Chapter Text
The blaring alarms of the Waverider caught Cisco’s attention, the sounds of that world’s Snart/Gideon ringing through the air, warning of the anti-matter wave.
They’d failed.
Seconds left, Cisco wondered what it’d be like to die again.
The ship disintegrated around him, and he had just enough time to suck in a breath before-
He woke up. Which in and of itself was a surprise. He sat up in bed, glancing around his apartment, trying to figure out what had happened. Had Barry saved them all in the last moment? Had it all been a vibe of the future?
Then he actually took time to look around. Instead of the queen sized bed he’d upgraded to when he moved to his current apartment, he was on his old twin from when he’d started at Star Labs, complete with Star Wars themed bedsheets.
What was going on here?
Throwing back the covers he slipped out of bed, standing up and reaching his hands out in front of him. So not a vibe then.
Oh god, what if this was the afterlife?! Was this all his life had amounted to??
His phone buzzed and he reached for it on instinct, before pausing. Why was the afterlife a complete reconstruction of his life 6 years ago??
He looked around, trying to find a discrepancy. A flaw. Something, anything to give him some hint as to what had happened. There was nothing. He was just… here. Standing in his old apartment, with no clue how he’d gotten there.
He checked the phone when it buzzed again and nearly dropped it. It wasn’t the text from Caitlin asking him to pick up coffee on the way in that day. It was the date.
October 7th, 2014.
The day Barry woke up.
This couldn’t be. Was he really about to believe he’d woken up 5 years in the past??? Barry had time travelled before, but he always mentioned there being two versions of himself when it happened! So where was the other version of himself?
He glanced back at his bed, as if he’d find his past self still asleep in bed.
“This is so trippy….”
Well if this was the past, he needed to get his ass to work before Caitlin noticed anything weird. Or Dr Wells-
Fuck. If he was in the past, then Dr. Wells was still there. And he was Thawne. Evil Wells. Dark, murderous Wells who’d murdered him. Or, would?
Oh god was he going to have to live (or not live) through that again?!
No, there was no way he’d be stuck here that long. And even if he was, maybe he wasn’t the only one. Maybe that wave just stuck everyone back in their bodies 5 years before?
Yeah right. No way was he that lucky.
He grabbed his jacket, shrugging it on as he headed out, trying to wrap his head around what had happened.
Caitlin was waiting for him in the cortex, (was it even called that yet? He couldn’t remember when he’d named it) and Barry was still there, in his coma.
“There you are! I was starting to get worried!” Did Caitlin remember? “I can’t run these tests on my own.”
Oh. No, Caitlin didn’t remember. “Sorry, long line at Jitters.”
He synced his phone with the Bluetooth, trying to remember what he’d been playing when Barry’d woken up.
Poker Face. Right. Classic.
If he was a little excessive with his reaction to Barry waking up, nobody would notice.
It took him an extra second to remember to call Dr. Wells down to the cortex, but a few seconds shouldn’t impact the timeline too badly. The butterfly effect wasn’t that specific, if Barry’s time traveling had proven anything.
Of course! Barry time travelled all the time! Maybe if he was lucky, this would be a time where he also remembered?
Barry, come on dude, remember, “Where am I? What’s going on?” Oh well. He had never been terribly lucky.
He went through the introductions, trying to smile even though he was freaking out. It was all going great until-
“9 months. Welcome back Mr. Allen.”
That damned wheelchair. It had been so long since he last saw it that he’d almost forgotten how sick it had made him when Barry had to use it. The residual fear and betrayal didn’t hurt any less now than it had all those years ago. Dr. Wells, Thawne, evil Wells, sat grinning, as if his entire life had led up to this moment.
To him it probably had.
As Dr. Wells showed Barry around, Cisco helped Caitlin clean up the cortex and run tests. He already knew what they’d say, but he couldn’t exactly rush this. He had to make sure he kept the timeline in place, which meant no rushing ahead. He just had to keep everything going as he figured out what the hell happened to him, and how to undo it. Easy. Right?
“Hey, are you alright?”
Cisco looked up from what he was working on to see Caitlin staring at him, concerned. “Yeah! Yeah, I’m fine, why?”
“You just seem… off, today.”
Cisco shrugged. “I mean, it’s not every day someone wakes up from a coma, especially not-” he cut himself off. They weren’t supposed to know about his powers yet.
