Author's Note: Thank you everyone who read and reviewed this story! It was a fun journey and I thank you to those who read, reviewed, favorited, and followed! You guys are awesome! Maybe I'll write more Olicity stuff in the future. We'll see how it goes. I wanted to get this out before Halloween, but I'm currently moving and starting a new job so that didn't work out. So I hope you guys are still in a Halloween mood. I hope you like the last chapter! Please review!

Thank you to: Tiri72, Nikkidurga, Jella00, NICKakaAllthingsabouttv, ApekshaStar, bellapaige88,icestorm69, End80, Guest, Guest, & Lightly Salted Pringles!

Enjoy!

"The Course of True Love Never Did Run Smooth"

Midsummer Night's Dream By William Shakespeare

Chapter 6 Denouement

"What stick is shoved up your butt?" Felicity demanded a week after the rave. Macroeconomics had just let out and she had finally caught up to Oliver once the Professor had released them.

It was the first time all week.

It seemed to her that he was avoiding her, since the rave. At first she thought it was her imagination, but then she began to notice the way he had taken to really going out of his way to not interact with her. He had taken to sitting on the opposite side of the room, skipping study sessions, and ignoring her when she tried to talk to him.

And she was done being treated like she wasn't important.

They had gone from being study buddies, to good friends, to something possibly more, to nothing. Just nothing.

There were no more friendly waves in the hall, or casual stopovers at her apartment. There were no more texts checking in on her or surprise muffins and coffee waiting for her in class. It was like she had never known Oliver Queen.

She was suddenly not important enough.

And that really bothered her.

They had gone from being so close to nothing. Was she not as important to him as she had thought? Did he not want to be around her anymore?

A part of her was worried that maybe he had finally gotten what he wanted, but she knew that, that wasn't the case.

He was the one to stop the kiss the other night. Not her.

She had no desire to stop him whatsoever – in fact if it had been up to her stopping wouldn't have been an option.

Besides, he looked as miserable as she felt.

There was something holding him back and she was determined to find out what.

It was the least he could do after the way he had been treating her. She didn't deserve the way he had been around her and she needed an explanation.

Now.

"What?" Oliver asked confused.

"You! You've been acting so…distant. It's not like you. What's wrong? Did I…did I do something?" she asked tentatively.

She hated herself a little bit for sounding so unsure of herself. She wasn't one to be unsure of herself, she was clumsy and rambled, but she always knew what she wanted. And she knew herself. She had always believed that knowing herself was a top priority. If she didn't know herself she couldn't make sound decisions.

Facing Oliver, though she felt extremely unsure of herself and she didn't like that.

He blinked rapidly a look of uncertainty crossing his face.

"It's not you, Felicity."

"Then what is it? What's wrong? What did I do?" she inquired forcefully.

"You didn't do anything wrong."

"Then why are you not talking to me? Why have I become a wall you walk past? What's going on, Oliver?" Felicity snapped putting her hands on her hips and regarding him with narrowed angry eyes.

Oliver sighed heavily, opened his mouth, and then shut it before taking a step back.

"I gotta go." He responded quickly, turning around to begin walking away.

She stared after him in shock for a moment before calling down the hall to get his attention.

He ignored it and continued on, much to her chagrin.

What the hell? What was his problem?

Begrudgingly she admitted that everything she had been told by Laurel was correct. He wasn't anything more than a rich partying playboy.

She just wished Laurel had been wrong and he'd been just as amazing as Felicity knew he was.

She saw the good in him. She saw his potential, and she wished that he was able to see it too.

Halloween was upon them and Felicity was morose.

Morose was probably an understatement. She might be lightweight depressed. Ever since the Doomed Hallway Confrontation That Was An Epic Failure, Felicity had been residing in the doldrums.

Maybe, that was why she wasn't very excited about her costume this year. With the combination of Laurel and Tommy and their happiness, and Oliver's standoffish behavior she didn't feel much like getting dressed up and going out with them.

