Reciprocal Altruism || Snowbarry College AU

The Cait-alyst or the Snow-hibitor V

Caitlin and Barry spent the next two weeks like the big grown adults they were and avoided any mention of the conversation they had back in Caitlin's apartment. They still met for their weekly study sessions, but any outside conversations subsided almost completely.

There was a calm in both their fake relationship and the study sessions, mostly because it was that waiting period between having taken an exam and waiting on the test scores to be released. They didn't have much to study for and they didn't have much to fake about their relationship while Barry contemplated his lifelong loyalty to the girl he cherished like no other. Caitlin worried if it was the calm before the storm.

It seemed like Barry was an expert at denial and could not fathom the idea of seeing Iris as any less than perfection. But Caitlin was a little concerned about him. He seemed less energetic around her and a part of her wondered if maybe she had damaged their relationship forever. But then the realization came to her that her "relationship" with Barry was fake anyway, and Iris would always be a wall between them.

Inhibitors in chemical reactions stopped a reaction from moving forward. Catalysts, on the other hand, worked in the opposite direction and made it easier for a reaction to take place. Catalysts had the ability to speed up a reaction without being completely consumed by the reaction it was trying to help.

The idea of freedom was Felicity's inhibitor that had momentarily stopped her from moving forward with Oliver. Caitlin was the catalyst that pushed Felicity in the right direction and gave her the advice she really did know deep down, but just needed to hear from the right person. The right catalyst, or Cait-alyst, to speed up the Olicity reaction that was already bound to happen anyway.

Now onto the other love dilemma: the Westallen reaction was one that confused and puzzled Caitlin to no end.

Barry had asked Caitlin to fake date him so he could make himself a more viable partner for Iris in some twisted kind of thinking. But now that she had the time to really think about it and she had a sense of who Barry and Iris really were, she wondered if her being with Barry was actually inhibiting Iris even further.

Iris was not the kind of girl to steal someone else's boyfriend and though that was not Barry's intention, since he had wanted himself and Caitlin to real fake break-up before ever striking it up with Iris, it still unnecessarily complicated the situation.

Caitlin still had no idea what role she played in the mess that was Barry and Iris.

Was she Caitlin the catalyst, like Barry had hoped she would be?

Or was she making everything worse by getting into the mess and slowing Barry the tortoise down even more?

Would she be a Cait-alyst or was she more of a Snow-hibitor?

She wondered how far away the finish line truly was.

Terrible situations had a knack for bringing people together.

The city's deep-seated problems, with the heart of it being at the university, led to a team of the most passionate people working together to fight issues that even the higher ups were unable to (or refused to) solve.

Terrible situations could be great catalysts for change. Change for the better, that is.

It led to Oliver and Felicity working together, with Oliver overseeing logistics and finance and Felicity with the programming and evaluation. It also eventually led to them finally realizing their true feelings for each other.

But terrible situations could also inhibit great things from happening.

Caitlin didn't want to be the inhibitor that stopped Barry and Iris from finding each other. But if she truly was a catalyst to speed up Barry and Iris's feelings for each other, she wondered why she felt so absolutely consumed by the reaction.