Author's Note: GUYS I GET TO WRITE DARHKATOM IN THIS CHAPTER THAT MAKES ME SO SOOOO HAPPY :D :D :D

Ray Palmer was standing in the hallway, looking slightly terrified.

Anyone watching honestly wouldn't blame him, because Thea, Iris and Sara all walking towards one person with matching "friendly" grins on their faces was a pretty scary sight.

"Hey, Ray," Sara greeted casually, putting her forearm up on the locker right next to the one Ray was standing in front of and leaning her weight on it. "How's it going, ma boi ma buddy ma dude?"

"It's, um... fine?" Ray managed, looking around for a means of escape in case he'd need one. "What can I do for you lovely ladies?"

Thea mouthed an 'Aw', at Iris before she started speaking. "We need your help. Also, is your girlfriend around?"

Ray frowned. "Ummm... she's probably at her locker? I mean, getting ready for next class. Why do you ask?"

Thea shrugged and opened her mouth and Iris elbowed her. "Ignore her, it doesn't matter where Nora is. We have a question to ask you, and it'd be best if you could answer as honestly as possible."

"Guys, chill, you're scaring him," Sara broke in with a groan. "Ray, to be candid, we're trying to set up Zari and Nate right now and we needed to know: Has Nate mentioned having any feelings for Zari lately?"

The fear in Ray's eyes transformed to thoughtfulness. He had just opened his mouth to respond when an annoyed throat-clearing came from behind them. The three girls turned to find Nora Darhk standing behind them, her eyebrows raised.

"Nora!" Ray cried happily. They had been dating for almost two months now, but Thea noticed that Ray's face still completely lit up every time he saw his girlfriend. "How's your morning been?"

"Fine..." Nora replied slowly, looking around at the other three girls with a certain amount of suspicion. "Could I ask what's going on here?"

"Oh!" Ray was still beaming. "Sara, and... sorry, what are your names?"

"Iris and Thea," Thea explained. "And we were just asking Ray about Nate's feelings for Zari."

"Gotcha," Nora said, still looking dubious. She patted Ray on the bicep. "You looked terrified, babe, so I figured I should step in."

Ray beamed at her. "Thanks," he said happily. "But I'm all good. You can stick around though! I can walk you to your next class after I'm done talking with Iris and Thea and Sara."

"It's cool," Nora said, waving him off. "I think I can chaperone myself in the halls. See you guys later. Peace."

She flashed them a peace sign and strode off down the hall, Ray watching her with a very dopey smile.

"Y'all are adorable," Thea said, putting her hand over her heart. "I cannot even."

"Well, I can," Sara countered. "And Ray, the bell's about to ring. Zari. Nate. Tea. Nowwww."

"Sorry!" Ray peeped. "I mean, they're buds. They hang out with me and Nora all the time, but not like a double date or anything." He looked thoughtful again. "I mean, I don't know. I think I've seen him staring off after her with moony eyes at least once before."

"Hmmm, kind of like the face he was just making?" Iris murmured in Thea's ear, snickering a little. Thea grinned.

"Awesome. Fabulous." Sara clapped her hands together just as the warning bell rang. "Okay, we have to skedaddle, but I will keep you updated on our matchmaking adventures."

"Okay!" Ray agreed brightly. "Let me know if there's anything more I can do to help! I love Nate; I just want to see him be happy."

Ray turned and trundled off towards his next class, a distinct skip in his step. Iris watched him go with a slow shake of her head. "That, right there, is a very perky guy."

"Yeah," Sara agreed with a smirk. "The world doesn't deserve him, honestly."

"Okay," Thea said, changing the subject and rubbing her hands together vigorously. "Part one in our plan is completed. Now, all we need to do is locate Nate, "accidentally" crash into him, and causally bring up Zari and how much she talks about him."

"Which isn't technically true," Sara added.

"It'll be fine," Thea insisted. "A little white lie never hurt anyone in the world of love!"