But it was inevitable.

There was a party at one of the Frat houses and Laurel and Tommy begged her to go. The only other thing she'd be doing would be sitting at home eating a bag of chocolate and getting sick once she'd overdosed on sugar. She couldn't subject her body to that.

Especially when she'd been doing that every night since the rave. Currently, her stomach kind of hated her.

The one thing that bothered her the most was the fact that they had almost kissed. Their lips had grazed! There was a moment! An actual real to goodness moment! It wasn't her imagination or any of her daydreams. The Moment had happened.

They had almost kissed! And it had been one of many things she'd been obsessing over since it had happened. They had almost kissed!

And he pulled away.

She had been rejected.

He had realized that he didn't like her and still had feelings for Laurel. It was basically her worst nightmare.

Now, the only thing she could do is try to get Oliver to talk to her. Which was about as easy as walking into Mordoor. He'd been so evasive she just needed to address this…silence between them.

It unnerved her.

She didn't like it.

Hated it in fact.

If she couldn't have a relationship with Oliver, she'd at least like her friend back.

"So…what are you?" Laurel asked tilting her head and taking in Felicity's outfit.

She looked down at herself and then back up at Laurel with a 'Are you Serious?' expression.

She wore a thick strapped red tank top, black leather pants, black boots, and she was holding a stake she'd gotten at Halloween Party Town a Halloween store in New Haven. Her blonde hair was down and curled slightly and she'd gone light on the makeup.

"I'm Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Who are you?" she asked putting her hands on her hips.

"Oh! Of course. I'm a Bond Girl. Tommy is James Bond." Laurel chirped.

Felicity turned away to keep from rolling her eyes. She was happy for her friends, she really was. But she didn't want to be around such a happy twosome when she was so dejected. She tried to be happy, she really did, but it was so difficult because of the circumstances.

She busied herself with staring at herself in the mirror and making sure each strand of hair was in place and her make up wasn't smudged. It was basically stalling, but she hoped Laurel was too happy and distracted to notice her fidgeting.

"So did Tommy tell Oliver?" she asked casually.

Laurel glanced over at her from fixing her dress. "Hm? Oh. Uh no."

"Don't you think you should?"

"Yeah, of course. We were going to do it after Halloween. We didn't want to ruin the holiday." Laurel muttered and Felicity detected some guilt there.

She wondered if her friends really ever had a plan to tell him. She had a distinct impression that they didn't. They would continue to keep their relationship a secret for as long as they could, for whatever reason.

"Of course." Felicity said dryly.

Felicity looked over at the brunette who was watching her carefully in the mirror. She sighed heavily already knowing the question that was about to leave Laurel's lips.

"Are you okay? You seem…kinda down."

"I'm fine." Felicity replied automatically.

"Is it Oliver?"

Felicity avoided her eyes and reluctantly nodded.

"It'll get easier." Laurel soothed.

She raised an incredulous eyebrow. This was the woman that had told her on multiple occasions that Oliver was basically Lucifer reincarnated.

Laurel sighed.

"Eventually. Listen don't think about it tonight. Tonight will be fun! We'll drink and dance with cute boys! Think of having fun! We are going to a Halloween party! Drinking! Fun! Yay!" Laurel clapped a little.

"Yeah. Right."

"Once Tommy gets here we'll go."

Felicity nodded distractedly. Her mind was a million miles away on the one guy that seemed to avoid acknowledging her existence. She shook her head and attempted to think about something else as Laurel chatted on happily about Tommy.

Eventually Tommy arrived at the apartment and the three of them made their way toward the Frat party.

Felicity listened to the couple chatter on as they walked through campus, but she didn't really pay attention. Her mind was too focused on Oliver and how she was going to make him listen to her. She had half a mind to ask Tommy to talk to Oliver for her, but she knew she needed to fight her own battles.

