In between sips of Grandma Esther's eggnog, and in the middle of Joe retelling an old Christmas story of his from when he was a kid, Barry noticed a certain silver-haired rebel was not among the rest of the team. Wth a roll of his eyes, he assumed that she had slipped out, deeming the gathering too lame for her tastes and went off to a bar (It wouldn't have been the first time).
He took that moment to sigh. He liked Frost; she was a great partner on the field and she was fun, but he'd by lying if he didn't admit to missing a certain brunette, especially tonight.
When Frost showed up in her usual punk-rock garb, he was slightly disappointed that he wouldn't be able to see whatever pretty dress Caitlin had picked for the occasion or how she styled her hair. Honestly, the whole evening felt like it lacked the warmth he usually associated with it because he didn't hear her chatting around with Cecile or laughing at something Cisco said.
With another sigh, he went off to the kitchen to throw a napkin away when a piece of white caught his eye outside the window over the sink. Frost.
"I thought you left," Barry said as he stepped outside, shutting the door behind him.
Frost, who had been leaning her forearms against the deck's railing, merely looked back at him with a shrug. "Was thinking about it, but most of the good places are closing early for the holiday."
The speedster nodded as he walked closer, eyeing her. Despite having the same face as Caitlin, Frost learned to shield her emotions a lot better than her counterpart, but Barry could still tell something was bothering her.
"So why don't you take advantage of the free booze inside then?" he asked as he leaned his own forearms down on the railing next to her.
"Don't feel like it."
"Why not? You can't be any more embarrassing than Ralph was a couple years ago."
"Because being inside means hearing all of you blabber on about boring Christmas memories I'll never get to have," she quipped, eyes lighting up to their fierce white.
Barry raised a brow. "Frost…"
She quickly stood up. "I'm out. See ya when I see ya," she said before hurrying down the deck's stairs and out the backyard's fence gate.
The speedster knew he could catch up with her if he wanted, but he also knew he would get nowhere with her right now. Frost needed to - for lack of a better word - cool off.
...
Early the next morning, Barry found himself in front of Caitlin and Frost's apartment. With a timid knock, he waited for someone to answer the door. Though with a quick glance at his wristwatch, he realized that maybe he should've tried coming over a little later; they might still be sleeping.
"Barry?"
He looked up at the voice, a smile overcoming his face as he saw Caitlin poking her head out between the door. "Cait...hey."
Her eyebrows furrowed as she regarded him. "Is something wrong?"
He blew out a breath, shrugging. "Maybe? I don't know. Frost seemed upset last night, so I was hoping to talk to her."
Caitlin opened the door up further, revealing herself in a thin silky blue robe that stopped mid-thigh, causing Barry's heart to skip a beat. "Frost usually doesn't get up for another couple hours, but maybe we can speed up the process over a cup of coffee?"
He rapidly nodded his head. "Yeah, yeah, sure, whatever you think will work."
.
"She started getting fussy earlier this week," Caitlin started as they both sat down with their coffees.
"Last night she said something about not wanting to listen to Christmas memories she'll never get to have."
His personal physician sighed. "I had a feeling it was something like that. It's why I let her go to the party last night, hoping that she'd be able to start some type of memories of her own...but I guess that didn't go well," she wryly commented before taking a tip of her coffee.
"So she hasn't mentioned anything to you?"
She sadly shook her head. "No, not a word. I'm just going off the vibe I feel from her."
Barry let out a groan.
"I can only think that she feels like she missed out on a lot of Christmas fun, like having snowball fights, decorating the tree, ice-skating...that sort of thing because she was never a proper kid like you and I."
Barry sat there, taking sips of his own coffee as he thought. The last time Frost was troubled about something like this, he threw her a birthday party. So...what if he did something similar this time too?
"Do you think Frost is going to wake up anytime soon? I have an idea."
"I could try forcing her up," Caitlin offered with a shrug.
"Could you? Please?" he asked, flashing her his puppy-dog eyes.
The doctor's lips were fighting off a grin. "Just beware, she might be really grouchy," she warned, before closing her eyes, willing her counterpart to the surface.
Sure enough, her brunette hair eventually transformed into silver, her eyes flashing white as they opened back up.
"Flash?" she let out miserably. "I knew you were a boy scout, but I didn't think you literally woke up with the rooster," she murmured, holding back a yawn before noticing the short, flimsy material she was dressed in. "Or were you and Caity finally having some fun?" she asked with a jump in her eyebrows.
He could feel his ears get warm, but he tried to ignore it. "Get dressed," he instead ordered his friend.
"Assertive - It's a nice look on you," she praised with a wink as she got up. "So how can I resist," she continued, her hand seductively sweeping over his shoulders as she walked by on her way to the bedroom.
When the bedroom door finally shut, Barry let himself shutter from the lingering touch. He had a feeling this might be a long day, but he was determined to make it worth it.
