(no subject)

[thescarletspeedster]

Barry groans, but he figures he can't put this off any longer. He's been sobered from his musical madness since early evening yesterday, and though he knows he needs to apologize, this morning is the first time he's been brave enough to try.

Sitting up in bed, Barry leaves the sheets where they are, turning on his video recorder on his phone still in the safe confines of his blanket tent. "Um, hey," he says, staring at the screen with haunted eyes. "So, I know yesterday was kind of...a lot?" Barry swallows. "I saw on the news that a bunch of people had some kind of tainted chocolate intoxication, I can only assume I was one of them because I would never - "

Barry draws a deep breath. "I would never sing and dance like that willingly. I mean, unless you really wanted me to, then of course I'd try, but I'm getting the feeling you don't really...have that inclination. So I'm sorry for forcing it on you. And."

Barry hits pause, running his hand through his hair while he waits out the heat in his cheeks, but it doesn't seem like his blush is fading any time soon. "I'd still really like to go out tonight," he says, hitting record again. "If you don't, I won't blame you like, at all, but I promise not to sing at you, or to you, or to anyone ever, possibly ever again. So."

Barry stares into the camera. "Text me if you're still up for it. Um. Bye."

Drawing a breath, Barry sends the video to Derek and resumes hiding in bed.

Comments

[triskehale]

"Definitely not the best at being humble," Derek says with a laugh, biting his lip when Barry gently clutches Derek's foot between his own. Barry's wink lingers in his mind and Derek files it away, committing the sight to memory.

"I do have a soft spot for chocolate," Derek admits. He sits up a bit, resting his elbows on the table and leaning in a bit closer, almost like he's trying to get a better look. He gets distracted by the dusting of small brown moles along Barry's jaw and wonders what it might be like to trace them with light sweeps of his fingers. "Brownies, chocolate cake, anything like that."

He chuckles a little and shakes his head at a memory, looking up at Barry in amusement. "A friend once asked how I don't get sick eating all that chocolate. I had to remind her that I'm not actually a canine. I'm just shaped like one sometimes."

[thescarletspeedster]

Derek is looking at him so intently, not at his eyes but just below, and Barry's cheeks warm. Whatever has his attention, he hopes that Derek likes what he sees, and Barry finds that he likes it, too. It's rare that he's the focus of anyone, let alone someone like Derek.

"I'll remember that," says Barry, wondering if it's too late to get Derek chocolates for Valentine's. Though, now that he thinks about it, he's not sure he could ever look at a box of chocolates without cringing again. "Speaking of - " Barry lowers his voice, "Canine things. The full moon's coming up. Will you not be around for a bit?"

[triskehale]

Derek raises an eyebrow at the mention of canine things, and then huffs out an amused laugh. It's a fair question, and Derek shakes his head a little.

"I'm not forced to shift by the moon, not like some of the wolves here," Derek tells him, keeping his voice low. The server comes by to drop off their coffees, and Derek gives her a grateful nod before reaching for the sugar. Once she's gone, he turns his attention back to Barry. "I'm in total control."

He's about to say that they could spend time together, even during the full moon, but he thinks about how he's usually either irritable or horny when the moon is full, and his cheeks go ruddy. "But I can get a little, uh-- keyed up. So I usually spend the night out in the woods, or at least by myself."

[thescarletspeedster]

"I can only imagine," says Barry, wondering at the sudden mottling in Derek's cheeks. He's too self-assured to be ashamed, but Barry reaches over to squeeze his hand, anyway. "If it's steam you need to work off, I'm happy to come out and run with you," he offers, remembering how happy Derek had seemed playing around in the snow. He knows it's not the same, but he'd still like to see Derek in wolf form like that again.

"I promise I'm a lot faster than a rabbit," he adds slyly.

[triskehale]

Derek lets out a choked sort of laugh at Barry's offer, fairly certain that he has absolutely no idea how it sounds in response to the thoughts inside of Derek's head. He looks down at Barry's hand in his own for a moment, hesitating before he takes a chance and threads their fingers together. The contact feels like a comfort, like a balm on one of Derek's many wounds, and he smiles.

"I don't suppose that you'd have to worry about what I'd do if I caught you," Derek says, doing his best to keep his thoughts gentlemanly. It's just that the thought of running out there with Barry under the full moon is such a good one, and not just because of those lingering ungentlemanly thoughts. It would just be nice to be out there with someone who gets him, someone who cares about him. He suddenly wants that so badly that he aches.

