prompt: barry and iris thinking that Cisco and caitlin are together in early s3 and accidentally embarrassing them by addressing their incorrect assumption to their face
Okay so Ik you sent this in like 3 years ago but i felt inspired ig so here it is! Happy late holidays everyone and happy new year!
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Iris walked into the cortex and heard giggling. She wasn’t sure where it was coming from but it didn’t sound like her boyfriend.
“Barry?” She just needed to be sure. She stared at the Flash suit on the mannequin in front of her. The hollow metal stared back at her through the eye holes. She got no response.
“That’s not true, Cisco,” she heard a voice from the med bay. This one she was sure was Caitlin.
“Of course it is, I could hear it throughout the entire apartment.” She heard another voice. Definitely Cisco.
“I do not snore!” Caitlin said, Iris could hear the annoyance in her voice. She heard another laugh out of Cisco and the beginning of footsteps coming in her direction.
“Well I beg to differ,” he twirled a twizzler between his fingers as he entered the cortex. “Thanks again for staying over last night, I really needed that.” He patted Caitlin on the shoulder.
“No problem, any time you need something I’ll be there.” She reassured him, squeezing his arm. “Oh, Iris!” Caitlin’s voice rose three octaves.
“Hi,” she waved at her friends from her spot behind the console. Both of their faces were bright red.
“Iris!” Cisco’s voice cracked. “What are you doing here so early in the day?” He leaned against one of the rails.
Iris’ eyes narrowed, she looked at Cisco. Then to Caitlin, then back to Cisco. She sat down in one of the chairs and sighed.
“I was coming to do some research on this alchemy character but I don’t know,” she paused, looking between the two of them. “Maybe you guys got this covered.” She cleared her throat.
Caitlin looked down, now realizing how close she had been standing next to her best friend. She could feel his breath on her cheek.
“We could always use the help, and besides we have as little information as you do right now.” Caitlin suggested, taking a step away from Cisco. He seemed to not like the loss of contact to Iris’ observation because his lips knit into a tight frown.
“I think I’ll be okay at my dad’s.” She smiled, spinning in her chair and giving a wave over her shoulder as she left.
“What was that?” She could hear Cisco asking as she walked down the hallway.
“I don’t know, we could’ve used your help,” Caitlin sounded unsure.
“But I wanted to spend some time with you.” Iris almost thought that sounded like a whine, as she paused halfway to the elevator.
“I was at your place all night, Cisco.” She could almost hear the eye roll in Caitlin’s voice.
“Yeah but it’s not the same,” Cisco whined. Iris knew he was jutting his bottom lip out at that point.
When she opened the door to her Dad’s house, she wasn’t expecting her boyfriend to be sitting on the couch.
“Hey you,” he said, looking up as she leaned over to give him a kiss. “Where were you this morning?”
“STAR labs, trying to get some research done.” She sat down across from him.
“And what did you find?” He asked between kisses.
“I think,” She kissed him back. “I think our friends are lying to us.”
Barry pulled back, raising an eyebrow. “And that would be,”
“I think Cisco and Caitlin might be,” she took a deep breath. “I think they’re together.”
Barry opened his mouth and then closed it again.
“I know it sounds crazy,” Iris started. “But you should’ve seen it, Barry, they were so,”
Barry brushed his hand against her cheek. “What happened exactly?”
Iris explained about the giggling and the blushing and the close contact. “She even stayed at his house last night.”
Barry rolled his eyes and stared at his girlfriend. “She does that sometimes, y’know since Dante died and all he’s been,” he trailed off.
“I know that, but Barry,” she took a breath, “this was so different.”
Barry nodded, trying to understand. “So let’s say you’re right and they are dating,” he countered. “Why haven’t they told us yet? I mean they’re our friends, we’d be happy for them, they know that.”
Iris ruffled his hair and scooter closer. “Yeah but maybe they’re just not ready yet, not everyone is ready to tell everyone about a relationship right when it starts.”
He smiled, kissing her on the cheek. “You’re so smart!”
“I know.” Iris smiled, shrugging and squeezing his arm.
Later, when they walked into the cortex to find Cisco leaning over Caitlin’s shoulder with barely any room between them, Barry and Iris shared a glance.
Iris cleared her throat, causing Cisco to look up abruptly, backing up slightly toward the wall.
“Hi guys, didn’t hear you come in.” His face bright red. Caitlin looked up from the screen and waved at her friends.
“Hi guys, how did the research go?” She asked.
“We could ask you the same thing.” Barry smirked, crossing his arms and looking between them.
