"I heard about this amazing dance. I was thinking, why should it be the boys that ask the girls for Valentines, why can't it be the girls asking the boys. Looking it up, I found out about the 'Sandi Hawkins' dance, so this is what we are going to be doing this year. The boys will have to wait back, it is all about the power of the girls," Iris said, practically running into the cortex, startling everyone from their seats.
"I think this would be a good idea. Let us take the power for once!" Catlin stated, agreeing with Iris.
"Yeah, it is settled then, the girls will be asking the boys who they want for the dance," Cisco said, bringing it to an agreement.
'And if you are gay?' Barry thought to himself, smiling on the exterior, but frowning inside.
-----------------------
Walking into the Cortex, Barry was met by a nervous looking Iris.
"Barry... Would you like to go to the dance with me...?" She said, having to swallow her words slightly so that she would not stutter.
Scratching the back of his neck, feeling really awkward, Barry replied with a simple, "no."
"Oh, why?" She asked, signing slightly.
"I... Er..." Barry stammered, not really comfortable with saying that he is gay to her.
"It's fine... I am obviously not correct for you..." She sighed, making Barry fell worse. She walked away, dragging her feet as she left.
"That could have gone way better," Barry stated, hitting his head on the wall.
"You're telling us," Cisco said, making him jump. Everyone was standing there, feeling just as uncomfortable and awkward as Barry was feeling.
"She was really looking forward to asking you," Joe said, looking at Barry with pity covering his eyes.
"Yeah..."
------------
Walking into the Flash suit space, Cisco saw Barry hiding behind the suit stand.
"Cisco! Why you here?" Barry said.
"Here to modify suit, why are you here?" Cisco asked.
"Hiding from everyone. They keep asking me and asking me!" Barry exclaimed.
"Problem why?" Cisco asked.
"Can you keep a secret from everyone?"
"Yeah..."
"I'm gay... All the girls keep asking me. I keep saying no, they ask why and get upset when I don't give an answer!" Barry said, hitting his head on the stand.
"I can see why that can be a problem. Why do you keep it a secret?" Cisco questioned.
"Because it will... it will prove a link... a link to a life I never want them to find out about..." Barry sighed.
"Why that?" Cisco asked
"I was not like what I am now... far from it..." Barry replied.
"You went by a different name, picking up a different personality and behaviour to blend in?"
"Yeah, the thing is. I liked being him... Even if he had a 'reputation' associated with his name." Barry said, walking out of the suit storage room.
"Could you show a 'page' on him, look up his name on the information pages?" Cisco asked.
"Yeah... Does it cover people in France?" Barry suddenly asked.
"Everyone."
Walking over to the screen, Barry started to look up 'Sebastian Smythe'. "Be careful, you won't like what you find," Barry warned.
"It's ok, there will be no hard feelings," Cisco reassured.
Sighing, Barry started to read off the page, "Sebastian Smythe, went to Dalton Academy, a private high school. Joined the Lacrosse team and the Warblers, the Warblers are a world-renowned Glee boy-only group. He became the Captains of both groups. He built up a strong reputation around himself. He was someone not to be messed with. He was the leader of a group of, now well known, villains. He was nicknamed by the group, Seductive Demon. He was fiercely known to be a teenage alcoholic, sex-addict, man-whore, womaniser and someone who took no prisoners. His training was well known to be like slave-drive and was more difficult than the military. Over one summer, he took up a role of modelling, soon he became a famous French Model, one of the billboards are still up today. Did not know that was still up! People are refusing to let the sexiest model be taken from his throne. He was known to send the gay Hollywood couple to the hospital in many different occasion, one of them where they tried to kill themselves because of something Sebastian had done. He is well known throughout most of the world. He has taught us all to fear the name, Sebastian Smythe. He is also a multi-billionaire and has gone off-grid since he left high school." Barry finished reading it out, well some of it and looked at Cisco.
"I... that was you?" Was all Cisco could say.
