Peacock
An: I do not own Arrow.
Summary: Thea has decided that her brother's training behaviour reminds her of a bird she learned about when she was younger. Her personal nickname for her brother soon turns into a new reference for him on the team.
Thea smiled to herself as she left the lair. She could hear her brother moving the bar of the salmon ladder to the next rung and she knew her future sister-in-law was pretending to look at a computer screen while she not-so-secretly checked Oliver out. She pulled out her phone and texted Laurel and Diggle one word: Peacock. That had become the word that Thea used to describe her brother now, not that she would ever tell Oliver that. No her brother did not take jokes well.
Diggle responded with a smiley face and Laurel said she would leave for patrol from her apartment. Thea was heading out for the first shift of the night with Diggle while Laurel and Oliver had the second shift for the night. Felicity had decided that it would be easier and less stressful on the members involved if there were two shifts for the night doing regular recon work. That way, the other two team members could actually get some rest instead of staying up all night. If there was a big mission, or the team patrolling needed help, the other team could be called out. Oliver tended to take the late shift so that Thea, Laurel and Diggle would have time to spend outside of Team Arrow. For Oliver, Team Arrow was his life, and he had the opportunity to sleep during the day.
Felicity, would be running the coms regardless of which team was on or off and as the CEO of her company, she arranged her work day so that she didn't have to start at 8:00am. She made it clear to her assistant Jerry that she would not be available before 10:00am and all meetings were to be scheduled after that time. The board had no objection since the company was doing well and a lot of the new initiatives and idea that Felicity pushed had earned the company billions. When she was in office, she mostly signed and approved documents and met with investors, the board and heads of departments. She would read and review reports at the lair in between her work for Team Arrow. The system had worked well for her so far. It allowed her to balance, her position as CEO, her work on team Arrow and most importantly her relationship with Oliver.
The following night, Thea met up with Laurel on the roof top of a grocery in the Glades, "Hey partner for the night,"
"Hi right back at you?" Laurel said scanning the streets below for any sign of criminal activity.
"You all prepared for the big case tomorrow?" Thea asked referencing the big drug ring they had cracked 3 months prior.
"Yeap, once we're done without patrol, I'll head back to my apartment and get some sleep. I'll leave you to handle them." Laurel said referring to the love birds in the lair.
"That's not fair!" Thea said.
"He's your brother,"
"He's our team captain?" Thea countered.
"Still your brother," Laurel responded.
"I really don't know how Diggle survived three years of his peacock behaviour."
Laurel laughed. "You know, I don't think Oliver will approve of the peacock reference."
"But that is exactly what it is. In school they tougher me, a peacock raises up its tail to show off the nice colours to attract a mate, Oliver does all of these intense physical exercises to show off for Felicity."
"You know it's just training. We have to keep in shape," Laurel responds.
"Yes but he does it shirtless and he's only shirtless when Felicity is there. Dig told me the Salmon ladder story and the fact that Oliver would only use it when Felicity was there. He practices with his sword in front of her computers, in a 'hey look at me, I'm being fierce!' way," Thea said as if all of that proved her point.
"You should be happy that your brother is happy," Laurel advised the younger girl.
"I am happy for them. At least they don't do it in the lair,"
Laurel scoffed.
"Wait they do? No Laurel please tell me no. You mean I could walk in at anytime and catch them?"
"I don't think we could catch them. Felicity is tracking us all the time. I think she has an alert set up to warn them if we are within 5 miles of the lair. That's why they always look like the most innocent kids when we walk in."
They were both interrupted by the true voice in command of their team.
"You know, Oliver, I distinctly remember showing both Thea and Laurel how to turn off the comms when they want a private conversation," Felicity's voice broke over their ear pieces. Both girls flushed in embarrassment.
"I am NOT a peacock," Oliver said firmly.
"Hmm, you could be Captain Peacock. It has a nice ring to it." Felicity teased.
"Felicity," he growled at her.
"Please guys, no foreplay over the comms," Laurel teased.
"That was not foreplay," Oliver growled back.
"Whatever you say Captain Peacock!" Thea responded cheekily.
"Do you see what you've caused Felicity," they both heard Oliver say to his girlfriend.
Both girls giggled as they imagined Oliver's facial expression. An alarm at a jewellery store stopped any further continuation of the story but at the end of the night both Laurel and Thea avoided the lair.
The next day, Oliver received a call from Captain Lance. "Hey Captain Peacock, I have a lead on that case," the Captain gloated.
Oliver groaned, if his girlfriend wasn't the person he needed most in his life, he just might make her pay for his current predicament. It was going to take him months to get his team to drop that new moniker for him. Maybe he should take his frustrations out on his sister? She was the root cause of the problem. A wicked smirk formed on his face. He knew exactly what he was going to make her do.
1 Week Later
It was time for Oliver to hit the streets and he went to collect his Arrow Hood to find it wasn't in the glass container.
"It's in the bathroom," Thea said absently. "I had to move it during the cleanup of the lair that you forced me to do," she growled.
Oliver gave her a curious glance but thought nothing of it and headed to the bathroom. Once he was out of earshot, Laurel turned to Thea, "Please tell me you didn't?"
Thea gave her a brilliant smile.
"You are so dead," Laurel said.
"Nah, Felicity wouldn't let him kill me," Thea said giving the blonde stationed at the computers a wink.
Inside the bathroom Oliver pulled on his hood and glanced at the mirror on his way out. He stopped cold in his tracks. There on the back of his hood was an arrangement of peacock feathers arranged to look like he was wearing a mini peacock tail on his head. He looked like a damn carnival costume!
"THEA!"