Sorry guys this is the busiest I've ever been, and it's not getting any slower.
Prompt from Silver Wolf. Barry talks to Iris using the Flash voice accidentally.
Barry woke up with a sore throat. It used to be a common occurrence, but it hadn't happened since he became the Flash. Maybe he'd ask Caitlyn about it, but then she'd freak out because his regenerate healing shouldn't have allowed him to wake up with a sore throat. She would pull out the needles that still managed to freak him out.
He looked over at his clock and sighed. He should have been at the station three minutes ago. Barry smiled and sped up, doing all of his morning ritual in only a few seconds. Then he ran to the precinct and was only seven minutes late. He went straight up to his office and got to work.
Barry got to work on some paperwork and reports for an upcoming trial. The investigation had been months ago, so Barry had to dig through all of his findings. He could have done it in seconds, but Joe had told him to stop doing that so often, and he was right, it was suspicious how he did everything so fast.
It was hours before anyone walked into his office, but eventually Iris came in and tried to talk to him. Talking was the last thing he wanted to do, he had been drowning himself with all the water he'd been drinking, and his throat was still the worst it had ever been.
"Barry? Are you ok?" Iris asked when she walked in and saw him down an entire water bottle. Her voice sounded broken, and Barry realized today was probably the worst day for his to have a sore throat.
He nodded to her and pointed to her with a look saying, Are you okay?
She shook her head, and her eyes began to water. He stood and opened his arms, and she walked into his embrace. Barry felt his shoulder grow wetter and wetter as the moments passed by. When she calmed enough to leave his arms he gave her a look saying, Who do I need to attempt to beat up?
"No one, Bear." Barry was once again struck by how well Iris knew him. "Eddie and I broke up. It was a mutual agreement, and I know it was for the best, but that doesn't really stop it from hurting. I understand that you have a sore throat and talking has always made it worse, but I really need you to say something. I need to hear your voice." Iris's eyes pleaded, and Barry had never been able to say no to her, especially when she was on pain. Looking back he should have made an exception, but he was also relieved that he didn't.
"I'm so sorry, Iris." Barry realized the reason for his sore throat the moment the words left his mouth. His vocal chords had been running at super speed for who knows how long, and they didn't stop when he spoke to Iris. His vocal disguise had turned against him.
"You-you're the Flash." Iris seemed to stop breathing. "Not exactly what I was expecting to happen when we talked. Not that I really knew what to expect. All I actually knew was that it was going to be a pretty weird conversation, which, I guess, will still be the case." Iris rambled on at a speed to rival his own.
"Iris," His voice was still vibrated, and he couldn't seem to make it stop.
"Can you stop doing that? I really need to hear your real voice right now." Iris asked taking deep breaths to calm down from her most recent shock.
"Believe me, I'm trying. I usually have to focus to make my voice sound like this. Now . . ." He trailed off. He put his hand to his throat wishfully thinking it would help slow his vocal chords.
"Why didn't you tell me, Bear? I thought you were done keeping secrets from me." Her eyes were still glistening with unshed tears.
"Iris, you have been kidnapped, threatened, and targeted just for writing a blog about me. I didn't want to think about what would happen to you if you knew any more than you already did. I was terrified that someone would get to you and hurt you before I could stop them. You know how I feel about you. You know I could never put you in danger. I know that you can take care of yourself against regular people, but most of the time I don't even know how to fight the metahumans I come up against. I need you to be safe, Iris." By the end of his speech he was finally able to stop vibrating his voice and there were tears in his eyes now as well.
"Bear . . ." Iris didn't know what to say. She understood and loved how protective he was, but she didn't have to be happy about being kept in the dark.
They settled in relatively comfortable silence.
"So what happened with you and Eddie? I thought everything was going well." Barry was desperately hoping they could move past the whole Flash thing for a little while.
"It was for the most part, but we fought over stupid little things like dinner and cleaning up, and . . . well we both eventually came to terms with the fact I don't really love Eddie. I-I love you, Barry. It just took me a while to figure it out."
Barry moved closer to her until they were only inches apart. She closed the remaining gap between them, and their lips met for the first and definitely not the last time.
They pulled away breathless.
"So you want to go to a movie tomorrow, or something?" Barry asked awkwardly.
"Of course silly." Iris laughed, and Barry soon joined in. "I'll see you at home tonight though. By the way, you're going to need to help me move back in." She hit his stomach and for the first time noticed that it was hard.
"Wow, going from living with one boyfriend to living with the next. Little fast." Barry teased.
"Shut up." She smiled her eyes long dried.