“Arrow:” Forbidden Desires

Author’s note: Incest one-shot involving characters from the TV show “Arrow.” All characters involved belong to their respective owners. All characters are over 18 years of age.

Continuity wise, I suppose this is set after episode 1.14, “The Odyssey” as it references events occurring in that episode. However, I have no choice but to completely ignore the fact that the vigilante confronted Moira and pretend it never happened, that development would throw way too much of a monkey wrench into everything.

My first ever fanfic, so all reviews and feedback would be greatly appreciated!

Oliver Queen woke up in the morning in his own bed at 8 AM. He stared at the ceiling, and sighed. He wished that he was alone.

But he wasn’t alone. And as soon as he twitched and moved, Carrie Cutler’s cold limbs surrounded him as a reminder of that fact.

“Mmm, Ollie, baby, you rocked my world last night.”

He was suddenly filled with a bit of contempt. Only people special to him could call him “Ollie.” Carrie Cutler was not one of those people. And he immediately regretted his decision last night.

He knew he had to keep up appearances. He knew that he had to be Oliver Queen, billionaire playboy without a care who would sleep with any pair of curves that had two legs. That irresponsible person couldn’t possibly be the notorious vigilante who’s been going around Starling City.

But that irresponsible playboy wasn’t his true self. Not anymore. Not after the island changed him. Maybe the fiction he created was true of the selfish man who went on that boat trip five years ago, but not the man he was now. Not now. And he had to continue to pretend to be that man to avoid any suspicion. Right now, having dalliances with women was the best excuse he could come up with as to why he didn’t return home several nights of the week. He had the “working on the nightclub” excuse, but that was relatively flimsy and he could only play that card so many times. For the most part, his best excuse for not coming home was that he was out on an excursion with a beautiful socialite.

But it wouldn’t be believable if, for some reason, every single night ended up with him visiting the woman’s home and never brought back any to his own. He realized this. Last night he was recuperating from a particularly difficult take-down a few nights earlier, so he decided to give in to Carrie Cutler’s advances to help support his fiction.

And while it was true that he did indeed have sexual relations with Carrie last night, Oliver didn’t feel anything. He went through the motions. And afterwards, he felt disgusted.

Carrie was the first woman he had slept with after the island experience since Helena. And Helena….well, he had deceived himself into thinking that she was right for him, that she understood him. He had felt something, if only temporarily. But Helena clearly proved herself later to not be the right one for him, to not be someone understood him as he had previously desired. He surmised that he was projecting. Still, at the time, he could justify the connection, could justify how he felt at the time. He could not justify any sort of connection with Carrie. A pointless dalliance to keep up appearances.

“Hey stud,” she turned to him in bed and said, “how about I cook you some breakfast?”

“That sounds fantastic,” he lied as he smiled at her.

Carrie grabbed her clothes from the floor and put them on. Then, she walked out the door and closed it behind her. She stopped in the hallway. Someone was there. “Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t realize you were out there.”

Oliver knew exactly who was out there. The voice was a bit muffled through the door, but he knew who it belonged to. His mother was on a business trip for two weeks, and Walter was still missing, so there was only one other person sharing the house with him for the time being.

“Have fun last night?” the voice outside the door asked Carrie.

“Oh, listen, I’m so sorry…I didn’t realize you were here…look, I don’t want to cause any awkwardness….if you want me to leave, then I will…”

“No, it’s okay. It’s fine, really.”

“Well…um…actually I just remembered, I have an appointment I need to go to. I’ll be out of your hair,” Carrie replied. She then walked back inside Oliver’s bedroom, grabbed her purse and her other belongings, and then stood at the doorframe again. She looked back at Oliver briefly as he lay in bed. “Hey, listen, Ollie, sorry, I actually have to go…talk to you soon?”

“Yeah, for sure,” Oliver lied, with a smile.

“Okay, great. Thanks again,” Carrie smiled, as she closed the door. Oliver heard her walk down the stairs and leave. He sighed, and waited in bed for another five minutes. He slowly crawled out of bed, put on his clothes, and then stepped outside his room.

He was hoping the person who spoke to Carrie would have gone back to her room or downstairs by now. But, no. Thea was still standing in the hallway, arms folded.

He looked down at the ground for a moment, then moved his eyes back upwards towards his little sister.

Thea stared at him for a moment, with a clear look of disapproval. She shrugged her shoulders, then mimicked their recent visitor’s words in a high pitched tone. “Okay great, thanks again!” she said in a juvenile mocking voice.

“Speedy…” Oliver said with a sigh as she walked towards her. She backed away.

“I don’t like her, Ollie,” she said defiantly. “I know who that is. Carrie Cutler. Spoiled socialite…she loves the tabloids, sells out gossip about her friends to them…”

“Speedy, it was nothing. I agree with you in that I don’t particularly care for her as a person. I’m not interested in dating her. It was just a drunken mistake. I regret it now,” he replied, trying to console her.

“Do you?” she said, her mood starting to warm. “Well…that’s good, then. I just thought you should know that I don’t particularly care for your choice of friends in this instance.”

Oliver was glad that the mood had lightened somewhat. He chuckled to himself for a moment, then looked back at Thea. “Speedy, from what I can recall, you have never approved of any of my choices in ‘friends.'”

Thea stared back at her big brother for a moment, then started to laugh. “Well, I guess you have a point. Look…I’m sorry, but I always idolized you growing up. I just never thought any of them were good enough for you. I guess I still can’t help but think that way.”

“That’s okay, Speedy. I understand,” he said as he playfully knocked her on the chin.

“I do feel kinda bad about the waffles though. I’d offer to make you some myself in exchange for sending away your would-be cook, but I have to get to the office, like, right now.”

Oliver couldn’t help but laugh at this statement, given her attire. She had to do some internship work at CNRI because of her arrest, but she obviously was trying to make a statement with her attire.

“Sis, you’re wearing a see-through shirt that shows your bra underneath. I’m not sure that’s entirely appropriate work attire.”

“That’s kind of the point. Think of it as a form of ‘silent protest,'” she grinned. She walked past his room towards the stairwell, giving big brother a playful bump on the shoulder along the way, before turning back towards him at the top of the stairs. “It’s sooo boring there. I don’t even have anything to do.”

“I kind of gathered that, considering that whenever you have to go there you seem to be mostly preoccupied with e-mailing me funny pictures of cats.”

“You love it. I’ll find some good ones,” she laughed, as she slowly started to walk down the stairwell. Oliver smiled, then walked back towards his bedroom and started to open the door.

Before he could open it, Thea turned back to him and addressed him.

“Ollie? Wait, one thing real quick,” she said.

“Yeah?”

“In the wake of all of that…business…I have a question for you.”

Oliver looked at the floor for a minute and chuckled. He had a feeling that he knew what was coming next. “Oh, really? Come on, Speedy. Don’t tell me it’s that same question again.”

His tone was one of mock-annoyance. Despite that, he really hoped with all his heart that it was indeed “that same question” again.

“That question” was thinking about had started when Oliver was 13 years old. That was when he started to go on “dates” with girls. Altogether innocent dates, mostly going to the movies with parental supervision, hanging around the house and playing games, that sort of thing, before the girl’s parents drove her home at the end of the day.

The first one was Michelle Grell. She had come over to their house when both Oliver and her were 13, and had spent a lot of the day together on a very tame middle school imitation of a “date.” While their respective parents were in the next rooms, Oliver and Michelle had played cards, board games, and laughed together before her parents took her home for the night. It was totally innocent and playful, but it was still Oliver’s first “date” with a girl.

4-year-old Speedy did not like this one bit.

After Michelle had gone home, Oliver had found his baby sister crying in her room. He had gone over to console her. She was upset, and she didn’t understand the dynamic. She didn’t realize that boys and girls went on “dates.” She was just upset because she thought that this new intruder was coming in to take her place as Ollie’s best buddy.

The young Oliver hugged her and consoled her, and tried to explain to her that it was a different dynamic. She only seemed to partially understand, so he tried to lay it out to her in terms she could comprehend.

“Don’t worry, Speedy. She’s only here for a little bit. But you? You’re my baby sister. I’ll always love you forever.” After he said that, four-year-old Speedy asked him a question. One that had always stuck between them ever since then.

Even after he turned 18 years old and the “dates” became much less innocent, little Speedy continued to ask him that same question after the girl in question left, even with Laurel. And Oliver had always responded the same way.

And now, after five years shipwrecked on an island, after what was seemingly an entire lifetime had transpired between them, Oliver Queen looked at his little sister and hoped she would ask the same question again. She wasn’t a little girl anymore. Thea was a full grown and beautiful 18-year-old woman. Still, he hoped that she would now ask the same question she always had when she was a little girl, to remind him of the period of innocence he had lost with his beloved little sister.

The fully grown Thea Queen looked up from the stairwells into her brother’s eyes. And finally, she asked the question of him.

“Ollie?” she said as she looked up at him. “Am I still…your favorite girl?”

After being away for so long and missing her growth and development, Oliver had a hard time reconciling the fact that this fully grown and beautiful adult woman who happened to be named Thea Queen was the same person as his beloved baby Speedy. But hearing this question again brought a warmth to his heart and helped him understand that despite it all, this really was the same little girl he remembered.

In response to her question, he walked up to her and hugged her. The same way he did 14 years ago. And then, he gave the same response he always had.

“Of course, Speedy. Always and forever.”

The two adult siblings embraced for several moments.

This brief exchange of dialogue, as well as the warm embrace, were symbols of the collective innocence they had once shared together. An innocence and development that had been broken by their time away from each other, which they still felt within one another and were desperately clinging to.

Finally, they broke the embrace. Thea, with a feint trace of a tear in her eye, called back towards him as she descended the stairs.

“Good to know, Ollie. I’ll see you in a few hours when I get home, big brother.”

Thea made a “waving goodbye” motion with her hand, which Oliver reciprocated. He smiled, and then retreated back towards his room. He crawled on his bed and put his blanket back on him, leaving his shirt and shorts on. He leaned back on the pillow and began to think to himself.

Oh, my baby Speedy.

More than anything else since he returned since his five-year stint on the island, she confounded him. After returning back, their mother was pretty much the same person he remembered from before. Tommy was definitely the same person. Laurel, despite her newfound hostility and the complications in their relationship, was definitely the same person.

But Thea? She had changed. To a large degree.

It was hard for him to reconcile the fully grown adult woman he saw before him now with the little baby Speedy he had remembered from five years ago. They seemed like completely separate entities entirely.

The Speedy he remembered was a little girl that used to playfully chase him around. He used to give piggy-back rides to her around the house whenever she would ask. They would play each other in “Go Fish,” and he would simultaneously lose to her on purpose while she also cheated at the game.

But that little girl, his little Speedy, was not the same person he saw before him today after so many years away on the island. She had grown from a 13 year old into a fully grown 18 year woman. She was completely different. She had grown. She had changed. And Oliver had missed all of it.

He knew that his time away on the island ended up doing good for the city. It turned him into an unstoppable force that hunted the corrupt and evil men that were on his father’s list.

But was it worth it? Speedy made him question that fact more than anything. He had missed her first dance recital. Her first play. Her first day of high school. He missed all of the change and development. When he left, she was one thing. And when he came back, she was something else entirely.

He couldn’t reconcile the two beings in his head. They seemed like separate entities. His baby Speedy would never go to nightclubs, get drunk, get into drugs, or anything like that.

