Summary: There's someone out there using bees to kill people, they haven't openly told everyone they're dating, and he still has no idea what Hartley's hiding, but all Barry can think about is his latest therapy session and Dr. Rayburn's question: Can he see himself, at some point in the future, having sex with Cisco, or anyone for that matter?

Bee Yourself (1/2)

Barry liked Dr. Rayburn. He was well into his fifties with smile lines on tan skin and salt and pepper hair. He never sounded particularly judgmental. He was so calm about everything, that Barry would suspect he had pharmaceutical help, but he respected the man too much to really believe that. Which was probably why when Dr. Rayburn took off his glasses and fixed him with a very serious stare, Barry felt immediately uncertain.

"Barry, how would you categorize your relationship with Mr. Ramon now?"

Oh, that was… He ducked his head and ran his fingers through his hair nervously. They'd been discussing Cisco and the events leading up to Barry's realization about how he felt and how Cisco felt and the really nice kissing and hand holding and cuddling on the couch. It was perfectly reasonable question, but still threw him. "Uh, I don't know, really. I guess… boyfriend?"

"Not the status of the relationship, but what kind of relationship are you in or hope to be in at some point in the future?" He had no idea how to even begin to answer that. He wasn't even really sure what it meant. His confusion must have shown, because Dr. Rayburn attempted to clarify. "Can you see yourself, in the future, having intimate relations with Mr. Ramon?"

Barry's entire body flushed in embarrassment. Right, intimate, as in sex. He thought about it for a second, but came up blank, so he shrugged. "I don't know. I guess? I mean, we're dating so… I mean, that's what couples do."

"Not necessarily. There are many forms a relationship can take and not all of them are sexual. This isn't a topic I expected us to come to for quite sometime, however, in light of your current situation, I feel it's prudent that we address it now. Barry, have you heard of the term asexual?"

He shook his head.

"It's used to refer to someone who has little to no interest in sexually related activities. This person may still desire romance – kissing, hand holding, dating, things you've mentioned – they simply don't have an interest in taking it further."

Barry was starting to see where this was going. "I've… I mean, I wasn't a complete virgin or anything when he… I've done stuff with people before and I wanted to do more."

"I'm not suggesting otherwise. There is still some debate in the scientific community as to whether asexuality is psychological or physiological or perhaps a combination thereof. However, considering everything you've been through, it would not be out of the realm of possibility for you to develop an aversion to the idea of having sex. Tell me, Barry, have you masturbated since you woke up from the coma?"

"That is…" He stopped himself from saying it was none of his business, because Dr. Rayburn could be blunt, but he always had a point and, quite frankly, this was his business. He was helping Barry cope with what had happened to him and the rape had been part of that. They'd talk about it before, but never extensively, as the subject made Barry intensely uncomfortable. "No, I've tried, but…"

There was a length of silence that lasted several seconds, before Dr. Rayburn asked, "But?"

Barry looked at his knees, breathing through the embarrassment that made his skin feel too tight. "I get freaked out."

"About what?"

"That I'll have a panic attack."

"Do you feel panicked?"

"No." He didn't, not about the idea of touching himself. There had been a few times he'd woken up with morning wood and thought it would be easy enough to slip into the bathroom and take care of it like he used to, back before, but every time he did, he froze. It was the 'what if.' What if halfway through something happened, a memory triggered and it spiraled out of control and… then it was like he was starting to have a panic attack over the idea of having a panic attack. He just couldn't bring himself to do it, so he'd stopped trying.

Barry didn't need to look up to know Dr. Rayburn was studying his every move careful, gauging where Barry was mentally.

"I'm not going to suggest that you being in a relationship with Mr. Ramon is in any way unhealthy. I'm not even suggesting that you are, in fact, asexual. I'm simply making you aware that relationships come in many different forms and not all of those include that level of intimacy. I am also going to ask you to be cautious. It's been only five months since you woke up and you've made remarkable progress, Barry, nothing short of miraculous, but you are still recovering. You will, in all likelihood, need some form of therapy for years, if not the rest of your life."

It was a sobering thought and one that Barry hadn't really considered. He knew this wasn't going to be easy, but it hadn't occurred to him that there might never really be an end to it.

