Chapter Text
“Clap, clap, clap your hands,” Felicity said in a singsong, holding Mae’s wrists and making her daughter’s tiny hands meet in front of her wide, blue eyes. “Clap your tiny hands.”
Mae released a delighted squeal, kicking her short legs. Her eyes were still focused on her hands, following each of the movements her mother initiated with them. Felicity smiled down on Mae, knowing exactly how much her daughter had grown to like this clapping game in the last days. She still had trouble to clap on her own, but that didn’t keep her from feeling intense joy about the clapping she was helped to do. Maybe in a few days she’d be able to clap her hands on her own. At six months it felt like her little baby girl developed every day.
“Clap, clap, clap your hands,” Felicity continued her singsong to Mae’s joy. “Clap your tiny hands.”
When Mae squealed once more, Felicity lifted her daughter against her chest and leaned back into the pillows with Mae resting on her chest. She could feel her daughter’s fast but even heartbeat against her ribs and smiled at the feeling. It was amazing how over the course of only six short months that had flown by Felicity knew she couldn’t make it through a day without feeling her daughter’s heartbeat against her chest like this anymore. She had grown too used of it already.
Felicity glanced at the clock on her nightstand shortly. She still had ten minutes before the alarm would go off and she would have to get up. Mae had woken her half an hour ago already, but Felicity didn’t mind because cuddle-time like this was the best way to start her day.
She turned her head to the other side and smiled at the view she was met with. Oliver was sleeping on his stomach, his arms pushed under his head to use them as a pillow. He was snoring loudly, still fast asleep. He had no trouble sleeping even with her singing and Mae’s sounds of joy. It was something he had probably grown used to in the last months too.
When the little girl released a deep sigh, Felicity chuckled and stroked her hand over her baby’s warm back, saying, “Yeah, you’re really having a rough time, don’t you? Being so cute all the time is so very exhausting, isn’t it?”
Of course Mae didn’t answer. Instead she rolled herself off her mother and onto the mattress between her parents. She giggled and wiggled her little arms, so Felicity reached out her hands to pull Mae back onto her chest, but the girl turned away and onto her stomach. She propped herself up onto her forearms and looked first to her mother on the right and then to her daddy on her left side.
“Mae,” Felicity said in a warning tone, knowing her daughter all too well, “we don’t wake daddy when he’s sleeping.”
Despite her mother’s words Mae reached out her little hand and put it right into Oliver’s face. He showed no sign that he had woken up, though. Mae, who seemed to be everything but happy about her daddy’s lack of attention, slapped his chin lightly.
“Madeleine Grace Smoak-Queen,” Felicity warned once more, using her daughter’s full name like her own mother still did whenever she wanted to rave and rant with her.
Of course the six-month-old was too young to care much about or even understand her mother’s warning. She just slapped Oliver’s chin once more. This time, as soon as her tiny fingers met Oliver’s stubbled chin, he angled his head and opened his mouth, so Mae’s fingers ended up between his lips. The little girl seemed to be taken aback because her squealing sounds fell silent and she watched where her hand disappeared in her daddy’s mouth with wide eyes.
When Oliver opened an eye to blink at her, Mae made a sound that was a mixture of insecurity about what was going on and amusement about her fingers still being in her daddy’s mouth. She turned her head to Felicity, looking at her to figure out how to react. Felicity smiled, shrugging her shoulders with a dramatic gasp for air. Mae giggled in response, turning her head back to look at Oliver again.
As soon as he had all of his daughter’s attention again, he hummed around her hand like he was trying to say something. Mae released a loud squeal. Her arm gave in and she sank into the pillow completely. Her face pressed into the fabric, barely muffling her delighted sounds, though. Oliver opened his mouth to free her hand and with a quick movement he pulled her against him, so her tummy pressed to his chest and she was holding her upper body propped up on her arms. Her lips were hovering right over his and she giggled happily, her eyes shining with amusement.
“Did you wake daddy although mommy told you not to?” he asked her with a chuckle.
Mae just giggled and lowered her head. She captured her daddy’s lips with hers, kissing him with her lips open. Oliver’s lips were full of her spit when she pulled back, smiling at him with so much love that it just warmed Felicity’s heart.
Oliver and Mae had easily become the most important people in her life. From the moment they had been in the hospital and held their baby girl for the first time, Oliver and Felicity had constantly moved forward in their relationship. They had gotten used to being very young parents with the help of both of their families, and once the time had come a few months ago, they had moved to Boston and into their first apartment like they had planned. Now they were living in here together, went to college and were raising their daughter together. It was exhausting because college was exhausting and raising a baby was exhausting, so both of it together was even more, but also very, very nice.
“What do you think, Mae?” Oliver asked. “Do we want mommy to cuddle with us?”
Chuckling quietly, Felicity snuggled up to Oliver’s side. Her head rested on his shoulder and her hand over his on their daughter’s back. She sighed contently, enjoying the warmth of Oliver’s body. When he kissed the top of her head, Felicity closed her eyes, a soft smile playing on her lips.
