#‵ ( °╭━⟨ IT HAS BEEN SO HARD ON YOUR FEET ╲ WALLY WEST˖ )

[dccomicsimagines]

Love in the Air - Dick Grayson x Reader

Requested by Anon -  Hi there! Do you think you could please do a dick Grayson x f!reader where it’s the first time someone has ever given her Valentine’s Day gifts and he goes all out and asks her to be his valentine? Thank you!

Author’s Note - This is very late and took off into something else...sorry.

***

“Wait a minute, you’ve never celebrated Valentine’s Day?!” Steph shouted from across the living room. Dick sat up straighter. He glanced over from his spot at the chessboard. Tim was soundly beating him, so Dick welcomed any distraction. It was just a perk that it was about you.

“It wasn’t a big deal where I grew up,” you said, taking a sip from your mug. You and Barbara were sitting on the couch while Steph and Cass sat on the floor. Bruce invited everyone over for a family dinner. Dick had been surprised to see you, but he expected Barbara had invited you. “I don’t really see the appeal anyway.”

Steph’s jaw hung open. “Your turn, Dick,” Tim said, smirking slightly. Dick sighed, focusing back on the game only to move a pawn to another dead end. Tim’s smirk got wider at the sight. 

“Just end me swiftly,” Dick chuckled, turning to focus back on you.

“Funny that you haven’t celebrated. Didn’t you date Wally West in high school? He didn’t do anything for Valentine’s Day?” Barbara laughed, leaning back in her chair.

Dick blushed. He remembered the jealousy at seeing you with Wally. One of his best kept secrets was how he was happy when you two broke up. 

“No, he’s fast, but slow brained.” You shook your head. “He always forgot, but I didn’t really care. Besides, he always remembered my birthday. Still does actually.” You laughed. “He brings me flowers.”

Dick frowned, the jealousy crawled up inside him again. Tim nudged Dick’s arm. “Checkmate.”

“You’re too smart for me, Timmy.” Dick sighed, smiling when Tim flinched at the praise. 

Tim blushed, waving his hand. “You’re distracted.” He looked at you then back at Dick. Now it was Dick’s turn to blush.

“Quiet down.” Dick swallowed hard before looking back at you. Luckily, the girls were too into their conversation to notice.

“I’m going to get more tea. Anyone want refills?” You offered, getting to your feet. 

Dick got to his feet. “Me.” He smiled, handing you his cup. You smiled back at him before leaving the room. 

Steph scoffed. “Okay, I got what you wanted.” She stretched her arms.

Dick raised an eyebrow. “You didn’t have to be so direct.” He quickly looked back at the door. “Lower your voice.”

“In all fairness, you stand a chance. (Y/N) has told me in confidence that she thinks you’re hot,” Barbara said, laughing when Dick’s jaw dropped.

“Not so loud.” Dick ran a hand through his hair. His heart fluttered. You thought he was hot? A smirk pulled at his lips. “Did she really say that?”

Barbara nodded. Cass stood up and helped Tim clean up the chessboard. “What about Wally West? Are you worried about him?” Cass asked softly, studying Dick carefully. “You are jealous of him.”

Dick pursed his lips. “I’m not worried.” He chuckled half heartedly, looking at the door again. “They broke up years ago. They’re just friends.” Dick tensed at Cass’ unconvinced look. “Don’t look at me like that. They’re not a thing.”

Cass hummed before starting another game with Tim. Dick sighed. You came back in. “Here you go,” you said, handing Dick his cup. 

Dick grinned. “Thank you.” He saw a charm bracelet on your wrist. “When did you get that?”

“Oh.” You turned your wrist to let him get a better look. “I’ve had this since I was little. My parents gave me charms for every milestone. I buy myself one from time to time too.” You shrugged. “I don’t wear it unless I know I’m not going to have to be (Y/S/N).”

Dick touched a charm of a vial. “What’s this one from?”

“Oh Wally gave me that.” You laughed. “After taking me to my first science fair.”

Dick’s heart dropped to his feet. “Aww.” He back away, sipping his tea. “That’s cool.”

You tilted your head before moving to sit back down with Barbara. Barbara got you into conversation, distracting you helpfully. Dick swallowed hard. Steph stood up, casually walking over to Dick.

“Just talk to Wally to ease your doubts. I noticed she has a lot of room on that bracelet and never celebrated a Valentine’s Day,” she whispered softly, bumping him with her hip. “Just go for it. Otherwise, why did you pay me to get you info?”

Dick snorted. He sipped his tea, listening in on your conversation while watching Cass destroy Tim at chess. “Who says I was going to pay you?” He laughed when Steph gasped, slapping his arm before going on a rant about his trickery.

***

Dick relaxed in his living room. He checked his phone, frowning at the time. “Wow, a minute late...a new record,” he said to himself. Suddenly, a gust of wind blew through the apartment. 

“I’m not late. Your phone is fast.” Wally appeared next to Dick with a case of beer and three bags of fast food. “Honestly, I got caught up with a hit and run I found on the way here.” He flopped onto the couch with a groan.

“I have four pizzas in the oven, man. You didn’t have to bring food.” Dick laughed as Wally dug into the food. He paused long enough to hand Dick a beer.

“Hey, this is my appetizer.” Wally grinned with his mouth full.

Dick shook his head, rolling his eyes. He opened his beer and took a long sip. It was cheap beer, then again Wally couldn’t afford much with his appetite. Dick reminded himself to slip some money into Wally’s bank account again. Another “tax refund”.

“So how is everything?” Dick smiled, waiting for Wally to take a breath.

“Good. Busy as usual. You?” Wally slowed down, munching on a fry. “How’s the dating scene?”

Dick swallowed past the lump that formed in his throat. “Well, I kinda wanted to talk to you about that.”

Wally’s eyes widened, dropping his fry. “Dude, I love you, but not that way.” He blushed as red as his hair.

“What?” Dick choked. He almost dropped his beer. “No! I’m not asking you out, Walls. You forget I have seen you eat.”

Wally scoffed. “Rude. I’m a catch.” He looked down at his fallen fry before reaching down to pick it up and eat it. 

Dick wrinkled his nose, guffawing. “Right, a catch. You nerd.” He shoved at Wally’s arm. Wally chuckled himself. “I can’t believe you were able to date (Y/N) for two years.”

“In high school.” Wally took out another burger. “I don’t think that counts as an achievement.”

“She talks about you a lot.” Dick ran a hand over his face. Part of him was losing his nerve. Could he survive being the reason you and Wally got back together? His chest wanted to burst at the thought.

Wally stopped, mouth open with burger halfway in. He looked at Dick carefully before setting his burger down. “Are you acting on your crush on (Y/N) finally? Dude, it’s been years.”

Dick’s heart skipped a beat. “What?! You knew?!”

“Dick, I’m your best friend.” Wally rolled his eyes, leaning back with his hands behind his head. “Come on. I knew you liked (Y/N) from the start, but I liked her too.” Wally pursed his lips. “But after we broke up, I thought you would make your move, but I guess you were too into Kori at the time.”

Dick bit his lip, looking out the window at the skyline. It was quiet for mid afternoon. “I guess I was.”

“Well, go for it. (Y/N) always thought you were hot even during the disco years.” Wally snorted, clapping a hand on Dick’s shoulder. “And that means something, I don’t even think Kori was a fan of that suit.”

“Shut up.” Dick let a smile tug at his lips. “She mentioned how you still give her flowers on her birthday?”

Wally picked up his burger. “And I always sing you happy birthday on yours. I do stuff for my friends on their birthdays as most people do.” He took a big bite. Dick picked up his beer, sipping at it as he thought. He remembered you checking him out, but he never thought much of it at the time. 

“And you really didn’t celebrate Valentine’s Day with her?” Dick asked after a long moment. A cloudy plan slowly formed in his mind.

Wally blushed, finishing his burger and licking his fingers. “Oh yeah, I didn’t. Kept forgetting. I was sixteen and dumb.”

“Still dumb.” Dick laughed when Wally pushed him gently. Wally pouted, but Dick’s plan was suddenly becoming clearer. 

***

You yawned as you woke to the sound of your phone ringing. “I knew I should have turned that off,” you mumbled, reaching over to grab it. You hit the answer button blindly, keeping your eyes closed. “Hello?” You yawned again.

“(Y/N)? Sorry, is this a bad time?” Dick’s voice sounded shaky and...nervous. You opened your eyes, frowning up at your bedroom ceiling. 

“No, it’s okay.” You swallowed hard. “What’s wrong?”

Dick choked. “No, nothing is wrong,” he said quickly. In your mind’s eye, you could see him running his hand through his hair. Signature Dick Grayson move. You almost laughed, sitting up and rubbing your eyes. “Sorry, I realize I don’t normally call you without it being an emergency.” 

A real laugh bubbled out of you. “It’s okay, Dick. What’s up?” You looked around your room, noting your vigilante suit was still on the floor. It was dirty. You wrinkled your nose.

“So I...” He cleared his throat. “Bruce got an invitation to try out this new restaurant that opened by Wayne Tower. He doesn’t want to go, but gave it to me and I have a plus one...” 

You smiled. “A plus one huh?”

Dick paused. “Yeah, so you want to go? Tonight?” 

“I’m game. What time?” You bit your lip. It was strange for Dick to ask you to dinner. The two of you never hung out alone before.

“Six. I’ll pick you up at your place.” Dick’s tone brightened. You heard a bang followed by an ouch. “Stupid ceiling.”

You laughed. “Six o’clock. I’ll see you then.” Hanging up the phone, you shook your head and threw back your covers to start your day.

***

Dick adjusted the collar of his blue button-down shirt in the mirror before turning around. “What do you think? Sexy, but causal?” 

“It looks nice,” Tim said. Tim was seated on Dick’s bed, flipping through Dick’s old yearbook while Dick attempted to find something to wear. Dick knew this wasn’t Tim’s thing, but appreciated that he was trying. Tim frowned suddenly. “Wait, do you know what (Y/N) is going to wear? You don’t want to clash.”

“I think I’ll be fine, Timmy.” Dick chuckled, turning back to the mirror. 

“Did you order flowers?” Tim asked, going back to the yearbook in his lap. 

“Yes, I got her favorites.” Dick turned to go into his closet to search for his dress shoes. He tossed clothes and shoes over his shoulder, making his room a disaster. 

Tim hummed, grunting when a shirt landed on top of his head. “So you’re nervous?”

“Why would you say that?” Dick found his dress shoes and sat on the floor to put them on. He wouldn’t admit it to anyone, but there was a few butterflies in his stomach. Maybe you didn’t like him that way anymore? It could be too weird for you. After all, you dated Wally. Maybe it would be strange for you?

“Well, you don’t normally throw your clothes around the room or take this long to get dressed or invite me over to check your outfit?” Tim chuckled, yanking the shirt off his head and tossing it on the floor with the rest. “Besides, you should have asked Steph over, she’s better at this sort of thing.”

“Yeah.” Dick snorted, struggling with a knot in his laces. “Steph won’t let me have any peace until I pay her money for her services.”

“I warned you.” Tim pursed his lips, setting the yearbook aside. “If you buy her waffles at some point, she’ll forgive you. Just make sure they are good ones.”

Dick nodded. Tim held up his hand for the shoe. Dick tossed it over. “Thanks Timmy.”

Tim worked at the knot. “What did you do to this thing?” He muttered under his breath. 

Dick chuckled, getting up with only one shoe on. “I don’t know. Last time I wore these was...probably when I went undercover at that wedding.”

“That makes sense.” Tim rolled his eyes as he pulled the right lace and undid the knot. He tossed the shoe back to Dick. “You should be leaving soon. There might be traffic.”

“I will.” Dick hopped on one foot to put on his shoe. He grinned, flicking his head to get his hair out of his eyes. “Am I good? Anything else?”

Tim studied him, pursing his lips. “I think you’re good. Don’t forget the flowers...you still have to pick them up.” 

“I know.” Dick grabbed his wallet and keys. “Thanks Tim. Help yourself to anything. I’ll be back late.”

“If at all,” Tim mumbled so softly that Dick missed it. Dick swallowed hard, goosebumps from anticipation and nervousness appeared on his skin. He shivered, pushing away his nerves as he flew out the door.

***

You whined, stretching your arm at an awkward angle to try to zip up your dress. It was a beautiful, yet sexy one, but the only problem with it was the zipper. You always needed help with it. 

Sighing, you gave up after your arm ached. You put on your charm bracelet. “Oh well. Dick can get it for me.” You stood in front of your mirror, checking yourself. “Good enough.” It crossed your mind earlier that day as you replayed the conversation with Dick that this might be a date. The realization made you spit out your morning coffee. 

Of course, the first thing you did was call Wally.

“Hiya, (Y/N). Isn’t this early for you?” Wally answered, chuckling. You heard wind in the background, knowing he was probably patrolling Keystone. 

“I think Dick asked me out.” You ripped off the band-aid, wincing when you heard Wally trip and stumble on his end. 

He swore softly. “He did? Wow, that was quick. And on Valentine’s Day too.”

“So it is a date?!” You dropped your coffee cup. It shattered, spilling hot coffee all over your feet. “Damn it.” You stared at your feet, feeling the burns as you couldn’t move due to the glass.

A gust of wind ruffled your hair. “Oh dear.” Wally picked you up, zooming you to the bathroom and putting your feet in the bathtub. He turned on the cold water. You hissed, but stayed where you were, trying not to feel too dizzy from suddenly appearing in the bathroom. 

“Thanks Walls.” You let out a breath you didn’t realize you were holding. Wally sped out of the room only to come back with a fresh cup of coffee. He handed it to you. You smiled, taking a sip.

“I cleaned up your kitchen too.” Wally sat on the edge of the bathtub. “So...you okay knowing it’s a date?” His eyes were wide, waiting. It reminded you of when he first asked you out. He stared at you until you answered. It was the awkwardness minute of your life and the reason you told him no at first.

You took a big sip of coffee. “I mean...sure...but it wouldn’t be weird? For you?” You studied him, waiting for the sign that he was uncomfortable. However, Wally just grinned.

“Nah, I mean.” He ran a hand through his hair. A move he got from Dick. “We both liked you back in the day, but I got to you first. The only thing I beat him at actually.”

You snorted. “Really?” You blinked, thinking back to those days. 

Everyone flirted with each other. Teenage exploration and all that. Dick did always seem to watch you and you always made him blush. 

“Go for it. See what happens. Dick and you deserve a chance.” Wally kissed your cheek. “Of course, I will have always got you first. Make sure he knows that.”

You punched his arm hard. Wally whined, flinching. “I’m not a piece of meat, West.”

“Nope, you’re not. You’re just the most amazing person in the world and Dick better be good to you or I’ll come after him.” Wally grinned. 

You pulled him into a side hug and kissed his cheek. “Thanks Walls.” Wally blushed. 

A loud knock from your front door brought you to the here and now. You shook your head, smiling at the thought of Wally’s approval. Taking a deep breath, you made your way to the door and opened it.

Dick flicked his head, getting his hair out of his eyes. A big grin grew on his face at the sight of you. You couldn’t help, but smile back at him, taken back by his sparkling blue eyes. Did they always sparkle like that?

“Hi.” You said after a long moment. Shaking your head, you stepped aside to let him in. It was then you noticed the flowers in his hands. “Are those for me?” 

“Yeah.” He handed them to you. His hands shook slightly. You took comfort in the fact he seemed as jittery as you. 

“Thank you. I’ll put them in water.” You went into your kitchen. 

Dick followed you. He cleared his throat. “Do you need me to zip you up?” 

You turned to look at him, almost laughing at the blush on his cheeks. “If you could, thanks. As much as I’m sure the world wants to see my bare back...” You turned back around.

Dick’s fingers tickled your skin as he grabbed the zipper and gently pulled it up. Your skin buzzed at the touch. You threw him a smile over your shoulder and went to grab a vase from the cabinet. Dick stayed where he was, almost transfixed in place. 

You filled the vase with water and careful arranged the flowers inside, glad to have something to do with your hands. “Should we get going?” You glanced back at Dick only to find him watching you with an intensity that sent sparks straight to your abdomen. 

Dick jumped. “Yeah.” He cleared his throat before painting a charming smile on his face. “You ready?”

You nodded, stepping into your shoes and grabbing your purse. “Ready.” He offered his arm. You took it happily.

***

Dick pulled up to the restaurant. You played with the strap of your purse. The radio played softly, narrowly avoiding awkward silence. You blinked when you saw the red hearts decorating the front window of the restaurant. “Oh, is today Valentine’s Day?” you asked as Dick parked the car. You barely remembered Wally saying it was today.

“It is? Guess I didn’t notice?” He chuckled too quickly. You eyed him, knowing he definitely knew it was Valentine’s Day. 

Humming lowly, you started to get out of the car. “Wait,” Dick said, jumping out his side and running over to open your door for you. “My lady.” He bowed slightly and offered his hand. A cheeky smile on his face.

“Nerd.” You laughed, taking his hand and getting out. “But thank you.”

“Wow, first time I’ve been called a nerd.” Dick squeezed your fingers gently. He guided your hand to his arm. “At least by you anyway.”

You let your hand stay on his arm as he led you to the front of the restaurant. “Right, I used to call you killjoy.”

“Hey, I grew up.” Dick chuckled, holding restaurant door open for you.

“You did. Somewhat.” You smirked, his jaw dropped in fake surprise. The restaurant was busy, but had a calming atmosphere. 

“Do you have a reservation?” The hostess asked, smiling at your interaction.

Dick cleared his throat. “Yeah, under Grayson.” You raised an eyebrow at him. Dick narrowed his eyes at you. “Dick Grayson.”

“Oh yes, Mr. Grayson. Right this way.” The hostess led the way through the restaurant to a private booth in the back. “Your server will be with you shortly.” She set down the menus and left you and Dick alone. 

Dick gestured for you to sit first. You slid into the booth, making yourself comfortable. A small smirk pulled at your lips as Dick hesitated. He glanced between you and the other side. Finally, he chose to sit across from you. 

“So...this place is nice,” you said, looking around the restaurant. When you looked past the somewhat tacky Valentine’s Day décor, it was beautiful. You sighed, turning back to Dick to find him watching you with a somewhat dumb expression. “You okay, Dickie?”

“Fine.” He cleared his throat, running a hand over his face. “You’re just...really pretty, (Y/N).”

Your face burned. A giggle slipped out of you. “You don’t look bad yourself.” You winked at him. “So, can I ask why you decided to ask me out now?”

Dick opened his mouth, but the server appeared. You ordered your drink and when Dick failed to speak, you ordered one for him too. The server walked off.

“Thanks.” Dick whispered, clearing his throat. “I haven’t been this speechless since I was a teenager.”

You laughed. “Yeah, I think I remember you being this speechless when you first saw me in a bikini.”

Dick’s face was almost as red as the hearts that decorated the restaurant. “You noticed that, huh?”

You nodded, smiling big. “Yeah, I did. To be fair, Wally was pretty speechless too.” You froze when you saw Dick’s face fall slightly. “Sorry, I shouldn’t mention him.”

“It’s okay. He’s still our friend. Part of your history.” Dick bit his lip. “You know, I wanted to ask you out that day, but Wally beat me to it.”

Your jaw dropped. “Really?” You reached over to take his hand. “I didn’t know.” Now it made sense why Dick left in a hurry after Wally finished the most awkward ‘asking out on a date’ you had ever experienced.

Dick squeezed your fingers. “Although, when I think about it, I’m glad that I didn’t.” He looked up at you. You gasped, taken back by his beautiful blue eyes. “Because I got to ask you out now and we’re both older. We aren’t kids anymore.”

“That’s for sure.” You laughed as the server came back with the drinks. Dick chuckled with you. Both of you ordered your food quickly and the server left you alone. 

Dick sipped at his drink. His hand still in yours. “So...”

You blinked at him before giggling. “So...”

He laughed. “I guess I don’t really know what to say now.”

You hummed, letting go of his hand to take a sip of your own drink. “How about we play a game?” You smirked when Dick raised an eyebrow. “Like what’s your favorite flavor of ice cream?”

Dick rubbed his chin. “Orange swirl.” You tilted your head at him. “It was one of the flavors we had back at the Circus. Mom and Dad would let me have one after a successful show. Funny enough, it was the one flavor that didn’t sell as well, so we could get it for free most of the time.” He licked his lips. “Best I’ve ever had.”

You cradled your chin in your hand. “Wow.” You smiled softly. “You know what mine is, of course.”

“I do.” He smiled back at you. “Now do I ask you a question? I assume that’s what we’re doing, right?”

You wiggled your eyebrows. “Ask away.”

Dick sat back in the booth. The two of you slowly learned more about each other as you waited for your food.

***

“You’re joking.” Dick almost spit out his food. He grabbed his napkin and covered his mouth just in case. “They didn’t.”

“They did.” You giggled, taking a sip of your drink. “Roy and Donna are a thing. Walked in on them myself.” You shivered. “A sight I never wanted to see.”

Dick snorted, putting his napkin down. “Roy’s ass isn’t a pretty sight. I had to share a locker room with him.” He smiled when you looked away. His heart fluttered. He had to pinch himself to make sure he was really here with you.

The food was good. The restaurant had a nice atmosphere, soft music in the background, not too loud, but not too soft either. Dick knew he’d have to leave the place a nice review.

“I never asked you about your work. How is the police station?” You looked back at Dick. Dick’s heart skipped a beat.

“Oh, it’s okay. Lots of corruption. I’m making some headway, but it’s going to take a while.” He let his eyes drop to your chest before forcing them back to your eyes. You didn’t seem to notice. “I found some allies though. What about you? How’s the retail business?”

You rolled your eyes. “Dick, I’m an art dealer. I wouldn’t call that retail, but sure, it’s good. Sold a painting by a newcomer for four million to a well-known mobster.” Dick’s eyes widened in concern. You waved your hand. “It’s taken care of.” You winked. Dick sighed in relief. 

“Good.” Dick went back to his food. “Do you enjoy being an art dealer?”

“It has it’s good days and bad days, but I like it. Being around artwork is a joy for me.” You took the last bite from your plate. “Thank you for bringing me here. This might become my new favorite restaurant.”

A smile pulled at Dick’s lips. “I’ll remember to take you here more often then.”

You grinned back. “You better.” Slowly, you slid out of the booth. “I’ll be right back.”

Dick nodded, watching you head over toward the restrooms. He reached down to pull his phone out of his pocket. There were several encouraging text messages from Tim, Steph, Cass, and Barbara. Even Bruce sent a good luck text. Dick smiled, sending them all a thumbs up. 

He scrolled through to find one message from Wally. ‘I have it on good authority that your date is going well.’

Dick frowned. He looked around the restaurant, but didn't see anyone he knew. ‘Who’s authority?’ 

‘The most important one.' Dick swallowed hard, confused yet delighted at the same time. He looked back up suddenly enough to give himself whiplash. You returned from the restroom. 

“What happened? A crisis or is everyone checking in on you to make sure I haven’t sunk my teeth into you yet?” you teased, taking your seat and sipping your drink again.

Several naughty images played through Dick’s mind. He let out a slow breath, trying to calm himself down. “No, more like cheering me on.”

You looked slightly surprised. “Really? Wow.” You giggled softly, looking around the restaurant for a moment. Dick admired how lovely you looked. The lighting in the restaurant highlighted you just right. “So, did you want to get out of here? There’s something I wanted to show you.”

Dick nodded. “Yeah, sure.” He waved for the server, wondering what you wanted to show him.

***

You threw a smile back at Dick. Dick smiled back, despite the dark hallway you were leading him down. “Where are we going?”

“My workshop.” You unlocked the door at the end and pushed it open. Dick followed, stepping inside just as you flicked on the light. He gasped at the sight.

The room itself was bare bones, but artwork was all over the place. Some on the walls, others leaning against other canvases on the floor. A few were covered up with sheets. In the center of the room was a desk and two chairs along with a cheery fuzzy rug. 

“So this is where you work? I knew it was around this part of town, but wow.” Dick crossed his arms, studying a piece on the wall. It looked like it was an abstract Batman.

You hummed, walking to the other side of the room. “This is what I wanted to show you.” You picked up one of the covered canvases and walked over to an easel. Propping it up, you turned to look at him. “You can keep this one if you like it.” You pulled off the sheet.

At first, it didn’t register with Dick. Just colors and shapes. However, he tilted his head and it clicked. “It’s a trapeze. Wait a minute, that’s...that’s our colors. My parents’ colors.”

You nodded, leaning gently into Dick’s side. Your hand rubbed his back, grounding him to the here and now. “There’s a new artist, he’s a retired hockey player who went into painting. Anyway, he must have seen one of your parents’ shows and painted this one in their honor.”

Dick could see the painting come to life. He knew the routine by heart. His father’s confident laugh filled his ears. His mother’s giggles followed. “How did he remember it so well?”

“I guess he’s like Tim. The one performance stuck in his head.” You leaned forward to study Dick. Dick swallowed hard, meeting your eye. You smiled. “It took me a while to find it. I had to give up two Damien Hirst paintings to get the guy to sell it to me.”

“Did you get this for me?” Dick looked back at the painting. He blinked back the tears threatening to fall. It saddened him, yet filled him with pride at the same time. His parents would be happy to know that people still loved their performances to this day.

You rested your head against his shoulder. Dick reached for your hand, squeezing it tightly. “I did,” you whispered. “I was going to save it for your birthday, but...well, then you asked me out on Valentine’s Day.”

“Thank you.” His shoulder felt wet. He peeked to find you with tears on your cheeks. A laugh slipped out of him. “I feel so dumb. All I got you was a charm for your bracelet.”

“You did?!” You quickly wiped your face with your free hand. Dick dug into his pocket, pulling out a small wrapped jewelry box. 

He handed it to you, giving you a quick kiss on the cheek. “You know if I gave this to you at the restaurant, everyone would have thought I was proposing.”

You snorted. “I wouldn’t put it past you.” You opened the box, smiling at the beautiful delicate heart charm inside. 

Dick chuckled. “Right. I would propose on the first date just to see what the others would say.” He shook his head, taking the charm out and carefully putting it on your bracelet. “Bruce would have a heart attack. Tim would spit out his coffee. Steph just might drop dead.”

You raised an eyebrow. “Well, in that case, I give you permission to tell them I said yes.” You shook your bracelet, holding it up to the light. The charm shined. 

Dick grinned, looking back at the painting. “I still can’t believe this. It’s almost from my memory. I used to stand on the platform, watching the show from above, waiting for my chance to join.” He sighed as he felt you take his hand again. “Thank you so much.”

“Thank you for the charm. My first Valentine’s Day.” You squeezed his hand gently. “I’ll get this framed for you before you take it.”

Dick looked back at you. You met his eye after a moment. Slowly, you sat down on the rug, pulling Dick to sit down beside you. You kissed the corner of his mouth. “Wow,” Dick hummed, smirking at the kiss. You turned back to the painting, a hint of a blush on your cheeks. Dick chuckled. He leaned back on his hands and studied the painting along with you.

After a long while, Dick’s butt started to hurt. He fidgeted. You giggled and looked over at him. “You want to get out of here?”

“Yeah, let’s do something fun.” Dick grinned. You got to your feet and held out your hand. Dick took it, eager to follow you anywhere.

***

“Are you sure about this?” Dick asked, watching you walk your way past the line to get into the club.

“You said you wanted to get out for some fun and this is fun. For you anyway.” You glanced back at him with a wink. Dick swallowed hard when you stopped to talk to the bouncer. It looked like you knew the bouncer and soon you were gesturing for Dick to follow you in.

The club was decked out in red and white decorations. Music was loud with a good beat. Dance floor wild and crazy. Dick reached out to take your hand as you led him through the madness to the bar.

“Yo, Mickey. You got your specials still?” you asked, catching one of the bartenders as he walked by. Dick admitted he was a bit shocked that you seemed comfortable in this scene. Maybe there was a lot he didn’t know about you? He wondered if Wally knew you were into the club scene.

“For you, babe. Anything.” Mickey winked, turning to fix up two drinks. Dick watched in slight awe.

“I didn’t know you like clubs,” Dick shouted in your ear, squeezing your hand. 

You smiled. “Not all. Just this one.” You slipped Mickey a twenty once he laid the tropical-looking drinks before you. You picked up yours, nodding for Dick to do the same and started to lead him back through the crowd.

Dick’s curiosity grew as you led him through the stage door and down a flight of stairs. “Please tell me this isn’t a sex dungeon or something?” Dick blushed. “Not that I’d mind, but I don’t think that’s a first date thing.”

You laughed, sipping your drink as you rolled your eyes at him. “Settle down, Dickie. I’m not going to take your innocence.” You pushed open the door.

Dick lost his breath as you reveal a huge, colorfully lit room with a trapeze set in the center. “How?” He looked at the setup. It was professionally done. You two were the only ones in the room.

“I’m honestly surprised you didn’t know about this. This used to be a strip club and they had a trapeze act, but when the new owners made things more all-ages friendly, they left this space open for rent.” You smirked, eyeing Dick from over your drink. Your fingers wiggled in his hand. “But I’m glad I could surprise you with this.” You gestured to his drink. “Take a sip.”

Dick sipped it. His eyes widened at the orange, vanilla taste. “Wow, it’s almost like orange swirl.”

You smiled. “Glad you like it. Mickey always makes the best.”

Dick took another sip. “You know I thought I was going to spoil you, not the other way around.” He pulled away from you to check out the trapeze set. 

You hummed, following him. “Well, who says you’re not spoiling me? You’re driving me around the city, paid for dinner, got me a pretty charm, and now you’re going to take me flying.” Dick’s head snapped to look at you. “Aren’t you?” You pouted.

“Anything for you, princess.” Dick grinned, setting his drink down on the table. He walked over to test the ropes. Feeling your gaze on him, Dick’s chest swelled with pride. 

***

You took a seat and watched him prep the trapeze. It was a nice sight. You licked your lips, admiring the view as Dick bent down to pick up a fallen cord.

Of course, you would never admit how many strings you pulled to set this up for him. Honestly, you were amazed how fast things moved with one call from the bathroom at the restaurant. 

You checked your phone. There was a text from Wally. ‘Having fun? I heard about the favor you called in.’

‘From Barbara, I’m sure. You snoop.’ You smiled and watched Dick again. He was hanging off one of the ropes, testing it’s durability. ‘It’s going well.’

‘Good. I’m happy for you both.’  You tilted your head, hoping Wally was as okay with this as he acted earlier. He and Dick always had a bit of a rivalry. 

“You ready?” Dick’s voice brought you away from your phone. 

“Of course.” You kicked off your shoes, leaving your phone on the table along with your drink. Dick’s shoes and shirt were off. You let your eyes linger before going back to his face.

A smirk played on Dick’s lips. “Like what you see?”

You kissed his cheek. “What do you think?” He chuckled, blushing. Stepping back, he let you climb the ladder first before following. You knew he probably looked up your dress, but you found you didn’t mind.

At the top, your blood raced. Dick wrapped his arm around your waist once he joined you. “It’s like swinging through the city,” Dick said, taking the flyer bar out of it’s holder. 

“Just more muscle and coordination. No grapple gun to correct the mistakes.” You nodded, holding onto Dick tight. A lump formed in your throat. Truth be told, you mostly drove on your motorcycle when you went on patrol.

He chuckled. “You want to swing together first? Just to the other platform. I know it’s a little scary for the first time.”

“I’ll say.” You snorted. Dick tightened his arm around you. You, in turn, held him like your life depended on it. 

Dick laughed, lifting you slightly and jumping off the platform. A little scream escaped you as you were suddenly flying. Your stomach dropped to your feet. You looked down before going back to Dick’s face. His confident grin brought your stomach back to where it was supposed to be.

All too soon, you and Dick landed on the opposite platform. “That was...awesome!” You giggled, letting go of Dick to hop in place. 

