It all started when Barry overheard Julian talking to Detective Sullivan in the break room.
Look, Barry was minding his own business, really. He had just gone into the break room to get the new energy bar Cisco made him and his sandwich when he overheard Julian say he was looking for a roommate.
“Yeah, my bloody roommate finally moved out. It’s about time, I was ready to claw my eyes out because of him,” Julian said to Detective Sullivan.
“Are you moving out of your place then for something smaller or are you going to find a new roommate?”
“If I can find someone who won’t play Led Zeppelin at four in the morning, then I’ll probably just go with finding a new roommate,” Julian replied.
The thing was, Barry knew that Cisco missed having his place to himself. Cisco had been kind enough to let Barry stay with him after he moved out of Joe’s house. Barry had been struggling to find a decent place to live and had definitely overstayed his welcome at Cisco’s, so hearing this information in the break room was like a godsend.
Yes, Barry didn’t like Julian all too much, and Julian didn’t like Barry, but Julian most likely lived in a nice apartment. Barry thought that he was a decent roommate, so surely the two could set aside their differences for the greater good. The greater good being Barry finally having a place to live.
A few hours later, Barry’s leg bounced rapidly up and down as he nervously scrolled through files on his computer. He had highlighted papers next to him and a blank word document in front of him but he just could not for the life of him focus. How do you even ask someone if you can be their roommate? Are you just gonna say, “Hey, I overheard you in the staff break room when I was eavesdropping on you and heard you need a roommate so?”.
“Allen, for the love of God, could you stop bouncing your bloody leg?” Barry blushed.
“Sorry, nervous habit,” Barry murmured as he willed his leg to cease to move. Julian heavily sighed as he set his pencil down to look at Barry.
“What’s got you so nervous?”
“I’ve got a question for you.”
“For the millionth time, no, I don’t need you're help.”
“No, no, not that.” Julian looked at Barry, confused. “So I overheard you and Sullivan in the break room-”
“You were eavesdropping on us?”
“No! I just… overheard you guys while I was getting my lunch… Anyways, I overheard you say you were looking for a roommate-”
“No.”
“I haven’t even given you my pitch yet!”
“I don’t know if you know this or not, but, I don’t like you, Allen. I don’t trust you, and why would I let someone I don’t trust into my home?”
“Because I don’t blast Led Zeppelin in the early hours of the morning?” Barry stated with a small smile on his face. “Plus, you did say you were going to give me a chance.”
“I knew I’d regret saying that.”
“But you did.” Julian sighed and slumped into his chair. He was counting God knows what on his hands before turning to Barry.
“Fine,” Julian said. Barry beamed at Julian. “But, I will not hesitate to kick you out. The only reason I’m agreeing to this is because one, I won’t have to hide my confidential work since you’ll already know what it is, and two, it will force my old roommate to come back and get his ratty chair that smells like cat piss that he left in the kitchen.”
“Your old roommate sounds like a jerk.”
“He was.” Barry sat in his seat, pondering over what Julian had just said.
“Wait, you just said yes, right?”
“Yes, Allen, I did. Don’t make me regret this.” Barry sent an award winning smile Julian’s way before standing up from his desk. “And where do you think you're going?”
“I’m just calling Cisco real quick to tell him I found a place.”
“You know Ramon?”
“Yeah, for years… you kinda become friends with someone after they take care of you while you're in a coma for nine months,” Barry shrugged as he stepped out of the room. Julian furrowed his eyebrows as he stared at where Barry was once standing.
“A coma?” Julian whispered to himself. He shook his head before resuming back to his work. “Figures.”
***
A few days later, a Sunday night to be precise, Barry was carrying his last box into his new room at Julian’s place. Luckily, Joe let him keep most of his old stuff at his place, such as trophies, awards, etc.
The room was fairly large, considering that the apartment was closer to the heart of the city than his last apartment was, you know, before he became the whole Particle Accelerator thing.
After setting the final box down on the floor, he plopped down onto the mattress that he had temporarily placed on the ground against the wall and looked around the room. The room was very simple, with its coffee colored walls, walnut wood flooring, and a small bay window looking out over Central City.
Barry was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard a knock at the door before it creaked open, revealing one Julian Albert.
“You good, Allen?”
“Yup.”
“Okay, good,” Julian said as he leaned against the door frame. “I’ll go over ground rules with you in the morning and you can ask me any questions you have then.”
“Sweet, thanks.”
“Goodnight, don’t come into my room unless the place is about to catch fire,” Julian said as he pushed himself off the wall and walked away without a word.
“Wait you forgot to-,” Barry started, but heard Julian’s door across the hall shut close. “-close my door.”
Barry sighed as he got up from his mattress and closed his door. After he closed it, he let himself rest against it for a split second.
He examined the room, wondering where he would even start with the unpacking process. The only furniture he had was a bed frame he bought from Ikea, an unbuilt bedside table, a double bedroom dresser he’s had since he was a kid, and a desk and a desk chair he still needed to construct.
These tasks would take a normal person days, but only took Barry a good hour. Having super speed really came in handy when it came to making bedroom furniture.
By the time he finished all the basics he needed to complete, including putting away his clothing and making his bed, it was almost one in the morning. Barry sighed heavily when he saw the time on his phone and lugged his way into his and Julian’s shared bathroom. Within the minute, Barry got ready for bed and was under the covers. Worn out from his long day, he fell asleep the second he shut his eyes.
***
Barry woke up to the annoying sound of his alarm. He groaned into his pillow before flopping his arm towards the bedside table to shut off his alarm, before remembering he had left it on his desk that night so it could charge.
Barry attempted to roll off the bed with ease, but ended up falling off the bed and slamming against the wood floors instead.
“Shit,” Barry whispered to himself as he laid on the floor. “Closer” by the Chainsmokers blared throughout the room as Barry willed himself to get up. When he originally bought the song as his ringtone, it was one of his favorites, but after waking up to it every morning for the past month, he was growing to resent the song.
He eventually got himself to get up and turn off the music. He sighed heavily before he flashed into his preplanned outfit- a blue button up, gray jeans, Converse, a charcoal bomber jacket, and a green canvas jacket over it. He walked (just to be safe) into the bathroom to fix his hair and brush his teeth before going into the kitchen.
Even though Cisco hated when he did this, Barry began making breakfast for him and Julian. He thought that it was the least he could do since he practically coaxed Julian into letting him be his roommate.
Barry had just placed a small stack of pancakes on the kitchen table when Julian walked into the kitchen.
Julian was wearing his usual work attire- a checkered button up, a tweed vest, and a navy blue tie. Julian simply walked passed Barry and headed straight towards the coffee machine.
“I made-”
“Shh,” Julian shushed him before reaching up into the cupboard for a mug. He pulled out a plain red one and poured coffee in it in a graceful swoop.
“What?”
“Please, for the love of all things good, do not talk to me until I finish this,” Julian whispered as he brought the mug to his lips.
“You’re drinking that black?”
“What did I just say, Allen?” Barry’s eyes widened as he held his hands up in defense and sat down at the table. It was about two minutes until Julian slid into the seat across from Barry with his refilled mug of coffee.
“You made all this?” Julian asked. Barry smiled as he took a piece of bacon off of the plate in the center of the table.
