Summary: Frost is still trying to figure out what her favorite flavor of ice cream at Baskin-Robbins is. Given that there are actually more than 31 flavors available, it's taking a lot longer than she'd like. Especially since neither Caitlin nor Ralph will let her just arbitrarily declare the Oreos Cookies'n Cream the winner and move on to the next thing on her list. (And, to be fair, Frost might actually like the peanut butter flavors better.)
Notes: For Snowfrost Appreciation Week - Conversation you wish you'd seen on the show/favorite dynamic
From the moment they met, Ralph was the first person to interact with Frost without being afraid of her. He was also the first person to voice a preference for her over Caitlin - which fits into my 'Ralph is faceblind' headcanon, but that's another story... literally - and the two of them spent season 4 being outsiders to a tightly knit group that had pre-existing reasons to be wary of them. They made for some interesting parallels to each other and their friendship was quite adorable as a result.
With Ralph being written out of the show, that means no more Frost and Ralph friendship. I hope the writers don't ignore how much this loss will affect Frost. But I don't really have the energy to write about Frost losing her best friend right now, though once we finally get to see how Ralph is officially written out that'll probably change. For now, I just want a few more conversations between Ralph and Frost as they bond over ice cream.
31 (Or More) Flavors
Thirty-one flavors was a lot. But it was a finite number and easily completed over the course of a month. Or so Frost had thought, anyway.
"What do you mean," Frost asked dangerously, "that there are more than thirty-one flavors?"
Ralph rolled his eyes and handed Frost a paper menu he'd brought outside with him when she'd arrived. "I mean that they started with thirty-one flavors and now have upwards of, like... a thousand? I'm probably underestimating that number."
"So if I go in there I have to choose from a thousand different ice cream flavors?" Frost shook her head. "No. No, I am sticking to Oreos and you two can't make me try to figure it out between over a thousand different flavors. That... that is too much choice, Ralph. It's bad."
"There aren't over a thousand ice creams in there to choose from," Ralph told her. "Every store chooses the flavors they carry. Usually there are a few staples every store has, a few the store specifically keeps in stock because they're local favorites, and then a few that get rotated in and out seasonally."
"Less bad, keep talking," Frost commanded, still considering going straight for the Oreos.
"The store's flavor's are in the menu I just handed you. Your first mission is to cross out any flavors you don't want to try. And, no, you can't cross off everything but the Oreos." Ralph gave her a knowing look.
Caitlin snickered in the back of Frost's head. Frost stuck out her tongue at Ralph and made sure Caity knew that was for her too.
Okay, okay, she could do this. Frost settled on a bench and retrieved a pen from her purse. (She'd gone shopping with Iris and Kamilla a few weeks ago, finally purchasing a purse that felt like hers instead of using one of Caitlin's old bags that was serviceable and 'close enough' to her aesthetic to pass muster.) She tested the pen first on the corner of the menu, balancing the paper on her thighs and hoping that she didn't end up puncturing it. She didn't want black pen lines on her jeans.
The pen was still good to go, so Caitlin frowned at the list. Then she crossed off the two mango flavors - regular and low fat. She didn't like the taste of mango to begin with and doubted the ice cream versions would be any tastier. The Neapolitan was crossed off as well. Caitlin made a disappointed but resigned noise in the back of Frost's head. Frost could remember Caity having that flavor the year before and while it wasn't awful, Frost hadn't much cared for the strawberry flavor. She liked real strawberries, but the ice cream flavor was just... not right. That also meant Frost could discard the Very Berry Strawberry too.
A few others were eventually scratched off. Two for similar reasons to the mango ice creams and three others because the flavor Ralph described for her sounded awful. But it didn't take long for Frost to finish whittling down the list and, given there was also the question of waffle cones versus cake cones versus sugar cones to consider (not to forget things like sundaes and cookie sandwiches), Frost wasn't sure she'd actually done much to narrow her options at all.
"We'll be coming back here a lot, I promise," Ralph told her. "For now, pick three. Ask for a sample of each one and then order a scoop of the one you like the best."
"Yeah, okay, that's... not hard." Frost scowled at the list. Just three. "Okay. Let's do this."
Sample one was Rocky Road. And it wasn't bad... exactly. But Frost shook her head with a definite no.
"That one's best eaten out of a carton while you're dressed in pajamas after a bad breakup. While watching romance movies with the same intensity usually reserved for horror movies. Except instead of shouting at the characters for making terrible decisions that get them killed, you're shouting about how 'he's not right for you' and 'she can do so much better' and..." Ralph blushed and turned to the counter, pointedly ignoring Frost's amused smirk. "Anyway. I'd like to order a scoop of Gold Medal Ribbon," he told the bemused high schooler behind the counter. "In a waffle cone dipped in chocolate with sprinkles."
"Coming right up."
"Can I try a sample of that Gold Medal Ribbon one too?" Frost asked. It wasn't one she'd thought to try this time, but might as well give it a whirl. The spoonful was absolutely amazing. Vanilla, chocolate, a little whirl of caramel... it might just be a winner after all.
