'Hooked on a feeling'

The coffee was bitter, so Felicity lumped about eight sugars into hers, the tiny packets littering the table between her and Ted as she stirred the liquid in the paper cup. It warmed her hands as she held it between them carefully, looking up to see her companion sniggering in her direction.

"What?"

"I can't believe you still do that to your coffee," Ted laughed, taking his own black. It was only then she noticed he looked tired, small rings around his eyes hardly noticeable, but definitely there. Despite this, he hadn't stopped smiling yet, "you always had a sweet tooth."

"Shut up," she laughed.

"And still terrible at arguing," He pointed out, making a small smile appear on her face as she tilted her head in agreement, "that's 'cause being mean to people isn't in your nature." Ted stopped joking to look at her for a minute, leaning forward with his elbows on the table to peer at her curiously. He saw right through her; he always could. "But you're angry about something, I can tell. Something's bothering you. So spill it."

She shook her head, dropping her gaze back to the dark liquid in her cup, "Nothing's wrong. I'm peachy."

"Feli-city," he sang playfully, twisting about in his seat until she had to look up and begrudgingly laugh. Once she met his gaze, she was trapped. Ted spoke seriously, "Tell your old friend what's wrong so I can kick the ass of whoever's to blame."

"I wouldn't advise that," Felicity countered, "I appreciate the offer, but that's a fight you wouldn't win. Oliver is pretty strong."

"Oh, so this is about that asshole? And I'm guessing why you quit?"

At his derisive tone, she nodded, feeling embarrassed. "It really doesn't matter . . . I don't know why I let it get to me. But you don't want to hear about it. We've got happier things to catch up on."

"Whatever it is, it's eating you up inside. I don't mind, genuinely – tell me what happened."

"Oliver is a jerk who made me feel like crap but still I feel guilty for walking away – end of story," Felicity shrugged quickly, spilling out the words in a single breath, obviously unhappy, "I'm just mad at myself for thinking he was my friend. Who was I kidding? He's Oliver Queen and I'm-"

"Felicity freaking Smoak," Ted interrupted her firmly, leaning over to take her hand and squeeze it, his smile more forced with anger this time. Frankly, he hoped he ran into Mr. Queen while he was in Starling – so he could shove his fist down the jerk's throat. Nobody made his best friend feel that way. Nobody.

She laughed humourlessly, "I'm just Felicity, Ted. I'm no one."

"Please," he shouted aloud at that, letting her go to lean back in his seat and just look at her. He could see how she had changed now. Her confidence was shot, but she was still babbling, still smart – still his pal. "You're Felicity Smoak! I remember how you used to be – you we're gonna change the world."

"I'd be happy to just live in it at this point."

"Nah, you're still that girl who wanted to make a difference."

He said it so honestly, without a hint of doubt in his tone that she froze. It was so unlike Oliver's criticism that she didn't know quite how to respond. It was odd for someone to believe in her.

"Says the genius," she eventually replied, swiftly changing the subject. Today she wanted to talk about the good things and forget the bad. "How's running a successful national company?"

"It's ace, Felicity. And I realize the word 'ace' hasn't been uttered since 1963 in hindsight."

"Dork."

"Nerd."

They glared at each other briefly before Felicity cracked, laughing, "So what have you been up to? Despite taking over your fathers company – congrats on that, by the way. I was so proud when I read about it in the news."

"Thank you," he rubbed a hand through his hair, "it was . . . hard. When the truth came out about my Uncle, well . . . people didn't take it so well."

Felicity nodded encouragingly, hoping he would continue. She'd read about that on the news, too. Long story short: Ted's Evil Uncle was involved in some not-so-nice things, and some other masked vigilante had taken care of him, leaving Ted his father's company. At the time, Oliver had wanted to investigate the other mask, but the only reports on him revealed nothing aside from the fact he wore blue.

Ted sighed, "It was an adjustment, I'll admit. But it's pretty relaxed over at KI, I can be hands off if I like as long as I don't get into trouble."

"Ouch. I have no idea how you manage that."

"Hey! I am much more mature now . . . for the most part."

At his sheepish look, Felicity laughed easily. "You wouldn't be Ted if you were serious," she pointed out, echoing him, "it's not in your nature."

"It would be useful to have someone with a much more level head - aka yourself - on board though. You could hold me back if I try and do something too ridiculous."

She almost choked on her coffee, "What are you saying?"

"Come and work for me."

"I-I appreciate the offer, but . . . I'm a PA. A bad one. If Kord Industries in this town hires me, people will keep gossiping – it won't be good for your business."

"I wasn't suggesting hiring you here," Ted said simply, "come to Chicago. It's our main HQ, where most of our work gets done. I want you as my right-hand woman."

"But . . ."

"You're still the person I knew, the one who could change the world," Ted said confidently, his eyes scrunched up concentration, "And you will – at Kord Industries. Our R&D department is second only to WayneTech at this point, can I proudly point out, so who gives two craps about Queen Industries? You can do better than being a PA! I remember how good you are with computers."

