Thea Queen knew her brother better than anyone in the world.

OK, sure, there was Tommy. Tommy Merlyn was like Oliver's brother from another mother (something they both made note of frequently, especially when they were plastered). Sure, they'd been inseparable since close to birth.

And, all right, there was also Digg. Though he was older and had met Oliver much later than Tommy, he had quickly become the equivalent of an older brother/mentor to both Queen siblings.

So yeah. Tommy and Digg had maybe a believable claim to knowing Oliver well.

But they still didn't know him nearly as well as Thea did. She grew up with him. She followed him around like the adoring younger sister she'd always been. And while she followed, she watched him.

She'd been there with him through all the women, through all the various tabloid scandals, through getting his shit together at culinary school and the subsequent world travel to expand his horizons and learn more about his "art." She'd been there through all of it.

Thea could guess what her brother was thinking or feeling just by a cursory glance at his expression. She could also accurately predict how he would react in any given situation.

Oliver Queen very rarely surprised her anymore.

Which was precisely why her first reaction was to roll her eyes when a cute blonde girl with glasses and a pink dress answered his apartment door one fine Saturday afternoon when she had come calling.

"Oh," the blonde said in surprise, but she quickly recovered herself. "Hi! You must be Thea Queen."

Well at least she was already smarter than the last one.

"Yeah," Thea answered, eyeing the woman with distaste. "I'm here to see my brother."

She didn't even bother to ask for the blonde's name. Not like she was going to be sticking around for very long anyway.

"Right," the blonde nodded. "Because you're his sister and all. You two share chromosomes. Some quality chromosomes, apparently. Some grade A genetics, the two of you have. I mean, the both of you are stunners. He's like a Greek god and you're like a supermodel."

Then she froze, like she had just realized the words that had escaped her mouth.

"I'm not hitting on you," she blurted out.

Thea just raised a single eyebrow in response.

Blondie blushed and stepped away from the door. "I'll go get him for you." And with that, she scampered away.

Thea stepped over the threshold and closed the door behind her, watching with narrowed eyes as Blondie traipsed around the apartment. Though she hardly batted a lash when her brother brought home some anonymous girl, his choice did give her a little pause. She was on the shorter side, which was a change for him. And she was blonde. It was widely known around Starling City that Oliver Queen had a preference for brunettes.

Seconds later, the man himself emerged from the hallway and smiled when he spotted his sister. "Heya, Speedy," he greeted her, leaning down to peck her on the cheek. "John and Tommy here yet?"

She shook her head. "Nah, but they said they're on their way."

Thea was just about to ask her brother why Blondie was still there, considering it was already two in the afternoon and his "dates" usually cleared out after breakfast, but a knock at the door signalled the arrival of the two men Oliver had asked about. He opened the door and greeted them both with a smile and a shout.

"Not so loud," Tommy protested. Thea glanced over and saw he looked a little more rumpled than usual, and there were definitely bags under his eyes.

Oliver smirked. "And how late were you out last night?"

"Sun high. Birds singing."

Digg rolled his eyes. He held out a bag of Chinese takeout from the one place in town that Oliver actually deigned to order from and Tommy immediately made a grab for it. "Let's get some food into his hungover ass, and we can finally get started."

The four of them walked to the table in the dining room to eat. But just as they were about to dig in, the unnamed blonde emerged from the hallway, her purse over her shoulder. Thea couldn't help the wave of relief she felt that Blondie was finally leaving.

"Hey, I'm going to run some errands," she told Oliver. "Do you need anything from the store while I'm out?"

Thea groaned inwardly. Jesus Christ, she was coming back? Could the woman not take a hint?

Oliver pursed his lips for a second. "I think we ran out of tissues."

She nodded. "I'll bring some back."

"Oh, hey, I don't think I've introduced you to my friends here." Oliver gestured to the table. "This is John Diggle and Tommy Merlyn. And you already met my sister, Thea. These are my business partners."

The blonde brightened. "Oh, right! For your restaurant. It's nice to meet you guys. I'm Felicity Smoak."

Digg eyed her speculatively. "Yeah. Nice meeting you, too."

"OK, well I better get going. I'll see you around." And with one last wave, she brushed out of the apartment, closing the door behind her.

The minute she was gone, everyone at the table rounded on Oliver with raised eyebrows.

"Felicity Smoak?" Digg asked lightly, a hint of amusement. "When did this start happening?"

Oliver frowned at his friend as he chewed on his food. Then the confusion cleared away when he understood what Digg was implying. "Oh, no! Felicity's not — we're not sleeping together. She's just my roommate."

That made Thea do a doubletake.

"Your roommate?" she demanded incredulously.

"Yeah. She moved in yesterday."

"Since when do you have a roommate?"

"Since when do you need a roommate?" Tommy added.

Oliver sighed. "You guys, we're starting a business together, and I promised myself I would do it on my own, with no help from Mom and Dad. That's going to require a lot of money, and it's going to require me to start saving. I thought I would start by getting a roommate."

Thea blinked in surprise. Huh.

It had been a while, but her brother finally managed to surprise her.

"So how did you find her?" Tommy asked.

"I put an ad out on Craigslist, and of all the replies I got hers was the one that least resembled a serial killer," Oliver shrugged as he continued to dig into his food.

"High bar," Digg deadpanned.

