somethingwithturquoise | MHA #4; Tuesday Evening [09/01].

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MHA #4; Tuesday Evening [09/01].

Summer had sort of been wishing her class hadn't been moved to Fridays this semester, because that would have given her something more to focus on for a good chunk of the day that wasn't kind of obsessing over the state of her apartment, which was fine, obviously, and it was kind of stupid that she was even nervous about Barry coming over for pizza and a phenominally dumb movie and meeting her cat (god, she really used that as a framing devise, didn't she, wtf), but there they were.

Thankfully, she actually did manage to distract herself pretty effectively by deciding to actually dig into a little bit of economic theory for her class, with Pancakes curled up and purring and complicating the whole lap part of using a laptop, but, whatever, it was cute, although Summer did make sure to have at least one moment of serious discussion with her.

"Seriously, Cakes, don't be a brat. If you're good, I promise, there will definitely be some of that dank Nebulon 9 catnip in your future."

And Summer was just going to take Pancakes' continued purring and leaning into the chin scratches she was getting as an acceptance to these terms and conditions.

[[ for that guy! ]]

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"That is a fucking tomato gun," Summer confirmed.

But was a fucking tomato gun more distracting than the fact that, now that there was hand on her shoulder, Summer was just going enjoy that for a moment before shifting a little, until her other shoulder was leaning into Barry's?

When Summer's shoulder made contact with Barry, he was no longer watching the movie. He just turned his head and was watching Summer with an amused look. It wasn't that the situation was funny. It's just that he felt good.

"Comfortable?"

That question just prompted Summer to make a few minute adjustments until she could answer with the utmost confidence. "Yes."

She hadn't really been watching the movie much at all, but now she wasn't even bothering to look at it, either, looking over at Barry now to meet his eyes with a quiet, hopeful, "You?"

"Yeah," he said in a volume that was somewhere above a whisper. "Honestly, I haven't been this comfortable in a very long time."

He couldn't tell you squat what was happening in the movie right now. And for once he wasn't thinking a million things at once.

So he just leaned in to give her a kiss.

To be fair, even if they had been watching the movie, they still probably wouldn't really be able tell what was happening.

Something with rapid gunfire, maybe? Or was that just the crazy beating of Summer's heart right now?

Whatever. It didn't matter. There were obviously more important things going on right then. She was more than happy to abandon all hopes.of making any headway on that pizza as she shifted at least one more time so that she could better lean in to return that kiss, closing her eyes with a sigh of relief, because if he hadn't, she was so going to, but this was, like, way better.

Barry turned more to lean into the kiss, pulling back gently just catch his breath a little bit and smiling.

"We may have to watch this movie again," he joked. "We're missing some very important plot points. Not that I care."

"We really aren't," Summer assured him, her own breath turning into a small laugh. She took a moment, mostly for her head to catch up with her racing heart, eyes dancing over Barry's face as if to confirm that, yeah, this was definitely happening. And she moved in to kiss him again, hand finding his chest, curling up there in his shirt to maybe better keep him there.

Oh, Summer. Barry wasn't going anywhere. In fact the hand that was on the couch and her shoulder was now moving up to cup the back of her her head and face. When he did get a chance to breathe he chuckled again. "See? Movie and pizza can be nice?" he murmured against her lips.

"Gonna be hard to top this one," Summer grinned, murmuring back.

But, oh, she had maybe a few ideas...

She moved in to get back to the kissing, but didn't get too much further into it before she stopped, at the unmistakeable presence of something silently jumping up onto the couch beside her, and the pressure of paws on her thigh, and a sniffing, fuzzy face leaning in with a curious, trilling mrwor?

"Dammit, Pancakes."

That's right. She was finished playing with that very lovely box for the time being, she was now prepared to allow the humans to bestow her with attention and affection, thank you, as evidenced by her now attempting to settle purposefully yet awkwardly on Summer's lap for proper adoration.

Barry laughed as he looked at Pancakes. "Well, clearly someone needs attention," he said, pulling back a little to notice that the two brothers were now dealing with the moon crashing into Earth as well.

Clearly this movie had a great budget.

"You were right by the way. She's clearly the color of a perfectly cooked pancake."

Which again in Barry's went to "#f5dc87". But he wasn't going to share that out loud at the moment.

Summer was also looking at Pancakes for a moment, with an expression that let her know quite frankly that she was not cute, and Pancakes just looked back at Summer with a calm and purring expression that begged to differ, and Summer's tongue clicked a little with the frustration of someone who knew they were going to be losing this particular argument. She gave in to the surrender and started scratching underneath Pancakes' chin.

