be us against the world - t - olicity - interlude 1 [a]
title: we keep all our promises (be us against the world)
category: arrow
genre: drama/romance
chapter rating: pg-13/teen
overall rating: nc-17/explicit
inspiration: gif (source)
word count: 9,771
summary: [au - no island] Oliver Queen has no idea what he's doing with his life, but when his father gives him an ultimatum, he has to figure it out. After meeting Felicity Smoak, he finds himself on a new path and his eyes are opened to what happiness really means and how finding it takes more courage than he ever thought he had.
Previous: Chapter One, Chapter Two,
dhfreak
Interlude. (1/2)
Felicity Smoak met her future husband seconds after having her nose buried in a sour yogurt cup. It was strawberry and that funky smell would linger for far too long.
Pretending to be his fake girlfriend was not how she thought that particular love story would begin.
To be honest, she never expected it to become a love story at all.
Felicity had lived in Starling City for seven months. After Robert Queen personally hired her into the IT Department, she found a cute, little one bedroom apartment that was, unfortunately, a bit closer to The Glades than she was completely comfortable with, but it was a brightly lit area and the rent was what she could afford. She was on the third floor, with an open concept kitchen, living room, and dining room. A fire escape sat outside her bedroom window while a wooden flower bed lay untended under the window of her living room, overlooking the busy street below.
She was twenty-two years old, fresh from MIT, having moved from Cambridge back home to Starling City for the summer before she took the job with QC. Her best friends, Kelsey Harris and Jennifer Hodges, helped her move in. Friends since third grade, they'd been by her side through just about everything, including that awkward period of life where it became clear she would not be having an ugly duckling to beautiful swan transformation any time soon. They had both moved to Starling shortly after graduation, and kept in contact through email and phone calls. It was an understatement to say that she had missed them and was excited to have them within reach again. Being back with them, even if it was in an unfamiliar place, felt like coming home. After emptying out the U-Haul and filling up her new apartment, she took the girls out for pizza and beer as a thank you, and thus began her new life.
The first month was the hardest. Getting used to a new city and adapting to her new job made her feel a little out of her depth. She wasn't used to the big city with its skyscrapers and intensely clogged traffic. Going to the animal shelter on 23rd gave her a chance to learn the city with a companion who wouldn't have to reschedule their life to fit her hours. She loved Kelsey, but she was currently working an internship for a fashion designer whose name Felicity couldn't even pronounce, and she was constantly on call, making it almost impossible for her to spend any time with her friends. Jennifer, too, was almost always busy. She had opened her own flower shop and was struggling to make ends meet most days, but she was happy, and Felicity tried to stop by on the weekends, around lunch, so they could catch up. In the meantime, however, she needed to learn the ins and outs of Starling, so she went a familiar route. Dog walking.
Starling City Dog Shelter was a welcoming place. It was a little run down and they had more dogs than they knew what to do with, but they were friendly and encouraging and they brought her into the fold like an old friend. The dog she was paired with wasn't the prettiest she'd ever walked, but she thought it was rather fitting. Rufus was an older dog, with scraggly fur, a bent tail, and lopsided ears. She wasn't sure how, exactly, but he always seemed to make the goofiest faces too. He was the kind of dog her dad would've said had 'personality,' and she agreed wholeheartedly. Rufus was genuinely happy, always eager to see her and go for a walk wherever she was willing to go. He didn't get impatient when she struggled to read the city map she'd picked up in an effort to learn her surroundings, merely sitting down at her feet and waiting for her to decide what they were going to do.
She felt a little like he was the one showing her the city. He'd been there longer than she had, or so she suspected, and he never seemed the least bit put off by all the smells and sounds around him. He simply walked jovially at her side, sniffing bushes and passing people, yapping at any other dogs that dared to walk on the same sidewalk as him. It was cute. And she considered him her first real friend in Starling City. She wasn't sure Jennifer or Kelsey counted, since they were Coast City natives just like her. So she and Rufus set off on a journey of learning her new surroundings together and she appreciated his positive loyalty all the way.
