AN: This is a late submission for WestallenHiatusWeek on Tumblr. This is for Earth 4 – Royalty/Arranged Marriage!AU.
Ever since the birth of the modern day polises, Central and Keystone had been neighboring polises who were constantly at war with one another. The relationship between the West and Allen families, who ruled Keystone and Central, had been turbulent for generations with neither kingdoms willing to concede ground nor negotiate, causing the tensions between their polises to run high.
That all changed when Joseph West and Henry Allen took the throne in each of their respective polises. Though they had been raised to hate one another, both of them knew that they did not want their children to grow up with the same hatred for their neighbors as they had. Throwing aside years of anger and aggression, the two kings and their wives gathered together one day and decided that the best way to mend that bridge was to have a marriage bonding the two polises together.
Nora had just given birth to the Central heir, Bartholomew, and Francine was pregnant with her and Joe's first child whom they had been told was a girl. It was agreed that for the sake of their children and future generations to come, the kings of Central and Keystone would sign an agreement that when their children were grown, they would marry. It was a decision both of them felt was necessary, but lingering in the back of both of their minds was a hope that when their children grew up, they would be willing participants.
Barry and Iris were twelve when they were made aware of their engagement and were set up to meet for the first time. Queen Francine and Queen Nora had planned a meeting between the two, regardless of the tensions between their polises running high despite the truce between kingdoms. Both queens had been in agreement with their husbands when the contract for their children's marriage had been signed, but both had also wanted what was best for their children, which meant that they actually wanted them to meet and hopefully get along before they were pushed down the aisle for the sake of their kingdoms and their peoples.
Barry had looked at his parents with disbelief when they had sat him down and told him about Iris and the fact that, one day, she was going to be his wife. There hadn't been any screaming or crying from him, just sullen staring and silent sulking as he had rose from his chair and walked out of the room. He shut himself up in his room, refusing entry to everyone, and did not talk to his parents for a whole week.
Iris had quite the opposite reaction because she had quite a lot to say her parents when they told her about Barry and their engagement. No one knew how large Iris' repertoire of swear words were before that day, especially not her parents. Both Francine and Joe had been shocked at the ugly things that escaped the lips of the daughter, whom they had always assumed was the perfect angel. They had sent her up to her room and delivered her meals to her, themselves, when they saw how reluctant all of the servants were to deal wit he
The Wests practically had to drag their daughter to Central on the day the meeting was to take place. Iris had wanted nothing to do with Barry Allen, and she most definitely did not want to meet him. She didn't like what he represented, but it did not help that she was being forced to meet him on the day that her best friend, Bette, was throwing a party that she desperately wanted to go to because of news that Bette had invited her secret crush, Eddie Thawne, to attend and that he had accepted the invitation only when he had heard that Iris would be in attendance. Needless to say, Iris was nowhere near a happy camper when she had been plopped down in a parlor with no one but a scrawny little kid, who was a whole inch shorter than her, to keep her company. Even if she did find his dark green eyes to be really nice, she had no intention of telling him that.
Barry had been equally reluctant to meet Iris. He, too, had to be coerced into attending the meeting, which he had been furious to find out had been scheduled to take place at the same time that he and his best friend, Cisco, were suppose to attend a lecture given by Barry's hero, Harrison Wells, at STAR Labs. It had taken his mother a whole hour of goading and pleading for him to finally allow her to lead him down to the parlor where King Joseph, Queen Francine, and Princess Iris were waiting. The latter avoided his eyes like the plague as she had stared pointedly out the window with her arms folded across her chest. It was clear that she did not like him, which he was fine with since he was sure he didn't like her either. That did not, however, stop him from noticing how utterly stunning she was.
Their parents had left both of them alone in the room after a brief yet awkward introduction between the two pre-teens, who had avoided looking at one another throughout the process. As soon as the grownups had left, both of them had gone to opposite corners of the room and pulled out their cell phones. Iris became invested in looking at photos that Bette had uploaded online of her party, while Barry busied himself reading the texts that Cisco sent him, detailing the lecture he was missing. A stray look and a glance was exchanged here and there between the two, but neither of them were eager to break the silence or the close distance that they had placed between themselves.
After about an hour of them being involved in their own activities, Barry had found himself starting to nod off. The sound of a sharp intake of breath from Iris's side of the room snapped him back to alertness. He sat up, abruptly, and looked over to Iris, concerned, only to find himself shocked to see her with her knees pulled to her chest, her face buried in her arms, and her shoulders shaking. It was the sound of her sniffling that confirmed to him that she was crying, making him feel both panicked and awkward with the abrupt change their current situation.
