Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Marry me.”

“Excuse me?”

“Will you marry me?”

“Oliver, you do not go around just asking people to marry you.”

“I’m not asking people to marry me, Felicity, I’m asking you.”

Felicity opened her mouth to respond before closing it, because really, what exactly does one say to that? Her feet faltered and her heart lurched forward and Oliver reached out to steady her. Felicity smiled looking up at him without much thought to his question, until he let go of her arm waiting for her answer.

Her eyes widened slightly and darted around to look at anything that wasn't Oliver’s face. The sky was darkening, but there were still enough bright colors in the sky to make it seem like the light might win out. It was her favorite time of the day. In fact, they were standing in her favorite park at her favorite time of year, when the leaves were just starting to change colors, but she knew that Oliver didn’t plan this. He was proposing to her in an incredibly romantic and intimate way, and she wasn't even sure he was aware what he was doing to her heart.

She shut her eyes, trying to figure it out exactly. It’s not every day a girl gets asked by her best friend to marry him.

“Silence isn’t really the answer I was hoping for.”

Oliver’s voice pulled her out of her thoughts and she turned to look at him, “You were hoping for a specific answer?”

“Three letter one to be exact. Starting with a y ending with an s with an e in the middle. Rhymes with… say yes?”

“Did your parents threaten to cut you off if you didn’t start showing signs of maturity again?”

“No.”

“Did you commit a crime and the only way you can tell me is if we are married?”

“Not that I’m aware of.”

“Are you dying?”

“No.” Oliver said with a laugh, “There’s no elaborate scheme. I just think we should get married.”

“Is this like the time you and Tommy tried to convince me that strawberry milk came from pink cows that the government kept hidden and that you would buy me one, but there was this stupid requirement that you could only buy one if I stood up during lunch and told everyone that I believed they existed. Because I’m not 10 anymore Oliver. I have grown immune to your ideas and charm.”

“Well aware. One of the reasons I think we should get married. ” Oliver smiled, “Plus, that was 15 years ago, and I did my best to buy you a pink cow.”

Felicity laughed, it was true. Oliver not only offered to paint a cow pink, but when they were told by his parents that he couldn’t actually do that he swore to make it up to her. Her favorite attempt was when he agreed to dress up as a pink cow for Halloween the next year.

“I feel like I’m missing a large part of whatever is going on in your head.”

“We don’t have to get married today. I’m pretty sure our mothers would kill us if we did. I’m just asking you to marry me. We can do the long engagement thing.”

“Oliver, we aren’t even dating.”

“Technicality.”

“Pretty large technicality.”

“You’ve been my best friend since I was 6, Felicity. I don’t know anyone else who knows me as well as you do, and yet you still keep me around.”

“Marriages require more than friendship.”

Oliver raised his eyebrows. “I’m more than okay with fulfilling those requirements”

Felicity felt her face heat up. “Have you been day drinking again?”

“You’re starting to hurt my feelings.”

“Oliver, friends don’t just marry each other out of nowhere.”

“I know that. When I planned out this conversation, I was only going to ask you out. But I realized that if I did that we’d just end up with me asking the exact question that I just did. And I don’t want to wait. I will, if it makes you more comfortable. I just figured if there was a chance you felt the same way, and didn’t want to wait for our future, then why not make our future now?”

Felicity looked at him. She could count on one hand how many times Oliver Queen had left her speechless in their entire friendship, and yet here she was speechless again.

“Unless the idea of actually being with me in either a boyfriend or husband light is something you don’t want. In that case, yes I have been day drinking again.”

Felicity continued to stare at him without saying anything. She took in the way he was talking. She was normally the one that rambled through their conversations, but here he was backtracking and trying to hide and bury things he had said. He was an open book under her gaze and she smiled because everything he said made sense to her. His eyes were lighter than she had seen them in a while, filed with what looked like hope and love, but she could see them darkening. He was worried that she was going to reject him and he was preparing for it. Watching him slowly turn himself away from her snapped her back into reality. Maybe this was crazy, but her answer wasn’t changing.

“Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Yes.”

“Yes?”

“Yes, I will marry you.” Felicity smiled softly, using her fingers to trace the smile that was forming on Oliver’s face. His eyes were lightening up and her heart was beating loud enough that she would be amazed if he couldn’t hear it. She could get used to this though, being able to touch him, being the reason for that look on his face. “But if it’s all the same to you, I think we should wait a little while. At least until we get the hang of things. I think I would like the wooing, the dates, and the awkward firsts.”

“I could be okay with that.”

“Good.”

Felicity intertwined her fingers with his, pulling him closer to her.

“You can kiss me now.”

Chapter Text

Felicity was having a difficult time concentrating on finding the key to her apartment in her purse while Oliver Queen’s hands were busy pulling her closer to him and further from the door. She was also having a difficult time protesting his hands' actions, because really Oliver Queen had some amazing hands. She placed one of her hands over his attempting to stop it from moving any further up her stomach, and used it as leverage to turn herself around.

She was about to tell him that if he actually wanted to get into her apartment his hands were going to have to stay attached to his side, when she made the mistake of actually looking at him. One look at his darkened eyes and it was her lips on his, her hands going up his shirt. Keys could be found later. She smiled when Oliver pulled away from the kiss, her hands unbuttoning his shirt. His lips found their way to her neck, her hands froze and maybe she should have found—

“Hey Lis, did you forget your keys again?”

