Warning: Nongraphic adult themes. Barry is very OOC—but you know that already.

It Could Have Been Worse

Iris sighed as she walked into her dad's house. She hadn't slept very well last night. Granted, she never slept very well after drinking, but she knew it was for other reasons this time. She was trying hard not to think about those reasons as she walked through the living room and made her way to the kitchen.

It was only seven AM, and Iris wasn't expecting to find anyone in the kitchen, so she was surprised when she noticed the pair of slim legs poking out from behind the refrigerator door, long legs that trailed up to meet a pair of bright red panties.

Iris stared in shock as the blonde stood up straight, pulling a carton of juice from the fridge.

"Oh, hey," the woman said, "Orange juice?"

Iris didn't even look at the orange juice in the girl's hands. She was too busy taking in the plaid button-down shirt she was wearing. Barry's shirt. Iris stared at it in shock.

Barry—Barry Allen—had had a one night stand. He had taken the girl from the bar home with him last night. Underneath the shock, Iris felt her heart clench painfully as the girl continued to smile at her, pouring herself a glass of juice.

Just then, Barry walked shamelessly into the kitchen, shirtless and wearing only a pair of gray sweatpants that hung dangerously low on his hips.

"Morning," he said tiredly, rubbing his eyes.

Iris stared at him in disbelief as he walked over to the girl and gratefully took the glass of orange juice she offered him, the two of them sharing the same glass. It was like Iris wasn't even in the room.

"I need some food," Barry groaned, "It's been a long time since I had to deal with a hangover this bad."

He smiled knowingly at Iris, but she didn't smile back. She just stood there, frozen in shock. Barry was acting like there was nothing wrong—like this situation was completely normal. Like Barry had sex with random girls all the time. Like the three of them weren't currently standing in her dad's kitchen, Barry and some blonde girl both wear two halves of one outfit. Seriously? Would it kill Barry to at least put a shirt on?

"I should get going," the girl sighed then, "My friends are probably all pissed at me for ditching them last night."

Barry laughed and a smug smile formed on his face.

"I told you I could convince you to leave," he smirked.

The girl laughed and shook her head.

"Well, you certainly did make it worth my while," she said in a sultry voice, "We'll have to do this again sometime."

She walked over to the notepad sitting on the counter and wrote down her number.

"Call me?" she asked, handing Barry the paper.

"Sure," Barry said in an amused voice.

The girl smiled and walked out of the room then, saying a quick 'bye' to Iris. Iris stared after her, her mind still trying to wrap itself around the situation she had walked in on. She blinked a few times and then looked at Barry, who, she was shocked to see, was tossing the girl's phone number haphazardly in the trash. He turned around and looked at her then.

"What?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.

Iris shook her head slowly at him, trying to reign in her confusing emotions.

"You certainly moved on from Patty fast," she said coldly.

Barry shrugged.

"Cisco was right," he said simply, "All I needed was a rebound."

"Cisco was drunk, Barry," Iris snapped, the anger audible in her voice.

Barry raised his eyebrows at her.

"Are you upset?" he asked stupidly.

Iris opened and closed her mouth a few times, at a loss for words.

"I…of course not," she sputtered angrily, "You can sleep with whoever you want, Barry. I don't care."

"Good," Barry said pleasantly, "Because you have no reason to be upset. You're going on a date with that guy, right? Your boss?"

Iris was taken aback by these words. She had forgotten all about Scott. It was hard to admit, but Barry did have a point, and even if she wasn't planning to go out with Scott, she really had no reason to be mad. She and Barry weren't dating, and they never had dated. Barry was perfectly free to have sleazy one night stands with whoever he wanted, even if it was something Iris had never expected Barry would do. He wasn't the one night stand type of guy.

There was something very off about Barry right now.

Joe rubbed the tiredness from his eyes as he walked out of the upstairs bathroom. He had had a very long night and desperately needed some coffee. As soon as he stepped out of the bathroom, though, he ran headlong into a complete stranger.

"Whoops," the young woman giggled, "Sorry."

The blonde quickly slipped into Barry's room, but not before Joe saw she was wearing only Barry's plaid shirt.

That was something he could never unsee.

A moment later, she reemerged from Barry's bedroom, wearing a strappy black dress and carrying a pair of high heels in one hand, her purse in the other. She brushed past Joe in a hurry and quickly disappeared down the stairs. Joe heard the front door close from downstairs shortly after that.

For a moment, all Joe could do was stand there in shock. Did that seriously just happen?

Joe gave himself a small shake and then made his way down the stairs, where he heard two familiar voices speaking to each other.

"Relax," Barry was saying, "I'm never going to see her again, so what does it matter?"

"That's the problem, Barry," Iris said in exasperation, "You didn't even know her."

"Well, I certainly got to know her well enough," Barry said cockily, causing Joe to raise his eyebrows in shock as he listened.

He cautiously entered the kitchen to see his daughter standing there, her face contorted in rage and utter shock. She was opening and closing her mouth, at a complete loss for words.

"I've got to go," she finally said, storming out of the kitchen.

Joe could plainly see the hurt on his daughter's face.

"I'll see you later, dad," she said quietly to him as she walked past.

After the front door closed behind her, Joe turned back to Barry, who was shaking his head as he let out a small sigh.

