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Barry looked out at the sunset, pinks and golds glowing like molten liquids in the sky, and inhaled with a smile.
Life had slowed down, and he could enjoy things like this again now.
Ok, so they were still fighting aliens and sentient liquids and the odd disgruntled scientist on the weekly, and Barry’s 9-to-5 definitely kept him up way past 5 on most weeknights, and he was still a full-time uncle and founding League member so there was a bureaucracy that came with those things… but, you know, overall. Everything was calmer than they once were. The League had grown exponentially in the past few years, meaning he could afford to not go out on every other call. He’d been promoted at work too, so now it was his own decision whether to clock in overtime or not. Even Wally was growing, growing taller and more capable and less and less in need of his old Uncle hanging around.
“Reminds you of the old times, huh?”
Barry startled, almost falling off his cloud. Oh yeah, that was the other new thing. He looked down at the blue ring pulsing on his finger and spared it a quick smile, extending his construct-cloud just a bit. Hal dropped down next to him, his own green glow disappearing from around him a good few seconds before he touched down. It made Barry’s breath catch, just how much Hal trusted Barry to not let him fall.
“Yeah,” Barry replied, swallowing down the warm feeling in his chest. He settled back, arm pressing lightly against Hal’s. He knew they were both thinking of the nights-turned-mornings they would spend on the tops of buildings, empty take-out bags between them and cowls half-raised, back before their worlds got so much bigger.
“Finally,” Hal murmured.
They watched the sun set and the stars rise, and the world changed peacefully around them.
~~~~
Barry groaned. He flailed around a bit, trying to get an arm untangled from his sheets enough to turn off his alarm. He managed it after a few aimless smacks of his hand against his bedside table, though he almost knocked the picture frame next to the alarm clock to the floor in the process. Barry flexed his wrist with a grunt—using his superspeed this early in the morning to catch it wasn’t good for his unstretched joints.
Barry closed his eyes again and let the gray morning sunlight wash over his eyelids for a few moments.
A little while later he reached out again to pick up his cellphone, and felt his heart slowly drop further and further in his chest as he read through his notifications.
He unlocked his phone and reread the messages again. “No fucking way…” he muttered to himself.
Well, this week was going to be hell.
~~~~
He avoided Susan as long as he could that morning, puttering around running tests and trying not to stay in any one room for too long. It was the break room that got him in the end—he should have known that the sweet allure of hot tea was a trap doomed from the start.
“Barry!” Susan grinned from the doorway, her teeth flashing in a way that was way more shark-like than the usual coworker-greeting-a-friend smile should be.
Barry tried not to wince and forced a small smile back. “Hiya, Su.”
“So,” she said, making a beeline for the coffee pot, “have a good day so far? I feel like I haven’t seen you in so long!”
Barry focused on his tea, bobbing the teabag string up and down. “Well, you know. The long holiday weekend and all that.”
She hummed, way too happily. He was not going to be the one to bring it up first, absolutely not. The only question now was how long she was going to drag the torturous small talk out. Susan measured out some grounds in the filter, pouring way too much in as always. “You’ll never guess; we’re having the house repainted, the workers even started yesterday! The day after Christmas, can you believe that?”
Barry kept at the string. He was really just moving water around at this point. “That’s nice.”
“It sure is!” Susan slammed the lid on the machine down with a loud clack of plastic, making Barry jolt. “Mitch fought tooth-and-nail against it for so many years, but now that half the neighborhood has white brick he’s finally cottoning on. I’ve been begging to paint that ugly brick for fifteen years—I was ahead of the trends!”
Barry doesn’t think there’s ever been a tea more steeped.
“We just have the front of the house left, it’ll look so wonderful, and done just in time for the party on Sunday!” Oh, and there the shoe finally dropped. Barry blew out a long breath, bracing for the conversation he had been working so so hard not to think about.
“We can’t wait to see you there, you and that wonderful mysterious husband of yours.”
Goddammit.
“Su, I really don’t think we can make it,” Barry rushed to get out. “He’s got family, you know, and New Year’s is—”
“Ah! Ah ah!” Susan cut him off with a pointed finger in his face, cherry red manicure filling his vision. “Don’t you even think about it, mister. Five years. To the day! I sent you the screenshot, it’s been in my calendar for five years.”
“Oh, Su, come on, that was a complete joke!”
“Now you listen here, Barry Allen, we have been working together for ages. I respect we’re work friends and that you’re a very private man, but this is ridiculous.”
It hasn’t been a whole five years,” Barry said under his breath. “Like… all together."
“Oh sure, yes, your large bouts of absences through the years that remain unexplainable just by PTO, be lucky I’m not pushing on that.”
Barry clamped his jaw shut and did feel just a bit lucky, especially with the way that Susan’s eyes were narrowed almost into slits glaring at him. He doesn’t think he’s ever seen her look so determined before, which is saying a hell of a lot. Susan had been a fixture at the CCPD since almost his start, when she was still floating around teams and departments and they only said hello in passing. She’d been promoted to a more permanent position in the forensics department a few years in, and she and Barry had gotten along fast. She was a good few years older than him, and Barry had to admit that her motherly nature was something he relished in from time to time. It was… nice, he guessed, to have that sort of relationship in his life. And because of all of this he hated to disappoint her. Which was really why he was in this mess in the first place.
Su frowned at him, apparently picking her battles and moving back to the original point of contention. “You promised me a party, Allen. And you promised me your husband. I will start pulling favors if you try and get out of this one. You know what people I know.”