Felicity spun around to find Tommy Merlyn leaning against the door frame, arms folded in front of his chest, and a very amused look on his face.

“Tommy. Hi. What are you doing here?” Felicity started trying to pull down her shirt when she remembered it was Tommy. If she had been paid every time she caught Tommy in this kind of situation, she probably would have acquired all of his trust fund.

“Laurel has a big case, she’s staying at work. So I figured we could start up that Angel marathon again.”

Felicity smiled. “I thought you didn’t like it.”

“I don’t. We just stopped watching midseason, I hate not finishing things.”

“Right.”

“Since when are you guys kissing?”

“Since Oliver asked me to marry him.”

Felicity watched as Tommy’s eyes grew slightly and as he started to nod.

“This was a recent thing?”

“A today thing.” Oliver answered Tommy this time.

“Should I be expected to be wedding ready soon?”

“Long engagement.”

Tommy was silent for a few minutes before his next question, still nodding. “Am I the only one that knows?”

“Yes,” Oliver and Felicity answered at the same time.

This seemed to snap Tommy out of whatever daze he was in as he stared at them, smiling. “That’s kind of cute now.”

And then he was gone, turning around, and walking back inside, just smiling.

Felicity looked at Oliver confused, “That was weird, right?”

Oliver nodded slightly. “Very.”

They walked into her apartment and Felicity started smiling as she looked around her living room. It was obvious Tommy had been setting up for a marathon. It was their thing, and he had it down to a science. Pillows lined the couch, at least three blankets were on the ground, a huge bowl of popcorn, her favorite soda, and if she went into the kitchen she knew she would find bowls of candy, chocolate, and, if Tommy was trying to apologize for something, there would be cotton candy and funnel cake. That’s how the marathons had become their thing. It was his way of apologizing when she was 13 and he made fun of her for starting her period. She made him watch romantic comedies all weekend long, and she ate her weight in sweets; he was miserable. Yet, somehow, at least once a month they would marathon something. Normally a show that Felicity was obsessing over, and that Tommy would pretend to hate.

Felicity walked over to the kitchen and looked at Tommy. He was staring at a list in his hand, and if it was possible, his smile had grown.

He looked up at her. “Congrats. Have you guys had sex?”

“Tommy Merlyn.”

“What? I’m not allowed to know these things?”

Felicity just stared at him.

“I mean, you know about my sex life.”

She continued to just stare at him.

“I’ll take that as a no.”

This time she was glaring at him.

He smiled as he walked over and kissed his forehead. “I’m off to collect my money from Thea and Oliver’s dad.”

It took Felicity a minute before her brain caught up to what he had said, and when she walked back out to the living room he was telling Oliver something and it looked important, but --

“Did you bet Thea and Robert that we would get engaged?”

Oliver and Tommy both looked at her, and then Oliver looked back at Tommy, moving further away from him.

“Actually, we have a list of bets for your entire relationship.” Tommy’s voice held no shame.

“We didn’t even have a relationship three hours ago.”

“I know. Your dad is going to be so pissed. If you had waited until after the first date to propose, he would have won big,” Tommy said, turning all of his attention to Oliver. “And with that, I’m leaving before your girl over there reaches her scary level.”

“Already there,” Felicity yelled after him, but after he closed the door Oliver watched as she started laughing and then he watched as the laughter faded away and was replaced with something more along the lines of worry.

She was answering his question before he could ask what was wrong.

“Oliver, you have to stop him. Your entire family is about to find out about this because of a Tommy Merlyn bet.”

“Actually, that’s probably one of the bets.”

Oliver tried not to laugh at the look Felicity gave him. “Okay, okay. Let me see if he hasn’t left—“

His sentence was cut off by his phone ringing, and Felicity closed her eyes when he answered the phone. “Hey Thea, I was just about to—

“Oliver Queen, have you lost your mind? What were you thinking?”

“Thea, maybe we can have this conversation in person?”

“You sure? You don’t want to tell Tommy and have him text me? Cause I thought that was how we were going to have all of our conversations from now on.”

“I—“

“Don’t. I had a lot of money on you telling me first. You owe me.”

“I—“

Oliver sighed placing his phone back down, and this time Felicity was laughing at him.

“You sure about this waiting thing? Vegas is just a flight away.” Oliver tilted his head to the side and smiled, “We could even just stay for a while.”

Felicity stopped laughing. “I am not getting married in Vegas, but you might want to go talk with Thea.”

Oliver’s eyes widened. “Actually, I have the perfect thing for her to help me with.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. Dinner tomorrow tonight? That might be a good first to get out of the way.”

Felicity laughed, “Because we’ve never had dinner together.”

“Not like this.” Oliver leaned down and kissed her. “I’ll see you at seven.”

Chapter Text

Felicity walked with determination toward Oliver's office. She knew that this conversation should probably not be had at work, but she also knew that she wasn't going to get any work done if she didn't get answers.

The night before had been wonderful, but now in morning light, Felicity was questioning everything, she needed to know why. Why now? Oliver had to know that she had feelings for him when they were younger. It's not like she was known for her ability to keep her thoughts out of her mouth. What caused this switch? Where did these feelings come from?

She was terrified this was going to end up with Oliver breaking her heart, at least with the way things were before she had Oliver's friendship. She wasn't sure she could go back to being his friend if they continued this. If she was being honest, she probably wouldn’t be able to go back to being his friend either way, but she was pushing that thought out of her head.

