Anonymous asked: A Snowbarry prompt: Not a couple yet!snowbarry. Barry finds out Caitlin can't swim, so he takes her to the local pool to teach her. Things get a bit handsy. Thanks!

swimming lessons

"Barry Allen, is this really necessary?" Caitlin sounds twelve different kinds of not amused as she peers at him over the rims of her sunglasses, completely ignoring the rest of their group (though they all sneak glances at the pair, each completely amused by the exchange).

Barry just beams boyishly at her. "Completely necessary Caitlin Snow." His comment prompts an eye roll that he ignores, instead continuing to help Cisco and Eddie unpack the Escape, while Iris scans around for a good place to set up their stuff.

It's a rare day off for the whole of the group. No meta human threats have been on the horizon, things are calm at the police station and Iris had switched weekends at Jitters with the hopes of enjoying at least one day of her last spring break before graduating. The plan to hit up the beach had come up a few weeks ago when, completely by accident, Caitlin had confessed to Barry and Cisco that she had never learned to swim. Given the number of large lakes and beaches nearby, the guys had decided it was high time she learned.

And so here they are: at a not-quite crowded lake, unpacking way more stuff than a single day at the beach should necessitate and enjoying their mid-twenties in a way they rarely do. (That was the argument that had gotten her here, if she's honest. That and the promise of a few hours just relaxing in the sunshine, reading the book she has tucked away in her bag.)

Once they find a spot and set up, the rest of the morning passes by harmlessly enough. Barry, Eddie and Cisco play Frisbee for a while, their throws growing increasingly haphazard as they try and get the others to miss. Caitlin and Iris read for a bit, before getting distracted by the guys' antics and start talking instead. They chat about school and work and their shared friends until Barry, Cisco and Eddie drop back on the collection of blankets each grumbling something to the effect of being ready for lunch. Everyone swaps around sandwiches and soda and stories while the sun climbs higher.

It's actually pretty nice, Caitlin thinks, this whole pretending to be normal people thing. She'd been too focused on her studies, then her work, to ever do these kinds of things before. Even with Ronnie, they'd had each other and their friends at S.T.A.R. Labs but she's never really had a core group of people like this. Friends who do things like spend a Saturday at the beach just because. She's in the middle of musing about how much she likes it, when Barry catches her attention.

She looks up, caught off guard, to see him standing above her, hand outstretched, wearing a smile that definitely doesn't mean anything good. "Time for your swimming lesson."

Caitlin can't help it, she groans. "Do we have to do this?" She's made it two and a half decades without needing to know how to swim and she's done perfectly fine for herself. Still, she remembers a long ago conversation about predictability and things being better, and so she huffs her displeasure but reaches for his hand nonetheless.

"Definitely," is Barry's initial reply, his grin widening when she gives up easily. Catching her hand, he tugs her up effortlessly before toeing off his sandals and ditching his t-shirt. He's been looking forward to this since the idea had formed and he's certainly not going to let her get out of it. Still, he can only imagine that learning something new, something that most people learn as children, might be a little nerve wracking and he doesn't want to force her into something she's completely against, so he amends his comment thoughtfully only a moment later. "If you really don't want to, I won't force you but you know I wouldn't let anything happen to you Cait."

And damn him, because it's the sincerity of that statement that erases any lingering doubts she has (well, 99% of them anyway). "I know that," is her instant reply, voice a little softer than it had been before. She too removes her flip-flops before reaching down to tug off the sundress she's been wearing over her black halter-top bikini. She doesn't notice the way Barry's eyes cast over her bare skin, too busy folding her dress and depositing it back into her bag (the others notice, trading wide, mischievous grins before hastily returning their attention the their previous tasks). "Alright, let's get this over with." Knowing he won't let her drown does not immediately remove her misgivings, after all.

The way Barry smiles, looking lighter then he has in a long time, far more his age than usual, might though. Despite herself, she feels a little excited as they make their way to the edge of the lake and start wading in. The water's still a little cold, given that it's only April, but by the time it's halfway up her torso, Caitlin's adjusted pretty well.

Deeming them out far enough, Barry begins basic instruction, teasingly explaining the absolute basics of buoyancy and weight distribution. "Really Barry?" Caitlin scoffs, using a cupped palm to send a wave of water at his face.

The water hits its target, catching him straight in the mouth. "Hey!" And he splashes back immediately, sending a disproportionately large surge of water at Caitlin, leaving her hair plastered around her face. Not one to be outdone, she fires in return and the swimming lesson dissolves into a splash war, their toes still firmly entrenched in the silty lake bottom.

Barry tries to call out a cease-fire a few minutes later, but Caitlin's laughter is so carefree that he abandons the plan and immediately changes course. Ducking below the surface, Barry swims beneath fast as a flash and comes up with his arms around Caitlin's middle, tickling her bare sides in an attempt to gain some leverage. She squirms in his grasp, gasping for air, giggling like crazy and desperately trying to get away.

Adjusting his grip to avoid her flailing arms, Barry tugs her closer, flush against his chest, and uses his scant few inches of height advantage to grin cheekily down at her. "Truce?"

