#and barry coming in second as the best mentor

[neo30deck]

Okay so this is a fic I'm currently working on. It was birthed from an idea that I came up with in the comments of the work this one was inspired by.

Go check out 'here with me', it's a pretty good fic.

I will be taking a lot of canon material from both the shows and comics, and mash them together to create a plot.

I'm choosing what to keep and what to get rid of basically.

[lordgrimoire]

So, the following is a record of a conversation between Clockwork, The Flash, and Wonder Woman. Transcript Begins.

CW:Ah, Diana of Themyscira, an Honor, and Barry Allen, An Honor, to finally meet one of my bigger headaches, heh.

WW:Kronos, you know my name. And yet you call it an honor?

CW:That is my name no longer, but I will accept you using it. Yes, it is an honor, for before my madness by my own father I was a hero as well, those are not my duties any more, no I must look after the new heroes, from Young Phantom, to your Justice League, and specifically the Flashes.

The Flash:So wait, your in charge of the Speed force? I have so many questions.

CW:And I have no answers, instead I have these.

[Distortion, Grade IV opening, 6.7 Second duration]

CW:These, are Flashes, or more accurately Flashes out of time, who died to the speed force and were revived as well.

???:(Groans and coughing)

Flash:Are those-?

CW:Relatives yet to be born, those lost to the past, kinsfolk and other speedsters lost to the speed force. But not yours.

Flash: Come Again?

CW:Timelines are a strange thing, in another time, another place even, these Flashes would have come to occupy your life later in life, here? Not so much, they will need new names, they may tell you theirs if they want, but know this, in that Timeline the Infinite Realms, the Ghost Zone, was never discovered by any mortals. So keep that in mind.

Flash:Thank you, I’ll take care of them.

CW:I have my utmost faith in you. Diana of Themyscira?

WW:Lord Kronos?

CW:Simply Clockwork works dear, I have a gift for you.

WW:A Pocket Watch?

CW: Should you ever need guidance, simply twist the crown, twice left, twice right, you should have at least one godly relative in your corner, even if it’s little old me.

WW:…Thank You, Clockwork.

CW:Think nothing of it dear, I am the keeper of time, but I’ve retained my other rolls still, Grandfather, Mentor, Hero, in those most desperate of times. Now, I must return to my tower, relax, take your time, and worry not, Amity Park has sturdy defenders.

WW:Take care Clockwork, I’d best go save Flash from his Family shouldn’t I?

CW:The Flash would do with some assistance, take care Diana.

(TRANSCRIPTION ENDS)

(Begin Censor? Y/N)

(Y)

(CENSOR BEGUN, ALL PERSONAL OR IDENTIFYING DATA BEING PURGED)

(Make Copy? Y/N)

(Y)

(#?)

(3)

(Recipients?)

(Battalion Clerk, Town Clerk, Justice League Clerk of Illinois)

(Submit? Y/N)

(Y)

(Submission Begun, thank You Staff Sergeant William Hale, CBRN Platoon, 1st Amity Park Support Company, 1st Dimensional Support Battalion)

[the-batcomputer-project]

small little Bruce Wayne headcanon

I don't think Bruce quite has a split personality, but he is so good at compartmentalizing that he struggles between personalities and can't always "drop the act" so to say.

Batman - Focused on the mission above all else. Comes off as cold and unforgiving, but to him it is a necessity in this line of work. While in the cape and cowl, the Robins are his partners, not his sons, because he knows if he acted as a father rather than a mentor in the field, he would be throwing himself into danger, and potentially risking his kids as well. That's why when Dick was fired as Robin the second time, it came across the way it did, driving a rift between Dick and Bruce. Bruce didn't want to loose his son, but Batman couldn't handle a liability like that in the field. (Dick himself isn't a liability, but Bruce knows that if Dick died while out as Robin, the Batman facade would shatter, like what happened after Jason's death)

Brucie Wayne - The public persona is loud, lazy, and a bit dumb. No one expects much from him, which allows him to slide under the radar and remove suspicion off of him potentially being Batman. He is exactly what everyone expects of a rich socialite raised without parental supervision. Brucie also allows Bruce to "let go" sometimes and just have fun without needing to worry about anything. He doesn't need to be the strong imposing figure of Batman. He can insult people he doesn't like (who don't know about Brucie and Batman) without it making it seem like he's insulting them on purpose. I'm kinda thinking about the ending to the Secret Identity Compromised side mission in Gotham Knights. There was a strategic reason for him to strip down and grind on a statue in the Iceberg Lounge, but there also could have been a thousand other cover stories he could have come up with, yet he decided on personally pissing off the Penguin which is honestly valid.

Dad Bruce - The most "real" version of Bruce is when he's around his kids. Dad Bruce is a combination of the best parts of Batman and Brucie. He is stern and commanding, but also soft and fun. This version also tends to blur together with "eternally tired".

I like to think that these personas will occasionally accidentally blend together for some very funny moments. Things like Batman giving the disappointed "dad sigh" to the Justice League, suddenly making Hal and Barry very guilty for no reason, or Dad Bruce very confidently calling Clark's chickens "small feathered cows" and sheep "fluffy cows" before realizing his mistake but at that point he's committed.

[hawkstincan]

if you wanna know why i spent my night on this read ⬇

Joe West — new patron of the Opera Populaire Iris West — childhood best friend and in fight with her dad because she wants to marry Eddie Thawne and Joe disapproves Eddie Thawne — cop, plotting seventh attempt to get Joe’s permission to marry Iris Barry Allen — orphan, son of The Henry Allen, great composer, singer, dancer and secretly in love with the phantom since he was fifteen Lisa Snart — orphan, Barry's new best friend, doesn't know she has a brother (because Len tries to give her better chances in life and having freak of the sewers as a brother won’t help it) Leonard Snart — the Phantom of The Opera, just beginning to realize he’s in love with Barry, because he finally an adult and Len’s learning to look at him as an adult Eobard Thawne — The Prima Donna

and this? this is crack treated seriously at best! it only stuck in my head because damn ‘…Christine, you must have been dreaming Stories like this can't come true’ stuck there first! I was tired of humming the one line I remember so I found ost, hit play… and after the second song my brain was like: COLDFLASH!!111!!! IMAGINE LEN WITH THE MASK AND IN THE OUTFIT HE’D LOOK SOOO GOOD AND BARRY'S SINGING!!!111!

so I needed to draw, but I was heading at work and I couldn’t draw there but i could KEEP THINKING ABOUT IT GOD DAMNIT which i obviously did and realize that in serious(ish) au Phantom should be evil.

and Eobard is perfect for it: stalking and obsession and being a mentor with ill desires… so Len would be the new patron he would save Barry from Eobard after kidnapping and get the guy \o/

[sarawritestories]

A Date In The Pipeline (part 2)

Eowells X Fem Reader

Summary: It's been two days, and no one on team flash has heard from Y/N. So Barry uses this as an opportunity to finally confront his mother's killer to see if he had anything to do with it.

Content Warning: Kidnapping

@eonash @yetanotherwells

Y/N woke up to her head throbbing her eyes were heavy and opening them was a difficult task. She could hear hushed voices behind her and it only took her a brief moment to know that it wasn’t her friends from S.T.A.R Labs. Her vision was blurry so she wasn’t sure where she was. She tried to move only to find that that her hands and feet were bound to a chair. She inwardly groaned and dropped her head. Looking at the floor she noticed her vision becoming clearer and she lifted her head again to be greeted by James Jesse himself causing her to jump. Two hands gripped her shoulders causing her to squirm in her seat. She tried to speak but her mouth was dry and turned into a coughing fit. “She awakens!” The younger trickster cackled behind her.

The elder trickster stroked her cheek getting close to where there noses touched, “We are going to have so much fun together,” Y/N shifted her head from his grasp. The older man left her line of sight and began barking orders to his son. Another whack over the head and Y/N was unconscious for the second time.

~Meanwhile at S.T.A.R Labs 2 days later~

Barry walked into the cortex on the phone trying to get ahold of Y/N only to get her voicemail for what felt like the millionth time. He looked at the Doctor and the engineer who looked like they were also on their phones worried expressions on their face. “You haven’t heard from Y/N either I take it.”

Cisco took a bite from his twizzler and shook his head, “No, I’m getting worried, I went to her apartment last night and she didn’t answer. I knew the Reverse Flash is Harrison Wells thing had her pretty upset.” He sighed, “I would have just hoped that she would have come to us to talk about it with us.” Barry rubbed his forehead in frustration. Cisco walked past his best friend, and sat in front of his computer, “I did take the liberty of pulling up the security feed from the last night she was here. Look who she paid a visit to that night,” He pulled up the video for both Barry and Caitlin to see. The video of Y/N confronting Harrison Wells emotions were clearly running high between the two before she walked away.

Barry took a deep breath and turned toward the exit of the cortex, “Where are you going,” Caitlin question her brow furrowed.

Barry turned to see her worried expression and tried to give her a reassuring smile, “It’s time for me and Thawne to have a chat he may know where Y/N went.” With that answer Barry sped down to the pipeline. The door hissed open and Barry’s eyes met with the man who killed his mother and had been his mentor for the passed year.

“Hello, Barry,” Well’s voice boomed with the echo of his cell. Barry straightened his spine at the menacing voice. “Looks like we have a lot to discuss.”

~Meanwhile~

Y/N floated in and out of consciousness either out of self preservation or pure fear she wasn’t sure which one. They hadn’t done anything nefarious to her and for that she was extremely grateful for that but made her extremely nervous because that wouldn’t last forever.

Loud clanging behind her made her flinch and turned her head. Trickster Jr. Was bringing in what looked like lighting equipment and a tripod and fumbling around losing balance. “Careful with that, Son, we have to be able to actually use that equipment.” Tricksters Sr. rolled his eyes and turned his gaze over to the young woman. He looked on the table and took a purple scarf off the table nearest him as his son began to set up the equipment. Y/N began to squirm in her seat again restricted by her bonds. He mad his way over to her as running the scarf through his fingers. “You are not going to get away with this, Jesse.” He got close to her face yet again, causing Y/N to avert her gaze by moving her head.

The trickster gripped her chin and forced him to look at him, squeezing tightly enough to elicit a whimper out of his captive. “No one will be here to stop us. No one will be here to save you.”

He loosened his grip and without hesitation she spat in his face. The Trickster began to cackle in response that caused Y/N’s blood to curl. He took the scarf and placed it over her mouth tightening the cloth behind her head. He gripped her shoulders and she could feel his breath against her ear, “You better hope that the Flash and that joke of a genius from S.T.A.R Labs meet our demands or you will be the one that pays the price.”

As he walked away cackling as Y/N began to fight against the ropes against her wrist hoping the knots would become loose. She hoped Barry would not fall for his trap. She paused briefly to think about what James Jesse had said about the joke of a genius. She whimpered in her gag as she realized they were referring to Eobard or in this case Harrison Wells, she doubt that he would be able to meet their demands and was even less sure of Thawne and Barry being able to work together. She began to sob hoping that her friends would be able to figure out some way to get her out of this mess.

~Meanwhile~

Thawne explained everything to Barry about why he killed his mother. Rehashing that painful memory the young speedster wanted nothing more than to walk away but he couldn’t. It didn’t take long for Thawne to figure out that he wanted more information, “You want to ask me something else don’t you?” His eyebrow quirked up, his face smug. Barry curled his hands into fists and released a sigh, “Out with it, Allen.”

