Tuesday Afternoon: The Not-so-Abandoned-Warehouse

[badassprodigy]

Barry had avoided the warehouse for a total of a day. For the better part of the weekend, he had been holed up here watching friends go through some of the more horrible things that he could have ever imagined. There were of course bright moments that happened as well but the overall horror was outshining those moments.

Which is probably why Barry decided to call home.

"Dude!"

Jeremy's face was all smiles. "What the fuck man? You finally decided to give your best buddy a call after weeks of ignoring me?"

"Shut the fuck up," Barry retorted with a smirk. "I send you emails all the time."

"Yeah but who the fuck has time to read that?" Jeremy snarked back. "So what's the reason for the call?"

Barry paused a moment, his grin fading. "I don't think I ever thanked you."

Jeremy's expression went to immediate puzzlement. "What?"

"I never thanked you. For smacking me around whenever I was doing dickish things to people when we were kids."

Jeremy's expression never changed. "Dude. What the fuck are you talking about? You're being like... serious and shit. What the fuck happened?"

And it all came out. Barry told Jeremy everything. About Eleanor and her sub. The away team's trip to Rapture. Especially all the ugly things that had been done just because no one gave a shit about the consequences. Eleanor. Little Sisters. Big Daddies/Mr. Bubbles. Splicers. Cults. All of it.

Jeremy's jaw had dropped and his mouth was hanging open by the end of it. "Duuuuuuuuuude..."

"I know. Anyway. Part of me wonders if I had been there what I would have done. I'd like to think I would have stopped the experiments, not allowed little girls to become monsters but... honestly I think I would have gone along with it."

"DUDE!"

"If I didn't have you as a best friend."

"What?"

"You were always there. Telling me to do the right thing. Most of the time. Calling me on my shit when I was being a fucking dick."

Jeremy snorted in amusement. "Dude you weren't always that bad. You knew what needed to be done. You just needed a fucking push sometimes. Or a kick to the fucking 'nads."

Oh, Jeremy. It always came back to the gonads, didn't it?

"Yeah. But you were the one doing the pushing. And I just wanted to say thanks."

Jeremy grinned. "You're welcome. Now are we done being fucking wusses now? Shit. I think my shlong inverted just talking to you."

"Fuck you," Barry said with a laugh. "How are things with Roxie?"

"Good! She's fucking awesome. We're going to see meta for Guardians for the thirtieth time this weekend. You should come!"

"Eh. We'll see. I might have something planned with Elsa."

"Ooooo. Elsa. You finally fucking kiss her or what?"

Barry's face betrayed any response he could have had.

"DUDE! I SAW THAT!"

"Fuck you!" Barry retorted. "I don't know what you're fucking talking about!"

"BARRY KISSED A GIIIIIIIIRRRRRL! BARRY KISSED A GIIIIIIIIRRRRRL! BARRY KISSED A GIIIIIIIIRRRRRL! Do you LOOOOOOOOOOOOVE her?"

"Fuck you!" Barry said half laughing. "It was just a kiss."

"BARRY KISSED A GIIIIIIIIRRRRRL! BARRY KISSED A GIIIIIIIIRRRRRL!"

"I take everything back," Barry said shaking his head in amusement. "You're an asshole."

Jeremy had no response. He was too busy making kissy noises at his phone.

"Fuck you," Barry said as his way of saying goodbye and disconnected.

After the call he sat back and shook his head in amusement. Suddenly the warehouse didn't seem as grim anymore.

Five minutes later he was back to his regular self and running five experiments at once as he started building yet another project.

[Open door, open post]

Comments

[fly-so-serious.livejournal.com]

"Give you shit?" Joker asked innocently. "No, I'm here to congratulate you. You kissed a girl! Good job! In only a few more years, you'll start to grow pubes and your voice will drop! ...Seriously, though, it gives me warm fuzzies. I'm sure it was absolutely adorable."

