Dating Piper was, as Barry rightfully expected, nothing like what he'd experienced when dating Iris. And it wasn't just obvious things, like that the sex was more satisfying now that Barry was dating a member of the sex he was honestly attracted to (though that was probably his favorite part), or its corollary, that Barry was more confident and active about their sex life now that he enjoyed it.

He and Iris had had a very set dynamic. Though he had loved her (and always would, regardless of her gender), they'd fought a lot. Iris had been a very sarcastic person, and sometimes her teasing just got under his skin. She was usually irritated with him over something; she most often bothered him about his tardiness, but it was usually a convenient trait to pick at when something more important was bothering her. Maybe she'd just realized Barry wasn't entirely happy with her and understood why before he did. It wouldn't have been out of character. Iris was perceptive and Barry usually avoided self-reflection.

At any rate, though Piper liked to tease, his banter was much lighter in tone (not when he was in costume, obviously, but that wasn't an issue anymore). So far they hadn't had an honest to God fight over anything yet.

Back when Iris was alive, meeting her for a date usually meant sitting through some kind of lecture on lateness and rudeness before they could relax and enjoy each other's company. When Barry met Piper for a date he was usually greeted with some show of affection (subtle if they met in public but very enthusiastic and accompanied by gropes once they were in private) and told that he'd been missed.

It was a nice change.

True to form, when Barry showed up at Piper's apartment for yet another movie night he was all but tackled by his enthusiastic young boyfriend. Piper wound himself around Barry and kissed him breathless, slamming him back against the front door and closing it with a loud bang.

Barry returned the kiss just as enthusiastically. Not being able to date publicly had a lot of downsides to it, especially where Barry was incredibly busy with his double life. Making plans to see Piper was a juggling act to begin with, and he had to cancel them about half the time (and woe to the Rogue that made him cancel when the Flash got to sucker punch them). However, when he did get the chance to see Piper again they made the most of every second they spent together, and that was nice in its own way.

"I missed you, Sunshine," Piper murmured. Barry kissed his smile, coaxing his lips apart and teasing his tongue against Piper's. Piper moaned, and it was a beautiful sound, like every sound Barry wrested from his musician. Piper leaned back with a chuckle, brushing his warm cheek against Barry's. "We're never going to make it to the couch like this."

"Sure we can," Barry answered. He grabbed the backs of Piper's thighs and hefted him up. Piper obligingly wrapped his legs around Barry's waist and allowed himself to be carried backwards.

Barry pressed him down into the couch cushions and leaned over his body. The sensible young man kept his legs wound around Barry, but his hands were moving, one of them playing with Barry's hair. "It's getting long," he whispered, while Barry kissed a trail down his neck.

"Not as long as yours," he answered, before dipping lower to suck a spot on Piper's collar bone that made him gasp.

"Mmm…I can cut it if you'd rather…been kinda meaning to…"

"Don't." Barry grazed his teeth over the sensitive skin he'd just worked on, tenderly kissed the hickey, and then looked into Piper's half lidded eyes. "You look good like this."

"Not too womanly?" Piper asked.

Barry shifted his weight a little, and his thigh pressed against the growing bulge in Piper's jeans. "I'm well aware you're not a woman, and somehow I think I'll be able to keep that in mind even if you grow your hair down to that fantastic ass of yours." He rubbed his leg along Piper's crotch, watching his eyes fall shut and his face flush as he rocked his hips against the movement.

Piper buried his face against Barry's neck, panting wetly as he ground harder and harder. "Love hearing you swear," he moaned. "Wouldn't…nnm, wouldn't even say proper words for ass when I first met you."

Barry grabbed Piper's ass and squeezed hard, then used his grip to roll Piper against his leg more forcefully. "Your ass is a work of art," he whispered, careful to annunciate every syllable perfectly. Piper's breath hitched at that, skinny fingers scrabbling wildly at Barry's back as he tried to bring them closer together, even though Barry was essentially crushing him into the couch cushions, and his hand was clenching so tightly over Piper's rear that he was probably going to have a bruise in the shape of Barry's hand on his beautiful white cheek.

It was situations like this where Barry really wished he'd shared everything with Piper, because superspeed would be good here. Barry wanted them both naked as instantaneously as possible, but as instantaneous was suspicious, he settled for leaning far enough from Piper to yank his shirt over his head. He pulled Piper into a sitting position and started clawing at the button and zipper on his jeans. Laughing, Piper wriggled his slender hips and slid out of the offending fabric once Barry actually did manage to get the pants open.

Barry made short work of his own clothes, and as he did so he watched Piper dig around on the floor for something. When he sat up straight again he was holding lubricant.

"I had a feeling we wouldn't make it to a bed," Piper said, and Barry couldn't tell if he was blushing, or just red in the face from what they'd been doing so far.

"I haven't seen you since Tuesday," Barry said defensively.

Piper uncapped the lube and coated his fingers. "I know, an entire two and a half days. I figured you'd been climbing the walls. How do you want to do this, love?"

Again, superspeed would have been fantastic. Barry was going to bite his lip bloody holding back.

Instead, he took the time to push Piper forward onto his knees at human speed. Piper's upper body was braced against the arm of the couch, and he looked back at Barry over his shoulder with amusement sparkling in his pretty blue eyes. "Alright then." He reached backwards and passed the lube off.