They arrived at the Frat Party and Felicity left the couple in search of something to drink. She didn't get far before she spotted Oliver talking to some tiny brunette. Their eyes met across the room, her insides turned to ice, and then immediately heated up.

A white-hot fire erupted in her stomach and she felt like her insides were on fire. She looked down at her black boots and concentrated on her breathing as she tried to remind herself that he wasn't interested. He had clearly shown her that at the rave when he'd rejected her. But she really wasn't prepared to see him talking to some other girl. Especially when worse case scenarios began to drift through her mind.

Taking a deep breath she raised her head, tossed her blonde hair, like she'd seen her mother do a thousand times, and sauntered toward the kitchen directly passed him.

She tried to ignore the feel of his eyes on her, but she glanced over at the last minute to find him staring straight at her. She quickly turned away and disappeared into the kitchen.

Oliver was having the worst two weeks of his life. Every since the rave he had been actively avoiding Felicity.

And instead of it getting easier, it was actually getting harder and harder to not be around her.

Every time he saw her he just wanted to talk to her, ask about her day, see how she was doing. But he knew that if he began a conversation with her he'd never want to leave her side again.

He was unable to give Felicity up, even though she was with his friend and Tommy loved her. He was unable to give up her friendship, even though he had been trying so hard, but the more he was away from her the more he wanted her.

He was a selfish man, he knew that.

He wasn't sure how he was supposed to maintain this avoidance when it was one of the hardest things he'd ever done. He wished he could just get over her so he could go back to not caring, but it was impossible.

He was between a rock and a hard place. Either he hung out with her and slipped up, whether it was by kissing her or admitting his feelings. Either way he'd fuck up Felicity and Tommy.

But if he continued staying away from her he'd continue to feel like a part of his soul was missing.

So naturally when he saw her at the Halloween party he felt the same magnetic pull to her he'd felt since they'd first started hanging out.

Tommy had told him he would be there around 10, and in typical fashion he was late. Of course, he would show up with Laurel and Felicity.

By that time some brunette had attached herself to his arm, much to his dismay.

Maybe it was his own imagination, though, when his eyes met Felicity's across the room and he saw something that looked like jealousy in those orbs. He figured he must be mistaken, especially since he couldn't understand why she would be upset if she had arrived with Tommy.

Oliver tried to shake off the weird encounter by concentrating on the girl in front of him, but he couldn't seem to focus.

His mind kept wandering back to Felicity and the look on her face. Had he imagined it? Was she genuinely upset that he was talking to another girl? How much had he fucked up their friendship?

He needed to find out.

Moving away from the brunette mid-sentence, Oliver slinked through the crowd to find the blonde.

He made his way into the kitchen, the same way he had seen her go and he found her leaning against the wall talking to a guy dressed in some kind of superhero outfit.

Oliver scoffed at the outfit and looked down at his own, which was not really a costume since he didn't dress up. He had decided to wear the same clothes he had worn to the Avengers showing with Felicity.

He felt the immediate reaction he always had when he saw Felicity talking with some other guy. The rage filled his stomach, the possessiveness made his chest throb, and his head became foggy. He moved to stalk over there, but he paused wondering if it was really his place to invade on Felicity while she flirted with some guy who definitely wasn't Tommy.

Oliver hesitated wondering if he should go over and talk to her, or just go about his business.

Wasn't this Tommy's issue? And where was his best friend anyway? Why was Felicity on her own?

After a long hesitation he decided that he might as well go back to talking to the brunette. Felicity was obviously doing her own thing and it wasn't his business. He had acted like a grade-A asshole and he wasn't going to encroach on her when he had made it clear he didn't want to interact with her. She could do whatever she wanted.

Swiftly before he could change his mind he turned away and began to make his way back through the house. Half-naked girls passed him, guys yelled to him to take a shot with them. He was already tired of the party and it wasn't even midnight. His mind was stuck on the scene in the kitchen. What would make Felicity flirt with some guy at a party when her supposed boyfriend was in another room?

