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Thea had been okay with it at first.
She understood that they were both vigilantes with very chaotic lives and they barely had time to see each other, let alone play meet the sister. Also, Ollie really loves the guy, and Thea can’t deny that she’s been pretty harsh on her brother’s girlfriends over the years (as Laurel can easily attest to), so maybe he’s afraid she’ll scare his boyfriend off. Whatever the case may be, her brother keeps putting off her meeting Barry, and she’s starting to get sick of it.
Still, she puts up with it. Until she hears her brother tell Felicity he’s thinking about proposing. And uh-uh, absolutely not, no way in hell is her brother proposing to anyone who hasn’t gotten her approval yet. Not a chance. So she sets a stern glare on her face as her brother walks into the loft the next night.
“Hey Speedy, I hope you’re not in the shower because I have been training all afternoon and and I really need…” He trailed off when he saw her face. “Why are you looking at me like you want to rip my head off?” Ollie questioned warily. “Maybe because I heard you talking to Felicity about possibly proposing to your boyfriend when I haven’t even met him yet.” She hissed, eliciting a sigh from her brother.
“Speedy look-” He started but she quickly cut him off. “Let me make this clear Ollie, until I have given him the go-ahead, there will be no proposal. I have to know that he really loves you. I have to make sure he’d jump in front of a bullet for you.” She explains, and really, he should know this. “He better not jump in front of a bullet for me.” Ollie grumbles protectively. “Thea, there just hasn’t been a right time yet, okay? I promise you’ll get to meet him.” With that Ollie walked past her to go get his shower.
Thea sighed in frustration. Why was it perfectly okay for Oliver to demand to meet her boyfriends to judge them but she can’t demand to meet his? Sure, she’s said a few words to the guy in passing, but that’s not enough. Ollie had been spending practically every spare moment he had with this man lately, and she didn’t know virtually anything about him apart from what Ollie and the rest of Team Arrow has told her. She wants to see for herself if this Barry is truly good enough for her big brother, she doesn’t think that’s too much to ask. As that thought entered her mind she noticed that Ollie had left his cell phone on the counter. A plan hatched inside her devious sister brain.
“You’re damn right I’m going to meet him, whether you like it or not.”
The next day, Thea was sitting patiently on the couch when a strong gust of wind blew through the door. Her plan had worked. She had sent a text to her brother’s boyfriend from Ollie’s phone saying that he should come over today. Then she had requested that Roy to convince Oliver to check out a ‘lead’ on a case they were working on. Barry came in around fifteen minutes after the time she texted, but she’d heard Ollie complain about his tendency to be late enough times to know that was normal.
“Oliver! I’m here! What did you want to talk to me about?” Barry called out. “Actually Barry Allen, I sent you that text.” She informed him. “Oh, hi Thea.” He responded with nervousness in his voice. Good. He should be nervous. “Sit.” She commanded and was quite satisfied when he immediately did so. She had to concede that her brother’s boyfriend was quite attractive. Tall and lightly muscled, with smooth ivory skin, chocolate brown hair, big green eyes framed by long, dark lashes, and what might possibly the brightest, most infectious smile she’d ever seen. But she didn’t give a damn about his looks. It was time to get to the bottom of who this Barry Allen person that her brother had come to so adore really was.
“I apologize for texting you under false pretenses, but it has come to my attention that I have not spent any amount of time getting to know you despite the fact that you’ve been dating my brother for almost a year. I felt I needed to remedy that, and my brother was not being cooperative.” She explained with all the false diplomacy she’d learned over the years. “Of course.” Barry didn’t seem to be falling for it.
She reached out to the coffee table in front of her and picked up a document. “I have taken the liberty of creating a five-page relationship resume for you to fill out.” She started as she handed the document to Barry. “The first page is a personal fact sheet of things I feel I should know about you, the second is a page for your to write your entire life history on for me to review, the third is on your intentions for my brother, the fourth is a questionnaire that will help me to determine how well you really even know my brother, and the fifth is a reference sheet for you to list at least six references who are as unbiased as possible. I will need names, contact information, and a brief description of their relationship to you.” She made sure she was as thorough as she could be. “Okay.” Barry answered unsurely as he picked up the pen she had provided him with and started to fill out the resume.
“In the meantime I will be asking you some standard questions.” She added. “What is your goal in perusing this relationship with my brother?” She questioned. “Happiness.” She raised an eyebrow. “Yours or his?” She wanted to clarify. “Ideally both.” Thea nodded. “Alright, would you ever hurt my brother, emotionally speaking?” Barry seemed to hesitate for a moment. “Being in a relationship, there is bound to be arguments sometimes where feelings get hurt, but I would never purposely hurt him.” She could accept that answer. “Would you ever hurt him, physically speaking?” She continued. “Again, we spar sometimes, and we go out in field together, I can’t promise that I’ll never accidently hit too hard when we spar, or that I’ll never make a call in the field that somehow ends up with him getting hurt, but I can promise that I’d never purposely hurt him, and that I’d do anything to protect him.” Thea didn’t let her smile show on the outside in order to maintain her air of intimidation.
