Work Text:
From: Y/N.Y/LN <Y/N.Y/[email protected]>
To: Harrison.Wells <[email protected]>
Subject: Guest Lecture
Dr. Wells,
On behalf of Central City University, it is my absolute honor to invite you to our facility next Thursday to lecture our students - aspiring scientists - on your success. It would be a thrill to have you and your presence would be greatly appreciated. Please let me know whether or not you can spare the time.
Sincerely, Y/N
With your fingers stilling over the keyboard, you bit your lip and allowed yourself to proof read one last time before hitting send... Yeah, that seemed professional enough. Short and sweet and not overly complementing like you were trying to pimp out flatteries in order to get him to accept the invitation. So... Okay. That would do.
Barely moving your wrist, you shifted your hand over the mouse and quickly flicked the cursor until it hovered above the send button and then... Click.
It was gone. It wasn’t that you were nervous about inviting him but Dr. Harrison Wells was known to be a bit of an ass when it came to public appearances and according to everyone else on staff at the University, every time he’d been persuaded to actually come out of his lab and cooperate with the school, it always ended badly…
So, in short, he was a bit of a fuck-off-I’m-smarter-than-you type and you weren’t really in the mood to deal with it... Which was why you opted for emailing him instead calling or making an appointment to actually go see him in his office... Face to face just seemed a little dangerous and based on the rumor running around the school, Dr. Wells had a chronic bad attitude and you wanted to avoid that at all costs. He was basically one big negative variable that you didn’t really need in your life at the moment.
But okay... What was done was done. You had already hit send and the ball was now in his court. The worst he could say was-
Ding.
Flicking your gaze back to the computer screen, a bright flashing light caught your attention as it continuously winked at you... You had one new message in your inbox which seemed a little surprising considering it was a reply from none other that Dr. Wells himself and you had sent your email less than five minutes ago and weren’t expecting him to reply so quickly.
Moving the cursor once more, you clicked against the message icon and quickly read:
From: Harrison.Wells <[email protected]>
To: Y/N.Y/LN <Y/N.Y/[email protected]>
Subject Re: Guest Lecture
no
And that was it… No bullshit, no punctuation, no caps, no vivacity of any sort; it was just a straight answer. He said no… No. He had no interest in coming to the school and lecturing the students who were striving to achieve a fraction of his success and happened to think he was the best thing since sliced bread.
“Wow…” You muttered more to yourself than anyone else considering you were sitting alone in your classroom. “What a raging dick.”
So, you cracked your knuckles and did what any other young, self respecting college professor would have done… You hit reply and quickly typed out:
From: Y/N.Y/LN <Y/N.Y/[email protected]>
To: Harrison.Wells <[email protected]>
Subject Re: Guest Lecture
Dr. Wells,
Thank you for taking a whole four minutes to think on my invitation. It’s a shame you’re not able to descend from your throne at S.T.A.R. Labs and grace us with your celestial presence but I completely understand your well-explained reason for crushing the hopes and dreams of our students.
Have a great day.
Sincerely, Y/N 凸 (^_^) 凸
Feeling victorious and completely disregarding the way you had not-so-passive-aggressively set fire to the bridge between Central City University and S.T.A.R. Laboratories, you hit send and swiveled your chair away from your computer with a bright smile before getting up and grabbing your car keys off the desk to head home and reward yourself with your favorite drink at Jitters on the way.
A light vibration whirred around the sound of a bell in your back pocket at the very same moment the Jitters barista placed your beverage on the counter and called your name which caused you to step forward and take the drink before fishing your phone out of your jeans and starting on your search for a table in this habitually crowded coffee shop. Satisfied by the newly emptied table in the back of the cafe, you quickly slid into one of it’s stools and set your drink on in the center of the slab before sneaking a peek at your phone to see an email notification blinking back at you.
Oh boy…
From: Harrison.Wells <[email protected]>
To: Y/N.Y/LN <Y/N.Y/[email protected]>
Subject Re: Guest Lecture
Your passive aggressive response was not expected but I hope indirectly calling me an asshole gave you some short lived sense of superiority because I have the necessary resources and connections to CCU to have you canned by tomorrow morning and I intend to use them.
P.S. From now on, say what you mean.
Well, shit…
Growling and wiping your hands down your face, you crossed your arms and slumped over your table; burying your face against the bend in your elbow and letting out a rough sigh. The University wouldn’t just fire you for saying exactly what the entire faculty had only ever dreamed of saying to Wells. Surely not… Then again, you were pretty rude even if you had the right to be - even if he was the one who started it.
Wells was bluffing. He had to be. What connections could he possibly have with the school? Everyone on staff absolutely hated him, which was why you were tasked with the burden of inviting him to the University for a guest lecture in the first place. Nobody else wanted to grab that bull by the horns and drag him into the school because everyone was well aware of his recurrent dick-mode and avoided that like the plague, especially if they’d had the misfortune of handling him in the past.
Quickly lifting yourself back upright, you snatched your phone off the table and let your thumbs punch at the screen...
From: Y/N.Y/LN <Y/N.Y/[email protected]>
To: Harrison.Wells <[email protected]>
Subject Re: Guest Lecture
You want me to say what I mean. Fine. I think you’re a dick.
