December
A/N: Based off The Tribute Initiate's prompt: Caitlin and Julian wanted a nice, peaceful Christmas. And it looked like they'd get one too…until they accidentally got caught up in Cisco and Ralph's prank war.
I'm not sure this followed the prompt that well, but I did my best and hope you enjoy.
Ralph walked into the cortex quietly humming a Christmas tune and holding a mug patterned with blue snowflakes. He sat down beside Cisco and took a sip from his mug and sighed happily.
Cisco and Barry exchanged a surprised look.
"What's got you in such a good mood?" Barry asked.
"Fine," Ralph snipped. "If you don't like it, I can change it."
Barry and Cisco looked at each other in panic.
"No, no I – " Barry began.
Ralph laughed. "You should have seen your faces!"
Barry shook his head, and Cisco sighed.
Ralph took another sip from his mug. "I just really like Christmas time. My family would have the craziest decorations. No one could ever outdo my family in Christmas decorations. No sir-ee."
"Is that so?" Cisco asked skeptically.
"It is so." Ralph paused and eyed Cisco. "You don't believe me?"
"No, no" Cisco said nonchalantly and turning to Ralph. "It's just my family's decorations were probably way better than yours."
"Oh, really?" Ralph said, raising an eyebrow.
"Yes, really." Cisco studied him for a second. "You know what, I propose a challenge."
"A challenge?"
"Yes," Cisco said. "A decorating challenge. I'll decorate the left side of the cortex and you decorate the right. Whoever does a better job wins."
"Hmmm," Ralph said thoughtfully and sipped his mug once more. "How do we know who wins?"
"Wins what?" Iris asked as she and Caitlin entered the room.
"Our decorating challenge," Cisco explained.
Iris and Caitlin exchanged a look.
"You don't want to know," Barry said. "I'll judge," he told the other two.
Ralph smiled and stuck out his hand to Cisco. "Then let the games begin."
Cisco shook his hand. "Let the games begin."
O
Julian sighed wearily as he sat behind the computers in STAR Labs. Caitlin looked up from her experimenting inside the medical area. The cortex was decorated as if Christmas and Santa had a crazy drunken party and everyone left before cleaning up the disastrous mess of tinsel, plastic reindeer, candy canes, lights, and ornaments.
"You okay, Julian?"
"I'm fine, it's just this decoration war is getting out of hand."
Caitlin giggled and walked towards him. She looked up at the decorations around her. "Oh, c'mon, Julian where's your Christmas spirit?"
He looked up at her in exasperation but his expression softened as he saw her teasing smile. "It will probably be dead after this level of abuse."
Caitlin laughed and sat down next to him.
He gave her a smile and continued to read the article he had pulled up on the computer before sighing and ripping off the paper snowflake covering half of the monitor. The paper snowflake was connected to another one which was strung to a line of tinsel on the wall. Julian and Caitlin both stared as the entire right side of the cortex became unraveled.
The tinsel clashed to the floor bringing down a collection of ornaments with it. The ornaments landed on a plastic reindeer which fell into an inflatable snow globe. The snow globe popped, spewing artificial snow everywhere. Silence filled the room and Julian and Caitlin exchanged a panicked look.
Ralph walked into the cortex and stopped as he saw his decorations clustered around in a tragic mess. Caitlin and Julian looked at him, but he continued to stare at the mess in utter surprise.
Cisco walked in a second later and stopped as he saw the jumble of decorations.
"Sabotage, Cisco," Ralph said angrily spinning to face Cisco. "Really? I knew I was winning but there was no reason for this…this…mayhem!"
Cisco scoffed. "Okay, first off, I was winning, and I didn't do this!"
"Oh, really?" Ralph questioned. "Then who did?"
"You did," Cisco said.
"I did?! Why would I destroy my own decorations?"
"Oh, I don't know, maybe to pin this mess on me!"
Caitlin turned to Julian and raised an eyebrow, a smile tugging at her lips. Julian gave her a sharp look and shook his head. Caitlin bit back a laugh and stood to face Ralph and Cisco.
"Well, blame aside, this mess needs to be cleaned up before someone trips over something."
Ralph glared at Cisco. "You did it, so you clean it up."
"I didn't do it, and I'll prove it by cleaning it up," Cisco said smartly.
Ralph opened his mouth but paused. He furrowed his brow. "No, I'll clean it up to show that I didn't do it!"
A loud snort escaped Julian, and he clapped a hand over his mouth.
Everyone turned to look at him.
He coughed. "Sorry, dry throat."
Cisco turned back to face Ralph, to see his hand stretched around the corner.
"Looks like I have the broom," Ralph said smugly, reeling his hand back in.
Cisco instantly opened a breach, reached inside, and snatched the broom from Ralph's hand.
"Hey!" Ralph protested.
"Oh, I'm sorry, looking for this?" Cisco taunted, holding up the broom.
Ralph reached for the broom with his other hand, but Cisco easily moved out of the way. Ralph lunged, but Cisco ducked under him and disappeared through another breach.
"That's not fair!" Ralph yelled, running out the door.
Ralph's footsteps echoed down the hallway. Caitlin looked across the room to Julian, and Julian looked up at Caitlin. They both burst into laughter.
O
"Is it just me," Joe began as the team gathered in the cortex. "Or have Cisco's decorations changed?"
The team all turned to survey the left side of the room.
"Yeah," Barry said. "Weren't the stockings closer to the Flash suit?"
Caitlin gave Julian a worried glance.
"They were," Cisco said quietly. He turned to Ralph. "So sabotaging your own decorations wasn't enough, huh?"
