A/N: This is supposed to be set after 3x12, the morning after Caitlin and Julian have drinks. Though because in my fic their little outing didn't go well, this is basically AU. This is how I wanted things to happen after their drinks, but oh well...lol. Enjoy!
Strolling into the cortex early the next morning, Cisco nearly jumped out of his shoes at the unexpected sight of Julian in the side room, intensely typing away at the computer. "Dude, what are you doing here?" Cisco asked, walking over to the forensic scientist nosily.
"I thought I'd get some work done on one of my results before heading to the CCPD for the day," he told him dismissively, eyes glued to the screen and not even sparing Cisco a glance.
Cisco glared at the back of the former-villain's head; dude was such a douche. "How did you even get in?"
Julian let out an exasperated sigh, turning swiftly in the rolling chair to face Cisco. "H.R. let me in. Satisfied?" he questioned the mechanical engineer, accent thick and annoyance displayed clear as day on his face.
"Very," Cisco said in an exaggerated British accent, mocking the other man. "By the way, you kinda look like shit," he added, noticing now that the man from across the pond did look a bit off.
"Often a side-effect when you're hungover, mate," Julian dryly stated, closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose in an effort to qualm not only his irritation but also probably the massive headache that was still throbbing from when he woke up. "And you're not helping."
Cisco studied the man curiously. "So, did you get the meta-human creeps and drink away your sorrows last night?" he wondered aloud.
"Actually, I went for drinks with Caitlin," he answered tightly. "Her idea."
Cisco's face scrunched inwards in disgust. "Ew," he let out, taking a step back. "Is that like, a thing now?"
Julian shortly snorted. "Oh, heavens no," he remarked with a stern shake of his head. "I'm not a masochist."
The metahuman let out a sigh of relief. "Good," he muttered, but furrowed his brows as Julian's words sunk in. "Wait what?"
"I'm not going to pursue Dr. Snow when she clearly fancies another," Julian explained as if Caitlin 'fancying' someone was everyday knowledge. The forensic scientist then got up, picking up a handful of folders to tuck away neatly into his briefcase. "And I may be on better terms with Allen nowadays, but I'd rather not be privy to talking about him most of the night."
A small burst of laughter erupted from Cisco. "Hold up! You think, you think Caitlin likes Barry?" he asked incredulously, highly amused. Surely if his best friend had feelings for their other best friend, he would have caught on to that. Not to mention, she probably would have told him…right?
This time it was Julian who let out a laugh, though stunted and ingenuine. "Surely you have noticed that she brings up Barry quite often?" he quipped, picking up his briefcase and jacket to leave.
Cisco shrugged noncommittedly. "We see him every day, and we don't really have lively social lives outside of here," Cisco pointed out, gesturing to the area around the two men, defending Caitlin. "I probably talk about Barry more than I think I do too."
Julian snuffed. "Listen, we could go back and forth on this issue all day, but I have a job that I am not going to neglect – unlike others in this building – so, good day."
"Yeah, yeah," Cisco waved the British man off, glad to see him go and hoping he wouldn't have to see him again anytime soon - the man was talking nonsense.
As Julian left, Cisco walked over to the Flash suit, making sure everything was calibrated and up-to-date. As he worked, he thought back at what Julian thought and let out a chuckle. Caitlin having a thing for Barry? It was ludicrous.
"Good morning, Cisco," he heard Caitlin greet him as she entered the cortex a few minutes later, balancing a tray of coffees and a bag from Jitters. "Have you seen Barry yet today?"
Cisco immediately tensed up at the mention of Barry. "B-Barry? Why-Why would you want to know where Barry is?" he curiously stuttered.
Caitlin placed everything that was in her hands down on the console top, eyeing him weirdly. "I told him to come in early so I could run his monthly tests. Got us all breakfast too."
The vibing meta-human let out a sigh of relief, almost feeling silly for believing Julian's absurd thought for a moment. Of course she just was asking about Barry for a perfectly logical reason. "Uh, no, I haven't seen him yet today," he commented, which elicited a slight pout from Caitlin that Cisco couldn't quite decipher.
"Did you say breakfast though?" Cisco then asked, eyeing the bag with a lick of his lips.
