Title: Pinky Swears, Two Pints of Ice Cream, and Confessions about Boys
Words: 2571
Pairing: Laurel/Felicity brotp
Genre: friendship/humor
Status: done
Summary: Felicity comes to Laurel with a dating dilemma and they solve it over ice cream.
There was a knock on the door and she couldn't look up, because there was a very persnickety file she was trying to find, "What do you need?" She asked in a pleasant enough voice for a woman who had her head in a filing cabinet.
"Hey, can I talk to you for a second, Laurel?" Felicity asked her as she sat at her desk, trying to figure out how to restructure the legal system and who was going to go where.
Laurel summoned her in with her hand while she put some files away, pen in her hair which was slightly frizzed. "As long as you don't mind the mess. It's been a little crazy the past couple of weeks. We're still trying to rebuild some of the lower tiers of the legal system."
"How do you manage to do this and be a vigilante at night?" Felicity asked as she looked around.
Laurel laughed. "Oh, I don't need a lot of sleep. I live on consternation most days."
"Is that the most healthy? I mean not that you don't look healthy. You look great, but medically, there's always weird side effects?" She rambled.
Laurel put her pen down and looked Felicity in the eye. "I'm fine. The city needs a way to deal with things. Besides, wasn't there something you wanted to talk to me about?" She asked.
"Right, yes," Felicity chuckled a little, and blew out a breathe. "I think my boss likes me."
"He should. You're a great asset. Any boss should be thrilled to have you working for them." Laurel said as she leafed through some files and put them in the right order.
Felicity made an embarrassed face. "No, I think my boss really likes me."
"Oh, well, how do you feel about that?" Laurel asked. "Because I can get him slapped with a sexual harassment lawsuit if you're not comfortable with the way he's been acting."
"Diggle said you would say something like that." Felicity chuckled. "But no. I actually think I like him. I mean he's smart and he loves Doctor Who and he can talk to me like i'm a person, but I wonder if it's too soon."
Laurel nodded. She knew a little something about that. "When was your last relationship, Liss?" She asked with a smile.
"long term, when I was in college, the next one was several months ago. With Barry. But he has Iris." Felicity admitted.
Laurel put the files down and put her hands over them, "Then m'dear, what exactly is the problem? You've been at this job a while. You're competent and you are beautiful and smart. Don't sell yourself short. This man would be lucky to have you as a date. Go for it."
"Well, there's a thing." Felicity said and fidgeted with her hands. She didn't know how to exactly tell Laurel. They were trying to save her after all. But things were confusing.
Laurel nodded. "I assumed there would be. If it was just Barry, you could have riddled that on your own."
"Yeah, probably could have," Felicity said as she blushed and looked down at her lap, "You see, there was a thing that happened the night of Slade's whole 'I'll kill everyone you love, Ollie' plan. God, he was crazy," Felicity noted. "I mean he wanted to kill you because it was Laurel and Oliver, always and forever."
Laurel rearranged herself in her her chair. "You know, you don't have to sugarcoat it for me. I'm a big girl." Laurel smiled. "Besides, I was there. Slade didn't exactly keep his mouth shut."
"Right," Felicity said as her teeth clinked together. "Well, Oliver and I went back to the Queen Mansion and he said he loved me in front of Slade's cameras and then…he kissed me. And he told me that it was an act, but I'm not sure. I mean he always gets really weird when Daniel is mentioned. But then there's also you. And his feelings for you. And I like Daniel. But I liked Ollie for a long time."
Laurel sighed. "We need ice cream for this. Come on. I'm done for the day anyway." Laurel said as she put some files in her handbag quickly and put the rest of the stuff away.
Felicity sat there with a look of absolute shock on her face. "What's going on?" She asked.
"We're going to get in our cars, go to the grocery store, get some ice cream, go back to my place and talk about this dilemma of which I'm an expert on. Or does that not sound like a good idea?" Laurel asked with a smile.