“Especially not?” Caitlin was even more confused now.
Dammit, think of something, think of something, “Especially not since the particle accelerator. You know? It feels like the first win in a really long time.”
Caitlin nodded, and got back to work. Cisco internally let out a breath he’d been holding. That was close. He needed to adjust his mindset, and quickly. He couldn’t let anything slip and risk the timeline.
Barry and Dr. Wells came back from their talk in the hallway, and Cisco vaguely wondered how much of it had been Thawne lying, but then Barry was leaving, and Caitlin and Dr. Wells were sharing exasperated looks, and Cisco knew he wouldn’t be needed again until tomorrow when Barry first discovered his speed, so he had some time.
Excusing himself from Caitlin and evil Wells, he made his way to his workshop, and pulled out one of the many notebooks he left lying about for his ideas.
He needed a plan.
When Barry was back to them the next day, Cisco was ready with a plan. He already knew what had to be done to keep the timeline going, and had done his best to write down every interaction he remembered from the last 5 years, and was ready to relive it. He hoped.
And, when he wasn’t needed, he’d be working on finding a way to fix the anti-matter wave. The fact that he hadn’t met the version of him that was supposed to be here had to mean that he was supposed to take over, and live through it all instead.
A giant groundhogs day loop.
And, he couldn’t talk to anyone about it. Because he couldn’t risk messing up the timeline. He had to make sure everyone did exactly the right thing, and if he was the only changed variable, then he needed to make sure he reacted properly to everything.
At least he didn’t have to fake anything in believing Barry. He always had, and he always would. Yes Barry could run that fast. Yes he made the toys and gadgets, and yes, he believed in the impossible. He was living it right then and there.
Years of working alongside Barry told him to shift his weight before Barry started running, so he didn’t fall on his ass.
Thawne’s eyes narrowed slightly, but other than that he didn’t comment.
The gust of wind, the faint traces of electricity, all of it made him smile. This was where it all began. Baby Barry. Baby lightning. Baby team Flash.
Barry’s broken arm took a full 3 hours to heal. Baby speed healing too. But of course, Cisco couldn’t say any of that. He pulled out a red bull, chugging it in one go. Tonight was the night Barry took on Weather Wizard the first, and Cisco would need all the caffeine he could get.
Dr. Wells tilted his head in Cisco’s direction, but ignored him in favor of questioning Barry.
Cisco decided to focus on Dr. Wells. Watching his face as Barry told them about his mom’s murder. It was interesting to watch a man ‘hear’ about something he was to blame for.
Then Barry was off again, and Cisco knew he had until later that evening to finish working on the suit. Barry was gonna need it.
Cisco payed attention to Dr. Wells’s explanation to Barry of what had gone wrong. He’d thought he understood what was happening last time, but with 5 more years of experience maybe he could try to piece together what was going on with him. How he’d ended up in a groundhog’s day loop.
Of course, he could just ask Thawne outright, but even if he phrased it as a hypothetical it was risky. Better safe than dead.
When Barry commented about metahumans Cisco half chuckled. “This just keeps getting cooler,” he commented, half sarcastically. When Barry snapped back at him for it he just nodded.
When Wells and Barry got into their argument, Cisco found himself glancing over to Dr. Wells, wondering exactly what he was up to. Thawne wanted Barry to become the Flash. Why was he telling Barry he couldn’t be?
Then it hit him. Barry was stubborn. Someone telling him he couldn’t do something was almost the best way to get him to do it.
When Barry stormed out, Cisco grabbed another red bull. His night was just beginning.
A few hours (and one conversation with the Arrow if Cisco remembered properly) and Barry was back, with boxes from the CCPD that Cisco doubted were obtained legally.
Revealing the suit was as exhilarating as any time he’d done it. No matter how many changes or upgrades he did, he always loved the feeling of revealing his hard work.
The entire fight with Mardon, Cisco knew he should have been anxious, but it just felt like another day to him. He’d done this too many times.
Only, this body hadn’t done it at all. This was supposed to be their first mission, he was supposed to be terrified for Barry.
Well, he had the fear part down. It just wasn’t Barry he was scared for. He glanced nervously at Thawne, sitting next to them. How could he be so calm? He didn’t know what was coming. Then again, wasn’t that normal? Not knowing? Wasn’t that life? He was the abnormality here.
