A/N: The title of this one doesn't just refer to the story, but my decision to post the story. So...I'm in the middle of kind of a lot of fan fiction projects at the moment. I'd decided not to start off any new stories until I finished at least a couple of my in-progress fics, but plot bunnies be insistent and I had to write them down to get them out of my system. This one in particular has proven to be a problem for me though, because it focuses on Barry Allen and I've taken some heat for my portrayals of him before. I think it's probably inviting flames to post a fic written from his perspective, but the plot bunny isn't letting me go anytime soon and I might as well share the fic for those of you who will enjoy it.

I want to put down some preemptive author's notes though. My characterization of Barry is based primarily on the Silver Age. This is a pre-boot fic, so New 52 Barry is only considered lightly. I'm considering this an AU, and Barry will be a dynamic character that will grow and change throughout the story as he experiences epiphanies. This is an odd spin on him, even for my head-canon, and this fic is very much self-contained as a result. None of my other fics fit in with this at all. If it's not your cup of tea, that's fine, but please be respectful in your disagreement.

Now that that's out of the way, I hope you enjoy the story, and please let me know what you think with a review :)

Chapter One

Barry wasn't exactly surprised when he didn't see Hal anywhere in the interior of the gay club they'd agreed to meet at, but he was disappointed. It wasn't in his friend's nature to chicken out (what with being technically fearless and all), so he must have decided that ultimately he wasn't interested in exploring that part of himself.

With a disappointed sigh, Barry sat down at the bar to wait, just in case he was wrong. Hal could be out of sight somewhere, like in the bathroom, or he could be running late due to a costumed emergency. He'd give the man twenty minutes or so before leaving.

Dammit. Barry felt a little silly, being as disappointed as he was, but it was hard to shake. He'd really wanted to do this with his friend by his side (okay, really he'd wanted to do the exploring with his friend, but Hal had gently explained that though he'd had the occasional thought about other men, he definitely wasn't into Barry that way) rather than alone. Barry wasn't exactly comfortable in situations like these even when they were, well…normal, which was why he'd started thinking that maybe he wasn't entirely straight.

For the most part the men around him didn't seem to be bothered by the atmosphere. Most of them were his age or a tad younger, and they were all enjoying themselves, calling out to each other, or making obscene gyrations that probably counted as dancing. There were a few other awkward looking wallflowers scattered around the room. Maybe he didn't look completely out of place.

He must have looked exceptionally awkward though. Even the bartender was avoiding him for the sake of chatting up a group of customers that must have looked like better tippers.

Barry glanced at his watch, wondering how much of his twenty minutes had passed, when suddenly a man dropped onto the stool next to him. Barry glanced up, and just managed to keep the shock off his face when he recognized one of his Rogues.

Unless he was very much mistaken, that was the Pied Piper straddling that stool, an easy looking smile on his face contrasting sharply with the mocking one Barry was used to seeing in battle. He'd never seen this particular Rogue in any kind of social situation before (unless you counted Rogues Conventions, which Barry didn't). He looked like a completely different person.

He also looked really young. Barry thought back through the files the station had on his Rogues, and he remembered that the Piper was only twenty two. There was something ageless about costumes, but tight jeans, a thin t-shirt with a low collar, and scuffed up army boots were something else entirely.

"Hey there," Piper greeted, clearly with no idea who Barry really was.

Barry nodded curtly, and turned back towards the bar.

"Is this your first time in here? I haven't seen you around before," Piper tried again.

Barry darted his eyes towards the man, gave a brief nod, then turned and looked away, hoping he'd take the hint and leave him alone. He couldn't imagine a more uncomfortable scenario for this outing: not only had Hal failed to show and abandoned him, but now one of the supervillains he battled with on a regular basis was trying to hit on him. Just…spectacular.

He hadn't even known the Pied Piper was gay.

Clearly he was though, because he seemed perfectly comfortable and at ease with himself. Barry was a little jealous. If he'd given in to these thoughts when he'd been in his early twenties, he probably wouldn't be trying to avoid eye contact with a supervillain right then.