"I'd love to work for you, I really, really, really would - but I can't make a snap decision about this." She winced apologetically, "I mean, Kord Industries here in Starling was robbed a few months ago for some dangerous things: can you guarantee you're not still making Skeleton Keys?"

He frowned then, his jaw locking angrily as his eyes became momentarily unfocused as he sipped his coffee, not even reacting to the boiling, bitter taste. "That was never supposed to happen. We manufactured that Skeleton Key for government use. Nobody was supposed to know about it. I still can't believe that it was stolen – or that the vigilante never returned it. Our company has received reports of that green fella of yours using it."

"-He's not my green-" Felicity interrupted without thinking, not realizing Ted was speaking generally as she panicked, believing he had discovered her involvement with the Arrow. She trailed off and blushed furiously.

"I didn't mean yours, I meant the city's," Ted still looked confused, cocking his head to one side. He paused for a moment, "I heard he saved you once. The vigilante. What was it like?"

"Terrifying," she replied mechanically, "I don't want to talk about it."

"I'm sorry," he apologised immediately, internally cursing himself – it was crass and dumb to ask, and well . . . him. He was trying to be better, though. He reached over to brush a hand over her shoulder, "I didn't mean to-"

But she was smiling, "its fine, Ted. It's nice to know someone around here is capable of apologising – or feelings in general. I'm beginning to think the apathy of Starling City is rubbing off on me."

"Then leave it."

"Come on. Just drop it for now, okay? I'll think about it. But leaving . . . it's a bigger decision than you know."

He held his hands up, downing the last dregs of his coffee with an amused sort of smile on his lips. "Sorry, boss. I didn't mean to upset you."

"You didn't," she shook her head. "In fact, it's nice to have someone believe in me. I haven't been this happy in weeks; it was good to see you again."

"Nobody should make you sad, Felicity. I'm seriously considering kicking Oliver Queen's ass right now."

"Don't pick fights you can't win, Teddy. I thought you'd have learnt that lesson by now."

He snorted loudly. "Not a chance."

Of course, Felicity didn't know why he smirked so much at that comment, something laughing behind his dark eyes, but shrugged it off. It had been a long time since they had saw one another – obviously he would have changed a bit since then. She took another careful sip of her coffee, watching him just as intently as he had been her a few minutes ago.

"Ted?"

"Hmmnn?"

"What are you doing here, anyway?"

"Oh," his shoulders slumped, "business meetings. The branch of Kord Industries here in Starling might be shutting down; business has suffered since the robbery. I have ten managers telling me it's the right thing to do but, uh, I'm trying to keep it open."

"Why?" she asked, confused.

"To try and save a lot of people's jobs," Ted lied smoothly. He was getting too good at it, which bothered him a lot. Before, he had been honest to a fault – his life had changed a lot since Pago Island. But Felicity couldn't know about that, so he plastered on a smile, "it gives me an excuse to kick about the city for a few days, though. Do you have any plans this week?"

"Um, job hunting I guess." She said, adding sarcastically, "Maybe sitting in my Pj's watching documentaries on Animal Planet. Being unemployed is fun."

"Well, cancel those plans – you're hanging out with me for the next four days now."

"Yay," Felicity deadpanned, receiving a slap on the arm in return and laughing into her drink. "What are we doing then?"

"It's your city. What's good?"

"Big Belly Burger," she replied without thinking. Memories of better times spent there with her boys, laughing and feeling part of something greater flashed across her mind as she flinched despite herself.

"Sounds great," Ted agreed, not noticing her discomfort as he got to his feet, shrugging the shoulders of his jacket as he stood waiting for her to do the same before moving. He held the door open for her, stepping out onto the pavement with a smile, handing her a slip of paper. "There's my new number, text me your address and I'll pick you up there at eight. Unless you don't call, in which case I'll be sitting alone in my hotel room, desperately sad."

Knowing he was teasing, she grinned back in kind, "well I'll just have to see, Mr. Kord. I do have a tub of mint choc chip waiting for me at home . . ."

"Ouch," Ted remarked, remembering the ice cream was her go-to comfort food, "as your friend, it's my duty to save you from that. I'll drive around the entire city knocking on doors if you don't call me now."

"That I'd like to see."

"Real funny, nerd. I'm late to a meeting, so I've got to run – see you at eight!"

She raised a hand as he ran off towards his car, smiling to herself. Felicity thought her luck must be on the rise again to have bumped into Ted again, not having realized how much she missed him. Straight away, she text him her address on the number he had given her, fondly saving his name as 'Dork'.

What she didn't know was that there was another billionaire on a rooftop across the street, who had watched the entire exchange with his stomach tied in knots.

A/N: sorry for the mahoosive chunk of text this time. So that's the set up for this story, but let me just say: this is not a Ted/Felicity fic. Who needs romance when you can have the best superheroes by night, scientists by day super cute nerdy buddies ever? answer: no one.