I know it's been a while! Sorry, guys! I hope you guys love awkward situations as much as I do because this chapter has plenty of them ;)
…..
Verdant
"Isn't Barry coming?" E2 Barry asked as they were getting into their cars.
"It's a three hour drive," Iris said, "He's had a long day and he's exhausted, so he's going to rest for a while and then meet us there. He can make the trip in about ten minutes anyways."
"Alright then," E2 Barry said with a shrug.
E2 Barry had insisted on driving. He said it was something he really missed doing since they came to this earth, so Iris didn't protest as she handed over her car keys and climbed into the back, allowing the earth 2 couple to occupy the front.
She couldn't help but notice it when E2 Barry reached over while he was driving to grab his wife's hand. Iris stared at their two hands, conjoined on the center counsel in front of her, thinking about what it would be like to hold her Barry's hand like that. She had held his hand before of course, plenty of times, but now things were different.
They didn't ever really hold hands anymore. In fact, they hardly ever touched at all now. They had always been very touchy feely with each other when they were best friends, but everything changed between them when Barry had confessed his feelings for her. Now they didn't touch. They didn't hug each other like they used to, didn't lean against each other when they were cuddled up watching a movie.
Really, now that she thought about it, they didn't really have movie nights anymore either. They didn't hang out like they used to do when they were simply best friends and not…whatever they were now. Iris missed it. She missed how things used to be, and she wanted desperately for things to go back to normal. She wanted to be close with Barry again. He was her best friend in the world, and she wanted so bad to feel that closeness with him again.
But her double was right. There was no going back, only moving forward. Iris thought about what it would be like to go back to the way things were before, and she came to the realization that she didn't want things to be the way they used to be. She wanted them to be better. She wanted to be close to Barry again, but close in an entirely different way. She wanted what E2 Barry and Iris had. She wanted that with Barry.
When they finally reached Star City, Iris was grateful to get out and stretch her legs. It had been a long drive, and it was somewhat awkward in the vehicle with the earth 2 couple. She was comfortable with them both individually, but it was a bit awkward being alone with the two of them together. She should have driven with the others.
Cisco, Caitlin and Jesse all climbed out of the vehicle that they had parked next to theirs, and the six of them all went inside to check into the hotel. Felicity had insisted that they stay at the mansion for the night, but they had turned her down, not wanting to intrude with their last minute plans to go to Star City.
Unfortunately, there had only been two double-bed rooms available at the hotel, which would work just fine for them. It just meant that someone would have to stay in a room alone with E2 Barry and Iris, which could get a bit weird. Jesse and Caitlin would be sharing a bed in one room with Cisco taking the other bed, and Iris ended up rooming with the earth 2 couple in the room next to them since she was probably the most comfortable out of all them to be in that situation. Really, it wouldn't be that weird, right? They were only going to be using the hotel rooms to crash anyways, so it really wasn't a big deal.
Barry was lucky. He got to run home for the night and didn't have to stay at the hotel with them. Unfortunately, he wouldn't be able to run the rest of them home with him. He could run people places, sure, but he had superspeed, not superstrength, and carrying that many people in ten minute trips would take over an hour, and Barry would probably be exhausted by the end of it. Hence the hotel.
They left the hotel pretty quickly after getting settled. Cisco insisted that, being only 7:30, it was way too early to go out yet, so they decided to go for a late dinner. Barry met them all at the restaurant, as did Felicity and Oliver, whom Felicity had managed to drag out for the night.
"Wow, this is weird," Felicity said when they met the others just outside of the restaurant, "I feel like I'm seeing double."
The two Barry's and two Iris's all laughed.
"We're still getting used to it ourselves," Iris said.
Felicity and Oliver shook hands with E2 Barry and Iris, as well as Jesse, whom they also hadn't met yet.
"I can't believe this earth has a Green Arrow too," Jesse said thoughtfully after shaking Oliver's hand.
Oliver glared at Barry, who put his hands up defensively.
"Don't look at me," he said, "I didn't tell her."
"Right, because you would never tell anyone my identity," Oliver said sarcastically.
"Name one person who I've told," Barry said.
"Kendra Saunders," Oliver replied immediately.
"Okay, well that's one," Barry said with a small laugh, "But that was because of an emergency. We needed your help."
Oliver sighed, but then Jesse cut in before he could retort.
