Planetarium

"It's beautiful." Barry breathed as he stood in the centre of the planetarium and stared at the glittering ceiling above him. The dark expanse was strewn with various holograms of the planets and stars which made up the solar system and the overall effect had stunned the speedster. "Harrison look."

"I'm looking." Harrison replied quietly but his eyes quickly refocussed on Barry as the younger man sighed in contentment. Since his early childhood, Barry had been an avid star-gazer and as an adult his love for the sky had not diminished in the slightest. His eyes were glassy as they took in the amazing sights and Harrison took the opportunity to tap into their shared speed force so that he could catch a small echo of the emotions which Barry was experiencing. Delving into the bond, Harrison was suddenly overcome with joy as he was filled with the awe and wonder which Barry was experiencing as he took in the beauty of the stars.

Feeling giddy, Harrison moved so that he could stand directly behind Barry. "You know," Harrison whispered, "If you asked really nicely I am sure I could work my magic and find the funds to build ourselves our own mini-planetarium within STAR Labs which you could use at anytime you wished. Would you like that?"

Without turning around, Barry sought out Harrisons' hand with his own and gave it a supportive squeeze as the bond was sudden filled with love. Basking in the sudden flush of emotion, Harrison swore he felt his heart swell as he brought both arms around Barrys' waist as they stood in companionable silence and watched the planets swirl above them.

Elevator Man

Barry blinked as he processed Harrisons' words. "And why couldn't you have suggested this to me an hour ago?" He asked incredulously as he gestured to the small elevator which the pair were stuck in. They had been travelling down to the basement levels when the elevator had shuddered to a stop and they had been left stranded. At this point they had been trapped for almost an hour and half.

"You know how much I love being alone with you." Harrison winked. "Plus there was nothing stopping you from reaching the same conclusion. I was originally planning on waiting until the idea occurred to you but then I realised that we may both be dead by the time that happened."

"Well i'm very sorry that simply phasing through the door wasn't the first thing to pop into my mind Mr 'I've been a speedster for years longer than you have which obviously means i'm so much smarter than you are'." Barry said through gritted teeth. "Don't even try to butter me up with your 'i like being alone with you' nonsense."

"I never said I was smarter than you were Barry." Harrison defended.

"But you implied it."

"Well yeah..."

Clothes Shopping

"Black." Harrison said simply as he gazed at the various piles and racks of clothes which surrounded them. Barry had convinced him to come clothes shopping and even though they had only arrived a few minutes ago, he already wanted to leave.

Barry spoke slowly as if he were speaking to a child. "Harrison you have enough black clothing. Why not add a little colour into your life?"

"I like black clothing. It matches my attitude."

"Seriously babe? Can you pick at least one real colour which you would consider wearing?"

"Yellow." Harrison smirked.

Barry sighed in frustration. "Are you kidding me? Do you know how difficult it is to find nice yellow clothes? Yellow is such a weird colour."

"You said I had to choose a colour."

"Yeah but you've chosen your costume colour scheme. Again."

"But I love that costume. Do you know how long I spent creating that suit? A very long time."

"That's great but it's the middle of summer and all you have to wear is black long-sleeved t-shirts and other evil looking things."

"The sun doesn't bother me."

"Well you constantly looking like a bank robber kinda bothers me. At least get something short-sleeved? What about this?" Barry held up a white vest top with the words 'SUNS OUT, GUNS OUT' emblazoned on the front. "You definitely have the arms for it."

"Barry if you don't put that down in the next three seconds I will zoom home and change the locks before you can even blink."

"Okay then, that's a no for the vest top. I might pick myself up one in red though since we seem to be sticking to our hero themes."

"I do love you in red." Harrison whispered in Barrys' ear as he trailed one finger down Barrys' front, stopping just shy of his belt and causing the younger man to blush profusely. "See."

"Don't think you can flirt your way out of clothes shopping babe. Caitlin and Iris threatened to kill me if I don't get you to dress like a normal person and when they team up against me they usually get what they want."

Noises

Joe had only stopped by the house to pick up some paperwork when he heard it. Barry was at STAR Labs and Iris was at work so by all accounts the house should have been totally silent but as he entered the kitchen he heard a very faint thud from upstairs. Pausing his search for his files, he strained his ears to pick up any further sounds. After a moment, he swore he heard a small cry coming from the bedroom directly above him, Barry's bedroom.

Hand instinctively jumping to his gun, Joe started to sneak up the stairs as silently as he could. It wouldn't be the first time he had found strangers in his home with ill-intent, one of the downsides of being a successful cop, but he was prepared to meet whatever it was head on. Standing outside Barry's door, he counted to three mentally before swinging the door open and bursting into the room as quickly as he could.

