Change in Dynamic

meet the family!

Barry tapped his fingers absently on the armrest, his head tilted as it slumped against the back of the chair. Diana was still going on about battle tactics and whatnot, but the details blurred into background noise.

It's not like he was purposely trying to ignore Diana, but the seconds that passed were basically minutes to him! Even without switching to subjective time! He didn't know how Hal did it, sitting perfectly still. Then again, Hal was a fighter pilot or something similar. Barry figured it came with the job.

At least he wasn't born with the Speed Force like Bart was. Poor kid couldn't even switch from subjective time to real-time! He's pretty sure a few seconds were at least actual hours to his grandkid. Though he couldn't say for certain, so don't quote him on it.

Suddenly, his tapping halted, fingers midway in the air. He straightened up with a jolt, blue eyes widening underneath the cowl.

And before anyone in the room could blink—he was gone.

***

Hal sighed the moment he spotted the familiar blur of red—Barry. The seat that had just held the speedster was now empty. A second later, the Watchtower's automated voice chimed over the speakers, announcing Barry's designation leaving.

Diana stopped mid-sentence, her gaze settling on Barry's empty chair. Everyone else followed suit.

"Did he just ditch?—"

Everyone started talking over each other as soon as the first sentence was spoken, voices overlapping. There were questions, theories, and remarks thrown out into the air.

"I mean, I knew he didn't listen to these, but seriously?"

"Right before Barry left, I did notice him sit up. He seemed... Alarmed?" Aw, thanks, Clark. Hal could've played it off as Barry ditching, but of course, Clark noticed that.

"He may not pay attention," Batman added, "but Flash isn't the type of person who would leave like that." Okay, yeah, maybe he couldn't have played that off. Spooky was too observant for his own good.

He felt his phone vibrate, pulling it out, and he glanced at the screen. A message from Barry lit up the lock screen.

> covet for men please

It had taken him a minute to figure out what Barry had meant: "Cover for me, please". Damn, Barry and his speed typing.

He may not know why Barry left, but he needed an excuse for him— fast. These were the moments he wished he could think as quickly as Barry.

He raised his phone, waving it in the air, as he called out to the other members, "Just texted, he had a family emergency."

The silence that followed was heavy. All eyes were on him, with varying reactions, the most prominent being Spooky's glare.

A beat.

"You're a horrible liar," Captain Marvel out of all people stated.

Hal groaned. "I didn't exactly have much time to think it through."

"And you thought lying on a team with Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman would work?" Oliver questioned. "Not to mention J'onn who can read minds?"