Fanfic / Their Last Time

Their Last Time is a MST style fan fic set in the Arrowverse by Ray_Writes.

Official Summary: As the team grieves their beloved Black Canary, they're approached and taken captive by a fifth-dimensional imp named Mr. Mxyzptlk who has both good news and bad news: their friend's alive but has been sent back to the past to change things, thus tending their existences null and void. Before they're erased from time itself, he’s giving them the chance to see what becomes of Laurel and their own lives in this new future. Will they like what they read?

In short, they are reading The Cutting Edge (also by Ray_Writes) and providing commentary on the actions of both Laurel and their past/alternate selves.

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Their Last Time contains examples of:

• Abusive Parents: The ability to actually see Laurel's thoughts is slowly starting to help Quentin realize he's been this.
• Always Someone Better: Quentin observes that in just her introduction, Naomi has proven to be a better hacker than Felicity by avoiding the mistakes she made in their timeline, such as not using the computers at Queen Consolidated when helping Oliver with vigilante work as that was how Quentin was able to figure out that Felicity was working with The Hood.
• Big Brother Instinct:
  • Oliver gets very tense when he reads the part about an older man trying to prey upon a sixteen year old Thea.
  • Inverted with Thea, who slowly gets increasingly annoyed with Felicity's treatment of Oliver.
• Broken Pedestal:
  • Thea is outraged after finding out how poorly Sara had treated Laurel in the original timeline.
  • Felicity internally muses that she used to think Sara was "cool and tragic" and Laurel was "sad and bitter" when Sara returned, and is now realizing things were much more complicated.
  • Thea's view of Diggle clearly takes a drop when she learns he tried to keep Oliver from dating Laurel again, but he hasn't recognized it yet.
• But for Me, It Was Tuesday: Rene Ramirez remembers his encounter with Quentin Lance vividly, and acknowledges the impact it had on his life. Quentin only has vague memories of it.
• Comic-Book Fantasy Casting: An Author's Note specifically tells readers to picture the Mr. Mxyzptlk from Superman: The Animated Series, as voiced by Gilbert Gottfried.
• Deconstruction Fic:
  • Seeing Laurel's very low self-worth causes the team to realize they were actually really bad friends to her. Oliver however takes the time to reassure Thea that she at least has nothing to feel guilty over, and was probably the best thing Laurel had in her life before she died.
  • A good portion of Chapter 7 is dedicated to deconstructing Sara, Quentin, and Oliver's poor treatment of Laurel in Season 2, particularly their actions during the family dinner in "Time of Death".
  • Oliver, Diggle, and Felicity slowly realize that not telling Laurel certain things (the source of Barry's powers, Harrison Wells actually being Eobard Thawne AKA The Reverse-Flash) has put her in greater danger.
  • Oliver and Felicity's relationship is also taken apart. It gradually becomes clear over the course of the story that Oliver and Felicity didn't put a lot of thought into their relationship at all, and assumed that just because they "loved" each other, they had similar values and goals in life, when in reality that is far from the case. The biggest example is when it's revealed they never discussed whether or not they wanted kids — it turns out that Felicity doesn't, at least not right now, due to her young age, while Oliver (who is already thirty) does, and wants to start a family as soon as possible because he's not getting any younger. After that happens Oliver begins showing a decrease in interest in a relationship with Felicity, suggesting it's no longer what he wants now that he knows what such a relationship would really mean.
• Dirty Coward: Oliver considers himself one. He admits that while he has courage when it comes to combat, he's an emotional coward who can't tell/show others how he feels or be the person they deserve.
• Disappointing Older Sibling: Oliver admits that he has been this to Thea, mostly because he doesn't follow through on his promises and hasn't been there for her like he should have.
• Disapproving Look: When they get to the part where TCE Thea attempts to buy drugs on the street, Oliver is said to give his Thea "one of the most disapproving frowns Quentin had ever seen in his life."
• Distinction Without a Difference: Mr. Mxyzptlk explains to team that they aren't about to die, they're going to cease to exist.
• Dramatic Irony: Quite a bit, for those who have read The Cutting Edge.
