A/N: Because Barry and Iris were sooo into that kiss, and they should NOT have been interrupted. (This takes place right after HR interrupts them and right before the team meeting. Let's just say Barry was not going to deal w/ any further business before getting some serious alone time with his girl. 3)
*Big thank you as always to my beta, sendtherain, for being awesome and looking this over. :)
*I own nothing. No copyright infringement intended.
...
HR was beyond the first big bend in the hallway, out of their line of vision, and Barry slowed to a stop. Iris stopped, too, looking at her fiancé inquiringly as he put a finger to his lips. Then, after a few more beats with no more shouts from their enthusiastic guide, Barry flashed himself and Iris out of there. He landed them safely in the living room of their loft and starting a crackling fire in their fireplace before Iris could even blink.
Iris steadied herself from the sudden flight with Barry's assistance and then glanced down at the fire before looking back up at him.
"What…Shouldn't we have…HR—"
"Later," Barry said, his lips descending on hers and he cradled her face in his hands.
Iris hesitated only a second more before abandoning any need for further explanations. It had been a rough couple of days. Despite wanting to keep Barry happy indefinitely, there was something really reassuring and strong about her Barry kissing her at STAR Labs that made her weak in the knees. She'd been equally as annoyed as Barry when HR interrupted, and she had no qualms at all about putting life on hold so they could have this moment - or moments.
"Do you have any idea how much I missed you?" Barry murmured between kisses. "How much I love you? How much I want you?"
Iris shivered and melted under his touch and his sensual words, but she made herself respond.
"I've always been here, Barry."
He nuzzled her face and breathed deeply, intertwining their fingers at their sides.
"Future me - 2024 me - told me to make some good memories with you, just in case… Well…"
"Barry," she soothed, brushing her nose against his cheek. She remembered him mentioning that before, but life had gotten in the way of him following through on his promise.
"I should've done it anyway. I should've…"
He lifted his head again and cradled her face in his hands, drinking in all the boundless love in her eyes.
"I'm going to," he promised.
Then he lowered his head and captured her lips, losing himself in her.
Her jacket dropped to the floor at nearly the same moment as his sweater tugged over his head.
All that mattered was Iris.
…
"HR!"
"Yes, I am here! And I have brought—" The cheerful Wells heard no footsteps behind him. He turned around and found no one following him into Cisco's workshop. He frowned. "I swear they were right—" He faced the other individuals in the room. "They were right behind me, Francisco. I swear it."
Cisco watched HR's face for a moment longer before deciding he was telling the truth. Before he could start to formulate an idea as to why Barry and Iris had suddenly vacated the premises, his phone buzzed in his pocket.
He fished it out and laughed sardonically at the text message – from Barry – that he'd received.
"HR, you didn't happen to interrupt Barry and Iris doing something, did you?" He looked back up at him and raised an eyebrow.
HR had the grace to blush. "Well, I mean…they're Barry and Iris, so you know sometimes they…since they're a couple…and Barry just got back…"
It clicked for Joe before the rest of them. "Oh, God."
"What?" Wally asked, still clueless.
Tracy focused her gaze on HR, who was avoiding hers, equally unaware of the conclusion half the team had come to as well as wondering who exactly Barry was.
Cisco cleared his throat and glared at HR, who'd been so flustered he'd given away The Flash's identity.
"The Flash and I decided on a code word back when he and Iris first started dating. They had this uncanny talent of being found in…compromising positions, and I informed him that there had to be a way to prevent my being scarred whenever I came in to work."
"Oh," Tracy squeaked, still confused about the Barry/Flash concept and the fact that he was romantically involved with Iris, but willing to let it go for the time being.
Wally tried not to figure out what was becoming obvious now.
"So, what you're saying is…" he forced out.
"Yep." Cisco held up his phone. "Zing."
"Zing?" Tracy asked, confused about the word choice.
"Zing!" HR cheered. "Of course! Because she makes him—"
"The point is," Cisco interrupted. "We should probably make ourselves comfortable."
"For how long?" Joe demanded, eyes narrowed.
Cisco sighed and shrugged. "My guess is half an hour. Maybe longer."
"Half an—" Joe lost his voice and started to step back, inevitably turning to walk down the hall to 'clear his head.'
Wally stood in his place, his eyes a blank, horrified stare.
"I really could have done without this news today, Cisco," he said, not looking at them.
"They're in love!" HR gushed.
Cisco switched his gaze to him and shook his head. Only this man could be so enthusiastic about other people's sex lives.
"I need to clear my head too," Wally said, exiting the room and heading down the hall in the opposite direction.
Cisco sighed and collapsed into a chair while HR strode out of the room with more enthusiasm than ever.
"I shall go get coffee!"
Tracy glanced at the coffee set up in the room they were in, then decided to follow HR in his blind pursuit.
"I'll come with!"
Cisco sat alone in the room, glanced down at the message on his phone, shook his head and typed a single word in response.
Hufflepuff.
That was another code word he'd come up with for Barry. It was the Hogwarts house he most identified with, and it meant one thing:
Not amused.
…
Iris and Barry's heavy breathing was the only sound in the loft beside the crackling fire they still stood beside. Barry was in only his underwear now, same as Iris. Her shivers whenever he smoothed his hand down her back were unmistakable and made him even harder.
"Iris," he whispered hotly in her mouth, indulging himself in another passionate kiss before moving his lips down her jawline and turning her head slightly so he'd have access to her neck.
