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darkwingsnark · 4 years

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FIC WRITER MEME

Tagged by @prince-luffy

AO3 name: DarkwingSnark

Fandoms: ...SEE, I’m in lots of fandoms. Or at least, I’ve written for them during hyper-fixation periods. Let’s see what AO3 says...

Batman: The Animated Series (20)

Batman - All Media Types (7)

Wander Over Yonder (Cartoon) (6)

DuckTales (Cartoon 1987) (5)

Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero (5)

Penguins of Madagascar (3)

James and the Giant Peach - Roald Dahl (3)

Darkwing Duck (Cartoon 1991) (3)

Disney - All Media Types (3)

Dan Vs. (2)

Milo Murphy's Law (2)

Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja (1)

The Batman (Cartoon) (1)

Lady and the Tramp (1955) (1)

Looney Tunes | Merrie Melodies (1)

Winnie-the-Pooh - All Media Types (1)

Alice in Wonderland (1951) (1)

Gummi Bears (TV) (1)

Winnie-the-Pooh (Disney) (1)

.... Honestly, I feel like there’s more that this list isn’t covering. Like Phineas and Ferb isn’t here and I wrote for that show too. And many of these can be simplified and condensed because they belong to similar fics.

Tropes: Depends on the fic. But as a whole, tend to write Romantic Comedies with a lot of slow burn. Mostly because... struggle is funny. People being dumdums and oblivious to the obvious is funny. Aaaaand also because it allows the episodic quality of shenanigans to occur.

Number of fics: Up and posted on AO3? 53. Does not include stuff on FF.net or that’s sitting in google docs begging to be finished.

Fic I spent the most time on: Not sure how to read this. Does it mean active man hours? Or does stuff like having a hiatus in-between count? Because TECHNICALLY ‘Real Value’ was started in high school, and I didn’t rewrite it and carry on the series (with Moonie) until many years later. There are also fics like ‘Growing Love’ or ‘Priorities’ that took a lot of time to do research. Like learning how to build a lawn mower so I could have a character believably break it apart for repairs.

....God I do a lot of research that doesn’t go into the actual fics. Because all I need, really, in the confidence of what I’m doing to be the character and describe an action here or there.

Fic I spent the least time on: Probably something drabble related? Or maybe the fic I did that was just me venting out emotions because I was feeling guilty? ‘A Mother’s Intuition’ was written and posted within a couple of hours.

Longest fic: Complicated. The longest thing written is technically an RP, NOT a story. (Different, trust me.) ‘What Happens in Gotham’ has a word count of 207,413. But fic wise at 89,022 word would be ‘The Constant Gardener’ .

Runner up being ‘Priorities’ at little over 87k.

Shortest fic: Drabbles? Uh, let’s see.. Probably from ‘Beauty and Your Worth’, as i think one was literally a paragraph long. ... Speaking of Gummi Bears, I wonder if I still have my notes on the GruffiGusto fic I wanted to write. Something to look into.

Most hits: Apparently ‘Fallen Hard’ at 5354

Most kudos: Also ‘Fallen Hard’ at 518. There... were more fans of Milo Murphy’s Law than I realised.

Most comment threads: ‘Fallen Hard’, 193 comments. ‘What Happens in Gotham’ following at 185.

Most bookmarks: .... that’s something people care about? I hardly ever bookmark things, since I read it in one go. But... I can look?

Ah.... ‘Fallen Hard’. 63

Total word count: 971,833 Oh hey! Almost a million. That’s something to celebrate.

Favorite fic I wrote: 'Knights of Dobenshire’. Hands down. (With ‘Heart of the Cards’ being very close.) I like writing road trip styled stories. It allows many things to happen within the narrative. BUT, ‘Knights of Dobenshire’ wins because it was such a satisfying conclusion of this build up, you know? Scrooge is finally no longer just putting up with the relationship with Fenton, but fully embracing it. That surprise feeling that hits him when he realizes, dear lord, he IS attracted to Fenton beyond affection.

It hits me more than a mutual pining because there I KNOW they will get together. But here? While writing with Moonie? I DIDN’T KNOW! I was worried in the end we’d have to write another fic to finally reach that step. Scrooge is stubborn and does what he wants, let me tell ya.

