Chapter Text
Felicity Smoak
Felicity Smoak had never had any one of those life-changing moments. You know when something happens and then you realize who you are and what you actually want to be. She had never truly lived her life to the fullest, until she met Oliver.
Oliver Fucking Queen (okay, that wasn’t his middle name, it was Jonas, but still). He could possibly have been the hottest and most genuine guy in the entire high school, okay maybe even in the world. Felicity had developed a crush on him when he was eight and he had moved in next door. It didn’t make much sense, his parents were loaded, and their neighborhood wasn’t exactly the kind of neighborhood you’d pick if you had a shitload of money. His father was some kind of CEO of some big shot company, but Felicity couldn’t have given any less shit about that. She only remembered seeing him that first day, without her knowing who he was and him not knowing her, and when he saw her he gave her the biggest smile she had seen. It was that moment she had fell for him, she thought. They used to play together until they reached a certain point in middle school.
She always admired him when he walked the halls of Starling City High School. Each day he would send her that same smile he sent her that first day. And she would be lying if she said it wasn’t her favorite part of the day. He was one of the popular kids, yet he never picked on anyone or made anyone feel like lesser people than him. It was one of the things that made Felicity love him. She was completely and utterly in love with him. She knew that.
Which was why it was so sad that they weren’t in the same places in high school and the fact that they hadn’t really talked since middle school. She was the girl with the glasses who loved math and who found chemistry and physics almost as fascinating as she found computers. She was a total nerd, and he was one of the football players, one of the cool guys. She knew they would never be friends.
It all changed that one day.
Felicity’s life was filled with strictly held routines. She would get up at 5:30 and spend 30 minutes on the treadmill, then she would shower and after that eat a bowl of healthy cereal. She dried her hair, and put on clothes and makeup. After that she would get a ride with her mom to school. She walked home, did her homework and maybe read a book. She never did anything outside her routine, and that was okay for her. She didn’t need that exciting life, she lived a simple one and that was okay for her.
Felicity liked to obey the rules, get to school on time, keep good grades and do her homework. They were almost finished with high school and she was hoping for a scholarship from MIT or something. Soon they would graduate, and she was really excited to be going off to college.
Oliver Queen could not have been more different than her in some ways. He wasn’t known for his bright mind, and he wasn’t known for going to school everyday on time. He was someone who enjoyed adventure and living on the edge. He was a popular guy, and she wasn’t a popular girl.
Which was why everything that day was so confusing. She was talking to her best friend Iris at her locker.
“Have you found a dress to the prom yet?” Iris was practically skipping up and down.
“Prom’s not for another month or so.” She searched for her chemistry book in her locker, which unlike her life, had gotten a lot messier through the years.
“Yeah, but I can’t wait! Do you think anyone is going to ask me? Oh I hope I get asked by Tommy Merlyn.”
Ugh Tommy Merlyn. He was Oliver Queen, but opposite in many ways. His parents were loaded too, which is probably why they were best friends. Oliver was nice and genuine, while Tommy was the ‘beat up that kid because he’s gay’ kind of guy. He loved partying and drinking beer and sleeping with everything that moved. He was a pig.
“Oh please, if you end up with Douchebag Merlyn as your date, you can find a dress on your own.”
“A girl can wish. He’s so hot.” Felicity shot Iris a look while she was staring dreamily in the air.
“He’s a douche and a pig.”
“Yeah, but he’s like a bad guy. I don’t know they always attract me.”
“Not me.” Felicity snorted.
“Oh don’t I know it.” Iris shot Felicity an amused look.
“What?”
“You have the eyes for Oliver Queen,” Felicity looked around nervously hoping Iris didn’t say it too loud. “And he’s like the lame popular guy.”
“He’s not lame, he’s just not the typical douchebag.”
“Yeah well, he’s fine but I need a bad guy.”
“Whatever floats your boat.” Felicity sighed. “Have you ever thought of taking Barry? He needs a date and I know he would prefer taking you.” Iris went from amused to conflicted in a second.
Barry Allen was their third best friend. They were a gang of four, with the even moore geeky Caitlin Snow, but Felicity knew he had a small crush on Iris.
“I don’t know it could get weird, I want to go with someone I like, and who actually has the balls to ask me.”
“Fine then, Barry will be my date then. He is totally arm candy anyway.”
“Yeah, if you like the nerdy types.”
“But it’s kinda like hot nerdy though, right?” Iris laughed and disappeared down the hallway to a class.
Suddenly she felt someone behind her.
