OPI: Olicity Prompt Inspirations

(Getting our nails in everybody's fics.) Need a prompt to get you started? Feeling the effects of writer's block? Welcome to the OPI: Olicity Prompt Inspirations! Here you will find a variety of Olicity-based prompts that you can use to inspire yourself in your writing. For an complete, organized list of the prompts, click the "Menu" button on the top left corner of the page and click "Collection of Prompts". Then go down the list and click the Prompt Category of your choice. If you would like your own prompt to be added to the growing list, please just leave an ask or submit your own prompt and you will be credited for it! (If you do this, please leave anon off. You deserve to get credit for your ideas.) If you use a prompt for your own story, please submit a link to your fic! We'd love to see it :) Submissions are tagged as #OPI Submissions. Anything written and submitted will be compiled into a full list; to see them, go to Menu and just click OPI Submissions! Happy writing!

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Haven't seen any updates recently, hope everything is alright! If you're busy, I totally understand! Persevere! If things aren't alright, I hope they get better! Take care ^_^

Awww! Thank you!!! I have been pretty busy so thank you for being so understanding. :) I'll try my best to get some new prompts out this week :) Thanks!!! 

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The crime rate was surprisingly low that week, and everything seemed pretty normal...

Until Felicity tried to leave her apartment the next morning for work and her skin starts to burn in the sunlight.

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"You're... You're not Felicity."

'Felicity' smiled, but her eyes seemed too dead for it to really look normal. "Hmm you caught on quick. But you're right. I'm just borrowing her for a little bit."

(AKA: the possession fic) 

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He doesn't know who she is (the white full face mask and the blood-stained dress are very distinctive), but he definitely wants to find out.

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Oliver was just a simple graveyard worker who was stuck working the nightshift when he starts seeing a young blonde woman near the same tombstone every night.

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"I am so in love with him that it hurts."

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It's been centuries since he's found another human who... interested him as much as she did, and he had no issues with forcing her to become just like him.

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Pre-Island Oliver Queen pisses off a woman (a witch) who is more vengeful and powerful than he expected:

"And you will forever be doomed to a life of pain and suffering, when everyone around you dies." 

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Oliver's never felt so... enamored by a girl as he was by Felicity Smoak, his partner in his Chemistry lab class. 

But he knew better than to ask her out, because a girl as amazing as her would never go for a guy like him. She deserved better.

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Teenaged!Oliver really loves playing pranks on unsuspecting trick-or-treaters... but Teenaged!Felicity doesn't give him a reaction he was actually expecting.

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Oliver and Felicity are on their way back home when their car breaks down during a storm and they're forced to stay in a creepy motel... where everything seems very... wrong.

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Queen Consolidated throws a Halloween party as a way to celebrate Oliver Queen becoming C.E.O. again, but a curse on the party leaves everyone turning into their costumes.

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OPI WINNING PROMPT #: 2 (WITH 42 VOTES!) 

(This is super late and I am so, so sorry.) 

Tattoo Prompts!: Tattoo Artist!Oliver who falls in love with the quirky and curious blonde IT girl who keeps coming into his tattoo shop but never gets a tattoo. (~ VeeraKara)

Author: voubledision // (VeeraKara on Ao3)

Time Stamp: 

 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.

Wait.

"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?”

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Will you post prompt 1 and 2 anytime soon

YES I’m so sorry!!! I’ve been… really busy and stressed and a little depressed because of the stress haha. I will do my best to have them up by the end of the week, or the beginning of next week. Thank you for being so patient! I really appreciate it. :) 

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Hey! Do you know any multi chapter role reversal stories? Example: Felicity as party girl who was stuck on the island and now the green arrow, Oliver as the babbling I.T guy. I can't seem to find any that aren't one shots. Thanks!

Ummmm not really, I'm sure we have some (haha funny enough someone sent me a prompt just like that but I haven't had time to make new prompts/finish the last 2 fics of the olicity fanfic party and I'm so sorry sometimes life gets in the way). I'm probably the wrong person to ask so I will definitely just direct you to theolicitylibrary because I think they specialize in finding specific fics (but I am not sure). 

However if any of this blog's followers knows of any fics, please feel free to reblog with links!

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OPI WINNING PROMPT #: 3 (WITH 28 VOTES) 

Mafia AU: Felicity witnesses a crime and is suddenly placed into witness protection when she reports the crime to the cops. While hiding as “Meghan”, she meets Oliver and falls in love, unaware that it was his family that committed the crime in the first place. (~ VeeraKara)

Author: voubledision // (VeeraKara on AO3)

an offer she can't refuse

“Name?”

“Feli— Sorry. Habit. It’s Meghan.”

The agent looked at her with hooded eyes. “You need to break that habit.”

“Sorry.” She said, sighing again. “Let’s try it one more time.”

“Name?”

“Meghan.”

“Meghan what?”

“Meghan Darnell.”

“Again. Name?”

“Meghan Darnell.”

“Do you know who Felicity Smoak is, Ms. Darnell?”

“… No. I don’t.”

-- -- -- -- --

(It takes her five minutes and three separate tries to go into the hair salon, fifteen minutes while she changes her mind about what color she wants, and one hour for her hair to change from her natural brown to blonde. It’s different, it’s strange, and she’s never felt so helpless about making her own decisions before this moment.)

