A/N: Thank you very much for the incredible response to the first chapter and for putting your trust into my ability to actually make something out of the idea that I started in the first chapter. So now, as promised, I give you a longer second chapter.
I've had a hellish week, so any comments will be greatly appreciated. Just saying ;)
Y'all have a wonderful weekend, and happy reading!
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1 year later
He's sitting in his office, staring absentmindedly through the glass walls, past his secretary and right into the only other office on this floor.
Her ponytail is swinging just in time to her bare feet hitting the marble floor.
She does that a lot, he's come to notice over the past year. The pacing through her spacious office whenever she encounters a persistent problem. She just kicks off her impossibly high heels and walks aimlessly around her desk and the little sitting area, just mumbling to herself and completely immersed in her own little world of ones and zeroes (something he still doesn't understand all that much about, despite her countless attempts of explaining that stuff to him).
Oh, he doesn't regret putting her there. He never could.
Promoting her was most likely the best decision he's ever made as the CEO of his family's company.
Putting her up in his mother's old office had initially been a way of trying to show her how serious he'd been about showing her how much he and his company valued her. A move that had resulted in their first fight, which was also the first time he'd heard her use her loud voice. Boy, was she scary.
So, no, he doesn't regret convincing her to take him up on his offer to become the new VP for Technology Solutions at QC, but sometimes he thinks that he has a slightly masochistic side for keeping her so close to him.
He sighs and runs a frustrated hand over his stubble. Yeah, his feelings for her are a whole can of worms that he has no intentions of opening right now.
Right on cue, his best friend who takes a sick joy out of needling him about just those feelings comes marching into Oliver's office, a smug grin accompanied by an amused chuckle falling from his lips as he catches Oliver staring at their blonde friend in the neighboring office.
Tommy flops down on one of the chairs in front of Oliver's desk and looks at him expectantly.
Oliver grinds his teeth, annoyed that he'd been caught staring at Felicity... again. "What do you want, Tommy?"
The man in question leans back further and shrugs his shoulders. "A 'thank you, Tommy, you're the best friend I've ever had' would be enough."
Oliver narrows his eyes. "Fine, I'll bite. Why would I say that?"
His best friend grins cockily. "Well, a) because it's true and just a well-known fact." Oliver shoots him a glare, not in the mood for one of his friend's games, but he just ignores him and continues, "and b) because I managed to get a reservation at Freccia Verde tonight."
When Oliver just gives him a confused look, he rolls his eyes. "For your anniversary with Felicity," he points out like it's the most obvious answer ever.
Oliver stills for a moment, his fist clenching under the table.
His meddling best friend had struck again. How he even knows about their anniversary was completely beyond him. He certainly hadn't told him about it, knowing full well that he would've mercilessly been made fun of.
"Tommy," he almost growls, a warning edge to his tone. "How many times do I have to tell you not to put your nose where it doesn't belong?"
"Apparently, at least one more time," the dark haired man replies happily. "But come on, dude. This is great. A nice night out with your favorite girl, fantastic food and even better wine, romantic atmosphere. Maybe you'll finally man up and tell her how you feel."
Oliver decides not to comment on his best friend's remark when he sees Felicity leave her office and come straight towards his.
"Hey, Tommy," she greets their mutual friend happily and presses a quick kiss to his cheek. Tommy in turn wraps one arm around her shoulders and pulls her hip close to bump into his, shooting a challenging look towards Oliver, who has to quell the sudden urge to punch the shit of his life long friend.
"I hope you didn't come to steal Oliver away." The words are directed at Tommy, but her eyes are fixed on Oliver's, blue eyes sparkling with joy. "He's all mine tonight."
Or any other night, he adds in his head, while his heart does a somersault at the mere thought of how good that notion sounds.
"I wouldn't even think of it," Tommy assures her seriously, lifting his free hand defensively. "I actually just told Ollie that I managed to secure a table for the two of you at that new Italian restaurant for tonight."
