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Barry comes to, feeling a warm pressure right up against his back. There's an arm wrapped around him, a hand clutched into the fabric of his shirt, and the feeling of the soft mattress under him. Barry keeps himself from tensing up, his eyes fluttering just enough for his eyebrows to furrow as he risks a glance past his shoulder.
Hal's face is buried right between his shoulder blades, unmoving, quiet. He's got his father's jacket, a shirt and those jeans on, having thankfully discarded his shoes by the bed.
"Hal?" Barry yawns quietly, rubbing his eye with the heel of his palm as he turns to lay on his back. Hal only lets out an irritated sound in response, digging his face into the pillow instead. "You...okay?"
Hal lays there uselessly, the hand that isn't holding onto Barry's shirt (still) coming up to tug at his brown hair. Barry smiles knowingly and reaches out, moving his own hand into Hal's hair, running through it. That makes Hal stop his huffing and puffing, at least for now.
"I was wondering when you'd be back..." The corner of Barry's lips quirks up into a little smile, and he can't hold in a small sigh. Seeing no further response from Hal, he continues. "I'm uh, sure you're very tired and all, but I bet you'd feel much better if you'd take a shower and changed into some clean clothes, you know?"
Barry sighs, and tries a gentler tone. "Hal, I know you're already comf—"
Hal pulls himself closer with the hand in Barry's shirt, laying the side of his head on top of his shoulder. He's quiet, and Barry decides that he's being too quiet for the big-mouthed Hal Jordan that he's known to be, but ultimately decides that it might just be homesickness. Everyone has their post-mission blues, especially if the mission involves almost weeks of being away from Earth.
Hal's brows are furrowed, his nose crinkling with just the slightest grimace on his lips. He sighs sharply through his nose, wipes a hand over his eyes (roughly, as if he caught an eyelash and not a tear), then looks up at Barry. Barry catches his gaze, and then Hal tears his away, burrowing himself in Barry's neck instead.
"Sorry. Shit, I got, uhh..." Hal grunts, "...a bad case of cheap beer withdrawal. If you can believe it."
Barry sighs, his hand going to play with Hal's hair again. He leans down, pressing a kiss to the crown of his head, fighting back a reaction as the foul smell hits his nose. "You definitely smell like it... the beer, I mean."
"What? No, hey..." Hal pulls his head back to look at him, eyes wide. "I didn't drink. Honest to God, I seriously just got back, man—"
"I know. I'm saying you smell awful." Barry chuckles, smiling wider at the way Hal rolls his eyes. "Take a shower. Please?"
"By myself?"
It's Barry's turn to roll his eyes. "Yes."
Hal groans again, but it sounds more like a whine. He rolls onto his back. Doesn't let go of Barry's shirt. "No fair, Bar. I was very much lonely out in space, didn't even get the time to meet up with my hand." He throws an arm over his eyes, sighing dramatically. Barry chuckles again when Hal peeks over at him with one eye, trying to hide his smile.
"That's why you decided to come to my apartment first thing when you got back to the planet?"
"Yes. Er, well no," Hal huffs, dropping his arm and rolling his head to look at the ceiling instead. "I told you. I came for the beer."
"I don't drink." Barry rolls onto his side, arm tucked under his head.
"The coffee maker?"
"Right." Barry smiles, the one that says 'i know you love me', then pushes himself to sit up. "I'll run you a bath, then rub your back. How's that sound?" He laughs when Hal nods excitedly, already getting up. He grabs a pair of boxers from Barry's closet, shucking off his jacket. Barry just sighs and makes his way into the bathroom.
"You've gone quiet again." Barry humms, now crouched down behind the bathtub as he spreads the shampoo over Hal's hair. Hal's leaned back, the water almost steaming hot, making his shoulders slump and his eyes droop.
"Sorry," Hal says, and Barry isn't sure if he ever heard the man apologize twice in the span of one evening. Well, It's almost 5am. But still. "I'm just thinking."
Long fingers tangle into Hal's hair, rubbing, cleaning behind his ears and at the back of his neck. Hal's hair has gotten longer, Barry observes.
"About?"
"Nothing, actually. I'm worrying for no reason." It's not often that Hal admits to that.
"Okay... but, the question still stands." Barry smiles, sliding his hands down over Hal's warm skin, cupping each shoulder and digging into the tight muscles there.
