⊱ ──────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ──────── ⊰

𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗧𝗘 𝗢𝗙 𝗚𝗥𝗔𝗖𝗘

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
barry's being weird

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THE LAST THING Juliet wanted to do was be dragged on a double date between Iris and Eddie and Barry and Linda and be a fifth wheel, but she also didn't want to be alone.

Turns out, she ended up being alone. Juliet laid on her couch in her apartment, her cheek in the palm of her hand. A box of pizza was in front of her, and she was eating it as she watched Cinderella — the original version from the 50's. Don't ask why she was watching it, she just was.

Suddenly, her phone rang. Juliet paused her movie and set down her pizza crust in the box. She looked to see that it was Cisco calling. Juliet answered.

"What's up?" Juliet asked.

"There's a silent alarm that's been tripped at the Central City Morgue," Cisco revealed.

Juliet's eyebrows knit in confusion. "Who the fuck would want to rob a morgue?"

"Exactly what Dr. Wells said. Well, minus the curses. Barry'll probably meet you there."

She hung up the phone. Juliet discarded her dinner and movie and teleported away from her apartment. She teleported into her suit back at S.T.A.R. Labs before going to the morgue. Juliet appeared in a room, and Barry sped in next to her. She gave him a fleeting smile, but Barry looked like he had just seen a ghost. Juliet momentarily shook it off, reminding herself to ask about it later. The two of them wandered further into the room. Her heart instantly sank at the sight of the coroner, dead on the ground.

"What's going on?" Cisco asked. "What do you see?"

Barry didn't answer. He seemed speechless for some reason.

"Barry?" Cisco urged. "JJ?"

"The coroner's dead," Juliet answered.

The two superheroes went away for a moment when they noticed police sirens coming. They put their suits back at S.T.A.R. Labs and reappeared at the crime scene, both with coffees and their CSI cases. Juliet frowned as she noticed Barry stop in his tracks and get shouldered by a walking officer. He seemed awfully . . . jumpy.

"Hey, Barr, Jules," Joe began. "What's with all the water? Did the sprinkler system go off or something?"

"What?" Barry questioned as Juliet went to respond. "No, I checked the sprinklers. They're all intact. But the water has ice in it." He walked over to the dead body. "And the bruises on the coroner aren't just on his face. Check — look at his torso."

Juliet crossed her arms. "Wow, way to steal my thunder on explaining everything."

Nevertheless, Joe knelt down and lifted up the coroner's scrubs. Sure enough, there were multiple bruises, each the size of a tennis ball, littered across his torso.

"Woah," Joe commented. "How the hell did you know that?"

"He was killed by hail," Barry answered. "We have to listen to the recording."

"Recording?" Juliet repeated in confusion. "What recording?"

"Joe, we got something," Eddie announced, walking up with a device in his hand. "The coroner's office just installed an automated dictation system. Listen to this."

"Please, no more," a voice begged on the recording, presumably the coroner.

"I'll stop when you tell me," a deeper voice stated.

"S-S-Stop."

"Who killed him?"

"That's Mark Mardon," Barry revealed, looking at Joe. "He wants revenge."

The coroner then started screaming from Mardon killing him. Juliet took a deep breath and glanced at Joe worryingly. If Mardon knew that Joe killed his brother, and he was still out there . . . this was not good. This was really not good. And also, she couldn't help but notice that Barry was still extremely on-edge. How did he know all of this already?

Juliet and Barry went back to S.T.A.R. Labs. They explained to the team what was going on as they had Mark and Clyde Mardon's mugshots pulled up on the screen.

"So Clyde Mardon has a brother?" Caitlin inquired.

"So, both brothers survived the plane crash, and then the dark matter released from the Particle Accelerator explosion affects them both in virtually the same way," Dr. Wells added.

"Virtually the same way," Barry said at the exact same time Dr. Wells did, making Juliet stare at him.

Dr. Wells looked at him. "That's right."

"Only Mark's not like Clyde at all. He can do things that you couldn't even imagine."

"You mean he's sort of like a—" Cisco began.

"Weather Wizard?" Barry and Cisco chorused together.

Juliet had no idea what was going on.

Cisco gave Barry a weird look. "Yeah." He then took a sip of his slushie and winced. "Mm!"

"Trigeminal headache?" Barry and Caitlin inquired together.

"What the fuck?" Juliet muttered to herself.

