Homework finished! . . . Until I get more. Sorry this is a bit late.
Prompt from Fangirl 2 Fanwoman. Iris is in Barry's apartment unsupervised, for whatever reason, and happens upon his Flash suit, assuming he keeps a spare in his apartment.
I'm changing this to fit the new situation. She's in Barry's room at Joe's house unsupervised, which is a bit easier to explain than his apartment.
If Iris had known Barry's surprise party would be more of a surprise to her than Barry, she didn't think she still would have done it, but at least everything was out in the open now. Except for her secret.
"Hey, Dad. Remember keep Barry out of the house at all costs. I'm already going to have a late start setting up because he's already late getting out of the house." Iris instructed her father from around the corner waiting for Barry to leave. "I'm going to get some coffee. Text me when he gets to work?"
"Don't worry too much about the late start, you can count on an extra few minutes because he'll be late then too." Joe laughed at his own joke, and he could practically hear her roll her eyes on the other end.
"I'll see you tonight. Love you, Dad."
"Love you too, baby girl."
The text saying Barry was at work came when she was almost back from the coffee house. She pulled out her key and opened the door. She was amazed by how clean the house was now that she was gone and Barry was back, and she wondered whether it would be able to stay that way when she moved back in in a few days.
She tried to stop the tears threatening to fall down her face at the thought. Today was Barry's birthday and since he wasn't awake for the last one, she would make this one memorable. Iris had even invited his Starling City friends since he seemed to have more friends there than in Central City.
The bags of decorations and ingredients grew heavy in her hand.
When she had reminded Barry that his birthday was coming up, he had said no gifts, so of course she had disobeyed, but she had seriously relayed that message to Oliver, Felicity, Diggle, Lyla, and Roy. She had gotten him a mug exactly like the one he loved that had been shattered close to Christmas. It wasn't much, but she knew it would make him smile. The mug did have one difference from the original. This one was engraved with 'BARRYxIRIS4EVER' on the bottom.
Iris cleared her mind as best as she could and set the bags full of random things down on the couch. There was one question answered; no, the house would not stay this clean when she moved back in.
There was a knock on the front door, and Iris ran to answer it.
"Hey guys. C'mon in. I'm just getting started." Oliver and Felicity stepped into the house and went toward the living room hesitantly. It was then that she realized neither of them had ever been to her father's house.
Oliver looked into the bag filled with decorations.
"Oh, no, mister. You are horrible at decorating. Go bake something." Felicity smiled playfully as she put the bag of ingredients in his hand and shooed him away.
"You can cook?" Iris asked with surprise evident in her voice.
"Yeah. Raisa taught me growing up, then there were five years where I kind of had to be able to cook. Where's your kitchen?" He spoke of his five years away with more nonchalance than Iris would have expected for a man who had been stranded on a deserted island.
Iris pointed him toward the kitchen. "I'm glad you can cook because I'm not so good. The only thing I make well is eggnog." Felicity laughed with her as they pulled out rolls of streamers. "Hold on, let me see if we have another roll of tape." She began to look around, but didn't find any. "Why don't you get started, and I'll get some tape from Barry's room?" Felicity shrugged in passive agreement. "For some reason he always has tape. Is that a scientist thing?"
"No, I think that's just a Barry thing." Felicity responded.
Iris walked into Barry's neatly organized room, the only thing that kept the room from looking unlived in was that the closet door was open. She walked over to close it, but something red caught her eye. She opened the closet further and pulled out the familiar red cloth of the Flash's suit. Why did Barry have this? Caitlyn had been kidnapped because she worked with the Flash, so obviously he had a team. Was Barry part of that team? No she couldn't deny the obvious evidence anymore. Her best friend, her Barry, was the Flash.
Iris had sat in Barry's room holding the suit for who knows how long before Felicity walked in. She was in too much shock to hide the suit from the other girl.
"Not the best way to find out is it?" Felicity said simply.
"Is there a good way to find out your friend lied to you about who they were?"
"A confession is the nicest way, but finding out on your own hurts a bit more. You have to understand why he did it though. What he does is dangerous, and it's not just dangerous for him. It's dangerous for everyone around him, and he cares far too much about you to let anything happen to you. You know that right?"
