#makepatronusesnothorcruxes

"This stays between us," Oliver said, standing.  

"Wait, wait. Let me see it again," Felicity said excitedly, her hand grabbing his to stop him from putting on his shirt. He let out a sigh, but she pouted her lips. "Please?"

"This is the last time, Felicity," He smiled and shook his head. Turning, he bent over a bit to show her the patch of skin at the base of his spine. There, just an inch above the waistband of his pants, was a tiny arrow-shaped birthmark.

Somehow, Felicity found the courage to lightly trace the patch of skin with her fingertip. Her touch sent a shock up his back, involuntarily making him shiver. 

"That is so cool," She smiled, leaning back into the couch. "If that isn't a sign to tell you that you're meant to be the Arrow, then I don't know what is." 

He smiled and pulled his shirt back on, then joined her on the couch.

"Yeah, I thought it was pretty ironic," He smirked. "I had no idea I even had it."

"So how did you find it? Oh, wait. Don't tell me. Does billionaire, master archer Oliver Queen check himself out in the mirror?" She teased. "It's okay. We all do it."

"No," He laughed. "Sara-" He stopped when Felicity's smile faltered. It happened so quickly that most people wouldn't notice, but he wasn't most people. "Uh, she noticed it when we were sparring."

"Oh," She nodded. She knew he was lying; after all, how does one notice a tiny patch of skin when sparring with another person? But she always knew when he was lying, and she appreciated it all the same. 

"So... 'We all do it,' huh?" He asked a moment later.

"Do what?" She asked in confusion. 

"You asked if billionaire, master-archer Oliver Queen checks himself out in the mirror. And then you proceeded to say that we all do it. Does 'we' include you?" 

She laughed, making Oliver smile. Her laugh was an angel's chorus to his ears, and he would do anything to make sure those angels kept singing. 

"Yes, sadly. That does include me," She smiled. "Does it not include you?"

"Pre-island Oliver, maybe. But now?" He smiled at a memory. When he looked up at her she had an eyebrow cocked at him. "Okay, Felicity. It is scary how you always know what I'm lying."

"And don't you forget it, Oliver Queen. I always know when you're lying," She squeezed his hand for a moment and released it. "And when you're telling the truth." 

A slow smile appeared across his lips. They were both thinking back to that night. 

"You're right, as usual," He admitted, his smile never faltering. "You always know when I'm telling the truth. And uh, yes. I admit it. Even post-island Oliver has checked himself out in the mirror a few times."

"I think I broke it," Oliver said worriedly, looking at Felicity. 

He was breaking in his new apartment's kitchen, something Thea said he'd never use. Of course, he had to prove her wrong. But in order to do so, he had to actually cook in it, something he never really mastered. So he turned to Felicity for help.

Felicity sighed and set her knife down, leaning over to the stove. Oliver had the one job of boiling the pasta, but as Felicity stuck a fork into the pot, the entire thing came out in one massive piece.

"Well you definitely didn't break it," She laughed, turning off the stove. "You had one job, Oliver. One. Cook the pasta. Did you read the directions on the box?"

"Yeah," He nodded.

"Okay, so you poured the entire box of pasta into the boiling pot of water-"

"And set the timer for ten minutes. I can follow directions, Felicity. The pasta must be broken," He shrugged.

"Highly doubtful," She cocked an eyebrow at him. "Did you stir the pasta?"

"Well yeah, in the beginning."

"Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner," She smiled, tossing out the chunk of pasta. Luckily for him she had bought extra. She set the pot to boil again. "You have to stir it every once in a while so it doesn't stick together like that."

"Oh," As the water boiled he poured the second box of ziti into the pot. Reaching behind her to grab a fork, he began to stir. "Like this?"

"Yes, just like that, Oliver. Do it every couple of minutes," She said as she resumed cutting the onions.

"Why can't I do that instead?" He gestured to her.

She put down her knife and looked pointedly at him, her hand flying to her hip. "Need I remind you of why I'm the one cutting onions right now?"