He gathered up his courage a moment later and slowly rose to his feet. The logical part of his brain screamed at him to run out of the room and get as far away from the crying girl as he possibly could, but the honorable part that sounded oddly like his father's voice, told him that he could not just let her cry by herself. A gentleman would do the right thing, regardless how his awkwardness, and make sure that she was all right.
After taking a deep breath and slowly crossing the room to where she was, Barry stopped beside Iris' balled up form and stood awkwardly beside her, waiting for her to notice him. She showed no sign of recognizing his presence, and so he figured he should just do what he needed to do, which was place his hand tentatively on her shoulder, to play his dutiful part and then make a mad dash back to the safety of his side of the room.
Iris jolted at his touch, her head shooting up from where it had been buried in her arms. She looked up at him with wide, accusing eyes that made Barry immediately pull his hand back from her. He took a step back and nearly tripped as he raised his hands up in placation.
"I-I-I'm sorry!" he stammered out as he found himself under her wet yet intense stare. "I-I didn't meant to startle you, I swear."
Wiping at the tears on her cheek with the back of her hand, Iris sniffled and huffed at him. "What do you want?" she cried out harshly, the words cracked and filled with misery.
Barry slowly lowered his left hand and brought his right up to rub at the back of his head as a feeling of inadequacy blossomed inside his chest from her cool glare. "I just… I just wanted to see if you were okay," he answered shyly.
When she failed to respond after a minute, he gathered up what was left of his courage and moved to return to his previous spot across the room. "I'm sorry if I bothered you."
Before he could turn around completely, Barry was shocked to feel warm fingers wrap around his wrist. He stared down at the dark fingers that contrasted against his pale skin before slowly sliding his gaze to her face.
"I'm sorry I snapped at you," she said quietly, her words barely louder than a whisper. She averted her eyes to the ground as she pulled her hand back from his arm. "You're not bothering me."
Iris pulled her knees back to her chest before staring pointedly at the space next to her. Barry understood her silent offer and felt himself feeling a mixture of excitement and fear as he sat down beside her with only an inch of space separating their thighs. Butterflies had awakened inside the pit of his stomach, but he fought down the jitters as he gave the pretty girl at his side a small, appreciative smile.
"If… If it's not too forward of me to ask… what, exactly, were you crying about?" he asked gently, deciding to just bite the bullet and ask the question that had been on the tip of his tongue since he had noticed her crying from across the room.
Iris seemed to admire his boldness because instead of being offended at his forwardness, she hugged her knees to her chest and said, "It's kind of embarrassing. You'd probably think I was overreacting and being silly."
"I promise that I won't," Barry responded with probably more zeal in his than he intended. "I don't think I could ever think you're silly, but even if I did, it wouldn't be in a bad way. I've been called silly and weird a lot because of my obsession with science, so… I wouldn't judge you or anything," he found himself ranting on, not quite sure why he was babbling. He also had no idea why he was insisting she spill, considering he barely knew her. A part of his brain told him that he shouldn't care, but the rest of it was desperate to know more about her, which was a revelation in and of itself.
Iris studied him silently for a long moment as though she were weighing whether or not she could trust him. Barry raised his eyebrows and folded his hands in his lap in his best attempt at showing her that he was ready to listen. His approach seemed to work because less than a minute later, she was spilling everything to him.
Apparently, when Iris had been looking at the pictures that Bette had uploaded from her party, her best friend had posted a picture of Eddie and Patty Spivot kissing by Bette's pool. Iris told Barry of how betrayed she felt because Patty was a good friend of Iris' who had known how much she had liked Eddie. Her actions had been especially hurtful because Patty had apparently told Iris that she didn't even like Eddie but liked another kid in their class named Mark Mardon, who had asked Iris out a week before but whom Iris had refused because of her loyalty to Patty.
Barry could barely keep up with the web of people who liked different people in her story, but he tried to keep up with the whole tangled web. All he could really say he got out of it all, in the end, was that Iris had way too many friends - some who some who didn't sound like they were her friends at all. None of them, in his eyes, seemed worth her tears or sadness, especially the bloke who definitely did not sound like he deserved Iris' affection in the first place.
Iris sighed after she had finished her spiel and looked at Barry in defeat, her eyes beginning to fill with tears again.
"I think what hurts the most is that I thought that he liked me," she cried softly, bowing her head. "I thought that he would be my first, you know?" she added dolefully.
Furrowing his brow, Barry gazed at her profile curiously. "Your 'first'?"
