"Ok, enough is enough," Oliver muttered as he opened his front door and crossed the hall before banging on his new neighbour's door.

He expected her not to hear it over the ruckus coming from her apartment, so he was startled when the door opened immediately.

"Oliver Queen. What can I do for you?"

Felicity Smoak. The bane of his existence.

He cleared his throat, ignoring how cute she looked in her work out clothes and how the flush on her cheeks brought out her blue eyes.

He didn't notice any of that. Not at all.

"Miss Smoak, I would be extremely grateful if you could lower down your music to a less ear-splitting level?"

"You can call me Felicity, you know. We are neighbours after all."

"Unfortunately," he muttered, but he knew she heard him. It didn't seem to deter her from her usual cheerfulness.

"Are you channeling your inner Grumpy Cat all day long, or are you just not a morning person?"

He didn't dignify that with an answer.

"The music, Miss Smoak? Thank you." He turned around and went back to his apartment, wondering what he had done to deserve one of the most insufferable neighbour on the planet. If this was karma for his former dissolute existence, he thought he had already paid for that, in spades.

No matter how cute she was, she was the partying kind and he avoided that at all cost now.


"Jerk," Felicity muttered as she closed her door. For a moment she considered increasing the volume, just to piss him off, but that was a bit too childish and she was done with her workout anyway. So she turned it off completely and went to take a shower.

Why had Kara not warned her that Grumpy Cat was living next door? Not that it would have mattered. Her apartment had been exactly what Felicity had been looking for when she had moved to Star City two weeks ago. Since her cousin had found a job in National City, Felicity had inherited her place, and she couldn't be happier right now. New city, new job, new friends...and unfortunately, new neighbours.

She wished he wasn't so...hot, though. With that ridiculous chiseled jaw covered by stubble, and those stupid blue eyes...and what she could only assume were really defined, firm muscles beneath those boring shirts he wore…

They had exchanged a maximum of 2 or 3 conversations since she had moved in two weeks ago, and half of them had been full of biting remarks. She had not idea where this instant mutual dislike came from. They were probably too different. He seemed to spend his time working in his apartment. She had briefly wondered when meeting him the first time why he didn't work at his father's company, and instead seemed to live a secluded life alone in a small apartment.

But this wasn't any of her business after all.


They crossed path again in the hall of their apartment building two days later. Felicity was checking her mail as Oliver came out of the elevator. He muttered a stiff 'good morning', and she rolled her eyes. This man was a bona fide ray of sunshine.

A pretty brunette walked in, bringing in with her the cold and humidity of a December morning in Star City. Her face lit up upon seeing Oliver.

"Ollie!" She came to kiss his cheek. "What an awful weather. And I think I lost my umbrella."

Felicity couldn't help it. She turned to the couple with a sweet smile.

"You didn't lost it. I'm pretty sure Oliver swallowed it."

And with a satisfied smirk she stepped into the elevator. The door closed on Oliver Queen's stunned face and the brunette's delighted one as she said, "Who is she? I like her."


Less than 45 minutes later there was a vigorous knock on her door.

She opened with a cheerful smile.

"Seriously?" he asked, and for a second she was distracted by the muscle of his arms crossed against his chest.

Damn.

She shrugged. "My mouth works faster than my brain sometimes. I can't help it. It's a disease. I didn't offend your lady friend, did I?" she asked, her face the picture of innocence (or at least she hoped she looked that way.)

"No. And that was my sister."

"Oh, good."

He raised an eyebrow and she hastily added, "She looked a bit young to be your girlfriend...is what I meant. Not that I'm implying you're a fossil or anything...and well, the age difference wouldn't actually be any of my business either anyway so…"

She sighed, wondering why she babbled all of a sudden. She only did it when she was nervous or confused, and Oliver Queen certainly didn't elicit any of these feelings in her, did he?

"What I meant to say with the umbrella thing is...you should relax a little. Have fun sometimes."

He seemed to find her words extremely offensive.

"I don't have time to have fun, I have a company to run, and work to do. But I imagine that's a completely foreign concept to you."

"Hey, I'm working too, and I'm very good at what I do. I just don't make it my reason to live."

He ignored her quip. "I would appreciate if you kept your snide remarks to yourself from now on."

"I can try. No promises though. Your face was totally worth it."

