Hal was crushed. So he went to see Barry. Somehow in the process, he had sort of… forgotten that Barry had Iris now and that was a thing and they were very much so in love. He wasn't sure how. Hal had been listening to Barry's starry-eyed ramblings for several mon- well, over a year now actually. Had it really been that long? Barry's nearly nauseating level of infatuation with his girlfriend had only gotten worse when they'd moved in together and gotten engaged.

So when Hal went to go crash at Barry's, he accidentally crashed with Iris West too. It actually turned out pretty well. Hal just hadn't seen it coming. In retrospect, he really should have. It was a long time coming.


"I never liked her anyway," Barry said firmly. "I know I was never supposed to say anything because of the bro-code and she was your girl, but I honestly never liked her."

Hal just sort of stared at his best friend in the whole world. "Seriously?"

"Seriously." Barry confirmed briskly, "Carol wasn't good enough for you. I never liked her."

Hal seriously hadn't anticipated this reaction. "Wha- but, Barry, your opinion should have been more important- why didn't you say anything?"

"I figured she made you happy, so I kept my mouth shut about the whole thing." Barry shrugged, looking away awkwardly. "Figured it wasn't my place."

"You are such a sap," Hal decides because he's not sure what else to say.

"Yes, he is," Iris confirmed, placing an entire tray of cookies on the table. Homemade cookies. Shaped like stars and decorated with chocolate chips. And then she manages to make the Flash share his food. Hal decides that Iris is an angel. Or possibly a secret badass. Either way, he absolutely adored her almost immediately. "He's such a sap. Do you want to hear why? I'm pretty sure I can recite from memory at this point."

"Recite what?" Hal asks, having no idea what he's getting himself into.

Barry looks distinctly embarrassed if the reddish tint to his cheeks is anything to go by. "Iris, no, he doesn't have to-"

"Oh, hush," she orders teasingly. There is both honest love and a fierce determination in her eyes that never fails to make Barry melt to her every whim, so he doesn't bother protesting anymore even as Iris explains to Hal exactly what her fiancé Barry thought of Carol Ferris. "She's not good to you or good enough for you. You're far too fun-loving, outside-the-box to match her by-the-book, play-by-the-rules philosophy. She was too career-oriented and no fun and was always going to choose her job over you when it came down to it because she cared more about herself and her future than any possible 'distraction' and expected you to understand that while refusing to adapt to your schedule or needs – which, let's face it, is much more important considering what your job actually is. She didn't show any interest in you as anything more than a professional coworker and possible friend until after you revealed yourself to her as the Green Lantern. You both burnt that bridge in your late teens and then went back and burnt it again with some lava thrown in there just to be extra sure. Childhood friends who dated as teens do not automatically make a stable adult relationship, especially when one of you seeks stability and permanence and the other is after adventure. She was always the one taking more out of your relationship emotionally because you made her feel beautiful and important and loved but she never really returned the favor like she should have because she was 'too busy'. There were way too many times you didn't hang out with Barry when you went on last minute dates with her instead because her schedule opened up. Your heart's too damn big to settle for someone like her." Iris took a deep breath. "Now I personally have never met the woman, but if I ever do I may have difficulty not slapping her from everything I've heard about her."

Hal just sort of stared some more. Barry said all that often enough that Iris could recite it by heart? That was just… wow. Okay, so maybe his and Carol's relationship had stopped working a long time ago if it ever worked in the first place but still. He hadn't expected an ode to all the ways his relationship skills sucked. Granted, it somehow came off as rather flattering and - "Dammit. Barry, I'm hugging your fiance."

"Get over here," Iris ordered in good humor. "It's not like he'll stop me anyway."

Iris noticed though that the hug was definitely being given to her, not the other way around. Maybe it wasn't entirely Carol's fault after all. Hal clearly had a tendency to devote himself entirely to a thing - even a thing so small as a hug - and that was a hard level of effort to match. Barry joined the hug. Iris smiled into Hal's shoulder, pleased. Now everybody was hugging. The difference between giving a hug, getting a hug and hugging may seem like a small thing, but she was pleased nonetheless.

