Barry got to his feet, swinging the power drill idly back and forth as he surveyed his handiwork. One firm shake of the headboard confirmed that the twin bed he'd just put together was sound, "Wally, come here real quick."
Across the small bedroom, Wally looked up from the toy chest where he was finishing unpacking the last box of action figures. Barry beckoned him over with a smile and the tiny redhead hopped up and bounced over happily, "Yeah?"
"We're almost done, buddy," Barry ruffled his hair fondly and nodded towards the bed frame sitting in the middle of the floor. "You just have to pick where you want your bed to go."
Wally looked down at the frame thoughtfully and then all around the room for a long minute. He padded over to the window and rose up onto his tippy toes, "Can we put it here?"
"We sure can," Barry set down the drill and started dragging the bed frame across the carpet. "Watch out for a second, kiddo."
Wally backed away to give him room to put the bed against the wall, "Is that a good spot?"
Once he had it in place, Barry started unwrapping the new mattress and box spring he'd picked up yesterday, "I think it's the best spot in the whole room."
Wally beamed and went back to his toys. He climbed into an empty cardboard box and folded the flaps closed on himself, "I like this new house, Uncle Bawwy."
"What's your favorite part of it?" Barry glanced back at the box. It was rocking side to side slightly.
It had taken almost two months, and a lot of persuasive speeches from Hal, but the house in Danville had finally sold. Barry had been extremely reluctant to let it go. It had felt like he was getting rid of every last shred of Iris that was left. That had been their first place together – Barry had let Iris pick it out right after they'd gotten married.
Hal was right, though. Barry wouldn't have done well if he'd stayed in that house.
Englewood was nicer than Danville, anyways – and you could see Granite Peak National Park from the backyard. Barry could take Wally out camping and hiking whenever they wanted. There was plenty of room for Wally to run around and play.
It was better.
It was.
"The stairs," Wally's voice was a little muffled from inside the box.
"Why the stairs?" Their last house had only been one floor whereas the new one had two stories.
"Cause – because Howl said I could um put some blankies on the stairs and make it a ramp and then sled down it!" Wally's head popped out of the box and his eyes were big and round in excitement.
Barry plopped the mattress down and shoved it into alignment with his knees. Wally was still having trouble pronouncing some things – like his and Hal's names. He was 'Bawwy' and Hal was 'Howl'. Neither of them minded. It was adorable. "Uhhh…when did he give you that idea?"
"This morning," Wally happily reported matter of factly. The box overturned and he toppled out giggling.
Right. That wasn't happening. Barry sat down on the bed and tested its sturdiness again, "Well, when Hal gets back up here, he can explain to you why you're not allowed to do that."
"Aww! Why?" Wally whined, devastated.
"Because I don't want to have to take you to the hospital for a broken arm," Barry hooked one leg over the other and leaned back on his hands. Wally looked like he was gearing up for an argument when they both heard footsteps coming up the stairs.
"Soooo… I dunno if you're gonna be able to find anything, but the kitchen is all set up," Hal appeared in the doorway and leaned against the frame, jerking his thumb over his shoulder to gesture downstairs. He looked all around the room and whistled appreciatively. "Wow, Wally, this is a cool room."
Wally rocked back and forth happily and patted the carpet with pride like he'd personally assembled this part of the house himself.
Barry just cocked an eyebrow at Hal and kept his expression neutral, "Sledding down the stairs, huh?"
The warning tone of his voice froze Hal in place and he looked up with a nervous sort of poker face, "…What?"
Like a toddler that was just caught doing something bad.
Hal laughed nervously and shuffled his feet, directing his gaze at Wally, "Oh, right. Haha. No. See, I meant 'can' as in you have the physical ability to, not that you have permission."
Wally wasn't fooled. He frowned at Hal openly, "That's dumb! That's not what you said before."
"It is what I said before," Hal tried to cover his screw up with his very best adult voice. "And you're obviously not gonna get permission, because letting a small child play on the stairs is irresponsible…and stupid…which your uncle is not. He's a very smart man and a good parent. Cause he cares about ya – and doesn't want you to die on the stairs…"
Both Wally and Barry were just staring at him with the same unimpressed glower. Hal pursed his lips together and averted his eyes.