Barry’s eyes hardened, “Where is she, Thawne?”

Eobard looked in his cell pretending to look for someone, “Care to be more specific? Because as you can see I’m the only one in my cell.”

Barry’s anger was beginning to rise, “Cut the crap, we know you had something to do with her disappearance. Where. Is. She?”

Eobard walked closer to the glass, “I don’t know where she is. I don’t know who you are referring to, Allen. I’m not in the business of kidnapping.” He faced the back of his cell taking a step that way.

Barry took a step forward as well as a challenge in his own right. “Right, you can’t possibly know who I’m referring to.” He releases a humorless laugh, “If you can’t have Y/N, no one can, right?”

That gave Thawne pause to look back at his rival, “Allen, I’m going to ask this once. What are you talking about?”

Barry’s face softened from the hard expression revealing the news, “Y/N has been miss for a couple days, Thawne, this has you written all over it. Just please tell me where she is.”

Thawne rubbed his hand over his mouth, processing the news, “Allen, listen to me carefully because I’m only going to say this once. I do not hire others to do my dirty work for me. it's too risky. If I knew where she was, I would tell you. I know this is going to be hard for you to believe, but I would never do anything to hurt Y/N, nor would I take her against her will.” He sped to the glass and slammed a fist against it causing the Scarlett Speedster to jump slightly, “I suggest you start looking for her because that last time I have seen or heard from her was two days ago when she came down here to visit me.”

Before Barry had time to respond Cisco’s voice boomed over the intercom, “Barry, you need to see this,” there was a brief pause, “I can’t believe I’m saying this but we need Imposter Wells too.”

Barry rolled his eyes as Eobard gave a look of surprise, “I’m not releasing him from his cell.”

Caitlin’s voice came on the intercom quickly, “Barry, he needs to see this too.”

The two rivals exchanged looks, Thawne’s one of a challenge and Barry’s full of disdain. “What’s it going to be, Barry?”

Barry rubbed his temples with his fingers as he went to the tablet and opened the cell door. As the man in yellow stepped out, Barry stepped in his way, “One toe out of line, and I’m sending you back to the cell.”

Eobard gave a curt nod as the two sped into the cortex to see all the monitors had the same video pulled up on the screens. Y/N in bound and gagged in a chair fighting against her restraints. “Firelight,” Eobard whispered to find the trio of his former friends staring at him cautiously.

The Trickster duo came to the forefront of the screen in their usual flamboyant style. “Greetings Central City, we have a special message for our dear friend Flash and Dr. Harrison Wells,” the youngest said. Another look from the group at the evil speedster as he continued to stay focused on the screen. “As you can see behind us, we have Harrison Well’s girlfriend with us and if he and the Flash are not here in 2 hours. Well, let's just say she will be sleeping with the fishes.”

Trickster Sr. stood in front and began to motion his finger back and forth, “Tick tock, tick tock.” He walked away from the camera approaching, Y/N who was visibly trying to escape as he kissed her on the cheek and grabbed the back of her chair and began to drag her into the darkness as laughter filled the speakers before the feed cut off.

“Were you able to get a location on off of the feed?” Barry asked the tension in the room being a palpable thing.

Cisco nodded, “They are on the outskirts of the city. What’s the plan?”

“Simple we go in there we grab Y/N than take out the father and son duo from hell.” Eobard spoke softly, Barry noticed the tick in his jaw.

“No killing though, we will apprehend them we can play it where you get her out of their and I will handle James and son.”

Thawne nodded, “Though we have time, so let’s make a sound plan that will not get the 3 of us killed.” Eobard walked towards Barry and extended out his hand. “For her I’m willing to put our differences aside.”

Barry looked at his hand and shook it, “For Y/N only. Then it's back in the cell.” Eobard nodded, and 4 went to work at making a plan to get their girl back.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed!

[shrinkthisviolet]

talk shop Tuesday: do you see any parallels or themes in your fandoms?

I love this question!! And yes, I do. Usually I tend to get into fandoms that are a little fantastical in nature (The Flash and Spider-Man media have superpowers, ATLA has bending, PJO is literally about everyday kids being the children of gods and having superpowers, and Star Wars is essentially a space fairytale/opera), and/or have a setting that isn’t quite modern (Bridgerton, ATLA, Star Wars, Anne with an E). Though really, what really compels me is nearly always strong platonic relationships. Obviously I have ships (and I’m a proud multishipper), but it’s the platonic relationships that compel me to a show first and foremost—romantic ships come later. Ofc OC potential is always a plus too, but that’s never why I get into a fandom. Usually that comes second, and it doesn’t happen for every fandom 🤷‍♀️

(The exception to the first two rules is kinda Cobra Kai? Though Karate Kid has a fantastical feel to it, even if it’s not quite that—it feels like a fairytale, if that makes sense. Cobra Kai I just watch because it’s the continuation of that story, and I find aspects of it compelling)

In terms of parallels, most of the fandoms I’m in have a hero and a villain, modeled loosely on…not quite fairytales, but certainly the tropes of that genre. There’s the Hero’s Journey, Mentor Betrayal (Eowells, Insomniac Otto Octavius, etc), an Anchor to Reality (Westallen, Percabeth, Kataang…possibly also MCU PeterMJ, idk if that’s ever outright stated), Hero/Villain dichotomy (Vader&Luke is my favorite version of this), and ofc as mentioned, strong platonic relationships (brotp-shopping is my favorite kind honestly)…even when certain ships parallel each other, I absolutely love that!

Not to mention some arcs that parallel stories or myths, or subvert them—the best example is the one where the "dragon" is the hero’s father, and in the end, the hero saves the dragon (this is also accentuated by the ROTS novel directly comparing Vader to a dragon multiple times, while also hammering home that Vader is Anakin).

Another is the whole idea of heroism and mantles—the Flash didn’t quite explore this as much as the comics did (missed opportunity smh), but Wally becoming the Flash after Barry is chock-full of interesting potential...also, Sam LaRusso becoming The Next Karate Kid, picking up Daniel’s legacy, is insanely compelling (and I’m so compelled by the idea of Legacy and Mantles (last names count as mantles if the story defines them that way, like "LaRusso") and how each successive carrier of that mantle defines it). Also ofc Percy Jackson as a character is fascinating in how he embodies the myths because a) he’s named after one and b) he is one, really—one day, he’ll go down as a myth to all the generations after him. Isn’t that wild? It sure is to me.

...really, I just like getting into fandoms and media that make me Think about things (the Themes and Motifs, forever) and Feel things, good and bad.

talk shop tuesday!

[thevindicativevordan]

How many legacy characters can DC have simultaneously? We're pushing double digits on human Lanterns. The classics aren't going anywhere soon & the spotlight is only so big.

The Lanterns are the poster children for how "anyone can wear the mask" can get totally out of hand. There's too fucking many of them and sales aren't strong enough to support them all. Can't get rid of them however because that would be "bigoted", meaning the franchise is stuck with more characters than there are titles. Were I in charge I would simply say to hell with Twitter, Tumblr, and social media backlash and start trimming the families down to size.

Let's go through the major "families" and I'll list which ones I would keep. How about we say that I can only keep three members including the "main" character (for the franchises that have one anyway), to keep things interesting. Non-powered characters and love interests don't count for the purposes of this exercise since they work different in terms of narrative use.

Superman - Hurts to pick favorites but I would save Kara, John Henry Irons, and Kenan. Kara gives you a Kryptonian perspective on Earth that Kal lacks, she was the first Superman legacy, and she's easily the second most popular Super after Kal. Irons shows that Lex is full of shit, Superman being around in no way prevents ordinary humans from reaching their potential, and Irons as a "science hero" means he brings something different to the table than the rest. Kenan is the best legacy Superman and it's not even close. He's got a different personality than Clark, he has a different upbringing and background, even his powers are ultimately connected to a different source than Clark's. If they were to ever actually kill Clark off and pick someone to take over, Kenan would be my choice.

Batman - Dick, Jason, and Damian. Those three provide strong storytelling reasons that justify keeping them around. You need Dick to show that Batman has had a positive impact on the people he's come across, Dick serves as an example of Batman's success. Jason meanwhile is the exact opposite, he's the one who points out Batman's failures as a crimefighter and a mentor. Damian is the one who can go either way and adds tension, he loves and respects Bruce which pulls him towards being like Dick, but he also disagrees with parts of Batman's methodology such as the no-killing rule, which tugs him over to being like Jason. Damian is therefore the one who will ultimately decide whether Batman is a success or a failure by which side he ends up on.

Wonder Woman - Artemis, Nubia, and Yara. Artemis is the most fleshed out Wonder other than Diana herself and has the mythology in place to support her as a unique entity, Nubia being black and LGBT+ gives her an edge over Donna and Cassie who are both white and straight like Diana, and Yara is the one I still think could be great if a good writer gets a hold of her.

Green Lantern - Hal, John, and Jess. Hal has the majority of the mythos and is the most popular, John has the DCAU crowd, and Jess has a unique narrative about "overcoming fear" with her struggles with anxiety.

Flash - Jay, Barry, and Wally. Rest are superfluous, this is the cleanest line of succession in comics. Jay has the Golden Age WWII era heroics, Barry gets the Silver Age super science and Multiverse, and Wally has the rich personal drama and Speed Force shenanigans.

Aquaman - Mera, Jackson, and Andy. Mera rules, Jackson I love because of YJ, and Andy is cute, plus Arthur shouldn't have to lose another kid.

[whileiamdying]

Sergio Mendes, 83, Dies; Brought Brazilian Rhythms to the Pop Charts

Sergio Mendes at his home in Los Angeles in 2021. He released more than 30 albums, won three Grammys and was nominated for an Academy Award in 2012. Credit...Chris Pizzello/Invision, via Associated Press

By Barry Singer Published Sept. 6, 2024 Updated Sept. 7, 2024 1:49 a.m. ET

Sergio Mendes, the Brazilian-born pianist, composer and arranger who brought bossa nova music to a global audience in the 1960s through his ensemble, Brasil ’66, and remained a force in popular music for more than six decades, died on Thursday in Los Angeles. He was 83.

His family said in a statement that his death, in a hospital, was caused by long Covid.

Mr. Mendes released more than 30 albums, won three Grammys and was nominated for an Academy Award in 2012 for best original song (as co-writer of “Real in Rio,” from the animated film “Rio”).

His career in America took flight in 1966 with Brasil ’66 and the single “Mas Que Nada,” written by the Brazilian singer-songwriter Jorge Ben. The Mendes sound was deceptively sophisticated rhythmically but gentle on the ears, suavely amplifying the original guitar-centered murmur of bossa nova with expansive keyboard-driven arrangements and cooing vocal lines that usually included Mr. Mendes himself chiming in alongside a front line of two female singers.

Signed by Herb Alpert, Mr. Mendes’s group, Brasil ’66, scored a gold record with its first release on his label, A&M Records.Credit...A&M

The group’s lilting, sensual pulse came to embody an adult contemporary cool in the 1960s that contrasted pointedly with the ascendant youth culture dominating the pop charts in the wake of the Beatles.