Oliver was a huge part of her life, and she was happy with him being her friend. Sure, sometimes she got a little jealous of his dates, wondering why them and not her. But now that it was her, she was still wondering why.

She sighed before opening the door to his office. The smile that was on his face when he saw her caused her heart to start beating faster, and for a second she thought about giving in. If Oliver broke her heart, then she'd have a broken heart and maybe that would be okay.

Felicity shook her head slightly, physically trying to shake that train of thought. Oliver must have noticed that something was wrong with her because he was soon standing and walking toward her. She held her hand up and took a step back. The look on his face when she stepped away from him was causing her stomach to drop. She didn’t want to hurt him.

“What’s wrong?” Oliver’s voice was steady. It almost sounded as if he was trying to convince himself that nothing was actually wrong.

“Why now?” Felicity closed her eyes. She hadn’t planned on being that blunt. She figured there’d be more babbling, some run-on sentences, and a couple phrases that would make her blush. She was not expecting to just blurt out the question without any warning. Judging by Oliver’s confused face, the warning words would probably have been appreciated.

“Why now, what?”

Felicity pushed her eyebrows together and looked at him. “Really, Oliver?” She sighed when he nodded his head, the confused expression still on his face. “Why did you ask me to marry you now? I mean there’s no way you could have missed my feelings for you in the past, so why now? Is this just some sort of mid-life crisis?”

“I’m twenty-five Felicity. I think I have a few more years before I’m due for a mid-life crisis.”

Felicity glared at him ignoring his comment. “I need to know why Oliver. If this is just some crazy idea that you got in your head and are just trying things out, I can’t do this. Feelings don’t just grow over night. They take time, and what if in a year, or five years, or however many years from now, you decide that yeah, no feelings aren’t really there? Then what? I’m pretty sure I’ve been in love with you for half of my life, and I can’t do this.”

Felicity closed her eyes. There was the word vomit she had been expecting. She didn’t open her eyes until she felt Oliver’s hand tentatively reaching out for her waist. She didn’t move away and Oliver pulled her into his chest.

“I’ve been in love with you since I was sixteen Felicity. These feelings are not the overnight type, more like the ‘I was terrified of screwing up our friendship and never said anything’ type. I actually thought you were aware of them.”

Felicity shook her head against him. “I still don’t get why now?”

“And I will answer that question to your heart’s content tonight. I promise. But my father might kill me if I’m late to this meeting. CEO training apparently starts with learning time management skills.”

Felicity pulled away from him, her eyes wide. “Never been your strong suit, but I’ll take full blame for this one.”

“Like my dad would believe that for a second.”

Felicity smiled. “We’ll actually talk about all of this tonight?”

“Until you are completely satisfied with my answer.”

“Okay.”

Oliver leaned down and kissed her forehead. “I’ll see you tonight.”

Felicity began tapping her fingers against the countertop. It was 8:15. No phone call, no text, no Oliver. Definitely not how she thought their first date was going to go. She looked down at her phone before sighing and sliding it away from her. She quickly finished the almost empty glass of wine, debating pouring another. She was not going to do this.

She walked toward her bedroom, kicking off the silver heels that Oliver mentioned liking once. She snorted. She should have expected this. Freaking out on Oliver in his office earlier was slowly climbing up her ladder of stupid life decisions that Oliver Queen had witnessed. She spooked him. She should have given it more time, let it settle around them.

Felicity sighed. She couldn't do this. She pulled down the zipper to her dress, staring at the light blue fabric on the ground. She blinked away the tears that were beginning to gather in her eyes. She was not crying over this. Oliver could have a reason. A perfectly valid reason for being over an hour late to their first date less than twelve hours she told him she didn't believe his feelings.

She didn't want to think this was his way of telling her she was right, but the thought was already expanding from a seedling to a tree. This is what she was scared of. This was why she should have said no.

She walked toward the dresser and pulled out her favorite sweats and t-shirt. It was Oliver's t-shirt actually. She closed her eyes. She was not going to be this girl. And she was definitely not crying.

She didn't hear her door open, so when Oliver said her name, she didn't even think before she threw the shirt in her hands at him. He caught it, a smile forming in his face. "Maybe next time go for the picture frame."

"You are an hour and a half late, and your first words are about what I chose to throw at you?"

"Fair point." Oliver placed the shirt on her bed before sitting down. "I'm sorry. I just needed more time. The conversation earlier made me realize--"

"Made you realize that you aren't ready for this? That it was a terrible idea and that maybe we should just stay friends? Yeah. I got that. You didn't need to come tell me in person. A phone call would have sufficed."

"My phone died."

"Seriously, Oliver?"

"Yes. Can I get back to the explanation?"

"No."

"I believe if you would just listen--"

"I would have listened an hour--"

"And I would have called, but my phone- "

"Yeah, your phone died and you couldn't charge--"

"Again, if you would let me explain--"

"I'm not in the mood for an Oliver Queen excuse."

"That is not fair."

"Oh and you messing with my emotions--"

"Again, I have a very logical--"

"If the next word out if your mouth is explanation- "

" Do you want to put clothes on or are we going to do this with you half naked?"

""We aren't doing this at all, so my choice in clothing isn't really relevant.”

"Felicity." Oliver held the shirt up, offering it to her. She sighed taking the shirt and pulling it over her head.

“Better,” she asked. Oliver was smart enough not to answer her question. "Can you please just go? I can't, I can't do this."

"Will you please just let me explain?"

“I’m tired, Oliver. I just—I don’t want to do this.”

