Star Labs Imagines

Harrison Wells

I enjoyed that little sliver I wrote previously that I wanted to go more in-depth. There's something wonderful about falling in love so slowly and becoming so important to another person over time that they don't even realize it. 

Harrison Wells was sitting on a stool, bent over a desk of devices and scraps of brown-stained paper. There was more dried coffee than drinkable coffee in the room, however. 

"Harry?" you ask, stepping into the room. "Want me to bring you some caffeine?" 

Wells looked up from his work and gave a slight sigh. Without turning to face you, he said, "I would appreciate that." Then he bent back over his devices. 

It became your daily habit to bring him a coffee later at night, when he insisted on working over time. Every once in a while, you were able to offer some advice or a change in his method. 

At first, he took it gratingly. After a time, he barely even seemed to notice the intrusion. After about a month, he began asking you what you thought. 

Soon, you were working side by side, with you learning more every day from the genius sitting beside you. You tended to get in his way at times, and he would simply stop what he was doing, his eyes closed in a grimace as he let out a breath. 

"This doesn't look right," you said one day. You were standing on opposite sides of the glass boards where he was writing out a formula and erasing it over and over. 

"That's why I keep erasing it," he said irritably. 

"Have you tried... this?" You came around the board and took the marker, writing out a different sequence of letters. 

Harrison studied the board a moment, then looked at you over his glasses. "How did you know that?" 

"Lucky guess?" you offer. 

"Not so lucky." He wiped it away, hiding a small smile. "You're wrong." 

You grimaced. "I've been trying to learn more over your shoulder, but all of this goes over my head. I'm really not cut out for physics." 

So that became another habit, where he would explain what he was doing as he went along. Sometimes you still didn't understand it all--Earth-2 jargon didn't help the complex mathematics--but working through it verbally sometimes helped Wells reach more conclusions than he could come to in his head alone. 

One day, you arrived later at Star Labs than normal. You walked into the work room to find Wells talking to an invisible you, constantly reaching for a coffee that wasn't there. He looked extremely frustrated. 

"Harry?" You set down the coffee, looking at him with surprise. "Is everything alright?" 

He gave a sigh. "Everything's off kilter today." Harrison ran a hand through his hair, the other on his waist as he looks at you. "Where have you been today?" he asked a little more kindly. 

"Didn't meant to be late," you said apologetically, sitting on your usual stool, waiting for him to take his place in the other. "There was an incident at Jitters." 

Wells looked at you for a long moment before sitting down and resuming his work on upgrading Cisco's glasses. 

Time passed and troubles came and went at Star Labs. But one thing always stayed the same. You and Wells working side by side, almost like one. Wells still processed aloud, for both of your sake's, but there was plenty of nonverbal communication. You knew one another's moods, you could tell exactly what he needed at each moment, and you finished one another's sentences more often than not. 

"Barry, we've been working," you started. 

"On a new running form," Wells continued. 

"It'll make you go faster." 

"But you're going to have to hold your body in a slightly different position." 

"Than you normally do, but you'll catch on," you finish. 

You certainly didn't bump into each other any more. It was like the two of you were one, singing and dancing a duet in perfect harmony and rhythm, but with far more numbers, scientific jargon and Metahumans thrown in. 

It began to spill out of the workplace. You went everywhere together. If Wells went to visit Jesse, you came along. If you were going to pick up more tools at Star Labs' favorite store--Home Depot--Wells was bound to be with you. 

One day, as you came in with two cups of Jitters coffee, you kissed Wells on the cheek as you set down the cup. Neither of you reacted; it was as though the move had been choreographed, and everyone knew it was coming. Things naturally progressed from there, hidden smiles and "I-told-you-so's" murmured from the others as the relationship grew apparent. 

One day, Wells was bringing in a box of Cisco's less fortunate experiments. 

You looked up. "Want me to arrange-" 

"The marriage certificates?" Wells finished. 

"I would appreciate that," you said, wiping away part of your equation. 

He nodded, adding in the part that had been missing all along.