It was a beautiful evening in Central City.
The night was young, and people were lively and Barry could see the beauty of the city that was lost in the everyday bustle. As Barry ran through the streets of the city, he felt at peace with the world.
Barry shot past a restaurant, in the window, there was Iris… and Eddie. It was for less than a second but the scene etched in his memory. His peace shattered.
Barry recognized the name of the restaurant. Iris had heard good things about it, and they had made plans to try it out, but he supposed those plans were no longer needed.
The disappointment was familiar at this point. It wasn't that Iris prioritized Eddie over Barry that was frustrating, it was that Barry felt he was no longer sure of his place in Iris' life.
He had been in a coma for nine months, and in that nine months the world hadn't stopped turning, and Iris…hadn't stopped living. She had filled the hole left by him with other things, other people… Eddie… So even though Barry was back, things between them weren't the same. Iris didn't have as much need for Barry's company as she did before, and Barry didn't know how to get back into Iris' life.
Barry turned onto the familiar road connecting Central City to Starling City. He felt the need to visit a friend.
This new distance between them was daunting, sometimes he wondered if Iris still considered Barry to be her best friend? Granted they never had much in common, but it had never mattered before. They had always enjoyed each other's company, but was their friendship the result of the circumstance of them growing up in the same house rather than choice?
Barry shook his head to stop this train of thought.
It wasn't fair to put this new distance between them all on Iris. This gap was of both of their makings.
Barry's life had changed drastically after he woke up from his coma and discovered he had super speed. He had a new power he needed to understand, a new mission he needed to undertake, and new friends he needed to get to know. Life was suddenly exciting and full of possibilities.
He didn't have as much time for Iris either.
Except… There were so many things in his life that he didn't tell Iris about, and Iris never wondered about a single one of them. She never seemed to notice how much he was changing, never wondered how he spends his time…
Never saw how much Barry was hurting to see her in love with someone else…
Iris had looked so happy and carefree in that restaurant, eating and laughing with Eddie...
Barry had never seen her so happy…
The Starling City sign was ahead, Barry continued to run, onto the streets of Starling City.
Barry shot up onto the roof of the tall skyscraper. The Arrow stood on the edge of the rooftop, looking down at the city he protected. Somehow, just standing there, Oliver made Barry feeling protected, too.
Barry came to a stop just behind Oliver, the gush of wind he bought blew pass the Starling City vigilante.
Oliver turned, annoyed, "not that I'm not happy to see you, Barry, but why are you here?"
Barry expected the cranky façade, and turned his instinctive smile into a pout, "well, you don't seem happy to see me."
"Barry…"
"All right, all right, I just need some…advice," Barry sighed.
The first thing on his mind was Iris, but…Barry didn't want Oliver to think that all he thinks about was the girl he had pined for since he was ten. So, he asked for advice about the prisoners his team kept in the S.T.A.R. Labs pipeline because their numbers would only accumulate in the future. They desperately needed a solution.
It turned out Oliver also had his own private prison, except his prison was on an island in the North China Sea. Oliver offered to take Barry's prisoners there, which was a horrible idea. Barry told Oliver he'd think about it.
And then, because he couldn't help himself. Barry broke out, "I spent nine months in a coma, and when I woke up, things were different…People had moved on with their lives without me, sometimes I just felt I've been left behind…"
"Barry, I was stuck on an island for five years," Oliver interjected.
"Oh, of course," Barry immediately felt guilty. How could he forget about that? Compared to a mere nine months, Oliver's five years away must have been more of a shock.
"And things were different after I came back. My mother remarried, my sister grew up without me, my friends had jobs…well, except for Tommy." Oliver smiled a small, fond smile, "but they were still my family, my friends. We still loved each other."
Oliver told him, "the people who loved you before your coma, still loved you now. You just need to get to know each other again."
Barry smiled, not completely convinced, but feeling better anyway.
Yes, he just needs to find a new balance with Iris.
Even if… Iris would never love him the way he loved her.
Team Flash had been dealing with a bomber by the name of Bette Sans Souci, a former soldier, who had been under the command of General Eiling.
She had blown up downtown Central City, and when Barry tracked her down, he found out she was a metahuman, with the ability to turn anything she touched into a bomb.
Bette touched the emblem on The Flash's suit, and it went 'kaboom'! Barry had to get out of his suit in a hurry and ran back to S.T.A.R Labs in his underwear.
That was not fun.
Cisco was not happy that his suit got blown up.
