(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

[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.

[thescarletspeedster]

"Hey, we've talked about food for even more of it, so we're still doing good," Barry replies, watching Derek lick his fingers without quite registering that he's doing it. "But I can't believe he shot you," Barry continues. "I mean, I guess I can, but that's still terrible! He is seriously wound too tight."

Barry pushes more fries into his mouth. "He shot me, too, in a training exercise. A couple times right in the back." He rolls his eyes, but despite himself, Barry almost sounds fond when he says, "Jerk."

[triskehale]

"At least we have common interests," Derek points out, leaning in to take a long sip of the shake. They've demolished a good chunk of the food on the table, and there's still more to come. He pauses in drinking the shake, cheeks still hollowed, when Barry says that he was shot too. The thought of Barry full of arrows makes him squirm uncomfortably even if he does heal quickly.

"He is a jerk," Derek says, sounding just as fond. "If he didn't have friends who healed fast, he'd have no friends at all."

A busboy comes to clear away their empty plates, and the server follows to set down a new basket of fries and top off their coffees. "You boys ready for your pie?"

Derek nods and looks at Barry, tilting his head curiously as he hooks his foot around Barry's ankle again. "I think so."

The server nods and walks away, and Derek pushes the rest of the shake towards Barry so he can finish it off. "So," he says, resting his hands on the table. "Do you have anything planned for us after this?"

[thescarletspeedster]

"Oh," says Barry, seizing the shake and draining the last of it one go, vibrating it briefly to get all the best parts to the bottom for the straw. "Not much, I mean, nothing fancy. I thought we could take a walk if you wanted to. I know it's cold, but my circulation's pretty - " Barry makes a zooming motion. "It's hard to freeze me out. And it's really nice by the ocean when the wind is down."

The pies arrive, and Barry tears his eyes away from Derek to grin down at them. "Now for the moment of truth," he says. "Do you eat your ice cream and pie together in one bite, or separately."

[triskehale]

"I'm the same," Derek says, smiling to himself. They're such different people, but they have so many similarities. Derek really likes that. "A walk sounds nice. I know a place we can go."

The pie arrives and Derek nearly salivates as he reaches for his fork. He laughs as Barry's question, raising an eyebrow as he gets a little of both onto his fork. "I like them together."

He pops the bite into his mouth and savors the taste of it, warm apple against cool ice cream, and swallows. "Did I pass the test?"

[thescarletspeedster]

Barry laughs. "I was actually going to be cool with it either way," he admits. "I don't like ice cream with my pie at all, only a hot brownie sundae, or ice cream all by itself." He shrugs. "Texture thing."

He forks into his own pie, smiling down at it. Derek wants to go for a walk. Derek has a place in mind. Derek is willingly prolonging this date. For a minute, Barry forgets to even eat, making up for it with a huge bite of coconut cream. "So where's this place?" he asks.

[triskehale]

"A brownie sundae sounds good," Derek says, like they don't have a table full of pie. Barry takes a huge bite, and Derek leans over to wipe some whipped cream from the corner of his mouth. He gives Barry sort of a sly look and sucks his thumb clean before grabbing his fork again.

"It's a bit of a walk, but something tells me you won't mind," Derek starts. "It's out in the woods towards the barrier. There's this cliff that looks out over the ocean, and it's really hard for humans to get to. I like to go out there sometimes. I think you'd like it."

The only other person he's show the spot to is Luke, and Luke is like a brother to him. The thought of going there with Barry makes him happy, and he smiles around another bite of pie.

[thescarletspeedster]

Barry knows he should be trying for cool, or funny, or seductive somehow on this date, but all he can do is stare dumbfounded when Derek reaches for his mouth, sucking the cream from his thumb after.

He blinks very slowly, tonguing the corner of his mouth to taste the tiniest bit of sugar. Barry tried not to expect too much from tonight. He knows Derek likes him, but not if he likes him in a way that maybe might involve their mouths in the near future. He's still been gearing himself up to hold Derek's hand on the walk out of here, but now, after the looks and the foot and the lingering tingle of Derek's thumb against his lips...Barry draws a deep breath. A good night kiss might actually be on the table.