"I know, right?" she said, her grin already warming, because, dammit, Pancakes. "When it hit me, that's when I knew we were going to be stuck together."

Oh, Summer, don't even act like you had even a little bit of agency in any of this.

"You might need to bring a better box next time, though," she added.

Don't fall for it, though, Barry. Pancakes wasn't going to have shit to do with the next box.

Barry has to think about that for a moment.

“But what would constitute a better box?” Barry asked. “Carbon fiber? Plexiglass? Titanium”

And then he remembered his time with that ocelot.

Long story.

“Does Panackes like chasing laser pointers?”

It didn't take much to form a good guess as to what might be going on in Barry's head, but that didn't mean Summer didn't enjoy watching the (presumably) metaphorical gears turning with a grin.

"I mean, she said, "she's a cat. I'm pretty sure she's legally obligated to."

Her voice might have gone a little mushy as she gave Pancakes a few extra scratched behind the ears. "But you love chasing lasers, don't you? Even when it gets really awkward when I'm in the middle of a blaster fight! Isn't that right?"

Pancakes had no regrets, Summer! If anything, you should thank her for that because she proved to be a very effective distraction in those moments!

Okay. The mushy voice for the cat? Adorable. Barry's just going to grin at that for a bit, thank you.

"So your cat has been in shoot outs?" Barry asked. "Figures. Bad ass cat belongs to a fucking bad ass owner."

Barry moved slightly to adjust for Pancakes moving in, his arm draped over the back of the couch and behind Summer's head.

"So a long time ago I had built a robotic arm with a laser pointer at the end of it to distract and ocelot," he said before taking a sip of his drink. "Maybe next time I come over I'll bring it along."

Summer shifted a little bit, too, so that she was back to leaning against Barry a little while grinning down at the cat and thinking fondly that she hadn't always been a badass, she could still remember her absolutely not being able to handle anti-grav at all and throwing up all over BDG's ship, but...they worked on it. She got better. Just like Summer herself.

"It's definitely worth a try," she decided, "assuming, of course," turning her grin over to Barry now, "it actually worked on the ocelot, too..."

"Oh, yeah," Barry said letting out a huff of air. "I got detention and my punishment was taking care of that fucking thing. I don't care how cute those fucking tufted ears were, that thing made a mess. The laser pointer was the only thing keeping it from destroying my warehouse."

He looked down at Pancakes and gave her a little grin. "This one is a hell of a lot cuter," he said, reaching out to try and give Pancakes a little scratch behind the ears."

"Oh, sure, thanks," said Summer, as Pancakes, a little uncertain about this new element entering the experience of ear scritches entered the picture, but ultimately deciding that anything with ear scritching was acceptable, tolerated it. "In a couple of weeks when this one winds up ten times her size and tearing up this place, I'm blaming that on you."

But she grinned. "She is pretty cute, though, I'll give you that."

"Adorable really," Barry said but he was no longer looking at the cat and now had his eyes back on Summer. "Any thoughts for our next date now that it appears Pancakes has decided to tolerate me?"

"I don't know," said Summer, with a mostly feigned thoughtful tone, because she was playing it up as indecision, sure, but also, she had mostly been focused on just making sure this one went well too much to start looking ahead. "I'll have to think about it. Besides, she could just be being polite," ha, yeah, right, Miss Bad Timing Interrupting Cat over here, "while you're here..."

"Oh. So as soon as I leave she'll talk trash about me?" Barry laughed, and then gave Pancakes and amused look. "I'm on to you, kitty. And I'll win you over even if I have put a piece of salmon in my pocket and smell like a fish all evening."

"Hi," said Summer, "please remember that I will also, more than likely, be having to smell you all evening in this intance, too."

And she laughed, but, yeah, seriously, please don't. She was pretty sure she actually did like Barry enough to tolerate salmon pockets, but also she was perfectly fine with never having to find out.

“Well, now I’m in between a cat and-“

There was a brief second where he almost tried to define their current status of a relationship but went with the safe route.

“-your olfactory senses. I need the cat to like me but you need to like the way I smell. It’s a catch-22. What is a boy to do?” He said in a mock troubled fashion. Oh the humanity!

"Pro tip?" Summer offered. "Always let the offactory senses win. I mean, unless you're also trying to date my cat."

And wouldn't that be just her luck!

“No. I just want to date you.”

It was meant to be light hearted but it may have come out a little mushier than he thought. “Ahem. But Pancakes and you are a package deal. So. No salmon unless it’s a drastic measure.”

"Good."

To the dating? To the salmon?

Either way, Summer was shifting until she was comfortably resting her head on Barry's shoulder.

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