bottleneck | ▌│█║▌║▌║ open post ║▌║▌║█│▌

Oh, right. Crap. Barry.

"Um, yeah. It's fine. I was just checking on something."

She doesn't have a boyfriend or a sibling, and he might have seen that if her father had answered the phone instead. He would've joked about her worrying, answered her questions, reassured her. But Barry heard everything, didn't he? There's a small swell of concern that he will use this against her, because in her experience most kids are not kind about ailing parents no matter what the ailment is, but subsides with the need to think and talk about anything but that phone conversation.

"Do you need to call anyone? I can be lookout this time if you do."

"Yeah, okay."

Both in response to her explanation and her question. Because it seems nicer to not ask what that was all about, and it's not like they're good friends or anything. He hadn't come here with any real intention of calling home right this minute, but now that they're here...

He approaches the phone, giving her a nod, and then dials.

"Uh -- hey, Joe. Yeah, it's me." He pauses, then frowns. "No, I'm not in trouble! God, I just wanted to take a minute and call. Look, can I just talk to Iris?"

Iris had promised to keep an eye out for any weird supernatural stuff happening while he was gone and to tell him everything. She'd also promised to keep an eye on his dad, and he'd been so relieved he could've kissed her. Not that, you know, he did. It's not like that between them. Maybe someday, but not now.

Except she's not home right now, which ugh.

"No, I don't want to ask y -- if you knew what it was about, why'd you ask?" He's quiet for a long, stone-faced moment. And when he does speak up, he starts to raise his voice. "I didn't ask you, and you don't get to decide -- no, I'm not letting it go! I'm never gonna let it go until everyone knows the truth!"

Bar, this isn't good for you. It's been five years, and it's about time you faced the truth. I thought when you agreed to go to camp --.

"You thought I'd give up? On my dad? Who isn't you, no matter what you say!"

Don't you talk to me like --

And then he hangs up.

That went well.

Caitlin tries, very valiantly, to keep her eyes focused away from Barry and his phone call. To make sure she spots anyone coming up, but then the volume rises and she can't help but glance over.

You thought I'd give up? On my dad?

By the time he hangs up she is staring openly, wide-eyed and concerned. She was not expecting that much anger from a single phone call, but from what she could get of the subject matter she can't help but feel sympathetic. Her dad is laying in bed somewhere, sick with something that can't be healed, and his dad... She doesn't know what's going on with his dad, but if it involves giving up being an option it can't be good.

She's about to ask if he's okay when a counselor opens the door and loudly proclaims, "Oh, thank god, there you are. What are you doing over here? Everyone is supposed to be headed toward the bonfire."

Barry exhales, angry, and presses his hands to his temples. Things with Joe are better than when he was eleven, but he still has a knack for saying the worst possible thing sometimes. He doesn't mean to, and Barry knows it; but he's still convinced that Barry's dad is guilty and Barry's just in some five year long denial.

He's not in denial. He knows what he saw.

For a second, he's forgotten Caitlin and camp and everything; so he's startled when he turns towards the counselor, eyes all wide with alarm.

He sputters for a second before managing to blurt out, "It was my idea."

Oh, no, there's that sudden surge of impulse, of needing to not get this boy in trouble after such an awful phone call. There's a slight moment of hesitation before Caitlin moves to physically put herself between the counselor and Barry.

"I called first."

The counselor just looks confused, glancing between the two of them. Working the science camp is great, but the level of good behavior these kids are on can be freaky sometimes.

"If you don't want to call from the phones in your dorm hallways, all you have to do is ask one of us, okay? There's an office in the back you can use." This is, after all, a camp of nerds. Separation anxiety is common enough that there are protocols. "Now come on. Losing kids on the first day makes me look bad."

Oh.

Oh.

Caitlin is a little dumbfounded when she looks back over at Barry. Guess there wasn't a rule after all?

There were phones in the dorms...like, phones plural. And an office in the back they can use. Caitlin isn't the only one looking dumbfounded by this turn of events. He hesitates, shrugs at her, and then moves to follow their counselor.

So they're...not going to get in trouble. He'd say something about it to Caitlin, but the counselor's right in earshot. And also it's occurring to him that Caitlin probably heard that whole phone call, and he can't even be mad because he was the one who started yelling. How could she not notice?

Which means it's only a matter of time before she finds out about his background -- and it's not that he's ashamed of his dad, because he's not, but the idea that kids around here might not immediately associate him with the case had been...kind of nice, even if he'd never admit it.

Their counselor is mostly just thankful the Allen kid didn't try to run away. It had been a legitimate fear for the ten minutes she couldn't find him or the other one.

Caitlin hangs back behind the counselor to walk in step with Barry, which is a bit of a challenge considering how long his legs are. She's still swept up in the sense that they're in it together, even when 'it' is nothing but imaginary rules and unfortunate phone calls home.

The walk to the bonfire isn't too long, and the counselor leaves them with a, "Don't run off on me, okay? And go get some s'mores before they're all gone."

Since the counselor at least doesn't say anything about Barry running away or his past history with that, he doesn't frown too much when she tells them not to run off on her. No reason to look too much into that.

But now he's alone with Caitlin again, but things feel really awkward this time. Unfortunate phone calls home and accidental eavesdropping and all. He shrugs, ducks his head briefly, then gestures at the others around them.

