Based on the prompt: "our weirdo friends are throwing a wedding for their dogs and we both got dragged along" au
xXx
"Barry, you have got to be kidding me. Really, even for you, this is ridiculous. You can't possibly be serious."
"'Can't' is a pretty strong word, don't you think?" Barry hummed, kneeling down to scratch Bolt behind the ears.
Iris groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose, shaking her head in disbelief. Barry frowned at her and scooped his dog up from the floor, straightening up with it in his arms.
"Aww, come on, Iris, look at him," he said, holding up the dog circle-of-life-style and grinning at her. "He's in love. Youcan't honestly be trying to mess with true love."
"You are such a dork, Barry," she laughed, patting Bolt on the head. "A dork who's actually planning to throw a wedding party for his dog. And you want me to come. Remind me—why would I ever want to do that?"
"Because you love me?" he suggested, and Iris scrunched up her nose, pretending to mull it over. Finally she shook her head.
"Nah, dude, you're gonna have to try harder this time."
He stuck out his tongue at her before replying.
"Hmph. How about because Linda Park is going to be there?" he tried, waggling his eyebrows and giving her a knowing grin.
Her eyes widened, and she felt her stomach flutter at the name—it certainly had succeeded in capturing her interest. Barry knew about her massive crush on her co-worker, of course, but Iris hadn't known that he knew Linda at all, let alone well enough to invite her to a wedding…for his pet.
"Okay," she said slowly, eyeing him expectantly, "I'm listening."
He recognized the look in her eye and hurried to explain.
"I don't really know her, apart from what you've told me about her. I would've told you if I did, obviously. But apparently she's friends with Cisco, and she really, really loves dogs. So, I mean, you don't have to come and support Bolt, even though I'm sure he'll be devastated by your absence, but that's just something to keep in mind."
"Fine," Iris sighed, defeated. "You got me. I'll come, but only because I still haven't worked up the nerve to ask Linda to do anything with me outside of work, and I'm not passing up this chance. But don't tell Bolt that—I don't want him to think I don't care about his romantic life."
Barry gave her a scandalized look and covered the dog's ears, clicking his tongue in disapproval.
"Iris, Bolt is right here, he can hear you. You're hurting his feelings."
"Oh, my God," Iris rolled her eyes, "you are unbelievable. You're lucky Cisco is just as weird as you."
"Hey," Barry said, feigning innocence. He plopped the dog back on the ground and then held up his hands. "To be fair, it was his idea in the first place."
"Right," Iris said, unconvinced. "Whatever you say. Doesn't change the fact that you're weird."
"I mean, I'm not arguing with you there," Barry shrugged, unconcerned, and broke out into a grin.
"But stop whining, it'll be fun and you know it. And you'll get to spend some quality time with the girl you've been drooling about for months. Come on, now help me pick out a tie for the dog to wear," he babbled excitedly, pulling Iris along with him. "I really think red is his color."
xXx
The day the 'big event'—as Barry and Cisco insisted on calling it—rolled around, Iris was a bundle of anxiety and excitement at the prospect of spending time with Linda. By the time she was done with her work, she took a deep breath to calm herself and made her way over to Linda's desk.
"Hey," she greeted her brightly, praying that her nerves weren't showing through, "Barry told me that you're coming to the, uh, the thing. I was wondering if you needed a ride? I'm headed over there right now."
It wasn't as though they hadn't already carpooled to work—in fact Iris had driven her there today—but this was different. This was finally crossing that line between their professional relationship, an an actual, outside of work, real, honest…friendship. She couldn't help the butterflies in her stomach as she waited for a response.
The knot in her chest loosened as Linda beamed at her, eyes lighting up in excitement.
"Oh, that'd be perfect, actually! I just finished what I was working on, anyway," she said with a smile, standing up and plucking her jacket up from the back of her chair. "Although, would you mind if we stopped by my place real quick first? I promised Cisco I'd bring my dog Pepper with me to join in on the festivities."
Iris laughed, unsurprised.
"Not at all."
She had already memorized the way to Linda's house and back, but she asked for directions anyway, not wanting to seem creepy. And she wasn't, of course— she just happened to have a really good memory…and a very huge crush.
She waited patiently in the car as Linda retrieved her pet, and was so absorbed in her thoughts she didn't even realize when she returned until she was knocking on the window for her to unlock the door.
