the main reason why we’re still here!”

Which is probably also true. From what Linda has heard, Cait just fucking loves working with Henry. It’s a good match – Cait brings him up to speed on the techniques and new equipment they developed while he was in prison and Henry has enough patience and good-natured energy to help Cait get a foot down in the hospital. That she gets to study under him really just helps the both of them; and once Cait becomes a doctor next year, they’ll make an awesome team, Linda is sure.

Though, knowing Henry, he probably wouldn’t have been too bad about Cait leaving if she’d really wanted to. He’s big on following your gut and trusts that they all know what’s best for themselves.

Bar really scored in the father figures department. (Or literal fathers, for that matter.)

“I’ll need to have a word with your spouse,” Linda declares. And damn, that might just be the first time she’s referred to Ronnie as such. Feels weird.

Cait, however, brightens at those words. “Sure!” She answers, and Linda’s not sure if she’s actually throwing xem under the bus right now.

It’s enough to finally make her crack a smile. And now that that’s done, she completely gives up on her charade. Linda hangs her head and opens her arms. “Okay, get in here, girl,” she offers before grinning up at Cait.

Of course, she jumps – literally – at the invite. It doesn’t even take a second until Cait squeezes her so hard, Linda thinks she might break a rib. Well, at least she’d know how to treat it.

“Will you admit you missed her?” Bar laughs when Linda closes her arms around Cait’s waist, swaying them from side to side. There’s this smug undertone in their voice and Linda mentally curses Snart for his influence on them. Sure, she might not have actually met Bar properly before those two started dating, but from what she’s heard, his Capital-C-Criminal personality really changed them for the worse.

“I’ve missed you all ,” Linda tells them matter-of-factly before parting from Cait again. Her friend does hold on to one hand, though, and now Linda almost feels bad about how she’s treated her before. Maybe she shouldn’t have been so harsh.

“Ah, so National isn’t that great after all?” Snart says with a snort. Even though he’s been there with Bar a few times and knows what a fucking great place it is.

Linda scoffs at him. “I missed everyone but you,” she clarifies.

Snart looks pretty pleased by that, actually. Of course he would.

Cait is completely unfazed by their conversation. Probably because it’s as normal as it’s always been. “Are you gonna stay here tonight?” She asks Linda instead.

“Duh,” she replies. “Like I’d miss crashing at the Quiver.” There’s already a neat pile of her clothes up in Sara’s room – she’d thought showing up to such a party with bags just wouldn’t fit her aesthetic of the night, so she’d asked Sara to grab it from her parents’ place beforehand. It’s worked in her favor, too – apparently Linda’s dad had been making dinner when she showed up, and in the Park house you don’t let anyone leave with an empty stomach, even if it’s a friend of your daughter whom you’ve never met before.

“Awesome!” Caitlin cheers. “We have so much to catch up on!”

That actually stings a little. Because Linda has been following all of her friends’ updates, of course. But she has been petty – and didn’t respond to anything sent by Ronnie or Cait. Not that she hasn’t had pangs of a bad conscience before, but apparently Cait had thought she’s just been busy? No Linda feels even more like an asshole.

“Absolutely,” she tells her sincerely. “But I still wanna rip Ronnie a new one,” she adds quickly, because even if she’s forgiven Cait it doesn’t mean she just accepts their shotgun wedding.

“Sure, go ahead,” Cait decides easily. “Xe’s been talking to Ray when I left.”

“I’ll go with you,” Bar offers. “I need something to drink anyways.”

“You sure?” Snart wants to know.

Bar rolls their eyes and shrugs out of the parka. “Yeah, I feel much better,” they explain. Without missing a beat, they turn to Cait and add, “I’m fine, I just was a little overwhelmed. Nothing to worry about.”

Linda nods. “There are way too many people,” she agrees. Hooking her arm through Bar’s, she announces, “But don’t worry, I’ll protect you!”

“My knight in shining armor,” Bar sighs– or, rather, tries to. The wide grin lets them fail.

“That’s me, destroying gender roles left and right,” Linda laughs. She looks at Cait. “Are you coming with?”

“Nope! I wanted to talk to Snart about Hartley’s present!” Cait says. That explains why she’s come here in the first place, Linda supposes. But still, all three of them look at her with a question visible on their faces. Cait looks around, as if she could’ve missed if Hartley had come outside, before she says quietly, “There’s this musical about Van Gogh, I thought I could get him tickets, maybe. But I wanna know if it’s good, content-wise.”

“There’s a musical about Van Gogh ?” Snart asks, half-doubting, half-delighted.

“Yes!” Cait cheers. “And it’s coming to Keystone in the winter – I figured that’d be fun, right?”

Linda takes this as her cue to drag Bar away. She’s pretty sure that any longer and she’d have to head inside on her own after all – they’re Hartley’s musical buddy, so of course they’d be into that, too. At least they seem pretty intrigued. But Snart can fill them in later.

“You know,” she tells them as a way of distraction as they cross the garden, “Kara said you need to come see the National City Christmas Market. Something I can only support, of course.” She’s visited Patty a couple of times during the Christmas season, so it isn’t anything new to her – even bigger the shock when she learnt that Bar has never been. Which probably makes sense, given that they only ever go to National in the summer.

They consider it for a moment before scrunching up their face. “I don’t know, I don’t really like traveling around Christmas,” they say slowly.

Linda nods. “Too many people?”

Bar shrugs. “I kinda– you know, it’s family time. So I’d feel bad if I left Central.”

“Oh Bar,” Linda says, almost on instinct. She squeezes their arm and presses her cheek against it. “I get what you mean. But Christmas time isn’t the actual holiday, you know.”

“Hm,” they concede. “I’ll consider it.”

“Don’t feel pressured,” Linda assures them before she lets go to pull the door open.

