Halbarry: the Origin

6: The Murder and the Confession

"Hal?" Barry whispered weakly as he held his son close, eyes read from crying.
"Okay. I'll call him," Clark answered, leaving Barry alone with Wally.
Barry couldn't think straight. How had it even happened? Iris was...gone. She wasn't coming back. She was never coming back.
Barry closed his eyes for comfort, but all he could see was the dead body of his beloved wife and the gaping hole in her chest... There was so much blood...
Barry choked and opened his eyes again. It was too much. Iris had been his rock. He loved her with all his heart. She couldn't just be... gone... could she?
But she was.
She was gone, and she was never coming back.

Barry heard screaming from the front hall. Hal must've arrived.
He clutched a sleeping Wally close to his chest as he stood to greet his friend. Barry really needed a friend. He didn't want to talk, he just needed someone to be there for him.
The police had left a half an hour before, Diana telling them that Professor Zoom had been behind the attack and Clark rushing off to catch Zoom as soon as they made the connection.
Clark had called Hal immediately after they had found Barry alone in his room, holding Wally and crying with him. He knew the two were best friends and even though Hal was terrible at talking to people, he knew he was the only one who could even begin to attempt to consul Barry.
Hal and Diana were arguing near the door, taking no notice of Barry as he shuffled toward them.
"I told you, I was on a mission! I came back as soon as I could!" Hal struggled to explain.
"That's no excuse!" Diana replied. She could be too much of a big sister figure sometimes.
"Yes it is! Shit, woman! I wasn't even in the solar system! It's a fucking miracle that I got here this soon! In fact, if Kilowag hadn't been with me I would have taken like three more hours. Will you please let me by so I can help my best friend? In case you couldn't tell, he's gonna fucking need support right now." Hal looked up when he finished his rant, his face visibly falling when he saw Barry.
Barry didn't even register it when Hal pushed past Diana and gave him a hug. He was too far gone.
"Come on," Hal said softly, putting his arm around Barry. "Why don't we put Wally to bed? It's nearly nine o'clock. Far too late for him to be up and about, don't you think?"
Barry didn't even look at Hal as they walked back to Wally's room. Together, they put the two year old to bed and tucked him in. Next, Hal led Barry to the bathroom and they washed his hands. When Barry had come home to... her... that day after work, his first instinct had been to hold her close. His clothes were soaked in blood.
Barry slowly changed into sweat pants and removed his shirt after he was done in the bathroom. All of his actions were completed robotically, devoid of feeling. Barry felt like a part of his soul had been ripped out and destroyed.
Hal refused to let Barry sleep in his bed, he couldn't go somewhere he and Iris had shared too much, especially not their bed. Barry slept on the couch, and Hal slept on the ground next to him all night.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

A few months later, Barry was starting to get it together. Hal only visited about once every week, and Barry had gone back to his work and his Flash work. Hal was still worried, though. He knew that if he slipped up even once and mentioned Iris, Barry would have a veritable breakdown.
Hal still hadn't said anything about his feelings, he had wanted to even less once Iris had died. Any time would be too soon.
Still, as the weeks went by Hal found himself growing even more attached to Barry, and Wally too. Hal loved being called "Uncle Hal," and Wally had finally started calling Barry "Daddy." Things were going so well. With as much time as Hal spent in Central City, the three of them were really starting to act like a weird little family.
Hal wanted so desperately for their family to be real. He loved Wally like a son already, and his feelings for Barry were more than clear.

