11190/Fate's arrow, when expected, travels slow.

Fate's arrow, when expected, travels slow.
Date of Scene:	16 May 2022
Location:	Felicity's Apartment
Synopsis:	Oliver gives his heart, and Felicity gave him a pen.
Cast of Characters:	Felicity Smoak, Oliver Queen

---

Felicity Smoak has posed:
Overcast day, with rumbles of thunderstorms in the forecast, and even off and on severe weather announcements pinging the phones. The wind outside is gentle, however, and the sudden heat from the other day has dropped, thanks to a pressure drop. Which is a wonderful sort of day to call in 'telecommute', and work from home. It's a lazy day, a day that is a touch more casual and less hurried, if not harried, which is a good step taken towards healing.

Felicity has her computer set up in the corner, but for her part, she's dressed down in yoga pants, a little croptop, and barefoot. There's no hint of makeup, and her hair is down and a touch mussed. Glasses are still on, however. She's seated on her couch, feet tucked up with some popcorn in hand, keeping a weathered eye on the monitor as it does its current task that she's asked of it. The television is distracting enough, however, that she's turning her attention between work and.. distinctly not work.

Oliver Queen has posed:
The thoughts have been racing through Oliver's mind ever since Thea walked out. He had looked around, as she said. And thought about it. And he cursed himself a fool. He had been so busy thinking that the mission was such work, and draining, which it was, but who could sign up for it and find any joy in what they did? And then Thea's words echoed in his mind. And he started thinking back to the times they had in the arrow cave. Or with her in his ear. The sheer volume of time that she spent on his mission. Their mission, really, but - was it the mission she truly cared about? He suddenly was not so sure.

He had grabbed his jacket, and went out. He took the car, and he drove around for roughly five minutes, thinking things through. Replaying things in his head. All of the comments that she made - he had always just thought that was Felicty joking. She was funny. But painted in this light, he realized - the comments weren't the joke. Her laughing them off was. She was trying to be vulnerable and honest with him, and he was just... Thinking through some of the other things, he realized he was damn insensitive. Like the hot nurse. God, she was really caring, and he thought she was just...

Thea's orders were clear. Flowers. He stopped by a bodega and grabbed the biggest bouquet of flowers they had. Which was not particularly large, but it was what he could do. If he was right, if Thea was right, the size wouldn't matter.

He parked the car and walked to her apartment. As luck would have it, a nice couple were walking out as he came up, and so he slipped in.

And now he stands, outside of Felicity's apartment. Flowers in his hand. What if Thea was wrong? What if /he/ was wrong? He had been so wrong lately, but...

He knocks on the door. His face near the peep hole. The flowers down by his side. Like he had forgotten how to hold flowers. Not that he often did. Or had at all recently.

He had played out a ton of things in his head, and he knew what he was going to say. He thought. This was /important/, and he needed to make sure he could say what he wanted to say, what he needed to say, without tripping over himself.

He waits, quietly, for Felicity to answer.

Felicity Smoak has posed:
A knock on the door?

That never happens, unless it's Mrs DeSilva wanting a stick of butter for her cookies; she always gets a couple from the batch. Usually the first out, which are the 'test cookies', but she's good with that. Test or not, they're always delicious!

Unfolding her legs so she can rise from the couch, she puts her popcorn down on the cushions, wiping her hands off on her yoga pants to get rid of the salt and grease. She pads across the floor, and upon opening the door, sees Oliver on the other side. //Should have looked through the peep hole!// Couldn't stop her from the beginning of the rush of words, "Mrs DeSilva, I've only-" Beat. "Oliver." She looks up at him, brows rising in question, "I.. I didn't even think you knew where I lived."

Standing there for a few more heartbeats, she takes a step back, and with the movement, the door opens to allow him entrance.

"Come in?"

Oliver Queen has posed:
There are flowers in Oliver's hand, which he forgot about until the moment the door opened. He stands there, frozen like a deer in headlights as she speaks to Mrs. DeSilva. Apparently invoking another name shoved every clever or heartfelt or thoughtful word he had come up with out of his brain. He just listens for a moment when she says he doesn't know where she lived. Of course he did. (Ok, he had to look it up before driving there, but he had it on his phone, not her HR file.)

