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Cisco flips the television back to the news. He yawns and looks away. The Flash is doing another high speed chase along a highway. Apparently he’s following another speedster. Cisco is tired of the news just being The Flash, all the time. He’d be more interested in the election or a fucking corgi race.

He jumps when his phone rings. It’s an unknown number, but he’s bored enough to pick up.

He’s about to say hello when the person on the other end starts talking.

“Caitlin, I need you to get over here! I don’t know which way he’s gonna go. We have to corner him.”

“What?” Cisco says. He can barely hear the caller over the sound of the wind. One of the news outlets gets a close up of the Flash. Cisco squints. Is the Flash holding a phone in his hand?

The caller swears in his ear. “You are not Caitlin.”

“No, but if you happen to be on Highway 280, there’s a giant hole in the middle of the road. You might want to turn left.”

“Uh, thanks,” the caller says. Cisco watches the tiny figure on the screen follow his command.

“Yeah. You’re going to want to keep running west until you hit the merge. Should be about twelve seconds, if you stay at that speed. Then left again. That’ll get you in front of him.”

The Flash speeds up on screen. Cisco can hear him muttering to himself on the phone. He doesn’t even sound out of breath, like he’s out for a casual morning stroll and not chasing a superpowered metahuman down a highway.

“He should be right there. I’m gonna hang up now. Good luck.”

Cisco watches the blur of red toss his phone away and launch lightning bolts at the other meta. He finds himself a little more interested in the Flash now.

The next time Cisco picks up a call, he’s watching a live feed of the Flash stuck on the far side of a river from a bank robber.

“Caitlin, I need to get over. I don’t care how.”

Cisco clears his throat. “I am still not Caitlin. The nearest bridge is about twenty miles away.”

The Flash swears. The guy has a mouth on him.

“You can’t jump it?”

“No, it’s too far.”

Cisco pulls his laptop up and starts typing.

“Try heading a few hundred yards north. The river gets narrower there.”

The red figure bolts off. A few seconds later, a pretty reporter says that the Flash is back in pursuit. Cisco cheers quietly.

“I’m not Caitlin,” Cisco says when he picks up the phone. He has the Flash’s number saved to his phone now, marked as ‘Red Sonic’.

“Yeah, I was hoping to talk to you, actually.”

“What do you need help with?”

“Nothing, right now. I was just wondering what your name is. I’ve called you, like, twice.”

“I’m Cisco,” Cisco says quietly.

“Alright, Cisco. Thanks for helping me. Would you be interested in doing it again, because you seem like you know the city pretty well?”

“Sure,” Cisco says, having no clue what he’s signing on for. “I’d love to help, Flash.”

“Oh, you can call me Barry.”

Cisco picks up the phone seven seconds into the Sonic theme song he’s set as his ringtone.

“Hey,” Cisco says.

“Can you run some names for me?”

“Sure,” Cisco says, switching from his work tab. His boss is working on some weird experiment he won’t tell Cisco about, so Cisco figures he’s entitled to a break. “Who do you need me to stalk?”

“Well, there’s five people. I know at least one has powers. I need you to tell me if any of them were in Central City the night of the particle accelerator explosion.”

“Sure,” Cisco says. He types them in and frowns. “They were all in Central.”

Barry swears. “Okay. Do you have an idea if any of them would have powers that would let them control vision?”

“How would I know - wait. Eloise Jackson worked as an optician. What does your villain look like?”

“Oh. Here’s the thing. I don’t know. She made me blind. I can’t see shit right now.”

“So you don’t know where she is.”

“Or where I am. I followed her for a bit, but then I lost her.”

“Okay. Do you mind if I hack your phone?”

“Uh, sure,” Barry says. “Go ahead, I guess.”

Cisco types for a few seconds. “You really need better security on it. I know where you are. No clue where she is. Let me…”

Cisco types more quickly. “Found her. For deniability purposes, don’t ask how. Since you can’t see, I’m going to guide you based on other stuff.”

Cisco closes his eyes and tries to picture where Barry is. He can imagine the stores nearby.

“Can you smell where the coffee shop is?”

Cisco hears Barry sniff. “Yeah.”

“Face away from it and start moving, slow. Let’s see if this is the right direction.”

Cisco hears Barry’s footsteps through the phone and tracks his locaion.

“Alright. Looks like we’re going the right way. Now, keep going and listen. There’s a pothole in the road up ahead. You’ll hear cars drive over it. Get as close as you can without getting hit by a car.”

Cisco hears Barry’s breath.

“Uh, yeah. I’m here.”

“Now turn left. Looks like she’s on the way to downtown. We can beat her there. Could you turn your camera forward?”

Cisco remotely activates the camera on Barry’s phone. It’s a creepy thing to do, but it’s an emergency. Barry points the camera in front of him.

“There. Now we’re not flying blind. Turn ninety degrees to your right and start moving. I’ll tell you if anything’s in the way.”

Barry starts to run. The camera is shaky, and the quality isn’t very good. Cisco reminds himself that he’ll have to get Barry a new system.

“Am I on a highway?” Barry asks.

“Yeah. You are on the side. You’re not, like, weaving through trucks.”

“Okay,” Barry says hesitantly.

“Yeah. Now, take a gradual left. Follow the sounds of the cars.”

Cisco guides Barry off the highway.

“We’re going to intercept Eloise in kind of a remote location to minimize risk to civilians,” Cisco tells him. “You’re going to feel a change in the road when it goes from concrete to bricks. When you feel that, start turning right.”

Cisco switches away from the camera to check on Eloise’s location. Barry is almost caught up with her. Cisco plans the best route to get in front of her and the best place to meet. It takes him a few seconds to figure it out.