“Barry, it’s settled. Me and you for prom…” She turned around and crashed face first in someone’s chest. It was someone with a very hard chest, and who smelled amazing. He backed away and she could see who it was. Holy shit.
It was Oliver Queen. Oliver Fucking Queen was standing in front of her with that big smile and she had just crashed into his very hard chest.
“I’m so sorry.” She said nervously.
“Don’t be. Didn’t realize how close I was until you crashed into me. It was my bad.” She was left speechless. He talked to her. He actually talked to her. Holy shit.
“So, Allen? He your boyfriend?” He was still smiling that Oliver Queen smile. He was gorgeous in every way. The way his hair was always perfectly up in that slightly wavy but not too long way, and the slight stubble he always had. His Leatherman jacket looked so good on him, like something in his look just clicked when he wore it. He looked young, and he looked free.
“No, we just always go together because then we both have someone to go with.” She brushed a lock of hair from her face and stared up at him, chemistry book in hand.
“Ah, well, it’s a nice arrangement.” He took a break before continuing, looking into the hallway. She expected it was to check if any of his friends saw him talking to her. “Although I am surprised, I would have thought the guys were lining up to ask you.” She was so shocked at what he had said that she probably had her mouth open or something because when he asked if she was okay, she had to snap out of it.
“I’m fine. Uh, was there anything you wanted?” He looked a bit surprised that she jumped right to the reason he was here, but he returned to smiling right after that. God, he was a sunshine.
“I hear you’re really good in chemistry. Maybe we could be lab partners or something? I know it’s not that long left of school, but you look like you’re both good company and good at chemistry.” She had to wait a while before answering, because she could get no words out.
“Sure, that would be nice.”
“I don’t hope you’re just saying yes because I asked, because you could say no if you’re worried about your grade.”
“No, no it’s fine. I’m sure I could teach you a lot.” She smiled at him and he nodded his head.
“Great, looking forward to it. Hey, by the way, don’t we have English now?” He pointed at her chemistry book, and she was sure she blushed because she had looked at the wrong day.
“Okay.” He laughed. “See you in class.” He started jogging down the hall and she watched him disappear in the distance. Wow, she thought. That was something.
That day went terribly slow. She couldn’t focus in any of the classes, and when she turned around she could see him looking up from his book and smiling. God, he had a magical smile.
When she got home, she ate an apple and went up to her room to start on her homework. The surprisingly awkward next moment went as this: she got into her room and threw her backpack on her bed. She then looked out the window to find Oliver working out shirtless right by the window. The window that were very close to hers. She could see his defined abs and his sweaty chest. He had really impressive muscles, and God could he get more perfect. He was doing chin ups on a bar that he had installed right by the window. Had he known it was that obvious to her when he had installed it there? No, that was just wishful thinking. She got lost in thought while staring at him, and she didn’t notice that he had lowered himself enough to look at her. She finally noticed he had seen her staring, and immediately looked away again. She could hear his little laugh as he dropped down and waved at her. She waved awkwardly back.
She got started on her homework and finished an hour and a half later. She went downstairs and ate dinner with her mother. She had made lasagna, which was probably the only thing her mother really could cook.
When she had finished, she decided to go upstairs and read the new book she had just bought, and slumped onto the bed. It was a book that Iris had read. She said ‘she cried an ocean while reading it and it was fucking amazing and she loved it, but she also hated it. Either way it’s worth a read’, so she figured she’d see if Iris was right. The book was called ‘Me Before You’ and was about this girl who gets a job as a nurse for a disabled man. She stayed up the rest of the day reading it. It got really interesting to see how their relationship developed. He practically ignored her in the beginning, but then after a while they became really good friends. But she had a boyfriend and she was his nurse, so she understood why nothing had happened between them yet. Halfway through the book she thought to herself why in hell Iris could also hate this book. It was amazing. It had gotten dark outside when she realized the clock was 12:21 in the morning, and she was taking her shirt off when she heard a sound behind her. She jumped when she saw Oliver climbing into the window. She was about to scream when he put a finger to his mouth and quietly said “Shh.”
She was standing there with her shirt almost taken off and quickly put it back on.
“Sorry, I didn’t know you were… Uh, I was thinking you were asleep by now.” He took a second before continuing, slowly realizing what he had said. “That sounded so much more creepy than this is.”
“Not really.” She whispered back. “We have to be quiet my mom is probably sleeping.”
“Yeah.” He muttered quietly.
“What are you doing climbing up my window this late?” She whispered.
“I was going to ask you to sneak out with me. I wanted to show you something.”
