Author's Note: Alright, my loves, this is the final chapter. It got smutty on me, but no one at all should be surprised by that.
Anyway, happy holidays, everyone! I hope you enjoy this story's conclusion!
The second their lips collided, fire erupted between them. It engulfed them, spread out to swallow them whole and sink down deep in their bones.
Felicity fell back into the cushions as Oliver surged forward, went up on his knees above her until she tugged him down. Oliver settled his bulk between the spread of her thighs, not rocking into her or rolling his hips; just let her bracket him in while he kissed the air right out of her lungs.
Head swimming with emotion and desire so intense it made her body throb, Felicity trembled under him. Everything went neon bright, realization slamming through her with enough force to steal what little breath she had left. This was Oliver, her Oliver; the man she spent the last two years falling for and the last two weeks mourning the loss of. This was her hero, the one who saved her in every conceivable way and a hundred other ways she hadn't even known she needed.
He loved her. Finally, finally wanted to be with her instead of pushing her away for reasons he convinced himself were for her own good. This was Oliver telling her that she was more; more than another scar on his heart, more than another notch in his bedpost. This was Oliver finally trusting her to keep herself safe in their world, trusting her enough to let her all the way in.
As wave after wave of his naked affection rolled over her- in the way he held her impossibly close and kissed her with every single emotion he'd kept locked away under the hood, behind the mask. -Felicity was dragged under. She was drowning in his love for her, unable and unwilling to fight her way back to the surface.
Why would she ever want to be free of this? All she'd wanted, all she'd been waiting for was finally within her reach, in her sights. This- Oliver letting her past the walls, past the fortress he'd barricaded himself behind; She'd never wanted, never needed anything more in her life.
Her hands shook as she cupped them to either side of Oliver's neck, her thumbs pressing into the hinge of his jaw, holding his mouth to hers. She gasped when his tongue darted out to trace the seam of her lips and Oliver seized the opportunity to deepen the kiss. Felicity let herself be pressed deeper into the couch cushions, arched her back and pushed her hips against him when his tongue tangled with hers and scooped the moan right off her tastebuds.
Oliver's hands, broad and searing, skated along her side. They dipped up beneath his sweatshirt, beneath the thin fabric of Felicity's cami, and scorched her the moment they grazed her skin. She cried out, Oliver's calloused fingertips ghosting over her ribs. He pulled back to look at her, haze filled, half-lidded eyes boring down into hers, bright and shining.
His gaze flicked down to her kiss swollen lips, red and glistening. "Let me take you to bed, Felicity." he murmured, his voice hoarse and crackling with want. "Let me show you."
Maybe she should have resisted. Maybe she should have slammed on the brakes and made him talk some more, or made him tell her again. But, she'd had enough words to last through the night.
"Yes." she nodded emphatically, her agreement breathless and eager. "Upstairs."
Oliver didn't need any more encouragement. Without bothering to disentangle their limbs, he shifted to the edge of the sofa, pushed his hands under her back and lifted them both in one fluid motion. Felicity squeaked in surprise, clung to his shoulders and gripped his hips with her thighs.
Oliver chuckled. "Hold onto me tight, Felicity." he told her, his fingers digging into the underside of her thighs as he hoisted her higher.
The grin in his words was obvious, had her smiling into the curve of his shoulder. She nipped at his neck as he carried her through the house, earning herself a rumbling groan that vibrated against her lips.
"Do you want me to drop you?" he asked, tightening his hold on her thighs as he carried her up the stairs to her bedroom, the words quivering their way past his lips.
Felicity smirked into his skin, her tongue sneaking out to trace the mark her teeth left. "You'd never drop me, Oliver." she whispered, her lips brushing his skin on their way to his jaw, up to the sensitive lobe of his ear. She caught it between her teeth, flicked it with her tongue. "We both know that."
Oliver growled, his body shivering against her as his stride leveled out. "Watch me."
The squeal Felicity let out when he tossed her on the bed made him smile, his teeth shining in the streetlight streaming in through her window.
She couldn't help but return it, her body flushing under his attention as he climbed over her. "That was more of a toss than a drop, honest-"
Oliver cut her off, his lips crashing into hers, crushing their smiles between them as his hands sought out her body once more. It was easy, pushing up into his touch. It felt as though they'd always done this, that his touch on her skin was second nature; something that had always just been.
A moan stuttered its way up her throat, had Felicity ripping her mouth away from his to suck in a breath when Oliver's hand squeezed her ass and he rocked his hips into the apex of her thighs. He rolled his body down into hers, the erection behind his zipper creating delicious friction against her aching core.
"Oliver." she whined, scrabbling at the hem of his sweater in a desperate bid to get to skin.
