#barryclark

The CSI conference was in Metropolis this year and Barry had been looking forward to it for months. Hal had teased him over his excitment, but the Air Force Captain doesn’t get it! Hal’s head is too much up in the air. Or, well, at this point too focused on a certain Gotham billionaire who's been wining and dining him. Barry hopes that relationship goes well. 

Barry peers around the room, hoping he spots someone he knows. Patty said she was going to come to the conference, but he would like to avoid her. She doesn't seem to get that he isn't interested. Barry drops down to the flats of his feet when he does spot her, bumping into a guy behind him.

"Sorry!" he yelps, turning to face the man he's bumped into. Barry feels his mouth go dry and his eyes go huge. The man has the most beautiful blue eyes he's ever seen, even brighter than the summer sky.

"It's fine," assures the blue eyed man with a shy smile. "I'm a bit clumsy myself."

"I'm so sorry," Barry repeats. "Barry Allen, CSI from Central City, clumsiest man alive," he jokes. 

"Clark Kent, Daily Planet reporter," Clark says, smile growing. "I'm reporting on the conference." The man's smile suddenly becomes closer to a smirk. "Would you like to give me an 'interview' later?"

“So, this is Smallville?” Barry asks with fascination as he stares out the car window.

“Yup. It’s not really much of a town, but it’s home,” Clark says smiling. “I told Ma and Pa that we’re coming. They made up my room and they’re really looking forward to meeting you.”

Barry blushes. It’s been a while since he’s done a ‘meet the parents’ type of thing and there’s something really intimidating about meeting Clark’s parents. Like, ‘congratulations on taking in an alien baby and then raising him to be this amazing man that I completely adore’. He regrets that he can’t introduce Clark to his parents. His mom would have loved him.

“I hope I don’t embarrass myself in front of them,” Barry admits, as they turn down the dirt road leading to the Kent farm. Barry can see acres of corn and hay; even in old age the Kents still keep the farm active, with hired hands helping take care of the heavy stuff.

“You’ll be fine, they’ll love you,” Clark assures him. “They’ve met and like Bruce after all.”

“Seriously?”

“Yes. They’ve met Hal before and liked him fine too.”

“Why?”

“It was a strange month, lets leave it at that. It’s connected to Sinestro’s penchant for going after Wayne Industries stuff these days,” explains Clark making Barry laugh slightly. God, it may be terrible, but there is something funny in a warped way about having to deal with Hal’s jealous space tyrant ex. Sinestro hasn’t killed anyone yet which is the only saving grace of the situation (and Barry suspects that’s intentional, the lack of death; good job on acquiring the obsessive ex Hal).

“Okay, I don’t want to know,” says Barry.

As Clark pulls up in front of the house and the elderly couple comes out Barry again wants to panic but clamps down on that response. It’ll be fine, he reassures himself. If they like Hal, they’ll like you.

“Clark!” shouts the woman, drawing Barry’s attention from his mantra. “Ma! Pa!” the Kryptonian hero says happily. “How are you?”

“We’re good, is this your new ‘special friend’? asks the smiling woman hopefully.

“Yes,” Barry says, grabbing his crutches and limping over. “Hi, I’m Barry Allen.”

“So you’re the Flash?” asks Pa Kent as he holds the door open for Barry.

“Yes sir,” says Barry. “Though at the moment I’m taking a short leave of things.”

“Clark mentioned you’re hurt, what happened?” asks Ma in concern. “Please sit down.”

Barry looks around in curiosity of the Kent home. Everything is old but well-loved, slight patches were Barry bets a super strong toddler misjudged the sturdiness of something. There are a lot of framed photos of Clark standing with his parents and a few with Clark and…is that Bruce? Bruce wearing a really stupid looking shirt and sunhat?

“I got hurt slipping on some ice,” Barry says, rubbing sheepishly at the back of his head. “One of my opponents, Captain Cold has a gun that can freeze things; he froze the ground, I slipped and broke my leg. I’ll be fine at the end of the week, but until then I have to keep my head down low because I heal way to quickly for a normal and I have my ID to think about.”

“We’ve had issues like that with Clark before,” Ma Kent says with an understanding nod of the head. “Moments when it didn’t makes sense for him to be uninjured, times that he should have been sick but wasn’t…there were certain moments in his childhood that were absolutely nerve wracking.”

