Of Reverse Love And Stuff

The parents

After seven months and only seven dates, Nina was ready to introduce Eobard to her parents. She couldn’t explain why she felt so confident about this relationship, but whenever she thought of Eobard, her heart skipped a beat, and she felt like kicking her feet and twirling her hair like some stupid teenager. 

It was a strange new feeling with her thoughts always running wild with fantasies about their future together. This man somehow got her under his spell in such a short amount of time. She didn’t mind. He was good for her, even if he couldn’t be around that often. But when he was, they had more fun than she had ever had with anyone.

“My parents will probably do a background check on you so maybe we should reconsider this idea.”

Eobard came to a sudden halt, tilting his head to the side as he looked at Nina with an almost scolding expression on his face. “It will be fine,” he repeated the sentence once again with a smug smile, hoping this time she would accept it.

“But they will find out you don’t even exist,” she went on, keeping a short pause before adding, “as of now.”

“Nina, I’ve taken care of that already.”

“Really?” she asked skeptically.

“Yes, really.”

“And what should I call you in front of them then?” The speedster raised his eyebrow a tiny bit as he watched her in silence. “The Thawne family is well known by them so you’d be busted in a moment if you used your real name.”

Before replying to this, he leaned down and gently kissed her forehead. “Just follow my lead.”

Follow my lead. She’d heard this before and she didn’t like it back then either. “Remember–my mother will most likely dislike you no matter what you do, so don’t even try to get her approval. That would only make things worse,” she added quickly.

For some reason he looked almost terrifyingly calm as she watched him. “I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” he told her.

“And don’t be cocky,” Nina said with a disapproving look. “She hates that.”

At this Eobard only laughed and put an arm around her shoulder. “Why are you afraid of her?”

“What? I'm not afraid.”

“You’ve spent the last hour or so trying to convince me not to come here,” he pointed out with an amused smile.

“I think we’re wasting our time, that’s all.” For a moment she fell silent, then went on with her voice suddenly becoming low and sad. “You’re not here very often and I hoped we could spend some time together.”

Eobard let go of her shoulder and took her hand instead, raising it high enough so he could kiss the back of it. “We will, I promise.”

“For a time traveling speedster you’re pretty terrible at keeping this promise.”

“Is that so?” he asked with a short laugh.

“Yeah, the last ti–” Suddenly the door opened, interrupting her mid-sentence, and her father showed up with a wide smile on his face. “Hi, Dad,” she said without thinking.

The older man quickly moved forward to pull her into a hug. “Hello, honey.” Once he let go he finally paid attention to Eobard, the man who already had an arm around his daughter’s waist to keep her close. “You must be her boyfriend.”

“Eobard Bowen,” he replied without missing a beat as he extended his hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Kingston.”

“He has manners! That’s new, Nina.”