[ potato, tomato. they both have roots somewhere. ]

[ barry watches wells curiously, wondering if this is how he approached every world he hopped into: cagey, hat in place, shadows trying to obscure his face. it's the smart way to do things, he supposes. where he and cisco had simply stumbled into earth-two and he'd leapt right into bartholomew allen's life with no hesitation, he supposes wells' method of remaining in the shadows once he's fallen down the rabbit hole is smart. ]

[ detached and cold, but smart in the way it softens the ripple effect his presence would cause. ]

[ he takes his time in replying, brushing his finger against some of the frosting tipping over the side of his cupcake. the best thing about wonderland is the food, free and in abundance for someone who had to eat his size three times over in an hour. it keeps him preoccupied from thinking about what he'd been about to do back home and why. ]

[ the worst thing, though, is the distrust he knew he felt deep down, the uncertainty and unwillingness to believe in the good of this place. that voice often sounded as smoky and gruff as wells'. ]

A few days, give or take. I arrived with Iris and Caitlin. They're okay.

[ as tempted as he is to take a bite out of his cupcake and rethink what he wants to ask, barry doesn't. wells deserves better from him than for him to stall on responding with the truth. considering he's already had a run in with thawne — dark hair, bright blue eyes, gruff voice that's so weighted and words specifically chosen for a purpose — he doesn't want to isolate him when he needs him. ]

[ though he knows caitlin's a little behind him and iris, he doesn't think wells is. it's a thought he should have, but doesn't. ]

Have you seen the network?

[ he shrugs his shoulders. ] Just curious. Doesn't seem like you to not be paranoid enough to read through it. [ it's meant to be a joke, even though barry knows he had designed it to practically fall flat. ]

[ so, he forgets about joking. he forgets about not taking this seriously. when he'd been on earth-two, it'd been so fun and exciting, thrilling in a way he hadn't experienced before. seeing wells' home world had been intoxicating in how different and unexplored it was, just like wonderland is to him now. but, predictably, it has its problems, just as wonderland has many, many hitches and rabbit holes in the path for them to trip over. ]

[ he waves a hand, dismissing what he's about to say. ] There's this pamphlet floating around that you can read to catch up on Wonderland.

[ surprisingly, barry still hasn't read it. only portions of it, skimming the rest, letting his eyes glaze over as he much prefers to ask the people around him for a more biased and perhaps emotionally charged recollection of the rules of wonderland. ]

And there's time discrepancies. Some people … [ with a hand sliding into the pocket of his jeans and his other gripping his half-eaten cupcake, barry shifts his shoulders, not sure how to really inform wells of everything in a quick and concise manner that will, regardless of his intentions, bring about a range of questions. so, barry treats him like he would his wells: up-to-date and in the know. ] Caitlin last remembers being held captive by Zoom, and Iris and I remember defeating him. But Wonderland thought to bring in Thawne.

[ his eyes narrow as his expression pinches, almost in sympathy, but mostly in discomfort. ] He has your body and your identity.

[ it's difficult to discern where in time harrison wells hails from. it's easy to tell the difference between thawne and wells: thawne is much more restrained, confined in his mannerisms and politeness and weighed words, while wells is bursts of rough and uncontrollable energy, gruff words, emotional outbursts, and a quiet negativity that tries to burn each little flicker of hope he feels. ]

[ looking at wells now, barry supposes he should've seen it. the harrison who'd taken his daughter's hand and had allowed jay garrick to take him back home had been brighter in aura. with less shadows covering his face, his stance taller, his posture more confident — barry should've known. ]

[ but, to be fair, wells is insanely paranoid and very, very cautious, even when he's in a good mood. (if he's ever in one.) ]

[ closing all of the breaches means wells takes his speed, which leads them down a very dark and windy road that had been both a blessing and a curse. barry feels a flicker of anger at that memory, but he doesn't let it take hold of him. wells had been desperate, and he, of all people, understands that desperation. it clings and it eats away and it literally crawls inside of you until it can properly harness you. if he's expecting barry to be angry, if he believes he's from a little ahead in their little timeline, then he'll be disappointed. ]

I guess … you're behind.

[ it's the easiest and simplest conclusion to make. barry can't hide his disappointment, sighing as his shoulders hunch. looking at harrison wells, he licks his lower lip before shaking his head, and glances at the phone in his hands. ]

You know, it's not going to help you figure this out. [ he shakes his head. ] Not like I can.

[ barry sighs. rather than push, he relents — for now. what he wants to tell wells will drive him forward, if anything. he suspects the mere slip of zoom's defeat may be enough to inspire a dying ember of hope inside of him. ]

[ as important as he believes that to be, to let wells know they win in the end, there's a more pressing matter to tend to. ]

It's Thawne.

