"Okay, but. Okay, but. Okay." Caitlin scrunched up her nose. "But here's what I am saying, right? You can come up with, like, the perfec' name in - " She tried to snap her fingers and failed. "In the drop of a hat, okay, for somebody else but when it comes to you - you got nothin'."

"This needs careful consid'ration," Cisco said blearily. "I mean. My whole suit design, right, could be affected by this decision."

"What about - okay, Shockwave."

"Ughhhhh."

"Whhhhhaaaaaat? You never like my names." She pouted.

"No, you remember Shockwave? You remember how like every game had Shockwave? You try having that association, right, okay, sitting on the crappy library computers and you've only got half an hour and you have to wait, okay, for that damn thing to load. No," he said, pouring more vodka into the juice tumbler he was using as a shot glass. "No Shockwave."

"Reverb."

"I am not a bass line," he said with tremendous dignity.

She dissolved in giggles for a moment, burying her face in her own juice-tumbler-shot-glass. "Vibe."

He opened his mouth to refute that, then paused. It was a little on the dumb side, but it was descriptive, and -

"Eee! You paused."

"Didn't."

"Did! Did, did, did. I will mark that down as a possibility." She slammed the last of her vodka, set the glass down with a thunk, and scrawled, "Vibe," across the scratch pad on her coffee table. Her normally neat handwriting sprawled and wobbled.

"Dr. Snow," he said with great formality. "I do believe you are trashed."

She sniffed. "The proper term, Mr. Ramon, is smashed."

"Blitzed."

"Turnt."

"Plastered."

"Hammered."

"Nailed! - Wait, no, different."

She started giggling again. "Oh, by the way, I got you something. A surprise."

He perked up. "Yeah, what kind of surprise?"

"A surprising surprise. Lemme. Lemme gettit." She started to get up, caught her foot on the rug, and plopped back onto the couch. She blinked as if she wasn't sure how she'd gotten there.

He snorted with laughter. "It can wait," he told her.

"Nnnnno, I want you to see it, you'll love it."

"Okay, okay, then. I'll get it."

"You can't get your own surprise."

"Watch me."

"But I wanna see when you open it!"

"I won't peek."

"You will too."

Sure, he would, but that just meant he'd be able to come with the perfect delighted expression when he opened it in front of her.

Caitlin was not always the best at judging presents for people. At times, she was sort of like his grandma who gave presents like a microwave omelet maker and when you said, "But Nana, I don't eat in the morning," she would say, "So now you can start!"

Like the only thing that had been standing between you and this balanced breakfast was the lack of a cheap-ass plastic microwave omelet maker.

Of course, other times she (Caitlin, not Nana) found the very most awesomest shit, so, crapshoot really.

"I won't peek," he said, getting very carefully to his feet. "Scout's honor. Where is it?"

She frowned. "In. Hmmm. In my closet? I think? In a bag on the floor."

He set off, weaving slightly, and she said, "Heyyyyy. Heeyyyyyy, you weren't a Boy Scout!"

About fifteen minutes later, Caitlin realized that Cisco still wasn't back with his surprise. She blinked a few times, then hauled herself to her feet. "Ciiiiisco," she said, rambling toward her bedroom. "Did you get lost? Because my closet is not that big, and no jokes about my shoe collection, okay, not from a guy who - erp!"

He looked at her over his shoulder. "I'm surprised," he told her. "I'm really surprised."

She grabbed the box from Good Vibrations out of his hand. "That is not your surprise."

"Oh, well, okay. I mean, not that I'm not interested in eight inches of mind blowing sensations, but I can tell you right now I would need a lot of lube."

She squealed and swatted him, and he laughed.

She couldn't exactly tell if he'd meant it, even though he'd laughed. Cisco laughed at a lot of things. The thought of asking made something flutter in her belly, and parts south.

"That's my surprise," she told him seriously, hugging the box to her breasts. "Not yours, mine. From Felicity. Your surprise is there." She pointed.

He picked up the plastic bag and pulled out the Captain America duct-tape wallet that she'd found at the farmer's market the weekend before. "Awww, rad."

She eyed him suspiciously. "Really?" She could almost always tell when he didn't really like a present. He tried just a little too hard to be excited about it.

"Yeah, really." He gave her a vodka-y kiss on the cheek. "I love it. I'll keep all my moneys in it." He stuffed it in his back pocket. "Now about your surprise - "

"Oh, god." She shoved it back in her closet and shut the door with a snap. "No, you forget about this. You - " She poked his forehead. "You wipe it from your hard drive."

"Ow, watch the eye." He rubbed his forehead. "Okay, fine, I'll forget I saw it. Anyway, I could do better."

"Could not," she said automatically.

