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The morning had started out quietly enough. Oliver surprised Felicity with breakfast in bed, a small box of chocolates that they'd shared, and even a small bouquet. It was typical and felt right; he's no longer the boy with millions of dollars to throw at everything, and even if he did, he isn't sure Felicity would like it so much. He knows she appreciates a luxury from time to time, as he does, but he can't imagine treating her like all the "girlfriends" he's had in the past.

He can barely imagine her even being in the same category as all those girlfriends. She's so separate, so different and so much better than anyone he's known. He'd felt something deep for Laurel at one point, but nothing like this.

It's when he passes the second or third jewelry shop on his way to the grocery store that he wonders why he's never actually gone into one. Sure, he has his reasons, and the life they lead has always made lasting, permanent relationships seem almost impossible to maintain, but...they're safe here. They're as safe as they can be, and it doesn't look like they'll be leaving any time soon. Even if they did, he knows he would feel the exact same way, whether in Darrow or in Starling.

And he can't assume Felicity just knows. She needs-- he needs her to know that he's in it for the long haul no matter what.

So he turns into that third jewelry store, stomach churning even though he's resolved about this. It takes some time, but Oliver leaves with something nice, something modest, something that he can absolutely see on Felicity's finger.

He forgets the groceries, forgets just about everything else he was out for in the first place and heads right back home. The little box weighs nothing but he can feel it in his coat pocket on the walk home, up the elevator, can feel it get heavier somehow as his own nerves flutter up. It's solid and light as he slips it into his hand after he takes off his coat.

"Honey?"

It feels good to be suited up and out at night again without having to watch his back every single second. Whatever was going on with the animals seems to have stopped; Oliver still keeps an eye out, but not to the degree he had been for the past week.

Everything going back to normal has allowed him to go back to what he's been doing recently-- namely, stalking his boss. Oliver's trusted enough now that Alexei includes him in the planning of certain deals, though they each come with the expectation and warning that he needs to step up and actually use his rank once more, or sever his ties to the bratva entirely.

Considering that means they intend to kill Oliver if he doesn't take on his role as a true avtoritet, he's got a bit of a dilemma on his hands.

He's come up with stalking Alexei, collecting intel in order to shut him down for good. While it will mean an end to his job and the connections he's come by thanks to the bratva, Oliver gets to live at the end of it.

Alexei has spent most of his night in rather innocent pursuits, leading Oliver around half the city as he checks in on employees and rivals alike. While he doesn't seem to realize that anyone is on his tail, Oliver has had the feeling lately that someone is on his. He hasn't let on that he knows he's being followed, but the night is drawing to a close and Oliver's grown tired of it.

When Alexei's car rounds a corner to head back to Lush, Oliver doesn't follow; he drops into an alleyway instead, bow up as he blends into the shadows behind a large dumpster. It doesn't take long before he hears careful movement follow, and he lets his arrow fly, aiming low to disable whoever it is.

Watching over Barry has become the most important thing Oliver's dealing with at the moment, to the detriment of everything else. Felicity is right there at his side with him, so it isn't until Thea sends him a text asking what's going on that he realizes he's forgotten about most of the world outside of the hospital doors.

He doesn't know why he's still so surprised at how perceptive Thea is.

Having Felicity with him makes it easier to leave for an hour or so while she stays with Barry, so he can head back to the apartment for a change of clothes and to pick up some food for her on the way back. After getting Thea's text, he gives her a brief call to ask her to come over, intending to let her know what's going on -- or part of it, anyway. Reluctant as he is to keep most of the story from Thea, Barry's secret isn't his to tell.

They haven't really been back in the apartment since heading to the hospital, and stepping back into it is a reminder of that. The television and many lights are still on, and when Oliver walks into the living room, his eyes are immediately drawn to the smear of dried blood on the floor where Barry had shown up.

Not wanting Felicity to have to see it when she gets back, Oliver pulls out some cleaning supplies, and the smell of bleach quickly fills the apartment. He's almost done when he hears a knock at the front door, and remembers Thea. With a sigh, Oliver drops his rag into the bucket, the water pink tinged, and wipes his hands on his jeans briefly before opening the door.

"Hey, Speedy." Seeing Thea is a relief, and Oliver hadn't realized how much he'd needed her company until now.

It's been a few hours since dawn and since the confusion and horror of the night ended. (It had taken Oliver some time before being able to say it was over, at least for a little while.) Oliver had wanted to keep going, but even he couldn't deny that he needed to rest, needed a few hours of sleep and some time to decide if he was going to deal with what the hell happened overnight.

How does one deal with the ghosts of dead friends and a murderous doppelganger?

Ultimately, Oliver chooses not to answer. They'll rest. They'll try to see if anyone else is out there. And maybe, somewhere along the way, they'll figure out what's going on and how to get home, if there's a way.

