Soothsayer ⚡ Barry Allen

The New Andy

Selina Kyle

God, I never knew the comfort of a soft matress until I spent three years on stiff prison beds. I grew a small frown when something began tickling my face, groggily opening my eyes to the face of the calico I met before my nap -- if you could call sleeping half the day a nap. My frown softened out as I reached up to pet him, my eyes darting towards the movement in the corner of the room. "Joshua likes you. He usually doesn't take well to strangers," Cat's voice floated to me, her head not even turning.

"He has good taste in women," I lightly chuckled before stretching. "You still mad?" I get why she couldn't visit me, she was a renowned burglar, even before the Catwoman get-up. But she could've at least returned my call.

"If I was, you wouldn't still be relaxing," she sighed. "Enjoy your vacation?" She finally turned around, going to her dresser to continue looking for something, but still not looking at me.

"As much as one can in a state penitentiary," I supplied, sitting up and watching her relaxed, graceful movements. "Did ya miss me?" I added in a giggle, catching the faintest smirk on her face before she turned away.

"At first, no. You left me with just enough to get out of Gotham; I couldn't take on a cat until three jobs later." A grin pulled on my lips as I caught the humor in her tone, it was enough to say that I was forgiven.

"The poor things," I mocked with a chuckle, giving Joshua my attention as he perched himself on my lap. A small part of me wanted to give her shit for letting me rot in Blackgate, but the smarter part of my brain reminded me of the truth: The Joker wanted me there, he would've pulled many strings to ensure I was put away. "What'cha looking for?" The moment the words left my lips, her hand closed around something before she stuffed it in her pocket and finally turned to face me.

"I have work to do, won't be back for a few hours," she explained in a tense breath. "You know the drill. Don't take my stuff, again," -- I avoided her gaze for a moment to infer innocence -- "food's in the kitchen, don't trash my place."

"Got it," I chuckled. She walked forward and I half expected her to hug me or something before she went, but she just plucked Joshua off the bed and walked toward the exit of her apartment as she cooed to him. Rolling my eyes, I laid back in the bed and listened to her leave, Joshua jumping back onto the bed with a half-meow to gain my attention a short moment later.

I smiled as he stepped onto my chest, his face in mine to accentuate his need for attention. With a soft laugh, I ran my hands down his back, his purrs loud as he walked down to my lap as he moved to meet my light scratches. I sat up when he continued past my reach.

After a few minutes of showering the feline with affection and attention, I turned away from Joshua as my phone came to life with a call from an unknown number. With a little smirk, I grabbed it and thought of a quirky response. "Gotham Fertility Clinic; you shake it, we bake it," I quipped, smiling as the calico nudged his way under my arm.

"Andy...?" a male voice hesitantly asked, one I knew all too well.

"Barry," I hummed pleasantly, "I was wondering when you'd come around."

"I-I wanted to apologize for what I said before you left. I didn't mean--"

"It's fine," I giggled, gently scratching behind Joshua's ears. "Don't even trip." My smile widened when I heard his sigh of relief and I titled my head a bit. "Is there any other reason you called?"

"Well, its Friday... I wanted to see you." If possible, my smile grew more and I nodded.

"I think we can arange that," I hummed, moving the cat off my lap so I could stand. "What would you like to do on our first trip outside of Blackgate walls?"

"Why don't you show me the park?" I grinned and nodded again, stepping into my boots.

"I'll see you there." Hanging up, I tucked my phone into the back pocket of my jeans, fully aware that when I gave him the sketch that it might not have been 100% accurate and I hadn't mentioned which park it was. But where was the fun in things without the mystery?

⚡

My memory had served well, aside from the fact that after about six years the city had added to the park. Where there was once an open patch of feild that broke a fairly thick treeline, there was now a small playground where children played and screamed their cute little heads off. I had been here about half an hour just watching them play before their parents called them over to go home, new children sometimes taking their place.

I had expected it to take some time, but I really didn't think it'd take Barry this long, especially with his speed. My ears picked up on a small sound, simillar to the one I heard when he ran in front of me, my head turning to find him jogging over to me, his pants sounding through the space between us. It was almost like static, but loud enough to hear from a distance. "You been running long?" I chuckled as I leaned back on my hands.

"You could've told me where to find you," he heavily breathed, dropping beside me as I giggled.

"I like to make you work for it," I supplied as I continued to giggle. He held up the sketch paper and compared it to the view before us.

"They put a playground in," he muttered, almost in disappointment. "You did good." I could feel my lips curling in an involentary smile as Barry carefully folded up the sketchpaper and slipped it into his pocket. "Why were you here? The first time, I mean." I pursed my lips and thought up an acceptable answer as I looked at the tops of the trees. I don't think that waiting all night for a drug deal that would never happen was good.

"I had aranged to meet someone here. I hadn't seen them in a while and was wanting to catch up. They never showed so I just sat and watched the sun rise." When Barry turned his head I could feel his eyes on the side of my face and I hoped to a higher power he couldn't read the lie on my face. He seemed particularly good at doing that sometimes.

"I don't see how anyone could ditch you," he finally mumbled. A laugh quickly bubbled past my lips and I looked back at his lightly confused expression.

"That's because you don't know what it's like running into the old me," I laughed, unable to contain them. "Lots of people turned away just at the sight of me."

"All it took me was getting to know you," he shrugged, looking back out towards the playground. My lips pulled into a wide smile as I continued to watch him, my body gaining a sudden craving for physical contact with him.

"Not everyone's as considerate as you, Barry. The world would be a nicer place if they were." A bit hesitantly, I put my hand on his shoulder, watching the way his eyes quickly darted from my hand, to my face, and back out to the playground. I almost wasn't sure if I was imagining things by the speed of it.

Almost as hesitant as I was, his hand reached up and closed around mine, a light flush painting his cheeks when I intertwined our fingers. My cheeks were starting to hurt from smiling so much as I rested my head on his shoulder, his silence and burning cheecks only fueling the pain. It was worth it, though; all of it. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, feeling the most relaxed I have in years.