A/N: I really wanted to keep this account a strictly smut fic place. But what can you do when the only prompts you get for a fic swap are romantic ones? Lmao. I wasn't quite sure how to go about this one, and I wanted so badly to dive into some smut there at the end. Sadly there will only be implications (since the giftee wanted no smut). Lol. Unless ofc this piques the interest of a few people? Because honestly I could make this pairing the sole one on this account with actual romance and make a series of their whole story here instead of just a snapshot like what is shown here - that would include smut. Be sure to let me know in the comments if that interests you. ;)

*Written for the DCCW Rarepair Swap on tumblr/AO3, gifted to fanfictionofsnowbarry/Kahtee.

*beta'd!

*I own nothing. No copyright infringement intended.

She remembered the first time she met him.

She'd been tapping her pen impatiently at the four freshmen who were pretending they didn't know what to order when she knew for a fact it would be burgers and fries for all, three cokes and a chocolate shake. They'd say 'to go', but they'd open their bags and eat their food in the booth. The kids were probably seventeen at the youngest, but they could easily pass for thirteen in her mind. Maybe that was because she felt she was decades older than them in maturity, but in hindsight she was probably just as bad. She had, after all, brought a pen and a pad of paper to take down their orders when she knew exactly what they were going to say.

But that's when Ray had walked in, and Lord help her, she'd snapped at him.

She heard him calling 'Miss? Miss?' in the back of her mind, but it didn't register until he was right beside her trying to get her attention. The fact that he got the attention of every female in the vicinity told her everything she needed to know. His bright smile told her he was a goody-two shoes. His build told her he was athletic and likely a jock. His patience…well, that irritated the hell out of her because she had none left.

"What?" she demanded, eyes blazing.

And that's when, much to their mutual surprise, Cisco appeared and quickly introduced them.

"Ray, this is Caitlin. Caitlin, Ray."

"Pleased to meet you," Ray said, holding his hand out cheerfully.

Caitlin glanced down at his hand, doubt written all over her face.

"It's…just a handshake," he said encouragingly.

"We're ready to order!" One of the whiny freshmen declared.

Caitlin glanced back up at Ray's face and forced a smile.

"I'm working."

She turned back to her customers, barely suppressing the eye roll as they recited to her exactly what she had suspected.

"We'll all have burgers and fries and coke."

"Oh, but I'll have a shake!"

"She'll have a shake."

"What kind of shake?" Caitlin drawled.

"Chocola-"

"I like strawberry," Ray declared, not having moved.

Caitlin glanced over her shoulder at him and the predictable kids followed her gaze.

"Straw…strawberry…" The girl's mouth ran dry. "I think…I think I'll try that."

Caitlin sighed testily and wrote the new flavor on her pad.

"Strawberry, it is," she muttered, then turned away.

"Caitlin, wait-" Cisco tried, but she spun towards him before he could get another word out.

"What is this, Cisco? Another blind date?" she seethed.

His mouth fell open. "What?" he screeched. "No!"

She raised an eyebrow and followed her arms, unamused.

"Yes, really. I mean…" He cleared his throat. "If you wanted to-"

"Cisco!"

"Okay, okay, no." He sighed. "He's a new transfer. He's not a jock, which I know was your first thought."

She avoided eye contact and muttered, "Not my first thought."

"Well, he's not. He's a science geek! Like us!"

"Like us," she repeated flatly.

"Well, not exactly. He's more into computers. But still! That's techy stuff. We're techy."

"I want to be a biochemist, Cisco. Not an…IT guy. Or girl."

"Just give him a chance, Caitlin. He has no friends."

"I thought he just got here."

"Like, last week."

"Did you meet him last week?"

He didn't answer that. "The jocks don't want him because they think he's a nerd, and the nerds don't want him because he looks like a jock. We're his last chance, Caitlin."

She scoffed. "I doubt that."

"Are our burgers coming?" One of her customers called out.

Caitlin didn't respond, not in a mood to interact with the whiny freshmen again, but she did move away from Cisco to gather the drinks.

"I'm working, Cisco. Maybe come by later. If I didn't scare lumberjack off, he can come too."

Well, lumberjack hadn't been scared off. If anything, he was more excited than ever to get to know Caitlin when she wasn't being set off every two seconds by her prickly environment. His enthusiasm didn't serve to reassure her, but to humor Cisco, she did her best to not be cold towards the newcomer. Despite the fact that she couldn't really see much they had in common – being geeks meant nothing if they weren't geeking out about the same thing. She liked science. She could work a computer, but she didn't know the inner workings of it. She wasn't IT. She hadn't ever seen Star Wars, and she absolutely refused to play chess because she was so horrible at it. In fact, time and time again, when Cisco wasn't looking, she flat out asked Ray why in the world he kept coming around to hang out with Cisco when he knew she was going to be there.

