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“Oh, he totally fucking knows,” Guy said, shit-eating grin plastered shamelessly across his face. He was doing a terrible job of hiding his enjoyment over this entire fiasco - which, for the record, was NOT funny. There was absolutely no way they were going to get through this night without this being anything but extremely awkward. Or, at least that is what Jessica has been led to believe.
“You don’t know that, leave her alone,” John’s deep voice cut in, smacking Guy on the back of the head at the same time that Jessica decided to flip the redhead the bird. While she polished off her 2nd drink, she motioned Kyle up at the bar to get her something else. She wouldn’t make it through this night completely sober, no way. Knowing these guys, this’ll be their favorite teasing subject for years to come.
With almost all of the human lanterns on earth for once, the five of them decided to all get together to catch up. Simon wasn’t going to be able to come since one of them had to be on Oa, so all they were missing was Hal. Guy spotted him as he pushed the door open and flagged him down, the brunette perking up as soon as he spotted his friends. John already had a bottle of his favorite beer waiting at the table for the pilot. He slid it in front of Hal as he slid in the booth next to John, across from the other three. Hal discreetly used his ring as a bottle opener, earning him a glare from his ex-marine friend.
“Welcome back,” John greeted, finally smiling Hal’s way.
“Missed me, huh?” he smirked at the group, grinning up at Kyle who was sliding into the booth next to Jess, setting a drink down in front of her. It looked fruity, and Hal wouldn’t admit that he was a little jealous of her, but from her face after the first sip you could tell it was strong. He wondered briefly if it would be enough for Flash to feel anything. Eh, probably not.
“More like we’ve had to go help out your Justice League friends THREE TIMES since you left,” Guy complained, though there was no real malice behind it. Hal winced regardless.
“Jeez, I was only gone for two weeks. Barry mentioned that you guys worked together but I didn’t really get the chance to ask many questions when I got home... things came up.” Hal explained, a devilish but satisfied look coming over his face as he thought about his blonde distraction the evening before.
Jess froze at the mention of Flash’s name, while Guy’s face lit up like a Christmas tree. John just shook his head and took a swig of his drink, not wanting to get involved himself, but finding the entire situation amusing all the same. Guy’s eyes were open as wide as he could get them, trying but failing to be subtle while sending a subliminal message that says ‘I told you, he 100% knows.’
“I told him to keep that between us,” Jess complained, slightly annoyed that she had to deal with this now. She just wanted to have a nice night out, is that too much to ask? Her voice was just barely above a whisper, just loud enough for Kyle and Guy to hear her while John and Hal were engaged in conversation amongst themselves across the table.
“I hate to break it to you, Jess, but this shit is fucking hilarious. Of course he told him. He tells Flash everything.” Jess groans loudly and rests her forehead on the tabletop in front of her. Ignoring her, Kyle turns to Hal.
“No Barry tonight?” he asks, noticing that Hal had come alone. Hal winced and shook his head.
“He got called into work a few hours ago. Double homicide, they think a kid was involved. I almost had to cancel on you guys, until Jay offered to watch Wally.” That’s why he had been late, he had to run Wally over to Keystone to the Garrick’s house. “It looked really messy when I flew overhead before I came over. He’ll probably be busy most of the night.” Hal said, with a hint of concern in his voice.
“First time in almost two years I managed to convince him to take a day off, and he has to go anyway. Between the League, patrolling Central and Keystone, his job at the lab and taking care of Wally, I’m starting to get worried about him. He doesn’t know when to say no or when to slow down and take some time for himself. It didn’t seem like he’d slept more than a few hours at a time since I left.”
Hal looked genuinely concerned, and really what he needed to do was get Jay, or Bruce, or Clark, or maybe even Diana or even John to tell Barry to practice some self care, because if Hal were to do it, well, pot, meet kettle. Hal had finally been convinced to attend therapy sessions, which have been helping him tremendously (not that he will admit that) that Barry asked him to go to, so he’s hoping Barry will feel like he owes him a favor in return. Nothing crazy, just, like, take an hour or two for yourself everyday, call off work, let Wally out of your sight for longer than 2 hours at a time, just do something that makes YOU happy instead of constantly taking care of those around you.
