Work Text:
‘You’re the Rose to my Ten.’
What the hell was that even supposed to mean? Harry glared at the words on his forearm before rolling his right sleeve down. His words had appeared when he was twenty-five and he had been appalled by the age gap. At least now that he was on a different earth he didn’t have to worry about bumping into his supposed soulmate unwittingly. He rubbed his temples, the familiar headache he felt when he contemplated his soulmate making its appearance. He was quickly distracted by Cisco breezing into the lab with two cups. He wandered over and handed Harry one before taking a sip from his own.
“So where are we?”
Harry turned to the board and frowned as he took in the calculations they were working on while pushing down the desire to reach out to the other man that always appeared when they were near. They worked for a while longer before Cisco made some random quip that Harry was apparently meant to get. When he just starred blankly Cisco’s mouth dropped.
“You’ve never seen Doctor Who? Not even Nine, Ten, Eleven, Twelve, Thirteen, none of them?”
“Ramon as far as I’m concerned none of your babbling made sense.”
Cisco dropped the tool he was using and Harry winced and waited to see if anything blew up. When it didn’t he turned to Cisco with an unimpressed look. Cisco pointed at him.
“No, none of those expressions, there’s no emergency right now so I’m going to educate you.”
That’s how Harry found himself sitting on a couch in the room Cisco had set up and referred to the relaxation chamber. It was basically a room with a couch and TV. Cisco flopped down on the couch next to him with a grin.
“Dude, prepare to have your mind blown.”
Harry grumbled.
“Don’t call me dude.”
Cisco ignored him and pressed the remote.
“We’re starting with Nine, an underrated doctor in my opinion.”
Harry rolled his eyes and crossed his arms as he leaned back into the couch. Against his will he found himself getting sucked into the show. So much so that suddenly it was over and it was morning. He blinked. Cisco grinned at him.
“Sooo… what did you think of it?”
Harry glared at him and Cisco leaned back in surprise.
“What happened to Nine? Is he just gone? Why get me to watch this when the main character dies? And what about Rose, what happens to her now?”
Cisco paused for a moment before bursting into laughter. Harry scowled.
“This isn’t funny.”
That just made Cisco laugh harder. Once he got control of himself he patted Harry’s arm, which Harry tried very much to ignore and the heat it caused, and explained the regeneration in Doctor Who. Harry was somewhat mollified but was still annoyed that Nine was gone.
Thus began Harry and Cisco’s routine of getting together and watching Doctor Who in their downtime. Harry had never really paid attention to the names of the characters until one day a couple of seasons in Cisco sighed.
“I honestly think Ten and Rose might be one of the most romantic couples in sci-fi.”
Harry froze. His left side was warm and he realized that he and Cisco had ended up pressed into each other as they usually ended up.
“What did you say?”
Cisco looked at him and gestured to the TV.
“I mean come on, I know you haven’t seen the whole Ten run, but you have to see it right?”
Harry’s mind was in chaos. He told Cisco he was going to get more snacks and struggled to walk calmly to the kitchen. When he reached it he leaned back against the wall and scrubbed his hands over his face. Then, making sure no one was coming, he rolled up his sleeve.
‘You’re the Rose to my Ten.’
He just stared at it for a couple of seconds before rolling his sleeve back down and tipping his head back against the wall. It was a coincidence surely, there must be Doctor Who on his own earth, it couldn’t be… he closed his eyes and tried not to feel the hope blooming in his chest. Could Cisco be- he cut off that train of thought and squashed the thought that the age difference matched. Cisco couldn’t be his soulmate, he deserved someone good and kind not someone grouchy with a short fuse. His hand clenched as the urge to throw something came over him. He sighed, rolled his shoulders, picked up the food and walked back to the room. Cisco frowned but said nothing about the length of time he’d been gone. Harry pushed his thoughts to the back of his mind and forced the door shut on them.
Harry tried to carry on as normal. Like he didn’t notice when Cisco bit his lip in thought, like he didn’t wonder what it would feel like to brush his fingers through Cisco’s hair, like he didn’t notice the way they always found their way to each other like magnets. To make it worse Harry had to sit through the love story of Ten and Rose and pretend he didn’t have the words.
It all came to a head during what Cisco dubbed ‘That Episode’. Rose and The Doctor were separated and could never be together again. Harry turned to Cisco when he heard sniffling noises.
“Are you… crying?”
Cisco hurriedly rubbed his eyes and scowled.
“No.”
But there were still tears that he was trying to wipe away. Harry was at a loss.
“It’s just a show Ramon.”
Cisco avoided looking at him.
“It’s not just the show, it’s…”
He trailed off and rubbed his eyes with a growl of annoyance. Harry did the only thing he could think of. He pulled Cisco to him and wrapped his arms around him. Cisco froze for a moment before relaxing against him. They were silent until Cisco’s voice, muffled against Harry’s chest, spoke out.
“It’s not just the show. It made me realize that someday you could go back to your earth and not come back. There might be an anomaly that shuts the breaches or maybe you just won’t want to come back. And I don’t know what to do about that, I just, I don’t want to lose you Harry.”
Harry was frozen, holding his breath. Cisco couldn’t mean that romantically, he saw it as losing a friend the way he would if any of Team Flash were gone.
“I know I’m your friend Ramon but if I was gone you’d still have everyone else.”
Cisco huffed in clear annoyance and pulled back to look Harry in the eye.
“That’s not what I mean you ass, I’m trying to tell you I love you and you’re kind of ruining it.”
Harry scanned Cisco’s face looking for any hint that his words might lies. He could see the other mans determination, surety and… hope. Something unfurled in Harry’s chest as he reached out and wiped a thumb gently across a tear stained cheek. Cisco closed his eyes and leaned into the touch. When he opened his eyes Harry nearly shied away from the honesty in them.
“You’re the Rose to my Ten.”
Harry tucked Cisco’s hair behind his ear, it was just as soft as he’d thought, before giving him a small smile.
“No shit Sherlock.”
He just registered the look of shock and recognition before he ducked his head to meet Cisco’s lips with his own. Cisco kissed back with fervor, as if he had been waiting for this, waiting for Harry. Harry tightened his grip on Cisco as he slid his hands into his hair. Cisco’s hands were currently bunching up Harry’s shirt and pulling him closer. When they pulled back the space between them was barely there. Harry could still feel Cisco’s breath on his lips.
“I’m not going anywhere Cisco. If we get separated I will tear through the multiverse to find my way back to you.”
Cisco’s breath hitched.
“Smooth bastard.”
Harry laughed and Cisco pulled him in to swallow the sound. They could discuss being soulmates later, right now it was just Harry and Cisco.
And Harry had never been happier for Doctor Who.