Summary: So where, exactly, did Harry get his clothes on Earth-2 from anyway?

Notes: For the Harrisco Fest Laundry Day prompt

I know the 'Harry doing his laundry half naked at STAR Labs' thing is quite possibly a Harrisco cliche now, but... not all cliches are bad, right? But then I started wondering where Harry got his clothes from and what happened to Eobard's conveniently Harrison Wells sized clothing and... wound up with a semi-introspective, semi-flirty story where Cisco wants to make nice with Harry and can't stop wondering about the state of the man's underwear.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

It quickly becomes apparent that Harry's wardrobe is very... limited. He jumped across from Earth-2 with the clothing on his back, a backup set of clothes in his backpack, and a STAR Labs sweater that he was evasive regarding the origin of, so Cisco suspects he swiped it from the limited stock they've got in storage on this Earth.

So Cisco drives Harry to the former EoWells residence, which Barry owns and hasn't touched since inheriting. They meet up with Barry once there and he lets them all in with the keys. All three of them are clearly uncomfortable with the place, which is bright - almost blindingly white - with the huge windows open.

"I don't think I've seen a home that looked more boring and devoid of personality," Harry muttered.

Cisco had never been there before, but... Harry made a good point. The place was modern and impressive, looked like something straight out of a catalogue. But it was so bland that Cisco couldn't imagine anyone actually wanting to live there. "I guess that's a plus when you don't want people realizing you're a time traveling serial killer," Cisco replied absently.

"Bedrooms are this way," Barry spoke up, staring at the floor under the skylight. Cisco wondered if he was remembering reassembling the glass on the floor when Hartley attacked nearly a year ago. If he felt as painfully nostalgic about simpler days like Cisco did.

They headed to the master bedroom and Barry gestured to the dresser and closet. "Take whatever you want." And then he beat a quick retreat to the other room.

"Whatever else you need, like underwear, we can just buy for you," Cisco said after a moment.

"Thanks," Harry said reluctantly. He went to the closet first and pulled open the door. "Huh. Not a bad selection," Harry mused as he flicked on the light.

It was hard to see in from Cisco's current vantage point, but it looked like most blacks and dark clothing. Which fit with what Cisco remembered of EoWells' wardrobe. He couldn't remember the man ever wearing anything that could even remotely be considered light in color. Unless it was white and meant to be worn with dark layers on top of it.

Harry pulled the first shirt, a black button down. And then he scrunched up his nose. "I take it back."

"What's wrong with it?" Cisco asked, curious. It looked fine from here.

"The fabric's all... wrong." Harry hesitated and then tossed it to Cisco. "See for yourself."

Cisco caught the shirt and then grimaced as the rough sensation of the fabric sank in. "Ugh, that's got to be sensory hell to wear. How can anyone not notice this sort of thing?"

"Wouldn't know," Harry replied absently. He checked another shirt and then tossed it to the ground to one side of the closet door. "Burn pile. It'll be cathartic."

"Cathartic, but wasteful. Whatever you don't take, we should convince Barry to just donate."

Harry pouted. That was, absolutely, a pout on his face.

Trying not to snicker, Cisco tossed the awful fabric in his hands onto the donate pile and absently petted the hem of his own shirt to get the starchy feeling off his fingers. "I'm sure we can find something else to burn for catharsis purposes."

Shrugging balefully, Harry tossed a third shirt onto the existing pile. The fourth shirt, though, got tossed onto the bed. The try on pile, no doubt.

Cisco headed out of the room to leave Harry to it, meandering through the other rooms out of curiosity. There was a guest bath in the hallway and two tiny guest rooms, one of which was being used as a home office. Maybe they could go through his home paperwork and burn all of that? Setting something of EoWells' on fire was stuck in Cisco's head now.

He wandered back into the living room and settled beside Barry on the boring, white couch. "Evil Wells had bad taste in bad feeling fabric. Harry wants to set, like, half the shirts on fire 'cause they're sensory hell to touch."