Fic you want to rewrite/expand on: 'Fallen Hard’, ‘Season of Miracles’, ‘Going with the Flow’, pretty much anything that isn’t complete. BUT, not posted, I really want to get back to more of the stories planned in the McCrack series. It was a ship I kinda made from the ground up, with nobody caring about it in the beginning. So it feels very important to see that series through.

Share a bit of a WIP or a story idea you’re planning on:

... Actually, I can share something from 'Donald’s Party (Working Title)’. @swampy-tiefling and I started. Just the first scene to get you guys hooked.

Donald took a deep breath of air from the doorway of the house and sighed, once again pleased to find himself at his home away from home. Traveling the seas and exploring the world with the navy were its own rewards, he supposed, but there would never be anything quite like the countryside-- the middle aged mallard having practically been raised on Grandma Duck’s farm. Donald Duck was happy to be on shore-- his naval carrier being docked for the week in Duckburg as they replenished supplies and took care of whatever repairs that were needed. Whatever excuse his bosses wanted to use were fine by him, he was just happy to not be scrubbing decks for a change!

That didn’t, however, mean he was able to rest and relax-- as the duck was startled out of his thoughts as somebody bumped into him. That somebody was his grandmother as she came to, just having caught her plate of cookies before they fell.

“My land, Donald! What in the world are you doing hiding here when you should be meetin’ and greetin’ the guests?”

Donald ignored the woman’s soft glare as he waved her off, using his other hand to steal a cookie in the process. Stuffing it in his mouth, he murmured out a response.

“Phooey, they’re just relatives.”

“Even more of a reason to go out and talk to them.” Before the sailor could argue, Grandma Duck placed the plate of treats into his hands. “And put these out on the snack table while you’re at it. Poor Fethry is looking peckish.”

Donald rolled his eyes, but otherwise did as he was told. Wasn’t it just like life to make him work at his own welcome home party? Walking towards the open yard where the party was taking place, it didn’t take long to reach the table, where his cousins were already gathered around as they chat.

This instantly caught the attention of the lankier duck, his gaze zoning in as he smiled widely towards Donald in greeting.

“Well if it ain’t the guest of honor, with snacks to boot!” Fethry leaned closer, his red hat wobbling with him as he continued to inquire. “Say, cuz, ya wouldn’t happen to know if these are gluten free, would ya?”

Donald gave him an unimpressed look.

“You’re not going on another crazy diet, are ya?” Though, in all honesty, he was more worried his looney cousin might try to drag him along-- and after months of eating nothing but mush, he would NOT miss out on his first chance to pig out on actual home cooked meals.

"Not crazy at all, actually!" Fethry grinned that goofy grin. "See, it's all right here; Gluten Free; It's the Way to Be' !" he shoved a rather lengthy-looking hard cover book in Donald's face. Donald had no choice but to stare at it, the words all blurring together from its close proximity to his eyes. The offending object remained there for only a second, however, before it was yanked back, the nutty mallard already busy flipping through it.

"Let's see, here, there's a fascinating chapter I think you should-- Don?"

Phew, that had been close. Donald was still in sneaking away mode, and jumped and yelped when he was tapped on the shoulder. Oh no. He'd been caught, after all. He slowly turned, with a forced, toothy grin, to face his fate.

A wave of relief washed over him when he saw his girlfriend, Daisy, smiling sweetly at him, instead.

“And where do you think you’re sneaking off to, Mister? You’ve been gone for so long, and here we are, with you haven’t even given me a kiss ‘hello’ yet.”

Now there was something Donald didn’t mind doing, as his girlfriend leaned in her face for her reward. Wrapping his arms around her, he planted the biggest of smooches to her temple.

“Gaww, I’m sorry Daisy. I really did miss you.”

This earned him a soft smile, as it was Daisy’s turn to kiss him on the forehead.

“And I missed you, hun. Now, tell me… why WERE you sneaking around?”

“Grandma put me on entertainment duty.”

