I needed some silly, happy fluff after tonight's episode, so this happened.

If anyone has a prompt, feel free to send it in :)

When Felicity signed up for a gym membership with her friend Iris, she never expected to be roped into training for a half marathon.

"Iris," Felicity groaned from her spot at the front desk, "You know me. I will never be able to run that far. Ever."

"Sure you will," Iris told her, with that fake 'you can do anything' smile she used when she was trying to guilt Felicity into things that Felicity did not want to do. "Running is great exercise. Besides, if we sign up now we'll save money on the training course."

"I know how to save us even more money," Felicity countered. "By not signing up at all."

"Felicity... I want to do it," Iris whined. "I've always wanted to run a marathon."

"Half marathon," Felicity huffed in exasperation. "Are you actually going to do this, Iris? Or is it going to be like that yoga class you made me take?"

"I really enjoyed that yoga class," Iris defended.

"Yeah, the one time you showed up for it."

"Hey," Iris said, pointing a finger in Felicity's direction. "It's not my fault that I got busy at work."

Felicity cocked an eyebrow at that and Iris had the decency to look sheepish.

"Fine," she admitted. "I hated yoga. The teacher was too bendy, it made me self conscious. But that is not the case this time. I really want to run a marathon."

"Half marathon," Felicity corrected.

"Exactly, half marathon." Iris smiled, ignoring Felicity's annoyance. "So it should be easy. Plus, the running coach is hot."

Felicity looked at her questioningly, but she just smirked, tipping her chin towards something on the wall behind them. Felicity spun to see a poster for the half marathon training program and on it was a picture of the hottest guy she had ever seen. He had short cropped blonde hair, just the right amount of scruff on his jaw, and broad, well-muscled shoulders and arms.

"That's just some model," Felicity said, shaking her head.

"Oh, really," Iris grinned. "Then why does it say 'Train with personal trainer Oliver Queen' directly under his picture?"

"I..." Felicity stared at the poster, or really, the picture. How could someone possibly be so attractive?

"That's what I thought," Iris said, and Felicity didn't need to look at her to know she was still smirking. "Sign the paper, Smoak."

So Felicity signed up for the class.

After all, if she and Iris were going to get healthy and work out, they might as well do it while looking at a really hot guy, right?

•••

"I can't believe you're doing this to me!" Felicity hissed into her phone.

It was only 7:00am on a Saturday and she was already in her workout gear, standing near the main entrance to the gym. There were a few people gathered around, waiting for their trainer to take them out to the park for their first class. The one person not there?

"Iris! I will kill you!" Felicity said to her best friend's voicemail. "You promised you wouldn't do this."

"Good morning, everyone!"

The deep male voice startled Felicity and she spun to see their trainer, Oliver Queen, standing in front of the group in sweatpants and a green hoodie.

"You'd better be dead or halfway to Mexico the next time I see you, or else you'll be sorry!" Felicity quickly snarled into her phone before slipping it into the phone holder she'd bought specifically for working out.

She didn't notice that Oliver was close enough to hear her until he said, "Well, if we're all done with the death threats, let's head over to the park."

Felicity blushed, but Oliver only smiled back warmly. His eyes trailed over her and she swore they lingered on her butt for a moment, before shooting back up to her face, and then back to the rest of the group.

He introduced himself and had everyone exchange names before he got down to business.

"We'll go over stretching techniques once we get to the park and then we'll start off with a brisk jog."

He clapped his hands together once, then took off at what Felicity already considered a brisk jog. And to her utter horror, everyone else in the class seemed to be keeping up with him without a problem.

By the time they made it to the park, only a block and a half away, Felicity was breathing heavily. She followed along through all the stretching and then managed to catch her second wind for the jog. But when Oliver told them to do one final lap around the park before calling it a day, Felicity knew she was in trouble.

Apparently everyone who signed up for this class was more prepared than Felicity's forty minutes on the treadmill every other day. The group took off—some of them even racing—without a complaint. Felicity followed along as best she could, but was ready to call it quits by the halfway point.

Oliver sidled up next to her. Where did he come from? she thought. He wasn't even breathing heavy, ugh.

"You doing okay? You look like you might need a break," he said, and she tried to play down her embarrassment over him noticing she was struggling.

"I know it's cheating," she said, coming to a stop and wiping the sweat from her forehead, "but if I asked you to carry me, would you?" She laughed, trying to cover her need to gulp in a breath.

Oliver smiled and glanced around. None of the other runners were around, Felicity realized suddenly, because they were all ahead of her. Then Oliver bent forward a little and said, "Hop on," and she wasn't really thinking about the other runners anymore.

"Oh!" Felicity said, flustered by his offer. "I was... I was just joking. You don't—"

"It's Felicity, right?" he asked, startling her a little.

"Yeah," she nodded. "Yes. I'm Felicity. Smoak."

Oliver grinned and Felicity felt her heart speed up, and it had nothing to do with all the running she'd been doing this morning.

"Hop on, Felicity," he said, leaning forward so she could climb onto his back.

