pre-relationship (ish) Barry/Eddie, 5000 words, pg-rated.

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If You Want A Storm Come Dance With Me

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"You're not wearing that."

He nearly jumps out of his skin as Iris' voice fills the room, the hairs at the back of his neck standing up. After all these years he should be used to Iris' light tread, and he had left his front door unlocked for her to walk in unannounced, but that girl crept up on him time and again, a skill she perfected after years of sneaking in and out of a cop's house.

He turns on his heels, facing his best friend. "What's wrong with this?" he asks a little perturbed, because he's changed outfits three times and he finally decided on the suit and tie combination.

Iris raises an unimpressed eyebrow. "He's making you dinner at his place while his daughter's asleep. It's okay to dress down." She marches over and undoes his tie, tossing it offhandedly on the bed, before pressing a hand over his heart. "You nervous?"

"What gave it away?" He raises an equally unimpressed brow. He's been an even more uncoordinated mess of limbs than usual and hasn't been worth much of anything all day. At a crime scene this morning he'd tripped over his own shoelaces, which earned him pointed looks from quite a few police officers; he spilled his coffee when Captain Singh had yelled at him, and it'd taken him five minutes to find the results he wanted. At least, thankfully, Eddie hadn't seen him fumble through his day. In fact, they'd acted like consummate professionals, only interacting when necessary and only talking about the cases at hand. They both knew they had a date tonight, but neither of them felt the need to make a big deal out of it in front of people who didn't actually care. He's sure that when the time comes, about half an hour from now, things will get appropriately awkward before they find a rhythm again. But it's oddly reassuring to know that Eddie's as out of the loop with the dating scene as he is.

"Sarcasm doesn't suit you."

He gestures at his wardrobe. "What will, oh wise one?"

Iris makes her way to his closet and starts rummaging through his clothes, quickly putting together a fresh attire she proudly presents to him. "Shirt, cashmere sweater, dinner jacket, jeans. Simple, yet elegant."

He eyes the whole thing suspiciously. It's not that he doesn't trust Iris, he'd trust her with his life if push came to shove, but he feels hopelessly out of control and that's not a feeling he particularly cherishes. It's been a week and a half since Eva magically appeared in his lab, and his life found a sudden forward momentum he's trying desperately to catch up with. Everything's moving so fast. But is it too fast?

"Bar, relax." Iris grabs him by the shoulders. "It's just a date."

"Easy for you to say." He fiddles with the clothes hanger. "You're in a steady– thing with Linda."

"And we found our thing by going on a lot of dates." Iris smiles fondly, the way she always does when he manages to sound his minute envy over his best friend's relationship. He can't deny it hasn't crossed his mind, the thought of sharing his life with someone, finding someone who gets him the way Iris and Linda get each other, yet still gives him the space to do his own thing.

"You're not making me feel better."

Iris rolls her eyes and gives up, leaving him alone in the bedroom to stare at his reflection in the mirror. He changes into his new outfit as quick as he can, and has to admit he doesn't look all too bad, all things considered. It's better to accept that he'll be a mess until he's with Eddie, rather than fight it and be left in a worse state.

"What do you think?" he asks, stepping into the living room.

Iris smiles her delighted smile. "You look perfect," she says. "And you have nothing to worry about. He likes you. You like him. That's a lot."

There are sparse moments where he wonders if that's enough – Eddie showed him a tremendous amount of support when he listened to his impossible story, and he shows a lot of trust in letting him into Eva's life as well, but what if it's all moving too fast? What if all the spark they've experienced so far is nothing but a spark, and will eventually wilt and die out? Though he supposes the whole point of dating is figuring that out.

He has to stop questioning everything he does. He's going to have dinner with a nice guy. No need to overthink things.

He shows up right on time at Eddie's front door, rapping his knuckles on the door gently like Eddie requested; he didn't want to run the risk of waking Eva up on a school night and getting her all worked up over having a guest over. It's truly astounding how little he minds the thought of the little girl interrupting their night.

Eddie's eyes trace down the length of his body as he steps inside, making him more than a little grateful for Iris' help. "You look nice."

"I had help," he confesses, mesmerized by Eddie's simple white button-down over slacks combination. He hands Eddie the bottle of wine he picked up on the way over, following the other man into the living room.

"I hope you're not expecting anything too fancy." Eddie laughs awkwardly. "Had a bit of a day."

