A/N: This one was requested by Samie (guest).
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Prompt #6: "Is there a reason you're naked in my bed?"
Characters: Barry Allen/The Flash & Iris West from The Flash.
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As far as birthday surprises go, this one definitely took the cake. Today was Barry's 27th birthday, and even though he had insisted he did not want to do anything big to celebrate, Joe and Iris naturally had decided to throw him a surprise party anyway. It wasn't that he disliked celebrating his birthday, it was just that he had never had very many friends and therefore no need for a party. Up until this past year his only real friend had been Iris, and though he had gained a few more friends recently, he still didn't see a point in having a surprise party of five if he included himself—or six if Dr. Wells came, which Barry doubted. But of course, Iris had somehow managed to find enough people for an actual party. He didn't recognize most of the faces gathered in the West home. Among the faces he did recognize were Joe, Iris, Caitlin, Cisco, and surprisingly Dr. Wells. A few of the faces he had seen in passing, either at his work or CCPN when he had gone to visit Iris. Other than that, everyone there was a complete stranger. It was after he had entered the house and had the guest call "surprise" at his entrance that Iris ran up to him to see if he was happy with the party.
"Are you surprised Bar?" His best friend was beaming at him.
"I am most definitely surprised." He confirmed giving a slight laugh.
"I know you said you didn't want a party, but it's your birthday. And you were in a coma for your 26th birthday. We wanted to do something special to make up for missing last years."
"I appreciate it, really." He returned her smile opening his arms wide and pulling her into a tight hug. "This is great Iris, thank you."
"Anytime." She told him with a smile. "Happy birthday, Bar."
"Thanks."
A loud whistle rang throughout the crowd getting the attention of the party goers, everyone looking towards the source of the whistle. "Yo! Everybody listen up!" Cisco shouted over the noise.
"Please, tell me he's not about to make a toast." Barry whispered to Iris.
"Unfortunately, I don't think I can tell you that." The girl whispered back. She disappeared as Cisco began his speech, her head popping back into view over by the bar. It appeared that she was getting them drinks to toast with.
"We're all here tonight, to celebrate the birthday of one Barry Allen!" The engineer paused for applause. "Okay, okay. I know most of you don't know him all that well and are only here because Iris promised you free food and alcohol. Am I right?"
The party goers all cheered at that, Barry laughing as his friend returned with their mixed drinks. "This should be an interesting speech." She laughed as she handed him his glass.
"Yea, but its Cisco, so I think we knew that all ready."
"But since you're all here," Cisco was saying, "You might as well learn a little about the kid. Barry is nice, smart, and caring. But that's the boring stuff."
"Where is he going with this?" The speedster asked Iris, who only shrugged in reply.
"Barry's a klutz." The speaker supplied helpfully.
"Oh. So that's where he's going with this."
"I'll never forget the first time we let Barry get the coffee for us." Cisco continued, "Barry, Caitlin, and I went to Jitters and we let him order the coffee for us. Well, that was a mistake. The poor guy actually tripped over his own feet, dropped all three mugs—which broke on the floor—and all of our coffee decorated his cloths."
The room filled with soft laughter as Iris said, "Oh yea, I remember that. Your face turned so red that day."
"Yup. I remember that day too." He laughed with her, his face turning a new shade of crimson red. "Never gonna forget about that day."
"But klutzy and weird as he is, Barry's my SiFi movie buddy and one of my best friends." Cisco said as he came to a closing on his speech. "So, to Barry's birthday. May it be one hell of a good one."
Together the group of people, both familiar and unknown, raised their glasses and repeated Cisco's final sentiments before drinking. Barry and Iris followed suit, both laughing as their friend walked towards them.
"Anymore 'embarrass Barry' birthday surprises that I should know about?"
"As far as I know," Cisco said, "I think that about covers it for the night."
Iris laughed at the sudden look of relief on her childhood best friends face as he threw his head back letting out a loud sigh, laughing out an "Oh, thank God. I don't know that I could handle any more."
The rest of the night passed on, for the most part uneventfully. Everyone enjoying a few drinks—particularly Iris, who frequented the bar. Almost everybody took their turn wishing Barry a happy birthday, telling him that he was a great guy and they were lucky to have a scientist like him on the force. Dr. Wells had made a particularly kind speech, sharing stories of how Barry always inspired him to try to become a better person and scientist. Caitlin made a speech telling everybody what an amazing friend he had been to her, sharing how he had been there to comfort her while she grieved the loss of her fiancé.
Joe had told the story of when a 12 year old Barry and Iris had tried sneaking into the back of his cruiser so that they could go to work with him instead of school.
"I walked out to my car that morning and saw both of their butts sticking up in the air." He had said, earning several laughs.
"I just smiled and got in, let 'em think they were gonna get away with it. The two of them were giggling the whole drive. You all should have seen the shocked and disappointed looks on their little faces when I dropped 'em off in front of the school that morning." The man laughed with the crowd.
