[11 - Detective Pretty Boy]

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Percy

I'm not sure what I was expecting afterwards. Maybe I'd wake up and realize it was just a meager dream. Or maybe Hera got bored and decided to mind-trick me again.

But after patiently waiting, nothing happened. And it was all real. Oh, gods. I didn't expect that to happen. But in all honesty, as long as he doesn't know of our heritage, I think Annabeth and I will be fine for now.

I creep out of the room and try to find my way back to the Cortex where everyone was. It took awhile to figure my way out of the maze of twists and turns, but I finally reached the room.

When I walked in, Wells was nowhere to be found, thank gods. Annabeth was reading a book in the corner. And Caitlin was mindlessly swiping on her phone, but I doubt it was something like social media or a game. Probably some boring yet informative article about something random. Not trying to bash her, of course. She's cool but she's not the type who would have a life outside of work. Annnd I just made it worse, sorry Caitlin.

Barry and Cisco were still at their game of ping pong, but Barry looked oddly angry. ". . . can't believe he did that!"

"I know, Barry. You already said that, like, five times already," Cisco says, bouncing back the ball and Barry quickly deflected it back.

"God! Why couldn't Eddie mind his own business. Percy had it all under control. Besides the fact that he was going to get hit by Snart's gun, he was doing fine,"  he whines and I'm wondering what they're talking about. Barry, who was facing the entrance, saw me at the doorway and grabbed the ball that was in the air, stopping their game.

"I mean, he's a cop. Being in other people's business is his job," Caitlin interjected, not looking up from her phone.

"Who are we talking about?" I inquired, walking up to the ping-pong table and tapping my fingers on it with a vacant mind.

"Pretty boy, Eddie," Barry mimicked in a high-pitched voice but then grumbled.

"Uh, explain?"

"He's the detective who helped protect you against Snart and Rory," Cisco told me. And I instantly remembered the young, blonde cop who had held his own against Snart's ice beam. If it weren't for him, I would've been really hurt, or even killed.

"Oh, yeah! I remember him. He was cool. Definitely brave, I can say that," I said and Barry gave me a look of disgust. What does he have against this guy? "Do we not like him? Am I not supposed to like him?"

Cisco shakes his head, "Nope, we do not." That didn't help. He didn't clarify the reasoning.

"Okaaayyyyy," I state. "And why do we not like him?"

I look at Barry expectantly, waiting for an answer. Instead, he faltered and looked the other way embarrassingly. His cheeks turned a rosy shade of pink, was he blushing?

Caitlin, once again, replies for Barry. Rolling her eyes, she says, "Eddie is Iris's boyfriend." She finally clicks off her phone and puts it in her large bag.

"Oh," I proclaimed. "So that's why you're complaining. Eddie is the 'the boyfriend' Iris keeps talking about! You're jealous, aren't you?"

"Yeah, yeah," Barry scowls and drops the ball on the table and hits it. Hard. He got a bit too angry and accidentally used his speed to hit the ball. It striked the wall and bounced off, hitting Cisco in the head. He gave a look to Barry but he just frowned.

"Chill," Cisco said. "But I don't know, man. You keep saying you like her but you aren't doing anything about it," Cisco shrugs, running his fingers through his tangled hair.

"He has a fair point, Barry," Annabeth adds, not looking up from her book. Then she immediately flipped the page and continued intensely reading. "If you never tell her, it'll be too late and you'll regret it."

"Since when were you such a love expert?" Barry turns his head towards her, glooming.

She looks up and blatantly replies, "Ever since I was the one with the boyfriend, and you were the one without a girlfriend." She smiles and looks down at her book. Barry's jaw literally drops and Cisco's laughter starts ricocheting across the immense room. So hard that he has to grip the table to keep himself upright. As soon as the laughter finally stops, he wipes a tear from his eye.

"You go, girl!" Caitlin poked Annabeth's shoulder playfully and laughed. I do gotta admit, that was a pretty good burn. I never knew she had it in her.

"Okay, I get it. Harsh, but I'm trying! It's hard when I can't tell her everything, like me being the Flash," Barry said while depleted. He found a chair to sit in and slouched it in.

"Why can't you tell her again? I think you forgot to mention why," I implored.

"It's Joe, my adoptive father, he doesn't want me telling Iris because he doesn't want her getting involved. Even before I was the Flash, he refused to enroll her in the police academy because he didn't want her to be in a dangerous career. But since I chose to be a crime scene investigator, which is off the front lines, he relented in the end. And since Iris isn't the smartest person ever, she had no choice. I promised him."

"You can always break promises," I say but Barry shakes his head so hard that his hair flies around.

"I couldn't. Joe raised me," he argued. "If I ever told Iris that I was the Flash, I'd hurt Joe, Iris, and myself. I'd never forgive myself if she got hurt. I love her too much for that." At that, Barry's head rested in his hands. Everyone was quiet and it was tense. Annabeth had finally got her nose out the book, Caitlin was staring at the floor, and Cisco leaned against the ping-pong table.

"Why don't we all go for a walk?" Caitlin perks up, breaking the awkward silence.

"Yeah, yeah, let's do it," Barry stands up after a moment, clearly a little better after telling us what was on his mind. Wells hadn't come back yet, but I didn't really mind. I wasn't sure if I should tell anyone about that conversation, even Annabeth. I was still so shocked and still can't comprehend what had happened.

"And by walking, I mean, absolutely no speeding."

"I can do that, totally. Definitely," Barry gives her a thumbs up and we walk out of S.T.A.R. Labs. And we all go for a walk.

———

hello out there :) I may or may not be currently obsessed with criminal minds at the moment. Let's just say that's why I haven't been writing any new chapters lately.

First, the question of the chapter.

If you were a teacher and your class wasn't listening, what would you do?

Also, anyone got any ideas for future qotc's? I cant think of any.

WIldman98 - edits

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