Piper didn't seem at all thrown by Barry's rudeness. He simply waved over the bartender and ordered a rum and coke. "Are you getting anything?" Piper asked.

"Um, just a beer please," Barry said, careful to speak solely to the bartender.

"You don't need to look so worried sunshine," Piper said, easy smile still in place and laughter in his eyes. "No one's going to jump you or anything. Y'know, unless you volunteer for it. But if you keep your body language like that then no one's going to talk to you."

"Maybe that's what I want."

"Then you wouldn't be here."

"I…was supposed to meet someone," Barry admitted.

"Ah. So you're still in the closet then?" Piper asked, as though the subject was perfectly normal for friendly chit chat with a stranger.

Barry frowned, still staring down at the bar. "I'm not even sure if I'm…y'know…"

"Gay?" Piper finished. Barry nodded. "Well, if you figure out you are, it's not the end of the world. Actually, once you get over whatever's holding you back it's pretty fantastic. But I'm guessing that if you were willing to come here in the first place you probably do need to do some exploring. Seems like you'd avoid the place at all cost otherwise."

"No kidding," Barry said bitterly. He was definitely regretting his decision.

Piper laughed. "Oh come on, it's not so bad. Or, it won't be if you loosen up a little. You can just hang out and talk to a few guys. Making eye contact with someone won't make them think you want to sleep together. That was a hint, you know."

Reluctantly, Barry turned to look at his unwanted companion. Piper was still smiling at him. Barry briefly met his eyes, then looked past him at some of the bar's other patrons.

"That wasn't so hard."

Barry decided to try a more direct tactic. "You look familiar. Aren't you a supervillain or something?"

To his surprise, Piper nodded. "Yep. I'm out legitimately though, so you don't need to worry. I'm on parole and everything. You know you look a little familiar too…"

Barry's heart sank and he regretted pushing the topic forward. This would be one hell of a way for his rogues to figure out his secret identity.

Then Piper narrowed his eyes at Barry and frowned. "You're a cop, aren't you? No wonder you look so uncomfortable."

Relief washing over him that Piper hadn't recognized his other identity, Barry chuckled under his breath. "Kind of. I'm a forensic scientist for the police. I think we may have run into each other a few times at the station."

"Ah." Piper frowned again. "Well I'll leave you alone if you really want me to, but I thought where you looked so jumpy and all that it might be nice to chat for a few minutes." The bartender finally brought over their drinks and Barry gratefully took a sip of his beer, glad for the stall.

Again, he decided to just blurt out his question. "So you weren't trying to hit on me?"

Piper shrugged. "I might have if you seemed receptive. Listen Mr. Police Scientist, in addition to my more notorious public activities, I'm an LGBT counselor and an activist. You're kind of screaming self-hatred and I thought I might be able to help. The offer's still out there if you do want to talk, but…well, cops don't tend to like me very much."

"I didn't think supervillains would want to talk to cops either," Barry pointed out. He wondered if that line about the counseling and the activism was true.

Piper took a sip of his own drink before answering. "I don't have any problems with cops. You people are just doing your jobs and trying to help people in your own way. I try to help people from outside the system."

"By robbing banks?" Barry asked sarcastically.

"By redistributing wealth. You've got to admit, it's not exactly fairly distributed right now. Case in point, my parents are absolutely loaded. Like, personal servants, own five houses, private jet style loaded. But to keep their company solvent, they had to cut all bonuses and benefits and freeze wages for employees below a certain income bracket. If it were me, I'd just sell the jet and let all their employees earn a living wage. They never use the damn thing anyway."

"But how does robbing someone else's bank help your parents' employees?" Barry pressed, intrigued. It had never occurred to him that one of his villains might think they were in the right. Clearly Piper did, and he was surprisingly intelligent about it. Still wrong, but he'd clearly put some thought into his misguided conclusions.

"I'm just trying to buck the system. Make some noise, scare the rich a little. Plus I play Robin Hood with as much of my ill-gotten gains as I can afford. I want to help people, but lately I'm not quite sure I've picked the right methods."