Dick watched you, beaming. “See? It’s not too different from swinging in the city.”

“It’s better.” You took the bar from him. “Let’s go again.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Dick took hold of the bar. His hand brushed against yours as his arm wrapped back around your waist. “Ready?”

“Always.” You grinned at him before you both jumped off together. 

***

Over the next hour, you grew more reassured with the trapeze. Dick walked you through more complicated moves. There were a lot of falls onto the safety net below, but it only added to the fun. 

“I think I understand more about the painting now,” you said as you flipped up to sit on your flyer bar. Dick flipped up on his bar too, sitting to face you. “It’s magical.” You leaned back, pumping your legs to swing gently. 

Dick chuckled. “I’ve never experienced anything else like it. My parents were so lucky to do this for a living.” You looked up at him to see a sad smile on his face. “Of course, what I do for a living is far better for society.”

“Stopping crime and corruption. Your parents would be proud.” You swore there was a sparkle of tears in Dick’s eyes. Swinging closer to him, you nudged his foot with your own. 

Dick smirked, catching your leg with his to keep you close to him. He looked into your eyes. You sighed at his pretty blues, heart melting into a puddle of goo. “You know, I never asked you the big question.”

“Oh, so you were going to ask me to marry you?” You leaned forward to touch your nose to his. 

He chuckled, pulling away enough to press a butterfly kiss to your forehead. “No.” His eyes sparkled with youthful excitement. You felt like a teenager all over again. “(Y/N) (Y/L/N), will you be my valentine?”

Your heart pounded. Goosebumps grew on your skin. You leaned forward until your lips were centimeters to his. “Yes, Dick Grayson. I’ll be your valentine.” Dick gasped as you pressed your lips against his. 

You never believed the stories about fireworks and seeing stars when you kissed someone. Kissing Wally was nice, hot at times. Other kisses you shared with others never had that earth shattering moment that the media always described.

However, your heart stopped. Your lips tingled from the pressure. All you could feel was him. His hands in your hair, lips molding to yours. Everything faded away.

You leaned forward to get more of him only to suddenly find yourself free falling. “(Y/N)!” Dick shouted. You screamed, hitting the net below. Soon, Dick landed on the net, bouncing you. He crawled over to your side. “Are you okay?”

Looking up at him, you found yourself hysterically giggling. Dick’s brow furrowed in concern. You waved at him, trying to speak, but the laughter wouldn’t stop. 

“I didn’t think kissing me would be so funny,” Dick mumbled, blushing. He looked away. 

“No.” You hiccupped, reaching up to touch his cheek. “I loved it.” You cupped his face and pulled him back to you. He moaned before melting into you. This time, you saw stars. 

***

Dick sighed, pulling the warm body curled beside him closer. He opened his eyes to take in the sight of you. You were still fast asleep, hair a mess against your pillow. He kissed your cheek, looking around the room. 

Your bedroom was very much yours. Dick could see the little touches, learning more about you just from your décor choices alone. Plus your bed was surprisingly comfortable.

He chuckled. Contentment filled him as he snuggled back to you. It felt right, being here with you. Last night was perfect. He kissed your cheek again, smiling when you smiled back at him in your sleep. 

***

*Bonus*

Dick took his seat at the table. He nodded to Bruce before filling his plate from the spread on the table. It was the batfamily’s monthly brunch. Everyone had fallen quiet when Dick entered the room. 

“So...you and (Y/N)?” Bruce asked, sipping his coffee. 

Dick smirked. He looked around the room at his siblings. All with smug expressions. He wished he could record this. You would get a kick out of it. 

“She said yes.” Dick took a bite of bacon. The food went dead silent. Bruce’s eyes almost popped out of his head. Tim and Steph had dropped jaws. Barbara shook her head in disbelief. Cass frowned, studying Dick carefully.

“Master Dick, it isn’t polite to tease.” Alfred clicked his tongue, pouring juice in Dick’s glass.

“I’m not teasing. She said yes to being my valentine.” Dick laughed when the entire room breathed a sigh. “What did you guys think?”

Bruce rolled his eyes, relaxing. “Dick, that was mean,” Steph groaned, throwing her hands up in the air. “I was so excited to plan a wedding, then Tim could help with the divorce two weeks later.”

“Good for you, Dick.” Barbara elbowed his side hard. “And you’re lucky (Y/N) tells me everything.”

“And that (Y/N) lowered her standards even more than they already were,” Tim mumbled, grinning when Dick glared at him. 

Dick shook his head, taking another bite of bacon as he checked his phone. He had a text from you, asking if he wanted to meet up for dinner and patrol. His heart fluttered as he quickly texted yes back. 

[catxsnow]

BACK TO YOU W.W.

Request: Could I be so bold to request a Wally fic? Where he comes back after his "death" (lets be real we all know he is not dead) and Y/N reacts to it? Could it be fluff, angst, a little of both, that's up to you.

P.s. I love you 😊😊

Warning: angst, mentions of death (wallace), fluff

A/N: hello, good evening, I’m tired as fuck. 

I’ve been thinking about a taglist lately so if there’s interest I’ll start one. I always suffer when I make it for some reason but if the people are interested I will suffer for y’all. 

Word count: 2.3k 

Wally coming back from the dead seemed surreal.

The hope you had for his return never diminished, even if those around you gave up long ago. Wally wasn't dead, he was never dead - he was just stuck in a place that no one could save him. Not Barry, not Bart, Not even Jay. Wally was the only one that could save himself and he had done it.

Broken, battered, and barely breathing he had made it out of the Speed Force. He had made it back to you. It put everyone into shock to see him collapsed in the middle of the team's headquarters. His suit was barely hanging to his body, eyes sunken in with exhaustion. He barely looked alive.

It took weeks to get him nourished back to health. Weeks of him being in a coma, wondering how the hell he managed to get back home. Sleeping at his bedside every night because you were scared this wasn't real or that he would be taken from you again. Long nights of crying because even if he was back, was he even going to wake up?

By the time that he was back up on his feet and running around again, every single league member had come to see him. Those who gave up on him, those who never lost hope, even those who never knew him.

Wally West was back.

Unfortunately, it seemed that a lot of him was still missing. His smile that once never left his face hadn't resurfaced once. The laugh that you remembered so clearly that got you through so many hard days vanished. The light in his eyes when he was running or saving lives was dull. He wasn't the same man you knew.

He teetered around you like a stranger even though every night he told you how grand his love for you was. You noticed him bumping into furniture that had moved from his time away or looking at pictures of people he didn't know with tears in his eyes. He stood by the window, watching for nearly an hour, just staring into the void every other day.

Wally wasn't all back from the Speed Force. He had lost a part of himself in there that he could never get back. Dick tried to fill in the gap of time that he missed, catching him up on everything that he missed but the moment that he came back to you he seemed more zoned out than ever. M'gann excitedly told him about her engagement with Conner, Kaldur with his new position in the league.

Everyone tried to make him feel right back at home, but no matter how hard they tried it would never be the same. Wally lost that time, and he was never going to get it back. He could never make it up to his friends for missing so many important moments in their lives or the grief that he put them through.

No matter how fast he ran, how many hours he stayed up wondering if things would have been different that day, none of that would change the fact that he had been missing for five years. Guilt plagued him, fear of being stuck back in there, he was in a constant state of terror because it was so damn easy for him to be lost the first time.

Nightmares woke him up every night. Sometimes he would lay there staring at the ceiling for hours without you knowing, other times his screams would echo in your room and wake you. Tears streaming down his face, clinging to you like his lifeline. Horrible dreams filled his mind of being pulled back there - or seeing his friends taken instead.

Those moments were the only time that it seemed Wally was willing to open up to you. It was the only time that he treated you like a lover rather than a stranger. Only when he was most vulnerable did it feel like he was truly back home, safe and sound with you. Whatever was holding him back from being open to you, it broke your heart.

Wally was always the one that you could go to when you had your issues and now that you couldn't do the same for him... it was hard to accept. You didn't want to push him into relieving his memories where he was stuck or asking the wrong questions to get him upset. Saying nothing at all didn't seem to be working either.

Dick noticed it, Barry, Artemis, even Garfield was worried. No one knew what was going on inside that head of his and he refused to go to Dinah - or anyone - for help. Everyone was worried.

You told them of the times that you woke up to him vibrating the entire bed, still asleep and a pained look on his face. Or the time that he would be perfectly fine before suddenly speeding around the house like he had no control over his body. Wally had become unstable with his speed - and maybe his health too.

"Love you, baby," Wally mumbled out.

He had gotten back from his hangout with Dick to find you sprawled out on the couch. Whatever they had done must have put him in a good mood. The moment that he saw you, he sped over and practically dived into you. His arms kept him hovering over you so he could lean down and kiss you properly - something that he always seemed to avoid since being back.

He found himself cuddled into your chest, arms snaked around you. For the first time since his return, you saw a genuine smile on his face. It was a sleepy, half-smile, but nonetheless, you were excited to see it. His eyes drooped closed the second you started massaging his scalp. He hummed with content as you eased the tension that had been piling up.

Half asleep, shoulders loose after weeks of being tensed at every moment. His heavy breathing was audible and you could feel the warmth of it against your skin. It had been years since you had seen him relaxed like this and it quickly brought tears to your eyes. Wally had been through so much, he deserved happiness, he deserved to have peace in his life.

"I love you Wally, always," you whispered. Silent tears spilled down your eyes - you wanted him to find his joy again, no matter the cost. "I never gave up on you, my love. I knew you'd find your way back home. Fuck-" your voice cracked, "I was so lost without you. Having you back in my arms like this was the only thing keeping me going.

"You mean everything to me, Wally. I know that you did what you did to save the world but..." you sighed. It was impossible to say that you wished that he hadn't done it - or that someone else should have taken his place. "I'm so relieved that you're safe now. I know you've been going through a hard time, and I've been trying my best not to push you - but if you need anything you know I'm here."

You waited for him to say something - anything. Wally was struggling to open up to you but seeing him in a good mood like this may have been the best opportunity to get him to say what was on his mind. Unfortunately, his silence made you worried.

It wasn't until the sounds of a soft snore did you realize that he had fallen asleep on you. His body had become completely dead weight, arms no longer tense around you. The security he felt being with you had lulled him to deep sleep in a matter of minutes. Although you weren't in a comfortable position, seeing him at peace was well worth it.

><

"He's getting better."

It had been months since Wally had been home. The process of getting him back to his mental state before entering the Speed Force for years was going to take a long time - but he was well on his way. Being with friends, family - finally admitting that he needed to see someone to talk through all this - dramatically helped.

The original team decided to put together a little surprise birthday for Wally. He said he didn't want anything - but they had several year's worth of get-togethers to make up for. So, you and Dick plotted together to throw something, just with his closest friends. Nothing overwhelming.

Although he originally complained about the gesture, he quickly found himself appreciating the effort that had been put into that evening. The food, the people, he forgot how much these moments meant to him. Seeing the smiles on everyone's faces again, that was the best gift he could have asked for.

He stood on the other side of the room with Conner and Dick - all three of the men were laughing their heads off about something. Artemis stood by your side, watching the three of them just as you were. She handed over one of the drinks in her hand to you. Everyone in the room had been deep in conversation with someone - besides you. She noticed.

"He is," you agreed with her.

"Why're you by yourself?" She got straight to the point. Artemis didn't bother with the small talk or sugarcoating her question. She waited for your answer, watching as your gaze turned from Wally, to the now interesting cement beneath your feet. "(Y/N)."

"Everyone's helped Wally so much and I can't help but feel like... Like I haven't done enough. Wally was always the person that I could lean on and now that I'm the one that has to be strong for him, it just feels like there's more that I could have done to help him. I never had the same bond that you all had with him being on the team and risking your lives, I don't know what it's like enough to help him through this trauma.

"Wally deserves the world and a lot of the time I feel like I can't give it to him. I'm not a hero, I don't have powers, I'm just... normal. Maybe that's not enough for someone who can save the world before I even finish breakfast," Your fists tightened at your sides as the heavy realization that had been clouding your mind was revealed.

It was clear that you were the odd man out in the room. Everyone there had risked their lives to saved the world and what had you done? Wait anxiously at home for your friends to return? Grieve at the losses that you couldn't have changed? There was nothing that you could do in the hero-life besides sitting on the sidelines.

"You do a lot more than you make yourself believe, (Y/N)," Artemis placed her hand on your shoulder. She glanced over at your boyfriend, wondering how different it would have been if they ended up together instead. Wally would have been unhappy, he loved you from the beginning.

"Wally can't stop talking about the support you give him. He wouldn't be where he is today without you. Men are stubborn - especially speedster men - they won't always admit how much they need someone. He gets this look on his face when he's talking about you like you're the whole reason for his existence. Don't put yourself down for not being stuck in a hero life we are - your love for him is the only power he needs."

"Thank you, Artemis," you forced a smile at her.  Although you didn't believe her words at the moment she was right. Your love for Wally was the most important thing that you could ever give him, and that was going to have to be enough for now. Every ounce of your love went to making him happy.

Before she could say anything else, a familiar breeze washed over you both. Wally was suddenly standing right in front of you - and as if Artemis wasn't even there, brought you in for a deep kiss. His lips molded to yours, hand pressed to the small of your back to keep you close.

"I love you, (Y/N)," Wally barely pulled his lips from you. Conner had heard everything that you were saying to Artemis, and although he felt as if it wasn't his place to tell, Wally needed to know. A need to be with you, to assure you that you had done more than enough to get him to where he was, filled him.

"Across every galaxy, every universe, the Speed Force, no matter where I will always find my way back to you. I'll love you through everything," Wally pecked you once more. "Thank you for never giving up on me, babe."

"I'll never give up on you, Wally West. Not even the Speed Force can keep us apart," you grinned.

"Get a room already," Artemis complained. You had forgotten that she was still standing with you. It wasn't just her - the entire room was staring at the both of you. Smiles on their face at how happy Wally was with you. His little move had caught the attention of everyone and he just adored it.

Wally laughed at her comment. He swooped you up in his arms and sent a wink your way. He was already gearing up to speed you both out of there before saying his last bit to Artemis - and everyone else in the room.

"Don't have to tell me twice."

[callmeelle22]

Blue Dream VIII

Pairing: Iris West x Barry Alen

Rating: E

Chapter Word Count: 9, 182

Summary: A series of sporadic dates between Iris and Barry turn into something more, a story in its own making.

Chapter I: Primetime

Chapter II: It's Cool

Chapter III: Anything

Chapter IV: Comfortable

Chapter V: The Way

Chapter VI: Say Yes

Chapter VII: Brave

Chapter VIII: Blue Dream; Her eyes close and she lets herself lie in the feeling: opens a space for him to stay as he slides his tongue against hers; lets the feel of his mouth on her pull her from the dream she swears she’s been living since she first laid eyes on him; stencils the same story back onto him, plotting out a scene that only ends after forever comes and goes. She lets the kiss say what she can’t yet, reminds herself that he’s talking with it too, that he’s telling her what she’d seen in his eyes yesterday, and in his touch the week before, and in the curve of his smiles weeks before that. (Read below or on AO3 linked on the chapter title.)

Chapter IX: He Loves Me

We were coastin' on the coast when you opened my eyes

Made me notice where the ocean was holding the sky, right

I was blinded, your smile shining behind those green eyes

The horizon so enticing, please, say you'll be mine

The second Friday in the month of November finds Iris at home as she usually is, tucked into her living room sofa, a large glass of wine on the coffee table in front of her, right next to a loaded pipe.

This week in particular has been grueling, though in the best way. Her classes are going swimmingly, so much so that she might be able to skip the final in her multimedia journalism course; but that means she has to stay on top of every single assignment, making sure everything she turns in is up to par. Not only that, Her segment on Good Morning, Central City is in less than a week, and with the television promotions for it, there has been an increase in traffic on her blog, an increase in comments on her posts, an increase in stories in her inbox waiting to be told. It’s mind-boggling, and Iris finds herself so giddy, she doesn’t always know what to do with it.

Some of it she channels into Barry. Since opening up to one another after Barry’s visit to his dad, everything about them has been more: more exciting, more passionate, more intimate. Iris can honestly say that she’s never been fucked as well as Barry fucks her, and she can’t decide if that’s just because apparently nothing turns her on more than Barry sliding thick and slow into her and muttering, ‘yes, take all of me, baby; good, good girl,’ or if she feels the way she feels because it’s him, because he is a dream of a man, some fantasy she must have conjured up in a daydream she doesn’t remember having. She finds herself always wanting him: the heavy fullness of him, and the way he smiles at her every time he sees her after they’ve been separated for even minutes; the whispered words of ardor, and how his eyes always track her movements, watching and observing and cataloging; the feel of him lean and long and hard on top of her, and the attention with which he listens to her, validates her.

And when she thinks she needs even a moment from that, there is her Friday night ritual. She’s already showered and dressed in a silk nightgown, this one in a deep purple color with thin straps and an open back. She takes a sip of her wine as she scrolls through her phone looking for a song; she chooses one, don’t wake me up ‘cause i’m in love with all that you are, and then she settles into the sofa corner, pipe in hand. Lighting up, she inhales, and releases.

She is full and high when her phone rings sometime around midnight.

Movements slow, she grabs her phone from where she’d tossed it on the table next to the half-empty carton of pad thai. Barry’s name flashes on the screen over the picture taken of them at Wally’s birthday party. Her smile is easy and so is the absurd little flutter in her belly.

(But high Iris will concede that, while she figures she should be past this stage now, this jittery, nervous stage, she’s not at all ashamed that it is still how she feels, because there is something so delightful about being with someone who gives you butterflies, even as time keeps passing).

Her stomach dips as she brings the phone to her ear. “Hello.”

“Hey, baby.” The sound of his voice, a little bit deeper than normal, a little bit slower than normal, makes her stomach tighten even more.

“Hi, Bear.”

It’s then that she notices the sound in the background, music and loud voices. She thinks she hears someone saying, “Barry, are you talking to your girlfriend?” but then Barry hushes them and comes back onto the line.

“What are you doing, beautiful?”

“What I’m always doing on Friday nights.”

“Getting high in those sexy pajamas you like wearing?”

Iris laughs softly, noting the effect of his voice on her, how even over the phone and even when he’s apparently surrounded by people, it travels, quiet and steady, over her skin.

“Are you drunk, Barry?”

“A little bit,” he says, “mostly tired though.”

Iris shifts on the sofa, snuggling deeper into the couch. “Where are you?”

“I don’t know. At some bar with Cisco and Chester. We were only supposed to grab food and a couple beers but then they had some sort of two for one special happening, and Chester and Cisco are degenerates, so here we are.”

Iris shakes her head at that, and there’s a short pause before Barry speaks again.

“I miss you.”

“You saw me yesterday.” The part of Iris that wants to appear less affected by him is glad that he can’t see the grin that lights her eyes as her cheeks warm, as she bites her bottom lip. “And we talked this morning.”

“Hmmm,” Barry hums. “Tell me you miss me.”

“What if I don’t?” Her taunt is quiet, like the whisper of her hands on her own body, trailing along her thighs at the hem of her nightgown.

There’s another pause and the sound behind lowers a little, becomes duller. Her own music comes to her attention again, you make me see the truth in things, i think that you are, the remedy for everything, it seems that you are, the truth itself ‘cause nothing else can take me so far, and it makes her shiver from the truth of it.

“I wouldn’t believe it,” Barry tells her, finally. “Yeah, I saw you yesterday, but I had you shaking on top of me.”

“Faking it,” she quips back and Barry lets out a small bark of laughter.

“Tell me you miss me, Iris.”

She licks her lips slowly, thinking of last night when she had seen him, the encounter he’s talking about, when he’d had her climb into his lap after dinner at her small little dining table and fucked her right there.

“Tell me, baby.”

“Yeah, I miss you, you cocky jackass.”

His answering chuckle was a low thing, deep and dirty. “Now tell me what your pajamas look like tonight?

“Barry, are you asking me this around your friends?”

“No. I'm standing outside of the bathrooms now. Boys' night shifted when they saw a couple of pretty women and I got tired of fifth-wheeling. And I couldn't stop thinking about you.”

She can picture him, standing in the corner and leaning against a wall, a hand in his pocket as he clutches the phone to his ear; his cheeks are probably rosy with his indulgence and his lips pink from licking at them, his hair messy from touching it.

His voice dips again. “Now tell me.”

Iris can admit to herself that she likes when Barry gets a little stern with her, when his voice deepens and he sounds so sure of what he wants, what he needs from her. It makes goosebumps crawl along her skin, and it does so doubly now, her senses already loose, dipping into the warm, heady place that intoxication takes her.

“It’s a nightgown,” she explains. “Purple. Silk. Stops at the middle of my thighs. Has a low back.”

His groan is loud and clear. “You had to come from one of my dreams. There’s no way you’re real.”

The statement sobers Iris, if only a little, but enough that the smooth and easy flow of her breathing stutters, much like the beat of her heart, stilling until she thinks she’s gonna lose breath, and then hammering back.

“I could say the same for you.”

The responding silence is piercing, expansive, a space where words left still unsaid are scattered along the floor, merely waiting for one of them to pick it up and say it.

“Iris,” he starts, and then he pauses again. “Can I come over? I know it’s your self-care night, and you can tell me no, but I need to… I really just want to see you.”

She doesn’t even think about it. “Yeah, Barry. You can come over.”

Twenty minutes later, she peels herself off of the sofa to open the door for him. He’s standing on the other side, in dark blue chinos and a baby blue and white checkered shirt, his favorite tan desert boots on his feet. His hands are stuffed in his pockets and he’s leaning against the door frame when she pulls it open. His hair is a mess and his jaw is covered in stubble, but other than the faint red tinge in his cheeks, there is nothing that tells her he isn’t as lucid as talking to her had made him seem.

She smiles up at him, aware that her own eyes are probably low and red, but he smiles back, just as softly. He doesn’t come in right away, instead reaching out to pull her to him, one big hand holding the back of her neck. He looks down at her, eyes traveling down the length of her body.

“Hey my good girl,” he greets at last, and before she can respond, he leans down and kisses her. The kiss is chaste at first, one peck and another. Then he pulls back, only enough to scoop her up, gripping her by her waist and settling her in front of him, her legs wrapping easily around his hips. She yelps at the action, but then he’s kissing her again, and they’re moving into the apartment, Iris noting the faint slam of her door behind them.

He carries her to the couch and drops down in the center of it, keeping her atop him, keeping his mouth on hers. The kiss is slow, so slow, the sort of kiss that has no purpose, not one other than allowing them the space to be together. He holds on to her by her hip, free hand trailing up and down the length of her exposed spine, but he doesn’t make any move anywhere else. He seems content to just kiss her, this deep, open-mouthed kiss.

It’s like he’s trying to get inside of her, to climb in and settle down, to take up space with his searing, insidious presence.

It’s as if he’s trying to tell himself that this isn’t a dream, that it’s really her, it’s really them, moaning into each other, holding onto each other, breathing each other in.

It’s as though he’s trying to cement their story, to write it clear into her skin so that she can’t deny it’s veracity, like he’s promising that the only thing she’ll get on the other side of her climax is this, a gentle, effortless sort of fall.

Her eyes close and she lets herself lie in the feeling: opens a space for him to stay as he slides his tongue against hers; lets the feel of his mouth on her pull her from the dream she swears she’s been living since she first laid eyes on him; stencils the same story back onto him, plotting out a scene that only ends after forever comes and goes. She lets the kiss say what she can’t yet, reminds herself that he’s talking with it too, that he’s telling her what she’d seen in his eyes yesterday, and in his touch the week before, and in the curve of his smiles weeks before that.

When he pulls back, Iris cannot say how much time has passed. She only knows that her body has molded to the shape of him, that her heart has found the rhythm of his, that she’s there with him, my afternoon dream when the world is speedin’, i am still sleepin’, in my blue dream.

“What was that about?” she asks him. She stares back at him, and the way he looks at her is more intoxicating than the wine he’d just tasted on her tongue, more so than the weed that so effortlessly floods her bloodstream.

“Told you I missed you,” he replies, voice husky with exhaustion, and likely the arousal she doesn’t think ever really disappears.

She nods, a little dazed. They sit together for a while longer; Iris tucks her head into Barry’s neck and he keeps rubbing his warm hands along her spine. The atmosphere is delicate, peaceful. She takes him in, inhaling the citrusy scent of him, savoring the feel of him so close to her, surrounding her. They stay that way until Iris feels her own exhaustion tugging at her. She climbs off of him and, after turning off her music, she pulls him through her bedroom and into her bathroom. They brush their teeth, Barry with the toothbrush that he’d bought to keep at hers, and Iris reties the silk scarf she’s wearing on her head.

Inside her room, Barry strips down to his boxers, laying his clothes neatly on the arm of the chair by her window. They get into bed, Barry spooning her, his arm holding her tight against him. She settles in, fitting herself snuggly against him, and he kisses her temple before resuming his stroking, this time on her belly through her nightgown. It doesn’t take long for her to drift off, her breathing deepening before evening out. And just before she goes under, she hears it, Barry muttering, “I love you, Iris,” into her hair, so low that she’s sure she’s only just dreaming it.

When Iris wakes up, the first thing that happens is she hears it again, hears him, Barry’s night-rough voice whispering “I love you, Iris.” It runs in her head on a loop, an anaphora to every other thought, every question she’s having: i love you, iris, did he think she was asleep? i love you, iris, did he mean it? i love you, iris, does he want her to say it back? i love you, iris, i love you, iris, i love you, iris.

Over the past few weeks, Iris has become more comfortable with the idea of it, with the reality that what she feels for Barry is real and big and grand. It still takes her aback, how quickly she’d, they’d, fallen into it. As naturally wary as Iris is, she can’t discount what she’d felt last night when he’d kissed her, when he started into her, like she was the sun and the stars and every other bright light in the galaxy all at once; with awe and reverence and yearning; like he wanted to be consumed by her, and he didn’t care how close he got to that fiery, burning light, as long as she was standing there waiting for him.

And it’s enchanting to be looked at like that. Iris has been trying to get it out on paper, that feeling, trying to make sense of the contradictions: the fear that comes with caring about someone enough that they could break you; the power that follows knowing it’s the same for him too; the overall potency that comes with falling in love.

Still, the thought of saying it aloud, right now—when she’s still working on writing it all out, still trying to explain it to herself first—makes her seize up, her eyes darting wildly, her limbs frozen in anxiety.

Barry begins to shift behind her, loosening his arm from around her, and she takes the opportunity to slide out of the bed. She pads across her carpeted bedroom floor into the bathroom where her feet meet cold tiles. She uses the bathroom, washes her hands and brushes her teeth, and throws water on her face. She catches a glimpse of herself in the mirror, chocolate brown eyes bright in her face, her skin clear, her mouth turned down in consternation.

She goes back out into her room. Barry is fully away now, lying on his back, both of his hands cradling the back of his head. Her comforter is pooled at his hips. She takes in his bare chest, the way his biceps bulge in this position, how clear his eyes look in the sun, even as his lids are low with sleep. Those candy eyes catch her as she walks over to him, staying on her as she kneels on the bed and crawls over him, settling herself on top of him. He’s half hard under her and he lets out a soft little grunt when she sits her butt right on his crotch.

“You sleep okay?” she asks him as he reaches up and traces at his iris tattoo. She loves it, the violet ink that has sunk into his skin, the hints of blue and orange giving it depth, the fact that it’s an iris, placed big and pretty over his heart.

“Are you alright?” he asks instead of answering her question. His voice is still sleep-rough and scratchy. The sound of it sends a soft little tremble through her.

She smiles, the gesture real but uncertain. Well, maybe not uncertain, but she’s aware that she’s in her head again, trying to parse through her feelings. Or, rather, trying to figure out which of her feelings is taking precedence, which one she thinks that she should address first.

“Yes, I’m okay.”

Barry hums as he drags a hand from behind his head, placing it at her hip. “You know it’s okay not to be, right? Okay, I mean. And you can talk to me about it, whatever it is.”

He gives her hip a squeeze.

“No, I am okay. I’m good, really. I just…” she licks her lips as she hesitates, unsure if she’s even ready to bring it up, unsure if she even should. But she knows that she’ll think about it all day, will hear it in her head all day, will wonder and question and drive herself sick with the thoughts of it. So she bites the bullet, lets out a long exhale, and takes him at his word that she can talk about it.

“I heard what you said. Before we fell asleep last night.”

His expression doesn’t change, but his entire body stiffens, his hands stilling on her hip. He doesn’t break, though, and continues to watch her face in that way that he does. For a moment, Iris wonders if he even remembers what he said, if the words were just some half-drunk confession he hadn’t actually meant to say,

(and the flicker of disappointment that follows is tangible, an almost visceral response that tells her much more than anything else could have).

“Okay,” he says after a moment, tilting his head. “Tell me what you’re thinking.”

She wishes she was as good at reading him as he is at reading her. She’s supposed to be able to make the observations, to understand the truth behind what people don’t say. Sometimes she thinks that she can, thinks that when she really looks at him, she can see what’s simmering in those eyes, can understand his intentions in the grip of his hands, and the curve of his spine, and the shape of his mouth. But it doesn’t feel constant, not like he is with her, and that fact is doubly true right now. Because she can’t tell anything about what he’s thinking, his only tell being the way his hand is still on her hip, tighter than it was before, holding her to him.

“I don’t know,” she tells him, truthfully. “Did you mean it?”

For the first time, he averts his eyes, gazing over at the window. There’s nothing to see; the blinds are closed and the curtains are drawn, but he focuses there for several long seconds, brows furrowed and lips pursed. She blinks, and then she’s suffused with something foreign, something cold and bitter.

“You didn’t,” she says, and it isn’t a question. “Okay, that’s, that’s…”

She moves to climb off of him, but he’s quick, bringing her back by sitting up and wrapping both of his arms around her.

“Where are you going? I’m not done.”

Her eyes flash. “Well you haven’t said anything and I don’t need to sit here like this and listen to you tell me that you didn’t mean to say you love me.”

“What are you upset about, Iris?”

“I’m not upset, Barry,” she says, her frustration evident. She tries to move again, but he holds on to her. “It’s fine. Of course you didn’t mean it. It’s only been a few months. We’re just…”

“We’re just what, Iris?”

He’s looking at her again, with those pretty, too-knowing eyes, and she feels a little like she can’t breathe. Because he didn’t mean it. And the thought that she’d managed to get this all so wrong is, is horrifying.

“I don’t know,” she mumbles, and even though she didn’t actually believe it to be true, she continues, “sex, I guess. Apparently.”

She shifts again, but he tightens his grips even more and she can’t understand it, why he’s still surrounding her like this, the look of him and the smell of him and the feel of him so potent.

“Is that really what you think?” he asks, and he doesn't sound angry so much as annoyed. “That I’m just here for sex. When it’s you that initiated all of our first encounters, when…”

Her eyes widen. “Oh, fuck you, Barry. Like all that slick talking isn’t initiating. You’ve got some fucking nerve.”

This time, when she tries to yank away from him, he lets her; and with a grace she doesn’t feel, she climbs off the bed. She strides towards the living room, but she doesn’t get far because Barry grabs her by the arm and presses her body against the wall near the door.

“Let me go, Barry,” she says, heart hammering angrily against her rib cage. He releases her arm immediately, but he cages her in, planting his hands on the walls on either side of her.

“Look at me, Iris,” he commands, his voice a raspy whisper. She blinks over his shoulder, taking in the messy blue comforter on her queen bed in the middle of the room, and the pale cream curtains on the windows to the right that don’t hide much light, and the blue and cream striped lounge chair where Barry’s clothes are.

“Baby, please,” he tries again, and it’s the pleading that makes her turn.