By the time it was Iris' turn to give a speech, she was already pretty tipsy. The girl leaned on the back of the couch, a fresh mixed drink in hand, as she told the party goers in their home about the how they had ''accidentally" let all of the frogs out of their cages for a prank. Watching all three biology teachers run around trying to catch all of the 32 frogs had been hilarious to watch. Everybody in the room laughed at that story, it was hard not to laugh at the image of three teachers bending and jumping while chasing after 32 frogs.
Hours after his best friends speech, as the party finally came to an end and the guest were filing out the door to go home, Barry made his way to his room, ready to collapse in his bed. But of course, Iris had other ideas.
"Barry! Hi, Bar!" She said cheerfully announcing her presence.
When he saw her he instantly spun around to face the other direction. "Oh my God! Iris! What the hell are you doing?"
"Eating birthday cake. Duh." True enough, she was in fact sitting cross-legged on his bed, eating a slice of birthday cake.
"Yea. But, uh," he began, "Is there a reason you're naked in my bed?" The speedster asked her.
"I thought I was in my bed." Iris stated, looking down at herself before glancing around the room. Only now was she seeming to notice the blue bedding and science themed posters that were hanging around the room. "Oh. I am in your bed aren't I?"
"Yup."
"And I'm naked." She whispered with a rather childish sounding giggle. "I'm naked in your bed Barry Allen."
"Yes, Iris West, you are." He replied slowly, still facing away from her. "Wait a minute. Are you drunk?"
"Hmm." She hummed before answering in a sing-song voice, "Maybe just a little."
He sighed before speaking. "Okay, well, for starters, I'm going to get you dressed. Okay?"
"Okay." Iris agreed.
"Okay." He used his speed to run into her room, grab her cloths, run back into his room and quickly dressing her as he had done with Caitlin—taking care not to peak or touch. "There." He said stopping in front of her once she was clothed in her green pajama shorts and basic gray t-shirt.
"Thank you Barry." She sang.
"You're welcome, Iris." Barry laughed. "Now, how about we get you back to your room?"
"I don't want to!" She pouted. "I want to sleep in here with you!"
He couldn't help but laugh at how childish she looked. "You wanna have a sleep over?"
"Uh, yea! Duh."
He was staring at her, unable to keep the smile from his face. Barry had never seen Iris this drunk before, and he was finding it to be rather funny. "Uh, yea sure. We can have a sleep over."
"Yes!" His friend said excitedly. "Do you want some cake?"
Barry went to gather his change of cloths from his dresser, laughing and shaking his head in response. "I'm gonna go change in the bathroom really fast." He told her, walking towards the door. "I'll be right back."
A minute later the scientist returned to the room wearing a pair of gray sweat pants and a white muscle shirt. Iris had finished with her cake and set the plate on the floor beside the bed before flopping back and laying down, pulling his covers up over her. "Come here, Bar." She said patting the bed beside her. Laughing softly to himself turned off the light and shuffled barefoot over to the empty side of the bed. Barry crawled in under the covers and settled himself in, letting his eyes fall closed. A few minutes passed in peaceful silence before Iris rolled over to her side and leaned her body against him.
"Hey, Barry?" The girl asked him.
"Yes, Iris?" He asked her.
"Why are people such ass holes."
Slowly, the speedster opened his blue-green eyes and looked down at her. "Why? Iris, did something happen?"
"No. Sort of." She paused, sighing. "Never mind, Bar."
"No, Iris. What's wrong?" If she was stressing out about something, that would explain why she had been frequenting the bar all night during the party.
"Mason said that I'd never make it as a real reporter." She told him. "He said I wasn't serious enough, and that my gumption and blog on The Flash would never get me anywhere. Said my career was a joke."
"Well, I happen to think that Mason is a joke." Barry told her. "I've seen your work, Iris. And you're an amazing writer. If he can't see that, then he's the joke of a reporter."
"He won the Pulitzer prize. Twice."
"I still vote that he's an idiot for not seeing how talented you are. You just have to prove it to him."
"Like I haven't tried." Iris said. "I wrote a great piece on that Woman's Shelter downtown."
"Yea, you did. I read that piece, and all of the other articles you've written. Mason is just an idiot. You'll never change him, so just be the amazing journalist that I know you are and show everybody else how talented you are. You'll prove him wrong someday, I know it."
She smiled up at him. "Thanks Bar." Iris told him, laying her head on his chest and cuddling against him.
"Anytime Iris. Anytime." He told her with a smile. Placing a gentle kiss on her head, he wrapped his arms around his best friend, and soon enough the pair fell asleep in each others arms.
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A/N: Ta da! What did y'all think? Did you like it? Was it cute? Did you think it had some funny moments? Let me know what you think by leaving me a Review! :) Because reviews make a happy writer, and a happy writer is an active writer. I love you guys!
