Dio called Barry to pay him a visit late at night, mostly because it was the only time he got left in his day, his explanation for the sudden favor wasn't really a list of reasons or a clear response, but he said it was important and of his foster brother's interest.
"Sorry for coming around out of nowhere like this." The blond apologized as he sat on one of those tall chairs in the lab, then unlocked and opened his briefcase over an empty space on the table in front of him, then flicked through some of the folders inside and pulled one to show Barry. "Here. This is for you."
The smile on his lips was genuine, it reached his eyes and softened the lines on his face as he handed the folder to Barry. Inside there were documents and legal requests of many kinds, but the most important was the first paper when he opened the folder, an approved request for Barry's biological father to be out of jail on a special concession so long as he answered to his parole officer once every month for the next four years.
"I wanted to be able to do more. He can't leave the State, okay? But he'll be able to go home, look for a job or start one of his own and get back to a more normal life." Dio lamented that he came short in that regard, but the investigation on the murder of Barry's mom had been re-opened on the blond's vehement argumentation that the proofs were not sufficient to call it an open-and-close case and that it was shown time and again by multiple doctors that Barry's dad wasn't a violent man to kill the one and only woman he loved above all — perhaps a little bit of exaggeration, but it earned the judge's leniency. "I'm still working on the case and your father will still have me for his lawyer for as long as he wants. I'm not quitting until this is all solved, alright? But for now, I think you might want to call in for the night in order to go see him first thing in the morning."
There was no mention of payment too, which, weirdly enough, had been a constant from Dio, he refused to discuss payment from the very moment Barry came to ask for his help. They were foster brothers, but Dio hadn't been all too close to Barry, in fact, for the most part they were almost strangers, since Dio lived most of his time at Italy and only really met Barry a couple of times before Felipe passed away and Emilo's guardianship fell into his own hands — it didn't help that he was also emotionally distant in a weird way for those years. So there wasn't a reason for him to treat him as family, but... Dio tried to convey some of it through his actions. The dedication and refusal to talk money were part of it.
random ask || @goldentemplariumcrow
Barry would never forget the day Felipe first spoke to him at the orphanage, nor would he forget the day he took him in. The boy had gotten pretty close with his foster dad, they had both needed each other in a way. Someone he hadn't gotten close with though was his foster brother, not for lack of trying, but he guessed they were just too different. It did sadden him though. Not even Felipe's death had brought them closer, something that had been a hard blow for them both. If anything, it had driven them further apart. Though, things had gotten better lately, but Barry was still surprised when Dio called him and wanted to meet.
Having told him he needed to work in the lab, it had been decided they would meet there. Barry greeted him, barely holding back the hug he wanted to give the man, before leading him over to a cleared space.
Seeing the smile, an actual smile, on Dio's lips as he handed him a folder made Barry blink in surprise. "I guess it must be something good since you're actually smiling, like really smiling," he said before he could stop himself as he took the folder he was handed. Opening it, he began to read and the froze. Within a second, his mouth hung open and his eyes looked like they could pop out of their sockets at any time and he stood so uncharacteristically still that it seemed like he might not even be breathing. Actually, he wasn't breathing. His entire brain and body had decided to just stop functioning. Barry couldn't believe what he was reading. His dad would be released? The case would be re-opened? Re-examined?
Barry wasn't sure how long he stood like that, but eventually he gulped in some air, feeling a little dizzy, and then tears began to fall. Before he could stop himself, he'd made a very embarrassing sobbing noise. Not just a noise, he was literally sobbing. "I-I never... I-I... th-thanks... I..." He couldn't speak and his entire body was trembling now. When he went to Dio about his dad's case, he never really imagined anything could be done. No one else had been able to, but here it was. Progress. Freedom. He was going to be able to meet his dad without glass between them for the first time in over a decade.