Oliver rolled his eyes in response. "I met her for coffee before I showed her the place. We talked about living habits and she genuinely seems like the kind of person who would be OK to live with. She's not going to cramp my style and I'm not going to cramp hers. And she's good for the rent. Besides, it's not like I'm planning on hanging out with her a lot. Once we get the restaurant up and running, I'm going to be super busy and she has a regular nine to five. I doubt I'll be seeing her at all."

Thea crossed her arms and glared at her brother. He was being awfully cavalier about his life and his safety, considering that he barely knew this woman and he also happened to be the son of the richest man on the West Coast. "Did you even run a background check on her?"

He rolled his eyes. "Of course I did, Speedy. I'm not an idiot."

She wasn't so sure about that.

"And?"

"She had one speeding ticket from college. Other than that, she's clean."

"Which is more than Ollie can say," Tommy snickered.

"You're one to talk," Oliver shot back.

Digg shook his head. "So you're living with this woman? A woman who's practically a stranger? A woman you don't want to sleep with?"

"I don't want to sleep with her," Oliver insisted. "She's a roommate. Just a roommate. Someone who sleeps down the hall and someone I only have to be mildly polite to. This isn't a big deal."

Everyone was quiet as they let that information sink in.

"So," Tommy began slowly. "If you're not going to sleep with her...you won't mind if I tried, right?"

Thea rolled her eyes. "Why don't we just finish eating so we can get started?"

A couple of hours later, the four of them were still arguing over potential properties when Felicity came back. She was saddled with a dozen canvas grocery bags, slung all over her slender arms.

"Hi, guys!" she said breathlessly as she dragged her haul toward the kitchen. Digg immediately stood to help her and she smiled gratefully at him. "Thank you, Mr. Diggle."

He smiled back at her. "Please. Call me Digg."

She started unloading all her groceries while Oliver stood from the table to grab a drink from the fridge. Just as he was turning around, he froze in his tracks.

"Felicity, what's this?" he asked, pointing to something on the counter.

Thea watched as the blonde glanced over her shoulder. "It's mac 'n' cheese," she answered in a tone that questioned his mental capabilities.

For some reason, that made Thea smile.

"You bought this blue box crap?" he demanded. "You know how many over processed ingredients are in this? It's not even real cheese."

Feeling the need to defend his roommate from an oncoming diatribe, Thea piped up. "Don't pay attention to him, Felicity. My brother's just a food snob."

"I'm not a food snob," Oliver protested. "I'm just very particular about what I put in my body."

"I've noticed," Felicity muttered. Then, much to Thea's amusement, the blonde's face turned bright red. "I said not noticed, right?"

"I like her already," Tommy said admiringly, and Thea couldn't help but feel a little bit the same way.

"Look, if you don't want to eat it, then don't," Felicity said, trying to power through her embarrassment. "No one's putting a gun to your head."

"That's not the point," Oliver protested. "I am a chef. I am a food artist. The mere presence of this shit in my apartment is offensive to me."

"Our apartment," she corrected. "It's our apartment now, mister. I'm paying rent and everything."

"Throw it out."

"No."

"You're going to die of a heart attack at fifty."

"If you're going to keep nagging at me like this, then I welcome the reprieve."

Digg returned to the table with three beers. Knocking the top off his, he sat back in his seat and watched with Tommy and Thea as the two roommates continued to bicker over the mac 'n' cheese.

"Looks like Queen bit off more than he could chew," he murmured before taking a sip of his beer.

"Twenty bucks says she moves out within the first month," Tommy said as he uncapped the two other beers and handed one to Thea.

"Thirty says she lasts at least three," Digg countered.

Thea pursed her lips as she watched her brother argue with Felicity. Sure, his expression was one of irritation and frustration but there wasn't any real heat in it. And Felicity, for as pointed as her words were, had a relatively calm face. She stood her ground. She didn't let Ollie's forceful personality bowl her over.

That was a good sign.

"Fifty says she'll call it quits after six months," Thea said.

Digg and Tommy both chuckled.

"You're on," Digg said.

The three of them clinked their bottles together.

One month

Tommy Merlyn could probably count on one hand the number of times this year that he has willingly been awake before ten a.m. on a Saturday. But this was so important that he couldn't help it.

He had just managed to secure the property they wanted for their new restaurant at ten thousand dollars less than the asking price, and he wasn't about to wait for a decent hour to tell his best friend.

Tommy started pounding away the minute he reached Ollie's door. His excitement was too much to be contained to a single, polite knock.

The door flew open a few moments later to reveal a very annoyed-looking Felicity in Captain America pajamas and a thin white tank top.

"Do you have any idea what time it is?" she demanded.

He grinned at his best friend's very cute roommate. "Yes, I am aware, but I come bearing breakfast and good news."

She glared at him before stepping aside and let him in. The minute he crossed the threshold, Felicity made a beeline for the coffeemaker.

"You are really grumpy in the mornings," Tommy commented, his smile still wide on his face.

"I didn't get a lot of sleep last night," she grumbled.

"Why not?"

She snorted. "I believe last night her name was Helena. Or that's the name he kept shouting over and over again."

Tommy chuckled in sympathy. Having been Ollie's wingman and sometimes lookout on multiple occasions, he had an unfortunate firsthand knowledge of just how loud his best friend could be in bed.

"Was she hot, at least?"

She shrugged. "I don't know, I was asleep when he came home. Not for long though."