A general uneasiness accompanies Oliver's every step as they leave the apartment. He's pulling Felicity out of a safe place and into the unknown, but Oliver needs to find Thea, and he can't bear to leave Felicity alone when he has no idea what's going on. His usual instinct to protect them is much stronger now, overriding any fear and confusion he has about what's going on around them.

The silence is the most disturbing part; there should be cars, people, birds, and a million other small sounds that make up the background the noise of a city, but none of it is there.

Darrow is silent, covered in ash, and confident as he is in his plans, Oliver can't shake the fear creeping up his spine.

[Treat this as a gathering post in a way, even though this is only for Thea and Porthos (and whomever may be with them, if that's the case). I'll have one top level for pre-sundown threads, then a second top level for the Arrow showing up.]

Oliver knows something is wrong before he's even awake. Despite being in relative safety for the past year, he still hasn't ever been able to sleep more than a few hours a night, and it's almost always light. He's come to recognize the sounds of the building around them, the sounds of the city outside their windows at any time of the day.

He usually wakes shortly before dawn, the city quiet but waking along with him -- only this time, in those groggy moments before he's fully conscious, Oliver can feel the wrongness. Like a soundproof blanket has covered their building, or like the entire world outside their windows has disappeared. Lian Yu had never been so quiet.

When he looks out the window, sees the ash coating everything, sees a familiar view changed, tainted, wrong, he stops thinking. Felicity is still asleep in bed and he doesn't wake her at first; better to let her sleep for a little while longer, to avoid whatever's waiting for them out there.

The television doesn't work, the electricity keeps flickering, and though his phone works, it barely does a fraction of what it should. No calls.

No Thea.

So Oliver prepares and plans. While Felicity sleeps, he packs. A few days worth of food, survival gear, extra clothing. Weapons he's stashed around the apartment. When there's not much else for him to do, he sits in their living room and looks out the window, hoping for signs of life out there. He thinks he sees someone on the sidewalk once, but the shadow is gone before he can even head over to the window, standing behind the curtain as he looks out and down into the street.

Finally, reluctantly, Oliver heads into their bedroom, his boots barely making any noise as he walks over to Felicity's side of the bed. She looks peaceful and he hates to wake her, but he doesn't want to stay in the apartment for much longer.

Sitting down on the bed beside her, Oliver picks up her glasses, holding them in one hand as he uses the other to rest it on her shoulder and give her a gentle squeeze. "Felicity. I need you to get up."

( Oliver, Terry, Bellamy, Bianca )

Last one of these I did was in March, whaaaaat.

As a general FYI, I start my five week summer session on Monday so I anticipate my tagging slowing down a bit. Otherwise my plans will still be the same, I just have to figure out how to balance everything once I get through the first week.

( Oliver, Terry, Claire, Bellamy, Bianca. )

Sometimes Oliver tries.

He might not be the best partner, nor is he always the most emotionally available, but being with Felicity brings him a happiness that he has slowly come to accept that he deserves. She knows him, inside and out -- what she doesn't know, he is slowly letting her see -- and she not only still loves him, but can put up with him, or let him know when she won't.

So he tries.

The lilies had been easy. Those sit in a vase on the stand by the front door, the first thing she'll see when she gets back from work.

Cleaning up the apartment a bit took little time.

The cooking was a failure from the start.

He'd let the fire alarm go off for about a minute before unplugging it, and it had taken twenty minutes for the kitchen to stop smelling like smoke. At least he can't go wrong with dim sum and after picking it up, he knows enough to put it in casserole dishes to keep warm in the oven.

With everything about as good as he can manage it, Oliver decides to take a quick shower to rinse the smell of smoke off himself.

Oliver is quick to anger, and is completely irrational when it comes to Thea. He knows this, but the combination of the two makes it difficult for him to see anything clearly. It's only Thea's anger that punches through and reaches him, shaking him until he lets go of anger over something that not only can he not change, but isn't any of his business in the first place.

She's a grown woman who can make her own decisions, but it's still hard for Oliver to let go of the little girl he remembered.

Worse still, after he apologizes to Thea, is remembering the way Derek had looked when he left him. How callous was he that he was so willing to drop a friend so easily because he couldn't get a hold of himself? Had Diggle not pushed back against Oliver constantly, he would probably still be alone, lost as the Arrow and fighting a war he could never win on his own.

It doesn't take long for Oliver to suck it up and head over to Semele's one evening. He's in all black, his usual outfit for a later shift at Lush, but he stops by the bar first to find Derek.

And he will, for once, try to apologize.