  • Felicity hopes the new versions of Oliver and herself don't make the same mistakes they did, and worries that she'll have to deal with Laurel pining for Oliver while he's dating her. Readers know that The Cutting Edge versions of Oliver and Felicity won't be dating at all.
  • When One More Time introduces Bruce Wayne without any context for the team as to who he is, they make a few assumptions about him that anyone familiar with Batman would know are dead wrong.
  • Felicity is convinced that Moira will do something illegal even without Malcolm's influence, and smugly thinks to herself that she'll have "bragging rights" when that inevitably happens. Moira will eventually commit illegal actions, but Felicity will do so first, so she'll be in no real place to brag.
  • Oliver is worried that Kovar is still alive in The Cutting Edge and will come for revenge sooner or later. An Author's Note in One More Time explained why Oliver was successful in killing Kovar in Russia in this timeline, something the book they're reading apparently lacks.
  • When wondering why Oliver and Tommy weren't kidnapped shortly after the former's return to Starling in the new timeline, the team figure that it had to do with Malcolm being dead at that point, assuming he hired them in their timeline. While they are correct that Malcolm's death was the reason for the change in events, the kidnappers were actually hired by Moira.
  • Oliver, Felicity, and Diggle posit that TCE Oliver's working relationship with Naomi will end and he'll go to the new timeline's Felicity for tech assistance. Readers will know that Naomi flat out replaces Felicity as Oliver's tech support in The Cutting Edge timeline.
• Dysfunctional Family: Chapter 7 really helps the team realize just how messed up the Lance family truly is. Between Sara never apologizing to Laurel, everything about the family dinner, and then learning that Dinah let Sara get on the Gambit, they are left aghast at how "Laurel's entire family had collectively screwed her over."
• Even the Loving Hero Has Hated Ones: Felicity notes that while Laurel was typically an incredibly sweet person, she had an incredible amount of vitriol towards Malcolm Merlyn.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good:
  • Felicity isn't evil, but she is selfish and immature. She muses to herself that it was agony to watch Oliver date other women (even before they started dating) when she was in love with him, and cannot understand how Laurel could be preparing herself to do the same thing willingly. The idea that Laurel wants Oliver to be happy (and believes that she can't make him happy) more than she personally wants to be with him does not occur to her.
  • While Oliver is more jaded than evil, he reflects that part of the reason why he was against Laurel being a vigilante when she first wanted to join is because he couldn't understand how someone could willingly choose to live that kind of life.
• Fatal Flaw: Oliver himself notes that his is a lack of follow through, he'll make promises to be better but then remain the same. Felicity attributes this to him telling himself that its impossible, which gives him an excuse to quit when met with resistance, something he doesn't deny.
• Foregone Conclusion: Subverted. Diggle and Felicity take it for granted that Oliver and Felicity will fall in love and begin dating in The Cutting Edge, but that doesn't happen. They don't take it well.
• Hidden Depths:
  • The team members that remember Isaac at all only remember a violent criminal. They are surprised to learn he was once a genuinely good man who cared about his community, and even volunteered in the big brother program.
  • Rene Ramirez makes a poor first impression on the team. They are surprised to later learn he's a father and trying to care for his drug addicted wife.
• Hypocrite: At first, when Felicity learns that Laurel is trying to ensure Oliver still dates Felicity, she says that Laurel can have him. She is then jealous and outraged by the fact that TCE Oliver is openly in love with Laurel and rejects even meeting her. Thea immediately calls her out on it.
• I Hate Past Me: Diggle even comments that they should expect this, as they probably remember themselves better than they really were, and are about to get a full look at what they were like.
  • It is most pronounced with Thea in the early chapters, as TCE Thea is in full Bratty Teenage Daughter/Hard-Drinking Party Girl mode.
  • Quentin is reading about a version of himself that is not only a full-blown alcoholic, but very unappreciative towards his daughter, who is the only thing he has.
  • Deliberately defied by Felicity, who claims that the past versions of themselves are the same people they are now, just reacting to different circumstances. She further notes that because of this, she has nothing to fear, because the person she is now is perfectly okay.
• If I Wanted You Dead...: Discussed. After reading the part where Mar Novu tells Laurel that she has to be in Central City when the Particle Accelerator explodes, Quentin asks if he's trying to get Laurel killed. Mr. Mxyzptlk points out that Laurel was already dead.
