Felicity wasn't sure what she was doing here, at a Queen Consolidated party on New Year's Eve. Sure, as new head of Computer Sciences and IT Security, she had certain obligations, but these fancy dress-up parties really weren't here thing. But with the new position came new responsibilities, so here she was, making her way through the room, enjoying the appetizers and champagne as she talked with colleagues and some of the Starling City elite.

The appetizers, no matter how tasty, were only small, and stealing an entire plate for herself wasn't the sensible thing to do, and the champagne was definitely giving her a kick. Besides, her fancy dress had required her to wear fancy high heels, and her feet were killing her.

She kept repeating those reasons when she, around eleven pm, gave her apologies and left the party. Not that she was missing her flats, a decent meal, and the cheap red wine that was waiting for her in the fridge, next to the apple pie she was going to pop into the oven. Once she got into the town car, her stomach rumbled, and instead of her address, she told the driver to go to Big Belly Burger. She placed her order online with estimated arrival time, and once she got to the fast food place, she told the driver that she would get a cab back to her place.

Inside Big Belly Burger, she took a seat and looked around, waiting for her order number to be called. It wasn't that busy, three teenagers who were on their phones, talking and showing each other videos. There was a mother with her two young kids, playing with the toys that came with the children menu. Last was a man, dressed in tux but had shed his vest and his sleeves were rolled up. He was on his phone, a part of his fries getting cold. Normally she'd be scowling at him for letting fries to go waste, but she was too busy staring at his forearms. Damn he was muscular.

"Order 97, Felicity Smoak."

Felicity raised her hand as the waitress brought over her order. "Thank you," she said, as she dropped her clutch on the table and started digging in.

"Felicity Smoak?"

She had just taken a bite of her burger when she heard a voice behind her. A male voice, and since she had seen everyone earlier in the restaurant and she was sitting with a view to the door and no one had come in, it must be the muscular guy.

She straightened her back, looked behind her – yup, the guy in the suit, damn – and quickly shewed and swallowed her bite.

"That's me, how can I help?" At the guy's confused expression, she added. "I'm sorry, that's a habit, I work at IT support. Well, I used to work at IT support. I mean, I still do, work for Computer Sciences and IT security, but I got a promotion recently, but I used to be like, the go-to person for IT support and people would only look at me when they had issues. Computer issues! Which I solved. Because that is my job. Was my job. Ish."

The guy smiled, his eyes twinkling. It made Felicity happy, though she couldn't figure out why he looked so familiar.

"I know," the guy said.

"How?" she asked. "I mean I feel like I should know who you are, but I don't, but I'm not that great with faces, but." She shook her head, forcing herself to stop rambling. "How?"

"Queen Consolidated, right?" he asked. She nodded. "You really deserved that promotion, I think. My Mom and Walter talk about you with great admiration."

Felicity blinked once, twice, before realization kicked in. "You're Oliver Queen."

He smiled as he walked around the small table and took a seat in front of her. "Indeed, and mostly, I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who skipped out on the company's New Year's Party."

"I feel like I should apologize and like I would insult you by doing so."

Oliver smiled. "It's a fancy party, good for connections, great for the company image, blablabla. Who wants to spend a holiday at work? And those parties my Mom throws can get so…"

Swallowing down the fry she had taken, Felicity added. "Dull? Uninteresting? Monotonous? Tedious? Dreary?"

"I was going to say boring," Oliver said. "But all of those work, too."

Felicity smiled. "So how did you get away from your duty as son of the hour?" She took a bite of her burger.

"Through the kitchen and the backdoor," Oliver admitted, grin seemingly permanently set on his face.

"Really?" Felicity said after swallowing. "Tell me more. I shouldn't keep talking, God knows I will never stop, and I am hungry."

And so Oliver spend the next half an hour talking at and with Felicity while she finished her meal. The tabloids could say what they want, but Oliver was clearly smart. He laughed at Felicity's jokes, and his eyebrows only burrowed in confusion about half of the time when she talked about IT, which was way less than she had been expecting. He was funny as well, and she definitely didn't mind those forearms. Time passed by so quickly that they were completely caught of guard when people started counting down and fireworks erupted outside.

"It's midnight," Oliver said.

"I know. Happy New Year," Felicity responded.

Oliver smiled a very soft smile, like her answer had been an inside joke she wasn't a part of. "Happy New Year," he responded.

After a moment of awkward silence, they picked up their conversation where they had left off. Soon it was one in the morning and they were the only ones left in the dinner. The waitress asked them to leave as they were closing down, and then they were outside.

Felicity was on her phone, looking for a cab, shivering, when Oliver spoke up. "Do you need a ride?" he asked as he draped his vest around her shoulders.

"Thanks," she responded. "And I'll just get a cab."

"Are you sure?" he asked. "It's New Year, it'll be a long wait. I can just drop you off on my way home."

"That's nice, but there's really no need to make that detour, it's not on your route."

Oliver rolled his eyes. "My place is twenty miles out of the city. Nothing is on the route." He placed a hand between her shoulder blades and guided her down the street. "Come on, I'll drop you off."

Before she realized what was happening, they stopped at a motorcycle and Oliver was handing her the helmet. Her brain clearly had stopped functioning because she was getting onto the motorcycle, tightly holding onto Oliver's waist, telling him her address.

Soon, they arrived at her place. She got off the motorcycle, as did Oliver, shutting down the engine.

"So," she said as she handed back his jacket and helmet.

"So," he parroted.

And as if Felicity needed proof that her brain had stopped working for the night, she said: "Do you wanna come up?" Both their eyes widened so Felicity did what she did best, talk more. "I mean I have a red wine and ice cream and pie which I was planning on having tonight. And I mean, you gave me a ride, and I wanted to thank you. Not that you have to, but I mean, a complete pie is a lot, and –"

"Felicity," Oliver interrupted her. "I'd love to come up for some pie with ice cream."

She smiled and they made their way up the stairs.

In all fairness, pie, ice cream, and red wine was all she had in mind when she had invited him up, but when they both woke up in in Felicity's bedroom the next morning, neither of them were complaining.