Here's a quick little one-shot during 2x08 when Oliver asks Felicity to stay quiet about Moira's incarceration...with some Olicity fluff thrown into it. No beta for this so all mistakes are mine. Enjoy and let me know what you think!

Disclaimer: I do not own Arrow - it belongs to the CW and DC Comics.

The Benefits of Not Having A Filter

"Felicity, I'm bringing my mother to the office tomorrow for the nine o'clock meeting," Oliver began as he entered her office. "She needs a distraction after being in jail for so long, and I don't want her to be reminded of it. So when she comes in could you please-"

"Not babble on about anything awkward?" Felicity interjected. She wasn't entirely surprised that Oliver was asking her this. But really, he should know by now that she had absolutely no control over anything she said. At all. She'd tried once to force a muzzle over her mouth—she'd even taken an etiquette class (her mother had practically forced her), but nothing had been able to leash the monster. That monster had been one of the many reasons she had no friends. So she tried her best to contain it around Diggle and Oliver. It usually didn't work though.

She attempted to smile at him. "Don't worry, Oliver, I'll do my best to just not say anything when she gets there. Less chance of any slipups that way. Trust me, I know my uncontrolled babbling is one of my many faults," she muttered that last sentence under her breath and left.

XXX

She had tried. She really had. But when she had seen Oliver, Diggle, and Mrs. Queen walking towards her she couldn't help but panic and think of how disappointed Oliver would be if she messed up, and suddenly she was blurting the exact stuff she had been determined not to say. So now she was pacing back and forth in front of Oliver's office, waiting for him to show up after his meeting. "Why, why, why do I have to be such a geek and talk about anything that passes through my mind? Thank God I don't watch all of my TV shows until the weekend or else I'd be blurting out Doctor Who quotes in front of Isabel Roschev."

Suddenly the door opened with Oliver coming in and she was rushing to meet him. "I am so, so sorry Oliver. I really, really tried. Your mother knows that I didn't mean to bring it up right? Please let her know that I didn't and that I take full responsibility for my mouth. I really don't have any excuses - just lock me up in the lair for a week until next time. You can even tie me up and gag me-" She stopped abruptly, flushing. "That came out really wrong. You know what I mean, though. What I'm trying to say is-"

"Felicity!" Oliver's voice cut her off abruptly and she snapped her mouth shut. "It's okay," he said gently. "I know that you tried."

"But I shouldn't have to just try, I should be able to keep my mouth shut easily. Everybody else in the world seems to be able to do it so why can't I do it?"

"Felicity, when I told you that my mother was coming to the office today, I wasn't going to ask that you try not to say anything."

"You weren't?" she said incredulously. "What on earth were you going to say then? And why didn't you correct me?"

"I was going to say that you ask the employees of QC to not mention my mother's incarceration, but instead you put words in y mouth and left before I could tell you otherwise." He looked meaningfully at her and she flushed. "Look, I know you try really hard to stay quiet around me and Diggle and I really appreciate the effort, but you really don't have to restrain yourself like that, Felicity."

"No, I don't. Where could you have possibly have gotten that idea?" She attempted to brush off his accusation nonchalantly, when inside she was wondering how on earth he could have known. Was it possible he had learned to be a mind reader when he was on the island? No, that couldn't be possible – if he had been a mind reader then he would have thrown her out of the team before the second day was over because of the ridiculous fantasies that crossed her mind constantly when he was working out in front of her sans shirt in all of his sweaty, masculine glory. Seriously, it should be illegal to be that sexy.

She was about to further deny Oliver's claim, but when she saw the shifty expression in Oliver's eyes she stopped and glared at him. "Please tell me you did not go all Arrow and sneakily spy on me while I thought I was alone. And don't you dare lie to me Oliver Queen," she interrupted him as he opened his mouth. "I have proof that when you were seventeen you stole some tarantulas from the local pet store and placed them all over Zack Nemeroff's office after he refused to let you into his club and I am not afraid to use it to my advantage!"