He gave Barry a smirk. "Eleanor didn't drag me, she just... you know, gave me support. I know it sounds weird to say out loud, but I can't walk well with an injured hand. Because she came so hard she broke my hand. I am the man!"

[notaweenie.livejournal.com]

"Shiiiiiiiiiiit."

Barry just stood there for a moment in disbelief. He even forgot the insult Joker just laid on him.

"I'm not sure if I should be grossed out or impressed."

[fly-so-serious.livejournal.com]

"Impressed, definitely. At me, at her, at the whole shebang. There were fireworks, I tell you." He waved his hand at Barry. "Seriously, fucker was purple and swollen. Almost as bad as that time I tried catching a baseball."

[notaweenie.livejournal.com]

"I'm not so sure I need this much detail into your love life," Barry said cautiously. "I mean... Yay for orgasms and all but fuck... What were you doing that made her break your.... I can't believe I'm asking that."

[fly-so-serious.livejournal.com]

"In general terms? She's strong, I'm fragile, never had it so good in her life, complete loss of motor control, vigorous convulsing, I'm sure you get the picture. Specifically? I've got style, bro. You want pointers, just ask."

[notaweenie.livejournal.com]

"Why? So I can get my fucking hand broken?" Barry asked. " I don't think so. Besides, Elsa has a thing about being touched as it is. And... Wait you guys were doing this right after you got back from the sub?"

[fly-so-serious.livejournal.com]

That got Joker to look a little sheepish. "Yeah... it started out just as, you know, being comforting. And then... things progressed. Now she's being weird about it, but I'm pretty sure that's because my hand got broken. She... We both kind of needed it."

He cleared his throat. "Anyway. It's not not like you have to worry about your hand breaking; I'm just fragile."

[notaweenie.livejournal.com]

Well if Barry knew anything about the Snow Queen (http://oglaf.com/snowbound/2/) in Naveen's world he'd probably have something to worry about. [Link NSFW]

"I'm not going to claim I'm fragile but... Look, I don't feel right rushing Elsa. She'd freak out and then it would just be weird. And I won't bullshit you but the whole kiss thing was a comfort thing as well. Is Eleanor okay? Because man that would fuck with my head if that happened."

[fly-so-serious.livejournal.com]

"Oh, I wasn't saying to rush her. I mean, she's sweet and shy and nervous, so are you, she's a princess, she could accidentally turn you into a popsicle..." Joker shrugged. "All good reasons to take things super slow."

He sighed, and gave Barry and unsure look. "I'm actually kind of worried about Eleanor. Part of how everything started was her needing to know, after everything this weekend, that she's not a freak... and then this happened. I'm trying to downplay it as much as possible; not sure how well that's working."

[notaweenie.livejournal.com]

"Fuck. Has anyone talked to her yet other than you?" Barry asked. "Maybe if she talked to someone other than the person she hurt?"

[fly-so-serious.livejournal.com]

"I... don't know," Joker admitted. "I mean, Anders was kind of mortified... And Eleanor's kind of a private person. I don't know if she'd think to talk about it with Elsa or Celia or anyone... Shit, this is bad, isn't it?"

[notaweenie.livejournal.com]

That was a lot of friends Joker just eliminated. Barry wasn't liking his odds.

"Raven? Maybe Raven? Big sib who has no problem running around all blue and scaly?"

[fly-so-serious.livejournal.com]

"I don't know," Joker said again. "All I know is that she doesn't want to talk to me. I can't tell how much is too much to push, you know?"

[notaweenie.livejournal.com]

Barry winced. "Do you want me to talk to her?"

[fly-so-serious.livejournal.com]

"I... have no idea." Joker sighed, and gave Barry a rare moment of complete candor. "I'm fighting down the urge to say that if I can't fix it, it's unfixable. I'm not sure what you can do. But, yeah, if you want to talk to her, it can't hurt. I'm worried about her."