He looked down at his left hand, specifically at his bandaged index finger.

"Why yes, I am as drunk as you think I am. At least, I think I'm as drunk as you thunk I am. Am I? I'm drrrunk," She rambled, waving her empty glass in the air. "Can I get another one, sir? People don't say 'sir' enough anymore. Or please. Oh! I didn't say please! Please can I have another one, please sir. See? I says two times 'cause I didn't the first."

"Oh my God. What hell's the matter with you, Frank? Don't keep serving her!" Thea scolded shooing her bartender away. She turned her friend's face to her. "Felicity? You've had too much to drink, okay? I'm gonna send you-"

"No home!" She whimpered, sagging her head. "No home, Thee. Pwease dun send me dere."

"Um, okay. Hang on," She said, tucking her friend's head against her chest. Looking up, she spotted her brother chatting with some random brunette with longer lashes than nails. He looked extremely bored and desperate to get rid of her. "Oliver! Oliver" She shouted, waving her hand.

"Oliver!" Felicity giggled. "Is he here? Is he... Busy?"

Oliver's head shot up at the sound of her sister's voice, and immediately excused himself, leaving his drink with the brunette.

"Thea? What's wrong? Felicity?" He furrowed his eyebrows at his executive assistant. "What happened to her?"

"She's drunk," Thea said pointedly.

"Noo, you thunk I'm drunk, and drunk and drunk. Ow," She moaned, grasping her head. "Hi Oliverrrrr."

"I tried to send her home, but she doesn't want-"

"No home!" Felicity suddenly shot up in her seat. Luckily, Oliver caught her before she fell. "No home, Oliver. No."

"I've got her," He reassured his sister. "Just do me a favor and tell Diggle what happened, and that I'll see him tomorrow. I'm gonna try sobering her up first before sending her-" He looked down. "Before sending her, you-know-where."

Thea nodded and wished him luck, then started off to scold Frank.

"Okay, Felicity. I want you to put your- Okay then," He said as Felicity leaned against him, wrapping her arms around his neck. Carrying her bridal style, he excused himself through the crowd and made his way to the back of the club. Making sure nobody was watching, he headed towards the Foundry and laid her down in one of the cots he kept down there.

"Hm, am I home?" She wondered, reaching around her. She felt Oliver's beard and smiled. "Oliver, you're not- hic- supposed to be here." 

"Felicity, what's going on? I've never seen you like this," He murmured, brushing her hair away from her eyes. 

"My mom and her boyfriend comed to visit. They visited!" She squealed, then dropped her mouth into a frown. "But I don't like them. Especially her boyfriend."

"Did he do something to you? Try something?" He asked.

"Yes! He keeps asking me for green stuff. The things you pay for- money! Says he wants to give my mom a new ring, but I don't want him to be my dad, Oliver. No dad," She muttered. A moment later she blinked up at him. "Don't make me go home, Oliver. Please. I just- I wanna stay here."

"Why, Felicity?"

"Hm, you're here," She muttered, curling herself into a ball. 

"Okay, we're gonna talk about this in the morning, okay? Even though you're probably not gonna remember any of this," He sighed.

She was out like a light at this point. Standing, he shrugged off his jacket and undid his tie, then stepped out of his shoes. He pulled an empty trashcan beside the cot, just in case, and placed a glass of water and two aspirins on the table. Pulling the pile of practice mats towards her cot, he folded up his jacket as a makeshift pillow and laid down beside her. Grabbing her tablet from the table, he remotely shut off the lights, leaving on his suit display's light, in case she needed to use the restroom. 

"Goodnight, Felicity," He whispered. He heard her shift around in the cot, and felt her hand against his face. 

"Goodnight, Oliver," She sighed. After a few silent moments she spoke again. "Oliver. Pssst. Oliver!" 

"Huh?" He blinked in the darkness. "What's wrong, Felicity?"

"I'm not speaking to you anymore, Oliver Queen," Felicity huffed. 

