This is probably going to be pretty OOC but it's an idea that got stuck in my head after the crossover episodes. Might continue it or might leave it at a two-shot, so let me know what you think. Not nearly as well written as my other story, but if you're a sucker for hurt/comfort like me than you might like it anyway : P Let me know what you think! TRIGGER WARNING: um, torture? Kind of? Not sure, just don't want to accidentally set anyone off. PM me if you need to know specifics before reading.

Barry hates training sessions with Oliver.

Sometimes it's fine. They talk some strategy, Oliver shoots off a couple arrows, Barry runs. Sometimes it's exhausting. Oliver's taken a liking to Cisco's treadmill. Barry runs until he's sick, runs until he flies off the thing, runs until he can't go any faster. And then there's, you know, the times that Oliver shoots him full of arrows.

But he can't stop training with him, because he asked for this. And it's that stupid little look on Oliver's face, that one that says, we can quit anytime you want. So Barry gets back up, shows up to practice, and prays that Oliver's decided to be nice that day.

But today? Today he is exhausted before he even shows up. It was a robbery down town, nothing difficult or dangerous, but he had spent the night awake working on some last minute case files and he was halfway across town when it happened. He was still eating a sandwich when he met Oliver at the field, late, of course.

"What have you eaten today?" Oliver asked.

"Not enough," Barry said, finishing the sandwich. He was still starving.

"Good."

And that was all it took for Barry to figure out which kind of day it was going to be this time.

Oliver walked away from the old house, picking up his bow.

"So, what is it today?" Barry asked, rubbing his hands together.

"I'm going to shoot you in the leg," Oliver said.

"Um, what?"

"I'm going to shoot you in the leg."

He pulled back the bow.

The arrow came at him, but Barry moved, sideways, and it flew right by.

"And," Oliver said, "You're going to let me."

"And why exactly would I do that?"

"Because you rely too much on your running."

"Yeah, 'cause that's kind of my whole thing."

Oliver let another arrow loose. Barry dodged it again, then took a step back.

"You're speed affects your entire body. You need to learn to use it. Now stop moving."

Oliver notched another arrow.

"You're insane."

"You've said that before."

"I'm not letting you shoot me in the leg."

Oliver lowered his bow for a second. "You're just making this harder for yourself."

"How is this –" Barry cut off as something sliced through his leg. He screamed, falling to the ground on one knee. He stared down at the head of an arrow, poking out through the muscle of his calf.

Pain shot up his body and he stared down, his eyes shot wide. No matter how many times he did that, he would never get used to seeing arrows sticking out of his limbs, much less right through them.

"And you didn't case your surroundings again."

Oliver walked up to him while Barry stared at the arrow.

"First step," Oliver said, kneeling down next to him, "Is to stay focused. You got that, Barry, stay with me. You're going into shock. Look up."

Barry's head jerked upwards at the harsh command, but Oliver's face was calm.

"Focus," he said, "you'll heal."

Oliver snapped off the head of the arrow, leaving the shaft inside his leg. Barry screamed.

"Alright, stand up," Oliver said.

Barry gripped the other end of the arrow shaft, prepared to pull it out.

Oliver had the bow up in a second, and shot at his hand. Barry jerked it back, the arrow skimming his fingers and grazing two of them.

"Not yet," Oliver said.

"You're insane," Barry said, "It'll heal inside me."

"No it won't," Oliver said, taking a couple steps back. "Let's try this again." He raised the bow. Barry rolled out of the way as Oliver shot off an arrow. His leg screamed, crumpling beneath him. "I didn't sever the tendons, Barry, you can stand," Oliver said, releasing another arrow. This one grazed his shoulder, slicing through his shirt and skin painfully. Great. So Oliver wasn't trying to impale him anymore, just hurt him. The next arrow tore through his jeans and bit at his ankle.

"Next one's going through something," Oliver said. Scratch that, apparently he was still trying to skewer him.