Her pout was immediately replaced by an amused grin and a roll of her eyes. "Dig in," she said, handing him the bag as she made her way to her lab.
"Mmm," he moaned, taking in the aroma of the food. "You just missed Julian," Cisco chirped in, following her while biting into his chocolate croissant doughnut (aka the most delicious treat to ever exist to man, ever).
"Oh?" she let out disinterestedly as she booted up her computers, most likely setting up for whatever examinations and tests she was going to make Barry endure. "What was he doing here so early?"
The long-haired man shrugged. "Just said he was running some type of test?" he answered unsurely.
She let out a hum in response, now taking out her doctorly tools. "Probably just running my DNA against something else he concocted to help me."
Cisco placed his food down, knowing he was going to have to be less distracted for this next line of conversation he had set up. "Is that why you asked him to drinks yesterday?" Cisco wondered aloud, fishing just a tad for more details about last night. Like why ask Julian to drinks?! It was Julian! And why did the night leave the snobby British dude to believe that she was into Barry?
Her head quickly turned to face him, her eyes round and attention high. "It was just a thank-you, you know, for thwarting Killer Frost away…" she explained. "Why? Did he saying anything...else?" she asked, her voice veering off, almost nervously.
Cisco's eyebrows peaked. "Something else like...what?" he questioned.
The young doctor shook her head, laughing to herself. "Nothing, nothing. I just may have had one too many drinks and was blabbering nonsense."
With squinted eyes, Cisco assessed his best friend. She was acting funny. "You had too much to drink?" he asked dubiously. He's gone with her to the bar plenty of times and she never so much had gotten buzzed (something about a water-to-alcohol ratio that she configured that he never paid attention to because, hello, kinda defeats the purpose of drinking). "Are you even capable of getting drunk?"
A bubbling cackle was then heard behind Cisco, making the engineer turn and find the scarlet speedster himself walking into Caitlin's lab.
"Oh, Caitlin can get plenty drunk," Barry said in between his laughter as he leaned up against the doorframe. "Right, Cait?" he asked their resident doctor, whose face was gradually becoming redder and redder.
"Wait…" Cisco began, looking from one to the other multiple times, as if he was watching a tennis match, "what am I missing here?"
"Nothing, Cisco," Caitlin immediately dismissed.
Barry pushed himself off the doorframe, walking over to Caitlin with a self-satisfied smirk. "I'd hardly call it nothing."
"Barry Allen, I swear," Caitlin warned through clenched teeth.
However the warning only seemed to egg the speedster further. "Summer lovin'," he sang softly, and somehow Caitlin's face turned an even darker shade of red.
Cisco's face no doubt displayed one of mass confusion. "Huh? What does a Grease song have to with any of this?!"
Barry looked over his shoulder, facing Cisco. "Let's just say that when Caitlin gets drunk, she likes to sing…" he answered, enticing another spout of laughter from himself.
"Barry!" Caitlin hollered, raising her hand to whack the speedster, but Barry easily sidestepped the assault.
"Really, Caitlin? I didn't even have to use my speed for that," Barry taunted from the other side of the medical bed.
"Don't make me use my powers," she threatened, getting that evil glint in her eyes that always scared the daylights out of Cisco, but it didn't seem to faze their quick friend. "I have no problem icing you!"
Barry looked like he was going to say something of the antagonizing nature, so Cisco interrupted the duo before The Flash and Killer Frost had a duel. "So let me get this straight, Caitlin got drunk enough that she sang, and Barry was there?"
Caitlin sighed, her annoyance transforming back into embarrassment. "Yes, Cisco," she answered reluctantly. "And actually, Barry sang with me," she detailed, smirking over at Barry as if saying "ha!"
"You sang too?" Cisco asked Barry in shock, interrupting Barry who was squinting his eyes miserably at Caitlin's betrayal. "When was this? And more importantly, where was I?" the engineer questioned, scandalized that he wasn't there to witness what sounded like such a blackmail-worthy night.
His best friends turned to each other, mouths agape with uncertainty. A whole conversation transpired with just their eyes, leaving Cisco significantly left out.
"We don't remember where you were…" Barry started, scratching the side of his head in uncertainty. "It was just an off the cuff type of thing. We were looking for Peek-a-boo actually," he continued, shrugging, trying to wave the whole thing off.
