Day 1: Soulmate AU

The first time Ray found writing that definitely wasn't his on his skin he was 16 and attending Senior Classes having being skipped ahead two years. He never kept notes on his skin but suddenly he found 'Distance: 2.4km; Response: 108 Seconds; Traffic: Light' Written on the inside of his forearm in blue ink. At first he stared at it confused, then it made sense he supposed. He was 16 now, when you were 16 anything your soulmate wrote on their skin, appeared on yours, but that also included bruises and other marks. Luckily not tattoos, for some reason they didn't transfer, which was probably a good thing considering what some people got tattooed on drunk nights out.

He sat in AP Physics trying to work out what the note could possibly mean while Dr Wells droned on and on about the practical uses of physics in the modern world when he noticed it. Before he could even consider replying Dr Wells called him out on a question which he stammered and did some quick mental maths to decipher the answer. Dr Wells told him to concentrate and went back to lecturing.

He wondered who it could be, he knew it wasn't Anna, her soulmate called to her the day she turned 16, saying they had been getting her notes for the last two years. As it happened the guy lived very locally and it was a miracle they hadn't already crossed paths. Ray had insisted she go meet him. He couldn't expect her to stay with him when there was someone supposedly perfect for her out there. They remained very good friends and still saw each other all the time, after all they were still in the same school until he graduated this Summer.

Over the months the words on Ray's arm came frequent but cryptic. He had to wear long sleeves during his final exams due to the sheer amount of things written on him. He'd not dared write back once, he'd thought about it but he feared the reaction of the other person. Once he'd woken up with a phone number written on his palm at an odd angle and very smushed together with 'Lisa's new number' scribbled beneath it. He wondered how anyone could possibly attempt to read that, but tried not to think about his soulmate hooking up with other people. Ray didn't know this person, he had no right to be jealous. But that didn't mean he wasn't.

While planning for college Ray was very careful not to write on his skin, he was so careful. Until one day late in his first semester in Stein's lecture there was a room change for his tutorials, his laptop had just died on him and he'd left his notebook in his dorm, so he scribbled it on the back of his hand. He hadn't seen any writing on his skin in so long he'd honestly forgotten about his mysterious soulmate, whoever they were.

He was not, however, expecting the reply he received.

'Please tell me you have not only just turned 16?' He didn't notice it at first, it was a guy in his dorm who noticed the red ink on Ray's forearm. Followed by 'who the hell is Stein?'

Ray retreated to his room, his other arm tingling with the familiar itch as more words began forming there, 'hello, anyone there?'

Ray snatched up a pen from his desk, 'Stein is my college professor. And none of your business.'

'You're in College?'

'Yes..? Why?'

'What are you some kind of nerd?'

'I prefer the word genius.' Ray wrote back. They wrote to each other for another hour, Ray ritually cleaning his arm and he assumed the other person did too. 'So do I get a name, location, anything?' He asked and he sensed hesitation, it took the stranger a few minutes to reply.

'No.'

'How come?'

'It's for your own protection Raymond.'

'Come on, I gave you my name.'

'Still no Raymond. I have to go, wear long sleeves if you go out.'

'What? No, come back here.' But there was no reply. Cursing Ray pushed off of his bed where he had ended up through the conversation and changed out of his t-shirt into his long sleeved Starling City Archer's shirt. Ray loved baseball, he played in high school, he was the pitcher; he'd wished he could have stayed sometimes, he wasn't old enough to play in the College League and the coach refused to make an exception. After changing he went to the library to start his next paper loosing track of time he didn't notice he'd fallen asleep until a girl in his year, pre-law he recalled, Laurel shook his shoulder waking him, saying it was closing time.

"Thanks Laurel," he yawned stretching his arms above his head. He noted the writing on her forearm. She and her soulmate had been fortunate enough to grow up together and were in a long distance relationship while he attended business school to please his disapproving father. "How's Tommy?" He asked, they all lived in Starling City but Ray's parents sent him and his annoying twin brother to public school, where it was first thought they were both geniuses but when they got tested they found out Sydney had been copying Ray's homework. Even Ray hadn't noticed, he hated his brother, he was a jerk.

"Tommy's good, his dad still disapproves of me but there's nothing he can do about it. Tommy threatened to quit school if his dad didn't start being nice. Believe me it's nice he's making an effort, but I'd rather he did because he liked me, not because he has no other children to pass the company onto." She sighed, "sorry."

"No, I totally get it, dad wants me to take over the company but I don't wanna do that, I wanna invent things and improve lives, not sell soda. He said if I graduate top of my class he'll front me the cash to start my own company."

