Disclaimer: I don't own Young Justice (because if I did it would never be cancelled).

A/N: Soooo...I've been working on this on and off since I took it down a few months ago and decided to repost it. This is based off of Young Justice and not so much the Invasion Arc in later 2011-2016 just to clarify.


Late November in Star City was like any other. The weather was getting colder, the nights were longer, and people were beginning to break out their winter coats to greet Jack Frost when he came to stay.

Roy Harper, the average guy by day and the red clad vigilante Red Arrow by night, didn't care about any of that. All he cared about right now was getting a cup of coffee and was pretty pissed off that when he woke up that morning from patrol not only had he forgot to turn on his automatic coffee pot, that promised hot coffee for him when he got up, but the coffee tin in his cabinet was not coffee tin filled with coffee but a coffee tin filled with lies.

Was it so much to ask that when he finally got some sleep after protecting the city all night that he had a fresh, hot pot of coffee waiting for him when he got up?!

Apparently it was. So after angrily throwing the empty tin at his kitchen wall (a gesture, he admits, was a little uncalled for) Roy got dressed in civilian clothes and trudged out of the apartment he lived in alone and into the streets.

His feet guided him mindlessly the couple of blocks to a coffee shop he knew about. After living in the area for about four months he knew the neighborhood pretty well by now.

When Roy quit being Green Arrows partner (or sidekick or whatever he was) and decided to go solo he had also moved out of the Queen Estate.

At first, Ollie had tried to talk him out of it, both going solo and moving out. His mentor and surrogate father told him that they were a team and that he need Roy by his side. "You mean behind you! Not by your side!" Roy mentally flinched at the harsh words, and many more like them, that he had spit at the older man.

He had just been…angry, hurt. All those years of training and perfecting, protecting Star City alongside and even on his own sometimes when GA wasn't around, to be dismissed so readily to the kiddy table for the "Big Kids" to decided when he was worthy of joining their ranks.

When Green Arrow saw that he was serious he gave him his space. He was great about that. Whenever Roy was angry or upset, Ollie gave him all the space and stuff to break he needed to calm down. And when he was done acting like a brat Ollie would be there when he came back, never bring it up again, and they would move on.

But now, Roy was certain he had burned that bridge along with many others in his need to prove himself to everyone.

Ollie had a new misguided youth under his wing. She had apparently been an excellent addition to the team he refused to join. His perfect replacement.

Roy kicked a rock that was in his path, but didn't have the heart to follow through with the anger he felt. He had done this to himself and he couldn't see the point in being angry over something he had willingly done or had no plan of changing. He made his bed and now he had to lie in it.

Roy slumped his shoulders inward as he walked down the street. It was indeed getting colder. That last gust of wind cut right through him despite his light sweater and jacket. Stuffing his hands deeper into his pockets, the hero quickened his pace.

A bell above the entrance chimed when the red head reached his destination. Roy breathed in deep through his nose and felt his nerves settle slightly as he caught a contact caffeine high from the smell of the freshly brewing pots of coffee and espresso machines behind the barista stand. The small café, which catered mostly to businessmen and women in surrounding buildings and hipster college kids who came because 'mainstream coffee chains were so lame', was bustling from its typical morning rush. Roy groaned internally as he was forced to stand in line, but kept a blank expression on the outside.

Ten minutes later, after a slew of triple non-fats and sugar spiced whatevers, Roy finally made it to the front of the line to place his order. "Hey there! What can I get for you?" A perky blonde, who seemed be taking clear advantage of the free coffee the owners supplied their workers, asked.

"Large coffee, black," He said curtly.

"Would you like that iced?" The blonde asked politely, but Roy shook his head.

"No thank you." What kind of idiot drinks coffee iced? He thought. Coffee was supposed to be hot.

"Will that be all for you?" She asked sweetly as she jotted down his order on the side of a paper cup. Roy gave a sharp nod. The girl glanced up at him through her bangs as she rang up his total on the register, a slight flush rising in her cheeks. The corner of Roy's mouth jutted up a little. Not really in a smirk and not in disgusted, but more of a neutral acknowledgement of her condition. Roy knew he was attractive. He got looks and stares from people in and out of uniform, and had he been a man preoccupied with that he would have been flattered. But he wasn't and he honestly didn't care. Looks weren't important to the job so they weren't important to him.

Paying for his beverage, Roy stepped out of line and to the side bar area where the drinks were put up. The redhead leaned next to the wall by this area and blue eyes surveyed the crowd. Sometimes, when Roy had little bits of down time out like this, he liked to imagine what it would be like to be one of these people. One of the huddle masses, rather than the cluttered few that protected them. To be a civilian instead of just dressing up like one. He sometimes wondered what his life would have been like if his father hadn't died or if he had been taken in by anyone other than Oliver Queen. Would he be standing in this coffee shop waiting for a cup of coffee to take the edge of a long night of studying or partying at college? Would he be on his way to meet other normal, teenage friends? Would he even be here?