"I tell you this because I don't believe you want to hurt Mr. Ramon, but he's a grown man who is, according to you, sexually active. Now, that doesn't mean he expects sex from you or that he won't understand if you don't want it, but it does mean that you should consider where you want this new relationship of yours to go. You should talk to Mr. Ramon about it and about what he wants and that conversation should remain open. You may find you change your mind several times through the course of your therapy."

Barry nodded, a little numb and a lot confused. He really hadn't put all that much thought into it. He liked Cisco, he found him attractive, he enjoyed kissing him, holding him, talking to him. He felt safe with him. Anything beyond that had been secondary.

Before he could say any of those things, his phone vibrated. Barry hesitated, but Dr. Rayburn nodded knowingly. He usually preferred his patients turn their phones off during sessions, but another perk to him knowing about Barry being the Flash was that he understood the importance of him staying in communication with his team.

It was Joe, who knew he was in session and that mean whatever this was, had to be important. There were only ten minutes left in his hour, anyway. "I'm really sorry, but I have to take this. I will definitely think about that, though, and talk to Cisco. Thank you. Hey, Joe, what's up?"

"Bees, why did it have to be bees."

"Indiana Jones?"

Cisco looked over to Barry through narrowed eyes at the acknowledgment of his movie reference. "Which one?"

"Errr…Raiders of the Lost Ark?"

"Yes! My man!" He held his hand out and Barry hesitated – he really shouldn't be encouraging this – but went in for the high five, if only because he couldn't leave Cisco hanging. "Back to the bees, though. I don't do bees. Ain't nobody got time for bees."

Hartley sighed, long and suffering. "He's quoting the internet now. Thank you, Barry, for encouraging behavior that will haunt me well into my dreams."

"Hey!" Cisco pointed a warning finger across the room, but couldn't quite manage to take his eyes off the giant bee on the screen in front of him. "You keep me out of your dreams."

Hartley rolled his eyes as Caitlin came from around her computer, tablet in hand. "Detective West said there were no stingers in the body?"

Barry nodded. "And no dead bees in the car."

Caitlin bit her lip. "A honey bee can only deposit .1 milligrams of apitoxin when it releases its stinger."

The screen switched over to the dead Doctor's profile, courtesy of Hartley, who had taken it upon himself to sit at the main computer. "Ms. Kang had a little more than that in her system."

Caitlin looked over the results with an impressed raise of her eyebrows. "Enough to kill an entire herd of elephants."

Cisco shuddered. "That's a lot of bees."

Hartley scrolled through the medical report. "So, what are we thinking? A meta-human that can control bees?"

Caitlin's mouth pinched in thought. "Possibly? They'd have to be increasing the toxicity as well."

It was at times like these that Barry was actually grateful for all those books on insects he'd read. Over and over for weeks on end. He was fairly certain he could identify all four thousand species of spiders in the United States and Canada as well as a few of the more exotic ones. There had been pictures and documented accounts, not just of the spiders, but what the venom could do. Most were harmless, but the ones that weren't? He managed to hold back a shudder. Spiders, he could do without.

Bees, however? Those were kind of fun. "Bees communicate by pheromones. Maybe this meta is controlling them through secretion?"

He glanced around the room and Cisco's face was priceless, the perfect marriage of disgusted and disturbed. "Anyone want to join me in getting a bee-keeper suit?"

"Don't worry, I'll save you. Pretty sure I can outrun a bee." He tried not to look too smug when Cisco's expression lightened considerably.

"Just don't run into a lake." All eyes turned to the door where Felicity stood. "Bees will wait for you to come up for air and then they'll sting you. Discovery Channel. Turns out, there's a lot discover."

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Caitlin wave. Hartley didn't appear impressed or even interested, but Barry had gotten fairly good at reading the him. Disinterest was his default setting and it meant he was waiting for more information before forming an opinion.

"Felicity, what are you doing here?"

Instead of answering, she asked, "Can you guys come outside for a sec?"

They exchanged silent looks, but seeing as there were no bees actively attacking someone, there wasn't a reason not to. Unasked, Hartley followed behind them.

The early afternoon sun was bright. They arranged themselves around the small cement courtyard and followed Felicity's gaze upward into the blank sky. When nothing happened immediately, Barry sat on the rail and Cisco moved in behind him, surreptitiously slipping one hand forward to brush against Barry's wrist. Barry glanced around, but everyone's focus was turned up, so he put his own hand back, slipping his fingers between Cisco's.

