It was a bit of a brisk night, despite being late Spring. However, the coldness obviously didn't bother Frost one bit as she walked up to her target location, her eyes scanning over the perimeter. It was weird - she was used to showing up to warehouses, clubs and seedy apartments, but here she was in the suburbs, looking at a house that looked much like the ones in Detective West's neighborhood. If it wasn't for the music faintly reaching the street and the groups of people spilling in and out of the house, she never would've given this place a second look, and maybe that was the point.
They'd never heard about this Johnny Gazzillo until recently, which was extra surprising since Frost thought she heard of everyone who was anyone while working with Amunet, but apparently he was new on the scene. New and dangerous, since he was the cause for three deadly home fires in the city, killing everyone home at the time - including one child.
The first had been seen as an accident. The second a coincidence. But when the third house caught fire in a similar manner as the other two, the fire investigator got in contact with Barry for a second opinion, where they both concluded that all three fires looked to be intentional and set off by a home-made explosion of some type. It wasn't until a guilt-ridden man that had not been home when his house caught on fire - when the rest of his family was - confessed to his dealings with Gazzillo, saying he suspected him because he owed him a lot of money.
And apparently this Johnny liked to frequently hold parties - Gatsby style - whatever that meant (Caitlin had made the reference earlier). Regardless, a party gave the team an opening to enter his world without too much suspicion, and because Frost was more used to parties hosted by crime lords than the rest of the team, she was chosen to scope everything out and see if she could find anything that could link this Gazzillo to the fires and subsequent murders.
Cautiously, Frost opened the front door, the bass of the music amplified and roaring as she did. She expected some type of resistance as she entered but she surprisingly received none. No one was there to question her presence or intentions. There wasn't even a lowly bodyguard she had to chat up to persuade to let her in, leaving her a tad disappointed - that was usually her favorite part.
Making her way through the house, she stopped by the kitchen first to grab a drink. 1) to help her blend in with the rest of the partygoers and 2) because she needed a good drink and it's been awhile. Goody-two-shoes Flash never stocked any of the good stuff at the Labs, so she might as well take advantage of the free booze here.
It was then that she heard a "Johnny!" from across the house, where two meatheaded bros embraced. Frost swore under her breath as she caught sight of the man in question. No wonder this guy was new on the scene, he looked practically fresh out of the womb - baby faced and all. This was the guy that was setting the fires? Surely this frat boy wasn't their guy, but there was only one way to know for sure.
Frost took a step in Johnny's direction only to be intercepted by a stranger's hand on the small of her back, turning her the other way as the whispered into her ear. "Hey K.F., what brings you 'round?"
Out of instinct, she grabbed the hand touching her, twisting it as she pushed the offender into a wall nearby. "No touchy," she venomously snarled, before her features scrunched up in confusion as her eyes recognized the man, her hold against him slacking. "Flash?"
He quickly looked over her shoulder and to the side before grabbing her arm. "Bedroom. Now," he commanded, unceremoniously pulling her into the bedroom nearby.
"Ooh, so aggressive and assertive," she cooed as he shut the door behind them, locking it. "Are you going to follow that line up with, 'take off your clothes' next?" she saucily asked, eyes alit with mischief.
"Huh? What? No!" he sputtered, a flailing mess. "We're on a mission!"
"You're right," she said, her icy fingers dancing up his dress shirt, "we'll save the fun until after the mission."
He let out a frustrated huff. "This is serious, Frost. Can you be serious for one minute? Please!"
She raised a brow. "I'm always serious," she told him with a wink, leaning further into his personal space, her smile tantalizing.
Barry quickly diverted his eyes and walked to the other side of the room.
"Aw, do I make you uncomfortable, Flash?" she curiously inquired, frowning exaggeratedly.
"No," he hastily denied, but his voice was an octave or two higher than usual, so that was a 'yes'.
"Is it because I look like Caitlin?"
"Can we please focus?!" he pleadingly hollered, eyes fluttering around the room, ignoring her question.
