Prompt from Chooch 77. Follow up to chapter 36 with Iris being in the stadium for some reason when Barry faces down the Reverse Flash.
Iris sat in an empty stadium. Her dad used to bring her and Barry here, and besides Barry's arms, this was the place she felt most comfortable. She had so many fond memories of this place. The first fall that Barry was staying with them, and he and Joe had been fighting, but Iris had begged Barry to stop fighting for one day when Joe told them they were going to go to game. He had been true to his word. Joe and Barry didn't fight that day, or even that week. She knew there had been squabbles even recently, but that game day had been a tipping point in what she called the WestAllen family.
Now here she was. She was dating her best friend. Her best friend was a masked superhero. Iris's ex-boyfriend was hunting that best friend/ boyfriend/ masked superhero. She couldn't think of a time in her life where everything had been so complicated, but she also couldn't think of a time where she had been so happy. Iris was in the best relationship she'd ever had, given she'd only ever been in two, but this was with a man she had fallen in love with twice. A man who had loved her his whole life. What more could a girl ask for?
Iris smiled until she saw two blurs blow through the stadium. At first she was confused thinking; why are there two of them? But then she was struck to the deepest part of her heart with fear. The yellow and red blurs were fighting and it looked exactly like what Barry had described when he was eleven.
Barry. How was Barry taking this? Obviously not very well, she thought when they slowed. Barry was fighting the man in yellow alone and without his suit or mask.
"Not fast enough, Flash." The man in yellow taunted with his voice vibrated, and it sounded almost familiar to Iris, but she just couldn't place it. Just when she thought she was getting good at picking out disguised voices. (She may or may not have asked Barry to make his voice different frequencies to test how well she could pick out his real voice.)
Yellow took off running through the seats with Barry farther behind than he hoped, but close enough to continue fighting as they ran. Iris didn't know what to do, but she was glued in place watching the fight so she stayed in place. The Reverse Flash didn't notice her, but she had a feeling that Barry had.
Barry and Yellow made their way back down to the field, and he threw Barry to the ground again. He grunted as the man in yellow kicked him, ran off, and repeated several times. Iris stood to run to Barry. She could not just sit back and watch the most important man in her life be beaten mercilessly, especially by the man who killed his mother.
"Who are you?" Barry shouted at the other man.
"You know who I am, Barry." The yellow suited man started beating him again, and Barry was once again thrown down to the ground.
"I don't know who you are!" Barry half stood half leaned on the ground. Iris could see his strength failing him, and she was incapable of moving due to her worry for her friend's wellbeing.
"But you do, Barry. We've been at this a long time, you and I, but I'm always one step ahead." The retched man continued to disguise his voice. Iris was aching to know whose butt she needed to kick, no decimate.
Barry threw a punch but the Reverse Flash dodged it easily, and returned it with his own before running in the other direction. He grabbed Barry by his shirt and threw him to the ground easily, this time holding him down when he came back around to Barry.
"It is your destiny to lose to me, Flash. Just as it was your mother's destiny to die that night." The man in yellow who had haunted Barry all his life ran off into the night before Barry could even rise to his feet.
Iris felt something for the first time in her life, blood lust. She wanted to see her boyfriend's tormentor hurt, and she wanted to be the one to do it. No one, no one messed with her Barry and got away with it.
Her legs were finally able to move, and she immediately rushed to where Barry lie bleeding on the ground. She fell to her knees at his side where she saw his wounds already starting to close.
"Iris?" He checked her over looking for injuries the man in yellow didn't have a chance to inflict. His hand rested on her face, cupping her cheek, when he had assured himself that she was okay.
She gave a sigh of relief and adoration. This was her ever selfless Barry. He had just been beaten by his mother's killer, and yet his first instinct was to make sure Iris was unhurt.
"Barry, he didn't even come near me." She tilted her head and fake scolded him.
"But he's threatened your life before." Barry mumbled under his breath. Iris didn't have a clue as to what he was talking about but knew better than to ask. He would tell her if she needed to know, and he would always protect her.
"I need you to promise me something, and you're not going to like it."
Barry looked her directly in the eyes. "I love you. If it's you asking I'll do it."
The smile on her face and the one in her heart grew painfully large at his words and the sincerity in his voice.
"I know I can't ask you to drop this chase. That's not fair to you, you mother or your father, but I need you to promise me that you will not go after him alone, especially unarmed." Iris pleaded with him.
He nodded and puller her head down to his level. The promise he made to her that night was sealed with a sweet and tender kiss.