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"Thank you all for joining me," Laurel said as she stood at the front of the small mob she had assembled in the hallway. She checked her watch. "We have approximately 10 minutes to plan, because Thea will probably take about that amount of time in the bathroom. Oliver, stand watch."

Oliver frowned petulantly. "What if I don't want to stand watch?"

"Stand. Watch."

"Fine," he grumbled, turning around and starting to scan the hallway for any sign of his younger sister.

Laurel and Oliver weren't the only two there. Diggle, Sara, Iris, Alex, Maggie, Kara, Felicity, Caitlin, Barry, Leonard and Roy were also crowded in front of Laurel's locker, awaiting the announcement she had texted them about.

"As you all know, Thea's birthday is coming up," Laurel announced.

"Why isn't Oliver doing this speech?" Alex interrupted, frowning at the blond Senior. "It's his sister."

"He's a boy," Laurel replied, waving the idea off. "Boys never plan things."

"Amen to that," Caitlin agreed, nodding vehemently. Kara snorted with laughter.

"We're derailing," Laurel sighed. "In short, Thea's birthday is coming up and I want to throw her a giant surprise party to show her how loved she is because she likes extravagant things like that. My father has agreed that we can host at our house, which will make set up considerably easier."

Sara nodded. "This is great. Why didn't you just text us this instead of risking the secrecy of our mission by talking about it in the middle of the hallway?"

Laurel looked a little embarrassed. "I don't have, like, half of your phone numbers," she admitted. "And this was more fun and exciting. And made for a better scene than a giant group chat."

"Makes sense," Maggie agreed with a shrug of her shoulders. She linked her arm through Alex's. "I'm in."

"Me too," Alex agreed.

"We'll be there," Diggle said, speaking up for Oliver, which made sense. If Oliver didn't show up to his own sister's birthday party after being invited, there would be a pretty big problem there.

"Us, too," Sara confirmed, glancing over at Iris, Barry and Leonard for confirmation. Kara, Felicity and Caitlin all affirmed that they were onboard, too.

Roy sighed, like it pained him immensely to agree, but he nodded. "Sure, why not. She'd kill me if I wasn't there, anyway."

"Good boy," Laurel commended. "Now-

"Scatter!" Oliver hissed suddenly, and 80 percent of the heads swiveled to see Thea pushing her way out of the ladies room a little ways down the hall. Diggle and Oliver power walked away from the group and Leonard and Roy were quick to follow. Alex, Maggie and Laurel moseyed over to the water fountain and stood by it ever so casually, and Iris and Sara darted over to Thea to see if they could distract her long enough for everyone to get a good getaway.

"You realize you still don't have everyones number, right?" Maggie spoke up, raising an eyebrow. "Not that I blame you- I don't think I've even ever been in the same room with Roy before."

"Different shows. It's not your fault," Alex said, patting her on the shoulder.

Laurel shrugged. "I'm sure someone has his and Leonard's numbers. Sara's got to; they had a group chat."

"A group chat with Roy Harper and Leonard Snart," Alex mused, a smirk playing on her lips. "Not everyone can say that."

"I think two people can say that," Laurel agreed. "Thea and Sara. I mean, I could be wrong. Roy could have this massive social life that no one knows about. All of his friends could be invisible and at lunch he could actually be sitting with them and not by himself."

Alex and Maggie both squinted at her. "It's times like these," Alex said slowly. "That I want to argue with everyone who has said you're not as weird as Sara."

"Oh honey." Laurel grinned at her. "Sara gets her weirdness from me."

"Pretty sure that's not how genetics works," Maggie commented, even though she mostly just looked bemused.

Laurel just grinned wider.

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"Man am I glad midterms are over," Winn commented as he lay stretched out on his back on Felicity's living room floor.

"Same, dude," Cisco agreed fervently.

"Aw, come on guys," Barry said with a grin. "Didn't you just love having Nerd Meetings three times a week instead of only once?"

