This had to be one of the worst ideas Barry Allen ever had. Well, technically it wasn't his idea, but he was complicit in this nonsense so it didn't make a difference. This was a horrible idea that would only end in disaster. Period. Seriously, he wasn't this type of guy.

Patty Spivot had recently bragged about some blind dating app. She didn't think it would work out but she was pleasantly surprised when she'd been matched with a fairly decent guy. Barry's relationship with Iris hadn't worked out so he'd been down in the dumps and so hey maybe he should give it a try? What's the worst that can happen?

Barry was immediately against the idea. Why couldn't he just meet someone the old-fashioned way? Why did he have to meet anyone at all? But Patty thought it could be fun and the next thing Barry knew, the two of them were in the middle of the crime lab, setting up his profile.

Sigh.

Patty filled out his entire profile for him, sure that if she gave Barry his phone back before finishing the personality questions, he would back out of it. She was probably right.

"How do you like to spend your friday nights?"

Barry stood nearby, reading a clipboard with some paperwork. "I'm usually working….," he said absent-mindedly.

"I'll just put 'with friends.'"

Barry didn't know what good lying would do. These questions were supposed to help match you up with the right partner, so lying would ruin that, wouldn't it? It didn't matter though because he doubted he'd get any dates and if he did, he'd probably turn them down. This whole thing just seemed so embarrassing.

They spent a good ten minutes that way setting up his profile before Patty finally gave him his phone back. Barry momentarily stared at the icon on his homescreen: a small picture of a blindfold with a heart over it. The app was called Blinder. Cute.

Patty nudged him. "Just give it a try. There's no way you won't match up with someone."

"I still don't know about this…."

"Just go on one date. Just one. If it doesn't work, you can delete the app and I'll back off."

Barry looked at her expectantly. "Just one date?"

"Just one."

"You're putting a lot of faith in this thing…."

Patty laughed, heading to the other side of the room to her desk. "It's not even that. Barry, you gotta break out of your shell once in a while. You practically live in this lab. You have a whole life to live."

But Barry did have a life outside of the crime lab. It was only a few years ago that he'd gotten struck by lightning, an incident which led to him become the Flash. In fact, his life as the Flash was something that had led to him and Iris not being able to work it out. In any event, Barry's life was divided between two points: his life as the Flash, and the crime lab. Both were time-consuming. How in the world was he supposed to fit anything else into this, especially a significant other? People he cared about tended to become targets of his enemies anyway, so it just seemed like a waste of time. It just seemed like the better idea was to….close himself off.

Not to mention, people were complicated. Barry could take any two chemicals in or out of this lab and tell you what happened when they were combined. It was impossible to know any human being that well, no matter how close you were with them.

But just one date. Only one. That way he could say he gave it a fair shot, even though he still felt like it was ridiculous.

"Just one date," he resigned, flopping down at his desk in front of a mountain of more paperwork.

Patty looked up at him from her work and smiled. "Good. Keep me posted. I want all the details."

Barry rolled his eyes. Of course she did.

Barry had no idea what to expect with the app. Maybe he'd get a message in a couple of days, maybe a week, or not at all. That's not what happened. He had a message during his lunch break on the same day.

He was sitting in a break room in the police station, eating a meat and cheese sandwich he'd packed when his phone buzzed in his pocket. Not thinking anything of it, he pulled it out, and was surprised to find that not only had he matched with someone on the app, but the person had messaged him.

"So, you're blonde, huh? Is it true that blondes have more fun?"

Since it was a blind dating app, there was no picture or name attached. Only a username: "highball59," and the location: Central City.

The message was a lot more flirty than Barry had been expecting, but then again, this was a dating app. But what the hell should he say back? He debated with himself for a minute, and finally sent a message while inwardly cringing at the username Patty had set up for him.

sciencegeek56: "Fun is relative, don't you think?"

highball59: "I like that answer. Maybe you'd be interested in elaborating over dinner? I know this sweet Mexican place downtown that will change the way you look at tacos for the rest of your life. Does that sound like your definition of fun?"