"That was me. I was Sebastian Smythe. I still am Sebastian Smythe." Barry said strongly.
"Ignoring all that, we need to find you a date!" Cisco said, brushing it all aside, to the relief of Barry.
"How though?" Barry asked.
"I think I know someone," Cisco smirked.
'I really should be worried now!' Barry thought.
------------------
"You sure about this?" Barry asked into his communicator.
"Definitely, the person there will be fine with it, for sure!" Cisco reassured him.
Barry slowly walked into the darkened room. He heard some rustling before a light turned on. There was Leonard Snart, cold gun pointing at Barry's heart.
"YOU DID NOT SAY IT WAS SNART!" Barry shouted into his communicator.
"Trust me," Cisco said.
"Why the hell would he agree to come to a fucking dance with me! I didn't even know about this!" Barry shouted at Cisco.
"You do know that I can hear you, I am only 10 foot away from you," Snart said.
"Yeah... Cisco wants me to ask you whether you want to go to the Sandi Hawkins dance with me..." Barry sighed.
"Is that not where the girls ask the boys?" Snart asked.
"Yeah..."
"Then why are you asking?"
"I'm gay... Surprise?" Barry shrugged.
"So Cisco sent you to ask me?" Snart questioned.
"Yeah."
"Alright."
"I know... Wait, what?!" Barry exclaimed.
"I said, Alright. I will go." Snart said.
"This is going to be really odd. They will know that you are Captain Cold and they know that I am the Flash. But don't know that I am gay. This is going to be one hell of a surprise!" Barry said, listing it off on his fingers.
"Well, I better bring a camera then," Snart said
"Better be a good quality video, I would like to forever taunt them with it!" Barry warned.
"When did you ever say something like that?" Snart asked.
"Going a bit back to my roots." Barry shrugged.
"Sebastian Smythe roots?" Cisco asked.
"Yep!" Barry chirped.
-------------
Barry walked up to where Len was hiding, a dark alley, who figure.
"You ready?" Barry asked.
"Ready as I'll ever be," Snart said before they started to walk towards the hall they were using for the dance.
Snart was dressed in a pale blue suit, fitting with his villain name of Captain Cold.
Barry was dressed in a black suit, skin-tight, with silk going down the side of the legs while being on the collar as well. His shoes were shined to a mirror face, his shirt whitened to absolute. His tie was a deep scarlet, referencing to being the Flash and his life as Sebastian. His hair was gelled back like when he was Sebastian. He felt one of his smaller smirks cross his face as he walked out into the light, seeing Snart's face drop.
"You clean up... Really good there Scarlet. That looks designer, what brand is it?" Snart said, stopping to have a proper look at Barry.
"Designer Hummel. Yeah, I know I do, you are not too shabby yourself, blue definitely is your colour." Barry replied.
"How can you afford it?" Snart questioned honestly.
"I know a few people." Barry shrugged.
"YOU GOT IT STOLEN!!!" Snart exclaimed.
"No, I just have a past that no one would believe, I have contacts up high, so I had this custom made for me, one of the higher quality ones, pure silk over it. The tie in itself is over seven hundred. The silk cummerbund was high priced, but that did not really worry me," Barry said, before walking forwards.
The pair walked into the room, taking in everything. It was ok, big dancing floor, a few tables of to the side and some refreshments in the corner. Everyone was there, including Kara, Oliver and Felicity.
"Barry's here!" Cisco shouted, grabbing everyone's attention.
Everyone turned to welcome him, but their words fell short when they saw who was next to him.
"Barry, why is Snart here?" Iris asked him.
"Because Cisco got Barry to ask me to come," Snart replied.
"Why was that Cisco?" Catlin asked.
"Because he was lonely!" Cisco replied, over exaggerating it.
"But, like every girl we know asked you. Surely one was close to your taste?" Oliver asked.
"Because none where close. I'm gay," Barry stated.
"Your gay, so Cisco got you to ask Snart to the dance?" Felicity said, trying to round it all up.