"You're the one who wants to name me Vibe."

"Because you can create sound waves, okay, not because - " She felt her face heating up.

He raised his brows. "You're awfully defensive of that little gadget, considering that you haven't even taken out of the box."

"That's because I prefer my Magic Wand."

He blinked a few times.

"Cisco?"

"Uh, just processing … that … Okay. So, you've already got a basis for comparison. Shouldn't be too hard to put me to the test."

"The - the test?"

The grin was back, but there was a hot sparkle in his eye to go with it. "Yeah-huh. I say I can, you say I can't, now we've gotta test our hypotheses." He tapped her nose. "Science, Dr. Snow."

She stared at him for at least a minute, while the vodka said Dooooooo it, and her good sense said, This could be very, very awkward when you sober up, and her pants said, It's been over a year since Ronnie disappeared and anyway he did say that if anything ever happened to him you weren't supposed to bury yourself again.

Her pants were fairly articulate, considering.

Cisco's grin was fading around the edges, tattering. "Or - or we could - not - and forget that I ever - "

"Okay," she squeaked.

"Okay, no, or okay … ?"

"Okay, science," she said. "Go ahead."

"Oh. Really?"

"Yeah. Show me what you've got, Vibe."

They hesitated, looking at each other.

"So. Uh." He looked a lot less cocky, now that she'd called his bluff. (Or maybe not a bluff?) "How - how should we do this?"

"Um." She was equally at sea.

"I think maybe my hands - ? I'm best with my hands. So far."

She knew. Oh, did she know. "Yeah. Good. Right. Also I don't have condoms around, so."

"Okay then. Where?"

She looked around. "We could - the bed."

"That makes sense."

She sat on the edge of the bed. He looked at her position, then at the floor. "Um - ?" He started to get down on his knees.

She slapped her hands over her face and squeaked, "No!"

"What?"

"Not like that. I can't - it's weird. Your face."

"My face is weird?"

"No, it's not, I like your face, but you're my best friend and it'll be weird looking at you right there, especially while - But I want to. I do."

He rested his head on her knee. "Caitlin."

"Yes."

"You are a certified nut."

"Thank you, I am aware."

He started laughing to himself - she could feel his hair tickling her leg and the soft huff of his breath. He looked up at her, then got up and sat down next to her, hip to hip. "Is this going to be weird?"

"It's new," she said, staring at her knee because suddenly, weirdly, she couldn't look at him. "I haven't had that many sexual partners - "

"And I'm what, Casa-fucking-nova? My number isn't even in double digits."

"But you've had one night stands, right?"

"Like, two. Two one-night stands. Ever."

"Well, that's more than - I've never had sex with someone I didn't have a relationship with."

"You have a relationship with me," he told her. "Best friend. You just said it. Caitlin, if you don't want to do this, it's okay, we don't have - "

"I do," she insisted.

He studied her. "Okay. Kiss me."

She frowned at him.

He raised one eyebrow at her. "C'mon. I'm gonna be putting my hands all kind of places on you. Go ahead. If you really want to do this, put your lips on my lips."

Well.

Well, he did have a point.

She leaned in. If she gave him a brief peck on the lips …

He would make fun of her forever, probably.

She kissed him softly, slowly, light brushes. He hmmed in his throat and leaned into it. He'd kissed her before, little affectionate smooches on her temple or her cheek and once or twice on her lips, but they'd been their own event. Singular.

This … this was different. The awareness of what they were about to do hummed between them in a haze of lust and alcohol and scientific curiosity.

Mostly lust.

They eased apart. She was very aware of the thud of her heart. There was something hot and dark lurking in his eyes now and it made her breath come faster. "Okay," he said softly. "I believe you."

She believed her now too.

He combed her hair off the side of her face with his fingers. "What if I get behind you?"

She considered that. "Like … doggy style?"

"Uh." He blinked once or twice. "No, unless - ?"

"Like what then?"

He reached back and piled a couple of pillows against the headboard. Settling himself back against them, he opened his legs. "Here. You sit here."

She scooted backward until she was nestled against him, her back to his front, his legs bracketing hers. His arms slid around her waist in a light hug. "Okay?"

She rested her hands on his knees. She liked this, him warm and solid all around her. Cisco was pretty huggy; it was a familiar feeling. She stroked one hand down his thigh and his leg flexed. "Yes," she said.

"No weird face?"

"I like your face," she said again.

He kissed her shoulder. "Yeah, me too."

She snuggled back into him.

"O - kay," he said slowly. "So, what do you normally do now? At this point. With a, uh, a vibrator."

She peered over her shoulder. "Cisco, you have done this before, haven't you?"