“Yeah, I figured it was the least I could do since you're letting me stay here and all.” Julian stared at Barry for a moment before giving the other a curt nod. Julian put together a simple eggs on toast as he sipped on his coffee.
“Thank you,” Julian said as he finished up his plate. He picked up his dishes and put them in the sink to deal with later. He filled his thermos with the rest of the coffee in the pot then proceeded to sit back in his seat.
“Let’s just go over some basic house rules so we can attempt to make this work without wanting to slit each other’s throats,” Julian started. Barry gave him his full attention.
“For starters, do not even think about coming into my room unless you are invited. If it’s an emergency, knock. If you have friends over, make sure they don’t make a mess of the place because I know that neither of us will want to clean it up, unless you are some secret clean freak. The food that I label with a ‘J’ is for me and me only. Feel free to use milk or creamer whenever, but do not touch my cereal unless you want to loose a toe in your sleep,” Julian paused for a slight dramatic effect before reaching down into his briefcase and pulling out a sheet of paper. He handed it to Barry before continuing, “Now here is the chore schedule for this month, I’ll be updating them monthly based on holidays and such. It’s easier to just have a set schedule so we don’t have an overfilling bin and flies in our sink.”
“Alright,” Barry hummed, scanning over the schedule. “Anything else?”
“If you plan to have a boyfriend or girlfriend over, by all means, do whatever, I don’t judge, just be respectful of my stuff and I’ll be respectful of yours. And remember I only need one roommate, not two, so whoever is over, I’d very much appreciate it if they didn’t linger in community areas.”
“Oh, uh, you don’t have to worry about that… kind of over the whole dating thing for the time being,” Barry murmured as he stood up to put his dishes in the sink.
“Kind of. I was going to tell her about something very important to me that I had been hiding from her, but she broke up with me for keeping stuff from her before I got the chance,” Barry said with a small frown on his face. He was over Patty, one hundred percent, but he wished that things ended on a lighter note between them.
“That must’ve been frustrating,” Julian said, followed by a cough under his breath. He stood up from his chair and picked up his briefcase. “Well, I best be going. See you whenever you show up to work.”
Barry rolled his eyes and scoffed. “Are you roasting me, Julian?”
“I have no idea what that means, but I’m going to go ahead and say yes,” Julian called out over his shoulder as he headed out the door. Barry laughed under his breath as he went towards the sink. Once he heard the door click shut, he sped through doing the dishes and putting away leftovers.
“Easy,” Barry smiled to himself before heading out the door, picking up his house keys in the process.
***
Later that day, Barry was walking home from work. Normally he would run, but considering the fact that his apartment was now just a few blocks away from the station and that it was a really nice evening, he figured it would be nice to just walk.
Right when he was about to turn the final corner to get to the apartment complex, his phone buzzed in his pocket. He took it out of his back pocket and unlocked it, revealing a text from Cisco.
Cisco Ramon:Code 10-91A!!
Barry looked at his phone, confused. He quickly typed out a response.
Barry Allen: You have a stray dog with you?
Cisco Ramon: No! Just come to S.T.A.R. Labs
Barry pocketed his phone before walking into the alleyway next to the complex. He scanned the area around him before running to S.T.A.R. Labs.
Papers flew around the room when Barry ran into the Cortex.
“You really need to stop doing that, Barry,” Caitlin said with a heavy sigh. She picked up the scattered papers and put them in an organized pile.
“Sorry,” Barry grimaced. “So, whats the situation?”
“We got a ping from the street cams on 7th street and Vernon. Hartley is back.” Cisco said as he pulled up the cameras on the monitor.
“Didn’t he say he wanted to be called Pied Piper?” Caitlin asked.
“I refuse to flatter him,” Cisco mumbled. Barry looked at the two confused.
“I thought he was one of the good guys now? Like, he helped us with one of the time wraiths.”
“What are you talking about? He’s a Rogue,” Cisco stated, looking at Barry with an equally confused expression.
“Looks like we found another new timeline difference,” Barry hesitantly chuckled. Barry then flashed into his suit. He turned on his comms as he ran to 7th and Vernon. It was going to be a long night.
***
After a good hour, Barry dragged Hartley into S.T.A.R. Labs by the back of his shirt.
“Never thought I would be back here again. Hello Cisco, Caitlin, good to see you,” Hartley said, sarcasm evident in his voice. Team Flash couldn't help but roll their eyes.
“I didn’t either,” Cisco said, giving Barry an ‘explain’ look.
“I figured Hartley and I should stop by to drop off his tech before I brought him over to the CCPD,” Barry said, pushing Hartley lightly so he would keep walking. “I figured you’d want to look at any possible updates he could’ve made since we last encountered him.”
“Oh hell no, Ramon doesn’t get to touch my tech!” Hartley exclaimed, glaring at Cisco.
“Would you rather have Cisco have it and examine it, or have the CCPD have it in storage or possibly destroy it?” Hartley turned around to look at Barry, then back at Cisco. He sighed before holding his hands out.
Barry stepped behind Hartley and gripped onto the other man’s hip. Barry knew that there was a good chance that the Rogue would possibly try to make a run for it.
As Cisco was removing Hartley’s gauntlets, a chuckle erupted from Hartley.
“What’s so funny?” Cisco asked, focused on properly removing the tech from Hartley.
“Oh nothing,” Hartley responded breathily. “Just thinking about how I always seem to get manhandled by the Flash whenever I am against him. I should really ask Lisa to let me out on the field more if this is gonna be the outcome.”
“What?” Barry asked, following by a confused laugh. He figured that Snart and Rory would be back from their trip with the Legends by now. If that even occurred in this timeline… Barry would have to look into that.
“I mean, who wouldn’t want to be manhandled by a strong man in red tripolymer? It’s like, every man’s fantasy,” Hartley sighed as he leaned against Barry. Okay, this Hartley was a lot more forward than the Hartley he knew in the other timeline. “Wouldn’t you agree, Cisco?”
“Ew, shut up, that’s my best friend were talking about,” Cisco cringed. He shifted the gauntlets one last time until both of them were safely in Cisco’s hands.
“I’m gonna go take him down to the station now,” Barry said.
“You do that,” Caitlin piped in from behind the computers. When Barry ran off with Hartley, Caitlin smiled happily at her paper weights before continuing her work.
***
Barry thought that after dropping off Hartley at the station, he’d be done for the night. He had already dropped his suit off at S.T.A.R. Labs and taken a shower there and everything.
The realization that the night wasn't over quite yet dawned on him when he heard a muffled scream from an alleyway he was passing by. He stopped just short of the entrance before he peeped his head around the corner to observe the situation.
A man, just a hair or so taller than Barry, was towering over a woman who appeared to be Iris’s age with a knife pressed against her throat. Barry’s heart stopped as he made eye contact with the girl. Her eyes held so much fear and panic, it made Barry’s heart feel heavy.
“Hey you!” Barry yelled. The man with the knife barely flinched before turning his head to face Barry. “Back the hell away from her!”
“Who do you think you are, string bean?”
“I think I’m the guy that’s gonna kick your ass if you don’t drop the knife and back away.”
“I’d like to see you try to touch me, kid,” The man with the knife laughed. The man only moved closer to the girl. The girl squeaked from the man’s distance, her expression becoming more panicked.
