Chapter Text
I think I'll go to Boston...
It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon in the middle of August as Felicity Smoak stepped out of the taxi cab, taking a deep breath as she took in the scene before her. The warm 80 degree weather was a nice change from the scorching three digit temperatures in the deserts of Nevada. Everywhere she looked she could see young adults hauling their luggage or furniture, chatting excitedly as they proceeded to walk around the quad.
Felicity was arriving for her first year of college. After graduating head of her class, Felicity received a full scholarship to one of the top schools in the country, all the way on the East Coast. At first she saw the downside; it was so far away from home, far away from her mother—the woman who single handedly raised her after her father left and who had become one of her best friends. But more importantly it would take her away from Cooper; her childhood friend and boyfriend of the past two and half years.
Felicity and Cooper had planned on going to college together, finding a small studio apartment that they could live in while taking classes and interning at some tech company. It was a pretty solid plan, one that Felicity was excited for until she walked in on Cooper in bed with some random girl a couple weeks before Prom. After that happened she couldn’t get away from him fast enough so she gladly accepted the scholarship that would take her 3000 miles away.
Which lead her here to Boston, Massachusetts and she couldn’t be happier.
Felicity walked up the three flights of stairs of her dorm building, smiling politely at the other girls and their families who were moving in. When she got to the third floor she walked down the long hall, stopping at the end when she saw her room: 301. The door was ajar and she tentatively pushed it open, poking her head inside.
"Hello?" she spoke into the empty room. She stepped inside and dropped her bags onto the floor when she didn’t get a reply.
Felicity took a second to look around. The dorm was very roomy. It had a fairly spacious living room already equipped with a table and couch, a small kitchen towards the back and there were two bedrooms on opposite sides of the living room. Felicity smiled softly to herself; it was all starting to hit her. She was living on her own, in college, 3000 miles away from home. As daunting as that may be she was also incredibly excited for this new chapter in her life.
She had spent the summer surrounded by friends, partying all night and relaxing all day, as only one does in Las Vegas. The couple months before school started had been filled with some incredible memories, but she was looking forward to topping those over her first year at college. Some of her friends from back home were a year older than she was and they came back over the summer telling tales of all their adventures and Felicity couldn’t wait to have some fun of her own.
She was suddenly pulled from her thoughts when a voice from the front door rang through the room.
"Felicity! You’re here!" a young brunette girl exclaimed from the doorway. She was tall, dressed in capris and a t-shirt, her hair down in a wave of curls. She made her way into the room and enveloped Felicity in a hug. "It’s so nice to finally meet you in person."
Felicity returned the hug, pulling away and smiling brightly at her new roommate, Caitlin Snow. Caitlin was also a freshman hailing from Gotham which was only a couple hours north of Boston. When they were both notified that they’d be roommates they quickly exchanged numbers, constantly texting and talking on the phone throughout the summer. They both had a lot in common; single child, class valedictorian, interested in science and technology. Felicity was thankful that she got assigned to live with someone who she easily got along with and was looking forward to spending the next year with her.
“I hope you don’t mind, but I already started moving my stuff into this room,” Caitlin said, pointing a thumb towards the room closest to the front door.
“Yeah, that’s fine. When did you get here?” Felicity asked as she started making her way across the dorm and towards the other bedroom, Caitlin following close behind.
“About an hour ago. The drive wasn’t too bad. How was your flight?”
Felicity looked around at her new room, it came equipped with a bed and desk and she had a nice view of the grounds from outside her window. She turned back to face Caitlin.
“Long,” she answered. “There was a four year old sitting behind me that kept kicking my chair and the lady sitting next to me just would not stop talking. Even when I put my headphones in, you know the universal sign that I was not interested in having a conversation, she just kept on going!” Felicity had made her way back to the front of the room to grab one of her bags while Caitlin picked up the other. “And I know, that’s saying a lot coming from me, but I don’t think I’m that bad. Sure I go off on tangents and sometimes I spend hours babbling about technology but it’s not annoying, right?” She turned to look at her new roommate who had an amused expression on her face. “Please don’t tell me I’m already being annoying,” she sighed.
