Prompt: Oliver and felicity ask william for help naming his younger siblings and he suggests Thomas for a boy and Oliver gets choked up.
So I tweaked this a bit, and I don’t think you’ll mind….
He had never felt so much for one person so quickly. Sure he loved his family, his dad, Felicity, aunt Thea, everyone on team arrow. But each one of them he had grown to love. He learned more about them and found his place among them. But it had been a process. Not this time. Not with his little brother.
“Yeah, he’s pretty cute,” Felicity hummed from her hospital bed. She looked tired, but happy, so happy. “I feel a little biased though.”
“I think it’s allowed,” he smiled down at the baby, putting his hand gently on his chest. “He’s amazing. It’s like it didn’t even feel real yesterday, and now he’s here.”
He loved his little brother. There wasn’t a shadow of a doubt that he wanted to be there for the kid from that point on. He wanted to watch him grow, and teach him all about baseball and volcanoes. William wanted to help him see the world.
His dad came up behind him, wrapping his arm around his shoulder. “So you want to help name him?”
Aunt Thea perked her head up. “You two still haven’t picked a name? Guys it’s not like you didn’t know the kid was coming.”
“We’ve been busy,” Felicity replied. “Besides every name we thought of got vetoed just as quickly.”
“It’s because we know too many people.”
William laughed, but his focus was on his brother, and how the kid’s eyes seemed to follow him everywhere. He was sure the kid already knew who he was, he already knew he could count on his big brother.
“I still think Matthew is a great name.”
“Ooh, I dated a Matt once,” Thea mused. “He was kind of a dick.”
“What about Johnathan?” his dad supplied.
“Babe, you know I love John with all my heart, but his own kid is named after him, he does not need ours as well.”
“I’ll be sure to tell him exactly that when he gets here,” his dad teased, dropping a kiss to Felicity’s lips.
“Don’t be gross in front of innocent,” he replied, and then smiled. “Or the baby either.”
Felicity rolled her eyes, but focused back on William. “Come on kid, we both know you’ve got something cooking in that head of yours? What do you think? Who do you think he is meant to be?”
William looked at his brother again, his bright blue eyes and upturned nose. He reached out, his fingers latching on to William and holding him there. So many flashes of them all together, of what their family had grown into, what it would continue to grow into, flooded his mind. And Felicity’s words echoed again. Who do you think he’s meant to be? William didn’t know. He didn’t know which paths his brother would take. What lay ahead for the tiny little squish ball of a baby. But he knew he wanted to see where he’d go.
William looked at his dad then to his aunt. He had heard the stories of their life. How tragedy and pitfalls had become synonymous with the passing of time. He knew who they had lost. Each and every single one of them. And he knew in that moment exactly what his brother should be called.
“Thomas,” he said, looking at Oliver. “Thomas Robert Queen.”
He had seen his dad cry before. That day on the island, many times during the arrest and trial last year. The whole time a few months ago when Felicity went missing. He had seen tears fall from his father’s eyes. But he didn’t think he had ever seen them so happy before.
“I think it’s perfect,” his dad cleared his throat, picking the baby up from his bassinet. “What do you think, Felicity? Does he look like a Tommy to you?”
“I think it’s perfect,” she reached out and squeezed William’s hand. “And he’s going to love that his big brother gave it to him.”
“I hope so,” William leaned into his dad’s side, getting a better look at Tommy. His brother. He was going to protect that kid with everything in him. He would make sure of it.