He rattles off instructions and starts to get ready. He hacks the traffic lights in ten seconds flat.

“Alright. She will end up at STAR Labs in three minutes. You’re going to have to get her to leave the car. Do you hear the construction zone?”

“Yeah.”

“Ask if you can take a few handfuls of nails.”

“Got ‘em. What now?”

Cisco guides Barry back to the road where Eloise will pass the labs. He turns the lights red so nobody else will enter and has Barry block the road off with a sign. Hopefully, Eloise will ignore it.

“Now scatter the nails across the whole road. At least one will probably puncture her tire.”

“Even if they’re all on their side?”

“Yeah. The front tire will kick them up and put them in position to hit the back tire. They’ll get stuck in the tread and the force will make them pop the tire.”

Cisco hears the sound of nails scattering on the road.

He switches back to the traffic lights and monitors Eloise’s location. The other people waiting to turn onto the blocked road have given up and gone a different way. Cisco turns the light green as Eloise approaches.

“Heads up, she’s headed your way,” Cisco says. He turns the lights red again and steps outside. He watches from behind his vehicle.

Barry is standing behind a dumpster, waiting. Cisco watches the car come closer.

There’s a telltale noise as it drives over the first wave of nails. It takes another rotation of the tires before he hears the sound of the puncture and the air starting to escape.

Eloise jumps out of the car and starts to run. Barry follows her.

“Left punch, duck, run around her,” Cisco is whispering into the phone. Cisco grabs a rock and throws it at her.

She turns around, and Cisco jumps behind his car. If she can’t see him, she shouldn’t be able to start using her powers on him.

“Two steps forward. Cover her eyes,” Cisco says. Barry follows his instruction. Cisco watches Eloise struggle. Barry covers her eyes with one hand and grabs both her wrists with the other.

“The police are almost here. They have power-numbing handcuffs,” Cisco says. “They’ll be able to take her off your hands.”

“Thanks for the help,” Barry says. “No clue what I would have done without you.”

“Yeah,” Cisco says. “You bet.”

He watches the police arrest Eloise. Barry blinks and looks around.

“Yes! I can see again!”

Barry hangs up and picks up the rest of the nails as the police go back to their cars. Cisco steps out and starts walking toward him.

“Whoa!” Barry says, running in front of him and picking up another nail from where Cisco was about to step. “Musta missed one.”

Cisco stares at Barry. He’s a lot cuter in real life. The cowl still covers up a lot of his features, but Cisco can see his smile.

“Hey, are you alright? You were lucky to just miss a huge fight.”

Cisco nods blankly. Barry must not realize it’s him.

“Alright, well, I should go.”

Barry takes off. He calls Cisco back a few minutes later.

“Thanks again for your help.”

“Yeah. I’m also going to install some stuff on your phone for you, make it so it can’t be hacked as easily as I got in.”

“Oh. Thanks. Can I ask what exactly it is you do for a living?”

“I’m an engineer,” Cisco says. “I just picked up some skills.”

Cisco hopes Barry doesn’t mention any of the very illegal things he’d done to help catch Eloise. He sets the traffic lights back to normal.

The next time, Cisco is the one to call Barry.

“Hey Flash, there’s a situation you might want to help with. You know STAR Labs?”

“Yeah?”

“Someone’s breaking in,” Cisco says.

He hears clattering. “I’ll be right over,” Barry says.

Cisco yelps when the intruder finds him.

“Where do you keep the tech to kill the Flash?”

“Oh, you mean the stuff I disassembled three months ago?”

The man presses a gun into Cisco’s cheek. “Can you replicate it?”

“Yeah.”

He gestures to Cisco’s workbench. None of the materials he’d need are there.

He throws together some pieces that look like they might be a weapon. He just needs a few minutes.

He feels a gun pressing into his back. “Hurry up, Ramon.”

Cisco frowns. “It takes time.”

“You don’t have time.”

The next second, the intruder is on his back with the gun taken away. Cisco is outside in Barry’s arms.

“Sir, are you okay?”

Cisco just nods silently.

Barry frowns and looks around. “Were you here before? I think I remember you from the whole situation with Eloise Jackson.”

Cisco nods again. Barry sets him down.

“I’ll be right back,” Barry says. He darts away

Cisco’s phone rings a second later. Cisco wonders what Barry would need.

“So I just rescued this cute guy, and I was hoping you could, like, look him up to make sure he’s not an evil villain or something, because I kinda want to ask him out.”

“What’s his name?” Cisco says. He can’t believe Barry still doesn’t know.

“I don’t know, but I think he works at STAR Labs. He has long hair and he’s like, really cute. I know that’s not much to go on, but-”

“Just ask him,” Cisco says, and hangs up.

Barry flashes up to him a second later.

“Hi, so I was wondering if you have a secret supervillain identity-”

“I meant ask him on a date, you dumbass,” Cisco says.

It takes Barry a second to process. His jaw drops. He scratches his neck.

“Oh. You’re Cisco.”

“Disappointed?”

“No. Just glad I know you’re not a supervillain. Even though you have, like, hacking powers. I, uh, wow. I didn’t know you were cute.”

“Are you gonna ask me or not, Flash?” Cisco says. He smiles a little bit.

“Uh, Cisco? Would you go out on a date with me?”

“Sure, since you saved my life and all.”

“You’ve saved my ass too.”

“I guess we both owe each other a date, huh?”

“Yeah. I think so far, we owe at least three.”

Barry smiles and pulls his cowl down, and he’s even more handsome.

“I think we can agree to settle that debt.”