"Hey, no," – he shrugs, burying his hands in his pants pockets, trying his best to ignore the steady fastening of his heartbeat – "Take-out's fine with me too."

The table isn't exactly set for take-out; two plates, a small tray off to the side for something hot to rest on, cotton napkins, nice silverware, a trio of tea-lights burning in ceramic holders. It's romantic, and if that wasn't enough to knock the breath out of him Eddie's, "Sounds awful cheap, Allen," has him raising a hand to the back of his head, lips forming around nothing but air when he watches Eddie disappear into the kitchen. His eyes dart across the room waiting for the other shoe to drop, for someone to jump from beneath the table and tell him this is all an elaborate hoax masterminded by Iris and Linda to inject some excitement in his life. Because his heart hasn't raced this hard since Linda dared him to bungee jump with her; Iris had stood clutching her stomach laughing for an hour straight.

"I made lasagna." Eddie reappears from the kitchen, big blue oven mitts curled around a big tray of lasagna, and he releases a shaky breath. There are no hidden cameras, this isn't a hoax, this is a guy who seems to really like him, otherwise he wouldn't have gone to all this trouble. Though if Eddie can do this after he's had a day, what could he achieve on a good day?

"Smells great."

"Eva helped," Eddie says as they both have a seat, "so there might be more cheese than you need."

"She knew I was coming?"

He opens the bottle of red wine, pops the cork and fills their glasses while Eddie serves the food, wondering idly how he managed to put Eva to bed if she knew he'd be here. He doesn't want to overestimate the impact he's had on her life after barely two weeks, but he's spend enough time with her to know that Eva has a mind of her own, a will she pushes through whether someone disagrees or not; it's a testament to Eddie's parenting skills that she doesn't get out of control more often.

"I may have omitted the specific circumstances." Eddie pulls a napkin in his lap, his brow setting in an adorably questioning frown; it unknots something in his stomach, a worry that had nagged at him all day. It's just a date, it's just dinner, it's just conversation with a guy he knows he can talk to. A guy who it turns out can be incredibly cute. "Does that make me a terrible father? I teach her not to fib and here I am..."

"A little white lie never hurt anyone."

Eddie nods, as if still trying to convince himself, and reaches for his glass of wine. "A toast," he says. "To coincidence."

"Coincidence?"

"This wouldn't be happening if my babysitter hadn't moved to Zimbabwe."

He laughs and clinks his glass to Eddie's, sipping the wine. There are quite a few coincidences that had to stack up for him and Eddie to get to know each other like they did, for him and Eva to meet that day, but he's toyed with the idea that something like this would have happened one way or the other. It might've taken longer, Eva might have been a bigger surprise, but he likes to think they would have at least tried a date or two.

They eat in silence for a few moments, until the silence lags too long and he's desperate for some conversation, no matter what it is. "I heard you made a big arrest in your forgery case today," he says, before questioning if shop talk is such a good idea. "Captain wouldn't shut up about it."

"Yeah." Eddie smiles, pride evident in his eyes. "We're getting really close. Just a few more leads and we'll have the entire operation."

The case had been one of the station's longest ongoing investigations when it finally landed on Eddie's desk; no one knew exactly how he did it, but only a few days after he'd been assigned the forgery case Eddie made a break-through, which saw him leading a small taskforce geared towards shutting down the whole forgery ring. It was nothing short of remarkable, so Captain Singh praised Eddie's work every chance he got. Even Joe, who'd hardly worked with Eddie, was impressed by the new detective's diligent investigative work.

"I know what they're saying about me," Eddie's voice pulls him back to reality. "The guy who actually keeps score of his arrests?"

"You're new." He shrugs a little, even though excuses can barely take the sting out of the things they say about him behind his back. The CCPD hired him because he's one of the best at what he does, and he's the best because he worked hard and never backed down from a challenge. That didn't negate the fact that he was only twenty-five and ran the crime lab almost single-handedly – Rudy worked the night shifts, and Singh made sure he had help from the occasional intern, but most of the work fell on his shoulders. Add to that his connection to Joe, and he often became the butt of jokes around the precinct. "I can imagine you want to prove yourself."

"Didn't plan on it," Eddie says. "I was going to start over, be a little less controlling. Doesn't seem to be my speed though."

"What made you decide to come to Central City?"

