Thank you for all your support. This is my take on an alternate bratva universe, I don't have a beta so all possible spelling and grammatical errors are solely mine and I hope you guys do forgive me for the very many possible errors.
And most importantly… I don't own Arrow or any of the characters in it ….. I am merely borrowing them for entertainment purposes.
I have been loving season 4 so far…I hope it gets even better.
"I need a break." He snapped his book shut. He jumped up and stretched out on the couch, I was sitting on the floor in front of the couch with my back resting on it. The view of Starling city from up here was quite spectacular.
"It's just been an hour Tommy." I complained. I was annoyed, no I was beyond annoyed.
"Don't give me those eyes Smoaky." He teased.
"I thought you wanted to graduate high school?" I was irritated; he was failing in all of his classes and wanted me to tutor him. Hence the tutoring session up in his penthouse. The penthouse was another one of his bachelor pads; I really really envied this guy.
"I do." He replied gruffly, his sudden desire to go to college confused us but it was going to be difficult considering his academic records. Tommy deserved all the happiness in the world and if he wanted to get into college I was going to help him in any way I can.
"And how do you suppose that's going to happen?" I retorted in exasperation. I knew he had a smart mind and could do wonders if he applied himself but he was barely focused for the past hour.
"I am going to ask my father to write a big fat check." He replied teasingly. Yes of course! How could I forget that he was stinking rich? I knew he just wanted to rile me up, teasing me was becoming a thing for him. I wanted to smack him on his head but the amused grin he was sporting was making it hard for me to do it.
"I thought you were going try the honest way?" I teased back. He told me that he wanted to do this without his father's help. He wanted to prove that he can be successful without the Merlyn name behind him.
"Honesty is overrated Smoaky." He told me gleefully. The over privileged had it easy. The bright smile on his face was melting away my anger. I sighed the world was not fair, who was I kidding? I can never get mad at Tommy Merlyn!
"You didn't even try Tommy." I complained. All of our books lay haphazardly around me, I tried to find my biology book in this mess. He sat beside me and tried to help me sort through them.
"I am way over my head Smoak." He told me quietly. I knew the exams were fast approaching and Tommy would have to work really hard if he needed to pass it.
"I told you this was a bad idea." His mocking voice grated in my ears. The silent spectator in the room spoke up, I refused to look at him. I had been avoiding him for a week but he had forced himself into this tutoring session. I could feel his burning gaze on my face but I refused to look at him. His mere presence here had me on absolute edge.
He was spread out on another couch on his stomach playing with his phone. He had tagged along with us after school. I still didn't understand why he was here? Didn't he have better things to do other than watch us study? He quietly watched us with intent eyes. I could feel his eyes boring holes in my face.
"I did not ask for your two cents." I growled, anger quickly rising in me.
I had avoided him like the plaque since our evening together in Tommy's place, that day a call from Carly had jolted us from the momentary lapse of judgment. Getting involved with Oliver Queen at any capacity would not bode well for me.
"It's a little too late to think about colleges Tommy." He drawled lazily as he sat up. He continued as if I hadn't just snapped at him.
"Maybe you are right buddy." Tommy sighed dejectedly beside me. Why was he doing this to Tommy? Didn't he realize how important this was to him?
"No he is not Tommy, there is nothing in the world you can't do." I told Tommy firmly, I honestly believed he could do this. There is no reason he should be discouraged from even trying.
"The ever optimist." His sarcasm made me furious.
"And you are the ever pessimist." I bit back heatedly, it was the first time I had looked into his eyes in a week, the emotions in them made me shiver a little.
"Stop, What's going on here?" Tommy admonished the both of us. He looked a little confused and surprised, if only he knew.
"He started it." I cried out in frustration.
"I am just stating the obvious Tommy." He replied in response, the eerie calmness in his voice made me angrier, as if that was even possible.
"The finals are weeks away Tommy you can make it if you work hard." I told Tommy defiantly. I grit my teeth hard, I didn't want to yell at anyone.
"Working hard is not our thing Tommy." He told him. I wanted to strangle Oliver, I have never felt so violent towards anyone. Oliver Queen had the capability to invoke strange emotions in me.
"Your thing maybe." I snapped.
"I have known him since we were both in diapers and you have known him for what two seconds maybe." He clenched his jaw, I could see rage bubbling inside him too. Before I could retort back I heard Tommy next to me.
"Ok! This seems to be less about me and more about you two." Tommy told us, I felt like someone had punched the air out of me, if I hadn't been sitting I would have definitely toppled over. Oliver huffed silently. Tommy was looking at us curiously, he was not one of the most perceptive guys but he had sensed the tension between the both of us.
