This is a Christmas fic prompted by anonymous!
Rated: K+
~J.H.
"It's the most wonderful time of the year!" The radio sings.
"Man, I love this song," Barry says, turning it up and singing along loudly. He even does a little dance with his shoulders. From the passenger's seat, Caitlin reaches over and turns it off without a word. Barry pouts.
"I hate that song," she mutters, leaning back in her seat and crossing her arms.
Barry sighs in frustration, "Caitlin, you've said that about every song since we got in the car. I mean, how can you hate Christmas music? Christmas music is awesome!" He switches the radio back on and sings again, louder this time.
"I don't hate Christmas music." Caitlin says, switching it off again with scowl. Barry's half expecting her to mutter bahumbug. She is, after all, acting completely like a Scrooge.
"So you just hate Christmas."
When Caitlin doesn't answer, he knows he's right. "How can you hate Christmas, Caitlin!" he laughs, "I mean, Christmas is awesome! Like, it's all cozy and you get to spend time with your family and friends and there's presents."
"I just don't like it." Caitlin's voice is tight.
Stupidly, Barry keeps talking, "Aw, come on! There has to be some reason! I mean, nobody just hates Christmas for no reason! What-did you not get any presents as a kid or something? Or-"he stops, suddenly realizes that Caitlin is crying, the tears falling silently down her cheeks.
"Cait…" he immediately pulls the car over to the curb and reaches out to her. He knows it's moments like this that Caitlin just needs to be held. The hug should have been awkward, because the steering wheel is in the way, and they both still have their seatbelts on, but Caitlin finds it to be the most comforting thing in the world.
He doesn't prompt her to explain, because he knows she will when she wants to. Sure enough, after several moments of silence, she speaks up. "It was his favorite holiday," she says, her voice thick, "He would make such big plans, have a grand party...we'd always go over to his parents place for Christmas Eve and bake cookies." she sniffs, "It just seems like now...there's no point and…" she can't speak anymore, her tears are too much.
"Shhhh," Barry says, reaching up and stroking her hair. For almost a minute, they stay like that; Caitlin's head on his shoulder, crying silently, and his hand in her hair, comforting.
"Sorry," she pulls back, sniffing.
"Hey," Barry wipes a spare tear off her cheek, "Let's do something fun."
Half an hour later, she's laughing. Really, genuinely laughing. Barry feels accomplished-he's the one who made her laugh. "You look ridiculous!" Caitlin says, shaking her head.
Barry turns to observe his ugly christmas sweater. It's bright red and covered in white, glittery snowflakes "What do you mean?" he teases, "I thought I looked beautiful."
She laughs and picks another Christmas sweater off the rack-this one is mustard yellow, with Rudolph's face plastered in the center, a large red bell where his nose should be. Caitlin slips it on over her head, "How do I look?"
"I have never seen an uglier sweater in my life," Barry says, trying to keep his face serious.
Caitlin snorts, "Have you seen yourself?" She grabs another one-green with Santa's face sewn on. "This one's for Cisco," she announces.
"Oh, yes, that color will look great on him."
"And this one for Iris."
"Here's one for Doctor Wells!"
"Wait-we have need one for Joe…"
They carry the six Christmas sweaters up to the cash register, paying for them.
"Merry Christmas!" Caitlin calls out to the cashier as they're leaving the step onto the sidewalk into the bitter cold, and Caitlin shivers a little. Barry leads her to the car and holds open the door for her. "Back to S.T.A.R labs?" she asks.
Barry grins and helps her into the car, "Actually, I had something else in mind."
"Barry, where are we going? We're in the middle of nowhere!" Caitlin asks, confused as Barry pulls down a gravel road.
"You'll see," is all he says.
"I don't see anything except-oh!"
They pull up into a Christmas tree lot. Not one with artificial trees, but one with good, sturdy, real evergreens. Barry smiles at her excitement-it's so rare that Caitlin gets excited about anything, that he's so glad he could give her this special day.
She gets out of the car and hurries over to the first row of trees before he can even get out of the car. He rushes after her, "Hey-Caitlin wait!"
"Sorry!" she turns back, waiting for him. When he catches up, she points to a tree directly in front of them, "What do you think of this one?"
"Ah, the the lovely lady has a wonderful eye!" a voice behind them says. They turn to see a middle-aged man in a thick coat. He points to the tree, "This beauty will last you through New Years-and then some! Would the beautiful young couple like to see some more trees?"
"Oh, we're not a couple-" Caitlin begins
"-yeah, we're not together." Barry says, his face reddening.
The man glances at them and raises his eyebrows, in a clear "if you say so" expression. It's then that Caitlin notices that she and Barry are holding hands, their fingers laced together.
"Well, couple or not," the man says, his eyes suddenly twinkling mischievously, "You're standing under the mistletoe."
Shocked, Caitlin and Barry both look up to see that, sure enough, they're standing directly under a mistletoe, strung up from the Christmas lights hanging above them. They look back at each other, both uncomfortable, both unsure what to do.
"Uh-" Barry says, shifting his feet.
Caitlin swallows and bites her lip, embarrassed.
In the end, she's the one who initiates the kiss. She stands on her tiptoes, puts her arms around his neck, and kisses him right on the mouth. He kisses back, his arms moving around her waist. She tastes like peppermint, and he tastes like chocolate, which, in the end, is a perfect Christmas combination.