"Barry didn't have to tell me anything," she said, "It was easy enough to figure out. Everyone knows the Green Arrow's identity on my earth, and when I read that you were the one who survived the Queen's Gambit on this earth instead of your—"
"Jesse," Barry said suddenly, cutting her off, "I think we should probably go inside and get a table. We don't want to stay too late."
Jesse gave him a confused look but nodded. Oliver looked at him suspiciously, but Barry ignored it as they went inside. He tried to hide his relief that Jesse hadn't let it slip that Oliver's father was the Green Arrow on her earth. Wells had warned him that talking about life in other dimensions could mess with people's heads, and he didn't think letting Oliver know that his father survived on earth 2 instead of him would be the best idea. Oliver could probably handle the information just fine, but why burden him with it at all?
They were all seated fairly quickly thanks to Oliver, and they had one of the nicer, more secluded tables of the restaurant.
"Did you get some sleep, Barry?" Iris asked as they were all sitting down at the long table that had been set for their group.
"Definitely," Barry said with a smile as he sat down across from her, "I feel much better now. Ready for tonight."
"That's my man!" Cisco said, slapping Barry on the back before moving around the table to take his seat, "We're going to turn up tonight!"
The two Barry's ended up sitting next to each other across from the two Iris's, and the wait staff kept giving the two pairs funny looks.
"I've never seen two sets of twins double dating each other before," the waitress laughed as she was setting their salad plates in front of them. The four of them all looked around at each other for a moment before they all started to laugh.
"I wonder where my doppelganger is on this earth," Jesse said thoughtfully once the waitress had walked away.
Cisco coughed.
"I may have found her a few weeks ago," he said quietly.
"What?!" Jesse said, "And you didn't tell me?!"
"You probably don't want to know," Cisco said evasively.
"Why?" Jesse asked, "Where is she? What's she like?"
"She's a stripper," Cisco blurted, not looking Jesse in the eye.
Jesse looked shocked. She definitely had not been expecting that answer. There was an awkward silence around the table for a moment before, suddenly, Barry started to laugh.
"And how would you know that, Cisco?" he asked him with a smirk on his face, "What were you doing in a strip club?"
"I wasn't in a strip club!" Cisco said indignantly, "I found her through facial recognition software!"
"Right," Barry said, enjoying giving Cisco shit, "Okay."
"Shut up, Barry," Cisco said, a smile breaking out on his own face now.
Barry laughed again, and Iris stared at him as the laughter escaped his lips. It had been a while since she had heard Barry laugh like this. He had been so stressed lately with work and with Zoom on top of all the normal Flash stuff. It was good to see his smile and hear his laughter. Barry's laugh was one of her favorite sounds in the world.
Thankfully, it wasn't long before their food came out. The waitress gave Barry a funny look as she set his two orders of food in front of him. Normally Barry didn't order extra food when they went out to eat in public, but he needed the extra calories after the long run from Central City.
Halfway through dinner, Iris noticed Barry jump in his chair slightly. He looked at her questioningly, a funny look on his face, before looking back down at his food, his cheeks going red. Iris was baffled. A moment later, Barry jumped again, though not as noticeably this time, but instead of looking at Iris this time, he looked over at her double, his face bright red with a confused expression on it, before looking down again.
Iris turned her head and looked at her double with curiosity. E2 Iris had a small smile on her face as she stared intensely at her husband, who was sitting next to Barry. Iris didn't really know what to make of it. A few minutes later, Barry shifted slightly in his chair again, his facing turning redder by the minute. E2 Iris was still staring at her husband, but she wasn't smiling anymore. She had a slightly frustrated look on her face as she was staring a hole through him. E2 Barry seemed completely oblivious of course, eating his food while talking to Cisco about some improvements he could make to his facial recognition software program for him.
"Umm, I-Iris?" Barry stuttered suddenly. Iris thought he was talking to her, but when she looked at him, he was looking at E2 Iris.
"That's…that's my leg," he said, his ears going red now to match his face.
"Oh!" E2 Iris said, shifting awkwardly in her chair, "My bad. Sorry, Barry."
Barry muttered that it was fine as E2 Barry gave his wife questioning look. Iris had to fight back the urge to laugh at the situation. It really wasn't funny. But hey, what happened with her and E2 Barry in the kitchen that one night was much worse than having someone accidentally play a little footsie with you under the table. Wow, this E2 couple really needed to be more careful about keeping their hands to themselves.