Barry had no choice but to heave himself up, yelling in pain, just as Oliver released another arrow. He turned and it went right by him. Barry ran towards Oliver with the intention of grabbing the bow, but two yards in his leg crumpled and he fell to the ground, screaming.

"Didn't say you'd be able to run," Oliver said.

This was impossible. He was insane. And his leg fricking hurt. To hell with Oliver, his leg definitely was freaking healing around that arrow.

But then another arrow was hurtling towards him, and he had to push himself out of the way, and then get up. Every time he went down, Oliver aimed at his feet, so he was forced to get back up or get shot.

Barry stood in place. Oliver shot an arrow, then another, then another, and it was then that Barry started to notice a pattern. Barry could dodge them fine, he had plenty of time to either get out of the way or catch them. He didn't have to run out of the way. He could just stand there and Oliver couldn't hit him.

Except it was exhausting. Oliver fired shot after shot and Barry was constantly moving, adjusting, and shifting his weight, causing his injured leg to protest every few seconds. Damn was he going to kill Oliver later.

When Oliver finally put down the bow, out of arrows, Barry let himself sink to the ground, panting.

"That was good," Oliver said, kneeling down, "Now this is going to hurt."

Barry didn't even have time to register the words before Oliver yanked the arrow out of his leg.

Barry screamed, then panted, clutching at his leg. His jeans were soaked in blood.

"What the hell?" Barry said.

Oliver shrugged. "It just would've been worse if you expected it."

Barry let out a long breath and gingerly moved his leg. It had already stopped bleeding.

"You going to tell me what that was about?" Barry asked. "You know, you could have just said, don't move your legs – I could have done that whole thing that way!"

"You wouldn't have though," Oliver said, "Plus, this is more effective."

The meta had just finished breaking the display cases at a jewelry store when Barry arrived. There was no one around except a couple of employees and one or two customers. And they were all on the ground, a couple seemingly unconscious, one crawling away, and another with her head between her hands, screaming.

"Put the bag down," Barry said. The man turned to him slowly. He was wearing a ski mask and was holding an ordinary backpack. He paused while taking necklaces from their shelves, turning to look at Barry.

At once a pain ripped up his spine and tore down his limbs, burning like white hot fire. Barry dropped to his knees and screamed. The pain stopped then, and Barry was left staring at the floor, breathless and on all fours.

The robber walked by him calmly, his shoes crunching on the broken glass. Barry, still utterly confused and very rattled, shot out a hand and grabbed his leg, catapulting to his feet in an instant.

And then the pain hit him again, twice as hard, and this time, it didn't let up.

Barry's whole body shuddered with it, and then he was puking up the contents of his stomach. His vision blurred and he screamed before he even knew he was screaming. Just when he thought he was about to pass out, the pain stopped.

Barry crumpled to the floor, halfway in a fetal position on his side, practically paralyzed from the pain that came from nowhere and had ripped its way through his entire body.

The meta in the ski mask walked out the door. Barry lay still on the ground. When he heard sirens, he forced his muscles to move, to sit up, and then to stand, shakily. His body felt numb, his mind still reeling, and he ran back to Star Labs.

"A meta that can project pain?" Cisco said, "Whoaa, that is so –"

"If you say cool," Barry said, shivering as Caitlin checked his blood and poked and prodded him, "I might punch you."

"So… not cool," Cisco said, shaking his head, "I mean – what did it even feel like?"

Barry shook his head. He didn't want to think about it. "All I know is we need to find a way to deal with him soon."

"What did he look like?" Wells asked.

"I don't know, he was wearing a ski mask," Barry said, but on closer attention added, "He was skinny – actually really skinny, and he looked almost… old."

"You got beat by an old guy?" Cisco said.

"Alright, next time, you can come along with me and see how it feels for yourself," Barry said. He ran a hand through his hair. He still couldn't shake the feeling.

"All your tests look normal," Caitlin said, "It looks like he really is just attacking the nerves, not actually doing any damage."