And she definitely would never wear provocative clothing.

That last note to himself made Oliver shudder a bit. Because it forced him to confront a very uncomfortable reality.

He could see traces of little Speedy in her, sure. But for the most part, this was a new person he didn’t recognize. A new, fully grown, beautiful young woman that he hadn’t seen before.

And to his personal horror, his reaction when he was looking at her was very much the same as any red-blooded heterosexual male’s reaction would be to looking at a beautiful grown woman for the first time.

One of the first things Tommy had asked him when he returned from the island was “Hey, have you noticed how hot your sister has gotten?”

Oh, how he wished he hadn’t. To Oliver’s horror, that was one of the first things he noticed.

Oliver slapped his head, as if to force the thought out. “That’s your little sister,” he said to himself silently. “That’s your Speedy. She may not look like it, but it’s the same person. You can’t think that way.”

Oliver sighed to himself. When he was rescued from the island and reintegrated into society, he knew he would have to deal with a lot of troubles and issues coming back. Being attracted his own flesh and blood was not one of the issues he had anticipated.

To try to make sense of his physical attraction, he had searched on the internet for some psychological analysis to help justify it, to help make sure he wasn’t a crazy pervert. He had looked up something called the “Westermarck effect” – the idea growing up together in a household turns people’s sexual attraction off towards each other. He also discovered something called “genetic sexual attraction –” people related to each other who are suddenly introduced to each other later in life tended to have a very potent sexual attraction. These theories helped him feel better to some extent – he hadn’t been there to see the adorable innocent little girl he once knew grow into the beautiful and sexy young woman she was today, so his attraction to her made some degree of psychological sense. He was there to see her grow from birth until she was a 13 year old, but missed out on her transforming from a 13 year old into a grown woman. So surely, he could justify that part to some degree.

But it wasn’t just a physical attraction. That wasn’t the fully story. Oliver was no longer a horny playboy lusting after every beautiful woman he saw. He came into contact with beautiful women that would be instantly willing to go to bed with him almost daily, and was mostly adept at shutting them down, and while many of them had model-esque looks, none of them drove him wild with desire.

At yet, for some reason, his own sister did. Thea was of course a beautiful woman now, but the women he was shutting down and rolling his eyes at were on an objective level at least on the same level if not even more physically attractive. So he knew there was something else to it. It wasn’t just Thea’s unfamiliar new physical beauty that he was drawn to. It was also something else.

He wasn’t sure what it was. Maybe it was the old “the forbidden fruit tastes the sweetest” adage, and some weird kinky side of it was turned on by the taboo nature of it all, and the fact that she was the only beautiful young woman in the world he could never have while most others would jump through brick walls to be with him.

But he suspected it was more than that. It had something to do with the look of adoration that she had in her eyes when she was talking to him. It had something to do with the fact that he knew she was someone who would love him forever unconditionally, and vice versa. It wasn’t just a physical attraction. It was an emotional attraction…and not just a familial one.

Still, he couldn’t help but feeling a great degree of shame. The psychological effects he researched helped him justify the physical aspect of the attraction to some degree, but he still absolutely hated himself for it. The city had raised the question as to whether the hooded vigilante was a hero. Oliver was steadfast in telling Diggle and others that he was certainly not a hero. He knew that he couldn’t be, deep down. To others, most of the meat of that question revolved around the fact that the vigilante had killed people. But honestly, Oliver mentally dismissed that – the only people he’s ever killed were armed bad guys who were in turn trying to kill him. He only killed when absolutely necessary. And he knew that everything he was doing was for the greater good, and he had saved people’s lives. The reason he knew he was not a hero had nothing to do with his mission.

No, the reason he knew he could never be a hero was because no hero would ever have incestuous thoughts about his own little sister. He hated himself for it. He was scum. Scum with a job to do that would eventually help save the city, but he was still scum underneath.

Oliver sighed as he ruminated his predicament. But he knew his thought pattern had to change. He couldn’t be thinking about Thea right now. He had to focus his attention towards the next person on the list.

“Enough about Thea,” he silently reminded himself. “Enough thinking about Thea. The list. Think about the list.”

He shook his head, then opened up his laptop to do some more research. He had been doing some searching on the internet as to who his next target would be: he wanted to find someone who was actively hurting people at this very moment, so he could stop them and cause as much good as possible as soon as he could. He found had just the person.

His next target from the list was a former millionaire, who presumably conducted some less than legal activities on the side during his time in power. But that paled in comparison to his side hobby – namely, serial killing. This man would find innocent people in his spare time (usually women) and kill them to satisfy his bloodlust. He used his connections and influence to make sure the killings weren’t linked to him, so he was untouchable by the police. In the time Oliver had been gone, the man had lost all of his money, which would normally mean he would be less dangerous. Instead, it was the opposite. After losing his money, this man turned to serial killing full time, paying the bills by soliciting the services of the mob by becoming a lethal enforcer. The man had killed three people in the last two months alone, and needed to be stopped immediately, but was still far too elusive for the police to find him. But not too elusive for the vigilante to find, Oliver hoped.

Victor Zsasz has failed this city.

…

Stupid Carrie Cutler.

Thea played “Minesweeper” on her computer at the legal offices while she thought about how angry she was. How could Oliver be attracted to her? She was a stupid socialite with no substance. He should aim higher. He deserved better than the likes of her!

Also, stupid CNRI.

Thea was grateful that Laurel had arranged a great deal to get her out of prison, to be sure. But still, she absolutely hated having to be here. She wasn’t given much to do or any responsibilities, but still, she hated the fact that she had to wake up early to get here and was bored out of her mind the entire time, so she couldn’t help but feel a great deal of resentment.

“What a stupid name, anyways,” Thea thought to herself. “C-N-R-I. It sounds like ‘Canary.’ So dumb.”

While she was fuming, Laurel walked up to her.

“Hey there, Speedy,” Laurel said with a smile as she walked up to Thea’s desk. Thea looked up at her with a smile in turn, but was angry inside. Only special people that she loved got to call her Speedy. Laurel was most definitely not a special person that she loved, although she seemed to think she was. “Look, I know I told you that you wouldn’t really have to do much of anything when you were here, but we are absolutely swamped, and people are getting suspicious of the fact that I’m letting you get away with doing basically nothing the entire day. Would you mind organizing these case files so they’re in alphabetical order? It shouldn’t take more than 30 minutes, tops, and then you can spend the rest of the day doing whatever you want.”

“Oh, sure, Laurel, no problem at all. I’ll get right on it,” Thea said as she smiled at her. Thea grabbed the files and started to organize them on her desk.

Stupid Laurel.

Thea hated her, for reasons that were objectively completely illogical and nonsensical. Laurel had shown nothing but love towards Thea. After Dad and Sarah died, and Ollie was presumed dead, Laurel had tried to latch on to Thea as a sort of replacement little sister for Sarah. Laurel had taken Thea shopping, tried to engage in “girl talk,” stuff like that. Laurel had gone out on a limb to leverage her father’s connections and make sure that Thea got a good deal in court and wouldn’t go to jail, and Laurel made sure the deal included the fact that Thea only had to do some work at CNRI which basically included doing basically nothing. Objectively and rationally speaking, Thea should absolutely love Laurel.

But…no. Thea still disliked her. And always had. Sure, it was irrational. But in Thea’s mind, it made sense.

Whenever her big brother would have a “date,” be it an innocent one or a less than innocent one after he turned 18, Thea always knew that Ollie was telling the truth when he said afterwards that Thea was still his “favorite girl.” Once Ollie turned 20 and started dating Laurel seriously, however, Thea wasn’t so sure that his words were completely honest. He spent so much time with Laurel, shared so much of his feelings with her…Thea couldn’t help but feel jealous.

She was a kid back then, and didn’t fully understand the implications. But after she had grown and saw Oliver come back? Even though Oliver and Laurel weren’t together right now and she was with Tommy, it seemed inevitable that they would get over it.

She knew that Oliver still loved Laurel, in a way that he could never love Thea.

In a way that he was forbidden from ever loving Thea.

Thea stopped for a moment to sigh and reflect. “He’s your big brother,” she silently thought to herself, “he’s going to date other girls. He’s going to fall in love with them. He can never date you. It’s wrong and forbidden.”

She reminded herself of this fact over and over. Still, she had a hard time getting over the fact that the only man that she ever loved, the only man that she knew would always unconditionally love her forever, could never be with her.

Every guy that she tried to date was so dumb and treated her like crap. They only wanted one thing. Sometimes that one thing was the status of being with the semi-famous Thea Queen…or sometimes it was the other thing. But mostly both. She definitely had her needs and had made mistakes on occasion, but there was no emotional connection. Whenever she tried to meet guys, she was mostly disgusted. They were so full of themselves. Don’t have a care in the world about her as a person. She had never loved any one of them romantically, not even close.

But for some reason, society said that she was forced to try to find some diamond in the rough among this group of douchebags, one that she could fall in love with and spend the rest of her life with and yadda yadda yadda.

Meanwhile, there was an impossibly gorgeous, amazing man in her life who cared for her deeply and who would always love her forever no matter what. A man who would always love her, care about her, and protect her, and even risk his life for her.

But, no, she could never be with that man romantically. And the only reason she couldn’t was because of genetic “ribosomes” and “chribosomes” or whatever other stupid science crap that she never understood or cared about while she dozed off during Mr. Weisinger’s biology class.

Life’s not fair.

She slowly held back tears as she organized the files alphabetically, per Laurel’s request. She supposed that this was stupid. It was totally wrong for a girl to have a crush on her big brother. It was “incest.” It was wrong, and taboo. Because, you know, those stupid ribosomes and chribosomes are sooooooo important. So much more important than, you know, stupid things like “love” or “emotions” or anything that the heart feels. Who cares about those? Gotta respect the ribosomes.

She tried to buck up and come to her senses. She stopped and shook her head. This line of thinking was so petty and so stupid. Being jealous of losing Ollie to someone like Carrie Cutler, or even Laurel, was such a petty thing to think about after everything they’d been through. At least, in those cases, he would still be in her life and love her, even if it was platonically. And that’s all she should realistically expect and hope for, really. She should be much more concerned with losing him being in her life in any capacity.

After all, she already thought she had lost him entirely, once before. When she thought he was dead, her heart was so broken that she could never be the same. But that moment when she finally saw him again, after thinking he was dead for five years… she wouldn’t trade that for the world. She came down the stairs, and her big brother had comforted her, hugged her, told her everything was right in the world.

But even now, even after she had gotten her brother back, she knew she knew there was still a risk of losing him entirely again. Because of a stray bullet in him, or a fall from a high building, something else.

Because she knew for a fact that her beloved Ollie was also a bow-wielding hero who risked his life to fight crime.

When Ollie first came back, he had given her an inscribed arrowhead as his symbol of love and the fact that he had always thought about her while he was on the island. So when “the Hood guy” showed up using a bow and arrow as his signature weapon so soon after Ollie had gotten back, she was immediately suspicious. And then, of course, when Ollie got arrested on suspicion of being the Hood…well, Thea was distraught, but not entirely surprised.

And then when Thea confronted him about it when he was under house arrest, saying that he had given her an arrowhead, Ollie had played it off by saying that he bought it at a “Chinese airport gift shop.”