“Well, “ his girlfriend began, “it IS your party, after all. They came to see you, seems fair to me.” This made the sailor groan as she looked at him unsympathetically. Rolling her eyes, the reporter sarcastically patted her boyfriend in comfort. “There there. Now don’t go sneaking off for real, the boys will be arriving soon. And Grandma tells me Uncle Scrooge will be bringing along a special guest.”

“Special guest?” Donald asked incredulously. “Like who?” This caused Daisy’s eyes to glimmer all the more in mischief, a look that told him that she knew something he didn’t know. And that something was big news, if he was reading her right.

“Oh, nobody TOO special, I suppose,” Daisy was stalling, and it was driving Donald up the wall. The duck woman continued her teasing. “Nobody except your uncle’s new date friend.”

"Date friend?" Donald practically exclaimed, prompting Daisy's grin to grow all the more smug.

"Yep! You've missed quite a bit since you've been away, you know."

"No kidding...well I'll be..." Donald was shaking his head, but he was smiling. Uncle Scrooge, dating, at his age... it was nothing short of a miracle. It was about time, too!

"Meanwhile, why don't you go say hi to the rest of the guests? I know it's hard..." she rolled her eyes. "but at least make an effort, okay? Thanks, hun!"

Donald's heart fluttered as she smooched his cheek, and left. He glanced out over the yard, and saw quite a few familiar faces; Gus, Ludwig, Gladstone... heck, even Gyro Gearloose had shown up!

He sighed, but this one wasn't a sigh of pure despair. It did feel nice to be home, surrounded by people who most likely cared, and his nephews were even going to show up soon. Not to mention, he'd get to tease his uncle for finally taking his advice on the whole dating thing.

That alone gave Donald the pep in his step he needed as he threw himself back into the party-- where he knew his crazed family would be waiting for him.

#long post #fanfiction #snark life #disney ducks #mccrack #meme

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withgraceandlight99 · 7 years

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Through the Eyes of a Child - Chapter 3/?

My hiatus fic | Teen + | Read on AO3 | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2

William’s perspective of his dad’s relationship with Felicity, ‘Team Arrow’, and maybe a girl named Zoe. But first, there’s some heartbreak and pain, because this an Arrow fic after all.

A/N: A lot of people requested a chapter of William and Felicity, so here you go! Enjoy!!! And thank you to the great response to this! If there’s anything you’d like to see, send me an ask!!!

“Okay, I’m late for my first day back, so I’ll see you both later.” Oliver ran into the kitchen, carrying his briefcase and dress jacket under one arm. William ducked his head to avoid the kiss that that exchanged by the stove, but waved when his dad said goodbye. When the door slammed behind him, Felicity turned around and smiled. “Guess it’s gonna be just me and you today, eh?”

That scared him a bit. Only because he hadn’t spent much time with her yet. Alone, anyways. William flashed her a smile. “I guess so. We aren’t gonna cook, though, right? Cuz Oliver told me that you’re not a good cook.”

She crinkled her nose and laughed. “I wish I could say he’s wrong. But he’s not. I can cook some really good macaroni, though. We’ll have that for lunch, because Oliver would throw a fit if he found out we’re having stuff from a box.” The last few words were sarcastic, but she smiled. “We can do whatever you want, but I would like to talk to you about something first.”

“Am I in trouble?”

“No! Definitely not. Did that come out like you were?”

“Kind of.”

“Sorry, sweetie.” She winced and took a couple steps backwards. “Obviously, I’m not very good at this. I’ve never really had a kid before. Not that you’re my kid. You’re Oliver’s son. There’s no doubt about that. And I’m just along for the ride. But…I’m going to stop talking now.”

He didn’t really know what to think. Or say. All he could do was stare at her.

“Well, at least I now know you look like your dad when I babble.” She took a deep breath. “Sorry. I’m going to try not to do that for a few minutes.”

He’d kind of assumed that there was more to Felicity than he’d gotten the past couple weeks, mostly because she often had something to do. And because he liked hiding in his bedroom to avoid talking to people. But after the ice cream run two days ago, he wanted to do something with his life. The idea sounded way too adult to him, but he didn’t have many friends, let alone friends his age. After a bit, he was bound to end up thinking like a grown-up.