He was all too eager to help her strip him out of his shirts, sighing with pleasure when he felt her palms slide down the corded plane of his back. It drove him crazy, the feeling of her skin against his, no more barriers between them.
"I find it incredibly sexy that you're wearing my sweatshirt," Oliver confessed, mouthing at Felicity's throat as he slowly dragged the zipper down, "but I'd really love to see you out of it."
"Help me." Felicity whimpered, trying to wriggle her way out of the garment as quickly as possible.
Oliver chuckled, rich and warm above her, but planted his knees behind her thighs and sat up to help her out of it. Her skin was pink and smooth underneath, a heated blush spreading across her chest, climbing up her throat.
"God," Oliver groaned, pushing her cami up to expose her belly, "you are so beautiful, Felicity. So astonishingly fucking gorgeous."
Heat pooling between her thighs like liquid fire, Felicity opened her mouth to respond only to choke on the words when Oliver's lips brushed just below where the fabric of her top was rucked up below her breasts. She pressed up, chasing the burn of his mouth and the rasp of his stubble. Her heart was a jackhammer behind her ribs, threatening to thunder right out of her heaving chest.
Felicity's mind was reeling, trying in vain to catch up with the pulse of her body, the deep, throbbing need bubbling up and bursting in her chest.
"Oliver." she sighed his name, unsure what she was asking for, what exactly she needed from him in that moment.
It didn't seem to matter. It was as though Oliver knew without words what she needed, his body reacting to her almost instinctively. Fitting his warm, rough hands into the soft curves of her sides, Oliver kissed his way down her stomach, licking a searing stripe along the band of her yoga pants from one hipbone to the other. Felicity shuddered under him, her body shaking even as it sought out more. Her hands clutched at his hair, his shoulders, his neck; any inch of him she could reach.
Oliver dragged his hands down her sides, hooking his fingers into the waist her pants. He paused, eyes meeting hers with a question lingering in them. Felicity swallowed thickly, swallowed her heart back down where it belonged, and nodded. She lifted her hips as Oliver shimmied the clingy fabric of her pants down over her thighs, taking the lacy gray cheeky shorts down with them.
Shivering at the cool kiss of air to her lust flushed skin, Felicity watched, awestruck and hungry, as Oliver undid the belt at his waist. Not wanting to miss out on any part of what would hopefully be the first in a long succession of amazing sexual experiences, Felicity levered herself up and batted his hands away, taking over. Her fingers shook as she popped the button of his jeans, trembled as she lowered the zipper and folded back the thick denim.
"Off." she demanded, already trying to shove them down his hips.
Oliver laughed again, the rumbling sound making Felicity's belly quiver excitedly. "Okay, okay. Whatever you want, Felicity." he smiled down at her as he worked his jeans off and tossed them carelessly to the floor, leaving him gloriously naked on her bed.
If anyone asked later, Felicity would deny it to the last, but the sight of Oliver like that- kneeling between her legs without a stitch on, his cock flushed red and bobbing proudly up toward his navel - made a punched-out whimper tear from her throat.
They both reached for each other at the same time, meeting in the middle in a clash of teeth and tongues that had Felicity's body practically vibrating with the need to have him inside her. Oliver didn't seem to be fairing much better, his hands buried in her hair as he pressed her back, hips rolling in aborted little thrusts as he settled back between her legs.
"Condoms?" he broke the kiss long enough to ask, the single word broken and tortured as it fell from his tongue.
"Nightstand." Felicity gasped, half shoving him toward it, half clinging to him so he couldn't pull away.
Somehow, Oliver managed to retrieve a foil packet from the drawer without tearing himself away from the satin feel of her skin against his. Felicity admittedly wasn't paying all that close attention, not when her hands were busy finally getting the chance to explore his impressive body; trailing over dips and ridges, feeling the play of each shift, each pull of muscle beneath his skin as he moved.
"How are you real? Bodies like this shouldn't exist in nature." Felicity groaned, fingers dancing over the bumps of his abs while Oliver struggled to remove the condom from its wrapper. "It tips the scales, you know? Real people don't look like this. How is everyone else supposed to keep up?"
"Felicity." Oliver breathed, her name jolting her out of her reverence. "Little help?"
Blinking slowly, Felicity focused on the little latex circle held between Oliver's thumb and forefinger. "Oh." she licked her lips, eyes flickering between the condom and Oliver's face. "Right. Yeah, okay."
Oliver caught his bottom lip between his teeth, attempting to stifle the groan building behind his sternum at the feel of Felicity's hands on him, rolling the condom down his length and giving a few experimental tugs. His hips jerked against her hand, unbidden and unstoppable.
"Felicity." Oliver warned, already feeling too close to the edge.