Hal though was not remotely done with his emotional rollercoaster of a day. It just felt so good to be hugged for once and... "I thought it was love." Hal hadn't meant to say it out loud, but there it was.

Barry made a face and Iris (again, will miracles never cease?) managed to divert another case of her fiance's foot-in-mouth-syndrome acting up. "You'll find love," she promised. It was better than Barry saying 'you don't know what love is' when he really meant 'you deserve to be loved for real' in the way speedsters tend to speak faster than they think sometimes. "She just wasn't your one," Iris explained.

Hal looked between Barry and Iris and the way they were even now subconsciously leaning towards each other slightly. He wanted to ask Iris how he was supposed to find something like that for himself but couldn't find a way to make the words sound anything other than depressing or needy and so refused to say them. Iris must have been able to read them in his eyes despite that.

"Love is … love isn't in owning a person's time or in having the same goals or any of that nonsense," Iris explained. "Love isn't just about making someone else happy. It's making someone happy because them being happy makes you happy. It's the little moments when you're just so grateful to know this person, never mind get to be close to them. It's knowing more secrets about them than they maybe know about themselves. And yeah, sometimes people don't love you back. But that's life. And you heal. And eventually, everything turns out okay."

This was when Hal realized he was screwed, thoroughly and utterly screwed. He was in love with his best friend and maybe always had been. This was the same best friend who had a fiancé, who he was currently living with and who he also worked with during the day. There was no avoiding this one – not for long anyway. Hal wasn't a good secret keeper. How was this his life?


"Here," Iris offered, sticking something in Hal's hand.

He stared at it. "Why are you giving me a pint of ice cream?" he asked. Not that he was complaining. This was Ben and Jerry's. And it had chunks of chocolate, fudge, and caramel in it. No one turned down ice cream like that. Except for Carol because she was on a diet again and- damn it, now he was depressed again. "Seriously, why do I have this? There's no bowl, just a spoon."

"When a girl goes through a breakup, this is how we handle it," Iris explained. "With their friends, unhealthy amount of ice cream straight from the carton and stupid rom-com movies that nobody actually watches because they're too busy bitching. It'll be good for you. We're doing it."

"So we just sit around eating ice cream?" Hal asked.

"And insulting Carol Danvers behind her back?" Barry confirmed hopefully. That part was important to him. He liked the sound of that part.

"Yep." Iris nodded.

"Why do guys not have this tradition?" Hal wondered.

"Because it threatens your masculinity. You're all supposed to sit around bars and complain and wake up with hangovers like real men," Iris dismissed. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone."

Hal looked at Barry. "I see why you love her."

Barry just beamed at him.


Hal woke up sprawled on the couch and drooling into Barry's shirt. Part of him didn't want to move. A very large part of him rather enjoyed waking up to see Barry's sleeping face (even if he was drooling too) propped up on the arm of the couch while wrapped in warm, strong arms and listening to a resting heartbeat that was just a little faster than a normal human's should be. Of course, the rest of him is freaking out because this is Barry and seriously did he need to figure this out now and since when did he pay attention to the way Barry's eyelashes were just as blonde as the rest of his hair but looked positively gold in the morning light filtering through the windows anyway?! At least Hal had already known he was bi. (Ha! College was good for something other than just his pilot's license!) That was one freak out he could live without being piled on top of everything else. Torn between staying there forever and running away before Barry could wake up and catch him staring at his sleeping face like a creeper, Hal forced himself upright, gently untangling Barry's arms as he did so, before padding to the kitchen.

Iris was already up and making breakfast to fit a speedster. She baked, wielded the healing powers of ice cream and now cooked. No wonder Barry loved her.

"Oh good, you're up," Iris greeted without turning away from the (truly impressive mound) of scrambled eggs she was making. "Feeling any better?"

Hal was surprised to realize that despite having new and different problems, yeah, he was feeling better. "Still sucks, but yeah. Thanks," he said. "And I'm sorry about crashing so unexpectedly. I somehow forgot that it wasn't just Barry anymore – and I have no idea how because he never shuts up about you – and I just came over without asking. So sorry about that. And I'm sorry that you've been putting up with Barry's rants about my relationship status because I know what he gets like sometimes. I used to tell Carol-"

And suddenly there was something caught in his chest. Wincing, Hal put a hand against it and pushed, trying to dislodge it but it wouldn't budge. Iris looked at him with sad, understanding eyes and quickly moved everything off the burners before she opened her arms to him.

