Prompt: "Didn't you see what I did?" with Joe and Barry. Slight AU/spoilers for 2x05 "The Darkness and the Light."
"How's it going?"
Barry winces as Caitlin pulls through another stitch. "Funny you should ask. Who would have guessed taking a bullet could actually be painful?"
Joe shuffles closer. "I'm sorry."
The bullet in question, dug out from Barry's shoulder, sits in a plain metal dish on the side table beside red-stained cloth. Barry, quite pale, motions at the similarly-bloodied blue button-down draped nearby.
"I really liked that shirt."
"Please, Barry, don't joke."
"I think I have the right to do whatever I want," Barry says. "I mean, you did shoot me."
Joe leans against the doorframe, hands shoved in his pockets. "I thought you were faster than a speeding bullet."
"Yeah, well, maybe I'm not faster than three speeding bullets." Barry's face tightens at another stitch, and Caitlin apologizes quietly. She's deliberately not making eye contact, retreating into awkwardness, but Barry can't delay this conversation. "Three shots, Joe? At an unarmed man? With no questions?"
"Again, I'm sorry," Joe says, but this time his eyes light up. "But it's Harrison Wells—and the last time I saw that man, he was murdering my partner. At this point, it becomes instinct."
"An instinct to shoot blindly," Barry says bitterly, and maybe he wouldn't be so bitter if he didn't have a hole in his shoulder, but right now he's pretty sick of bleeding. "I thought you were a good cop."
"I—" But Joe stops himself before he can finish his potentially-regrettable retort. He stares at Barry, who squirms at another pull of thread. His look softens. "I probably deserved that. I'm so sorry, Barry."
Barry feels the anger receding, already embarrassed by his previous statement. "I didn't mean that. I swear."
"Didn't you see what I did?"
"Obviously," Barry says, but it's lighter this time. "Not that I don't appreciate the whole 'let's shoot Barry' thing. What I mean is—I understand."
"Pretty damn stupid jumping in front of a guy like him, anyway."
"Instinct," Barry responds. "Like you said." He pauses. The throb in his shoulder dulls as Caitlin steps away. "Maybe I take after you in the irrationality department."
Joe takes this with a chuckle, moves to the bedside. "At least you didn't shoot your own son today."
"True," Barry says, and he shifts. "And believe me, you won't be hearing the end of this for a long time."
