So, this was inspired by that one line in 2x18 where Felicity tells Roy what happened to Barry? I snorted in laughter. It seriously cracked me up because she's adorable and funny and the look on Oliver's face just made me wonder if he wants to cuddle her every time she's adorable. So, yeah it's basically inspired by Felicity being adorable and Stephen Amell's facial expressions every time Felicity is adorable.

Also, I don't own 'Arrow'. I do wish I could be friends with Felicity and smack Oliver on the upside of his head occasionally. I hope that you all enjoy it!

The Kiss-and-Cuddle Urge

There is just something about Felicity that makes him want to wrap her up in his arms and cuddle her.

Oliver is pretty sure there are numerous reasons for his urge to enfold her in his arms and just...cuddle her. They range from her injections into conversations - "Well, I told a guy the truth and he got struck by lightening. To be fair, probably won't happen again. Statistically." - to her exaggerated hand gestures.

He doesn't know why her hand gestures make him want to hold her, they just do.

Oliver is sure that it's everything about Felicity that makes him want to hug her, from the tips of her golden hair to the brightly painted green toenails she sports because "hello? Who even looks at my feet but me? And you. Obviously you're looking at them."

It's an odd urge to have at the most inappropriate of moments, really. After the Island, Oliver wasn't big on...touching people. It was just something that he lost in those five years and never got back. The only person who he was really alright touching even casually was Thea and Thea never really inspired this urge to cuddle in him. At least, she doesn't inspire that urge the way Felicity does.

Diggle has certainly never inspired this particular urge either.

So, Oliver finds himself spending a lot of time resisting the urge to cuddle Felicity at odd moments in his life. Therefore, he spends a lot of time not touching her because at some point the whole cuddling thing turns into an urge to kiss-and-cuddle in a way that is strictly not platonic and Oliver isn't sure he's ready to deal with the implications of that or what it means.

Which turns out to be a lot harder than it should have been. Oliver likes to think he's good at compartmentalizing his life and emotions. He has to be. If he wasn't the Island would pervade every aspect of his life and there would be no clear distinction in the before, during and after of his life or who he was during those periods.

Compartmentalizing Felicity and this urge should have been easy then. If he can separate five traumatic years on an island from the traumatic years post-Island then one adorable blond shouldn't be that hard.

Turns out, he was wrong.

Apparently, trying to separate and block feelings and...urges for someone in particular is really difficult when they are involved in every single aspect of your life.

Around the same time he begins to have the kiss-and-cuddle urge, Oliver realizes that he can't turn around without have Felicity there in some shape or form. She's his EA, she's the voice in his head during missions, the medic who fixes his wounds, the first person he thinks of when he wakes up and the last person he thinks of when he falls asleep.

Considering how many people are in his life and how much he worries about all of them, that in itself is quite a feat. Yet, it's Felicity who he thinks about.

So, Oliver realizes he's screwed. Because he can't compartmentalize his growing feelings for Felicity and he's reached a point where fighting them is just exhausting him even more. So, he does the completely sensible thing in this situation.

He gives into the urge.

Giving into the urge turns out to be a lot easier than he'd first thought.

Oliver is well aware that the amount of time he's spent concentrating on not touching her, has made touching her this incredibly intense thing between them that involves a serious amount of eye contact and some vague thoughts of skin on skin. Right before he says something stupid or she takes a deep breath and they both dismiss the moment as nothing more than platonic support on his behalf.

They then spend a good week carefully keeping a respectable amount of distance between their bodies.

This time is totally different because Oliver feels the urge and he gives into it.

She's not really doing anything, honestly. It's been a slow night at the foundry and he'd come back from a quiet patrol to find Diggle had gone to get take-out, Roy upstairs working the bar and Sara at Laurel's - a nice, safe place for her to be after their relationship fizzled out.

They are all enjoying the relative peace when Slade had disappeared from their lives, defeated and demented when his plan for revenge had gone awry.

Felicity is the only one in the basement and she doesn't notice when he comes in, so Oliver takes the time to unwind from patrol. He showers and changes, zipping up his sweatshirt as he walks over to Felicity twenty minutes later feeling a lot less Hood-like and a lot more human. This time, she hears him and Oliver feels the urge start to rise when she swings her chair around to face him.

There's something about the way she spins in her chair that really gets to him.

"Good night? Not that chasing down criminals as a good night can be classified as good. I meant good night as in productive night." She asks, shaking her head slightly as she tries to correct herself.

The kiss-and-cuddle urge rises even higher at her words.

"It was fine. Anything pop up?"

Oliver knows he sounds brusque but it's to combat the chair spin and the slightly messy blond ponytail that's loosened enough to drape over one shoulder. Besides, he'd asked her to run a search on the next name on The List and he would really like to know.

