Motherboards, Mischief, and Magic - OlicityBishop_Clairmont (2024)

Chapter 1: Motherboards, Mischief, and Magic CH.1

Chapter Text

He was wearing it again.

That damn Letterman jacket that made his shoulders look so solid with the blue that brought out his eyes. Those beautiful, piercing blue eyes. Eyes that met hers for a split second.

Crap!

Felicity looked back down at her cafeteria lunch. She really needed to get a grip.

The thunks of other trays of food being set down near her brought Felicity out of her mental musings. She looked around at her friends sitting with her.

Iris, the confident, determined future journalist currently writing for the school paper.

Barry, Iris’ boyfriend, and future analyst for the police department. He was currently volunteering there and was under the impression that everyone wanted to hear about how cool dead bodies were.

Caitlyn, Felicity’s best friend and future biological engineer. She was already looking at internships at science labs across the country.

Cisco, the pop culture expert of the group and future mechanical engineer. His basem*nt was full of his invented gadgets. Not all of them work.

Then there was Felicity herself, all-around geek and future tech goddess (at least she thought so. She had built her own computer form scratch when she was seven). She already had major scholarships from colleges like MIT, and even had tentative acknowledgement from business like Gotham’s Wayne Enterprises, and Starling City’s very own Queen Consolidated.

They were so going to rule the world once they got out of the hell that was high school.

And this week was even worse. In the spirit of school spirit, the student council had decided to create Spirit Week, ending on Halloween. The last night there was going to be a massive dance at the community center, since the dance was open to the rest of the town.

While Felicity understood the enthusiasm other people had for Halloween, she no longer celebrated the holiday like she used to. It actually used to be her favorite holiday. Of course, that all changed when in 6th grade when Isabel Rochev “invited” her to a costume party, but only told her to dress up. She had showed up dressed as a TARDIS. Needless to say, she didn’t stay at the party for long.

So, for years, Felicity had treated Halloween just like any other day. However, that was about to change.

Felicity tuned back into her friends’ conversation.

“-excited about my costume this year! I can’t wait to show it off at the dance on Friday when we all go!” said Iris.

Caitlyn agreed. “Yeah! I kind of went all out for my costume this year. But, I figured that since we are now seniors, we should go out with a bang!”

Iris turned to Felicity and asked, “So what are you going to be this year?”

“Iris, I don’t have a costume. And you know what I’ll be doing Friday. I will be the one at home handing out candy to trick-or-treaters. And I’m definitely not going to the dance.”

By that time, the boys had turned to them, giving their own thoughts to the conversation.

Barry said, “Felicity, you really should go to this one! Come on, we’re seniors! This will be the last time we get to do this for a while! Especially for you, considering where you want to go to college.”

Cisco chimed in, “Yeah! Not to mention, it will be one of the last things we get to do as a group this year! By this time next fall, we’ll all be in college and only talking to each other through text, calls, Skype, FaceTime, and all of our social media accounts.”

Felicity smiled wryly. “Yeah, once senior year is over, we’ll have absolutely no way to truly keep in touch.”

Cisco made a face at her.

Felicity sighed. “I’ll think about it. But I still don’t have a costume.”

Caitlyn and Iris shared a look. “Leave that to us.”

The other four lapsed into their own conversations, and Felicity resumed furtively staring at the object of her slightly obsessive affection.

Oliver Queen.

Starling City’s Golden Boy. Quarterback, Homecoming King every year since he started high school, second in his class (Felicity was first) and honestly an all-around nice guy. One would think that the combination of being a Queen and a teenage boy would have gone to his head, but somehow his parents had raised him right. He was sweet, intelligent, hot, and very, very taken.

Felicity glanced at the girl sitting next to him. Laurel Lance. Cop’s daughter and future District Attorney (according to herself). The two of them had been practically inseparable since 4th grade, before Felicity had even moved to Starling City with her mom from Vegas.

Felicity remembered the day she had met him.

{Around 7 years ago, 5th grade}

Felicity used to love school. Back home, she had been free to raise her hand with every answer, had gotten the best grades on every test. Here, in this new place in a new school, Felicity felt like every time she raised her hand, the other students were judging her. She heard what some of them whispered behind her back when they thought she couldn’t hear.

“Know-it-all”

“Teacher’s Pet”

“Loser”

Although Felicity knew she should ignore what they said, just like her mom told her to, the mean things they were saying were beginning to weigh on her. Her hope of being able to make friends in this school was beginning to dim.

One day, Felicity was walking out the door of the school to the bus, when her books were suddenly knocked out of her hands. Kneeling down to pick them up, Felicity looked up to see Cooper Seldon laughing down at her.

“Jeez, ‘Licity! Watch where you’re going next time!” he laughed. He was about to say something else, but suddenly there was another hand helping Felicity pick up her books. Felicity, startled, looked up into the bluest eyes she had ever seen. She couldn’t quite believe it. Oliver Queen was helping her pick up her books! Felicity was speechless.

Both of them stood up, and Oliver handed her the books he had grabbed. He then turned to glare at Cooper. “Stop picking on her, Cooper. It’s not nice and she hasn’t done anything to you.”

Cooper looked like he wanted to say something, but decided against it, only replying with a “whatever” and the running off to catch his bus.

Oliver then turned back to Felicity. “Are you okay?”

“…Y-y-yeah. Thanks.”

He smiled at her. Felicity felt her heart skip a beat. “No problem.”

They both walked outside to see that the busses had already left. That stupid Cooper had kept her from getting to her bus on time and now she had no way home. Felicity sighed sadly and turned to walk back inside to see if she could call her mom, but Oliver’s voice stopped her.

“Where ya goin’?”

“I have to call my mom. Stupid Cooper made me miss my bus and now she’ll have to leave work early to drive me home. Darn.”

“Well… Why don’t-”

“Oliver?” The two children turned to see a beautiful blonde woman walking up to them. “Sweetheart, we need to get going. Your father is waiting for us.”

“Mom, can we give Felicity a ride home today? Cooper knocked her stuff over and made her miss her bus.”

Felicity stared at Oliver. No one, besides her mother, had ever done something like that for her before.

Moira checked her watch. They had enough time. Besides, the little girl needed help. She then looked down at the shy little girl with the adorable glasses. “Felicity, what is your address?”

Felicity told it to her and then the three of them got in the car.

Once they reached Felicity’s driveway, she turned to the Queens and said, remembering her manners like her mom taught her, “Thank you very much for driving me home.”

Moira smiled back at the little girl. “Sweetie, it was no problem.”

Oliver said, “Yeah! Besides, no one deserves that kind of meanness from stupid Cooper.” He smiled at her again. Her heart felt like it skipped again. Felicity got out of the car and waved to them as they drove off. As she walked inside, she realized two things. One, the Queens were really nice. Two, Oliver had the bluest eyes she had ever seen.

“Felicity.”

“Felicity!”

“FELICITY!”

Felicity jumped in her chair at the sound of her name. She looked over at Iris, who was staring at her. “Lunch is over. We have to go to class.”

Felicity absentmindedly gathered up her things, and walked with Iris to their next class.

[OK! I can tell you right now that this will definitely be a multichap fic, because my brain apparently likes to cook up new ideas before it finishes existing ones. Tell me what you think!]

Chapter 2: Motherboards, Mischief and Magic CH.2

Chapter Text

He couldn’t concentrate.

He could feel her eyes on him again, causing him to look up and meet her bespectacled gaze for a split second before she looked away.

Crap.

He needed to get a grip.

Oliver turned back to the conversation between Laurel and Tommy at their table, trying to look like he was paying attention, while his mind was still on her.

Felicity.

He could still see her in his mind’s eye, with her honey blonde hair that shone in sunlight. The adorable dimples that appeared on her face whenever she smiled or laughed. Her brilliant blue eyes that always made his breath catch when they met his.

He really needed to get a grip.

Oliver was so preoccupied with his thoughts of her that he failed to hear Tommy calling him.

“Oliver!”

Oliver whipped his head toward where both Tommy and Laurel were staring at him.

“Sorry, what was that?”

Tommy and Laurel smiled knowingly. It was Laurel who spoke. “You’re thinking about her again, aren’t you?”

The tips of Oliver’s ears turned red.

Tommy noticed. “Ha! You totally were!”

Oliver shushed him. “Will you guys keep it down? Jeez!”

Laurel touched his arm, making him look at her. “Ollie, why don’t you just go over there and talk to her?”

Before Oliver could reply, Tommy said, “Because he gets completely tongue-tied at the mere sight of her. Not to mention everyone thinks the two of you are together.”

Oliver and Laurel looked at each other and laughed. It was well known that everyone thought Oliver and Laurel were together. The reality was, though, that Laurel was secretly in a very serious relationship with Tommy, and Oliver was in lo- was not looking for anyone. The two of them had done nothing to contradict the rumors because until now they had helped keep their secret. Not so much anymore.

Once the laughter ended, Tommy said, “Seriously, though. Why not just go and talk to her? Maybe the two of you could be friends. I hear she’s been accepted to MIT, and since you’re going to Harvard… It might be nice to have a familiar face when you go off to college.”

