(A/N): Last season, jaegermighty wrote out a headcanon on Tumblr about how a Sky High/Flash AU might go. Inspired by that, I wrote most of this at the time, but ran out of steam. I found it in my files recently and finished it up.

I also haven't seen the movie in a long time, so forgive any wonky details please.

History, biology, physics - ugh, had she done those physics problems?

"Hey."

Calculate the force needed for a superfast man to impact a man of steel - well, it was easy enough, it was the showing her work that always took forever, and then the teacher always found something wrong with it, some stupid variable written in the wrong place, sloppy organization, once the wrong color of pen. But her work was solid, it was always solid.

"Hellooooooo."

God, she wished Barry was in that class with her. Not that she needed his help, but his silent look of support when Stein slashed points off her grade, peeling them off like the skin of an orange until what she had left was a B or a C for work that other kids in the class would have gotten a damn A for. Just because of - no. No. Don't dwell. She and Barry promised each other that they wouldn't feel anything. He knew what it was like to be judged for something you had no control over.

(If only he'd stop swearing his dad was innocent. He didn't have to skulk around in a leather jacket with greasy hair like that Peace kid, but if only he'd stop deluding himself that his dad wasn't a supervillain.)

A hand waved in front of her face. She jerked around, books cascading out of her arms, hands already up and icing over.

"Whoa! Sorry! Didn't mean to startle you."

It wasn't Tony, or any of the other bullies that usually tormented her. It was a Latino boy, a freshman by the look of him, four inches shorter than her, with shiny black hair falling to his shoulders and a strange look on his face.

Strange because he didn't look like he was about to pee his pants.

Caitlin Snow's fingertips glittered with icicles and he was looking at them with bright, sparkling interest in his coffee-dark eyes. "That's so cool! Is that your power? What else can you do?"

She lowered her hands, but only so if a teacher saw, she wouldn't get detention again for using powers in the halls. They were going to have to bronze her chair in the detention room. "What do you want?"

"Oh! I'm just trying to find the office. I was supposed to be there like ten minutes ago, I think? But I got completely turned around - Here, let me help you." He crouched down and started gathering her books into his arms.

She shot a quick look around the hallway, which was rapidly emptying out as kids went to class. None of the usual assholes, but who knew. Maybe they were hiding around the corner. Maybe this unknown kid had power over sound and was funneling their conversation right to them so they'd know the right moment to spring out and humiliate or trap her in some way. "The office?"

He looked up, a huge smile spread across his face. "I'm new. Just transferred in."

He looked Colin-Creevey levels of thrilled about this. (Yes, okay, she'd read Harry Potter multiple times, and wished she went to Hogwarts instead of stupid-ass Sky High. Barry and Iris were the only ones who knew that though.)

This was almost certainly some kind of hazing, although it was probably for him and not her. Send him to talk to the Ice Queen, they'd sniggered amongst themselves. See how he likes having his nuts frozen.

Not today, she thought, and told him, "You're not far. It's that way. Turn left at the drinking fountain and then right after the classroom that's all spiderwebs. It's the last door down that hall. If you see lightning over the secretary's desk, be as polite as possible, he's Weather Wizard."

"Cooooooool. Thanks." He got to his feet and held out her books.

She took them in one arm, leaving the other free just in case. She smiled tightly and closed her locker. "You should probably go. The principal doesn't like to be kept waiting."

"Sure, yeah." But he lingered. "I'm Cisco Ramon, by the way." When she didn't respond, he tilted his head. "Here's where you tell me your name?"

She didn't want to. She didn't want to see his bright expression change.

He grinned again. "Is this like a secret identity thing? You can give me your superhero name, I don't care, I just wanna be able to say hi when I see you."

"Caitlin Snow," she said flatly.

"Caitlin. Nice to meet you. See you around?"

"Sure," she said, confused. Hadn't he heard of her? But if he'd just transferred in, maybe he'd acquired his powers instead of being born with them. In which case, he wouldn't know anything about Ronnie, about the fight, about anything.

"Okay. Cool. Bye. This way?"

She nodded, watching him go, knowing that sparkling grin probably wouldn't be aimed in her direction again, once somebody filled him in on Caitlin Snow.