“I work for the CCPD, get away from her. Now.” The man didn’t move. Barry sighed and shut his eyes. When he opened them once more, they flashed with lightning and determination coursed through his veins.
Without realizing it, Barry had drawn his fist back and punched the guy straight in the jaw. The man laughed as he held his jaw in his hand, looking Barry straight in the eye with a devilish grin.
Barry turned to the girl and told her to run. She gave him a grateful smile and mouthed to him a thank you before running out of the alleyway as fast as she could.
Barry’s attention was only drawn back to the man when he was pushed against the wall and had the knife against his throat now. In the process, the knife had nicked his face, making it so a trail of blood was traveling down his face in a steady stream.
“Gotta admit, you got balls, kid.” Barry laughed as he took out his phone and dialing the number seven into his phone- CCPD.
“You callin’ your friends? Will they hear you die?”
“No. They’re gonna hear you get your ass kicked,” Barry said with a smirk.
“Hah, okay,” the man said, pushing the knife against Barry’s throat with more pressure, but not enough to break skin.
The line finally went through and he heard the night crew’s receptionist’s voice over the line.
“CCPD, how may I direct your call?” the receptionist asked.
“Hi, this is Barry Allen, CSI, I would like to report a 217 and a 417A in the alleyway between Olive and Maple. I was able to get the victim away but I’m afraid I have taken her place.”
“Mr. Allen, we have dispatched a squad to come get you and the suspect…”
***
Barry’s night hadn’t officially ended for another two hours. Barry left the scene with a few bruises, minor cuts on his throat and cheek, a black eye, and gashes above his eyebrow and cheekbone. The other guy had a broken wrist, courtesy to Barry apprehending the weapon.
After filling out the proper paperwork, it was nearly midnight when Barry was walking through the doors of his apartment. He placed his keys on the table next to the door, where Julian’s already were, and walked further into the living room.
Julian was sitting on the couch, watching some sort of documentary on the History channel when Barry walked fully into the room.
“Hey,” Barry said hoarsely as he started to walk around the couch and towards the kitchen.
“Hello,” Julian hummed. “Didn’t take you as a late night- holy shit.”
Julian leaned forward and turned off the television before standing up to get a closer look at Barry. Barry froze in his place as Julian walked up to him.
“Bloody hell, what happened to you?”
“There was a 217 and 417A going on when I was walking here,” Barry said as Julian examined his face. “I couldn’t just let the girl die, she was so scared and she looked like Iris’s age… I couldn’t just walk away from that.”
“You thought it was a good idea to try to stop a murderer with a knife all by yourself?” Julian sighed.
“Hey, in my defense I snapped the guys wrist and left him with a couple of bruises too. Apprehended the assault weapon and everything.” Barry said proudly. Julian looked at Barry with a look of concern, impressment, and shock.
“That’s… wow… um, didn’t expect that,” Julian muttered. “You filled out all your paperwork so my job is easier tomorrow?”
“Full details and everything. Already ID’d the girl as Sara Daniels. Left her contact info on your desk.”
“Thank you, Allen. Let’s get you patched up, yeah?”
“No, it’s fine, I can do it myself-”
“You found the girl for me, I’ll patch you up. Even trade,” Julian said. Barry sighed in defeat before nodding. Julian led the way to the bathroom. As Julian was taking out the first-aid kit, Barry hopped up onto the sink counter and let his legs dangle off the ledge. He watched as Julian dipped a cotton pad into some water.
Barry spread his legs open so Julian could easily start cleaning the gashed on his forehead and cheekbone. He watched how focused the other man looked as he attentively cared for the wounds. Once everything was clean, including the small cuts, he tossed the cotton into the bin and grabbed a new one, this time dipping it in a disinfectant.
“This is gonna sting a bit,” Julian warned before pressing the damp cotton against Barry’s skin. Barry hissed as he felt his skin tingle and itch. A shiver ran down his spine when Julian removed the cotton.
It was only when Julian was bandaging the larger wounds that Barry really looked at Julian. The man in front of Barry looked tired, the bags under his eyes deep and dark from lack of sleep. His cheeks were tinted pink from the warmth inside of the apartment and he had a little line in between his eyebrows from being furrowed with concentration. The overhead light hit Julian’s cheekbones at just the right angle, making his usually harsh features look soft. And his eyes, wow, his eyes. They shined the brightest of blue, even though there was darkness behind them, they shined as bright as day.
“You okay there?” Julian asked, breaking Barry out of his observations. Barry gasped a sharp intake of breath before giving a small shake of the head.
“Oh, no, I uh, yeah I’m fine, I just zoned out for a second there,” Barry stuttered. Julian gave Barry a half smile as he pressed his hands against Barry’s forehead. As he smoothed out the last bandage, he made eye contact with Barry. Hazel eyes stared into blue as Julian lowered his hands away from Barry. Julian moved backwards so Barry could hop off the counter.
The two men were practically standing chest to chest in the small bathroom. Barry drew in a sharp intake of breath when he realized who exactly he was in the room with.
“I-uh, sorry. For, yeah. And thanks for cleaning me up,” Barry mumbled as he backed away from Julian. Julian quickly packed up the first-aid kit and placed it back into the medicine cabinet.
“You’re welcome. Go get some rest,” Julian said before exiting the bathroom.
The air around Barry was light when he got into bed that night. He had taken off his bandages about a half hour after Julian put them on since they were already healed properly by then. He’d have to put new ones on in the morning so he wouldn't raise suspicion in the household already.
Barry fell asleep that night, knowing that he had done good.
***
A few weeks later, Barry and Julian had become some form of friends. It all started when they discovered that they both have a shared love of crappy reality shows.
Barry had been sitting on the couch, watching the season premiere of the Amazing Race when Julian emerged from his bedroom for dinner. Turns out that Julian had forgotten that the premiere was on that night, so he had quickly gotten some leftovers out of the fridge and joined Barry on the couch to watch the rest of the episode.
“Okay, Angela and Jared should’ve continued on instead of Megan and Noah,” Barry said as they watched the recap from last weeks episode.
“Exactly, Angela was a competition beast, Jared was definitely the reason that they got eliminated,” Julian said, eyes fixated on the screen. Barry held his mug of hot cocoa up to Julian, who clinked his mug with Barry’s.
The teams were now traveling from Normandy, France to Redhood, Surrey, England. A fond smile made its way onto Julian’s face when they announced the location.
“Hey, they're going to your homeland!” Barry said, nudging Julian.
“Piss off, Allen. I actually grew up in Surrey, so I’ve been to Redhood a few times,” Julian replied.
“Ooo, that means we can really make fun of the contestants now,” Barry said with a smile. Him and Julian liked to say that they could easily compete on the Race and do way better than the contestants were doing on all the challenges, because hey, they looked really easy.
Barry and Julian watched as the teams had to run around some garden and look for clues about who-knows-what. Barry wasn't really paying attention at this point. He was far more interesting in watching Julian recognize and point out the areas he’s been to that the teams were in. Julian would explain what exactly everything was to Barry, which made Barry’s heart feel warm.
“We could easily beat all these people. Bloody idiots.”
“Bloody idiots.”
“Are you making fun of me?”
“No, of course not, I would never,” Barry quipped. Julian turned towards Barry and glared.
“I try to be nice to you and I just get made fun of,” Julian sighed.
