Hi, so, again, I want to thank you all for the response to these one-shots and for taking the time to read them, I appreciate it so, so much.
Enjoy!
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Oliver eavsedrops on Thea, Laurel, Sara and Felicity. They notice.
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When Oliver walks into Verdant that night, he expects things to be as they usually are. Felicity behind her desk downstairs, ready to hand him some new information, Diggle and Roy sparring or maybe tucking in to some big belly burger and perhaps even Sara practicing with her bo staff.
He does not expect to walk down into the foundry and find only one of those four there, and even he looks like he's getting ready to leave.
"Digg," Oliver calls out, halting the man as he's slipping back into his jacket, "where is everybody?"
"Upstairs; Roy's behind the bar and it's girls night out," he explains, slipping his phone into his pocket as he begins to walk in the direction of the stairs.
"What? Why aren't they down here, we should at least be out on patrol!" Oliver snaps, gesturing around the room with his arms.
"Look, man, everyone was here, earlier; Felicity ran some checks, came up with no new leads on any of the cases we've been looking into and nothing else that the SCPD couldn't handle. So, we decided that we wanted a night off and the best way to get it would be to be gone before you got here." Digg says, casually, like it's the most obvious thing in the world.
"And what if something important pops up, Diggle, what then?" Queen demands, clearly irritated by the absence of his team.
"Then, you call us and we'll come back. The girls and Roy are just upstairs and I'll be at home spending time with a pregnant Lyla." he pats Oliver's shoulder as he passes him, but stops halfway up the stairs, "Everyone's been working real hard, man, just give them one night."
And then he's out the door, leaving Oliver alone.
Alone and bored.
Bored, bored, bored.
It comes a surprise to Oliver when he realises his boredom stems from the lack of having his team - his friends - around him; he'd spend five years on an island, for Pete's sake! Though, even then he was never really alone, not for long, anyway. He's grown so used to having these people surrounding him in every moment of his life that he's forgotten what it's like without them. It's lonely.
It takes half an hour after Diggle leaves for Oliver to decide he can't just sit there anymore. He's tride the salmon ladder, beating the dummy, sharpening his arrows, but it's all so mundane without the sounds of Felicity's fingers running over the keyboard or the smell of a big belly buster.
He ventures upstairs, hoping a drink will help him, and finds himself sitting on one of the white bar stools. Oliver's about to order his second scoth when he hears familiar giggling and turns his head in the direction of it.
Sitting around a table not far off from the bar are two blondes and two brunettes, all laughing and chatting away to eachother. He watches as Roy walks over to them with a tray of drinks, though none of them appear to be anything alcoholic.
The drinks are distributed around the women and Oliver notices that a smile is spread across Roy's face as he does it, replacing his usual irritated frown.
"Thank you, babe," One of the girls says, and Oliver nearly loses it when he realises someone who is not his little sister is referring to Roy in such a way when he realises that he knows that voice and it is his little sister.
In fact, he knows the voices of all four women sitting at that table, but still he glances over at them to make sure. There sit Thea, Sara, Laurel and Felicity, the two Lance sisters next to eachother at the round table, with Felicity to Sara's right and Thea to hers.
Girls night out, huh? Oliver had asumed that Diggle just meant Sara and Felicity chatting up here, maybe having a drink together, he did not expect to see his little sister and ex-girlfriend with them.
He turns away from them, deciding that he's had enough to drink for one night and should head back to the foundry, but finds his attention drawn back to the women as Thea shrieks out an 'oh my God'.
Oliver goes into red alert for a moment, thinking there's some kind of danger, but relaxes when he realises that the four are laughing carry on that way for a minute before finally calming down a bit, huge grins plastered across all of their faces, and start to chat.
He considers leaving, again, this time actually getting as far as standing up, but then he hears his name and he stops, turning his full focus onto the table nearby.
"Yes!" he hears Sara shout, "Oh my God, he does that all the time!"
"Ooh, when he's all upset or angry and just sits around moping all week." Laurel giggles, earning nods from her companions.
"I think the word you're looking for is brooding," Felicity's voice chimes in and the laughter increases.
"It's one of his only settings," Thea states, matter of factly.
"And his others?" Laurel asks, lifting her drink to her lips.
"Well," Thea starts, "There's playboy, judgy, broody - of course - business man and, on occassion, mushy Ollie."