The two men sat in silence for a few minutes, both lost in thought. Barry contemplated his companion, and was forced to admit that the Pied Piper wasn't quite the man he'd made him out to be (he'd still look into his claims of altruistic service the first chance he got though).

Finally, Piper finished his drink and set it down on the bar. "Well, it's been a pleasure talking to you…"

"Barry." Giving his first name seemed harmless enough.

Piper flashed that easy smile again and made a slight nod. "Piper."

"Don't you have a real name?" Something ridiculous that started with H, if he remembered correctly.

Piper scrunched up his nose in distaste (it was pretty cute, actually). "Hartley Robert Rathaway. I prefer Piper."

Barry couldn't say he blamed him.

"Anyway, I'm going to go mingle. If you want to talk again, just let me know."

Barry nodded, sure he wouldn't be taking the amiable criminal up on the offer, and watched him walk across the bar. He decided to stay long enough to finish his beer, but he took his time sipping it, casually people watching as he did so.

Eventually his eyes found Piper again. The young man was chatting with a group about his own age. He looked perfectly at ease (though why wouldn't he be? If things got out of hand, he could always hypnotize the strange men into leaving him alone). As Barry watched, one of the strangers put his hand on Piper's hip and led him away to dance.

"He's pretty cute, huh?"

Barry jumped. He hadn't even heard the bartender head towards him (apparently there were no better tip prospects present). Reluctantly, Barry nodded. If he was going to be honest, he'd have to give it to the man. Piper was good looking, and when he wasn't using his supervillain persona he was easy going and talkative in a way that definitely applied to the word "cute".

"He's a good kid too," the bartender continued. "Comes in here a lot and finds the quiet guys like you. Gets 'em to loosen up, enjoy themselves a little, and find help when they need it. He's a real good guy, Piper. He's the kinda guy that talks someone off the edge of a building, y'know?"

"No, I didn't know that about him," Barry answered distantly, eyes still focused on Piper. He reached for his wallet and took out a few bills. "Here, that's for Piper's drink too."

"I'll let him know."

Barry finished the last sip of his beer and left.

When Barry got back to his apartment he found the light on his answering machine blinking. He had a message from Hal, claiming some business came up (so it was superhero related) and he was sorry he missed out on their plans. He didn't try to make new ones though, and Barry decided not to force it.

He was pretty sure he was never going back to that club again.

"God, of all the people to talk to me…" Barry groaned as he sat down on his bed.

Well, it probably could have been worse. It could have been Gorilla Grodd, for one. Barry had a large and varied Rogues gallery, after all. Of all the supervillains that could be gay and interested in him as a civilian, he supposed the Pied Piper wasn't actually the worst of the lot.

Barry shuddered as a thought occurred to him. Piper was a hypnotist, and he had hypnotized the Flash into robbing places for him and then forgetting about it afterwards. What if he'd done something perverted and then made Barry forget about it…?

He dismissed the thought almost as soon as it came, though he still had a sinking sensation in his stomach. It didn't seem like the type of thing Piper would do.

Barry kept telling himself that, over and over and over again. It was the only way he was going to get any sleep.

He couldn't explain why, but Barry went back to the bar the next week. Maybe it was just one too many nights sitting in his lonely apartment wishing his wife hadn't died. Maybe it was the fact that Piper had smiled so prettily at him while listening to what he had to say. Whatever the reason, he wanted to be out amongst people and, more specifically, he was hoping the paroled supercriminal would be at the bar again.

He took a look around when he walked in but didn't see anyone he recognized. As with last week, he decided to give it twenty minutes or so, went to the bar, and ordered a beer.

Five minutes later Piper plopped onto the stool next to him. This time he was wearing slacks, a t-shirt, and a fedora. It was an odd look (half blues musician half art student), but it suited him. "Hey sunshine. Back for more?" He waved at the bartender, and the man brought him his drink.

"I decided to give the place another chance. I wasn't…particularly open last week."