“It was completely different from anything, and definitely completely different from rock ’n’ roll,” the Latin music scholar Leila Cobo observed in the 2020 HBO documentary “Sergio Mendes in the Key of Joy.” “But that speaks to how certain Sergio was of that sound. He didn’t try to imitate what was going on.”

After venturing to the United States for the first time in 1962 to perform at a bossa nova concert at Carnegie Hall on a bill with many of the music’s innovators — including his mentor, the composer Antonio Carlos Jobim — Mr. Mendes ultimately returned to Brazil, only to flee in 1964 in the wake of a violent military coup that witnessed his own brief arrest.

He then recorded and toured America with a new ensemble, Brasil ’65, but he was generating only tepid audience response when the other members of his band decided to head home to Brazil. Mr. Mendes stayed behind; he wanted to try one more time for American success.

His last gig with the group was in Chicago at a club called Mother Blues. In the HBO documentary, he recalled coming through the doors that night and seeing a young woman onstage playing the guitar and singing. “Wow, what an incredible voice,” he remembered thinking. “Very different.” He introduced himself to her, learned that her name was Lani Hall, and invited her to become the lead singer of his new group. “Well,” she said, “you’ll have to ask my father.” Ms. Hall was 19 at the time.

After securing her father’s reluctant permission, Ms. Hall flew with Mr. Mendes to Los Angeles and went to work. Mr. Mendes later brought in a second singer, the Brazilian-born Bibi Vogel. “When I heard the two girls singing together,” he said, “I thought, ‘Man, I really like this sound.’ The more we rehearsed, the more I thought, ‘This is so good!’”

Sergio Mendes & Brasil ’66 performing in 1970 on “The Engelbert Humperdinck Show” on ABC.Credit...ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content, via Getty Images

The group, newly named Brasil ’66, made its debut at a resort in the Bahamas — and was paid to stop playing by the management after patrons complained that they could not dance to their music.

A chastened Mr. Mendes brought the band back to Los Angeles. Almost immediately, he received an invitation to audition Brasil ’66 for the trumpeter Herb Alpert’s new record label, A&M. Mr. Alpert signed them on the spot. The album that ensued, “Herb Alpert Presents Sergio Mendes & Brasil ’66,” quickly went gold on the strength of “Mas Que Nada” and other tracks that would become staples of the band’s repertoire, including “Going Out of My Head,”and “One-Note Samba.”

In 2011, the album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

“Their sound was captivating,” Mr. Alpert reflected in the documentary, “a hybrid of Brazilian music, a little bit of jazz, folk, African, blues. It had all of those elements. And then, to top it off, it had this fabulous singer, Lani Hall. I just fell in love with the sound. It was very, very, unusually special.”

Mr. Mendes and the singer Lani Hall of Brasil ’66 in a Los Angeles recording studio in 1967. She was 19 when he invited her to sing with his band. Credit...via Getty Images

Sergio Santos Mendes was born in Niterói, Brazil, on Feb. 11, 1941, the son of a physician. Diagnosed with osteomyelitis, an inflammation of bone tissue, when he was 3, he spent the next three years in a cast until his father was able to obtain the newly discovered “wonder drug,” penicillin, for him. Young Sergio became one of the first to take it in Brazil, and he was cured.

Still prohibited from physical recreation, he was given a piano and music lessons by his mother, which led to studies at the Conservatory of Music in Niterói, across Guanabara Bay from Rio de Janeiro. One afternoon in 1956, at a friend’s house, he heard the Dave Brubeck Quartet’s record “Take Five” and was smitten with jazz.

He began playing with a local dance band at 17, and he continued to play jazz in every sort of venue around Niterói before finally venturing across the bay to Rio by ferry, to substitute for a friend at a new club, Bottles Bar, in the city’s infamous Flying Bottles Lane, a strip of tiny nightclubs in the Copacabana entertainment district that was known for its rough crowds but was also where some of the best bossa nova could be heard.

Audiences at a nearby club, Lojas Murray, sometimes took up collections to pay young Sergio’s ferry fare home. Soon he was hosting influential Sunday afternoon jam sessions at another Bottles Lane venue, the Little Club. This led to the formation of the Bossa Rio Sextet, a jazz unit that very quickly became popular across Brazil and recorded the album “Você Ainda Não Iuviu Nada!” (“You Haven’t Heard Anything Yet!”), released in 1962. With arrangements by Mr. Jobim and Mr. Mendes, it was one of the first albums to mix bossa nova with a jazz ensemble.

Mr. Mendes, on piano, performed with his band the Bossa Rio Sextet at Carnegie Hall in 1962. With him, from left, are Octávio Bailey, Durval Ferreira, Pedro Paulo and Paulo Moura. The drummer, Dom Um Romão, is not visible.Credit...via Antônio Carlos Jobim Institute

In November of that year, both men went to the U.S. for the first time to perform at Carnegie Hall. The next night, at Birdland, New York’s pre-eminent jazz club, Mr. Mendes met the celebrated alto saxophonist Cannonball Adderley, who invited him to stick around and not go right back to Brazil so that they could record together. The resulting album, “Cannonball’s Bossa Nova” released in 1963 brought Mr. Mendes to the attention of Nesuhi Ertegun, vice president in charge of jazz at Atlantic Records, who signed Mr. Mendes to a contract and produced his first American release under his own name, “The Swinger From Rio,” recorded in late 1964 and released in 1966.

The first American album under Mr. Mendes’s own name was released on the Atlantic label in 1966.Credit...Atlantic

The subsequent signing of Brasil ’66 with A&M left a contractual tangle that Mr. Ertegun equably resolved by retaining rights to Mr. Mendes’s instrumental records only. Of the dozen or so albums Mr. Mendes went on to make with Brasil ’66 for A&M, from 1966 to 1972, nearly all went gold or platinum. The title track of the group’s biggest seller, their version of the Beatles’ “The Fool on the Hill,”released in 1968, sold four million copies as a single. Mr. Mendes later received a letter from Paul McCartney thanking him for his arrangement of the song.

That same year, an appearance on the Academy Awards broadcast performing Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s “The Look of Love” boosted Mr. Mendes and Brasil ’66 to international attention. Ms. Hall left the band in 1970, having fallen in love with Mr. Alpert, whom she would marry three years later.

Mr. Mendes continued to record, with and without his ensemble, for more than 50 years. He performed at the White House, toured with Frank Sinatra and, after a late-1970s lull, scored a Top 10 hit in 1983 with “Never Gonna Let You Go,” a pop song written by Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann and sung on Mr. Mendes’s recording by Joe Pizzulo and Leeza Miller. He also reconnected with Lani Hall that year, acting as producer of her vocals on the title song for the James Bond film “Never Say Never Again.”

Finding himself dismissed in the 1990s as a relic who had made “elevator music” in the 1960s, Mr. Mendes returned to his Brazilian roots with the 1992 album “Brasileiro,” which won a Grammy for best world music album. In the 21st century, he reignited his career once more through collaborations with a host of young artists, including the Black Eyed Peas, Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, India.Arie, John Legend, Justin Timberlake, Q-Tip and Pharrell Williams.

Mr. Mendes performing in 2011. He reignited his career in the 21st century through collaborations with a host of young pop artists.Credit...Mark Venema/WireImage, via Getty Images

Mr. Mendes received a Lifetime Achievement Grammy in 2005 and won another competitive Grammy in 2010 for the album “Bom Tempo” as best Brazilian contemporary pop album — a category he himself had virtually invented.

Mr. Mendes is survived by his wife of 50 years, Gracinha Leporace, who had replaced Lani Hall in Brazil ’66; their two children, Tiago and Gustavo; three children from a first marriage that ended in divorce: Bernardo, Rodrigo and Isabella; and seven grandchildren.

Mr. Mendes could never escape the limpid allure of his Brasil ’66 sound — nor did he ever try to — but his long recording career was a journey of exploration. “He doesn’t go backward,” Ms. Hall once insisted, in summing him up. “He goes forward. All the time.”

Describing his music, Mr. Mendes once said: “The word is ‘joy.’ ‘Alegria.’ The next party. I’m ready.”

Bernard Mokam contributed reporting.

A version of this article appears in print on Sept. 7, 2024, Section B, Page 11 of the New York edition with the headline: Sergio Mendes, 83, Dies; Brought Brazilian Rhythms to U.S. Charts. 

[e-nonsense]

Hello! May I please request Dick Grayson with the Angsty prompts 5,8 and 9? I love your writing, and thank you:)

CHEATER, LIAR BACKSTABBER (1/3)

pairing. wally west x reader

parts. one / two

warnings. cheating, language, angst

prompts. “babe its not what it looks like” “yeah? then what is it?”, “how many times do we have to hurt each other before realising we’re not good at this?”, “so what, that’s it? “yeah it is, this relationship is one sided and I’m tired, okay?”

a/n. its finally here after two years

Gasps, moans, the squeaks of the mattress filled your apartment in your bedroom.

You knew this was coming, but you wished you meant more to him. people warned you about Dick Grayson, Jason Todd warned you about him, Tim Drake, Damian Wayne, and oh how the list could go on.

You never listened, you couldn't resist. When he showed up at your door, soaking wet you let him. You thought you could domesticate a man who didn't want to be domesticated.

Honestly you weren't sure whether you should announce your presence or leave. Your fight or flight response kicked in finally and you marched into the bedroom, the second the door slammed open the excuses went flying out.

Dick's head whipped around, he pulled out the stupidest excuse in the book. “Babe it’s not what it looks like”

“Yeah? then what is it?”

"I just uh- fuck" he was stumbling over his word, he pulled the cover over Barbara fucking Gordon. Why the hell was she here, biggest whore in the galaxy, sleeping in your bed making love with your boyfriend? hell no, she knew about the realtionship. she was bothered by it, yeah, but you talked to Dick about it and he said he didn't matter.

Obviously it did if he was fucking her and enjoying it.

"I'm sorry" Dick made his way over to you after pulling his boxers up, "I just-"

“How many times do we have to hurt each other before realising we’re no good at this”

"Y/n, please just hear me out-" he didn't deserve another second of your time, he never did. He didn't deserve to breathe the same air as you, he doesn't deserve you.

"no, not anymore, never again" you walked out of the room, you couldn't do it, not with her in there.

Dick followed you out “So what that’s it?”

“Yeah it is, this relationship is one sided and I’m tired okay”

You heard her call for him, "go on, your whore is waiting for you bitch"

So you left, you walked straight out of the very door you had just walked in through, got in your car and drove away. You weren't sure where to go, not get at least so you just drove, straight out of Blüdhaven- and even though it sound stupid, you went were the road took you.

—

You ended up in Central City, eating ice cream with your boyfriend’s- sorry ex-boyfriend’s best friend and his mentor. Wally West and Barry Allen, the red haired boy knew exactly what his dearest friend was capable of. He didn’t want you to date Dick, he was the reason you met the man anyways.

You had once worked with team Flash, your little sister got superhuman abilities and she wanted to learn to control it in an attempt to never harm anyone, but your parents didn’t care. So you took it upon yourself to make sure she got the help she needed. And Barry took upon himself to keep you safe when she died.

Both of these men were always there for you, so of course your natural instinct was to run back to them. Oh how Wally was furious. Barry seemed mostly concerned that you weren’t reacting. Wally knew it was a defensive mechanism you had, he nudged your shoulder with his.

