Disclaimer: I don't own the show. I barely own my own socks.
Thea consistently thanks her lucky stars that Tommy cannot come up with a better hiding place for the spare key to their apartment. That is, other than above the frame of their front door. However the downside is that she has to jump up a few times to brush the key off its perch, if she wants to get into her brother's apartment uninvited. No thanks to her total lack of height. Roy left for his day job and she doesn't have classes today so she needs coffee and a way to spend her time. Tommy and Oliver have an excellent coffee machine and Thea cannot resist an early morning recap of the party the night before.
She makes a bee -line for the machine, turning it on. Then she goes to Tommy's room and opens his door. It's just wide enough for the smell of the brewing coffee to waft in through the gap. She can just see the top of his head, buried under multiple pillows but she doesn't say a word, she knows the routine.
Thea continues on to do the same for her brother, but finds that his bed empty, which isn't exactly unusual since he came back to them. It wasn't unusual for old Ollie either, at least some things never change. The ding of the machine draws her away from his empty room and back to the kitchen. She's already poured herself the first cup when Tommy comes padding in, half awake, "I've said it before, I'll say it again Speedy. Best wakeup call ever."
He reaches behind her and grabs a mug, filling it. "But we're going to have to stock double the amount of coffee, if you're going to keep this up, coffee thief, at least you're making some for us." He reaches over and musses her hair with one hand.
They're about halfway through their coffee in comfortable silence when they hear the swoosh of the front door as Oliver arrives. In the clothes he was wearing the night before. He looks up at the two and a well-worn smug smile grows on his face. Thea rolls her eyes, the cocky smugness doesn't suit him, but if he insists keeping up whatever this charade he's been running since he got back from that place.
"Where did you go last night?" Tommy wiggles his eyebrows as he and Thea look at him over the back of the couch. Thea snorts trust Tommy, only ever one thing on his mind.
But she chooses to play along, teasing before her brother can answer Tommy's question, "Felicity's."
"Wait. Cockroach girl?" Tommy's head swivels to Thea, "The cute blonde from your apartment the other day?"
"Felicity. Tommy, her name is Felicity. I'm pretty sure she introduced herself, how do you not remember her name…" Thea rolls her eyes, "wait a second, no. I'm not that surprised."
Tommy jumps in to defend himself while Oliver stands there with his mouth open, a perfect excuse on the tip of his tongue to his sister's first question. But he was right to wait it out. Now that the two on the couch are bickering, he takes his opportunity to slide away.
By the time he's halfway down the hall, he hears Tommy call out, telling Oliver his absence is noticed. "We're not done talking about the cute blonde Ollie!" Of course it would be Tommy, although it makes him smile when after a few beats of silence he hears Tommy yelp, probably because Thea pinched him. He'd stick around for the coffee but after his late night activities, he'd prefer to get what little sleep he could still grasp.
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He thinks he's home free when, after an hour or so, the noise from the lounge dies out and the front door closes. He strides out of his room with the hope that Tommy left too. Which only really leaves him is disappointed.
"So Felicity, huh?" Tommy's eyebrow is already raised toward his hairline by the time Oliver rounds into the kitchen. He avoids the question by taking a giant gulp of still warm coffee. "Come on buddy? Why are you holding out?"
"There's nothing to talk about Tommy." Oliver tries to dismiss the question. There really wasn't, after leaving Felicity's he didn't go back. Instead he paid a visit to a local Vertigo supplier. He was only tired because there were more guards than he expected and he was late because he had to stitch up a gash down Digg's arm, from where he caught a machete. And they still couldn't effectively track his escape back to where they were manufacturing the drug. But there was no way he could tell Tommy that.
"No, no, no, you're not getting off that easy brother."
Oliver knew Tommy wasn't going to let this go; his friend was over compensating because as much as Tommy tried to keep up appearances, Tommy was with Laurel now. His playboy days well in the past, tucked under grief and growth he endured during the five years he thought his best friend and partner in crime, was supposedly dead. Oliver had been back for almost six months and they still thought their secret was a secret. Oliver had known within a week of his return.
So he switches gears, making up some excuse about being called to their club for a minor emergency. He knew Tommy wouldn't pick at his excuse, not when Tommy uses it whenever he needs to sneak away to Laurel. In any case, even if he did, Oliver's already taken measured step to cover himself. Security footage would show Oliver entering the club and heading toward the offices. There aren't any cameras on the foundry door, so it'd just look like he bunked down in the office and busied with paperwork most nights.
Just as he thought, Tommy let his excuse slide with a nod. But the teasing doesn't end, as Tommy gets the last word in before heading to oversee some deliveries arriving at Verdant. "Fine I get it. But if you are having a dry spell buddy; the blonde downstairs is probably perfectly capable of helping you out." With a wink and a cheeky smile he was out the door, before he could see Oliver roll his eyes exasperatedly. The effort Tommy was putting in to make Oliver think nothing had changed was probably tiring, it sure was for Oliver.
All this talk of the club had Oliver thinking though. He couldn't really remember the last time either of them went to Verdant, during its peak hours of the night. Oliver makes a mental note to make appearance so his cover stays intact.
It gives him an idea. Thea's birthday. He calls her to suggest Verdant as the place for the party. A whole night spent in the club with family and a few hundred "friends" should be enough to give the gossip magazines and websites fresh material they wanted for the devilish playboy image they kept painting him in.