Had he pegged Felicity all wrong? Was she just like all the other girls he knew?

But that couldn't be right. He knew her. He knew things about her he'd never known about another girl. Like her favorite movie and why it was her favorite movie along with the parts that were her favorite. He knew her favorite foods, TV shows, and even favorite bands. He knew how she liked her coffee and how sometimes she had a craving for fast food, even though she clamed she'd given it up.

He knew her.

So he knew that something must've happened to push her into some random Frat boy's arms.

Something wasn't adding up and he couldn't pinpoint it, although it seemed to be staring him right in the face. What was he missing?

Maybe they had gotten into a fight? Maybe paradise wasn't so perfect? Maybe Tommy had fucked up? Should he ask? Should he but in? Should he ask how she was doing?

He wasn't sure what to do.

As he reached the living room he began to weave in and out of dancers debating his next move when he saw something that made him stop in his tracks.

Not even a few feet away were Tommy and Laurel wrapped around each other. Even more accurately their lips were attached.

Tommy and Laurel were kissing.

Oliver felt his jaw drop as he tried to process what he was seeing. What was going on?

Tommy and Laurel? What about Felicity? How could they do that to her?

Without knowing what he was doing he began to make his way toward the couple wrapped around each other.

As if he was in a dream he came up to them and without his consent his hands began to form a mind of their own. He reached up and tugged Tommy's shoulder to get his attention and when his best friend – since birth – turned around he raised his fist. It wasn't until he felt the throbbing pain in his hand did he realize he had actually punched his best friend in the face.

"What the fuck, man?" Tommy yelled angrily holding his nose.

Oliver blinked rapidly as he processed what he had just done and instead of apologizing for his actions he felt the justifiable anger for Felicity rise up within him.

How could Tommy cheat on Felicity? And how could Laurel be the one Tommy cheated on her with? How could Laurel call Felicity her friend when she was screwing her boyfriend? And how could both of his best friends get on him and his behavior when they were just as bad?

"How could you do this?" Oliver demanded and Tommy's expression softened despite the blood coming out of his nose.

"Look, Oliver, we…we were going to tell you. We just didn't know the correct time. I'm sorry." Tommy said quietly.

Oliver frowned not fully registering his words and instead of asking about it, he poked a finger in Tommy's chest, his body still pulsating with the rage he felt on Felicity's behalf.

"How could you cheat on her? She's…she's amazing. I mean, I backed off because you said you loved her." Oliver snapped.

Tommy frowned and looked over at Laurel who also looked dumbstruck.

"Ollie, Tommy isn't cheating on me." Laurel said stepping into the conversation.

"He's cheating on Felicity with you." Oliver declared in a loud voice.

Laurel frowned and looked over at Tommy who looked just as confused.

"Ollie…what are you talking about?" Laurel asked confused.

"Tommy and Felicity. He said he loved her. They are dating and then I find you two making out. How could you hurt Felicity? Again!" Oliver demanded.

Tommy blinked rapidly and then looked around the room. Oliver followed his gaze taking in the fact that they were being watching by the entire party.

"Oliver, I'm not…Felicity and I aren't a thing." Tommy said quietly.

"What? But you told me you loved her. And you had sex at the End of the Dorm party." Oliver said impatiently.

Laurel glanced over at Tommy in bewilderment and then turned back to Oliver. She opened her mouth to say something, but stopped when she saw something over his shoulder.

"I didn't sleep with Felicity at that party. I slept with Laurel." Tommy said hastily.

"Laurel?" Oliver asked scowling.

"Who slept with me?" A voice asked behind Oliver. He quickly turned at the familiar voice and saw Felicity behind him. She was wearing a puzzled expression, with her hands on her hips.

"Apparently you and I slept together." Tommy said smirking.

Felicity wrinkled her nose, "gross. Never. Who would think that?"