"Nice save, Hal," Barry smiled at him passive aggressively. "Do you think you have any more great ideas for him? Playing in the street, perhaps? Or running with scissors?"
"Nope..." Hal shook his head innocently and made a face like he was thinking about it. "No ideas – nothing like that. Just...a really great present!"
He reached out of sight of the doorframe and produced a big, horrifically wrapped present with a huge smile on his face.
"Oh God…" Barry mumbled anxiously.
Wally completely lost it and sprinted over to Hal excitedly while Barry frowned at the gift suspiciously. What was it…?
"Gimme, gimme!" Wally reached for the present, jumping up and down and grabbing with his tiny little fists. "What is it?! What is it?!"
Hal laughed and kept lifting it just out of reach, "A welcome home present. You need something super cool for this super cool new room, don't you think?"
Barry watched in alarm, all the while wondering how the hell Hal had snuck the gift into the house without him noticing. He hoped it was a pillow or something else soft and child-friendly. Hal's gifts had a tendency to be…hazardous…
Wally snatched it with one really big jump and immediately started tearing at the horribly wrapped paper, getting tape stuck in his hair and all over his clothes in the process.
"Did you wrap that with your feet?" Barry asked worriedly.
"Feet and duct tape," Hal strolled over to stand beside him with his hands on his hips like a champion.
Barry's dread only increased, "What did you get him?"
He flashed a smug grin and shrugged innocently.
Wally removed the last bit of crudely taped together paper and tossed it into the air. Barry sat upright to try and see past Wally. He didn't get a good look at what it was until his nephew cocked his head in confusion and held up a bright green cube of something tightly sealed in clear plastic.
Wally clearly didn't know what it was, and neither did Barry until Hal started making this weird, excited sort of coughing sound. Then, the sunlight caught the plastic casing and Barry could see a big, white lantern printed on green fabric. His mouth fell open in scandalized shock and he blinked rapidly to make sure he was seeing things right.
"It's a Green Lantern bedspread!" Hal told them both happily, looking from Wally to Barry and back again, clearly expecting a positive reaction.
Barry was still mentally fumbling for words when Wally set the package down and frowned at Hal, "What's a Gween Lantern?"
Hal's gleeful expression shattered and he whipped his head around to stare at Barry in open disbelief, "What's a Gree-?! You haven't told him who I-who Green Lantern is?!"
"You bought him a Green Lantern bed set?!" Barry shot back, equally incensed.
"What's wrong with Green Lantern?" Hal narrowed his eyes distrustfully, folding his arms over his chest.
Barry shoved a palm into Hal's face and tried not to smack him upside his chronically injured head, "Wally likes the Flash."
"What - Wally can't like both of them?" Hal shrugged angrily.
"No!" Barry held out a finger like he was scolding a puppy. He had no idea why he was getting so petty over this, but he refused to lose to Hal. He'd been grooming Wally to be a Flash fan for over a year! "Not to the same degree."
"The degree of a bedspread...? I don't see what the problem is. Now, what's actually upsetting is why you haven't told this child who I-Green Lantern is," Hal frantically raised his voice to cover the slip up. Barry really had no idea how he'd kept his identity a secret for so long. At this rate, Wally was going to know that he was in the same room as two superheroes by nine o clock.
"Wally already has a Flash bedspread. He doesn't need that gaudy one," Barry raised an eyebrow at Hal in warning.
Out of the corner of his eye, Barry saw Wally unzip the plastic casing and pull out the comforter to inspect it more closely.
"His Flash bedspread doesn't fit the new bed you got him," Hal threw up his arms in frustration. "You told me that yourself. He needed a new one, so I got him one. End of story."
"A story of betrayal!" Barry countered. "You have the audacity to bring that horrible thing into my house?!"
"Okay, one: it's only been your house for three days," Hal held up a hand, beginning to take on crazy eyes. He nodded at Wally purposefully. "Two: how dare you talk to me about betrayal when I can clearly see the blank look in his eyes as he's holding that comforter? And three: your hurtful words are making me start to think that you don't like Green Lantern! What up with that?!"
