Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

When Hal opened his eyes again, he was already in bed. The ray of sunshine slipping through the curtain illuminated the room, and he raised a hand to try to block the light - only to freeze and let out a loud groan. Fuck. Sharp pain exploded inside his arm, spreading to his fingers and went up to his shoulder, and his vision filled with stars. Gods, his entire body felt awful, but the pain from the arm left his head pounding. Both of his arms were heavy as if he was bound, so he tried to sit up to take a look, wiggling around, only to be stopped by a warm hand pressing down on his chest firmly.

A pair of soft blue eyes came into his vision, clearing it slowly, and Hal's heart slowed down as the familiar face appeared. Barry. His warm, safe and domestic Barry. Hal was home already?

"Hal?" Barry must've not known how much joy his voice was filling into Hal's heart right now, because he was frowning. "Can you hear me? Are you awake?"

"Babe…" Hal tried to bring out his sexy voice, but ended up groaning. "Hi."

Barry's worried expression immediately dissolved into a relieved smile, and Hal smiled as well, out of habit. He didn't know what was funny, but if Barry was laughing, something definitely was. 

"How are you feeling?" His blond speedster asked as he cupped his jaw with a gentle palm, and Hal leaned into the warmth. 

"Like I was run over by a truck." He mumbled, still wincing in pain, and Barry caressed his cheek with careful hands, sighing.

"Basically the same thing. You charged head on into a giant space monster and almost killed yourself." Barry sounded so sad Hal felt slightly guilty for doing it. "Broke both of your arms in the process."

"Any concussion?" Hal grinned, and Barry rolled his eyes.

"Not yet. Everything else was relatively fine, the ring confirmed it." He sighed, and Hal hummed.

"That's much better than last year." Anything was better than last year, really. Hal spent weeks in the ICU, then more weeks in the hospital until he refused to be locked in like a prisoner and Barry had to buy a hospital bed to put in his spare room for Hal. He hoped to never have to use it again, but then here Hal was, putting Barry’s money into good use.

Normally, Hal’s ring helped to both protect and repair his mortal body so he could come back to his mission as soon as possible, but it still took quite some time before he was fit enough to go back to the battlefield. Now with Barry and his Blue Lantern aura, Hal’s healing process was aided tremendously and he would recover much faster. Coming home to his waiting boyfriend, turned out, was just as therapeutic to his body as it was to his mind.

“Are you in a lot of pain? Do you need more painkillers?” Barry asked, and Hal peaked open his eyes, still drowned in the warmth of Barry’s arm. He didn’t realize his boyfriend had already slipped into the bed next to him, and was now carefully holding him in a way that didn’t hurt.

“How ‘bout a kiss?” He smirked, and Barry huffed before leaning in and kissed his lips gently. Slowly. Barry was always slow when he was careful. He didn’t pry Hal’s mouth open with eagerness like he usually did when they were in the heat of the moment, but he covered Hal’s lips with all of the gentleness and cherish in the world, making Hal’s chest swell with warmth. 

And then Hal’s stomach growled loudly between them, and Barry broke away from the kiss with a laugh. Great, he didn’t even remember the last time he ate something. 

“Good thing I made some soup.” His boyfriend climbed out of the bed and picked up the tupperware box on the nightstand. It seemed like Barry had everything prepared. 

He pulled out a chair and sat down next to the bed, adjusting the bed so Hal’s head and torso would be propped up, and opened the box of soup. It smelled heavenly, and looked amazing as well. Hal could smell the barbecue sauce and spice flooding his senses, making his mouth water. He wished that he could just gobble up the whole thing right now, but then both of his arms were in casts, and he knew better than to try to move right now.

Barry stirred up the soup with a small spoon and scooped up a spoonful before blowing at the steam carefully, cooling it down. He looked so natural, doing that. Like taking care of others, being nurturing and caring, had become second nature to him. 

“Say ahh.” Barry chuckled as he brought the spoon to Hal’s lips, and Hal ignored the man and just swallowed the whole spoon. God, it tasted divine. “Jeez, calm down. I made an entire pot of this, you can eat the whole thing.”

Wonderful, because Hal would. He would devour everything that Barry cooked for him, because it always tasted like Earth, like home, and love. The alluring smell of pepper and shallot, the light sweetness of onions and pumpkin, and the thick texture of stewed rice and pork ribs. He remembered helping Barry with soup a few months ago, when Wally was sick and his two uncles had to look after him, so he knew how much time and effort his boyfriend put into making this. Barry would put the ribs in to stew so the soup could absorb the protein sweetness, but take all of the bones out after that, and spend time plucking all of the leftover meat to put back into the soup, so Hal would have something to chew on.