Barry picked up his mug from the counter and cradled it in his hands, letting the heat seep into his palms. Barry looked at Susan with a sign. “Yes, Su.” There really wasn’t much else to say.
~~~~
Desirée yanked him by the elbow as they and the rest of the forensics team were leaving the latest crime scene, pulling him in to walk alongside her. “So,” she elongated the word, eyes glittering from behind her glasses. She’d gone with the blue half-moon ones today, Barry’d always liked those.
Barry sighed. “Just get it out of your system, Desirée.”
So she punched his arm, hard. “No way!” She practically squealed, letting her words out so quickly that Barry imagined they must have been bubbling against her teeth. “I can’t believe we finally got ya! And the hubby?” She made a noise that could almost be classified as cooing. Barry dug his nails into his palms to quell the urge to sprint. “You know… all these years? Until now I honestly half thought you’d been lying about him the whole time, I could never tell.”
Barry tried to school his expression into something appropriate, as opposed to the prickling panic he was currently struck with. His mouth moved around words that he couldn’t find.
Luckily it didn’t seem like Des was even waiting for a response, nor did she notice his pitiful fish-out-of-water impression. “You just you never talk about him, but, then I think, whenever Susan does manage to prod you enough to get you to talk about your love life your eyes get all soft and your voice gets all mushy.”
“What? It absolutely does not. I really have no idea what you’re talking about right now.”
Des snorted and kept rambling, but Barry lost focus. There was something starting to tickle in the back of his mind, drawing his attention away gently yet urgently. It took him a good few seconds to realize what it was; he was still new at this, after all.
He looked down. His right middle finger felt warm, just barely.
Barry sighed loudly. “Thanks for this talk, Des.” He slapped the back of his hand against her arm and gave her a wry grin, hoping his reaction would fit into the conversation he’d missed without raising one too many eyebrows. “I think I’m going to take my lunch early. Will you bring this stuff back to the truck for me?
“Aw! I didn’t mean to scare you off!” She pouted, but still took the metal cases he was carrying from his hands.
He smiled apologetically at her and turned to cross the street. “Thanks a million, Des. I’ll see you later!”
“Don’t you dare back out on Sunday!” She called after him.
Barry put a little pep in his step as he got past the police barrier and waved a hand back at her. “I’ll see you later!”
~~~~
Barry let his ring tug him in the right direction, trusting it to lead him to where Hal needed him. It was iridescent and glowing almost powder blue under the afternoon sun, the Blue Lantern symbol bold on its face again. It didn’t take him long to reach his destination, which seemed to be a medium-sized town a few states over from him in the direction of Coast City.
He came to a raring halt just outside of the city limits as he got close enough to make out the dozens of what looked like small, silvery pancakes zipping through the air, all headed vaguely in the direction of the very person he was looking for. “Huh.”
“Flash! You’re late!” Hal called, grin spreading across his face as he caught sight of Barry. “Didn’t know if you’d be able to make it.”
“Wouldn’t dream of missing it, pal. Needed the stretch.” Hal’s grin grew wider and Barry flashed one back, enjoying the familiar rush of adrenaline and the sight of Hal’s bright green glow in the sky.
Unfortunately, their little bubble of cheerfulness was rudely interrupted just a few seconds later. One of the silver pancakes caught up to them, catching Hal in the chest and flinging him backward. Barry didn’t pause to think as he burst into a sprint, creating a glowing blue trampoline a few yards ahead and using it to leap into the air and catch Hal against his chest. Hal’s momentum was enough to fling them both back a few meters through the sky, and Barry lived a second in freefall before he remembered the handy power of flight that came with his ring. (It would all become second nature soon, he hoped. He prayed.)
“Goddamn little bastard,” Hal choked out as they straightened up, letting Barry take the brunt of his weight for the moment.
“Drones?” Barry murmured, already tracking the movement patterns of the plate-sized machines as they whirred through the air, the rest slowly getting closer to them. It seemed like the one that hit Hal had gotten ahead of its friends on its own, luckily, and Barry didn’t see it still floating anywhere near them at the moment. Hal inhaled heavily trying to catch his breath, and Barry unconsciously tightened his arms around him.
Barry felt Hal shrug against him. “Not shooting or releasing anything. Just causing havoc with some erratic flight-paths and occasional blunt aggressiveness.”
Barry nodded, even though Hal couldn’t see him from where he was still pressed against the front of Barry’s chest. “When will the mad scientists learn?” He signed dramatically.
“Oh, I forgot the best part.” Barry sighed again. Hal finally turned out of his arms, just enough to look Barry in the eyes. His green light started to materialize around him again, but Barry kept him in his hold for a few more moments, until he was sure Hal was supporting himself. “Half of these suckers are invisible.”
Barry groaned. “You’re joking.”
“Wish I could say I was. They decloak upon impact, but said impacts unfortunately came with some minor injury to the townsfolk. Not sure what else they can do, or what or who released them, so I figured better safe than sorry.”
Barry warily eyed the metal storm that was getting closer and closer to them. “Good call. You also got me out of an awkward conversation with a coworker, so I owe you one.”
“Oh, Flash,” Hal laughed. He rolled his shoulders and stretched his arms behind his back, then tilted his head down coyly. “Give me a little somthin’ somethin’ to help me take out these flying frisbees and we can call it even.”
Barry really hated him.
