Chapter Text
“I think you should go with him.” Caitlin scrunched up her face immediately after speaking, as if she wasn’t sure she should have said it.
Cisco blinked. “Uh, okay. Why?”
“He needs backup. Undercover is not his usual style.”
“Hey!” Barry interjected. “I did just fine pretending to be a criminal in front of Snart’s dad!”
“That was one person; this is a party with at least a hundred,” Caitlin said, frowning Barry into silence before she turned back. “I’d go, but I need to be here, working on the antidote for the previous victims. And he’s already seen Iris.” She gestured to Iris, who nodded reluctantly. “So that just leaves you. You can be the plus one; couples at parties look less conspicuous than lone guys floating around, anyway.”
“Wait, a couple? Cait…”
“It’ll be fine! You’ll just—”
“No, Cait, I mean, I thought you were saying I should sneak in with the staff or something. I don’t exactly have a fancy tux lying around.”
“Oh, is that all,” she sighed.
Cisco raised an eyebrow. What else would it be?
Iris shook her head. “It’s not a problem, anyway. Oliver managed to get us the invite, I’m sure he can find a suit in your size before this evening.”
Like anything that guy had lying around would even come close to fitting Cisco. Whatever, he’d make something work. Cisco shrugged. “Alright, then.”
“Great. Excellent.” Caitlin was moving, winding around them like she was checking things off an invisible list. Half her mind was probably already back on the antidote, which, really, was where it should be. “All you have to do is just keep an eye on him, Barry. Keep him there, make sure he doesn’t do anything else until I have the way to cure him and the people he’s already touched.”
“I’m going to look like a creep, following him around,” Barry complained.
Cisco patted his shoulder. “Dude, that’s what I’m for: blending in. Plus, if you grab me his handkerchief or something, we can keep a little more distance. I can always vibe for him if we lose track.”
Quicker than should be humanly possible (but much, much slower than was possible for him), Barry whirled on him, looking mildly pissed. “We’re tracking a metahuman who can make people dangerously ill after a second of skin contact and your plan is to touch his stuff?”
Well, Cisco thought, when you put it that way…
“You shouldn’t even be within arm’s reach of this guy,” Barry continued firmly. “We won’t need any visions if we can just keep him in our line of sight.”
Okay, maybe he should have let that one go, but Cisco’s powers were still brand-spanking-new and kind of a sore point for him. He was proposing that he actually be useful, and Barry was going to suggest he just take the backseat? “And what am I supposed to do while you’re keeping watch, then? Hold your punch? Slow dance?”
“Cisco, stop,” Caitlin chastised. “I already told you: you’ll help him blend in.”
“Trust me, Barry just wanders around the edges like a lost puppy if he’s alone at a party.” Iris rolled her eyes like she’d seen it a million times before. She probably had. Cisco had to remember to ask her about school dances sometime when Barry wasn’t glaring daggers at her. “Somebody has to stick with him and make sure he looks normal. Hold his hand.” She paused. “Er, metaphorically.”
“And literally,” Cisco added, “if we’re going as a couple.”
“Right.” Caitlin bit at her lip, glancing between the two of them. “Are you two going to be alright with this? I mean, I know I said this was the only option, but it might not be a good idea unless you guys are completely comfortable with, well…”
Cisco scoffed. Sure, high society wasn’t exactly his natural environment, but he could fake it well enough, and so could Barry. He turned to share a laugh and found Barry giving him a searching look, like he was trying to size Cisco up and decide… Oh, hell, no. Cisco knew that look.
“I’m going.”
“It might be safer if you didn’t,” Barry said, predictably. He could enter the freaking Olympics if they had a category for professional worrywarts. “He won’t be able to touch me; he’d have to work pretty hard to even try. But you—”
“Then I guess you’ll just have to hang onto me,” Cisco said.
Barry blushed lightly, but it didn’t keep the frown off his face. “I don’t know about this.”
“Well, I do. We’re going,” Cisco repeated, this time turning to Caitlin and Iris to make it final.
Iris held up her hands in surrender. “Never said you shouldn’t.”
“Don’t worry, you can do this,” Caitlin assured them. “You’re both… decent actors.” Her face did that squinty thing again.
“Barry’s performance in ‘Beauty and the Beast’ notwithstanding,” Iris added.
“Hey!” Barry complained. “That was middle school.”
Caitlin didn’t acknowledge the interruption. “And I think you can both be professional enough to get through one fake date and then come home and reassert your heterosexuality in societally appropriate ways. Okay?”
“Wait,” Cisco said, glancing to find Barry mirroring his own confused expression. “What—”
But Caitlin was already walking out, tapping away at her tablet. “Good luck!”
“I should go fill in my dad,” Iris said, also turning away. “See you tonight.”
The room was empty another moment later.
“What the hell?” Barry muttered, voicing both of their thoughts. “‘Reassert your…’ What does she even mean?”
“I just realized she implied that she or Iris would be a better choice for your date over me.” Cisco considered how offended he should be that he wasn’t Caitlin’s first thought. She’d never seemed like the kind of person who would have a problem with that, but…
“Holy shit,” Barry breathed suddenly, eyes wide as saucers and still staring at the doorway through which the girls had vanished.
“I know, right, it’s just weird.”
“No, Cisco, holy shit.” Barry grabbed his arm, and turned his eyes reluctantly away from the door to face him. “They don’t know we’re dating.”
Cisco laughed, raising an eyebrow. “C’mon, dude. It’s been like two months and you know we’re not sneaky.”
“No, really. Did you hear them? They actually have no idea.”
“No, but.” Cisco frowned. “We definitely told them we…” He thought back. “Or at least…” How had the conversation gone, again? Oh. OH. “Holy shit.” This was terrible… No, wait, this was awesome.
“Right?” Barry giggled, a little hysterically. “Oh, crap, Iris is gonna think I was lying to her again. I thought they all knew.”
Cisco put a finger to Barry’s lips to stop the babbling. “We have been awarded a rare opportunity, my friend, the likes of which we may never see again. Come on, we’ve gotta get suited up.”
“What? Cisco…”
“Leave it to me, babe.” Cisco leaned up a little to lay a quick kiss on Barry’s cheek, then took his hand to lead him in the direction of formal clothes, grinning. “They’re not gonna know what hit them.”