Immediately, it’s loud . She has to admit – Moira truly chose a good house for her son to live in all those years ago. It’s spacious and safe, with enough privacy. The ground floor even is wheelchair accessible, though Linda knows better than to assume Moira had Felicity in mind. She wonders what the Queen matriarch thinks about this whole situation – Oliver’s been awfully quiet about his mother’s opinion lately.

Linda can imagine why, actually.

She shakes that thought away and takes in the scene before her. Or rather, the scene greets her. Because as soon as she’s opened the door, the music coming in from the living room is joined by a chorus of voices.

“There she is!” Sara calls, louder than her girlfriend and sister who both shout Linda’s name.

“Damn, you know how to make a girl blush,” she says with a grin before gesturing at Bar. “No love for our favourite enby?”

“Bar gets our love all the time,” Sara says matter of factly, even though Laurel holds out a hand to pull them against her.

“It’s true,” Ava nods. “I know for a fact that those two–” She gestures at where Bar and Laurel are hugging “-have lunch together all the time.”

“Not true!” Bar protests, breaking off the contact.

Laurel snickers. “True, Eddie and Cisco would be mad if I kept you to myself.”

“If Cisco weren’t gay, he’d be in love with you,” Sara cuts in with an eyeroll. Apparently, dynamics in the CCPD are as confusing as ever, Linda thinks. When Laurel announced she’d actually start working for the city she lives in two years ago, it had seemed like there’d be more order. At least Cecile had been positive about that, too – she’d been a little thrown off by the chaos that three people of their group working together brings. But it seems that Laurel doesn’t help with that either.

Good, if you ask Linda.

“He told me so. Repeatedly. While drunk,” Laurel nods. She doesn’t look too happy about that.

“I’m pretty sure watching you work is a life-changing experience,” Linda says.

“You’re biased,” Ava tells her. “You fall in love with every capable woman.”

“So do you, babe,” Sara says, patting her arm. There’s not an ounce of jealousy coming off her, which is quite the progress in Linda’s book. She remembers when Sara was fiercely… protective of Ava back when they’d just started dating. All part of that whole I-want-to-make-everything-right spiel she’d thought up.

Bar seems to have enough of the sapphic activities around them because they decide to change the topic. “Why are you hiding in here, though?” They ask, looking around the kitchen like the answer might present itself to them.

Laurel makes a grimace at that. “Boundaries,” she simply states with an aura of finality.

It doesn’t take long to get what she means, though – they’re at a party where a billionaire serves some high-class alcohol. Of course, people who don’t drink would stick out, so either people are trying to convince the Lances to drink something or they keep asking about why they abstain. In Linda’s book, they really don’t need to lay out their family’s – and their own – history with alcohol like that.

“Gotcha,” Bar says quietly. They probably came to the same conclusion.

“You should just threaten them with prison,” Linda says with a shrug. As far as she knows, that makes a lot of people shut up real quick. And since Laurel works for Central’s District Attorney, it would be believable.

Laurel shakes her head, though she’s clearly amused by the idea. “That’s not how that works.”

Sara laughs out loud. “But they don’t know that,” she says brightly. “Like, don’t get me wrong, I love our friends, but they really can be a pain in the ass.”

“Maybe you should threaten to beat them up,” Laurel retorts.

“Stop,” Ava laughs. “She’ll actually do it.”

“So would,” Sara says proudly.

“Geez,” Bar shakes their head. “I know– considering whom I’m dating, I’m not the right person to say this, but: What is up with the violence in our circle?”

“Mick would say: Not enough,” Linda says with a shrug. By now she’s learnt that violence is a love language amongst her friends. None of them should ever forget that glorious New Year’s Eve that Snart and Mick spent in the ER.

“And you’d think he’d let out all that steam at work,” Sara sighs.

Ava nudges her in the side. “One would also think that about you .”

Apparently, their love language is arguments, because Sara readily raises a finger, coming up with a counter right away. “He works at the gym every day , I only lead a course twice a week .” From what Linda’s heard, her classes are so popular, though, that Mick’s thinking of offering it more often. “Besides, you , babe, also work there every day.”

“True, but I don’t train anyone,” Ava points out. “I just do the finances.” Getting her on board was what ultimately sold Mick to the idea of taking over the gym, Linda knows. Because while he could have taught classes and whatnot, there’s no way he would’ve known how to run a business. And Ava didn’t buy into it right away, but once she did, it’s become a heart project. Snart’s arranged the decor and everything, which led to the first fist fight inside the walls of Mick’s gym.

“You also used to date a ninja, Sara,” Laurel offers, pointing out her sister’s double standards.

Sara takes it as something to be proud of, though. “I also used to date a ninja.”

“Just because Nyssa said she can’t tell us about her new work doesn’t mean she’s a ninja .” Ava rolls her eyes.

“Wally also thinks she’s a ninja.” Bar raises their hand. They’ve got a point – Wally should probably know. After all, he’s on his self-reflecting journey in Tibet, staying at her family’s dojo for the time being. Linda has seen a couple of photos of the two together, but as far as she knows, Nyssa doesn’t exactly have a ton of free-time. Also, knowing her life, Linda probably would know a ninja. It just makes sense.

As it is, she’s thrilled that Nyssa made up with Ava and Sara. Not that there was a fight , exactly. But things did get tense after she and Sara broke up, of course. That Sara would fall for the friend Nyssa made when she was in Central – someone Sara thought she’d hated, too – probably hadn’t helped. But now Ava and Nyssa text regularly again and Linda knows for a fact that the times where Sara and Nyssa conversed weren’t awful at all. It’s really just a display of how mature sapphic people are, if you ask her.

“Speaking of ninjas,” she says, “I still haven’t seen Felicity and Oliver. Which is odd, because it’s their party. It’s Oliver’s house!”