The room was empty. However, Joe jumped as a strong gust of wind caught him and he glanced towards the open window in the room. Dashing over to it, he stuck his head outside to survey the surrounding area since it was entirely possible that someone could have broken in and left via the window if they had heard Joe enter the house. But he couldn't see anyone and as he stared at the empty street he started to doubt if he had heard anything at all. "Could have been the neighbors," he mused quietly to the empty room as he closed the window and secured the latch, "maybe I should head over to STAR Labs and get them to test my hearing." Walking back downstairs, he continued his previous task.

x-x-x-x-x

"Is he still downstairs?" Barry asked, his voice shaking as he shivered against the cold. He looked towards Harrison who disappeared for less than a second before reappearing beside him.

"Yes. He is in the kitchen." Harrison confirmed as he tried to keep a smirk from his face.

Noticing his struggle, Barry's eyes narrowed. "This isn't funny. That is the closest call we've ever had to Joe catching us," he hissed in a furious whisper, "if you were a second later at zooming us out that window then we would have been screwed."

"Technically, we were already screwed, or at least in the process of-" Harrison started to argue but was instantly cut off by Barry.

"Don't. Start. With. Me." Barry hissed again. "Because of you I was forced to escape to my roof and phase into my dusty, old attic just to escape the humiliation of being caught in bed by my father figure! And now I am trapped in the attic until he leaves the house since I lied and said I would be at STAR Labs with YOU all day. Plus, i'm also freezing. There is no insulation up here." He shivered again.

Harrison shrugged. "It's not my fault you neglected to pick up some clothes on the way here." He gestured to his own long vest and boxer combination before pointing to the small white sheet Barry was currently using as a wrap to both preserve his modesty and also to keep out what cold he could. "I could warm you up better than that sheet could." He offered as he smirked again.

Raising an eyebrow, Barry shuffled out of his reach and, keeping his voice as level as possible, replied, "Ha! I don't think so, and if any of my neighbors were unfortunate enough to catch sight of anything that just happened then no only will there be no sex today but i'm putting a temporary ban on it too."

Grumbling incoherently, Harrison moved to one of the old armchairs which had been stored in the attic many years previously and sunk silently into it. "Then I guess we will just sit here in silence until Joe leaves. How quaint."

"I guess we will." Barry confirmed and he turned his head to hide the smile that appeared on his face as he watched his frowning partner sulk like a small child.

Children

"Have you ever thought about it?" Barry asked casually as he scrolled though his twitter feed with one hand while using the other to tug at Harrisons' shirt to ensure he was paying attention. They were lying on the couch together and Barry couldn't help his curious nature.

Harrison jerked slightly at the sudden question. "What? Thought about what?" Barry had developed the awful habit of springing questions on him when he was least expecting it in order to get a straight answer. The worst thing was, it usually worked.

"Children. Kids. Having a small one dashing around touching and breaking stuff? Have you ever considered it?" Barry continued, keeping his tone as casual as he could. He wasn't trying to hint at anything but he was interested in the other mans answer.

"Well...no." Harrison confessed after a moments thought. "The life I have led has made me very aware that not only would I probably be a terrible father but that it would most likely be better for everyone, child included, if I never have children. I wouldn't want to inflict myself on something as pure as a child."

Frowning suddenly, Barry sat up to give Harrison his full attention. "Why do you say that?" He asked and he seemed a little taken aback by the aggression in his own voice. Lowering his tone, he continued. "Do you honestly believe that?"

"Yes. I do. You would be an excellent parent Barry. Maybe a little immature at times." Harrison gave a smile that was tinted with a little sadness. "But you could be warm and loving and would give a child anything it would need with ease. I could not. I would want to, believe me I really would, but there is a darkness in me that I can never be rid of and i don't think it would be fair for me to even try."

"Listen to me," Barry said seriously as he placed one of his hands on Harrisons' chin and tilted his head so they could stare directly at each other with no distraction, "You are a better man now than you have ever been. I need you to believe me when I say that you would be a good father. I have had my fair share of good dads and i know one when i see one." Harrison opened his mouth to protest but was cut off again. "Don't argue with me on this. I. Know. You. And i'm telling you that you would be."

Faced with Barrys' earnest unblinking eyes which were full of his conviction, Harrison relented his arguing in favor of pulling Barry closer down into his lap, which the brunette allowed without protest. While he didn't think Barry was correct in his assumptions he was still privately very pleased that after all that had happened Barry still held so much faith in him.