"Maybe it's his boyfriend's." Nick teased right as they entered the house.
"I think it's his boyfriends." Thad muttered at the sight before them. Barry was wrapped around none other than Oliver Queen, who was murmuring in his ear. He drew a laugh out of Barry who playfully swatted his arm.
"You're terrible, you know that right?" Barry asked.
Oliver's smile reached his eyes as he replied, "That's what I'm here for."
Barry laughed, "Uh huh, sure. So what are you doing here?"
"Can't I just drop in to see you?" Oliver innocently asked.
"Yes, but knowing you you have some other reason to be here."
"I came to the fashion district to order Thea's birthday present." Oliver admitted. "She's been dropping hints all over the place about what she wants."
"Aw, that's sweet." Barry smiled and stole a kiss, "Who knew macho Oliver Queen had a soft side."
"And who knew Sebastian Smythe had a soft side." Jeff butted in.
Thad scolded him, "That was rude, they were having a moment."
"Who's Sebastian Smythe?" Oliver asked. "And what does he have to do with anything?"
"Seriously?" Nick said, "You're standing right next to him."
"No." Oliver corrected, "I'm standing next to my boyfriend, Barry Allen. I have never met a Sebastian Smythe in my life. I didn't even know that Richard Smythe had a son."
"And this is where the story comes in." Barry commented, aiming- but failing- for a casual tone. "Why don't we all sit down and I can tell my story. Better yet, I feel like I should just wait for Iris and Joe to get here."
Oliver snorted, "At this rate, you might as well invite over Cisco and Caitlyn."
"Why not! If I'm going to tell all my secrets, might as well just tell everyone!" Barry exclaimed, slightly hysterical.
"Barry," Oliver soothed, "Barry calm down, I'm sure it's not that bad."
Barry's laugh was still hysterical as he replied, "Oh but it is! It's the worst thing that I could ever have to reveal about myself to all of you!"
Oliver pulled Barry into his side and wrapped his arms around the speedster, "I'm sure it'll be fine. Can't be any worse than my past."
Nick and Jeff nodded in agreement, causing Barry to throw a glare their way, "Shut up, you guys don't even really know him. He could be a saint for all you know. The tabloids are sharks."
"I wouldn't go so far as to say that I'm a saint." Oliver murmured in Barry's ear.
"Yeah, well, they don't know that." He replied snappishly.
"It's alright. The tabloids have said much worse about me. I've basically heard it all." Oliver said, pulling his boyfriend closer to his side. "I'll text Caitlyn and Cisco. We can all discuss this like adults over some beer and pizza."
"Yeah," Barry agreed faintly, "Sounds good."
"So how do you know Barry?" Oliver asked.
"High school and I have a feeling that this is also part of the story." Thad replied.
"It is." Barry faintly replied.
Thankfully the five only sat in an awkward silence for a few minutes before Caitlyn, Cisco, Joe, and Iris arrived, Joe bearing multiple boxes of pizza. "So what's the pow wow for?" Joe asked, "And who are our guests, Barry?"
"These are three of my friends from high school: Nick Duval, Jeff Starling-" Oliver snorted in amusement at his last name, "and Thad Harwood. Warblers, by the door is my foster dad Joe, next to him is my foster sister Iris and her boyfriend Eddie. Then the nerdy one is Cisco and last but not least is Caitlyn and her husband Ronnie."
"I can't believe I finally get to meet some of Barry's high school friends!" Iris squealed in happiness.
"You didn't go to school together?" Eddie asked.
"No, Barry went to live with his uncle during high school. We only got to see each other during holidays and for like two weeks in the summer." Iris replied.
"Why on earth-" Jeff started.
Barry cut in quickly, "And that is all part of the story. You know the one I gathered you all here for?"
"Well I thought I was just coming for a pizza and beer night, but high school stories are awesome too." Cisco said easily.
"I was told there was food." Was Eddie's response.
Iris laughed, "I told you that Barry had something to tell us."
"He must have been listening to his stomach." Joe laughed, setting the pizza boxes down on the coffee table. "We didn't get to have lunch today." Everyone settled down around the living room, pizza and beer in hand. "So what's this all about, Bear?" Joe asked.
Barry attached himself even more to Oliver's side, who in concern wrapped his arm once again around Barry. "Are you sure you're okay?" Oliver asked softly.
"No." Barry replied, "But I need to do this."
Oliver still looked concerned as Barry started to talk, "So I guess I'll start from the very beginning for the Warblers." That startled Nick, Jeff, and Thad, causing them to sit up straighter. "My mom was murdered when I was eleven. It was done by the man in yellow, which I found out later was the Reverse Flash. But that's a whole other story that can be told later. My dad was convicted of her murder and he was in Iron Heights Prison for fifteen years. A confession video was found by the Reverse Flash and thankfully he was just released."