"On me? Sure. And it's mind-blowing, trust me. But I know me, and I don't know you. You do. So, come on. Set the experiment."

She considered, then reached up into her armpit and undid the side zip of her dress. She leaned forward and unhooked her bra underneath her dress, then shimmied and wiggled until she could pull it out through one sleeve and toss it over the side of the bed.

"Serious," he said. "That's gotta qualify as a superpower."

She laughed at him over her shoulder, then braced her hand on one of his thighs and pressed her hips up until she could pull her panties down her legs.

"Dress stays … on?"

"I'm setting the experiment," she said haughtily, kicking her underwear to the floor. For some reason, she didn't want to be entirely naked at this moment, in this situation. Her pickled brain couldn't suss out why, and as long as Cisco was okay with it (he sounded okay with it) she wasn't going to stop to ponder the decision.

"Okay, then set me. What do you do now? What do you touch? Tell me."

She took a steadying breath. "My - " She swallowed. "My breasts. I start there."

His hand moved to cover her breast, gently massaging it through her dress. "Over? Under?"

"Under."

His hand slipped in through the open zip, all warmth and calluses and familiarity, moving to a brand-new place on her.

He traced a circle around her nipple, and it tightened up. "Like that?"

"Yes, but I haven't felt anything yet, Vibe."

He gave a little huff, and then his finger hummed against her nipple.

She yelped with surprise.

He stopped. "What?"

"It didn't even make any noise!"

"Nope."

"That's - that's points over my vibrator."

"Do it again?"

"Yes please now."

He did, and her back arched as she pressed her breast into his hand. "Mmm," she breathed. "Hmmmm."

"Move your hair," he told her.

She was still a little drunk, which was why she said, "To where? It's attached."

He snorted into her hair. "Just over, Caitlin, Jesus, or I'm going to wind up flossing with it."

She reached back and pulled all her hair over one shoulder, and he lowered his mouth to her neck, open-mouthed kisses all up and down the slope of it, leaving wet patches that warmed with his breath. His stubble scraped just a bit. It didn't hurt, but it did send little thrills all over her skin.

She reached up and behind, stroking the side of his head. His teeth closed around her earlobe and she shivered.

His fingertips humming on her nipples were nice, but too much in one place. "Stop," she said.

He went still.

"No, just stop the vibration, okay? For a moment. Can you, um, can you squeeze them? The whole - my breast. Not my nipples."

"Oh, sure, yeah."

He was gentle, that was nice. She wasn't a fan of men who treated her breasts like stress balls. He stroked her skin, drawing little hieroglyphics in the plump undersides, thumbing her nipples.

She shifted, drawing up her knees and parting her legs.

"Okay, were you just changing positions, or was that a cue for me?"

She pulled her skirt up, piling it in the valley between her thighs and her stomach, and said, "Cue, please."

He touched the inside of her knee, tracing little circles. Air whispered all down the inside of her thighs to her naked pussy, and she thought oh, we're doing this.

His hand trailed down, and Caitlin remembered that she hadn't shaved above mid thigh in quite some time. Panic fluttered until he shifted against her and she felt something hard and hot press into the small of her back.

Clearly her body hair situation wasn't a deal breaker.

He settled his hand over her mound. Not poking around, just letting that warm weight rest over the place where her arousal beat in low syrupy pulses. "Ready?"

"Uh-huhoooooohhhhh - "

"Good?"

She pushed her hips into the light vibration of his hand.

"Harder?"

"Little harder." She hummed with approval.

"I told you. Better than your toy."

"Yeah. Well. Mine - mine varies. The speeds."

He tried that out, and she knew without looking that his brow was crinkled and he was biting his lower lip. She let her head fall back onto his shoulder and let out an uneven sigh.

"Yes?"

"Yes. That one - that one combination you just did - do that again." She rocked her hips. "Cisco."

"Uh-huh," he said raggedly.

"Cisco, okay, now can you - ?"

His hand stopped vibrating altogether and he just cupped her for a moment. "Find the remote control? Sail the little man in the boat?"

"Stop being a dork and touch my clitoris."

He traced his fingers up, then slid them through her pubic hair - she pressed her knees farther apart to give him space. He found the seam and delicately parted it with one finger. "Um. Where am I going here, exactly?"

Well, really. Granted, he was doing it by touch alone, but it wasn't like there was a whole lot of real estate down there. But she directed him anyway. "Up a little. Over. No, the other direction. Too far! Okay, just a tiny bit - "

"Did I sink your battleship yet?"

They both cracked up. Cisco buried his face in her hair, laughing so hard he snorted. Caitlin kicked her legs, hiccuping with glee.

When they'd calmed down, he tried again, and she took his hand, guiding his fingers to the right spot. "Mmmmmmm," she moaned, drooping boneless back against him.