Felicity shook her head quickly, "No, that sounds like a great idea," She said as she followed Laurel out of her office and to the parking lot where Laurel headed up their little expedition and they stopped at a grocer's on the way to Laurel's place.
While they stood in the ice cream aisle looking at different confections of various sorts, Felicity wiggled a little bit, "So you're really okay with Oliver saying he loves me?" She asked, a little confused.
Laurel smiled. "You know, he said I love you to my sister too when they were dating. I was okay with them, why wouldn't I be okay with you two?" She asked. "But let's wait till we get to my place to discuss all that, okay, for now ice cream. I'm thinking about some cherry garcia or chocolate peppermint crunch for me, what about you?"
Felicity looked at the display and eliminated the ones with nuts immediately, because she didn't exactly feel like going to the hospital tonight, as much as she liked Laurel. The chocolate peppermint chunk and the cherry garcia sounded really good. "Well, if you want to get one, I'll get the other, and we'll just figure it out when we get to your apartment."
Laurel grabbed pint containers of both and headed to the checkout where Felicity stood beside her with her purse in front of her like a classic forties photograph.
"How are y'all doing today?" The cashier asked them with a bright smile, a button indicated her name was Angel.
Laurel unzipped her purse, got out her wallet, and smiled to Angel, "We're doing great." She said as Angel scanned both of the ice creams.
"That'll be 8 dollars," Angel said and Laurel swiped her debit card and signed the little electronic pad. Angel gave them the bag with their ice cream which Felicity insisted she carry since Laurel paid for it and Laurel reluctantly let her.
When they got to Laurel's place, which only took about three minutes to travel to by car, Laurel pushed the elevator button and they ascended to the third floor and went down the left hall and down to apartment 305. "So this is where you live? It's weird that there's not more security since you live in such a nice neighborhood." Felicity said, remarking mostly to herself.
"Yeah, well, don't need so much anymore now that I can defend myself." She shrugged. Oliver must have told her about Laurel's problems with keeping people out her apartment. "Besides, if Oliver had told me in the first place that it was his enemies that were trying to come and get me I don't think I would have known what to do."
Felicity understood. This whole thing about having enemies who would think that Laurel was a thing that they could use to get to Oliver and more specifically the hood/the arrow was a weird concept. It was hard to deal with because it made Laurel out to be less of a person and more of an object and Laurel was no object. "So no break-ins anymore?" She asked, with an eyebrow quirked.
"Nope," Laurel smiled. "Thankfully, most of that gets taken care of when Oliver and I go out at night. They don't know where to find us, but the criminals, they know how to get our attention. I mean you know."
Felicity followed Laurel into the kitchen where she grabbed two spoons and then headed back out. "So…" Felicity said as they sat on the couch and doled out ice cream. "Oliver and I," She said and let the silence be awkward.
"You and Oliver," Laurel said as she dug her spoon into her ice cream. "Start at the beginning."
Felicity let out a breath and dug into her ice cream too. She took a bit and started. "I have always had a crush on Oliver. He's funny when he wants to be and he's attractive. And it seemed like I was important to him. Not that you're not important to him. But we got to share this thing that no other girl in his life really ever got to share. I got to know the man behind the mask. And so you know, I had a crush on him. And then there was Barry, who was super cute and who knew exactly what it was like to be the smartest person in the room. And he was bad dancer, but that was adorable."
"Oliver was like that too at first. Well, not the smartest person in the room, but a bad dancer in a cute way," Laurel smiled as she thought about memories of high school and dancing with him.
Felicity was struck by this admission. "You never talk about before. About when you guys were a thing. He doesn't talk about it either."
Laurel stuck her spoon in her ice cream for a second. "Felicity, I was so in love with him back then. When he cheated on me, with my sister anyway, it felt like both drowned at that point. And so I let our love story die for five years. I let it die with us. Because I couldn't help but feel like dying every time I talked about it, because it would put me through the painful realization he was dead again. So I let it stay that way for five years." She told Felicity as she looked at her ice cream.
