Bart and Cissie's Mud Fight!

[cisskabob]

[RP with nokidflash, on Day 8 of the Road Trip]

The rain came out of nowhere--one minute it was so hot and sunny that everyone was stripping out of their shirts to keep cool and the next minute clouds rolled in, it got dark and then it was pouring. The rain came too fast for them to make it to the van and even though Cassie shrieked and Cass looked unhappy, Kon immediately started throwing around mud and tackling people. Cissie laughed, watching and staying safely out of the way by the fence.

Bart did not stay safely out of the way. He went right for Kon, then Tim, then Steph, and by the time he was done he was covered head to toe in mud. Teeth shining white against the dark mud, Bart wandered, big grin on his face, over to the fence. "Heeeey, BooBoo."

Cissie tried not to laugh, and she climbed up to sit on the top rail of the fence--probably not the smartest move, but really, there was no way to actually run from Bart. "Don't even think about it."

"Think about whaaaaaaaaaat?" Bart, still grinning, moved closer and closer. "You're not afraid of a little mud, are you?"

"Maaaaaybe," she said slowly, swinging her legs around the fence and hopping down on the other side.

"Maaaaaaaybe?" Bart climbed over the fence and hopped down. "Maaaaaaaaaybe?" And then... he was hugging Cissie. Because, really, no way to escape when your boyfriend's a speedster. "Want me to stop hugging you then?" He kissed her ear with his slightly-muddy lips. "Should I gooooo?"

Cissie shrieked, pushing at his mud-covered shoulders and trying to twist away. He kissed her ear and she laughed, shrugging her shoulder to protect her ear--it tickled. "Bart! You're all slimy!"

"Oh, sorrrrry!" He slid around to cover her back and pushed her hair aside to kiss her neck. "I guess you don't like your Barts slimy? I guess it's only good if we're sparkling clean Barts?"

"Bart!" she cried, trying to protect her neck. "You're so meeeean!"

"Awww." He kissed her neck again and then took a step away, pouting. "I guess I'll just go back and roll around in the mud by myself. And since you're not that muddy I guess I'll have to clean up by myself too, in the lake. The nice, pristine, quiet lake. Sad."

She crossed her arms, pursed her lips and eyed him narrowly. "I think I'm being manipulated."

Bart pouted a little more, and then shoved his hands in his pockets and pushed his toe into the mud. "I'd never do that to you, Cissie."

Cissie continued looking at him sternly for about half a second before she dropped her head back and threw her arms up. "Gyah! It is not fair that you can look that pathetic when you're covered in mud!"

"It's only 'cause you looooooove me so much." Bart grinned and walked over, scooping Cissie up in his arms. "Come on, let's go get muddy together, my Cissie."

She laughed, hooking her arms around his neck to hang on. "You are sooo silly."

"Silly like a fox!" He rubbed his muddy nose against hers and ran - not too fast - back towards where the mud was. Kon and Steph had vacated, probably to their respective partner (or not partners, whatever, Steph), so the mud playground was all theirs. "Or a Tigger!"

Cissie giggled, trying to wiggle free. "I didn't know foxes were silly! Sly and sneaky, maybe. Silly, not so much!"

"I guess I'm just a Bart, then." Wiggle though she might, Bart didn't let her go. Not until they were exactly where they needed to be: in the middle of the mud. He knelt down and then dropped her, making sure it was from a height that wouldn't hurt. "Your Bart!"

Cissie made a face when she hit the mud and it oozed around her. She looked up at Bart with a pout. "My Bart put me in the mud!" she whined.

"Only because your Bart loooooves you and wants you to experience the fun of mud wrestling with him." He lowered himself over her. "And 'cause he thinks swimming to get clean afterwards will be fun."

Cissie raised an eyebrow at him, attempting to gather a handful of mud without his notice. "Does he? So he's just being thoughtful and considerate, and not at all selfish?"

"That's right." Bart hooked a leg under hers. "He's doing this only because he loves her, no other reason at all."

