Spoilers: I'm saying through season 9 just in case.
Summary: A series of firsts between Chloe and Bart. This is their first kiss.
Author Note: Set around beginning of Season 9. All comments and reviews are appreciated - they are like crack to me! Do not deprive an addict!
Chloe absentmindedly tapped her pen against her desk. Sure, she had things to do, but she found herself becoming more and more distracted. It had been two weeks since her first date with Bart, and even though she had grudgingly accepted to go out that night with him, she found herself disappointed that not once did he try for a kiss. Who would have thought that he would turn out to be such a gentleman? Damn him.
When he had said goodnight and left her apartment two weeks ago, she was confident that there would be plenty more opportunities for that first kiss. She had been right. Opportunities arose, but it never happened, and it wasn't for lack of trying on either side.
The first near miss had been on the following Monday. They had seen each other over the weekend and Bart kept things innocent. When he arrived with her usual morning tulip she had felt the atmosphere change.
The whoosh of his wake signalled his appearance, causing the few papers she had on her desk to fly off without warning. "Good morning beautiful."
She saw his hand and the tulip he held in front of her before she could even more to retrieve her paperwork. She took the flower from his hand, trying to ignore the shot of electricity accidentally brushing his fingers caused.
"Good morning to you, too." Smiling, she turned her chair around to face him. "I thought I warned you about the flowers. Carry on, and I'm going to be expecting them every day." She teased.
"But I like bringing you flowers." He crouched down in front of her, bringing him almost to her eye level. Chloe tried to ignore his proximity, but his hands on the arm of the chair were distracting. She could feel their heat; she could sense that they were merely centimetres from her arms - so close to touching.
"Maybe we could work something out. How about, if I bring you flowers, you pay me for them."
"And why should I pay you? If I wanted a florist that delivered, there's Maisie's flower shop three blocks from here."
"Ah, but she only takes cash as payment."
"What form of payment would you ask for, Mr Allen? An enchilada or two?" She said smirking.
Bart got up from his crouched position but kept his arms firmly on her chair, trapping her in place. He lent forward until their noses were almost touching. "I was thinking of something a little more inexpensive, but a lot harder to come by."
"Oh. Well, I wouldn't want to be in debt."
"That's sensible." His mouth was so close to her own, and she could feel his warm breath dancing across her lips.
"CHLOE!" The yell made them both jump in shock, Bart recovering the quickest, putting himself between her and the intrusion to Watchtower.
Chloe sighed as she saw it was Clark who had burst through the doors, dressed head-to-toe in his black Blur outfit. She got up from her chair and walked around Bart. Yet again her alien best friend had got in the way of her love life.
"Bart? What are you doing here?"
"Hey, Stretch. Just came by to brighten up the day of one fair 'licious." Bart said, smiling in Chloe's direction.
"What can I do for you, Clark?" She said dejectedly.
Clark thrust a file into her hands "I need you to create new identities for a small group of Kandorians. I will collect them at the end of the week."
"Oh. Okay. Sure, I can do that for you."
"Wow. I normally have to say please." Bart faked the surprise in his voice, earning him a poke in the ribs from Chloe.
Clark looked at him before turning his attention back to Chloe. "Thank you."
Clark's interruption had killed the mood completely and Chloe was left still anticipating that first kiss.
Their second near miss happened five days after Clark's spectacular interruption. The league had been called in by Oliver to plan a small mission, and things had spiralled from there.
Chloe had trouble concentrating on the maps in front of her as Oliver talked. Bart was sat across the table from her, and he had not stopped staring at her since she had sat down. At first she thought there must have been something in her teeth, or something on her blouse, but as it turned out everything was fine. He just kept staring.
For three hours she sat squirming under his gaze, his attention was only pulled from her when Oliver's attention fell to him. The meeting didn't end soon enough in her opinion and was glad when the team made their excuses and left. She could feel the heat in her cheeks and held a cold glass of water against her skin.
There had been an intensity to Bart's look that had made her both uncomfortable and excited at the same time. Chloe just came to the conclusion that she was just not used to so much attention and was just overreacting.
