A/N: Wow, how about that première? Here's a silly little one shot to help us all deal with those feels. Spoiler free for 3x01.
Felicity glances up from the stack of mail in front of her as a takeaway coffee cup is placed on her desk.
"Morning," Oliver says with a smile, standing in front of her desk. She grins in return.
"You're looking remarkably cheerful for someone who has to present to the board this afternoon." she notes, picking up the cup and inhaling the scent of the vanilla latte.
Oliver's face drops at her words and Felicity feels a flash of panic at his reaction.
"Oliver!" she exclaims, frantically grabbing at her tablet and a notepad at the same time. "I've reminded you about this presentation daily for the past month. Please tell me you at least have some notes that I can throw together into a powerpoint presentation."
He maintains the stunned expression for a few beats before reaching into the inner pocket of his jacket and pulling out a small flash drive. He tosses it lightly in Felicity's direction, smirking slightly.
"I've had my presentation finished for a week, Felicity." He says. "Oh ye of little faith."
She pokes her tongue out at him and snatches up the flash drive to insert it into the side of her tablet. "Says the man that missed nine of the twelve board meetings scheduled last year."
"Anyway," Oliver continues, neatly avoiding the issue of his past tardiness. "Do you want to come into my office so we can go over this presentation? I want to make sure I haven't missed anything."
"Sure," Felicity replies, getting to her feet and scooping up the mail, along with her coffee and tablet. "Lead on."
He holds the glass door open for her and she scurries in ahead of him, dumping the armful of mail on the end of one of the leather couches. She perches on the other end, crossing one leg neatly over the other and picks up the nearest envelope to open.
"Okay, you present while I open all this mail." She neatly rips off end and scans over the document before placing it to one side.
"Felicity, I'm not really sure you're going to get the full impact of the presentation if you're going through the mail and not actually watching." Oliver points out.
"I'm multitasking. Come on. You know I have to open all your mail. I can't leave it to the mail room in case there's something in there referencing our night time activities." She taps her nose as she says the last three words, earning a low laugh from Oliver.
"You do realise that I know exactly what you're referring to, don't you? You don't have to tap your nose so I pick up the reference." He smiles fondly at her.
"Whatever. Just start presenting already." She picks up a larger envelope and pulls the rip tab at the back. There's an odd popping noise and suddenly a cloud of green powder erupts from the envelope, covering Felicity and Oliver.
"What the hell?" Felicity coughs, dropping the envelope and blinking away the powder in her eyes.
Oliver swears fluently and drags her to her feet, pulling her across his office to the small bathroom door that's concealed behind panelling that seamlessly blends into the rest of the room.
"No, wait!" she exclaims, somehow shrugging out of his grip and running over to his desk. She types frantically at his computer.
"Felicity!" he half shouts at her. "We need to wash this off!"
"And I need to shut down the air conditioning system for the building and set off the evacuation alarms." She snaps in return. "Done."
She hurries back across the room to Oliver's bathroom where he's already stripped off his jacket, tie and shirt and is in the process of kicking off his shoes.
"What the hell are you doing?" she asks, feeling her face going red.
"Clothes off, we need to get into the shower." Oliver replies brusquely, his hands moving to his belt. "Unknown powder, Felicity, we need to wash off as much as possible." He shoves down his trousers, leaving on his black boxer briefs. He turns slightly to reach into the shower unit and turn the spray on full.
"You've got two seconds to take off your dress before I do it for you." He warns as he kicks all of his clothing into the corner.
"I definitely imagined you saying that under different circumstances." Felicity mutters under her breath as she pulls off the peacock blue cardigan that she'd bought the week before and reaches for the zip of her dress under her left arm. Ignoring the practically-naked Oliver in front of her, she whips the dress up over her head while kicking off her blue pumps, revealing her bright blue underwear.
"Wow. When you commit to a colour scheme you really commit." Oliver comments lightly as she steps into the shower, her face burning. Before she can retort, he steps in behind her and firmly shuts the door.
She gasps as he nudges her under the spray, the water still warming up. "Holy crap! You could have warned me it was going to be cold."
"You need to take your hair down and wash it." He points out. "Are you still wearing your glasses?"
