Barry Allen Imagines

40;

"C'mon, y/n," Barry pleaded, persistently poking you in the side to wake you up. "It's Christmas and you plan on sleeping the day away." He pouted.
It was a cold and snowy Christmas morning and normally you would've jumped out of bed on Christmas morning but, for the first time in his life, Barry was up before 8 am and raring to go.
"S'cold," you muttered, burying your face into the pillow in hopes that Barry would take a hint and leave you alone for an hour. "You're like a five year old. You shouldn't be so excited for this any."
"Hush. I knew you'd be grump so in preparation I made you a Christmas breakfast consisting of eggs and bacon but your cute little butt need to get out of bed if you want any before I eat it all."
You opened an eye to glare at him. "You wouldn't dare."
Barry smirked evilly and you knew he wasn't messing around. That boy knew bacon was one surefire way to get you out of bed. "C'mon, button, we both know I could be there in .5 seconds and all your beloved bacon will be gone."
"I hatechu..." you muttered as you stretched in order to wake up a bit more.

"Present Time." Barry gripped your hand and instantly bounded to the living room to plop you both down in front of the tree.
There weren't too many gifts under the tree (seeing as being a forensic scientist didn't pay much and a superhero paid even less) but that just made each of you more determined to make each gift that much more sentimental.
You got him a new watch (maybe now he won't have an excuse for being late), some science book he hinted at wanting, a cookbook since he insisted he wanted to learn how, and finally a scrapbook that you threw together of all your special moments.
As he flipped through the scrapbook you noticed the faint blush that covered his cheeks and your heart swelled. Barry's had a lot of hardships in his life and he's also made mistakes along the way but his intentions have always been good. If anyone deserves happiness it would be Barry Allen and you were blessed to have been the one to grant that to him in that moment.
In return, he gave you a locket with a photo of you two in one side and a selfie of him posing with you dog in the other side, a Victoria's Secret gift card (though it seemed like that gift would end up being more for him than for you), and the final gift left you shellshocked. It was a shiny gold ring, similar to a simple wedding band.
"It's not what you think." He said instantly at your frozen reaction. "Think of it more as a promise ring. A promise that no matter what you're the only one I love and maybe even a promise that one day a wedding will come about." He reached over and gently removed the ring from the box. "It's even engraved inside."
Forever.
Your silence worried Barry. He knew you'd always been weary to think about the future when everything was so unsure in his life, but he wanted this. He wanted a promise that you'd stick with him no matter how many times he would fuck up in the future.
Please say something. Barry silently begged but received no such response. Instead, you gently held out your left hand to him and he smiled, gently slipping it onto your ring finger.
"Just to clarify this is not a engagement ring... Right?" Barry laughed at your nerves, knowing that marriage was not one of your goals anytime soon. In the future, yes. But not when his hero work is in full swing and your career is just blossoming.
"No. Don't worry." He shakes his head, a dopey grin on his face as he intertwines his fingers with yours. "That won't come until later."

"Come in. Come in! It's cold out there." Joe smiled, ushering you both inside the festive West Household. "Snacks are on the table. Help yourself before Wally eats them all."
A playfully hurt, "Hey" resounded from the kitchen from the new speedster himself at being the brunt of his father's joke.
"C'mon in guys." He chuckled once again, leading you both in towards where the rest of the family was gathered. Joe instantly took his place beside Cecile who quickly handed him back his own cup of eggnog so she could happily sip on hers. Cisco and Caitlin were bantering with a slightly tipsy H.R. over who knows what. Iris was beside Wally with a somewhat sour look on her face but neither you nor Barry paid any mind to it as you set the bag of presents under the tree before heading over to the hors d'oeuvres.
"Want some 'nog?" Barry smiled suggestively, knowing fully well how strong it was and how much he loved the drunk version of you. Before you even had a chance to answer he was already handing you a mug of it.
"Why thank you, sir." You giggled at your awful attempt at a british accent and just as Barry prepared to tease you for it, Joe raised his voice to gather the family.
"Present time!"