"Well, in that case!" Cissie moved suddenly, swinging both arms up to slap handfuls of mud into his hair and rub them in.

"Gaaaaaah," Bart yelped and retaliated by haphazardly slathering mud anywhere on Cissie's body he could get to. Of course, he did it really really fast. So she was covered pretty quickly.

Cissie yelped and tried to roll away, but of course couldn't. She grabbed a handful of mud and smeared it across his forehead. "Bart! You cheater!"

"Am not!" Bart was already muddy, so he had no problem getting more muddy. Cissie, however, had some spots that could still use a little bit of mud covering. "Can't change who I am!" He leaned in and pressed his muddy forehead against hers. "Besides, you're sorta hot in mud."

She wrinkled her nose at him and poked him in the ribs. "You have an unfair advantage, and also you are totally biased."

Bart squeaked a little at the poke. "Hey, love the Bart, love the speed." He kissed her softly... mainly to distract her from the mud he was about to smoosh up under her shirt.

She kissed him back, starting to wrap her arms around him--and then yelped, pushing him away instead. "Bart!!" She grabbed his wrists, holding them away from her body. "That was meeeean."

"Awwwwww." Bart made a playful pout. "All's fair in love and mud war, Cis. Is this really not fun for you? We can stop."

"You put mud under my shirt!" she whined, giving him a pout of her own and forcing a miserably sad expression--mainly so that she didn't start laughing at the face he was making. "It tickled. And it's dirty!"

"Cissie. You know what happens when you pout!" Bart nipped gently at her lip. "That's the point! To tickle. And be dirty and have fun together."

"Oh, is it?" Cissie asked, kissing him to distract him before she attacked his sides, tickling him in retaliation.

"Aaaaaaack," Bart let out a sound somewhere between a yelp and a giggle, and squirmed trying to get free of her tickling hands. "Staaaaaaaaaaaaaapit."

Cissie laughed and rolled them over so that Bart was lying in the mud now and continued tickling him. "What was that? I don't think I quite caught that. Keep tickling me, Cissie? I can do that."

"Nononononono," Bart fwapped his hands around, trying to block her. It wasn't working, so eventually he took desperate measured, reached to pull her in close she had less leverage. It... sort of... helped. So he tickled back. 'Cause the best defense is a good offense.

Cissie laughed and then shrieked, immediately turning her attention to blocking Bart instead of tickling him. She squirmed, trying to push herself free again. "Eeep! Bart! No fair!"

"Hah!" Bart stopped tickling her, but only because she'd stopped tickling him. "You are so dirty right now. I wish I had my camera."

She stuck her tongue out at him, but--ew--mud on her lips. "Says the Creature From The Black Lagoon."

"Haha, old movie reference. I love you." He put his hand under her shirt and started to clear away from the excess mud. "Well, I wish I had my camera to get us both, then, because it could be our Holiday Card!"

Cissie laughed and tried not to wiggle away again while he scraped the mud off. "Maybe Cassie will take one. But that would be a very bizarre Holiday Card, you know."

"I'm sort of a bizarre guy." Bart shrugged, and finished with her stomach, though he left his hands under her shirt. "I'm muddy," he announced. "How'd that happen?"

"Gee," she said dryly, reaching up to grab a handful of her hair. She scraped the excess mud off, letting it plop onto Bart's chest. "Look at that. I'm muddy too. I have no idea how we got this way."

"Weird." Bart made a face as the mud plopped onto his chest, spattering some on his face. "You know what? I think there's a lake nearby. I bet if we go swimming that'd completely clean us up from this inexplicably all-over-us mud."

Cissie giggled, grinning at him. "That sounds like an excellent plan."

"Just another BAP, baby." Bart winked. "But you've sort of got to get off me first. As much as it pains me to say." As gross as the lying in the mud was, it was sort of nice to be silly with Cissie. Also she really did look inexplicably hot covered in mud.

