Valentine's Day Date
{Barry x Reader}
"Oh, god, Barry, you cannot be serious," Cisco rolled his eyes. "Your guys' first date is on Valentine's Day? Now it has to be a perfect first date." He leaned back in the S.T.A.R. labs chair, shaking his head in disbelief.
Barry scoffed, "All of my first dates are perfect, Cisco." Caitlin and Iris let out a laugh from across the room, to which I joined in from my seat next to Cisco. Barry's eyes narrowed at me, as he pointed accusingly. "Hey, it's your first date, too."
I nodded with another laugh. "I know," I answered, "And there shouldn't be pressure on either of us. It's just a casual first date, guys."
Iris strut across the room, her heels clattering against the floor. "Our first date was anything but casual," Iris hummed, placing a hand on Barry's shoulder, "Right, Barry? You nearly bought out a whole restaurant, gave me the biggest bouquet of flowers I'd ever seen, and then left to go save the city halfway through." She giggled, stepping a little closer to my Valentine.
Barry gulped noticeably, his face turning the color of a pink candy heart. "Yeah... well... we could do whatever you want, Y/N." He looked at me, as I sat there with my arms crossed, leaning back, and staring down Iris. I had to shake myself out of the look, nodding back at him.
"Casual is fine," I smiled tightly. "I'm not a high maintenance girl."
"Either am I," Iris quickly said, "It's just because Barry was so in love with me. He'd been waiting forever." She glanced up at him, her hand still resting on his shoulder. Barry's eyes glanced around anywhere but to hers, and I almost laughed at how uncomfortable he looked.
"Was." I muttered, with a small shrug. "But, don't worry, I get it, Iris. It's hard being with a superhero. Good thing we're both ready to save the city." I laughed now, holding up a hand. We watched as it faded away, turning invisible right before our eyes. I smirked up at her, but she didn't seem impressed.
"Mm, yeah," Iris mumbled, pulling away from Barry finally. I didn't get her. She broke up with Barry, and now that he was finally moving on, she turned into this clingy, jealous ex-girlfriend. "I've got to head to work now. See you guys later." She grabbed her purse off of the table, but not before kissing Barry's cheek. I watched as she marched out of the room, confidence never faltering.
"Well this is going to be an interesting Valentine's Day," I huffed, glancing sideways at Cisco. He nodded right away, eyes wide at our interaction.
"What was that?" Barry asked. I wanted to roll my eyes at him. I thought the whole Barry and Iris thing was over. But no, apparently not. Now I just had to deal with Iris flirting with him.
"Nothing." I said, turning back to face him. "It's nothing. I should head out too."
"Head out where?" Barry questioned. "Today's your day off."
I stood up, walking towards the case with our mannequins where are suits were displayed. "Patrol," I answered, inspecting my dark blue suit. Cisco had patched it up from my last battle perfectly.
"Okay, we can do that," Barry offered from behind me. Before I had time to answer, he was
standing in front of me, dressed in his Flash suit.
"By myself," I said, waving him off. "You have training with Wally."
"Oh yeah," Barry sighed, his face falling. "Okay. Be safe, Y/N."
"I'm always fine on my own," I shrugged, reaching for the jacket off of my mannequin. "I just need to punch something. I'll see you tomorrow for our date."
Barry watched me, nodding with slight amusement as I gathered my suit together to go change. "That's my girl," he chuckled lightly, "See you tomorrow, Y/N." He pecked my cheek, before letting me walk off.
♡
At noon on Valentine's Day I'd gotten a text from Barry saying I needed to call him right away about something urgent. I had panicked, wondering what in the world it could be. A metahuman attack? Was someone kidnapped? Hurt? Worse? The possibilities of horrific things that could've happened during my morning at work were endless in this city.
When I finally called him, demanding to know what happened, he just laughed. Then he told us he booked us dinner for some fancy restaurant, something I told him to definitely not worry about.
Now here I was, draped in the pretty dress I owned and headed for my first date with Barry Allen. I told him not to bother "picking" me up, which just involved him literally picking me up and running me to our destination. Which, not surprisingly, was not good for curled hair or pretty dresses. So I opted for driving myself to dinner.
All night and day I couldn't stop thinking about Iris' words about their first date. And that wasn't even Valentine's Day. Besides that date, she was also right about the fact that Barry waited forever for her. He was in love with her, and she broke him. She clearly wasn't over him now - so how could he be over her?
My hands grasped the steering wheel until my knuckles turned white, thinking of everything between Iris and Barry.
As soon as I parked, my door was opened by none other than Barry himself. I blinked in surprise, before offering him my hand and getting out of the car.
"You look stunning," Barry breathed, eyeing me up and down. "I'm sorry I told you about the plans last minute, by the way. Surprise." He grinned at me. If he wasn't so adorable, I wouldn't have smiled back.
"You really didn't need to do this," I answered, following him to the front of the building.
"I kind of did," he sighed, but laughed weakly. I could only guess what he meant. Did he feel bad that he'd done so much for Iris on their first date and hadn't planned much for Valentine's Day with me? "Iris said-"
"I don't care about that, Barry," I cut him off, not wanting to hear him say her name tonight. But I guess I was right. And it was true, I didn't care if he went all out for her. That was the past. I didn't need a million flowers and a fancy dinner to know Barry cared - I just wished Iris didn't go from my friend to trying to make me feel jealous or insecure all of the time. "I'm just happy to be here with you."
