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Oliver knows before Felicity has even left the building that he needs to apologize to her. He’s been in a bad mood all week and she’s taken the brunt of his anger like she always does. It’s in moments like this that he remembers how good Felicity is. It sounds like a strange thing to call someone but he doesn’t mean it in the generic way. Felicity is funny and brilliant and good. She keeps him balanced in moments he wants to rush off and put an arrow in whichever scumbag they are after at the time. She holds him accountable for his actions and holds him to a high standard because she expects nothing less. Felicity Smoak is entirely too good for him in every way and he always forgets that until after he’s hurt her.
The first thing he does is call Diggle who tells him that he has driven Felicity to a destination Oliver isn’t allowed to know the whereabouts of and that the entirety of Team Arrow will be offline tonight. Barely half a minute after the calls ends his phone blows up with messages from the Team. Thea’s reads Going on a date with Lover Boy. Roy’s reads Thea says we’re going on a date. Sara’s reads Girls night with Sin. Tommy’s reads Speedy and Red are going on a date so I’m watching Verdant.
Every now and then some members of their team have the night off or work their second job (Roy, Sara, Tommy and Thea) but never has the entire team been offline. He wants to object but he can’t, the Team spend more time than they probably should in the basement of the club and Oliver can’t ask more of them then he does already. The fact that Felicity hasn’t texted makes a clear statement. It isn’t the first time she’s gone on radio silence after he’s done something insensitive. He wants to track her down and apologize but he knows at best she’ll shut her front door in his face and at worst she’ll chew him out for being an ass, for coming over unannounced and then shut the door in his face. So he changes his plans and does what he always does: go to the foundry.
It doesn’t take long to drive there and slip in through the back door of the empty club into the foundry. He strips down and into his workout clothes. He starts with the Salmon Ladder and he tries to ignore the fact that everything feels wrong. It’s wrong that he can’t hear the quiet sound of Felicity’s computer and the way she hums to whatever song is stuck in her head. There is no light from the computers or her heels kicked under the desk. He can’t berate Roy for slacking off so his apprentice can bug Felicity about whatever the latest theory is about the show they both apparently watch. It’s too quiet and Oliver hasn’t felt so lonely since the Island. He doesn’t like it and it doesn’t take him long to drop down off the ladder and give up.
He changes into casual attire that will let him blend in with all the people upstairs in his club. He slips back into the club and looks around for Tommy but can’t find him anywhere. It doesn’t take him long to shoot off a message to his best friend asking him where he is. The girl behind the bar informs him that Tommy has taken the night off with Roy and Thea and that she has been left in charge. Oliver doesn’t know who she is but he remembers Thea hiring her when she took over the club. It’s probably bad form on his part but he doesn’t care as he leaves and starts heading towards the clock tower in his car.
He’s almost surprised that the clock tower is empty and Sin and Sara aren’t there. However, he isn’t entirely surprised when Sara texts him and tells him to stay out of her base and that its none of his business where any of them are. It wouldn’t surprise him if Sara had Felicity rig up a security system for her. He doesn’t stay very long and instead chooses to go stop by at Tommy’s apartment on the way to Felicity’s. He uses the spare key he’s had since the day his best friend moved in. Tommy isn’t home either and the apartment is empty. Eventually he decides to drive over to Felicity’s and on the way he talks to himself out loud, practicing what he is going to say and how he is going to apologies. It takes Oliver five minutes to even work up the courage to get out of his car and it is anticlimactic when Felicity’s old neighbour, the one with the cat that doesn’t like him, tells him after a minute of knocking that Felicity isn’t home.
He is about to turn his ignition on when he receives a text from the person he’s been dying to talk to all night. He reads the text more than once: We aren’t talking about this until tomorrow but if you show up with take out food I might let you in. It takes him three seconds to start driving towards the nearest Thai restaurant. He orders all her favorites from the shop and it’s neighbors the pizza place and the Italian restaurant. By the time he gets to Big Belly Burger he has enough food to feed Nyssa’s army. Carly gives him a pointed look as he orders and it takes him a few seconds to register the fact that she knows he’s done something wrong by the order she gives him. She adds an extra serving of curly fries for Felicity and he tips her a hundred dollars. To her credit Carly doesn’t blink and just tells him that begging on his knees should help.
When he gets back into his car he realizes he doesn’t know where Felicity is. Oliver is about to text her when his phone lights up again with another message. The message has her location in it and it isn’t until he has driven half way there that he realizes that he knows this part of town like the back of his hand and that there is only one person he knows of in this part of the Glades: Roy.
He pulls up at Roy’s house and it takes him a minute but he has stacked all the take out so he can carry it up to the front door without dropping any of it. It takes more effort than he originally thought to shut the car door and lock it without dropping anything. Before he can knock on the front door it swings open to reveal Roy in sweat pants and a ratty shirt.
“Well at least I know how badly you screwed up.”
“Roy is-”
Roy walks away leaving the door open before he can finish his sentence. Oliver follows him in and almost drops the food in surprise when he takes in the scene in front of him. Felicity and Thea are in matching ratty shirts, obviously Roy’s, and Felicity is in faded plaid pajama pants while Thea is in a pair of Roy’s boxers. Roy settles down into the couch again and Felicity leans against him resting her had on his shoulder. Thea leans back against the arm of the couch and puts her feet across their laps sending Oliver a glare. Sara and Sin are sitting cross-legged on the other couch playing Uno together. Tommy is on the rug in front of Felicity, Thea and Roy digging through a surprisingly large DVD collection in track pants and a UCLA shirt Oliver knows he never earned legitimately.
