A/N: I might turn this into a multi-chapter fic, but I don't know yet. It depends on if that's something that you guys would be interested in. So if you like this story and want me to continue it, make sure you leave me a review and let me know. :)

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Prompt: "Wait, I actually have a competent lab partner?"

Characters: Barry Allen/The Flash & Iris West from The Flash

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It was the first day of the new semester and so far, Iris's classes were off to a rocky start. Her goal had been to get as many of her General Education classes out of the way as she could in her first year, and she had been doing great so far. Last semester all of her GenEd's had been either easy, or at the very least mildly entertaining. However, it wasn't looking like she was going to be that lucky this semester. So far today she had already been to Calculus, which had been a truly rousing class in which their professor had droned on for 90 minutes in a monotone voice about how to find the absolute maximum and absolute minimum values of a function. Her notebook contained two full pages of math terms and definitions, graphs, squiggly lines, and numbers that she had already forgotten the meaning of.

Now she was sitting in the lab for her Introduction to Chemistry 101 class, the seats around her already filling up fast. In fact, as Iris looked around the room it appeared that the only seat remaining empty was the one directly to her left. The young girl reached down, an unhappy pout on her face, and pulled her brand new chemistry text book, an unused notebook, and a black ink pen from her bag. It wasn't that she disliked science, it was just that she had never been very good at it. She wouldn't say she was horrible with the subject, but it was far from her best and it had never come easy to her. This was definitely going to be a class that she would need to work hard in, as would be her Calculus class, if she wanted to pass with at least a 'B' average this semester.

Just as she was setting her books down on the desk a short and pudgy woman with graying blond hair walked in. She was carrying a rather heavy looking bag and a large stack of books. Iris assumed that this frazzled looking woman must be the professor, and she was proved to be correct when the woman dumped her belongings down on the desk at the front of the room and collapsed in the chair. A moment later the door swung open again to reveal a tall, thin, brunette young man rushing into the room to avoid being tardy. After taking a quick glance around the room his eyes settled on the empty seat beside her, seeming to realize it was the only available chair left. Hurriedly, he made his way across the room to where she sat and took his seat just as the frazzled woman began speaking.

"Good morning class." Their professor began in a friendly tone of voice. "I'm Dr. Andrea Walksburner, and I'm comfortable with you just calling me Andrea if you are. Okay?"

There was a murmur of consent throughout the room, all of the students seeming to agree that they were in fact comfortable calling their professor by her first name. Iris loved that it was an option to be able to call her teachers by their first name in college. And as of currently, she was already liking this woman more than her Calculus professor.

"Alrighty then." Andrea continued. The woman stood up and shuffled through her bag for a moment before returning her attention back to the class, now holding a paper in her hands. "This is Introduction to Chemistry 101, welcome. Its so good to see so many smiling faces in here this morning. I'm going to take role, not that I need to with the seats so full, but it does help me learn your names. So if I mispronounce a name or you go by something different, let me know. Okay?"

There was another chorus of agreement. The woman nodded, smiling, and looked down at her paper and began calling role. "Okay, Bartholomew Allen?"

The boy sitting beside her raised his hand. "Its Barry, actually." He informed the woman.

"Barry Allen." Andrea amended as she scribbled the correction onto her attendance sheet. "Can't blame you there." she told him peering over her sheet with a friendly smile.

The boy sitting next to her—Barry—smiled at the professors comment as he reached down and gathered his Chemistry book, notebook, pencil, and highlighter from his bag. In that brief exchange between her desk companion and her professor Iris had decided two things. The first being that she was definitely going to like Andrea. The second was that Barry Allen had an insanely cute smile.

"Bartholomew?" She whispered. She hadn't meant to say it out lout, but she had. Fortunately he didn't seem to mind much.

He looked over at her, eyebrows raised and a smirk playing on his lips as he whispered a response. "Hey, don't look at me. I didn't pick the name."

Iris couldn't help but smile at him. "Your last name is so normal though. And then Bartholomew? Where did that come from?"

"No idea." He laughed, and it was an adorable sound. "Personally, I think my parents thought 'Barry' was a cute nick name and just kind of went with it."

She laughed too, deciding that Barry Allen was all around adorable in every possible way. Their teacher had continued taking role through out their conversation, calling out each name and pausing on occasion to make a correction in pronunciation and/or on the sheet. Finally, she reached the end of the attendance sheet.

"And last but certainly not least, Iris West?" The woman at the front of the room called out.