"I still don't know what a Gween Lantern is..." Wally piped up from where he was sitting on the floor. He had both legs stretched out in front of him and the blanket wadded up in a mound that was bigger than he was.
"Nothing important," Barry assured him quickly at the same time that Hal clamped a hand over his mouth and shoved him face down into the bare mattress. He gasped in surprise as Hal jammed a knee into his spine and held his head down with both forearms.
"Green Lantern is only the coolest, most handsome, awesomest intergalactic space cop in the entire universe," Hal went on with a smile, struggling to keep Barry down as he fought back. Wally watched them both with wide eyes. "He fights bad guys, saves the day, and makes all the other superheroes look like chumps. He's also not too bad with the ladies."
Wally nodded silently like he was taking all the information in and committing it to memory. Hal paused and ignored Barry biting his hand, eagerly waiting for Wally's opinion.
"I've never heard of him..."
Hal looked utterly heartbroken and Barry couldn't help but laugh. He took the opportunity to throw him off and Hal toppled off the bed with a loud thud. Barry straightened his shirt and tossed a proud smile down to Wally.
"Is he like Supaman and Batman?" Wally asked innocently.
"He knows who Superman and Batman are, but not Green Lantern?" Hal growled at Barry, gritting his teeth dangerously.
"Uh huh," Wally nodded happily and started proudly counting off all the heroes he knew with his fingers. "And Wonner Woman, and Akkaman, and Marsha Manter, aaand Long Man."
Hal shut up and looked at Barry for an explanation. Barry just shrugged with an apologetic grimace, deciding that he'd suffered enough, and whispered, "You're not in the news as much... Most of your fights happen off planet."
"Don't look at me," Hal, it seemed, did not accept the excuse. He stalked back over to the doorway and Barry thought he was going to storm out for a minute until he saw his friend stop and turn back around with his hand poised over the light switch. "This'll even the playing field. Close those blinds."
Barry obediently reached back and shut the curtains. Wally watched Hal curiously – now having the bedspread mostly rumpled up around him.
"I'd like to see that ratty old Flash comforter compete with this," Hal flicked off the lights and puffed out his chest importantly. The whole room dimmed considerably even with the sunset peeking through the shut blinds and Barry could see Wally surrounded by a strange green light. "It glows in the dark."
It did.
Barry smiled at the glowing, lime green lanterns all over the blanket as Wally lost his mind with pure happiness. The little toddler jumped up and sprinted right at Hal with the comforter still clutched in his hands. He wrapped both arms around Hal's legs, nearly knocking him over, and started absolutely gushing over the present.
"Thank you, Howl!" Wally giggled excitedly, letting Hal give him a brief, startled hug before tearing across the room to throw the blanket onto the bed. "It's so cool!"
Barry got off the bed to let Wally spread out the sheets messily and stared down at them disapprovingly. Hal came up behind him and dropped his chin onto Barry's shoulder, chuckling smugly.
"I'm gonna be his favorite~" Hal whispered tauntingly in a sing-song voice.
Oh hell no!
Barry slammed an elbow right into Hal's gut and plastered a giant smile onto his face before going to help Wally tuck the corners of the sheets under the mattress. Behind him, he heard Hal gasp in surprise and hit the floor again.
It was eventually decided that the Green Lantern bed set would stay. Barry had to grudgingly admit that the Flash blanket would not fit, and yes, it was a nice gesture. Wally spent the rest of the unpacking wrapped up in the comforter, jumping up and down on his bed and asking questions about Green Lantern.
"Can Gween Lantern make a rocket ship with his ring?" Wally asked, thrusting out a fist and pretending to fight imaginary aliens with a rolled up band of tape that Hal had fashioned into a passable ring.
"I've seen him make a whole fleet of rocket ships," Hal laughed, not annoyed in the least by all the questions. His ego was probably getting off on it.
"What's a fleet?" Wally flopped down on the bed and cocked his head to the side curiously.
Hal paused in breaking down cardboard boxes and cleaning up packing paper and trash. He thought about it for a second, "It's like…a lot of rocket ships."