“Wally?” Jessica asked, not recognizing the name.
“Our son.” Hal replied easily and Jess froze, choking on her drink as she was not expecting the words at all.
Hal was a father? Barry had a kid?! She asked out a dad?! She felt like she was having an out of body experience, kind of like her brain took a screenshot and she was stuck in it. The conversation continued around her until she snapped out of it, standing up and pushing at Kyle to let her up, mumbling about needing to run to the restroom to freshen up. This was going to be a long night.
————
Hours later, those who wanted to be were thoroughly tipsy and it was about time of night that at least two others would be recruited to help Guy Gardiner back to his place - or more likely, John’s couch for the night, as that was much closer.. Hal had stuck to three beers, not enough to get him drunk, but enough to feel something. Jess had drank enough that she was feeling much less stressed and embarrassed, but also enough that she didn’t notice the telling look on Hal’s face as he leaned back in the booth and casually gestured across the table toward her with his bottle.
“So, Jess... I heard you asked out my boyfriend.”
She’d been having such a good time during the course of the evening, she’d almost forgotten about that. The drinks definitely helped her to stay calm, but the question definitely caught her off guard. She froze, cringing internally at the confirmation that Barry had in fact told the first lantern what had happened while he had been gone. Guy, John, and Kyle were already laughing, clearly finding this entire situation hilarious.
“Okay, Hal, just let me explain!” She rushed to say anything to help her case.
“Hey, hey, calm down. I’m not mad. I get it. He’s drop dead gorgeous and actually has his shit together. He’s a catch.” He replied with a knowing look and a shrug, knowing it was an honest mistake. “I don’t blame you for being interested, it’s just that unfortunately for you, I’m not planning on giving him up.”
Jess sighed in relief, glad this wasn’t going to be an actual issue. Apparently, guys were a lot cooler with you flirting with their partners than girls were, at least in this case. She’ll take it.
“I really am sorry, I didn’t know.” She apologized, but at least her smile was pushing through.
“See, I told you he wouldn’t be mad,” Came from Guy, which earned him a shove from Kyle, both of whom were guilty. Kyle had been the one to encourage her to ask Barry on a date after their latest mission with the League this past week after she’d expressed interest in the speedster. Guy was the one who convinced her that Hal was unbelievably protective and jealous and would “rain hellfire down on anyone who so much as looked at his partner”. Which isn’t necessarily untrue, but Jess was no real threat and the two were pretty solid, so Guy knew it likely wouldn’t be too big of a deal that someone flirted with his man, but he, similarly to Kyle, thought it would be a hoot to watch this all go down. Nothing but love for Jess, but she was one of the newest lanterns, and thus, they legally had to mess with her
That is why she had wanted to avoid Hal for a few weeks, which in turn is why John and Kyle decided they all needed to get together tonight. In Guy’s defense, Hal had gotten all up in his face and threatened to shove the ex-football player into his ring’s pocket dimension when he first met The Flash. Now, in Hal’s defense, that was circumstantial, seeing as Guy had shot Barry at point blank range in the chest with a blast of hard light that threw the blonde back into the side of a building, where his head smacked against the brick. Naturally, as soon as Hal had gotten to Barry and assured he wasn’t seriously hurt, he’d given Guy an extremely hard time about it.
Now, in Guy’s defense (again), Barry had appeared at Hal’s side quicker than Guy’s eyes could keep up with and scared the ever living daylights out of him, and it was reactionary. However, they both knew how much damage a shot that close can do, so it was lucky that Barry was able to shake it off. That was the beginning of a very rough month of training for Guy. With the exception of Jessica, all of the Lanterns had a chance to meet Barry Allen as Hal’s partner, and not just as the Flash.
To an outsider, you wouldn’t be able to tell the Flash and first Green Lantern were together unless you made assumptions about why the latter was in Central City so often.
“The real question we should be asking is: what does Barry see in you?” John joked, and Hal didn’t even have to pretend to look offended. He asked himself that every day. He didn’t need to answer, as a calm, kind voice spoke from behind him.