Barry reached out and brushed a finger over the ring on Hal’s own finger anyway, and failed at stopping a too-soft smile form on his face as Hal whooped and shot off, green-blue energy wrapping like ribbons around him.
~~~~
After the drone debacle, which involved the use of more skills from elementary P.E. class dodgeball than he ever thought he’d need, they flew low over the streets, scanning for any loitering metal pests with their rings. The thrill of the fight was finally wearing off and leaving all of Barry’s worries from earlier to slowly trickle back in. He decided to bite the bullet while Hal was too distracted with his ring to read his facial expressions. Hal was always too good at that, even when he had his cowl on.
“Hey, you have time to talk before our Watchtower shift tonight?”
Hal smiled, focus still on the beam coming from his ring. “Sure I do. Meet at that food truck around seven? We can grab those falafels you like.”
Barry knew exactly where Hal was talking about. Said food truck sat right outside the east entrance of the Coast City Park, one they’d been being menaces in for so many years that Barry felt it was practically theirs. “Sounds good. And with that, I think I better get back to the CCPD. You got it from here?”
Hal finally looked up and gave Barry a wry smile. “Run don’t walk. I’m sure they’ll fall apart without you,” he said.
Barry made it back in record time.
~~~~
The thing was, Barry had to tell Hal, obviously.
Embarrassment aside, Barry needed to confide in someone. Needed someone to help him figure out a plan. Hal made plans, Hal was good at plans. At least when said plans involved doing something on the fly and potentially hazardous to their health, which was about where Barry was at the moment.
(Hal was also his best friend. It was impossible to hide anything from him at this point. Well, near impossible. He was really good at hiding one thing.)
Barry haltingly told his sob story as they walked through the park that evening, the both of them procrastinating flying off to the Watchtower for as long as they could. “You’re finally going to go to one of Susan’s famous get-togethers? Man, I’m proud of you!” Hal laughed and tugged Barry in with an arm around his shoulders, still managing to rough around his hair with a fist despite Barry’s struggling. “New Year’s is my favorite holiday. Off the wall parties, the hottest chicks just begging to make-out at midnight, and people always splurge on the champagne…” he trailed off, stars practically in his eyes. Barry rolled his own and maneuvered out of Hal’s hold.
“Yeah, you’re a real hot playboy, Hal—like you couldn’t get all of that any day of the year if you wanted.” Hal just winked at him, stupid grin on his stupid lips.
“Why would you even make that deal? Or lie about it in the first place?” Hal asked, still grinning but shaking his head at him like he couldn’t fathom how Barry’d made it this long in the world.
“I don’t know,” Barry waved his arms in a weird, spazzy attempt at a shrug. “I don’t know!” He bit his lip and blinked hard a few times. “I never thought I’d actually have to follow through on it. It was just something to stop her from giving me these big, watery eyes every time I dipped out of social engagements or didn’t chime in when everyone was gossiping about spouses.”
Hal didn’t say anything right away. Barry let his eyes lose focus as he stared somewhere out into the city skyline.
He didn’t really even know what he was saving as he muttered: “Some weird subconscious idea that I wouldn’t be around to make good on it by then or… I don’t know.”
Hal’s shoulders fell, brow furrowing. “Bar—”
“Hal, don’t.”
Hal sighed. He drifted toward a bench on the side of the path and Barry followed him unthinkingly, head down and thoughts scattered. They sat in silence for a bit, Hal just staring out at the trees. The sun was half-way to setting when he tilted his head back toward Barry, stared at him hard for a beat, and then rolled his eyes. “Well I guess I’m in. So what’s the plan of attack?”
Barry blinked. “What?”
“We got to make this realistic, like we’ve been under the ol’ ball and chain for a long time.”
“Hal, what are you talking about?”
“Our marriage, dumbass. You’re going to need someone to pose as Mr. Allen, and I doubt Big Boy Blue is going to play ball.”
“No—what?” Barry’s head suddenly felt a bit too light. He shook his head; there must have been something in his ears because he was sure he wasn’t hearing right. “Hal—no, I don’t need a husband, I need an excuse out of it.”
Hal dropped his shoulders in another heaving sign and shifted so his whole body was facing Barry. Hal placed a hand on his shoulder. “Barry, buddy, I hate to have to be the one to tell you this, but at this point I think the fake-husband thing is going to be your best bet. Safest, at least, in the physical sense, because I’m pretty sure Susan has worked enough crime scenes to know how to perfectly make your body disappear.” Hal squeezed Barry’s shoulder and ducked his head to look him right in the eyes. “While having lots of fun doing it.”
Barry’s ears were definitely ringing now. He groaned and slumped his head forward. Hal patted his shoulder twice before pulling away, settling back into the bench comfortably. After a few moments Barry pinched the bridge of his nose and looked back up. Hal met his eyes, kind enough to look a bit concerned.
“OK, Bar?”
Barry allowed himself one more gigantic sigh. “Yeah,” he muttered, his heart pounding too hard in his chest and regret already pooling in his stomach. “For fuck’s sake, sure.”
Hal let out an obnoxious whoop. “Well that was the most painful courtship I’ve ever experienced! Wait to speedrun it, huh, Barry?”
Barry groaned.
Hal put his chin in his hand and started stroking it. It was a stupidly cartoonish motion, yet Barry noted with disgust that he somehow didn’t look all that stupid doing it. “Now to think logistics…” Hal's furrowed brow slowly began to morph into a slight tugging grin. Nothing could have prepared Barry for what he said next. "Can I call you baby?"
