Chapter Text
Laurel and Thea are talking amiably while walking to the club’s office. They pause when they suddenly hear voices from inside.
“Oliver! Give me my tablet back!” It was clearly a woman’s voice, sounding annoyed.
“Noo, we worked all night, it’s time for some fun now!” That was clearly Oliver, but neither Laurel nor Thea can remember the last time they heard Oliver so light-hearted. They glance at each other in surprise.
“It’s totally unfair of you to use your tall, well-muscled Adonis body against me!” The woman’s voice sounds out of breath now. What were they doing in there?
“..Adonis..have you been checking me out again?” Oliver sounds amused, another rarity ever since he came back from that god-forsaken island. Laurel and Thea slowly creep towards the open door.
“Hello? Have you looked in a mirror? It’s hard not to when you constantly work out in front of me shirtless...shirtless all the time..” Who was this girl? Laurel and Thea look at each other in confusion. Thea knows that ever since Oliver came back, he never walks around shirtless anymore. She hasn’t seen him shirtless since that one time where she walked into his room as he was getting changed. After that incident, Oliver always made sure to close and sometimes even lock his room door. So who was this girl in front of whom Oliver seems to be comfortable enough to walk around shirtless?
Curious about what is going on, Thea drags Laurel along by grabbing her hand and they finally enter the office. They can’t help but stare at the sight that greets them: Oliver has his left arm lifted high up in the air, holding the aforementioned tablet. The other woman is a tiny blonde who is significantly smaller than Oliver, but that doesn’t stop her from trying to jump up to reach the tablet, while holding on to Oliver for stability with her left hand on his right hip.
As Laurel surveys the scene, she sees that Oliver’s t-shirt has ridden up and suddenly her eyes zero in on a scar that stands out there. His trousers are low on his hips and in the resulting gap to the t-shirt, she can clearly make out three large distinct marks, forming a semi-circle.
In that moment, Oliver realises that they have company and he hastily lowers his arm and takes a step back. “Hi..”, he offers hesitantly. The woman stumbles and nearly loses her balance but Oliver steadies her with surprising ease, as if he had done something similar a thousand times.
Laurel barely registers any of it, she wants to know more about that scar now. She thought Oliver had shown her all of them that night in his room.
Determinedly she walks over. “Oliver! That scar..what..”, she trails off. Oliver looks down at her, there is no traces of light-heartedness or amusement left in his face anymore. His expression is closed-off and he looks at her guardedly. Laurel tries to lift up his t-shirt but Oliver moves out of her reach quickly, intentionally or not, stepping closer to the other woman in the room again.
The other woman looks at Laurel. “Which one do you mean? The shark bite?”
Thea gasps loudly, “Shark bite?”
“Oops, I guess I should’ve kept that one to myself. Sorry, Oliver.” She looks up at him contritely. Oliver levels an exasperated look at her but doesn’t comment any further. Laurel uses that moment of distraction to step closer to Oliver again and yanks up the t-shirt before Oliver can stop her.
“Oh my god, it really looks like teeth marks. How did you survive this?”
“I nearly didn’t.” Oliver takes a step backwards, so that the t-shirt falls back down.
“Are you really telling us that you got bitten by a shark?” Thea’s voice is several pitches higher than normal.
Oliver sighs and runs his hand through his hair. His eyes have taken on a stormy quality, making his inner turmoil visible to those present, if they look closely enough. Without a moment’s hesitation, the other woman rests her left hand comfortingly on Oliver’s right arm. Thea expects Oliver to immediately pull away because Oliver isn’t comfortable with touch since his return. She is shocked when Oliver seems to lean into her touch instead. Who exactly is this woman?
“I don’t wanna talk about it.”
That is so typical of him, Thea thinks. He never wants to talk about it. It makes her so angry, she is his sister, why doesn’t he let her in?
“You never want to talk to me about anything. But clearly, you told this woman. Why is it so abhorrent to you to talk to your sister?” Thea angrily takes a step forward and glares at her brother.
“You said that there were people there who tortured you, you never mentioned anything about shark bites!” Laurel comments and she can’t keep the anger out of her voice.
“Woah, calm down everyone, Oliver is allowed to open up at his own speed and share only what he is comfortable with!” The woman immediately jumps to Oliver’s defense.
“Who are you anyway?” Laurel rudely interjects.
The woman looks startled for a moment, before she replies, “I’m Felicity..Smoak..I work IT for Oliver.”
“IT?”, Laurel sounds incredulous, “if Oliver talks to you about the island and, apparently, walks around shirtless in front of you, you gotta be a lot more than his IT help. Or do you sleep with all your clients?”
Felicity gasps at that, but it’s nothing in comparison to Oliver’s reaction. He stands up straight and takes a menacing step towards his ex-girlfriend. “You don’t get to talk to her like that”, he growls. “Felicity is a friend, a great friend, who has been helping me get used to the technological changes of the last five years. Since then, she has always been there for me when I needed her.” He glares at Laurel who unconsciously takes a step backward.
Oliver hasn’t been very talkative since he came back and this is the most vocal and emotional Thea has heard him since. Both Laurel and Thea are taken aback with how aggressive and even dangerous Oliver seems all of a sudden. He is so unlike the boy they used to know and Laurel can’t help but feel a shiver of fear racing down her back.
That woman, Felicity, doesn’t seem bothered however. With sure strides, she moves in front of Oliver, now resting both her hands on his forearms and intently says, “Oliver”. Instantly the tension drains out of him and he looks down at Felicity with a softness in his eyes that again surprises both Laurel and Thea. How can someone’s emotions change so rapidly?
With a sigh, Oliver tugs Felicity towards one of the sofas in the room. They both sit down and Oliver gestures for the other two women to sit on the opposing sofa.
Oliver’s fingers are absentmindedly trailing invisible lines over Felicity’s arm. Thea is sure that he isn’t even aware of doing that. “If we are having this discussion, I need food.” Oliver tiredly rubs his eyes and glances at Laurel and Thea warily.
While Laurel and Thea are still confused by the topic change, Felicity doesn’t miss a beat and cheerily answers, “do you want your usual from Triple-B?” Oliver just hums in response while Felicity is already typing away on her tablet.
“Triple-B? What’s that?” Laurel skeptically asks.
“Oh my god, you don’t know Triple-B? Oliver, how can you not introduce your friends to Triple-B?!” Felicity sounds scandalised and slaps Oliver’s bicep. Thea thought she’s seen it all by now but she is again shocked when Oliver’s only reaction to that is to chuckle and flick at Felicity’s nose. Who was this Oliver and where had her broody, stoic brother gone?
For the first time, she could see the Ollie in him that left all those years ago when he boarded the Queen’s Gambit. She looks at Laurel and by the shine in her eyes, Thea is sure she is thinking the same. Looks like her brother finally found someone he can let in. Happily, she settles back and looks forward to continue watching the interaction between Oliver and the woman that seems to bring Oliver's light-heartedness back to the surface.