"Oooh," she cooed, "or is because I'm not Caitlin?"
His jaw locked as he swallowed. "Frost..." he let out warily.
The woman cackled, enjoying herself. She didn't have a thing for Barry - he was too annoyingly good for her tastes - but the hero was whipped for Caitlin and Frost couldn't help herself from messing with him from time to time. "Chill, Caity's sleeping anyway."
He cut her a glare cold enough to rival her powers. "That's not the point!"
She raised her hands in surrender. "Alright, alright. Jeez, Flash. Lighten up, will ya?"
"We're on a mission," he repeated again, stressing on that detail. "And stop calling me Flash - I'm undercover."
Killer Frost crossed her arms, eyes sweeping over the speedster. It was then that she noticed that he wasn't wearing his usual hero gear - in fact there wasn't a splash of red in sight. He was in all black from head to toe, looking more like the shady characters she was about to talk to than the man Caity called one of her best friends. "So what do I call you then?"
For a moment his irritation melted away, with it a small but proud smile instead took its place. "You can call me, The Chemist."
Frost snorted. "The Chemist?" she repeated dubiously. "You sound like a high school chemistry teacher trying to be edgy."
"Hey, it worked for Walter White!"
She rolled her eyes. "Alright, Chemist," she said, humoring him, "what are you doing here? I thought the team agreed that you couldn't be here."
"No, we agreed The Flash couldn't be here, but for The Chemist" - and Frost had to refrain from rolling her eyes again - "that's not a problem, since this is his scene."
"Right," Frost deadpanned, not convinced in the slightest. "Forgive me for not being convinced that Mister Rogers Junior can pull off being a criminal."
"Mister Rogers Junior?"
"All those damn sweaters you wear."
Now it was Barry's turn to roll his eyes. "Listen, I'm convincing as The Chemist. When we were tracking down stuff during Cicada, no one suspected me. You can even ask Ralph; he thought I was really convincing too!"
She sardonically chuckled. "Yeah, like getting the human putty to vow for you is credible."
"Frost!"
"Alright, alright. Whatever. It's not like I can stop you," she told him boredly, taking a seat on the bed in the room. "So what's your plan? Because obviously you won't let me talk to the boss," she pointed out, since he stopped her before doing just that.
"I didn't want you talking to the boss alone," he clarified. "But actually-"
"I've talked to tons of sleazy characters before joining your little hero brigade and I'm still standing to tell the stories."
"I know you are capable of handling things on your own, but it would give me a peace of mind knowing I was here if things went sideways. But we don't-"
"I'm not going to get Caity killed, if that's what you're worried about."
He sent her a pensive glare.
"What? We both know that's why you're really here."
The speedster let out an impatient huff, one that if he were in the cartoons, he'd have steam blowing from his ears. "I've been trying to tell you something, but you keep interrupting me," he pointedly said, his eyes like beady little lasers.
"Well, what do you have to say so badly then?"
"Cisco actually found a secret room through the blueprints of the place. He thought we should check there first, especially if it prevents us from having to deal with Johnny & company."
Frost blinked. "Oh...alright. So where is this hidden room then?"
Barry started lifting random objects in the room. "I don't know how to open it, but the room is adjacent to this one," he told her as he continued moving every object he could possibly move.
Frost sighed, leaning her elbows back on the bed as she watched the speedster pick up every object and search high and low for a button or something to open up the secret room. "How long is this going to take?" she drawly asked, admiring her nails.
He cut her a glare. "Probably not as long if I had a little help!"
"Why don't you just do that phase thing?" she boredly suggested.
"That's," he started heatedly before his mind caught up with what she said. "That's...actually not a bad idea…" he reluctantly admitted.
"See? I'm helpful," she said, getting up from the bed.
"I never said you couldn't be helpful."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," she swatted, reaching his side. "Just get us to the secret room."
Sighing, Barry took a hold of her shoulder and phased them through the wall into the secret room. However, all that was in the secret room were a wall of shelves with ammonia and a half-dozen washers.
