I got two prompts that were pretty much the same.
Prompt from Reveal Girl 666. After Barry tells her he loves her in 1x09, he tells her he is the Flash.
Prompt from Dobby's Socks. When Barry confesses his feelings to Iris he said he couldn't lie to her anymore, so he gets up to go, but then he sort of hates himself for lying to her about that since he hasn't told her his other secret. Figuring she probably hates him/won't be able to be around him anymore again without it being awkward anyway he tells her that he's also the Flash. Iris is overwhelmed.
It's time. Barry couldn't hold back his feelings anymore. Iris had come to him and asked him about his feelings. He had lied to her. He had looked at her and lied straight to her face. Barry hadn't just avoided telling her, or kept it secret, now he looked her in the eye and lied. The guilt was killing him. Barry couldn't live with that. It was time for Iris to know how he felt, even if she didn't feel the same way, even if she hated him.
All that was left was to hope his confession didn't completely ruin their friendship.
He walked as slowly as he could to the West house to delay what he was about to do as much as he could. When he finally reached and unlocked the door, he timidly walked inside.
"Hey." Iris greeted him as she worked on the tree. "Just in time I am almost done." She sighed. "Are there awards for tree trimming? Because this is award worthy." The tree really was beautiful, and Barry would much rather discuss tree trimming competitions than what he came here to say.
Barry sighed and Iris tilted her head with a concerned look.
"Are you ok, Bear?"
Barry opened his mouth to speak but no words would come out.
He pulled Iris into a hug, scared that it might be the last one if this conversation didn't go well. She wrapped her arms around him in return.
"I love you, Iris." Barry breathed into her hair.
Iris wanted to take it a different way than how she thought he meant it.
"Aww I love you too." She replied. Iris was becoming increasingly worried.
Barry nodded once again trying to speak with no words coming out.
"When we were kids I loved you before I even knew what the word love meant." Iris looked at her best friend in shock. Did he really return her feelings? "And then my mom died and I had to go live with the girl I had a crush on." Iris backed away to sit on the couch and Barry followed. "Hey look," Barry put his hands to his face trying to think of the right words to say. "There were so many times I wanted to tell you; junior prom, when I went away to college, when I came back from college, nights that we stayed up talking, all the birthdays, all the Christmases, but I- I never did I just . . . I kept it in." Barry looked up at her periodically, but never held her gaze for long. She looked so sad, and it hurt. "After I lost my mom-and my dad-I was afraid that if you didn't feel the same way, I would lose you too." Iris was hurt, he would never lose her. "That's the irony, I was so scared of losing you that I did." Iris wondered if he could hear her heart breaking at his words. She was right there, listening to him, trying to think of what to do. "I know I've had our whole lives to tell you this, and you're with Eddie now I know that, and I know my timing couldn't be any worse, but I just-" Barry paused. "I couldn't lie to you anymore. I'm sorry." His voice shrunk as he finished speaking. Iris shook her head. She couldn't process all of this. Even though she knew he would take her silence the wrong way, she couldn't bring herself to speak. He sighed sharply and wiped his eyes trying to hold back tears. Barry stood up beginning to leave. "Ok."
Iris continued to cry. All Barry could think was that he should have just left well enough alone. The guilty feeling of lying to her still hadn't left, but he knew why. He had lied to her again in his confession. 'I couldn't lie to you anymore' he said. Might as well finish the job, she's going to hate me anyway.
"One more thing." Barry said as he stood by the open door. Cold air was blowing in his face.
Iris turned toward him. What could he possibly have left to say?
"I'm the Flash." He proved it by running out of the door and through the street before she could really react to either confession. This was all too much for Iris. She just sat on the couch sobbing and trying to think about how to handle everything she had just learned.
She knew she loved Barry, and she was thrilled to learn that he loved her too, but the timing really was horrible. It was the holidays, so she couldn't break up with Eddie right now even if that was what she chose to do. She had feelings for Eddie, but Iris was not going to try to fool herself into thinking they were as strong as her feelings for Barry anymore, not now that she knew her love was not unrequited.
Then there was the other confession. Barry was the Flash? Iris was now sure that he had not been lying on the rooftop when he said he had only attacked Eddie because he was affected by another metahuman. But, what else did it mean? He was a hero, but he had always been her hero, the boy that took care of her no matter what. He had been there for her through her mother's death and her teenage self-esteem issues. Now he was a hero to a lot of people, and his being the Flash definitely explained his weird behavior since he woke up from his coma.
She needed to talk to him. But what could she say?
"Barry?" She called as she walked into his apartment. He had given her a key the day he started renting the apartment.
"In here." Iris walked into the kitchen where he was cooking dinner.
"Can you . . . take a break for a minute?" She took a few small steps closer to where he was. He still hadn't met her eyes.
"Yeah, sure." Barry was nervous, there were too many ways this conversation could go bad.
"It's nearly Christmas." Barry nodded. "So, you understand why I can't break up with Eddie yet?"
"What?" Barry was honestly confused why would she break up with Eddie?
"For a genius, Barry, you can be pretty dense." Iris laughed nervously.
"What do you mean?"
"I love you too, Bear." Barry looked up to meet her eyes for the first time since she came in. "I always thought you would only ever love me as a friend or a sister, so I always tried to push that feeling away, but now . . ." Iris was glad to see his smile. She had wondered if she would see it again. It was even better knowing her love caused it.
"So what are we going to do?"
"After the holidays, when I won't feel guilty breaking up with Eddie, we're going to do a lot of this." Iris kissed her confused friend who soon melted into the kiss.
Happy New Year!