“Is there something you wanna tell us?” Iris pursed her lips, coming to stand next to Barry.
“Nope I don’t think so. Good chat, catch you guys later for dinner maybe. Caitlin lets go,” Cisco grasped her wrist and started to pull her out of the cortex.
“Really, so you weren’t going to have dinner with just Caitlin, then Cisco?” Barry’s smirk faded into a floppy grin.
“Well maybe, but that’s because we’re friends, nothing else,” Caitlin’s eyes went wide.
“What?” She looked at Cisco, his head tilted toward the ground. “Cisco, what is Barry implying?”
“Wait, so you guys aren’t together?” Barry scratched his head.
“Yeah, we’re not.” Cisco frowned, “thanks for that.” He began to run out the door but he felt a hand stop him.
“Cisco, what is he taking about?” Her eyes were big and brown and full of confusion, Cisco wanted to cry right there on the spot.
Iris tapped Barry’s shoulder as if to signal for them to leave. He nodded and took her hand.
When Cisco could no longer hear footsteps, he sighed.
“I,” he wasn’t sure where he was going with this. “I think that I like you. Like, like you like you.” He scrunched his eyes shut.
“Oh,” Caitlin breathed out.
“And I thought that with all this extra time we’ve been spending together recently, you might just maybe feel the same way.” He hugged himself tightly. Caitlin stayed planted in front of him.
“Which you clearly don’t, so it doesn’t matter anyway.” He began to walk away when he felt an arm tug him forward.
“Cisco,” Caitlin began. “You think I don’t like you, I mean you know have feelings for you?” He nodded. She put an arm on his shoulder.
“I thought it was all just in my head, I thought you just liked having me over as a friend, and having assistance on your projects as a friend, I never thought you wanted something more or I would’ve told you.” And with that it all became clear.
He put his hand on her cheek, brushing his fingers lightly over her skin. “Can I kiss you?”
Caitlin giggled, nodded, and then she leaned in. At first she hesitated, but then they both let go and it was as if it was always supposed to happen like this.
When Cisco finally pulled back, after what seemed like hours, he just stared into her eyes. He tried to search them for any kind of answer, as if this was another equation he had to solve.
Caitlin just shook her head, and leaned back in to kiss him again.
He knew he had done something right when he could feel her smile against his lips.
He wasn’t sure what they would make of this, but maybe he had someone else to thank, or maybe this was always going to happen anyway.
this Killervibe Christmas ficlet is *going* to get finished by the end of today (the 25th) if it's the last thing I do 😑 so listen up muse, it's time to cooperate! 😒🤓🙄
It’s not Caitlin’s fault that confessing your feelings for your best friend typically doesn’t come with an instruction manual.
And it’s not her fault that it takes him completely by surprise.
And it’s definitely, a hundred and ten percent not her fault—that she panics and steals his bike to escape this mess of an embarrassment.
“Caitlin!” Cisco runs out to the hallways o of his apartment, calling out to Caitlin, who’s already halfway down the stairs with a massive bike in her arms. “Caitlin, wait, what the hell are you doing?”
Almost at the ground floor.
She bumps into a security guard and hops onto the seat even before she gets out the door. She can still hear Cisco yelling, “You know I can still breach to you, right?!”
She races out into the streets and pedals as fast as she can. She doesn’t even know where she’s going. Normally, she’s not a bike person—pencil skirts and heels don’t make for appropriate gear.
As she pedals faster, she feels her heart rate rising. Panic starts to settle in. The realization finally hits: that she’s changed the course of their friendship forever.
She’s ruined everything between them.
Her sweat gets masked by a sudden cold chill as she notices the handlebars frosting over.
Oh, she did not need need her frosty arbitrator tonight.
Frost is raiding the fridge of S.T.A.R Labs when Cisco runs into the room, panting.
“Was wondering when you’d show up,” she says, cracking open a pear cider from the fridge. One of Sherlocque’s purchases, she can only assume.
“Not the time, Frosty. I need to talk to Cait,” Cisco says, breathless. She turns around and shrugs.
“You said you’d breach to her.”
“Yeah, and get hit by incoming traffic while she was cycling in the wrong lane like a mad woman? No thank you. I took the bus. Wait a second, tell me she didn’t break my new bike.”
Frost grins. The image of that would be like something out of a Sunday morning cartoon. More Dibny’s style, but—she’ll take entertainment when she can get it, even when it just lives in her mind.
She walks over to the sofa and kicks her feet up on the table.
“What’s so important that you needed to run all the way here for?”
