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halbarryweekfeed · 9 months ago

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Halbarry Week

relationships - Barry Allen/Hal Jordan (Green Lantern), Hal Jordan (Green Lantern) & Bruce Wayne

tags - Whump, Angst, Fluff, Pre-Relationship, Torture, Barry Allen Whump, Barry Allen Needs a Hug, Barry Allen-centric, Protective Hal Jordan (Green Lantern), Hal Jordan (Green Lantern) Needs A Hug, Tags Are Hard, Not Beta Read, hurt/comfort, hurt Barry Allen, Blood and Injury

summary - Barry is captured and tortured by a serial killer that the CCPD has been looking for. Hal, noticing his friend is missing, goes looking for him only to find his apartment empty and devoid of life. so, naturally, he freaks out and calls the league and makes them all do a search party of the entire planet.

lowkey too lazy to do a proper summary other than this.

word count - 6,165

read on AO3

Notes: Just a warning, I have not read a single DC comic in my life. Any knowledge that I have is from animated movies/shows and fanfiction. you have been warned (also I don't know any character names in Central's police force so i simply did not name anyone :3) anyways, I didn't finish this in time for Halbarry week, @halbarryweekfeed but I was doing this for the one bad day prompt!

Barry’s leg bounced up and down as he sat at the League meeting. His hands were clasped together and he was fidgeting with his fingers. Batman was standing and giving the briefing, a paper in his hand.

The others were all listening intently, aside from Hal, who never really seemed to listen to anyone. Which, Barry couldn’t really blame him. He was feeling rather impatient himself at the moment.

He had caught himself multiple times switching into relative time, his leg bouncing faster and faster until it seemed like everyone else was moving in slow motion. Whenever it did happen, he would force his leg to still, despite the mental agony it caused him.

He couldn’t count how many all nighters he had had in a row at the CCPD. There was some new serial killer on the loose, and it was all hands on deck to catch him. Sadly, all hands on deck meant zero breaks unless it was his day off, and being the Flash, that wasn’t really a feasible thing.

Hal nudged his shoulder, making him jump ever so slightly. He glanced towards the lantern to see a small, teasing grin. Barry rolled his eyes and pushed his shoulder in retaliation. He was sure Hal was getting a kick out of him of all people not listening.

He tried to tune in to the conversation. They were halfway through something about another meta-trafficking cartel being discovered. He frowned, it seemed like every day there were more and more of those popping up. At least Diana had already taken care of this one.

There was a list of kids that were found there, and a list that had passed through, but already been moved. He clenched his fist at the sight of the long list of names.

As they all moved on to a different topic, he started to zone out again. His foot tapped against the floor, eliciting a few pointed looks from a few other members. He glanced around the room several times, taking in almost every detail while barely processing it. He couldn’t count the amount of times he stared at the clock.

When the meeting finally ended, he didn’t waste a millisecond to get to the zeta tube. Within minutes, he was running around Central and headed towards home, only stopping to grab a box of donuts.

He practically collapsed on the couch immediately once he got home. He barely spared a moment to change back into civilian clothes. He ate a couple of donuts as he debated going on to sleep or powering through for a quick patrol.

The decision was made for him when he got a text from the CCPD. He groaned inwardly at the notification. He was starting to think he may never get the chance to sleep again.

As he looked over the text, his mood soured once again. Another victim from the killer was found. This was the fourth in two weeks, giving the killer a total of ten victims.

Barry once again suited up and headed for the crime scene, stopping in an alley a few blocks away to change again.

Once he made it to the actual scene, an abandoned house near the suburbs, it was already getting fairly dark. He really hated how long League meetings lasted.

There were a couple of cop cars around the building, their lights flashing brightly. As he ducked under the tape line, he showed his badge and was let through.

He entered the building, placing blue plastic gloves over his hands. Barry frowned at the bloody state the room was in. The walls were covered with blood splatters, as if the killer had flicked a paint brush around.

There was a body near the middle of the room. He crouched down to examine the man. His gloves got bloodied as he gently turned the man’s head to see his slit neck. Maybe the killer really did try to paint the walls.

“This is what all the other scenes look like.” Another cop mumbled. Barry nodded. He hadn’t had the chance to get to the scene yet.

“We know any similarities between the victims?” He asked, looking up at the woman.

