" You have to keep balance! " Oliver said for the nearly hundredth time.
" I'm honestly sorry, but I'm definitely not made to do this.. fighting stuff! " Felicity sighed.
Oliver had tried for now about one hour to teach her the basics of self defense, but yet, there was no progress to be seen.
" I know why Diggle gave this up… " She said. " I'm the clumsiest person on earth! "
" No, you're not and now stop talking and try again. " He simply answered.
She rolled her eyes and got into position. Once he grabbed her wrist, she did the twisting thing Oliver had shown her a couple times only in the last ten minutes. Though she found that it didn't quite work out. Once it got to the pushing him away part she failed miserably which only lead to him sighing and her blushing furiously.
" Stop laughing… " She grumbled at him. " We can just as well stop this ridiculous thing. "
Before she could turn away he grabbed her wrist, this time not as forceful as before.
" Felicity, this is serious! I want you to be able to defend yourself. I need to know that you're save! "
Sighing she ran a hand through her hair. She really needed to take this more serious, if it meant so much to him. " Okay, once more. " She said confidently. " I'll try harder now. "
He flashed her a short smile, probably even unwillingly.
After a few more attempts she actually managed to get her wrist out of his grip.
" That's something; try once more. " He said calmly which made her groan in frustration.
They kept repeating the same thing over and over until Felicity was able to do it without thinking about it and in addition she was completely annoyed.
" And why exactly do we repeat this over and over? " She asked, a little out of breath.
" Well, what else do you want to train…? " He answered her question with another.
" You're the trainer here, how should I know?! "
He smiled. " And that's why we repeat this over and over. "
" What?! "
" I'm the trainer, I say what we do. "
She shot him an 'you must be kidding' glare and crossed her arms in front of her chest.
" Well, okay, then hit me. " He said seriously.
She let her arms drop. " Why?! "
" Do it. "
" No way! "
" Do it! "
" Okay okay! " She was really annoyed now.
Avoiding his eyes she quickly gave his shoulder a little punch.
" Oh, c'mon, I didn't even feel a thing! "
She tried again, but he just shook his head. " Well, we'll leave it at that; go back to your computers, IT girl. " He turned his back to her.
This left her completely furious and without thinking much about it she went to punch his back, but just before her fist hit his shoulder, he turned on his heels and instantly twisted her arm which made her go to the ground.
" And this is the first thing you had to learn: don't let anger cloud your mind. " He smiled sweetly at her and offered a hand to help her get up again.
" I just behaved like really dumb, right? " She blushed.
" Eh, yes. But it was a totally natural thing to do. I had to learn this as well. "
" Sorry… for behaving like an idiot. " She actually felt really bad for her behavior and a little bit disappointed with herself for not figuring out his intentions.
" It's alright, c'mon, now we can start with the real training. "
" The real training?! How much is yet to come?! " She asks horrified.
" Don't you ever do sports?! "
Again he got her 'you kidding' glare.
Actually she was completely exhausted, but her will to impress Oliver was stronger, so they kept on their training.
Felicity tried her best to not make a complete fool out of herself and even managed to halfway follow his instructions.
After a couple hours, they eventually had made a break, Oliver was quite happy with the results. " For an IT girl you are pretty good now… " He grinned at her and in return got a punch on the arm. " Ouch… Did you actually realize that you're pretty strong?! "
She just smiled at him and raised an eyebrow.
" But in an actual fight I still would win. " He pouted.
" Not that we're doing serious fighting… stuff… " She got a little bit nervous, of course she knew that she'd never ever in her life could beat Oliver Queen at fighting.
" Well, bring it on then… "
" No no no no, we're not really gonna do this, right? "
A little bit shocked that she actually thought he could ever hurt her, he put his hands on her shoulders and looked down at her. " Felicity trust me. This is gonna be fun! "
She looked at him with big eyes, nodding. " I do trust you Oliver… Always have… "
" Good. Then let's do this. " He smiled encouraging and took a step back.
