i.

She leaves not just her bedroom window, but all the windows open on purpose. She knows that she will hear his lecture for the millionth time, and that it won't be the last time she'll listen to the dangers of leaving windows open.

By now she knows they have established a certain routine; he comes to her apartment an hour after leaving the Foundry and her heart skips several beats when she first hears his careful movements outside her window and then him climbing in. Depending on the night, he either takes the living room window or the bedroom, still in his costume, she helps him take off the paint and he either watches her as she finishes an episode of a TV show or they just climb into bed together. They do not talk much. Most mornings she wakes up alone. The mornings when she wakes up and he is there are the best and are usually followed by him preparing breakfast for the two of them.

It is like a dance they do all summer. She does not know what exactly they are doing though. They still work together. She is still his assistant for their day job and his tech guru though she prefers to be called the voice of reason for their night job. Their time outside work is something they do not mention during the day. She is just a girl who has a guy climbing into her window and into her bed almost every night. She knows that despite the ambiguity of the situation, she would never change their routine.

She sits in the darkness of her living room. It is late in summer and the first chill of fall is in the air. She reaches and pulls the throw blanket on herself. Her ears listen intently to the noises outside. It is the usual Starling City noises with horns blasting and sirens, but the one particular noise she waits for does not come.

She gets up and starts pacing around the room, going to the window to look outside, looks up to the familiar rooftops in search of a shadowy figure but nobody is out there. The city is alive and only her lights seem to be turned off. She sighs in defeat and closes the window, locking it and double checking to make sure it is secure. She drops the throw back to its place on the arm of the couch and goes to her room to grab her robe and closes that window, too.

She decides she will go to bed despite the hour being much earlier than her usual sleep time, unsure how she would actually be able to sleep with the absence of the body she has grown accustomed to. She enters the bathroom and clears her make-up, upset that she will not be helping with Oliver's face-paint for the first time in what feels like ages.

She settles down in her bed and tucks the covers around her body to feel warm when she hears a knock. She puts her glasses back on and runs to the window. She opens it and extends her torso out but sees nobody. Confused, she gets back in tries with the living room window. Nobody is out there. She hears the knock again. It takes her a while to acknowledge that the knock is coming from her apartment door. She rushes to it and looks through the peephole and her eyes widen in surprise. Oliver Queen is standing on the other side. He is at her door and he is not in costume.

She opens the door, her mind clouded in uncertainty. "Is everything okay?" she breaths out once they come eye to eye.

"Hello to you too, Felicity." Oliver instead says, with a hint on sarcasm in his voice. "May I come in?"

Wordlessly she steps backwards and lets him in. Realizing that it is still dark inside her apartment, she turns on the lamp closest to her. "You actually used the door." she says as she stands by the wall, examining him. He is carrying two paper bags, is dressed in jeans and a hoodie which is an attire she is not that used to seeing on him.

"I thought it was high time I did that." He looks at her and she sees him smile. She tries her best to hide the surprise that has been constant since she heard the knock on the door. "I brought goodies." he says as he puts down the bags on the couch and starting emptying the contents. "Burgers, courtesy of Big Belly. Red wine, courtesy of Queen Vineyards."

"You own a vineyard?" she asks as she picks up the bottle of red wine. "Why haven't I ever heard of this before?"

"It was my dad's. We don't sell the wine, we just produce it for personal use." He pauses and notices the quizzical expression on her face. "What?"

"What are you doing, Oliver?" she asks finally, unable to sustain her curiosity any further. After almost five months of sleeping in the same bed in an unspoken arrangement, in which any other activity included him watching her finish up an episode, he shows up one night on her doorstep where she is sure he never been to before with food, wine and a smile. She wonders what has changed.

He is baffled with the directness of her question. "Can't I bring you food and wine?"

"You never used my door before even though I asked you to a million times." she states.

"I know." he acknowledges without hesitation. "It's just… I remembered that Tommy and I used to watch 'Lost' together and I know that you love it, too. I didn't watch after season 3 since I got lost on an island myself."

She thinks that while she was confused before, this time everything he says is beyond her comprehension. "And that made you think I needed food?"

"It's Tommy birthday." he whispers. "Was." he corrects.

"Oliver, I'm so sorry." She walks towards him in quick steps and hesitantly puts her arms around his waist and lays her head on his chest. He is rigid for a few seconds, surprised by her action, then she feels him relax and wrap his arms around her shoulders. They hold one another in the same position for several minutes, then she breaks it. "The burgers are going to get cold and useless." She feels his eyes on her as she goes to the kitchen to grab a corkscrew, glasses and napkins.

"I was looking for a Blockbuster to rent out 'Lost' but couldn't find any."

"We need to refresh your current events knowledge." She smirks at him. "They went bankrupt."

"Oh." He is surprised. "I bought season 4 through 6." he says as he takes out the DVD boxes.

She hands him the corkscrew and the bottle for him to open the wine and holds the glasses for him to pour. "I have Netflix, you shouldn't have bought them."

"I won't pretend I know what that is." he says as he raises his glass.

"To Tommy." she offers, looking into his eyes. Seeing the pain there breaks her heart. She wonders what would have happened if Tommy was still alive. She imagines he would throw one big party at Verdant to which she would be invited but probably would not go. She also wonders if she and Oliver would be as close as they are now. She thinks that he would be happier and not so much guilt-ridden if Tommy was still alive, which she wants for him even if that would mean not being his close friend. She decides it is not the best time to think about probabilities.

"To Tommy." he repeats and clinks his glass with hers, never taking his eyes off her.

"Wow, this is good." she mentions the wine and she takes Season 4, rips it open and puts it into the DVD player while Oliver takes out the burgers and makes himself comfortable on the couch. "You are aware that there are more than 50 episodes you haven't watched?"

"I didn't mean we should finish the entire thing now. We can just start now and see how it goes."

She nods, hits play and takes a bite of her burger. She cannot help but notice that he has ordered what she likes the most. They watch the show without talking. Before she knows it, they are already on the fifth episode of the season, which happens to be her favorite of the show with the finale being a close second. Their food is already gone, the empty bottle of wine sits between them on the couch.

She thinks that Oliver would ask her to explain what is going on as the episode is one of the most confusing ones of the show, but he does not say anything, he is transfixed with the screen as much as she is. Even though she has watched the episode several times before, she is an emotional mess when the scene between Penny and Desmond unfolds. She takes off her glasses and accepts with a smile as Oliver hands a napkin. "Thanks." she mutters shyly.

"You are my constant." It comes as a whisper. She is not sure whether she heard him correctly so turns to his direction and finds him looking at her.

Even without him telling anything else, she knows what he means and what it entails. Before he continues, she immediately replies. "And you are mine." They continue looking at one another. She hopes that she is not blushing under his stare, but she does not. He gives her a crooked smile.

"Let's go to bed." Oliver suggests given that after almost five hours of watching the show, both of them are exhausted both physically and mentally. They fall into their routine though this time he does not have any paint for her to remove and climb into bed together. Unlike other times, Oliver reaches out and pulls her closer and wraps his arm around her waist so that her head is resting on his chest. "Good night, Felicity." he says. "Thank you." he adds.

She smiles despite herself. Relaxed and warm, she replies. "You are welcome. Good night." The last thing she feels before she falls asleep is his lips on her forehead.

THE END.

A/N: First of all, apologies this took so long to post. After the rest episode, I had difficulty dealing with my emotions!

According to Arrow wiki, Tommy was born in sometime in February but I don't remember it ever being brought up in the show so for the purposes of this story, I took some liberties.

You guys have been awesome, thank you so much for all your nice reviews! It was a blast writing this.