Melfeb211 prompted: "Oliver see Ray Palmer touching Felicity for the first time."
It was unbelievable that in less than a month as CEO of Queen Consolidated, Ray Palmer was re-opening the Robert Queen Memorial Applied Sciences Division. The fact that another man had rebuilt not only his family's company, but also the building that had been erected in his father's name, stung more than he cared to admit. It was made worse that every single aspect of the Applied Sciences Division reeked of his failures and poor choices. His faked drunken display at the ground breaking, back when he was doing all of this alone and he was certain that the could not balance his mission with a day job. He had been right, thinking that, because look at what had happened when he had tried to juggle both. He had handed the company over to his father's mistress (whom he had screwed), his enemy had used Applied Sciences to further his villainous plan, and he had ended up demolishing the building that had been built in his father's name. And then in comes Palmer, seemlessly and effortlessly doing all of the things he had failed to do. Which was why he was standing here, in the lobby on the new building, in a tuxedo. He hated parties, and he hated company parties even more. The employees all glanced sideways at him, and he was sure the topic of conversation tonight would be Palmer's ability to do what he hadn't. Not that he really cared . . . but it stung.
He saw Felicity then and she felt like a breath of fresh air, even from across the room. She was wearing a floor-length peach gown, standing out like a beautiful sore thumb in the sea of black formal wear. He missed her. In the weeks since she had taken Palmer's job offer, he had rarely seen her. Often he and Roy were already in the field before she made it to the foundry. As soon as they were finished for the night, she went home, because her alarm was set for seven again and she had to get what sleep she could. She smiled when she saw him, and started working her way across the crowd in his direction. It was a slow process-guests stopped her frequently, congratulating her on the progress she had already made in the tech division. In just a few weeks, she had secured three government contracts and brought in four recent graduates from various schools with excellent skills. She was thriving in this new position Palmer had given her, and that stung a bit, too. Because he had shoe-horned her into something that didn't fit, out of his own need.
"Queen!" He turned toward the voice, and saw Ray Palmer heading his way. "Glad you could make it."
The tall man extended his hand, and Oliver shook it. "Congratulations," Oliver said, "You've already made a lot of progress."
Felicity made it to them then, tilting her face up to smile at them both, despite her heels. "Ol. . . Mr. Queen, Mr. Palmer, so nice to see you both." Her eyes met and held Oliver's, and he saw a bit of consternation there. She didn't care for events like this, either, he remembered.
Ray Palmer was flat out grinning at her, and Oliver didn't particularly like it. "Felicity, if you have a minute, there are some investors I would like you to meet." Oliver watched as Palmer reached out, taking her elbow, his thumb ever so slightly brushing against her smooth skin as he turned her in the direction of the investors.
"Of course," she said, but she cast a look at him over her shoulder that seemed to say I'll see you later.
He had to swallow against the lump in his throat. It had been such a simple touch, but it was the sort of thing he had always done when he needed to pull her aside for something. It seemed like Ray Palmer was taking all that was his, and exceeding expectations with it. Queen Consolidated was thriving, Felicity was happy to have a position that actually allowed her to use the full measure of her brain. The worst of it was that Ray Palmer seemed to be a good man. Oliver couldn't bring himself to hate him simply because he managed to succeed where Oliver had failed. But he didn't like him, either.
He watched as Palmer weaved through the crowd, his hand still on Felicity's elbow. Oliver reminded himself that as much as he cared for her, Felicity wasn't his. She could never be his.