-- -- -- -- --

Felicity (Meghan, dammit.) pushed her glasses closer to her eyes and wrinkled her nose and the odd heavy weight of them on her face. She used to have glasses years ago before her Lasik surgery, and she had gotten used to life without them. But Agent Diggle told her that glasses were a great way to distort her face from the people looking a little too closely, so she resigned herself to getting used to it again.

It was awkward to stand in front of a Buy More and realize that putting her life, blood and soul into getting her Bachelors in Computer Science at M.I.T. meant nothing because she was working at a Buy More.

(“This is just a temporary placement until the trial is over Ms. Darnell. This is for your safety.”)

Felicity sighed and walked in, trying not to drag her feet as she went even though the impulse to do so was overwhelming. If only she had just not forgotten her phone…

But then she wouldn’t have seen it. Or… heard it.

(Some man cowering on the ground in a dirty, smelly alleyway begging for his life, “Please, please! I have a wife, two kids, little girl named Annie and Amy and no please—“

“Sorry Mr. Jones, but I don’t care.”

And then the gunshot that she still heard in her nightmares.)

A horn woke her up from her senses and she shook her head, furtively glancing around her for an invisible face before walking inside.

-- -- -- -- --

Felicity tapped her foot against the desk and clicked her pan in a constantly fashion that made her ears bleed, but really anything was better than being bored at Buy More. She already updated their security system three times and updated every painfully flawed system and fixed six people’s whiny computer issues that weren’t really issues at all but were more of “I was just… typing! Typing things on my computer and suddenly I got this virus?” and she really just wanted to go home.

Chris swatted the pen out of her hand and she glared at him through the corner of her eye, but he just ignored her and proceeded to walk away as if he didn’t rudely invade her personal space.

Felicity sighed and was about to tiredly lean her face against her hand as she tried not to fall asleep in this live action nightmare come to life, when she saw him.

She blinked three times before deducing that he was real, and yes that was his very real self walking towards her at an alarmingly fast pace.

“Hi”, he said smiling, and wow even his voice sounded like it could make angels weep and either this man was really too beautiful to be true, or she was so bored that she started hallucinating. (Either way, she was happy.)

“Hi…” she said, inwardly cursing herself for sounding so vapid. She cleared her throat. “I mean hi.”

His lips quirked up in a smile, “Hi.”

“Hi”, she said again, before shaking her head. “I mean not hi, I mean yes hi as in hello very nice to meet you but yes I promise that my vocabulary consists of more words than just a two letter greeting that isn’t even a proper and longer hello, and… now you know that I talk more than I really should be allowed to and I’ll be shutting up now in three… two… one…”

He smiled again and she coughed, trying to regain her bearings while subtly clearing off the mess of tiny paper airplanes made out of post-its from her desk. “How can I help you?”

Mr. Perfect set a laptop on her desk. “I’m having some trouble with my computer and they told me you were the person to come and see.”

Felicity nodded, grabbing the laptop. Her eyebrows rose up in confusion when she saw the… were those bullet holes?

“I was at my coffee shop surfing the web and I spilled a latte on it”, he said, smiling as if she couldn’t see right through the lie (as well as his impressive yet guilt-filled posture).

“Really?” she asked skeptically, eyeing the laptop with more suspicion.

“Really.”

“Because these look like bullet holes”, she said off-handedly, as if she wasn’t pretending to be Meghan Darnell and wasn’t in the witness protection program for witnessing a mob-related murder.

“My coffee shop is in a bad neighborhood.”

Felicity raised and eyebrow before pursing her lips and tilting her head to figure out if this guy was real or not. “Okay I’m sorry, is this a joke? Did Michael from Electronics put you up to this?”

Mr. Perfect chuckled before shaking his head. “No but… If you salvage anything from it, I’d really appreciate it.”

Felicity cast a suspicious glance at the man (and simultaneously appreciating the muscles she could see bulging out of his arms because she was shameless and also wow) before slowly nodding. Was she supposed to report this to the cops or something? (Or perhaps the three agents following her around? Where were they anyways?)

The man raised an eyebrow as if waiting for something, and Felicity shook her head to try to stop herself from getting distracted. “Sorry! Yeah um… This’ll… Take a while. Are you particularly attached to this laptop? Because I am very sorry to say that it is probably above saving. I can get your files off of it if you’d like.”

Mr. Perfect showed her that her nickname for him was very deserving when he smiled and she felt her heart stutter. How was this fair? She meets the perfect looking man but she can’t even tell him her real name.

“Yeah.. That’d be great.” He held his hand out for her to shake and she grasped it lightly, smiling back at him. “I’m Oliver.”

Felicity bit her lip to stop herself from saying ‘Felicity’ but thankfully she had gotten rid of that habit. (Mostly.) “Meghan.”

“Meghan huh?” he said, glancing over her as if he liked what he saw. Felicity blushed.

“Yeah um… Do you want to come pick it up later? It might take a while.”

Oliver looked around him as if he was looking for someone (a girlfriend?) but seemed to be satisfied with whatever he did (or did not) find. “No, I’m happy here.”