“You’re so dramatic,” Barry laughed. “A big ole dramatic puppy.”
Julian rolled his eyes before turning his attention back onto the screen.
“We would make an awesome team,” Barry smiled, taking a bite out of the pad thai takeout they ordered earlier. Julian smiled softly in return.
***
“Hurry it up!” Julian yelled as he banged against the bathroom door. Most of the time, it wasn't that big of an issue to have only one bathroom in the apartment. Both men were rather tidy when it came to their personal belongings. But on mornings like these, where Barry woke up late, it was frustrating.
You see, Julian had a schedule. He liked to get ready in a certain order, or else it felt like his day was thrown through a loop. Whenever Barry woke up late, it caused Julian’s schedule through a loop.
Julian was about to knock on the door once more when he heard the water turn off and the door open.
“It’s all yours,” Barry declared, stepping to the side to keep the door open for Julian. Julian blinked blankly at Barry.
Barry had a crimson colored towel wrapped loosely around his waist. It looked like he didn’t bother fully drying off since his damp fringe was hanging flat on his forehead and he had little water droplets all over his body.
Barry never said anything about going to the gym or working out, so how in hell did he have abs? And the clothes Barry wore did not do his arms justice because holy cow, who knew?
“Hello?” Barry asked, waving a hand in front of Julian’s face and tilting his head to the side. Julian snapped out of his trance. “Anyone home?”
“Wait, what?”
“Bathroom’s all yours,” Barry chuckled as he walked away. “If I didn’t know any better, I would’ve thought you were checking me out.”
“Yeah,” Julian laughed. He totally wasn’t looking at Barry. Or thinking about how fit his roommate was. Or how Barry was literally glistening because of the little water droplets all over him.
Julian slumped against the door once he closed it and locked it. He was screwed, wasn’t he?
***
Barry was in the middle of filing when he got a call from Cisco. Which was really weird because Cisco never called unless there was an emergency.
“Hello?” Barry asked curiously.
“Hi, so basically the breach in the basement just reopened and we have two people here saying that they know you so we sort of need you to come to S.T.A.R. Labs asap,” Cisco said quickly, sounding a bit distressed.
“Wait, hold up,” Barry said, pausing for a moment to retain the information Cisco just spewed at him. “Did they tell you their names?”
“Oh yeah, that would’ve been good to mention. Kara and Winn? Do you know them?” Cisco asked. Barry smiled when he heard their names. The three of them met under not the best circumstances, but they had created such a great bond on Kara’s Earth. He had been meaning to go back and visit, but everything with Zoom and changing the timeline twice had kept him pretty busy.
“Yeah! I know them. I’ll explain everything later. I’m at work right now so I can’t come unless it’s urgent,” Barry said, glancing at Julian.
“What are you talking about, you always come- oh, Julian’s there, gotcha. Well yeah, Caitlin and I have no idea who these people are so if you would be, like, the liaison in this situation, that would be great.”
“Yeah, sure, I’ll be there soon,” Barry said with a fake sigh.
“Okay, see you in a bit.”
“Bye,” Barry said, ending the call. He then turned to Julian with a guilty expression on his face.
“Let me guess, you have to leave,” Julian said as he scribbled something down onto his notes.
“Yeah, I’ll be back sooner than you know it though. Cisco’s just having an emergency that I have to go help him with, so we can just consider this my lunch break or something?”
“Go help Cisco,” Julian sighed. Barry beamed at Julian before jogging out of the lab. Once he was out of sight, he ran to S.T.A.R. Labs.
Julian normally wouldn’t allow Barry to run off in the middle of the day this easily, but lately, he’s realized he’ll do just about anything to get Barry to smile at him.
***
Barry ran into the Cortex, only to fling himself into Kara’s arms. She easily stood her ground, even though Barry’s speed-turned-hug would knock a normal person down. Kara’s bubbly laugh erupted through the room as she wrapped her arms around Barry.
“Hey, Scarlet Speedster.”
“Hey yourself, Girl of Steel.” The two smiled at each other, giggles escaping their lips. Barry felt arms wrap around him and Kara, squeezing them all into a group hug. Barry looked down to see Winn.
“I felt left out of this little reunion,” Winn said. Barry and Kara laughed before pulling Winn into a proper hug. Their group hug was interrupted with Cisco cleared his throat.
“Okay, Barry? Who are these people?”
“Oh! Yeah!” Barry said as he broke away from his two friends. “Okay so you guys remember when I was working on my speed before we defeated Zoom?”
Caitlin and Cisco nodded.
“Well, I sorta underestimated my speed and got stuck on their Earth for a little bit. I helped Kara take down two metas over there named Livewire and Silver Banshee.”
“So Kara’s a superhero?” Caitlin asked, wanting to confirm her assumption.
“Yeah! They call her Supergirl on her Earth.”
“She’s an alien,” Winn whisper-yelled, pointing at Kara.
“Wait a second, for real?” Cisco asked, looking in between Winn and Kara.
“Yeah. When I was younger, my planet Krypton was destroyed, so I was sent to Earth. Your sun gives me powers, so I figured that I might as well use them and help the people of National City.” Cisco looked at Kara as if he had just told her that Star Wars was actually real.
“Oh my god, that’s so cool,” Cisco said, his hands covering his mouth.
“I saw her pod and everything,” Barry bragged.
“Her pod- do you have pictures?” Cisco asked to nobody in particular.
“Yeah! Winn, can you give me my phone?” Kara asked. There were no pockets in her super suit, so Winn had to carry her phone in her pocket. When Winn handed her phone to her, she instantly started scrolling through pictures until she found the one that Barry made her take of him in front of her pod.
“There you go,” Kara smiled, handing her phone to Cisco. Cisco zoomed in and out of the picture with the dorkiest smile on his face.
“Oh my god, this is the best thing I’ve ever seen… you’re an alien and you came to this Earth, well another Earth in the multiverse, but still, Earth in a pod… this is stuff you only see in movies and now this is an actual reality,” Cisco babbled as he stared at Kara’s phone. She beamed at him, a huge smile on her face.
“Sorry to break up the reunion, but how did you guys get here?” Caitlin asked from her seat.
“Winn developed tech similar to the chest thingy that I can never remember the name of that Barry had when he visited us, and I have speed as well, so we put two and two together and voila! We’re here!” Kara said.
“We also knew that you guys have faced a meta similar to the one were dealing with now, and we sorta needed help from someone that had information outside the DEO. And Barry mentioned that Cisco made his suit, so if we have time, I would love some input on that,” Winn added.
“You made the suit?” Cisco asked Winn.
“Yeah! Took a few trials and errors, but Kara and I eventually got the basics of it.”
“That’s a bitchin’ suit… not gonna lie to you though, I’m itching to get my hands on it.”
“Would you?”
“Yeah, totally. I’ve got some tech that would go beautifully with the suit.”
“I like this dude,” Winn said to nobody in particular, pointing at Cisco.
“This is the start to a beautiful friendship,” Cisco said as he draped an arm around Winn’s shoulders. The two walked out of the cortex and towards Cisco’s lab.
Barry and Kara beamed at each other with huge smiles stretching from ear to ear on each of their faces. Caitlin looked at the two before edging out of the room to go continue whatever it was that she was working on.
“I can’t believe you're here,” Barry said, nudging Kara’s arm.