She gave a world-weary sigh and climbed off him, standing ankle-deep in mud. "That is a fault in your BAP." She looked down at herself and made a face, trying to scrape some of it off. "Ew."

Bart laughed. "Don't worry, fair maiden! I will save you!" And then Bart scooped her up in his arms again and ran them towards the lake. "The superhero Inertia is on the case of the Mysterious Mud!"

Cissie laughed, tucking her head in against his muddy shoulder while he ran. It was still weird and a little jarring to hear Bart refer to himself as Inertia, but she was working on it and managed not to react outwardly, except to hang on a little tighter. But that could be explained by the speed at which Bart was running. "That sounds like a Nancy Drew title."

"Yeah, I meant to tell you. When I run off at night? I'm not really going back to my apartment, I'm going to dress in drag and solve mysteries." He slowed down as they came to the edge of the lake. "I hope you don't mind. I know you said you don't like girls, but what if it's me?"

"Ah, and everything falls into place," she said, nodding. "You're the one who steals my make-up, aren't you?" She grinned, rubbing her nose against his. "If you're in drag, you're still a boy, silly."

"Yeah, your make-up and your clothes." He grinned. "Oh yeah, I knew that." Bart couldn't help himself and kissed her despite their muddy lips. "Wanna go swimming?"

"Yes," she said, making a face. "Ew, mud. No more kisses before mud-removal!"

"Okay!" Bart waded into the lake, clothes and all, until he was waist deep. "I was gonna toss you in, but I thought you'd be mad at me and then we couldn't make out in the lake. Soooooooo," he lowered Cissie down gently, then dunked under the water and shook himself to dislodge some mud before resurfacing."

Cissie took a deep breath, hanging on while Bart dunked them under. When they came back up, she reached over and rubbed some wet mud off his cheek so she could kiss it. "Maaaybe I wouldn't be mad."

"If I tossed you?" Bart grinned. "Really?"

She laughed, scraping mud off of his forehead next. "Maaaaybe. There might only be one way to know."

Bart looked at her for a second, trying to decide if he wanted to risk it. Then he remembered he was Bart Allen, and grabbed Cissie, walked to where he could get better footing, and tossed her in the lake. Unceremoniously. Making a very big, very awesome splash.

Cissie yelped and managed to take a breath before hitting the water. She resurfaced and laughed, pushing her hair out of her face and using the opportunity to try to get some of the mud out. She grinned at Bart, kicking a little and increasing the distance between them. "Hmm. I'm not mad. But there is the making out issue."

"How is that an issue?" Bart pulled off his shirt, because it was heavy and muddy - or something - and tossed it back towards the shore. "'Cause I was under the impression that your smiling and laughing meant we'd still get to do that."

Cissie shrugged and instead of answering took a deep breath and ducked back under water. She turned and swam, resurfacing several feet further from him than she had been. "Yes, but look. You're so far away. It's a problem."

Bart blinked. "Hey." He swam out a little towards her. "No fair." Well, his pants were getting heavy as he got deeper into the water, so he decided to shed those as well. Pants were replaceable! "Stop swimming."

Cissie just grinned and ducked under again, resurfacing even further away. "But I like swimming."

"More than making out?" Bart kept swimming, slowly. He knew this was just play, no need to use his superspeed. "'Cause I like making out with you more than swimming."

Cissie hummed thoughtfully, rolling to float on her back. "I don't know if you can compare the two. They're very different."

"Well, yeah." Bart floated towards her. "But, Cis. I'm not wearing any clothes." That was said like it made everything clearer.

She lifted her head to smirk at him, raising an eyebrow. "Well, what happened to them? Are you sure you should be swimming without clothes?"

"I took them off." Another few strokes and he was right next to her. "I've got my shorts on. And I think I'm cool. In fact, I think maybe you should take yours off. It'll make lighter."

Cissie turned her head to look at him, still floating on her back. "I feel pretty light already. See? I'm floating."

"You'll float more?" He poked her lightly in the side. "Also you'll get cleaner! Yeah!"

