A/N: Started this months ago and was going to post the full fic as a Christmas gift to y'all, but unfortunately I never wrote another chapter. So I'm just posting this first chap now and hoping I'll get to updating it sooner rather than later, even if it isn't before the end of the year.

Inspired by Grant & Candice's panel attire at SDCC 2019!

*Many thanks to sendtherain for beta'ing.

*I own nothing. No copyright infringement intended.

Chapter 1 -

On a warm, Spring day in late May that felt almost like Summer, Barry found himself wishing he didn't have to work.

He loved his job. Growing up beside his uncle, who also happened to be an auto-mechanic, had given him a passion for the work. There was no question where he would go after graduating high school. He was good at it too. Sometimes customers even asked for him specifically to work on their cars. And of course, they always marveled about how young he looked. Even now, having just passed the big 3-0 some months earlier, he was sometimes mistaken for a recent college grad. Hardly something to complain about, but it was a fact all the same.

Despite the benefit of getting paid for something he loved to do, Barry did enjoy other things besides fixing cars. One of those things happened to be spending a beautiful day such as this one outside – not in a garage with sometimes poor lighting and not a clue when the sun had set until he looked at the clock and saw it was the end of his shift.

So he deliberately took the old, country road to get to work. He'd left early enough to still get there on time, but he'd be able to appreciate the scenery too. The next time Oliver asked him to take off on a day as beautiful as this one, he was definitely going to say no. He'd try to at least. But there was nothing to be done today. With the windows open in his large, blue jeep, and the music blasting country, Barry inhaled the scent of the wind, leaning his head closer to the open window to feel more of its impact. And when he did, he saw what was most unexpected – a woman in a red, black and white dress with high heels, lifting her phone to the sky and walking around, looking most exasperated as she walked back and forth beside her clearly flat tire.

He suppressed a roll his eyes and a smirk. This would make a great excuse, even if he hadn't the faintest idea what a woman like her was doing in the middle of nowhere on a day like today. Alone, no less.

He slowed down on the opposite side of the road, parked his jeep and hopped out, heading over to her.

"Can I help you, Miss?"

She stopped suddenly, her eyes going wide, but then her eyes dropped to the label on his shirt and her eyes narrowed angrily.

"Finally, you show up," she spat, clutching her phone tighter till he thought it might break.

"Um, excuse me?" He was slightly amused but tensed nonetheless.

"I've only been calling you for an hour," she growled, then lowered her eyes to the other patch on his open shirt. "Barry."

He blinked, then tried to piece the information she was giving him together in a way that made sense. He failed.

"I…don't think we've met before, Miss."

She rolled her eyes and folded her arms in an irritated stance. He couldn't tell if the enhancement of her cleavage had been deliberate or not, as the slit in the middle of the top portion of her dress widened slightly.

"Of course, we haven't met," she said, as if it were obvious. "I called…" She glanced down at his shirt again. "Your company to ask for help with my car."

"You called…" He glanced down at the patch on his shirt, maybe a little mockingly imitating what she had been repeatedly doing. "Advantage Auto Parts?"

She glanced down again, then looking away quickly.

"Yes, obviously."

"We're kind of small," he said, folding his arms over his chest to mirror her. "I'm surprised you could find our number. Especially since your phone seems to be, uh…" A beeping noise interrupted them as her phone promptly went dead. "Out of service."

She bristled, irritated by both him and the phone, it appeared.

"Listen, smartass." She took two steps toward him. "Are you going to fix my tire or not?"

"Do you have a spare?"

She narrowed her eyebrows.

"No." She paused, thinking about it. "I don't know. Maybe."

He chuckled quietly, earning him a glare.

"Why don't you pop your trunk and we'll see what you've got in there?"

Still irritated but clearly wanting to get going more, she did as he said and they looked into her immaculate, mostly empty trunk, finding no spare tire in sight.

"My car won't start, either. Just died out of nowhere."

He glanced over at her, then shut the trunk.

"Are you out of gas?"

She scoffed. "Do you think I'd be dumb enough to-"

He raised his eyebrows.

"No. I filled up my car last week."

"And have you done a lot of driving since then?" he prodded. Her lips thinned.

"This is starting to sound like an interrogation."

"I'm trying to diagnose why your car won't start. That's my job. What you supposedly called 'my company' to come out and do."

She huffed.

He held out his hand, palm up.

"Give me your keys."

"What? Are you crazy? I'm not giving my keys to a-"

"Auto-mechanic that you called to help you?" he deadpanned.

"You, you can't just - I am not paying you for this!"

He held his tongue for a moment, then let the insult fly out anyway.

"I'm sure your daddy would give his little princess any amount of money she needed."

Her jaw dropped.

He sobered up.

"Look, if you don't have a spare, and the problem is you're out of gas, I can call you a tow truck or you can come with me. I'm headed to work right now for my shift."

She gawked.

"I am not going anywhere with y- Hey, don't you have a spare?"

He glanced over his shoulder at his jeep.

"Yeah," he said. "For a jeep." He turned back to look at her. "I don't think they'd fit your baby Cadillac."

She stomped her foot. "It is not a- You know what? Nevermind. You're an asshole. Call me a tow truck. I don't have to deal with you."

"Fine." He stalked off, heading back to his vehicle.

After grabbing his phone out of his truck and making the call, he looked over and saw another problem she'd likely overlooked.

"Might want to turn off your lights," he called out.

She glared but walked over and saw she had her brights on. Hastily, she shut them off before looking back to glare at him again. But he was already starting his truck and driving down the street.

"Hey! Where are you going?"

He thought about slowing down, but he'd had just about enough of her. Her disrespect, irrational behavior and refusal to believe him had ignited all his angry senses. The guys at Triple A would have to deal with her now.

He looked into his rearview mirror for one last look at the girl that had rattled him so much and found her sticking out her middle finger at him.

He focused back on the row ahead of him, shook his head and worked to put her out of his mind.

"Fuck, you, too," he muttered, and turned up the music again.