A/N: FIC 1 OF MY 25 DAYS OF WESTALLEN FANFICTION event. I've decided to do a thing this year where I'm going to upload a new westallen fic every day of December, the 1st-25th. Unfortunately, I'll only be uploading them to this site and AO3 when they've been beta'd. Since 25 fics inside a month is a lot to ask for, these fics may not be uploaded every day of the first 25 days of December. On my tumblr - backtothestart02 - they will, but only here and AO3 if they've been beta'd. That's a def yes for the first three I've written so far, but it's yet to be determined for the rest. Just an FYI. These will also range from one-shots to multi-chaps if I'm inspired for them. Wherever my inspiration leads, that's what will be written. I'm chucking my normal schedule to the wind. Lol.
Dedication: once-and-future-thot on tumblr for correctly guessing my top three favorite Flash characters.
*Many thanks to sendtherain for beta'ing.
*I own nothing. No copyright infringement intended.
...
Barry's first thought when he walked into Iris' little apartment was that it was too small for two people.
To live in, of course. The close quarters were definitely beneficial for date night.
He couldn't remember if he'd ever been to Iris' apartment in the previous timeline, but he sensed this one was different. Maybe he hadn't been to it because it was just a reminder that she had moved out of her former boyfriend-nearly-fiancé's apartment because he'd killed himself to save Barry.
But that was then, and this is now. Iris had moved on from the incident, and he'd finally forgiven himself. Iris wanted to be with him. The heart eyes she sent his direction whenever they were together was testament to that. And recently – quite recently – they had taken their budding romantic relationship to the next level.
They'd had sex.
None of the fantasies Barry had of making love to Iris in his adolescence could have prepared him for the experience. Despite how eager he had been to get to that stage and how smooth and confident he was when they made out, he'd become surprisingly nervous in the moments leading up to the act. His whole body vibrated on and off before he'd even shrugged out of his jacket. He felt faint when Iris undressed herself, and he had needed her to place her hands on him and to kiss him because he'd become immovably spellbound.
Their first time was a little awkward. There was no getting around that. Their first date had been too. And Barry had to get three first kisses in before they stuck. If he had to get to their third time having sex before there was smooth sailing, so be it.
The problem was, they hadn't gotten to a second yet.
Granted, things were busy with metas and team Flash drama, but it had been a week and Iris hadn't so much as brought up having another date. Barry was starting to wonder if he'd ruined things again and if he should bring up the predicament racing around in his mind the way he did after their disastrous first date. Even Iris' kisses were chaste, and Barry knew if nothing else, he excelled at kissing her. He'd had plenty of practice, both now and in previous timelines.
So, one day when all Flash business was presumably wrapped up for the day, Barry approached her, determined to cross this bridge with no more pretense.
"Iris, can I-"
"Do you want to come over tonight?"
His mouth went dry.
"We can just order some pizza, watch some Netflix…what do you say?"
Dinner and a movie. He could do that.
"Great, see you then," she said, jumping up on her tip toes to press a kiss to the corner of his lips since his mouth was hanging open.
Unfortunately, he was unable to pull her in for a kiss that would have left her a different sort of breathless.
Still, he considered this a win. It was a date. And a date was progress.
He took it upon himself to show up in casual attire with about five pizzas in his hand. He knew Iris would probably only eat a half of one at most, but she understood his speedster metabolism and only smiled when greeted with the sight of him in her doorway.
After he set the boxes down on the kitchen table, he turned around to fully take in what she was wearing. She was more casual than he was. In sweatpants, a tank, an old hoodie, and a messy bun, nothing about Iris' attire screamed excited-for-a-date-with-my-boyfriend.
He worried suddenly if this was her way of letting him down gently, telling him she wants to be just friends after all. That their first sexual experience was so terrible that she didn't even want to attempt a redo. It would explain all the distance, the barely-there kisses, the busyness.
Or maybe she's just comfortable enough around you to not dress up when you're not going out.
