Title: Harry, I'm Coming Home
Words: 2235
Pairing: Laurel/Oliver
Genre: Romance
Status: Done.
Summary: Oliver comes to Laurel's place after realizing he couldn't go on a date because he couldn't be Oliver Queen with someone else. Laurel comforts him with something they did pre-island and they spend the night with yet more realizations.
Laurel tied her hair back in a loose ponytail and smiled to her reflection. She touched the little mantra on her mirror that read 'today i can. today i will. today i live my best life.' and she turned off the light and went back into her bedroom.
She picked out her clothes for work and smiled. She looked professional and she looked out her window at her city and shook her head at how insane the whole thing was. They emerged victorious from Slade's army of super injected men. She had a new job and new friends. Life couldn't get any better than that.
Her doorbell rang.
She looked at the time and it was late. She hadn't ordered anything for awhile and no one had called.
Laurel sighed as she went and looked through the peephole to find someone standing at her door she didn't expect.
"Oliver," She said as she opened the door. "I thought you were on a date tonight?" She asked him with her eyebrow raised.
He nodded. "I was supposed to, but I couldn't go,"
She opened the door wider and let him in and he grinned at her apartment. "You know, I have some really fond memories of this place," He told her as he sat on the couch.
She sat on the couch with him. "So why couldn't you go on your date?" She asked him.
"I can't be what she needs. I can't be Oliver Queen." He said and she could tell that he was almost angry by this. He was angry that he couldn't have a life outside of the mission.
She shook her head and took his face in her hands. "You are Oliver Queen. This is the Oliver Queen I know. You get to be whoever you want to be? And the Arrow? He's not who you are. He's just a part, okay?" She asked him and he nodded.
Oliver took her in his arms and brought her closer and cuddled her as he settled down.
Their bodies melded together to create one big mass of legs and arms and she grinned to him. "You know what I think would make you feel better?" She asked him.
"Hmm?" He perked up a little.
She shook her head. "I want this to be a surprise," She told him as she untangled herself from him. She looked to him and smiled, "Actually, no, come with me." She said as she grabbed his hands.
He stood up and smiled at her. "I don't even know what you want to do." Oliver told her.
"You will in a couple of seconds. Do you trust me?" She asked him as she squeezed his hands in her own.
He nodded and she walked backwards into her room, all the way to the bed and pushed him down. "Laurel, as much as I would like-"
"Hush, it's not that," She told him as she went to the bookshelf and took a big book of the shelf and came back to the bed and put it in his hands. "I thought that maybe we could do what we used to and read it together?" She asked him.
He laughed a little. "I never thought I would see this." He chuckled.
"That copy is yours," She told him. "It's the one that you bought. Your mom couldn't keep it, so she asked if I could." She told him.
He took his shoes off and climbed into the bed and patted the side next to him. She got in and he kissed her temple. "I can't believe you kept it."
"It reminded me of the best memories I had of you. I couldn't get rid of it," She shrugged as she snuggled in closer to him and took the book in her hand and opened it and started to read, "The two men appeared out of nowhere, a few yards apart in the narrow moonlit lane..."
And chapter by chapter, he smiled as he listened to her voice, honeyed and beautiful, read him line by line of the books that before the island he read with her. He kept her body close and he put his chin on her shoulder as she flipped the page.
At the beginning of chapter seven, he saw her rub her eyes and he looked at the clock. It was late. He'd come late already and she obliged him by reading to him. She took the book away from her and put it on the nightstand. "Thank you for this," He told her as he kissed the top of her head.
She shook her head as she nuzzled in closer on his chest and rested her eyes gently. "You always read it to me when I was sad before the island. We were supposed to read it together. And you know, seven years later, we finally get that chance," She told him as she shrugged. "Besides that there is a nice symbolism to seven years for book seven," She told him as she scrunched her nose.
He laughed and brought her even closer to his body, "You are such a dork, couer." He told her.
"Says the man who was in rapt attention as I read him Harry Potter." She told him as she poked him in the nicely defined abs.
He chuckled and kissed her head. "When do you work in the morning?" Oliver asked as he looked at the time. Almost midnight.
"About eight, why?" She asked.
"Well," He said, "I'm already comfy. And you're already comfy. And I'd hate disturb that calm. And I thought that maybe, we could just sleep?" He asked.
She nodded her head. "You're probably gonna want to strip down, but I think we can do that," She said with a twinkle in her eye. "No funny business though, just sleeping and cuddling," She told him.
"Just sleeping and cuddling? That sounds like a pretty good night to me," He told her as he took off his shirt and jeans without having her move.
She took her clothes off and reached across him for his shirt. He raised his eyebrow and she blushed. "You started it," She said as she gave him a peck.
And as she was about to back away and lay back on his chest, he looked into her eyes and deepened the kiss, asking entrance to her mouth and finding her recieved it, tasted strawberry on her lips.