.
"Where are you taking me?"
Driving, Barry quickly looked over to his passenger. He was smart enough not to laugh - he was lucky that she hadn't fought him (much) when he pushed her out the apartment door and into the car - but he couldn't help but smirk. Frost looked like the poster girl for a petulant child, all slouched in her seat and frowning with her arms crossed.
"You'll see," the speedster cryptically said.
Frost groaned. "I don't like surprises…" she miserably mumbled.
"I think you'll like it," he only said as he turned into the parking lot of their destination.
The cold meta was quick to crane her head around, looking for signs or clues to their destination before her head shot back, confused. "The Snow Zone?" she let out dubiously as Barry parked his car.
He nodded his head. "Yup, come on!" he told her, quickly exiting the car to not give her a chance to debate him on it.
He was about halfway to the entrance before he heard his car door open and then close with a grumble he knew all too well. Smiling to himself, he just kept walking until he reached the ticket booth. "Two tickets please"
.
"For someone who has never skated before, you're doing pretty well," Barry commented as they glided around the rink.
"I regularly slide down my own ice-slides," she boredly boasted, before slipping a little bit backwards, prompting Barry to push her forward to balance her out again.
"Not on skates, though," he interjected knowingly, and she glared at him, only causing him to laugh.
"It's not...terrible though," Frost unwillingly admitted.
Barry's smile turned genuine. "I'm glad you don't hate it."
"Eh whatever. So why ice-skating?"
He shrugged. "I've been meaning to go ice-skating this season, but just haven't had the time, so I thought why not today?"
"Wouldn't you rather go with Caity?" she teasingly asked, though her tone was slightly bitter.
"I've skated with Caitlin before," he explained to her. "Plus, I'd like to spend some time with you too, Frost."
She snorted, obviously not believing him, but she didn't press further. "So, how long are we supposed to do this for? Or are we just supposed to keep skating in circles until our legs give out?"
Barry shook his head, laughing to himself. "You want to do something else?"
"You thinking of something in particular?"
He smirked. "Well…"
.
"Sledding?" she deadpanned, eyeing the plastic discs on the snow in front of her unsurely.
"The Snow Zone ticket comes with skating and sledding," Barry told her as he settled himself into a sled. "Come on, Frost," he said, patting the empty one next to him.
She crossed her arms. "This looks childish."
"Or you're just afraid I'll beat you down the hill."
"What?! No!"
"Then prove it," Barry said with a jump of his brows as he propelled himself forward, starting to slide down the hill.
"Hey!" he could hear Frost yell after him. He looked back to see her coming down on her own sled, a look of determination coming over her face as she trailed after him.
He winningly grinned, happy to have been able to goad her into sledding. However, as he reached the bottom, he barely got out of his sled before he was quickly and ceremoniously struck by Frost's sled. "Ow…" he groaned, rubbing at where it had hit him in the shin.
"Ha!" Frost let out as she got up from her seat. "That's what you get for cheating! Now, come on! We're doing a best of 3," she told him, already making her way back up the hill.
Despite the pain he was momentarily in, Barry smiled in satisfaction. She was getting in the spirit of things.
"Hey, Hero!" she hollered from on top of the hill. "You forfeiting?"
"You wish!" he yelled back, scrambling to get up and grab his sled to runup the hill after her.
The two ended up sliding down the hill more than originally intended, mainly because they were both cheating to win, resulting in more sled runs needed to call a true winner. But soon the will to beat each other downhill escalated to tossing snowballs at each other and seeing how often they could hit the other. (For Frost's sake, Barry didn't use his powers to dodge). Eventually, however, the two ceased fire and called a drawl as they laid sprawled out and breathless in the snow.
"My lungs are burning!"
Barry chuckled, panting. "That's how you know it was fun and memorable."
Frost shook her head. "I know what you're doing, Barry. And I know you probably won't admit it, but…" - she stopped only to dramatically sigh - "thanks…"
His grin widened. "The day is still young though, Ms. Frost," he said, getting up and extending a hand to her. "And there are still a couple more things I want to do."
With a roll of her eyes, Frost took his hand and let him pull her up, only for her to smash a handful of snow right into his face as she got to her feet. "Fine, but only if you never call me 'Ms. Frost' ever again."
Sputtering out the snow, the speedster gave her a thumbs-up. "Got it."
.
"We can't decorate it if you don't help me take it up to my apartment."
Frost shook her head. "Sorry, just reliving how I wrestled that lumberjack asshole to get this."
"He was just trying to cut it down for us!"
"Then why did he fight back?"
"Maybe for his life?" Barry suggested.
She shrugged. "At least we got it for free and I got to cut it down myself."
"Technically, you stole this, which is another reason why we need to take it up to my apartment, like now."