But it did beam out at her again, that grin, when he slid into the always-vacant chair next to hers in Physics. "Heyyyyy Caitlin! You're in this class!"

"How are you in this class?" she blurted, because she could be surprised or she could be polite but not both.

"Says on my schedule!" he chirped, and spread out the flimsy printout so she could see.

"It's a junior-level class."

"Yeah, I know I'm a sophomore and all but I tested in. Plus, Physics! In superhero school! Like, crazy-awesome, right?"

"Uh-huh," she mumbled.

"So, listen, I got the books and everything but I'm not sure what you're working on, so can I borrow your notebook after class? Please? Promise I'll give it back before the end of the day."

"Um, maybe you want somebody else's."

"Naw, I saw yours earlier. You're like, fearsomely organized."

"Well, but - "

A cough broke into her words. She looked up, and Mr. Stein glared at her. "Do I have your permission to start class, Miss Snow?"

She felt the cool, arrogant mask fall over her face. "Oh sure," she said airily. "Knock yourself out."

"Sorry," Cisco called out. "I was talking to her. Didn't know we'd started. Sorry."

Mr. Stein turned his chilly gaze on Cisco. "You may want to move, Mr. Ramon. If you'd like to keep up in this class."

"Oh, I promise I won't talk during your lecture. I was just asking to borrow Caitlin's notes so I can catch up."

"Miss Snow isn't the best student. You can find a better study partner."

Caitlin flattened her hand on the desk, watching cold mist float off her nails and a pool of frost spread outward from her fingertips.

"No," Cisco said cheerily. He still grinned, but there was something hard and glossy about it now. Like armor. "I don't think I can."

Mr. Stein's eyes narrowed behind his glasses. He glanced at something on his desk and curled his lip. "Well. You're on the Sidekick track anyhow. I suppose it doesn't matter too much."

She didn't so much invite him to her lunch table as not dissuade him from following her like a puppy from the lunch line.

No, that was mean. She was trying not to be mean. Anyway, judging from Cisco's excitement, she might as well have given him an engraved invitation.

Barry and Iris were already seated at the round table in the dimly lit corner. This was their table because nobody else wanted it. Story of their life, really.

Iris had her usual sandwich and apple in a little brown bag (carefully decorated by her father, who refused to believe that his baby girl was a teenager and wasn't shy about drawing a unicorn), and Barry had his full-size grocery sack sitting on the floor.

Barry gave her an alarmed look, trying to indicate with his eyes - hey, someone's following you. His warnings had saved her from unspeakable things squished in her hair before.

She wasn't sure how to indicate back, No, it's fine, he's actually okay, because that had never happened.

So she said it out loud, "Bear, Iris, this is Cisco Ramon. He's new. Cisco - Barry Allen and Iris West."

"Hi!" Iris said brightly. She liked people, at least until they actively hurt Caitlin or especially Barry, and then it was on like Donkey Kong. But somehow she retained a measure of optimism. "First day? What do you think?"

"Awesome!" Cisco said, dropping into the empty chair next to her. Barry scowled.

Caitlin rolled her eyes. How many times had she said it? You can either make a move or you can shut up, but for God's sake you don't get to act like a jealous goob when you haven't even told Iris you like her.

Cisco chattered with Iris about his morning classes, then somehow managed to make Barry smile and that broke the ice there and they were all talking with him. Maybe that was his superpower. Getting people to like him.

He also plowed through his lunch like a bulldozer. Given that he'd bought it, that was a minor miracle.

Iris watched him wide-eyed. "Oh my god," she said. "I get why Barry isn't nine gazillion pounds, but why aren't you?"

Cisco shrugged. "Just burn it off, I guess." He rummaged in his backpack and brought out a full bag of chocolate. He scooped out a handful of mini chocolate bars, dumped them in front of himself, and held the bag out. "Want some?"

"Sure!" Barry said, and took a handful for himself. Iris did too.

He waved the bag at Caitlin. "You?"

She bit her lip, and he raised his brow. Just as he went to put it away, she stuck her hand in and took a single tiny chocolate bar.

Cisco gave her a quick smile, and set the bag on the table, in the middle, but with the opening sort of pointed - not exactly at her, but in between her and him.