They had said it was cuddling and sleeping, but kissing her, it felt right. He felt something totally different than he had on his previous date with Felicity when he kissed her goodnight and watched her walk into her townhouse with a blush on her face.
Laurel didn't blush when he kissed her. She took a breath and she rested her face in his chest and smiled at her and he realized that what she said earlier in the night made sense. "Thank you," He whispered to her as he smoothed down her hair.
Her eyes just barely peer up to him as her eyebrows knit together. She put her chin on his chest and ran her knuckles across his cheeks. "For what?" She asked so softly, her words were barely a breath.
"For everything," He told her. "You are the only one that I've managed to be my entire self with."
Her fingers ghosted over his jaw and she looked up at him. "It gets easier. You'll figure it out with her," Laurel told him with a little bit of a sad smile.
He shook his head and took her wrists in his hands gently and brought her hands closer so he could kiss her fingers, "You're the only one. And you're always going to be," He told her.
"Are you asking what I think you're asking?" She asked him.
He nodded a little, "You've been the only one for me. Help me be all of Oliver Queen?" He asked her with the biggest grin that he could muster.
She saw his eyes shine with tears and she nodded vigorously. "You know, this is gonna be a coup in the news, us together again." She told him as she wiped away some tears of her own.
"I think we can handle it," He said with a bit of a laugh.
She nodded. "I think we can too," She told him as she closed her eyes once again and sighed at the unexpected turn the night had taken. "We should sleep," She told him.
"I know," He grinned, "But I don't think I can right now."
She huffed. "Well, then, just turn off the light, because I have to sleep, because I have work in the morning," She whined.
He did as he was told and she cuddled in tighter and he watched her sleep on his side. It was her. She was the only thing he needed. The reason it never worked out with anyone else, Helena was right. The kind of love he had for Laurel was one that would never die.
Her breathing evened and he watched her for a couple of hours till his own eyes got heavy and he wrapped his other arm around her and cuddled deeper into their embrace. He'd have to have the awkward conversation with Felicity tomorrow about the whole thing, but he also saw her take a liking to her new boss, so she might not be so heartbroken? Still, regardless of how heartbroken she was, he needed to say it.
Her phone went off at six thirty and he cracked one eye open as she patted the bed looking for it and he looked over on the night stand and saw it, "Here," He told her as he put it on her arm.
"God, I don't wanna get up," She whined at him and curled her legs tighter to her body and squeezed her eyes closed.
He shook his head. "You have too. You're the district attorney. They need you. Who else is gonna put all the bad guys away?" He asked her.
She opened her eyes and kissed him on the nose, "If you didn't catch so many of them, I wouldn't have to throw so many of them in the slammer," She told him.
"Yes, well, be that as it may, the vigilante has caught a bunch of them, and this city needs you." He told her as he kissed her sweetly.
She rolled over and got out of the bed and looked at him "Are you gonna stay in my bed or are you coming with me to the shower?" She asked him as she opened the door and looked back at him.
"I wasn't aware joining was an option, but if you're offering, I'm game," He said as he caught up to her and wrapped his body around hers and kissed Laurel on the cheek.
She turned her head and kissed him on the cheek. "You are the biggest dork I know,"
He nodded. "Oh and you love it, now let's get in that shower," He told her as he propelled them forward.
After the shower, she got into the clothes that she had laid out and looked at him, "I've got a pair of your old jeans and a couple of your old shirts. I don't know how they'll fit, but it's better than nothing, I guess?" She asked him.
"It's okay, where are they?" He asked.
She nodded over to the closet, "Top shelf way in the back," She told him as she buttoned her blouse up.
He went in and found a pair of his old jeans faded and worn, but still good. He looked at all of her clothes on either side of him and then of course the shoes and he saw some pairs that he bought for her still on the rack. He grinned stupidly to himself and looked over at his shirts. There was a dark purple one that he knew she loved from before the island. No wonder it ended up here.
He put it to his nose and he smiled because it smelled exactly like her. She'd worn it before. He got out of her closet and looked to her, dressed like a boss in her Hugo Boss Blazer with a bright pink dress on. "That's a bold choice," He told her.
"So is that," She said as she took the dark purple shirt with a grin as she wrapped her arms around him and kissed him.
He nodded. "I thought you would like it,"
"Oh, I do." She told him with a nod. "I've got to get going, but how about tonight after bad guy hunting, maybe we can read some more of the book?" She asked him.
He nodded and kissed her one more time, "That sounds great. But maybe I could bring lunch to the courthouse after I finish what I need to at QC?" He asked her.
"You want to bring me lunch? Man, you really are stepping up your game," She told him as she grinned.
He nodded and smiled. "Just the best for my best girl in the universe," Oliver told her. He took her arms away from his neck and gave her her briefcase and kissed her on the cheek, "Now go put away some of the bad guys like the bad ass you are," He told her.