"Do you hear this guy?" Ralph chuckled nervously. "No one sabotages their own stuff on purpose."
Julian inched towards Caitlin and whispered, "What did you do?"
She looked nervously at her hands before whispering, "I may have knocked some down on accident and tried to put them back up."
"Accident you say?"
"Julian!" she said, lightly smacking his arm.
He gave her a smile in return.
"Hey, love birds!" Ralph said waving a hand in front of them. "Did you hear me?"
"No, and I wish it'd stay that way," Julian said bitterly.
"Well, I was asking if any of you saw Cisco sabotaging his own decorations."
"No, we did not, and I personally find this whole sabotage nonsense to be quite ridiculous," Julian replied.
Ralph scoffed but didn't say more.
"Hold on, he might be onto something," Cisco said thoughtfully.
Julian and Caitlin looked at each other worriedly.
"We could have a Christmas-hating meta on our hands," Cisco suddenly looked up and snapped. "The Grinch!"
The rest of Team Flash looked at him skeptically.
"Or not," Cisco said. "That's fine."
O
"Oooh," Julian said walking over to the desk of computers. "What's this?'
Caitlin turned. "They're Cisco's famous Christmas cookies. I guess that's one good thing about this whole decoration war."
"I'll be the judge of that," Julian said, taking a cookie off the plate. He took a bite, and his eyes widened in surprise. "This is fantastic!"
"I know! Who would have guessed Cisco makes amazing Christmas cookies," Caitlin said, reaching for a cookie herself.
A few hours later Julian walked over to Caitlin as she worked on the newest cure for a meta called Disillusion.
"I was going to ask if you'd accompany me to lunch, but" Julian grimaced. "I'm afraid I've eaten too many of Cisco's amazing cookies."
Caitlin looked up at him and smiled. "It's okay. I've eaten more than my fair share today too."
They smiled at each other.
"I don't believe it!" Cisco exclaimed.
Julian and Caitlin spun around.
"What is it?" Julian asked. "What's wrong?"
Cisco held up the nearly empty plate of Christmas cookies. "My cookies are almost gone! This was for the annual Christmas party at the CCPD!"
Julian and Caitlin stared in surprise.
"Did someone say cookies?" Ralph asked eagerly walking into the cortex.
"Oh, no!" Cisco said, holding up a hand. "You've already had enough!"
Ralph frowned and peered to look at the remaining cookies.
"Don't deny it!" Cisco continued. "I know it was you."
"I think I would have remembered eating some of those," Ralph paused thoughtfully. "Although it wouldn't hurt to job the memory," he said stretching a hand towards the plate.
Cisco slapped it. "Swiper no swiping!"
Ralph held his hand against his chest and gave Cisco an offended glare. "I bet they're terrible anyway."
Cisco huffed in anger as Ralph walked out of the cortex. "Can you believe that guy?"
"Oh, uh," Julian started. "No, he's unbelievable."
Cisco sighed and picked up the plate. "Looks like I have to go bake more before the party. See you guys later." He left.
Julian and Caitlin looked at each other.
Caitlin giggled.
Julian smiled. "I do believe we are unintentionally making things worse between them."
"I won't tell if you won't," she said, returning his smile.
"Trust me, my lips are sealed."
O
Caitlin and Julian walked down the hallway towards the elevators happily. Caitlin wore a beautiful light blue dress that sparkled when it moved in the light. Julian wore a nice suit with a blue tie that complimented Caitlin's dress.
"As much as I love the team," Julian said. "I can't wait to have dinner alone with you."
Caitlin blushed, wondering how he still had that effect on her. "You too, Julian."
They reached the elevator and Julian pressed the button.
"Stop right there!" Cisco said.
Caitlin and Julian turned to see a Cisco and Ralph across the room dressed in their superhero attire with their arms crossed.
"Yeah! You're not leaving this room alive!" Ralph chimed in.
"What?" Cisco said, turning to Ralph.
"Well, you said to say something menacing!"
"Yeah, but not that!"
"Why? What's wrong with that?"
"You really don't see what's wrong with that?"
Julian cleared his throat impatiently. "If you don't mind, we have somewhere to be."
Ralph and Cisco turned back to them.
"We know what you've been up to," Cisco said.
"Cisco," Caitlin said. "What is this about?"
"You two were the ones sabotaging our decorations!" Ralph accused.
Julian and Caitlin exchanged a look.
"That is absurd," Julian said. "We don't want any part in your so-called decoration war."
"Oh, yeah," Cisco said. "Well, the video surveillance proves otherwise. That's right, we have it all recorded."
Julian and Caitlin exchanged another look.
Caitlin turned, "Look, that was all on accident."
"So, you just 'accidentally' ate my cookies?" Cisco asked skeptically.
"We had no idea those were for the CCPD Christmas party," Julian explained. "Maybe next time add a sign."
"And you 'accidentally' destroyed my half of the decorations?" Ralph asked with equal skepticism.
"I didn't realize all your decorations were attached," Julian supplied.
"Look, guys," Caitlin said. "We didn't mean to interfere." She gave Cisco a pointed look.
He sighed. "Fine."
"Wait, you believe her?" Ralph asked in disbelief.
"Yeah, I do," Cisco resigned.
"Well, I don't," Ralph said. "I'll be keeping an eye on you two."
"We'll see about that," Julian said, stepping into the elevator along with Caitlin. "Good night, gentlemen." The doors closed.
As soon as the doors finished closing, they turned to each other and laughed.
"My life will never be boring with you, will it, Caitlin Snow?" he said wrapping a hand around her waist.
She smiled at him warmly, her brown eyes sparkling. "Never," she promised, closing the gap between them and kissing him.
