Chapter 1

Chili

Disclaimer: So I decided to take a few 'Possibilities' chapters that dealt with quirks Oliver ended up having after Lian Yu and make them into a story. Obviously, this will be somewhat different then those chapters but that shouldn't be an issue. But with this, Oliver never cut his hair off in the flashbacks and continued to work for ARGUS after the season 3 flashbacks. And Earth-38 is part of Earth-1 rather then a separate thing.

Before the Queen's Gambit and the island of Lian Yu, the only times Oliver ever bothered to cook was when nobody else was around to do it for him. Or when he was trying to be extra impressive with a girl in order to sleep with her or in Laurel's case, get back on her good side. And before he was believed dead for five years, he never had much interest in Chili and soft, relaxing music. But in the short amount of time the man had been back, among the obvious changes about him was the fact that he could be seen making his own Chili despite Raisa's insistence that she could do it for him so he wouldn't have too. And whenever he made it, he often had music that was soft and relaxing playing. Like the sounds of the Ocean for example. One interesting thing that Thea had noticed early on is that her brother seemed a bit more… Relaxed, whenever he was making his Chili. Chili that he sometimes donated to Shelters as well for that matter.

It was because of the Chili making him relaxed that she was able to spend some quality time with her brother and that was in no way strained. Allowing her small tiny glimpses of the big brother she once remembered. The one who wasn't closed off and cold or was restless as can be for whatever reason. Which she knew had somewhat to do with his night terrors he sometimes had and quite honestly scared the Hell out of her. Even giving her her own nightmares as well cause of how horrible his were even if he never gave any details after he refused to even talk about it when she questioned him. Thea also knew better then to say his night terrors gave her nightmares since she recalled the guilty look he got on his face when their mother had mentioned having a nightmare or two of her own after having heard his night terrors herself at one point. As the last thing she wanted to do was cause her big brother to feel guilty over something he had no control over. "You know, I really don't get why this makes you so relaxed."

Oliver paused in his stirring of his latest batch of Chili to give that some thought. "Well… Whenever Tatsu made it, things would so feel relaxed that we could practically forget about our troubles for awhile and not be so tensed. I think that was one of the reasons she took to making it cause she knew it would cause that to happen for us. And its why I ended up learning from her cause I thought it would help me some."

And it had and still does to this day thankfully. "And has it? Because to be honest, Ollie, anytime I see you making it you look really relaxed and not tense or closed off." She told him while feeling curious if it really worked for him.

Granted, it seemed like anytime Thea tried his Chili, there seemed to be a different taste to it each time. He never would say what it was, preferring that it be a mystery and seemingly amused when anybody tried to guess it. Thea also learned that while he may be a bit more relaxed and the like when making the stuff, it didn't keep him from being entirely tight lipped about certain things and she figured whoever this 'Tatsu' was, that it would be the same thing pretty much. And as much as she desperately wanted to know things, rocking the boat during a time like this wasn't a good thing. Her brother looked over at her as she sat on the nearby counter before answering while absent mindedly stirring the pot of Chili.

"Yeah, actually, it does. I'm not worried about anything and my mind doesn't get stuck in the past cause making this doesn't make me think of something from the five years I was gone."

That made the young Queen quite happy to know about and said as much, earning herself a smile from her older brother. "And plus, making it has the nice side effect of annoying Tommy's dad for some reason." Added the man seconds later and causing her to giggle as he frowned over that.

As seriously, giving it to the Shelters and those in the Glades wasn't a bad thing now! "How can you tell? Man's got a strong poker face." Asked Thea while giggling.

Something that made Oliver happy to see from her as it was a better look then a troubled young girl still dealing with certain changes in her life. "When you've experienced what I have, you come to notice certain things. And I've noticed a slight tick in his right eye anytime mom happens to have him around and is gushing about me and my Chili."

He had even mentioned this to Tommy and it had greatly amused his best friend and brother in all but blood. Reaching for a spoon, he dipped it into the pot and then handed it to Thea. "Here, tell me what you think."

Eagerly, Thea took it, curious as to how it would taste this time and seconds later was coughing up a storm. As holy Hell was that hot! "Oh God! Water! I need water!" Choked out the girl as she rushed for a glass and filled it with cold water and downed it in seconds.

But the hot, spicy taste remained. Forcing her to have several glasses of cold water until her mouth wasn't so hot anymore. Oliver however seemed greatly amused by the whole thing. "Just what the Hell did you put in that stuff!?"

"Oh, you know, I'd tell ya, but that's a trade secret." Oliver told her with a smirk and gained an annoyed look from his baby sister!

"Ugh! You suck!"

"Who? Me? Never!"

But Malcolm would certainly be cursing his name if and when he learned that the secret ingredient was 18 cut up pieces of Trinidad Scorpion "Butch T" Peppers! Thea just stuck her tongue out at him but he just grinned at her. Which… Despite her slight annoyance with him, Thea greatly loved the sight of where that easy going grin was concerned. And gave her hope for the future that maybe, just maybe, some of that old Ollie wasn't completely gone. Though she was just fine with the douche bag cheater and closed minded views parts of him being gone for good however! As otherwise, him and Laurel wouldn't ever probably get married! Since no way in Hell would that woman put up with it again!

Author's Notes: Hope folks will have enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing it! And fun fact, when I first originally wrote the Chili idea in the early days of my 'Possibilities' fic, I had no idea that Chili making with Oliver was an actual thing from the comics until I found out through Twitter a few weeks ago. And originally, I wasn't even gonna post this here and keep it just exclusively on A03 but since I've had a fairly positive reception for the story on there, I figured putting it here would be a good idea in the end.