CHAPTER SEVEN: Gleefully Surprising I


When Barry had, against his wishes, agreed to meet with the Glee members from his school days, he did not expect his day to turn out the way it did.

Oliver had left for Starling early in the morning, to take care of some business troubles, after promising to come by in the afternoon. Barry would completely deny that he had pouted for a solid half hour. Oliver had taken great pleasure in kissing that pout off his face, till they were both breathless with laughter, gazing at each other with awe and wonder, love and adoration.

Even after all the time they'd been together, they still found it amazing that they had found each other.

Oliver, who had felt that there was almost no humanity left in him after everything he had done, who had thought that he was broken beyond repair after everything that had happened in his life, couldn't believe that someone as good, as precious as Barry, someone who was the very embodiment of all things pure, saw something worth loving in him. He knew that he'd rather die than see Barry in pain, than let Barry get hurt. Barry was the person who made him feel like maybe, just maybe, he wasn't that broken, that maybe redemption wasn't a hopeless dream. It was with Barry that Oliver felt human again.

After being traumatised at a very young age, watching his mother get murdered and seeing his father incarcerated for a crime he didn't commit, Barry had convinced himself that he could never have anything good in his life, nothing that would stay anyway. He would always love Joe for taking him in and being a father to him in the ways his dad couldn't. But the fact that his dad, Henry Allen, wasn't there, couldn't be there, would always be a wound that never healed.

When Barry had first met Oliver, he was... intrigued. When he realised that he had actually fallen for the vigilante, he suspected it had been a gradual process, the kind that sneaks up on you without you being aware of it, he managed to convince himself that it was never going to work out. After all, why would Oliver want to be with Barry? But there went Oliver, flipping over all his expectations, loving him as both Barry and the Flash, and Barry thought, maybe, you'll be the one who stays, and maybe, I can keep you.

Anyways, back to Barry's day, Barry had been counting on his work at CCPD to be his excuse for getting out of the Glee club reunion. But unfortunately, there had been no murders or any urgent reports to submit. So, all his excuses went down the drain.

Grumbling, he waved goodbye to Joe and walked out of the station. As he walked, his mind kept thinking of different scenarios, each more worrying than the previous one. Barry wished Oliver was there. He would know how to calm him down and say exactly what he needed to hear. Damn it, it hadn't even been a day and already, Barry was missing Oliver fiercely.

As he turned a corner, Barry bumped into someone coming from the opposite direction. With a grunt, Barry fell to the ground. He cursed his lanky body when he saw that the other person hadn't even stumbled.

A hand stretched into his field of vision. Taking it, Barry clambered to his feet.

"I am so very sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going. I was preoccupied and it's totally my fault. Sorry!" Apologies rushed out even before Barry looked at the human pillar standing in front of him.

A low, amused voice with a characteristic timbre interrupted his ramble.

"Hello there, Scarlet."

Barry froze. There was only one person who called him that.

Sure enough, when he finally lifted his head, standing before him was a smirking Leonard Snart aka Captain Cold. He was wearing his customary parka and sunglasses. Barry knew that Snart had his cold gun tucked away even though he couldn't see it.

"Hey, Snart," Barry greeted, warily.

Barry's eyes darted every other way, hoping for any escape route. He really didn't have the temperament to deal with Captain Cold at that time.

Snart chuckled.

"Relax, Barry," he drawled, dragging out his name, rolling the syllables on his tongue. "I don't bite. Much."

Snart then winked at a gobsmacked Barry.

The speedster dimly wondered if he had somehow entered an alternate reality.

"That's...," Barry trailed off. "Anyway, what are you doing here? Don't you have 'bad guy' things to do?"

Snart smirked.

"Not really. My sister kicked me out since apparently, I was brooding and it was giving her a headache." He rolled his eyes.

Yeah, definitely an alternate universe.

"And what exactly happened with you?" Snart asked, eyeing him curiously. "You appeared to be worried and in a hurry."

"In a hurry? Oh shit!" Barry slapped his forehead in frustration. "Gotta run. Damn it! See you around, Snart. Try to be good!" Barry called over his shoulder as he sprinted away.

"Stay cool, kid!" Snart called back, bemused.

It was later than the time Barry had texted Jeff. As he neared the warehouse which had been rented out for the practice, Barry's nerves came back in full force. He knew that as Sebastian Smythe he wasn't always liked. There were people who had outright hated him, seeing him as someone arrogant and pompous. And they had been right. Sebastian Smythe was an arrogant asshole. But Barry Allen wasn't. And Barry wasn't sure how the Glee members were going to react to that.

Walking near to the open doorway, he could hear unintelligible music filtering out. He paused for a millisecond, used his speed to take a deep breathe, and reassured himself that he could do this, and that it wasn't the end of the world.

When he entered the warehouse, in a second he had surveyed the whole area.

Huh, looks like Oliver's training is indeed working.

Barry stood there, watching the faces of people whom he hadn't seen in years. There were some who wasn't recognisable. But overall, it was almost the same old club.

Walking into the room, a few people noticed him and immediately started whispering.

"Is that Sebastian Smythe?"

"Oh my god, I thought no one could find him!"

"That's Smythe!"

Barry put on a warm smile, walking with his hands in his jeans pockets. He didn't know it, but he made a striking figure, walking gracefully, with smooth strides, holding his head high.

"Hot damn, that boy has gotten hot!" This wasn't much of a whisper.

Barry gave a low chuckle and a few boys and girls actually sighed dreamily.

"Sebastian!" Nick shouted, flying out of nowhere and tackling him in a firm bear hug.

Barry stumbled but caught himself, bringing his arms up and around Nick, holding him just as tightly. Jeff appeared behind him and screamed, "Sandwich hug!" He then plastered himself onto Barry's back.

Barry couldn't help it, he outright laughed. He was delighted to finally see his friends.

"I missed you, guys," Barry admitted.

Nick squeezed him and said, "We got you, man."

Jeff murmured an agreement from behind.

Barry felt his worries and stress melt away. Nick and Jeff were the two true friends he had had at Dalton. They had his back just like he had theirs. It was heart-warming to see that it hadn't changed after all these years.

Now, he only had the rest of the Glee club members to face, and most had been, at some point or another, enemies of whom they considered Sebastian Smythe.

Piece of cake, really.


A/N:

There you go.

Who expected Snart? ;)

I wasn't planning on bringing him in now. But before I knew it, I had already written that scene. Lol.

Whatcha think? Drop a comment or PM me.