The Flash [Fanart] Barry/Caitlin moodboards + ficlets

Flashfrost - Fall aesthetic scavenger hunt

Made for simplysnowbarry's Snowbarry Week 2021 and the artist prompt 'fall/autumn aesthetic'.

I thought this'd just be a moodboard but then it developed a 1.4k ficlet to go with it which is below.

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Stuck on the puzzle

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Barry doesn't know what to expect when Frost texts him to tell him where and when they're meeting up. They'd roughly agreed on another day to do something together, but nothing more than that, keeping it casual like it seemed Frost wanted. Barry isn't very good with casual, but he's trying. This will be only their fourth sort-of-date, and he doesn't want to screw this up, so he's gonna go with the flow and take Frost's lead. The request to not bring his phone is weird, and he considers ignoring it. He also considers what if it's part of some villainous plot and Frost is in danger, but that's definitely catastrophizing. There's probably only about a 5% chance that could be the case. He does, however, ask her where in the park they're meeting. Frost will only say 'You'll know it when you see it'.

So he turns up to the park, only a few minutes late, hoping Frost knows him well enough to realize that's not a personal slight against her, nor due to a lack of interest. The chill of fall is in the air despite how close to noon it is, the sun not helping warm him much, making him glad he wrapped up tight with a hat and a high-collared jacket on. He scans the horizon for any sign of Frost's white locks or anyone with her distinct dress sense. His heart skips a beat rebelliously when he thinks he spies her by the pretzel stand, elated for a moment, but then the woman turns around and he's suddenly stupidly disappointed it isn't her. It dawns on him then how afraid he is that Frost will decide he's not worth the trouble. He's been trying to avoid overthinking things but the problem with that, with avoiding putting it in any words, is that the feelings are still there underneath his facade of casualness. But he doesn't really believe she'd go to such lengths just to stand him up – there must be something he's missing.

So far, none of their dates have been interrupted by work or hero duties, but he decides not to tempt fate by using his speed. He takes it slow as he searches for her, aiming for leisurely on his day off. He ambles around the park, racking his brain for what would be so obvious. Nothing comes to mind at first. Eventually, he remembers the ice cream parlor. It's far too late in the season to be open, but his instinct is right, because not too far from the building, in a much less windy spot, there's a small note attached to a branch with a couple of pegs. And a heart-shaped leaf. Find me if you can!

Inside the folded note is a riddle, which leads him to the clock in the center of the park and a compass duct-taped underneath a nearby bench. The trail looks like it goes cold there until he pays closer attention to the compass and spies the scratches on the side, like it's been recently pried open. Another clue is hidden inside, something that reads like out of a pirates treasure map – the scant notation he suspects means a direction on the compass and the number of steps to be taken. Whatever Frost is up to, it leads him on a merry chase around the park. It's fun, and something different to be doing on his weekend, but he can't help be a little sad he doesn't get to spend this time with Frost.

An hour and a half later, he wearily stumbles into a small bookshop-cum-cafe a street away from the park and is grateful to be met with the visage of Frost seated at the corner table, nursing a drink. She smiles when she sees him, not a bright grin or a smirk, but a small smile that grows as she regards him standing there, successful in his quest. He feels oddly nervous as he pulls up a chair to join her.

"Been waiting long?" he asks, suddenly not sure what else to say.

"Don't worry, late is on-brand for you. I came prepared," she says tapping a closed sketchbook next to her. He knows she draws, but he's never actually seen any of her sketches because she's extremely private about that, normally snapping it shut anytime anyone approaches her. He wonders for a second if she might let him see them now, if he's managed to earn her trust enough. She doesn't open it though, her hand resting on top of it guardedly, and Barry isn't sure what to make of this pause between them. Or why she designed today like she did, to take him away from her rather than simply enjoying it with him.

"Frost, why did you arrange all that? We could have just met here, hung out the whole time. I thought that was what you wanted, to have a d- um, to do...stuff, together. Why make me chase down clues and-"

"I didn't make you do anything!" Her hand withdraws from the sketchbook as she crosses her arms angrily and huffs at him. "You chose to or did you forget?"

He takes a beat to process her suddenly defensive reaction, not quite sure what nerve his phrasing hit. He wants to reach out across the table to take her hand in his but he can't. Somehow he needs to find the right words to reach her instead.

"Yeah, you're right. I chose to do the scavenger hunt, because it seemed important to you. I just don't know why and I want to understand, but I can't unless you talk to me."

Frost purses her lips and tilts her head, looking down and avoiding eye contact.

"I wanted to make sure," she says, uncharacteristically quietly.

"Of what?"

"That you really wanted to spend time with me, okay. I thought if you did all that, if you weren't put off, then maybe you were worth it and you'd stick around."

He should have known with Caitlin's history of loss, which was really all Frost had to go on as an example, that letting someone in this close would seem a big risk to her. A risk not worth taking without making sure things were serious first. Perhaps he should be annoyed she tested him, rather than ask like she would do for anything else, but he can't find it in him to begrudge her now that he gets why. He has to swallow down a laugh at how wrong he was to think she wanted things to be just casual. For someone so confident and forthright in other areas of her life, he'd never expected how much reassurance she might need about this. About them. Just thinking those words, the confirmation that there is a 'them' he's allowed to seriously consider, makes his heart ache in a good way.

"Was my traipsing around the park for an hour and a half at normal human speed enough proof for you?"

She finally looks up again to meet his eyes, a lopsided smile creeping onto her lips. "For now."

There's something simmering in him as he takes in how she's looking at him now she's opened up a little more. There's definitely a smug satisfaction at knowing what he'd do for her, but, if he's not mistaken, there's also a touch of hunger to her gaze as she drinks him in. Frost breaks the moment quickly enough though, taking another sip of her hot chocolate.

"But you can't call that 'normal' speed," she says, actually doing air quotes for emphasis. "Man, when you're slow you're really slow."

It gets him a weird look from her but Barry laughs joyously, and too long, at the teasing, getting out all his nervous energy with it. He doesn't feel nervous anymore, at least not in the sense of having stomach-clenching fear of rejection; now it's more of an excited thrill at the possibility before them. Because the upside to Frost testing him, seeing how far he'd go for her, is he knows she'd do as much, had done as much in setting that whole thing up. This time when he feels the urge to, he does reach out across the table for her hand.

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Also rebloggable on tumblr here:

https://purpleyin.tumblr.com/post/667690392352882688/dctv-moodboards-flashfrost-fall-aesthetic