"Yeah, so uh..."

"Are you okay?"

She's been wanting to ask that since they were back in the office, since she heard him get louder, since he mentioned his dad. Which, actually, is probably making the moment even more awkward as they stand here on the outskirts of all this first night festivity.

"I mean," oh this is odd, trying to talk about something so personal with someone she hardly knows. "I didn't hear much but it sounded... Loud. Bad loud."

"You mean it sounded like I yelled at my foster dad." Because he, you know, did. "Joe's just...he thinks he's always right. Sorry you had to hear that."

Because that whole thing was just lame and stupid and embarrassing. He shrugs again.

"What about you? I wasn't -- " Then he kind of grimaces because, okay, he was. "I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but it was kinda hard not to hear."

"No, it's... I'm sorry you had to yell."

Wow, that was a fumble. And now he's asking about her own call, and she has to weigh the pros and cons of explanation or side-stepping the subject. There's that feeling again, though, of being in it together. Less because of imagined trouble and more whatever it is that's going on with their dads.

She takes a deep breath, looks over at the other campers for a second, and then back at Barry.

"My dad has MS. He had an appointment with his specialist today and I missed it by being here."

"Oh."

That's so much worse than he'd imagined. Not that her conversation on the phone had sounded good, but this is still worse.

"Caitlin, I'm so sorry."

No wonder she'd wanted to call home so badly and been so disappointed when she couldn't talk to him.

"You heard the counselor, though. You can call back whenever you want. It's only a matter of time before you get to talk to your dad."

"I know. And he's fine, Mom is just... Mom."

Which is an entirely different story, and one she won't get into. Not when Barry is being so nice and encouraging after his own disappointment. Not when she's trying to not ask him the hundred questions she has about why he's with a foster dad, why someone would suggest giving up on his own dad. There's an odd thought as she remembers his books and wonders if his dad was abducted by aliens or something, but no. That's too absurd.

"Wanna go get some s'mores?"

When running down every possible lead on what supernatural thing killed his mom, it was probably inevitable that he'd start considering aliens sooner or later. There are some accounts of alien sightings that sort of match what he saw. Kinda. Maybe.

It's worth looking into anyway. Because he is that desperate and he'd never forgive himself for missing out on finding the culprit because he didn't bother following a lead.

But right now, he's at science camp with a nice girl who wants to get s'mores with him and...things aren't so bad.

"Sure. Let's see if there are any left."

Things could certainly be worse, and it's incredible that they aren't. That she isn't feeling inclined to sulk about her own dad, about the conversation with her mother. That she isn't shying away from the experience of science camp with a nice tall boy named Barry.

"Come on. I think they're over this way."

If there aren't any whole s'mores left, then maybe there will at least be some marshmallows.

So science camp means there's a lot of chem and bio labs. It could sound a lot like school, but it's really more like all the fun messing around that school doesn't let you do. Lab partners are assigned by counselors, so maybe Barry shouldn't have been surprised when a very familiar counselor had assigned him to Caitlin with a wink he doesn't want to think too much about.

"So, okay. First it says to bring the Bunsen burner up to 100 degrees."

Chem and bio labs are what she looked forward to most. Being able to do things that otherwise she'd have had to settle for reading about, having access to chemicals and equipment more advanced than whatever she'd been able to get for her little home experiments...

That wink was kind of distressing, though, because she did not imagine being partnered with a nice boy delinquent maybe, which is why Caitlin fumbles a little at turning on their burner.

"Okay, done. What next, Mr. Grabbed the Instructions First?"

"Hang on," he says, and holds the instructions out of her reach just to be obnoxious. "Miss Impatient. There's no way that thing's already 100 degrees."

"It isn't," and she is so sorely tempted to get up on her chair and snatch that worksheet out of his hand.

"But we can prep the rest of our materials for the next step while we wait."

"We need a beaker," he reads off the sheet.

While still holding it up in the air.

Because he's being annoying.

"And a stir rod."

Teasing can be awful. It can be humiliating and discouraging, and generally awful. This is somehow only frustrating, and even then Caitlin is fighting off a grin.

"You're being a jerk, I hope you know."

As she gets a beaker and a stir rod.

It helps, probably, to know that he wouldn't intentionally try to hurt or humiliate her. Or at least that he's done nothing to indicate he ever would.

"Don't worry, it looks pretty easy."

Oh, that is definitely part of it, though some small sliver in the back of her mind is wondering when the other shoe is going to drop. Because boys aren't nice to her like this, not without other shoes dropping.

"Am I supposed to trust your judgement on that, Mr. Allen? Because I'm not your lab assistant."

Said without as much venom as the content would otherwise imply, considering the grin on her face, as she makes a move to snatch the paper out of his hands.

PICK YOUR POISON
PIC PROMPTS / TFLN / RANDOM SCENARIO
HAN SOLO velocities	BETTY MCRAE bombsheller	RIVER TAM subsulcus	RIVER TAM (AU) comprehender
SIMON TAM vest	BRIA THAREN exulted	NADINE CROSS bridaled	GU JUN-PYO toddler
available on special request: veronica sawyer, benjamin linus, imani, maria deluca, mushu, poseidon, niccolò machiavelli, malik al-sayf, chloe

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