"Yes! And I'm keeping them. I'm not standing around blind in a shower with you in your underwear! Not because I want to make sure I can see you in your underwear. Ugh. I just don't like being blind, okay?" She notices a hint of a smirk before he's joining her under the spray.
Mercifully, he doesn't say anything else as Felicity lets down her hair and reaches for the small bottle of shampoo that Oliver keeps in the shower. She vigorously rubs at her hair as Oliver takes the shampoo for himself. She can't help but notice the play of muscles under his wet skin as he starts rubbing at his own hair and she turns slightly so he's not directly in front of her.
"Remind me not to wear my favourite Alexander McQueen dress next time." Felicity says as she stares out mournfully at the pile of clothes that are no doubt destined to be destroyed.
"Sure. I'll be sure to mention that next time I think we're going to get sent a potential bioweapon through the mail."
"Do you think the emergency services are on their way yet?" she asks a few minutes later as they continue to stand under the spray. "I sent a quick alert out as I was setting off the evacuation alarms."
As he opens his mouth to respond, they hear a commotion in the main office and an officer in a Hazmat suit appears in the doorway to the bathroom.
"Mr Queen?"
"Unknown green powder in a parcel." Oliver quickly supplies, stepping slightly in front of Felicity. "It covered both Miss Smoak and myself."
As more people in suits flood into the area, Felicity blocks out all the noise and embarrassment of being practically naked and in a shower with her boss and focuses on standing behind Oliver. She doesn't hear as they explain to Oliver that until the powder has been identified that she and Oliver will be placed in isolation in case the powder turns out to be some sort of transmittable bio weapon.
"Felicity?" she starts as Oliver cups her elbow. She glances up to see him looking down at her, brows drawn together. The water is still cascading down over them. "We're being put in quarantine. I've insisted we be taken to Applied Science's medical section. There are quarantine bays there and it means Digg will be allowed in."
She nods numbly, growing cold with the increasingly cooling water. For an executive bathroom, the hot water sure doesn't last long. She makes a mental note to remedy that and concentrates on tucking her numbing fingers under her arms.
Within the hour they've been transferred to Applied Sciences and endured a full decontamination shower. Thankfully, separately, Felicity thinks with a blush. There is absolutely no way she could have stripped off her underwear in front of Oliver with a team of medics on standby. She'd been able to keep her glasses after they'd been thoroughly decontaminated. She mourns the peacock cardigan and looks down ruefully at the beige scrubs they've been provided with.
"What have you two got into now?" A bemused voice asks through the communication system.
Felicity's head shoots up and she sees Digg standing on the other side of the glass, a small smile on his lips but his eyes full of worry. "Digg!" she exclaims, jumping to her feet. Oliver joins her up at the glass, the scrubs they'd dug out for him straining across his broad chest.
"You two okay?" Digg asks.
Oliver nods. "So far. Who knows how long we'll be stuck in here."
"I got in touch with Cisco and Caitlin, they're on their way to see if they can help with the identification of the powder." He turns to Felicity. "Barry offered to come as well."
"Oh. That's nice. But he's better off staying in Central City." She replies, ignoring the slight stiffening in Oliver's stance beside her. "Besides, he could be here in minutes if we really needed him."
"My thoughts exactly. Roy and I will take care of the night work, okay?" Oliver nods absently at this.
"You guys need anything?" Digg asks. "And before you ask, I've already asked about getting a tablet to you, Felicity, but they don't want any electrical equipment in with you that might interfere with the monitoring systems."
Felicity scoffs at this. "Yeah, I suppose they're all for banning electronic equipment on planes, too. Give me a break."
Digg grins. "Well if it makes you feel any better, I doubt they're going to let Oliver have his salmon ladder in here either."
The hours pass slowly and Felicity finds herself constantly reaching for a phone or tablet that just isn't there. Across the room, Oliver is pacing back and forth, his hands twitching.
"Would you sit down, please? You're making me dizzy with all the pacing." He glances over to where she's sitting on the bottom bunk bed. She's picking at the remains of her blue nail polish and worrying her bottom lip with her teeth at the same time.
"Sorry. I don't deal well with enforced idleness."
"Colour me surprised." She mutters. "Do a girl a favour and find something to do. One of our jailors very kindly dropped off a box of books. Read something. Hell, rip all the pages out and start work on a bunch of origami cranes, but please. Stop. Pacing."
