A/N: I swear I'm not abandoning this story even though I only update like once a year. I don't post new works to this site anymore so if you're interested in reading newer works from me you can copy/paste the link below to see them on AO3:

/users/lilbluednacer/pseuds/lilbluednacer

xxx

Oliver must feel guilty about his freak out that morning because when he comes back to the loft that night he carries in a huge Chicago-style deep dish pizza for dinner. Roy and Thea eat with him at the table and maybe it's the apology pizza or the fact that they got to spend the whole day together but Thea's in a good mood, jokes around with Oliver as she says and brushed her feet against Roy's legs under the table.

It's nice actually, eating a meal together like this, and it makes Roy wonder if this is what it feels like to be part of a family, a real one, with meals around the table and gentle teasing. He's still getting used to Oliver and Thea's dynamic, how they can fight and scream at each other but still care about each other so much, how they can go from warm to cold and back to warm with each other so quickly it makes his head spin. He wonders if it's a sibling thing or a them thing, he can't really imagine being tied to another person like that, he's only ever been responsible for himself. But it must be nice, to have someone there, someone who cares about you even if it's only because they're obligated to.

Nice to not be alone.

After they've finished eating Thea grabs her book bag and spreads out her homework over the table. Oliver does work on his laptop which means Roy is purposeless, he wanders upstairs to his room and starts digging through his duffle for his one decent pair of sneakers, thinking about going out for a quick run since he was at school all day with Thea and hasn't gotten in a workout, but he can't find them; he tears the room apart but he didn't bring much stuff here to begin with and after a few minutes of looking it's clear he forgot the shoes back in his apartment.

He jogs back downstairs to the dining room and waits until Oliver takes a break from whatever he's reading and looks up. "What's up?"

"I left my running shoes back at my apartment, would you mind if I drove over there and picked them up?"

Oliver glances at Thea, who's got bigass rose gold headphones covering her eyes as she highlights the textbook she's reading. "Yeah, sure."

"Okay cool, thanks."

Oliver rolls his eyes a little. "You do know you're allowed to like, do stuff, you don't need to ask permission to run an errand."

"We didn't really clarify when I'm off the clock," he points off.

"I don't have time to negotiate right now," Oliver mutters, which makes Roy laugh, it hadn't even occurred to him he could do that.

"Chill man, you're paying me crazy good money, I'm not complaining. I don't wanna - leave if I'm needed, that's all."

Oliver smirks, just a little. "I think I can handle things until you get back. You want to borrow a car?"

"If that's cool with you."

Oliver shrugs. "Sure."

"Okay, thanks." Roy knocks his fist on the table in front of Thea's book to get her attention, she slips her headphones off and raises an eyebrow at him.

"What's up?" she asks.

"I'm gonna drive over to my apartment and pick something up, okay?"

She gives him a sweet smile. "Want to watch a movie when you get back?"

Oliver clears his throat loudly.

"In the study!" Thea says quickly. "With the doors open! And only if I finish my homework!"

"Sounds good," he chuckles.

He grabs a set of keys to a Range Rover from the dish in the hallway and takes the elevator down to the parking garage. It still freaks him out to drive a nice car like this, in the best way. He gets a rush of adrenaline just starting the engine, spends a minute screwing around with the sound system before backing out of the parking space and driving through the garage and out onto the street.

This is definitely one of the biggest benefits to working for Oliver, aside from literally getting paid to hang out with his girlfriend. He loves how in control he feels with his hands on the wheel, the power of shifting gears. He drives through Starling City and into the Glades, making sure all his car doors are locked. He took the Range Rover cus it's less conspicuous than the Bentley but it's still worth more than everything he owns combined times a hundred.

When he gets to his building he parks out front with the hazards on and makes sure the car's locked before going inside his building. He's only been staying with Oliver and Thea for a little while so he's surprised at how ugly his old home seems to him now, compared to the penthouse. The carpet is filthy and threadbare, the paint on the walls is cracked and peeling, the tile on the stairs is scuffed.

Inside his apartment, he finds his shoes on the floor under his bed. He knots the laces together and tosses them over his shoulder, scans the room but doesn't see anything else he needs so he makes sure that all the lights are turned off before walking out and locking his door.

He passes by Felicity's apartment, thinking about knocking to say hi, and freezes in the hallway when notices that her door is slightly open. He doesn't have anything on him, shit, so he holds the keys to the Range Rover between his knuckles and clenches his left hand in a tight fist as he slowly pushes the door open. "Felicity?"

To his relief she's here, frantically jamming a pile of clothes into a duffle bag. "Felicity, What are you doing?"

Her head snaps up, she's pale and her hair is falling out of its ponytail. "What are you doing here?"

"Just picking up something." He gestures at his shoes. "What're you doing?"

"Leaving," she says shortly, and yanks the zipper of her bag shut. "Right now."

"What happened?"

She jumps up and shoulders her bag. "Cooper found me."

He stares at her. "What?"

"He left me those, along with a typically creepy note." She gestures to her kitchen, where a bouquet of flowers sits in a vase on the counter. "I wasn't here, I came home and I just - I can't be here when he comes back, I have to go somewhere, get a hotel room or something" -

"Come with me!" he blurts out.

"What?"

"The place I'm staying with my girlfriend and her brother is huge, they totally have the room."

Felicity bites her lips and scoops up her keys. "I couldn't impose like that."

"Felicity come on." He follows her out of her apartment and watches her lock the door. "Look at least let me call her brother and ask before you shell out money for a hotel."

She sighs. "Fine, alright, but come on."

She tugs him towards the stairs and Roy follows her down to the lobby and pulls out his phone. He calls Oliver and he picks up on the second ring. "Everything okay?"

"Hey man." Roy holds the front door open and gestures for Felicity to go out before him. "Yeah, I'm about to head back, I was kinda wondering if I could ask for a favor."

Oliver sighs into the phone. "Tell me nothing happened to the car."

"Nah, it's all good, actually…" Roy unlocks the Range Rover and gestures for Felicity to get in, she raises one eyebrow but climbs into the passenger seat and shuts the door. "My neighbor's stalker ex tracked her down and she's freaking out, could she crash with us tonight?"

Oliver sighs into the phone. "Roy…"

"Just one night, until she finds a new place to stay. Please? She's a sweet girl, she won't be any trouble at all. Seriously, she's done a lot for me and she needs my help and for once I actually could" -

"Fine. Whatever," Oliver agrees. "One night."

"Thank you," Roy says gratefully. "Really."

"Not like we don't have enough room," Oliver says. "Drive safe, yeah?"

"Okay. Thanks man, see you soon." Roy hangs up and jobs around to get into the driver's seat. "He said it's cool, so will you please just come over there with me and let me help you?"

Felicity glances sideways at him and then twists to look out the back windshield. "Okay sure, you talked me into it. Let's just get the hell out of here before he comes back."

"You got it." Roy starts the engine and pulls onto the street. "Hey, you had dinner yet?"

"No." She reaches up and rubs her temples. "I kind of forgot to eat in the wake of the whole, my ex broke into my apartment to leave me flowers thing."

"Okay." Roy reaches across the console and squeezes her shoulder. "You wanna stop at Big Belly Burger on the way?"

Felicity nods and gives him a wan smile. "You're my hero."