Title: A Tree For Oliver
Pairing/characters: Oliver Queen, Felicity Smoak, John Diggle
Disclaimer: I own no part of Arrow
Warnings/Spoilers: Never happened.
Summary: Felicity was feeling festive and made Christmas presents.
Author's Note: A friend showed me a picture and this is what happened. Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy!
He rushed inside the club to find out what was so important on Christmas morning that Diggle had to call him in. "Hey. What's up?" Oliver slid his jacket off, preparing to change if he had to.
"I don't know. She called me. She made me call you and then insisted I wait here for you. Said we had to go downstairs together." Diggle shrugged as he shook his head.
"Felicity?"
"Yes. Anyone else know about this?"
"No. Just, odd."
"I think she has presents."
Oliver looked at Diggle in surprise. "I didn't get her anything."
"Me either. Kind of feel bad if she got me something."
"I don't usually do gifts for friends. I don't think I ever got Tommy anything."
"Laurel?"
"Well, yeah, for Laurel. But, she was Laurel."
"Yeah." He looked around and didn't see Felicity. "Ready? I guess she isn't coming up here for us."
"Not really, but I guess we're expected."
As if she knew what they were doing, the door opened and Felicity stood there, hands on her hips, looking a little disheveled. "Hello? I specifically told you that once Oliver was here you were to come downstairs."
"How did you know we were here?"
"No, don't ask." Diggle warned. "You probably don't want to know."
"Extra cameras?"
"You were gone a while."
"Of course." He looked at Felicity and said, "yes, we're on our way." He motioned for Diggle to go first.
"No, Mr. Queen. After you, of course." He smiled.
"Of course." Oliver had no idea what to expect as he walked down the stairs but a tree was definitely the last thing that would have occurred to him. And yet, there it was. A tree. A Christmas tree. But not just any Christmas tree. This one was handmade, he was certain of that.
"Wow" Diggle said as he walked around Oliver to inspect the tree. "You did this?"
"I did." Felicity was beaming. She glanced at Oliver before looking back at her creation and explained, "don't worry. I did not use any of your special Arrow arrows. I know how sacred those are." She looked at Diggle and noticed he playfully winked at her. She smiled.
Oliver was speechless. He slowly walked toward the tree she made entirely of arrows and stopped in front of it. He looked at her, opened his mouth and no words escaped. He had no words. Oliver began wandering around the tree, stopping every couple of steps to glare at Felicity and then stare in bewilderment at the tree, not yet able to speak.
"Nice one" Diggle said as he walked over and smiled at Felicity before holding up his fist. They fist bumped as they watched Oliver wander slowly around the tree a few more times, opening his mouth to speak but unable to form words and continuing to glare.
"I thought he'd like it" she whispered.
"I love it." Diggle was beaming.
"You love it because he hates it." Felicity folded her arms across her stomach. "He could at least appreciate the thought and hard work."
"It's a good present. No worries about any allergies like one would have from a real tree."
Oliver glared at Diggle before continuing his walk around the tree.
Diggle chuckled. "He's just jealous he never thought of this himself. Or maybe he's upset because it has to stay here and that he cannot share it with his family."
Oliver threw another nasty look toward Diggle before stopping and staring at the tree. He slowly reached out to touch it, and as his fingers roamed over the arrows that made up the tree, he still had no idea how to respond. So he walked around his arrow tree some more while the two continued to take their shots at his expense.
"I worked most of the night on this."
"And it shows." Diggle could not stop smiling.
"Had to hide a lot of arrows from him so he wouldn't figure out what I was doing."
Oliver stopped abruptly and turned toward Felicity. He opened his mouth to speak but still, nothing.
"Again, not your arrows." Felicity insisted.
He tried to speak but decided to nod and continued walking. Oliver was still alternating walking around the tree with stopping to touch the arrows. Finally, "why?" eked out.
"Oh, I don't know, Oliver. Secret identity. Arrows. Christmas. Made sense to me."
"I think it's great" Diggle said with a smile.
"Oh! I can't believe I forgot. I have something for you." Felicity walked over to the desk and pulled out a box from underneath.
Diggle and Oliver looked at one another and it was the first time Oliver actually smiled since they first saw one another upstairs. He was finally able to speak. "She has something for you too." He raised his eyebrows and grinned wider. "I cannot imagine how spectacular it must be."
"Here" she said as she smiled and handed a wrapped box to John. "I made it myself, just like the tree, so I hope you are more appreciative than a certain someone I won't mention because we all know who he is."
"Thanks" he said as he took the box. He didn't want to shake it because it seemed somewhat heavy. Diggle didn't want to break it if it might be something breakable.
"It won't bite. Feel free to open it." She waited.
Oliver was beaming.
"Okay." John opened the gift and turned it over in his hands. "Thank you."
"Here" she said, as she grabbed it from him and set it on the table beside her monitors. "See, pictures. Of you. Your childhood. Everything. Memories. Happy ones. Mostly. Some might make you sad remembering but they're all happy memories because it is obvious how much you're smiling in these." She turned toward Diggle and noticed the look on his face was similar to the look Oliver had when he first saw the tree.
"Really? Wow." She started to walk away but stopped when she heard Oliver say her name. Slowly she turned.
"Thank you. It was" he paused as he searched for the right word, "unexpected but nice. I can see you took a great deal of time on my tree. And I get the whole Arrow thing." Oliver put on his best smile, walked over to her and gave her a hug.
Felicity stepped away from Oliver as he let her go and said, "oh shove it. You both hate your gifts. I did not create those in one day. They both took a lot of work and creativity so you could at least fake some joy. It is Christmas after all." She turned and started up the stairs. "I have to go. Please don't burn or blow up your gifts." She made certain to slam the door behind her.
Diggle walked over to Oliver's tree as Oliver watched the slide show of all things Diggle and both men laughed. "She worked hard on this. I doubt you have any idea where she found these pictures. She must have looked everywhere."
"No. No idea. Wish she hadn't found some of them. Not really my best moments."
"My god, look how skinny you were." Oliver smiled as he watched the pictures glide across the screen.
"Just remember I am not skinny anymore." He raised an eyebrow as he looked at Oliver.
"Oh, I remember. I see those tree trunks and I respect their power."
Diggle laughed. "She worked hard on this tree. She had to cut most of the arrows. And place them perfectly. Had to measure to get the right size. Felicity put a lot of time and effort into this. And didn't even use any of your arrows."
"I know" he said as he walked to the tree and stood beside Diggle. "But" he paused. "Arrows."
"Yeah. Skinny pimply faced kid that couldn't match his clothes."
"I was wondering if you were color blind in some of those. Or just didn't care. Not quite sure what the women saw in you, John."
"Yeah. Arrows. Lots of them. Some broken. All in one place." John laughed.
"Touche." He turned away from the tree. "Okay. I've got to get back to the house. See you later." He walked to the stairs before turning and saying, "Merry Christmas, John."
"Merry Christmas Oliver."
"You realize we owe her now."
"Yes, I know. Already trying to think of some way to repay her."
"Good. See you later."
"Bye Oliver."