AU: Had a lot of fun writing this! Enjoy! R&R pleaseeeee! There will one more part. GET EXCITED cause it's almost done:]
Promptly at 7 PM there was a knock at the door. Felicity jumped slightly from her place in front of her closet, where she stood clad in only black jeans and a bra, still trying to pick the correct top for her mystery date. 'Of course the one and only time this man decides to be on time, I'm half naked.' she thought bitterly. She spun around to her bed, where at random she grabbed one of the eleven tops she had discarded. After throwing a silky yellow tank over her head she walked towards her door with her hand softly rubbing her stomach trying to calm the swarm of butterflies currently creating gale force winds in her tummy.
Taking a deep breath, she opened the door to see the man of her reoccurring dreams dressed simply in a dark washed jeans, a black v neck and his brown motorcycle jacket holding a bouquet of sunflowers.
"Your favorite." He said smiling, handing her the flowers.
"How did you know sunflowers were my favorite flower?" She inquired, accepting them truly taken aback.
"You mentioned it once. Dig was trying to make up with Carly after an argument and he asked for your advice and I remember you telling him to get her sunflowers because roses were too cliché, they were your favorite, and no one could ever hate a sunflower." He answered, counting off her reasons on his fingers.
"You remember that?" She asked breathlessly. She vaguely remembered that situation happening months ago. Felicity didn't even recall Oliver standing anywhere near them when she had given Dig her two cents. She felt the butterflies apparently declare war on her body completely and increase their fluttering 10 fold.
"You look beautiful, Felicity." He said her name like only he could, causing her breath to hitch and her knees to quiver. He smiled at her and leaned down.
'This is it' she thought as she closed her eyes. This is the moment that Oliver Queen was going to finally kiss her. She anticipated fireworks worthy of rendering her deaf and blind as her lips puckered, when to her complete dismay she felt him press a lingering kiss on her cheek. Her eyes popped open to see him staring her with his shit eating grin spread across his face.
He was teasing her. The bastard. He was making her pay for not letting him kiss her last night. This meant war.
After putting the flowers in a vase, they walked outside of her apartment building to where his motorcycle stood waiting with two helmets hanging from the handles.
Stopping beside the bike she asked, "So you going to tell me what we're doing tonight before I hop on this death trap with you or… By the way, you do realize I'm probably top five most uncoordinated people on this planet. Two wheels and a Felicity aren't recommended."
He snorted at her mini rant as he reached for one of the helmets and said earnestly, "Like I am ever going to let something happen to you." Her whole body hummed with delight. "And to answer your only valid concern, I realized that you're not from Starling City, so I am going to take you to a couple of my favorite places. I want to show you why I love this city, why this city is worth saving."
"So you're going to show me the world," she added air quotes around the word world. "My very own Aladdin." She quipped.
He chuckled, "Well, you're going to have to settle for my death trap, my magic carpet is in the shop." Standing toe to toe he started to affix the helmet to her head. Anytime they stood this close she had to remind her brain to keep her lungs working. Smiling that panty melting smile, he definitely took more time than necessary ensuring the helmet sat perfectly atop her head. As his hands fell down from the helmet straps, his right hand briefly stopped at her hair to twirl it around his fingers. "Hop on, Princess."
Clutching on to him like her life depended on it, well because it did, she tried to focus on the hardness of his abs that her fingernails were digging into, and probably drawing blood even through two layers of clothing.
They pulled up to a ramshackled building with boarded up windows in the heart of the Glades. Hopping off she asked, "Is this the part where you tell me you're actually a serial killer and this is how I die?" He looked at her like she had five heads. "You watch way too much TV, Felicity." He took off his helmet, grabbed hers and strapped them to the bike. He offered his open hand for her to grasp, "Do you trust me?"
Weather or not he meant to make another Disney movie reference she wasn't sure, but she smiled widely, grabbed his hand and told the truth, "With everything I am."
Unlocking the padlock, he led her a few steps into the building where the room was so dark, she couldn't see more than an a few inches in front of her face. Giving her hand a quick reassuring squeeze, he then dropped it in order to fumble behind her against the wall for a few moments before she heard him flip a switch. The large florescent lights illuminated the huge space and her jaw dropped.
"Be still my heart." She said placing both hands over her chest taking another two steps forward.