"That's a lot of pressure Ray." Laurel said concerned. Ray shrugged.

"It'll be fine, my father is a man of his word, and he'll probably let me anyway, but if I fail he expects me to work for him. And that's the last thing I want, so I'm pretty motivated." He felt his arm itching, "I gotta go, coffee sometime?"

"Sure, text me when you're free."

Ray reached his room and dropped onto his bed, rolling up his sleeve he sighed, whatever was there a minute ago, was now just a smudge.

Ray graduated top of his class for both Undergraduate and his Masters Degree in Science and Technology Engineering, to his word his father funded his company start-up, saying he expected it all to be paid back. So Ray bought a warehouse in Starling City, working to kit it out with all he needed, top security, a fully functioning lab and some staff. Palmer Technologies. He was confident one day everyone would know his brand. He worked hard, he planned, built and pitched to investors. Small scale at first but in the first year he'd had lots of success and needed to upscale his operation. So he did.

He had grown concerned though. Sometime in his soulmate, who eventually had given in and told him a name, Len, had fallen silent. Ray knew he wasn't dead. When your soulmate died the last words you ever wrote to each other remained permanently on your skin.

He had no idea what he had done to piss Len off, but the silence had just happened. Nothing for so long, he began to forget what the itch he had come to enjoy feeling felt like. In the end Ray gave up before his final exams and wrote his final message: 'Don't know why you're ignoring me but whatever I guess.'

He left it on for 24 hours before washing it off and didn't writing directly to Len again. He never got a reply, he didn't really expect one, but they had become pretty close before the silence began. Then suddenly it began again, like nothing had ever happened. 'Hey, you OK?' Ray read it one morning and couldn't believe the nerve of this guy! So he ignored Len, but Len was nothing if not persistent. 'OK, I deserve this but Ray please, let me explain' he got the next day. Everyday there was a new plea for a reply, he ignored them every day for months. Only leaving messages like 'go away' or 'wash this off I have a meeting.' When he really needed to.

Laurel who had stuck by him through the whole silent period encouraged him to give Len a chance but Ray was afraid he wouldn't like the answer or Len would lie to him and he didn't know if he could take it. He'd developed quite the crush on Len, a man he'd never met and then he just got four years of silence? He'd suffered and he barely knew anything about the guy!

Eventually Len agreed to give him space and he didn't attempt to talk to Ray, though he did constantly use his arms as notepads so Ray wore long sleeves, mainly because the notes weren't always PG13. He suspected Len was trying to get a rise out of him. He didn't let it show.

After five years he had paid his father back for investing. His father was very proud of him and had accepted his choices which brought on a small conflict of interest. Sydney.

His brother had lost his job their father had gotten him at the soda company. All five of them. Which meant Ray was currently stood in his parent's Starling City apartment with his arms folded. "No way, absolutely not, I work with dangerous equipment, Sydney is not coming within 500 feet of my company," he declared.

"Raymond he's your brother," his mother argued.

"Mom he's an idiot!"

"Raymond-"

"No way, he screwed up boxing soda mom, I'm not letting him near my inventions." He told her. He could see the sympathy in his father's eyes, Ray knew he hadn't wanted Sydney near the soda factory either.

"Please Ray, give your brother a chance."

Ray sighed, his mom would not quit, "he get s one chance, but mom, he is on the thinnest of ice from day one, he screws up even the tiniest bit he's gone, I worked hard for this, I won't let him ruin me." He warned and his mother agreed to the terms. "He's also an intern, he gets coffee and runs errands until he can be trusted. Nothing else. Tell him to dress smart and be there, 8AM Monday." Ray left his parents place and returned to his own penthouse across the city when he felt his arm itch. Sighing he looked at the words forming, if his parents were making him give Sydney a chance, maybe he could afford Len one too?

Whatever formed he didn't see it in time, because it was quickly a grey smudge in his hand. Taking a pen from the kitchen he wrote, 'hey, I know it's been a while but can we talk?'

'I guess, what's up?' It was a quick reply, Ray had barely poured himself a drink.

'Family stress, how have you been?'

'Bored, what about your family is stressful?'

'My brother, he's an ass'

'I've heard they can be'

'No siblings?'

'A sister. She's 15. I used to look after her.'

'Used to?'

'Yeah, that's why I was gone, I got' there was a pause, 'I was in prison. That's why I couldn't talk. Believe me Ray, I wanted to.'

