While You Watch My Heart Bleed (Thea, *R*, 32/?)
Title: While You Watch My Heart Bleed
Author: Karen U
Pairing/Character: Thea, Tony Stark, Oliver, Team Arrow, Avengers, others
Disclaimer: no one you recognize belongs to me
Rating: R
Summary: Moira had a lot of secrets... They're about to find one out.
Spoilers: for Arrow - prologue is during State v. Queen. The rest of the story comes after Seeing Red. Avengers - Post Winter Soldier.
Warnings: language, violence, adult situations
This fic also has a prologue
Part Thirty-Two
Thea hurried into the Tower, making her way across the lobby floor and toward one of the elevators, pulling Darcy into it and hitting the button to close the door, then placing her hand against the scanner so her identity could be verified. She turned her head away from the flashes that were directed her way even as security stepped forward to force those that had followed them in back outside.
"Fuck," she said after a moment, reaching out to push the button for one of the residential floors... The one Darcy had said she lived on rather than the one that Thea had been staying on since she'd come to the Tower just a couple of days before. Shaking her head, she pushed a hand through her hair.
"So... That went well," Darcy said after a moment, and Thea snorted.
"Yeah. Totally awesome. Until someone recognized me and called the damned tabloids," the young woman said, shaking her head. "Who do you think it was?"
"Could be someone that we didn't even talk to. But my best guess is that it was the guy that was staring at my boobs, then tried to grab your ass... Only for you to knock him on his and tell him where to go," Darcy replied. "Which... Yay you on what you did to the guy... But he's definitely in the my top three guesses for who might have called the vultures in. I mean... If he knew who you were, then he probably did it because he was pissed off that we weren't oh-so-grateful for his harassment and all of that."
"Freaking scumbag," Thea muttered, though she couldn't really argue the idea that it could have been the (likely) frat-boy asshole that had decided that touching her without permission was somehow a totally cool thing to do. Good thing that Sara had shown her a few moves to defend herself when the blonde woman had shown back up, basically coming back from the dead (or seemingly doing so, though the truth was that she'd never been dead).
"Yeah, guys can totally be shitheads, especially when you aren't totally bowled over by their amazing attempts to pick you up," Darcy said, then shook her head. "Seriously though... What the fuck was that? He gets turned down, so he sends reporters after you?"
"To be fair, we don't know who actually gave the tip," Thea replied, hating that she was saying anything that might be considered sticking up for the asshole, but the thing was... It was true. They didn't know who had called those tabloid reporters in, and it might not have been him. It could have been someone else that saw them - maybe even someone that had seen Thea knock the guy on his ass. After all, when the guy had run off - calling them both bitches as he did so - he hadn't called Thea by name or anything. Hadn't shown any sign that he recognized her as a member of the Queen family... The daughter of a woman that had been murdered maybe a week before. And wow... Had it really been such a short amount of time? From Moira's death to her funeral to Thea finding out that Tony Stark was her father to her coming to New York with him... It felt like a lifetime ago, not a mere week.
"I know what their story will be," Thea said in a hollow voice. "My mother died a week ago, and here I am, having a latte in New York with a friend."
"So what if you are? Spending time with a friend doesn't somehow mean you aren't grieving. You left Starling to visit your support system. What's the problem with that?"
"I didn't even know any of you a few days ago-"
"They don't know that," Darcy tossed back, and that much was true. The media could speculate whatever the hell they wanted, but even if they said they couldn't find any connections between Thea and anyone she was visiting, that didn't mean she couldn't say that the opposite was true and she'd just been good at keeping her friendships quiet. Not that she owed them an explanation... Because Thea didn't owe them a damned thing.
As the elevator doors slid open, Thea pushed herself away from the wall, stepping out onto the residential floor. "I should probably tell Tony what happened."
"He could try and nip it in the bud... Or whatever the saying is," Darcy replied, and Thea frowned.