Felicity bit her tongue so she wouldn’t say something completely embarrassing, as she was prone to doing, before she started to enter his information in the system. “Do you have a Buy More card Oliver?”

“No…” he leaned against the desk, smiling at her while she worked. “So… You do this as a part time job or something?”

She sighed, wondering how much she could tell him. “Would you believe I actually have a Bachelors in Computer Science?”

“I would…” He smiled again, handing her a driver’s license when she prompted him for one. Huh. Oliver Wilson. (And of course he’d be lucky enough to have a perfect Driver’s License photo. Some people had all the luck.)

“What brings you here to Starling?” he asked suddenly.

She looked up curiously. “Why do you ask that?”

She wasn’t normally this… paranoid but… Some hot guy insinuating that she just moved here? (She did, but not for reasons most people would expect right off the bat.) That’s what Agent Diggle would call suspicious right?

He shrugged, brushing it off. “Just don’t think I’d miss a face as beautiful as yours if you were here in Starling this whole time. How do you find it so far?”

Felicity’s blush grew hotter and she looked down and away from him. Okay, maybe she was being too paranoid. Why not enjoy this while she could?

“Pretty wonderful, actually”, she said, giving him a once over and smiling harder when she saw him grinning. 

-- -- -- -- --

Three weeks and five secret meetings between her and Oliver later, (because the agents following her were very nosy and she liked her privacy dammit), and Felicity was pretty sure she was on her way to falling, hard. (Or she had already fallen hard and was in serious denial.)

Because the next time Oliver came in, claiming that he wasn’t Facebook-savvy and needed to find some random friend on Facebook (who turned out to practically be a stranger when she listed the man’s old job and Oliver knew nothing and just stopped playing dumb and said he just came in to see her), she could feel like they had something special. It was only intensified by the time he brought her Chinese and saying he knew she missed her lunch break, (which would have been slightly creepy if it wasn’t for the fact that he was absolutely correct and she was starving).

She kept an eye on the entrance every time she heard it open because at this point she missed him only a minute after he left, and she still smiled at the fact that he brought her an actual latte the other day and snorted when she remembered his weak and obviously fake excuse for the bullet-ridden laptop he brought in the day they met. (Which, curiously, she never found out the truth about. Oliver seemed to very good at directing the conversation away from him.)   

Weird conversation habits aside, Oliver was just perfect. He laughed at her weird jokes and kept smiling at her and last night when he grasped her hands and pulled her closer to him and kissed her it felt like he actually wanted to be there and for once in this mess that her life had become, she was happy. Nothing could bring her down.

It was because she kept an eye on the entrance almost obsessively that she saw Diggle walking into Buy More. When she saw him she just nodded, indicating that she knew he was here and that she would meet him in the back.

“Hey…” Dig said, pulling her into a hug and effectively hiding her from view. “I’m sorry this is abrupt but we need to go. Our Intel tells us that the Queens are in the area and are looking for you; we need to move.”

Felicity felt her heart drop into her stomach. “But I can’t! I just…”

Diggle stared at her, unconvinced.

“Let me just…” Ideas of creating a private secure line ran through her head and she earnestly stared at Dig and did her best puppy-dog eye expression. “Thirty minutes. Please.”

“Ms. Darnell—“

“Okay, five! That’s all.”

“Felicity!” he whispered, grasping her arm and pulling her even closer so there wasn’t a chance for them to be overheard. “You know protocol. We need to move, now.”

“Let me just say goodbye!” she pleaded again. “Five minutes, okay no. Two!”

Diggle frowned. “Say goodbye to who?”

“Oliver!”

Diggle’s eyebrows turned inward in confusion as he looked through his memory to think of who she could possibly be referring to. “… Your coworker Oliver?” She did have one of those; granted, he worked in stock but… It was possible, right? His men should have been keeping a good eye on her and everyone she interacted with. There was no way that she was referring to…

Felicity shook her head; her shoulders caving in on themselves as if betraying her guilt for hiding Oliver from Diggle. She didn’t mean to not tell Dig but she just… forgot. “No… He’s a… repeat customer.”

Diggle’s eyes widened and he glanced at the perimeter around them before grabbing his cell phone and calling his team.

“Ms. Darnell, we need to go now”, Diggle said, leaving no more room for interruptions as he dragged Felicity by the arm out of the building and into a waiting car. He juggled holding her in a protective grip and balancing the phone between his shoulder and his ear as they both entered the car.

“Hey Lyla? We’ve been made. Get a private jet ready.”

“Wait what?” Felicity asked, obediently following Dig shoving her around, as she knew something was very, very wrong. “How were we made?”

Diggle ignored her in favor of listening to Lyla’s orders on the other side of the phone, and while Felicity struggled to hear what she was saying, she couldn’t hear much of anything.

“Mhm. Got it. We’re on our way now.”

Diggle put the phone back in his pocket before giving silent directions to the driver in the front, who immediately understood the code and put the car in drive.

“Dig. Dig! John!” Felicity whispered, pulling at his blazer’s sleeve until he looked at her. “What is going on?”