Oliver sighed. “We all know that I would never be able to get close to her. Not as a friend, not even the way that I want to. It would be too dangerous. Besides, she’s normal.” Beautifully, charmingly, wonderfully normal. “We’ve seen how normals react to us. It doesn’t end well. And I don’t think I could handle that kind of reaction from her.”

Tommy and Laurel sighed at the serious tone in his voice. “And on that cheery note,” said Tommy, “we have to get to class. The Cafeteria is almost empty.”

Oliver looked around. Tommy was right, and if Oliver didn’t move it he would be late.

Felicity sighed. The kitchen was a mess, she and her friends were covered in baking ingredients, and the third failed batch of brownies was sitting on the counter looking like a charcoal briquette. Caitlyn and Iris were reviewing the recipe yet again, trying to see what they did wrong.

Finally, Caitlyn threw up her hands and said, “I don’t get it. We followed the directions to the letter. We did everything the recipe said to do, and we double checked everything on the internet! So why does this keep happening?!?”

Iris looked at the burnt brownies like they were some fascinating experiment put on display. “I have no clue. I just know that we need to think of something quick, because we promised a hell of a lot of brownies for the bake sale tomorrow.”

Felicity sighed. “Well, considering the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result, how about we switch things up?”

Caitlyn and Iris turned to her.

“How? Try a different cooking time?” asked Iris.

“Add more chocolate?” asked Caitlyn.

“Try a different recipe. My mom was on a culinary kick a while ago and bought a bunch of cook books. While the food was thrown out, because we all know my mother cannot cook,” the three girls all shuddered at the memories of Donna Smoak’s attempts at creating an edible meal, “the books were not. They’re up in the attic. How about you guys start cleaning all this up while I go get them.”

Felicity began walking out of the kitchen, but stopped at the doorway and said, gesturing to the burnt brownies, “and maybe throw that out?”

With that, Iris and Caitlyn got to work.

Felicity had forgotten how dusty the attic was. She and her mom would have to come up here and clean the place out. Dust led to dirtiness which generally led to icky creepy crawly things, like spiders and stink bugs and co*ckroaches. Blegh.

Felicity turned on the singular overhead light in the attic, illuminating the small room in dim light. Despite not having been up here in a while, Felicity knew exactly where to look, because she made her mother promise to let her do the organizing. Felicity knew that if left to her own devices, Donna would allow the place to end up looking like a tornado tore through it. Under Felicity’s direction, the house, and attic, were kept remarkably well organized.

Felicity walked over to where the box of cook books were sitting. They had been moved to the back corner when the autumn and Halloween decorations had been dragged down. Stretching to reach the box, Felicity was able to nudge the corner of it before her eye caught something laying on the floor next to the box. It was a book.

It was old, and something she had never seen before among any of the things that they owned. However, the title said “Recipes”, and Felicity was intrigued. Maybe she could find a traditional baking recipe, which would definitely add some flair to their contribution to the bake sale.

Felicity picked up the book. Looking back on it, Felicity would determine that that moment was when everything changed. The strangest thing happened when she touched the book. A weird tingling sensation traveled throughout her body, and the attic light flickered on and off. Felicity looked at the bulb, which had finally stopped flickering and remained on. She made a mental note to replace the bulb, and with the book in her hand, went back downstairs.

Felicity walked into the kitchen, saying, “Ok! I found a book with a different recipe, hopefully this one will work.” She set the book on the counter and began flipping through the pages looking for a decent recipe. Iris and Caitlyn walked over to her to look at the options as well.

Iris asked, “Felicity, where did you find this book? It looks really old.”

“Up in the attic,” she said absently, her focus on reading the faded directions. “It was laying on the floor next to the box of cookbooks. I figure if we can find a traditional recipe and make it successfully, not only will we have stuff for the bake sale, we’ll have something cool to say about it.” Felicity turned the page to find a brownie recipe. Quickly scanning the ingredients and instructions, Felicity said, “Here we go. Old fashioned brownie recipe. Simple ingredients, simple instructions. Looks easy enough, and we still have plenty of the baking supplies. You guys want to try this one?”

Looking over the recipe, both Iris and Caitlyn nodded. Iris preheated the oven and got the baking pans ready while Caitlyn measured out the ingredients. Felicity began mixing as Iris and Caitlyn talked about some of the events that were going on during the week. Their conversation dulled to a hum as Felicity’s mind wandered. She looked down at the recipe page, noticing a bit of text underneath the ingredients list and directions that she was sure had not been there before. As Felicity stirred and read, the words seemed to float off the page, and Felicity fell into a trance-like state. She began reading the words aloud, whispering under her breath.

“There’s mischief and mayhem on All Hallow’s Eve

When magic is real if you choose to believe

Demons and monsters are roaming the streets

While innocents frolic and indulge in their treats.”

Stir.

“Portals are open for a single night’s time

To be returned to normal at the last bell chime

While indulgence of fancy is a night well spent

Beware the hour lest fiction turn permanent.”

Stir.

“Sides will be taken and lines will be drawn

To fight for the night or the bright light of dawn

Only so many days and a contrary spell

For the curse to reverse and all to be well.”

Stir.

“Felicity?”

“Felicity!”

The shout of her name jolted Felicity out of her trance. She looked over to see Iris and Caitlyn staring at her. She had been stirring with a completely blank expression on her face, looking out at nothing. Felicity looked down at the brownie mixture, and seeing that it was smooth, handed the bowl to Iris to pour into the pans to bake.

“OK!” said Iris. “25 minutes and they should be ready to go.”

Sneaking a glance back at the book, Felicity noticed that the text she had seen was gone.

[So we have our usual broody Oliver, who is hiding a very big secret. What could it be? What do Tommy and Laurel have to do with it? Will Oliver ever have the courage to talk to Felicity? What is up with that book? How will the brownies turn out? What exactly did Felicity do? Find out in the next chapter!]

Chapter 3: Motherboards, Mischief and Magic CH.3

Chapter Text

Enjoy!

Felicity

Town square, in front of City Hall

Felicity adjusted the sign for the seventeenth time.

Aaaand… there. Perfect.

She surveyed the numerous plates of brownies that had been baked the day before. After the previous failed attempts, Felicity, Iris and Caitlyn had finally managed to make enough to bring to the bake sale.

She could see the people waiting at the gate that marked the entrance to the bake sale area. Today was market day of the Spirit Week that led up to Halloween. The other areas held games with prizes, and booths showed off homemade crafts that other townspeople had made. In a few minutes, those gates would open, and everyone would be let in. Felicity stepped away from their station, turning back to look it all over one last time. Iris and Caitlyn joined her.

Iris said, “We did pretty good. And I especially love the banner. You did a good job, Felicity.”

She smiled. “Thanks. It helps to be good at Photoshop. I like the craft spiders and pumpkins that you guys made. They’re both cute and creepy!”

Caitlyn laughed, “Yes, they are. I honestly think our stall might be the best one here. Not to mention our brownies taste awesome.“

Felicity looked at her questioningly. Caitlyn shrugged sheepishly. “I may or may not have tried one. I wanted to make sure that we didn’t mess up again.”

“And?”

Caitlyn smiled, “And oh my god they are the best brownies I have ever tasted! Seriously! There is just something about them! I almost ate, like, 5 of them, but then I remembered that we need them for the sale. But really, I have a feeling that we are gonna sell out of them today.”

Felicity was about to respond when she heard a noise. She looked over and saw the gate being opened. “OK, ladies. The gates just opened, which means we are open for business! Let’s sell some brownies!”

All three girls went back behind their table, getting ready for the many people who were walking in.

Oliver

Oliver walked among the stalls with Tommy and Laurel, looking at all the crafts and foods and other knick-knacks that people had brought to sell. The market had been open for a couple hours already, and it looked like the entire town had shown up. Normally, Oliver would be over helping his family’s booth, which set up raffles with prizes to support some of the local charities. They always had a good turn out, and today was no exception. However, this year Oliver managed to convince his parents to let him hang out with his friends. He could see his parents and Thea working hard to record all the sign ups for the raffles. He caught his sister’s eye and waved at her.

Tommy walked up behind Oliver, waving as well. “It looks like you guys are getting a lot of people again this year.”

Oliver nodded. “Yup. I’m just glad that I don’t have to run the booth this year. Thea is finally old enough to do the manual labor.”

Laurel and Tommy laughed at that, until Laurel said, “I am starving. How about we see what people brought for the bake sale this year?”

The three of them walked over to where the wonderful smells of food were coming from.

Felicity

Felicity rushed to open more containers of brownies. She looked back at the line forming at their booth. She turned to Caitlyn, who was refilling the cooler with sodas and water to sell. She whispered to her, “Were the brownies that good? Look at the line! I knew we would sell, but this is ridiculous!”

“I know! Word must have gotten out about how good they are. It’s a good thing we made so many, otherwise we would have run out a while ago.”

Felicity turned to Iris, who was trying to handle everyone’s orders. “Hey. How’s it going?”

Iris looked at her, slightly flustered. “We’ve made so much I stopped counting! People must really love your brownies!”

“You want me to take over for a few? You can take a break and unwrap the other plates.”

Iris sighed in relief. “Thanks, Felicity. I could definitely use a break.”