Barry snorted in amusement. "I'm good with torching anything of his."

"Yeah, but clothes should probably be donated instead." Cisco tried, once again, not to laugh as Barry pouted not unlike Harry had. "I thought maybe we could go through the home office for stuff to set on fire."

"Oh, nice plan. Lets do that." Barry jumped up. "Let's take a look."

Laughing, Cisco follows after Barry.

They're still sorting through the office when Harry knocks on the door. "I'm done."

"Was there enough in there with comfortable fabric?" Cisco asked, standing up.

Harry nodded. "Took a suitcase from his closet to put the clothing I didn't want in. There was a lot. Thawne was a clothes horse. What I'm keeping went in a duffel bag I found."

Barry snickered at the 'clothes horse' comment.

Wandering into the room, Harry came to stand by the desk, staring up at a series of frames on the wall. PhD diplomas for Harrison Wells. Copies of them hung in Dr. Wells office at STAR Labs. Or, rather, Eobard Thawne's office. There was one for physics, another one for mathematics, and a third for quantum physics. Surprisingly, the fourth was in history and that one... did not actually have a copy at STAR Labs, now that Cisco thought about it more closely. Cisco knew these weren't his only doctorates, though the other ones were honorary doctorates for work that helped to significantly further the field of science. But based on the dates of the degrees... only the first two - physics and mathematics - would have been earned by the original Wells.

"These two would have been his," Cisco said, gesturing to the the latter two. "But those were him taking credit for your doppelganger's work."

Harry nodded. "Now those," he gestured to the degrees Eobard must have earned, "would be cathartic to set on fire."

"There's a firepit in the back," Barry said. "Let's take it all there." He gathered up a pile of papers and photos and zipped out of the room.

Carefully, Harry took the two frames off the wall, passing the first over to Cisco. It was easy enough to pop the backing off and pull the degree out. Flipping it over and staring at the degree... Cisco just kind of felt tired.

"Something bothering you?" Harry asked.

"Just... want to have one of these for myself one day. If I can ever manage to find the time."

"Genius like yours, I doubt you'll find it hard once you do. Mechanical engineering or physics?"

"Engineering," Cisco confirmed, smiling despite himself at Harry's compliment. "Though if I were to get a second doctorate, definitely physics." He rolled up the diploma in his hands. "Maybe once we've wrapped up things with Zoom, I can finally make the time for it."

Harry nodded and pulled the diploma from the second frame, discarding the frame on the desk beside him.

They both headed outside, Harry moving the duffel bag full of what was now his clothes from the hallway by the office to the front door before joining Cisco by the back door to head into the yard. They added the diplomas to the pile of papers in the firepit.

Barry set the papers on fire with a spark of lightning and then they covered the top with a grate to keep the papers from flying away in the rising heat.

It was getting dark outside by that point, the sunset painting the sky in pinks and oranges in the distance. Glancing over at Harry, Cisco watched the light of the fire flicker over his face. There was an intensity there...

Cisco turned back to watch curls of the diplomas become engulfed in the flames. It didn't take long for the papers to burn away to nothing and Barry fetched a glass of water to douse the ashes, just in case there was anything left smoldering in there. Once that was done, Cisco kind of did feel better. Like they were lancing a wound...

And as they burned away Eobard Thawne's lies, Cisco wondered if anything remained of the real Wells in the end.

To exactly no one's surprise, Harry does not want to live in Eobard Thawne's house, though the offer is made out of politeness. He sticks with his makeshift apartment at STAR Labs instead.

STAR Labs actually does have laundry machines. On the ground floor near the cafeteria, they've got a set of industrial washers. Originally for washing lab coats - which was required for the chem labs before those were shut down - and various other things. Cisco had used them for a few weeks when his apartment's washer/dryer stack both crapped out on the same day about a month after the accelerator turned Cisco's world upside down. (Better doing his laundry at work than at his parents house and he'd never liked using laundromats during college.) And now Harry was using them.