Hal couldn't help it. He wept into Iris's shoulder. Actually 'wept' implies that these were manly, solitary tears that rolled down his face nobly like in some sort of dramatic rom-com. Hal did not cry like that. He'd always been a messy crier. With puffy eyes and snot and red cheeks and the sort of sobs that get yanked from the back of the throat and absolutely break the heart of anyone who hears them.

This is what Barry walks in on that morning. (He was really hoping for breakfast Damnit, but Hal was actually more important than food so…) Iris gave him a completely unnecessary head jerk indicating that he needed to join the hug or he'd be couched for a week and Barry complied, coming up behind his best friend and wrapping his arms around both Hal and Iris – the two most important people in his life. (So far.) Hal cried harder. Barry kissed his shoulder blade before resting his cheek against it.

"I know I'm supposed to say something that makes everything all better," Barry admitted, "But the only sentence that's coming to me is that I really hate Carol Ferris for doing this to you. You're too damn good for her and you're heart's too damn big for your own good."

"Hypocrite," Hal croaked out, tears still flowing.

"Shut up, I'm trying to be emotionally supportive right now," Barry ordered. "It's a strain. Don't distract me with your problems."

"My problems are your problems right now," Hal pointed out, trying to joke and mostly succeeding. "That's the problem."

"Then it's good that we don't mind," Iris told him.

The hug tightened.


Hal was laughing. "That's how you found out? Because he talks in his sleep?" Hal laughed harder and Barry looked distinctly embarrassed. "Seriously? It took you that long?"

"I didn't deal with superheroes every day like you do!" Iris defended, smiling broadly even as she did to show she wasn't really offended. "How was I supposed to know? I didn't recognize the signs! Though in retrospect, it was kind of obvious."

"Barry is the worst secret identity keeper in the league," Hal dismissed. "Half the Rogues probably know his identity by now."

Barry looked away a little too quickly.

"Barry?" Iris asked, still amused but now equally suspicious. "Just how many of the Rogues do know your secret?"

"Uh… I'm not sure really. I think… okay, so Len knows. And James was really drunk so he probably doesn't remember but it may have been mentioned. I don't think Mark knows actually, we don't get along so-"

Hal laughed. "You see? Central is great. You're friends with most of your enemies. On a first name basis and everything. I hope you remember the rest of the world doesn't work like this. If I tried making friends with Sinestro, I'd die. Well, either that or be drawn in by the power of Yellow Fear but really that would be just as bad if not worse so-"

"Naw, you're too good to get drawn in," Barry dismissed, unbelieving. "And too stubborn."

Hal wrinkled his nose. "That's what we used to say about Sinestro. Look what happened to him. He was my mentor I-" Hal cut himself off. This wasn't what he had meant to talk about. He shouldn't have brought it up. But Iris gave him that look and Barry actually paused to figure out how to phrase the question he wanted an answer to without his foot-in-mouth syndrome acting up and… Hal really hadn't meant to bring it up. But he found himself talking about it anyway. "Sinestro was my mentor entering the Corps and he was an asshole and a purple faced bastard. But he was also really brave and determined and charismatic and-"

"Oh please tell me you didn't have sex with a supervillain," Barry interrupted looking seriously upset. "Please tell me I'm wrong here and you didn't-"

"No, okay? No. Nothing happened. There was just always this tension and when he went Yellow he came back and he was mad at me for not following him and-"

"Oh my god. You are cursed," Barry realized, feigning shock. "You're cursed. All your relationships are cursed. There's a pattern!"

"Barry," Iris scolded, giving her fiancé a look. "Leave Hal alone. Like he said, we asked and we're supposed to then listen."

"Sorry, love," Barry replied.

Hal wasn't paying attention to what they were saying anymore. All he could think was that Barry was right. He was cursed. Why else would he be so alone in the same room with two people he loved and cared about? He was cursed.