Which was a little scary.

“Uh…William?”

He looked up at Felicity, who had a horrified expression on her face. “Yeah?”

“I didn’t…I didn’t scare you, did I?”

“Damien Darhk and Adrian Chase tried to kill me. You talking really fast isn’t gonna scare me.”

She giggled, but then sobered again, her eyes turning misty. “I honestly don’t know much about being a parent. In any form. Oliver doesn’t either. I honestly think we should probably get a manual that says ‘parenting for dummies’. Y-You might not know this, actually, of course you don’t know this, but Oliver and I didn’t have good examples when we were growing up. But we’re gonna try this. And probably fail a hundred times over. But can you give us a shot?”

This time he did know what to say to her babbling. More like what to do. He nodded, and then smiled.

It seemed good enough for the blonde-haired lady that had his dad wrapped around her finger. She reached for her phone and leaned against the counter. “So I was checking with your school, and your principal said you never finished. Obviously.”

“No.”

“You don’t even know what I was gonna say.”

“Either way, no.” He hated school. With passion. Maybe he got that from his dad, who’d moaned and groaned last night about doing something involving numbers for the office. Felicity had finally shut him up by taking the computer and doing it herself. “School’s out for everybody now.”

“But you technically didn’t finish school, buddy. So before you go all ‘grrr’ on me, here’s my proposal.”

If he wasn’t throwing up in his mouth over the thought of finishing school, he would’ve laughed at her motions with her hands at the ‘grrr’ part. Be nice. She’d been gracious enough to talk to him about it—did his dad make her do this because he didn’t want to talk to him about school?—so he owed her his obedience. For now, at least. Unless she gave him a strange option. “Okay, go ahead.”

“Wow, I was hoping that would be less grumpy. But oh well. Okay. Here’s my idea.” Felicity took a seat next to him and opened her phone to show him a document. “You have two weeks left of school. If we get that done, we can do one of two things. Go shopping at IKEA and get you a crazy amount of weird things, or we could go buy you one of those insane video game controllers that I don’t even know what they’re called, but Curtis talks about them sometimes. Deal?”

“I have one question.”

“Shoot.”

“Can we do both?”

Her eyebrows rose, and then she laughed. “Oh my. Thea’s gonna love you.”

“But can we?”

“How about this.” She puckered her lips and leaned forward, a ‘this is going to work for me either way’ look on her face. “You get the two weeks done in a week…we’ll do both. Maybe even more. Deal?”

“Deal.” He shook her hand and then gestured to the stove. “Your bacon in burning.”

“Frack!”

After showering—because he was getting greasy hair, which couldn’t be more gross—he sat down at the table and stared at his computer from his house. The last time he’d done school, his mom helped him. She’d sat on the other end of the table, doing her own work for the office, listening to his whining about how much he hated doing homework. Whenever he didn’t want to continue, she would come to sit by him and tell him, “Honey, I promise this will be worth it in the long run.”

He didn’t want to do this.

“Felicity?”

She set the basket of clothes on the couch. “Yes?”

“I don’t want to do this. I-I…can’t.” Just looking at the computer hurt. What if he touched it? He’d heard about things causing flashbacks. It seemed like his dad had that happen to him every now and then. They’d watched movies a couple nights in a row, and during a couple parts, he’d started, and then Felicity gave him the look.

He crossed his arms and sagged forward. “I-I’m sorry. But I just don’t want to.”

“I understand.” She looked past him to the computer. “But I have a question for you. Would you be okay doing school if it wasn’t on there?”

He needed to change the subject right now. “Could I help you fold laundry?”

There was a pause, but she nodded and sat down on the couch. William took a seat on the coffee table and pulled out a t-shirt with stains on it. “Is this Oliver’s?”

“It’s Oliver’s but it’s mine. Assume that most of these shirts are his but I stole them all to sleep in.” Her head snapped up. “But you can’t tell him about that.”

“Why not?”

“I advise you to not ask that question again, mister.”

