The Not-so-abandoned Warehouse: Friday Evening

[badassprodigy]

Barry was not nervous.

Correction: Barry was not admitting to himself that he was nervous.

Which is why he had made sure the big screen monitor was functioning in perfect honor about a dozen times in the last half hour. He also made sure the snacks he had purchased (various types of chocolate) were in perfect organized order and had tested the popcorn button on the microwave about five times to make sure the popped vs un-popped kernels was a good ratio.

To sum up: Barry was totally nervous.

At some point someone was eventually going to show up but until then he was trying to make sure that everything was perfect.

[For one and potentially others!]

Comments

[iceolatedqueen.livejournal.com]

"Zap things?" Elsa had no idea what in the world that was supposed to mean, so clearly there was only one proper response, here. "Okay, I might need a demonstration of that."

Mostly so that she'd know what it was he'd just said.

[notaweenie.livejournal.com]

"Oh! Sure!" Barry said going over and grabbing the bowl of oatmeal and placing it on the teleport station. "Now if I do this..."

Barry pressed a couple of buttons and the bowl disappeared in a shimmer of light.

"It's going to reappear over there," Barry said pointing at another teleporting station. A second later the station hummed and the bowl of oatmeal appeared in another shimmer of light.

"I have these set up so I can go home anytime I need without having to deal with Portalocity or anything."

[iceolatedqueen.livejournal.com]

Elsa, honey. Close your mouth. You're gaping.

"That was unbelievable."

In a good way, Barry. That was an awestruck gape, right there.

"How does it work?"

Even if she didn't understand a word of the explanation, she was fascinated.

[notaweenie.livejournal.com]

Barry couldn't help but grin and relax a little. This was where he lived, so to speak.

"It basically takes all the matter, maps it out, changes it into energy, sends that energy to a target site and reassembles it," He explained, "Which sounds kind of strange but someday I expect people will use this to travel instead of cars, planes or boat."

[iceolatedqueen.livejournal.com]

"It would certainly be much faster," Elsa replied, looking maybe just a little bit awestruck. "Converting matter into energy and back again? I didn't even know that was possible."

You learned something new every day!

[notaweenie.livejournal.com]

Barry was enjoying Elsa's reaction. "Yeah. Well that's my thing," he said waving his arm around at all the stuff he's worked on over the years. "I like to think anything is possible."

[iceolatedqueen.livejournal.com]

"Well, you have already done so much to put my own mind at ease," Elsa offered warmly. "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that you're re-defining the rules the universe plays by, while you're at it."

[notaweenie.livejournal.com]

"Well in some cases it's more like bending the rules rather than re-defining them," Barry said trying to sound modest. "Especially if it keeps you at ease."

And then Barry realized what he just said and got all flustered.

"Um. Do you like popcorn?"

[iceolatedqueen.livejournal.com]

Elsa was once again not actually laughing, honest.

"I like popcorn," she replied. "You're really prepared for tonight, hmm?"

[notaweenie.livejournal.com]

Barry gave her an embarrassed grin. "Shit. I just wanted you to have a nice time. You know?" he said with his ears getting a little red. "I got chocolate too."

[iceolatedqueen.livejournal.com]

Every time Barry blushed, Elsa felt a little bit braver. Less awkward? Maybe a little mischievous. It was hard to put a finger on exactly how she felt, but it was good to know that she wasn't the only one prone to falling into blushing fits all the same.

"I like chocolate even more than I like popcorn," she offered. "But I suppose that wasn't much of a secret. Not after the way I stood around the chocolate fountain at my party, really."

[notaweenie.livejournal.com]

"I kind of noticed that," Barry admitted. "Which is why I got you some different kinds of chocolate to try. If you want."

He swayed his head a little toward the giant monitor and the seating area he created. "You can have either one while I get the movie started."

[iceolatedqueen.livejournal.com]

Honestly, Elsa was torn between looking at the chocolate selection, and at the giant monitor.

Either way, she was fairly awestruck again.

"Oh, wow," she murmured. "Alright, I'll just make myself comfortable, then."

Being dwarfed by the single largest screen she'd seen in her entire life, there.

[notaweenie.livejournal.com]

"Now I've got milk chocolate, dark chocolate, chocolate with almonds, chocolate with bacon, chocolate with cayenne pepper and chocolate with sea salt," Barry said as he grabbed the remote and started navigating the movie menus. "Go ahead and pick your poison."

[iceolatedqueen.livejournal.com]

Elsa's hand paused and hovered for a brief moment at that phrase, before she reminded herself that it was actually a fairly commonly used idiom. Perhaps not the most reassuring one to use in the presence of European royalty, but she was still trusting Barry, here.

"How do you tell them apart? The dark chocolate is easy, and the almonds..."

Bacon? Chocolate with bacon?

[notaweenie.livejournal.com]

"Oh! if you turn them over you can see the bits of bacon in the other one," Barry said apologetically as the movie titles started. "As well as the one with the salt. The one with the cayenne pepper you can smell the spice on it."

Barry then sat down on the couch which had been carefully chosen to give Barry and Elsa enough space from each other so they weren't right next each other but not a huge distance from each other away either.

...

Barry really overthunk this whole evening.

[iceolatedqueen.livejournal.com]

Maybe he did, but it showed, and Elsa certainly found herself appreciating the consideration. She took a moment to poke through the chocolates for one of the ones with salt. The idea of salted chocolate intrigued her a little.

"Thank you," she replied, holding the chocolate up to show she'd managed to locate one, and then taking a seat on the couch, right on the edge of that 'not a huge distance away' zone that he'd thought so hard about. "So, we're watching a documentary, you said?"

Well, around here, it practically was.

[notaweenie.livejournal.com]

Barry gave her a guilty grin. "Well for the most part," he said starting the movie. "It's called Sharknado."

Based on the title sequence it was readily apparent that it was not a documentary.

[iceolatedqueen.livejournal.com]

"Shark...." Elsa looked at the screen in time to see sharks raining from above. "....nado."

This was going to be an educational experience! Elsa had never seen gratuitous violence on a big screen before.

"I suppose around here, it could still very well be a documentary, at least..."

[notaweenie.livejournal.com]

Barry winced a little.

"If you don't like it we can find something else to watch," Barry offered.

"Maybe Sharknado was a bad choice..."

Duh. Barry. DUH.

[iceolatedqueen.livejournal.com]

"No, no, it's fine," Elsa replied, shaking her head. "Maybe I'll be surprised. Like I was with the jumping on the bed, and the party."

She was not going to include karaoke on this list by virtue of Baby Got Back, mind.

"We'll give it a try," she decided. "And if at any point it proves to be too much, I'll let you know, okay?"

[notaweenie.livejournal.com]

Barry couldn't help but smile at her.

"Since you're such a good sport about this you can have more chocolate," he said. "Try the one with bacon. You'll love it."

Because who doesn't like bacon when people are getting eaten by sharks?