Chapter Text
It was a typical Thursday morning. The sun was shining bright, birds were nesting, and a certain speedster was still asleep. His alarm went off five minutes ago, but it hadn’t woken him up.
Fortunately for him, Iris had decided to come by and visit. She had brought along with her some coffee and treats, as well as a few other items she wanted to show her best friend.
Once inside the house, she bounded her way upstairs to see if Barry had woken up yet. She smiled as she found him still asleep, on his side and nuzzling a pillow. So with a mischievous glint in her eye, she crept as close as she dared before plopping the bag of cookies onto his face.
Barry startled awake before groaning as he moved the parcel off of his head. He kept a firm grip on it though as he greeted, “Mornin’ Iris!”
“Good morning, sleepy head! Time for you to get ready for work, and there’s something I want to show you,” she explained.
“Can I have some more sleep? You know I can get ready really fast,” Barry pleaded with the best puppy dog eyes he could manage in his tired state.
“Nuh uh, you’ll over sleep and be late for work again, so get up!” Iris commanded. She also snatched the bag of cookies as she said, “And you’ll have these after.”
With that she left the room, and despite being denied some extra z’s, Barry smiled as he got up to get ready for the day.
By the time Iris arrived down stairs and sat on the living room couch, the speedster was done and already eating the pumpkin shaped cookies she had brought him.
“You cheater,” she exclaimed and lightly smacked his shoulder.
“I told you,” Barry teased back, dusting off some cookie crumbs from his black sweater. Underneath he had a white button down shirt, and also wore gray jeans with black converse.
His breakfast snack consumed, he relaxed into the couch with the coffee Iris had given him too and asked, “So what did you want to show me?”
“Oh, I just purchased this new eyeliner, and I wanted to test it out,” Iris stated as she dug through her purse for said item.
“Um, okay, what does that have to do with me?” Barry asked confused.
“I’m going to test it out on you,” she clarified like it was the obvious answer.
“What? Why? It’s for you, isn’t it?” he questioned, now all types of confused.
“Yes, but I already have my regular make up on, and I am not spending another half hour putting it back,” Iris argued back.
Conceding to her valid point, Barry sighed, “Fine, just don’t give me that huge, flaring point or whatever you guys call it–”
“Cat eye?” Iris suggested playfully.
“Yeah that,” he answered.
“Don’t worry, Bear, it will be just like in high school, remember?” Iris mentioned to try and comfort him.
Instead it caused him to whine,“Ugh, don’t remind me!”
“But you were such a sweet transvestite!” she teased and nearly sang the last two words.
“No, stop, I don’t want to remember that phase!” Barry halfheartedly complained. Though he was actually fond of his memories as Dr. Frank-N-Furter for the school play. It was one of the few times he was popular among his peers. So of course he wanted to keep that attention up.
“Alright then, lean back and close your eyes,” Iris asserted. He did so and tried his best to stay still as his eye was poked with the pencil.
It was quiet for a moment or two until Iris sang, “It’s just a jump to the left…”
Barry smiled despite himself and sang back, “And then a step to the right.”
“With your hands on your hips,” Iris prompted again.
Just going with it, Barry replied, “You bring your knees in tight!”
“But it’s the pelvic thrust!” she exclaimed, moving the pencil away from his eyes. She was messing it up anyway.
“They really drive you insane!” he sang without missing a beat.
“Lets do the time warp again!” both sang at the same time and started laughing.
“Okay, okay, enough of that, let me fix the squiggle that is this line here and then I’ll do the other one,” Iris managed to calm down and say. She let Barry wipe at his eyes first before re-attempting to apply the liner.
Before long, Iris was done and let Barry open his eyes again. She turned his head back and forth so she could view all angles and then leaned back to see from a distance before saying, “Hm, not bad! Looks really good on you. It also applied smoothly. Might buy more of it later.”
“Good,” he simply said in reply, but then spotted the time. “Oh god, I’m gonna be late if I don’t go now!”
He grabbed his things for work and finished his coffee before stating, “Bye Iris, see you later!”
“Wait Barry–” she tried to stop him, but he had already gone in a flash. She pondered for a second on whether or not she should text him. But inevitably she chose not to, assuming he’d remember on his own.
—-
Barry was still late, but not as much as his usual. He greeted everyone cheerfully and they absently nodded back. He received a few odd looks, but was more or less unnoticed.