"Hey, Beautiful."
Chloe spun around, surprised to see Bart standing so close to her. She was sure he had left with the boys to grab some lunch.
"Bart! I thought you'd left already."
"I did, but I realised I forgot something." His voice was soft and deeper than normal. Chloe swallowed loudly, suddenly feeling very nervous.
"Oh?" She mentally kicked herself for the less than witty response. Her feet were frozen in place and she felt completely paralysed from the neck down. All she could do was stare at him as he placed his hands on her hips, and pulled her towards him.
"It's kind of important actually." He smirked as his face drew closer to hers.
Chloe licked her lips with nervous anticipation. This was it. He was going to kiss her.
"Hey, Sidekick!"
Oliver's appearance at the door made Chloe jump in the air with surprise, only Bart's hands on her hips holding her steady.
Oliver looked at the two team mates' proximity to each other and immediately realised he had interrupted something. Instead of teasing him, maybe he should have believed Bart when he said he'd convinced Chloe to go out on a date with him. For a second he stood there in silence, open mouthed and wide eyes, until his brain caught up.
"I think I'm just going to just…yeah." Oliver pointed to the door. "We need Bart for…I'm just gonna...Bye." He turned on his heel and quickly walked from the room.
Chloe and Bart burst into laughter. "I think that's the fastest I've ever seen him move."
"From you, that's quite a compliment." She looked from the open doorway back to Bart. "Guess the cat's out of the bag now, huh?" She asked.
"I think I'm going to have to find out what he wanted." Bart's shoulders dropped in defeat.
"How about I make it up to you?" Chloe suggested. "This Tuesday, Lois is out of town. How about you, me and some microwave popcorn?"
"You're asking me on a date?" Bart's eyes twinkled with mirth.
Chloe gave him a playful little push. "Technically, it's me cashing in on a rain check. You cancelled our second date to head out on this mission, remember?"
"Bart! Please don't make me come back in there!" Oliver's voice carried from beyond the outer doors.
"Go!" She told him, shooing him away with her hands.
"Until later, 'licious." Bart kissed her cheek briefly before speeding from the room.
Chloe touched her cheek briefly with her fingertips before returning to work. A smile seemed to be a permanent fixture these days.
Chloe knew that by that point she should have realised the universe was against her. She drained the last of the cold coffee from her mug and span around in her chair. She had had such high hopes for that movie night.
Bart had arrived that evening carrying four large grocery bags which he ridiculously referred to as movie snacks. Chloe had never seen so many bags of chips or Milk Duds in her life. What he called a snack, she called heart disease.
They comfortably settled on to the couch to watch the movies pulled from Lois' collection. If Chloe had known that all Lois possessed were Jaws movies and a selection of cheesy horror flicks she would have rented something out. Instead, they were huddled next to each other with cardboard 3D glasses on their faces. Once Bart saw that Lois owned a horror movie in 3D he had practically bounced around the apartment until she conceded.
Chloe snuggled closer to Bart and rested her head on his shoulders. It was comfortable, and she felt completely at ease being this intimate with him.
"It's not the sheriff." She told him.
"It totally is." Bart argued.
"And I'm telling you, it's the ex!"
"He was almost killed with a pick axe, he's not about to join the fan club. Plus the dude was locked in a cage while that miner was hacked to pieces. Sorry, but you are totally wrong here 'licious."
Chloe looked up to see Bart completely engrossed in the film. "Trust me. I know these things."
"Then tell me your theory, genius."
Chloe sat up a little straighter and began to count off her fingers. "Number one - the guy is hot."
"I am sitting right here, you know!"
Chloe rolled her eyes and continued. "Two - you're supposed to think that him being near the crime scenes are a coincidence. Same with the time spent in the mental hospital. They expect you to write off the obvious facts."
"I take it there's at least a third reason?" Bart asked, finally giving her his full attention.