Barry wanted to melt in his spot when you placed your head on the red head's shoulder, not only from the cuteness, but from the stupidity the both of you shared. How could neither of you see it? That you were made for each other. That you belonged together.

Barry let out a sigh, “I need to head back, you both alright?” A yes from Wally and a hum of confirmation from you, Barry was off, Running away in a Flash.

“I need to get my stuff, from there”

Wally stood up with you “I’ll come with”

“But-” you couldn’t say much more, because he had already swept you off your feet.

© e-nonsense. do no copy/steal/translate. do it and I’ll bite your toes off

[givemewallywestorgivemedeath]

I know people want Wally to come back faster, faster than all the other speedsters, sparking with lightning and finally able to phase through objects.

But, may I present to you, Wally, the same speed he left, with no lightning, coming back unable to phase through objects?

Let me explain.

Wally's arc in season one of Young Justice was learning humility, empathy and compassion. Wally's arc in season two was learning to accept his limitations and to move forward anyway.

I don't think his season two arc was handled well at all, but regardless, that's what it was. Wally is confronted with his limitations in the form of Impulse, his younger cousin who's faster than him and isn't afraid to show it.

Wally's mad at first, embarrassed that he can't keep up, blaming himself for his speed and lashing out at Bart. But, and I think this could've been shown better but whatever, we do see that he gets over this and starts actively mentoring Bart. Bart says that he considers Wally one of his mentors and that Wally has introduced him to certain things like snack foods. We clearly see Wally accept his speed and his limitations when he passes down the mantle of Kid Flash to Bart with plans to retire. He doesn't need to be the fastest, he's happy with who he is.

And then Wally dies saving the world because he's too slow.

It's a slap in the face and not the right message but it happened, so let's work with it.

Wally, despite his speed, despite understanding his limitations, despite knowing what would happen to him, kept running. He kept going and he saved the world.

Now, to me, while it'd be really cool to have Wally speed back in faster than everyone else, with a cool light show to boot, it would kinda fly in the face of the lesson.

It's different from the comics, comic Wally was content with Barry being faster than him and had already become the fastest man alive before comic Bart had shown up, so it wasn't ever really a point of contention with him. Comics Wally had to learn that it was okay to be fast, YJ Wally had to learn that it was okay to be slow.

I don't think that's a bad thing.

Take, for example, vibrating his molecule through objects. Wally can't do that and I don't think he ever should be able to do that. I actually think it's a hell of a lot cooler if he never figures out how to do it correctly and only does it wrong.

You know what happens when a speedster phases through an object incorrectly? The object explodes.

Think about how badass it would be to see Wally singlehandedly running through an army of robots, he skids to a stop and the entire army explodes, one after another in rapid succession.

Think about how useful that'd be! Dick or Artemis ran out of explosives? No problem! With Wally, every pebble is a stick of dynamite waiting to be thrown.

Imagine for a second, some villain has Wally hoisted in the air by his neck, like Amazo in season one. Impenetrable skin, super strength, teammates down for the count and unable to help. And Wally just stares him down, blood running from his nose, and says "Do you want to let me go or do you want to lose this hand."

The potential guys!!! The potential!!

I think it's a better message that Wally can take his 'flaws' and make them his greatest strength. I don't want him coming back and being the best because he's perfect. I want him to come back and be the best because he isn't.

[ynscrazylife]

hi there! so i saw that you write about the mcu and dceu which is super cool bc i have this amazing idea of a story between me, the avengers, the guardians and the justice league (platonic ofc!) i was thinking about the three teams were preparing my birthday in a yard and while they are preparing everything, bruce banner is picking me up and him and i could get closer in a romantic way (mostly because he's my fav), and when i arrive everyone is suprising me and then we have a lot of fun 1/2

The Surprise Party | avengers, guardians, justice league fluff fic

Summary: Ignoring how they’re from different universes, the superheroes throw their friend an amazing surprise birthday party.

Authors Note: Thanks for requesting & happy birthday!

Request to be on a taglist (or multiple) here! (Taglists are at the end of the fic)

MCU Masterlist #1 | MCU Masterlist #2 | DCEU Masterlist |  Main Masterlist

PSA: Do NOT copy, steal, translate, plagiarize, republish, etc any of my works on Tumblr or any other platform. Also, do NOT claim any of my works as your own. All of these works are either requests I’ve gotten that people have wanted me to write or original ideas I’ve had for works. If you happen to take inspiration from anything I’ve written and want to write something inspired by that, please a) ask me first and b) IF I say yes, credit me as inspo in your post by tagging me and link whatever work of mine that inspired you. Thanks.

header c @/gagalacrax on twitter

There was a reason why the Avengers, the Guardians of the Galaxy, and the Justice League didn’t all get together: with that many superheroes, in one space, chaos was bound to break out. That chaos could be, quite literally, anything. From Iron Man challenging the Flash to an arm wrestling contest to Aquaman attacking Groot when he thought he was an enemy. Long story short, it just wasn’t a good idea . . . Until they found out that besides saving the world, all three teams had one thing in common: Y/N Y/LN.

Y/N had, to everyone’s astonishment, been on all three teams. Born as a Metahuman, she had started out on the Justice League team. Then, on a solo mission, she accidentally entered a black hole and bam! she found herself in another universe, and quickly bonded with the Guardians of the Galaxy. Eventually, it was determined that the Guardians couldn’t help her return to her home world - or universe - so she bid them goodbye and sought out the Avengers.

Y/N was the reason they had met. The reason that they knew of each other's universes. Now, seeing as her birthday was rapidly approaching, she was the reason they were coming together once more. Each superhero had their own connection with Y/N and adored her. Batman and Captain America were like father figures while Black Widow, Mera, and Wonder Woman were her mother figures, Furthermore, Aquaman and Thor were her mentors, Starlord, Iron Man, and Superman were like her big brothers, Gamora and Scarlet Witch were like her sisters, and Falcon, Rocket, Groot, Hawkeye, and Drax were her best friends.

There was someone else who fit into Y/N’s life in an entirely different way, though. That was the Hulk, aka Bruce Banner, who Y/N had a growing crush on. Coincidentally, his role in their birthday surprise was to be the distractor. He’d take Y/N out and about, staying as far away as possible from the Avengers Tower, while the other superheroes set up.

As expected, the planning hardly went smoothly.

Tony and Barry got into another confrontation, this time over Y/N’s choice of music (which went on until Mera and Wanda butted in with the music Y/N actually enjoyed), Arthur began to get on Natasha’s last nerves, and Rocket almost started eating her cake . . . and that was only a bit of what happened in the first half of the day.

Meanwhile, Bruce kept Y/N occupied. He took her out to her favorite breakfast place and breakfast was on him and then they filled the day at a carnival park. Bruce happily accompanied her on all the rides she wanted to go on (despite almost Hulking out multiple times) and even won Y/N some stuffed animals by throwing rings. He even got her lots and lots of cotton candy and then let her ride on his back when she got a stomach ache. All in all, though, it was a fun time. So fun that Bruce almost forgot that they had a party to get to!

Which is exactly why he frantically texted the groupchat that they were on their way and had to practically drag Y/N away from wanting to go on the ferris wheel for the third time. When confronted with questions, the lie that there was an emergency mission slipped off the brunette’s tongue -- probably not the smartest lie because Y/N had declared weeks before that if there were any missions on the week of her birthday, she wasn’t going -- but it worked long enough to keep her distracted, even if she was too busy with pouting and grumbling.

As they got closer and closer, Bruce could barely contain his excitement. Not only had he had a fantastic game, he was about to spend the night partying with the woman he had a crush on and celebrating her birthday. Who knows - maybe he’d even ask her out?!

When they got there, Y/N was ready to march inside and suit up, but Bruce tugging on her arm made her stop. Ignoring her endless questions and cries of frustration, he took his time leading her through the tower and into the backyard so the superheroes would have time to hide. Bruce let Y/N go before him and the moment she opened the doors, everyone jumped out wearing party hats and yelled: “SURPRISE!”

To say she was surprised would be a total understatement. In fact, she was so surprised that she stumbled back, directly into the scientist, and with his quick reflexes he steadied her and lightly nudged her forward and out of her shocked state. She had let out the biggest gasp that any of them had ever heard, her eyes went wide, and her hands flew over her mouth.

Slowly, she walked forward, overwhelmed by the sight before her. Not only were all her teammates - her friends, even family - together, but the place looked amazing. There were streamers, a big sign saying HAPPY BIRTHDAY, balloons, even a fake throne that Tony and Bruce had constructed earlier that week!

“Oh-oh my god, you guys . . . Thank you! Thank you, thank you, thank you!” She cried out, jumping up and down.

Everyone smiled. “Of course, sweetheart,” Arthur said.

“Go sit on your throne - presents are up first!” Tony added.

Y/N immediately ran and jumped onto the big throne.

“Aren’t presents supposed to be last or something?” Clint muttered to Steve as they walked over.

“Yeah, but Tony keeps boasting on how good his present is,” Steve replied.

Everyone mingled on over there and Tony presented his birthday present, which was definitely over-wrapped, first. After the squeals she emitted, the others were next. Everyone had gotten her their own birthday present, but Arthur and Mera went over the top when they joined together with their powers to make Y/N something super special.

Afterwards, they spent the rest of the time absolutely PARTYING! They had a dance contest which JARVIS was the judge of and Y/N won, but the next round Y/N co-judged with JARVIS and they determined that Rocket and Barry were tied for first place, Peter and Clint tied for second place, and Bruce got third place. Then, they moved onto playing games (Y/N and Bruce teamed up and they CRUSHED everyone else, because they already had experience working together at the carnival that day) and finally, it was time for cake. Y/N got the biggest piece and, of course, Rocket and Arthur fought over the cake (Groot smacked them).

They partied until the sun came up, where everyone either fell asleep or had someone fall asleep on them. In the morning, everyone awoke, only to see Y/N still asleep, her head resting on Bruce’s shoulder and a blanket wrapped around them both. It was the most adorable sight they had ever witnessed and Bruce carried her to bed while Natasha took her shoes off. The superheroes left her to sleep in and she came downstairs a couple hours later, a breakfast full of waffles, pancakes, anything you could imagine waiting for her.

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[phoenixglacier]

Hello! I'm pretty sure @givemewallywestorgivemedeath is the true authority on all things Flash, but I'm condensed it the best I can leaving out as much as I can stand:

Origin Story / Becoming Kid Flash

Comics Reference: The Flash (1987) Issue 62-65. This is adult Wally (so it kind of showcases his standard power set too) retelling his origin story as a flashback.

The original(ish) Flash is Barry Allen. Barry Allen has a girlfriend named Iris West. Iris West has a nephew named Wally West. Wally's parents are terrible so the person he then-currently loved most in the world was Iris, and vice versa.

Wally is a HUGE Flash Fan and Iris tells Barry that, so in an effort to make his future nephew-in-law happy he switches over to his Flash persona and hangs out with Wally. By crazy coincidence the exact same thing that happened to Barry happens to Wally (lightning strikes him through the window, which causes the convenient shelf of chemicals to spill all over him, and ta-da! He is now fast.)