He was headed up the stairs towards his lab when Captain Singh caught up with him.
“Barry, do you have the files for the Mendoza case?” he demanded in his usual tone, but then he looked startled as Barry turned to face him.
“Actually, I have one more test to make, and then I can turn them in,” he admitted a little fearful of getting another lecture.
It didn’t come though, and he was surprised when his Captain said, “Fine, just get it done when you can and give it to Joe.”
He marched off before Barry could respond. Shrugging, the speedster headed off to get his work started. And had no idea he had just reminded his Captain of his fiance cross-dressing and fucking him last night.
Singh did not come out of his office for the rest of that day.
—-
“Hey, Bear, did you finish that file I asked you to do yesterday?” Eddie asked as he came into Barry’s lab.
It had been tricky, and super exhausting, but during the singularity issue, the Flash had managed to find and save Eddie as well as the city at the same time. The man still had a hole in his chest, but by some miracle was able to cling to life long enough for doctors to remove the bullet and close up the wound.
He was then in a coma for three months before waking to find Iris sleeping in a chair beside his bed. Eobard, his descendant, hadn’t returned though. Cisco theorized it probably had to do with Iris ultimately choosing Eddie over Barry. The engagement ring serving as the undeniable proof.
His dream to marry Iris had been crushed so many times, Barry wasn’t even surprised anymore. The newspaper they saw from the future was a false hope as far as he was concerned. And he would get over it with time.
Thankfully, Eddie was also a really nice guy and Barry found it impossible to hate him or wish him unhappiness.
He handed over the file and replied with a smile, “Here you go!”
“You’re wearing a lot of black today,” the detective commented as he got a good look at his friend.
“Oh, my red sweater had a stain on it from Joe’s lasagna,” Barry answered casually.
It wasn’t what Eddie was referring to, but if Barry didn’t want to talk about it, who was he to judge?
Either way he said, “Thanks! I’m about to head for lunch, did you want me to bring you anything?”
“A burrito? Or two?” Barry asked carefully. He didn’t like pushing his luck in the food department, but all his friends knew why he ate so much.
“Sure thing, see you in a bit!” Eddie said as he left. Maybe he’d ask Iris if Barry had been clubbing last night? Or was he trying to impress a new girl?
—-
When Joe came to see him, he was finishing off his ninth burrito. (Eddie had found a deal of a dozen for ten dollars and had kept two for himself.) His father figure scrutinized him for a second before smiling and shaking his head. Joe remembered those days in high school.
“Doing a time warp today?” he lightly taunted.
“Oh my god, Iris got that song stuck in my head earlier! Now it’s back!” Barry groaned and made Joe laugh. The speedster didn’t think to ask why he had brought that up though.
Getting back to business, Joe asked, “Have you finished the Mendoza case?”
“Yeah, it’s right here,” Barry said as he handed over the file. He had finished his other work as well so he ventured to ask, “How early can I get off today?”
“Just wait one more hour, and then you can go,” Joe granted as he read over the file on his way out.
Telling a speedster to wait was a trying endeavor.
—-
When he finally escaped work, Barry wasted no time getting to Star Labs. He prepared to greet both Caitlin and Cisco when he heard ‘I’m Worth It’ being played loudly in the Cortex.
Curious, he peered through the doorway before entering and found Cisco shaking what his mama gave him as he worked on his tablet.
“Ah!” the engineer exclaimed once he realized he was being watched, causing Barry to chuckle. The song was immediately paused.
“Did Caitlin call in or something?” the speedster asked as he came into the room.
“Yeah, she wanted to spend a day with Ronnie, so…” Cisco explained embarrassed and unable to look his friend in the eye.
“Any Flash business I need to do right now?” Barry then asked not so innocently.
“Um, no? Everything’s clear for once, though I’m not sure how long that’ll last,” Cisco griped. He had been having so much fun with the lab all to himself.
Smirking mischievously, Barry challenged, “Then why did you stop the music?”
Intrigued, Cisco asked, “Are you challenging me to a dance off? Cause I would totally win!”
“We’ll see,” the speedster countered.
Accepting the challenge, the engineer started the song over. Both men then proceeded to trash talk the other as they danced.
“Dude, you don’t have boobs, stop shaking your chest like that!” Cisco accused playfully.