Wrapping up at Semele's the night before hadn't taken long, and Oliver was happy to call it an early night and take Felicity home after Thea left with a quick goodbye. It was nice to have nights like that, where he got to simply be with Felicity and Thea -- to hang out at a friend's bar with those he loves most and do normal things. Those sorts of moments are becoming more common in his life, and the only thing that really stands between Oliver and Thea anymore is the Arrow.

He isn't sure if he's going to tell her yet. Though he saw a possible future in that Seeing Stone where she didn't turn away from him or hate him for it, he isn't sure he can take the chance on telling her. Thankfully, the Arrow doesn't get much press at all, and Thea probably hasn't put two and two together yet.

Not having seen Derek leave the night before, Oliver shoots him a text after his usual workout at Off the Wall. Coffee, breakfast, whatever would work. He knew how to be friends with Porthos, had fallen into a comfortable routine with the musketeer (one that usually involved either punching or drinking), but he was in the midst of figuring out how to be friends with Derek.

It still startles him from time to time to think about the relationships he's forged here, friendships made just by being himself. Maybe it's not a complete version of himself, not the whole that only Felicity ever sees, but it's an improvement from his first two years after returning to Starling.

After a quick shower and a brief call to set up a lunch date with Felicity, Oliver heads out. It's still a little strange to be doing this, to be going through the motions of what normal people do -- have beers, hang out, drink coffee -- but he finds he's missed it a little. Maybe he'll never have the same friendship he ever had with Tommy, and not having Digg around is like missing a limb, but this can be good enough.

After his time with Derek, Oliver wants nothing more than to call it a night. He breaks radio silence to tell Felicity he's heading back in, and wastes little time heading back uptown to their building. A quick visit to his small clothing stash a few buildings down, and Oliver heads into their building in plain clothes, bag in hand, as though he's just heading back at 3am after along night working at the club.

He doesn't call out to Felicity until after he's closed and locked the door behind him, bag set on the floor in the small hallway. Oliver has quickly gotten over his guilt at having Felicity stay up on the nights he goes out as the Arrow only to go to work the next morning, but he knows better than to suggest she go to bed and leave him to it.

It's nice to walk into the living room and see her there. His arm is starting to hurt a little now, a reminder that it hadn't since Derek did his thing, but he doesn't bother grabbing the first aid kit yet.

Oliver heads over to the couch and sits down heavily next to Felicity, happy to be home and comfortable again. "Hey," he says quietly, smiling as he reaches out to tug at the hem of her shorts.

Oliver's been in the city long enough (a year now, a whole goddamn year) to know there are things he can't explain in any way that doesn't accept the supernatural as a reality. Derek had proven as much. Porthos hunted vampires. Superheroes with superpowers exist.

There's too much evidence to turn a blind eye, so eventually Oliver doesn't. And he sees a lot.

The night has been quiet so far, though a short talk with Alexei earlier has left Oliver on edge. Felicity flirts with him through his earpiece and he can picture her easily, on their couch in her pajamas, laptop on the coffee table and bowl of ice cream in hand as she guides him through the night. It helps.

He's perched on the edge of a short rooftop, about to break radio silence again when he hears a scream cut short in the alley below. The street light cast large shadows in the alley, but the screamer is wearing something that catches the light every now and then as she fights back. Eventually she stills and then Oliver sees it: a larger shadow over her body. A vampire feeding.

Oliver doesn't hesitate, but he isn't one hundred percent sure just how to take care of a vampire (Wood? Silver?), and he doesn't want to send an arrow through its heart only to find out it was a human after all.

He shoots and immediately rappels down into the alley, the creature shrieking in rage as he hits the ground. When he looks up again, another arrow already nocked, the vampire rips the first one out of his shoulder and turns his full attention to Oliver.

Well, at least he's sure it's a vampire now.

The girl shifts behind it, and Oliver is thankful for that much, even if he knows this is not going to end well. Felicity's going to kill him.

He shoots again, two arrows in rapid succession, one aiming for the heart, the other for an eye as the vampire turns into a blur as it rushes toward him.

He isn't really thinking when he first picks it up. Oliver's simply speaking, enjoying his conversation as he looks around, and something catches his eye. He isn't sure what draws him to it, only that it catches his eye, and unexpected. He's about to mention it but the crystal ball is in his hand before he even thinks about it, and everything around him sort of floats away.

It's not like he's there, but it's not like he's watching it on a television, either. Oliver can't explain it, only that he can see.

So many bodies. Digg, Lyla, and their baby girl. Felicity and a little blonde girl in her arms. Mom and dad, older and still alive. Thea finding out and taking him in her arms. Laurel, covered in blood. Barry and others in costumes. A sword through his gut and a fall, standing alone with no family or friends, the woman he loves with someone else, a family at his side in the end.

