Author's Note: I've had a few scenes rattling around in my head since starting to watch Arrow. This was after Roy saved Thea the first time.

::

He fought the urge to slam the door on the rich gullible girl as he closed it behind her. Who did she think she was, slumming it in the Glades? He didn't need her pity, her charity, her anything. He'd been a bit stung at the surprised look on her face when he'd said that all her things were still in her purse. As if he was incapable of restraint, that he was just a common thief.

Well. Maybe he was, but he didn't need Thea Queen reminding him of that.

He stepped back but then hesitated. The Glades weren't the safest place for anyone, let alone some chick with expensive clothes and a little more swagger than someone her size should have. Peeking through the curtain, he saw her cross the street. Without thinking this through fully, he opened the door and went after her.

Keeping himself just far enough that she wouldn't see him should she look back, he made sure she got to the better part of town before falling back. He shook his head at her as he walked away. She hadn't looked back once, seemingly absorbed in her phone and checking the contents of her bag. A dumb move in the Glades.

::

He didn't mean for it to become a routine with her. Mostly because he thought that that first time was also the last time he was going to see her again. Yet she kept popping up at the most random moments, pushing him and his life in a direction he didn't think he really wanted to go in (or maybe he wasn't ready for). Despite that, despite the fact that she annoyed him, he couldn't leave her to walk through the Glades by herself. She didn't belong, but it didn't mean he wanted to see her get hurt.

::

Spoiled brats should stay where they belong. He forced himself to stay in his house, to stop making the effort. She kept wanting him to "be more." He didn't know why. Maybe it was so that she didn't feel that she was reaching too far below her if she could just get him on a regular job. Sure she was hot, but that didn't mean he was going to lose whatever self-respect he had just so he could get some.

But he couldn't ignore the feeling of needing to make sure she was safe.

::

Only after she'd helped him up from the ground, offering her slight shoulder to bear some of his weight, did he start to admit to himself that "something more" could be possible. At least with her.