Title: Not Afraid Anymore
Words: 2378
Pairings: Laurel/Oliver and Felicity/Oliver
Genre: Angst/Romance
Status: In-Progress [part 1/?]
Prompt: laureloliver and writeworld

Summary: Oliver asks Laurel about what he should with his feelings for Felicity, but things get complicated.

"Laurel, I need to ask you something," He asked as she punched the punching bag and he came behind her. He knew from experience to be out of her way when she swung at the bag. The black eye from last time healed nicely.

Laurel nodded to him as she kicked the bag. "What's up?" She asked him.

"Well, as you know Sara and I broke up and she went back to the league of assassins with her crazy powerful girlfriend Nyssa," He started. He rambled usually only in one case, which was a sign, but he wanted to get this out, so she was going to let him. She nodded to him, keeping up the pace of her workout, without having to give up being his sage master. "So now that city has been rebuilt a little bit and there's a little bit less of an imminent threat, there's a girl I want to ask out, and think I should, but I need your advice on this."

Laurel finally stopped, made sure the bag wasn't moving and sat him down on a bench behind both of them. "Look, you don't have to be cryptic with me, Ollie. I know who you want to date. She asked me about you. And honestly, I think you should see what happens with Felicity." She told him with a smile as she patted his knee.

"Felicity told you she had feelings for me?" He asked as his eyebrows knit together.

She nodded to him and shook her head. He really didn't realize the impact he had on Felicity's life, and sometimes to Felicity's detriment. "Look, Felicity has like zero friends outside the cave. That means it's Roy, Diggle, You, and Me she comes to. So yeah, being the only one who really understands lady feelings about Oliver Queen, she came to me."

"So did she tell you everything?" He asked, nervous about what she knew and what she told Felicity. Really, he didn't worry she said anything he didn't deserve and she definitely did steer Felicity in the wrong direction, because Felicity was happy to talk to her more an more, but it always made him nervous when his ex and his current paramour decided to talk.

She put a hand on his cheek and gently turned him to her, she blushed, and he pulled away a little, but not enough to be out of reach of her hand, a comfort touch. "She told me about the fact you said you loved her." She whispered to him as they leaned foreheads together and she closed her eyes.

"Laurel, I promise, it's not what you think..." He said.

She shushed him. And opened her eyes and practically looked into his soul, "I know why you did it." She told him and she tried to look away, but he kept her eyes on him. "You did it to save me. You wanted no more killing. And it was gonna be you or him walking out of there alone if you came for me on your own. By having him take her, you saved us. You found the no kill solution, you did right by me, and by tommy, and I couldn't be more proud of you," She said as she kept his eyes and held his hands in her own. She wiped away a few of her tears and he wiped a few of his away "But you meant it when you said you loved her. At the very least, you love the idea of her. And you need to know how far those feelings go,"

"Are you telling me I should date Felicity?" He asked as she came to the end of her very beautiful speech about being proud of who he was. In his entire tenure as the arrow, he didn't think he'd ever heard that. And he wouldn't say it, but it meant a hell of a lot more coming from idealist till the very end Laurel, his laulie pop.

She nodded to him, his forehead rubbing up on hers. She cracked a smile even. "Oliver in the past six months all we've down is rebuild the city. The city can take a night off while you have dinner and watch a movie," She told him.

"Why do you do this?" He asked as they now sat side by side instead of gazing into each other's eyes.

She stiffened up upon hearing his question and left the bench. "Do what?" She asked as she started punching the bag.

He went around in front of the bag. And stopped it from moving, so he could talk to her without her being distracted which is clearly what she wanted. "Why do you support my new relationships? Even when they clearly hurt you."

She sighed and looked to the ground before looking to him, "Because, I care about you. And I want you to be happy. And believe me, I wish I didn't, but I care about you. And being in a relationship makes you happy. And that's what you want with the people you love, right? You want them to be happy, even if they can't be with you." She said as silent tears fell.

She was stronger than god intended her to be. He didn't even really believe in God, but damn the universe noticed her noticing the universe and it rewarded her for doing so. "I'm gonna ask one more question. And then I promise, you can beat me up till I'm black and blue," She nodded as she wiped away the tears. He sighed. "Why do you do it when it's people so close to you? Your sister? Felicity? These are people who know you. And I want to date them. And I know it's hard on you."

"Because," She said as she combed her fingers through his hair on the side of his head. "Because you're my person, even if I'm not yours. And they make you the most happy," She said with a sad little smile.

He brought her into his arms and looked down at her and he kissed her lips. She opened her mouth and he tasted the blue gatorade on her breath. She dug her fingernails into his neck and he hissed as he kissed her neck. She brought him back up to her mouth and kissed him with the vigor that the oceans drowns people with. When they both needed oxygen, he pulled away and whispered in her ear. "You are the comparison stick. And no one makes me happier than you did and do."

She whispered back to him, "Well, then you need to get out of here before I change my mind about being so supportive of you and Felicity,"

He nodded and kissed her on the forehead. "I'll see you tomorrow?" He asked.

"If you're lucky," She winked back at him.

He chuckled to himself as he walked out of the gym and to his car. He put on the bluetooth and called Felicity as he drove out of the parking lot.

