Fanfic / These Foolish Things

These Foolish Things is an Arrow One-Shot Fic by Ray_Writes that takes place in Season Four. It was published on November 16, 2021.

The premise is simple: Laurel wears an old sweater of Oliver's that she still has from when they were dating, and Felicity reacts badly to it. First she asks Oliver to ask Laurel to give the sweater back (something he is very reluctant to do since it was a gift, making it Laurel's now), and then she hacks into his private back account, and makes a list of all the purchases prior to Lian Yu (going all the way back to his high school prom) that might have been gifts to Laurel and goes to Laurel and demands for them back. Everyone is naturally aghast at her actions, and it forces Oliver to make some difficult decisions in regards to how he wants to live his life and who he wants to be a part of it.

Tropes:

• Amicable Exes:
  • Oliver and Laurel are trying to be this at the start of the story. It's proving to be difficult, not because of any negative feelings, but rather because they still love each other but are both convinced the other doesn't love them back anymore. Eventually it is subverted when Laurel inadvertently admits she still loves Oliver, prompting Oliver to finally acknowledge that he still loves her, allowing them to get back together.
  • Oliver and Sara are a more traditional example, with Sara giving Oliver some poignant advice regarding his relationships with Laurel and Felicity.
• Betty and Veronica Switch: With Oliver as the Archie, Felicity as the initial Betty, and Laurel as the initial Veronica. Alex initially recommends that Oliver stay away from Laurel, viewing her as a potential threat to his relationship with Felicity, which Oliver's campaign is partly built around. Felicity's actions during the story completely change his mind, and by the end he's openly acknowledging he told Oliver to "stay away from the wrong woman".
• Blackmail: Thea prevents Felicity from publicly disparaging Oliver after their break-up by threatening to report her to the police for illegally hacking into his bank account if she does.
• Broken Pedestal: John's opinion of Felicity takes a major hit after he learns about her actions. When he learns she put trackers into their suits behind their backs, the narrative says "a little of the stubborn light" he still had left in his eyes goes out.
• Control Freak: Felicity. In addition into hacking Oliver's bank account, she tries to force Oliver to cut both Laurel and Thea out of his life in favor of her and implanted trackers into every member of the team's suits behind their backs. While he is sad about the break up, Oliver admits it's for the best.
  Oliver: I was committed to our relationship, but I can’t be now. Whatever we had, she made clear that it was more about controlling who else was in my life rather than sharing our lives and the people in them.
• Deconstruction Fic: Of the Oliver/Felicity relationship. Oliver's overly-permissive attitude and blind trust in Felicity, rather than showing his complete faith in her and her character, enable her to slowly take control of every aspect of his life with him none the wiser, along with emboldening her into believing that she has the right to know everything about him and his personal life. This causes arguments between them whenever he fails to live up to her expectations or begins chafing under her control, eventually causing Oliver to give up whatever voice he once had in the relationship just to please her and making him absolutely miserable as a result. Eventually this leads to Felicity deciding she can control who is in his life too, which causes her to hack into his private bank account to try and figure out what gifts he gave Laurel so she can demand them back, and then forcing him to cut ties with Laurel entirely, and Thea as well when she calls Felicity out for her actions. This proves to be the final straw that causes Oliver to break up with her, and when reflecting on it with the rest of the team after she's gone, he's forced to admit the entire relationship was a mistake.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Learning that Laurel still has one of Oliver's old sweaters prompts Felicity to hack into Oliver's accounts dating back to his teens, pick out anything that might have been a gift to Laurel, and go to her flat to basically demand all of these gifts back. Putting aside how gross a violation that is of Oliver's privacy when he and Felicity don't have a joint bank account, as Thea points out some of those gifts could have easily been for her or Moira rather than Laurel, and in any case Felicity has no right to go to those levels.
• Everyone Has Standards:
  • Played for Laughs. Laurel still has a Tiffany ring that Oliver gave her during their relationship. She idly muses that even Joanna would call her an idiot for getting rid of it, even if it came from her cheating ex-boyfriend.