Joe told Barry Iris was blogging about the Streak, and was worried that criminals would believe she had inside information on the Streak, which would put her in danger.
Barry agreed. The Streak had enemies. It'd be dangerous for Iris to be seen as his spokesperson. He promised Joe that he'd talk to her.
Iris was happy enough to see Barry until he broached the subject of her blog.
"You've got to stop writing about this guy. He doesn't even exist."
But Iris wouldn't budge, "I saw him, Barry. He wears a red suit, like, a uniform or something, with a lightning bolt on his chest."
Barry winced, yeah, Iris did see him after he saved that window washer from falling off the building. This was bad. He tried to point out she had been drinking last night at the bar, but Iris brushed him off. She wasn't about to be persuaded otherwise.
"I was not drunk, and I know what I saw. He wears a mask. I think he smiled at me." Iris looked excited.
Barry had a bad feeling about this.
"Okay, first of all, if he is wearing a mask, that probably means he doesn't want people to know who he is."
"It doesn't matter who he is. What matters is that people know that he's out there. What is wrong with you? This is important to me. Why can't you be more supportive?"
Barry wanted to be supportive, just not for something that could endanger her.
"I'm just... you haven't even put your name on it. How serious can you be about an anonymous blog?"
As soon as the words are out of his mouth, he knew they were the wrong things to say. Iris would have taken them as a challenge.
"Okay, you know what? Our entire lives, you couldn't scream loud enough that the impossible existed. And now it's actually happening in Central City. I have proof of it, and you don't want to know about it? That doesn't make sense, Barry. So when you're ready to tell me what this whole routine is really about, then we can talk."
Iris took off in a huff, leaving a disheartened Barry.
That did not go well.
All those years when Iris didn't believe him about the impossible, why did she have to start now?
Yes, now she had proof, but she was intrigued by The Streak even before she saw him with her own eyes.
When they were kids, Iris believed Barry when he told her his father was innocent, but as she grew older, she accepted common sense and realized that he was just 'confused'. She was nicer about it than everyone else, but it still hurt.
This turnaround of hers, for some reason, left him dissatisfied.
Luckily Barry didn't have long to dwell on his failure with Iris.
They had found Bette Sans Souci, and Barry was just in time to save her from General Eiling's men.
Barry bought Bette back to S.T.A.R Labs.
Bette wasn't trying to hurt anyone. She was only trying to get answers from the men she believed were responsible for her condition. It was nice to meet another metahuman who wasn't bent on carnage and destruction. Bette was a decent human being, Barry hoped they can help her.
Caitlin ran a barrage of medical tests on Bette, then Cisco and Dr. Wells started the meta power testing. They went to the same airfield that they tested his speed.
Bette's bombs packed a whole lot of power.
Cisco was excited, Dr. Wells was quietly impressed, but Bette was unhappy. Barry could understand, Bette's power was all about destruction. It wasn't something she was proud of.
Somehow, they ended up talking, walking along the testing ground. Bette was telling him about her tour, the bombs, the booby tapped cars…
"The rest of my tour, I was terrified to touch another vehicle. Now, I'm gonna spend the rest of my life terrified to touch another human being."
It was an impossible situation. Barry, once again, hoped Caitlin could help her.
"Have they tried to help you?" Bette asked him.
"Yeah, they've helped me learn how to use my powers. Not reverse them."
"If they could reverse it so you weren't a meta-human, would you?" Bette asked him.
Barry thought carefully of his answer. "A friend told me I was given my speed for a reason. That I was chosen. I don't know if I believe that, but I always wanted to help people. Now I can."
Barry was lucky. His powers were something he could use to help people. It was something he was grateful for.
He didn't know if he could live up to Oliver's expectation of him, but he was certainly going to try. Just knowing his friend believed in him gave him strength.
Barry hoped they could give Bette the same support.
Iris had put her name on the blog.
Joe wanted Barry to talk to Iris again, but Barry knew he couldn't change Iris' mind… but maybe the Streak could?
It was another nice evening in Central City.
The Streak ran to Jitters, where Iris was tidying up after closing. He stopped abruptly before her, the gush of wind blowing her hair wild, startling her with his sudden presence.
"Oh, my God, it's you."
"Iris West, I hear you've been writing about me." Barry vibrated his vocal cords to disguise his voice. It felt strange to be talking to Iris this way.
"You are real. I should, um... let me just clean up..."
Iris was astonished to see him, but eager and happy. Barry had never seen her quite like this.