For the next six months, she found her routine. Monday through Friday, she was an employee of Queen Consolidated from 8am to 5pm. By 5:30 she was knocking on the back door of the shelter, gathering up Rufus to take him for a walk through the park. After she learned the general landscape of the city, she felt more confident in her abilities to navigate it and instead chose to bring Rufus to Starling Central Park, where a large field was almost definitely built specifically for dog owners. Rufus loved playing fetch. She was pretty sure he would do it night and day if he could. Walking him helped relieve the stress of each day, of answering calls and fixing basic IT problems over and over again. It also helped relieve the butt cramps that came with sitting down for extended periods of time, though she usually found telling people that got her a few odd looks.
It was his companionship, more than anything, that she loved. It could get lonely in a big city. She made a few friends in IT, but none as close as Jennifer and Kelsey. So after work, she would take Rufus out for their usual walk, returning by 6:30, when the volunteers generally closed up shop, and then, depending on the night, she would go home to relax. Take-out, a full DVR, and her couch were her closest companions. On weekends, she changed it up a little. She would drag Jennifer out for a night at the bar, even if it was just for karaoke, and every once in a while, Kelsey would show up out of the blue with tickets to the latest fashion show, demanding that they come along and share in the glamour.
Felicity was happy in her life. She dated around - Andrew the intern, Cam the bartender, Isaac the writer, to name a few - and she enjoyed herself. She didn't feel like anything was missing from her life. She had her family, her parents called frequently, her best friends, even if they were often busy, her job, which, despite the occasional bout of monotony, she loved, and Rufus, her faithful buddy.
When she met Oliver Queen, he was… unexpected. She would come to think that twice, her opinion changing as quickly as it had first formed.
That whole fake girlfriend situation had rubbed her the wrong way, and she made it clear why, even if he didn't understand. The first two times they met, she was almost completely convinced that there was nothing redeeming about his character. But then she had her nana in her head, admonishing her for being judgmental. Of course, her nana was one of the most judgemental people she'd ever met, only she carefully veiled those jabs in "concerned questions" that suggested Felicity would never be fulfilled without a husband and 14 children. Fine, 14 was a little high, but she swore the number climbed every time they talked… at least when her nana recognized her and didn't call her by someone else's name. Now that she thought about it, her nana's advice might be questionable, especially due to her obvious issue of becoming senile, but, then again, it was rooted in a lot of truth, so she decided to give the situation, and Oliver, some real thought.
"Wait, back up, are you telling me that for five minutes you were Oliver Queen's girlfriend?" Kelsey asked, her dark brown eyes so wide, Felicity feared she might pull a muscle.
"I was temporarily his fake girlfriend," she corrected, stirring her drink with her straw. "And I wouldn't recommend it."
"I wonder if we could sell this to TMZ…" her friend pondered, twining a chunk of her auburn hair around her finger. "You think they'd buy it?" Her eyes lit up. "Ooh, maybe we could get that Heather chick in on it, right? I bet she'd love to get him back!"
Rolling her eyes, Felicity shook her head. "We are not selling the story to TMZ." When Kelsey took in a deep breath, she headed her off. "Or to anyone." She cut her hand in a 'final' gesture and her friend merely shrugged, popping the olive from her martini into her mouth.
"So what happened after?" Jennifer wondered, eyeing her curiously. "You sounded pretty worked up about it on the phone."
Jennifer's voice was gentle, her probing clearly out of concern. She was, in a way, the antitheses of Kelsey's excitable, no holds barred nature.
Even physically the differences were obvious. Where Kelsey's hair often changed colors, currently its natural red, Jennifer's was a muted brown, her eyes a warm, mossy green. Where Kelsey wore bold, chunky patterns, Jennifer preferred pastels, tending to blend in rather than stand out. And while Kelsey was a sun-worshiper, a healthy glow to her skin, Jenn had milky white skin, more likely to burn than tan. Personality wise, Kelsey was loud and attention-getting. She dated frequently and was always chasing the next good time. On the other side, Jennifer preferred long-term relationships, having been with her girlfriend for two years, and a boyfriend before that for three. But, despite being polar opposites, they tended to complement each other and had been thick as thieves as early as kindergarten.
"Yeah, you did. I had to pull in a few favors to get time off to be here," Kelsey told her. "You were that upset."
"I'm not upset, I'm…" Felicity let out a heavy sigh, "frustrated."
"Sexually?" Kelsey wiggled her eyebrows. "Because I can point out three guys in this bar alone who would gladly take care of that for you."