"Oh, that sounds lovely," she replies and hip-checks him playfully. "Did you sleep with the hostess to pull that off?"
Tommy lets out a sharp, dramatic gasp and brings a hand up to his heart. "Felicity Meghan Smoak, I can't believe that you would think something so preposterous of me."
She just fixes him with a serious look and a raised eyebrow.
"Ugh, you just know me too well. But FYI, it was the mâitre d', and it was a long time ago, she just remembered how much I blew her mind that night," he huffs out after a moment.
Felicity just shakes her head and laughs heartily. "You're incorrigible."
"Anyways, our plans tonight are the reason I came over," she starts. "Somehow one of the main computers at Applied Sciences got completely fried and they asked me to stop by and see how much data I can salvage. And since I just dropped my car off at the shop this morning I was hoping that my incredibly handsome and favorite best friend," she looks straight at Oliver and bats her eyes quickly, a hopeful smile on her lips, ignoring Tommy's indignant sounds of protest next to her. "Could possibly drop me off at the Applied Sciences building and then, while I check out the damage, pick up my dress for tonight from the dry cleaner that's just around the corner, so I can change quickly and we can head straight to the restaurant?"
Oliver smiles brightly at her just for being so utterly cute. "Of course I can do that. I'm all finished here, so just let me know when you want to leave."
"Great, I'll be ready in ten minutes," she says and turns around, stepping on her tip toes to press another kiss to Tommy cheek who happily leans down to accommodate her. "Thanks, for getting us that table, however questionable your ways are."
"It was my pleasure," he replies and wiggles his eyebrows, earning himself a light slap to the chest from the departing blonde.
"Gross, Merlyn, there's things I don't want to know."
Oliver stares after her retreating form, his heart warming at the mere thought of their evening together, when he hears Tommy chuckle.
"Man, you're so whipped."
Oliver remains silent. He really can't argue with his best friends' assessment. Felicity Smoak has him completely wrapped around her little finger and he knows it.
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They don't have to wait to be seated when they get to the restaurant. Of course they don't. When Oliver Queen walks into a restaurant he gets shown to a table immediately, even when he doesn't have a reservation. It's still something that she hasn't gotten used to, no matter how many times they've gone out to dinner together in this past year.
She looks over to where he's seated on the opposite side of the table, talking to a waiter about their order. It's one of the things they usually do when they go out for dinner: one of them gets to order their food, the other one orders drinks. She doesn't even remember when or how it started, but it's definitely one of the reasons Tommy likes to make fun of them and call her Mrs. Queen.
The conversation during dinner comes as easy as always, even though they spend most of their days separated only by forty feet of office space and two glass walls, and even though they usually end up taking their lunch break or at least a coffee break together, they never fail to have an easy conversation flowing when they also spend their nights together.
No, not like that. Because, yeah, that is not happening. At all.
And she will not let her mind drift to all the other possible ways of spending the night with Oliver in... less platonic ways. If she did, that would just open a whole big box of feelings that she stashed away a long time ago.
So, nope, not going there.
Her friendship with Oliver had come basically instantly. There had just been something so natural and easy about their chemistry right from the get go, that it was no wonder that they'd become friends so quickly.
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1 year ago
They're in a really fancy restaurant, eating their way through the restaurant's special six course menu, that comes in teeny-tiny portions.
Safe to say she's not very impressed so far.
Nope, that's not true. She is very impressed at how good Oliver Queen looks in a suit. And at how smart he actually is. Yeah, sure, you'd hope that the CEO of one of the biggest companies in the States would be smart, but she didn't expect him to be able to keep up with some of her tech talk. There's one instance when she's talking about specs for a new software where she sees his eyebrows hike up and his eyes glaze over a little, but still, all in all he impresses her.
"So when are you going to start talking business?" She asks curiously after the waiter clears their table after course number three.
He smiles at her. "Just wanted to continue our nice conversation from yesterday."
"Uh huh, you know your infamous charm will get you nowhere with me, Mr. Queen."