“It’s Moira’s house,” Laurel clarifies, always looking at the cold facts. “And if she ever learns that Oliver practically moved out–”

“It’s not like he ever spent that much more time here,” Sara shrugs. Then her eyes widen. “Yeah, I know, pot calling the kettle and all,” she adds with a look at Ava, who just grins at her. So basically, that was a confirmation that they are talking of moving in together. Finally .

Next to Laurel, Bar frowns. “I think I only saw them shortly when we arrived,” they explain. “But after that it’s like–” They gesture loosely– “ poof .”

Laurel snorts. “He’s always been good at disappearing,” she says. Damn , that sounds like some juicy gossip.

“Probably Oliver’s old room,” Sara cuts in. “Or maybe one of the bathrooms. You know how easily Felicity gets sick. And Oliver frets .”

“Aw, he loves her,” Bar says dreamily.

“He better!” Ava says after letting out a surprised laugh. They all join into it.

Once she recovered, Linda announces, “Well, since I literally got paid for talking sense into Oliver, I will try to find them.”

“I still think it’s rude. I never got paid,” Sara pouts.

“Because you talked him into shit,” Laurel reminds her. Again, they can’t hold back laughter.

Before Linda can even ask them, Bar assures her that she can go. “I’ll just stay here for a bit,” they explain, leaning against Laurel for emphasis.

That’s as good as anything, Linda supposes. After all, the girls also came to the kitchen for some solitude, so it should work out. But also, she reminds herself, she is not Bar’s babysitter and they’re an adult who can judge how much their mental illness affects them right now. She won’t speak over them.

“Alright,” she grins at them all. “I better hear all those stories I missed out on later, yeah?”

Ava shakes her head. “I know you’re at the literal end of the country,” she says, “but I doubt you ever miss out on something.”

“Tell that to Ronnie and Cait,” Linda says. “Speaking of which – I also still need to find Ronnie. Bye!” And with that, she leaves the kitchen.

Behind her, she can hear Ava say something about how she’s a powerhouse, and can’t stop grinning. Even as the actual party presents itself in front of her. 

She’s gotta say, considering everything, it’s quite the… tame party. Sign of them all being adults, she supposes – after all, Oliver did get rid of the teens who’d usually be here. Where there were kegstands and making out sessions only a while ago, people are just… conversing, mostly. And– okay , Rene and Curtis are definitely making out. And poor Dinah – the Cool Dinah , as everyone still insists – is standing next to them like they’d actually been talking to her until just now.

From what Linda’s heard, though, everyone is giving the pair a pass after all the pining they had going on. Three years ago, Rene had applied to become a bouncer at Verdant – Oliver, however, had been hesitant to actually hire him once he’s heard that Rene was the widowed father of a then-8-year-old. Which actually checks out, if you know Oliver. But when Rene had chatted up Felicity’s friend Curtis and properly got along with him, Felicity had insisted Oliver give him a chance at least. To this day, Linda doesn’t know if she’d actually planned to meddle with the love life of her friend or if she’d just thought that if Curtis got along with the angry looking dude with a scar in his face, then they all would. But still, Oliver did hire him.

Which didn’t mean Rene and Curtis became a thing . Sure, they’ve chatted and played jokes at one another and hung out (and, if Tommy is to believed, flirted ), but Rene hadn’t had the mind for dating. And, maybe more importantly, he’d thought he’d been straight. Even told Curtis so when he tried his luck. Thankfully Linda had still been in Central at the time and gotten to see all of this unfold in front of her own eyes.

Things were weird between the two after that, of course, but it’s not like Rene was grossed out or anything. Thankfully. So they recovered from their awkwardness and then he really had to reconsider his feelings. And his sexuality. It’s a been a whole crisis. And once he’s figured out that maybe he’d liked guys, too, he’d felt weird about approaching Curtis, because well , he’d turned him down before. And despite those two being so oblivious and everyone telling Rene to get his head out of his ass, the guy can be stubborn .

That was the point where Felicity definitely chose to meddle with her friend’s love life, because – and Linda is so proud of this – she then decided to lock these two into the storage room until they sorted it out. Unfortunately, when she opened there wasn’t a heated making-out session happening like she’d hoped, but they finally got their shit together and decided to try going on a date. And the road has been bumpy since then, but now they barely can stop with the heated making-out sessions. Well, it only took them 1.5 years, Linda supposes.

She gives Dinah an empathetic smile before looking around some. She finds Thea next – now she’s talking to Sin and Lisa. Man , Linda needs to talk to the younger Snart tonight. She feels like she hasn’t had a proper talk with her since the two weeks where she had been convinced she was a lesbian after all. That had been right after she and Sam had broken off and she’s mostly mourned her friendship with Rosa – and maybe the threesomes, too – and thought maybe she’d actually fallen in love with her boyfriend’s girlfriend without noticing. Her brother had certainly enjoyed that time, even though it turned out that Lisa merely missed her friend.

It had gotten better once Lisa had picked up her new job as a truck driver. She’d developed a passion for driving once she got her license and quickly upgraded it. Mick found it ‘hella cool’, Snart not so much. Linda thinks she should star in those documentaries they do on female truck drivers. She hasn’t heard much about how it’s actually going, though. Seems like she won’t be getting much sleep with all the catching up she needs to do tonight.

Next to her, Sin looks amazing . As they always do, but ever since they had their top surgery they look so much more confident – their style doesn’t look so much like an armor anymore and more like an expression of themself. Good on them for stepping into the role of sugar baby and getting their partners to pay for them. Linda thinks sometimes it’s just necessary to know when to exploit people for your own benefit. Though she supposes Roy and Thea only profit from seeing them be happy, too. The photoshoot the three of them did together certainly had shown it – even if Moira hated it, of course.