He raised his eyebrows suggestively. "Well you know, if you ever wanted to get revenge on him, I would be a more-than-willing participant."

She rolled her eyes. "I'm far too sleep-deprived and under-caffeinated to deal with you right now."

He laughed, then reached into the bag of fast food breakfast he brought with him. "Here," he said, handing her one of the bagel sandwiches. "To make up for my unexpected presence so early on the Sabbath."

Her tired eyes lit up and she immediately snatched it from his outstretched hands.

"Big Belly breakfast," she sighed happily as she unwrapped the sandwich. "Oh, how I've missed you."

That made Tommy laugh again. "Ollie still being a food dictator?"

"Yes," she said savagely as she bit into the bagel. She sighed as she chewed, her eyes closed like she was in heaven. "And OK, so I'm a little grateful or whatever because I've lost five pounds since he started pestering me about what I eat, but sometimes a girl just needs a big, fat slice of chocolate cake once in a while, you know what I mean?"

"You said it, sister," he nodded solemnly.

Felicity ate some more of her bagel sandwich and Tommy watched in amusement as she savored each bite.

"So," she said around a mouthful of food, "what's the big, important news that couldn't wait for me to change out of my pajamas?"

"Well, Lissy, you know that I am always more than happy to help you out of your pajamas — " Felicity tossed a crumpled napkin at his head that he dodged last minute, " — but it's about the restaurant, and Ollie should really be the first one to hear the news."

Felicity eyed him thoughtfully as she continued chewing. "You know, I'm not a natural blonde. I dye it, actually."

Tommy frowned in confusion. "OK…" he trailed off. "And you felt the need to tell me that because...?"

"Because now you know a secret about me," she said with an adorable grin. "Which means you can now tell me your secret."

That elicited a genuine laugh from him.

"It's not much of a secret if I'm going to tell everyone eventually," he pointed out with a smile.

She shrugged. "Oliver was going to find out about my hair color anyway. It's been a month now, and I'm due for a touch up, which reminds me! I have to pick up a box at the beauty store later today."

Tommy pursed his lips when she mentioned how long she'd been living with his best friend. "A month, huh?"

Well, damn.

"Yeah," she said through another mouthful of her bagel sandwich. "Why?"

"Nothing," he sighed.

It was just as well that he lost the bet — he liked having Felicity around, and he found that he didn't really want her to move out. Plus she kept Ollie on his toes, which was something his best friend desperately needed.

He kinda hoped that they would all be wrong, and not just for the simple fact that he wouldn't have to pay up at all.

"So, are you going to tell me or what, Merlyn?" she poked him in the side.

Tommy twitched involuntarily, which was his reaction any time anyone got too close to his ticklish spot. Unfortunately he saw a mischievous glint flicker in her eyes, and he was suddenly filled with dread.

"Felicity Smoak, don't you dare," he said in the sternest voice he could muster.

It did nothing to stall her. She set aside her breakfast and went on the attack, tickling him along his sides. Tommy made a thoroughly undignified sound as he leapt away from her, but she only closed in, which backed him into the corner of the kitchen.

"Felicity!" he gasped through his giggles. "Stop! Sto-oop!"

"Not until you tell me!" she laughed.

He was seconds away from succumbing to her torture when the sound of a clearing throat interrupted them. Felicity whirled around and they both noticed Oliver standing in the kitchen, his sweatpants hanging low on his hips and his arms crossed over his shirtless torso. And just one look at his expression told Tommy that he wasn't particularly thrilled with his best friend's presence at the moment.

"Good morning," he said, though his frown made it feel a little like the opposite. For some weird reason, Tommy felt a little guilty, though he didn't really have anything to feel guilty about.

"Morning," Felicity answered with a smile, seemingly oblivious to her roommate's stormy mood. "Would you like some coffee?"

Oliver didn't answer, but she moved toward the coffeemaker anyway.

While she busied herself with the mugs, Tommy cleared his throat. "Uh, hey, buddy," he smiled. "I came over because I had good news about the restaurant!"

Oliver raised an eyebrow, the darkness in his expression clearing a little. "Oh? And what might that be?"

Tommy's excitement returned in full force and he was practically bouncing on the balls of his feet again. "We are the official owners of the old steel factory in The Glades! And, I even managed to knock off an additional ten K off the asking price, so we snatched that baby up for a bargain!"

Oliver's frown completely dissolved into a brilliant grin and Tommy felt relieved.

"That's great news!" he exclaimed, coming forward to give his best friend a hug, which Tommy returned.

"Yeah, that's awesome," Felicity beamed proudly as she handed him a cup of coffee. "Well done!"

"Thanks!" Tommy replied.

Oliver took his mug from Felicity, his face still lit up by his happiness. "This is so amazing. I can't believe it."

"You know, we should do something to celebrate," Felicity piped up. "What do you say to all of us going down to Table Salt for dinner tonight? All of us: you two, me, Digg and Thea. We can order a little bit of everything off the menu and you and Digg can see if there's anything you want to steal for your restaurant."

"That's a great idea," Tommy said enthusiastically. "I'll text Digg and Thea right now!"

Oliver opened his mouth like he was about to add something, but he was interrupted by a woman sticking her head around the corner.

"Oliver?" she called.

Tommy's eyebrows shot up his forehead as he exchanged a glance with Felicity. The other woman just shrugged as she ate another bite of her bagel.