They weren't keeping it a secret as much as they just weren't talking about it or doing anything to draw attention to themselves.

Cisco's thumb rubbed over the back of his hand lightly. Barry looked back to meet his questioning gaze, then shook his head and pointed at the others, then up at the sky. They'd talk about it later, when they were alone. In truth, he was a little relieved to have killer bees on the loose, because he wasn't sure he was ready to talk about his session yet.

Hartley held his hand up, turning his attention from the sky to his cuticles, then back to Felicity. "Not that I'm complaining, I could certainly use the sun, but what are we doing out here?"

Felicity looked back at him, eyes narrow. "Who are you again?"

Behind him, Barry could feel the slight shake of Cisco's shoulders as he laughed silently.

Hartley gave her his dead stare and said, "Hartley Rathaway?"

"Right, the dick." She turned to Caitlin on her other side. "Right?"

Caitlin nodded, her own smile badly disguised behind a hand over her mouth. Cisco dropped his forehead onto Barry's shoulder to smother his laugh and his hand in Barry's squeezed a little tighter.

Sometimes, Barry thought they needed to stop teasing Hartley so much. He might have other, hidden motives, but he was trying. He had helped them save Cisco and stop the Trickster and he was at least a little bit stuck there. Then he remembered that Cisco'd had sex with Hartley and what Hartley's hands had looked like gripping Cisco's ass and any thoughts of taking it easy on the Pied Piper were washed from his mind.

Felicity pointed up. "Oh, there!"

It took him a second to see it, the small spec in the sky coming closer. Cisco dropped his hand as they both moved to stand with the others.

Caitlin tipped her head a little. "Is that a bird?"

Cisco scrunched his eyes up. "It's a plane."

As they watched, the small dot became a man who fell into a crouch on the ground, cracking the cement tiles under him. Felicity smiled a little nervously. "It's my boyfriend."

Hartley's eye twitched, but he wisely said nothing.

The metal suit stood and tugged off its helmet. "Hi, I'm Ray."

As Caitlin checked Ray over, Barry tried not to stare too hard. Felicity definitely had a type. It wasn't a bad type, either. Not that it did anything for Barry, who was currently partial to a certain long haired Latino, but he could appreciate the aesthetic appeal. Ray had classically handsome features, a charming smile, broad shoulders, and Barry might not be able to see under his shirt, but Ray's arms were at least as big as Oliver's, possibly larger. Not only that, but Ray was apparently also a billionaire who wanted to play super hero.

A shoulder bumped his as Felicity moved in to stand next to him. She winked. "Like what you see?"

He blushed hotly. "What?!"

His cry drew attention from Cisco, standing on the other side of the room, but Barry waved him off then turned back to Felicity and her amused eyebrows. "No, I don't… not… why would you say that?"

"Barry, calm down, it was a joke." He couldn't stop from glancing back over at Cisco again who was still looking at them suspiciously. She followed his gaze, then turned back to him. "Okay, what was that?"

"What was what?"

"You know what."

"What?"

"Barry…"

Ray stepped out of the room and Barry had never been so relieved to have a conversation interrupted in his entire life. He was a little less relieved, however, when Cisco was more then willing to forego their bee problem to work on the Atom Suit, leaving Barry with Hartley and Caitlin for support.

Before he could argue his point further, Felicity wrapped her arm through his and announced that they were going to Jitters and would catch up with everyone later. S.T.A.R. Labs wasn't far from the coffee shop and it was nice enough out that he didn't complain when she veered left, away from the parking lot and toward the walkway into town.

It was quiet – after the morning rush, but before the lunch hour. Not as many people on the streets and Barry settled into the walk easily. Only five months. He hadn't even thought about it in terms of time, but Dr. Rayburn was right. Just five months ago, he wouldn't have been able to do this. Five months ago, just the idea of walking through Central City where anyone could, and probably would, inadvertently crowd his personal space or bump into him, would have been enough to send him spiraling. Now, he was walking to Jitters and there was some apprehension, but it was muted and manageable, especially with someone he trusted at his side.

Felicity tightened her hold on her arm. "So, Oliver asked me to check up on you, see how you were holding up."