Eddie's eyes fall to the table and he mulls over his answer too long to go unnoticed. He instantly regrets asking. "I needed a change," Eddie answers. "A big change. Life wasn't–"

"I'm sorry," he interjects, "I didn't mean to–"

"It's okay." Eddie blinks languidly. "I'm just not sure if my tale of woe is appropriate first date conversation."

He should probably say something rather than stare dumbfounded, but all he hears is 'first date', and the excitement over that cascades through him all over again. This should be a part of his life, he should be going out on dates and meeting new people, not remain stuck in a single place – he's not haunted, he's not obsessed, he's not any of those things people like to lay at his feet. He's driven, at most, to correct an injustice he's carried for almost fourteen years. But he shouldn't sacrifice his entire life to that.

"The man who shot Julie got out on probation." Eddie's voice draws him back to the here and now. "He's not allowed near Eva or me, but– I couldn't stand the thought of him in the same city as Eva."

"That's terrible," he says, even though he longs for a stronger word to express his disgust. "He shot a cop, how did he get out?"

"Procedural–"

"–technicality." He sighs, all too familiar with the term. It's part of the reason he works so hard at what he does; he's heard of too many criminals set free due to a mishandling of evidence. That would never happen on his watch. "I am so sorry."

"It's okay." Eddie smiles softly, catching his eyes in the process. "It's been a good change. For both of us."

His cheeks heat up and he's forced to look away, his own eyes falling to the dinosaur books at the other end of the table. "Where does her dinosaur obsession come from, by the way?" he asks, if just to distract from his obvious heart eyes.

"My mom showed her The Land Before Time. I think she relates to Little Foot on some level. He–"

It hits him immediately.

"–lost his mom too. She has the same obsession with The Neverending Story, but the Big Bad Wolf scares her too much."

"But a T-Rex doesn't?"

Eddie laughs, shrugging, "Something about them being extinct. I'm not showing her Jurassic Park until she's well in her teens."

And then the mood becomes heavier again. Eddie casts down his eyes for a moment or two, swallows hard, and looks up at him. "Look, Barry, about Eva, I think we should– for her sake, I mean–"

He nods and reaches out without thinking, curling his fingers around Eddie's hand the same way Eddie had held his hand earlier today; Eddie had told him he could be honest with him about anything, despite this being new to both of them. Now is as good a time as any to start.

"We should take this slow." He strokes a thumb over Eddie's knuckles. "I understand. She comes first."

"Thanks, Barry." Eddie lays his other hand over their locked ones. "I'm glad we decided to do this."

"Me too," he says softly. It's crazy how badly he wants it now that there's a chance; the opportunity to get to know someone, talk to them, go on dates, start something he's not even sure he's prepared for. But isn't that usually where love starts? Where you least expect it?

Eddie's cellphone rings.

He releases Eddie's hand, drinking a few big gulps of wine while Eddie talks on the phone. By the sound of it their night will be cut short, but he's not about to feel sorry for himself. They had a great night, pretty much decided they'll give this a real try, and he'd be the last person to get upset over work getting in the way. Come to think, he might not be the most stable guy to have around a six-year old. Should that worry him?

"I have to head into the station," Eddie says, pocketing his phone. "We have a suspect. We have to move on him now. I'm sorry."

"Don't be." He stands up alongside Eddie. "I'm the last person who'd call you out."

"I'll give Mrs Cole a call," Eddie says while grabbing his badge and gun, hooking both along his belt, and shrugs on his jacket; it's surprising how quickly Eddie transforms into Detective Thawne. "She can watch Eva until I'm back."

"I can do it," he blurts out. "I'm not on call."

"I can't ask you–"

He's nodding before Eddie can finish speaking; it's too much of a hassle to wake up a neighbor in the middle of the night, and besides, he's already here. "But you can," he says. "I'll clean this up, watch her. Beats sitting home alone."

"Are you sure?"

"Eddie, she's asleep. If she wakes up I'll tell her you're at work. I can even let her call you."

"Only if you're sure."

"I am." He offers a reassuring smile. "Go."

Eddie releases a breath biting at his bottom lip. "Okay," he assents eventually, and curls a hand around his shoulder, his skin vibrating where their bodies meet. "Call me if anything comes up."

"Of course," he says softly, trying his best not to trip a half step closer at the contact, trying to assert at least some level of self-control while he still can. He doesn't want to rush this, for his sake but Eva's too; he wants to make sure that what they're doing is right for them both, that it's something good and solid and– unless those are the same excuses that have kept him from dating all this time. Deep down his desire for Eddie has started burrowing up to the surface, and it doesn't help that Eddie likes to show affection through these short but meaningful touches.