“Your friend Oliver?” Diggle said, almost snarling on the word ‘Oliver’. “He’s not just some handsome stranger that I’m sure you found very charming. He also goes by Oliver Queen, as in, the family that has a price for your head.”

Felicity’s jaw dropped lightly as she let go of her grip on Diggle and fell back onto the car seat.

Oliver Wilson— No. Oliver Queen.

Wow. Wow. She was an idiot.

She knew the idea of some… handsome stranger taking an interest in her was too… Too good to be true, but she didn’t actually think that… She didn’t actually think that any of this wasn’t real, she thought sadly, staying silent for the rest of the drive.

-- -- -- -- --

It wasn’t until they parked the car and Diggle was having his team check the perimeter (all while grumbling that said team was highly incompetent if Oliver Queen breezed into Buy More like it was nothing all of five times—which Diggle was not happy about), that Felicity knew she wouldn’t be able to rest until she at least knew the truth.

Was it… Fake? Was it all some elaborate scheme designed for her to trust him and then just… whisk her off so he could kill her?

All so she couldn’t testify?

The tears burned her eyes but she didn’t want to cry, not here, not over something so… not insignficant. Just…

She didn’t know anymore.

She quietly got out of the car when Dig said it was clear, and he held her tight in his grasp as they entered the building.

“Are you really sure we need to take the stairs?” Felicity asked, groaning at the sight of the stairwell and the disappearing sight of the beautiful elevators.

“Just until we get to the third floor; there’s a private elevator for staff that we can use to get to the roof”, Diggle whispered, pulling her along quickly. 

They entered the staircase and quickly ran up the stairs, and Felicity could feel the burn in her thighs and the aching of her feet as she tried to climb the stairs faster.

One more flight of stairs to go, and then the sweet release of the elevator would be there and— 

The world went dark for a second when she felt a force on her right and felt her body slam against the stairwell wall. She groaned at the flare of pain on her left and slowly opened her eyes to see a fuzzy vision of two men fighting. Blinking harder to try and regain her sight, she grabbed the stair railing and pulled herself up, gingerly holding her left side and watching Oliver put Diggle in a chokehold and tightening his grip on him.

“Oliver no!” she screamed, but it was too late as she saw Diggle collapse to the ground.

“What did you do?” she asked, horrified, trying to back down the stairwell. Maybe if she could just get to the lobby and scream for help—

“Felicity please”, Oliver whispered, walking slowly towards her until she could feel her back hit the wall and him coming closer.

“Are you gonna kill me now? Like you killed him?” she asked, feeling the hot burn of tears running down her cheeks as she stared at Diggle. Dig, poor Dig with a baby on the way and she just killed a man because she couldn’t stop flirting with a handsome stranger and—

“I didn’t kill him! He’s just out cold”, Oliver said quietly, encircling her waist with his arms and she couldn’t help but flinch when he did it.

(It didn’t escape her notice to see Oliver frowning when she did that.)

“Listen to me, please. I’m not going to hurt you Felicity.”

“How do you know my name?” she asked, suddenly realizing that the man whose been calling her ‘Meghan’ for three weeks knew her real name.

He smiled sadly, “Because you know my name.”

Right… Oliver Queen, heir of an infamous mob family who she was supposed to face in a murder trial in four months—

That Oliver. Right.

“I’m not who you think I am.”

She snorted. “I’ll say.”

He frowned, but didn’t let go of the grip he had on her waist. “I’ve been trying to get out of the… family business for years. I’ve never had the… the opportunity to get out before… Not until now.”

That didn’t make any sense. “So what, you keep an eye on me and boom! Mom and Pops let you go?”

Everyone ‘knew’ (that being a general term, because people knew but no one would ever admit to knowing anything) that Moira Queen was the actual head of the Queen Family while her husband Robert was just a puppet, but that was as far as Intel really went.

“… I’ve never met anyone worth risking their wrath before I met you”, he said, leaning in closer to press his forehead against hers and then suddenly it was like the last two hours never happened, as if she hadn’t found out the truth and the heat seeping through their clothes was just a natural way for her to feel when she was this close to him.

But she knew the truth. This could never be the same.

It was as if Oliver could tell exactly what she was thinking, and he nuzzled his cheek against hers, pulling her closer into a hug.

“My mom… She found out that we were dating and… suggested that I… prove my loyalty.” Felicity could feel his grasp tightened around her hips and suddenly she knew exactly what Moira Queen had ‘suggested’ her son do.

“Then why didn’t you?” she asked, raising her eyes to meet his. “Why didn’t you kill me?”

He looked at her with such… such earnest and something told Felicity that Oliver wasn’t lying to her.

“I couldn’t”, he said, throat tight. “Not you.” 

“Yeah and you won’t get the chance to either bud.”

Felicity’s eyes widened when she saw Dig pressing the gun to Oliver’s back. “Hands off her, Queen. Now.” 

“Dig—“ she started to say, but Oliver followed the orders perfectly and turned around, raising his hands up to surrender.

“My sister and I want immunity in exchange for The List.”

Felicity knew she was missing something when she saw Diggle become interested. “What makes you think leaving the life of luxury is what you want, rich boy?”

