When they start junior high school, Iris takes to pressing and straightening her hair and wearing lots of floral dresses and putting on makeup. Beyond a disastrous first attempt at putting on eyeliner–in which she nearly poked her own eye out and then gave Barry raccoon eyes when she wanted to practice on someone else–she gets the hang of the whole makeup thing pretty quickly.
Barry doesn't really understand the whole makeup thing all that well, but he thinks Iris looks pretty with it and he thinks she looks pretty without it and really Iris is just pretty in general. She could probably wear a trash bag and she'd still be the prettiest girl he knows.
Today Iris' hair is in its natural curly state and she's in a pair of old jeans with no makeup on whatsoever, not even mascara which she had told him was essential. It makes sense since they're painting over her room – the white was too boring, Iris had said a week ago.
All of her things are moved out of her room, tarp covering the floor. They aren't supposed to paint without Joe–he had gotten called in for a case–but Iris had gotten that mischievous smirk on her face and twinkle in her eye and it didn't really take that much convincing at all.
"You missed a spot," Iris says, mischievous glint in her eyes again. "Let me get that for you."
And she takes the paintbrush and smears paint over his cheek. Barry's hand immediately goes to his face. He brings his hand down and stares at the paint that now coats it. Iris giggles, her laughter sounding like the most pleasant music to his ears.
"You're going to regret that," Barry says, his mouth curving into a wide grin.
"I don't think I will," Iris taunts, smirking.
Barry takes his paint brush and splatters a gloop of paint on her in response. She gasps and splatters more paint on him.
Their paint war proceeds for a full teen minutes until they both dissolve into laughter, covered in paint from nearly head to toe. His laughter abruptly stops as he takes in the full sight of her, the way her smile looks against her paint-smattered cheeks, the way her eyes shine and radiate joy, and his heart starts to pound erratically in his chest.
Iris' laughter stops, too, as she catches him staring at her. "What is it, Bear?"
They'll finish painting the room by the time Joe gets back. Joe will scold them for disobeying but he'll admire the handiwork and laugh at their paint-covered selves. Iris will be so happy that she'll kiss Barry on the cheek once they're both paint-free and she'll make him breakfast for a week. Barry's cheek will burn and he'll keep touching the spot that her lips touched for two weeks.
But for now, Barry shakes his head, hoping he doesn't have some weird, dopey expression on his face. "Nothing. You just got something right here."
And he smears more paint on her cheeks. She laughs and laughs and laughs, radiating pure joy on her face, and he swears, dressed in her jeans with no makeup on and covered in paint, she's never looked so pretty.
—
The day of junior prom, Barry is kicked out of the West residence and shipped off to hang out with his guy friends during the hours that Iris and a few of her girl friends need to get ready.
He comes back when he's finally allowed, though Iris stays firmly locked inside her room, their friends shooing him away to his room so he doesn't ruin the grand reveal later. He doesn't know what the big deal is–it's not like it's a wedding dress–but he really can't wait to see what the dress looks like, or rather, how Iris will look in it. All he knows is that the dress is pink–Iris had bought him a matching tie–and that she'll look amazing no matter what the dress looks like. Iris always looks amazing.
After Barry is all suited up, he waits downstairs with the other guys and the gaggle of parents who are waiting to take pictures of their kids. The girls descend the stairs one by one, looking pretty in dresses of varying length and color. Barry oohs and ahs with the rest of them, though he's half-distracted with anticipation. His palms start to sweat and his heart starts to palpitate loudly in his ears.
And then it's her turn and Barry swears time stops. He'd been imagining how she'd look for weeks, but nothing could've prepared him for this. The dusty pink color of her dress looks so lovely against her brown skin, matching the rosy blush on her cheeks. The skirt of the dress flares and falls to the floor, her toes peeping out in ivory heels from under her dress. She looks like a princess–no, a queen. She slowly descends the stairs, a picture of grace and poise, and his heart clenches at the sight of her loveliness.
"How do I look?" she asks, once she reaches him at the bottom of the staircase, giving him a nervous smile.
A million different words run through his mind, a million different ways to tell her just how beautiful and amazing she looks. But none of those words pour out of his mouth. And god, it feels like such a cliché because here he is, literally speechless at the sight of her.
"Wow," he manages to breathe out. "Just… wow."
And her face breaks into the most breathtaking smile. His heart feels like it might just burst from an outpour of emotions and his knees actually start to buckle. He has to catch himself against the wall so he doesn't crumble to the floor.
"You okay, Bear?" she asks, forehead creasing with worry, hand pressing lightly on his arm.
"Yeah, yeah," he says, playing it off with a sheepish smile. "I just forgot to eat lunch today, so I'm a little lightheaded."
"Oh, Barry," she says, shaking her head, eyes crinkling with mirth. "One day without me and you're hopeless."
He just laughs because he's just hopeless when it comes to her period. And she laughs, too, eyes shining so brightly. He honestly doesn't understand how anyone could find brown eyes boring and plain when Iris' brown eyes are so warm and expressive, always lighting with delight or flashing with anger or glinting with mischief or glimmering with sadness. He's never seen eyes more vivacious or beautiful than hers–he could get lost in them forever.
He does get lost in them now, memorizing ever flicker of emotion, every facet of her lovely face. He wants to remember everything about this moment.