Barry blanched, thrown off more splendidly than he’d care to admit. "I—"
"Oh, no, can I call you darling?" Hal interrupted, smile turning practically devilish.
Barry felt his cheeks flush and the back of his neck grown hot. The ringing was returning to his ears. He didn't know how to answer, didn't like how Hal’s words twisted his insides.
Hal snapped his fingers before Barry could find words to respond and pointed at Barry, his other hand resting high on his hip. "How about honey? Saccharine as it comes. That'll kill with Susan and Desirée, from what you've told me. It'll be their own little Hallmark movie!"
Shit. This had gotten away from Barry, fast.
~~~~
Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how one chose to look at it), Hal got more invested in their deception than Barry could have ever even imagined.
He never thought he’d be grateful for his obnoxious work hours and the horrendous patrol scheduling from the Watchtower, but both things combined over the next few days had left Hal’s pestering to come mainly over text. He was still relentless with his messages, though, and maybe even moreso without Barry’s glared to temper him.
what kind of wine does susan like ? she sounds like more of a liquor gal . is rum an acceptable party favor?
on a scale from 1 to 10 how douchey is her husband . can we operate on a tag-in system for conversation with him ?
Bar
fuck we forgot the rings ! huge part cant belive we missed that
i dont know how to get those. maybe ollie can use his gajillionaire bucks to hook us up this is going to cost me like ten favors
oh DUH Bar we have rings !!! already ! crisis adverted. youre welcome.
Barry groaned into his clenched fist at those last ones. Just the idea of using his Lantern ring as a wedding ring—their Lantern rings as wedding rings—had him reeling.
This entire plan was stupid. This is what he got, for going to Hal Jordan for a plan in the first place. There was no way that this worked out in Barry’s favor. Truthfully, it would be better to just come clean to Su and Des and the rest of the team, face the embarrassment like a man and bank on the swells of pity they’d be flooded with to get him through the next month.
That’s what he should do.
Jesus fuck. How did he get himself into these situations?
~~~~
Barry hadn’t seen Hal face-to-face since the day he told him about the deal, and he hadn’t done much to amend it. He’d been responding to Hal’s texts shortly, and some he just ignored all together. The entire situation was just too much. He didn’t need this stress in his life. The department was working through some not-so-merry, post-Christmas cases that had them swamped with the most gruesome and tragic things humanity could dole out, and the lower-class Central City rogues had decided to rally the same with a startling rise in morale and energy. The Flash just had to be out on his own turf a little more, not as the Blue Lantern. Hal would understand completely.
He and Hal would be fine. Nothing was about to change, and nothing was about to blow up in his face.
He repeated that to himself until the words lost meaning, and then a good few dozen times after that just to make sure.
He still didn't know why he didn't just call the whole thing off. All he did know was that he was met with the same crippling anxiety at the thought that he was when thinking about going through with it.
A day before the party, Barry’s wavering resolve disappeared and he was forced to press his panic button. Luckily the person on the other side of said panic button picked up on the third ring, before he could think twice and hang up.
“Barry!” Ted Kord’s voice came through the tinny speakers of his cellphone.
“Hey, man.”
“What’s going on? Not that I don’t love to hear from you, but you don’t usually call.”
“I… I know, I’m sorry about that.”
“No need to apologize, Barry.” Ted laughed, “Texting is the new-fangled thing! You make me feel younger with every emoji.”
Barry couldn’t help but laugh back at that. “I can’t say the feeling’s mutual, Ted.”
Barry could practically see Ted’s dopey grin from the other side of the line. “Lay it on me, man.”
So Barry did. The deal, the party, his fake husband. As fast as he could. He’d be surprised if Ted caught half of it.
Ted didn’t respond for a bit after Barry finished rambling. Barry felt the silence across the line like an itch on his own skin. He shifted his phone to his other ear, tapped his finger erratically on the desk in front of him, bit his lip until the skin felt dangerously close to breaking.
“Wow, Barry,” is what Ted landed on, after making Barry feel like the biggest idiot this side of the sun for almost a full minute.
Barry exhaled loudly. “Yeah.”
“Well. First of all, this is the stupidest bet I’ve ever heard of. It makes no sense. Why would you ever even say you had a partner in the first place?”
“She just kept pushing, Ted! And it all came from a good place, and… I don’t know. I can be normal at work. In ways I can’t even with my own family, because The Flash is still apart of that, and obviously I can’t with the League. For a few hours a week I get to be mundane and boring and nothing more than just… human. Su kept asking, and then kept trying to set me up—which obviously could never work—so it just seemed easier one day to say I had someone. And then it just became easy. Almost nice, to be able to pretend I had something so normal waiting for me outside of work. It was all under control, Ted, just a little white lie. And then it started to backfire—”
“Duh, Barry.”
“I know! I know, fuck. She started pushing again, and I love Su and she just wanted me to be happy so I staved her off, gave her a far-away date, something to make her stop.” Barry took a breath. “My life usually moves so fast, Ted.” Barry paused, and considered what he was about to say for a moment, for the first time the whole conversation.
“Sometimes there, it doesn’t. I guess I just never subconsciously believed I’d have to face something so far in the future.”
He heard Ted shift on the other end of the line.
“After New Years, we’re going to see each other more, alright?”
“Ted—”
“Don’t even try, Barry. I can read through those very messy lines of yours. But we should talk about the elephant here, probably. We can address your stupidity at any old time.”
