𝑊𝐼𝑆𝐷𝑂𝑀 | 𝐁𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐘 𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐍

𝟔 | 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐀𝐍 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐘𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐎𝐖 𝐒𝐔𝐈𝐓

— 𝒮 —

"𝐌𝐄𝐑𝐑𝐘 𝐂𝐇𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐌𝐀𝐒!" 𝐒𝐎𝐏𝐇𝐈𝐀 grinned as she sat down next to Cisco at one of the main desks.

"Merry Christmas, Soph," Cisco replied with a similar smile. His eyes then widened dramatically as he noticed her empty hands and shook his head. "Didn't get me a gift?"

"Mm, are you saying you got a gift for me?" Sophia lifted her eyebrows, causing the man to raise his hands in surrender.

"You know what, my presence is a present," he pointed out, causing her to chuckle in amusement.

"Merry Christmas," they heard a voice call, and they turned to the middle of the room to see Barry, who was holding a red gift bag in his hand. He grinned as he handed each of them a rectangular box that was wrapped in blue gift wrapping. "Just a small token of my gratitude for everything you guys have done for me."

"Aw." Dr. Wells smiled down at the gift before saying, "I think I speak on behalf of my colleagues when I say you've been a gift for us, Barry."

Barry pulled out a plaid thermos from his bag, causing Caitlin to furrow her eyebrows and question with a small smile, "What's that?"

Barry grinned as he put the bag down and showed off the Thermos. "This is compliments of Iris. Grandma Esther's famous eggnog."

Cisco grinned and pointed towards Barry. "That's what I'm talking about." He sent a quick wink to Sophia, mouthing "That's a true friend" as he walked over to put his gift away on the main desk, causing her to roll her eyes in amusement.

Dr. Wells cleared his throat, his smile fading slightly. "Maybe later for me. Wouldn't wanna drink and drive."

Barry cast a worried look in Sophia's direction as Dr. Wells left the room, pointing to himself as she stepped towards him. "Did I say something wrong?"

"No," she reassured him with a shake of the head. She sighed, glancing towards the exit to see Dr. Wells disappearing as a frown formed on her lips. "This used to be his favourite time of the year, but the accident happened before Christmas, so . . . kinda ruined the holidays."

"I'm gonna buy him a present," Caitlin decided. "Maybe that'll cheer him up."

Cisco came back with his own cup, giving a small nod to Caitlin. "Yeah."

She gave them a quick smile before heading out of the Cortex, and Barry raised his eyebrows as Cisco handed him the cup. "So, what are your plans for Christmas, Cisco?"

"Well," Cisco started as he wrapped an arm around Sophia's shoulders, "it's kinda become tradition for me to go over to Soph's place, and we watch the entire Home Alone series while eating the chocolate we stole from Caitlin."

"We never make it past the second one," she sighed. "Cisco complains the whole damn time" —she mocked a high-pitch voice— "'How do they keep forgetting him?', 'Why doesn't anyone find it weird that two grown men are trying to murder a kid?' Yeah, we know it's weird, Cisco. We just ignore it."

"Why do you ignore it?" Cisco exclaimed. "It's weird! And anyway, the first two are the only good ones."

Barry gave a small chuckle, though his smile seemed a little more forced than before. "It is a little weird when you put it that way."

"Yeah," Sophia sighed. "What about you? What are you going to do?"

"Oh, you know" —Barry gave a small shrug— "celebrating at the West house. Assuming Christmas goes without any crime that the Flash needs to attend to."