Hey! I'm back with another oneshot! I started writing this after The Runaway Dinosaur aired, so I hope all the fluff and family feels/love help you recover from last episode because even if I was expecting that to happen, I was left devastated af.
I'm taking creative license here for story reasons, but I'll go into further detail at the end of this story. As always, mistakes are mine but the characters are not (well, there is a character that is indeed mine...).
THE T-REX, THE APATOSAURUS AND THE MYOSAUR
Barry turned his head to the door when he heard steps at the other side. He had gone to bed a long time ago, but he had been unable to sleep – every time he was about to fall asleep, Tony and the other bullies returned to hunt him again.
It had been a rough day at school. He always tried to go unnoticed, but that morning one of his teachers had praised his report about local insects and Iris had looked at him with the biggest smile he had ever saw. From that moment, everything had gone wrong. After the class, Tony and his friends had followed him to the bathroom where Barry had hidden before he decided to stand up to them and prove to them and himself that he was brave and strong too. But all he had gotten was a punch in the face as an answer, and seeing the others laugh at him while he laid hurt on the cold and dirty tiles of the floor.
"Barry, are you okay?" said a red-haired woman after opening the door to Barry's room.
"I can't sleep" he answered, shrugging his shoulders casually.
His mother needed no more. Quietly, she entered his son's room and sat on his bed, right next to him. She turned on the lamp on his son's bedside table before looking at him again.
Barry's eyes never left his mother's. There was always something soothing in her presence - there were no such things as superpowers, but her mother's had always been making him feel protected, as if nothing bad could ever happen to him when he was with her. In the dark times when Tony Woodward's favorite hobby was bullying Barry, the kid didn't even fully comprehend how fortunate he was to have a place to call home, a place where he felt protected and loved.
"What if I tell you a story?" Nora asked Barry, with a smile on her face and loving eyes.
"What?" asked Barry with a confused face. "I think I'm too old for that, Mom"
Nora just smiled. "We are never too old for good stories. And I know you love this one". When Barry didn't reply, Nora took it as a sign to keep talking. "Once upon a time, there was a little dinosaur called Myosaur who lived with his mother…"
Despite knowing each word of that story, he didn't interrupt his mother. He was ten, not five, but he still loved the story between the two dinosaurs, a mother and her baby. And in days like those, when he felt he wasn't special at all, it was only his mother the one who could use her own superpowers to make him feel unique and loved. In moments like those, he was able to forget about Tony Woodward and all the other bullies who had chased after him that day. In those moments, there were just a mother and a son, expressing their love to each other.
"Sweet dreams, my beautiful boy" said Nora after finishing the story, cupping his face with one hand and caressing his cheek with her thumb. Barry didn't even grimace when she touched his bruise.
When Nora turned off the light and left the room, Barry closed his eyes and was finally able to fall asleep. Despite being ten, he had needed that moment with his mom to feel himself again. And that night, Barry dreamt of dinosaurs living happily together as a The Land Before Time movie.
As he realized with time, that night had been more important than he first thought: it had been the last time his mother had told him that story – and he, like the T-Rex, became the one with tiny arms that wouldn't be able to hug his mother again, a mother that was too far out of reach and that would be taken away from his son far too soon.
The trip to the mall was unusually and uncomfortably silent. Normally, the both of them talked about their weeks, or just listened to the radio and sang whatever songs they heard.
But not on Mother's Day Eve.
Iris knew her dad had gradually been noticing her change throughout the week, as he had noticed it the previous year too - she always started the week with her usual smile, but by the end of it she was quiet and gloomy. The most frustrating thing was that there was nothing her dad could do to fix it, or so she thought. What could he do to fix it when every child in the school spent the week making a gift for their mothers on Art class? What could he do to erase that memory from her brain, and forget about the lovely gift she had spent the whole week making for a mother who didn't exist anymore?
That morning, Iris hadn't wanted to go with her dad; she had recently discovered Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and was too busy finishing the book to care about anything else. It had been only when her dad had told her they could get The Chamber of Secrets if she went with him when she had agreed to help him with the shopping – but still, she would have preferred to stay at Hogwarts hanging out with Harry and his friends.
But despite her moodiness, Iris was a good daughter and she still kept her word and helped Joe fill the cart in complete silence, trying to ignore the glances her dad directed at her whenever he had the chance. She appreciated her dad's concern, but she just wasn't in the mood. However, when they had finished crossing the last thing on the shopping list, she noticed excitedly how they were on their way to the books already.
