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Blinking, Bruce wonders to himself for a moment if Ivy’s current pollen has hallucinations as a side effect before looking to his right and seeing that Flash is still there with him.
He squints a moment- well… he supposes if he’s hallucinating he could have hallucinated Barry being there with him in this room of people he knows about from the files on his computer in space (?) according to the window instead of where Barry was next to him fretting whilst in the cave about to administer the antidote.
But he digresses…. What was he saying?
He looks around to match everyone to his files and notices the wrinkles of Queen’s face.
The wrinkles he doesn’t have.
Hm.
He also notices a weird… thing on the table. What’s the word?
Artifact. Yeah. That!
Anyways…
Spacing back in, he recognizes a lot of people talking at once.
Superman seems to be arguing with Wonder Woman who seems to be flustered and looking back and forth between the artifact and them- him and Barry.
Barry is inching closer to him, while ignoring everyone else wondering what’s going on, especially Green Arrow and Green Lantern trying to talk to the speedster about how he’s feeling and what he thinks the big bright light meant.
Finally meeting him, Barry looks him up and down in concern, “Usually you have a plan by now- are you okay?”
Everyone falls into silence to witness the reaction.
Bruce blinks again, “I’ll be honest, F,” a few look shocked at the familiarity, “According to Queen’s wrinkles we’re currently in the future,” an offended ‘hey’ barely phases him, “And I think it’s more of a time switch thing then a de-aging thing, mostly because I am just… super high right now. Like super high. And usually de-aging would like uh, burn that up? Or something I forgot the word… words. Whatever. Anyways, I’m going to sit down,” he pushes his cape back to carefully sit on the ground crisscross like a child before looking up at Barry again who's looking at him unimpressed with his hand on his hip.
Giving him a smile and a thumbs up, “I believe in you, F!”
Everyone but Barry stares at him for some reason in disbelief or something- not that he cares. Barry is in charge and he’s sick and that means he doesn’t have to worry about it cause Barry will protect him.
Barry just looks at the ceiling and mumbles to himself something that makes Superman take a step back and Bruce snicker to himself.
Bruce slowly blinks and when he opens them he’s on a chair with blankets around him and water in his hand.
Smiling big at Barry, he says, “Thank you!” before trying to chug the whole cup, which Barry takes away just as quickly.
He pouts at him and gives him gimme hands, “Give it back. You can’t be mean to me. I’m sick. I took care of you when you were sick”
Barry just rolls his eyes and hands the water back, sternly saying, “ Sip . Do not chug. And when I was sick you had your kid make me ten cans of chicken noodle soup in a gumbo pot while you hunted and cooked squirrels in the backyard.”
Bruce looks up at him and slurps obnoxiously as Barry scowls at him.
“You know I’m not allowed in the kitchen, and Agent A was out of the country. I don’t know what else you expected. You still ate it all.”
“Of course I ate it all- you looked like you were a child showing off an art project- I couldn’t just say no -”
“I’m sorry- can someone explain what the fuck is going on?” Green Lantern interrupts annoyingly.
“You’re green and annoyin-” Barry gently covers his mouth before continuing, “Obviously whatever artifact I assume Wonder Woman brought in made us switch with our past selves.” He commands before squawking in disgust at Bruce licking his hand.
Wonder Woman looks at them absolutely flabbergasted and even more flustered as everyone looks at her with narrowed eyes, “It’s 2014, but that’s- well! I didn’t think it would affect anybody on the team- it only reacts if two or more people in its radius are… family,” she finishes with a blush.
Everyone’s gaze moves towards them again just as Bruce takes Barry’s hand to help him push his rolly chair in a circle.
Barry just looks tired if fond.
“And then it made us go back in time 7 years… because?”
“6 years,” Bruce corrects absently while playing with Barry’s hand.
Barry just looks at him confused, before understanding dawns on him, “B, we must be at different time periods. I’m in March 2007.”
Bruce’s eyes widen before he smirks smugly, “August 2008. I’m older than you.”
Flash just rolls his eyes fondly, “Seriously? That’s what you’re getting from this? What did the drug do to you?” He finishes a little concerned.
Bruce just looks up at him happily, “It was Ivy. The pollen uh makes your emotions and thoughts simpler but also stronger- like a kid’s. Robin wanted to name it Kid Pollen but that sounds like it’s turning you into a kid instead of just giving you a child mindset. Also he can’t just name everything after Kid Flash. It simply won’t work out in the long run and it’ll give him a bad rap... What was I saying? Oh yeah we were in the cave and you were taking care of me and were about to give me the antidote before I blinked and now we’re here!”
Barry’s eyes soften in extreme fondness before focusing back on the others in the group.
“Why did it age us to different times?”
Wonder Woman steps forward still embarrassed but also filled with curiosity looking between the two of them, “Well… it seems to depend on the familial connection you have. If it’s romantic in nature then-”
“No.” They both answer in tandem with scrunched up noses which makes a few people snort.
Wonder Woman huffs a small laugh. “If it’s romantic in nature- it would bring you to the first time you both felt strong love for each other at the same time. A first kiss, first time holding hands, a sacrifice, etc. Obviously not what’s happening now.”
They both nod surely.
“If it’s through blood…?” She trails off questioningly looking between them.
They both shake their heads no.