Felicity stepped up to their makeshift register and began taking orders.

Oliver

Both Tommy and Laurel had found something to eat rather quickly, but Oliver had yet to find anything he wanted to eat. Until he smelled it.

Chocolate.

And not the usual smell of chocolate. There was something about this smell that drew him in. An added spice that made him want to keep inhaling forever. Oliver began walking toward the smell, only to stop short at the crowd surrounding a certain stall. He slowly moved his way to the front, freezing at who he saw handling everyone’s orders.

Felicity.

Felicity

It had been a whirlwind of people, order after order after order. Felicity had fallen into a pattern, taking money and not even bothering to look up at who was giving it to her. Felicity, Iris, and Caitlyn had finally hit their stride, quickly filling the orders and getting them to the people so there wouldn’t be a crowd at their booth.

She began greeting the next person in line without looking up. “Hello, how can I help you today?”

“Felicity?”

She froze, looking up in shock. “O-Oliver. Hi.”

He smiled at her and she swooned a little bit inside. “Hi. So… I was walking around the food stalls with Laurel and Tommy,” he gestured to where they were standing, off to the side so as not to get confused with the people in line, “and I saw this big crowd over at your spot. I wanted to see what everyone was coming over here for.”

Felicity was speechless, simply staring at him, until she felt a kick at the back of her calf. Iris had seen what happened and had sidled up next to her to shamelessly eavesdrop. The kick jolted Felicity into speech. “Brownies!”

Oliver looked at her, confused.

Taking a quick breath, Felicity continued. “We’re selling brownies. And hot chocolate. See, we needed something to provide for the bake sale, but no matter how many times we tried we couldn’t get the recipe right and it was getting really frustrating but my mom had tried to cook once and although it didn’t work out but we still had the cook books so I went to look for another recipe and ended up finding this old family recipe in a really old book in the attic and we were finally able to get the brownies made and it took forever to make and that’s why everyone is coming here, but I was really surprised at how many people have showed up to buy the brownies. Are they really that good? I haven’t tried one, but people are still coming around to buy them which is why you’re probably here, to buy a brownie, aren’t you? I mean, why wouldn’t you be-”

“Felicity.”

The sound of Oliver saying her name stopped Felicity mid-babble. Taking a deep breath, she looked up at him to see a full on grin on his face. “I would love a brownie, if there are any more left.”

“Of course.” Felicity turned to grab a brownie only to see one, already wrapped, being held in front of her with a napkin. Taking it from Iris, she handed it to Oliver, who held out a couple of bills to pay for it.

“Oh, no. It’s on the house. We’ve already made more than enough for the bake sale.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah.”

Smiling at her, Oliver took the brownie and the napkin. “Thanks, Felicity. These smell incredible, so I’m sure that they’ll be delicious.”

“I hope you like them. I’m kind of surprised to see you out and about today. Don’t you usually help out at your family’s charity stall?”

“Yeah, I do, but I managed to convince my parents that Thea was old enough to handle all the manual labor. So this year I actually get to see all the stuff going on instead of being stuck at the booth all day.”

“That sounds nice, especially since you get to hang out with your friends.” Despite her calm expression, Felicity was mentally freaking out. But in a good way, because she was actually managing to carry on a conversation with Oliver Queen!

“It is pretty nice… And it’s even better since I got to say hi to you.”

Felicity’s mind went blank. She looked at him, stunned, to see a slightly nervous smile on his face. Did he really just say what she thought he said?

Felicity was about to respond when a voice called to Oliver from behind him. They both turned to see Tommy and Laurel looking at them.

“Ollie, we gotta go. Your parents said they need your help to pack up their stall,” said Laurel.

“I’ll be right there.” Oliver turned back to Felicity, smiling apologetically. “Sorry, I gotta go.”

“Oh it’s fine! I’m sorry I held you up.”

Oliver shook his head. “Don’t be. I’m glad I was finally able to talk to you.”

Felicity smiled at that. “Uh, me too. And I hope you like the brownie.”

“I’m sure I will. So… I guess I’ll see you sometime?”

“Yeah,” Felicity nodded.

“Bye, Felicity.”

“Bye.”

Oliver turned and walked back to his friends. Before Felicity could have a major freak out, someone walked up to the table, asking to buy a brownie. Felicity snapped into business mode, filling the person’s order. But mentally, she was doing a happy dance. She was so going to have girl talk with Iris and Caitlyn later.

Oliver

Walking over to meet his friends, Oliver looked down at the brownie, the catalyst for his conversation with Felicity. Oliver contemplated just saving the brownie, so he could look at it and remember the time he finally got up the courage to talk to her, but dismissed the thought. The brownie smelled too good. He was, however, going to save it for desert tonight.

Oliver was about to put the brownie and napkin in his jacket pocket when he saw a bit of writing on the napkin. Flipping it over, what he read put the biggest grin on his face.

This is Felicity’s number. She doesn’t know I gave it to you, so you didn’t get it from me. You owe me big, Queen.

000-000-0000

-Iris

Oliver turned back to the stall to see Iris grinning at him. When she saw he was looking at her, she mouthed, "I mean it". Oliver nodded. He didn’t care what Iris wanted, because now he had Felicity’s number. She had the best friend ever.

Reaching Tommy and Laurel, Oliver put the napkin in his pocket.

Tommy spoke first. “You alright there, bud? You have this enormous thing on your face. It… it almost looks like a smile.”

Oliver laughed and punched Tommy in the arm lightly. “You have been around Thea too much.”

“Seriously, though, what’s with the grin?” asked Laurel.

“I talked to Felicity. That crowded stall was hers. She and her friends are selling brownies.”

“Really? How did the conversation go?”

“Well, I managed to string more than two words together, so it went pretty well.”

Tommy clapped his best friend on the back. “Way to go, man!”

“Thanks. Now, you said that my parents needed me?”

“Yeah, they’re closing up the stall for the day and need help taking the banners down.”

The three of them then walked over to the Queen family stall to tear it down for the day.

Aaand that is the end of chapter 3! I hope you guys liked it! As always, let me know what you think, and if you want to be tagged! My prompts are always open! And I’m hard at work on the next chapter of “Sooner or Later”.

Chapter 4: Motherboards, Mischief, and Magic CH.4

Chapter Text

Felicity’s house, after market day ended

Felicity sighed as she walked into the entryway of her house, her arms loaded with the empty supplies that formerly held the bake sale brownies. She, Iris, and Caitlyn had managed to sell every last brownie. And Felicity herself had sold one of them to Oliver.

Felicity smiled as she remembered that she actually had the courage to talk to him today. Considering the only thing she had done for so long was stare dreamily at him, putting more than two words together to form actual sentences was progress.

Seeing her mother’s purse on the side table, Felicity called out, “Mom? You home? I’m back from the bake sale. You wouldn’t believe it, but we actually sold all of our brownies! I mean, I just can’t believe I actually made something edible.” Felicity stepped into the dining room and set her armloads of supplies on the table, to be put away later. Pausing, she listened for any sounds of her mother moving throughout the house. Hearing nothing, she called out again.

“Mom?! Where are you?”

Felicity walked out of the dining room, checking the other rooms as she went. She was about to go search for her mother upstairs when she saw Donna quietly sitting in the kitchen.

“There you are! Didn’t you hear me calling for you? Anyway-”

“Felicity.”

She paused at the tone of her mother’s voice. In all the times Felicity had heard her mother say her name, she had never heard it spoken with such quiet fear.

“…Mom? Is everything okay? What’s wrong?”

Donna slid something across the kitchen table toward her. It was the old cookbook.

“Where did you find this?”

“Uh, in the attic. Iris, Caitlyn, and I were trying and totally failing to make stuff for the bake sale. We decided to change the recipe we were using, and I remembered that we still had all the old recipe books from when you had that culinary phase. When I went upstairs to grab one, I found that. It had a great, simple brownie recipe in it, so we used it. And it actually ended up being a really good idea, because we sold all of the brownies at market day! Our stall was the most crowded one there!”

As Felicity finished speaking, Donna’s face paled and she looked stricken. Her eyes closed and a defeated expression crossed her face. Felicity looked between her and the book on the table, confused.

“Wait, is this seriously about some old cookbook? I’m not understanding what the problem is. Was I supposed to ask you if I could use it? I mean, considering that I’m the one who organized the attic, I didn’t really think it would be a big deal.”

Donna sighed and looked up at her daughter. “Felicity…This isn’t a cookbook.”

“Uh…Yeah it is. It even says so, right there,” she said, pointing to the front cover, where the title “Recipes” could be read clearly.

“No…It isn’t just a cookbook.” Donna slid the book back towards herself and placed her hand gently on the cover.

“It’s a spellbook.”

0o0o0

Queen mansion, after market day ended

The Queen family walked into their house after having stowed the supplies from their stall in the garage. Robert and Moira continued further into the house, discussing how well their booth did at market day, and possible improvements for next year. Thea paused to remove her jacket and place it in the front closet, when she saw Oliver hanging back near the door, a smile on his face.

“Uh-oh.”

Oliver looked up at the sound of his sister speaking. “What?”

“Who are you and what have you done with the real Oliver?”