Cisco walks over to her and squint at her from across the table. He points a finger at her face so closely it nearly pokes her nose.
“You know.”
“You’re going to need to be a bit more specific than that, Cisco,” she enunciates his name with an added emphasis on each syllable.
“You knew what went on. What Caitlin said to me—did you know how she felt about me? All this time? Did you know she was planning to tell me tonight?”
She laughs. “Oh, please. If she had it her way, she wouldn’t have ever told you. You know Caity, always worrying, stewing in misery, calculating the possible outcomes and never being brave enough to actually give in to what she wants.”
She winks at him, white teeth flashing like a sinister elf.
Cisco’s face turns sceptical, shaking his head as he pulls back and draws more distance between the two of them again.
“All right, cool it, cupid. Don’t talk to me about what she wants. That’s for me and her to discuss, in private.”
“Oh? I thought you weren’t even interested, by the way you just stood there and said, ‘This is weird, Caitlin’.”
Cisco buries his face in his hands, groaning in that kind of adorable way he does. Frost has never really seen it, but she gets it now. “Because she ran away before I could finish my sentence! I was going to tell her, yes, ‘This is weird, Caitlin—I’ve actually been spending a lot of time thinking about us, too.’”
Caitlin finds herself on the sofa of S.T.A.R Labs, cider in one hand and gigantic platform boots stretched out on the table. Cisco’s looking down and talking to the floor.
“I’ve always wanted to tell her, but I never did because—well, it’s us, you know? I didn’t want to ruin that. She means everything to me, always has.”
He looks up, a warm smile growing on his face. “Caitlin.”
She brings her feet back onto the floor and pushes herself off the sofa.
“Cisco.”
-
(you can find me on ao3 with the same username! and yes this is inspired by the carly rae jepsen song, fever)
I noticed that I haven’t written much Mom!Caitlin, and that needed to be fixed right away.
~.~
Caitlin looked out the window just as the two school buses pull up in front of their house. She nodded to herself, pleased to see the driver still on schedule after this many years, and continued working at the kitchen island.
The front door swung open as the kids marched in, the younger ones sprinting up the stairs so they could change out of their uniforms to play, but Dante Stein stayed behind. He locked the door behind them, then wandered into the room to find her.
“Hey mom.”
Caitlin smiled at her son as he shrugged off his dad’s old leather jacket and pulled himself a chair. He was beginning to look so much like him, it was uncanny. Cisco joked that Dante Stein was a Francisco Ramon after a bleach wash and tumble cycle in the dryer. His tousled hair was lighter than the rest of his siblings, with a golden highlight at the ends where it curled against his shoulders, and his eyes were all hers.
Still, he looked like Cisco.
“Hi. How was your day?”
He shrugged, deflecting, choosing instead to watch her.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“Making ice.” She did so every few weeks.
DS tilted his head as she cut the ice into cubes to put in plastic bags. Caitlin was going to stuff them in the freezer later. “...May I?”
“Absolutely,” she said with a proud grin. Dante Stein raised his hand over the counter, letting mist spill from his fingerless gloves. His highlights turned bleach, his eyes white, as an icicle grew, morphing into a large block of ice.
Dante Stein released his hold, and the cold sucked back into his palm. He met his mother’s eyes for approval.
“Impressive,” Caitlin praised.
“Thanks.” He tugged on his beanie. “I’m better at cold snapping than frost-overs.”
“That’s okay. It takes time.” She reached forward to stroke her son’s hair, scratching her fingers into his scalp. He closed his eyes and leaned into her touch.
“Dante,” she said, gentle. “What’s the matter?”
He sighed. His hair still tinged icy. Caitlin walked around the corner so she could pull him into her side. Dante Stein always used to attach himself to her like a baby koala, desperate for cuddles. They never figured out if it was because he always felt cold or because he simply had separation anxiety. It might’ve been a mix of both.
Her teenage son rested his head against her shoulder. Caitlin ran her hand up and down his arm.
“We learned about you in school today.”
Caitlin paused. That could be anything.
“Oh? Star Labs or Team Flash?”
“Neither.” Dante slipped out of her embrace and put the melting ice away. His shoulders were tense, stiff. He opened the freezer compartment with a forceful yank, dumping the ice cubes into the right spot, then closed it again. “Savitar.”
Oh. Caitlin blanched a little, then swallowed. “...You learned about Savitar in your contemporary world class?”
“No. We learned about exoneration. And how that differs from diplomatic immunity.” Dante Stein stammered, caught when Caitlin quirked a surprised eyebrow. Cisco had to push the boy to do so much as open his school agenda. “Not that I was really listening, of course. I mean. I did when you were brought up as an example.”
