I like to imagine that the majority, if not all, of Central City knows Barry is the Flash, but pretend they don't cause they don't wish to see his sad, "I watched someone kick a puppy" face
While I’ve always appreciated the “open secret” headcanon, if we take it down a notch, I do sometimes feel like it’s not that far off. Not the average citizen, but just like, a lot of Barry’s, Iris’s, and others’ extended network. But the knowledge is more... unconscious, unexamined, by most people?
Like I’ve talked at length about how there is no conceivable way that Singh doesn’t know Barry is The Flash at this point, but what about the rest of the CCPD? What about the CSIs he interacts with?
“Did you hear - Allen just quit.”
“What seriously? With Julian in the hospital?”
*snerk* “Don’t even say it’s because ‘he’s the Flash’.”
“C’mon, what else would explain all the--” *gestures vaguely in a way that encompasses all of Barry’s absences and oddness.
“Just because Allen was out sick the same week Zoom kicked The Flash’s ass on television doesn’t mean anything.”
And the other detectives?
“Joe! I heard Allen just got back from -- where was it, the Czech Republic?”
“That’s right! He’s back at work already, Singh had him on a case this morning, that elevator pink mist?”
“Right right - how’s that going.”
The other cop laughs, nods, and walks away with a newspaper tucked under his arm that say ‘The Flash Returns!’ with a picture of a streak through the city and a corner photo of Iris being kidnapped by the Samurai. The other detective didn’t feel the need to ask about Iris’s confidence that The Flash would save her, evne though Allen was supposedly across the world. It just felt gauche to make West lie to his face, after all.
And what about the reports at the CCPN who see this stuff with Iris too? Who know she’s dating Barry Allen but also know she has an in with the Flash and his friends and gets all the best scoops? Who know her fiancé disappeared for six months and she forced a smile and lied about and the Flash shows up the day she hands herself to a villain demanding to fight him, after being basically emotionally shut down for months?
“Did you hear the wedding is back on?”
“I did! Did you hear her bachelorette party got crashed by a metahuman?”
“I don’t know, some guy without an eye.”
“Y’know I used to be jealous.”
“Same! I mean, she’s dating...”
“Yeah. But then, I mean - is all that worth it? Especially for a guy who’s gonna peace out for six months?”
“He’s not even that cute.”
“Googled his CCPD page. And I swear - I don’t see how the entire city hasn’t figured it out with that jaw and smile.”
“H o n e s t l y. But not everyone’s a journalist.”
What about the majority of ARGUS agents? And the muggers in lockup who’ll tell anyone who’ll listen that this brown-haired ray of sunshine who was so happy to be mugged stopped them with superspeed? And what about Henry Hewitt disclosing to his colleagues that The Flash locked him up and if he goes missing, to call Barry Allen and his friends? And the colleagues of Eliza Harmon who found her research on Velocity after she went missing all of a sudden? What about the baristas at Jitters who’ve had to get used to The Flash speeding in and dropping some cash and taking coffee in the blink of an eye, and who realize that the only time Barry Allen doesn’t pop by for a coffee are the days The Flash speeds through?
It’s not an open secret in the entire city, but you don’t have to be The Thinker to figure it out. You don’t even have to be Tina McGee. So some people know, and some people don’t really know what to do with the knowledge. And some people are just grateful he’s working at their precinct, or grateful that Iris is the one stuck getting kidnapping for a story.