Powers (really quickly)

You've heard that Flash is fast, but literally that means that they can do tons of things. These are not once-in-a-crisis trump cards, they literally do these as part of their standard power set:

Vibrate so fast that they become intangible and can go through solid objects

Vibrate so fast that they become invisible

Move super quickly in bursts to make it appear to an audience that there are two separate people standing in front of them at the same time through a trick of light (including changing out of their clothes and doing makeup in between)

Fly

Time travel & multiverse travel (different sources / time periods will differe on whether or not they need the help of the Cosmic Treadmill for this)

Heat things up (this is kind of a given, but it's so common that if they run on sand it leaves a trail of glass behind because of how hot is is)

Have super long conversations with other Flash/speedsters in a matter of nanoseconds.

And more.

There's a thing called the Speedforce which is the source(?) of their powers. Barry Allen tries to understand it scientifically but Wally usually wrangles it with the ✨power of love✨.

Pre-Barry-Death

Barry Allen was the original Flash and taught Wally everything he knew. Pre-Barry-dying, their relationship is very healthy and very loving and Barry was probably the best JLA mentor there was.

Wally thought of Barry as his father and Barry thought of him as his son. This was slightly complicated by the fact that Wally did have living (terrible) parents. In fact, you can argue that all the issues that Wally has with Barry post-Barry-dying is behaviour learned from his biological parents, because Barry thinks Wally is the most amazing person in the world, possibly beating out Iris.

Barry dies sacrificing himself to save the world in Crisis on Infinite Earths (1985). (Don't read it, it's very confusing. Or read it if you want). Wally takes on the mantle of the Flash after that. He pours all of his grief into becoming the Flash in Barry's memory.

Post-Barry-Death

So here's his first character journey: Wally learns to grieve healthily. Wally has to undo the self-hatred that manifests in the belief that Barry will be disappointed/disrespected by Wally's actions.

It's actually made clear that all this is "in Wally's head" in the sense that he's very wrong that Barry would ever resent any part of him. But Wally comes from an upbringing where he can never be good enough and small things like changing the pattern on Barry's uniform would've been a sign of disrespect. Wally also loves Barry above all else (second maybe only to Iris, and later Linda) and is forever seeking his approval which is terrible considering that Barry is literally dead and would never* be able to give him his approval so Wally's just spiralling further into imposter syndrome. BUT ANYWAY in theory he gets better.

Linda Park (+ Bart Allen)

LINDA IS VERY IMPORTANT.

Comics Reference: The Flash (1987) Issue 95-100. It drops you in the middle of the plot but story is the first of Linda as his Lightning Rod and it's super awesome (and relatively easy to follow along with minimal context).

Linda Park is a reporter and the final person Wally settles down with. His relationship with Linda is probably the healthiest relationship he's ever actually had for a number of reasons: She doesn't treat him like a celebrity, she constantly insists on him not keeping secrets, she herself comes from a close-knit family with healthy dynamics.

There's this thing where speedsters die if they enter the Speedforce (this is kind of still a thing and kind of not) and that is what happened to Barry and multiple other speedsters. But because of Linda, Wally survives the speedforce through the ✨power of love✨

Ultimately, I would say Linda becomes his new reason to live, so that instead of being Flash as a way to grieve for Barry, he fainlly starts doing it for the future of his own life with Linda.

Oh yeah and Bart is in this reference. I love Bart Allen but Wally doesn't :D Probably because a) Bart is Barry's actual biological grandson (it's complicated) so Wally feels jealous about it and b) Bart reminds Wally too much of himself when he was younger and Wally's self-hatred goes deep enough that it extends to people who remind him of himself (Bart is actually pretty different from Wally but Wally doesn't know that). Bart was a thorn in Wally's side in the sense that as far as the JLA were concerned he was Wally's responsibility, but as far as Bart and Wally were concerned they didn't live in the same state and barely even saw each other at Christmas.

More Comics References: Wally tries to marry Linda in The Flash (1987) Issue 142 and actually manages to marry her in Issue 159. These are obviously much for Linda-focused and show her badass personality and their whirlwind relationship.

And when mommy and daddy love each other very much~

Comics Reference: The Flash (1987) Issue 225. Amidst a bunch of other stuff, the kids get born! @givemewallywestorgivemedeath did a great summary of the whole arc here.

And so Wally and Linda have children! I would say that being a father is less integral to Wally's personality and goals that it is for Roy Harper, but his kids are young children who live in his house and are actual kids. Dependant, innocent, kids. Who have powers but that doesn't make them more mature. Wally's biggest concern is to not be a terrible father like his own father was (here comes his old trauma making him feel inadequate again).

Excerpt from The Flash (1987) Issue 235.

He's trying so hard! He has massive trauma about his own upbringing and he's finally come to terms about it, but now he has to work on not doing the same to his own kids and it's hard! Wally has said that his kryptonite is his own temper and he's constantly battling it.

I have a lot to say about his kids but half of it is headcanons and you wanted condensed so I'm just gonna say: Irey (daughter, twin) seems to be the more powerful twin and is constantly in danger of being attacked/kidnapped. She wants to be more independant and is very excited to be a superhero. She's also school-best-friends with Maxine Baker who honestly gives me the icks and is probably a bad influence on him. She tends to give Wally more grey hairs, mostly cause he doesn't want her to die. Jai (son, twin) has a wobblier connection to the speedforce that results in burst of intense pain. He doesn't have friends and has self-esteem issues stemming from his incomplete connection to the speedforce. He's more attentive to Wally and Linda and seems more emotional, but Wally (and Linda) have this irrational thing where they want to appear strong and in control to him at all times (and this holds them back from actually being able to connect with him).

I have a lot to say about his kids but half of it is conjecture and you wanted condensed so I'm just gonna say: Irey (daughter, twin) seems to be the more powerful twin and is constantly in danger of being attacked/kidnapped. She wants to be more independant and is very excited to be a superhero. She's also school-best-friends with Maxine Baker who honestly gives me the icks and is probably a bad influence on him. She tends to give Wally more grey hairs, mostly cause he doesn't want her to die. Jai (son, twin) has a wobblier connection to the speedforce that results in burst of intense pain. He doesn't have friends and has self-esteem issues stemming from his incomplete connection to the speedforce. He's more attentive to Wally and Linda and seems more emotional, but Wally (and Linda) have this irrational thing where they want to appear strong and in control to him at all times (and this holds them back from actually being able to connect with him)

Flash Family + all the messy Rebirth stuff

Ok so importantly there's something called the FLASH FAMILY which is centred around Wally and very much something Wally invented (you can see him starting it in Issue 95-100). This includes all the related and unrelated people in the Flash Family. Essentially, Wally finally dealt with his own family-related trauma by obtaining his own found family, complete with grandparents and grandkids and aunts and cousins and in-laws and everything.

Barry Allen comes back to life in The Flash: Rebirth (2009) (unrelated to the whole DC Rebirth). You can pretty much solidly see that Wally is now absolutely stronger than Barry at this point, and Barry is chill and kinda just wants to go back to not being alive but now he's fine :3

Flashpoint happened and then New52 and Rebirth happened and everyone got majorly butchered: During this time Wally was retconned and Wallace was introduced to replace him. Wally and Wallace are aware of these fourth-wall shattering shenanigans. Wally is aware that the universe shifted under his feet, that changes were made to wipe him from the timeline, that he used to have kids that no longer exist, and that Wallace was created to replace him. Anyway Wallace blames Barry for making him exist and meanwhile Wally isn't mad at Barry but goes through some truly awful stuff on his journey to get his kids back. He becomes a god for a while. Anyway he has his kids back now.

People will have you think that Barry is the head of the Flash Family, but actually it's Wally. Everyone looks to Wally. Wally looks to Barry. And Barry looks back at Wally. Also Flash ages are a mess, so Barry and Wally are now very close in age canonically, and instead of feeling usurped like some (Wally) might assume Barry is maybe a little too chill about retiring and letting Wally continue being the superior Flash he is (so Barry thinks).

For a great Flash Family event I encourage you to read The Flash (2016) Issue 790 - 796: One-Minute War.

Misc: Titans

I realise I didn't say anything about the Titans but uh. Others may disagree with me but with the questions you asked about Wally's key character journeys the titans barely come into it.

The Titans are definitely some of Wally's best friends. As you might've seen, Wally invites them to his wedding as like, the the guests of honour. Dick Grayson is always his best man. But also, Wally outgrew the Titans pretty early and has been Justice Leaguing for most of his time where most of the others haven't (it was Roy. Roy joined the Justice League). For the most part, Wally hangs out with the Titans because he just likes to and they're his friends. Titans (1999) is the one I would usually recommend for any Titans reading and the first chapter pretty much shows their adult relationship with each other. It has Kory and Vic in it too so I think you'll like it (Vic is a little different from what you. might be used to though)

In a way, the Titans gang are kind of like his respite and safe space of friends which is, uh, not great because the Titans threats are usually pretty crazy actually. But Wally's life is usually crazy anyway so somehow the Titans actually qualify.

Because Wally is primarily JLA, the close Titans friends I refer to are specifically the original Fab Five: Dick Grayson (Robin/Nightwing), Donna Troy (Wonder Girl/Troia), Roy Harper (Speedy/Red Arrow/Arsenal), and Garth of Shayeris (Aqualad/Tempest).

Side note but Linda knows them all pretty well too. She basically knows all of his superhero (and non-superhero) friends and they probably have the least jealous, most secure relationship ever.

Misc: JLA

I admit to not being a huge JLA fan but:

Wally is a solid, equal member of the JLA. He used to be seen as the baby and not totally accepted as Barry's replacement, but that was like forty years ago and now he's better than all the new babies populating the JLA.

He was super close to Hal Jordan (Green Lantern) on account of Hal being super close to Barry. See Flash & Green Lantern: The Brave and The Bold (1999) Issue 2 for Kid shenanigans. (Yes, Wally inherited his jealousy from Barry).

By consequence of being super close to Hal Jordan, he really hated Kyle Rayner (new Green Lantern) when he showed up. Wally works so hard at being a decent person most of the time that Kyle has to take the brunt of all the jerkiness he's been storing up. There's a whole thing about A-Flash-And-A-Lantern that Wally has in his head again so basically what goes on is Kyle is like "Hopefully we can learn to get along maturely like the neutral coworkers we must strive to be." and Wally is like "This guy is supposed to be my soulmate why don't I feel like I would willingly throw myself into the sun for him. Something must be wrong I should strangle him."

Not sure whether Connor Hawke (new Green Arrow) was ever on the JLA but Wally was friends with him too.

Nemesis...?

Since you asked about enemies I'll do my best.

The Flash has what they call their "Rogues Gallery". Aka it's a pretty big group of enemies that unfortunately has the habit of working together. Wally just dutifully inherited literally all of them. This is Barry talking about them in a flashback (Flash 1987 Issue 215, Crisis of Infinite Earth Tie-In):

I won't pretend I know all of them but the go-to Rogue for me is Captain Cold. He freezes stuff and Flash has trouble running because the icy floor is slippery. That's the schtick. (It obviously gets more complicated but eh)

Comics Reference: Flash (2016) Issue 800: Don't Come To Central City. Or you can read the whole issue, cause it's really good and will introduce you to everyone. But this is kind of the scale of it.

Pied Piper used to be a rogue but now he's one of Wally's best friends. He's awesome and writers forget about him too much.

