A/N: This fic is inspired by my feels following 3x07, plus mosylu's "Home and Hearth" and the title was thought up by my lovely beta, sendtherain. I hope you enjoy! It's a follow up from my past missing scene fics of season 3 eps, so the reference to the last time Barry had been at Iris's place is from my fic, Late Night Distraction.
Hope you enjoy!
*I own nothing. No copyright infringement intended.
...
Barry was that hoping by going out to Big Belly Burger that he wouldn't have to deal with where he was going to stay tonight, and every night from now until either Cisco forgave him or he got a job and was able to afford his own place.
Technically speaking, he shouldn't need a job since the wealth absorbed in STAR Labs by evil Wells had been bestowed to him. Unfortunately, maintaining a successful Team Flash with up-to-date equipment (Cisco) and access to all new medical advances (Caitlin) required funds – a lot of them. Barry couldn't afford to squelch that money elsewhere on his own personal needs.
Much to his chagrin, about halfway through dinner, Joe broached the topic with him.
"So…you going to stay with Cisco tonight?"
Barry let out a breathy sigh and avoided his gaze, picking up and dragging his fries lazily across his napkin on the table.
"I don't think that would be a good idea," he finally said. Silence lingered a bit too long before Barry realized what might be going through his foster father's mind. "I'm not gonna crash with you, Joe. I'll find someplace else."
Joe's brows narrowed.
"I don't mind you coming back until you figure things out, Barry. Your room is still just as you left it." He paused and lowered his voice slightly. "I know you weren't planning on losing your best friend and your source of income when you announced you were moving out."
Barry's head quirked to the side and he resumed playing with his fries. Some sort of mumbled whine came out.
"I don't know, Joe… I don't want to inconvenience you." He looked up and held up his hand for Joe to stop when he opened his mouth to speak. "I don't want to say one thing and then do another just because my circumstances change."
Joe sighed. "Then what will you do? For tonight, I mean."
Barry had barely parted his lips to say something resembling words when Iris piped up.
"He'll stay with me."
They both turned to her, wide-eyed, mouths hanging open in surprise, and spewing the same question in response to her finite statement.
"He will?"
"I will?"
Iris rolled her eyes and grabbed one of Barry's fries, popping it into her mouth. Barry and Joe sat staring at her until she'd finishing chewing and swallowed.
"Yes, he will. And no, dad," she said without looking at him, "This does not mean we're moving in together. We haven't even had sex yet."
Joe cleared his throat uncomfortably and Barry blushed scarlet, both of them shooting the other an uncomfortable glance at each other and then avoiding eye contact as much as possible.
"What does it mean then, baby?" Joe asked when he thought he'd recovered enough to overlook the words that had just come out of his daughter's mouth.
"It means Barry needs a place to crash until his circumstances improve. I'm sure he'll start job hunting tomorrow." She shot Barry a look.
"Right, yes, of course," Barry said eagerly.
"And I'll listen in at work to see if anyone is looking for a roommate. You can too, dad. And, if necessary, we can even give Craigslist a close look to see if there's someone that can meet Barry halfway in regards to finances."
"The people on Craigslist are creeps," Barry shuddered.
Iris frowned. "I sold something on Craigslist once."
"Yeah, and you remember the guy who came to pick it up?"
Iris's lips parted to speak but Joe interrupted her.
"You don't. Because I was standing with your out-of-tune guitar at the end of the driveway in my uniform, badge, and gun right where he could see them."
"I really liked that guitar," Iris said, clearly getting nostalgic.
Joe and Barry rolled their eyes. She'd played it once at age five and then quit lessons after a week in the eighth grade. They'd bought it at a third of the price, which should have told them it was trash to begin with, but Iris was oblivious to how terribly out of tune it was. They were glad when it was gone.
"Are you sure it's okay, Iris? Me crashing with you?" Barry asked tentatively, placing his hand on hers.
She laced their fingers together.
"Positive. Besides, you're not going to get lazy on me, and you'll obviously make me breakfast every morning like you did for Cisco. I don't foresee any problems."
