Title: Rainy Spring Days and Secret Identities
Author: Starcalista
Fandom: The Flash
Characters/Pairing: Barry Allen+Caitlin Snow (snowbarry)
Prompt: "Barry spots some flowers while running & snags them for Caitlin? Or caught in a spring rain?" Prompt from chasingblue57. I chose caught in a spring rain and snags Caitlin or in other words carrying her without permission to save her from the rain…hehe
Rating: K+/T
Word Count: 981
Summary: Just a small interaction between Barry and Caitlin on a (suddenly) rainy spring day
Warnings: None, I think
Notes: Repost from my tumblr account. This was actually written for the snowbarry spring theme contest but obviously I wasn't able to finish it then. I had some trouble with the ending because I wasn't sure where to end it. But I guess this was a good a place as any or else I might turn it into a really long fic which I don't want, especially with all the other fics queuing up in my folder. On another note, random, did anyone know that snowberry was actually a real word? I had no idea until Microsoft Word autocorrected snowbarry into snowberry.
x
Caitlin left CC Jitters with a thank you and the entrance bell ringing behind her. Sighing happily as the soft spring breeze plays with her hair, she immediately starts walking towards the general direction of STAR labs. When she had left her apartment this morning, she had decided to use the bus instead of her car, seeing as the weather was really beautiful. She had always had a soft spot for beautiful spring time weather and when it looked like it wouldn't rain anytime soon, she left her car keys at home and took a walk through the park near her place. It was a good thing that today's schedule was lighter than usual and she's not needed at the lab until later today.
However, her relaxing walk turned grey in a matter of moments. Clouds were gathering above and before she had time to go for cover, the sky was pouring down on her. Caitlin quickly took shelter in a nearby bus stop, cursing under her breath. She really should've known better than to trust the central city weather forecast in spring. And just her luck, it was the one day when she was not prepared with an umbrella in her purse. She debated on what she should do as she sipped her coffee. Her best bet would be to call Cisco to pick her up, though she is sure she won't escape without teasing from him, since for as long as they had known each other, she was the one that was prepared for every situation. She has never gone to work this messed up for as long as she can remember, unless you count that one time when she had gotten so drunk the night before with Barry. Even until now, there were still some holes in her memory of that night. She just hoped that she hadn't done anything more embarrassing than that drunken singing.
In the middle of searching through her purse for her phone, she almost screamed when someone suddenly picked her up. Half a minute later (or maybe less, her orientation for time always gets mixed up whenever she's flashed someplace) she was put down gently in the middle of the cortex, her clothes dry from the run.
"Barry, what the hell did you think you were doing? Someone could have seen!" Caitlin wasted no time to berate him for his carelessness. She doesn't understand how Barry can be so careless about his secret identity. He hadn't even been using his flash suit.
"Come on Cait, I'm sure I was moving too fast for anyone to even catch a glimpse of me. Besides, you needed help." Barry comments in his usual light hearted way, not caring at all he could have been spotted. This only made her frown deeper, exasperated with how little Barry cares of his own well being.
"My hero," Caitlin muttered dryly, her frown still obvious on her face as she takes off her coat and went to the bathroom to at least tidy herself up, her relaxing morning ruined. Added to that, her half-drunk coffee had fallen from her hands when Barry had picked her up. Well, she guesses she should count herself lucky that it didn't spill all over her instead of the ground.
"You preferred I left you standing out in the rain?" Barry asks, following her.
"At least then, I would still have my coffee and we wouldn't be having this conversation. Are you really going to follow me inside, Barry?" she asks, stopping at the door of the bathroom, one of her eyebrows going up.
A blush immediately overtook Barry's face and Caitlin frowned curiously at him.
"O…of course not. I'll just wait in the labs for you."
When Caitlin returned back to the lab with her hair free of tangles and having changed into the spare clothes she had kept as a precaution, she found Barry sitting in her usual chair with two glasses of coffee from CC Jitters in front of him.
"Here, I got your favorite. So please don't be mad anymore?" He stood up, grinning earnestly at her, making her unwillingly let out a small smile, resulting his own grin to grow wider.
She took a sip of her coffee, before answering, "I was never mad at you Barry. I'm just frustrated that you don't take your secret identity seriously. Someone could have seen when you picked me up."
"Hey, don't worry," Barry touches her arm, to give her comfort, "I made sure that no one was looking first. I've learned to scout the surroundings first remember? Besides, more than anyone, I don't want my secret identity getting out."
His mind unwittingly carrying him back to the moments when Iris, Caitlin and Cisco were each taken hostage in separate situations with the only reason being that they knew the flash. He still remembered the terror he felt for each of them. He doesn't know what he would do if the people he cares about comes to harm because of him.
"Barry?" Caitlin's hands touching his cheeks snapped him out of the various worse scenarios of what would happen if the world knew who the flash really was, seeming to be able to read his mind, she asks, "Are you okay?"
Looking up to Caitlin's comforting brown eyes, he remembered where he was and convinced himself that those thoughts won't happen because he'll definitely protect them all. Suddenly he realizes the position that they're in and he could immediately feel his face reddening.
"Ah, sorry," Caitlin immediately let go, "You zoned out for a moment there." A pause, "Are you okay?"
Nowadays, there a little bit of moments like these between him and Caitlin that sometimes makes it awkward. But it never lasts long, so it might only be him looking too much into it. With a small smile and a nod the awkwardness he felt and the worries between her brows are gone.
x
Thank you for reading. Any comments/criticisms are greatly appreciated. ^_^
