Prompt: fake relationship au

xXx

"You know, I've been thinking…" Barry muses, as they're lounging lazily on the couch together, her head resting against his shoulder.

"You've been thinking? I'm shocked," she teases as she tosses another piece of popcorn into her mouth.

"Ha, ha. You're hilarious, Iris. A true comedian." He rolls his eyes, shoving her a little. "What I was trying to say is that I've been thinking that…maybe we should just date each other?"

She nearly chokes on the popcorn kernel she's chewing on in surprise, and Barry rubs her her back soothingly as she splutters, struggling to catch her breath again. All things considered, it's really not helping. His hand on her back like that and making her heart race like it is when she's trying her best to calm down. He doesn't know that, of course. She's never told him, but…right. Dating. Each other?

"What do you mean? I thought…I thought you liked Linda…" she manages to squeak in between coughs, her voice much higher than usual. Don't get your hopes up, Iris, don't you dare, she scolds herself. She already knows what it feels like to have her heart crushed. She has to feel it every day, watching him fawn over some other girl at school.

"Oh, um. Right. Well…" he says distractedly, and for a second, for one beautiful, awful second her spirits lift and her heart speeds up and no matter how hard she tries she can't stop the hope that bubbles up in her chest and— "Yeah. I meant, like, pretend to date each other. Like how they do in the movies. You like Eddie, and I like Linda, but neither of them really seem to know we exist, so we could pretend to date each other to try and make them jealous, you know?"

And just like that, her heart sinks to the pit of her stomach and her eyes are burning and she feels like she's about to be sick, and she's violently reminded of just how much the whole 'unrequited' part of this whole love thing really sucks. Everyone's always saying that if you're going to be in love, being in love with your best friend is the best thing you can be, but no one ever talks about what it feels like when your best friend doesn't love you back. She clenches her jaw and forces herself to smile, anyway.

"Oh," she says, her voice small, and she tries really, really hard to hide the hurt in her expression. It takes everything in her to sound cheerful when she adds, "I see where you're going with that. It's a good idea."

Except that it's not a good idea, not at all. In fact it's the worst idea she's ever heard, pretending to be with him just so that he can be with someone else. She kicks herself for ever telling him that she had a crush on Eddie Thawne, the boy in her gym class. In fact, she only ever said it to make him jealous. And look where it's gotten her now, she thinks bitterly. The fucking irony.

She wants to tell him no. She wants to shoot it down, she wants to tell him just what a horrible-terrible-awful idea it is. Most of all, she wants to shake him and yell at him until he understands that she can't pretend to be in love with him because she already is in love with him. But she can't. She can't let him down, and more than that she doesn't want to raise any suspicions, because even though he would never push her, he would know something was up if she said no. She's gone along with things stranger than this for him, and he certainly has for her. It's like their code—they'll do almost anything for each other. Plus, he thinks she likes Eddie. Eddie Thawne. Right.

She swallows the bitter taste in her mouth and forces herself to get a grip. She can do this. She's put up with worse. Like, for instance, having to watch him hold hands and suck face with Beck Cooper during that brief little dating stint…Just remembering it makes her shudder.

"So, how is this going to work, exactly? We just act couple-y around school and stuff and hope that they see how happy and adorable we are until we catch their attention?"

"Something like that, yeah," Barry laughs, although there's something a little off in his voice. She writes it off as a trick of her imagination.

"Alright, let's do it, then," she sighs, struggling to get out the next part, "Right. Eddie and Linda…ha…here we come…"

xXx

They show up to school the next day, side-by-side, and exchange a determined nod before they enter the doors into the building holding hands. Iris tries really hard not to think about how well her hand fits in his, and how warm his fingers feel laced with hers, but predictably she doesn't succeed. She also can't help but wonder why Barry's palms are so sweaty, why his hands are shaking so bad that she has to give the one nestled in hers a reassuring little squeeze to make it stop. Which is another thing she can't understand—because what could possibly be making him so nervous? It's only her he's holding hands with, it's not like they've never done this before, and if he really didn't feel the same way he wouldn't be—stop right there. She cuts off that train of thought before it can gain any ground. Barry likes Linda. Not her. He's already made that clear.

But then why is he blushing?

She's not sure what throws her off more: the fact that it's so easy, so natural to act like a couple that it's barely even different from how they normally act—just with a lot more hand-holding, more lingering touches that make her heart beat just a little bit faster. And then there's that whole making heart-eyes at each other thing that Barry is…surprisingly good at. But she's still not letting herself think about that.

And then there's the fact that at least fifteen different people—some of them friends, and some of them people she barely even knows—come up to them with variations of 'congratulations',and 'finally's and 'I knew you two would end up together' and so on. All she can do is fake a smile and nod.

And then Linda of all people, Linda who she is friendly with but who's supposed to be the whole reason for this shtick in the first place, gives her a big hug in English class along with a genuinely excited grin and tells her how happy she is for her, how cute she and Barry are together, and Iris just doesn't have the heart to correct her. Not really even for Linda but for her own sake, really, because this is going to hurt so fucking much when the truth comes out, and right now she's just trying not to think about that. To pretend that this is real. She finds that that, at least, is one thing she can fake.