Felicity's lips twitched. "Thanks for the observation, but that's not the kind of frustrated I meant."
"Not that we could blame you if you were." Jennifer let out a faint whistle. "I've seen Queen in a few tabloids and he is… scrumptious."
"Scrumptious?" Kelsey snorted. "Try drop dead sexy. I would gladly toss my panties in that ring."
Felicity's nose wrinkled. "An image I never wanted, thank you… Anyway, I meant that I was frustrated that he had no idea why I would even be upset. Like he thought I was the weird one for not being, I don't know, flattered or something that he even gave me the time of day, let alone let me play his fake girlfriend." She waved her hands around. "Tell me I'm not wrong! Tell me it's not completely ridiculous that he came up to a stranger, forced them to be his fake girlfriend, and then had them stand in front of his one-night stand and be criticized like I wasn't good enough." Her hand balled into a fist then, her bright blue nails digging into her palm.
"Which part is really bugging you?" Kelsey wondered. "That this Heather chick didn't think you were hot enough to be Queen's girlfriend, which, by the way, is totally false, or that he dragged you into this mess?"
"All of it," she cried, catching herself right before she slapped a hand down on the tabletop. "Look, I don't need someone else to tell me I'm attractive. But I also don't want to invite that kind of criticism into my life. I was just trying to get a snack on my break and I was basically forced into being a complete stranger's arm candy… And now I can't stop thinking about it. It is driving me nuts that he thinks it's totally okay for him to behave like that. To treat other people like that!"
"So say something to him."
Felicity frowned at Kelsey. "I have. It had no effect."
"Well, maybe you just have to let it go," Jennifer suggested. At Felicity's unsatisfied sigh and slumped shoulders, she reached across the table and patted her hand. "I know it sucks, but sometimes you just have to accept that not everybody is going to become enlightened. Some people are just jerks and we have no control over that."
"What we do have control over is alcohol consumption," Kelsey piped up. "And I vote that you get very drunk to make up for all that douchery."
Felicity cracked a smile. "Not your worst idea."
She smirked. "No, that would be sleeping with half the water polo team… Although I'm not sure if I regret that so much as I wish I was still that flexible. Because now I have to compare every sexual encounter to when I was sixteen and bendy…"
Jennifer choked on her drink as she laughed. "Half the water polo team? I distinctly remember it being more than half."
"Matt and Alex don't count." She shrugged.
"How do they not count?"
"Because I slept with them when they were on the basketball team."
"They were still on the water polo team…"
"Semantics." Kelsey waved her off.
"As enlightening as this all is, I think I need shots," Felicity told them decisively, drumming her hands on the table.
"Yes! Shots! That's an excellent idea!" Kelsey agreed before shooting her hand up in the air and waving at the attractive bartender. "We need a round of shots and your phone number for my cute friend here," she called, pointing at Felicity.
"Kelsey!" she exclaimed, her face flaming.
Her friend merely laughed, not the least bit put off.
And when the waitress dropped off their drinks, there was a napkin with a phone name, a smiley face, and the name Joey written on it. When she looked over, the bartender winked at her.
She would be lying if she said she went home alone that night.
She would also be lying if she said she didn't enjoy it.
Much as she didn't always love how carefree Kelsey could be, it did end up benefiting her from time to time, and this was definitely one of those.
Kelsey might not be as bendy as she was in high school, but Felicity was.
The third time she met Oliver Queen, she was in one of her favorite bookstores, picking up a few things to read. By a few, she meant four very thick books, because she didn't believe in 'light reading,' apparently. She never did ask why he was there, but she could admit to being surprised by the book he held, which was obviously written in Russian. She didn't take him for someone who put in the effort to become bilingual. Then again, she imagined women would probably drool over him talking in another language, even if they had no idea what he was saying. For all they knew, he could be comparing them to a horse's ass. Completely possible; her uncle, who had only learned those few words in Italian, often did that to pick women up at bars… Unfortunately, or fortunately in her opinion, he'd met a few too many women who were fluent in Italian, and he often sported a bruised cheek to show for his pathetic effort.