“What?”
“I need you to see something. Come on, go out on an adventure with me!” He glanced over to her bed where the book was laying open. “Look, when you think back on this time when you were in high school, you won’t remember the book you read. You’ll remember the time you sneaked out with me to go on an adventure. Come on it’ll be fun! I’m dying to show you this place!” He was whispering eagerly. Now she noticed his expensive leather jacket, she hadn’t seen it before. He usually wore normal clothes that didn’t say ‘I’m super rich’.
She thought for a while before answering. “Fine.” She whispered. “But how do we get there? We are not taking my mom’s car she’ll find out and she’ll freak!”
“No, we can take mine!” She nodded and followed him to the window. He had climbed up the old tree that was standing in the middle of the two houses, and he helped her down.
They got into his car, it wasn’t really the car you’d expect from a rich kid, it was an ordinary looking car.
They drove in silence for a while. She opened the window to feel the air, and her hair blew all around her. She could feel Oliver’s eyes on her as she closed hers to feel the air. She needed to feel something to make sure this was real. She was riding in the car with Oliver Queen. Gorgeous Oliver Queen had snuck into her room at midnight to ask her to go on an adventure. She didn’t know it yet but her life had just made one of the biggest turns she would make. He drove them to a parking lot she didn’t recognize, and there was a tall building nearby. They got out of the car and started to walk towards the building.
“Where are we?” Felicity said with a giggle.
“A place I’ve been wanting to share with someone for a long time.” He took her hand and started to run, and she followed. They snuck in back of the building and he pulled out a key.
“Wait, is this your father’s company’s building?” She asked, and he nodded.
“I need you to see something.” They got inside and ran towards the elevator. “We’re lucky they haven’t shut them down for the night yet!” He said with a smile. They rode it so far up she was afraid she might find out she feared heights when they reached their floor.
The doors was opened they made their way through a conference room.
“I used to sit in here playing when I was little. I don’t understand why they never used this conference room. Just look forward there.” He pointed out the glass walls, and Felicity’s breath was taken from her. The view was amazing, they could see the entire city.
“Wow, it’s so beautiful.” She said walking over to the glass to look closer.
“I had this idea a few months ago to sneak in here and look at the city. I discovered how beautiful it actually was, and I’ve been wanting to share the view with someone.
“Why me?” She looked over at him, but he didn’t look at her. He just kept staring at the view. He let out a forced quick laugh and shook his head.
“Why didn’t you share this with Laurel?” She was still looking at him. Laurel was his girlfriend, and she was the most popular girl at school. She was gorgeous and looked like a model. Only bad thing about her was that she was a bitch. Which made it a lot of bad things about her.
“She’s been fucking Tommy.” He started out the window, his expression still remaining the same.
“Oh, I’m so sorry.” He just stared out over the city.
“Don’t be. If she wants to screw that spoiled prick, she’s welcome to. They’re probably perfect for each other.”
“I don’t understand why people cheat. And I really don’t understand why anyone would cheat when they have you.” She didn’t think about what she was saying until she had said it. He just looked at her and smiled briefly.
“I’m not surprised that someone like you would say that. You don’t strike me as the person to cheat on anybody. I like those people, and I am those people too. “
“’People like me’?” Felicity looked at him with confusion on her face.
“Yeah, people who you look at for the first time, and you can't help but smile, and you know immediately that they are incredible people.” She smiled at him and he smiled back. It got her thinking about that day he moved next door. “Can I make a comment, which is not meant to be any sort of insult or anything like that? It’s just a comment.” He reassured. She nodded.
“It was true what I told you earlier today about guys lining up to be your prom date. I am surprised that people doesn’t, but then again I’m not.” She looked out the window as he continued speaking. “You’re sort of shy, which is difficult for people who likes you a lot.”
“I’m confident with my friends and such, but it just takes a while for me to trust you and be like that around you.”
“You’re like that now.” He was standing so close to her that she noticed his smell. She hadn’t noticed it before but she loved it. He smelled so goddamn good, she wanted to bury her head in his neck.
“Only because I’m with you.” There was a moment of silence before he continued talking.
“I despise people who cheat. It’s the main reason I don’t talk to my mother. She cheated on my dad almost their entire marriage, then it turns out my sister isn’t my dad’s, she’s her lover’s. Then she moves to Coast City with the guy and my sister. My dad, he didn’t show it, but I knew he was devastated.” He took off his leather jacket and looked at it in his hands. “He gave me this the other day. Normally I don’t wear unnecessary expensive clothes. I hate them because then I feel like people think I’m feeling superior to them. I don’t feel like I am, just because I have money. Sometimes I think we all have our moments with feeling superior over someone, and I hate that sometimes I find myself having those thoughts. I guess it’s just part of our natural state to think those thoughts. I don’t judge people who does, because that’s how we act and how we always have acted and that’s fine sometimes we can’t all be saints.”
