Cisco couldn't believe what he was hearing.

They were the perfect couple. They were so in tune with each other. They loved each other. They were always laughing and happy.

But if their relationship was as perfect as he assumed it to be, why were they yelling? Could Barry have done something wrong? Could Iris?

They would never hurt each other, let alone lie to each other. Especially after that disaster of keeping the whole Flash thing away from Iris. So then...

Why the hell were they yelling.

Suddenly the door opened and Iris walked out angrily.

"Barry Allen, you are so out of line."

"I'm out of line?!" Barry was clearly taken aback. "Are you seriously telling me that Batman is a better superhero than Superman?! Iris he doesn't even have powers!"

"Your point?! Powers don't define heroes!" Iris said, her voice audibly irritated.

Cisco was stunned. The peace at STAR Labs had been broken for the past 20 minutes because these two were fighting about who was the better superhero. For real.

He was also amused. He'd never seen them so annoyed with each other.

"CISCO!" they both shouted when they saw him.

Uh oh.

"Cisco please tell your best friend that Batman is better! Clearly I can't talk any sense into him," Iris said, grabbing his shoulder, looking him dead in the eye.

"Um no. Cisco how about you tell my girlfriend that she's never been more wrong in her life," Barry exclaimed loudly, "Come on man. Talk some sense into her."

He was trapped.

And he knew this was a trap.

His best friend. Or his other best friend.

He couldn't.

They couldn't make him do this.

"Okay no I'm not taking sides. And both of you need to give me some space!"

He quickly backed away, out of both their grasps.

"No, that is not a choice," Iris responded, "You're the only one who can settle this!"

"Okay but see, I ain't doin' that! Playing these 'who's right' games is dangerous with you two!

If I pick Batman, Barry will give me the silent treatment and look at me with those disappointed eyes and make me feel all the feelings. And if I pick Superman, Iris will kill me and then bring me back to life and tell me I betrayed her trust.

No no no.

No.

I'm staying out of this."

And with that, he literally ran out of the room, hands on his head, cursing under his breath.

Iris and Barry stared at each other in disbelief.

"Would you ever kill him?" Barry asked Iris, a smirk appearing on his mouth.

"Cisco? No I like him too much.

You on the other hand…" she said as she backed Barry against the wall, "If we don't settle this soon, that'll be a different story."

Barry looked down at her, eyes nearly popping out.

"Maybe instead of killing me, we could do something else…" he said sheepishly.

Iris glared at him.

"Not a chance babe. Not until you admit I'm right."

And with that, she followed in Cisco's footsteps, out the door, and left Barry shocked...and a little turned on.


A few weeks had passed and Iris and Barry seemed to have put the entire thing behind them.

But Cisco decided he would have some fun.

He called Iris. They were both planning Barry's birthday party and wanted to decorate all of STAR Labs with Flash stuff, among other things that they knew would make him happy.

But Iris had a different idea.

"Okay just hear me out Cisco! Instead of Flash stuff, let's just make it all Batman stuff! And then when he comes in and has his little meltdown, we just strip all the Batman stuff away and have it change to Superman! Y'all have to have some gadgets here that do that right?!"

"Iris…" Cisco said, visibly taken aback, "I didn't think you had it in you."

And with that, they were off.

All of STAR Labs was black and yellow. Bats were everywhere. They even made a replica of the Batmobile.

They told Caitlin, Wells, Joe and Henry about their plan.

Linda was helping Iris write a bunch of fake articles and headlines about Batman, all with the same themes of him being the best, saving the world, blah blah blah.

Wally helped them design the batmobile, along with Jesse's engineering skills - that girl could do anything.

For two nights, they slept in STAR Labs, working meticulously to get every detail right. They made sure everything was disguised in Batman gear and Cisco had set up a color-changing scheme on his computer.

This was going to be good.


Today was finally his birthday.

Iris woke up with Barry still asleep next to her. Slowly she turned around to him, kissing him gently, first on the forehead, then on the cheeks, then on the nose, then along his jawline…

That got him to wake up.

"Happy birthday handsome," she said, as she pulled him into a kiss, her lips crashing into his.

Barry was in heaven. He wrapped her tight, smiling against her lips. Waking up next to her was the best present he could ever ask for.

"Morning beautiful," he said between kisses.

He never got used to how much she loved him. And how much he loved her.

"How do you feel, birthday boy?" she asked, briefly pulling away from him.