She doesn't even remember she's supposed to be making Eddie jealous until after the only class she has with him passes. She finds she doesn't really care much, honestly, and she doubts he does either.

Somehow she makes it through the whole day without exploding from the mounting frustration in her chest at the ghost of his touch that's perpetually lingering on her skin, and she endures every single agonizing second of it, of knowing that for him it's pretend but for her it's all real. And then the final bell rings, and she's finally reached the home stretch.

Barry is lounging at her locker and he's absentmindedly playing with her hair as she gets her books from her locker, and the thing is that they do this all the time but now everyone is watching them and catching her eye, giving her a hearty thumbs up, winking at her and flashing these bright, approving smiles her way and everyone genuinely thinks they're a couple and God, they feel like a couple, and she just wants to grab his stupid face and kiss him already—but that's not what this is about. Not about you, Iris, she reminds herself. None of this is for you.

"So, are you coming over later?" she asks, fighting to keep her voice even, hating herself for the sudden butterflies in her stomach. Nothing is going to happen. Once they're not in public anymore, he'll drop the act. And that will be that.

She supposes she should tell him the unfortunate news about Linda, about his less-than hopeful chances with her, and her non-existent chance (mostly because she hasn't even said two words to him) with Eddie, and then they can just drop it all right here and now, save themselves the time before they leave school, but her mouth is dry and she can't bring herself to do it. Not yet. This is the worst thing she's ever experienced, and yet she still doesn't want it to end.

"Yeah, of course," he nods, "I just have to stay after for a meeting. I'll meet you there."

"Alright. Bye, then," she stuffs her books into her bag and straightens back up to face him. She leans toward him, and she means to just give him a quick hug, she really does, an innocent hug like they always do—but then he smiles at her with that look in his eyes, and then her mind is replaying every look, every touch leading up to this, and she knows she shouldn't and she knows she's going to to hate herself for this later but instead of a hug she leans up and gives him a quick peck on the lips.

She sees the look of shock register on his face, and almost immediately she feels the dread curling in her stomach, she feels her face burning, and she kind of just wants to crawl in a hole and never come out and—and then his hands are cupping her face, and his thumb is stroking her cheek, and he's guiding her face closer to his. And then he's kissing her and it's definitely not just a quick peck and everything is loud, loud, loud, but she barely even hears the people whooping and clapping all around them because that's all just background noise compared to the thudding of her heartbeat in her ears, and her head is buzzing with shock and with pleasure and Barry Allen is kissing her and it feels so real.

"That didn't feel pretend," she breathes when they finally break apart, once she even can catch her breath again, watching in a sort of dazed fascination as Barry's eyes flutter open and a slow smile spreads across his face.

"It wasn't," is his reply, one she's really not expecting, and it takes her a minute to wrap her head around what he's saying, to make sense of what's just happened.

"What about Linda?" she blurts, inwardly groaning the moment the words leave her mouth. Of all the things to bring up right now…

"Linda…?" he blinks, gazing stupidly into her eyes as though he's stuck in some sort of trance. It's a good look on him, she thinks. Something she could definitely get used to.

Iris raises an eyebrow at him in disbelief. "Linda. Linda Park, the girl you've been crushing on all semester, remember?"

"Oh. Her." He shakes his head, finally pulling himself out of his daze. "I wasn't, actually."

"You weren't…what?"

"Crushing on her. Um. I only said that because you told me you liked Eddie Thawne."

Iris blinks, caught somewhere in between amusement and confusion. And delight. Lots and lots of delight. "Okay, first of all, I only said that to make you jealous. And why did you want to get Linda's attention by pretending to date me if you didn't actually like her?"

"Actually…I…um…" he trails off, rubbing the back of his neck. As she watches his ears go familiarly pink, realization dawns on her.

She lets out a short burst of laughter, smacking him on the arm. "No way. You were trying to makeme jealous?"

"I thought if you thought I really liked her…you know…"

"So let me get this straight—your plan was to pretend to date me to make me jealous by pretendingto try to make her jealous and…Barry, that is literally the dumbest thing I think I've ever heard in my entire life. You could have just asked me out like a normal person. It would have saved us both a lot of trouble."

He spreads his hands wide. "I did! This wasn't my original plan, I swear. But I asked you, and then you asked about Linda, and I was so afraid you were going to say no, and—I panicked. When I said I was thinking that maybe we should date each other, I really meant it. Except I've been thinking it for years, to be honest. Hoping for it."

"So…you like me too, then?" she asks, hesitant, still careful not to get her hopes up too much, not after all this time.

He shakes his head, and for a moment her heart sinks again, but then he smiles at her, cautious and a little bit uncertain. "Not quite," he says, wringing his hands together, "I…ah, 'like' isn't the word I would use, exactly. I liked you once, maybe, when we were really little. But for the longest time it's been…well, it's been more than that, you know?"

And yeah, she knows. She definitely knows. Iris grins before kissing him again, this time without holding back, without having to worry that her feelings are at all one-sided. And it's a really good feeling. When it's over, she wraps her arms around him and rests her head against his chest, holding him tight. She sighs happily as his arms wrap around her in response.

"I know. And I love you, too."