"Okay, slow down, you'll choke." Barry smiled as Hal swallowed so fast Barry couldn't keep up with his spoon. Hal knew the warning was bullshit because Barry surely would've made sure a baby could safely eat this, but he didn't bother to say it. He was too busy swallowing down the taste that reminded him of every good thing that still existed in this world. Too bad all good things came to an end, and Hal's gnawing hunger slowly dissipated as the soup filled his stomach. It was as if his dead body came back alive.

"So… I suppose the soup's not bad?" Barry smiled as he put away the third empty tupperware. Hal finally decided that he was full.

"Are you kidding? It's the best thing I've ever eaten in weeks!" Hal exclaimed, and he couldn't help but grinning to himself like an idiot. Ahh, it sucks being injured, but eating Barry's food made up for all of it. "I love you, you know that right? I love you so fucking much."

Barry laughed, cheeks slightly rosy at the sentiment, and Hal wished that his arms weren't such a pain so he could pull Barry over and hold him. The blond man seemed to have read his mind, because he swiftly moved over and kissed Hal’s cheeks. "You're gonna love me even more when you see the dessert."

Chapter Text

Ollie cannot believe it. He cannot believe that somehow these two airheads were thinking that they were being discreet. On his left, Dinah shared the same eyeroll with him whenever the (other) two lovebirds did something horribly cheesy without even noticing, but they refused to acknowledge that they were horribly obvious and on everyone's nose the whole time, making their attempt even more hilarious. 

Hal and Barry had asked Ollie and Dinah out for dinner at a new Korean barbecue restaurant in Central, just to try it out. Barry had called it a friends' night out, but Ollie and Dinah weren't idiots. It was a double date, even when Hal and Barry didn't even admit that they had a relationship in the first place. Dinah wondered why it took them so long - they were literally acting like a pair of newlyweds right now, but neither of them spoke up first about making it official. They just liked dancing around each other, flirting and being ridiculous like this - and she and Ollie had to go through all of it. 

"Wait, is this cooked?" Hal flipped up a piece of beef, poking at it to check.

"I think so." Barry narrowed his eyes to look at the meat, nodding. Hal then used his pair of tongs to pick up the piece and put it into Barry's bowl, and the blond man smiled sunnily before eating up. 

They had been doing it for hours . Hal never did this. Normally, it would be Dinah who took care of the barbecue and put the cooked pieces aside on a new plate so everyone could have what they liked - that's the great thing about having a meal this way: there's no portion, no separate spaces, everyone ate together and shared everything with joy. Only Hal used it as an opportunity to coddle Barry. He would put the meat into the barbecue and tended to it until it was the exact level of cooked that Barry seemed to like (except for the fact that Barry liked everything), and then took a pair of scissors to carefully cut them into bite size pieces to place in Barry's bowl. 

Barry would devour the food with his blinding grin and a sweet thank you, and Hal would pile even more food in front of him as a result. Gods, it's sickeningly sweet, and the most cheesy shit ever. They were like a pair of teenagers.

"Ooh, the shrimps are done." Hal excitedly said as he picked one up. "Barry--"

"Oh, you eat it. I don't like shrimps." Barry immediately shook his head, and Hal's eyes widened. 

"You don't?" 

Barry eyed the bright red shrimp that Hal was holding up again and pouted. "Nah. You have it."

"But I saw you eating shrimp soup the other day." Hal tossed the roasted shrimp over to Ollie's bowl without even bothering to look. Ollie rolled his eyes with a mumbled thanks, and Dinah snorted. "You didn't seem to hate it."

"Well, it's actually not the shrimps that are the problem," Barry awkwardly scratched his neck. "I actually kinda like them, but not the shell. Let's just say I'm allergic to shrimp shells."

"Seriously?" Hal let out a laugh, and picked up another big shrimp. "Gosh, Bar, you could've just said so."

And he, in front of Barry, Ollie and Dinah's shocked eyes, picked up the shrimp with his fingers and started peeling the shell off. It was hot - the shrimp had just been taken off the heat, and Hal winced a little as he tore off the red layer of hard chitin, but he managed to neatly peel everything off, including pulling off the head and its little legs. Then, even worse, he didn't put the shrimp into Barry's bowl, but dipped it vigorously in the sauce before holding it over the blond man's mouth himself with a smile.