“Only that they’re all men and blonde.” She said with a shrug. Barry hummed. “Hey, maybe we could use you as bait.” She added with a laugh.

Barry rolled his eyes, but didn’t answer. He looked over the body again, finding nothing else of use, then stood up again.

“You know the drill, search for fingerprints and the like. Check to see if this isn’t just his blood.” He said, pointing to the woman. After receiving a quick nod, he went into another room to a similar sight.

There wasn’t another body, thankfully, but the walls still had multiple blood splatters. Other than that, there wasn’t much evidence of a struggle. All the furniture, though old and currently covered in blood, seemed to be in place.

So far all they knew about the killer’s M.O. was that they went blonde guys (Maybe he should use himself as bait…), and they liked to make a mess of things, though they killed their victims quickly.

All the bodies he had analyzed looked fairly healthy, only a few bruises indicating any injury at all, though one had a broken nose. The only injury that was constant in each victim was the slit neck and practically being drained of blood.

He stood in the middle of the room, turning to take in as much as possible. There wasn’t a pattern in the blood, just random splotches here and there. This just felt like another dead end.

Barry let out a rough sigh, shaking his head in frustration. He then left the room and headed out of the house.

“I’ll take a look at all of the evidence at home, hopefully I’ll have something next time you see me,” he told the other officer. “Send me any pictures taken.” He added. She nodded, muttering a quick good luck.

He stalked off back towards his home, walking a couple blocks before speeding away. This time, when he reached home, he didn’t bother sparing a second to debate sleeping.

He was out in seconds.

Hal kept on shooting glances at the empty seat next to him. Barry should have been here already, even if he had a habit of being late to everything.

He would still always call or text Hal to let him know, yet his phone was devoid of any notifications from the speedster. He checked again anyway, just to be sure.

What’s worse, Barry had barely talked to him after the last league meeting. He had just zoned out the entire time, then left immediately. Hal was going to offer dinner (though Barry probably would’ve ended up paying anyway), but didn’t get the chance.

He wasn’t really sure if he was actually worried or not. Like he said, Barry was always late. He was honestly mainly annoyed that Barry hadn’t bothered to let him know. It felt like he was ghosting him, even though he knew Barry could never be that petty to do to anyone . It’s not like anything happened between them anyway.

If Barry was at the meeting or not, Bruce still started. Hal was almost jealous of Barry when the bat started to piss him off. He bet Bruce regretted not waiting for the speedster after that argument.

Once it was finally over, Hal decided he might as well go full Barry in on what he missed. He flew towards the man’s house, landing in an alley not too far away. He couldn’t count the amount of times Barry scolded him for flying right up to his door in full costume.

Once he made it to the door, he knocked and waited for an answer. After about three seconds, because Barry barely takes over one to answer the door, he knocked again. Half a minute, no answer.

Okay, maybe he was getting a little worried. The lantern got out his spare key and stuck it into the keyhole, only to find that the door was unlocked. Shit, he was definitely worried now.

“Hey ‘Bar?” He called through the house. He walked through the lifeless house, stopping in each room the search for the blonde. He frowned as the only sign of life that he spotted was the ruffled sheets of his bed. He hadn’t even made his bed, what the hell was going on!?

Hey, where are you? He sent a quick text, hoping that he’d see it. Then he added, I’m at your place, how’s a movie night sound? Just in case. He knew it’d be awkward to just go out and say he was worried about where he was just for missing one meeting.

When it was well past a minute and he was still left on delivered, his frown deepened. He walked over to the couch and plopped down with a rough sigh.

He was probably just busy with work stuff. He had mentioned something about a serial killer giving the CCPD trouble. Of course they would get their best guy to work overtime because of it. He was just making this out to be bigger than it is.

He could just wait here for an answer. He knew Barry wouldn’t really mind anyway if he stuck around for a minute or two. Maybe he should order some food for when Barry got back.

Purely because he was bored and felt fidgety, he checked his phone again. Still no answer. He sighed again, then thought he might as well check the news. Maybe he wasn’t at the CCPD and was taking care of one of his rogues.

He turned in the TV, then threw the remote to the side and leaned back. The reporter was in the middle of talking about the newest missing persons case. Barry had mentioned a few of those had been popping up.