“I can’t either! It’s gonna be a nice, little break.”
“Things hectic in National City?”
“You wouldn’t imagine,” Kara groaned, putting her face in her hands.
“Hey, you’re here now! Let’s go get food to celebrate.”
“Can we get potstickers?” Kara asked, a hopeful tone in her voice.
“Sure,” Barry laughed. “But I wouldn’t wear that if I were you.”
Kara looked down at her Supergirl outfit with a frown. The red cape floated around her legs as she took a step to the side. “I knew I was forgetting something.”
“I can go get you some S.T.A.R. Labs stuff?”
“That’d be awesome, thanks Barry.”
“Sure.”
***
With full bellies and lazy smiles on their faces, Kara and Barry walked back into S.T.A.R. Labs with bags full of food for their friends.
“I can’t believe that guy thought you were Blake Lively,” Barry laughed as he set one of the bags down on the console. Kara set her bag next to his, a bubbly laugh escaping her in the process.
“‘I loved you in Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants!’ I don’t even know what that is,” Kara giggled as she wiped at her eyes. The duo had been stopped on the street on the way back to S.T.A.R. Labs. The man was so convinced that Kara was Blake Lively, and what made the situation even more hilarious was the fact that Kara had no idea who the actress was.
“We really have to get you caught up on Earth-1 culture because you're missing out,” Barry said, pointing his finger at Kara.
“Okay, who decided that your Earth was Earth-1?”
“The multiverse? I don’t know,” Barry shrugged. “I’ll go get Caitlin before her food gets cold. Can you get Winn and Cisco? I think they're in Cisco’s lab. It’s down the hall, then take a left, then a right, and it’s the door at the end of the hallway.”
Kara nodded before making her way down the hallway. She halted once she made it to the door, knocking once before opening the door. The sight before her would scar her forever.
Winn was seated on top of Cisco’s desk, his tie hanging loosely around his neck and the first few buttons of his dress shirt were unbuttoned. As for Cisco, his hair looked thoroughly raked through and his lips were swollen from what Kara could only assume was their kissing. Cisco was standing in between Winn’s legs, frozen in place. Winn had a guilty expression on his face.
“God! Really, Winn?” Kara gasped, covering her eyes. “Why does this keep happening to me?”
“Kara! Hi! This isn’t what it looks like, I was just… helping Cisco catch a fly,” Winn stuttered. He hopped off the counter with a nervous laugh. He grabbed at the air above him before saying, “Oh, caught it! Crisis averted. Did you uh, need something?”
“Oh my god, Winn,” Cisco whispered, holding his face in his hands.
“Barry and I brought back food for everyone, it’s in the cortex, but I see you guys are, uh, busy… I’m gonna go!” Kara said, pivoting and making a bee line towards the cortex.
Barry looked at Kara as she bolted into the cortex and sat down in one of the chairs at the console. She ripped open Winn’s box of potstickers and nibbled on it in silence. A look of horror was in her eyes as she stared off into the distance.
“Where’s Cisco and Winn?” Caitlin asked as she took a bite from her carton of orange chicken. She brushed her hair out of her face as she looked at Kara with a look of concern.
“You guys don’t wanna know,” Kara whispered as she took another bite of her potstickers.
“You okay?” Barry asked, slightly humored.
“Okay? Yes. Scarred? Definitely.”
“Let me guess, Cisco and Winn were making out in his lab,” Caitlin said with a little giggle.
“How’d you know?”
“Winn is definitely Cisco’s type. It was only a matter of time, really,” Caitlin shrugged.
Kara nodded. Although she was still spooked, deep down she was happy for Winn. Go Winn.
***
“Welcome to my humble abode,” Barry said with a silly voice as he opened the door for Kara.
“Why, thank you,” Kara smiled. Team Flash had decided to just let their visiting friends stay with them at their homes. Cisco had a spare room for Winn and Barry was sure Julian wouldn’t mind Kara staying over. Plus, Barry had a queen sized bed, so there was more than enough space. Caitlin said that she would’ve been more than happy to have Kara crash at her place, but she was supposed to talk to her mother that night, and it would just be better for everyone if Kara wasn't there to witness that.
“Thanks for coming back to work, Allen,” Julian said sarcastically from the dining table. Julian was skimming through a newspaper with a bored expression on his face.
“What are you talking-oh.”
“Yeah, ‘oh’. Your welcome for covering for you, by the way,” Julian said with the faintest roll of his eyes.
“You covered for me?”
“Not sure why I did, but next time I won’t.”
“Oh, well, thank you,” Barry smiled. He held up his bag of leftovers and set it down on the table. “I have food if you want it. Chicken Chow Mein and potstickers?”
“Sure,” Julian said hesitantly as he reached for the bag. “This isn’t poisoned is it?”
“No!” Barry exclaimed, scandalized. Julian shook his head in amusement as he took one of the cartons out of the bag. He paused for a moment before looking up and pointing at Kara.
“Who’s she?”
“Oh! This is Kara. She’s visiting from out of town.”
“Way out of town,” Kara chimed in. She stepped forward and extended her hand to Julian. “I’m Kara Danvers. You must be Julian.”
“Yes,” Julian said as he shook Kara’s hand. Kara smiled and slid into the seat opposite of Julian. “How did you and Barry meet?”
“Oh, um, funny story actually. Barry sorta saved my life and then bam instant friendship.” Julian’s eyes widened for a split second before he regained his composure.
“That’s definitely not what I was expecting. I’m glad you're okay, Miss Danvers.”
“You can call me Kara.”
“Noted.”
“So!” Barry intervened. “Cisco tells me that neither you or Winn have seen Harry Potter.”
“What’s Harry Potter?” Kara asked, confused.
“Have you been living under a rock since 1998?” Julian asked, shocked.
“No, I just- It’s complicated,” Kara sighed, realizing she couldn't tell Julian about Krypton or the multiverse.
“I say we fix that!” Barry smiled as he walked over to the movie shelf. “We gotta culture her, Julian.”
Julian responded with a sigh. It had been a long day and he wanted nothing more than to just eat and go to bed, but Julian couldn’t bring himself to say no to Barry. He didn’t want to see the sad puppy dog face Barry would pull if he said no.
Julian plopped down on the far end of the couch with his carton of Chicken Chow Mein. Kara sat on the other end and Barry sat in the middle. Julian consciously scooted away from Barry as the movie started. This was going to be a long night.
***
As the movie progressed, Kara kept giving side glances at Julian, causing him to shift under her gaze. When Barry was in the middle of explaining a plot point to Kara, she interrupted him as she stared at the screen. It was the scene in Chamber of Secrets where Draco and Harry were chasing each other on their broomsticks.
“What does the blonde kid look like in the later movies?”
“You mean Draco?”
“Yeah. What does he look like in the last movie?” Barry took out his phone and typed in a few things on Safari. He tapped on a photo before handing his phone to Kara.
Kara looked at the picture of older Draco then looked up at Julian. She then held the phone out in front of her and looked back and forth between Julian and Draco.
“You look just like Draco, Julian.” Barry shifted his body towards Julian so he could stare at the other man.
“He does!” Barry gasped. “Oh my god, you're a spitting image of him. This is so cool… I literally work and live with Draco Malfoy.”