"Mr. Allen," Dr. Wells voiced. "A word, please."

"Yeah," Barry responded.

The two of them went into the treadmill room, shutting the door behind them to not be overheard. Juliet, still awfully confused, turned to see Cisco still wincing at his brain freeze.

"Drink it slower, maybe," Juliet suggested.

Cisco playfully glared at her. "Yeah, thanks."

A couple of moments later, Barry and Dr. Wells emerged out of the treadmill room. Juliet looked over at them. However, once Barry set his eyes on her, he flushed a deep shade of red and averted his gaze. She tilted her head at him and slightly frowned.

"Are you done acting weird, or what?" Juliet asked. "We have to get back to the CCPD."

Barry jumped at her voice. "Huh? Oh — oh, yeah."

He then quickly walked out of the cortex.

Juliet followed after him, staring at his retreating figure. "Okay?"

They went back to the CCPD together. Once they entered the precinct, they saw Captain Singh in his office, talking animatedly to Joe and Eddie. Barry seemed stuck while he stared at Captain Singh until Juliet elbowed him and gave him a concerned look.

"What's going on with you?" Juliet questioned.

"N-Nothing," Barry replied.

"It's not nothing. Barry, you can talk to me, you know that, right?"

Captain Singh then opened the door to his office. Joe was the first to leave, and he saw them immediately.

"Hey," Joe greeted.

"Hey," Barry said quietly.

He leaned in closer to Barry as they started to walk. "What's going on with you? How'd you figure all that stuff out at the morgue?"

"Lucky guesses, I guess."

"Look, I'm telling you, I'm gonna get Mardon if it kills me."

Barry looked down at the ground. "Joe, um . . ." He hesitated for a moment. "I gotta run an errand. I'll see you later, all right?"

Juliet frowned. "Barry—"

"I'll be right back, J. Promise."

He then walked off. Juliet and Joe still continued to stand there, both very lost.

"He's acting so weird," Joe stated.

"I know," Juliet agreed. "And he's been jumpy around me all day. Not sure why."

"Did something happen between you two?"

Juliet shook her head. "Not that I can remember. I mean, we were totally fine yesterday, and then all of the sudden he won't even look at me."

She suddenly got a text. Apparently, Barry had found Mardon out of nowhere and had brought him back to S.T.A.R. Labs. Juliet instantly went there and teleported down to the pipeline, where sure enough, Barry was putting Mark Mardon away in a cell. Caitlin, Cisco, and Dr. Wells were all watching.

Juliet crossed her arms and walked forwards to stand next to Caitlin. Her eyes flickered from Barry's figure to Mardon's. How exactly did Barry know where Mardon was? And why didn't he actually tell her where he was going instead of coming up with some lame-ass excuse about an errand?

In short, Juliet was totally fucking confused.

"I'm gonna break out of here," Mardon threatened. "I'm gonna create a tidal wave that destroys your entire city!"

Barry turned his back on Mardon and pulled his hood down as Cisco shut the door to the Particle Accelerator. Juliet looked at Barry, and their eyes met again. Just like head been doing all day, Barry quickly averted his gaze back down to the ground. Juliet frowned and felt her heart sink.

"So, I still don't understand," Cisco admitted. "How did you find him?"

"Uh, I just had a hunch," Barry responded.

"That's gotta be some kind of record," Caitlin voiced.

Cisco let out a laugh. "Yeah." He turned around and started to walk out of the pipeline. "Well, there goes my excuse for bailing on my brother's birthday."

Juliet glanced back at Barry for a moment before walking away. She had promised Iris to visit her at work later, due to Iris' begging because she hadn't visited the CCPN at all. Juliet teleported out of the pipeline and went to Jitters, grabbing both of their favorite coffees before heading over to Iris' work.

She opened up the door and entered, glancing around. The room was bright with its white walls and red accents. There was an upper portion of the room with a long table, most likely where important meetings were held. Desks were scattered across the room with computers. Multiple reporters were milling around, and Juliet only glanced for a moment before finding her best friend.

"Hello, my favorite human being in the world," Juliet greeted, setting Iris' coffee down on her desk.

Iris looked up at her with a smile. "I thought that was Barry's title."

"No, it's you. It's always been you."

Iris' eyebrows knit together as she picked up her cup of coffee. "You're acting weird."

"I'm acting weird?" Juliet questioned incredulously. "Well, maybe you should see our other best friend. He's the one you should be saying that to."