“I see.”
Dante Stein idolized his mother since they made ice castles together in the backyard when he was five. And no matter what Caitlin did to try and dissuade it, she knew it remained. It was a certain kind of connection that couldn’t be forged. A bond that came as natural as breathing. Caitlin had the same one with Heath, even if it were somewhat different. The one she shared with Dante was more intense, more heartfelt. The pride she felt when his Blizzard unleashed, when the frost from his fingertips turned them blue without pain, the first snow he created when he turned eight.
He was older now, fifteen. He liked to maintain a persona of detached chill, especially at school and with his friends. He liked to pretend he didn’t need her anymore. That he didn’t need anyone, really.
They let him keep up that charade. Caitlin knew it helped him feel somewhat in control. She knew how that worked.
“Mom. I don’t understand how it happened. I don’t understand how you could do something like that.”
Caitlin sat down on the stool at the island, eyeing him as he fumbled with serving himself juice. Ellie came running down in her ballerina tutu. She lifted her up and kissed her forehead, giving her permission to play outside with the dog. Dante Stein watched with a complicated expression as she helped her open the screen door.
“That’s because I wasn’t the person you know, back then. I was different. Killer Frost wasn’t just a codename. She was... a person. A different person inside of me. One that fueled on anger and pain. Whose inhibitions were nonexistent. I didn’t remember what she’d do at the time. I’d blackout with glimpses and strong feelings. It was scary.”
Dante Stein’s grip tightened against his glass, eyes wide. “Mom.”
She reached across the counter for his hand, squeezing it, letting his tension dissolve. “It’s okay,” she said. “My powers didn’t come from the explosion. Grandpa Snow did some questionable experiments on me when I was younger. It was from a place of love, but it caused several mess ups. Balance is important, DS. You need love to equalize hatred. Patience to steady Impulse. Killer Frost didn’t have that, because she was severed from the rest of me. I had to learn to shoulder my burden and manage the cold.”
“But I’m not like you,” he stressed. “I’m like her.”
“That’s not true.”
“Yes, it is. I’m not perfect or smart like Amalia, or compassionate like Heath or creative like Ellie. I’m not even a nice person! I’m cold and everything gets under my skin, like, all the time. What if Blizzard is my Frost? What if I wake up one day and I just...snap, and lose myself like you did? Dad always says I’m just like you. Mom, I don’t want that.”
“You mean like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde?” Heath piped up, swiping his older brother’s abandoned juice.
They both startled.
“You’ve been here the entire time?” Dante Stein hissed, glaring at him.
“It’s not my fault I blend in very well with my surroundings. I liked it when you called me compassionate. That was nice. An evil alter ego wouldn’t do that.”
“Heath,” Caitlin warned. “This is a private conversation.”
Heath shrugged, a lemon blossom sprouting from his branch around his waist that he’d been wearing as a belt this week. He plucked it out and stuck it into DS’s hair.
“Discretion,” he explained, then walked out to join his sister outside.
“He’s so weird,” Dante Stein groaned, burying his head in his hands. The flower fell into the empty glass.
“He was trying to help. In his own way.” Caitlin took a deep breath, rearranging her thoughts. She went back to what was said before the interruption, wanting to make things clear.
“Your sister is not perfect. I wish you’d stop comparing yourself to her. She’s her own person, makes her own mistakes, you know plenty.”
“She doesn’t have the urge to create a new ice age under that techno babble of hers,” he muttered.
Caitlin gave her son some side eye. “You don’t actually have that urge, do you?”
“...No. Maybe? No.” His voice came out muffled through his palms.
She crossed her arms.
“No.”
“Mmhm.”
“But what if I did? And ruin everything. They’d never exonerate me after looking at my school record.”
“That will never happen, sweetheart.”
“You don’t know that for sure,” he snapped.
Caitlin’s hair turned silver, and she tapped her nails against the counter, catching her son’s attention. “Hey,” she said cooly. “Look here.”
DS glanced at Killer Frost, but turned away, curling into himself.
“Look at me, babe.”
He did eventually, frozen tears in his eyes.
“I love you. You’re nothing like me. Your jokes are funny, your sarcasm is smart, your cold snaps are stellar. And you care. You care about everyone. I care for about as many people I can count on my fingers. You kids and your dad takes up a whole hand.” She held up a five. “The other hand depends on my mood. Uncle Barry sometimes doesn’t even make the cut, kid, and he’s The Flash.”
Dante Stein stifled a laugh. “Uncle Barry gets intense sometimes.”