Nuh-uh. No way. Thea knew for sure right there and then. When he had first given her the arrowhead, he had looked into her eyes and expressed such love. Of course, it was a platonic sibling love and not the romantic love that Thea was hoping for, but it was pure love nonetheless. She knew for a fact that the arrowhead meant something to him, deeply, and he was full of such care at the fact that he had shared it with her. He probably could have made any number of other excuses to try to justify the connection, but he chose a hollow and transparent one. If he had bought that at a Chinese airport gift shop, he wouldn’t have delivered it to her with such love and meaning. There was absolutely no way. Ollie loved her too much. When he lied about that bullcrap about buying it from the airport gift shop, all of her fears were confirmed.

Still, after that point, there was still some degree of doubt in her mind. She thought it was almost certainly true, but she didn’t want to fully confront it. When Oliver was cleared of all charges because the vigilante had struck while he was under house arrest, Thea breathed a sigh of relief publically, but deep down she knew the investigation was flawed. She saw the way Ollie and Diggle interacted – Diggle must be in on it as well, and must have caused the diversion to clear Ollie’s name. She was surprised, but quite happy, that the police seemingly bought into it hook, line and sinker for some reason and cleared Ollie’s name without even considering the fact that he might have an accomplice or a copycat.

Still, she clung onto that fact as some form of proof (even in denial) that Ollie couldn’t be the vigilante. But then, she had been arrested on her driving under the influence of the drug Vertigo. And within a day or so of her being brought to trial, the vigilante had gone after the kingpin of the Vertigo drug ring, and brought him down.

No, there was no denying it. Not at that point. “The Count” had been active for months, but the vigilante only went after him after Thea was a victim of his drug ring. The vigilante was looking out for her, and protecting her. And there was only human being on Earth who looked out for Thea and protected her. The Hood was her big brother.

Ollie was secretly a vigilante hero who spent a good deal of his time risking his life for the greater good of the city. And his bring down of “The Count” was him risking his life to help save and avenge her.

Thea was incredibly conflicted about this situation. On one hand, she loved Ollie so much and hated the fact that there was the potential of her losing him again, to some stray gunshot or whatever.

On the other hand, her beloved Ollie was a mysterious bad boy who went out all the time to risk his life to help protect the greater good, to help bring criminals down, to beat up bad guys and be a hero to this city. And he had risked his life to bring down the man who was indirectly responsible for hurting her, because he loved her so much.

And that…well, she knew the dangers involved. She considered the horrific possibility of losing her beloved Ollie again due to his extracurricular activities. But she couldn’t help it. The thought of Ollie being a secret, dark, mysterious, powerful protector of her and the city…well, that was pretty much the most erotic thing she had ever thought about in her life. She wished he would stop, so he could live a normal life, live at home, and be her big brother without consequence. But the fact that he was so heroic, so strong, so noble…

“Hey there, Speedy! Laurel got you working hard, I assume?”

Tommy Merlyn’s voice was like a sudden bucket of cold water on her thoughts and dreams about the man she loved.

“Hey there, Tommy,” Thea said as she turned and smiled at the intruder. “Here to see Laurel?”

“That would be the plan, unless she blows me off again because some sort of new legal justice that needs to be served and she tells me to vamoose,” Tommy said with a smile. He stopped for a minute and looked at what she was doing. “Hey, wait a minute, Speedy, what are you doing with those files in your hand? Don’t tell me you’re actually….perish the thought…doing some sort of WORK, are you?”

Thea chuckled. “Mostly dozing off, but I am a good girl doing what I’m told to do when necessary.”

“Of course you are,” Tommy grinned. “Hey, listen, could you do me a favor? When you see Oliver tonight when you get home, could you tell him I’ve been talking to potential DJs for the nightclub and I’ve narrowed the list down to ten, and I’d love his input to narrow them down further. I’d tell him myself but he’s been too busy to respond to my calls lately, I can barely get a hold of him.”

“Definitely,” Thea smiled, “and to answer your next question that I know you’re about to ask me, Laurel is in the break room grabbing some coffee.”

“Thanks Speedy. You’re the best,” Tommy replied as he headed off in that direction.

Thea chuckled as he left. Unlike Laurel, Tommy was definitely a person who had earned the right to call her “Speedy.” He really cared about her. Still, she couldn’t help but feel slightly awkward around him. She hated herself for the fact that she had so blatantly hit on him that night at the fundraiser. It was a moment of weakness and desperation that she immediately regretted the next day, and she didn’t even really mean the things she said.

If she actually had some sort of real romantic feelings towards Tommy Merlyn, that would be one thing, and she might actually commend herself for her boldness in expressing her romantic desire. But honestly, she wasn’t actually attracted to Tommy as a person at all. She hit on him because he was the closest thing to Oliver that she could find that was acceptable within social parameters. It was true that Tommy was a selfish playboy, but as Ollie’s best friend, he was definitely the person who resembled Oliver (or at least, the man Oliver used to be) the most in this world who didn’t happen to share the same “ribosomes” or whatever science taboo crap with her, so she tried her best to try to divert her romantic attention towards him…well, at least for one drunken night.

She sort of hated herself for the fact that Tommy now thought of her as someone who was totally into him. Because the honest truth was that she wasn’t romantically attracted to Tommy at all, so it was kind of embarrassing. He was a good guy, but he could never be as sexy, loving and amazing as her beloved Ollie. And truth be told, her drunken attempts to gain his romantic attention have very little to do with Tommy as a person and much more to do with the fact that she wanted a practice run on the lines she had (perhaps pointlessly) hoped to use on her one real love when the time came.

But, of course, her lines and flirtations had failed on him. Tommy completely rejected her, saying that he considered Thea too much of a sister. And if a guy who only served the role of her superficial non-biological pseudo-brother rejected her advances (despite the fact that there were no biological implications) then surely the real thing she was waiting for would most definitely reject her as well. A harsh, cold truth that she would always have to face.

The day went on, and eventually it neared five o’clock. “Whatever,” she reminded herself silently in her head. “This is stupid. Don’t think about such dumb things. Ollie could be in danger almost every night. Focus on that instead.”

After her shift had ended at five, she went home to an empty house. She sat on the couch for a bit and spent a lot of time thinking.

She pulled out a bottle of wine and decided to text her big brother. Ollie had appointed her as his “media advisor” – someone to showcase popular movies and TV shows to within the last five years to help him catch up and understand pop culture references. Obviously, being “the vigilante” had gotten in the way and he had cancelled several times. But hopefully, he was able to deal whatever his scumbag target of the week was quickly and efficiently, and spend some time away from his duties in order to spend some time with his little sister.

She figured she should check the local Starling City news site first to make sure, so she pulled out her laptop and started searching. She let out a heavy and relieved sigh as she read the top headline of the paper’s website.

“Starling City Vigilante Apprehends Serial Killer”

So, he should have done it. He caught a bad guy, and thus he should be done for the night and ready to come home, hopefully. This serial killer guy was a big deal…surely he would take some time off after that? Time off that he can spend with her?

Thea grabbed her phone, and sent a text message to her big brother, asking him if he was available to watch some TV show or movie with her tonight.

The next ninety seconds after she sent the text felt like an eternity. But luckily, after a minute or two, she received a response fairly quickly in the affirmative, and that he would be home around 9.

Thea breathed a sigh of relief. He was okay, and he was willing to spend time with her.

Now, there was only the matter of determining what popular movie or TV show she should share with him tonight. She sat down in front of the TV and signed on to Netflix to browse possible titles.

She had just spent the whole day thinking about him, and it was starting to eat away at her. She decided continuing to keep her desires sheltered was hardly a way to live at all – she wanted to pick something sensual to watch with him tonight, to push the boundaries at least a little bit, even if all it would accomplish would be to make him feel awkward and uncomfortable for awhile. Of course, she couldn’t pick a porn movie or anything. But still, she wanted to pick something that was at least somewhat sensual. If she couldn’t be with him, the best she could do was making him squirm a bit.

As she mulled over the options, she couldn’t quite find anything at first. She switched over to the options their cable box provided them with their “On Demand” features, and looked over the possible movies and TV shows that channels like HBO and Showtime had to offer.

As she was browsing the list of available HBO series, she suddenly found the absolute perfect thing to watch with him. One of the most popular TV shows of the last few years, meaning she could easily justify showing it to him as his “pop culture advisor.” It had explicit sex scenes and nudity, but even better than that, also specifically dealt with a subject relevant to their situation. Thea couldn’t help but form a wicked grin on her face in anticipation.

…

Oliver opened the doors to his home around 9:15pm.

It was a huge risk targeting Victor Zsasz during the middle of the day instead of at night. In his vigilante persona, Oliver obviously preferred the cover of darkness. He preferred to work in the shadows, to help hide himself and his agenda.

But Zsasz was also an expert at using the darkness as a shield, so Oliver had to target him at his most vulnerable. Besides, had he waited, the killer would have likely found another innocent victim that night before Oliver caught up with him, and Oliver wanted to save as many lives as possible. A skilled fighter, Zsasz hadn’t gone down without a fight, but Oliver’s arsenal and expertise were too much for him, and he eventually left him incapacitated as police sirens surrounded the complex.

Oliver was glad that putting Zsasz away would save some lives for the time being, but by no means was he using the fact that Zsasz was arrested as a reason to cross him off “the list.” Zsasz had escaped from prison before, and sometimes was put in mental institutions instead, and Oliver had suspected that he might be able to again. But if he did, the vigilante would be waiting for him, and might use more lethal methods the next time. In fact, Oliver somewhat regretted the fact that he hadn’t used lethal methods on the serial killer earlier today given his history, but his morals told him he had to at least give him one more chance to be properly processed by the justice system before resorting to a fatality. He hoped this decision wouldn’t cause him regret.

In any case, Oliver walked into the mansion and moved towards the living room. He couldn’t help but smile as he saw his little sister watching the television, with a bottle of wine in hand. Despite the inappropriate physical desires he regretfully suffered from, it was such a relief to see someone who unconditionally loved him after such a harrowing ordeal with that unfeeling psychopath. It was time for him to switch gears: to stop thinking about the hate and horror of monsters like Zsasz and focus on the love and caring of someone like Thea.

“Hey there, big brother,” Thea said to him with a smile as he entered the room.

She obviously had imbibed a few drinks by this point, but Oliver didn’t mind. True, she wasn’t 21 yet, but Oliver’s main concern with her drinking was in regards to the fact that he didn’t want her to be at a wild party where some sleazy jerk could take advantage of her. But he was more than happy to get drunk with her at home in a controlled environment.

“Hey-o, Speedy. Sorry I’m fifteen minutes later than I said I would be home, lots of stuff I had to deal with.”

“No worries, Ollie,” she said with a smile as she looked up at him. “By the way, Tommy stopped by the office today and asked me to remind you to give him a call back regarding his selection of DJs for your club.”

Ah, crap. He had totally forgotten about that. If he was going to use “working on plans for the club” as a cover, he would have to pay more attention to details like that. He put a reminder on his phone to call Tommy tomorrow.

Exhausted, he slowly lumbered towards the couch and sat down on the opposite side of Thea.

Walking in, he had paid no attention to what she was actually watching on TV. As he sat down, he suddenly noticed. She was watching some sort of debate on the local news. And the topic the anchors were talking about was the Starling City vigilante. Himself.

“Jessica, you are absolutely insane,” the male correspondent heatedly said on the TV. “The vigilante is a criminal, no better than any of the crooks he’s supposedly taken down. He’s killed people before, and interferes with police work.”

