Saturday; Text to Action

[feelthelightning]

I'm gonna be a little late. Had to run into work on my day off for a bit.

The text was sent at around 5pm and it wasn't exactly a lie. It just had nothing to do with CCPD work. It had to do with stopping a train from derailing. And now he was waiting for a bruise over his left eye to heal before he could show up. Because it would be gone in 30 minutes max and if his bruise disappeared while he was having dinner with her it might seem suspicious.

He was just glad Caitlin and Harry had managed to create an anti venom for the chameleon's venom so quickly or he would have had to call off the date entirely. He still had no leads on who killed the chameleon or what went down in that bar. If he didn't know better, it had been Snart's Cold gun, but he was off with the Legends fixing time. Whatever had done it, made sure the Meta wouldn't get back up.

It was roughly 6:45 when he finally showed up at he place in a dress shirt and waistcoat with matching slacks. He had a bottle of wine in one arm and a bouquet of flowers in the other. He knocked on her apartment door, careful not to drop anything.

Comments

[feelthelightning]

"That's the best part about being a speedster. All the extra time for cuddles." His cheek was probably warm from wind burn under her lips. Barry caught one of her hands and brought it to her chest so she could feel his heart beat. It was unnaturally fast, but the longer he snuggled with her the more he relaxed and it slowed to something more human. "That's something else you'll have to get used to with me. That's not gonna give you anxiety, is it?"

[infinite1ups]

Her eyes widened when she felt how fast his heart was beating. Regeneration kept hers pretty steady unless she was exerting herself. She hummed thoughtfully, fingertips tracing idle patterns over his chest. "I can get used to it. Sure as hell isn't gonna keep me from wanting to cuddle you."

[feelthelightning]

"Good, because I'd be heartbroken if that was the deal breaker." He vrushed his fingertips through her hair idly while she traced patterns. This was nice and comfy.

"When I first got struck by lightning, it was beating so fast they couldn't differentiate one beat from the next so it looked like I had no pulse on the machine, but I was also having a seizure at the same time, which wasn't possible if I was technically dead." It might sound like a traumatic story, but it had been three years now.

[infinite1ups]

"Nothing is going to keep me from this," Claire promised, grinning. She could tell from how he told the story that it didn't seem to be an upsetting one for him, but it still made her feel protective over him, anyway. It made her hug him just a little bit tighter. "I'm glad you came out of it okay. Sounds like we both had quite a few close calls."

[feelthelightning]

"Oh! I guess I never said, that's how I got my powers. The particle accelerator exploded and there was a huge dark matter storm. I was working on fingerprint analysis at the time and got struck by a dark matter charged lightning bolt right in my lab. I was in a coma for nine months after that. Came out of that coma with superpowers and abs." Barry laughed. "But there have still been close calls since then. What's been your closest?"

[infinite1ups]

"Oh-- no, you didn't. You mentioned the lightning, I think, but I didn't put it together that it was how you got your powers." She bit back a wider grin, keeping herself from giggling. "And abs, apparently. Nine months, though. That's awful."

Claire considered the question, though there was really only one answer. "The eclipse. It turns out, for some reason, that a solar eclipse shuts off all of our abilities. I took a bullet for my dad and ended up in the hospital with every infection imaginable. The doctors didn't know what to do with me, my body was so accustomed to my regeneration that my immune system couldn't fight it, and the infections were so bad that nothing could treat it. Nothing ever hurt so much. They couldn't do anything to keep me from dying, and my poor mom had to watch. After the eclipse ended, I woke up, but my parents weren't sure if I would. Horrible as that was... it was kind of funny sneaking out of the hospital with my mom before anyone noticed I'd revived."

[feelthelightning]

"Yeah! Apparently my muscles should have been atrophied but they weren't! That was how I met everyone at STAR Labs!" Boy did he sound giddy. It had been a while since he thought about the good old days of first waking up. Before things went to Hell with Reverse-Flash. "I mean, nine months wasn't bad for me. I was asleep."

"Oh... so you're kinda like my friend Supergirl. Without the yellow sun, she gets weak. Otherwise she's invincible. Don't worry, now that I know, nothing will ever get to you again during an eclipse." Because she absolutely wouldn't have told someone like Thawne that information, right? Spoilers: She did. He didn't like the idea of her dying. Even if she came back. "You died?!" Okay, Barry, you've died too. Calm down.

[infinite1ups]

She'd never heard anyone sound so... excited? About how his muscles should have atrophied. But then, Barry looked good, so that was a fair reaction to have. It was more of that excitable puppy nature that Claire loved so very much about him.

"I guess? No one's really looked into why it happens or how it works. Eclipses don't occur that often and we don't have like, a team of evolved human scientists to run testing every time there is one. The last time there was, I drove way out into a remote spot and just laid around in my bus. It was a lovely afternoon."

Fun fact: she didn't remember telling Thawne that, and even if she did, she wouldn't think there's anything he could do with that information. Invincible Brain strikes again. "Yeah... I did. I've died a lot, lost count how many times. Doesn't happen as often these days, though."