"I can't believe this is happening right now. What are we going to do?"
Sitting at a table in the back corner of Jitters, you and Barry talk in hushed voices about what had come to pass. Your mind was still blown from the (clearly not) impossible fact that you were currently stuck in the past. Not to mention that you had, not that long ago, stopped Barry and yourself from having your first encounter, thus never meeting. How that will affect the future from here on out, you had no idea. The timeline has now been altered and not knowing what comes next scared you.
"Relax, it'll be alright," Barry says, trying to calm you. "He'll be here any minute." As if on cue, Cisco walks through the door and Barry gives him a stressed wave. He was the first person Barry had thought to confide in and the fewer people that knew about your current predicament the better.
"Barry, I got your text. What's so urgent?" Cisco looks at you up and down. "And who's your lovely friend?"
That's right, we haven't met yet. Barry introduces you and instructs Cisco to sit down.
"Listen, this is going to be a lot to take in, so just, you know, keep an open mind."
"Dude, we live in a city full of Metas. My mind's pretty damn open."
You and Barry lock eyes, hesitating to confess, which leaves an awkward pause around the table. But ultimately it's Barry who blurts out the almost unfathomable truth.
"Cisco, we're from the future."
"Five days in the future to be exact-" you jump in.
"I ran back in time-"
"And I totally just messed up the timeline-"
"So now we've never met-"
"Which means I won't get kidnapped by Captain Cold-"
"Who I'm supposed to save her from, but I can't now because my powers are gone-"
"So Barry can't run fast enough to create a portal back to our time-"
"And now we're stuck." Both of you are out of breath from the long winded explanation and it also doesn't help that you hold your breath while waiting for Cisco's response. Cisco sits there with his mouth slightly agape and big round eyes staring back at you both. He gives his head a downward shake.
"Whoa," he finally utters. "This is heavy."
*
"Okay, okay. Let's walk through this again, only slower this time."
Cisco paces the floor of his small apartment, where the sensitive conversation had been immediately moved to, where it could be talked about at full volume and without any interruptions or more potentially life altering run-ins.
"You two are from the near future. This upcoming Friday, to be exact."
"Yes," you confirm.
"(Y/N) was kidnapped by Snart and Barry saved you by running so fast that he accidentally created this time portal to the past. To now."
"Correct," Barry says.
"Now (Y/N) ran into, let's call him 'Past Barry,' and changed the course of events that led you two to meet. Or rather, not meet. See, this could be a real problem."
"No shit..." you mutter under your breath.
"Because – if my line of thinking is correct, if you don't meet, you don't go out. And if you don't go out, you don't fall for one another, care enough for each other. And why would Snart kidnap someone Barry doesn't care for? He likes to hit you where it hurts."
"You don't have to tell me," Barry agrees.
"And finally, if you don't end up caring for (Y/N), then you won't push yourself to run as fast as you did, thus creating the time portal."
"Wait," you start voicing your line of thinking. "The only known way at the moment to create a time portal is by Barry running fast enough, right? Cisco, since my Barry has lost his powers, would it be possible for 'Past Barry' to create a portal home for us?"
"Interesting..." Cisco ponders. "It seems the only reasonable solution right now. But there is a flaw in that idea."
"What's that?" Barry asks.
"Doc Brown's law," Cisco points out.
"We can't interact with our own past selves," you explain.
"What about interacting with each other's past selves? Like, I talk to you from the past and you talk to 'Past Me'?"
"Barry, that just might work! Good thinking, baby!"
Cisco rubs his hands together like he's already got a plan in motion. "Now we're cooking with plutonium!"
"Now where do we start?" Barry thinks aloud. You let his question roll around in your head for a moment.
"We didn't meet again until the club when Iris invited me out tonight. We'll both be in the same room, then. Cisco, since you're in on this, when we meet, you'll need to pretend you're meeting 'Past Me' for the first time."
"I think I can pull it off."
"Great. And remember, you can't tell anyone else about us being from the future."
Cisco salutes you in understanding. "Alright... let's get you two together, or back together? You know what I mean!"
*
Barry, Cisco, and yourself use the rest of the day to plan out your team's attack at the club tonight. Knowing that both your past selves will be there will require everyone to be on their toes, alert. There cannot be any run-ins with your double, it was reiterated. You both made sure you had everything before leaving for the club. New night-on-the-town outfits and thanks to Cisco, burner phones.
"We don't want to have you guys texting each other and then having the texts show up on your past selves' phones. How weird would that be? However, you will be able to see what they are texting from your old phones."
"Okay, got it," you say.
"Thanks, man," Barry claps his friend's back.
"Don't mention it. Anything to help."
Barry and yourself left for the club early enough so that you could find the best vantage point to keep an eye on everything. The place is bouncing, just like that Monday night.
"Is it considered creepy if you're spying yourself?" You aren't sure if Barry is musing to himself or if he wants a genuine answer.
"I don't know if it's creepy, but it's still most definitely weird," you point out. "I don't know why I haven't shown up yet. I came with Iris, and she's been here for ten minutes already." Cisco and Caitlin walk in from the entrance. Cisco gives a subtle nod in your direction, noting that he has spotted you both. "Something's not right."
"Look to your ten o'clock," Barry says. "I just walked in the door." And there his is, Past Barry, wearing exactly the same outfit as you remember him in. Cisco greets Past Barry and after a few minutes walks up to you guys looking concerned.
"Where am I? Why didn't I show up?"
"Iris said she invited you earlier today, but said you stayed home because of a rough day. Did you have a rough day?"
"No, I had a great first day. Shit, okay, these aren't the circumstances we anticipated, but we're going to make it work dammit! Barry, you're going to need to find Past Me at home, obviously, and somehow introduce yourself."
"How could I possibly do that without coming off as a stalker?"
"Hate to break it to you Bare, but right now, you and I are stalkers. I don't know, deliver a pizza or something. I can't say no to pizza. Go from there and, you know, be your beautiful, charming self."
"And what about you?"
"Me? Well, I'm going to seduce you."
"I guess I'm a lucky guy." Barry goes in for a kiss and Cisco covers his eyes while making a grossed-out-twelve-year-old noise.
"Ew, yeah, okay, so what do I do?"
"Cisco, you need to distract Iris. Tell her something, anything to get her to leave. We can't have her see me here, while the other me is at home. Ready? One, two, three, break!" And like that, Barry ran out the back exit (albeit nowhere near as fast as he used to run as The Flash) and Cisco played his part very well in whatever he decided to say to Iris. It was hard to decipher her reaction because she fled the scene so quickly. Past Barry leans over the bar ordering a drink. Here goes nothing. You stride over him and rest an elbow on the bar top.
"So, you come here often?"