She opens the door a bit wider, and he holds up the flowers. Not out to her, as he probably should, but he brings them upward, petals and leaves alike falling from the bodega bouquet that probably should have been retired a day few days ago. She steps back, and starts to tell him to come in.

She does not quite get to the second word, however. As she steps back he steps forward, the hand without the flowers moving to cup her cheek as his lips move to hers.

Felicity Smoak has posed:
Flowers? Flowers are nice. It's a part of her 'little things' that she'd listed, something simple, easy and means a lot. It's a bodega bouquet, something a step higher than the corner spots that boast a dozen rozes for $12.99, the petals and leaves littering the floor outside her door.

When the door opens a little more, and the flowers are held out to her, Felicity is certainly confused, almost to the point of silence. Almost. "I haven't cleaned up-"

And the attempted kiss? She takes a step back, dodging, but that step back has her very close to a wall just behind her. "Um.. Oliver?" There's a moment before, "You okay?" Something happen? Somebody take over his brain.. or body? Or..

Oliver Queen has posed:
As she steps back, Oliver blinks in a bit of confusion. As much as what he was trying to do as what she did. And immediately, he realizes that he never, ever should have listened to his sister.

His face flushes in embarassment. "Uh, sorry, I--" He shakes his ead. "Yeah, I'm fine, just." A pause. "I'm sorry, I was just, I misread something, you know, and..." He takes a step back. "I should go, I'm sorry." A pause, and he holds out the flowers like they were a grenade. Or a wet cat flailing its claws around and hissing. "These are for you."

Prepared to turn tail and run as soon as those flowers are taken.

Felicity Smoak has posed:
"Oliver.."

Felicity can see it; the self-possessed, self-confident Oliver Queen is afraid? Of her? Of.. what?

"No, don't go." Reaching out, she takes the flowers in one hand while reaching out to try and prevent him from leaving in the other. "Really, don't go." She is standing there in her front hall, completely not ready to receive any visitors, much less someone that she's tried to impress for.. some time, and she's feeling it.

"I have popcorn." As if that'll be the thing that brings him fully over the threshold?

"Please?"

Oliver Queen has posed:
The effort to nake him stop is successful. Oliver does hand the flowers over, and for the moment at leasr does not flee. "I'm sorry, that was wrong of me. I just thought..." He looks around for a moment as if he suddebly realizes that they are having a very personal moment in the hall. "Yeah. Popcorn sounds nice."

He follows her inside without trying any funny business this time.He does however start talking in a flow that would make Felicity proud. if she wasn't on the receiving end. "Listen, I realize that I came at this wrong and I really hope we can forget that. The truth is that you are very important to me and I don't want to lose you - not because of what you can do as Overwatch but because I like having Felicity Smoak in my life."

He nods to the flowers. "Thea was right for suggesting the flowers because I do owe you an apology for seeming like i am taking you for granted. I need to do a better job of appreciating you. And I do - for your dedication to our work and what you mean to me." His cheeks flush a bit. "As far as THAT goes," he says, jerking his thumb over his shoulder towards the door, "That's just me grossly misinterpretting something she said, I think." He laughs. "Like you are actually thinking 'Man that psychopath, he sure is dreamy'". He laughs again. "Look at me, all egg on my face."

Felicity Smoak has posed:
The flow of consciousness in the apartment does have Felicity chuckling; it's not her, this time, and Slade never felt the need to fill any silences with words. The gentle lesson that silence really is okay.

Not a lesson she learned, or perhaps Oliver, for that matter.

Or maybe she's rubbing off on him?

Regardless, she breathes a sigh of relief that he doesn't actually leave, and closes the door behind him once he's within. She leads him to the living room where the bowl of half-eaten popcorn sits on the couch, the indeterminate movie on television to provide noise (remember the 'filling the silence' thing?), and her monitor continues to show the work that she is still doing.

"You caught me.." and she turns off into the kitchen to put the remaining, live flowers into a vase and sets them on the counter. Wandering out again, she's got a hair-tie in hand, and is collecting the long blonde hair to get it up and off her face again, revealing slightly toned arms, and she's actually got a form and figure under there! "Not really ready for guests.. of the male pursuasion. Not that I get many men up here at all. More like none." Beat. "Anymore." There was that one...