"In here," Oliver waved. "You want some coffee?"

Felicity sighed, but turned around to pour another cup anyway. Tommy couldn't help but smile — she was a good morning-after friend.

The woman emerged from the room then, dressed in what Tommy could only assume had been her outfit from the night before. Her hair was a rat's nest and her makeup had clearly taken a severe beating, but he could see why Ollie had taken her home. He'd always had a thing for statuesque brunettes.

"Thanks," she said with a coy smile. But she stopped short when she spotted Tommy and Felicity standing next to him.

"Who are you?" she demanded flatly, her gaze trained on Felicity.

Completely unfazed, the blonde stepped forward with the coffee. "Hi, I'm Felicity. I'm Oliver's roommate. Nice to meet you. Helena, right?"

Oliver's head whipped around to stare at her in surprise. "How did you — ?"

"You might want to consider soundproofing your room before the next time," she said sardonically.

Helena turned beet red, but it did nothing to wipe that angry expression off her face. "I wasn't aware that Oliver had a roommate."

Felicity shrugged. "And I wasn't aware that Oliver had a kink for women calling him 'Daddy' in bed, but I guess we're all learning new things this morning."

Tommy snorted into his coffee while Oliver was suddenly overcome with a coughing fit.

"You realize you said that out loud, right?" Tommy told Felicity. If he had learned anything in the few weeks since she had moved in, it was that she had a penchant for letting errant thoughts escape the confines of her brain.

She just shrugged again. "Too early for my filter to be working at maximum capacity. And considering my filter is already faulty to begin with, things were bound to slip."

But Tommy caught the smirk she hid by lifting her mug to her lips. She totally did that on purpose.

Damn, he thought admiringly. Ice cold.

Helena, who had not taken her piercing glare off Felicity for even a second, set aside her undrunk coffee. "Well then," she said coolly. "I think I'm going to head out now." And with that, she sauntered over to Oliver and pressed herself against his body before planting what Tommy was sure was supposed to be a sultry kiss to his lips. In all reality, it looked more like she was trying to suck his soul out through his mouth.

"Call me later?" she purred.

Oliver shrugged uncomfortably. "Uh, yeah. Sure. Call you later."

With one last smirk sent in his direction, she walked out of the apartment.

The minute she was gone, it was like the air flow had been restored, and the three of them were breathing easily again.

"Do you really plan on calling her again?" Felicity asked. "Because if so, I'm going to need advanced warning. Buy some earplugs. Maybe book a hotel room so I can actually get some sleep."

Oliver sighed. "No, I'm definitely not calling her again. And by the way, the whole 'Daddy' thing wasn't me. That was all her. That's her kink, not mine."

"Hey, no need to be ashamed of your kinks, Oliver," she said breezily. "We all have them."

He raised an eyebrow. "Oh really? And what are yours?"

She smirked. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

"I would," Tommy piped up.

Oliver looked abruptly annoyed.

Felicity polished off the last of her bagel and chugged the rest of her coffee. "Sorry, Tommy," she winked. "I guess you'll have to wait until next time to find out. In the meantime, since I am officially awake, this means I have to go run errands. Now that we're going to a fancy restaurant for dinner tonight, I should go pick up my dry cleaning."

"Don't forget about your hair dye," Tommy called after her as she walked out of the kitchen toward her bedroom.

"Thank you!" she called back over her shoulder.

When the two men were alone in the kitchen, Oliver turned toward his best friend with a frown. "So...are you interested in Felicity or something?" he asked in feigned nonchalance as he sipped his coffee.

Tommy's eyebrows flew up his forehead. "Why?" he asked a little suspiciously.

"No reason," he hedged. "I'm just...curious is all."

Tommy's lips twitched. "OK...well I'm not actively trying to get her in my bed."

His best friend's expression cleared, and he nodded like that settled everything.

Then, because he was Tommy and he just had to feed Ollie a little bit of shit, he added, "But that's not to say if she chose to climb into my bed that I'd kick her out of it."

Oliver rolled his eyes. "Somehow I don't see that happening."

Tommy shrugged. "You never know. She wouldn't be the first victim that fell prey to my rakish charm."

Oliver clapped his friend on the shoulder and fixed him with a mock serious look. "Tommy, no offense — you're my best friend and you're like a brother to me, but I've seen your game up close and personal for years, and I just gotta say that it's kinda lacking. In a lot of ways. A lot of ways."

He just shook his head and laughed. "Whatever you say, 'Daddy.'"

Three months

In high school, John Diggle was voted as Most Dependable.

He took a lot of pride in that title. No matter what job he ever took on, he was the first to show up and the last to leave. He went the extra mile when no one else did. When he was in the Army, his CO knew that if he needed a job done and done right, he could always go to Sergeant Diggle and trust that it would get taken care of.

Sure, there were times when he got annoyed with his own dependableness. Being as responsible as he was in the middle of opening a restaurant with his best friends meant he ended up getting saddled with a lot of bullshit tasks, like picking up linens for the dining room and rushing to the site last minute to sign for the fancy stove Oliver had shipped in from Canada.

But every so often, his sense of responsibility was rewarded in truly awesome ways. Like when, for example, Oliver decided to take an entire day to try out recipes and ideas for the restaurant and invited John to taste all of said recipes because he was "the only person on the team who could give a solid, informed evaluation."

