Felicity enjoyed being normal. It was a rare occasion but she appreciated the little things. She enjoyed painting her nails, curling up on couch, reading a book, experimenting with her makeup; today was one of those days. Thea sat cross-legged upon Felicity's bed, contemplating her choices in nail paint whilst Felicity rummaged through her minimal closet. Being Oliver Queen's assistant by day and well, Oliver Queen or the Arrow's accomplice at night, Felicity's wardrobe just consisted of work-wear. There was a row of pencil skirts, a similar row of blouses and a neatly folded pile of smart dresses. However, there was nothing for a night out on the town.
"Thea, why can't I just wear a pencil skirt?" Felicity sighed, flopping onto the floor space in front of her closet. She pulled her cartoon-pyjama covered legs up to her chest, her chin resting on top of her knees.
"Why can't you just take something of mine?" Thea retorted back, looking away from her nails for the first time in an hour. "Look, this is the first time we've promoted an event at the club and it's also the first time you and Olly are coming out to the public."
"What does that have to do with my clothing choices?" Felicity whined like a child, stomping her feet in mock protest. "I've been seen with you and Oliver in public loads of times before, it's practically the same thing tonight."
The truth was that Felicity was accustomed to the fame that came with the Queen family. They were a family who had been in the spotlight their whole lives. Sometimes, Felicity would just be getting into a car with Thea and they'd be swarmed by paparazzi. But, Felicity – now as Oliver's fake … or not so fake girlfriend – was going to receive a lot more unwanted media attention than she had previously received.
"But this is the first time you'll be holding hands and making puppy dog eyes at each other-"
"We do not make puppy dog eyes at one another!" Felicity blushed furiously, her milky skin turning a bright shade of red. After their kiss in the foundry, Oliver and Felicity had been skirting around the topic of what exactly they were; neither of them wanting to ruin what they currently had. When nobody was looking they would find any excuse to touch either, whether that was a kiss or a hug or simply a squeeze of the hand. The gestures were so comforting – for the both of them – and they were scared talking about their relationship would ruin it.
"Oh please, who are you trying to fool?" Thea simply rolled her eyes. Every time she was with Oliver and Felicity, she felt stupid for not setting them up sooner. They found opportunity that they had to glance at each other, smile at each other. Seeing them together was sweet and simultaneously sickening. "Look, this is the one night that you can just relax and let loose, enjoy it."
"Thea," Felicity sighed. "I'm not the type of girl who goes clubbing and gets drunk-"
"You are tonight." With a devious smirk pasted across her lips, Thea began getting Felicity ready, much to Felicity's dismay.
Despite it being just a little after four, Thea spent hours oiling, tweezing and painting Felicity. After arguing her case weakly for about an hour, Felicity admitted defeat and gave herself up to Thea. Without any objection, Thea performed some of her best work on Felicity. She had already had an outfit for the blonde in mind and piecing together the rest of her look had been a breeze. The hairstyle, the nails, the makeup had all come together like an artist's vision on a canvas. Felicity Smoak - the MIT graduate – was unrecognisable when Thea was done with her. Felicity stood before a mirror, a few hours later, and her lips were gaping like a fish out of water.
"So, do you like it?" Thea bounced on the balls of her feet, excitement bubbling within her.
"Like it?" Felicity made faces at herself in the mirror, just to ensure the reflection was in fact her. The notion simply made Thea laugh – only Felicity was capable of doing something like that.
"Thea," Felicity choked out. "Like it? I love it. I mean who would have thought of me in leather, huh? Well apart from that one sleazy guy I went on a date with in college-" Felicity pressed her palms against the material of her leather skirt. She had to admit, the look was edgy and something she wouldn't usually opt for, however, Felicity found herself liking what the mirror reflected back to her.
"I'm pretty sure, Olly will too." Thea winked as they gathered their belongings; bags and purses.
As the owner of Verdant, Thea had to be there early in order to set up and, as per usual, Oliver, Diggle, Lyla, Laurel, Roy and Felicity had offered to help. And by the time that Felicity and Thea got to the club, everybody was already there. Roy was frantically passing out orders and the friends, Thea and Felicity, barked out laughter, making their entrance known. Everybody turned towards them yet the only person the two of them were focused on was Oliver.
Thea – who knew her brother well, really well – could see the gears turning in his head. She could see how attracted he was to Felicity, she could see how captivated he was by her beauty and then she could see the jealousy spark within him. Oliver was currently standing at the bar and as soon as he heard her laugh his head snapped towards the doorway. Her laughter was, as cliché as it sounded, like music to his ears and a smile instantly pulled at the corners of his mouth. But, as is his eyes took in what she was wearing, he wasn't sure if he was meant to smile or if he was meant to scowl.