“We’ve been wanting out for years”, Oliver said, speaking quickly as if he knew he didn’t have much time to speak. “When I refused to be the next head of the family, my mom and Malcolm Merlyn started grooming Thea to be the heir to both families after Tommy died and…” Oliver looked away and Felicity frowned, knowing from their dates that Oliver treasured his sister more than anything. “She doesn’t want that life, and neither do I.”

Diggle considered him quietly and it felt like ages before he spoke again. “That List is supposed to implicate your family in dozens of murders, at the very least. No idea what else we could find in there. You sure you want that?”

Oliver nodded. “Yes.”

“Then I guess we have some work to do then. You don’t mind if I keep the gun on you, do you?” Diggle smiled unkindly. “Can’t say I trust you just yet.”

Oliver nodded and went ahead of Diggle when the Agent directed him down the stairs, and Felicity couldn’t help but notice the way Oliver’s eyes kept coming back to see her.

She was probably imagining it. After all, now that the truth was out and Oliver got Diggle to agree to think about giving him immunity…  

What else was left for them? (Nothing, her mind added bitterly, and Felicity frowned before slowly walking down the stairs to follow Dig and Oliver.)

-- -- -- -- -- 

Epilogue – After the Trial

Exiting the court room, Felicity followed Dig, Oliver, and Thea to their car, where they'd reconvene at the FBI's headquarters one last time before heading their separate ways, new identities in place.

Felicity squirmed in her seat and tried to keep her gaze on the ground. She knew it was coming, the inevitable “hey! We survived! Nice knowing you” conversation with Oliver that she had been dreading, so she did the mature thing and avoided him like the plague during the trial.

He probably hated her by now, she thought sadly, and fidgeted even more in her seat.

It wasn’t until the awkward (super awkward) and silent car ride was over and Dig and Thea walked ahead of them did Felicity walk up to Oliver. It was now or never. She had to face the music sometime right?

Just… like a bandage. Rip it off and get it over with. She can do this.

“So… you did it”, she said, not prepared for the intense gaze Oliver met her with.

The trial was over, the Queens were found guilty of several (several not even beginning to discuss the number of charges against them) crimes, Oliver and Thea Queen were given immunity for testifying against their family, the ‘List’ was submitted as evidence, and everyone lived happily ever after. Almost. 

“We both did”, Oliver said quietly, staring at her with an emotion that Felicity couldn’t decipher. She smiled sadly, looking away.

“You really sold it…” She swallowed down the air stuck in her throat. “… You know for a second I thought you really cared about me… But I’m glad you and Thea get a fresh start—”

Oliver grasped her elbow and pulled her closer, confusion written on his expression. “What are you talking about?”

This time her smile was bitter. “You know what I’m talking about. But I guess it doesn’t matter—”

“It does. Felicity…” Oliver pulled her in closer and placed his hands on her waist, not letting her leave like she intended to and his hand cupping her jaw forced her to look at him. “I did— I do care. I still do Felicity. It wasn’t a game for me.”

“… You told me all these ridiculous lies and yet…” she gulped, licking her lips and trying to ignore the hot blush that bloomed on her cheeks when she saw him following her movements. “I still feel like I can trust you. Why is that?” she asked, feeling as stupid as she was sure she sounded.

“Felicity”, he said, smiling now and she wasn’t sure why he was smiling because she definitely didn’t say anything funny so why was he smiling and leaning closer and oh... “You can trust me.”

It was her turn to smile when he leaned down to kiss her.

-- -- -- -- --

* Darnell = English Surname meaning “Hidden”

[olicitypromptinspirations]

(We are very, very sorry for the late notice on this one guys!  It took longer to write than expected, but, as a bonus, it is over 3k, so we hope you enjoy!)

OPI WINNING PROMPT #: 4 (WITH 28 VOTES!) 

Clowning Around AU: Oliver thinks that Felicity is keeping their relationship a secret because she’s ashamed or doesn’t trust him or something. Felicity is keeping it a secret because she knows there is currently a betting pool going around Team Arrow and she’s really competitive and doesn’t want anyone to win. Comedy ensues. 

Author: mystarsandmyocean // (mystarsandmyocean on AO3) 

Felicity’s tongue teases his, his mouth sucking on her lower lip, his nose brushing her cheek.  Her butt’s balanced atop his thighs, her arms tangled round his neck, and his hands are splayed beneath her shirt, thumbs curving with her ribs.  When they pull apart, she tilts her head at him, nibbling on her lower lip, he barely resists leaning in again to nibble on it himself, euphoria bubbling like champagne bubbles yet again that he can do that –

  “Oliver?” she pants, pressing her palms into his chest.  Her fingers curl into his button down and he beams up at her.  The pain of the last few months all feels distant, a dream, compared to now that they’re here, together. “I think – maybe – we ought to keep this between us?  Just for now?”

  The bubbles pop. 

  Sinking further back into his couch, the cheap cotton scratching his neck, his hands slide from her back to her hips; she slips back in turn, her weight falling on his thighs. 

