Within Seconds // Barry Allen

An Unlikely Meeting Place

Parker was awakened by a thump on the edge of her bed. She lifted her pillow from over her head, sliding open a single eye. 

Barry ripped the pillow from her grasp and tossed it over his shoulder. He pried back her blankets, despite her resistance, then patted the bed quickly, resembling a drum roll. 

"I swear to God, Barry, if you don't tell me what in the hell you're doing here--"

"You're taking a surprise trip to see your best friend!"

"No," said Parker, and it wasn't at all meant in disbelief. 

"Yes!" cheered Barry. "Caitlin, Cisco, and I are all going, too."

Then, he disappeared from the bed for a moment. He returned with a plate decorated with waffles, bacon, and eggs. He set it on her lap. 

"Oh, bacon," mumbled Parker, pausing to take a bite. "I mean, I'll go, but you're not allowed to come until you complete my list of training activities for you."

Barry leaned in and bit a part of her bacon off for himself. After chewing, he groaned, "Park, why?"

Parker smacked his hands away when he reached for more bacon. "Should have made your own plate, thief," she teased. 

The hero went from a sitting position to falling forward, his face stuffed in her fuzzy blankets. She barely heard his whine of, "Baby, it's the weekend!"

"Crime doesn't stop on the weekends," reminded Parker. It took all of her strength to not scream and shout after hearing what he called her. She saved it for later, for when the fan club heard about it. 

"You see, I know you're right, but I don't want to agree."

"As always."

Barry rolled his eyes. He crawled from the end of her bed to sit beside her, fixing the mound of furry blankets over their legs. 

Together, they watched Gilmore Girls reruns on the television in Parker's bedroom. Occasionally, his fingers sneaked onto her plate to steal small strips of bacon. She pretended not to notice. 

xxxx

Barry left after an hour of soap operas had passed. Parker loosely tossed him a sheet of paper, filled with cursive writing of what he was meant to achieve that day.

"Hope you can read cursive," she sweetly wished, her eyes not leaving the screen.

Barry shoved the paper into one of the pockets of his suit and sped away to complete the tasks.

Parker shut off the television and leaped out of her bed, throwing open the curtains. After the comment of, "Oh, the light, it burns!" she squinted through the blinding sunlight and caught sight of a red blur flying down the block.

With him out of range, she called her main buddy in Starling City.

Surprises were sometimes fun, but if Parker hated surprises, she was sure Oliver would. Ollie didn't answer, leaving her to ring for his beautiful blonde assistant.

"You're on the line with Felicity Smoak!"

"You're a nerd. Look, Barry gave me a train ticket to come see you today."

"Cool! We'll spend the night at my place. No drinking. Hey, Oliver will be happy to see you. He talked about you this morning."

"And said what?" Parker asked, immediately wondering if she truly wanted to know.

"Uh, stuff."

Yeah, she didn't want to know. She had a strong feeling she already heard it in his, 'no dating' speech.