The breath ran out of Barry’s lungs.
Yeah, they probably should. That was why he called in the first place, really. That humongous elephant. That elephant that had been peacefully making a home in the back of his mind and in every corner of his life for years now. That big, giant, glaringly green elephant.
Barry felt his chest squeeze, tight and sharp like someone had dug their fingers in and clenched their fist. He closed his eyes and whispered so softly he could almost pretend he wasn’t saying it. “Ted, I’ve been in love with him for half my life. How… how am I supposed to go a whole night pretending that’s true, without fumbling and showing him that it’s not actually pretend?”
“Oh, Barry.” Ted signed again, this time one with a little more gentleness in it. There was a lot of sighing happening in this conversation, Barry noted distractedly. That had been happening a lot lately. “Have you been avoiding him?”
“We haven’t had too many big calls, nothing that really calls for my Blue Lantern powers. I’ve just needed to be The Flash more, which is a good thing in the grand scheme… ” Barry broke himself off and almost rolled his eyes—he could imagine the exact arch of Ted’s raised eyebrow on the other side of the phone. “Ok, yes. I’ve been avoiding him.”
Ted took his time thinking about his response. “It looks like you have two options, bud,” he said eventually, matter-of-factly. “Cancel on Sunday, face the wrath of Susan and potentially Hal and be forced to pick up the pieces of your work-friendships.”
“And option two,” Barry asked, dread already pooling in his gut.
“Look, Barry…” Ted trailed off. “OK. I've kinda got some experience with this, you know. You can commit to it. If you think he’s going to see right through you, then, well. Maybe the issue is a different one than you think it is.”
“There’s no way he’s not going to make us have a conversation either way this goes, that’s just Hal.” Barry said, rubbing his forehead with his thumb and pointer.
“You're missing the point, man. And, well, you’re already not helping your case for complete avoidance.” Ted hummed, seemed to mull over his words as he said them. “Maybe… maybe this is a sign? That you should tell him?”
“Are you insane—”
“Oh, come on, Barry! This isn’t good for you!”
“But it is good, Ted. We’ve never been closer. And now with me being a Lantern, we’re close in a whole new way and it’s amazing. We’re at the top of our game. I have even more to lose, somehow.”
“Barry,” Ted murmured with too much feeling. “Do you hear yourself?”
Barry was not going to cry over the phone to the Blue Beetle. He pulled the phone away from his face and took a deep breath in, counted up to five and back. He dropped his head against his chest. “How could I ruin this?”
“You said it yourself. You’re stronger than ever. I don’t think anything’s going to make you lose him, not now. Take the leap, Barry. The fall’s not as scary as the fear of it.” Barry lip stung warm and tasted like copper. “And remember you have people to catch you.”
~~~~
are we going to wing it then
Barry could feel the tone shift with this one. He didn’t need Hal’s face and voice in front of him to know. He took a breath sent back: I thought you’d like that, flyboy.
:)
Barry sighed in relief; Hal didn’t use emoticons lightly. “It’ll all going to work out,” he said to himself, repeated it until he could pretend to believe it. It wasn’t a big deal, it really wasn’t. One night of tricking and deceiving all of his friends about a happy marriage that never was, next to a man he’d never have. What could go wrong?
~~~~
They arrived at the Milton residence a fashionable forty-five minutes late, as Hal insisted. Barry had too much nervous energy to put up much of a fight. His thoughts were moving too fast in his head to focus on much else other than the echoing steps they take up the driveway.
As Barry raised his right hand up to knock on the front door, he reached out with his left and brushed the backs of his knuckles against Hal’s hand. He wasn’t entirely aware that he did it, not until Hal pressed back gently. He didn’t have any time to think about what any of that meant though, much less panic about it, because Susan’s husband Mitch opened the door just moments after Barry let go of the knocker. Mitch’s face broke into a too-wide grin as he clocked who Barry was. “Oh Su,” Mitch called over his shoulder, but he was interrupted by a cheerful shout before he could get much more out.
Susan came barreling into the doorway, poor Mitch squished unceremoniously to the side against the jamb. “My guests of honor!” Susan squealed, wrapping Barry’s shoulders in a quick hug. She pulled back with her eyes already dragged over to her right, taking in Hal with unbridled glee in her face. “Ohhhhhh,” she breathed out, voice dropping excitedly, “I think I might pass out.”
Hal shifted on his feet, the only tell that he felt anything other than comfortably confident. He held out a hand. “Captain Hal Jordan, miss. Nice to meet you.”
Barry couldn’t tell from where he stood next to Hal, but he was pretty sure Hal threw in a wink. I’m going to fucking kill him, he thought.
“Captain?” Su flicked her eyes over to Barry. “What secrets have you kept from me, Bartholomew?”
Oh, so, so, many.
And they’re off to the races.
Hal being a test pilot (Barry, how could you never mention how much cooler your husband is than you, he’s practically been to space!) leaves no shortage of conversation starters for Susan and Mitch. They don’t make it much past the doorway, as introductions fly and the expected small talk begins. Su keeps shooting furtive glances at Barry with wide, dancing eyes and even her husband looks mildly, if reluctantly, impressed. Given that their low bar for Barry’s husband was that he didn’t even actually exist, Barry figured it wouldn’t have taken much to impress them in the first place, but he’s willing to let Hal bask in their attention and pretend that this entire thing isn’t a horrible, dishonest charade.