The crystal makes a loud, heavy noise when it hits the ground and Oliver takes a step back, his hand still outstretched and palm warm from where he'd been holding it. He can barely process what he's just seen; a dozen scenarios, half dreams, half nightmares, and every one of them a weight on his heart. What were they, visions? Wishful thinking? Torture?

Oliver shakes his head when he realizes someone is standing there, and he blinks when he looks up, unable to get the images out of his head

Oliver has allowed himself two nights off the streets to gather his thoughts and to get over himself. Barbara's admission threw him for a loop, but it doesn't mean he has to stop, or that he wants to stop. He just has to be careful; while he has fewer people to protect here, he has so much more to lose were anything to happen to Felicity or Thea for whatever reason.

The night starts off much like any other, Felicity's voice in his ear a reassurance. He skirts the Lobos area, not wanting to step on the Alpha's toes (even though he is curious about her), and he does what he can when needed. It's not much, not anything like the impact he had in Starling, but it's something.

He hopes Arrowette got his message-- a green flechette with a note attached, an address and time, left in the wall of a building he's seen her around quite a few times should have done it. He arrives early, scoping out the rooftop and going radio silent with Felicity before settling in the deepest shadows, wanting a good vantage point for Arrowette's arrival. He's watched her move before, sure, but now...hell, he isn't sure what he's looking for now.

Oliver just knows that Arrowette knows something about him, and maybe his new perspective will give him some kind of new insight into her or whoever the Green Arrow is supposed to be.

Anything will do, really. Anything to answer just one of the millions of questions he has.

Me: Got a good handle on tags lately, though I've been dealing with the fucking worst of allergies and it has ruined me for wanting to do anything but lie around with ice on my face and moan in despair. I have some 10 or so days left of Spring Break so I plan on using it to my advantage and getting as much plot planning done as I can.

( Oliver, Terry, Claire. )

Cookie if you read all that. I'm going to pass out now, thank you and goodnight.

After his discussion with Barbara, Oliver spent the rest of his shift on autopilot, his mind running through their entire conversation over and over.

Green Arrow had seemed like such a ridiculous name, coming from Malcolm, but the fact that he actually goes by that name in Barbara's world bothers him. Everything about it bothers him, and though he's glad he knows, he hates that she suspected and knew all about him for however long before tonight. He hates that there are most likely others who know. He keeps replaying his meetings with various vigilantes over the months he's spent here, wondering if a certain reaction here or there meant they recognized some aspect of him -- if they suspected he was their Green Arrow.

The not knowing gnaws away at Oliver, and by the time his shift is done, he's more inclined to wrap his hand around his bow than make nice with Alexei or anyone else. He leaves Lush quickly, and heads home.

Usually when he gets back to the apartment, Oliver slips right into the Arrow and spends a few hours in the city. When he walks in and closes the door behind him this time, Oliver stands in the hall, still and listening for Felicity.

He isn't sure what to do. Barbara's words keep bouncing around in his head, and he doesn't know what to think anymore.

Oliver can't recall the last time he's felt so deeply content. Somehow, he's been granted a chance to be happy, and somehow, he's allowed himself to take that chance. Whatever this city is, Oliver will forever he grateful that it's brought him, brought them to where they are. (There is a sort of guilt that wants to creep its way in, guilt over feeling like he's abandoning Starling, abandoning his mission, but Oliver doesn't allow it to take root. Not now.)

The room is quiet but for their breathing, and as much as he wants to pull a sheet up, Oliver doesn't want to move a single muscle. Felicity's head rests on his chest and he can feel her breathe, her body warm against his. One hand idly runs over her back, feeling the curve of her spine all the way down to her waist, skin smooth under his fingertips. There are probably freckles he has yet to find, parts of Felicity's body he's yet to learn, and he's looking forward to it.

"I don't think," he murmurs, "we ever said Happy New Year."

Oliver's at the gym a bit earlier than usual today, having slept but a few hours. He has no problem with a lack of sleep, but it's the current problems plaguing him that keep his mind going at night, not just the usual. Alexei's been getting a touch more aggressive in trying to get Oliver to take initiative, and he's afraid the goodwill his tattoo and his word give him will soon run out.

It's not a problem that needs a difficult solution, but the club affords Oliver a comfortable living and he highly doubts Alexei will just give up on him if he quits.

Running the gym takes his mind off everything, hyper focused on his breathing and his body. By the time he's done, his t-shirt is soaked through, and he's refilling his water bottle for a fourth time.

Towel around his shoulders and bottle in hand, Oliver walks around the gym a little to cool down. He gets a curt nod from Shiv when he passes by her class, and when he spots Tris' class letting out, he stops. She can take care of herself just fine, Oliver knows that, but it's hard to let go of the need to check in on her every now and then.

Felicity Smoak (Arrow)

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Thea Queen (Arrow)

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Oliver Queen

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