  • Alex wants to maintain Oliver's image as a reformed playboy and is using his relationship with Felicity to support that, but upon seeing Felicity's real character, even he can't blame Oliver for breaking up with her. In fact, he flat-out admits to John that he should've told Oliver to stay away from her instead of Laurel.
• Henpecked Husband: Oliver is a deconstructed boyfriend version of this trope, spending most of the story unable to stand up to Felicity because of how desperate he is to keep her happy. Instead of being played for humor, this actually serves as a massive red flag about their relationship, and both Sara and Thea admonish him for allowing Felicity to steamroll him over everything. Naturally, when he finally puts his foot down and breaks up with Felicity for trying to force him to cut off ties with Laurel and Thea, the latter expresses pride in his actions.
• Insecure Love Interest: A rare example where the insecure one is being portrayed as in the wrong. Felicity is insecure about her relationship with Oliver since he's yet to get her a gift, which is why when she reacts so badly to the sweater. However, her subsequent actions are completely out of line and demonstrate a complete lack of faith in their relationship and a disregard for his privacy, something that both Thea and Laurel don't hesitate to call her out on.
• It's All About Me: Felicity sees nothing wrong with hacking Oliver's bank statements going back to his prom to try and identify any gifts he might have given Laurel so that she can ask for them back. While Felicity might have reason to be awkward about her boyfriend working with his ex, she demonstrates a complete disregard for Oliver's privacy and a lack of faith in their relationship that leaves Laurel and Thea pointing out that she should have considered what she expected from the relationship if she was that insecure about it.
• Ladykiller in Love: The image Oliver is trying to project to the people of Star City, which Alex bases around his relationship with Felicity. Ironically, while the image is real, it isn't Felicity Oliver is actually in love with.
• Law of Disproportionate Response: Oliver regularly works in the field with Laurel while she's wearing a leather-tight suit, and yet what sets Felicity off is seeing Laurel wear one of his old sweaters. This is later revealed to be because Oliver has yet to get her a gift, though everyone notes that's still no reason to antagonize Laurel into giving up the gifts Oliver gave her when they were dating.
• Loving a Shadow: Oliver admits that this is a major issue with him. He keeps trying to look for perfection in himself and in his significant others, and the entire situation with Felicity forces him to accept that he's not going to find it and that he needs to stop chasing after a fantasy and start living in real life.
• Mutually Assured Destruction: Name-dropped by Thea after Oliver points out the inadvisability of threatening to take court someone that knows their secret identities as the city's resident vigilantes. She points out that Felicity can't expose them without exposing herself as a member of the team as well, noting that this is the only reason they never turned in Malcolm after he proved how treacherous he was.
• Riches to Rags: The real reason why Oliver has yet to get Felicity a gift while he got Laurel dozens. Not only were they not in a traditional relationship for a long time, but he doesn't have the money any more to shower Felicity with gifts like he did with Laurel.
• Screw Your Ultimatum!: A rare non-villain example. Upon learning Laurel still loves Oliver and seeing that Thea now holds her in contempt, Felicity issues Oliver an ultimatum over their relationship, stating that he can either have them in his life, or he could have her. Oliver, at this point understandably fed up with her behavior and noting it's not much of a choice considering both Laurel and Thea are practically (and in Thea's case, literally) family, chooses them, much to Felicity's disbelief and fury.
  Felicity: You are throwing away our relationship after everything we fought through to be together, after we’ve lived together for months, after I invested in your campaign, after you became texting buddies with my mother, for- for—
  Oliver: For my family? For two people who have always been there for me and respected mine and others’ privacy? [glances at a smiling Thea and a shocked Laurel] There’s nothing easier.
• Shipper on Deck:
  • John is one for Oliver/Felicity at the beginning of the story. Needless to say, he isn't by the end.
  • Both Sara and Thea are this for Oliver/Laurel. That one sails.
• Shipper with an Agenda: Alex ships Oliver/Felicity because the campaign revolves Oliver's image as a reformed playboy, which is contingent on the relationship's success. He regrets it once Felicity shows her true nature to everyone, noting that Oliver was better off not dating her.
• So Proud of You: Thea to Oliver, after he finally stands up for himself and his loved ones and breaks up with Felicity.
• Titled After the Song: Per invokedWord of God, the title of the fic comes from the song "These Foolish Things (Remind Me Of You)".

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