• Insistent Terminology: Mr. Mxyzptlk.
• Internal Reveal: The team learns that it was Moira who informed the League of Assassins that Malcolm was still alive in Season 2.
• It Amused Me: Mr. Mxyzptlk's reason for why he's brought the team to read about The Cutting Edge timeline even though they're going to be erased from existence.
• "Let's Watch Our Show" Plot: A fan fic variation, where canon characters from right before the starting point read about the new timeline that is about to be created in the form of a book (i.e. the fan fic).
• Lethal Chef: Quentin comments that it's a miracle when hearing that Laurel actually managed to learn how to cook after starting the Smolov program. Thea adds in that she and Laurel ate microwavable meals or ordered out when they were living together.
• Love at First Sight: A variation. Thea takes an instant liking to Naomi which isn't surprising considering all the Ship Tease her TCE counterpart got with her.
• Love Revelation Epiphany: It's implied that learning Laurel truly still loves him after all this time is causing Oliver to gradually realize he still loves her, and always has.
• Male Gaze: The team (especially Quentin) don't particularly enjoy it when Laurel is subjected to this by various characters. Felicity really doesn't like it when Oliver does.
• The Needless: Due to being outside of time, the team have no need for food, water, or sleep.
• Never Speak Ill of the Dead: Discussed. Oliver openly acknowledges that they idealized Tommy a lot after his death after seeing his obtuse and somewhat sleazy behavior when his best friend first appears in the book.
• Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: Discussed regarding Sebastian Blood. Thea points out his treatment of his own mother questions how much care he could possibly have for random people he doesn't know; and Diggle notes that many of the people who died from mirakuru testing were the very poor he claimed to champion.
  "He wasn't some misguided ideologue. He was just a hypocrite."
• Not Wanting Kids Is Weird: Subverted. Felicity not wanting children is presented as a perfectly valid choice. However, it further alienates Oliver from the idea of renewing his relationship with her (in either timeline), as he wants kids.
• Pass the Popcorn: Part of the It Amused Me above, Mr. Mxyzptlk clearly enjoys seeing the drama and arguments that result from the readings. At one point, he even creates a tub of popcorn to munch on while watching them.
• Point of Divergence: Discussed by the team is that Laurel's actions in the timeline have probably caused even more changes than she is aware of. One such possible change is Ryuku's survival; Felicity speculates that Ryuku was killed by the Tengu in the original timeline, which is why they never heard of him. Therefore, in the new timeline, Laurel's presence prevents his death and allows him to take up the family legacy as a demon slayer.
• Pretender Diss: Implied when the team realizes all of the similarities Bruce has with Oliver; Felicity comments that Bruce sounds like Oliver's biggest fan causing Mr. Mxyzptlk to react with outrage and call the team idiots.
• Reality Warper: Mr. Mxyzptlk, of course. Starting when he creates an enormous cartoon vacuum cleaner to suck the team from Earth to his world.
• Retgone: As Mr. Mxyzptlk explains to the team, Laurel's changes to the timeline mean that they have ceased to exist. The only thing keeping them around is that he has plucked them outside of time, and they will cease to exist the moment he sends them back.
• Sadistic Choice: Felicity neatly summarizes the options they have:
  "So our choices are to stay here with you forever or leave and poof out of existence? Wow, really amazing options."
• Selective Obliviousness:
  • Diggle and Felicity have a hard time comprehending why TCE Oliver completely passed up Felicity for Naomi (and thus preventing the start of Oliver and Felicity's "romance") due to his dedication to proving himself to Laurel. As Thea notes, TCE Oliver doesn't know Felicity in this timeline yet and therefore has no reason to give her any sort of preferential treatment.
  • In Chapter 9, Diggle thinks to himself that Laurel and Oliver "hadn't and wouldn't work" as a couple, apparently in complete denial over the fact that Oliver and Felicity didn't work either.
• Shipper on Deck:
  • As usual, Diggle is a huge one for Oliver and Felicity. He is very upset when it looks like their counterparts in the new timeline won't be getting together.
