Chapter Seven: The Couch
Barry came back home a little later than usual but that had mostly to do with the new guy; Julian, being as much of an inconvenience as he possibly could when it came to Barry himself. He opened his door to find Kara reading on the couch. It was a book from his shelf.
"What you reading over there?" He dropped his bag on the table before coming over.
"It's a book called Romeo and Juliet. Well, it's actually a play not a proper book."
"Yeah, I've heard of it." He chuckled while coming to sit beside her.
"I'm not that far into it yet but it's nice."
"Yeah…"
"It's written by a guy called Shakespeare." She informed.
Barry nodded slowly. "Yeah." He smiled at her. "Have you eaten since this morning?"
"Yeah. Caitlin came over with some more food."
"Cool." He'd have to remember to thank her again. Not that Kara was causing any problems, but it was good to be reminded that he wasn't doing this alone and that the responsibility was divided.
"There's actually something I wanted to talk to you about." He sat up a little straighter and she lowered her book. "Now that you've been here for a little while now and you've moved in to my place, I was thinking that maybe we should get you a job of sorts. You could come do some work at the NCPD with me."
"NC…"
"NCPD. I'll talk to Joe so he can pull some strings to get you a desk job."
"Okay. I've sat at a desk before." Kara nodded.
Barry smiled. "You'd do more than that but I'll explain later."
"Alright." Kara grinned.
Why is she so cute? This shouldn't be happening to him.
"You wanna watch TV now?" Kara asked, seeing it as their usual routine for when he comes back.
"Sure. Put what you want on."
He should have known that saying that meant they'd be watching Transformer cartoons for the rest of the night ahead of them. However it wasn't that which made the night a bitter torture. Kara was so close, on the other end of the couch with her feet up on the coffee table while his were sprawled out on the couch. He was convinced that he could feel the heat radiating from her.
Barry forced his gaze away. This was so inappropriate. Kara was naive and new to Earth, if he were to try anything like the things running through his head right now then that would be taking advantage. He couldn't be that, he had to be someone she could rely on no matter what, not some horny boy over eager to please her in any way that he could. He was sure she'd find a lot of those in her life but he had to be better than that, he had to be her rock.
That's why Barry was grateful when his phone buzzed on the table in front. He cleared his throat, leaned across and swiped open the message from Iris. It wasn't what he expected, it was actually an apology but it also said that she needed to see him. He shivered at the thought of talking to Iris again, he didn't want to go for round three. Kara mistook his shiver for him being cold and wrapped him up in a blanket.
How can someone be so perfect? He was actually praying for the will power to resist her by this point.
"Thanks." He sniffed.
Then that's when his heart stopped. Kara had, with superspeed, moved him slightly to make room for herself to lay down with him. His breathing hitched. Her arms were wrapped around his middle in the most enticing way possible. There weren't many things that could take the Flash by surprise like that but this was one of them for sure.
"K-Kara-"
"Yep?"
"What are you doing?"
"Keeping you warm."
"I'm not that cold." He insisted.
"Thanks to me."
"No." He groaned and buried his head between her neck and the cushion. This was a little bit too much for the speedster. The woman had a gift of being adorable and mouthwatering at the same time.
His groan had Kara's eyes snap down. She'd not heard him make that noise before but she wanted him to do it again for some reason. Barry caved and returned the embrace with his muscles flexing in his arms. With her eyes staying focussed on his arms flat against her stomach, she reached down to stroke the muscles there and he hummed lightly at the feeling. He'd never done this with anyone before.
All his life has been revolved around Iris and she never returned his feelings, but that didn't mean he sought comfort in other girls. That's why this felt so foreign to him, but also far more intoxicating than he'd ever imagined it to be.
"Five more minutes, then I'm going to bed." He forced himself to say.
"Okay." She kissed his head of hair.
He groaned again which made her crack a slight smirk; she'd finally caught on to what that noise meant.