"Here." The girl announced, raising her hand and offering a friendly smile.

The woman paused to put the attendance sheet back in her bag and removed the books she would be needing for class. Barry took the opportunity to lean towards Iris and continue their conversation.

"Now see, that's just not fair." He whispered to her.

"What's not fair?" She asked curiously.

"Your name is Iris. I can't even make fun of you for that name, its too pretty."

He was smiling at her and his smile was infectious. "But I can tease you for yours." She said returning his smile.

"So you see how its not fair?" He laughed softly. Iris laughed too, and was about to respond when Andrea began teaching.

The rest of the class was, as most first days are, relatively easy. Andrea gave them a lot of vocabulary to write down, as well as definitions—pausing periodically to make a joke about something. So far she seemed to be a pretty cool teacher, and for the most part Iris understood all of the vocab notes pretty well—words were something she was good at, after all. That being said, she knew that when it came time to actually apply the vocab to her work in class she would be needing some assistance. She did her best to take good notes and pay attention, though in comparison to Barry she knew it had to be obvious she was bored. The adorable young man sitting beside her seemed to be very intrigued by everything that their professor was saying, and even asked several well thought out questions that seemed to surprise Andrea as much as they had Iris. The teacher answered all of his questions easily of course, but she still seemed taken back each time by the fact that they were being asked by a first year student. When Iris glanced down at his notes, they were twice as detailed as hers were and it quickly became obvious that her desk mate was, in fact, a science nerd. Not that she minded, of course—he was cute, and he seemed to be nice. She figured she would be alright sharing a desk with Barry Allen all semester.

There were about ten minutes left before class ended when Andrea stopped teaching. "You'll be partnered with the person sitting next to you for all of your labs and assignments." She told them, "Which means you'll be spending a lot of time together. So I thought that I'd give you the rest of class to get to know one another and exchange contact information."

With that statement she took a seat in her chair, typing away on her laptop. Iris looked to her left and smiled at her partner. "Well I think we've got the name part covered, Bartholomew 'Barry' Allen."

Barry laughed, turning around in his chair so that he was facing her. "I believe we do, Miss Iris West."

"Then I guess that just leaves us with the sharing contact information and bonding part." she began, smiling and turning around in her own chair to face him.

She pulled her phone out of her back pocket and got it set up to add a new contact before handing the device over to Barry. He retrieved his own phone from his pocket and got it ready before passing it to her. She took it with a smile and they both took a moment to add their names and numbers to each others phone. After receiving her own phone back and handing her lab partner his, she sent him a quick text to make sure it would go through. A second later his phone chimed.

"Hey, its Iris. Smiley face." He read out loud with a laugh. "Got it."

"You know you don't actually have to say 'smiley face' right?" Iris laughed.

"Bu you sent me a smiley face. See?" He said holding up his phone to show her the text.

"Yes, I know I sent you a smiley face." she laughed, playfully pushing his hand down.

Barry turned his attention to his phone and a moment later her own phone chimed in response. She shook her head, smiling at him, as she checked her phone. He had sent her a smiley face of his own. "Okay, I think we've got the contact information part down now too." She laughed.

"Which just leaves the bonding part." He agreed, laughing as he put his phone back into his pocket.

"So," Iris began, putting her own phone away. "You're a science nerd I take it?" She asked him, glancing down at his extensive notes.

"Oh, uh, yea." He told her, reaching up to rub the back of his neck, laughing nervously. "Yea, kind of. I mean, I'm a Forensic Science major, so I guess being a science nerd comes with the territory."

"So what you're saying is that you're good at science."

He looked at her in confusion. "I mean, I enjoy it too, but yea."

"Wait, you mean I actually have a competent lab partner?" She asked laughing.

Barry joined in on her laughter. "Looks like it."

"No, I'm actually being serious." Iris told him through her laughter. "My last lab partner in high school was a total pot head. He came over to my house to work on an assignment and he ended up smoking a joint in my back yard the entire time, leaving me to do all the work. Which come to think of it, was actually pretty brave of him, considering my dad's a cop."

"Don't give him that much credit." Her partner said, somehow managing to keep a straight face. "He wasn't brave, he'd just smoked one too many joints and killed half of his brain cells."

She wasn't sure if it was the comment or the fact that he had managed to say it with such a straight face, but either way she couldn't stop herself from laughing. "Right? That, or he was just really desperate for a fix."

"Something like that." The green eyed boy sitting beside her laughed. "So what about you? What's your major going to be? Or, do you not know yet?"