"I bought it this morning." She turned to him in awe and asked incredulously, "This morning on a whim you bought an arcade in the middle of the Glades?!" Before he could answer, she turned back to scan the gigantic room. There was every type of classic game you could think of: skiball, pinball, racing games, shooting games, a ball pit, and a colorful kids' jungle gym. He walked up to stand next to her, "They were going to tear it down. I have more memories in this place than my own home. Me and Tommy used to ditch classes and come here. Most people thought we went out partying but to be honest, 80% of the time we were blowing our money here. I think I had 6 consecutive birthday parties here as a kid." Pointing to the ball pit he continued to reminisced, "That ball pit was Thea's favorite as a baby and really until she was older than was probably appropriate. She peed on a boy in there once. If I tell you how old she was then she may kill me so moving on," Pointing to the jungle gym he continued "In that green tube is where I had my first kiss," and finally pointed at the skiball machines, "and to this day there is no one that can beat my high score in skiball thank you very much."
"Well then it should be a claimed as national landmark."
"I knew you would get it."
She looked up at him quirking an eyebrow, "First kiss, huh?"
"Mhm. Courtney. 9. Truth or dare. Had to last 10 seconds. Lasted 15. Jealous?"
She turned to face him. Ridding any space between them she stood on her tiptoes so their faces were level while her hands rested on his chest, "You own the place now, plenty of time to make new memories in that green tube," he groaned low in his throat as he wrapped his hands around her waist. She lingered inches from his lips for a few moments before she pushed back off his chest, wriggled out of his arms and said, "But first I'm going to embarrass you and top your high score in one try."
Off the main counter to his right, Oliver grabbed a sack of quarters for them to use for the evening. As they played, they fell into perfect step with one another. The blurred lines that they had been skating on, were now officially crossed and he had no intentions of back tracking. Acting like the teenagers you see in bad romantic comedies, the pair slowing made their way through the games, touching, teasing and laughing all the while. To Oliver's extreme disappointment, Felicity made good on her boast about skiball. Oliver sulked for about 15 seconds before the sight of Felicity's jumping form and wide smile broke through any depression he held. Felicity challenged him on every level: intellectually, verbally, and apparently virtually. The memories this place held were enough to bring a smile to his face and now with Felicity standing so close, he couldn't wipe his grin away if you paid him.
Oliver revealed in the fact that he hadn't felt this at ease in years. She helped him loose himself in the now and shake off all the demons he ceaselessly carried on his back. At all hours of the day, he forced himself to act a certain part, but with his blonde counter part he was free to relax and just be. He realized he would do anything to keep this feeling. Watching her as she destroyed his record a second time he realized how much she changed his life. She seemed to glow next time him, emitting a warmth he had never felt before. She was his own personal sun, soaking into his skin and filling him with the feelings he never thought he would have the pleasure of partaking in again: safety, love and happiness. He felt protected by her presence. He trusted her with his life and she proved time and time again that she trusted hers with him. They relied on each other more intimately than he did any other person he had ever met. When he returned to Starling City he was a twisted shell of a man. A machine primed for revenge. She showed him a different way, a way where he could do more than just atone for his father's mistakes. She showed him that he could be a hero. Her unwavering faith in him was more than he deserved, but without it, none of what he did would be possible. When he looked at her, he wanted to save the city for more than just a promise to his father. He wanted a place so that he could create a future, more succinctly a future with Felicity.
'Future' was a word he hadn't been familiar with in what seemed like eons. There was a point in his reckless past where he honestly stopped caring if he survived and only considered what must be done. However, when he saw how she looked at him every time he left the foundry, he made a silent vow that he would do everything in his power to never let the woman beside him down. Before now, it was his number one rule to not allow himself to think too far into the future. What was the point? He didn't know if he was going to survive the next few hours let alone decades into the future. He lived his life like a to do list, but looking at the woman next to him he, all he could picture was all the possibly of a life together. She deserved the world and he would do everything in his power to give it to her.
After a little less than two hours they had drained their bag o coins. Felicity looked flushed from all the adrenal and Oliver couldn't keep his eyes of her. That's why he kept losing to her in every single game. That's the story he at least tried to sell to Felicity.
Putting away the blue and red shotguns they had just been duck hunting with, he grasped her small hand in his and pulled her towards the exit. "Come on, we're not quite done yet."