(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]

"We can have as many as you want," Derek assures him, giving in to the urge to reach out and press a hand to his lower back for a moment, just wanted to extend that contact.

When Barry asks where he's from, Derek blinks in surprise. For all that they've been through, and all the personal details that they've shared, he can't believe that they skipped something so simple. They still have a lot to learn about each other, and Derek is looking forward to it.

"Beacon Hills. It's a small town on the coast of California, north of San Francisco," Derek tells him, feeling a small longing for home. "I lived in Manhattan for a few years, but Beacon Hills will always be home. What about you?"

[thescarletspeedster]

"Central City," says Barry, smiling in sad recognition for the brief yearning in Derek's face. "One of the bigger towns in the Midwest, not like Metropolis, of course, but it's home." He squeezes the wolf for a moment, clearly thinking about it. "The winter's don't suck as much there as here," he adds with an amused huff.

"Is Beacon Hills near Coast City?" he asks. "I used to run there for pizza."

[triskehale]

"I've never heard of Coast City, but wait. You ran from the Midwest to the coast for pizza?" Derek chuckles a little and shakes his head in amusement. "Of course you did. Where were you when I was in California and craving Gray's Papaya?"

He doesn't often miss New York, not when so much of his time there was spent in grief and pain, but there were definitely highlights. Laura liked the city, liked all the people, except on the days closest to the full moon. Derek felt pretty irritable himself during those times, and he can only imagine how hard a full moon in Manhattan would be for an alpha. Sometimes even Darrow is too much, and he's glad that he has the woods to escape to.

"Yeah, I'm a little over the snow," Derek says as they walk. He wishes that either one of them didn't run so hot just so he would have an excuse to press closer.

But before he knows it, they're at the diner and Derek darts forward to open the door for Barry, gesturing him inside. "After you."

[thescarletspeedster]

Barry grins and ducks his head, murmuring, "Thank you," as he steps into the comparative heat of the diner. He's not used to someone else opening the door for him. The few guys he'd dated in college hadn't exactly been out for romance, and he hadn't minded at the time, but this is...nice.

It smells good inside, and Barry's reminded of the waffles they'd shared after Semele's. It's one of his fondest memories in Darrow, and the chance to repeat it now fills him with warmth. "I'd return the favor," he says, sliding into the closest open booth, "but, no chairs."

[triskehale]

"You'll have to owe me one," Derek says with a smile, sliding easily into the booth. He's glad that Barry picked a place that's casual, only because it gives Derek one less thing to worry about. Here he can just focus on Barry and not handling himself properly in a fancy place.

Barry settles in and sets the stuffed wolf on the the table, resting his hand on it in a way that he doesn't even seem to be aware of, and Derek can't help but to smile at the sight. He had bought the thing mostly as a joke, a way to break the ice after the awkwardness of the day before, but Barry already seems so fond of it.

"I don't even think that I need to see the menu," Derek says even as he pulls it over. "Not with the look you had in your eye when you talked about that steak."

[thescarletspeedster]

"God, that steak," Barry groans at once, grinning as he sits back. "Two steaks, three eggs, a baked potato, a waffle, a slice of apple pie, coconut cream if they have it - "

" - endless coffee, french fries, and keep another steak primed and ready just in case," the server joins in as she reaches the table. Barry beams up at her and shrugs. "I might come here a lot. Derek?"

Barry eyes him across the table, stroking at his wolf. "You should for sure leave room for pie, if that even needs to be said."

[triskehale]

Derek grins as the waitress joins in, and he can't even tear his gaze away from him to look up at her. It's nice to share a meal with someone who can eat just as much as he does, but if they keep dating they may have to take out a loan just to pay for food.

He blinks when he realizes that he's already thinking of this like it's going to be a regular thing, and while it makes him happy, it also makes him nervous. Usually when he starts taking a good thing for granted, it gets taken away from him. The last thing he wants is to be pessimistic, so he does his best to stoke the little flare of hope in his chest rather than wash it out with negativity.

"I'll have the same, but make both pieces of pie Dutch Apple a la mode if you have it, please." Derek finally looks up at the waitress and hands her the menu, chuckling softly at the look on her face.

"Have you finally met your match?" She asks of Barry, and Derek just smiles.

"Oh, and a chocolate shake," Derek adds, letting his gaze settle back on Barry as their feet press together under the table. "Two straws."

[thescarletspeedster]

Barry's eyes widen when he feels Derek's foot under the table, and he moves his own, bracketing Derek's foot in with a shy smile. "At eating, anyway," he tells the server, winking at Derek. "I'm still best at other things."

He sits back without releasing Derek's foot an inch, pleased at having teased him. "So, chocolate. Is that your favorite kind of shake?"

[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."