After dinner the group decided to head over to Verdant which was conveniently within walking distance. By the time they got there it was after nine and people were just starting to really filter into the place. Thanks to Oliver, they were able to surpass the line of people and enter the club right away.
It was dark and very loud inside, and most of them felt a twinge of excitement at the prospect that the night was really only just starting out.
"Right, well, you guys have fun," Oliver said stiffly, "Try to stay out of trouble."
He started heading towards the door that led downstairs, but his path was suddenly blocked by Barry.
"Oh no," Barry said loudly to him over the music, "You're not going to go sulk in your Arrow cave all night. You're going to stay up here with us and have some fun for once."
"I don't sulk, Barry," Oliver said, with an exasperated sigh. But when Felicity glared him down, he knew it was probably pointless to argue. That didn't stop him though.
"But my patrol…" he said.
"Dig's got it covered," Felicity said firmly, "Tonight's about us letting loose and having fun."
"Who knows, Oliver," Barry said, slapping him on the back, "We might actually even get you to smile for once."
"Ha ha," Oliver said flatly.
Then he sighed and rubbed his eyes.
"Fine," he said, "I need a drink then."
Barry grinned at him as he led the way over to the bar, the rest of the group close behind them.
"I'll have a Tanqueray Tom Collins with a twist," Barry said to the bartender, "And she'll have a grapefruit cosmo."
Iris beamed at him. Barry knew her all too well.
"It's too bad I won't be able to feel this," Barry said, sipping his drink.
"Oh! That reminds me!" Caitlin said suddenly, setting her drink down so she could dig through her purse, "I have batch number four for you, Barry."
"Are you sure about this one?" Barry asked skeptically, "The first one didn't last. The second one didn't get me drunk, just knocked me on my ass for the night. And the third one had me puking into the toilet all the way into the next day."
"I'm convinced it's right this time," Caitlin assured him excitedly, handing him a vial.
"That's what you said last time," Barry said, frowning at the clear substance when he held it up to look at it.
"This time I know I'm right though," Caitlin insisted, "I made this one super difficult to metabolize so that the effects last longer for you. A normal person would probably die from alcohol poisoning or liver toxicity if they had even a sip, but for you it should be just like normal alcohol, maybe only slightly stronger."
Barry opened the vial and sniffed it, making a face at the strong smell as his eyes started to water.
"Should I mix it in something?" he asked, gesturing towards his drink, "Or just slam it?"
"Dude, I'd slam it," Cisco said, looking at the small vial in Barry's hand with a revolted look on his face, "Why drag it out longer? That's probably why you puked last time. Because you mixed it in something."
"You're probably right," Barry said.
He looked at the vial with a grimace. With everyone else watching him in anticipation, Barry took a deep breath and then threw the vial back in one go. His face twisted up in disgust as the fluid slid down his throat, protesting the entire way down. Barry coughed a few times after he had swallowed it.
"That's disgusting," he groaned, taking a sip of his drink in an attempt to wash it down. A Tom Collins probably wasn't the best chaser, but Caitlin's concoction made his mixed drink taste like juice.
"Do you feel anything?" Iris asked him, smiling in amusement.
"Sort of," Barry said, "I feel a bit tingly."
Caitlin clapped her hands.
"It's working," she said happily, "I made it so that it would be absorbed and distributed in your body at a slower rate too. That way it doesn't hit you all at once like batch number two did."
Barry laughed. Yeah, he was definitely starting to feel it more now, and it was great. He hadn't been drunk in over two years. He had almost forgotten what alcohol feels like.
"Here," Caitlin said, pressing three more vials into Barry's hands, "Just be careful about how much of them you drink. We don't know how they affect you yet, so they might sneak up on you. Also, regular alcohol might affect you too now that your metabolism is impaired, so don't drink too much of that either.
"Yeah, yeah," Barry said, laughing as he pocketed the vials and took another sip of his drink. He hadn't been drunk in two years! He was going to enjoy this. He deserved it.
Cisco quickly made his way to the dance floor, dragging Caitlin and a reluctant Jesse along with him this time. Barry watched them go out to the dance floor and then looked over at Iris to see that she was taking a seat at the bar.
"Oh, no," he said to her, grabbing her hand (sending a wave of electricity up her arm in the process) and gently pulling her from her seat, "We are not going to sit here all night and watch Cisco's crazy dance moves again. We're going to dance. We're all going to dance."
Iris blinked at him.
"Barry, you hate dancing," she said, "You have two left feet."
