Summary: She was soft, supple and he was hard, scarred but when her hands touched him, he felt like precious silk and red hot love.

Her hair fell over her face like a curtain, eyes focused on the book in front of her as her leg bounced sporadically. She was getting to an intense part, he could tell from a mile away and a smile lifted his lips as he continued to slam fist after fist into the punching bag. He couldn't really focus on anything when she was sitting there like that, curled up on top of the desk with a thick blanket over her lap. Her eyes roved the pages, delicate fingers flipping pages with slow turns as she drank in each letter. The gasp that left her lips drew his attention fully, his feet stumbling as he missed the punch and whirled around to face her.

"Darling?" He demanded, her face popping up as she gave him a breathtaking smile. He relaxed, eyes searching for any sign of pain on her face but she was seemingly alright as he positioned himself in front of her. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing! They got together. The weird couple, the one that other readers refused to ship because they are so different but I knew it!" She grinned, poking his chest as she leaned into his sweaty chest.

"How are they different?"

"It's a play on Beauty in the Beast, so she's this demure girl who runs a bakery and he is an FBI agent, but I knew she'd chose him." Oliver's ears quirked. A little pang of hidden insecurity in his chest at the parallel between him and her, the beauty and the beast.

"How did you know?"

"Because, the other guy was nice and all but he didn't make her feel. He was just someone she could be with, no problem. While the man she chose, made her feel alive. Yeah, it was dangerous and scary but what they had was tangible and safe, something that draws you in and holds you close because it's so real and beautiful - and I'm rambling, sorry." She gave him a sheepish smile, ducking her head into his collarbone. Her teeth raked a healed bullet wound as she smiled at his laugh.

"Did you know I used to think you wouldn't give me a chance?" Her head snapped up, a delicate hand touching his cheek. He had thought his sheets were soft after being on that island but nothing beat the feel of her, her skin and her touch.

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm all of the dark things this world has to offer and you're everything bright and love-filled. And you know what, I did know you'd give me a chance because you're a good person but that just made me work harder not to fall in love with you. I knew I was the monster that lurked in the shadows of your life, that I would be the one to ruin the good in you and I couldn't do that to you." He smoothed the back of his hand over her cheek, finger catching her chin as she smiled sadly at him.

"Oliver, as much as you like to hold the weight of literally everything on your shoulders, that isn't true. You aren't dark. You're a survivor who did what he had to do to live through the island, and all the other places you went during those five years, and you shut off the parts of you that feel because you can't survive something like that if you're letting emotions cloud you. But I have always seen the good in you, the little flickers of light that shine out when you help someone while in the suit, or as you lead this city as Mayor. You're a good man Oliver Queen, who has been through a lot and no matter how 'dark' you get, I am going to be by your side."

He had to kiss her then, her lips rounding letters into a beautiful soliloquy of hope and love. She was radiant, even under the ugly fluorescent she shined and he had to thank his lucky stars. She was more than he deserved and more than he could hope to have, but here she was - kissing him back with a smile on her lips and soft fingers dancing over his scares.

"Of course," You muttered, slamming the coffee cup down on the counter as your phone buzzed the tune of pink panther. Felicity had set your phone up with an emergency Hey, a member of Team Arrow who's face you have not only never seen but you might not even recognize did something stupid and despite the fact you're only a college student working on getting your medical license we need you to patch them up, no questions asked. Oh, why were you complaining? You kind of loved the adrenaline rush, knowing that you were safe without knowing their identity and the panic button on your phone.

It was bridging 2 am, a long night of studying had been ahead of you so you bundled up your books and your body because it was frigid outside, slipping into your car and heading down the deserted streets as fast as your little car could handle. It was dark in Star City, not the safest and you had been on the receiving side of one of the Green Arrow's rants for putting yourself in danger so you weren't exactly looking for a repeat. Pulling up to the headquarters for Mayor Queen's campaigns office, you rushed into the elevator that deposited you in the midst of what looked like a blood bath. Shit.

"What the-" You started, unmasked vigilantes turning to face you and you resisted the urge to cover your eyes. It was like seeing them stark naked as you recognized over half of them. Dropping your bag in the elevator, you kept hold of your kit as you pulled out a pair of gloves and slipped them on. "Explain, now."