"No, I do know." Iris told him, smiling proudly. "I'm a Journalism major."

"Really?" He asked her, breaking into a wide grin, his brows raised in interest. She nodded her head in confirmation and he continued. "Wow, that is so cool."

"Thanks." She smiled. "So, as you can probably guess from my major, I'm basically just in this class for the GenEd credit. Not that I hate science or anything, I've just never been that great at it. I'm not terrible either, though. I mean, if I work my ass off I can usually pass the class with a strong 'B,' but its not an easy subject for me."

"It makes sense though." He told her, and she knit her brows together in question, so he continued. "I mean, about science not coming easy for you. If you're a journalism major, then I take it that you're a really good writer, right?"

"Yea. I guess?" She said, still not quite understanding.

"Well, writing and language are viewed as an art form, which would be the creative side of the brain—or the right brain. Math and science are more technical, which would be the analytical side of the brain—or the left brain. So, someone like you would be considered to be right brain dominate."

"And you would be considered left brain dominate?" Iris guessed.

"Right." Barry said. "So, the two sides of the brain are only connected by a relatively thin membrane, so that makes it harder to access the less dominate side of your brain. But just because you're right brain dominate, that doesn't mean you can't think analytically. Its just that its more difficult—and I'm going full nerd on you right now aren't I?"

She could only laugh and nod her head. "A little bit, yea."

"Sorry." He muttered, rubbing the back of his neck again.

"That's okay." She laughed, "Its actually kind of adorable."

Barry didn't seem to be able to find his words to form a response. "I—uh." He got out nervously, his face turning a beautiful shade of red.

Iris shook her head at seeing him so flustered, laughing softly. "Sorry, I uh, I didn't mean—"

"No, no its fine. Its fine. I've just never had anyone tell me that my full on nerd attacks were adorable before." he laughed, his face still blushing.

"You're just, really passionate about it. I like that you're so enthusiastic when you talk about science. I've never seen anyone get so excited about science before."

"Yea, see, that's why I was always labeled as the weird kid in school." He informed her, gathering his books back up as their professor dismissed the class. "Nobody likes the science nerd."

Iris packed her own bag before slinging it over her shoulder and standing. "Hey, I happen to like you just fine so far." She told him, waiting for him so they could walk out together. She really liked talking to Barry, he was easy to talk to and something about it just felt natural to her. "And I think its pretty cool, actually. There is nothing wrong with having a hobby."

He smiled at her standing up, pulling his own bag over his shoulders. She knew he was tall, she could tell as much when he first walked in, but now that he was standing beside her the height difference became even more obvious. If she had to guess, he looked to be about 6'1 or 6'2. Iris, being only 5'4 in height, barely reached his chest. The top of her head was about level with his collar bone, and she couldn't help but feel even shorter standing next to him.

"Well, I happen to like you so far too." He told her smiling, "And I think that would make you the only person who thinks its cool. But thanks."

"Any time." Iris said, returning his smile as they made their way out into the buildings hallway. "So where are you heading now?"

"I have a philosophy class in 10 minutes." Barry exhaled, sounding very annoyed by that fact.

"Oh." She said, laughing at his clear lack of interest in the subject. "French class, for me."

"French class?" He asked her.

"Yea, well, I never took a language in high school, and French seemed like more fun than Spanish or German so."

"Oh." The green eyed young man beside her replied. "Well, have fun then?"

"I'll try." Iris laughed, heading for the exit nearest to the building she needed to go next. "I'll uh, I'll see you later, I guess?"

"Yea, definitely. And if you ever need any help in Chemistry or some other science class, I'd be more than happy to help, if you wanted."

"I might have to take you up on that offer sometime." She told him, smiling. "I'll see you Barry."

"Bye Iris." She heard him laugh behind her as she turned and went outside. Iris smiled to herself as she walked to her next class, and found that it was incredibly difficult to clear the adorable green eyed Barry Allen from her mind—quite possibly because she simply didn't want to.

…...

A/N: Tah dah! What did y'all think? Did you like it? Do you want me to continue this story? Let me know in a review!

I know I said I was going to be writing my other prompt request in a certain order, but I just saw this AU meeting idea on Tumblr and fell in love with it. I was feeling pretty inspired, so I wrote this. If I do make this a multi-chapter fic though, I plan to finish up my other prompt request first. So it may be awhile before I update this story again, but I do hope to be able to continue it if that's something that you guys are interested in. I love you all! :)

XOXO,

WallFlower.