He sighed, and she was pretty sure she saw the corners of his lips quiver slightly.

"Have a good day, Miss Smoak."

"You too. Hey!" she called him back just as he was about to walk into his apartment. "You should be careful. You almost smiled. You don't want to make a habit of it, do you?"

And with a grin she closed the door. She had had the last word after all.


As she opened her fridge that evening, Felicity realized she had bypassed quite the important task : grocery shopping. With all the excitement due to her first week at work, she had not really paid attention to the fact that her fridge was getting empty and not magically replenishing itself.

Looking through the window, where she could see small snowflakes swirling around, she considered her options. She had left her car at the garage earlier today for maintenance, so the closest supermarket was at least a 15 minutes walk. In the December cold. So no, thank you.

And she really wasn't in the mood for pizza or chinese.

Which only left...would she dare ?

A few seconds later she was knocking at Grump...Oliver Queen's door. (She had to stop calling him Grumpy Cat or she would be doing it to his face someday. Not that it wouldn't be extremely funny.)

The only sign he was surprised to see her was the barely perceptible raise of his left eyebrow. She gave him her most upbeat smile.

"Good evening. Would you happen to have two or three eggs for me? I will give them back of course...well, not those ones because they will be in my stomach, but...new ones from the store."

God, why was her babbling getting worse when she was around him ? He didn't seem to mind though, as he smiled back at her - an actual smile that made her heart leap in her chest. Seriously, being that gorgeous should be illegal.

"Are you sure you know what to do with them?"

She poked his chest. "Hey ! I'll have you know, I'm the omelet Queen. Ha ! See what I did there?"

He didn't dignify that with an answer, but instead said, "I was about to have dinner, and I probably made more than enough for two. Would you like to join me?"

She tilted her head, pretty sure she had misunderstood his offer, but judging by the look of shock on his face, no, she had understood it correctly. It was nice to see she wasn't the only one who spoke before thinking.

"It's Friday night," he commented as she followed him in his apartment. "How come you're not at some party?"

It was a mundane question,but she could still hear a hint of judgment. "I started my new job this week. The partying was just to pass the time as I got settled and make new friends."

"What do you do?"

"I'm the new head of Applied Science at Queen Consolidated. I'm sure you heard of it," she said with a teasing smile.

He smiled back even though it didn't reach his eyes. "I've not been there since my parents cut me off and kicked me out of the house 3 years ago. I can't really blame them, though. Too much partying, drinking, and mostly not wanting to follow my dad's footsteps at QC."

"So what are you doing now?" she asked, eyeing the massive desk in one corner of the room with three different computers and printers.

"Well after I got myself together I started a cyber security company with my friend John. He used to be my family's head of security. It took a lot of effort but we're doing really well now. But it still requires a lot of work as it is still just John and myself. Which is why I spend most of my time in here."

She smiled. "At least if you have any computer problems you know you have an expert living next door."

He chuckled. "It seems like we misjudged each other quite a bit."

There was a slight wavering in the air as they just looked at each other with a new perspective. The fluttering in her stomach grew almost uncomfortably under his intense gaze so she changed the topic.

"It smells really good," she mentioned, reminding both of them why she was in his apartment in the first place.

The conversation during dinner was surprisingly easy, and besides him being a great cook, Felicity also discovered they had actually a lot in common. Oliver was also a lot of fun, and as attractive inside as he was on the outside. And he seemed to enjoy her company as well.

When she decided it was time for her to go back home, he waited for her to be in her apartment and with a last little wave, closed his door. Felicity locked her own door, aware of the huge grin she was sporting right now.

This was a turn of events she had not expected.


She hesitated before knocking on his door, because she didn't want to appear like stalker after spending the previous evening with him, but then again this was a bit of a last minute thing, so…

He opened the door just as she was about to knock. Surprised, she waved a bit awkwardly.

"Oh, hi."

"Felicity. Good morning."

No 'miss Smoak' anymore, and a friendly smile. Progress !

"Can I help you with something? I still don't have eggs," he joked and she almost swooned. God help her. He really wasn't making this easy.

"No, I was just wondering...Tomorrow is New year's' Eve...as you probably already know," she said, letting out a high pitched laugh.

Pathetic, Felicity. Seriously.

