Caught Red-Handed - Thallen
“Allen,” Barry heard his name being called from the doorway of his office. His head spun around, expecting to see an officer standing there, telling him that Singh wanted to ream him out about something. Again. But Barry was pleasantly surprised when he saw Eddie standing there. Singh would never send Eddie to summon him to his office; he was a detective, he had better things to do, apparently.
“Oh, hey, Eddie. What’s up?” Barry asked. He sat back in his chair, leaving his computer to finish its algorithm without him staring at it.
“Are you working on any cases later tonight?” Eddie asked, walking further into the room.
“No, I shouldn’t be. Once my computer finishes I can print out the data and stick it in the folder for Singh tomorrow. Why? Something come up? Another dead body I need to examine?” Barry asked, only being half sarcastic.
“Something came up, just no dead bodies,” Eddie said, leaning against the edge of Barry’s desk.
“What’s come up?” Barry asked, eyebrows furrowing in confusion.
“Well, it looks like I got stuck with a reservation for two for Carmichaels tonight and I don’t have anyone to go with,” Eddie said, a smile playing on his lips.
“Carmichaels?” Barry asked as he stood up from his seat. “Really? I thought that they were booked for months.”
“It’s a good thing I made the reservation months ago then, isn’t it?” Eddie asked, smirking.
“You managed to keep a secret from me? I’m impressed, Thawne,” Barry said.
“I’ve got skills, Allen,” Eddie teased.
“How come you’re allowed to say that and I’m not?” Barry asked.
“Because I’m the one who got us reservations at Carmichaels,” Eddie said with a wink.
Barry’s computer dinged and he bent down to look at the screen.
“Alright, the results are in. Let me just print these out and I can start shutting everything down for the night,” Barry said.
Eddie watched Barry as he flitted around his lab, shuffling papers into different piles and folders, turning off whirring machines with blinking lights, and tripping over his own feet every once and a while.
“Finally ready to go?” Eddie asked.
“I think so,” Barry said as he slung his bag over his shoulder.
“I’ll pick you up at seven, okay? Reservation is at eight. Wear something sexy,” Eddie said. He smirked and winked at Barry, who turned a light shade of pink.
“I’ll wear one of the outfits Iris bought me,” Barry said.
“Perfect, I thought I was never going to see you in them,” Eddie said. “And you know, I don’t think I got a proper thank you for making these reservations.”
“Oh, how rude of me,” Barry teased and smiled at Eddie. “Let me thank you, then.”
Barry slid his bag off his arm and dropped it onto his chair before wrapping his arms around Eddie’s neck. Eddie placed his hands on Barry’s hips and pulled his body into his own. Barry leaned in and pressed his lips gently against Eddie’s. Eddie wasted no time in taking control of the kiss and kissed Barry as if he hadn’t in months. The urgency took Barry by surprise and he let out a soft whimper as he leaned further into Eddie’s body.
“Hey, Bar, I, oh--.”
Barry and Eddie jumped apart, leaving almost two feet between them. Joe stood in the doorway, his mouth ajar and an open file in his hands.
“I was just…I was coming to see if you, um, had the, the uh, St. James file,” Joe stammered.
“Joe, we uh, I um…” Barry started, but couldn’t find the right words to say. He scratched at the back of his head awkwardly and looked back and forth from Eddie to Joe.
“Joe, we just…” Eddie started, but found that he didn’t know what else to say either.
“You two…” Joe said, pointing between Barry and Eddie.
“We, um,” Barry said, taking a step towards Joe. “We’ve kind of been dating for a few months now.”
“Months?” Joe asked, his eyebrows shooting up.
“Y-Yeah,” Barry stammered. “We would’ve told you, it’s just…”
“Just that, we know it would’ve been frowned upon at work. So we wanted to keep it quiet to avoid any drama,” Eddie finished when Barry trailed off.
Barry shot Eddie a thankful glance. They both know that wasn’t the whole reason, but it was part of it.
“So, you’re…” Joe started.
“Gay?” Barry offered, wincing a little. “Yeah.”
“Same. Obviously,” Eddie said, awkwardly.