“Oh, ‘police work,’ you say?” the female newscaster said with a fury in her voice. “And tell me, where was this so-called ‘police work’ when Victor Zsasz was murdering innocent people for the last two years? The police couldn’t touch him. The vigilante was able to stop him, saving countless lives. You would dare to condemn the potential victims of this psychopath to death just because of a strict by-the-book obligation to the legal system in terms of who exactly is allowed to bring an end to his reign of terror? Even forgetting the vigilante’s previous deeds, apprehending Zsasz alone has saved the lives of dozens of innocent people. How could you dare argue against the fact that the vigilante is a force for good? What if Zsasz had gone after your family next, Eric? I’d bet you’d be pretty happy about the vigilante’s interference in that case.”

“You are out of line, bringing my family into this discussion,” the male correspondent said with anger. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. The vigilante…”

Oliver grabbed the remote and turned the TV off with feign-disgust.

“God, I have heard more than enough arguments regarding that freak show,” he said with mock distaste. Deep down, he was filled with plenty of self-doubt, and seeing the female correspondent display the reasons that he is making a difference in the city and saving lives warmed his heart. Still, he couldn’t share that with Thea, for obvious reasons, and had to pretend to be against the vigilante to help remove all suspicion.

“Who do you mean by freak show? You mean the vigilante?” Thea inquired. She walked over to their kitchen to grab a glass for Oliver that she could pour the wine into as she continued to converse with him. “I don’t know about freak show, I think he’s been doing some good for people.”

“Thea, the vigilante is breaking the law. He’s a murderer. There’s no justification for his actions.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that,” Thea said in response as she walked back with a glass and poured Oliver some wine and handed it to him. “I mean, you heard them talk about it. He stopped this serial killer guy who was killing innocent women. If this Zazzafraz guy…”

“Zsasz,” he quickly responded in correction, immediately regretting it for fear of giving himself away.

“Right, Zizzazz. You have such a good memory!” she replied, still getting the pronunciation slightly wrong but he wouldn’t dare correct her further. “Anyway, if this Zizzazz guy went on to kill someone else tonight had the hood guy not stopped him… you would still have a problem with it? I mean, the police couldn’t touch him.”

Oliver began to drink the wine she had handed him before responding. “Regardless, that work is handled by the police, and the vigilante has no business interfering,” Oliver replied sternly.

“Oh, really?” Thea said as she sat up straight and looked him in the eyes. “Ollie, that killer liked to prey on innocent woman, and kill them. What if his next target…was me? Wouldn’t you be happy for the vigilante stopping him in that case?”

Oliver sat up straight as well, with a stern look in his eyes. “Thea, don’t you dare joke about that.”

“I’m not joking. What if I was his next target? Wouldn’t you be…”

“I don’t want to ever think about that in a million years,” Oliver replied sadly. “Why would you even bring that up?”

Thea could sense the hurt and sadness in him, so she moved towards the other end of the couch and gave him a hug.

“I’m sorry, Ollie. I just wanted to present a possible argument.”

“Well,” he said as he stroked her hair, “I don’t want you to make me think about such things again.”

“Agreed,” she said as she detached herself from him and sat back down. Instead of going to the opposite side of the couch, she stayed seated in the middle cushion on purpose in order to be closer to him. “Still, Ollie…I have a little bit of a confession for you regarding this matter.”

“Oh yeah? And what might that be?”

“I know this is irrational and dumb…but..I dunno…is it wrong that I think the Hood Guy is…kinda sexy?”

Oliver shuddered for a moment.

Thea smiled. She was looking for a reaction from him, and she got one.

Oliver regained his composure from this comment and replied. “Thea, you can’t be thinking such things. He’s dangerous. He’s a vigilante and a murderer, you can’t be thinking…”

“He’s a hero, Ollie. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I would never be dumb enough to actually get involved with him or anything, I just think the idea of a hunky guy fighting crime and risking his life for the good of the city is super hot. You can let me have my fantasies, right?”

Fantasies. Her using that word made him shudder again. His little sister was having “fantasies” that, unbeknownst to her, were about him.

Finally, he composed himself and replied. “Thea, listen. Even if you think that this guy is some sort of force for good, he’s still dangerous. Laurel has gotten involved with him, and it’s put her in danger. Twice!”

“What do you mean, twice? He saved her life both times!”

“The second time, she was only in danger in the first place because of her involvement with him.”

“But he came and saved her that second time, still! He could have just left her to die. He has a heart, he cares about people…and besides, I know he would never hurt me.”

“Oh yeah?” Oliver replied with amusement. “What makes you so sure about that? He’s hurt plenty of other people. Killed them, even.”

“Oh, please, Ollie. He’s only killed bad guys that were shooting at him and trying to kill him! He would never come after someone like me…besides, I think he’s trying to protect me…”

“Protect you?” Ollie said with some mock anger. “What are you talking about?”

“Well, after I was caught with the drug Vertigo and put on trial…well, almost immediately after that, he went after the head guy dealing the drug and stopped him. I don’t think it’s a coincidence. I think the vigilante is looking out for me.”

It was hard for Oliver to maintain his faux-anger when everything that she said was completely correct. He supposed that going after the Count immediately after Thea was put on trial was a risky decision, but given the fact that she was here and not in prison it was a decision he wouldn’t change for the world. In any case, it seemed like she wasn’t on to him at all. After all, she did say that she was attracted to the vigilante, something she would obviously never say if she suspected it was her own brother. In any case, he decided to needed to bring an end to the discussion.

“Well, Speedy, I think that’s a dangerous way to think, but it seems to me that you’re rational enough to know not to engage him if you actually come in contact with him,” he said with a smile. He moved his hand over to grab her upper leg and shook it slightly. “Now, let’s forget it and get down to brass tax. I believe my pop culture advisor has something else to help me catch up on today’s popular media.”

“Sounds like a plan. We can table this discussion. I do have plenty to show you,” she smiled.

Having accomplished her initial goals, Thea smiled back at him and agreed to postpone the vigilante discussion for the time being. She booted up the On-Demand portion of their cable box, and moved the menus towards her intended destination.

“Okay then, Ollie. Today, I’m going to show you the first few episodes of a TV show. One of the most popular TV shows of the last few years. It’s a fantasy show, so it’s kind of hard to understand at first because it’s so complex, but I’ll explain the details and such to you to help you understand everything that’s going on and whatnot.” Thea continued to fiddle with the menus as she attempted to reach her destination.

“Sounds good. What’s the show called?”

“It’s called ‘Game of Thrones,'” she replied, hiding her smile so that Oliver couldn’t see it. Finally, she found what she wanted and brought up the first episode of the first season. She pressed play.

She leaned back down in her seat and draped her right arm over her brother’s shoulders as the first episode began to play. He put his arm around her in turn.

“This should be interesting,” she thought to herself excitedly.

With their arms around each other, the two siblings watched most of the episode. Occasionally, he would ask her to pause to explain the various “noble houses,” characters and relationships and whatnot to him – after all, it was a very intensive and complex fantasy world, and very confusing to a first time viewer. She was happy to explain all the nuances.

Eventually, the first scene she was looking forward to came on screen. A scene where the character Viserys groped his sister Daenerys’s naked body. Thea could sense a sort of discomfort in Oliver. While he still had his arm around Thea, this scene caused him to slowly inch himself towards the opposite end of the couch, away from her.

Good. This was just the beginning, she knew. The best part is yet to come.

Throughout the rest of the episode, she had explained the various houses of Westeros to him and their relationships and politics. He seemed to understand, to at least some degree. He still had some of the characters and plotlines confused, but was relatively close to an understanding.

As the first episode drew to a close, she waited in anticipation for the moment she couldn’t wait to see his reaction to.

Bran Stark crawled up the walls of Winterfell. And then, he witnessed Queen Cersei having sex with her lover. Her lover pushed Bran out the window, and then the episode ended.

Thea could tell that Oliver enjoyed the episode a great deal, but was still slightly confused. He had a hard time keeping the world of Westeros and all the different characters straight, as did most first-time viewers.

She could tell he didn’t quite understand what happened at the end of the episode. He didn’t exactly remember who the Queen’s lover was, or what the scene had meant. So of course, he asked her.

“That was pretty interesting. I couldn’t quite keep track of all the characters and whatnot, but I see the potential, definitely. I have a few things to ask you to help clarify it, though.”

“Sure, ask me anything,” she smiled. “I’ve seen it before and understand it pretty well.”

“Well,” he asked,”I have a hard time keeping track of the characters. So when the boy saw those two people having sex at the end…the woman he saw was the Queen, right? The fat guy’s wife?”

“Yeah, that’s right,” she said, in anticipation of the next question.

“Okay, so, who was that dude she was having sex with at the end? I sort of remember him from earlier, but don’t remember exactly where.”

“Oh, that guy? That’s Jaime Lannister, the Kingslayer. He killed the previous king. Also,” she stopped for a moment to reflect. She blushed as she said the next sentence. “…he’s the Queen’s brother. Bran caught the Queen having sex with her brother, which is why Jaime pushed him out the window.”

Oliver sat there in dumbfounded silence for a moment. He vaguely remembered the character being introduced earlier in the episode as the Queen’s brother, but thought he must have missed something, or was in denial to some degree. But no, he hadn’t missed anything.

Given the choice of any movie or TV show in the world, his sister chosen to show him a show that depicted incest between a brother and sister.

He tried to rationalize it. The show had good production values, and was obviously a big hit. It was set in medieval times, and things were different back then.

But still, he couldn’t get over the fact that his sister had chosen to show him a television show depicting a brother and sister engaging in incest…and she was sitting only a few inches away from him, while she was clad in only a night gown and pajama shorts.

“So, did you like it?” she smiled. “Ready to watch the next episode?”

“Definitely,” he replied. “Seems like an interesting premise. I’m excited to see what happens next.”

The two siblings watched the second episode of the show, and then the third, but as they continued to drink they couldn’t help but slowly doze off. Thea, having seen the show before, slowly lost interest and began to close her eyes. She lowered her head onto her big brother’s shoulder, and her eyes closed as she began to sleep.

Oliver, tired from an exhausting day, felt like he was starting to doze off as well. He noticed that Thea seemed to be knocked out cold, and had fallen asleep in his arms.

He slowly slipped out from underneath her warm body to stand up besides the couch.

Cursing himself again for being attracted to the unfamiliar beautiful woman she now was, he hated himself for sexualizing such an innocent act. She loved him, in a purely platonic way. In a way that would last forever. And his disturbing thoughts were perverting it. She shuddered to himself, then decided he at least owed it to her to take her up to her room.

Oliver turned off the TV and the light, and used his arms to pick up Thea by the legs and torso as she slept on the couch. Her being so small, carrying her was no effort at all. As he picked her up and held her in his arms, she began to nestle towards him, cooing and burying herself in his body.

Oliver walked up the stairs with Thea’s sleeping body in his arms. He opened the door to her room, and gently placed her on her bed.

“Good night, Speedy,” he said with a loving voice as he kissed her on the forehead.

He slowly walked out of her room, stealing one last glance at her, and then moved away. As he entered his bedroom, he took off his clothes until he was only in his boxers and nothing else. He crawled under his covers, hoping for a restful night’s sleep.