"Yeah, that covers it."
"Why did you not tell us before?" Kara asked.
"Because... er..." Barry stammered.
"Yeah, you only said when you argued with Cisco about asking me," Snart added.
"...It provides a link to something I would like to hide..." Barry sighed.
"Now why would you like to hide it?" Joe asked.
"Cisco knows what I mean and why I hid it. But he will not be saying it unless I allow it, is that clear?" Barry stated to everyone, but mainly to Cisco.
"Loud and clear." Everyone replied. Cisco reply being the loudest.
--------------
"Ok, cut the bullshit. Why don't you want them to know about it?" Len said, pushing Barry into one of the walls while everyone was preoccupied.
"Let's just say you were not the only crime boss in this room at this moment," Barry replied, pushing himself from the wall before walking more towards the stage.
"Wait you mean..." Snart started before pointing towards Barry.
"Well done, I was a crime boss before you were. I was a well-known crime boss who brought people to their pathetic knees at one look. This was all during high school. Not many can lead a group at that point can they Snart?" Barry replied, looking directly in his eyes.
"Who were you?" Snart questioned.
"Someone you have a chance of knowing, Len. I was Sebastian Smythe." Barry stated, before walking away.
"Wait, you are Sebastian Smythe. The well known 'Seductive Demon' that went off the grid?"
"The one and only!" Barry smirked. "Oh, I know just what to do..."
Barry walked over to one of the speakers main part, before choosing to play a singular song, feeling himself sink into Sebastian.
The sun goes down
The stars come out
And all that counts
Is here and now
My universe will never be the same
I'm glad you came
Barry sang, surprising everyone as he started to ease more into a singing calm Sebastian.
You cast a spell on me, spell on me
You hit me like the sky fell on me, fell on me
And I decided you look well on me, well on me
So let's go somewhere no one else can see, you and me
Turn the lights out now
Now I'll take you by the hand
Hand you another drink
Drink it if you can
Can you spend a little time
Time is slippin' away
From us so stay
Stay with me I can make
Make you glad you came
The sun goes down
The stars come out
And all that counts
Is here and now
My universe will never be the same
I'm glad you came
I'm glad you came
You cast a spell on me, spell on me
You hit me like the sky fell on me, fell on me
And I decided you look well on me, well on me
So let's go somewhere no-one else can see, you and me
Turn the lights out now
Now I'll take you by the hand
Hand you another drink
Drink it if you can
Can you spend a little time
Time is slipping away from us so stay
Stay with me I can make
Make you glad you came
The sun goes down
The stars come out
And all that counts
Is here and now
My universe will never be the same
I'm glad you came
I'm glad you came
I'm glad you came
So glad you came
I'm glad you came
I'm glad you came
The sun goes down
The stars come out
And all that counts
Is here and now
My universe will never be the same
I'm glad you came
"May I just ask, when could you sing?" Joe asked.
"All my life... My mother taught me." Barry said, Sebastian disappearing.
"Well, you are really good at singing," Catlin said. "Yeah, I still remember you telling me that you are 'not very good', that just made a complete mockery of me."
"I told you that I was not going to sing. It is your own fault I outsang you." Barry said, holding his hands up.
----------------------
"So Barry, when are you going to tell them about you being Sebastian?" Snart asked as the pair left the building. The two had enough of the loud racket and decided to leave the party at midnight.
"Because I knew that they would not be ok with it," Barry said, rubbing his arms.
"Hey, if you say about how you regret being like that, I am sure that they will forgive you," Snart said, pulling the shorter man into the side of him.
Pushing himself away, Barry replied, "it would... If I did regret what I did. I loved being Sebastian. As Twink I could be who I wanted to be, I did not have to live down to the expectations people had of Barry Allen, son to the man who murdered his wife..."
Barry looked away, looking at the floor. Pulling the smaller man back into his side, Snart rubbed his shoulder, trying to comfort him, not really knowing what to do though. Barry buried his face into Snart's side, noticing that he seemed to be able to keep a cool but warm temperature to himself. His shoulders shook as he held in his tears.
