A/N: Written spontanteously for my friend, cbsnforeverandalways, on tumblr. I hope you all enjoy this little AU take on teen!westallen.

*Many thanks to sendtherain for beta'ing.

*I own nothing. No copyright infringement intended.

The noise of some snickering and crude remarks made Barry look up from his locker. It wasn't the first time he'd heard them, and it wouldn't be the last, but his righteous anger on behalf of the targeted individual never wavered. Iris West was beautiful, smart, and friendly. The only issue Tony apparently had with her was that she was new and didn't have an interest in him at all. His annoyance at that fact had gotten his friends to gang up on her too, and their friends by extension, till it seemed that everyone aside from Barry side-eyed her when she walked by or talked over her when she tried to say something.

He should say something, and he knew that, but he also had his fair share of history with Tony Woodward, who'd come down on him for more legitimate reasons – Barry being smarter than him and with a ganglier stature. Until he had the stomach to verbally harass Tony, an escape route would have to be his best bet.

He shut his locker, abandoning his backpack inside of it for the time being, and stalked towards them.

"Hey, Iris!"

His voice was cheerful, but there was also urgency in it, which Iris' panicked face registered.

"Come with me. I want to show you something."

He reached his hand out to her and she was inches away from clasping her fingers over his when Tony tried to intervene.

"Watch your step, Allen. The lady and I weren't finished yet."

Barry held his breath, then took the plunge.

"I think you were."

Just as Tony pulled his arm back for a punch, Barry ducked, grabbed Iris' hand and ran with her down the hall. They ran around several corners and up stairwell after stairwell, the footsteps of the bullies just behind them, when Barry finally pulled her with him into what appeared to be a closet, and then swiftly shut the door behind them.

They could hear the bullies running past them down the hall, presumably giving up and then heading back downstairs.

Barry and Iris breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thanks," Iris said, her voice almost a whisper.

"No problem." He smiled shakily.

"You come here often?" she joked, looking at the cleaning supplies around them.

"No, not really. Not for a while, at least." He licked his lips, his eyes dropping to hers for a moment before she caught him. "Hey, can I uh…can I show you something? Take you someplace?"

She blinked, then her eyes softened, and she smiled.

"My hero's secret lair?"

He blushed at the word 'hero,' grateful she couldn't see him very well in the dark room.

"Something like that."

She squeezed his hand she suddenly realized she was still holding.

"Sure."

A sliver of light appeared as Barry opened the door again, and Iris squinted her eyes as it streamed in. They blinked rapidly when they were out in the hall again, though thankfully no one else was around.

"Okay, this way."

Iris had to work to keep up with him, but he never even tried to let go of her hand, so that helped. After two more sets of staircases, the latter one shorter and darker, Barry opened a door and Iris caught her breath in her throat.

"Is this…?"

"The rooftop, yep," he said, a grin in his voice.

"Of the school?" she gawked, walking onto the cement.

"Mhmm." He chuckled. "Best part is no one can really see you until you get closer to the edge. Like, maybe three to five feet away from it. So, if you ever need to get away from somebody – a bully, for instance – this is the place to go."

Iris spun around to face him, having wandered a bit across the roof to take in the view.

"This is your spot? From when you-"

"Got bullied, yeah." He tried to laugh it off. "I still do sometimes, but for different reasons."

"Oh, yeah?" She raised an eyebrow, walking back towards him. "What are your reasons?"

"Well, I'm a Class A nerd for one, way smarter than Tony Woodward, which he'll never admit to."

She smirked. "What else?"

"I'm gangly."

Her hand flew over her mouth as she tried and failed to stifle her giggles.

"Yeah, yeah, go ahead, laugh away," he said, as if he'd been prepared for her reaction. But he still turned away as his cheeks turned a bright red. "I couldn't bench press you in a million years."

Iris got herself under control, then smoothed down her skirt and cleared her throat.

"Not every girl needs to be bench-pressed, Barry."

He turned to look at her over his shoulder.

"Definitely not me," she said.

"No?"

She folded her arms.

"Do I look like someone who is dying to be held up in the air with one hand? Or even two?"

He turned all the way around.

"No, I guess not."

She held her hand out to him, and he returned to her and took it, nervous now because there was no reason for them to be holding hands.

Iris hesitated, then took his other hand and looked up into his eyes, holding her breath for a moment more before taking the plunge.

"I like you, Barry."

His mouth fell open.

"Y-Yeah?" he finally managed; his voice raspy. Then he blinked and shook himself out of his reverie. "I mean, of course you do. I'm a nice person." She raised an eyebrow. "Thank you," he added, for good measure.

Laughter burst out of her, but she got it under control much quicker this time.

"You are nice," she agreed. "The only person nice to me right now, really."

His heart sank at that sad reality. "I wish that wasn't true, Iris."

"But you're more than nice," she pushed forward, determined to get her point across. "You're also very smart, which you said, aaaand… you're cute." She winked, then avoided his gaze when his eyes went wide.

Barry's heart leapt into his throat. All breathing stopped entirely, and heat made its permanent residence in his face.

"You…uh…you think I'm cute?"

Her eyelashes fluttered when she looked up at him.

"Is that bad?" she asked shyly.

He gawked. "No! Not at all. I'm just… surprised. No one's ever thought I was cute before." He paused. "Well, except my mom. But she calls me beautiful." He wrinkled his nose.

She laughed again and dropped one of his hands to pull him to a cement block in the middle of the roof and sit down.

"Did your mom want a girl?" she asked, taking a seat beside him.

He shrugged. "She's never said anything, but I think there might've been a miscarriage."

Iris' eyes went wide. "Why do you say that?"

He rubbed his arm distractedly.

"She was really sad for like a year when I was thirteen. My dad said she was just emotional over me growing up so fast, but I heard her cry at night sometimes. I never said anything." He looked into Iris' sad, worrisome eyes. "Moms don't cry because they think their babies are growing up too fast."

"I'm sorry, Barry," she said softly.

He shrugged.

"Don't worry about it. It's been almost two years since that happened." He tried to laugh.

She took his hand and threaded her fingers between his.

"I have a little brother. He's 10 now," she paused. "And a pain in my ass." She leaned towards him and whispered conspiratorially, "Sometimes I wish he was a girl."

Laughter bubbled out of him and the twinkle returned to his eyes. Relief washed over her.

"I like you, too, Iris," he admitted honestly.

"Yeah?" she asked, giddy now and scooting closer so their legs brushed against each other.

"Oh, yeah," he said, looking down into her eyes, getting lost in them as he tended to do. "Pretty much from the second I saw you."

"But you didn't even know me!" she protested. "How could you know…"

"I just had a feeling," he said.

Iris held her breath, certain her knees would've given out on her if she'd still been standing. Her eyes lowered to his lips, wondering what it would be like to touch them with her own, until she finally forced her gaze back to those beautiful green eyes of his.

"Are you going to kiss me, Barry?" she whispered.

He gulped. "I've never kissed anyone before."

"Me either." She licked her lips.

He could hear his heartbeat drumming in his ears.

"You want me to be your first?"

"I was, uh…kinda hoping we could do it more than once."

He gulped. "Iris…"

She reached up and latched her hand on the collar of his shirt, tugging gently to encourage him, even though she was certain she was more a bundle of nerves than he was. She'd never been this forward in her life.

But Barry responded as she'd hoped, leaning down far enough so their noses brushed and then tilting his head so their lips could press against each other's.

"How was that?" he whispered, raising his head an inch away, maybe more.

"Not enough," she said, then pulled him down for another kiss.