Cisco could hear the whirring of the motors as he headed to the cafeteria to use the kitchen stove for his soup for dinner. He'd gotten caught up in his work again and Cisco was starving. He figured he'd have his soup here and some toast when he got home.

Only, when Cisco walked into the cafeteria kitchen... a different sort of hunger sparked in his belly. Because Harry was walking around shirtless and shoeless. Thankfully he still had pants on, though the nearly black jeans were slanted along his hips.

Harry was padding around, making what looked like spaghetti on the stove. Seemed someone had gotten ahold of one of the STAR Labs company cards.

"I hope there's still a pot left I can use for my soup. Also glad you didn't strip down entirely for your laundry day, 'cause this'd be so awkward otherwise," Cisco chirped, grinning when Harry jumped, startled. And actually blushed a little at Cisco witnessing him in his state of partial undress.

"Canned soup?" Harry shook his head. "I've made enough pasta to share. It'll have less sodium than that crap."

"Says the guy who acts like he could live on Big Belly Burger half the time," Cisco grumbled, setting the can aside. Harry smirked, insufferably. "Yeah, fine, spaghetti sounds delicious. I'm starving."

"Grab us some plates and utensils?"

Cisco nodded and fetched some paper plates and some plastic silverware for them to use. A few minutes later and Harry served it up and... oh there was toast in the oven too. He could kiss Harry...

Not literally of course. Cisco wasn't...

Okay so Cisco was watching Harry's arms and stomach way too closely as he moved around the kitchen. And his jeans clad ass... Cisco was so thirsty all of sudden.

Water wasn't really what he wanted, but Cisco grabbed two water bottles to go with their meal anyway.

"I guess you want me to wait until you leave before I do my next load of laundry," Harry mused, digging into his dinner and spinning pasta on his fork. "Jeans are next."

Cisco felt a flush crawl up his neck and he tried not to wonder if Harry was wearing underwear because... what if he wasn't? What if all his boxers were in the wash too?

"Yup," Cisco squeaked.

Oh god... what if Harry was going commando? That shouldn't be so hot, but...

"So what did you get caught up working on?" Harry asked.

"Meta suppressant tech. The Boot two-point-oh." Cisco shrugged. "Nothing I've come up with can hold Barry, though. And if it can't hold Barry..."

"It won't hold Zoom," Harry filled in.

"Yeah." At least the conversation topic was doom and gloom enough to cool Cisco off.

Until some sauce landed on Harry's abs. And Cisco's brain decided to torment him with the thought of what it'd be like to lick that sauce off for himself. He'd never been so jealous of a napkin before.

"Pasta's pretty tasty," Cisco offered.

"Thanks. Big Belly Burger might be my preferred meal of choice, but I am a decent cook. It was just me and Jesse since..." he trailed off, distant and then shook his head. "Even before then, Tess burned water half the time. Other half wasn't so bad, though."

Widower and father facing the potential loss of his daughter. Cisco felt a pang in his chest and hoped that they'd find Jesse alive and well. Harry'd break if he lost his daughter.

The sound of the building's air conditioning came on and Cisco's eyes flicked down for a moment. Harry, uh... Harry must have been getting chilly. His nipples were pebbling...

Licking his lips, Cisco dug back into the pasta. Though he still paused to say, "we'll get her back, Harry."

"Yeah." Harry hesitated a moment. "Be right back." He got up and disappeared into the hallway, reappearing a few minutes later with his STAR Labs sweater on.

Well, there went Cisco's fun. Though... Cisco still had no idea if Harry was going commando or not. Which was driving him nuts.

"Looks like it's almost time for my next load of laundry," Harry teased.

"Then I guess I need to finish soon so you can get back to it without scarring us both for life." Cisco grinned back, though, and... he couldn't help himself. He slowed down his pace on the rest of his food, sopping up some of the sauce with his toast. And it was so sinfully good.

They bantered back and forth until Cisco was almost done. There was a little sauce left on his plate and little toast left too, so Cisco gathered up the last of the sauce on the bread. Only some of the sauce dripped onto his cheek as he popped the last of that delicious, buttery, garlic toasted goodness into his mouth. Not really thinking about it, Cisco licked it off.