Hal charmed Susan and Mitch with talks of flying and callsigns and all the right things that immediately make him the center of the party, whether he meant to or not. He was cool and confident and didn’t trip over his words once, not when he had to make up a story of how they met on the spot when Mitch asks, not when Su asks him if he liked the new paint job on the brick, and not any one of the times he said “my husband” instead of Barry’s name.
Barry looked at him, at the sunshine-bright of his smile and the way his coffee-brown eyes shone without the cover of a mask, and Barry had never felt regret in his entire life like he was feeling regret now.
Susan and Mitch reluctantly let them go when more guests appeared at the door, and Hal turned to him practically beaming.
“What was that, ten minutes? I’m on fire. I can’t believe you were nervous we’d fumble this. You just talk about yourself and they eat it up like candy. Maybe there’s something to be said for this mundane suburbia you like to inhabit, Bar.”
Barry stared at Hal. Hal who was standing in his co-worker’s freshly painted house in his pressed shirt that has one more button done up than he’d usually ever go for, Hal who was still holding a bottle of top-shelf wine that he’d bought of his own volition last night, Hal who’s hand had found its way to the small of Barry’s back about five minutes ago and had yet to move away.
Barry swallowed, and chose not to remind Hal that he was the one that wanted to basically practice lines for the past week. “You’re just the hot new dish for now, Hal. Give them a bit for the novelty to wear off and you’ll be back down the ladder, demoted to ‘that one forensics guy’s slightly-louder partner’.”
Hal just kept grinning at him, and it was blinding in the dim light of the entryway. “There’s got to be a food spread around here. I need to put this bottle down and nosh on those fancy finger foods you promised me before I do absolutely anything else.”
Hal turned to lead them deeper into the house, and Barry could feel the warmth of Hal’s palm above his waist burning the entire way there.
~~~~
It’s easy. It’s oh so easy.
Barry had been mildly worried about Hal going into this. It was a stupid worry. Hal was flitting around the house like he’d known everyone there for years, drawing people in from every corner and couch with his jokes and his stories, and pure, natural charm. Barry couldn’t believe he had even momentarily forgotten that part of Hal, honestly. That pompous charm has certainly worked on him, after all.
Nobody seemed to have figured out the lie. There were no pointed looks of disbelief or fibs being tripped over. It was like they had practiced the act for ages. Hal even looked as if he were somehow having fun, and with all he was sacrificing being here instead of out on the town like he usually preferred, Barry was beyond glad for it. At the very least Hal was getting good champagne out of this—hell knows Barry owed him a lot more for having to pretend to be maddeningly in love with him.
So Barry mingled on his own more than he imagined he would, and watched out of the corner of his eye as Hal let the world fit in around him. It was kind of nice, still being there with someone but not always being with them. Just the knowledge that there was someone a room over, saying Barry’s name in conjunction with his own whenever he introduced himself, left something warm settling in Barry’s chest.
(All of this wasn’t to say, of course, that his favorite parts of the night weren’t when Hal would eventually fall back into place to Barry’s side, sidling up with a hand running across his back or slung around his shoulders. Sue him—this was probably the only time he’d ever get to have Hal this close to him. He was going to relish it if it killed him, which it probably would before the clock even rang in the new year.)
About an hour and a half in, Barry finally clocked the person he was most excited to see coming into the room that he’d settled himself in. He got up from the couch he’d been perched on with a grin and a wave, grabbing the attention of a now practically buzzing Desirée and the petite, blonde woman that hung onto her arm.
“What’d I tell you, Des,” Barry said as she got close enough for him to pull her in for a quick hug. “All present and accounted for.”
Desirée giggled, her long, golden earrings tinkling with the movement. “Never doubted you for a second. Bar, this is my girlfriend, Ashlyn!”
Barry held out his hand, and the blonde, Ashlyn, took it with a bashful duck of her head. “Nice to finally meet you,” he said. “Des has been talking my ear off about you for months.”
She flushed pinker than Barry has ever seen anyone do so. “Please, call me Ash.” And boy, wasn’t she cute. Barry grinned, his approval already locked and sealed after seeing that Ash had matched her dress to Des’ bedazzled glasses.
Desirée made a comical show of looking over Barry’s shoulders, eyebrows raised. “So, Bar. Where are you hiding this—”
“There you are, baby!” And there was Hal suddenly appearing out of nowhere, pressing a loud kiss to Barry’s cheek that had Barry biting his lip to keep from making a startled, not-quite-appropriate sound.
“Des,” Barry squeaked out, using every ounce of strength he had to not react to the pet name, or the strong arm Hal was weaving around his waist, or the way he could still feel the ghost of Hal’s lips on his skin. He cleared his throat. “As promised. This is my…” Barry made the fatal mistake of turning to look over at Hal, and all of a sudden the words that had been coming out so easy all night got lodged in his throat.
Hal was already looking at him, smile lines gently creasing his face and softening his features, his eyes round and shining with something Barry couldn’t construe. He was smiling at Barry like there was nowhere he’d rather be then tucked up next to him, pretending to be married to him. Hal… Hal looked happy.
Usually Barry was able to save face from any mental lag by the virtue of his thoughts moving just as fast as the rest of him could.
Not tonight.
And then Desirée was pinching him in the ribs, and Barry came hurtling back to reality with a sharp intake of breath and the wispy trails of realizations beginning to form in his mind. “Don’t be shy, now! You’ve already proved me wrong, it’s open season to gloat about your man.”