Wow, this woman sure was bold. Truthfully, Barry liked confidence in a woman. While there was a part of him that could hardly believe that she'd asked him out on her second message, he couldn't help but also be kind of impressed.

Well, might as well get this "one date" over with, right?

sciencegeek56: "That does sound like fun."

Was he really flirting?

highball59: "Glad to hear it, blondie. Are you free tonight?"

sciencegeek56: "Sure am."

highball59: "Great. Give me a few and I'll message you the 411."

Oh, boy. This was really going to happen. He knew nothing about this woman except for the fact that she was extremely confident. Didn't seem like much of the traditional type either since she was setting up the date. It wasn't Barry's typical style since he was used to taking that role himself but at the same time, he was oddly okay with this. It was actually pretty intriguing.

Well, if he was going on just one date, it might as well be with someone who was interesting.

He put his phone down and picked up his sandwich again when Patty walked into the break room. Immediately, she gave Barry a curious look.

"Were you...texting someone maybe?"

If Barry didn't know any better, he'd almost swear that she was the one he'd been talking to on the app, but not only had Patty recently started seeing someone else because of the app, Barry knew she'd just come back from an assignment.

"I, uh….have a date," Barry said shyly, biting into his sandwich.

Patty's face lit up as she sat across from him at a table, opening up her lunch box. "Wow, look at you go. That was fast. When is it?"

"Tonight, apparently."

"I'm impressed. Good job, Barry."

The whole idea of a blind date still seemed a little silly. Dating was hard enough in general without adding a complication like being "blind." And it was still crazy that "highball59" had been bold enough to ask him out so quickly. Didn't people usually message more on apps like these to see if they hit it off first? He wouldn't know though. He'd never been the dating app type. Not to mention that absolutely anything could happen on this "date." The person could be some kind of psychopath or something. Not that he was necessarily afraid, but if he had to do this, it'd be nice if he didn't have to deal with the same types of rouges he fought on an almost regular basis.

His phone buzzed again.

highball59: "Come to Don Juan's at 7. Corner of Park and Oak. Ask for table 7. Sound good?"

Wow, this...really was gonna happen.

sciencegeek56: "Sounds like fun. How will I know you?"

highball59: "You'll know me the moment you lay eyes on me, blondie. See you tonight."

A combination of anxiety and excitement welled up within Barry. There was something about the confident tone in this person that felt genuine, rather than just some weirdo trying to pick up whoever would message back. I mean, she had made actual arrangements that quickly. Either she was very confident or very reckless.

There was only one way Barry was going to find out.

Barry must have reread the messages several times. Don Juan's. 7pm, table seven. He'd actually been to the restaurant before, which made him feel a little more comfortable. In any case, he would have known where it was anyway because he had a mental map of pretty much the entire city because he ran through its streets almost every night. It was a pretty nice place, which meant that it was also a bit pricey. Food was really good though, so he definitely understood why his date seemed to like it so much. Barry was pretty fond of it too. Who knows, maybe they'd actually have a good time?

That is, if this woman wasn't some complete psychopath or a serial killer or thought he was just a boring nerd or…

He kept trying to tell himself to be positive about this, but it was such a crazy situation. A blind date! Him! He didn't know anything about this person except that they seemed pretty brave.

For the remainder of the day, he wrestled with his own thoughts like this. The more he reread the messages, the louder the thoughts were. By the time 7pm rolled around and he arrived at the restaurant, he was well and ready to just get this over with so he didn't have to overthink it anymore.

He stood outside of the restaurant, composing himself. Was his date here already? It was two minutes until 7pm, so it seemed possible. Did he look okay? Well, he was wearing a white dress shirt and a red sweater vest, plus he'd made sure his hair looked neat. So, yeah, he would say he looked all right.

Okay. Let's do this.

He walked in the restaurant, eyes peeled. The hostess was very friendly when he said he was meeting someone at table seven, leading him over with a smile. Almost too friendly? Nah, that was just the overthinking again. When they arrived at the table, she disappeared quickly.

