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Speedsters did best with mild weather. Too hot and it was hard to cool down, especially with how much they were moving all the time. And they ran hot which usually meant they’d feel the cold more. Shivering at super speed could help warm them up but doing it constantly used a lot of energy, which made them more tired which meant they were even more likely to feel the cold. And using that much energy meant they had even more of an appetite than normal. Iris was just glad Central and Keystone had taken it on themselves to look after their heroes. And that Barry had no problems accepting people giving him food. There were fairy tales about brownies and little fairies who would help people out and appreciated gifts of food but as soon as payment was suggested they’d disappear. Flashes worked by the same rules.
The Gem Cities had not had a day this cold for over fifty years.
It had been a long day. Barry had been out the door before Hal or Iris even woke up to start clearing roads for the emergency services. Wally and Jay had been doing the same. Hal had put on about fourteen layers before flying out to help.
Schools were mostly closed. Including the twins’ nursery. Barry still had work. Oliver needed Hal’s help with something so he’d flown over there. And then Iris- who had intended to work from home- had been asked to go into the office because the Flash- Wally- had been fighting Weather Wizard and people were saying he was behind the bad weather.
She was not bringing the twins to work with her.
"I'm almost done," Barry said when she called him. "Don't worry, I'll run home, I will be right there, Wallace is already there, he will be fine for a few minutes. Has he gone to find Wally?"
"Not yet," Iris said. "I think he might be about to."
"Then it's fine, Wallace can watch them, he can find Wally when I get there."
"Are you sure? They are being a handful at the minute. The only thing that doesn't get a 'no' is 'do you want something to eat'."
"They're two, it's normal. Hon, it's fine, Don adores Wallace, he'll just follow him around, if you're that worried ask Bart to help, I will be home in ten minutes at most. I love you."
"I love you too," Iris said. "See you tonight."
Weather Wizard was not behind the bad weather, but he hadn't helped either. Barry had called Iris as soon as he got home- less than ten minutes later- to reassure her Don and Dawn had not talked Wallace and Bart into letting them eat everything in the house, they'd built snowmen instead.
And then Iris had got a phone call from Wally right as she was leaving work asking if Irey and Jai could stay with them for the night because their boiler had just blown and they couldn’t get an engineer out till the morning. Iris had insisted he and Linda come too.
The path up to the house was clear. And there was a snowman by the door with an upside-down pie tray on its head, with lightning bolts glued to it. Iris took a picture to show Jay and Joan when they next saw them.
She opened the door. Inside was warm.
“Hi,” Hal stuck his head out the kitchen door. “I would have picked you up.”
“I think having Green Lantern or Flash pick me up from work too often might be a little suspicious,” Iris said. “Something smells good.”
“Oliver and Dinah sent me back with food. Linda and Wally are in the kitchen. The kids are outside having a snowball fight. I’m not sure if Barry’s watching them or just being pelted with snowballs.”
“They’re going to be starving.”
“We can handle it. The kitchen’s warm.”
“I’ll be right there.”
Cold made speedsters sleepy and hungry. And they’d had busy days. Iris wasn’t surprised Dawn and Don barely made it through dinner before their eyes started closing.
Barry had gone to put them to bed.
That had been half an hour ago and he wasn’t back yet. Bart had gone to see what was going on barely thirty seconds after Barry left and not reappeared. Wally had at least given him fifteen minutes before saying he was going to go see if Barry was okay. Jai and Irey had run after him immediately. Wallace had not been far behind.
None of them had come back.
“I’ll go see what’s taking them so long,” Hal said.
He reappeared a minute later.
“You should come and see this,” he said.
They were not in the twins’ room.
Hal kept a stash of blankets in their closet. He’d often drag one out complaining about how cold Central was and then Barry would end up curled under it too. If it was a way to keep Barry warm when he was definitely having more problems with the temperature than he was admitting it worked. And Dawn and Don each had their favourite blankets in Hal’s stash too. Iris was assuming that Barry had taken them to pick two extra blankets to take to bed with them and then not made it further than the pile that was now on top of their bed. Because Barry was lying down, Dawn and half of Don on him, fast asleep. Bart was tucked into his side, and presumably he’d dragged Wally into this, because one of his hands was still clinging onto Wally. Who had Jai and Irey under each of his arms, hugging him tight. And Wallace must have been pulled down by Don, because Don’s legs were still on Barry, tangled together with Dawn’s, but his tiny arms were wrapped around Wallace as far as they could reach.
“Does that solve our not enough beds problem?” Hal whispered.
“I’ll let Max know Bart’s staying the night,” Iris said. “The spare bed is made up for you, Linda, unless you’re joining the speedster pile.”
“Tempting,” Linda said. “I get the feeling this is going to have a lot of kicking in a minute.”
“Oh, it’s not just Barry who tangles himself in all the covers then phases through the bed with them?” Hal asked.
“No. Are you two okay?”
“We’re fine,” Iris said. “You don’t need to worry about us.”
“Yeah,” Hal said. He put his arm over Iris’ shoulders “Lost my hot water bottle and all my blankets on the coldest day of the year, but I still have Iris and we can find another bed.”
“I’m sure we can keep each other almost as warm as we would with Barry too,” Iris said. “We should let them sleep.”