#reyslesbianforce

“You´re staring,” Linda said, and gave her another look. Iris really didn´t want to pick a fight with Linda in the corner of the teacher´s lounge, with the science department´s employees in the other end of the room. There was about ten teachers today at that table, but Barry Allen could clearly be seen from where they were sitting. Which might have been a factor, in where Iris had decided to sit, once she´d finished her class before lunch. “Ask him out, he´s single, Ramon told me.”

“They´re friends?” Iris asked. Linda just shrugged. Linda got along really well with Cisco Ramon, even though they didn´t work in the same departments, but Iris knew the two of them mainly talked about music. Neither of them were fans of talking about personal stuff, apparently with the exception of Iris´ personal stuff. But then again her crush on Barry Allen was more than a little bit embarrassing, even if Barry and Iris were sort of friends. But they weren´t exactly close friends, they passed by each other in the hallways, talked at school events, and he always had one of the nicest smiles, Iris had ever seen on his face, whenever he saw Iris.

“Oh, don´t give me that look, you know you want to ask him out,” Linda said, mercifully lowering her voice a little. Iris was this close to thanking some kind of higher power for that.

“Yes, but that doesn´t mean, I want to gossip about it in the teachers’ lounge, Lin,” Iris bit at her. Linda gave her a slightly amused and practically gleeful smile. Iris sighed heavily. Lost course clearly. But Iris West never gave up that easily. She was going to ask Barry out eventually, just not- just not right now.

“Look, go ask him out and I´ll leave it alone. He likes you, I can tell. And you´re a grown ass woman, Iris,” Linda continued, her tone nicer than it had been before. Iris scoffed. “Pretty please?” she asked again, and Iris sighed heavily, knowing she had lost the battle. She had to at least get up from her chair and go talk to him, even though she both wanted to and really didn´t want to. But before Iris could work up the courage to get up, Linda had already pulled her up. Mercifully, people were beginning to mill out of the teachers´ lounge.

“Hey, Allen, you know Iris,” Linda said, as they came to a halt by the table. Barry looked up from the material he had been in the middle of going through. He had to push up his glasses, because they slid down his nose. He was a geek, a really huge geek actually. He wore a tweed suit, round glasses and he constantly looked like he had a lot to do. He was cute in that nerdy professor way though, but then again her own students described her as the most boring looking, fun teacher they´d ever had, with her slacks and hair always in a bun. So no wonder, she thought a nerdy looking professor was really really cute. But anyway, Barry´s mouth was moving, so better keep focus.

“Yes-“ he began, and his smile was absolutely and completely brilliant. But again keep focus, Iris. His voice was shaking and he was fiddling nervously with his hands. He suddenly looked down at her, and actually met her eyes. Something in Iris´ chest clenched, and Barry pushed his glasses up his nose. “I do know her,” he said, his voice soft and warm. He was still staring at her, the kind of stare that made Iris´ breath catch in her throat, and her heart quicken.

“I wanted to ask you something,” Iris said, trying her hardest for a bright smile, which was hard because honestly she just felt nervous about this. She could talk to him fine at any other occasion, but this, knowing what she was about to ask him was terrifying in all honesty. She would have run away to the north pole, if Linda hadn´t probably still be standing right behind her. But Iris was too nervous to even look back and check for moral support. “Do you want to go have a drink sometime? Or it doesn´t have to be a drink- Just you know, go somewhere after work- together.”

“Are you asking me out?” Barry asked, the words rushing across his lips. He sounded confused, but other than that, Iris couldn´t figure out exactly what he was thinking. It was hard to hear, in his tone of voice, and she would be lying, if that wasn´t just a teeny tiny bit worrying.

“Yes! No- Maybe, I don´t- Yes,” she blurted out. Barry looked more than slightly confused, until the last yes, where a small smile spread across his lips. But Iris felt like she had to say it again, and say it right this time. Even if she suddenly noticed, Linda wasn´t standing around as her backup anymore. “Barry Allen, do you want to go on a date with me?”

“Yes,” he said simply, and pressed a kiss against her cheek. Iris froze completely, and Barry quickly pulled away from her, like he was slightly horrified by what he´d just done. Iris was pretty sure, her heart was beating at a thousand miles per hour, and her skin was tingling. She wished he would have lingered a little longer. She wanted to kiss him, just on the mouth, but that was a little bit too forward, so instead she just met his eyes, and gave him a warm smile. He was blushing. “I am sorry, Iris. I shouldn´t have done that, that was a little bit weird.”

They reached the city limit in roughly 20 seconds, and they really hadn´t been in a hurry. The two of them stopped on a desolate field, in between some trees. It was about ten at night, so the air was cold and the dark shrouded them. His eyes were shining, and he had such a soft and nice look to them, that it caught Iris off guard. He was a superhero; he fought bad guys every day, even more than she did as Lightning Girl. But nobody could give her as soft a look, as he could. “Are you ever going to let me see your face?” Iris asked, her voice the first thing to break the silence. They spoke at their speed, super speed, nobody could hear them but themselves.

“Are you ever going to let me see yours?” he asked, his voice teasing. Iris gave him a smile, and if it had been lighter, she could have sworn she saw his cheeks redden. But it was not that dark, even though she couldn´t be sure, he was actually blushing. She crossed her arms and gave him a sly look.

“You could have just asked,” Iris bit back, but with no venom in her voice. Then she saw him move his hands, and slowly pull his cowl down. Iris let out a shuddering breath against her will, and she knows, she is staring at him. He has brown hair, pale skin and a nice handsome face. She has known him for so long, and now she can finally put a face to her Flash. She wondered when she started thinking of him, as her Flash. He looked down to the ground, and bit his lip.

“Your turn,” he said under his breath, and Iris complied removing her hood, and her mask. If she´d thought, she had been staring before, he was most certainly staring at her now. She let out a long breath, as he stepped closer to her, pausing for a long moment. “You´re beautiful,” he said softly, and something inflated in her chest.

“You too,” she replied without thinking. She hurried to get her point across, because this was embarrassing. It was surprisingly hard to actually talk to him, after just running with him for as long as she had. “I mean- You´re really handsome. And you know- You don´t exactly have to wear a mask. It´s nice to meet you, Flash, is what I´m trying to say.”

He chuckled at that, and then they looked at each other again. Iris let out a long heavy breath, before she rose to her tiptoes and kissed him. It wasn´t like kissing a stranger. Maybe it should have been, she didn´t even know his name. But instead there was a strange familiarity, it came from running together for so long, and it was okay. It clicked, magic puzzle pieces or whatever. His right hand cradled the back of her head, and Iris angled her head slightly, leaning into his touch. It was funny in a sense, she didn´t even know his name, and here she was kissing him. But maybe that was because she had realized something, he was the only person who truly knew her. The only person who knew what running at the speed of sound felt like in your bones.

There was a quiet silence between them, as they pulled away from each other a little. Iris rested her forehead against his. She felt like, she should say something. Like they should say something. But neither did, neither said a word. Instead, Iris angled her head a little, and kissed him again, this time deeper and slower. His mouth opened, and her tongue moved inside his mouth, and he sighed heavily, pulling her closer to him. His fingers rested on the small of her back. The two of them had never really needed to say anything, and it didn´t seem like they were starting now. They finally came up for a breath, and for a long moment they were silent once again. “Actually my name is Barry,” he whispered under his breath, as they pulled away from each other.