"It's true," Felicity said, "He does. He was stepping on my feet constantly when we danced at the Queen's party two years ago."
"Yeah, but that was before the lightning," Barry said with a grin, "I'm much more coordinated now."
"Well, I'm all for it," E2 Iris said with a laugh, "Come on, babe."
E2 Barry shook his head.
"I don't think so," he said, laughing lightly, "I'll just watch from here."
His wife sighed at him.
"You never want to dance with me," she pouted.
"I know how you feel," Felicity said understandingly to E2 Iris, "Oliver never wants to dance with me either."
"When have you ever asked me to?" Oliver asked defensively.
"That's true," Felicity admitted fairly, "I've never really asked you to. But only because I knew you wouldn't want to."
"Fair enough, I guess," Oliver said.
"Come on, Oliver," Barry said, "Let's see that party boy side of you we've all read so much about."
Oliver shook his head.
"I'm good here," he said stubbornly.
E2 Iris suddenly went up to Barry and whispered something in his ear, a move that hadn't gone unnoticed by the rest of them. Iris felt a slight twinge of irritation at the sight of it, especially when Barry's face then twisted into a wide smile. Iris didn't know why, but it bothered her for some reason. She had no reason to feel jealous of herself. Especially when her other self was happily married to a Barry of her own, a Barry who was also looking at the two of them with a less-than-pleased look on his face.
Maybe what bothered Iris the most was the fact that Barry and E2 Iris seemed to talk almost just as much as she and Barry did, if not more. A friendship had definitely formed there, and Iris had definitely noticed the way E2 Iris acted with Barry, the way she coddled him similar to how she was with her husband, just not as touchy feely and romantic about it. Maybe Iris only found it odd because she had only really bonded with her earth 2 self and not as much with Barry's doppelganger. Barry had gotten to know both his doppelganger and Iris's, but Iris had a hard time connecting with E2 Barry. He could hardly look her in the eye ever since that night in the kitchen when he had mistaken her for his wife.
"Good idea," Barry said to E2 Iris, still grinning. He then walked over to the bar to talk to the bartender, placing a twenty on the bar.
Iris looked suspiciously at her double, wondering what she had said to Barry. A moment later Barry returned with a tray full of shots for all of them.
"What is this?" Iris asked him as he eagerly handed her a shot glass.
"Fireball," he answered with a smile, picking up his own once everyone else had theirs. There were still five more shots left on the tray.
Iris grinned at him. He knew she loved fireball shots, and she would bet anything that the second round he bought them would be salted caramel nut roll, her other favorite.
They all held up their shot glasses in a small toast before all tipping them back at the same time. Barry eagerly handed out the second round of shots to everyone once they had set down their glasses, and he quickly pulled out one of the vials Caitlin had given him to fill his empty shot glass, using about half of the vial's contents to fill it.
Iris smiled at him in amusement as they toasted their second round. This was a side to Barry she never really got to see. They both had gone to different colleges. She knew he used to go out with his friends in college, but she had never really gone out with them. She hadn't seen Barry drunk in years, and tonight seemed as good a night as any to break Barry's sober streak.
Iris laughed at the expression on Barry's face as he choked down his repulsive shot. He wasn't the only one with a disgusted look on his face.
"Ugh," E2 Barry said, wrinkling his nose, "What was that second one? It tastes like caramel. I hate caramel."
"Salted caramel nut roll," Iris answered him, shooting Barry a knowing smile as she licked the sweet taste of the shot off the corner of her upper lip.
She noticed Barry's smile falter slightly as his eyes flitted down to her mouth, staring at the movement. She blushed and looked away, pretending she hadn't noticed his gaze.
"Alright!" E2 Iris yelled excitedly, "Let's dance!"
She giggled as she grabbed her husband's arm and pulled him towards the dance floor. Felicity pushed a reluctant Oliver through the crowd, leaving Iris and Barry standing by the bar. Iris looked back to Barry just in time to see him sway slightly, bracing one hand against a free bar stool.
"You okay?" she asked him, smiling.
"I'm great," he said, laughing at himself, "Just getting used to it. It's been a while. Maybe I won't be as coordinated a dancer as I thought."
She laughed along with him as he then grabbed her hand and led her towards the dance floor. His height made it somewhat easier for him to navigate his way through the crowds of people around them, pulling Iris along with him. It was a good thing she had him to lead her because Iris was hardly paying attention to the crowd of people they were navigating through.
