This is going to be really cheesy because I could not for the life of me think of a situation for this, but no one dies this time so no tears for this one.
Prompt form Avatar Linn. The Flash gets himself in a sticky situation that only Iris can get him out of. Sometime during the situation she figures out that the Flash is Barry.
Barry wasn't sure how today had gone so well. It had the potential to be the worst day of his life, but somehow it had turned into the best day ever. There was one insane metahuman to blame.
The day had started out with at a crime scene.
"Hey, Allen." Eddie greeted without looking up. He had been a little . . . off lately, and Barry wasn't sure what was going on with him.
"Hey, Bear, you're actually on time. What's going on?" Joe chuckled. He knew exactly why Barry had managed to be on time today.
Barry glared playfully at him even though he was slightly regretting moving back in with him.
Eddie looked up curiously. "Why are you on time Barry?"
"Joe woke me up with a bucket of water this morning. Very, very cold water." Barry knelt down by the body as Eddie forced a small laugh at his story.
The detectives were quiet for a moment as Barry inspected the body.
"That weird." He said under his breath.
"What weird?" Eddie asked.
"You see these marks?" Barry gestured toward the victim's chest. The marks were near his heart and in the shape of a broken heart.
"Tattoo?" Joe asked kneeling down on her other side of Barry.
"No, it's more like a burn, but that's not what's weird. It looks like these marks burned him from the inside out."
"How is that possible?" Eddie asked looking at the body with a mix of disgust and curiosity.
Barry was in his lab running tests when Joe came in to talk to him, carrying the medical examiner's reports.
"You were right. The body was burned from the inside out, but that's not the weirdest part." Joe handed him the report and he speed read through it twice.
"The heart was missing?" Barry whispered in confusion. His mind was going crazy trying to think of an explanation for this as he paced around the lab. "There was no incision or anything on the body, no way that the heart could have been removed." Barry stopped walking. "Unless . . ."
"Unless what?" Joe asked as Barry left the lab. He followed his genius son all the way back to ME's lab in the basement.
"Could I get a sample of the residue in the burns?" He asked the medical examiner.
"Of course Allen." The ME walked out of his office and walked over to where the boy lie on a cold hard slab. He watched as Barry swabbed the inside of the burns on the victim's chest. Joe was once again surprised by his son's ability to be around and run test on dead things. He was feeling a little sick just watching, and he had been doing this job for almost as long as Barry had been alive.
"Thanks." Barry called to the ME as he left with his sample. Joe was still confused as to why he wanted the sample from the burns on the body.
When they arrived back in Barry's lab, he immediately started a test on the sample before turning to Joe.
"What's going on, Bear?" Joe asked. Barry opened his mouth to explain, but Joe stopped him. "English please, son."
Barry nodded. "I think . . . his heart burned through his chest."
"Is that even possible." This was one time that Joe desperately wanted it to be a metahuman and not a real thing.
"No, not for a regular person, at least." Barry mumbled.
The police department and STAR Labs had made absolutely no progress on this murder. This seemed to be the one metahuman that didn't leave a DNA sample around when they killed.
So he had gone for a run to try and clear his thoughts. He had to find a way to stop this meta.
As he ran past he saw two people in an alley. They seemed to be arguing.
"Flash." Even if he couldn't see the people very well, he knew that voice, and he knew exactly who was in that alley. Iris and someone dangerous.
He ran into the alley.
"Even for you that was fast." Her teasing brought a smile to his face despite the situation. She hadn't been very light hearted the past few days, and he had been growing increasingly worried.
He sent her Barry's signature head tilted sarcastic smile, and she narrowed her eyes at him, wondering.
"Oh hello. Glad you could join us." The woman's voice was sickly sweet, and he now understood the saying 'eyes are the windows to the soul,' and no amount of drapes and shutters could hide the crazy in her soul.
"Who are you?" Barry asked pulling Iris behind him.
"Goodie, I might not have to do much with you." She kept looking at the way his arms held Iris safe behind him.
"Who are you?" Barry tried to growl threateningly, but it just sounded like a slightly lower vibrated pitch than his usual disguised voice. He could feel Iris hang her head trying not to laugh at him.
"Kayla Barns. Expert matchmaker." She gave him a little curtsy. "I can lead you to your one true love."
She's right behind me, hethought.
Barns stepped closer to him, and he scooted back bringing Iris farther away from the madwoman.
She continued to come closer arm outstretched.
"One touch and I can lead you to the person who will complete you. If they kiss you no harm done, but if you can't get to them in time, well, you no longer have to worry about love anymore." She shrugged, and Barry struggled to figure out what she meant.
It hit him at the same time she did. Kayla hit his chest and it burned. She had done this to the man they had found that morning. He hadn't found love in time, so he didn't have to search anymore because his heart burned its way out of his chest.
"I hope your love lives in Central. All she has to do is kiss you, or he, I don't judge." She walked away, but Barry ran after her and tackled her. She didn't put up much of a fight, so it took barely two seconds for him to tie her up.
Iris looked at the ground. "Time to find love, huh?"
He looked at her. Iris, the only girl he had ever loved, the only girl he ever would love. The girl who was seriously dating another man and would not kiss him. So why was she looking down?
A sharp intake of breath, and Barry fell to the ground. The metahuman's power was affecting him faster than others.
"I-I can't."
"Can't?" Iris asked. Is it possible . . .
"I know who I love and well . . . It's not going to happen." He didn't realize how weak he was. Barry was no longer able to vibrate his voice. "She's dating someone else."
Iris knelt beside him. Fear growing in her chest. He loved her. She loved him, but what if it wasn't true love? He would die, and she would lose her best friend, forever. That couldn't happen, she at least had to try. Iris couldn't let Barry die without doing everything she could to prevent it.
Love. That was all she needed, and she loved him with every fiber of her being.
"No she's not, Bear." Iris said.
"What?" Barry wasn't sure what he was more surprised by; Iris and Eddie had broken up, Iris knew he was the Flash, or Iris loved him at least enough to try to heal him with 'true love's kiss.'
Barry writhed in pain, and Iris knew it was now or never. She leaned down to kiss him, and wondered just how on Earth she had known him for as long as she had and not kissed him. When she pulled away, Barry appeared to be fine, no more heartburn.
"Sooooo, you want to grab a bite to eat?" Barry asked. "I'll put on regular street clothes first?"
"Yeah, it's a date."