Alter Egos

Matching

Just a small one-shot about how Barry and Caitlin have a tendency to match.

...

Cisco thought he had done a pretty good job of not saying anything over the years. Mostly because he had been waiting for Barry and Caitlin to notice or say something about it. But they never did.

For a while, he thought maybe it was some kind of joke and they were waiting for him to catch on. However, after about a year, he knew that couldn't be the case. Cisco Ramon was not stupid, in fact, nobody who had ever walked the halls of S.T.A.R Labs was stupid. Barry and Caitlin were not stupid. So why were they so oblivious to the fact they had a habit of wearing matching clothing?

Cisco had noticed it many times over the years. They didn't do it every day, but they did it at least a few times a week. Sometimes it was just matching colors, other times they'd walk in basically wearing the same clothes.

Today was no exception, they were both wearing the exact same shade of blue. Most days, Cisco could ignore it, brush it off as a coincidence. However, for some reason, it just stuck out more than usual that day. Theories raced through Cisco's mind as Barry and Caitlin moved about the lab, doing their usual business.

Did they secretly go shopping for His and Her's outfits?

Did they lend each other clothes?

Did they call each other every morning to sync colors?

Was one of them psychic?

Were they both psychic?

Were they telepathically connected?

Was it a glitch in the matrix???

The possibilities were endless.

Then finally, as Barry and Caitlin discussed some lab results, she glanced down at his shirt. This was it, they were finally gonna notice.

Except they didn't.

"You have something on your shirt." Caitlin gently pointed out.

Barry frowned and looked down to examine it. It was at that moment something in Cisco snapped.

"Oh honestly," Cisco spoke, louder than he meant to.

Barry and Caitlin whirled around at the sudden outburst.

"It's just a stain." Barry shrugged, confused.

"Forget about the stain," Cisco blurted in exasperation, "You're basically wearing the same shirt."

"We are not..." Caitlin defended but trailed off when she looked down.

"I'm sure it's just a coincidence," Barry piped up, "I mean it's bound to happen at least once."

"No, it's not a coincidence," Cisco answered, "You guys do this all the time, and you never notice."

"No way," Caitlin denied, shifting on her feet "I mean that's statically impossible."

"I've been watching you guys do this for years," Cisco argued, crossing his arms.

Barry and Caitlin shared an uneasy glance.

...

At first, Cisco regretted saying anything at all.

But the days that followed were hilariously entertaining. By the end of the week, Cisco seriously wanted some popcorn. Every day, they would try and dress differently, and every day they would fail. In fact, it seemed the harder they tried, the more it would happen.

Every day they would look at each other's outfits and sigh, then go about their day. Every day it was as if they probed the darkest reaches of their closets, and somehow still ended up matching. They both even made some questionable fashion choices. They tried every color and even resorted so more outlandish ones. One day, Caitlin wore all orange, because surely Barry wouldn't think to wear fluorescent orange. Boy, was she wrong.

They looked like a couple of traffic cones.

The one time they managed to not match, was when (upon seeing Caitlin) Barry immediately sped away and changed.

This silent struggle was only broken by a city-wide crisis. Five days of utter chaos, where nobody had any time to think about what they were wearing.

Then after it all calmed down, things went back to normal. Caitlin and Barry were once again oblivious to their innate ability to match. Cisco didn't know whether it was by choice or default. After that they went back to their usual pattern, they matched most days, but not every day. Cisco didn't say anything and pretended not to notice.

However, he was met with a new realization. Their clothing wasn't the only thing that seemed to automatically sync. Their mannerisms and their reaction had a habit of being similar or nearly identical. Sometimes their attitudes were even similar.

Cisco couldn't help but wonder why this was.

Was it a side effect of something?

Was it some strange phenomenon?

Or was it because on some level, they were simply kindred spirits, so to speak.

Either way, Cisco might have to find an excuse to run some tests someday.