Oliver has his roll-out of words, jumbled thoughts, but everything keeps coming back around. "Wait.. wait.." Her hair is pulled back and hands drop, "That.. that I think is the first time you ever said that." Blue eyes look out from behind her thick lenses, "and.. I really hope no one put you up to it," is offered a little more softly. "Because I kind of like hearing it." Nope, nothing about that 'psychopath' in the hallway!

Oliver Queen has posed:
Oliver blinks as he looks at her. "Which part?" He shakes his head. "Come on, Felicity. You know me better than that. Can anyone put me up to /anything/ I don't want to do?"

He sighs deeply, and shakes his head. "I just - I live a difficult life, as you know. And it's hard to imagine too many people who would be willing to put up with it, let alone actually /appreciate/ or /understand/ it." A glance around the apartment. Just an excuse to look elsewhere. "And I just, I started thinking for a moment that it'd be nice to think that it was more than just the mission, or respect, or whatever." He looks at Felicity, lowering his voice slightly. "I enjoy spending time with you. Not just on a mission. Or at the cave." A pause. "You make me feel like it'd actually be worth living as Oliver Queen, not just the Arrow."

Another shake of his head. "Sorry, I clearly don't get how apologies work. I didn't mean to unload on you. You didn't sign up for..." he waves his hand around to indicate himself. "Any of this."

Felicity Smoak has posed:
'No one' in this case equates to 'little sister Thea'. It smells of her handiwork; she should know. The pair are best friends!

Felicity leans against the counter that divides her kitchen and living space, elbow on the top. She drops her head slightly as she watches him before she exhales in a soft sigh.

"You know it is, right? More than just the mission thing?" Her hands move as she talks, "But, I mean, I get it. I'm not just doing this because I've got nothing better to do, or because I might have had a thing.." Had? She's still not all that sure, and for as awkward as Oliver is being right now, at least he's had more experience with picking up girls. Granted, probably in bars or those skiing trips to the Alps.. but the point stands.

She does smile, finally, at those almost final words, and she walks slowly towards him. "It's worth living as Oliver Queen. You know that, right? You looked like you were having so much fun driving your car. You smiled, you laughed, and it was real. That.. that is the Oliver I'd like to see more of."

Felicity looks down and away, towards the television for a long moment, looking to figure out how to choose her words, for once. "I'm sorry that I let Vera get under my skin. You just seemed so.. into her. And then she started talking about you two together, and there we were. In this nice restaurant. Almost made me forget we were just a couple of friends going out for a bite to eat." Pressing her lips together, she shakes her head, "I want you to be happy. I want to see that smile more."

A smirk rises, and she does nod, her pony-tail bobbing behind her, "And I did so sign up for this. For you. For the cave. For the mission."

Oliver Queen has posed:
Oliver nods along with her, slowly. "Yeah. It'd be an insane mission if that's all it was, right?"

When she says that she 'might have had a thing', though, it all connects and makes sense to him. He makes a quiet 'oh' sound, and nods, allowing her to continue speaking. Not interrupting. Just nodding along as she speaks of Vera, and why that impacted her. As she speaks of the Oliver she'd like to see more of. Of the importance of the mission. Of wanting to see him happy.

By the time she is done, he's already processed the one statement that he actually seemed to take in. He listened to all of it, sure. But he HEARD 'might have had', and it all made sense to him. He hadn't been paying attention when it counted.

"I want to see you happy, too." He smiles at her, warmly. Genuine.

"Look, I'm sorry for the awkwardness. But you did deserve the apology. And the flowers." He smiles, and starts to back towards the door. "Enjoy the work from home day. I'll see you back at the cave, next time." Another smile. He keeps smiling.

Felicity Smoak has posed:
'Might have had'.

Unrequited.

The object of her affection had never noticed, and now? She'd come to the conclusion that he's not interested. It's all platonic. A handshake, a 'see you in the cave tomorrow', and that's it? "Did you want to stay for coffee? Or.. something? I mean, I'm working on tracing the arms that the Gang had gone for, and I'm starting to get hits on movement. Nothing big, nothing we can act on, but maybe it's something?" Cake? Cookies?