He gave her an amused look. "I don't even want to know how you figured that out."

She folded her arms. "I have my ways. Now tell me how you supposedly found out about my attempt to muzzle my mouth around you and Dig."

That caused the twinkle in his eyes to disappear, leaving a melancholy look on his face. She fidgeted nervously, suddenly wondering if she really wanted to know.

"I came to your apartment one night to ask you to do some investigating on the Triad after China White got arrested. I was still hooded up, so I came in through the open window. I heard you talking, so I assumed you were on the phone, but when I walked in a little further, I realized you were talking to yourself in your bathroom mirror."

She closed her eyes. He didn't have to go any further—she knew what he was talking about. It was right after she had done one of her most recent slip-ups—"And I love spending the night with you!"—and after she had gone home she had berated herself intensely over it in front of the mirror. "You are a full-grown adult, Felicity Smoak," she had said to herself, hoping that looking at herself in the eye would make the command cement further into her mind. "You can go without embarrassing yourself and saying an innuendo in front of your boss-slash-friend. You have to, or else he'll leave, like everybody else did. And you don't want that, do you?" She sighed. Of course Oliver had been in her apartment the one time she hadn't wanted him there.

"I hadn't exactly realized," Oliver continued softly. "How hard it was for you to make friends."

"Oh, no, making friends was never the problem with me," she said wearily. "It was keeping them that was hard."

"How was keeping them any harder than making them?"

"Because the people that weren't my friends made it harder. There were my friends—who, mind you, weren't very many to begin with—and there were the people that found my babbling to be a weakness. 'Little Babbicity', they called me. The one who just couldn't keep her mouth shut," she said bitterly. "The constant bullying and teasing ended up wearing on my so-called friends, and they eventually said sayonara and joined the others. I gave up making friends afterwards; there was just no point. Instead, I buried my face in my books and graduated from high school early. I didn't look for friends in college either."

"That seems lonely," he prodded gently. His eyes were soft and full of compassion.

"It was." She took a deep breath and shook off her melancholy feelings. "But you don't want to hear the sob story that was my social life. You have a meeting with Wayne Industries in an hour, and I need to prep you for it."

Oliver looked like he wanted to say something, but he shut his mouth and let her talk about QC stocks and statistics. When she was done, she checked her tablet saw some documents from applied science and told Oliver she was going to the printer room. Before she could leave, however, Oliver grabbed her hand and said, "When I was on the island, I didn't smile much, let alone laugh. There was nothing to really laugh about there. When I came back, I had to look happy for the media, for my family and friends because they expected it of me. But the shadow of despair from the island always haunted me." Oliver stepped closer to her, letting her receive the full power of his eyes. She couldn't stop staring at them. "When we first met, you caught me completely by surprise. I'd never known anybody who was that honest. Your babbling caused me to laugh for the first time in months, and it was because it was so unrestrained." He placed the hand not holding her fingers on her shoulder, and she felt its warmth tingle over her bare skin. "Those so-called 'friends' you had when you were younger didn't realize what they missed. You are remarkable, and you an amazing friend. You're always there—not just to help me during my nights—but to help me smile once in a while, and I wanted thank you for that." He smiled at her, his real true smile, and then left her there open-mouthed, shoulder and fingers tingling, cheeks stained red and butterflies pattering throughout her stomach. She really had no idea how to respond to that.

"Oh, I'm picking up some Big Belly Burger later; you want anything?" he called over his shoulder.

Still not fully recovered, she faintly replied, "Classic Big Belly with no mayo and fries, please." Oliver gave her a thumbs-up over his shoulder to acknowledge the order.

Before the elevator doors closed, however, she managed to shake her head of enough Oliver-induced cobwebs to call, "And when you get back we are having a major discussion on the rules of boundaries and privacy, because the next time you come to my apartment for a visit, you are going to knock like a regular person!"