He devours the rest of his pie in three bites. "That sounds cool."

[triskehale]

Barry's expression goes a little flustered at the touch to his face and Derek's own cheeks darkens lightly. Barry's tone, when he agrees, is casual but the way they he finishes his pie so quickly gives away his excitement. Derek signals for the check and shovels the rest of his pie into his own mouth, laughing a little as he wipes his mouth.

"Yeah. We should stop and get some clearance candy," Derek suggests. "Knowing us, we'll be hungry by the time we get there."

[thescarletspeedster]

"Good idea," breathes Barry with enthusiasm, speeding the check when it comes into his hand and laying down a stack of ten dollar bills to cover it. "It's on me. I didn't do every paper route in town this morning for nothing," he grins.

Just barely resisting dragging a finger through the crumbs on his own plate, Barry settles for draining the last of his coffee. "Ready to go?"

[triskehale]

Derek doesn't even get a chance to reach for the check, and he looks at Barry curiously at the mention of the paper route. "Why did you-- oh, I guess yesterday really tapped you out, huh?"

He goes warm just at the mention of the flash mob but now that time has passed, and he's sitting here across from Barry, it just makes him smile. It was just another one of Darrow's tricks, but hopefully it'll be a funny story they end up telling. Because there's still that flare of hope in his chest, warm and bright like a flame, and it's only getting bigger as the night progresses.

"Okay, but the next one's on me," Derek says, giving Barry a hopeful smile before nodding and sliding out of the booth. The waitress smiles at them, and Derek ducks his head. After a moment, he bites his lip and then holds his hand out to Barry.

[thescarletspeedster]

Barry's is digesting that, a next time, another date, when he looks up and sees Derek holding out his hand. Barry beams and for once doesn't second guess that Derek's reaching for something other than him. He fits his hand in Derek's own and marvels at the warmth, then realizes he doesn't have his coat on yet.

"Sorry," Barry mutters hastily, putting his coat on in record time, even for a speedster, and reclaims Derek's hand with a bashful smile. "For real this time," he says and squeezes.

[triskehale]

"Worth the wait," Derek shoots back, threading their fingers together and squeezing. For as much as he really wouldn't mind doing other things with Barry, this is really nice. There's a gentle sort of intimacy to it, one that Derek find comforting, and he smiles over at Barry as they step back out into the cold.

"There's a drug store a few blocks up here," Derek tells him, and they start to walk. The moon looms high in the sky, less than a week from being full, and he takes in a deep breath of the night air before letting it out slowly. "That place was really good. Steaks weren't as good as mine, of course. But they were good."

He gives Barry a teasing smile and lets his gaze linger on Barry's profile, backlit by streetlights and the glow of the moon. He smells happy and excited all at once, and Derek made that happen. He put that smile on Barry's face, made his scent go all warm and content, and he can barely believe it. He just feels so grateful, and he squeezes Barry's hand and moves a bit closer before turning his gaze forward again.

[thescarletspeedster]

It's as if he can feel Derek's gaze on him, his skin tingling in the wake of those hazel eyes as they pass over him, and when Derek looks away, Barry takes the opportunity to stare at him in turn. He's one of those rare people who doesn't seem to have a bad angle, looking as impossibly handsome from the side as he does the front. His cheekbones could probably cut glass, but it's the corner of Derek's mouth that Barry finds himself most enamored with, the crease of his eyes. The tiny lines there only come from smiling, and Derek has such a kind smile. Even if Derek never held his hand again, Barry thinks he might be okay so long as he still got to see him smile like that.

He nearly walks into a post and startles, realizing they're at the store. "Oh, no way," Barry breathes, staring through the window. "Even the Reese's are on sale?" He drags Derek to the door and opens it. "And Take 5 bars? Are they crazy?"