“When did she wake you?” Oliver asked sleepily.
“Half an hour ago.”
“I didn’t even hear her.”
Felicity chuckled, stroking her hand over his chest gently. She kissed his cheek before she snuggled her cheek back to his shoulder. “Don’t worry. I was almost awake anyway.”
“I love mornings like these,” Oliver whispered into her hair.
“So do I,” Felicity replied.
They enjoyed the little time they had left before the alarm eventually went off and forced them to end the comfortable morning cuddle. They rolled out of bed with a groan. Felicity sat on the mattress and stretched herself for a moment before she headed towards the bathroom. She made a short detour around the bed to gently peck Oliver’s lips and kiss Mae’s temple before she continued her way to the shower.
Since they had moved to Boston and away from most of their family and friends, they had developed a perfect routine that helped them to manage their everyday life. Their schedules at college and the fact that they had a baby didn’t exactly allow them to just live for the day. Almost every second of their day was well planned to make sure they had the time they needed for college and the time Mae needed too. It wasn’t easy, but it worked.
When Felicity stepped into the kitchen twenty minutes later, Mae was sitting in her highchair, drinking her morning dose of milk and watching her daddy cook. When he flipped the pancake in the air, she let out a squeal. Lately, the little girl enjoyed almost everything that was happening around her.
Felicity leaned into the doorframe, watching these two for a moment. She didn’t want to deny that becoming a mother at the young age of only eighteen hadn’t been the best of her life choices. Since Mae had been born, there hadn’t been a single day that she had regretted her decision to keep the little girl, though. Yes, their life would be a lot easier without the troubles of raising a baby, but it would also be missing a really important part. Felicity barely remembered how her life had been before she had become pregnant.
“You have perfect timing,” Oliver said, pulling her from her thoughts. “Sit down. Pancakes are coming. I guess you want your chocolate chip pancakes with extra chocolate sauce?”
“You know me all too well,” Felicity replied with a wide grin and sat down at the table next to Mae, tickling her feet. She kicked her legs against her mother’s hand and giggled. Mae held out her bottle of milk for Felicity, making her chuckle.
“No, no, that’s your breakfast, sweetheart,” Felicity said. “Daddy makes mommy her own breakfast.”
“And it’s already here,” Oliver told her and put a plate with the pancake in front of her.
Felicity cocked her head, taking in the path of the chocolate sauce on her pancake. “Is that a heart?”
“Yeah…” Oliver sat down at the table opposite from her, so Mae was sitting between them. He scratched the back of his head and puckered his lips. “I forgot the chocolate sauce was going to melt. Now it looks like a crippled… something.”
“It’s still sweet,” Felicity told him. She quickly rolled the pancake and took a bite. “Unfortunately I can’t take all the time to appreciate this delicious and hopefully romantic gesture because the bus schedule has been altered which means that I need to leave ten minutes earlier.”
“That would be in like two minutes.”
“Two minutes?” Felicity asked, her eyes widening.
Oliver nodded. “Maybe you should have set the alarm for ten minutes earlier.”
“Shit! I forgot.”
He gasped for breath dramatically, looking at Mae. Tickling her little tummy, he asked her, “Did you hear what mommy just said?”
“I know we said no swear words in front of Mae, but she doesn’t talk yet and won’t be able to repeat anytime soon, so I guess this one time it should be excused.”
Oliver chuckled. “Should I drop Mae at Lyla’s today? You would have at least two minutes more to have breakfast and wouldn’t have to-“ Oliver stopped, watching her with his head cocked. “Did you just push that entire half of the pancake that was left into your mouth?”
Felicity smiled as much as her full mouth allowed her to. She quickly chewed the pancake in her mouth and swallowed it. Her throat protested strongly, unwilling to gulp a big piece like that. With a few sips of orange juice the tight feeling eased away, though.
She quickly got up, took Mae from her seat and walked around the table to Oliver.
“I have to go,” she hurried to explain and kissed his lips. “I love you.”
“I love you too,” Oliver replied.
He put a hand to the back of her head and pulled her down for a much longer kiss. His tongue opened her lips to him. Felicity sighed into the kiss, wishing she had the time to sit down on his lap and enjoy the kiss for a few minutes more, so she could stroke her fingers over his short stubble and maybe-
Quickly she pulled away. “I really need to go.”
Oliver chuckled and got up. “I’ll walk you to the door.”
“Oh, you don’t have to. You can enjoy your breakfast and-“
When Oliver got up and took Mae from her nonetheless, Felicity stopped. She hurried to the door, Oliver following her slowly. She quickly took on her shoes and took her backpack. She reached out her arms for Mae and Oliver handed her over to her. She was almost out of the door when she turned back around to Oliver once more.
“Oh, Laurel wants to come over for dinner tonight. I told her it was fine.”
“Sure.” Oliver nodded. “I’ll cook.”