"Thank you for calling, you've reached Felicity Smoak of Queen Consolidate, Mr. Palmer's in a meeting right now, can I take a message?" She asked in her chipper voice.

He shook his head. "Do you know when Mr. Palmer will be out of his meeting?"

"No, I don't, and Oliver you shouldn't be calling me at work," She scolded him.

He looked at the time, it was 9.40. Even if they weren't planning on dealing with crime tonight, that was still a little worrisome. "You shouldn't even be at work right now," He told her. "You should be with me."

"Well, this meeting was kind of last minute and he asked me to stay. I didn't think it was take more than four hours, or I would have politely declined to stay. What do you need anyway?" She asked him.

He sighed. "It's not something I want to do over the phone."

"Oliver, what are you going to do?" She asked as she put her hand up to her headset and cradled it. There were so many possibilities, ones that she didn't like to think about.

He chuckled, "Just when he gets done, I'll be in the foyer. We'll do it when I can see you face to face."

"Oliver, you're scaring me," Felicity said, "Not like I'm going to get murdered via brutal stabbing scared, but like this is the kind of wording that people use before they propose to their girlfriends. And we're not that. We're not even dating. We're barely colleagues anymore. That I can talk of and not sound like a weird person who hasn't let go of her previous boss."

"Look, I promise, I'm not proposing, just relax, but we have to talk. And we need to do it in person." He told her, looking at the shiny gold elevator in the middle of the building, such a palace of decadence.

Felicity looked over at the boardroom, "Well, you appear to be in luck, because Ray's shaking hands. And he doesn't like to do that more than he has to. So it's near the end of the meeting. I'll talk to you in a few." She told him and then hung up.

Ray opened up the double door and let everyone out as she gathered her things into her bag and smoothed the wrinkles down on the skirt of her dress. "Felicity," He said as the guests were out and she was picking up her last crucial piece of information.

Her head shot up, "Yes?"

"I know it was ludicrous to ask you to stay here, but do you know where those new construction contracts are?" He asked as he rubbed the back of his neck.

She swirled her chair around to her desk, typed on her computer quickly, and looked back to him. "They're in your inbox. And I have four printing now," She said as the printer whirred to life. "So it went well?" She asked him.

"It went so well. They're so into building a new applied sciences division. Bigger and better than before. It's gonna increase profits, because we'll be able to get product on the market. We'll give people jobs. It's gonna be a great thing for the new Starling City." He practically squealed this. His excitement made her smile.

The printer whirred down as the last page printed and she turned to it and gave him the four copies he needed. "Have a good night, Ray."

"Hey, Felicity," He said once again.

And almost out the door, she turned and smiled to him. "Yeah?" She asked.

"Would you like to get a gelato with me?" He asked as he blushed.

She blushed too. She looked at the floor and then back to him. "I wish I could, but I actually have a friend downstairs. And apparently we have something important talk about which we need to talk about in person."

"Right," He said. "Well, have a good night and I hope you guys figure out what's going on." He told her.

She smiled to him as she put her bag in front of her and stepped into the elevator turning around to look at him, "Have a good night, Ray," She said with a great big smile.

"Have a good night, Felicity." He said as the doors closed and she descended. She fiddled with the chain of her necklace and bit her lip.

The elevator doors whooshed openly slowly as she got to the foyer and Oliver looked up at her. "So how was work?"

"Well, Ray asked me to get Gelato with him, so I mean it went fairly well," She said as she rubbed her finger on the chain. "So what's going on? What was some important I had to turn my boss down for Gelato. Which you know I love. And we couldn't talk about it on the phone" She told him.

He sighed. Ray was much easier. He didn't seem to have as much baggage and he would be good. But dammit, this was his try and he was going to make sure that he got a fair shot at all of it. "I was taught when you like a girl and you want to ask her out on a date, that you should ask in person. You should make sure they know the sincerity on your face. Makes all the difference in the world."

Felicity looked around and made sure she wasn't being punked and there was someone else in the area. There was no one. "You're asking me out?" She asked him, shocked.

He nodded. "Yes, you. What I told you that night wasn't a lie. I want a chance to be with my girl."

"Oliver, despite the fact that I want to go out with you, because yes, I have had a crush on you. I don't know about it. I mean Laurel was nice enough when it was her sister, but I don't want to start a war. She's gonna be part of your life. And if we break up, I don't want her to have choose between us," She told him.

He understood that. "She's fine. She wants me to try it with you. She wants me to be happy. And I'm happy with you, so please will you go out with me?" He asked.

"Yes, I will go out with you. But not tonight. Tonight, I'm gonna go home. I'm gonna squeal. And I'm gonna call Laurel and tell her thank you. Because her blessing means the world to me," She told him.

He smiled. She was the the cutest little thing. He didn't tell her about the kiss and things because she didn't need to know the complicated relationship that he and Laurel had. "Well, then how about tomorrow?" He asked her.

"Tomorrow, that sounds great. You're gonna pick me up?" She asked.

He chuckled, "Yeah, of course, I just need you address."

She nodded to him, "Good night, Mr. Queen. See you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow, Miss Smoak." He told her. She left and he watched walk into the night without a care in the world to find her car. Her optimism still surprised him.