“For sure,” she smirked, and continued. “My specialty was ice. I froze things solid, sucked life out until there was unfeeling. You...cool things down. You bring boiling points to a simmer.”
“That’s a lot of temperatures analogies, Mom.”
“You’re understanding them, though.” She pointed out. “It doesn’t matter how I sound, or what colour is my hair. I’m the one in control. I’m Caitlin. And you are Dante Stein, my boy. I can’t promise you that your Blizzard side won’t make a fuss if you’re hurt inside. But it’s better than shutting down and feeling nothing at all. Your powers are part of who you are, and for all they may or may not sometimes be scary, I know you love them.”
He shrugged as some colour came to his cheeks. “Can I have another hug?”
Caitlin’s heart nearly melted. “Of course.” She opened her arms and he snuggled into her side, his hair tickling her nose as he tucked his head under her chin. She kissed his head and squeezed, warming up the two of them as they let their transformations fall.
For everything she’d just said, her son was right. Sometimes he needed to look into Frost’s eyes to believe. To see someone like himself. Even if Caitlin didn’t need Frost anymore, had long since merged the hair and eyes and attitude that belonged to her old alter ego into her own self, Caitlin had the ability to summon her for other purposes than saving the multiverse, or keeping her identity a secret, such as times like these.
“You’re going to be okay?”
He nodded. So did she, but she pulled him back to look at his face sternly.
“You’re going to tell me what’s really wrong?”
“I knocked a kid out for calling Killer Frost Team Flash’s Winter Soldier. You know, from the old Marvel movies.”
Caitlin barked out a surprised laugh.
“I got suspended.”
“Oh my god, Dante Stein.”
“I was mad because I actually liked that class and don’t want to miss it.”
“You goof.” Caitlin pulled him back to swat him. “Was it that kid Greyson? The one who called Heath that name?”
Dante Stein’s smile was sheepish. “...Yeah.”
Caitlin couldn’t stop giggling, covering her mouth behind her hand. “Wait until your Dad--”
Cisco breached into the room with Amalia and five boxes of pizza, rolling his eyes. “--He already knows!”
“Who’d figure DS was such a nerd,” Amalia teased, knuckling his head. “I call the breadsticks.”
“--Hey, watch the hair!”
Caitlin’s gaze slid over to her husband, who winked in return.
“You were the one who wanted a houseful of crazy kids,” he reminded
Caitlin huffed. “That was you.”
“Oh?” Cisco’s eyes gleamed with amusement. He opened the screen door to call in the younger ones. “Heath! Ellie! Get ready for dinner.”
Amalia opened a breach to her bedroom to toss her jacket onto her bed. “You wanted us to be normal?” She snorted. “We must’ve been an epic disappointment.”
Nah. Caitlin loved her bunch dearly just as they were. She smiled, wiping her hands on her jeans and opened the first box. Caitlin’s mouth twisted with distaste. “The only epic disappointment is that you ordered The Elongated Pizza and not Killer Calzones for dinner.”
im sorry for recycling an old fic, but I didn’t want to leave you with nothing from me today and I didn’t have inspo for today’s prompt
Caitlin couldn't seem to concentrate. Her cold hands wrapped her S.T.A.R. Labs mug filled with coffee as her eyes focused on a random spot beyond the desk.
Cisco could sense that something was off, as he always could. He knew Caitlin almost better than he knew himself. Something was bothering her.
"Caitlin?" Cisco laid a hand on her shoulder and snapped her out of her trance.
"Is something wrong?"
"Oh, nothing," Caitlin blinked. "Just, ya know. Thinking."
About something in particular.
Please ask me about it.
"About what?" he sat next to her.
"Well, my ex from high school, Mason, is getting married. I was invited. I would feel bad about not going, but I don't want to go alone. But the truth is, I am alone." She sighed and swallowed a sip of her coffee.
"You're not alone, you've got me." Cisco gave her shoulder a touch.
Caitlin rolled her eyes to look over at him.
"I mean romantically, Cisco."
Yikes. That hurt.
"Okay, how about this"
Caitlin rose her brow.
You'll be my date?
Please ask me on a date.
"I could go with you." he paused for a beat.
Yes!
"Pretend to be your boyfriend"
Pretend. Just what he wanted.
"Pretend?"
Her heart sank a little bit. She really hoped Cisco would ask her on an official date.
"Yeah. No one judges you, and you're not lonely" He smiles.
Ugh, that smile.
Caitlin smiled at the fact that Cisco cared to escort her so she wouldn't feel lonely.