Thea had to admit she was impressed. Usually, by this time the person she was grilling had attempted to escape by accepting a fake phone call, making an excuse, or just plain bolting out the door (which Barry was very easily capable of). The only person who’d ever sat through this was Laurel, but that’s just because she knew Thea well enough to know that resistance was futile.
“Why haven’t you tried to run off yet? Most people do.” She asked curiously. “Because if I run off, you’re never going to approve of me, and your approval means a lot to me.” He confessed. “Does it?” She inquired. “Of course it does. I love Oliver with all my heart, and you’re the most important thing in the whole world to him.” Thea scoffed. “It sure doesn’t feel like it lately.” She tried her hardest to hide the sadness in her tone. Barry instantly looked up from where he was still filling out the resume. “Don’t ever think that. He may be spending more time with me lately, but I’m sure when you and Roy started dating you spent more time with him than with Oliver, but that didn’t mean your brother was any less important to you. The truth is Thea, if you honestly tell Oliver he has to choose between having you in his life and having me in his life, as much as he loves me, and I know he does, he will always choose you. I hope that Oliver and I will spend the rest of our lives together, and you are a huge part of his life. So obviously, I want you to approve of me. I want us to get along. Because no matter what happens, you will always be his number one priority, and you should never doubt that. Just the other day he was gushing about how proud of you he is. Although he also said that if he has to see you get shot at one more time he’s going to lack you up in this loft and never let you out, but he’s just overprotective of the people he cares about like that.”
Thea grinned at him. “You know, I haven’t looked over your resume yet, but if you agree to never touch my ice cream without my permission and to never have sex with Ollie in my bedroom, your chances of getting my approval are looking pretty good.” She commented. Barry stalled in filling out the resume and quickly glanced up at her. “Why would I have sex with him in your bedroom? Wait, has he actually done that?” Barry queried with a light blush on his cheeks. “Yep. I was nine and he was nineteen. We had side by side rooms and him and Laurel were so wrapped up in each other’s bodies that they didn’t realize they’d walked into my room instead of his. They also apparently didn’t notice the dolls, stuffed animals, and purple wallpaper. I walked in just as they were climaxing and I screamed. Of course, I didn’t quite know exactly what was happening at the time, but I knew it was not supposed to be happening on my bed. Mom and da-Robert ran up the stairs to see what was wrong, and let’s just say he may have been a legal adult at the time but he was still grounded for a month and he had to buy me a new bed.”
She and Barry were both laughing by the time she finished the story. “Oh, that is priceless. I can’t wait to tease him endlessly about it.” Barry commented. She quirked an eyebrow. “You enjoy teasing my brother?” She questioned. “Ummmm, yes?” He replied cautiously, perhaps wondering if that would upset her. She grinned widely at him in response.
“Barry Allen, you and I are going to be great friends. Now, I have many more stories to tell you so listen carefully. There was this one time when…”
Oliver Queen was surprised to hear two voices laughing when he walked in the door of the loft.
He hadn’t had the best of days so far. He and Roy had gone on a wild goose chase that led nowhere trying to catch the villain of their current case. And Roy had been acting rather strange all day which worried Oliver. He hoped that Roy would tell him if something was wrong, he’d come to care a lot for his young protégé who was really like a younger brother at this point.
He followed the sound of the laughter to the living room where he found his sister and his boyfriend sitting together on the couch.
This could not be good.
“Hey, what’s going on?” Thea turned to him and smiled deviously. Another thing that could not possibly be good. “I was just telling Barry about the time when you thought it would be a good idea to put black and white streaks through your hair, and then I remembered we have pictures I could show him.” She held up one of the Queen Family photo albums, and he saw several more lying on the coffee table in front of them. “Give me that!” He demanded as he grabbed the album from his sister.
“Oh, come on Oliver. You looked so adorable.” Barry grinned at him as he spoke, making it really hard for Oliver to be righteously irritated with him. Although he had to admit, he may be irritated, but he was really glad his sister and his boyfriend were getting along. “No. I’m sure you’ve seen and heard plenty already from this little monster.” He pointed at Thea who gave him a practiced ‘who me?’ look to which he rolled his eyes.
“What are you even doing here?” He asked his boyfriend, but it was his sister who answered. “You kept putting off me meeting him, so I took matters into my own hands. And by matters, I mean your cell phone.” He pulled his phone out of his pocket and sure enough there was a text to Barry asking him to come over today that he hadn’t sent. It struck him with sudden clarity why Roy had been acting strangely earlier that day. Oh, that boy was so getting his ass kicked in training for the next week, maybe longer. “There was no lead on our case.” He wanted his sister to confirm what he was already sure of. “Don’t blame Roy, I can be rather persuasive when I want to be. You should know that better than anyone.” His sister attempted to placate him, while doing nothing to hide her devious grin. “Thea.” He growled, but she completely ignored him.