Apart from the Rogues Gallery, the next major Flash villain is ZOOM. He's Barry's. And he's dedicated his life to making Barry's life hell. Which includes making Wally's life hell because Barry loves Wally. He's a speedster too and he specialises in time travel and messing with the timeline and Barry's personal familial relationships. (Flash (2016) #757-762 is a really good post-Rebirth run that shows just how sick Zoom can be, but I'll warn you that the only Flash it's missing is Wally. And Wally does intervene from his godly position to save Barry).

Other than that, Wally tends to get into shenanigans with other-worldly or fourth-wall type beings because he's so powerful that writers struggle to give him a real challenge. Wally has fought gods and won and become the god.

And that is the desperately condensed summary! I'll be happy to give more comic references if you'll like but this is already pretty long heh. I hope this was useful at all!

Summary of character flaws/journeys: Learning how to grieve Barry healthily, constantly battling imposter syndrome, developing healthy relationship habits with Linda, imposter syndrome again but this time with his children, and the never-ending battle against his own temper. Also he's now the leader of the Flash Family but he hasn't figured that out yet so it really isn't something he's actually dealing with yet.

Hey. Pst! DC Lore Masters. Got a sec?

K, so like, I’ve seen Teen Titans… and some of Young Justice… but I’m interested in the comics.

See these guys up here? These guys specifically (Robin/Nightwing, Starfire, Raven, Wonder Girl, Beast Boy, Kid Flash, and Cyborg), what’s the condensed version of each of their stories? Is there a way to condense it? Is there even a story to condense?

I’m familiar with Raven’s story—half demon, Trigon wants to use her to end the world, blah blah blah, etc etc—and I know some of Starfire’s origins on Tamaran and Beast Boy’s past with the Doom Patrol, and of course there’s Dick Grayson which I know most of the story already, but like… especially Cyborg, Kid Flash, and Wonder Girl… what are their stories? Who are their arch nemeses? What journey do they go on? How do they grow as people? Am I asking the wrong questions? I am just curious, and Google isn’t helping me rn…

Thanks…

[eyrieofsynapses]

Alright, YJ peeps, listen up, because I’m sick and tired of seeing constant criticism lobbed at YJ for making Wally slower than his comic canon version, Barry and Bart. There’s a very good reason to do this—and it’s completely in Wally’s favor.

Let me preface this by saying that I sincerely love Wally’s comics. I am one hundred percent on board that Wally deserves to be recognized for the badass he is. His 90s comics established the most important elements of the Flash today. We wouldn’t have the Speedforce if it weren’t for him! It’s been defining the Flash for decades! He gets the short stick over and over. It only rubs salt in the wound that people believe Barry’s faster when it’s been stated repeatedly that Wally’s the fastest person in the DC universe. (There are few faster ways to piss me off than to say Barry’s a better Flash than Wally.) 

But. But. YJ was incredibly clever when they made him slower. Why? Wally has to be more creative than Barry because he’s slower, showing his intelligence and building him up to be a better Flash. Don’t believe me? Take a close look at Bloodlines.

Barry and Impulse figure out how to foil Neutron’s first blast of energy on their own. But it’s Wally who figures out that Neutron’s about to release an even more deadly wave with the help of his goggles, which Barry immediately borrows. Wally hand-made his goggles to compensate for his lack of speed. He wouldn’t have had them if he were as fast as the other two. Nobody would’ve realized how much danger they were in, and everyone would have died.

While comic!Wally is definitely smart, he’s so powerful that as the Flash, he can often solve problems just with sheer power. He doesn’t have to be super clever about it most of the time. In YJ, this is true of both Barry and Bart. They can be clever, but they’re heavily reliant on their powers. YJ!Wally has to compensate for lack of power with intelligence. He diversifies his skillset, using a mixture of science, strategy, and superpowers to solve problems instead of relying on sheer force.

Wally isn’t just slower; he also can’t control his momentum. Barry and Bart can dissipate kinetic energy at will, while he has to find ways to get rid of it. But he turns it to his advantage. 

Pay attention to how he fights. You’ll notice he often cannonballs into people and uses acrobatics instead of flat-out running. He can’t bombard someone with a rain of blows the same way, so he dodges and avoids close combat.

There’s a lot more to that, but in a nutshell: Wally’s fighting style is significantly more complex than Barry’s. I’m not saying Barry never uses those skills, but I can’t remember any time we saw him do it. Wally learned to do that on his own, and he figured out how to incorporate other people’s fighting styles into his repertoire. Remember the acrobatics? Who wants to bet he picked that up from Dick?

Which brings me to my next point: Wally works better with the Team not just because he grew up with them, but because he has to cooperate with others to make the best of his skills. Wally can’t just blaze through things. He has to conserve his energy and make the best of his speed. In the Team, they have to piece together where he’ll be the most effective. It forces him to stop and consider what he’s doing and how it’ll impact the overall picture, taming his impulsive behavior.

Think about his attitude in the pilot. He races on ahead, alerting the enemy to their presence and nearly getting himself killed. Over the course of the season, he learns stealth and patience, which we see repeatedly demonstrated in the last few episodes.

Back to Bloodlines for a moment. When Wally, Barry, and Bart initially show up to the disaster scene, Barry runs headlong into the danger. Bart follows him. Wally, however, stops to talk to the police captain and gather information about the situation. Barry and Bart join them afterward. They proceed to speed-talk at each other, coming up with a plan… and then instead of explaining it to Wally, they just tell him to follow their lead.

Barry and Bart were impulsive while he stopped to think. Wally was a better team player: the other two didn’t include him in their planning, thus missing crucial details and potentially putting him in danger.

Their plan works in the short-term. But when they think they’ve solved it, Wally takes a second look, analyzing the situation and double-checking that they’re finished. If they stopped ahead of time and took a moment to consider what was happening, they might’ve noticed the energy problem sooner and come up with a better solution.

Worst of all, Barry rushes in again to pull Neutron out the second time. He only survives because of Bart. Yes, it’s because they’re short on time, but again: this might’ve been prevented sooner if they thought things through.

What does it say that Wally patiently paid attention to detail and was more thoughtful than his experienced mentor?

Yes, some of this is stuff he might have learned with advanced speed. But would he really have to be so thoughtful about how he uses his abilities? Not likely. 

Nor would he have incorporated science and gear into his skillset. Among other things, he knows how to make an EMP and recognizes where to apply it in Homefront. Dick’s their tech whiz, but Wally comes up with technological and scientific solutions that he can’t.

But Wally doesn’t only use science and technology in ways his uncle and cousin can’t or won’t. He thinks differently about problems. 

In Bloodlines, Barry and Bart assume the coast is clear after they take down Neutron the first time. They only consider things within the vast range of their powers, assuming that covers everything. Wally thinks about what they can’t see. He’s more limited, so he’s learned to take every piece of a situation into account.

Basically: Wally is much more flexible than his faster counterparts. He adapts far better to adverse situations because he’s forced to make small-scale accommodations on a daily basis. Because of that, he’s able to come up with better solutions, work better in a team, and solve problems without his powers.

And may I remind all of you: YJ Wally GAVE HIMSELF HIS POWERS, but his comic version got them without effort! The Speedforce bestowed them on him without his involvement! 

People, YJ!Wally is a goddamn genius prodigy. We forget it sometimes because of his early-on immaturity and his jokes, but seriously, Wally’s far and away one of the smartest people in the YJ universe. YJ Wally is a distinctively unique Flash character because of his wit and intelligence!

But guess what? Guess what the real cherry on top is? If they bring Wally back in the fourth season at a full speed, he’ll be the fastest and the wisest Flash. He’ll know how to apply his new powers in ways that the others would never think of. Because he’s spent so much time applying science to his abilities, he’ll know how to use his new powers in sync with it, whereas Bart and Barry won’t think on those levels. 

Best of all, Wally’s the best team player. He’ll be incredible with both the original Team and anyone else he has to work with. 

Think about it. A full-speed Flash with Wally’s technological brilliance, intelligence, observance, and teamwork skills? He’ll be unstoppable.

So please shut up about how YJ did Wally dirty. It’s a thousand times more interesting to watch him work out how to solve a problem rather than just solve it in a snap with his powers. If anything, YJ improved his character and made him better.

[backtothestart02]

Just Best Friends - 9/? | westallen fanfiction

A/N: “It’s been 84 years...” lolz. I hope you enjoy this! I don’t know when the next chap will come, but as soon as I can write it, I will!

...

Chapter 9 -

A week passed. During that week, Iris made herself completely unreachable – not just to Barry but to Eddie as well. She worked through lunch, so Barry couldn’t take her out, and she worked late hours, so that by the time she returned to hers and Eddie’s apartment, she was so exhausted, she could only heat up some leftovers and collapse onto their bed when she was finished with them.

That also meant no sex, no cuddling, and hardly any talking that wasn’t an incredibly brief apology before passing out or running out the door. And for Barry, it was just one excuse after another, though they always sounded very similar.

Sorry, I have so much work to do. Or… Maybe another time? I just got a new story, and I have a hot lead on it.

He always understood in words, but she could see the disappointment on his face every time. As well as her failure to respond to the fresh bouquet of flowers he set on her desk daily.

They weren’t just excuses though. They were legitimate…most of the time. Were they unnecessary? Probably. She didn’t have to go out of her way to beg her boss for more stories, or to work so far ahead of schedule that she felt she was on the verge of a burn out or collapse.

But she didn’t know how to act now that Eddie was back. She knew she needed to break up with him. She knew that. But she didn’t want to break his heart, and she wasn’t 100% sure Barry would just agree to date her after the hell she’d put him through emotionally. So avoiding both of them seemed to be the only way out.

She’d also come to the conclusion that while irritating, her dad going out of his way to forbid Barry to tell her he was the Flash had come from a place of love, and that she couldn’t stay mad at him any more than she could with Barry. The only problem was she found having that conversation with him was almost impossible because either Eddie or Barry or both seemed to be in his vicinity at all times.

Little did she know though that there was one other person who was taking a keen interest in the situation developing over the past week, and it was the one person she’d been paranoid about for a while before Eddie came back, and who she’d entirely forgotten about as the weight of the three men in her life came barreling down on her.

And that person had apparently had enough of what she was doing and had decided to seek her out for a confrontation of sorts shortly after Barry left during his lunch break for the fifth time that week.

With a slow yet determined saunter, Linda approached Iris’ desk just as soon as Mason disappeared for his daily lunch walk.

“Iris.”

The familiar voice made her freeze. She recovered quickly, but she had a feeling Linda had caught her red-handed and completely unprepared for where this particular conversation would lead. After all, the last time they’d “talked”, Linda had completely brushed her off, and the time before that Linda had told her to her face that she knew Iris had feelings for Barry, even when she’d still been in denial of that fact herself.

“Linda.” She shuffled her papers around on her desk to somehow fill the awkwardness of the moment. “What, uh…what can I do for you?”

Linda folded her arms and sat on the corner of Iris’ desk.

“Was that Barry that just left?”

“Hmm?” She decided to play dumb. “Oh, yeah, it was. He uh, wanted to go to lunch. I told him I had work to do, which I did – do. So, if you don’t mind?”

Linda’s jaw actually dropped.

“Dismissing me so quickly? If I recall correctly, the last time we talked, you were only too eager to get my attention.”

Iris bit her tongue to keep from responding with something she’d regret.

“Let me guess. You’re giving me a taste of my own medicine?” Linda raised her eyebrows.