  “Ugh, that came out wrong,” she groans, tilting her head back.  The tips of her hair tickle his hands; her hands fist tighter in his shirt.  At least she hasn’t pulled away yet.  Not again.  “It’s just – ” her mouth twists into a moue “ – Roy has this stupid bet with Sara about, um, us, and just, he keeps asking when we’re going to get together, not that I think we are together, I mean, I don’t know we haven’t really talked or anything, just made out, not that it was nothing, it was great, ugh, hang on, three, two, one…”

  She drops her gaze back down to his, her teeth back to nibbling her lip.  He’s caught between the urge to replace her teeth with his or to clarify that yes, the making out was wonderful and he would like to be together, that has been a pretty clear intention of his for a while now. 

  “Felicity,” he sighs, pulling her closer, her legs spreading further apart.  He wonders, briefly, exactly how far she can stretch before placing that thought to the back of his mind.  Really not the time for that.  His thumb’s rubbing circles into her hipbone, his forearms resting comfortably on her thighs.  “I - ”

  He what?  He loves her?  Of course he does.  He would spend his life with her, if she’d let him?  He’s not sure she’s ready for that, but he certainly is. 

  “I want you.  I want to be with you,” he settles on instead.  “But – if you’re worried about Roy or Sara or anyone making you uncomfortable, then…”

  He shrugs, ignoring the twinge in his heart.  He’s waited this long – not counting the months (and years) he spent thinking he’d end up alone.  What’s a little longer? 

  He smiles – or at least tries to. “I want you to be happy.  Whatever makes you happy.”

  She rests her forearms against his chest at that, her lips curling upwards.  “Thank you, Oliver,” she breathes, leaning forward to kiss him again.  Champagne bubbles up again in his stomach at the feeling of her lips on his, her fingers curling round his neck.  “Just for a little while,” she kisses into his mouth, “Just you and me and then we’ll tell everyone else?”

  Just her and him.  He likes the sound of that.

  ---

  One week passes. 

  Then two. 

  There’s no distinguishable difference in their everyday lives; their surface interactions mimicking the same holding pattern they’ve been stuck in these last few months.  It’s only once the team’s gone that the walls come down, Felicity slipping her hand into his and guiding him home, his lips glued to hers.  He makes her coffee before she kicks him out in the morning, pulling him down for one last kiss. 

  “I don’t want to put John in an awkward position,” she explains, shedding his shirt for her own, shimmying into one of her very short skirts.  She never lets him forget his things there, looping his tie around his neck, slipping his belt into his hand.  “He’ll want to know why we’re not telling anyone, so we’ll just tell him when we tell everyone else.”

  The fact that it’s been half a month and they haven’t told anyone else remains unsaid.

  “I could just drive myself in to work, you know,” he counters, his shoulders hunched against the door.  John’s his Head of Security now; driving him only a snippet of the job.  “I’m sure he’d appreciate some extra time with Lyla and the baby.”  Snagging Felicity by the waist as she passes, he pulls her into him, nuzzling his nose into her hair.  And he’d appreciate some extra time with her in the mornings too. 

  Felicity squirms in his arms, wriggling round to face him.  She’s missed a few buttons of her shirt, leaving him with a generous view of her cleavage and collarbone; her hair’s still a tangled halo round her face.  She’s gorgeous, and as always, he doesn’t want to leave. 

  “Oliver,” she sighs, nibbling on her lip again.  Her hands slide up his chest, wrapping around his neck.  “Just – a little bit longer?  Please?  I promise once we tell John, you can take all the time you want – ”

  A smirk slides across his face at that, his hands bringing her hips closer to his. 

  “Not that we don’t take our time now – ” her cheeks start to flush “ – or that you don’t take enough time, you do, you’re great, we’re great!”  She digs her fingers into his neck, hitching herself up on her toes.  “Everything is great, right?”

  Her teeth go for her lips again, and he leans forward to catch them, hitching her fully onto his hips.  His forearms cradle her butt; her thighs gripping his waist.  “Yeah,” he breathes into her mouth, caught up in the walk back to her bedroom.  He’ll catch her, he knows, if they fall. “We’re great.”

  ---

  He doesn’t bring the topic up again, resigns himself to early morning escapes and half-asleep kisses. 

  Another week passes. 

  And then a few more. 

  They’re nearing two months now, and still, they haven’t told anyone, not even their team, that they are officially seeing each other. 

  No.  Seeing each other sounds too trivial.  So does dating.  Committed, Oliver decides.  They’re committed.  Or he is, at least. 

  He thinks Felicity is too, until he overhears her conversation with Sara one night, long after Roy and Digg have left.  He should be gone too, but, well, he’d hoped to catch Felicity alone, maybe convince her to come home with him.  He even brought dim sum, springs rolls and xiao long bao and sweet cream buns, all her favorites.

  “How’ve you been holding up?” Sara’s voice echoes, pitched low as it is.  

  He knows he shouldn’t.  He’s lucky no one heard already, the Foundry door still half-open, the wind whistling at his back. 

  “Not too bad,” Felicity sighs.  His ears catch the familiar click of fingers across keys; she must still be working.  Sara always trains Felicity when she’s in town, teaching her moves best suited for her frame.  It hurt, at first, seeing everyone except him balance their double lives – even Sara, whose had so much less practice than him – but he’s grateful they’ve struck up an easy friendship since then. 

