A/N: This is the drabble I wrote for day 5 of the Flash countdown to season 5 I did on tumblr. The fic ended up being long enough that I decided to post it as a one-shot here and on ao3. Enjoy!
Based off the line "Um, is it just me, or was the Flash flirting with you in that interview?" "What?! No!"
*Many thanks to sendtherain for beta'ing. :)
*I own nothing. No copyright infringement intended.
...
As much as Iris West loved the Flash – and that's love in a strictly platonic, grateful-citizen-to-speedster hero sense, because she definitely wasn't crushing on him at all – she was truly tired of being CCPN's go to 'Flash girl', forever reporting on whatever heroics the Flash had achieved that day.
Outside of this job, she wanted to interview the Flash more than anything – find out his identity, his name, his age, where he came from, how he could do what he did, why he chose to do it… But that was a place for her very fun, very exciting, very not-getting-paid-for-this blog. As the newest reporter for Central City Picture News, Iris wanted to make a difference instead of just telling people about how the Flash was making a difference.
She tried to present her own stories in the hopes they would be picked up. She'd gotten persistent enough that a lot of the time they were now, but when a Flash story came around, she was still the one assigned to it.
After reading an email from her boss one afternoon dictating another such story, she exhaled in annoyance and started to pack up her things. Evidently there was a child being held captive and the Flash had just saved him and knocked the kidnappers out while he waited for police to arrive and the parents of the child to come for their baby.
Iris stomped on the surge of joy and admiration that always flooded through her when she found out about what wonderful new thing the Flash had done. She knew it was only human to fawn over a superhero - and that she might as well do it, since she was being forced into this story anyway - but a part of her wanted to hold onto her irritation. As if her boss seeing her pout about having to do another Flash story would somehow get him to never make her do it again.
She rolled her eyes and headed out. With any luck she would get an interview with the Flash himself, this time with cameras rolling, and maybe he wouldn't flash off when she was in the middle of a really juicy question.
Her heart skipped a beat when she recalled their previous 'interviews'. She felt like a girl with a crush, anticipating their next conversation, her palms sweaty, butterflies exploding in her chest. She could hardly get a hold of herself.
And you wonder why you've been labeled 'Flash girl', Iris.
Forcing herself to get on the move, she headed down to the scene of the crime. Several press and curious citizens were already circling around to see the Flash standing with the young boy waiting for his parents to arrive, holding tightly to that red glove. The two knocked out criminals lay on the ground just a few feet away, still not having regained consciousness.
Iris zeroed in on the handholding and nearly lost her footing. She was gushing so hard, it was a fight to keep it inside. Men being tender with children was attractive as hell. The Flash being downright big brotherly to a kid he'd never met, saving his life and then standing by him until his family arrived, melted her from the inside out.
"Flash?" She cleared her throat, forcing her bursting feelings as far back as they would go. She had a job to do, after all. "Flash!"
The superhero clad in red turned towards her. Even with his face a blur, she could tell she had his full attention. And damn if he didn't have hers.
She approached him, so he wouldn't have to yank the kid around, and pulled out her notebook and pen, ready to take down anything he gave her. As if you won't have it stamped permanently into your memory word-for-word.
"Miss West," he acknowledged, his voice vibrating. Damn, that was sexy as hell.
You have a boyfriend, Iris!
"Could you tell me what happened here?" she asked. "How did you know the boy was in trouble?"
He smiled devilishly, absolutely ruining her.
"I have connections," he said. She couldn't tell through his blurred face, but something told her he was checking her out. "You're looking fantastic today, Miss West." Maybe that.
Heat swamped through her. She was grateful for the breeze that blew past her shortly after.
"Did your connections tell you where the boy was located, as well?" she asked with a hint of sarcasm. He couldn't have all the fun, could he?
To be honest, she just needed something to distract her mind from where it insisted on going. Somewhere her boyfriend, Eddie Thawne, would definitely not approve of.
"Yes, they did, Iris." She gasped when he said her name. "You are incredibly clever." He slowed his vibrations until his face was still. "As clever as you are beautiful. You can quote me on that." He winked and then was gone, stealing her breath.
Moments later, the child's parents ran to him and police cars arrived to take the kidnappers into custody.
Iris had to walk around the block to recover fully enough to walk into work, where she casually sat down at her desk and pretended as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.
"You get that interview with the Flash?" her boss asked, passing by.
"Mhmm," she said, not looking up.
"Excellent," he cheered before continuing.
Mason, annoying as ever, came and sat on the edge of her desk.
"Um, is it just me, or was the Flash flirting with you in that interview?"
Cameras. The cameras! Oh, God. She'd forgotten about those.
"What?! No!"
He said nothing more, just stood up and returned to his own desk. Iris looked away from everything and everybody and gnawed on the tip of her pen as she stared at nothing.
"As clever as you are beautiful."
Chills ripped through her again.
"Damn it," she muttered under her breath.
The man in red would truly be the death of her.