"I asked Laurel and Tommy. And they both said you guys hooked up." Oliver said feeling even more mystified about what was going on.

Slowly the anger had left his body and now he was completely confused about what was going on. Were Felicity and Tommy not a couple? Did he actually have a chance?

"I never said that! I thought you were talking about Tommy and I! I thought you were asking whether Tommy and I hooked up!" Laurel exclaimed.

Oliver shook his head, "why would I care about you and Tommy?"

"Why would you care about Tommy and Felicity?" Laurel countered.

Oliver opened his mouth to answer that and then closed his mouth unsure where to start.

"So you and Tommy are together?" Oliver clarified.

Laurel and Tommy exchanged a look then nodded in unison.

"Yeah."

"And Felicity, you and Tommy were never a thing?" he asked turning to Felicity.

"No. Never."

"Then what did he do to hurt you?" he asked still feeling baffled.

Felicity glanced over at Tommy and then sighed heavily, "He…cheated off of me. We became really good friends, and one day during a test he cheated off of me and I got into trouble. It was all fixed inevitably, but…it hurt since I thought Tommy only wanted to be my friend because of my brain. We stopped talking and then when Cooper and I broke up…well he was there so… But Tommy and I were never a thing. He's had a thing for Laurel for, like years. And well, I've never liked Tommy as anything more than a thing."

Laurel glared at Felicity when that left her mouth and she blushed apologetically.

"Years?" Oliver asked looking at Tommy.

Tommy bit his lip and looked over at Laurel. "Yeah well… I'm in love with Laurel. There I said it. Correctly. When I told you that I slept with someone at the End of the Dorm party I meant Laurel."

Oliver looked over at Laurel to find her staring at Tommy with adoration in her eyes.

He nodded slowly taking in their words and then looked over at Felicity who was staring at him curiously.

"Good. I'm happy for you guys." He said eventually.

Laurel nodded and the frowned. "Why were you so upset when you found out?"

"What?"

"When I answered your question about the End Of The Dorm party. Why did you get so upset? Who did you think we were talking about?"

Oliver stalled trying to come up with a lie, but then he looked over at Felicity who was watching the situation as attentively as everyone else. He knew then that he couldn't continue to lie. He needed to come clean. It was time to figure out what was going on. It was time to face the truth.

"Felicity. I thought you were talking about Felicity." He blurted out.

He heard a gasp and turned to look over at the blonde who looked astounded.

"You were that upset about Felicity? Is that why you've been so depressing? Is that why you were so moody? You have feelings for Felicity?" Laurel asked incredulously.

Oliver hesitated and then nodded. "Yeah."

The room filled up with silence and Oliver's eyes found Felicity's who looked unsure of what to do.

"I'm sorry." He said taking a step toward Felicity needing to explain himself, "I've…I thought you were into Tommy. I thought you were already spoken for. If I…if I would have known the truth…well…I'm really sorry."

Felicity nodded slowly, "So that's why you've been such a jerk lately?"

Oliver smiled sheepishly, "Yes, I was upset so I chose to take the easy way out and avoid you. I know it was wrong and I need you to know that I acted like an idiot. I really am sorry. I tried to stay away from you for both of our benefits. I didn't want to ruin another relationship, especially when you and Tommy meant so much to me. I figured the best way to really be able to get over you was to stay away."

Felicity stared at him for a moment and when he tried to smile encouragingly at her she didn't return the gesture, instead she turned away and moved through the crowd until he lost sight of her.

He glanced over at Tommy and Laurel who looked confused and then without much thinking he ran after her.

Felicity fled the party feeling a mixture of emotions she couldn't even begin to sort out. She was happy that Oliver wasn't still in love with Laurel. But she was also upset about how he had treated her and how he expected that everything was okay now that he apologized and the truth had been revealed. How was she supposed to process Oliver having feelings for her anyway? He had liked her the whole time? Why had everything turned so complicated? Couldn't he have just come up to her and been obvious about his feelings for her? She had spent months agonizing over Oliver, just to realize that he had spent months wanting her.