Velvet, he thought. Her skin was velvet. Her lips were silk. Her tongue was cream. The sound of her breathing, moaning, calling his name were a siren song nothing else would ever compare to.
She was so desperate for him, too, so eager for his touch and always whimpering when his hand left one part of her body to cover another.
"Barry," she moaned, clutching at his shoulders when he suckled her skin.
He was hard and hot and strong. He was fire and familiarity and excitement. He was her protector, her lover, her friend. He knew every inch of her inside and out. He made her feel alive and made her feel safe. His touch burned her in the most delicious way, and when he looked into her eyes she felt like she was flying.
She moved closer, needing to feel his body pressed against hers. The movement forced Barry to lift his head. He threaded his fingers through her hair and slid his hands over her shoulders, pushing her bra straps down as she peppered his chest with kisses.
The clasp came undone in the same moment that Iris pushed his boxers to the floor. Barry followed suit with her panties and then lifted her up against him, feeling her wetness soak his belly.
She kissed him wildly, and he could only hope he was backing them into the couch because she made him dizzy with intoxication. His head spun from the way her tongue tangled with his, the way her breasts pressed up against him and her fingers shoved themselves through his now messy locks.
Gravity hit them as Barry fell back against the couch, taking her with him. Iris ground herself against him, even though she wasn't where she needed to be. Friction was necessary, no matter where it came from. So, she tightened her legs around his waist, kissed him feverishly and moved her hips in agonizingly slow circles.
"Iris," he protested, making an effort to push her farther down his body.
"No," she muttered. "I need—"
"I need, too," he insisted and pushed a little harder until his dick was right beneath her, pressed against her entrance, her quiet cry a distant sound compared to the racing heartbeat in his ears. "It's better here, I promise."
Iris opened her eyes, expecting a cocky grin to accompany the smug tone of his voice, but there was nothing but need and hunger in his darkened emerald eyes. It stole her breath, made her wetter than ever.
She lifted herself up slightly and waited the half-second for Barry to position his erection at the perfect angle for her to sink down onto him. Their eyes never left each other, and they both moaned when he was all the way inside her.
"You feel so good, baby," she whispered, coming down to kiss him as she started to move again.
Barry said nothing, only moved her hips faster, thrusting up into her when his need started to swamp his control.
"Barry." She laid her head on his chest, letting him prop his knees up beneath her and thrust faster.
"Fuck, Iris," he said harshly, squeezing her ass and then rising up in an instant so that her back was pressed against the arm of the couch on the opposite side.
She gasped, startled, but held onto him, adjusting to the new position, thrilling in it. Barry set one foot on the floor so he could angle deeper, reach the very depths of her core. Within moments Iris was on the brink of her self-control.
"I'm…I'm…"
His hand slid between them and he vibrated a finger against her clit. She held her breath, the oxygen ripped from her and then cried out moments before he set loose his own satisfaction.
His body slumped against hers, his leg no longer strong enough to prop them up. He felt the weakness in him and without warning tumbled to the floor, Iris landing on top of him.
They were still too breathless to laugh, but with trembling limbs of her own, Iris managed to reach up and snatch a pillow from the couch to tuck beneath Barry's head.
"Thank you," he murmured, adjusting himself beneath her and closing his eyes.
He felt her run her fingers lightly through his hair and trace the line of his. He felt the gentle pressure of her lips as they brushed his eyelashes and the feel of her long hair tickling the base of his neck. He felt her nose on his cheek and the sigh of surrender that equaled his desire for this moment to never end.
"I love you, Barry," she whispered and nuzzled herself beneath his neck.
His hands drifted down the length of her body, loving the feel of her, the smooth skin that was warm and damp with sweat. He took comfort in the slight rise and fall of her on top of him, proof that she was alive and with him.
"I love you, Iris."
She lifted her head and waited for him to open his eyes. When he did, he saw a sad hopefulness in her eyes and wanted immediately to make it better.
"Can we stay like this forever?"
He smiled sadly as he ran his fingers through her hair.
"In a little while," he promised. "Just a few more weeks, Iris." She looked away, but he didn't release his hold on her. "Once Savitar is defeated, I'll hold you like this again, and I'll never let you go."
Her eyes returned to his, and she nodded, knew that he wasn't refusing her moments like this in the near future, just ones that weren't inevitably weighed down with the threat of her life. She lowered her lips to his, a kiss of acceptance but also so much love.
"Can you wait until then?" he asked, gently stroking her back. "Until we're free of all of this?"
She pressed a kiss to his skin. "I can wait," she said. Her hand traveled down his arm and back up again. "I can wait forever for our happy ending, as long as you promise me we'll have one."
His nose dove into her hair as he wrapped his arms tighter around her.
"We'll have one," he said. "I promise."
…
An hour and a half later, Barry and Iris came waltzing in to where everyone had been waiting. They had showered but wore the same clothes to avoid suspicion. That proved impossible when they saw how everyone looked at them with varying degrees of shock, disappointment, and disgust – or avoided eye contact entirely. HR was the only one who looked happy to see them.
"Nice of you to join us," Cisco remarked sarcastically.
Barry ignored that along with the nasty suspicion that his best friend had explained their code word instead of coming up with a good excuse for their absence.
"What is that?" Iris asked, shutting down the awkward tension by focusing on the new weaponry before them.
Eager as ever with his enthusiasm for Tracy's technology renewed, HR stepped forward.
"This is the speed force bazooka."
