Still not back, but I missed writing these two and this last episode awakened the muse.
Based on this prompt from dailyau on tumblr: You're trying to reach the top shelf and I know you're short but please ask for help instead of climbing shelves/using books as stools/getting a running start AU
Oliver hates supermarkets. He can never find anything. Granted, that's probably because he can count the number of times he's been inside one on the fingers of one hand. His family has people for this. The Lances, however, do not. If they did, Laurel wouldn't have called him to ask him to pick up ice cream on his way over. Usually, he'd just ignore the request and show up anyway, feigning forgetfulness. He knows how to turn on the charm when it counts. But he got a little too drunk and a little too flirtatious with some girls at the party the other night and he wants off of Laurel's shit list.
He should just ask someone where the ice cream aisle is, but the employees in these places are always so judgmental. He can feel their smug condescension. "Of course pampered rich boy, Oliver Queen, doesn't know where to find the beer." So, instead, he has to walk the length of the store, looking down each aisle until he finds what he needs.
He's just turning to look down what feels like his hundredth when he sees her. There's a girl: a tiny, blonde blur of motion. He catches her mid-jump as she tries to reach a cereal box perched on the top shelf. He freezes in place, surprised, and watches as she lands without the box in her hands. She pauses a moment and then breathes a heavy sigh as she turns to scowl up at the box. When she starts to walk away, Oliver assumes she's giving up, but then she turns back toward the box–a determined look on her face–and takes a running jump as she tries to grab the box again. She gets much closer this time, but she still misses and when she lands on the ground, Oliver can hear her grumbling to herself even from ten feet away.
Oliver thinks she'll surely give up now, but, instead, she grabs another box much lower on the shelf. He expects her to put it in the nearby cart and walk away dissatisfied, but he's surprised again when she takes it and leans up toward the one she originally wanted, using what he now sees is a box of Lucky Charms to try to knock it down. He's impressed by her ingenuity and for a moment, he thinks it might work, but all the girl manages to do is push the desired box even farther back on the shelf. She gives up after a moment, throws her head back and makes a loud sound of frustration.
Oliver is just about to finally go over to help the girl when she suddenly throws the Lucky Charms box at the one on the top shelf—supposedly to try to knock it down. But her aim is bad and instead of hitting the other box, the Lucky Charms hit the metal of the shelf and bounce back at her so fast that she has to duck to avoid them. She stares after them–looking affronted–and Oliver can't help laughing. The girl must hear him because she turns in his direction, but Oliver manages to step behind the end-cap and out of her view before she spots him. Nonetheless, the reminder that there might be other people around seems to have snapped the girl out of her cereal-induced rage and she looks around timidly.
Still, she doesn't walk away. Rather, she takes one last look around and then approaches the shelf again. Oliver is just wondering what she could possibly do next when he sees her wrap her hands around the edges of the higher shelves and then firmly set her right foot on a lower shelf, clearly preparing to climb up them. He intends to just watch her, but then Oliver sees the shelves wobble slightly as she hoist herself up to the next level and he knows he has to intervene or this could end in disaster. He approaches her silently, waiting until he's right behind her before he finally speaks.
"Need a hand?" he asks. The girl whips her head around and freezes, her eyes wild and as she realizes she's been caught. Oliver struggles not to laugh and then steps toward her, reaches over her to easily grab the box (of Cookie Crisp, of all things) from the top shelf and then steps back. Her eyes follow the box as he does and she stays latched to the front of the shelves for a moment before she starts to climb down.
"Thanks," she says when she finally sets foot on the ground, her face now flushed with embarrassment. "I probably should have just asked someone for help," she goes on, shuffling nervously and avoiding Oliver's eyes, "but the people who work here make me feel like a little kid asking my parents' for permission. Like, I know it's pure sugar, but that's why it's delicious."
"I hate asking for help too," Oliver says, smiling, and hands her the box. "I've been looking for the ice cream for fifteen minutes."
"I know where that is," she says, perking up and finally looking at him. She looks like she's going to go on, but her face changes as she finally focuses on him and Oliver knows he's been recognized. "Aren't you Oliver Queen?" the girl asks, pushing her glasses up her nose. "Don't you have, like, maids to do your grocery shopping? Is that even what a maid does?" she continues before Oliver has time to answer. "I mean, I've only ever seen maids in movies, so I don't know what they do, but I guess now that I think about it, movies probably aren't that accurate. Movie maids always wear those little black and white dresses and unless your family are sadists or, like, Southern plantation owners, then yours probably don't wear them."
Usually, Oliver would be annoyed, even offended, by all this speculation about his family, but the girl's ramble was so off-hand and genuine that he can't help but be amused by it.
"No, we don't make our people wear uniforms," he says with a smirk and then adds, "unless we're throwing an event."
"Ah," the girl says, nodding sagely.
"And they usually buy groceries, but I'm on the way to a...friend's house," he explains, wondering why he decided not to put the word "girl" in front of "friend."
"Oh, OK, well, um, I'm headed to the freezer aisle if you want to come with," she offers, pointing a thumb over her shoulder. "I've gotta replenish my mint chip supply."
"Thanks, I'd appreciate that..."
"Felicity," she finishes for him.
"Felicity," he repeats, pleased by the prettiness of it.