Coffee and Unrequited Love

Chapter One

Barry knew that this had been a mistake from the moment that he had stepped into the coffee shop in Central City and realized that he actually has no idea what kind of coffee Oliver actually liked. He had been so absorbed in the signs behind the counter that he hadn't noticed the curly haired barista trying to get his attention until he was, literally, booted forward by the man behind him in the queue. Barry would have said something, but the annoyed expressions of everyone else behind him made him think better of it, awkwardly, he stuttered out an order for a black coffee, no sugar, while the barista stared at him, probably in confusion. Typically people who had such trouble deciding wouldn't have asked for something so simple.

Barry's feeling of dread only grew during the journey, unfortunately for him, the takeout cups from Jitters were not designed to withstand supersonic speeds, which any aeronautical engineer would probably have been able to tell him. Sadly, Barry did not know any aeronautical engineers, and would probably have forgotten to ask them for their advice if he did, so he ended up covered in scaldingly hot coffee when the top of the cup flew off as he crossed the Kansas border.

He hadn't wanted to show up to visit Oliver empty-handed, so he ended up shamefacedly stepping into another coffee shop just a block away from Oliver's apartment, repeating his earlier request for a black coffee. With a sigh, he started towards the apartment, walking this time.

He hadn't expected Oliver to be already leaving the building when he reached for the doorbell, but the door swung open right as he pressed the button. A flicker of surprise crossed the archer's face, but Barry soon received a warm smile.

He swallowed, trying to push down the words that tingled on his tongue. He couldn't tell Oliver that he loved him, not like this. Barry might have only recently figured out that he was bi, or possibly pan, he didn't have enough experience to be sure, but that had been enough time to do some research. It was apparent that statistically speaking only about ten percent of people were gay, and since Barry already knew Singh, and Curtis, and Sara, and Kara's Sister (although her universe's statistics might have been different), Barry didn't think his chances with Oliver were all that good.

The point was, Barry had only realized his feelings for the archer a few months before and wasn't about to possibly ruin his relationship with Oliver by telling him about his feelings. Oliver would be straight, and then he would probably feel immensely guilty about hurting Barry by telling him he was straight, and then he might start to avoid Barry.

Barry would much rather be able to continue spending time like this so he could do this, he could do platonic.

Except Oliver was looking over him, eyes filled with concern, and Barry realized with a sense of growing horror that he must have been standing there in silence for several minutes. That was the other bad thing about this crush, every time he had been around the older man for the last few months, he had ended up embarrassing himself.

With a jerky movement, Barry held the cup in his hands out towards Oliver, one good thing was that the coffee might have actually cooled down enough to be drinkable after Barry's little brain blip.

"I brought you some coffee," He said by way of greeting, "but if you're busy, I won't keep you long."

To his surprise, Oliver gripped his shoulder with an even wider smile, in fact, now that he was sure that Barry hadn't received any recent brain trauma, he seemed delighted that the speedster was there. "I was just taking a walk, you can come with if you want."

Barry didn't miss the way that the blond winced slightly as he took a swig from his cup, so Oliver didn't like black coffee then. Barry had been so sure that a tough guy like Oliver would only drink that, or at least he had been when he was put under pressure. He would have to make sure that he asked Felicity's advice the next time he visited.

"Are you hungry or anything?" Oliver asked he was polite enough to drain the entire cup of its contents before he tossed it in the trash. "You've come a long way, and knowing you, you probably forgot to eat breakfast before you came."

Barry's traitorous stomach gave him away, giving off an audible grumble at the mention of food, Oliver's eyes traveled down Barry's body until they reached his stomach, with a sigh, the archer gripped his hand, pulling him in the direction of a nearby restaurant.

"And why do you smell so strongly of coffee?" Oliver asked incredulously, apparently not having ever been told that it was impolite to sniff people.

Barry could barely stutter a response but that was hardly his fault, Oliver's hand was warm.