Linda deposited her dog—a tiny, dark, fluffy little thing with a little blue bow-tie around it's neck—on the seat before climbing in after it, and before she could pick it up again it was already jumping into Iris's lap, attempting to lick her face.
"Down, Pepper!" Linda scolded, grabbing the dog and holding it still in her lap. "Sorry about that—she can be a little feisty sometimes."
Iris laughed and waved off her apology.
"No, don't worry about it. She's adorable," she gushed, partly because she was determined to make a good impression and partly because it was true.
She let the dog sniff her hand before attempting to pet it, and almost immediately she was attacked with puppy-kisses as Pepper licked her fingers.
"Aww—looks like she really likes you," Linda mused, stroking Pepper's fur before flashing Iris a playful grin. "I always knew she had excellent taste."
Iris felt her pulse speed up at the compliment, while her stomach felt like it was doing back-flips. She forced a laugh in response, torturing herself over whether or not she should flirt back. Because that was the thing—was Linda flirting with her? Or was she looking too much into it? What if she was just trying to be friendly, and Iris was completely interpreting it the wrong way?
In the end, she decided she was better off safe than sorry and not potentially and completely embarrassing herself, and she fought to keep and more thoughts on the subject from her mind.
The rest of the drive over, it took all her willpower to keep her eyes on the road and not on Linda sitting next to her, dog comfortably nuzzled in her lap, because honestly—it was almost offensively cute. Luckily they made it all in one piece.
The make-shift wedding was at Central City's local dog park, because, as Barry had told her, it was where he and Cisco's dog, Puppy (she always got a kick out of that—you'd think someone who loved nicknames as much as Cisco would have better sense than to name his dog 'Puppy') had first met. She suspected that what he really meant was that it was where he and Cisco had first met, but she kept her mouth shut.
Even she had to admit—as they met the small group of people that Cisco and Barry had rounded up to attend, and as she chatted with Caitlin while Linda complimented about how handsome Bolt looked in his little tie, and how cute Puppy looked with her little miniature veil—it was pretty cute. Weird, but cute.
At some point during the 'bow-vows' (Cisco had been particularly proud of that one) Caitlin caught her eye and shook her head, as if to say 'the things we have to put up with'.
Iris rolled her eyes, silently communicating a 'tell me about it', but glancing at Linda's bright and happy smile and taking into account the fact that she was standing so close that their arms were nearly touching, she decided she really didn't mind too much, after all.
"Is he…is he really crying?" Linda leaned over to whisper in Iris's ear, incredulous, as Bolt and Puppy were pronounced dog and dog. Iris followed her gaze over to where Cisco and Barry stood, Barry surreptitiously wiping under his eyes with his sleeve.
"I really, really would not be surprised," she responded, fighting back a laugh as she watched Cisco turn to embrace him, a look of pride on his face.
"Maybe we should leave. You know, let them have their moment," Linda said, eyeing the two in amusement.
"Good idea," Iris nodded, clearing her throat to get their attention and then waving goodbye, and then to Caitlin as well.
The ride back to Linda's house to drop her back off seemed to end far too soon, right as their conversation had really been getting good. Linda hesitated with her hand on the car door handle, as though she was debating whether or not to say something other than 'thank you', but before she could Pepper wriggled out of her arms and clambered back into Iris's lap.
"I think she wants to take you home with her," Linda laughed, clipping the dog's leash to its collar and tugging at it, casting Iris a flirtatious wink in the process. Iris felt a surge of bravery at Linda's smooth and confident grin, and decided that she was done being nervous, that it was now or never to take her chance.
"Are we still talking about just Pepper here, or…?" she prompted, raising an eyebrow.
"Damn, you caught me," Linda said, snapping her fingers. "But since you asked…care to join me for dinner at my place? I mean, we're here anyway. I swear, I'm a decent cook. Okay, well, half-decent, but we can always order take-out if that doesn't work out."
"Are you kidding? I would love to," Iris grinned, all but bursting with delight and struggling to play it cool. As she hopped out of the car and fell into step behind Linda, following her into the house, Iris briefly wondered how this new development was going to work for them. Everyone knew there were certain rules against dating your co-worker.
She felt something warm and soft brush up against her heel, and looked down to see Pepper trotting along beside her. In the end, as Linda looked over her shoulder to flash Iris a smile and a sense of contentment washed over her, she decided fuck the rules—she really couldn't care less. This was perfect. She was happy.