CO-WRITTEN WITH MOGIRL97

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AN 1: Hi everyone! Thank you so much for the enthusiastic and warm response to the first chapter of this fic! It goes beyond what we could have imagined, and we're very thankful for all the nice feedback we've received in the past couple of days.

Without further ado, here is chapter 2, and we really hope you enjoy this one as much as we did writing it!

Chapter 2 - And so we meet again

"Oliver! My man! Or, best man, as it is," Oliver heard Tommy's voice coming from the entryway of the outdoor restaurant. "Woah. Has anyone told you that you look like shit today?"

That was probably the understatement of the year, Oliver thought. As he had headed to his room around 2am the previous night, he had been exhausted but still unable to sleep. Try as he might, his brain refused to shut down and grant him some rest. With a grand total of four hours of sleep, this was going to be a long day. Even the hour he spent in the hotel's pool wasn't enough to wake him up completely, and he was currently nursing his third cup of black coffee – at 9am.

"No, but I'm sure they wanted to give you the honors of doing so."

"And I'm very grateful of that fact!" Tommy replied in a chirpy tone. "So, is the corporate world kicking your ass again?"

"You could say that."

"Or was it the plane that killed you? I heard a rumor that the great Oliver Queen had to fly coach," he mock-whispered, leaning conspiratorially across the table. "How did you survive with so little leg room? And babies wailing everywhere?"

Oliver couldn't help the grin that overtook his features at his best friend's comments. Tommy's joy was always contagious, no matter whether they were nineteen and downing shots as if it were water, or twenty-eight and on the morning of his wedding.

"Sorry to disappoint, but we got upgraded to first class."

"'We'? What 'we'? I sense a story there. Tell me more."

"It was nothing, just this annoying blonde girl who accused me of having stolen her seat and tried to have me kicked out of the plane. She was a pain in my ass for the entirety of the flight, even after the attendant got us seats in first class."

"Was she hot?" Tommy inquired, wiggling his eyebrows in ridiculous manner.

Thinking back on it, Oliver realized he'd never even considered her physical appearance during the whole of their interaction – his seventeen-year-old self would be appalled, he thought mirthfully –, which truly says a lot about the state he'd been in. She hadn't been his type, exactly. Blond hair, average height, glasses – pretty, but common. The frazzled look with the hair sticking out of her ponytail didn't help, either.

"She was alright, I guess. But it's not like it matters, since I'm never gonna see her again. But enough about me: how is the future groom feeling on his wedding day?"

Tommy leaned back in his seat, looking out towards the ocean with a small, peaceful smile, one that Oliver wasn't used to seeing on him. "I feel oddly calm, actually. It's like I was meant to do this, you know? Like nothing has ever felt more right."

"You and Laurel are two of the best suited people I have ever met. I'm happy for you, man," came Oliver's reply, as he gave his best friend a pat on the shoulder.

Just as Tommy was going to say something else, his gaze zeroed in on something in the distance, and Oliver smirked at the comical face his friend was making, figuring Laurel had entered the terrace. He was proved right a couple of minutes later when as the party reached their table, he heard her voice announce: "So Felicity, this is Oliver, Tommy's best man, the person I told you about."

And then, as Oliver was about to turn around, he heard a voice he remembered really well despite his best efforts to obliterate it from his brain completely.

"Oh no."

For the first time in their short relationship, the feeling was mutual.

–––

This could not be happening.

She knew the minute she approached the table, even though he was facing away from her, that it was him.

How was this happening?

Of all the people in the entire world, how was it that he was Tommy's best man? She wasn't exactly close with Tommy, so it's not like she knew his friends, but she had not expected him to be best friends with the world's biggest jerk.

When he turned around she could tell that the smile on his face was as fake as hers.

She gritted her teeth, "Nice to see you again, Oliver."

"Again?" Laurel tilted her head in confusion. "I didn't think you two had ever met?"

"Oh we've actually spent a lot of time together," Oliver replied before adding under his breath, "Far more than I ever wanted to."

"Yeah, in fact, we sat next to each other on the flight here," Felicity explained and Laurel and Tommy's eyes widened in realization, having both received SOS texts during the plane fiasco.

"Oh," Laurel clasped her hands together and shot Felicity a look that could only be interpreted as please act like an adult and don't ruin my wedding by being petty.

She and Oliver had made enough of a scene on the plane, a truce could be called for their friends' wedding. Right?

And it's not like they had to talk to each other beyond this conversation.

She responded to Laurel with an expression of understanding.

