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The amount of fancy parties Barry has had to go to since befriending Oliver Queen has gone up exponentially in comparison to his previous twenty-four years of life. That being said, the two or three he’s attended since that first disastrous Christmas party have been pretty nice, so when he gets an invitation for him and the rest of Team Flash for Oliver and Felicity’s engagement party, he’s pretty stoked.
“Felicity even included a credit card and a note saying, ‘Make sure all of you are presentable.’” Without really meaning to, Barry looked over to Cisco, noticing that Caitlin and Iris had committed a similar offense.
Cisco released a squawk in outrage. “I see how it is! Well, I’ll have you know that I clean up good!” He waved a hand down his body to emphasize. “However–” Barry barked out a laugh and felt his eyes go fond. “Bish! As I was saying! The last time I needed a suit, I was about forty pounds heavier and four inches shorter, so Imma need that card.”
Barry smiled and handed over said card. “I’m all set, so it’s all you.”
“Actually!” Iris interrupted, a glint in her eye that Barry recognized as scheming and was instantly worried about, “I need a new dress, I have nothing that would fit in with such a swanky crowd, so I’ll go with you, Cisco!”
Barry followed them with his eyes as they swept out of the Cortex, Cisco saying something about leaving the white bread behind for once.
-
Barry didn’t have a chance to ask Iris about it for a few days, when they met up at Jitters for their weekly ‘What can we do to make sure Joe doesn’t have a heart attack before either of us give him grandkids’ meeting.
Iris had just finished up updating the Google Calendar for meals when Barry decided to broach the subject. “So, why did you want to go shopping with Cisco? I know you just bought an insanely expensive dress with your end of year bonus.”
Barry new the ‘innocent’ look he got in response was the same one Iris would give Joe whenever he caught her with a hand in the cookie jar when they were younger. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Bare.”
“Right.” Barry took a sip of his coffee while giving her a significant look.
Iris sighed. “Alright, so maybe, I might have noticed some significant looks you’ve been giving Cisco the past few, oh, I don’t know, year.”
Barry spluttered and dribbled his coffee down his front. “What? No! I–! What? No!”
Iris smirked and handed him a napkin, “Right, that was so convincing.”
“You are wrong, ma’am. Very wrong. Cisco is my friend! Just friend! My bro! We are just, y’know. Bros.” Barry dabbed at his shirt and avoiding meeting Iris’s eye at all costs.
“Barry, we grew up one room apart, you think I don’t know when you’re crushing hard?”
Barry sighed. “Fine, I will admit – very hypothetically! – that I might like Cisco. What does that have to do with you shopping with him?”
“Oh please, like you two aren’t going to stand in the corner all night like wallflowers! You might as well match your date!”
Barry’s eyes widened, “Date? Iris, we’re not going together, the four of us are going as a group!”
“Yeah, but me and Caitlin are going to be dancing with handsome, rich, single men all night, and you and Cisco are going to hang out at the open bar pretending like you don’t desperately want to ask the other to dance.” Iris took a smug sip of her coffee and then set it down on their table, giving Barry a look like she was daring him to argue.
“Okay, so maybe I like Cisco, but that doesn’t mean he feels the same, Iris!”
Iris rolled her eyes. “We’ll see.”
-
The party arrived faster that Barry hoped it would. As much as he was looking forward to seeing Felicity and Oliver without impending doom, ever since his conversation with Iris at Jitters, he’d been a nervous wreck.
Felicity had put them up in a lavish Hotel suite for the night, Barry and Cisco in one room, Caitlin and Iris in the other. Iris had been very oddly specific about that when she met them back in the lobby with their keys and Barry understood why when he opened the door to his and Cisco’s room.
There was only one, albeit queen sized, mattress in the room.
Cisco bounced into the room, garment bag over one shoulder and overnight bag in hand. He tossed the bag into a chair in the corner of the room and then hung the garment bag on the closet door. Barry fiddled with the strap to his own overnight bag hanging from his shoulder and cleared his throat. “I guess I’ll call the front desk and ask for a cot? Or sleep on the couch in the main part of the suite–”
“Why, dude? Plenty of room for both of us!” Cisco plopped down onto the bed and bounced in place. “Your like this big,” here he presented his hand, pointed finger and thumb a minuscule distance from each other. Barry felt his face burn. “And it’s not like I’m a giant. Just two bros sharing a sweet hotel bed, we’ll stay up all night gossiping like a high school slumber party!”
Barry could not think of a worse torture than having Cisco less than an arms length away while he slept. Especially with his reputation as a sleep snuggler. But he didn’t want Cisco to think anything was wrong, so he forced a smile. “Right! It’ll be fun!”