But, well….

There was a guy at the table. Barry first wondered if it was the right table, but there was a placard with the right number, so there was no denying it was. What was going on here? What had Patty put in for his orientation on the app?

The handsome brunet at the table looked at him curiously. He was wearing a leather flight jacket, a white shirt, and jeans. It wasn't a look that most anyone would have been able to pull off in a nice restaurant like this, but this guy made it work. He was good looking and suave, even Barry could recognize that. The casual, relaxed position he was sitting in only served to push that image.

"Can I help you?" The man asked.

Barry started to feel like the collar of his shirt might choke him. "I'm sorry, I think there's been a misunderstanding. I was supposed to meet someone at this table…."

The man's eyebrows furrowed, but he didn't look angry. "Table seven? 7pm?"

"Yeah, that's right…"

"...Are you 'science geek'? You look like a science geek. And you're blond."

Barry slowly nodded. "And you're 'highball,' aren't you?"

The man laughed, and Barry couldn't tell if he genuinely found this amusing or was just really disappointed. "Yup. Seems to me that this is not what either of us were expecting. Is that fair to say, blondie?"

It really was the same person. He could tell now by the way he spoke. Wow.

"Yeah, that's...a fair statement," Barry said.

The man grinned, still looking as though he found this whole thing amusing. He paused a moment, before gesturing at the chair opposite him on the table. "Tell you what, 'science geek.' We're both here, we might as well enjoy some good food. Have a seat. What do you say?"

Well, why not? Barry had already come this far. It seemed pretty rude to turn away now, even if this was the absolute last thing he could have ever expected. What the hell, right?

Barry offered his hand as he took his seat. "I'm Barry Allen."

The man shook his hand with gusto. "Hal Jordan. Pleased to meet you."

"I apologize for this, my co-worker—"

Hal waved his hand dismissively. "Don't worry about it. Things happen. You showed up so you're already doing better than half people that use these apps, regardless of gender."

Their waitress came by to take their drink orders. Barry asked for a simple iced tea, while Hal ordered some kind of Mexican beer. He made a point to let Barry know that he wasn't driving tonight and he wasn't that stupid, so don't worry. Barry wasn't going to make it his business to ask, but it was interesting that Hal had volunteered that information.

When the waitress walked off, Hal tapped the table as he went back to staring at Barry thoughtfully, which was starting to make Barry feel like he was under a microscope. Why did he keep looking at him like that? He could see how this whole thing was sorta funny but Hal was almost treating it like some elaborate joke. Why did he keep looking at Barry like he was so fascinated?

"So, Barry Allen, what is it you do?"

"Well, I'm a scientist."

"I would have never guessed."

That earned a chuckle from Barry. "I work in the crime lab."

Hal nodded approvingly, almost like he was scoping him out. Almost like he was treating this like a real date. "Police scientist, huh? I can appreciate that. How long have you lived in Central City?"

"For a few years now," Barry replied. "What about you?"

Before Hal could answer, their waitress returned with their drinks and ready to take their meal orders. Hal casually asked for one of the specials and Barry, without thinking, asked for the same thing. It was as good of a choice as any, right? After taking their orders, the waitress walked off again.

"I'm new in town," Hal finally answered. "From Coast City. I work for Ferris Air and they just opened up a new testing facility here in town so I got sent over. Only been here a few months. It's not home, but I like it."

Barry nodded, taking a sip of his iced tea. "Coast City's pretty far from here. Nice city though."

Hal perked up. "You been?"

Barry had in fact been to Coast City, but only as the Flash. "I've uh...been through it."

"A lot different from this city, isn't it? The people are different too, but that's probably because everyone here seems to love that Flash dude."

It was pretty difficult for Barry to keep from choking on his drink after that comment. Central City didn't love Flash at first, but recently he'd been seeing his own face on billboards and everything. It was really weird. "Coast City has Green Lantern, doesn't it? I remember some articles from a while back."

Hal frowned and shrugged. "That guy hasn't been sighted there in months. They say he goes all over the place. I 'unno. I don't pay attention to that stuff."

