Who:Morgan and Cisco What:Chatting When: after the maze, before the kid plot Where:His office. warnings:none
Cisco couldn’t wait to get to the lab, and since Barry had decided to go to the speed lab he figured there was no harm in taking that time to go check it out. Make sure the entity hadn’t really messed with it or anything this time. Instead of walking the long way through the snow, Cisco decided to actually use his powers for once. He didn’t figure anyone would be there.
So he opened up a portal, a shift in reality itself and stepped right through only to appear in his lab a moment later in a beacon of light. That bright blue light of the portal behind him closed when his feet touched the ground and he stepped out.
His desk and computer station was in fact left in tact, and sitting on his chair was his jacket he’d worn in the maze that had been left there since said maze. It was torn up in several places and still bloody. Normally Cisco could just fix it, but he was beginning to have second thoughts if he should. There were more capable hero types there. He bit at his lip and finally stepped forward towards it, but couldn’t bring himself to pick it up. Damn. All he’d wanted to do was see his computer, not have feels.
Morgan had resided herself to take the break she deserved, especially after the Entity had provided them with such a fun reprieve, but the change of scenery hadn’t changed her need to get her suit to the lab. It hadn’t been completely destroyed- thank god. If it had, she was certain she may have broken down.
So, after taking some time to enjoy the snow, she had made her way to her lab early Tuesday morning and began working on the necessary repairs. It wasn’t a project she would be able to complete in one-day however, and when she began to feel like her eyes were crossing a little, she decided it was time to emerge from her solitude.
Shutting everything down, she gave her beautiful pile of purple and silver titanium-alloy one last glance before leaving.
Walking a familiar path through the halls, she heard something coming from the direction of Cisco’s lab and gave her head a shake. Of course, he was here too.
Stopping in front of his door she gave it a knock, not wanting to just burst in uninvited.
Where else would he be? Cisco said he missed his lab, he was not joking. He did miss his lab, what he didn’t miss was what had been waiting. He was actually glad at the sound that snapped him out of his daze, and he turned away from the mess in front of him with the damaged jacket to open the door and see who it was.
He hadn’t expected anyone, he hoped it hadn’t been two days already. He remembered Morgan said if he’d gone MIA for two days she was pulling him out, but he checked his phone as he opened the door and raised an eyebrow.
“Morgan?” Was his phone messed up maybe?
“I was just headed out,” she said and made a motion over her shoulder with her thumb when he looked a bit perplexed. “I thought I was the only one here, but I should have known you would be here too.” They were both notorious workaholics, Cisco maybe more so than Morgan, which wasn’t something she thought she would ever encounter.
“Don’t worry, I’m not here to drag you away.” Morgan flashed him a grin. He at least looked better than the last time she had seen him.
“Nope.” Cisco had even been there when Tony was recovering and nobody was there. His system needed watching and updating to work properly. It was home base as Jacen had called it, and the engineer liked knowing everything was moving along just fine. Sure he could get a quick over view of things on his tablet, but he wanted to see the bigger picture. Make sure the drones were operating properly all at once. Plus he genuinely liked his job. He had a position that made him feel useful and needed. It was a good fit for him.
“Oh...I thought maybe two days had passed already.” That would have been concerning. “I mainly came in to check on things, but it looks like everything’s fine. I’m kind of at a loss what to do just now.” He admitted awkwardly with a bit of a grin. “People said snow things, but I’m not sure what that means. Snow things for us mean something evil is plotting things or already in the middle of attacking us.”
“Nope,” she repeated in regards to his wondering if two days had passed already. “It’s only been half a day,” Morgan began then quickly corrected herself when she looked at her watch. “Or erm...most of a day. Shit. Guess I lost track of time too.”
“I get it. It’s kind of difficult to just kick back and relax when some of us are still a little on edge.” She had, for the most part, managed to get herself in a better place mentally since the maze.
Tilting her head to the side, she considered what he said for a moment. “I think sometimes it’s hard for all of us to remember that things- even snow things- may be different for others where they are from.”
“Yeah..I’ve been at Barry’s most of the time, but I think even he’s getting a little stir crazy. Dude went to the speedlab by himself, soooo I figured I’d come check on things here. I guess I’m still a little paranoid.” He couldn’t stop it from happening. Hell he couldn’t do much. His suit, if one could call it that-it was really just a kevlar jacket stayed unmended as a result. He clearly didn’t belong out in the field, so maybe it was better left where it was anyway.