“Speedy, what are you talking about?”

“My brother doesn’t have that thing on his face.”

“What thing? What’s wrong with my face?” he asked, his hands reaching up to check.

“That thing with your mouth.”

Oliver dropped his hands and looked at Thea. “You and Tommy hang out way too much.”

Laughing at that, Thea asked, “So what is my big brother smiling about, huh? Did you finally talk to that girl?”

Oliver stared at his sister. “How did you know about that?”

Thea smiled smugly. “I know everything.”

Oliver scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Tommy told you, didn’t he?”

“Yup. So how did it go?”

“How did what go?”

“Ollie! Are you seriously not going to tell me?”

Oliver shook his head, a grin on his face. “Nope.”

Thea huffed, turning to follow their parents. “You’re no fun.”

Oliver watched his sister pass through the doorway and out of sight. Reaching into his jacket pocket, he took out the brownie and napkin that he had gotten earlier today and smiled at the number written on it. After putting his jacket away in the front closet, Oliver then walked into the kitchen and set the brownie on the counter, putting the napkin in the back pocket of his jeans. He would debate what to do about it later, after he had fixed himself something to eat.

0o0o0

Felicity stared at her mother. Did she just say what she think she said?

“Yes, sweetie, I did.”

Frack. “Did I say that out loud?”

“Yes.”

Well, what exactly was she supposed to say when her mother claimed that the cookbook she made brownies with was actually a magic book? How is that even possible?

“Our family is special, Felicity.”

She really needed to work on her brain-to-mouth filter.

“Okay, mom, I don’t really know where you’re going with this, but the last time I checked, there was no such thing as magic. At all. This isn’t Halloweentown or Hocus Pocus or Practical Magic. And as good as those movies are, they’re fictional. Although I think I read somewhere that Hocus Pocus was going to be continued or redone or something, which I think would be really cool, since it’s one of my favorite movies-”

“Felicity.”

Donna got up from her seat and went over to her daughter, taking her hands. “Sweetie, there’s something that I have to tell you.”

“Mom, if you’re telling me that you have found yet another ‘hobby’…”

“No, it’s not that.” Donna paused for a moment, as if she were choosing her words carefully. “Do you remember your Grandma Marie?”

“You mean your mom? The one who was crazy and thought she was a witch?”

“…She wasn’t crazy, Felicity.”

Felicity scoffed. “What, are you telling me she was an actual witch? With the pointy hat and the broomstick and stuff?”

“More along the lines of special abilities, an affinity for making home herbal remedies, and an annoying habit of meddling in people’s love lives.” Donna took a deep breath, preparing herself to tell her daughter the truth. “Hon, your grandma was a witch. A real one. All of the Smoak women are witches.”

“So…that means…”

“That you and I are both witches.”

“Okay, let’s say for a second that I believe you. And I am not saying that!,” Felicity stated as she sat down at the table, looking up at her mother. “But, if I did believe you…What exactly would we be able to do?”

“Well, me? I don’t really have any abilities, aside from a few minor gifts.”

“Really? Like what?”

Donna thought for a moment. “That time last year when you skipped school to go to a ‘tech convention’ two towns over?”

“Yeah…”

“You were actually playing hooky with Iris and Caitlyn and went to go see that superhero movie with that really hot actor you three were gushing over.”

“Man of Steel? How did you know about that…”

“Oh, and that home remedy I gave you for your acne break out a few weeks ago? My mother taught me how to make it.”

“That cleared up my zits by the end of the day. Iris and Caitlyn kept asking me what I had used.”

“There are a few other instances where our family gift has come in handy, but my abilities were never strong to begin with. Not like my mother’s. And not like yours.”

Felicity’s eyes widened. “M-mine? What do you mean? What can I do? And I’m still not even sure if I believe you!”

“Felicity, baby, you can do a lot more than I can, or than grandma could. A lot more.”

Donna sat down next to her, looking imploringly into her eyes. “Sweetie you are very, very powerful. When you were a baby, we never needed to put a mobile above your crib, because you would simply make your toys float above you when you slept. And when you cried? Your power was so strong it made the light-bulbs burst. We began buying them in bulk just to keep up with your tantrums.”

Felicity’s breathing quickened. “Why don’t I remember any of this? And if I’m so powerful, why can’t I seem to use them?”

“Well…,” Donna began to look slightly uncomfortable. “Your father…was normal. He didn’t know about my abilities, or about yours. Even when you were just a baby he was almost never home, always traveling on ‘business’. I mean, we both now know that he was doing a hell of a lot more than just ‘business’, but at the time I was so focused on you that I ignored the signs. And then when he left…When he left it was like your magic went with him. We stayed for months, hoping against hope that he would come home to us. But he didn’t. And then we moved to Starling. But your gifts never came back. Until now.”

Felicity’s mind was reeling. Her entire life was just turned upside down in the span of a few minutes. Magic? Real magic? How was she even supposed to begin to process all of this?

But what her mother said… “What do you mean, until now? I know I’ve been focused on the bake sale recently, but I would like to think I’m observant enough to notice something floating in midair or the lights exploding!”

Donna reached over and again grabbed the recipe book. “This book only works if the one using it is doing magic. Otherwise the pages just look blank.”

Felicity grabbed the book, opening it and seeing that her mother was right. There wasn’t a single picture, or word of text anywhere to be found between the covers of the book.

“I don’t understand,” Felicity muttered. “The recipe…All the other notes I saw…It’s all gone.” Felicity stared at the book, wide eyed. “How is that even possible?”

Donna placed her hand gently on her daughter’s shoulder. “Magic, sweetie. The book only shows its contents to someone who is working magic. Which means that the brownie recipe you girls made…”

“Are you saying we made magic brownies?”

Donna nodded.

“But I don’t even know what I did! I had no idea I was working a spell! And practically the entire town bought the brownies! What if they do something terrible?!”

Felicity turned to her mother, realization sinking in.

“Oh, mom,” Felicity gasped. “What have I done?”

0o0o0

Thea tiptoed into the kitchen, being as quiet as she possibly could. Everyone else, including the staff, was done their work for the evening and asleep. But despite that fact, Thea had to be extra careful in the kitchen. Raisa had a sixth sense where her kitchen was concerned.

Turning on the light over the oven, Thea headed toward the cabinet that she knew housed the cookies. Until something on the counter caught her eye.

Thea stepped closer and picked up the brownie that Oliver had left. Deeming it an adequate midnight snack, she took a bite. Then with the brownie and a glass of water, went back up to her room.

And there we go! Chapter 4 is up! Hope you all liked it. Will Oliver finally get the courage to talk to Felicity now that he has her number? How will she handle her newfound powers? What is up with those brownies?

Chapter 5: Motherboards, Mischief, and Magic CH. 5

Chapter Text

Felicity

Felicity almost decided to beg her mom to play hooky for the day. She didn’t know if she could walk through the doors of that school knowing that practically everyone in it, including the teachers, had come to her market day booth and bought a brownie.

Caitlyn had eaten one.

Iris had eaten more than one.

Oliver had bought one.

And the fact that she had no clue what spell had been cast made Felicity even more worried.

Donna made up her mind for her. “Felicity, the best thing you can do right now is help to keep an eye on everyone at school. Take the spellbook with you. If you see something out of the ordinary happening to the people, maybe a counter spell will appear, then you can say it, and everything will go back to normal. That can’t happen if you’re holed up in your house. Besides, Iris is already waiting out front for you to take you and Caitlyn to school.”

Looking out a window facing the driveway, Felicity saw her mom was right. Iris saw her through the window and honked the horn. They also needed to stop by Caitlyn’s house. Felicity turned away to grab a poptart to eat on the road, but was stopped by her mother, who was already holding a granola bar and a thermos of hot chocolate.

Felicity narrowed her eyes at her mother. “Did you… was that your ability?”

Donna winked and handed her daughter her breakfast. “I prefer to think of it as motherly intuition. Now get going! Or you’re gonna be late!”

Felicity gave her mother a peck on the cheek and rushed outside to where Iris was waiting.

Sliding into the passenger seat, Felicity looked at her friend, trying to see if anything about her had changed since yesterday. Iris pulled out of the driveway and headed toward Caitlyn’s house. Stopping at a red light, Iris turned to tell Felicity good morning, only to find her friend staring at her intensely.

“…Felicity? Are you okay?”

“Are you?”

“What? What are you talking about? I’m fine. Are you? You’re being weird.”

The light turned green and they were once again moving.

“I just… How were the brownies? Did you…feel any different after eating one?”

“Uh, way to change the subject. Don’t think I didn’t notice that. But, no, I didn’t feel anything. The brownies were great! I made sure to grab a couple and gave them to Joe and Wally, and they thought they tasted awesome. Why did you ask?”

Felicity closed her eyes at hearing that even more people she cared about had eaten her brownies. Her delicious, yet duplicitous and dangerous brownies that could potentially do terrible things to the entire town.

Since when did her life get so complicated?