They relocated to the roof. Iris still buoyed by her excitement; her attention fixed on the Streak.
"I need you to stop writing about me."
Iris was unperturbed. "There are a lot of people who need someone like you right now. To know that you're out there. I have so many questions. Where are you from?"
"I can't say."
Iris was trying to interview the Streak.
It was strange to be the focus of Iris' attention like this. All this intensity had never been on Barry Allen.
"Who are you?"
"I can't tell you that, either."
There was a part of Barry that wished he could, and there was a part of him wished Barry Allen could attract Iris' attention the way the Streak did.
"How can you do what you do? You're a terrible interview."
That almost made him smile, only if it made her give up.
"There's more to this than you can understand. Just trust me, please. I need you to stop."
"Can you stop?" Iris challenged him. "Running into buildings and rescuing people without them even knowing that you're there?"
"I don't do this for the glory."
"So why do you? Look, I have this friend, and he had something terrible happen to him when he was a kid. His whole life, he's been telling stories about this impossible thing. And people laughed at him. And shrinks analyzed him. And he's been searching for an explanation ever since. But now, suddenly, it's like he's lost his faith. But you... you are proof that he wasn't crazy. Help me save my friend."
That surprised him.
Barry hadn't expected her insistence on blogging about the Streak had anything to do with him. He was touched, at that moment, his best friend from before his coma was back.
But that feeling was soon surpassed by guilt. He shouldn't be here, talking to her behind a mask, taking advantage of her naïve fascination.
Barry had tried not to think about it, tried not to feel it, but he had been feeling neglected and resentful.
For Iris falling in love so easily with someone else…
For Iris replacing him so readily with someone else…
It had only taken her nine months… he had loved her for fifteen years…
But now he knew, Iris was still his dear friend, they were still in each other's hearts in a way that was irreplaceable. Barry just needed to accept that she was happy with someone else in a way she never would be with him.
Would Iris be happy with the Streak? He couldn't help but think.
But no, the Streak was still Barry Allen. It would be lying to think otherwise. If he couldn't face Iris as Barry Allen, then he shouldn't face her as the Streak.
"He's a lucky guy."
In the end, that was all Barry could say.
Once again, Barry ran to Starling City to see Oliver.
He didn't remember since when, but nowadays, the first person he went to see whenever he had a problem was Oliver, not Joe, Cisco, or anyone else.
He hoped Oliver wasn't sick of him. Barry didn't think so. Oliver liked him, or he would have put an arrow through Barry already.
They were on the rooftop again, him and Oliver. They could almost name this place as 'theirs' by this point. Barry grinned as thought about it.
Oliver lifted a brow, silently inquiring.
"I'm just…happy to see you."
"Happy to see you, too, Barry," Oliver replied dryly. "What can I do for you?"
This time he started with the one thing foremost on his mind.
"Iris had been blogging about the Streak," Barry admitted. "Joe was worried that it'd be dangerous if people thought she had inside knowledge of the Streak. So we tried to talk to her about it."
So far, that hadn't worked, nothing Joe or Barry said could change her mind, even the Streak was unsuccessful. As far as Barry concerned, there was only one thing left to do - tell Iris that he was the Streak.
Oliver frowned, "is that the only reason you want to tell her?"
Barry was confused, "of course."
He could feel Oliver's scrutinizing gaze on him, it made him feel naked, seen through.
"Telling her you're the streak wouldn't keep her safe, Barry," Oliver patiently explained, "being the blogger of the streak isn't safe, but it's far less dangerous than being the helper of the streak."
Barry felt like he had been punched in the gut.
"I… I… that not what this is about?"
He was shocked, stuttering.
He wanted Iris to know because it was getting harder and harder to lie to her, to hide his new self from her. He wanted to her to know what he could do. He wanted her to share his new adventure…
Oh…
He wasn't trying to recruit her for the team…
But Iris would have wanted to get involved if she knew…
Which Barry should have considered if he really thought it through…
And Oliver was right, being on the team would have put her more at risk than just being a blogger.
Cisco, Caitlin, and Dr. Wells were all in danger from the Streak's enemies by being on his team. He needed their skills to fight metahumans, to protect Central City from danger, but Iris was just a reporter. She didn't have the skills that would be needed to defeat metahuman villains, but Barry would have let her join the team because he would have wanted her there.
It would be very selfish of him.
And Oliver saw all of this when he was ignorant of his own heart.
Barry hung his head, feeling ashamed.