He frowned at that and gave a little shrug. “It isn’t like I have a horrible connection to it or anything, I just...am usually here. Doing this when these things happen. This is what I do.” He motioned down toward the tablet in his hands. “Stuff like this happens..I get a little fidgety still I guess.” He didn’t hate it necessarily, just didn’t know how to enjoy it.
“Understandable. No one can fault you for still being a little paranoid, despite thinly veiled threats to drag you out into the snow if you stay in the lab too long.” Morgan grinned and began rifling through her backpack for her extra bag of sour gummies. “Eureka! Here,” she said holding the bag out. “If you’re going to lose track of time, you should at least have more snacks on hand.”
Morgan’s eyebrow arched at his frown. “Different doesn’t have to mean horrible. Like with the snow, some people might hate it, and others might be indifferent.” It was her turn to shrug, but she kept her smile. “And some people might get fidgety. I just meant that everyone views stuff like this differently. For me, the snow is nostalgic. It reminds me of being a much tinier human back home.”
He watched her curiously as she dug through her bag and fished out a bag of sour treats. “You sure you wanna give them away? I mean not that I’ll complain much.” Clearly he had a bit of a soft spot for sour candy, he kept trying to get others to appreciate them too. The fact that Morgan still had some on her only endeared her to him just that much more. He was more than a little tempted to reach for them, but he’d give her a second incase she did decide to hoard them. He didn’t blame her at all if she changed her mind.
“It’s mostly indifferent I guess aside from needing to check things out anyway and double check. I don’t really understand the emotional ties to snow.” He shrugged, he felt a bit awkward trying to pretend like he had for the kids sake. Klara seemed disappointed when all he cared about was the lab and worried about it. “That makes sense. What did you do in the snow?”
Holding them out for him to take, she smiled wider. “I’ve still got more buried in this bag somewhere,” she assured him. Morgan was quite fond of the way sour gummies were becoming a new tradition. In the short time, she had gotten to know Cisco better, she was thankful for his friendship. ‘Friends’ had been a weird concept for her back home. Most of the people she would have put into that category were all extended family of some sort, and the ‘friends’ she would have made in school were only interested in the novelty of her being Tony Stark’s daughter.
Goodland afforded her the opportunity to form bonds with others that weren’t disingenuine. This was yet another reason she didn’t have the tiniest bit of desire to go home.
She gave him a nod of her head to let him know she understood not having any emotional ties to the snow. Morgan was more than happy to share hers though. “Ice skating,” she mused. “I’ve loved it since I was six or so. It’s the only sport that I’ve ever cared about, and I realize it’s probably due to the physics behind it. But, yeah, winter was always my favorite.”
Cisco didn’t want anything from her other than said friendship. She had nothing to worry about there. He hadn’t known Tony at all until he arrived there, but Tony had gotten to know him. They were already friends,he had no reason not to be genuine with her. At first he’d been a little wary of her, but he was wary of all new people. He kept most of them at a literal arms length due to being able to vibe things off them. He didn’t want to scare them away. He reached for them. “Well in that case.” He didn’t want to take anything away from her, especially if he’d given them to her in the first place. “I am actually pretty hungry. I didn’t realize how late it’d become. Have you had dinner?” He added a little sheepishly, Lydia would not be impressed with his lack of eating. He got that way sometimes. So distracted he’d forget food and other common human things.
“The only thing I ever did was dread going home. Winter usually meant having to go see my blood family.” Barry and Caitlin were his chosen family. They treated him with the respect and kindness and warmth his real family didn’t. “I’ve never tried that. I’d like to see you do it sometime.” He wasn’t very good with sports, he had literally no grace at all when it came to things like that.
“I haven’t,” she said in response to his dinner query. Morgan had actually been contemplating food. Sure, she had been snacking on and off all day while working on her suit, but she probably needed to partake in something more substantial than candy. Speaking of substance…
“So, after Goodland is back to normal, or as normal as this place gets rather, we can start on that food project you told me about. I’ve had a few ideas,” she began rifling through her bag once more. “But they need to be tested.” Handing the notebook she was searching for over to him, she smiled. “You can look over my notes, and we can discuss later.”
“Let me guess, things aren’t exactly sunshine and rainbows with your blood family.” It was more of a statement than a question, Morgan wouldn’t pry into his personal life, because she knew all too well what it was like to be on the receiving end of those prying questions. She offered him another smile and a nod of her head. “I’d love to show you sometime.”
“I guess I should probably eat more than gummies if you want to go grab a burger or something?” He didn’t care what it was. Burger, pizza, whatever happened was fine with him. As she dug through her bag again he tilted his head slightly, dark hair falling annoyingly into his eyes. He’d have to get it cut soon, or maintained at least. He mentally noted a need for a stylist for later on and reached out for the notebook with a nod.