"Thanks, Barry." Eddie's eyes flicker up at his briefly, it's a second and it's gone, until Eddie's the one who ventures closer; he leans in a little, reaches half an inch higher on tiptoe, and places a short and hesitant kiss on his cheek. Eddie's hand squeezes around his arm and then he's gone, disappeared with his touch along with it– and he's left with a little less oxygen in his lungs.

He turns just in time to watch Eddie disappear through the front door, his skin left with a distinct imprint of Eddie's lips.

Silence returns to the apartment, a clock ticking in the kitchen and some street noise the only sounds to assert the world around him, and he just stands, in the middle of the room, for what must be more than five minutes.

It's a fairly large apartment for a guy living on a detective's salary, but Iris would tell him never to compare anyone's home with the fire hazard shoebox he lives in – he gets by on his own in the small space, whatever nights he spends alone he simply needs the couch and the television, and it's not like he ever has any guests over. He likes his apartment, but it's nothing compared to Eddie's. The toys on the coffee table, the pictures on top of the cupboards, the coloring books on the living room table... Eddie's apartment is a home, and if at all possible that puts him right at ease. He understands places like these, love interwoven intricately in every piece of furniture, every stain on the carpet, every scent, or chip in the paint.

Eddie's a dad. And that simple thought is enough to make him smile.

The next half hour he spends clearing the table and cleaning the kitchen as best he can, but given how organized Eddie is he'll probably do it over again once he gets back. After that he settles on the couch and watches some television – Oliver Queen returning to Starling seems to be bigger news than the mayor getting killed by would-be vigilantes – and unlike similar nights at his own place he doesn't feel quite so alone. Eva's asleep down the hall, Eddie's a phone call away, and while his life is far from empty, he now realizes the outlines of his social isolation, his loneliness even.

He doesn't want to be lonely anymore.

"Daddy!" a high-pitched little voice wakes him up half an hour past midnight; he must have dozed off without realizing, but he's on his feet and sprinting towards Eva's bedroom in no time, without once tripping over his own feet. "Daddyyyy," Eva calls again, urging him to quickly push through the door to see what all the fuss is about.

"Barry?" Eva's voice sounds frail and frightened, like she woke up from a bad dream and left weak in fear of more nightmarish creatures.

"Hey... dinosaur," he says, when another term of endearment doesn't immediately come to mind, and sits down by her side.

"Where's daddy?" Eva folds her arms on top of her sheets, also covered entirely in dinosaurs; her stuffed animal, whose name he forgets, lies pressed up to one side of her face.

"He had to go into work for a bit. Do you need anything?"

The light from the doorway casts a precise column over her pillow, her blond curls in disarray.

Eva pouts. "I had a bad dream."

"You know dreams aren't real. They can't hurt you."

"The bad man is real."

"The bad man?"

Eva dives underneath her sheets. "The one who hurt my mommy," she cries in an even smaller voice. There are pictures of Julie all over the apartment, including one by Eva's bedside; Julie was a beautiful blonde, green eyes rather than Eva's blue ones, but he now understands where Eva got her curls. A pang of pain touches his heart thinking about his own mom, about losing her, about the memories he managed to hold on to. Eva doesn't have any of that. She just has the nightmares.

He digs for Eva in the sheets. "No one can change what happened to your mommy, Eva. But the bad man's far away and can't hurt you. And if there's anyone who can protect you from the bad man it's your daddy."

Eva nods while rubbing her eyes, clearly sleepy.

"And this little guy." He grabs the plushie by Eva's head and boops it to her nose.

Eva giggles and pulls the triceratops into her arms. "Cera's a girl."

"Of course. My mistake."

"Can you protect me too, Barry? Because you're an SCI?"

"CSI," he corrects, beaming ear to ear – his interaction with kids has so far been limited, but if they're anything like Eva he wouldn't mind having some of his own one day. "And yes, I can. In fact, I'm staying right here until you fall asleep again."

It doesn't take long for Eva to fall asleep, for her breathing to even out and her restless legs to quiet, but he remains by her side for a good half hour to make sure no more nightmares wake her up in a panic. The nightmares were the worst part for him; if the dark didn't scare him his dreams of red and yellow lightning did, always leaving him powerless and mute. He hurts in all the same places thinking Eva has nightmares even without the blunt force of a trauma.