A little over a year after Iris died, Hal was fired from his job at Ferris Air again. He'd only recently gotten a job there after incidents in years prior, in between stunts as a pilot, Hal had had many jobs. He was even a truck driver for a while.
Anyway, Hal had nowhere to go. He didn't have a girlfriend, though there were many women who wanted to be that to him, and as hard as he tried he failed to find another job to pay rent. As a result of these many failures, Hal was forced to ask Barry if he could stay at their new house.
Barry had immediately said yes, of course. He wasn't about to let his best friend become homeless.
"Thanks, Bear, it means a lot to me that I can pull shit like this and you'll still like me," Hal said as he moved his meager possessions into a closet in the upstairs hallway. He really didn't own much more than Bruce the Half-Dead Houseplant and a toothbrush, but he needed to put it somewhere.
Barry laughed. "What kind of a friend would I be if I didn't let you stay here? A pretty bad one, that's what kind. Here, let me help you."
Hal was trying to balance Bruce on his leg while he pulled a large box out of the closet. Barry had set down a rule when Wally turned two that no one could use powers in the house unless absolutely necessary, so Hal couldn't use the ring.
"Thanks," Hal grunted. He looked Barry up and down as he closed the door. Hal loved the way Barry's eyebrows scrunched together when he was really concentrating on something. His big blue eyes got all small and squinty...
"So what do you want to do?" Barry asked, shaking Hal from his thoughts.
"I don't know," Hal answered. He really didn't know. "Where's Wally?"
"Daycare. I took the day off, but the Garrick's said they'd watch him after it ended. I figured you'd want to have some time with me before the craziness of a three year old came crashing down on you."
Hal laughed. "Thanks, Bear. It has been a while since I saw him..." Hal rubbed his neck sheepishly. He was pretty bad with kids, Barry was always yelling at him about giving Wally bad ideas.
"We could see a movie," Barry suggested.
Hal smiled. "Which one?"
"I don't know..."
"We're really bad at this, aren't we?" Hal asked, mocking his best friend's indecision.
"I'm just not used to having time without Wally!"
"Sure..."
"It's true!" Barry complained weakly as they walked back down the stairs and sat on the couch.
"You have Netflix capability, right Bear?" Hal asked, switching on the TV as Barry sat down.
"Yeah, but no account."
"We'll use mine. This way we don't have to go out to see a movie." Hal smiled as he glanced over at Barry. This was all he needed, sitting on the couch, watching a movie with Barry Allen. It was paradise.
"Any ideas?" Hal asked.
"No..." Barry answered slowly. Then, he slapped the arm of his seat. "Oh! I forgot, I wanted to watch-" Barry stopped himself.
"What?"
"Never mind, you'll laugh."
Hal smiled at Barry. "No I won't. I promise."
Barry smiled back. "Okay... Clueless."
Hal burst out laughing immediately.
"Hal!" Barry protested.
"I'm sorry, I know I promised... But seriously? That romantic comedy from the nineties?"
Barry was blushing at that point. "Okay, forget I said anything."
"No," Hal said, composing himself. "If that's what you want to watch, we'll watch it."
Barry smiled. "Thank you." Hal started the movie and couldn't help grinning himself. It was just too cute. Barry liked romantic comedies.
Almost to the end of the movie, Hal realized what was going to happen. Alicia Silverstein didn't get it, but Hal knew Paul Rudd loved her. Paul Rudd was going to tell her, and there would be a big romantic moment.
It happened just as Hal predicted it would.
And it gave Hal an idea.

Once it was over, Barry looked expectantly at Hal, biting his lip.
"Did you like it?" he asked, looking terrified for the answer.
"It was great," Hal replied. Wait for it... give him a little false hope.
"Really?"
"Oh yeah," Hal said, scooting closer to Barry. "You're beautiful, Cher," he imitated. Hal was going to quote his way into honesty.
"You liar! You're making fun of me again!"
"I'd never make fun of you, Cher, you're too perfect and smart and amazing to be made fun of!" Barry started to pout at that point.
"I think you're the best person in the world," Hal said, being obviously serious at that point. "And I need to tell you now or I'll get too scared."
Barry seemed to realize that Hal was no longer quoting the movie and blushed a little as Hal approached.
"I need to tell you something really important," Hal continued, sitting as close to Barry as possible and caressing Barry's jawline with his fingertips.
Barry said nothing, but started to look a little strange.
Oh well, Hal thought, too late to stop now. Hal felt the nervousness creep into him as his fingers came closer to Barry's chin.
He could do this.
He was Hal Jordan.
"I-" Hal started. It was so hard. Harder than anything he'd ever tried to say before.
"I love you," he whispered, leaning in and kissing Barry softly.
And Hal waited.
He kept kissing his best friend, waiting for a sign that it was either okay or not.
He waited for what felt like minutes.
And suddenly, Hal felt a jolt of electricity. He was just about to pull away when something even more magical happened.
Barry kissed back.