Oliver

Oliver woke up to his alarm clock blaring and his phone going off. He lifted his head, squinting at the sunlight streaming in through his open curtains. He was groggy from staying up far too late last night, having stared at the napkin with Felicity’s cell number, debating back and forth in his head if he should just text her. Unable to make up his mind, he had fallen asleep with the napkin clutched in his hand, his phone Laying on his nightstand. That phone was blaring Tommy’s ringtone over and over again.

Oliver reached blindly for it, accepting the call.

“What do you want, Tommy?”

“Dude! Do you know what time it is? Laurel and I are outside. Class starts in 20 minutes!”

Oliver glanced at his alarm clock. Oh boy. He had overslept. By a lot. He hung up, running into his bathroom and taking the quickest shower known to man. Then he rushed into his closet and chose jeans and a shirt at random, slipping on his shoes and grabbing his backpack as he sprinted downstairs. Making a quick stop in the kitchen, he pecked his mom and sister on the cheek and grabbed the bottle of water and warm bagel being held out to him by Raisa.

“Morning, Mom, Thea, Raisa. Tommy and Laurel are waiting outside. Gotta run or I’ll be late!”

The distant sound of a honking horn could be heard from the front of the house.

“Have a good day, Oliver!”, he heard his mother call out as he rushed through the front door to the car waiting for him.

“Jeez Ollie, what took you so long?”, Tommy asked as he pulled out of the long driveway and headed toward school.

“I overslept, alright? I stayed up a little too late last night and didn’t get up on time.”

“What were you doing up so late?” chimed Laurel from the back seat.

Oliver was quiet for a moment, debating whether or not to tell his friends. “I..uh..”

Now Tommy was stealing glances at him. “Oliver? Man, what happened? Should we be worried?”

“No, no, nothing bad. It’s just…I got Felicity’s number.”

A beat of silence, then Tommy nearly shouted, “Congrats, dude! How did you get it? Did you finally man up and ask her out?”

“No, actually. When I bought a brownie from her yesterday, her friend Iris wrote it on the napkin I got. I spent last night debating whether or not to contact her.”

“You totally should, Ollie,” said Laurel.

He turned to look at her in the back seat. “Why? Why would I do that to her? Potentially tell her I like her and ask her out on a date when everyone thinks that you and I are still dating?”

At that, both Tommy and Laurel looked contrite.

“Exactly,” Oliver said, turning around to face forward again, only to see the school looming in front of their car. Fortunately, they weren’t late, and everyone was still loitering in parking lot, talking to each other. Oliver got out of the car, furtively looking for Felicity. After a moment, he saw another car pull in a few spots down. Felicity got out of the passenger seat. He watched her as she grabbed her backpack and looked around the lot. Their eyes met for a split second before Oliver turned away to face Laurel and Tommy.

They began walking toward the school, when all of a sudden Laurel stopped and turned to Oliver, grabbing his hand. The only warning he had was a quick whisper of “I’m so sorry for this” before she spoke loud enough for the other students around her to hear.

“I’m sorry Oliver, but I don’t think we’re working anymore. We’ve been friends for so long, and I really care about you, but I’m not in love with you. We need to break up.”

Oliver just stared at her, confused. What the hell?

“Uh…What are you doing?”

Laurel again whispered, “I’m ending the charade once and for all. I want to be with Tommy, you want to be with Felicity. Oliver, we can’t go on like this. We need to stop thinking about what everyone else wants and start thinking about what we want. And neither of us want this.”

“But why here, now?”

“So it’s public, and word gets to everybody, including Felicity, that you’re available. So…” Then Laurel spoke up again.

“I am sorry, Oliver. I’ll always love you, but I can’t be with you anymore.” Laurel stepped up and pecked Oliver on the cheek, then proceeded to walk into the school.

Oliver stood in the parking lot, frozen, aware of everyone either staring at him or at Laurel.

“Did she just do what I think she just did?”, asked Tommy.

“Uh…I think so.”

“Well, then.”

“Yeah,” Oliver breathed out. It was over.

Tommy clapped him on the shoulder and steered him toward the school. The bell had just wrung for homeroom.

Oliver snuck a glance behind him to see Felicity walking with Iris and Caitlyn, the two of them whispering to each other while a blank look of surprise had taken over Felicity’s face. As if feeling his eyes on her, Felicity seemed to shake herself out of the shock and looked up at him, a million questions swirling in her eyes. Oliver gave her a small smile, then followed Tommy into homeroom.

Felicity

What had just happened? Did the It couple just break up and then go on like they didn’t just shock the whole school? Did she seriously just witness it?

Did Oliver just smile at her?

Felicity shook her head to clear it of the confusing questions running around on repeat in her head. With everything that she had learned in the past few day, her capacity for the unexpected was reaching dangerously close to full.

She and Iris walked to their desks in homeroom and Felicity placed her head down on her crossed arms, closing her eyes and taking a few deep breaths. The fact that she had magic and may have inadvertently enchanted the whole town was at the forefront of her mind. She had no clue how she was supposed to focus.

A tap on her shoulder made Felicity look up. Iris was looking at her, concerned.

“Are you okay, Felicity? You seem off this morning.”

“I’m fine. It’s just…things, in here,” she said quietly, gesturing to her head.

“Do you wanna talk about it?”

“Um.. not right now, but when I do, I’ll let you know.”

Iris looked skeptical, but said, “Okay. Homeroom’s over. We have to get to class.”

Felicity picked up her backpack and followed Iris out of homeroom.

0o0o0

Standing at her locker, Felicity debated whether or not to head to the cafeteria, or go to the library and see if there was any research she could do. She grabbed her lunch and walked toward the cafeteria, but seeing how many people were in there, she decided against it.

In the library, Felicity sat in her favorite spot and got out her laptop. Opening it up, she began running a search on witchcraft and food spells. Setting her laptop aside to finish the searches, Felicity began digging in to her lunch.

A quiet voice startled her.

“Felicity?”

Nearly choking on her lunch, Felicity looked to her left, only to see Oliver Queen leaning against a nearby bookshelf, smiling softly at her.

Felicity’s eyes widened, and she tried to speak, not remembering she had food in her mouth.

“O-wiv-er! Hi!” The sound was muffled by the food still in her mouth. Closing her eyes in mortification that she had just talked to Oliver Queen with her mouth full of her turkey and swiss on rye, Felicity quickly chewed and swallowed the bite.

She smiled shyly up at him.

“Sorry about that.”

Oliver still had that quiet smile on his face, and it was making Felicity feel fuzzy because his eyes seemed to be sparkling.

“No need to apologize. I’m the one who snuck up on you.”

“So…Uh, did you..need something?”

“I was wondering if I could sit here?” he asked, gesturing to the other lounge chair that was next to Felicity’s.

“Oh yeah, of course.”

Oliver sat down, placing his backpack to rest on the floor next to his chair.

Felicity watched him seem to sink into the chair, like he had only just now begun to relax.

“Rough day?”

Oliver let out a breathy humorless laugh and said, “You could say that.”

“Is it…”

“Because of what happened in the parking lot this morning? Pretty much. Laurel and I have a class together, and Tommy and I have two. We’ve all been trying to do damage control, but it’s still all everyone’s talking about.”

“Well, it was just this morning. But I hope you won’t mind me saying…you seem kind of…relieved.”

Felicity felt pinned underneath the rather intense look he gave her.

“Honestly?…I am. I’m not glad to be rid of Laurel or anything like that, we’ve always been friends and we’ll always care about each other, but I’m glad that I don’t have to pretend anymore.”

Felicity was confused. “Why were you pretending in the first place?”

“Dating seemed like the right thing to do at the time. Then it just became easier to continue to let everyone believe we were together.”

“And now?”

“Now… Things are different. We’re different. Laurel and Tommy have fallen in love, and now they’ll get to really be together.”

“Wait, Tommy and Laurel? Your best friend Tommy?” Unbeknownst to the either of them, they had begun to lean closer to each other as they talked, seemingly off in their own little world.

“Yup. And I’m happy for both of them. On paper they seem like a train-wreck, but they’re actually really good to each other.”

“Well what about you? Laurel and Tommy both seem to be getting more out of this breakup than you do.”

“Me? I guess…I get the freedom to pursue who I want, now.”

They had moved even closer to each other, both of them leaning over the sides of their chairs.

“Who you want? If you didn’t want Laurel, who else in this town could have possibly caught your eye? She’s the prettiest, most popular girl in this school. And she’s nice. Do you know how rare that combination is? The popular girls are always snooty and self-centered, but Laurel is the exact oppo-”

“Fe-li-ci-ty.”

The way he said her name, each syllable drawn out, stopped her mid-babble. All she could do was stare at him, her light blue eyes locked onto his icy blue ones. Funny, how a color so seemingly cold could almost burn with intensity.

“Laurel may be pretty, popular, and nice, as you put it, but she’s not who I want.”

“Who do you want?” Some very small part of Felicity’s brain scoffed at the breathy tone of the question, but the larger part had gone quiet, waiting for his answer.

Oliver smirked, one side of his smile lifting slightly higher than the other.

“I’m not quite sure she’d believe me if I told her. Not right now, at least.” Was it just her or had his voice gotten slightly deeper? And was that a hint of raspiness?

And was his face coming closer?

RIIIIIIINNNNNGGGG!!!!