Iris cleared her throat.

“Not at all. I just…I have work to do. A lot of it.”

“You’ve had a lot of work to do for the past five days, haven’t you?”

Iris’ eyes squinted.

“Have you been…spying on me?”

“Please.” Iris waited. “I’ve been talking to Barry. He’s needed someone to vent to, you know, since before Eddie came back you were practically climbing on top of him every day at lunch and after work and sometimes before work, according to him.”

“That’s not how it was,” Iris said under her breath.

“No? You better clear that up with your supposed best friend then, because that’s how he saw it. He’s crushed that you’re avoiding him again.” She leaned forward. “Which you are doing, right? Neither of us is buying that you suddenly have so much work to do.”

“I do!” Iris snapped. “I…I asked for it.”

Linda’s eyes widened and her mouth formed an ‘o’.

“And why would you do that?”

She started shuffling her papers again.

“That’s none of your business.”

“You made it my business when you made out with my boyfriend after sticking your finger in his mouth and sitting on his lap on our date.”

Iris sighed testily.

“I thought you two broke up.”

“We did.”

“Do you wish you hadn’t? I know it wasn’t your idea.”

“I’m not stupid, Iris. I’m not going to blindly fight for a relationship with someone who clearly wants to be with someone else.”

Iris bit her lip, avoiding eye contact.

“He does?” she asked quietly.

“He’s in love with you!” She lowered her voice when she got a few looks. “He’d take you in a heartbeat,” she paused. “If that’s what you want.”

Iris swallowed.

“But you don’t know what you want, do you?”

“Yes, I…I do.”

“Then what do you want? Please, tell me at least.”

“Why?” She met her eyes again and glared. “So you can run off and tell Barry? Or Eddie?”

Linda rolled her eyes.

“I have no reason to tell your boyfriend anything. Barry, however, I do still care about. And we’re friends now. He deserves to know the truth, even if it isn’t from you. He’s going crazy with all your…mixed signals.”

Iris nibbled on her lip again, guilt weighing her down.

“Iris, hey, there’s something I wanted to…” Mason approached, then came to an abrupt halt, sensing the tension between the two women immediately. “Am I interrupting something?” He looked between the two.

“Not at all.” Linda smiled serenely before looking down at Iris one last time. “You know where to find me, Iris.”

Iris gulped, not looking at her but nodded just before Linda retreated – finally – to her desk across the room.

“What was that about?”

Iris closed her eyes and shook her head before swiveling in her chair toward him.

“Nothing. What was it you wanted to talk to me about?”

His eyes were full of suspicion, but it was clear his need to discuss something with her was greater.

“I want to show you something.” He took the seat Linda had vacated, then pulled out a folder, revealing to her a familiar face she’d nearly forgotten. “Simon Stagg. Remember him?”

…

Well, there was no longer any way of avoiding it. She had to seek out Barry. Mason’s suspicions about Harrison Wells stirred her insides too deeply, and honestly, made her worried about her best friend, since she knew how much he adored who had become to be his mentor. There was Caitlin and Cisco to consider too, who had known Dr. Wells even longer, but right now all she cared about was Barry.

So, she marched over to CCPD shortly after her conversation with Mason, using the excuse of pursuing a story – which, more or less, she was – to explain her absence at her work site and sought out Barry as soon as she stepped out of the elevator.

Unfortunately, her dad’s eyes locked with hers first. She swallowed, remembering how things were between them. She considered then abandoning a much-needed talk with Barry to finally hash things out with her dad. That course of action was dashed however, when within seconds he had looked away from her and gestured instead in her direction to whoever was standing across from him.

She should’ve known then who it would be, but it didn’t occur to her until he was walking toward her, a grin on his face, no doubt thinking she was there to see him.

“Iris, hey.” He kissed her before she could even think to turn her cheek to him. “Did you have a late lunch today? I have some time now. We cou-”

“Oh, actually, I’m here to see, Barry. Is he upstairs?”

“Huh?”

“In his lab?”

Eddie blinked.

“Um, yeah, as far as I know. There are no active crime scenes where he’d be at otherwise.”

“Great. Thanks. I’ll see you tonight.”

She pressed a quick kiss to his cheek and headed towards the staircase before he could so much as pull her in for an explanation or something more.

Feeling confused and honestly a little hurt, Eddie returned to his desk, Joe sitting now at his, ignoring Eddie’s state as best as he could.

“Should I be worried?” he finally asked.

Joe pretended not to have heard him.

“Joe.”

“Hmm?” he asked, not looking up from the files he was pretending to look over in front of him.

“Should I be worried?”

“About what?”

“About Iris,” he said, as if it should be obvious.

Despite how he felt about the man dating his daughter, Joe looked up to address him. He was also his partner, after all.

“Why are you worried about her?”

Eddie let out a cough of relief, eager to unload his troubles onto somebody – anybody – who would listen.

“She’s made herself busy ever since I got back.”

“She has a job. So do you.”

“More so than usual though,” he pushed on. “She leaves earlier than she used to, and she comes home really late. When she does, she eats some leftovers and crawls into bed without so much as a ‘hey, how was your day’ or ‘I love you, too, Eddie’.” He frowned. “It worries me.”

Now Joe frowned.

“She’s been avoiding Barry too.”

Eddie’s frown deepened.

“When had Barry been trying to meet up with her?”

“On her lunch breaks,” he blurted without thinking, then met his eyes, trying to play it off. “She always says she’s too busy working on a story.”

Eddie leaned back in his seat.

“I haven’t tried to meet up with her for lunch at all this week. I guess I’m so used to her coming here, and if she didn’t, that she had a good reason. I guess she did.”

“Well, there you go.”

Joe started to stand, eager to escape the awkwardness of the conversation.

“But I mean, we haven’t had sex all week.”

Joe finished straightening, then shot him a glare. Eddie’s face fell.

“You didn’t want to hear that.”

“Not particularly, no,” Joe said. “Now, if you’ll excuse me.”

He turned and headed for the bathroom. Any place was better than this.

…

About a step and a half before the entryway to Barry’s lap, Iris stalled, nibbling on her bottom lip. Barry had been as pleasant during her intended lunch break as he’d been all week, but she still wondered how accepting he’d be of her, especially when he found out this was a working meeting. She definitely needed to apologize first. How and when was the question, though. It was still beyond her how he hadn’t lashed out at her yet. She’d been treating him so unfairly, and yet time and time again, he kept crawling back to her, as if he was a glutton for punishment.

Well, no more of that. She couldn’t guarantee when she would break up with Eddie, but maybe Linda was right and she could at least explain her behavior this week and tell him she planned to break up with Eddie. Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe…eventually.

“Is someone there?” Barry called out, and Iris realized she’d started tapping her shoe against the floor in time with the rapid rhythm of her mind.

She stopped abruptly, then cleared her throat and peeked her head into the doorway.

“Hey.”

She gave an awkward hand wave.

“Iris?”

His brows furrowed, but he started to smile. Lord, help her, it made her heart do a flip.

“What are you doing out there?” He got up out of his seat and headed towards her. “And why didn’t you just come in?”

“S-sorry,” she stuttered, shocked by it as much as he was, then forced herself to walk through the door.

He came to a stop as soon as she was inside and waited for her explanation.

“I guess I didn’t know if you’d want to see me.”

He gawked.

“Iris, I’ve been trying to see you all week.”

“No, I know. Of course. Right. But uh…I thought my rejecting you today might’ve been your breaking point, and that you wouldn’t want to see me now. Without an apology. Which I am totally willing to make, by the way.” Her chuckle was strained, and she couldn’t meet his eyes.

“What’s there to apologize for?” he asked. “You had work to do. That isn’t your fault. I’m sure you’ve been working hard to catch up.”

“Actually…” She took another step toward him. “I haven’t.”

His brows furrowed, and he sat back down.

“I don’t follow.”

She sighed and sat on the corner of his desk, the only spot where there wasn’t files or a conglomeration of office supplies.

“I asked for extra work.” She swallowed. “On Monday.”

He tilted his head, confused.

“I was trying to be busy. On purpose.” She licked her lips. “So I’d be too busy if you came to see me.”

He froze, his heart thudding away inside his chest. He didn’t know how to take that bit of information, and honestly, he was crushed.

“I don’t understand…you didn’t want to see me?”

The hurt in his voice was palpable. Iris hated that she was doing this to him again. He shouldn’t even want to be her friend after this, no matter how apologetic she was.

“Not just you,” she said, hoping that would soften the blow. “Eddie too. And my dad.”

He was mystified by that. He understood Joe, what with the Flash business and all that, but Eddie?

“What have you got against Eddie?”

“Nothing!” she burst, then got up and started to pace. “I just…” She licked her lips, unable to stop walking and unable to form words either, it seemed. She couldn’t stop though. Not to leave, not to make eye contact. Her hard was pounding, and her breath was coming in short bursts. She felt everything closing in around her and wondered if she was having a panic attack.

Suddenly, she stopped and forced herself to look at him.

“Do you want me to go?”

“No,” he said instantly, standing too. “I want an explanation.”

She swallowed.

“I thought you and I were good last week.”

“We were,” she said. “We are.”

“Yet you purposely didn’t want me near you this week?”

Her knees locked, and she tensed up.

“And Eddie…what in the world did he do except home to you? I would’ve thought you’d be happy about that.”

Tears welled in her eyes. Her fingers were sweaty and tingled. She didn’t answer. She couldn’t.

“Iris.”

Answer.

“I don’t love him anymore!”

She covered her mouth at the same moment his eyes bulged, and he nearly stumbled backward.

“What?” he finally managed.

She sighed, running a hand through her hair as she started to pace again.

“I realized it last week. Or rather, I’ve been slowly realizing it for the past several weeks. I’ve just been…in denial.”

Barry’s pulse started racing. He approached her moving form with one determined step after another.

“What have you been in denial about, Iris?”

She stopped.

“What I just said!” She licked her lips again. “I don’t love him. I’m not in love with him anymore. But I don’t…I don’t know how to tell him. I don’t want to break his heart. Especially after I went out of my way to make him feel bad about thinking there was anything between us, when really-”

“Wait, wait, wait, us? As in, you and I, us?”

She looked up at him reluctantly and nodded.

“Yeah.”

“He doesn’t know I told you how I felt, does he? At Christmas?”

“No!” Her eyes widened. “No, I didn’t tell him that. He’d probably have punched you by now if I had.”

Barry paled, then squeaked, “Really?”

“Uh-huh,” she confirmed.

“W-Why?” He wrapped his arm around the back of his head.

“Isn’t it obvious?” He gave her a blank look. “You were trying to get his girlfriend to break up with him. To be with you.”

Barry thought about it for a few seconds, then realized that yeah, he kind of had been. He shook his head after he got past that thought.

“I still don’t understand though. If you didn’t tell him about that…” He locked eyes with her. “Did you tell him you…find me attractive?”

“Oh, God, no.” She pressed her face into her hands. “That would’ve been even worse.”

“Worse than a love confession? How?”

“Because it’s coming from me! And I…”

“What?”

She power-walked to right in front of him and prepared herself for the blow of all blows.

“I don’t just find you attractive, Barry. I have…I have feelings for you.”

I’m in love with you – But she couldn’t admit to that yet. Not while she was still dating Eddie.

He swallowed, fighting with the smile that wanted to take over his face.

