An alarm yanks Barry out of a sound sleep.
The emergency alert on his phone keeps buzzing loudly by his ear, sinking tendrils of fear into his sleepy subconscious as he struggles to untangle himself from the sheets.
Fumbling to turn it off before Joe wakes up (or worse, Iris, and he really is going to have to tell her soon or live to regret it), he's Flashing out of bed, heart pounding as he tries to think of a valid excuse for a call this early in the morning.
Cisco's SOS hasn't reached the higher levels of his brain, which is probably why he shows up at STAR Labs in nothing but a pair of red boxer shorts and a white shirt.
"Where's the fire?" he asks, and Cisco's standing on top of a desk brandishing a fire extinguisher, so Barry crosses the space between them, sweeps Cisco clean off his feet, and Flashes them outside.
"What the hell is going on?" he demands, setting Cisco on the ground and steadying him with a hand on his shoulder.
"We have to burn down STAR Labs," Cisco says, face pale, hands shaking as he grabs Barry's upper arms. "That's it, there's just no other way to –"
Barry feels a headache coming on and tries to stay level-headed because as far as he can tell there's no one holding Cisco at gunpoint, threatening to blow up Central City, or even making grandeur demands for a ransom. There's no smoke, and as far as he can see, no signs of a fire anywhere.
"What happened?" he asks, very clearly.
Cisco pauses, and for a moment, Barry thinks he comes to terms with reality, how it's late, and they're supposed to be at home, asleep, not snooping around STAR Labs up to God knows what. But then he pales and says, "There's a spider," and Barry almost Flashes home right then except Cisco grabs his sleeve and says, "Barry."
"I'm not killing spiders."
"Barry."
"Cisco, you are a grown man."
"With very rational fears of spiders. You're fast, it can't bite you."
"Cisco," Barry hisses, pinching the bridge of his nose and trying halfheartedly to free his arm, but Cisco's grip is vicelike and he's too tired to run. "Where is it?" he asks at last, thoroughly deadpan, resolving to seek retribution at the soonest opportunity. If he can get the job done fast, then he can get home, and if he gets home, he can sleep, and forget about the whole incident.
Cisco frowns, looking thoughtfully. "That, I don't actually know. It ran away."
He starts dragging Cisco home behind him, ignoring his "No, wait, Barry, I'm serious" and "Barry, hey, come on, who built you a really nice flame resistant suit? This guy." When Barry doesn't slow even as Cisco digs his heels in, he adds, impressed, "Wow, you're a lot stronger than you look."
"Can you please just call the fire department next time? I am not answering house calls about spiders," Barry says, scowling.
"The Arrow wouldn't run from danger," Cisco quips, making Barry halt in his tracks. "Are you really going to let him show you up?"
Barry makes an aggrieved sound and does an about-face, waving a hand towards STAR Labs. "One time," he snaps. "This is not happening again."
"Barry, you're a hero," Cisco says sincerely. "You should also go first," he adds, when Barry doesn't move.
Barry considers depositing him where he found Cisco and going home, but he knows he'll never hear the end of the Arrow comparisons, and they don't bother him, of course not, but it isn't exactly rocket science.
Find and kill a spider. Easy, right?
Wrong.
He searches the main lab from top to bottom three times, but no spiders turn up, and he's starting to get a little pissed off because Cisco called him out for an invisible spider at three in the morning.
Then, very quietly, Cisco says, "Barry."
"I'm leaving," Barry says, feeling thoroughly disgruntled, but Cisco's staring at him and he's going to get a piece of Barry's mind when it isn't so stupidly late, except— "What?"
Cisco points eloquently to his own shoulder and Barry looks down and flails, flinging the spider off him.
"Barry, Barry, get it, Barry, hurry up, Barry," Cisco shouts, because Barry isn't already having enough fun trying to keep track of everything as Cisco scrambles onto the desk again, and in the commotion he almost looks sight of the skittering little creature, at last spotting it as he tries to slip under the desk.
He Flashes and snatches the spider up in his hands, feeling his back crawl from top to bottom, and zips outside, scattering papers in his wake.
When he returns, Cisco all but melts onto the floor in relief, declaring breathlessly, "You're my hero."
"Home," Barry says, grumbling, as he shuts off the lights, scarcely waiting for Cisco to scramble after him with an affronted hey.
He leads the way, turning lights off one step ahead of Cisco until they're outside again and it's dark and quiet and Barry is tired, but, he thinks, at least he can tackle spiders. Maybe he'll work up to superior meta-humans next.
"Thank you," Cisco says again, sincerely, and Barry grunts, rubbing his face.
"I'm leaving now."
"Okay."
"Don't call me again unless you are either literally dying or someone has a bomb they're going to detonate in the city immediately."
"Got it," Cisco says, saluting him, and Barry nods once before taking off, leaving Cisco in the dust.
He's a smart guy. He'll find his way home.
As for Barry – he flops face-first in bed, descending in a sleep so deliciously deep it's like catatonia, except better, and then there's a call and he checks his watch and wants to cry because it's seven, but he still picks up, lifting his face enough from his pillow to grunt, "What?"
"I can't remember your coffee order," Cisco says.
He hangs up, burying his face in his pillow again.
Joe's shaking his shoulder lightly by seven thirty, asking if he's going to be coming in any time soon, and Barry nods, promising he will, yawning as he gets up.
He's forgotten about the coffee question entirely by the time he walks into STAR Labs at ten, scratching the back of his neck idly, but there's a stack of coffee cups on a table and Barry blinks, taking a café mocha and walking slowly towards the sound of voices.
"Oh, hey, you're up," Cisco says, grinning. "Did I nail it?"
Barry lifts the cup in a silent toast, Caitlin eyeing the two of them suspiciously. "What did I miss?" she asks.
"What, I can't do nice things for my friends?"
"You didn't buy me coffee."
"Sure I did," Cisco says, gesturing at the stack. "Take your pick."
"You did something," Caitlin says, plucking a coffee from the stack, and Cisco claps his hands together.
"Okay, let's get started!" he says, redirecting, and Barry's grumpy and tired but the coffee helps, a little, and maybe he'll feel better once he runs a little more.
Stepping up beside Caitlin and leaning closer to her conspiratorially, Barry whispers, "Cisco's afraid of spiders."
Caitlin turns to look at him, eyebrows arching quizzically.
"And apparently the Flash does house calls," Barry finishes.
"Poor Flash," Caitlin says, grinning slightly, amusement breaking through her serious demeanor. He pouts and she rubs his back, insisting, "You know I agree that it's ridiculous."
"It's very ridiculous," Barry says.
"You guys ready to get to work?" Cisco asks.
"Depends. Any more spiders?"
Cisco rolls his eyes. "No."
"Then let's do this."