"Well, alright…"
He glanced at Joe again to see if the older man was suffering bouts of squeamish embarrassment the way he had a couple weeks back at the mere sight of them. It was different now that they were romantically involved, even if Iris insisted it would be short-lived and was meant only to supply Barry with a space to live without having to return home or walk on eggshells around Cisco.
For a split-second, Barry thought he saw something, but there was nothing there when Joe met his eyes again, so he looked back at Iris who had snagged a couple more of his fries and managed a little smile.
"Sounds good. Thanks, Iris."
Iris smiled around half a fry. "Any time, Bear."
…
Barry set down his duffel bag and a knapsack right next to the couch inside Iris's apartment. He scanned the room and was flooded with memories of the last time he'd been there.
He and Julian had bonded. Trashed that.
He and Iris had made out. Been a while since that, too.
Her laptop sat closed on the kitchen table, no sign of it having been turned on all day. He wondered if everything Flash-related going on had been keeping Iris from doing her job. He wanted to tell himself it couldn't possibly be and that definitely he wasn't responsible for Iris meeting her deadlines. Maybe a dormant computer at this particular moment didn't mean she hadn't gotten any work done recently.
But he was pretty onboard with blaming himself for things today, despite Iris's pep talk. He could take this too. Maybe the burden of everything would make falling asleep easier tonight. Escaping that into a hopefully dreamless sleep sounded like music to his ears.
"I finished two of my articles earlier today, so I won't have to work on it at all tonight," Iris chirped, moving past him to tuck away the computer he apparently was still staring at.
The heavy feelings settling in his chest lifted slightly. He felt like he should say something. A protest, a thank you, anything but the silence absorbing every thought he made. But all he could do was nod and wait for her to come back from putting her laptop away.
"So," she said, looking flushed and happy when she returned to him. "Is there anything you need? Blankets? A pillow? I could go get—"
"Iris." He pulled on her arm when she tried to dash off again.
It occurred to him then that he wasn't the only one feeling out of sorts by recent events. Iris's smile was a bit forced, her voice a bit strained. He could have sworn she even jumped a bit when he grabbed a hold of her.
He had been about to insist that he was fine, that he didn't need anything else, even if he obviously would need a blanket and maybe a pillow when he crashed on the couch later. But suddenly her well-being seemed so much more important than his.
"Are you…nervous?" His brows furrowed and then rose. He hadn't even considered the possibility.
"Barry." She rolled her eyes and tried to brush him aside, but he didn't let go of her.
"I'm serious," he said, and he saw the lump move down her throat. "Hey, if me being here is too weird, because it does feel like moving in, despite what you said, I can go. Heck, I can even go to Joe and suffer his all-knowing look if this is too much."
"No. No." She sighed. "I don't want you to leave."
"Then what?"
She shut her eyes tight and then pulled him to the couch, lacing their fingers together and resting her head on his shoulder.
"I'm just really, really pissed at Julian."
He laughed and she turned to look at him, raising an eyebrow to dare him to comment. He pursed his lips and said nothing.
"You are an amazing CSI, Barry. I've always thought so. I've always told people that. The fact that he took that away from you just makes me so…" Her hand squeezed his tighter and tighter until he whimpered from the pressure. "S-sorry." She flushed.
"It's okay." He cleared his throat then turned her forlorn face to look at him. The words I love you on his tongue, he tried to reword his thoughts. "I told you back at the lab that you're my life, not being a CSI."
"And I appreciate that." She patted his hand still cupping her face. "I do, Bear. You have always been so incredibly sweet and it means even more now that we're dating. But, Bear…if someone tried to take my job away from me, that I've only been doing for a couple years? I don't know what I'd do."
"I did it for Caitlin," he said. "To protect someone I care about that wouldn't have acted this way if I hadn't messed with her life first."
"Barry, I told you—"
"Iris."
She shut her mouth and let him tip her chin up so they were eye-to-eye.
"I would be mad on your behalf if our roles were reversed, but you know you wouldn't have acted any differently if you were in my shoes."
She sighed and then nodded.
"You're probably right."
"This time I think so." His eyes twinkled.
"You were really great today," she said, "Bringing Caitlin out of her Killer Frost trance."
"Couldn't have done it without you," he smirked.