"This has to be the lamest secret room in the history of secret rooms," Frost commented as she walked to one of the shelves, picking up one of the many bottles of ammonia.
"Or the most basic," Barry interjected with a chuckle. Caitlin must have recently woke up, because Frost could sense the doctor snorting inside her head, but Frost only looked at the speedster with a blank expression, clearly not getting the joke, to which he sighed. "You know, Ammonia is basic? Its pH level?"
Caitlin giggled some more, causing Frost to roll her eyes. "You nerds really are perfect for each other," she muttered to herself as she walked further in the room.
"What did you say?" Barry inquired.
"I said this place looks just like any other," she boredly fibbed as she looked around the space, trying to find anything weird or incriminating, but the washers were all empty and the ammonia bottles reeked of ammonia. "So unless this is where they clean their blood stained clothes, why keep it in a secret room?"
Barry shrugged, just as confused and frustrated as her until a light of recognition passed over his face. "Wait…" he started as he opened up one of the laundry machines. Frost then heard a whirling sound, as if he were unscrewing something, which was then accompanied by a tink hitting the metal. "Ah ha!" Barry hollered, turning towards her with a winning smile. "These washers are rigged. They are filled with ammonia and have a fire mechanism installed, so that when the family pours bleach into the machine and turns it on to wash their clothes...kaboom!"
She quickly walked over to Barry,'s side looking at the hidden mechanism inside the washing machine. "So Johnny's behind it after all?" she inquired.
"Definitely," Barry responded. "All of the home explosions originated from the laundry room, but everything in the room was obliterated to the point we couldn't pinpoint a specific cause. For all we knew, they could've inserted regular bombs in the laundry room because they are usually one of the most desolate rooms in a house. But now we know the actual bomb was a washing machine."
"Alright, so I can ice this Johnny guy now?" she asked, cold mist emancipating from her palms and an excited, wicked grin spreading across her face. "I promise I won't be lethal."
Barry forced down her hands. "Not right now, Frost. We're going to try to do this the legal way. I'm going to text Joe everything," he said, taking out his phone to do just that.
Frost pouted. "Why you always gotta suck the fun out of everything?"
"This is not a meta-human case, so we have to let the CCPD handle this," he explained, pocketing his phone. "Joe said they're be 5 minutes."
Just then a noise sounded behind one of the other walls in the room. "Shit!" Frost cursed.
"What?" Barry let out in alarm.
Frost quickly shut the washer door lid down and immediately jumped up on it to sit. "Just go with it," she said to Barry, while mentally apologizing to her doctor counterpart.
The speedster furrowed his brows. "Go with wh-"
But Barry never got to finish his sentence since his mouth was then covered by Frost's lips. The cold woman could feel Barry turn stiff as a rod, as if she had frozen him solid, but with a small pinch and the sound of footsteps coming closer, Barry's lips moved against hers, reciprocating now that he understood her reasoning.
Frost wrapped her legs around his waist, pulling him in closer, while her hands buried themself in his hair, tugging at the soft locks, subliminally coaxing him to touch something to make this whole charade look authentic. She could still sense his apprehension, but eventually she felt the warmth of his hands on her thighs, and damn, she hated to admit it, but the kid wasn't half bad at this.
Suddenly someone cleared their throat, startling the duo despite knowing someone was coming. It ended up being none other than Johnny Gazzillo and a few of his henchmen behind him. "Having a good time?" he lowly inquired, his gaze flickering to Barry then back to her.
"Oh yeah," Frost let out breezingly, coyly smiling at the criminal, her arms dangling around Barry's shoulders. "My man knows how to please."
Johnny scowled. "How did you get in here?!"
"We have our ways," she giggled, her finger booping Barry on the nose. "Right, Honey?"
Barry grunted.
"What were you doing in here?" Johnny heatedly asked, his patience already wearing thin.
"We just wanted to find a quiet place to let off some...steam…." she said, eyes falling heavily on Barry as her thumb traced his bottom lip.