Oliver's cell pinged right at the moment.
"I have to go pick up Thea." He told Tommy, avoiding even looking at me. It hurt a little but maybe this was exactly what I needed, to be irrelevant to Oliver.
"I will go, you two obviously need to talk." Tommy took off before Oliver could protest. With Tommy gone, we had nothing to say to each other. I started to pick up my books, I needed to get out of here if want my sanity intact. He just sat there silently looking at me.
"You have been avoiding me." He accused softly. I kept my focus on packing my things.
"I have been doing no such thing." I replied stubbornly.
"You won't even look me in the eye." He accused again raising his voice. I sighed, fine I will do it his way. I put my books on the couch and looked at him.
"See I am looking at you." I told him softly. I could see anger in his eyes, his fists were clenched tightly but there was another emotion on his face that I had not been expecting, Hurt.
"I thought we were friends." He asked me, his voice so low I could barely hear him.
"We are Oliver." I protested meekly. I felt my heart thudding wildly, why was this happening to me? He walked over to me and sat down next to me on the floor.
"Talk to me Felicity."
"Laurel hates me, she would be impossible if she finds out we are friends Oliver." I told him a lie that was almost close to the truth, the truth would be I no longer trusted myself with Oliver Queen.
"And you couldn't tell me this before." He smiled, he looked relieved. I had a queasy feeling settle in the pit of my stomach.
"I didn't want to ruin your chances of getting her back." I told him softly, it was definitely part of the truth. Whatever chances he had with Laurel would be decimated if she found out he was friends with me.
"Let me worry about that." He appeased me, the grin on his face made him look so attractive. He was sitting so close to me, I could feel his body heat. He was a walking furnace. All my dormant teenage hormones seemed to have woken up.
He was wearing a dark green button up shirt, making his eyes stand out. I focused my eyes away from him, I tried to sort through Tommy's books, I desperately needed a distraction.
"Am I ever going to know the story behind this?" He asked me, what was he talking about? I turned to look at him, he was playing with my hair. Damn! Why did I have to leave it open today? Should have gone with a ponytail!
"There is no story." I told him firmly.
"Nobody crosses over to the dark side without a good story behind them." He reasoned, a small smile played on his lips, the lips that I was close to tasting the other night. I gulped audibly, I was edging closer to the land of no return.
"Believe me it is not a good story." I grumbled.
"You don't trust people easily do you." He accused but there was a hint of playfulness and exasperation in his voice.
"That's rich coming from you." I teased back.
"I am better than you." He retorted swiftly.
The place was filled with an uncomfortable silence. He was still playing with my hair, I took a leap of faith and decided to trust him. There was something about him that made me want to believe in him.
"My dad walked out on us when I was eight." I told him, slowly disbelief replaced the playfulness on his face.
"I didn't know that." His low voice was filled with anger.
"Yeah, he took off one day and never came back." I told him, it was hard to keep the tears from spilling out, I did not want to seem weak. Oliver looked conflicted, he had no idea how to handle this piece of information. I couldn't help but give him a watery smile, he looked adorable trying to figure out the right emotion to display.
"Did you find out why he left?" He asked me, I hadn't realized when my hand had landed up in his, he was rubbing soothing circles at the back of palm. He really needed to stop that if he wanted me to keep my thoughts intact.
"No, I never wanted to." I told him. After I realized he had abandoned us I could never work up the courage to find out why he did it.
"You blamed yourself didn't you?" He asked me. I looked up and found him staring at me.
"Yes but I blamed my mother too, I rebelled against her dyed my hair black which she hated, made friends with some questionable people." I told him airily. I wanted to lighten the moment; all these heavy emotions were wearing down on me.
"Seems like something you would do." He teased a little, he must have realized that I was getting uncomfortable. I punched him lightly on his shoulder.
"You have known me for two minutes." I mocked back.
"Ouch that hurt." He protested. Our hands were still linked between us, it was hard ignore that anymore.
"You are such a baby." I retorted breezily.
"Don't call me that." He complained, he seemed a little annoyed. It amused me that he would take offence to this.
"Of all the names that I have called you, you don't like to be called a baby?" I couldn't help but laugh at that, he was looking at me like I had grown five heads.
"And what might these names be?" He looked surprised and slightly amused.
"Man whore, playboy, man slut, pretty boy, dumb jock, airhead just to name a few." Now he was sporting a full blown smile on his face. I was calling him names and was grinning like a fool, he must have been dropped head down when he was a baby.
"I call you names and you think it is funny?" I couldn't help but laugh along with him.
"You think I am pretty." He told me, I really wanted to punch the cocky smirk off his face.