At some point, he needed the full story on the relationship that seemed to be more than complicated. He pulled out a pile of clothes and set them next to him to fold. Felicity moved faster than him, piling an insane amount of sweatshirts up in the basket after she dumped the rest of the clothes out. How many sweatshirts did they need? She laughed when she caught him looking. “I haven’t done laundry in weeks, and some of this is the other part of the team’s stuff.”

“They have interesting fashion.”

“A lot of this is René’s.” She patted the top of the pile. “He loves clothes like this. Oliver wears these clothes when he’s mopey, but I think most of his stuff is still over in the lair.”

“Why’s it there?”

“That’s where he’d been living.”

Which was odd, since his dad appeared to be living here. Or maybe not. Did he sleep on the couch or something? There were only two bedrooms, and whenever he had nightmares, Oliver got there in seconds. “Uh, can I ask you a question?” No use waiting for her to answer, because if she knew what he wanted to ask, she’d say no. “Why was Oliver living down in the lair?”

“Well…” she continued to fold, her eyes never leaving the clothes. “It’s complicated. Very complicated. But Oliver and I…we just found each other again. We’ve had a very crazy several months. And I guess that after everything that happened a couple weeks ago, we just decided that it was time to move on. Together this time. Does that make sense?”

“Uh huh.” Though fishy. They hadn’t been together and suddenly they were all in again? He didn’t read romance novels—only books that involved action, thank you very much—and he wasn’t very old, but that situation didn’t make sense to him. But judging by Felicity’s reaction, he wasn’t going to ask her again. That would be a question for Oliver at some point. “What does Oliver do when he’s the Mayor?”

“Oh, just your typical stuff. Saving the city from disaster almost every day. Kidding. It seems actually quite boring, besides the crazy stuff he has to deal with from time to time. Don’t tell him I said this, but I think he enjoys being behind a desk and not being shot at. Not that he enjoys being shot at. It’s just that the Mayor thing is a routine, while being out as the Green Arrow, there is a seventy-five percent chance that death could come tonight.”

“Sounds terrifiying.”

“Oh, it is. I don’t know how many times I’ve had to watch…” she took a deep breath. “Never mind. Thank you for helping me with this. Usually it takes a lot longer, because I’m really terrible at folding clothes.”

“I used to help my mom with this kinda stuff. She was a teacher, y’know, so she had a lot of stuff to do, so I’d get this stuff done for her.”

“I bet she loved when you did that.”

“It actually usually annoyed her because I always put everything in the wrong places. One time I tried to do the laundry and I turned everything pink.”

Felicity laughed and pointed to one of the shirts. “That’s what I did to this one. Oliver was so happy about that. If you haven’t noticed, I’m good at computers. That’s it.”

“Oliver thinks you’re awesome, though, so you’re definitely better at more than that.”

She cocked her head and looked at him for a few seconds before nodding, and then giggled. “Maybe you should be our relationship counselor. We’ve talked about giving that a shot, y’know.”

No, he did not know.

“There’s a lot of issues that we both need to work out together, and eventually, it might come in the form of counseling. Or premarital counseling. Which is not something you need to tell Oliver about. Shall we do something else now?”

“Like what?”

“I was thinking—”

Her words got cut off by a beeping sound that came from the tablet on the counter. William pointed at it as she ran to grab it. “Oooh, frack.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Just a minor thing. Well, relatively minor considering what happened two weeks ago. Hold that.” She handed him the tablet and grabbed her phone. “Oliver! Hey, honey, we have a bit of a situation going on.”

William looked down at the screen. Robbery at thirty-second street. Who robbed anything in the middle of the day? The Green Arrow and his posy would be able to easily take these idiots down. Though the rest of the posy were apparently on a much-needed vacation from crime, which left only his dad.

“Yeah, yeah, I know, but that’s an elderly living space. Could you just run down there and check it out? I’ll be on coms if you need me.” When she set her phone down, she gestured to a small box on the table. “Could you grab that for me, please? It’s my com.”

“Oliver had one on on the island.”

“Correct. Thank you.” She opened the box and slipped the tiny black bud into her ear. “Can you hear me? Perfect. And since William’s here, I’m gonna open up the coms on my tablet so that he can hear us. Yes, Oliver, because he’s a part of the family now and you can’t argue against this decision. He can listen in on this one.”

