A/N: Quick fun little thing based off the new trailer for season 3. Once I noticed those kids hanging around at Felicity's new job I had to write this. Spoilers for 3x01! Enjoy, and drop me a line letting me know what you think!

"John, there's an illegal shipment of RPGs headed your way,"

"I'm on it,"

She typed faster, eyes scanning the one monitor before her as her frustration levels grew. It was a simple op, one they'd done dozens of times before but she'd never had to guide her team from the work room of Tech Village of all places.

It didn't help that the kids were back again. They'd walked in ten minutes after her shift had started and she half wondered if they'd somehow learned her work schedule.

The group of four boys were as awkward and nerdy and young as they could possibly be. They'd stammer through simple tech questions that she knew they could answer themselves and she'd patiently played along because unfortunately Oliver still hadn't regained Queen Consolidated and she needed to pay her rent on time. Part of her felt for them and she thought it was sweet that they were so enamoured with her they kept finding excuses to come in when she was there.

However, that night they'd sunk to a new low. She'd actually watched on the security cameras as they'd stomped all over a perfectly good tablet on the sidewalk outside the store before they'd brought it in and asked if she could fix it.

Dealing with teenage crushes was not how she wanted to be spending her time. Not when Oliver was taking her out that night.

Every time she thought about it her stomach danced and her heart flipped. Which was why she'd used her loud voice on the boys and told them to wait at the counter and not move while she went to look for something. In reality she knew they'd do whatever she told them to and she needed to get Oliver and the team through their mission as quickly and safely as possible so she could get out of there and go on their date.

Whenever she'd look over her shoulder the boys were right where she'd left them, craning their necks for a glimpse of her and she knew she'd have to get them out there soon or risk them delaying her leaving.

So focused on the mission and the rest of the night she almost missed Oliver's next words.

"Do you like Italian?"

"What?"

"For tonight? You like Italian right? Everyone likes Italian."

Her lips curled for a second as she heard his eager, almost nervous tone, "Oliver you're in the middle of a high speed chase!"

"I'm multitasking,"

She didn't have to see him to know exactly which grin was on his face at that moment and it sent a flush of heat straight through her.

"Just...focus, please,"

"But you never told me if you liked Italian,"

"Oh for the love of god, Barbie tell the man you like Italian so he'll shut up about it!" Roy roared,

"I second that," Digg supplied drolly and she tried to sputter out a response,

"Fine, yes, Italian sounds great, but you'd better not ask me to make the reservation, I'm no longer your EA,"

He chuckled, "I wouldn't dream of it," then in an instant his entire demeanor had shifted, "I've got eyes on them, Arsenal, take the west side."

"Two heat signatures just entered the building where you are and...three more are about to go in," she added as she swapped between feeds,

"We really need to plan these on my days off," she muttered under her breath,

There was a grunt and the sound of metal scraping making her wince, "I'll keep that in mind," Oliver said through the voice distorter,

"Be careful," she whispered even though there was no need and flicked her eyes back to the counter to see with a sigh the boys hadn't given up and left,

Twenty minutes later Felicity was lecturing her misguided admirers about how to properly take care of their tablet while she listened to the team finish up the mission successfully. She thought maybe talking to the boys like they were children could be a helpful tactic to getting them to leave her alone but they seemed to be in rapt attention while she talked, nodding mutely and agreeing to everything she said.

Somehow she'd gotten so distracted in trying everything she could to get the boys to realize they didn't have a shot that she'd missed when Oliver and the others headed back to the lair. She also missed when he'd been silent for longer than usual.

The bravest of the crew leaning all over her counter cleared his throat and adjusted his glasses before his buddy gave him a not so subtle elbow. "Could you...um...that is...maybe you should send it a text message so we know it works,"

However, before she could reply a deep, slightly sinister, slight amused voice she knew all too well came from her left.

"Nice try gentlemen, but you're not getting her number."

It was Oliver and he had his shit eating grin going at full force with just enough teeth showing to make the boys audibly gulp.

"Oliver! What are you doing here?" she tapped her earpiece, wondering if it was faulty, "I get off in twenty minutes and then I have exactly two hours to get ready before we go out. For Italian apparently,"

"I decided I couldn't wait to see you," this time his smile was just for her and she knew her cheeks were going pink,

"But apparently I've interrupted," his tone was leading and he turned that wolfish look back on the boys who looked like they didn't know whether to freeze or run,

"Oliver," she said warningly, "They're harmless, they're in here all the time,"

His brows lifted and he shifted closer, bracing his arms on the counter as he leaned on it in direct imitation of how the boys had been standing. He appeared to be relaxed but she knew better.

"All the time? Is that so?" slowly he flexed his powerful forearms, shirt rolled up to just below his elbows which allowed for an unencumbered view of the muscles rippling beneath the skin, "Seems to me that intelligent young men such as yourselves could probably fix most computer problems on your own. There couldn't possibly be another reason why you're in here so much, could there?"

His question sounded innocent but the boys couldn't take their eyes off his arms. She saw one of them with his lips moving silently and she had a sneaking suspicion he was calculating the force of Oliver's grip and how much psi his hands could generate.

They didn't say another word, just grabbed their busted tablet and scurried as fast as they could for the door.

"Was that really necessary?" she asked, folding her arms across her middle.

"They were harassing you," he countered as he stood and watched through the window as their car peeled from the parking lot,

"If I couldn't handle four high school aged nerds I'd have never survived M.I.T." her tone held just enough mystery that Oliver's head whipped back to look at her,

"What does that mean?"

A sly smile crept across her face, "I don't know Mr. Queen, maybe tonight is the sort of night where secrets are revealed."

"I look forward to it,"