Work Text:
“This is a terrible idea.” Oliver grumbled, his voice rough but tinny through the comm-link.
“This was your terrible idea, Oliver.” Felicity reminded him, muttering under her breath as she readjusted the slouchy knit cap she wore over loose blonde waves.
Roy, who was trying to subtly adjust his uncomfortably compressed junk through the pockets of his far too tight skinny jeans, grunted his agreement. “Was this stupid hipster getup really necessary?” he sniped.
“Yes.” Felicity sighed, because that particular detail had actually been her idea. “We're more unassuming, and therefore less suspicious, if we blend in. How many advocates for green living do you think walk around in $400 heels?”
“Your shoes cost $400?” Roy snorted, hefting one thick brow at her.
Oliver's displeased growl was loud and caused both Felicity and Roy to flinch. “Just remember the plan. Get in, plant the bug in Rashad's office, and get the hell out. If she catches you... Rashad may present herself as a pacifist to the public but she's not above taking lives if it furthers her agenda.”
“I think the twelve dead bodies and pile of rubble made that fact pretty clear.” Roy rolled his eyes, looping an arm around Felicity's shoulder as they turned the corner onto the block containing Mia Rashad's base of operations.
Over the previous six months there had been a spike in terrorist activity in Starling City. It started out small, with a few vandalizations of research facilities dedicated the advancement of technology in agriculture, including the bioengineering of chemicals meant to increase crop output and decrease the impact of certain insect populations. The next step had been the sabotage of not one, but two, major conventions meant to educate and inform the masses on the positive aspects of research and development in the agricultural field. The final straw, and the moment Oliver and his team decided they needed to act, was when the protests and resistance had crossed the line from nonviolent to downright deadly. A bomb had gone off in one of the research labs, Redfield Research. The explosion rocked the city and resulted in twelve deaths, all of which could be attributed back to Mia Rashad and her organization.
Rashad touted herself as a peace loving environmentalist, a leader who taught her followers to use nonviolent forms of protest to express their disagreement with Redfield and others companies like them. Rashad preached harmony and cooperation but behind closed doors the woman was out for blood. While she was telling her people to stage sit-ins and spread the message of natural green and organic farming, she was simultaneously plotting death and destruction as a means to her end.
“I'll have eyes on you the entire time.” Oliver reminded them, though Felicity herself had been the one to patch them into Rashad's security cameras.
Roy let his hand slip down Felicity's back, resting warmly in the dip of her spine. “Can you see me now?” he quipped.
Felicity's lips twitched at the corners as Oliver's aggravated response came through the comms. “Don't push your luck, kid.” he snapped, annoyed because yes, he could see them and no, he didn't like the sight of Roy's hand fitted to the small of Felicity's back. The little shit did it on purpose, too. Every God damned time.
“Hey, you're the one who said we had to sell it.” Roy reminded him, smirking so obviously that Oliver could hear it in his voice.
“Your desire to join their organization, not your status as a couple.” Oliver bit out. “You could've gone in as siblings and made it work.”
“Now where's the fun in that?” Roy mumbled, pressing his nose into Felicity's hair in a move meant to display their coupledom as much as it was intended to piss off Oliver.
“Stop.” Felicity pinched Roy's hip, smiling despite the reprimand. “Can we just get this over with? This scarf is making my skin itch.”
*
“Look, Dad, no deaths!” Roy called out cheerily from the top of the stairs, Felicity a few steps ahead of him.
“Remind me again why I'm not allowed to punch him?” Oliver frowned at Digg, arms crossed over his chest and feet planted wide.
“Because Felicity made you sleep on the couch last time.” Digg grinned, pushing himself up onto Felicity's desk to settle in and watch the fireworks.
“Is it transmitting?” Felicity asked as she hurried toward her computers, scratching at the reddened skin around her throat.
“Crystal clear.” Oliver assured her, narrowing his eyes at a broadly grinning Roy. “What was that?” he asked, falsely calm.
“Can you be more specific?” Roy made a puzzled face, tapping a finger to his cheek in thought. “Because, just generally speaking, I'd say that was a successful mission. I know we sometimes forget what those look like but jeez, Oliver.”
Felicity, while trying to ignore her bickering boys at the same time she was attempting to run a particularly finicky program, shook her head at an amused Diggle. “How bad is this going to be?” she asked quietly.
“Depends.” Digg lifted one shoulder in a half-shrug. “How fast do you think Roy can run in those jeans?”
Felicity sighed in resigned acceptance and swiveled in her chair, tuning into Roy and Oliver just in time to hear Oliver grit, “How exactly did your hand on her thigh benefit the mission?”
Roy tried to smother his grin by pursing his lips but his eyes still danced with laughter. “It distracted Rashad from what Felicity's hands were doing.”
Oliver wanted to punch the smug look right off his face. Only the thought of sleeping alone kept him from acting on the impulse.
“Besides, look at this way.” Roy added, his mouth tipping up crookedly. “At least she wasn't wearing a skirt.” he winked.
Oliver was chasing him up the stairs before Felicity could shout, “If you draw blood you're sleeping at Digg's!”