He looks a little like he sounds, frazzled and out of sorts, his eyes darting quickly across her face and the shadow at his jaw far past 5 o’clock.

“I meant it.” The words come out softly, a little strained, and he blinks once, twice, before repeating. “I meant it. I love you. I’m in love with you.”

“No,” Iris shakes her head. “You’re just saying that now. You didn’t mean it.”

Barry lets out a heavy sigh as he steps back from her. She doesn’t move, though, she can’t. Instead, she watches him, her body lost in the turmoil of the past few minutes. He walks towards the bed, then steps away again, stepping in a circle before coming back to her. This time, when he looks at her, she sees it, him, his feelings.

“You looked terrified this morning, Iris,” he explains, “thinking about what I said. I think that I can read you, that I can see into what you aren’t saying to me. I see the way that you look at me, the way that we are together, and I can swear that you also…”

“What if that’s just sexual chemistry?” she interrupts, because she’s still spiraling, her body still so heavy with the range of emotions she’s experienced in the span of just minutes. And what if he really didn’t mean it, what if she’d actually started writing this story wrong, what if this has all been some dream she’s just starting to wake up from.

Barry stops pacing to look at her, incredulous, and then he narrows his eyes at her.

“Is that really what you think, Iris?” He steps, no stalks, towards her, steps slow and measured. He looks up and down the length of her, eyes lingering at the spread of her hips, the dip of her cleavage, before settling on her face. “You really think that the way we are together is, is just sex?”

She opens her mouth but doesn’t answer, and he closes the distance between them. He stands so close that she has to throw her head back against the wall in order to see up at him.

(She tries but can’t find it in herself to be ashamed of what this does to her, even as she’s not happy with him, having his attention on her like this, having his hard length pressed against her like this, the look of him and the smell of him and the feel of him like this.)

“I know that no one else fucks you like I do, Iris.”

That makes her snap and he pushes at him and he stumbles back near the bed. “You’re a smug fucking bastard, Barry Allen.”

She moves to grab her phone off the counter, intending to, she doesn’t know, throw it at his head. But then she’s plucked off her feet. She squeals as he tosses her onto her back and straddles her hips, holding her by her arms above her head. She bares her teeth at him, but doesn’t try to get away from him this time. She’s breathing heavily, and he is too, and for a second, Iris thinks that this love stuff is too much. Because that’s what’s going on here, isn’t it? It’s their first fight and it’s about love, about the fact that they’d slipped into it so simply that they (and by they, she means she) is finding it difficult to just let it be.

“I don’t mean it in an arrogant way, Iris,” he murmurs. “I just… you are a fucking goddess, baby, and if you’d ever been with anyone the way you are with me, there’s no way they would have ever let you go.”

He presses down on her arms a little, presses his hips into hers a little. “And no one has ever made me feel like this, the way that you do, in bed and out of it. And you don’t have to say it back. Not until you’re ready. I meant what I said but I didn’t think you would hear me. I just needed to say it.”

His eyes roam her face and she stares back. Her breathing has begun to level out, but she’s still left with, with adrenaline or something, a heavy, aching sort of feeling flooding through her, making her warm and jittery and, and wet. Which, she’s never been turned on by arguing before, but, by god, she is. She is. Turned on and in love and so gone on the man above her that she doesn’t think of anything at all before she leans up and kisses him.

For the first time since they’ve started doing this, Barry doesn’t take his time. He kisses her back, just as hard, the kiss more teeth and tongue than mouth. He keeps a hold of her arms in one of his big hands and then reaches down to push her dress up over her hips, lifting his own hips just enough that he can pull himself out of his boxers and spread her legs, hiking them over his waist. He doesn’t bother with taking her panties off; he just yanks them over to the side, probably ripping the delicate lace, and then runs a couple of his sure fingers through her slit to see if she’s wet enough to take him. Satisfied, he grips himself and then slides into her.

“Fuuuuuuck,” he groans, dragging the word out, and Iris seconds that, throwing her head back at the heavy, hard, full feeling of him. He gives her one experimental thrust, and then another, and then he’s setting a pace, fucking into her in hard, shallow strokes. He clenches hard around her, her head filled with the press of his body and the smell of his skin and the thought of his love, i know the meaning’, for all the seasons, you are the reason, my love. Then Barry leans down on her, so that his chest brushes her nipples and his pelvis rubs against her clit every time he rocks into her, and her head clears of everything but this.

“God,” she moans, eyes fluttering closed.

He moves his mouth to her ear as he picks up his pace, murmuring as he always does, “fuck, baby, yes, you feel so good, girl; my good girl, shit” but his words aren’t as smooth as they usually are. He is frayed, his breathing choppy and his pace brutal. She likes it though. Her pussy grows wetter with every thrust, her hips rocking up to meet him, and she breathes out through her nose when she finds her mouth stuck in a round “o.” They’re both slick from the exertion and Iris can’t tell if it’s his sweat or hers or theirs. He holds on to the meat of her thigh, widening her so that he can ride her deeper, harder. She drips, down onto her thighs, soaking him too, and she knows that were she to look down, his dick would be so obscenely slick with her. He kisses at her ear, down to her neck, along her jaw, biting and licking and sucking on her skin. His grip on her is hard, and it isn’t so much rough as it is raw, inelegant and sensual and crude and so so so so good.

The thought of it is just as arousing as the act of it, and Iris manages to breathe out, “shit, Bear, how, how, how are you always so gooood?”

He flashes her a grin, her Barry coming back to her, and he says into her ear, “because it’s us, baby. Because I love you and you’re falling for me and we were meant for this.”

When Iris comes, it’s so hard she swears she goes blind for a minute. The world darkens and all she can do is feel: passion and euphoria and ecstasy and every other expression like it.

She’s thirty minutes late meeting Linda for their monthly brunch..

She and Barry shower together, and she drops him off at his car downtown and then she drives the couple blocks over to Golden’s. Before he gets out, he leans over and kisses her, a long slow sort of kiss, licking deep into her mouth as he cradles her face gently in the palm of his hand, and then he taps the top of her car twice before ambling over to his jeep without saying a word.

She feels a little funny after all of that, wondering why she still hadn't been able to say the words to him. He hadn’t said much to her as they’d dressed and gotten ready to leave her apartment. But he hadn’t stopped touching her either: taking her loofah from her and washing her down in the shower, running his hand over her hip after she’d hopped into a pair of light denim boyfriend jeans, rubbing on her thigh as she’d driven them downtown. She doesn’t think he’s upset with her; he’d told her she didn’t have to say it back. But he’d retreated, at least verbally, and it’s fucking with her, making her realize how much her fear is keeping her from him.

Golden’s is already open by the time she gets there so she walks in through the front door, throwing a hand up at Kamilla as she heads to the back in her stiletto heeled ankle booties, tugging lightly at the long, faux pearl necklace lying over her white half tucked in sweater. It’s packed as usual, the Saturday lunch crowd filling most of the seats, and she has to walk around chairs half pushed in and groups of people laughing and enjoying their Saturday.

She slides into the booth across from her best friend, the table already littered with food, Linda’s mango mimosa mostly gone. The other woman looks up at her, perusing, her brown eyes curious. Iris ignores her to grab her champagne flute, dropping a frozen mango slice into the glass and pouring a smidge of juice in, topping it off with champagne. She downs half of it in one gulp.

“You’ve been fucked,” is the first thing Linda says, when she finally decides to speak.

Iris chokes on her swallow of mimosa.

“Freshly,” Linda adds. Her red painted lips curve up in a devious little grin. “Is that big ass hickey you’re sporting the reason you’re late?”

She rolls her eyes, but touches gently at where she knows it’s sitting, an uneven patch of darkened flesh about the size of a quarter on her neck just under her left ear. She’d been in too much of a daze while she was putting on her minimal makeup earlier, the moisturizer and a little concealer, a bit of bronzer on her lids, liner and mascara. She hadn’t noticed the hickey, not until she was putting on her lipstick in the car and she didn’t have any foundation to cover it with.

“I’m too old to have a hickey,” she says to Linda instead of responding to her question.

“Tell your boo that,” Linda responds.

Iris wrinkles her nose at “boo” and starts spooning some sticky sesame chicken onto her plate. She forks a dumpling and bites at it as she goes for the lo mein and she doesn’t realize she’s reaching for the edamame until Linda stills her hand.

“Okay, what’s up?”

Iris chews the rest of her dumpling. “What are you talking about?”

“You’re eating.”

“Is that not why we’re here?”

“No, I mean you’re eating, doing that thing where you just throw food into your mouth without stopping or even really tasting it. You only do it when you’re really anxious and there’s no notebook or wine handy.”

Iris stills with a piece of shrimp in her hand. She drops it back onto the platter and sits back into the booth, chewing and swallowing while Linda waits patiently, sipping from her glass.

And then she blurts, “I’m in love with Barry.”

Linda nods, not yet committing to a response. “Okay.”

“And he told me he’s in love with me and I didn’t say it back.” Iris lets out a breath, tension releasing like a pressure valve has been turned.

“Why didn’t you say it back?”

“Because I’m a coward,” she answers.

Linda’s head shake is automatic, her brown waves brushing at her neck. “There’s not a hint of coward in you, baby girl.” Iris takes her best friend’s white silk blouse just as she says, “Now why don’t you really tell me what’s up.”

To give herself some time to put it all together, she finishes her mimosa and mixes another, though this one with less champagne, and she eats another dumpling, chewing slowly. Then she clears her throat.

“For a while now, I’ve been feeling, I don't know, lost. I was single, school was boring. Work was too, and it seemed like all of you were moving forward while I was just watching. Nothing felt exciting, not even my blog really. And then Barry came along, and I swear, the moment I saw him, it’s like my entire world lit up. There was this, this spark, and even when I was claiming that he was just around for sex, there was always this feeling that it was bigger than all of that, bigger than anything I’ve felt before.

And suddenly, I feel so different. I feel good, Linda. Everything is starting to feel good. My blog is getting real recognition now and Dr. Jamison must also be getting good sex because she’s been an actual joy to be around. And Barry...and Barry is…”

“Putting you to sleep every night?”

It makes her laugh, the way Linda wiggles her eyebrows as she says it, the way her eyes light up with mirth, the way her smile is a soft thing.

“Yeah, he is,” Iris says, her mouth twisting wryly. “But what if it’s a fluke, Linda? This man is everything I’ve wanted in a man and so much more than I even knew I wanted. What if we do this and I learn that he’s been, just, fucking with me this whole time?”

“You know that’s not true, Iris.” Linda picks up her own glass and drains it.

“But how can I trust this?” she pushes. “This happiness that seems to have only come when Barry stepped into my life?”

Linda reaches over and grabs Iris’s hand, and Iris clasps it like a lifeline, her pale orange tipped fingers pressing hard into Linda’s hand and Linda’s own pink tipped fingers pressing back. “There are no guarantees. So maybe we do find out that Barry has been faking this entire time. But what if he’s not? What if he’s as kind and loving as you say he is? ” She lets that digest for a moment.

“Love, and life, is a series of ups and downs, of good experiences and bad, Iris. The timing of it all is just coincidence. And I hear you. It feels so scary to realize that someone has that sort of power over you; that the care of your heart is in their hands. But what I’m learning with Dan is that love, love is always worth it. Because what you’re feeling, it doesn’t go away just because you don’t say it back, just because you don’t acknowledge it. And when you don’t you risk cutting it, him, off, and you’ll get hurt anyway. And that, my love, will be your own fault.”

Iris thinks about Linda’s words as they finish brunch, moving the conversation to Linda’s upcoming trip to meet Dan’s family. She thinks about it as she gets into her car and drives back home, forgoing working on a story in favor of plopping down on the couch and letting music play, my mind is open, so wide since you came inside, i feel so alive, without you life just passes by, passes by, lost in the reality of what she’s feeling.

She thinks about the words as she goes out to grab dinner, picking up a salad for herself and a chicken sandwich and fries for Barry, the intention to take him food not one fully realized until she’s parking in front of the precinct that Barry works out of.

She thinks about the words because Linda is right.

(She would never tell the other woman this, but she is right more often than she’s not, her poise and curious nature making her one to offer sound advice, always realistic and with love.)

She loves him, she does: his wit and his hands and his eyes; his compliments and his patience and ability to make her feel as if everything he’s ever wanted is present in the curves of her body; as if it is his profound pleasure to coax it out of her, with every touch, every moan, every dirty, mumbled thing.

Buoyed by the fact that she’d said it aloud, at the very least, and she didn’t wither away after she had, she grabs the food bags and her purse and walks up the steps to the precinct.

Her dad is working tonight but since she’ll see him tomorrow at dinner, she doesn’t drop by his office. Instead, she heads downstairs to where CSI is located, following the stairs to where they’ve apparently put them in the basement. The hallway is well lit, and there are several windows covered in closed blinds that lead to the lab door. She balances the bags in one hand and opens the door with the other. And she’s stopped short at what she sees.

The room looks like how she’s always imagined a crime lab to look like: lots of white, microscopes, and computers, shelves full of test tubes and petri dishes. Barry is there and so is the Cisco guy she remembers from Fall Fest. There’s a woman there too, in the utilitarian black pants and matching blazer that Iris knows is the norm for detectives. And it’s not that she’s there, because that’s not weird. But she’s there, next to Barry, close to Barry, leaning on his counter with her hand on his arm as she talks. She’s as tall as Iris is in the four inch booties Iris is wearing, with shoulder length dirty blonde hair and the sort of white girl next door look that men fall all over themselves for.

Cisco notices her first, as the door closes softly behind her, and Iris feels a bit mollified at the way his grin rises up when he sees her.

“Iris,” he calls, eyes twinkling. “Nice to see your beautiful face.”

Iris winks at him, pulling out a flirtatious grin so that she doesn’t scowl at the sight of the woman touching Barry.

(She’s not jealous. She’s not, but Iris can’t stand the thought of Barry looking at someone else the way that he does her, can’t stand the thought of him touching someone else the way he does her, can’t stand the thought of him whispering, yeah, baby, fuck, ride me just like that, to someone else the way he does her.)

Cisco, though, is loud enough that Barry hears him, and she watches as he straightens at the sight of her, eyes wide. “Iris!”

He gives her his look, the one where he rakes his eyes over the length of her and then lingers on her face, always trying to read her. She’s still a little frustrated at how she’s always such an open book for him, apparent after he’s finished his perusal and he smiles, slow and with more smirk than anything else. The woman next to him only moves her hand from Barry hesitantly, turning to see what all of this commotion is about. She gives Iris the same once over that Barry did, though decidedly colder, and Iris tilts her head at her before settling her gaze on Barry.

“I’m sorry to interrupt,” Iris says. “I know that you’re busy, but I thought I’d drop off dinner for you.”

She steps further into the room, and her heels clack loudly in the too quiet space. She pauses in front of where Cisco is sitting. She turns to him.

“I’m sorry I didn’t bring you anything. I should’ve texted Barry to see who else was around, but I was picking up dinner and just decided to get him some too.”

“It’s fine,” he says. “You can get me next time.”

Iris passes him and lets her eyes wander back to Barry and the detective, who’s stepped back in a bit. As soon as Iris catches his eyes again, Barry steps away from her, moving around to meet Iris. She stops at a point along a wide expanse of empty space on one of the tables, and Iris feels it’s a safe enough spot to place the food without contaminating anything. As soon as she drops the food on the table, Barry cups the back of her head and stares down at her. His thumb traces the mark he’d left on her neck.

“Hi, beautiful,” he says, eyes wondering, smile tender.

She looks over his shoulder to where the woman still stands, looking at her too. She gives her a smile in greeting. Iris thinks it’s returned.

“I’m sorry. You look busy,” she responds. “Should I go?”

“Absolutely not. I’m just surprised to see you.” Without stepping away from her, he turns to address the detective. “Patty, I’ll come down as soon as I have the results for you.”

Her gaze trails over to Iris once more, observing where Barry holds onto Iris’s neck, onto her waist. “Of course,” she murmurs, finally.

She walks out of the room, her low-heeled boots nearly silent on the floors. Both Iris and Cisco watch her go, but Barry doesn’t pay much attention, his focus on Iris as he continues to rub along his mark.

Cisco stands, sort of abruptly, his chair skitting across the floor. “Barry, I’m gonna step out for a minute.” He shrugs out of his lab coat, tossing it on the back of his chair. His thick brown hair brushes against his shoulders with every shake of his head. “It’s good seeing you again, pretty lady.”

Iris offers him another smile. “You too, Cisco.”

She turns back to Barry who’s eyeing her, expression curious. “You’re here,” he says, voice low.

“Yeah,” she nods at the bags she’s placed on the table. “I don’t know, I went to get dinner and I was, well, I was thinking about you.” She shrugs with a nonchalance she doesn’t feel.

“Yeah?” Barry’s answering grin is wide, and a little bit boyish, cheeks reddening; it makes Iris smile back in turn.

“Come on,” Barry says, picking up the bags and walking over to a desk tucked into the corner. “I've got a few minutes.”

The desk is messy, stacks of folders and sticky notes all over the place, and he moves some papers around so that he can place their food down. He rolls his desk chair over for her to sit in and he grabs the bag, pulling out her salad container and his sandwich and fries and placing them in front of their spots.

She waits until he sits down in the hard back chair he’d gotten from under one of the computers and she snaps the top of her salad before she says, “so why wasn’t I introduced to the detective?”

Barry takes a bite of his sandwich and looks at her in question. “Who? Detective Spivot?”

“Don’t you mean, Patty?”

Barry pauses with a fry poised for his mouth. “Sure,” he says. “Patty is one of the detectives on the case we got called into.”

“Hmm.” Iris stabs at her salad. She takes a bite and chews, though she doesn’t really taste it.

Barry places his half eaten sandwich into the cardboard container and he turns to her, giving her his full attention. He inclines his head, watches for a second. She thinks that the corner of his mouth tilts up, that humor brims in his eyes.

“What do you want to say, Iris?”

She rolls her eyes, annoyed that she can’t focus on how cute he looks with his lab coat and glasses on, annoyed that that woman was touching him, annoyed that she’s annoyed.

“I didn’t know you were so close to the detective. Y’all were very...touchy.”

Shaking her head, she starts to go back to her salad, but then he drops his food and rubs his hands together. He leans towards her.

“Come here,” he says.

She ducks away, but he grabs her wrist gently and pulls at her. She goes, because her tripping heart and her heaving chest and her warming sex won’t allow her to not. Barry sits her in his lap, sideways so that her legs are half hanging over his. She’s a head taller than him in this position, and he presses a hand at the small of her back as he looks up at her.

“You’re jealous,” he announces, seemingly pleased with the fact.

Iris rolls her eyes. “Of course not.”

Barry laughs. “So you’re just really grumpy right now?”

“I’m just curious,” she says.

“Oh?”

“About the touching.”

“She’d literally just put her hand on me as you walked in the door. I was about to move it.”

Iris harrumphs. “Doesn’t Detective Spivot know that you’re…” Iris waves her hand as she trails off and it makes Barry’s slight grin widen.

“That I’m what?”

Even she knows that the huff she lets out would only be completed with a foot stop.

“That you’re taken,” she says, boldly. Because whatever she was feeling, whatever he was feeling, this morning, they are still them: two people who’ve crawled into open, waiting hearts and made space for one another; two people who are pages deep into a story that the stars must have already been writing; two people hours into a dream that is so vivid, it has to be real.

The statement seems to sober him, because his eyebrows furrow. “Am I?”

She wants to be bothered by the genuine question in his eyes. But they’ve never blatantly talked about them. There has been some conjecture, sex-fueled mutterings that hinted at the reality of them, of their feelings. There have been looks between the two of them that tell far more than Iris has ever even realized could be portrayed through eye contact. He’s told her that he loves her. But they’ve never defined or drawn out the lines or made it real.

But like she said, they are them. And he is. Taken. So she slowly licks her lips, and nods her head. “Yeah, you are.”

This time, Barry’s smile is a sexy, lilting thing. “I’m fully yours, Iris. You have to know that.” He turns her so that he can hold her gaze, and reaches up to curl his fingers around the back of her neck, his thumb hitting that mark again. Then he says,

“I love you. I will until you love me back and forever after that. And that means that I don’t see anyone but you. I haven’t seen anyone but you since the minute I laid eyes on you in that slinky dress you had on, dancing in the middle of the crowd by yourself.” He presses a soft kiss to her lips. “Even before, for months before, I couldn’t see anyone else. Because I was waiting for you, Iris.”

He gives her another kiss, this one longer, deeper, like the one he’d given her before he left her car. She finds herself humming into his mouth, her arms tightening around his shoulders. He rubs against her thigh, higher, then a little higher, until Iris is opening her legs to try to get some sort of friction.

Minutes or moments or eternity after, he pulls his mouth away, though he doesn’t move away from her fully. Instead, he looks at her, and she finds herself lost in him, in this dream of a story. She sees the words of it, my afternoon dream, when the world is speeding; i am still sleeping, in my blue dream and i know the meaning, for all the seasons; you are the reason, my love, and she wants to add to it, wants to let herself live in it, wants to finally fall into this love story without fear or reservation.

“Barry,” she says, whispers, and she notes how hooded his eyes look through the wire-framed glasses he’s wearing and how just the act of sitting here on his lap calms her at the same time that it inflames her. Then she thinks about his infinite levels of patience as he’s waited for her to be ready for him and how he’s always been interested in what she thinks or feels and how no one has even treated her body with the, the homage that he seems to. And she...and she loves him. “Barry, I…”

“Alright, Barry, we have…whoa.”

Iris blinks out of her haze, startles out of the confession she was about to make, at the sound of Cisco’s voice. Still, it takes a second before she’s able to pull herself from Barry, and from the expression he’s saddling her with, she thinks he might have an inkling of what she was about to say.

“None of this hanky panky,” Cisco continues, either oblivious or uncaring, Iris doesn’t know. “Spivot and Mitchell need to see us.”

“Alright,” Barry calls over her shoulder. “I’ll be down in five.”

When Cisco nods and leaves again, Iris is pulled back into Barry’s orbit. He palms the back of her neck, thumb brushing the mark on her throat. She assesses him.

“Did you do that on purpose?”

“I’m sorry.” He immediately goes red. He averts his eyes for a moment, before they drift back to her. “It’s tacky, I know, and I didn’t realize what I was doing until it was too late. This morning, I was, I don’t know, confused about us and I just…” He pressed his thumb into her skin. “I told you I’m not composed around you; I’m a mess.”

Iris covers his hand where it’s still on her throat. “You know that I’m yours too, right?” The earlier moment seems to have passed, but she can, needs to, give him this. His stare is hard and almost unreadable.

“Yeah,” he says after a while, sort of breathless. “Yeah, I guess you are.”

She wishes that she could stay in this moment with him, such a stark deviation from the way they’d left each other this morning. So she takes that feeling with her as she packs her salad up and helps him clean up the trash. Together, they venture into the hall and Barry leads her back out into the bullpen where Cisco is standing with Spivot and a tall, dark-skinned man with a baldhead and a beard. All three of them turn at the sound of Iris’s boots on the floors. Something about the look of them makes Iris grab Barry’s hand. Barry stops her a few feet away and leans down.

“I like how territorial you’re being,” Barry all but whispers in her ear. “I’ll come over after work and remind you why you don’t have to be.”

The thought of them this morning, the hard press of him, his breath rough in her ear, makes her look up at him, her eyes bright, bottom lip between the white of her teeth. It’s only Cisco’s pointed throat clearing that keeps her from falling mouth first into him.

Barry’s grin is knowing. “Bye, baby,” he says, a little louder this time, and Iris shakes her head, knowing he’s saying it in front of Patty for her benefit. He drops a kiss on her check and Iris nods at his coworkers.

“Detectives. Cisco.” She squeezes his hand once and drops it. “See you later, Bear.”

She steps away and walks out of the station, but not before she hears Mitchell say, “Damn, Allen, how did you bag that?”

She wishes she could explain that she’s the one that doesn’t know how she got him.

Barry does come over later, and as soon as he walks through the door, he pushes her up against the wall and fucks her, groaning “mine, mine, fuck, mine” into the bite on her throat, as Iris moans it back in kind, “yours, yes, Barry, I’m yours.”

My afternoon dream when

The world is sleepin'

I am still thinkin'

Of my blue dream

It's bliss

[backtothestart02]

Teacher’s Pet - 1/? | westallen fanfiction

A/N: Written for Mi on twitter. <3 Is there any new fic I won’t start and never update? *nervous laughter* Hopefully this will be updated soon. Hope you all enjoy. It’s the forbidden college teacher-student romance au you never knew you needed. Iris is much older than Barry and the rest of the chars (minus Scott). Just an fyi.

...

Synopsis:  AU - Fresh off a break-up, the last person Barry expects to fall for is his new English teacher.

...

Chapter 1 -

The university building loomed just ahead on the far side of the courtyard. It was menacing in its stature, for what it represented. A return to academics, sure, but that was something Barry had always enjoyed. No, this building was menacing because it thrust into his face the reality that he almost hadn’t passed any of his classes the previous semester. He had a long way to go to get back to the top of his class and to a place where his parents would be proud of him again. That was important to him.

He stepped out of his car and shut the door behind him, gulping as he looked up at the flag whipping in the wind in plain view of the building. It was cold outside. There was still snow on the ground. His boots crunched as he walked on the ground and around the car to pop open the trunk and grab the two duffel bags he’d taken home with him on winter break.

His phone started to buzz when he was halfway to the building. Reluctantly, he dropped his bags in the snow and answered it.

“Hey, Cisco.”

“Barry! Finally, you answered!”

Barry frowned.

“I just got back to school. You know I don’t pick up the phone when I’m driving.”

He could practically feel Cisco rolling his eyes on the other end.

“Yeah, yeah, I know. Where are you at?”

Barry looked around.

“Right in front of our building,” he said. “Think you can come down and open the door for me? My hands are kinda full.”

“Oh, uh, yeah, sure thing.”

“Unless you’re too busy?”

“Mid-game actually.” Barry could hear video game noises in the background. They abruptly stopped. “But for you, I pause. I’ll be right there.”

“Great. Tha-”

But Cisco hung up before he could finish.

Barry shoved the phone back in his coat pocket and picked up his bags again. Then he trudged over to the building, stuffing the dread he’d felt on seeing the place again as far down as he could muster.

“There he is! Man of the hour!” Cisco declared, opening the door just as he arrived.

“Thanks, man.”

“It’s the least I could do. Personally, I was starting to wonder if you’d ever get here.”

Barry snorted.

“I don’t exactly live close by.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. Here let me-”

But Barry held both bags out of reach.

“They’re heavy, Cisco. I put as much as I could into them before I left.”

“I remember. I was surprised the zipper didn’t break.”

“Ha, ha, very funny,” he drawled, shifting one bag over his shoulder. “Just lead the way.”

“Suit yourself. You may change your mind though.”

“What would make me do that?”

“The fact that the elevator is under construction for another month.”

Barry abruptly dropped one of the bags just shy of his foot.

“What, for real? I thought they were going to finish that over break.”

Cisco shrugged. “Guess not.”

Barry blew out a puff of air and reluctantly handed a bag over to his roommate.

“Shit, what do you got in here, bricks? Cement blocks? Oh, I know, pure gold.”

“Told you it was heavy.”

Barry moved past him towards the stairs.

“We still on the third floor?”

“Last time I checked.”

Barry nodded and took the stairs two at a time.

“Hey, Mr. Long Legs,” Cisco called out when he was only halfway up the stairs and Barry was turned the corner to the next staircase. “Slow up a bit, would ya?”

“Sorry.” Barry stopped. “But if I stop for too long, I’ll lose my energy and before you know it, I’ll be unpacking in the middle of the stairs.”

Heaving by the time he reached them, Cisco could only gesture for him to continue. Barry had to smile a bit to himself, but by the time they reached it to the final platform, he was due for some extra oxygen too.

“We should start working out.”

“On campus?” Cisco asked. “You know who’s always hogging the fitness center.”

Barry didn’t need a reminder.

“Wally West, yeah, I know.”

“He doesn’t exactly like you.”

“He stole my girlfriend.”

“To be fair, he’s been working out longer than you.”

“I don’t work out.”

“Case in point.”

“We could start walking.”

“In this weather?” Cisco visibly shivered. “Nah, I don’t think so.”

“So, what, we just stay skinny and pale for the rest of our lives?”

“I’ll just stay skinny, thank you very much. And after what you went through last semester, maybe the last thing you should be focused on is buffing up for the ladies.”

Barry rolled his eyes. He didn’t need the reminder. He hadn’t been in love with Linda, so her breaking up with him for cocky jock Wally West bruised his ego more than his heart, but it still hurt. He liked her, and he thought after a year of dating, they had something real. Guess he was wrong.

Spending the tail end of the semester trying to win her back instead of focusing on his finals was probably the reason he’d nearly flunked out of every class he’d been taking. He wouldn’t be doing that again.

Abruptly, he realized Cisco was still talking.

“You know the real reason Wally bothers you so much isn’t just because of Linda.”

“No? What is it then, oh, wise one?”

Cisco turned the key in the door to their room and stepped inside, dropping Barry’s bag on the floor for him to pick up and carry across the room.

“It’s because he skates by in his classes too. He rarely shows up, rarely puts in an effort, and yet, because his sister teaches, she has an in with his records and sweet talks the other teachers to let him slide by.”

Barry straightened after shrugging out of his coat and kicking his boots off.

“I didn’t know that.”

“Surprise!” Cisco said animatedly.

Barry was not amused.

“I have her as my English teacher this semester.”

Cisco winced. “Yikes.”

Barry scowled.

“I hear she’s pretty though. Like, drop-dead gorgeous.”

“I’m not gonna date my teacher.”

“Who said anything about dating her? She’s just something nice to look at. Maybe she’ll be sweet on you.”

“Oh, yeah, the woman who’s cheating the system so her brother graduates will give me – the ex to her brother’s girl whose gpa has seriously tanked over the last months – a fair chance.”

Cisco shrugged.

“It’s only one class?”

Barry sighed.

“Yeah, I guess.” He shook his head. “I need a distraction from all this.”

Cisco snapped his fingers.

“Video games!”

Barry considered it.

“Yeah, I guess that might do it.”

“It will do it.” He picked up a controller and handed it to him. “Here. I’ll even delete all my progress so we can both play.”

Barry snorted.

“Thanks, man. You’re one in a million.”

“Better than Linda and Wally combined.”

“And Ms. West.”

“Professor West she likes to be called.”

Of course she does.

Barry rolled his eyes and reached over to Cisco’s controller to start the game and shut him up.

“Hey, what did y-”

“Play!”

Cisco shook his head and started to play, eventually forgetting his minor irritation and focusing wholeheartedly on the game and having his best friend back in his space again.

It would be a good semester. Despite all odds, Barry would excel. He had no doubt.

…

 Iris draped the fuzzy blanket over her legs and sank into her couch. After a tasty dinner for one and an exhilarating bath, here she was ready to enjoy a few chapters of her current favorite book for the night. Tomorrow classes would start up again, and she would have to be up at the crack of dawn to be in teacher mode. It had been a solid month and a half of relaxation and freedom – minus the small inconvenience of having Wally crash with her and frequently invite his new girlfriend over. But aside from that, it had been nice.

She enjoyed teaching though, always had. Running the school newspaper helped channel her passions for something more. And when she wasn’t worrying about whether or not she would be the only one in her family graduating college, she could enjoy being a flirt to just about every man on staff. The other women envied her. She didn’t care. She didn’t sleep around. It was all in good fun. And it would all resume tomorrow morning, bright and early.

A sudden loud noise interrupted her thoughts. She looked toward the door and found to her great annoyance that it was her brother, whose lips were attached to the new girl she’d met only twice over the last month. Her eyes narrowed when she realized his hands were searching out the hem of her shirt and the zipper of her skirt.

