David Singh looked at his watch, how the hell had it got so late. It was just past midnight and he had to be on a train at four. He'd assumed this would happen, it always did. So he made sure to put his bag in his car when he left his house that morning. David stood from his desk to go find whatever the night shift considered coffee.
The city had been dealing with a spree of muggings and they all seemed related, but there were very few leads linking them. This led to David having to review more and more paperwork and witness statements. He'd been waiting all day for the lab reports and he might have wanted to throttle Allen when the tech dropped off the reports at two minutes to seven. A week's worth of reports that David couldn't put off.
He might have been a little harsh in dressing down the newest member of the lab. But it had been almost six months and Allen still operated on his own completely random time frames. David was more familiar with the workings of the CSI lab, than he thought his CSI knew. He felt a strange pang of guilt at the ashen face of Barry Allen as the young man tried to apologize and promised to do better. Those big eyes were maybe the problem. In the moment, Allen always looked sincere and apologetic and then the very next day, it would happen again.
David's biggest frustration was that the kid's case work was impeccable, his reports clear and concise, and everything needed to build a case. But David never had them when he needed them.
He had sighed after halting Allen's babbling, he softened his tone, “Allen, if something is going on that's preventing you from completing your work I need you to talk to me.”
Barry looked up so suddenly and then back down to the floor, a clear look of panic on his face, that made every instinct David have light up. Instead of saying anything, Barry just nodded. David sent him on his way, Barry's shift had been over for ten minutes at this point.
David leaned back in his chair, puzzled over that reaction before he read through the files. Allen was weird, well to be fair he was interested in weird things, that wasn't a crime and it didn't usually affect his work, so David didn't care. Just like he didn't care about Vukuvich's obsession with professional darts and Doyle's knitting. Everyone needed an outlet. David's own hobbies always got shoved to the side and his most recent boyfriend may have cited David being a workaholic as a major reason in their split.
Rolling his neck and shoulders, David stood up and went to find that coffee. As he poured his mug, he thought back to the look of panic in Allen's face. Yeah the kid seemed nervous around him, a lot of the time, but never scared. David knew it wasn't something personal about him, which made him wonder what Allen was doing when he should have been working.
David went up to the lab and nothing was out of place. And it was kept to the standard that he preferred. But something was still nagging at him as he turned to head back down to his office he noticed a flutter in the map Allen had in the middle of the room. He lifted up the screen and was not as surprised as he thought he'd be.
Allen was investigating his mother's murder. And there were some tabloid type weird cases. He took a seat at the small table close to the board and studied it.
He hadn't worked the Allen murder, he'd been very new to the force. But he remembered a lot of the details and how strange the whole thing seemed to him, given the lack of evidence in general.
This explained some of Allen's behavior. He was clearly concerned about David finding out. David was going to have to address this. He didn't care, unless Allen wasn't getting his work done. As a CSI Allen had access to the case history and evidence so he wasn't doing anything he didn't have authority for.
David finished his coffee and went back to his office after putting the room right. After getting back to his desk, he pulled up the Nora Allen case file. He also pulled up any new evidence that was being tested against it. He set an alarm on his phone to make sure he'd have time to get to the train station.
Barry wasn't going to deny that he was pretty glad that Captain Singh wasn't going to be at work. The captain had left for a long weekend and after the lecture in David's office Barry was glad to have a few days. One of these days he'd get his act together and not completely humiliate himself in front of his captain.
That ship sailed a long time ago, but maybe he could not make it worse. So he spent the next two days before his own days off catching up on everything he could.
By the time David got back to Central City, he'd read and reread the case file. He also looked into several of the other cases that Allen had highlighted. And one weird case that led him to the hit and run that had killed Tess Morgan. But he didn't know what Allen felt was linking them. If anything was. And the Tess Morgan case wasn't one that was in Allen's list.
On the way to Coast City, he managed to sleep, but had spent some of the evening on the phone reading Allen's blog. His sister Melody had to threaten to take it from him. And his other sister Lara actually did. The teasing he got was enough to make him threaten to leave.
They both knew he wouldn't do that. That weekend was his twin nephews’ 3rd birthday and he didn't see them enough. He did however complain to his mom to make them leave him alone. Which, honestly, only led to more teasing. David was glad to be back in Central City, but he wished his family was closer. Sometimes.