Felicity smiled. “I still can’t believe you love cooking.”
“As much as I love when you’re admiring me, you’re going to be late.”
Quickly Felicity pecked his lips once more and only called back over her shoulder, “See you later.”
She sped down the first flight of stairs to the main floor and knocked at her friend’s door.
“Baby, I gotta say goodbye to you already,” Felicity told Mae and peppered her cheek with lots of kisses, making the girl giggle. “As soon as Aunt Lyla opens the door, I will have to put you in her arms and run for the bus. Mommy takes more time tomorrow, okay?”
As soon as the last syllable had fallen from her lips, the door opened and Lyla stood in front of her, perking up her eyebrows. “Shouldn’t you be on your way to the bus?”
“I didn’t realize that there was only so little time,” Felicity hurried to say, pushing Mae into her friend’s arms. She quickly hurried to the door, calling back over her shoulder, “Oliver is going to pick her up after his last class. I forgot her jacket upstairs, but you have a key. Just get whatever you need. I’ll call you later.”
Lyla just chuckled, but Felicity barely heard it since she was already halfway out of the door. As soon as she stepped on the sidewalk, she saw the bus stopping at the other side of the street. Taking in a deep breath, she shot a glance to both sides and crossed the street quickly, reaching the bus just in time. Trying to catch her breath, she flopped herself into the first free seat and closed her eyes.
As well-planned as their life was, some days it seemed like everything was going wrong. It didn’t happen too often, but sometimes chaos snuck its way into their lives nonetheless. Today seemed to be one of those days though Felicity hoped that this rocky start was the end of the stressful part of the day.
She had no idea how she and Oliver would manage to do this without Lyla. Felicity knew her from Las Vegas where she had been friends with her mother. Since Lyla had had a baby a little more than a year ago too, she was taking some time away from work to raise her daughter. When Felicity had asked her if maybe she would take care of Mae too, she had agreed immediately.
Felicity couldn’t express how grateful she was because the only other option would have been to hire a nanny. Moira and Robert had offered to pay for one, but they were already paying so much money that Felicity hadn’t felt comfortable with that. Besides, she didn’t want Mae to be raised by a stranger. She knew there was nothing wrong about hiring a nanny, but Lyla had just seemed like the better option because she was friends with them. Luckily, Oliver had wholeheartedly agreed with that, so they were accepting the help Lyla offered for as long as that was the case. When Lyla wanted to go back to work in the next couple of months, they would get around hiring a nanny, though.
Releasing a low chuckle, Felicity opened her eyes and shook her head. She had no idea what other college students worried about. She was sure that it wasn’t if they had enough diapers at home or if she had enough time with her baby, though.
When the bus stopped at the campus, Felicity dismounted. She took a look to both sides and when she saw her friends, she waved and approached them hurriedly.
“Hi, guys.”
“Hey,” Curtis greeted her.
“Ready for ninety minutes of boredom?” Ray added.
Felicity groaned. She had tried not thinking about the fact that Thursdays always started with the most boring class. The introduction into coding didn’t teach her anything new and admittedly she felt like she knew more about it than their teacher did. Unfortunately the class was compulsory. The only good was that Ray and Curtis, who knew almost as much about coding and computers as she did, were forced to take the class too.
“Let’s go. We’re not able to avoid it anyway,” Felicity said with a sigh and together they strolled towards their classroom.
Ray and Curtis had easily become her best friends when she had moved here. They were just as much into technology as she was and they were fun to hang out with.
“You look a little stressed. Is everything alright?” Ray asked her on the way to class.
Felicity chuckled, waving his question off. “I forgot that there just isn’t enough time to leave the house ten minutes earlier without antedating the alarm accordingly. I basically had one minute for breakfast, had only a couple of seconds to drop Mae at Lyla’s and still had to run for the bus after that.”
“Why didn’t Oliver take her to your friend’s?” Curtis asked.
“Because I always take her to Lyla on Thursdays and Oliver picks her back up,” she explained, but quickly shook her head when her friends looked at her questioningly. The truth was that she couldn’t really explain why she had felt the need to drop Mae herself. It was just that Thursdays it was her job to take her to Lyla’s, and that was why she had wanted to do it. It was hard to explain and probably impossible to understand for someone who wasn’t a parent.
“Changing the subject,” Ray started, making a short pause and shooting Felicity a glance like he was giving her the opportunity to say something more, “I was thinking maybe we could form a study group together. Apart from the introduction class maybe we could need it at least for the exams at the end of the semester.”
Felicity nodded and smiled. “Sounds like a good idea.”
As soon as the teacher ended the class, Oliver packed in his stuff and headed towards the door. He shot a glance at his watch and figured that he could take his time since the next bus was only leaving in fifteen minutes. He would pick up Mae and start cooking the lasagna Felicity loved so much. She always released this low hum when she took a bite that reminded him a lot of the sound she made when his lips were taking a path down her body. Smiling Oliver shook his head.