Piper grinned. "No shit. I have to admit, I'm a little surprised to see you. Thanks for picking up my tab last week. That was sweet of you."

Barry shrugged a little awkwardly. "It was just one drink."

"It was still sweet. I'm usually the one who has to buy the drinks." He traced his finger around the rim of his glass, a thoughtful look on his face.

"I've never tried same sex dating or anything, but I'd just assumed you'd take turns." He hadn't given it much thought, but that seemed fair. Barry had to admit he was a little puzzled how people went about these things without the comforting familiarity of gender roles (although from the looks of it, some of the men around them probably played the part of the lady; some of the guys looked normal though, and Barry wasn't sure what the norms would be for them).

"Maybe that's how the healthy couples do it," Piper said, with mock cheerfulness. He rolled his eyes. "I've no experience there."

"You've never been in a healthy relationship?" Barry asked, then frowned. "Sorry. That's a bit personal, isn't it?"

"Oh, I volunteered a segue into my tale of woe. I'm…still a bit bitter about how my first real relationship ended. And it was over a year ago. Pathetic, huh?"

"Not if it was serious," Barry said, thinking of Iris. He was never going to get over that blow, and the shock of it might have had something to do with why he was sitting where he was sitting. "What happened?"

"The selfish fucker's serving ten to twenty for armed robbery and assault."

"Oh." Somehow that hadn't quite been what he'd expected.

Piper took off his fedora and pushed back his bangs, revealing a small scar along his hairline. "This isn't part of what got him in jail, but it's a nice little memento from the night before his heist. He insisted on robbing a place by himself. He wanted to prove that he was as tough as me, even though he didn't get into the Rogues proper. I told him not to be stupid, and that he should let me watch his back like always. I guess I pushed a button or something because he hit me. Knocked my head right into the kitchen cabinets. So I let him go and the next day he pulled his job and got taken in by the Flash almost immediately. Asshole still hasn't sprung himself from Iron Heights, and I've no intention of helping him."

Barry tried to figure out who Piper could have been talking about, but he was at an absolute loss. He'd taken in too many upstart supercriminals over the years to know which one might have been Piper's ex-boyfriend. One thing about the anecdote stuck out for him though. "He couldn't have cared about you much if he hit you."

"He had a temper problem. I knew it when we started dating." Piper smiled a little self-deprecatingly. "As I already implied, I don't date well. Earl's screwed up…but in his own way he loved me."

Barry shook his head. "If he loved you he wouldn't have hit you. Especially not when you were trying to look out for him." By offering to watch his back against Barry, which was just weird for him to consider.

"You sound like you know how to treat a guy," Piper said. "You thinking about it, or still keeping a foot in the closet?"

"I…think I'll be keeping in the closet for the foreseeable future. But…this is something I should explore."

Piper nodded. "Fair enough. Wanna dance?"

Barry thought back to the week before, when he'd watched Piper dance with a few different partners. Barry wasn't much of a dancer himself (more of a swayer), and he wasn't overeager to try anything that involved nearly that much body contact. But it also seemed rude to say no.

"I guess. For a song or two."

"Don't worry, I'll be gentle," Piper said with a wink. He grabbed Barry by the wrist and tugged him out onto the floor.

Barry stood stock still, not sure of where to put any of his limbs. Piper pressed up against him, still smiling that adorably amused little smile, like he was going to burst out laughing at Barry's awkwardness any minute. He wrapped an arm around Barry's back and encouraged him to put his hand on Piper's hip. "Try to loosen up a little." He had to raise his voice to be heard over the music. "The idea is that we're supposed to be moving."

"I get that much at least," Barry answered defiantly. He put his right hand on Piper's hip as indicated and, unsure what to do with his left, he finally rested it on Piper's shoulder. Giggling a little, Piper started moving, silently urging Barry to do so too.

Thankfully, it wasn't as sexually charged as what many of the other couples in the bar were doing, but it was still a bit more intimate than any dances Barry had ever done before (although his experience boiled down to his wedding, a couple of parties, and his high school prom). Piper was very close to him, but his expression remained warm and friendly, and his hands stayed in polite places.