"So many cookies..." Cisco mooned, a dreamy look settling over his face.

Barry laughed. "Exactly," he said, patting Cisco's shoulder. "Without midterms, you can't eat cookies without guilt."

"Unless you've gone through a breakup," Felicity added, dangling an arm over the side of the couch. "Then it's cookies, chocolate, and Ben and Jerries ice cream galore. At least... that's what happened when I broke up with Ray."

"Mm, when I go through breakups they make me sick to my stomach," Cisco countered, shaking his head. "I don't want to eat because I'm depresseddddd..."

"Aw, poor baby," Caitlin said, stretching out her leg to nudge his foot with her own. "Though I distinctly remember after you broke up with Kendra I crashed at your place and we made it through an entire bag of Swedish fish."

"We were watching the Titanic!" Cisco protested. "How can you not make it through an entire bag of Swedish fish?"

The group laughed, and Julian picked up his pencil to fiddle with it and draw light marks on his notepaper. "Are we actually going to do any homework tonight?" he asked, not caring all that much either way. "Or should I just put these things away and we just relax for an evening?"

"I vote relax," Felicity spoke up, raising her hand before plunking it down. "I've got brownies in the freezer and I could get them out and we could make popcorn and watch a movie."

"Down for that," Winn agreed. Just then, his phone started buzzing. "Hang on; it's my mom. You mind if I take this?"

"Go ahead," Felicity allowed. "Yo Cisco, let's go make up some popcorn."

Caitlin held up a hand for both of them to give her high fives as they wandered out of the living room, keeping her eyes on Winn. "Hey, mom," he said into the phone, smiling. "I'm at Nerd Group, remember?"

Then his smile faded slightly, and he walked a little farther away, lowering his voice. "Hang on, what? Slow down?" A pause, and then all of the blood drained from Winn's face. "What?! When?!" Another pause. "Okay, okay, I'm coming home. No, don't be ridiculous. I'm coming home right now."

He must have been speaking loudly enough for Felicity and Cisco to hear, because Felicity popped her head back out of the kitchen. "What's up?" she mouthed in his direction, but Winn ignored her.

"Okay. I'll see you soon. Love you too. Bye."

He hung up his phone and stuffed it in his pocket, his face still deadly pale. "Winn, you're shaking," Caitlin realized, getting to her feet and putting her hand on his arm. "What's wrong? What did your mom say?"

"I- I have to go," Winn mumbled, searching around for a second before grabbing his sweatshirt from the couch and hurrying for the door. "I'm sorry guys. I'll, uh... I'll see you later."

"Winn, wait-!" Felicity cried, but Winn had already shoved his shoes and coat on and made it out the door, slamming it behind him.

There was silence in the house for a second. "Okay, what was that?" Barry asked, his eyebrows furrowing in concern.

"I don't know..." Caitlin murmured, looking equally as concerned. "Should we go after him?"

Felicity shook her head. "That seemed like a family thing," she said warily. "Winn's our friend, but we shouldn't pry on family things. I'm sure he'll tell us what's up. Right? I mean, it's Winn. He can't keep a secret to save his life."

"Um, he managed to hide that he was in love with Kara for six years..." Barry reminded Felicity slowly, giving her a weird look. "He can keep a secret."

"Kara," Caitlin said suddenly. "I'm going to text her. She's his best friend; if anyone needs to know what's going or can find out, it's her."

Felicity nodded her agreement, and Caitlin tugged out her phone to fill Kara in.

The group waiting for a response, standing in uncomfortable silence for a good five minutes before Caitlin gave up and shook her head. "She must be busy," she said with a sigh. "One of us can call him tomorrow, okay? It'll be fine."

Everyone nodded unsurely, and then people started to pack up to go home. The whole relaxed, carefree vibe of a few minutes ago had been ruined.

What was going on with Winn?

Author's Note: Hmmmm that is the question. What is going on with Winn? Any guesses? ;)