Barry Allen was born deaf.
As long as he could remember, people always made fun of him because he couldn't hear, and wouldn't talk.
People would always talk shit in front of him, believing that Barry had no idea what they were saying. But, unfortunately for them, Barry was phenomenal at reading lips, so he always knew what they were saying.
One day, shortly after he got into college, he discovered this lovely coffee shop in downtown Keystone.
It wasn't a very big or well known coffee shop, so it was never highly populated. The barista's were always nice and understanding in Barry's condition, and one of the barista's knew ASL, so Barry didn't have to write anything down for them.
It was his favorite place in the world.
Many months later, that little coffee shop became bigger and bigger, and more people started going to it.
And the more people went, the more Barry felt like a freak.
How else were they supposed to think of the awkward man who always sits in the corner booth?
One day, about a week before school started again, Barry went to that very coffee shop to find that it was more crowded than usual.
Deciding it wasn't a big deal, Barry went ahead and got in line. About five seconds, he found himself on the floor, with a big, muscular man on top of him, mouthing something Barry couldn't make out, with people behind him laughing.
Barry tried to get up so he could fight back, but the man shoved him right back into the ground.
This went on for two minutes.
The Barista's went out to try to stop the fight, but got scared away by the man's friend.
Soon, there was a Barista who didn't get scared off. Barry could see him shouting, shoving, and fighting his attacker.
While he could, Barry got up and ran to the other side of the shop, seeing as the fight was taking place in front of the door.
There was a small crowd gathering around, and a few people asking Barry if he was ok, to which he gave a shaky thumbs up.
The fight soon ended, to Barry's relief, and the man and his accomplices were banned from the shop.
Thank you, Barry signed to the man. To his surprise, the man replied back in perfect ASL.
No problem. I would never let anything happen to you. You're too pretty, he signed.
Barry blushed. No one ever really "talked" to him, let alone tell him he's... pretty.
He looked over this man. He was pretty hot, to be honest.
How about I make it up to you? Barry asked. The other man grinned, then nodded.
The name's Oliver, he signed, as if Barry couldn't read his tag. Barry chuckled a bit anyway, before signing his name and what time he wanted to meet Oliver, which Oliver gladly agreed to.
Soon enough, Oliver had to get back to work, but not before giving Barry his usual, even though he didn't order. Did Oliver really know his order?
Barry smiled, and as he was taking out his wallet, Oliver put his own money in the register.
See you at 8, he signed. Barry blushed and walked out.
8:00 did not come fast enough.