The sound of the bell shattered the quiet of the library, making both Oliver and Felicity jump apart. Disoriented, Felicity looked at the clock on the wall, and seeing what time it was, bolted into action. She packed up the remains of her lunch and closed her laptop. She could check on the searches later.

Felicity stood up and looked back down at Oliver, who had a confused expression on his face.

“Uh.. I have to go,” she said, and then bolted out of the library.

But instead of heading straight to her next class, Felicity raced into the nearest bathroom. Locking herself in the last stall on the end, Felicity put her head in her hands and took some deep breaths.

What the HELL just happened?!

And there it is! The newest chapter! What was with that Olicity moment? Will Felicity ever figure out what she may have done to the brownies?

Chapter 6: Motherboards, Mischief, and Magic CH. 6

Chapter Text

Oliver

Oliver walked to class in a daze, his mind still in that library. What had come over him? He just wanted to sit with Felicity, maybe finally get to know her a little. But something seemed to come over him the longer he was around her. Suddenly all he could think about was getting closer to her. Apparently his body took that literally.

Oliver shook his head in dismay. He had surely scared Felicity off after that display. What was he gonna do now?

He went through the rest of his classes without paying attention to any of them. Tommy tried to get his attention, but Oliver was off in his own world.

He was at his locker getting his stuff to go home when his best friend caught up with him and clapped him on the shoulder.

“Hey, man, I tried to get your attention earlier but you seemed totally spaced out. What’s up?”

Oliver sighed and leaned his head on his now closed locker door. “I screwed up. Big time.”

Tommy looked surprised. Just this morning his friend had seemed fine.

“What happened?”

“I saw Felicity in the library during lunch today.”

“And? Did you talk to her?”

The two of them grabbed their things and headed toward Tommy’s car, where Laurel was waiting.

“I did more than talk to her. I almost kissed her.”

“Almost kissed who?” Laurel asked, as they had reached Tommy’s car.

“Apparently he almost kissed Felicity.”

Laurel looked at Oliver in shock. “How did that happen?!”

Oliver would have answered her had he not been watching Felicity walk with Iris and Caitlyn to Iris’s car. He hoped that she would look over at him, just for a second, but she seemed to be in deep conversation with her two friends. He watched them get in Iris’s car and begin to drive away before he turned back to look at Tommy and Laurel, both of whom were looking at him expectantly. He sighed and said, “I’ll tell you on the way home.”

Tommy shook his head. “No can do. Remember, we’re going to look for our costumes today? For the Halloween dance on Friday?”

“Oh, right. I have no clue what costume I’m gonna choose. I think I might just have Thea pick one for me or something.”

“You sure you want that kind of power in Thea’s hands?”

Oliver paused, letting that sink in. “True. Then I guess we’re going to the costume shop?”

“You can tell us what happened on the way,” Laurel chimed in the back seat.

As they pulled out of the parking spot and began driving into town, Oliver began recounting what had happened in the library.

“Ok, so…”

0o0o0

Felicity

After spending far too long in the bathroom stall, Felicity managed to make herself go to class. It wasn’t until the last class of the day that she got cornered by Iris and Caitlyn.

“What is up with you? Seriously, you are acting weird.”

Felicity shot her friend a look, but that didn’t stop her.

“Did something happen last night? Is that why you’e acting this way?”

“More like something at lunch,” Felicity mumbled. Unfortunately, it was still loud enough that Caitlyn heard her. “Lunch? What happened at lunch?”

Trying not to alert the teacher to the fact that they were talking to each other rather than pay attention, she whispered, “I was in the library with Oliver.”

Iris’s loud exclamation of, “What?!” drew the attention of not only the teacher but the rest of the class as well. The three girls quickly straightened up under the teachers glare. Iris waited for her to turn toward the board again before whisper-shouting, “You are so explaining that later!”

Felicity closed her locker door and made her way toward the front doors of the building. She thought she’d meet Iris and Caitlyn at the car, but the two of them snuck up on both sides of her and immediately started pelting her with questions.

“So what happened at lunch?”

“Were you really in the library with Oliver?”

“Are his eyes as blue up close as they look?”

Felicity startled at that question. “Iris!”

The innocent look on Iris’s face didn’t fool her.

“Seriously, Felicity, what happened?”

She turned to Caitlyn to see a concerned expression on her face. Felicity took a breath and began to tell them what had happened. She continued describing in minute detail what happened all the way to the car. Despite the fact that she was in deep conversation with her friends, she still felt eyes on her, watching her as she walked to Iris’s car. Felicity didn’t know how, but she knew that it was Oliver. She avoided looking over to where he was, unable to gather the courage after what had happened earlier.

The three girls climbed into the car and headed out of the parking lot. But instead of turning left, back toward where they all lived, Iris turned right.

“Uh, Iris? Why are we going this way?”

“Because we need to go shopping for our costumes! Ronnie, Barry, and Cisco are also on their way there. Some of us need to coordinate.”

Felicity groaned. “I already told you that I wasn’t doing that this year. I’m staying home to hand out candy.”

“I’m not talking about Trick-or-Treating, I’m talking about the Halloween dance! You know, the one this Friday? I don’t care what you say, you are going to that one. I’ll talk to your mother if I have to.”

Sending her best friend a betrayed look, Felicity slumped in her seat, preparing herself for the chaos that was costume shopping with her friends.

0o0o0

He couldn’t find anything. Tommy and Laurel had already found their costumes, going for a superhero theme this year. However, none of the costumes they had suggested seemed like ones that Oliver wanted to do. He didn’t want to be a vampire, he didn’t want to be a zombie or a werewolf, and he didn’t want to be Batman. He had no clue what he wanted to be.

Oliver turned the corner to check the next aisle of costumes when he felt a body bump into him. He instinctively grabbed at the person’s upper arms to steady them and immediately felt sparks shoot through his fingers. He looked down to see a familiar blonde face looking up at him.

“Felicity?”

“H-hi, Oliver. Uh, sorry about that. I totally wasn’t looking where I was going.”

She made to step around him, but Oliver gently caught her wrist.

“Felicity…” he took a breath, suddenly nervous. “Can I say something?”

“Uh…Sure.”

“Listen, I’m sorry about what happened at the library. I meant what I said, but maybe I came on a little too strong-”

“Oh it’s fine. Not a big deal. I mean, it’s perfectly understandable- wait. What did you say?”

“…I said I was sorry?”

“Yeah, but after that.”

“I meant what I said. To you. In the library. About…being free to be myself, and go after what…who…I want.”

Felicity didn’t know how to respond to that, so she just stared at him.

He stepped closer to her.

“Felicity,” he said, taking her hand and holding it loosely, “I know it’s kind of soon, but would you like to maybe go out sometime? Even if it’s just for, like, coffee?”

Felicity looked at Oliver, saw the sincerity in his eyes. She wanted to say yes. She really wanted to say yes. The long covered-up feelings that she had for him stirred within her. Oh, who was she kidding?

She tightened her hold on Oliver’s hand and smiled up at him softly. “I’d love to.”

The grin that spread across his face was like nothing she had seen before, and it took her breath away.

“So, Saturday? Maybe around lunchtime?”

“Felicity nodded. “That sounds perfect.”

“Ok.” He was still grinning. “I will…let you get back to your costume shopping.”

“Ok.”

Felicity stared after him as he walked down the aisle. Boy could he fill out a nice pair of jeans. Yum.

“Felicity, have you found a costume yet?” Caitlyn’s voice snapped her out of her…observation.

“Uh…no, not yet.”

“Well good because I have found the perfect costume for you,” Iris said as she came down the aisle holding a clothing bag. Felicity looked at it skeptically.

“What’s in there?”

“Put it on and you’ll see.”

Felicity raised an eyebrow and opened the bag, searching for the costume label. Finding it, she snorted.

“Really? Glinda the Good Witch?”

“Hey, at least it’s not from the original movie, or do you want to wear an enormous pink poofy dress with a crown larger than your head?”

“…I’ll go try this on.”

“That’s what I thought,” she said smugly as Felicity made her way toward the dressing rooms.

0o0o0

Oliver

After finally deciding on a costume, Oliver made it home just before dinnertime. He quickly placed his things in his room, and then raced downstairs to the kitchen, where the smells of cooking food were making his mouth water. He came in to find Thea sitting at the kitchen island doing her homework while Raisa was chopping vegetables for a salad. They both looked up when Oliver walked in.

“Hey, big brother. Did you find a costume?”

“Yup,” he said, dropping a peck on the top of her head while trying to swipe a bite of food on the stove. Before he could, however, Raisa smacked his reaching hand with a wooden spoon. Oliver snapped his hand back, rubbing the sting. Raisa brandished the spoon at him, saying, “Not yet, Mr. Oliver. Dinner will be ready soon.”

Oliver went to grab some plates to set the table, when he glanced at the counter.

His brownie was missing.

Frowning, he turned to Thea and Raisa. “Hey, did either of you eat the brownie that I had set aside here on the counter?”

Raisa shook her head no, but a guilty look crossed Thea’s face before she quickly shook her head and looked back at her homework.

Oliver raised an eyebrow.

“Speedy…”

Thea blanched at his tone.

“Where is my brownie?”

