OUT OF TIME , barry allen✔️

11. Something beautiful

I laid on the couch in my apartment, reading a book while I enjoyed the silence. It was comfortable. When I heard a knock on my door I put the book down, got up and walked to the door. When I opened it, Iris was greeting me with a smile. "Hey." I said surprised and let her in. "Hi. I'm not bothering you, am I?" She asked as I closed the door. "What? No. I was just reading a book." I answered and she nodded. We wetnt into the kitchen and she sat down at the small kitchen island. "Coffee?" I asked and looked at the reporter. "Sure, thank you." She said and I began to make coffee. "So, um, you've been hiding up in here for a few days, huh?" She asked and I frowned. "No?" I answered unsure. "I was at Star Labs earlier and we're all pretty worried about you. How have you been?" She asked and I got the cups from my cupboard. "Fine. I've just been thinking about a lot of things." I said quietly. "You know Barry has been asking about you." Iris said and I nodded shortly. Then I filled the cups with coffee and turned around to Iris. "Huh." I silently hummed and handed her one of the cups.

"Okay." I said after a while and looked up to Iris. "Since a few weeks I feel different... Storm- Storm made me realize that I might have feelings for- for Barry." I breathed out shakily and watched Iris closely. I was afraid of her reaction but it turned out that I didn't have a reason to. Because she smirked and then drank a sip of her coffee. "Well, it was about time." She said and chuckled. I frowned for a second. "Don't tell him that I told you this but Barry has been talking about his feelings for you for like three months now and honestly, it was getting on my nerves." Iris laughed  and I blinked a few times before I realized what she just said. "What?" I asked softly and she nodded. "It's true." She said after another sip. I took a deep breath and then drank the coffee silently. "With everything that's going on with- with Thawne and Echo I- I don't think romantic feelings aren't a good idea." I spoke and Iris looked up from her cup. "Well, it's not like you could turn them off." She said. I chuckled softly and nodded. "Right." I whispered.

-

Iris had dragged me to Star Labs even though I didn't want to. But apparantly I had no choice. "It's different now." I heard someone say when Iris and I were in the near of the cortex. "Really? Barry, you said you don't want to keep secrets and if you're not going to tell her the truth-" In that moment we entered the cortex and saw Cisco and Barry arguing. They turned around to us and I awkwardly waved at them. "Zoe! You're back." Cisco said and I chuckled. "Iris made me leave my apartment." I said and we hugged shortly. Then I looked at Barry. "Hey, Cisco why don't you show me that weird cube again?" Iris asked and Cisco chuckled before they left us alone. I walked up to Barry.

"Hi. Long time no see." I said and Barry grinned for a moment and nodded. "Yeah, definitely." He said and then he stepped forward and embraced me by wrapping his arms around me. I sighed as I closed my eyes and snaked my arms around him. "I missed you." I whispered and Barry pulled away from me. I opened my eyes and looked up in his. "I missed you, too." He answered. "There, um, is something important that I have to tell you and it's best if you heard from me and not Cisco or Caitlin." I frowned and Barry and I sat down.

"A few days ago Thawne showed up. And he- he said something. About our future." Our? I kept quiet and waited patiently. "He made some remark about us being best friends when in the future we're so much more than that." Barry said and I began to understand. "I know that this isn't the right moment and there probably never is, but I am afraid that it's too late when I tell you the truth." He whispered and then Barry took my hands in his own. "One day I started seeing you differently. And from that moment on I haven't been able to stop thinking about you. And when you became Storm I promised myself that I would never leave your side or let you get harmed because seeing you hurt is what I fear most right now." He said softly and I looked into his eyes, speechless.

I sighed deeply before I spoke, "Being with you I've always felt like everything could be possible. And I never believed I would feel like this, but I do, and I'm grateful for it. Because these feelings that I have for you, I don't think I want to live without them anymore. And ironically it was Storm who made me see that." I whispered. Barry got up, pulled me up with him and now held me close. As he kissed my forehead I wrapped my arms around him again and took a deep breath. We stood like that for a while, just hugging eachother. "I really missed you." I whispered and chuckled. "Me, too." He answered and when we pulled away from eachother we looked into eachother's eyes before noticing that we weren't alone anymore. "Finally!" Cisco said as he entered the cortex after standing in the hall and I turned around to him. I frowned. "How long have you-" "Long enough." He answered and he smirked at us. "Way to go, by the way!" He said and I rolled my eyes. When he went to grab something on the desk I pushed the object out of his hands and smiled innocently at Cisco. "Oops." I hummed and Cisco gave me a look before picking the object up.