“And if you still feel that way after you listen—“ he held up his hand cutting off her protest, “without interrupting me, then I will go. Deal?”

Felicity closed her eyes before nodding her head. She sat down, leaning against her bed. “Deal.”

Oliver smiled, slipping from the bed to sit next to her. “So, let’s start this with a general disclaimer of I am not late because you scared me away this morning. I am also not late because I decided that marrying you was a horrible life decision, because currently it’s ranking pretty high on my list of good life decisions.”

Felicity looked at him, smiling slightly. “So you are late because?”

“Because after you had your mini freak out, I realized that the night I had planned was not going to cut it. So, I was trying to make it better. I probably could have mentioned this before I was late though.”

“Might have helped.”

“Future reference noted.”

“Also a phone charger would be useful.”

Oliver tilted his head. “Also noted.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t give you a chance to explain things. I guess I’m just a little insecure about this.”

“No—“

“If you keep saying noted, I’m going to kill you.”

Oliver smiled. “I am too.”

“Going to kill yourself for saying noted?”

“Insecure.”

Felicity looked down. “You don’t seem to be.”

“I figured you were freaking out enough for the both of us.”

Felicity shrugged. “Yeah, well.”

“I love you. And I know I went about this in a completely backwards way, but I think you’ve known me long enough to know that I don’t do normal well.” Oliver used his hand to lift her face so she was looking at him. “I should have told you before. I wanted to. I almost did quite a few times, but I was scared. I am scared." He let his hand drop from her face. "What if I screw this up? You deserve so much more than me, but the idea of you being with anyone else kills me. And I want to be worthy of you, and I'm trying. But even with me trying now, it doesn't make up for, well, every decision I made in college that you witnessed." Felicity sorted. "So I get it if it's too much--"

Oliver's speech was cut off by Felicity's lips pressing against his, her body moving until her legs were on either side of him. "I love you too," she murmured against his lips.

Oliver smiled. "Does that mean we can go on that date now?"

"I'm not exactly dressed." Felicity's mouth dropped to his neck, placing kisses against it. "We could just stay here."

She laughed against his neck when she heard his breath intake. "Is that a yes?"

He moved so fast Felicity wasn't sure how he managed to move her off him and stand, but there he was pacing in front of her.

"You need to put more clothes on."

Felicity stared at him. "You're serious?"

"The sweats work. You'll also need enough stuff for a few days."

"I have work tomorrow."

"You had work tomorrow."

"Oliver."

"Felicity." He grabbed the sweats she pulled out earlier. "I was serious about the clothing."

Felicity laughed, standing up slowly and stretching before grabbing the sweats from his hands.

"I was serious about the staying in," she muttered as she put them on.

"Never thought I'd see the day Oliver Queen turned down predate sex."

Oliver feigned a look of hurt. "What can I say, you bring out the gentleman in me. Now pack please."

Felicity laughed, smiling up at him. "This better be one hell of a date Queen."

Chapter Text

Felicity looked out the window trying to figure out where exactly Oliver was taking her. At first she figured they were just going to the airport and that he would tell her the name of some horrifically cheesy location that he knew she would want to go to. But then they drove past the airport. Which made sense, because her next guess was that they were going to Coast City. Felicity loved the water, Oliver knew that. Logic. Only then he took a road that took them in the opposite direction. She still had a few remaining ideas of where they could be going, but now, surrounded by trees and nature, they were running out.

“So, going to tell me where we are going yet?” Felicity tried to make her voice sound lower, sexier, but she was pretty sure that at this point she sounded more like a kid asking if they were there yet.

Oliver glanced over at her, trying not to laugh. “That hasn’t worked for the last two hours Felicity.”

“Yeah, well, two hours ago I wasn’t in the opening credits of a horror movie.”

“We’re almost there.”

Felicity looked over at him eyes wide. “But we haven’t had to stop at a creepy gas station for directions.”

Oliver rolled his eyes as he turned on to an even smaller dirt road. “If you really want to, I can drive until we find one.”

Felicity glared at him. “I’m serious Oliver. I’ve been to every property your family owns, I’ve never been out here. So I’m assuming we are going to a borrowed cabin, probably from a long lost cousin who doesn’t actually exist. And I’m not a virgin. You basically signed my death certificate.”

“We’re here,” Oliver said as he turned a corner and the cabin came into view. “And does the horror movie scenario still work if it’s not borrowed? Because you are looking at the newest addition to the always expanding list of Queen property.”

Felicity smiled as he stopped the car. “Oh, I thought Tommy said they were looking at a place in Germany last. I swear your parents have a house addiction.”

Oliver looked down, turning the car off. He remained silent, he wasn’t sure how okay she was going to be with what he did. He hadn’t really counted on her being so focused on how he came across the cabin. He also didn’t think about the fact that she did know every other property his parents owned. He decided to take his chances by waiting for her to figure it. He looked over just in time to watch her eyes narrow.

“Seriously? You bought a cabin for this date?”

“Well, technically the paperwork is going to take a little bit longer to actually go through.”

Felicity sighed. “What are you going to do for our second date? Buy a country?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. An island would clearly be the next step.”

Oliver laughed as Felicity glared at him. “Don’t be mad. I wanted our first date to be somewhere that we could go back to. A place that we could continue to build memories.”

“Oh no. You do not get to sweet talk your way out of this.”