"Yeah?" He hadn't seen Oliver since before they found Cisco, but he had talked to him on the phone a few times.

"And? How are you holding up?"

"I'm… managing." Because Felicity had an amazing bullshit meter and Barry didn't feel like lying about it. "It's not easy. There are days I want to just run and not stop until I get to Oliver's deserted island in the middle of nowhere."

"You'd have to be able to run on water." Felicity stopped. "Can you run on water?"

He grinned without answering and she sighed as they started walking again. "In that case, don't run to Lian Yu. They don't have coffee and donuts on Lian Yu. Run to Hawaii and take me with you, please. I could really use a vacation."

"If I decide to make a run for it, I will definitely take you with me, but things are getting better."

"How much better?"

Barry rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "A lot better."

"Mhm." She opened the door to Jitters for him and they quietly got their coffee and a table. When they were settled and the first sips of liquid warmth had taken the edge off the cold outside, she started in again. "So, would this 'better' have anything to do with the reason you looked like you were going to punch my boyfriend when Cisco said he wanted to help him with his suit?"

"I did not…" She cut him off with a very serious nod. "I wasn't mad at Ray."

"Were you mad at Cisco?"

Not really, no. He'd just felt a little betrayed. Not that he didn't understand. Ray needed help with his suit and if anyone had asked Barry who he trusted with that job, it was Cisco, hands down. Plus, Cisco didn't like bees and it wasn't like the rest of them couldn't handle it on their own. So, there was no reason for him to feel hurt by it. He still did.

"Barry?" Felicity waited for him to look up. "Conversations go two ways."

"Right, sorry." Cisco had said something like that once – that Barry had a tendency to trail off into his head and either forget to the say the rest or sum it up in a way that clearly left out more than half of what he was thinking. Of course, that was assuming he started to answer at all.

"So…"

"What? Oh! No, not… I wasn't mad at him, I…"

"Wait." She leaned forward, hands wrapped around her mug, serious frown on her face. "Please remember that I've worked with Oliver for over two years. At this point, I can smell a lie from ten feet away. Continue."

So far, outside of his psychiatrist, he'd only told Iris, mostly because he figured he owed it to her, but also because he had to tell someone and she had been the least likely to dissect it. She'd been thrilled to be the first one in on his secret for once, though she put a one month cap on how long he was allowed to go behind everyone's back – although, he was pretty sure Eddie knew, because she'd made it very clear when Barry and her had talked about his being the Flash, that she wasn't keeping secrets from him.

If he told Felicity, it would get back to Oliver. That's why she was there, after all. It wasn't that he was ashamed of it, he just didn't want to defend it. Dr. Rayburn had been very diplomatic about it, but the sentiment had been exactly what he'd been afraid of. He wasn't ready. It was too soon. Did he really know what he was getting into? Was he sure about what he wanted? Was he sure Cisco knew what he was getting into? Just because he'd been helping Barry deal with everything, didn't mean he was prepared to deal with this. Was it even fair to put Cisco in that position?

He already had all of those questions and more bouncing around inside his head, he didn't need everyone else asking them as well. At least not yet. He just wanted to enjoy it for a little while. And he had.

"Cisco and I are seeing each other."

She opened her mouth, closed it, opened it again, took a sip of her coffee, looked at Barry, really looked at him, close enough to make him look away. "Seeing each other how?"

"We're together. A couple, I guess. Dating, definitely." Could he say boyfriend? Was that something adults did, or did they just date? He should ask Cisco about that.

Felicity took another sip of her coffee. Then another. "So, you're upset that he wants to work with Ray instead of you? You realize Ray's my boyfriend. We have sex. Lots of sex. We had sex this morning before I hit the road. We're probably going to have sex again tonight. Well, maybe not. We don't have a room and Ray is seriously built. I don't think we can both fit in the back of my car and still have space to move."

Barry couldn't quite keep the disgust off his face, because he was trying not to picture that and failing miserably. Not that Felicity wasn't attractive or that Ray wasn't attractive or that they weren't attractive together, but he was barely coming to terms with the idea of himself in a more than platonic relationship without adding other people and their naked parts to it.

"Right, sorry. The point is, I really don't think you have to worry about him trying to steal Cisco out from under you, or… over you?"