In any case, she decided that her silly grudge against Oliver needed to stop. She had to let go of what happened and just get on with her life. Both her nana and Jennifer were right; people were who they were and she couldn't change them or demand that they be decent. So she decided to just end it there, Oliver would live however he wanted to live, and she would put it all behind her. With a simple acceptance of his apology, she decided that would be it. She could forget all about him and put this whole thing in her past. When she walked away to pay for her books, she figured that chapter would be it. No more Oliver Queen.
She took her books home and put them on an end table. She wasn't sure why, but now they felt a little spoiled. They reminded her of him and every time she touched them, she replayed the conversation they'd shared.
"Would you… Do you want to get a cup of coffee with me?" he wondered.
She stared up at him. "I don't know. Apparently the last time we were in a coffee shop together, you fell madly in love with me."
He ducked his head as he laughed, scratching a finger at his temple. "Never know, could've been a prophecy of sorts."
Ridiculous.
As if somehow her life was meant to lead to him, of all people...
She scoffed, walking off into her kitchen to pour herself a mug of coffee. Sitting on her couch, she eyed the stack of books, chewing on the corner of her thumbnail.
He was handsome though.
And he had a nice laugh; it rumbled from his chest.
But he was a jerk. Even if his third attempt, this time far more civil, at talking to her went far better than the two previous tries.
Sighing, she scooped up one of her new books, determined to pretend like he had no effect on her at all.
She would never admit that, occasionally, the handsome protagonist in her book looked a little like the guy she met in that bookstore, a little unsure and far more genuine than she expected of him. And he had Oliver's laugh, but… that was just because he had a nice laugh. Nothing more, nothing less.
There was a donut shop that Rufus loved a few blocks over from the park. She was pretty sure it wasn't good for him to eat donuts, but she didn't think a couple here or there would be detrimental to his health, and he always looked so excited when they stopped there. The guy behind the counter was cute, so that helped too, and he always gave her a few extra donut holes. He never put down Rufus and his rather odd looks, not like Oliver had the day before. And fine, okay, so it was rather sweet, seeing Oliver play fetch with Rufus. He looked so proud of himself, grinning goofily whenever Rufus brought the ball back for him and he threw it again, harder and faster each time, like he was showing off. She wouldn't put it past him. But there was something oddly… sweet about that. How proud he was of playing fetch with a dog for the first time and being good at it. She was pretty sure she shouldn't find that, or him, attractive, but she did.
She was distracted when she took the extra baggy of donut holes from Anthony the donut guy. "See you tomorrow, Felicity," he called to her as she walked out, the bell jangling overhead.
"Great, see you then," she replied before hurrying out the door and scooping up Rufus' leash.
He knew what she had. He bounced at her feet, sitting back on his hind legs and lifting his front in an effort to sit pretty so she could give him his treat.
She smiled down at him, his head quirked to one side, lopsided ears flopping. "What happened to waiting, huh? You know you don't get one until we're at the park."
He yapped at her, toddling forward a few steps before he turning back around and looked at her hopefully.
Rolling her eyes, she dug out a donut hole and tossed it in the air for him to catch. He was small and he had to spit it back out on the ground and take smaller bites, but he always seemed to like catching it more than just having it put in front of him.
She waited as he chewed, bending down to scratch behind his ears affectionately.
Sometimes she wondered what his story was. The shelter had only told her that he moved around a lot and was friendly. There'd been no history of violence and he had a happy disposition. But she wondered if that meant that he had a bunch of families, all of which just passed him on to the next. Or maybe someone left him behind. Maybe he didn't fit into their plans so they moved to a new place and just left him in the old one. Or maybe he was forgotten. Maybe he had a family that loved him but they moved cross-country and he'd simply been lost in the haste to pack and move. She didn't think so though, because she couldn't imagine leaving behind someone with such a big heart, who just loved so openly and without reservation.
Felicity couldn't count on both hands how many times she'd considered adopting him. It was the downfall of spending so much time with dogs; of course she'd get attached. But she wasn't sure her life was stable enough yet. She didn't want him to be stuck at home all day while she was at QC. And what if there was a family out there that would give him more attention? It was an argument she had with herself often. But, she could admit, for just a moment the day before, with Oliver playing fetch with him while she sat in the grass, there was a nice sense of something that went along with it. It was weird, how things had changed so dramatically between her and Oliver. He had been this thorn in her side, this misogynistic, self-centered thorn that she never wanted to lay eyes on again, and then he had apologized at the bookstore, and he honestly sounded like he meant it. So when he came up to them in the park, she could admit that the irritation that stabbed her the previous few times she saw him had ebbed almost entirely. She didn't know what they were; acquaintances, maybe? But they weren't what they'd started as. He wasn't the first impression he'd given her.