He and Felicity had had their troubles in the past. The pregnancy had taken both of them by surprise and it had pushed them through some rough patches. They had made it through that, though, and that was all that mattered at the end. They were together and happy now.
Oliver sighed lowly and looked around, lifting his hand to greet one of his fellow students that was waiting in line at the coffee bar. Unfortunately in the few months he and Felicity had been living here, he still hadn’t found any real friends yet. He knew some people that were sitting in some of his classes, but that was it.
He knew that it needed more time, but it just wasn’t easy. He had basically been friends with Tommy since they had been born, so except for the short time at the end of Felicity’s pregnancy when he and Tommy hadn’t been talking to each other, they had always been friends and had always been by each other’s side. Not having him here now after all the time they had spent imagining going to college together felt weird.
Felicity and Mae were here, though. The two of them were the most important people in his life and they were worth the wait. He knew that if he said one word to Felicity about being unhappy here which wouldn’t be entirely true because apart from the lack of friends he was happy, she would offer to move back to Starling with him. He knew that MIT was her dream, though, so he was going to be patient for as long as he could.
He was just about to step outside of the building when he heard someone calling out his name behind him. “Ollie?”
Oliver turned around on his heels, looking into the hallway. He soon found a pretty redhead with green cat eyes hurrying towards him. It took him a few seconds, but once she stood in front of him, he frowned.
“Carrie?”
“Yes.” Carrie smiled happily and took a step close to hug him shortly. “Good to know that you still recognize an old friend.”
Oliver doubted that he and Carrie had ever been real friends, but they had gone to school together for a few years. Back in his wild party times they had even hung out with the same people every once in awhile. Carrie and her parents had moved away only a couple of weeks before Felicity and her mom had moved to Starling City and his entire life had changed.
“I didn’t know you were going to college here,” Oliver said.
“Well, in that case I knew more than you did because I knew you were going to college here. I’ve been looking out for you on every party. I already thought I have been informed incorrectly about it,” Carrie told him and playfully boxed his shoulder. “Why the hell aren’t I seeing you on any party? You usually attracted everyone’s attention. I thought I just needed to go to a party and a mob of girls would be surrounding you.”
“I don’t really go to parties anymore,” Oliver told her, pushing his hands into the pockets of his jeans. He felt weirdly disconnected from the memories of his party life and he didn’t like to think about them too much. “I have other priorities.”
“Don’t tell me you are actually burying your pretty nose in books now,” Carrie told him, cocking her head. “Ollie, we both know your parents will urge you to become part of the company and become a square soon enough. Enjoy your life as long as you can.”
Oliver pressed his lips together for a moment before he explained, “It’s not my parents or college but… my daughter. I have a six-months-old.”
Carrie’s eyes widened. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
Oliver shook his head. “She’s my whole life.”
“I thought the tabloids were just making up stories when they wrote that,” Carrie told him, shaking her head in disbelief. “I guess your parents didn’t let you get away with it and forced you to-“
“Raising my daughter has been my own decision,” Oliver said tensely. “I decided that I wanted to be with my girlfriend and raise our daughter together. It wasn’t my parents’ idea. Actually, my mom was pretty much against it at the start.”
Carrie looked at him for a moment longer, almost seeming like she wanted to say something more. If the look on her face was any indication, she didn’t exactly have anything nice to say. When Oliver perked up his eyebrow challengingly, she quickly widened her smile, though. It looked cold and forced, but Oliver didn’t mind. He had no interest in talking to her anyway.
“I guess you are not interested in coming to the party at my house then,” she said, shrugging her shoulders. “Bye, Oliver.”
She turned around on her heels and walked back the way she had come. Oliver looked after her for a moment, shaking his head. He barely knew anyone who understood why he had chosen to stay with Felicity raise Mae with her. Admittedly, during his party times he hadn’t really been friends with the kind of people that he really expected to understand him. Tommy was the only one who didn’t judge him which was only one more reason why he needed his friend here.
Oliver continued his way to the bus, trying to figure out if he needed to make a detour to the supermarket after he had picked up Mae or if he had everything he needed for the lasagna at home already. Realizing that he would have to take a look into the fridge to know the answer, he delayed that thought for later when he was home. He got onto the bus, held onto a handle and pulled out his phone from the pocket of his jacket to find some new recipes to test someday soon.
If anyone had ever told him that he would grow fond of cooking, he would have probably laughed it off. After Mae had been born, he had moved in with Felicity and her family. That way he had been able to spend as much time with his newborn daughter as possible. Whenever time had allowed it, he had gone back to the mansion and asked Raisa to teach him how to cook. Since he had known that he and Felicity would eventually move to Boston and live alone, he had felt the need to learn some basic things to get through their everyday life. Somehow he had started to like cooking a lot more than he had thought he would.