He almost choked on his own spit when the picture of said newest person appeared on the screen. He stared for several seconds at the image of a blonde man with blue eyes and the best smile in the universe. And then he stared down at the bright red, bold letters under the image screaming MISSING . Then he looked down at the name below them.

Barry Allen .

Hal didn’t think he’d ever flown as fast as he finally made it back to the watchtower. Who knows, maybe he would’ve actually beat Barry there if they were racing. His chest ached with the thought.

Barry was missing, as Barry Allen . He wasn’t the Flash when he went missing, he was just Barry. And if he hadn’t already escaped in the fucking week he’s been missing, that meant he couldn’t use his powers.

A week. Hal could hardly believe it. How could he have not noticed that for an entire week his best friend was gone? How did he not notice the lack of the Flash stopping crime or running around the country each day for a morning jog?

The lantern ran through the halls of the watchtower, almost barreling into Shazam on his way to the monitor room.

Spooky was sitting in the chair in front of several screens. Thank god he actually listened during the meeting to know that Bruce was on monitor duty today, he really didn’t want to waste time going all the way to Gotham.

“Bruce!” He called, running up to him, “we’ve got a really big problem.” He said urgently.

Bruce frowned at him and turned away from the monitors.

“What’s going on?” He asked, thankfully not wasting time being annoyed. No matter how much Spooky might piss him off sometimes, Hal was glad for his straight to business behavior.

“Barry’s missing- like, missing missing.” He explained. Hal pushed Bruce out of the way and took over the keyboard of the monitor. He pulled up the news in Central.

The anchor had long since moved on to another topic, but Barry’s picture with those damning letters under it was still in the corner. He clenched his fists at seeing it again.

“I’ll notify the league.” Bruce said, sounding strained. Hal glanced at him, and the bat’s ever present frown seemed to have much more concern and worry than the usual annoyance.

“I’ll fly over Central. My ring might be able to find him if it locks onto his Speedforce thingy.” Hal said quickly.

“How long has he been missing?” Bruce asked as he typed away on the keyboard. A few messages went out to the rest of the league giving them the rundown.

“News said a week.” Hal answered. He was practically bounced in anticipation to keep moving. But, Batman needed to know all the information if he was gonna be able to find Barry.

“Something must be dampening his powers if he hasn’t escaped yet,” Bruce said, almost to himself. “Or he’s trying not to blow his cover.” He added as several screens popped up with different cameras around Central.

“No, Bar knows how to hide his powers and still use them. He would’ve found a way out.” Hal corrected. Which, wow, he didn’t think he’d actually done that right before. Correcting Batman on something felt like a dream come true.

“I called Iris too,” Hal added, “she hadn’t seen him since before the last league meeting.” He had started to fidget with his hands. God, he felt as restless as Barry during any meeting that could’ve been an email.

He really needed to stop thinking about Barry. It was making him worry more with each passing second.

Batman let out a hum, then pulled up another video camera. Hal blinked at the video feed of cop cars and flashing lights. He shared a glance with Bruce.

Soon enough, Barry showed up to the scene. Hal watched as he ducked under the police tape and showed an officer his badge. Then the blonde went into the old looking building after being pointed towards it.

“What are we looking at?” Hal asked. Bruce held up a hand, causing Hal to roll his eyes. The camera switched seconds later to inside the building.

Barry was just walking in, putting sterile gloves on after he shut the door behind him. Hal scrunched up his nose to the bloody sight of the room. There was a body in the middle, looking incredibly pale.

They watched as Barry did the usual looking over of the body, then handed him off to another officer. He went into another room.

“There aren’t any cameras in there.” Bruce supplied after a few seconds of him typing away. Hal grumbled something unintelligible at that.

Though, it didn’t matter much, as Barry walked out a moment later. He was shaking his head with a worried expression.

The speedster walked over to the other officer, said something to her, then patted her on the shoulder. Afterwards, he left the building. Bruce switched back to the outside cameras and they watched as he left the scene.

“That was his last known whereabouts.” Bruce stated. Hal felt his fingernails dig into the palm of his hand, leaving little crescent indents in the skin.

“I’ll check it out.” Hal offered with little hesitation. Bruce nodded and continued flipping through cameras around Central.

Hal rushed off back down to the city, hoping this time he’d at least find a lead.

Barry’s vision was blurry and unfocused. He felt insanely tired, and even more hungry. He wasn’t sure when the last time he ate was.

