20 minutes before the end of Chapter 4

Barry, on any normal day would have flashed to his destination, but he didn't come to Star City often, and it was overall just great to see cars go by and wait for the stoplights like any other normal civilian. Even with his jacket zipped up, the evening was slightly chilly, and when Barry tried to stuff his hands into his pockets, he was blocked by: his phone, his room key, and surprisingly his earbuds.

Still walking, he fumbled with pulling out the once accidentally forgotten earbuds. He plugged them into his phone, and stuffed the pieces in his ear. He suddenly stopped at an intersection, along with many other last minute pedestrians. He took this minute to select 'Moon River' from his playlist.

As he waited for the pedestrian walking sign to change, he thought, 'I'm 30 minutes early to what I told Felicity. Maybe I should text her...' Barry took a quick glance at the phone in his hand. 'Hmmm. No, it'll be a surprise!' After that, Barry continued to look at the cars and people, while quietly humming along to 'Moon River'.

The sign changed, and Barry crossed the crosswalk. After that, it was a quick ten minute walk to the bar that Felicity had mentioned earlier.

On the outside it had dark purple tinted windows, but it couldn't hide the music pouring out when the door was opened.

Barry entered, and quickly shuffled out of the way as a two girls, supporting another one in between them, called out "Excuse me!", and left. Barry realized that his earbuds were still in, and he immediately took them out, and pushed them back into his pocket.

The bar wasn't overly crowded, but from Barry's advantage point by the door, it would be clearly difficult to find where his friends were sitting. Barry continued to look around, periodically standing on his tip toes to peer over people's heads. It was while he was doing this, he heard the highly memorable voice of he what recognized as Caitlin in a drunken stupor.

Unfortunately, as quickly as he could hear her beg, "But please!", it was overpowered by the other voices in the bar. Luckily before he lost it, he was able to pinpoint her general direction. He made his way over, and found her, back to him, standing beside the sign up table for karaoke. Barry gave a smile, and decided to make his presence known.

He stood a few feet behind her and called out, "Wait, don't tell me. It's Summer Nights'?"

He heard her gasp, and she turned around giving an overly wide hand gesture, before hugging him. As they separated, Barry noticed the person who was standing beside her.

Cisco cleared his throat. "So, you came." Caitlin noticed Cisco's slightly rude tone, and called out, disapprovingly, "Cisco." But Barry interrupted her, "Yeah, I decided to come. It was kinda dull in the hotel, you know?" Barry tried to keep his voice light, but you could clearly hear the discomfort in it. Barry looked around, avoiding Cisco's eyes. After a few painful seconds of silence Barry speaks up.

"So you're doing karaoke? I didn't know you liked to s-"

"Yeah, well it seems like you don't know a lot of things. But apparently -" Caitlin tried to quickly intercept Cisco again, but the damage was done. "- you know how to be inconsiderate, and overall thoughtless. Maybe if you thought more, you would pay attention to what happens to other people."

Cisco hadn't raised his voice, but it was suddenly the only thing that Barry could hear. He didn't hear Caitlin reprimand Cisco right after. All he noticed was when he suddenly stumbled back a bit. Barry regained his footing, and noticed that Cisco had given him a little shove. The small shove drew attention, and a few tables and people in line began to stare at them.

All three of them noticed that they were drawing unwanted attention, and Cisco hastily took a step back. Barry and Cisco were facing each other, and Caitlin stood in between them, holding her hands up. She began saying things like, "Guys, now wouldn't be the best time. Cisco, there was no reason for you to push Barry. Barry, calm down. Cisco isn't going to push you again."

It was then that Barry realized that he was holding himself in his 'Flash self-defense position'. He tried to release his tense muscles, but he just wound himself up more. His hands were in loose fists, and he scratching his palms with his fingernails.

Barry could see Caitlyn frown at him. She looked him in the eyes and gave a soft smile. She, then turned to Cisco and said, not harshly, but not as softly as would have normally. "You, both, need to calm down. You know, chill."

"Says the the woman with ice powers." Even though the words weren't directed at him, Barry could physically feel the impact of them. Caitlin, of course, felt it worse. She physically took a step back as if stunned. However it gave Barry a moment of satisfaction as he saw the spark of shame in his best friends eye's. But like all sparks, it was gone just a soon as it had come.

"Cisco, look don't drag her into-"

"Into what?" Cisco raised his eyebrows, and with their female friend not separating them anymore, Cisco took a step towards Barry. "That's something she should be saying you! Something we should all be saying! In fact, probably all of Central City, Oliver, Felicity, Team Arrow, The Legends, maybe even your friend, who was it-" Cisco made quotation marks around the name. "-'Supergirl'. We were all dragged into your mess! Maybe you should learn to stop messing with things, and take responsibly for your actions."

With every word, Cisco had forced Barry backwards. Barry eventually bumped into a table, luckily it was empty. Unfortunately, the area around them wasn't. With the rising threat in every word, a crowd had began to gather around them. The music was still going, but with everyone quiet around them, the music didn't seem as loud as it had previously seemed.

Barry had a flashback to when he was younger. To when he would skip the last minutes of school to see if he could go talk with his dad at Iron Heights. He remembered how when he was running to get there, a group of kids, a year older than them, would follow him. After they found out about his life, they would chase him down and push him or call him names. Barry remembered his dad telling him to stand up for himself.

But he was never good with confrontations.

He was still the geeky nerd. Shy and wanting to be accepted by everyone.

Barry took a shaky deep breath. He looked at Cisco, who was being held back by Caitlin. "You're right. I don't know the consequences. I'm sorry."

Barry was gone before anyone noticed.

He didn't use his speed, but with the nerves sparking his brain, there was nothing else to do.

The only thing that he left behind was Cisco, Caitlin, and the crowd. And the little bell of the door.

'I knew it. I should have stayed at the hotel. What was I thinking?'

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Hello guys!

I just wanted to say thank you for the support with everything so far! If you guys would like to help me with the story, and suggesting what sorts of 'darker themes' you want me to do, then please go to my fanfiction.net profile (Username: OnlyEscape). There will be a poll, and I would be super grateful if you guys filled it out!

Thanks again for your amazing support!

-OnlyEscape

Edit: I want to thank my new Beta: Nindragon! (They can be found on Fanficiton.net with the same username) You're amazing, and I'm super grateful for everything that you have done so far, and will do in the future!