"Neither." He jumped on that before her mouth could run away, because, yeah, he definitely wasn't having that conversation. "Yet. I'm not worried about Ray stealing Cisco. It's more about Hartley."

"Hartley?"

As he filled her in on Hartley, he catalogued her facial expressions, which shifted steadily from interested to confused to horrified. "So, wait, let me get this straight. Hartley was sleeping with Cisco and Dr. Wells, who was really Eobard Thawne, who also… with you?"

He nodded and she took a deep breath in and out. "And I thought there was drama in Starling City. That's all in the past, though, right?"

"I know that, but I don't trust Hartley. There's just something… he's not telling us everything, I can feel it."

"Have you told Cisco that?"

"Of course and he agrees, Caitlin too, but until we know more, it's better to have him where we can see him."

"So, then, what's the problem?" Before Barry could say anything, she held a hand up. "No, think about it, Barry. Cisco isn't trusting Hartley. He's trusting Caitlin to keep an eye on Hartley and he's trusting you to trust him. It's not like he's driving back to Starling City to work at Palmer Technologies. He'll be in S.T.A.R. Labs the entire time."

Which made perfect sense. "You're right. I know you're right."

She patted his hand consolingly. "If it makes you feel any better, I'm sleeping with Ray, even though I have feelings for Oliver, whose admits to having feelings for me as well, but refuses to act on them, because he's the Arrow and he doesn't want to put me in danger."

"But that doesn't make any sense. You work for him as the Arrow, sometimes in the field. You've been targeted multiple times by bad guys because of that. He used you as bait for Slade. How does dating put you in more danger than that?"

She sighed heavily. "Welcome to my world. Oh, hey, so, does Iris know about you and Cisco?"

He nodded emphatically and she beamed. "Good! We can do a triple date, then."

"A what?"

"It'll be great. Ray and me, Eddie and Iris, you and Cisco. We'll dress up, go somewhere nice."

"Oh, I don't…" Before he could get the words out, his phone rang.

Cisco stood with his arms folded over his chest in front of Barry, who was sitting on the treadmill. "So, let me break this down. What you're saying is it's a good thing I got you killed, because it got us out of a date?"

"Right? It was super fancy, too, you would have had to wear a suit and tie. I know how much you hate that. So, win win." Cisco didn't look impressed.

"Again, you died."

"Yeah, but not really." Barry saw his out in the way Cisco's eyes were moving over his face where the swelling from the stings had finally gone down, then to his chest where his heart was beating under the S.T.A.R. Labs logo. "I mean, okay, I went into cardiac arrest, but you got to use your defibrillator."

"That's not…"

"You totally saved me with your tech." Cisco's annoyed façade faltered and Barry stood up, using the advantage, which probably wasn't fair. He knew exactly how Cisco was feeling, but he wasn't going to let him dwell on it. Taking Cisco's hand, he held it to his chest and grinned. "My hero. How did you get a defibrillator in there, anyway?"

"Oh, check it out! You know how the power source for the coms and sensors is in the emblem, right? So, when I put it there, I realized it was near the heart and in an emergency, the power output could be rerouted to send an electric jolt into the body, acting as a defibrillator to jump start the heart. I had to fabricate thin metal sheets that were flexible enough to move with the suit and direct the electricity and you totally just distracted me from what I was upset about in the first place."

Leaning in, he pressed his lips to Cisco's. The fingers on Barry's chest flexed against the fabric until they gripped loosely, pulling them closer together. When they separated, Cisco mumbled, "It's still not okay, that's the second time I've put you…"

Barry kissed him again and when he pulled back this time, Cisco sighed in defeat. "You fight dirty, Barry Allen."

"Yeah, but it worked."

Cisco gave Barry a little push before moving back to his work table. "Either way, it'll be at least a few days before I can put another defibrillator in there, so don't get yourself killed between now and then." Barry just smiled. "So, what did Felicity want earlier?"

"Oliver wanted her to check up on me." He rocked on his heels a few times before saying, "I told her about us."

Cisco's hands stopped moving over the emblem, his back to Barry. "You're okay with that?"

"Yeah, of course." From behind, Cisco's shoulders sagged a little and Barry hadn't thought about that, but what if… "Are you okay with it?"