"You know, I wasn't serious about the cranes. You've just destroyed a perfectly good book. That hurts my soul."
"Felicity! Stop sighing! Every two minutes you reach for an electronic device that isn't there and then you sigh! You're off the grid, deal with it."
"Ugh, why are these cranes on my bunk? Can't you find somewhere else for them? Also, this one is totally a swan."
"I really don't think that they're going to buy your hair dye for you. And I doubt asking for it in your loud voice is going to make a difference."
"DIGG. OH MY GOD." Felicity plasters herself up against the glass, her eyes crazed as she looks at Digg. "You have to get me out of here. I'm going to KILL him."
Digg bites the inside of his cheek to stop from laughing. Behind Felicity, Oliver is shooting her an equally murderous look, his arms folded.
"He keeps doing shirtless pushups. And ripping up all the books they gave us to make paper cranes."
"And she keeps on talking, Digg. I'm concerned that we may run out of air." Oliver chips in.
"Whoa." Digg holds up both hands, forestalling any more conversation. "You two have been in here for three hours, not three weeks."
"What?" Felicity asks, dropping her hands down from the glass. "That can't be right. Is this some sort of effect from the powder?"
"No idea. Caitlin says they're still working on analysing the ingredients of the powder, but so far they think it has some psychotropic properties. Considering you two are driving each other crazy after a few hours, I think she may be on to something."
"Digg, maybe we should be put in separate rooms." Oliver says quietly. "If this is affecting our minds I want Felicity to be safe from me."
"Oh, here we go." Felicity says sarcastically. "You and your man pain separating yourself from the world. Except this time you're actually in a glass case of emotion."
"Felicity! We don't know what this powder might make us do!" Oliver snaps. "If I lose control I could kill you."
"Calm down, guys." Digg breaks in. "The medical staff are going to be pumping something to counter the psychotropic effects through the air vents soon, okay? In the meantime, you need to keep at opposite sides of this room and try to keep from pissing each other off."
"Easier said than done." Felicity mutters, crossing her arms and flicking her hair over her shoulder.
"But you will do it and I'm going to pull up a chair and sit here to watch you do it." Digg replies. "And so help me, I'll come in there and separate you myself if I have to, quarantine or not."
"Wow, I've never noticed how blue your eyes are." Felicity says dreamily, causing Digg's head to snap up. He's been sitting by the quarantine room for an hour and it's the first thing either Felicity or Oliver have said since they managed to stop glaring at each other.
"Forget that. What about your hair? It's like gold. It's practically glowing." Oliver's mooning tone makes Digg unsure if he wants to laugh or hurl.
"Hey! Separate sides of the room!" he calls out, rapping his knuckles on the thick glass. "I mean it!" he shouts as Felicity gets up from her bunk bed and walks over towards Oliver.
"Scrubs stay on! They STAY ON!"
"Was setting off the sprinkler system really necessary?" Felicity asks through chattering teeth as she wrings out her ponytail.
"Beyond necessary, Girl. Don't get me wrong, I ship you guys hard, but I do not need to see a floor show."
"Can you get us some dry scrubs, Digg? And explain what the hell shipping is?" Oliver asks, confusion written on his face.
"Good news!" Digg announces. "The medical team has fully analysed the powder."
"So we can get out of here?" Felicity asks hopefully.
"Soon. Caitlin and Cisco are putting together a treatment now and once they know it's been effective you'll be good to go."
Oliver sighs. "At least one good thing came out of this."
"Discovering you suck at origami?"
"No, I got out of doing my presentation to the Board."
"Sorry, you're going to have to stay here overnight."
Felicity lets out a little moan at Digg's words. Shooting a glance over her shoulder at Oliver, who barely looks up from the book he's reading instead of destroying, she gets up and scurries over to the glass.
"Digg, we need to be in separate rooms. I cannot sleep in the same room as Oliver Queen!" she whispers.
"Why not?" he whispers back.
"Because I know for a fact that I say some pretty weird stuff in my sleep! I have this app that records any talking during the night. Plus, I drool. And my hair ends up looking like Don King's."
"So?"
"So I don't want Oliver to see any of that! Particularly when it's blatantly obvious that he wakes up looking like a GQ spread."