Free food? Guaranteed to be delicious? His mom always told him that only a fool turned down a free meal, and his mom sure didn't raise a fool.

He showed up to Oliver's apartment that Saturday morning armed with nothing but an empty stomach. But the minute he approached the door, the muffled sounds of raised voices made him raise his eyebrows.

A little wary, he knocked on the door, and when no one answered within the half a minute, he knocked on it again. Finally, after almost three minutes of waiting and listening to the faint argument, he tried opening the door anyway, and found out that it wasn't even locked.

The minute he walked through the door, the fight became a lot clearer.

"Get that plate away from me," Felicity said firmly. She was seated at the kitchen island, her laptop in front of her while she pushed Oliver away who was waving a stack of pancakes in front of her face.

"Please?" he begged. "Come on, Felicity! I need an opinion!"

"If you make me eat one more pancake, Oliver, I swear to God I will throw your whisk out the window and I won't even feel bad about it."

"This one's a completely different flavor."

"I don't care."

"I need an opinion!"

"Then wait for Digg to get here!"

The man cleared his throat at the sound of his name and the two of them whipped their heads around to see him standing in the dining room.

"Speak of the devil and he shall appear," John said with a slight smile on his face.

"Ha, see!" Felicity gestured triumphantly. "There, your official taste tester is here. Go force a hundred dozen pancakes down his throat and leave me alone."

He chuckled as he shrugged off his jacket and stepped toward the island counter. "I am more than ready to eat a hundred dozen pancakes," John said as he rubbed his hands in anticipation.

Oliver, though, still seemed a little ticked at his roommate because he set the plate down in front of John but shot Felicity an irritated glance. "If you didn't want to help with the tasting and evaluating then why are you even out here working? You could be doing all that computer stuff in your room, you know."

She rolled her eyes. "You were the one who dragged me out of my bedroom and begged me to try your pancakes," she shot back, her fingers flying over her keyboard. "Which was fine for the first few plates, but I wasn't aware that you were turning this apartment into a some cursed IHOP in which all of the inhabitants would be doomed to eat six billion shortstacks every day for the rest of their lives."

John chuckled again as he cut into the stack in front of him and watched the two of them bicker. Ever since he met Oliver's roommate, he couldn't help but like her. She was smart, quick-witted and funny as hell. Plus, she wasn't afraid to tell Oliver where to stick it, which automatically made her a winner in his book.

"So?" Oliver asked, turning to John as he wiped his hands on the towel tied to his waist. "What do you think?"

"These are great," he answered, gesturing to the spiced apple pancakes in front of him. "These are for Sunday brunch, right?"

"Yeah. I was thinking we could change up the flavors of the pancakes with the seasons. These would obviously be for the fall."

John nodded as he took another bite. "Good thinking. I could probably come up with a really great maple bourbon cocktail to go with these."

The tasting and evaluating continued, and Felicity hadn't been exaggerating — Oliver really had made a ton of pancakes.

John discussed the pros and cons of each flavor with his business partner, talking about what cocktails he would pair with each and how they would be received by the Starling City diner crowd. About an hour into it, Oliver set down a new stack.

"All right, the last ones I wanted to try," he said. "Tell me what you think."

John took a bit and chewed thoughtfully. They were very clearly chocolate chip and peanut butter pancakes, and it tasted like biting into a soft Reese's cup.

Basically, it was the best pancake he'd ever tasted.

"Holy shit," John murmured. "If these aren't on the menu, I will pull my support from the whole project and take my business elsewhere."

That made Oliver laugh as he took his own fork and speared off a bite. "You think? It's not too rich? Too thick?"

John shook his head. "Just the right amount of rich and thick. A bitter cocktail would offset it nicely, maybe coffee? Kahlua, I think."

Oliver continued chewing thoughtfully. Then he cut off another bite and waved the fork in front of Felicity's face.

"Come on," he begged. "One bite. The last pancake I'll make you eat. Please?"

Felicity shot him a long-suffering look, but eventually acquiesced and opened her mouth. He dipped his fork into it and she took the bite with the air of a haggard, henpecked housewife.

Which, now that John thought about it, she probably was.

"So?" Oliver asked as she chewed. "What do you think?"

She nodded absently, her eyes once again on her laptop. "Great. Wonderful. Amazing. The best pancake I've ever tasted."

His face fell. "Is that it?"

"Oliver, what do you want from me? It's a freaking pancake! Just like the five plates you made me eat this morning were all pancakes! After a while, they all just sort of blend together."

He sighed and started grumbling under his breath as he took away the dirty plates.

John glanced over at her computer. "What are you working on anyway?"

"Don't ask," Oliver called over his shoulder as he stood at the sink and rinsed off the plates. "Once you get her started, she'll never shut up."

John fully expected Felicity to shoot something snarky right back at him, but much to his surprise, her eyes only went round and her breaths started getting shallower and shallower.

"Felicity?" he asked in concern. "Hey, are you OK?"

She shook her head frantically, pointing to her throat. Her face and hands were steadily turning redder and the panic was growing in her eyes.

"Are you choking?" John asked in a sharper tone when he realized she stopped breathing altogether.

She shook her head again, then started banging her palm on the counter.

That caught Oliver's attention. He whipped his head around and his eyes widened. "Felicity!" he shouted, rushing to her side. "What's going on?"