Ray paused, not sure really how to respond to that news his soulmate had been in prison. Though it did make him feel better knowing he hadn't been ignored or done anything wrong. Ray and Len wrote to each other for hours, Ray tried to get to know him more but he was very closed off about his personal life. All he got was that Len was 31, making him six years older than him, Ray didn't mind and he understood why Len had freaked out the first time they wrote to each other and he asked how recently he had turned 16.

'So tell me about your sister,' Ray tried.

'Lisa, she's great-'

'Lisa?'

'Yes…' Len replied.

'No, um, it's silly really, years ago, when I was 17 you had Lisa's new number written on your hand and I was kinda jealous.' Ray wrote.

'Well I can assure you, you have nothing to worry about from my kid sister.'

'Glad to hear, so am I gonna get more than just a first name tonight?'

'Maybe not tonight, we just started talking again and trust me, I can't be what you deserve, good night.'

'Night.' Ray wrote after hesitating.

Monday morning Ray arrived at his office, now a large office building in the centre of the City's business world. Amazingly his brother was stood there in smart pants, a blue shirt and a waistcoat. Ray was impressed, he thought he wouldn't have shown or at least been late. He figured it wouldn't last, he knew his screw-up brother.

2 Weeks, 4 days, 1 hour and 9 minutes.

That's how long it took for Sydney to fuck up.

It was Ray's trusted friend and co-worker Felicity Smoak who was working to put herself through college and earn money for MIT tuition who turned him in. Ray called her into the office saying he never got the plans she had been supposed to send up before lunch.

"Ray I swear I sent them three hours ago, your brother picked them up," she told him.

"My brother? He left hours ago, said he had a Drs Appointment." Ray said confused. The phone on Ray's desk rang. "Hello? Oh, really, well thank you Mr Queen, ever so much for letting me know, actually I didn't make that design, a student from Starling U with exceptional talent did, you should keep your eye on her, she's planning on MIT…" Ray spoke to Robert Queen while Felicity blushed every time he mentioned her name, her long brown hair curled around her face. "So that was Robert Queen, turns out my brother took the plans tried selling them to Queen Consolidated, Robert is sending his son back with Sydney and the plans and you may or may not have impressed an MIT scholarship out of Robert Queen." Felicity's palm began to itch but she continued to talk to Ray, not thinking much to look, normally she couldn't work out what her soulmate was writing or going on about and she had never dared to talk back.

Someone knocked on the office door a short while later, Ray was still speaking with Felicity, a young man entered, holding a file and Sydney being pushed, rather against his will, by another man, his hands in handcuffs. "Mr Palmer."

"Please call me Ray."

"Ray, call me Oliver, this is my security guard, John Diggle, you know your brother," as the two men spoke Felicity looked at the writing on her palm, written there was the building's address. Confused she looked between the two men, Oliver and John, willing one of them to open their left hand and show their palm. "And this must be Miss Smoak," he held out his left hand and she stared, "Miss Smoak?"

"I am so sorry, um, right, yes, I am, please, call me Felicity," she said, she shook his hand but for some reason didn't let go, she seemed mesmerised.

"Um…"

"Oh God, I should let you have your hand back, right um, I mean you'll need it for um… you know- not that I was insinuating- I'm going to shut up now," she said and held her hands up in surrender and he took hold of her wrist, inspecting her hand against his own.

"I- I can't believe it-"

Ray watched trying not to laugh at Felicity's antics. He loved her quirks, like she was the little sister he would have so much preferred to Sydney. "I should let you all go, Felicity I believe I've kept you from lunch, please go while I deal with my brother." He said insistently, "Oliver, thank you, please pass on my thanks to your father, Mr Diggle," he nodded in the man's direction.

"I will, may I escort you to lunch Miss Smoak?"

Ray watched his brother in silence, he was still handcuffed and complaining about them being tight, Ray was pleased he didn't have a key. Their father arrived soon after the others had left and Ray explained fully what had happened.

That night he and Len exchanged numbers and began texting each other. Mainly because explaining his brother would take up way too much skin and time.

'So do you think they'll let you have Lisa back?-R'

'I hope so I mean she's almost 16 and then they won't have a say, might as well speed up the process.-L'

'True I guess, I gotta go, have to set about replacing my brother tomorrow. Night-R'

'Sweet dreams Raymond- L.'

Their first phone call was New Year's Eve, Ray was at his parents, and Sydney was wisely avoiding him. It was ten minutes to midnight, Ray was in high spirits talking to guests when his phone buzzed in his pocket and he excused himself to the guest room. "Hello?" He asked not checking the caller ID.

"Raymond?" The hesitant voice asked.