Thea frowns at Felicity. “’City you didn’t tell me my brother was that much of an ass.”
“Oliver why did you bring food?” asks Felicity.
“You asked me to,” he sets the food down on the coffee table and shows her the text.
“Roy!” Felicity pinches him on the arm.
“I was hungry,” shrugs Roy. “Plus you weren’t telling me what happened so I figured Oliver would spill some details.”
“I want the pizza,” declares Tommy, looking up from the DVDs in his hand.
“You can’t have a whole pizza to yourself Tommy,” scowls Thea.
“We’ll have the Italian,” Sin says hopefully, “stop letting me win Sara!”
“I’m not,” Sara argues, “Ollie give us the Italian and I won’t hurt you.”
“Roy?” Oliver sighs.
Roy looks at Felicity. “We’ll have the Big Belly Burger and the Pad Thai, you can have whatever other one you got.”
Oliver hands everyone their food and sits down on the floor with Tommy. Everyone but Digg is here and he’s never seen the Team so comfortable together somewhere that isn’t the foundry. It’s strange and he feels like an outsider as he watches them argue over what they want to watch. Sara and Sin bow out sighting that they don’t care what everyone watches. Thea votes they watch Mean Girls, Tommy votes Top Gun but it is Felicity and Roy who decide by teaming up and voting for The Green Hornet. No one asks Oliver what he thinks and he isn’t sure if it because they are mad at him or because they have such a routine that it doesn’t occur them to ask.
As the movie plays Felicity and Roy run commentary while they trade food back and forth. Sara retreats to the kitchen to make popcorn and she and Sin spend the movie throwing popcorn at Felicity and Roy when they run commentary during what the girls deem the best parts of the movie. Tommy starts snoring an hour into the film and Thea begins dozing off soon after.
When the movie ends Oliver locks eyes with Felicity and she sighs, lifting Thea’s legs up and moving out from under her. Sin is asleep too, head in Sara’s lap. Roy gets up and manages to step over Tommy and collects all the containers to put in the bin. Oliver watches as Felicity goes about taking blankets out of cupboards to put on Sin, Tommy and Thea.
“You going to stay the night?” asks Roy.
Felicity shakes her head. “Oliver’s going to drop me home.”
“There’s always room here for you.”
“I know and I promise next Wednesday it’ll just be you me and Game of Thrones but I really need to talk to Oliver.” Felicity hugs Roy loosely before collecting her tablet from the kitchen bench.
Roy glares at Oliver. “Make it up to her or you don’t get another invite.”
“Okay,” he nods.
“Ready Oliver?”
Oliver turns to Felicity and nods. “You have everything?”
“I’ve got my phone and my tablet, everything else I’ll come by and get tomorrow. I’m so glad it’s Friday night.”
Oliver holds the door open for her and she walks out in front of him, waiting at the car. She slides in when he unlocks it and the drive to her apartment begins in silence. It’s almost tense but not truly. He still needs to apologies to her but all her anger from earlier in the day is gone and she is relaxed and pliant.
“So how long have you all been having these movie nights?”
Felicity looks at him. “A few months. Roy and I watch Game of Thrones every week together but Tommy started dropping in. He doesn’t really get what is going on even though he tries and Thea doesn’t want to watch the show at all so when there is more than just Roy and I we watch movies. Tonight was the first night everyone was together in one room though.”
“Because I was taking it out on you and being a complete asshole?”
“Something like that.”
“I’m sorry.”
Felicity sighs. “You always are.”
“I’m going to make it up to you.”
“You always do.”
Oliver pulls up to her building and stops the car. “Felicity tomorrow morning I’m going to take you out to get coffee and we can stop by any electronic store you like and you can pick something out for the foundry.”
“You think you can buy me off?”
“No but I think it might be enough to stop my sister from killing me in my sleep until you really forgive me. I can’t promise I won’t be an idiot in the future but I can promise I’ll always try my hardest to earn your forgiveness.”
Felicity smiles. “Stop it Oliver I’m trying to be mad at you.”
Oliver grins. “I’ll do the Salmon Ladder shirtless for a month.”
“Deal but you have to also promise that you’ll try to not come back seriously injured for a month. That includes Roy too, with the cure he forgets he isn’t as strong as he was and I’m getting really sick of sticking needles into him.”
“He’s your best friend.”
“And he’s your apprentice.”
Oliver rolls his eyes. “Fine. Text me tomorrow when you want me to pick you up?”
“You’ll hear from me even if I have to communicate with you through Morse Code.”
“Wait you can do that?”
Felicity laughs. “No but I was thinking about it. It’s a little out dated but so are bows and arrows.”
“I’ll give you that. Felicity?”
“Yes?”
“I don’t like it when you’re mad at me,” he says quietly.
Felicity gets out of the car and leans against the shut door. “Well don’t worry because you’ve been downgraded to irritated. Goodnight Oliver.”
“Goodnight Felicity.”
Oliver doesn’t start the car again until she’s inside the building completely. It takes him another half minute to leave the front of the building but when he does he is smiling. He might not be in her good books yet but he can deal with going to bed knowing she still wants to see him tomorrow.