"Thank you, Cisco" She hugged him.
"Of course"
~.~
They sat in their assigned seating, Caitlin holding a stemless glass of white wine that read
Mason and Julia Parker
True Love
December 12, 2018
Just another reminder to Caitlin that she hadn't found that.
She wanted a wedding.
When Ronnie was alive, their wedding was very last minute. Because she thought he had died and she wanted to marry him before he disappeared again. But she still never got to finish planning her dream wedding. She never got to have it.
She looked over to see Mason and Julia talking with guests.
The way he's looking at her.
Caitlin couldn't help but notice Mason looking at his new wife like she hung the moon. Like he loved everything about her. The little stuff. The random stuff. Like when she snorted just a little when she laughed. He looked at her like he would do anything for her without thinking twice.
God, I want that.
~~~~~
Cisco looked at Caitlin like she hung the moon.
He loved everything about her. The little stuff. The random stuff. Like the way she was running her finger around the rim of her wine glass and chewing a bit at her lips while she observed the guests. He would do anything for her without thinking twice.
God, I love her.
Mason and his bride came over to their table.
"Caitlin! So glad you could come. Caitlin this is my new wife, Julia. Julia, This is Caitlin. We were friends back in high school." Mason beamed introducing the love of his life.
"Nice to meet you, Julia." Caitlin shook her hand.
"Mason, this is my f-" she had to catch herself. "fellow S.T.A.R. Labs employee and boyfriend, Cisco. Cisco, this is my...Mason. This is Mason. From high school"
Really smooth, Cait.
"Hi, Nice to meet you" Cisco shook Mason's hand. "Congratulations," as he shook Julia's.
"Well, it was good to meet you, Cisco. Caitie, good to see you again."
How could he still call me that?
"It's time for us to dance. Maybe we'll catch up later?" Mason and Julia made their way to the dance floor.
A piano began to play.
Why do birds suddenly appear every time you are near? Just like me, they long to be close to you.
Caitlin looked over at Mason and Julia. Dancing and in love.
Cisco heard those lyrics and looked over at Caitlin.
I really love her.
"May I have this dance?" Cisco extended his hand for her
I really do want to dance with him.
She just nodded and took his hand.
On the day that you were born the angels got together and decided to create a dream come true.
He looked at her, watching the bride and groom. She looked almost hurt. But he couldn't help but notice how the hair that fell loose from her braided updo framed her perfect face.
The bride and groom share a kiss.
Caitlin whimpers in agony and lays her head on Cisco's chest, ear to his heart. She couldn't watch them anymore.
Cisco's heart sped up.
Can she hear it?
He kissed the top of her head.
I wish she knew how much I love her.
He continued to hold her close and they swayed to the music. Soon enough, the song came to an end.
"Cisco, can we go home?" She pleaded.
"Are you sure? They're playing some more upbeat songs now, we can get our jam on!"
"Hey, guys, we were in the middle of a conversation when we had to go dance."
Mason and Julia were back.
"Mason, we were just saying we were about to head ou-"
Mason continued as if he hadn't heard Caitlin at all.
"How did you two meet?"
"Well," Cisco began.
"We work together at S.T.A.R. Labs. We met on my first day. I was arguing it out with our, horrible ex co-worker. She came in and," he turned to look at Caitlin.
"I couldn't stop looking at her." he smiled
Caitlin smiled.
I really love him, don't I?
"She and I became very close friends not long after I joined the team at the lab. We've always done almost everything together. One night, she got captured by one of the metas that was running around Central City at the time. I couldn't bear thinking about my life without her in it. When I got her back. She told me she thought she was going to die. I told her-"
Caitlin interrupted.
"Not while I'm around."
"Yeah" he smiled at her.
"And in keeping that promise to keep her safe," he paused. "I realized I've been in love with her since the start. And why else would I made such a big promise?"
Caitlin's heart fluttered. She looked into the dark eyes that looked back into hers.
Does he really mean all of that?
There's no way he could make up something so moving on the spot?
He must have practiced in advance.
He's only known about the wedding for 5 hours.
Caitlin, who are you kidding, He's Cisco!
He can come up with stuff on the spot.
He's been doing it for years, between meta naming and his jokes.
God, I really do love him.
"Well, again, congratulations to the Mr. and Mrs. But we have a date with microwave popcorn, Netflix, and our pjs. Thank you for a lovely evening, Mr. and Mrs. Parker." Cisco nodded.
Yep, I love him.
Cisco took her hand.
"Come on, Cait." he kissed her cheek.
Now would be a good time for KillerFrost to come out just a little.