Barry froze for a second, before leaning over and opened his mouth, staring up at Hal's face. Hal fed him the shrimp gently and carefully, and Barry took it in his mouth just as slowly, eye contact never broken. He didn't lean away even after he finished swallowing the food. 

"How's the taste?" Hal asked, voice low, and Barry replied, a little gravelly. 

"Hmm, not enough to tell. Maybe I can give you a review after a few more?"

"Of course." The older man smirked, and picked up the second shrimp.

They ended up feeding each other all evening, flirting and playing innocent the whole process, and Dinah swore to Ollie that if he took them anywhere near another shrimp in the next decade, she'd dump him for life. He had never agreed so fast.

Chapter Text

Barry, like all speedsters, were super, super protective of his food. He could be the sweetest, most easy going guy in the League, who would do anything to help others without a single thought, but no one, not even Batman, touched his food. They all knew he'd turn into a different person if he was hungry, and they were too smart to bring it upon themselves. Let Barry have his snack, all of them said. Just simple as that. 

Except for Hal Jordan. Maybe because he was an idiot, or maybe he had nothing else to do but finding ways to piss off all of his teammates in the League, but he started to steal Barry's food right in front of him these days, and didn't give two shits when Victor or Arthur kicked him under the table to tell him to stop. From the way Flash glared daggers at him every time, everyone wondered when he'd mysteriously die from an unknown cause too fast to be caught on camera. Ollie, the poor unlucky soul, once tried to do the same thing a month ago: he accidentally picked a french fry from a basket farthest away from Barry's mountain of food while he was there, and three other Leaguers had to intervene to save Ollie from being eaten alive by Barry. Now, Hal became the only one flirting with danger, and it had somehow leaked to their discussion in the League meetings. Hal became so much more annoying to Barry, deliberately goading him, and all of their meetings ended up a whole mess.

"Seriously, why do you keep egging him on?" Diana sighed as he saw Hal munching on a bar of snickers that she had seen on Barry's hand earlier. "It's not like we don't have enough food here, just get some for yourself from the fridge and leave him alone."

The man just laughed and shrugged. "But where's the fun in that?"

Diana rolled her eyes. They were supposed to be best friends, and Barry was nothing but a sweet, sweet angel to Hal whenever they were together, but if this kept on going, their friendship was going to be on the line at best, and the League would be short of a Green Lantern in the next quarter at worst. She just didn't understand why Hal would enjoy pissing his best friend off - Hal was also always number one on team Barry in every League meeting prior to this, and he seemed to care about the speedster the most in their battles. 

"It's not fun." She crossed her arms, determined to find out. Men's brains sometimes still surprised her. "He looks like he's going to pop a blood vessel every time you get near his food. He's red all over and Clark once said his heart rate went up so high it almost became unanimous to his ear. You're going to risk your friendship if you keep crossing his boundaries like that."

Hal pouted as he listened, but didn't argue. He crumpled the wrapper of the snickers in his hand and looked away. The action didn't look smug or cocky like how he usually acted, and Diana sensed something more than just simple teasing behind that.

"It's not crossing any boundaries." Hal threw the wrapper to the trash can near the corner of the room, but missed. He groaned. "He handled it well with that new girl."

"What girl?" Diana narrowed her eyes, and Hal threw his hands in the air.

"That new girl! Arthur's distant cousin or something! Why did you assign Barry to mentor her when she's already joined the League? She has to learn to take care of herself."

"Oh?" She started to see where this was going. "What does that have anything to do with Barry's snacks?"

"He gives his food to her all the time!" Hal hissed. "You guys don't see it, but I know it."

Oh, men. Diana pinched her forehead before drinking up her glass of water. She needed painkillers talking to this man. Oh, Hal's such a child that she wished she could give him a timeout right now. This was just unreasonable jealousy over something so trivial, and she thought she'd seen it all. At over twenty years of age, Hal still somehow managed to act like a teenager.

"Have you considered the fact that Barry thinks of her as a close friend and learns to share his food with her to help tighten their bond?" She tilted her head. "And have you considered the fact that you should care about more important things than who Barry shares his snacks with?"

