Chapter Text
Harrison Wells was a dick.
It didn’t take a scientist to figure that one out. It was just a natural aspect of his personality; a small part of his make-up that had grown to dominate most of his good characteristics.
Cisco Ramon had been the first one to point out his dick-mode-tendencies. Wells had a quick-witted retort for almost everything Cisco said, he outed him to Team Flash as a meta-human, and whenever things started getting too chummy around S.T.A.R Labs, Harrison would purposely mispronounce his name and refer to him as Crisco.
Cisco kind of hated him… Everyone in this universe -Earth-I - seemed to have a one problem or another with Dr. Harrison Wells. It didn’t help that he was wearing the face of a man who had previously broken each and every little member of Team Flash. So, yeah… The whole gang kind of hated him and it wasn’t just for being an overall douche bag.
Harrison’s doppelgänger had apparently killed Cisco in an alternate timeline. As confusing as that had been to understand… It was something he was being punished for even though he had no memory of ever doing anything of the sort. Regardless of Harrison’s innocence, aside from glares, Cisco could barely look at him.
Barry Allen on the other hand, couldn’t seem to stop staring. Courtesy of Harrison’s doppelgänger, he had to endure the watchful eye of the Scarlet Speedster who also apparently hated him for crimes he didn’t commit… Killing his mother for example. For the most part, Wells pretended Barry wasn’t there. He would move about the lab and refuse to acknowledge his presence unless Barry came right out with some sort of verbal utterance - something to cue Harrison’s attention. When it started getting too irritating to tolerate, Wells typically made quick eye contact in order to get Barry to stop… Just a sudden jerk of the head was enough to startle Barry enough to back off and pretend he had been staring at the wall behind him the entire time.
Barry reminded him of a kid learning to swim; a kid plunging into the cold waters of an unforgiving ocean and believing he could kick his way to the surface before actually learning how. He remembered what it was like to teach Jesse, his daughter, how to swim - remembered the fear in her eyes as he told her to jump off the poolside wall and trust that he’d be there to catch her - remembered the look of triumph after she’d done it… It was fun. But that’s not what it had been like for Barry. There was no one waiting to catch him in the deep end, no one telling him how hard he needed to kick in order to make it, and there was no one offering him any sort of help when he was actually out there, letting wave after wave drag him under. He had support, yes, but aside from that, he had no actual backup on the field. Science had its place but Barry didn’t rely on the smarts of his team when he was in the middle of a fist fight. He relied on himself and his speed.
For Barry, becoming a speedster had been sink or swim.
Caitlin Snow never stared… She glanced. When it was quiet, Wells would sometimes catch her in the act. He could never be completely sure because it was always so subtle - so brief - he sometimes wondered if he had imagined it. Occasionally, when he caught her in mid-glance, she would hold his stare and wait as if she had expected him to say something. Before she looked away, a range of emotions would dance across her face from hatred to sadness to confusion… This girl couldn’t hide anything. She was the type to wear her heart on her sleeve. Harrison’s doppelgänger wronged her too… He hadn’t asked too many questions but he knew she’d lost someone she had cared about. Who was it again? Roscoe? Ricky? Ronnie?? It was something that began with R.
From his short time in this alternate universe, Harrison had gathered that Caitlin was, indeed, the smart one… They were all smart. If S.T.A.R. Labs had been anything like it was back on his earth, they would have to be in order to be apart of the scientific team in the first place. But Caitlin had a better sense of… Emotional intelligence. She could read him differently than Barry or Cisco. Everyone knew what he was going through but Caitlin seemed to be the only one with enough sense to understand, even if she sometimes looked at him like he was a bomb waiting to go off. At least she tried.
They were haunted by the past.
When they looked at him, they saw the face of their enemy - The Reverse Flash. He looked like the man who nearly destroyed Central City but he wasn’t about to start apologizing for something he never actually did. He wasn’t here to make up, or make friends… He didn’t care to learn the ins and outs of Team Flash’s individual members and personalities. He just wanted his daughter back.