Noticing that Hal didn't seem to care for the topic, Barry decided to switch the subject. "So...you said you work for Ferris Air? You're a pilot?"

"I'm a test pilot," Hal said with pride. "And not just any test pilot, I'm the best."

Barry smiled a little. "I guess I'll take your word for that."

"You should always take my word for everything, Bar. If you ever get the chance to fly sometime, don't pass it up. There's nothing like it, being up there high in the sky. Away from all the daily bullshit on the ground. Your only friends up there are the wind and your plane. If you respect them, they'll respect you."

It was clear that Hal had a real passion for the work he did, or at least for flying itself, and it was actually pretty endearing. With most people, Barry would probably respond that he'd rather keep his feet on the ground, which would have been the truth. The ground was his comfort zone, and it wasn't because he was afraid of heights. Still, hearing Hal talk about his passion for being in the sky hit him in an unexpected way. He didn't want to ruin it for him by talking about how he'd rather stay on the ground.

This date wasn't so bad after all. Was it a date still? Did it matter?

"I'll keep that in mind, Hal. Something for the bucket list."

Hal laughed. "Bucket list? Dude, don't wait."

"For what?"

"Anything."

A few minutes later, the waitress came by again, bringing their meals. Neither of them wasted any time in digging in. For Barry, he'd been starving because, well, fast metabolism. Food was also something of a comfort for him in stressful situations at times, but he realized that all of his anxiety over this date had faded sometime during his conversation with Hal.

It was funny, and a bit strange. Barry had plenty of friends of any gender throughout his life, but there hadn't been a man that made him feel at ease so quickly and so effortlessly before. Something about Hal's casual and confident demeanor was a silent signal to Barry that he didn't have to worry about petty anxieties. Hal didn't care about small things about a person, he was more interested in overall character. Barry had only just met him, but Hal made no effort to hide the type of person he was. That was something Barry could appreciate.

The two of them continued to have pleasant conversations for the rest of the date. Conversations with Hal were really beginning to feel effortless, as though the two of them could talk for hours. Even when Barry began to go into some detail about science and his work, Hal was still listening and responsive, even when he didn't understand everything. That in itself was really rare because Barry usually felt like people tuned him out when he started talking about things like chemical compounds. Not only that, but when Hal talked about his work and life, Barry found himself interested. He'd never met anyone like Hal before, and it was more than the fact that Hal was an amazing test pilot. It was hard to describe, but it was something.

It was a shame that the night would have to end.

When the waitress dropped off their bill off, Barry began to pull out his wallet but Hal shook his head and took the bill himself.

"This one's on me. I'm the one who asked."

Barry was taken aback. "Oh. Thanks..."

The waitress walked off to process the transaction after Hal gave her a credit card. After that, Hal reached into a jacket pocket and pulled out a pen and a small notepad, flipping it open to an empty page.

"Look, Bar, I know this wasn't what either of us were expecting, but I've had a good time." As he spoke, he scribbled onto the notepad. "And you don't exactly look like you're miserable here, so why don't we hang out again sometime?"

He ripped off the sheet from the notepad and handed it to Barry. It had his name and phone number. Barry took it, gave it a thoughtful glance, and put it in his pocket. He offered Hal a small smile. This whole thing was still a bit...strange, but he wasn't hating it. "Yeah, Hal. Maybe I will."

"No 'maybe.' Call me. Oh, and one more thing."

Barry looked at him curiously.

"Delete that silly app. You don't need it."

A couple of days passed. Barry went to work and went on patrol as normal, but somehow everything seemed different now in a way he couldn't quite explain. The world, his job, everything was suddenly less of a weight and was more...exciting? Barry never really dreaded going to work or patrol. He liked his job and his duties as the Flash were also very important to him. Sometimes it would wear him down a little and he'd just feel tired for a bit, but that was about it. That wasn't the case right now though. He didn't know what changed, but when he got out of bed in the morning he felt a lot more ready to take on the day than he did before.
Work had kept him late, so he was running a late night patrol run. At first, everything seemed fine. Only a few little petty crimes through the city but nothing major. He kept checking around though. Just to be safe, and he had some time to kill anyway.