Felicity's golden tresses had been let loose and curled to absolute perfection, each tendril flicking inwards to frame her face. The makeup on Felicity's face was minimal, excluding the area around her eyes. Her eyelids were coated in hues of brown and gold, adding an unexpected rebelliousness to her usually whimsical face. Equally, Felicity's outfit screamed rebellion. She was in a pair of black heels that made her legs go on for years; a leather skirt and cropped black vest to match. Her left arm was covered in a black laced-up bracelet that trailed from her wrist to her forearm.
She looked absolutely breath-taking. But, Oliver acknowledged that he wouldn't be the only person who thought so. Anger coursed through him at the thought of drunken sleazebags attempting to make moves on his girl.
"Oh thank god!" Roy rushed towards his girlfriend, enveloping her in a bone-crushing hug. His buff arms wrapped around Thea's body, practically hauling her feet off the ground. "I don't get how you do this-" Roy ushered to nothing in particular. Verdant had been transformed with extra florescent lighting and themed decorations and drinks. Like Felicity, the place was transformed anew. "I'll stick to handling the bar." Thea just kissed Roy's cheek, thanking him for stepping in for her whilst she got ready.
As the couple had their little encounter, Felicity found herself drifting towards Oliver and vice versa. Oliver was making his way around the bar and Felicity was walking towards it; they meet each other halfway in a clumsy encounter. Felicity stuck out her hand stupidly and Oliver went in for a hug, resulting in an all most painful collaboration of limbs. Felicity let out a huff of air and Oliver chuckled softly before pulling away from her quickly, only to tug her back into the hug that he had desired originally. This time, Felicity's arm wasn't squished in between the two but wrapped around Oliver's torso.
"You look-" Oliver couldn't find enough words to describe what Felicity looked like. Oliver's speechlessness screamed words to Felicity and she couldn't help but look down at her shoes, covering up her blush with her hair. Wanting to see the effect that he had on Felicity, Oliver pushed her locks behind her ear, his fingers brushing across her heated cheek. "Can we … talk?" Oliver glanced about at all of his friends busy at work. It seemed like they had it handled. Oliver knew, sooner or later, that he and Felicity would have to talk about their relationship and now was better than ever. "In private?" Felicity took her own look at everybody else before nodding, following Oliver down to the foundry.
Oliver flicked a switch and a row of lights flickered on, igniting the familiar workspace for the duo. They progressed down the stairs in silence, trying to break a sudden tension that had settled over them. Felicity took a seat in her usual swivel chair in front of the computers and Oliver rested against the island in the middle. Like they had been for the past few weeks, neither Oliver nor Felicity knew how to start this conversation. So, they sat in silence.
"Can I tell you something?" Felicity asked, noticing Oliver's struggle to put words together. Usually, it was her who was struggled with coherent sentences and so she sympathised with his situation. She also knew that if this was the moment that they were going to talk about being in a relationship, she had to be honest about a few things first. "Something I've never told anyone before, not even Thea."
"Of course, you can tell me anything." Oliver nodded, leaning forward to listen intently.
"You remember Cooper-"
"Ex-boyfriend, Cooper?" Oliver said his name as if he were spitting out something sour. Cooper had been Felicity's first and only serious relationship, something that Oliver was threatened by.
"Yeah," Felicity huffed gently, wisps of her blonde hair flying. Her eyes glazed over into a distant look as she recalled painful memories that she, previously, had spent so long trying to repress. "When I met Cooper, I thought that was it for me. I thought he was the person I was going to spend the rest of my life with." Oliver tried to push aside his jealousy as he saw pure grief float across Felicity's face. He didn't know much about Felicity's relationship with Cooper but Cooper had evidently left a mark on her. "We had these big plans, plans that were mere moments from coming true. I remember it was about … three or four months before our finals-" Felicity was choking on her words and she closed her eyes, trying to collect her thoughts.
"Hey, hey," Oliver reached for her, taking her hand in his own. "It's okay, you can tell me."
"Cooper was from a working class family, like me. We'd both gotten into MIT on scholarships and I guess we bonded over the fact that we weren't like most of our rich peers. I got a job at the local tech store for some extra cash; it was how I got interested in cyber-security. Cooper, on the other hand, spent his time in our dorm creating what we used to call the 'hack-tivist' group, for lack of a better word. I loved Cooper and so, I helped him create this super virus that could give us root access to any infected server." Absentmindedly, Felicity swivelled about in her chair. "Cooper, behind my back, was using the virus to wipe student loans. He was doing it so I didn't have to work all the time and my mom didn't have to worry about doing seventeen hour shifts to help me finance my education. What Cooper didn't know was that his DNS was configured."
"Meaning?" Oliver asked, getting her to break down her technical talk.