"You're so wet," he murmured in her ear.

"It's working," she sighed, then gasped as his fingers hummed against her clit, just a whisper of vibration.

"Good?"

"Uh-huh," she managed.

"Better?"

"Hnnnnh."

She gripped his knees, getting leverage to push her hips up into his hand over and over again. His hips were moving in rhythm with hers, rubbing his erection up the small of her back. She wondered if he might get off just doing that.

The thought made her catch her breath, and he hesitated, and she said, "Don't stop, oh my god."

He pushed his fingers down further, catching some of the slickness from her vagina, bringing it back up to her clit, and set his fingers moving again.

He'd said he could do it better than a vibrator and he hadn't lied. Caitlin could feel her approaching orgasm like a haze, pulling together, spiraling tighter and tighter down to that point where his fingers pressed and hummed and stroked. She clutched his knees tighter, choking on her breath, letting it out in huffs and grunts and gasps.

Cisco was muttering against her skin. At some point, he'd changed to Spanish, because his voice was huskier, the vowels rounder. Ohhhhh, fuck. Had she ever told him what that did to her? Probably not. It didn't matter because it was really, really doing the job.

She twisted around, arching up to give him a sloppy, off-center kiss. He responded enthusiastically, and god, he was a good kisser like this, dark and dirty. But the position wasn't doing her spine any favors and his rhythm was off because he was focusing on kissing her, so she gave his lower lip one last suck and settled back in her former position, pressing his hand down between her legs with her own. "I'm close, please, harder, please."

He followed orders with a pulse so strong that it startled a "guh!" from her throat. She opened her eyes and saw her own familiar bedroom, her comforter, her feet with their painted toenails braced next to Cisco's feet in his white cotton socks, his cords a little ragged at the bottom, so commonplace.

His fingers working her clit, the vibration of his metahuman powers thrumming through her pelvis and her thighs and her abdomen, his hips humping his cock into her back, his heavy, uneven breath whispering across her skin.

This was Cisco, her best friend, always right next to her, this was -

"Cisco!"

Everything clamped down tight - she folded over, moaning his name. He was smart enough not to stop, and shock after delicious shock rattled her system, forcing whimpers and gasps from her lips.

One last spasm took her, and she threw her head back, and -

Clunk.

Cisco heard Caitlin come in. He looked up. "Hey."

She gave him one quick look, turned pink, and hunched over her computer. "Good morning."

"How's the head?"

"Okay," she said in a muffled voice. "And you?"

"I'm awesome," he declared. Overdoing it, possibly, but the situation called for it. "How's the everything else?"

She bit her lip, then smiled shyly. "Really, really good."

His whole body relaxed and he smiled. "Good. Awright. Yay science."

They smiled at each other, goofy, a little shy, a little dirty. Maybe he was imagining that.

"You know, I really find that the bedrock of good science is replication of results," she said. "And, um, expanding the parameters."

Or maybe not.

"You have a point," he said slowly. "Under varying conditions?"

"Such as sobriety. And, um - " Her voice went a little squeaky. "Your apartment? Tonight? After work?"

"Mine? Uh." He started calculating when the last time he'd changed sheets was, concluded far too long. "Okay, sure, just I'll have to leave early tonight to, um - "

"Clean up?"

Oh, right. She knew him better than just about anybody alive. He grinned sheepishly. "Yep."

She giggled.

"Hey, Caitlin!"

She went pink again and ducked behind her computer. "Morning, Barry."

"Hey, Cis - Holy shit!" With a rush of wind, Barry was across the cortex and crouched over, peering at Cisco's black eye. "Oh, man, what happened to you?"

Cisco dodged away from his probing fingers. "It's not as bad as it looks."

"It couldn't possibly be."

Well, point there. Caitlin had a really hard head. However - "Honestly, man, when it happened, I didn't even feel it."

Caitlin dropped her tablet with a clatter.

She'd been so adorably mortified when she'd recovered from her orgasmic haze and found him holding his face that she'd fled the room. When she'd returned with a cold pack, she'd sworn to make it up to him and pushed him back on the bed. He'd had just enough time to say, "you don't have tohhhhhh fuuuuck" as her mouth closed around the head of his cock.

Cisco could now honestly say he'd gotten the best blowjob of his life while clutching a bag of frozen peas to his face.

Barry gave the black eye one last poke ("Dude!") and stepped back, grinning a little. "Wow, okay, tough talk. Should I see the other guy?"

Cisco fought to keep his eyes from wandering over to Caitlin, who had gone from pink to beet-red and was fussing around with something in a drawer, turned half-away from both of them.

"No," he said definitively. "No, you really shouldn't."

FINIS