His phone went off, so he answered it via earpiece as he ran. "Hello?"

It was Patty. "Barry! You never told me how your date went. You did go, right?"

"Yeah, but uh…" How should he handle this? If he told the truth, it might elicit a bunch of questions he'd rather not answer right now. At the same time, he really didn't want to lie about it. "...Quick question, what did you select for my orientation when you set up my profile?"

"Straight. Why?"

"I got matched with a guy."

Patty laughed. "Are you kidding me?"

"Nope. He was just as surprised as I was."

"Whoa, whoa, okay. Hang on a second. I gotta look into this."

"You know, that's not…"

"Just wait a second."

Barry shook his head, hearing Patty put her phone down for a second. He kept the line open, but stopped at a street corner when he saw disturbance on a rooftop. It was a tall office building, which didn't usually have much activity this time of night. There was a figure on the rooftop that he couldn't quite make out from where he was standing on the street. What was that person doing up there? It wasn't someone trying to jump, was it?

Patty came back. "So get this, apparently there was a glitch in the app recently that disregarded orientation preferences when calculating for matches. It counted everything else except for gender."

"So the stuff you lied about me in that personality quiz?" Barry asked. The glitch thing was interesting though, and definitely explained what happened. He wondered if Hal found out about the glitch as well.

"Hey, I didn't answer everything with a lie. Not my fault you didn't want to answer some of the questions. Besides, I've been working with you long enough that I think I know you pretty well. So, was he cute?"

The person on the rooftop was carrying what looked like a very big gun. Not good. "I have to go. Something's come up."

"Now you're just trying to get out of the conversation. Come on, tell me!"

"Sorry. Talk to you later."

"Bar—"

He cut the line just as the person on the roof started aiming their gun at the streets below. He had to act fast. Good thing he was the fastest man alive. Calculating his speed and the height of the building, he moved back from the building a necessary distance. When he was sure his calculations were just right, he shot himself forward, running up the side of the tall building.

This was a tricky maneuver that was still trying to get just right. He'd been the Flash for a few years, but there was still plenty of tricks and caveats about his abilities that he was still learning. But if there was ever a time for him to get this move right, it was right now.

About three quarters of the way up, he started to feel gravity pull on him but that only made him push harder. Come on, just a little more….

Made it. His boots hit the rooftop on the opposite side the rooftop person was standing. As soon as he landed, he recognized the familiar figure, having already encountered him a few times in the past. Captain Cold. Seeing him surprised Barry, as he was sure he'd been locked up. But that was a question for another day.

Captain Cold turned. "Flash," he snarled, aiming his cold gun right at him.

Oh, no. Barry had been down this road before and he wasn't going down it again. The cold gun fired and Barry used his speed to move out of the way. However, this time, he miscalculated his movements and slipped off the edge of the rooftop.

Damn.

He was falling fast from the top of one of the highest points in Central City, too fast to be able to use his speed to counteract and break his fall. Goddammit, why had he been so careless? Maybe if he just tried to—

He landed...softly. What the…? He sat up to find that he was on a large green mattress. It wasn't solid, at least not entirely. He could see right through it, but it was holding him up. Several feet off the ground, too, since he was about halfway down his fall.

Was this...what it looked like? What he thought it was? He'd never seen it in person before, but all the rumors and articles had described something just like this: structures made of light energy.

His eyes followed a green beam of light from the light energy mattress until he saw its source: the Green Lantern, floating midair several feet away. Here. In Central City. As far as Barry knew, Green Lantern had never been in Central City before so this would be their first sighting. And it was to save Barry's life. A little humiliating, maybe, but it was a lot better than being scarlet splatter on pavement.

"Flash, right?" Green Lantern said. "You're welcome, by the way. I don't accept tips, but thanks for the offer."

