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It’s an eerily normal day at the CCPD. No criminals wreaking havoc on the city - weird or otherwise - and it’s honestly a little boring for Eddie. Not that he would wish something bad would happen, but if the past few months had taught him anything it was that quiet usually meant the calm before the storm.
“I’m going to go pick up lunch for Barry and I, you want anything?” Eddie hears Joe ask, and he looks up from the mind-numbing paperwork he’s been working through all morning.
“No, I’m good. Thanks Joe.” The other man nods and heads out of the bullpen and toward the exit.
The area slowly starts to thin out for lunch, until Eddie and a handful of officers are the only people left. It’s then, of course, that all hell breaks loose in the form of an explosion in the elevator lobby that rocks the building, sending Eddie crashing to the ground. Disoriented, he pushes himself up off the ground to see a team of six masked gunmen entering the building. Chaos reigns as the officers left race for their sidearms, and Eddie joins them, pulling his gun out of the holster he has draped across the back of his now overturned chair. Shots ring out, and Eddie’s eyes immediately move to the staircase leading up to Barry’s lab. He knows there’s no way Barry didn’t hear the explosion, and it’s only a matter of time before the scientist makes his way downstairs.
A quick survey of the first floor tells Eddie that there are three of the gunmen between him and the staircase, the other three engaged with his fellow officers. He looks across the bullpen to Captain Singh, the older man trading fire with what looks like the leader.
“Captain! Allen is upstairs!” Eddie yells.
“I’m a little busy, Thawne!” Captain Singh yells back, slipping out of his doorway to fire at the gunmen again.
“He’s alone, sir!” Eddie pushes, stepping out from behind his own barricade to fire at the gunmen. It’s already been too long, and he knows Barry will be entering the chaos any second. He watches Captain Singh heave a quick sigh before moving his head toward the staircase.
“Go, go! I’ll cover you.”
Eddie nods, taking a deep breath before stepping out from behind his desk, firing at the gunmen as he dives toward a nearby bookcase, one step closer to the stairs. He peeks around the bookcase and sees that he’s caught the attention of one of the gunmen nearest the stairs, and instinctively decides to make a run for it, ducking down as bullets whiz above his head. Aiming for the gunman, he slams the butt of his gun against the other man’s head, knocking him out cold. He steps toward the door and is thrown against it as he feels a bullet rip through his side. Pushing himself back up, he throws open the door to the staircase and takes them as fast as he can, meeting Barry halfway.
“Eddie, what’s going on?” I heard an explosion.” Barry asks, his eyes wide with panic.
“Gunmen in the lobby and bullpen. Our guys are pinned down. Do you have a radio up there?” Eddie replies, pushing the forensic scientist back up the stairs toward his lab.
“Yeah, yeah, of course. Where’s Joe?” Barry asks, and Eddie shakes his head.
“He’s fine, he was out getting lunch when they broke in.”
“What do they want?”
“No idea, but it’s safe to say not anything good.”
They reach the lab and Barry hands Eddie the small handheld radio the department uses to communicate.
“This is Detective Eddie Thawne of the Central City Police Department. Our precinct has been attacked by armed suspects. Repeat, we are under attack. Request assistance.”
Barry watches as Eddie quickly communicates with the dispatcher and other officers as they plan how to subdue the attackers and take the precinct back. They hear the sound of shooting die down, and neither know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. Eddie reluctantly accepts orders to hunker down in the lab and wait for backup, and it’s only once he’s off the radio that Barry notices his bloody side.
“You’re shot!” Barry exclaims, grabbing the other man and forcing him to sit on the nearby desk.
“It’s a through and through, I’m fine.” Eddie replies, grunting with effort as he moves to sit. “Barricade the door, Allen.” Barry looks momentarily conflicted between safety and tending to Eddie’s injuries, but he then nods and pushes a heavy bookcase against the door before locking the deadbolt.
“Okay, now let me see.” Barry says, gesturing to Eddie’s side. Eddie struggles to remove his shirt, wincing at the pain in his side, before Barry bats his hands away and begins to remove it himself, careful to avoid his wounded side.
“You’re right, I think it went through cleanly.” Barry says, bending down to get a better look. He pokes the area around the entry would lightly, earning a hiss and a muttered “Allen…” before looking up at Eddie apologetically.
“I think I have some bandages in a first aid kit, hold on….” Barry says, searching through his desk as Eddie watches silently. With a task at hand, Barry is quiet and focused, carrying the first aid kit over to Eddie and getting to work stitching him up as best he can. He’ll definitely need a trip to the ER when this is all over, but Barry manages to slow the bleeding and wrap a bandage around his torso, holding the gauze in place.