"So what are the rest of your classes, anyway?" Barry asked him, and Cisco produced his schedule.

They filled him in on the teachers, and the other students. He nodded, contributing his own observations, which for such a smiley guy were surprisingly clear-eyed and dispassionate.

"What is with Mr. Stein, anyway?" he asked her, pulling out her notebook. "This is awesome. You clearly dominate in that class."

"Not by my report card."

"Screw your report card. You should be Stein's pet. Physics is physics and this work is da bomb. And this?" He flipped to the back where she'd been working on some extra equations just out of her own speculation. "Maaaan. So many thoughts, you know?" He started unwrapping chocolate bars and popping them in his mouth so his cheeks puffed out like a chipmunk's.

"It's just - " She wanted to take it back. Her fingers twitched. She put them in her lap and stared down at them. "I don't know. He doesn't like me, is all."

"Ish it becaushe he'sh Ronnie Raymond'sh uncle?" Cisco asked with his mouth full.

Caitlin turned to him, wide-eyed. "You know."

He swallowed. "About the fight in the quad last year? Shyeah. Man, when I got my powers and Sky High admitted me, I went on their website and read the whole SkyNetNews archive. That was, like, front page news."

Iris looked flattered.

"You read the comments on the article too?" Caitlin asked, prodding the wound.

"Yep. It was BS."

"So you saw the picture."

"Mhm."

"So you knew who I was this morning."

"Not really, no. You weren't all Killer-Frosted out."

"I wasn't what? Excuse me?"

"Sorry, did you already pick a superhero name? Because I thought of that right off. Killer Frost! Awesome, right?"

Barry and Iris both turned wide eyes on her.

Killer Frost, she thought. She should be furious. It was a villain name if she'd ever heard one.

But she kind of loved it.

She smiled at him. "Awesome."

On the bus home, Iris plopped down next to her. "Hi," Caitlin said, surprised. Iris usually sat with Barry, one seat back.

"Cisco's sitting with Barry," Iris answered her silent question. "They're talking video games, I think. He's nice, isn't he?"

Caitlin played with a loose thread from the cuff of her sweater. "Mmm."

A freshman working her way down the bus aisle accidentally knocked into her elbow. "Watch it," she snapped, and the girl whimpered out an apology and scurried along down the aisle.

"Be nicer to the plant girl," Iris said idly.

"Why should I? Big-eyed idiot spends all her time mooning around after her best friend. And what's with the pigtails, honestly?"

"You were just like her last year."

"Yeah, and look how I turned out. She needs to toughen up."

"You talk a big game, but deep down, you're a marshmallow, Caitlin Snow."

Caitlin narrowed her eyes at her. "Since when does your power of knowing a lie when you hear it extend to mind-reading?"

Iris examined her nails, clucking over a microscopic chip. "When you don't mean half what comes out of your mouth, and you know it."

"Makes me wonder why we're friends at all, if I'm such a liar."

"Because you like having people who know you're not really an ice queen." She looked over her shoulder. "And now you've added one more. How did that happen?"

"I have no idea," she said.

"I think he likes you."

"I know. It's very strange. I'm not used to anybody but you and Barry liking me."

"No, Caitlin, I mean. You know. Likes you likes you."

Caitlin felt herself flush all over. Not that he was awful or anything, but he was a year younger than her, and he was so (sweetly) dorky, and honestly, she wasn't anywhere near ready to think about anything like that, after Ronnie. "No, he doesn't."

Iris grinned, and her eyes glittered with mischief. "Want me to ask?"

"No! I mean," she scrambled. "That's kind of middle-school, isn't it? My friend wants to know if you like her, check yes or no and give this note back by sixth period. Anyway, I don't care if he likes me that way or not, as long as he doesn't get annoying about it."

Iris's brows went up. "That was a mishmash, even for you."

Caitlin scowled and pulled out her math homework. Iris smirked and took out her notebook to work on ideas for the paper.

Cisco was not only on her bus, he hopped off at her stop. Iris wiggled her fingers at Caitlin out the window.

She crossed her arms, watching the bus rumble off down the street. "Are you following me?" she asked Cisco.

"Nope," he said, rummaging in his backpack. "I live on Pine Crest. This is my stop. My brother dropped me off at school this morning."