"I may have to take you up on that someday," Derek tells him, letting the pad of his thumb glide across the back of Barry's hand. "Frustrating as it might be, I think I'd like chasing after you all night."

[thescarletspeedster]

"I don't know," says Barry, watching Derek's thumb sweep over his skin, mesmerized. Without meaning to, he squeezes Derek's foot between his own, a pleasant shiver running through him. "I'm fast, but I see like a normal human in the dark, no advanced sense of smell to speak of. You may get one up on me yet."

The thought is actually kind of...exciting, if Barry's honest. He's a hard man to catch, and he's never had reason to enjoy it at home - all of the people knocking him around there had been super villains, after all, but when it's Derek bringing him to the ground...Barry shakes himself.

"Well, if you do need anything," he says, "You can text me, it won't take me any time at all to run out there. I mean, if you have your phone. You might not have your phone or, you know." Barry trails off. "Thumbs."

[triskehale]

"I suppose even the fastest man alive can trip over a tree root," Derek jokes, but his voice comes out sort of low and breathless. Barry squeezes Derek's foot and then his heart, already so familiar to Derek by now, gets a little faster. His scent goes the slightest bit warm and Derek wants so badly to know what he's thinking. "Maybe I will catch you." And then he laughs, eyes full of mirth as he meets Barry's gaze. "Will you still be dressed in red?"

Derek's smile softens at Barry's offer and he knows, without a doubt, that if he called Barry, he would be there. Trust like that doesn't come easily to Derek but somehow Barry has already began to earn it. "Thanks, Barry. I'll remember that."

[thescarletspeedster]

Derek's voice comes out in a way that licks right down Barry's spine, and for a moment he wonders if Derek has somehow read his mind. But no, right? Werewolves can't read minds, it's probably all in Barry's own. Still, he blushes nearly as crimson as his suit and forces himself to shrug.

"I'll have to wear the suit," he says. "It's built to withstand that much friction and kinetic energy. Normal clothes would catch fire." And then he'd be naked, and that is really not helping him return his cheeks to normal, non-embarrassing tones.

"So just don't tear it up and we'll be good," Barry continues. "Without Cisco to patch it up for me I'll be screwed."

[triskehale]

Barry has to be doing this on purpose. He just has to, but then he blushes so endearingly and Derek just isn't sure. Still, Derek can't help but to tease him just a little.

"So," he says, leaning in a bit. Their fingers are still entwined and Derek carefully extends his claws, keeping the sharp ends of them away from Barry's skin. "In this hypothetical scenario of yours, I'm clawing through your red suit, huh?"

He grins and retracts his claws, squeezing Barry's hand a little tighter. The waitress comes by to drop off milkshakes and fries, and Derek keeps his hold on Barry's hand as he sticks the two straws into the shake and places it between them. "Cisco is a friend from home?"

[thescarletspeedster]

"Yeah," exhales Barry, trying and failing to think of how to address the claws comment with any dignity. In the end he just squeezes Derek's hand, a short, high pitched laugh escaping him, and leans eagerly forward to distract himself with the cold, sweet chocolate shake between them.

"A friend," he says, "And one of the founding members of team Flash. He and Caitlin were there when I woke up after my coma. They helped me understand and use my new powers. I don't know where I'd be without them." Barry's cheeks finally lose their flush as he sobers. "It's honestly pretty hard in Darrow without them. I knew I relied on them for a lot of things, but I don't think I realized how much until they were gone."

[triskehale]

Derek just grins and leans in when Barry does, taking a sip of the shake himself. Their faces are so close and for a moment Derek wonders what they look like from the outside, holding hands and sharing a milkshake. He's become one of those people that he rolls his eyes at, but maybe he was only rolling his eyes because he didn't have this. Maybe they're a little ridiculous, but Derek doesn't even care.

When Barry talks about his friends with obvious longing in his voice, Derek watches him with a sympathetic expression and squeezes his hand. "I can imagine."

It's like Barry was dropped here without his pack, and Derek knows what that's like. Except that it sounds like Barry actually got along with his pack, but that's a painful thread that he isn't going to tug at right now.

