(A/N): for the date prompt: "Road trip" on Tumblr
Caitlin crossed her arms. "I just don't know why we couldn't take the train."
Cisco leaned back in his chair, grinning up at her. "Uh, science power couple road trip? C'mon. What's not to like?"
"Train travel is romantic," she offered.
"Uh, I think you're thinking of the Orient Express, and if I remember correctly, there were murders on that. A road trip is an adventure."
She scrunched her face. "Because that's exactly what we need in our lives, more adventure."
"Fun adventure. Light adventure. Probably-not-risking-our-lives adventure. Look. The point is not the destination, young road trip padawan - "
"I'm three years older than you."
"- the point is the journey."
"The point is, if I'm going be traveling four hundred miles, I would infinitely prefer the train," she muttered, but he was making his combination pleeeeease and it'll-be-soooo-muuuuch-fun-Caitlin faces, and she was helpless before that combination, as she was helpless before a lot of the expressions on his face.
He grinned, knowing he'd won. "Awwww. It'll be fine. My grandparents live in Coast City. I've been there a zillion times. I know that route like the back of my hand. We'll take my car. It can practically drive there itself."
"Oh, no. No, no, no. We are not taking your car."
"What's wrong with my car?"
"Would you like an alphabetical list?"
"Did you bring anything that's not steeped in preservatives and/or high fructose corn syrup?"
"This is why you weren't in charge of trip snacks. We would probably have, like, a can of dry cashews and a peeled apple."
"What's wrong with cashews? They're an excellent source of protein."
"They taste like crunchy cardboard."
"I like the way cashews taste. Don't you dare drop that horrible orange dust in my nice clean car."
"Hey!" she said when he hit the "off" button. They were barely out of Central City.
"I'm saving both of us."
"I understood that the driver picks the tunes."
"The driver picks the tunes unless she listens to talk radio."
"They're podcasts and I need to catch up."
"You know, Audie Cornish is not gonna turn up at Star Labs and give you detention if you're not caught up on All Things Considered."
"Ha! I knew you listened."
"Hey, I ain't too proud to admit I never miss PCHH. But road trips are not for NPR."
"Hey! Wait! What are you - "
He tucked her phone into his back pocket, plugged his own phone into the dash, and cued up the road trip playlist he'd worked on all night. "This is for your own good."
"Is this your sneaky, underhanded way of getting Audie back?"
"No, it's very catchy!"
"Okay, awesome, I'm glad to have broadened your musical horizons. Just please for the love of all things in tune, don't sing along. Don't do Queen Bey that dirty."
"Hey, when I said you could check out the snacks while it was my turn to drive, I didn't say you could eat them all."
"You brought them for both of us," she said, muffled.
"You're dropping horrible orange dust everywhere, you know."
"I'll vacuum it next time I get it washed. Oh! Cisco, you got cashews."
"Awwww, you ruined your surprise."
"Oh my god, what is on these?"
"Surprise! Come on. Try it. You'll like it."
She nibbled. "They're all right."
"Awwwww."
"What?"
"My cashews are gone."
"I bought you half a pound!"
"So get a pound next time."
"Hey, why you pulling over? We're in the middle of nowhere."
She put it in park and leaned over. "Not that I don't appreciate the song, but if this is the only way to stop you from playing 'Wait for It' for the seventh time, then fine."
"I can't believe they gave me a ticket." She glowered at her car. "I am well on the shoulder, there's no way I was obstructing traffic."
Cisco was reading the citation. "Lewd public behavior? We were making out in your car, not having sex on the hood. What the hell kind of Footloose town is this?"
"Well, considering where your hands were - "
"Okay, there's no way they could've seen that from outside the car."
She raised a brow.
"Ninety-two percent sure."
"Really?"
"Mmm. Eighty-nine at least. Anyway, they just as well could've been talking about your hands."
She blushed.
"Okay, so the place we're stopping for lunch, in like ten minutes? Best French fries you have ever tasted."
"I ate a quarter of a bag of Cheetos, half a pound of cashews, and sixteen of those teeny little Snickers. Plus a can of iced tea. It's more likely I'll need a bathroom than lunch."
"Well, if you wanna just steal them off my plate, that's fine too. Trust me, you won't wanna miss these. Awwww, yeah, here we go!"
"Wait, you mean this place with all the motorcycles?"
"Those were excellent fries."
"Mmhm. And an excellent tuna melt, and an excellent milk shake, and - "
"Fine, maybe I was hungrier than I thought. And those bikers were very nice. I really hope Scuzz goes to a more reputable tattoo artist next time, though."
"Hey, you cleaned out all the pus - which, yummmmmm, thanks for sharing that with me before we ate - and he actually listened to your lecture about tattoo care. And his ma was all, 'I told you so,' so that's going to get taken care of, you know it."
"Her tattoos were quite lovely and well taken care of. He should have been listening to her all along, really."
"And we got our meals bought for us. High five!"
She slapped his hand. "Hippocratic oath for the win."
"Pull over, right here, pull over!"
"What? You gotta pee?"
"No," she said. "I just have to - " She hopped out of the car and leaned over the railing, under the sign marked "Scenic Overlook." The wind caught her hair and tossed it around her face.
" - I just have to look," she finished.
On the other side of the railing, the mountain dropped away sharply. Pine trees and scrub patched the dramatic slopes, with dusty tan ground showing between them. Gorges cut deep into the earth. Every so often, a bare rock face shot up from a valley floor, too steep for anything to cling to. The mountains folded into each other, peaks and valleys and a faint dusty haze obscuring the farthest of them.
She breathed in, then out again.
"Pretty, huh?"
"I like mountains," she said. "There's something about them. They just remind you that nature is bigger than us. There are some things we can't spoil."
He put his arms around her waist and rested his chin on her shoulder. "You know, if we'd taken the train, we wouldn't have been able to stop."
"Shut up. I'm enjoying the mountains."
He kissed her neck and smiled.
She turned in his arms and kissed him, leisurely, enjoying the cool wind and the sun on her shoulders and the way he kissed her back.
He smiled at her. "Couples selfie?"'
"Sure."
He angled his phone to catch the scenery behind them and took a couple of shots.
"Wanna swap?" she asked. "It's about time for me to drive."
"If you want," he said, still fiddling with his phone. "Hey, considering where we are, reception's not half-bad. Instagram came right up."
They'd just pulled back onto the road when his phone buzzed. He checked it. "Barry says quit making out on mountaintops and get to Coast City because he wants us to meet Hal already."
She sniffed. "Tell him it's the journey, not the destination."
FINIS