"I understand you want her to be involved in this part of your life," Oliver was gentle, gentler than Barry deserved, "because if she isn't then it means the distance between you is only going to became greater. There is a part of you she's never going to know. You can never be your true self with her. You will lose her eventually."
Barry closed his eyes, trying to stop breathing. Oliver was articulating something he wasn't even aware he feared, but he could only nod in response. "What should I do?"
"Is she happy?"
Another nod.
"Then let her be happy."
Barry felt his heart breaking.
…
He nodded again. His throat closed off. He didn't trust himself not to sob if he attempted to make a sound.
Iris' face flashed before his eyes again, sitting in that restaurant window, joyful and carefree, laughing and joking with Eddie.
Barry would never jeopardize that happiness for his own selfish desires.
Strangely, it seemed a load had been lifted, for the first time since he woke up from coma, he felt sure of his place in regard to Iris.
When Barry was sure he could speak without embarrassing himself. He thanked Oliver quickly, "you're right. That's what I should do… I got to go. Thanks, Oliver."
Then he shot off in a trail of yellow lightning.
Behind him, Oliver watched him go, a still figure in the city light.
It turned out they couldn't cure Bette. The shrapnel in her body had merged on a cellular level, and the technology to un-splice DNA hadn't been invented yet.
Bette left to wallow alone. Barry wanted to follow, but there wasn't anything he could say to make it better.
It seemed so unfair. Bette was a good person, she didn't deserve to have her life ruined like this, when all the evil metahumans they caught have the option to not use their powers, she was stuck without an off button.
"What now?" Cisco asked.
"She joins us. Becomes a part of the team." Barry replied. It should be obvious.
But neither Caitlin nor Dr. Wells agreed, Caitlin because Bette's powers were dangerous and uncontrollable, Dr. Wells because she would bring with her General Eiling's attention.
"Well, she's not going in the pipeline." Barry objected.
They couldn't really fail Bette like this. There had to be something else they could do.
The pipeline…
"Cisco… We can't cure Bette, but can we suppress her powers?"
They couldn't put Bette in the pipeline, but maybe the pipeline could be put on Bette?
In the end, Cisco had come up with an anti-meta necklace that Bette could wear to suppress her powers. She had to be careful to keep it charged at all times. It wasn't a perfect solution, but it worked.
Dr. Wells still insisted Bette couldn't stay at S.T.A.R Labs, because General Eiling was too dangerous, and Barry reluctantly agreed. He didn't want Bette to be on the run for the rest of her life, but S.T.A.R Labs couldn't keep her safe from General Eiling.
In the end, it was decided Barry would run Bette out of the country, where General Eiling didn't have the power of the army under his command.
They ran into a trap.
Hundreds of soldiers covered them from all sides. They were ready for Barry's powers, Bette had to turn off her power dampener to retaliate. She was shot, Barry wasn't fast enough to save her from a stray bullet.
They had to take an alternate route after escaping the soldiers and came to a stop before the wide blue sea.
They couldn't turn around again. Barry turned on the communicator.
"Can I run on water? I built up enough speed to run up a building. How fast do I need to go to run on water?" he asked, agitated.
Cisco was calculating, "assuming your weight... 450 pounds of force per step for vertical suspension. Accounting for fluid drag. Approximately 650 miles an hour."
Right, 650 miles per hour.
He could do this. He had gone faster before.
Barry smiled at Bette in his arms, "we can do this, hold on."
Bette smiled back, "let's do this."
Sucking in a deep breath. Barry ran.
The seawater rolling underneath his feet, Barry shot across the ocean. Blue-grey water dancing under yellow lightning, Barry ran, fast and sure, across the wild blue ocean, under the blue sky and white clouds.
Barry and Bette stopped on the other side of the ocean, on the sands of another country.
Barry put down Bette, folded over in exhaustion.
They were finally safe.
Barry couldn't stay for long, but he did help Bette to get settled and left her with a communicator to get in touch with S.T.A.R Labs if she needed help. Then he ran back towards Central City, only then he realized what he had done.
He had run on water.
That was so cool!
He couldn't wait to tell Oliver about it.
The resolution of Bette's situation wasn't as bad as Dr. Well's feared, but it easily could have been. During the ran from General Eiling's men, more than once Barry feared for both of their lives. Things could have gone so wrong.
Barry hoped they'd see Bette again someday when General Eiling faced justice and Bette could come home to her friends and family.
Barry never wanted anything like that to happen to Iris.
