everyonelives | why is it you always get to sit in the shade

After we eat something. I'm hungry.

( Anybody passing by can hear the shared laughter coming from William's room. )

[Yes, they can. And honestly, Michael is pleased to hear it. All he's ever wanted was his sons to be alive and happy, and since he seems to have failed that with Lucas, at least Cooper seems to be on the right track.

But as he's making his way back to his room, he contemplates, before pulling out his phone and sending a text to the one member of the Sullivan family who isn't here. She might still have him blocked, but she's hoping he doesn't:]

Coop and I are in Star City for a while, just so you know.

( She doesn't have him blocked. She couldn't block the father of her children, the man she thought she knew before everything, the only other person who could speak to her remaining son's whereabouts.

She fiddles with a matchbook in her hands when her phone sounds.

What are the odds her son and husband are so close.

She feels like she already needs a cigarette. )

You're in Star City?
I'm in Star City
What are you doing in Star City?

[There's a moment where he contemplates how much gossip he should share, but some of this is information that should come from Cooper.]

Coop made friends with William Queen. After things calmed down in New Orleans, they decided to head west.

[He wants to know what she's doing in Star City, but he isn't sure he's allowed to ask.]

( He underestimates a mother reading through the lines, or at least she can hope it's what she suspects. Obviously, men can be friends. But, she wants so much for her son to be happy. )

William Queen as in Oliver Queen as in the Green Arrow?
That William Queen?

That would be the one.

[He decided he wasn't going to speak for Cooper. He didn't say he would stop his mother from figuring things out.]

Apparently they met in Europe.

( Europe triggers pain she's been living with for months. Europe. She didn't sign on to the cause that led to her oldest son's death. She'd heard about the British Men of Letters and their efforts to ensnare the hunters years back in the 2010's. It felt like history repeating itself. She didn't trust a glorified civilian. A former guidance counselor. But, her men felt the call. It separated them at first, strained a once happy husband and wife who were already going through their growing pains. The loss of her son broke the camel's back. More than a straw. It was half of her heart.

That he could find solace and make a friend after, well, how couldn't she be happy. Life is about finding your happiness amid the turmoil life brings, especially in a hunting family.

Two calls go out to the hunter network, one, a list she wants no part of, and two, a ceasefire. She'd heard Monroe's hunters had disbanded. She heard a few weeks later Monroe's body had been burned along with a few others. Everything had burned in New Orleans. She knew Cooper was a survivor and hoped that losing his brother was a wake up call he needed.

Not that she was perfect. Not that she did her part as a parent. Grief is a funny, shitty, world-altering thing. She drowned in it for days. And then a job came up. And another. And another.

He says apparently like he didn't know his son was overseas where he didn't belong. Where his world didn't crash down.

Worlds can be rebuilt.

This is a hard conversation, and instead of talking around him, she places a call to her son, hopeful he'll answer. )

[Coop and William are actually heading down to lunch on time when his phone rings. He is about to swipe ignore and deal with it later when he sees his mom on the caller ID.]

I have to take this. I'll catch up with you.

[And once he's alone in the middle of a hallway somewhere in Queen Manor, he answers the phone.]

Hey, Mom.

( William leaves Cooper to his call, off to find his family or their other guests. )

Hey, baby. ( Calling out of the blue isn't unlike her, but still doesn't quite know where to start. ) Your dad sent me a message. Star City, huh?

Edited 2022-04-25 23:44 (UTC)

Yeah, that seems to be where we're stopping for a while.

[He made William a deal, and he's going to hold up his end. Besides, it's not like where he calls home isn't constantly moving.]

You and Dad are talking again?

He thought I should know. Maybe he has a sixth sense. ( She pauses. ) I am also in Star City. I was on a job. What are the chances? ( She lets the silence linger for a second again. ) So, how have you been? How is -- tell me about Europe.

Europe was ... busy.

[He doesn't know how much they should delve into this. How much she does or doesn't want to talk about Lucas. But he doesn't want her to worry after the fact given the dangerous decisions he was making.]

But I made some friends. Some who put me on ... the right side of things.

[A beat.]

Technically I think I work for Allison Argent now?

Allison Argent.

( Well, that makes her sit down. As does his being on the right side of things. )

I heard Tamara Monroe was put on the pyre. ( Salt. Burned. ) If you want to talk about any of it, I'll listen. I'll always listen. I just -- couldn't support her.

( Now that he's going to take that the wrong way. )

You made friends?

No, you were right. She got Lucas killed. Everything changed after that.

[He figured it out, even if he didn't get it at first.]

But yeah, friends. I met a guy named William and he helped me figure things out. He and his sister live in Star City, so we're staying with his family. If you're in town, maybe I could come see you later?

I'm sorry I didn't know.

( She really pulled back. There were ugly words said between all parties. This is the opposite. )

William Queen. Your dad also said.

( She neither confirms nor denies what he's said, leaving the onus on her son. )

Oh. So you guys are really talking.

[That's ... progress? He won't let that deflection sit for too long.]

But yeah. William Queen. We're sort of ...

[It's one thing to say it to other people, it's another to say it to your mom.]

I really care about him.

( Yes, totally. Really, full, three messages worth of talking. This she can talk about. )

Okay. Well, tell me, what's he like.

He's ... really smart. Like when he starts talking tech at me, I have no idea what he's saying but it's super adorable. And ... I feel like he gets me. Which is rare.

[He pauses.]

It's kind of nice, actually.

It sounds nice. When you find that person that gets you, without even having to ask -- it's rare, Cooper.

( It sounds like it's only been a few months so she won't pry further, but she has to say. )

He sounds really special.

Yeah, he is.

[He pauses.]

But you didn't answer my question. I'm having lunch with his dad this afternoon, but I should have time later. We could have coffee or something?

Coffee would be nice.

( Everything being left unsaid may make it seem like she'd missed the invitation, a sliver of son time she does need, but the hunter in her was already finding her son's address. )

How about you have lunch, get to know the Oliver Queen ( and his second wife, the news says ) and then get in touch.

( She's lying. She won't let him get far enough for that, but she hasn't ever been the most forthcoming parent. )

Alright. I'll text you when we're done.

[And after saying the requisite goodbyes, he'll try and catch up to William and the rest, finding his seat next to him at the table.]

Sorry for the delay. My mom called.

( William leans in, taking a bite from a roll. Cooper hasn't mentioned his mother before. It feels good to be let into that side of his life, even if it's slowly. )

What did she want?

Just to check in. She's in town, actually.

[He pauses because while he doesn't want to seem like he's excluding William or keeping him from his mother...]

I might go meet her for coffee after we're done here? I do want you to meet her but I haven't seen her since before Lucas and I think I need to gauge how hard the winds of Hurricane Evelyn are blowing first.

( He definitely waits to swallow that piece of bread before making it clear he doesn't feel like he's being kept apart.

"I get it. I'll be here waiting. Or, out if Mia drags us." He suspects tonight will be about letting loose. (He may have also floated the idea.)

Oliver stands at the head of the table, holding his glass up. )

I wanted to make a toast. To the homecoming we've been waiting for, and to future family, to friends. We don't know what the world will bring us, but we know that we have each other. Even if we aren't on the same continent. Family will always be there.

( The group starts to dig in when there is a knock at the front door, echoing through the manse. )

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