"Geeze." Nick muttered, causing Jeff and Thad to nod in agreement.
"Tell me about it." Barry muttered. "Anyways, I moved in with Joe and Iris. I lived with them and things weren't too terrible. I mean, a lot of kids were mean because of what happened, but it was easy to ignore them. And most of you don't know this next part." Barry hesitated.
"Would you like me to tell this part?" Joe asked, knowing that this was putting a lot of stress on Barry. Barry nodded in agreement before hiding himself in Oliver's side as much as humanly possible. "School was always rough for Bear, he was smarter than most kids. It didn't help that his father was convicted of murder. When Barry was in eighth grade, a group of freshman beat Barry and left him for dead behind the bleachers at the middle school. If it wasn't for Iris finding him, we might not be sitting here with Barry."
Everyone sat in a stunned silence, staring at Barry who was still hiding in his boyfriend's side. Oliver practically growled, "Did they ever convict the kids who did that to him?"
Joe sighed and scrubbed a hand across his face, "There was no video evidence and it was Bear's word against a group of high school kids. The school couldn't take action and-" Joe sighed again, "There wasn't enough evidence to follow to arrest and convict the culprits."
Everyone looked angry, "Seriously? The guys that did that to Barry just walked?" Nick said angrily, "That's not right!"
"I wasn't on the case due to the proximity and the detective working the case just couldn't find the evidence." Joe said, "Barry was able to stay home and finish his year. I made sure the school allowed it. It wasn't ideal, but Richard offered to adopt Barry and pay for him to go to school outside of Central City. Right after school finished, Barry and Richard left for Paris."
"That's where I went to school for my freshman and sophomore year. Then Uncle Richard needed to be at the Ohio branch of his company, so he sent me to Dalton. It had a no bullying policy, so I would be perfectly safe there." Barry took over the telling of the story, peeking out from his hiding space.
"So do you know any French?" Oliver teased, running his hand down Barry's arm.
"Yes, I became quite fluent. My aunt forced me to perfect the accent and threw me into the deep end when it came to knowing the language." Barry replied.
"I see we have our own language now." Oliver smiled dopily at Barry, causing him to laugh.
"Gross." Nick said, "I do know French and I don't want to be subjected to this."
Barry laughed, "Sorry, I forgot you were in my French class. But back to the story." Barry said reluctantly, "I became a lot more confident while in Paris and I even learned how to play lacrosse and my aunt forced me to take singing lessons along with piano and dance. She said it was because I couldn't always rely on math and science, it didn't make me a well rounded person." Barry rolled his eyes, "It was a special kind of torture at first, but I learned to love my lessons."
"It was like pulling a tooth to get him to join the Warblers though." Thad laughed, "It took me forever to convince him to audition."
"Which I don't understand because he has an amazing voice." Jeff added, causing Barry to blush.
"I'm not that great…"
"Dude, you're an amazing singer and were one of the better dancers we had." Jeff said.
Cisco held up a hand in confusion, "Okay, so what exactly is the Warblers?"
"It's Dalton Academy's glee club." Barry supplied.
"I still can't get over the thought of Barry being a prep school kid." Eddie said. "I thought prep kids were supposed to be rich, bratty kids."
Barry blushed and tried to sputter out an answer but was beaten by Nick, "Look here, Mr. Pretty Boy, just because we went to a private school does not automatically mean that we brats or snobs. Most everyone at Dalton was extremely kind. We were kinda forced to become overly polite private school boys. And just to answer the next question: no not everyone that went to an all boys school was gay. Though we had quite a few because of the no bullying policy."
"So, do you guys have any videos of Barry singing and dancing?" Iris asked, a dangerous glint in her eye.
"We sure do!" Jeff chirped happily, "I'd be glad to find the YouTube page so we can all-"
"How about we finish the story first?" Caitlin asked.
Thad rolled his eyes, "What makes you think there's more to the story?"
"Because of Barry's near panic attack and because you seemed to know him as Sebastian." Oliver cooly replied.
Barry sighed, "Yeah, there's more to the story. Though I wish there wasn't."
"It wasn't that bad." Jeff said. "You were pretty awesome most of the time."
"Except when you were being a douche." Nick snarked.
"True." Thad and Jeff conceded.
Iris looked stunned, "Barry Allen, the sweetest person alive, a douche?"
"I wasn't the most kind kid on the block in high school." Barry muttered.
"Whoa, whoa, let's back this thing right up." Cisco demanded, "You went by a different name in high school?"
"Why me?" Barry muttered in French, "What did I do in a past life to deserve this?"
Oliver chuckled, "I'm sure it's not that bad." He whispered into Barry's ear.
"Yeah," Barry whispered back, "it actually can be."