Four times when Eobard Thawne had to make up excuses to cover his real identity -
Working with Dr Tina McGee was always a risk and Eobard knew that. The woman was a close friend of the deceased Wells and she was a very observant woman. "When did you start drinking whiskey?" She asked politely, pointing at the open bottle on Eobards' desk. "You used to say that whiskey was the worst spirit and that you'd rather die than drink it socially."
"People change." Eobard said politely and offered her a glass. "After Tess, I realised that whiskey could have it uses even if the taste wasn't particularly great." He mentioned Tess Morgan in the hope that Dr McGee would take the hint and drop the subject. McGee sighed and quietly took the seat opposite Eobard and poured herself a small glass.
"So what's happening over at STAR Labs then?"
x-x-x-x-x
"I don't think I can get used to living without beef again." Eobard sighed as he bit into the Big Belly Burger which Caitlin has passed him. He was honestly concerned about how he was going to cope without having this particular meat in the future.
Caitlin gave him a questioning look. "When did you have to live without beef? That's a bit weird."
Eobard thought for a second before responding. "My parents were vegetarian and they tried to raise me without meat for a while when i was much younger. It didn't really take." Caitlin nodded at the new information and continued to eat her own meal. 'I wonder if I should do something about the extinction of the cows.' Eobard thought at he chewed. 'I'll ask Gideon to look into it later.'
x-x-x-x-x
"What about you Dr Wells? What's your favourite memory from your childhood?" Barry asked as the whole of Team Flash sat in the main lab. They were discussing their various youthful experiences and laughing at the childhood antics of the others.
Eobard considered the question for a few moments. The ghosts of his past flashed through his head as he considered how to lie to the trio. He couldn't exactly tell them that his childhood wouldn't occur for another century and he also had no idea what type of childhood the original Wells had experienced. He decided to try and play the question off. "I'm an old man Barry, I can't remember my childhood. It was far too long ago." Barry laughed at the answer and said something about how Wells wasn't 'that' old before the trio went back to discussing Ciscos' first girlfriend and how he asked her on a date.
x-x-x-x-x
"Wow Barry. You're actually really good at this." Cisco commented as he threw bricks at Barry since they were in the process of rebuilding one of the destroyed walls inside STAR Labs. Barry was yet to drop a single brick he had been thrown.
"Given the amount of time Mr Allen spent as a goalkeeper in his soccer team I would hope that he had an excellent catching ability." Barry heard Dr Wells remark wryly from the corner.
"How did you know I was a goalkeeper Dr Wells?" Barry asked, mild confusion apparent on his face.
Eobard mentally cursed himself. How stupid could he be? Keeping a very close eye on Barry Allen over the years had resulted in him having far too much knowledge about the other man and while he was usually excellent at keeping his mouth shut he seemed to have slipped up here. This one could be difficult to explain but he instantly thought up a solution. "Joe told me. He seemed very proud of your sporting achievements."
Barry blushed slightly and continued to work with Cisco while Eobard sighed quietly in relief.
- And the one time he didn't have to hide.
Being trapped in the pipeline was mildly inconvenient but didn't really make any difference to his plans. Almost two decades of planning were about to come to fruition and he was finally ready to make those last few moves which would see him get home. He would leave this timelines Barry Allen to continue being the hero that Eobard had trained him to be but he knew that their time would come again. Or more accurately, he hoped that they would meet again. Helping to raise and create this Barry Allen had given him extremely complicated feelings for the younger man since his long-standing hate was now poisoned by the love he also felt. He was brought out of his musings by Barry, who had evidently decided that now was the time for him to gets some answers. They exchanged some small talk before finally getting down to the real purpose of the conversation. "Thawne. That is your real name isn't it? Eobard Thawne." Barry asked quietly.
Eobards' instinctual reponse was to deny the accusation. The years of lying about his true identity and carefully constructing answers so as not to arouse suspicion was a hard habit to break. But as he looked at the almost-broken young man in front of him he realised that any further lies would be unnecessary. For the first time since the night he had murdered Nora he was able to be completely honest and Barry, whom he had come to care for in a way which he could never have expected or anticipated, deserved the truth.
"Since the day I was born."