"Alright, how about I take you home so that you can try to calm down without being in this weather," Snart said, patting Barry on the back.
"Don't think they will want you to know where they live? They definitely will kill me for that." Barry said, lifting his head from Snart's side.
"They don't have to know."
"It is also about half an hours drive from here, so to walk it would take a long time," Barry warned him.
"They are going to be partying to at least six in the morning, none of them has to work tomorrow." Snart shrugged.
"How do you know this?" Barry asked, standing up straight.
"They all kept shouting it, remember? They all put it everywhere that they have the day off tomorrow to recover from the dance. They were really not keeping it a secret." Snart stated.
"Yeah..."
"So, what you want to talk about first then? There is a long walk ahead of us." Snart asked.
"Eh, don't really mind," Barry replied.
Soon, the conversation turned to different locations they have fought at, pointing them out as they passed them. Soon, Barry started to hum, progressing into a song.
I walked across an empty land
I knew the pathway like the back of my hand
I felt the earth beneath my feet
Sat by the river, and it made me complete
Oh, simple thing, where have you gone?
I'm getting old, and I need something to rely on
So tell me when you're gonna let me in
I'm getting tired, and I need somewhere to begin
I came across a fallen tree
I felt the branches of it looking at me
Is this the place we used to love?
Is this the place that I've been dreaming of?
Oh, simple thing, where have you gone?
I'm getting old, and I need something to rely on
So tell me when you're gonna let me in
I'm getting tired, and I need somewhere to begin
And if you have a minute, why don't we go
Talk about it somewhere only we know?
This could be the end of everything
So why don't we go
Somewhere only we know?
Oh, simple thing, where have you gone?
I'm getting old, and I need something to rely on
So tell me when you're gonna let me in
I'm getting tired, and I need somewhere to begin
And if you have a minute, why don't we go
Talk about it somewhere only we know?
This could be the end of everything
So why don't we go?
So why don't we go?
This could be the end of everything
So why don't we go
Somewhere only we know
Somewhere only we know
Somewhere only we know?
Barry sang softly to himself.
"You do know that you are a good singer, correct?" Snart said after he was done.
"Yeah, I love singing, just, I never really get around to it anymore, why none of the others has heard me sing. I thought the song fitted well with the discussion that we were having. A place that only we know." Barry replied, pointing to the place in the forest that they had talked while Barry was not the Flash. No one knew of this conversation, it just happened and stayed between them. They continued to walk, before Barry suddenly stopped, before grabbing Snart's hand and dragging him towards the forest.
"Where are you going?" Snart asked, as he continued to get dragged along, wanting to know were Barry was taking him.
"A place that I used to go," Barry said, running into the tree line. He continued to go through, brushing branches away as he ran. Jumping over a fallen tree, he continued to drag Snart to an unknown location.
Snart felt Barry's temperature drop and as he went to ask, Barry only mentioned how he was controlling it so that they could not track him into here. Finally, they came across a sheer cliff with a wild waterfall streaming down it, into a crystal lake.
Barry let go off Snart's hand, before he ran around the edge of the lake, Snart following to the edge of the water. Barry approached the waterfall before he looked smugly over at Snart.
"What are you doing Scarlet?" Snart asked him.
"Magic." He replied, before approaching the waterfall and disappearing behind.
Snart followed before he looked around to were Barry had disappeared. There was a gap in the wall, just big enough for Snart to be able to fit, even with all his CC gear on. Going in, he was met by a low lit cave, small bugs sparkling on the ceiling, making it look covered with a thousand stars. There was a small area, old books, covered in dust and dirt wherein the corner. Barry was sat on a small bean bag, set off to the back, next to him was a table and another bean bag. There were images and drawings stuck around on the walls, some hanging from lines attached to the ceiling by a drying line. "Wow..." Snart managed to say, whispering it, barely audible.
