Chapter Text
Part I
“Excuse me? Excuse me! Can I get some service over here?”
She rolls her eyes at the impatient, entitled, arrogant voice coming from down the counter and focuses once more on the lines of computer code scrolling down the cash register screen, searching for the one line of broken code. Blindly, she lifts the iced coffee and pulls the straw into her mouth. She should have charged Jeff more than just a month of free coffee for fixing his cash register again when he should just replace the damn thing. Although, at this rate, she’ll never pay for coffee the whole time she’s in college so she can’t really complain.
“YO! Can I get some coffee here!”
She finds the broken line and quickly fixes it, running the program in a separate window to verify that it’s working. Well, at least the program is running. The computer, on the other hand...She’s probably going to need to dismantle and clean thoroughly before it runs like it’s supposed to.
“Hey! Emo chick! There’s a paying customer over here who would like some coffee!”
Felicity’s head jerks up with an irritated glare that pins the boy to his spot, his blue-grey eyes narrowing in annoyance too. She purses her lips and leans on the counter. She was never much of a clothes person, but thanks to her mother, she knows what expensive clothes look like. And based on the blue silk shirt and stylized messy hair, Pretty Boy probably has a massive trust fund.
“Do I look like a barista to you?” Felicity demands, pointing at her black clothes, hair, dark make-up, and piercings. No one could really mistake her for the brightly-colored employees Jeff hired.
He scowls at her sass. “You are standing behind the counter at the cash register.”
“So you assumed I was here to serve you coffee?” She asks icily, frostiness dropping a couple degrees cooler at his continued arrogance. “Do you often make assumptions like that, Pretty Boy?”
He looks somewhat chagrined, but he holds his ground. “Look, I just need a cup of coffee. Black, or whatever will get me the most caffeine.”
She stares at him impassively. It’s not her job to fetch people coffee. Nope. That’s where she draws a very very fine line. Not that there’s anything wrong with the job. She just absolutely refuses to do any sort of job resembling her mother’s in the casinos. That’s why she’s at school. She’s not about to be moved to change her mind because Pretty Boy needs a quick caffeine fix.
He groans, anger leaving him as he falls onto the stool and lifts softer, sad grey eyes to hers. “Please.”
It’s the whispered plea that gets to her, matched with the world-weary, sorrowful eyes. She recognizes that look. Her mom had it after her dad left, and she’s seen it in the mirror far more often than she cares to admit. She sighs and glances around for Jade. She’s supposed to be working right now. It’s that weird lull time that hits at 1:30pm-ish. They don’t serve lunch so there’s rarely people present, which is why Felicity came now to fix the computers.
Of course, she can’t find the lazy employee or Jeff for that matter. She glances at the defeated man now resting his forehead on the counter. Rolling her eyes at her own bleeding heart, she grabs two hot cups and pours herself and the stranger another coffee.
She walks around the counter and climbs onto the stool next to Pretty Boy, placing his coffee down with a clunk. He looks up at the cup and then back at her, brows furrowed in confusion. She purses her lips and waits for the pompous response, the resurgence of his arrogance as his earlier look was revealed to be an act. She was duped.
Instead, he surprises her by nodding and taking a long sip before, setting the cup on the counter. “Thank you.” His voice is rough and deep, sad. It continues to tug on her heartstrings as she tries to pull herself back from caring. “I’m sorry. For yelling earlier.”
She nods, sipping her own coffee as her eyes stare out the window without seeing anything. After a moment of silence, she asks, “You want to talk about it?”
He glances at her in surprise. “I thought only bartenders asked that.”
She snorts, shaking her head. “What bartender do you know who does that?”
“I don’t know,” he responds with a shrug, staring deadly into space.
The silence settles back, comfortably this time, like a warm blanket. But internally, Felicity’s mind is full of whirling possibilities. Firstly, where the hell were Jade and Jeff? Secondly, why was she sitting here drinking coffee with Pretty Boy? Did she enter a parallel universe where she wears bright clothes and has her mom’s blonde hair?