"Well that's great," Barry said, "But how am I going to fight him?"

It was a week later and the ski mask meta had robbed another jewelry store and now a bank as well. All three times Barry had shown up and all three times after one or two doses of pain he was lying on his back on the ground, completely incapacitated. Cisco and Caitlin were trying to come up with a weapon they could use against him, or a way to block his powers, but so far with no luck. Barry had just gotten back from another failed attempt to stop him when Oliver approached him.

"You know, you're not very good with pain."

Barry shot Oliver a look. "I deal fine with pain. This is –"

"Not really."

Barry felt offended. "I don't –"

"Look, this isn't me trying to insult you, it's just, there's nothing actually stopping you from taking down this guy – it's just the pain – there's nothing physically stopping you."

"That pain is –"

"Different, I know. I followed you to the last one."

"What?" Barry asked, surprised.

"I got within range," Oliver said, "It seems like he can direct it at a person, or just send out like, a pulse or something of that power of his. I got hit by it. Not fun. But not impossible either."

"Then you take him down," Barry said.

"That's the thing – I tried."

"What?" Barry said again. This time Caitlin and Cisco said it as well.

"After he got away from the last heist, I followed him. And, I shot him in the leg."

The three of them stared at him.

"Whatever his power is, he can't actually feel pain himself. Meaning, I can take him down, but I'd have to kill him. Once I hit him, I obviously got his attention, and he doubled up the pain. I passed out after that, but I laced that arrow with tranquilizers, and trust me that didn't stop whatever that power of his is."

"So you could kill him," Barry said, biting his lip.

Oliver nodded.

"He hasn't done anything violent," Caitlin said.

Barry looked down. "We can't just execute him for robbing a couple of stores."

"The other option," Oliver said, "Would be for you to become more pain resistant."

Barry blinked.

"With your healing," Oliver said, "It would be safe, as long as it's done right, and with your speed, you stand a chance of incapacitating him before he could double up that pain – as long as your able to stop the first shot of it."

"I don't like where this conversation is going."

Oliver shrugged. "It's up to you."

"You want to torture me?"

"I want to train you."

"You're already doing that."

"This would be different. I'm not doing it unless you let me."

"I didn't really agree to be shot with arrows the other day either but you did that."

"You agreed when you didn't run off as soon as I started shooting them."

Barry bit his lip.

"What would this training consist of."

"Pain resistance."

"And what would that be?"

"Either you're in or you're out, Barry, what is it?"

"This is really the only option?"

"We're not any closer to finding a way to remotely block his powers," Caitlin said.

"I am in the working on a helmet that might work though… if you can get it on him," Cisco added.

Barry's stomach sank.

"It's your choice," Oliver said. "I could kill him, or we could wait and see if Caitlin can come up with something."

Barry shook his head. Every day he waited they were endangering more people, taking more people's livelihoods away with the robberies. But he couldn't just kill him. Just execute the guy, no matter how much the idea appealed to him right now.

Barry looked at Caitlin. "You don't have any leads on a way to remotely stop him?"

Caitlin opened her mouth but didn't say anything. Barry could see her eyes moving, desperately trying to come up with something that would get Barry out of this.

Barry looked back at Oliver. "Fine."

Barry walked into the room they had prepared at Star Labs.

The torture room.

Barry shook his head.

"Remember," Caitlin said, "You don't have to do this. If you change your mind – just tell us."

Barry nodded and clenched his teeth. "No, he's right, I can catch him with my speed as long as I can withstand the pain."

He walked towards Oliver and Caitlin left the room. Oliver had insisted on their being alone.

Barry almost turned right around when he saw what Oliver had in front of him. It was a table top slanted at maybe a seventy degree angle from the floor, and there were restraints attached to it. Big, strong, and very terrifying looking restraints.

"I have to get on that thing?" Barry asked, pointing. God, he hoped his voice didn't shake as much as he thought it did.

