There was a time, a very long time ago, when Felicity thought she wanted to stay in her safe little bubble as Queen Consolidated's IT girl. She remembers saying that after Walter was found, she wanted to go back to her normal, boring life. At the time, it felt like a pretty good life. She was good at her job, and she knew it. She knew that her supervisor knew it; hell, she knew that Walter Steele, CEO of Queen Consolidated, knew it. She felt in control of her life. Her love life may have been a different story; most men didn't know what to do with her. She was quirky, sure, but she was also super intelligent and not afraid to speak her mind, while possessing the looks and body of a "nice" girl. Girl-next-door kind of nice. Not that that's necessarily a bad thing…she'd rather be a girl-next-door than a trashy Vegas cocktail waitress…oh, burn!...but the thing about her was that she was more than her looks let on. She could get down and freaky with the best of them…under the right circumstances…and probably a lot of tequila…what was she thinking about?
Oh, normal, boring life. Right. Now that she had a taste of adventure and justice and crime fighting and doing the right thing for the greater good, normal and boring wasn't as appealing as it used to be. Yet, here she was, schlepping on the internet because there really was nothing better to do. She was stuck on level 350 on Candy Crush, (someone please unplug her from this game, it is a never ending vortex of entropy) wasting time on mindless games because things had been almost preternaturally quiet in the city. She should feel bad. She shouldn't want to find trouble, or get excited each time the police scanner reports something unusual. She should be happy that Starling City is pretty safe these days, and she should be proud that she had played a significant part in it, but the unrelenting truth was that she was bored.
It probably comes with the territory, being a genius and being bored. It takes a lot more stimulation for a genius...not that kind of stimulation, although, she would definitely accept that kind of stimulation…especially from a stubborn, trying-to-be-noble jack-ass of an ex-billionaire…
The grinding sound that had been running in the background had abruptly stopped. Oh my god, she panicked. Please, please, please tell me I didn't say that out loud!
She looked over at Oliver, already blushing in anticipation of being embarrassed, but Oliver wasn't looking at her. He was just sitting, eyes front, staring off into space, with an arrowhead in his hand. He looked like he was deep in thought, and she could see from his profile that he had a slight frown.
"Everything okay?" she ventured, trying to pull him out of his head.
Oliver turned in his chair to look at her, and after a beat, smiled. "Yeah," he replied, his smile widening just enough to show off his dimples. She really loved his dimples. They made an appearance so rarely, and when they did, they always took her breath away.
"I was just thinking," he continued.
Always the curious one, she asked, "About what?" Except his eyes shuttered, just a tiny bit, probably not noticeable to the average person, but Felicity was an expert on all things Oliver. He didn't want to say, which meant his thoughts probably involved the island. Good going, Felicity, she berated herself.
Wanting to give him an out and also wanting him not to shut down, she quickly backtracked. "I'm sorry! You don't have to tell me if you don't want to." There, out given. But she also wanted him to know she was there for him. "But," she continued, "I'm here if you want to talk…if you want to tell me about your day," she said, smiling, referencing the day he had told her the same thing, oh so long ago.
He seemed to pick up on the reference. He laughed. "Thank you," he said sincerely, smiling back at her. Then he surprised her. "I do want to tell you."
Oh. That's different.
"But I have to do a little more thinking first."
Well, she thought with a smile, she could give him space for that, no problem. "Okay," she nodded.
She turned back to her computers. She thought about going back to her stupid game, but she felt Oliver's eyes on her. She didn't want to look bad in front of him, so she ignored the game in favor of checking her feeds. She was better off, anyway. Might as well look for trouble. You know, to keep the city safe, not to look for excitement or anything.
She scrolled through her notifications, one by one, at a pace that lulled her into a zen-like state. She felt like she had switched one brain numbing game for another. The sound of Oliver sharpening his arrows provided white noise, further contributing to her altered state of consciousness. One by one, she considered and then dismissed each piece of information as innocuous. Every once in a while, something a little more interesting would catch her eye, and she would flag it for further research later.
Ugh, this was so boring. She was bored. She was going to fall asleep going at this pace. There had to be a better way. An easier way to go through all this boring crap…
That was it! She perked up immediately. She would create an algorithm to weed out the boring stuff and only give her the exciting stuff. The only risk in doing that was that she might miss something, but she'd much rather spend time coding than slogging through hundreds of notifications.
Felicity's fingers flew faster over the keyboard with excitement. She loved writing code, challenging herself to create whatever her mind could come up with, limited only by her imagination. She tapped her feet to a song that was stuck in her head. She even danced a little in her chair. She snuck a glance back at Oliver, checking to see if he caught her dancing, but he was in his own zen state.
Her mind wandered to her brooding friend. It was probably the island he was thinking about. But then again, maybe it wasn't. He didn't seem too upset, just thoughtful. So he wasn't thinking of something painful, which left out the island. He didn't look guilty or angsty, so it wasn't his family. Was he thinking of someone in particular?
An unnerving thought came unbidden into her mind. Maybe he was thinking about Laurel. She knows his secret now, so that meant he could be close to her again. It made a certain amount of sense. If he was thinking about Laurel, it would explain the smiles, the thoughtfulness. Now that his life was not as dangerous as it was previously, he could entertain the idea of being with someone he could really care about.