He’s a part of the family now. William smiled as he took a seat next to Felicity. He watched her fingers fly across the keys, drawing up things he could only assume were satellite imaging. Right? When he asked her, she nodded.

“I use a whole bunch of different things. Don’t ever tell anyone this, but sometimes I use the CIA’s facial recognition, or Argus’ equipment.”

“Fel-ic-ity?”

“Yes, dear?”

“My son does not need to hear about your—our—illegal activities.”

“I literally have your name on my computer as the Green Arrow.”

“I know, but he doesn’t need to know about…you.”

William laughed at Oliver’s hesitant voice, and Felicity’s open mouth, eyes narrowed as she glared at the tablet. “For the record, I like when she talks about this stuff.”

“Don’t encourage her.”

“No, I really do. I like computers and stuff.”

“Ha! So he’s not exactly like you!” Felicity pointed at the tablet, her laugh sounding a little satonic. Oliver released a long sigh.

“Honey, you are ridiculous.”

“Do you guys usually argue this much?”

Both of them answered, “No.” Felicity clicked off the com and said, “It depends on whether or not he woke up on the right side of the bed.” When she clicked hers back on, Oliver asked, “Why’d you turn that off?

“Because I needed to cough.”

Willaim pursed his lips, considering his options. There were two of them. Continue being a super sweet kid who cried a lot, or flesh out and be a little different than what Oliver and Felicity were used to. His mom told him to go with the latter.

“No, actually, she told me that you guys fighting depends on whether or not you woke up on the right side of the bed.”

“Hey!”

“That was supposed to be between you and me!”

Bravo. He tried not to laugh, but watching and listening to them both sputtering about made him giggle. And then burst out laughing that brought tears to Felicity’s eyes. “What?”

“It’s just that this is the first time we’ve really heard you laugh. And it sounds like Oliver’s.”

He hadn’t heard his dad laugh much, but the idea that he sounded like him…it did something to him. All his life, he’d watched his school friends get picked up by their dads, and he wondered about that feeling. Now he finally knew what it felt like, and it was more than he could’ve ever imagined. Mom would be smiling down on him right now, because he finally got to experience what it was like to have a true family.

“Okay, Felicity. I’m here. You seeing anything?”

“No sign of anybody. The call came from the basement, though. Do you have your suit on?”

“Everything but the hood. I’m going down now.”

“I’m seeing something to the left—”

Something exploded. William jerked forward, but Felicity reacted first, screaming, “Oliver!” over and over into the com.

“Wh-What’s…what’s happening?”

“I don’t know. Oliver? Can you hear me?” She swore and slammed her hands on the counter. “I knew this was a bad idea! My God, Oliver, this is so stupid!”

“Hey, hey, he’s not dead.” William touched Felicity’s cold, shaking hand. “I’m sure he’s fine.”

“Oh, you have no idea.” She leaned closer to the tablet, her voice cracking as she begged, “Oliver, answer me!”

Something crackled and then Oliver breathed, “I’m okay, Felicity. I’m okay.”

Felicity burst into tears. Her hand lifted to her face as she cried. Oliver asked at least ten times if she was okay, but she kept shaking her head. William pried the com out of her ear and jammed it into his own. Maybe he didn’t need that, but it made him feel cool. He turned off the sound on the tablet and then spoke. “Hey, it’s William. Felicity’s okay, but she’s crying.”

Oliver sighed. “Tell her I’m okay and I’ll be home soon. Between you and me, she’s still recovering from everything that happened and this probably set her off. Sit on the couch and ramble. That’ll help. I’ll be home in fifteen minutes.”

William turned off the com and shut the computer. He looked at Felicity, who just stared blankly ahead, not blinking and barely breathing. What was happening right now? Was she having a panic attack? Anxiety attack? Or was it something else that he hadn’t learned about yet? “Hey, Felicity?” She didn’t answer. Help me. He wasn’t equipped for this at all. He was only eleven, after all, who was still recovering from losing the only parent he ever knew.

But right now, that wasn’t the priority.

