Summary: [2x23] Barry has suffered from severe anxiety since his mother's death. Now, it has been two days since his father's death.. and Team Flash collectively decide to lock in him the pipeline.. in a cell.. a tiny cell. Nothing too bad could happen.. right?
DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THE FLASH; THE CHARACTERS, THE PLOT OR ANYTHING IN THIS STORY :)
TRIGGER WARNING: PANIC-ATTACKS, SELF-INFLICTED WOUNDS
The cell was tiny. Barry always knew that the pipeline cells weren't the most spacious things in the world but he surely thought there was a bit more room to breathe. Considering Cisco managed to install toilets into the cell walls, he kind of hoped his best-friend had made some more adjustments to the cages, especially since even he knew the metas being locked up here couldn't have dealt with this little space for too long. But, the speedster quickly decided to add this to the list of things he was angry about. Maybe he could give the list to Cisco and see what the engineer could do to sort it out, considering he was the only one from the team who showed any remorse for locking him down here. Barry had his back pressed against the back wall, staring at the glass and to the outside world.. well, he was staring at the inside of the pipeline but it was still out there rather than inside the cell.
He had been in the cell for a little over an hour when his thoughts began spiralling. His team were just as reckless and as stubborn as he was, that's what they all shared in common, and that was one of the main reasons Barry had been preparing to face Zoom alone, without his team in the firing line. Barry knew his team had formulated a plan that would result in them all losing their lives. He also knew that he was stuck in this small, cramped cage whilst they were all outside, free to be alive. He wanted that.. no he needed that. He needed to be free, before this got even worse.
Four hours later and Barry realised how inhumane it was to lock someone down here, who was recently grieving the loss of his father, with their thoughts. It was dangerous, deadly-even. Of course, people enjoyed thinking, but given recent circumstances, you would think his team, his family, would at least put him in the med-bay with a meta-dampening cuff set rather than in this confined space, with nothing to do except breathe.
It was when it reached the fifth hour that Barry's claustrophobia really kicked in.
With each breath he took, it felt as though the room was getting smaller, and much more tight. Barry could feel how unstable his legs were, so he slid down the cell wall, tremors taking control of his body as he made contact with the freezing floor. Who knew the floor could feel as cold as ice? That did nothing for the speedster, however, as he continued to struggle for air, he even began attempting to claw at the walls, hoping he could escape. He needed to escape. The thoughts of his team risking their lives went out of the window as the only mantra flowing through his mind was, 'Don't Panic'
S.T.A.R Labs was eerily quiet when Team Flash returned from their mission. Caitlin and Harry helped escort an injured Joe to the med-bay whilst Cisco, Iris and Jesse all remained by the monitors in the Cortex, all three of them collapsing into the three available chairs. When Harry emerged from the med-bay, he approached his daughter, placing his hands on her shoulders in an attempt to calm her down. Cisco and Iris just sighed softly before an alarm began ringing throughout the entire building. All of them were suddenly on alert. Cisco began to type frantically on his computer, hoping that Zoom hadn't come to them. What was shown on the security footage, however, made the engineer feel guilt flood through his chest.
On the screen, it showed Barry, his chest heaving so fast that little bolts of lightning were flashing off of the man. It was because of the amount of energy stored in one of those lightning bolts that the emergency alert system had been signalled. Iris watched in horror as Barry began clawing at his arms, hoping to relieve some of the pressure being built up in his chest.
Iris arrived at the pipeline in one minute.
The reporter immediately ran to the control panel, unlocking the cell. Iris stopped just shy of the cell door, turning around to face Cisco. The engineer looked at her and nodded his head softly, agreeing with her decision. The duo slowly approached the terrified speedster, hoping not to startle him too much. Cisco grabbed Barry's flailing hands, keeping them from scratching his arms more whilst Iris was stationed at his right, taking his face into both of her hands. Tears spilled down her face as she stared into his eyes, wishing he recognised them. Barry's breathing became much more shallow, his chest heaving up and down unevenly as he battled with himself to get oxygen into his body.
"Bear, breathe." Iris said to him, placing their foreheads together. She stared directly into his eyes, hoping he would finally notice them, "You can breathe.. you can breathe"
"N-No I-I can't b-breathe!" Barry gasped out, his head escaping Iris' grip as it smacked the cell wall with a resounding bang, "Too-too small.. no-no air"
"Bartholomew Henry Allen," Iris bellowed, sighing in relief as his eyes flew open, despite them not looking at her, "You're safe. Look at me.. Barry, look at me"
The speedster hesitantly looked at her, distressed eyes meeting her own. She slid her right arm down to his shaking hand, pulling it to her face, planting a light kiss onto his knuckle. Her left hand wiped some of his hair off of his forehead, cringing slightly as she realised it was damp with sweat. Cisco clutched the speedster's left hand in his own as he gripped tightly onto the engineer's hand, struggling to calm himself down.
"Easy, Barry," Iris told him, smiling softly as he kept his gaze trained on her, "Take deep breaths with me"
Barry watched as Iris took a deep breath, urging him to do the same. The moment he tried though, it made him feel worse. His chest was so tight he couldn't get any air in it felt like. Iris could see the distress on his face as he tried to take a deep breath, instead, he ended up gasping for more air. The reporter let her left hand play with his hair. She remembered from High School how much he calmed down after having someone just sit and stay with him rather than attempt to talk him down.
"'m feel sick," Barry mumbled minutes later, feeling utterly exhausted. Cisco sighed in relief as he felt Barry let go of his hand, letting the blood circulation begin to flow once more. Iris turned towards the engineer, nodding for him to leave. Cisco seemed to understand the message, because a second later he had patted Barry on the knee gently and left.
Whilst Iris still clutched Barry's, still shaking, hand in her own, she continued to play with his hair, placing a feather-light kiss to his temple as his eyes drifted closed. They would talk about this, but for now, she was just glad that she was able to help calm him down.
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