Felicity let out a grunt of annoyance and threw herself back in her chair. The force rolled her a few feet away from her computers. She put her face in her hands, pushing her fingers beneath her glasses and into her eyes.
"Boy trouble?" Dig deadpanned from across the room.
Felicity whipped her head up and gave him the meanest look she could muster. It must not have been very impressive because Dig just smirked.
"Oliver and I haven't even been dating for a month and I'm already out of ideas to woo him."
"For the record, I think you two are weird for referring to your romantic gestures as wooing. Secondly, I have never seen him happier. Whatever you're doing is working."
It made her happy that Dig had noticed a change in Oliver, but it didn't solve her problem.
"Do you know how hard it is to shop for him? I've only bought him two gifts and I'm tapped for ideas." She threw her glasses on the desk and rubbed her eyes.
"Felicity." Dig came over and knelt by her, using his you're being irrational voice he said, "Oliver has everything in the world that money can buy."
"I know! That's what makes it so hard."
"So give him what money can't buy." He gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder.
"Are you telling me to have sex with Oliver?" she whispered.
"What? No!" Dig leapt to his feet. "I would love to never know anything at all, ever, about that aspect of your relationship."
"Then what are you talking about?" Felicity asked.
"Oliver is still fragile. There are a lot of things he needs that money can't buy."
#
It was well after midnight when Oliver finally got back to the basement of Verdant. The first thing he saw was Felicity's beautiful profile lit up by the screen of her computers. All his sore muscles and the tension he'd carried back with him became obsolete when he saw her.
"How'd it go?" Dig asked.
"Great." Oliver's voice was tight from the adrenaline still pushing through him. "Shut it down and the police picked up the guy's. I only had to shoot two arrows."
"Too bad," Felicity teased. "I know how much you love to shoot people."
"Not as much as I love coming back here to you sooner than I planned." He leaned over and gave her a slow kiss.
The door closed. Felicity pulled away. "I think Dig left."
"Was it something I said?" He smiled. Then he put his bow away and started taking off his vigilante clothes.
"Want to work off that adrenaline?" Felicity blurted out.
Oliver turned to look at her, his mind wandering to all sorts of places.
"Not sex!" She blushed. "I meant… we could train. I know I'm not always enthusiastic about it, but you seem to feel better after we do."
"Because the more training you have the less I'll worry." He wiped the paint from around his eyes. "I'll always worry, but it will be less."
Felicity stood up and came over to him, wrapping her arms around his waist. "Even with all your training I still worry about you."
He buried his face in her neck. "Then you can see why I want you to train."
"I'll get changed." She squeezed him tight and grabbed her gym bag.
When she came out of the bathroom she looked self-conscious, but he was completely floored by how gorgeous she was.
"I've worn these clothes in front of you plenty of times," she said shyly. "So why do I feel like you're looking at me differently now?"
He took advantage of the moment and looked her over, taking his time to appreciate the curve of her butt in those shorts. She blushed and pushed his shoulder.
"Stop looking at me like that?"
"Like what?" he feigned innocence.
"Life you're going to take a bite out of me."
Oliver raised his eyebrows. "Not a bad idea, but it's not what I was thinking."
"Then what were you thinking?"
He put his hands on her arms and rubbed up and down a few times. "You know how much I respect you, right?"
"Ye-es." She drew out the word.
"And you know I think your brain is the sexiest thing in the world."
"I love it when you talk dirty," she joked.
"What I'm about to do in no way negates any of that." He felt a little nervous, but hoped she would appreciate his appreciation of her.
He leaned into her and grabbed her ass, cupping both cheeks in his hands. The contact made her jump. "Does that offend you?"
"No," her voice was husky.
"I've wanted to do that since the night you danced with Dig."
She swallowed.
"Do you like it?" he asked quietly.
She nodded and then pulled away, his hands sliding off of her. "We should get to work."
"One question first," Oliver said. "Why not sex?"
"What?" Her eyes went big.
"When you asked if I wanted to work off adrenaline you made sure to let me know you didn't mean sex. Why?"
She shrugged and tried to move toward the mats.
"Felicity." His voice was almost desperate. "We have to talk about it some time. Please. Tell me why?"
"I don't know." She looked down at her feet. "I'm just really scared, I guess."
It had been something he'd been worried about all along. He could break her in half in his sleep if he wasn't careful. "Of me?"
"No!"
The quick adamant answer relieved him. He put his finger under her chin and made her look him in the eye. "What then?"
"That compared to all those other women you've been with…" She shrugged, not finishing the sentence.
His heart broke for her. "You're afraid you won't measure up?" It was ridiculous to him, but obviously a very real fear for her.
"I just feel like we a good thing going and mediocre or, heaven forbid, bad sex would derail the whole thing." Felicity ran a hand over her hair nervously. "I don't want to mess this up."
"I've always rushed into that because it's one of the only things in relationships I can seem to get right." Oliver pulled her into a hug. "But you know I won't pressure you into having sex, and we'll wait as long as you want to."
"But?"
"But don't put it off because you're afraid it's going to be bad. That you're going to be bad." His thoughts turned to things better left unthought of right now. "I am so lucky to have you that nothing could make me re-think that."
Going up on her tip-toes, she kissed him. "Thank you. Now are you ready for me to kick your ass?"
"Bring it."
#
They were sweaty and tired when they stopped for the night. As they headed out Felicity handed him an envelope.
"What's this?" Oliver asked as he took it.
"A love note."
He put his finger under the lip to tear it open, but she put her hand over his.
"Don't read it now." She seemed slightly embarrassed.
"Why not?" He loved the blush lighting up her cheeks.
"Because it's a love note." She hitched her bag up on her shoulder. "You're meant to read it when we're not together and you miss me."
"I always miss you when you're not with me." The words were out before he realized how cheesy they sounded, even if it was the truth.
"Really?" she smiled.
He leaned over and kissed her. "From the second I wake up."
"Me too." She blushed again.
Oliver pulled her tight and kissed her. They ended up making out on the stairs for quite awhile before the alarm on her phone went off.
"Time to get up for work," she whispered into his lips.
"Then we should probably get you home."
She nodded.
"Thank you for the love note."
"I hope you like it."
He opened the door for her. "I will."