"Well, I'm sure that I'm no Cisco or Caitlin," Derek says as he nudges the fries towards Barry and smiles a little. "But can I apply to team Flash? I have like--" He pauses to pretend to think, one eye closed as he looks at the ceiling. "At least two or three skills. And a scientist friend. Well, okay. Mad scientist friend, really. But he's smart."

His expression goes a bit more serious and he squeezes Barry's hand again, thumbing across his knuckles. "I'll help you if you can. I hope you know that."

[thescarletspeedster]

"I do," says Barry, feeling some of his sadness dissipate with that simple sweep against his knuckles. "You've already helped me. Are helping me," Barry corrects, smiling then. "And you have way more than three skills. Three wouldn't even encompass what you can do in the kitchen."

Grabbing at the fries Derek sends over, Barry pushes three into his mouth. "But tell me about your mad scientist friend. That could actually be really useful. Unless he's the bad kind of crazy. But no, right? You wouldn't be friends with him."

[triskehale]

"Oh, I see. Using me for what I can do in the kitchen, huh?" He gives Barry a teasing smile and presses his foot against Barry's, sliding it forward to hook it around Barry's ankle and draw his foot in closer.

"Not the bad kind of crazy," Derek says with a laugh. The server comes by with the first round of their food and Derek squeezes Barry's hand before letting go, which takes great effort. For a moment, he gets distracted by the steak, which lives up to the legend, and then looks up at Barry again. "His name is Newt, and where he came from he studied these giant alien monsters, and helped build giant robots to fight them."

Barry is still sort of new to Darrow, so he doesn't mention that he's actually describing the plot to a movie. "But uh, I know he has a lab here. I'm not sure what he does, exactly. But he's always trying to get me to agree to let him do tests on me. He's-- uh, a little eccentric, but him and his wife are some of my best friends here. I can introduce him to you if you'd like."

[thescarletspeedster]

"Giant...alien monsters," repeats Barry with a slow shake of his head. "How can I have seen all that I've seen, and that still sounds nuts to me? But I'd love to meet him and his wife," he adds, thinking that it'd be nice to see who Derek spends his time with, especially his best friends. Anyone who understands how great Derek is is okay in Barry's book.

"I actually do have a scientist friend here," he says as he sits back to begin attacking his steak. "Well, more of a hacker, really, but she's pretty brilliant with all things tech. Felicity Smoak, do you know her?"

[triskehale]

"You're still new," Derek says with a sly smile. He's already thinking about what it might be like to introduce Barry to his friends, and it fills him with a fluttery sort of anticipation. This is going well. Barry seems to actually like him, for some reason that Derek doesn't quite understand, and he has to bite back a grin.

He picks up his knife and fork to cut into the steak, and he pauses in bringing the bite to his mouth when Barry mentions Felicity. "I do know her. I'm close with her and her boyfriend. They're kind of-- well, I see them as pack, actually."

[thescarletspeedster]

"You're close with Felicity and Oliver?" asks Barry, managing to gape and grin all at once. "How did I not know that? We're friends from home. Well, sort of home, they're from Starling and I'm from Central City, but we consulted on a case before I even got my powers."

Barry stops all at once, somehow looking so neutral that he looks incredibly suspicious. "A science case. I needed Felicity's help with some. Science. It was boring, actually."

Barry eats his steak.

[triskehale]

"I am. You're all from the same place?" Derek grins at that news, glad that Barry has friends from home, and they're people that Derek is so fond of. His grin fades when Barry suddenly goes stiff, and he laughs a little. Barry is obviously hiding something, and Derek wonders if he's trying to keep a secret that Derek already knows.

But if it's something different Derek doesn't want to out Ollie as the Arrow, so he has to figure out how to approach this. "You consulted on a science case. A boring one."

He pauses to take a bite of his steak, chewing thoughtfully for a moment. "Oliver must have been the muscle then, right? He seems like he knows how to handle himself."

[thescarletspeedster]

"He's not as great as he thinks," says Barry, his back twitching against the phantom itch of arrow wounds. "But uh, yeah, he's strong. He must do a lot of push ups or something."

Barry upends his paper cup of butter into his baked potato, squeezing the sour cream into it next. "Do you guys work out together here?" he asks, trying to picture it.

[triskehale]

Derek raises an eyebrow at the first comment, taking in the tense and shift of Barry's muscles, and wonders what the story is there. Before he gets a chance to ask, Barry makes him laugh around a bite of steak. Once he swallows, he gives Barry an amused look. He tries to resist teasing, but he can't.

