It was another average workday for Barry, and as he sped through multiple case files, his phone beeped signaling a notification. With a sigh, he put down his files and checked his phone. Upon reading the message, Barry's eyes widened in fear as he murmured to himself, "Oh no, oh no. Not again!"
The message on his phone was actually a notification from his calendar, reminding him that it was "Test Day", otherwise known as the one day of the month that Barry despised the most.
"Test Day" is a day that happens once a month, where Caitlyn goes all out on testing him with various needles and procedures. It's also the day when Dr. Wells decides to torture Barry by making him try out various tasks at super speed. In other words, it's an extremely tiring day where Barry is literally pushed to his limits.
As much as Barry would have loved to miss all the testing today, he knew he didn't have a choice. Past experiences proved to him that no matter what excuse he would come up with, the people he for some unknown reason refers to as friends would find him. So as he completed the rest of his work, he mentally prepared himself for whatever insane task Dr. Wells had thought of this time.
When Barry was done with all the tedious amount of work the other detectives piled on to him, Barry made his way to Jitters, after realizing he wasn't needed at the lab for another 2 hours. Entering the coffee shop with his laptop bag on his shoulder, he ordered a caramel macchiato with a shot of Courvoisier, and sat down at a random unoccupied table.
Pulling his silver laptop out of his bag, he set it down on the table, plugged in his earphones, and turned it on. The second he was logged on, a notification popped up at the top of his browser, "Lopez3263 would like to video chat, do you accept or decline?" Pressing the accept button, Barry felt a smirk grace his face.
When the video call popped up, Barry's eyes landed on a beautiful Latina sitting on her bed with her laptop on her lap. She was wearing an oversized red Dalton lacrosse hoodie with navy blue writing on it, and she had a smile plastered on her face.
"Hey twink."
"Hey sha-queer-a, enjoying my sweat shirt? I was wondering where that was." Barry teased.
"Well it sucks to suck, now doesn't it? I quite enjoy this sweater, so there's no way you're getting it back." She told him.
"It looks better on you anyways." Barry admitted with a flirtatious smile.
Santana smirked as she replied, "Everything looks better on me."
With the flirtatious manner that Santana was all too used to, Barry leaned slightly forward and said quietly, " Was that meant to be a come on Lopez? And here I was thinking you were a lesbian."
Santana laughed at Barry's teasing advances as she replied, "And here I was thinking you were gay."
Barry scoffed as he leaned back in his seat, "Oh please, we both know I'm about as gay as a straight arrow."
"That's disgusting Bas." Santana joked.
Realizing what she was referring to, he replied, "That wasn't meant to be an innuendo! And you call me perverted."
"You ARE perverted, Bas. Seriously, you are a sex-addict."
"Takes one to know one Satan."
"Touché."
Smiling slightly, Barry admitted, "I've missed you Satan. It's been a while."
"I've missed you too twink. And have you thought that the reason we haven't seen each other in a while is due to the fact you haven't brought your annoying French ass down to Ohio to pay your dearest friend a visit." Santana speculated sarcastically.
"Well I haven't seen you rushing down to Central to visit." Barry retorted.
"Well, I'm not the one who forgot to tell her BEST FRIEND that she got struck by lightning." Santana reminded.
Wincing, Barry replied, "I said I was sorry! And I didn't want you to worry!"
"I didn't even know you were in a coma during those 9 months, I thought you were just ignoring my calls. I didn't even find out until 3 months ago, when Blaine mentioned it offhandedly. Blaine." She confessed angrily.
"I know, I know. Again I'm sorry. But I had to tell Blaine myself, since if I didn't, Cooper would have told him." He explained.
"Are you saying that Blaine and Cooper are better friends to you?" Santana threatened.
"No, of course not. You know you're my best friend Satan. I just knew that if you found out about the accident, you would have insisted about visiting without giving me a choice, or a notice."
With a satisfied, yet slightly evil smirk, Santana replied, "Well too bad Bas. I'm coming to visit whether you like it or not. And the best part about it, is that you're not going to have any idea when. I'm just going to drop in out of the blue, no warning, no notice."
With a smirk, Barry said, "Babe, if you wanted to see me, you could have just said so."
"You wish twinkle toes. Now, I better get ready for work. See ya babe."
"Bye Santana." Barry said with a soft smile, before logging off, and shutting down his laptop.
Realizing he only had 20 minutes to get to Star Labs, he chugged down the rest of his coffee, and ran.
