Work Text:
——
A long time ago
Earth-2
Back then, STAR Labs was but a fledgling, barely established, and its first mainstream project was still a far-off daydream, just barely caught and trapped onto the rapidly-filling pages Harrison’s ‘frantic future ideas’ diary.
Harrison had gotten possessed by plans for another new project, abandoning all the ongoing ones to mumble about synchrotrons and linear accelerators, pacing in front of a whiteboard full of equations. He’d been slaving at one particular thing for hours, his then-best friend Tina McGee leaning on the wall and staring contemplatively at the board, back when they used to help each other with their projects instead of hiring extra security to prevent each other from theoretical stealing.
Tina had been arguing with Harrison about the semantics for nearly two hours, and finally snapped.
“Forget about all of this, Harrison!” She pleaded desperately, once even the mention of Tess waiting at home didn’t deter him. “Focus on today , damn it, not the impossible things of tomorrow!”
“That’s the point!” Harrison yelled, whirling around and abruptly interrupting his earlier stillness, lowering his voice to a normal volume and softening in apology when Tina flinched. “We are so, so close to a supernova of advancements, Tina, don’t you see? This, what you and I and even that damned Rathaway are building? This is the star that will implode into the future. We’re bringing tomorrow’s world, today.”
Tina shook her head, not gracing Harrison’s words with an answer. They’d argued and argued and argued about it for months, circling each other in a tight orbit.
“There isn’t anything I can say that you haven’t already heard. I just hope you’re right. If you are the Sun, the impossibly bright star in the sky, Harrison, I am Mercury. And when you explode — you’ll burn the rest of the universe with you.”
Quietly, she pressed her marker into his limp fingers, collected her coat, and left.
Harrison stood alone in the middle of the room, hands for once still by his side in stunned silence.
——