Hey babes! Back again with a new one in the Damn Good Family series for ya. This one was fun to write and after all the sweet, amazing, domesticated!Olicity/Queen family moments, it reenergized me into getting this one posted. :)
Enjoy!
The faint aroma of hot dogs mixed with fresh nacho cheese, hot peanuts, and cotton candy circulates through the air at Star City High School's varsity baseball field. The sun is shining high in the sky, providing light and warmth to all the people gathered in the stands, in the grass, and on the field. Birds are chirping in the trees and through the air as they fly by.
The perfect spring day for a high school baseball game. At least, in William's mind it is.
Within the team dugout, William grabs his favorite bat off the rack and holds it in both hands, adjusting his grip ever so slightly and taking a few practice swings low to the ground.
Setting the bat off to the side, he grabs his water bottle and takes a long drink from it as he looks out at the large crowd already gathering around the field. People of all ages are gathering together to watch the sport.
He smiles when he sees one couple in particular making their way to one section of the stands, the shorter of the two blondes carrying a small baby girl in her arms.
Stepping out of the team dugout, water bottle still in his hand, he makes his way up to the stands, sticking one hand up into the air.
"Dad! Felicity!"
"Hey, bud." His dad smiles at him as he approaches the stands. "You ready? First game as a freshman on the Varsity baseball team."
"Thanks for the reminder that I'm the youngest and most inexperienced player on my team, dad," he says dryly. "Really helps with the whole confidence thing." He honestly doesn't know if he's ever been more nervous than he is right now.
"Don't listen to your father, Will. You'll be fine," his stepmom tells him, lightly bouncing his nine-month-old sister Lillian on her knee. "You've got talent, skill, and heart. Makes for a perfect combination." Her eyes go wide. "Not that you have to be perfect out there. Nobody's perfect, right? Just try your best and you'll be fine."
William smiles at her, never getting tired of her babbling. "Thanks, Felicity."
"Will!"
He looks up to see the familiar brunette approaching the stands, a small smile on her face as she walks.
"Hey, Zo," he says to her, unable to keep the smile off his face.
"Don't screw up out there, okay?" she says to him in response to his greeting. "I'll never forgive you if you lose this game."
"You say that every time I play."
Zoe shrugs as she sits down, her dad joining her just a few seconds later, giving William a smile and nod of his head.
William returns the man's smile and turns back to his family. "We're all going out to Big Belly after the game, right?" he asks his dad.
Oliver nods. "Of course we are. It's a tradition."
"Even though we order from there so much already," Felicity remarks off-handedly. "Not that I'm one to complain about Big Belly Burger considering how often I eat their food, but yes, we're going." She adjusts her hold on Lillian, the little girl trying to get away from her. "You need to relax, lily-pad," she says to the young girl, tightening her hold just a little. "The game hasn't even started yet. Don't you want to see your big brother play an awesome game of baseball?"
"Hi, Lily," he says to his sister with a smile, reaching one hand out to grab her tiny fist and give it a small shake.
His sister smiles at him and lets out a squeal, leaning toward him and reaching her other arm out.
"I can take her for a minute," he says, looking up at his stepmother. "There's still a little bit of time before first pitch." He smiles as Felicity hands Lily over to him and he carefully adjusts her in his arms so she's sitting against him. "Hi, Lily," he says to her. "I missed you."
His sister gives him a gummy smile and leans forward to wrap her arms around him in a tight hug, pressing an open-mouthed kiss to his cheek. She's still figuring out how to kiss people without opening her mouth so wide. It's a work in progress.
He hugs her back just as tightly, being careful not to hurt her in any way, and he's almost positive that he sees Felicity taking a picture of them out of the corner of his eye. He can't really be mad at her about it, though. He's heard that parents take lots of pictures of their kids.
After a quick moment, Lily sits up straight and starts babbling nonsense to him, waving her tiny hands and accidentally hitting him in the face with her stuffed giraffe that she's clutching in one fist. He loves that she's so attached to it and wants to take it everywhere. He definitely made the right choice all those months ago when he gave it to her after she was born.
"Hello, family. I haven't missed the game yet, have I?"
"Hi, Aunt Thea," he says with a smile when he sees the brunette approaching the stands. "No, you haven't missed anything. The game hasn't started yet. I was just over here to say hi to everyone."
"Dinah, Vince, and Curtis are on their way," his dad speaks up, pocketing his cell phone and wrapping an arm around Felicity's waist. "Same with Digg, Lyla, and JJ."