"You know you don't have to be strong for everyone." Felicity said as she put her hand on Laurel's leg. "You can let other people be strong for you once in a while, Laur."
Laurel nodded. "I know that now. But anyway, let's talk about you and Oliver," She said as she wiped away a tear.
"Are you sure?" Felicity asked as she saw the tear wiped away, "We don't have to do it now, we can just eat ice cream."
Laurel laughed. "This isn't about your potentially burgeoning relationship with my exboyfriend, the perenially hot superhero. This is about me still being touched by people willing to be strong for me."
"And then he got with Sara and it was cool, but it was a little bit awkward, because she got to be with him even though she was someone he cared about. And I get it, it was because they were comfortable and she could defend herself, but I mean, he told me he couldn't be with someone he cared about. And then he told me he loved me in front of the cameras and kissed me. He asked me to help him with Slade for you. And now I don't know where we stand. But Daniel is nice and he's sweet and he understands that my life is busy and he doesn't mind the occasional dinner blow off and he likes doctor who and he's a businessman. And lets me be more than just the IT girl which is where I was with Oliver. And he asks me how I'm feeling. And he understands how valuable my job is. He also understands that I could use the power I have for evil and he treats that with a certain amount of respect." Felicity finished as she pushed some ice cream in her mouth.
Laurel smiled and shook her head and as she looked up to Felicity, she put her hand on Felicity's shoulder, "You wanna know what I think?" She asked.
Felicity nodded enthusiastically, feeding herself more ice cream.
"I think you should ask Daniel out. Get to know him. Oliver, is not the most nuanced with his feelings and if he feels something he's repressing, which he might be for you, needs to know that he's not the only man that can make you happy. And if you like Daniel and you want to be with him, then you should be with him. If Oliver comes in with some sweeping declarations, you have no obligation to take him for it because he made you feel special. He's not the only man who can make you feel special." She said. She swept some of Felicity loose hair behind her ear and smiled helpfully. "And that's good, because he's not what makes you extraordinary, Liss. You make you special, okay?"
Felicity nodded and put her ice cream on the table, "You don't think it's weird to date your boss?" She asked.
"I dated Sebastian Blood. He was technically my boss." Felicity laughed, unguarded.
Felicity nodded. "You know Oliver loves you. I can see it in his eyes."
"We'll always love each other." Laurel shrugged.
Felicity chuckled. "That's not what I meant and you knew it."
"I knew what you meant." Laurel nodded, "But he just needs something different right now. He'll come back around eventually."
"You know for what it's worth," Felicity said as she looked into her ice cream. She smiled, "You are my hero. You manage to believe in love and fate and all of that even when the whole world has been so against you for so many years."
Laurel smiled. "If you let the world make you give up on your beliefs, they win." She told Felicity, "I've tried my very best to live as if I can win." She smiled. "You know I'm so gonna wanna meet Daniel right? And who knows maybe he has a hot rich friend he can set me up with." She winked.
"Laurel?" Felicity asked.
She looked up to Felicity. "Yeah?"
"I'm glad we're friends." Felicity smiled.
Laurel smiled back. "I'm glad we're friends too. But I was serious about Daniel. If he has hot rich friends, I want to know."
For the first time in a while she felt like she had a permanent girlfriend, which was good because there were things that neither of them could talk to with Diggle or Oliver. Felicity smiled as she picked up her ice cream, "I think we can figure something out for you." She looked back to Laurel for a minute. "Are you sure that you'd be okay with me dating Oliver if things don't work out with Daniel?" She asked.
"Yes, I'm sure. I'm sure that I'm gonna be okay. I'm sure that you are gonna be good for him. And I'm sure that I want you to be happy. So don't worry too much about me. Right now, you should just try to be happy with Daniel. The rest will come in time. I'll tell you if I can't deal with something, okay?" She asked. "No secrets?" Laurel put out her pinky for a pinky promise.
"No secrets," Felicity said as she entwined her pinky with Laurel's.
Laurel grinned. "So do you have a picture of him?" She asked.