“You’re cute,” a new voice spoke from the entryway, startling Felicity. She was surprised to find two girls standing there, a blonde and a brunette, holding what seemed to be moving boxes filled with kitchen appliances. Felicity looked between them, confused.
“I think you guys might have the wrong room,” she said politely, her confusion growing when they laughed. The blonde from earlier spoke up again.
“Don’t worry cutie, we’re just here to help.” The blonde was wearing jean shorts and a white t-shirt while the dark haired girl was wearing white shorts and with a Bordeaux colored tank top; both of their clothes had the same matching Greek letters on the front.
Caitlin came to stand next to the two of them before she turned to face Felicity.
“Felicity, meet Sara Lance and Iris West. They’re sophomores here and are in the Alpha Phi Sorority,” she explained.
Felicity blushed, slightly embarrassed for making her assumption. She extended a hand to both girls who returned the gesture.
“We’re part of the ‘Movers and Shakers’ program that helps freshman move in and get situated on their first day,” Iris said as she moved to drop off a box in the kitchen.
Felicity smiled at that as she began moving her stuff into her room, unpacking her things along with the other girls. Caitlin and Iris set up the kitchen and living room while Sara helped Felicity with her things. The four of them fell into an easy conversation as they unloaded everything, which took a few hours. They ordered pizza once they were finished and sat in the living room well into the night, talking and laughing and just having a genuinely good time. It was a great first day and Felicity couldn’t wait to see what the rest of the year had in store.
The first couple of weeks had flown by. Felicity was currently enrolled in 16 units and she was working part time in the library as a tutor and computer consultant. The work load was considerably more demanding than HS, but Felicity was managing as well as she could. She and Caitlin had settled in perfectly and they had actually gotten to meet up with Sara and Iris a few times, which was nice.
The four of them had gone out to lunch a couple times; Sara and Iris had shown them the local café’s and eateries that were near campus. They talked a lot about what to expect from college; the best professors, which boys to avoid and they really tried to talk them into joining Greek life. Neither Felicity nor Caitlin was particularly interested in rushing, but they agreed that they would attend all their parties.
It was Tuesday morning and Felicity was currently making her way to her English class. She had forgotten to set her alarm the night before and was rushing to make sure she wasn’t late because they were having their first exam of the semester. The classroom was fairly large, 60 students enrolled in the course. Usually Felicity sat towards the front of the room, but since she was late all the seats were taken, except for a few in the very back. She walked in quietly, taking a seat near the door as the professor began passing out exams. A couple of seconds later she heard the door open again and turned her head to watch as the same boy who showed up late every class meeting snuck his way in, taking the seat next to her.
For the past two and a half weeks he had been walking in exactly at the start of class or a few minutes after, a distraction that did not go unnoticed, but yet the professor hadn’t dropped him from the course. He was dressed in a dark green polo shirt, with khaki shorts and a black baseball cap. He smiled brightly at Felicity when he was in his seat and she realized she was still staring at him. Usually she only saw him from across the room, but looking at him now she recognized he was even more attractive up close. She quickly looked away, her cheeks turning red slightly as the professor made his way towards the back row, handing out the last of the exams.
Halfway through the test Felicity was startled by a small noise to her right.
“Pssst.”
She raised her head, turning to look at the boy, the one who always showed up late. She narrowed her eyes at him, mouthing the word ‘what?’
He motioned at her test with his eyes and then tipped his head back towards his own paper. Felicity furrowed her brows as she continued to just stare at him so he repeated the gesture. After the third time he did it her eyes widened, mouth parting slightly in shock. She shook her head furiously before turning back to her own exam.
A couple of seconds passed before Felicity once again heard him trying to get her attention. She did her best to ignore him until she felt him taping on her shoulder. Felicity whipped her head around, the end of her ponytail hitting him in the face. He muttered a low ‘the fuck?’ before shaking it off, ducking his head closer towards her so that he could speak.
“Help a guy out?” he asked innocently, like he wasn’t just trying to cheat his way through the exam. Felicity glared at him through her glasses.
He tilted his head, offering her what was probably his most charming smile. “Oh, come on, beautiful. Don’t be like that.” He reached forward with one of his hands and trailed his fingers down her arm leaving goose bumps in their wake. A low chuckle left his mouth when he noticed the way Felicity shivered under his touch, the expression on her face softening, turning to one of surprise instead.
