AN This is my first Arrow fic and I have negative regrets. All of these moments are set in season one, but I don't have a definite timeline. So, shuffle them in wherever you think they fit :'D

Also, I am all sorts of smitten with the image of Oliver being an absolute snuggle monster, so if it seems like there's a lot of physical contact in this...well, my headcannon, my rules.

Written for The Beta Branch challenge Never Have I Ever! Things I have never done- 5 +1, Arrow, such intense bursts of fluff and cute with so few words.

i. sorrow

Oliver knocked on his mother's office door, waiting patiently as her assistant stared nervously into his back. She had tried to ward him off with some feeble protest, but arrogant and entitled Oliver Queen was not one to hold back his plans because some secretary stammered herself out of a job.

"Oh, Oliver," Moira whispered, pulling her door open, "honey, I'm so sorry, I completely forgot to call you."

"So, no lunch," he said. He didn't have to fake the pang of disappointment in his stomach.

"No, I'm so sorry. This conference call, I absolutely cannot duck out of it."

Oliver nodded, then pushed a smile to his face. He didn't really have a right to feel annoyed. He had been the one to cancel the day before,much to his mother's passive aggressive chagrin. But the Hood had found a time sensitive lead, and one of the two had to go.

"It's fine, Mom. We can do it tomorrow, right?"

"Oh, yes, thank you, dear," Moira sighed, a look of relief and absolute gratitude on her face. "I suppose this is a lesson to teach me to be a little more understanding from now on."

"Okay. See you later," he said, kissing her on the cheek and allowing her to slip back into her office.

Oliver sighed as he watched her walk back to her desk, looking harried. Then he turned on his heel, and sauntered back past the assistant like she didn't exist. Diggle continued in the role as the stoic body guard, not saying a word as Oliver punched in the button to the IT floor inside the elevator. He couldn't take Felicity out to lunch (even though she had earned a break just as much as his mother had), but he could at least say hi.

Felicity's shoulders were hunched toward her screen as he approached. Her eyes were glued to the screen, as well as a little…teary?

He glanced back at Diggle, who had noticed as well. He gave Oliver a tiny headshake in way of saying he didn't know what had happened. Oliver scrolled through the past few days for any reason for Felicity to be crying at work, but he came up blank. He turned his head back to her, unsure if he wanted to get involved.

"Felicity?" he called, giving her a few yards buffer. She gave a small gasp and spun away, the headphones yanking out of her ears.

"Oh, hi, Oliver," she stammered, face now buried in a filing drawer. He didn't miss the way she swiped at her eyes. "What're—what're you guys doing here?"

"I was going to take my mom to lunch, but she canceled."

"I hope that I'm not your cheap replacement," she joked, still digging around in the drawer. "Not that I'm saying I'm cheap! Or that you are. And I'm totally not saying that I wouldn't like to go to lunch with you, that'd be really great, I'm sure you have amazing taste. I—what do you guys want," she said, taking a long breath and turning back around. She peered at them over her computer screen, silently begging them to save her from herself.

"Just saying hi. You're still working on my computer, right?"

"Uhm, yeah, should be done in a day or so," she said. Thank heavens had seriously improved on the rapid fire lying front. Oliver wasn't much one to come up with excuses on the fly, but the first few times they had spoken about his escapade in public, Felicity had been an awkward frazzled mess, trying to cover herself and failing horrendously.

Oliver watched her for a moment, then dragged in a breath.

"Are you…okay?"

"Oh, yeah, uhm, I'm fine. Are you fine?"

"Yep. And you, Digg?"

"I'm just peachy, Mr. Queen."

Felicity's lips quirked at their teasing, but the remnants of tears were still there.

"Felicity…"

"It's just this stupid tv show," she blurted, snapping her hand in a violent gesture toward her screen. Oliver blinked at her, slowly swiveled to exchange a look with Diggle to make sure he had heard correctly, then looked back at Felicity.

"I'm…sorry?"

"It's just—it's just—I know I really shouldn't be watching it here at work, but I've just been so swamped outside lately, and I've been managing to steal an episode here or there, but I just watched the penultimate episode last night, and I need to know what happens next, it's the season finale, and I just—if they really didn't want me to watch at work, they should have made it harder to access streaming sites!" she finished, the words coming out in a frantic whisper. Oliver blinked at Felicity, trying to think of a response to such a tirade.

"You…want to explain?"

This was not the right response.

"I just can't do this!" she huffed, hands waving in the air. "I mean—I get that the actual plot is really important, I really do, White Collar has got a pretty on point set of writers, and this is it, this is make it or break it time. But I just—I just—it's Neal and Sara! They're just trying to get up higher into the Empire State Building, but Neal just proposed to her, and he was there on one knee at the observation deck, and he was being so honest, because Sara really is perfect for him, she knows he's a criminal, but she doesn't care, she's there helping him, risking federal prison! And yeah, I snuck a look at next season's cast list, and she's not there, so this is really it. But you can see it in their eyes, and they just love each other so much, and he's completely honest when he says that he wants to spend the rest of his life with her, but she knows it's not real, that it won't work, and their eyes—I've watched it three times already and I'm still tearing up and I can't figure out why!"

Felicity heaved in another breath, and then slowly let it out. Oliver stared at her, trying to process all that she had just babbled.

"And…this is a tv show?"

"Yes. And don't tell me that they're just characters, I know that, I really do, but fiction shapes the world, and it touches people, and it's perfectly acceptable when people cry over books, why can't I cry over this damn perfect and heartbreaking proposal in a tv show?"

"I…don't know," Oliver said, completely confused as to what to do. Clearly, there was a different protocol for dealing with television based emotions.

Felicity sniffed, and waved her hand at Oliver.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to explode, it's just…"

"Their eyes," he finished for her.

"Yes."

"Alright, then. Uhm…enjoy the rest of the episode," Oliver said, slowly backing away from her cubicle.

"Yeah, thanks," she said, turning her eyes back to her screen like it held very bittersweet truths.

"You know, I'm impressed," Diggle said, once they were in the elevator. "For a second, I actually believed you weren't completely shutting down."

"Shut up. You could have helped me, you know. There were...tears."

"Must not've had many of those on the island."

"No, actually. It was mostly just the blood and sweat part of the saying."

Diggle snorted, and shook his head.

AN To avoid confusion-the computer they are referring to is not the bullet-y laptop Oliver first brings to her, but a random laptop they invented in case Oliver needed a reason to go down and see her :)

I really wanted Felicity to be watching something OTHER than Game of Thrones or Doctor Who, so I picked one of my favorite popular tv show moments.

(Felicity is crying over this scene because she's thinking about her and Oliver)