“That I don’t have a problem with,” Joe said. “It’s the not telling me that’s bothering me.”
“I’m sorry, Joe,” Barry said. “I would’ve told you eventually. I guess I just wasn’t completely ready.”
Joe nodded a few times before turning to Eddie.
“Eddie, you’re my partner,” Joe said.
“Actually, I’m Barry’s partner,” Eddie attempted a joke. Joe’s face was not amused and Barry put his hands over his face in second hand embarrassment. “Sorry, I’ll shut up now.”
“We have to trust each other,” Joe said to Eddie. “We have to trust each other with our lives.”
“I know that,” Eddie said.
“How am I supposed to trust you out in the field now, knowing that you’ve been dating my son behind my back?” Joe asked.
“I think it should make you trust me even more,” Eddie said.
“What?” Joe asked. Barry looked at Eddie, confused as well.
“Well, Barry’s your son. He’s one of the most important people in the world to you. He asked me to keep this secret and I did. I’m a terrible secret keeper, but for him, I did it. I’d do anything for Barry. I love him. And knowing that I’d do anything to keep him safe and happy, that means I’d do anything to keep you safe. Because if anything ever happened to you, I wouldn’t be able to face Barry. Yeah, things might get complicated now. But you being able to trust me is not going to change,” Eddie said.
Barry was surprised Eddie admitted to Joe the strength of his feelings from him. Barry knew that Eddie loved him, they had said it many times to each other before. But Barry had never heard Eddie declare it so strongly before, especially to someone else. It made Barry’s heart soar and his eyes misty. Even Joe looked impressed at Eddie’s speech.
“Alright,” Joe finally said with a nod of his head. “Barry, I’ll just take that file from you then, and you two can get back to…well maybe not here at work, but you can go home, or to Eddie’s place, and get back to whatever you were doing before.”
Barry walked over to his desk, pulled out the file that Joe needed, and handed it to him. Joe took it, gave one last nod to Barry and Eddie, and headed back out the door.
“That was…awkward,” Barry said when he finally heard Joe descending down the stairs.
“Yeah, that is was,” Eddie agreed.
“Still picking me up at seven?” Barry asked.
“How about we meet at my place?” Eddie asked with a small smile.
“Aw, worried my dad is going to give you the ‘dating my child’ talk?” Barry teased.
“I know you’re kidding, but yes, yes I am,” Eddie admitted with a laugh.
“Yeah, it will probably come at some point,” Barry said, laughing as well. “You better wear something sexy too, okay?”
“Deal,” Eddie said with a smile. “Is it a safe bet to say that you’ll be coming home with me after dinner?”
“You think I want to face Joe after this? No, I’ll be good avoiding him well into next week,” Barry said. “And yes, when have I ever not wanted to spend the night at your place?”
“Our first date?” Eddie guessed.
“No, wanted it then, too. Just was too shy to say it,” Barry said with a chuckle.
“Well,” Eddie said before dropping a small object into Barry’s back pocket.
Barry looked at Eddie in confusion before reaching into his back pocket to retrieve what Eddie put there. Barry brought the object up to his face so he could identify it, and smiled when he saw a small gold key resting in his palm.
“Really?” Barry asked.
“Yes, for you,” Eddie said. “I want you to have it.”
“Thank you, Eddie,” Barry said. He pulled Eddie into a tight hug, resting his head against his boyfriend’s shoulder. “Now I have someplace to hide away from Joe.”
Eddie laughed and pressed a kiss to Barry’s head.
“Come on, if I remember, you have less than an hour to get home, get sexy, and then meet me at my place,” Eddie said.
“Get sexy? Oh, that will take me much longer than an hour,” Barry said.
“I should’ve said, ‘dress sexy,’ because you’re always ridiculously sexy,” Eddie said.
Barry blushed slightly and shook his head.
“Look who’s talking, Thawne,” Barry said as he picked his bag back up off of his chair and slid it back onto his shoulder. “Lock the door, will you?”
Barry turned the light off in his lab and walked out of the door and down the stairs, Eddie following right behind him. Right after he locked the door, that is.