Oliver began to shut his eyes again and drift off. Even though he’d been back for months, he still wasn’t fully used to sleeping on a comfortable bed. As they did so often after he closed his eyes, the bed he was sleeping on slowly transformed into the leaves, grass and dirt he had grown more accustomed to in his mind.

…

In his head, Oliver was transported to four years prior. He had been on the island for a year, and he and Slade Wilson were preparing for the next plane that would potentially be their rescue.

It was dusk, and Oliver was standing over a fire, holding a picture. Holding the only thing reminding him of home.

Most of Slade’s training had been physical – combat techniques, outdoorsmanship, survival.

But on this day, Slade was trying to teach him something much more emotional. Something much more personal.

“Gid on with it. Drop it in the fire.”

Slade was attempting to tell him to burn the one thing he had left that reminded him of home. His picture of Laurel. The one thing he had clung on to. He continued to hesitate.

“Burn the bloody thing already,” Slade insisted. “I think I’ve shown you I know what I’m doin’ by this point and you’re best off takin’ my advice.”

Oliver looked at the former Australian Secret Intelligence Service member with some sternness. “This is the only thing I have left to remind me of home. To remind me of who I really am.”

“If you want to survive you need to look forward, not wax nostalgic about the past. You need to think about the future.”

This was the hardest thing Slade had ever asked him to do. But he knew Slade was his only hope of survival, and he had to do what he said.

With a sigh, he dropped the picture of Laurel in the fire. He hoped he wouldn’t forget what she looked like. Oliver stared at the picture as the flames burnt it.

Later on that night, the two castaways shared rations of cold beans. Oliver could hardly stand to look at Slade right now.

Slade eventually broke the silence. “You going to finish that, or what?” he said, referring to Oliver’s bean can that was still half full, which he apparently had stopped eating.

Oliver moved it towards him. “I’m not feeling particularly hungry. You can finish it.”

“I wasn’t asking because I wanted to eat the rest, you twit. I was telling you that you’ve got to finish it yourself. You need your strength.”

Oliver slowly looked down and tried to force himself to eat the rest. Finally, he shook his head and couldn’t hold his emotions in any more.

“My ONE reminder of home. My ONE thing to hold on to. You seriously couldn’t afford me that? Just one little picture?” Oliver yelled in anger.

Slade chuckled in response. “Ah, so the truth comes out.”

Slade got up and walked towards his bag. He pulled something out of it, and slipped it in his pocket. “I’ve got something for you, Oliver. Something I was waiting to give you until you burned that bloody picture.”

“What is it?”

“Give me a moment to explain, first,” Slade said as he sat back down next to Oiver. “You see, Oliver, I’m not without sentiment. I know that in order to have the motivation and the drive to survive in situations like these, you need to think about your loved ones. To think about reconnecting with them.”

Oliver narrowed his eyes in anger. “Really? Then why did you tell me to burn the picture of my girlfriend?”

“Will you let me finish? As I said, you need to think about the future. Not the past. And your little girlfriend? Well, brother, she sure as hell is a relic of the past. When you look at her picture, you’re not thinking about the joy you’ll receive when you reconnect with her. You’re thinking about the past, about mistakes you made, about how you want to turn back time. Because the harsh reality is, when you get back to America, Laura-“

“Laurel.”

“Right, Laurel, whatever. Stupid name, anyways. Anyway, from what you’ve told me, I don’t think your Laurel is going to be particularly happy to see you again. You cheated on her with her sister, and that led to her sister getting killed. When you see her again, she’s going to be rightly pissed and tell you to bugger off. When you looked at her picture, you weren’t being inspired. You weren’t thinking about all of the true love and hope that you’re going to see in her eyes when she sees that you survived. You’re waxing nostalgic about the past, about the mistakes you made, how you want to go back in time and fix them. That simply won’t do. If you want to survive, you need to look forward, not backward.

“I had a wife once, Oliver,” he continued. “Her name was Adeline. She was in the military as well. Oversaw my training, even. We fell head over heels in love, got married, had three kids. I thought it was unconditional love that would last forever. Eight years later, for reasons I’ll spare you from, she’s holding a gun to my head. I’m not saying all romantic relationships are destined to fail, Oliver, but most are fleeting. They’re dicey, and unsure. Hell, the divorce rate in your country is fifty percent. And from my experience, the relationship you’re in when you’re 21 years old sure as bloody hell is not going to last. There are exceptions, of course. But when one party cheats on the other with their ‘beloved’s’ relative because of some fear of commitment, and it leads to the death of said relative…well, I’m fairly certain THAT has a zero percent success rate.”

Oliver looked down in shame. Everything Slade was saying was true, although it was hard to confront. When he looked at Laurel’s picture, he had been living in a world in his head where he was constantly rewinding time, where he never went on that boat trip, where he never invited Sarah. He was thinking about the past. He never looked at the picture and envisioned a happy future and reconnecting with her. It was all dwelling in the past, wallowing in regret.

Finally, Slade reached into his pocket and pulled out the item he had grabbed from his bag. He held it up so Oliver could see.

It was a rock, shaped like an arrowhead. There were Chinese characters marked all over it.

Oliver stared at it inquisitively. “What is that thing? What do the symbols on it mean”

“The symbols on this thing,” Slade said as he looked down at it sadly, “are Buddhist characters symbolizing reconnecting. Of being away, and then reuniting with someone with whom you share a deep, unbreakable, unconditional love. When Yao Fei was out on missions for the Chinese government, he would make one himself, and then return home in order to give it to his daughter.

“Eventually, he showed me how to make them as well. I’m not fluent in Mandarin, but I’ve memorized these symbols and what they mean. At first I thought I would give them to Adeline. Well, that fell straight to hell. But there ARE people in my life who I share a true, unconditional love with. And whenever I was out doing dangerous work I didn’t know if I would come back from, I would create these tokens, and would hold onto them, persevering throughout all sorts of circumstances because I knew I was motivated by reconnecting with the people I loved, and giving a token to them.”

Oliver felt an immense amount of sympathy for this man who had previously mostly portrayed himself as cold-blooded. He was almost scared to ask who what loved ones he was referring to. “And the people that you loved…?”

“Grant. Joseph. Rose,” Slade paused, almost getting choked up. “The people that will always love me, no matter what a fuck-up I am.”

Oliver looked down solemnly. Slade didn’t have to explain who those names belonged to, in relation to him. Oliver knew.

Slade then held the token out in his hand, handing it to Oliver.

“I’ve made this one for you. I want you to take this, and use it to think about someone who loves you unconditionally. And you better make bloody sure that it’s NOT your stupid girlfriend that you cheated on. No, you’re going to use this to help you think about someone who will always love you no matter what, and vice versa. And I want you to hold on to it, and think about that person’s unconditional love, and think about the future. Think about the moment when you return from this island, where you will see that person again, and be able to present it. Use it as strength. Use it to think about the future.”

Slade was uncharacteristically getting slightly choked up. He paused again. “Now,” he continued, “do you have such a person in mind?”

Oliver took the token and stared at it. He had been so stupid. He was focusing on Laurel – someone who likely would want nothing to do with him if he got back. He was wallowing on the past, on regret, on nostalgia.

Slade was right. He needed to focus on optimism. On reconnecting with the one person who would love him forever unconditionally for the rest of his life. The person who adored him, who loved him, who needed him in her life. And vice versa.

Finally, Oliver looked back up towards Slade. “I understand what you’re saying,” he finally said. “I know exactly who I have in mind. I know exactly who I’m going to give this to, if I…”

“WHEN you.”

Oliver smiled at his optimism. “Right. I know exactly who I’m going to give this to….WHEN I return to Starling City.”

Slade smiled and then stood up and he walked towards his makeshift bed. “Well then. Good to know. Now then, that’s the end of that lesson. Don’t go and expect any more sentimentality from me from this point forward. Tomorrow we pick up swords for combat, and I’m not going to take it easy on you.”

Oliver smiled, then returned towards his bed as well. “I’m ready for your worst, Crocodile Dundee,” he laughed as he went to bed.

Three months later, they missed the plane. Oliver stayed on the island for four years after that night.

Throughout those four years, Oliver kept the token on his person the entire time.

And throughout those four years, he thought of Thea.

…

A few hours later after falling asleep, Oliver awoke. The grass and dirt he imagined himself sleeping on slowly transformed into the soft mattress he was actually sleeping on in the present day.

Still groggy from the sleep and the alcohol, he slowly re-oriented himself. He wasn’t on the island anymore. He was back home. He was on a soft bed, in his bedroom in the Queen family mansion.

And there was a warm body next to him. His arm was around her. His head was nuzzled between her neck and shoulder.

He took a moment to run his hand up and down her body. She was wearing only a tiny nightgown, and her panties. She was curled up and pressed against him, as he lay in only his boxers.

He took a moment to process who it could be. Laurel? No, she hated him. She had moved on. Never again.

Carrie Cutler, some other random woman he had found? He thought back to the previous night. No, he hadn’t gone out to a club or anything. The rest of the night, he had stayed home, he had spent time with…

Oh God.

Speedy.

He readjusted himself, leaned over, and looked her in the face to make sure.

At some point when he was asleep, Speedy had come back into his room and crawled into his bed with him. The same way she used to do when she was little. When she had a nightmare, or was scared, and sought big brother’s comforting and loving arms to reassure her and help her sleep.

Oliver’s readjusting in bed caused Thea to wake up in turn. She slowly yawned, then turned around to face him. She smiled as she looked into his eyes.

“Hey there, big brother.”

“Thea,” he said solemnly, “what are you doing in my bed?”

She looked downwards, sadly. “Ollie, I…I’m sorry, but I couldn’t sleep. I was having nightmares. I remembered that, years ago, when I would crawl into your bed, you would always comfort me, and sleep next to me…and whenever you did, I felt safe knew everything was okay.” She looked down for a moment before reconnecting with eyes. “Listen, I know it’s dumb…I hope you don’t think of me as a dumb little girl.”

Oliver was of two minds about this proposal. On one hand, he loved his little sister, and wanted to reconnect with her as much as possible, and he remembered all the times baby Speedy would get scared and he would innocently comfort her by allowing her to sleep in his bed in order to reassure her. On the other hand, he had to struggle with the fact that she was an adult now and that he was now physically attracted to her now-beautiful form, so allowing her to sleep in his bed could potentially contain less-than-innocent connotations at this point in their lives.

“I don’t know, Speedy. Listen, I love you, and I want to reassure you and comfort you…but…don’t you think we’re a little too old for this? I mean, for God’s sake, Thea, we’re both barely wearing anything. It’s a little bit weird.”

Thea didn’t say anything for a few moments, instead looking up at her big brother’s eyes with an innocence, hope, and sadness that warmed his heart.

“Weird?” she said with a sniffle. “You think it’s ‘weird’ to comfort your little sister who has been through so much? Who thought she lost you? Ollie…you don’t understand. I’ve been…alone…for so long. So lonely. For five years, I felt that there was no one in the world who truly loved me, or cared for me…”

“Come on, Speedy,” he replied quickly. “What about Mom? What about Walter?”

“No, Ollie. It’s not like that. First of all, Walter is a nice guy, I like him and everything, but he’s not really family, we were on good terms but he could never really love me like a real father. Besides, he’s gone now, who knows if he’ll come back. And Mom? Well, I mean, I know that deep down Mom loves me, but she’s so cold most of the time…so distant…and sometimes I feel like she doesn’t care about me much at all.”