"There are plenty of bedrooms in the house."
Frost waved a hand. "Bedrooms are so passe."
"Wait..." the boss started, squinting his eyes as he looked at her. "Aren't you Killer Frost?" he asked, his eyes dark and distrustful.
"Ooh," she began with a jump in her eyebrows, "looks like we have a fan," she said with excitement and slid off the washer. "Yes. Yes, I am Killer Frost."
"What is the almighty Killer Frost doing at my party?"
She casually shrugged. "Can't a girl let loose once in a while?"
"I thought you were working with the Flash nowadays," he said with distaste, and she could feel Barry steeling himself behind her.
Frost snorted. "Trust me, that partnership is a joke. He thinks he's reformed me when really nothing has changed - it's just gotten easier to be bad," she said with a cackle for good measure.
The boss appraised her, his expression neutral. "I see...And who is this guy?" he asked, shortly nodding to Barry.
She bit back a groan to keep up appearances. "This is the...Chemist," she said reluctantly, internally cringing. "He's my associate," she showed off proudly as she slithered herself up to his side cozingly.
"The Chemist?" Johnny repeated, looking at him unsurely. "I've never heard of you."
Barry's eyes narrowed. "That's kinda the point," he spoke up, his voice coming out like a gravely whisper, his gaze hard as stone as the two man stared at each other, the room growing thick as they sized each other up.
"Chem-y here likes to be mysterious," Frost added lightly, breaking the tension as she patted Barry gingerly against his chest, ignoring the side-glare he was sending her. "His M.O. is being untraceable - he's a ghost."
"Oh, so is that how you got in here then? You just float through the walls, Casper?"Johnny asked with a hearty laugh, which enticed his henchmen around him to laugh similarly like that too.
Barry grinded his teeth, taking an intimidating step towards the crime boss. Frost held her breath in anticipation, her powers simmering under her skin to be used at a moment's notice in case things got ugly.
"I'll have you know that I have a wrap sheet that goes on for miles, like the Star City Museum heist where atomized lorazepam knocked the guards out or the acid bomb that blew open the Federal Reserve. I've pumped a guy with radiation, and another with electricity, and have had more than one enemy disintegrate within a blink of an eye," the speedster lowly detailed as he took another confident step forward, practically nose to nose with Johnny. "Taking you and your men out would be quick and easy, and the worst part of it all would be that no one would ever know what happened. I could even make it so that you'd be never found."
The criminal nodded, swallowing discreetly, his expression trying to remain neutral but his eyes were wide with fright. Frost couldn't hold back a smirk - maybe Mister Rogers Junior did have an edge. It was kinda hot too, not that she'd ever tell him that, especially not when Caitlin was mentally scowling at her for just the thought of it.
"Hey man, I don't want any trouble. From either of you," Johnny started, raising his hands up as a sign of peace, his eyes darting from Barry to Frost and back again. "We're all on the same team here, right? No reason to shed any blood. But we want to know how you got in here, for security purposes. You help us, and we'll be sure to do something for you."
Barry licked his lips, a condescending smile cracking over his face. "You want to know how I got in here?"
The boss nodded.
Barry condescendingly grinned, measuring his response. "I walked through the walls," he simply said.
Johnny laughed, but abruptly stopped when he saw the seriousness etched into the speedster's face. "Wait..." It was then that the sound of police alarms filled the air and all the criminals in the room were spiked with panic. "IT'S A TRAP! RUN!" the boss yelled, scrambling to the exit, but Frost quickly encased the floor with ice, making them all slip and fall onto their backs painfully.
"Good work," Barry said, approaching her as they both watched the police come into the secret room and begin to arrest the criminals still lying on the floor in agony.
Frost shrugged. "I have to say, you weren't half bad yourself...The Chemist."
Barry's lips spread wide with pride - she wouldn't have even been surprised if he jumped with glee. "See, I told you I was convincing."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," she muttered dismissively, making way out of the secret room, happy that he couldn't see the smile creeping up on her face. "You're lucky is what you are. You could've also gotten us killed."
