Notes: For Flufftober - Love Language

On the show, Barry's love language tends to be big gestures. And I rather suspect Eddie speaks that language rather well himself... Anyway, this is mostly the boys, but Iris is still a pretty important part of all of this even though she only shows up towards the end.

Ship: Iris/Eddie and pre Barry/Iris/Eddie

The Gift

Barry tapped Eddie on the shoulder while passing by the detective's desk. Joe had just stepped away from his own desk, so it was the best time to - quietly - ask Eddie to join him in his lab whenever Eddie could get a few minutes on his own.

Eddie nodded once Barry asked and then Barry headed up to his lab to work on an analysis of some unusual chemicals found at a burglary. He was a little more distracted than usual but, well... Barry was still doing his job well so it wasn't a bad distraction really. It was just...

He knew things were awkward between himself and Eddie. Because of Barry's feelings for Iris. Eddie wasn't being a jerk about it or anything, but there was more distance between them than there should be if Eddie was the one Iris was going to wind up marrying some day. And Barry could see it easily, how happy they'd be together.

The last thing Barry wanted was his jealousy driving a wedge between himself and Iris. But it would if he couldn't figure out how to close the distance between himself and Eddie. Which was how he'd come up with the idea for this plan. AKA, his plan to get Eddie the best Christmas present ever.

Of course to do that, Barry needed to spend more time with Eddie and get to know him better. So he'd come up with a plan for spending time with Eddie that would, hopefully, not backfire on him badly. Though considering the plan revolved around a getting Eddie to agree to a joint gift from them to Iris that was kind of a... romantic item to give her. Which Eddie could interpret the wrong way, so Barry had to sell this plan very carefully.

It takes nearly an hour before Eddie finally made up upstairs to join Barry. "What did you want to talk about?"

"Have you planned what you're going to give Iris for Christmas yet?" Barry asked.

"I, uh..." Eddie glanced behind him and then shut the door behind him. "I planned to giver her a key to my apartment and ask her to move in with me," Eddie admitted, looking a bit nervous.

"She'll definitely agree," Barry assured Eddie, glad to see the other man perk up a bit.

"I'm glad you think so. I've been really nervous about it." Eddie hesitated, then said, "why'd you ask?"

"Ah, well. There's something I thought maybe we could go into as a gift for Iris together on. It's something that Joe would get the wrong idea about if I gave to Iris on my own and he'd be weird about if just you gave it to her, but if it came from both of us..." Barry trailed off.

"Okay, I'm curious now. What were you thinking of?"

"So I don't know what Iris has told you about her mom?" Barry asked.

Eddie came over and leaned against Barry's desk, looking down at where Barry was sitting. "I know she died when Iris was pretty young."

Barry nodded. "Francine got pretty sick and Iris came to stay with me and my parents for a few days. Afterwards, Joe gave Iris Francine's wedding ring to wear on a chain because Iris wanted something of her mom's to keep close. But when we were in the fifth grade, we went to the zoo. Iris didn't realize the chain clasp was giving out and... somewhere at the Central City Zoo, she lost her mother's ring."

"And you want to... give her a replica of it?" Eddie guessed, sounding uneasy.

"So you get why Joe would take that the wrong way. I had a crush on Iris in high school," which was true and if phrasing it that way made it sound like Barry was over that crush when he wasn't, well... it was for the best. "Iris never noticed which was a relief since she didn't feel the same way. Would have been kind of embarrassing if she'd realized. But maybe not as embarrassing as Joe figuring it out. He's been a little weird about me and Iris ever since."

"He wants her to end up with you." Eddie frowned pensively.