Oliver continued on, ignoring her comment. “A place that we can come back to for anniversaries, or when we need to just get away from reality. At the very least, a funny story on how I overdid our first date.”

“Normal people go to dinner for a first date, or a movie. And I mean, I know you don’t do normal well, so I was expecting a trip, or hell, for you to rent out an aquarium or something else ridiculous. But you bought a house Oliver. A house.”

“Normal people go on dates before getting engaged.”

Felicity closed her eyes, biting the inside of her lip. “Valid argument.”

“We can start this over again. I’m pretty sure I can get some sort of a plan together in the time it’ll take to get back to the airport. I could definitely find an aquarium to rent worst case—“

“Stop. You bought a cabin for this date and now I would like to see my cabin.”

Oliver smiled. “Your cabin?”

Felicity blushed, opening the door and getting out of the car. “Yep. You can have the island you’ll probably buy for our honeymoon.”

“Is that an option” Oliver asked, following her lead and getting out of the car.

Felicity shut the door, sighing. “No.”

Oliver laughed. “Remind me to call my real estate agent on Monday.”

“Oliver.”

“Felicity. I’m kidding.”

Felicity closed her eyes. “I’m not going to get used to this.” She started walking over to the trunk to grab her bag, when Oliver raised his eyebrow at her.

“You say that like you’ve never taken advantage of my wealth before.”

“One time. One time, Oliver.”

“I can think of at least a dozen times.”

“No way. You are clearly confusing me with someone else.”

Oliver brushed her hand out of the way as he grabbed the bags. “Do you really want to break down the cost of bailing you and Tommy out in Miami and the cost of keeping it out of the paper and away from our parents?”

Felicity’s eyes flew to his. “We swore to never speak of that. Ever. That includes bringing it up during any sort of argument or disagreement.”

“Just saying.”

“Point taken. I managed to move from gold digging best friend to gold digging fiancée. It’ll be the title of my autobiography if you swear to seriously never bring up that weekend. Ever. Under any circumstance. It never happened.”

“What never happened?” Oliver matched Felicity’s smile, grabbing her hand and leading her toward the cabin.

“You said one time” Oliver said, as he opened the door. “What time were thinking of if the time that cannot be mentioned wasn’t it?”

Felicity looked at him. “What were the other eleven times you were thinking of?”

“Actually, all of them are from that trip. So apparently they don’t count.”

Felicity closed the door, running her hand along the wall next to the door looking for a light switch, but not finding one. “Light?”

Oliver placed the bags down. “Yeah. It’s on the other side of the room, it was brighter out here earlier.”

“When exactly did you find time to come out here? I thought you were busy with meetings and things with your dad?”

“I was” Oliver began, flipping the light switch. “But I was distracted, he helped with a lot of this actually.”

Felicity didn’t say anything, instead taking in the room she could now see. The furniture was varying shades of grey, which worked well with the dark walls, and really went with the stone fireplace that she had a feeling would be her favorite thing. The walls were bare and, thankfully, without any creepy dead animals. What stood out the most in the room was the floor to ceiling windows that made up the back wall. She couldn’t make out much of what the porch looked like, but she could see the large lake, the moon reflecting against the water, and it took her breath away.

Oliver watched her as she looked around the room, smiling when her expression softened as she looked outside. “C’mon,” he started, holding his hand out to her. “The real date is out there.”

Felicity took his hand and followed him out the door. She raised her eyebrow at him when he started walking down the stairs of the porch and toward the water. “No skinny dipping. That’s another horror movie trope. I’m sure of it.”

Oliver closed his eyes, shaking his head. “You have got to stop watching scary movies, Felicity.”

“If I stopped, I wouldn’t know to be careful right now. They are life preparation videos.”

“Oh boy.”

Felicity’s laugh was cut short when they turned a corner and she saw the dock.

“How did you—“

“Tommy and Thea. Mostly Thea” Oliver explained.

Felicity nodded, looking at the dock lit up with tea lights. It looked like something out of a movie.

They walked to the end of the dock in silence. Felicity smiled as he wrapped his arms around her waist and she looked out over the water.

“It is beautiful out here.”

Oliver didn’t say anything, but he did let go of her waist. Felicity turned around to look at him. “What’s up?”

“This was supposed to be the easy part. When I planned this out, this was going to be so simple. I mean, you already said yes. The actual act of giving you the ring should be nothing compared to asking you to marry me. I wasn’t even nervous when I asked. I mean, I didn’t even let me brain think of the fact that you might say no. But now actually doing this, it’s sort of terrifying. You could decide that I have absolutely lost my mind and run away. That would probably be the logical thing to do. Why haven’t you run away yet? I asked you to marry me out of nowhere. Tommy probably has a bet on how fast I will manage to scare you away too. What if I’m bad at this? The whole committed relationship… what if it’s not for me? I can’t imagine hurting you, but what if I do? Is this how you feel when people don’t stop you from babbling? Because I would be really happy if I could just stop talking—“

Felicity laughed. “Oliver.”

“Thanks” he muttered, looking down.

“I’m not going anywhere. I think you are going to be great at this.” She placed her hands under his chin, turning his head up slightly. “Actually, you already are pretty good at this. And I’d really like to see that ring.”

Oliver’s lips turned up slightly. “Right.” He reached into the pocket of his pants, and then he reached into the other pocket before closing his eyes again. “The ring that is in the bag that is inside. Wow. I’m really good at this.”

Felicity grabbed his hand. “You really are.”