"It meant that Cooper had broken the law and the FBI could track him down," A stray tear rolled down Felicity's cheek. "They arrested him in front of me. We were walking home from lunch and they practically snatched him away from me. I saw them throw him to the ground, I heard his body smack against the concrete … I can still hear that sound in my head."
"Felicity-"
"I went to see Cooper, in Iron Heights; I wanted to confess to the police. I wanted to tell them that I had created the virus and the whole operation was my fault but he told me it wasn't worth it, that both of us in prison wasn't worth it. He was sacrificing himself for me, so that I could live a happy life." Felicity smiled through her tears. "But I couldn't … I couldn't be remotely happy because hours, just hours after my visit, I got a call from Cooper's mom." This time, Felicity didn't hold in her tears. She let them flow like she had the night she'd seen her father. "Cooper had hung himself before sentencing."
"Felicity, I'm so sorry." Oliver's heart ached for Felicity. He didn't know how to make her feel better and that hurt the most, knowing he could only watch her fall apart helplessly.
"That part of the story I told Thea," Felicity sniffled, rubbing the back of her palm against her nose. "But, what Thea, or anybody else for that matter, didn't know was that … I was this-" Felicity held her index finger and thumb together. "Close from dropping out of college. I had signed all of the forms and had packed all my bags because suddenly, life wasn't worth living anymore. We were meant to get married, you know?" Oliver wasn't expecting that and he looked back at Felicity, utterly shocked. He knew her and Cooper were serious but not that serious. "Cooper and I were going to graduate together and move into this apartment just outside of Starling City, we'd been saving for the lease for months. After his death, I spent weeks just wallowing, I died my hair black, I sat indoors all the time until I realised … I wasn't the only one experiencing this degree of pain." Felicity looked directly at Oliver, her blue eyes boring into his. "Thea was too … because that was when she'd lost you and your dad on the Queen's Gambit. I saw what it did to her and unintentionally, Thea was the one who picked me back up again. It was her who drove me to be better and to move on with my life."
"Felicity, do you want this?" Oliver moved to crouch before her, his hands grasping her knees. "Us?"
"Oliver-" Felicity started, only to be swiftly interrupted.
"And, I don't mean just the kisses or the touching; I mean … this, us, for real. A proper relationship not that we don't have one … I mean .. We do but I don't to … I'm not Cooper-"
"Usually I'm the one who talks in sentence fragments." Felicity chuckled, placing her hand over Oliver's, their fingers threading together. "I don't want to read too much into this but, are you asking me to be your girlfriend?"
"I …" Oliver tried compose himself, scolding himself internally for behaving like a love-stricken teenager. Billionaire playboy, Oliver Queen, wouldn't have been caught dead stumbling over his words as he tried to talk to a girl – how times had changed. Because, here he was, billionaire singleton, Oliver Queen, with no clue how to ask the girl of his dreams to be his girlfriend. "I want-"
"I'm scared," Felicity's admitted softly, her fingers twisting together in nervousness. "I'm scared that what happened to Cooper will happen to you, I'm scared that … I'll lose you." Felicity's voice had quietened to the point where Oliver could barely hear her. "He never made me feel like this, the way you make me feel and … I'm petrified that I'm not strong enough to make it out alive if something goes wrong this time-"
"You're not going to lose me so there's nothing for you to be afraid of." Oliver found his tongue when he realised that this was the one moment that Felicity had opened her heart out to him; it was time for him to do the same. "I want to be the guy that you deserve and that means sticking by you, no matter what." Oliver placed a lingering kiss to Felicity's forehead. "And, I promise you, you're the strongest person I know. You've experienced so much in such little time and, here you are, a fighter. There's nothing in this world left that can you break you."
"How do you know?" Felicity sighed heavily.
"Because you still managed to direct me to safety with a ticking bomb around your neck, because you risk your life for me every day, because you took a bullet for you friend, you walked into a mob casino, you jumped off a plane onto a deserted island; the list goes on. You are your own hero, Felicity, and I don't know what I'm meant to do to prove that to you." Oliver used his hand to cup Felicity's neck, her head falling sideways into his touch. "You're my girl, my girl-Wednesday," Oliver chuckled at his own stupidity. "And, I want to be with you … I want you to be my girlfriend."
"I want to be your girl-Friday," Felicity corrected, leaning in for a kiss, her arms wrapping around Oliver's neck. Oliver willingly let Felicity pull him forward, their noses touching. They were so close, Felicity could all most taste Oliver's minty breathe. "I want to be your girlfriend." Oliver received her kiss willing, his teeth smacking against her lips as he smiled genuinely.
This was the happiest he'd been in … forever. But what Oliver Queen knew of happiness was that it didn't last long. In his and Felicity's case, it didn't even last one whole evening.