He settles back on the couch around 1am, sleep dragging him down too; it wouldn't hurt if he could catch a few hours of sleep before he heads into work in the morning, not that anyone ever expects him to be on time. He's not sure why he's symptomatically late to everything, though, surprisingly, he wasn't late tonight. Maybe he simply lacked the proper motivation up until now.

His phone buzzes with a text.

Text from Eddie: Everything okay?

Text to Eddie: Eva's fast asleep. You raised one hell of a kid, detective.

He blinks at his screen right after he hits the 'send' button – he really needs some sleep; flirting over texts is not in his skillset.

Text from Eddie: Might be all night.

Text to Eddie: I'll be sure to catch some sleep ;) What time does Eva get up?

Text from Eddie: Seven. Don't let her push you around... x

His phone's alarm goes off at exactly six forty-five. He checks Eddie's bedroom, but the bed hasn't been slept in, still meticulously made from the night before. He has no new messages, so he guesses it's up to him to wake up Eva and get her ready for school; he trusts that Eva can tell him where to take her should Eddie not be home on time.

He washes off most of his exhaustion in the bathroom, before making his way to Eva's room again, pushing through the door gently. "Eva," he calls, a little ball stirring in the small bed. "Eva, it's time to wake up."

The little ball moves again and giggles, but not a single curl comes peeking from underneath the sheets. So he walks over and starts tickling the ball.

"No-o-o." Eva laughs, thrashing in the bed until she finally emerges, wiping her wild hair from her eyes. "Are you taking me to school, Barry?"

"If your dad isn't home soon, yes."

Eva sits up rubbing her eyes.

"Thing is, I don't really know how to do this? So I'm going to need you to help me out, okay?"

He figures honesty is still the best policy, even where toddlers are concerned. And it turns out honesty pays off: Eva climbs out of bed and hops over to her closet, picking together an outfit that looks to be acceptable. He smiles to himself, giving Eva some privacy to get dressed.

Fifteen minutes later Eva finds him in the living room, a brush stuck in the thick of her hair, the corners of her mouth pulled down in a sulk; he barely manages to stifle a grin. She turns around so he can dig the brush out and walks her to the bathroom, where she can get up on a stepstool and look into the mirror. He starts to carefully and patiently comb through her curls.

"Can you braid my hair?"

He catches Eva's bright blue eyes in the mirror; Iris used to braid her hair when she was younger but she never let him anywhere near it. "I don't really know how."

"That's okay." Eva giggles. "Neither does daddy."

His eyes narrow and he purses his lips, quickly grabbing for his phone and pulling up his Youtube app. It's not that he wants to do better than Eddie, or that he has anything to prove here, but maybe he could give it a try.

"What are you doing?"

"I am going to learn how to braid your hair."

Eva squeals and starts jumping up and down.

Turns out braiding long hair is a lot more technical than he ever thought it could be; he can't for the life of him figure out how Iris did this on her own all those years – the French braid, the fishtail braid, the halo braid? He has to try a few times, but Eva remains remarkably calm – mostly because she's so excited, he reckons, – but he eventually manages two regular French pigtail braids, big and fluffy due to Eva's curly hair.

They hurry into the kitchen, having lost a decent amount of time in the bathroom already, and Eva expertly guides him through her routine: cereal in the second top cupboard, bowls in the next, while she grabs the milk from the fridge and a spoon from one of two drawers in the kitchen. She tells him what to put on her sandwiches and to slice her apple, because she lost a tooth just the other day biting into one.

It's only been an hour, but he already feels like he's part of the team Eddie and Eva make up; it's almost unsettling how happy that makes him. He had a great family growing up and he got beyond lucky to find another one with Iris and Joe, and sometimes he misses it. When he moved out it was time to be on his own; he had a steady job and no one monitored when he came and went in pursuit of his 'wide world of weird' cases, but it gets lonely, being on his own. He's never been alone, not a day in his life, but he's the kind of person who needs people around. He suspects Eddie might be the same.

Five minutes before they're set to leave for school, the lock on the front door turns. In walks Eddie, a little worse for wear, clearly exhausted after pulling an all-nighter at the precinct.

"Daddy!" Eva shouts, and shoots up from her chair to sprint towards the front door.