They fit together well. Hal wasn't sure how or why, and there were times when he wasn't sure how it had happened or how he deserved it, but he certainly never complained. Hal loved living with Barry and Iris, despite feeling like an unneeded intruder most of the time. Neither of them ever let him feel that way for long. He never wanted to leave. And much to his surprise, he didn't want to go back to Carol or have Carol want him back either.

Green Lantern Hal Jordan, super hero extraordinaire and intergalactic war veteran was not and had not been in an abusive relationship. But he had been in a neglectful one, as he was coming to learn. Carol had been very controlling, wanting to know where he was all the time and what he was doing, wanting him to spend more of his time with her whenever he went off-planet. She preferred him with his Green Lantern Corps uniform on than with it off. He had constantly needed to apologize for her at social events, which he never wanted to attend in the first place but needed to go to as Carol's plus one. She was his boss; she knew it and she acted like it all the time, even outside of the workspace. Their relationship hadn't been healthy. He'd pursued her as Hal and got shut down and then she pursued the Green Lantern and got stuck with Hal instead. Neither of them had been truly happy with what they got but pretended to themselves and to each other that it was what they wanted because they didn't want to admit that they'd made a mistake.

And now he was living with Barry and Iris. Hal was actually pretty sure he tripped over his tongue the first time Iris asked him how his day had gone because he hadn't known how to answer the question. He'd been out of practice. Barry would beat him to doing the dishes before Hal could even offer and then smile at him like he knew what he'd been thinking somehow. The jerk made Hal's heart flutter a little bit sometimes. And Iris… Hal loved her too. And that made everything worse. Iris West was beautiful and she was kind and passionate and completely cool about the whole superheroes-who-fight-evil thing and… seriously, Hal had issues. Hal had serious issues.

Mentally, he was kicking himself even as emotionally he was healing from his time with Carol. In his head, he ranted and screamed that nothing good could come of this. Nothing good would happen because he would screw up eventually and he needed to stop noticing Barry's smile and Iris's green eyes and the warmth of Barry's hugs and Iris's tendency to straighten ties when they were already straight and Barry's incessant pen clicking and Iris's habit of tucking her stray hair behind her ear when it was already back. It made his chest hurt and his eyes sting sometimes. And then other times he was lighter than air and his cheeks ached from smiling. Those were the times when Hal forgot that he didn't belong there. That he wasn't really a part of the soon-to-be-Allen household and that he didn't have the right feeling like he did.

Things couldn't possibly continue as they were. Not with Hal being in love with his two… housemates. Well, and okay, Barry was also his best friend in the world. But that was beside the point. The point was he couldn't stay. Not when he went to sleep some night wishing he was in Barry and Iris's bed instead of the guest room. Not when he wanted to run away. Of course, Hal was a Green Lantern and one thing Green Lanterns weren't supposed to do was chicken out and run away.

And so Hal stayed. And he never wanted to leave. Which was the whole problem all over again.


Being a superhero is dangerous. Hal Jordan was a superhero. Naturally, his life was in peril and endangered more or less every day of his life. Sometimes he came closer to death than other times though. It was part of the job. It was what he signed up for, and if he screwed up and got himself killed then oh well. That was on him. The ring would one day find it's own successor. One day, the sun would rise without him.

'Maybe today.' Hal thought. Then the explosion hit and he didn't think anymore.


Barry was not appeased. "Fucking god, Hal! I thought you were really gonna die for a minute there! You were dead! For a full minute! Your heart stopped! Fucking shit!"

"I'm not sure why I need to apologize for almost dying," Hal complained. "I'm okay. It was an accident and I'm okay. It's not a big deal."

"You don't get it?! I thought you were dead! I've never been so terrified in my life! I thought I was going to have to go home to Iris and tell her-" Barry choked up a little and chose not to continue. His shoulders were tense under his suit and Hal felt guilty for the first time. "Do you have any idea how long a minute is when you have super speed?" Barry whispered. With his cowl pulled back and staring at the ground, it wasn't hard to guess. A minute was too damn long.

"It's not like I did it on purpose," he defended.