She lifted her head as a tinge of pink appeared on her dark brown cheeks. "You know..." she said bashfully before dropping off as she saw the blank look on his face. "My first… as in my first kiss."
Barry's eyes widened with his eyebrows rising and nearly disappearing into his hairline. "Ooooooooh!" he replied, feeling his own cheeks beginning to warm at the weird shift in conversation. He had barely wrapped his head around the fact that she was even talking to him, let alone divulging stuff like that to him.
Talking about relationships and kisses did seem to awaken a strange feeling inside of his chest that only seemed to intensify as he gazed back into her eyes. She looked just as bashful as him with their current topic of conversation, but neither of them seemed capable of looking away.
"Well… I'm sorry that he isn't your first," Barry conceded after a long moment of tense silence had fallen between them. "But from what you've told me, this Eddie kid doesn't sound like such a bright kid anyway."
Iris sighed sullenly. "He's actually the smartest kid in my class," she deadpanned.
"Well, forgive me if I don't believe that," Barry answered her with a shrug of his slender shoulders. "Any kid who would pass up the chance to be with you doesn't sound like a very smart kid to me because you seem pretty awesome."
Iris giggled as she gazed at Barry with her large brown eyes twinkling. "You really think so, Barry?"
Barry found himself too floored to answer. Not only did he like the sound of his name coming from her mouth, but he found himself completely and utterly captivated by the sight of the smile on her lips. It was the first time she had actually smiled at him and he could not quite get a grasp on how something as simple as the corners of her lips twitching up could completely transform her already pretty face into something that Barry could only think of as enchanting. Being on the receiving end of something so spectacular made his chest warm and his heart pound like a Tahitian drum. Everything around him just seemed to dull in comparison to the light that emanated from that smile.
He had not realized that he was staring until he saw the smile on Iris' lips fade away. Feeling almost desolate at the loss of it, Barry lifted his eyes to Iris's and found himself feeling utterly unprepared for the shy yet hopeful look she was directing at him. That look somehow surpassed the smile because it made him realize, for the first time, that she may share the same feelings that were blooming inside of him. Without even realizing that he was doing it, his eyes drifted back down to her lips.
"Would it be okay if I told you that I think that I really want to kiss you right now?" Barry heard himself ask her softly as his face already began to draw near hers.
Iris bit her lip and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear as she, too, began to lean forward. "Only if it's okay for me to tell you that I want you to kiss me, too," she whispered back.
Their faces met in the middle with their lips being the buffer from a full-on face collision. The brush of their lips was tentative, at first, but Iris made the first bold move of leaning forward more and pressing her lips even harder against his. Barry was quick to follow her lead as he tilted his head to the side in order to gain better access to her mouth. Neither of them knew what they were doing, but they both seemed to enjoy exploring this new experience with one another. Every time they parted, one or the other was quick lean back in, initiating a new kiss so that they became not only one other's firsts, but also their seconds, thirds, fourths, fifths, and even sixths. So intent were they in keeping their lips molded to one another's that they failed to hear the door to the parlor sliding open.
"What in the hell is going on in here?"
Barry and Iris immediately pulled apart at the sound of Joe West's voice booming throughout the room. Guilt was etched on both of their faces as they looked up to find both sets of their parents staring at them from the parlor entryway. Both King Joseph and King King Henry looked like they were about to blow a vein, but their wives contrasted them by hiding matching smirks behind their hands.
Needless to say, the mothers of both children considered the meeting to be a success.
Even though they came from neighboring polises, it was still a six-hour drive for Barry and Iris to see one another, so they were not able to see each other as often as they would have liked. Regardless of that fact and the fact that they went to different schools, had their own separate friends, and basically had their own separate lives, the two managed to stay close after the events of their first meeting. They talked to each other frequently through calls and texts, and they jumped on any opportunity they could find to visit one another. Their friendship only grew stronger as time passed as well their attractions to one another, but because they each had their own lives to live, they resigned themselves to the fact that it was just too difficult for them to share anything more than friendship. That resignation, however, did not stop them from feeling more for one another.
When Barry was thirteen, Nora Allen discovered that she had lung cancer. In spite of her completing all her treatments and chemo, she died shortly after Barry's sixteenth birthday.
Henry became a recluse, holing himself up in his study and keeping his distance from everyone, including Barry. The young prince of Central became a shell of himself but had taken on the responsibility of making preparations for his mother's funeral. Joe and Francine had immediately insisted on intervening on that front, but that had done nothing to improve how empty Barry still felt.