“Uh, Wally?”

No response. Just more moans and groping.

“Hey, Wally!” She snapped – literally.

His eyes opened, and he distanced himself from his girl, though only slightly.

“Iris. Hey. What are y-”

“I live here, remember?”

“Yes, right. I know. I just thought…”

“It’s nine o’clock, and you’re crashing on my couch. Where were you expecting to go?”

He had the gall to have a straight face.

Meanwhile, the girl just inches from him blushed.

“Oh, my God, Wally,” she whispered under her breath. “I thought you said she wouldn’t be home.”

Iris got to her feet.

“You were going to fuck in my bed.”

“Well, I…”

“You were!”

“Maybe I should go…” the mortified girl muttered.

“Yeah, I think you’d better,” Iris barked.

“Hey! Don’t talk to her like that!” Wally ordered.

Iris’ eyes widened.

“Maybe you should leave too.”

“And go where?”

“I don’t know. Home?”

“I came here so I didn’t have to. You know they’d never take me. They can’t stand the sight of me.”

“Yeah, well, right now I can’t really stand the sight of you either.”

He fumed. She fumed right back.

“I’ll just go,” the girl piped up again. “I’m so sorry about this, Iris.” She swallowed hard.

“You’re not going anywhere.”

Both women gave him a deadly glare until finally Wally relented. He softened as he turned to his girlfriend.

“I mean, do you really want to go?”

“I…”

Iris was in disbelief. This was her apartment!

“I’m calling mom.”

He spun around to face his sister instead.

“You wouldn’t.”

“Leave.” She pointed toward the door. “Come back when you have your priorities straightened out.”

He scoffed but wrapped his arm around his girl and guided her to the door.

“Come on, Linda. We can go to your place.”

“I have a roommate,” she panicked.

“Guess you won’t be fucking then,” Iris said dryly.

Wally glared but left the apartment. Iris locked the door immediately. He had a key, so it wasn’t going to keep him out, but it would give her some peace of mind until she went to bed.

Heaving a sigh, she collapsed back on the couch and closed her eyes for a few minutes before grabbing her book and relaxing into it again.

It took a while, and she was just about into the zone of where the characters were headed when there was a knock on the door.

She sighed, aggravated, and deliberately set the book down on the coffee table. Then she got to her feet and headed toward the door.

“So help me, Wallace, if that is actually you… If you lost your key… If you’re coming back this soon, there better be an apology,” she muttered heatedly.

She was so focused on the possibility that it was her brother that she flung the door open without looking through the peephole and was fuming when she came face to face with a familiar yet completely unexpected face.

“Scott?”

“Did I…come at a bad time?”

She blinked, suddenly aware of just a teddy beneath her fluffy robe. She looked him over and debated her options. He looked dashing, as always, and the easy charm was there in his half-amused smile pulling at his lips. There’d been an easy flirtation between the two of them since they’d met five years ago, but they’d never acted on it. Now here he was the night before the spring semester started with red roses in one hand and an uncurling fist that was probably sweaty as the other.

Suddenly, she needed nothing more than to act out one of the steamy love scenes in her book. Damn it all to hell what the next day brought.

She grabbed him by the collar of his jacket and pulled him into her apartment, kissing him soundly on the lips. He made no attempt to push away, and in fact moved to undress her through the far less layers as she was undressing him.

The door was shut, and the flowers dropped in the flurry of it all, and before either of them realized the gravity of what had happened, they were in Iris’ bedroom fucking, and Iris was kind of smug about it because it should serve Wally right for trying to do it first.

That didn’t mean she’d let him spend the night however. If Wally saw him gossip would spread, no doubt to get back at her, and she didn’t need either of their teaching reputations ruined like that.

So, about ten minutes after they’d crested, and Scott was laying in bed beside her with a gigantic grin on his face, Iris propped herself up and made a gesture towards the door.

“Okay, time for you to go.”

His jaw dropped.

“Are you serious?”

“Dead serious.”

“Did I do something wrong?”

“No, honey.” She stroked his chest. “You were fantastic.”

“Then?”

“We’re not together. I was just feeling stressed out, and you alleviated my stress. Thank you.” She smiled serenely.

He blinked.

“Seriously, go. If Wally sees you here, gossip will spread before either of us gets a word in our classes tomorrow. That’s hardly the best way to start the semester.”

He blinked again, still trying to process. She didn’t like that.

“Go!” She pulled on her robe and yanked him out of her bedroom.

He seemed to figure out what was going on by that point and caught his clothes as she threw them at him.

“I…uh…”

“I’ll see you tomorrow in the hall.”

“You will?” he asked hopefully.

“In the hall,” she repeated.

He frowned, and she sighed, moving swiftly past him to open the door and usher him out.

“Did you like the flowers at least?” he asked pathetically.

“They’re lovely,” she assured. “Goodnight, Scott.”

Then she closed the door in his face and locked it, promptly turning and throwing out the flowers without even a single sniff. Wally couldn’t see she had flowers. He was annoyingly observant and picked up on shit like that.

She returned to her bedroom, changed the sheets, and took a quick shower to rinse off the sweat. Then she settled in to sleep with a smile on her face. Amazing what a one-night stand could do for a girl’s mood.

This semester was going to be great.

[therealrosebuddies]

I’m over it... I swear

Pairing: Wally West x Batsis!Reader   (who can resist a good batsis??)

Warnings: None! 

Description: Drabble from a story I might post, I’m dipping my toes back into some DC stuff. Reader is obviously a batsis, but wasn’t a superhero till a few years ago. She was just recently inducted into the Justice League- where she runs into a old childhood friend- and crush. Another thing? He doesn’t recognize her with the mask on. If I wrote a series, hijinks would ensue ( batfam stuff, an actual plot, wally x reader things). It’s been a while since I’ve actually been excited to write, so writing a series would be fun. Anyways, enjoy!

You didn't have a crush on Wally West. You didn’t.

Well- you didn’t anymore- childhood crushes don’t count.

Even so, it was hard to stop your heart from skipping over itself as the speedster sped over to you, curious to meet the newest addition to the league. You stiffened, waiting for the inevitable realization to dawn on the hero. 

“Hi, The Flash, fastest man alive?” The hero offered, striking out his hand with a pose that would have made you giggle if you had been a few years younger.

But you were an adult. You were a mature, seasoned 19-year-old. And you were used to Wally theatrics, even if he didn’t know it.

You waited for a moment, watching as his green eyes flashed across your face, hand hovering in the space between you. 

Wait. 

WAIT.

You blinked for a moment, almost as if you were waiting for Wally to laugh and then nudge you in the ribs. He had to be joking. But he wasn’t. There was no recognition in his eyes, no familar twinkling. Instead, you were face to face with the full force of his flirting.

He didn’t recognize you.

For a second, you felt angry. You had known the guy for what... nine years? And he can’t recognize you through a mask and costume? It made you feel little, almost as if you had been invisable before. 

But then you realized something. If he didn’t know who you were, you could mess with him. After all, you knew all of his tricks. 

You smirked, lips curling mischievously. The former Kid Flash’s eyes widened, unprepared for a positive response to his flirty introduction. You shook his hand, cocking your head at him.

“Seraph. Interdimensional diva- and is that how you usually get girls? By being fast?” You asked, delighting in the way Wally’s cheeks colored red under his mask.

Sure, your heart was beating fast too, but you were sure that was a side effect of the atmosphere. Nothing else. That- and you loved seeing the seemingly cocky hero knocked off his feet for a chance.

You watched with satisfaction as Flash let out a weak, abrupt chuckle and released your hand, suddenly growing bashful. If this had been five years ago, you would have been giggling, elated that you had managed to elicit such a response from Wally West. But that was before you had become a hero, before you had given up your infatuation. Now you just felt drunk with power, a giddy high that you would be riding on for the rest of the day.

Your brother on the other hand, was just wondering if anyone would recognize you. At this point, a majority of hero’s that had worked with each other knew each other’s identities. It just came as a side effect from working together as long as they had and made logistics easier in the long run. But you had only been a hero for four years. An eventful four years where you had risen into the major leagues, but still only four years.

Almost no one knew your secret identity.

His best friend didn’t know he had tried flirting with his sister.

Dick glanced at you before speaking, gauging your reaction. 

Smug.

He glanced at Wally.

Flustered.

Nightwing, clearing his throat, clapping his hands together.

“Well, we really should be moving on now- Seraph has a lot that she hasn’t seen yet.” Dick explained, beginning to lead you by the shoulder, “New initiatories you know? Still tons to go through. We’ll catch up later.”

You could still feel Flash’s eyes on you as the door slid shut, separating you and your brother from the redhead. The two of you stood in the hall, Dick’s hands tight on your shoulders as he let out a sigh. You turned your head slowly, a toothy grin spreading across your face.

“Did you see that?”

“(F/n)-”

“He had no idea who I was! Absolutely none.”

Dick jerked his head to look at you, disbelief plain in his expression. 

“Look, just give him a few days, he’ll figure it out.” 

“No way! Do you know how good that felt?” You exclaimed, slipping free of your brother’s grip and beginning to walk backward down the hall. “He flirted with me. Me! You get the irony don’t you?”

Nightwing let out another sigh, well aware of your childhood pining. Of course he got it. But he also knew that you were taking this the wrong way- that somehow Wally had never considered you cute or likable. He knew that hadn’t been the case. Yes- Wally had been dense, but that had been his only sin. At that age, Wally had been attracted to almost anybody. He just hadn’t been good at figuring out when someone was attracted to him. 

Still wasn’t.

Dick also knew that the longer the two of you kept Wally in the dark, the more he would never hear the end of it. From either of you.

“I’m going to tell him if he doesn’t.” 

You frowned, arms quickly folding as your eyes grew dark.

“You don’t see me telling everyone your secret identity.”

“That’s because my teammates already know mine.”

You turned away, glaring out through the window. Dick was right- and you knew that. It would be the more rational thing to do. You knew Wally well enough that you knew your identity was safe with him. It would make things less complicated and easier to explain.

But you couldn’t do it.

That rush of elation when you realized Flash was attracted to Seraph- it had felt amazing. Which you would only admit to yourself and only on the grounds that it was a form of retribution for the hours you had spent thinking about him. If you revealed your identity- then that victory would go away. He would go back to looking at you like Dick’s little sister, a childhood friend. For some reason your heart shuddered to think about it, hands growing clammy.

Besides, the more people who knew your identity, the more likely chance a villain could get a hold of them to find out. And that would be bad- especially for your family. The Wayne’s couldn’t be compromised.

You shook your head, letting out a decisive breath.

“No Dick. He doesn’t need to know. It’s better if (F/n) and Seraph are two different people.” You ruled, arms crossed and chin high as you stared at your brother.

You braced for an argument, one that you were sure would keep up for the next couple weeks. Instead, Nightwing groaned, reaching over to you and slinging his arm over your shoulder. You grunted and squirmed as Dick pressed you into his side, squeezing just a little too hard to spite you. 

“Fine. It’s your choice. It’s a bad one, but it’s yours.”

You wiggled your head, freeing your hair as you glared up at him.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. I make great decisions.” You huffed, supporting Nightwing’s weight as the two of you made your way down the hall.

Dick shook his head, ruffling your hair.

“Of course you do. Just know I’m not going to cover for you when this blows up in your face.”

“As if that’ll ever happen. I’m good at keeping secrets.”

Unfortunately for you, your ‘great decision making’ was about to be the catalyst for the messiest get together in league history.

Something that neither you-  nor Wally West ever saw coming.

[greycappedjester]

If it’s ok, could we get a small clip of the next chapter?

Sure!....which story?

Um, here’s one for all of them. It’s long (very, very long) so I’m putting it under “Read More”

(All story segments are not fully edited and may change)

Tooru Oikawa and the Triwizard Tournament

Yamaguchi squinted towards the other side of the Great Hall. “So have they….made up now?”

A few tables down, Kageyama and Hinata seemed to be in the middle of a very loud and very spirited argument on whether condiments could ever count as side dishes. Grievous insults to intelligence had been made and threats of murder were likewise issued.

“I think so.” Ennoshita didn’t sound confident.

Hinata attempted to tackle Kageyama off of his bench.

“But, they’re still not playing together for Quidditch,” Yamaguchi confirmed

Kageyama shoved an apple in Hinata’s face.

Asahi watched wide-eyed. “They said they couldn’t yet.”

A resulting debate over the term 'breakfast fruit’ emerged. It was somehow even more heated.

“But, they’re not fighting?” Yamaguchi had to confirm.

“Suga says they aren’t,” Daichi said.

They had now decided to share the apple. Yachi beamed from beside them. Lev booed.

Yamaguchi decided there and then. “I’m never going to understand their relationship.”

“They’re idiots,’ Tsukishima concluded.

And, thus, the most watched and highly contentious fight of the entire school year--Tournament included--finally came to its baffling end.

--------

After the Fall of Olympus

(Sorry, it’s a depressing one--partly because I can’t take out much from the chapter without giving away a really major spoiler that’s revealed in the first scene)

Dick and Donna have this thing they do. 

It started maybe three years after the invasion, before Kory’s ship landed, and when everything was still raw but finally slowly trying to get better. 

They’d been in the tower alone, both on monitor duty, when Donna had turned to him and out of the blue asked, “Dick, tell me about Wally West?”

“What,” Dick had asked, too surprised even to feel the pain that sharply.

“You and Roy mention him every now and then. He was your best friend, right? I want to know more about him.”

Dick had just stared. Stared until Donna had admitted in a too quiet voice. “I’m tired of not being able to talk about them.”

So Dick had talked. At the start, it wasn’t even about anything important. Just about what a huge chemistry nerd Wally was. How he flirted with girls non-stop. The time he’d tried to phase through a wall and got half way through before panicking. And then, slowly, Dick moved on to important things. When Dick first told him his secret identity. How Wally had wanted to grow up to be just like his uncle. What Dick had felt when he saw his body.

Donna talked, too. About her sister. About growing up with Diana, about the numb shock watching her death on the news, about wondering if her sister would be proud of her and the a million and one times she was scared of living up to the reputation.

It became a routine. Not every day. Not even every few months. But, now and again, one of them would seek the other out and Donna would talk about Diana or some of her other Amazonian teachers lost in the invasion and Dick would talk about Wally and M’gann and Artemis and Connor and Kaldur and….and Bruce. One time, Dick even talked about Superman.

They talked and the pain didn’t go away--not fully, not ever--but eased until they felt like they could breathe again, until they could remember a past that was colored by more than just the pain of their deaths.

-------

Walking With My Eyes Open

Gen wasn’t a kind man; he was pragmatic.  And he’d long decided he’d do absolutely anything, sink to any kind of low, be however ruthless he needed if it meant saving Senkuu’s life. 

So….

Decisions, decisions.

He shredded a petal under his nails and tossed it down.

“Gen?” A blonde head popped up beside him. “What are you doing?”

He smiled, making sure it was a soft one despite his mood. Because he absolutely believed in playing favorites and when it came to the village--to his entire life, actually--it wasn’t hard to guess the people that rested on top.

Suika smiled back, a glimpse of bright blue eyes shining through the shadows of her mask. Then, she tilted her head and lowered her voice. “Are you hiding from work?”

Gen laughed, pressing a finger to his lips. “Maybe a bit. Don’t tell on me, okay?” He winked. “Besides, I was considering some options. Thinking counts as work, too, doesn’t it?”

Suika nodded, glancing down at the growing pile of mangled petals then to the daisy Gen was still steadily demolishing. “And the flowers are helping you think?”

Actually, Gen had just been feeling murderous towards flowers lately. Call it enacting justice vicariously.

“Not particularly.” He picked up another flower from beside him and instead of shredding it, started to fold. “You’re right. I think there’s a better use for these.”

A few more quick movements and he wove a flower bracelet, just small enough to slip over Suika’s wrist. 

Her grin brightened, looking at it like it was the next great marvel--so, at least Gen had accomplished one thing today.

“It’s so pretty,” Suika said, looking up to see it closer. “And the flowers are so close together. Can you teach me?”

“Sure, once we get some more flowers.” He picked up the last one, winding his fingers around the stem. “You know, now that you mention it. There is an old game about flowers and decisions. Want to hear it?”

Suika sat patiently in front of him, eyes fixed on the daisy because of course, she wanted to learn. What other village could this be?

“It’s very simple.” Gen counted off with one hand, flower in the other. “Two phrases, you pick a petal on each and the one you land on is your answer.” Gen picked a petal. “He loves me.” Another petal. “He loves me not….” 

Suika gave a small gasp. “Flowers can tell you if someone’s in love?”

Gen didn’t laugh because he knew it would be bitter.

“No,” he said quietly. “It’s just a game. Back before--ah, before even me and Senkuu, that is--ladies would play it to see if their beloved would ever return their affections. It’s silly.”

“So…,” Suika thought a bit, “it’s like a wish, then?”

“I think I’m using it more as a hex,” Gen muttered as he got to the last petal and glared.

He loves me.

Well, fuck. 

Gen supposed that’s what he deserved for trusting flowers.

He gave his largest, most theatrical sigh for Suika’s sake. “Ahhh, Suika-chan, look at that! It seems like I lost. More’s the pity for me!”

Suika grinned up at him, hopping to her feet and wrapping her arms around his hips. “It’s okay! I still love you.”

Gen patted her head, smiling despite himself.

“Maybe you were using the wrong flower,” Suika told him.

“Could be.”

“I’ll go get more,” Suika promised. “Then, you can find one that’ll work.”

“More flowers is a good idea,” Gen agreed. “But, I think I’m tired of this game. Why don’t I teach you how to make the best flower crowns in the entire stone world? Then, we’ll both have to be the most beloved people in the whole village, won’t we?”

Immediately, Suika ran off to the woods and Gen watched her go.

At least, flowers could do good somewhere. 

He looked down at the mangled flowers. A daisy, purity and innocence.

With a shift of his heel, he ground them a little further into the ground..

Flowers were an awfully pointless thing to blame; but, Gen was petty and they were easier than the alternative.

Still. He taught Suika how to make flower crowns and when she pressed one last bloom into his hand, so excited to find the last one of the season, he took it like his heart hadn’t plunged to his feet.

It was hard to look at black nightshade and forget it was a poison.

-------

Call Me Your Home At Night

(Note: very, very subject to edit. Part of the reason this one has taken awhile is rewrites while I work on tone)

Atsumu was shouting--voice tinny over the phone speakers--and Hinata’s blender was doing its best impressions of death throes while Hinata frantically tried to keep both the chord at the one angle it worked and hold the blender’s lid down so the entire kitchen didn’t end up coated in a weird grey mix of protein shake and bananas. Again. For the fifth time. 

In other words, it was a normal morning. 

From the part of his mind that noticed these things, Hinata thought it was kinda funny that Atsumu had learned to time his complaining to coordinate with the aggressive disaster that was Hinata’s morning routine.

Like the world’s weirdest symphony, the opposite of harmonizing. A disharmony! That was it!

“Seriously, what the fuck is a ward court and how is it different than a family court? Why do we even need two courts for divorce? Huh? Why not just shove a paper at us and have it done!” Atsumu’s voice got increasingly petulant. “Shouyou, it’s like the entire country is trying to keep good, decent people married! Why does it hate us?”

It was a close call; but, in a competition between one aggravated setter on speaker phone and the relentless whirring of the cheapest blender Hinata could find on the internet, Atsumu still managed to fight his way through.

Hinata gave the phone a sympathetic look even if he knew Atsumu couldn’t see it. He turned off the defeated foe and mentally crowned Atsumu the winner of Disharmony 2016: Blender vs. Atsumu edition. Not that he had much doubt. 

“Find anything you like with grounds for divorce?”

Atsumu grumbled which meant no.

Then, Atsumu huffed which meant no and the world wasn’t fair!

So, apparently, divorce was harder than it looked. Actually, a lot of things about this “being married” thing were more complicated than they thought and, in the month since they’d been technically married, Hinata had frequently and strongly fantasized about grabbing his past self by the shoulders and shaking him while screaming ‘WHY?!’ right at his face.

Like taxes!

Who knew how to do taxes? Who knew that taxes were apparently due this month? Including married people taxes which apparently were more complicated and had things like joint filing or separate and dependants and a bunch of other words that Hinata still didn’t understand completely. It wasn’t like he could ask his Mom for help after everything or even beg Yachi or Kenma like usual because that would bring up the whole marriage thing and, ugh, no, no, no, no.

Hinata was pretty sure he and Atsumu had figured it out. Enough, at least. Getting arrested for tax evasion seemed like something that only happened on the news so it was probably fine.

Uh, so, yeah, between the whole moving to Brazil thing and figuring out stuff like rent and utilities and meeting the indoor volleyball team he’d be working with plus some of the beach volleyball players and trying to get his new roommate Pedro to talk to him about things other than laundry and groceries and trying to remember the difference between bolo and bola and finding a job and Atsumu dealing with MSBY promotion stuff and interviews and getting ready for pro-volleyball next season and then them both having to deal with stuff like taxes and still being weirded out about all the accidental wedding stuff in general, they…..well, they hadn’t gotten much done about the whole divorce thing.

Okay, more like they’d gotten exactly one thing done and that was figuring out a time to freak out about all the things they hadn’t gotten done. The good news was that the exactly twelve hour time difference was sorta perfect since it meant Hinata got back from his morning jog about the same time Atsumu came home for dinner, which meant that quickly became their agreed time to call with updates.

….which usually tailed off into both of them talking about volleyball instead because volleyball was a whole lot more fun.

Hinata very carefully pushed aside the resulting mental montage of sand scraping along his arms on a missed receive and feet sinking into the ground and landing face first in burning sand that was happening way more than he’d expected.

Hinata shook his head, scraping the not-very-blended protein shake out of his blender. “I’ll try to look some stuff up this afternoon.”

“Isn’t your laptop still being screwy?”

“...Maybe.” It was more like Hinata’s ancient laptop had given a sudden death kneel--complete with hisses and the screen flashing--and Hinata was sorta scared he’d get electrocuted if he even touched it. “I’ll use my phone.”

“I could just buy you a laptop, you know,” Atsumu muttered. It wasn’t the first time; Hinata even knew his next line.

Hinata grinned. “That’s really sweet, Atsumu. Absolutely not, you’re already doing enough of the research anyway.”

“Shut up,” Atsumu grumbled. “I am not sweet, this is a trade. Your laptop’s a piece of crap, like actually the worst and I--like any normal human being--am doing my part in putting it out of its misery. Basic compassion right here.”

“But, I don’t need a new laptop,” Hinata insisted like he always did. “I’ve got my phone. That’ll work until I get a job.”

Which he was totally going to get. Soon, too. It was just a little harder than he thought when he didn’t really have a great grip on the language yet.

“Hinata, I’m begging you as a friend here, please don’t resort to selling your organs on the black market.”

Hinata rolled his eyes. “I would never do that. I need them for volleyball.”

“Is that seriously the only reason?”

“Think about how long surgery recovery would take,” Hinata teased. “I only have two years here.”

“I worry about you. Like fundamentally.”

Hinata tilted his head. “But what if I could get like super organs instead.”

“Like Terminator?”

“Yeah! I’m pretty sure I read a manga where that happened once.” He paused. “Oh my gosh, Atsumu, imagine how amazing volleyball would be with superpowers!”

“There’s no way the V.League would approve that.” Atsumu breathed in. “But, what if…”

“I’d get super speed,” Hinata broke in excitedly, “or maybe flying. Oh, or super strength! Imagine hitting a spike with super strength!”

“Awesome!” Atsumu’s voice was speeding up. “What if I had one of those specialty powers like super precision or something! It could get around so many blockers; Suna would be so pissed off! I could set the ball anywhere!”

Hinata huffed. “You already do that.”

Atsumu broke off, sounding pleased. “Really?”

“Of course,” Hinata said. “Hey, wait, how was practice? You got to meet the new libero, right?”

“Yeah, Inunaki--he’s pretty cool. He was mainly working with--” Atsumu cut off, “Fuck, Shou, I gotta tell you about this thing Barnes and I did!”

Atsumu started rambling--words choppy and quick as he got deeper into the retelling of practice in a way that had Hinata hanging off every word. In an abstract sense, Hinata knew that he himself was a people person; he’d always been good at making friends and deeply appreciated every single one he was able to hang onto.

He’d never had a friend like Atsumu.

-------

Shuffling the Deck

(Since it’s late, have an entire opening scene)

ooooooo- 30 Years Prior -ooooooo

Once there was a girl who grew up with her grandmother in a barely patched house, closed in by cliffs.

She was a quiet girl, a pretty face and delicate hands always kept clean despite the threadbare clothes that hung more like rags. The girl did not like to play with the other children which was fitting as they didn’t much like to play with her either.

Instead, she liked to read.

And, more than that, she liked to watch the garden.

Which is what she chose to do, one day at eight years old on the same morning a prominent merchant staggered in to see her grandmother--a terrible illness spreading through his veins and blood in his cough.

The girl was fine with blood but didn’t care for coughing so she stayed exactly where she was, laying on her stomach with head propped in hands while she took in the delicate threads of a spider web.

She always thought the webs were the prettiest part of the garden. They were so very thin and frail that one could barely notice them until they got up close. And, then, once they saw them, they could see the patterns and shapes so carefully woven as if by an artisan.

Sometimes, she even saw the spider. 

Sometimes, she tried to get it to crawl to her hand.

 It never did though. No matter what she did. The spider was too cautious, too scared of what it believed had power over it.

That was how spiders worked, really. They spun their masterpieces with so much care and precision and, then, they waited patiently for the art to be observed.

The girl was not the only one who found the spider web this morning.

A fly had come across the threads first--likely by accident but the girl liked to imagine that it was the beauty that had drawn the fly in the same as it had done her.

She wondered if the fly still appreciated the art of the web.

It was still alive.

She watched it struggle. Its wings beat uselessly, its many legs trapped in the delicate threads, and a buzzing cry sounding so frantic for such a small creature.

For a moment, she debated on saving it.

She could, of course.

But, that would mean tearing down the gorgeous web that she adored.

But, that would mean the spider may starve and there would be no new web tomorrow.

And, besides, why did she care about dirtying her hands for the sake of a dying fly.

The door of the cottage opened and the girl glanced up idly.

The merchant was stumbling out, gratitude and lavish promises on his breath and a healthy glow back in his cheeks. Her grandmother was smiling kindly, accepting the praise yet turning down the offers same as she always did until eventually the merchant went away.

The girl looked back to the web.

The fly was dead, quickly being wrapped up by the spider to save for later.

She turned back to her grandmother. “He was rich, you know? I heard the other kids talking about him in town. His shipping business goes all the way up to the wealthy islands in the north. If you let him do even half the things he offered, we could live in a mansion and you wouldn’t have to hurt your fingers so much mending clothes.” The tone wasn’t accusing, merely curious. “Why did you say no?”

“Oh, my dear,” Her grandmother leaned down to kiss her hair and the girl allowed it, “because our powers are a gift. They’re not meant to be hoarded and offered for a price. They’re meant to be shared. Besides,” the woman sighed as she watched the road, “what kind of price would that be? Who would I be to demand it? Those who are desperate--for their lives, for those they love--would pay anything. They’d do anything. Who could ever put a price on such a weight? It’s beyond human measure.” 

She smiled down at her granddaughter. “Do you understand, my darling Mimi?”

Maemi frowned before nodding, looking down at the spider web. 

“Yes, I understand.”

There was no way to know what would have happened if the old woman took up the merchant’s offer. Likely she never would have. She was not that type of person. All that there was to know is that the grandmother and the little girl remained at the patched up cottage, just like they had the girl’s whole life and her grandmother’s life before hers.

They were there six months later when the oceans swelled and brought the waves into shore. 

They were not both there after.

Six months later, a man and a girl waded through water as they searched a broken down cottage for survivors.

Well, the man searched at least.

The girl had stopped beside a tree, tall and strong enough to survive a tsunami.

On the bottom branch, at the lowest hanging twig, was a spider’s web just barely managing not to be swept into the water.

The spider was still alive.

But, it wouldn’t be for long.

It struggled, trying to climb up faster even as the bottom of its beautiful web was destroyed by the current.

For a moment, she debated on saving it.

She could, of course.

So, she did.

She snapped a twig from another branch and held it out for the spider to crawl, too. It did willingly, anything to avoid the water below.

It had never crawled to her hand before.

Not like it did now when it was desperate for life.

Maemi watched her dear spider crawl into her open hand.

And, then, she plunged her hand into the water and watched her dear spider drown.

“Yes, grandmother, I understand completely.”

[longitudinalwaveme]

Smoke and Mirrors

Dramatis Personae

Wally West, the energetic, enthusiastic, and confident third Flash

Iris Allen, the wife of Barry Allen and a daredevil reporter

Mirror Master, alias Sam Scudder, a talented inventor and the de facto second-in-command of the Rogues

The Top, alias Roscoe Dillon, an arrogant elitist who is suffering from a mysterious disease

Weather Wizard, alias Mark Mardon, a rather dimwitted thief with an obscenely powerful weapon, the weather wand

The Trickster, alias James Jesse, a charming con man with no fashion sense

Script

Act I

(Enter Wally West and Iris Allen, who has just arrived to the Flash Airport of Central City)

Wally: Hi, Aunt Iris! How have you been? It’s so nice to have you back!

Iris: Hi, Wally. It’s good to be back. How’s your Uncle Barry been?

Wally: He’s been great. Really slow since he lost his super speed, of course, but otherwise, he’s fine. He even took down the Trickster all by himself!

Iris: I heard. It made a great story. (Pause) How have he and Bart been doing since I went on my trip?

Wally: Bart’s still really impulsive, and he scared Uncle Barry half to death when he ran to New York City and watched an off-off-Broadway show without telling anyone, but overall he’s been doing great. Uncle Barry enrolled him in sixth grade and he’s become friends with this girl named Carol and this boy named Preston, and he’s finally kind of adjusting to life outside the speed force. He’s still not crazy about Irey and Jai, though-he thinks they’re annoying tagalongs. Oh, and he discovered anchovy pizza for the first time, and, for some reason, he loves it! He’s eaten 45 slices in the past two days, and Uncle Barry says that he thinks he’ll single-handedly keep the neighborhood pizza place in business. (Pause) How was your trip?

Iris: I loved it! There’s nothing quite like the thrill of investigating the government of Kandaq.

Wally: But isn’t Kandaq led by Black Adam?

Iris: Yes. That’s why it was so much fun to investigate what he’s been up to! Before I did some snooping around, no one knew what he was doing because everyone was too scared to check, so I was able to write the biggest exposé of my career and take down a supervillain at the same time. It was awesome! I even got to interview Captain Marvel after he rescued me from Black Adam.

Wally: No wonder you won a Pulitzer. (Pause) So, besides risking your life, did you do anything else in Kandaq? I’ve heard it has delicious food.

Iris: (Laughs) Of course you would focus on the food.

Wally: Well, is it as good as Dick told me?

Iris: Actually, yes. The spices in particular are delicious-and unique to the country, too!

Wally: I’ll be right back. (Wally exits, then rapidly re-enters) That was delicious!

Iris: That’s my Wally. (Pause) And to finish answering your question, besides eating and investigating, I did a lot of sightseeing and even more souvenir-buying.

Wally: Sounds fun!

Iris: It was. (Pause) And in speaking of souvenirs….. (Pulls t-shirt out of bag) This is for you.

Wally: (takes shirt, reads) “I stood in the presence of the all-powerful Black Adam and all I got was this lousy t-shirt.” (Laughs) Thanks, Aunt Iris! I love it!

Iris: I thought you might. I also got a doll of Isis for Irey, a book on Kandaq’s history for Jai, a longer book on the same subject for your Uncle Barry, a necklace for Linda, a fan for Joan, a scrapbook for Jay, and Captain Marvel’s signature and promise to visit our house for Bart.

