skinny love | barry allen

35

"How do you feel?" asked Barry when we both got into the car after Hunter's funeral, him coming to be my emotional support.

"I don't know." I stared at the crumbled up paper in my hand, as I had been the one who was supposed to speak about his life considering I was his only family.

Barry didn't drive, and instead grabbed my hand over the console, "Nothing?"

"I feel like I should be sad." I slowly looked at him, "But- I'm not- I feel- empty- and regretful."

"Regretful?" Barry asked, trying to get me to open up more, knowing that if I didn't talk about it, I would blow in the worst way, "How so?"

"I never reconnected with him." I leaned my head back against my seat, "I never tried- I just- changed my name and completely cut them out of my life- but, he- seemed like he grew up to be- a great guy-"

"Zee- honey," Barry sat up to face me more, holding my hand in both of his, "It's okay that you didn't reach out- you were traumatized- by what happened- you needed to start new- you weren't ready, and that's okay."

"I guess you're right." My voice was quiet, swallowing hard, "I just- don't feel anything right now. I can't figure out what's wrong with me-"

"You're in shock." Barry caressed my hand with his thumb, "I'm here whenever you need me- okay? I'm always here."

I barely nodded, "I know."

-

"Hey-" I walked over to Joe and Barry the next morning, holding my notepad and pen ready.

"Wow- hi," Barry looked shocked to see me, blinking a few times, "You're here- why are your lips stained red?"

"Yes, I'm here- I have a job." I touched my bottom lip, "It's- lipstick- sorry, Iris made me go to this thing with her last night, it was stupid- I don't want to talk about it."

"We just thought you'd want some time away from- all of this- because- you know," Joe implied.

"I'm fine." I blink, "Really- what do we got?"

"Victim's name is Daniel Burge." Joe told us, walking us toward the dead body, "Not exactly a Boy Scout, but managed to buy this garage two years ago-"

When Barry crouched and lifted up the sheet to reveal it, my hands slapped over my mouth, immediately facing Joe, trying not to gag, as Joe nods at my reaction, "I know right? It looks like he was dipped in a volcano."

"Oh, yeah." Barry observes, "Actually the depth and uniformity of the burn pattern is something you would see if the body was covered in something like lava, but with a lower burn temp and an added chemical characteristic."

"The fire investigator didn't find a secondary accelerant." Joe pointed out.

"Yeah, he probably wouldn't with a meta." Barry stood up, "All right, I'm gonna take a sample back to Star Labs- have Cisco run some tests."

"Good, I'm gonna go meet Iris for lunch." Joe sighs, "She wants to talk to me about Wally-"

"Yeah, how's that going, you and him?" I looked at him, holding my notepad, "Good?"