Cissie stuck her tongue out at him and batted at his hand. "I'm floating just fiiiiine, thank you."

"Ciiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiissie." Bart poked her again. "You're being difficult."

She squeaked a little and splashed him. "I am not!"

Bart splashed back. "Are so!"

She gave him an injured look and splashed him again. "Am not!"

"Are so!" Pout. Big pout. Bart tugged at the edge of her very wet shirt. "Just a little!"

Cissie pouted back at him--for about half a second, before she dropped her feet to the lake bottom, standing up. She crossed her arms, looking stern for a moment before pushing herself off the lake floor and tackling him.

"Eeeeeek," Bart laughed, wrapping his arms around Cissie and pulling her under the surface with him. While they were under water he kissed her, because underwater kissing was something he always wanted to try. After they surfaced he kept on kissing her, not pulling away until he needed some air. "See? Told you."

Cissie wrapped her legs around his waist, hanging on. She pushed her hair back and kissed his nose, putting her arms around his neck. "Told me what?"

Bart smiled at her. "Making out is nicer than swimming." He held onto her, holding her close as they just floated leisurely in the water.

She hummed thoughtfully. "Hmm, you know what's even nicer?" She kissed him again. "Making out and swimming."

"Huh?" Bart wrinkled his nose. "How do we do that?"

Cissie giggled and kissed his nose. "Well, I thought that's what we were doing. Maybe I just meant making out in the lake."

"Oh. Yeaaaaah, that is definitely awesome." Bart rubbed his nose against hers and kicked a little to keep them afloat and move them to a slightly deeper part of the lake. "I don't wanna go home. I want to stay with you in a little tent forever. And swim in the lake - though you should really take off your clothes, Cis, like, seriously - and eat s'mores and sleep under the stars annnnnnnnd, I dunno. Let's stay here!"

Cissie laughed, hanging on and kissing along his jaw. "It is nice. But if we stay in the water, we'll get all pruny! And cold. And I miss a bed, Bart."

"We'll get a cabin, Cissie." He shifted a little running his hands up under her shirt and moving his jaw so she had more access. "Or you can sleep on me every night. I'm so okay with that."

"Maybe I'll sleep on you every night anyway. In a bed." She nipped at his earlobe. "We can put glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling. I always wanted those."

"That's so cheesy." Bart grinned. He closed his eyes, taking in the feel of Cissie in his arms as they floated in the water, and her teeth at his ear. "I love it, let's do it."

Cissie grinned against his neck and rubbed her cheek against his happily. "Mom never let me, and then I was in a boarding school or college dorm. By the time I had my own place I forgot." She pulled back just enough to smile at him. "I love you. We don't really have to, though. But you said you wanted to sleep under the stars, so..." She shrugged. "I don't know. Next best thing?" She frowned, considering. "Technically, the next best thing might be a skylight but I don't think that's really an option. Or we could turn the bedroom into a planetarium."

"You want to live in a planetarium? We might get sick of that." Bart was grinning a big grin. She was talking about their bedroom, together. "Then again, we might get sick of the glowy stars. The planetarium, could just be a lamp thing we can turn off when we want."

She giggled, shaking her head. "Planetariums are kind of loud. And what if we fall asleep with a lamp-thing on?" She pouted at him, giving him sad eyes. "Who gets tired of glowy stars? They're glowy! And they fade so they don't glow all night."

"Yeah, I see your point." He smiled and kissed her. "Our bedroom can have glowy stars in it. I'll make love to you every night under the stars, just like our first night. Unless we're not at home, then I guess I won't. Maybe we should get some traveling stars?"

Cissie kissed him back, running her fingers through his hair. "I think it's okay if we're not always under the stars."

"Okay." Bart floated quietly for a few moments. "Are you pruning? Do you want to go back? Do you want me to take off your clothes? 'Cause whatever you want, my Cissie, I'm here for you."