"This popcorn is really good, too. Made it myself."

Oliver Queen has posed:
There is a soft laugh from Oliver, and he shakes his head. "No, thanks." He starts to back up again, and then stops. "I appreciate you trying to make this less..." He laughs and just nods. To her? To himself?

He makes it to the door. Turns the knob. Pulls it open. A deep sigh. "I'm a big boy, Felicity. I'll get over it." He flashes her that Oliver Queen smile. "Maybe next time, I'll get my head out of my ass sooner."

Felicity Smoak has posed:
"I'm not trying to make this less anything, Oliver." She's trying to get him to stay, if only for a little while. To sit on her couch, eat her popcorn, and maybe enjoy some time completely away? She stands there, watching him walk to the door, turn the knob, and unless she says something, she may never have the opportunity again.

She can talk so much, fill so much silence, and yet the fear is still there. 'He can have anyone', those voices whisper in her ear, 'Why you?' Even the lingerie model holds advanced degrees, and Felicity looks awkward in lingerie.

"Hey," and she tries again to keep him from leaving, "It's never too late." Her offer of popcorn on the couch didn't help, the dangling of the mission didn't either. Now?

"And Mrs DeSilva might be making cookies tonight."

Oliver Queen has posed:
Well, he's stopped. The door is open, his hand on the knob. And he is looking at her.

"Felicity." Oliver takes a deep breath, looking at her. Trying to figure out what is going on, maybe. Or what to do. Or...

"Too late for what?"

Felicity Smoak has posed:
Hello deer in headlights. The fact that it came back at her as a question sends her into something nearing a tailspin. Felicity walks over towards the couch and takes hold of the back, looking very unsure of herself. There's the need to hide, the need to duck and cover, to pretend that she doesn't care. That's what she's been doing all along, however, and how far as it gotten her?

Nowhere.

"Um.." A shake of her head has her ponytail moving again, "Nothing," she finally gets out. "Never mind." It's dumb anyway.

"I'll see you tomorrow, I guess. I've.. uh.. got a bunch of things that I have to coordinate in the searches. Stuff that I can't actually do here."

Oliver Queen has posed:
There is a brief look of disappointment on Oliver's face. He clearly expected, or hoped for, some kind of answer there. Something that didn't come.

He sighs. "Ok."

His smile returns when she says he will see her tomorrow. The kind of smile that cannot be faked. A real smile. "Good. I'd miss you, otherwise." There is a brief moment of pause, as if he is going to say something else, and then he steps out, pulling the door closed behind him.

Felicity Smoak has posed:
Felicity can actually read Oliver. There is a million little //tells// that he gives off, and for the first time in a long time, she has not only his undivided attention, but a desire to understand. And what does she do with it?

Probably just makes it a whole lot harder on herself. She'll be sleeping alone for the foreseeable future, going home with his scent in her nose, the mental image of him working out on that ladder, the sound of his voice when he's intense, or when he's just being him.

Everything she holds on to is walking out that door.

"Yeah, me too," is murmured, her gaze not leaving his.

She continues looking at the door after it's closed, and she's not entirely sure exactly //how// long she remains there, in place, before she exhales in a sigh. "I'm an idiot. Yup.. that's me," and she turns around to pad towards the kitchen to grab some ice cream instead of the popcorn waiting forlornly on the couch for her return. "A complete and total idiot."

Oliver Queen has posed:
There is a slow shake of his head as Oliver stands in the hallway, his hand not quite wanting to let go of the doorknob just yet. He sighs, and makes his way down the hall, and eventually finds himself outside on the sidewalk. "A complete and total idiot," he says to himself, as he walks over back over towards his car.

Another deep breath. "Thea's right. I need to try to live as Oliver. And clearly, not take so long to realize..." He pauses, and pulls his phone out of his pocket, punching a number in. "Hey, this is Oliver Queen." He glances both ways before walking out to pull open the driver door to the car. "I'd like to book a room at the Four Seasons in Central City, please..."