Nearly every seat was taken when you two entered the living room, leaving only the chair in the corner free.
Barry quickly plopped down on the chair and opened his arms.
It was clear he wanted you to sit on his lap but neither of you were quite fond of PDA and with the recent tensions building between you two and Iris, you were weary to act all cuddly with her only feet away.
Iris had recently come to terms with her feelings towards Barry but by that time it was too late. He had chosen you and she wasn't happy about it.
But Barry didn't seem to take this into consideration as he gripped your hips and pulled you down onto his lap. He was quick to nuzzle into your neck while his arms wrapped around your waist to keep you close to him.
Things must have been going too smoothly up until that point because fate apparently wanted to change that seeing as Cisco then caught sight of the golden ring glinting on your finger.
"Are you two engaged?!" He blurted out, not even bothering to hold his questions in. "Did you finally get the nerve to ask her, Barry? Cough it up, Caitlin. I told you I had a feeling he was planning something big."
Caitlin sighed but reached for her purse to pull a twenty dollar bill out of her wallet. Had those two really placed a bet on your love life?
"We are not engaged, Cisco." You deadpanned. Ignoring the blush all this attention caused, you elbowed Barry to explain this before things got out of hand.
"It's a promise ring." Barry muttered, embarrassed that his love life was now the center of attention. "Not a wedding ring. We are not engaged."
"Ha! Told you, give me my money back." Cait taunted, stealing the bill back from Cisco. Cisco pouted in return but gave it up.
While the two continued to bicker, you noticed Iris glaring at the two of you.
At this realization, you slightly leaned back so you were able to whisper in Barry's ear.
"Iris is glaring at me again. She hates me." You sighed. You and Iris used to be extremely close. Hell, she was even the one who introduced you to Barry, insisting that you two were perfect for each other but she never expected her own feelings for Barry to surface. And even further she never expected him to choose you over her.
"She doesn't hate you." Barry defended. He hated this tension but he also didn't know how to fix it. He had told her time and time again that it was you and only you. His feelings for her changed and he didn't feel that way anymore. "Don't let her ruin our Christmas, babe. She'll be fine later on."
You sighed and leaned back into him. "I know but I hate the fact that she hates me know just because you're with me..."

"Iris," You said while Barry left to get your coats. It was only you two left in the kitchen now and she was still blatantly glaring. "What happened to us. Why are we suddenly like this when we used to be attached at the hip."
Iris sighed but decided that she was willing to throw you a bone. "It's not your fault necessarily. It's just that you have everything I want and I can't control my jealousy when I see you two acting all cutesy."
"You'll find someone, Iris. But being hung up over Barry is just prolonging this and just lengthening your pain. I think you need to put this mess behind you and look forwards." Silence filled the air before you spoke up again. "Truce?" You asked, holding your hand out to shake hers.
"Truce."

"Thank you for an amazing Christmas, Bare." You hummed, pulling on a pair of sweatpants and one of Barry's shirts. He was already cuddled into bed, playing some game on his phone but he kindly stopped when you assumed your spot on the bed. You cuddled into his side, attempting to absorb his body heat while he hummed some Michael Bublé song in your ear.
"Thank you for everything." He murmured. "Especially for accepting that ring. You have no idea how nervous I was."
"You're always nervous when it comes to taking steps in our relationship. Remember when I asked you to move in with me?"
He chuckled at the awkward memory the he so desperately wished he could forget.
When you asked him to move in, he simply said no then made the excuse that he had to meet Cisco at the lab where he explained the situation and came to the realization that he did indeed want to live with you. It took him nearly three months after the day you asked him that to finally bring the offer up again.
"I honestly can't remember being this happy before." You giggled as he placed kisses on your neck and jaw to elicit some laughs. "I feel like I'm gonna wake up from this dream any time now."
"Well," He smiled, pressing his forehead against yours while he pulled the blankets up to cover you both. "I hate to break it to you but you're stuck with me now." He tapped your promise ring to solidify his argument and you quickly took the opportunity to press your lips to his.
"I wouldn't have it any other way, Barry Allen."