He let himself believe that for about a second until he remembered the date that was cut short at the West house before Joe had walked in and how she had definitely not dressed down for that. She'd been as lost in his kisses as he was in hers too, enough to be irritated when he had cut the date short in order to avoid an embarrassing moment with Joe.
But that was then…
"Do you…do you have some wine?" he asked, snapping himself out of his reverie.
Iris was at the fridge with a beer in hand. She frowned.
"I might. I thought you were more a beer type of guy though. I mean, with pizza?"
His insides were screaming.
"Iris-"
"Grab a box or two. I'll start the movie."
She patted his chest lightly, then crossed the short distance to the couch and turned on Netflix, beginning her search for what was presumably the perfect movie.
About half hour into the sci-fi flick, Barry decided he must be in a nightmare. Iris could never follow these movies, and she was always mixing them up. She liked romantic comedies and love stories in general. Sometimes she liked a good mystery, but this… Not to mention that when he'd tried to bring up what was swimming in his head, she always silenced him with a finger to his lips and a serious stare followed by a whisper that she didn't want the movie to be interrupted. She ate a full pizza too, and Barry barely managed two slices. Which she didn't even notice.
This wasn't a dream, he suddenly decided. Their previous dates had been a dream. Their making out and sex had been a dream. Her giving him heart eyes had been a dream. Flashpoint had successfully killed any love life he had with Iris West. It had been only toying with him when it showed him a glimpse of what could have been if he hadn't been so determined to mess with time to cure his own heartache.
Just when he was about to give up all hope, he felt Iris' hand slowly move from her thigh to his knee. He sucked in a breath, but she didn't acknowledge it. Instead, she moved her hand higher up his thigh and then squeezed gently.
"Iri-"
"Shh," she said, not looking at him, then turned to him with a seductive smile that successfully aroused him. "You'll interrupt the movie."
He said nothing else though his mouth was hanging open as it had been earlier, but this time instead of a quick peck, Iris grabbed his chin in her other hand and pulled it to her, fastening her lips on his in a passionate kiss.
He reciprocated immediately, groaning as she wrapped her arms around his neck and stuck her tongue in his mouth. Her legs shifted into his lap, brushing his jean-covered erection and making him break free of her.
"Iris- Iris-"
"Breathe, Barry," she said, husky and warm against his skin.
"I thought we were just gonna watch Netflix," he said, trying to breathe like she was instructing him to.
"And chill, baby." He met her eyes. "Netflix and Chill."
His mind flashed to the memory of a shared conversation before confessions and time travel.
"I wonder what our doppelgängers are doing tonight."
"Probably Earth 2's equivalent of Netflix and Chill."
"Sounds nice. I mean for them."
It just occurred to him how she'd gone suddenly silent, and how he hadn't noticed, and then how Flash business had interrupted the comfortable atmosphere around them before he'd had the time to pick the conversation back up or think to resume it at a later time.
A part of him wanted to bring up everything he'd been panicking about tonight and for the last seven days, but he didn't want to ruin the moment. So, he covered her mouth with his own and hungrily kissed her until she fell back onto the couch and he followed with her.
"Mmm, Barry," she purred, and he felt alive.
He slid his hands beneath her tank top, hardening further at the feel of her warm skin. He pushed her farther down the couch and then unzipped her hoodie at the same moment her eager fingers pulled the t-shirt over his head. He watched as they dipped into each ab and then as her hands smoothed over his biceps and was absolutely mesmerized.
"Unbutton me, Iris," he said huskily before she had a chance to pull him down for another kiss.
She met his eyes, staring intensely, curiously, longingly, for what felt like hours.
"Iris-"
Without looking away, Iris lowered her hands to his waistband and unbuttoned the top of his pants. Then she slowly unzipped his fly and tugged his pants down over his ass. His erection was evident, tenting his boxers, so she reached out and grasped it over the material.
Barry shuddered above her.
"It doesn't have to be awkward, Barry," she said softly. "It's just you and me, like it's always been."