Pretty Boy interrupts her crazy thoughts. “It’s my best friend.” He sighs, staring at his coffee cup as he spins it in his hands. “He was in a boating accident. Everyone says he’s dead, but I don’t believe it. I came here because some guy online told me he could track him down.”
She winces at the seediness of the offer. He must be as desperate as he looks if he came here just for that.
He chuckles and nods. “Yeah. Too good to be true. I know. I’m not stupid, despite what my father thinks. I just figured I could get him to watch his bank accounts, email accounts, and all that.”
He stills all his fidgeting, staring into the cup like the contents could show him the future. “His funeral was a week ago. There was no body...but...” He takes a deep breath. “His mother and sister needed closure, but he’s not dead. I can feel it in my bones.” His hands clench into fists, landing on the counter for emphasis.
Felicity knows the feeling. She knows her father’s out there somewhere, but he was never actually declared dead. She and her mom never talked about it, but they both believed he was out there somewhere, probably moving on with his life.
She shouldn’t do this. Oh, she knows what she’s about to do is stupid as hell. She should just nod and let this stranger walk away. They should never be more than that, but she can’t walk away from someone who’s hurting so much.
She sighs. “I need a name, picture, and every account he has. If he’s alive, I’ll find your friend.”
He stares at her, mouth frozen open in shock. She can pinpoint the exact moment he decides to trust her. Her eyes turn steely with determination as he reaches for his wallet. “You can’t tell anyone about this.”
She shrugs, not seeing the big deal. “Who would I tell?”
He deliberates for another moment before pulling the picture from the wallet and handing it over. “I want you to find Oliver Queen.”
...
Tommy Merlyn watches as she puts the pieces together, figures out who he is. She’s an interesting character. She’s terrifying looking: all black, spiky silver jewelry, and glares. But there’s something about the blue light playing in her eyes. He wonders if she can actually do what she claims with computers, but it’s not like she can do any damage.
She leans back in her chair, looking him over carefully. “You’re Thomas Merlyn.” She contemplates him, tilting her head to the side as she purses her lips.
He waits for her judgment. This always happens. He gets sized up all the time by girls, their boyfriends, parents, his father. Sometimes it works for him. Other times, he falls short. Honestly, he doesn’t which way this is going to go because she just keeps surprising him.
Her head straightens once she comes to a decision. “I like Pretty Boy better.”
Tommy can’t help but stare at her in shock once more as he reaches over the counter to grab her laptop and he gets an eyeful of her beautiful ass.
NO, he chastises himself. He’s not here to get laid. He turns his attention back to her and watches her fingers fly across the keys. He leans closer to see what’s going across the screen. It doesn’t make any sense to him – just a sequence of numbers and letters – but she keeps working diligently.
“What are you-“
“Okay, I’m tracking two emails, three phone numbers, and running facial recognition software. If he’s caught on camera, I’ll find him.” She looks back up at him. “Why does he have three phone numbers?”
Tommy stares at the screen in awe. “One was personal, one for hot chicks, and one for girls he didn’t want to talk to.”
She purses her lips in distaste.
“Yeah, Ollie wasn’t the best person, but he’s – he was my best friend.”
Reluctantly, she nods and turns back to the screen. “Did I miss anything?”
Tommy sighs. “Nope. That sounds about right. How did you do that?”
She shrugs, clicking the laptop closed. “I’m a junior at MIT. Top of my class, and I may indulge in a little slightly less-than-legal computer programming...”
“You’re hands-down the hottest hacker I’ve never met.”
She snorts. “Like you’ve ever met another hacker.”
Tommy shrugs and grins at her. She watches him with the same unimpressed stare, like she doesn’t like him. He holds her gaze as the minutes pass. Goth chicks weren’t usually his type, but he likes her spunk and her body is gorgeous.