All Iris could focus on was Barry's hand in hers. She had just been wondering earlier how it would feel to hold Barry's hand, and here she was with his fingers wrapped tightly around hers as he guided her through the crowd. She thought she could almost feel a strange, pulsing sensation coming from his hand in hers, like a mysterious hum of energy that seemed to radiate from him at all times. She assumed she was probably just subconsciously sensing the speed force in his system, but Iris didn't really know for sure. Maybe it was all just in her head.
They found the others fairly quickly on the dance floor. Naturally, Cisco was already dancing full swing without a care in the world. Even Caitlin and Jesse had already loosened up and were dancing, having been dragged out to the dance floor by Cisco ten minutes ago.
Iris was shocked when Barry joined in right away. He had always detested dancing, yet here he was letting loose and having fun on the dance floor along with everyone else, zero fucks given. And the weirdest thing was, Barry was actually good. Even when he was a little drunk, no one could deny, Barry could dance. Iris couldn't wrap her head around it.
Who was this guy, and what had he done with the adorably awkward and fumbling Barry Allen she knew?
The lightning had given Barry more than just speed and new-found coordination. It had given him something else, and Iris finally realized what that was. Confidence.
"Come on, Iris," Barry yelled over the music, grinning as he grabbed her hand and pulled her closer to the group.
She hadn't even realized that she had been just standing there, watching Barry dance. She soon found that the only thing better than watching Barry dance was dancing with him. It felt good. Like all the awkwardness and things that were left unsaid between them disappeared. There was nothing complicated about it. Here, on the dance floor with loud music blaring while slightly tipsy under the influence of alcohol, everything seemed so simple. He was simply Barry, and she was Iris, and that's all that mattered.
Iris didn't focus on the rest of it. She hardly even paid mind to the fact that the others were all still there, dancing near them. All she saw was Barry, and for a moment, the two of them locked eyes with each other as they were dancing, and it seemed like everyone else in the nightclub had disappeared.
"Sorry," Barry muttered suddenly, taking his hand off Iris's hip.
Iris hadn't even noticed him put it there at first, and apparently, neither had he. Iris smiled at him and took his hand, guiding it towards her to place it back on her hip. Barry gave her a confused look at first, like he was trying to read her and understand her actions, but she simply smiled at him and then he smiled back.
She didn't see much hesitation from Barry after that.
They spent the better part of the evening alternating between drinking and dancing with each other.
Iris found that the more she drank, the closer she seemed to want to be to Barry. As they danced, they seemed to constantly get closer and closer to each other, and there were a few times throughout the night when their body's were even pressed together. Iris knew this was a bad idea. She knew she was just teasing Barry at this point, that it was wrong for her to align her hips with his like this as they danced, wrong to run her hands up and down his back and his chest, wrong to "accidently" brush her ass up against him when her back was turned to him.
She knew that it would just mess with his head and that it probably wasn't a good idea. They shouldn't be doing this. They shouldn't be dancing this way. Tomorrow morning, when the sun comes up and their hangovers set in, she knows she's going to regret it. She's going to regret toying with Barry's emotions this way. Or worse, what if he feels guilty for toying with hers? What if he's not really into this, and this is all just the alcohol? What if he's not even interested in her anymore?
Iris pushed away all of those negative thoughts though. Those questions can wait to be addressed tomorrow. Right now, all Iris can focus on is her and Barry. Because even if it's wrong, it feels right. It feels good.
"Uh oh," Barry said suddenly later on in the evening. He had stopped dancing and was looking at Jesse. Iris looked over too. Jesse had an unpleasant look on her face, and she was clutching her stomach, looking like she was going to—
Barry suddenly disappeared into thin air, taking Jesse along with him. Iris and the others quickly made their way over to the bathrooms to find Barry standing outside the door to the ladies room.
"Can someone go in there with her?" he asked awkwardly, "I was going to run her outside, but I was too dizzy."
"I've got her," E2 Iris said, going into the ladies room.
Iris surveyed Barry worriedly.
"Are you alright?" she asked.
Barry looked a little green all of a sudden.
"Yeah," he breathed, "Just turns out that drinking and superspeed don't really mix well."
He grinned suddenly.
"We should see how fast I can run when I'm drunk," he said excitedly, "Alcohol is a depressant, so we should see how it affects my speed."
"Um, no we shouldn't," Iris said, laughing at him for suggesting what was probably one of the worst ideas she had ever heard.