Eddie catches his daughter effortlessly in his arms. "Hey, sweetie." Eddie smiles wide, transforming in front of his eyes; some of his exhaustion wanes, a bright smile to greet Eva first thing in the morning. He wonders if the same transformation ever happened in his dad or Joe when they were working all night.

"Look what Barry did." Eva twirls a few circles.

"Look at you, that's amazing. You look so beautiful." Eddie beams. He pulls Eva close and squeezes her into another big hug, reciprocated immediately. "Now go brush your teeth."

Eddie stands up again, watching Eva run off, and he takes the time to walk over.

"You braided her hair?" Eddie breathes with a smile of contentment, the weight of the world dropping off his shoulders; his eyes shine and entrap him, his smile like sunlight, and suddenly it's a little harder to breathe again.

"Y–Youtube tutorial," he stutters, wholly engrossed in everything Eddie Thawne. Is it possible to feel so much for someone in such a short amount of time, to feel like you know them on some level, and know for a fact that you don't mind that he has a kid? As far as he's concerned, Eddie and Eva are a package deal, and he's pretty sure he fell in love with Eva long before the though of loving Eddie even occurred.

Eddie tracks a step closer, a hand around his waist and in the midst of his first ever heart attack Eddie pushes their lips together. He breathes in sharply, shocked by the sudden change in pace, but raises both his hands to Eddie's face; he's not about to pass this up, he's not about to turn tail and run from something potentially beautiful. His lips part against Eddie's, their mouths slowing down, savoring every single sensation as it happens. He can taste Eddie's exhaustion, sense the stress wired in his shoulders and neck, but some of that disappears once Eddie licks inside his mouth, eager with a hint of desperation, slow yet deep.

"Sorry." Eddie huffs a laugh, drawing circles through his sweater at the small of his back as their foreheads press together.

"Don't be," he whispers, and closes his eyes, his spine tingling where Eddie's hands play against it. It didn't feel rushed, it didn't feel wrong or too fast, and it definitely left him with the sense that there's something more between them they have to explore. They owe that to themselves now.

Eddie tenses when the bathroom door opens, and there's only one thing he can think to do, reluctant as he might be: he takes a respectful step back, away from Eddie's body, from his lips, from his eager hands. But they talked about this.

"Let me take her to school." He picks at his lips. "You need sleep."

"Is Barry taking me to school too?!" Eva comes flashing into the living room, her coat on, backpack strapped around her shoulders, her lunch in one hand. "I know the way, I can show you!"

Eddie kneels in front of Eva. "You be good." He kisses her forehead, zipping up her coat a little higher and pulls one of her pigtails from beneath the straps of her backpack. "And have fun in school."

"And learn lots of things." Eva beams, much like her dad. She kisses Eddie's cheek and skips to the front door, already halfway down the hall before she shouts, "Come on, Barry!"

He follows Eddie to the front door.

"Thank you for this."

"Any time." He smiles. "Did you get your man? Your guy—your suspect?"

"Barry, come on!" Eva shouts through the hallway.

Eddie laughs. "I'll tell you all about it. See you around, Allen."

He forces his eyes to focus on Eddie's, rather than his lips; Eva's right there, she might see, and he won't disappoint Eddie by breaking his promise. They'll make more time for themselves. "See you later, detective."

The walk to Eva's school takes about ten minutes, and he grows instantly self-conscious seeing all the other moms and dads drop off their kids. At the end of the day Eva isn't his daughter, and he's not sure he should even call Eddie his boyfriend yet; he's never felt more out of place. Did Joe feel this way when he came to live with them?

"Barry," Eva asks, tugging at his arm, "Do you like my daddy?"

"Of course I like your daddy."

Eva rolls her eyes dramatically, and sighs. "Not like that."

He takes a deep breath and kneels in front of Eva like he's seen Eddie do, careful not to seem too amused with her behavior. She's quite the little lady, Eva Thawne; a will of her own, a little dramatic, but an unbreakable chipper spirit. He relates to Eva in a lot of ways, he understands her nightmares, her fears. Maybe that's why he already feels so protective of her.

"Would it be okay?" he asks, choosing honesty again. "If I liked your daddy?"

Eva nods enthusiastically.

He smiles. "Have a good day at school."

Much to his surprise Eva surges forward and throws her arms around his neck. He hugs her back and waves her off once the first bell rings.

He could get used to this.

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tbc

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