He was tied to an old, rickety chair. The ropes dug into his skin and left little burns there. He let out a quiet breath as he once again tried to strain the rope and possibly loosen it.

There was an IV sticking into his arm, constantly supplying him with some sort of drug that messed up his speed. He couldn’t vibrate to get loose and he couldn’t run away even if he did.

There were several cuts and bruises on his face. A large purple bruise had formed around his ribs after being kicked multiple times by his kidnapper.

The room itself he was trapped in looked like an old basement. The floor was concrete with several stains, some of which were disturbingly red. There were wooden steps leading up to a deteriorating door.

If he wasn’t so worried about his own wellbeing, he’d be really embarrassed. To be captured by the serial killer you’ve been trying to catch is some embarrassing stuff. Hal would get a kick out of it.

He hoped Hal had at least realized he was missing. Maybe it would be on the news by now. Wally was probably worried sick.

Barry flinched as the door to his little cellar opened. The wooden steps creaked as someone came down. He kept his head down, trying to pretend to still be unconscious.

Several times his captor had come down, purely to torture him. He hadn’t done this with any of his other victims. Barry got the sense that he was trying to send a message to the CCPD when they found Barry.

His captor approached the chair Barry was tied to. The blonde looked up through his lashes to see that the man was holding a metal pipe. Why did they always have blunt objects?

He nudged Barry’s foot, then, when the speedster didn’t react, he kicked him in the shins. Barry let out a gasp as pain flared up in his leg.

His captor, a man with a painted hockey mask and wearing all black aside from that, grabbed the roots of Barry’s hair. He held up his head and forced Barry to look in the eyes of his mask.

Barry looked wide-eyed at his captor, glancing down to the metal pipe. The masked man gripped his hair tighter and tugged. Barry let out a small groan. He was too tired to try and silence it.

“You gonna talk?” He asked in a gruff and muffled voice. Barry still wasn’t exactly sure what he was looking for, but he wouldn’t say a damn thing either way.

He sneered at the man, fixing him with a glare that might actually rival Batman’s. In retaliation the man pushes Barry’s head back into the chair. There was a small thud when it connected

Before he had the chance to recover, the metal pipe was swung agaisnt his nose, making a loud crack. He gasped as blood gushed down his face and over his shirt. Some got in his mouth and he gagged at the taste.

As his head started to lull, the man pushed him back against the chair again.

“Shit-headed meta,” the man said like a curse, “Fuckin’ say something!” Barry only stared at him.

The man let out a frustrated growl, then reared back. Barry clenched his eyes shut as he prepared for another blow. It hit his stomach and crunomed as spittle flew from his mouth. He coughed and gasped as he tried to breath.

When he felt like he could finally breathe again, the man had left. He warily looked around the room, but found nothing.

Barry let himself fall limp. He was tired. He wanted to sleep. He wanted his injuries to heal already.

He hoped someone had figured out he was in trouble.

Hal’s ring lit up the dark building. The cleanup crew had taken care of all the blood pretty decently, but he hoped his ring would pick up something that might help.

This was their only lead. He had called Wally and Iris and neither had seen Barry since he was labeled missing. Neither had any of his coworkers, both from the CCPD and the League.

The little search light of his ring lit up the area where the body was found. It made an outline like the ones in the movies. Hal had to force himself to not think of Barry being stuck like that.

He turned away and went into the other room Barry had. There were a lot of places that the clean up crew missed in this room. Various splotches were left in random places. They all belonged to the victim, there was nothing that could be the killer.

He could hardly believe that Barry fell victim to a serial killer. He must have been in a really shitty situation if he hadn’t found a way to escape.

Hal shook his head with a sigh. His brow was furrowed in worry. He placed a finger to his communicator in his ear, contacting Bruce.

“Hey spooky, you find anything else?” Hal asked. He would never admit out loud, but Bruce was probably the best detective in the world. If anyone would be able to get a lead, it’d be him.

Maybe. He responded after a moment. He sounded hesitant, like he didn’t have much hope on whatever he found. It’s a stretch, but can you scan the door knob? Look for any sign of drugs. He said. Hal guessed the man was watching him in cameras, so he nodded.

Hal went back into the first room and pointed his ring at the door knob on the outside. There were light green outlines that appeared like a black light looking for fingerprints.