He made a bereft sound when Felicity's hand moved away from his cock, slipping up his hip to dip behind him and scorch the scarred skin of his lower back. She pulled him forward, tugging his weight down onto her.
"I-" she paused, cheeks flushing almost crimson in the dull light. "Before we- You have to know, Oliver, I-"
"Hey," Oliver whispered soothingly, lifting a hand to cradle her face in one wide palm, "I know."
Felicity's eyes snapped to his, the first glint of something akin to fear sparking in their endless azure depths. "You know." she breathed, voice breaking.
Smiling softly down at her, drinking in the puffy lips and glittering eyes, long blonde hair spilled haphazardly over the pillow, Oliver nodded. "I've known for a while, honestly." he told her, dipping in to kiss her gently, murmuring against her lips, "Not even you would have put up with half of my shit if you didn't."
Heat prickling behind her eyes, Felicity let out a shuddering breath and nuzzled her face into his throat. "I do." she confessed, the words so soft Oliver wouldn't have heard them had she not been whispering them into his skin. "I love you, Oliver."
It broke something inside him to hear her say the words. The dam he'd built around his heart, around his shadowed soul, came crashing down with those four words, sent years of emotions he'd pushed away, held under the surface, cascading through him. He'd know she loved him, known it as assuredly as he knew he'd never love another woman the way he loved her. Still, hearing her say it, hearing those words trip from her lips... With one confession, one single sentence whispered into the darkness, everything inside him ruptured and swelled, pushed hard beneath his ribs and tried to burst right out of his chest.
Capturing her lips, nearly bruising them in his haste, Oliver poured his adoration into her. Felicity moaned and arched into him, lifting her hips in offering while clenching her thighs around him, heels hooked behind him and digging into his ass, urging him forward.
Sinking into her, being enveloped by velvet, clutching heat, ripped him wide open. Oliver had to stop and breathe, press his forehead to her chest and allow himself a moment to simply bask.
"Fuck." he gritted, jaw clenched and teeth grinding as he fought back the surge of pleasure in his gut.
Felicity whispered soft assurances in his ear as he shook above her. She pet his hair, thumb grazing down the sharp angle of his jaw, over his trembling lips. She could see him struggling to maintain his control, to not simply pound into her and send them both ricocheting through the dark.
When he finally began to move, just a few tentative thrusts, Felicity blossomed beneath him. Oliver watched in silent awe as she opened up for him. Head tossed back, the long column of her throat bared as color crawled over her, legs drawn up and braced to either side of his ribs; she was more magnificent than he'd ever seen her.
"Felicity." It was low and rough, gritty as it washed over her.
"Just move, Oliver." she encouraged breathily, rocking her pelvis up to meet him. "Please, oh god, Please."
The pleading in her tone went down to his marrow, had him pushing into her again before his mind even caught up. Felicity whimpered fragmented praise, nails scoring lines into Oliver's back with each thrust.
Slow and cautious quickly devolved into sharp, deliberate snaps of his hips. Oliver grunted his pleasure into the curve of Felicity's neck, teeth and tongue working at her clavicle, at the hammering pulse in her throat.
Shifting, Oliver hooked one hand around Felicity's thigh, pushing it up toward her chest so he could sink deeper, hit the spot inside her that made her keen his name.
Oliver could feel his orgasm coiled low in his spine, snaked around each notch of bone, each nerve, like a viper ready to strike. He fucked into her in a fractured, desperate tempo, pushing her toward the edge determinedly.
When Felicity's body exploded beneath him, it was with his thumb rubbing slick circles over her clit and his cock buried so deeply inside he could feel every tremor, every quake of her walls around him. His name ripped from her throat, tangled and twined with a litany of curses Oliver hadn't even thought she knew.
He slowed his hips, gentled her through her orgasm until she went limp against the sheets.
"Wow." she panted, her breath humid and thick at the shell of his ear. She pressed kisses to his jaw, teeth scraping over his stubble lazily. "That was... Just... Wow."
He was still deep inside her, his pelvis flush with hers, thighs nestled up under her ass. Giving slow, easy rolls of his hips, Oliver smiled when she shuddered. "So articulate." he teased, curling a hand behind her knee and hoisting her thigh further up his side.
A low whine erupted from her lips, but she clutched at him, swerving her hips to drag a growl out of him.
"Felicity."
She smiled into his shoulder, a thrilled little ripple dancing up her spine. She hooked one leg behind him and used his distraction to flip them. Oliver grunted when his back hit the bed, his eyes wide and surprised as he looked up at her.
"How-"
"I pay attention." she shrugged, sinking back down on his cock and settling into his lap.
Oliver grinned as his hands gripped her thighs, slid up to curl around her rolling hips. "Obviously."