"Maybe? I really don't know and I'm not about to ask. Joe means well, but sometimes he thinks the best way for me and Iris to be happy is to do what he wants instead of listening to to what we actually want. And I've never seen anyone make Iris as happy as you do." Barry felt relieved as Eddie smiled, blushing a bit and ducking her head. "It was a little weird at first because I slept through most of your relationship, so it took a while to sink in how long the two of you had actually been dating and how serious about you Iris is," Barry told him. "But this way we can both give Iris something that means a great deal to her and I'm hoping Joe's not the only one who'll see this as a sign of how much I support your relationship with Iris. I want both you and Iris to see it that way too."

Eddie hesitated and then nodded slowly. "So, how do we get the replica made? Do you remember it enough to describe it or are we going to need Joe's help too?"

Barry brightened. "So you're in?"

"Yeah. It seems like a great idea. And I appreciate why you want to," Eddie replied. "I admit... sometimes how close you two are makes me nervous."

"We're weirdly close, yeah. You just have to remember you're the one she's in love with. And honestly? I get why." Barry couldn't resist teasing Eddie a little, now that he'd agreed to Barry's plan. "You're cute, fun, smart..."

Eddie ducked his head, blushing.

"If you weren't dating Iris, I might've tried to ask you out myself."

"You know, Iris never warned me you're a flirt."

Barry laughed. "Well, she and I have always had pretty similar taste in dating partners. Mostly disastrous, but the ten percent is worth it. She's lucky to have you, Eddie."

"Not half as lucky as I am to have her," Eddie demurred.

"Just remember that after she moves in and tries to make you breakfast." Barry grinned as Eddie laughed, clearly already aware of Iris' cooking skills... or lack thereof. "Anyway, if I'm sneaky enough, I can get what we need out of Joe's house and over to your apartment without Joe ever knowing."

Step one was, of course, getting Eddie to agree. Step two was avoiding Joe while taking some family photo albums from the attic.

Easy to do with super speed, thankfully.

"I just grabbed a box of photo albums, but at least a few of these should have pictures of Francine with her wedding ring that are good enough quality for us to use for getting the replica made," Barry said as Eddie took the box from him and ushered Barry into the apartment. "I like your place," Barry added, looking around. "My place is so cluttered." And cramped. Though Barry did like the freedom it gave him, so the trade off was still worth it.

"Thanks. I didn't really bring a whole lot with me when I moved here. Trying to get a fresh start, I guess. But I did have some of the things Grandma Agnes left me." Eddie plopped the box onto his coffee table and then gestured to a hutch off to the side of the dinning room. "I was supposed to inherit more of her things, but Aunt Lucy contested the will and things got a little messy. Which was why I ended up moving. My family's kind of... they're not like you or Iris or Joe. They're not nice people."

"So they're not like you either. But it sounds like Agnes was." Barry saw atop the hutch some old looking glassware. Pretty designs too. Barry wondered if Eddie had the whole set.

They flipped through the albums together all evening, binging Buffy the Vampire Slayer in the background on Netflix and munching on pizza when it came time for dinner. But mostly they talked. Barry talked about his mom some and how he'd been cut off from her side of the family after she died.

"My insistence on dad's innocence didn't exactly endear me to my grandparents or my aunt. One of them should have taken me in, but... well, they didn't contest Joe when he sought custody." Barry shrugged. "A lot of the family heirlooms she had... I don't know if they took them or if they got sold as part of the estate sale after my dad was declared guilty. But either way... I don't really have anything of hers left."

"That's awful." Eddie wrapped an arm around Barry's shoulders. "You were just a kid who'd lost his mom. Whether they believed you about your dad or not, they should have been there for you. What about your family on your dad's side?"

"He was an only child. And my grandparents had already both passed away by then. I don't have anything left of theirs either, though. Unless there's stuff left in storage somewhere..." Barry shook his head. "So that's part of why being able to give Iris back even just a replica of her mom's ring means a lot to me. I can't get back the family history I've lost... but maybe we can give her back some of hers."

"I totally get it," Eddie agreed. "Grandma Agnes has a collection of first edition Agatha Christie novels. Amazing condition. Sitting on my Aunt's shelves now, but they were supposed to... well, I had to choose between the books and the china. And I knew I'd have an easier time with the china." He sighed and Barry wondered what the full story there was. But... Barry also felt relieved. Because now he knew what he could get for Eddie.