He was easier to talk to than she expected, sharing details about herself and how she ended up in Starling City seemed more familiar than she ever thought she'd be with him. But his questions didn't feel invasive, they felt natural, like they were supposed to talk about those things, like they could share more than what that initial meeting suggested. In fact, after seeing him in that playful mode with Rufus, she thought there might just be more to him than anybody would ever expect.
But that was a dangerous road to go down, she decided. So instead, she went to the park with the only guy in her life that wouldn't disappoint. Rufus.
Anthony asked her out two days later.
She was pretty sure he'd been working up to it for months now, but it was nice, how he stuttered out the question while she struggled to pick either sprinkles or glazed. She'd popped her head up, brows hiked, and smiled. "Sure. That'd be nice."
"Great! Uh, that-That's great. Maybe this weekend? Are you doing anything?"
She shrugged. "No, this weekend's fine."
"Saturday? We could get dinner, or a movie? Or both!"
Tucking her hair behind her ear, she nodded. "Reaching into her purse, she found a pen and wrote down her number. "Why don't you call me, and we'll figure out the details?"
"Yeah, uh, yeah, I will."
She handed him her number before leaving. She was a block away before she realized Rufus was looking up at her hopefully and she didn't have one donut for him. They went back and she laughed at herself awkwardly as she explained that she still needed donuts. She was pretty sure he blushed nearly as much as she did, but it was sweet, and she got a free sprinkle donut out of it.
"Did you sleep with him?"
"Kelsey!" she sputtered, putting her beer down on the coffee table. "We went on one date."
With a snort, Kelsey raised an eyebrow. "So? Share the dirty details. I'm having a dry-spell."
"Is this like that dry-spell you had a couple years ago that lasted three whole days and you acted like you'd been celibate for years?"
"In my defense, I was in a monogamous relationship and he was withholding sex for no reason."
Felicity frowned. "Didn't he have a stomach flu?"
"You know what? You're supposed to be on my side, and I'm really not feeling the love," Kelsey dismissed, admiring her fingernails.
"Fine. I'm sorry you went through a dry-spell then and you're going through one now." She crossed her legs under her, picking at a hole in the knee of her jeans absently. "How long has it been?"
She shrugged. "Oh, I broke it last night when I took home the drummer of the house band at this awesome club." She smirked. "Let's just say he's really good with his hands and, he might not sing, but he made me hit a few high notes with that tongue of his."
"Thanks for sharing," Felicity chuckled. "Sadly, I do not have the same to share in return. Anthony was a perfect gentleman and we had a completely sex-free date. We went out to dinner at Table Salt - don't even ask me how he got a reservation there, because I have no idea - and then we went to a movie… It was nice."
"Sounds boring," Kelsey muttered, settling back against the couch. "Well, what about tension? Was there a clichéd moment where you guys both reached for popcorn at the same time and your hands brushed and you spent like ten minutes trying to get your heart to stop racing? Or maybe you guys just made out in the back row?" Her eyes lit up. "Oh my god, do you remember junior high? With Jerry Fick?"
"Yes, I vividly remember you giving him a hand-job and getting caught by the theater staff. Also, just so you know, ew. Now I can't sit in a movie and not think about what might be on the seats."
Unrepentant, Kelsey merely shrugged. "He was cute."
"Your taste is questionable."
"This from Oliver Queen's girlfriend," she teased.
Felicity pursed her lips. "I thought we agreed not to talk about that."
"No way, I'm never forgetting that. We will be old ladies with four husbands behind us and I'll still bring up the time you were a billionaire's girlfriend."
"Fake girlfriend. And excuse you, I'm not going to have four husbands!"
"Fine, I'll have seven and you can have one."
"What's with eight? Why does there need to be eight?"
"I love 'love,' Felicity. Don't hate."
Laughter bubbled out of her and she found herself falling back against the cushions of her couch. "You're ridiculous."