So his brother was a superhero. He had to be, to even know where Sky High was, much less be able to get there. Why was Cisco just now transferring in?

She thought of asking, but it seemed rude, especially for someone on the Sidekick track. Normally she wouldn't care about being rude, but … well, she did right now, okay.

"Listen," she said, and he glanced up at her.

"Oh! You need your notebook back."

"I - yes. But - " She shifted from foot to foot as he dug around in his bag. "Do you like me?" she blurted.

He tossed his hair out of his eyes and grinned up at her. "Sure I do."

"I mean like in a … boyfriend way."

His smile faded. "Why do you sound like that would be the end of the world?"

"The boy I fought last year was my … sort of my ex."

"Sort of?"

"That fight was what made us ex. So I'm really not in a place to - to - not that you're not -"

He held up one hand until she'd stopped stuttering and fumbling, and then dropped. "Hey," he said. "Who hasn't had a bad breakup, you know? Don't worry about it."

"You never answered my question," she said. "There were kids all over that hallway this morning. Did you just come up to me because - because you thought I was pretty or something?"

For some reason she hated that thought, that it was just some kind of basic physical attraction that had drawn this smiling, warm, lighthearted boy to her. That once he found out what she was really like, he'd leave again.

But he'd given her the name.

Cisco rocked back on his heels. He was still kneeling, his backpack still open. It was a horribly vulnerable position, she thought. The supervillain standing over the helpless sidekick. Probably about to freeze him solid.

He looked up at her without a trace of fear in his eyes.

"You've never asked me what my power is," he said.

"What?"

"Seems like that's the first question out of everybody's mouth today. That and what their own power is. Even Barry and Iris eventually asked. But you? You never did."

"These damn powers," she said. "They're just things you can do. They're not who you are. Not unless you let them."

She told herself that every morning and every night.

He tilted his head. "But you liked the name."

She shifted her backpack. "I'd rather label my powers Killer Frost than Caitlin Snow. And I'd way prefer Killer Frost to Ice Queen."

He blinked a few times, looking thoughtful. She wondered if he thought she was weird, or had a split personality, or something. Barry and Iris didn't quite get her stance on her powers, but they'd accepted it a long time ago.

Then Cisco clambered to his feet and handed over her physics notebook. "I get these vibes," he told her. "Sort of vision kinda things."

"Psychic?" That explained the sidekick track. It wasn't as if you could vision your way out of a fight.

He shifted his shoulders. "Yeah. When I got accepted, I got a vibe. I saw you smiling at me in the hallway. That's it. Just smiling."

She pressed the notebook against her chest, folding her arms tightly over it. "So you picked me to talk to because you thought I was destined to be your - what?"

"I don't know!" He lifted his hands. "It was a nice smile. I liked it. But I didn't get anything more than that. I didn't even know why you were smiling at me. You want to know if I like you like you, and my honest answer, is I don't know yet."

She opened her mouth, then closed it, flummoxed and strangely, a little let down.

"I think you're pretty, yeah. I also think Iris is pretty. I think Barry is pretty, too. I think there's a lot of pretty people at that school. I've known you for eight hours, Caitlin, all I got is that I like you. Which honestly is all I got from the vibe. That I liked you a lot."

"Do you like me because of the vibe, or because - "

"I like you," he said. "You're smart and funny and cool and - " He ducked his head, pushing his hair behind his ears. "I, uh, I just discovered you don't think powers equal value as a person. That's intriguing and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter."

She tapped her fingers on her arm, unsure of what to say.

"I get that you're suspicious and you're not used to it, but I'm gonna say it until you believe me. I like you, Caitlin Snow."

She finally thought of something to say. "Don't you care if I like you?"

He grinned at her. "I know you like me. C'mon, let's go."

"Where?"

He pressed his fingers to his temples like a cheesy fortune teller. "I'm getting this vibe. Mmm. I seeeeee … a bakery. Two blocks away. With kickass cookies."

"Really? You just vibed that right now?"

"My brother and I stopped in for first-day-of-superhero-school pastries this morning," he admitted. "But I didn't get a chance to taste test their cookies, so that's what we've gotta do right now."

"Well," she said, and felt a smile tug at the corners of her mouth. "You're the psychic."

FINIS