"Fel-" She spun around then, her ponytail giving him a swift slap in the face. "It wasn't my fault, Felicity."

"It absolutely was your fault!"

"I thought you weren't talking to him?" Roy asked, taking a swig of water. Oliver shot him a look; he shrugged and backed out of the room.

"Felicity, I'm sorry. I couldn't help it. The mob boss-"

"I don't care about the mob boss!" He raised an eyebrow. "Okay, fine. I do care that you got the mob boss. And-and good job, by the way. But that's not what's at stake here."

"So this is all about-"

"Yes! This is all about the fish!" She threw her hands in the air. 

"Fish?" He heard Roy whisper. "Did she say fish?"

"You have spectacular aim, Oliver. I've seen you throw five tennis balls in the air and pin them all to the wall with your arrows. And you couldn't avoid one measly fish tank?"

"Oh, boy," He muttered, running his hand through his hair. Felicity had hacked the mob boss's place and had full access to his security cameras. That also meant that she witnessed first-hand how he shot arrow after arrow trying to capture the man, including the one arrow the pierced the man's fish tanks, sending at least twenty fish to the floor. He remembered hearing her whimper through his comm.

"You know what? Why am I still talking to you about this, fish killer," She huffed again, turning to face her monitors. After a few key strokes all of the monitors in the Foundry changed to a fish tank screensaver. "I hope you'll think next time you decide to sacrifice some fish, Oliver Queen."

Roy stifled a laugh as Diggle smacked him on the arm. Oliver gritted his teeth and shook his head. A moment later he took out his phone.

"My phone too, Felicity? Really?"

"I could kill you," the robber snickered. "Right now. I could, you know."

Oliver grunted against the three men holding him. He and the rest of Team Arrow were called in to help get rid of a group of thugs rumored to be cooking and distributing meth. Unfortunately, they were given the wrong information; instead of a group of three men, it was a group of twenty. 

Oliver looked around. Roy was trapped under a pile of metal pipes, Diggle was handcuffed to a metal pole, and Felicity was nowhere to be seen. His bow and quiver lay at least twenty feet away from him, after the men kicked it away during their struggle. 

"You'll regret this," He grunted.

"Is that a threat, Arrow? I don't think you're in the positive to make such threats," The leader laughed. 

Something in the shadows caught Oliver's eye. He didn't think anyone else noticed, but somehow Diggle was freed from his handcuffs.

"What do you want?" Oliver asked, keeping their attention on him. 

"For you to die, mostly," One of the man laughed.

The sound of metal pipes falling turned their attention away; Oliver turned and saw the Roy was freed as well.

"Find him!" The leader hissed, commanding a group of seven henchmen away. After disappearing further into the warehouse, grunts and punches echoed through the building. The leader hissed for more henchmen to find out what's happening. 

"Hey!" They turned and saw Felicity, holding Oliver's bow and arrow at the leader. "Let him go."

Oliver couldn't help but feel his heart swell with pride at the sight of her holding his bow. But he also couldn't help but feel anger against the men if anything happened to her.

"And what are you gonna do, dearie? Shoot m-"

She released the bow, missing him completely. As he started laughing, Oliver ordered her to get down. In the next instant, the arrow exploded, granting Oliver the opportunity to elbow and punch the men holding him. He ran to Felicity, pushing her behind him. He threw on his quiver, grabbed his bow, and shot arrow after arrow at the remaining men. Ropes spiraled out from the arrows, pulling them together.

"Nice shot, Felicity," Oliver smiled proudly. Diggle and Roy joined them, each of their weapons ready for any other surprises.

"Holy- Oh my God," She gasped. "I-I had no idea I picked an exploding arrow! You really should start labeling those!"

"Well it was a happy mistake," Roy pointed out. "Imagine if that thing didn't explode?"

(Thanks to makepatronusesnothorcruxes for the prompt: Roy calls Felicity and Oliver, “Mom” and “Dad”)

"It’s very simple, Felicity. I don’t understand how you don’t understand-"

"It’s not very simple, Oliver! Of course I don’t understand, no one in their right mind could understand-"

"Oh, so now I’m not in my right mind?" Oliver scoffed, tapping his temple.