The cold meta waved her hand, bristling the statement by. "You need to live a little more dangerously, Flash," she told him as she finally picked up her side of the tree.
Barry snorted. "You tell Caitlin that and I don't think she'll ever let you back out."
The speedster managed to catch her rolling her eyes before the tree obscured his view. "Caity worries too much," she said as they started walking towards the building.
With some more squabbling and maneuvers akin to the Friends' pivot scene, they were able to carry the tree up a few flights of stairs and to Barry's apartment.
"I wish we could have taken the elevator," Frost bemoaned as she threw herself onto the nearby couch once they stood the tree into the tree holder.
"Well someone just had to pick the enormous one."
"Pick whichever one you want, Frost," she mimicked what he had told her with an obnoxiously deep voice that he presumed was supposed to sound like him.
He shook his head, refusing to answer back to that since he did say that, but he also didn't think she'd pick out what she did. Instead, he went to turn on some Christmas music and dragged out his decorations from the storage closet down the hall.
"Before we begin," Barry began, "I have an ornament that I want you to start with first," he told her as he handed her a small little box, practically bouncing on his heels with excitement as he waited for her to open it.
Slowly, she opened the lid, her face impassive as she studied the ornament. "Frost's 1st Christmas," she read aloud, her fingers running over the engraving and along the sides that resembled a snowflake. "Jeez, Flash...no wonder she's in love with you," she breathed out.
"Hmm?" he hummed, a quizzical look on his face as he regarded her.
"Nothing," she said with a shake of her head.
"Do you like it? Is it alright? It was obviously done last minute, so let me know if there's a mistake."
"This...this is really nice. Cheesy. But nice. Thanks."
His smile grew. "You're welcome! Now come on, let's decorate this monster."
So the duo spent the next half hour or so stringing the lights around the tree and hanging the ornaments among the branches. There were a few arguments and disagreements regarding the placement of things, but for the most part they worked with a reasonable rhythm to complete the task, just like they did on the field against criminals.
"Not too bad," Frost murmured as they took a step back to marvel at how the tree turned out. She then turned to Barry. "So, you have anything else on that list of yours?"
"You sick of decorating yet?"
Frost's eyes thinned.
.
"My gingerbread house is so much better than yours!"
"With the way the red dye ran down the sides, yours looks like a murder house!"
"That was the point!"
"Well mine is more festive," Barry argued.
"Pffft! Yours is lame and shows no sign of originality."
The speedster rolled his eyes. "Fine, whatever. You won."
Frost's face immediately lightened up. "Boo ya" she celebrated, and Barry couldn't stay sour for long once he saw the happiness it gave her. "Oooh, hey, you think you're so slick, Flash."
Barry immediately titled his head, confused. "What are you talking about…?"
"Getting me under the mistletoe and all," she singingly pointed out, looking upwards.
He followed her gaze, his mouth immediately gapping. "I - I didn't put that up there. Cisco must have put it up for some prank or something. We - we don't have to do that."
"You're going to deprive me of a classic Christmas tradition?" she asked, though her lips were teetering, as if she were trying to fight back a smirk.
"I...I can't tell if you're serious or not…"
"Oh, I'm dead serious, Flash," she said with a devious glint to her eyes, grabbing the front of his shirt and pulling him closer to her.
He gulped. "O-okay."
The smirk finally slid all the way into place as she closed the distance between them. At first, her lips were stone cold, but under the friction of the kiss, they got warmer and more inviting. He found himself deepening the kiss as a growing spark ignited through his body as if he'd been struck by lightning once again.
They finally tore themselves apart, but instead of the icy white eyes that he last saw, he was met with overly warm chocolate brown ones. "Cait?"
She pulled back a little more, her front teeth digging into her bottom lip. "I'm so sorry, but Frost forced me out..She - she thought we'd both enjoy this more apparently…"
The shock of seeing her in front of him slowly wore off, and a blossoming grin began to take its place, along with a bold feeling of confidence. "I did enjoy it," he admitted. "I've...I've been wanting to do that for awhile now actually."
"Oh," she let out in surprise, her eyebrows kissing her hair. "Well, um, yeah, me - me too," she shyly confessed, her own grin sprouting.
Barry shook his head with a laugh. "I'll have to thank Frost next time I see her."
Caitlin looked to the side. "Frost says you're even now after today."
He could only grin.
"So…" Caitlin started, taking in the apartment and its holiday charm, "did you have anything else planned after gingerbread houses?"
"I was going to play some Christmas movies for Frost to watch."
"Well, could I watch them with you instead?"
His eyes softened and his heart felt like it enlarged as he wrapped an arm across her shoulders, guiding her to the couch. "Of course."
A/N: If you're reading this, REVIEW! I honestly don't know if you like it or not if you don't, and I don't want to keep writing things people aren't enjoying so... Story inspired by CallMeMiles - thanks for the suggestion.