Felicity took in a shaky breath as the guy continued to run his fingers over her skin. She followed the movement with her eyes, not looking up until she heard him speak again.
“I’m Oliver Queen,” he whispered, his eyes meeting hers when she raised her head.
Oliver Queen. Why did that name sound so familiar? Felicity wracked her brain for a few seconds before it hit her. That was one of the guys Iris and Sara warned her and Caitlin about.
“Oh my god,” she gasped, pulling her arm away from his teasing fingers.
“Yeah, I get that a lot,” Oliver said, smiling to himself.
Felicity was back to glaring at him. “Everything about you just became so incredibly clear.”
He looked at her with a confused expression. “Wh-”. He was cut off by Felicity.
“I know all about you, Oliver Queen. I get that cheating is your thing, but don’t think for a second that I will be another one of your victims.” Felicity froze as she thought back on what she had just said. “Not to imply that you and I will become a thing and you’ll cheat behind my back, I just meant I won’t allow you to-”
“Eyes on your own paper,” the professor spoke up from the front of the class. Felicity immediately straightened in her chair, embarrassed to find their teacher looking directly at them. She made it a point to place her paper on the far end of her desk, leaning over it as she went back to work. Once she was finished she handed it over to her professor before quickly exiting the room, not sparing a second glance back at Oliver.
The following afternoon Felicity was in the library, her classes over for the day. She was sitting in the office behind the front desk when she heard someone approach the counter.
“Hi. I’m looking for a Felicity…Smoak? She works in here, right?” a familiar voice asked the lady working the desk.
Felicity peeked through the window, praying it wasn’t who she thought it was on the other side of the counter. She looked through the glass, groaning when her eyes landed on none other than Oliver Queen. The woman working the desk motioned over her shoulder to the room that Felicity was currently occupying and Oliver’s eyes followed the path until his eyes met hers.
Oliver smiled, waving at her to come out of the room. Felicity stood unmoving for a moment, contemplating if she should go out there. She really didn’t want to hear anything that Oliver had to say; he had tried to copy her answers and Felicity wasn’t a fan of people who tried to skate through life that way. But he had come looking for her and she figured she should at least hear him out, if only to get him to leave her alone sooner.
Felicity walked out of the small office and around the counter, making her way through the library and towards the tutoring center which was located in the middle on the building. She didn’t look back to see if Oliver had followed her, but knew that he would be. She waved at some of the students she passed before coming to stop in front of a private room used for tutoring sessions. She looked inside, checking to make sure it was empty before walking in and going straight for the table, turning around and leaning on the edge as she watched Oliver enter a few steps behind her.
“Hey,” he greeted when he was just a few feet away from her, shifting awkwardly from side to side.
Felicity crossed her arms over her chest as she stared at him, not quite sure where to start.
“What are you doing here, Oliver? How did you know where to find me? And how did you even find out my name?”
“Which question do you want me to answer first?” he asked, a playful smile hanging from his lips.
His smile quickly fell when Felicity arched an eyebrow at him before fixing him with a hardened glare.
Oliver shifted his stance again, stuffing his hands in his jean pockets. “I uh, caught a glimpse of your name on your exam before you moved it.” Felicity narrowed her eyes at him. “And I may have asked around campus where I could find you…to apologize and to ask if-,” his sentence trailed off when he saw Felicity move. She pushed off the table, walking until she was standing toe to toe with him; he was tall so she had to lean her head back slightly to look at him.
“To ask, what? You think you can just talk me into letting you copy all my work, maybe pay me off to do your assignments, or even better yet, you think you can somehow flash that smile of yours and seduce me into giving you all the answers.” Oliver opened his mouth to speak but Felicity silenced him with her finger. “Well let me tell you, Oliver Queen; I don’t care who you are, or how much money you have, or how ‘charming’ you happen to think you are because I have zero intentions of helping you.”
Felicity could tell that Oliver was stunned by her bluntness, his eyes blinking rapidly as he stared at her, unable to speak. With a sharp nod and a low ‘mhmm’ Felicity stepped around his body, head held high as she left the room, leaving Oliver alone with his thoughts and whatever apology he had prepared.