Work Text:
‘Hey Bear!’ said Iris, drifting over with a beatific smile, ‘I’m sorry, but I’m super, super busy. I have to do so much work today…’
‘Iris…Um.’ He didn’t have a chance to finish the awkward travesty of a sentence that he had been about to issue before he saw Linda. She walked over in her casual sturdy gait and stopped in front of the two. Linda was cool and Iris was perfect. They’d probably like each other, and this would hopefully alleviate some of the discomfort.
‘Iris, this is Linda! I met her in a bar; we’re going on a date.’ He said, with the spirit of a playful kitten bringing a dead mouse to the door. Iris, whilst clearly happy to meet Linda- ‘Wow, I’ve seen some of your articles, they’re fantastic! And I love your striped pants…’- deflated like a sad owner.
That was odd.
As Barry and Linda walked off Barry looked back at Iris, completely out of habit. She looked dejected and confused.
What?
Barry was perturbed. He’d known it was going to be awkward, on account of the fact that he loved Iris and she knew. But, she’d clasped his hands in the café a week ago and asked him to go out and have fun; he’d thought she’d be happy for him. It was strange for Iris not to be happy for him in all honesty.
Wait a second…
Linda turned to him, ‘Iris is so bomb, Barry. Good fucking job on your best friend!’ and she slapped his arm. Barry grinned, ‘Did she seem to be acting weird to you... or something? Linda shook her head and then looked up and laughed, and Barry tried to put it out of mind.
But he couldn’t put it out of his mind. Iris was his best friend and he couldn’t stand her being mad at him. So, he decided to devise an experiment, he’d examine triggers. Iris seemed normal at dinner with Joe, and then he brought up going to a bar with a ‘friend’ and she stiffened, put her chicken wing down and glowered across the table at nothing. The ‘friend’ was Cisco, but that wasn’t the point.
The next day he came to Central City News at 6:30PM to find Iris, to take her out for coffee and when he got to her desk Linda was sitting on her lap and they were both giggling at the computer monitor. Linda saw Barry and casually waved before looking back at Iris. Iris did no such thing, she narrowed her eyes and squinted hard at Barry.
‘You kids have fun.’ was the dull retort that fell from her mouth before she smiled widely at Linda, and tightly at Barry and walked off.
Linda jumped to her feet with her face ablaze. ‘What the fuck did you do? She was just showing me this great animation about meninists and then you came in and she stormed off.’
Barry shrugged, ‘Hey! I don’t know, I was just coming to bring her coffee.
They looked at each other for a few moments, Linda’s eyes widened drastically, and she smirked. ‘Do you think she’s mad because she thinks we’re fucking?’, and for a second she was jubilant, ‘She totally wants me!’ and Linda punched the air.
Barry didn’t think he’d ever been so red in his life, ‘We weren’t ever… doing... that… and Iris told me to go out and have fun, why would she be mad at me having fun?’
Linda chuckled softly, ‘Maybe, because she sees your giant wet cow eyes whenever you see her and thinks that they’re directed at me, and maybe she’s not okay with the.. ‘Love’ part of it’.
‘That couldn’t be it, that doesn’t make any sense, why would she care?’ said Barry automatically.
Linda quirked an eyebrow at him and rolled her eyes. ‘When you figure it out hotshot, call me’ and she walked away.
Two days later, he finally figured out what Linda was implying and nearly fell off of his bed.
Linda’s idea was completely ludicrous. But… Barry was too intrigued by the fact that Iris West who was too good for anyone would be jealous, and towards him.
So he had to test it out.
They were drinking coffee, and Iris was explaining the protest she’d attended and the video that she was putting together on it, and how she’d love to direct a documentary on it one day. Barry agreed and was so proud of her, but when there was a lapse he saw a chance to test her.
‘Yeah, Linda was saying that you guys were going to cover the protest’, Iris looked up at him frostily, ‘Yeah. We did.’
Iris was adorable with her half pout and her furrowed brow and Barry couldn’t breathe.