Her eyes find Ray next – but he isn’t with Ronnie, at least not anymore. Instead, he’s been joined by Nate and Mick. For a moment, Linda wonders where they’ve left Nora Darhk, until she remembers that she and Oliver still don’t get exactly along. Yeah, it would make sense that she isn’t here tonight. Linda grins when Mick looks at her – having felt being watched – with a bemused expression. It’s on him, really. He chose to stay friends with them even after Nate stopped sleeping with him, too, once he’s joined Ray and Nora’s relationship a few months after Amaya had to move back to Zambesi after her mom fell ill. (She’s feeling better, Amaya had informed Mick, but she’d found she had missed her home more than she’d thought, so she chose to stay.)

Mick rolls her eyes at her, so Linda carries on with her search. And finally, she does find Ronnie. In a conversation with Bruce Wayne , no less. And next to him, there’s Eddie, who looks like he’s on the verge of being creepy but tries his best to seem normal. Linda can’t fault him for that, though. It’s still his M.O. when faced with Bruce Wayne.

She briefly wonders where he’s left his boys. But then again, there’s enough adults around to keep an eye on them. Plus, they’re 12 and 15, they can probably get around without supervision. Even though Bruce doesn’t look exactly relaxed while he talks to Ronnie. Not exactly distracted, either, but Linda catches him look at his phone at least twice in half a minute. He’s such a papa bear.

Linda takes a deep breath, deciding to break up whatever that is. Honestly, mostly she thinks someone needs to get Eddie out of there; the poor guy looks like he’s about to start drooling any second. Honestly, Linda wonders how he gets through life sometimes.

She makes her way over to them, already calling “Bruce Wayne!” before even arriving. Immediately, all their heads turn towards her. Even Eddie’s. Of course, Linda knows how to make an entrance.

She opens her arms and does that touching-elbows-and-giving-cheek-kisses thing like she does with all rich people she encounters (safe for Oliver, who gets a hug, and Lex Luthor, who’d get a kick in the nuts if her job didn’t depend on her behaviour) and Bruce freely returns it.

“Linda,” he says in that charming voice of his that almost lets Linda forget she’s a lesbian, “it is good to see you.”

“Likewise!” She offers, then turning to Eddie and greeting him with a kiss on the cheek, too. She pointedly ignores Ronnie. “I hope I didn’t interrupt anything too important.”

“Oh, but you did,” Bruce says, fully convinced of it being true. He nods at Ronnie before explaining, “Ronnie and I were just discussing reforms necessary to our public school system. Xe has been telling me about what xe’s planned for xyr own classroom once xe finished studying.”

And damn , that does sound like something Linda wants to get in on. Like, she obviously knew that Ronnie had big dreams when xe decided to actually go into teaching. Big queer and disabled dreams. And she has heard a bit about that, but she didn’t think she’d be confronted with those like this . With an approval by Bruce Wayne, no less. She’ll look like a total ass if she keeps ignoring xem now. 

She shoots a look at xem and – well, at least xe has the decency to duck xyr head a little. Though whether it’s at Bruce’s praise or at Linda’s presence and xem maybe rightfully feeling guilty about not having invited her to xyr wedding, she doesn’t know.  Eddie, very aware of the tension since he’s been present to many of the times that Linda called Iris to complain, looks from one of them to the other with wide eyes.

“ Really ,” Linda says with a strained smile. “I bet that’s all super interesting.”

“Oh, for sure,” Bruce says, his face lighting up. It doesn’t hide the small circles under his eyes or the few gray hairs he’s spotted – there was a whole debate in the Cat Magazine conference about whether they’re allowed to call him a silver fox now or not – but it only adds to his charm. Linda is pretty sure that Bruce Wayne somehow managed to get even finer once he’s entered his 30s. The beard he’s growing – no doubt for No Shave November as well – only compliments his looks. “Xe’s just started explaining the necessity to accommodate for hypermobile children.”

That’s an opening to switch the topic if Linda has ever seen one, so she takes it. Even though she has to admit she is curious. She’ll have to grill Ronnie about that once xe’s apologized to her with flowers and everything (yes, maybe it’ll take xem longer to make her forgive xem, but in Linda’s defense, it is really hard to ever be mad at Cait).

“Speaking of,” she starts. “How is Dick? And Jason?”

Impossibly, Bruce brightens even more at the mention of his kids. For a moment, at least. Then his mood sombers somewhat. He blows a raspberry. “They’re teenagers,” he says as if that explains everything.

Linda supposes it does, because automatically she, Ronnie and Eddie both go, “ Ooooh .”

Bruce hangs his head. “Yeah. Jason’s not too bad yet, but Dick…”

“Oh, is he in the I-hate-everyone-phase?” Eddie wants to know, putting a hand on Bruce’s shoulder. It even looks like he has no ulterior motive, Linda has to give him that. 

“No, he’s in the I-hate- Bruce -phase.” Bruce hangs his head. “And it doesn’t help that I promised him he could meet Roy Harper here.”

Linda grimaces at that. Clark has told her that Bruce’s boys both have crushes on Roy, having seen him in magazines and advertisements.  That he isn’t here yet is probably quite the disappointment for both of them.

“Damn,” is all Ronnie offers, apparently at a loss for words. Linda is glad xe’s aiming for teaching elementary school kids, because she’s not quite sure how well xe’d do with teenagers. Though Ronnie is hot, so maybe xe’s gain their attention easily…

“Yeah, apparently I’m way too protective and don’t know anything about life anyway ,” Bruce sighs. It sounds like it’s an argument he’s thought many times. “I hope Jason won’t ever think the same,” he adds pleadingly.

Linda whistles through her teeth. “That sucks,” she confirms. “So, what are your plans for that?” 