"I was terrified when you told her to kill you. Cisco was convinced there was nothing to be worried about, but I kept seeing that ice dagger going through your chest for real, even after it happened. I couldn't shake the feeling."
He wrapped an arm around her and pressed a kiss to her temple.
"I'm right here, Iris."
She ducked her head beneath his chin.
"Thank God for that."
"And I was scared too," he admitted. "I just had to try really hard not to look like I was. I had to believe that Caitlin Snow, our friend, was still in there. I had to see it in my head, her coming back to us. If I hadn't been able to see it..."
"But you were," Iris finished, because she didn't want to hear the end of that sentence. "And now she's fine. She'll be okay. We all will."
"In the long run, I hope."
Iris shook her head and got to her knees on the couch.
"Listen to us. This is some seriously depressing stuff and we're only getting more depressed by talking about it." Her arms flailed about a little.
Barry sunk into the couch, his head resting on the top of the couch. He smiled lazily at her.
"Well, we've already eaten dinner and it's too early to go to bed and I'm pretty sure we're too exhausted to go out again."
"All true," she allowed, a little playful, a little flirty.
Barry could feel his pulse start kicking up.
"So what do you suggest we do until we're tired enough to call it a night?"
Iris grinned and straddled him. She ran her fingers through his hair and thrilled at the way his green eyes turned a dark emerald.
"I have a few ideas," she murmured and kissed him on the lips.
She was about to pull away to say something more, something a little more playful and flirty, but Barry wouldn't let her. When she tried to break away, he chased her lips and caught them immediately. He held her face in his hands and angled his head, seeking a deeper, more intimate kiss. Her tongue tangled with his and he nearly lost his breath.
For her part, Iris was all for this being their evening activity. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled herself closer, which was a little difficult with the pencil skirt she was wearing
Barry groaned when his hands traveled down her back and settled on her ass, firmly pressed against the dark fabric. A vision of how she'd looked for the latter half of the day flitted through his mind.
"I didn't tell you how hot you look in this outfit, did I?" he mumbled between kisses.
She shook her head and kept kissing him.
"Not today you didn't."
"Well, you look hot, Iris." More kisses. "Like, really hot." A nibble down her neck. "Like way out of my league hot."
She gasped when he hit her collarbone and kept kissing.
"Well, you must have done something right, because I am very turned on right now."
She felt herself smile against him and would blush if she could when he pulled back to look at her.
"Yeah?" His lop-sided grin got to her.
"Yeah," she said and stood to her feet.
His frown evaporated into a star struck hard-swallow motion in his throat as he watched her unzip the back of her skirt and let it drop to the floor with her belt. Her lacy black panties, the only thing covering her lower half, were nearly his undoing when she climbed back on to him.
"There we go." She sighed contently. "Much better."
A nervous laugh escaped him. His skin burned when he felt her unbuttoning his shirt.
"Iris…" he slurred, and she laughed despite herself.
"Calm down, Barry, I'll put the skirt back on later."
Barry laughed good-naturedly now and threw his head back against the couch, letting her kiss and nibble her way down his neck.
In time, he resumed his caresses and devoted himself to sensual kisses.
"We should probably stop now," Iris said a while later, propping her hands up on his shoulders.
He nodded, breathing heavily. "Probably."
"We can make brownies, though?" She suggested, raising her eyebrows in hopes he'd agree.
His breath caught, he grinned and shook his head at her.
"Feeding your addiction, Iris? Do you think that's wise?"
She laughed and slapped him playfully, and in a moment he'd reversed their positions and kissed her once before standing up.
"Will you be wanting popcorn, too?" he asked, rebuttoning his shirt and then unbuttoning a few buttons when he saw her frown.
"For the movie," she agreed. "I'll pick it out."
He nodded once, but she stood up and pulled him back when he started to turn towards the kitchen. Then she proceeded to unbutton all of his buttons and shrug his shirt off. She smiled happily when the white t-shirt was on full display.
"There. Much better."
He blinked, half-unaware of what she'd done and trying to recover.
"I'll go put on some pjs," she announced and pecked him on the cheek before heading to her room.
He grinned and touched his cheek like some love-struck fool, then found his way in the kitchen and proceeded to make his girlfriend her favorite dessert.