"Is it because that's just who you are?" she asked, sounding annoyed by that possibility. "You're just the nice guy that isn't turned off by anybody?"

He shrugged. "I guess that's part of it."

Her eyebrows furrowed. "What's the other part?"

His lips scrunched together and then smoothed out.

"I like you, Caitlin."

She blushed fiercely.

"As a friend," he blurted quickly, placing his hand over hers, which didn't help.

"O-Of course," she stuttered, hating herself for it, and then soon after making an excuse to leave.

She didn't know if it had been a believable excuse or not, but the next time they all hung out, Ray made no mention of it. The relief that swept through her when she realized they were going to pretend it had never happened was unimaginable.

And it would have continued going on like that too, if Cisco hadn't intervened.

But no more than two weeks later, Caitlin found herself tricked into hanging out with Ray alone. They both had expected Cisco to be there. Caitlin figured what was up out much sooner than Ray and groaned to herself aloud when it clicked.

"What? What is it?" Ray asked eagerly.

"We've been set up!" she declared, throwing her arms up in exasperation. "Cisco set us up on a blind date." She muttered some expletives under her breath.

"Well, it's not so bad, is it?" Ray asked cheerfully.

She glanced over at him, eyes wide.

"I-I mean, we can just play chess or-" His mouth ran dry when he saw the glare she sent his way. "Or something else. We can do something else. What would you like to do?"

She sighed and collapsed into the couch she was standing by.

"It's no use. Without Cisco here as a buffer, you and I will be bored to tears. We just don't have anything in common."

"Well, that's not necessarily…true. And hey, even if it is, opposites attract!" She raised an eyebrow. "Sometimes they do, at least."

"Do you have proof?"

"We could be proof," he suggested shyly.

Caitlin avoided eye contact. Was he coming on to her? She felt the blush travel up her neck and flood her cheeks at the prospect. He was good looking. There was no denying that. Despite his lack of social status, girls still gazed on him from afar, hoping he'd glance at them with more than a polite smile – though even that sent them into cardiac arrest every time.

"Cisco's just trying to be helpful," she said with a sigh. "I suppose I should thank him for that."

Ray came and sat across from her.

"Maybe we don't have much in common," he said, continuing his case. She met his eyes hesitantly. "But…well…I think there's something between us."

She looked at him doubtfully.

"I've been in denial about it too," he assured on a chuckle.

Somehow she restrained rolling her eyes.

"Mostly because–"

"You're a ray of sunshine and I'm cold as ice," she suggested dryly.

He laughed lightly. "Ray. I'm a ray of sun- …and my name is-" He stopped abruptly when he caught her stare, clearing his throat instead. "Yes, that's part of it."

"And what's the other part?" she asked, annoyed at herself for her curiosity.

"Well, to be honest…" He couldn't meet her eyes. "You're kind of out of my league."

She choked on nothing, her eyes bulging.

"You- Are you serious?"

He looked up at her and nodded. "Dead." The silence lingered. "Serious, I mean. I'm dead serious about you not- Yes."

She laughed a little nervously and felt the tension rise between them. But it wasn't tension to be afraid of. It wasn't tension she wanted to run away from by any means, and that made her wary. But suddenly she wasn't mad at Cisco for his little ploy, even if this had been his scheme from the start.

She glanced over at Ray, her eyes lingering on his covered chest and torso and knew she was in trouble.

"I wonder what you look like with your shirt off," she said accidentally out loud.

Her eyes widened when she realized what had happened. She looked into his eyes and saw her reaction mirrored on his face.

"That- I didn't mean-"

He scooted a little closer, not saying a word.

She tensed but didn't retreat.

"We could just be curious," she warned as he started to lean in. "There could be no future here."

"What's wrong with curiosity?" he asked, cupping her face in his hand.

"It killed the cat!" she spat desperately.

He smiled that boyish smile that gave her feelings she knew she'd suppressed since the moment she met him.

"Good thing we're not cats, then."

He kissed her before a solid thought could form. Unexpectedly, she kissed him back.

When he pulled away, her eyes fluttered open.

"How was that?" he asked, licking his lips.

"You're a dog."

He frowned. "I don't think that's-"

She pulled him close and kissed him again.

You have nothing in common, Caitlin. This will go nowhere. His stupid smile will irritate the hell out of you.

She ignored the logic thrumming through her brain.

She'd get to see him without his shirt on, and then some.

She could do a lot worse than a ray of sunshine for her first one-night stand.