Burning Down The House - Snowbarry

Chapter One

He shouldn't be focused on Caitlin.

He should be focused on the Black Flame.

He should be scouring every inch of the city in search of Central City's newest plague, and putting an end to it before anyone else could get hurt.

He shouldn't be focused on her right now, and yet he is.

His eyes surveyed the Cortex, and came up with the same outcome it had the last few weeks: no Caitlin Snow.

It was unusual, uncommon, and it made him feel dissimilar. He had become so accustomed to her presence that the lack of it made this whole Team Flash thing feel incomplete and disingenuous.

He felt similar after Cisco had left, but this, it felt deeper, and more than just a simple longing to have his friend near or have things be the same they always were.

Frost, Chester, Allegra, and even Cecile were great, and he loved them, but Caitlin was something completely different, a constant he could always look to in his ever changing life, a constant he had taken for granted, a constant he had ruined.

Her absence for the better part of a month had left him almost isolated amidst the team, especially because he knew the reason she had been so inattentive. He found he didn't really know the rest of the team, not like he knew Caitlin. They were his teammates, his friends, his family, but it wasn't the same.

"Hey, uh, where's Caitlin?" He spoke suddenly, turning to look at Frost. "We need all the help we can get." He felt the need to add, though he found himself questioning why. It was likely his mind fearing that anyone else on the team might've known about that fateful night weeks ago, and that adding that last part would somehow ease their suspicions.

"Ever since she decided to go all in with Marcus, it's open season on spontaneous getaways." It was as if hope itself had been snuffed from within him as Frost went on about Caitlin and Marcus's relationship, and It was then that he realized any possibilities between him and Caitlin that had been actualized all those weeks ago were obliterated in one fell swoop. "So one minute, they're listening to showtunes, getting all weepy on the couch, and then next, they got last minute tickets to 'Dear Evan Hansen in Metropolis."

Barry nodded vacantly as Frost finished, the voices of Cecile and Sue are faint and distant in his ears as they congratulate Caitlin. He stared absentmindedly past Sue and at the old Flash suit that lay on the mannequin before him. He found a flurry of memories swirl inside his mind and the ghost of a smile graced his face for a brief moment, only to fall as fast as it formed.

He was happy for her. Truly. She had finally put herself out there after so long, after being hurt so many times. She deserved happiness more than anyone he knew, and yet he found himself almost glacial to the idea, something that he scolded himself for but at the same time had to ask himself why?

He was married, and she was just a friend.

Right?

After what happened, he wasn't so sure anymore.

"Barry?"

"Hmm?" He turned his attention to Frost, finally broken out of his trance.

"You good?" She inquired with a apprehensive smile. "You kinda zoned out for a minute there."

"Yeah." He stated unconvincingly with a shrug, and Frost as well as the team and even Sue stared at him, concern overtly displayed on their faces. "I'm just...overthinking about the case." He lied, sucking in a sharp breath as the silver-haired woman nodded, clearly not completely convinced. After a brief moment of recollection, he turned to Sue. "Are you staying in Central City? We could really use the help."