Office Space

“So…do you only wear suits and armor?” she asks as she stands, tugging at the hem of her shirt.

“No. Sometimes I’m naked.” He wonders how far down her blush goes.

“Uh…uh….uh…” she stammers and he slips a hand up the back of thigh, the skin smooth and pliant. He wonders how long it would take to seduce her, stay in bed all day with his head between her thighs. He sighs and pulls his head away, stroking the back of her knee.

“Go get changed.” She lets out a long breath and steps into her room. When she comes out she looks the same as usual, bright lipstick and short skirt. Lovely. Always so lovely. “Where are we going first?”

“There’s this Lebanese restaurant on Seventh, Sayeed’s. Best kibbe I’ve ever had.”

“We just ate, Felicity.”

She gives him a small smile and shrugs. “I’m a bottomless pit, and athletic people like you are always hungry.”

“You know this from experience?” he asks as they enter the elevator not far from her door.

“Well, Oliver’s still, uh, all traumatized, so he tends to starve unless we remind him to eat. But Sara, Digg, and Roy basically never stop eating.”

He grins as the doors open and they step out, Felicity taking his hand in hers without comment. “I’m full for now, but later?”

“Of course. For now, come to the Carousel with me?”

“How old are you, again?” he teases, pulling her close to his side.

“Twenty six, and I’m young at heart,” she replies.

“I’ll watch. I don’t ride fake horses.” She giggles and briefly presses her face to his shoulder.

He watches her. Always. She’s used to being watched, though. She’ll fall asleep in the Cave and wake up to Oliver’s eyes on her as he sharpens arrowheads. She’ll look up from her burger to find Sara watching her, something wistful in her face. So she doesn’t mind the staring.

“Slade, come on,” she calls, waving from atop a black horse. He sits on a bench, arms spread over the back. He takes up as much space as possible, she’s noticed. Every time the carousel cycles she can see him smiling at her. He shakes his head anyway, but when the ride ends he helps her off, his hands firm at her waist. “That was fun! You’ll join me when we come back, right?”

His face is thoughtful. “You would like to come back?”

She hooks her arm through his and leads him through the crowd. “Of course! Before we really get started, is there anywhere you like?”

“I’ve spent most of my time here murdering people, Felicity. I didn’t really notice the scenery.” She grimaces and pulls him to a stop, though she knows she couldn’t do that if he didn’t let her.

“Look, I know this is cliché and just, super typical, but you’ve changed, Slade. You’d changed even before you found me. You hadn’t tried to kill any of us in months.”

He nods quickly as they exit the park. “There was one place. A building. Quiet. Good view of the harbor.”

“Is it close by?”

“Close enough. We can go there and be at that Lebanese place by six. Good enough?”

“Always,” she says, knowing he understands her meaning.

The building is one of the many warehouses that fill Starling City. He’s aware that it doesn’t look like much. He used it as a base several times, taking cruel pleasure in the fact that it used to be part of Queen Consolidated. Now, it’s just cobwebbed and dusty, with a single, bloodstained cot shoved into one corner.

“That’s blood. I know that’s blood. Why is that blood?” Felicity asks as they walk by it, her hand tightening around his.

“I was foolish.”

“That’s…really not enough of an explanation,” she tells him, pausing in front of the stairs that lead to the roof.

“I fell off a roof during a routine patrol and impaled myself upon a spiked fence. The wound was clean and healed quickly.” Her eyes are round and shocked. He had stumbled back to base with his guts spilling between his hands, staining everything he touched with blood. There had been no one to help him, and he spent two days in agony with Shado’s ghost berating him for his idiocy.
But the real Shado would have just sighed and fixed him, and it was then that his mind began to heal. When the madness that the serum caused began to fade.

“Oh my God. Oh my God,” Felicity hisses, moving quickly to grasp the bottom of his shirt.

“Wha-” he manages to get out before she’s tugging his shirt up, running her hands along his stomach. “What are you doing?”

“Checking to make sure there’s not a scar, I guess, I don’t even know why because your crazy serum abilities would’ve healed it, healed a wound you got from impaling yourself because clearly my life is insane. I knew getting involved with Oliver would fuck everything up but God. I guess…”

He ignores the feel of her hands against his skin and takes her by the shoulders. “Felicity.” Her hands freeze and she looks up at him. “I’m alright. I will always be alright.”

She nods quickly and takes her hands away. “I get overwhelmed sometimes, you know? My brain just goes tick tock tick tock and everything happens at once.”

“That’s understandable.” He leads her up the stairs and to the roof.

The harbor is spread before them. “Oh, it’s beautiful!” she exclaims, rushing to the edge.

“Not as beautiful as you.” She turns to him, glowing, the wind whipping her hair back.

“You’re so cheesy, Slade.” She’s grinning, though. He shrugs and moves to sit by her feet, leaning his head against her leg. She scratches at the top of his head, smooths his hair back. “What would you come up here for?”

“To think, mostly.”

“You like the ocean?”

“I spent a lot of time on it, as a kid.” He tugs on her skirt so she sits between his legs, back to his chest. He wraps his arms around her, fingers meeting over the softness of her stomach. They sit like that for an hour, speaking softly back and forth about nothing at all, really.

Watching her eat is…nice. She takes forever, closing her eyes at each bite. It’s been a while since he didn’t just wolf down a meal, seeking sustenance. This morning and now, really, are the only recent times he’s enjoyed what he ate. The kibbe is amazing, the best he’s had since Beirut. They eat in silence for a while, watching cars pass by through the window.

“How are we gonna tell Oliver?”

“I’ll do it. Don’t want him putting an arrow in you.”

Her eyes narrow. “Oliver would never put an arrow in me!”

“I know, love.”

He kisses her goodbye at the door to her apartment. “You want to come in?” she asks, cause it’s only eight and she still has a few free days left. He smiles and brushes past her, hands briefly on her hips. “I have a lot of work to do, but I can put on a movie for you.”

“Sounds good.” They sit for an hour or so while she types, feet tucked under his thighs, before he pulls her onto his lap and bites at her neck. He kisses her until she’s making sleepy noises, mouth slack against his. “Go to sleep, love.”

“You’ll be here in mornin’?” she slurs, taking her glasses off as she rests her head against his thigh.

“Always.”