“How can you say that? Mom loves you, she…”

“No, Ollie. You were right, earlier, when you told her to be harsher on me. I kind of was mad at you for it, but you were right. Mom let me do whatever I want, never disciplined me, because she didn’t really care. I know deep down that she loves me, but she never shows it. Never says it. But you, Ollie? You care about me…enough to let me know when I’m making bad decisions. “

She leaned in and hugged him. And then decided to pour her heart out.

“Ollie…for five years, I’ve felt like there was no one in the world who really, truly loved me. Who accepted me for who I am, despite all my mistakes, and was watching out for me, and would love me forever. And now, I have someone like that back in my life. Back from the dead. And even though you’ve been back for a few months, I still can’t really process it. I can’t believe you’re real. I’ve had so many sleepless nights, so many horrible nightmares…but when I was younger, when I was in your loving arms after having nightmares, I dozed off so soon. And now you’re back. And I still can’t truly believe that you’re real, and that you’re here. And I know the island has changed you, that you’re a different person now, just like I’ve become a different person in the last five years,. But I know that underneath it all, you’re still the same Ollie that I remember.”

Reciprocating the embrace, Oliver began to tear up as he stroked her hair lovingly while she continued. “You’ve changed on the island, to be sure. But deep down? You’re still the same person. The same loving big brother who used to read me bedtime stories and would tell me how much he loved me whenever I asked, and would pick me up in his arms and spin me around. The same Ollie who would turn down invitations to go to parties or whatever because he needed to stay home whenever I was feeling sad, lonely, or was sick. You’re the only person who I knew would always love me. And for so long, I thought I lost you forever. But now, you’re back. And I still can’t believe that you’re real…that you’re really back here, with me. Please….let me sleep in your bed tonight, Ollie. I know we’re too old for it and that people will think it’s weird or whatever, but I need to know that you’re here. I need to know that you’re back in my life, for real.”

Oliver knew the potential consequences. But he couldn’t deny her. Not now.

He leaned in and kissed Thea on the forehead. “Okay, sis. I’ll stay with you.”

Thea smiled at her big brother, then turned around and nestled her body against him again. “Thank you, Ollie. I love you. And I always will.”

He kissed her on the shoulder. “Ditto,” he said simply.

As the two siblings began to doze off, he thought about how much he loved her. How much he had always cared for her.

But it was quite difficult for him. There was a beautiful grown woman, one that he didn’t quite recognize, who was curled up beside him and in his arms at the moment. And she was wearing next to nothing, while her body nestled besides him.

Stop. Stop thinking that way. This is your sister. She’s here with you for comfort. Nothing else. He tried to force himself to go to sleep.

With her big brother’s arms around her, Thea couldn’t help but smile. So far, everything had been going perfectly. In Ollie’s arms, she felt so warm, so loved, so protected.

But she wanted more.

She loved him so much, she couldn’t help it. She considered her options. Ollie seemed to be sleeping now. Oh, how she wished that she could reach her hand back, to touch him intimately…but she didn’t know how he would react. She didn’t want to ruin this pure love.

Most of her speech to him had been completely true, but she had lied to him about the “having nightmares” part. She wasn’t having nightmares. She was having pleasant dreams…about him. About him holding her, touching her, loving her. And she decided to act upon them.

She didn’t give a damn about what “society” thought. And she sure as hell didn’t care what scientists thought, with their ribosomes and crap about why it was wrong. All she knew was that there was a beautiful man holding her in his arms that would always love her, and she wanted him. Physically.

If she knew that Oliver was just leading a normal life and would be there for the rest of hers, that would be one thing. But he wasn’t. She already knew what it was like to lose him once, and now he was putting his life on the line at least twice a week. She might lose him again. Lose this opportunity. She had to put herself out there, make her true feelings known. She had to know what it was like to touch him…to feel him. At least once. She had spent so much time thinking about it, she had to do something to further it.

She sighed and hesitated for a moment. She loved the feel of big brother’s warm body against her as he spooned her. She knew she could sleep peacefully with him around her. Still, she didn’t know how many other nights he would let such an arrangement continue, he made it perfectly clear that he thought it was kind of weird. She had to strike now, if this was ever going to happen.

Slowly and hesitantly, she reached her right arm behind her body. She started by placing her arm on his abs. God, they were so chiseled, so perfect. But what she really wanted to hold was just a bit lower than that.

She slowly moved her arms lower down his body. Her hand found the edge of his boxer shorts. She continued to move her hand downwards, on the outside of them, and slowly began to wrap her hand around the outline of his member through the cloth.

God, it was so big. So much bigger than any other guy she had ever been with. She shuddered as she considered the last statement…at the possibility of “being with” Oliver.

She started to move her hand up and down as she held his member from the outside of his boxers. She smiled as she felt it slowly harden as she grasped it. In his sleep, Oliver let out a pleased moaning sound, which she smiled at.

Eventually, she decided to go for the real thing. After a pause, her hand moved back up towards his abdomen, then back down towards him. But instead of going on the outside of his boxers, she slipped her hand underneath them. She slowly reached down and grabbed Ollie’s naked and now partially erect member.

She couldn’t believe it. It was happening. Maybe he would wake up in a moment and be horrified, but for this particular moment in time, she was able to feel Ollie intimately and purely.

Her lithe fingers slowly started to move up and down his shaft, as he continued to quietly moan in his sleep as his member continued to harden under her touch.

Encouraged, she began to go faster. She flipped her body around to allow her easier access, and moved her left hand down his boxers as well so she could feel him with both hands.

It felt so perfect. So natural.

And then, he woke up.

Oliver groaned at first. He enjoyed the pleasure of whoever was touching him. Then, he slowly opened his eyes.

And he saw who was administrating this treatment. It took him awhile to process it. Then, he realized.

As soon as he woke up and realized who was touching him intimately, Oliver sprung out of the bed and bolted upright. He reached towards the light and flipped it on.

“Speedy? SPEEDY!” he suddenly yelled. Although slightly disoriented by the light suddenly turning on, Thea looked towards him.

“What is it, Ollie?”

“Speedy, I…” Oliver paced back and forth across the room in a panicked state. He paused, composed himself, and continued.

“Speedy, I understand your emotional needs. OK? But still, I think it’s not entirely appropriate for us to share the same bed. I think you should go to your own bedroom.”

“Oh yeah?” Thea smiled. “And why do you say that?”

“Thea, please, just trust me.”

“No,” she said adamantly. “I want to stay with you. Why do you want me to leave so bad? Don’t you love me?”

Oliver couldn’t believe this line of questioning. She had obviously forgotten who was lying next to her, leading to the inappropriate touching she had obviously inadvertently initiated. As awkward as it was, he supposed his only option was to tell her the entire awkward truth.

“Speedy, I…oh God, this is going to be so awkward. But, listen, I…I don’t think we can do this innocently.”

“What do you mean?”

“Listen, I…oh, God, this is going to sound weird…but…I think for a little while there you forgot who you were lying next to. I think you thought I was someone else.”

Thea propped herself up on her side with a satisfied smile. “And what makes you say that, big brother?”

“Let’s not get into detail about it. Come on, back to your room, now.”

“No, really. I want to know what made you think that. What happened?”

Oliver sighed for a moment. She was obviously not catching on to his clues. He would obviously have to spell it out to some degree, which he dreaded.

“Listen, Speedy, I…look…you obviously didn’t realize who was next to you. You started to…oh God, this is awkward, but, umm…you started to…” he paused again to collect his thoughts, then continued. “You started to…umm…touch me. Inappropriately.”

Thea smiled to herself. He thought that her touches were the result of some unintended nocturnal urges. She supposed she could cut her losses, and go back to bed. After all, she had finally been able to feel him, intimately, at least for a moment. If she left now, he would be none the wiser to her incestuous urges.

But she was feeling particularly greedy at the moment. She couldn’t help but notice that despite his discovery of the identity of the person giving him his nocturnal rubbings, Oliver’s hardness had not softened. This was the time. She had to go for broke. After that little display, no way was he ever letting her sleep in his bed again.

Thea stood up from the bed. Clad only in a skimpy nightgown and panties, she noticed that Oliver didn’t even try to take his eyes off of her. She seductively soldered towards him, and then placed her arms around his strong neck, and looked into his eyes.

“Ollie,” she finally said with her arms around him. She leaned into his ear and seductively whispered into it. “First of all, I wasn’t asleep…and I knew exactly who was next to me.”

Oliver took a few moments to process this information. His own sister, his own baby Speedy…she had touched him. She had touched him…there. And she knew exactly what she was doing. Oh, God.

With her arms draped around him, Thea moved in to give him a kiss. A deep, intimate kiss, in which there was no hiding her intentions. Against his better judgment, Oliver couldn’t help but reciprocate. Their tongues intertwined as they explored each other’s mouths passionately for a few moments.

Finally, Oliver broke it off, and gently pushed her backwards off of him.

“Thea…this is wrong. Look, I love you…but not like this. We can’t do this. It’s forbidden. It’s ince…”

“Incest?” she said suddenly, beating him to the punch. “Oh, really, Ollie? It’s incest? It’s wrong? It’s forbidden? According to whom, exactly? According to society? Last I checked, neither of us were really the types of people who really gave a crap about what ‘society’ thought. According to biology nerds? Well, I don’t know about you, but I ESPECIALLY don’t care about what any biology nerds think about it.”

“Speedy, they have valid points. There are biological repercussions, societal repercussions, it’s…”

“Shut up, Ollie,” she finally said as she held him tightly once again. “Just shut up.”

She slowly started to cry. Then, she looked up in his eyes, and tried to reason with him.

“Ollie…I don’t care what anyone thinks. I don’t care about society, about what biology people think. All I know is one thing: there is a gorgeous man standing in front of me right now…a man who I know will always love me forever, unconditionally. A man who I thought I lost, who came back to me as my own personal beautiful miracle. A man I will always love…and I want to show him what true love means, in every sense of the word. Will you let me show that man how much I will always love him? And not just as a brother.”

Oliver’s mind was racing. He had imagined something like this happening, but thought it wouldn’t. He couldn’t believe Thea was romantically in love with him. He supposed it made some degree of sense…she had been through so much heartbreak and trauma. She hadn’t lived a normal life, and that would screw up the emotions of any young girl.

But he had to put a stop to this.

“Thea…I…I know that both of us have been through a lot of trauma. A lot of grief, and heartbreak. But that doesn’t mean we’re allowed to do something like…this. We’ll always love each other, to be sure…but not like this. Not in that way. I’m so sorry, Thea. I never understood how deep your hurt was, how much your losses disturbed you…but I can’t do something like this with you. It’s wrong. You need to see a psychiatrist to help sort out your feelings, because as of right now, you…OH, GOD, THEA!”

Oliver wanted to continue his thought decrying the notion of what she intended to do, but he couldn’t. Thea wouldn’t let him. Partway through his speech, Thea dropped to her knees, yanked down his boxers, started to lick him intimately.

Oliver took a moment to compose himself. His little sister was orally pleasuring him.

“Thea, what are you doing? You can’t…you shouldn’t…Oh, God…”

Thea continued to pleasure him as she ignored his cries. Finally, she disengaged herself from him, as her mouth left his member with a popping sound, while moving her hand towards him to stroke him.

“You can’t tell me this doesn’t feel good.”