Once inside, the host escorted us to our table kindly. Passing through the place I had no idea how Barry got us last minute reservations here. "How is this even possible?" I questioned, looking around at the twinkly lights and decorations that might've cost more than my entire apartment. "This place had to be booked for tonight a long time ago."
Barry blushed slightly, shrugging his shoulders. "Some friends in Star City might've pulled a few strings for us," he admitted sheepishly. "Apparently everyone's excited for our first date."
He pulled back my chair for me, letting me sit down before he sat across from me. He thanked the hostess, who handed us our menus. "Not everyone," I muttered.
"What?" Barry asked, leaning forward.
"Nothing," I sighed, looking down at the menu.
"Oh my goodness! Barry and Y/N! This is such a surprise!" I glanced over, my heart sinking as a beautiful girl approached us, clothed in a sparkly red dress, perfect hair and makeup, and a smile whiter than the table cloth.
"Iris..." I trailed off, tilting my head to the side. A handsome, muscular man trailed behind her, looking sort of awkward next to his overly excited date.
"Hey, Iris," Barry said, obviously surprised, too. But he smiled widely, anyway, still happy to see his best friend this Valentine's Day night. "I didn't expect you... and...." Our eyes trailed to Iris' unfamiliar date, as he gave us this stunning movie star smile.
"This is my co-worker, Zachary," Iris beamed, placing a hand on Zachary's arm, "Zac, this is my best friend and brother, Barry, and his date, Y/N."
"Also her ex-boyfriend," I muttered, not being able to help myself. Zac took my hand to shake it, eyebrows furrowed at me. Barry and Iris both shot me looks.
"We were foster siblings," Iris explained, "My dad took care of us growing up."
"And the relationship is history," Barry added, looking back at me with a small smile.
"Well..." Iris hummed, smacking her lips together. "It's just so crazy running into you guys here." She huffed, clasping her hands together and smiling at the two of us as if I didn't just make things awkward. I didn't mean to - okay, well, yes I did. This was supposed to be my romantic first date with Barry, and she just had to show up.
"Iris, you suggested this restaurant for us," Barry frowned slightly, rubbing his chin with his thumb. All eyes looked to her, including her already annoyed date. Poor Zac.
"And I invited you here," Zac mumbled, plastering on the most perfect fake smile I'd ever seen. "Why don't we head back to our table, Iris?"
Iris blinked, staring at Barry not-so-subtly. "Zac, but we have-" she started.
"It was very nice to meet you two," Zac interrupted, nodding at Barry and I. "I truly hope you two enjoy your evening. This restaurant is amazing." He grabbed Iris' arm lightly, guiding her back across the room.
I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding, sighing deeply as the pretty couple faded away into the dim lighting. Did Barry seriously pick me over her? She was easily one of the most beautiful people in the room.
"Are you okay?" Barry asked, snapping me out of my thoughts. Was I? No.
"I don't know if this is a good idea," I replied honestly, looking back at Barry. "You two still have feelings for each other, don't you?" I glanced to the table in front of me, holding my hands out over my menu. No matter how single Barry was, he'd always be off the market. He and Iris had incomparable history.
"I- I definitely don't," Barry stuttered. One of his hands placed over mine, causing me to meet his green eyes again. "I haven't felt that way about Iris in a long time, Y/N. You should know that."
"Well, what about her?" I questioned, frustration bubbling inside of me. "I don't want to have to deal with her constantly flirting with you." I jabbed my finger to the dance floor, where she was romantically swaying to a slow song with Zac, but had her eyes trained on our table.
Barry's face softened, and he almost looked just as sad as I felt. "Y/N, please," he sighed, "I can't control what she does. Neither of us can. But we can be happy together." His thumb moved back and forth over my hand in a comforting movement. He smiled weakly.
"What if you fall for her again?" I asked, my voice breaking.
Barry shook his head at me, like I was insane. "I won't," he assured me. "Sure, Iris and I had a past. But so do you and that Richard Grayson, or Dick, or whoever he is. But that doesn't stop me from falling for you more and more every day."
My face heated up at the mention of my ex. "Dick also lives in a completely different state, Barry," I argued softly.
"So?" He huffed, "The point is - Y/N, I'm crazy about you. And only you. You're the one I want to be with, to date, to be best friends with for now and forever. You understand me in ways Iris never could. You're smart, loyal, powerful, adorable, sexy, and the woman I want to spend my Valentine's with." He squeezed my hand reassuringly, and I couldn't help but smile.
"Thank you," I said, my voice quiet. "You're wonderful, Barry. I don't deserve someone like you. And I'm sorry I acted like that." I sighed, shaking my head at myself.
"There's nothing to be sorry about," Barry promised. He leaned over the table, pecking my lips for a second with us. "Happy Valentine's Day, love."
"Happy Valentine's Day, Barry Allen."
• • • • •
author's note | happy valentine's day everyone!!!!
obviously this isn't realistic to the show, but just imaaagiiiiiine hahaha
i hope you all have a wonderful day, no matter what you're doing. single? treat yourself and don't wallow in pity, because you're beautiful and don't need no man. in a relationship? have fun & don't do anything naughty! yikes!
okay, much love for u all happy v day :)