Christmas At the West House.

Coffee Encounters

Previously...

They all walk to the couch and sit down.

Eddie brings Iris closer to him in attempts of keeping her warm and they start cuddling.

“So Barry, why did you run out unannounced? You should have seen Iris. She had us all freaked out.” Eddie looks at him curiously.

Coffee Encounters.

It’s 9:30am. Barry wakes up late; as usual, and has to be at work by 10:00am. He uses his speed to shower and thankfully arrives the station on time. He walks in and accidentally bumps into Eddie who was carrying a cup of hot coffee.

“Oh my God! I’m so sorry Eddie. I was rushing and I really didn’t see you there.” Barry starts apologizing.

“It’s totally fine, Allen, don’t worry about it. But I’m going to need another cup of coffee. My sanity runs on that stuff.” He explains. Thankfully, Iris always has one readymade for me every morning.” Eddie says with a smile plastered on his face.

Iris, of course was the reason he had gone to bed later than usual. She had called him that same night as soon as he entered his apartment. They talked about their feelings. Iris insisted they spilled all of their secrets because she couldn’t bare finding out another one of his secrets. Iris went on about missing him when he was in the coma and how alone she felt when she couldn’t see him or talk to him. He had been her oldest and closest friend for so long that she had no one to turn to. That is, until Eddie came along. She talked about how supportive and caring he had been: driving her to and from Star Labs whenever she had the day off work so she could see him. She told him how Eddie was always there for her when she felt all alone.

“Iris, just so you know, I refuse to be your maid of honor. You’re going to have to find yourself some female friends before it’s too late. You’re already moving in with Eddie, who knows what’s next?” Barry jokingly insisted and Iris immediately knew that was his way of giving his blessing to them.

“Aw, I was so looking forward to seeing you in sea foam lace!” She had replied in a sarcastic but disappointing tone. “And besides, I have other friends besides you. You just haven’t met them yet. But you’re right; I do need some friends of my own gender. Not telling you every detail of my relationship with Eddie is going to be really hard.” She had said with an honest tone.

“Iris, we can talk about Eddie. But the really intimate stuff you have to keep to yourself. It’s going to be hard but I’ll try my best to be supportive.” He reassured her.

Hearing those words had meant the world to her. In a way, the awkwardness had evaporated in thin air.

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“Earth to Barry Allen!” Eddie says, waving to his face.

“Sorry, I didn’t get enough sleep last night. I’m going to need some coffee too if I plan on getting anything done today.” Barry tells to Eddie. “What’s your usual?” He asks.

“Just tell Iris, she knows how I like it.” Eddie smiles and walks away.

Barry was suffocating with jealousy. He hurried out of the station and in a blink of an eye, he found himself at Jitters.

He expected to see Iris behind the counters but she was nowhere to be found. Asking her co-workers was not an option since jitters was really busy between the hours of 6 and 12. He took out his phone and decided to give Eddie a call to ask him for his usual order since Iris was apparently nowhere to be found.

Although her absence was unusual, he felt relieve in that he wasn’t quite ready to face her just yet. He was scared and wished the other night didn’t happen so they could go back to being Barry and Iris; the very best of friends.