Felicity stands in order to answer his question. Oliver is pretty sure it's because she's not a huge fan of him hovering over her...or she doesn't like the fact that she's the shortest in the room and even shorter when sitting.

"Not really. Jameson Smith the Third is good. All the records of the arms deals have been coded and the wire transfers are through a shell corporation that can't be traced back to him. I'm still working on linking him to the deals." Felicity informs him and Oliver nods, surveying the three screens that are running through information. "BTW, what is it with old money types and naming their children after themselves? And adding a number? If you have to count how many people have the same name in your family, then maybe it's time for a new name, you know?"

The urge takes over before he can stop it.

One second, Felicity is asking him about names and the next Oliver is hugging her to him. Felicity lets out a small 'eep' when he enfolds her and she's stiff as a board for a few seconds.

In those few seconds, Oliver remembers why he stops giving into urges and then, she relaxes against him.

He gets to cuddle her and he's doing it primarily because of the chair spin and the ramble and it's really, really nice.

Right up until Digg walks in and raises his eyebrows.

"Are we doing team hugs now?"

They separate like they've been burned and Oliver decides he hates Digg a little bit right at this moment.

The urge, he discovers afterwards, has not been satiated.

It rises again when Felicity walks into his office looking, well, horrible.

It's easy to see that she's not well. She's paler than normal, she's clutching tissues and she's wearing pants. Oliver can't remember the last time she wore pants. He doesn't really want to because he's really come to appreciate the skirts and dresses - especially that one with the color blocks, he's sure there a purpose for them but all he can think about is covering them with his hands - she wears daily.

But now she's wearing pants and she's sniffling and looking sad.

Oliver knows he has no hope against the urge when she's like this. Because the chair spin gets him but the way she looks now just slays him.

So, he rises to go to where she's standing, just inside his office and pauses when she coughs before sniffling and taking a deep breath. He come as close as he think she'll allow and then speaks.

"Felicity. Hey, go home."

Oliver is pretty sure she won't listen to him even though she really needs to go home. He's proven right when Felicity straightens her shoulders, pushes her glasses up her nose and sniffs loudly before speaking.

"I can't go home, Oliver. This whole place would crash by lunchtime." Felicity says it firmly and defiantly and she only sounds a little congested. Oliver nearly reconsiders.

She then starts coughing again and her shoulders hunch over, her glass slip down her nose and she sneezes as she coughs. As she recovers, he texts Diggle to pull the car around and then takes the folders she's holding off her and places them on the closest surface - a chair, but he's sure he'll remember they're there later - and then places his hands on her arms.

"Felicity, you need to go home. You're sick and you're not going to do me or the company a favor if you collapse, okay?" Oliver feels her shoulders slump at his words, an indication she knows he's right. He watches as defeat passes over her face and she suddenly seems smaller as she accepts his words.

Oliver knew he'd have no hope against the urge when she walked into his office.

He was right.

Oliver brings her in to his chest as she sniffles, tucking her under his chin and just holding her as she leans against him. He's pretty sure if she wasn't sick, she wouldn't have relaxed against him so quickly or slid her arms around his waist but she is and she does relax. Oliver tilts his head down and closes his eyes when his nose brushes her hair. Soothingly, he rubs his hand in circles on her back and opens his eyes in time to see the elevator light flash.

"Hey, Digg's going to take you home, okay? Don't come in to the foundry tonight. Just get better."

Oliver feels her nod against his chest and he hears the sniffle and before he can stop himself, he's shifting so he can press a long kiss to her forehead. Felicity blinks up at him in surprise when he pulls away and Oliver finds himself suddenly wondering if he's overstepped some invisible line. He's pretty sure there's no-one in his life and there's definitely no-one in his. So, he's not crossing a line there and it's definitely the kiss that has her staring at him.

Oliver discovers at that moment he really hates second-guessing himself. Especially when it comes to Felicity. He's opening his mouth to say...something when she smiles.

Felicity smiles brightly at him and it's enough for Oliver to want to pull her back to cuddle her some more. He doesn't. It's a Herculean effort to ignore the urge to kiss and cuddle her again, though.

Oliver steps away as Digg walks in and he nods at his friend who has this look on his face that says he knows exactly what had happened in this office before he'd walked. Oliver doesn't like that look. It's too omniscient for his liking.

"Bye Oliver." Felicity says quietly, the smile on her face still blinding.

"Bye Felicity." He replies just as softly, a smile tugging at his lips.

Diggle snorts.

And Oliver sort of hates him again.

The kiss-and-cuddle urge becomes stronger after that.

Almost too strong for him to ignore even after he decided to give into it. Oliver finds pretty much everything Felicity does makes him want to cuddle her.

Kiss her too.

