Not the Worst Idea Summary: In the immediate aftermath of Darhk's final attack and downfall, Oliver begins worrying about the future as Felicity worries about the present.
'Totally Platonic Roommates' Summary: After Damien Darhk's downfall, the loss of their team, and the destruction of their bunker, Felicity invites Oliver to stay in the 2nd bedroom at the loft. For weeks they live as happily platonic roommates, rediscovering a friendship that they had both feared was lost. But eventually, they have to question if where they are now is really what's best for them in the future.
What you need to know about this series: This is a series of one-shots, based during the 4-5 hiatus, in a universe where Oliver and Felicity decide to live together at the loft while the bunker is repaired. The one-shots do not rely on one another but all take place either before or after my fic 'I Could be Happy Without You'! Installments are not posted in chronological order, but a table of contents can be found here.
They had survived.
They had not only saved Star City, but the world.
Oliver was mayor.
Felicity was staying.
By any man's logic, Oliver Queen should be jumping for joy.
But with everything that had happened over the past few days... Everything and everyone he had lost over the past few weeks? Well something in Oliver didn't quite feel like a celebratory drink. And judging by her silence, Felicity was in the same boat.
It felt like they stood in the bunker for hours, side by side but not touching, and staring at the symbols of their past as the future spread out before them, vast and suddenly more unpredictable than even Oliver could have imagined. In reality, only about ten minutes had passed when Felicity finally broke the silence, taking a few slow steps toward the cases as she asked, "So, Mr. Mayor, what's next?"
"You should go home," Oliver said definitively, shoving his hands in his pockets. "It's been awhile since any of us have gotten a good night's sleep, or any night's sleep for that matter. You saved the world today, Felicity. You've earned a decent rest."
Felicity nodded slowly, chewing her bottom lip before she turned to face him. "And what's your plan?"
"Do I look like a man with a plan?" Oliver shrugged, motioning to the room around them. "Usually I like to take a few hours after a near death experience before deciding next move. Maybe I'll take a nap?"
"Now that's a quote for the papers. Figuring it out as you go: exactly the quality we want in the new mayor." Felicity smiled, genuine pride lighting up her eyes before her smile faded again. "But -what I meant to ask wa- where are you staying now?"
Oliver stopped, he hadn't actually considered that question yet. After everyone announced their intentions to leave the team, and his sudden appointment as mayor, his entire world had shifted. Oliver was immediately so consumed by looking at the long-term, the bigger picture, that he didn't consider the smaller details that used to dictate his day-to-day survival. Like where to sleep...
"Well… you can't keep sleeping here." Felicity took a few steps across the concrete floor, glass further crumbling below her heels as she closed the distance between them. "Luckily with my mom running off with Lance, the second bedroom at the loft is free. You'll just have to stay there."
Felicity made the suggestion so quickly, so casually, that Oliver doubted she had considered the weight of her words. Months ago, it was her that had broken off their engagement. Not long after that, she had left the team completely, citing that she had been wrong to think they could work together. Now Felicity wanted to work and live together?
The answer to her question popped into his mind immediately: No. No that couldn't happen. If they moved too fast, if he pushed her away from him all over again… this time he may lose her completely. And Oliver couldn't risk that. Not after everything else he had lost.
When Oliver didn't reply immediately, Felicity continued her musings with a shrug, purposefully ignoring his hesitation. "I mean, as long as you don't mind the amount of pink she used to redecorate in there? She apparently didn't like the grey we had picked out. Claimed it was 'far too boring' for such a nice place and it didn't match her aura."
"Well, Donna does know best." Oliver conceded with his best attempt at a smile. "But this place won't be that bad once I clean up the glass. I could just stay here?" Oliver motioned to the middle of the bunker where he could already picture setting up a cot until the usual sleeping quarters were repaired. "Don't forget, I lived on Lian Yu for years, so I can deal with a messy bunker. The lack of wolves and landmines is a major improvement over some of my previous places."
"Oliver, I'm not even going to address your poor standard of living but I am telling you that you can't stay here. The security is completely decimated. And it obviously needed an upgrade before this since Malcolm or some other 'bad guy' had been waltzing in here once a week like it was an open house. It'll take a while to just have that tech up to par, let alone clean everything else up. Plus, we should gather some intel to make sure the location of the bunker didn't get out to any of Darhk's conspirators, though I am hopeful he was selfish enough to keep that information to himself."
Oliver sighed, prompting a raised eyebrow from Felicity. He knew how useless it was to fight her once her mind was made up, but they were just getting comfortable working together again. Oliver still had to consciously remind himself not to reach out to her every time they were close to one another, not to call her Hun whenever he needed her attention, not to kiss the top of her head every time he wanted to pull her away from her computer. How the hell would he survive sleeping just down the hall?
