This isn't a prompt just a Christmas-y thought.
Barry arrived at the West house cold but excited. Christmas had finally come and it had brought the first snowstorm of the season with it.
"Hey, Iris. Where're Joe and Eddie?" Barry said as he came in.
"Dad's upstairs getting more blankets, and I told Eddie this Christmas would just be family." Iris said looking down.
"There's more to that story and I know it." Barry sat down next to her.
"We, dad and I decided that we would all curl up in this room with a lot of blankets and sleep down here by the tree tonight. Doesn't that sound fun?"
"Iris." Barry looked at her and she reached out for him. He pulled her closer to him so her head was laying on his chest and let her soak his shirt with her tears. Silently he prayed she wouldn't suddenly realize this was awkward after his confession because he really liked holding her like this.
"He got really offended about it. He kept yelling at me saying things like; 'We're moving in together, how am I not family to you,' and- and 'I don't trust you alone with him.'"
"Him as in me?" Barry asked already knowing the answer.
Iris nodded. "He kept talking like you were this horrible person, trying to sabotage our relationship, but you only told me you loved me after I had asked, even after I asked you tried to hide how you felt. You kept Eddie and my relationship secret from dad. I kept telling him that that wasn't the kind of thing you did when you were trying to sabotage a relationship, but he wouldn't listen to me." Iris was crying now. "I knew we were both making a much bigger deal about this then we should have, but I don't think either of us could stop. It was only our second fight." Barry winced knowing what the first fight had been. "I think it was just timing. Moving in together was too big a step, but all I can think is maybe it's a good thing. Maybe Eddie and I were never meant to work out. He's right. I was ready to move in with him, but I never for a second thought of him as family." Iris looked to Barry.
"I don't know what to tell you, Iris." Barry shook his head. He wished he could help her, but he didn't know how. "I've never been in a relationship before."
They sat curled up together on the couch. The only sound was Iris's soft sobs.
He heard Joe come down the stairs and set some blankets down. Barry could almost feel Joe watching them with a small smile, then not wanting to interrupt them, he turned and walked back upstairs.
"I can't keep being sad about this. It's Christmas, I can't be sad on Christmas. Especially about someone that would break up with someone else on Christmas." Iris claimed. Barry knew she was still sad but continuing talking was not the way to go.
The two friends fell into a comfortable silence as they looked at the tree.
Barry could remember the origin of quite a few of the ornaments. There were some that were pictures of little him and Iris each mod podged onto a snowman, snowflake, Christmas tree, or reindeer head given to them by their elementary school teachers. There were some they had made in arts and crafts in class, even some ornaments like a yellow bulb that said 'Don't eat the yellow snow,' or once with a mustache drawn on it saying 'Stashing through the snow,' or a picture of a kid writing; 'I've been good this week, let's just focus on that' that had been bought as gag gifts but had earned a permanent place on their tree. As the two of them pulled out some of the funnier or more embarrassing ornaments, they would laugh and Iris would come out of the kitchen wondering which ornament it was. Decorating took forever at their house, but it was never boring.
Barry noticed one ornament that had been set aside and left off the tree.
"Oh, Iris, come here!" Barry called out laughing.
"What is it?" She stood and narrowed her eyes at him.
"Oh, just your second grade photo ornament." He said trying to sound casual even though he was laughing too hard to pull it off.
"Do not hang that!" She yelled and chased Barry around the room with it. "Do not ruin my beautiful tree with that hideous photo."
"C'mon, it's cute. You look almost as nerdy as me." He laughed.
Barry got close enough to the tree to hang it where Iris couldn't hope to reach it which certainly didn't stop her from trying. She kept trying small hops to get up to where he had placed the decoration but to no avail.
"Why do you have to be so tall?" She complained.
"Because it makes it easier to tease you." He answered.
Iris gave one more small hop but it wasn't in an attempt to reach higher up the tree. It was into Barry's arms. In his surprise he almost failed to catch her. She laughed and kissed him.
When the kiss ended Iris remained in Barry's arms.
"Sorry." She sighed and Barry gave her a curious look. "I don't want to make you feel like a rebound. That's not how I see you. I've never been out of a relationship before."
"Iris, Eddie was your first real relationship." Barry reminded her.