"Oliver," he says for the tenth time during this dinner. "You can call me Mr. Queen in the office, but outside of it I'm just Oliver."
"Well, Just Oliver, are you or are you not going to talk business soon, because quite frankly the food that Bruce Wayne served me this afternoon was much better than this."
She knows she's walking a very thin line with being so challenging and upfront, but what does she have to lose? Bruce Wayne himself attended her job interview this morning and afterward treated her to lunch to talk about more details for her potential new job, ending their time together with an official offer.
She watches as Oliver's eyes light up with surprise. He definitely hadn't expected that.
He quickly clears his throat. "Okay, I guess we can talk business if you want to," he says after a beat. "What's their offer?"
She huffs out a little laugh. "Like I'll tell you that."
He considers her words for a moment. "I figured you wouldn't spill the beans. So here's what I think," he takes a breath. "Like I said before I think that letting you go especially to a direct competitor would be the biggest mistake that I could possibly make. I think you're an incredible and irreplaceable asset for my company and I fired the asshole that's been keeping you back for the last few years." He smirks when she lets out a surprised gasp. "So here's what I've got to offer you: my company would like to appoint you as the new Vice President of Technology Solutions. You'll be granted a generous budget to fund some of your project proposals, all under your supervision. You'll have a company car, a personal assistant, and we'll quadruple your salary."
She gapes at him, with her mouth hanging wide open.
"You can't just decide something like that," she finally stutters.
He smiles indulgently at her. "Me alone? No, I couldn't. I spent the whole day talking to our board members and called a Skype board meeting so we could have a vote on the matter. They unanimously agreed with me."
"What?" she almost screeches.
"They all believe in your talent and your value to the company just as much as I do," he says earnestly.
She just stares at him for a full minute, trying to compute the offer he just put on the table for her. And holy shit, what an offer.
His smile widens a little more. "You don't have to decide right away. Take some time and think about it. Just know that Queen Consolidated and I are fully invested in trying to keep you close to us."
Maybe it's the passion in his voice or his stupid pretty eyes that look at her so full of hope. Maybe it's just her brain making the logical decision and her heart agreeing for once.
"Okay," she whispers.
He nods his head and raises his wine glass. "I'm glad you're considering it."
She shakes her head jerkily. "No, I mean, okay to your offer."
His eyes widen and his smile falters for a second before he lets out a disbelieving chuckle. "You're saying yes?"
"Yes," she replies and the change in his demeanor is palpable.
His whole body posture relaxes and a full blown, genuine smile spreads on his lips, the little worried line that was present all night disappears, happiness practically seeping out of his every pore.
Seeing him this happy makes her feel all gooey inside and she's not sure what to do with that feeling.
"I'm very glad to hear that. So now how about we ditch this place, go to Big Belly Burger and have an actual dinner?"
Her eyes light up at the mention of her favorite fast food restaurant. "You know, Mr. Queen, I think this may be the beginning of a wonderful friendship," she jokes with a goofy smile that he answers in kind without hesitation.
"I think you're absolutely right, Ms. Smoak."
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"Felicity?" Oliver's soft voice interrupts her thoughts. "Did you hear what I just said?"
"No, I'm sorry, I must've spaced out," she apologizes quickly.
"Where did you go just now?"
She smiles sheepishly at him. "Just had to think of our first dinner together, back in Gotham."
A wide smile erupts on his lips. "A good memory, I hope."
"The best," the words tumble out of her mouth before she can stop them, but it's well worth it when she sees the full-blown smile on Oliver's incredibly handsome face.
"I'm glad you think so, too," he says and winks at her, taking away any awkwardness.
She rolls her eyes playfully. "So what were you saying when I spaced out?"
If she didn't know him so well she probably would've missed the nervous spark in his intense blue eyes, but she does know him that well, and something is making him nervous.
"I just asked if you wanted to skip dessert and grab some ice cream instead and drive up to Avalon Park to watch the sunset," he suggests cautiously.