She just needed time to process, hence why she fled.

She didn't get very far until she heard her name filter into the darkness of the night. She paused at the corner of the street and turned around to face Oliver.

"Oliver—" she began but was swiftly cut off by the feel of his lips on her's.

She froze for a moment unable to compute what was going on, but when she felt his warm tongue prod at the seam of her lips she seemed to jump back into motion. She parted her lips allowing his tongue to slip between her painted mouth. She became lost in the sensation of his warmth and the passion, the heat spread throughout her body as his talented tongue began to turn her into a puddle of goo. How she desperately wanted to crawl into the kiss and get lost in this feeling forever.

Focus Felicity.

She ripped herself from his lips and took a step back staring up at him in awe.

"What the hell?" she asked waving her hands around to try to get her point across.

"I've wanted to do that for awhile." He admitted sheepishly.

"You can't just go around kissing girls, Oliver!" she said continuing to wave her hands around.

"You aren't just a girl, Felicity. You're…you're my Felicity." He said quietly.

She opened her mouth to respond to that, but she couldn't seem to think of anything reasonable to say. She wanted to tell him that she wasn't his anything, he had made that clear with his behavior from the last few days. On the other hand she was more than pleased to hear that she wasn't just another girl. She was his girl.

"Oliver… what do you want from me?" she asked running a hand through her hair.

"I want you." he said simply.

"What about Laurel?"

"What about Laurel? I don't love her. You…you're remarkable. I love being around you. I like everything about you. I want you."

"And what about the next time our communication is skewed? Are you going to ignore me again?" Felicity demanded to know.

Oliver took a step forward so he towered over her. "I'm sorry, Felicity. I thought you were with Tommy and I didn't want to get into the way of that. I was trying to be a decent guy."

"Oliver, you already are a decent guy. I just wish you could see that." she said quietly.

There was a pause as they both took the words that had been said and the silence between them. There was still so much to say and to explain, but for just a moment Felicity wanted to reveal in the fact that Oliver actually wanted her.

"What happens now?" she asked quietly.

"I kiss you. And probably spend months graveling for these past few weeks behavior." He said sheepishly.

She smiled slightly, "it wasn't just you though that screwed up. I could've confronted you as well. I am sorry for not taking a chance."

Oliver grinned genuinely and took a step forward. He opened his mouth to respond to her admission when she surprised both of them by kissing him softly on the lips. When they broke apart her smile was wider as she looked up at the man who had caused her so much heartache.

"Don't think you are getting off easy." She warned.

"I wouldn't dare think that I would."

"And I think we need to work on communication."

Oliver laughed and pulled her closer, "I second that."

Felicity nodded resolutely and cuddled into his chest. "For now, though. I think we should take it slow."

"How slow?" he asked quickly.

She grinned to herself and ignored his question as a more important one floated across her mind.

Felicity looked up at him hesitantly, "Are you sure this is what you want?"

Oliver nodded firmly, "More than anything. Since I saw you with that red pen in your mouth."

"And this isn't a sex thing? Or a dare?" she asked uncomfortably.

Oliver bent his head a little so he could stare straight into her eyes. "Felicity, there is no one else I want beside you and if I have to spend forever telling you and showing you that I will."

She ducked her head to hide her smile and when he kissed her forehead her smile widened.

"How about we go back to your apartment? I need a crash course in scary movies and chocolate." He said tightening his arm around her.

She glanced up at him with faux seriousness. "I can help with that. I've been told I'm a very good study buddy."

Instead of answering he leaned down to kiss her again. "I would greatly appreciate it." He responded as they began their journey back to her apartment.

She smiled in return and leaned into him as they walked.

It was true; The Course of True Love never does run smooth.

The End