iv.
She shuffles in bed, trying to ignore the noise. It is a persistent, rather annoying sound and she wonders what is happening in her semi-conscious state. She thinks she hears it in her dream, too. A muffled sound that vaguely resembles her name being called out wakes her up in the end.
She rises slowly and locates her glasses on the night stand. She looks around, at first unable to figure out what the noise is or where it is coming from. Then she sees a shadow and hears a subsequent knock on the window.
Her body immediately reacts and she rushes to the window, unlocks it and lifts it up. The storm she slept through is still ongoing, raindrops immediately hit her in the face even though her window only looks at a small alleyway and has a small clearing.
An actual knock, she thinks to herself. "Come on in." she calls out, not bothering with small talk. She steps back and he steps in, dripping. Before any of them say anything, she goes to the bathroom while he closes the window, albeit in difficulty. She picks up the towels on the rack in haste, along with her pink bathrobe and brings them to Oliver who is seated in the usual armchair that she thinks he is quite fond of.
"Thanks." he murmurs and runs one small towel on his face and hair.
"Are you okay? What happened?" she asks as she stands in front of him. She throws one towel on the floor to cover the rainwater and the rest on her bed. She sees that he holds one shoulder with his other hand and there is pain in his face where the green paint has already washed off.
"I'm okay, it's just raining too hard."
Even though she woke up a couple of minutes ago and she is still sleepy, she sees through the lie. "And Windows Vista was the best thing out there." she comments, sarcastically. "What happened?" she repeats.
"I was to go to the Foundry, but your apartment was closer." he says as he winces in pain. "I dislocated my shoulder."
She scrunches her face, an imitation of the look of pain in his face. "How?" she asks, taking the towel from his hand to help him out, given the amount of pain he is in. She holds the two ends of the towel and rubs it against his hair in an attempt to dry it.
"I slipped and fell." he replies. It is the basic truth, she knows she won't be able to get any other information out of him.
"Let me take a look." she says, dropping the now wet towel on the floor. Oliver looks up at her, giving her his puppy-eyes that does not actually resemble a puppy look. It is just his usual way of showing some emotion, which she thinks is quite rare.
He gets on his feet and she unzips the hood and helps him take it off by peeling off each sleeve carefully, ignoring their proximity, and then going behind him to remove it completely. He keeps wincing in pain and each time he does, she takes a sharp breath as if his pain is hers. His usual still standing broad shoulders look rather strange given the dislocation.
Once he is left in his soaked henley shirt, she motions him to sit down. "I know this only from Youtube." she announces before grabbing his arm. She hesitantly moves and stand between his legs, ready to make the move.
"Wait." He puts his hand on her wrist to stop her. "Can you grab me some water first?"
She nods and runs to the kitchen. She grabs a bottle from the fridge, trying not to lose any time with pitchers and glasses and just before she enters the room, she hears a crackle and a small hiss. She drops the bottle and runs back to the bedroom, only to find Oliver standing up with both shoulders intact.
"What did you do?" she asks, horrified.
"This has happened a lot." he shrugs, which does not seem to be the best idea since a momentarily pain hits him again. "I'm fine, Felicity."
"Geez, sorry for being concerned for you." She is annoyed. She places both hands on her hips. "I am offended that you went behind my back. You didn't trust me with your shoulder? I am a medical expert now, all thanks to you. Not that I don't mind, medical knowledge is really important and can save a life one day, and I am pretty sure it is going to be yours soon. I am not really looking forward to that day. "
"It's a minor dislocation, it really is nothing." he insists. "You were giving me your about-to-hack face, I didn't want you to get worse."
Even though she does not want to show it, she is actually glad that she did not have to locate his shoulder back. "Fine." She gives in. "Take off your clothes." He gives her a blank stare. "You are soaked from head to toe, Oliver and you are dripping on my carpet."
She moves around him and goes to her bed and picks up the towels with her back turned to him. She gives him a minute before turning and when she does, he is standing in front of her in his boxer briefs. She tries to play cool and not look at him. As a precaution, she simply throws her pink robe to him.
"What am I supposed to do with this?" he asks, confused.
"Put it on, it'll help you dry." she simply says and sits on the bed and waits while he just looks at the robe and then to her, baffled. "Oliver, stop being sexist and put my pink bathrobe on."
Knowing she is serious, he puts on the bathrobe in all his reluctance, careful not to hurt his shoulder. He looks ridiculous given the robe is several sizes too small and really short on him, but she thinks it is the best way for him to dry and the best way for her to find him unattractive, though it still is hard to do so. The robe shows off his legs, which is a sight she is not used to see often. She gulps and readies herself mentally for what she has to say next.
"And now go to bed."
She wishes she had a camera or at least her phone handy to capture the look on his face. He tilts his head, a ghost of a smile on his lips, and just stares at her, as if thinking 'are you serious?' "Felicity," he begins to protest.
"Oliver, it is still raining and you, what, ran here?" she asks and he nods. "I doubt you'd want to ride in a taxi in your costume. And I am sorry but I am too lazy to drive you to the mansion and drive back here."
"At least let me sleep on the couch." he offers.
"You just re-located your dislocated shoulder back to its location, I am not letting you sleep on the couch." she tells him. "I am too tired to sleep there myself. Don't be such a prude, we are both adults here." He scoffs and with his head shows her t-shirt with cupcakes on it. She just ignores him. "You didn't let me play doctor with you properly so I am doing it now. And that doesn't mean what it actually means. I just want you to rest. Come on." She fakes a yawn and lifts the covers from the floor and puts them on the bed. She takes the right side and he walks to the left side.
He is the first one to get under the covers. She sits on the edge and before taking her glasses off, she instead goes to the kitchen, grabs another bottle of water and picks up the one she dropped on the floor and comes back to the bedroom. She hands one to Oliver and gets under the covers. They both sit with their backs resting on the headboard, the covers lifted up to their necks for a moment. He drinks some of the water while she takes off her glasses.
"Good night, Oliver." she says as she turns her back to him and settles in.
"Good night Felicity." She hears him say as he moves. "Thank you." he whispers.
She listens as his breathing slows and becomes steady, then closes her eyes and is asleep within minutes.
In the morning when she wakes up, her room is bright with sunlight beaming in from the living room. He is long gone, the only evidence of him ever being there is the pink bathrobe carefully folded and placed on the armchair.
A/N: Thank you for all the lovely reviews and the follows!