Felicity was about to sit down when her phone started vibrating in her clutch. Slipping it out, she saw that it was her boss. As in the Vice President of the entire company, boss. That could be a good or really bad thing, but she definitely couldn't just ignore it. An easy escape from this awkward encounter was also gladly welcomed.

"I'm sorry, it's work," she apologized. "I promise that after this call I will totally disconnect myself from that place, but I really should make sure that a full scale meltdown hasn't occurred since I left. A lot of hand-holding is required in the IT department…"

–––

It only took five seconds after Felicity had left the terrace for Tommy to snicker, "Shit, man. This is the funniest thing to have happened this weekend so far. Thank you for providing free entertainment."

"Tommy!" Laurel exclaimed.

"What? Don't tell me you don't find this funny."

Laurel rolled her eyes at her future husband and walked over to Sara, who had arrived shortly after the introductions debacle.

"Please refrain from ruining my wedding, though," Tommy added, pointing a finger in Oliver's direction. "And wait 'till the ceremony is over to indulge in some angry sex."

Feeling decidedly more connected to Laurel than he ever had before, Oliver rolled his eyes as well. Sex with Felicity… yeah, right. Like that was ever gonna happen.

"Whatever you say, Tommy."

Gulping the remnants of his last cup of coffee, Oliver stood. "I think I've stayed seated in this chair for far too long. I'll head back to my room and try to get some more work done before 10."

"I'll walk you up," Tommy offered, and the two of them waved goodbye to the rest of the brunch party before heading back inside the hotel.

And that's when he heard it.

"–yes Lucius, definitely. I'll deal with it as soon as I get back. Mmh. Have the head of Applied Sciences from Queen Consolidated email me, and I'll fix it. Don't worry, you know the project means as much to me as it does to you – ok well, maybe not," she laughed, her voice becoming increasingly clearer and louder as they neared the entrance of the restaurant. "I'll work on it as soon as I can. Thank you, nice weekend to you too, Lucius."

If he was confused before, the mention of Queen Consolidated, the company he was the VP of, only worsened matters. And Lucius? She could certainly not be speaking to– that would mean– she can't be– Felicity must be a more widespread name than–

Oliver turned abruptly towards his best friend. "Where did you say Felicity worked at, already? And what's her last name?"

"Felicity? Oh, it's Smoak, with an 'a' and no 'e' – and she's the head of the IT department over at Wayne Enterprises. Why?"

Oh. Oh shit. Oh fucking shit. Oh fucking goddamned shit.

Rubbing his eyes, Oliver let out, "You know how we've just finalized a partnership with Wayne. A partnership I will be overseeing at QC, and that their head of IT will deal with on their side."

"Wait – you mean, you'll be working in close relationship with Felicity for the couple of upcoming months? For the sake of a huge government-warranted project that is literally worth millions? Dude, I will give it to you: I didn't think the situation could get any better, but it really has."

"Speak for yourself," Oliver grumbled.

He was never flying commercial ever again.

–––

When Felicity got back to the table she saw that the open space was between Sara and Laurel's friend Joanna. And several seats away from Oliver, who she noticed pointedly ignored her return to the group.

"Felicity, it's so nice to see you," Joanna greeted her when she sat down. "We missed you at the rehearsal dinner yesterday. How was your flight?"

Felicity took a sip of her mimosa. "Long," she answered simply, staying true to her silent promise to Laurel to keep her feud with Oliver out of the festivities.

She heard Sara snicker but Joanna must not have noticed. "Oh I know. I had some cases I needed to review and even though I wished that I didn't have to mix work with my vacation, they did help the time to go a little faster."

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Oliver excuse himself from the table and stand up to leave. After avoiding looking directly at him since arriving at brunch, she couldn't help but sneak the tiniest of peeks at him over the rim of her glass. She needed to have a definitive answer to Sara's question about whether or not she thought he was hot. For science.

She supposed that she had been right about him being handsome, but also he was slightly hot with a nice strong jawline and shoulders that filled out his button down shirt perfectly. And the way his sleeves were pushed up revealed a bit of his tanned, toned arms that...

...that in no way changed her opinion on the fact that he was the worst.

AN 2: Just as last time, don't hesitate to let us know what you thought, and what you liked/didn't like in the reviews! We always love to read what you have to say.

This fic will be updated on a weekly basis every Monday from now on. In the meanwhile, you can find us at our respective Twitters at queenofoldyork (Morgan) and wittyfelicity (Manon), as well as on our blogs at mogirl97 and wittyfelicity.