A/N: I don't own Arrow or it's characters.
It takes a little coaxing but Oliver convinces Felicity to go to the diner with him instead of calling it a day at nine in the morning.
It's a hole in the wall place, the kind you only go to if someone you know has gone and changes your life when they tell you about it. The diner boasts killer coffee and the best breakfast burritos in Starling City.
Tommy loved it, and like a good best friend, Oliver loved it because Tommy loved it.
Felicity sticks close to him, sliding next into him in the booth instead of across.
"Cute," she murmurs, tracing the floral wallpaper behind her.
"I used to come here with my friend Tommy," he tells her. "And we had a sacred rule that you can't break, okay?"
Felicity nods seriously. "What is it?"
"You have to eat actual food. Not just coffee, okay? Otherwise you'd be insulting my favorite joint here."
Felicity nods meekly. "Okay."
Felicity points out what she wants to him and when the waitress comes Oliver orders for them, two large coffees and garden omelets (egg whites only for Felicity) and a side of bacon for himself.
The coffee comes in a large pitcher and Oliver pours for both of them, catching Felicity's little sigh of delight when he hands her the mug.
She does her usual ritual, cream and too many sugars, and moans after she takes her first sip, head tilting back to expose her creamy white throat.
Oliver blinks and shakes his head, wondering when coffee because sexual.
"What happened to him?" Felicity asks, wrapping her hand around her mug. "Tommy."
"Hmm?"
"You used past tense," she points out.
"Oh," Oliver sighs quietly. "Tommy, he...he died. Last year."
"I'm sorry," Felicity says softly, and leans into him a little, the floral scent of her shampoo invading his senses.
"Thanks," he says, swallowing hard.
"What happened?"
"We were in an accident."
"We?"
"Yeah, me and Tommy and Laurel."
"Oh," Felicity nods. "Laurel."
"Yeah. When I came home from the island...well, we'd all been big drinkers, not Laurel so much back then, she was in law school, but me and Tommy. And after...I just kind of fell back into it. Tommy encouraged it; I guess he sort of looked at it as me making up for five missing years of partying. Like I'd earned it."
The waitress comes back to the table with their plates and Oliver waits while she lays out their breakfast before continuing.
" Laurel and I were trying to work things out between us. She and Tommy had a thing while I was gone, and then I came back and made it complicated."
"By being alive?" Felicity says sharply.
"She didn't know I was alive. And then I was back, but it wasn't...it wasn't the same. But she and I never really had closure, and we started spending time again, sometimes with Tommy, sometimes just the two of us.
"So one night Laurel and I went out to a club and we got pretty drunk. We were wasted, actually. I was being an ass, throwing money around-I mean literally, she opened my wallet and we started chucking cash at people."
"Billionaires." Felicity clucks her tongue lightly. "So wasteful."
"How're your eggs?"
"They're fine, finish the story."
"Just fine?"
"I'm eating, you got what you wanted."
"God you're stubborn."
Felicity places her hand gently on top of his. "I want to hear how the story ends."
Oliver grips his fork with extra force. "It's not a nice ending."
"That's okay," Felicity says. "Happy endings are bullshit."
Oliver raises an eyebrow. "Not a fairytale ending kind of girl?"
Felicity makes a face. "Fairy tales are lies. Real life doesn't tie up in a nice little bow."
"I concur. So anyway, we get kicked out of this club. No cab would take us; we were yelling and being stupid. So we call Tommy, and Tommy-"
Oliver has to take a second, drink some water, focus on Felicity's soft hand on top of his.
"Tommy's pissed off 'cus he just finished at Verdant for the night-it's my club now, but back then we were partners- it's three am and he's tired, he wants to go home. But Laurel and I convince him to pick us up, so he drives over to get us. Tommy's driving, me and Laurel in the back, and then..."
He rolls his shoulder, the one he messed up when he got thrown against the side of the car that night.
"We got hit by a trucker who'd been driving for twenty hours straight. Fell asleep at the wheel."
"Oh, Oliver," Felicity whispers.
"Laurel passed out. I climbed into the front seat and Tommy-god, he was covered in blood. I kept trying to make him stay awake, to make him talk to me-" his voice wavers and he takes another sip of water.
"He was dead before the ambulance got there."
Felicity slides her arm around his waist and presses herself against him in the little booth.
"I'm so sorry," she whispers. "I didn't know. I remember Sara telling me Laurel had been in an accident but she didn't tell me the rest."
Oliver sighs and plays with a strand of her hair, trying to fight the thing inside his chest, the thing with claws and horns that makes him want to scream like he did that night, holding Tommy's body to him.
"My boyfriend died last year," Felicity whispers, pressing her cheek into his shoulder.
"What?"
"Well, technically he was my ex, but we hadn't been broken up that long."
Oliver curls his finger around a loop of her hair. "What happened?"
"He killed himself."
Oliver looks down at her in surprise at her casual confession. She's staring down at their hands wound together on the table.
One large rough scarred hand and one pale soft little hand, and strangely Oliver thinks of Goldilocks, Thea's favorite bedtime story when she was three.
