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13. Fast & Strong - Pt. 1 [B.A.]

Fast & Strong Pt. 1
{Barry x Reader}

"It's nice to see somebody appreciating my humor."

Your eyes widened at the cute boy sitting at the table across from yours at CC Jitters. You didn't mean to be eavesdropping on the cute guy's conversation with his friends, but having super-hearing made it hard not to. You could feel your face heat up and your smile at one of his jokes fade as his friends turned to see who he was talking to.

"I just... I like science puns," you shrugged, obviously caught. Usually, people didn't catch you. But, of course, the cute guy had to.

"I appreciate that," the guy smiled back, leaning his elbows on the table.

"He really does," one of his friends, a guy with wavy black hair laughed, "It's when you hear them all the time that it starts to get old."

"Agreed," the girl sitting with them nodded.

"My friends like me," the guy frowned, looking over at them accusingly.

The other guy looked back at him, nodding. "Yeah, this guy? He's great," he said with a shrug, "Even his annoying puns are."

"You make more than me," the cute guy rolled his eyes. You couldn't help but laugh at their interaction. You felt like a loser, sitting alone at your table, resorting to eavesdropping on stupid conversations.

"That's true, too," the girl said, nodding again. "Now, I hate to ruin the party, but I promised to meet someone for breakfast. I'll see you guys at work."

"Okay," the guys said. "See you later, Caitlin."

She stood up, grabbing her coffee and turning to leave. Unexpectedly, she turned to you with a kind smile, "They're just as weird as they seem."

You laugh loudly, unable to hold it in, "Oh, great. Thanks for the heads up."

She laughed back, shaking her head as she headed for the door.

You looked down at your coffee, the pretty latte art staring back at you. "I'm Barry, by the way." You looked up, to see the cute science geek staring at you.

"And I'm Cisco," his friend added.

"I'm Y/N," you smiled at the friends. "Shameless science geek." You held up your hands with a shrug.

"Well, shameless science geek Y/N, would you like to join us?" Cisco asked, "We were just discussing a metahuman-"

"Metahuman?" You asked. Wasn't that what people were calling people like The Flash? And, well, you?

"Uh, yeah," Barry sighed, "Cisco likes to follow that stuff."

"I work at STAR Labs," Cisco said softly, watching carefully for your reaction. STAR Labs wasn't a popular place, or liked place, and well, people didn't like to discuss it or what it's done to our town. STAR Labs was what created you.

"Oh," you said, "That's...."

"I know," Cisco sighed, "We're trying to do good and save our city."

"I believe you," you answered, "But it seems that The Flash is doing your work for you." You smirked jokingly. You didn't hate STAR Labs, you just... You didn't know what to think, honestly.

Barry let out a snort kind of laugh, causing you and Cisco to glance at him. When your eyes met, his laugh stopped short and his face turned a little pink with embarassment.

"Barry likes to follow him," Cisco raised his eyebrows, looking over at Barry.

Barry furrowed his eyebrows in protest. "Hardly," he argued, "My friend just writes a blog about him and I'm friends with you people."

Cisco laughed and looked back at you, probably happy to find you were smiling back, too.

"What are your thoughts on Flash?" Barry asked suddenly, looking at you.

"Uh, well," you sighed, scrunching up your face. You didn't know. Jealous? Amazed? "He's.... I think what he does is amazing."

"It is," Cisco agreed, "You know, I know The Flash."

You and Barry looked at him, both with some element of surprise. "You do?" You asked, leaning forward.

"No you do not," Barry said, narrowing his eyebrows at his friend.

"I do," Cisco nodded once, smiling in victory.

"Well, everyone has friends, right?" You shrugged. You sat up from your table, reaching inside of you and soaking up every ounce of confidence you had, and walked over to their table. You put your drink down, sitting next to Cisco, across from Barry. "How do you know him?"

Cisco's mouth opened slightly, as he put a hand to his head, playing with his hair. "I, uh, I'm not really supposed to say," Cisco coughed awkwardly, looking at Barry.

"The Flash saved his life once," Barry chimed in with a light explanation, folding his arms.

You nodded, "Oh. That's cool."

"But, you know, we talked," Cisco frowned, crossing his arms. "He's not so bad of a guy." He shot Barry a look, who just smiled and shrugged in return.

"You talked?" You asked, curious to know more about The Flash. If he could harness and control his powers, why couldn't you? If only you could find him, without giving away your abilities to perfect strangers.

"Yes," Cisco confirmed, "We did. We do."

"You do?" You repeated, becoming more and more intrigued by Cisco. "Do you... do you know how he learned to control his powers?" Cisco and Barry looked back and forth between each other, probably confused by your strange question. You knew you shouldn't have asked something like that, but there you were, digging yourself into a hole.

"I... guess with practice?" Cisco shrugged.

"Why do you ask?" Barry questioned, unfolding his arms and leaning forward.

You shook your head, feeling ridiculous talking to these guys. You opened your mouth, ready to make up some stupid explanation, but before you could the smell of fire filled the room. Your head snapped in the direction of the kitchen, to find a fire growing at the stove. You jumped out of your chair, knowing what would be next.

The fire alarm went off, drilling into brain, causing an instant migraine. Through blurry eyes you could see a flash of red, people running, and a fire building itself quickly. You saw Cisco's worried face, but only for a second, before everything went black.

• • • • •

author's note | here's part one of three! hope you enjoyed this one, and get ready for the next two :)

thank you for reading!