"Oh," Wally said, mollified for the moment.
Barry pulled the drawstrings on a garbage bag and hefted it over his shoulder, "Alright. I don't know about you two, but I'm hungry. As per our agreement, Hal, I will now feed you as payment for helping us move."
"I would have done it for free, buddy," Hal tossed him a wink before leaning towards Wally conspiratorially and shaking his head, mouthing 'no I wouldn't'.
Wally giggled and covered his mouth with both hands. He ducked under the comforter and started crawling around like a bug.
"What do you want?" Barry shook his head fondly. "It's man slave's choice tonight."
Hal discreetly gave him the finger and lifted up the Green Lantern blanket to peek in on Wally, "What do you think, carrot top? You want anything special for dinner?"
"Pizza!" Wally threw the blanket off and used Hal's knee to push himself upright. He grinned up at Barry as if asking for permission and Hal did the same.
"Pizza it is," Barry chuckled. He grabbed two more bags of trash and headed for the stairs. "You two figure out what you want on it."
"Pineapples!" he heard Wally call from the bedroom.
"Negative, Ghostrider," Hal's voice jumped in immediately, getting fainter as Barry reached the first floor. "Pineapples have no place on a pizza. Barry, what have you been teaching this kid?!"
He could hear them hashing out the rest of the toppings and Wally's high-pitched laughter whenever Hal vehemently shot down one of his suggestions. Barry finagled the house phone between his shoulder and jaw and dialed the nearest pizza parlor while he walked the trash out to the street.
"Hi, yeah, I need to order two large pizzas with ham, pepperoni, onions, and extra pineapples on both, please," Barry listed off the weird combo. Pineapples were going to be the very mildest form of the revenge he planned to exact on his best friend. He gave the man over the phone his address and hung up before going back inside.
It was starting to get dark now, so Barry flipped on a few lights in the kitchen and living room. Being in this new house wasn't the same, but he didn't feel the crushing absence of his wife quite so painfully here. He heard Wally's voice chattering away in the room above him and decided to follow it.
"And that's why Green Lantern is the best superhero out there, see?" Hal's voice reasoned from around the corner. Barry mentally gave him the stink eye. He knew exactly what Hal was trying to do: shunt Flash out of Wally's favorite superhero category. Like Barry was ever going to let that happen. If it was a war Hal wanted, then it could most definitely be arranged.
Wally didn't say anything in response to that, and Barry hung back in the stairwell just beside the doorway to listen.
"What's wrong, little man? You okay?" Hal's boasting tone turned concerned. Barry almost sprinted into the room to see what the problem was.
"Gween Lantern is cool, but I really like Flash, but no one has seen him in a long long time," Wally's tiny little voice sounded sad. "No one knows where he is…"
"Oh…" Hal said solemnly. "He's – something really bad happened to him and he's…just taking a break."
"How do you know?" Wally asked.
"Your uncle is a friend of his," Hal fumbled for an explanation. He clearly wasn't used to a child asking 'how' and 'why' every other sentence.
"What happened to him?"
"Just…something bad. It's a secret," Hal sounded like he was very carefully choosing his words. "The Flash is really sad right now and it'll just take some time for him to get better."
"Do you think he's ever coming back?" Wally sounded hopeful.
Barry leaned back against the wall and quietly sank to the floor. He curled his arms around his knees and hunched over in the dark hallway. He hadn't been able to even look at his Flash costume since his wife died. Actually putting it on and going up against the Rogues just felt impossible. His speed was still on the fritz too, cutting out entirely sometimes with no warning. He wasn't ready to return to active duty yet, and no one was pushing him to. Jay Garrick, Clark, and Hal were all picking up shifts protecting Central City so that he didn't feel pressured.
"Definitely," Hal assured him with immediate, absolute confidence. "Green Lantern is cool and all, but Flash is the toughest hero out there. He can bounce back from anything."
Barry looked up in surprise at Hal's words.
"Really?"
"Trust me," Hal sounded more light-hearted now. "Give it a little longer and he'll be kickin butt and takin names better than ever. You believe me, don't you?"
