Chapter Text
“It’s just…” Iris pauses, and glances over at Barry who’s watching her with a strange look on his face. “It’s just that he’s used to being in charge.” She deadpans looking back at the therapist. She still can’t believe they’re in couple’s therapy for Barry’s inability to let her be in control or maybe it was hers? Who knows. The point is they’re in couple’s therapy. She almost giggles at the outrageousness of the situation.
“And why is that?” The therapist questions. She’s eyeing both Barry and Iris over the pair of glasses perched on the bridge of her nose with a type of nonchalance most therapists are known for. At least the ones Iris has seen.
Barry opens his mouth once, twice before he swallows and attempts to formulate a proper response. He has to be a leader. He’s the Flash. He’s the guy who saves people, who an entire city depends on. He doesn’t know how to be anything else.
When Barry says nothing, Iris looks over at him. He’s wearing his thinking face. She too opens and closes her mouth in indecision. She can’t exactly tell their therapist about his superhuman abilities or his intense need to save people. That would be a no-no. Thinking on her feet she watches Barry as she responds.
“I think he has to be for the rest of us,” She says, returning her gaze back to the therapist. “I think we give him that power, to be the person who makes the major decisions and to ultimately be the one who shoulders the burdens so we don’t have to.” She’s toying with her engagement ring as she finishes her statement.
Yes, in Barry’s absence she was the one who stepped up to the mantle. Who stood in his place and guided the team the way he would’ve but now he’s back and apart of Iris feels like she’s no longer needed. Being a leader isn’t about how strong you are, it’s about valor- a trait both of them possess.
“Do you work together?”
“Mmm?” Barry and Iris gurgle at the same time.
“N-no,” They say in unison.
“We don’t,” Iris adds, crossing and uncrossing her legs. It’s one of her nervous tells and Barry can’t help but swallow again for the hundredth time. He’s wearing his best poker face but he can tell their therapist is getting suspicious. Who said therapy was easy anyway? Especially when secrets were involved.
“I work for CCPD as a Forensic scientist,” Barry throws out in hopes of distracting her from asking anymore Flash-related questions.
“And does Iris work there as well?”
Iris lifts an eyebrow and glances between Barry and the therapist for a long period. She has no idea what to say because they do work together outside of their relationship and outside of their respective occupations. But that fact plays no part in their current dilemma and that dilemma is, they have very strong opinions.
“No,” Barry’s the one to answer this time. “She’s a reporter and sometimes she comes to me for research on her stories. So I guess in that sense we do work together,”
Quick save, Iris thinks releasing a slow breath and smiling in reassurance. The urge to facepalm is strong though. What’s the point of therapy if you can’t share the root of the problem?
“Exactly. We aren’t coworkers in the traditional sense of the word.” Iris tacks on, bobbing her head in agreement with Barry’s answer. Instead of asking another question, the therapist jots something down on her notepad and Iris wonders what it is.
It can’t be anything horrible, right? Their relationship doesn’t exactly classify as dysfunctional. At least she doesn’t think it does.
They’re solid; her and Barry. They don’t argue...a lot and they have an understanding that only people after over twenty something years of knowing each other have. They’re still in love, they’ll always be and they respect each other tremendously. So why are they in therapy again?
The rest of the session ticks by relatively fast with Iris directing the conversation to other areas of their lives. Thankfully, the therapist doesn’t seem concerned with how involved they are in each other’s professional lives or the fact that they are both liar mclying pants.
*
Barry eyes her as she steps out of her heels in the front hall of their loft. They’d completed their first successful couples therapy session. The urge to giggle tickles the base of her throat but she fights it. The last thing she wants is for Barry to think she’s not serious about the whole ordeal. This is about relearning how to work together, as leaders.
Shrugging out of her blazer she barely spares him a glance and walks to the kitchen to get a glass of badly needed wine. Chances are they’ll order take-out from his favorite pizzeria or hers.
Iris is on her tiptoes reaching for a wine glass when she feels Barry directly behind her. His fingers press into her waist and the giggle she was trying to fight earlier slips out.
“Fine,” She begins lowering down to the balls of her feet and twisting to face him, mission retrieving wine glass forgotten.
“Therapy is ridiculous,” She admits blowing hot air through her lips. She almost loses it in fits of laughter as Barry feigns outrage, his head moving back and forth in a solid nod of disagreement. Iris wants him to take this whole therapy thing seriously but she’s being a hypocrite if she isn’t honest with herself too.
Truth of the matter is they don’t need therapy. She likes their relationship and the co-dependence they share. She likes the way she knows what he’s thinking before he does. They’ll learn to lead together, the same way they learned how to do everything else.
“What do you mean?” He’s wearing an incredulous expression and she can’t help but grin. It’s official, she can’t hold in how comical the day has been. “You have to believe in the process, Iris,”
“Oh, shut up,” She says slapping a hand on his chest. Under her palm she can feel the steady knock, knock of his heartbeat. Her eyes gravitate to where her hand landed and she stares for a lingering moment. A tiny part of her still can’t believe he’s here when only a few weeks ago he was trapped in the speedforce. When Iris looks back up, her lips lift into a doopey smile and all’s right with the world.
“We dodged a bullet, you know?” He utters referring to the moment the therapist dug to close to the truth.
“I know,” Iris holds up two perfectly manicured fingers an inch apart. “We were so close to getting caught, so close.” She binds her knees a fraction to dramatize her point but the goofiness quickly evaporates when Barry bends and brushes his lips over hers suddenly. It’s teasing, tender but their simple touch of lips does the trick in kick-starting her heartbeat.
It’s like her heart says to Barry’s, ‘There. Now we’re whole.’
Her lips are tingling as Barry finds her arms and brings them around his neck, something he’s known to do. He’s staring at her in that way, the way he does when he’s about to swallow her whole. God, she’s missed that stare. The green of his eyes is darker, and his face is all soft and sweet. All Barry like. Her fingers brush through the hair at the nape of his neck and she sends a silent ‘thank you’ into the universe for having him back.
“I think we did good,” He states and she smiles- big and wide because when it’s just them, it’s Barry and Iris against the world and not the Flash against the world.
“Me too babe.”
She steps onto his feet and leans up, her body flush against his. Pressing her mouth to his, she sighs into the kiss and the day melts away.
Iris figures that with or without therapy, they’re going to be just fine.