In the last months Oliver had learned to love of a lot of things he had never thought he’d like, though. First and foremost he had learned to love being a dad. He remembered how scared he had been when Felicity had told him that she was pregnant and there were still a lot of situations that scared the shit out of him, but he loved Mae and life without her seemed to be impossible. He didn’t even know what sense his life had made before he had held his little baby girl in his arms for the first time.
When he had woken up this morning and had heard Felicity playing the clapping game with Mae, he had just pretended to be asleep, so he could enjoy the sound of her singing and the squealing sounds Mae had released in response for a little longer. Almost his entire life revolved around these two. Of course he was nosy about what other things college life had to offer. Tommy sent him photos of his party nights every now and then and there was this stitch of something Oliver couldn’t name because he knew he was missing that, but…
At the end of the day all that really mattered where Felicity and Madeleine, right?
When the bus stopped in front of the apartment house he lived in, Oliver pushed his phone back into the pocket of his jacket and got out of the bus. He quickly crossed the street, entered the apartment building and knocked at the Diggles’ door.
Lyla and John Diggle were a gift from god. If it wasn’t for them, Oliver had no idea how he and Felicity would manage their life here. Except for Laurel, who lived in an apartment only a couple of blocks away and studied at Harvard, they didn’t have any family here that could support them. Lyla was almost like an aunt to Felicity though and she was willing to help whenever and however she could. Besides, thanks to the time Mae spent with the Diggles she already had found her first best friend in Andria at least as much as a six-month-old and a thirteen-month-old could be inseparable best friends.
He knocked at the door quietly once more and it only took a couple of seconds before the door was being opened. John Diggle was a tall guy with broad shoulders. He would be a frightening man if it wasn’t for the tiny girl that was standing in front of him with her little hands wrapped around his forefingers to support her stand. Andria Diggle had started taking her first steps a few days ago, still fully relying on her daddy to keep her upright for longer than three seconds, though.
“Hey, little lady,” Oliver said, bending down to level his face to Andria’s. “You look like you really got the whole walking thing right. Congrats.”
Andria smiled, turning her head and hiding her face against her daddy’s leg. She had been a little shy lately, so Oliver just chuckled quietly and straightened back up.
“Come in,” John said, nodding his head towards the inside of his apartment.
He turned around and walked them into the living room, Andria leading the way in front of him. Her steps were insecure and her legs wobbled, but she already looked a lot more comfortable with her walking than she had when Oliver had seen her walk like this a few days ago. He couldn’t wait until Mae was taking her first steps or saying her first word or any other of those milestones the first two years of a baby’s life included.
When they stepped into the living room, Oliver’s eyes fell on Mae immediately. She was lying on a blanket on the floor where she was happily sucking at her sock.
“Hi, Sweetie,” Oliver said and immediately Mae let go of her foot to reach out her hands for her daddy. He lifted her into his arms without hesitation, nuzzling his nose with his. Mae put her hands to his daddy’s cheek and giggled, making Oliver smile. “Did you behave?”
John chuckled. “She’s a little sunshine and makes it really easy.”
Oliver smiled and kissed his daughter’s cheek. She really was a little sweetheart and sunshine. She was definitely taking after her mother with her cheerfulness.
“Sit down,” John suggested, taking a seat on the couch and pulling Andria to his lap.
“Thanks,” Oliver replied and sat down on the armchair opposite with Mae on his lap. “Where’s Lyla?”
“She went grocery shopping,” John replied. “She mentioned that Felicity seemed a little stressed this morning. Everything alright?”
“Yes,” Oliver responded and chuckled when he remembered how Felicity had pushed half of her pancake into her mouth in one go. She had looked adorable, almost like a chipmunk. It was impossible to not be utterly and completely in love with her. “Felicity’s bus is coming earlier now and she thought she would manage to make it in time without changing her alarm, but-“
“Don’t you have little to no time in the mornings as it is?”
Oliver chuckled. “Absolutely. Felicity just didn’t realize. Anyway, we just need to set the alarm earlier. That way everything will be alright and I’m sorry that you need to take her longer now. It’ just that-“
“No reason to apologize,” John replied, shaking his head. “I have to admit when Lyla told me about this whole idea of two teenagers moving into the apartment upstairs without any support but us I didn’t think that you would make it, but… you and Felicity are handling the situation with being parents and going to college really well.”
“We’re trying,” Oliver explained.
“No, you really got it.”
“We couldn’t do it without you and Lyla.”
John waved it off. “We help whenever we can. Felicity is basically family to Lyla and that makes her family to me.”
Oliver smiled. He remembered how worried he and Felicity had been when they had found out she was pregnant. They had thought that they wouldn’t make it and all the struggles of being parents would eventually force them apart. Instead of that it had only made them stronger, them as individuals as well as them as a couple. They did have their struggles, but so far they had always managed to pull through. Oliver could only hope that they would keep making it through whatever struggles life would throw at them.
“I have to go now. Laurel’s coming over for dinner tonight and I still need to cook,” Oliver said after a while and got up. When John was about to get up to, Oliver gestured him to stop. “I’ll find my way out. Thanks.”