“Found something.” Hal informed Batman. “You think he was drugged?” He asked, though he thought he already knew the answer.

He hadn’t put on the gloves until after he entered the room, the door knob was laced with something. It must have taken a bit of time to affect him. Bruce explained. Hal nodded with a hum.

“I’ll search for any other traces of it in the city.” He declared, bringing his ring up to ask about it.

It gave a couple of different locations. He frowned again. It might take too long to search all of them, he’d already wasted too much time already.

“I’ve got a lot of different locations, I’m gonna need help to search them all.” He said. There was a quick affirmative from Bruce.

Hal let out another sigh, then left the building. The killer would probably be keeping Barry somewhere in the suburbs, like all the other victims. He checked his ring again, then flew off in the direction it told him.

It was getting dark now. Soon it would be another full day that Barry’s been missing.

The chair Barry was still tied to was knocked over. His head hit the floor with a loud thud. He let out a small gasp.

The IV had been ripped from his arm on accident, and blood flowed from the wound and pooled on the floor.

The man let out a sharp curse. He then made a frustrated noise and kicked Barry in his side again. He let out a pained wheeze at the blow.

Even if he wasn’t being given a constant supply of the drug, it would still take way too long for it to wear off. He was still utterly defenseless.

Barry coughed several times, droplets of blood being splattered on the floor.

Then he was kicked again, this time in the face. His already broken nose flared up in pain. He let out a yelp as he tried to wrench his hands towards his face.

The ropes holding them in place dug into his wrists. He let out another gasp as he looked up at the masked man looming over him. A metal object was shining in his hand.

Barry stared up at the scalpel glinting in the dim lighting. He sneered at the man as best he could with a broken nose and bloodied teeth.

The man grabbed the roots of his hair and pulled him up. Barry scrunched up his nose and breathed hard. He tried throwing his best bat-glare at the man.

“You’re really fucking annoyin’, y’know?” The man sneered. Barry let out a huff.

“N-next time I’ll try to be nicer to my k-kidnapper.” He spat out in response, along with the glob of blood aimed at the man’s shirt.

He was thrown back again, his head hitting the chair for what felt like the millionth time. Then the man slapped his cheek and a stinging feeling creeped its way into joining the rest of the collection of pain.

“I’mma cut you up and paint the walls!” The man threatened, brandishing the scalpel and putting it dangerously close to Barry’s cheek. Honestly, Barry thought he might just want to get it over with.

The man cut the ropes tying him to the chair, cutting his wrists and ankles in the process as Barry tried to suppress a hiss of pain. He then grabbed Barry by the neck and lifted him up off of the chair.

Barry’s hands immediately clutched and clawed at the man’s wrists, leaving droplets of blood on him.

He could just barely see his eyes now. They looked crazed and gleeful. He wanted to gag.

The man squeezed his throat. Barry tried to suck in a breath, but it was blocked. He sputtered and gasped.

The speedster looked around wildly, trying to find something that could help him. He tried kicking the man’s shins but it did little to nothing.

He was tired and hungry. He was working on little to no fuel and his speed was still dampened.

Tears pooled in Barry’s eyes. He blinked them away and again tried to glare at the man.

There was an amused huff, as if the man thought it absurd that Barry was even trying. He gave one more squeeze on Barry’s throat, eliciting a wheeze from the blonde, then threw him against the wall.

Barry crumpled to the ground, his shaky legs refusing to support his weight despite how much he needed them to. He clenched his fists, scraping his fingernails against the concrete floor as he fought to push himself back up.

The man put his foot on Barry’s back, forcing him back down. He groaned as it disturbed his bruised ribs.

Barry looked back up at the man, only to be met with another kick to the face.

He let out a grunt, then fell limp. He blinked slowly, looking at the man out of the corner of his eye. He strained again, one last effort to get up, but his body slammed back into the ground.

He squeezed his eyes closed, expecting them to never open again.

There were hands on him. They felt cold but gentle. They glided over his body and prodded around. He let out a whimper when they pressed into his side.

A hand moved to his face, gently cupping his cheek. He was pulled close to someone’s chest and held there.

“Hey, ‘Bar,” someone said, making him jump. “It’s gonna be okay.” They continued. They sounded a little panicked, but relieved.

Barry scrunched up his nose and tried to open his eyes. His vision was blurry, but he could make a familiar figure glowing with a soothing green light.