He didn't really regret asking his sister to invite Felicity. He knew it would only result in infinite teasing but he couldn't stop himself before his thoughts locked on to the idea of making sure Felicity was on that guest list. Walter had talked about securing the assets of Felicity's IT genius from under the noses of Wayne Enterprises for weeks; it was time the Arrow secured them for a little help for himself.
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Meanwhile the blonde in question, was quickly learning that the elevator of the apartment complex was quite an interesting place to be.
Barry had left early that morning to meet Iris at the airport, meaning Felicity was also up early to see him go. The rest of her day was free, so it was either getting out of the apartment or spending the whole day in, new winter sheets for her bed be damned, re-watching Captain Mal doing his outlaw thing, in super tight pants. Which to be fair was always shiny idea.
But she did decide on doing some more shopping for the apartment, specifically needing some new bedding hence the almost damned winter sheets. A quick look at the security cameras and Felicity noticed that Sarah was on day shift, which had Felicity deciding she'd stop by the lobby, to say a quick hello and to see if Sara wanted her to pick up some food or coffee on the way back, instead of heading directly down to her mini in the garage.
Brining her right back to her thoughts about the elevator. It was especially interesting, as the doors opened and she came face to face with Mr. Tall Dark and Handsome.
He was already standing in the lift before her, so he must of come somewhere from the upper levels. His well-fitting suit and slick haircut told her he was definitely not living in a company owned apartment. That he most likely could afford the upper floor views. Mind you, if the smile he gave her as he stepped back to give her room to get on was any indication, he probably could've charmed his way in too.
Any normal person could've done the head to toe sweep of the man, after they got into the elevator, normal was overrated, albeit a lot less embarrassing. But apparently her brain short-circuited during her perusal. So much so that she didn't even register that the doors had begun closing, until a hand shot out to hold them and his voice snapped her out of it.
"Sorry, were you getting on?"
Great. Now tall dark and handsome was looking at her like she was slow. "Hi… I mean- yes!" Maybe she was slow, she still hadn't moved. His jaw was so square.
She said that aloud.
Tall dark and handsome raised an eyebrow and a smile played around his mouth. "I'm not sure if that has anything to do with how the elevator works."
Felicity winces, of course she said it out loud; she finally stepped into the small box, squeezing her eyes shut. Opening them again to push the lobby button, "Sorry, I didn't mean to say that- I mean not that it isn't true, you have a very well defined jaw, it is quite ridiculously square… that's not to say that it's a funny shape… it's a great shape, it suits the rest of you- and by that I mean your face, I don't even know you. I don't even know your name" She takes a breath, his eyes are twinkling, is that even possible? She tries to stop herself, she swears. "Sorry by all that I mean- Hi, my name's Felicity, I just moved in."
"Tall, Dark and Handsome aka. Ray" He holds out his hand, Felicity has to close her stunned mouth and recompose before she reaches out to shake it, apologising again. At the very least it looks like he's amused and not completely freaked out. She's surprised when he doesn't start pressing the button for the very next floor to make his escape, and descends all the way to the lobby with her. All the while asking her about herself, does she like her new apartment? What she does for a living. She manages all the answers without embarrassing herself any more than she already has.
She thinks Ray makes a strange remark about being glad she's happy at work, and that it would probably be difficult to steal her away from her work at Queen Consolidated. But the ding of the elevator and the doors sliding open push the thought away, she can see Sara across the lobby and waves. Felicity turns back to Ray to smile her goodbye before exiting the elevator, he's going to the upper garage, underground.
"It was nice to meet you, Felicity." He nods his head with a smile, and sends a charming and well-mannered smile with a "have a good day" to her before the doors close.
"Boy, you work fast."
Felicity jumps, not realising Sara's come to her side, joining her as she once again is staring at the elevator doors. Sara chuckles at Felicity's confused look. "Ray… Ray Palmer, technology prodigy." Felicity turns to her still confused. "If I didn't have a girlfriend I'd snatch him quick too."
"I didn't snatch- wait…" Felicity's eyes widen, "did you say 'Palmer' as in Palmer Technologies 'Palmer'?" Her head whips back toward the elevator, as if she hadn't just seen the doors close and expected to see him there.
"The one and only."
His "stealing her away" comment makes more sense to Felicity now. Palmer Technologies, Ray's Palmer Technologies, offered her a job halfway through MIT. She had turned the offer down, while she was flattered that they could see her potential, she was still a little fresh. Though she had looked into the company and done her research at the time. She remembers being impressed by how efficiently PT had risen from a small start-up company built by Palmer fresh out of school and established itself within the technology developing business with ability to rival giants like QC or KORD Enterprises.
Sara's waving her hands back and forth in front of Felicity's glazed eyes, snapping her out of it. Felicity gives her head the tiniest of shakes bringing her back fully to reality. But if she's being totally honest with herself, Ray Palmer had once again made a great impression.
So real life gets in the way massively (read: final exams), hence the delay on the update, I apologise. Cheers to those who are still sticking around.
Also, Palmer happened, he's going to be around and I regret nothing. Despite his mysteriousness on the the show, for my purposes he's pre-superhero status and like a much less complicated Oliver.
Which isn't as good as actual Oliver, flaws and all,if I'm being honest.