He now has developed this disconcerting habit of focusing intently on her mouth when she's talking and missing everything she says because he wants to taste those lips. When he nods like he knows exactly what she's said, Diggle repeats everything - in a slightly more concise manner - and Oliver is torn between being grateful and wishing Diggle wasn't aware of what had made him lose focus in the first place.

For her part, Felicity only seems to be slightly more flustered around him. She's also a lot more relaxed about hugging him back when he does wrap his arms around her and Oliver finds himself appreciating her even more in those moments.

Mostly because she's soft all over and her curves line up with the hard planes of his body and Oliver really wants to spend quite a bit of time learning just how well those curves fit against him.

He's leaning against one of the tables directly behind Felicity just watching her when Diggle sidles up next to him. The man's in his suit and Diggle flicks the ends of his blazer back to put his hands on his hips.

"Now would probably be a good time to tell her you're revising your dating policy. Expanding beyond those previously known to you into newer, friendlier waters."

Oliver turns his head to raise an eyebrow at Diggle's words and finds that his bodyguard and friend is half-serious, half-amused. He's also palming his gun in a way that Oliver takes as a silent warning.

"Okay."

Diggle nods at his assent and Oliver turns back to watching Felicity work through whatever information is on the computers.

"Have to say Oliver, I've never seen a courting ritual quite like yours. Definitely leaves a lot to be desired." With that, Diggle claps him on the shoulder and walks over to Felicity.

Leaving Oliver disliking his omniscient qualities all over again.

Oliver kisses Felicity when he comes back after a rough night.

She's been in his head all night, warning him to be safe and telling him the layout of the building he needed to get into. Felicity also tells him about how awesome the lamb souvlaki from the new restaurant down the road is and that he really needs to try some when he comes back.

She then informs him he'll have to go out and get it because she and Diggle just split his because it was so good and "it was going to get cold anyway, Oliver. We're just saving you having to eat cold food."

He gets into a fight on his way home and for a few seconds, Oliver thinks the mugger is going to get the better of him. It's those few seconds combined with her voice and the way she spins in her chair and how she looks when she's sick and a million other reasons that escape that has the kiss-and-cuddle urge spread like wildfire.

Oliver doesn't care if Diggle is there when he returns to the foundry. He clatters down the stairs, pulling his hood down and pulling off his gloves. He places the gloves and his bow down on the table and strides over to a rising Felicity.

"Oliver, what are - "

He kisses her before she says anything else.

There is a moment when Oliver thinks that maybe he's misread this entire situation and he's completely wrong about, well, Felicity. He thinks that right up until Felicity sighs against his mouth and her arms rise to wrap around his neck and she kiss him back.

Oliver kisses her slowly, with intent. One arm snakes around her waist to pull her flush against him while the other rises so he can bury his hand in her hair and tilt her mouth up to his more fully. He wants to leave no doubt in her mind that this is what he wants, he wants to kiss her and hold her and do all sorts of things with her that they shouldn't do in the foundry because he really wants to do it in a bed.

He pulls away when oxygen becomes important and watches as Felicity opens her eyes to stare at him in disbelief through...skewed glasses. Oliver tamps down on the amusement as he waits for Felicity to say something.

Whatever she says next will direct what he does next.

"I - I can't feel my legs." She tells him faintly and then promptly goes bright red.

Oliver can't help it, a chuckle shakes loose from his chest and she's blinking at him in surprise even as wraps his arms around her and lifts her off the ground, pressing kisses on her face and down her neck as he cuddles her to him.

Felicity lets out a soft laugh at his ministrations and scratches her nails through his hair. Just as Oliver brings his mouth back to hers just to taste her lips once again, he hears someone clear their throat.

"I'm not doing team kissing."

Oliver decides that he's too busy kissing Felicity to really care what Diggle says.

Or how he feels about him right now.

Because he's giving into the urge completely and it's awesome.

Oliver decides he likes the kiss-and-cuddle urge.

Mostly because the person who inspires it the most is only too willing to receive the affection he brings when it rises in him as he watches her perform menial tasks or paint her nails green.

Felicity readily accepts the randomness of him cuddling her to him now and doesn't blink when he interrupts whatever she's doing so he can hold her against him and kiss the top of her head or nuzzle her neck. Oliver's pretty sure she enjoys it as much as he does and that's why she never complains.

He has to admit, giving in to the kiss-and-cuddle urge was the best thing he's ever done.

One thing, I know I said I was working on the sequel to 'Four Times' and I am! Promise, just inspiration hit and when it hits, it's worth riding the wave. So hopefully, I'll get a chance to do that tomorrow. Maybe. It depends on real life.

I hope you all had as much fun reading this as I had fun writing it! Let me know what you all think - reviews always help with the inspiration!