Timeless ❄️ColdFlash⚡

Chapter 10: Timeless

Snart thought he slipped away before being noticed, but Eobard had seen everything he needed to. And what was it the thief had said about peeking into the future? That was troubling too, another puzzle to decipher.

Barry wasn't making any more sense than before. He'd seemed as though he might be for a moment after their kiss while Bates was on the floor, but then the same usual ramblings began to sputter from his lips, and Snart sighed with the realization that nothing had changed.

They put Bates back in the Pipeline, Snart made sure someone would be coming soon to keep an eye on Barry, and then he left, trusting that Barry could take care of himself for a time. He could, of course, not only by eating and keeping himself clean and dressed despite the beard he'd grown, but he'd proven he could defend himself.

When Eobard wheeled into Barry's room a short while later where Cisco was building the time machine, he was drawing his symbols in the corner like usual. He hadn't touched the glass walls of the cube yet, inside or out, waiting for it to be finished, which it very nearly was, Eobard was certain.

He watched Barry for a while, waiting for some sign, some word thrown his way, some clue, but when nothing happened, Eobard put the break on the wheel chair, gripped the arms, and pushed upward. Slowly, he walked toward Barry, and only then did the boy pause in his work.

"Eobard..." he said quietly, causing Eobard to clench the fists at his sides.

Barry pivoted and put the cap back on his marker, and Eobard felt a spark at his heels, ready to fight, to defend, to launch himself at Barry if he tried even one-

But Barry didn't stand or rush forward. He finished pivoting and fell back to sit against the wall, posture relaxed as he looked at Eobard with a kind smile.

"Hi there," he said as though speaking to a small child. "Do you like The Flash statue?"

The breath escaped from Eobard's lungs.

"No," Barry answered an unasked question, "he wasn't that great or untouchable. He was just a man. All heroes are. Just a man who tried his best, like you can be too."

"Shut up," Eobard said, zipping over to loom above Barry. "That never happened..."

But even as he said it, he remembered-a man, older than this Barry Allen, crouching down beside him at The Flash Museum so many years from now but so many years ago when Eobard was just a boy.

I wish I could have met him.

"If you ever do," Barry said in the present, "I hope he doesn't disappoint you."

"Shut up," Eobard spat more heatedly. "You can't swindle me, Flash. Tell me what you're planning. Why is Snart involved? How? What is it about him? What did he mean that he can see the future? Tell me! What do you want-" He cut off at the echo of voices coming down the hall.

In seconds he was back in his chair, and Barry got up onto his knees to return to the wall, just as Caitlin and Ronnie came in.

"Oh! Doctor Wells," Caitlin said with a start to find him there. "Is everything all right?"

"I wonder what face you'll be wearing next time we meet," Barry said to the wall, and Eobard fought a sneer, knowing full well Barry was still somehow, somewhere, some when, speaking to him.

"Very little progress with Mr. Allen today, I'm afraid," he said and wheeled past them before anything more could be said.

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Cisco wasn't jumpy. He was afraid for his life, never knowing when the super powerful psychopath who'd been lying to them for years would vibrate a hand through his chest. Jumpy didn't do that justice.