I wasn't originally intending to add more to this, but I had this idea, and I figured, rather than just starting something new I could provide this as a counterpoint to the previous chapter. I wrote this entirely in a notebook in between classes and rewatching episodes of Justice League on Netflix. Because that's what I do during the weekend.
I've learned that I'm less comfortable with writing Ollie's perspective than Felicity's, but I think I made this work in my own special way. This is much fluffier, and also more ridiculous for a lot of different reasons.
$4$
This morning I said we should talk about it
'Cuz I read you should never leave a fight unresolved
That's when you came in wearin' a football helmet
And said, "Okay, let's talk."
- "Stay Stay Stay," by Taylor Swift
Felicity was one of those people that excelled when she didn't try hard.
Oliver understood why; Felicity had spent a lifetime excelling at technology, a skill she understood with an effortless kind of clarity. So whenever she was put into a situation that she didn't understand perfectly, she stumbled, tried too hard, and wound up worse off than if she hadn't tried at all. For the life of him, though, he couldn't make himself stop her. She was just too amusing to watch.
He was fairly certain that made him a terrible boyfriend. It would be easier if she wasn't so… funny.
The root of the problem was that Felicity was really, truly terrible at trying to be something that she wasn't. Which was what got them here.
"Could you please come out of the bathroom now?" he asked again. He sounded like a cross between amused and frustrated, which was fairly true to what he was feeling. She had that baffling effect of making him honest.
"No!" she shouted through the door. Felicity, on the other hand, sounded panicked, and he wanted to go in there and talk to her, but she had given him explicit instructions not to move from his seat at the edge of the bed. "Just… give me a second!"
He had been sitting there patiently for the past twelve and a half minutes, which had been when he had walked through the door and she had shoved him toward the bed before barricading herself in the bathroom. But like most moments with Felicity, she kept him bemused enough that he didn't mind this next quirky moment of their lives together.
"Didn't you say that five minutes ago?" he asked, mostly rhetorically because he already knew the answer was yes. He had been keeping an eye on his watch.
Oliver could hear her grumbling on the other side of the door. "Shut up!" she griped. "I'm just… I need—shut up!"
He chuckled to himself, keeping quiet because he knew she wouldn't appreciate him laughing at her, even if that wasn't exactly his intention. He had long since learned that sometimes it was easier to let Felicity do her own thing than attempting to bully her into any particular direction. He didn't understand how, but she could be just as stubborn as him some days.
"Alright. I'm coming out."
Oliver wasn't sure what to expect. Realistically, he should have known better—he was a far cry from naïve when it came to these things—but he had a hard time predicting Felicity. She was unlike any woman he had ever met, let alone dated. He wasn't always so good at predicting her patterns.
And when she stepped out of the bathroom, he knew without a doubt that he had not been predicting this.
Oliver always recognized that Felicity was pretty, even prior to dating her. It was merely an observation. It was only when he got to know her better that he saw how truly gorgeous she was as a person. Granted, he knew he could still be shallow at times, but it he was much better off than how he'd been when he was an idiot college kid.
Felicity's face was already flushed, and he would have put money that its cause was from embarrassment. She was sans glasses and had done something different with her makeup, making it darker and smoky, which on made her eyes look even bigger and more like a deer caught in headlights. Her hair was also up, but in some kind of messy bun that was doubtlessly more complicated than it looked. But all of that was nothing in comparison to how she was dressed.
Oliver didn't fool himself into thinking he knew anything about women's lingerie. All he did know was that she was wearing something that utilized the verbs "short," "lacy," and "green." He wasn't sure what to say beyond that.
He was so surprised at her choice in wardrobe that he forgot to keep his expression neutral. His eyebrows were somewhere near his hairline, and it took him a moment to realize his mouth was slightly open. Unfortunately, he wasn't quick enough to fix the problem before she noticed, not that there was ever any chance that she wouldn't.
"What?" she asked, her eyes somehow managing to grow larger. She took a couple steps towards him, wobbling uncertainly in her emerald green stilettos. "What?"
"Nothing," he said, recovering enough to give her a reassuring smile. "You look… beautiful."
Her brows furrowed, like she doubted his words, but she pasted on a nervous smile anyway. "Good," she muttered, not sounding much more confident than she looked. Clenching and unclenching her fists, she walked towards him again, which was actually something closer to a saunter with the way her hips swayed from side to side.
Felicity stared at him through half-lidded eyes, but the current of tension there undermined her purpose. "When I went out shopping, I saw this. I thought you might like it," she told him, the words teasing but the tone stilted.
His attempt at a bemused smile was intended to reassure her, but before that could have much of an effect, her stiletto caught on the carpeting. He barely heard her pathetic little "Eep!" before she tumbled.
"Son of a bitch." Oliver wasn't sure if he was meant to have heard her whispered curse, but he sure as shit wasn't going to ask her. Years of training had taught him to react to unexpected situations, but he hadn't been as fast as he thought so she wound up in a heap, half on his lap and half on the floor.
He chuckled. He knew she was going to be annoyed at him for that reaction but he just couldn't ignore the humor. "Well, that was unexpected."
Felicity lifted up her head from his knee, only instead of glaring at him she just looked hurt. "Yeah. Hilarious."
