skinny love | barry allen

50

"Sumptuous day." said HR, with music playing from the monitors, revealing a platter of bagels to us in the cortex, more energetic than anyone I'd ever seen, this early in the morning, "Oh, no, on this Earth, I believe you say-"

Cisco bit into a pizza pocket, "Good morning."

"Good morning." HR points at him with one of the sticks he held, "And it is, isn't it? I mean- the music on your Earth, well, it strikes a chord, no pun intended."

"Please, help yourself." HR gestured to the bagels, "I find a crew works best when it's well-fed and well-rested."

Iris then asks, "Are those coffees for us too?-"

"Yes indeed, Miss West." HR brought the cart out more for us to see, "I took the liberty of reading through your ledgers last night, a lot of information to absorb, but- let's see how I did."

"Free coffee?" I pointed at him, "I love this guy-"

"Miss Detective Young-" HR held an iced drink in front of my face, "Dark roast cold brew with a splash of almond milk, a touch of vanilla creamer and just a drizzle of caramel sauce-"

"Wow-" I slowly took it from him, blinking, looking from the coffee to him, "Exactly right-"

"That's crazy-" Barry whispered to me, pointing at HR as he started to hand out more coffees to the rest of us, "It took me at least three days to get that down- and he gets it over night?"

"You've been bested, Barry Allen." I shot him a playful look, sipping my coffee, closing my eyes for a moment to appreciate the taste.

"Now, for my fleet-of-foot friend-" HR brought Barry a coffee, "Oh, you'd best stick to decaf."

Barry softly laughs, "Probably for the best, yeah-"

"San Francisco. I have prepar-e, a French roast with a touch of creamer." HR handed Cisco a coffee, his words coming out in an accent.

Cisco took it, "Thank you so much-"

"You're welcome." HR chuckles, "Did you know, on my Earth, coffee crop was wiped out by blight? I mean, that's one more reason to stay on this Earth, for the coffee alone-"

Barry leans down, whispering in my ear, his words making me giggle just lightly, "We sure he's not your doppelganger?-"

"Time is of the essence-" HR says, "Here's what I propose, a series of team-building exercise- now, I've hidden a series of clues all around the facility- what I propose is, we break into two groups, all right, and you can pick a partner; you're-"

"Okay, okay-" Cisco cuts in, "I have to stop you, HR- I am not feeling this-"

"It's the roast, isn't it?" HR looks at him, "I should have gone with a dark-"

"No, it's not the roast, the roast is fine-" Cisco cuts him off, "Our trust isn't something that you can just build with games- okay? This is something that goes back three years, it's something that's been forged in fire, sometimes literally, so maybe you should just step back and observe, see what we do here, how we operate- did you get that?"

"Excellent note." HR nods lightly, "I'm gonna run with that-"

I chirp up, "Hey, uhm- where's Cait, by the way?"

"Oh- she was here." HR began to tell us, looking at the computer, "All right, yeah, you know, we talked, and she- knocked back a triple-shot latte, and she left you a message, so I'm gonna- uh, I- yeah, let me just play it for you-"

"This is not the same as my Earth's, this is a different-" He was trying, but Cisco ended up pressing the key, "There it is-"

"Hey, it's me, I've got some things I need to take care of- I shouldn't be gone more than a few days." Caitlin's voice filled the room, "See if you can get along without me- oh, and make sure Cisco doesn't touch my pizza pockets."