"I can take care of myself." Iris said stubbornly.
"Against normal criminals, I don't doubt that, but against bad guys with superpowers, Iris you can't fight them like normal people. Barry understood that when he first found out about his super speed, and that got him started on being the Flash. He could protect people from other metahumans that the police would not be able to catch."
"How do you know all of this? I mean you're not even surprised that he's the Flash." Iris looked over at Felicity suspiciously.
Oliver walked in to find out where the girls had been for the last half hour or so.
"What's going on, oh." He said as he saw "I know you don't want to, but she'll figure it out eventually, and we can get Barry out of trouble." Felicity said looking at Oliver. He merely looked at her with a look that scared Iris, but had absolutely no affect on Felicity. "You know I'm right."
"What's going on?" Iris asked. "What would I fig-Oh. Flash, Arrow, you were in Central the same time. How have I not figured any of this out?" They could see the gears turning in her head as she spoke.
"See, you didn't have to tell her."
"So why'd you want me to?" Oliver squeezed her shoulder lightly. "I'm going to go back downstairs and continue baking."
"We should go get decorating. Barry will be back in about six hours, and I want today to be perfect. With the exception of this." Felicity was worried by how quickly she could out on a genuine looking smile, and they went back to decorating.
A reformed killer is in my house baking birthday treats for my super powered best friend. Iris did not want to get used to thoughts like that running through her head, but now, she guessed, she had no choice.
Six hours passed and the house was full decorated. Iris had had to ask Oliver to unbury a small ladder to tape the streamer and non helium balloons onto the ceiling. She still wasn't sure how he did it as it had been buried in years worth of stuff because they hadn't had to use it since Barry hit his growth spurt. They could just put him on a chair, and he could reach the ceiling just fine. But now everything was finished and they could relax and wait for everyone else to arrive. They had even had time to help Iris move some of her boxes from Eddie's apartment to her old bedroom.
Caitlyn and Cisco got there first and said that Dr. Wells was sorry he couldn't be there. They didn't give an excuse, but no one really expected one. Diggle and Lyla were next with John carrying Digglet as Felicity affectionately called her. The baby was handed to Oliver. Iris couldn't help but think about how weird it was to see a former billionaire playboy/ murderous vigilante holding an infant. Where he usually looked intimidating and scary, he was now gentle and kind of adorable.
Roy was the last to arrive. "Sorry, I had to deal with rowdy customers because the bouncer was sick and . . . then I . . . got lost." He admitted.
The party started about when they expected it to with Barry being only five minutes late instead of ten, and went just like Iris had planned. When all the guests had left she pulled out her present and sat Barry down.
"Oh, c'mon. I said no gifts Iris." He whined.
"I don't care, open it." She was trying to look excited instead of nervous like she really felt. She was not doing a very good job of it and Barry was growing nervous.
Barry did as he was told. He laughed lightly when he saw it and then pulled Iris into his arms.
"Thanks Iris."
"This time you just need to be fast enough to catch it. I bet you can do it in a flash." His eyes widened.
"How do you-" He began.
"I saw your suit. Felicity and 'Arrow' walked me through the reasoning of not telling me, so you won't get that lecture on your birthday."
Barry nodded in shock and the two friends sat in silence together.
"Oh, I almost forgot. Turn the mug over."
Barry looked puzzled, but his smile grew as he read the words on the bottom of the mug.
"Iris, what happened?" Joe called from upstairs.
"Um, not exactly how I wanted to tell you this, but I broke up with Eddie." She called up. Iris refused to look in Barry's eyes afraid of what she might find there.
"What happened?" He asked.
Iris pretended not to know what he was talking about. "I'm assuming Dad just found all my stuff back in my room. I had Oliver and Felicity help me move back in."
Barry looked at her and tilted his head. "Don't best friends share everything?" She looked at him with pursed lips, and he realized just how stupid that sentence was.
"Despite that, I'll tell you. You happened." She leaned over to his ear. "Happy birthday, Bear." She met his lips.