She hums to herself. “If it’s through blood, it brings them to a time where they had their favorite memory of the other. So they could possibly be in different time periods.”
Barry looks at Bruce who looks at him before they both look at her to continue. Barry sits down on the arm of Bruce’s chair.
“If it’s a family of choice-” They both perk up a bit which everyone else notices with amusement, “It brings you to the time where you recognize that you’re family with complete surety.”
They both look at each other in confusion.
“We’d only been talking for a few months in March 2007?” Bruce trails off while staring at Barry’s slowly reddening face.
He just shrugs a little self-consciously while looking away.
Green Lantern takes a step closer- probably in instinct to comfort -but quickly backs away when Bruce hisses at him and pulls Barry closer.
They pretend they don’t hear Superman’s instinctive coo at the action.
Barry loosens up though with a small smile towards Bruce, “Today the five of us- us, Retina, and the kids, we’re having a movie marathon and we were watching Onward and you started tearing up a little at the end when the older brother got to talk to his dad one last time and I’d just put my arm around you cause nobody else was paying attention and you didn't say anything but you melted a little bit and it was sad but also very adorable and I thought– huh is this what having a little brother is like?”
They both blushed a little as everyone seemed to coo a little and hold their breath on Bruce’s story next.
Not making eye contact with anybody, “I got hit with Ivy’s pollen and I took her down of course, but I knew grappling wasn’t a good idea. I called you and you grabbed me and sent the kids upstairs to sleep and started working on the antidote and I felt like I didn’t have to focus very hard on not letting the symptoms show cause I knew you’d be there to protect me and then right before you were about to give me the antidote I’d said thanks and you just answered distractedly ‘Of course! Anything for my little brother-’ and I was all like ‘oh that’s what that is’ and then I was here.”
The room falls into a silence before Barry leans over to wrap his arm around him again and kiss him on the cheek, “You’re adorable. You’re the cutest little brother in the world. You’re the- hey!” Barry squawks from the ground where Bruce pushed him.
Looking anywhere but at anybody else, Bruce glowers, “You’re embarrassing. Shut up.” But when Barry flashes back to sit on the arm of the chair again Bruce doesn’t do anything but slightly lean against him.
“How do we fix it?” Bruce asks kind of demandingly but still also kind of high.
“Actually- pause on that- I recognize most of you from B’s files but what are we even doing here? Like obviously this is a cape group. But we usually have our hands full with our own cities.”
Green Arrow starts to say something before being cut off by Bruce, “Well it has been a few years. The kids are older and probably help, too.”
Barry just nods unsurely, “I mean yeah but it feels weird to be in a big group of people who don’t even know how well we know each other when you’re the only person I’m used to working with.”
Bruce just shrugs airily, “The world was probably ending or something and we all joined forces to save it. It has been a while. It’s not like the kids need to be watched for all hours of the day anymore- oh my god have the kids married yet?”
“That’s true I suppose- and I’m not sure. I guess it depends if it’s summer or not….”
Green Arrow, annoyed with being interrupted, “Great. Now that that’s sorted with. I wasn’t even aware you had kids. We thought we were all strangers to each other before we joined a few months ago. Why didn’t you tell us?”
“If we didn’t tell you there was probably a reason,” Bruce shrugs absently while Barry glares at them all sternly.
“I’m probably part of the reason. I don’t trust any of you.”
Everyone looks slightly taken aback while Bruce just huffs in annoyance, “I. Am. Not. Cursed.”
Barry just looks at him in pity, “Sure you aren’t, hun. All of your friends becoming villains is just a coincidence not to worry about.”
“I’m going to poison your next meal.”
Barry just looks away wistfully, “I probably wouldn’t even notice with how fast I eat, too.”
Green Lantern just mumbles, “I can’t believe Flash is the paranoid one in this situation…”
Superman steps forwards calmingly, “We will absolutely be having a talk about this when you two are back to normal-”
“-Probably not-”
“-Unlikely-”
Superman’s eye twitches in annoyance, “-but in the meantime, we should figure out how to get this back to normal,” he finishes with a look towards Wonder Woman who just awkwardly shrugs.
“They just have to be on the same page and hug. They’ve already got the talking down so hug it is. It’s not that big of a deal.”
Everyone just stares at her before staring at them.
Barry just blinks. “That’s it? A hug? Not like revealing deep secrets or any invasive medical practices?”
Wonder Woman just furrows her brows in confusion, “What?”
“No seriously- like it’s usually way more complicated- what do you mean ‘on the same page’? Like if we were upset with each other? Do people recognize that they’re family in a moment of anger and have to like duel it out? What if it was like a Luke and Leia moment where they kissed and then realized that they were actually family like that’s so gross this could be so controversial on what ‘on the same page’ could require-”
Bruce pulls Barry from the arm of the chair into his lap so he could hug him with a smile hidden into his brother’s chest before blinking once again in confusion.
Looking up at his team looking at him and Barry (in his lap also looking around in confusion) in amusement and also confusion (everyone looks very confused for one reason or another), he pushes his brother off onto the floor before staring at everyone unimpressed.
Ignoring the ‘ow’ from the ground, he glares at the woman who said she needed help with an artifact just a moment ago, “Diana, what the hell did you do and how did I get in this chair?”