“What kind of feelings?”

“Barry.” Her voice softened. “You know what kind.”

“Tell me,” he said. “Just so I know for sure.”

He was holding his breath, and she couldn’t blame him. Honestly, she was on the brink of holding hers too.

“You make my heart race, Barry.”

“Iris.”

He started to lean in, and it took all of her willpower to step back out of reach.

“No, we can’t. I can’t. It’s bad enough I cheated once. This can’t go any farther until it’s over.” She met his eyes. “Until Eddie and I are over.”

Barry swallowed.

“And when will that be?”

Her shoulders slumped, and her bottom lip quivered.

“I don’t know.”

His shoulders caved in as well. He forced himself not to get mad, but he couldn’t help feeling disappointed. So, the love of his life finally felt the same way, but she wouldn’t let herself act on it? And she wouldn’t do the one thing that would allow them to be together.

“Is that the only thing you came to tell me?” he asked, unable to keep some chill out of his words.

Iris supposed she couldn’t blame him.

“No…” she admitted, deciding not to mention how she hadn’t meant to tell him as much as she had.

“What else?”

She pursed her lips, hating that she had to turn this conversation into a business one before she could give him the answer that he wanted.

“What else, Iris?” he asked, sounding exhausted when she didn’t answer for too long.

“It’s about, Dr. Wells,” she finally said.

That caught him off guard.

“Dr. Wells? What does he have to do with anything?”

“I hope nothing, but just in case…can we go somewhere else? To talk?”

He wanted to ask her what was wrong with his lab, but he supposed the fresh air would do them both good. Give them a clear head and put everything she’d already said to rest for the time being. After all, she sounded awfully serious about whatever else she wanted to talk about.

“Sure,” he said. “Just let me grab my jacket.”

“Barry,” she called after him as he walked by her.

He stopped when he reached his garment.

“I’m sorry about…everything.”

“Don’t worry about it, Iris,” he said, as he slid his arms through the sleeves. “It’s fine.”

…

Hours later, and on a whim, Eddie found himself at a jewelry store – diamonds, to be more specific. In the back of his mind, he knew his intentions probably weren’t smart. Especially not right now, not with the way things were between him and Iris, especially this week. But there was another part of him that thought this might be just the thing to jolt their relationship back into what it had once been and the potential of what it could be, the future he’d seen from almost the minute he started dating her.

He pointed out a ring nestled in velvet that caught his eye in the display case below him. An employee walked up, inspired by his curiosity and tried to catch his attention.

“Sir?”

“Can I see that one, please?”

The man smiled.

“Of course.”

He reached for the key and unlocked the case. Just as he was pulling the velvet block out with the specified ring upon it, Eddie’s phone started to vibrate.

“Oh, excuse me.”

He turned partially away and glanced at the screen on his phone. He answered immediately, a smile on his face.

“Hey, Iris, what’s up?”

“I’m home,” she said, and he could hear the frown in her voice.

“So early?”

“Yeah, I felt bad for coming home so late every night this week…I thought we could have dinner together.”

“That sounds great.”

“Yeah?” She sounded relieved.

“Definitely. I’m uh…just running a last-minute errand. I’ll be home soon.”

“Okay. See you then.”

“See you.”

He turned back to the jeweler as he slid the phone back in his pocket, and his eyes widened with enthusiasm as the ring was presented to him.

“Oh, yeah. This is the one.”

[heleizition]

Do Tim and Kon know each other in ur shifter au ?(+what abt core four? Since kid vigilantes don't exist) (also I rly rly love this au absolute gOLD)

yes they do ! all of core four know eahc other hehe i CANNOT separate them :( !!!

tim meets cassie first, he’s like, late 11 years old, after he got adopted by bruce. When cassie starts developping her powers, diana and her mother are still friends and she starts following diana around because she’s not a fool and knows that she has similar powers,,,, so one day cassie sneakily follows diana into gotham where she’s helping bruce w a vigilante stuff (bc batman has Friends in his AU wooooo) and she gets caught and once they’re done they bring her to the batcave for a lecture and when bruce n diana leave her be on the batcave’s medbay’s coat for a lil while they discuss what to Do, tim (shifted) slides in (because he’s a sneaky brat who like to explore the batcave) and then when cassie starts petting him he shifts into human n shes like :0 ! and they become friends hehehehe

bart is the second one he meets, it might be a few weeks after cassie actually, tim gets sick and everyone is busy that day and bruce has stuff to do at the watchtower so he brings tim with him n carries him most of the day,,, its also around the time where bart comes back into time from the future and meets barry n everything,,, so barry brought him to the watchtower kinda to watch over him because he’s not rly sure what to do with him yet,, at some point tim is awake enough to talk with bart and they end up hanging out together and playing hide and seek (tim is rly good at hiding) while barry and bruce talk about bart and alter they find them in one of the spare room, in the dark, bart curled up around shifted tim who’s sleeping and still feverish,,, barry has never seen bart so still and quiet,,,

conner happens a little bit later ! when tim is 12 and nearly 13. bruce and clark are messing with lex working on a case and going as clark kent and bruce wayne at a gala or smth and tim ends up coming (because he knows this is mostly intel gathering and he likes to Listen in on things and also he hasnt seen uncle clark in a while :( ) and clark brings kon because kon is 13 (like, 3 months old, if u catch my drift), hasnt interracted with other kids, and doing his best. tim and kon hit it off rly easily and end up doing shenanigans all evening while bruce n clark watch them fondly,,,, thats their kids sir !!!!! at some point in the evening tim is feeling antsy and anxious n kon notices (he cant put words on what exactly tim is feeling but he sees his discomfort) and they sneak up on the roof with some food and its a warm summer night so its nice n tim ends up shifting and settling on kons lap,,, kon puts his jacket on him n tim mrrps very cutely,,

the four of them also end up meeting greta anita and cissie altho im not sure how yet, who are all shifters too !!! kon bart and cassie aren’t tho. they get into shenanigans and hide it from their parents/mentors and eventually tim and kon get together bc thats my Brand sir

[skylarmoon71]

Harry Wells x Witch Reader-(Flash) Short Story: Chapter 3

You enjoyed days where you could just chat freely with the girls. They gave off the same vibe as the Vera sisters. By nature you were fairly outgoing, making friends had never been your problem. Your gaze strayed to Harry in at the back for a fleeting second.

"At least with most people."

"It must be awesome being a witch. I have to admit I'm a bit envious." you flushed at Iris's praise.

"It is kind of cool. Learning from Mel and her sisters was honestly the best part. I never really grew up with my brother, I found out pretty late. So for the longest while I was on my own. Back then I wasn't even aware of what I was capable of. I thought they were crazy." you laughed at the memory. Iris and Caitlin were listening intently. Harry was at the back writing some equations on the board.

"I can relate to that. I had no idea that I had a younger brother until recently. Now I can't imagine life without Wally. It's crazy." The conversation was easy, but you mind didn't feel like it was fully in it. Your thoughts were reeling of all that transpired since you left Seattle.

At first your reason for coming here was basically for a break, but somewhere deep down you knew the real reason behind your leave. You'd been running. Away from your brother, from home. Lately it's just felt hard.

"Why did you leave if life was so great." your head turned at the question, and the way Harry peered at you, it brought a chill, it was like he could see right through you. You didn't even know he was listening.

"It's...I-I just.."

"Harry enough." Iris snapped. She could tell by the look on your face that it wasn't a comfortable subject. Your head lowered. You'd really thought you were making some progress with Harry, but it seemed he still didn't trust you. You stood. "Excuse me." Just like that, you were walking out the cortex.

"What's your problem Harry?" Iris rarely ever raised her voice, and more than anything she respected Harry. He was a mentor to Barry, and father figure to Cisco and a good friend to her. But these were one of the times where she really needed to put him in his place.

"I'm just asking the questions everyone wants to neglect. She showed up with no warning, and we have very little knowledge of what she's capable of. There's something she isn't telling us and no one seems to recognize that."

"Of course there is Harry, do you really think we're that stupid." His brows furrowed, and Caitlin wore a similar look of understanding.

"We all have things we don't want people to know about Harry. You of all people should know that. When you told us about Jesse, we understood. She's family, you'd do anything for family. (Y/N) is a little older than the rest of us, you'd never be able to tell by just looking at her. Her philosophy through pain is to smile. At the end of the day, that's all we can really do." Caitlin conveyed.

Now he was getting the bigger picture. Maybe the reason behind his mistrust was because he'd been hiding secrets from team Flash, by attacking you it was somewhat of a defense for him, because he was afraid that he was getting way too close. You were getting too close, and he didn't know if he'd handle it very well if you turned out to be an enemy. So subconsciously, he was trying to nip it in the bud before any feelings could grow.

"I should...apologize." Iris smiled, moving and giving him a comforting pat.

"There's the Harry I know. " He huffed, heading off to look for you. Both women just grinned.

"He so has a crush on her." Iris commented.

Caitlin laughed. "Definitely."

~~~

"Really thought we were getting closer." you were starting to wonder if it was worth the effort to pine for Harry. You'd been around him long enough to realize he was a little stoic, sometimes blunt, but that comment really hit close to home. You weren't trying to be his enemy, far from it.

Sitting in the speed lab, you stared up at the ceiling. "Great life.." that was laughable, your life was far from perfect.

"(Y/N)." your eyes shifted to the entrance, and your shoulders tense. "Don't look so guarded, I didn't come here to attack you again. " you forced yourself to relax. Usually you didn't mind being around him, but now you just couldn't really look at him.

"I came to apologize, it was wrong of me to put you on the spot like that." you just stared at him.

"You're...actually apologizing."

"Don't look so surprised I'm not a monster you know." his harsh remark made you smile.

"I know." you mumbled. His eyes settled on your form, and he took a few steps inside, sitting down right next to you.

"I get it if you have things you'd rather not share with us. I'm just fairly protective of these people. Their..very special to me. "

"It's okay to be protective Harry, it makes sense. I didn't really think about how you must feel about all of this. I'm still pretty much a stranger, it's crazy to expect you to just trust me right off the bat. I guess I just got a little too friendly. It's the way I am, sometimes it's harder to turn off. I'll be more careful when I'm around you and-"

"Don't." his hand covered your palm at the side, and your gaze shifted to the warmth of his hold, before flickering to his eyes. Maybe you imagined it, but his eyes were almost glowing as he looked back at you. Those blue hues had you locked in your spot. "Don't change any part of yourself, not for me or anyone else. You're already perfect."

Okay, something was definitely wrong, Harry was being way too nice. You wanted to question it, but the words refused to leave your lips with the way his orbs still illuminated so much emotion. A small nod was all you could manage. There was no exchange of words after that, the tension thick, but not uncomfortable. Your heart jumped when he leaned closer. It was hesitant, he stopped for a millisecond, to check and possibly give you a chance to retract. You bit your lower lip with a soft whimper, and he tightened his hold on your palm, moving in.

"Harry can you-" the both of you pulled back, and Harry stood faster than you'd ever seen Barry run.

Cisco looked between the both of you pointing and stuttering out incoherent words.

"Close your mouth Ramon, you catch flies." Harry remarked. He then proceeded to exit the room. You were still sitting there, blushing like crazy, heart still hammering.

"Sweet beans.."

Curse Cisco and his terrible timing.