“I… I’m not sure,” Bruce says carefully. “Wait it out? I mean, that’s how teenagers are, right?”

“I mean, yeah,” Eddie shrugs. “I had other shit going on, but I’ve heard so.” He gives Bruce a reassuring smile when his head turns to him, and Linda has to wonder how much those two actually talk . She can’t tell if Bruce is aware of Eddie’s past issues or not.

But that’s not her worry right now. “Well, the way I see it, Dick is voicing a wish ,” Linda says. She’s listened to Iris preparing for her exams often enough to remember basic parenting tips, honestly. “So, maybe… you should consider giving him some freedom.”

At once, Bruce gets defensive. “It’s not like I put him in a cage ,” he insists. “He just– well, he can’t just walk around Gotham on his own!”

Which is very likely the problem. Truthfully, Linda doesn’t know whether Bruce is right about that or not. Gotham is a dangerous place, and both he and Dick have had their share of trauma and violence – not to mention Bruce being a celebrity, which means Dick is one by extension, too. It’s not even comparable to Oliver and Tommy, because Bruce has learnt what it’s like to be targeted, so of course he doesn’t see the opportunity of moving around freely like they do.

“Maybe he could go somewhere else?” Ronnie proposes. “A little vacation?”

And damn, Linda really wishes she didn’t have to agree with xem right now. But she sees Bruce frown and open his mouth for a reply – probably pointing out how that doesn’t work – and she has to. “Yeah, that’s good!” She says quickly. “Like, Dick likes Clark, right? Maybe he could stay with him and Lois for a while.” Clark certainly likes the kid, too. Every time he and Linda happened to be on the phone shortly after Clark and Bruce hung out, he wouldn’t shut up about Dick. Linda’s joked more than once that it sounds like he and Bruce adopted him together.

“Metropolis isn’t exactly–”

“You know Clark wouldn’t let him out of his sight either,” Linda counters. “Plus, Lois knows when shit happens before it happens.”

Both things that are true, so he has no chance of holding against them. Bruce still doesn’t look too happy, but he seems to be more open to consider it.

“Maybe you should talk to Dick about it,” Ronnie offers. “He’ll probably be happy if he got to contribute to those plans, too.”

Eddie squeezes where he’s still holding onto Bruce’s shoulder and adds, “And you could make plans of your own, too.”

Bruce laughs, though Linda can’t tell if he’s shocked by the brassiness or if he’s genuinely delighted by the comment. “Well, there’s still Jason, of course…” he starts, “But he’d probably love to go on a trip with Alfred some time.”

He’s dropping his voice and turning towards Eddie in a way that’s more intimate than anything Linda ever wants to be present for. A quick look at Ronnie tells her that xe’s come to the same conclusion, so she quickly says, “Well, happy we could help. I’ll talk to you later, yeah?” She’s not even sure whom of the two the last part was directed to, before she grabs Ronnie by the arm and pulls xem away.

Once they’re far away, she stops xem from grabbing some food off a plate – and damn, maybe she should have a bite at some point, too – by punching xem in the arm.

“Ow!” Ronnie says loudly, but nobody around them particularly cares. Xe rubs xyr arm and starts, “What the fuck–”

Linda crosses her arms and declares, “You are no longer my favorite bi.”

Ronnie snorts. “I never was your favorite bi,” xe points out. And yeah, obviously xe’s right. How could Linda, a harmless lesbian, not have Sara as her fave?

“Well, you’re not my favorite non-binary person either.”

Ronnie lifts one finger, “Mick,” xe says and then lifts another, “Bar.”

“Multi-gendered.”

“You literally claim Ralph as your daughter.”

Linda throws her head back and groans before simply explaining, “I am mad at you!”

“Yeah, I noticed,” Ronnie says, blinking at her. “And I can imagine why–”

“Oh, can you?”

“Sorry for not informing you, the greatest snooper to ever snoop, of our very spontaneous wedding plans,” xe says. Somehow, xyr voice actually sounds sincere.

Still, Linda points out, “Caitlin sounded more apologetic.”

She’s positive that if Ronnie were a dog, that’s when xyr ears would point up. “Oh, you’ve seen her already? I have no idea where she went after–”

“She’s in the garden with Snart,” Linda informs xem. “But don’t change the topic!”

Ronnie sighs. “Look, I don’t know what to tell you. Mostly because we did apologize to you, like, twenty times,” xe says. “But it’s not like I expected anything differently from you,” xe adds, rolling xyr eyes.

Well, shit. That kinda stung. For a second, Linda just looks at xem, completely baffled. Then, she pulls xem into a hug and says, “I love you. I love you guys and I would have loved to celebrate your love.” She didn’t even plan to say it.

Ronnie hugs her back. “Love you, too,” xe says. “And yeah, maybe that shortcut decision was a dumb idea.”

“You know,” Linda says as she pulls back, still holding onto xyr arms, “I should say that yeah , obviously it was, but while we’re being honest I guess I’ll have to say this: It was your wedding and your decision and it shouldn’t matter what anyone else thinks.”

“Wow, who are you and what have you done to Linda Park?”

“The nosy reporter stayed back in National,” Linda says easily, which makes xem laugh. “Anyway, now that that’s settled– how are you?” It’s like she only remembers now what Mick’s said earlier. “Mick mentioned you’d have weed on you so–”

“I’m fine. I mostly brought it because I knew he’d be here,” Ronnie says with a shrug. “Really, I haven’t had a fit in years. Plus, you think Cait would let me wander off alone if I wasn’t fine?”

She supposes xe’s got a point there. “Okay, good. Sorry for only asking now. I’ve been an ass.”

“Jesus, are you alright?” 

“Okay, now you’re just making me look bad. I can be a nice and empathetic person,” Linda says with a pout.