[ he picks his arms up then let's them drop against his sides soundly. it should be evident enough barry hardly knows where to start. ]

The real Thawne. He's pretending to be you — the Harrison Wells of my Earth who was paralysed by the particle accelerator explosion. [ lifting a hand to the back of his neck, he lets his fingers brush at the nape of it before he lets his arm eventually swing back down. his entire body language, the way he doesn't eat at his cupcake but lets his fingers pick at the wrapping, his feet not quite staying planted firmly against the ground — all of it shows how barry hardly understands it himself. but he's uncomfortable by his presence, if anything. ] We're not dealing with a time remnant. It's like Wonderland pulled him from a year ago.

He threatened to hurt people. I had to.

[ like a moth to the flame, barry can't not rise to thawne's bait. he can't not let him get the better of him — barry's hungry to learn more about his future, about thawne and himself. he can't gain it from anyone else but the man in question. ]

[ hunter had it right, anyway. where zoom would allow a building to fall, barry can't help but play hero and save everyone inside. the same can be said for now — he can't not react to thawne dangling a carrot in front of him. ]

[ out of everyone, barry expects wells would understand. if he allowed himself. that desperation to outmanoeuvre and defeat zoom was what they had in common; their desire to save those they cared about most would always link them together, and it's why barry could forgive him for taking a slip of his speed. ]

[ lowering his gaze to the floor, barry paces. perhaps a little bolt of yellow lights up beneath his converse. ] I'm just — playing it by ear. [ it's the weakest of plans, but it's the only one he has. wells is one of the only people he can confess this to. ] Not letting him know what happens in the future if I can. Keeping Iris and Caitlin away from him. [ or him away from them, really. isn't it all the same thing? he stops pacing, and he supposes this is the crux of his plan, the centre of all of it from which his poorer plans branch off from. ] I want him to believe he needs us to get home. All of us.

[ doing whatever he wants, essentially. barry's beginning to dig himself a hole, and he doesn't know how deep it's actually going to become. ]

[ without his friends, barry's irrational. he may not understand much of who eobard thawne really is, but he understands he's alone. he has no one to watch his back, and that's where one of his weaknesses lie. ]

We tell him ... [ barry doesn't know. ]

[ this hadn't been a problem before, and he almost wishes the olsen twins excuse would be good enough. but nothing is as easy as barry has ever wanted it to be. case in point: this conversation. picking up on iris' habit of stress eating, he eats the rest of that cupcake. ]

We tell him trying to send him back home opened up a gateway to other worlds and times. That's how you're here. You got lost along the way.

[ he shrugs his shoulders and instantly lifts his hand to his temple. his head is beginning to pound. it's such a stupid plan and reasoning, but barry doesn't know if informing thawne of zoom is smart. informing thawne on anything isn't smart. ]

[ briefly, he wonders if thawne even knows about it. if he had been his biggest fan — ]

I know, I know. [ his hand remains on his forehead as he groans. ] It's stupid.

[ barry nods. bouncing off of wells is often like talking to a brick wall that grunts and groans back. he could talk to caitlin about this, but he doubts she's truly up for a good back and forth when he's tiptoeing around her and refusing to say three names, one that he finds painful to even parrot back. and iris can barely follow whenever they talk about science. ]

It is. I want him gone.

[ there's acid in his tone. barry had been intent to go back to that night in 2000 and kill thawne. no hesitation, no overthinking — end thawne's reign of destruction and put a hitch in zoom's plans on taking over the world and murdering his dad. ]

[ it's a horrible plan. it's why barry doesn't say it aloud nor commit to to paper. ]

[ where he hadn't been sure of his own plans, there's no waver in his voice now. he doesn't hesitate, doesn't slap his hand to his forehead or shrug his shoulders or stumble. he doesn't even need to think much on what he says next, a confirmation for wells to know that he feels nothing but a blinding hatred for the man who took his mother from him. ]

He knows I hate him more than I've ever hated anybody. He'll believe it.

[ it's a confidence barry often feigns he has, wanting to build his team up and see them reach their potential. sometimes he thinks he can trick himself into believing their stupid plans will work, and oftentimes, it helps. but he doesn't pretend now. if he understands one thing about thawne, any thawne who comes back in time, is that he hates the flash so much he'd destroy his own life just to end him. ]

[ in hindsight, it's ironic. isn't barry intent to follow in those exact same footsteps? ]

He has to.

I wasn't going to.