Her last sample was Green Tea. Good, but not 'wow'. So she ordered a scoop of the Gold Medal Ribbon for herself too - just a scoop, no cones or sauces or sprinkles - and took a seat with Ralph to enjoy their frozen treats. "So, Rocky Road is for breakups?" Frost asked, hiding a grin behind a bite of ice cream.
Ralph nodded. "And really bad days. I had, like, way too many cartons of it after I was fired from the police force." Ralph grimaced. "I actually can't stand the taste of it anymore because of that. I just associate the whole flavor with ruining my career and it's... I hate to call it triggering because if it was traumatic for me then it was self-inflicted trauma due to bad decision making skills... but..." he shook his head. "Just the taste of marshmallows with chocolate ice cream is enough to just ruin my day now."
"That's too bad. It wasn't awful, it was just... too much, I guess." Frost shrugged. "So is the Gold Medal Ribbon your favorite?"
"Well, it's a favorite. I don't know if I can really pin it down to just one," Ralph admitted. "I tend to like ice cream with caramel in it. So Gold Medal Ribbon, Pralines and Cream, Caramel Turtle Truffle, the Snickers mix... those are all high on my list of go to flavors."
"Can't blame you," Frost told him. "The caramel is really tasty."
Another week, another Baskin-Robbins visit. This time she'd stuck to the sherbets and taste tested three, two of which she regretted deeply. The orange one she'd ended up with wasn't bad, though she couldn't begin to understand how Ralph could possibly be enjoying the Wild'n Reckless Sherbet he'd chosen. (Frost had very much not liked one of the three flavors in the mix scrunched up her face so badly that Ralph and the college student behind the counter had both laughed at her reaction mercilessly.)
"It's probably the fruit punch part that you don't like," Ralph told her. "You can try a little bit of mine to be sure."
"No." Caitlin prodded at Frost who added, a touch sullenly, "no thanks."
Ralph snickered again and Frost suspected his offer hadn't actually been in good faith.
Frost isn't sure how she feels about the pistachio ice cream. It seems like that should be weird, but it's not. And she has to fend Ralph's spoon off when he finishes his Praline's and Cream before she's done.
When she is done, however, they get into an epic spoon fight, cheered on by a small group of seven-year-olds having a birthday party. Ralph loses and gives an impressive death scene, collapsing out of his chair to the ground and earning applause from both the children and the employees while the parents chaperoning looked on in amusement.
Frost and Caitlin laugh together over that one, giving Ralph a hand up from the floor as they do. Then Frost takes a mock bow with Ralph before they're both called away by Cisco and yet another STAR Labs emergency.
Chocolate Chip is good, Mint Chocolate Chip is better, and Reese's Peanut Butter Cup is divine.
"Oh my god, I've found religion and it's peanut butter in ice cream," Frost informs Ralph while Caitlin snickers in the background of Frost's head.
"Just wait until you try the Peanut Butter'n Chocolate flavor," Caitlin teases.
"Pretty much anything with some kind of Reese's candy in it is amazing. Though I have to admit, I prefer the Reese's Pieces to the peanut butter cups," Ralph told her. "Sacrilege, I know, but the peanut butter pieces are just so..." he pantomimed a chef's kiss.
"Ask him about the Reese's Outrageous bars," Caitlin urged, so Frost did.
"I'm sorry, the what now?" Ralph asked, frowning. "How do you know about a Reese's candy that I don't?"
"It's not me, it's Caity. And she says it has caramel in it." Frost snickered while Ralph practically dove for his phone, looking up the candy bar.
"I'm sorry, I need to go to the grocery store when we're done here," Ralph muttered, staring transfixed at his screen. "Where have you been all my life?" he muttered under his breath, clearly trying not to paw at the screen.
Frost pointed her spoon at Ralph's ice cream. "You gonna finish that?"
Ralph dropped his phone back on the table and dragged his ice cream closer to himself (and further from Frost). "Mine."
"Good seagull."
Caitlin is right about the Peanut Butter'n Chocolate ice cream. Frost is pretty sure she just glimpsed heaven. And that's just from the sample spoon.
"She wants a sample of Oreo Cookies'n Cream next," Ralph tells the newbie behind the counter.
Frost gives Ralph a narrow eyed stare. "You can't do this to me."
"Um..." the employee looks nervous. "Do you not want the sample?"
"I'll take it," Frost sighed, knowing exactly what Ralph had set her up for. She tasted the ice cream. Savored it. Any other day it would've been a clear winner of her trio of ice cream samples.
But it paled before the Peanut Butter'n Chocolate.
"You're a monster," she told Ralph. "Making me betray Oreos like this. I'll take a scoop of the peanut butter one," Frost added to the employee while Caitlin's amusement bubbled over.
Just to rub it in, Ralph ordered a scoop of the Oreo ice cream. The jerk. Though he was a good sport about Frost stealing a bite or two in retribution.