  He thinks Felicity would have liked who Sara was before the island.  He knows she likes the woman she is now, their natural talent at Battleship only one of their shared interests. 

  He remembers couples nights, with Laurel, before the island.  He’d like that, now - him and Felicity, Sara and Nyssa, Digg and Lyla.  Roy and Thea, too, if his sister decides to forgive his student.  If not, he’ll understand.  He’s grateful she’s even considered forgiving him. 

  Laughter from the alley startles his attention back to the present, reminding him to either stay or go, instead of wavering in between. 

  “Sometimes you just know, you know?” Felicity continues, “When it was time, I just sort of…expected it?” 

  Oliver’s eyebrows furrow.   She’s not talking about them, is she?  He doesn’t think so – everyone still thinks she’s upset about Ray, after all – but, well, it can’t hurt to be sure. 

  Guiding the door closed, he sticks to its shadow, decision made.  He doesn’t want anymore secrets between them. 

  “That makes sense,” Sara hums.  Oliver can’t see but imagines her leaning against the computers, her usual spot during mission prep.  “That’s what it was like, when – with Oliver.  Sometimes, you just know.  Right?

  “Yeah,” Felicity sighs, her voice soft and forlorn.  He’s not so sure they’re talking about Ray anymore, panic clawing at his chest.  “I do.”

  It’s been six weeks since they’ve started – whatever this is.  They still haven’t told anyone.

  He’s tried not to worry about it too much, letting Felicity take lead on what they do and where. 

  Now, though, he’s not so sure where exactly it is they’re going.  His appetite gone, he backs up into the door, the paper bag crinkling between his fingers.  Maybe it’s best for tonight to give Felicity some space, to think through her words and adjust to whatever it is she knows. 

  He’d thought they were on the same page.  He’s not so sure anymore. 

  ---

  The next week passes slower than the last seven combined. 

  He suspects it’s because, for the first time since what he’d termed the most euphoric night of his life, he doesn’t spend every spare moment by Felicity’s side.  She doesn’t question his newfound absence, beyond one brief mention on Tuesday that she’s seeing old friends from QC for dinner and won’t be in the Foundry.  She will, however, be back at her apartment by eleven.   

  In past weeks, he’d taken that as an opportunity to swing by while in his Arrow suit, sweeping her into his arms and letting her undress him, mask first, revealing the man beneath the vigilante. 

  That night, he texts her – busy night, don’t wait up – instead.

  If anyone notices the newfound tension in the lair, they don’t mention it.   Not directly, at least.  Roy, as always, drops a few cracks about him having an arrow up his ass, at least until Felicity snaps at him to drop it; Dig just raises an eyebrow when he punches the dummy harder than usual.  He doesn’t need to say what he’s thinking – Oliver hasn’t had this much of a temper problem since Felicity and Ray were (still?) in the throes of love. 

  He’s had time to think these past few nights, with only drug dealers and businessmen in need of threatening, and that’s the best conclusion he can come to. Felicity’s still in love with Ray, never stopped loving him, and doesn’t want him to hear she’s taken up house with Oliver Queen, his ex-rival and successor.  There are always grumblings about the need for more development in Starling, especially since the Undertaking and Slade, and even without his helm at QC, Ray has enough respect to gain the principal needed for his own company. 

  For all he knows, Ray could return to Starling any day now.

  Grunting from the floor of his apartment, Oliver counts off another set of push-ups, wishing Digg hadn’t kicked him out of the Foundry. 

  “I don’t know what your problem is,” he’d told Oliver, arms crossed, a solid wall of muscle between Oliver and the release of mindless exhaustion.  “But you need to either deal with it or move on.  And that doesn’t mean running yourself too ragged to fight.  I thought you’d realized you’re not a machine, man?” 

  He had accepted that.  Accepted and wanted a life beyond the hood, a real life, with Felicity, whatever that took.  He nods his forehead against his palms, centering his breath, before flipping to his back.  One more set of crunches and then he’ll rest.

  Felicity is the one who doesn’t want a life with him.  He just needs to accept that.          

  Mid-fifties, a knock sounds from the door, jarring the silence of his apartment.  “Really, Oliver,” Felicity had teased, the week before, her fingers laced atop his chest, “Not even a radio?  There has to be some music you like listening to.”

  He’d thought about futzing with one, remembering his old love from his pre-island days.  He’d even pictured radio bits mixed with motherboards, his home making space for her. 

  The knock sounds again. 

  Flipping to his feet, he doesn’t bother with a shirt, ready to bark away whatever paparazzi or restaurant biker’s managed to slip past building security.  He could afford a better place now that his company’s repossessed, but he’s been putting it off, wondering if maybe he’d need a larger place. 

  At the moment, though, it’s plenty space just for him. 

  “What?” he snaps, opening the door, his eyes automatically dipping down.  Felicity’s eyes meet his, narrowed behind her frames. 

  “Hello to you too,” she greets, striding into his apartment, “Don’t worry, I won’t be long.  You can go back to whatever it is you were doing before - ”

  Her voice trails off, her ire fading.  He knows what she’s seeing.  His table shoved to the side, no food, not even his laptop set up.  A mancave, he thinks, Thea would have called it. 