“So, how about we go back inside and pretend like this didn’t just happen and I’ll find another way to do this without freaking out and with the actual ring?”

“Or,” Felicity let go of his hand, “we could,” she started pulling her shirt off, “break my rules and,” she stepped out of her sweatpants, “get in the water?”

“No ring? No big romantic gesture?”

“Well, you did buy a cabin. I think can live without the ring for a couple more hours.”

“You are a terrible gold digger Felicity Smoak.”

“I know. Think they make books that can walk me through it?”

Oliver laughed as he pulled his shirt over his head. “Sure we won’t get taken by the monster in the water?”

Felicity shrugged, trying to focus on the meaning behind her reply and not Oliver taking his clothes off. “I’m willing to risk it if you are.”

Chapter Text

“I keep waiting for this to feel weird.”

Felicity closed her eyes, moving her head slightly to allow Oliver better access as his hands ran through her hair. She waited for him to say something, but he remained silent. His hands continued moving through her hair and she was finding it hard to keep her thoughts from continuing to spill out of her mouth.

“Because it should be weird right? I mean everything has happened so fast, everything has changed, and there should be some sort of adjustment time. I keep waiting for it, for that feeling, but if I’ve felt it, I didn’t identify it as the awkward feeling I am waiting for.” Felicity moved her head off of Oliver’s chest, pushing back from him slightly to look at his face before continuing. “Is it weird for you? I’m probably making it weird now that I can’t seem to shut up about it.”

Oliver laughed, lowering his lips to hers. “Still not weird.” He pulled back smiling at her. “I’m waiting for it too,” he admitted.

Felicity nodded. “If it starts to feel awkward you’ll tell me?”

“You’ll be the first to know.”

“Good,” she whispered, placing her head back on to his chest.

They didn’t say anything for a while, Oliver’s hands just continued their movement through Felicity’s hair. She was almost asleep when he started talking again.

“It was six months ago.”

Felicity’s nose crinkled as she tried to figure out what he was talking about.

“When I realized that I was going to lose you.”

She stilled at his words.

“I don’t even remember what happened, but I wanted to tell you about my day, and I was going to call you when I remembered that you were on a date. You are always the first person I go to call when I need somebody to talk you, and I couldn’t call you because you were telling somebody else about your day. And I hated that thought, and I knew it was only going to get worse. Because eventually you would find somebody who you loved, somebody to go home to, somebody who got to know all of your secrets before me, somebody who mattered more. I was going to lose you. I was going to lose my best friend.”

“Oliver—“ Felicity started, the need to comfort him in her voice, but he shook his head.

“It’s true. I would have. I still could. That’s what killed me. I have avoided being with you because of the fear of losing you, and I was going to lose you anyway. I needed that push, that realization. Because losing you? That terrifies me Felicity. You have been such a huge part of my life that I don’t know what life is without you anymore. And I screw things up. I especially screw things up once I realize how much they matter. And I don’t want to lose you. I can’t.”

Felicity sat up on the bed, looking straight across at Oliver. She ran her hand along his jawline, shaking her head softly. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“I haven’t really had a lot of time to screw things up yet.”

“You’ve had like twenty years to scare me away Queen, hasn’t worked yet. And you seem to be forgetting one very large detail in all of this.”

“What’s that?”

“I don’t know what life is without you either. God, Oliver, why do you think I never brought it up? Because the idea of pushing you away from me, of changing things, of making our friendship awkward? That has always been my fear.”

Oliver closed his eyes, leaning his head into Felicity’s hand. “Besides,” Felicity started. “I’m already too invested in this wedding to turn back now.”

Oliver laughed. “Any new decisions?”

“Nope.” Felicity emphasized the word by shaking her head back and forth. “Your mom wants a mid-June wedding, my mom wants an early spring wedding, and Thea wants a winter wedding. Your mom wants a Christian ceremony, my mom obviously wants a Jewish ceremony. The only thing they have managed to agree on is the wedding being outside. Which is insane for Thea to agree to. Who the hell wants to stand outside in the middle of January?”

“I didn’t hear what you wanted in any of that.”

“At this point, I want a marriage certificate and a judge.”

“It’s your wedding Felicity.”

“I know that Oliver. It’s just all of this is getting out of hand. We’ve been planning this for three months, and the actual wedding won’t be for at least another year, and I’m already tired of all of this planning. And this probably sounds horrible, but I just, I want to be married. I don’t care about the wedding. Being married to you is what I want, and all of this waiting and arguing and cake tasting and dress shopping is exhausting and time consuming, and I would truly just much rather spend that time with you.”

“Then we can just get married.”

“Yeah. Cause that will go over well.”

“Since when have I ever cared if anything went over well? I think there’s a three day waiting period for the certificate, we can make an appointment with a judge, grab Tommy and Laurel for witnesses, and just go for it.”

“Oliver, as your mother likes to remind me, you are going to be taking over as CEO in six months. You cannot just run off for a shotgun wedding anymore. We don’t have much of a choice on this. I’ve had this explained to me a million times, maybe you need to go cake testing with your mom and have her explain it to you. She’s convincing.”

“Oh, I’ll talk to my mom alright.”

“Oliver.”

“Felicity.”

“This is going to be fine. I mean, if you still love me by our wedding, I’m pretty sure we’ll never have to worry about anything. Thea mentioned dieting yesterday.”

“I’m going to kill them.”

“No you—“

“Yes. Yes, I am. You do not need to do anything. You do not need to have a big wedding with a bunch of people you do not know if you don’t want to. You will have the wedding that you want.”