"Felicity, he's not going to care about any of that." Digg tries to point out. "Compared to what he had to deal with trying to sleep on the island, I think you talking in your sleep and waking up looking like a normal person is the least of his worries."
"Geez, Digg. I can't believe you Islanded me. Low blow."
"Felicity?" Oliver calls out softly from the top bunk.
"Sorry, I can't sleep." She whispers back apologetically. "It's so cold in here and these blankets are basically tissue paper."
Ignoring the voice in his head, Oliver slips out of his bunk and lands lightly on the floor beside Felicity. He drags down his own paper thin blanket and pillow. "Shove over."
"Whaaaaaat?" Felicity breathes. Despite the dark, Oliver can make out that her eyes are wide with surprise.
"The bunks are big enough to share. You're not going to get any sleep if you're cold and I throw off a lot of body heat."
For once, Felicity bites her tongue to stop the inevitable sexually charged comment that his words are sure to inspire. Instead, she shuffles over to one side of the wide bunk and flips back the blanket. Oliver places his own pillow down and slides in to the bed, dragging Felicity in against his side before pulling her blanket back up and laying his own over the top.
"Better?" he murmurs as he curls his arm around her shoulders, encouraging her to rest her head on his chest.
"Yeah, thanks." She tentatively places one hand on his ribs, feeling the twitch in his muscles at the contact. "Oh, Oliver?"
"Yeah?"
"Just…ignore anything I say when I'm asleep, okay?"
Oliver wakes to the sound of a camera phone shutter going off. He opens his eyes to find Digg standing inside the quarantine room, phone trained on he and Felicity.
"Roy is going to love this." Digg grins, pocketing his phone and leaning back on his heels.
"Huh?" Felicity mumbles from her place by Oliver's side. Her hair is mussed and there's a small dried line of drool in one corner of her mouth.
"Wake up, Felicity." Oliver says, gently squeezing her arm. "Time to go home."
"No, Mom, I'm not going to school." She mumbles. "S'warm here." She wriggles in closer to Oliver's side and he pauses until she settles and then carefully extricates his arm from under her head before sliding out of the bunk.
"We've got the all clear, I take it?" he asks Digg, casually ignoring Digg's smug grin.
"Yep. You've just got to have a couple of shots before you leave to prevent any more side effects, but that's it."
"Great. Now we hunt down the person that sent that parcel and stop them from sending any more."
He notices Digg is staring oddly at him. "What?"
"She's right, you do wake up looking like a GQ spread."
"You don't have to stay, Oliver, really. Cisco said we're unlikely to get any more side effects." Felicity clutches her front door behind her while Oliver regards her from the hallway, arms crossed over his chest.
"He also said we shouldn't be alone for the next twenty four hours, just in case." He points out reasonably.
"Well Roy said he'd crash on my couch-"
"Roy is on patrol. For the rest of the night." He interjects. "Just let me in. You can watch me and I'll watch you."
Felicity lets out a long breath and flings open the door. "Fine. But you watch from that end of the couch."
He settles onto the couch where she directed him, kicking off his boots and watching as she putters around the small town house, ferrying dirty mugs to the kitchen and gathering up armfuls of discarded clothes.
Finally, she drops down on the other end of the couch and curls her legs up under her. She tilts her head to one side as she regards Oliver. "How exactly is this going to work? Are we just going to sit here starting at each other all day?"
"We could watch a dvd or something?" He suggests. "You must have stuff on your DVR to catch up on."
"Didn't we just prove that we're incapable of spending time together in a room without wanting to kill each other or rip each other's clothes off?" she asks, blushing as she remembers those moments before Digg triggered the sprinkler system.
"Well, the psychotropic powder probably had something to do with the murderous intentions."
"And the ripping off of clothes?" she says softly. "Was that the powder too?"
Oliver shifts a little closer. "Maybe the stuff we were saying about eyes and hair, but I'm pretty sure there's not a day that I don't get the urge to rip your clothes off you."
She lets out a little gasp at the look in his eye, leaning forward in spite of herself. He meets her halfway, one hand reaching up to cup her jaw as he lowers his lips to hers.
"Wow." She says a few moments later. "Definitely not the powder, right?"
"Definitely. But we should do some more testing to make sure."
End.