"Yeah, but you love me…" She reached over and popped a dramatic kiss to Felicity's cheek before she winked. "You can be my one and only wife, if you want."
"What an honor," she joked, grinning.
"You bet your cute ass it is." She leaned back against the opposite arm of the couch and put her feet in Felicity's lap. "Speaking of your ex-fake-boyfriend, though, Jenn told me you ran into him again. Something about that fugly dog you walk? Randy? Rory? Something like that."
"Rufus," she corrected. "And… yeah, I guess. Oliver happened to be there and came over to talk." She shrugged. "I don't know. He's never walked a dog before, can you believe that? So, well, I made him. I mean, seriously, he's a billionaire. He could buy himself a dog if he really wanted one. Who doesn't want a dog in their life? And sure, he made fun of Rufus. He didn't use the word 'fugly,' but he was pretty clear he thought Rufus was probably the least attractive dog he'd ever seen. Not that dogs are ever really attractive, that'd be creepy. But you know what I mean." She waved a dismissive hand. "Anyway, so he walked Rufus through the park and it was, I don't know, kind of sweet. He wasn't sure he was holding the leash right or if there was some kind of technique to it that he was missing… But it got really good when we got to the field. Can you believe he's never played fetch before? Well, I guess since he's never been around a dog that makes sense, but, oh my god, Kelsey, you should have seen him! He was so proud. He kept throwing the ball and Rufus would come back for it and Oliver just looked so… happy, I guess. I mean, dogs always make me happy, Rufus especially, but it was like something clicked with him…" She smiled to herself softly and then shook her head, shrugging. "Anyway, I told him he should go by the shelter sometime, see if he can sign up to walk dogs too. It might be good for him."
Kelsey stared at her, her eyes a little wide. "Oh, wow…"
She frowned. "What?"
"You kind of like him." Kelsey grinned, grabbing up her beer. "Can't blame you. He's gorgeous."
"I-I do not like him. I mean, I don't hate him. I never really hated him. I disliked what he represented and what he did when we first met, but hate is a really strong word. And now, I don't know, it's nothing. We're… acquaintances. I just… I saw a different side of him and it was nice, that's all."
Shaking her head, Kelsey tucked an arm behind her head. "Uh-huh. You know, the last guy you were really into was that geek in MIT, what was his name?"
Sighing, she muttered, "Kyle. And don't call him names."
"Kyle was a grade-A jerk. Maybe you have a type."
She rolled her eyes. "He turned out to be pretty… jerky," she admitted. "But that was totally different. Kyle was a mistake. A really terrible mistake that I still blame on too much cold medicine. Oliver won't be a mistake because we will probably never see each other again. He just happened to be at the park when I was. I mean, he never comes by QC, so I'm sure it'll end there."
"Or maybe he'll get a dog too and you'll take walks through the park together and fall in love…" Kelsey let out a dramatic, wistful sigh, stacking her hands over her heart and batting her eyes at Felicity. "You'll ramble and he'll kiss you to make you stop and you'll be a crazy romantic comedy where the geeky IT girl gets the handsome billionaire who ends up having a heart of gold. And you'll have beautiful blonde haired babies with his devastating grin and your insane smarts and the world will weep for how perfect you are."
Digging the pillow out from behind her, she threw it at Kelsey. "Shut up."
Laughing, Kelsey hugged the pillow to her chest. "Fine. If you're done with your Harlequin romance, can we talk about my awesome week at work? Because someone's designs might be getting some positive feedback."
"Really?" Felicity asked excitedly. "Share!"
Eagerly, Kelsey sat up and filled her in on the details.
Felicity forgot all about Oliver and any implications about what she might think of him. In fact, she put men out of her head entirely and just focused on her best friend and how her job was on the verge of skyrocketing. The rest of the night was spent drinking beer, playing video games, and listening to Kelsey tell her all about every new outfit she'd put together, with very specific details that tended to go over Felicity's head but she filed away like a good friend should. And later, when they were a little drunk and their hand-eye coordination wasn't the best, she had Kelsey sloppily draw out some of her favorite designs and promised she would walk the catwalk if she ever got her own show.
The next morning, with Kelsey spooning her, Felicity hoped she forgot about that last detail. She'd probably trip right off the stage. In fact, she definitely would.
[Continue.]