Disclaimer: I don't own any part of DC Comics characters or the CW TV shows

Comic book fans: I have not read the comics, and all my Flash knowledge comes from the CW TV Shows (and Wikipedia).

Also: I don't actually ship WestAllen as much as SnowBarry, PattyxBarry, or even Barricity, but Iris was the only character that this story would be possible with. I kinda ship their backstories together than their actual characters and personalities together. (Please don't hate me WestAllen shippers.)

Lastly: This is my first published fanfict, so I'm new here. Please tell me if I'm doing anything wrong or if you have a suggestion that would improve my story! (Please review!)

Amazing. Only Barry Allen could mess up this badly. What kind of super hero didn't get the girl?

Actually, that was the problem. It was the super hero who got the girl, not the über nerd best friend with the big crush and even bigger secret.

Because he was the man behind the mask, and lying to her about it was eating him up.

He needed to tell her. He needed to keep her safe. But he couldn't do both.

He had to chose.

He needed to keep her safe above all else, so as much as he wanted to tell her, he couldn't. He was going to lose her - to the Flash. Who was his alter-ego. Which she didn't know. It was complicated.

How embarrassing. He was his very own competition for the heart of the love of his life. And it looked like he was losing. Like he said before, only he could could mess something up this badly.

Barry had always loved Iris. He had loved her before he even knew what the word 'love' meant. He had never told her about his feelings before so he wouldn't ruin their friendship if she didn't love him back. Up until he had been struck by lightning and became The Flash, his feelings had been the biggest secret he had kept from her, ever.

Now he had a whole secret life. Iris was in the dark about his ability to move at super-speed and his tendency to use his ability for (illegal vigilante) crime-fighting activities, despite all the time she devoted to investigating the Flash. It really was amazing how oblivious Iris could be to him.

It may have stayed that way if not for one very frustrated speedster.

...

It was a day like any other. He was running late, as per usual, and had arrived at his lab just in time for Captain Singh to lecture him about his perpetual tardiness. Being a slow day at the station, Singh assigned Barry the soul-sucking chore of organizing the files of old cases in the back rooms. Especially with the Speed Force running through his veins (well, blood vessels in general), it was a tiresome and tedious task.

When he was done with his 'day job', he ran over to STAR Labs. The Central City crime-rate had rapidly decreased since Barry had become the Flash and there hadn't been a metahuman wreaking havoc in days. Wells wanted Barry to do more tests and training while there was a lull in disasters of epic proportions.

Wells actually called it a lull. He just had to.

Come on guys, nothing in Barry's life has ever gone according to plan. Calling it a lull was practically begging for something to go wrong.

Wells had Barry do some quick running exercises, then moved onto the multitasking part of Barry's training. After beating Cisco in 104 games of ping pong and Caitlin in 73 games of Operation, and (almost) beating Wells in chess fifteen times, Barry was ready to call it a night. Face it, he was a guy, and while he was one of the more intelligent breed, he could only multitask for so long. Barry was also been particularly antsy to leave STAR Labs that day. Wells thought that Barry was getting lenient without a challenging opponent. Caitlin figured Barry was just on edge because the quiet - the lack of danger and need for adrenaline - felt unnatural. Cisco was the only one who voiced his thoughts.

"Hot date Barry?"

Not one of the brilliant STAR Labs scientists were right, but one was close. Hint: this person made up silly code names for super villains and calculated the average number of bugs Barry would swallow in a day of running in his spare time time. Yup, it was Cisco. Barry didn't have a date date per say (but Iris was hot, so Cisco was half right), he was going to be hanging out with Iris. Of course it was just a platonic friends night out, but Barry would take what he could get.

...

Friends night was going well. Barry had been late of course, but that was practically his signature move. How strange would it be if he was actually on time? This week it was low key, just staying at Joe's house. Barry bought six pizzas from the best pizza joint in Coast City. (Iris didn't know that they were from Coast City of course, just that they were damn good.) He ate five and a half pizzas, which he washed down with three burgers from Big Belly Burger and four glasses of milk. He told Iris he'd missed lunch. (He hadn't, and actually just eaten an hour ago.) All the while, the two close friends just talked. They were one of those couples that could just talk and talk and not run out if things to say. After finding themselves in a (slightly heated) debate about the possibility of an alien invasion, they moved onto eating brownies (Iris' favorite) while watching Star Wars (Barry's favorite). Well, Iris ate brownies and watched Star Wars. Barry ate brownies and watched Iris.

To Barry, Iris was breathtakingly beautiful, even covered in brownie crumbs and drifting asleep.

Barry isn't exactly proud of what he did next. He took out his phone to take a picture of Iris for later. Just after he snapped the picture, Cisco's face popped up on his screen, showing an incoming call. Cisco's calls - except for the one time he had called to tell Barry how many tacos he needed to eat per day to fulfill his special dietary needs with his increased metabolism - were always important. He quickly picked up, and his ear was immediately filled with Cisco's panicked voice.

"Dude, I need help. There's a fire at this boarding school just outside of Central City and Dante - my asshole brother - has a piano gig there right now. He's an ass, but he's family. Could you please go make sure everybody's safe? "

Barry cursed his hero complex under his breath, and asked Cisco for the address. He told Iris he needed to use the bathroom, went upstairs, changed into his suit, ran into the fire making sure everybody was safe, and ran back to Joe's house. He was back in less than five minutes.

And Iris was gone.

...

Instead of finding Iris curled up on the couch, his phone was there, blaring strange music Barry had never heard before. Barry turned it on and dropped it on the floor. His wallpaper had been changed. Gone was the happy picture of Iris, Joe, and Barry, replaced by a terrible picture of Iris bound and gagged with the Reverse Flash holding the sign "Come get me." His phone pinged with a new text from a blocked number. I'm outside.

Barry sprang into action. He didn't bother to turn off the TV, change out of his suit, or even lock the door behind him. The Reverse Flash had just kidnapped the love of his life from right in front of him and he was damned if he was going to let him get away with it.

That night in Central City, anyone looking down on the streets would have seen twin streaks of lightning chasing each other. One red, one yellow, the red always just in front of the yellow. Barry was running faster than he had ever run before, but he couldn't catch up to the Reverse Flash.

...

Iris West was no longer half asleep. She was wide awake and terrified. She had no idea where she was. She had never been properly kidnapped before. Held hostage, yes, but kidnapped, no. She just knew that it was dark, and she wanted Barry.

...

To Barry, the chase lasted for infinity. It stretched on for hours, days, centuries. In reality, it was only five minutes before the Reverse Flash stopped in a large sports field. Through his mask, Barry saw Iris was tied to a seat in the stands. The Reverse Flash turned around to face Barry.

"Still not fast enough" announced the man in the yellow suit, "How will you save your girlfriend if you can't even keep up?"

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