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“Cisco!” Barry yelled, wanting to run a hand through his hair but forgetting he was still wearing his mask. He pulled it off with a frustrated groan and flung it in the corner. “Cisco, where are y--”
“Shut up.” Cisco grinned as he entered the room. “No need to yell, Allen.”
“It's because of you that I—”
“I know, I know,” Cisco groaned and rolled his eyes. “Miscalculation. The Arrow shouldn't even have come close to you.”
“I hate that guy,” Barry muttered and plopped down on a chair. “Thinks he can just do my job. Reap the benefits of a plan we developed for months. And it didn't help that Blondie said he was 'too tired'.” He made air quotes with his fingers. “Whatever the hell that means.”
“Maybe it means he wanted to sleep?” Cisco smirked when he saw Barry's glare. “Man, you're too hard on the poor guy sometimes. He's helping us. The least you can do is--”
“The least I can do is let him.” Barry let his head loll back, exhausted from the conversation. “Where's Caitlin?” he decided to change the topic.
“Oooooh,” Cisco wiggled his brows. “She's got a hot date, if you know what I mean.”
Barry huffed out a humourless laugh. “The fire dude? Come on.” Ever since Caitlin had begun hooking up with Firestorm, she'd been MIA more often than not. “She does know she's invaluable to this, right?”
“You can say team, Barry. It's not a bad word.”
“Whatever.” Barry spun around in his chair, facing Cisco. “I could've really used her powers tonight. She would have just frozen the Arrow and I could have smashed his pretty face in.”
Cisco leaned against the wall, hands fumbling with some technical gadget – hell if Barry knew what he was up to again. “What about Thawne?”
“Blondie?” Barry huffed and shrugged. “Yeah, maybe.”
Cisco frowned. “You know, I really have to come up with a cool name for him. Hey, what about--”
“No time,” Barry sighed and turned around to face the computer screens. “I'm gonna find out where the Arrow's next heist is. He won't see it coming. I'll show him who's--”
He was interrupted by the loud ringing of his phone. He grunted and got up. “You start,” he told Cisco and slapped his shoulder. “I'll be right back. It's probably Cai--” A look on his phone told him he was wrong. “It's Blondie. Thought he was too tired.”
Since Eddie Thawne had entered their lives in the most spectacular and dramatic way – through a wormhole – everything had been upside down. First they'd saved his life; well, Cisco and Caitlin had, anyway, while Barry was on a job. When he'd come back to their hideout he was surprised, to put it mildly, by the stranger who didn't remember anything but his name and, for some reason, Barry. Barry himself had sworn he'd never met the guy before but Eddie had an instant, inexplicable trust in him. He'd reluctantly agreed to let Blondie stay with them (and given him the nickname Blondie five minutes after meeting him), on the condition that he'd help them with whatever they needed.
It had been a month now, a frustrating, bizarrely wonderful month, in which Eddie had saved his ass countless times but, more often than not, he didn't participate in any nightly heists. Barry had to admit that he did often look too tired to stand straight. And yes, Barry was a little worried about him. Maybe. Just a tad.
“Blondie, you better have a good reason for--”
“Barry?”
Barry was pretty sure he stopped breathing at the sound of Eddie's voice. Is he crying? Is... Is his breathing normal? No, what's--
“B- Barry?”
“Yeah! Yes. I'm here. What's-- Is everything okay?” Barry had no idea how to console someone, he was horrible at things like this, what if he did something wrong, what if he made it worse, what if...
“Can you come here?” Eddie's voice was only a whisper, broken, breathless, exhausted.
“Oh.” Barry should say no, right? He had things to do, crimes to plan. “Of course. I'll be there in a sec. Uhm. Literally. I'll be at your place in one second, okay?”
He didn't even give Eddie time to reply – or told Cisco anything – before he sped through the city, to Eddie's apartment building, up the stairs and to his door.
“Eddie?” he called through the door, his hand hesitating on the knob.
“It's open,” came the quiet response.
Barry shook his head as he entered. “You know, it's dangerous to leave the door unlocked at night. A criminal could just walk in here and there'd be nothing you could do,” he tried to joke but Eddie didn't move a muscle, didn't laugh as prettily as usual, was still clutching his phone with both hands, his chest heaving with sobs.
Barry sat down next to him, keeping a bit of distance – he didn't know what exactly Eddie needed, needed from him, and he was more afraid of messing up than he'd have liked to admit.
Eddie... saved him from having to do anything by throwing his arms around him and burying his face in his neck. Barry startled at first, not knowing what to do, but when he felt tears on his skin he wrapped his arms around Eddie as well, pressing him to his chest. His hand wandered up on its own, pushing into Eddie's hair and holding him in place. Eddie released a shaky breath and seemed to lose some of the tension in his shoulders.
Barry didn't know what this was, had no idea what the hell he was doing – he wasn't a hugger, hadn't held anyone in his arms since his family died, but it felt so right being this close to Eddie, as if this was where he belo--
“Blondie,” Barry interrupted his own thoughts, leaning his cheek against the side of Eddie's head. “What's up?”
Eddie had calmed down a little but wasn't letting go of Barry. “Nightmare. I- I have them sometimes,” he mumbled into the collar of Barry's suit, sniffing a little. “I'm usually fine. Just... this one gave me a panic attack.” Barry found himself tightening his arms around Eddie, grimacing in concern. “I shot myself. To save you. To save everyone.”
Barry frowned. “What? That's--”
“Barry, I think that's how I got here.” Eddie pulled away then, and Barry hated to admit that he only reluctantly let go of him. “Cisco did say I had a wound in my chest. I don't-- I don't fully understand yet, but.” Eddie stopped, more tears running down his cheeks, his breathing becoming harsh again.
Barry did the only thing he could think of – he babbled.
“So, I fought against the Arrow again today.” Eddie bit his lip and looked up at him. “You know how much I despise him, yeah? He completely ruined all my plans, didn't even look sorry about it, that smug bastard.” Eddie nodded. He'd stopped crying – Barry counted it as a victory. “One day I'll get him. He won't see it coming, won't see me coming, I'll become even faster, you'll see--”
“I'll help,” Eddie said quietly, voice rough from crying, a small smile on his face and tear tracks prominent on his cheeks.
“Think you're ready for that, Blondie?”
Barry wasn't sure if the way his heart skipped at Eddie's bright smile was healthy.