  “What exactly were you doing?  Or have been doing?  You’ve been avoiding me all week, which, is fine, you’re not obligated to spend time with me or anything, but I thought maybe…”

  She’s crossed her arms, he’s noticed, tucking her hands beneath her biceps, her chin jutting upwards.  He walks towards her, the door sighing shut behind him, but stops when she tenses, clenching his fists. 

  He should say something.  Anything. 

  “Do you want a drink?” He winces, remembering the contents of his kitchen.  He’s been spending all his time with her lately; it’s been weeks since he’s done grocery shopping.  “I have…water?”

  She shakes her head, catching her bottom lip between her teeth.  Another minute passes, then two, the two of them caught in the center of his living room, too far away to touch. 

  “Are you…,” Felicity asks, her voice firm, “Are we – did we break up?  I thought, I mean, I guess, if that’s what you want, I understand, but I just – can you tell me?  Because a relationship is a two way street, buddy, and you kind of can’t just decide something like that and not give me a heads up, so…”

  She swallows, wrapping her arms tighter into her chest.  “Are we done?”

  He might need to sit down, the breath tight in his chest.  Maybe he has been overexerting himself, but he swears Felicity said she thinks he’s breaking up with her.  As if he’d ever want to break up with her, not when he’s learned his lessons thrice fold this past year.  

   “Felicity,” he intones, “I want to be with you.  I’ve wanted to be with you.  I thought…”

  He tenses, thumb digging into his forefinger, remembers those mornings she’d shoved him out the door and her conversation with Sara.

  “It doesn’t matter what I thought.  You know what you want, and I can respect that.” He chuckles, but there’s no joy behind it. “I wasn’t expecting it, but…I’m assuming that’s why you didn’t want to tell anyone?” 

  He’s avoided her gaze through his speech, not wanting to see the pity in her eyes, but he lifts his head now.  Her arms are still crossed, but she’s come forward, just toeing the edge of his personal space. 

  “Oliver,” Felicity says, her voice pitching up, “Of course I want to be with you.  Why would you – what?” She groans, pressing her fingers to her forehead.  “I didn’t want to tell anyone because, ugh, this is going to sound so stupid…”

  Not quite champagne bubbles are beginning to bubble inside him.  He’s feeling lightheaded, all of a sudden.

  “Last time we tried – ” she waves her hand, verdant nails flashing in the light, “this, it sort of, well, blew up and we weren’t sure – and you kind of freaked out, which, I know, kind of a worst first date ever sort of thing, but I just...”

  “I didn’t want to change,” she sighs, tilting her head, locking her eyes with his. “I thought if it was just you and me, then maybe someone wouldn’t say something or nothing – nothing bad would happen, which, yeah, I know, we spend our nights locking criminals away, so obviously bad things do happen.  But I thought maybe, if we didn’t tell anyone, it would ward them off?  The bad things, I mean, not the criminals, we’re good, mister, but we’re not that good…” 

  He laughs this time, a smile breaking across his face.  “So just to be clear,” he says, stepping forward, his hands still poised at his sides, “you’re not breaking up with me.” Felicity nods, her lips curling upwards; his smile grows wider in exchange.  “And I am definitely not breaking up with you.”

  Crossing the last inches of space between them, she slips her hands into his, wrapping his arms around her back.  “I want this to work,” she tells him, tiptoeing up to press a kiss to the corner of his mouth.  “I really want us to work.” 

  He pulls her in close, locking his arms so they’re pressed flush against each other.  “Good.  Because I want you.  And I’m not going to stop.”

  Beaming up at him, her smile lighting up her whole face, Oliver thinks she’s never looked so beautiful. He draws her in for a kiss, nibbling on her lower lip, slipping his tongue in between to tease hers.  She sighs into his mouth, and he hitches her onto his waist, the euphoria of kissing her filling him anew. 

  He barely survived the week.  He couldn’t go back to before if he wanted. 

  Luckily, he doesn’t want to.  And neither, it seems does she.

  “We should tell everyone tomorrow night,” Felicity sighs into his mouth, her fingers carding through his hair. “Though, I guess John will technically find out in the morning when he picks you up?  I know you like going into work early, but I don’t need to be there until ten, so I was kind of planning on sleeping in…”

  “Felicity,” Oliver growls, moving from her mouth to suck away at her shoulder.  He’s wanted to tell the team for weeks.  He no longer remembers why he cared quite so much. 

  She swats his ass, sliding down enough so they’re facing each other again. “Oliver.”

  “I’ve got a better idea,” he smiles at her, pressing butterfly kisses to her face, “We’ll have a party.  Queen family tradition.”

  He captures her mouth before she can protest, splaying one hand beneath her shirt and across her back.  She’s laughing when he pulls back, her hair curling in a blonde halo round her face. 

  “I’ll call the caterers,” he promises, her eyes widening in protest.  “It’ll be the party of the year.  Where there’s Queen, there’s Smoak.” 

  It’s a terrible title.  A terrible idea, really.  But she’s laughing and he’s euphoric; he could announce his love to the world. 

  He kisses her again; she presses closer to his chest.

  For now, though, he’ll announce it to her.