Wally: Sweet! (Pause) Do you have all your bags?

Iris: Yes, I do.

Wally: Then let’s get you home! (Pause, then in “official” voice) The West Delivery Service will get you there in three seconds, or your money back!

Iris: (Laughs) Definitely my Wally.

(Both Exit)

Act II

(Top is onstage, sitting at table and talking on the phone)

Top: (on the phone) Greetings, my darling. How are you? (Pause) Excellent. I’m glad to hear it. How fares the mission? (Pause) What sort of complications? You know as well as I do that I haven’t much time. If you do not find a cure soon, my powers will quite literally be the death of me. We do not have time for failure! (Pause) I’m sorry, honeybunch. I did not mean to snap at you. I am simply anxious. Even I cannot come out on top in a battle with the grave. (Pause) Of course I trust you, sweetums. Remember though, my darling, if my calculations are correct, I only have a month left. We must get the cure! (Pause) Well that, at least, is good news. If Allen likes you, it will not be long before he is willing to trust you enough to help you find the cure. (Pause) I love you, dearest. Farewell. (Puts phone away and puts on earmuffs) And now to enjoy my meal in peace.

(Enter Trickster, Mirror Master, and Weather Wizard)

Weather Wizard: So, how’d you guys find me?

Trickster: It’s simple, Wiz! We followed the reports of snowstorms in July.

Mirror Master: You aren’t exactly subtle, Mardon.

Weather Wizard: Fair enough. I guess being able to control the weather doesn’t leave much room for subtlety. (Pause) So, what do you two want?

Mirror Master: Your help. If there’s anyone who can keep the Flash away from our heists, it’s you. You’re more powerful than all of us-even me.

Weather Wizard: I know.

Trickster: And you’re modest, too.

Weather Wizard: Hey, if you could control the weather with a flick of the wrist, you’d be a little arrogant, too.

Trickster: Fair enough. (Pause) Say, last I heard, your wand was busted. How’d you get it working again?

Weather Wizard: (Defensively) None of your business. I just did, okay?

Trickster: (Suspiciously) Oh, really? Then let me see the wand.

Weather Wizard: No! You can’t touch it!

Trickster: Why not?

Weather Wizard: Because it’s mine, and you aren’t gonna touch it!

Trickster: (Grabs wand) Too late! I already have it!

Weather Wizard: Give it back! (Tries to grab wand, but fails and falls on his face)

Trickster: All right, Mr. Weather Wand. Make it rain! Bippity boppity boo! (Waves wand, nothing happens) That’s funny. I thought you said you fixed the wand, Wiz.

Weather Wizard: (Gets to his feet and grabs the wand back) Okay, so I exaggerated about being able to fix it. I’ve used the weather wand long enough that I was able to do a patch job and get it to make some snow, but it’s pretty much useless for any other form of weather. I can’t even make it whip up a decent blizzard!

Mirror Master: All you can make is snow? (Trickster notices the Top)

Weather Wizard: (Weakly) Yeah.

Mirror Master: Well, that’s just great. Here I was thinking that we had tornadoes, lighting, and hail on our side, and all we have is a glorified snow machine! (Pause) And when were you planning on mentioning the fact that you can’t make anything but snow, anyway? When the Flash showed up to take us to jail?

Weather Wizard: Well, to be honest, I hadn’t really thought out that far. I was trying to save face, not come up with a battle plan.

Mirror Master: (Despondently) There goes my Ferrari.

Trickster: Don’t give up on the Ferrari just yet, Sam! I have a way to salvage our heist!

Mirror Master: James, I already told you. I am not going to use a “whoopie cushion of doom” to stop the Flash. Unlike you, I have some dignity.

Trickster: First, the Whoopie Cushion of Doom is high comedy, and you should be honored that I offered to let you use it. Second, that’s not it.

Mirror Master: Then what is it?

Trickster: It’s the Top! He’s sitting right over there! (Points to Top)

Mirror Master: (Surprised) So he is.

Weather Wizard: What’s he doing here? I thought he and Golden Glider were in Hawaii on the fifth anniversary of their first date or something.

Mirror Master: Who knows with those two. Maybe they came home early.

Trickster: Came home early ? They never went ! They’ve been in Central City this whole time!

Weather Wizard: They have? But then why did they tell everyone that they were on vacation?

Mirror Master: Probably so they could spend time together without Captain Cold breathing down their necks. Given how overprotective he is, if I was dating Lisa, I would probably pretend to be out of the city, too. It’s hard to have romantic moments when you know that her big brother’s watching and will maim you if you look at her funny.

Trickster: Nah, that’s not it. If Roscoe was afraid of Captain Cold, he wouldn’t challenge his authority all the time. I think they’re planning something, something they want to keep secret from the rest of us, and I want to find out what it is. (Taps Top on shoulder) Hiya, Top!

Top: (Takes off earmuffs; Aside) Why me? (To Trickster) What do you want?

Trickster: Well, Mirror Master wants a Ferrari, and I want some excitement, so we need your help to rob the jewelry store on Fifth and Main.

Top: I am afraid that you will be disappointed. I am quite busy, and am being pressed to the top of my bent. I have no time for frivolities, Giovanni.

Weather Wizard: Giovanni? Who’s Giovanni?

Trickster: Me.

Mirror Master: You gave the Top an alias when he asked for your real name?

Trickster: (“Offended”) No! I’d never do anything like that! (Pause) I didn’t give him an alias when he asked for my real name. I gave you two an alias!

Weather Wizard: Your real name’s Giovanni?  

Trickster: Yep! Giovanni Giuseppi. My family is Italian.

Mirror Master: Then why do you always go by James Jesse?

Trickster: Because Jesse was our family’s stage name from the circus. Since we used an alias in our performances, I got used to being called James, so I eventually decided to just start using it as my regular name. Besides, it’s easier to say than Giovanni Giuseppi.

Mirror Master: Well, whoever you are, clearly, your plan failed. Dillon doesn’t want to get involved in our plan, and so it’ll be a bust.

Trickster: (Aside) Oh, ye of little faith. (To Mirror Master) I’ll be able to get him to come around. Trust me.

Mirror Master: Forgive me if I’m less than convinced. (Trickster walks over to Top)

Trickster: (To Top) What if I told you that there would be something in it for you?

Top: I would still refuse. As I already told you, I am quite preoccupied. Now, if you will excuse me, I am going home.

Trickster: (Stopping Top) Top, old buddy, just hear me out. If you don’t like it, I promise you can leave, but you’ve gotta at least learn what it is.

Top: We are not “old buddies”, but, since you seem determined to annoy me until I listen to what you have to say, I suppose I will give in to the inevitable and allow you to speak. But be quick about it. I am giving you five minutes- tops .

Trickster: You know what? Never mind. It was silly of me to think you would be motivated by something as small as an engagement ring. (Moves out of Top’s way; To Mirror Master and Weather Wizard) Come on, guys, let’s go. I’m sure I’ll be able to come up with something else.

Top: What was that about an engagement ring?

Trickster: Oh, you wouldn’t be interested in it, I’m sure.

Top: You are mistaken. Do tell me what you think I will get out of this heist.

Trickster: Are you sure? If you really are busy, I don’t want to bother you.

Top: No, no. I am fine. Please, tell me what you mean.

Trickster: Well, if you insist…..A few months ago, Lisa told me that she saw the perfect engagement ring at the jewelry store that we’re planning to rob, and that she would be thrilled if you proposed to her with it. But like I said, if you don’t want to help us….

Top: (Quickly) If it will please Lisa, I would very much like to help ensure that you come out on top .

Trickster: Great! Glad to have you aboard, pal!

Mirror Master: (Draws Trickster aside) How could you have talked to Glider “a few months ago”? You spent the last six months on a cross-country swindling trip and didn’t get back until three weeks ago!

Trickster: (Aside to Mirror Master) That’s right…..but he doesn’t know that.

Mirror Master: (Aside to Trickster) Clever.

Trickster: (Aside to Mirror Master) I know, right?  (Aloud) So, what’s the plan?

Act III

(Enter Wally and Iris)

Wally: Is there anything else you need me to do, Aunt Iris?

Iris: Wally, you’ve already gotten me home from the airport, unpacked all my bags, put everything away, pulled everything out when you put everything away wrong, put everything away in the right places, delivered my letter to your Grandpa Ira in Florida, fixed my car, and repainted the garage. You’ve done enough.

Wally: Aww, it was nothing, Aunt Iris.

Iris: It wasn’t nothing. That was a lot of work, and I really appreciate it. (Pause) By the way, you haven’t eaten much since you brought me home. You should probably get some food.

Wally: Good idea, Aunt Iris! (Wally exits, then quickly re-enters) I love Japanese food!

Iris: Did you really run all the way to Japan just to get food? Wally: Why not? I can get there and back in three seconds!

Iris: (laughs) Oh, Wally. You’ve gotta stop doing that before it rubs off on Bart.

Wally: I think it might be too late for that. He’s already running to New York City to watch off-off-Broadway, after all.

Iris: I know, but now that Barry doesn’t have his super speed, we need to dissuade him from doing that again. We can’t be calling you all the time because we can’t bring him back when he disappears to another continent. Without at least one parent with super speed, he needs to stay close to home so that we can help him if he gets into trouble.

Wally: I don’t mind bringing him home.

Iris: Yes, but I’m pretty sure your boss will mind if you have to keep leaving work to bring Bart home from Namibia or Laos or Bithynia.

Wally: But he knows I’m the Flash! I have to leave work all the time!

Iris: True, but there’s a difference between leaving work to stop crime or save people and leaving work to track down your cousin who went on a joyride.

Wally: Yeah, you probably have a point there.

Iris: As soon as he and Barry get home from their trip to the park, I’ll have Barry sit him down and have a little chat with him about running off to other states or foreign countries-assuming that he can focus long enough to get the message, that is.

Wally: Hey, do you mind if I stick around until they get back? I wanted to talk to Uncle Barry about the Rogues’ latest escape from jail.

Iris: Of course you can stay here! (Pause) And why didn’t you tell me that the Rogues escaped? That always makes for a good news story!

Wally: I don’t really know a lot about how it happened yet, so I guess it just slipped my mind.

Iris: In that case, I’ll have to do some investigating to find out how….after Barry, Bart, and I have our little chat, of course.

Wally: Have I ever told you that you’re awesome, Aunt Iris?

Iris: Not lately.

Wally: Well, you’re awesome. (Phone rings) Sorry! I have to get that! (Pulls out phone) Hello? (Pause) Oh, hi, Mrs. Rowen. Why are you calling? (Pause) Suspension? Why? They’re only kindergartners! (Pause) They did what? (Pause) Well, yes, I’m sure that the school having all its windows broken by dual sonic booms would be problematic, but they don’t know how to control their speed. I know they didn’t do it maliciously. (Pause) $600,000? Wow….That is a lot of money. I’m really sorry. I didn’t even know they were moving at supersonic speeds yet. Did anyone get hurt? (Pause) Two teachers are going to need stitches? Oh, no. I’m really sorry. I’m really, really, really sorry. (Pause) Yes, of course I’ll come meet with you. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. I’ll be right there. Bye. (Puts phone away) Looks like I won’t be able to talk to Uncle Barry. My kids shattered all the windows at the elementary school when they accidentally created a sonic boom, and now I have to meet with their principal. I swear, parenting super-powered children is a million times harder than fighting supervillains. At least with supervillains, I don’t have to pay for the damages that they cause. I’ve gotta run. Bye!

(Exit Wally)

Iris: It’s at times like these that I’m glad Bart stayed in the Speed Force until he was old enough to know how to control his speed. (Pause) In speaking of Bart, there he and his dad are now. Hopefully, Bart will cooperate with the limits he sets on his travel, because if not, I’m not sure that Barry and I will be able to enforce them. Even Wally wasn’t as impulsive as Bart is.

Act IV (Enter Top, Trickster, Mirror Master, and Weather Wizard. Trickster is wielding a fearsome rubber chicken and a kazoo)

Mirror Master: Did everyone make it through the Mirror Realm all right?

Top: I feel more than a little nauseous, but otherwise, I am fine, since we managed to arrive at our intended destination.

Mirror Master: What are you implying?

Top: Nothing. It is simply that I would feel far more comfortable if I knew that the realm through which we traveled so shortly ago was controlled by a man who had at least completed his secondary education and who hailed from somewhere other than the part of town colloquially known as “Skid Row”. In all candor, your credentials do not inspire confidence.

Mirror Master: Hey, I might not have your fancy education, but I’m just as smart as you. How else do you think I discovered an entire alternate dimension?

Top: My supposition would be that the goddess Fortuna smiled upon an unworthy candidate with the freakish caprice for which she is known.

Mirror Master: Are you saying I just got lucky?

Top: Indeed.

Mirror Master: You’ve got some nerve, Dillon! I worked for years to learn how the Mirror Realm worked! Just because I’m from Skid Row doesn’t mean I’m stupid!

Top: My experience, and the experiences of my father, would suggest otherwise.

Trickster: Girls, girls, girls . You’re both pretty. Now, let’s start the heist already! I already deactivated the alarms, but they’ll come back on eventually. And besides, I’m bored!

Weather Wizard: Trickster’s right. I already created enough snow to slow down the cops, but that won’t hold them forever, and it won’t hold our friend in the red pajamas at all. We need to hurry.

Mirror Master: Well, if the Top is ready, so am I.

Top: I was not the one delaying us, but I am quite prepared to proceed in our enterprise. (To Trickster, as Weather Wizard and Mirror Master start grabbing jewelry) Where is the engagement ring that my beloved desires?

Trickster: (Looks around at the various rings) Let’s see…..I know it’s around here somewhere ….. (Finds a particularly ostentatious ring and points at it) Oh! There it is!

Top: Are you certain that that is what she desires? It seems a bit gaudy for her tastes.

Trickster: Of course I’m sure! (Aside) And I’m not lying. I’m sure she’ll hate it, and I’m sure that learning that he got outsmarted by a circus brat will take Mr.Phony British Accent down a few pegs. He’s smart, but he’s not nearly as smart as he thinks he is.

Top: You have my gratitude, Giovanni. (Takes ring) Is there nothing that you are inclined to take?

Trickster: Not really. I’m here to put on a show, not to take money. (Pulls out bottle of paint) Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to replace the bathroom sinks’ water with paint.

(Exit Trickster; Top analyzes jewelry and slowly begins to select the sophisticated jewelry)

Mirror Master: (To Weather Wizard) I know I said that I was getting a Ferrari, but I’ve been thinking it over, and I think I might get a Lamborghini instead. What do you think?

Weather Wizard: Which one’s faster?

Mirror Master: I’m not sure. Except for a three-day period where I was in possession of W. W. Wiggins’s stolen Ferrari, I’ve never actually owned a car.

Weather Wizard: (Surprised) You’ve never owned a car? How’s that possible? Before I became the Weather Wizard, I was the world’s biggest loser, and even I had a car. I mean, granted, I crashed it into a tree, but I had one!

Mirror Master: (Defensive) I grew up in the inner city. Have you seen the traffic in the interior of Central City? It’s a nightmare! There’s a reason everyone takes the subway to work. The traffic gets so jammed that cars are basically useless.

Weather Wizard: But you still live in the inner city. If there’s no use for one, why do you want it so bad?

Mirror Master: (Angrily) Because I’m tired of being poor! I’ve spent my entire life either in jail or in tiny two-room apartments on Baker Street, and I’m sick of it! I’m sick of always being behind on rent, I’m sick of wearing other people’s cast-offs, and I’m SICK of Roscoe implying that I’m stupid! I want a car because it would be a sign that I finally have enough money to get off of Skid Row! People would have to give me some respect then!  

Weather Wizard: If it makes you feel any better, without the weather wand, nobody gives me any respect, either. The only reason that I’m here right now is to earn back the reputation I lost when it broke. I don’t really need the money.

Mirror Master: You don’t?

Weather Wizard: Nah. I won a $20,000 poker game a few weeks ago.

Mirror Master: But you’re terrible at poker!

Weather Wizard: (Shrugs) I was playing against an 18-year-old who had just inherited his daddy’s company and had never played a game in his life.

Mirror Master: And Dillon says I’M the one who gets lucky!

Weather Wizard: Don’t take it personally, Sam. He’s a jerk to everyone-except Lisa, that is.

Mirror Master: What does she see in him, anyway?

Weather Wizard: That, my friend, is one of the great mysteries of life. He’s not even that attractive!

Top: (Comes over) It is not so mysterious as that. Unlike the rest of you ruffians, I am a man of birth, breeding, and education. Our relationship is a great boon for her social status, especially given the “trailer trash” from whence she comes-to use a colloquialism, of course-and I am certainly better company than any of you could hope to provide. Her selection of me as a paramor proves that she, alone among you “Rogues”, has taste.

Mirror Master: (Sarcastically) Yeah, you’re a real prince, Dillon.

(Alarm goes off)

Weather Wizard: Oh, no! The alarm! We must’ve lost track of time, and now the Flash is gonna show up and make me a laughingstock all over again!

(Enter Trickster)

Trickster: Where’s the Flash? He should be here by now!

Mirror Master: Who cares? Let’s get outta here!

Trickster: Wait! I want to fight the Flash! It’s no fun if I don’t get to fight the Flash!

Mirror Master: Trickster, we got what we came for! Now let’s go!

(All exit quickly, Mirror Master dragging a flailing Trickster)

Act V

(Mirror Master, Weather Wizard, Top, and Trickster are onstage, sitting. Trickster is pouting)

Weather Wizard: We...we actually did it?

Top: Obviously. We are here and not in jail, are we not?

Weather Wizard: I know that, I just can’t believe that we actually did it! We never get away with heists this big!

Mirror Master: You’re right, Mardon. It’s been over four years since we had a heist that the Flash didn’t stop….and we got away with it!

Weather Wizard: So, what do we do now?

Mirror Master: I….I don’t know. It’s been years since we got away with anything, so I haven’t had a plan beyond “get away” in years.

Weather Wizard: I guess you can buy your car now.

Mirror Master: Yeah. I guess so. (Sighs) It’s so weird that we’re not in jail right now.

Weather Wizard: Tell me about it. I haven’t had a run of luck this good in ages!

Top: It is not so peculiar as you are treating it. After all, I accompanied you on this heist, something I have not often done. It is not, therefore, terribly surprising that you were successful-I enabled you to come out on top .

Mirror Master: Dillon, do the world a favor and shut up. I’m not in the mood for your attitude.

Weather Wizard: (To Trickster) Hey, James, why are you so upset? We just got away with a million dollars! You should be on cloud nine!

Trickster: I’m upset because the Flash didn’t show up! He’s what makes crime exciting! Since he wasn’t there and we did it at night, I didn’t have an audience, and it wasn’t any fun! Besides, escaping changes up the game. How are we supposed to start the game over if we don’t get captured and have to escape again?

Weather Wizard: Now that you mention it, I did feel like our heist was lacking in that rush. It’s hard to feel excited when there’s no danger that you might be stopped.

Mirror Master: Yeah. It’s not enjoyable to beat him when he doesn’t even show up. (Pause) But hey, at least we’re rich now, right?

Weather Wizard: (Without confidence) Right. And I’m sure we’ll be able to come up with something to do. It’ll be great!

Trickster: (Petulantly) No, it won’t. The game’s been ruined!

Mirror Master: How has it been ruined? You don’t need the Flash to trick people.

Trickster: No, I don’t, but it’s not the same. I came back to Central City to play the game, and now the game has been ruined because the Flashes won’t play!

Weather Wizard: (Too cheerfully) Hey, why don’t we go get some ice cream? That’ll make us all feel better.

Mirror Master: Sure, why not?

Trickster: I guess so. But only if I can get gummy bears and rainbow sprinkles.

Top: I will pass on that offer. I have fulfilled my part of the agreement and must get back to work.

Weather Wizard: Okay. More for us, I guess.

Mirror Master: (Mutters) Good riddance.

Trickster: I had better get two dips, too.

(Exit Trickster, Mirror Master, and Weather Wizard)

Top: Ahh. Peace and quiet at last. (Pulls out cell phone) Hello, Lisa, darling. This is Roscoe. How fares the mission? (Pause) Allen is willing to help you get the cure? Good. Good. Very good. You, my sweet, are a veritable Sarah Siddons. (Pause) Oh, my apologies. I thought that was common knowledge. Sarah Siddons was a famous Shakespearean actress who was renowned for her life-like portrayal of Lady Macbeth in the 19th century, and you are quite as talented an actress. (Pause) Oh! I almost forgot. I have pleasant news as well, honeybunch. I appropriated the engagement ring that you so desired! (Pause) Wait, you never picked out a ring for that purpose? My profuse apologies, sweetums. It seems that I was misinformed. (Pause) Don’t worry, my dearest darling. The pain has been quite manageable, and given what you have just told me, I have no fear for my life. (Pause) Thank you, darling. Your snuggle-bunny loves you, too. Good-bye. (Puts phone away) TRICK-STER!

(Scene change. Enter Wally, in jewelry store)

Wally: Aw, come on! I’m getting sued by the school district AND I let the Rogues get away? Man, this just isn’t my day! (Pause) Oh, well. If there’s one thing that Uncle Barry’s taught me, it’s that a true hero never gives up. I’m sure to find them eventually-especially since they aren’t exactly subtle. (Pause) And if there’s one good thing about all this, it’s that things can’t possibly get worse! I’ll go get a quick snack, and then I’ll find Aunt Iris and Uncle Barry so that we can take down those Rogues- in a Flash!

[heartian-blog1]

tiny tag drop before i head off !!!

[imaginedcreaderinsert]

Reader and her boyfriend get into an argument at the tower and he hits her? Dick is furious because he’s in love with her but the reader is just embarrassed?

Thanks for the request and I’m so sorry it took so long! But alas, here it is. I really wanted to write this one, as well as some other I have pending, but I just couldn’t find the words. I’m not 100% satisfied with this one (there’s no lemoney or anything unu), but I think I made my point across towards the important thing of this relationship. Don’t stay in one where physical abuse is condoned!

SUMMARY: As stated by ask, thought I think I took some liberties, Reader has been a Vigilante for some time in California, all on her own. The Titans arrive, and both join forces: Dick and Reader click specially well together, but to his demise, she is already in a relationship. A happy one? He cannot really say, specially when the red flags start to arise and a surprising discovery comes up.

WORD COUNT: 4780

TW: Swearing and past mentions of physical abuse in a relationship. It’s not hardcore, as always I try to make it somewhat vague, but I thought I should let my readers know. Oh, and warning, I THINK, Dick in this one is somewhat OOC. I think it might be due to my lack of sleep, but just beware.

Please don’t give it up — Dick Grayson x Reader

They all dealt with their own human affairs in the best fashion that they knew. The secret identities were given; it was something that no one was supposed to share unless absolutely necessary (which hadn’t been the case yet), and thus the exertion of powers was forbidden (unless, again, of absolute necessity). No one got into no one’s business, and as hard as it was becoming, Dick himself made that rule after having Kori meddled into his own private relationships. So now he couldn’t come between (Y/N) and his stupid human boyfriend, as much as he wanted to. It was stupid anyways – as much people liked him in, he was definitively not supposed to be there.

           But he should start from the beginning. (Y/N) had joined the group a little after the Titans had settled themselves down on the Tower. She had already been a Vigilante in San Francisco; thus “they” were the ones entering her territory. She worked the city alone, and as such received the help without resentment or suspicions. After all, all she wanted to do was keep safe as much as anyone else. It was her home after all. As a lonely vigilante (Y/N) tended to go on her own, and maybe that’s why she had such a crazy magnetism to Dick. She never spoke too much of anything unless questioned, she was intelligent and clearly knew everything she talked about. In that sense she was a bit like Tim: definitely not the star or talker of the room, but the most intelligent by far. She had started to join forces with the Titans before her official joining months before their first crisis on the city: massive bombings, attacks on civilian areas. It was pure terror, specially in the famous Golden Gate Bridge (who would have said they would be JUST like those superheroes in movies?). That was, if Dick remembers correctly, the first time he saved (Y/N)’s boyfriend. Now he wishes he would have just let his car sunk in the bottom of the ocean.

           The crisis had made them both coordinate; she had taken care of a certain area of the city all by herself (she had been backed up after with the help of the Titans, reluctantly he must said), while his group and some more had taken care of the other. They had been a good team, good leaders. (Y/N) accepted her place within them, as one more but always above everyone else. Dick and everyone else thought something would flourish between them that same night, when they got tipsy and drunk celebrating the latest addition: they had been a bit touchy, jabbing each other with witty jokes and comebacks, until… She had just excused herself, saying she had to go back to her own apartment. He perfectly remembers the conversation and the silence following it:

           “You know the Tower is just your home as much as-“

           “Yeah, no, absolutely. You’re the sweetest. Seriously, I just have to go check on somebody after the crazy day. And I should definitively feed my dog.”

           “Oh yeah? I had one too back in Gotham. Well, half. Ace was never really mine.”

           “Really? I’m sure he misses you. I would.” And yes, she must have been flirting; the rest of the Titans had given them space, moving towards the windows while they appeared to be exiting. Her small and hot hand had paused on his chest, maybe just trying to keep stable. “Byron is always like crazy when I get home. I really hope Daryl has taken him today to the vet, though. Ugh, who knows, he told me-“

           “I’m assuming Byron is your dog and Daryl your br-?”

           “Boyfriend, yeah. We’ve been now some time.”

           At that point they had been at the elevator, she almost in and him in a “suave” manner leaning into the iron of the doors so that the conversation could go in a little bit more. But he almost stumbled into it as soon as she said that: and everyone else could, seeing as there was a bit of a silence and after some not-so-glamorous half-laughing half-choking sounds from Wally.

           And that had been one of their last nights alone. At least for some time, seeing as Dick thought it would be just a momentary infatuation, a bit of a crush. Something temporary based solely on lust, seeing as he knew little to nothing on her. She was secretive still, quiet, as commandeering as she could be at times. She was an enigma that Dick liked to detangle and know more than he would admit to himself. It had taken months for him to finally acknowledge that what he felt was definitively something more meaningful that a simple crush or shallow sexual desire.

           That’s when he knew he was fucked.

           …

           “Oh, no, no, he is currently working at the San Francisco Chronicle. Yeah, he’s a photographer. Would you mind if maybe we… Posed sometime for him? Or gave him something exclusive? I mean, I would do it myself but he knows me too well. He would know it’s me.” Dick, Wally and her had been sparring for a bit. More concretely, she and Wally had been. He was correcting both of them from aside, seeing as it had become increasingly difficult to talk without actually falling for her. Wally honestly felt bad for him.

           “What do you mean? Haven’t you-? Does he know?”. Wally was probably the only one with a stable healthy relationship. Linda knew. They were perfect. Everyone knew they would get married, and that’s why Dick had backed off, thinking that was the case for (Y/N) and the nameless perfect boyfriend he had pictures in his own mind.

           “No! No, fuck, no. Daryl is… Difficult, to say the least. He thinks I’m working at some crappy editorial. He’s a bit protective. And a bit of an asshole.” It sounds slightly bitter, added in the last second, improvised. Like she didn’t mean to say it. Her eyes cross his, and she quickly averts it, going back to Wally’s. “We’ve been together for years, but it’s not the type of thing I would tell him”

           “Yes, I know. It’s the type of thing you tell to a stupid bunch of teenage kids with delirious dreams of sweet greatness and-OUCH. That hurts!”

           “Keep your head on the game, West.”

           He gains hope. That small breach he has caught you on, after some months half-ignoring you half putting distance between you both, he thinks he may be able to fill. He can be the glue. He will try, as douchey as it can sound.

           …

           “You are insufferable, Dick Grayson!”. She shouts, as they enter the kitchen. She is using a small towel to take off the sweat from her forehead. Wally had been more of a tutorial in comparison with Dick’s force. He had full on challenged her. “So smug, fuck… And now I have to go back home like this. I hate you.”

           “Can’t help it. You like to be riled up”. He is bold. Wally chokes on his water, and quickly excuses himself, probably knowing which way he was trying to take things to. And he definitively was not good at hiding emotions.

           “Oh, come on, like you don’t like to be defied and challenged. You have a huge masochistic streak, Grayson”.

           YOU DON’T EVEN KNOW, he screams inside his own head, smiling just a bit, in that way that makes her roll her eyes off. Even if she claims some kind of rush when saying she has to go, he can see she doesn’t want to. Her arms rest on the kitchen counter, cool marble that has her face in pure bliss, and her legs, he imagines, are jelly. She should just-

           “Why don’t you take a shower at the Tower stay? Or… At the very least I can call you a taxi.”

           “I don’t have clothes here, and it’s fine. I’m not spending much time at home anyways; I think it will be good…” There’s a small silence, where he thinks he might have fucked it up. Did it sound too forward? Could he ask how things were with the famous boyfriend? No, that was probably too petty, too jealous-“… But I won’t say no to the taxi. Just today, though.”

           “Sure. Let me call it up.”

           …

           That brings the problems.

           “I’m sorry, I will be back in a second. It’s urgent.” They were in the middle of a debriefing. Patrols for the week, which she takes more seriously than anyone – but the mobile had started vibrating like crazy, even she had it on silence. Apparently, that one contact was special and overruled every control and silent tone. Dick could only imagine who it was. “Just continue.”

           She takes it up, and her voice changes immediately: sweet, cheerful, giggly. Even as he continues talking, Dick can hear her feet on their way to the lounge, as far as possible. Is it that private? He can’t get distracted as he is giving out missions, but her tone makes all of them stop, stare at the door where (Y/N) is elevating her voice. Dick shushes the Titans up like a bunch of kids with the latest gossip and orders them to stay, as he gets out of the room towards her.

           “No! What the fuck is your problem, D.?”. Ouch. She had been using the same name with him in their latest sparring session. That fucking hurts. “No! Of course I’m not, how-! No, oh my God, if I have to repeat myself one more time, Daryl! I’m not cheating on you!”

           There’s a deafening silence, a small dance of victory in his own head. He knows he should be taking it more seriously (they might break up and he knows she loves him), but he can’t help but take this small point from Daryl’s ghostly presence whenever they talk and he gets brought up.

           “A friend, Daryl. He got me the taxi because I was tired, I had been at the gym, I told you! Fuck, you never listen to me. And after that I even had to take Byron out, even when you promised-“. She gets cut off, again. It’s annoying really, and she sighs, loudly and exasperatedly. “Listen, if you are just going to shout like a fucking caveman be my guest, but I’m not listening to anymore of this bullshit”.

           “(Y/N)!”. He shouts so loud from the phone he can even hear it. Then she hangs up and lets herself drop on the sofas. She looks tired; his smug and hopeful detective abilities tell him, shout him, it’s because this is not the first time you’ve had that conversation, at that level of heat or shouts. Has his name been brought up at any point? He feels really like a small kid, wishing for little and petty things like that towards her.

           “Eavesdropping is not very nice, Grayson. Care to come in or are you going to make me stand up?”. She asks, sarcastic as ever and inviting him to sit in the place next to her, patting the velvet slowly of the furniture. “Just come in. And don’t say anything. Just hug me.”

           He complies.

           …

           They have been flirting a bit more this time. (Y/N) is not sleeping there anymore, and from what Dick knows, they talk everyday for a couple of minutes, in an almost muttering tone, sometimes with too many silences and too many breaks on both behalves He wishes he could feel bad for her, she is suffering a bit after all, but every time they laugh together and she punches his arm, jokingly, he thinks he makes her forget about it.

           Until that happens.