Felicity's current train of thought brought with it a wave of melancholy. When he had given her that line, she had really thought he was talking about her. She shook her head. That's just crazy thinking. Laurel was his soul-mate, his endgame, his forever kind of love. How could Felicity, the geeky girl-next-door with perpetual foot-in-mouth syndrome possibly measure up? She couldn't mingle with high society like Laurel. She would stick out like a sore thumb. She and Oliver just didn't make sense, as much as she wanted him.
Okay, she could admit it now. She wanted him. She wanted to be the one he poured out his soul to. She wanted to hold his hand through all his dark places, help him carry his burdens. She wanted to ease his suffering, lighten his load. And, okay, fine, she wanted him for more…physical…reasons. She has eyes, after all. And a dirty mind. Which, unfortunately, never stopped, and also frequently escaped her brain's non-existent filter to her mouth. All. The. Time.
Movement in her peripheral vision startled her. "Oliver!" she cried out. She clapped a hand over her heart. "I didn't even hear you walking this way, give a girl some warning!" Of course she didn't hear him, she was thinking very hard about...his…hard…oh boy…what was he saying? Oh, he was sorry. But he was smiling. So he wasn't really sorry.
"No, I'm not."
What? Did she say that out loud?
She needed to get her act together. Oliver was clearly ready to talk, and she needed all her wits about her to be the friend he needed. She took a few moments to save her work, focusing on her breathing and regaining her composure. When she felt a little more in control of herself, she turned to face him attentively. "What's up?"
She took in his posture, which came across as defensive, or self-protective. Or, maybe, nervous? Was he nervous about talking to her about Laurel? She was determined to not be jealous, but completely supportive, no matter what.
"So," he began, "I was thinking."
He stated it like a complete sentence, like he was telling her what he had been doing. She raised a confused eyebrow. "I know," she teased. "You said so."
Oliver shook his head, smiling. "That's not what I meant."
Apparently she misread his statement, because he didn't mean it as a statement. He was going to talk to her about what his thinking produced. Which she already had an idea about. When he didn't continue, she decided to help him out. "So, you were thinking..." She mentally added the words 'dot dot dot.'
"Right," Oliver continued. "So I was thinking…" Another pause. "You should have dinner."
Felicity blinked.
Her mind could not connect what he just said to anything at all. He might as well have spoken in Russian for all the sense he had just made. "What?"
Oliver closed his eyes, then blurted, "With me!"
Felicity blinked again. What the heck is going on? She tried to follow what he was saying…actually, he seemed to be babbling right now. She recognized the words as English, but her brain couldn't comprehend what was happening. When he finally fell silent, she played back his last sentence in her mind.
I would like to take you to dinner with me.
Was…was he…asking her out? As in, out on a date? This is what his thinking produced? So…
A smile slowly crept onto her face. He was thinking about her? He was thinking about her! And then he was nervous! He was nervous about asking her out, and then he babbled! She tried to contain her joy, because she felt like jumping up and hugging him right then and there. She felt like laughing out loud and dancing in her chair and jumping up and down like a ridiculous fangirl.
Outwardly, she tried her best to stay cool. "Dinner?" she asked, her voice trembling just a tiny bit. Darn, keep calm girl. "You mean, like a date?"
Oliver looked down and smiled, mumbling something about being better at this, and she finally found her footing in this conversation. For once, she wasn't the insecure one.
"Yes," Oliver clarified, "like a date."
She wasn't used to being the more confident one, at least not in romantic situations, and she thought about teasing him a little bit, playing it off as casual. But then she took in his demeanor. He wouldn't make eye contact with her, and his arms were still wrapped around his body, like he was barely holding himself together. Like he was expecting to be rejected.
Her heart softened. She didn't think he could take any teasing right now. So she decided to be gentle with his heart. She realized what a gigantic step this was for him. He was so used to protecting his heart from everyone, because for so many years, everyone let him down. That he trusted her with his fragile heart, made hers soar to heights she'd never felt before. She tried to imbue her next words to him with all those feelings, the gratitude for letting her in, for taking this step, and with her words she tried to communicate that she would never let him down.
"I would like that."
He finally looked up at her, and right before her eyes, Oliver was transformed. She wasn't sure what he saw in her face, but all at once she saw light enter his eyes and his face, splitting his mouth open in a wide, toothy grin, dimples out in full force. She fell in love with him even more in that moment. He looked so happy.
"Tomorrow night," he declared, his confidence back in full swagger. "We'll take the night off, let Dig and Roy handle things here. I'll pick you up at 7."
His joy was infectious. "Okay," she agreed happily. "Should I dress up?" Probably yes.
His eyebrow quirked suggestively. "Definitely." She loved seeing his playful side. She would do anything and everything to bring this side of him out to play as often and as long as possible.
He rested a hand on her shoulder. She closed her eyes briefly at his touch, her head canting toward his hand. He was letting her off the hook for tonight, and she was fine with that. Honestly, he could say anything right now and she would be agreeable. She had made him happy, and that, in turn, made her happy. She was so proud of him. Wherever his thoughts had been, they had led him to taking a brave step towards something he thought he couldn't have. He overcame one of his inner demons, and he was never more of a hero to her than he was right now.
