"What's got you so down in the dumps?"
It didn't matter that you received a free coffee from Jitters this morning. Nor did you care that one of your co-workers brought in donuts for everyone. Or that Scott praised the Galaxy Plunders review you emailed him last night, calling it ingenious, funny, and clever. You were most certainly off your game today and Iris could sense something was up.
"It's... nothing."
"No, it's definitely something." Iris eyes you like she's a robot scanning for the source of a virus. "This wouldn't have to do with your date with Barry, would it?"
"No," you say unconvincingly. She gives you the eyebrow. "Okay, yes."
"What did he do now?"
"It's just, everything was going so well. The date was perfect. We totally had some moments. But then, at the end, when we were saying goodbye..."
"What? What did he do?"
"He ran off! It was like he was going to kiss me and then he bolted. It was beyond weird. I kept thinking there was something wrong with me."
"Oh sweetie, no. There's nothing wrong with you," she assures you. "Guys can be such guys, you know?" You nod. "I apologize for him. I could always talk-"
"No! I mean, thank you, but no. That's okay. I'll survive." You flash Iris a smile, but you don't think that it necessarily put her at ease.
*
Hey (Y/N). I'm so sorry again
for what happened the other
night. I hope you can forgive
me. Can I make it up to you?
You can't see it, but I'm
totally giving you the famous
Barry Allen sad puppy dog
eyes right now.
Lord help you because you didn't mean to laugh at the thought of Barry making that face. And true to his word, he did call you the day after the date gone awry, although you did let his call go to voicemail. You had no idea what to say to him, you didn't know what to do.
You still don't.
There's a knock at the door and you think it's probably Iris, seeing as she has been threatening to come over and cheer you up with pizza, chocolate, and good old fashioned girl talk.
But when you open the door, it isn't Iris standing on the other side, but Barry! He's holding a bouquet of flowers and is peeking out over them.
"I thought maybe it would be more effective if you actually saw the puppy dog eyes in person," he says, indeed looking like a poor, defenceless, and very sad dog. Truth be told, you are no match for his animated expression because it instinctively pulls at your heartstrings. Your hand touches your face and you laugh.
"Oh God, it worked. Get in here." Opening the door wider for Barry to come in, you take the brightly bloomed flowers from him and go look for a proper vase. Barry shuts the door and stands against your kitchen counter.
"Listen, (Y/N), I really do want to make it up to you. I feel horrible about taking off how I did. What do you say to dinner tomorrow night?" There are a couple silent beats, and after looking into his eyes once more, you can easily see he feels genuinely shitty. You make your decision (though you wonder if your mind had already subconsciously been made up).
"Well, everyone deserves a second chance, right?"
"Yes, I absolutely agree."
"You're just saying that," you tease.
"Yes... and no." His words try to hide some hidden meaning, surely packed with past experiences that you don't press on. Together, you'll start with a clean slate, a new chapter. After all, who knows what the future holds if you give Barry this second chance.
*
As it turned out, Barry spent the night at your place. But no, not like that. It was an innocent night (not so much were the thoughts in your head, but you felt it was not the time to act on them) filled with chips and salsa, conversation, and a movie. The more you two talked, the more you found him a down to earth, caring, funny, and all around regular guy. You learned that family is a big part of his life. Barry even opened up to you about the tragedy of losing his mother when he was ten years old. You felt awful about what happened, and yet felt such admiration in how he keeps a positive outlook on life.
You said it before and you'll say it again: they don't make guys like this anymore.
When you wake up in the morning, you realize you'd been sleeping against Barry's chest on the couch. You move off of him slowly, just as he seems to be waking up groggily, too.
"Good morning," he says, voice sounding scratchy and sleep ridden. So hot.
"Good morning, yourself." You desperately don't want to leave his warm body, but it's an unfortunate must if you want to be at work on time. Once you're all put together for the day, you both leave your place and Barry so kindly walks you to work. On the way there he buys you your daily dose of Jitters coffee and this week's paper featuring your first movie review for CCPN. Barry reads it aloud as you walk.