"Yeah!" Wally laughed, and the sound of his cute little voice made Barry smile. He stretched one leg out in front of him and rested his head back against the wall.
Looked like Wally and Hal hadn't given up on him yet. He took Hal's confidence as his own and got to his feet, walking into the room with a smile, "Pizza's on the way. You two wanna pick out a movie to watch?"
"I wanna watch an action movie!" Wally jumped off Hal's lap and streaked out of the room, trampling down the stairs like a herd of elephants.
"I'm gonna be honest with you," Hal got up and followed Wally out of the room, a deadly serious look on his face. "I have no idea if I hooked up the TV and DVD player right."
He hadn't.
Fifteen minutes later, Barry finally managed to fix whatever Hal had broken while he and Wally watched from the couch, 'oohing' and clapping whenever he got something to work. By the time everything was all set up, the pizza was there and Wally was dashing around setting out plates for everyone.
Hal lifted the top on one of the boxes and sent Barry a dirty look like all his suspicions had just been confirmed when he saw all the pineapples, "You bastard…"
"Watch your language, pumpkin," Barry said playfully and pinched Hal's face on his way to the living room. "Can't have you talking like a pilot in front of Wally."
Hal made a face and rubbed his cheek in defeat, "The phrase is 'talk like a sailor'."
"Not with you it isn't," Barry said absently before settling in on one side of the couch and folding his legs under himself. Wally cannonballed onto the middle cushion with a pizza slice the size of his face and scooted all the way back. His ankles barely hung off the edge. Barry bumped him with his elbow and Wally looked up with a wide smile. He crawled over and snuggled into Barry's side.
Hal plopped down on Wally's other side and leaned on the armrest, taking up the remote and pointing it at the TV to play the movie, "Note to you, Bear: I can always be bribed with free food."
"Oh, I already know," Barry said through a mouthful of pizza. "You're not exactly complex."
The beginning movie credits started up with the opening music and Wally suddenly gasped, "Wait! I have to go get Pavlov!"
He handed his pizza to Barry and tore across the living room, disappearing up the stairs. Barry just balanced the plate on his knee and took another bite of pizza, listening to the toddler's footsteps through the ceiling. He was unspeakably grateful for his superspeed, because he had no idea how he would keep up with Wally's energy without it.
Hal had paused the movie and was staring after where Wally vanished with a baffled look on his face, "Pavlov?"
Barry just shrugged like it was normal, "Pavlov is his dog. It's a stuffed animal. He takes it everywhere."
"…What's wrong with that child?" Hal said after a moment and cocked his head to the side.
Barry bristled and hurled a balled up napkin at his head.
"Ah! What?!" Hal hunched his shoulders and ducked out of the way.
"It's adorable!" Barry said firmly.
"Weird is what it is," he shook his head. "Three year olds should name their stuffed animals after colors or their favorite foods, not Russian physiologists."
"He's a smart kid," Barry defended Wally stubbornly. "And he likes science."
"Can he even spell 'science'?" Hal rolled his eyes like he thought Barry was being ridiculous.
Barry kicked Hal in the ribcage and narrowed his eyes, "Can you spell 'science', Halitosis?"
Wally came jumping down the stairs right as Hal was shrieking, "I told you not to call me that!"
Barry made room for Wally to sit beside him and threw an arm around the redhead. Hal eyed the floppy, stuffed dog clutched in Wally's arms with a look that clearly said he thought it was ridiculous, but instead of making fun of the name, he started to smile a little. Barry just shook his head and decided not to comment on the fact that it was already happening: Wally's cuteness was getting to Hal.
Wally spent most of the movie with his eyes glued to the screen in rapt attention. He shifted around constantly and alternated between curling up on Barry's lap and stretching out with his feet resting on Hal's knee. Hal entertained himself during the movie by picking pineapple chunks off his pizza slices and sneaking them onto Wally's plate when he wasn't looking. Barry just watched the both of them out of the corner of his eye, finding Hal and Wally far more interesting than the action movie. He had quite enough of that in his life already, and he was just grateful that he wasn't alone.