She looked at her brother with a sheepish expression. “I…may or may not have eaten it.”

“Thea, I bought that brownie for myself! From Felicity! And what made you think you could eat it, anyway?!”

“It was 3 in the morning! I was hungry! I was going to go after the cookies, but the brownie caught my eye, and I just grabbed it. I wasn’t thinking. I’m sorry, Ollie. I shouldn’t have eaten it.”

Oliver sighed in exasperation.

“…If it makes you feel any better, it was a really yummy brownie.”

He gave her a wry look. “It does not make me feel better.”

Thea’s face slowly morphed into her patented puppy-dog eyes expression, hoping to get back into Oliver’s good graces.

Oliver just looked at her, still mad.

Her expression fell slightly, seeing that it wouldn’t work. “I really am sorry, Ollie.”

Oliver’s shoulders slumped slightly. In the grand scheme of things, the brownie itself wasn’t a big deal. it was what the brownie represented. The first time he had really gotten up the courage to speak to Felicity. And now his costume choice would mark the second time. A grin lit up his face.

He had a date. With Felicity. He hadn’t managed to completely scare her off after what had happened in the library. All in all, despite the fact that his Felicity Brownie was gone, today was a win.

Thea’s voice broke him out of this reminiscing. “Ollie? You okay over there?”

“Huh? Yeah, I’m fine. I’m still mad at you, though.”

“What can I do to make it up to you?”

Oliver looked around the kitchen, hoping something he saw would help inspiration to strike. His eyes landed on the apple crumb pie that Raisa had made. Turning to Thea, he said, “I get your desert tonight.”

“Deal!” The two of them shook on it.

Oliver grabbed some plates and set the table for dinner.

Chapter 7: Motherboards, Mischief, and Magic CH. 7

Chapter Text

Felicity

Standing in front of the mirror in her room, Felicity nervously smoothed down the front of her costume. She had to admit, it looked pretty good on her, especially with her blonde hair down around her shoulders.

However, her costume wasn’t what made her anxious.

For the past day and a half, Felicity had been watching her friends like a hawk, waiting to see if anything would happen to them because of her brownies, and rather than be relieved that nothing had yet happened, her anxiety only seemed to increase.

Felicity turned at the sound of the door opening, seeing her mother poke her head through the door.

“Felicity, the girls are downstairs waiting for you. Are you ready?”

Felicity tried answering her, but her voice caught in her throat. She simply nodded in response. Donna’s face softened in sympathy.

“Oh, sweetheart. I’m sure everything is going to be all right. We don’t even know if you managed to do anything… extra to the brownies. It’s been almost two days and there’s been no sign of odd activity. Maybe there’s nothing to worry about.”

“I don’t think so, Mom. Something’s… off… about tonight. I can feel it.”

Donna walked over to Felicity, placing her hands gently on her shoulders and turning her away from the mirror to face her mother.

“Well, I didn’t eat any brownies, and the book is down in the kitchen. I’ll be staying home tonight to hand out candy to the trick-or-treaters. My phone will be with me the entire time, so if you need anything, don’t hesitate to call me. Okay?”

Taking a deep breath, Felicity nodded. “That actually does make me feel a bit better.”

Donna placed a quick peck on her daughter’s forehead and said with a slightly forced cheeriness, “I’m glad. Now you need to get going or you’ll be late! Those girls won’t wait outside for you forever.”

Felicity gave Donna a somewhat shaky smile squaring her shoulders and reaching to grab her clutch from her nightstand.

“Well, I am off to see the Wizard! I’ll let you know if anything happens.”

“You be safe, sweetie. Okay?”

“Will do, Mom.”

With that, Felicity went outside to meet her friends. Once in the driveway, she laughed at seeing the costumes on Iris and Caitlyn.

Wonder Woman, Batgirl, are the two of you taking a night off from crime-fighting and saving the world to go to a Halloween party?”

Iris laughed and adjusted her crown. “No more than you are taking a trip from Oz, Glinda. You ready to head over to the party?”

“Yup. Got my phone, some cash, my ID… I am good to go. And I call shotgun!”

Caitlyn groaned, “Oh come on! No fair!”

While walking over to the driver’s side, Iris laughingly stated, “Sorry, Cait, those are the rules. She called it.”

With a huff, Caitlyn got into the back seat of the car while Felicity got into the passenger side.

They certainly couldn’t be late to the party.

0o0o0

Friday evening, just before 6 pm, Starling City’s Community Center

The town square in front of the Community Center was rapidly filling with people of all ages in costumes of all kinds. The party would officially start at 6 pm, after the clock tower chimed the hour. Then it would be music, dancing, food, contests, and trick-or treating until midnight.

Felicity looked around nervously at the gathering crowd. There were definitely more people attending this party thanshe originally thought. If anything was going to happen tonight because of her spell, she didn’t know how she was going to spot it and potentially reverse it with so many people around.

Felicity, Iris, Barry, Caitlyn, Ronnie, and Cisco had found a corner where they could stand as a group and watch everyone coming in with their costumes and offer their opinions on who had the best look, even if they were only talking to each other. According to Cisco, who had taken off his Stormtrooper mask to have a drink and a snack, their group was the one to beat in the costume department.

Iris nudged Felicity, subtly pointing in the direction of the entryway. “Look who just showed up.”

Felicity looked over to see the Queen family walking into the courtyard. Moira and Robert looked fantastic as a very lifelike Frankenstein’s Monster and his Bride. Thea looked terrifying next to her parents in a Maleficent costume that looked as if she had gotten it straight from Angelina Jolie.And Oliver…

Felicity giggled quietly as she realized who he was pretending to be in his costume. For some reason, she expected him to go more the superhero route, like Batman or Green Arrow. Although that might not have been the best idea next to his best friend and his new girlfriend, seeing as Tommy and Laurel had come as Green Arrow and Black Canary.

Caitlyn’s statement brought Felicity back to the conversation.

“I gotta say, Oliver makes a pretty good Harry Potter. It looks like he has the scar and the glasses and everything. I wonder if he chose a specific year.”

Felicity silently agreed with Caitlyn. he did make a pretty good fictional wizard.

And he was so rocking those round glasses.

“Quite the coinkydink, don’t you think?” Felicity heard Iris’s coy question.

Frowning in confusion, she turned to look at her friend. “What do you mean?”

“He’s here as a wizard, you’re here as a witch… He’s newly single… You’re not seeing anyone… He has clearly expressed interest from what you told me about that incident in the library…”

Felicity closed her eyes in realization. She hadn’t told her friends about her coffee date!

“First of all, while he is dressed up as a wizard and me as a witch, we are not even in the same fictional universe. Second of all… I guess I didn’t tell you about yesterday?”

“Yesterday? What happened yesterday?”

Caitlyn chimed in. “Oh! Is this about why I saw him walking away from you in the costume shop yesterday?”

Iris looked at Caitlyn in indignation. “Why didn’t you tell me anything?”

“Because Felicity didn’t tell me anything!”

Both girls turned to look at her at the same time, saying, “Spill!” in unison.

Felicity raise an eyebrow at their nosiness. “You two already have boyfriends. Why do you need to know about my love life? Or lack thereof?”

“Nice try changing the subject, Lis. Not gonna work.Now tell us before the announcements start!” Iris said, snatching Felicity’s phone from her hand. “You can’t have this back until you tell us.”

Felicity huffed, crossing her arms. “Fine. If you must know, before Cait got me my costume… Oliver came over to talk to me.”

Both girls looked at her expectantly. “…Aaaand?”

“And… he asked me on a coffee date tomorrow!” Felicity’s excitement at her date briefly overshadowed her anxiety, and for a moment the three girls celebrated quietly at Felicity’s new romantic opportunity.

“See? I knew he liked you. Clearly he just needed to get up the courage to say so,” Iris stated smugly. She handed Felicity’s phone back to her with a flourish.

Rolling her eyes at her friend’s tone, Felicity snuck a peek over at the Queen family.

And saw that Oliver was already sneaking a look at her.

Felicity could feel the color rising in her cheeks at the fact that she was caught, but she didn’t drop his gaze. She saw his smile widen slightly into a smirk, and then he did something that, for a split second, froze her brain.

He winked.

A thrill shot through her, and she bit her bottom lip slightly to keep from grinning widely.

The two of them were still gazing at each other when Felicity felt a nudge in her side and heard a whisper of her name. She looked over to see Caitlyn nodding to the Community Center steps, where a microphone was positioned.

“The announcements are about to start. You can ogle your new boyfriend later,” Caitlyn whispered.

“He’s not my boyfriend!” Felicity whisper-shouted, causing a few of the surrounding crowd to look back at her.

“But you want him to be,” she sing-songed back.

“Oh, shut up.”Felicity couldn’t keep the small smile off her face, though, at the thought of being something… more with Oliver.

Saturday could not come soon enough.

Mayor Steele walked up to the microphone and greeted the people in the square.

“Hello, and good evening, everyone,” he said in a hilariously fake Transylvanian accent. He had decided to dress up as Dracula for this years’ Halloween celebration.