She couldn't quite tell before, but she could now. Barry was drunk.
Not that she was much better herself. The room seemed to be spinning, and it seemed like she was looking at the world through some kind of filtered lens. She tried to tally in her mind how many drinks she had had up to this point, but she really had no clue. Her bar tab was probably going to cost her a fortune. Although, she had a suspicious feeling that Barry had gone up to the bar and paid for hers a little while ago. She was going to have to talk to him about that.
They ended up taking Jesse downstairs to the Arrow cave to let her rest for a minute rather than walk back to their hotel right away. Oliver offered to arrange for a ride for them, but they politely declined. The hotel really wasn't very far from Verdant, and arranging for a ride just seemed silly.
"Your dad is going to kill me," Barry said, handing Jesse a glass of water.
He seemed to have taken on the role of Jesse's caretaker, seeing as Caitlin was a little incapacitated as well, sitting behind the desk in the Arrow cave with her head in her hands. The music from the club above them was muffled now but still audible from where they were.
They hadn't planned on it, but they ended up staying there for a long time, laughing and passing around a bottle of top shelf gin that Oliver had grabbed from the bar upstairs.
"At least Trajectory didn't ruin it this time," Cisco said, taking a swig from the bottle and passing it to Caitlin, who shook her head and passed it right along to E2 Iris.
"Who's Trajectory?" E2 Iris asked curiously before taking a swig herself.
"She was another speedster," Cisco said, "The only lady speedster we've met so far."
Cisco started to laugh then as if he had thought of the funniest thing in the world.
"She totally kicked Barry's ass," he chortled.
"Did not!" Barry said indignantly, "I just didn't want to hit a girl, that's all."
"Right," Cisco said sarcastically, "Okay, Barry. Whatever you say."
Barry rolled his eyes but laughed nonetheless. Cisco sighed then.
"It's too bad she's gone though," he said suddenly, "I thought you two made a cute couple."
Barry sputtered over the gin he had been taken a swig from.
"What?" he asked.
"Well, you know, you're both speedsters," Cisco said.
"Yeah," Barry said, "And?"
"Oh come on, man!" Cisco said, "You can't tell me you haven't thought about it?"
Caitlin giggled.
"I have," she said, her words slightly slurred, "I wonder how that would even work."
"How what would work?" Barry asked, not understanding where this was going with his slow thinking at the moment.
"Speedster sex," Cisco said.
Barry went bright red in an instant.
"Ugh," Oliver groaned, rubbing his eyes, "This is something that I do not want to hear about."
Iris blushed too, but she couldn't pretend that she wasn't also a little curious about it. She, herself, had wondered about what special speedster abilities Barry might have up his sleeve.
"I've been meaning to ask you about that actually," Caitlin said to Barry, giggling, "When you have sex, do you…you know?"
"Do I what?" Barry asked, his face now completely red. Although, he could have just been flushed from the alcohol. Barry's cheeks always turned a bit red when he was drinking, something Iris found absolutely adorable. She always loved it when Barry blushed.
"You know," Caitlin slurred, "Vibrate."
"Jesus," Oliver groaned, "Can we not?"
Barry coughed and looked awkwardly at the floor.
"I don't know," he muttered, his ears now also going red to match his face, "I mean, I can, if I want to, but I can control it now. I couldn't at first, but I've had practice since then, and…"
"Practice, huh?" Cisco said, waggling his eyebrows.
Barry rolled his eyes.
"What I mean is," he said awkwardly, "I kind of had to learn to control it when I was with Patty. I can still do it, but it's not exactly something I've tried out."
"You mean with another person," Cisco said menacingly. Barry groaned.
Cisco suddenly started to laugh hysterically then, hiccupping slightly.
"Barry Allen," he choked, "The human vibrator. Ladies, line up."
Barry laughed embarrassedly as everyone else joined in. This conversation would have been so much more awkward if they were having it sober. That is, if they would have had it all. Now, it just seemed funny.
"We're all out of gin," Iris said sadly, holding up the empty bottle.
"I'll run and grab us some more," Barry said immediately, standing up from where he had been sitting.
"Barry, wait," Caitlin said suddenly, "Don't—"
Suddenly there was a loud bang as Barry slammed into the wall on the other side of the room.
"—run," Caitlin finished, "Are you okay?"
Caitlin and Iris both rushed over to help Barry off the floor.
"Shit, that really hurt," Barry said, laughing.
