Work Text:
09/17/2012 - (10:34 PM):
"Oh ohhh Felicityyyy! That's the um... The one you should get!"
Felicity snorted, "Yeah, because when I look in the mirror I think 'Flower!'"
Sasha blinked slowly, and took a minute to look Felicity over. "How can you be a flower if you're a person?"
Rolling her eyes, Felicity turned the thick page of the book and kept looking at the designs on the page. She frowned when everything looked... Fuzzy. She brought the big book closer to her face and squinted to try and bring the designs into focus. Did she forget her glasses again?
"Can I help you?"
Both girls jumped up when they heard the unfamiliar voice.
Looking up, Felicity was sure her jaw dropped and if she wasn't currently feeling the effects of celebrating Sasha’s birthday with her, she would probably be mortified.
"Wowww hiiiii mister!" Sasha said with a giddy smile, and she started hitting Felicity's arm as if Felicity was blind and didn't see the fine specimen of man in front of her. Felicity groaned; now the man was laughing at them.
"Hi there", he said charmingly while walking towards them. "Find anything you like?"
Felicity bit her lip because she knew she was three seconds away from saying something horrifying embarrassing.
"YEAHHH we like the flower!"
Oh my God Sasha shut up. "We do not like the flower!" Felicity hissed in a stage whisper, unaware that the man could hear everything they were saying.
Sasha furrowed her eyebrows, "But the flower is sooooo pretty, like you! Why don't we like the flower the flower is nice!"
"Why don't I help?" the man said, picking the book out of Felicity's hands and setting it down on the glass table in the middle of the shop. He held a hand out towards Felicity and waited for her to take it before pulling her up and motioning for Sasha to follow him.
"I hold some designs in the back, that I save for special customers who don't like any of the designs in the front. Would you like to see them?"
"OhmyGod YES!" Sasha screeched and Felicity winced; Sasha turned into an excited puppy after her third shot.
"What's your name?" Felicity asked, letting the man drag her along to one of the rooms in the back, while Sasha was basically hanging off her.
"Oliver. This is my shop", he said, turning and smiling at the two of them. Felicity could feel herself smile back.
"This is Felissssity she has the best name ever and I'm just Sasha ", said Sasha, piping up from the back. Felicity smiled and endearingly rolled her eyes.
"It's Felicity", she said, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear as Oliver directed her to a chair.
"Beautiful name", Oliver murmured; Felicity could feel the blush riding high on her cheeks.
He sat down on a stool next to her and directed Sasha to sit on another chair before focusing his gaze on her.
"A lot of my customers ask me to draw something for them instead...", Oliver said, letting his eyes roam over her for an instant. "They usually come within the next week if they're sure they like it. Wanna do that?"
Felicity gulped, nodding when the thought of Oliver's personalized tattoo on her.
"I can't have a tattoo!" Felicity cried out, eyes widening. "I'm Jewishhhh."
Oliver raised an eyebrow and Sasha started cackling in the back.
"Why don't we get you two home then?" Oliver asked, clearly amused. He helped them both up and walked them outside where a taxi was waiting out front.
"You two have your keys and know your address?" Felicity nodded. Oliver smiled, "Then my friend here will make sure you both get home safely."
Sasha started getting in the car and Felicity was about to follow him when Oliver placed a hand on her elbow and pulled her towards him.
"It was very nice to meet you." He whispered, before releasing her elbow and letting her get into the cab.
09/18/2012 – (12:45 PM):
Felicity could feel the trepidation form as butterflies flew in her stomach when she came face to face with the modest tattoo parlor called 'Verdant'.
(On a scale of 1 to horribly embarrassed when thinking about what happened last night, Felicity picked the 'never going to drink again' option.)
Okay she could do this. Just go in, say hello and thank you for getting her and Sasha home safely last night because that was the polite thing to do (and no she didn’t just want to see him again), and then she could walk out. And probably never see him again because tattoos weren’t actually her thing. Easy peasy.
Felicity walked into the parlor and took a second to appreciate the dark maroon walls and the modern chrome finishing, the black couches and the glass table in the middle where she was too drunk to tell a line from a scribble. She quietly walked past the counter and poked her head around the wall behind the counter to see if anyone was there.
“Hello?”
She waited a few moments and shrugged when she didn't hear anyone (and no, she was not disappointed), and turned back into the main waiting area to sit on the couch. Glancing down at the black, leather-bound book on the table, she put her keys down on and table to free her hands and picked the book up to start perusing through it.