"So, there's this party I'm going to - no surprise there, right? - but, uh, it's not a big thing, it's just a few friends, and I was wondering if you would like to come? That is, if you don't have anything already planned. For New Year's Eve. Did I mention it was tomorrow night?"

She bit her lips hard, trying to stop the word vomit. This was ridiculous, especially since she hadn't babbled once during dinner last night. So she didn't know why it was happening to her now.

Maybe because she was kind of...asking him out? And really, really hoping he would say yes?

"As a matter of fact I do have something planned for tomorrow night," he answered with an apologetic smile.

She definitely wasn't prepared for the crushing disappointment engulfing her and did her best to hide it.

"Wait, you are not working right?"

"I'm having dinner with my sister."

Ok, so the sister was at least good news. He didn't have anything planned with some super model.

She waited a moment, hoping for him to say something like "But let's have a drink on the 1st instead " or "Would you like to go out to dinner with me?" but nothing came and

she realized things were getting a bit awkward as they were both standing there and Oliver was now looking at her with a slight frown.

"I was going out, is there something else…?"

She let out a lame little chuckle. "No, no problem, enjoy your evening with your sister and happy New Year then if I don't see you until tomorrow."

He locked his door behind him.

"Happy New Year, Felicity. Have fun at your party."

Once he was gone she leaned against the wall with a heavy sigh.

"Hashtag Epic Fail," she muttered.


Oliver turned on the TV and put on the Time Square festivities with the sound on mute.

He hadn't lied to Felicity exactly, he did indeed have dinner with his sister. Except that dinner was done by 10 pm, because Thea had a party she wanted to attend and where he had no intention of going. So he could technically have joined Felicity after that, and he had no idea why he hadn't said something. Because he really wanted to spend that evening with her, actually.

At first his attitude had been some sort of self-defense against the kind of person he thought she was. But then he had discovered she was very different and there was no excuse anymore for him to push her away or treat her like an annoying neighbour.

He didn't need Felicity to point out to him his life was boring, he had figured it out by himself a while ago but after the mess that had been his previous life and the resulting circumstances, boring was good. Boring was safe.

He pictured Felicity and her infectious, luminous smile and he thought that maybe, boring was overrated.

Maybe it was time to bring some disruption in his life.

He opened his door, intending to keep a watch on her return. He knew there was a chance she could come back in the wee hours of the morning, but he didn't care.

He didn't know her that much yet, but he was sure she was worth the wait.


It was barely 11 p.m. but Felicity just wasn't in a festive mood.

She had tried, though. She just couldn't stop thinking about Oliver and it both depressed and angered her.

She really didn't want some guy she barely knew ruin her fun time, and yet here she was, wondering if she had just imagined things or if there was a chance the attraction she felt was reciprocated.

Well, there was only one way to find out right ?

Pretexting a headache, she headed back home intending to wait for Oliver to come back from his dinner with his sister.

When she stepped back out of the elevator she found his front door wide open and stopped dead in her tracks.

What if someone had broken in? Worse, what if that someone was still there ? Taking a silent step back, she took her phone out of her purse and she was about to dial 911 when Oliver appeared in the doorway.

"Felicity! you're back early."

Her heart leaped at the obvious satisfaction in his voice. And also because it was him and not some serial killer.

"Yeah I just wasn't having that much fun and I... Why is your door open?"

He scratched his head, letting out a little laugh she found adorable. "I was waiting for you actually."

"Oh! That's funny. I came back to do the same."

They were both wearing the same goofy smile, and it made her giddy.

"Come in," he said, and she didn't have to be asked twice. He took a bottle of champagne out of the fridge and filled two glasses, offering one to her before coming to sit next to her on the couch.

He put the sound of the TV back on and they watched the New Year's eve concert, talking about their respectives evening and commenting the different performances. Felicity truly didn't regret leaving her party early and she was pretty sure now that Oliver felt the same way.

As the clock struck midnight and the ball dropped on screen, they toasted to the New Year.

"Happy New Year, Felicity," Oliver whispered, leaning toward her, his mouth stopping a mere inch from hers.

She grinned. "Happy New Year, Oliver," before their lips met in a sweet kiss. A kiss that turned into a second one, then a third.

Felicity smiled against his lips. "I have a feeling it's going to be a very good one."