"But was it? Really? I never felt the need for a romantic relationship until I couldn't talk to you anymore. After you told me you loved me, I thought back all the times we were together. We acted like a couple. Not just any couple, a lot of those times we acted like the cheesiest couple in the cheesiest chick flick ever made, the rest of the time we acted the way I remember my parents. I thought about the happiness I felt in those times compared to how I felt around Eddie and I felt like I had been cheating on you right in front of you for months." Barry laughed at her last comment. "I don't understand why I'm so sad about Eddie when I know all this. It isn't fair to you, but I know I love you."
"It's an ending. Whether or not the ending makes way for something better doesn't always make it feel better. You and Eddie were close," Barry tried not to think about how close. "Of course it would hurt for that to be over, but that's how life goes. That is in no way unfair to me. I love you, Iris. I only want what's best for you." Barry pulled her closer to him again, and Iris felt warm and happy for the first time that night.
They sat down on the couch, happy to be in such proximity.
"Are you two done being sappy? Because as much as I enjoy my kids finally being together, I would like have all three of us sitting around the tree, drinking hot chocolate, and watching Christmas movies till I fall asleep, and I expect there to be the same amount of wrapped presents when you two wake me up tomorrow. You got it?"
His two blushing kids nodded at him and Iris stood up after giving Barry a kiss on the cheek. "I'll make the hot chocolate while you guys put on anything except 'Snow.' Santa looks so much like Dr. Wells it's creepy."
"That's what makes it fun!" Barry called after her.
"You still planning on giving her that gift tomorrow?" Joe whispered.
"Yeah. It's time. I think her break up will actually make it easier." Barry knew that Joe wasn't happy about his plan, but he understood why Barry needed to do it.
"So, 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas?'" Joe suggested, and Barry put the DVD in.
Joe was surprised that he was not the first to fall asleep. He was doubly surprised when it was Iris, the one who was always so excited for Christmas she was the last one asleep and the first awake. Barry looked determined not to even flinch. Iris was laying on him, and he was afraid to move and possibly wake her.
In the morning Joe was once again surprised. No parent should wake up on their own on Christmas morning, but their Joe was watching his two kids still curled up on the sofa, sleeping peacefully. He got traditional Christmas breakfast cooking: crepes.
About half an hour later Iris woke up. She looked up and saw her best friend/pillow sleeping. The events of last night came rushing back to her. She sat up and kissed her new boyfriend. Barry immediately woke up.
"Merry Christmas." She whispered.
"Merry Christmas." He replied with the largest smile she had seen him wear. She noticed an excitement in him that she thought went beyond last night's events, but she left it alone for now. The smell of bacon and buttery crepes wafted into the living room drawing them into the kitchen.
Iris was bouncing up and down with excitement, and Barry wasn't far off.
Before long all the presents had been unwrapped. Except one that hadn't been there a second before.
"Where did this come from?" Iris said picking up a small box. She looked at the tag. It said it was for her but it didn't say who it was from. She peeled the wrapping paper off quickly and figured out who it was from. Iris had told the Flash not to contact her anymore, but there was no doubt in her mind that this gift was from him. She opened the lightning bolt box and grabbed the contents.
The Flash had given her a little lightning bolt keychain with a small button on the tip. With it there was a note saying;
"Iris,
I know I didn't give you much reason to believe me, but I was telling you the truth on that roof top. I couldn't control myself, I had been affected by another metahuman. I want to protect you, but to do that I have to be able to know when you're in danger. If you press the little button on the lightning bolt it will send me a signal telling me where you are and that you need me.
You're probably wondering why I think you would contact me after what I did. Look down."
Iris looked at the bottom of the page and saw Barry's signature. She looked over at Barry and saw him holding up a lightning bolt that matched the one he had given her.
"If you press the button it sends a signal to this receiver and it will tell me your location." Barry explained. "I had Cisco make them."
"You're the Flash." Iris said with a blank expression.
"Yeah." Barry said waiting, expecting her to get mad.
Instead her face softened. She pulled Barry into tight hug and gave him a kiss.
"Thank you." She looked him in the eye and tried to pack as much meaning as she could into the next two words. "For everything."
"I love you, Iris."
"I love you too, Bear." She gave him a soft peck on the cheek. "Would you mind beating him up again?" She smiled playfully. Barry just laughed at his girlfriend.
MERRY CHRISTMAS!