"Yeah, but if anyone got wind of him stepping in... That would just make things worse, wouldn't it? Right now, I'm just visiting you. You're the only one they saw me with, unless they start scouring security footage from everywhere around the Tower and find that I went to lunch with Clint Barton yesterday... And crazy, isn't it, that I got away with going to lunch with an Avenger and no one noticed, but I go to coffee with you and..." She shook her head as they headed down the hall, stopping not at Darcy's quarters, but instead in the community lounge on the floor, Thea flopping down on one of the couches, Darcy sitting in one of the cushy chairs, drawing her legs up onto the cushion with her. "Anyway... Right now, the only person I've definitely been seen with is you. If Tony steps in... It connects to me him, and... I'm not quite ready for the whole world to know that my father is Iron Man. I'd kind of like the chance to get to know him better first, you know?"
Darcy nodded. "I mean... You had this whole big bunch of stuff thrown at you in the past couple of years. I mean, I kind of looked you up when I was told that you were staying here, and... I saw a bunch of stuff. Some of it good, like your brother being found, but a lot of it not-so-good-"
"Like my mom's trial, her subsequent divorce, my own issues with the law, me being kidnapped, that one time I was held hostage... Oh, and yeah... My mother was murdered right in front of me," Thea said on a sigh, and Darcy cringed.
"Those would be the things. And I'm sorry for looking you up like that-"
"I'm sorry that next time you look me up, you might find some pictures of yourself, too," Thea said with a sigh.
"I should have known better than to take you to a place as popular as that coffee shop. 'Cause I'm willing to bet that Clint was at least smart enough to take you to a little hole-in-the-wall when you grabbed food-"
"And we went at an off time. It was, like, two o'clock when we left. Not as many people eating lunch then," Thea said, then pushed herself to her feet. Darcy frowned as she looked at the younger girl.
"Where are you going?" she wanted to know, and Thea made a face.
"To find Tony. I need to let him know what happened before someone else does. And before his attempts to fix it makes things even worse."
end part thirty-two
Author: Karen U
Pairing/Character: Thea, Tony Stark, Oliver, Team Arrow, Avengers, others
Disclaimer: no one you recognize belongs to me
Rating: R
Summary: Moira had a lot of secrets... They're about to find one out.
Spoilers: for Arrow - prologue is during State v. Queen. The rest of the story comes after Seeing Red. Avengers - Post Winter Soldier.
Warnings: language, violence, adult situations
This fic also has a prologue
Part Thirty-Two
Thea hurried into the Tower, making her way across the lobby floor and toward one of the elevators, pulling Darcy into it and hitting the button to close the door, then placing her hand against the scanner so her identity could be verified. She turned her head away from the flashes that were directed her way even as security stepped forward to force those that had followed them in back outside.
"Fuck," she said after a moment, reaching out to push the button for one of the residential floors... The one Darcy had said she lived on rather than the one that Thea had been staying on since she'd come to the Tower just a couple of days before. Shaking her head, she pushed a hand through her hair.
"So... That went well," Darcy said after a moment, and Thea snorted.
"Yeah. Totally awesome. Until someone recognized me and called the damned tabloids," the young woman said, shaking her head. "Who do you think it was?"
"Could be someone that we didn't even talk to. But my best guess is that it was the guy that was staring at my boobs, then tried to grab your ass... Only for you to knock him on his and tell him where to go," Darcy replied. "Which... Yay you on what you did to the guy... But he's definitely in the my top three guesses for who might have called the vultures in. I mean... If he knew who you were, then he probably did it because he was pissed off that we weren't oh-so-grateful for his harassment and all of that."
"Freaking scumbag," Thea muttered, though she couldn't really argue the idea that it could have been the (likely) frat-boy asshole that had decided that touching her without permission was somehow a totally cool thing to do. Good thing that Sara had shown her a few moves to defend herself when the blonde woman had shown back up, basically coming back from the dead (or seemingly doing so, though the truth was that she'd never been dead).