“Let’s go sit on the couch, okay?” He pried her fingers from their death-grip on the counter and helped her stand up. She followed him to the couch, sinking down next to him when he tugged on her hand. What had happened? There had been an explosion. And then Oliver not talking. Something in that time frame set her off, and he didn’t know what to do. Except grab her hand and squeeze. And start rambling.

“When I was really little, I had a dog named Smarty. It was a really stupid name but I named him that because Mom told me I couldn’t. And then Smarty turned out to be really dumb, because he ran away and I never saw him again.” He glanced at Felicity. Her expression hadn’t changed. Why couldn’t Oliver call the Flash so he could get here quicker? “Uh…um, I actually really like science. I probably got that from Mom, because Oliver doesn’t seem to like science. Though cooking is technically a science. So maybe he enjoys it more than he lets on?”

Finally, her eyes glimmered. A little bit. William whispered a ‘thank you, God’, and kept going. “Computer science is interesting, I think. I’m not really smart when it comes to stuff like that, but I think I could learn how to do it. Maybe you could teach me sometime? Because you’re probably the smartest computer person in the world, and it’d be fun to say that you taught me stuff. Also, I think we should surprise Oliver one night and cook dinner, because he thinks you’re a terrible cook and you’d probably be decent if you had help.”

He went silent for a few moments and listened to Felicity’s breathing. And watched her face. She didn’t have the nearly-dead look to her anymore, but whatever had happened was still there. C’mon, Dad, get home. He’d just called Oliver ‘dad’. It wasn’t supposed to be that simple, was it? Focus. “Obviously I don’t know much, but if you want to talk about it…” Bad move. She stiffened again. “Okay, sorry. I’ll tell you about my other animals, okay? I’ve had a lot. I was obsessed—”

“Felicity!” The door burst open and Oliver ran in, wearing his Green Arrow suit. He set his helmet down on the counter and ran to the couch, dropping down into a squat by Felicity. His hands enclosed around both of theirs—William’s included—as he searched her eyes. “What happened, honey? You can talk to me, okay?” One hand reached up and caressed Felicity’s tear-stained cheek. “Talk to me, Felicity.”

“C-Can you…”

“Want me to hold you?” He pulled her up into a standing position and wrapped his arms around her. Her body started to loosen, and after a few minutes, Oliver sank back down to the couch, Felicity cuddled in his lap. William scooted to the side and watched as his dad calmed Felicity down by planting kisses on her hair and face until she heaved a deep breath and relaxed against him.

That night, William found Oliver in the kitchen, making coffee. “Hey, can I ask you something?”

“Is it about what happened today? Because I was coming to talk to you about it.” He sighed. “There’s something you should’ve known from the beginning. No one in this house, or down in the lair has had a perfect life. We’ve watched our parents die, and cities blow up. And sometimes, what seems like a small thing can trigger memories of those events and that can cripple any of us.”

“So Felicity had…?”

“A mixture of everything. The explosion triggered a memory, and me not answering triggered another.” Oliver sat down on one of the stools and smiled at him. “Thank you for taking care of her. It might not seem like it, but every little thing helps in a situation like that. And just being there for her does a lot.”

“From the little bit I’ve been around her, she’s always so happy.”

“Felicity’s name literally means happiness.” Oliver’s eyes glinted with tears when he spoke. “But she’s not immune to the darkness that we’ve been surrounded in. She’s been my light for five years, but sometimes she needs people to be her light. You did a good job of doing that today.” Oliver clapped him on the shoulder as he walked past. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

William decided not to tell him for the sixteenth or seventeenth night in a row that usually one of the parents would situate him in bed and say goodnight or something like that. He missed his mom doing it, but eventually, Oliver would figure it out. Tonight, he dug around in the fridge for more food and after finding a half-eaten sandwich, turned on the TV. There was a discussion about how Star City hadn’t been subjected to a terrorist attack for the first time in four years. Both women on the show wondered if it had to do with the new mayor. It made him grin. That’s my dad. He’d saved a lot of people, and so had Felicity and the rest of team.

But he was just coming to realize at what cost.

#Olicity fic #Arrow fic #Willliam Clayton #Oliver Queen #Felicity Smoak #Olicity #Through the Eyes of a Child #Brianna writes

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