Ch. Summary: Barry loves his best friend, Cisco. He really does. But sometimes he wants to jam his hands into a paper shredder instead of enduring Cisco's teasing.
A/N: Another rom-com cliche hit: random time skips! But they still think about each other, apparently!
More Barry's point of view than anything else.
-x-
A week later found Barry back in Central City, walking down the sidewalk to Jitter's with Cisco on a rare day off.
"I can never step foot in Starling or Palmer Industries. Ever," Barry bemoaned, face in his hands.
"So you made a little bit of a fool of yourself. Eh. Happens to the best of us," Cisco waved off, used to his friend's dramatics after so many years of friendship with him and having roomed with Barry since their freshman year of college.
"He literally said 'jump' and I asked how high. Well, technically he said sit and I did. Point still stands. Or, didn't stand. You know what I mean." Barry dropped his hands and looked at Cisco imploringly.
"Some guys are into that." Cisco said, instead of a (Cisco patented) random bout of wisdom or encouragement. Frankly, Barry was disappointed, but not surprised.
"Cisco!" Barry hissed anyway, feeling heat in his cheeks.
"Not kidding." Cisco teased, nudging Barry with his elbow and wiggling his eyebrows, "Anyway, I went on that date with that spitfire I was telling you about. It was amazing! She was amazing," Cisco gushed.
Barry wanted to feel jealous and annoyed, but all he could feel was exasperated fondness for his best friend. It was about time something in Cisco's romantic department went right. (The previous girlfriend of his had been apparently married to her so-called soulmate for four years and didn't think to tell Cisco. After half a year, one might add. Not to mention Cisco had a knack for attracting dangerous woman. Not always the best thing.)
"At least one of our love lives is successful." Barry conceded, squinting up at the overcast sky, "I forgot my umbrella in my lab…" He switched topics, lamenting. The one day he paid attention to the weather forecast and brought his umbrella to work, he forgets it when he actually goes outside. Amazing.
"It's okay, hermano, I brought mine," Cisco said, twirling his umbrella around by the handle, "I gotchu." He assured, making an aborted finger gun gesture that made Barry roll his eyes fondly.
.
.
Having arrived at Jitter's, Barry, with his longer legs that Cisco regularly complained about, reached the door first and opened it with a flourish toward his shorter friend. Cisco gave a half curtsey and strolled in, Barry following behind, and letting the door shut behind them.
"Speak of the devil," Cisco joked, elbowing Barry and nodding towards an admittedly attractive brunette, "There's my spitfire," He finished, and Barry would have seen Cisco's heart in his eyes if the men standing in line next to the brunette hadn't caught his attention. The two also attractive men, one of whom looked to be very much like-shit. Just what are the odds?
"Cisco-" Barry hissed, edging back to the door, his fingers on the handle, really wanting to escape before he was noticed. Mission: abort.
"Hey, Lisa!" Cisco barrelled on, capturing the group's attention. And, great, mission failed; thanks Cisco. Barry sighed heavily and trailed helplessly behind his best friend.
"Hello there, Cisco." Lisa smiled coyly, "Meet my big brother, Len, and his best friend, Mick." She turned to her brother, "This is the cutie I was telling you about. Perfect mannered, good listener, not to mention easy on the eyes, huh?" Cisco just smiled at her in a sickenly cute way while Barry tried to figure out what to do with his existence. He settled on awkwardly crossing his arms and settling his weight to one side in what he hoped looked semi-casual, and simultaneously also sort of hiding behind Cisco. Which didn't work, because duh, taller. I'm so dumb, thought Barry, mentally kicking himself.
Len looked over Cisco appraisingly, making the engineer uncomfortable with the ice of his stare, "Pleasure." He drawled after a couple of long and (to Cisco) excruciating seconds.
Mick's eyes, however, were heated and had not left Barry since Cisco called out. Barry went to great pains to keep from squirming in embarrassment, studiously avoiding Mick's stare.
Cisco looked over at Barry, "Oh, Lisa, this is Barry, my best science bro," he introduced, somehow not noticing Barry's discomfort, and pulling the taller man forward by the elbow to stand next to him instead of behind him.
Len's eyebrows raised and he glanced at Mick, communicating something between the two, before his gaze settled on Barry once more, looking amused.
"Oh. Oh dude, this is Mick? As in beefcake man?" Cisco blurted, noticing the exchange, and having heard Mick's name earlier in the week, amidst Barry's embarrassed ranting.
"Cisco!" Barry admonished.
"Oops. My bad. I kinda feel embarrassed for you," Cisco laughed lightly.
Barry just glared at Cisco with a pout on his lips, trying to ignore the sickening flipping his stomach was doing and the heat in his face.
Lisa looked on gleefully, "Aw, you have cute friends, too!"
"Yeah he's adorable, but Barry's a bit of a hot mess," Cisco said, teasing, elbowing Barry lightly.
Barry scoffs, "I'm not that bad." He defended himself weakly, crossing his arms over his chest once more.
"You're a walking disaster, Barry. You know this, I know this, anyone who speaks with you for fifteen minutes knows this," Cisco snorted, punching Barry's shoulder. Even knowing Cisco was just teasing, the corners of Barry's eyes burned anyway.
"I mean, it's a miracle you haven't scared your coworkers away. But I guess they're desensitised to your particular brand of peculiar. Good luck meeting someone new romantically, though, dude. You'd probably spill your drink on them or something-they'd get mad, not call back. All that jazz." Cisco continued, blasé.
Barry's ears and cheeks burned in embarrassment and he stared resolutely at the floor, feeling his eyes well up traitorously with tears of frustration. Unfortunately Cisco, by the fact of being his closest friend, knew him too well. While Barry had no problem trading quips and friendly roasting with the long haired dork, Barry was already too sensitive on the topic Cisco was teasing about, as of recent events. Somehow, the Latino man had hit the nail on the head. With an entire anvil.
"...Oh, dude," Cisco began after a moment of silence, reaching out to touch him again, but Barry pulled away, "Are you crying? Shit, sorry, I didn't mean-"
Barry turned around and marched out of Jitter's with more grace and agility than he had in the past week put together.
-x-
Barry's soft
So this was going to be the second to last chapter... but then 4Illuminati gave me an idea for more content so there's... there's gonna be more. Also, canthelpmyselves is to thank for the possible rom-com 'rain scene' next chapter.
Someone should guess who Cisco's ex is /eye emoji
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