Prompt from Reveal Girl 666. After Barry, as the Flash, visits Iris in the hospital while getting her coffee in episode 1x07 she comes back in and sees Barry smirking at her, and she confronts him about it. She then starts asking him a bunch of questions until she throws him off with a question only the Flash would know, and he confesses that he is the Flash.
Iris left the hospital room fully intending on returning with coffee. Heaven knows she could use it after a day like today. She definitely wasn't expecting a visit from her personal super hero who had decided to take a day off on the worst possible day.
She paid for her coffee then felt the familiar rush of air signaling the Flash's approach.
"Oh, now you show up." She rolled her eyes and tilted her head disapprovingly, but she was glad to see him. Barry's theorizing about the possibility of the Flash losing his powers coupled with him not showing up to rescue everyone from the Clock King had her worried.
"I'm sorry I wasn't there for you tonight." Iris could hear the guilt and regret in his disguised voice. "It couldn't be helped." She found it so easy to trust and believe him, almost like she had known him forever rather than just having been talking to him without so much as a clue to who he really was.
"It's okay," She shrugged trying to ease his guilt while trying to hide how happy it made her that he worried about her safety, seemingly more than other people's. Iris felt her own guilt develop at that thought. She wasn't any better than anyone else. "Girl's got to be her own hero every once in a while." Her feet moved her closer to him without being prompted by her mind, she was just naturally drawn to him as if she was meant to be with him. She tried to squelch the traitorous thoughts. She loved Barr-no, Eddie.
Get your head straight. She criticized herself.
"I promise, I'll never be late again." His head dropped in an admission of guilt. Whether that was the guilt of not being there tonight or not believing that he would be able to be on time, she wasn't sure.
"My best friend is always saying that, and he is always late." Iris shook her head making sure he knew that she knew he couldn't make that promise. Barry tried to hide his laughter despite the seriousness of the conversation.
He looked up and met her eye. "You're worth being on time for." Barry barely had a chance to see her stunned smile as he ran to change and beat her back to the hospital room.
Iris slowly walked back to her boyfriend's hospital room where her father and best friend sat at her boyfriend's bedside.
"Honey, you alright?" Her father questioned giving her a puzzled look.
"Yeah, why?" Iris slid her hands into her back pockets trying to hide her excited shake. Who wouldn't be excited? The Flash had just given her one of the best complements she had ever received. Maybe he likes me back? She wondered before chastising herself. She could not even consider a relationship with someone whose name she didn't even know, especially as she stood in the doorway of her boyfriend's hospital room.
"You forgot your coffee." Her father stated simply, almost as if he knew what had really happened. She looked down at her empty hands hoping the shake was not noticeable. Iris rubbed her hands together nervously.
Think fast, think fast, believable excuse. "Oh, uh . . ." Iris trailed off, but Barry's happy smirk did not go unnoticed by her. That look was not just due to their mutual understanding of you another, there was something else going on. He knew something about her relationship with the Flash, but he had tried to convince her the Flash wasn't real.
He had looked down and away from her to avoid eye contact, and he had smirked, proudly even.
Could there really be something that Barry had been able to keep a secret form her? Iris could usually read her Bear not only like an open book, but an open book written in a 172 point font. He had not been able to keep anything from her their entire lives. At least that's what she had thought. The boy would not be getting away from this one easily.
Eddie was finally out of the hospital a few days later. Barry and Iris were sitting at a table in Jitters on her day off just talking like they used to for the first time since he had been struck by lightning.
"So, do you know the Flash, Barry?" Iris asked. Barry choked on his sip of coffee, and her major suspicion was confirmed.
"What?" He exclaimed.
"Don't bother with that one. Your reaction was enough of an answer." Iris couldn't help but laugh at Barry's futile attempts to convince her otherwise.
"What gave it away?" He asked upon giving up.
"The Flash spoke to me in the hospital, and when I came back completely flustered, you looked like you knew exactly what had gone on. What he had said to me." Iris smiled at the memory.
"You're worth being on time for." Barry said looking into the gorgeous brown eyes that he had fallen for so many years ago. It was time for her to know the truth. He couldn't keep his secrets from her any longer. Lying to her hurt a bit too much.
"Oh, oh!" Iris exclaimed as realization finally struck her. There was only one way that he would have known exactly what had happened between her and the Flash that quickly without her boyfriend or father noticing.
"Yeah, Iris, I'm the Flash." Barry admitted. He grabbed her hand and vibrated it to let her know for sure that she was right, and he wasn't just messing with her.
"Do you like me, Bear?" Her face scrunched up into her usual 'I don't really know what answer I want to get expression,' and Barry found himself unable to hold this secret in either.
"I have loved you ever since we were little. You're my best friend, and I want you to be more, but I understand that you're with Eddie, and-"
"Shut up, Bear." Her lips crashed onto his.
Her lifetime hero of a best friend was also her personal superhero, and he returned her feelings. Nothing could go wrong.