Work Text:
“Fuck!” Iris shouted, turning the keys in the ignition over and over again, trying to get her car to start. She was on her way to a meeting at the Central City Citizen, her very successful and famous media empire when she heard unusual noises coming from her car. She managed to park on the side of the street before it finally broke down.
“No, no, no I don’t need this right now.” She said, frustrated.
She quickly brought out her phone and sent a text to her best friend Linda, explaining what happened. She came out of the car and opened the hood, coughing because of the smoke coming out of it. The street was quite empty and there seemed to be no one around. Just her luck she thought, trying to figure out what was wrong with the car.
Barry was on his way out of the coffee shop when he noticed a bright red Porsche on the side of the street and the most beautiful woman he had ever seen standing next to it. The Iris West. She was wearing a short white dress with red and black prints, flared sleeves and a small opening running down the middle of her chest revealing a bit of beautiful brown skin. Her legs looked amazing and her strappy white heels enhanced her toned legs even more. Her hair was placed in a high ponytail with some of it left out on the sides and her full lips were painted ruby red. She was a vision. He was so distracted by how amazing she looked that he didn’t notice that she seemed to be having trouble with her car.
“Excuse me miss, do you need some help?” He said, approaching her.
“Oh my god! You scared me.” She replied; a bit startled. “Yes, I do. My car broke down and I don’t know what’s wrong with it.”
“I could have a look at it for you. I’m an auto mechanic.” He said politely, trying to keep calm.
Iris eyed him suspiciously debating on if she should accept his help or not but she was out of options, so she agreed.
“Thank you so much! You’re a lifesaver.” She replied gratefully, stepping away from the hood.
As she watched him, she noticed that he was quite tall and even in her heels she could barely reach his shoulder. He was wearing a green striped shirt with a tag that read ‘Barry’ and another that read ‘Advantage Auto Parts’. She guessed that was his name and figured that he was telling the truth about being an auto mechanic which made her relax a bit. He was also wearing army green trousers and worn out converses.
“It looks like you have a cracked radiator, miss.” He said, interrupting her thoughts and for the first time looking at her closely. Barry was baffled by how much more beautiful she looked.
“My workshop is just around the corner I could tow your car and fix it if you’d like.”
“That would be great, thank you.” She said, also facing him properly for the first time, admiring his pretty green eyes and long eyelashes. “Thanks Barry.”
“H-how do you know my name?” Barry questioned, nervously.
“It’s on your name tag.” She laughed. “I’m Iris, by the way.” She said, extending her hand to him and giving him a dazzling smile.
Barry could’ve sworn that her smile could give the sun a run for its money. “Oh yeah that’s right. I’m Barry, Barry Allen.” He blushed, shaking her hand.
They both felt a spark of electricity as their hands made contact but that didn’t mean anything right?
“Um, I know who you are. I’ve been following you since your first article. You’re so beautiful,” Barry said enthusiastically, his eyes twinkling. “The article you wrote exposing that infamous drug cartel was so badass! I can’t believe you went undercover for that story for months- I’m babbling I’m so sorry- I tend to do that a lot.” He said, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.
“It’s okay. I find it really cute. Thank you for supporting me and you’re not so bad yourself.” She said appreciatively.
There was a pause and they kept staring at each other.
“Alright well I’m just going to get my tow truck and then we can get your car fixed. Be right back.” He said, breaking the silence and hurrying away.
At the auto repair workshop
“Are you sure you want to wait until I’m done fixing your car?” Barry asked her.
He was wondering why she decided to stay. Surely being an established and well-known journalist meant that she would have other important things to do than wait for her car to be fixed by a mechanic in an old automobile workshop… right?
“Yes I am. I don’t have much to do today and I’m pretty sure my meeting is over.” Iris was not sure why she decided to stay but there was just something about Barry that made her want to be around him. Linda had informed her that the meeting went well even though the people she was supposed to meet were slightly annoyed. She would make sure to give them her apologies later. She didn’t have anything else planned for the day until later so she might as well just wait for her car to be fixed.
She watched as Barry fixed her radiator. His arm muscles flexing as he worked made her think that maybe there were more muscles under those clothes…
“Do you run this place by yourself?” Iris asked, distracting herself and looking around the workshop. It was quite big, a bunch of tools around the place and everything organised.
“I do actually, I inherited it from my father.” He paused. “My dad and mum passed away in a car accident about 10 years ago. This place meant a lot to us, so I decided to continue running it instead of shutting it down. I used to come here and help him all the time as a kid.” He explained, focusing his attention on tightening the bolt. “The workshop has been doing quite well so far. I guess I’m doing something right.”
“I’m so sorry, Barry. You’ve done pretty well for yourself and I’m sure your parents would be proud of you.” Iris said sympathetically, placing her hand on his shoulder.
“Thanks.” He replied appreciatively.
“You probably know this already, but I lost my mum to cancer when I was 8. Everyone knows the story on the surface, but no one really knows how much it affected my family. My dad was really shaken by her death but that didn’t stop him from raising me the best way he could.” She said, inhaling deeply, “At some point, things got hard and we had some financial problems, so I had to work really hard to get myself through school and become who I am today.” She said, getting emotional.
Iris was not sure why she was revealing so much of herself to a stranger, but it just felt right. Barry was so easy to talk to.
Barry stopped fixing her car and removed his gloves. He stepped closer to her, looking her in the eyes and running his hands up and down her arms. “I’m proud of you, Iris.” He said sincerely.
“I’m proud of you too.” She said, giving him a smile.
They got lost in each other’s eyes again and just stood there staring at each other until someone cleared their throat making them jump apart, Barry knocking over his tool box.
“Shit! Cisco! You scared me man.” Barry exclaimed, clumsily putting his tools back in the box. Iris watched him in amusement.
“How was I supposed to know you had company? We were supposed to go bowling at 1 remember?” Cisco said annoyed, turning to look at the woman next to him.
“Iris West! Wow you’re even more beautiful in person, I’m Cisco Ramon, Barry’s best friend.” He said, taking her hand and kissing the back of her palm. “Barry’s like your biggest fan he talks about your articles all the time and I’m pretty sure he can recite some of them word for word- ow!” Cisco flinched as Barry pinched his side while Iris couldn’t help the grin that spread across her face.
“Um that’s enough Cisco.” Barry said, blushing and shooing Cisco away. “We’ll have to reschedule. I’ll call you later!”
“Nice to meet you Iris!” Cisco yelled on his way out.
“Nice to meet you too!” Iris yelled back.
“Sorry about that.” Barry said nervously “I’m just going to finish this up really quickly.” He said, tightening the last screw before shutting the hood.
“Done!” He said, smiling widely.
“Your friend seems cool.” Iris said, walking back to her car. She picked up a piece of paper and wrote down her number. She paid him for the repair work and put the paper with her number in his pocket.
“Make sure you call me, I love bowling as well and would love to hang out with you Mr Allen.” She said, lips close to his ear and barely any space between them.
Barry could barely breathe.
“You- you want to hang out with me? B- but I’m so ordinary.” He stuttered.
Iris held his face in her hands and looked at him seriously. “You’re far from ordinary to me, Barry Allen. Thank you for the help. I’ll see you around.” She said as she placed a kiss on his lips and drove out of the workshop.