Laying in bed, Joe couldn't stop thinking about Sebastian's offer.
Joe knew about the bullying going on at Barry's school, but he didn't know it was as bad as Sebastian said it was.
He didn't even hear it from Barry. It was Iris, who came home crying one day, talking about these guys "ganging up on Barry" earlier that day.
When Barry came home a bit later from Anime club, Joe confronted him about it.
He had never seen Barry so worried to talk to him.
Joe made Barry his favorite dinner and they talked about it. It was mostly verbal, from what he heard.
But actual fighting?
He knew he would have to think some more, but Joe knew what he was going to do.
Joe woke up the next morning to the boys passed out, cuddled up on the couch, with Iris in front of them, taking pictures of them.
Joe smiled.
"Iris, you do know that Sebastian will most likely kill you if he finds out about those pictures, right?" He asked.
Iris laughed, and nodded her head.
"Yep."
Joe shook his head and laughed. Typical Iris. He then went to the kitchen to get breakfast.
Meanwhile, in the living room, Iris was about .2 seconds away from posting one of the pictures to Facebook when Sebastian stirred.
"Mm... hey Iris..." he mumbled, making Iris look up.
"Hey Bas," she said, unable to get her devious smile off her face as she looked back down.
"What are you..." it was then Sebastian noticed the position he and Barry were in. And when he noticed what Iris was doing.
"Iris give me that!" Sebastian jumped off the couch, just fast enough for Barry to wake up as well.
Barry opened his eyes to find Sebastian chasing Iris, and Iris running around the couch, laughing hysterically.
"Don't you dare post it!" Sebastian yelled.
Iris looked at her phone and pressed a button, still dying of laughter.
"Iris!" Sebastian yelled. At this point Barry was laughing too, laying back on the couch. And, he was sure he saw Joe watching them, laughing as well.
After about five minutes, Sebastian gave up and sat on the couch. Or, more specifically, Barry's legs.
"Ow! Bastian!" Barry yelped.
"Sorry Barry," Sebastian said in a tone that said he was not sorry.
Barry slapped him on the shoulder.
"Alright, alright, I'm getting up," Sebastian said as he got up. "Happy?"
"Very," Barry said as he got up too.
Iris just laughed as she walked behind them, following their trip to the kitchen.
Joe wished them all goodbye before walking out to work.
"So, Sebastian," Iris asked, as soon as the door was shut. Not that they were hiding anything from Joe, they just waited to talk. "When do you have to "move in" to Dalton? I heard it takes about a week."
Sebastian nodded his head as he finished pouring some cereal for himself. Setting the box down, he said, "Yea, so, in about a week, I'll get my room, and know who my roommate is."
While he said that confidently, he secretly said that with a heavy heart, not knowing if Barry was going to be by his side, and fearing the worst with that.
"It'll be fun though, right? Living at school? You won't be waking up as early as us, that's for sure," Iris said. Sebastian nodded in agreement.
"Yep."
It was then when Sebastian noticed Barry was strangely quiet.
"Hey Barry, penny for your thoughts?" Sebastian asked.
Barry's head snapped up, as if he just re-entered reality.
"Huh? Oh, I just zoned out."
Lie. Secretly, Barry wanted to go to Dalton with Sebastian, because of their no-bullying policy, but Joe would never allow it, and it was too expensive.
Sebastian shrugged it off though, seeing as the man just woke up after all.
Barry gave Sebastian a smile before looking down at the table again.
Maybe it wouldn't hurt to ask.
The trio was watching the fifth episode of Star Wars when Joe finally came home.
Without moving, Sebastian and Iris said at the same time "Hey Joe," and "Hey Dad."
Barry on the other hand, went up to personally greet him.
"Hey Joe, how was work?" He asked, thinking of the proper way to ask about Dalton.
Barry had this whole thing planned out, he would start small talk and talk about Dalton, and how Sebastian was going to love it there, then ask if he could go.
But now? Now he was having second thoughts.
"Work's work. It's exhausting," Joe said. Barry opened his mouth to say something else, but was cut off by Joe.
"Actually, I have a proposition for you, Barr. How would you feel about going to school at Dalton?" Joe asked.
Barry was taken aback.
"R-really? Have you talked to Sebastian about it?" He stammered.
"Actually, Sebastian came to me about it. He offered to pay for some of it himself, but I'll pay for it all, no matter how expensive it is, to get you away from those bullies," Joe said.
Barry widened his eyes as he looked over at Sebastian.
He would really do that for him?
"I would love that Joe, but are you really ok with me living there?" Barry asked.
"Like I said, kid. I will do anything to keep you safe."
Barry smiled and lunged in to hug Joe.
"Thank you, Joe."
Barry didn't know what the future was yet to hold, but he knew it would get a lot better now, especially since he'd be with his brother again.