Barry still couldn't believe he was dancing with one of his supervillains.

It was pleasant enough though, so he danced for a few songs with Piper, waiting for the younger man to get bored with it. He didn't though (maybe it was a mistake, hoping that someone with a music gimmick would get sick of dancing), but eventually another man asked if he could cut in and dance with Piper.

"Would you mind? I don't want to leave you stranded," Piper said.

"Don't worry about me. Go on and enjoy yourself."

Piper frowned at him. "You're just going to wind up back on that bar stool, aren't you?"

"Dancing isn't really my thing anyway. I'd rather people watch. But you have fun."

To his surprise, Piper kissed his cheek, then went off to dance with the stranger. Barry walked back over to the bar stool rubbing at his cheek and feeling somewhat bewildered. He guessed these sorts of men were just more affectionate than normal guys.

The bartender brought him another beer and he watched the crowd while he slowly nursed it. No one else approached him, but he didn't mind. That didn't seem to be the case for Piper though. After dancing for a few songs with the first man, he wound up dancing with another, before joining a third at a table. Clearly he was very popular in this community (Barry wondered how many of the other men present knew Piper was a supercriminal).

Eventually Barry lost sight of Piper. He people watched for a little longer, trying to get a better sense of how these men behaved and wondering if he was really one of them. He definitely found some of the men attractive (Piper included), but he still couldn't imagine doing anything sexual with them.

He'd had dreams about Hal though…

But Hal was one of his closest friends. Maybe that was the key factor. Barry had never gotten hung up on anyone he didn't know personally, even when he was a kid. For him, sexual attraction was born out of close, personal intimacy. He needed to really know someone to find them beautiful, and he needed to find them beautiful to desire them.

He was probably wasting his time sitting at a gay bar then. He wasn't going to answer any of his questions about his sexuality in an establishment where people met to flirt (or worse) with strangers.

Barry paid for his and Piper's drinks again and started for the exit once more. He didn't get far before he felt a hand tugging against his arm. Barry turned around and found himself facing his nemesis.

Piper's face was a bit flushed and he was swaying a little where he stood. It occurred to Barry that even though he'd only been at the bar for an hour or so, he had no idea how long Piper had been there or how many drinks he'd had besides the one Barry had paid for. At any rate, he looked tipsy at the least.

"I thought I was supposed to pay this time," Piper said. "You said good guys take turns."

"We're not dating," Barry reminded him.

"Friends can spot each other though. Here, lemme pay this one." He reached into his pocket and took out a small wad of bills.

Highly reluctant to accept money that was probably stolen, Barry curled his hand over Piper's, closed it over the money, and guided it back towards his pocket. "You can buy the next round."

Piper's face lit up. "Does that mean you're coming back next week?"

Barry couldn't help but smile, wondering if Piper would be that happy if he knew who Barry really was. "Maybe."

"You'd better. Otherwise I'm going to have to track you down and buy you some booze. That'd be kind of fun anyway."

"Piper…how are you getting home? You're not driving, are you?"

"Are you calling me drunk?" Piper asked. Barry tried to think of a polite way to say it, and Piper laughed. "Okay, I'm a bit…gone. But not completely gone. Certainly not Captain Boomerang gone. No, I'm not driving. I'm going to walk."

"Do you need a ride?" Barry asked, not liking the thought of the (possibly too) friendly young man stumbling home by himself in an incapacitated state.

"I'm not going that far. I don't…you were on your way out."

"I can wait. If you need a ride, I don't mind." Yet another thing he never expected to say to a supervillain. Well, unless he was going to throw in a witty rejoinder about giving them a ride to prison.

Piper smiled again and gave Barry's hand a squeeze. "You're really nice Sunshine. Alright, lemme get my coat."

"You don't have to leave now if you don't want to."

Piper waved a hand dismissively. "I already got a few phone numbers tonight. I'm good. We can go. I'll be right back."