"Hey, Red!" Roy snapped out of his musing as a pair of fingers snapped in front of his face, bringing him back to reality. "You deaf or somethin'? Poor kid behind the corner here has been trying to give you your order for the past 5 minutes." Roy's eyes focused in momentarily on the girl in front of him before he turned to the sheepish looking scrawny kid behind the corner with his coffee.

"Oh, sorry," Roy said gruffly, not meaning to sound ungrateful or like a jerk (yet he still seemed to come across that way…often) and took his coffee.

"So you really aren't deaf. That's good, I'd feel kind of bad if I said that and it turned out you were. But then again, if you were deaf you wouldn't hear me call you deaf." The female in front of him gave an odd throaty chuckle at what he assumed was her own joke as she ruffled her short razor cut hair.

"I guess…" Roy said, arching a brow at her as he took his first few gulps of coffee. He wasn't in the mood to socialize. He rarely ever was.

The young woman him gave him a cat like grin, or maybe it was because her eyes were cat shaped that he thought of it that way, and leaned against the protruding bar. "I like your shades. Where'd you get 'em?"

"They were a gift." He said curtly. He really wasn't in the mood for conversation.

Sadly, it seemed, this stranger was. "Hmm, really? I got a pair of sunglasses as a gift once. A cheap pair of knock arounds from a convenience store. Yours look expensive though. I'd say they're real designers. Someone most really like you." She said, propping her chin on her knuckles.

Roy stopped sipping his coffee and looked at her critically. She was right. Being a gift from Ollie, who liked nice things, especially nice things that were expensive; they probably were worth a lot of money. In fact, Roy ventured a guess that if he added up all the clothing he currently had on, from his chucks to his suede jacket, they probably would amount to how much these shades cost. But how did she know that?

Inspecting her critically behind his lenses, Roy didn't think that this was the kind of girl that shopped in expensive boutiques or would know the price of a pair of designer glasses. His crime fight instances cataloged her stats methodically. 5'7-5'8, Caucasian, between 18-23, maybe 145, athletic build, short reddish brown hair, small mole on left cheek, brown eyes. Aviators: silver, Leather bomber jacket: black, V-neck: white, denim skirt: tattered, leggings: black, boots: 3 inch heel, for fashion, knee height, two rings on left hand, three on right with bracelet. Average.

She was attractive, Roy could appreciate that, but she looked like any other girl in the shop preparing to start her day with a cup of coffee. And yet, something about her, maybe it was some spark that seemed to lay nestled in those mocha colored eyes or just some air or aura about her that said she was perhaps a little bit to the left of average.

"Umm…grande frappe with an extra shot of espresso on the side?"

"That's me!" The young woman waved her hands a little bit in mock excitement. Roy thinks Wally did that once and called it 'jazz hands'.

The darker redhead took the tiny paper cup filled with espresso and kicked it back like it was a shot of liquor rather than a shot of hot liquid.

"Thanks chief!" She said, flicking the used sample cup back at the rather startled kid behind the counter, before taking her frozen drink with a wink.

"That's probably not good for your health." Roy dead panned, loathe to admit that he was a little impressed that she just took a 75 milligram hit of caffeine to the face like it was nothing. Why was he still here? Talking to this odd stranger?

The other redhead looked over at him from sipping her beverage and smirked. "Living rarely is." She said, causing him to arch a brow. Her smirk broadened and she stepped away from the coffee bar. "I'm Cecil."

Roy stared at her blankly, like he was trying to look through her, to show he hasn't interested in sharing names or swapping stories. She either didn't seem notice or just didn't care.

"You gonna tell me your name or am I just gonna have to keep callin' ya' Red?"

"…Roy." The taller teen supplied begrudgingly. He hated being called Red. Ollie used to call him that all the time. It made him want to grind his teeth.

The darker redhead, whom he now knew was named Cecil, smiled. "Hmm..Roy. Cute name. Reminds me of that actor guy Roy Rodger that they made a drink after." She said off handedly before taking another long swig of frozen treat. "Well, this has been fun, but unfortunately I can't spend all day with you here Roy." The redhead male furrowed his brows in annoyance. She made it sound like he was the one hindering her. Shewas the one that kept talking to him.

Turning on her heels, the young woman paused for a second before she made her way to the door. "See yay around Red." She said over her shoulder at him with a wink before flipping her aviators off her head and over her eyes as she walked out the door.


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