"You decided to focus on that? You know most men would be offended at being called pretty."
"I don't mind being called pretty, I am confident in my sexuality." He replied with a hint of arrogance.
"Of course you are." I mumbled under my breath.
"Now Miss Smoak tell me how ticklish are you?" He asked me mischievously, I was panicking inside.
"Something tells me I shouldn't answer that." I replied cautiously.
"It is payback time." I tried to move away from him but I was too late. Damn his reflexes. He lunged at me.
All thoughts flew out of my head. I was being tickled all over, I could hear my maniac laughter, tears were streaming down my closed eyes.
"Stop stop." I begged him. I was still laughing maniacally. I was flat on my back, he held my arms above my head with one hand. I struggled to get free but he held me down, I was no match for his physical strength.
"Say you are sorry for calling me those names." He was laughing along with me. A surge of defiance shot through me.
"I will not apologize for something that is true." I grit my teeth.
"As you wish Miss Smoak." He continued his tickle attack on me. I was getting dangerously close to peeing myself.
"Alright alright, I am sorry." I spat out irritably.
"That's more like it." He grinned. He still held my arms above my head. I hadn't realized he was almost on top of me; it reminded me of the day in my bedroom. I flushed in embarrassment; I must look like a mess. I avoided his uncomfortable gaze; I could feel his breath on my face. He released my hands; I brought my hands down to push him away.
He stopped my hand from pushing him away and held it against his chest; I could feel the wild thrumming of his heart. I looked into his eyes in surprise; I couldn't be the reason for that could I?
He held himself away from my body with one hand, his other hand crept towards my face. I held my breath, I couldn't focus on anything other than his gorgeous blue eyes. I felt his heart sped up beneath my hand.
He wiped away the tears that had streamed down my eyes with the soft pad of his thumb. I unknowingly had been leaning into his touch.
"He is an idiot." He told me, his low voice sent tingles down my body. My brain had turned into mush.
"Who?" I asked him, I honestly had no idea who he was talking about.
"Your father." He whispered back.
"I am not sure that's true." I mumbled in protest.
"It is, he is an idiot for abandoning someone as amazing as you." He reassured me, this was a new side of him that I have never seen before.
"Ollie." A voice that did not belong to the either of us called out. I am sure my eyes had comically widened in shock.
We turned towards the direction from where we had heard the voice, I saw an angry Tommy with a slightly annoyed Thea looking down at us. We had been so preoccupied with each that we hadn't heard them come in.
We hurriedly scrambled to our feet. This cannot be happening, I know what it must have looked like to the both of them but nothing happened. Embarrassment burned through me, I must look like a ripe tomato right about now.
"It is not what it looks like Tommy." I tried to explain that this was a massive misunderstanding.
"I am listening Felicity." Tommy snapped.
"Tommy." Oliver warned him, they looked ready to bite off each other's head.
"Let's all go get some ice cream." Thea's cheerful voice broke through the hostility in the room. She was certainly a smart cookie.
"Sounds like a wonderful idea kid, why don't you go down with Oliver we will be right behind you." Tommy told Thea, I saw Oliver clench his jaw he was not happy with the idea. Oliver walked towards Tommy but Thea decided to intervene.
"Come on Ollie let's go." She was pulling at his hand, he looked at me worriedly.
"Go ahead we will be right down." I reassured him, he walked out with Thea after he shot a warning glare towards Tommy.
I heard the front door lock behind them. It was now just me and Tommy in here, he looked angry and disappointed.
"I swear nothing happened Tommy." I pleaded, I hated that he was disappointed in me. He did not respond, he just stood there looking at me.
"I swear we were just fooling around Tommy." My voice was a shaky whisper. I felt my eyes cloud with tears.
"Then why do you look so guilty Felicity?" He chided gently. It was now my turn to be mum.
"You are a great girl Felicity; I don't want you to be hit by a disaster that is Oliver." He reprimanded.
"How can you say that about your friend?" I retorted.
"He is my friend and I know him Felicity. In this fucked up love story anyone other than Oliver and Laurel always end up as collateral damage." He warned.
"It is not like that Tommy." I protested irritably.
"I am not blind Felicity, I just saw the way you looked at him."
"He is just a friend." I told him determinedly.
"I just don't want you to hurt yourself." I know he was concerned about me but there was nothing to be concerned about.
"You need stop worrying so much Tommy." I teased him.
"It is not a joke Felicity, don't fall in love with him." He told me seriously, his caution rang in my ears. My heart felt heavy. Why did it feel like someone had just kicked me in the gut.
I hope you guys enjoyed….. Let me know what you think.