"I wouldn't have allowed that."
Frost stopped to turn back to him, taking in the heroic speedster. She knew he would do anything to save a person's life, especially Caitlin's, and for that she was forever grateful. "No, I guess you wouldn't have."
He happily grinned as he took off his suit coat and rolled up the sleeves of his black button-up, causing Frost to raise an inquisitive brow as he did. "What?" he asked, noticing the look as he tucked the jacket into the crook of his arm. "I'm not really a suit guy. Feels too formal."
The cold woman snorted. "Not that. Since when do you have a tattoo?" she asked, gesturing to the hexagonal shapes of ink on his forearm.
"Oh…" he let out, his cheeks reddening, "Well, to get more in the character, Cisco thought having a tattoo would be badass, so he drew this on me," he admitted sheepishly.
"So it's a fake tattoo?"
"Cool though, right? It's a chemical compound."
Frost groaned. "And to think, I was just starting to think you were cool, man!" she exclaimed, before she began to walk again on her trek out of the house.
"Hey! I am plenty cool!" Barry argued.
She stopped to face the speedster, snorting as she looked him over again. "Yeah, maybe to Caitlin and Caitlin alone you are."
Barry's ears perked. "Cait-Caitlin thinks I'm cool? Or-or just the tattoo?"
She laughed, shaking her head. "Dude, you are so oblivious," she said, beginning to walk again, right out the door.
"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked, his steps not far from hers. "Frost, you can't just say something like that and not tell me!"
"Urgh, not only is he oblivious, but he's annoying," she grumbled mentally to Caitlin.
"But he's also cute," the doctor fondly commented inside her head, and Frost could feel just how enamored her counterpart was - it was sickening.
"Meh," Frost acknowledged. "He's not a bad kisser. At least there's that."
Caitlin's mood turned dark. "Which reminds me: Did you really have to kiss him?!"
"Oh shush, it was a means to an end. Don't get prickly with me just because I did something you've been wanting to do forever."
"I'm not!"
"Trust me, if anything, he wished he was kissing you."
"Really?" Caitlin asked hopefully. "Why do you think that? Did he say anything?"
Frost groaned. "Oh no, not you too."
"Frost!" both Caitlin and Barry yelled, and Frost really wanted to just shove an ice-pick through her skull at the moment.
"You really want to know what Caity thinks?" Frost tersely asked, turning on her heel to face Barry, eyes stone cold.
The speedster took a hesitant step back from the angry woman but meekly nodded.
"Then ask her yourself!" she exclaimed before her platinum hair faded into Caitlin's brown, causing the doctor to let out a little yelp from being thrust into the situation so abruptly.
"H-hey, Barry," she shyly greeted, tucking her hair behind her ears.
Barry rubbed the back of his neck. "Uh, hey, Cait," he greeted, his Adam's apple bobbing.
She cleared her throat, her eyes darting to the house behind him, it being illuminated blue and red by the police cars' lights still circulating on top of their cars. Despite the music having been turned off, there was still a lot of commotion happening as the cops questioned some of the party-goers and escorted some of Johnny's men into the back of their cars.
"Let's go home," Caitlin suggested, nodding to the scene. "I think the CCPD have it covered now."
"Yeah, yeah, sure," Barry agreed, moving to lift her in his arms, but Caitlin thwarted his attempt.
"Actually, could we just walk back?" she proposed, biting down on that lower lip of hers. "We're not too far from STAR Labs anyway..."
The speedster looked up ahead at where they would have to walk before looking back at her, shoving his hands into his pockets. "I could walk," he told her, a shy smile taking over his face.
Reactively, Caitlin smiled back and they began their journey up Johnny's driveway and down the main street of the development in relative silence.
"You guys are so boring. Jeez! Just tell him you want to bone him already!" Frost interjected.
"Frost!" she internally chided.
