Chapter Text
After arriving home with two plastic bags full of Chinese food, as Oliver promised Felicity as they left their babies’ ultrasound, the blonde kicks back on the living room couch, exhausted both physically and mentally. She hasn’t done much today beyond going to the hospital for the pregnancy check-up and ultrasound, but the emotional rollercoaster she’s suffered on with Oliver nearly missing the appointment, finding out they’re having twins, and Oliver freaking out and coming very close to leaving Felicity alone, has tired her out.
“Here.” Oliver slides a plate piled to the top with dim sum and chow mein onto the coffee table. He also sets down cutlery and a glass of water. “Would you like anything else?”
She eyes him suspiciously. “Egg rolls?”
The archer snorts, and reveals the bowl he’s been hiding behind his back, with six egg rolls in it. “You thought I forgot?”
Beaming at him happily, Felicity pops one into her mouth, chewing for only a few seconds before swallowing. The flavor is divine. “Just checking.”
“You can have your bean buns after you’ve finished,” Oliver tells her. “I’m going to take a shower, maybe call the office about coming in late tomorrow. I was thinking that maybe we should invite Thea over for breakfast. I know you’re going to call her tonight and tell her about the twins, but she’s going to want to come around as soon as possible. If we plan to have her around, she won’t turn up unexpectedly.”
“Good idea,” Felicity nods, ignoring the chopsticks Oliver has laid out in favor of a fork and spoon. Although she’s skilled with chopsticks, the pregnancy has only made her even more clumsy and uncoordinated than usual. Plus, she’s so hungry she just wants to shovel food into her mouth; chopsticks are too finicky and take too much time to use. “I can’t promise there’ll be any food left after your shower. I’m starving.”
“I’ve hidden a carton of chow mein for myself, so feel free to finish everything else.” He squeezes her shoulder companionably before departing.
Felicity clears her plate far quicker than is likely polite, relieved that Oliver is gone so she doesn’t have to withstand his incredulous looks. Her stomach feels comfortably full and although she knows she could definitely eat more, she instead lies back on the couch.
Stroking her dominant hand over her baby bump, Felicity closes her eyes and starts planning what to say over the phone to Thea. She imagines the younger brunette - who she once thought was going to be her sister-in-law - will be ecstatic. The two women got very close and became devoted friends when Felicity returned to Star City after Ivy Town. Thea was one of the biggest champions of Felicity and Oliver’s relationship, and has been heartbroken ever since they broke up. She’s going to be over the moon hearing about how her brother and friends are now expecting twins.
Felicity bites the bullet, pulls her cell phone out and calls her.
“Hey, Felicity!” Thea greets her cheerfully. “How did the operation go?”
Ah, right, Oliver told everybody at City Hall that he needed the afternoon off because he was supporting Felicity getting an operation concerning her microimplant.
“Hi, Thea. There, er, wasn’t actually an operation,” she admits.
Thea fake gasps. “So my brother is a lying sneak who wasn’t actually at the hospital with you? What a surprise,” she laughs. “He was most likely down in the bunker training those kids he’s decided to adopt and beat up.”
“Oliver doesn’t beat them up. At least… not too badly,” Felicity replies, amused. “And he was at the hospital with me. So he wasn’t completely lying.”
There’s a beat of silence and then Thea questions confused, “But if you weren’t having an operation, then why were you at the hospital?”
Felicity takes a deep breath and then announces gently, “Thea, I’m pregnant. Oliver’s the father. We were waiting until the ultrasound to tell everybody. You’re the first to find out.”
Thea screams down the line unintelligibly, utterly overwhelmed by excitement. Wincing, Felicity has to hold her phone away from her ear to avoid damage to her eardrums, but Oliver’s sister’s enthusiasm makes her grin. “Oh my god, I’m gonna be an aunt again, this is amazing! I’m so happy for you and Ollie! How far along are you!? What’s the gender!? Is it a boy or a girl!? TELL ME EVERYTHING, FELICITY!”
“Calm down,” the blonde snickers, rubbing little circles over her stomach. “I’m thirteen weeks. Not far enough along to know the genders yet.”
“GENDERS!?”
Felicity smiles at Thea’s audible flailing. “We’re having twins.”
“I can’t breathe, oh my god. This is incredible, this is - it’s unbelievable! Twins! Two tiny Smoak-Queen babies! Wait, does this mean - you and Ollie are -?”
“We’re not back together,” she quickly cuts in. Best to put that idea to bed straight away. People thinking that she and Oliver are involved again might be too much for her psyche. “This was - well. For lack of a better word, this was a mistake. Entirely accidental. Oliver and I aren’t back in a romantic relationship at all. Back in July, we had a very drunk one-night-stand. I, er, wasn’t on birth control and we were a bit too out of it because of the two bottles of wine we’d drank to think about… alternative methods.”
“You were both so wasted that you forgot about condoms.” Thea is wheezing with laughter at this point. “Of course. So I guess I’ll have to give the wine the credit for all of this, since you and Oliver had no idea this was going to happen”
“You could probably give the credit to Curtis,” Felicity responds. She casts a glance over at the kitchen, where the Chinese take-out cartons are sitting on the counter. They’re from the exact restaurant Curtis got the Chinese food from when he’d schemed to get Oliver and Felicity to spend the evening together in a romantic setting. “He’s the one who got us Chinese and wine and plotted the whole thing out so Oliver and I would be alone in the bunker for the night. He obviously didn’t plan for me to end up pregnant, but I wouldn’t put it past him to have expected us to… you know.”