           It’s a shooting in one of the top-rated working areas of San Francisco, where a lot of offices are conglomerated together. It is a panic. The fact that they have to deal with human weapons, rather than with some random and new alien race, makes it easier to control, but nonetheless it’s hard to see the blood, get in the midst of the terrorists. Especially when they get into the Chronicle’s tower where (Y/N)’s boyfriend is working at that same morning. None of them had truly made bonds with the city or its inhabitants, but she has been raised there. It’s her home. Without thinking, not too much, she gets midst of the flames, with all the smoke and possibility of collapse when Daryl tells her that he is still inside, trapped with some colleagues. There’s no time to do anything other than follow her; Wally helps, but he is the only one save (Y/N) and Dick to enter the building, save the civilians left inside and… Fuck, her boyfriend who immediately recognizes her. It was not too difficult, to be honest, especially when they know each other so well and with half a mask broken (bullets, fire, desperate attempts to get there as fast as possible).

           It’s a week after that and no one knows a thing about them. (Y/N) has completely disappeared from the tower, and save the occasional “I’m okay” texts he sends to Dick, just so that he can sleep, no one knows what’s going on… Until she appears in front of the doors of the Tower with him by her side. It sickens Dick to the pit of his stomach.

           …

           They are mostly staying there. He goes back for Byron, for work, for meeting some friends, but he waltzes around the Tower like he is one of them, when he isn’t. When he voices his concerns, he is met with protests and mumbles of him being too grumpy, too attached to the rules. He is not! But it is supposed to be top secrecy, and there they have a civilian who is… Too touchy for his own like. For anyone’s, really. Dick is not comfortable at his own home and that (Y/N) starts to notice. They still spar, talk until late, but it weird to have Daryl always gazing directly at him: he is sure, he knows. But he never says a thing, and thus it is… Okay. Until it stops being and the red flags appear. The incredible rage within Dick Grayson wakens.

           “You are just so controlling! All the time!”. She shouts. There’s no one else at that hour in the tower. It’s way too early, and his early-birds are already on patrol outside. “You don’t-can’t control me! Okay?! This was MY thing even before you knew about it! Nothing has ever happened to me, fuck, and if it were to happen-“

           “You are a woman, (Y/N). Biology-“

           “Oh my God. If you are going there Daryl Lane-“

           “But it is true! It’s just-!”

           “No, shut up or I’m going to punch you, I swear on everything!”

           Things are silent after that, but there’s an obvious tension on the room until he decides to leave, in a rush. Dick hides in the shadows, at a corner, hoping he won’t see in time, but he is too blinded by rage. He turns around, hoping maybe she will come to him. But he doesn’t know (Y/N) at all. She won’t come, specially not on a subject like that. And as he expects, he gets alone on the elevator before disappearing from their sight. He is tempted to go by her side, but she needs space. And more than anything, he doesn’t want to get accused of being a stalker.

           …

           Daryl stops coming. Fall passes, and winter comes in: thus the appropriate parties, alcohol, and inevitable encounters are to happen. Their final one is the night before Christmas Eve. They are celebrating, as usual, some white Christmas with a wave crime that has almost disappeared from California. They can actually take time for themselves, and (Y/N) and him are closer than ever; they talk until very late, then sometimes take it to one of their bedrooms, a midnight improvised snack, or sometimes marathons of stupid black and white movies (which she loves, adores. She is going to love her gift, he knows). Everyone knows they are crushing on each other hard; one would think that her boyfriend would be still an obstacle, but they are not talking anymore. She went to see him once, and that has been it since; after, she has just perfectly fitted into the Titans, like a second family. And of course, she has brought Byron with her… Who is the first that knows someone has entered the Tower.

           “B.?” She asks, confused as the dog runs from the table where they are all clinking their glasses. Dick doesn’t notice, hasn’t been paying attention to security these days, and that might have been his fault. It wasn’t supposed to happen. “What the fuck are you doing here?”

           The tone makes everyone turn around – and there he is, Daryl in the flesh, slightly drunk and freezing, it appears. He looks embarrassed, but confident at the same time. It’s strange. She gets up, in all her elegance, and grips Dick’s shoulder before going to him. She mutters, almost only to him: “Don’t come”. The rest will understand, but he knows she considers him the closest one. The only one who could actually come and intervene, if he wanted to. They are close friends, after all.

           “I’ll be back in a sec. Stay here”. He says, after a couple of seconds, getting up and coming onto them, the closest room where they have entered to talk in private. The door is slightly opened.

           What he sees shocks him. From his position, she is giving Dick her back, thus letting him see the tense and anxious lines of her shoulders and neck: almost scared, fearing the encounter. Her legs are in a battling position, even when he is not doing anything, just talking-

           “I’m sorry, you have to believe it. I didn’t mean to-I would never-you know I’m not the type. I didn’t mean to shut you. Slap you.”

           Out of everything, he did not expect that. If anything, he sounds honest, but his own blood is boiling and there’s nothing that can stop that for the moment. It is her business to deal with… But still, they had grown closer, she could have told him.

           “I don’t know what the fuck you are doing here, but you should go. You have no right over me, over anyone, woman or man, to put your hand on them like that. You are a piece of trash, Daryl.”

           “I know, I-“

           “No, you are scum, I-I don’t really know what you expected. That you would come here, sit with us for dinner and after-what? Go home, have sex and everything okay?”

           “(Y/N), I-“

           “No, fuck off! I have been hiding so much for your sake, so that you wouldn’t feel like less! I feared your reaction about my other life a lot, Daryl. I felt s bad because I know how much you hated lies, how you felt about it, and I loved you. I loved you so much, but you are just a piece of shit, trying to put me in your small traditional box! I am not going to do your dishes, clothes or work! I am not your sweet little girl for you to care and patronize-“

           “What, so you are his?! You are such a hypocrite, (Y/N).And the worst kind, a bitch. You are for his use alone or what? You never let yourself be pampered like that, treat like his own little princess-“

           “Who are you talking about?!”

           “Your friend Nightwing! Fuck you, you have been having these little chats, secret meetings… Have you fucked him? Have you sucked his cock while I was here, waiting for you on bed and cheering you on?”

           “You are piece of scum, Daryl! I have not been rejecting you these last months because of him. Yes, I do like him, but I would not go behind your back like you did! Fuck you!”

           “You are such a-“. His arm moves. His hand gets higher. He knows he has to act quick, and thus opens quickly the door, shoving her behind him, directly going against him to push him brutally into the wall against his back. It cracks behind them, pictures hanging on that same wall falling to the floor. The commotion makes everyone move, to their room, worried to what might be happening. “Fuck!”

           She gets in the middle, Dick already up and prepared to get into a fight at any moment, while the other is still confused on the ground. He can feel his own raged breaths: fury, instinct taking over rationality. He is destroyed on the floor but he still wants to annihilate him. How dare he, how would he-?

           “Dick, Dick. Hey, look at me. Richard!”. He looks at her, smaller in frame, tugging at his chest in the opposite direction of the room. She is trying to separate them. “Just go, please, don’t do anything else. Shut up, please, go and-“

           She seems to be close to crying, desperate in her voice and trying to get him out, as she is making him go through the door. Her eyes won’t even reach his, and he is now desperately trying to make contact, even as she shoves him out the door, with a whimper and finally closing the studio off. He is just as confused as the rest of them, but he won’t talk.

           …

           “Can I come in?”. Dick looks surprised. Did he not hear her? She had been looming around her own room for some hours now, everyone in their respective rooms after the night had been fucked up like that. No one felt like partying or drinking anymore. Still, his door had been opened, explicitly for her. He nods, and she finally comes in, closing the door behind them. “Okay, I’m going to talk, and I really don’t expect you to understand but… Okay.”

           >> Daryl and I had a very complicated relationships for some years. His family is fucked up and he had substance abuse problems in the past. I’m not excusing him, Dick, don’t roll your eyes. I just want you to understand where he comes from, why he is the way he is. He is not a bad person. No one is… But he thinks like that. He has to be the very best man, the most masculine out of everyone and always the best. It is his problem, but I tried to make it mine and help him. It did not work and it only put me in a difficult position, you know: always trying to be less so that he could be more. That’s partly why I never shared my secret identity with him. And why Cali’s own Vigilante was born. I needed something like this for myself. I was drowning, otherwise… And then you appeared.

           She laughs in pure incredulity; her hands gets buried in her own hair, as she brushes it off and goes to his bed, where he has been laying waiting for her. She sits down, her hand resting on his leg.

           “Okay, “you” as in “The Titans” appeared. That saved my ass because… Well, California is enormous. I could definitively NOT cover it all, so you all appearing was a miracle, honestly… But you appeared, Dick. You, as in Nightwing, as in Richard Grayson and the rawest “you” possible.” She looks at the door, almost embarrassingly, laughing a bit to herself. “I had such a big crush a couple of years ago I almost didn’t believe that you were right in front of me. Or that we got on so well, apparently… I kinda wished I didn’t have to go back home a lot of times, and… That’s because I felt something for you. And that was dangerous, because I had a boyfriend but-but things didn’t click with Daryl the way they dd with you, D. Really, truly. It is such a big cliché, but you made me feel seen, heard. You made me feel special, and I got hooked onto the feeling but-but I’m not like that. And I still had a boyfriend. Fuck, hell, I thought I was only lusting for you, but then-then months came by and it was still the same. And then we talked night after night, we cuddled under blankets, we took care of each other and… And things started going bad at home. He knew I was not in love with him anymore, and who could blame him? And while I didn’t want to act on my feelings with you, he did. Physically.”

           She sighs, like it’s taking a bit out of her. She frowns, looking at her own thigs as she gets both legs on the bed. Dick has the urge to embrace her.

           “The second time you offered me a bed here I wanted to take it in so badly, Dick. I swear to God I didn’t want to back there. No one had ever hit me, and-“. She chokes. She is… Strangely embarrassed, panicked. She won’t look at him, making herself small in the bed, vulnerable. “I didn’t know what to do. I still loved him; not like before, but wanted to stay true to him, be loyal, and he hit me. He said sorry after, he had been too drunk, but I knew he wanted to. And I just didn’t know how I could stay there after that, but still I-he promised things would get better, and I believed him, Dick. And then they didn’t.”

           She confesses she trusted things to get better because they normally did. She had been hit before, but she couldn’t tell anyone; she was alone, isolated from her family. And the Titans, they would mock her! Obviously not to her own face, but someone like her being slapped by her very normal and human boyfriend?! The laughing stock. She felt embarrassed by it, not being able to stop him, the red mark on her cheek, shameful and making her weak, less.

           He felt enraged. Not at her, of course not: at Daryl for making her feel powerless like that, stupid and less of the incredible woman she was because she was being hit. No one should feel embarrassed by it, much less be silenced for it. Dick embraces her, piecing the rest together all by himself. Things had started to go well, but the taxi had made him feel insecure, and thus they had exploited at each other not much later, resulting in a second slap in a short period of time which made her put distance between them. Intelligent. But then he had come and-

           “I’m so sorry. You shouldn’t have felt like that all by yourself… But I understand. It was your own struggle to deal with, and you didn’t want anyone else to know, but… There’s people here that love you, (Y/N). I love you, for starters.” He blurts it out naturally, taking both by surprise. He gets red, closing his eyes and trying to keep his cool. “I meant-What I mean is that I feel something strong, or rather strong for you. Since the start. Or something like that, fuck-I’m sorry, I didn’t want to come off so strong, but… But fuck yes, I-I do love you.”

           She climbs him. Slowly, almost torturing him in the silence of the room, sheets rustling as he moves his back up to straighten it. He is nervous, maybe as much as she is.

           They kiss. Lips trembling, fear still in he system, an intense desire to care for the other in his. It’s a long but caring kiss as he opens slightly his mouth and she enters his cavity, her tongue conquering space and his hands going for her hips, stabilizing them. He has been dreaming with that for at least three months.

           “Be my girlfriend.” And she can’t help but nod, as she kisses him up again. And again. And again, until they both are a mess of juvenile panting and squirming under the sheets.

           “Get properly into bed, I want to cuddle you.” She says, turning off the lights and getting closer to his face, climbing him up until her face can be buried in his neck. He kisses her forehead, heart beating fast but tranquil, at the same time. They have time, she loves him, and the only thing he wants now is to protect her between his arms.

           And she couldn’t feel any more secure, as she gets into bed and closes her eyes near his neck, protected and cuddled up by his strong arms on her waist.

[boreddcposts]

DC extreme capture the flag

This post is open for contribution, whether it be characters, teams, rules or funny scenarios that you can think of

TEAMS:

The Bats (black flag): - Bruce Wayne - Dick Grayson - Barbara Gordon - Jason Todd - Tim Drake - Damian Wayne - Duke Thomas - Cassandra Cain - Stephanie Brown

The Supers (blue flag): - Clark Kent - Lois Lane - Lucy Lane - Conner Kent - Jon Kent - Kara Danvers - Bizarro - Karen Starr - Lar Gand

The Amazons (yellow flag): (let’s face it. This team would win. Hands down) - Diana Prince - Steve Trevor - Donna Troy - Cassie Sandsmark - Artemis - Nubia - Grace Choi - Queen Hippolyta - Etta Candy

The Atlanteans (orange flag): - King Arthur - Queen Mera - Garth - Tula - Kaldur’ahm - Dolphin - Lorena Marquez - Koryak - Arthur Jr.

The Speedsters (red flag): - Barry Allen - Iris West - Wally West - Wallace West - Bart Allen - Thaddeus Thawne  - Jesse Chambers - Avery Ho - Max Mercury

The Arrows (green flag): - Oliver Queen - Dinah Lance - Roy Harper - Lian Harper - Emiko Queen - Mia Dearden - Connor Hawke - Cissie King-Jones - John Diggle

RULES:

- THERE ARE NO RULES. - Kidding. Of course there are rules. This is Capture the Flag: Extreme Edition. This means war. And even war has rules. - There are six teams. Six flags. Usually, this game only has two teams and two flags, but this is the Extreme Edition so the rules will be tweaked a little.  - One rule remains the same: your flag must be visible. You cannot hide it. The other teams must be able to spot your flag from ten feet (10 ft) away. - There are six territories for the six teams. Five of them are on land, while the Atlanteans’ is in the water, because not all of them are high-born and they need water to survive. Plus it makes the game really interesting. - A circle must be drawn around your flag, one that your team cannot enter. This circle must be ten feet (10 ft) in diameter. No one is allowed to stand directly in front of their flag.  - Because there are six flags, the way to win is a little different. I’ll explain it like this: if team ‘Bats’ captures the flag of team ‘Speedsters’, then team ‘Speedsters’ is forced to join forces with team ‘Bats’. They become one team. This system goes on until there are only two teams. Whichever team can steal the other’s flags, wins. Game over. - You cannot join forces if your flags aren’t joined. No team affiliation unless flags have been captured. Team affiliation is illegal. Unless flags are captured. - Once a flag has been captured and forces are joined, those forces can only be broken through one way. Let’s return to the previous example. Teams ‘Bats’ and ‘Speedsters’ are now one team. If team ‘Arrows’ were to steal the ‘Speedsters’ flag, this does not mean that ‘Speedsters’ now joins ‘Arrows’. they stay joined with ‘Bats’. However, if ‘Arrows’ were to also steal ‘Bats’ flag, then both ‘Speedsters’ and ‘Bats’ must join forces with ‘Arrows’. However, However. Let’s say team ‘Amazons’ were to then steal the ‘Bats’ flag, what happens then? Simple! The two teams must then split. ‘Speedsters’ join with ‘Arrows’, ‘Bats’ join with ‘Amazons’. This is the only way to break forces.  - There are jails! Team members can be tagged and captured by opposite team members. Captured members will be taken to a jail that is in another team’s neutral spot. Captured members can be freed by their own team, if they can get past the guards. The tagger must escort the captured to their jail, if they don’t then the captured has permission to run for it. The ‘Atlanteans’ jail is on land. - NO POWERS. The game is to be set on an equal ground. No speed. No super strength. No water manipulation. Nothing. If powers are used, this will result in an automatic disqualification and your team becomes spectators (they can just chill around the territories and watch the game). - Surprises are allowed. When I say surprises, I mean that you are allowed to bring in brand new teammates to join your team. The only team that knows this are the ‘Bats’, since they were the ones to come up with this idea, once when they were really really bored. Once this is common knowledge, the other teams are allowed to call in their own surprises. This includes pets. 

SHENANIGANS!!!

(hey, listen. I just want to put this out there. At this point in the post, I will be using some of my ships in these shenanigans. This does not mean that that ship is the default one in this headcannon. For example, I ship birdflash and will write some shenanigans involving them. But if you want to place Linda Park in this and have Wally cheering on his badass wife as she tackles other players to the ground, then you go ahead and do that! I ship batcat, but if you want to write out Bruce successfully distracting Clark while Dick and Jason steal the ‘Supers’ flag, that’s fine! Use whatever ships you want! Have fun with it! However, pedophilic, abusive, and incestuous ships are not welcomed here. Let’s just make that clear.)

Immediately, they had to start a second round. Because a minute into the first one, Bizarro had used his powers to get to the black flag and demand that Jason join forces with him. It resulted in laughing fits and Jason having to sit Bizarro down to explain the rules to him again. -- Dick, guarding the jail: Wally I swear to fucking god you even try to free them, I will not have sex with you for the next month! Wally: What!? Barry, in jail: No! Dick, how could you!? Don’t free us, Wally! Bart, also in jail: Don’t you dare do that to us, Dick! He’s going to stay over at our house and mope and eat all the chocolate and watch romantic movies and his eyes are going to tear up whenever the characters kiss! Wally: What!? I don’t do that! Dick, fully knowing that was the reaction he was going to get and now struggling to hold back laughter: You really do. It’s kind of flattering, actually -- Lois, before the match begins: Hey, Bruce, is Selina not joining us? I was kinda hoping to introduce her to Iris  Bruce, thinking about how Selina is their trump card and is going to join halfway through the game and win it for them: No, she’s busy. Sorry. -- Diana, after learning that Lian Harper successfully entered their territory and stole their flag: How. Queen Hippolyta, close to tears: Her eyes are so big. She reminded me of you when you were that age. She’s going to make a great warrior one day. -- Kara, guarding the flag: Why does it feel so cold? Conner, also guarding the flag: I feel cold, too Kara and Conner: ... Tim, suddenly directly behind them: That flag is mine. Kara and Conner: *scream* -- Jason: Kory!? Kory: Hello, Jason Roy, standing atop a hill with Lian in his arms: Hahaha!! You’ve brought in your surprise, I’ve brought in mine! Behold! The great Koriand’r from the planet Tamaran! Lian: She’s gonna kick your ass! Roy: Whoa! hey, where’d you get that word from!? -- Garth and Donna: *wrestling on the floor and screaming at each other* Dick, close to tears because this is the fifth time this has happened this match: Would you two please stop fighting!? This was meant to be a fun game of capture the flag, not war between atlanteans and amazons!!! -- Arthur Jr., guarding the jail after he captured Bart: You play videogames? Bart: Dude, of course! I’m trying to beat Warriors VS Assassins 5 at the moment, but the levels are really hard this time Arthur Jr., sadly: I can’t play videogames, I live in the water Bart: That sucks Thaddeus, sprinting out of the trees with an unholy shriek: RELEASE BART RIGHT NOW!!! Arthur Jr.: *screams* Bart: THAD NO! -- Oliver: Your kids had a great idea with this, Bats. It’s nice to have something where everyone can just take a break from crime and have fun. Dinah’s having a great time. I think this game might also be bringing Roy and I closer together-  Bruce, to Jason, as Oliver’s still talking: Did you have to capture their flag? Jason, holding Lian in one arm, the other wrapped around Roy’s waist: Yeah. Yeah, I did. -- Wally, having just encountered Dick as he’s trying to capture the black flag: Ooh, what are you gonna do, Officer Grayson? You gonna arrest me? Dick: I am going to murder you Wally: Sounds sexy- ACK *gets tackled to the ground*  -- Barry, attempting to sneak into the Amazon territory: Artemis, spotting him: The Flash is trying to capture our flag! Queen Hippolyta, instantly: GET HIM! Barry, running away from five Amazons who are all on his tail: OH MY GOD WHY DID I EVEN ATTEMPT THIS I AM SO SCARED RIGHT NOW

[astrid-goes-for-a-spin]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: The Flash (TV 2014) Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Barry Allen & Iris West, Barry Allen/Iris West Characters: Iris West, Barry Allen, Cisco Ramon, Zoom, Hunter Zolomon, Hunter Zolomon | Jay Garrick, Henry Allen Additional Tags: superIris, Iris has Powers, Metahuman Iris West, BAMF Iris West, Women Being Awesome, Episode: s02e21 The Runaway Dinosaur, Episode: s02e22 Invincible, Season 2, Season 2 feels, Canon Divergence, Henry Allen Lives, Everybody Lives, no Flashpoint, Iris defeats Zoom, Happy Ending Series: Part 6 of Iris Week 2020 Summary:

Iris Week 2020 Day 6! SuperIris! @iriswestallenweek

At first, Iris doesn’t even notice that something’s changed. That she has powers. That she’s no longer just a run-of-the-mill human.

Everything is overwhelming – Barry’s lost in the speed force, Jesse’s in a coma, Tony Woodward is sorta back to life and still has a crush on her. It takes her until she and Barry are standing in the cemetery before she starts to realize that all the feelings she’s been feeling…might not actually be hers.

 Iris is affected by Harry's particle accelerator explosion and gains empathy powers. Iris defeats Zoom.

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full text for the tumblr crowd! 

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At first, Iris doesn’t even notice that something’s changed. That she has powers. That she’s no longer just a run-of-the-mill human.

Everything is overwhelming – Barry’s lost in the speed force, Jesse’s in a coma, Tony Woodward is sorta back to life and still has a crush on her. It takes her until she and Barry are standing in the cemetery before she starts to realize that all the feelings she’s been feeling…might not actually be hers.

Because Barry is talking so nostalgically about the little board book he brought his mom’s stone, and even though Iris knows that book always made her irritated and sad, she’s feeling a little teary and –

“I never really liked that book,” Iris says, and Barry turns watery eyes to her. “But, right now? I feel like I’ve loved it forever.”  

“Why?” Barry asks, and she takes his arm.

“Because neither of us had a mom,” Iris says, and feels, almost like a physical wave, the emotions coming from Barry’s body to hers: sadness, tenderness, pure and absolute love. She steps away from him and drops his arm, and his worry comes to her more slowly, like a cloud rolling in.

Iris would go wait in the car, but they ran here. Iris takes a deep breath and tries to block everything out.

“I’ll give you a minute,” Iris says finally, and gives herself space under the guise of giving Barry a moment in private. The further she moves from him, the less intensely she feels the worry, the heartbreak, the distraction. Iris takes a breath. It’s raining (her hair, oh god) and the cemetery is empty. She’s always been good at reading other people’s energy, but the room is – quite literally – dead.

When Barry takes them back to the house later, Iris waits until he changes out of his nice clothes, and then she sits him down on the sofa away from the noise of her dad and her brother in the kitchen.

“I think I have powers,” Iris says baldly.

Barry stares at her like he’s never seen her before.

“I was in the city when the accelerator went off in 2013, I was in the lab two days ago, I got mixed up with the speed force – I’ve been exposed to all the stuff that’s not supposed to exist. X-elements.”

Barry’s mouth is hanging slightly open. “Y-you mean-”

Iris takes a breath. “I can feel you. Your fear. Your guilt. Your sadness. I didn’t realize it right away because everything was so hectic, but – I’m pretty sure those aren’t my feelings.”

In less than a second Barry flashes away and back, and her hair flutters into her face. She wipes it away, and he’s fiddling with Harry’s watch. Fear and dread pouring off him, Barry silently offers the watch to her.

Iris’s hand passes over the face of the watch, and

                                                                                  everything

                                                                                                             changes.

.

 In the five-or-so minutes Cisco and Caitlin find in the next week, they confirm what Iris already knows: Harry’s oh-so-safe particle accelerator explosion that literally ripped Barry apart also washed Iris in dark matter. Her previously human DNA is different in one tiny but significant way: the metahuman gene.

Iris knows that if they weren’t facing down an army of supervillains from another world, if the CCPD weren’t operating out of a coffeeshop because their precinct is Zoom’s new HQ, if it was literally any other time, she’d be subjected to a battery of tests, be down in the basement training to learn what her powers can do and how to keep them under control.

As it is, the city’s barely surviving Zoom’s onslaught, and there’s just no time.

Barry’s new, post-speed force attitude isn’t really helping the situation, either.

Iris is still trying to get a grip on her new, fledgling powers, but she doesn’t think she’d need them to understand this. Barry is happy-go-lucky, upbeat, bursting with optimism; the speed force is with us. Iris can feel it from the moment Barry’s within a hundred yards of her, and she can’t help it: she’s slightly giddy with positivity.

On the other hand, the rest of Team Flash is terrified by the Metapocalypse and the lingering threat of Zoom, and that Barry’s optimism will be the death of him. (And the world.) Iris can’t help but notice her range for Barry is a lot farther than the others – but simply sharing a room with her dad can make her subdued and anxious.

It doesn’t make Iris feel better that the press is hardly helpful in this situation. Or at least, not as helpful as the rest of the team. She’s not exactly part of the news media producing the endless loop on TV telling citizens to stay in their homes.

Without complete solitude – an impossibility right now – it’s also hard for her to know what she’s really feeling – apart from her friends and family. If she could be sure her feelings were her own, would she still feel this worried? Or this blissfully confident? (Or both?)

Which feelings are right?

When Barry comes back to STAR Labs with blood crusting his ears and neck because an evil Laurel Lance would’ve killed him if Wally hadn’t run her over, Iris knows the majority has been right all along. No matter how Barry feels, the danger is real, and he needs to act that way.

The right ones are whatever feelings that’ll keep him alive.

Iris trails him into the medbay and plops down on the gurney. “You know you’re not invincible, right?”

Barry’s removing his gloves, but he gives her a little laugh and a patronizing sigh. “Yes. Of course I know this.”

Iris wonders how long it’ll take before it’s impossible for him to lie to her at all. His words tell her he agrees, but his heart tells her that they can survive anything.

“Joe’s being overprotective, but I get it,” Barry says, leaning against a cabinet.

Iris scoots a little on the bed, untangling her crossed legs. “Yeah, but you’re acting like nothing can touch you. Like nothing bad can get in your way.” Iris taps her heart. “And worse, I can tell you actually believe it. And it’s just not true for any of us.”

Barry seems sobered by the reminder that Iris – isn’t the same as she used to be. When he says, “What are you trying to say?” Iris thinks, He’s going to listen to me. He always listens to me. No one else has been able to get through to him, this time.

“I know you had an experience in the speed force. I saw some of it. I can still feel it on you now,” Iris starts, and holds out a hand to him, gesturing him close. “And I’m happy that you think we’re gonna win the day, but a little fear can be a healthy thing. It helps you determine which risks are worth taking.”

Barry swallows dryly, only feet away from her now. Separated by the wall from the Cortex, Iris is zeroed in on him in a way she hasn’t been since they were at Nora Allen’s grave. She can feel her words sinking into his buoyant mood.

When he nods and gets up to pass her, though, Iris can feel it all melting off, untouchable. She’s still holding her hand out.

He reaches out to rub it once in reassurance, and –

It’s like nothing Iris has ever felt before.

All of Iris’s worry, her fear, her helplessness, her terror for Wally and Barry and her father, her dim hope for a future after Zoom has ravaged the city: she’s exploding with emotion, and the moment Barry touches her, her feelings seep out of her skin and into his.

Barry staggers back as if impacted by a physical blow. His eyes flick up to hers, wide. She can feel his positivity sagging, supplanted by the caution Iris is impressing into him. Somehow, she’s actively changing the way he feels – and not the old-fashioned way.

She takes her hand away.

Barry’s eyes are slightly glazed. “Are you okay?” they ask at the same time, their words overlapping. Iris is nodding, but Barry is shaking his head.

“Is this how you’ve been feeling?” he asks, voice pitched high. “All the time? That was-”

“Really intense,” Iris finishes. “Yeah. I haven’t figured out a way to turn it off yet.” If she wasn’t so busy with Zoom’s army, she’d be afraid she never will. “And I definitely didn’t know I could – do that.”

Barry sits beside her on the bed and deliberately sets his hands on either side of her shoulders and rubs up and down. With each stroke, his optimism is tempered by her fear.

When someone calls for them from the Cortex, Iris takes his wrist once and closes her eyes, just to impress her feeling – caution! – one final time, hoping that her warnings aren’t hopeless.

This is how much we love you.

.

Maybe Barry is actually right, and the speed force is on their side. With Zoom gone and his army subdued, Iris thinks it’s high time for some family celebration.

Team Flash’s dinner party mood is almost as good as Barry’s has been for days, and Iris feels high on it – even more when Barry asks if – since he’s been feeling “extra invincible” – this would be a good time to give them a shot. (It is, it really is.)

Iris organizes people bringing food in from the kitchen while the others gossip, and she leads Henry into the dining room by an elbow and settles him at Barry’s side with a champagne glass.

And then there’s a pulse of terror, absolute and overwhelming, from the other side of the table, and she looks up to see Cisco’s post-vibe face, mouth gaping. The happiness abates. Iris can feel the tension straining across the room. People demanding answers. Cisco cries out, “Tell me I did not just see the end of the world!”

Iris can’t really imagine anything worse than an entire planet breaking, splitting in half from pole to pole, a whole world she’s never seen but has been so determined all year long to protect –

– a rush of hate and malice so cold Iris almost doesn’t recognize what it is. Sadism. A power-hungry cruelty. The bitterest spite. The fear in the room jumps; terror and helplessness all around her.

Two steps away from her, Zoom has Henry’s throat in his claws.

Barry’s fear is quickly turning into rage, a kind of rage Iris didn’t need powers to understand during all the years he hunted the Reverse-Flash. She can see him thinking, calculating how fast he needs to move in order to save his dad’s life.

Iris doesn’t think.

She feels.

Zoom never notices her hand, so fixed on Barry, the only threat, the only other speedster in the room. Barry is on the other side of her, but Iris is within arm’s reach, and her hand comes down on Zoom’s shoulder with what she knows must be suffocating force.

Iris still isn’t thinking. She isn’t calculating. She’s remembering all of the pain that Zoom has brought with him this year, with an intensity that she feels may make her heart explode.

Caitlin, hostage on another earth, at his mercy.

Jesse gone and Harry frantic with fear.

The endless lines of metahumans Zoom threw through the breaches to try to kill her family.

Larkin, who did not deserve to die the way he did, and Linda’s terror and pain – both Lindas.

Barry and Cisco gone through the breach, Barry shaking on the staircase as he confided to them the manner of the other Joe’s death.

Jesse, hanging from manacles and sleeping in her own blood and filth.

The prisoner Barry promised to rescue that they still haven’t gotten around to.

Barry’s nightmares.

Iris having to shoot a gun at another person, a person with her friend’s face.

Barry, broken like a doll, dangling from his grip on live TV, blood leaking out of him.

Her brother, helpless and in pain, a pawn in a game he was never a part of, and the reckless do-gooding he’s throwing his life away for.

Barry, white as a sheet, half his body in a brace, unconscious in a hospital bed.

Barry, screaming as they injected him with poison and the particle accelerator tore his body apart.

All of these things broke Iris’s heart, shredded it until there was nothing left but she just kept bleeding.

These things caused her to bite her nails and wake in the night with blood in her mouth, answer her phone after a single ring, have panic attacks in the bathroom at work and cry with fear as she wondered what catastrophe would befall her loved ones next.

All of these things – so…

…avoidable.

Acts of a man who hated and hated, and turned that hate into dead bodies all across the multiverse so – what?

He could feel less alone?

Zoom’s grip on Henry slackens. Lightning raises the hairs on her arm; Barry reappears on the far side of her with his father in his arms. Iris puts her other hand right over Zoom’s heart, and in slow stages they crumple to the ground.  

