Old Habits Die Hard

1

Barry's arm did not bend that way, but Tony didn't seem to care. Neither did any of Tony's goons- or friends, as Tony tended to call them. But both Barry and his best friend, Iris, agreed that they were actually goons.

"Stop!" Barry yelled as pain shot through his arm.

"Or what?" Tony scoffed lightly "You gonna tell your old man to murder me just like he did your mother?"

"He didn't do it!" Barry repeated the same thing he always did, the same words that nobody ever believed.

"Yeah, right, Allen, then why is he in prison? And, why are you seeing the shrinks? You obviously have something wrong with your brain! What normal person sees...what was it again? Oh yeah, LIGHTNING! In their house in the middle of the night?" Tony laughed, bending Barry's arm even more than it was before.

Barry screamed as a loud crack was heard.

Tony let out another laugh before he and his 'friends' heard police sirens. "Shit!" Tony cursed. "C'mon, idiots!" He shouted to them before running off, leaving Barry on the ground, lying there in pain.

~~~~

"Bartholemew Henry Allen! What were you thinking?! Picking a fight with those- those-" Joe spoke, pissed off.

"Assholes?" Barry suggested.

"Ye- Wait, what did I say about swearing?!" Joe shouted.

"Bastards?" Barry offered as an alternative. Joe took a deep breath to calm himself down, before he exploded more than he already had.

"You think this is funny?" Joe asked.

"Look at my arm, why would I think this is funny?" Barry asked.

Joe simply let out a sigh before changing the subject. "So... your father and I were talking-" He got cut off by Barry.

"You talked to dad?!" He yelled at Joe.

"Stop yelling, Barry." Joe said to him sternly.

"Sorry..." Barry apologized before going quiet, letting the man continue.

"I was talking to your dad and we decided that it would be best if you moved in with your Aunt Millie." He started.

"What? No!" Barry was yelling again, but he didn't care. "I don't want to leave!"

"It's in your best interest-"

"I don't care!" Barry snapped. "I don't wanna leave! Ever!"

"Yeah, well, this isn't up for discussion," Joe said.

"You're right, it's not," Barry glared at his foster father. "I'm not going."

"Yes, you are, Barry. That's final."

Barry gave his foster father a glare, but that's when Iris ran in. "Oh my God, Barry!" She shouted, pulling him into a tight hug, forgetting his injury.

"Ow! Iris, too tight!" He winced as she let go. 

"Shoot, sorry." She apologized before noticing the tense atmosphere in the room. "What happened, Barry...Dad..?" She asked, noticing how Barry wouldn't look at her father.

"Barry's father and I were thinking of sending him to Ohio to his Aunt Millie, to get him away from the bullies." Joe said to his daughter.

"Well, too bad, cause I'm not going!" He argued, scoffing as he looked out the room's window.

"Barry...maybe you should..." Iris started. "Tony and his goons won't stop, ever. You know that." Iris said.

"Not you, too," Barry complained.

"Come on, Barry, what happened last time that was so bad?" Iris asked him with a small sigh.

Barry flinched at the memories, "Nothing." He lied, shaking his head. Iris let out a sigh, knowing her best friend wasn't going to tell her anything. He never told anyone about it. It wasn't like the constant nightmare's didn't give them an idea though.

"Well, I need to head home, Dad, Barry, please...be good. Both of you." Iris sighed lightly before heading towards the door. She paused before she walked through the door and turned to look at Barry from the hospital room's doorway. "And, Barry, you're going whether you like it or not." She said.

When she was gone, Barry looked to Joe, and said, "Joe, please don't make me go."

"Things will be better this time around, I promise," Joe said. But Joe couldn't really promise that, could he, Barry thought bitterly. Joe had made a similar promise last time, but the second Barry left, any control Joe may have had over the situation flew out the window.

"This time, I mean it." Joe told Barry, staring the boy in the eyes. Barry stared back for a moment before looking down. 

"Fine..." He mumbled. "I'll go...but if something bad happens, you have to promise me...you'll take me home..." He said to Joe, still not looking up at him.

Joe nodded. "Alright. I promise, if something bad happens, you can come home" He told him.

"When do I leave..?" Barry asked nervously.

"As soon as you get discharged from the hospital." Joe told the boy as a doctor walked in.

"Bartholemew Allen?" He asked, Barry sat up straight, wincing.

"Yes?" Joe asked the doctor.

"We got the results from the X-RAY back...." He started.

"How bad is it?" Barry asked, making eye contact with him.

"Well... it's not good. If it gets injured one more time in the next month, it might not fully heal. Ever.." The man told him. Barry sighed, hating with every ounce of his being that leaving maybe was the best option right now.

"Alright...thank you, Doctor Karev." Joe said, reading the Doctor's name from his name tag. 'Alex Karev'

The doctor gave Joe a nod before walking out, leaving the two to chat.

"Well, you still against moving?" Joe asked Barry, turning to look at him.

"I'm still not convinced it won't go to all hell," the teen muttered. "But I guess it can't be much worse than staying anymore."

Joe nodded. "That is true." He said before sitting down as he had stood up when Doctor Karev had walked in. He looked over at Barry before speaking. "Barry...are you ever going to tell me, or, even Iris...about what happened in Ridgewood?" Joe asked the boy.

"No," Barry replied shortly. It was bad enough they even knew anything happened at all. He didn't want them to see him any differently, like he knew they would.

Joe let out yet another sigh, "Alright...just know, we're here for you if you need anything..." He said.

What I need is to have a normal life, Barry thought. But he'd never say it out loud.

Joe kept quiet for a few minutes. "Alright, I'll go check and see when you can get discharged." Joe said before walking out of the room, leaving Barry to his thoughts.