“I have the right groom. That’s what matters.”

Oliver sighed, leaning forward to close the distance between their lips.

“You’re still going to freak out on them aren’t you?” Felicity asked, stopping him before he could reach her.

“No,” Oliver lied. Felicity laughed against his lips as he pulled her to him.

“You are the worst liar.”

“I’m just going to make sure they are reminded that this is supposed to be your wedding. You should not be frustrated by planning this.”

“Have you ever watched a wedding planning show?”

Oliver laughed, “You know what I mean.”

Oliver laid back down, pulling Felicity with him. “Sleep,” he whispered. “We’ll figure this out in the morning.”

“There’s nothing to figure out.”

Oliver didn’t say anything, but his fingers started running through her hair again, slowly putting her to sleep.

When she woke up, the room was way too bright for only being seven in the morning, which meant Oliver had done something stupid. Like shutting her alarm off and leaving. Felicity rolled over to grab her phone off of the nightstand, and groaned when she saw that it was past nine. She opened up the two messages that were waiting from Oliver.

The first was a picture of cake. The second was the one that said it wasn’t as bad as she made it sound, and that it was a shame her alarm didn’t wake her this morning. She responded with ‘not amused’ and a picture of her not amused face to help prove the point.

She left the phone on the dresser as she rolled to lie on her back again. Ignoring the phone when it vibrated. She stretched her arms above her head, closing her eyes. Maybe another hour of sleep wouldn’t hurt.

“Put your phone away Oliver.” Oliver looked up at his mother. “Don’t look at me like that either. I’m assuming if you are here doing the cake testing it’s because Felicity needs time to herself. Let the girl have her time.”

“She wouldn’t need the time if you all had not lost your minds,” Oliver argued while placing the phone back in his pocket.

“That’s not fair—“ Thea started, stopping when Oliver looked at her.

“She doesn’t want the wedding you three are trying to have.”

“But it’s the wedding we need,” Oliver’s mom reminded him.

“We’re trying to include what she wants,” Felicity’s mother added.

“I’m going to make this very simple. If things don’t change, and soon, we are going to go to the courthouse, and get married. And we will not tell any of you.”

Oliver waited until the three of them stopped talking over one another. He tried not to smile about the fact that while they couldn’t agree on anything when it came to the wedding, the words they were saying to him all had the same meaning: you will do no such thing.

Oliver raised his hands up. “Alright. That would be extreme. I’m just letting you know that this is ending. You will figure out a way to plan this wedding without going against everything that Felicity wants and still have what you want.”

“How,” Thea asked, raising her eyebrow defiantly at her brother.

Oliver smiled, popping the last piece of cake in his mouth.

“I have a plan.”

Chapter Text

Felicity turned her head to the side, giving Thea better access to weave the last flower into her hair. She smiled as Thea used her hands to straighten her head again.

“So?” Thea sounded nervous, which was strange for her.

“I love it,” Felicity confirmed, running her hands through the curls. “You were right, I like it down better.”

“You say that like I’m not always right.” Thea winked as she placed one of the larger flowers behind her ear, pinning it down with a bobby pin. “So, ready to try on the dress?”

Felicity nodded, standing up. “I still don’t think we need to do this all the way, Thea. I’m glad we did the hair and the makeup, but you’ve seen me in my dress.”

Thea held up her hand stopping Felicity from continuing. “I have. But I haven’t seen you in your dress with that hair and that make up. What if that hair doesn’t work with that dress?”

Felicity rolled her eyes. “If this is you six months before the wedding, I don’t even want to think about what you are going to be like a week before.”

“Calm as a cucumber because we’ll have already gotten the semantics figured out.”

Felicity smiled. “Fair point. Do you want to change into the blue dress? I like the silver, but I think I might like the blue one more.”

Thea laughed. “You said that when you had me change out of the red one.”

“I could always decide that I really like big bows.”

“Blue one it is.”

Felicity raised her eyebrows, smiling as Thea walked toward her closet to grab the dress. Then she moved toward the bedroom door where Thea had hung her dress. She smiled as she touched the fabric. It really was her dream dress: simple, white, strapless, mermaid styled bottom. It lacked sequins, which was something she always imagined. But she knew the second she put it on that it was the one. It was the first thing that Moira and her mother agreed on.

Thea cleared her throat. “Not my wedding, but I think this one might be the one.”

Felicity rolled her eyes. “You don’t have to add the ‘it’s not my wedding’ disclaimer before your opinions. I’m still mad at your brother about that.” She turned around and looked at Thea. She was inclined to agree with her. The light blue dress was gorgeous, the color almost seemed silver, but unlike the one she had changed out of it wasn’t as obnoxious. “I agree. That’s the one.”

Thea walked over lifting Felicity’s dress down from the hook. “You ready?”

Felicity nodded, thankful for the help.

“You look perfect,” Thea whispered as she finished pulling the zipper up. “Close your eyes. Don’t look. I have two more final touches.”

“Again with the final touches. Six months is a really long time. Maybe by then your brother will have successfully convinced me that the Vegas option is the best bet.”

“Not happening. Now close your eyes.”

Felicity sighed, closing her eyes. She felt a necklace being placed against her neck, followed by what felt like a veil being placed on her head. Thea’s hands landed on her shoulders, guiding her as Thea turned her around.

“There. Now you can open your eyes.”

