Chase You Down

By: Riley

Summary – Charlie Crane couldn't control his emotions; the desire, the loathing, the relief. But eventually it would go away, and he'd be fine. He just needed to meet The Flash, first. Show him how he could be of some help on his team. If only he could get The Flash to hold still long enough to let him know; he'd chase The Flash down, no matter how fast he moved, to talk to him even for a second.

"No, no, no, no, no, no."

Barry let out a long sigh, rubbing the back of his neck. Sucked in a deep breath, moving both hands to the top of his head so that he could at least try to calm himself down. At least, as much as he could calm himself when he was only seconds away from having his identity revealed.

His secret identity. His secret superhero identity that he needed to keep secret or else everyone in his life was in danger. He had all the abilities that anyone could ever ask for, he was the Fastest Man Alive! But he was also the Man-Who-Was-Dumb-Enough-To-Bring-His-Super-Suit-To-The-Local-Gym.

Trust be told, he'd forgotten he had it in there, had become so engrossed in the workout he was doing. But he had to have it on him! It would take too much time to run all the way to STAR Labs and then to the crime scene, whenever it popped up. But he definitely should've been more careful about leaving things out while he took a "quick shower" and changed because his bag was gone.

Fear instantly shot into his chest, like the lightning bolt that gave him his powers when he returned to his locker and saw there was nothing there. No bag. Where was his bag? His bag with his suit left inside. Oh, that was stupid. Beyond stupid. Even more beyond stupid. He could already hear Caitlin and Cisco and everyone screaming at him for being so careless.

Barry dropped to his knees and looked under the bench, as if his bag suddenly had the ability to turn invisible. Found nothing there. He looked inside the locker he'd been using and found it empty as well.

"No, no." Barry took a few steps back, running his hands through his hair. He squeezed his eyes shut, sucked in a sharp breath between his teeth. Mentally tried to remember what he had been doing when he forgot to put his bag away. He'd been changing into his workout clothes, a STAR Labs t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants, and…he received a call from Captain Singh, asking about tests that he was falling behind on and…completely forgot about it. "Oh God."

"Are you looking for this?"

Barry whipped around to see a man standing on the other side of the row of lockers he stood up. Barry slowly brought his hands down from his head, eyes bouncing from the man to the bag held tightly in his hand. The man looked back at him with an innocent expression, curiously waiting for Barry's response. His face was somewhat weaselly; hairline pushed so far back that there was a large swatch of skin between it and his eyebrows. Eyebrows that just barely framed his tiny eyes and even tinier nose. Tiny eyes that were round, almost bug-eyed as they looked back at him.

"Uh…" Barry said slowly. He looked to the bag held tightly in the man's hand, at the open zipper that showed a tiny hint of the red fabric that composed of his suit. "I…uh…"

"I saw it on the bench," the man continued, inching closer. "I, I, I," he stammered slightly, paused, closed his eyes and shook his head as he waited for it to pass. "I was going to bring it to the lost and found, wanted to ask around first. Nothing's stolen, I swear." Barry took a few steps toward him, hand outstretched to take the bag back.

A wave of relief, even stronger than the previous fear, shot through Barry so quickly he nearly had to hold the locker beside him to keep himself upright. "Yeah, that's mine. Thanks man." He reached out for the bag once more.

The man made a show of zipping open the bag further. "Look. It's all here!" He presented it to Barry, causing the young man to stop in his tracks.

"Oh, I, uh…" Barry swallowed hard. He stared hard at the Flash suit sitting inside. The bag had jostled enough so that the logo, the lightning bolt, was facing the ceiling. Out where anyone could see it. "It's, uh…" he let out a nervous laugh. Pointed to the suit, tried to come up with an excuse. "I can explain that. You see—"

"It's alright," The man replied with a nod and a lift of his chin. "I sometimes dress up as The Flash, too."

Barry let out a short, incredulous, relieved laugh. He looked to the side, rubbed the back of his neck, then picked up his bag, slinging it over his shoulder. "Uh, yeah, right. It's…you know, cosplay's really big…" he gave the man a thumbs up and left the locker room. "Have a good day, man."

Turning, Barry ducked out of the locker room and hurried toward STAR Labs, moving at top speed when he was sure he was out of sight of any cameras. He needed to get the suit back on the mannequin before any of his teammates realized how close he came to really messing up.

A/N: Well, I finally got this one up and running! The only thing I haven't quite figured out, so far, is what season I want to have this set in. I've thought about the very first season, and somewhere in season 2, but I'll figure it out.

I hope you all like it!

Cheers,

-Riles