John racked his brain, trying to figure out what had happened. She'd just taken a bite of some pancakes, but she'd been eating pancakes all day...plus there was nothing wrong with him, and he'd eaten the same thing — chocolate and peanut butter pancakes.

Then it clicked.

He turned to face the tiny blonde. "Felicity, are you allergic to nuts?" he demanded.

The poor girl squeezed her eyes shut as she nodded hard.

A stream of curses tumbled out of Oliver's mouth. "Son of a bitch, Felicity, I'm so sorry!"

But John didn't care about his apologies at the moment. "Do you have an EpiPen?"

She nodded again.

"Where is it?"

She pointed to her purse on the dining room table and John immediately ran to grab it, dumping out the contents and searching for the medicine. When he finally found it, he rushed back to Felicity and pushed the hem of her skirt up.

"Do you know how to use that?" Oliver demanded.

Instead of answering him, John uncapped the tube and jammed the needle into her thigh and let the medication course through her. Seconds later, the sweet sound of Felicity sucking shallow gasps echoed through the apartment and both John and Oliver's shoulders slumped in relief.

"Oh thank God," Oliver sighed.

"Thank you, Digg," she gasped as she clutched her stomach.

"No problem," he answered, rubbing her shoulder comfortingly. "Not going to lie, baby girl, you really had me scared there for a second."

She smiled feebly back at him. "Not going to lie, Digg, I think I might have scared myself too."

After that, Oliver insisted on taking her to the emergency room just to make sure she really was all right, and she only put up a minimal protest. John drove them, and he sat with Oliver in the waiting room while Felicity got checked out.

"God, I feel like the biggest ass in the world," the younger man muttered to himself as he leaned forward and rubbed his hands over his face. "I made her eat peanut butter pancakes and nearly got her killed in the process."

"Hey, it's not your fault," John said gently. "You didn't know she was allergic to nuts."

"Yeah, but I should have," Oliver insisted. "I'm her roommate! I've been living with her for three months, and I'm a chef. I should have known if she had any life-threatening allergies."

John paused, then frowned at him. "Has it really been three months?"

"Yeah," Oliver sighed, rubbing his face again. "You don't think she's going to move out because of this do you?"

As much as part of him wanted her to move out (just because it would be an easy sixty bucks and he could use the money at the moment considering a large chunk of his monthly salary was going toward an as-of-yet opened restaurant), a much larger part of him really hoped Felicity would stay.

And judging by the look on his friend's face, Oliver did too.

"I'd say it's fifty-fifty at this point," John said with a shit-eating grin. "She's a smart girl, and smart girls would know better than to keep living with a guy who nearly got them killed."

Oliver groaned and buried his face in his hands again.

"But," John added with a laugh, "she's also a tough girl. And tough girls don't leave because of something as silly as almost dying of a nut allergy."

The younger man looked up and glared at him. "Thanks for the pep talk," he muttered sarcastically.

"Any time, man. I've always got your back."

A half hour later, Felicity walked up to the two of them with a smile on her face, which John took to be a good sign. "Clean bill of health," she reported. "He suggested I take a Benadryl for any lingering side effects of the allergic attack, but other than that I'm fine."

Oliver let out a sigh of relief, and John swore it was like the first breath he'd heard from his friend since Felicity had eaten the pancake.

"I'm so sorry," he blurted out. "I'm so, so sorry. I should have known, I should have asked you when you moved in. That never should have happened."

"Hey," she said softly, reaching over to place a hand on his arm. "It's not your fault. I should have told you. Besides, I'm still alive, thanks to Digg here."

She nudged the man with her elbow and he grinned back down at her.

"So no harm, no foul," she concluded.

Oliver still looked a little forlorn. "Does this mean you're not going to move out?"

She tapped her chin, pretending to think about it. "Hmm...well, as long as you promise to stop force feeding me pancakes, I think we'll be OK."

The smile that took over Oliver's face was so blinding that it made John wonder what exactly had been going through his friend's head during the allergic reaction. It also made him wonder whether Oliver's feelings for his roommate were as platonic as he insisted.

John didn't voice any of these ponderings out loud. But two weeks later, when he came back to the apartment for another tasting and evaluating session, he noticed that all the cabinets in the apartment were curiously devoid of any and all nut products.

And a month later, when Oliver presented the team with the first draft of the brunch menu, there wasn't a single option for pancakes.

Six months

They say that you should never get into business with your friends.

Thea Queen thought there should really be an addendum for going into business with your family.

Oliver had been acting like a real pill for close to three weeks now, and it was getting so bad that even the perpetually optimistic Tommy Merlyn could hardly stand to be near him.

It wasn't like he didn't have a reason or anything. They were opening a freaking restaurant for crying out loud, and since Oliver was going to be the chef, it almost felt like everyone in town was waiting for him to fail. Even their own parents had been dropping gentle hints about how he would always have a place at Queen Consolidated — the subtext, of course, being that once the restaurant failed he'd need something to do.

So yeah. Oliver was venturing out kind of on his own for the first time in his life and there was a lot of pressure. That was bound to put anyone under an insane amount of stress.

But the stress didn't give him license to be a dickbag to everyone in his life.

They could all hear Oliver barking from the kitchen. Even over all the loud kitchen noises, over the sizzling and the chopping and the sink running, everyone could hear him chewing out his brand-new kitchen staff over everything, from not cutting fine enough slices to letting shit burn.