Cissie lifted a hand to inspect her fingers, looking thoughtful. "Hmm, I'm on my way to pruny." She shrugged and touched her forehead to his. "I think maybe I will leave my clothes on. Because if I take them off, you will be Up To No Good. And as much as I would like to be Up To No Good with you, we do need to get back. Since we have a few more hours before we get to the campsite." She rubbed her nose against his. "But I wouldn't mind staying a little longer."

"I'm always Up To No Good with you, BB." Bart smiled happily at her, and kissed her again, but he kept his hands still on her back. "I'd like to stay. This is nice. It's quiet and tranquil and. Sort of perfect. But mostly 'cause you're here."

She giggled into the kiss and hugged him happily. "It is kind of perfect. But I think you have the reason wrong. It's perfect because of you, not me."

"Don't be silly, Cissie. If there were two of me here it'd just be weird. Unlike some Superboys that will remain nameless, I don't like making out with myself." Bart kissed her jawline. "I like making out with you."

Cissie laughed, tilting her head for him. "I like making out with you. And that's not how I meant it and you know it, you dork."

"Mmmhmm." Bart was too busy trailing soft kisses up her jaw to her lips. He couldn't really respond at the moment. While they kissed he started kicking his legs a little, bring them back towards shallower water.

Cissie kissed him back. She was just happy, here in the water with Bart, just the two of them. As nice as spending time with their friends had been, she didn’t mind getting away from everyone else to have some one-on-one time with Bart. She pulled back when she needed to breath and touched her forehead to his. "I don't think I'll mind going home,' she said thoughtfully, playing with his hair.

"Really?" Bart liked being on the road. It had been peaceful and, except a few almost-fights, pretty low key. He missed some things about being home, but being on the road had been even better than he'd thought. Bart wasn't really sure he wanted to go home. "Why? I mean, besides our bed."

She smiled, really liking the sound of that--'our bed'. "Because..." Cissie paused, trying to find the right words for her thoughts. "I'm excited about the bakery, and living together." She kissed his nose, shrugging. "I don't know. I can't wait to just... be with you like that."

"But we're together now." He sort of understood what she meant, though. It would be nice to come home to her and curl up in bed and know he didn't have to go anywhere else except there. He even looked forward to silly things, like paying bills and reading the newspaper on the couch while they cuddled. Bart stopped moving. "I wanna be a grown up with you. I just... realized. Is that weird?"

Cissie's smile widened and she shook her head. "That's--kind of exactly what I meant." She wanted to go grocery shopping with him and eat breakfast with him and know that if she rolled over in the middle of the night, he would be there or be on his way. "I want--I'm looking forward to being normal with you, you know? As normal as we get, anyway."

"Yeah." Bart smiled at her. It was like everything they'd been saying for the past few weeks just sort of coalesced into this realization. It wasn't that he hadn't meant it before, it was just that he hadn't known exactly what it was he'd meant. "I promise I'll try to be normal for you, Cissie."

She laughed and kissed him, leaning in to press her forehead to his. "Not too normal, I hope. I love you. I don't want you to be anything but the Bart Allen I love."

"I know." He closed his eyes. "I just meant I wouldn't be... like Bruce. I'll come home to you. I won't, there won't be a city that means more to me than you. Nothing will mean more to me than you. Ever."

Cissie tightened her arms around him, closing her eyes as well and just holding on. "I--thank you," she said softly. "I always want you to come home to me." She kissed him. "And I'll always be waiting for you. I promise."

"You're not going to leave me for the milk man?" Bart grinned. He knew it was silly, but a part of him worried she wouldn't want to be the wife of a superhero. Especially since she knew better than anybody what it meant.

"Never." She giggled and shook her head, punctuating her words with kisses. “Never. Never. Never."

Bart smiled and pulled her in close. They were floating in only a few feet of water now. "He might deliver chocolate milk, though." He kissed her again. "I love you, my Cissie."

"Why do I even need a milk man? If I want milk--plain or chocolate--I can ask you to get it for me." Cissie smiled, feeling about as happy and content as she thought was possible. "I love you too, Bart."