Barry’s heart was beating fast enough to probably kill a normal human being. He gave the girls a shaky smile. “Des, Ash,” Barry looked back over at him. “Meet my husband, Hal.”
Hal’s arm squeezed around him, just barely noticeable, just like the backs of their hands on the front porch. With his right arm wrapped as it was around Barry, Hal had to put out his left to shake the girls’ hands, which meant, unfortunately, that the gleaming silver of a ring on Hal’s left hand was shining front and center for Barry to see. Barry couldn’t take his eyes away.
Hal complimented the girls’ dresses and said something teasing about something or another to make them laugh, and Barry didn’t catch any of it.
~~~~
Hal didn’t protest when Barry asked if they could pop out to the backyard for a breather.
Hal whistled as they stepped out the backdoor, shudders clattering against the glass as they shut it behind them. Round, yellow lightbulbs had been strung up like a canopy over most of the space, illuminating the pebble paths, waist-high bushes, and wicker furniture scattered around. The fences ran right up to towering evergreens, keeping out any wandering eyes from the roads beyond. It was peaceful.
“This yard is huge.” Hal took a few quick steps down into the grass and chose a path to head down. “We could practically go exploring back here.”
Barry followed after him, wrapping his arms around himself and letting his molecules vibrate just enough to warm him up. He was glad Hal had put his coat back on before they came outside.
“Thanks for coming tonight, Hal.”
“Don’t mention it, Barry. Your nerdy friend’s nerdy friends are shockingly kind of cool.”
“I hope cool enough to make the literally dozen of times you had to reintroduce yourself worth it.” He gazed at a pebble that was a little larger than the rest of them on the path in front of him, and rolled it under the sole of his shoe as he walked past. “You find anyone in there to plant one on you at midnight?”
Hal snorted. “Half of the girls in there are twice my age. And the other half are already hanging off of someone’s arm. Don’t think I’ll be having any luck.” He didn’t sound too put out about it.
Barry felt something cold burst on the tip of his nose. He looked up. It was beginning to snow.
“Hal?” Barry said.
Hal turned to look at him, face placid. “Yeah?”
“How come you’re not out somewhere else on New Year’s?”
Hal stared at him. Barry couldn’t read his face. Hal was always emoting something, his eyebrows and crow’s feet and stupidly pouty lips usually barely keeping up with his hyperactive mind. But there was nothing, now, and it made Barry feel unmoored and adrift.
“I’ve already told you, Barry.” Hal said after a moment too long.
“Have you?” Barry asked.
Hal didn’t respond. He turned to face the other side of the yard, the one closer to the street. His eyes wandered for a moment. “Oh, look. They’ve got one of those glass firepit things.” And he was off.
Barry followed after him.
~~~~
Hal continued puttering around in the yard for a bit, and Barry trailed a ways behind him lost in thought. The silence wasn’t… uncomfortable, really. They had known each other too long and too well for that. There was something in the air, though, things and emotions floating sharp and uncertain, at least for Barry.
Hal occupied himself discovering new levels to outdoor luxury, poking around at the Miltons’ miniature hedge maze and bocce ball sets with an almost childish incredulity. Barry watched him as he thought about Ted’s words, about the way Hal had called him baby, about the weight of a familiar ring that was now on an unfamiliar finger. He bit his lip, in the same place he had broken skin while on the phone the day before. It stung. Analyze and develop, he told himself. That was what he did best, after all.
~~~~
“Hal,” he said. The snow was still floating gently around them, and they had run out of garden to explore a while ago. “Hal. There’s a framed picture of us on my bedside table.”
Hal turned back again, slower this time. Barry felt the cold air in his lungs too vividly, like there was freezer-burn lining his throat and coating the roof of his mouth. Hal’s eyes traced his face, looking for something, and Barry found he couldn’t move under them. He couldn’t tell if he was accidentally using his powers or if the snow had really become suspended around them, floating down so slowly in the air as though it weighed nothing.
“I think we’re going to miss midnight,” Hal said, tilting his head back toward the house.
“Luckily you said there wasn’t anybody in there that you wanted to kiss.”
“Yeah, there isn’t.”
The snow fell silently around them, the sounds of the other guests in the house echoey behind it all, like something from a dream.
“I have to—”
“Barry I—”
They both cut off, blinking at each other. Hal broke first, laughing into his fist. It was infectious, and Barry couldn’t help the low giggles bursting from his chest. “You first,” Hal said.
Barry looked at Hal, just a few steps away from him now. “I’m not sure I want to.”
“Me neither.” Hal shuffled forward a bit. “And that has to count for something, right?”
The voices from the house grew louder behind them, numbers counting down from ten. “OK, fuck it.” Barry sent out a prayer to any god he’d ever met, drew on his Lantern ring for any bits of residual hope he could gather, and went for it. “I haven’t been… entirely honest with you. Well, I have, I haven’t lied, but it’s sort of felt like it this past week, and Ted said all of this was stupid to begin with, so I don’t want to keep you in the dark anymore, even though—”
Barry lost his train of thought. It was quite easy to, with Hal’s lips crushed against his own.
Barry forgot about the snow and the glowing backyard and the cheering from the house echoing behind him. The only thing he was aware of was the heady pressure against his upper lip, soft and warm and insistent, and Barry didn’t bother to hold back a moan as he finally let Hal in.
