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Queen Coffee was the most popular coffee shop in town and Roy absolutely hated it. The only good thing about it was that it was all the way on the other side of town, but that wasn’t true anymore. They’d just opened a new place right across from Red’s Bakery. Fuck gentrification, honestly.
The first week after the new Queen Coffee opened, someone walked into the store. Roy looked up, a smile ready on his face, but glared when he recognized who it was. It was the manager from Queen Coffee, Thea Queen, who also happened to be the sister of Oliver Queen, owner of the chain.
“What do you want?” Roy snapped when she came up to the counter.
“A little rude to customers, aren’t you?” she asked with a smirk. She leaned on the counter, eyeing the baked goods behind the glass. “We’re thinking of starting a pastry line, thought I should check out the competition.”
Roy snorted, arms crossed over his chest. “Now way you could compete with me,” he said. He knew his stuff was good and even if Queen Coffee could sink more money into their product than he could, they didn’t stand a chance. His chocolate chip scones were practically legendary around the neighborhood.
“I guess we’ll just see about that,” Thea replied. “I’ll take a chocolate chip scone to go.”
They went on like that for months, Thea coming in at least once a week to try out one of his baked good. Somewhere along the line, Roy started going into Queen Coffee occasionally as well. He told himself it was just to scope out the competition, but he had a hard time ignoring how much he was attracted to his rival at the other shop.
“This is silly,” Thea said one day as soon as she came in the door of Red’s Bakery.
Roy looked up, a frown already on his face. “Are you dissing my shop?” he asked sharply. “Because if so we’re gonna have a problem.”
“Oh shut up,” Thea said, but she was smiling. Roy was immediately suspicious. “I mean this dancing around each other. Just ask me out already. I’ll say yes.”
“I- what?” Roy sputtered, taken aback. Whatever he’d been expecting, it wasn’t that. But she wasn’t really off the mark, he just wasn’t really sure what exactly to do about it. They were rivals after all, and he couldn’t put the shop in danger. “You… I mean-”
Thea rolled her eyes. “You have such a way way words,” she said, and this time Roy knew she was teasing. “Pick me up at seven for dinner. I know just the place.”
Before Roy could get out another word, she was back out the door and heading across the street. He watched her go, head spinning a little. “Well shit,” he said, then smiled. This might just blow up in his face, but it was sure to be interesting at the very least.