“Not you guys too,” Julian groaned. When the movies came out, he got comments almost daily from his classmates about his uncanny resemblance to the youngest Malfoy. It even got to the point where people were calling him Draco rather than Julian.
“How great would it be if you were a Slytherin too,” Barry chuckled.
“You can do house sortings?” Kara asked.
“Yes! The author made this quiz- you have to take it,” Barry beamed. He took his phone back from Kara and pulled the quiz up for her. Barry paused the movie as he handed his phone to Kara.
The three sat in silence as Kara took the quiz.
“Wait, so are you a Slytherin?”
“No, Ravenclaw.”
“Hm,” Barry hummed as he gave Julian a once over. “Fitting.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing bad! I’m just saying that it makes sense. Your really smart and unique, s’all.”
“Oh,” Julian said, willing his blush to go down. “Thank you.”
Barry nodded and smiled at Julian. The two stared at each other until Kara spoke up.
“Hufflepuff?”
“I knew it!” Barry smiled, adverting his eyes from Julian.
“I thought I’d be Gryffindor.”
“Everyone thinks they’ll be Gryffindor, Kara,” Julian intervened.
“I’m Gryffindor,” Barry said with mock offense. Julian smirked as he gave Barry a once over.
“Fitting.” Barry’s eyes lit up as he laughed. Julian’s smirk was replaced with a half smile as his heart bubbled with adoration. Barry’s laugh was a song you could never get sick of.
Once Kara handed Barry his phone back, he pocketed it and pressed play on the movie. Julian’s heart felt warm and fuzzy until out of the corner of his eye, he saw Barry put his arm around Kara. His heart now dropped.
He should’ve known that when Barry brought a girl over, that it was probably his girlfriend. Barry never had anyone over except for Cisco or Iris, so it only made sense.
No longer in the mood to watch the film, Julian stood up from the couch and started to make his way towards his room.
“Your not gonna watch the rest?” Barry asked from the couch.
“No, I’m gonna go to bed. Long day and all,” Julian murmured. Barry nodded.
“Get some rest!”
***
That night, Julian stared wide awake at his ceiling. No matter how much he tossed and turned or flipped his pillow, sleep would not come to him. Instead, Barry Allen’s stupid smile and his stupid laugh and stupid hair played back in his mind.
God, why did Julian always want what he couldn’t have? Every since he was younger, he always loved things that were out of his reach. Maybe that’s why he wanted to become a scientist, so he could discover why said things were out of reach.
Julian just didn't get it. He always knew that he liked boys more than he liked girls, but Barry Allen of all people? Why did he have to let the man move in and worm his way into his life?
Julian groaned as he covered his face with a pillow. With the heaviest of huffs, he tossed the pillow to the side and slid out of bed. There was no point in even trying to sleep anymore. A shiver ran up Julian’s spine as his feet hit the cold hardwood flooring.
When he exited his room, the television set was still flickering. Julian rubbed his eyes as they adjusted to the brighter light and walked towards the couch.
Barry and Kara were sound asleep, her head rested on his shoulder and his head rested on top of hers. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban flickered quietly in the background, illuminating the duo’s faces. Julian scratched his head as he nervously approached the two.
Julian poked Barry’s shoulder once. Twice. The sleeping man didn't move. Julian rolled his eyes then gripped onto Barry’s shoulder and shook it. Barry sat up, startled.
“I’m awake!” Barry groaned as he rubbed at his eyes. “What time is it?”
“Bloody hell, it’s two in the morning.”
“What are you doing up?”
“Couldn’t sleep, so I came out here to get some work done, only to find you and our guest asleep.”Barry frowned as he looked down at Kara’s sleeping figure.
“Sorry,” Barry murmured. “I’ll get out of your hair.”
Barry stood up carefully from the couch, letting Kara’s body slowly fall down onto the couch. The Girl of Steel shifted before humming softly against one of the throw pillows.
“Aren’t you going to wake her up?” Barry looked at Julian with wide eyes.
“Oh, no. I’ve heard one too many horror stories about waking Kara up. It’s best for all our lives to just leave well enough alone,” Barry stated as he slowly backed away from the room. In the blink of an eye, Barry disappeared form the room.
Julian stared at Barry’s now shut door, then looked down at Kara. He sighed before making his way towards the kitchen. It was going to be a long night.
***
Barry groggily blinked as his alarm blared throughout his room. The last thing he remembered was watching Harry Potter with Kara after Julian left the room. So the fact that he was waking up in his bed was a mystery in itself.
Barry lazily rolled out of bed and flashed into one of his preplanned outfits. He mustered up his mental strength and forced himself to leave the room. There was nothing more Barry wanted to do than to just crawl back into bed and call it a day, but sadly, work was a thing.
When Barry finished getting ready and walked into the kitchen, he saw Julian with his jam on toast and his coffee thermos. Julian had just taken a bite out of his toast as he squeezed past Barry.
“You’re heading out early,” Barry noted. Julian paused, sending him a glare. Julian looked exhausted, the bags under his eyes heavy and dark.
“Cheers,” Julian said sarcastically as he left the apartment without a second word. Barry furrowed his eyebrows at the place where Julian was once standing.
Ever since Barry moved in, him and Julian had their morning routine. Barry would make breakfast, Julian would make coffee (which has saved Barry a ton of money), and then the two would be on their way. So the fact that Julian just bailed was more than odd.
Barry sighed as a picked up one of his energy bars and a scratch piece of paper. Once he found a pen, he left a note for Kara, saying that he was going to work and to just go to S.T.A.R. Labs when she woke up.
Barry’s heart dropped when he realized there was almost no coffee left in the coffee pot. Looks like he was making a trip to Jitters.
***
And so the cycle started. Julian leaving before Barry even made it to the kitchen, Julian ignoring Barry like the plague, Julian pretending Barry didn’t even exist… it was like they went back to square one.
Their lab was silent 99% of the time. So silent that you could hear a pin drop. The only noise was the sound of breathing and machines whirring. Barry stayed loyal to the secret silence rule.
Even at the apartment there was tension. Kara had gone home the day after she stayed the night, so it wasn't like he could ask her if she noticed anything weird about Julian.
The only thing Kara had said to Barry about Julian was that Julian was a cutie. And right after she said that, she had torn Winn off of Cisco and the duo went off to their Earth.
Barry had been so excited that he was finally getting on well with his coworker. It had made going to work way better, even better than when he had the lab all to himself. Julian’s guard had lifted just enough that the two would be sending witty quips towards each other. But now, Barry was lucky if he even heard Julian say a simple ‘shut up, Allen’.
It was nearing the end of the year, a few weeks after Julian stopped talking to Barry, when Barry walked into the apartment. A chill ran down his spine as he shucked off his coat and placed it on one of the open hooks mounted on the wall.
After toeing off his shoes, Barry looked around the apartment for any trace of Julian. The other man’s keys were in the bowl and his dress shoes were placed neatly on the shoe rack next to the door, but there was no sign of Julian Albert.
Listening intently, Barry heard the sound of running water come from the bathroom. With his curiosity getting the better of him, Barry slowly made his way towards the restroom. Luckily for him, the bathroom door was cracked slightly open, open enough for Barry to see what was going on.