"Uh huh," Cisco let out, unconvinced, folding his arms across his chest as he stared at his best friends critically. "So did you sing with Julian last night too then?" he had to ask, turning to Caitlin.
Now it was Barry's turn to look at his friends in confusion. "Huh?" he let out before focusing his attention on Caitlin, who was ignoring the speedster's stare.
"No," she said sternly and pointedly at Cisco, her eyebrows scrunching downwards with heavy disapproval, which in Caitlin-101 meant that she wanted him to shut up, immediately.
Barry frowned. "You went out with Julian?" he asked in disbelief, his tone colored with another emotion too that Cisco couldn't quite figure out.
Caitlin tipped her head back with a sigh. "It was just for some drinks as a thank you for yesterday," she explained shortly to Barry. "But Cisco is making it a bigger deal than it is," she said tersely, shooting Cisco another glare.
The long-haired man raised his hands up in innocence. "I'm just asking simple questions," he claimed, trying to defend himself.
Caitlin rolled her eyes. "Cisco, I have to get Barry's examination done," she said, her tone still laced with disapproval. "So could you..?" she started and gestured to the door.
Cisco scoffed. "Fine, I see how it is," he said dramatically, placing a hand over his heart, pretending to be wounded as he walked out of her lab. However he soon realized he forgot his croissant doughnut and doubled back.
"We promised each other that we would never bring up the karaoke night again," Cisco heard Caitlin tell Barry just as he was about to reenter the room. It caused the vibing metahuman to hold himself back, keeping himself hidden by the door in the hopes that he'd hear something more juicy about that night. Hey, if he couldn't be there to witness it, he deserved to at least know all about it - for best friend duties and all of course...
Barry chuckled. "Oh, it's harmless," the speedster said. "Ow!" he then yelped, causing Cisco to peek into the room to see what had happened (apparently, Caitlin shoved the needle a little too roughly into Barry's skin).
"Harmless?" Caitlin scoffed. "Cisco is probably going to force me to do karaoke with him from now on!"
Cisco nodded his head in agreement. He had thought of that.
"He'll no doubt drag me along too, now that he knows I sang with you," he let out bitterly. "Thanks for that, by the way," he sarcastically quipped.
Caitlin merely shrugged, not showing any shame. "If you're going to throw me under the bus, you better believe I'm dragging you with me," Caitlin explained with a ghost of a smirk on her face.
Barry fondly rolled his eyes as Caitlin stuck him with another needle. "You think he'd make you sing that Frozen song?" Barry joked.
Cisco's eyes lit up. That would be perfect!
"Ooh, don't you dare give him that idea, Mr. Allen," Caitlin admonished, putting on her stethoscope. "Or you're going to be in a world of pain."
Barry chuckled. "Wouldn't that be counterproductive for you, Dr. Snow?"
Cisco silently snickered to himself, but abruptly stopped as a thought flashed through his mind. Wait, were they like flirting right now? Cisco peeked back inside the room.
With the chestpiece of the stethoscope suspended right above Barry's heart, Cisco saw Caitlin color. "I think I'll be the judge of that," Caitlin spoke, but she was smiling shyly at the speedster, obviously having no intentions of hurting Barry whatsoever, and Barry was looking at her just as affectionately.
Julian's words then came back to Cisco as he continued to watch his best friends lightly converse and tease each other. If he hadn't known them or their circumstances, he would never have guessed that the weight of the world was pressing down on both of their shoulders. Like inside this office they were in a bubble, a place where Barry didn't have to worry about Iris's fatal doom and Caitlin wasn't fighting to keep Killer Frost at bay. Just Barry and Caitlin, their eyes lit so bright and their smiles so genuine. It had been so long since Cisco had seen his friends look so...normal and happy; it was amazing to see them bring that out in each other so effortlessly.
"So...drinks with Julian?" Barry uneasily brought up. Cisco could tell he was trying to do so nonchalantly, but the subject was obviously something that bothered the speedster and had been plaguing his mind since he found out.
Caitlin shook her head. "I told you already, it was nothing - a one time thing. It won't happen again, that's for sure..."
Barry's one eyebrow rose in interest. "Oh? Why's that?" he wondered, genuinely curious.