“I’m sure you’ll be happy to know that I’ve made Barry my new best friend, in fact we’re going to the movies together this weekend.” Thea started. “The movies? Which one of us is he dating?” He interjected. “Of course because he is my new best friend, and I’m very protective of my friends, and let’s face it you have a history, I have to ask. What are your intentions for my friend here?” Barry, little traitor that he was, was just laughing at his expense as he threw his arms up in exasperation. “Thea!”
“Chillax big bro, I’m just messing with you. However, I do fully approve of your boyfriend. Who knew that such a cute, happy, little science nerd could be so right for you? Plus, he clearly loves you, and I have confirmed he’d jump in front of a bullet for you. Although, now that I’ve gotten to know him I realize he would also jump in front of a bullet for a stray dog so…do with that what you will.” Oliver once again rolled his eyes at his sister, even though he was both ecstatic and relieved that Barry had obtained her approval. Besides, he had to admit, Barry probably would jump in front of a bullet to save a stray dog if he saw one in danger, a trait that was both frustrating and endearing to Oliver.
“My point is though, you have my full blessing to propose to him.” His eyes snapped to his sister immediately. “Thea!” Seriously, how many times was he going to have to yell her name tonight…oh no…no he cannot think of that the way that sounded. ‘Get out of my head Felicity!’ He thought to himself furiously as he tried to focus on the issue at hand. “What? I was just saying that you have my blessing to go ahead with proposal. I have the camera out and everything.” She held up a video camera. “Really? Right now?” He questioned her incredulously. “Why not?” She replied as she turned the camera on.
He took the ring he’d been carrying around for weeks out of his pocket. It was a simple silver band with two small stones embedded side by side, one green and the other red. On the inside of the ring the stones were connected by an engraved arrow with its tip pointed towards the red stones and an engraved lightning bolt with its tip pointed towards the green stone. Opposite those engravings was another engraving that read ‘Forever My Partner’.
Well, since Thea had taken the surprise and romance out of it already…
He heard the record button beep as he walked over to Barry and got down on one knee. He took Barry’s hand gently into his own. “Barry, when we first met you were just this awkward little science geek who was suspiciously butting in to a case at my company and quite frankly, kind of pissing me off just a little. But in the time I’ve known you since then you have forever become a part of my heart and soul. You are the light that shines for me even when I’m drowning in darkness. You are one of the few people I can honestly say that I can’t live without, no matter how much those people may annoy me.”
He was interrupted. “I know you’re talking about me.” He nodded at his baby sister’s words. “You are meant to know I’m talking about you. Either way Barry, I don’t ever want to live a life that you aren’t in, so I’m asking you to spend the rest of your life with me. Barry Allen will you-” “YES!” “let me finish my question?” He had an amused look on his face as Barry blushed and smiled sheepishly. “Sorry. Go on.” Oliver smiled back at the love of his life, and wondered how on earth he’d gotten so lucky. “Barry Allen, will you marry me?” “YES!”
His eyes lit up and his smile grew even wider as he slipped the ring onto his fiancée’s (and wasn’t that word was more wonderful to think than he could ever have imagined?) hand before pulling him up into a deep kiss, pouring all of his elation into it. He heard an “awwwwwww” from behind him, and he couldn’t help laughing into the kiss he and Barry were sharing. He pulled back from Barry’s lips but kept his partner wrapped tightly in his arms as he stared directly into his beautiful, green eyes. “I love you Barry Allen.” His eyes sparkled as he grinned at Oliver. “I love you too Oliver Queen.”
As soon as he finished saying those words he reattached his lips to Oliver’s. Oliver kissed back fiercely as Thea stopped recording in the background. Which was probably a good thing considering this kiss was much more heated than the last. Barry moaned lightly which made Oliver moan in return as he slipped his tongue into his lover’s warm, waiting mouth.
“And that’s my cue to leave.” Thea’s voice sounded from behind him, and while he felt a little bad that he was kicking her out of her own loft, he wholeheartedly agreed with her. “That’s a very good idea sis.” He praised as he tried and failed to keep the lust out of his voice. “I’ve got a whole bunch I’ve people I need to go show this video to anyway. Just do me a favor and when the clothes start coming off, take this to the bedroom.”
With that his sister grabbed her purse and shoved the camera inside as she turned to leave him and his fiancée (god, he really loved thinking that) alone for the night. He smashed his lips back to Barry’s hungrily as she exited, though he heard her call back to them just as the door slammed.
“And I don’t mean mine!”