“Hey-“ Hal said, but it broke off into a small sob. “Hey.” He repeated. A small smile graced his lips then.

Barry opened his mouth to say something, but it only ended in a small coughing fit. Hal pulled him closer protectively. Barry’s head was pressed against his chest.

“Hey.” Barry rasped out. Hal moved the hand cupping his cheek to run through his hair. Barry leaned into the touch gratefully.

“I’m gonna get you to the tower.” Hal promised, moving his other arm underneath Barry’s knees.

He picked him up, holding him in an iron grip that somehow still felt soft. Barry felt himself be lifted from the ground, then after a few moments wind rushed through his hair.

He looked blearily up at Hal again. His jaw was set firmly, quivering occasionally. Hal was crying.

Barry had been asleep for several hours now. After Hal had rushed him over to the watchtower, they had to get him into the medbay. Apparently he had several broken bones, including his nose, which had been hit multiple times according to J’onn.

The speedster had been given a constant supply of the same drug that had taken him out in the first place. It was messing with his powers, but didn’t do a thing about his metabolism.

Hal feel Barry’s ribs when he had been holding before. The blonde’s cheeks had been sunken and bloody. The circles under his eyes had been several shades darker than usual.

Hal had almost killed the man that took him. If Bruce hadn’t met him there, he probably would have. Damn him and his no kill rule, if there should be any exception it should’ve been for him.

But no, now the psycho was in a cell in Central. His only consolation was that the CCPD took it a lot more personally since Barry was a victim.

Even so, he would rather take the fucker all the way to the cells on Oa than let him be anywhere near Barry. It felt like a stretch just letting him be on the same planet, let alone city, as Bar’.

Hal let out a huff as he stared into the viewing window into the med-bay. J’onn was still in there, tapping away on some document as he did a few final checks.

He had already come out and inform everyone that Barry was stable. Ollie had clasped him on the shoulder then and given him the most reassuring smile he could offer Hal.

Despite everything pointing to a full recovery in the works, Hal refused to let his eyes stray from Barry’s unconscious form. He only never looked away to glance at the heart monitor or to blink.

He perked up as J’onn entered the room again. His face was set in the ever present frown that probably only Spooky could read. It wasn’t really reassuring at the moment.

“He will be alright.” J’onn reassured with a soft nod. “There is nothing else to be done but wait.” He declared. Hal nodded silently as J’onn passed him.

Once the Martian left the room, he wasted no time in moving Barry’s bedside. He grabbed a chair and rolled it over to the bed. The lantern practically collapsed in it.

Now that he was actually in the room with all of the medical equipment, he could hear the steady beeping of the heart monitor mimicking Barry’s heart. He glanced over to it, watching the green line rise and fall in a pattern.

He turned back towards the speedster. The blood had been cleaned off his face, and his broken nose had been set. None of the bruises had healed yet, though. He imagined that if he took off the bandage covering Barry’s stomach and chest, he would see one nasty bruise.

Instead, he pulled the thin covers over Barry, lifting up his hand so he wouldn’t disturb the IV.

He looked pale, and those dark circles were still there. His brow was furrowed, as if he were having a nightmare. Hal would’ve been surprised if he wasn’t, though.

“Hey, Bar’?” He whispered, leaning close to the speedster. He placed a hand on his forehead, rubbing his thumb over Barry’s brow.

Barry let out a small sound. It didn’t sound very distressed, so Hal thought he must have been doing a decent enough job.

The blonde leaned into Hal’s hand. His facial features relaxed. Hal felt himself sag as his mission was accomplished.

Hal rested his head on the side of the bed, his arms crossed. He looked at the little bruises and cuts on Barry’s face with a frown that looked more like a pout.

Even after being beat up and almost killed, Hal couldn’t deny how beautiful Barry still seemed. He hated imagining how scared he looked when Hal first found him. No one deserved to go through something like that, especially not him.

Hal moved his hand to intertwine with Barry’s. He held it tightly, like a lifeline. It was weird, he was the one desperate to feel Barry’s warmth, and yet Barry was the one who was almost on his deathbed.

He squeezed the blonde’s hand. He thought he could feel the slightest twitch of Barry’s fingers in response, but didn’t dare to hope.