“I’m starting to see the downside in putting all of this on now,” Felicity began, as she took in her reflection. “I sort of don’t want to wait anymore.”

“I was hoping you would say that.”

Felicity tore her eyes from the mirror, setting her eyes on Thea instead. Felicity’s head tilted when she took in the devious smile on Thea’s face. Felicity had learned long ago what that smile meant. “What’s going on?”

“Now, this is completely your choice, but Oliver had an idea.”

“An idea?”

“He knew how much you didn’t want the big corporate expected wedding that was being not so secretly shoved down your throat. So he compromised with my mom.”

“He’s not out of town is he?”

“No. Actually he’s probably still setting up the garden. We weren’t supposed to be finished for another forty-five minutes.”

“I’m getting married.”

“If you want.”

Felicity looked at Thea and laughed. “I do. I really, really do.”

“Then yes. You are.”

“How long have you been planning this with him?”

“Since he sat your mom down with my mom and explained to us what we were doing and how it wasn’t what you wanted. We didn’t really realize it until then. So we came up with this plan. I started paying more attention to the little things you seemed to like, and Oliver took my notes and did… well he did something. I’m actually not sure what anything looks like down there. But it’s just us.”

“What about all of the reservations—“

“Mom figured that while this would be the real wedding, if it doesn’t leak, you guys can just do a second one. And if someone finds out about it before then, we’ll pull it off as a big reception.”

“But the press—“

“It doesn’t matter, Lis.”

Felicity smiled. “So maybe I should spend the next thirty minutes practicing walking in those shoes?”

Thea laughed. “If you can’t master it, I have a very cute back up pair of flats for you.”

“Is there anything you didn’t think of?”

“Yeah, what the hell we would do if you said no.”

Felicity’s father knocked on the door thirty minutes later. He smiled as he walked in looking at his daughter taking off the heels and slipping her feet into the flats. “Probably a smart idea kiddo.”

Felicity smiled up at him. “I’m pretty klutzy when I’m not nervous.”

“Everything is ready if you are.”

“I am.”

“The car is also ready to go if you just want to drive down to Mexico for the week.”

Felicity rolled her eyes. “Dad.”

“Worth a shot.” He winked at her, holding his arm out for her to take. He raised his eyes to Thea. “I believe we are following you.”

Thea smiled as she stepped in front of them. “That you are. I wouldn’t mind following you down to Mexico after the ceremony though.”

Felicity reached forward and grabbed Thea’s hand before she could start walking. “Thank you.”

Thea smiled, pulling Felicity into a hug. She smiled pulling back. “See you down there.” She raised her eyebrows in excitement before turning around and walking away.

Felicity’s father held his arm out. “I’m really proud of you.”

Felicity smiled. “Stop that. You’re going to make me cry.”

He ran his down the side of her face. “Wouldn’t want that.”

“I think I’ve got some place to be.”

“I think you are right.”

When she finally took the first step down the aisle, it took her a minute to take everything in. She recognized every person that was there, her mother, Oliver’s parents, a few close friends and family members. She smiled as she looked at them, thankful beyond words to see how happy they looked, knowing that they were here to support her and Oliver and not to win bonus points by being there , or to make a new business connection. She was a little surprised by how bright the garden was in the dark, but the light was soft and romantic. She could see the little white lights peeking out from the trees and bushes, and the lanterns that hung over the rows of shares, but she wasn’t quite sure how they were able to produce that much light. She smiled as she looked at the color of the flowers that were scattered down the aisle. Not a single one was white, red, or pink. Instead they were a mix of bright oranges, blues, and purples. Just like the ones Thea had strung through her hair. She knew Moira must have particularly disliked that idea.

She could see Tommy and Thea standing in front, but really, the only thing that was clear at that moment was Oliver and the look on his face when he saw her. She didn’t remember exactly what her vows were, or why everyone started laughing, or how exactly the ceremony only seemed to last seconds. All she remembered was the glint in Oliver’s eyes, the smile that never left his face, and the way the judge didn’t even finish the sentence before Oliver was kissing her.

It was Tommy placing his hand on Oliver's shoulder that broke the kiss. He smiled at them, laughing. "Maybe save the rest for tonight buddy."

He had to repeat himself at least twenty times during the reception before Oliver finally convinced Felicity that it would not be rude to leave. Thea caught on and mentioned flight times a little loudly and soon after the congratulations and the hugs they were climbing into the limo. Oliver's lips were on hers before she was even sure that the door was actually closed.

"Where are we going," Felicity asked once Oliver moved his mouth from her lips to the side of her neck.

"Airport."

"And after?"

Oliver smiled, pausing what he was doing to look at her. "I believe I promised an island."

“That’s a joke, right?”

Oliver laughed. “Guess you’ll just have to wait and see.”

“Don’t you think there have been enough surprises today?”

“Good surprises though right?”

Felicity’s heart tightened at the look on his face, the brief hint of doubt. “Very good,” she whispered. “I’m still not even sure how you managed to pull that off without me catching on.”

“I’m a terrific liar.”

Felicity raised her eyebrow. “That sentence should probably go on a list of things not to say to your wife within three hours of the wedding.” Felicity laughed. “Besides, you are a terrible liar Oliver Queen. Don’t go inflating your ego because you managed to pull one thing off.”

“It was a pretty big thing.”

“So an island?”

“Maybe.”

Felicity sighed. “Fine, I give. But after this no surprises for like six months, I’m not a fan of not knowing things.”

“Sounds like a deal.”