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Barry stayed with Hunter for the rest of the weekend. The only time he went home was to super speed to his room and get a change of clothing and toiletries. Half the time Barry was in the apartment he wasn't even wearing any clothes, so it was really pointless to go. Sunday afternoon Barry got a call from Iris.

"Barry you were supposed to meet me at Jitters." Iris said annoyed "and Dad said you haven't been home all weekend!"

"Sorry I'll head over there now." He said putting his clothes on and fixing himself up.

"Where are you going?" Hunter questioned sitting up.

"I forgot Iris and I were supposed to meet at Jitters. I'll be back in a bit okay?" Barry said kissing his cheek and heading for the door.

"Wait Barry your hair's not-" Hunter started, but it was too late. By the time Hunter ended his statement Barry was already walking through the door of the coffee shop with his hair a mess and still wearing Hunters over-sized sweatshirt.

"Why is it you're always late for everything important-oh dear god." Iris said doing a double take when she looked up from her laptop. "What happened to you? And whose sweatshirt is that?"

"Huh?" Barry looked down at his clothing "oh...that's um-I overslept."

"I can see that." Iris said laughing which made Barry smile. He hated to lie to Iris, especially when she knew he was lying. Her laughing always made him feel better. "Here" she said holding up a brush. "Go take care of that mop of yours. Eddie's coming and I wouldn't want my best friend looking like he just woke up in front of him."

"But I did just wake up." Barry said smiling and laughing as Iris tried to smack his head. He freshened up and adjusted the sweatshirt so he wasn't swimming in it.

"Hey Barry" Eddie said waving.

Barry smiled and closed the bathroom door. When he turned around and smiled, he was surprised by two things:

One, the smile was genuine.

Two, he didn't the ping of jealousy in his chest from seeing her and Eddie together.

His smile got wider as he walked over to the table and sipped his coffee. He wouldn't say it out loud, but he knew one thing in his heart.

He was finally over Iris.

"Nice of you to give me some indication you still live here." Joe huffed as Barry walked through the door Sunday night.

"Hi to you too" Barry said putting his coat away.

"Don't be sarcastic with me young man!" Joe said with a raised voice.

Barry stopped in his tracks. He was being sarcastic. How many remarks had he made this weekend? He couldn't even think of them all. His worst fear was coming into light. Sebastian was creeping back like a virus. Invisible, yet with horrible consequences.

"Sorry" Barry said becoming strangely quiet and introverted.

"Barry you go to someone's house practically all weekend with no word and no warning. You can't just do that! What could you be doing all that time?"

Something in Barry snapped. He was sick of this. He was an adult, not a child. He was tired of being treated like one no matter how immature or mature he tried to be.

"What Joe? What do you think we were doing all weekend that could be so horrible? Smoking, doing drugs, what? Because I can't see why you're so worried when you've seen me take care of myself just fine!" Barry huffed, and waited for Joe to respond. His mouth opened and closed like a fish a few times "well?"

"No I don't think you were smoking, doing drugs, or anything bad like that. I trust you enough to know that."

"If you trust me, then show that you trust me!" Barry said "and for the record, we were catching up. I said I'd be fine and I was." He bolted upstairs and into his room, shutting and locking the door behind him.

"I think you're over reacting a little." Caitlin said after her and Barry were working in the lab. "He's your guardian. It's his job to worry about you. You can't blame him for doing his job."

"I get that he's worried, but he doesn't have to check up on me like I'm a teenager. I'm not asking him to not worry. Just for a longer leash. Which I shouldn't even be on anymore." Barry huffed. He had calmed down since yesterday's incident, but he and Joe still hadn't spoken since then. "How do you even know about all this?"

"Iris" she said simply with a slight smile. "Just talk to him. You two won't resolve anything just by ranting to a third party that doesn't care."

"Rude!"

"It had to be said. I'm a scientist and your friend Barry, not your therapist."

"Joe" Barry called when he got home from S.T.A.R. Labs. "Joe?" He repeated when he didn't hear anything. He checked around the house. The man wasn't home, brilliant. He sat down on the couch and relaxed his tired bones, and waited for Joe to show. He waited so long that he eventually fell asleep.

Joe and Barry eventually talked and agreed on one thing, they weren't going to agree.

"Joe, just listen to me and hear me out." Barry said getting increasingly frustrated. He wanted to get through this conflict as quickly as possible, but naturally it was not working out the way he wanted it to.

"Barry, you're not listening to me. All I ask is that you tell me where you are."

"And all I'm asking is why? Why do you need to know when I can take care of myself? You've seen me fight first hand-"

"And I've seen you almost die first hand!" Joe screamed making Barry's eyes go wide and his mouth shut close. "If something happens to you I'll never forgive myself. How do I know you're safe and not being attacked or worse, getting killed my some meta-human if I don't know when you're coming home or where you are, huh?"

Barry sat on the couch looking up at his foster-dad with guilt all over his face. "I'm-I'm sorry..." He trailed off and looked down at the carpet.

"Don't do that Barry. I know what you're saying." Joe said sitting next to him. "You want to have freedom and go and do as you please. I want that for you too, believe me. But what's out there, what I've seen you go up against...it scares me. Now getting mad and yelling at you for staying at Hunter's, that I admit was unnecessary. I just want to keep you safe. Even though you can do that for yourself, I'll still worry about you. Heck, I'll probably worry about you and Iris until your 80."

"80?" Barry said grinning at him. "Oh, better call Barry and make sure he didn't break a hip."

"You have supper speedy healing. The last thing I would worry about for you is a broken hip. I'd probably last you a day, tops."

They both laughed and Joe hugged Barry tight.

"I get it." Barry said hugging back "but, maybe next time you can wait until like, I don't know, 11 on a Saturday to go all frantic and call me?"

Joe chuckled "Sure, I'll let you get your beauty sleep."

"Hey!"