Despite his heavy arousal, his heart soared at the words. She hadn't been trying to avoid the romance factor tonight because she didn't want to be with him. She'd been doing it to remind him that they were best friends, and he didn't need to be nervous, no matter how big of a step it was.
I love you, Iris, got stuck in his throat. He wanted to say it so badly. But she hadn't said it yet in this timeline, not before he got back and not since their first date. That meant she either wasn't ready to say it or she wasn't in love with him yet. He didn't want to put pressure on her. So he held it in.
"You knew?" he asked instead, boyishly shy.
"That you've been acting weird for the past seven days because you can't stop thinking about how our first time could have gone better?"
"I've been acting weird?"
"Mhmm." She nodded.
"What about you? The chaste kisses? How conveniently busy you've been? Whatever can be said about our first time, you can't tell me I'm not a good kisser."
Her eyes darkened with lust and her heels pressed into his backside. He groaned, and she pulled him down for a heated kiss.
"You're a fantastic kisser," she murmured after he stole more than a few kisses when she tried to pull away. "And I don't know what you're talking about. Our first time was good."
"It was awkward."
"You're overthinking it, babe." She ran her hand down his back reassuringly. "It was a little rocky getting started, but you were just nervous. I was nervous too."
"You were not nervous."
"I was," she insisted, smiling. "You were just totally unaware because you were so focused on how nervous you were. Maybe I was a little bit distant this last week, but it was just in response to how you were acting. I felt like I was walking on eggshells."
His worried frown concerned her. She cradled his face in her hands and pressed a gentle kiss to his swollen lips.
"It was good, Barry," she soothed.
When she did pull back, he could see the heart eyes he'd missed earlier this evening and felt an enormous sense of relief.
"I bet I can do better," he said, his voice going deep, almost Flash-like. He saw the sparkle and the hunger in her eyes when he did that and willed his body to act accordingly.
She smiled slowly, mirroring the seduction on his face. No words necessary, Barry's lips descended on her again. He kissed her wildly, passionately, down her neck and over her collarbone. She was fully undressed by the time he got to the valley between her breasts. Moments after he shook his pants off his long legs, his condom was in place and he was hovering over her again.
He locked eyes with her. She draped her arms around his neck and looked lovingly into his eyes.
"Make love to me, Barry," she said softly, tearing down all his defenses and securing all the feelings she'd proven to him she had.
He pushed into her slowly, sinking into her wet heat until he length was fully inside. He could feel her pulsing around him, her limbs tightly pulling him to her, and the only thing he could utter was her name.
Her arching up against him urged him on, and he started to retreat only to push into her again. They moved together as one, and their speed increased. Soon enough he knew nothing of their previous time, of the nervous jitters and the out-of-sync movements that had him fretting nonstop for the past week. All he could focus on was her gasps and her moans and her whispering his name in her ear. Just before he tumbled over the edge, she crested, digging her nails into his back and then slowly releasing him as she sagged into the couch.
For his part, he was breathing heavily, his forehead pressed into the arm of the couch. Iris murmuring his name helped him resurface, and then he was looking into her dark, doe eyes and smiling tremulously.
"Was it…was it good for you?" he asked, the first thought in his mind besides, God, she's beautiful.
"It was amaaazing," she said, smiling, avoiding his eyes for just a moment as her hands traveled up and down his back.
Is she blushing?
He couldn't tell obviously, but the expression on her face sure seemed to hint at it.
"Iris-"
"Do you want to Netflix and Chill tomorrow night too?" she asked, suddenly meeting his eyes again.
He could hardly restrain the laugh that wanted to burst out of him.
"Yeah, Iris. Tomorrow and every night."
She laughed now. "Maybe not every night."
He smirked. "As many nights as you can handle then."
Hunger filled her gaze again.
"Maybe twice tonight then, to make up for the nights I can't."
The lust-filled look in her eyes combined with the husky sound of those words on her tongue hardened him immediately.
Set on autoplay, Netflix needed no command from them to continue playing.
Iris wrapped her hands around her boyfriend's neck and pulled him down for another kiss.