"I haven't talked to him yet today." Iris let out a small laugh at Juliet's antics. "What's he doing?"

"He's acting all antsy around me. He won't even look at me without averting his gaze to the floor. I don't know what that means."

"Maybe he's finally realized his feelings for you?" Iris guessed, a small smirk on his face.

"Don't get my hopes up, 'Ris."

Iris then looked over Juliet's shoulder. "Speak of the devil."

Juliet turned her head around and let out a sigh. Sure enough, Barry was running — normally — into CPPN, seemingly out of breath. He went straight over to Linda, and the two of them started to talk.

She looked back at Iris. "He's making me want to slam my head against the wall."

"Doesn't Barry normally make you feel like that?" Iris inquired, a teasing tone to her voice.

Juliet playfully narrowed her eyes at her. "You are being absolutely no help."

"I can't help when I don't know what's wrong with him either. Maybe when I finish up work and he's free, I can try and see what's going on? If I'm right, which I probably am, he's come to his senses and realized you're the one he wants."

"You're playing the love doctor right now."

Iris shrugged. "Don't hate the player, hate the game." She looked back at her computer screen. "Let me finish typing up this article and we can talk more."

Juliet took a quick glance at her article, which was titled The Flash and Scarlet. Speeding and Materializing Their Way Into Our Lives. Juliet got a small smile on her face from it before looking back over her shoulder, just in time to see Linda kiss Barry's cheek. She let out a breath and looked away, not really wanting to feel the sinking of her heart any longer. Juliet had honestly had enough today.

A man then came up and stood besides Juliet, looking at Iris' screen. "The Flash and Scarlet, speeding and materializing their way into our lives. It's a little bit on the nose, don't you think? I have something to show you." The man rounded around Iris' desk and sat on it, pulling a picture of Simon Stagg out of his folder. "Simon Stagg, remember him? Hasn't been heard from in nearly a year."

"Hey, Iris," Barry suddenly said, and Juliet looked over to see he had left Linda. "Hi . . . J. Mr. Bridge, hi."

Juliet raised an eyebrow. This was Mason Bridge? And how did Barry know that?

Mason stared at Barry. "Do I know you?"

"Oh, no, we haven't met yet, fully, you know, um . . ." Barry began. He then turned to Juliet and actually looked at her full-on for the first time that day, making her blink in shock. "J, can I talk to you for a second?"

Juliet shared a quick look with Iris. Iris gave a small twitch in her eyebrow, which told Juliet she was saying go on, what are you waiting for? Juliet looked back at Barry, letting out a deep breath.

She placed a smile on her face. "Yeah. Sure. I'll be right back, 'Ris."

"'Kay, see you in a sec," Iris replied. "Bye, Barry."

"Nice meeting you, strange young man," Mason told Barry.

Juliet put her hands in her coat pockets as Barry and her left the CCPN to go talk outside. There was a new sort of tension between them, mostly from Barry's side because he was acting so damn strange.

"So . . ." Juliet trailed off. "How are you and Linda doing?"

"Oh, that's over," Barry answered, sounding quite casual about it.

Juliet's eyes slightly widened. "Oh God, Barry, I'm so sorry."

"It's okay. We're gonna be friends, which is just . . . awesome. Um, anyways, are you — are you, uh, free tomorrow? We can go to Jitters, and get coffee, and just talk about stuff rolling around in our . . . heads?"

She stopped on the sidewalk, staring at him weirdly. "Okay, you were acting weird already today, but that was really strange. Are you feeling all right?"

"I'm fine," Barry rushed out. "Just . . . coffee?"

Juliet let out a small laugh. "Yes, we can go get coffee tomorrow. Sounds great."

"Great! I mean, great. Uh, all right, I'll see you."

Barry then took off — once again, not running at super speed, but walking quite fast. Juliet watched as he weaved in between people, her head tilting in curiosity.

She shook her head. "So fucking weird."

〖   ϟ   〗

I WARNED Y'ALL THAT BARRY GOES BACK IN TIME I SAID IT LIKE TWO CHAPTERS AGO SO DON'T YELL AT ME OKAY

anyways

short chapter ftw

I LOVE JULIET AND IRIS

also LET'S TALK ABOUT THIS

zcndayas made this BEAUTIFUL gif banner :) I'm gonna start putting it at the end of all the upcoming chapters <3 THANK YOU GEORGIE MWAH