Prompt: Christmas Past (part 1)
Pairing: N/A / Fandom: Arrow
It was that time of the year, yet again. The streets, the store fronts, even the lobby of his company, it was all decorated with Christmas decorations, a constant reminder that Christmas was fast approaching. For Oliver, it was a bitter sweet season. On one hand, he now had an amazing girlfriend, Brianna, by his side, someone he could fully trust and that has helped him in more ways than one, especially during that time of the year. On the other hand, it still reminded him of his father and of how much he loved Christmas.
He remembered when he first came back. How it seemed that no one cared about Christmas. At first, when he had asked Thea why there were no decorations or a Christmas tree in the house, she had told him that it was just because everyone was busy with the company and with bringing him back to the world of the living, legally speaking. But, after pressing a little, Thea eventually told him that it was because they had stopped celebrating it since his and their father's disappearance.
That's when Oliver had made a decision, he was gonna bring back Christmas to the Queen household. He knew that convincing his mother and Thea would be tricky, but he knew how to do it. Walter was the easiest one. Besides, he thought that it would be a good thing to help them get close again, to help them become a family again.
Surprisingly enough, convincing his mother wasn't as complicated as he predicted, it was Thea that wasn't completely on board with the idea. He knew he would have to talk to her about it, to try and understand why. Unfortunely, planning a big Christmas party and being the man in the hood, didn't leave him enough time to do so.
The day of the party had come and everyone looked amazing. He walked around the room and found his mother, Thea and Walter all together and decided to ask them to take a picture together, just for them. He could tell that there was some tension between Walter and his mother, but he thought that it was between them. Thea also looked slightly annoyed, her mood only changing when her newest boyfriend showed up.
After checking in with Diggle, he decided that that was a good time to go talk to Thea. Leaving everyone in the party, Oliver walked towards his sister bedroom. Not bothering with knocking, he opened the door and found Thea with her boyfriend, both close to be half naked. He, quickly and with a glare, kicked the boy out. That's when Thea unleashed her anger at him.
She yelled at him, saying that it wasn't because he was throwing a big party that things could go back to where they were before he and their dad disappeared, before storming out. Oliver knew that she was right, no matter how hard it was for him to admit. It took him almost being killed by the Dark Archer, for them to realized that they needed to start accepting each other for who they were in that moment and not for who they were before he disappeared.
His first Christmas back was complicated, to say the least, but it brought with it what he actually wanted: his family. Things began changing, once they agreed to start accepting each other more, and now, four years later, things were a lot better.
He and Thea were a lot closer, to the point where she was part of his team to protect the city. He found someone who cares about him and loves him, all of him, no matter what. And he saw his baby sister bond with Brianna in a way that he had never seen her do before.
Things were better now, definitely, but he knew things didn't always last and he was ready for when things would go south. Until then, he was gonna enjoy the holidays with the people he loved and not worry about what he can't control.