Paralyzer || Barry Allen (The Flash) Fanfiction

Chapter 15: Secrets and Surprises

For three days we kept our little secret hidden from everyone else. I'm not sure how we even managed to get away with it for that long considering neither of us was a good liar. Technically, we didn't consider ourselves a 'couple,' but we were definitely more than just friends at this point. We just felt like we needed to take things slow, a strange concept considering that our abilities defied the very meaning of that word. Maybe that was the reason behind not wanting to rush into it. With everything else moving so fast around us, taking something like this at a gradual pace could be just what we needed.

But that was easier said than done.

Trying to act normally around each other, having to force ourselves not to sneak extra glances at each other, keeping our tongues held — it was tiring. Besides, even though I thought we did a pretty good job at concealing our feelings, the others caught on as if we had been blatantly obvious about how we felt for each other. Were we really that bad at lying?

Cisco confirmed it by calling us out on our secret love affair.

"And the two lovebirds finally arrive," Cisco smirked as we walked in a minute late. Okay, maybe five minutes, but that was nothing! "Were you guys making out or something? Is that why you're late?"

"Psh... What? Us?" I scoffed as I glanced nervously between Barry and Cisco. "Hah. No way. We were just, um..."

"Grabbing some coffee since we woke up late," Barry jumped in for me. "I mean, not like 'we' as in together, but, like, each in our own rooms, just around the the same time..."

"Uh huh," Cisco pondered with a small smile slowly forming on his face. "And where is your coffee?"

Barry and I looked at each other for a moment, knowing we'd been caught. That didn't mean we were going to stop trying to dig our way out of this. "We drank them on the way over here."

"And then threw the cups away outside," I added with a small nod.

Had we been talking to someone who didn't understand the physics behind our speed the idea might have seemed logical. However, this was Cisco. He knew probably even better than we did that there was no way we could drink a coffee while moving as fast as we did.

"You guys are terrible liars," Caitlin spoke up as she continued to type something into her computer. The fact that even she could tell we weren't being honest while only half paying attention to us just reinforced her statement. We really needed to work on that.

Sighing, I looked over to Barry, asking him if we should come clean without a single word being passed between us. He shrugged his shoulders, but I saw the look in his eyes that mirrored my thoughts exactly: there was no use in trying to deny it anymore. They already knew, and we were in no way going to be able to fabricate a story realistic enough to deny the reality.

"Okay, fine. We're... Sorta kinda dating," I finally admitted.

"'Sorta' dating?" Caitlin echoed as she took her eyes off of her screen for the first time that morning. "How can you be sort of dating? It's either you are or you aren't."

"Not necessarily," Barry objected, and I nodded my head in agreement. Not everything was as simple as that, especially in our lives. Caitlin of all people knew that.

"We like each other..." I started.

"But we don't really have time to go on dates," Barry concluded for me. It was strange how we were so connected that we knew exactly what the other wanted to say, but, at the same time, it was comforting to know that someone had your back like that. "It's kind of difficult to find the time between my day job, Haven's training schedule, and then saving the city."