“Wow, you are really smart.”
“I know everybody says I’m flunking and my grades are bad and such, but that’s just what they expect of me. It’s not even true, I’m actually doing great, except in chemistry. The thing is that they just assume I’m bad at school, because they expect it. I don’t like to be expected of things. Like running this company, I hate the fact that it is expected of me to run this company.”
“Yeah, expectations suck.”
“Yeah.” There was another moment of silence. “You see this city? It’s beautiful up here, and you’re up high. Here you are free and you can watch it’s beauty from a high angle and you can be yourself. When you get down on the ground, everything of that disappears. It becomes ordinary again and you’re not up high anymore. You’re just a speck in this city, in this school, and you are again expected of things. You lose that high you get up here, when you’re with an amazing girl and she doesn’t expect things of you or judge you or cheat on you, and she’s just standing here in the lights of the city, looking beautiful.” She looked up at him, and he turned to her and looked her in the eyes. “Felicity, I don’t want to lose that high when I get down. I don’t want to go back to just smiling at you each day in the hallway, and then nothing else. I want to keep the high and look at that beauty it presents me each day. I want to go out on adventures and not have expectations on me.”
“Then don’t.”
“Will you go on a road trip with me sometime?” His sudden change of topic surprised her.
“What?”
“I want to just drive somewhere with you and tell you all the things I want to say to you, but I can’t here because I feel like I’m trapped in this place with these expectations and you don’t deserve to have people expecting things of me like that because you deserve me saying the true things.”
“You can just tell me here.”
“No, I need to take you away. I need to drive with you somewhere I don’t know.”
He held out his jacket for her.
“What do you want me to do with it?”
“I want to give it to you. I might not talk to you at school like I am talking to you here, where it’s just you and me up so high with no expectations. I might not be as open. So wear the jacket, and I’ll smile at you and go over to you at school and tell you about things, but not those things I really want to say.”
“Okay.” She put it on. It was a lot bigger than her size, but not too much so that she couldn’t use it.
“Wow, you look so beautiful.” He reached one of his hands out to her. “Could I dance with you?”
“But there is no music?” Felicity raised her eyebrows at him.
“We don’t need it, I can sing to you.”
He took her hand with his and put his other around her waist.
“ Woman, help me
You turn my head in circles”
His voice was nice, not perfect, but he had a nice voice. He sung it slower than Imagine Dragons did. She recognized the song, it was ‘The Unknown’ by Imagine Dragons. It was a song that she never really understood, but she liked understanding things so she figured out one day that it’s about being happy and that happiness has been the unknown to him. They moved slowly back and forward as he sang.
“Mama, blessed me
With magnet eyes for purple
Oh, so let me show you something good”
He spun her around and she got even closer to him than she was before. Their chests were now pressed together and his face was close to hers as he sang.
“ Pastor, preacher
I want to say I'm sorry
Nice to meet ya
I think my eyes are starry
Pledge allegiance to my only ”
He sang it in a much higher way than the original, the way he felt so open when he sang, it made her love it so much.
“Sooner or later it all comes around
Hopefully then I will see
After the people and places are gone
You will come back,
You will come back to me, to me, to me
You will come back to me, to me, to me”
He sang it so slowly that they had actually danced longer than she had thought. He finished by pressing a kiss to her forehead. “Thank you for the dance.” He said and smiled at her. He then walked over to the window again and she followed.
“Can I ask you for something else too?” He looked at her and she nodded. “Will you help me plan a revenge plot on Laurel and Tommy? It’s the reason I’ve been pretending that everything is okay with me and Tommy and Laurel.”
“Wait, I thought you just found out that they cheated?”
“No, I’ve known the entire time. It’s been a year I think. I’m not an idiot, I notice things. I notice change in behavior and I notice the fact that I heard them fuck one time I was surprising Laurel with a visit.”
She just says “Oh”.
He’s looking at her, but she knows he’s hurt. She knows he has realized he has chosen the wrong path and friends.
And in that moment, with the lights of the city making him look particularly good, she saw him. She saw him, and all the pain he has held inside him.
In that moment she saw him as vulnerable and open as she has ever seen him before.
In that moment, she saw him.