“Well Barry’s usually pretty good for testing, it’s not like we can easily hurt him.” He said with a shrug if they needed a test subject. He took a quick glance inside before nodding that he could return the notes later and slipped them into one of his desk drawers for safe keeping. Nobody went in there but him. They’d be fine. “Barry’s not in a rush anyway, he’s put up with my cardboard flavors for a while...but I kinda felt bad. Food science isn’t my area of expertise, I just did what I needed to do to keep them sustained.”
When she mentioned his family he chewed at his lower lip briefly before shaking his head. “It’s complicated and messy. Latino families have big emotions..and a couple years ago my brother was killed. Ever since then it’s been awkward and strained. Going back isn’t exactly fun for me. I tend to hide in the labs until I have to.” Or unless Barry invited him and he had an excuse not to go.
“I am always up for a burger,” she told him with a bright smile. Morgan wasn’t too picky about food, but cheeseburgers were definitely in her top three favorites. This was a trait she was told came honest. Growing up her affinity for them had reminded her family of Tony. She was certain it brought them joy, but she never quite understood why until she came to Goodland. Seeing with her own eyes all of the things she had in common with her father was quite happy making. She got it now.
“I think the only harm we have to worry about is potentially making him queasy,” she said with a little laugh. “But it would be beneficial to have a guinea pig that isn’t one of us- you know...since we won’t be the ones actually eating the bars.” Morgan hadn’t always been interested in food science, it was something that just kind of fell into her lap. Her specialty was holograms, but ever since she had developed holograms that taste like their tangible food and beverage counterparts for Markus, she had developed a soft spot for food science as well.
Her smile vanished from her face, and she leaned against the counter with a sigh. “I’m sorry about your brother…”
“Cool.” He reached for his bag that contained his tablet off the chair, he always took it with him these days. It was his connection to the lab security. “We can share these on the way then.” He opened that bag of gummies toward her as he took a few himself. Junk food was a category Cisco had a deep affection for. He could appreciate a girl who enjoyed it too.
With a roll of his eyes he headed for the door. “Barry’s got a strong stomach. He can manage.” He had to if he put up with eating cardboard the last few years. “Not too worried about it, I’m sure it’ll be fine. He drank five hundred proof liquor I made for him, so he can stand some rocket fuel, he can stand a few experimental flavors.” He began wondering if he ought to make Barry a vial of that soon. Goodland could be rough, and he had to be missing Iris. Maybe a drink wasn’t a bad idea for them.
“It’s okay, I mean I’ve dealt with it. He got hit by a drunk driver around Christmas about three years ago. Just makes going home strained mostly..he was the golden boy, and it’s kinda my fault..in a distant way.” He frowned, mostly he blamed Barry but that was ages ago. Now he just blamed himself for getting involved.
Morgan reached to grab a few of the gummies and popped them into her mouth, before slinging her backpack over her shoulder. If anyone were to peer into her bag they would probably be shocked. It was a wonder she could locate anything in that mess. You would think the queen of to-do lists and carefully organized plans wouldn’t have such a disorganized bag (and room), but if asked? There was a method to her chaos. She knew where everything was, no one else had to.
“So nothing to worry about on the making Barry sick front, good to know.”
She frowned a little, especially when he talked about it being his fault. Morgan knew all about guilt. “I can’t imagine…” It seemed like a lot of citizens in their newfound home had lost people. Some were more open about it than others, but she hated that any of them ever had to experience it.
He enjoyed this new little routine of gummies and Morgan. Routine was good for Cisco. It calmed him down when things went sideways. Even this little interaction was doing him wonders “It’s fine...I mean it’s not, but I’ve had time to deal with it. Counseling and the like.” He’d sunk into a deep depression after losing Dante, but he’d gotten the help he needed. It still stung going home sometimes but it had been getting a little better before he ended up in Goodland.
“Enough of that though, burger?” He tried to change the subject.
“They say time is suppose to cure all wounds,” Morgan began, pushing herself off of the counter. “Personally, I think that is bullshit, but that is neither here or there. The important thing is finding our own ways to deal with it, and I’m glad that you were able to.” Raising her eyebrows with a smile, she made her way toward the door.
“Now, as you so eloquently put it? Enough of that. Food time.”
“Always hated that saying.” He gave a half smile before shifting his backpack on both shoulders and heading for the door as well, opening it for her. “Food time.” He repeated with a smirk, food was a good cure for any crappy mood.