Notes: Flufftober Oct 22 - Flirting at Work
Not Another Step
Barry comes back from putting out the twentieth fire of the day and he smells so strongly of smoke that Cisco starts coughing almost immediately upon Barry's return to the cortex.
And, yes, that's right, twentieth fire of the day. A meta with firebug tendencies had driven around the city starting fires and while they'd finally caught him - well, Barry had finally caught him - there were still twenty different building fires all started in one day. Barry and all of Central City's firefighters had quite the workout that day; Cisco doubted there was a single fire station in the city that hadn't been called out at some point.
Cisco was going to have to really deep clean the suit and who knew how many times Barry was going to have to wash before the smell of smoke finally scrubbed off his skin and hair. Caitlin insists on scanning Barry's lungs first before letting him go hit the locker room and she shouts after him 'cool showers only'. Not hot, because the steam might exacerbate the smoke inhalation damage his lungs are still healing from. Not cold because after dealing with extreme heat all day, the change in temperature could cause muscle spasms or irritate his lungs.
Barry's also barred from running until Caitlin gives him the go ahead and no doubt she won't do that until tomorrow morning at the earliest. She's made it very clear that he needs to go home and sleep.
After Barry's been gone a while, though, Cisco gets volunteered to go check on him and make sure their hero hasn't drowned in the shower. Thankfully Barry has not drowned in the shower. Instead he's mostly dressed, hair wet, shirt in his hands as he sits on the bench and lists against a support beam that the bench is pushed up against. Eyes half-shut.
"Come on Barry, upsy-daisy," Cisco teased, grabbing Barry's hands and hauling him to his feet. Then he took Barry's shirt and helped him pull it on over his undershirt. "No sleeping in the locker room. There are more comfortable places to nap."
"Just need to go home," Barry mumbled, following Cisco meekly out into the hallway. Though once there, Barry latched onto Cisco's back like a limpet, arms around Cisco's shoulder and face buried against Cisco's hair. "M'tired."
"Let's get some coffee first and then I'll drive you home, okay?" Cisco grinned when he heard a muffled agreeing noise. Though Barry didn't let go of Cisco the whole way to the break room, shuffling along behind Cisco like some kind of zombie.
Once in the break room, Barry did finally let go of Cisco, allowing Cisco to move faster for putting on a fresh pot of coffee and grabbing one of their specially made power bars for Barry to nom on, since he probably could use some more calories to fuel further healing in his lungs.
When Cisco turns back around, Barry's eying the tiny little break room couch speculatively. He sounds more awake as he asks, "do you know how much running I've done today?" tone mock dramatic as he collapsed onto the furniture.
"Yeah, actually, I could probably even guesstimate your steps if I wanted, based off your time, distance, speed, average amount of times your feet hit the ground over the course of a quarter mile..." Cisco paused, then said, "but let's just go with 'a lot', okay?"
Barry grinned sleepily. "That's my point right there. It was a lot. I'm tired. My legs are tired. My feet hurt. I might never get up from this couch again, it's the most comfortable thing I've ever laid on." Which has to be a lie considering how short the thing is compared to Barry and how comical he looks with his legs hanging over one of the arm rests.
Cisco dropped the power bar on Barry's stomach. "I'm sure you'll be fine once you get some energy back."
"Gonna sleep for a thousand years," Barry countered, though he ripped open the power bar's wrapper and devoured it in a few bites. Next up was the coffee, Barry protesting the caffeine didn't really do anything for him even as he practically inhaled two cups of it.
"Ready to go?" Cisco asked.
"Ready to sleep," Barry countered, snuggling further into the couch.
So, really, there was only one answer for it. Cisco walked over, knelt down, scooped up Barry in his arms, made sure to lift with his legs, and stood back up.
Barry yelped and wrapped his arms around Cisco's shoulders, clinging to him and tilting his whole body to be closer to Cisco's chest. "I, uh... I didn't... know you could, uh, pick me up like this," Barry stammered, blushing brightly.
"Yeah, I mean, I moved you around a lot for Caitlin during your coma. Someone had to pick you up so that she could change the sheets or send you through the MRI to check brain activity or whatever." Cisco knew he didn't generally look strong, but he was not one for neglecting arm day and it was now clearly paying off if Barry's flustered reaction was any indication.
"Well, it's, ah... it's impressive. Really." Barry's cheeks were burning. "So, um... was the plan to, uh, to carry me all the way to the car or..."
"That's the plan indeed," Cisco replied, though he wasn't sure he'd actually make it all the way to the elevator. Definitely not as far as the car, though.
"I'm pretty sure I sent you to make sure he didn't drown, not start flirting with him," Caitlin said, startling them both.
Cisco nearly dropped Barry but managed to maintain his grasp. "Well," Cisco squeaked, "as you can see he didn't drown, so I was just gonna take him home and..."
"I'll bet you're going to take him home," Caitlin muttered, half scoffing. Then, amused, she asked, "whose home, though?"
And now Cisco's cheeks were burning about as much as Barry's.
"Have fun figuring that one out, gentlemen. I expect Barry back here at eight AM sharp no matter whose home he goes to," Caitlin announced, sauntering away.
Licking his very dry lips, Cisco said, "you know... my apartment is closer."
"And I probably shouldn't be left on my own, after all that smoke inhalation," Barry ventured.
"Okay, so I do need to put you down now." Cisco let Barry's legs down so that Barry could just stand up... but Barry kept his arms loosely around Cisco's shoulders.
"So if I were to kiss you now," Barry asked, voice soft and husky, "would that be okay?"
"Very okay," Cisco said and then slid a hand behind Barry's head in order to guide them into that very kiss.