Synopsis:
Barry finally made it out of the friendzone. He is with Iris the love of his life. But lately something has been drawing him to his best friend, Caitlin. He keeps it hidden, as he is supposed to be with Iris. Danger threatens Caitlin on multiple occasions, from herself and others. Will this finally propel Barry to admit how he truly feels inside?
This is a "slow burn" kind of story. I've always thought these two had awesome chemistry on the TV screen so I decided to make something up.
Barry finally made it out of the friendzone. He is with Iris the love of his life. They are happy. But lately something has been drawing him to his best friend, Caitlin. He keeps it hidden though, pushes it down to the back of his mind because he is supposed to be with Iris. Dangerous meta's threaten Caitlin and that draws him in even more. Time and time again, he has to push his feelings for he aside. He's with Iris. Nothing else matters. Little does he know; his best friend has been struggling with her own battles. She has not been dealing with her the issues the right way, has no one to really talk to and ends up turning to substances. Tragedy strikes as Caitlin has pushed herself too far, too close to death. Will this finally propel Barry to admit how he truly feels inside? Or will he continue to stuff it down in the depths of his heart?
Italics: setting, thought, things going through/on Barry's mind, or text messages.
Chapter 1:
She's SO pretty. Barry watches her feverishly type into the computer and her eyes scan the screen up and down. He doesn't notice his own staring. His eyes trail from her perfectly manicured hands to the perfectly curled ends of her hair. He watches as she brushes her hair behind her ear. She's his best friend.
A voice echoes in the distance, causing a violent shift of his focus to the present.
"Earth to Barry! Where did you go?" It's Cisco, his other best friend trying to get his attention.
"Uh, what..sorry. I just zoned out for a while there". Barry felt the heat rushing to his cheeks immediately.
"I've been calling your name for like 5 minutes." Cisco's eyes widen as he says 5 minutes. He notices Cisco look over in the direction he was staring, at Caitlin. Barry smiles nervously at him.
Caitlin gets up from her chair and shuffles over to the boys. "Guys I think I found where our meta frequents the most, one of these places has to be where he is at. Someone come with me to go check this spot out."
She grabs her bag and flashes them a huge smile.
"I'll go but you have to go next time Barry" Cisco laughs and grabs his jacket.
"I got you." Barry forces a smile and sighs as they walk out of the cortex, annoyed at the fact he doesn't get a chance to spend some time with her.
Barry's phone pings. "Iris" it read.
He looks at the time, 4:00 o'clock.
"We don't have plans till 8:30 tonight."
Iris: Hey babe, don't forget we have dinner tonight. I miss you and hope you're getting a lot of work done.
Barry smiles softly at her genuine text.
Barry: I remember. Not too busy here so I have time to finish up some research. I miss you too, see you later.
He puts his phone down and heads into the lab.
2 hours go by, it is now around 6 and the sun was starting to fade along with Barry's energy. Barry has been in the lab running tests and going over data in regards to the meta they have to find. A yawn escapes his mouth as he reaches to pick up his cup of coffee. The words on the paper are starting to look like gibberish now. Barry rubs his eyes feverishly in an effort to regain focus.
The sound of small heels start to echo as she enters the cortex. Barry turns his attention to his friend through the glass. A slight smile brushes across his face as he watches her.
He's been doing this a lot lately, just the mere sight of her makes him happy. He notices the little things about her, what makes her so interesting. The light honey brown color of her eyes, not too dark, not too light. He notices the way she bites her bottom lip, the clap she does when she laughs hard at something. And that brain of hers is captivating.
She hasn't noticed him watching her from the lab. She looked sad. And tired. Maybe she was just exhausted. They all are.
Caitlin sits down with a big sigh and immediately starts to type data into the computer. She rubs the sleep out of her eyes and reaches for something in her purse.
A text from Iris breaks his attention.
Iris: See you soon :)
Barry smiles and puts his phone back down. He can't wait to see Iris, but there's a nagging feeling in the pit of his stomach. That nagging is the way he feels about Caitlin, and if he is being honest with himself, he's always felt this way. But she's just a friend, he thinks to himself. I have Iris. He pushes his thoughts back down where they belong. This internal battle he has been fighting with his heart and mind has plagued him for a while now.
"Cait." Barry says as he walks out of the lab.
As he says this Caitlin jumps as she didn't know anyone else was here. Immediately, she throws her bag under the table. Barry grins widely at her, trying to not laugh.
"Barry you scared the hell out of me, warn a girl next time!" She laughs lightly and tries to hide her embarrassment.
"What're you still doing here?" She asks.
"I was just working on some of the DNA we got off out meta guy. Where's Cisco?"
"I'm so tired, so he said he would look at the rest of the places while I come back and enter this stuff into the computer, we found some people that's seen our meta guy around." She explains this to Barry and she types into the computer. She feels his eyes hovering on her.
Barry nods and sits down on the chair next to her. His eyes scan her one more time before he looks away, memorizing her details. He waits for her to say the next thing. He loves listening to her talk about anything.
"SO when we were out at the bar looking for our guy the funniest thing happened..." Caitlin begins her story, hands at their usual animation. Barry smiles at her and listens. He could listen to her stories all day.
An exorbitant amount of Chinese food is being eaten by the two friends right there in the cortex. Caitlin has her feet up on Barry's legs as they laugh and eat the food out of their respective Chinese boxes. He scarfed down 3 boxes already while she was still working on the first box of chow Mein.
"Speedsters got to eat, right?" Barry says with a goofy smile.
Caitlin watches him intensely as her grin grows from ear to ear. She loves that goofy smile.
"That they do" She says with a full mouth of food. Barry smiles back at her.
They clean up their food and rub their stomachs, full from the nights feast.
As they sit back down and get comfortable, Barry's eyes widen.
"Oh my god what time is it?" He shouts.
"Its around 9, why?" Caitlin answers as she peers down at her watch.
"Shit. Sorry Caitlin I have to go! I'll see you tomorrow."
"Okay go ahead, I'll see you." She smiles at him as he speeds out of the cortex.
She throws her head back and sighs deeply as her smile disappears almost immediately. She reaches for her purse.