Julian stood with his hands resting on either side of the porcelain sink with his head ducked down. The water spurt out of the faucet with a steady flow. There was no condensation on the mirror, leading to the assumption the water was on the coldest setting. Water droplets fell off of Julian’s face, mixing in with the running water like two lovers meeting again. Julian’s blonde hair stuck against his forehead as the man’s shoulders shook slightly. Julian’s vest was long forgotten and laid at his feet in a crumbled bunch.
“You know were in a drought, right?” Barry asked, opening the door a bit wider. Julian’s back went ridged as he straightened his posture and turned the faucet off. He didn’t turn to face Barry. Rather, he stared at himself in the mirror with a blank expression on his face.
“You weren’t supposed to be home,” Julian whispered, his voice breaking slightly.
“It’s seven at night,” Barry responded, taking a step closer. Barry was barely able to see Julian in the mirror, but just enough to see the man’s blood shot eyes and tear stained cheeks. The tears and water droplets were difficult to differentiate, but it was impossible to ignore the fact that Julian had been crying for God knows how long.
Julian brought his hands up to cover his eyes, rubbing away some of the water drops in the process. He retreated from the sink and turned to face Barry with a disturbing smile on his face.
“Are you okay?” Barry asked, concern evident in his voice. Julian laughed.
“Do I look alright to you?”
“No.”
“You’re spot on for once, Allen,” Julian said through gritted teeth.
“Do you wanna talk about it?” Barry asked, taking a step closer to Julian.
“Do I wanna talk about my family? Do I wanna talk about how the second I left England, my family abandoned me? Do I wanna talk about how my younger brother ignores all my calls? Do I wanna talk about how my father practically erased me from their family tree?” Julian continued shooting out rhetorical questions, and with each one his voice kept getting more and more weak. He had started off angry, bitter, and powerful, but the more he revealed his soul to Barry, the more the broken boy inside of him came out. “Do I wanna talk about how my baby sister doesn’t even know who I am? Do I wanna talk about how my mother couldn’t even bother to call her first born on his birthday? Do I… Do I…”
Julian stuttered as his breathing started to get heavier. He looked at Barry with teary, red eyes. Barry’s heart broke at the sight. Barry had known Julian had had a bad home life, but he could never of conjured up anything remotely similar to what Julian just spewed at him.
“Do I wanna talk about how I almost killed a kid for being in the same position as myself?” Julian said, barely above a whisper.
Without saying a single word, Barry pulled Julian towards him and wrapped the broken boy into a warm embrace. Julian trembled in Barry’s arms and Barry absentmindedly twirled Julian’s damp hair in between his fingers.
“My own bloody mother didn’t even call me,” Julian whispered into Barry’s chest.
“It’s your birthday today?” Julian nodded. Barry felt awful for not knowing, which caused him to give Julian a gentle squeeze. “You know, the nights still young. We can turn this around.”
“I appreciate your optimism, Allen, but I’d really rather just call it a night-”
“No,” Barry said, gripping lightly onto Julian’s shoulders so the shorter man was now looking Barry straight in the eye. “No, I’m not gonna let you cry yourself to sleep on your birthday. Go get dressed, I’ll be right back.”
Julian stared after Barry in adoration and confusion. He shook his head and headed towards his bedroom, wiping away his tears in the process.
By the time Julian had put himself back together (which took way longer than expected, for he somehow managed to take the box of family photos out from under his bed), Barry was back from who-knows-where holding a box and a single balloon, along with a little bag. Julian couldn’t help but let a small smile make its way onto his face.
“You really didn’t have to, Barry,” Julian whispered hoarsely as he sat down on one of the barstools next to the kitchen counter. Barry slipped into the one next to him and smiled.
“I wanted to,” Barry said as he tied the balloon on one of the drawer handles. “I think that’s one of the first times you’ve ever called me Barry.”
Julian shrugged and weakly laughed. “There’s a first time for everything, I suppose.”
Barry beamed at Julian before he reached for the white box next to him. He popped it open and turned it towards Julian. “Look what I got.”
Julian looked at the cake in the box then back up at Barry. He then raised his eyebrows and ran his tongue over his teeth. “Happy 4th Birthday, Michael.”
“What? No, I got the generic birthday one,” Barry said as he twirled the box back around towards him. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
And truth be told, instead of grabbing the white cake with the blue stripes, he grabbed the some four year old’s birthday cake.
“I can go return it-”
“No, no, it’s fine. Pretty funny, actually,” Julian chuckled. Barry stared down at the cake before opening the drawer next to him and taking out a butter knife. He smoothed down the light blue words and blended them into the white frosting.
“There, crisis adverted,” Barry smiled. He spun the cake back towards Julian, who immediately burst out laughing.
“That looks like utter shit,” Julian spat out between laughs. Barry frowned. “Thank you, this cake is brilliant.”
Barry’s eyes twinkled as he looked at Julian. Julian’s breath caught in his throat as he watched Barry’s cheeks turn slightly pink. Barry stuck a single candle in the center of the cake and lit it with the lighter he had out on the counter.
“Hap-”
“That really isn’t necessary.”
“But-”
“Maybe next year, Barry,” Julian swiftly blew out on the candle. “Besides, now we get to go straight to the part everyone cares about.”
“You’ve got a point there,” Barry smiled. He opened the drawer that he got the butter knife from and took out two forks and a larger knife. He cut two small pieces from the cake and pushed the piece over to Julian, along with one of the forks.
“Happy Birthday, Michael.”
“Oh God.”
***
As the night progressed, the duo somehow ended up on the couch with Julian’s box of family photos. The small box sat on Julian’s lap, while his head rested on Barry’s shoulder.
“Heh, I remember this vividly. It was my brother’s sixteenth birthday and he thought he was so cool for having a boy-girl mixer. Mum made me chaperone it so her and dad could go out for the night. She made us take this picture right before they left,” Julian said as he thumbed at the corner of the picture. The picture showed a younger Julian with a weak smile on his face and much blonder hair, and next to him was a small blonde boy with an annoyed expression on his face.
“What did you say your brother’s name was again?”
“Neville. My mum is Narcissa and father is Tobias,” Julian hummed as he picked up the next picture.
“And this is my sister, Lily,” Julian said softly as he traced the outlines of the picture. The picture was of Julian holding a baby who could only have been a few weeks old. He was smiling ear to ear, an occurrence that Barry knew only happened rarely.
“When was this taken?” Barry asked. Barry stared at the picture fondly. Julian’s hair was still that bright blonde color and his smile could literally light up the galaxy. Barry pushed the thoughts of how cute Julian was to the back of his head because now was not a good time.
“A few weeks before I left for America,” Julian said, placing the picture back into the box. “I haven’t seen her since.”
“So that’s what you meant when you said you're sister doesn’t know who you are,” Barry muttered.
“I don’t like to think about it,” Julian said sadly as he put the lid on box and set it aside. Julian felt Barry’s arm go around him and squeeze him into his chest.
“You’re really strong, Julian.” Julian shrugged. “How old would your sister be now?”
“About eight or nine, give or take.” So little Lily would be old enough to hold a conversation with her brother…
“Here, give me your phone.”
“No.”
“Trust me, just give it to me for one second.”
“No! I know your gonna do something stupid and try to call someone!” Barry dramatically sighed at Julian.
