Work Text:
"People say we're opposites."
Lying on the sofa with his legs stretched out over Hal's lap, Barry looked up from his case file to see his partner, who had also stopped reading one of his novels.
"Opposites ?"
"Yes like..." Hal stopped speaking, searching for what would be the best words to explain his thoughts and what the others were saying. "Like you always seem to have a plan for what you're doing while I just run headlong into pretty much everything I do, hero or civilian. Or after every fight, you pick up everything and rebuild even while I destroy my own city in almost every fight."
"Firstly, I don't have a plan for everything, sometimes I run faster than I think, and you make plans too, you're an excellent strategist on the field Hal. Secondly, everyone knows you don't destroy for the sake of it and most of the time it's your enemies who do the most damage."
"Go and tell that to the journalists and civilians who find themselves out of work or at home. " Grumbled Hal, disappointed in himself as he thought back to all the damage he causes in his fights. "We're really very different in a lot of ways the two of us, so why does it work or how can we be sure it's going to work to the end ?"
Hal looked at Barry, desperately waiting for an answer that would reassure him, not the clichéd phrase "opposites attract", something a little deeper, an explanation that would assure him that their duo and relationship would last and not fall apart tomorrow. So Barry searched for a few moments, moments that lasted hours for him, for the answer that would suit best but also the truest answer.
"Do you know Maxwell's triangle for colours ?"
Hal looked at his partner in astonishment, not at all expecting this question which seemed to come from nowhere and had nothing to do with their discussion, but he nevertheless shook his head in reply to Barry who continued his train of thought.
"On this triangle, red and green are both opposites, red at the top of the triangle and green in the centre at the base. Like a colour wheel, green and red will never be side by side, and in science we say they are opposites."
Barry glanced at Hal at the end of his explanation to see his reaction, and the pilot seemed to see what Barry was getting at with the colours, the colours of their hero suit, but he also looked a little disappointed that science, Barry's favourite domain, confirmed that they were opposites.
"But, in the arts, we say that these colours are complementary, that their distance from each other allows us to find a balance. So yes, maybe we're opposites, but it all depends on the point of view, and I prefer to think that you and I complement each other, that's why it works so well between us, we've managed to find our balance."
Hal, more reassured by the rest of the explanation, went back into his thoughts for a moment, pondering this idea of complementarity before returning to his usual sweet smile. He put his book down on the table in front of the sofa before moving Barry's legs and lying down beside and half on the Speedster's chest.
"Thanks my bear."
"You're welcome Highball."
Barry planted a kiss in Hal's brown hair, wrapping an arm around him before returning to study his case file while Hal began to doze on top of him, reassured.