'There was a noise somewhere but he couldn't make it out. He tried to call for help but it wasn't words, just a distressed sound and more tears.'
I love Oliver Queen, aka The Green Arrow, and the show he's the lead of - which is handily named Arrow. 😅
(Also handily, this was the first in the CW's DC series, known collectively as 'Arrowverse')
Oliver's had something of a rough life.
I mean, the first 20-something years were pretty sweet - he was the priviliged trust fund party-boy with little regard for what substances he was sticking in his body, and the feelings of his romantic partners.
(I was gonna make a dodgy pun there, but thankfully resisted. If you can figure out what it would've been, then you've probably read as much fanftiction as I have! 😅)
But then, and this isn't a spoiler cos it's literally the entire premise of the show, he gets shipwrecked and ends up as a castaway for about 5 years - and things only go downhill from there.
No, really. Things get worse from there.
Like, the amount of trauma and general sh** that Oliver has put up with in his life is freaking huge.
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| Via Giphy |
Unsurprisingly, this makes Oliver a great target for fanfiction exploring mental health.
One of my few issues with the show itself is that we're now on the final series, and we've yet to see Oliver's mental health effectively explored on-screen.
I mean, even seeing the effects of burnout (there was a series where I swear to God, our boy didn't sleep for weeks at a time,) would've been something.
Thank God or whoever's out there for fanfiction!
This fic takes Oliver Queen - damaged bada** with a bow and arrow and a kill-count most assassins would... well, kill for - and gives him a fear of the dark. Without removing one inch of his strength.
This is a full-on phobia accompanied by a panic attack - WARNING for that, btw, it's written v. well! - and confidently shows that it's not a weakness.
Phobias and mental health problems can affect anyone. Even bad-a** vigilantes who could probably snap you like an effing twig.
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| Via Giphy |
There's an under-current of b/romance to this fic - but it isn't the point here, and the fic author is aware of that.
For those wondering, it takes the highly complicated relationship between Oliver and mercenary Slade Wilson and puts it into this scenario of Oliver finding the room completely dark and freaking out.
In the show, Slade and Oliver...
Well, it literally varies from best friends to worst enemies, via a brother-style relationship, a father-son-style relationship, and various other frenemy/bromance stages in between.
What I'm saying is, these two have so much History that a romantic relationship would be one of the least complicated interactions they've ever had. Seriously.
This week's fic, then, is:
What Shadows Hide by TrippinOverMyFandoms
Do you think phobias need more rep.?
What's your favourite frenemy/bromantic relationship between characters?
Talk to me! 😊💬
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Last updated: 26th Dec 2019
From someone who has a lot of them: I definitely think that phobias need more rep!
ReplyDeleteTotally with you! There should be more rep. of phobias, particularly for 'strong' characters.
DeleteI don't have m/any *phobia*-level fears, but I'm totally scared of spiders. And me and swimming have a complex history.
Sometimes Anxiety will turn things that I'm not usually bothered by into a phobia-level problem, but thankfully that's rare.