"He was shot with a shotgun, the pieces are everywhere and we can't get him to stop bleeding." Spartan, uh, John Diggle stated. True to his words, all of them had a hand somewhere on the luckily still masked forms face as he grunted in pain, twisting occasionally and you knew better than to give him something to knock him out despite the pain- you had done it once against everyone's wishes and you honestly thought he was going to kill you, or at least glare you to death.

"Wonderful," You sighed, discarding your medical bag in lue of stealing the tweezers off of Felicity's desk and sanitizing them. "Alright buddy, this is going to hurt." You smiled at him, pausing for only a moment to rest a cool hand on his feverish head in a soothing motion as the next little bit was going to be excruciating. “Будь сильным, храбрый.“

You had shoddy Russian at best but you didn't want the rest of them to hear you, only him because he needed you right now. His lips twitched, head lolling as you took a heavy breath. You had to get him stitched up before more blood stained your shoes. The only issue was, he would not stay still. Swinging your leg up over Curtis' arm (you had always known it was him, his mask didn't do much), you landed above his hips and his hand shot out to push you away defensively. Grasping it with reflexes you didn't know you had, you shushed him with a look.

"It's me, I'm not trying to hold you down." You were. "I'm trying to help. Calm yourself."

His hand dropped from yours, squeezing into your thigh and if that was all you could offer the hooded vigilante then so be it. Without giving him time to relax, you plunged the tweezers into the biggest wound and ripped out the shotgun's bullet fragment. The youngest looking boy with a smooth face and perfectly styled brown hair had the good sense to shove a rag in his mouth, muffling his screams as you blocked them out and continued to dig around. He needed to be in a hospital but you both knew that wasn't possible; and honestly, if your college could see you now then they would forgo all the student loans and tests, hand you your medical degree and call it a day.

It was an intense 45 minutes, including a solid minute when you thought he died but the asshole was just meditating like we all do when we are laying on a table bleeding out from multiple holes in our chest. Eventually you had him patched up, blood covering you and you were an absolute wreck as your adrenaline crashed. You tried to hide your shaking hands as he swallowed some weird herbs and sat up like a moron, groaning in the process, but he was the Green Arrow. Scrubbing your hands til they were red raw didn't help either, he could easily make out the tremble.

"Hey doc," His voice called out, silencing the chattering team that eventually introduced you to Rene - Wilddog, and Rory - Ragman which you promptly explained was a stupid name. You turned, thinking he needed some help or something only to see him sitting there with no mask and no hood. You couldn't have closed your unhinged jaw if you tried. "You did real good."

"Oliver fucking Queen, are you serious?" You pressed the heels of your hands into your eyes, laughing with absolutely no humour in the sound. "I just had my hands inside the mayor's chest?" Looking up, you made a mix of a scream and a choked gasp finding him right in front, a little hunched and sweat soaking his skin. "What do you think you are you doing, you idiot? I haven't had coffee in twelve hours and I am about to McFreaking lose it," Shutting your eyes, you tried to convince yourself that you had not said McFreaking anywhere but rhetorically in your head.

His low chuckle that did all kinds of things to your insides told you otherwise. His hand, thankfully clean of blood, lifted your chin as he brushed a strand of hair away from your cheeks and wow, he really must be out of it because the Green Arrow, Oliver Queen did not do touching. "Thank you for the assist, I know it couldn't have been easy." His icy eyes glanced to your hands and you immediately and very inconspicuously shoved them in your back pockets as you blushed beet red.

"Uh, yeah, no problem. No biggie. It's what I signed up for." Okay, you didn't technically sign up for anything because your older siblings friend Felicity just showed up on your doorstep a few months ago with a bleeding Oliver and the beg to fix him but you chose to stick around.

Okay, that wasn't technically true either because they just kept showing up til someone realized that it probably wasn't safe for them to keep doing that, one of your neighbours was bound to recognize them, so you were sent coordinates and you showed up with no questions asked.

"How do you like your coffee?" He questioned, grabbing your attention. Uh, what? "I'd like to take you for a cup, as a thank you."

Oh, his smirk said anything but as a thank you. Well. If he was going to flirt, then you might as well give it a try. A weird and uncomfortable try seeing as it had been years since you went on a date, let alone liked a guy.

"I like my coffee like I like my men," You smiled, quirking an eyebrow as you scooped up your bag and headed for the elevator, "Hot and bitter."

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Будь сильным, храбрый : Be strong, brave one.

Prompt: I like my men how I like my coffee, hot and bitter.

Night One of the Oliver Queen Night Series that was supposed to start days ago but I'm me so what did you expect really lol