"Like I have everything I want and more," he said adorably, bringing her back to him, kissing her again because he could and he wanted to and he loved her.

"Bear," she said, laughing, "If you keep doing this, we're both going to be late for work."

"Mmmm…but can we just not go to work today," he sighed, still holding her close.

"Tell you what," she said, finally getting up, "meet be today in STAR Labs at 5, yeah? I have a little surprise you."

"...Iris…"

"Don't worry, it's nothing big," she answered, making her way to the bathroom.

"Barry."

He turned around to look at her.

"I love you," she said, smiling so big that it took his breath away.

"I love you more," he said, matching her smile, hand coming up to brush his hair.


"Okay he'll be here any minute! Everyone hide!"

Jesse, Wally, Linda and Caitlin dropped down, hiding underneath the desks.

Wells stared at them, rolling his eyes at how much effort he had to put into this surprise.

Joe and Henry disappeared into the other room, keeping the door slightly open so they could jump out when he came in.

Iris and Cisco stood next to the lights, Iris on the left side of the door and Cisco on the right.

A bolt of lightning illuminated the entire building and Barry made his entrance.

"Hello?"

"SURPRISE!"

All the lights turned on and everyone jumped out.

Barry jumped back in surprise.

But not because of the party.

No he expected this because Cisco couldn't keep a secret for the life of him.

He was surprised because staring back at him was black everything.

The strobe light tinted everything to a yellow shade.

Bats flew out at him, almost knocking him over in the process.

He saw an enormous batmobile in front of him.

Articles were hung all across the room. Headlines about Batman were in front of him.

And the worse part? Everyone had on a Batman costume.

"You didn't."

He couldn't believe it.

"You…" he turned to Iris, "This was your idea wasn't it?"

"You're right," Cisco said, drawing Barry's attention back to him, "but so was this."

Cisco flicked the switch and suddenly the whole room illuminated blue and red.

Article headlines switched.

The Batmobile was covered in a Superman cape.

And Barry's name lit up along the wall, in blue and red colors.

Now this, he couldn't believe either.

"...you didn't…." he said, smiling in shock.

"Happy birthday baby," Iris said, walking over to him and giving him a kiss.

"Yeah Bear! Happy birthday!" everyone else shouted, laughing wholeheartedly at his reaction.

This was easily the best party of his life.

Everyone was a little too drunk now. All the cookies were gone. The cake was almost finished, leaving little of the Superman design to be recognized.

He had his hand around his girlfriend's waist as they finished their hundredth dance of the night.

"I can't believe you did all of this," he smiled down at Iris, who was looking up at him, amused by his boyish grin.

"Yeah well, I couldn't do it without that one," she said, pointing to the dancefloor where Cisco was doing god-knows-what. Caitlin looked bemused.

Wally and Jesse couldn't take their eyes off him.

Henry and Joe were laughing.

And Wells.

Wells was shaking his head so hard, it looked like it was about to fly off.

"Ramon, you call this dancing," he said sharply (was Wells drunk?)

"You think you can do better?" Cisco replied.

"Watch me."

And with that, a dance battle broke out, causing both Iris and Barry to look down in utter embarrassment.

"Okay Bear, let's get out of here before you get any ideas."

"Please and thank you."

They made their way to a quiet room, hand in hand, still laughing at what they had just witnessed.

When they got there, Iris pulled out a box from her purse.

"You know I almost forgot to give you your present."

"Another one?" Barry asked.

"I mean, this one's a little more personal," she smiled at him.

He took the box from her hands and unwrapped it slowly.

Inside he saw a red picture frame with a picture of them after their first date. They both looked so happy...and a little awkward. Barry remembered that he couldn't decide where to put his hand, and Iris had grabbed it and put it around her waist, reassuring him that he could hold her however he wanted to.

He saw a watch that had a red mug. He remembered being so devastated about Joe breaking his old one a few years back.

He saw a box of cookies, all in the shape of a lightning bolt.

And he saw a handwritten note in a red and yellow envelope, addressed to him from Iris.

He looked up at her, tears forming in his eyes.

"Thank you," he whispered.

"You know that Batman isn't my favorite superhero, right?" Iris asked, making her way towards him.

"No?" he questioned, a little surprised.

"No," she said, reaching out to him, wrapping her arms around his waist.

"You are Bear. And you always will be."

And with that, she kissed him so gently that he felt his entire world disappear. He held her and kissed back, grateful for the beauty of his girlfriend, grateful for the love she had for him, and grateful for the best birthday of his entire life.