Once they were there, each one focused on the books that interested them the most. She smiled as she saw Joe very concentrated on the cover of a book, and decided to take some time to explore the shelves herself. Her heart jumped inside her chest when she saw The Sorcerer's Stone and had to fight the urge to take it and continue reading from where she had left her own. She saw The Pillars of the Earth too, one of the books decorating the shelves at home, and other children books that decorated the shelves of her own room.
She stopped in front of one as she recognized one of the titles. Just days ago, she had had a conversation with Barry in the playground, during the recess, about the stories that they loved the most when they were younger. She knew how much her friend liked insects and bugs and all those horrifying creatures, but it had surprised her when he had mentioned dinosaurs because they weren't as bad as spiders – and even if they were scarier, they were extinct and couldn't harm anyone, so there was nothing threatening about them.
Iris took the book between her hands; it was obvious it was for little children, but she had to admit the illustrations were beautiful and catching. That was the only reason that made her read the book out of curiosity, as her own literary likes were already far beyond that. And so she started reading, and it only took her two pages to realize what a huge mistake that had been.
Slowly, she put the book back where it belong and headed towards her dad. She realized he was looking at The Chamber of Secrets' cover then, but she didn't care.
"And I thought common snakes were ugly. Is this really the kind of book you like…?" Joe stopped as soon as he saw Iris' face. "What's wrong, Iris?" His previous smile had vanished as concern was being written all over his face.
But Iris didn't answer. Instead, she threw herself to her father's arms and hugged him so hard as if she was scared he could vanish at any moment. She closed her eyes hard as she noticed her dad's comforting hand on her back.
"It's okay. I got you"
Iris hugged her dad harder. She knew that she shouldn't feel as sad and miserable. She knew she was fortunate to have her dad, always caring about her, always concerned, and always willing to ease her mind with just a comforting hand on her back. But there was nothing she could do to stop feeling as she did.
She was an Apatosaurus, just like the book's, with a neck too long to be able to see and feel a mother that had long gone. And there was nothing she or her dad could do to change that.
The ten-year old kid looked at his mother with frustration.
"But Mom, tell me why I can't do it"
His mother just smiled at him, with loving eyes and one of her hands cupping his face, caressing his bruised cheek with a thumb.
"You have such a good heart, Eddie. And it's better to have a good heart than fast legs"
"But I do have fast legs!"
"I know. But they can't. Not yet" Iris looked sadly at her son, empathetically.
"Why? It's what Dad does, and no one gets mad about it!"
Iris sighed. She understood what her son was saying but she also remembered the first days of The Flash, many years ago, and how hard it had been for him. She couldn't even imagine how it must be for their son, one who had born with the same gift but couldn't show it to the world just like his father did.
"That's different. You are Barry Allen's son but few people know The Flash is your father. And" she continued before Eddie had the chance to reply "the fewer, the better"
"Okay, so I'll keep it in secret. I don't need to be Eddie Allen to hit Usher really fast, I can be Kid Flash! And he wouldn't even see me!"
Iris laughed nervously, feeling between entertained, annoyed and concerned. "No, you can't. Your dad has been The Flash for so many years and it hasn't gotten any easier. Besides, that name's taken"
"So what, I'm supposed to just let him hit me?" despite Eddie's angry voice, Iris could sense fear too.
"Of course not. But… I can teach you how to fight - non-metahuman and complete-human fight, like PawPaw did with me when I was your age"
Eddie seemed to be thinking about it for some time, but he eventually raised his head and looked at his mother, with a wide smile similar to Barry's. "Okay"
"Okay." Iris smiled at her son. "And now come on, baby. Time to sleep." She glanced at the clock on her son's bedside table once more before tucking him in with gentle but firm hands. "Even speedsters have to go to school tomorrow"
"I can't sleep" he shrugged his shoulders casually.
"What if I tell you a story?" she smiled cunningly. She knew exactly which one her son needed to hear.
"What? I think I'm too old for that, Mom"
Iris rolled her eyes but went on. "Once upon a time, there was a little dinosaur called Myosaur who lived with his mother…"
"Mom, I already know that one…"
"One day, he told his mother: I wish I was special like the other dinosaurs. If I were a T-Rex, I could chomp with my ferocious teeth." Iris continued, as if her son had never interrupted her. "But if you were a T-Rex, said his mother, how would you hug me with your tiny little arms?"