Just to take away the red in my cheeks?
~.~
She had to ask.
"Cisco?" She spoke up on their walk back to his apartment.
"What's up, Snow Patrol?" he joked with her.
"Did you mean any of that? That you said to Mason at the reception." she chewed her lip.
"Every word of it, Caitlin" he didn't hesitate.
"You love me?" she stopped in her tracks.
"Yeah, I do," he smiled, stopping with her. "I hope that's okay. Cause it's going to be a little hard to stop."
He began walking again.
She grabbed his hand and intertwined it with hers.
title: just a kiss goodnight
pairing: killervibe
word count: 1.6k
information: based on this scene in ‘this is us’. i dont watch the show, but i saw the clip on tumblr a while ago and randomly thought of it again this week but with kv. and thus, this fic was born.
Silence fills the air of Cisco’s car, Caitlin in the passenger seat, staring outside the window at the passing houses. He wants to talk to her, wants to take every moment he can to see her smile or hear her laughter tinkling in the intimacy of the car, to hear her voice calm and dreamy or bubbly and mischievous. He wants it all.
But the car ride is silent.
There are no words that are shared between them, a sharp contrast to the countless that would always bubble up no matter the circumstances. But that was their friendship, and this...
this was a date.
A horrible, awful, wonderful date.
(It was only wonderful because of his company, objectively, Caitlin aside, it was a terrible first date.)
The drive to her dorm was mercifully short, cruelly quick. Because Cisco never wants his time with her to end, but god, every second is a nail into his heart, the silence an agony he can’t dull.
When he does pull up in front of her dorm awkwardness fills the air. He can see her internal debate displayed across her face, Caitlin opening and closing her mouth before shaking it, her hand reaching to exit. "Night Cisco." It is a gentle whisper, tinged with sadness, and he can't have that, can't let the night end like this.
“I had thirty bucks.” The words slip out, but he can't find it within himself to regret it. It grabs her attention, Caitlin turning her head to him, the door forgotten. It scares him, thrills him, having her attention like this. Because holding her attention, it is incredible, it is intoxicating, but after that date, that spectacular failure of a date, the perfection of it is marred. “I mean, twenty was spent on entering the damn thing, and the food was way too expensive let’s be real, and I wasn’t sure if you’d want dessert after and I just -” he sighs, looking away. “I’m sorry.”
“I could have bought it,” she interrupts gently, the look of confusion still on her face. She takes one of his hands, squeezing it softly. And it is though she is instead holding his heart, Cisco’s head jerking up, eyes shining as he watches her, awe in his gaze. It stills her heart, the sight of him, bathed in the glow of the street lights, locks of hair drenched by the rain, shirt clinging to his body. He’s beautiful she thinks, but god, his eyes, his eyes are what kills her. “You gotta know I wouldn’t have minded.”
“Yeah, I know.” He groans in frustration, wiping his face with his palm. “But we’d already made a deal. I’d pay for this date and, if it went well, you’d do the next. I figured if you chipped in then it wouldn’t just be me and you’d use it as an excuse to get out of another date. And I couldn't risk that. Because I wanted more, god I wanted so much more.” He’s rambling, but he can’t stop himself, he doesn’t really want to. Because Caitlin deserves answers, she deserves the truth. And he knows it was a horrible date, that he’ll never have the chance to hold her hand again, to interlace their fingers, to smile at her like she was his whole world and not feel the fool for it. There would never be another carnival game where he could attempt to win her a stuffed toy, another ferris wheel ride where they could sit in a comfortable silence and watch the stars twinkle in the inky black sky.
There would never be another date, no introducing her to mama and papa, no Dante attempting to sabotage a relationship Cisco had done well enough destroying himself.
And it kills him.
“Between classes and my family... I don’t really have much money to spend on -” he pauses, searching for the right word. And he knows it. Anything. “Everything is so stressful, constantly balancing budgets and dealing with home but, when I’m with you -” He takes a shuddering breath, a smile lighting up his face, lighting up the car when he thinks. “When I’m with you I can feel carefree. I can tell you anything. I feel -" he cuts himself off, a resigned smile curling his lips. "If home was a person, mine would be you Cait. It would be your smile and laughter and the way your eyes light up when you learn something new and the wrinkle in your forehead when you hear something you don't agree with.” His words leave her breathless and speechless, Caitlin only able to watch as he told her everything. “Being with, dating other people, it's nice. But when I'm with you everything else just doesn't compare. It's -” He let's out a low whistle, his eyes wide and expressive. “The way you make me feel, what you do to my heart every time you just smile at me... I'd be a fool to not be half in love with you already.”
