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“Great,” Dante said. Cisco stood next to him, staring in horror at the thick white filling the air. He couldn’t see the street lamps anymore.
Dante shut the door and looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
“Don’t blame me,” Cisco said. “I don’t control the weather.”
“But you know someone who can...”
Dante gestured at the door.
“And how are you planning on explaining that to Mamá?” he asked.
“It’s not my fault you’re lying to them,” Dante said.
“Fine,” Cisco groaned. He pulled out his phone and dialled Barry’s number.
“Hi, Cisco,” Iris said. “Are you okay?”
“Hey, Iris,” Cisco said. “Where’s Barry?”
A crash came from outside and lightning crashed down onto a vaguely visible probably Barry wrapped up in several layers.
“Never mind,” Cisco said. “The Flash just flew past the window.”
“Weather Wizard broke out of prison again,” Iris said. “Are you still...”
“At the bar?” Cisco said. “Yeah. Don’t worry, it sounds like they’re planning on keeping it open until this clears up. I’ll be fine, I’ll call you later.”
He hung up and groaned.
“Your friend is busy,” Dante said.
“Weather Wizard’s controlling the weather,” Cisco said. “So we’re stuck.”
“Great,” Dante said. “I’m getting another drink.”
Dante was on his third drink.
“Okay, that’s enough,” Cisco said. “I’m not dragging you home drunk again.”
“I’m not drunk,” Dante said.
“Not yet,” Cisco said. “You will be if you don’t stop.”
“I can handle it.”
“Dante-”
“I don’t need you to mother me, hermanito,” Dante sneered.
“I don’t know why I agreed to this,” Cisco said.
“You said you wanted things to change,” Dante said.
“You’re acting exactly the same!”
“So are you. You’re so much better than me, aren’t you?”
“I’m the great Dante Ramon, I played Carnegie Hall when I was thirteen-”
“The entire band was invited,” Dante said.
“I could never live up to-”
“Neither could I.”
Dante pushed the glass away.
“She’s not proud of me, Cisco,” Dante said. “She’s proud of who she thinks I should be. I was just in a school band who took part in a competition once, we didn’t even win. You help the Flash save the city all the time. You’re the one she should be proud of.”
“Try telling her that,” Cisco said. “She’s been asking when I’ll get a real job since I first started working at S.T.A.R. Labs and now the whole city knows my ex-boss was a murderer and the accelerator was flawed from the start and I didn’t notice.”
“No one else did either.”
“Hartley did. I helped him, I should have known something was wrong, he deliberately built it to fail.”
“Why?”
“He was from the future; he killed the real Harrison Wells and Tess Morgan so he could take over S.T.A.R. Labs and set up the accelerator to fail to give the Flash his speed so he could open a wormhole to get him back to the future because he screwed up the timeline when he killed the Flash’s mother.”
“So, was this like future science that hasn’t been discovered yet?” Dante asked. “And you still think you should have known it was wrong?”
“I should have. I worked with him, I stuck by him when everyone else left, I’m the one who mentioned Barry to Thawne in the first place-”
“It’s not your fault, Cisco.”
“I was having memories of him murdering me in another timeline and I still didn’t know until Barry told me.”
“Cisco,” Dante said. “It is not your fault.”
Cisco looked at him. Dante looked sincere.
And sad.
He looked sad.
“You know-” Cisco stumbled over the words, trying to figure out how to say them. “You know it’s not your fault that they don’t...”
“It is my fault I didn’t stick up for you. I’m meant to be your big brother. If Armando was here-”
Dante took another drink.
“I’m sorry,” Cisco said.
“For what? I’m the one who should be apologising to you.”
“Armando. It was my fault.”
“What are you talking about?” Dante asked. He tapped on his glass.
“It’s my fault he died,” Cisco said. If he’d stayed home. If he’d been faster.
If he’d had the powers he had now.
“No, it wasn’t,” Dante said.
“He was saving me-”
“Cisco,” Dante said. “It is not your fault. I’m the one who was too afraid to move when he needed me.”
“You were fifteen.”
“And you were fourteen. Cisco, Armando’s death was not your fault.”
Cisco looked at the drink Dante was fumbling again.
“We’ve both been blaming ourselves for the same thing,” Cisco said. “Haven’t we? Both thought the wrong brother lived but not how we thought we did.”
Dante nodded.
“If I hadn’t been so afraid,” he said.
“I’m glad you’re here,” Cisco said. “I miss him, but I wouldn’t trade your places. Never.”
“I’m proud of you,” Dante said. “Every time people start talking about the Flash it’s really hard not to boast he can only do it because my baby brother helps him.”
“He could,” Cisco said.
“That’s not what he said after Snart,” Dante said.
“He did what?”
“I kind of worry you might get kidnapped again sometimes,” Dante said. “And that Zoom guy, I know you’re not going out fighting him, but Cisco, everyone thought he’d killed the Flash.”
“He almost did,” Cisco said. “I shot him before he could.”
“You did what?”
He looked out the window. A thick layer of snow covered the ground, but the blizzard had stopped, and yellow lighting flashed past.
Cisco’s phone rang.
“Still Iris?” Cisco asked.
“Nope,” Barry said. “Mardon got away. I’m not sure what he’s planning, but it involves murdering me. Iris said you called?”
“It’s not important,” Cisco said. “Hey, do you mind if I bring Dante by some time?”
“No, go for it,” Barry said. “He already knows my name. You sure you’re good?”
“Yeah,” Cisco said. “See you tomorrow, Barry. Unless it’s an emergency.”
“Have a good night, dude,” Barry said. He hung up.
“Everything okay?” Dante asked.
“It’s Tuesday tomorrow,” Cisco said. “You could drop by if you wanted. See what I do.”
“Sure,” Dante said. “My shift ends at two.”
“Two,” Cisco said. “Great. I’ll drive you home. There’s some things you should probably know first.”