IRIS WEST WAS JEALOUS OF HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH LINDA PARK!
He nearly choked on his coffee and then- being himself- decided to push it slightly further. ‘What would you say about me joining you two on one of those days?’ he smirked into his coffee.
‘I’d say, Linda and I are doing just fine on our own, and you might want to keep your relationship out of ours’ she said like cut glass, then she checked her watch and quietly excused herself from Jitters.
Well fuck.
‘All Barry ever does is talk about Linda, or come to our job, when we’re trying to work and talk to Linda.’
Joe quirked an eyebrow, opening a bottle of wine and pouring a glass, insuring grandchildren was stressful work.
‘Linda seems like a really nice girl, Baby. Why don’t you like her?’
‘It’s not that I don’t like her! I love her; it’s that... it’s that. Barry came to our job, and I thought he was coming to see me, but he was going to see Linda... twice!’
Joe smiled to himself. Perhaps grandchildren were a nearer possibility than he’d thought.
‘So, you’re angry because you feel like Barry likes Linda more than he likes you?’ he said slowly, enunciating each syllable.
‘Yes, I mean... No. No of course not.’ Iris scowled at Joe, ‘You’re not helping you know, you’re just making me feel like a bad friend.’
Joe shook his head, ‘No, you’re not being a bad friend, I just think you’re not being completely honest, with Barry or yourself about what’s really bothering you. Because it’s not Linda, and Barry doesn’t talk that much about her, so maybe it’s to do with something else’.
Iris nodded slowly, ‘you’re right, Dad. I’ll think about it.’ She kissed him on the cheek. ‘I’ll see you later okay’.
Thinking about it was easier said than done. When she got back to Eddie’s house he was waiting up for her, bleary eyed and when he looked into her eyes he sighed and said.
‘Iris, we need to talk’.
It was a tepid and dispassionate break-up, Eddie was lovely, and sweet and courteous but they literally hadn’t talked for weeks properly. Moving together had just exposed the fact that Iris was constantly preoccupied with things that weren’t Eddie. Also now, with the secrecy in between Joe and Eddie (she’d seen Eddie at STARlabs, she knew she wasn’t the only one preoccupied with Wells) they were both preoccupied.
Eddie kissed her one last time and went to sleep on the couch, and that was it. But before she left the next morning, with a suitcase with most of her essentials in it, he said something interesting.
‘Iris, as your friend, I want you to be honest with Barry about your feelings. You guys wouldn’t have the whole priorities problem we did anyways’, and Iris grinned because he was such a ken doll, and patted his back and said ‘Bye Eddie’.
There was that word again…
‘Honesty.’
‘Hey, Cisco’
‘Hey, Iris!’ he said, his brown eyes lit up, and he leapt to his feet. ‘Caitlin and Wells aren’t here in case you wanted to know about some top secret official science or something’ he said, and Iris giggled, ‘No, I’m not here for work, this time’, she chuckled.
‘Oh’ he said, waggling his eyebrows, ‘You’re totally here because you want Barry’
‘I did not say I wanted Barry!’
Cisco squealed in glee, ‘Hey, Iris you’ve got a dirty mind, I didn’t even mean it like that. Wait… do you ‘want’ Barry? Because he totally ‘wants’ you, regardless of what he tries to put across.’
Iris let out a grunt of frustration, ‘You are no help, Cisco!’
‘That’s only because you loooo…’
‘Don’t say that! Don’t finish that sentence!’ she shouted over him, ‘Bye, Cisco!’ and backpedalled quickly out of STARlabs whilst Cisco whooped in the background.
‘You totally do! Can I be your man of honour? Please?’
‘Shut up, Cisco!’
‘Hey, either of you sexy ladies got a boyfriend?’
‘Shut up!’ yelled back Linda, at the bewildered and now terrified man, whilst Iris keeled over laughing.
The lights were blinding, and Iris had her hands on Linda’s shoulders and Linda had her hands on Iris’ waist, ‘Seriously though..’ started Iris, ‘That was so disrespectful, we could totally be girlfriends and that would be incredibly disgusting of him’.