[ despite how emotionally charged and hot-headed barry can be, feeling first and thinking later, his plan had always been to keep the details of the chapter containing the second evil speedster held tightly to his chest. no mentions of zoom, of jay garrick, of jesse wells and wally west being the key to zoom gaining all of barry's speed. he doesn't want to utter a word of the speed force believing in him as though it was a tangible being. ]

[ the less thawne knew about this wells, the better. it'd make impersonating harry, if it came down to that, all the more difficult. ]

I don't even think he knows about Zoom. For someone who supposedly knows The Flash … [ barry shakes his head. half of what thawne has done and said has made little sense to him, but he's since discovered there's pockets of unexplained and undiscovered secrets and moments in his future timeline. sometimes he wants to dive straight ahead and know things: from iris and him to 2024, but barry knows he has to be patient. ]

[ it doesn't quite matter to him, though. barry had meant what he said, even though his mission to save jesse has been fulfilled. she's someone on their list to keep safe, and he's intent to do that, regardless of whether or not he knows the outcome. wells is a part of his team, and he looks out for his members. so, he looks at wells, and says, rather confidently, ] I'm not going to tell him about Jesse. That's the last thing he'll ever find out from me.

[ harry's a stickler for timeline rules. sometimes barry hates him for it, and sometimes he's envious. he wishes he had that type of discipline, letting his curiousity disperse in his hands instead of blossom and grow into this incredibly powerful thing. ]

[ sometimes, though, he thinks that's harrison's biggest downfall. being a stickler to the rules, letting his paranoia run free — barry can see he wants to say something, that there's a slight twitch to his expression and even the way he carries himself, but he doesn't ask. if wells wants something, he'll ask; all barry can do is try and make him feel safe enough to avoid causing a great ripple in time. ]

Fourth.

[ with his hands in front of him, barry circles one wrist with his long fingers. all long limbs and energy he can't quite contain, this is possibly the longest he's stood still without shifting on his feet or fiddling with his hands. but he begins to fidget now; without the loathing inside of him to focus on, barry's a ball of nervous energy and grief that simply wants itself to be known. ]

Iris, Caitlin, and I are all on the fourth floor. We're all kind of next to each other. [ with a lift of his shoulder, his lips quirk upward. and his voice is a hell of a lot lighter than it'd been moments ago when discussing thawne. ] You missed a great dark matter explosion the other day. My room's still cleaning itself up.

I didn't!

[ it's ironic harrison wells is saying this. harrison wells, the man responsible on any earth for creating the flash and the metas. it's also ironic given harrison had been the one to push him hard on consenting to being ripped apart by his allegedly self-contained particle accelerator explosion. ]

[ barry wants to laugh, and sort of does. but instead of revealing that to harrison, he leaves it be. he'd press his hands to his ears and even call him a liar and an idiot for believing he'd do something as irresponsible as that. ]

There's other scientists from different worlds here. They did something that released this energy called the aether onto a few of the floors. It turned most of the things it came into contact with into dark matter.

[ and barry had been afraid of it. from how it would affect him and possibly intertwine with the speed force to how it may affect iris and caitlin and all the other poor suckers on the fourth floor. without harrison here to possibly soothe his own worries, compounding what he'd assume of the aether with what he knew of the speed force, barry had relied on iris to help him out. and that hadn't been so bad at all. ]

Probably a good idea.

[ "probably", he says, when he means "it's the only good idea we've had so far." even though barry thinks him chasing after some mystical mad hatter no one has confirmed even exists in this world is a good idea, he's been scoping the place out and been hitting too many dead walls. ]

We're all rooming on the fourth floor. [ after a moment, as though harrison needs this reminder: ] Iris, Caitlin, and I.

[ he lets that sit for a moment, before the weight of thawne's location presses down upon him heavily. as much as he wants to ignore he's around, as much as he wants to pretend he could be anywhere else — harrison needs to be prepared. ]

[ barry looks pained, more teenager-annoyed than anything else, with his eyes closing and his teeth gritting before his expression smooths out. ]

And Thawne.

[ barry squirms. ]

[ lifting his hand up to scratch the back of his neck, it's almost like he wants to rip the discomfort out of himself. it's the one thing he's wanted to ignore since he's had to acknowledge their stay in wonderland will be a lot longer than any of them intended. he can run as fast as he can, but he can break nothing. there's a wall he hits out on the water, and he ends up skimming and skating and almost drowning in the pool beneath the mansion within a blink of an eye. ]

[ there's a wall he's hit with eobard thawne. he can't kill him and end this once and for all. if not for wonderland's own death policy, it's his, the one that dictates the flash isn't a killer, that stops him. ]

Next to me.