When Barry got in the car he cranked the passenger seat back a bit so he could be more comfortable. He was still freezing. He coughed loudly and his whole body shook. He coughed again. And again. His head hurt so bad. He closed his eyes to rest them for a minute.
Joe was trying to shake Barry awake, it wasn't really working. "Bar? Barry? Wake up Bar. Wake up." "Whaaa?" Barry asked blinking a few times to focus. "We're home." Joe said. "Oh." Joe helped him out of the car. Once Joe got Barry all settled on the couch he said, "I have to run to the store real quick, will you be okay until I get home?" "Yep" Barry said half asleep on the couch. "Bye." When Joe listened for a goodbye back all he could he was Barry's light snoring. Joe smiled. He liked watching his son sleep, he was so peaceful and wasn't at all gaurded. He knew he was safe.
When Joe got back he looked at the living room and there were tissues everywhere. His eyes wandered over to Barry who was on the couch with four blankets sitting there shivering. He grabbed a tissue and sneezed. "Awww Bar." Joe said and went over to feel his forehead again. "Let me go get the thermometer."
Joe handed him the thermometer and Barry popped it in his mouth. When it beeped Barry handed it back to Joe without looking at it and leaned into the couch, still shivering. "102.7" Joe said concerned. Barry just gave a little nod. "Do you want to sleep for a while?" Joe asked. "Can't sleep. Too cold." Barry said his teeth chattering a bit. "Okay, are you sure? It will make you feel better." "Later." Barry said simply. "Do you want to watch a movie together?" "Mmmhmm sure." Barry said nodding and opened his eyes that were glazed with fever.
They settled on watching 'The Core'. Joe took a seat next to Barry. Barry had made a cocoon of blankets around him. He sneezed twice into a tissue and blew his nose. He groaned and laid his head on Joe's shoulder which made Joe grin. His face was pale and his cheeks were still flushed. He could feel him shivering. Joe reached over to his arm and rubbed circles into it.
"Bar how you feeling?" Joe asked halfway into the movie. "Terrible." He groaned and went into a coughing fit. "You don't sound to good either." Joe said eyeing him. Barry sneezed again. "Ughh." He put his head back on Joe's shoulder. A couple minutes later Joe could hear Barry's light snoring.
An hour later the movie ended and Joe was thinking about what he should do so he didn't wake his sick son. All of the sudden Iris bursts through the door and Barry jerks awake abruptly. So much for that plan. "Bartholomew Henry Allen!" She yells. He innocently looks up at her with his striking green eyes. "Don't you look at me like that. We were supposed to have lunch together and you never showed." She said angrily. "We were?" He asks clearly confused. "Yes we had this conversation earlier today." "Oh." Barry says with a sigh. "I'm sorry I forgot. I was-" "I don't want to hear your excuse this time Barry." "But Iris I-" "See you at dinner." She says and storms up the stairs. "Well that was fun." Joe says sarcastically. "Yeah." Barry says in a raspy voice and lays back down on the couch. He breakes into a long coughing fit and Joe comes to his side and rubbes his back to ease the coughing. "Thank you." Barry rasped out and coughed again. "Anytime, maybe you should get some more sleep you sound like your losing your voice." Joe said. Barry nodded and closed his eyes. "I'll wake you up for dinner." He says and walks into the kitchen.
"Barry. Barry it's time for dinner." Barry hears Joe say. He cracks one eye open. "Are you feeling up to eating at the table?" He opens the other eye. "Yeah." He says but it comes out hoarse and raspy. Joe looks at him sympathetically and frowns. He feels his forehead. "Are you sure? You don't have to get up." Joe says, clearly he must have a fever, he thought. Honestly Barry would rather stay here, but Iris. He felt he should eat with Iris and Joe. "It's fine." He managed to get out before a coughing fit. Man, his throat hurt. When he stood up his head felt stuffy and heavy. He got dizzy for a minute and had to grab the couch.
"Iris time for dinner!" Joe shouted so she could hear from her bedroom. Eventually she came slowly down the steps. Barry was already eating his food when she sat down. He didn't look up once. After a minute of silence Joe said, "Iris it was my fault that Barry couldn't make it to lunch." Iris's head shot up. "No it-" Barry was cut off. "I asked Barry to come into work today. Later he didn't look too good and I brought him home. He was here with me, that's why he didn't go to lunch."
Barry slowly looked up at Iris. Now that she could see his face she noticed how incredibly pale he was, and his cheeks were flushed pink, his eyes glazed. "Oh Barry I'm so sorry I shouldn't have acted like that. Can we forget about what I said?" Iris says apologizing. Barry clears his throat. "Mmhmm, yeah." He says in a hoarse voice and coughes three times. "Ugh." He groans and puts his head in his hands. "Aww poor Bar." She says with a little smile. "Do you want to lay back on the couch now?" Joe asks seeing that he feels terrible. "Yes." Barry says in a whisper tone.
When Barry is back on the couch, this time with the blankets kicked off Iris says, "By the way, Caitlyn called, she sounded angry." "Oh man. I'm so *cough, cough* stupid." He says and does a face palm. "Can you tell her my story that Joe said and tell her I will call her tomorrow." He says with a few sniffles inbetween. "Sure thing." She says brightly.
This is part one of this chapter, part two of the chapter will be up soon 😉