This was the wrong thing to say. Barry hit him in the shoulder, hard enough to bruise though thankfully on the opposite side from his cast. "Don't even go there," Barry hissed. "You've been making increasingly stupid decisions ever since you and Carol split. It doesn't matter how good you are at smiling through the pain when I can see you damn near trying to get yourself killed in the field with your fucking carelessness! Don't you dare joke about this. It's all about Carol. It's always been about Carol Ferris and now you're not even together and she's still taking you from me!"

Where the heck had that come from? Hal honestly hadn't thought about Carol in nearly a month. Not since he moved in with Barry and Iris really. "It's not about Carol! That's not what this is about!"

Barry looked genuinely angry. It was an expression Hal had never seen on his face before and it didn't suit him at all. "The what is it?!"

"This is about you!" Barry reeled back from Hal's words as though he'd been struck by something. "It's about you and Iris and- fuck." 'In for a penny, in for a pound,' Hal figured, 'I may as well tell him. This day can't possibly get much worse.' "Fuck it, Barry. I've been in love with you and your stupid smile and goddamn fucking dimples since we met. And I was too much of an ass to figure that out and then Carol happened and that ended horribly and now- Now there's you and there's Iris and fuck but she's beautiful and fantastic and how does that woman have so much love all the time and you deserve each other you really do because you're both just so wonderful and meant for each other you love each other so much and look so good together and damn it all but you're right and I'm cursed because everyone I've ever loved wants something or someone else and-"

"You love us?" Barry asked, voice quiet. The question didn't seem to indicate surprise or anger or any other discernable emotion. It was surprisingly (terrifyingly) blank coming from Barry Allen, one of the most cheerful men alive.

"Did I not just say that?" Hal demanded. "because that's what I me-mph!"

Faster than Hal could blink, Barry crossed the room and forced their lips together. Hal was pretty sure that was all the time it took for him to have a miniature heart attack, but he was too distracted to be sure. Because holy shit where did Barry learn to do that thing with his tongue and thinking was definitely too much effort to be worth it right now. There was a hand in his hair and he was craning his neck to get more leverage out of the damn med bay bed and Barry's other hand was exploring lower and lower and Hal's good arm was wrapped around him and-

Someone cleared his throat. Barry and Hal sprang apart much faster than humanly possible. It was the goddamn Batman.

"No making out in my medical bay," he ordered. He said this without cracking a smile, completely deadpan. Barry wasn't sure how. He chalked it up to Ninja Bat-Powers. If anyone other than Batman had tried to say that sentence they'd have smirked at the very least.

"Uh- right," Hal agreed, regretting that he wasn't still kissing Barry and still mostly dazed. That pain medication was doing wonders for him right now actually. Or maybe the kissing. Probably the kissing to be honest.

"Normally, we'd be keeping you overnight for observation," Batman began. "Because you were dead for fifty-six seconds this morning and it's a miracle Wonder Woman was able to restart your heart in time. But, largely due to the forecasted size of the complaint Superman will lodge if the medical bay ends up smelling of sex and semen to his super senses, I'm not going to do that. After firmly reminding you that you really shouldn't be doing any strenuous activity in your condition, I'm releasing you from the medical bay. Go home you two."

And with that he left, cape flapping behind him.

"Batman is awesome," Hal remembered. "Seriously, Batman is awesome."

Barry grinned, moving back to his previous position hovering over Hal faster than a normal human could blink. "I know. But you know what that meant, right?" He kissed Hal on the lips once quickly. "It means," he murmured, moving his lips against Hal's skin and refusing to pull away, "that I," he sucked on Hal's pulse point, "get to take you," whoa that spot was sensitive, "back home," Barry nibbled his earlobe, "to Iris," their lips were close enough to brush against each other with every word and Hal shivered at the mention or Iris's name, "and we-"

"I said not in the med bay," Batman's voice cut in over the speakers. "I already have to erase the surveillance footage. Get out of my Watchtower already."

"Damnit!"

Then again, Barry was the fastest man alive. And Zeta beams could get you to earth pretty fast too. Hal didn't even have time to object about being carried princess-style before they were back at the house. The rewards were worth it.