Reciprocal Altruism || Snowbarry College AU

Theory Set Into Motion II

Barry stopped in front of Caitlin to prevent her from walking any farther and Caitlin abruptly halted her steps in order to prevent from crashing into the hopeless romantic.

There were a few, okay a lot, of question marks that flew around in her head, amongst other choice curse words, but the first word that came out of her mouth was, "Why?"

"So Iris will see that I am a dependable boyfriend and she'll fall in love with me."

Caitlin stared at him, she should have just walked away. Barry rubbed the back of his neck. "Okay, so it sounded a lot better in my head."

Caitlin scrunched her eyebrows, it was now time for those choice curse words. "Are you crazy? You do realize that I'm not popular, right? In fact, being with me will probably bring your social standing down."

She meant to rant about how stupid he was; she did not intend to start hating on herself. It was true nonetheless.

"My social standing?" Barry sounded confused.

"You know, your popular smart jock guy... standing."

Barry raised his eyebrows.

"You know what, never mind. I'm not doing it. It's manipulative and complicated and—"

"Come on, Cait!"

"Don't call me that and I am not going to help you manipulate a poor girl into a relationship!"

"Please?" he went on ignoring her protest.

"No."

"Pretty please?"

"No. Why don't you get one of your fangirls to do it for you?"

"My fangirls?"

"Yeah, the 'Allenites', the 'Barraholics', and my personal favorite the 'Barrometers'."

"You're joking right?"

"You are really behind on the times. Seriously, you need to check out the internet more often."

"I have fans?"

"You don't have lamps," when Barry looked at Caitlin with a blank face she continued, "It's a joke."

"Um," Barry stuttered.

"Shouldn't you be excited to have a bunch of girls talking about your abs and your hair? I mean, I hate it since I have to deal with your description constantly going on and on in my apartment and social media and— I swear if I have to hear one more time about how amazing red looks on you, or how your brown eyes twinkle with flecks of green or—" Caitlin trailed off looking at Barry's stunned face. "Are you okay?"

"I didn't know—"

"That you were popular? Surprise, surprise, if you're on the track team, you're pretty much guaranteed popularity."

"I've never been popular before."

Caitlin gave him a questioning look so Barry continued, "Iris was my only friend from elementary school through high school. Surprise, surprise, nobody wants to be friends with the weird kid with a science lab in the garage."

Caitlin decided that now was not a good time to mention her lab in the basement.

"The only reason I joined track and am moderately good at it is because I spent most of my life running from the bullies."

Caitlin was speechless, she honestly never knew that.

"And so now I want to impress Iris."

Oh, great. He's at it again.

"To quote Hamlet Act 2 Scene 3 Line 92... 'No'." Caitlin firmly stated.

"You're failing Biotech—"

"I'm not failing," Caitlin muttered under her breath.

"Right, a D is not a fail."

"I fail to see how you're convincing me to help you."

"We'll just hold hands and pretend like we care about each other and then Iris will see that I'm a good boyfriend and then we'll be together and you can pass your class," Barry said, taking a long breath after that long sentence. "Hey, wait up!" He shouted, panting as he ran behind the brunette. He grabbed her hand and turned her around. "What if I told you that Ronnie would be pretty jealous to see you with another person, aka me? You know, since I'm so popular."

Caitlin rolled her eyes. "He broke up with me and it doesn't even matter anyway, I'm over him."

Barry said softly, "I see the way you look at him."

"Oh, so now you've been stalking me? Is Iris not enough for you?" Caitlin shot back nastily.

"Please, Caitlin. I know he's not over you. I know how it feels to love someone and know them so well, but never be able to be with them. I know how it feels to laugh and smile as friends, when you so badly just want to hold their hands and tell them about your undying love. So please, Caitlin. Please help me. I've been in love with Iris for years."

Everyone, even anti-social Caitlin, knew about Barry's love for Iris... except Iris.

Ugh, love stories were always her guilty pleasure. Curse her romantic heart.

Caitlin sighed. "Fine. We'll hold hands, we'll giggle, we'll hug, but only when Iris is around. Any other time, we don't speak to each other unless you are helping me study which we will do at the library at a set time. We will not visit each other, nor will we call each other. And we definitely won't—"

"Wait, I think I might need to write all of these rules down."

"This isn't funny, Allen."

"Yes, yes. You're right." Barry took both her hands and looked into her eyes. "Thank you."

"Whatever. Ready to go, Boyfriend?" Caitlin asked, standing in front of the classroom holding her books to her chest.

Barry opened the door for her and grinned. "After you, Girlfriend."

Little did Caitlin and Barry know that reciprocal altruism, nature's form of evolution, would prove to be more than just a survival tactic for the two of them.