NO HERO · BARRY ALLEN | ✘

Twenty-Seven: The "L Word"

I've no idea what route I'm taking this time to go home. I'm so drunk I might as well pass out on the sidewalk and wake up somewhere in a dirty park bathroom.

"Evie, oh my God, are you drunk?" I run into Barry on my way back. He's headed to STAR Labs, I think.

"What's drug?"

"I said drunk. How much did you drink?"

"I drinked.... uhhh maybe three bottles of beer?" I hold up all five fingers. "Wells gived me some to take home before he left to go kill Mason and-"

"Wait. Back up. What did you just say?"

"He left to kill Mason-"

"He gave you three bottles of beer?" he cries, outraged. "Why would he do that?"

"Celebratory drinking. Said he had so much he din't know whatta do with it. Just gived it to me." I take a large swig of beer before Barry grabs it and throws it in the trash. "HEY! Who gave you th'right-"

"Stop drinking."

"I'm sad, okay? I just gave death orders to Wells and-"

"I'm gonna go, Barry," Caitlin puts a hand on his shoulder and then calls an Uber.

"How about I take you back to STAR Labs, hook you up to an IV-"

"No no no!"

"You're delusional. Lets go back and I'll have a talk with Wells."

He picks me up (despite my drunken protests and my slapping his back multiple times) and speeds me back to STAR Labs.

"I don't wanna!" I shriek while he puts me down and inserts the plastic needle. He grabs an IV bag, hooks me up and sits patiently while I feel the rush of cold seeping through my arm. It feels unnatural. I put a hand on my other arm to feel the temperature. Warm skin, cold blood. Seems accurate.

He sits there patiently for over half an hour.

I've gotten a little bit more sober so I tell him,"You can leave if you want to."

"You know I can't do that."

"Yeah you can...?" I shrug. "Whatever. Why'd you give me an IV?"

"I just left saline and some vitamins that your body needed in order to cure a hangover." Then he adds jokingly, "That's the basic explanation for it, anyway."

"I see." I look up at the ceiling. "So."

"So," he repeats, shifting in his seat uncomfortably.

"Anything you wanna say?"

"I told Iris that I still felt something for her because of my lighting psychosis."

"Your what now?"

"Lightning psychosis. It's this other side effect of the lightning strike from last year. Really weird. I say things I don't mean."

"Any cure for it?"

"Sadly no."

"So sometimes you say you like me but you don't really mean it?" my eyes well up with tears.

"No. When I'm with you, it's like my condition isn't even there. You're one of the few people I can be real with."

"Oh." I chew the inside of my cheek. "How do I know that's not a lie?"

"You're just going to have to trust me," he says simply.

Did Joe lie or did Barry lie? Which one is the truth? "Joe told me you said it because you were trying to get me jealous but it backfired on you since Iris wasn't in on the plan."