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The kitchen was still hot from the stovetop as Eddie plated the last of the pancakes and covered them to keep them warm. He stepped back and wiped his forehead with the back of his hand as he took in the end result of his labors over the past hour or so. Eggs. Bacon. Pancakes. Biscuits and gravy. Sausage links. Fresh-squeezed orange juice. White and chocolate milks. Gratuitous amounts of butter and syrup. Everything necessary for a Breakfast for Dinner was laid out across the kitchen island, most of it wrapped and stowed in the oven or microwave to keep some heat to it.
Eddie washed his hands and put his wedding ring back into place. It was still shiny, only a few weeks in use. He didn’t want to let complacency ruin it just yet. Silence fell on the apartment, making him glance at the door with some amount of concern. Not knowing when Barry would get home was always the worst. No, wait, sometimes he wondered if Barry was coming home. That was the worst.
The front door opening perked up Eddie’s ears and brought a grin to his face. Barry was home earlier than usual. It must have been a slow patrol night. As Barry entered the apartment, Eddie’s smile waned. His shoulders were slumped and he was dragging his feet. He dropped his jacket onto the end table next to the front door and nearly fell forward as he tried to take off his shoes.
“Babe? You okay?” Eddie asked. Despite being covered in various kitchen messes, he approached Barry and helped him over to the couch.
“I’m fine,” Barry slurred out as he plopped down on the lush cushions. “Can you get me something to eat?”
Under normal circumstances, Eddie would have brightened up and served his husband any number of dishes he’d just finished slaving over, but Barry’s state was cause for alarm. He moved between the kitchen and couch with less enthusiasm but more urgency than usual, bringing Barry the simplest of the prepared dishes for ease of consumption - a stack of dry pancakes. After the first plate, he’d add the butter and syrup, but Barry needed something in his system sooner rather than later.
With a mumble of gratitude, Barry tucked in. Eddie watched him take the first few bites with lethargy, his own brow furrowed in worry. It didn’t take Barry long to finish the plate, and almost magically he was sitting up straighter right after.
“Sorry,” he said with a swipe at his mouth with a napkin.
Eddie set himself down on the couch next to Barry and put an arm around his shoulders. “Rough night?”
“Yeah.” Barry’s voice was quiet, like he was conserving it. “I’m fine, though, promise.”
Eddie kissed him on the temple before getting up to return to the kitchen. “You know, I might be able to help if you let me into STAR Labs with you on patrol nights.”
“You know I want to,” Barry replied as he relaxed on the couch. “If it weren’t for Iris, you’d be there every night.”
Eddie appeared with a new plate of pancakes, this one adorned appropriately, along with some eggs and bacon. “She’s still giving you shit, huh?”
The response was a terse laugh. “I stole her fiancé. I’ll be surprised if she ever stops.”
“That’s not what happened and you know it,” Eddie scolded. “Stop giving her reason to keep saying that.”
Barry set his food down on the coffee table and leaned into Eddie, who wrapped his arms around his husband. They joined hands on Barry’s chest and leaned back into the cushy couch. The newness of their wedding bands was still prominent when they held hands like this. The metal bumps under their fingers reminded them of just what they’d found in one another. Eddie could feel the rapid beating of Barry’s heart under his wrists. His body was warm - enough to warrant concern for a normal person, but Eddie knew better. He kissed the top of Barry’s head. Barry snuggled in, pulling Eddie’s hands further down his torso in an attempt to be as close to him as possible.
“You should eat,” Eddie whispered.
“Just a few minutes.”
They sat this way for a while, just listening to one other breathing and taking in their collective warmth. As they sat there, Eddie’s mind wandered to what might have happened at the lab tonight. Barry didn’t seem hurt, so it could certainly be worse. Putting physical injury aside as a cause for his fatigue, the only logical next step would be mental strain. But Barry’s been put through the ringer before, and it didn’t feel the same as this. He was just tired. Exhausted. He’d been running. But if it hadn’t been a bad patrol night, he wasn’t running into situations.
Then…running away?
Eddie sighed and reached up to stroke Barry’s hair. “You let her get to you, didn’t you?”
No answer.
“You didn’t do anything wrong, Barr.”
Barry responded by curling up more, hiking his legs up to his torso.
“Iris will move on. But you can’t let her anger determine what you do.”
“She’s my best friend, Eddie, I can’t just ignore her.”
“I know. But you also can’t let her guilt trip you into exhaustion. How many busts did you make tonight?”
“One.”
“And how many laps did you do around Central City?”
“I lost count.”
“Guess.”
Barry considered for a moment. “Probably over a hundred.”
“A hun-” Eddie sat up straight and pushed Barry upright. “Barry.”
He sighed. “I know, I know. It’s a waste of energy to run off bad feelings during patrol.”
Eddie put a hand on his back. “What if a meta had shown up after all that? You’d have been too tired to handle it.”
“But every time she looks at me, I can’t help but feel like she’s right. Even when she’s smiling at me, I feel like she’s just hiding her anger. I can’t take it. Not from her. And it’s not like she says anything mean. It’s just - everything she says about us feels judgmental. Like I’m reading too much into it. But I also see the looks she gives you when you show up at the lab. She’s angry.”
Eddie turned Barry toward him and put their foreheads together. He took Barry by the hands. “I love you, Barry Allen. Believe me when I tell you that you did nothing wrong.”
“I know.”
“Then say it.”
“I did nothing wrong.”
Eddie chuckled. “I mean to her.”
Barry was hesitant, but squeezed Eddie’s hands in compliance. “Tomorrow. I’ll have a talk with her. I want things to go back to the way they were.”
Eddie smiled. “I’m sure she does, too, even if that means she and I aren’t together.”
“Yeah.”
They separated and smiled at each other with a warmth only they could give one another. That’s my husband’s face, each of them thought.
“So. Ready for this breakfast?” Eddie asked. He’d asked the question more to bring himself back to the present than anything else, otherwise he’d be swimming in Barry’s eyes all night.
“Oh, yeah. You really went all out,” Barry said, turning to admire the spread in the kitchen.
Eddie shrugged. “Well, it’s our one month anniversary as the Thawne-Allens. I figured I’d spend a little extra time on dinner. But you’re in charge tomorrow unless something big happens.”
“Deal.” Barry leaned in and gave his husband a simple, lingering kiss. “Happy one month anniversary.”
The smile on Eddie’s face split into a toothy grin, as most of his smiles did when Barry was involved. “You, too, babe.”