Felicity ran a finger over an inked quote, "An arrow can only be shot by pulling it backwards.", and smiled. She was 75% sure this was the "squiggly" line she was looking at last night.
"Can I help you?"
With a (loud) yelp, Felicity dropped the book back on the table and glanced up to see Oliver standing in front of her, smiling amusedly with his hands crossed over his chest.
Placing a hand on her chest to calm her frantic heart, she frowned at Oliver. "Don't you knock?"
He raised an eyebrow, "This is my tattoo parlor."
... Point. Not that she would tell him.
She pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose and stood up, trying to muster up the nerve to properly thank him.
"So... About last night." When she and Sasha thoroughly embarrassed themselves. "I just... wanted to say thank you."
He smiled. "For what?"
"Oh you know... Getting us home safely. Not letting me get a tattoo I would absolutely regret while I was drunk--"
Stepping close enough so she could smell his aftershave, Oliver brushed past her and picked up the book, sending tingles down her arm where he touched her.
"See anything you like now?" he asked, leaning close to her until she was almost dizzy around him.
She glanced down at him appreciatively before smiling. "Yeah, I do."
Oliver chuckled. And oh… when did his hand start curling around her arm? "Somehow I don't think you're talking about the tattoos."
"Well that's presumptuous of you", she retorted, even though yes he was correct and she wasn't into tattoos at all (unless they were on Oliver and wow she's glad that thought stayed in her head. It's the small things that count). “… But I actually don’t want a tattoo.”
“Oh?”
“Which is why I’m thanking you for not letting my drunken state of mind make decisions for me”, she said quickly and cheerfully, feeling a warmth bloom in her chest when he smiled at her again.
His grip on her bicep tightened once before he let go, the warm feeling fading away quickly. “Well… Don’t let that stop you from saying hello.”
She bit her lip; was she imagining the look of playfulness on his face or was that just her? “Yeah… I definitely won’t stop not doing that and wow sorry I have a great cure for hangovers and I obviously took it this morning but that doesn’t stop me from making sentences with double negatives and…” He just looked at her softly, not seeming to want her to stop rambling. Well, that was a first.
Her phone beeped and Felicity jumped, glancing at the time and her eyes widened when she saw that she had five minutes left to run back to work.
“Oh-my-God sorry, I’m going to be late and my boss is a hard ass even though I’m the only competent worker in his technical division and I don’t want to get fired and I will definitely see you later!” she cried, running out the door and wincing at how awkwardly painful that goodbye ramble was.
09/18/2014 – (6:03 PM):
Groaning, Felicity walked up to Verdant and stood outside the quaint shop. She was a total moron. Oliver would definitely not be into her when he realized how… off-kilter she was today, which totally wasn’t her fault! All the blame rested on Sasha’s bad decision-making skills.
She opened the door and heard the familiar ding (and really she did not expect to spend so much time at a tattoo parlor that she recognized the noises it made), and walked into the waiting room to sit on the couch. Felicity palmed the spot where she put her keys and sighed softly when she saw it wasn’t there.
After getting off from work she went home and realized that she didn’t have her keys, so she drove back to work and couldn’t find it, and she spent her lunch hour here so this was the only place it could be and it. wasn’t. here. either.
Sighing, Felicity leaned back against the leather couch and stared at the beige ceiling.
For once she actually heard Oliver before he was coming (that sneaky ninja) and she looked up, her frown turning into a smile when she saw her keys in his hand.
“Thank God!” she screamed with excitement; she really wanted nothing more than to go home and sleep today. She stood up and placed her hand out. “Thank you, thank you, thank you! I am a total mess today and I’m sorry you had to see it this was not how I was planning on impressing you—” Felicity shut her eyes in embarrassment. And here she thought she was having a relatively good day.
He chuckled and placed the keys in her palm, before leaning back against the counter. “I don’t know… I would say I’m pretty impressed.”
Felicity opened her eyes and stared at him inquisitively. “By my awkward adventures?”
Oliver laughed, and the sound was so… beautiful that she froze in place. “I find them endearing.”
“…That’s not the word I would use.”
“Well why don’t I tell you about it all over dinner?” he asked with a smile.
She was pretty sure her jaw dropped, but then she figured he was just kidding and she shouldn’t start hyperventilating or something equally embarassing. “I’m being serious here Oliver.”
“So am I.”
“I don’t want to read too much into this but…” she shook her head, “Are you asking me out on a date? Like an actual… date?”
He chuckled and stepped closer to her, grasping her other hand in his. “Yeah. Is that a yes?”
“Yes.”
“Then what time is good for you?”