As Barry opened the door to the Wests' family home, he knew it was time to have this one last talk.
Iris was sitting at the living room table, writing on her laptop.
"If you came to do laundry, I already have a load in," Iris told him. She was still annoyed with him, from the sound of it.
"Uh, no. I-I came to talk." Barry walked to the table Iris was sitting and sat down. He sighed, tried to explain the impact the last few days had on him. "I was working a case. Someone I really thought I could help befriend. But they...have to leave the country."
"Barry, I'm really sorry."
"I didn't know her that well. But I still feel bad I couldn't help her more... She's been driven out of her home…"
Iris' face softened, sympathetic.
"And as bad as I feel right now, I know how much worse it is to lose someone who's family. Iris..."
He tried to make her understand. The world was dangerous, men like General Eiling was dangerous, being involved with the Streak was dangerous.
Iris looked away.
Barry knew she was upset, but still, he had to continue. "Writing about this stuff, putting your name out there, it's dangerous. So I'm asking you one last time, please, stop."
Iris looked him in the eye, "and I am asking you one last time to tell me what is really going on with you. Why am I the only one of us who's interested in this?"
It was a legitimate question; one Barry couldn't answer. He dropped his head to his fists, tried to think of a reason that would satisfy Iris. "I guess, just, all this stuff with my family, I finally just put it behind me. I'm asking you to also."
It wasn't quite the truth, but it wasn't a complete lie either. He hadn't put his past behind, but his life was moving forward regardless. It was going to be a dangerous, chaotic life, but he wouldn't exchange it for anything.
He just had to keep Iris away from it all.
"That may have been how this started, but it's about something more than that for me now."
Barry wasn't surprised at this admission. Iris had been too captivated with the Streak. It was never just about Barry.
"Whoever this streak is, wherever he comes from, I am not stopping until the rest of the world believes in him."
That sounded like someone with a mission.
This was the first time Barry saw Iris as a real reporter, not just someone who wrote stories. Just like him, Iris changed, too. Perhaps they had both grown up, and somewhere underneath all his sadness and anxiety, Barry felt proud of her.
"Maybe we shouldn't see each other for a while." Barry finally admitted. The words came out easier than he expected.
"Yeah."
Iris didn't argue. She was too proud.
There wasn't anything more to say or do, so Barry stood up and left.
As he closed the door on the Wests family home and closed the door on Iris and his youthful dreams, the pain finally hit.
He had ended the dream that he had lovingly nurtured for years, but in the end, it was an impossible dream. In his heart he knew, Iris would never love him the way he loved her, with or without Eddie. He had always known; it was why he never made a move on her.
Losing Iris was painful, but it was a clean pain. It was something he could recover from.
It was the right thing to do, to let Iris go, not only to keep her safe. Barry had always been too dependent on Iris, he clung to her when he didn't have anyone else other than her and Joe.
When he woke up from his coma, if he didn't have his super-speed and superhero mission, he would have floundered without Iris to center his life, but that was an unfair burden to place on Iris when she had outgrown him.
So yeah, Barry had done the right thing to let Iris go forward, to the life she deserved, with the man she loved.
Barry would go forward, too, and became the man he should be, the hero that Oliver believed he was capable of being, the hero that the city deserved.
It was time to move on.
He finally felt he could.
It wasn't the end of everything, Barry reminded himself. This separation wasn't forever. They only needed time, to both became the people they need to be before they could be each other's best friend again.
In the meantime, there were still lots of things the Streak needed to take care of.
They would need to keep an eye on General Eiling, to be alerted before he went after Bette or other metahumans.
They would need to transfer pipeline prisoners to CCPD. Barry had told the team of Oliver's offer to take the metahuman prisoners off their hands, they decided to turn him down.
Now that Cisco built metahuman power dampeners, it could be adapted to the cells in Iron Heights. Barry and the team still wanted the meta villains to have fair trials, considering they had been locked away without one. They couldn't just shuffle them off to a distant island and threw away the key.
But locking the metas away was only treating the symptoms. As the business with Bette had shown, there must be plenty of people who had gained meta powers but had no idea where it came from or what they could do. They needed help. S.T.A.R Labs should help them.
The Streak shouldn't just be about capturing criminals. He should be helping those in need.
He also needs a better name than the streak…
To do that he needs to know the city better; he needs to train more, to understand his powers better, he had to get faster.
Barry ran, faster and faster, towards a brighter future.
The End
A/N: So yeah, Barry moved on from Iris, resulting in a brighter future for him.