Tapping send, you glared down at your screen and waited for his response but when you heard the notification sound off, you quickly determined the noise hadn’t come from your phone. With a frown, you glanced in the elicited direction to see a man sitting on the large sofa near your table; his face hidden beneath a dark ball cap as he stared at his own mobile device and poked at the screen.
And then your phone gave a little ring of it’s own, which caused you to look back to the device in hand and check your latest message.
From: Harrison.Wells <[email protected]>
To: Y/N.Y/LN <Y/N.Y/[email protected]>
Subject Re: Guest Lecture
I don’t care.
Wow… What an asshole. Before you even had a chance to think it over, your thumbs were moving across your screen with righteous intent.
From: Y/N.Y/LN <Y/N.Y/[email protected]>
To: Harrison.Wells <[email protected]>
Subject Re: Guest Lecture
Eat me.
Ding.
From the sofa, that man’s phone gave another sharp chirp and you turned toward the sound once more, taking note the way his shoulders jerked through a snort as he continued staring at his cell; his thumbs roving over the screen.
Oh, shit… Was that…?
And then, another notification rang through your phone, the device buzzing against your now sweaty palm before jerking your stare back to the blinking screen to see Harrison’s newest response.
From: Harrison.Wells <[email protected]>
To: Y/N.Y/LN <Y/N.Y/[email protected]>
Subject Re: Guest Lecture
You’d like that.
You took another glance toward the man on the sofa to see that he was no longer hovering over his phone but was now relaxed and settled against the plush backrest, nursing a black coffee in one hand and holding fast to his cell in the other in anticipation of receiving another text; his cap still shrouding his face. Gulping around the lump in your throat, you went back to your phone and started typing once more...
From: Y/N.Y/LN <Y/N.Y/[email protected]>
To: Harrison.Wells <[email protected]>
Subject Re: Guest Lecture
Are you at Jitters right now?
The man’s phone gave another ring that suddenly seemed too loud and you shifted against your stool to get a look at him but this time, he wasn’t staring at his screen anymore. Fuck… With your suspicions confirmed, you watched in horror as Dr. Harrison Wells scanned the shop for his penpal - the person who was very clearly watching him - scanned the shop for you.
It wasn’t until his blue stare landed on you that you felt an unpleasant chill begin rippling up your spine. His dark brows furrowed before his mouth slanted into a hard line, giving you the need to remove yourself from the situation by sliding away from your stool, shoving your phone into your back pocket, and completely disregarding your untouched beverage as you all but slinked toward the exit.
“Wait.” Came his rough drawl as he rushed to mount his stance; the coffee table in front of him screeching in protest as his knees knocked against it and pushed it aside to make a path for him to get to you.
And with that, you were practically jogging through the shop to get in your car, run home and hide under your bed sheets for the rest of your life.
It was nearing two in the morning and you were sitting up in bed with your back against the headboard, wide awake because fuck… He saw you. He actually saw you. Harrison Wells looked you right in the eye, put the pieces together and realized who had been on the other end of those emails. You sighed and let your head fall to you knees before pushing a rough groan through your throat… You had never been more embarrassed in your life and now that you had made a total idiot out of yourself, you were going to have to face the faculty and explain how this whole situation had been completely derailed.
Oh, you were so fired…
Ding…
Peeking through your fingers, your eyes shifted to your bedside table to see your phone flashing through the darkened room and quickly made a grab for it to make sure whoever was trying to contact you in the middle of the night wasn’t having a some sort of life-altering crisis. Only instead of a text, your email notification was blinking at you and you all but whimpered before opening the message.
From: Harrison.Wells <[email protected]>
To: Y/N.Y/LN <Y/N.Y/[email protected]>
Subject Re: Guest Lecture
Y/N,
It would be my pleasure to accept your invitation to lecture at CCU next Thursday. Thank you for considering me.
Sincerely, Harrison
What the hell?
“Are you kidding me?!” You growled, gritting your teeth before smashing against your touch screen keyboard like you were trying to squash invisible spiders.
From: Y/N.Y/LN <Y/N.Y/[email protected]>
To: Harrison.Wells <[email protected]>
Subject Re: Guest Lecture
What the hell is wrong with you?
And minutes later... Ding!
From: Harrison.Wells <[email protected]>
To: Y/N.Y/LN <Y/N.Y/[email protected]>
Subject Re: Guest Lecture
Wasn’t that what you wanted?
You didn’t reply this time, just continued staring at your phone with a frown creasing your brows… What in the actual fuck was he playing at? He’d been a Grade A asshole all day and then all of a sudden tried to redeem himself by grasping for some form of professionalism… Yeah, professionalism after two in the morning.
You had a lot of regrets about the way you handled things earlier but one of your biggest disappointments, now that you’d received his latest email, was that you didn’t flip him the bird before running out of Jitters.
With another email notification from Harrison ringing through your bedroom, you glanced back to your phone and read a series of numbers within the body of the message that was followed by two words: call me.
