No one saw it coming (HalBarry)

1

Sebastian doesn't know that Barry is The Flash.

Sebastian Smythe had always been careful. Way too careful. He'd shut down projects if there was a slight error in them. He'd cut off people if he found even the hint of a flawed relation. He'd changed cities if he found crimes increase even by a minute percent. If Cisco would have cared to notice this detail, he'd have referenced Mad-Eye Moody and yelled "Constant vigilance!" every time the man came around.

So, naturally, Sebastian was shocked out of his wits when he saw his brother chatting casually at the CCPD with a complete, utter stranger. He had just dropped by in the afternoon to pick his older twin up for lunch as a surprise, but the situation had been reversed.

Both the cheery men had coffee mugs in their hands, sipping on the CCPD's subpar beverage. Barry didn't even seem to notice what was going into his mouth. That shook Sebastian even more. His brother always complained about CCPD's crappy coffee.

This was unnatural and suspicious, no matter how he saw it.

He pushed down the squiggly feeling in the pit of his stomach (definitely not jealousy, he convinced himself) and made to walk slowly towards the both of them, trying to appear nonchalant.

As he inched closer, he caught snatches of their conversation.

"... still planning? What more is there to plan about?" Barry laughed and shook his head as if finding something amusedly unbelievable. Which he probably did.

The other man groaned, burying his eyes in the palm of his hand. "Don't you say that. I'm still a functional human being, Corps member or not. Living conditions suddenly became so much harder ever since."

Barry shrugged, taking another shocking sip of the coffee that would have made him gag under different circumstances. (Sebastian concluded that CCPD had started putting drugs into the coffee machine). "Why not just stick with the air force?" Barry asked.

The other man rolled his vivid brown eyes. His hair was equally brown, but in no manner silky or well-maintained, and that, Sebastian told himself, was the mark of a criminal.

"Do you think I'd be able to handle two heavy duty jobs at once, Barry?" he laughed. His own coffee cup was very close to getting discarded onto some poor man's unlucky shirt, but that wasn't a worry right now. "Can't be a patrolling officer and a fighter pilot at once."

Barry hummed in agreement.

It was then that Sebastian decided to make his presence known. "Barr," he greeted him, although it had lost most of the initial energy he had intended to put into it. Barry's eyes lit up like a dozen Christmas trees, though.

"Hey! What a surprise!" he exclaimed, and Sebastian's heart melted a little. No wonder Barry was so easily fooled by strangers (like this wicked brown-eyed muscular monster right here, he added under a suspicious cough). "Er, who's your new friend?" he enquired.

Barry grinned. "Yeah, he's a friend alright," he nudged the similar-heighted man. He was nearly twice the size of either Barry or Sebastian in girth, yet didn't look like he could hurt a fly. Both of the 'friends' shared a laugh at the apparent inside joke. "Bas, I'd like you to meet Hal Jordan, he's a friend I met around a week ago. Hal, this is the annoying twin brother I was talking about, Sebastian Smythe. Fashion diva and smug singer but has the biggest heart in the mul- universe. Also, he's the younger twin."

Sebastian just rolled his eyes.

Hal held out his hand, which Sebastian shook elegantly, despite being dressed as anything but. For that very day, he had wanted to humour Barry and worn 'casual clothes' as his twin put it.

"Barry doesn't stop about you," Hal grinned toothily. Sebastian looked down his nose. "Funny, he never mentioned you, not within the twelve times we chatted this week."

Barry grew flustered as he avoided his gaze. "Ah... I forgot."

Hal looked once at Barry. Some realisation must have clicked into place because he covered for Barry. "He was busy with me the whole week," he explained. "My neighbour had met with a ghastly accident, he had to investigate with Detective Addie. Really sorry for eating up your attention."

Sebastian scowled. This man was annoyingly nice.

"So," Sebastian continued, "You were a fighter pilot. What are you up to these days?"

At this sudden question, both Barry and Hal suddenly became very interested in the tiles and the walls around them. This was another sign- Hal Jordan was certainly involved in drug-dealing.

"I- uh, lost my job at the air force," Hal sheepishly ruffled the back of his hair. "I went a bit too... excited. And delved into fantasy. Too much. The flying got my head filled with sci-fi stories. Absolutely nothing abnormal, though."

A nerve was twitching in Barry's temple as he nudged his friend yet again. "He gets it," he said through gritted teeth. Turning to Sebastian, he smiled, so saccharine that a plastic doll would have looked more alive.

"He's earning here and there from doing odd jobs now," Barry filled in. "Not very specific or major, but he's embarrassed about sharing it, so..." he trailed off.

Oh Barry, Sebastian thought. Did his brother not get the slightest hint that this 'odd jobs' is actually something very illegal? He was supposed to be the CSI! Intuitive and inquisitive!

Still, Sebastian wanted to make careful moves with this Hal character. Once he had gotten his brother far away enough from him, he'd advise him to avoid him. Then perhaps Barry would see sense. Plan thus set in mind, he grabbed Barry by wrapping an arm around his back to clutch his shoulder. "So... I was thinking pizzas for lunch. My treat," he smiled, displaying the same intensity of artificiality as Barry. His twin flinched and obviously detected that something was wrong.

"Yeah, I'll come," he said, and waved Hal goodbye. "You can find your way back, right?" he asked. Hal gave a double thumbs-up. "Go enjoy your lunch date," he winked.

Sebastian steered his brother away.

****

"What? No, no, you've got it completely wrong," Barry protested. "Hal isn't a bad guy. I know the nature of his work, I've seen it up close, and he's doing good!"

"Doing good?" Sebastian laughed, sarcastic enough to throw his brother back in whiplash. "Doing good with what? Odd jobs?"

Barry couldn't say a thing.

Sebastian narrowed his eyes. "But if you claim to know him so well after just a week, then tell me. What does he do?"

Barry became flustered the second time that day, stammering to come up with something convincing. "H-he, uh... he walks dogs, and... and caught a pickpocket the other day! And sometimes, he... he kinda- he really likes cooking, so he, uh, sort of does... cooking... stuff..."

"Cooking stuff." Sebastian raised an aristocratic Smythe Eyebrow(TM).

Barry scratched the back of his head, nodding.

Sebastian stood up all of a sudden, scraping the back of his chair really hard against the floor of the restaurant. "Have fun, Barry."

He stepped out into the staircase of the building in a rush, because a thought had suddenly struck him.

What if Barry had got himself involved too...?

Barry was hot on his heels.

Sebastian stepped outside the doors.

Barry, just a few metres away.

His brother was so withing grasp of his fingers.

"Bas-!" he cried, extending his arm.

A car stopped by, gagged and pulled Sebastian in, and whisked the vehicle away.