Chloe couldn't help thinking that he really did look ridiculous in those glasses as she counted off a third finger. "Yeah, there's a third. And it's that the ex looks eerily similar to my high school assistant coach from senior year. That guy was buckets of crazy."
"I wish I'd been around more. We could have run off somewhere far away, left all the crazy behind." He said as he watched the girl in the film run into the mine.
"That was the year I met you, you know?" Chloe reached across and pulled a handful of popcorn from the bowl on Bart's lap before setting the bowl on the table.
"Good times." He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close again.
"Crazy times. Maybe if you had been around, things would have turned out differently for me." She snuggled in closer.
They both watched the movie as it reached its climax, and the serial killer was revealed.
"I can't believe it was the ex!" Bart protested.
Chloe threw her 3D glasses in the air in triumph. "I told you! Never doubt my skills."
He held his arms up in surrender. "Your skills are awesome. I should never have doubted the almighty Sullivan mind."
Chloe pulled Bart's glasses from his face. "Either way, I still won our bet."
"I didn't bet on anything!"
"Well, you didn't agree with me and voiced a different opinion. I am calling that a bet, and I intend on claiming my prize."
His eyes widened as it suddenly dawned on Bart what she was implying. A small smile crept onto his face as he answered. "I guess I'll just have to accept defeat; I'm sure I can take it like a man."
Chloe smirked. "Good answer."
She leant closer, feeling the warm press of his body against hers. Bart cupped a hand around the back of her neck, pulling her closer.
She smiled with the knowledge that she was finally going to know how his lips felt on hers.
"SMALLVILLE IS A DEAD MAN!" Lois thundered into the apartment, the anger coming off of her in waves.
Chloe practically leapt from Bart's lap, her heart hammering with the shock of the door slamming open. She hadn't expected her cousin to return until tomorrow lunch time at the earliest.
"Lois! I thought you were supposed to be in Washington!"
"I still would be if Clark hadn't walked out - halfway through the interview with Congressman Holmes, too! We will never get an opportunity like this before the election again!"
Chloe settled back on the couch next to Bart. Lois was getting ready to vent, and they were going to be in the front seats for the show.
Lois grabbed the half eaten tub of ice cream from the table and sat next to Bart. She spooned in a mouthful of the melting goo before continuing her tirade.
"You know, I think I could happily kill Clark too, right now."
"I like you, short stack. You speak sense."
Chloe groaned as Bart's meaning flew over Lois' head. It was going to be a long night, and not in a good way.
Everything had been going so well too. She should have known that that was a sign not to hope for the happy ending. She loved her cousin dearly, but the woman had ridiculous timing.
Chloe stopped spinning her chair and headed towards the coffee machine. Maybe if she drank enough coffee, she would be too buzzed to think on how she had a boyfriend she couldn't kiss.
She was about to turn on the machine for the city's largest cappuccino, when company arrived on a gust of wind.
"I've been thinking."
"Hello to you too, Bart!" She smirked at his random greeting.
"We've been going about everything wrong. Planning only works for missions."
"Planning? Are you talking about the effort it takes to have a bit of quality time together?"
"Yeah. And I have totally got the answer to our problems."
She arched her eyebrow. It was very out of character for Bart to be a plan maker. "Really?"
"Really."
He moved so quickly, she didn't realise he had moved until she was in his arms. "Sometimes you just gotta live for the moment, 'licious."
As if living out a scene from a cheesy rom-com, he dipped her, before lowering his mouth to hers.
His warm lips moved with her own, and he took his time. It was so unlike him that she moaned at the thought. The fastest man alive was slowing down just for her.
She slid her hands into his hair, gripping it lightly. As she opened her mouth, he took the invitation to use his tongue.
Attempt number four, and it had required no cheesy set up, no romantic dates. Just an ordinary day and two people with just the right amount of chemistry.
With a soft peck, he withdrew his lips from hers and pulled her back onto balanced feet.
He was grinning broadly. She loved how his eyes danced when he smiled.
"So, did I leave an impression?"
Oh yeah. Bart Allen was definitely worth the wait.