Only now she realized how close they had been standing and instantly blushed.
He stood in front of her, ready to fight, which got her even more worried. But the breathtaking smile he gave her let her throw all worry out of the window.
" Ready? " He asked.
" Ready. " She smiled. " I'm gonna smoak you! "
So when he went to grab her arm she ducked away, got to stand behind him and gave his back a little push so he had to make a step forward.
" You're real fast! That's good. " He grinned, which got her slightly distracted. Immediately he tried another of his tricks, but again, she simply ducked away.
" Oh, c'mon, this fight is a little one sided. "
" Well, since you showed me how to defend myself and not how to fight, it's not much of a surprise that I actually don't know how to attack someone. " She answered while keeping up her dodging. " And honestly, I got enough to do here. "
" You got a point there… " He laughed.
After another minute of dancing around each other she took a final deep breath and actually tried to mirror one of his previous attacks. But as she had expected, she was too slow, not strong enough and whatever else so he could easily make her loose balance. What neither of them expected was Felicity grabbing his shirt while falling. So before they knew, they were lying on the ground, Oliver on top of Felicity.
Instantly her cheeks reddened, but he didn't make any attempt to get off her.
" Good fight. " He grinned instead. " Everything okay? "
She nodded quickly. " Yes, sure. Though I'm sure it was like no effort for you to actually… get me all sweaty… lying on the floor… "
He raised his eyebrow at her.
" … Oh gosh, I mean you didn't have to put much effort into fighting me. That's what I meant, n-not what you think… " She stuttered, imagining her head already looking like a tomato. " …Not that you'd think that, I mean I don't know what you think, but I don't think that you do! I shouldn't think about it, I mean I didn't… Not that it's a bad thing to think that, it's just… I'm babbling. " She let out a noisy breath. " Sorry, what you must think of me…"
" Actually I think it's adorable! " He smiled down at her, not knowing were that just came from. She did her best not to start grinning like an idiot, but the small smile that was on her lips for just a second didn't stay unnoticed.
" Ehm, I don't wanna be like rude or anything, but you're kinda… heavy. " She excused, but had to admit to herself that she actually liked his weight upon her. While on the other hand she shouldn't be thinking about this at all, so…
" Sorry…" He said, making an apologetic face.
She didn't want him to fell sorry; actually it was pretty comfy, right?
" So, comfy, huh? " He winked at her.
Her eyes widened. " Did I just… uh, say this aloud? "
" Yes, you did, obviously. " He grinned. The next second he flipped them over so that she was lying on top of him and could get up, if she actually wanted to.
But she stayed and now looked down at him. " Well, that was one kind of a training, huh? "
" Actually I learned a lot! " He said seriously and earned an expecting look.
" You don't like sports…" He started, smirking.
" You do realize that I'm pretty much on top of you right now; if I was you I wouldn't take the risk. By the way, how long are we gonna stay in this position? Not that I wouldn't enjoy it, I do, which is probably the most inappropriate thing to say right now, but just… I don't wanna make you feel uncomfortable. "
His heart did a strange thing it hadn't done for a long time. " Felicity, you never make me feel uncomfortable. Around you, I feel like I can be myself. I don't need to apologize for anything and though I do, because, let's face it, I really do dumb things sometimes… and still you always have my back. You trust me and you're there for me even if I behave like an idiot. You believe in me so unconditionally and I feel like I can do the same. "
Now her feelings got the better of her and she actually grinned like an idiot.
Oliver wrapped his arms around her waist and couldn't help it but had to give her a real, honest smile.
" And by the way, you're safest around me anyway as we know now that fighting isn't your thing… " He loved teasing her.
" As long as I'll see that smile again, I'm pretty much fine with everything. " She couldn't believe this was actually happening; she was getting comfy on top of Oliver Queen, the man she loves, and he was smiling at her!
" Get a room you two. " Diggle said as he entered the operation center. " It was about time. "