"You know Barry. He's always protective of his food, so much that it became a myth in the League, but he shared it with her. He easily gave her half of what he's been eating without a second thought." Hal scowled, "She's only been here for two weeks, and I'm his friend for ages. Why does she have that privilege and I don't?"

"Why do you care about such details?" Diana blinked in confusion. "It's just food. You've been in battles with him. Who cares if he lets anyone eat his bar of Snickers?"

"Because food is Barry's love language , Diana." Hal slammed his head on the table, and realization dawned on her. "He doesn't share it even with his best friend, which means she is more than that."

Hal had feelings for Barry, it turned out. He's still too stubborn, childish and stupid to realize that, but this was all it was about. It was his equivalent of pulling pigtails to attract the attention of a crush, and Diana wished she could give him some of her brain cells so she wouldn't have to go through this.

"You could've just told him." She sighed. "About your feelings. Just ask nicely instead of sitting here thinking of ridiculous ways to make him pay attention to you."

" You're being ridiculous." Hal snapped, and before she could reply, he was already out of the room. For someone whose powers are based on fearlessness and confidence, Hal sure seemed to be sensitive.

.

.

.

You could've just told him. Just ask nicely instead of sitting here thinking of ridiculous ways to make him pay attention to you.

It sounded terrible. Hal hated what Diana said with all of his heart because he knew she was right all along. He knew he was acting like an asshole. A man child, really. He was being ridiculous, but sometimes the jealousy rose in his chest so high that he couldn't stop himself. That's his legendary self-sabotage nature. It might have sound stupid to others, but after all the time he spent with Barry, he knew what that action meant. Barry once told him about his parents, about their first meeting was when his mom came to class starving from spending too much time studying, and his dad always brought a bar of Snickers for her and they would share it every day. Food had become a symbol of love and care in Barry's perspective, plus his speedster's appetite, making him value it more than anything. It's not that he had a problem with people, or sharing, in general, but because if he cared enough to look past his powers' appetite, it had to be someone truly special. Hal had never thought that this special person existed, not in the League anyway, but then that new superheroine just appeared out of nowhere and subverted all expectations. And Hal, the attention whore that he was, couldn't stand it.

"Hey." A bar of Snickers suddenly slid into his view, and Hal looked up to see Riptide. Arthur's distant cousin or something, that's her . 

Great.

She gave him a smile. "You seem hungry."

"I'm not." Hal narrowed his eyes, not touching the snack. "I'm fine. What do you want?"

"Defensive, are we?" She smirked, and he tried not to scowl. He knew his ears were red from being seen right through.

"What do you want?" 

"Why do you just assume the worst of me?" She sat down, crossing her arms. She was older than both him and Barry, why on Earth would they put Barry in charge of instructing her? 

"I don't hate you. I don't know you, that's all." He said curtly, wanting to escape from this conversation as soon as possible, but she stopped him.

"I don't want anything from you. I'm just here to deliver this for The Flash." She pushed the Snickers bar into his face again, and his brows furrowed. 

"The Flash?"

"He said he wishes that you could have this, but since you two act like you could tear each other's heads off every League meeting, I figured I'd help." She answered, blue eyes staring at him, observing his reaction. "He's been awfully confused and upset that your friendship turned out like this. He misses you, Green Lantern."

"Right, and since when do you have psychic abilities?" Hal rolled his eyes, but reached out to put his hand over the snack. It felt strangely familiar in his hand.

"Well, he wears his heart on his sleeves. And also I talked to Wonder Woman. We were both extremely tired to see this thing between you two happening, but we figured twenty year olds are still quite young in human age, and it's understandable that you two would act like this. After all, we're all idiots when it comes to love."

"Hey." Hal glared at her, and she laughed.

"He thought you were being mean to him because you can't stand him, even though he can't explain why. You thought he was having something going on with me and you got jelly." She summed up their situation, and Hal's face reddened with embarrassment. "Neither of you reached out first because you're too stubborn and scared to face the risk of what could come next."

Hal inhaled. "That's not--" That was true.

"So I'm just gonna tell you this - I'm not interested in your Flash, and he's simply being nice to me. You can drop your sulking and come make up with him. To be fair, you started this, so it should be you who makes the first move."

"He's not simply being nice--" Hal snapped. "You don't understand. He's a speedster. He never shares his food, not even to me. It means something to him. He treats you differently."

"How do you know that he never wants to share his food with you?" She raised an eyebrow, and he groaned.