Winded, grateful for a reprieve from his wriggling fingers, Caitlin turns her head to look at him, twisting slightly in his grasp and causing his hands to run along her mostly bare hips. The feeling of his fingers, warm despite the cool water, holding her in place against him is at once sobering and exhilarating. She quirks an eyebrow at him, but doesn't comment on the placement although her heartbeat does speed up when his fingers only press a little bit more firmly against her skin. "I suppose I can let you surrender," she teases, refusing to be flustered.

Barry's not entirely certain he feels the same because the way her skin slides against his is definitely distracting, especially when he feels his fingers stray over the edges of her bikini bottoms. He tightens his grip reflexively and turns her a little more, so that she's all but sitting sideways in his arms, the heel of her left foot dragging along his calf in the tow of the water. "Surrender?" He questions, letting himself fall back into the familiar pattern of teasing to steady his fraying nerves. All the same, he's unable to resist winding her up further and his fingers slide up her sides (goose bumps rising along the flesh) and begin to tickle her again.

Caitlin all but shrieks, her own hands gliding up so that one presses against his clavicle and the other wraps around his bicep. "Okay, okay. I'm willing to negotiate a truce!" She breathes, her eyes smiling as they catch Barry's.

A little reluctantly, he lets her go watching as she bobs slightly in the water before settling back against the lake's bottom. "My terms are this swimming lesson," he decides, still smiling. "You know the basics, just float and move and I'll be here if you need me."

Apparently the time for putting this off is past, so Caitlin nods, takes a deep breath and pushes off the bottom so that she's no longer standing but floating in the water. With sweeping gestures and little kicks, she begins to propel herself forward, torn between feeling immensely stupid for splashing around like an idiot (who somehow never learned to swim) and panicked at the way the waves bob her up and down on their path to the shore. She does pretty well for a while, moving in little trails and circles in the space around Barry, who grins with pride as he watches her.

Mentally, she knows she's already got the hang of it (it's swimming, not neuroscience), but there's a piece of her that gives into the panic when a boater in the distance sends a wave that rolls over her head. Caitlin flails stupidly, suddenly in too deep water, but almost immediately after calms as a familiar arm wraps around her waist.

"Easy there Cait," and suddenly her toes are settled back against the silty bottom and for the second time in less than an hour, she finds herself pressed tightly the Barry's chest, her shoulder blades flush against his pectorals and his stomach moving against her back as he speaks. "I've got you, I'm not going to let you drown."

The conviction in his voice ensnares her attention and distracts her from her fears, so she tips her head back to catch his gaze. Caitlin feels a little like she's drowning again but for different, far more pleasant, reasons. She needs to break the tension, and teasing is always their go-to method. "I'm beginning to think the reason you planned all this was so you could do just that."

Barry's chuckle rumbles down her back, chasing a shiver as it moves down her spine. "Aw Cait, you're not even close to guessing my actual ulterior motive."

That catches her attention. "Oh yeah, what's that speedy?"

He knows she's standing on her own two feet now (he's been slowly towing them toward shallower water) so he doesn't feel guilty when he suddenly lets her go to swim a few feet away. "Catch me and I'll tell you."

There's no better motivation for Caitlin Snow to do anything than not losing, so she ignores the lingering prickle of fear and begins to messily swim around chasing after Barry. Eventually she's moving confidently through the water but he can tell she's beginning to tire so he lets her catch him. When she's close enough, Caitlin leaps for his shoulders, pressing her hands on them to push him under the water.

He goes willingly but comes up and catches her a moment later, one arm in its new favorite position, curled around her waist and the other raised in surrender. "Okay, I yield to the mighty Caitlin Snow!" he teases, grinning and dripping in the sun, much like she is. (And she looks absolutely gorgeous, and it's the first time since they've been out here that he lets himself appreciate it, feeling victorious both for having accomplished his mission and for her general proximity).

As she has all afternoon, Caitlin lets him take hold of her, appreciating the help treading in the deeper water almost as much as the feeling of his fingers once again fluttering across her bare skin. She grips both his arms, smiling up at him, rainbows reflecting in the droplets lazily rolling down both their bodies. "So, what was this ulterior motive of yours exactly?"

Barry just grins that cheeky, satisfied grin he's been wearing off and on all day as he replies, "Well, it might have had something to do with seeing you in a swimsuit."

So light and flirty is not exactly my specialty so it ends up a bit more intense then I would have liked but there's lots of touching and cute moments so hopefully you guys like it. Decided to make this a whole group thing, bringing in the idea of everyone being friends, because I love the thought of them all being actual young adults together. Also, I know that Caitlin mentions going scuba diving in an episode, so the idea of her not being able to swim is ridiculous, but it's a cute/fun prompt so a little disbelief is always okay, right?

Anyone whose sent/commented with prompts, I promise they're on my list. I'm trying to work through them all, and I have a set of fics queued up to post here. They will eventually get done though, no worries. I would never abandon a prompt.