"I think my mom and Quentin are going to be a little late."
"Glad we've got all that covered," his aunt speaks up. "Now give me my niece." She eagerly holds her hands out in his direction and he willingly hands Lily over to her.
"I should get back to the team now anyways," he says. "The guys said that Coach likes to give us all a pep talk before each game."
"Good luck out there, bud."
He smiles. "Thanks, dad." He turns around and makes his way back over to where his team is, just in time to hear his coach start to give them all a pep talk. And then it's time to play.
.
.
.
He managed to get a few good hits in during the game, but he wasn't exactly where he wanted to have been with his scoring. Everyone has already told him to keep practicing, that it was probably just nerves that got to him in the end, and that as he keeps playing his scoring will get better and better. But they said they were still proud of him. And that's all that really matters.
So now they're all sitting around a booth at Big Belly Burger, celebrating an excellently played game.
Everyone's talking and laughing and it's moments like these that he loves the most. When no one has to deal with any crazy super villains attacking the city and the worst thing that could happen is one of the little kids throwing a temper tantrum. And thank goodness both of the youngest kids are pretty well behaved and don't cause too many problems whenever they're out in public.
"Hey, Will, you alright over there, bud?"
He's pulled from his thoughts to see almost everyone looking at him. His swallows his food and nods his head. "Yeah, I'm fine."
"What had your mind so preoccupied?" his dad asks him.
"Probably Carmen Mullens."
He whips his head around to look at his best friend, narrowing his eyes at her. "Shut up."
"Who's Carmen Mullens?" his dad asks and he can feel his heart start beating faster. This is the last thing he wants to happen right now.
"She's no one," he says instantly.
"She's the girl Will's in love with," Zoe responds just a second after him.
"I'm not in love with her," he defends himself. "She doesn't even know I exist."
"And she won't if you don't talk to her."
"I'll talk to her. Eventually."
"I can't believe this is already happening."
He looks up to see his dad with an expression he can't quite read on his face.
"What's happening?" his stepmom asks as she rejoins the table with Lily in her arms and the diaper bag on her shoulder.
"Apparently Will has a crush on a girl at school," his father rats him out.
Felicity's eyes go wide as she sinks down into her chair, dropping the diaper bag onto the floor. "What? No. William can't have a crush." She shakes her head. "This cannot be happening. Because if that's happening then it means you're growing up and I'm going to start feeling old, even though I didn't actually give birth to you and didn't know you until just a few years ago, but it's still going to make me feel old and I do not want to feel old."
He smiles a little at his stepmothers' ramblings, a similar smile on his father's face.
"You're not old, Felicity," he tells her honestly. "And I don't have a crush on Carmen." He shoots a sharp glare at Zoe for bringing the subject up in the first place. He really regrets being so close with her sometimes. "She's one of the more popular girls at school so there's no way she'd even notice me if I did."
"Oh I don't believe that she doesn't notice you," Donna says to him. "You've got your father's charm and good looks. I'm sure she's just waiting for the right time to approach you."
"So long as you don't end up like your dad did in high school, I think we'll all be okay," Quentin tells him with a pointed look. "I think it's safe to say that Star City would be a lot better off if you didn't follow in every one of your dad's footsteps."
"Footsteps nobody here needs to hear any more about," his dad pipes in, stopping the stories of him when he was younger before they even got started.
"Don't worry, Will," his aunt says to him, "I've got some fun stories for you about your dad. Quentin does too."
"I wouldn't really consider them as 'fun'," Quentin says. "Especially not for me."
He zones out a bit as some of the adults around the table begin 'discussing' his father's old habits. He knows how to use Google and he really doesn't need to accidentally hear something he didn't want to hear that wasn't already online.
A ping from his phone pulls him from his thoughts and alerts him to a new text message.
Pulling the device from his pocket, he glances down at it to see a new text from his friend Lexie.
"Will, I thought we agreed no phones right now."
He looks up at his dad. "Sorry. It's from my friend Lexie, she works in the school newspaper. She said she was going to send me some of the pictures that were taken at the game today."
"Oh, Oliver, he's fine just this once."
"Felicity..."
"Oliver."
His dad sighs. "Fine. Just this once."
He gives his dad a quick nod before looking back down at his phone, opening up the message. Thought you'd like to see these before I printed them, maybe get some approval. :) Great game today, by the way. Can't wait for the next one.