-
The party wasn’t starting for another hour or two, which gave them plenty of time to get ready. Cisco was currently in the shower and Caitlin and Iris were pulling and prodding at Barry’s hair, trying to convince him to do something new with it.
“Guys! I’ve had the same haircut for, like, six years, if I wanted to do something new with it, I would have by now!” Barry snapped, waving an arm above his head to knock their hands away from him.
Barry practically felt Caitlin frown. “What is up with you, you’ve been grouchy ever since we got here.”
He opened his mouth to respond, but Iris cut him off. “He’s nervous.”
“Nervous about what?” Cisco asked, exiting the bathroom. Barry turned to deny what Iris said, but instead immediately turned red and felt his mouth drop open.
Cisco was only wearing a towel around his waist and nothing. else. His hair was damp and falling around his face, framing just so that it emphasized his plush lips, high cheek bones, and jaw line. Barry watched as a water droplet fell from a strand of hair at his neck and made it’s way down his torso, leaving a trail of water that he desperately wanted to lick in its wake.
Like always, Barry was thankful to whatever deity placed Iris West in his life when she saved his bacon for the millionth time. “Just about the party, we all know how easily Barry gets flustered.”
If at all possible, Barry’s face flushed darker and he cursed Iris for the millionth time.
-
Iris, Caitlin, and Cisco continued getting ready, occasionally berating Barry for his speed and therefore his ability to just sit and watch them struggle.
Iris had done her hair simply, straightening it and pinning it back behind her ears whereas Caitlin had curled hers then pinned it up in an asymmetrical up-do. After drying and brushing his hair, Cisco had his tied back into a bun, loose at the base of his neck.
Next came make up for the girls while Barry and Cisco watched in awe. They did something called ‘contouring’ that Barry was mystified by, followed by stuff Barry was more accustomed to seeing. Iris went for a more sultry look, with dark lips and dark eye shadow, while Caitlin went a little more glam with red lips and a subtle cat eye.
Barry would not have known any of these terms had it not been for Caitlin and Iris gushing to each other about how good the other looked as they did all of this.
Iris was trying to convince Cisco to let her put some eyeliner on him when Barry got a call from Oliver.
“Hey Oliver, what’s up?” Iris was now sitting on Cisco, trying to battle her way to his eye through his flailing hands.
“…I was wondering if you could help me with something?” The way he said it sounded wrote and Barry could imagine Felicity gabbing him in the side to make him say it.
Cisco barely managed to escape Iris’s charcoal pencil, but then Caitlin was on him, grabbing him around the waist and bodily throwing him back on the couch. “Sure, buddy, what’s up?”
There was another delay in his response. “There’s a robbery downtown. Normally, I could handle it myself, but if I do so today, I’ll be late for the party. I have been told that it is not acceptable to be late to my own engagement party.”
Barry smiled. “Yeah, man, of course. So how hard is Felicity jabbing you in the side right now?”
“Hi, Barry!”
“Shut up, Barry. You know where to meet me.”
-
Seeing as how it only took them about twenty to thirty minutes to wrangle up the bank robbers and turn them over to the police, Barry was riding high and happy for the little bit of stress relief that running always provided. He got back to the hotel with enough to time to take a quick shower, change, and leave. The other had left a note saying that Felicity had sent a car for them.
So by the time Barry got to the banquet hall, he was ready for some food. He immediately found a waiter with a tray of crab cakes and nabbed as many as he could without said waiter giving him a dirty look. It was while he was shoving one of the crab cakes in his mouth that he spotted his friends.
Caitlin and Iris looked gorgeous. Iris’s dress a flowy gold piece that made her skin glow even more than usual and Caitlin was wearing a tight, strapless white dress that accentuated her curves.
But Cisco…Cisco looked phenomenal. His dark navy suit with black lapels and a black tie was just enough color to give it the character that made it Cisco’s, and added contrast to his dark hair and warm brown skin. The pants hugged his ass and thick thighs and honestly made Barry want to drop to his knees in front of him.
He made his way over to his friends, cutting his way through the dance floor. Once he made it to the small circle of people, he opened his mouth to great them, but that’s not what came out.
“Do you want to dance?”
Caitlin gasped, Iris’s smug smile came back for an encore, and Cisco just looked at him shocked. He turned his head to look behind himself, then pointed at his own face and mouthed, ‘me?’
Barry smiled and nodded, offering his hand. Cisco took it and followed Barry on to the dance floor.
They didn’t leave until the music ended for the night.