His Monday was busy, a little worse than normal, but manageable. It took him until lunch to catch up with the last four days. He was most surprised, pleasantly so, to see Allen had his daily reports from last Thursday and Friday in. Maybe this time, Allen was serious.
David knew he had to address this with Barry. He didn't have a problem with Allen dedicating his spare time looking into his mom's case, but it couldn't come at the cost of his job. He resolved to speak with Allen at the end of his shift.
Barry, when he first got in, wanted to point out to the captain that not only was he in time, but his work was in. But he didn't think that was a good idea. So he tried to play it cool. The captain didn't leave his office for most of the morning, but seemed to be everywhere in the afternoon. Captain Singh was the very hands on sort of captain.
He was finishing up that morning's cases when he heard someone enter his lab. Barry looked up from his microscope and tried to smile. The captain looked kind of relaxed, but serious. It was a good look on him. Most things were, but you didn't hear that from Barry.
“Do you have a moment, Allen,” Singh asked.
Barry nodded, then remembering he should probably say so, added, “Yeah, just let me document this.”
Singh nodded and sat down. Barry barely took notice of the file in his hands. He jotted down his notes and carefully took the slide out and put it safely away. He really didn't want to screw up the evidence, because his boss was making him nervous.
Barry bypassed his desk and went to sit across from the table from him and that's when he processed that David had a case folder.
“Do you have a case for me?”
David didn't say anything and he slid the file to Barry. Barry frowned and took it. He opened it and his mouth went dry. “Sir, I can explain.”
David sighed, and smiled, “you don't have to explain anything, Barry.”
“Captain?”
“I'm not going to ask you to stop looking into it, Barry, it's clearly important to you. The only thing I am going to ask is that it doesn't get in the way of your actual work.”
Barry felt his face heat up, “Okay.”
“I'm not going to make you promise, because that feels like setting you up,” David smirked and Barry couldn't help laughing.
“I appreciate that,” Barry said as he looked through the file, noting some pages of handwritten notes. David looked at him with an almost bashful look. It was so strange to see the captain being anything but confident. Barry's heart sped at the thought of a flustered David Singh. Barry's crush on his boss had always been a background thing. The man was very handsome, but so far out of reach for so many reasons that Barry just idly entertained any fantasies. But this moment felt tangible in ways he didn't understand.
“I took the liberty to leave some notes in directions that you might want to look into, if your dad didn't do it, we need a tangible suspect.”
“You didn't have to,” Barry started.
“It's a long train ride from Coast City.” David was looking away and Barry couldn't help the feelings overwhelming him.
“Thank you.”
“It's nothing,” David said gruffly. He met Barry's eyes and the moment seemed to freeze for a moment. Then David cleared his throat and looked away. “If you have questions or anything, come to me. I don't know if you want to mention this to Joe just yet.”
“I will.”
David stood up, “back to work, Allen, I'll see you tomorrow.”
“Night, captain,” Barry said with a smile.
David tried not to think about how unguarded Barry's smile was and the rush of affection he got when he saw it. At least he didn't think about it until he was back at home. He shook his head and called himself a bit of a fool for even entertaining such a thought. Not only was that age gap a problem, he was Barry's boss, and everyone with eyes knew that Barry had a thing for Iris West.
He didn't know what Barry realistically hoped to find regarding his mother's murder, but when David studied the case notes, if one discounted the major evidence, the murder weapon, Henry Allen's fingerprints. There were directions that didn't get much more than a cursory investigation. It made sense, the evidence all seemed to point in the same direction. David pointed out some avenues that Allen hadn't had on his board. Things that might have been overlooked at the time.
At this point David just hoped Barry would get some sort of closure.
Barry spent the next few days going over the captain's notes. He couldn't help the warm feeling he got when he thought about the soft look David had given him. When he first saw the file folder he'd been worried that David would give him the same ‘you're crazy’ look he got from everyone else. But his boss didn't, he even seemed to understand.
Barry kept his word and only investigated in between cases or after work. He still ran after the impossible and naturally was late to work on occasion because of it. The captain would give him a stern look and make a sarcastic comment, but he never stopped Barry.
David's insight to the investigation was invaluable. It helped Barry organize his thoughts, but sometimes he had questions about what he was looking at or what questions to pursue.