"(Y/N), this is amazing! I especially like how you can go into detail about it all but not spoil anything huge. Now that's talent."
"Aww, thanks Barry." He stops you for a moment when you reach the entrance doors to CCPN.
"Before you go, I just wanted to say thank you. For the second chance."
"Don't mention it. We're still on for tonight, then?"
"For sure, yeah. I'll come round about seven for you?"
"Okay. Sounds good."
Barry hesitates for a moment and you try to guess what's going on in his head, but he quickly catches you off-guard, kissing you. It's delicate, but also hard with meaning. Gosh, you'd been waiting for this moment... It would take everything you have to tame those fluttering butterflies in your stomach. But then again, did you even want to?
When your lips part, you bite your lip to suppress the gigantic smile that's dying to break free. Barry is looking at you in a way you've never been looked at before by any other man.
"I'll see you later," he says sweetly.
"I'll be counting the hours," you reply on autopilot. And was that a sigh? "I mean, not in a creepy kind of way. More like 'yay-I'm-so-excited.'" Barry gives a little laugh.
"Don't worry, I'm definitely going to be counting them, too." Barry winks. He freaking winks. Then he gives you this cute little wave goodbye that leaves you frozen in place in a daze. Iris is lurking around the corner when you finally gain control over your muscles again and walk inside. How much of that did she see?
"Soooo..." Iris drags out the word. "Clearly you two are doing mighty fine."
"I don't know what you're talking about," you play it off.
"The look in his eyes and yours," she says dreamily. "That kiss. And, I don't know, the fact that Barry was wearing the same clothes as yesterday." She waggles her eyebrows.
"But how-"
"You're forgetting I live with the guy."
"Oh right."
"Soooo..."
"Heh heh, it wasn't like that Iris. Nothing happened. We had fun."
"But not that kind of fun?"
"Oh my God, no, not that kind of fun." Yet, you think wickedly. You're blushing furiously now. "He's taking me to dinner tonight."
"That's awesome! Have some dessert for me."
When you have settled in to your desk you flip through the pages of the new issue of CCPN. One article jumps out at you in particular with its headline: CPT. COLD GETS JUST REWARD – FLASH DOES IT AGAIN. And by Iris West, no less. Reading the detailed piece, you learn that The Flash took down a guy named Captain Cold down at the docks at Central City Pier two days ago. Iris must be friends with the Flash or something why she always gets the best intel. You'll have to ask her about it sometime.
The rest of the day could not progress any slower. The whole time at work, and even once you returned home, thoughts of Barry and your approaching date danced in your head like sugar plums. You don't think you've ever had feelings this strong for anyone before so early on in, well, whatever this was.
Barry shows up later in the evening, exactly when he said he would. No sooner, no later. Boy, was he ever punctual. You liked that about him. Almost as much as you liked this white shirt/navy blazer combination he's wearing. Because damn.
You're just glad you decided to wear your fanciest, classiest dress for the occasion, and your hair was especially on point tonight. Honestly, you totally rivalled Barry for looking like hot stuff. And you can tell by the way he's looking at you- trying to be subtle about it, but completely failing at doing so. It's cute. So incredibly cute.
"Uh, wow, (Y/N). You look... so beautiful."
Your cheeks flush at the compliment. "Thank you, Barry. So do you. Handsome, I mean. Not beautiful." You pause. "Aww hell, who am I kidding? You do look beautiful, too."
Cue the embarrassed laughter from the both of you.
"Ready to go?"
"Very much so," you say. "I'm starving."
"Me too. Let's go." He lends his arm and you link yours in his. This night most definitely has promise.
*
More like broken promise.
The night was going so incredibly well, like a dream really. The restaurant Barry chose was fantastic. Some of the best food you've tasted in your life. Your table was dressed in the finest dinnerware and candles to fit the mood. Barry even pulled out your chair for you like the gentleman he is.