“Say hello to Felicity from me.”
“I will.”
Oliver was already halfway through the door from the living room to the hallway when John asked, “Hey, what do you think about going to the gym together again? It’s been awhile.”
Oliver stopped in the door, turning around to John and smiled. “Sounds like a good idea. I’ll talk to Felicity to check when there’s time and text you.”
“Sure,” John said and waved goodbye.
It was kind of funny that John was the only real friend he had here. The man was more than fifteen years older than him, but he was the only one he could really talk to. Besides, since they were both sport fanatics and fathers, they even shared the same interests.
Back in his and Felicity’s apartment, Oliver took a look into their fridge. Finding that he had everything he needed, he stretched a blanket on the kitchen floor and put Mae down onto it. He gave her some toys and stuffed animals including her pink octopus to play with. He then stepped towards the kitchen counter and started preparing the lasagna.
He realized once more that cooking really had turned into hobby of his. Chopping up peppers and zucchini like he had to do for the lasagna for example was kind of relaxing for him. A few months ago playing football had been the only thing to really have that effect on him. He had given up on football when he had been kicked out of the team for punching Max Fuller’s face after he had offended Felicity and their baby.
A lot of things had changed since then. His and Felicity’s relationship had become official. They had become parents. They had moved to Boston. Whenever he thought about it, he realized how long ago high school felt already. It was crazy.
When he felt Mae’s hand on his foot, he looked down and found her lying on her back right next to his foot. She was holding her pink octopus and smiled at him.
“What are you doing?” he asked her. When Mae reached out her arms, Oliver chuckled and lifted her onto his arm. She snuggled her head to his shoulder. “You want to make sure daddy does everything right, hm? That’s a good girl.”
Luckily, Oliver had grown used to using only one arm for everything he did, so he always had one arm free for his little cuddle-monster. With Mae snuggled to his side and her little fingers playing with the neckline of his henley, Oliver finished preparing the lasagna and put it into the oven.
Just when he was about to suggest to Mae continuing the cuddling on the couch, his phone rang.
“Tommy,” he greeted as soon as he had seen his best friend’s name on the display and taken the call.
“Hey,” Tommy’s raspy voice replied.
Oliver chuckled. “You sound like you had just got out of bed after a very long night.”
“My night ended around ten a.m. and my new day indeed just started,” his friend responded, a grin audible in his voice. “I love college life. Just wanted to check how you are.”
“I am great. I-“
When Mae leaned back in his arms and put her hands to his cheeks, babbling a few meaningless syllables, Oliver stopped and just smiled at her. If all her babbling these past days was any indication, her love for talking was something else she had inherited from her mother.
“I hear you are in company of a girl,” Tommy stated. “Good for you.”
Oliver chuckled. “We both know I am in company of one of my girls most of the time. Did you see the photos I sent you last week?”
“Yes. I am glad to see that she looks less like an alien now though I have to say with her chubby, little-“
“Be careful,” Oliver warned teasingly. “That’s my daughter you’re talking about.”
“And she is such a pretty girl,” Tommy hurried to say and laughed. “What are your plans for tonight?”
“Laurel is coming over for dinner.”
There was a short pause before Tommy hurried to say, “Sounds cool. Listen, I need to hang up. I promised my dad I would go to at least one class today.”
“Alright. Bye, man.”
“Bye.”
Oliver hung and looked at Mae. “What do you think, Sweetie? Is Uncle Tommy still in love with Aunt Laurel?” The little girl squealed and Oliver kissed her lips, chuckling slightly. “Yes, that’s what I was thinking.”
“Hey, you’re already here,” Felicity said slightly out of breath when she arrived in front of the door of her apartment and ran into her stepsister.
“Am I too early?” Laurel asked.
“No,” Felicity replied with a chuckle and pulled her sister and friend into a short hug. “Actually I am too late. Busses seem to hate me today.”
Laurel chuckled. “That bad?”
“Oh, don’t ask.” Felicity waved it off. After her struggle to catch the bus in time this morning she should have probably been prepared for another run for the bus in the evening, but she just hadn’t been which had ended with terrible side stitches that still lasted now. “How are you doing?”
“Great,” Laurel replied. “My classes have only gotten more interesting. The people are fun to hang out with and I have a date.”
Felicity stopped looking for her keys in the backpack for a moment and looked at Laurel, perking up an eyebrow. “A date?”
“His name is Jacob Sterling. We have some classes together,” Laurel replied with a wide smile. “He asked me out for dinner yesterday.”
“Sounds good.”
“Feels good.”
“That’s even more important,” Felicity said with a chuckle.
When she finally pulled her keys out of her purse, she quickly unlocked the door and let them in. While they were both getting out of their jackets, Oliver strolled towards them from the living room.
“Look, Mae, mommy’s home and she brought Aunt Laurel.”