Wait, Oliver thinks, are they talking about me?
He pushes his chair a little closer to their table as subtly as he can, hoping to be able to hear them better.
"What about 'over protective Oliver'?" Sara chips in, and the other three women let out a hum of approval.
"Clueless and oblivious Oliver," Laurel adds.
"So, unbelievabley clueless," Thea agrees, rasing her glass in the middle of the table, to which they all clink their own glasses.
Oliver thinks he can see a knowing look pass between the women, but from his position, he can't be sure, especially when he can only clearly see the two Lance sisters' faces. He can't help but feel a little insulted and an anger surges through him to know that his friends take such pleasure in talking about him behind his back.
"How many times have you had to teach him how to answer a skype call at work?" Sara asks, nudging Felicity with her elbow.
"More than I should have had to." is her simple reply.
"On the topic of Oliver's clulessness," Laurel says, a knowing tone in her voice, "when do you think he's going to realise his feelings?" She giggles, drawing out the last word.
"Knowing him, never." Thea responds, "Denial isn't just a river in Egypt."
"I think he already knows," Sara counters, taking a sip of her lemonade before continuing "he's just scared."
"Scared of what?" Thea asks.
"That he's not good enough, and he is," it's the older Lance who answers, "or, at least he could be."
"Another one of his settings; self depreciation." Sara finishes.
Oliver leans forward a bit in his chair; feelings? he wonders, what feelings?
"Okay, can someone fill me in on what exactly we're talking about?" Felicity's voice pulls Oliver back from his thoughts and he finds it relieving to know that at least someone else doesn't know to what it is the other women are referring.
Sara, Laurel and Thea share a look before giggling at their blonde friend, all reaching over to pat her arm softly.
"I guess that makes two of them, then." Thea's voice is light and teasing, but there's a slight hint to it that suggests she's not totally kidding.
"Two of wh- guys, seriously, what am I missing?" Felicity is practically pleading with them now and Oliver finds himself wishing that he could see the look on her face.
"For someone with a genius IQ you sure do miss some pretty big things, Liss," Laurel replies, earning more laughter from her sister and Thea.
"I get this feeling like I don't want to know, anyway," He sees her shrug, bringing her glass up infront of her, presumably to take a swig of it.
Oliver wonders what colour lipstick she's wearing tonight; something bright, of course, a pink or a red most likely. He takes a moment to appreciate what of her he can see: her hair is pulled down from it's usual pony tail, flowing in soft curls, and the blue dress she's wearing fits her so perfectly.
He only realises how lost in thought he was when Roy approaches him with a drink in hand and pats his shoulder. When Oliver looks up at him, he sees a smug smile spreading over the young man's face as he goes to set the glass down in front of him.
"I didn't order this." Oliver says, furrowing his brows.
"I know." Roy's grin only widens as he moves away, revealing four women, two blondes and two brunettes, sitting at a table with their glasses raised to him.
"To Oliver Queen," Laurel begins, smirking at the afor mentioned man, "for being the broody, mushy, clueless, eavesdropping ass that he is."
All four of them laugh as Oliver just sits there gawking - it's mostly because they just caught him listening in on their conversation but it's also a little bit because now he can see Felicity from the front and she's just so beautiful - and finish their drinks off before standing from their seats.
Together they begin to pick up their bags and jackets, making to move towards the exit, still laughing. Felicity, though, hangs back for a moment, giving the man before her a pointed look.
"You know, if you wanted to know what we were talking about, you could have just asked." She quirks an eyebrow at him, reaching over to place a hand on his arm.
"Just asking right out," Oliver begins, "you know that's not how I do things." The pair share a smile before Felicity turns to walk away from him, but Oliver stops her before she's made her first step.
"Do you really think all those things of me?"
She turns back to face him, a slightly sympathetic smile on her face, and says 'yes', causing Oliver's face to fall completely.
"But, there is a whole load of good on the list too, you know. We just said all that other stuff to tease you."
"Mhm, like what?" Oliver asks, the corner of his lips rising back up slowly.
"I'll go through it with you one day." She promises, her smile now one of pure happiness.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah."
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So, again, not quite sure this is where I wanted to go with this but that's what you get when you spend days with the document open and just refuse to work on it.
I hope you liked this chapter, please let me know what you think! Thanks for reading