"I could get a hotel?" Oliver suggested, trying not to think about the stories the tabloids would run once they got wind of his new residence. "I hear they have free HBO? Pools? Even decent wifi?"
"I just lost my job and you've barely started yours. Plus, these repairs will cost plenty on their own, even if we do them all ourselves. Staying with me makes the most sense right now. "
Oliver struggled to quiet the voice in the back of his head, which was reminding him that Felicity's determination, her stubbornness, was one of his favorite qualities about her. It was one of the attributes that convinced him to bring her onto the team years ago, and one he grew to love even more during their relationship.
"Even if it is just for a few weeks…" Oliver sighed, kicking at the shattered glass under his foot before he continued. "I don't know if this is your best idea, Felicity."
"Well it isn't the worst one I've had," Felicity assured him quickly, her voice so confident it almost disguised the waver in her smile. "Need I remind you of the plan that involved bombing the applied sciences division of Queen Consolidated? Or, even worse, that time I decided to drug you in Nanda Parbat with absolutely zero idea about how I'd get your very unconscious and very heavy body past dozens of deadly assassins and-" Felicity cut herself off suddenly, her eyes darting to the floor as she and Oliver simultaneously realized what night she was referring to. A night he had tried, so unsuccessfully, not to think about since their break up.
Oliver shifted in place as he waited for Felicity to come to her senses and rescind her invitation to stay at the loft. Her loft.
But before he could tell her it was okay, that he would be just fine in a hotel, she cut him off.
"We'll be okay," she assured him, her eyes full of hope when they met his once again. "We can be just friends, I know we can. I mean... We have to now, it's just us on this team. It'll just be like living with a roommate. A totally platonic roommate who you also fight crime with every night." Felicity made her argument with a flourish of her hands before landing them on her hips, as if that movement alone rested her case.
Oliver couldn't help himself, he laughed. Felicity's smile, her confidence, almost had him convinced her plan could work. At least it could temporarily? And to be fair… that's all they needed. Once the bunker was back to working condition, he could move back in. They just had to make it few weeks...
But the what-if's kept holding Oliver back from accepting Felicity's offer. She had thought she could stay on the team right after their break-up. She had looked at him then with the same determination to 'make it work.' But they had both failed.
What would make this time different?
Felicity must have seen the doubt on his face because she began speaking again, her pace even quicker. "And, how much will we even be there? I need to work on getting my job back since, now that I have a second to breathe, I'm super pissed that they fired me for wanting to help people! And you'll be off mayoring and what not. It's not like we'll be lounging around there together all day! It's just a place to sleep!"
Felicity had a valid point. They would be so busy, especially trying to protect the city without the support of their former team, that the loft would literally just provide a bed. Plus, Darhk probably had some supporters still out there. It was likely best he stuck close to Felicity until any of those risks were neutralized.
As Oliver once again began to consider Felicity's plan, he tried to ignore the quickening of his heart. It wasn't a possibility of reconciliation that had him excited, that dream had been pushed to the back burner after Felicity left the team. No, it was the prospect of living with his best friend again that gave him hope. The idea that even in what should be a dark time in his life, their engagement ending, losing Laurel, most of his team leaving, there could still be a silver lining. He could gain back the best friend, the confidant, he had been so scared he had lost. Sure, it would be different from before, but different wasn't always worse. Sometimes it was just different. And he could live with that.
As she waited for his response this time, Felicity grew quiet. She drifted back to the case, gently touching Thea's disguise before stopping in front of Laurel's. Oliver watched as Felicity's hand reached out tentatively before suddenly drawing back and settling at her side with a fist, her knuckles turning white.
Once again, his hand ached to reach out for hers, to feel her soft skin against his, to give her the same reassurance and support that she had so often provided for him in his darkest times. Despite her attempts at smile, at half-hearted jokes, Oliver knew Felicity was still reeling from Havenrock, an event she hadn't even had time to process yet. In addition to that guilt, she too had lost a friend in Laurel. And when Thea, John, and even her mother left Star City, she had lost so much of the support she should have been leaning on in this difficult time.
And suddenly all of Oliver's doubts about what he had to do disappeared. He realized that maybe Felicity wasn't just making this offer to help him. That maybe, just maybe, Felicity needed someone too and she wasn't sure how to ask for it. And if she needed Oliver to be that someone, even if it was just as her platonic roommate, then that was what he was going to do.
"Just don't leave the cereal out again," Oliver agreed with a nod, his smile widening when a victorious grin spread across Felicity's face. "And please feel free to kick me out at any time. I'd rather have to sleep in my office than lose you" Oliver stopped, rethinking his choice of words. "...than lose you as a friend."
"Are you just saying that because you don't have any friends left in the city?" Felicity teased, relief hiding behind her smirk.
"Yes. Definitely."
"Understandable. And don't worry, I'll kick you out the second you start messing with the DVR. Survivor is off limits."