"Yeah, guys can totally be shitheads, especially when you aren't totally bowled over by their amazing attempts to pick you up," Darcy said, then shook her head. "Seriously though... What the fuck was that? He gets turned down, so he sends reporters after you?"
"To be fair, we don't know who actually gave the tip," Thea replied, hating that she was saying anything that might be considered sticking up for the asshole, but the thing was... It was true. They didn't know who had called those tabloid reporters in, and it might not have been him. It could have been someone else that saw them - maybe even someone that had seen Thea knock the guy on his ass. After all, when the guy had run off - calling them both bitches as he did so - he hadn't called Thea by name or anything. Hadn't shown any sign that he recognized her as a member of the Queen family... The daughter of a woman that had been murdered maybe a week before. And wow... Had it really been such a short amount of time? From Moira's death to her funeral to Thea finding out that Tony Stark was her father to her coming to New York with him... It felt like a lifetime ago, not a mere week.
"I know what their story will be," Thea said in a hollow voice. "My mother died a week ago, and here I am, having a latte in New York with a friend."
"So what if you are? Spending time with a friend doesn't somehow mean you aren't grieving. You left Starling to visit your support system. What's the problem with that?"
"I didn't even know any of you a few days ago-"
"They don't know that," Darcy tossed back, and that much was true. The media could speculate whatever the hell they wanted, but even if they said they couldn't find any connections between Thea and anyone she was visiting, that didn't mean she couldn't say that the opposite was true and she'd just been good at keeping her friendships quiet. Not that she owed them an explanation... Because Thea didn't owe them a damned thing.
As the elevator doors slid open, Thea pushed herself away from the wall, stepping out onto the residential floor. "I should probably tell Tony what happened."
"He could try and nip it in the bud... Or whatever the saying is," Darcy replied, and Thea frowned.
"Yeah, but if anyone got wind of him stepping in... That would just make things worse, wouldn't it? Right now, I'm just visiting you. You're the only one they saw me with, unless they start scouring security footage from everywhere around the Tower and find that I went to lunch with Clint Barton yesterday... And crazy, isn't it, that I got away with going to lunch with an Avenger and no one noticed, but I go to coffee with you and..." She shook her head as they headed down the hall, stopping not at Darcy's quarters, but instead in the community lounge on the floor, Thea flopping down on one of the couches, Darcy sitting in one of the cushy chairs, drawing her legs up onto the cushion with her. "Anyway... Right now, the only person I've definitely been seen with is you. If Tony steps in... It connects to me him, and... I'm not quite ready for the whole world to know that my father is Iron Man. I'd kind of like the chance to get to know him better first, you know?"
Darcy nodded. "I mean... You had this whole big bunch of stuff thrown at you in the past couple of years. I mean, I kind of looked you up when I was told that you were staying here, and... I saw a bunch of stuff. Some of it good, like your brother being found, but a lot of it not-so-good-"
"Like my mom's trial, her subsequent divorce, my own issues with the law, me being kidnapped, that one time I was held hostage... Oh, and yeah... My mother was murdered right in front of me," Thea said on a sigh, and Darcy cringed.
"Those would be the things. And I'm sorry for looking you up like that-"
"I'm sorry that next time you look me up, you might find some pictures of yourself, too," Thea said with a sigh.
"I should have known better than to take you to a place as popular as that coffee shop. 'Cause I'm willing to bet that Clint was at least smart enough to take you to a little hole-in-the-wall when you grabbed food-"
"And we went at an off time. It was, like, two o'clock when we left. Not as many people eating lunch then," Thea said, then pushed herself to her feet. Darcy frowned as she looked at the younger girl.
"Where are you going?" she wanted to know, and Thea made a face.
"To find Tony. I need to let him know what happened before someone else does. And before his attempts to fix it makes things even worse."
end part thirty-two