You blinked, your mouth gaping a bit before sucking down a breath of dry air as your heart pounded against your ribcage like a hammer that was putting that final nail into the coffin of your dignity. He was a total dickbag earlier and then, out of the blue, asked you to call him at two o’clock in the morning for… For what? Curiosity was definitely getting the better of you because before you could stop yourself from even dialing his number, you had your cell pressed to your ear; biting your lip and listening carefully as the phone rang through the receiver.
Yup… Your dignity was definitely out the window.
“Hello?”
Holding your breath and white-knuckling around your phone, you gulped and listened to fabric rustling on the other end as he shifted about. Was he in bed? He sounded tired… And it was now pushing two thirty in the morning. The situation was suddenly too intimate and you considered hanging up but before you worked up the courage to move, he was talking to you; his voice thick and quiet as if he’d just woken up and decided to email you for shits and giggles… Or because he was thinking about you.
“I didn’t think you’d call…” He said roughly, chuckling a bit into his phone before letting out a muffled yawn. “Especially after today.”
“Yeah…” You managed like an illiterate moron before forcing yourself to contribute a little more to this strange conversation. “I didn’t think you’d give me your number.”
“Because I’m a dick?”
You snorted. “Pretty much.”
Dead air drifted through the receiver, the silence almost maddening before he finally asked, “You were in Jitters earlier, right? The one with Y/H/C hair and Y/E/C eyes… Right before you ran out.”
Clenching your eyes and drawing a deep breath through your nostrils, you answered, “Yeah, that was me.”
“You’re pretty.”
At that, your eyes flew open and you tucked yourself under your coverlet; your body sinking into the safety of your sheets before asking, “Even after all that stuff I said earlier?”
He hummed a short affirmation before coming back with, “Especially after you told me to eat you.”
“Stop.” You laughed.
“I’d ruin you…”
“You’re such a jerk.” You snapped lightly, reveling in the sound of his soft snickering as he shifted into a more comfortable position; the sound of fabric scratching against his phone once more. “Are you in bed?”
“Yeah...” Harrison cleared his throat and then asked, “Are you?”
You snorted again, “It’s passed two on a school night.”
“Right.” He grunted. “Do you have a class to teach in the morning?”
“At ten.”
Save for faint breathing on the other end of the call, silence took hold of the conversation again before Harrison’s voice finally drifted through the receiver. “Can I meet you before then?”
“Where?”
“I can be at Jitters at eight.” He stated, his drawl slowing a bit as if he was having trouble staying awake. “We could talk about that guest lecture of yours.”
Without a second thought you quickly blurted. “Sure...”
“I’ll see you then.” You could practically hear the smile in his voice. “Goodnight, Y/N.”
“Goodnight…” You repeated before quickly tacking on, “Harrison.”
You were at Jitters five minutes before eight o’clock and right when you walked through the doors, you found Harrison standing near the counter, ordering another black coffee and something else; a second beverage that resembled the one you failed to get a sip of the previous evening. You were a little too busy fleeing the scene to really worry about finishing your drink from yesterday but that was understandable considering the way the situation played out. You had left it on the table after you ran out of the shop and Harrison had apparently taken a mental note to what you ordered because now, with his penetrating blue gaze landing on you, he was giving a faint smile and holding your newly ordered drink in your direction, giving you an open invitation to take it from him.
“Hi…” You started slowly as you moved through the door and walked toward him; reaching for the beverage in his hand and trying very hard not to think about how warm his fingers felt as your own digits brushed against his knuckles.
“Hey.” He gruffed in that rough way of his. “So… About yesterday...”
“I’m sorry for the way I acted.” You finished for him. “You’re probably a really busy guy and I had no right to come at you like that… Do you still want me fired?”
He huffed a bit, stifling a small laugh before saying, “No.”
With a smile, you playfully jabbed a finger in his direction. “Were you really going to try to get me sacked?”
Huffing and opening his mouth, Harrison’s reply fell short for a brief moment before he glanced to the back of the shop; his eyes landing on the sofa he was seated at the previous evening before inviting you to head that way… Rolling your eyes, you followed him easily enough and sat down on the cushion beside him before crossing your legs and finally taking a sip of that drink you’d been thinking about since yesterday afternoon.
“Way to avoid the question.” You jested, catching his attention once more and locking eyes before seeing him reward you with a grin. “You were…” You accused. “Wow.”
“You weren’t exactly professional with me.”
“Neither were you.” You countered. “Even on the phone.”
He puffed out a quiet laugh and dropped his stare to his drink. “So, about that lecture…” He started again, lifting his gaze. “Are you still interested in having me?”
“I’d ruin you…” You teased, causing his ears to turn a light shade of pink before shaking his head and tipping back a swig of coffee. “More seriously, yes. If you’re actually interested, we’d be thrilled because you were the school’s first choice.”
“I’m more interested in getting to know you.” Came his honest assertion. “I’ll be there.”
“I look forward to it.” You said with a smile, braving to scoot closer and butt your shoulder to his before taking another sip of your drink.
“Can I call you tonight?”
“I’d be disappointed if you didn’t.”
“So would I.” He said with a smirk, shifting just enough to face you as he draped his arm across the back of the sofa; his limb circling behind you so his fingertips could brush your shoulder.