"Totally!" He turned around then, wide eyes and a smile that looked almost like relief. "No, I'm all for, you know, whatever, but you know that means it'll get back here, right? We should probably tell Caitlin before someone else does."

Barry nodded absently. "After this whole killer bee thing is over."

"Word."

They fell into a comfortable silence. Barry sat himself in an empty chair and watching Cisco's face as he looked over the defibrillator with varying degrees of concern and curiosity. "I've gotta find a way to get more then one use out of this thing."

It was cute. Cisco was cute. He was leaning over the table, his shirt riding up his back just enough that Barry could see the top of his boxers and an inch of dark skin under that.

Dr. Rayburn had asked him to think about where he wanted the relationship to go. Barry liked what they were doing. He liked how he fit in Cisco's life and how comfortable Cisco made him feel about that. He liked that they could do nothing and everything together and it was okay. They could watch movies or Cisco could show him what he was working on. Barry'd always had a knack for science and it was easy to get involved when Cisco was so enthusiastic.

The real question, though, was whether he could see himself having sex. Not just with Cisco, but with anyone, because Dr. Rayburn was right. Cisco was sexually active, or had been, and Barry didn't feel even remotely pressured by him to make a decision on that right then, but he did know that if or when he decided how he felt about it, he owed it to Cisco to say something.

Was it off the table? He didn't think so, but then he hadn't really given it much thought. The few times he'd tried to masturbate had been shortly after waking up. No cameras watching him, no one to know what he was doing and it had been a really long time, but he just hadn't been able to. He'd tried to reason himself through it. It wasn't like Thawne had ever touched him there or demanded Barry touch him. What Thawne had done had been about hurting him. It had been quick and rough and with as little contact as he could manage given what he was doing. It hadn't been even remotely pleasurable for Barry. So, really, masturbating was about as far from that spectrum as he could get and he still couldn't manage it. What did that say about his chances of actually having sex with anyone?

His chest tightened almost painfully with the now familiar anger and resentment that seemed to crop up every time he thought about Thawne. He didn't want this to be another thing Thawne took from him. He'd taken so much and Barry was getting little bits of it back, but what if this was the one thing Barry couldn't get back? What if…

The intercom slammed on with a screech and Caitlin's voice interrupted his thoughts. "Bee! Guys we have a bee in the cortex! Barry!"

Telling Caitlin didn't exactly go the way Barry wanted it to. Granted, he hadn't had a lot of time to think about it, but he figured it would involve sitting down – him, Cisco, and Caitlin, probably Hartley, too, because the guy couldn't keep his nose out of their business – and explaining, like a reasonably adult, that they had decided to make a go at having a relationship. Or words to that affect.

Then he heard Ray say "Cisco's been stung, he's going into shock" and nothing else mattered – not Bree, not what Caitlin did or didn't know – and when Cisco gasped in air, looked at Barry with wide eyes, and said, "either my fear of bees is over or it just got a lot worse." Barry pulled Cisco up a little more with the hand clasped in his, wrapped his other hand around the back of Cisco's head and kissed him, desperate for the confirmation that he was warm and breathing. There was a muffled squeak from Cisco, his mouth slack and just slightly open and Barry didn't think about what he was doing until he was already doing it, his tongue sweeping out and into Cisco's mouth, the taste of artificial cherry stronger then usual.

Cisco's squeak turned into something closer to a moan and Barry pressed in again for a second time before finally, reluctantly pulling away. He was out of breath, light headed with relief. Cisco blinked up at him, just as dazed.

There was a moment of silence. Cisco was panting, heart beating strong and alive and screw everything else. Barry wanted this. He wanted Cisco any and every way he could get him. He wasn't sure how it would work between them or if it would, but he really wanted to try.

Before he could stop himself, he blurted out, "I want to have sex."

Cisco went from flushed and out of breath to pale and blank in an instant. "Um, okay. Maybe not, you know, right here, because… awkward."

"No, not…" Barry tried to put it in words. "It'll take a while, a really long while and actually, there's a chance it might never happen, I can't even masturbate, but I want to. With you. Eventually."

To their right, a soft cough drew Barry's attention and his stomach sank as he remembered Caitlin was sitting right there, not two feet away with her head turned up and to the left so that she wasn't watching them. Barry flinched as his own words rang in his head. He couldn't figure out what to say over the roar of embarrassment in his ears, so he focused on helping Cisco to his feet instead.

