Coffee and Unrequited Love

Chapter Two

Barry had been acting oddly that morning, Oliver felt, not acknowledging that that just proved how much attention he paid to Barry's usual mannerisms. He wondered if Barry was having relationship problems, but decided to push that thought down, mostly because the idea of Barry being in a relationship made something ugly bubbly up in his chest that Oliver didn't like to examine.

"Mmm," Barry groaned through a mouthful of his third helping of waffles, and Oliver tried hard to avoid imagining Barry groaning during another, somewhat more strenuous, activity, "this is so good."

The archer pressed the heel of his palm up against his mouth in a fruitless attempt to hide the warm smile that was developing on his face. It was evident to most of the people around them, but, luckily for Oliver, Barry was still engrossed in his food.

If Ollie could just think of a 'totally not a date' date to invite Barry on, he could spend a little bit more time with him today, but his thoughts were interrupted by a string of gunshots sounding from somewhere across the street.

Barry was up and in his suit within seconds, he didn't even wait to see what Oliver would do, but he was back before the blond could even stand up. Of course, his return was interrupted by tripping over his own feet, which meant that he slammed into the concrete at hypersonic speeds.

Oliver barely held back his shout of 'Barry!' as he ran outside, pulling the speedster up and into his arms. Some people turned to look at them but seemed to decide that he was just a concerned citizen helping out a particularly clumsy hero, and quickly decided to leave him to it.

He wanted to ask Barry if he was okay, he wanted to tell him that he loved him, and he wanted to take Barry home and make love to him for hours, but what actually came out of his mouth was: "What the Hell were you thinking!" Oliver was great at ruining his own chances.

Barry looked hurt, and his eyes began to shift into the puppy dog eyes that would have made the archer melt if he hadn't just launched into a lecture.

"Ollie," Flash pouted, "it's fine, it was just a scrape, and it's already healing."

Oliver recognized that he had just massively overreacted, but, he wasn't wrong, and he wasn't about to apologize to Barry for being concerned about him, so he was meticulous in not looking at Barry as he offered his very small olive branch: "That doesn't mean that I'm fine with seeing you get hurt."

The warning that Oliver would be distraught if Barry were ever hurt worse while around him was implicit, but Barry didn't seem to notice it. He was too busy focusing on what basically amounted to a confession.

The speedster's eyes were as wide as saucers, and they were locked on Oliver's face. He wished that the archer would turn towards him so that he could get a better idea as to what the man was thinking, but Oliver absolutely refused to turn his head. Barry knew that Oliver must have some kind of concern towards him, but this had to still fall under the realm of 'platonic,' right? There was no way that Oliver actually had romantic feelings towards him. Friends didn't want to see friends hurt either, right?

He was sure that he was just reading too much into things, he so desperately wanted something to be between them that he was misinterpreting Oliver's feelings towards him.

But at the same time, the older man's arms were still tight around him, even after several minutes.

Maybe he did have a chance.

He was just going to ruin it because hey, he did have some dignity as a hero, he couldn't stay in a 'civilian's' arms for too long. Being held was nice and all, but he needed to ask Ollie to let him down gently. "Ollie," he said gently, "you can let me go now, I really am fine."

The blond let him go immediately, Barry knew that he would, he wouldn't do anything that went against Barry's wishes, but still, he seemed conflicted about something, he continued to avoid looking into Barry's eyes.

"Oliver," the speedster couldn't hold himself back from touching his friend's face. "Is something wrong? Are you upset with me?"

The older man swallowed, but when his eyes met with Barry's again, they were filled with resolve. "Look, I kinda want to kiss you right now, and I need you to know that because I don't want you thinking I'm mad at you and avoiding me for weeks again."

"That happened once!" Barry cried, completely focusing on the wrong part of Oliver's admission, his brain was still catching up with the first part. "Wait... you wanna kiss me? You actually wanna kiss me?" The excitement might have been evident in his voice.

The blond nodded, a broad smile spread across his face. "Have for a while, but right now, you're in costume, and I'm not, and since I'm planning on kissing you a whole lot more..."

Barry understood, if they kissed as Barry and Oliver even a few hours after kissing as Oliver and the Flash, his secret identity might be at risk, Oliver just wanted to protect him.

He might have run faster than he ever had before trying to get both of them back to Oliver's place.