Upon entering Star Labs, the first thing he noticed was a grand, mahogany piano standing alone in the center. At that moment, a flood of memories hit him at the same time. His mother used to play the piano, and ever since he was a young child his mother would teach him how to play. It didn't take long for him to become a master pianist, winning multiple recitals and trophies for his outstanding performances. While he was a natural, it was all under his mothers' tutelage. She herself was an amazing pianist, and the two of them would spend hours at a time playing together. Composing such delicate tunes was one of Barry's greatest talents and hobbies, and it was one he shared with his mother.
And then she was murdered. The last time he played piano after that, for a while at least, was at her funeral. He played "Canon in D", a personal favorite of his mothers. As he played, his eyes were shut tight, yet his fingers never faltered. He had played this piece hundreds of times, and this was to be the last. Halfway through the song, he could feel droplets of tears fall on his fingers. He didn't even realize he was crying. When his fingers touched the last note, he made a silent vow, a vow to never play again. And he kept that promise.
Until he became a Warbler. When his roommate Jeff needed help learning how to play the piano for his advanced music class, Barry found himself volunteering to teach him without thinking it through. He was scared at first, but the second his fingers touched the keys, everything came back to him. He felt the beauty of the music course through his veins, and as he played, his troubles were forgotten. For a moment, he recalled he wasn't supposed to play, and then he realized that he wasn't Barry Allen, he was Sebastian Smythe. And Sebastian played the piano with no worries. Santana was the first who found out about his slight reluctance to play piano, and she was the one to remind him that by playing, he was honoring his mothers' memory. From that moment on, he played. He played to remember his mother, to remember how much she loved it. While he was with the Warblers, he played almost daily, although he never played near his family. As far as Joe and Iris know, Barry hasn't played the piano since his mothers' funeral. If only they knew.
As he was concentrated on the piano, he didn't hear Cisco, Caitlyn, and Dr. Wells enter. "I see you found the piano, Mr. Allen." Dr. Wells noticed.
"Yeah... What's this for?" Barry asked.
Cisco was the one to answer, in his usual manner of excitement, "So we came up with a new idea to help you control your speed. We realized that one of the biggest factors in control is concentration, so if you were to learn how to play the piano, since that takes a lot of concentration, you can learn how to control your speed better. Think of it as just another training excersize. Simple really, I can't believe we haven't thought of it before. It's pure genius."
Mumbling nervously, Barry muttered, "Yeah, genius."
"I have some experience with the piano because of my brother, so I can teach you the basics." Cisco informed him.
"Great." Barry sighed.
Looking at her watch, Caitlyn announced, "As much as I hate to do this, I have to go visit my Uncle in Coast City, and if I don't leave now, I'll be late for the bus."
"Really, right now? I guess I'll come with you then, your Aunt is the best cook, like ever." Cisco said.
"You're both leaving? Very well, I'll walk, the two of you out." Dr. Wells said.
"Bye Barry, see you tomorrow!" Caitlyn called out.
"Yeah, Bye! I'll teach you how to play tomorrow." Cisco called out as he was leaving.
As the three of them departed, Barry was once again left alone in the room with the majestic piano. Taking a seat on the wooden bench placed across the piano, he let his fingers softly press against the keys. Without realizing it, a familiar tune began to play. Humming along with the song, memories of his mother came rushing back to him as "Canon in D" was being played. Soon, the song switched to Santana's personal favorite, "A River Flows in You" by "Yiruma". As the song progressed, the more into it he became. He started to loose himself in the music, and with his eyes shut, he left his well-trained fingers to guide themselves.
As he completed the final notes of the song, he heard clapping behind him. Startled by the sudden noise, he jumped out of his seat and turned around, only to see Caitlyn, Cisco, and Dr. Wells behind him clapping.
Caitlyn looked enchanted, and completely enamored by Barry's natural gift. Cisco looked down right surprised, with his jaw practically on the ground. Dr. Wells was smiling, and had a look of pleasant approval across his features.
"Barry! I had no idea you could play so well! That was beautiful!" Caitlyn appraised.
"I guess you don't need my help after all." Cisco joked after he got over the initial shock.
"I guess not." Barry laughed.
"Seriously dude, that was amazing! You're so much better then my brother." Cisco admitted.
"I myself must admit, you are quite a talented pianist, you must have been practicing for a while. Who taught you how to play?" Dr. Wells inquired.
Softly, Barry replied, "My mother."
At this, the room grew quiet in understanding. With that one small answer, they understood why they had never known about this particular talent before.
With a soft voice, Caitlyn said, "She would have been proud of you, you know."
Barry let a small smile graze his face as he replied, "I hope so."