About three weeks later, Barry was taking his reports to Singh. He knocked softly and waited a few minutes to hear the captain's response. He took the offered seat and handed David the reports directly. The captain flipped through them and asked a few questions. After Barry answered them, he lingered for a moment.
“Was there anything else, Allen?”
“Um, yeah,” Barry said, trying not to feel self-conscious, “I had some questions about my mom's case.”
David nodded, he looked at his watch, it was almost time for both their shifts to end, “let's grab some dinner after your shift is over.”
“Alright,” Barry said with a soft smile. “Thank you.”
After work, they drove to a big belly burger down by the waterfront, the restaurant was crowded so they got it to go. They walked to the park and found a table away from a lot of people.
Barry couldn't help his mind from wondering about what a date with Singh was like. But he didn't let himself be too distracted. He might have stammered a bit when the sunset started catching David in the golden glow.
They went over Barry's questions and the details of the case again. Finally Barry asked the question he'd been wondering for years, “how do I know what leads are important.”
David smiled at him, and took his time answering, “unfortunately it's not a science, a lot of it has to do with what you can't stop thinking about, or what people aren't saying about a line of questioning.”
Barry nodded, and David continued, “a lot of it comes with time, but in your mom's case, it seemed straight forward, what bothers me is the questions they didn't ask.”
“What do you mean,” Barry asked.
“All their questions are about your dad, and the evidence leads them that direction, but both you and your dad mention the lightning, or whatever that was,” David paused to take a another drink, "the two of you weren't alone before the cops showed up, you were halfway down the street, and so you couldn't have had time to be coached.”
Barry nodded, “are you saying they should have asked more about that?”
“I probably would have, it would have bothered me, did any of your neighbors experience anything strange or see anything strange. Now they might not have wanted to admit anything ‘crazy’. But sometimes you can tell when a person isn't saying anything.”
Later outside Barry's apartment, David shrugged and looked at the building, “this place should be condemned, why do you live here?”
“I can afford it and it's close to the precinct.”
“And yet you're still late.
“Some things can't be explained.”
Over the next few weeks, David noticed he was spending more time with and thinking about Barry Allen. That dinner seemed to open a floodgate. He realized what he liked to pretend was a little crush, was much deeper. And as he became more familiar with all Allen's quirks, it seemed that maybe his CSI felt something similar.
Barry became more confident when they were alone together, but sometimes he still stuttered, or stumbled, or turned bright red for no apparent reason. It made David wonder if this was something he could risk.
He looked at his clock, after work he and Allen were going to review some of what Allen had been doing in his spare time and see if any of the new advances in forensic science would be worth any new testing.
As the clock ticked to seven, David shook his head of his personal feelings and went to go find Allen. They quickly headed out, oblivious to the quiet murmur of gossip that was in their wake to the waterfront, a place he was quickly thinking of as their place.
After working though the case their conversations were becoming increasingly personal. They were sitting next to each other tonight, shoulders barely brushing as they looked out at the quiet water.
“Captain,” Barry said, pulling David from his thoughts, the CSI sounded hesitant and it gave David a soft flutter in his stomach. He turned to Barry and his breath caught at the bashful look.
“David,” he said quietly, not wanting to spoil the softness of the moment, “I think I would prefer it if you call me David.”
“David,” Barry said, equally soft and he shifted closer to David. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For helping me with this, for not thinking I'm weird.”
David grinned, “You're welcome, Barry, although you are a little weird, just not about this.”
Barry laughed and shook his head, “I'm wounded.”
“Oh no, I'd say I'm sorry, but I like you weird.”
Barry bit his lip, and took a deep breath, “David?”
David felt caught, like all his feelings were written plainly on his face, but Barry's face wasn't hiding anything either.
“Yes,” his tone got lower and he didn't know which one of them actually moved. But they were kissing.
David's head swam and he moved one of his hands to rest in Barry's neck, thumb over the younger man's pulse and the other cradled his jaw. One of Barry's own hands gripped tightly to David's button down and his other came to rest on David's shoulder.
When they pulled apart, breathless, they just looked at each other for a few moments until David couldn't help smiling.
“I was afraid I was reading it wrong,” Barry said, looking away briefly and then back at David.
“You definitely got it right,” David said before kissing Barry again.