Only an hour into the show, Wally was out like a light. He was sprawled out over both Hal and Barry with his thumb in his mouth and Pavlov stuffed under one arm. Hal had turned down the volume a long time ago so that the gunfire and explosions didn't wake him, and he and Barry had been talking. Hal told him about how the Justice League was doing without him. Apparently, they weren't getting along nearly as well as they did when Barry was there, but things were still going decently. Clark seemed to be the only one that Batman even spoke to outside of League meetings, J'onn was venturing out into human society more and more, and Arthur had met some new Atlantean – but not really Atlantean – woman named Mera who was partnering up with him and trying to convince him to take the throne of Atlantis. Diana was being stalked by some immortal sorceress named Circe for unclear reasons, and the League as a whole was looking into recruiting new members.
"Of course, we wouldn't do anything without your input," Hal assured him, resting one arm on the back of the couch and balancing his foot on the coffee table. "Batman thinks the seven of us should be like a counsel or something if we do decide to induct new members. We all need to be in agreement before we make any moves."
Barry frowned down at the hand he had resting on Wally's back and shrugged, "Well, you can tell them that I'm definitely fine with it. We could always use more help. I mean, we should thoroughly check out anyone we decide to invite first – don't want to accidentally let a villain in – but other than that, it seems like a great idea. Are they looking at anyone specific yet?"
"Some archer from Star City," Hal nodded, rolling his neck to work out the cricks. He seemed ultimately uninterested and a little disappointed. "I'm supposed to be casing him to see if he's League material since we're both 'California girls' – Arthur's words, not mine."
Barry chuckled and rubbed his tired eyes, "I've actually heard of him, I think. Green Arrow, right? You sound like you don't like him."
"Oh, I don't know anything about him," Hal mildly tossed his hands up in a shrug to show that he didn't care. "I just don't know how I feel about letting in people without powers. I kinda think we should be going for big guns."
"Batman doesn't have any powers," Barry pointed out diplomatically. "Look at how effective he is."
"Yeah, but at the end of the day, he's just some guy with a big brain and gadgets. What's he gonna do against a heavy hitter like Bizarro or someone?"
Batman actually probably had about twenty contingency plans for just such a scenario, but Barry decided not to go there. Instead, he smiled playfully and held up both hands, "You're just some guy with a ring. What are you gonna do without fingers?"
Hal narrowed his eyes at Barry in challenge and smirked like a dirty old man, "I'll wear the ring on my-"
"Nevermind!" Barry sighed distastefully, making a face and ignoring Hal's smug laughter. He should have known better…
The DVD title screen looped again for the fiftieth time and Barry looked down at Wally while Hal was still giggling over his own filthiness, "I'll be right back; I'm gonna go tuck Wally in real quick."
"Okay," Hal moved his leg so that Barry could scoop Wally up into his arms.
The toddler immediately latched onto Barry in his sleep and wound both arms around his neck. Barry fought down the surge of adorableness and shifted Wally onto his hip while he carried him upstairs. He brought Wally into his freshly finished bedroom and smiled when he saw the glowing lanterns all over the bed and also the walls. Hal had somehow snuck about twenty or so glow in the dark stickers everywhere.
Surprisingly, Barry didn't get jealous this time. He carefully tucked Wally into bed and stood there in the middle of the room for a moment. The soft green light reaching to every corner reminded him of the energy constructs Hal sometimes created around him when they were in space, or if something was about to hit him.
It sorta looked like Hal had one around the whole room protecting Wally while he slept.
Barry gave his nephew a quick kiss on the forehead and made sure Pavlov was secure in Wally's arms. He sped downstairs with a smile. The television was off and Hal was in the kitchen setting the dishes in the sink and throwing away pizza crusts that Wally wouldn't eat.
He peeked over his shoulder with a playful cringe when he heard Barry zip by, "You saw the stickers?"
"I did," Barry said ominously, pulling out plastic bags for the leftovers. Even if he wasn't mad, it was still fun to make him sweat a little. Hal shrank back and Barry laughed. "And I think you're a dork, but it looks nice."