"You're making it real difficult to focus on it," Hal groans and lolls his head back, and Barry gently pushes it forward again so the shampoo doesnt drip down onto the floor. He fights every part of him that wants to call out Hal for deflecting. They can talk about that later.
He lets it go for now, and guides Hal into leaning forward so he can rinse his hair out. Hal then gets out and wraps a towel around his waist while Barry shakes another one through his hair, laughing when Hal bristles like a dog fresh out of the water.
Barry hangs the towel around Hal's neck and reaches up, fixing his hair. He keeps his eyes trained on it, and sighs. "I've missed you, Hal." And he leaves it at that.
"Missed you too," Hal says, then huffs when a strand of hair tickles his nose. "Christ—" He gently swats at Barry's hands, taking them into his own instead. He looks up to Barry's eyes, his own lidded as chestnut meets baby blue, and then grins a bit, pulling Barry's hands up to cup his own face.
Barry keeps himself from melting, leaning into the touch with a small huff. He brushes his thumbs under Hal's eyes, feeling the tired skin, then leans forward and tilts his head. Hal leans in the remaining amount, closing his eyes as their lips meet.
Barry's eyes close too, and he steps closer, feeling Hal's hands moving down to his waist. He moves his lips, and Hal exhales a giggle through his nose, and they end up kissing smiles. It's a bit silly, because Hal always has that effect on him that makes him go giddy, and in the end Barry gives up and laughs, breaking the kiss.
"What's so funny, Hal?" He shoots Hal a look, amused. Hal just shakes his head and dives into another kiss, and this time Barry moans as this one's much firmer, making him take a step to regain his footing. Hal doesn't let that slip his mind and pushes him back against the sink, making Barry's hand shoot back and unfortunately slip on the faucet. "Hal—"
"No," Hal laughs. Barry fumbles to turn the water off.
"Harold." Now Hal shoots him a glare, and Barry laughs this time. Barry brings his wet hand back up and sprays some water right into Hal's face, which makes him flinch.
"Ah, fuck you—" Hal snorts and dives down, blowing a raspberry right into the junction between Barry's shoulder and neck, making him burst into giggles.
"What am I, five?" Barry looks down at him, and Hal sticks his tongue out, then playfully licks a stripe back up to under his ear. And that makes Barry moan again, followed by another laugh from Hal.
Barry feels Hal's hands slide down, cupping his ass and lifting him up onto the sink. Barry wraps his arms and legs around him, gasping into another heated kiss. The shift from play-fighting to this is sudden and Barry finds it a bit hard to keep up, but then he looks at Hal's face again — panting and vulnerable and trying for another kiss, hands holding onto Barry like a lifeline — and finds himself pulling back almost immediately.
"H-huh?" Hal blinks, feeling Barry's hands on his shoulders, firm. "Bar, what's up—"
"Pause." Barry breathes out, taking a few seconds to regain his composure, then meets Hal's confused expression again. "You're doing that—" He gestures with a hand. "—thing again. None of that, Hal."
Hal blinks at him, then tilts his head. "...what thing?"
"Don't you play dumb with me, Harold. You're not stupid."
"You make me stupid, Bartholomew." Hal grins, dumb.
"Hal!" Barry groans in frustration, dropping his forehead to his shoulder. "I'm trying to have a mature conversation in a relatively-new relationship. Humor me here, please."
"Okay." Hal huffs. After a moment, he leans down to muse into Barry's shoulder, playful. "Wanna know a secret?"
Barry raises his head enough to look at him, and sighs. "Go for it."
Hal looks at him, and he seems like he's starting to regret it through that smile. But he pushes through, talks of willpower and all that bullshit. His voice quiets down. "I have... an insane migraine right now. Had it for a few days now, actually, I drank some weird alien booze and I think I'm still hungover."
Barry stares at him. And ironically enough, one would doubt that being carried through lightning speed helped any nausea, and Hal would agree.
But he now finds himself back in Barry's bed, and everything is dark except for the warm light seeping in from the bathroom, and there's a cold rag on his forehead. The relief hits him immediately though, and even though Hal's a bit shaken up he finally relaxes, and that smirk falls back into a grimace again.
The sight of an angry Barry standing over him probably doesn't help. But he'll worry about that in the morning.