Within Seconds // Barry Allen

Night Changes

"Where were you this morning?" interrogated Barry.

Parker, not even entirely through the Cortex doors yet, frowned. "What a greeting..."

Barry raised his brow.

"I was hanging with Oliver," she said. "I learned some self-defense moves."

"Smart," noted Cisco.

"Now if one of you bothers me, I can kick your ass," threatened Parker. She pretended to karate-chopp the air.

"Or have Oliver do it for you," said Barry, sliding past her and from the Cortex. "It would probably work better!"

Parker took a seat at the computer. Knowing that, if an alarm went off, it was going to be random and rare, she slumped in the computer chair. She closed her eyes.

A number of minutes later, an irritating beep dragged Parker from what she considered sleep.

Inhaling a depressed sigh, she maneuvered her seat until she was facing the computer.

"Ladies and gents!" Parker called through the speaker. "We've got a ping from the FRS."

"FRS?" Caitlin asked, entering with Cisco and Felicity on her heels.

"Facial Recognition Software. Given to us by the one and only Felicity Smoak," Cisco answered.

"Happy Hanukkah," Felicity chimed.

Parker squinted her eyes, searching the screen for a location. "Traffic cameras found him entering a residence at one sixty eight Jarvis."

"Who?" Barry asked. Parker glared at him for his late appearance, making him raise his damp hands. "I was in the bathroom."

Continuing her glare, she said, "Bivolo."

"A.k.a Prism," Cisco corrected.

"We should call the Arrow," Felicity suggested.

Barry waved his hand. "No, I can do this alone."

Felicity and Parker shared an uneasy glance.

Parker gathered that something was up, but she couldn't voice her thoughts around so many witnesses. Barry was one to keep his feelings private, and she understood that, for she was the same.

"Barry," Felicity said. "I really think you should-"

Barry snapped, "Felicity, I don't need his help," which brought everyone off of the topic.

>>>>>>>>>>

Barry

He tried to stare in between the two girls, through the gap through their heads. While it was flattering to have two beautiful girls peering at him over their glasses, it was also quite awkward.

"He looks fine," Parker whispered.

"Maybe he doesn't affect him," Felicity whispered back.

"I'm right here, guys," Barry muttered, meeting both of their eyes.

The girls decided to finally accept the fact that their conversation about Barry had been heard by him.

They stood, Felicity still squinting at him like she was waiting for him to explode.

"You feel okay?" Parker asked, laying the back of her hand on his cheek.

Barry stared into her eyes and lightly placed his hand over hers, giving a slight nod. She kept her hand on his cheek for a second more before she tried to take it back. Barry refused, lacing their hands together to keep her nearby.

"No desire to go MMA on any of us?" Felicity asked.

"Maybe Park," Barry joked. He kissed the back of her hand to wipe away the frown on her lips. "No, something was weird. Everything went red."

Felicity turned to Caitlin. "You were right," she confirmed.

"Bivolo was gone the next second," Barry said shamefully.

Trying to escape the know-it-all glances of the girls, he slipped out of Caitlin's lab and tried to leave the Cortex.

Caitlin followed him. "It was stupid to go out there alone, Barry."

"You take too many risks," Parker agreed.

"You're fast, Barry, but that might catch up with you," Caitlin said.

Looking back on it, Barry understood the girls were trying to help him to be better. At the time, he disregarded that, due to his anger.

He hated the look they shared: the eyebrow raise, the head tilt, the flat lips. It resembled a scolding mother, and he was not their child, though he was definitely acting like one.

A sarcastic comment from Parker would come, a shake of the head from Felicity, but Caitlin was one to constantly nag.

He didn't want to say it; he just couldn't think of anything else to say that would make Caitlin back off.

"Caitlin, I'm not Ronnie. You have to stop treating me like I am."

Caitlin huffed, went to say something, then shut her mouth and walked out of the Cortex without a word.

"Hey, even I know that was a low blow," Parker reprimanded.

Barry shrugged. He watched her as she pulled her phone from her pocket.

"Gotta go," Parker said. She waved to Felicity, patted Barry on the back, then told him to behave.

Stealing the company car without permission, Parker drove to see the person who summoned her.