"Whaat? You do! Make a move already," she told Caitlin just as she took over Caitlin's body, forcing her to bump into Barry.
Luckily, the forensic scientist only chuckled. "Did Frost have too much alcohol for you?" he joked, holding onto her until she was steady.
"What? No. Sorry," she jumbled out, her heart ramping up. "I do, uh, like the, uh, tattoo, by the way," she told him. "I think it's really cool, especially considering how you were The Chemist. Very on brand and all," she rambled to him awkwardly.
"Oh, you, uh, heard me asking that?" Barry asked, his eyes mainly on his shoes, but sending furtive glances her way every so often. "Were-were you aware like the entire time, or-or just like the last few minutes...?"
Caitlin swallowed, her eyes on the road ahead. "I was alert from the moment we went into the secret room," she confessed.
He gulped. "So...the kiss?"
The doctor briefly closed her eyes. "Yeah, I know about it. Listen…"
"I'm sorry," they both sounded at the same time.
Their eyes met and they both laughed - the weird, awkward tension that had been building, dying down.
"Why are you sorry though?" Caitlin asked, her eyebrows pinched with confusion. "I'm apologizing for Frost, since we share the same body and she just laid one right on ya. But you?"
"It's nothing," Barry insisted, but after a moment of reflection, shook his head. "Actually no, it's not nothing" - he took a deep breath - "I'm sorry because...because I didn't want our first kiss to be like that…"
Caitlin's brows nearly hit her hairline at the confession.
"And I'm sorry I've waited so long to tell you how I feel…"
She stopped in the middle of the street, eying him trepidly. "And h-how is it that you feel?"
He licked his lips, a nervous chuckle surfacing. "That I...that I love you, Cait. In every conceivable way. I wouldn't change a single strand of hair on your head because I love everything about you," he told her, before hastily adding, "even Frost."
The doctor shortly laughed, the action causing a few tears to fall down from her watery eyes. "Yeah?" she let out breathily.
He smiled, nodding. "Yeah. Actually, if it wasn't for Frost, I might have taken even longer. She's been teasing me mercily about you for months now, dropping hints that I've been too scared to take seriously because I was ultimately afraid of losing you - that telling you would drive you away - and that fear kept me silent."
"I've been afraid too," Caitlin admitted, reaching out, her hand grazing down his arm and linking their hands, his warmth comforting. "I've loved you for so long, Barry, that the thought of you ever feeling the same way never seemed possible..."
Barry's face pinched, swallowing down a rough emotion. "But I do love you, and I have loved you. I was just too damn blind and scared, but I'm not anymore. I just wished I would've told you sooner, so that our first kiss wasn't with Frost," he told her laughingly.
Caitlin giggled herself before taking a step forward. "Well, what about the 2nd?" she asked.
Barry's face contorted in confusion. "2nd?"
"Our 2nd kiss," she clarified, and before Barry could say anything further, Caitlin leaned up on her tippy-toes and pressed a short kiss against his mouth, feeling overjoyed as she felt his lips twitch into a smile against hers before she pulled away. "And our 3rd" - she kissed him again - "4th" - and kissed him again - "5th"
However, during the 5th kiss, Barry cradled her face in his warm, protective hands to keep her close, deepening their lip lock into something even more profound. Caitlin melted against him, his lips like butter - so smooth and so sweet. Even the sound effects of Frost fake gagging echoing in the back of her mind couldn't ruin the overwhelming happiness that she was feeling.
As they pulled away, Barry rested his forehead against hers, his smile so deliriously happy that it made her heart leap against her chest. "Let's go home," he suggested, moving to nuzzle his nose fondly against hers.
"Let's," she said, linking their hands as they continued their walk.
A/N: This is for simplysnowbarry's Spring Challenge. I used the prompts: "Do I make you uncomfortable?"; "Let's go home"; "Take off your clothes"; "Bedroom. Now."; honey; fake tattoos and chemistry pun.
Special thanks to Caro for helping me figure out the ending, since I was struggling with it. :) Please review and let me know what you think!