"Mmm, welcome back," she greets as Barry steps into their room, fresh from the shower. "You took forever, my dude. I was about to send a search and rescue party."
Barry laughs halfheartedly as he tosses the towel from his head into the basket. "You're one to talk, Miss If-I-Go-Missing-Check-The-Shower-First."
She scoffs at him as she gives a long, luxurious stretch- like a cat just waking up from a nap in the sun- before scooting herself over from where she's sprawled across the bed, making room for Barry to sit. When he does she wraps her arms around his stomach, nuzzling her face against his skin. "You should'a told me you were going to shower," she murmurs sleepily, "I would've joined you."
"And wake you up from meditating? Yeah, okay," he ruffles her hair, "I would've never heard the end of it."
She whines, snuggling into Barry further, "but now I've gotta shower alllloooonnnnneeee."
"Sorry, babe."
She makes another noise of protest before falling into silence. She doesn't make an effort to move, though, and just leaves Barry trapped in her arms on the edge of their bed.
Barry resigns himself to just brushing his fingers through her hair, carefully working out the knots that managed to twist themselves into her locks over the course of the night. A light pinkness dusts itself across his cheeks as the thoughts of how they got there cross his mind.
At first he thinks it's cute- her snuggled around him. But as about the five minute mark starts to creep toward him, he can't help but wonder if she's just. Dozed off.
"Babe?" He says softly, trying to adjust his position in her arms, "Uh, hun, babe? You-"
He cuts himself off with a shriek as she gives him the most unexpected raspberry of his life.
Barry leaps into the air as she blows the raspberry right above his hip, just above where his towel sits. Well, sat, as he leaves it behind as he goes airborne.
Meanwhile, she just laughs, hands wrapped around her ribs as she struggles to breath through her cackling. "Oh- oh, my Gods," she wheezes, rolling onto her back, "oh my Gods I didn't- holy shit- I didn't expect you to react like that." Tears of pure enjoyment start to roll down her face, "Gods Almighty you almost went the full Lich there Carebear- I swear I saw your soul leave your body for a sec."
"Yeah, real funny," he grumbles, yanking his fallen towel from the bed to toss it into the basket with its partner, listening as he laughter slowly starts to die off.
And, of course, as good as he most definitely is at sports, Barry misses the basket five feet in front of him by a long shot.
He curses under his breath and bends over to retrieve the fallen towel, to the tune of her whistle behind him. He glances over his shoulder at her to give a mock glare but is met with a wink and an exaggerated "OK" sign.
"Nice."
"Nice?"
"So nice. Choice, even."
"How choice?" He asks as her rights himself, dropping the towel solidly into the basket as he turns back to face her. Barry absolutely does not miss the way her eyes flit up and down his form, a smirk he is very familiar with starting to form at the corner of her mouth.
She sprawls out again, deliberately stretching so that her shirt rides up over her stomach to expose the skin there. "I can show you," she tells him, tossing her arms up above her head as she gives him another wink, "if you're into that kind of thing."
Barry can't help but chuckle a little as he moves toward the bed, watching her try to act coy as he nudges her more to the center of the mattress so he can kneel over her. "I think I'm pretty into that kind of thing."
"Mmmm, I'm glad," she murmurs, wiggling a little closer to him to give him room to straddle her thighs. Barry can't help but shiver a little when one of her hands touches his hip, trailing across it lightly, "I'd love to show you."
When his own hand cups her cheek she nuzzles her face into his palm, placing a soft kiss in the very center of it, and Barry feels a warmth bloom in his chest at the sight. It's such a simple, gentle action, but the affection in it hits him so hard it's almost a physical pain. He's so, so in love with this woman- who's soft hair cascades around her head and pointed ears flick against his pillow at every soft sound he makes, who's bright green eyes gaze up at him with more love than he thinks should probably exist on any planet- a love that's been tended to and cultivated over so many, many years it doesn't seem like it should be possible, at least not for a human like him.
"I love you," he tells her, softly, as he feels his throat start to close up, almost like he's about to cry.
And she smiles, so fucking tenderly that he can't stop the tears that unexpectedly start to fall from his eyes, "I love you, too," she tells him, her hand coming up to brush the tears from his cheeks, "Barry, I love you, too. Don't ever forget how much I love you," and then he finds her tugging him down, as though she's going to kiss him.
But she stops, lips just shy of his own, and whispers against his mouth, "I'll be back soon. I promise."
Something breaks at those words, something deep in his chest, and he finds himself jerking back away from her with a gasp.
And then he realizes-
he has no idea who this woman is.
-----------------
Barry wakes with a start, nearly jumping out of the rickety old bed he finds himself in.
For a moment he's dazed and confused, unable to figure out where he is. This place, dingy and cold, certainly isn't where he was- a small but cozy bedroom that he clearly recognized as his, full of books and scientific equipment, clearly well loved and taken care of.
Slowly, he realizes he's in a cave, the candles flickering on a nearby desk casting dancing shadows across the stone walls. The bed groans in protest as he moves and he feels about a hundred years older now than he did in his dream, joints popping as he adjusts himself, and realizes he's so cold because he's completely naked.
He tries to move again, to stand up and fetch the clothes laid out over the chair at the desk, but is overcome by a sudden rush that goes straight through him, forcing him to drop his head into his hands. Gods, what kind of drunken mess had he gotten himself into the night before to leave him in such a sorry state.
As the feeling starts to ebb away he drags a hand over his face- only to realize he's crying, but he doesn't know why.
He sits up a little straighter and sniffs, rubbing at his eyes. He sniffs again, and again, and again, trying to will himself to stop, but can't seem to find it in him to make the tears just sort of... falling from his eyes cease.
He was crying in his dreams, he remembers, though again, he doesn't quite no why. Nor can he figure out why something in a dream would affect him so deeply that he wouldn't be able to stop crying after the fact.
He tries to think about his dream but finds he can remember very little. The cozy room, a warm bed, and someone in it with him, maybe. A woman, he decides, but when he tries to think about her he finds there's not much he can recall. The sound of her laughter fades even as he considers it, though it leaves behind a dull weight in his chest. Anything else he tries to remember about her is met with a kind of static, rippling across his thoughts. Like even though he's trying so desperately to remember there's nothing there anymore- nothing but the empty ache settled deep within his heart. A pain that hurts too much to dwell on for too long.
Barry sniffs one more time, wipes his eyes one more time with the back of his hand, and wills the tears to stop as he finds himself unable to recall the dream at all, anymore.
