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Oliver hissed as Diggle cleaned out one of his cuts. He knew it wouldn’t hurt as much if he wasn’t starting to feel little, but Felicity was yelling at him for completely ignoring her tell him over comms to wait before attacking, and he could feel John’s annoyance towards him radiating off him, so it was hard to stay in his adult mindset.
When Oliver was finally patched up, he stood off the table and started to put his outfit back on. He knew he wouldn’t be allowed back out tonight, but he had to try.
Felicity stood in front of his bow when he tried to pick it up. “Where do you think you’re going?” She demanded.
“Back out?” Oliver tried.
“Never mind that you’re hurt, but you’re little . You know you’re not allowed to do Arrow stuff when you’re little.”
“We could have caught them. They’re probably still out there!”
“I’ll go out for you,” Diggle offered. “You need to go home and get to bed, little man.”
“Let’s go, Oliver. Do you want to come to my apartment, or should I take you home?” Felicity asked, grabbing her bag.
“We can’t! John needs you on comms if he’s gonna go out! I can stay here and help.”
“No,” said both of his caregivers simultaneously.
“But…don’t you guys always say it’s not a good idea to go out without someone to be my eyes?” Oliver was trying as hard as he could to be allowed to stay and help. He’d never forgive himself if John got hurt because he couldn’t force himself to be big enough to help!
Felicity sighed. “Can I trust you to go home by yourself and go to bed? I’ll ask Thea to make sure you’re home.”
Oliver crossed his arms. He knew he wouldn’t be allowed to stay. John and Felicity were very firm about no Arrow stuff when he was little. “I wanna stay with you at your apartment.”
“Fine, then I’ll ask my neighbor to make sure you get home.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“Hm, but I’m going to.” Oliver has sneaked out before when he was supposed to be going home, so Felicity didn’t trust him to go where he said he was going anymore.
Oliver stuck his tongue out. “See you at your house, ‘Licity. Be careful, John.”
“Always,” John replied. “Goodnight, Oliver.”
Oliver smiled at Felicity’s neighbor as he unlocked her door only to roll his eyes once he was inside. He wanted to go out and help John! But he didn’t want his friends to get mad at him or lose their trust in him…. He’d stay at Felicity’s. But he wasn’t tired yet, so he wasn’t going to sleep! He had toys to play with there, but he didn’t particularly want to play with his cars or even his Legos right now.
Oliver wandered into the kitchen, pulling out a sippy cup to get himself some milk. His stomach growled while he was pouring it and a thought popped into his head. What goes really well with milk? Cookies .
He could make cookies. He did it all the time with Raisa when he was a kid! Oliver put his milk down and started looking around Felicity’s kitchen for the ingredients he could remember. Flour, sugar, eggs, butter…. What else? Maybe he should look up a recipe. Or he could ask Thea. She had about as much baking experience as he did, but she was an ‘adult’ so Felicity couldn’t get mad if he was staying up with an adult, right? Well, even if she did get mad, cookies were worth it!
“Hey, Ollie!”
“Speedy!” Oliver exclaimed. “I need help!”
“With what? Are you okay?” Thea was already taking care of Roy, so it wasn’t hard for her to shift into ‘big sister’ mode for Oliver.
“Mhmm. I wanna make cookies, but I don’t know how. Help?”
“I want cookies!” Roy yelled, perking up. He was half asleep on the rug with his toys, but now he was wide awake.
“Oliver’s going to make some. Maybe he’ll save some for you and you can have a couple tomorrow.”
“I wanna make cookies too! I never made cookies before. Can we make chocolate chip?”
“I can ask Felicity if you two can come over and we can make cookies together!” Oliver was excited about the idea of making cookies with his sister and ‘baby brother.’
“Alright,” Thea sighed. She really wanted Roy to go to sleep, but the boys seemed so excited about making cookies together now. She didn’t want to make them wait and have them get upset! “I’ll look up a recipe while you call Felicity. But, Oliver! If she says no tonight, we can do it another day, okay?”
“Kay! I’ll call you back!”
“Ollie!” Roy ran to his brother and hugged him tightly.
Oliver hugged him back. “Hi, Roy! Hi, Speedy! Ready to make cookies?”
“Yes! How do we make them?”
Thea put the bag of groceries down on the counter. Felicity didn’t have everything they needed, so she’d bought the rest of what they needed before coming. “I have a recipe on my phone. First, both of you need to go wash your hands.”
The boys ran to the bathroom to wash their hands. Thea preheated the oven and washed her own hands before pulling out two bowls and the electric mixer.
“Now what?” Oliver asked, sliding into the kitchen on his socks. Roy was right behind him, holding onto his stuffed rabbit.
“Clover wants to help,” he said and set his rabbit on top of the microwave where he wouldn’t be able to get dirty.
“Okay. As long as he stays there. Ollie, do you know where the measuring cups are? We need 2 and a quarter cups of flour.”
The kids took turns measuring out ingredients and pouring them into the bowls. Everytime Thea’s back was turned they would sneak a couple of chocolate chips from the bag. Thea did the same, so she couldn’t exactly scold them for it. This was precisely why she bought two bags of chocolate chips and hid one in her purse where the boys wouldn’t sneak into.
Oliver and Roy were both clearly tired and full of sugar, so as the night went on there were more spills. Thea would clean up after they fell asleep. Which would hopefully be soon.
“Can I try the dough?” Roy asked.
“No, Roy!” Oliver said, gently smacking his hand away. “There’s raw egg in it. You’ll get sick! Right, Speedy?”
“Mhmm! Right, Ollie!” Thea said around a mouthful of cookie dough. “Watch out, guys. The oven’s hot.”
“When will they be done?” Oliver glanced at the clock, nervously. Felicity texted him a few minutes ago that John was on his way back and then they’d be heading home. John was going to stop by Felicity’s apartment to say goodnight to Oliver again. Oliver had asked for him to come say goodnight, but really he wanted to surprise them both with cookies! Felicity had no idea they were making cookies. Oliver told her Thea and Roy were coming over because Roy was refusing to sleep without giving him a goodnight hug. It had happened before, so it wasn’t unbelievable!
“Well, they’ll take about 10 or 12 minutes to bake, but they have to cool before you can eat any.”
“Okay. Come watch cartoons with us while they bake!” Oliver and Roy each grabbed one of Thea’s hands and dragged her to the couch.
“We have to clean the kitchen. You don’t want Felicity to get mad when she comes home and her kitchen is dirty, do you?”
“After Sofia The First!” Roy said. “Clover wants to watch Blue Ribbon Bunny!”
Thea sighed. “Fine. One episode, but I have to get up in 12 minutes to take the cookies out.”
“Kay!”
Felicity unlocked the door to her apartment and froze when she saw the state of her kitchen. Flour, sugar, salt, and chocolate chips were spilled everywhere . All over the counters, floor, and somehow on there were chocolate chips and cookie dough on top of her microwave. But, on a cooling rack next to the stove, were a bunch of cookies! And, asleep on the couch, with Sofia The First playing on the TV, were Oliver, Roy, and Thea.
Diggle stepped into the kitchen and picked up a warm cookie, biting into it. He shrugged. “Tastes good, at least. Here, I’ll help you clean up.”
“Thanks, John. How much do you wanna bet this was Oliver’s idea?”
“A good idea for once,” John teased.
Felicity laughed quietly and picked up a cookie. “Hm. It is good! Help me put these away so we don’t eat them all before they get a chance to try any.”