“Fine,” Barry said, slumping against the couch. Barry’s arm still hung loosely around Julian, making the smaller man’s heart race. Julian thought about the last person he saw Barry have his arm around- Kara Danvers. He scrunched his eyebrows together momentarily before speaking up.
“I’ve been meaning to ask you, how’s Kara?”
“Kara?” Barry asked. “Oh! Kara! I think she’s doing well? I haven’t talked to her since she left.”
“Did you and her break up or something?”
“Break up? Did you think we were dating?” Julian nodded. “Oh no, Kara is like my sister. Plus I don’t think her girlfriend would be too happy with me dating her.”
“Her girlfriend?”
“Yeah. Her girlfriend would literally skin me if I even thought of her that way. You remember who Laurel Lance is?”
“She was that vigilante, uh- Black Canary? In Star City?”
“Yes, her. She’s dating her little sister, Sara,” Barry said. “She was only in Central for a few days on business.”
“Oh,” Julian said, slightly relieved. “Glad she’s happy.”
“Yeah, she’s a good friend,” Barry hummed, placing his head on top of Julian’s. “I hope your birthday has gotten a little better.”
“It has. Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For caring, I suppose.”
“You’re welcome, I suppose,” Barry teased. “Anything for a friend.”
“Yeah,” Julian said with a slight frown. He didn’t know why is heart dropped a bit when Barry said those words. “Anything for a friend…”
Barry smiled at Julian before removing his arm from around Julian in favor of leaning forward to grab the remote for the television.
“Movie night? Birthday boy’s choice,” Barry said, handing the remote over to Julian. Julian gladly accepted it and started flipping through Netflix. In the back of his mind, however, he couldn’t help but think about how the place where Barry’s arm once was was far too cold now.
***
Barry thought that Julian opening up to him on his birthday would rekindle their lost friendship, but if anything, it made it worse. Julian couldn’t even look at him anymore and whenever they were in the same room at home, Julian would immediately leave.
Barry let this slide for a few weeks, thinking that with all the stress from work and the family drama that was brought back to the surface, Julian was probably just wanting alone time.
Barry had let it all go until three weeks after Julian’s birthday, Julian had picked up his bottle of water off the table and was heading out the door right when Barry walked in. Barry scoffed as he set his empty water bottle on the counter.
“Seriously, Julian?” Julian halted and pivoted on his foot to turn towards Barry.
“Seriously, Allen?”
“Why are you leaving the kitchen?”
“I’m sort of free to leave whenever I’d like. This is my apartment as well, and this is America, so.”
“What’s your problem?” Barry asked, his voice a tad lower than normal. “I thought things were going well. I thought we were friends, Julian.”
Julian entered the kitchen and set his bottle onto the kitchen counter. He paced throughout the room, one hand pressed to his temple. A single laugh erupted from his lips as he halted in front of Barry.
“That’s the thing, Barry. Friends.”
“Aren’t we friends?”
“You really are clueless, Allen.” Barry furrowed his brows. He looked down at his feet, murmuring a soft ‘what?’ to himself. Even when Julian was upset, he had to be infuriatingly cute.
“I’m just gonna be straight up with you. I’m done hiding who I am and pretending to be someone I’m not. That’s the whole reason I left everything I knew and became a scientist,” Julian started.
“Yeah, you mentioned that once-”
“Please, let me finish this all in one go or else I won’t be able to get it all out.”
“Okay.” Julian paused, looking hesitant. He took a deep breath before continuing.
“I knew I was different from the other kids when I was younger. I thought it was because I liked to look into the deeper meaning of the things around me instead of playing Power Rangers with the kids my age. I investigated and analyzed just about everything. Everything expect for myself. I always just thought of myself as ‘Julian, the weird one’ and other synonyms to that,” Julian laughed bitterly at himself. “But then after a particular round of name calling in secondary school, I started looking deeper within myself and I found out a lot of things I didn’t know before. I was much more different from the other kids now, and it just caused me to bottle it up and hide.”
“I started to only do my experiments late at night and I closed myself off to my classmates. I was scared, which is really hard for me to admit. I became this version of myself that I didn’t even recognize in the mirror anymore. I felt like a ghost,” Julian paused. “So a few years after that, when I got the opportunity to go to America, I dropped everything and came in a heartbeat. I put everything into my work so I wouldn’t have to ever go back to England, to a place where I felt like nothing but an outsider.”
“Coming here was like a fresh slate. I could be anybody I wanted to be. Yet, I still managed to be hiding who I was. I hid behind my work as I tried to be the best of the best. I let myself become what others wanted to be, what fit their molds, not what fit my own,” Julian sighed. “Then you came along, Allen. You and your infuriating self. I thought I could settle with just disliking you, but I was proven wrong. You turned out to be one of the kindest people I’ve ever met.”
“My whole life I’ve felt lonely. I wanted to be a scientist, but mainly, I wanted to be happy. And you’ve shown me that in some weird way… I-I can’t believe I’m actually saying this, but, I’m falling in love with you, Barry. Take it or leave it,” Julian ended with a heavy sigh. He felt a huge weight lifted off his shoulders as he leaned against the counter.
Barry stared at Julian with doe eyes, as if he was just a deer caught in the headlights. Julian had a feeling Barry would react like this, but the reaction hurt nonetheless.
“If you want to move out or something, I understand. I just couldn’t keep it in any longer,” Julian muttered, feeling defeated, yet alive.
Barry had never seen Julian like this. Even when Julian had opened up to Barry in the past, he still regained some form of composure, but here he was, standing in front of him with big watery eyes and his truth laid out in front of him. Barry felt his own eyes water as he took a step forward and hesitantly picked up Julian’s hand and held it in between his two.
Barry laced their fingers together, slowly but surely. He then let his free hand brush the fringe out of Julian’s face and wiped away the building tear forming in the corner of his eye.
“Thank you for trusting me enough to tell me all of that,” Barry started slowly. “You’re really brave you know… It must’ve been hard to tell me all of that.”
“You don’t feel the same,” Julian said bluntly. Barry looked Julian straight in the eyes as he cupped Julian’s jaw in his hand.
“I-I always thought that you were something I couldn’t have, something way out of my reach, so I’ve been trying to shut down the feelings I’ve had for you since I first saw you,” Barry nervously chuckled. “But now I see I don’t have to.”
A small smile creeped onto Julian’s face as he adverted his eyes from Barry.
“No, no, look at me,” Barry whispered. Julian looked back up at Barry. “I really like you, Julian. You don’t have to hide who you really are with me. Not anymore.”
And with that, Julian crushed his lips against Barry’s. Barry felt like every fiber of his being was one fire as he pressed Julian against the kitchen counter. One of Julian’s hands braced itself on the counter while the other weaved it’s way around Barry’s waist.
The kiss was more than anything Barry could ever dream of. He felt like he was on cloud nine as wafts of cinnamon and pine blanketed him. The two men felt like they were in pure bliss as they kissed each other softly in the kitchen that winter’s night.
If Barry was the sun, then Julian was the moon. It took ages for them to catch each other, but once they did, they were in awe of their eclipse.
Barry pulled away from Julian, resting his forehead against the smaller man’s. He smiled as he held Julian’s face in his hands.
“You’re incredible.”
“Finally, something we can agree on, Allen,” Julian smirked before reconnecting their lips. Barry laughed into the kiss, his heart fluttering.
Yeah, finally something they could agree on…