Carefully, Felicity did just that, trying not to let her nerves get the best of her. But really, her super hot running coach was giving her a piggy back ride. A girl could only handle so much.

"You know, I'm not really doing you any favors by doing this," he teased, after a minute of walking.

His warm palms on the back of her thighs had her thinking just how wrong he was.

Those palms tightened, as if in a spasm, and Oliver stumbled slightly. It was the first time she'd seen him do that all morning.

"Uh..." he muttered, straightening himself out. "I meant, as far as the half marathon goes," he explained, much to Felicity's confusion. Until she realized...

"Ugh. I said that out loud, didn't I? My brain chooses the worst times to betray me."

Like when she was riding her hot running coach. Not riding! No, not that. Just... getting a lift.

Suddenly, she wasn't sure what to do with her hands. They'd been resting on Oliver's shoulders, but now that she'd clearly made him uncomfortable, touching him, even innocently, seemed too intimate.

"I'm sorry," she said. "You can put me down if you want. You don't have to—"

His big palms squeezed her thighs again, but this time to cut off her argument.

"Felicity," he said, and she hoped he couldn't feel the shutter that ran down her spine. "I don't offer piggy back rides to just any client, you know."

"No?" she asked, and then slammed her eyes shut at the sound of her voice. He was carrying her, for crying out loud, she shouldn't sound so breathless still.

"No," he said, and she could hear the humor in his voice.

"I guess I'm special, then." She laughed, then got nervous when he didn't respond immediately. "I didn't mean that you considered me special or—"

"Felicity," he laughed, hiking her up his back with a quick bounce, a move that had Felicity fighting back a gasp. He reached up and tugged Felicity's arms until they were wrapped tight around his neck, instead of fluttering around his shoulders like they'd been doing. "Hold on to me tight," he whispered.

And Felicity did. Oh, boy, did she ever.

•••

Oliver didn't stop and let her down once they came into view of the rest of the group, like Felicity thought he would. Instead he carried her all the way to the finish line they'd established in the beginning of class, only placing her on her feet to go over the cool down exercises.

"You want a lift back to the gym?" he asked with a teasing smirk once they'd finished.

"I think I can handle it," Felicity grinned back. But to her pleasure, Oliver didn't jog back with the rest of the class. He walked quietly beside her, keeping her company.

"I take it you signed up for this program with a friend?" Oliver asked as they walked. "And that's who you were threatening with bodily harm earlier?"

Felicity laughed.

"My friend Iris," she explained, shaking her head. "She talked me into signing up even though I didn't want to, then left me hanging this morning."

"Well," Oliver said slowly, sounding a little unsure. "Before you kill her or run her out of the country, will you thank her for me?"

Felicity paused outside the gym doors, cocking her head to the side. "Why?" she asked.

"Because without her I wouldn't have..." He glanced away, looking distinctly nervous, before he met her eyes again. "Without her I wouldn't have had the pleasure of meeting you."

Felicity felt her cheeks flush. "Oh."

"And that would have been a shame." His smile was warm as he took a small step closer to her. "Felicity, would you... I mean, if you'd like to, I was thinking..."

"Usually, I'm the one speaking in sentence fragments," she laughed. His nervousness was endearing and she couldn't stop grinning at him.

Oliver huffed a laugh of his own, before taking a deep breath. "Would you like to get breakfast with me, Felicity?"

"Yes," she said, her smile splitting her face. "I'm starving."

"Okay, it's a date then," he said, pulling open the gym door for her. "I'll meet you back here in twenty minutes?"

"Mhmm," she nodded, her cheeks starting to hurt from smiling so wide, but she didn't care. He was smiling just as much.

Felicity pulled her phone out as she made her way to the women's locker room. She needed to change and make herself presentable for a date, even if it was only breakfast. But first...

"Felicity," Iris answered on the fourth ring. "I'm so sorry. I overslept. I didn't mean to bail on you—"

"Relax," Felicity said with a laugh. "It's fine."

There was a brief pause and then a cautious, "What do you mean 'it's fine'?"

"I mean," Felicity grinned, holding the phone against her ear as she opened her locker, "that I forgive you."

"You do?"

"Yup. No need to book the first flight to Mexico," Felicity joked, tugging her sundress out of the locker. She was grateful she'd picked something cute to wear this morning. She'd almost worn her old MIT hoodie and yoga pants. What a mistake that would have been.

There was another pause, in which Felicity could practically hear the wheels in Iris's head turning. "And what has you in such a forgiving mood?"

"What? I'm not allowed to forgive my best friend?" Felicity asked, but before Iris could respond, she added, "Got to go, Iris. I've got a breakfast date I've got to get to."

"A what?!" Iris shrieked into the phone. "Felicity Smoak, who are you having a breakfast date with? Is it the teacher? Oh, Felicity, please tell me it's with that sexy as hell teacher!"

"I've got to go, Iris," Felicity smirked into her phone. "If you wanted the details you should have come to class."

"Felicity!"

But she was already hanging up and tugging her sweaty sports tank over her head. She had a date to get to.