Oliver gave a reassuring smile, and put a hand on his arm, guiding him over. Barry stepped onto two horizontal wedges, put specifically for him to stand on, and leaned back against the flat edge of the table. Oliver started clicking the restraints into place, and Barry wondered for the hundredth time what he had gotten himself into.

"If I promise to stay still do you think we could skip the whole restraints part?" Barry asked meekly.

"Relax, Barry," Oliver said, clicking the last one in place.

Barry tugged at the one over his arm experimentally. His chest was tightening.

"You know, I really don't like being strapped down."

"No one does," Oliver said.

And for the first time, Barry wondered what exactly Oliver was going to do to simulate the pain that the ski mask man could inflict, and that's when he started to sweat.

"Um, Oliver," Barry said.

"Yeah?"

"What exactly… I mean that pain is really bad."

Oliver sighed. "Just relax Barry. I'm not going to start off with that. We'll build our way up."

Barry wasn't really sure if that was any better.

Oliver pulled out a knife, and Barry tried not to look at it. OK, it was officially getting to him – being tied down, the knife in front of him – yep, Barry was starting to hyperventilate. It might have been better if he was being tortured for information or something – at least then Barry could hate his attacker, could have something to grab onto and take strength from. But no, this was just pain, mindless, needless pain.

Oliver brought the knife to Barry's arm and Barry flinched, jerking his head to the other side and closing his eyes.

"Barry," Oliver said, "I'm not going to hurt you – not really, not right now. Now look, you're going to watch and you're going to be OK. It will hurt for a second, you'll heal, and you'll be OK."

Barry turned his head away again and this time Oliver grabbed him, his hand rough on Barry's face, forcing him to turn and watch, but the action was slow and deliberate.

"Watch. I don't want you terrified of everything – that won't help."

Oliver cut smoothly across his arm. Barry let out a gasp, but the cut was shallow. His adrenaline masked most of the pain and Oliver stopped and waited while Barry caught his breath.

"See, you're OK," he said.

Barry nodded.

Oliver made more cuts, slicing up both his arms, gradually getting deeper.

"OK," Barry said through gritted teeth, "It's starting to hurt."

"Keep breathing," Oliver said. The cuts got deeper.

Barry's breathing was shallow and fast. "Oliver."

"Yes?"

"Hurts… a lot."

"I know. Breathe through it." By now the first cuts had faded, entirely healed. Oliver started going over that skin, working his way down both arms again before moving to his legs for the second time.

Barry was sweating again, his hair plastered to his face and his eyes squeezed shut. He squirmed every few seconds, gritting his teeth. When Oliver reached his arms for the third time he started to yell with every cut.

"How much longer?" Barry ground out. He knees felt weak. He was straining against the restraints.

"You've still got a lot to go."

Barry screamed in frustration and pain.

"Focus on something else."

"Can't with you – ah – cutting up my skin like that."

"Yes you can – relax and focus."

"This is too much," Barry gasped. He screamed at a particularly deep cut.

"You're doing fine," Oliver said.

Barry almost laughed. "Oh yeah… just… screaming over here."

"Scream all you want," Oliver said, "It might even help."

Barry shook his head but when the next cut ripped across his skin he took Oliver up on that advice.

After another fifteen minutes Barry was shaking and he had his eyes closed, head lolling and sweat drenching his skin.

"You still with me, Barry?" Oliver asked.

"Uh-huh," Barry said. His vision was shaky. He had stopped feeling the individual cuts, just the immense pain of it.

"Don't pass out."

"Hm."

"I mean it, you pass out and I'm going to go for longer. You got that?"

Barry groaned.

He tugged at the restraints weakly. He never should have let Oliver put those on him.

"Almost done?" he asked. His voice was raw.

"Not quite."

"You've gotta be almost done," Barry said.

"Getting there."

"Oliver."

"You have to get used to it, Barry, and since we don't exactly have months to prepare you that means going for long stretches."

