Reciprocal Altruism || Snowbarry College AU

Out of Airplanes Into Pools of Sharks VIII

It seemed like every single person this night wanted Barry and Caitlin to end up here. Eddie and Iris nearly forced the two of them to come home together and now Felicity literally pushed the two of them into the same room. It was like an outside force—the fates, if you will—wanted them to spend the night.

"Why is everyone so obsessed with us sleeping together?" Barry asked.

"That's what I was thinking!" Caitlin said. "Us having sex is none of their business!"

"Yeah! And if we were having sex, it's not like we would be announcing it every two seconds or letting everyone know. Couples don't have to spend every single night together!"

"Exactly!" Caitlin agreed and then paused for a second. "This would have been a great conversation to have had thirty minutes ago with Iris and Eddie."

"Agh, you're right." He looked at her. "So, now what?"

"Well, I'm exhausted and I just want to go to sleep. So, I'm gonna get dressed."

Looking through her drawers, Caitlin tried to find a pair of pajamas to wear that night. She wanted to wear something cute, but also something that didn't look like she was trying to be cute. She finally settled on a brown pair of polka-dotted pajamas.

Sighing, she realized she had to find something for Barry as well. She turned around to face him and said, "I might have a pair of sweatpants that—ahh!"

Barry was standing there in his boxers. Just. His. Boxers.

"Why?" she asked, turning back around quickly, squeezing her eyes shut to get the image out of her head (and failing miserably).

"You said we were going to bed! I'm not sleeping in jeans! You're a doctor, you're supposed to be used to bodies and things!"

"I'm not a doctor yet, you dingus!" Caitlin seethed, still facing the wall away from Barry.

"People are thinking we're sleeping together at the moment and you can't handle seeing me in my boxers?"

"Well... I'm definitely not sleeping with you now," Caitlin muttered at the wall.

"Withholding sex only works if we were actually going to have it to begin with," Barry remarked from behind her.

"Then I withhold fake sex."

"Well, there goes my fake manhood."

At Caitlin's little snicker, Barry sighed. "I didn't mean it like that."

"You know what? Fine. Do whatever you want. I'm gonna go get changed." She walked to the bathroom across the hall from her room and quickly brushed her teeth. Realizing she was still in her dress, Caitlin tried to fruitlessly reach for the zipper in the back and tug it down. After moving in a circle for the fifth time trying to reach for the silver hook, she walked over to Felicity's room and knocked.

A mumble came from inside. Taking that as permission, Caitlin opened the door a smidge. "Felicity?" Caitlin whispered. "Are you awake?"

Caitlin received another half-asleep mumble as a response.

"I need you to unzip the back of my dress for me," Caitlin said softly as she tiptoed into her best friend's room. Standing by her bedside, Caitlin nudged Felicity.

After that failed to wake her up, she nudged her again, harder this time.

"Ugh, what?" Felicity asked, her eyes squinting open. "What do you want? Condoms are in the left—"

"I just need you to pull my zipper down so I can get changed."

"Seriously?" Felicity said. "You woke me up for that? Why don't you ask your, I don't know, boyfriend to do that?"

"He's..." Caitlin hesitated as she tried to figure out an excuse, "already asleep?"

"Then go wake him up and not me," Felicity mumbled, turning over to the other side and going right back into REM.

Caitlin walked over to the other side of Felicity's bed to face her again. "You're the one who zipped me into this dress, you should be the one to zip me out."

Rather than replying, Felicity opted to shove a spare pillow in Caitlin's face to get her to shut up.

"Seriously, Felicity?" Caitlin asked, one hand on her hip as she put the pillow back down on the bed. "I'm never dressing up again. You hear me? It's gonna be sweatpants Caitlin for the rest of eternity."

"Okay, sweaty," Felicity mumbled, before rolling again to face the opposite way of Caitlin.

Realizing her attempts to get Felicity to move were futile, Caitlin, still holding her PJs in her hand, reluctantly made her way back to her room. She shut her eyes before she entered, just to make sure she wouldn't find Barry in any... compromising positions. "You decent?" she asked.

"I'm still in my boxers, but I can cover myself with a blanket if you want," Barry said.

"Yes, please," she replied.

There was a rustling sound as Barry pulled a blanket of her bed and then, "I'm decent."

She turned to face him and found him seated on the floor at the foot of her bed. While the blanket covered his lower half, his upper half was still... wow, college track did wonders for the—

Caitlin cleared her throat. "You can sit on my bed, you know. You don't have to stay on the floor."

"Oh." Barry rubbed the back of his neck. "I didn't want to assume anything, especially after you freaked out when I got ready for bed."

"You being in boxers is different from you sitting on my bed."

"Boxers are literally just swim trunks!" Barry argued.

"And lingerie is just a bikini," Caitlin countered, her voice growing heated.

"Well, yeah!" Barry said, his voice also growing louder. "Kinda."

"You weren't supposed to agree with me!" Caitlin shouted.

"You kids doing okay in there?" Felicity's voice came through the walls.

Caitlin's eyes widened in shock. "That... liar! She was feigning sleep just two seconds ago when I was in her room and now she's... Agh, this night is so frustrating!" she complained out-loud.

"Why were you in her room?" Barry asked.

"I asked her to help me zip out of this super tight dress," Caitlin said, her face turning a little pink. "But, uh, she wants you to do it."

"Okay," Barry agreed causing Caitlin to gawk at him. "What?" he asked defensively. "It's not like you really have a choice."

"Alright. Fine," Caitlin agreed. "But close your eyes."