And then he glanced at Harry who looked... flustered?

Cisco was imagining things.

"That was delicious. I'll have return the favor some time," Cisco offered, grabbing his own napkin to rub any remaining sauce off his cheek. "I'm a pretty good cook myself."

"I'd like that, Ramon," Harry replied, smiling. "Now get out. I need to finish my laundry."

After much deliberation, Cisco had convinced Barry that Eobard Thawne's house would make a good safe house for the team. All of the current furniture, the remains of Eobard's wardrobe, the kitchen cabinets... everything in the house was being donated with the house itself being taken down to the studs. Barry was at work, which meant that Cisco had been volunteered as tribute to oversee the donation pick up. And for reasons that completely eluded Cisco, Harry had agreed to tag along.

Since the house interior was gutted, they were sitting out front on the lawn furniture, discussing the latest improvements to the boot. This time it had actually managed to slow Barry down, which was definitely good progress. If the emitted field could be made strong enough, they could create a better version of the speed trap. But Barry'd only slowed down by about sixteen percent with this particular version of the emitter on. So for now it was back to the drawing board.

And if a small part of the back of Cisco's brain was still trying to figure out if Harry had gone commando while doing the laundry the other day, well... Cisco was only human and Harry was distractingly gorgeous. Absolutely the definition of a DILF and Cisco was going to make sure Harry never knew what that was.

Harry, however, seemed oddly distracted by something.

"Alright, what's bugging you? We're talking potential Zoom catching science and you keep zoning out."

"Just... don't like being around Eobard Thawne's place." Harry shrugged.

Which was fair. Learning that there had been an evil speedster who'd murdered and replaced his doppelganger had to be pretty scary to learn when there was already another evil speedster making his life hell. Maybe it has been more insensitive than Cisco had realized to offer Harry the clothes EoWells had left behind. He'd been thinking it was all relatively Harry's style and fit and it would be better than letting it all rot untouched in a dead man's closet, but...

"If it weirds you out too much having his old clothes, you can always just use that corporate credit card we all know you swiped to buy new stuff," Cisco offered.

Harry shrugged. "The clothes don't really bother me," he said, not bothering to deny he'd taken the card. "Just the house. It's... a similar layout to the house Tess and I built after we married."

"Like walking through an extra creepy funhouse mirror of your life," Cisco speculated.

"Pretty much."

"Well, hopefully the end result of our safe house project won't be quite so..." Cisco hesitated before landing on the words, "sterile and cold." And considering how fast Barry could repair a building, maybe it'd even be ready by the time they got Jesse back. Which Cisco had to believe would happen sometime soon, for Harry's sake. Rescuing his daughter wouldn't necessarily mean it was safe for them on their Earth yet and Harry would probably appreciate having a real house for Jesse to stay in, instead of having both of them camping out in repurposed STAR Labs offices. And if that house also happened to have a speedster proof - or as close to speedster proof as manageable - panic room...

Something to think on, anyway.

Eventually the charity truck arrived to haul everything away and Harry jammed on his baseball cap and sunglasses. Which Cisco supposed was a good enough disguise for now.

He wondered if holographic tech could be used for a better disguise... a question for another day, though.

They ended up helping load the truck with the two volunteers who'd driven up in it, which meant that Harry did a lot of bending over.

A lot of bending over that Cisco couldn't seem to stop glancing over at.

And Cisco couldn't help but notice that the band of Harry's underwear peeked up from beneath the waist of his jeans. Which had definitely not happened during dinner with Harry the other night.

Harry really had gone commando that evening, hadn't he?

The realization nearly sent Cisco walking right into the front door frame, but he corrected at the last second.

They'd only moved a third of the boxes and furniture into the truck at this point and Cisco heaved a sigh, resigning himself to trying to rein in his thirst for Harry for the rest of the morning. He really, really needed to find a new datemate...