"I wish I were an Apatosaurus, said the little dinosaur, so with my long neck, I could see high above the treetops." said Eddie enthusiastically, with eyes full of light – a sign that he was already inside the story.
"But if you were an Apatosaurus, said his mother, how would you hear me in the treetops when I told you I love you?" continued Iris. For a moment, neither mother nor son spoke; they just stared at each other's eyes with understanding. "What makes you so special, little Myosaur, said his mother, isn't your ferocious teeth, or long neck, or pointy beak. What makes you special is out of all of the different dinosaurs in the big wide world, you have the mother who is just right for you. And who will always…"
"… love you" said mother and son in unison. Iris smiled and kissed his son's bruised cheek. "Now off to sleep, young man!"
Eddie rolled his eyes, just like his mother had done a moment earlier, but still he got comfortable and turned off the lamp of his bedside table. "Good night, Mom"
"Sweet dreams, my beautiful boy"
Iris headed to the door, still smiling. When she opened it, she gave a startle when she recognized a familiar figure in a familiar suit standing right in front of her, at the other side of the door.
"What…?" she started, but the man in front of her waved one of his gloved hands and pointed at the door of their son's room, and she agreed it was better to have that conversation in private and let Eddie sleep. "What are you doing here? I thought The Flash had work to do" she whispered after closing the door to Eddie's room.
"He had" Barry shrugged his shoulders. "But even The Flash has the right to return home after a hard's day work". Without another word, he lent his head and kissed her.
"We've missed you. I've missed you." she said, being the one giving the kiss then. "The house is too quiet without you"
She lent her head on his chest, on the emblem of his scarlet red suit. There had been a time when hearing his heart beating so fast had surprised her, even scared her. Human hearts didn't beat that fast - but her husband wasn't a common human, he was The Flash. And in that moment, hearing his heart beating was a reminder that he was still alive, that Eddie still had a father and that she wasn't alone in a scary world.
She closed her eyes and sighed, wrapping her arms around Barry's torso and smiling slightly when she noticed his arms around her body and his cheek on top of her head.
"Well, you know…" he said after a moment, slowly separating his body from hers so he could look at her in the eyes. "It seems you have everything under control"
"What are you…?" she asked with a confused face, looking at her husband with furrowed brows. Then she realized. "Oh"
"Yup" Barry nodded, grinning.
"You've been listening?"
"Yup"
"And how long have you been listening?"
"Enough" he answered, still grinning, and spent the next moment in silence, looking at her with an enigmatic expression. "You remind me of her, you know"
"Of who?"
"My mom."
Despite his smile, Iris was able to see the sadness and the pain hidden behind his seemingly happy eyes. Her instinct made her comfort him, leaning her head against his chest once again and tightening her arms around his body, reminding him of the best thing he had accomplished in his life: his own happy family.
Barry didn't react to Iris' touch at first – he seemed lost in his thoughts. It took him some time to finally get back to the real world, with Iris and her son.
"But it's different this time" he said.
Something in his voice made Iris raise her head and look at him; he had a determined expression, but she didn't really understood what he was referring to and that made her nervous. "Different?"
Barry lowered his head and looked at Iris in the eyes. "I promise you I won't let anything happen to you. And I promise you Eddie won't have to grow up like we did, without a mother"
Iris slowly licked her lips, which had gonne instantly dry. She knew Eddie was a Myosaur – he always wondered why he had to pretend to be normal in front of the other children when he wasn't like the other children. And she knew she was the Myosaur's mother, the one standing by him, comforting him, helping him stand up whenever he fell and never afraid to verbalize how much she loved her son. But as soon as she had heard Barry, she had realized something that made her shiver: the story never mentioned the Myosaur's father.
"And" Iris started slowly "you may want to promise me Eddie won't grow up without his father, Barry Allen, or I do promise you I will…."
But before she could utter another word, Barry's lips were on her mouth, interrupting any attempt of continuing the conversation.
So... I know The Tornado Twins, and I know the boy's name is Don, but I have always thought of the Eddie of this story as a different character - maybe Don and Dawn's elder brother? And of course I chose the name Eddie because he was an important person in Iris and Barry's life (and also because feels, let's be honest). Although if I had started this story after watching Invincible, Eddie may have been named Henry, LOL. But I did mention PawPaw!
Thanks for reading! And don't forget to contact me if you have suggestions for future short/not-so-short stories! :)