Felicity just smiled, bending at the waist to plaster her chest to his as she rocked. She kissed him, deep and hungry, riding him slowly. Oliver kept his grip loose, just held her lightly while she moved. His toes were already curling again, his release quick to build back up.
He lifted into her, fucking up with each bounce of her in his lap. She was gasping with each clash of their hips, each sound swallowed down by Oliver's greedy throat. They were barely kissing, breathing too hard and ragged to manage more than sharing the same air. Foreheads pressed together, Felicity's eyes were squeezed shut in ecstasy, the measure lift and drop of her hips stuttering into tiny rolls and circles as she lost any sense of rhythm.
Oliver's orgasm shredded through him, catching him off guard. His fingers clenched at her hips, undoubtedly leaving purple and blue imprints in her pale flesh. He went rigid between her thighs when he came, muscles tightening as he emptied himself inside her.
Felicity didn't stop working her hips, and Oliver knew she'd been close. With one quick flash of movement, he had her back underneath him, his body above her, one hand buried between her thighs. Felicity arched off the bed, crying out as his fingers filled her up. She threw her head back when she came, her voice going hoarse and fucked-out as her body fluttered around the slow drag of his fingers.
Oliver made quick work of removing the condom and tying it off before dropping it to the floor beside the bed. Flopping down beside Felicity, he tucked himself along her back, pushing his nose into her hair and simply breathing her in.
Felicity sighed into the dark, snuggled closer and let his heat envelope her. She glanced at the clock on her nightstand, smiling when she noticed it was after midnight.
"Hey, Oliver?"
"Hmm." he hummed, lips pressed to the back of her neck.
"Merry Christmas." she whispered, rolling onto her back so she could look into his eyes.
Oliver glanced at the clock and laughed lightly, dropping a sweet kiss to her smiling lips. "Happy Hanukkah, Felicity."
Christmas morning came too early, flooding Felicity's bedroom with light and her head with the sound of someone pounding at her door. Grumbling under her breath at the unwelcome return to consciousness, she rolled over in time to see Oliver pulling his jeans back on, his hair sleep-mussed and sticking up on one side.
"I got it." he told her, smiling as he knelt on the bed and kissed her gently. "Go back to sleep."
Felicity gratefully snuggled deeper into the sheets, inhaling Oliver's scent where it clung to the fabric as she listened to him clomp down the stairs. She sighed contentedly, body sore but sated as she listened to the door downstairs creak open.
"Merry Christmas!" a chorus of voices shouted, petering off a little at the end.
Felicity bolted out of bed, throwing on her pants and Oliver's hoodie before tripping into the hallway and hurrying downstairs. When she hurled into the living room, she saw Thea, Roy, Sin, Digg, Lyla and Baby Sara all crowded into the doorway. Thea was giggling maniacally, beaming at her brother.
"You knew." he sighed, raking a hand over his face. "You could have warned them, Speedy."
"I told them you were alive." She shrugged, winking at Felicity as she came up behind Oliver, half hidden behind him in an attempt to conceal how embarrassed she was under everyone's knowing gaze.
"Plus, honestly, it was more fun this way." Thea told them, planting a kiss to Oliver's cheek before breezing into Felicity's apartment with a canvas grocery bag slung over one shoulder, heading straight for the kitchen. "We're making breakfast!" she called back, already clattering around.
"Put some clothes on, man." Roy shook his head as he stepped inside, though Felicity knew how pleased he was to actually see Oliver, alive and well.
Oliver sighed, stepping back to let everyone else inside.
John wore a relieved smile, eyeing Oliver carefully. "The kid's right." he said with a dip of his chin. "I'm not hugging you until you put a shirt on."
Sin was shaking her head, but smiling as she made her way to join Thea and Roy in the kitchen. Lyla winked at Felicity as she passed her, trailing John into the living room to unbuckle Sara from her carseat.
"Thea knew?" Felicity asked trying to shove Oliver toward the stairs, decidedly avoiding looking anyone directly in the eye until she had panties and a bra on.
Oliver slipped an arm around her, pulling her into his side and dropping a kiss to the top of her head. "I stopped by the loft before I came here. Told her where I was going, and didn't know if I'd be home."
Felicity hiked a brow, lifting her eyes to his. "Presumptuous?"
He just chuckled, warm and content. "Not exactly." he shrugged, starting up the stairs. "I was just really hoping you'd be happy to see me."
"And that I'd let you spend the night?" she challenged, pinching his ass and making him jump.
Oliver laughed, snatching up her hand and threading their fingers together. "What can I say?" he shrugged again, eyes sparkling with humor. "I was praying for a Hanukkah miracle."