"Is that where your mind goes when you find out that we're friends?" Derek asks, smirking as he toes playfully at Barry's ankle. "I can do way more push ups than him, just so you know."

[thescarletspeedster]

Barry looks up in surprise, trying not to blush when Derek's toes brush his ankle. He never really thought much about his feet before, but tonight it's as if they're a live wire to his entire body, every tiny shift of Derek's foot sending a new thrill down his spine.

"I don't know," says Barry, "He's pretty ripped. Like, stupid ripped." There's real jealousy in his voice, though it's faint. Barry knows he'll never be muscular like that - he's just grateful to have abs now. "So," he says, shaking the idea of both Oliver and Derek's unfairly sculpted torsos, the latter with increasing difficulty, "How'd you guys meet?"

[triskehale]

"Oh, I don't know," Derek says casually, letting his gaze sweep deliberately over Barry. "That isn't really my type."

His type is tall and all lean muscle, strong without being too bulky. Barry. Barry is his type, and the heat in his gaze probably says as much. He stares for a bit, seemingly unable to look away, and then blinks at the question. He met Oliver as the Arrow in a darkened alley in the middle of the night.

Barry and Oliver are from the same place, and they both run around in leather costumes with special code names. Really, the odds of them not knowing each other's secret is pretty damn low, but Derek still doesn't want to blurt it out just in case.

"We're both night owls," he says after a moment, choosing his words carefully. "I ran into him while he was, uh. Indulging in his archery hobby."

[thescarletspeedster]

Derek is staring at him in a way that makes Barry feel exactly like the rabbit he's offered to imitate, unnerved and excited and amazed all at once. For the briefest moment he feels already caught between Derek's teeth, which ought to be terrifying when Barry knows what Derek can turn into, but instead it makes Barry want to run and see if Derek can catch him. It takes an age for the rest of what Derek's said to register.

"Yeah," says Barry, his steak forgotten. "I mean, yeah. Wait." Derek had known his heartbeat, even as a mouse. It makes sense that he'd know Oliver's too. Barry looks up and prays he's not wrong. "He trusts you with that?"

[triskehale]

Derek's grip on his fork tightens when Barry's scent veers unmistakably towards aroused. His heart speeds up and he stares at Derek, eyes wide, and Derek gets the urge to lean over the table and grab him. But, considering that he's not actually an animal, he's able to control himself. He takes a deep breath through his mouth and presses their feet together again.

Derek feels a little like he's already gotten hooked on that scent, and that sort of scares him. He's already so attracted to Barry in so many ways, and his own heart pounds away in his chest. He reminds himself that this seems to be going well, really well, and does his best to keep away all the worst case scenarios that threaten to pop up.

He's still watching Barry when he speaks, and he raises an eyebrow at the wording. An archery hobby isn't really a huge secret, so Barry must know. Derek laughs a little and slices his fork through his baked potato. "I didn't really give him a choice at first. Masks are pretty ineffective when you have a nose like mine."

[thescarletspeedster]

Barry exhales, startled to realize he doesn't have to keep Oliver's secret. His heart is already racing from the fear that he might out him, still racing from the brief drag of Derek's eyes over him, but he begins to settle at the press of Derek's foot, relief and something more sweeping through him. He'd never really noticed how much keeping secrets sucked until he had to do it all the time.

"It's really nice to be yourself," he says. "I know Oliver appreciates it, even if he makes a fuss. He can be a serious grump sometimes. But I guess if you're close you know that."

[triskehale]

"He is, but I can't really fault anyone for being a grump," Derek says with a laugh. He eats a bit more of his food and then laughs when he realizes that he can tell the story he had to bite back earlier. "Not long after that whole mess with the animals, I was out as a wolf and he put an arrow through my chest. Paranoid bastard."

He smiles and finishes off his potato and reaches for some fries, licking salt from the tip of his thumb before raising an eyebrow. "We are spending a lot of this date talking about Oliver."

Saying the word aloud makes his belly sort of clench, but that's what this is. Derek is on a date with a great guy and even though he doesn't know what he's done to get here, or how he managed to catch the attention of someone like Barry, he isn't going to question it. He'll try not to, at least. He just doesn't want it to end, not the date, or Barry looking at him like he is.