“Hi, Ollie,” Laurel said and took Mae from him, kissing her cheek. The little girl reached out her arms over Laurel’s shoulder for her mommy, though, and released a sound of displeasure. Laurel chuckled. “I know. I just pushed to the front and you want mommy first, hm?”
Felicity chuckled and stepped behind Laurel to kiss the tip of her daughter’s nose. Mae was a little cuddler and she really made it easy for them with all her smiling and babbling. Just in the evening hours she got whiney from time to time. Felicity’s lips moved up her daughter’s face to her forehead and kissed her there too. With a tired sigh her head eventually came to rest against Laurel’s shoulder, content with the greeting she had gotten from her mommy.
“Do you want to put her into her pajamas?” Felicity asked.
Laurel nodded. “Oh, yes absolutely. I’ll use every second I get to spend with my little niece today. I don’t see her enough.”
While Laurel took Mae to her nursery, talking to her with quiet voice, Felicity turned to Oliver and circled his waist with her arms.
“Hi,” she said.
“Hey,” he replied.
She straightened up onto the tip of her toes and kissed his lips. Oliver’s hands framed her face and he angled her head back, so he could stroke his tongue into her mouth and deepen the kiss. Their foreheads stayed in touch even after their lips parted. They enjoyed the intimacy of being close without saying a word.
Sometimes Felicity felt like it was really weird. Being a parent sometimes made her feel like she was so adult already, but then college and moments like this reminded her that she was just a teenager after all. She was a teenager who had just started college and who was madly in love with her first real boyfriend. She still felt her stomach flutter with thousands of butterflies whenever he kissed her.
“How was your day?” she asked after a moment.
“Unspectacular,” Oliver replied with a chuckle. He took her hand and pulled her with him into the kitchen. “How was yours?”
“Except for the drama with the busses it was okay, I guess,” Felicity replied. “Curtis, Ray and I want to meet for study group each Wednesday at least for now. Would that work for you?”
“Sure,” Oliver replied with a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “John and I want to head to the gym someday soon again, but I think we’d rather do that at the weekend when you’re home, so Lyla doesn’t have to take care of Mae even longer.”
Felicity watched him closely, biting down on her bottom lip. She knew that Oliver hadn’t had it as easy as she had with finding friends. She had basically met Ray and Curtis on her first day and they had been friends ever since. For Oliver it was more difficult.
“Everything alright?”
Oliver sighed, leaning back against the kitchen counter. He looked at her for a moment before he lowered his gaze to the floor. Felicity walked over to him, circling his waist with her arms and putting her chin to his chest. She quietly waited for him to speak, giving him the time he needed. It took a moment before he put his hands to her hips and kissed her lips shortly.
“I love you,” he said when he pulled back enough to look at her.
“But you’re not happy here,” Felicity said.
“You and Mae make me happy,” Oliver objected. Felicity cocked her head, knowing that it wasn’t the full truth. Oliver sighed and explained, “It’s just that for some reasons I fail to make friends or whatever and I… I want to give it more time. I will give it more time. It’s just hard.”
Felicity nodded, looking at him carefully. “You know that you only need to say one word and we pack our stuff and move back to Starling, right?”
Oliver smiled and pushed his fingers under the hem of her shirt, tickling her skin slightly and eliciting goosebumps there.
“I know,” he whispered, “but like I said I want to be patient.”
“You will tell me if you ever run out of patience, right?” Felicity told him. “As much as I love going to MIT, living here is only an option if you’re truly happy here.”
Oliver’s fingers pushed more under her shirt, his warm hands resting against the small of her back. Sighing, Felicity melted against him. She stroked her hands up and down his biceps, smiling at him.
“If I ever run out of patience, I will tell you,” he swore.
“Good,” Felicity replied.
Once more she straightened up onto the tip of her toes and kissed him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed herself closer to him. Sexy times had been cut short in the last months because between college and baby there just wasn’t as much time to enjoy being a couple. Maybe, if they were lucky, Mae would sleep through one of the next nights and give them the chance to catch up on that, though. As long as that wasn’t the case, they would make up to the lack of sex with heavy make-out sessions and-
“Oh, Mae, close your eyes. This is not G-rated.”
At the sound of Laurel’s voice, Oliver and Felicity pulled apart. Felicity turned around and saw Laurel stepping into the kitchen, holding a hand in front of her little niece’s eyes. She squeezed Oliver’s hand shortly before she stepped closer to Laurel and chuckled. “Trust me, she has seen a lot worse.”
“I didn’t think we’d be able to catch up on the missing sex this fast,” Felicity mumbled against his lips, pushing her fingers into his short hair and pulling him closer to deepen the kiss.
Oliver put his flat hand against her ribcage under her pajama shirt. He could feel the fast beating of her heart. It made him smile against her lips and he sighed into her mouth. He loved how she still reacted to each of his touches so easily.
“I’m surprised too,” Oliver replied. When Felicity’s breathing shortened, he moved his lips over her jaw down to her neck, sucking at her tender skin. “I don’t complain, though.”
