Chapter Text
I’m working out, listening to the soothing noise of Felicity’s fingers hitting her keyboard. Suddenly the sound stops and I hear her exclaim, “Oh! Oh!” Curious what caught her attention, I quickly finish my current move and then turn around to her.
She is sat up straight in her chair, which is slightly pushed back from the desk and she is looking at me with wide eyes.
“Felicity?” I prompt her to explain.
“I can’t believe I nearly forgot! I was going to bring it out right after tonight’s mission and I can’t believe I forgot until now! How could I forget?” She rambles on without actually telling me what is going on, so I raise an eyebrow at her.
She immediately understands and back-tracks, “Oh right, I brought cake to celebrate, chocolate cake, I hope you like chocolate cake but who doesn’t like chocolate cake, right?” She seems to have fallen back into her cute babbling habit in her excitement.
I let a small puff of amusement escape my lips as she practically races over to her large handbag and promptly produces a small box and two forks.
She walks over to the training mats on which I’m stood, lifting the lid off the box as she goes. Grinning up at me, she says, “I brought 3 slices but I guess with John gone for the night, we’ll have the hardship of eating one and a half each.”
I lightly shake my head at her enthusiasm that has me reeling. She unceremoniously drops down onto the training mats, her shoes long ago abandoned. She motions for me to sit next to her by excitedly waving the arm that is holding the forks.
I level her with a look that tries to convey, Are you serious?
She grins up at me and enthusiastically nods her head up and down, so fast I’m surprised she doesn’t get dizzy.
I already had dinner tonight, so I don’t really need to eat anything right now. But when Felicity is in this kind of mood, it’s best to just go along with her cues, so I lower myself down and sit next to her. That and I don't want to disappoint her, I hate disappointing Felicity.
I’m still confused why there is chocolate cake in the first place though. “So, any reason for this cake?”
She looks at me as if I’ve grown two heads. Am I missing something here? I quickly run through the possibilities in my mind; it’s not my birthday, it’s not hers either, and I can't think of any other possibility. So what could be the occasion?
“Seriously, Oliver? As of 12 am, you have been back to Starling City for exactly 1 year!”
I look at her flummoxed. I hadn’t realised or even bothered to remember that date to be honest. I can’t believe she kept track of that, we didn’t even know each other a year ago! While I still stare at her in amazement, she shoves a fork into my hand, which I accept blankly, and she starts eating a piece of the cake.
Two mouthfuls later, she offers the box to me and I use my own fork to break of a small chunk from one of the other pieces. She looks at me expectantly, so I carefully lift the fork and place the chunk of cake in my mouth. I start chewing consciously and suddenly the flavour explodes in my mouth and I lean back in surprise. It tastes really good. I chew slowly to savour the taste. I can’t remember the last time I ate something and actually paused to enjoy it. Typically, I either eat to ensure my body has the required energy to do what I ask it to or because I need to keep up appearances in front of my friends and family.
The ice cream I had with Laurel all those months ago was such an instance. Back then, I was just going through motions. I remembered that I was missing ice cream in those first few weeks on the island, before I successfully suppressed all irrelevant emotions. Emotions I couldn’t afford then. A lack of emotions which my family and friends wouldn’t understand when I returned. Ergo my attempt at acting carefree by trying to think, What would Ollie have done? and What do my family and friends think I missed?
But now, after all these months of Felicity’s companionship, always babbling and filling the silence, but never expecting me to be anyone I’m not and never pushing me to talk, now I’m finally able to just enjoy eating something simply because it tastes good. I never would've paused long enough to enjoy something so simple if it wasn't for Felicity. She really is remarkable.
Before I register what is happening, I’m staring down bemusedly into the box where one slice is fully gone now. I swallow the last bit of gooey sweetness and hesitantly look back up at Felicity.
She is beaming at me, the biggest smile on her face that I have ever seen. Can she guess at how much this moment means to me?
Her eyes take on a soft look and I feel as if she can see straight into my soul. I think maybe she can guess, she is a genius like that. Or maybe it’s just me she can read so well, I’m not sure. I have to acknowledge this somehow, so I softly utter, “Thank you.”
I hand back the box to her and she shuffles a bit closer to accept it, so we are now touching side by side. She starts eating her slice again. I hesitate for a moment, but then I put my arm around her shoulders and draw her even closer. I can tell that she is surprised by how rigid she suddenly holds herself. Usually our touches don’t go further than a squeeze of shoulders or hands. But slowly she seems to relax and she gingerly continues eating her slice of cake.
For the final slice we continue to pass the box back and forth. At some point I realise that one fork is laying forgotten on the side and we’ve actually been sharing the same one. I smile softly. It’s a simple act of sharing food with someone you like, but I can’t remember the last time I felt so much. For the first time in a long time I think I actually feel content and at peace.