“Sorry, had to rile you up after all that,” Ronnie says. “Anyway, so you’ve talked to Cait already? What about the others? Everyone’s been so excited for you to come home.”

Linda doesn’t point out that technically National City is her home now, instead revelling in the fact that her friends missed her. “I think I’ve seen just about anyone now– well, I mean, I haven’t properly talked to Eddie yet, but…” She trails off and Ronnie nods, understanding. “And I still haven’t seen Oliver! You’d think he would be the one to say hello, seeing how he invited us, right, but–”

“Oliver?” Dinah suddenly appears next to her. Apparently she’s fled from Curtis and Rene after all. A good choice, probably. “I just saw him upstairs. But he said he’d get back to Felicity soon, so he’s probably down here somewhere,” she offers. It’s the one and only blessing of a house that’s barely wheelchair accessible – it’s easy to locate Felicity. Stairs are too exhausting for her on most days.

“Oh, thanks!” Linda calls after her, because Dinah has already passed them again. She looks back at Ronnie. “Okay, before he disappears again, I’m gonna go look for him. But I heard you and Cait are also staying here, so you better get ready to tell me all about your teaching plans later, okay?”

It had been quite the surprise when they decided to go down that route – a choice that was inflicted with quite the identity crisis on their part. When Ronnie got xyr Master’s degree, xe’d been a little lost. Not that they didn’t get any job offers; Wells had written some nice recommendation letters. And Ronnie had been hired by one of them, a car company that was supposedly focusing on making vehicles more accessible for all kinds of disabilities. But then it turned out what they were actually doing was building self-driving cars. The kind that’s regularly on the news for causing deadly accidents. (Later, Linda found out the company belonged to Lex Luthor – not easy to find out with how well he knows how to hide his tracks. Maybe he should’ve done the same when he bought Twitter in a hissy fit after losing the 2020 elections, instead of literally naming it Lex and making everyone quit the platform.)

Obviously, Ronnie quit as soon as xe understood what was actually going on. And then xe got into xyr crisis, wondering what xe really wants from a job. Looking back at xyr university experience, xe realized that what xe really enjoyed the most was being a TA. Teaching people. And thus, eventually xe decided to go into teaching. Sure, it means some more studying, and Linda is pretty sure it isn’t easy on xyr and Caitlin’s finances, but they’re making it work. And Ronnie is really enjoying it.

Xe grins at Linda’s words.. “Absolutely. Now, go. Oliver’s probably fretting again and Felicity will be so annoyed. If anyone can talk him down, it’d be you.”

“I’ll be the knight in shining armor,” Linda repeats herself from before. If her friends all keep saying the same thing, then it’s serious. She gives Ronnie another quick hug – still making up for being an ass – before heading towards Oliver’s old room at the other end of the living room.

A few people stop her on her way – like Nate, who actually interrupts his own conversation – and Linda can see surprise in their faces when she tells them she’ll catch up later. Which is actually a spot-on reaction since usually Linda never misses an opportunity for gossip. And it pains her, but the fact that she still hasn’t seen the hosts of the evening is more annoying than that, so she goes on.

Once she’s arrived at Oliver’s door, she knocks for good measure. She can barely hear it herself, but maybe the sound from the living room doesn’t carry over to the inside. Still, because she wouldn’t hear an answer anyway, she opens the door just a second later.

She closes the door right away because if someone is in here, there’s probably a reason why the door was closed in the first place, and only then does she turn around – and is met with the sight of Felicity sitting on the bed.

She’s wearing a wide beige linen dress, leaning back as far as she can manage. Her wheelchair is next to her, easy to access – which is probably for the better from what Linda has heard recently. For reasons that are very obvious when she lets her eyes roam over her friend…

“Felicity! Oh my God !” Linda shrieks before she can stop herself. “You look so–”

“Pregnant?” Felicity finishes in an amused tone. She pats her belly leisurely and says, “Well, I’d hope so– I think it would be weird if it didn’t show after eight months.”

Not that Linda didn’t know . The fact that Felicity is pregnant – and very much so – is the whole reason why they’re here, after all. Sure, a Smoak-Queen baby shower may break traditional ideas of how that goes, but it’s true all the same. It’s been quite a shock when, a few months after they got back together after their wedding-or-no-wedding fight, those two found out they’re becoming parents. And somehow, that wasn’t as much of a dealbreaker for them as getting married has been – they’ve quickly agreed to keep the child, especially after the doctors confirmed Felicity’s disability wouldn’t cause any problems for the kid.

“There are pregnancies that went by totally unnoticed,” Linda offers automatically. Then she blinks a few times, shaking off her well-informed side and focussing on what’s right in front of her. “But– oh my God! How are you? Which is a plural you, by the way, I’m asking about you and the baby.”

Felicity sighs, but it’s that kind of sigh that sounds like you may have had an exhausting day, yes, but it was amazing all the same. “We’re good!” She tells her. “Just lots of peeing involved,” she adds, ever the oversharer. Linda loves that about her.

“Oh, the little one’s sitting on your bladder, huh?” It’s one of the anecdotes Linda’s mom would keep talking about. Apparently, little Baby Smoak-Queen and she already have something in common.

“Yeah, it’s annoying,” Felicity says with a laugh. “Thankfully, it’ll be over soon.”

“Oh right, you got a date scheduled for a Cesarean, right?”

Felicity nods. “28th of December. Unless they decide to show up earlier. And let’s face it – we don’t want them to show up earlier,” she stresses, pointedly looking down at her bump. “Sara is already pissed she won’t be the godmother, we don’t need to steal her birthday, too.”