Joe will take a bunch of pictures of them before they leave that night. There'll be few of him fumbling with the corsage, hand lingering on her smooth skin. A few of her expertly pinning the boutonnière on him as his heart beats erratically against his chest. But most of them will feature him staring her, a dazed expression in his eyes, just awed that someone as beautiful, as wonderful, as radiant as her is going to the junior prom with him.
And there'll be a few times when she'll catch him staring at her with the same expression, and he'll want to tell her just how beautiful she is, how he's never seen anyone quite as beautiful as her, how her smile radiates with more life and warmth than the sun. But his words will get caught in his throat and his tongue will get all tied and he'll barely be able to come out with a croaky, "You look amazing."
And when she's swaying with him with her arms around his neck and her head against his shoulder and he's wondering if she can feel how fast she makes his heart beat, he'll want to tell her how he feels, how she makes him feel. But he'll just hold her a little closer, a little tighter, and wish that the moment could last forever.
But for now, he just revels in her breathtaking smile. She's always been so lovely–a goddess, a vision, an effervescent angel–but he swears, he's never seen her look quite as beautiful than in this moment.
—
On the day of their wedding, Barry's feet are nice and toasty. He honestly doesn't understand how anyone could have cold feet about marrying Iris West.
He stands at the altar, eyes scanning the crowd. Felicity's eyes meet his and she gives him a thumbs up and wide grin. Barry smirks at Oliver, hoping the expression says 'guess heroes do get the girls after all.' Caitlin smiles, so different from that serious and cold woman he first met, Ronnie at her side.
The music starts and the flower girls enter, showering petals. The bridesmaids come in with the groomsmen. Stacy and Cisco. Linda and Wally. Charlotte and Hal.
Then the bridal chorus starts and everyone turns to the door and Barry sucks in a huge breath.
Iris enters the archway and his breath hitches and his heart nearly stops. Oh, god, he's never seen anything quite like Iris in a wedding dress.
His eyes trail up the length of the white dress, up to her face and time slows into a still.
His powers have so many different applications and he uses them for so many different things, but this, being fast enough to slow down his perception of time, is by far his absolute favorite. It allows him to drink in every last second, to memorize every last detail of the way she looks in this moment. The way the shimmering, delicate fabric clings to her curves and falls gracefully to the floor. The way the light softly hits her, setting her skin aglow. The way her warm, brown eyes sparkle and radiate with pure joy. The way her mouth curves into that beautiful, beautiful smile–that smile that cannot be science.
His heart has never felt as inadequately small to contain the multitude of feelings than in this moment.
Time will continue normally. She'll glide down the aisle with her father, the man he's already seen as a dad for more than half of his life, by her side. If he could focus on anything other than her, he'd notice how the whole congregation will let out a collective sigh as she steadily approaches him, in full admiration of her beauty. But he'll only has eyes for her, he's only ever had eyes for her.
When she finally reaches him at the altar, he won't be able to help when his already wide grin gets wider or when his eyes start to brim with tears of joy or when he almost misses his cue for his vows.
And when they're finally pronounced man and wife, when he can finally kiss his bride, he'll feel like if he died right then and there, he would die as the happiest man on earth though he'll have no intentions of actually dying anytime soon because a lifetime of happiness with Iris is all he's ever really wanted.
But for now, with time still slowed to a still, he revels in the image of her in white. She's always been beautiful, but he swears, she's never looked as beautiful than she does in that gown, with that smile, with love–love for him–in her eyes.
—
It's date night and Joe has offered to watch the twins for them and Wally is protecting the city. They haven't really had a night to themselves since the twins were born, but now Don and Dawn are a little old enough for Iris and Barry to be comfortable leaving them without either parent for just a few hours at night.
Iris spends much of the day at the spa with Linda and Caitlin while he watches the twins–his gift to her–so she can glam up in a way that she hasn't in awhile. Not that she needs to glam up at all, but sometimes he catches her wistfully sighing at these dresses but she'll tell him there's really no point in glamming up with their rambunctious and messy twins. She knows she doesn't need to glam up, but sometimes she misses the feeling.
She gets ready at the West residence because she doesn't want him seeing her dress until she's all dolled up. It's convenient that way, too, because he brings the twins over to drop off as he picks her up.
Twins in his arms and bouquet in hand, he rings the doorbell with his elbow. Joe opens the door and takes the twins off his hands. They joke and chatter and then there's a click of heels and Barry directs his eyes towards the stairs.
His breath catches in his throat. Her hair is in an up-do that accentuates the lines of her face rather nicely. Her dress is red and bold, the hemline falling above her knees, showing off the shapeliness of her long, long legs, helped by her black pumps. Her skin glows, the effects of the spa, which makes the lovely smile on her face seem even more radiant.
God, she's so beautiful.
She'll ask him why he's staring and he'll tell her the truth, having lost the tongue-tied thing of his younger years ages ago. She'll roll her eyes and tell him that he always says that, but that won't stop the corners of her mouth from lifting into her magical, breathtaking smile.
Their date will go well and she'll laugh at all his jokes and he'll listen reverently to all her complaints about sexist co-workers who think she should just work part-time now that she has kids and it won't really be any much different from most days at home, but Iris will appreciate the time off and that she finally has an occasion to wear this red dress.
But for now, he revels at the delight in her eyes and the carefree smile that graces her face. Iris is the mother of his children, the love of his life, all that is good and holy in the world. He knows he says this a lot, but he swears, he's never seen anything quite like her tonight. She just gets more beautiful every time he sees her and he'll never stop marveling at her beauty.