"Ah hah!" Hal leapt over and hooked an arm around his neck. "I knew you couldn't really resist the lanterns."
"Whatever," Barry lightly smacked him in the face with three bagged pizza slices. "Do me a favor and take some of this with you. I don't want Wally eating too much of this junk."
"You know me," Hal flashed him a grin. "I live on fast food and leftovers."
"I know; your body type doesn't make any sense," Barry snorted.
"High protein diet and a vigorous exercise routine of extraterrestrial brawling," Hal flexed his arms like a body builder and Barry just burst out laughing.
He darted around cleaning up the rest of the mess while Hal watched him and tried to keep up with his eyes, "So, how's Ferris Aircraft been lately? I know it takes you at least half a year to recover from vacations."
"Har har. It's…uh – it's o-okay…" Hal made a series of uncomfortable faces and looked down at his feet quietly.
Barry stopped what he was doing and stared at him shrewdly, "What did you do…?"
Hal didn't answer him.
"Oh no. You slept with Carol, didn't you?" Barry deadpanned.
"I couldn't help it!" Hal whined, flopping face down on the table. His cheek smushed one of his eyes partially closed. "There was a retirement party, and alcohol, and she was wearing a really slinky dress. You know how I am about a nice pair of legs!"
"Yeah. Pathetic," Barry leaned on the counter and fixed him with an exasperated stare. "You and Carol never last more than a few months at the most."
"But we keep coming back to each other," Hal pointed out optimistically. "That's gotta mean something, doesn't it?"
"Yeah – that you're attracted to terrible relationships. You've got the worst track record for girlfriends."
"Hey," Hal rested his chin in his hand grumpily and stared out the window, rolling his eyes and giving in to an absent smile. "Not everyone has the perfect relationship like you and Iris."
Barry froze and the arms he had crossed over his chest fell limply to his sides. Immediate pain slammed into him and suddenly he couldn't breathe.
Hal's eyes flickered over to him at the movement and it took him a second to realize what he just said. Then, he jerked upright in the chair and stared at Barry in horror, "Oh my God, I can't believe I said that! Barry, I'm so sorry!"
"It's alright," Barry hurried and put on a fake grin to hide his devastated expression, but his voice sounded hollow even to his own ears. "I mess up too sometimes."
Hal didn't seem convinced. He had a tortured, scared look on his face and he was halfway out of his seat, "Barry… I'm so sorry. I really didn't-"
"Really," Barry tried to walk away to get time to compose himself. "It's okay."
"It's not," Hal insisted, reaching out for him, but Barry stepped away. "I-"
"I want to stop talking about this," Barry said almost pleadingly. He pressed a hand to the aching knot in his chest and took several deep breaths. "Please."
"Okay. Whatever you want," Hal held out his hands nonthreateningly and took a few steps closer.
"Thanks…" Barry kept breathing deeply. He hunched over and braced one hand on his knee. "Can you – can you go? Please. I'm not angry, I swear, I just – I need you to go. So I can be alone. I'm sorry – really sorry. Just-"
Hal shook his head remorsefully, "It's alright. If you want me to go, I'll leave. Just – you're gonna be okay, right?"
Barry nodded forcefully, but couldn't say anything else.
"I'm really sorry," Hal whispered again, and gripped Barry's arm bracingly for a moment before he backed out of the room. "I'm gonna call you tomorrow to make sure you're okay. Alright?"
Barry covered his face with one hand and tried to control his racing heart. It felt like he was having an anxiety attack. How had this happened in just a few seconds? "I'm sorry that I'm freaking out."
"No. Geez," Hal sighed stressfully, his voice heavy with guilt. "I – I'll just leave now."
Barry didn't move. He kept his eyes shut and focused on controlling his vibrations. When he removed his hands, Hal was gone and the house was silent. Barry turned off all the lights and mechanically undid the buttons on his shirt as he trudged upstairs. When was this gonna stop? He tossed the shirt into the open bathroom when he passed it and ran his hand over the cotton t-shirt he always wore underneath.