He knew he would be okay, he knew , but he had to see it. He had to see Barry open his eyes again and smile at him like he was looking upon an angel. Even though, between the two, Barry was the saint.

Barry stared up at the white ceiling of the medbay. He had seen it enough times to know where he was without needing to overlook the whole room. Which was good, because he thought that even just turning his head would make him pass out.

He felt exhausted and hungry, like he had just run a couple hundred laps around the earth. Everything felt sore, and didn’t think he even had the strength to twitch his fingers.

Nevertheless, he tried anyway. He clenched his hands into fists as he fought to sit up.

Barry flinched when another hand squeezed his. He quickly turned his head, eliciting a wave of nausea and dizziness. He let his head fall back onto the pillow and scrunched up his eyes.

“Easy, Bar’.” A voice that Barry would always recognize soothed. Barry squeezed his hand again as he lazily turned to look at him.

“Hey,” he said, his voice scratchy. He smiled at Hal as brightly as he could. He didn’t doubt that he looked horrible though.

“I was really worried.” Hal admitted, frowning as he sat up. His hand stayed in its place though, and Barry couldn’t complain about that.

“You? Worried?” Barry teased, “Am I in the wrong timeline?” He said with a light laugh that devolved into a few rough coughs.

“Oh, shut up.” Hal shot back with an eye roll. He held a glass of water up to Barry’s lips and the blonde grandly took the offering.

“So what all happened?” Barry asked, “I was kind of asleep for a bit.” He said lightly, though he knew it would reach his eyes.

Hal let out a rough sigh as his face fell. His shoulders sagged and he pushed his face onto the bed again.

For a moment, neither of them spoke. Barry fidgeted with a frayed end of the cover and waited patiently. At some point he moved his free hand to run through Hal’s hair.

“I guess we’ve both had a pretty bad day, huh?” Barry said, just to fill the silence with something more bearable.

Hal moved his hand to clutch onto Barry’s as the blonde messed with Hal’s hair.

“Pretty bad week.” Hal muttered in response.

Barry’s eyes widened. He let out a rough and shook his head. He hadn’t thought he’d been gone for an entire week. How was he supposed to explain to anyone what happened and why the Justice League of all people came to save him.

“Shit.” Barry grumbled, sinked against the pillow. Hal let out an amused huff. He turned his head to face Barry again.

He smiled beautifully at the blonde, but it wasn’t as joyous or mischievous as his usual smiles.

He seemed to realize that his attempt at a grin failed miserably, and his features sobered. Barry returned his frown with a creased brow and concerned gaze.

“I thought you were dead, when I finally found you.” He admitted, closing his eyes mournfully.

Barry looked down again at the frayed covers. He could never say it out loud, lest he wanted to break down sobbing as all the pressure came crashing down, but he thought he would be dead too. How ironic would that be? Some guy killed the great Flash when alien invasions and super villains failed relentlessly.

“You were so still , and the guy was standing above you. Both of you were covered in blood.” The Lantern continued. His voice shook as he spoke. Then the two relapsed into silence again.

Barry watched as a multitude of different expressions traveled across Hal’s face. It looked like he was fighting a war inside his head.

“I almost killed him, Bar’.” Hal admitted. He refused to meet Barry’s eyes. The blonde frowned.

“If Bruce hadn’t been there, that guy would be long dead.” His shoulders slumped at the admission. Barry studied Hal’s face, they way that his lip quivered and his eyes seemed glassy.

Barry placed a hand on Hal’s shoulder. He squeezed it gently to get his attention. The Lantern reluctantly looked up at him, misery painting his face.

“But he’s not dead,” Barry said once he was sure he had Hal’s attention, “And I’m right here.” He smiled fondly at the brunette.

Hal gave a reluctant smile in return. Barry moved his hand to cup the other man’s cheek. Hal leaned into the touch as Barry rubbed his thumb in small, soothing circles.

“We’re gonna be okay.” Barry promised.

“Yeah,” Hal agreed softly.

End Notes: I kind of have a love hate relationship with this fic... it's my first ever halbarry fic, so I'm not too happy with how it turned out, but ik I just need to get used to their characters. until then, mindless whump and suffering!!! there's never enough whump :/ anyways, I'd love to see any comments, and I hope you have a lovely day <3

@itemreceived :)

#halbarry #halbarry week #halbarry week 2024 #fanfic #read the tags #day 3 #one bad day

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