Thea sighed and rolled her eyes as she turned back to Tommy and Digg. They were sitting at the lone table in the future dining room, trying to make a million decisions that Ollie impatiently declared he didn't have time for. That passive-aggressive remark was enough to make her seriously contemplate painting the bathrooms bubblegum pink, just to spite him.

"This is starting to get out of control," Digg grumbled. "He called me incompetent the other day when I accidentally left something off the zoning application with the city."

Tommy nodded. "He called me an irresponsible when I forgot to pick up the chairs from the supply store."

Digg snorted. "Not sure how far off he was with that one," he muttered more to himself than anything. But that didn't stop Tommy from scowling at him.

Thea sighed and rubbed her forehead. "I know. We need to talk to him, but I don't know how."

A bang came from behind the kitchen doors and the three of them jumped. The loud noise was soon followed by Oliver's muted screams.

"I vote we tie him to a chair and let his kitchen staff yell at him," Tommy said sardonically, his eyes still trained at the closed doors.

"I don't think they'd restrain themselves to just yelling at him," Digg pointed out.

At that moment, the sound of a pair of heels on concrete floors echoed through the empty space and Thea turned in her chair to see Felicity walking toward them, a tablet in her hands.

"Hey," she called. "I wanted to stop by after work to get started on the POS system. Do you know where — "

But before she could finish her inquiry, the doors to the kitchen came swinging open as a sobbing young man fled, clutching his knife kit close to him as he ran. In the brief moments as the door swung back closed, they could hear Oliver shouting, "DOES ANYONE WANT TO JOIN HIM OR HAVE THE REST OF YOU FINALLY GOT YOUR HEADS OUT OF YOUR ASSES LONG ENOUGH TO WORK?"

Everyone at the table let out a collective sigh, but Felicity simply narrowed her eyes.

"All right, that's it," she muttered. She dropped the tablet onto the table before marching toward the kitchen and disappearing behind the swinging kitchen doors. Two seconds later, she re-emerged, dragging Oliver by the wrist.

"Felicity, I'm in the middle of something," he snapped.

"I don't care," she shot back. "You have been stomping around like a bloviated dictator for weeks now. At the rate you're going you'll have scared off any person willing to be on your kitchen staff long before the restaurant even opens. That is, if your business partners haven't strangled you first."

Thea's eyebrows shot up her forehead, and a quick look around the table showed her that she wasn't the only one surprised at Felicity's words.

Oliver, however, didn't want to listen to it. "I don't have time — "

"To what?" she cut him off. "To act like a human being? To treat the people around you with the respect they deserve? Is that what you don't have time for, Oliver? Because let me assure you, you do. You have plenty of time. In fact, it doesn't take that much time at all. But no, you've been spending your time being a grumpy asshat, so of course that doesn't leave any time for anything else!"

He rolled his eyes. "You dragged me out of there to yell at me because I've been grumpy? I've been under a lot of stress, Felicity! The restaurant is supposed to open in a few months!"

"Oh, believe me, I know. It's all I've heard about for three weeks now. All you've talked about is this restaurant and the opening and how much pressure you're under. But if you opened your eyes and looked around, you'd realize that you're not the only one who's feeling it."

In that moment, Thea felt nothing but a rush of warmth and gratitude toward her older brother's roommate. It was almost hard to believe that she didn't even like her when they first met.

"What are you talking about?" he demanded.

"I'm talking about your friends!" she shouted, pointing a finger at the three of them at the table behind him. "You don't realize that they are bending over backwards to help you! They know how important this is to you, which is why they are here on a Friday night trying to decide what fucking color to paint the bathroom when Lord knows they could be doing literally anything else. It's why Tommy turned the other cheek when you called him irresponsible. It's why Digg ignored it when you called him incompetent. It's why Thea, your own damn sister, hasn't murdered you yet for telling her the interior doesn't matter!"

The three people around the table shuffled in embarrassment. She'd hit the nail on the head, and the three of them felt a little weird but also incredibly grateful to have her stand up for them.

Thea looked up and saw her brother staring at her. She saw a flash of guilt cross Ollie's face and she realized, with some irony, that it was the first non-angry or non-stressed emotion she'd seen in him in three weeks.

"Look," Felicity continued, her voice softer than earlier, and he turned to face her again. "I know that you're under insane pressure. I know that this is a big deal for you and that it feels like everyone in this city is waiting for you to screw up because all they see is Ollie Queen, former billionaire playboy who peed on a cop and couldn't get his shit together for years. But believe me when I tell you, there are people around you that want you to succeed and are willing to do anything to make it happen."

Oliver closed his eyes and he suddenly looked so...tired. Almost as tired as Thea felt.

"I just don't want to screw up again," he said quietly.

"I know," Felicity murmured. She reached forward and squeezed his hand, and to Thea's eternal surprise, he didn't pull away.

The two of them stood like that for a long time, and watching it made Thea feel like she was invading on an intimate moment. She glanced away, like she was trying to give them their privacy, and she saw Digg and Tommy doing the same.

Finally, a sigh alerted them that they were finished, and Oliver walked up to the three of them at the table.

"Hey guys," he began. They all watched him warily, waiting for the next words to come out of his mouth. "I guess I just...I'm sorry if I've been an asshole to you in the past few weeks."

"If?" Tommy scoffed.

