One of the only drawbacks of working in a male-dominated job was the fact that it was a male-dominated job. Caitlin had been forced to deal with a lot of sexist remarks throughout her entire academic career and while STAR Labs was a definite improvement, it still wasn't without problems. Like Louis.
Louis had started just before Caitlin and the man was the epitome of everything Caitlin hated. He was self-entitled, incredibly rude and very sexist. He had only managed to keep his position at STAR Labs because he was one of the most promising future engineers they had. The only other person who irritated her on the same level was Hartley but at least he was just rude, not sexist. Since she had started a few months previously, Caitlin had regularly felt Louis watching her and it made her very uncomfortable but since he wasn't actually doing anything she was at a loss for what to do. He had never made an effort to speak to her but she had overheard her name being mentioned by him more than once while he was talking to others.
She was working on a private venture with Cisco when Louis came through the lab doors. "Hey Cisco." He greeted while blatantly ignoring Caitlin, even though she was practically standing between them. "Do you have any spare copies of the blueprints for the new lab structure?"
Cisco glanced at Caitlin, who had a completely impassive face, and replied. "Uhh yeah sure. Gimme a sec and i'll see if I have some here." He looked underneath the workbench and pulled out a file before holding it out for Louis to grab. Louis reached past Caitlin and took the file in his hand and Caitlin gasped when she felt his hand deliberately brush her chest. Acting on pure instinct, she slapped the file out of his hands and sent it tumbling to the floor.
"Oops." He smirked as he bent down to pick them up. Caitlin was fuming, she opened her mouth to give the bastard a verbal assault when Cisco interrupted from beside her.
"Hey Louis, can you come take a look at these wires for me?" Cisco asked in a deceptively sweet voice.
"Sure." He replied and moved over to Cisco. He was fiddling about with the wires when Cisco winked at Caitlin before flicking the switch in his hand. Louis squeaked and collapsed onto the floor in a small and twitchy ball as he received a very considerable electric shock.
"Cisco!" Caitlin admonished as she laughed at the prone man. "That wasn't necessary." Cisco muttered something under his breath in Spanish and if the look on his face was anything to go by, it wasn't polite.
He smiled brightly at her before countering with a cheery "Aww come on Caitlin! What are friends for?" She rolled her eyes at him but pulled him into a hug anyway.