Chapter Text
The bitter wind tossed Cisco’s hair and plastered his Blue Sun t-shirt to his chest. But he tucked his hands into his pockets and ambled toward the enraged, glittering ice goddess. “So this is new.”
“Stay away,” she said, her voice like the howl of an Arctic wind.
“What? You think this is cold?” He scoffed audibly, even while shivers racked his compact body and frost formed in his eyebrows, aging him prematurely. “Cait, don’t let the awesome tan fool you. I grew up in Detroit. I got my master’s at Michigan Tech and my doctorate at Northwestern. I rode my bike to school. You gotta do better than this to scare me off.”
“I’m warning you,” that horrible, inhuman voice said.
“Eh, since when do I listen to warnings?” He was right up to her now, toe-to-toe, nose-to-reddening nose.
She raised her hands, ready to blast him the way she had done to Ronnie.
“So,” he said thoughtfully. “I’m thinking Snow Queen.”
She hesitated. Icicles glittered like knives on the tips of her fingers. “What?”
Was that a little bit of humanity returning to her voice? Something like a voice instead of a shriek of northern wind?
“Snow Queen. It’s got a ring.”
“Snow … Queen?”
“Yup. You like?”
“No,” she said, and now it was definitely more Caitlin than the creature of cold and ice. “No, it’s crazy. It’s your worst ever. My actual name is Snow. It’s the kind of secret identity a nine-year-old would come up with.”
“You may have a point. It’s a work in progress. I’ll think about it.” His hair and brows had darkened again as the frost melted, as the air warmed, as the wind died.
Caitlin’s hands hung at her sides, gently dripping with melted ice. She looked down at herself, then up at him.
His mouth crooked up at the corner. “Hey.”
“Hey,” she said, and her face crumpled.
He pulled her into his arms, murmuring. “I know, I know. It sucks. I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry, Cait.”
Her tears burned hot against his neck.