"Len?"

"Yeah it's me, if this is a bad time I can call back-"

"No, it's good actually, it's nice to hear your voice, how are you?"

"I'm good, they're letting me have Lisa, and I thought I would let you know since you asked your friend for all that legal advice, it helped a lot."

"Well I'll be sure to let Laurel know. I'm happy you got her back; I can tell she means a lot to you."

"She does. You know, if she had never taken my notepad to school that day when you first felt the writing we never would have met probably."

"Really? Well I guess I owe her a big thank you." Ray could hear the countdown starting outside of the bedroom.

"ZERO."

"Happy New Year Len."

"Happy New Year Raymond."

"Maybe we could meet up this year, I'm kind of eager to meet you. Ever since I was 16 really."

"I'd like that."

January 24th Ray arrived in Central City and checked into his hotel and headed to his secondary and convenient purpose of visiting, his meeting at S.T.A.R Labs with his old school teacher the now Infamous Harrison Wells.

That evening Ray showered and prepared for his true purpose of visiting Central City. Len had told him his sister was competing for a place on the US Olympic skating team and he'd asked Ray if he would like to come watch. Ray agreed without hesitation. He arrived at the venue and flashed the all access pass Len had sent him so he could watch from the benches with him. On the ice the speed skating competitors were warming up. "Len these skates are killing me," he heard and turned at a young girl who's skates were being laced up tightly by a guy on his knees with his back to Len.

"I'm sorry Lisa, I couldn't get the money together for new ones yet, if you get on the team we'll get a sponsor, I swear but until then you'll have to make do. I'm sorry."

"I know, I'm sorry Len, I know you're trying and I know it's not exactly a cheap hobby-"

"Hey, none of that, you're my little sister and you're worth it," he told her, "alright, you're laced up, go put your hair up and see Cisco, I know you invited him." He told her and turned.

"Len?"

"Ray?"

"Yeah," Ray smiled. His soulmate was hot and he may have noticed his very nice ass. Not that it mattered, but God was it a bonus.

They sat and spoke as the speed skaters raced. Len explained the rules mainly. "That's Barry Allen, in the red, he's a little older than Lisa, they call him the Flash and the kid with him is Wally West, he's younger than Lisa but he's catching up to Allen, he's Kid-Flash."

"Who's the guy in black?"

"That's Hunter Zolomon, calls himself Zoom, but he's been investigated for juicing up. Figure Skating category is up next. Lisa may not have the shiny boots or the sparkly costume but she has talent, if she makes it we're gonna look for sponsors, I work at a bar which barely covers our rent, if she makes the team we need a sponsor." Lisa was called up not long after, Ray saw her and a boy with shoulder length black hair kiss before she glided out onto the ice in a faded golden skirt. "Golden Glider we call her."

Lisa's music began and Ray watched as she performed effortlessly and Len mouthed the routine step by step from beside him. "Let me." He said.

"What?"

"Let my company sponsor Lisa, the board wants us to be more family accessible, Figure Skating is a family event, we can sponsor her, provide anything she needs and she could, if you'd let her, promote our products."

"Ray I couldn-"

"Len please, you try so hard for her, let me help you help her."

Len agreed to sleep on the idea after it was announced Lisa made the team. He was so proud of her. He and Ray planned on meeting up a couple of more times before Ray returned to Starling City the following week. The day he left Len returned to a box outside his front door addressed to Lisa. Inside were a pair of brand new skates in glittering gold. 'Lisa, I hope these fit, if not exchange them, I hear they take time to break in, train hard, your sponsor, Palmer Tech.'

Len could barely believe it, he and Lisa had agreed to let Palmer Tech sponsor her less than an hour ago, they had yet to sign anything. Lisa loved the boots even if Len called Ray a 'jammy bastard' or whatever that meant.

"I can't thank you enough," Len said just over a year later as he and Ray walked down the bay in Starling City, "if it weren't for you I don't know what I would have done."

"No need to thank me, you and Lisa deserve to be happy." They had grown close and very honest over the last year, Ray knew everything, all of their past and he didn't care what happened then, to him it was all about the now and who Len had become. Not who he was.

"No, really, thank you." Len stopped them and took Ray's face between his palms raising onto his toes to kiss Ray's lips. Ray warmly returned the kiss, holding Len around the waist. Their first kiss. And to Ray it was perfect.

"I've wanted that for so long," Ray said breathlessly as they parted and Len sank back to flat feet.

"Me too," he replied, "I'd really like to do it again."

Ray nodded, "me too," he replied lowering his lips back to his soulmate.