"Have you seen how he looked at me when--"

"When you goaded him? When you obnoxiously stole his food to deliberately piss him off?" She chuckled. "Maybe all you need to do is ask nicely. And I don't know, you seem to know very well what his love language is, so maybe try speaking it instead of using it to poke at him?"

Hal bit the inside of his cheeks. Well, fuck.

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Barry swallowed the last piece of his pizza and stretched out his arms with a wide grin. Ahh, nothing feels better than having a full stomach. Energy was starting to course through his body as the sugar started getting into his bloodstream, and he cleaned up the whole mess of plates and pizza boxes on the table with superspeed, excited to spend some of that energy. Well, the main course was finished, but there was still dessert, and he couldn't wait to try the ice cream that had been sitting in the fridge since yesterday. It was not just any regular ice cream - he had to run to Italy and stayed in line for hours before he could get his hands on a box with all the flavors, but before he could try them, some emergencies came up and he had to leave it in the Watchtower fridge. Thank God the box was still intact when he came back for lunch - he was half worried that Hal would eat the entire box in one try just to spite him, and he wouldn't know if he could forgive something like that. The thought of Hal made him winced as he pulled out an ice cream from the box and left the rest back in the fridge. He and Hal weren't in the best shape right now. They could barely attend a meeting without screaming at each other in front of the whole League, and Hal seemed to enjoy taking Barry's food to annoy him. It was a strange method to piss someone off, but Hal knew where to hit to make it hard - Barry was clearly obsessed with his food. Hal seemed to know everything about Barry, and yet Barry had no idea why he acted that way - why he suddenly hated Barry so much. He just wasn't brave enough to find out.

He sat down on the dining table and took a look at his ice cream - it was a double popsicle, with half chocolate, half strawberry-flavored, soft and undeniably delicious ice cream beautifully molded around the sticks. It was one of the most famous brands out there, and Barry's head dropped its thought about Hal for a second to marvel at the sight. It was the reward he gave himself after the last long mission, it had to taste divine. He was about to take a huge bite out of both flavors when someone opened the door, and he looked up to see Hal. 

Barry wanted to just superspeed out of there. He didn't even want to know what Hal wanted anymore - he just wished that he could eat in peace. But then before he could bolt out of the room, Hal cleared his voice.

"Hey."

All of Barry's defense fell apart. He missed hearing Hal's voice when he's not screaming at him. Gosh, he thought he hated Green Lantern, but seeing him like this - hair messy, in his pajamas and no mask - it was not Green Lantern, but his friend Hal. Who, before all of this ridiculous mess, he had the smallest crush on. He just wasn't sure if the crush ever stopped.

"Hi, Hal." He stupidly said, not knowing what to do. He wanted to leave, to stay away, but he also wished that he could go back to having civil conversations with Hal again. 

"You have some…nice looking ice cream there." Hal stepped in, smirking and the speedster tried not to roll his eyes - damn it, why would he think anything would be different? It's about the food thing again. He's just here to--

"See you later." Barry grumbled as he shouldered past Hal to get to another dining room (because Bruce had enough money to build multiple dining rooms in the Watchtower, that's why), but halted when Hal grabbed his arm.

"Barry, wait. Wait." Hal held out a pack of Snickers before Barry could escape. "I bought Snickers. I just think that maybe we should--share."

"Right." Barry huffed. "I don't know what you're trying to--"

"I'm sorry I've been an asshole." Hal bit his lip, fidgeting with the pack. "I saw you sharing your food with someone else and I was so childish and selfish I acted out about it. The truth is that I just wished that you'd shared it with me."

Barry's eyes widened. "Hal…"

"But it's not fair that I'm always the one asking for things from you. If I wanted your food…" Your attention… Your affection… "I should start by offering mine first."

Barry stared at him.

"I heard that Snickers and ice cream go well together." Hal shrugged, gesturing at the popsicle in Barry's hand, and the speedster finally nodded.

"Alright." He said, sitting back down at the table, and Hal's face burst into a bright smile as he scooted over. He ripped open the pack, and gave Barry a bar.

Barry decided to split his popsicle in return - it was a double popsicle, after all - and gave a half to Hal. It left a pang in Hal's chest when he took the half that Barry was giving him, and realized how the popsicle didn't break evenly when Barry split it, and Barry gave him the bigger one. 

He was willing to give someone else half of what he was having without a thought, but he was also willing to give Hal more than just a half. Maybe Hal did mean to Barry more than he thought.