Barry coated his fingers and greedily shoved one into Piper down to the knuckle. He used his other hand to take Piper's lubed hand and wrapped them both around the younger man's already dripping cock. They both pumped together while Barry worked him open with his other hand. Barry added a second finger, meeting very little resistance. Piper was good and distracted but not quite overwhelmed with sensation.

Barry vibrated his fingers a little, and Piper actually screamed.

Barry hurriedly pulled his fingers out and replaced them with his cock, hoping against hope that Piper hadn't noticed anything suspicious. Then he was too distracted by sensation to even care as he drove into his lover. Piper met his thrusts, driving his hips back against Barry and slamming himself forward into their wet, sticky hands. He always had a way of calling the shots, of setting the pace, even though he rarely topped.

Barry let go of Piper's hand so he could grab his hips, and then he changed the angle and he set the pace. He wasn't blushing and inexperienced anymore. They'd done this together more than enough times for him to know what they both needed.

"Oh fuck…Barry, Barry keep…uhn…" Piper gave up on saying anything intelligible after that. With his hands braced around Piper he was able to force himself deeper, thrust more urgently as he got closer and closer…

He came with violent suddenness, shooting deeply into Piper's warm, wonderful body. He fell against Piper and landed on his back, all sweaty, trembling dead weight.

It took him more than a few breaths to notice that the kid was still sporting an erection, and panting so hard it sounded like sobbing. Of course, his hand was trapped against the arm of the couch while still clamped around his cock, and that couldn't have been pleasant.

Barry slid out of Piper and then pulled his lover backwards into his arms. Piper basically fell against him, pliant and breathtakingly beautiful in Barry's arms. He pushed damp orange hair away from Piper's neck so he could kiss that delightful column of throat while he wrapped his hand around Piper's cock to finish jerking him off. It didn't take long for Piper to come undone, and it was a wonderful new sensation to get to watch him like this, while Barry was still coherent and relaxed from his own pleasure.

Yeah, it had never been like this with his wife.

Barry licked his fingers clean while Piper recovered his breath.

"Let's not move again ever," Piper said in a breathy voice.

Barry rested his hand on Piper's belly and trailed his fingers a bit to tug at the ginger happy trail. "Well, we'll move when we're ready to do that again, right? Otherwise it's an excellent plan."

"Ssh…cuddles. How can you have energy to be snarky after that?"

"Do you have any idea how incredibly beautiful you are?" Barry asked in a sudden fit of sentimentality.

Piper responded with a wobbly smile. "You…give me some semblance of an idea. I do seriously never want to get up…everything seems so perfect when I'm naked with your arms around me." He closed his eyes and let out a leisurely sigh.

Barry kissed his temple, and then just blurted out the thing he'd meant to ask when they got around to an actual conversation. "Hey Piper…would it be okay if I introduced you to somebody?"

Piper turned a little in Barry's arms, and the hand that had been stroking his belly fell on his hip instead as Piper's cheek rested on Barry's chest. His breath was hitting the hollow of Barry's throat, and his long copper colored hair was tickling his nipple.

"Who is it? Somebody important, I assume?"

"Pretty important, yeah."

He could just barely see Piper's grin, despite the awkward angle. "I would love to meet whoever it is. I'd be looking to do the same, but…you know, circumstances. I don't really have anyone to show you off to."

Barry gently tilted Piper's face up and kissed his forehead. "I'm sure you'll find a way to fix that eventually, and in the meantime I think you'll really get along with my nephew."

Barry had been thinking for some time now that it would be nice to let some of the important people in his life know that he was in love again, and he couldn't think of a better person to start with than Wally. He'd become incredibly close to the boy, to the point where even before he'd married Wally's aunt they'd started feeling like family. And besides that, Piper wasn't that much older than Wally. He could see them becoming friends.

"You have a nephew?" Piper asked. "I didn't know you had any siblings."

"I don't," Barry answered. "He's…technically he was my wife's nephew, not mine, but we're very close."

"Oh. Well if he's important to you then yes, I'd love to meet him. Um…what are we going to be telling him?"

Barry took Piper's hands in his and gave them a squeeze. "The truth. But I'll talk to him first and make sure he's…receptive. I'm really sorry to keep doing this to you Piper, but I think it's best if this stays a secret for now."

"That's fine," Piper assured him. "Believe it or not, I'm still not ready to tell the world I'm dating a cop either. I…still haven't quite figured out what I'm doing with my life, but as I haven't made a complete break with all of my old supervillain buddies it's probably best to keep that tidbit to myself. I wouldn't want my former coworkers giving you a hard time."

Barry kissed the top of his head. "I think I could handle myself around them, but I do appreciate your concern."

Piper's lips quirked up into a wry grin. "Look, the Rogues probably seem like a joke to you guys thanks to the way the Flash always seems to pants us, but they're not all as ridiculous as Rainbow Raider. And even the ones who play the fool, like Trickster, can be dangerous."

"I know, Piper."

"Well alright then." Piper sat up and stretched out his back. "So my pretense for inviting you over was to watch a movie. Do you actually want to do that, or…?"

Barry pretended to think, then he lifted Piper into his arms and carried him towards the bedroom. Laughing, Piper slung his arms around Barry's neck, kicking his legs in excitement.