Her eyebrows draw together as she tries to figure out why telling her about his idea would make him nervous. "Uh, yeah, sure, we can go up there. Is there anything special happening tonight? The last time we did that was for my birthday."
He fiddles with his fingers on the table. "Just wanna talk to you... about some things."
"We talk all the time, what's so special about tonight?"
She can tell that he's getting frustrated by the way he clenches his jaw and lets out a sigh. But what is she supposed to do? She hates mysteries, and him being so cryptic is weird and atypical.
"Felicity," he sighs and runs a hand over his scruff. "It's just... something important."
Important? Hmm...
It's highly unlikely that it has anything to do with their jobs, since she's usually the one to hear about new business developments before he does, so it must be something personal.
She wracks her brain, thinking back on the conversations she's had with Thea in the past few weeks, trying to remember if she said that anything was happening in their family, but she comes up empty.
So it must be...
She swallows hard. "Like what? Are you gonna tell me that you have a girlfriend?" She hopes she covers the dread that she's feeling deep down in the pit of her stomach at that thought, with enough fake cheer, but she can't keep her face from falling when he doesn't answer right away.
"Oh," she breathes out, surprise probably written all over her face. "You do?"
He looks at her with wide eyes, and slowly shakes his head. "No, I mean... Yeah, no, I don't have a girlfriend."
"But there is someone," she presses cautiously.
She watches as his Adam's apple bops up and down as he swallows. "Yeah, there's... someone."
Oh, wow. She so did not expect that.
It's not like she thinks that Oliver has lived like a monk this past year. There's hope, yes, but in reality she's faced with the fact that he's a successful, handsome business man in his absolute prime. She's witnessed women practically falling over backwards in an attempt to catch his attention. And of course there are also the infamous tales of his younger years that were apparently spent with an abundance of different women, partying all over the world.
But despite everything she'd heard before meeting him, over the course of the last year, she'd never been aware of him dating anyone, at least not seriously enough for him to share that relationship with either her or Tommy. Or maybe Tommy already knows about that 'someone'. Huh, she'll have to have a talk with him.
Before she can go any further down that rabbit hole, she hears her phone vibrating in her purse. Happy about a moment to gather herself she excuses herself from the table and picks up the phone.
She kinda wishes she hadn't.
The next few minutes are a whirlwind of information that she only catches fragments of.
Her block. Gas line explosion. Fire. Her house. Burnt to the ground. Three dead and countless injured in her neighborhood.
The feeling of losing the ground under her feet sweeps through her body. If not for Oliver's strong arms and his sudden warmth engulfing her, she's sure she would've hit the ground.
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An hour later she stands in front of the barely there ruin that once was her house. Her neighborhood looks like a war zone, smoke still climbing up to the darkening night sky, debris lying on the street, people screaming and crying everywhere around her. Nobody has answers, just a million questions.
She feels completely numb, letting her gaze drift over the rubble. Her home was completely destroyed. The fire department had informed her that at their first walk through they hadn't seen anything salvageable. The promise of going through it again in the morning doesn't take away from the sudden sensation of loss.
No, unlike a lot of her neighbors she hasn't lost a loved one, and in the end all she's lost is stuff, but it was still her stuff. Her photos and her life that she's built here.
The familiar shape of Oliver's suit clad frame moves into her line of sight. His hands come up to cup her face and force her to look up. She almost has to look away from his intense gaze. There's not pity in his eyes, just genuine and heartfelt compassion and a promise of something.
"You can stay at my place for as long as you want. Anything you need, I'll be there for you, okay?"
She just nods mutely as tears finally start streaking down her cheeks, gratefulness and so much love for this man spreading through her body as he wraps his arms securely around her shivering frame, pulling her into the cocoon of his safety.
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A/N: What do I have planned for future chapters? Some more Flommy friendship, some Thea/Felicity bonding, and just a shit load of fluff. Sound good?
Let me know what you think of this chapter!