“Listen, Thea…oh, it does feel good. But it’s forbidden. We can’t…”

Thea moved her mouth towards him again, and began sucking fervently. She wasn’t going to allow him to back out now. Nuh-uh. They had come too far. This was their chance at experiencing true love.

Oliver paused in fright as he considered the circumstances surrounding him at the moment. His little sister was sucking him off. A forbidden act of incest. But against his better judgment, he couldn’t stop her. It felt too good. It was absolutely electric, and he felt himself getting aroused both by the forbidden nature of what they were doing as well as how much it felt like a pure expression of love.

After several more moments of her taking his erect manhood in her mouth, Thea took a step back and stood up. She slowly took off her nightgown, exposing her perky breasts. Then, she slowly slid her panties down her thighs seductively.

His little Speedy was standing in front of him, completely naked.

She eventually moved towards the bed, then leaned back and spread her legs.

“I did you a favor, Ollie. Now it’s time for you to return the favor.”

Naked and wanting, Thea presented her pussy towards him. She wanted him to orally pleasure her. He had so many misgivings, so much doubt about it…but he figured to himself that he should return the favor that she had provided him. It was wrong, but maybe it would be okay if they stopped at oral.

Slowly, Oliver moved his mouth towards the bed. Towards his little sister’s pussy. He opened his mouth, and began to stick his tongue in her hot wetness. God, it felt so good. He moved his tongue up and down her sweetness, savoring the taste.

Even though he had not been with a woman during his five years on the island, Oliver’s increased skills in strength and accuracy had so far paid off dividends in the bedroom. He knew exactly what spots to hit, and hit his targets with precise accuracy. Thea was no different. He used smooth, steady, and slowly rhythmic licks to target Thea’s clitoris and G-spot immediately. He softened his tongue, slowly massaging her clitoral area, knowing not to attack her clitoris immediately. He exorcised his techniques on Thea, to great effect.

“Oh, GOD, Ollie!” she screamed. “You’re so fucking good at this! I love you so much!”

His techniques eventually proved to be too powerful. Thea came, unleashing her juices into his mouth.

“Oh, God, Oliver! I’m cumming! YOU’RE MAKING ME CUM!”

He enjoyed the experience, as her fresh juices ran into his mouth while he pleasured her.

Finally, he removed his face from her and moved upwards to meet her in the eye.

“That was amazing, Thea. I love you so much. But this is where it ends.”

“What?” she cooed with disappointment. “Why?”

“We’ve pleasured each other orally. Sure, it was enjoyable, but it will still wrong. And now, we have to stop. Maybe in the future, we can continue something like this. Just the oral part. But we can’t have full intercourse. It would be…”

Thea stopped him mid-sentence with a deep kiss on the lips. Then, she grabbed his shoulders, and slowly maneuvered them towards the bed, so that he would be lying on it, his erection facing upwards.

“Thea?” he questioned. “What are you doing?”

She slowly crawled on top of him as he lay on his back, facing him. Her legs surrounded his, and the opening to her eager pussy was held right about his erect member.

“Thea…wait, no. We can’t. Oral was one thing…but this? We can’t…we shouldn’t…there are so many potential repercussions…”

Thea just smiled as she reached down to grab him. She slapped him against her entrance, rubbing it up and down a bit.

“I love you,” she said sweetly, ignoring his protests. Then she decided it was time for the real thing. She slowly lowered herself onto him. His member slowly entered her as she lowered herself and felt the pleasure of him filling her so completely.

Oliver couldn’t believe this was happening. His cock was in her. He was having full blown sex with his sister. With his Speedy. And despite his protests, he couldn’t quite bring himself to stop it.

“Thea,” he said suddenly, “No. No. We can’t, we.” Her warm wetness felt amazing as it enveloped him. “Thea…no…no…you’re my sister…you can’t…we can’t…”

With his member inside her as she straddled him, Thea began to moan. In response to Oliver’s complaints, Thea leaned towards him. She kissed him deeply on the lips, and then replied.

“I don’t think you get much choice in the matter.”

Oliver’s eyes started to roll into the back of his head as his sister’s beautiful body continued to bounce up and down on top of him.

“Oh, yes, Ollie. You feel so good. Fuck me, Ollie…I’m all yours…”

As good as it felt, he still felt guilty, and felt the need to exorcise precaution.

“Thea…oh, God, this feels so good. But we need…UGH!” he said as she bounced her delightful body on him. “But we need…a condom. We can’t do this raw.”

With her big brother’s cock buried deep inside of her, Thea looked down upon him and smiled. “No condom necessary, Ollie. Condoms are for…OOH, RIGHT THERE! Um, condoms are for people you aren’t sure about. You don’t use condoms when you’re with someone that you love…OH GOD, YES, OLLIE! RIGHT THERE!”

He supposed she had a point. Still, he felt unsafe.

“Thea, I…OH, FUCK! YES!…umm, I love you and everything…but we should probably be safe…we should…”

Slowly, Thea moved upwards, detaching herself from his member for the time being. Oliver’s member slowly felt cold and alone.

Thea took a step back towards him, then looked at Oliver. “Well, then, Oliver, do you think we should use a rubber?”

“Well…yeah, I do. You know, just to be safe.”

Thea looked back at Oliver seductively. “Well, too bad. Not a chance, mister. I want to feel you. The real you. All of you. And you don’t get a say in the matter.”

“I…umm…”

Thea slowly sauntered back towards the bed, then leaned against it. Her pose quite clearly displayed what she wanted. She wanted him to take her from behind.

“Now, come on over here and take me.”

He had so many objections in his head. Or at least, he had many objections in the head that was on his shoulders. His “other head” pretty much had the opposite opinion and knew what it wanted.

And right now, his animalistic urges seemed to be winning out. He quickly used his mind to justify what his body wanted. He certainly wasn’t taking advantage of her…he had explained himself to her plenty of times. Explained all the consequences, gave her plenty of opportunities to stop, to use precautions…she said no.

She was an adult. She was beautiful. He was crazy for her. She felt amazing. And they both would always love each other.

Time to stop objecting. Enjoy the moment. Deal with the consequences tomorrow.

He moved over towards her delightful body, taking a moment to feel her perky breasts and wonderfully toned figure. Then, he slowly moved his erect member towards her entrance.

“Make love to me, Ollie. Enter me. Take me.”

He did. Grabbing both sides of her ass, he guided his cock deep within her entrance, and began to move back and forth.

“Oh, YES! Thank you Ollie! Oh, you feel so good! You’re so big! MMM!”

“I…ohh…I love you, Speedy.”

He moved himself back and forth inside her wetness as he took her from behind, using his accuracy skills to hit all the right places inside of her as she moaned.

He couldn’t believe how unbelievable this felt. An erotic explosion of both pure love and the forbidden.

Thea was getting everything she ever wanted. She almost felt like crying, and probably would if she wasn’t being filled with so many waves of pleasure. She had never felt anything like this before. She felt so much love…but was also was supremely turned on the wrongness of it all. She thought it was so immensely hot how they’re telling society to get lost, and breaking all of society’s rules.

She smiled to herself as he continued to enter her. So far, everything Ollie has said to her has been about the love aspect of it all. She wanted to take a moment to embrace the wicked side of it as well, and figured she would need to give him a kick start in that department.

After awhile, Thea spoke up again.

“Ollie, I…oooh…listen…I have an idea…”

“Oh yeah? And what might that be?”

He disengaged from her, in the process of shifting positions.

“Well…I love you. And I always will. In the most loving and purest possible way. And this is an expression of that love…”

Oliver smiled. “I love you too, Speedy.”

She grinned and then looked up at him again. “So…I don’t want to take away from the fact that this is a beautiful act of pure, unconditional love. But, still, that being said…well, we’re still being really naughty.”

He laughed. “Yeah, I guess you could say that.

“Well…Ollie…we both like breaking the rules of society. I can’t deny…and I’m sure you can’t either…the fact that despite how pure our love is…well, the fact that this is so wrong and forbidden and we’re breaking society’s rules…well, that really turns me on.”

Oliver felt himself twitch and harden. “Obviously someone here agrees with you. So what do you want to do about it?”

“Well,” Thea smiled. “I think we should…embrace it. Embrace the taboo and forbidden nature of it all…in order to help add to our own erotic pleasure. Stop talking about the love for a bit, and embrace the naughtiness. A little bit of dirty talk?”

Oliver smiled. “So, what do you suggest?”

This was unbelievable. It was like she had read his thoughts.

He picked her up by the legs and back, and he stood upright and moved against the wall. He pressed her against it, her legs wrapped around him with her back to the wall. He hovered over her entrance as they leaned in to kiss each other.

Thea slowly whispered seductively in his ear.

“I want you to fuck me…big brother.”

In the moment, in the pureness of their lovemaking, it was easy to forget their relation and focus on the fact that this is a woman he loved. The mention of him being her ‘big brother’ caused him to shudder for a moment at the erotic and forbidden implications. Implications that drove him wild with desire.

“I want you to fuck your little sister’s eager pussy. Little sis wants big brother’s cock so bad.”

He moved himself into her with a sudden thrust. She gasped, as he began to fuck her up against the wall. It was a little rougher and less gentle than before.

“This is wrong, Speedy. I’m supposed to protect you…I’m not not supposed to…OOH! I’m not supposed to…take advantage of you….to FUCK you….” It wasn’t a real protest, but a continuation of their act.

“Well, too late,” she gasped in between moans of pleasure. “You’re FUCKING me, big brother. My pussy is all yours for the taking. Fuck me more. Harder!”

His left hand explored her body, slowly caressing her ass as he continued to pump furiously. He couldn’t help but moan as she moved her body back and forth on him. Eventually, he moved her back towards the bed, still inside her. He lowered her on to the bed and lay on top of her as her legs locked around him.

“Oh, Ollie…please fuck me…harder!”

“You like big brother’s dick?” he asked, continuing their charade.

“Oh, I LOVE big brother’s big dick. Fuck me more!”

Thea was so happy he had agreed to embrace the taboo for a little bit. As he continued to move up and down inside of her, she felt her leg start to twitch as it wrapped around him. God, she couldn’t believe how good he felt…for the first time ever, she was having sex with a man. It felt a thousand times better than any of the boys she had been with. It wasn’t close. He was hitting every spot in her erogenous zones expertly, and soon she felt another orgasm sweeping across her body.

“Ohh…you’re making me cum again, Ollie…I’m cumming all over your big cock…”

“That’s it, Speedy. Let it all out. Cum for me.”

As her orgasm raced over her, he eventually flipped her over so that he was lying on the bed and she was on top of him.

“I want to watch you bounce up and down on my cock while you cum. Let me feel all of it.”

He grabbed the sides of her ass as she bounced up and down on him. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head as she moaned.

Waves of pleasure went through her body as she released her fluids onto him. She had never cum before from someone just being inside of her. He couldn’t believe his stamina – anyone else she’s ever been with would have been done 20 minutes ago.

After she finished her orgasm, Thea looked down into her brother’s loving eyes as her body continued to move up and down on him. She had a question for him. She couldn’t help it.

“Ollie, I…OOH! I…have a question for you…”

“Oh yeah?” he said, hands continuing to explore her body.

“Is my pussy…your favorite pussy?”

He shuddered and was caught off guard. A sexual perversion of an innocent childhood question that they had shared in the past. It was wrong, and yet turned him on, also.