Hal kissed him like he thought he’d never be kissed again. Pushed and pulled, wet and electric, dragging his teeth on Barry’s bottom lip as he pulled away before diving back in again, barely any time between to draw a breath. Barry gave as good as he got, felt like he could breathe Hal in instead of oxygen forever if he wanted, the champagne-sweet taste of him coating Barry’s tongue and urging him to press closer closer closer. Barry was vaguely aware of Hal taking his right hand in his, tangling their fingers. As he squeezed back, he felt the Flash ring that still rested there clack against Hal's, and the feeling was enough for Barry to drag himself away with a gasp, forehead falling forward against Hal’s. He tried to catch his breath, hyper-aware of Hal doing the same against him. He looked down at their still clasped hands, the liquid-silver glimmer of their rings nestled against each other catching his eye, and Barry felt like he could sob.
“You have to know,” Barry breathed out, breathless. “You have to know for how long—”
“Oh Barry,” Hal said, equally as wrecked sounding. “I’d win that.”
~~~~
They made it to Barry’s apartment in less than three seconds, Barry’s hands wrapped protectively around the back of Hal’s head and around his waist the whole time. They didn’t make it much farther than that.
There were more hands, then, Barry’s frantic and skating and unable to decide where to land, Hal’s warm and grounding and cupping Barry’s neck, his hips, his waist. They twisted and tumbled against the wall, more pushing and pulling, Barry’s lips already feeling raw and bruised and his body taut and sparking like a live-wire. He arched into the sturdy muscle of Hal’s torso and tugged hard at Hal’s hair as Hal yanked him closer and closer against him with strong arms and clawing fingers.
Barry barely, just barely, got them to the bed in a half-second of clarity. He wasn’t even sure Hal noticed when they hit the mattress, too wrapped up in finding just the right way to lave over Barry’s throat to make him keen like he’d never been touched before. They tugged at buttons and shirt sleeves, and Barry thought he might vibrate right through the bed, with the way his nerves were flaring like stars under Hal’s tongue. Hal’s weight pressed down heavy and all-encompassing, an immovable force on top of him that Barry never wanted to be without. But he had to, just for a second—
Hal looked down at Barry with a creased brow, shifting against the hands Barry had placed on his chest. “Is this OK?” He asked. Barry nodded faintly and took his time taking him in. His eyes were half-lidded and dark, and his lips were bitten and swollen strawberry red. The hair Hal could never contain at the top of his forehead was falling down in locks, chocolate brown and still elegant looking despite Barry’s restless fingers. His cheekbones were the same ones that Barry had been watching sunlight fall over for years, and Barry let a shaking hand rise from the sheet to trace the sharp jawline under them, gentler than anything he’d dared to do yet.
Barry had just wanted to look at him.
Hal let out a low sound from the back of his throat and ducked his head into the curve between Barry’s neck and shoulder. He mumbled something into Barry’s skin, something Barry couldn’t make out. They lay there for a few seconds. Breathing in each other and settling into the iron-hot feeling of their bodies melding too-seamlessly against each other.
Hal pressed a closed-mouth kiss against Barry’s collarbone, and all Barry could do was sign into it, close his eyes, and tilt his head to give Hal more room. Hal pressed another kiss a little farther down, near his shoulder. Then above his heart. Along his pectoral, skating dangerously close to his nipple with a blow of breath. Down to the center of his sternum, each kiss feeling like gentle bursts of fireworks, sparklers against his sweat-damp skin.
Hal pressed a closed-mouthed kiss on his belly, murmured into it, "Can I call you baby?" Barry’s heart stuttered again.
"Can I call you darling?" Hal murmured into the jut of his hips.
His mouth was hovering over the bulge in Barry's pants now, breath hot and wet. "Can I call you honey?" Barry couldn't hold in a pitiful moan any longer. His heart was pounding heavy and sweet in his chest and he needed to feel Hal's mouth on, in, around him now.
Hal pulled away, and Barry keened. Hal just looked up, held Barry's eyes with his own, hooded and blown black. His throat bobbed. "Can I call you mine?"
The breath left Barry's body. His brain went fuzzy and his heartbeat found a home heavy and warm in his throat.
Barry was irrevocably, indescribably, in love.
~~~~
They stay wrapped up together, afterward.
“Should we just keep the rings on our fingers at this point?” Hal says into the crook of Barry’s neck some indeterminable time later, lips plush and warm against his pulse point.
Barry moved his head from where it had been buried in Hal’s hair and blinked down at him incredulously. “That’s moving a little fast, isn’t it?”
Hal lifted his head slowly, looking Barry in the eyes. They both broke into laugher at the same time, Hal gazing at him as if Barry had just said the most ridiculous thing in the world.
“Maybe too fast for you, speedster.” Hal closed his eyes again and tucked himself against Barry’s chest. “But not for me.”
~~~~
“You know Barry, I’m kind of pissed at you,” Hal said a few days later, pushing himself back onto his feet from where he had been thrown a few blocks from the ongoing battle. Barry touched down next to him and hummed. He brushed a loose strand of hair away from Hal’s domino mask, took a moment to appreciate how nice the blue glow from his fingers looked reflected across Hal’s face.
“I can’t even imagine what I’ve done now.”
Hal sighed and dusted off his shoulder. “It took words of wisdom from the Blue Beetle to get you to confess to me?”
Barry grinned fondly, wild and exuberant. “Suit back up, flyboy.”
Hal winked at him. “Roger that, darlin’.” Then he shot off back down the street, his green glow trailed by wisps of blue.
Barry took a moment to think about how bright the future looked, and jetted off after him.