“I’m sending him a gift basket,” Thea says, her tone decisive. “If you and Ollie aren’t together, then how is this going to work? I don’t need to kiss his ass for being an asshole and pulling his broody the-Green-Arrow-has-to-be-alone act, do I? He’s being supportive?”
“He’s been very encouraging and empathetic so far, excluding one or two little hiccups,” Felicity tells her honestly. “Oliver’s not my romantic partner, Thea, but we’re still best friends and we’re roommates, which will hopefully make this easier. We’re going to be co-parenting.”
Thea’s voice is dubious as she repeats, “Hiccups?”
She wonders for a moment whether or not she should mention to Thea about Oliver turning up late to the ultrasound, but then figures that Oliver has enough on his mind right now, and is struggling already with everything he has to deal with - he doesn’t need his little sister yelling at him. Instead of answering Thea’s question, she asks, “Would you like to join Oliver and me for breakfast tomorrow morning to talk about all of this some more? We can show you the ultrasound pictures. You’re going to be an awesome aunt to the twins and we’d love for you to be involved in all of this. Oliver is great and all, but he’s a man, and I kind of feel uncomfortable asking him to assist with the lady stuff, like buying maternity clothes. A woman’s energy around me would really help alleviate my stress.”
“Girl, I’m so there for you, for whatever you want or need,” Thea gushes. “And I’m totally in for breakfast tomorrow. Ollie’s probably trying to get you on a health kick, right? I’ll bring you some of those triple chocolate muffins you love from the bakery next to City Hall.”
Felicity almost bursts into tears, because god, she adores those muffins, and yes, Oliver has been cutting back her sugar content. There’s nothing more she wants right now than foods that can be labeled triple chocolate. “You’re a saint.”
“I love you too. Is Oliver there? Can I speak to him?”
She’s about to answer the negative, when the archer appears to loom over her shoulder. He’s just emerged from the bathroom, judging by his appearance; his t-shirt has some damp patches and his hair is wet and wild, sticking up in all directions. The pleasant smell of pomegranates wafts from his body as Oliver leans over to pass her a bowl in exchange for the cell phone.
Felicity peers down into it - and actually does begin to quietly cry. Oliver has served her three red bean buns with two huge scoops of his homemade vanilla ice cream. She turns around to thank him whole-heartedly, but the archer is already walking away, chatting to Thea animatedly. There’s a skip in his step, a wide, bright grin on his face and a sunny gleam in his sparkling blue eyes; Felicity hasn’t seen him this jovial in months, and yet he’s been looking happy and untroubled quite a lot recently, since the news of the pregnancy.
Digging into the buns and ice cream, Felicity switches on the TV on low volume, flicking through the channels until she determines that nothing good is on, and turns on Netflix. It takes a while for her to select a movie she wants to watch, and in the end, Oliver returns to the living room just as the starting credits for Disney’s Mulan come up on the screen and Felicity is licking her bowl clean of the last drops of melted ice cream.
“Thea wants you to know that it’s okay if we don’t use Thea or Theo as a middle name,” the archer smirks.
“How generous of her,” Felicity says, deliberately putting on a fancy accent, for no other reason apart from having fun.
Spotting that she’s finished her dessert, Oliver backs off to the kitchen to grab more ice cream from the freezer, scooping some more into her bowl and topping it off with a handful of sour Skittles and crunchy M&Ms. “Thea also told me that I’m a monster not letting you eat candy when you’re pregnant with my kids.” Mocking her posh voice and adding an excellent Brtish accent on top, he continues, “I sincerely apologize for any displeasure I may have precipitated.”
Felicity groans, tipping her head back as she spoons some of the delicious sweetness into her mouth. “You’re the best,” she manages to get out, the sentence slightly garbled because of her chewing.
Oliver’s lips tick up into a pleased smile. “Thea will arrive at seven am tomorrow.”
“I take it back; you’re evil.” She hasn’t woken up any time before eight am since getting pregnant. “I’m eating breakfast in my pajamas.”
“Fair enough.”
“I won’t even brush my hair.”
“Entirely understandable.”
She huffs, because how dare Oliver be so sympathetic and kind. Felicity doesn’t say anything else and just sits back with her feet propped up on the coffee table. Slipping on the couch beside her, the archer turns the TV’s volume up and settles into the cushions to watch Mulan alongside her. Once Felicity has finished her bowl, she passes it over to him wordlessly, and Oliver takes it so he can put it down on the floor by the side of the couch, to place in the sink later. And then, Oliver takes a hold of her legs and maneuvers her so she’s lying down comfortably, her feet in his lap - and he starts to massage them. Felicity’s eyes flutter shut in gratification and a whimper escapes her throat, which makes the archer chuckle. He gently brushes the fingers of one hand over her belly before returning to his masseur duties.
“You know, you’re pretty great at this,” Felicity sighs, relieved as the aches and pains which have been plaguing her feet all day begin to fade.
“And what’s ‘this’?”
“Hmm, being nice to the woman you got pregnant.” She cracks one eye open. “You’re a good man, Oliver.”
“Thank you.” His cheeks flush at her praise.
“... You’d be an even better man if you got me more ice cream.”
He tuts at her. “Don’t push your luck.”