Linda grinned hard, ‘Yeah, West. I’d be totally all over you if you weren’t playing for team Allen’. Iris shimmied slightly less vigorously, and Linda laughed loudly, ‘You’re such a dork, just like him. I know I’m not meant to bring it up, but seriously, you two have to get your shit together’. Iris narrowed her eyes.
‘Aren’t you his girlfriend? Why... why would you..? Linda was close to spluttering out her drink, ‘His girlfriend? Is that what he told you?’.
Iris narrowed her eyes, ‘You’re not his girlfriend?’, and Linda laughed.
‘No, we went out on a few dates, casually but it sort of didn’t pan out. Partially because whilst he’s lovely, and I’ll totally be your maid of honour he’s a bit meek and mild mannered, and he’s very sensitive and he needs a gentler hand than mine, like yours West.’ And Iris nodded.
‘Also, the not very small fact that he’s completely in love with you, and the president of your fan-club, and can’t refrain from mentioning it when he’s on a date.’
Iris stood stock still, ‘He said, he told me and I thought it was something I could ignore, I didn’t want to lose his friendship. I feel really happy to hear that he hasn’t fallen out of love with me, and I feel like that could be because I’m in love with him too.’
Linda claps her hands and kisses both of Iris’ cheek, ‘You bet your ass you are, West! Go get him!’
Iris flashes in between furious and love-struck on the way to The West House. On one hand, she loves Barry, she’s always loved Barry, and when she told him so when he was in the coma, she wasn’t just hysterical, she was being honest. But on the other hand, Barry had totally let her believe that he was in love with Linda. He was such a brat.
She knocked hard on the door, and when Joe opened it she stormed past. ‘Where is he?’ she demanded and Joe quickly pointed up the stairs, his eyes wide and let himself out of the open door.
‘Bartholomew Henry Allen!’ she yelled up the stairs, ‘I need to talk to you, right now’ there was no answer. She barged upstairs, finding the door to his room and pushing it open.
Their words collided in the air, Barry was relaxed at first, sure the person at the door was Joe, and then he saw Iris, standing with her eyes ablaze and felt very naked.
Well, because he was fairly naked.
‘I..Iris..I..’ he stuttered out with the blush spreading from his neck downwards. He moved his hands down in order to ensure his towel was secure.
‘Barry.’ She said breathless and final, following his blush from his neck to his navel to the hem of his towel, and then snapping her eyes up at his. ‘I’m mad at you.’ she said, not sounding mad at all. ‘I know. Why?’
‘You made me think you were in love with Linda, but you’re not.’
‘No, I’m not.’
‘You’re in love with me.’ Iris said, in a daze with her eyes on his.
‘You knew that! I told you that!’ he said waving his arms around.
‘Yeah, I guess you’re right. But, I didn’t really think about it honestly for a while.’
‘Oh.’
There was silence.
‘Are those abs?’
Barry coloured once more, ‘Iris… you thought about it ‘honestly’, what do you mean by... What does that mean?’
Iris smiled up at him, and crossed over the room to sit on his bed and put his arm around her shoulder. When she looked up at him the creases of her eyes had folded and she was smiling, ‘Barry Allen, I think… I think I love you back.’ Barry’s heart was beating so fast, and he couldn’t help himself from smiling and shuffling closer to her, ‘I’m glad, I’m glad you… That… I love you too.’, and Iris giggled.
‘I know remember, you dork?’ and Barry looked affronted for a split second before he shuffled closer to her, ‘Can I..?’ and she bit her lip and pulled his face to hers by his hair, moaning into his kiss.
Joe came home to one incredibly happy and hyper Allen, and one flushed and dancing West, both of them making dinner and singing and dancing together; both of them wearing different clothes to the ones they’d been wearing two hours ago, and both with wet hair.
He laughed, and told them off and was secretly pleased at the fact that one of the major sources of stress in his life had just been eliminated.