“I’d imagine,” says Barry with a wince. “Since I got my powers as an adult I’ve mostly had issues with people confused how my accident didn’t kill me.”

“We’re very happy it didn’t,” says Clark, sitting down next to Barry and giving him a kiss on the cheek. The Kryptonian pulls the speedster close. “I would never have gotten to know you if you had died.”

Barry gives Clark an almost dopey smile, blue eyes catching blue. For a second it’s just them, but they both get drawn out of their little world by the soft ‘aww’ that Ma Kent makes, giving both blushing men a fond look. Clark pulls Barry half on top of him, the Kryptonian radiating heat that makes sore muscles feel good.

“So, you’ll be here for the week then?” Pa asks, even though he knows the answer. “We’ll get plenty of time to chat. Martha, why don’t we let the boys get settled it?”

“Of course. Dinner will be in a couple of hours. We have pie,” she assures Barry. “And lots of food. Clark warned us about how you eat.”

“Great,” Barry says with relief, having just opened up his mouth to do so. “And healing it’s even worse. Feels like I have to eat every couple of hours. My body just burns energy healing the way it does.”

“Okay. You boys go have fun settling in,” Ma says. “And Clark,” she says, pausing at the door to the kitchen. “Don’t forget Pa and I are in the next room over.” Both Barry and Clark’s jaws drop as she passes through the door.

“Please tell me your mom did not just…”

“She did.”

“You hurt your leg?” Clark asks, fingers fluttering over the casted shin.

“Yeah,” Barry says with a grimace. “Skidded on some ice from Captain Cold. It should only take a few more days to mend with the way I heal, but Jay and Ralph are covering Central for me until I’m healed up. I called out of work because the cast’ll be suspicious coming off so soon and according to the doctor wearing a fake cast for the amount of time it’d take a normal person is stupid. So now I have nothing to do for a week.”

“Why don’t you come to Metropolis or Smallville?” Clark says, inviting him impulsively.

Both of them still, surprised by that slipping out of Clark’s mouth.

Their relationship is still in the early, tentative stages, neither used to being in a relationship with another man. Clark had told his parents about Barry, but hadn’t introduced the cheerful blond yet. Barry had mentioned Clark to his co-workers, just saying he had a boyfriend and was taken (admittedly in part to get Patty to back off). Spending a week together…

“Sure,” Barry says with a smile.

Clark shoves Barry behind him and catches the Parademon's blast with his body.

Barry's eyes go huge as he he realizes how close he just came to dying. If Clark hadn't gotten in front of him, there'd be no more Flash. He watches Clark practically bristle in fury, the Kryptonian's invulnerable skin easily absorbing what would kill most meta and normal humans. He watches his boyfriend throw himself at the Parademons, ripping them apart in surprising violence. Alway good to get a reminder that Kryptonians are terrifying when angry.

He spots a brilliant green construct throw more Parademons to the side, as Hal covers Bruce with the Green Lantern showing visible concern for the Gotham vigilante. God, Barry hopes a news report doesn't catch that look; with Hal and Bruce's civilian IDs dating that could be a problem. He still isn't sure how Hal coaxed Bruce into that, especially since Hal's ID is openly known off Earth and Barry knows the recent Sinestro Corps attack on Wayne Industries was called 'Hal has vindictive exs'.

“Flash, are you alright?” calls out Diana.

“I'm fine! Superman protected me,” he shouts back. “How many more...” he trails off, watching the portal they'd been spilling out of close. “Oh, looks like Cyborg got it off, nice.”

“So lets just deal with the remaining ones if Kal doesn't just rip all their heads off,” Diana says dryly. “He's doing a rather nice job of that at the moment.”

“Wha...” Barry says, staring incredulously at his boyfriend. Okay, he's being waaay more violent than usual. “Superman?”

“Flash,” he says, speeding over to the speedster and hugging him tightly. Diana just rolls her eyes and laughs softly, finishing off the Parademons Clark, Bruce or Hal's actions hadn’t' already dealt with. Arthur is covering Cyborg and they'd be dealing with whatever's near the portal.

“I'm fine Clark,” he says softly, knowing no one can hear him. “You saved me. You were fast enough.”

“I almost wasn't,” Clark replies, just barely louder.