Scrolling down, he sees a few different images of him on the field playing. He moves past those ones and a smile grows on his face when he sees the last couple of images. They're all of his family and friends that were at the game, one in particular that makes him the happiest to see.
It's of his dad holding Lily in one arm, his other arm wrapped tightly around Felicity, the two adults with wide smile on their faces as they cheer him on.
"What's got you so smiley over there, Will?"
He looks up at his stepmother. "Lexie sent me some photos from the game. Some of them are of you guys," he tells everybody. "She wanted to see if I could get permission before she printed them."
"I don't see why that would be a problem," his dad says. "Might be nice."
"Are there any of me?" Zoe asks. "I better not look stupid in any of them. That's the last thing I need at school."
"You look fine," Will assures her. "But uh, I wanted to show you two this one," he tells his parents. "It's probably my favorite that she took." He hands his phone over to Felicity, letting her share the screen with his dad.
"Oh that's such a great photo," Felicity says with a smile. "Look, Lily, you're about to have your first appearance in a school newspaper. That's pretty exciting."
"So I can tell her she can print the photos?" He asks his dad.
His dad nods. "Yeah, bud, you can tell her it's fine."
"Cool, thanks." He accepts his phone back from Felicity and shoots Lexie a quick text. Dad and Felicity said it's fine to print the photos. They're really great, by the way.
Thank you, on both accounts.
No problem.
Hitting send on the text, he locks his phone again and slides it back into his pocket, looking up to see his family back in a very heated, yet playful, discussion about something or other.
He smiles at the scene, leaning back in his seat and grabbing his burger to take another bite. He crosses his eyes and tilts his head with a small smile when he sees his sister looking at him. A second later she starts laughing, making him laugh in return.
.
.
.
"So, bud, did you have a good day?" his dad asks him as soon as they enter the house.
He shrugs, setting his gym bag on the floor right next to the couch. "I guess so. The game went better than I thought it was going to."
"That's because you played," Felicity tells him as she sets Lily in her play pen. "And you're a very talented young man who most definitely deserves his spot on that team."
He smiles. "Thanks, Felicity."
"Anytime, kiddo."
"So, any thoughts on dinner for tonight?" his dad asks as he shrugs out of his jacket, turning to hang it up in the closet.
He quirks a brow. "We just got back from Big Belly Burger and you're already thinking about what we're going to do for dinner?"
His dad shrugs. "I want to make sure we'll have what we need in case I need to run out and get anything later."
"Can we have lasagna?"
"I think we can do that," his dad says with a nod, moving over to Lily and squatting in front the playpen. "What do you think, Lily-pad? Should we have lasagna for dinner?"
"You know she can't answer you yet, dad, right?"
His dad gives him a look. "Yes, William, I'm well aware of that fact."
"Good. Just making sure you didn't think you could suddenly start speaking baby all of a sudden."
His dad levels him with a glare that's not quite as intimidating as he always hopes it'll be. "Go wash up. Then get started on your homework."
"I don't have any."
"Then clean your room."
"Cleaned it yesterday."
His dad sighs. "Then go find something productive to do."
"How about we all do something together," Felicity pipes in. "I mean, I know we just hung out together so it's possible that we're all a little sick of each other by now, but it never hurts to spend more time together as a family."
"I agree with Felicity," he says. "Can we watch a movie or something? Or maybe I can school you again at that game we played last week." He smirks.
"Movie night it is!" she exclaims, clapping her hands together once. "Double feature, one before dinner and one after. Who's picking the before dinner movie?"
He laughs quietly at Felicity's avoidance of being beaten again at videos games. "Nothing nerdy," he tells her as he falls onto the couch. "Something exciting."
"Well if you have such strong opinions then maybe you should pick the movie."
"Maybe I will," he replies, pulling himself up into a sitting position and grabbing the remote off the side table to turn the tv on and go to Netflix. "Just be warned, it may not be very family-friendly," he says with a small smile.
"Will," his dad warns.
He laughs quietly. "I'm just kidding." He turns his attention to the Netflix account open and smiles. "Mostly."
So? What did you think? Let me know in a review down below. I'd love to hear your thoughts.
I like the idea of Vince eventually turning to the good side and being with Dinah again and joining Team Arrow, so I kinda hope that actually happens on the show. I've seen a lot of negativity online geared toward the newer members of Team Arrow, and I think I'm one of the rare few who actually likes them (though I do recognize that they're kinda being dumb right now and need to chill out), so I want them all to be happy.
Until next time,
Jellybean96 out!