"I think we've found enough pictures of Francine's ring and that close up of her and Joe's hands from their wedding was a lucky find," Barry said, tactfully changing the subject. "I think we're good to go for finding a jeweler to recreate it now."

Eddie nodded agreement, smiling wistfully at their little pile of photographs.

Tracking down first edition Agatha Christie novels isn't actually that hard. Finding some in good condition to both display and read... that's a bit harder. Barry runs to every used book show in Central City and Keystone... and then a few dozen surrounding cities too.

But he managed to lay his hands on a copy of The Mystery of the Blue Train, hardbound with a small rip in the dust cover. And he found a first edition of Peril and End House that didn't have a dust jacket at all, but the book itself was in good condition with shiny lettering on the spine. And to make it the magic number three, he found a second edition of Miss Marple's 6 Final Cases. He'd wanted them all to be first editions, but... he figured Eddie would - hopefully - like the gift anyway. He couldn't get Eddie back the books he'd lost, but he could give Eddie books that honored his grandmother's favorite author.

Getting to know Eddie better had made Barry feel a little jealous all over again, though. He hadn't been totally joking about finding Eddie attractive and interesting. So now he was a little jealous of Iris too, not just Eddie. But that just made him all the more certain he was doing the right thing, showing his support of their relationship. Eddie was wonderful and Iris deserved wonderful.

Putting smiles on both their faces for Christmas this year was really all Barry wanted for himself.

So Barry had kind of figured that when he and Eddie gave Iris their joint gift that Barry would then surprise Eddie with the books and that would be the end of the impromptu gift exchange. It wasn't.

Eddie hugged his books to his chest for a long moment and then set them aside in order to thrust a small box towards Barry anxiously.

"You didn't have to..." Barry started to say, but Eddie cut him off.

"You didn't have to find me books that make me feel closer to my grandma, either. I wanted to give you this, Barry. Just open it."

So Barry did as Eddie ordered while Iris bounced in clear amusement, clearly aware of whatever was in the box. Her fingers playing with the ring on the chain around her neck that had earned Eddie a kiss on the mouth and Barry a kiss on the cheek. "He worked really hard to find that, so no stalling. Just rip the paper off."

"Impatient," Barry told her, resisting the urge to stick out his tongue at her as he carefully removed the paper and set it aside. He just... didn't want to make a mess out of something Eddie had put so much thought into. The box itself was the slender sort that jewelry came in, but that didn't really clue Barry in. Gift cards could easily fit in the box too, but if it was something Eddie had worked hard to find...

Barry finally lifted the top off the box and then nearly dropped it as he saw what was inside.

He could remember his mother wearing the necklace nestled inside the box. The seemingly delicate pink quartz flower awakening in Barry so many memories of idly toying with it when he was still small enough to sit on his mom's lap. The way it felt pressed against his cheek when he hugged his mom or she held him when he cried.

"How..." Barry's voice cracked and there were tears in his eyes. "How did you find this?"

"I, uh... I tracked down the records from the estate sale of your family's home and belongings. I was able to track down a number of people who purchased your families things and while not everyone was willing to check if they still had anything, I was able to pull together a list of people who'd be willing to either give or sell back your families things - the woman who bought the house also bought an old antique mirror that she'd love to talk to you about." Eddie blushed. "She had the necklace too and when I told her I was putting together a list of all your lost family heirlooms I could find as your Christmas present, she insisted I take it with me. Honestly, I think she just wants to gift you the mirror after meeting you in person."

"Thank you so much, Eddie." Barry threw his arms around the other man, burying his face against Eddie's shoulder with a little sob. "This means... so much to me."

Eddie's arms wrapped around Barry's back comfortingly for a moment before he reached out to pull Iris in to join them.