Her breath hitches at the implication, Caitlin forming a fist to stop her hands from shaking.
“I had dreams for this, for us." he sighs, "this wasn't anywhere close." He shrugs helplessly. "I'm sorry it was such a horrible date."
“It wasn't that bad.” Caitlin leans forward, and he’s distracted momentarily by her hair bounces as she shakes her head in response.
He levels her a look. "Caitlin please, I know what it was, I was there.” She scrunches her nose, but she doesn’t retort. There wasn’t anything she could say. “You're a good study buddy and friend... But god I wish we could have been more.”
It hurts her, physically hurts, the ache in her chest growing as she hears his words, his tone. “The girls in my class read over my shoulder when you texted.” The sharp turn confuses him, but he listens intently, drinks in the extra moments of perfection he’s given. “They told me that if it is a really good first date I should leave my jacket or something in your car, and that if you’re a good guy you’ll come back and return it and hopefully...” The blush on her cheeks as she recounts this makes him believe that leaving the jacket wasn’t their first suggestion for the car, and he can barely bite down a smile as she stumbles over her words. It is only a flicker as she breaks eye contact, Caitlin fiddling with her fingers, watching them instead of him. “But this, well it wasn’t a good date. I don’t think anything went right - including your allergy to cats.”
She’s letting him down gently, he figures. With soft words and a gentle smile and it is crushing. He bares it with a smile.
Caitlin could have been cruel, but she was being kind and it means the world to him.
She risks a glance at him, Cisco with his kind eyes and a soft smile. It scares her, how one look can leave her so affected, her heart in her throat.
“Oh, but the way you look at me...” She breathes the word wow more than speaks it, almost melts in her seat as he turns that look toward her. It is a miracle in itself that she could remember how to breathe, that she could remember her own name. “I’m - well, this is a first for me, so don't judge too harshly” and before he could even as for an explanation she leans forward, Caitlin swallowing his sharp inhale of surprise. He doesn’t move to take control of the kiss, and she appreciates it,
she isn't sure how she'd respond if he did.
(She'd give in to everything and she knows it.)
He tastes like sweetness, like lollipops and happiness and Caitlin doesn’t think to deepen the kiss, content there in the moment, simply her and him and his chapped lips. She realises that she hadn’t seen him with a lollipop all day and month. It saddens her.
(She hopes the next time will have a stronger flavor.)
It is seconds, lifetimes, before she pulls away, a bashful smile curling her lips as she catches his gaze, it scorches her, melts her. And she understands what the girls meant when they told her to be somewhere isolated for their first kiss - or to be in the back seat. Because with Cisco she’d be weak, one touch, one word, and she’d follow him to the ends of the earth.
“Alright well,” and it is cute, the scarlet tinting her cheeks. “I’ll see you in class.” And she slips out of his car, shivering as the night air hits her bare arms, rushing back to her dorm room.
He doesn't tear his eyes away from her, not when she walked back, not when she stopped at the door, unlocking it, hesitating before waving shyly at him and slipping inside. And even then he watched a closed door, amazed and in awe, still unbelieving that it had happened, that she had just kissed him.
It was - she was - incredible. And Cisco can’t help but smile at himself, the memory permanently branded in his mind. The feel of her lips, the shaky breath that ghosted his mouth as she broke it off, resting her forehead on his own. He wipes his mouth, as if to wipe away the grin in his face. It doesn't disappear.
But then something white catches his eye.
His smile widens, and it doesn't fade as he drives off, Cisco whistling to himself a happy tune.
Because there, on the passenger seat, was Caitlin’s jacket.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 1/?
Warnings: Major Character Death
Relationships: Cisco Ramon/Caitlin Snow
Summary:
When Caitlin dies very suddenly, all of Team Flash is shocked, but none are as shocked at Caitlin herself, who finds that she isn’t being allowed to rest in peace. Caitlin is forced to watch her friends struggle to continue without her, never knowing that she is watching in the very same room, only as a ghost. Neither she nor Killer Frost, who is stuck with her, can figure out why they are stuck as ghosts, unable to communicate with their friends. And yet, that’s not completely true, as the two soon discover when Cisco starts vibing Caitlin’s ghost. Once Cisco realizes what’s happening, he promises to help her understand why she’s become a ghost and how to move on to the next part of her existence.
everything finds its place and leaves
-- caitlin bandages a wounded vibe in her apartment. he does not invite her back onto the team. and in all fairness, she's too busy fixating on him, her, and all of her mistakes to even ask.