“Felicity! There you are!”
The girl’s head jerks in the direction of the male voice and Tommy realizes he never even asked her name. She practically melts as she turns to the boy, her voice at least twenty degrees warmer.
“Cooper!” What are you doing here?” She leans forward, resting a hand on his upper arm. She’s flirting, Tommy realizes. No wonder he isn’t getting anywhere. Not that he’s trying to get anywhere.
“Just looking to score some coffee. I can usually get Jade to give me free coffee.” He winks at her and then registers Tommy’s presence. His stance shifts as he grins. “Sorry. Didn’t realize you had a date. I’ll get out of your hair.”
She wilts slightly as he walks over to flirt with a very willing barista who magically appears from the back room. The girl’s eyes follow his motion with evident longing and a sigh escapes her as she collapses into the counter with a ‘why me?’
“He’s an idiot,” Tommy offers, as he hesitantly pats her on the back.
She starts and stares at him, obviously having forgotten he was there. She frowns in confusion.
“For not asking you out,” Tommy clarifies.
She turns a bright red. “Who? Cooper? No. No no no no no. I don’t like Cooper. We’re just friends. Best friends. Well, not best friends, best friends, but friends. We took a computer science class together freshman year. Just friends. See?” She offers weakly, pointing to Cooper whispering in the girl’s ear as she giggles.
Tommy stares at her, wide-eyed. He had not expected that babble from the shrouded-in-darkness chick in front of him. He blinks a couple times and her hands fly up to cover her mouth as her eyes clench shut in embarrassment.
“Oh God! I just babbled out loud to a complete stranger. Just when I thought it was going away...”
Tommy can’t help it. He throws his head back in a genuine laugh, the first in a long time it feels like. He laughs so hard his eyes tear up and everyone stares at him, like he’s a wild animal that just walked in and asked for coffee. He calms down and wipes the corners of his eyes. “You’re adorable. And that is something I have never said to a goth chick.”
She purses her lips and glares at him, but it’s softened by the dancing amusement in her eyes.
He grins. “Thank you, Felicity!”
She gives him that speculative head-tilt again. “For which part?”
“Helping me look for Oliver, making me laugh.” He shrugs. He’s not sure which he means more. “How can I pay you back?”
She leans back. “It’s nothing. The search took like fifteen minutes. It’ll send me a notice if it finds anything. And the babbles are free. Trust me. No charge,” she mutters self-deprecatingly.
A frown twists his face. He’s used to people milking him for money, charging him more than they should because they know they can and he won’t question it. She’s an interesting one. He finds that he doesn’t want to part ways so soon. “You also got me coffee. We are sort of on a date.”
He grins through her glare as he triumphantly sips his up. Her fingers drum angrily on the tabletop. “You do realize I could ruin you in a matter of minutes, right?”
“But you won’t,” he announces confidently.
She cocks an eyebrow.
“Because you like me, Felicity. Not like your crush over there, but as a human being. This – right here – is the start of a beautiful friendship.”
“We’re not friends.”
“Yes, we are. You can’t avoid it now.” He pulls out his phone and snaps a picture of her annoyed scowl and amused eyes. He turns the phone and holds it out to her. “Now, are you going to give me your number or am I going to have to get it out of Cooper, over there? Come on. Felicity! You’re killing my reputation here!”
“I’m not sleeping with you,” she tells him, and Tommy grins.
“We’ll see about that, but that’s not why I want your number. Besides, Cooper keeps glaring at me. Your crush-object is jealous.”
Her eyes dart to the boy and he quickly turns away. Felicity twists back to Tommy with an appraising look. “So why do you want my number, Pretty Boy?”
“To talk to you. You make me laugh and I haven’t done that enough since Ollie disappeared.” He wiggles the phone in front of her face. “What do you say, Goth Girl? Friends?”
Felicity sighs, staring at the rectangle for a moment before she reaches for it, not realizing how much this is going to change her life.