Mayor Steele’s greeting made the crowd laugh, but then he dropped the act to speak normally. “Thank you all for coming tothe annualStarling HalloweenMonster Mash. Ihope you areall ready to eat, drink, andbe scary! Asis tradition, thefestivities will beginat 6 pm after the last bell chime from the clock marking the hour. Have a wonderful time tonight everyone, and get home safely!”

Just a moment after he finished speaking, a loud ring could be heard from up above. The clock tower was marking the 6 pm hour.

The first chime brought cheers that the party was about to start.

The second chime brought another sound.

Cries of surprise. Shock. Fear. Pain.

Another chime.

Felicity watched in horror as more and more people around her doubled over in agony.

Another chime.

The cheers turning into roars and screams. Felicity looked over at her group of friends, seeing them all in some sort of pain. She rushed over to where Caitlyn and Iris were sprawled.

“Oh my god, are you guys okay? Iris? Caitlyn?”

Iris shook her hair out of her eyes and said, “Who is this Iris you speak of? My name is Diana of Themyscira. This is not my home. How did I get here? Do you know?”

“What? Iris, what are you talking about? You’re in Starling. Caitlyn? What about you?”

Another chime.

Caitlyn looked at her like she didn’t recognize her. My name’s not Caitlyn, it’s Batgirl. I have no clue who you’re talking about. Wonder Woman, we need to figure out what the hell happened here and get back to the rest of the League.”

The final chime.

Felicity looked as her two best friends walked away from her as if they didn’t even know her. Their departure brought her eyes to the rest of the people in the town square.

At least, they used to be people.

All around her, chaos was ensuing.

Loud, cruel laughter sounded off from near the entrance of the square. That looked like… Thea. Surrounded by green fire. Felicity watched as her nose morphed into a long snout. As her skin turned dark purple and… scaly. As her fingers transformed into claws. Within just a moment, a massive dragon stood where Thea had once been.

And near the punch bowl, it looked like Mayor Steele was bent over someone and he was… was he actually drinking someone’s blood?

A growl made Felicity look in front of her to see what looked like a humanoid version of a wolf,prowling towards her.

Felicity slowly began to step backward, and the wolf’s eyes latched onto her movement.

Felicity froze.

The wolf pounced.

Andwas slammedinto a nearby wall.

Felicity’s arms, which had raised to futilely shield herself, slowly came down.She looked to her left to see Oliver standing there, his arm outstretched and a furious expression on his face.

Felicity, still in a state of shock, stuttered out, “O-O-Oliver?” She looked at the dazed wolf-like creature and then looked back at Oliver.

“W-What was… How did you do that? I thought that thing was going to eat me!”

She took a step toward him, but paused. Cautious, she asked, “Is it you, Oliver?”

He looked confused by her question. “Felicity, of course it’s me.” He stepped up to her, his warm hands closing gently around her upper arms. “Are you okay?”

“I-I think so. But is sure doesn’t look like anyone else is! I’m pretty sure I just saw Mayor Steele drinking blood, and your sister just turned into a dragon. I have no clue what the hell is going on!”

Oliver was about to respond when he looked over her shoulder and his eyes widened. Yanking on her arms, he pulled her out of the way of an arrow that embedded itself into the wall behind where Felicity had been standing. Moving themselves well out of the way, the two of them watched what looked like… Tommy and Laurel come racing toward them. They watched the two of them jump on someone’s motorcycle that had been parked outside the square and peel off down the road.

Oliver and Felicity looked at each other.

“We definitely need to get out of here.”

“Agreed.”

Oliver took her hand and the two of them ran to his car, dodging townsfolk left and right.

Once in the car, Felicity got her phone out of her bag and immediately called her mom.

She picked up on the first ring.

“Felicity?! Sweetheart, is that you?”

“Mom! Please tell me you’re okay? Are you at the house?”

“Yes, and I’ve barricaded myself in. I had to after I watched little WallyWestand Jesse Wells from down the street turn into an alien and a clown.”

“Oh, jeez. Mom, do you have any idea what’s going on?”

“Oh, honey, I think I do. And so do you.”

“What? What is that suppo-” Felicity thought back to their earlier conversation before she left for the party. She gasped, and tears gathered in her eyes as she realized what had happened.

“Oh, mom, this is all my fault! I turned the whole town crazy!”

At that statement, Felicity heard denials from both her mother on the phone and Oliver in the driver’s seat as he was trying to find a route to get away from the town square.

“Honey, you had no idea what you were doing. This is absolutely not your fault.”

“Felicity, I don’t know what happened, but I am absolutely sure that this isn’t your fault. One person can’t turn a whole town into their costumes.”

She looked at him, confused at his statement.

“What you do mean, turned into their costumes?”

Oliver was focused on the road as he made a sharp turn to avoid crashing into what looked like a zombie standing in the middle of the street.

“I mean that when the clock struck 6 pm, everyone… became the characters they were pretending to be. Tommy and Laurel werethe Green Arrow and Black Canary. Mayor Steele was drinking blood because he became a vampire. My sister turned into a dragon because sheturned into Maleficent.”

“And why Iris and Caitlyn turned into Batgirl and Wonder Woman,” Felicity breathed. It was all starting to make sense.

Donna’s voice on the line brought Felicity back to the phone.

“Felicity, where are you?”

“In a car with Oliver, trying to find a way out of here.”

“Oliver Queen?”

“Yeah, why?”

Silence.

“Both of you need to get to the house, Felicity. Right now.”

She hung up.

Felicity turned to Oliver and urgently said, “Oliver, we need togo to my house. Now.”

He looked like he wanted to argue, but then saw the expression on her face.

The car turned down her street.

0o0o0

Oliver and Felicity parked in the driveway and sprinted up to the front door, where Donna was ready and waiting, holding it open. The second they stepped through and into the house, she immediately closed and locked the door behind her.

Before anyone could say anything, Donna drew her daughter in for a crushing hug. Felicity held her mother just as tightly, burying her head in her shoulder. Donna’s hand came up and stroked her hair softly.

“It’s all my fault, mom,” Felicity’s voice, though muffled by shirt fabric, could be heard.

Before Donna could respond, Oliver chimed in. “Felicity, this is not your fault. I have no clue what happened out there earlier, but you are not to blame here.”

“Actually, Oliver, I am.” Felicity pulled out of her mother’s arms and wiped her eyes. “I am the reason that this is happening.”

“Felicity, how could you possibly have done this?”

She took a deep breath and looked him in the eye.

“Because I can do magic.”

“…What do you mean, magic?”

“I mean I cast a spell. But I didn’t know I was doing it! I was just making brownies from an old recipe bookthat I found in our attic when I went up there looking for my mom’s old cookbooks and she didn’t even tell me it was actually a spellbook until I got home from the bake sale, and practically the whole town bought a brownie, so now everyone has eaten my weird magic brownies and I have no clue if what’s happening is permanent or how to reverse it and it’s all my fault!”

Felicity took a big gulp of air. She had said all of that in one breath and was ever so slightly light-headed.

“And I’m also wondering why you are not now believing you are The Boy Who Lived, because I know for a fact that I sold you a brownie.”

“I never got to eat it,” Oliver said absently. He was still trying to wrap hismind around everything Felicity had said. “I put it down and Thea ended up eating it as a midnight snack.”

“I know it sounds absolutely crazy,” Felicity sighed, pleading with him to understand. “But it’s true. I can do magic, and I did this.”

Oliver looked at her like he was seeing her for the first time. “You can do magic.”

Felicity nodded cautiously.

A grin slowly grew on his face. Oliver reached for her, taking her into his arms and hugging her tightly.

Felicity slowly placed her hand on his shoulder, not quite hugging him back. “Oliver? Are you okay?”

He pulled back from her, his arms still around her waist. “I am better than okay. I was so worried about how you would react if I ever told you, but it turns out you’re just like me! This is amazing!” He backtracked quickly at the look on Felicity’s face. “I mean, it’s awful, what’s happening with the town and all.”

Felicity wasn’t focused on that. “Wait, what do you mean, ‘like you’?… Are you telling me that you can do magic too?!”

Oliver nodded, his smile fading and wariness creeping in. “My family comes from a long line of magic. My parent both have it, and so does my sister. Tommy and Laurel do as well. In the past, people who find out about us, people who don’t have magic… They tend not to react well. A lot of our ancestors were either burned at the stake or chased out of towns they helped build. So, we keep it a secret.”

Felicity pulled out of his arms and placed her fingers on her temples. All this new information was giving her a headache. “This is a lot to process in the span of a few days.” She turned to her mother, who was being strangely quiet.

“Mom?”

But Donna was looking into the entryway to the kitchen. Oliver and Felicity turned to see what she was looking at.

The spell book was on the table.

It was open.

And glowing.

The three of them stepped closer to see words appearing on the page.

“By the last chime tonight will all fates be sealed

To remain spellbound or true forms revealed

Say it once, say it twice, say it thrice to be sure

Or else all will be lost with never a cure.”

The three of them read it silently, taking the words in.

Felicity was the first to speak.

“What does it mean?”

They all watched as the glow faded from the words, setting them into the page. Donna answered her daughter.

“It meanswe have only six hours to reverse the spell put on those brownies, or it becomes permanent. Everyone will become their costumes. Forever.”