On the day Nora was buried, Barry stood by his father's side, feeling completely and utterly broken as he watched his mother's casket being lowered into the ground. Everything inside of him felt numb and hollow as he stood there, watching sullenly, as the people around him threw in white roses onto the lowering box.
He had not shed a single tear ever since he had heard of his mother's death, and even as he stood there by the hole in which she was being placed, his eyes had remained dry. He was so dangerously close the edge, ready to shatter into a million pieces, when he had suddenly felt a soft, familiar warm hand slip into his.
Barry did not have to look over to know who the hand belonged to, but he did anyway, only to find himself peering into the face that had easily become his favorite sight over the years. Regardless of the fact that hollowness and sadness were still strong inside of him, his lips still managed to lift, almost involuntarily, at Iris.
She stayed by him until the grave was completely filled in and had remained by his side throughout the following reception, her hand never leaving his. Toward the end of the evening, she was surprised to feel him squeeze her hand back, which had startled her since it had mostly felt limp in her grasp throughout the entire day. When she looked up - he had sprouted quite a bit since their first meeting - into his eyes, she saw that they did not look so empty and lost as they had at the grave site. Instead, she was surprised to see a deep yearning in his emerald eyes that was being directed at her. Regardless of her inexperience and bashfulness at that look, Iris found herself feeling the same way about him, though she pushed it aside since the setting seemed like the last place for such feelings to arise.
When everyone was still in the midst of talking and celebrating Nora's life, Barry slowly pulled on Iris's hand and led her away from the rooms where the reception was taking place and up the stairs to his bedroom. They sat on the bed together for a long time, just enjoying the presence of the other when after fifteen minutes of silence, Barry suddenly placed his elbows on his knees and began to sob into his hands.
Iris let him cry by himself for a moment, feeling that he needed to release all of the sorrow and misery he had pent up by himself, but was eager to go to him when she felt him reach out and pull on her hand. She moved up the bed, placing herself right beside him with their backs to the headboard, and opened her arms to him. She then sat back and allowed Barry to lay his head in her lap as he continued to cry, soaking the black material of her dress with his tears. Iris made sure he was comfortable before leaning down and pressing her cheek to his back and whispering soothing words against the soft linen of his shirt. Amidst those whispers was a promise that she would always be there for him.
He cried for what felt like hours, but Iris remained patiently by his side. She continued to rub soothing circles into his back until he finally rose up, his face red and his eyes swollen from crying. He was the one that entwined their fingers, this time, but the way he squeezed her hand made her feel that he wanted more.
Iris turned her body to him and took his face in her hands. She pulled him down and pressed her lips to his brow and then his wet eyelids before finally reaching his lips. She had only meant for it to be a soft, comforting kiss, but his hand rose and grasped the back of her neck, deepening the pressure of their mouths moving against one another. The hunger with which his mouth moved against hers set off alarms inside Iris's head, telling her that she should probably stop him before things got out of hand, but her own yearning had grown a mind of its own inside of her, making her kiss him back with equal hunger and fervor.
Before either of them knew what was happening, Iris found herself on her back with Barry above her, his hips cradled between her thighs. All of the built up feelings that they had for one another began to seep out of them, and regardless of the horrible circumstances in which they had reached this moment, neither of them were willing to let that feeling fade away.
There was a moment of pause as Barry lifted himself up and gazed down into her eyes. They stared deeply at each other, silently asking one another if they should allow themselves to go further. There were warning sirens going off in both of their heads that they were about to do something that neither of them were sure they were ready for, but the desire won out in the end as they delved into another kiss and began to peel off one anothers clothing. There was no stopping after that, and so Barry Allen and Iris West succumbed to one another and shared another first.
After, with Barry still on top of her and their breaths coming out heavily from their lips, they laid still on the bed with their arms clinging tightly to the other, neither wanting to let go.
"Would it be okay if I told you that I'm so thankful for you, right now, and that I'm pretty sure I'm in love with you?" Barry asked with his face buried in her neck.
Iris stared up at the ceiling as she lazily ran her fingers through Barry's hair, her heart still pounding a mile-a-minute inside her chest.
"Only if it's okay for me to tell you that I think I'm in love with you, too," she whispered back.
Despite their best efforts to stay in touch after that night, Barry and Iris became so involved in their own separate lives that they began to fall out of touch. Barry became obsessed with the sciences that he had shared a love of with his mother, and Iris had started finding her own passions in life in her desire to help people. They had their own separate lives in their separate polises; both of them graduating and heading off to colleges on opposite sides of the world from one another. They found new people to share their lives and interests with, but deep down inside, their hearts still managed to long for the other.