The corner of Ollie's lips quirked upward and he continued. "OK, so I have been a big asshole to you these last few weeks. And you don't deserve it. None of you do. I've been stressed and I was taking it out on you, and I'm sorry."

Digg, who had been leaning back in his chair with his arms crossed, pursed his lips as he considered Oliver's words. The three of them exchanged glances, silent acknowledgment coursing through all of them.

"Apology accepted," Thea began, "on one condition."

Oliver winced and it made Thea grin a little. "And that is…?"

"You buy us all a round at Floyd's," she finished.

Her brother's shoulders slumped in relief, and for the first time in a long time, she saw a smile cross his face. "Deal. Let me go dismiss the kitchen staff and we'll head out."

Digg shook his head as Oliver walked back toward the kitchen. "That's assuming they hadn't all bolted the minute Felicity dragged his ass out of there."

The woman in question smiled approvingly as he walked toward the kitchen, then turned toward the three restaurateurs at the table. "Now that that's taken care of, I can do the POS system before I head home and crash."

"You're not coming with us?" Digg asked.

She shook her head. "No, I'm seriously exhausted. The minute I get this started, I'm going home to crash. Raincheck?"

"Sure," Thea said, standing up to hug her. Then quietly, she whispered in her ear, "Thank you."

Felicity pulled away to give her a brilliant smile. "Any time. Have fun."

And with that, she turned on her heel and walked toward the back, where the office was.

Later that night at Floyd's, armed with nothing but a bottle of his favorite microbrew, Oliver sat in his chair and listened with a grimace as his three business partners relived the past three weeks of his complete douchebaggery.

"OK, OK, I get it," he insisted after Tommy just recalled the incident from two weeks ago when he made their contractor — a full grown man in his forties who used to serve in the Marines — start to tear up in front of all his men.

And surprisingly, Thea thought to herself, Tommy hadn't even been exaggerating all that much.

"What's the point of reliving all of this anyway?" Oliver grumbled.

Digg chuckled as he took a swig of his beer. "Think of it as aversion therapy. We bombard you with examples of your shittiest behavior and it makes you so ashamed that you never do it again."

He grumbled again as he emptied his bottle. "Another round?" he asked the table.

The three of them nodded and Oliver stood from his seat and walked toward the bar.

"So what do you think?" Digg said once his friend was out of earshot. "You think he's really cured for good?"

Thea snorted. "Well maybe not for good. He'll probably yell at his kitchen staff more than they deserve, but at the least I'm pretty sure he'll leave us alone."

Tommy nodded his agreement. "That was kind of awesome how Felicity put him in his place though. I didn't think she had it in her."

Digg scoffed. "Are you kidding? Look, Felicity Smoak may look like a tiny little blonde on the outside, but she's a force of nature on the inside. And Oliver may be the most stubborn son of a bitch you've ever met, but he's also not an idiot, and when a force of nature is standing there getting ready to bowl you over, even he knows better than to try and meet it head on."

Thea chuckled at Digg's description. As close as it was, though, it didn't feel like it completely hit the nail on the head.

"What do you guys think is really going on between the two of them?" she asked.

"What do you mean?" Tommy asked.

"I mean," she began, "do you think they're just friends and roommates? Because believe me, the only person I've ever seen Oliver really listen to like that is our mom, and even then it was kind of touch and go."

Digg pursed his lips and crossed his arms as his eyes wandered to the man himself, standing at the bar and waiting for the hassled bartender to notice him.

"You know, I've asked myself that question," he nodded speculatively. "After Felicity's accidental allergic reaction, he was absolutely beside himself. You should have been there — I've never seen anyone so guilty in my entire life."

"That and he always gets that kind of twitch in his eye whenever one of the guys on the kitchen staff so much as looks at Felicity," Thea added. "Like he's just...itching to punch them out or something."

Tommy frowned. "I don't think that's indicative of anything," he insisted. "Oliver's probably just like, trying to look out for her. Like he'd look out for you, Speedy. I don't think he likes her or anything. Now, if you want to talk about Felicity, that's something else entirely."

Thea frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Weren't you there earlier at the restaurant? After she chewed him out, they were just staring at each other afterwards, and she was holding his hand and she was staring at him like he was the only person in the world."

Digg shook his head. "Nah, man, I think you're wrong. I think you've got it the other way around — I think Oliver's secretly got it bad for his roommate, but Felicity just sees him as a friend. A good friend, but a friend nonetheless."

"And I say you're cracked. It's obvious to anyone with eyes that Felicity's got the hots for him."

Digg rolled his eyes. "You want to put your money where your mouth is?"

Tommy straightened in his seat, his eyes twinkling. "I'm listening."

"Fifty bucks says that Oliver tries to make a move on his roommate and she turns him down," Digg said confidently.

Tommy scoffed. "One hundred says Felicity's the one who makes a move on him and he runs like the scared chicken shit he is."

The two men turned to Thea who bit her lip.

If she had to be honest, she could see both of those scenarios coming true. She knew her brother, and she was starting to know more about Felicity, and she could see the both of them being frightened of their feelings for one another. And she wasn't under any delusions like Digg and Tommy were — she could see that their feelings were obviously mutual.

But was she willing to put her own money on the line for it?

She took a deep breath. "Two hundred says one of them makes a move and they realize that they're actually in love with each other and they live happily ever after."

Tommy grinned and Digg smirked.

"You're on," they said together.