You both talked of your pasts, work, and everything in between. Laughter was a common element throughout dinner, which caused others to glance your way. It may sound corny, but you felt like life just got brighter every time he was trying to be cute and funny and adorable. But let's face it, he didn't need to try.
When he mentioned being struck by lightning, that really caught your attention. The odds of that happening are insanely high and yet it happened to him. Thank goodness he was alright. Of course he made light of the situation, to which you chuckled. You looked down smiling, strands of hair falling in front of your face.
"Did it hurt?" you asked.
"What, the lightning?"
"I was going to say when you fell from Heaven."
Blushes all around. "Oh stop." You then realized embarrassing Barry was one of your new favorite things.
After dinner, you two were feeling adventurous so you decided to order some dessert. After all, the decadent hot fudge brownie was calling your name. Yelling, rather. But just as the waitress left with the order, Barry's phone went off with a million text tones. His bright and sunny face dropped in an instant. All you could hear were strings of "so sorry"s and "emergency"s. You quietly said to him that you understood. Although you left out the part about it being a little disappointing honestly.
Especially when the dessert fit for two finally arrived.
"Excuse me," you said to the waitress. "Actually, could I get this packed up to go, please?"
Which brings you to now, currently standing on Barry's doorstep with the packed up dessert. Thankfully you remembered which house was his because the other day, Iris had you stop here with her because she forgot something. You rap your knuckles on the door, prepared that he may not even be home.
The door opens and reveals a tall, darker skinned man. Immediately you take this to be Iris' father. The resemblance is there.
"Hi, Mr. West? I'm (Y/N). I was just-"
"Ahhh yes, you were out with Barry! Come in." You thank him and step inside. "He hasn't stopped talking about you all week. Um, how did it go tonight?"
"It went really well. That is, until he ran off."
"Ran off? I'm sorry to hear that. Did he say what the reason was?"
"All he said was that it was an emergency."
Just as you finish your sentence Mr. West's radio goes off at his hip.
"That's my cue," he says grabbing his jacket. "Cop stuff. It was nice meeting you. Feel free to hang out here until Barry gets back."
"Thank you, Mr. West. It was nice meeting you as well."
"Please, call me Joe."
And like that, he's gone too. The house is quiet. You recall Iris mentioning that she was staying late at CCPN tonight. Frankly, you think she works far too much, but then again, that's why Iris is the best at what she does. When curiosity gets the better of you, you find yourself wandering around the house, and eventually, standing in Barry's room, admiring his knickknacks, collectibles, and photos. You pick up one of the framed photos with Barry, and who you believe to be his father, playing baseball. What a cute little kid he was. Torn jeans and grass stains. Freckled face and squinty eyes from smiling so hard. He was always that ball of sunshine, wasn't he?
"What are you doing here?"
You turn and see Barry himself behind you, surprised as hell. "Oh, sorry," you say putting down the frame. "I- Joe said I could wait here for you. Not your bedroom, exactly, I was kind of wandering."
"No I mean, why are you here? As soon as I left, I just knew you would have had it with me bailing again." The poor baby looks so confused, so sad. As if this has happened before.
"Barry, I'm not going to lie, it did kind of bum me out," you admit. "But then I thought, hey, I don't know what's going on in your life. And if it's something serious enough to be an "emergency," I trust that one day, when you're ready, you'll feel comfortable enough to tell me what's going on." He takes a couple steps toward you. "But in the meantime, I brought dessert!"
Barry's eyes are twinkling, like you said a combination of magic words. He walks up to you and takes your face in his hands and kisses you in the way you've been wanting him to. It's deep, it's warm, it's perfect...
"How did I get to be so lucky with finding you?" His hands wrap around you pulling you closer to him.
"I don't know," you sigh. "Thank the brute that bumped into me that day, I guess. Or else there'd be a big mess and a life void of you."