𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐤. - BARRY ALLEN

SEVEN!

(CHAPTER SEVEN)
what comes next?

"I'm not stupid, Rosie. I know you're the blue streak."

Rosie's breath hitches slightly in her throat. She knew that he knew her secret, but she was not expecting Barry to confront her so quickly. She toys with the idea of denying knowledge of what he was talking about, but she knew better. Instead, she had an accusation of her own.

"Well, I'm not stupid either, Barry. I know you're the red streak."

AFTER both of their wild accusations, Rosie and Barry just stared at each other in silence for a while, neither of them quite knowing what to say.

A part of Rosie was relieved to have finally told someone about the secret she had been holding on to for numerous weeks, but anxiety over shadowed that relief.

"Please don't tell my brother!"

"Please don't tell Iris!"

The pair looked at each other in bewilderment after they blurted their requests out simultaneously.

"Wait, your brother doesn't know?" Rosie shakes her head in response, shoving her hands in her back pockets and rocking back and forth on her feet, a habit she's always had.

"Why haven't you told him?"

"Why haven't you told Iris?" Rosie shoots back.

"I asked you first."

"I asked you second."

Barry frowns for a moment before he chuckles and shakes his head. "Look at us, were acting like a couple of eight year olds."

Rosie laughs quietly and scratches the back of her neck. "Sorry, when I get defensive, I turn into a middle schooler."

The brunette smiles. "Do you wanna, I don't know, talk about it this over drinks? Like adults would." Barry asks nervously. "Only if you want to, of course."

Rosie nods her head, smiling despite herself. "I'd like that."

---

Not long later, the pair of scientists were sat at a bar in down town Central City, a beer in one hand as they each reminisced on how they discovered their extraordinary speed powers.

"So you electrocuted yourself with your powers stepping into a bath? That's rough."

Rosie nodded sombrely, swallowing a gulp of beer.

"Hurt like a bitch. I mean, yours was pretty bad too. Running into the back of a truck? Ouch."

"Yeah, ouch. But I guess we heal quick with our powers."

"Yay us."

Rosie took another sip of beer, this time emptying out the glass bottle. She was about to flag down the bartender for another drink before she realised she had already consumed four. And yet she felt nothing. She had never been a total light weight but the average person should be at least tipsy by now.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me."

"What's wrong?"

"Do you feel even a tiny bit tipsy?" Barry frowns, shaking his head slowly. "Great." The blonde sighs. "I think our powers have sped up our metabolism to the point that we can't feel the effects of alcohol."

"Brilliant, our drinking days are already over."

"Now what am I gonna do when I have my quarter life crisis?"

While Barry laughed at Rosie's joke, he found himself looking at the blonde in a different way. His first impression of her was that she was, one; stunningly beautiful and two; reserved and serious, strikingly similar to her brother, in fact. But talking with her tonight let Barry see her in a new light, a light in which she was humorous and charismatic.

Suddenly, Rosie stopped laughing as she remembered the question she had been meaning to ask.

"Hold on, where on earth did you get that ridiculous red suit you where running around in the day of the fire?"

Barry clutches his hand to his chest pretending to be offended. "Firstly, it's not ridiculous, its practical. And secondly, you know S.T.A.R Labs, right?" Rosie nods her head. "Well, I confronted them about my powers, and we've kinda been working together since. Do you maybe want to come with me next time?"

"Oh, I don't know if I'm ready to become a superhero quite yet. I'm not like you."

"But you can be. I don't think the lighting struck us by accident, I think it chose us."

Rosie raises an eyebrow, grinning slightly. "That's super cheesy."

"I know, but I stand by what I said."

The blonde sighs, before nodding somewhat reluctantly. "Okay, I'll do it. But if we're gonna be a 'crime-fighting-super-duo', we're gonna need cool aliases."

Barry grins. "I may or may not already have a name. The Flash."

Rosie laughs. "The Flash? That kind of sounds like a stripper name. What genius came up with that idea."

"Your brother."

"Oh."

"Anyway! What about your nickname?"

Rosie thinks for a moment. She hadn't really thought about the possibility of an alias until now, but her childhood nickname given to her by her brother was giving the speedster an idea.

"How about... The Spark?"