“Oh, absolutely not.”
When Laurel had gone home after dinner, Felicity had taken Mae to bed while Oliver had been doing the dishes. Thanks to the fact that their little girl had fallen asleep easily tonight, Oliver and Felicity had both still been far from tired when they had fallen into bed and because of that they had soon started to make out.
“Maybe we should hurry up,” Felicity suggested and wrapped her legs around his hips, “before Mae decides differently and-“
As if she had only waited for her parents to remember that she was in the room next door, Mae started crying.
“-wakes up,” Felicity finished her sentence with a sigh.
“It would have been too great if she had slept through the night.” With a sigh of his own Oliver rolled off of Felicity. When she sat up and started moving out of the bed, Oliver quickly got out of bed and shook his head. “I’ll calm her down.”
“I will stay here, waiting for you,” Felicity promised.
Oliver stopped in the doorframe and turned back to her, watching Felicity stretching herself out on the mattress. “If you want to help, you could get naked already.”
Felicity chuckled. “If you think it will help.”
“Oh, it will definitely help,” Oliver replied and winked at her before he left towards the nursery next door.
As soon as he opened the door to the completely dark room, Mae’s cries stopped. Oliver perked up an eyebrow and stepped closer to the crib. His little girl was lying in the middle of her bed, playing with her feet and giggling at him amusedly.
Oliver chuckled. “You’re fine, aren’t you? You just wanted to check if mommy or daddy come and take a look at you if you’re crying, hm?”
Mae squealed. She pushed her foot into her mouth, her lips widening to a smile around her toes. Oliver reached into the crib and tickled her tummy. Mae giggled, releasing her foot from her mouth to kick her legs a few times before she reached out her hands for her daddy.
Oliver shook his head. “No, no, no. Now is not playtime. Now is the time for sleep.”
He gently stroked a hand over her blonde hair before he stepped back from the bed. When Mae made no sound, he slowly walked to the door. The moment he took a step out of the room, though, she started crying again. Sighing, Oliver turned and walked back to her. He leaned over the crib to look into it and Mae started giggling again.
“You’re not being funny,” Oliver told her with whispered voice, shaking his head in amusement tickling her tummy. His little girl really had him wrapped around his little finger. “I know you think you are hilarious, though.”
Mae reached out her arms for him once more and Oliver sighed. He knew that if he left now, she would start the faked crying again and he would come back in. If he just let her cry, even if it was only faked, she’d eventually start crying for real and then she wouldn’t sleep for hours. Once Mae started to really cry, it was almost impossible to calm her down easily.
“Okay, we cuddle for a few minutes and then you go back to bed and sleep,” Oliver said and lifted her from the crib.
While Oliver started walking her up and down in the nursery, Mae rested her head on his shoulder with a sigh. Her right hand moved lazily over his stubble, playing with the short hair as if she needed it to reassure herself that her daddy was here and she wasn’t alone. He gently rubbed his hand up and down her back in the meantime and pressed his lips to her temple for a gentle kiss.
Oliver didn’t know how long he had been carrying her up and down her room, but eventually Mae’s hand sank from his cheek to his shoulder. She stopped moving and her breathing evened out. Relieved that she had fallen asleep, Oliver put her back down in her crib. He stayed close and stroked his hand over her tummy for a few seconds longer to make sure that she wouldn’t wake up.
Only when Mae showed no sign of realizing that she was back in her crib and her daddy was about to leave the room, Oliver tiptoed out of the nursery. He closed the door behind him and released a low sigh of relief. Sending a short prayer to heaven that she was going to sleep through the rest of the night, Oliver headed back to his and Felicity’s bedroom.
“So I hope you are ready for-“
When Oliver found Felicity sprawled out under the blanket, fast asleep, he released another sigh and shook his head. It would have indeed been too nice if they had managed to catch up on the missing sex life tonight. Things just weren’t as easy for them. Felicity released a quiet snort and Oliver had to press his lips together to not chuckle.
He went to the bed and snuggled up to Felicity’s back, circling her slim waist with his arms and pulling her against his chest. He kissed the back of her head.
“I’m awake,” Felicity mumbled sleepily and released a tired sigh.
Oliver chuckled into her hair. “No, you are not.”
“I can wake up, though. Just give me a minute.”
“No need to wake. Just sleep. We will take the time when we are less tired,” he promised and kissed the back of her head once more. “Goodnight, Felicity.”
“Night.”
Only a few seconds later her breathing evened out again. He snuggled even closer to her, making sure that his body was pressed to her form perfectly. Even in her sleep Felicity released a sigh in response and her hand grabbed his fingers.
This, lying close to Felicity and hearing Mae’s even breathing over the baby monitor, was what he wanted. This was what he had fought to have for months during Felicity’s pregnancy. This was what made him happy. Everything else, namely the lack of real friends here in Boston, was going to sort itself out with time.