She’s on top of him, her flirty dress riding up, the awful wrinkly texture of Zoom’s suit vivid beneath her palms. Somewhere in the background Iris notices lines of burning moisture traveling down her face and splashing onto his.

“You’re not alone now, Hunter,” Iris says softly, sinking further onto Zoom’s body. He’s twitching, and Iris can feel the impact of what she’s doing to him starting to break something deep within him, even more than he’s already broken. “I’m here. I can feel everything you feel. I know what you want, and why. You wanted to hurt people. Well, you succeeded. You hurt my family. You hurt me.”

Pitifully, a noise that resolves itself into the words “It hurts” reaches Iris’s consciousness. She didn’t notice it at first because he’s stopped vibrating his vocal chords into that demonic voice. He just sounds like Jay.

He sounds human.

“You’re not gonna hurt anyone anymore,” Iris whispers, and Zoom lies still.

.

Barry races to STAR Labs and deposits Zoom in the anti-speedster cell: the only safe place, for right now. The whole way there and for a long while after, Zoom remains unresponsive.

“Can we inject him with the anti-speed serum?”

“He’d have to be running to take his speed away, like he did before-”

“Do you have a place you can keep metas incarcerated on Earth-2?”

All the questions – important, Iris is sure – fade into the background for her. Iris is sitting on the end of the bed again. She’s got a mug of coffee in her hands, a pair of STAR Labs sweatpants covering up her very cold, bare legs, and a shock blanket around her shoulders. Though she can tune out the questions, she still can’t manage the emotions. Her family is afraid, but hopeful. They’re in problem-solving mode. Zoom is contained, for the first time ever, and it’s extremely possible that Team Flash is gonna figure this out.

Iris jerks awake when Barry sets down next to her on the bed.

“How long was I out?” she asks, grabbing for him. He allows it, but no emotions flow from her. Iris wonders if it has to be an exceptionally emotional circumstance. Touching him now only makes her perception of his feelings stronger.  

“A while. Caitlin gave you a sedative to help you recover. Jitters’ll be opening soon.”

Morning. Iris suppresses a groan at the memory of 5AM shifts, but smiles at the reminder that things are going back to normal after Zoom’s defeat.

“Did you figure out what to do with him yet?” she yawns.

Barry’s radiating a kind of calm sureness that makes the question almost irrelevant.

“We extracted the speed force in his system while you were resting. STAR Labs on Earth-2 will publicize his identity, and he’ll spend the rest of his life in solitary confinement. He won’t hurt anyone else. The random metas he forced into his army we’re sending back a few at a time to the Barry and Iris there, to see whether they’re criminals or just – unlucky. Harry’s bringing our dampening tech, too, so any of those meta-criminals that need to be locked up can be. It’s a good day.”

Iris smiles. “I can tell.”

Barry’s feeling shifts to something serious, introspective, and almost…reverent.

“I don’t know what I would’ve done if you hadn’t been there,” he starts. “My dad-”

“He’s free, he’s alive, he’s here in the city, and he’s got his eye on Dr. McGee,” Iris laughs. “It’s okay. Maybe you were right all along. You are invincible.”

Barry takes a quick look at the rest of the team scattered through the lab, then whisks her away in his arms. Next moment they’re sitting on her dad’s front steps, and the whole world feels just as fragile as she knows it is, fresh with morning dew and sleeping as the sun is just beginning to rise.

“Not me. We’re invincible. I couldn’t have – none of this could have been without you, Iris. Believe me. You saved my dad. You saved Earth-2. Iris, Black Siren didn’t want to leave here because she insisted Zoom was going to destroy every earth with the stolen Mercury Labs tech, all in one shot. You saved the multiverse.”

Something is swelling, a depth of feeling Iris has often glimpsed, both in herself and Barry, but never had the courage to explore.

“Do I get a code name now?” Iris asks in a halfhearted attempt to play it off.

Barry huffs a laugh and sinks a hand into her hair. Somehow the fact that it’s sticky with old hairspray, pins long gone, doesn’t matter. Her smudged makeup and lab sweatpants under her fancy dress with no back and no bra doesn’t matter.

“I have never loved you more,” Barry murmurs as he gets closer.

Iris feels it like the sunrise. In response, she closes her eyes, takes his hand, and places it over her heart.

.

[catxsnow]

THROUGH EVERYTHING W.W.

Request: If you still write for Wally (TV show) could I please request some angst-to-fluff involving his powers and how they affect his relationship with the reader?

Warning: angst, fluff, swearing

A/N: Heading to my friend’s house for a week so I probably won’t be quite as active. Hella excited though!!

Also, like, if you like Barry Allen, I kinda just finished Book two of a series about him on Wattpad. If anyone is interested let me know I’ll send ya over in the right direction lol! 

Word Count: 1.6k

Wally West was sometimes a handful and a half.

He was stubborn, wanted things his way, and he was always willing to risk more than what he had. You had seen it in him while racing, through university, and even more so when he had gotten his speed. Wally liked to live his life on the edge. You? Well, it was more of a hidden corner where no one could see you.

It was pure coincidence that you had found each other. You ended up together for a project at your university and an instant connection happened. The two of you were different, very different and yet you only got excited at the thrill of his life. The racing, the danger he put himself in, you couldn't get enough of it.

So, when Wally asked you on a date how could you say no? He brought you into his world wind of a life, and even more so when he discovered his father and sister.

You were with him through the death of his mother, his move in with his father, and the life of having The Flash in his life. Wally lived a crazy life, and you were happy to be part of it. He was thankful for being with you through everything. There was no one he would have rather had by his side than you.

You supported him with everything, particularly when he had been ever so disappointed that Jesse had gotten speed and he hadn't. Wally was devastated by the news. He wanted powers so bad and when his best friend got them and he didn't, it ruined him. Wally had lulled around your home for weeks.

You spent day in and day out with him, trying to make sure that at the end of the day that he still had hope for his future. Wally appreciated everything you did for him, promising that one day he would have the strength to return the favour. It didn't matter whether he did or not, Wally was your everything.

He was the person that encouraged you to be better, to find a better path than he did. He wanted you to succeed in every single one of your dreams and was always there to help you when you felt yourself waver. Together, there was nothing that the two of you couldn't accomplish.

When Alchemy came around, promising powers to all those who had them in Flashpoint, Wally had gotten excited. This was his chance to finally get his speed - and he had gotten it. Wally became Kid Flash, the hero he dreamed of being for so long. You were happy for him, at first.

He spent all of his time in the lab. Controlling his speed, learning everything that the Flash knew about it. He was incredible and you were so proud of him for being able to achieve his dreams. How could you be mad at someone that was wanting to learn how to save lives? Truth was, you couldn't.

Wally used his speed at every chance he got, but with Barry busy and unable to train him, he took more risks than you liked to see. At first, they were nothing - using his speed to save someone from a car, keeping the people safe and never putting himself in harms way. But when Aliens invaded and he took it upon himself to go out and fight his brainwashed friends? That was your last straw.

The second that Wally had gotten back on his feet, you had finally lost it at him.

Iris, Joe, they saw the rage on your face. These past few weeks you had been holding you tongue, but you couldn't anymore. Wally getting his speed had put a major strain on your relationship. He spent all of his free time at STAR Labs and even missed classes to be there.

The only time that you ever got to see him anymore was when he crawled into your shared bed while you were half asleep. It was as if Wally had completely forgotten about you. He was consumed by his speed and all he ever wanted to do was become as good as Barry. As much as you supported him, you couldn't handle missing him anymore.

What was going to happen when he did get his training? Missions? Fighting meta's? You already missed him so much you weren't sure if you could do this any longer. As much as you hated the though of putting this on him, it was getting to the point that it was either you or being Kid Flash.

You already knew what he was going to pick if you told him.

"That is it, Wally!" You yelled. Wally sat on the edge of the medical bed that he had just previously woken up from. The room was cleared of all your friends, but you were sure at least one of them was lurking around to listen in. Wally watched your shoes pace back and forth, his head hung low.

He never noticed that you had become more tense, or that every time he left racing off you were holding your breath, petrified that he wasn’t going to make it back. He didn’t know just how worried you had become for him. 

"I have been with you through everything! Your family, your racing, the crazy meta encounters! Not once did I ever question myself being with you, or your love for me. I never doubted that you would be able to keep yourself safe because I know that you can, but this?! What the hell were you thinking?"

Wally opened his mouth to speak, but closed it the second he met your eyes. There was a fire behind them. Anger coursed through your entire body and only worsened as you remember Oliver carrying in your unconscious boyfriend. The heart break you had when you thought that he was down for good nearly tore you apart.

"You're obsessed with this speed! You think that the second that you got it that you're the exact same as Barry. You're not! You don't have the practice that he has, you can't just run into fights thinking you're invincible! You could have been killed, Wally," your voice cracked during your last sentence.

Wally pushed himself off the bed and brought you into his arms. He held you as you sobbed at the thought of losing him, tears welling up in his own eyes. He didn't think that you would be so upset, he had never seen you like this before. You were right, he was so consumed by his speed that he didn't realize how distant you had been.

Getting his speed put a split in your relationship. He wished that it hadn't taken him this long to realize what had been going on. Guilt consumed him - he was the reason that you were upset. There was no one else to blame here, he had done it all on his own.

"I'm sorry," Wally whispered. He kissed the top of your head and pulled away just enough that he could look into your eyes. Eyes that held so much sadness and fear, all because of him. He never wanted this. You were right, he was obsessed and it took him far too long to realize. "I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have been this caught up with my powers. You're right, I took it too far."

"I worry about you, Wally," you confessed. "Barry goes against a lot of things, hell he's going against aliens right now. I don't want to see you get hurt, not after we know what can happen to those who try to fight. But... I understand that you need to. I know that you can't just sit around anymore."

"I know you don't like it," Wally trailed off. As much as you loved the thrill of his life in the beginning, the more you cared for him, the more you worried. Wally lived for the thrill, you hated it about him after growing to love him. You wanted him safe with you. "I'm meant to be doing this, I'm meant to be Kid Flash."

"I know you are, babe," You assured him. "I'm never going to be the one to stop you from it. I just... seeing you in danger or, or hurt like you were today... it's hard. It's not something that I ever want to get used to. I like it when you're safe - cozy in our bed and worrying about our ridiculous classes."

"They are pretty ridiculous aren't they?" Wally joked. You lightly smacked his chest - however you knew that he hadn't only focused on that small bit of your spiel. Wally half smiled before leaning down to kiss you. "I'm sorry for making you worry, but thank you for understanding. I need you now more than ever."

He was going to do better, be better. Wally needed to learn the balance between his hero life and his civilian life. Nothing was more important than his love for you. When it came down to it, he could live a life without being Kid Flash, he had for a long time. But a life without you? He wasn't sure if he could ever manage that.

You were the one to keep him grounded so many times. Barry had Iris, and Wally had you. He couldn't do this without you, he knew he couldn't. Losing you would break him more than anything else in this world could.

Wally leaned down to kiss you once more. His palm was against your cheek to keep you close to him. Yours over his heart, knowing that it was fully yours. Thought times were tough - more often than not - he would always be the one to catch you when you fell. 

"I told you before, Wally West, I'm with you through everything."

[kaylathekittykat225]

The Pain of Friendship // Wally West x Reader

Warning/s: Sadness, death, parental abuse

Word Count: 4,875

Hope you all are having a better week then I am. Having a rough patch but it’s not fiiiiiine.

Here’s my Masterlist.

Enjoy.

—–

"Best friend!" The familiar and loud voice of Wally West screamed in your ear as you felt someone pull you out of the computer chair you were seated in and spun you around. "We did it! We won! Savage and Witch Boy are gone!"

"I know! You guys did it!" You giggled at his antics and excitement as you wrapped your arms wrapped around your best friend's neck; truthfully you were just happy that he was still alive.

Placing you down on the ground, he sent you an obvious glare, crossing his arms over his chest and hit hip out like his mom usually did when he did something he wasn't supposed to. But Wally West wasn't his mother. "Hey, you helped too. You were our computer girl, you locked all of the rogue JL members in the basement thing."

Nodding, you agreed with him. "Well then, I suppose I did help you." You chuckled again as you watched him triumphantly fist pump the air and proceeded to run off into another room, still screaming about how you guys had won the battle against the group Savage led.

Shaking your head, you sat back down in front of the computer in the main room of the Watch Tower, going back to clearing the system of whatever Klarion sent into the computer to jam everything.

Going back and forth between the settings and the internet, you hit a stump on how to clear the main frame of the computer. You may have been the Tech Wiz, as the team so kindly dubbed to be your super name, but really, magic infecting the hardware as well as the software of a computer was way out of your league.

"Happy New Year! Go screw yourself 2011!" Wally's voice once again rang through the compound and you smiled happily to yourself, still so thankful to have him for your best friend. Opening the security cameras, you waited for it to track Wally's position and show you what the often idiot of a genius was doing.

While flipping through the multitude of channels on the security feed, you thought about how much your life has changed because of Wally. Before Wally you never would have found a best friend, or even a friend at all. Heck without him, you might not even be alive.

When you we younger, your mom often spoke with her fist rather than with her mouth, the heavy alcohol in her system wasn't helping either. She's just having a bad day, she didn't mean it, she still loves you. Every day you told yourself this, hoping your words would come true one day.

Things only went south for you before they got better. You instinctively knew to wear your way too big of a long sleeve T-shirt your mom grabbed your arm, put on pants when she kicked your leg, put on that itchy turtleneck when she scratched your neck. You always knew how to make sure no one knew you were in pain.

But then again, no one asked. No one asked why you always had a limp, always wore grungy and dirty clothes, no one would ask why you would have to run to and from school every day. No one asked if you were okay. They all just assumed that you were okay.

No one asked until your mom came charging into your 3rd grade classroom and demanding to know why you weren't buying the groceries. She didn't let you speak as she struck you across the face with a loud slap before she grabbed your arm and wrenched you out of the classroom.

Everyone stood in shock until a red headed boy from the grade above you stopped your mom and asked if you could play at his house after school. Both you and your mother were shocked by the question, you because someone approached your mother and your mother because you had a friend who wanted to take your time away from dealing with her.

The police arrived before she could do anything to you or the red headed boy you had never really talked to before. Teachers questioned how they never saw the signs, counselors offered their best advice, numerous gifts and condolences were sent to you. But still, no one asked if you were okay.

"So how was your week, Y/N?" Mrs. Thornberry asked with a gentle smile on her face, but you never saw the smile; you kept your eyes cast down to the floor while your quiet ten-year-old self kept your hands pressed underneath your knees. Even after a year and a half of talking to the counselor your school assigned you, you were nowhere closer to being comfortable talking to her than you were the first day you arrived.

"Good." Same old answer you give every week. Nothing changed since last week, no new emotions or melt downs, but you would never tell her, why do you have to?

"Okay," her pen scratched against the paper on her clipboard. "Well how about your cousins, how are they treating you?"

"They're too nice," You whimper before you clamped your mouth tightly shot after you spoke, hoping she didn't hear you. You continue to watch your swinging legs swirl in gentle circles in hopes that she wouldn't ask you any further about what you meant.

"And what do you mean they are being too nice?"

Sighing, you felt as though you could at least say this out loud. "Tammy and Martha treat me like a...a...a piece of tissue paper, like I'm going to rip if they tug too hard. Their mommy has to make them play with me, but they always whisper about how they don't want to hurt me. I don't wanna be the girl with the mean mommy, I just wanna be a normal kid." You finished talking and heard her writing again on her clipboard, and you knew, that she wasn't hearing you, Mrs. Thornberry was only listening to the noise of your voice.

"And how does this make you feel, sweetie?" When her eyes looked up at you, you turned away and back to watching your feet make figure eights in the air. This is why you didn't talk during your hour-long sessions, even if it made things awkward for the both of you. You didn't want anyone to know how you feel because they didn't care how you feel, what was on your mind, they just listened to the words, but never heard them.

For the last fifteen minutes of your session you kept your mouth shut, ignoring any of the questions she asked you, whether you made friends, how were your drawing skills, were you eating normally yet and so on. "Well, Y/N, I think it's time-"

"Oh Mrs. T! You are three minutes late! Did you forget about your favorite student?" The heavy door swung open and a grinning red headed boy stood in the doorway. The grin slipped away however when he saw the two of you starring at him. "O-oh, I'm so sorry, I'll, I'll go sit back in the lobby. I'm sorry." And with that, the door was closed again and the two of you were left in silence.

"As I was saying, Y/N, it is time for you to go home. So, let's take you back out to your aunt." You stood up and waited for her to open the door for you and you followed her out the door, seeing your aunt sitting in the waiting room with her purse held tightly to her chest. And across from her, hiding behind the fake plant was the red-haired boy from before.

"How was she today?" Your aunt smiled at you while she began talking with Mrs. Thornberry about what wasn't confidential about your progress.

You looked over and saw the young boy staring at you from behind the branch he hid behind. Mustering up an unknown courage, you crept towards him slowly while he stepped out from his hiding spot behind the tree, looking at his shoes bashfully when you finally stood in front of him. "Sorry about running in the room like that, it was mean."

"It's okay," You whispered back, sucking your lip between your teeth as you questioned whether this was a good idea or not. "I really like your shirt." Pointing at the yellow lightning bolt on his shirt, you watched as his smile grew on his face.

"Thanks! Flash is my all-time favorite Justice Team superhero!" HE jumped up and down giddily. "Who's your favorite superhero? Do you like Flash, too?"

"I actually really like Superman; he can fly places." Your answer was meek and quiet as you traced the tip of your shoe in the carpeted flooring and watching the fibers move with your shoe.

"Yeah, that's cool. But Flash can run on the water!"

"But Superman can look through...through mountains! And he can pick up cities!" Your voice rose with excitement, not even noticing that this conversation really was going on for much longer than anyone was ever willing to talk to you in a long time.

"That's not true! He can't really do that." The kid crossed his arms and glared at you while he thought if it really was possible.

"Uh-huh, Kent Clark in the newspaper my aunt reads says so! And he knows a lot!"

"But how does he-"

"Wally dear, it's time for your session." Mrs. Thornberry's voice got quiet when she saw the two of you talking, both sets of wide eyes staring back at her almost sad like. "Oh...oh my gosh." Your aunt and her exchanged a look the two of you didn't see as you bid each other farewell, Wally promising that you would talk more about the Justice League superheroes next week.

And you two did. As the weeks passed towards the end of the school year, you saw Wally after every session with your therapist, he was talk about superheroes or how the sun would one day eat the Earth or how he thinks there's an alien living in his bathroom.

Now you walked over to the table Wally was sitting at during the lunch period fourth and fifth graders shared with each other. "Hi," Almost at a whisper, you were surprised he looked up at the sound of your quiet chirp. "Can-can I sit with you? Eat lunch I mean?" As with every time you got nervous, you sucked your lower lip between your teeth as you watched his eyes widen in surprise at your question.

"Y/N, yeah! Yeah you can sit with me!" He moved his lunch tray away from the seat across from him, allowing you to sit down and place your own food on the table. "Oh! You have a Superman sweater!"

Looking down, you yourself confirmed that you were wearing the blue Superman sweater you found in a thrift store. "Well he is my favorite superhero," You told him, smiling as he grinned happily at you. "I have a secret." Leaning forward, you lowered your voice and watched him lean closer to you in anticipation. "I'm actually Superman."

He threw his head back in laughter, the sandwich he held in his hand forgotten. "Well if you're Superman, that means I'm the Flash."

"Then we can fight the bad guys together!" You both giggled as you began eating your food, the sandwich Wally had was gone in a mouthful and he turned to the pile of green broccoli, shoving a bunch of the small trees in his mouth, promptly spitting them back out. "Not liking the broccoli?"

"It's really salty today." Wally grabbed his water and chugged it, gargled it and chugged it again. "Actually, all broccoli tastes bad."

"Not if you put a bunch of cheese on it, then you can't taste the greenness. My mom used to put it on my..." You quieted and down felt a pit in your stomach. "Never mind."

"It's okay, I get it, my daddy likes to hit me with his belt when he gets angry. He's angry a lot. And that's why my mom makes me talk to Mrs. Thornberry." You looked at him and instead of looking at him with pity like everyone else would, you saw Wally and that he really didn't want to eat his broccoli but was hungrily eyeing your candy bar you had.

"Hey, Wally." He hummed and looked up at you, his eyes meeting yours and seeing that you didn't want to apologize for him. "Do you wanna be best friends?" You quickly pursed your lips as you waited for an answer.

"Really?!" He jumped up and down in his seat and grinned like a wild man. "You really mean it? I've never had a best friend before!" And with that, he loudly gasped. "Wait! We both have a mean mom and dad; can we be mean moms and dads’ best friends?"

"I like that, we should be best friends forever!"

Honestly best friend’s forever was an understatement; for the past five years you've been there for him. Ever since his dad finally got help and stopped hitting Wally and his mom, you were there for him.

You were there when Wally had his stupid science fair accident, he didn't listen to or believe you when you told him to step back, but everything still happened. He was shot with the lightning and suddenly he was down.

There you were when Wally was being wheeled away from his home in the ambulance, sobbing and crying for him to stay alive after his stupid lightning rendering machine exploded.

And you sure as hell were there when he woke up to slap him with his medical charts when he joked with you to about how smoking hot, he was.

But you stayed. And you happily stayed with him when he finally got the attention of the Flash and became his side kick. And while he did that, you became the girl on the headset, just like in those police shows, telling them what to do and who was doing what.

Wally even had the perfect name, dubbing you the Tech Wizard. And hell were you one, being able to keep up with Robin by taking down his firewalls and decrypting some of his unimportant files just to scare him. You got his attention and respect right away with that move, proving that you didn't need to have a superpower to be super awesome in the field.

The supercomputer in front of you pinged loudly, flashing as it announced the beginning of the new year, pinging an alert to comes up on the screen. Smiling, you heard the cheers of everyone and pulled up the security feed for the main room just over from where you were. Everyone was celebrating in the taboo sort of way, everyone paired off.

There was Robin finally with Zatana, something you knew both sides wanted.

Rocket and Aqualad were both flushing as Rocket stepped away from pressing an innocent kiss to his cheek.

Conner and M'gann were smiling and happily staring at each other from their still new relationship.

But when you found Wally, your throat shut tightly around itself as you watched him remain lip locked with Artemis. Every experience with her ran through your head.

"Ah, human traditions will forever evade me." Red Tornado stepped behind you, but you couldn't even laugh at the poor joke he made.

I mean, they were perfect for each other; they fought like an old married couple and were always worried about each other.

She was your second-best friend. And she had every right to date him if she really likes him.

So why shouldn't your girl best friend date your guy best friend?

Well it kinda hurts when you see her kissing the boy you've liked since you were eight.

<<<7 Years Later>>>

"Hey TW, how's the new visor acoming? Aw they're totally gonna be crash aren't they!" Bart buzzed around you like an excited bumblebee who found the perfect flower.

You sighed at his excitement. "Barty, Bart, you need to be patient, I'm almost done, go bug Blue Beetle or something."

"Oh, oh! Bug the bug! That is totally crash! BB! Where are you?" And he was gone in a flash.

Sighing, you leaned back in your chair, stretching your back and groaning when you heard the multiple pops as you looked around your techie shop.

Ever since Wally's death a year ago you had changed from being just the Computer Wiz to be a full-time techie one. Using an old microwave and a TV you practiced on how to upgrade gear and even build gear for the team.

Turning on the music, you muttered how you knew this would be a long night, knowing you couldn't properly sleep right now and had to have music to distract you. "This was your guys favorite song." Not even a minute in and someone was there to distract you again. Looking over your shoulder, you looked to the doorway. "You both always used to dance to it when he came back from missions."

Artemis stood in the doorway of your shop; her face free of her tigress mask but the tight uniform still clung to her body. "Artemis, what are you doing here so late?"

She smiled at you before shifting her gaze to the floor. "I should ask the same thing, Y/N." She sighed sadly, opening her mouth as to speak, but quickly shut her mouth.

"Artemis, what's wrong, girlie?" Putting the goggles down, you turned around and pressed the small button under your foot, closing the door behind Artemis as well as shutting off recordings and camera operations. "You know I can make things soundproof, so no one will get in here."

Nodding, she rolled a chair out from your other desk and took a seat across from you. "I miss him. So much, Y/N." She began moving her chair back and forth with the toe of her boot. "I thought...I thought after talking with Canary, and giving it time, and finally getting myself back out there would be enough. I can finally sleep again, Y/N. I moved out of our apartment and moved into a house. And...Y/N, I think I finally met someone."

You grinned and chuckled at her, "Artemis that's great! I'm so happy of you."

"But Y/N, I...I feel like I'm betraying the memories I had of him, I feel like I am burying him and trying to forget him." The blonde tiger hastily rubbed her eyes and wiped the tears away; you pulled yourself towards her and gently squeezed her knee.

"Artemis, I swear to you, you aren't forgetting him. We have the grotto for a reason, to remember him and everyone who fell. But think about Wally. He wouldn't want you moping around, like he probably would be mad you found someone apparently hotter than he was, but Wally would want you to be happy.

Artemis moved her hand to grab yours and squeeze your hand back. "I know, I...I just don't miss him anymore. Wait I said that wrong, I don't miss him any more like I don't think about him when I wake up or go to bed. I found Charlie and I'm happy. I'm happy again, Y/N."

"So be happy, Artemis!"

Smiling, your best friend stood up and pulled you with her, hugging you tightly. "Thank you, Y/N, for everything."

Humming you squeezed her shoulder, "Now about this Charlie, I will need his last name and I need to check his background history."

The two of you broke into giggles before she confirmed you were the best thing to happen to her and she pulled you away from your works station. "Come on, Y/N, if I don't physically pull you away from this place, you'll be here all night without even realizing."

"But I have work to do. Bart's goggles, and then the new chip systems and your new-" Artemis was stronger and more resilient than you were and pulled you from your chair.

"Y/N, come on, you need to get out of this cramped workspace for a solid week now! You need to get out!!

I felt my stomach cringe when I remembered why I has been hiding in my little makeshift office, "Yeah, Arti, but I-"

"No buts, Y/N. You are going home, and I will lock you in that house if I have to." Before you could say one more complaint to let her leave you alone, she shoved you through the Zeta Tube and you were transported to the old phone booth across the street from a park.

Grumbling to yourself, you ran your tense hands over your jean covered thighs and stared at the playground across the way. Old memories pulled themselves out of the farthest places of your mind; Wally and you always loved to come to this park, as you got older, you spent a lot of your evenings here because let's be honest, you loved playing at the park, but the parents of little kids thought you were murders looking for their next prey.

June 20th.

Your phone chirped at the new day, happy to share that the beginning of the second year without your best friend had begun. Sighing in defeat, you wandered over to the swing set and sat down on the U-shaped plastic seat, already knowing that your hips would be sore in ten minutes complain and asking for you to move. Pushing your weight back and forth with your toes, you stared at the wood pellet covered ground and let your mind for the first time in days.

Truth was, you were hiding in your workshop, trying as hard as you could to stay away from everyone as this day came closer. You may have been tense with Wally after he and Artemis began their relationship, but he was always your first and bestest of friends. Your best memories were with that silly ginger.

But your saddest memories also revolved around him.

When he and Artemis began dating was like a sword directly to your soul.

When he moved away from you in with Artemis to pursue his college life, almost a thousand miles away from you.

When he had left the team.

When he was lost to the time vortex.

Your tears you were waiting to get too heavy for you to hold finally fell down your face and you let your body shake on the now still swing; your hands went to hide you face and you let your yearly memories of your best friend wash over you.

This is why you didn't want to be alone today. You wanted to be busy in your workshop, so you didn't have to hear the alarm for the beginning of the new day. You knew you would be alone with your tears and your happiest and saddest memories and no one to console you out of your state.

"And I thought everyone had forgotten about me." A quiet voice whispered next to you. Looking up quickly from your hands, you looked over to the next swing and couldn't believe what you wanted to curse whatever supervillain was out to get you this time.

"No, not again." Your voice squeaked out as you stood up and walked away, reminding yourself what your Psychologist had told you to do when you saw him again. "You're not here. This is just another one of my illusions. You'll go away." Looking back, you were surprised to see his green eyes looking so lively yet so sad and so real as they stared at you.

He stood up and took a few tentative steps towards you, his arm slowly listing towards you with every step. "Y/N/N, it's me." His hand gently touched your wet cheek, wiping the last of your tears away, sending a shock through you at how real this one felt.

He looked into your confused and shocked eyes and knew you still didn't believe him. He had been allowed to see parts of your lift after he left. He knew your mind for months played tricks on you and you were in denial when he died the hardest. He also found out... "Remember when we went to that fair a couple years ago? Right before we started YJ? And the Ferris Wheel?"

Your eyes remained the size of dinner plates as you nodded, his hand remained where it was, his thumb caressing your cheek as your tears still spilled out. "You know you really need to tell a person you're afraid of heights before you go up and get stuck on top." He chuckled, his green eyes squinting and showing you what would later become his laugh lines near his eyes.

"Wally." You let go the breath you were holding since he showed up, a sob running past your lips.

"Hey, Y/N. It's me." He smiled before you threw your arms around his neck, your feet leaving the ground as he wrapped his arms around your waist, the ginger hiding his face in the crook of your neck as he finally let the tears he had been hiding fall.

Muffled from his shoulder, you didn't let him go as you breathed in the smell of him from his jacket. "How? You were dead."

"I suppose neither side wanted me, so they kicked me back." You let out a sad laugh and squeezed him tighter, not yet believing that he was home again. "Whatever the Light had set up transported me to some weird time zone. I felt every second that passed as slow as you did, but...I had to watch everyone. I saw everything I never thought I'd see. I watched my own funeral, everyone crying. I watched my mom and dad fall apart and I couldn't do anything about it. I watched the team move on without me. Artemis finally moved on, she found her perfect guy. But...the saddest part was watching you, Y/N, you never moved on. You were the one who always visited my grave. I could barely count how many times you cried over me." His arms went tighter around you as you felt more tears slip past your eyes, you own shoulder getting damper as his own tears fell.

"How could I when my superhero had died and left me alone to fight this world alone?" You looked at him and finally looked at him. He did look older, but in the best ways. But his eyes. They still glittered like they used to, but you knew they had seen too much now as he saw his team and entire family break over his death.

"Why didn't you ever tell me, Y/N?" You turned away when he asked, you just knew he would have to ask that question, if he really did watch you all this time, you knew he now knew.

"Because you were perfect for each other. You fought like a married couple and loved each other like star crossed lovers. Why would you love your broken best friend who used you as emotional support when her mom beat her?"

His eyes stayed fixed on you, "Because I love my mean mom and dad best friend." Hs voice a low and quiet whisper, your head shooting up to stare at him. "You've been the best thing in my life ever since I saw you in the first grade when you were new to my school. I just...I was the funny one who hid his pain away and thought he needed to have a girl who didn't know what happened to me to forget what happened with my dad and who wouldn't look at me like a kicked puppy. But, Y/N, what I needed was you. Someone who understood my pain when someone shouted too loud or who flinched when someone reached for their belt. You were the only one who understood me to that deeper level, and I didn't know why Artemis and I didn't work until it was too late, and you were already not interested in me anymore."

"You idiot," You whispered before reaching up and quickly pressed a short kiss to his lips. Nothing more than a few seconds, but the kiss you had almost dreamed about for years now. Pulling your eyes opened, you looked into his surprised green ones and smiled. "I loved you from the day you saved me from my mom."

Wally pulled you into a tight hug and spun you around, bring laughter out of the both of you. "I love you, so much, Y/N."

"I love you, too, Wally." You whispered back before you felt your feet touch the ground. "Wanna play on the playground?" You smiled up at him and watched his grow as well.

"Well duh."