The lost girl with the golden locks, wandered into the bear house. Looking for the right fit.
Not too big, not too small. Just right.
"What happened to Laurel?" Felicity asks softly.
"Huh?"
"What happened with you and Laurel?"
"Oh. We couldn't make it work. It was too hard, and now...she's not really in a good place right now."
Felicity peeks up at him. "What about you?"
He smiles and straightens her glasses. "What about me?"
"Are you in a good place?" she inquires.
"I'm in an okay place right now," he hedges. "For me that's pretty good."
Felicity gives him a weak smile. "I'd love to be in an okay place right now."
Oliver squeezes her shoulder. "Don't worry. You'll get there."
xxx
They make it through the first three episodes of Game of Thrones that afternoon before his phone rings.
Felicity had squealed when she saw that HBO was running a marathon of season one, and Oliver had stared at her in confusion.
"Oh my god," she said. "You don't know Game of Thrones?"
"Being stranded for five years put a dent in my pop culture knowledge."
"But-seriously? A Lannister always pays his debts?"
"What's a Lannister?"
"Winter is coming? You know nothing, Jon Snow?"
"I know nothing, apparently," he'd grumbled, and Felicity had smiled widely.
"You're going to love it."
Oliver thinks about ignoring the call when he gets it but when he sees that it's Roy calling he picks up.
"Hey man," Roy says. "I'm really sorry about this but I need you to come to Verdant."
"What's wrong?"
Roy sighs heavily into the phone. "The system's down."
"Again?"
"Yeah."
"I thought we took care of this last time."
"Yeah, me too. Obviously we were wrong, and obviously the guy who fixed it was a moron."
"You talk to Thea?"
"She's at a vodka tasting for the next hour."
"Shit. Okay, I'll be there soon."
Felicity looks up when he hangs up with Roy.
"Where're we going now?"
"My club."
Felicity wrinkles her nose. "But it's the middle of the afternoon."
"That was my manager. Our computer system is down, I've got to go take a look at it, see if we can get it running before we open tonight."
For some weird reason Felicity's face lights up. "Really?"
"Any reason you're taking so much pleasure in my pain?"
"Oliver." Felicity beams and slides her feet into her black panda flats. "I'm a computer genius. Systems down are like my bread and butter."
"You think you can fix our computers?"
Felicity gives him the brightest smile he's seen on her since they meet. "Oliver, I went to MIT. I can absolutely fix your computer."
xxx
Roy meets them in the office at Verdant.
"Who's the blond?" he asks tactlessly.
"Felicity, Roy, Roy, Felicity. She's going to fix the system."
"Seriously?" Roy asks with a raised eyebrow.
"May I?" Felicity asks, gesturing to that desktop.
"Sure." Roy stands up from the desk and joins Oliver on the other side of the room on the couch.
Felicity slides into his chair, fingers poised over the keyboard.
"Where'd you find her?" Roy mutters to Oliver, as they watch Felicity frown and type out a command.
"Sara."
"Ah, the world traveller. Figures."
"She's supposed to be a genius or something."
Roy grins. "Just at computers?"
He scowls. "She's just a friend."
"Yeah right, like you have any friends."
Oliver elbows him in the ribs and Roy grunts.
"Hey, can we have silence from the peanut gallery?" Felicity calls out. "I'm troubleshooting here."
"So, do she and Sara..." Roy trails off and flicks his tongue obscenely at Oliver.
"Nah, they're just friends, too. Not that it's any of your business."
"Dude," Roy whispers. "Please tell me you're hitting that."
"What part of just friends don't you understand?"
"The part where you've never met a hot chick that you didn't try to fu-ow!" Roy says angrily when Oliver punches him in the shoulder.
"Boys!" Felicity calls out. "When was the last time you updated the system?"
Roy and Oliver stare blankly at each other.
"Uh," Roy says. "When the guy set it up?"
"Oh my god!" Felicity exclaims, and strokes the monitor gently. "You poor poor baby. Don't worry, mama's gonna fix you up."
"Felicity," Oliver says, choking down laughter, "are you talking to my computer?"
"Respect the process," she snaps. "They have feelings you know."
"You can fix it though right?"
Felicity beams at him. "Give me fifteen minutes."
"Okay."
"Hey Oliver?"
"Yeah?"
"Could you maybe go get me a sandwich or something? Fixing stuff makes me hungry."
"Felicity."
She types something and sighs and types something else. "Yeah?"
He leans down towards her ear. "I'm not allowed to leave you."
Felicity inhales sharply. "Oh," she says. "I forgot, for a second."
"That's okay."
She smiles up at him. "Can we order food?"
"Hey, Roy, come here." Oliver pulls out his credit card and hands it to him. "Pick up Big Belly Burger."
Roy rolls his eyes. "Alright."
On his way out Oliver hears him mutter, "Not fucking, my ass."
xxx
A/N: I know you guys have been begging for answers, and I promise promise promise that if you stick around for the next chapter you will be rewarded ;) Please review!