“You’re just jealous of my pecks, Mr. Bubble Butt!” he received in reply as the other sashayed his hips in time with the music.
“Hey, my butt is bootilicious! I’d like to see you try and twerk like this!” the engineer asserted as he did the ridiculous move. He was so proud he hadn't fallen this time.
“Pfft, I can totally drop it like it’s hot! See?” Barry argued and did just that.
“Whoa, you did that way too smoothly! Wait, did your powers give you extra flexibility?” Cisco questioned in slight awe and having stopped dancing.
“Maybe!” the other teased and did a move like Shakira.
Only a little upset Cisco exclaimed, “Ugh, that is so unfair!”
“I’ll say, even I’m not that flexible!” a new voice added in.
Surprised, Barry shouted, “Oh god, Iris, why?!” with Cisco adding, “Don’t you dare post that!”
“Too late! And don’t worry boys, I’m fairly sure the song was louder than what you were saying,” Iris laughed evilly at their devastated expressions.
“Are you sure Captain Cold is your arch nemesis?” Cisco questioned.
“She’s only hurting our pride,” Barry reassured, unable to stop his blushing.
Putting her phone away, she offered, “Eddie and I are going clubbing tonight. Did you two want to join? You know, and show off them moves?”
“Only if you buy us dinner first! We don’t perform for free,” the engineer mock pouted.
“Alright fine, dinner is on me,” Iris agreed. It was the least she could do after embarrassing them.
—-
Len was trying to plan for the Rogue’s next heist when his sister, who had been distracted from the start, started laughing hysterically at her phone.
"What’s so funny,” Mick asked slightly irritated.
“Someone posted a vid of Cisco and his friend at Star Labs twerking,” Lisa answered as she tried to calm down. She wasn’t stalking the engineer per se– that was Len’s habit– but she did like to keep tabs on him from time to time. He was too adorable not to!
“What is it under,” Len asked as he got his own phone out. He had a suspicion as to whom the 'friend’ had to be, and they were confirmed once he viewed the video.
Who knew the Flash was that smooth a dancer? And the eyeliner? Definitely a good look.
Standing up he announced, “That’s enough planning today.”
He started to walk out as his sister asked, “Where are you going? Are you going out? Are you going to a bar? A club? Take me with you if it’s a club!”
Len sighed as he said, “Fine.”
“Yay! Mick, behave while we’re gone!” Lisa gleefully said as the Snart siblings left the house.
The arsonist waited till they left before grunting, “I twerk better.”
—-
Despite it being Thursday, it was still fairly crowded at the club they had gone into. Since Barry couldn’t get drunk, he went straight to the dance floor. The others joined him after they had at least one or two drinks.
Iris and Eddie stayed close together, which left Cisco and Barry to continue their dance off from earlier. People around them started to cheer them on too.
It was eventually interrupted though when one woman was bold enough to ask the engineer to dance with her. He happily accepted and was glad that what little he could see of her in the dim lighting was hot.
This left the speedster to dance alone, and he got both bored and uncomfortable fairly quickly. He wasn’t in the mood to let any strangers grope him.
Barry started moving towards the bar when the DJ announced, “This next song goes out to Len’s friend Scarlet! You know who you are!”
'I’m Worth It,’ then started playing, making the women in the crowd cheer. But all Barry could do was blush and look around in shock for the only person who called him that nickname.
Yet he couldn’t really distinguish anyone in the crowd since it was so dark. It would have been easier if they had had black lights on.
“Looking for me, Red?” a teasingly familiar voice said way too close.
Barry would totally deny he yelped, as he said, “Oh my god! You saw the video?!”
“Of course. I do get bored on occasion,” Len replied perfectly calm and leaning towards his nemesis so he could be heard over the music. He then stated matter-of-factly, “Black is a nice color on you.”
“Um, thanks?” Barry replied unsure as he looked down at what he was wearing. What was with everyone and his clothes today? There was also no way Cold could be flirting with him, right? They were enemies! It had been a few months since the betrayal at Ferris Air, but that didn’t mean it was forgotten.
“I’m not referring to your sweater,” Len corrected, interrupting his thoughts. The thief then had to dash off as he spotted the detective and his fiance heading their way.
This left Barry so confused until he turned on the camera on his phone to see his face.
He still had the eyeliner on.
-tbc