  • Felicity has so far shipped Laurel with both Isaac and Nyssa. It's hinted that this is less out of a genuine desire for Laurel to be happy and more that she doesn't want Laurel to be in love with Oliver still. When she starts to do it with Barry, Quentin tells her to knock it off; and he, Thea, and Oliver explain to her that Laurel will never date anyone else as long as she's still in love with Oliver.
  • It's implied Thea ships Oliver/Laurel, mainly because she's the first one to realize the two still love each other and that everyone else was just trying to convince them otherwise for their own reasons.
• Shipping Torpedo:
  • Diggle more or less admits in Chapter 9 that he encouraged Oliver to stop trying to date Laurel. Thea is not impressed.
  • Everyone becomes this for Tommy/Laurel (despite Tommy being the logical second choice of a love interest after Oliver), both because of TCE's Tommy immaturity and because they all believe he won't take the knowledge of Laurel being a vigilante well. This train of thought is only cemented after Laurel engineers Malcolm's death in the book, acknowledging that Tommy would never be able to understand that choice.
• Take That!: When Felicity questions why Laurel thinks her TCE counterpart is already working with Oliver in the new timeline, Thea points out that Felicity has been referring to herself, Oliver, and Diggle as the "original" Team Arrow in their timeline.
• Taught by Experience: Discussed. The team concludes one of the reasons Laurel made a point to deal with Malcolm before Oliver even came home is that she didn't trust him to do it. Diggle and Oliver both note that she has every reason to not trust him on that.
• Tempting Fate:
  • The team's view of Quentin takes a dip when they start to realize the extent of his drinking problem, causing him to worry "How many hits was his reputation going to take during this book?" Given what he'll get up to late in the book, quite a lot.
  • After going over all of the ways Sara had poorly treated Laurel in the old timeline, upon reading TCE Sara apologize for everything she's done to her sister, Felicity internally comments that the new timeline is already shaping to be much better.
  • After learning that Oliver only acted friendly towards her to build trust between them when they first met, Felicity tells Diggle (who is currently reading) to just Get It Over With regarding having to listen to the same scenario between their counterparts in the new timeline. Diggle promptly informs her that in The Cutting Edge, Oliver deliberately avoided choosing Felicity as his tech support and instead went to Naomi.
  • When the team find out that Rene is a father to their surprise, Diggle comments that they "don't really know people sometimes". Considering later events in One More Time regarding Felicity, Diggle is more right than he realizes.
• This Is Gonna Suck:
  • Third person variant. When they learn Laurel is going to commit to the Smolov program, Diggle comments "That's gonna suck" in sympathy.
  • This is Thea's reaction when she learns they're about to read about her younger self attempting to buy drugs on the street.
• Triple Shifter: Laurel's tendency to do this in TCE is frequently commented on by the team, most notably Quentin, who repeatedly wonder when she's sleeping.
• The Unapologetic:
  • The team isn't very impressed to learn that in their timeline, Sara never actually apologized to Laurel for sleeping with Oliver. Sara's defense (relayed through Oliver) that Laurel had six years "to get over it" impresses them even less.
  • Immediately after confirming that Oliver did at least, Felicity correctly deduces that he never apologized to Laurel for cheating on her with Samantha.
• What Does She See in Him?: Felicity outright asks how Laurel could still be in love with Oliver, pointing out that after the way he's treated her she should hate him. An amused Thea and Mr. Mxyzptlk point out that love isn't rational.
• What the Hell, Hero?:
  • Thea, Diggle, and Felicity all turn on Oliver and Quentin and demand to know why they thought Oliver attending the Lance family dinner in "Time of Death" was acceptable.
  • Thea's outraged to hear that Oliver told Felicity she was the first one to see him as human, asking what that means his friends and family were then. His attempts to explain that he meant the first new person in his life to see him as human then pisses off Diggle.
  • When they learn the Hood used to greet Laurel when she was home alone, after killing the lights no less, Quentin and Felicity both turn on Oliver, the former pointing out he's lucky she didn't shoot him and the latter commenting that was the creepiest way to go about talking to her.
• You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: The team's reaction when they learn that Laurel cannot disband the League of Assassins, matching her reaction nicely.

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