"I can't take much more," Barry said.

"Yes you can," Oliver replied.

Barry screamed as the blade sliced into him again. He jerked against the restraints.

"Just… just lesson up a little bit."

"No can do, Barry."

"Oliver."

"Breathe through it."

Barry screamed again and then shuddered, gasping.

"Oliver, please."

"You'll get through this Barry."

"It hurts!" Barry screamed at another cut.

"I know it does."

"Just… just one break."

Oliver cut another path.

"Ugh! Oliver, please!"

"The more you focus on breathing and concentrating elsewhere the easier it'll be," Oliver said. Barry cried out again.

"Come on, that's enough, that's enough," Barry said.

Oliver made another cut. He watched as Barry screamed, his whole body writhing, pulling against the restraints. He could see Barry deteriorating. The kid was reaching his breaking point.

"Stop!" Barry yelled. Oliver grimaced and kept cutting. It hurt him to see Barry this way, but he knew what would happen when he proposed the idea.

"Oliver, stop," Barry yelled, "I can't do anymore." The kid was dangerously close to tears. Oliver let out a long breath. This was going to be the hard part. It was one thing to stick him with a couple arrows to make a point, but pulling him past the breaking point, this was going to be tough.

"Oliver, please!"

And there was the first tear. Oliver had to look away. Barry was still fighting with himself, blinking furiously and trembling, trying to keep those tears in his eyes, but he was losing.

"It's enough," Barry said, his voice cracking.

After two more cuts Barry was sobbing.

Oliver was afraid that he might pass out from shear lack of air at that point. He kept reminding Barry to breathe, and telling him to focus, that it would be alright in the end, but Barry was ignoring him now, as Oliver knew he would.

Barry didn't notice but after that Oliver started gradually tapering off the cuts, making them shallower and shallower again, until they were just scratches and Barry was silent, trembling and hiccupping, his face stained with tears and sweat.

"Are you done?" Barry asked when Oliver stopped using the knife, standing beside him instead.

Oliver nodded. Barry's voice was chafed raw. He pushed at the restraints. "Let me out."

"Not yet."

"Let me out, damn it!" Barry screamed. Her jerked against the restraints.

"Calm down."

Barry was dangerously close to tears again. He just wanted the restraints off, he wanted them off now.

"Relax. I'm going to give you some water."

A water bottle was at his lips a minute later, and Barry drank, very slowly at first, then with huge gulps. Oliver pulled it away all too soon.

"You can have some more in a minute. Can you move your fingers for me?"

Barry moved them slowly.

"And your toes? Can you move your toes?"

Barry nodded as he moved them inside his sneakers slowly.

"Good. Now close your eyes. I want you to breath in, count to five, and breathe back out. You got it? That's it. One…two.."

Barry breathed in as Oliver counted.

"I'm going to let your wrists out first," Oliver said.

As soon as his hands were free Barry felt so much better.

"You're going to be shaky on your feet. Don't move until I get both feet undone. And then let me help you."

Barry waited while Oliver undid the restraints, but he was impatient to get off the table, to get as far away from that thing as possible.

Oliver steadied him while he hopped down, and then led him into a different room. Barry lay down on a couch almost immediately, and Oliver handed him the rest of the water bottle to drink.

"Barry," Oliver said, "You're already almost completely healed, but this is really important. You start having phantom pains, or nightmares, or anything, you've got to tell me. I know this is hard, trust me, and it can go really bad really fast if it's not done right. You can hate me right now if you want, but you need to tell me what's going on with you."

Barry nodded, but he didn't really hear. He was already leaning back onto the couch, eyes shutting. He was exhausted.

Sorry if Oliver is very OOC - i don't watch Arrow, which is why this isn't labeled as a crossover (considering starting it though - should I?) Definitely will have at least one more chapter - but i might continue it - review and let me know if you think i should :) Or just let me know if you think of it :)