The day had just been invented to taunt one Barry Allen. He had had the day planned for weeks. There was going to be an extravagant dinner, and a romantic stroll in the park with his new wife, and he would give Iris the necklace that she had been eyeing since the beginning of January. For once in his life, Barry would opt out of his comfortable sweater vests and would instead wear a spiffy yet affordable suit that was hand-picked by the suave Bruce Wayne (and that man could pick out a nice suit); and of course, Iris would look gorgeous as always. She would probably wear a red dress that cut off just above her knees. It would be a deep shade of red so that it didn't clash with her ginger hair, and it would plunge just low enough so that every other man in the restaurant would turn his head when they saw just a sliver of cleavage. It was like a temptation that no man aside from Barry was allowed to enjoy.
Unfortunately, Captain Cold decided to rob a jewelry store on this most auspicious Valentine's Day, and just the simple lack of creativity alone was enough to make Barry want to scream in annoyance. But Barry Allen was the Flash, and it was the hero's responsibility to make sure that Central City's premier jewelry parlor was safe from harm.
Barry had sped into the vicinity, glare in place (just to intimidate the villain), and stopped in front of Captain Cold. "Alright, it's Valentine's Day, so I'm going to give you the opportunity to put the engagement rings down and just walk away. How about it?"
With a huff, Barry hopped out of the way of a blast of ice. Why could things never be simple, he wanted to ask himself; instead, the blonde ran in front of Captain Cold and swiped the freeze gun away from the man. And Barry still might've walked away from the scene with a stern talking-to had he not gotten a nice whack to the back of the head with a bag of chocolate diamond necklaces.
Normally, the speedster was an easy-going sort of guy. He never let a lot of things get to him. But there was just something about being struck in the head with the same gift that he had gotten for his wife that really made a guy see red. And not just the red of his uniform. And also not just the red of the rubies that were surrounding pretty gold bands. To put it quite simply, Barry was ready to beat Captain Cold into the pavement. And he might have, had he not seen the large clock in the center of the city that read (or Barry imagined, rather) "Son, you are late for your date." The blonde man struggled with himself internally for a few moments before landing a good punch to Captain Cold's face and turning to the chief of police (who just happened to conveniently show up). "He's yours."
"Got a hot date tonight?" the man joked with a slight, kind smile on his face.
Barry turned and positioned himself for a new run. "You could say that."
: :
Iris sighed for what could be considered the millionth time that night. She ran her finger across the circumference of her wine glass and allowed herself another forlorn glance to the entrance of the restaurant. Unless her husband was the middle-aged woman who just came in looking for "Wilfred," then Barry still hadn't shown up.
After becoming quite bored with her drink, Iris chose to twirl her wedding ring around her finger. It fit so perfectly, looked so good, shined so brightly. It was just as sweet and sentimental as Barry, and she loved him to death, but that man could be so late sometimes. Ten minutes was okay. Men were normally ten minutes late. Thirty minutes was bad, but that was a great day for Barry. An hour meant that this guy wasn't interested, but that was Barry's usual agenda. He would always apologize, up and down, and he meant every word of it; and Iris was very much aware that it really wasn't Barry's malicious intent to make his girlfriend/fiance/wife wait by herself for an hour. Still, it did get tiring, especially on Valentine's Day.
The door opened again, and an older man with thinning hair came to the front of the desk and told the receptionist that he was "Mr. Turner." Or, he told the woman, that his wife might have just called him "Wilfred."
Iris smiled as she took a small sip of her red wine. Frankly, she didn't care how expensive it was. Barry could afford it, and he should, after making her wait this long. Just as she was about to take a long, hearty swig of the beverage, the door practically burst open, and a blonde man in a suit with a jacket that was practically falling off his shoulders. He held a bouquet of roses in one hand, and those poor things looked as if they had been jerked around at the speed of light. And, knowing Barry, they probably had.
He gave the receptionist a quick name, and she pointed him towards Iris's table. He hurried over as quickly as possible and handed the bundle of roses towards his wife.
The dorky smile on his face, the sincere look in his gentle green eyes, the way his hands still got shaky when he was nervous - all that still made Iris fall her husband time after time. She smiled and took the bouquet, taking the care to sniff the flowers. Surprisingly, they did keep some of their fragrance. Frankly, they didn't look too bad. In fact, they looked better than roses usually did when Barry ran with them.
"One hour and seven minutes late."
"Not too shabby?" Barry asked with a hopeful look on his face.
Iris nodded as she gestured for her husband to sit down. "Please, sit. I've already drained half the wine, but it really is quite good. You should try some before I down the entire thing."
Laughing, Barry took his own wine glass and poured himself a small drink. He didn't drink much, not much at all, but he would allow himself a small glass of wine on holidays. It was like his own little personal gift to himself.
The two ate in comfortable conversation; Iris would laugh at something hilarious that Barry said (even if he didn't think that it was very funny at all). In turn, the blonde would choke on his drink when Iris would throw her hands up in a large gesture as she explained some news story that she or someone else was covering.
She never did notice that look in his eyes that he got when she looked away. That look of pure bliss that he got when he realized that he had the best wife ever. Iris wouldn't complain about his time management issues; they didn't bother her nearly as much anymore.
And Barry never caught onto that slight smile that Iris would etch onto her face when her husband would explain some long, complicated science story that involved some long, complicated forensics case, and he was just so smart. She loved watching the way his face lit up when she actually engaged herself in the conversation and asked questions involving science (it never had been one of her best subjects). Iris was pretty sure that she could never get tired of listening to Barry talk.
The night wound down without any sort of fuss. Barry ate enough for a small army, and Iris giggled at the fact that a man that ate so much never made any sort of mess at all. When the two were ready to leave, Barry got up first and fumbled around in his suit jacket for a small box. It was large enough and velvety enough that Iris was pretty sure that it was a necklace or a bracelet, but she never wanted to assume. Barry was surprising.
"Here, honey," Barry said softly as he opened the box and revealed a beautiful pearl necklace. It was simple and gorgeous and stunning, and it reminded Iris of some wonderful 1940's housewife. She placed a hand over her mouth in shock and looked to her husband.
"Barry, it's beautiful. Gosh," she whispered to mostly herself, "how did you know?"
The blonde lowered his head, smile in place. "You never say anything, but you looked at it every time we passed by the jewelry store. And, you know, I thought you'd look awfully pretty in it."
"Awfully pretty?"
Barry's faced turned just a shade red. "Too old-fashioned?"
"Just a little," Iris replied as she captured her husband in a chaste kiss. Life would never be perfect, and Barry would always end up late for some important event, but he was just the most perfectly amazing guy in the world, and frankly, Iris could never be happier.
(And Barry could send up a little thank-you to the heavens that he got the most wonderful wife in the world).
A.N.: Who cares if I don't have a Valentine? I had a pretty great day. I got to write some more BarryXIris, I got to read an adorable Birdflash fanfiction, I'm kind of over the last YJ episode that pretty much KILLED Bluepulse, and my sister is the best! She crocheted me an adorable Robin doll for Valentine's Day! He is adorable, and I am holding him as I type. Also, I finally got some of my writing recognized because I won second place in a district writing contest! I got a medal and a check. Happy Happy girl.
Anyway, I don't own Young Justice or DC Comics.