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The bed creaked under barry’s weight as he laid down next to his wife, ready to finally get a peaceful night of sleep after everything. He was in his usual bedtime outfit of a t-shirt and boxers, and Lup was in hers, with one of his shirts that draped over her smaller form. When she felt him lay down, she turned over to face him and scooted closer in order to press herself against his chest. Once she had made herself comfortable, Barry wrapped an arm around her, kissing the top of her head. They stayed like that for a moment in blissful silence.
Barry shut his eyes, thinking of all the times he had spent like this with Lup back when they had first started dating, back before… Before he had been made to forget her. He tried to push that thought out of his mind, knowing he wouldn’t be able to sleep it it lingered. Instead, he thought back to all the times on the Starblaster he couldn’t sleep, or she couldn’t sleep, and they would find their way into each other's rooms to fall asleep in each other's arms.
“You alright, Bear?” Lup, who had felt him tense a bit, asked from her sleepy haze.
“Huh? Oh, yeah,” Barry quickly snapped out of the sweet memory, finding himself back in the present, “I’m alright, I’m just thinking how we used to do this all the time, back on the ship.”
She looked up at him with a smile, “I remember that… When one of us couldn’t sleep, we would… we would cuddle and tell stories until the other person fell asleep.”
He stroked her back fondly as she spoke, remembering how comforting it always was, “Those were the days, huh?”
“Those were the *best* days!” she shifted against him to sit up a bit, getting excited, “Like, remember when you tried to learn how to cook to impress me, and you ended up nearly burning the whole kitchen up?”
Barry’s face reddened at the memory, smiling despite the embarrassment still lingering, “Yeah, I remember…. I’ve never seen Taako that angry.”
“I’ve never seen him turn that shade of red before!” Lup laughed, flopping onto her back, her hair spreading wildly around her on the pillow, “That was pretty funny.”
“Except for how he banned me from the kitchen.”
“He banned us *all* from the kitchen.”
“True,” Barry thought back to those days on the ship. Of course, he was happy with the way things were now, and the way they would hopefully be from now on. He loved living in a house, with his wife where his brother in-law and friends weren’t a couple rooms over. Still, it was fun to look back. Those days weren’t always good, but boy were they fun, “Do you remember when Magnus fell asleep on Taako, and he made us come into the bedroom and play mad libs with him because he was bored?”
“Yes!” Lup shrieked with laughter, “We played so many rounds, I thought I was going to rip his head off if he asked me for an ‘adverb’ one more time.”
They both chuckled for a moment or two before settling down, lying in silence before Lup curled up against her husband, kissing him gently before resting her head in the crook of his neck, “Remember how we sang karaoke together sometimes?”
“Of course I do,” he hummed in response.
“I kind of noticed that you’d always be nervous and shy when you were singing alone, but when we sang together you were more confident,” a smile on her face at the memory, she continued, “It was my turn to choose a song, and I chose As Long As You’re Mine, from Wicked?”
“Yeah, I remember that,” Barry responded, blushing.
“You got so into it, and I got so into it, and we were singing at the top of our lungs,” Barry wrapped his arms around lovingly her as she reminisced, “And Lucretia came in and yelled at us to quiet down, because she could hardly hear herself think?”
“Mhm.”
“And, after she left, we both burst out laughing and fell back on the couch, and we were trying to calm down but every time we looked at each other it started again?” Barry brushed a lock of her hair behind her ear, and she curled even closer to him, “And…. After a few minutes we looked at each other, and kind of leaned forward…. And we kissed, for the very first time, even though we were both still really giggly, and when we parted, I pinched myself because I thought I must be dreaming.”
“I remember,” Barry felt overwhelmed with love and contentedness in that moment, so glad that had happened, so glad it had led to this moment.
“That’s one of my favorite memories of you,” said Lup, feeling the same.
“It’s one of my favorites, too.”
“I’m really glad we didn’t lose that one.”
Barry thought back to all the other memories he had like that; the sappiness of the early love they shared, sneaking off from the group to make out, stocking up on snacks and spending the night in one of their bedrooms, training with each other, spooning when they slept in bed together, holding hands almost non-stop. All of those memories were so precious to him. The thought of any of them being permanently lost broke his heart. Barry reached for his wife’s hand, squeezing it tightly, “Hey Lup?”
“What is it, bear?”
“Do you remember when we were on a mission, just the two of us, and we got sort of lost, and ended up in that big gorgeous meadow?” Barry rubbed circles over Lup’s hand with his thumb slowly, “It was so beautiful- All lush and green and covered in wildflowers. It looked like something out of a dream or a painting- I couldn’t believe I was really seeing it,” Barry smiled, getting a dreamy look in his eye, “And there was that orchard right next to it, and you- I tried to stop you, but you wanted to take from it so badly!”
“I was hungry!”
Barry laughed as he continued on with the story, “And after you gathered an armful of fruit, the farmer saw us and chased us away, and we ran off laughing…. We laid down on our backs in the grass of the meadow, and you ate all the fruit-”
“Because you refused to eat any!”
“- And you fell asleep.”
Lup laughed, blushing slightly at the memory, “Yes, I remember that.”
“That was the first time I realized I was in love with you, y’know.”
Lup snorted, pulling away from him and playfully pushing his shoulder, “You’re such a sap!”
“It’s true!” Barry chuckled out, “That’s where it all started for me.”
Lup laughed along with him before settling back into his arms, smiling against his collar, “Do you want to know when it started for me?”
“Absolutely.”
“That time we were all playing truth-or-dare, and you chose dare, and so I mixed a monster energy drink with coffee and a 5-hour energy and dared you to drink it. I thought you were just going to take one sip, but you chugged the whole things and stayed awake for, like, almost 24 hours after that. You were so hyper and all over the place, it was cute, you couldn’t stop talking about all your nerd shit…. And when you finally crashed- Oh man. You just fell asleep sprawled out on the couch. That was *adorable*.”
Barry smiled and laughed lightly, a little embarrassed looking back on that night, but happy about what it had caused. He held her close, listening to her heartbeat as she listened to his, peaceful and content to be here. He always loved reminiscing with her before going to sleep, it was such a perfect way to end the night, grateful that they had this, and that they had the opportunity to create brand new memories with each other every day for the rest of their lives.