It was one A.M. at S.T.A.R. Labs and all Harrison Wells could think about was Zoom, the narcissistic psychopath who kidnapped his daughter. Aside from Cisco’s last vibe, he didn’t even know if she was still alive. He couldn’t think, could barely eat, and certainly couldn’t sleep… It was the only thing on his mind.
That, along with his new cell phone, of course…
Much to his disdain, Barry and the rest of the team insisted on purchasing Harrison his very own Earth-I-cellular-device. Now that he was an official-temporary-member of Team Flash, as Cisco had put it, they thought it wise to be able to get a hold of him in case of any unexpected emergencies. It was a logical request at first, but now that he’d been roped into group-texting with the Flash-Peanut-Gang, he realized he’d been mistaken to give out his consent… Let alone his new number.
Pressing his head against the lackluster pillow and dragging his hands over his face, Wells huffed at the zrrit-zrrit sound coming from the surgical table standing next to his gurney… Apparently setting the phone on silent didn’t necessarily mean it would stop making noise. The nonstop buzzing against the metallic worktop was enough to drive him insane… At the very least, the vibrate setting was much better to listen to than its previous ringtone; the mechanical laugh of Woody Woodpecker, courtesy of Cisco Ramon. He assumed it had been Cisco’s harmless way of getting even with Wells for killing him in that other timeline.
The phone vibrated again… Did these people ever sleep?
With the twelfth and final buzz Harrison was willing to tolerate, he jerked upright and snatched the device off the table with enough ferocity to make the gurney roll a couple of inches to the side. Making a mental note to lock the bed wheels, he slid his finger across the touch screen and started scrolling through dozens of unread text messages… As usual, they had nothing to do with him, or Jesse, or Zoom, or anything remotely close to something important. They were simply discussing what time they’d like to meet at Jitters in the morning.
Rolling his eyes, Harrison’s thumbs began tapping against the screen…
1:09 AM - Wells, Harrison: Go 2 sleep.
He squinted through the dark as the screen died and came back to life, casting an overly bright, blue light against his features. And once, twice, five times the phone buzzed against his palm.
1:09 AM - Ramon, Cisco: HARRY IS ALIVE! Well, we already knew he was back from the dead but this is the first time he’s ever actually replied to our messages.
1:09 AM - Snow, Caitlin: OMG! I didn’t realize it was so late! We aren’t disturbing you, are we?
1:10 AM - Allen, Barry: Sorry, Dr. Wells. We lost track of time.
1:10 AM - Snow, Caitlin: Would you like to meet up with us tomorrow? We were going to grab coffee and do some Christmas shopping. :)
Harrison blinked at the screen… There was her emotional intelligence again.
1:10 AM - Ramon, Cisco: Yeahh, because working with Harry is so much fun that we should take him shopping.
Harrison pinched the bridge of his nose… This was a perfect example of why he never replied in this stupid group chat; the texts never stopped coming.
No, he didn’t want to go to Jitters, stand in line for overpriced coffee, and then battle the holiday crowd to do Christmas shopping. There was no one to buy for anyway… The holidays were about family and his was gone. He didn’t need to be reminded of that, assuming he could ever forget.
Setting his jaw, he frowned and began typing again…
1:11 AM - Wells, Harrison: No
Lowering himself back down onto the hard mattress beneath him, he placed the phone over his chest and stared at the ceiling. One more vibration came through the device, and he lifted the phone once more to unlock the screen… He blinked again. This time the text was a private message from Caitlin.
1:13 AM - Snow, Caitlin: Are you sure? It might be fun.
Harrison sighed… His pointer dragged against the touch-screen-keyboard before hitting send.
1:13 AM - Wells, Harrison: I appreciate the offer, Snow. But until I get Jesse back, I don’t think I could bring myself to celebrate. Please understand that.
A few minutes passed before his phone buzzed again.
1:17 AM - Snow, Caitlin: We’re meeting tomorrow morning at 7:30. In case you change your mind.
He didn’t respond this time. Instead, he placed the phone back on the surgical table and rolled over to try to fall asleep.