A/N: Written for Day 11 of my 25 Days of Westallen Fanfiction event. Enjoy!

*Many thanks to sendtherain for beta'ing.

*I own nothing. No copyright infringement intended.

He watched her go and felt so completely torn that he let her. Here she'd confessed she had feelings for him, something he never thought he'd hear fall from her lips again. He was stuck in shock yet bursting with overwhelming joy at the same time. He wanted to kiss her. He should have kissed her.

The fact of the matter was that she had just made everything so very complicated.

Because he still had to make the decision of whether to go through with a second particle accelerator explosion or not. He still had to figure out how to defeat Zoom whether or not he did. Speed alone wasn't going to defeat the villain masked in black, craving speed like air. He needed a concrete plan. Super speed would give him more confidence in whatever the plan was, but there was also no guarantee he could get it back. He might very well be killed, and then there would be no saving Central City. If Zoom had his way, there'd be no saving the world either.

And now Iris had confessed to having romantic feelings for him. And she didn't need him to be the Flash. She just needed him to be alive. That wasn't something he could guarantee if he went through with this experiment.

He ran his hand over his face and stared up at the contraption that would hold his body in place.

Could he really blame Iris for having bad timing? He'd had bad timing when he told her how he felt too. Now that he thought about it, the first time Iris had confessed how she felt had been under life-or-death circumstances too. Wow, they were terrible. Could they not have good timing just once?

He recalled her face as the words spilled out of her, that of them being meant to be, of her being his home, of her wanting a future with him. All things he'd thought himself. He never imagined she'd think them too. Not after he erased her confession and Eddie had killed himself to save him. It just seemed impossible that she would want him after he tried and failed to push his feelings for her down. His visit to Earth 2 where he pretended to be that Iris' husband proved that. The I love you's tumbling out of that Iris' mouth made him realize he still ached to hear it from his own Iris.

While Iris' confession just now hadn't exactly spelled out her being in love with him, it was passionate enough for him to believe she was close. And here he was leaving her hanging as she held her breath, waiting to see if he'd confirm he felt the same way.

He smiled, involuntary though it was, and figured that had to be enough. But now he wished he had done more. He should have done more.

She probably understood why he'd hesitated, that it hadn't had to do with her but this humongous, life-changing, earth-saving decision pummeling down on him. The pressure was almost overwhelming in its intensity. Iris' confession now had made things easy and yet so complicated at the same time.

He knew he was going to go back to the team and try to come up with a plan to defeat Zoom without super speed. And he knew it would solely have to do with the fact that it was what Iris wanted. And it would ensure he lived to have a future with her. Or at least it would guarantee his survival in a way that submitting himself to another chemically-induced lightning strike wouldn't.

But first - maybe - he needed to talk to Iris.

…

Standing there, her heart pounding in her chest, as nothing but near silent murmurings could be heard on the other side of the room, Iris could not believe she did that.

She actually told Barry Allen how she felt about him, really felt. She liked him as more than a friend. So much so that she nearly uttered the word soulmate when expressing said feelings.

He'd looked happy to hear her confession. His facial expressions, which ranged from shock to awe to pure joy, told her he did still feel the same way. Some verbal confirmation would've been nice, but she understood. He had a big decision before him. And with her confession, she had either made it easier or infinitely harder.

She worried about how long it was taking him to make the decision. She'd feel terrible if she'd put even more pressure on him, made him even more torn about what he decided had to be done for himself and protecting Central City.

"I thought you talked to him," Her dad said, walking towards her.

Oddly defensive, Iris straightened and her brows narrowed.

"I did. I-"

"Allen!" Harry announced, and everyone in the room turned towards the newcomer. "About time you made a decision."

Barry stopped. His eyes moved across everyone in the room, lingering on Iris' before nodding.

"I have made a decision, but first I- Iris, can I speak to you first?"

Harry threw up his hands. "I thought you just did speak with her, I-"

But Barry and Iris drowned out both Harry's ranting and the way Joe was looking at them.

"Yeah." Iris nearly stumbled over herself on her way to Barry. "Yeah, of course."

Barry smiled a little and walked with her out of the room, slower than he normally would so she could keep up. And slower too so he could calm his racing heartbeat. He might not have super speed anymore, but every time he looked at Iris, he could hear her confession on repeat in his mind.

"You, Barry, that's who I want to see if I have a future with."

When they were out of sight, he came to a stop. Realizing they were just outside of Cisco's workshop, he gestured for her to walk inside and then followed her once she did.