"So," they all turned to Ray, who was smiling like nothing had happened. "I've never had anyone take a bee for me. Thank you."

The tension eased immediately, everyone content to ignore the obvious questions and engage in light hearted banter as they piled into the van. Caitlin insisted Barry ride up front with her while Cisco and Ray looked over the suit in the back, doing damage control from Ray's dip in the lake.

Five minutes into the drive back, Caitlin glanced at him and asked, "So, Cisco and you?"

He nodded, tense and waiting for the lecture. When she didn't say anything, he looked over and she smiled. "It's about time. I was beginning to feel like Iris."

"For real? You guys aren't letting that go anytime soon, are you?"

"Not a chance."

Which… fair enough. "Thanks, Caitlin."

"No problem." She reached over and patted his knee. "Are you hungry?"

"Starving."

After Caitlin did a full and complete check up on Cisco and after Barry had eaten his weight in cheap fast food, Felicity and Ray announced they were getting a room for the night and would see everyone in the morning. Barry was trying really hard not to think about what Felicity had said earlier.

Caitlin dropped them off on her way home, because neither of them particularly felt like walking and Cisco refused to let Barry carry him. They were curled up together on the couch, Barry sprawled over the sofa with Cisco leaning back against his chest, running through a level of Lego Star Wars.

Cisco glanced back. "You still awake back there?"

"Hm."

"So, I'm trying to leave it alone, but I have to know. What was that, man?"

"What was what?"

"You announcing to what is arguably my best friend outside of you that you want to have sex with me."

Barry dropped his face down onto the top of Cisco's head rather than look him in the eye. With everything that had happened, there hadn't been time to fill Cisco in and now Barry just wanted to crawl under the blankets, wrap himself around his… "Hey, if we're dating, I can call you my boyfriend, right? That's not too highschool or anything?"

That earned him a raised eyebrow and the beginnings of a smile. "Boyfriend works, as long as you answer my question."

"Right, sorry." He leaned back again, settling more comfortably into the couch. "Dr. Rayburn said that I should think about what kind of relationship I wanted, like if I wanted sex to be a part of it, and that I should talk to you about it."

Cisco stared at the television for a few minutes before putting the controller down to sit up and face Barry, all traces of the smile gone. "Look, Barry, this isn't something you have to do, okay? If you're worried about me leaving because you don't want to have sex, that's not gonna happen, man."

"I know, but I want to. I can't…" He couldn't get back those ten years. He could pick up pieces of himself and hope they came together into something that at least resembled himself. He thought he was doing a pretty good job so far, but sex was part of that. Not sex for the sake of having it, Barry had never wanted that. Even as a teenager, he'd been waiting until he was with someone he cared for. He'd wanted that someone to be Iris, but that hadn't happened. "I can't explain it. I just do and I want it to be with you."

Slowly, Cisco turning back around and rested against Barry, which was really nice and warm. "Right. Okay, I believe you, but we're not rushing this."

"No." He laid his head back on the sofa again and closed his eyes.

"And it's okay to change your mind."

"Mhm."

"Hey, were you serious about the whole not masturbating thing?"

"…"

"Barry? You fell asleep, didn't you?"

Hartley sat in the chair he'd wheeled down and watched the screens with mild disinterest. Eobard was… around. Somewhere doing something secretive, because he didn't trust Hartley, but then Hartley wasn't exactly trustworthy. Detective West was still at the station, filling out paperwork. Eddie had left a few hours before. There was a reporter burning the midnight oil at Iris's office. Unless he wasn't mistaken, and he never was, it was her supervisor.

"Gideon, Cisco's apartment."

Barry and Cisco were asleep on the couch. He'd kind of hoped getting them together would make things more interesting, but no, of course not. He should have known better. Barry was too traumatized and Cisco was a romantic at heart, no matter what Hartley had managed to drag out of him in their brief interludes.

No wonder Eobard had been willing to give Hartley the task, it was boring. Watching people go about their daily lives was boring.

"Gideon, Caitlin's apartment."

He didn't see her at first, but then the bathroom door opened and she stepped out, a towel wrapped loosely around her chest. Thank god Ronnie wasn't there. The last thing he needed was another happy heterosexual couple. Speaking of, "Gideon, Eddie's apartment."