Okay. That was not the sort of attitude he was expecting in another hero. Also, that voice was...familiar. "I appreciate the landing, but Captain Cold's up there and he's about to do something bad. Mind, uh, giving me a lift back up there?"

"I noticed. I can handle this one. Watch and learn, speedster."

The mattress began lowering toward the ground, where a crowd of people were beginning to gather. Barry stood up on the mattress, a little irritated. "Green Lantern! Let me help you!"

Within seconds, he was on the ground. Green Lantern flew upward towards the roof, fully intending on taking Captain Cold all for himself. Flash wasn't offended that he was taking the victory. Justice was justice either way. What he was concerned about was that GL was in way over his head and most likely didn't know how powerful Captain Cold was.

Crowds began gathering around Barry, and if he stuck around much longer, they would make it really difficult for him to get back up to the roof.

"Sorry, folks. I have work to do," he said before speeding off to the run up the side of the building again. A move that he was barely sure he could pull off the first time and here he was doing it again. It was either that or risk this situation escalating.

Fortunately, he made it to the roof again, even more easily than the first time. However, by the time he got up there, Green Lantern had the situation taken care of.

Captain Cold was apprehended, his hands behind his back in a construct of a pair of handcuffs. Green Lantern was holding onto one of his arms with one hand, and in his other hand was the cold gun. Pleased with his work, the lantern sent Barry a proud smirk.

"What'd I tell ya, Flash? Watch and learn. Catch them by surprise." Yeah, that voice was definitely familiar. Huh.

Barry crossed his arms. "Not bad. Reckless, but not bad."

"I'll take that as a compliment. You see any cops down there so I can bag this idiot?"

"Sure did. Be my guest."

"Don't mind if I do. Hold this thing, will you?" He was holding up the cold gun.

Barry approached them. Captain Cold was giving them both an angry scowl, but was otherwise not moving. Barry kept his eyes on him, just in case, while he took the gun.

"Alright. Hang tight," the Green Lantern said. He formed a bubble construct around himself and Captain Cold, then another bubble construct around Barry. "Going down. Please remain still and keep all hands inside the construct," he said, mocking a robotic voice.

They landed on the ground safely, where a crowd of police officers were waiting for them. Several of them apprehended Captain Cold with real handcuffs after the lantern made all of his constructs vanish. Barry handed over the cold gun to another group of officers, who thanked both him and Green Lantern for bringing Cold to justice before he had the chance to hurt more people. Green Lantern showed his cockiness, telling them it was easy and they were welcome. Barry kept from rolling his eyes as the thanked the officers for taking Cold off the streets again. The officers left, save for a few stragglers who were trying to disperse the crowd of civilians.

Green Lantern turned to Barry, who was finally able to get a good look at his face.

It was difficult to hide his surprised reaction. The lantern's disguise wasn't very good, as he only had a small domino mask and spoke the same way he did normally. He wasn't like Barry, who's Flash disguise covered most of his face and hair. Barry often tried to change the way he spoke as the Flash to further throw anyone off his trail. But apparently, Green Lantern didn't care about those things.

Still, Barry couldn't believe it. The Green Lantern was Hal Jordan.

Hal held up a hand, offering a high-five. "And another one bites the dust! Up top, Flash!"

Barry just stared at him for a moment, still trying to wrap his mind around the fact that the guy he'd been paired with for a date because of some glitch, the guy who he felt like he could talk to for hours, the guy who even wanted to see him again….was the Green Lantern.

Trying to compose himself, he gave Hal a half-hearted smile and returned his high-five.

Hal laughed. "Awfully slow for a guy everyone says is the fastest man alive." A green glow surrounded him as he began floating off the ground. "Gotta jet. See you around sometime. And watch your step in the future!" In a beam of light, he flew off and was gone.

The civilian crowd surrounded him, clamoring for his attention for autographs and questions but to Barry, they were distant. His eyes were locked to the sky where Hal had disappeared to. Hal Jordan was the Green Lantern. He couldn't believe it.

After their date, Hal had told Barry to call him. Knowing now who Hal really was, it was probably a bad idea.

And yet, Barry really wanted to.