Linda’s pretty sure that Sara’s not actually pissed. She just plays it up for the drama of it all. After all, she should know better than anyone that obviously Tommy would be Oliver’s number one choice. And while Felicity loves Sara dearly, it also doesn’t surprise anyone when she’d asked Diggle to become the other godfather. The kid hasn’t been planned, and Linda doesn’t know if they actually plan on having another, but Oliver and Felicity promised Sara – and Thea, too – that if they end up having another, they’d get to step up.

“Wait,” Linda says, realization sinking in. “ They ?”

She has received quite a number of phonecalls even after Oliver stopped freaking out about becoming a dad in general – mostly about how to raise the kid as a queer parent. He and Felicity have had fights about it, too, because while they don’t want to push their kid into any kid of cisheteronormativity, they also don’t want it to feel like it has to be queer. (Like that would work in a straight society, if you ask Linda.) It also doesn’t help that Oliver, while not wanting to push any gender roles onto his child, would absolutely love being the dad of a little girl.

“Well, we don’t know the sex,” Felicity explains. It definitely helps more with prompting their friends to gift gender neutral baby items. “So we’re using they pronouns. But once they’re born we will use the stereotypical ones until they tell us otherwise.”

“That’s… an appropriate choice, I’d say,” Linda offers. She and Patty don’t plan on having any children, so all those questions hadn’t even occurred to her until one of Oliver’s many rambles about it. It occurred to her then that she wouldn’t have any clue what to do either. And also, in moments like that she’s wondered whether they shouldn’t have gotten an anxiety diagnosis for Oliver, too.

Felicity explains further, “We’re also planning on dressing them in whatever looks cute, no matter the gender – they’re getting dresses and pants alike. That is, again, until they make clear they prefer one over the other.”

“Oh, that’s cute,” Linda decides. After all, as long as they’re clad in diapers, babies don’t really differ look-wise. “And what about the name–”

She gets interrupted when the door shoots open. They’re ways from the living room, but faint chatter and music still carries over. It’s nothing in comparison to Oliver’s rather loud appearance. “Honey,” he starts, eyes focused on the three (!) plates he’s carrying, “I had no idea what you’re hungry for, so I brought a bit of everything.”

While he turns to close the door, Linda shoots Felicit a look and brings a finger to her lips. In return, she suppresses a giggle and nods.

“Oh, that’s brilliant!” Linda announces cheerfully, ignoring how Oliver jumps. “I haven’t eaten yet.”

Thankfully, Oliver has good reflexes. Where anyone else would’ve dropped the food ( their croissant , the part of her brain that was meme-infested by Cisco supplies), Oliver doesn’t let anything leave the plates. His eyes are wide when they finally settle on her. “Linda! Holy shit!”

“Oliver!” She laughs. “Beard!”

Of course, in his case she isn’t actually surprised by it. Just like the others, Oliver has grown out his facial hair for No Shave November. But unlike Cisco, he’s been very vocal about it on social media, joining Tommy for informative posts about it on Instagram. So naturally, Linda even knows about the goatee he has decided to go for. It’s still very different to see it in real-life.

Oliver grins. “Do you like it?” He wants to know.

“It certainly is a choice,” Linda offers honestly.

Felicity positively snickers. “He thinks it makes him look like Robin Hood.”

“I don’t think I have ever seen a version of the guy with a goatee,” Linda frowns. “I mean, unless you count everyone’s first collective furry experience, but I don’t think it counts if he’s a fox whose entire body is covered in fur .”

“I– He– He wasn’t–” Oliver splutters, completely caught off-guard. Instead of trying to continue this conversation, he makes his way over to the bed and sets down the plates at last.

Felicity leans over, inspecting it with a careful eye. “Oh yeah, Linda, you can definitely have some of this,” she announces. Whether she thinks it’s too much for one – no, two – people or if she simply doesn’t like it is anyone’s guess.

Linda cheers anyway. “Thank all the gods Sara knows,” she sighs. “I was starving without noticing.”

Oliver gives her a concerned look. “For how long have you been here?”

“This room? Like five minutes,” Linda says while grabbing a tapa of one of the plates. She’s pretty sure Cisco must’ve picked it up from his old workplace. “At the Quiver? Uh… Two hours? Roughly?”

“You’ve been here for two hours and didn’t say hello?”

“Well, I would haven if I had found you!” Linda insists. “Besides, I had lots of catching up to do, so excuse me if I was busy. I haven’t even talked to everyone yet! Just Iris, and Mick, Sara and Laurel and Ava, Bar and Snart, Hartmon, Eddie and Ronnie, shortly, Cait–”

“I did tell Oliver that I’m a big girl and don’t need company while I go pee,” Felicity points out while also helping herself to some food.

“But– You know, I thought– With the extra weight…” Oliver tries, scratching the back of his neck.

“And I said that’s very noble of you, honey, but I’d tell you when I need help,” Felicity reminds him.

“Oliver,” Linda says thoughtfully. “You’re doing too much again.”

Felicity throws back her head. “God, yes , he does ,” she groans before looking at Linda again. “Make him stop .”

“I’m not doing too much ,” Oliver insists. “I just care about my girlfriend and our baby.”

“Which is wonderful,” Linda confirms. “But knowing you, it can get… well, obsessive ,” she reminds him softly. This, too, isn’t a conversation that’s happened for the first time. 

It’s apparent in the guilt written on Oliver’s face, too. He bows his head a little, like a kid you catch stealing a cookie from the jar.

Thankfully, it only makes Felicity chuckle. “Well, I’ll let you two catch up,” she declares and tries to lift herself up. She struggles visibly and Linda is just about to ask if she needs help – thinking that maybe Oliver wasn’t so wrong after all – when Felicity reaches over and pulls herself up with the help of the wheelchair. There’s a triumphant smile on her lips when she turns around and lets herself sink down into it.

She rolls towards the door, which Oliver opens seemingly in instinct. Linda watches as they exchange a long glance and doesn’t even try to understand the messages they send back and forth. What matters to her is how Oliver looks after Felicity even when she’s long disappeared.