There it was. Did they ever do anything else? Either Hartley had the absolute worst luck, or they were fucking like rabbits. Iris was, subjectively, a very attractive women, but not at all something Hartley was interested in seeing. Eddie, though? He held a hand out and covered the left side of the screen where Iris was straddling Eddie and focused on the man's naked torso and strong arms, his face lax in pleasure.

He shuddered. If he was going to watch people have sex, he'd rather it not be people he knew. "Gideon, manhub."

The rectangular view of Iris and Eddie was replaced by the holographic image of the computer's interface. "I'm sorry, Dr. Rathaway, your access to pornographic material has been restricted."

"Override."

"You are not authorized to override."

Not that he'd expected differently, but he seethed. Under his breath, he muttered, "Of course, and I'll bet I know who is."

"Eobard Thawne."

Hartley refrained from rolling eyes as he stood up to leave. If Eobard was going to restrict his access, Hartley was going to spy on him. Whatever he was doing was bound to be more interesting than…

"And Barry Allen."

His foot froze mid-step and he slowly turned back around. "Say that again."

"Barry Allen has authorization to override that command."

"Why?"

"He created me."

Hartley stood in place for several seconds. "Barry Allen, as in, the Flash? The traumatized man-child that spent ten years as Eobard's punching bag?"

"Yes, also, the Director of Central City Police, CSI Division and founding member of the Justice League."

"Are you kidding me? I have been digging through files for the last month, sucking up to that… that salaud - literally - to figure out what the hell he's up to and all I had to do was ask?"

"Salaud. French for…"

"I know what it means!"

"I do not understand the question."

He pinched the bridge of his nose under his glasses and took a moment to choose his words. "Gideon, what is Eobard planning?"

"You do not have the authorization required for me to answer that question."

Of course not. "But Barry Allen does?"

"Yes. I will answer any question given to me by Barry Allen."

So all he needed to do was get Barry Allen there without Eobard knowing what he was doing, because as soon as Eobard knew, Gideon would be gone and any chance he had of fucking up Eobard's plans would go with her. "I want all cameras up."

The holographic face was replaced by a projection of a screen, enlarged and split twenty ways. He had to get to one of them somewhere Eobard couldn't see or hear. Somewhere he wouldn't think to look. In public was out of the question. Hartley wasn't taking the chance that was the one day Eobard decided to check up on his whereabouts.

The apartments were all wired and he had no doubt Gideon had been instructioned to notify Eobard if Hartley showed up anywhere suspicious. Bathrooms. Bathrooms weren't wired, but he'd have to get in one without being seen. Cisco's bathroom didn't have a window, neither did Eddie's. It would be easy enough to slip into Detective West's bathroom, but that was a good way to get shot. His eyes settled on Caitlin's dimly lit bedroom.

He'd been there once. The engagement party, which Ronnie had insisted they invite Hartley to. He'd gone because Wells had given him a lecture about needing to know how to be friendly to the masses. There was something to it. Eobard could manipulate people with ease. They practically ate the bullshit out of his hand. Even Barry, who clearly hadn't trust him, had wanted to so badly that he'd turned a blind eye to everything else. It was an art – a twisted, sick kind of art, but art – and something that Hartley had never quite been able to master, but there was more than one way to play the game.

Caitlin's bathroom had a window. It was higher up than he would have preferred, but he wasn't exactly in a position to be choosey. "I'm finished, Gideon. Nothing to report."

He started to walk out and stopped, turning back to the podium, because really, he couldn't help himself. If Barry Allen was going to be the founding member of something as pretentious sounding as the Justice League, where did that leave him? "Gideon?"

"Yes, Dr. Rathaway."

"Who am I?"

"You are Hartley Rathaway, son of Rachel and Osgood Rathaway. Disgraced heir to Rathaway Industries. Also known as the Pied Piper and member of the Rogues, led by Leonard Snart, alias Captain Cold."

"Thank you, Gideon."

"Of course, Dr. Rathaway."

End Note: After careful consideration, I decided to refer to Hartley as Dr. Rathaway. Mostly, because with his parents having money and him being referred to as a genius, it stood to reason he had a doctorate in something. I don't know what, but something.