“Thanks.” Eddie offers, giving Barry a small smile.
“No problem. Sorry you’re stuck up here with me. I know you’re a ‘man of action,’ not a ‘wait in the lab with Barry man.’ Why were you coming up here anyway?”
Eddie stills, looking away from Barry. “I don’t know.” he finally says, shrugging. “I knew you were up here alone and I...I just knew you were up here alone.”
“If I didn’t know any better, Detective Thawne, I would think that you might actually like me.” Barry replies, obviously trying to lighten to mood. Things had been awkward between them since Iris and Eddie had broken up, with everyone assuming that Barry would take Iris’ ‘side,’ though the breakup had been as friendly as one can ever be. The truth was, that Barry sympathized with Eddie, having had his heart trampled on by Iris West himself. Barry’s so lost in his own thoughts he almost misses Eddie’s grimace.
“I mean...you know, not like me like me, of course. You don’t swing that way. And even if you did, you would never go for someone like me so…”
“What do you mean, ‘someone like you’?” Eddie interrupts, giving Barry an icy glare that could give Caitlin a run for her money. “What’s wrong with you?”
“I, uh...nothing, I guess. Just, you know, you’re...you. And I’m...well, me.”
“I don’t see anything wrong with you, Allen.”
“Uh...thanks...I think.”
“And no one ever said I don’t ‘swing that way,’ you just assume because you’ve only ever seen me with Iris.”
Barry clearly has no response to this, and instead stares at Eddie with his mouth hanging slightly open. This was definitely not the direction he had expected this conversation to go.
“So...you like boys?”
“Yes.”
“But, you also like girls?”
“Yes.”
A smile breaks across Barry’s face and he nods. “Good. Me too.”
“Seriously?” Eddie asks, eyebrow raised. He was a detective, after all, and Barry had never been good at hiding his feelings for Iris, and Eddie had just assumed for Barry it was all Iris all the time - except for that brief….thing with Iris’ coworker, Linda.
“Yeah, well, when you’re an awkward geek who spent years telling anyone would listen about a man inside of lightning that killed your mom, having more fish in the sea is always a good thing.”
“Again, I don’t see anything wrong with you, Barry.” Eddie replies, a small smile appearing on his face. “You might be crazy, but you’re cute. That counts for a lot.”
“You think I’m cute?” Barry asks, leaning in closer to the other man, everything downstairs momentarily forgotten.
“You’re not half bad.” Eddie replies, moving toward Barry as best he can with an injured side.
“This is a really bad idea…” Barry tries, an awkward laugh escaping his lips.
“Probably…” Eddie counters, nodding his head. Barry can feel Eddie’s breath against his lips when the door and barricade explodes, sending splinters flying across the lab. Eddie instinctively grabs Barry, throwing them both to the ground with Eddie on top of him, protecting him from the explosion.
The dust quickly settles and two of the gunmen from downstairs appear, rifles aimed in their direction.
“Hands up!” one of the gunmen yells, and Barry quietly slips Eddie his sidearm that had fallen to the ground in the explosion. He nods quickly at Eddie and lets Eddie roll off of him, throwing himself behind his own desk as he watches Eddie fire two quick shots at the gunmen, both meeting their mark, the gunmen falling to the ground.
“Barry!” a familiar voice calls out from the hallway. A moment later, Joe appears, gun drawn. “Barry!” he tries again, and Barry waves quickly at Joe as he lunges for Eddie, helping the man back up onto the desk, Eddie having obviously ruined all the first aid work Barry had done to his side.
“Joe, you have to get Eddie to the hospital.”
“Yeah, yeah. Everything’s good downstairs, those two were the only gunmen left on the loose. Good work, Thawne. I’ll go get the EMTs.”
“Thanks, Joe.” Barry replies, waving as Joe heads back downstairs. Almost immediately, Barry turns back to Eddie. “So...you tried to save me. Again.”
“Yep.” Eddie replies, clearly in pain. “Gotta say, trying to get the guy hurts.”
“My hero. So, after you get all healed up, maybe you’d want to...I don’t know...go out on a...date...or something?”
“Or something.” Eddie says with a laugh, grabbing Barry and pulling him in for a kiss. It’s quick and chaste, but full of promise for more later on. They pull away as Joe and the EMTs enter the room and Barry smiles.
“You’re on, detective.”