Cold? Nah!
Disclaimer: I own nothing but what you see here. This is a follow up to Shado Style, which was a follow up to Some Chili. Set still in season 1.
Summary: Winter has come to Starling City, though one person it seems has yet to get that memo.
Another quirk of Oliver 'Ollie' Queen that everyone who knew him learned of would come about during an interesting time of the year. One that included holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas and usually made one have the need to dress warmly cause of how cold it got during the winter. Though Oliver it seemed was somehow ignoring the fact it was cold and acted like it was still fairly warm out. His lack of wintery clothes had made the rounds in the media and caused a lot of speculation to occur. Some that hadn't been all that flattering as there had been mentions of potentially unknown brain damage being involved. Something that had gotten a snort of amusement from Oliver and made for a surprised Moira when he told his mother not to do anything about it. When asked, he simply told her that there was no need in doing anything as he knew the truth of the situation and that was all that mattered.
Even Malcolm Merlyn was a little weirded out by the whole thing when he came across Robert's son jogging in the park in a pair of jeans and a grey muscle shirt. Asking Moira about it had been useless since she didn't really know much as she had decided to leave it alone and let him come to her when he was ready. Detective Lance had the simple thought that the Punk had cracked after all that time on the island and this was just one way it was showing, earning himself an eye roll from Laurel in the process. Though when Oliver was seen out and about without a care in the world on one of the coldest days of the year so far, his friends and family had decided that an intervention was sorely needed and set him down on the couch in the front room. Amongst the gathered bunch was his bodyguard John Diggle, who also had been somewhat concerned over it. Of course Oliver was just confused over the whole thing.
"Okay, can someone explain to me what's going on here?"
The gathered crowd looked at one another for a moment and as if by some silent method of communication, it was agreed that his mother would be the one to speak up first. "Oliver, sweetheart, there's been some concern amongst us lately about you."
That made him raise his eyebrows up over that as he hadn't thought he'd been doing anything recently to gain that kind of attention. "While the method you use to make that delicious Chili of yours is one thing, and even the Martial Arts and staff is another that we've all managed to come to accept to one degree or another. There's one particular new… Um, well quirk that has had us rather alarmed to say the least."
Oh Boy, is this about the nightmares or the fact I hardly sleep cause of those? Or one of the other things? I can't help the zoning out issue as it just happens randomly. And its not like I can just stop checking out places for escape routes and the like.
He was drawn out of his thoughts when Thea snapped her fingers at him, making him blink up at her. "What? Sorry, I was thinking."
"See!? Since when did you do that!?" Jokingly asked Thea, making him give her a mocking laugh in return.
Moira cleared her throat to get the discussion back on track. "Anyway, as you may know by now Oliver, its Winter correct?"
"Yeah? I do. Kinda hard to miss that with how everyone's been dressing lately." Sure, he was kind of sarcastic there but he couldn't help it!
His sarcasm did get him a nice motherly glare though so that was something! "Sooo… If you know that, then why are you, you know, not doing like us?" Asked Tommy curiously.
"Not sure I follow buddy."
Laurel sighed and decided to speak up for her sort of boyfriend. "He means why aren't you dressing warmly like us? Walking around with out a jacket can't be that great and I'm surprised you aren't already sick cause of it."
His ex's words made him finally realize what this whole thing was about! And while he wasn't prone to rolling his eyes that much, this made him want to do that as come on now, there had to be other more serious things to be worried about! But when he made no move to talk and saw that they were all looking expectantly at him, he let out a sigh before speaking. "I basically… Just don't get cold anymore."
The archer's words made the group look at one another in confusion over that one. "Uhh… Ollie, that's kinda not possible." Supplied his baby sister and getting nods of agreement from the others.
Walter was wondering if the young man needed a full on set of tests done to determine if there was nerve damage within his body. As that could explain why he wouldn't be prone to feeling the Winter's cold sting. "I was on an island in the ocean right?"
Nods were given to that. "So it could get pretty cold there."
Hell, God knows the cold here in the city was nothing like Lian Yu's kind of cold! Seeing that none of them were really catching on just yet, Oliver continued onward. "So basically… I don't get cold."
"Body got used to the temps on that island." Supplied Diggle, earning himself an approving nod from the archer.
Thea was slightly confused though. "You don't get cold cause of the island? But… How does that work exactly? Isn't cold still cold? I mean, unless its like Antarctica or something."
Oliver gave her a shrug. "Lian Yu's just more colder then it is here." That thankfully seemed to get through the heads of everyone aside from Diggle as they all got looks of dawning comprehension on their faces.
"I can imagine something like that would be rather useful." Remarked Walter thoughtfully while it was Moira's turn that time to wonder if whether or not her son should be tested for nerve damage.
You have no idea Walter.
Clapping his hands together and making more than one person startle at the unexpected action, Oliver stood up with a smile on his face. "Now that that's out of the way, I guess we're done here?"
Tommy was about to ask a question on it but Moira beat him to the punch, making him pout a little and getting a light smack on the head from Laurel in the process as she had a pretty good idea what he was likely thinking. Making Thea smirk at the whole thing and getting a childish reaction in the form of Tommy sticking his tongue out at her. "Yes, Oliver, we're done here. But… I think it might be wise to consider testing yourself for nerve damage."
Oliver chuckled as he grasped his mother's shoulders. "Mom, that's totally unnecessary okay? I am completely fine."
She tried to protest that but all he did was smile and kiss her on the cheek before walking away. Glad to have the whole thing over with and also pretty glad their talk hadn't been about something more serious as that kind of stuff just sucked to talk about.
Author's Notes: In addition to the very likely case of PTSD Oliver has, there's probably a crap load of quirks he has thanks to it and his time away. I mean he even mentions at one point that he doesn't get cold. And I figured what better way then to explore that a bit here. R and R! And if any of you have ideas for future quirks, hit me up!