Within Seconds // Barry Allen

The Brave

In their absence, Cisco was admiring more things of the cave, Felicity was filing paper work, and Caitlin started some work for the murder of the Canary.

Parker stared at the salmon ladder. The bottom half of her eyelids were raised, investigating the salmon ladder.  If her shoulder hadn't been injured, she probably would have attempted it. Not in front of anyone, just in case she miserably failed.

Suddenly, arms were wrapped around her waist. His voice was loud in her ear, but he was simply rambling to everyone about, "Saving Oliver from a flying boomerang!" and then he went absolutely silent.

"Who even called him?" Parker asked, patting the hand on her stomach to release his grip around her.

Caitlin cleared her throat, claiming the glory. "I thought Oliver might need help."

Parker grimly shook her head. "Do not admit that to him."

"Ever," Felicity warned.

"Did you finish your chores? Barry Allen, if you haven't, severe punishment is in mind," Parker threatened.

Barry laid a hand on her shoulder. His eyes were not on her as he told her he had indeed finished all ten of the assigned chores. Those green lookers sat on the thing in front of Felicity's desk: the amazing salmon ladder.

Barry was absolutely entranced. He stepped toward it blindly, like something was drawing him to it forcefully.

Parker briefly wished she had that effect on him.

Barry had latched his hands onto the first indent. Parker quickly sat, leaning back in the chair, awaiting the show. She doubted Barry could get to the fifth indent.

Beautifully, he proved her wrong. He tackled that salmon ladder with great ease and barely any effort. He did the first set before he flipped a switch in his ability, performing the salmon ladder on his fastest speed.

Caitlin, Cisco, Felicity and Parker's heads bounced up and down, following Barry's movement. There was the occasional clank of the bar hitting the metal, but not a sound came from Barry.

And to think that hot piece of man will be mine in a few weeks.. I'm getting a salmon ladder installed in my bedroom. Just for him..

Parker felt Cisco glance at her and suddenly became highly aware of her teeth indenting her bottom lip. She drew her teeth back, adjusting her sweatshirt nervously. She could only hope Cisco hadn't seen how impressed she was. A second longer and she probably would have been drooling.

"If Parker wasn't here, do you think he would have still done it?" Cisco whispered.

"Absolutely not," said Felicity automatically.

"How often does Oliver do that?" Caitlin asked.

"At least every Wednesday," Felicity trailed off, her eyes swooning. "There's a lot of sweating.."

An echoing clang brought their attention back to the salmon ladder. Barry had climbed off, walking to the desk with his hands on his hips.

"I don't see what's so hard about that," he said. His eyes scanned over Parker, whose cheeks warmed.

"Look, I'm not really sure you all should have came. Oliver doesn't really play well with others," Felicity admitted, shrinking into her computer chair.

"Oh, come on, the team up last week was amazing!" Cisco disagreed.

"That was like a one time thing," said Felicity, mildly cringing.

"The dude was tossing around explosive boomerangs. He needed backup," Barry said. The subject was dropped when the group heard his stomach growl. "That made me hungry for sushi. You guys want any?"