"Let's just say that I drank a little too much and embarrassed myself," Caitlin admitted, suddenly too shy to meet Barry's gaze.
"You didn't actually sing again, did you?" he asked, a chuckle escaping his lips.
Cisco saw her try to suppress a smile, but a small one cracked at the corners. "No," she said, her words coming out gentle and reminiscent. "I think that was only a one time occurrence...thankfully."
They both laughed, sharing grins that conveyed just how fondly they thought of that karaoke night, despite it causing them each embarrassment for some reason that Cisco wasn't aware of.
Barry reached out to lay a comforting hand on her arm, his facial expression turning serious. "Hey, if you want me to, I could talk to Julian for you," Barry kindly offered. "He'd be a fool to turn you down just because of something silly you did when you were tipsy and drunk," he continued with a crooked grin.
She threw him an appreciative smile, though it didn't reach her eyes. "It's fine. Really. I wasn't interested in him anyway. I mean, he's still Julian. He hasn't stopped being an insufferable jerk," Caitlin prattled off, and Barry nodded, agreeing with her wholeheartedly. "But even if I had been into him, I don't think that talking about another guy the whole night is a good way to start something new with anyone…" she revealed sheepishly over a nervous chuckle.
Cisco's eyes flew open, and he's pretty sure his jaw was on the ground. So Caitlin had talked about a guy all night?! So that mean that the damn Brit bastard was telling the truth, right?
The mechanical engineer watched as Barry's features softened. "Ronnie?" he delicately guessed.
Lips parted, Caitlin paused for a beat to stare at Barry. Cisco held his own breath, wondering if Caitlin was going to tell their fast friend the truth or not. "Yeah," she breathily answered (lied), biting her lip as she turned away to gather her equipment.
Cisco watched as Barry gazed after her, following her movements around her lab in an array of confusion and worry. It was obvious that Barry knew something was off with the doctor but couldn't figure out what. The speedster was broken out of his thoughts, however, by the ring of his phone.
"Yeah, Joe?" he answered distractedly, jumping off the bed. "Okay, yeah. I'll head over there soon," he said to his adoptive father before shutting it off. He turned to Caitlin, who had turned to face him too. "You ran all your tests?"
She nodded. "You're good to go, Barry," she told him, her lips rising to give him a small smile, which he readily returned.
"Good," he said, but made no move to leave. Instead he stayed there, standing in front of her, watching her as she watched him.
"Cait," he started, her name spoken so softly it felt like Cisco just laid his ear down on the softest pillow in existence. Barry took a hesitant step forward only to retract back when his phone rang again. The speedster frustratingly sighed.
"Go, Barry. You're obviously needed," Caitlin said, gesturing to the phone that Barry had in his hand. "We can talk later. I'm not going anywhere," she assured him, and the tension in Barry's shoulders did give at that remark.
Trying to stay hidden, Cisco made a dash around the corner, reaching his destination just in time to see Barry flash out of Caitlin's office and away to where Joe needed him. The mechanical engineer let out a sigh of relief, having not gotten caught.
As his adrenaline waned though, Cisco couldn't help but think back to what he just saw transpire between his friends - the implications only weighing heavier and heavier in his mind as he tried to process it and reason with it. Cisco was only left with one conclusion, as much as he hated the thought of it, that maybe Julian was onto something.
Walking slowly back to the lab's entrance, watching Caitlin stare thoughtfully yet sadly at the space Barry had just been occupying, Cisco had to admit that Caitlin probably did have some type of romantic feelings towards Barry; however, after watching the duo, Cisco wasn't entirely sure it was only one-sided.
A/N: I just have such a weakness for subtle Snowbarry - just the hints that it's there under the surface, but it's being buried deep. Angsty kind of stuff. But how did you enjoy this? Please let me know in the reviews - I'd really appreciate your comments.
Also, may I suggest that if you guys have twitter to start tweeting the writers and the producers of the show. They are just now brainstorming, maybe even starting to write season 4, and we should let them know that we want not only more Snowbarry (even if it's just friendship) but more Barry, Caitlin, Cisco scenes too - I've missed them dearly. But remember, be respectful to them - don't just go all CAPS LOCK MAYHEM on them. lol.