Barry Allen Imagines

29;

Everyone, especially you, had told Barry over and over again that he was rushing into luring Zoom into this world with Linda pretending to be Dr. Light. Everyone who watched her go through the scene that she and Barry were supposed to play out knew that it was painfully obvious that it was faked.
But Barry was still adamant about following through with it. And, at first, it felt like Zoom saw through the act completely and chose not to even waste his time traveling between worlds but hours later he had returned and tortured Barry for practically the whole city to see. He had pretended to be confident through the fight, especially more towards the beginning, but you could feel he terror as time went on. He had underestimated Zoom and that really got the best of him. If that wasn't enough to be forced to watch your boyfriend be beaten almost to the point of death, hours later when he final awoke you all discovered that he couldn't feel his legs at all. He felt broken past the point of repair.
Barry's sadness and fear hung over him like a dark rain cloud. It was so strong, being that it was combined with both Cisco's and Caitlin's distress about the situation, it felt like your head was going to explode because of the headache that all of the emotions filling the room caused you.
Being a metahuman wasn't always as fun as Barry made it out to be. Maybe it was because his power was much cooler than being able to feel everyone's emotions around you and even being able to influence them sometimes. (Though he was usually very reluctant, there were times he would bring you out into the field to have you calm down an angry meta. All of those times he always made sure that you were at a safe distance while he wrangled the meta back to the lab's prison). His power didn't cause him pain like yours did—unless he was stupid enough to run into danger.
For instance, being around a joyful person made you feel light as air and a bit giggly at times even. Sadness gave you a headache—its degree of pain depended on how much sadness surrounds you and how distraught that person, or multiple people, really was. Anger made you feel like your body was on fire and there was absolutely no escape from the heat. Fear made your heart race and also seemed to heighten your senses to be on alert to everything around you. Different emotions caused you to feel many different things but nothing was worse than the varying types of sadness.
It felt suffocating to be sitting beside Barry since his emotions felt like they were strangling you. Though it probably wasn't very reassuring to anyone, you had to excuse yourself and wait in the hallways for almost fifteen minutes before you felt like yourself again. And, without being influenced to feel all the emotions around you, you were then forced to come to terms with how you were actually feeling on your own.
You were in no way smart enough to call yourself a scientist like the people gathered in the cortex but you would definitely consider yourself to have an above average intelligence. So it was clear that this was nothing like the time Farooq stole his powers and Barry eventually got them back. You weren't sure if this was something that Barry could recover from, with his regenerative cells and all, or if this was somethings irreparable. There hasn't yet been anything that Barry wasn't able to heal from but there was always a first for everything but you prayed that this wasn't that. He had to be alright.
You reentered the cortex almost half an hour after you stepped out only to be greeted with the suffocating air once again. Though it wasn't quite as bad as before, it still was very uncomfortable.
Cisco noticed your entrance and dashed over to you, wanting to tell you about his discovery. "Cait and I did some tests and he should be good in a few days, a week tops." He wasn't as distressed as he previously was which was a bit reassuring since Cisco was always a little ball of sunshine and, you believed, should never be sad. You had always opted to stay back with Cisco when you had the choice since he was basically a never ending source of happiness combined with a never ending stream of TV or movie references. Cisco is just a great person to be around and didn't bring you down with negative emotions, so it was good to know that he wasn't too upset anymore.
Caitlin entered the room, her expression grim and worried. Maybe Cisco was making things seem a bit brighter than the situation actually was but his hope gave you hope. And hope was all you seemed to have lately. Hope for the future to become a bit easier. Hope that your friends and family wouldn't feel pain anymore. Hope that Barry would recover and be happy in life—that he'd let go of all the anger and regret that has held him back for so long. "He's been waiting for you, y/n." Caitlin mumbled, setting down all the information she had gathered upon Barry's condition on her desk. You nodded and headed towards the other, smaller room where Barry was lying to be nursed back to health. But Caitlin spoke up again before you had made it there. "He's gonna be alright, y/n. He's just upset that his plan failed and he couldn't end this once and for all."
You nodded to her again in agreement before you slid into the converted hospital room. Barry lay there, his eyes closed but his expression pained. You had almost lost him tonight so while he was in a lot of pain, you were still grateful to have him here and know that he would recover with time. He will be alright.
You could feel his pain—though you doubted it was anything half as bad as what he was feeling. It felt like a sharp pain in your side combined with a burning in your chest. It was hard to believe that this moment was real. "Hey Bare."
He perked up as soon as he heard you enter the room, flinching when he moved wrong and felt a sharp pain in his ribs. "C'mere," He said, shifting over a bit so there was enough room for you to lie with him. "Are you alright?"
You huffed at him; he was worrying about you when everyone had previously thought he was nearly on his death bed earlier. Thank God for his ability to heal quickly. "I'm fine, Barry. You're the one who nearly died tonight."
"Yeah but you're the one who had to watch me almost die tonight. Just a few weeks ago, we almost broke up because you were terrified at the thought of losing me after Dr. Light blinded me. And that fear of losing me almost came true tonight." His hand clasped over yours and you leaned into his side, careful not to cause him any extra pain. "I promised you that I'd be more careful, and you even told me that trying to trick Zoom would backfire, but I didn't listen and almost died tonight."
It felt like hearing him say it out loud made it seem all too real. Your throat felt tight with your own fear combined with Barry's regret and you wanted to escape it all but you couldn't just run away from your problems. It was necessary to let Barry know that you weren't going anywhere because he got too impatient and rushed into something. But you would definitely have to talk some sense into him at a later date. "We'll get through this, Bare. Just let us help you get better."