“Oliver,” she says firmly and makes her way over to him. She closes the door, snapping him out of his trance for good and puts her hand around his wrist. “Come on, let’s sit,” she decides, pulling him with her.

Oliver actually follows, thank God. If he actually didn’t want to listen to her, she wouldn’t have been able to move him at all.Linda manoeuvres him into the spot Felicity had occupied until now and sinks back down next to him.

He breaks out of his stupor immediately, shaking his head to himself. “Sorry, I know. I’m being an ass,” he declares, massaging the bridge of his nose.

Linda doesn’t even hesitate. She never will when one of her friends puts themself down. “No,” she decides, “you just got up in your head again.” She taps her index finger against Oliver’s forehead before letting go off his shoulders completely, instead sitting down next to him.

“I wouldn’t put it like that,” Oliver says quietly. “I mean, yeah. I kinda didn’t listen to her, so maybe…”

“Well, that was a bit shitty,” Linda tells him. “But it came from the heart, so I will forgive you for underestimating a strong independent woman like that.”

Her phrasing has the wished effect – Oliver does smile at least slightly, accompanied by a snort before he recovers. “I just– you know, I know how important Felicity’s independence is for her,” he says. Linda nods along, because she’s seen many times just how incredibly invasive people who just ‘wanted to help’ when they saw that Felicity uses a wheelchair can be. “I’ve been such an ass ,” he says, dropping his face into his hands.

“The way I see it, you were overwhelmed and did one of the classic Oliver Queen Things,” Linda says, putting a hand on his knees. “You went into Overprotective Mode.”

Oliver doesn’t even lift his face as he grumbles, “Do I wanna know what the second mode is?”

“Pushing everyone away, of course,” Linda says easily. “You are an All-or-Nothing guy. And I think we all prefer the All over the Nothing , so don’t worry your pretty head about it.” She pats the back of his head for emphasis.

“It’s still a dumb thing to do,” Oliver grumbles.

“You were looking out for your girlfriend and your kid,” Linda reminds him. “Plus, considering you also have a company to run, you’re allowed to be overwhelmed.” She’s gotta say, Oliver does seem calmer about that recently – it’s taken a while for him to not bend under the pressure his mom put him under, but now Oliver is confident in his role as a leader. Which doesn’t mean he isn’t critical about himself. Linda doubts she’s ever seen someone who can look as self-assured as Oliver and still question his every move so much.

Oliver lets out a deep breath, leaning back a little. When he opens his eyes again, he has a small smile on his lips. “Holy shit, Linda, I’m gonna be a dad .”

Linda can’t help but laugh at that. “That’s kinda while we’re here,” she reminds him. She thinks that usually baby showers are a bit smaller, but considering who Oliver is, it’s a surprise there’s not more people. If Moira had it her way, it would have been a stiff event at Queen Consolidated with all their business partners. Thankfully, Oliver managed to put down his foot and demand that his girlfriend’s pregnancy stays a private affair. It’s just them and their… twenty closest friends, give or take. And, of course, Slade helps so that it’ll stay this way.

“Yeah,” Oliver chuckles. He looks at Linda with wide eyes before admitting, “I’m scared shitless.”

“I think so’s everyone,” she assures him. At least that’s the impression she got. Cat’s sent her to a prenatal class for trans men for an article a while back and Linda’s pretty sure the panic those people felt had nothing to do with gender dysphoria. It’s the fact that you have to care for another life. And it is scary, she won’t lie to Oliver, but… “You’re gonna rock this,” Linda says. “You’re one of the most caring people, you try to help everyone, even the people who piss you off. And you’ll love that little guy or girl so much, they won’t have a chance of thinking you did wrong by them.”

Now, Oliver won’t look at her. Which is a clear sign that he’s being emotional. He’s the type of guy who won’t just show it to you. After a second, he rolls his eyes at her. “You’re being too nice,” he declares.

Linda blows a raspberry. “Please, you know exactly that I’d rip you apart if I needed to.”

“True,” Oliver says. He takes another deep breath, straightens his back and then… then he seems lighter, somehow. He certainly looks more relaxed now, smiling openly at Linda. “I’m excited, too,” he tells her, almost conspiratorial. “I can’t wait to meet them.”

Linda can’t hold back her own grin either. “Have you settled on names?” Oliver had been pretty secretive about that and Linda has to give him that – that’s his and Felicity’s damn right. She couldn’t even feel bothered by that. Nobody else’s opinion should matter.

“Mia if it’s a girl. William if it’s a boy.”

“I love those,” Linda says. She doesn’t know what the names mean – maybe Mick would know, he’s researched names a while ago for a new writing project – but it doesn’t matter. She’s pretty sure she’d have loved any name Oliver and Felicity had chosen.

Impossibly, Oliver starts smiling even wider. While he may feel stressed out by… well, pretty much everything, it doesn’t show on his face. At least not right now. And Linda is sure it’s not gonna be easy, that there will be times where it’ll be too much, but he and Felicity will manage. They have the help of their friends, after all. 

Speaking of…

“Come on,” Linda says and gets up, grabbing ahold of Oliver’s hand as she moves. “Let’s go out to the party. You know, it’s very rude to just leave your guests to themselves, Oliver,” she adds teasingly. 

He takes it as the joke that it is. Chuckling, Oliver gets up, too – thankfully moving on his own rather than letting Linda try (and fail) to pull him up. “Ah, come on,” he answers, “it’s not like they ring in the Apocalypse.”

“You forget who our friends are,” Linda reminds him.

At that, Oliver stops short, realization clearly sinking in. “Oh shit ,” is all he says before rushing past her.

Linda laughs. God , she missed these idiots. Her idiots.