By the time they turned twenty-one, both of them were completely immersed in learning how to rule their own polises that they had almost forgotten that they were promised to one another. Barry was working on involving the sciences that he had gotten his degrees in to help make his polis more industrial, while Iris used her own skills in politics and communication to ensure that the people of Keystone were able to participate more in how they were ruled, something that her younger brother and future Keystone heir, Wally, wholly agreed with.
They were so involved in their own separate endeavors that they found themselves caught off guard when their parents approached them with the news that the time had come for them to complete the agreement that had been made between their polises more than twenty years before. It had always been something that the two had always thought of as something that would take place in the future that neither had realized that the future had finally become the present.
Henry and the Wests decided that of the royal couple should be reacquainted before they announced their engagement to the rest of the world, so a dinner was planned for them, which was to take place in Keystone. It would be the first time that they would be laying eyes on one another in years. Their parents all knew that the two had changed, but both rulers hoped that they could still get along, considering the fact that they were about to be married.
On the evening of the dinner, Iris stood at the top of the curved stairwell, decked out in a champagne gown that she had struggled to put on due to how badly her hands had been trembling. She forced herself to take a deep breath in preparation for what she was going to find when she walked into the dining room where the Allens were waiting. It had been years since she had last seen Barry and even though he had never strayed far from her thoughts or her heart, regardless of how long they had been apart, she dreaded the thought of looking upon him and seeing nothing but a stranger.
At the bottom of the stairs, Barry was nervously pulling at the collar of his white shirt that felt itchy against his skin due to how sweaty he was. He knew that there was a good chance that Iris was most likely changed but she had always been a strong presence in his mind. Though he knew there was a good chance that her feelings for him had changed, he clung to the hope that the love she had felt for him was still there, if even just a small ember in comparison the roaring fire they had once felt for one another.
Iris, who was too busy trying to calm herself before seeing Barry, failed to notice that the person she was eager to see was standing at the foot of the stairs, waiting for her. Her foot got caught on his in her haste to get to the dining room and she found herself being flung forward on a collision course with the hard floor. In the midst of falling, her eyes rose up to meet Barry's familiar emerald gaze that even in mid-fall she still found them completely and utterly beautiful.
Barry, who had also failed to notice Iris coming right at him because of fact that he was trying to find his handkerchief to wipe his sweat covered brow, looked up at the feel of Iris's foot meeting his and felt his eyes widen when he saw her about to hit the ground. He swore he had never moved faster in his life as he had raced forward with his arms outstretched to catch her. He started praying in thanks to every deity who would listen when he felt his hands find strong purchases on her waist just before her knees could make contact with the hard floor. Instead of helping her to her feet, Barry wrapped his arms more securely around her body and pulled her back to him until her back was pressed to his chest.
Iris just managed to catch her breath after having her fall interrupted by Barry's strong hands grasping her waists ighed before turning her head and finding herself gazing directly into those familiar green eyes again. All of the worries that had been swirling in her head from the moment she had realized that she was going to see him again vanished in a flash at the sight of the tender look that was etched on his face as he stared back at her. The adoration she found in them nearly stole her breath away because even though his shoulders had gotten broader and he had grown a couple more inches, the way he looked at her did not seem to have changed at all. Being in his arms in that moment made her feel just as precious to him as he had made her feel when they were sixteen.
"Hey you," she whispered, a grin sliding across her lips.
Barry felt the familiar feeling of the world going still at the sight of the smile on her face being directed at him. Leaning forward, he pressed his brow to hers while still staring intently into the deep brown pools of her eyes. "Hello, beautiful," he whispered back.
Iris could not stop the giggle that burst from her lips as she raised her hand and brushed the back of her fingers across his cheek.
"Would it be okay if I told you that I'm pretty sure I'm still in love with you even though I haven't seen you in years?" she asked quietly with her brow still pressed to his.
Barry chuckled and gently turned her around before taking her face in his hands and leaning in so their eyes were level. "Only if it's okay for me to tell you that I'm pretty sure that I'm still in love with you, too," he replied before confirming his words by sealing his lips to hers.
When they broke for air a couple minutes later, Iris beamed at him lovingly with her eyes twinkling and her lips swollen. "Then I guess it's okay."
AN: I'm more of a reader than a writer, but I could not help but want to participate in WA Hiatus Week. This is a kinda late submission for WestAllen Hiatus Week: Earth 4 - Royalty/Arranged Marriage. I know this work is probably riddled with grammatical errors, but I hope you still enjoyed. Thanks for reading!