Still, he regained control. He held his composure. As she asked the question, he couldn’t help but feel the deepest possible love towards her. He pulled her tightly in to himself, at first licking her perky nipples, then moving his way towards her mouth and kissing her deeply as she rode him. Finally, he detached himself, and looked into her eyes as she bounced up and down on his cock.

“Of course, Speedy,” he finally answered. “Your pussy is my favorite. It’s the best I’ve ever felt. Always….and forever.”

Thea was delighted with his response. Still, she decided to push it one step further. She needed confirmation. “Oh, really?” She paused for a breath, then asked a follow up question. “Even better than Laurel’s?”

Oliver smiled as the woman he loved most in the world continued to ride his member in an expression of true love and eroticism. He knew what she wanted to hear. And he was prepared to deliver it.

“Who’s Laurel?”

Thea squeed in response, leaning forward to hug her big brother tighter. She furiously kissed him on the lips, on the forehead, and everywhere in between that she could find.

Oliver continued to grab her in a bear hug as she explored his body with kisses. He meant it, too. What he felt with Laurel was nothing compared to this.

Still, he knew it was soon time for it all to end. He was close to finishing.

He announced his intentions. “Thea…I’m about to finish soon. Real soon, in fact. You should probably get off of me…you should let me finish in your mouth, in your hands, whatever you prefer…”

Thea continued to ride him furiously, and gave him a smile. “I know where I want you to finish, big brother.”

Thea continued to gyrate her hips as she straddled him. She didn’t give a follow-up response to that comment.

Oliver continued to feel closer and closer to the point of release. Slowly, he realized what Thea was implying by her refusal to get off of him.

“Wait,” he said suddenly, “Speedy, no. You have to get off me. We’ve been having fun, but what you’re thinking is…OOOH…oh God…well, it’s way too far. You have to get off of me…I can’t…”

For some reason, he felt powerless. Thea knew what she wanted, and she was determined to get it.

“Ollie, listen, I know it’s…OH, GOD! OOOOOH…I….oh, sorry. But, like I said, I know what I want from you…I want you feel you…the REAL you…all of you…and forget whatever society or biology thinks about it.”

As she continued to ride him, Oliver thought about the implications of what she was saying. “Speedy? Surely you can’t mean…you won’t…you couldn’t…”

“You know exactly what I mean,” she smiled back at him. Once again, she leaned back into his ear seductively.

“I want you inside of me, big brother. I want to feel you. I want to feel all of you…inside me. It’s okay, Ollie. I’m on the pill.”

Oliver knew it was wrong, but he couldn’t hold it any longer. He came. He came as his little Speedy’s pussy surrounded him, and he shot load after load inside of her.

“Oh….YES! GIVE IT TO ME! FILL ME UP, BIG BROTHER! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!”

He continued to fill her up, and her walls were completely filled with incestuous fluids.

This was by far the riskiest part of it, and the one thing he told himself wouldn’t happen. But it happened anyway. As he finished unloading, he felt his slowly softening member detach itself from her.

She lay down beside him as they both gasped from their act of forbidden coitus.

Slowly, they turned to face each other. She smiled at him, and kissed him deeply.

The absolute pure waves of pleasure started to fade from Oliver as he considered the consequences of what he had just done.

“Speedy…I can’t believe we did that.”

He had so many misgivings. It was so wrong…but it felt so pure, so electric. So right.

Thea had no such misgivings. She stared deeply into her beloved’s eyes. She couldn’t believe how perfect he was, how much he loved her…and now, she had him. She had the one thing she wanted so badly, that she thought she would never have. And it was so much better than she could have ever dreamed. She couldn’t believe it, and started to tear up as she looked at him.

Oh god, Oliver thought. She’s crying. Of course she would be. Her perverted big brother just had sex with her. Traumatized her.

“Oh God, Speedy…please don’t cry…oh, God…I’m so sorry…please forgive me…”

“Forgive you? Oh, Ollie,” she sniffled. “These are tears of joy. Of love. I’ve never been so happy in my life. I love you so much, and am so glad I got to feel you.”

Oliver was relieved to hear this, and kissed her on the lips again. She turned around and started to spoon him again as he put his arms around her. Thea started to doze off, in a state of absolute bliss.

Oliver stayed awake much longer than she did as he held her in his arms. He was still in a state of disbelief. He loved her so much, and this was an expression of that love. It felt so right. But it also opened up so many questions.

He pondered those questions as he dozed off to sleep in turn.

Oliver’s first dreams were pure. About his undying and eternal love for Thea, and how much love they had shared. Recreating the experience. Thinking about bliss in the future. How they had spent the night together in an electrifying bliss of true love.

But soon, his dreams turned darker, as he reflected upon the act he had just committed.

Oliver was sitting in his room, alone. Suddenly, the window broke. There was an intruder.

A man in a green hood and mask had broken in. The intruder held a bow and arrow in Oliver’s face.

At first, Oliver thought that this man was the Dark Archer, the copycat. How had he found out about his identity, about his home?

But then, Oliver inspected the intruder further. No, this was not the Dark Archer, not a copycat. This was the real thing. The Starling City Vigilante. The man who sought to bring justice to the wicked and evil.

Himself.

He pondered for a moment how this could be possible. Then, his hooded doppelganger raised his bow and arrow and pointed it at Oliver’s face.

“Oliver Queen,” the vigilante duplicate said solemnly, “you have failed this city.”

Oliver didn’t know how it was possible. HE was the vigilante, the man who spoke those words…but he was terrified, just the same. He answered the question.

“Please!” he pleaded. He did not feel like a man hardened by five years on an island at that point. He felt like the clueless playboy who was first hopelessly shipwrecked five years ago.

“Confess your crime,” the vigilante coldly said to Oliver.

“Okay, okay!” Oliver replied, scared. “I’ll confess. I’m guilty of the crime of…” he paused. He couldn’t bear to say it.

An arrow shot narrowly missed him as it hit the wall behind him.”Say it!” the vigilante yelled. “Confess your crime!”

Oliver finally broke down and admitted it. “Okay, okay. I’m guilty of the crime of…incest. I had sex with my own little sister. My little sister, who I should be protecting…I took advantage of her instead. I had sex with her.”

His vigilante alter-ego stared at him. “You will confess your crimes to the police, and serve your time. You are scum, and a scourge on humanity that should be wiped out.”

The vigilante then disappeared, leaving Oliver alone to contemplate his thoughts.

…

Oliver finally awoke again, for good this time. The harsh light of morning jolted him awake as he lay in his bed. He tried to compose himself as he processed the events of the previous night.

He slowly gathered his thoughts and distinguished reality from his dreams. No one had found out. He wasn’t going to jail. That part was all a dream. Obviously, considering the fact that he was confronted by himself.

Still, he knew, had just committed the forbidden act of incest. He had sexual relations with his own sister. A person he loved unconditionally. Who looked up to him, looked to him for guidance.

His perverted incestuous desires had led him to have sex with his Speedy.

He felt like vomiting. He looked around the bed. She was gone. He was alone, for now. He sighed, and contemplated. She was probably in her room, crying.

He couldn’t blame her. Her big brother, the one person who was always supposed to look out for her and protect her, had instead taken advantage of her. Had slept with her. He was scum.

Oliver slowly got up, and put some clothes on. He lumbered down the stairs.

As he neared the bottom of the stairs, he heard whistling. Happy whistling.

He entered the kitchen, and saw Thea there. She was in the middle of cooking waffles. As soon as he entered, her eyes turned towards him as they lit up.

“Ollie!” she squealed. “Good morning! I’m cooking us up some waffles! Your favorite, I know!”

She shuffled over towards him, and draped her arms around him as she looked up into her beloved’s eyes. She gazed at him adoringly for a few moments, before moving her lips to try to meet his, attempting to start a deep kiss.

He turned his face away immediately.

“Ollie?” she said with a trace of hurt after he turned away from her. “What’s going on?”

He looked down at her, ashamed. “You’re my little sister. And I took advantage of you.”

Her arms still draped around him, Thea furrowed her eyes as she addressed him. “Oliver Jonas Queen, don’t you dare. Don’t you DARE feel guilty about the love we shared.”

“But Thea…I…we…”

“Took advantage of me? Last I checked, I was the one who started it. And I’m an adult now, who can make my own decisions. Who can make my own choices….and, well…I choose you!”

She moved her head towards him again to kiss him. This time, he couldn’t help but reciprocate. Their tongues twirled against each other as they embraced. He knew it was wrong. But it felt so passionate, so right.

Finally, he came to his senses and broke the kiss.

“Thea…I’m not saying that it wasn’t amazing. It was the most pure feeling of love I have ever felt. But…it’s wrong, Thea. And we can never do that again. It ends now, before it goes even further.”

“Hmmmm, let me think about that for a moment,” she said as she pretended to ponder. “I’m going to go with…..nope!”

“Speedy…”

“Ollie. IF you said that you didn’t like it, that you didn’t love me, that you wanted to stop because you don’t feel THAT kind of love for me…well, I would be okay with that. But that’s not the case. You loved it. And you love me. And not just like a sister. We’re right for each other, Ollie. The only reason you want to stop is because you think we might get caught. But we won’t get caught!”

He supposed she had a point. He couldn’t fully wrap his head around it before, but he was truly in love with her. Romantically. And their lovemaking had been the purest feeling in the world…her assessment pretty much absolved him of the guilt that was eating away at him. So really, the only thing he was really worried about was getting caught.

“I guess you’re right,” he said. He brought her close to him, embracing her deeply. “So how do we do this without anyone finding out?”

Thea was ready for that question. She had been going over that exact question for months. “We have to be careful. Only when Mom isn’t here. And if she is here, well, we can use your abandoned nightclub. I’m sure you have some sort of secret door or lair under it, right?”

“Uh…” now that was something he wasn’t prepared to deal with.

“You know, a lair where you keep a bunch of your bows and arrows and stuff…”

He hadn’t even considered the fact that she knew. It made perfect sense, of course. She had said she found the vigilante “sexy,” and defended him…of course she knew.

“Speedy, I…” he couldn’t bring himself to finish the sentence. After everything they had shared, he couldn’t bring himself to lie anymore.

“Don’t worry, Ollie. It’s okay. We’ll save that discussion for another day,” she smiled. “As it stands, Mom’s still going to be gone for the next few days, so we’ll have that time to discuss our options. And then maybe discuss your extracurricular activities, as well.”

He paused for a moment and took his breath. “Okay. Sure.” She smiled then walked back towards the waffles which were ready, and began to take them out.

Oliver sat down at the table. He did indeed want to open up to her about everything. About the island, about his vigilante life. He knew she was the right person to finally open up to about everything.

But not today. Too much going on as it is for him to fully process. He wanted to enjoy the afterglow of their first time exploring each other’s romantic love.

Thea returned towards the table with the plates of waffles, and set them down. Before they started eating, she walked over to him, held his hand in hers, and entwined their fingers.

“Ollie?”

“Yeah? He stood up again to meet her.”

She kissed him again. Deeply and passionately, as the two lovers explored each other’s mouths.

Then, she detached, and smiled sweetly at him.

“Thanks for proving that I’m your favorite girl.”

The End

AUTHOR’S NOTE: My first time writing any sort of fanfiction and I’m looking to improve, so if you read the whole thing please leave a comment with your feedback, be it positive or negative. It would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

---