He’d missed the simplicity of being behind the monitors with Barry running. There was something so simple to it. The way he and Barry would sneak in saving people behind Caitlin’s back, and she’d get mad, yelling at them both because she didn’t know how else to show she cared.
“Who do you think you are?!” She’d yelled at them.
“Uh, clearly I’m the eyes and ears, and he’s the feet.”
“Don’t expect me to patch you up every time you break something,” she’d bit out at Barry.
Cisco had to suppress a snort at that one, taking over to talk to Barry about his ‘spike in vitals’. He was already working through formulas for a better calorie bar, but he had to be sure he talked to Barry about it, because it’s what past him did, so it’s what he had to do now.
Barry ran off towards his day job, and Cisco remembered that he had to adjust his calculations to take into account Barry’s beginning caloric intake, and not his ‘6 years of this’ caloric intake. He excused himself to his workshop to start working on that new equation, ignoring the look Wells gave him.
He wouldn’t be needed until closer to that evening anyway.
When Barry came to them because he was passing out, Cisco was ready. Caitlin still went off on him though, and Cisco had to hold back a chuckle, throwing in a word of explanation every time Barry looked to him confused.
Wells was openly staring at Cisco now, and he excused himself to set up the treadmill.
He’d forgotten how angry Joe could get when he was being protective. Cisco remembered he’d be seeing a lot more of that in his near future, until Joe fully came to accept what had changed.
“Don’t worry about Joe, I’ll talk to him.” Wells wheeled off in the direction of the hallway.
Cisco nodded, confused. Had he said that the first time?
Barry won the day again, and it was all good. Cisco really had missed these days. Back when there were no complications, just winning the day and moving on. Sure, Danton Black was dead, which sucked, but they never would have been able to save him. Danton simply hadn’t wanted to be saved, no matter how hard they tried. Nothing more could be done.
Cisco still couldn’t figure out police scanner codes. 6 years and he still hadn’t managed to convince Barry to get him a copy of the codes.
It wasn’t all fun and games. The judge that had died by Kyle Nimbus’s hands. He hated that he couldn’t save her. But the timeline was most important, no matter what. If he didn’t follow it, there was no telling what would happen.
He didn’t know when he’d gotten so ‘lawful’ in his approach, but he didn’t like it.
He also hated that he had to construct the damn pipeline cells again. There was a reason they’d gotten Iron Heights equipped for a meta wing. These personal prison cells were completely inhumane. But he had to stick to the stupid timeline, he kept reminding himself. The timeline was what mattered.
Knowing Barry wouldn’t die didn’t make it any easier to hear him get beaten up either. No matter how many times it happened, how certain of victory they were, it was never easy to hear his best friend get beaten to a pummel.
But when he watched Barry put away the Mist, he still felt that same pride. “Yeah yeah yeah, ‘no prison can hold me,’ heard it all before pal!”
The others stared at him, and he realized that this probably wasn’t when he’d said that in the first timeline. “…In movies and such,” he explained weakly, before excusing himself from the group and retreating back to his workstation.
He knew what came up next. Captain Cold. Arguably one of the most controversial supervillains Barry fought in his first few years. And largely Cisco’s fault. He couldn’t just not create him. Not only would that completely ruin the timeline, but it would stop Captain Cold and Heatwave from becoming Legends. And as horrible as their events in the first year were, they had saved countless lives since then.
He had to still build the guns.
If he put a little more attention into the details than he had last time, well… He was just enjoying his craft. Being a little paranoid, that’s all. No reason to suspect anything unusual with him placing a tracker in the Cold Gun. That wasn’t unusual at all.
And if he gently placed his hands on the guns before he left them in storage, knowing it would be the last time he saw them before they’d be in the hands of dangerous criminals, well. No one was there to judge him.
The thing was, he knew. He knew what time the janitor should be there, and approximately what time he’d steal Cisco’s cold gun. You know, if it had actually been him. He just didn’t know where the guy went from there.
Was he bored? Alright, fine, he was bored, he’d been living a repeat of his own life for over a month, he was insanely bored! So he wanted to know if the janitor had actually been the one to steal the gun. Did it matter? As long as he wasn’t caught, it didn’t matter if he was at Star Labs 3 hours early that day.
Only apparently it did matter, and Cisco would later smack himself for getting so cocky. But as it was, something else smacked him when he showed up to Star Labs early. Something hard, and painful, that knocked him out.