Chapter Text
The first time it happened, Felicity thought she fell asleep during class. She was in the third grade, and for a few moments, she saw a bunch of boys she didn’t know playing basketball.
She ignored it.
***
Felicity was 12 the second time it happened. She was in the shower, when she saw the interior of a room, a wall filled with a huge bookcase. It looked… expensive.
She ignored it.
***
At 14, Felicity saw a sky run. It felt like she was running down on it, fast, so fast that she got dizzy for a moment.
She ignored it.
***
At 16, Felicity saw a sleek black car, with red accents in the interior and a “Q” shaped key chain.
She ignored it.
***
At 17, Felicity saw a naked blonde and, a few months later, a red head.
She did her best to ignore it.
***
At 18, she saw more things.
A table filled with breakfast food and a brunette girl with curly hair grinning. A young brunette man grinning in front of a motorcycle. A large bed with dark gray bedding, in a very luxurious room. The curly haired girl again, wearing a pink princess dress and twirling around, giggling.
The images were getting harder to ignore.
***
The year Felicity turned 19, the images came even more often. So much so, that she couldn’t ignore them anymore.
Felicity figured out that there weren’t dreams or hallucinations, it wasn’t her mind playing tricks on her. No, they were images, real images, that someone was seeing.
A person was doing these things, and Felicity was seeing them through his eyes.
His, Felicity figured out, it was a man, because during one of the flashes, the man titled his head down and she saw clearly, that is was a man.
She had no idea who he was. She had no idea how to find out who he was. She had no idea what it meant.
***
Half way through into her 19th year of life, Felicity saw something different every day. Sometimes, even twice a day.
She was in the middle of a programming class, when she saw water. A lot of water, a storm, a wreckage and an older man’s face, as he shot himself in the head.
That day, the world found out that Oliver and Robert Queen were lost at sea.
That day, Felicity realized that she sometimes saw things through Oliver Queen's eyes.
That day, Felicity cried herself to sleep.
***
It only grew worse after that. Felicity still saw something every day, but those few minutes were absolutely horrible.
Because while the world thought Oliver Queen died, while the world mourned him, Felicity saw him.
Struggling to survive. Fighting for his life.
Over the next five years, Felicity saw things most people wouldn’t believe.
Masks and freighters, super serums, land mines, plane wreckages, bows and arrows, guns. And people. A lot of people. Oliver’s friends, and lovers, but also so many people who hurt him. Tortured and scarred his skin, so many people who wanted Oliver dead.
But he kept on fighting. And surviving.
And Felicity, for all the tears she shed for this stranger, she believed in him. She believed all the torture will come to an end, and she believed that Oliver Queen will come back from the dead.
She needed to believe that. If not, she knew she couldn’t function.
***
When QC offered her a job right after college, Felicity didn’t hesitate in moving half way across the country for it.
Oliver was still considered dead.
The first night she spent in her brand new apartment in Starling City, Felicity thought about going to Hong Kong, where she knew Oliver was currently. She thought about finding him, and telling his mother, making him come back home.
But nobody would listen to her. Nobody would believe her. Oliver wouldn’t believe her in a million years.
She wondered, if this connection went both ways. But that seemed even more unlikely.
So she didn’t go to Hong Kong.
Felicity went to work for QC, an average job in the IT department. She had no interaction with any of the Queen family.
***
Oliver made her stronger.
It took a while for her to realize it, but he did. As short as the flashes were, and as horrific as they were, they helped Felicity.
She wasn’t afraid of the dark anymore.
She wasn’t afraid of being alone anymore.
She didn’t trust everybody so easily anymore.
She wasn't afraid of standing up for herself. For what she believed in.
She wasn’t afraid of talking back to someone talking trash about her anymore. Because Oliver always talked back, even if he was under torture.
Oliver changed Felicity a lot.
Without even knowing. Or knowing her.
***
Felicity found out Oliver came back from the dead before the media did.
Because Felicity saw it. Because Oliver was looking out a window, and she recognized Starling City’s skyline. And then Oliver turned around, and Felicity saw that he was in a hospital room, and she saw Ms. Queen.
The day the world found out Oliver Queen came back from the dead, Felicity cried herself to sleep. But this time, they were happy tears.
***
Felicity keep seeing flashes of Oliver’s life.
She’s not surprised to realize that he’s the vigilante. She’s proud of him.
So the first time she lays eyes on him, in real life, as Oliver passes by her down the halls of QC, without even spearing her a look, Felicity still smiles.
***
Again, she thought about telling him. But there wasn’t any point.
He wouldn’t believe her.
No one would.