"Yeah... I was the only one that knew about this place, now you are the second person to ever know about here. I used to run here when the bullies got too bad. Hide here when Joe thought I was with a 'friend'. This was my little sanctuary. I could just be here without having to worry about anything. I never did really forget of this place, just never had the time, like singing. This used to be a place that I used to sing, knowing that people would not hear me over the waterfall. This was my space. Now you know of it." Barry said, getting up and running his hand over the images on the wall.
"Thank you for sharing this with me, why did you?" Snart asked, looking at some of the books in the corner. They were science books and some books that held children tales.
"Because I knew that I could trust you. You hold my trust, so I showed you this place," Barry said, blowing some of the dirt of the drawings.
"I am touched," Snart honestly replied.
------------------
By the time that Barry did get home, after spending a few hours with Snart in the cave, everyone else was already at home, asleep on the sofa and the beds. "I guess this is goodnight, Cold," Barry whispered.
"To next time, Scarlet," Snart whispered in return, nodding his head before leaving.
Barry smiled at the form of Cisco fast asleep on the sofa, before he started to make his way to his room, but was met by a sleeping Kara. "Guess I don't get to sleep then?" Barry whispered to himself, grabbing a night bag, before walking after Snart.
"Why are you here?" Snart said when Barry caught up with him and continued to walk next to him.
"They are asleep everywhere, including my room. So I have nowhere to go, thought I would follow you." Barry shrugged.
"So you thought that following a villain would be the best option?"
"Hey, I was also a villain!"
"Yeah, you were," Snart said before he continued to walk to where he was going.
------------------------
Walking back into his home, Barry was greeted by everyone being awake.
"Where were you last night?" Joe asked.
"You and Snart disappeared randomly," Kara added.
"Now, we disappeared because we could not stand being in a room where the speakers were trying to damage our hearing for life sober," Barry replied, leaning on the back of the sofa as all the seats were already taken up.
"You both did not have to stay sober, Kara was able to get drunk," Oliver said.
"Snart does not 'get drunk' and I had to stay sober in case something came up, we did stay in the city I protect, so I still had to stay on standby." Barry started, "then when I got in, after walking home slowly talking about random things, I saw that I had no place to sleep, as you all took up all the spaces, including my room and the bathroom. So I just followed Snart home and stayed around there until I thought that it would be time to come back," Barry finished.
"So you slept over with a villain that you fight with?" Cisco asked.
"Correct," Barry replied.
"Ok, everyone pay up! I said that it would be within the week, none of you agreed!" Cisco said, collecting money from everyone.
"You all betted on me?" Barry asked, eyes wide.
"Yeah and we all agreed that it would be Snart who would be the first," Joe shrugged.
"What the hell?!" Barry exclaimed, before walking out of the room.
-----------------------
"You know that they betted on us?" Barry said to Snart as after he disabled all communication devices in the area.
"They betted on us?" Snart asked, stopping his attack.
"Yeah, apparently Cisco betted that I would end up sleeping over with a villain I thought with at the end of the week, everyone else thought that it would be after a month at least. They all agreed that it would be you though," Barry said.
"Why do I even continue with your group?!" Snart exclaimed.
"Because you love us, SnowFlake," Barry purred teasingly at him.
They were a quick flash from behind. Both Snart and Barry's heads flicked towards the source. There was a camera crew there, obviously getting there quite recently, meaning that they were not affected and that they did not get noticed.
------------------
"Ok, let me read out the headline of today. 'Flash flirts back!' It goes on to read. 'Yesterday, during the middle of a fight between Captain Cold and the Flash. The Flash stopped his attack and started a friendly conversation between himself and Captain Cold. We were not able to catch what was being said, but we were able to get on video something that the Flash said to Captain Cold. In the video, Flash is heard to purr to Captain Cold, 'Because you love us, Snowflake.' Is this a sign of something going on between the pair? Read on to see.' You want to tell us something, Barry?" Cisco said, holding a newspaper in his hands.
"I can explain, I swear!"
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