She picked herself up, shrugging off his assistance. "It's fine," she said. "No, I get it. I do. I- I just had an idea—"
Son of a bitch. That wasn't what he meant to do at all. "Felicity—" he began, standing up from the bed as she backed off.
"It's fine," she repeated, when it was clearly anything but. "Seriously. It didn't work out. I'm fine."
Oliver sighed, and let her back up another two steps before crossing the room and catching her by the waist. "Felicity, stop, wait," he murmured, ignoring her feeble attempts to push him away. "I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. I never want to do that."
He heard her sniffle a little, but when she glared up at him there were no tears. "Right, which was why laughing was totally the right reaction," she replied sarcastically with a roll of her eyes. She balled up her fist and took a very lame attempt at a swing to his chest.
"I wasn't laughing at you," he corrected gently, smiling despite himself. He squeezed her waist and pulled her closer until she was pressed against his chest. "Not directly. I was laughing at the situation. At how unnecessary it all was."
Felicity's eyebrows arched, an impressively dangerous glint in her eyes. "How unnecessary… my seducing you was?" she clarified, in case he wanted to dig a bigger hole for himself.
Biting the inside of his cheek, Oliver shook his head. "No," he replied slowly, teasing her probably more than he should. "At how unnecessary it is that you think you need to seduce me."
Her mouth fell open a little, and a blush spread across her cheeks and chest once more. He briefly considered letting her flounder for a while longer, but after everything she'd put herself through in the last half hour, he didn't have the heart. "I think at this point we're beyond you needing to prove something to me."
Felicity exhaled through her nose, pulling back a few inches when he leaned his head towards her. "I know. I just wanted to try something different… I'm tired of you always being the sexy one."
She sounded like a petulant child and he had to stifle another laugh. "I'm not even sure how to respond to that one," he admitted. "Other than you must've hit you head a lot harder than I thought if you think that's true."
Felicity pursed her lips, her fingers digging into the material of his shirt. "You just don't want to believe it's true."
Oliver laughed at her stubbornness, but before she could argue with him further, he leaned in and kissed her. She paused for maybe a moment and then gave in, back arching as she wrapped her arms around his neck.
He had never been in a relationship for this long, not even with Laurel. There were some downsides to dating and living with a woman for so long, but the good far outweighed the bad, at least when it came to Felicity. She could be a challenge at times, but one he rather enjoyed figuring out. Especially this way.
It was easy to bend a little and catch her behind her knees. Despite what she claimed, she really wasn't that heavy, particularly for him. He never would have admitted this to her, but he got a messed up sense of pleasure out of the little yelp she let out every time he picked her up without warning.
Felicity recovered well, her legs winding around his waist in time for him to lower them onto the bed, having long since memorized the layout of the room. When they broke apart, she laughed for no particular reason, the sound so blissfully happy he had to grin back. She had that effect on him, and it was one of the many reasons why he was grateful that they were together. He doubted he could find anyone else that would tolerate him for this long.
She whimpered when he ran his hands up her bare sides, tugging on his bottom lip, and he repeated the motion until she moaned throatily. Her voice never ceased to do crazy things to his nerves, and he wondered if it was always going to be like that. He kind of hoped so.
He pulled back, not missing the needy little noise she made in response. Her hair was already half-falling out of the bun, and that satisfied flush across her face made that decidedly primal part of his brain swell with pride. Her eyes were half-lidded, dark and clouded over with lust.
"And you think you're not sexy," he muttered, dipping his head down for another heady kiss. Her mouth tensed, like she wanted to argue with him, but rather than do so, she melted, digging her fingers into his hair.
She broke away long enough to tell him, "Shuddup." Her legs tightened around his waist, and he had to grit his teeth until the desperation ebbed away.
"I love how clueless you are about what you do to me," he growled, nipping the pale, unmarked skin of her throat. Her short, vibrant nails dug into his shoulder and he had a feeling this was going to be one of those nights when he couldn't get enough of her.
His hand snaked behind her back, finding the hook and clasp easily. "Wait," she whispered, breaking their heavy kiss. "Wait, wait."
Felicity hadn't said the words loudly, but he still heard them. He pulled his head up, eyebrows furrowing in confusion as he studied her expression. "What? Is everything okay?"
Oddly enough, she looked just as confused at her outburst as he did. That lingering heat in her eyes didn't help him any. Something seemed to click for her as she asked quietly, "Did you say you loved that about me?"
Oliver hesitated. This felt like one of those trick questions past girlfriends would ask him, but with Felicity there never were any trick questions, so he answered honestly. "Yes."
Her eyes got real big, and for a second he worried that he had somehow managed to answer wrong. "Oh," she murmured, her face going red, for a different reason this time. "Okay."
"Okay?" he repeated. He really hoped she wasn't going to get mad at him, because he wasn't sure he was going to be able to let go of her.
Her lips curved into a tiny little smile, and she repeated for him, "Okay," and then pulled him down for another kiss. This time, there was no more stopping, not for several more hours.
Later on, after they had both cooled down, Felicity still wouldn't explain what had happened. All Oliver was sure of was that he'd evidently done something very, very good. And that was good enough for him.