"Women," he muttered to himself.

Joe quietly made his way over to the coffee maker to start brewing a himself a pot. Why couldn't he have just stayed in the bathroom five minutes longer?

After starting the coffee maker, he turned and looked at Barry, giving him one of his famous Joe West looks of disapproval.

"What?" Barry asked defensively.

"What the hell is going on, Barry?" Joe asked seriously.

Barry rolled his eyes.

"Geez, a guy can't get laid around here without everyone making it their business?" he asked in exasperation.

"First of all," Joe said seriously, "This is my house, and I don't exactly want to be woken up at four in the morning to the sound of someone screaming your name. I'll never be able to erase that from my mind."

Joe shuddered unpleasantly as he poured himself a cup of coffee.

"It could have been worse," Barry pointed out, completely unabashed, "It could have been your daughter in there with me last night. Would you have rather it been Iris screaming my name?"

Joe nearly choked on his coffee. He coughed several times, staring at Barry in disbelief.

"What did you just say to me?!" he demanded, stepping closer to Barry.

Barry smirked at him and shrugged.

"I'm just saying it could have been worse," he said simply, "My point is that unless it involves your daughter, my sex life is none of your business."

Joe opened and closed his mouth several times, at a loss for words.

"This is my business, Barry," he finally said, his hands clenched into fists, "I tend to make it my business when someone is hurting my daughter."

Barry's eyes widened.

"I didn't hurt her," he said defensively, "God, you guys are acting like I cheated on her or something. We're not even remotely dating, and no one made a big deal out of it when I was with Patty."

"This is different, Bar, and you know it," Joe said seriously, "This isn't like you. You wouldn't do this to Iris."

"She broke my heart, Joe," Barry snapped, "She rejected me. Last year, she made the decision not to be with me. Don't go turning this around on me now. I'm not the bad guy here. We're both free to see whoever we want. I don't know why she cares, anyways. She's going on a date with her boss this week."

Joe raised his eyebrows.

"I didn't know that," he said in surprise.

"Exactly," Barry said, rolling his eyes, "So, next time, be sure to get your facts straight before you go treating me like the world's biggest asshole."

Barry stormed out of the room then, leaving Joe alone in his kitchen. Joe let out a heavy sigh after Barry left.

These kids were going to be the death of him.

"Dude, how did things work out with that girl?" Cisco asked excitedly when Barry walked into STAR Labs, "Did you get her number?"

"I got a lot more than her number," Barry replied, leaving it at that, "Got any Flash stuff for me?"

"Wait," Cisco said seriously, "Go back a second. What do you mean? What happened after I left the bar last night?"

"Cisco, I'm sure you don't need me to explain how the birds and the bees work," Barry said impatiently.

Cisco's eyes widened.

"No way!" he nearly shouted, "You got lucky?!"

"I'm going to choose to ignore your tone of surprise," Barry said, rolling his eyes, "So…got any Flash stuff for me?"

"Are you going to see her again?" Cisco asked curiously, ignoring Barry's question.

"No," Barry clipped, walking over to the cortex computer to check the scanner, not saying another word.

Cisco raised his eyebrows.

"You're not?" he asked in confusion.

"Is that so hard to understand?" Barry asked condescendingly.

"Coming from you? Yes," Cisco said honestly, "Barry, you're not exactly the one-and-done kind of guy."

"I'm getting really sick of everyone telling me what kind of guy I am," Barry said irritably, "I'm an adult. I don't have to explain my sex life to anyone, so just drop it already, alright?"

Cisco furrowed his eyebrows at him in confusion.

"What's wrong?" he asked Barry quietly.

"Nothing's wrong," Barry snapped, "I had a good fucking time, and it that's that, so just drop it, okay?"

Cisco flinched slightly at Barry's harsh tone. Just then, Caitlin walked into the room, giving Barry a stern look.

"It's Iris, isn't it?" she asked him knowingly.

She had clearly overheard the better part of their conversation.

"This isn't about Iris," Barry snapped, "This is about people minding their own business. I woke up this morning feeling on top of the world, but now I'm just hungover and cranky, and I don't want to talk about it, so just drop it already. Now, do you have any Flash stuff for me?"

Cisco and Caitlin both exchanged looks with each other.

"No," Cisco finally answered, "The city's been quiet."

"Okay," Barry said, nodding in satisfaction, "I'll see you guys later then."

"Where are you going?" Caitlin asked him.

"I've got some errands to run," Barry said vaguely, "I need to run and get an apology gift for Joe."

The other two gave him confused looks.

"An apology gift?" Cisco asked.

"I'm pretty sure I traumatized him last night," Barry muttered, "Either way, I have to go to the gas station to get him…something. Something to make it up to him."

"What on earth are you going to get from a gas station?" Caitlin asked, shaking her head at him in confusion.

"Don't worry about it," Barry said dismissively, "Just trust me, Joe's going to love it."

Without another word of explanation, Barry flashed out of the cortex, leaving the other two standing there in confusion.

Caitlin looked over at Cisco once he had left.

"Do you believe me now?" she asked seriously, "There's something seriously wrong with Barry."

Don't hold anything against Barry. He's not himself right now, and he's not in control of his actions.