"That’s not what I meant and you know it!" Felicity argued back.

"Hey g- what the hell’s going on down here?" Diggle asked, descending the stairs.

"Mom and Dad are fighting again," Roy said from a stool. He nonchalantly bit into his apple. "They've been at this for like twenty minutes."

"Shut up, Roy!" The two said, then glared at each other.

"What the hell are you two fighting about?" Diggle asked.

"He-" Felicity pointed to Oliver, who rolled his eyes. "-is blaming me for missing three calls for Oliver Queen, CEO!"

"Because you are to blame!" He scoffed.

"I am not!"

"Okay, okay. Felicity, why did you miss the calls?" Digg asked. 

"Because I was monitoring the Arrow comms! And I didn't miss the calls! I wrote them down and put the Post-It on his desk this morning!"

"That was you? I thought I used that piece of paper to test out my pen," He snorted.

Roy let out a laugh. "He's got you there, Felicity. Your handwriting sucks."

"See?" Oliver said. 

"Oliver, don't you dare-"

"Enough!" Diggle said, holding the two back by their shoulders.

"Ding, ding. Back to your corners, lady and gent, the referee has arrived," Roy said in a low voice.

"Roy, shut up!" Oliver and Felicity said together, glaring at each other again.

"Oliver, Felicity can't monitor both the Arrow monitors and every single call that comes into your office. She's good, but she's not a robot."

"Thank you," she muttered.

"And Felicity-" She looked up at him in confusion. "Next time, type out your notes and email it to him. Your handwriting's a bit... Confusing at times." 

(Another one of makepatronusesnothorcruxes' prompts: "I didn't know you could do that.")

"I didn't know you could do that," Oliver commented, watching as Felicity removed the knotted cherry stem in her mouth. 

"Oh, there's quite a few things you don't know about me, Oliver Queen," she laughed, tossing the stem onto the table.

Oliver had exited the Foundry to find Thea, Roy, and Felicity working hard on their own assignments: Thea was running around, making sure the club was well stocked and prepared for the night; Roy was trying to balance his job at Verdant with his job in the Foundry; and Felicity was sitting at the bar, her fingers flying over her keyboard as she handled his CEO schedule and his Arrow monitors at the same time. He had stopped them, reminded them that they should take a break, and offered to take them out for ice cream.

Now, here they were, at Oliver's and Thea's favorite diner. The group squeezed themselves into a booth- Oliver and Thea on one side, and Roy and Felicity on the other. Thea had challenged her brother to knot the stem of the cherry from his sundae, something she knew he could never do. Roy laughed, after showing him that he could too. 

"See, man. Even Felicity can do it," Roy laughed. 

"Here, do another one," Thea said, pulling off another cherry stem and handing it to her.

"I can try," She said, popping it into her mouth. This time, when Oliver's gaze caught hers, she didn't look away. She couldn't look away; it was like he had this hold on her that neither of them could - nor wanted to - escape from. Oliver watched as she expertly moved the stem in her mouth, her tongue darting this way and that. After a minute or so she removed the successfully knotted stem from her mouth. "Ta-da."

"You know, they say that's the sign of a good kisser," Thea mentioned, nudging her brother under the table.

"You tell me," Roy muttered, earning a look from Oliver.

Oliver looked back at Felicity, who now had a noticeable blush on her cheeks. 

"Is that an insult, Thea?" He looked at his sister. 

"I don't know," She shrugged innocently, then looked at her friend. "Felicity, does my brother kiss well?"

"What?" She asked, startled. "No, no. Uh, he and I- Your brother and I- We never-"

"Thea, we haven't- we're not-" Oliver stammered.

"Right, right. I forgot. Silly me," She shrugged. "C'mon, Roy. We have to finish up at the club. I'll see you guys later."

Oliver and Felicity shared a look, her blush now obvious against her skin.

"She doesn't really think we're-"