Iris couldn't help but laugh too as Barry rubbed his head in an almost comical way.
"Barry, you can't run home tonight," she said, "You'll right into a car or something for sure."
"I'm good," Barry assured her, still rubbing his head, "I just need to readjust to this dizziness."
"You shouldn't drink and run, dude," Cisco said, leading Barry over to a chair so he could sit down, "Friends don't let friends run drunk."
Everyone laughed, including Barry.
"Alright then," he slurred, "Looks like I'm stuck in Star City for the night with the rest of ya then."
"We should probably get going," Caitlin said, suppressing a yawn, "Jesse's passed out already, and I've had more than enough to drink for the night."
"Same," Iris said, steadying herself on a nearby chair.
"Well, maybe if Barry hadn't been shot pushing," E2 Iris laughed, looking at Barry.
"Hey, in case you forgot, getting shots was your idea," he said defensively.
"Maybe the first round," she countered, "But I wasn't the one buying shot for everyone all night, now was I?"
"Fair enough, I guess," Barry said, grinning mischievously.
Caitlin hadn't been kidding. Jesse really was out like a light. Barry ended up lifting her into his arms and carrying her up the stairs. Iris just couldn't get over how sweet that was, how much Barry had taken it upon himself to take care of Jesse when she needed it.
It probably would have gone smoother if Barry wasn't so drunk himself. Once they were upstairs, he ended up bumping into someone, effectively spilling their drink all over himself.
Exhausted, drunk, and, in Barry's case, covered in someone else's beer, the group made their way back to their hotel. Barry sweetly laid Jesse down into her bed, letting Caitlin take her shoes off and take care of the rest. Cisco was already sprawled out like a starfish, passed out in his bed that he got to have to himself.
Barry ended up staying in the other hotel room with Iris and their married earth 2 doppelgangers. He was too drunk to even consider the awkwardness of that situation. Really, they all were so tired by the time they made it back to their room that nobody really gave it much thought or notice.
"You're all covered in beer, Barry," E2 Iris said, looking at Barry's soaked T-shirt.
"I know," Barry groaned, looking down at himself, "I'm going to have to hang it up to dry."
Barry pulled the beer-soaked shirt over his head then, leaving him shirtless in the middle of their hotel room. Iris was too drunk to even think about averting her eyes. She ended up staring blatantly at his abs, too dumbstruck to do anything but stare. Thankfully, Barry didn't seem to notice. He was already making his way over to the bathroom to hang up his shirt on the towel rack, his only shirt. Iris simply watched him in drunken awe.
"He could probably borrow one of Barry's shirts," E2 Iris suddenly said to her when Barry was in the bathroom. She gestured towards her husband who nodded his agreement. "He has some extras packed along, and well, they're actually Barry's shirts anyways that we borrowed from his closet."
"That's okay," Iris said without thinking, staring through the crack in the bathroom door where she could still see Barry's shirtless reflection in the mirror as he hung up his shirt, "He'll be alright."
E2 Iris smirked at her.
"If you say so," she said with a knowing smile.
Curse Iris and her stupid drunken mouth. Did she always have to be so transparent?!
She silently held in her glee though when Barry returned from the bathroom, still shirtless, and E2 Iris made no move to offer him a shirt. Iris thought that maybe she saw the other woman wink at her, but she wasn't sure. The room was still kind of spinning right now.
Barry grabbed an extra blanket out of the hotel room closet and one of the pillows off the bed and set them on the floor.
"Barry, you don't have to sleep on the floor," Iris said as soon as she saw what he was doing, "There's plenty of room on the bed. It's a queen."
Barry looked at her, his eyebrows furrowed.
"Are you sure?" he asked awkwardly.
"Of course," Iris said, smiling at him, "It'll be just like old times, like when we used to have sleepovers."
Barry smiled at her.
"Alright then," he said tiredly, returning the pillow to its place on the bed before climbing into it.
Iris exchanged a look with her double then before she climbed into bed next to him. She was sure this time that the other woman had most definitely winked at her, before she too climbed into her bed next to her husband, turning off the light.
…..
Okay, that last part was a bit forced I'll admit, but I couldn't resist :)
I really hope I'm not making this story too awkward, first with the footsie under the dinner table, and then the dancing, the sex talk, and now this last scene. Someone please let me know if I'm going overboard with it!
Like this one, my next update is going to take a while because of school. In the meantime, please leave a review!