When he passed Wally's room, he ducked his head in to check on him and paused in the doorway when he saw the young child lying awake in the dark. Barry silently moved to the side of the bed and knelt down so that he and Wally were eye to eye. He reached out and smoothed Wally's red hair back tenderly, "What's wrong, kiddo?"
"Scared…" Wally buried his face in Pavlov and stared at Barry with one big green eye.
"Of the new house?" Barry rubbed his back soothingly. "I know it's scary and strange, but nothing's gonna get you in here. I promise. You're safe."
Wally took a deep breath and visibly relaxed a little, "Uncle Bawwy?"
"Yeah?"
"Howl said that you know the Flash," he whispered quietly, the comforter tucked all the way up to his chin.
"Um…kinda. Y'know from him dropping bad guys off at the police station," Barry tried to make Hal's explanation work for him.
"Can you tell him that I know he's sad, but I really wish he would come back?"
Barry's eyebrows pulled together and he felt the knot in his chest grow bigger. He put on a fake smile and nodded, unable to talk. Wally smiled back and snuggled into the blankets before falling back asleep, and Barry tried not to wake him as he snuck out.
He wanted the Flash to come back, too.
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Hal didn't go back to Coast City for the night. Instead, he flew east towards Rhode Island and Happy Harbor. Hopefully someone was at Mt. Justice, because Hal really didn't want to be alone when he was feeling this much like trash. He totally deserved it, though. God, a Panini press could handle an emotionally fragile person better than he could.
He passed through all of Batman's security to the cave with only minimal cheating – he'd written half of the passwords on a little piece of paper stored in his ring – and quickly found J'onn working on the global surveillance network they were trying to set up.
The Martian already knew he was there, of course, but he was respectful enough of their very human wariness of telepathy to allow Hal the choice to announce himself or not.
"I don't suppose you could help me figure out why I'm such a colossal fuck up, could you?" Hal groaned as he went over to the circular platform that J'onn was standing on. He sat down on the edge and rested his chin in his hand, idly tapping a piece of floating circuitry that J'onn was levitating. It flipped end over end and slowly drifted away.
"What happened?" J'onn asked stoically without moving from his spot. It looked like he wasn't listening, but Hal knew that his aptitude for multitasking far exceeded any human's. Both he and the holographic projectors being installed in the ceiling had J'onn's complete attention. J'onn also probably already knew exactly what had happened from reading Hal's mind, but he politely acted like he didn't.
Hal didn't care either way. Because of his job as a Green Lantern, he was usually more comfortable around aliens than humans anyway. "I forgot that Barry's wife was dead for a few seconds…"
"A forgivable offense…" J'onn lifted ten massive computer terminals up into the matching circular trench carved into the ceiling. A tangle of cords immediately started plugging themselves in and connecting to each other.
"You didn't see his face," Hal sighed in argument, going limp with depression and lying on his back on the floor. "Ugh! How could I forget?!"
"By your own admission, you merely forgot," J'onn actually looked at him with his passive red eyes. "It was an accident."
"An accident I couldn't afford to make," Hal pinched the bridge of his nose and squeezed his eyes shut. "He was doing so well, too… It was a good day and I had to go and ruin it with my big mouth. It's just hard to separate them, y'know? For as long as I've known Barry, he's been with her. It's always been Barry and Iris – and they were perfect together! One without the other just doesn't make any sense… I forgot she was gone."
"It has only been three months. Your mind requires more time than that to adjust years of conditioning," J'onn walked over to where Hal was sprawled out on the ground and he lowered the raised, circular platform into the floor, making it all level again.
Hal made a face at the logic, "Yeah, but I'm supposed to help smooth everything over. For once in our friendship, Barry really needs me and I feel like I'm failing. I don't know what to say to make him feel better."
For a few moments, J'onn was silent like he was thinking about it. Then he smiled and telepathically pulled Hal to his feet, "I believe that ultimately, what you say is unimportant. Flash is the type of person who appreciates gestures and effort. You don't have to be good at comforting him; you just have to be there. He will forgive your mistakes as long as you try."
Hal mulled that over for a bit. J'onn was right. No matter how many times he screwed things up, Hal never quit anything.
He wasn't about to give up on helping his best friend.
