The scarf was itchy, but Felicity felt less self-conscious wearing it; she didn't trust her cover-up, even though she used a lot of it and the hickeys were barely noticeable.

As she entered Verdant, she reluctantly removed her scarf and told herself that neither Diggle nor Oliver was going to pay attention to her neck. She descended the stairs with sweaty palms and rattlesnakes slithering in her belly.

They couldn't find out. And while Roy was Roy, he wouldn't tell, right? Right.

"'Sup, Smoak," called Roy in between punches as she reached the last step.

"Hey, Harper," The familiarity of the greeting made everything feel normal and helped ease the stress. Unfortunately, Roy was shirtless, his hickeys totally exposed. Diggle wasn't looking at her accusingly though, so she was still safe. Oliver wasn't present, which was kind of a relief.

Sitting down in her chair, she got right to business with the upgrade. Ten minutes in, just as she forgot the craziness of last night, Roy came over and leaned against her desk. Thankfully, this was normal too; he usually used his breaks to come talk to her.

"It is eight years, you know." she said in a hushed tone. "It's February and I'll be twenty-eight on June first. So I was right."

He smirked and spoke in the same tone. "Guess you were too ruffled to realize that earlier." Roy's smirk turned into a smile at the sight of her blush. "I'll be twenty on April third. So what? It's still not a big deal."

"You also left your jacket and hoodie at my place."

"So that's why I was freezing on the way over here."

"Were you hoping I'd feel obligated to bring them, thereby exposing our secret?"

"Maybe,"

"I'd really rather they didn't know."

"Okay," Roy really did seem surprisingly cool with it. "I won't tell anyone."

Nodding, she furtively glanced at the little bruises on his torso.

"I told Diggle it was just some bimbo I met here," he said. "You know, since I had the night off."

She raised an eyebrow. "Didn't we meet here?"

Before Roy could say anything, Oliver came down the stairs. And he was smiling. Ew. That smile could only mean one nasty, icky thing: the date went well.

"Looks like we're not the only ones who got lucky last night," Roy mumbled by her ear. She tried her very best not to scowl.

"Roy, go spar with Diggle." As he left, Oliver walked up behind her to take his place. When she turned her head to look at him, he suddenly stared in bewilderment at the back of her neck.

"What's that?" he asked when he reached her, his fingers sweeping her low ponytail out of the way.

I must've missed one, she thought as she froze. Why didn't I wear something with a collar? I'm wearing cover-up and I wore a scarf on the way here and I didn't even think to wear a shirt with a collar? I'm such an idiot! "Uh, this?" she said, pointing to the back of her neck. "I think it's a burn from my curling iron. I use a curling iron all the time. Do you think my hair just naturally does this? Because it doesn't. I need a curling iron to achieve this look."

"Hmm," Oliver wouldn't remove his hand. "Awful lot of makeup on your neck,"

"Don't you have something you need to do?"

"Why do you look so guilty?"

"I'm not guilty!" she said a little too loudly.

"Felicity, is this really a burn from your curling iron?" There was something…weird… about his expression. Like he was prepared to get angry.

Smacking his hand away, she turned her chair around to face him. "How was your date with Laurel last night?"

"Great," he said with a fake smile. "And I'm wondering if your night was just as great as mine."

Look at this asshole. Was he really trying to wheedle information out of her? And why did he seem mad? What the hell was that about? He clearly didn't think it was Roy because he hadn't looked at/tackled him at all, so what was wrong? Also, he implied that he slept with Laurel last night. So gross. "What do you mean by that?"

Oliver shrugged. "You've never mentioned a boyfriend, yet it looks like you have one." he said, gesturing to her neck.

"If that were true, why would you even care?"

"I don't trust guys in general."
"Because you're the best example of the worse the male gender has to offer." she said it as if she were commenting on the weather, and it made Oliver smile slightly. "Look, all I did last night was watch a couple of episodes of New Girl. The closest I got to sex was seeing a really hot guest star take his shirt off after eating three hallucinogenic mushrooms. I was amazed that I found him attractive despite his idiotic behavior and shallow personality, and that's the closest I got to any action last night. Well, that and I had Ben & Jerry's Karamel Sutra." She adjusted her glasses, maintaining steady eye contact. "Do you have any more questions? Because the upgrade is done and I'd like to go home."

He nodded. She grabbed her things and headed up the stairs.

As the door closed behind her and Oliver went to join the training, he noticed Roy's bruises. At first he thought they were from working out, but… they just didn't look right. In fact, they looked an awful lot like the burn on Felicity's neck.

Oliver made brief eye contact with Diggle, and he could tell they were thinking the same thing.

Roy suddenly found himself lying on the ground, gasping for breath. Oliver had a forearm to his throat, Diggle crouching beside him. Neither was looking too friendly.

"Roy," Oliver said in a measured tone. "If you hurt Felicity in any way, you will die in the most excruciating manner imaginable." He pressed harder on his throat. "And Diggle and I will watch. Is that understood?"

This coming from the guy Felicity was crying over last night. You think I'm going to hurt her? You've been hurting her, you bastard! It was probably a good thing that the pain kept Roy from expressing how angry he felt.

"Yes, sir." he choked.

The Mini-Hood inhaled sharply after the weight was lifted from his throat. He struggled into a sitting position as Oliver passed by, heading to the punching bag as if nothing had happened. Diggle offered him a hand, and he reluctantly took it.

"Sorry about that, Roy," Diggle said, just loud enough for Roy to hear over the sound of Oliver's punches. "Gotta look out for our girl."

"You mean you weren't just looking for a reason to attack me?"

"Nope. We'd do the same thing to anyone who was dating Felicity. Hell, I'd do it to Oliver." Diggle glanced over at the playboy billionaire. "Especially Oliver." he muttered.

Roy's fingers gingerly touched where Oliver hit his stomach to bring him down; he was going to have a big bruise later. "Yeah, well… message received. Know what? I think I've had enough for today."


Felicity found herself smiling like an idiot when she heard a knock at the door. Well, it should've been the door, but it was the window in her bedroom. She dashed into her room, threw back the curtains, and opened the window.

"Please let me in before I freeze to death." begged Roy, who was huddled on the fire escape.

She reached out and bunched her fist in his shirt, dragging him in. "You should've at least taken your jacket."

His hands vigorously rubbed his upper arms as he stood before her. "Yeah, that was dumb. You mind warming me up?"

"Body heat is a great way to get warm." she stated as she pulled her sweater over her head.

"I was thinking a quilt and some hot cocoa, but that could work too."

"Get over here, you smartass."