"Tag your it!" You yelled, slapping him on the arm and took off running for the slides, your laughter filling the night as you shouted at him not to cheat with his speed and him complaining that he needed to stretch his legs.

But the both of you knew that things were better now, because your best friend was home, and wherever Wally was, that was your home.

[schweeeppess]

"We shouldn't be doing this."

He was mad. Pissed. Extremely vexed.

But nobody cared, continuing to talk among themselves.

Gritting his teeth, Wally stood, ignoring Barry's protests to his left, and yelled, "Will you jackasses fucking listen!? Shut up and hear me out, because I have a very solid opinion about what's going on here."

The Justice League, Titans included beside their old mentors though they were silent, all quieted as they looked to the second Flash. Wally's eyes flicked from League member to League member, and his voice went cool as ice when next he spoke.

"Where is Batman," he hissed.

Clark--no, Superman--frowned from his seat that was to the left of the head of the table.

"He'd be too biased to give a sound opinion, so we didn't notify him of this meeting," Clark answered.

Beside him, still seated, Barry whispered, "Wally, don't--"

He was too late.

"You idiot! You goddamn moron! He has every right to be here! Every single right!" Wally shouted, throwing an arm out to gesture at the subject of the meeting, kneeling in the center of the room, gagged, League-grade cuffs securing him to the ground by a chain.

Blood dripped from his lips into the pearl white floor from his mouth, and Wally's gut twisted.

"That's his son!" Wally finally yelled. "The Red Hood is a known son of Batman's!"

Jason stirred a little in his chains, lifting his head for acidic green eyes to meet deep woodsy green.

I'm sorry, Wally thought to him, despite knowing Jason wasn't telepathic.

Everything was just so wrong in the scenario and Wally had no idea which fault to pick at.

"...which is why Batman would be too biased. Red Hood is his son and that would cloud his judgement."

Wally sneered, turning back to face Superman who was now standing, and jabbed a finger at him. "Oh now that is rich. Tell me, Clark; if we put Jon on trial and didn't tell you, how would things play out?"

Superman's face darkened. "Don't bring him into this."

"Why not?" Wally lifted both arms, then, over his head. "Because he's your son and you know damn well you'd move heaven and earth to attend his trial? How is this any different!"

"Batman--"

"Wouldn't even need to vote!" Wally interrpted, slamming a palm on the table. "Just let him attend!"

It went silent after his last point before there were scattered murmurs. The other Titans stood up too, looking to Wally, then Jason, then Clark, and Donna said, "We agree. Batman and his sons should be present."

Barry was next to stand, and Wally exhaled in relief.

"I have to side with the Titans, Clark. Batman should be here."

Diana rose. "As do I. I also think the accused should have a defense willing to fight for him, because as it stands we are deciding his fate without proper trial."

Superman frowned a little and opened his mouth to say something before the doors to the room slammed open and a bolt of fear struck Wally's chest when he saw who it was.

Nightwing stood in the doorway, and he looked livid.

"What is this?" he seethed in quite the accurate chilling Batgrowl, stalking into the room. Behind him trailed Red Robin, Orphan, and Robin.

Each looked beyond furious.

Superman seemed surprised at their arrival, but Wally had known the Bats would find out about the trial. It was why he'd petitioned for Batman at the very least to be invited. The repercussions would be ones the entire Justice League would suffer.

As he recovered, Superman said, "What are you doing here?"

Nightwing tensed, each muscle straining, and his jaw twitched.

"Answer me," he snapped. "What. Is. This."

"The Justice League arrested Red Hood," Wally spoke up. "This is his trial."

Glancing at the other Titans, Wally added, "We were actally in the middle of an argument."

Nightwing stood behind his father's empty seat on the opposite end of the table from Superman, expression dark. His siblings flanked the table, all spread out, but Wally wasn't concerned. He, Barry, Diana, and the Titans didn't have to be.

"And what was the argument about?"

"Your attendance," Lilith piped up. "Superman and the rest seated were against you being here."

This did not sit well with Nightwing.

His lip curled into a snarl and he said, "Clark?"

Superman twitched but responded levelly.

"It's true."

Jason wasn't looking at anyone anymore--he hardly seemed aware of what was going on around him, actually--and Wally moved to his side, crouching and putting a hand on his back.

"Hood?"

"Back away, West," Robin's sharp tone snapped.

"Robin," Nightwing growled. "Behave."

"He needs to remove himself from Red Hood's immediate vicinity, else I will remove him myself, Nightwing. My warning was me behaving," Robin answered, folding his arms over his chest.

Nightwing shook his head but didn't comment.

Wally looked to Robin and said, "I'm just gettig him out."

Superman and the other seated League members seemed to want to protest, but weren't willing to test any of the already irate Bats.

Barry was by Wally's side in a heartbeat and took a glove off to press his palm to the scanner on the cuffs to unlock them while Wally zipped to the med-bay for gauze and bandages before racing back.

The locks clicked on Jason's bonds before falling off, and the abrupt loss of weight seemed to surprise Jason into attentiveness.

He jolted a little, looking around for the first time since his family had entered, and sighed when he saw them.

The gag was already tossed on the ground, so Wally and Barry each stood and helped Jason to his feet.

"You okay?" Barry checked, an arm of Jason's over his shoulder.

Jason shrugged, head lolling. "D'nno," he slurred a little. "S'pes really did a number'n me. M'head hurts."

Superman sighed when Nightwing further tensed at Jason's words. "I didn't want to fight you or your team, Jason. If you would have come willingly, nobody would have been hurt."

Jason sighed, closing his eyes. "Wan' nap," he mumbled.

Red Robin and Orphan were replacing Wally and Barry instantly, and each Flash blinked in surprise.

They looked to each other and shrugged.

Bats. Who knows?

"We should still hold his trial," Oliver spoke up. "He needs to face the consequences for his crimes."

"There isn't going to be a trial," Nightwing declared with finality hard in his tone.

Wally glanced at the other Titans, and they all met his gaze back. Simultaneously they all started to leave the room.

"Where are you going?" Arthur asked.

Garth stopped to face his king and replied, "Batman is your leader. Nightwing is ours. He has deemed Red Hood's trial void, therefore we no longer have business here, my lord."

Then he resumed his exit, walking out right behind Lilith.

...

Tim walked with Jason toward a wall for him to lean on as silence fell upon the room before Superman shattered it.

"Despite what your Titans seem to think, Nightwing, just because you say something doesn't mean it goes. Not here. Not with us."

Dick crossed his arms. "There will be no trial," he repeated. Tim almost felt bad for Clark, but he was to busy being livid at the situation and worried for Jason.

"Nightwing."

"If you want Jason," Dick growled, straightening and looking like a bow ready to snap, "you'll have to take us out."

The League members fell silent. Barry took a step back, raising his hands.

"I was never for it, Nightwing."

Dick nodded. "I know, Barry." His eyes slid to the others who were silent, and Dick said, "I was talking to those of you who want your justice. If you think you can win against us, we can settle this here and now."

"Nightwing..." Clark's voice held warning in it clearer than water.

It upset Tim even more.

"Shut up, Clark," Dick snapped. "Put up or shut up."

Clark, Oliver, Hawkman, Hawkgirl, and Arthur all looked to each other. The seated stood and faced the Bats.

Tim rested Jason against the wall.

"Don'," Jason muttered.

"We have to," Cass whispered back. "This won't happen again."

Tim agreed with her silently and they moved to flank their brother. Damian stood directly to Dick's right, arms folded over his chest, and Tim took his own spot with Cass.

They kept Jason behind them, putting themselves between him and the League.

Hal shook his head and sighed, standing to leave as Barry disappeared behind the door, Black Canary, Martian Manhunter, and Cyborg following.

"We don't need to fight," Arthur said in a last-ditch effort of diplomacy.

"Yes," Tim replied, cracking his knuckles. "We do."

First to attack was Damian.

He launched himself at Oliver silently, ducking an arrow and slicing another in half when they were sent his way.

Cass moved a second after Tim did, her taking on Aquaman as Tim attacked Hawkman and Hawkgirl.

Dick and Clark were the last ones to leap into the fray. But when they did, there was no holding back.

Instantly there was a notable difference between the two opposing sides. The Bats fought together with fluidity, like a well-oiled machine, united. The Leaguers were fighting seperately.

In the end it was over embarrassingly fast.

Arthur and Oliver were unconscious, each sporting superficial cuts and bruises, Hawkman and Hawkgirl were restrained with the chain attached to the cuffs that Jason had been wearing, and Superman was incapacitated with a rock of kryptonite at his chest.

Tim held his ribs, grimacing at the sharp pain. Dick was bleeding from a cut in his lip and one on the side of his neck, and it looked like he'd dislocated a wrist, but he easily reset it. Damian shook his head, holding his arm, but seemed otherwise unscathed. Cassandra's hood had slipped off her head and she was already sporting a bruise on her cheek, but she seemed least injured of them.

"You couldn't go through us," Dick said. "So we're leaving with our brother. You come for him and take him without us knowing again, you will be sorry, and we will come for him."

Cass walked over to where Jason was apparently unconscious with Dick, and they each took an arm over their shoulders and supported Jason.

Tim wrapped an arm over Damian's shoulder, hugging him close, and he glared at the incapacitated Leaguers as they left.

"Let us go," Clark called.

"Oliver and Arthur will when they wake up," Cass hissed. "We are leaving. You are staying. That is it."

And they did. Broken, bruised, and bloody, but heads held high and the win theirs.

"You don't mess with the Bat."

@belovedbratwonder, @an-all-write-life, @loserforbatfam, @kurawastaken, @softpotato-preciouspotato, @redtruthed, @frenchmurdock​

[redhoodieone]

It’s Cold in Here

A/N: This was totally random. I’ve been sick this entire weekend with my allergies and this idea just kept bothering me even when I wanted to work on other projects. So, I decided just to write it out. I don’t really know how I feel about it other than it’s pretty dark and serious and I’ll continue it if people want it. [And this takes place after Batman Arkham Knight, since I love the game, and I believe Bruce should have stayed as Batman and I don’t really care for Tim and Barbara being together].

Summary: Dick Grayson and Y/N have been together for three years but have been best friends since they were teenagers. Y/N believes Dick is her true love, and that the two of them will be together forever but Dick has been distant and cold lately; and he’s clearly hiding something. Y/N is determined to figure it out, but the secret is worse than she’s ever imagined, and if anyone ever found out Dick’s private and public life would be destroyed. But what would you do when the love of your life doesn’t want to be with you anymore? How far would you go for love?

Couples: Dick Grayson x Y/N, Jason Todd x Y/N.

Mystery couple: Dick Grayson x ?

Warnings: Smut and language. 

My body is on fire. Every time he kisses me, I feel as if my body will explode like a firework. But it’s always been like that with dreamy, charming Dick Grayson.

Anyone who knows him can say Dick is sexy. I mean, the guy’s got a fine ass and when he’s dressed up as Nightwing, it’s like I can cum in my panties on the spot. But of course, he’s just kind, sweet, and loving to me. Everyone who knows him can say he’s a friend to them, and Dick says everyone is a friend of his.

But I can’t think about anything else other than his long thick cock ramming inside my pussy at a pace I didn’t know Dick had in him. Every time he thrusts into me, I can feel the carpet burn on my lower back. I grip his arm, and I arch my back because I don’t know how much longer I can take.

Even though having sex on the floor in his bedroom is hurting my back, I wouldn’t object to sex since it has been two weeks since we fooled around. The only problem I find with this quickie is how far apart I feel.

I know my hands are all over his fit and toned body. I know my eyes are staring into his bright blue eyes. I know I can reach up and tug his messy dark hair; just the way he loves it.

But no matter what, I know we’re not here together.

First off, we’re not even completely naked. All Dick has done is lift my skirt up and push my panties aside. My top is moved up so I can show off my breasts confined in black lace.

Two, he insists we must hurry and be quiet, so his family won’t know what we’re up to. (Even though he’s twenty-four, and I’m above the age of twenty).

And three, he is so determined to go out on patrol with someone.

I sit up and kiss him. Our kiss is hard and short, since Dick’s panting more. Sweat covers our foreheads, and I accidentally let out a long moan.

“Y/N…can you please be more quiet?” Dick asks. He doesn’t even try to hide his irritation at me.

“I’m sorry, you’re just making me SOOO good, Dick,” I whisper desperately.

Dick then sits up on his knees where his jeans are bunched up and begins to thrust harder and faster. He must want to finish up quickly, and I would complain about it, but my orgasm is coming now.

I whimper as quietly as I can. The sensation of his hard cock rubbing against my sensitive spot, and the way his hand holds my waist is enough for me to let go. My pussy drips out my own juices onto his cock, and I bite the back of my hand to silence my moans. Dick continues to pound me until he shuts his eyes and whispers something so quiet that I didn’t quite catch. He rests his head on my shoulder, as he slowly pulls out of me.

The quickie fulfilled everything I needed. Dick sits up and disposes the condom in his trash, as I quickly pull down my skirt. He zips up his pants and wipes his forehead from the sex sweat. We then just look at each other, and I immediately wonder what he’s thinking about.

“I love you,” I tell him. I mean every word.

“I love you, too.”

Dick gently takes my hand and leads me downstairs. I know he takes his patrolling seriously, because even I help out sometimes despite Dick’s plead for me to stay out of the vigilante life. I know all of them are going to leave after dinner, and I suppose I should be at my own place, too.

I see Alfred in the kitchen cooking dinner. Bruce, Tim, and Damian are in the living room watching the news. Bruce instantly notices me at the bottom of the staircase.

“Hello Y/N, it’s nice to see you here. Will you be staying over for dinner?” Bruce asks politely.

“Actually I –” I begin.

“She has dinner plans already, Bruce,” Dick cuts in, and smiles at everyone.

Tim smiles kindly. Damian rolls his eyes at Dick. “T-t. How rude of you to speak for your girlfriend, Grayson.”

“It’s fine. I actually do have dinner plans,” I insist, despite Dick’s behavior confusing me even more. “I’ll see you all tomorrow.”

I say my good-byes, and as I say good-bye to Alfred, he frowns at me but gives a small wave instead. I immediately wonder what’s wrong with him, but I know I shouldn’t ask questions when it’s clearly not my business.

Dick walks me out to my car. Before I get in, we see Jason pulling in on his bike. In his dark leather jacket and pants that define his thighs, I can see why Jason is a heartthrob to most women.

Jason Todd.

How do I even begin to explain him?

Crazy.

Wild.

A dork underneath it all.

And good looking.

I scold myself for thinking about him, but Jason’s wicked smile already finds mine.

“Not staying for dinner?” Jason asks me.

“No, I…already have plans,” I say.

“She does. Maybe next time,” Dick says, before he kisses me passionately in front of Jason. I can feel Jason watching, and I know for a fact that he doesn’t like us together. Dick pulls away and smiles at me. He pushes a loose strand of my hair behind my ear. “I love you, Y/N.”

“I love you, too. Where are you even patrolling tonight?” I ask curiously.

“B wants us to look around Ace Chemicals and other warehouses since he’s so convinced Scarecrow is up to no good. He thinks another Arkham Knight situation is going to happen again,” Dick explains.

“And once again, you fuckheads just can’t let it go,” Jason scoffs.

I glance up at Jason, who’s leaning against his bike with his arms folded. The ‘J’ scar on his cheek used to make him self-conscious and hate himself a lot, but knowing Jason since he was Robin, I can tell he’s grown up to realize he’s sexy no matter what, and he actually admires the scar because he thinks it just makes him look tougher.

“Jay…” Dick warns seriously.

“What? I’m just saying, I still got the costume. I’ll go put it on now if you all want a reenactment or some shit,” Jason explains.

I giggle. Sometimes Jason is just too much. “I think we’re good, Jay. If anything, wear the costume on Halloween and scare the shit out of everyone. They’ll think it’s happening all over again,” I suggest.

“I’ll keep that in mind, babe,” Jason smirks, and winks at me.

Dick chuckles and hugs me tightly. His arms hold me tightly to his chest, and I can feel myself melting in his warmth and scent of cologne that smells woodsy and citrus like.

“Call me when you get home,” Dick says.

“I will. Be careful tonight, okay?” I tell him seriously.

“Always, sweetheart.”

I get into my car. The second I drive off I try to ignore the nagging thoughts in the back of my mind. But deep down, I know it’s getting cold between us.

An evening of a bowl of ramen noodles, I try to find an interesting show on TV but come to find nothing can even keep me distracted from thinking about Dick. In just my plaid pajama pants and a t-shirt of G.U (Gotham University) from Dick, I remove myself from the couch and decide to suit up to go surprise Dick.

Because when was the last time we patrolled together?

It must be at least a month since we’ve worked together because he’s been angry and worried about me getting hurt.

Because would he really mind if I showed up to surprise him?

Of course not! Dick loves surprises.

Slipping into my y/s/n’s costume, I quickly shoot my grapple and fly across my apartment building, so I head over to Ace Chemicals. Once I land, I see it’s completely deserted with no one around.

I frown, and I wonder if I misheard Dick or something. Reaching into my utility belt, I pull out my cell phone and I see an unknown text message was sent to me. Carefully opening the unknown text message, I raise my eyebrows at it.

Go to Dick’s apartment.

I freeze, and I wonder if I should reply or not. But my curiosity wins.

Who is this?

It doesn’t matter who I am. Do you want the truth or not?

I bite my bottom lip. The right thing to do is to show Batman these text messages. The right thing to do is to not go to Dick’s apartment because it could be a trap.

But my curiosity wins again, because this is about my boyfriend.

I race over to Dick’s penthouse in Gotham City. He usually never stays there, because he’s either at Wayne Manor where Alfred feeds him or he’s at my place. I slowly and cautiously land on his balcony, because a strange feeling of trespassing and fears eats away at me. The second I reach the glass doors; I notice they’re open enough for me to sneak in quietly.

I remember Bruce’s training: silence, awareness, and guarded. Slowly and carefully, I sneak towards Dick’s bedroom.

The stillness around me becomes all noise.

Skin on skin slapping.

Grunting.

Wet noises.

Moaning.

Groaning.

My body tenses. A shiver runs down my spine. My feet drag me to the doorway, and I can see my naked boyfriend behind someone.

No.

No…

Wally West?

Fucking Wally West?!

The redheaded boy who has known Dick since they were back in Titans is fucking my boyfriend.

I completely freeze at the scene before me. Dick is fucking Wally. All I can do is watch, since I’m completely horrified and shocked at how my boyfriend’s hard cock is slamming hard, deep, and fast into Wally’s ass, and there’s Wally, who’s a moaning fucking mess. The way their muscular bodies collide just shows me how this isn’t the first time they’re doing this.

Before I can think or do something, Dick pulls Wally by his red hair and kisses him.

The way he kisses him is full of…passion.

Love.

A kiss I don’t remember Dick ever giving me.

Dick pulls away and grins at Wally. “I love you, Wally.”

“I love you, too, Dick but come on…fuck me like you mean it, dude.”

They just continue fucking…making love…or whatever the fuck they’re doing. I finally regain some strength and sense to leave.

The second I make it far away from Dick’s penthouse. I rip off my mask and I scream.

A scream so loud and full of pain I never thought I would feel ever.

I cry, and I realize I haven’t cried in so long since I’ve been so happy with Dick.

My phone vibrates in my utility belt, so I pull it out and realize it’s the same unknown number from earlier. I quickly wipe my tears away to see the text message.

Now you finally know.

If you knew, then why didn’t you ever tell me!!!! I text back angrily.

If I did, you’re saying you would have believed me? With what evidence?

Why are you doing this? Why are you talking to me? Why did you even tell me this?

Because a beautiful girl like you deserves to know. What you won’t believe is who knew about this and never told you.

I stare at my cell phone in fear. People knew? Who knew?

Those around you have lied to you. They kept secrets from you. And you know what? I want to apologize on their behalf, because while you were seriously in love with the first Robin, they obviously never cared enough about you to see you as an equal. But trust me, what Dick has done is unforgivable, and when you’re ready to get even, I’ll be in touch.

Do I even know you? I reluctantly text back.

No, but your former better half does.

I return home with not only a broken heart, but a desire to just fall and die. The second I get home; I take off my costume and I climb into bed. The images of Dick and Wally in my head won’t stop. I roll over onto my side, and I quickly get on BatFamBook.

Jason is online.

I need his humor more than anything.

I send him a private message: Please tell me something funny, Jason. Anything.

Y/N, are you okay? Did something happen?

If I told you, you wouldn’t believe me. I don’t…can’t talk about it right now.

Is Dick there?

No, he’s out on patrol. I decide to lie for my boyfriend, except I don’t know why.

He’s out on patrol? Bruce ended up sending me, Tim, and Damian to go look around. Dick asked for the night off after you left. He said he was going to be at your place. I thought you knew???

No. I’m alone. The tears start burning my eyes.

I’m on my way.

Should I continue? 

[shipersanonymous]

One Hit West

By: ShipersAnonymous

Chapters: 1/?

Rating: Explicit

Synopsis:

Danger at every turn, a darkness threatening to consume her, a secret she's trying to keep, a life she's trying to protect.

Iris West is the best at what she does. She knows her way around the shadows and is unstoppable with a gun. But when her old flame, Barry Allen, suddenly makes his way into her family's hit list she's forced to go against her nature to save the man she once loved. The man she still loves.

When you kill for a living, death is bound to follow where you go but how do you fight against the one thing you've been trained to do?

How do you keep yourself from being tempted by the past?

How do you protect the ones you love when the greatest danger in their lives is you?

Author's Note:

OK I'm so sorry this is so late (my time atleast) but this took a little figuring out 😅.

IT'S FINALLY HERE! My first tumblr fan fic! I'm beyond excited! Hope you all like it! Feel free to let me know what you think and share your theories!

XOXO

************ Cliffhanger Warning *************

Chapter 1

[Iris]

Bang!

The loud and familiar sound of the gun going off echoes through the abandoned warehouse and the, now, dead man’s blood splatters onto her black leather coat. She stares down at him unmoved, her face set in an expression of cold indifference. A heavy silence ensues as she simply looks into her victims cold blue eyes, a piece of her own dwindling humanity slipping out of her with every passing second. The lifeless orbs stare back at her, frozen with that special brand of fear that she’s seen on many a hit. The fear that consumes each soul at the very last second, just before she pulls her trigger. The realisation that those are the last breaths they’ll ever take, that hers are the last eyes they’ll ever see.

Satisfied that her job has been done, Iris lifts her booted foot from the corpse’s neck. The lifeless head bobs to the side and blood trickles from the bullet wound in the center like a spot of dark red paint on a fleshy canvas. She replaces her gun in its holster as she walks away from the cooling body.

“Seriously?” Eddie asks as she steps outside the abandoned building into the brisk night air. She turns her head towards him and disdainfully regards his cool stance. With his back and a foot propped against the wall and his arms casually crossed over his chest he oozes a carelessness that has become a Hitfamily trademark. She doesn’t validate his remark with the expected ‘what?’, but instead stares him down and waits for the elaboration that, she has no doubt, will follow.

“You could have put a silencer on that thing.” He explains and she simply rolls her eyes and huffs out exasperated. With a turn of her heel she begins her walk back up to her car, her unwanted partner following closely behind her.

“So that’s it? You’re just gonna ignore me? You know just cause you’re the bosses daughter Iri-”

The click of the gun engaging shuts him up and before he can blink he’s staring down the barrel of her still warm weapon.

“Listen Thawne, this was a one woman hit that I could have done in my sleep and the only reason why you’re here is cause between dealing with you and dealing with my dad you’re easier to kill. That being said…”

She steps closer to him and pulls him to her by his collar. Her gun rests beneath his raised chin and she can practically smell the fright rolling off him in tiny beads of sweat.

“… If you ever try to tell me how to do my job again, I’ll make it a point to show you just how well I know what I’m doing and the last thing you’ll see on this earth is how good I am at pulling the trigger. Incase you haven’t heard, I never miss. You get the picture?”

His Adam’s apple bobs as he swallows the fearful lump forming in his throat and he nods, too afraid of saying the wrong thing and ending up like the corpse that lies bleeding in the warehouse a few feet away.

“Good. And when we’re out on a hit, it’s West. Now get out of my sight before I have to call two bodies in. I don’t need the extra paper work.” She spits shoving him away as she let’s go.

“Yes, Ma’am.” He shakes out before, scrambling to his feet and making a hasty retreat. She disengages her gun and replaces it in her holster as she tries to push down her annoyance. You’d think that with a success rate as high as hers her father would stop trying to send her out with baby sitters. Alas she’s done this tango long enough to know that there’s no use fighting with Father West. All she can hope for is a co-hitman that doesn’t actually have a thirst for blood and let’s her do her own thing. A wind blows through her tensed body, swaying her coat and ponytail synchronically in the air. A dog barks in the distance, the only sign of life in the dark and deserted place. Iris takes a moment to breathe as she feels the adrenaline begin to leave her body.

It’s time to go.

She walks the rest of the steep way up to her black car, stopping briefly to relieve herself of her stained coat and dispensing it in the trunk before stepping into the drivers seat.

With a push of the start button, the machine roars to life. Iris buckles up and takes off, speeding away in the direction of the city. One hand holds the steering wheel and the other’s fingers dance over the keypad from the monitor in the dashboard with a ritualistic ease. She calls the main office and waits for the prerecorded prompt. Instead of a robotic voice, a chime cries through the speakers, announcing that she has an incoming call.

She glances at the screen for a moment, the number is unlisted. Suspiciously she reaches up to her Bluetooth ear piece and answers.

“Hello?”

“Iris it’s me,” her brothers voice responds on the other end and an annoyance creases her brow.

“Wallace what the hell?” she demands, her eyes never leaving the road, her voice never faltering despite the nervous hammering of her heart.

“Listen you can scold me later but there’s no time for that now. You need to get to the Golden Gate Casino pronto,” the urgency in his voice is unmistakable and Iris feels herself begin to worry.

“Why?”

“Dad got a request for a hit an hour ago and you need to stop him,” he whispers.

“Wait dad’s actually going on a hit himself. Boy must be some important client,” she observes, still confused as to why her brother would send her on a literal suicide mission.

“It’s not the client that’s important, it’s the target. He has a, uh, personal score to even out.”

“Now I know you’re joking. That’s against our oath, and dad would never do that. No matter how much a person pisse-”

“It’s Barry.” Wally blurts out and the shock is enough to make her skied to a stop.

“What?” she asks feeling her lungs begin to collapse.

“The target is Barry Allen.” He clarifies.

Her skin irrupts in goosebumps at the mention of his name. It’s been so long since she last heard it said out loud, six years to be exact. A thin layer of tears gloss over her wide eyes and the sound of angered hoots is drowned out by the roar of her heart beat as memories flood her mind.

“Why Iris? Just, just tell me why? Did I do something wrong?” he begged, his voice tremulous from the effort of holding in his sobs.

“No Barry, you were perfect in every way it’s just-”

“Then why are you doing this? Don’t…” he paused, trying to find the stomach to ask what he was about to ask.

“Don’t you love me anymore?” the question came out as a whisper but Barry couldn’t bare to wait for the answer. Instead, he pulled her into his arms and she allowed herself a moment of weakness, savoring the warmth of his arms one last time.

“Don’t do this to us. Don’t- don’t do this to me.” He pleaded. She pulled away enough to look up into his saddened gaze, trying her best to hold back her own tears.

She couldn’t cry. She didn’t deserve to cry. Not with all the heartache she was no doubt causing him.

“I can’t lose you,” he begged tightening his hold on her as if he could just trap her there and keep her in his embrace forever.

“It’s for the best Barry. You, have to let me go.” She said softly though it mostly seemed like she was trying to convince herself of that.

“Iris,” he whispered her name like a cry of agony, the longing hanging from each syllable. Hurt punctuating every letter. Without thinking she kissed him, long and hard, expressing in that moment her own pain. Her own love. Her goodbye.

They broke apart and she connected her forehead to his. She kept her eyes closed but she could feel his tears dripping onto her hand like rain on a pavement.

“I love you Barry. And… a part of me knows that I always will. But I can’t be with you any longer. This- this is goodbye.” She whispered and before she gave in to her wailing heart she pushed out of his embrace and ran. She ran and never looked back. Not when he screamed out her name like he was being torn apart limb for limb the further away she got from him. Not when his footsteps no longer echoed behind her. Not when she got home and finally let herself cry. Not ever. She would never stop running. She couldn’t ever stop.

“Iris!” her brother cuts through her thoughts and she comes to, her cheeks wet with tears she thought she’d never shed again. She dabs away at them quickly and closes her eyes, shifting her mindset back to the present.

“How close is he?” Her voice was firm like a concrete wall.

“I’m not sure I had to sneak out of the office to give you the heads up but judging by the time dad left he should be there in the next 45 minutes.” He informs. Mechanically, Iris starts up the car, both her hands gripping the wheel with such force that her knuckles pale.

“I’m closer, I can make it in twenty. Get rid of your burner and be careful when you sneak back in.” She warns her foot flattening against the gass as she passes her third red light.

“I’ll be fine don’t worry. Keep me posted.” He responds.

“Wally wait!” She calls out before he hangs up.

“What is it?” he asks.

“Could you call Nissa for me? Let her know what happened and check that everything’s OK? If you can’t reach her try Jen. She usually sleeps over on weekends,” Iris asks.

“Sure thing sis. Consider it done.” He says sternly and Iris breathes a momentary sigh of relief.

“Thanks Wally,” She says softly, shedding her murderous demeanour for just a second.

“Anytime. Oh and sis?”

“Yeah?”

“Be careful.”

“Always.”

**********************************************

Iris comes to a violent stop in one of the parking slots towards the outskirts of the parking lot where no one ever parks. A brief glance at her watch tells her she has 25 minutes to get in, find him and get him out. With no time to lose she grabs her duffle bag from the trunk and squeezes into her back seat for a quick change of outfits. This will go a lot smoother if she can draw as little attention to herself as possible. Thanking her organised nature for keeping a classy yet flexible short jumpsuit in her car she slips on her heels, touches up her make up and walks towards the entrance with 15 minutes to spare. Her high ponytail sways with her hips as she clicks her way up the stairs, her senses on high alert.

To get to the gaming lounge she needs to pass through the metal detectors but the Golden Gate has been the setting for many a rendezvous with targets and clients so she barely breaks a sweat as she reaches the front of the line. Calmly, she removes the red emerald ring that rests on her ring finger, a symbol of who she is, and places it on a tray along with her clutch and her earrings. Upon seeing the ring the security guard nods his head in understanding and discreetly brushes his pass over the scanner embedded into the metal detector. It flashes green and she walks in with out a single beep. She nods back in appreciation and retrieves her belongings before stepping into a broad, red-carpeted hallway. Her pistol safely hidden in her clutch.

A clock on the wall tells her she lost five minutes in the line so she picks up her pace. As she nears the top of the stairs that will lead her down to the gambling area she forces all thoughts away from her mind and tries to prepare herself to see him again.

The only man she’s ever loved. The worst heartbreak she’s ever caused.

At the top of the stairway she scans the room, looking from any remote sign of familiarity and there, in the corner, seated at one of the roulette tables, she finds him.

For a second her heart stops and she forgets how to breathe. His back is to her but just the sight of his glistening brown-black hair, strands that once upon a lifetime she used to contently comb her fingers through, was enough to spike her nerve levels. Memories try to push their way back into her mind but she forces them down, fully aware that time is not on their side.

My side.

She scolds herself.

There is no “us”.

Taking a deep breath to compose herself she hurries down the stairs, without drawing any attention to herself, and worms her way to him. Just before she reaches him she takes a second to straighten out her outfit and plasters on her most seductive expression.

“Mind if I join you Mr. Allen?” She whispers into his ear and the chip that he had been nervously fiddling with slips from his finger, clattering on to the table.