“Where do you want me to start?” He said, and Hal twisted in his booth seat to get a good look at the blonde standing behind him. He smiled up at familiar soft features and bright blue eyes while Barry rested a hand on the lapel of Hal’s jacket. Despite his smile, it was obvious just by a glance that Barry looked worn out.
“Barry!” Guy shouted, with a grin. It’d been years since the incident, no hard feelings remained. Barry waved and smiled at him, while Kyle stood up, about to head back up the bar. He clapped Barry on the shoulder, “Sit down, I'll get you a drink while I’m up!”
Barry let out a laugh but shook his head, “I’m actually just here to grab this one,” he gestured down at Hal, saying the next part only to the brunette, “Wally was already in bed at the Garrick’s before I got off work, so Jay offered to bring him home tomorrow morning for us.”
“So I get you all to myself tonight?” Hal said slyly, though he doubted Barry would be up for anything when he just spent hours analyzing a gruesome crime scene on no sleep. He won’t admit it, but he’d rather take the speedster home, make him a cup of tea, draw them a hot bath, call Jay and see about keeping Wally until lunchtime, just to give the blonde the best chance to get some sleep and rest. And if that gave them a rested opportunity for some grown up play time without any kids in the house, well then that was just sprinkles on top.
“I haven’t had a chance to patrol yet, but after that-“
“Jess and I can take a look around Central for you guys, if you want,” Kyle suggested, not once looking at Jess, who balked, mouth hanging open. Hal looked like he was considering it, but Barry needed convincing. Jessica still wasn’t sure how she was being roped into this.
“I don’t know…” Barry said, but trailed off as Hal spun out of his seat and threw his arm over Barry’s shoulders, pushing his almost empty beer bottle into his hand.
“Well, luckily for you, I do. Let’s go home.” Hal said, watching Barry down the last drink of his beer, not that it would have any affect on him whatsoever. Hal knows how protective Barry was over Central, and how he liked to be the first one to talk to James when he decided to stop taking his medications and put the costume back on. But, he was also aware that Barry knew he wasn’t planning on drinking enough tonight to need help getting home, so Barry was here because he needed him to come home. Hal waves goodbye to his friends, and after whispering something into Barry’s ear, the blonde blushes a bit, stops just to look back and say “Bye, Jess - and thank you!” The table erupted in laughter at the look on their female friend’s face.
The two walked out the door and into the cool Michigan air, where Hal pulled Barry closer and spoke quietly, “Bad day?” to which Barry gave him a short nod with a sad smile as the green glow of Hal’s will surrounded them and they took to the sky, heading toward missouri.
“Better now.”
----
An hour later, in downtown Central City, Jessica Cruz looked up at the nearly 100 foot tall statue of the city’s beloved hero, The Flash.
“We know you’ve got the hots for him Jess, but do you really have to make it that obvious?”
She gasped, spinning around to find Guy and Kyle watching her. It probably didn’t help that she was standing behind the statue, so her view was more of his ass and legs than anything else.
“C’mon, Jess. They’ve got a kid!” Kyle judged jokingly, laughing along with Guy as they caught her.
“Is it too late to swap out with Simon on Oa? I need to escape the entire planet if I’m going to live this down,” Jessica complained, though she knew her friends were just giving her a hard time.
“Aw Jess,” Guy said, sitting down on a concrete step outside the Flash Museum, “You’ve gotta know you aren’t the first to do this, right?”
“Wait, what?” This was news to her.
“You think you’re the first one to flirt with The Flash? Have you SEEN that man’s legs?”
“- And like Hal said, the guy’s a catch. He’s responsible, has a cute face, built like a god, sweet as a button-”.
“- is a literal human vibrator.” Guy cut in loudly, and Jess choked and then coughed, blushing deeply. Would anyone believe her when she says she hadn’t even thought of that?
“I was going to say ‘a great dad’.” Kyle shot back, trying to look annoyed though his expression betrayed him as he failed to hold back his laughter. Jess couldn’t look at either of them. Guy rolled his eyes, still amused.
“Yeah, that too.”