"What did you…want to talk about?" she asked, suddenly not knowing what to do with her hands.

"Did you check on Wally and Jesse?" he asked, making a slightly awkward moment even more so.

"Uh…" Her mind went blank.

"I just mean…" His hand wrapped around the back of his neck again, same as it had done during her confession. "You just said you were going to check on them when you left…after-"

"Right." She paused. "No, I…didn't."

His brows furrowed. "You didn't say that?" Maybe he remembered wrong. "I thought-"

"No, I did say that," she confirmed. "I just didn't…do it."

She laughed nervously. He did the same, only with checking his watch shortly after.

"Has it? It hasn't been- Wait." A thought occurred to him. "Were you just… Was that just an excuse to get out of the room? Away from me?"

"What?" Her eyes widened, horrified. "No! No, of course not! I just…um…" She pursed her lips. "You had a big decision you had to make, and I didn't want to…keep you from that."

He nodded, almost accepting.

"I said what I needed to say, so…" She looked down at her feet. "I didn't want to be a distraction…or a burden."

"Iris," his voice cracked, and she looked at him. "You're never a burden."

She laughed nervously. "Yeah, well…"

"You're not," he said, taking her hand. "Do-Do you really think that I…? I mean-"

"No, no, I know you don't. It's just…" She licked her lips. "You didn't say anything, so…"

His shoulders slumped. "I should have said something."

"Well," her voice squeaked.

He nodded. "Yeah, I should have."

"I mean, it isn't every day your childhood crush confesses she's in love with you," she muttered under her breath, but Barry heard it. He heard it loud and clear. When Iris looked up at him, he looked just as shocked as he had the first time. Though it was possible his jaw was hanging farther open than before.

"You're doing it again," she said.

"Doing what?" He finally managed. Her flustered response told him exactly what he was unconsciously doing. He shut his mouth for a few moments before continuing. "I-I'm sorry, Iris. It's just…I never imagined…after all this time…" He took a breath. "You're in love with me?"

She met his eyes just once before avoiding them and just nodding. She couldn't meet the intensity in his eyes head-on until he reciprocated her feelings. Or at the very least told her how he felt. She'd done enough sharing as far as she was concerned.

"Do you not…" She swallowed hard. "I mean- After Patty…" She met his eyes reluctantly. "Do you not feel the same anymore?"

He shook his head in disbelief, and she started to duck her head down, prepared to accept his rejection.

No words were working with him, so he abandoned his normally keen sense of flowery vocabulary to close the distance between them, cup her face in his hands and tip her chin up so he could cover her lips with his own.

Iris kissed him back, sending a thunderous joy through his system. When they finally pulled apart, Iris' eyelashes were wet with happy tears.

"You could've just told me, Barry. You didn't have to-"

He kissed her again.

"I know," he said, tracing her smile when she giggled after the parted once more. "I just never expected… Iris…" She looked up at him. "I'm in love with you too."

Her eyes shined with love. "Yeah?"

"I always have been. You're it for me."

Her heart was bursting. "Me too," she admitted.

Their fingers intertwined. Barry pulled their hands together and lifted hers to his lips to kiss. She drew increasingly closer as he did so they were almost flush up against each other.

"So what now?" she asked, not wanting to break the moment but knowing it had to be addressed. "What decision did you make?" His silence worried her. "Or…did you want to announce it in from of the whole team?"

She started to pull away, but he gently tugged her back to him.

"No, I want you to hear it first."

She looked at him with bated breath.

"I'm not going to do it."

"You're not going to do…?"

"Another particle accelerator explosion," he said. "It's too risky. Too much can go wrong. And I…I want that future with you too, Iris. Just like I've wanted it my whole life."

She stomped down on the happiness buzzing inside her. There was more at stake here than their impending love life.

"Are you sure, Barry? I don't want you to just do this for me."

"Everything I do is for you."

"Barry-" she tried to argue, but it came out as more of a dreamy half-hearted protest between lover's lips.

"We can find a way to defeat Zoom without using my powers." He paused, realizing with every fiber of his being that was what needed to be done. "We have to."

She searched his eyes, wanting to believe him, but worried that he would forever be biased because of her and unsure if that was a good thing. He met her worried gaze with a reassuring one of his own.

"Do you believe me, Iris?"

He ran his thumbs over her fingers, weakening her further. Right now, she would believe anything he told her. She'd do anything he asked.

"Yes, Barry, I believe you."

He smiled tremulously.

"Then let's go save Central City."