#at least I get to play the admin chapters rather than just watching a random YouTuber play it

[galaxythedragonshifter]

I have a copy of Minecraft: Story Mode season 2 LETS GOOOOO

[robininthelabyrinth]

Fic: An Internal Affair - Chapter 4 (Ao3 link)

Fandom: The Flash Pairing: Leonard Snart/Barry Allen

Summary: Leonard Snart, the CCPD Captain of Internal Affairs, is known as Captain Cold for a very good reason: He hates corrupt cops with a merciless vengeance, and once you’re on his list, you’re in serious trouble.

His next target?

A CCPD lab tech named Barry Allen who’s developed a suspicious habit of disappearing at random intervals.

—————————————————————————————————

"Who the hell even is this guy?!" Cisco exclaims.

"I'm telling you, I don't know," Barry says miserably, holding out an arm for Caitlin to defrost.

Yes, defrost.

Because his newest supervillain is apparently ice themed.

Sorry, cold themed.

An important distinction, apparently.

"Start from the beginning. We need to go over all of this again," Dr. Wells says, folding his hands together. He looks strangely upset - he's hiding it, of course, he always does, but where before he's genuinely looked mildly concerned but calm and level whenever they went up against a supervillain meta, this time he looks like someone gave him a nasty and unexpected shock.

Barry's not sure why. After all, this isn't the first bad guy to kick his ass in the first round.

First one to kick his ass twice, though.

First one to escape.

First one to -

Well.

Maybe Wells is right, and Barry should start from the beginning.

It starts, he thinks, with the diamond heist. He hadn't realized it was a diamond heist yet, of course - he and Cisco were just fooling around on the police band scanner when they heard a distress call about a robbery in progress come in from an armored car, and of course Barry went to go stop it.

The original plan was to stop the robbery and turn the robbers in, but one of the guards got shot and screamed like a banshee getting gutted, so Barry prioritized getting him to a hospital.

Turns out it was just a scratch.

Well, better safe than sorry.

Anyway, at the very least Barry did manage to pull the mask off one of the robbers, so he went to Joe to checks the guy’s records. The robber in question turned out to be a guy named Tommy D'Angelo, nicknamed the Iceman for his fondness for stealing diamonds.

(The second Barry heard that, he immediately made an Iceman Cometh joke that got Joe to look at him disapprovingly. One day, Barry will meet someone who’ll properly appreciate his endless encyclopedic memory of dumb references…)

"He's good at what he does, this guy," Joe observes, frowning at the picture Barry showed him. "Very professional - you think he's a meta?"

"We haven't seen any evidence of that yet," Barry replies with a shrug. "Just a regular robbery. Nickname like that, though? It wouldn't surprise me."

He laughs.

"Yeah," Joe says vaguely, sounding distracted. "Well, good luck with that. Tell me if you need me for anything."

"Something up, Joe?" Barry asks. Normally Joe pays more attention to Barry’s dangerous Flash stuff, especially against a criminal Joe thinks is ‘good at what he does.’

Joe makes a face. "Yeah, sorry. Nothing to worry about, just Captain Cold strikes again."

"What do you mean?"

Joe grimaces again, shaking his head. "It was less than three hours after he brought Cichowski down before the DA announced that they’re bringing charges on three more guys based on his evidence."

"Cichowski?" Barry asks, frowning and trying to remember. He's pretty sure he knows the name, but can't place it to a face.

"One of the old timers," Joe replies. "I don’t think you know him that well; he worked over in the other side of investigations."

"Oh, right," Barry says, remembering. They'd only worked together on a crime scene a few times; he has a vague memory of someone fairly easy-going about Barry's whole punctuality problem, but nothing more specific than that. "Wait, he was corrupt?"

"Captain Cold certainly decided he was, I guess," Joe says with a scowl. "I mean, maybe he was, I don't know, I wasn't paying that much attention to his trial - mostly because I've been too goddamn busy picking up all this extra slack! But with him gone, the rest of us have to take on his caseload, too, as if we weren't already overloaded - and now with three more guys are being put on unpaid admin leave until the charges against 'em get resolved, that means we've got even more to do! And we all have to do it while watching our asses every damn step of the way, in case Cold decides to round up someone forgetting to file exactly the right piece of paperwork at the right time..."

"You should be doing your paperwork on time," Barry says automatically, guiltily thinking about the pile he himself has upstairs. He'd done it pretty thoroughly at first, but since no one ever seemed to really pay that much attention to when exactly the paperwork was filed, and everyone else left it to the very last minute and filled it out retrospectively, it'd been so easy to get into bad habits - habits that persist even though he has super-speed now. He resolves to do better.

It really is important to do it on time. Not just for administrative purposes – whether you filled out the request for a warrant or not could be the difference between a legal search and an illegal one.

“Pot, kettle, black,” Joe says, sure enough. “Hey, maybe you can help me with the –”

“Important Flash stuff to do,” Barry says hastily. He hates paperwork and there is zero chance that he’ll agree to do any more of it than he already has to. Though he doesn’t hate it as much as Joe does, which probably explains why he’s so annoyed about everything happening. Joe's a good guy who'd never abide corruption, especially Family-inspired corruption, but all of this stuff has him drowning in an ocean of work even before the realization that he now has to be even more careful about dotting his "i"s and crossing his "t"s. Still, if the cops who got charged – and cops almost never get charged, so there must be a ton of evidence in play for the DAs to go public with it the way Joe is describing – if they really were corrupt, surely everyone having to be a little careful about doing their paperwork right is a reasonable price to pay...? "Anyway, I'll leave you to it and we'll touch base when this whole Iceman thing is done, okay?"

"You're assuming he's going to show up again," Joe says dryly. "Bar, I know you're used to dealing with metas now, but this guy's a professional. Odds are he's just going to call it a bad job and disappear into the woodwork."

Barry shrugs. "We'll just have to hope that the Kandahq Dynasty Diamond is too much of a lure for him to give up. Can you tell the museum to keep an eye out for the guy?"

"Yeah, sure," Joe says. "We'll station a few guys nearby. I’ll try to get myself assigned a spot if I can and play interference with Eddie if necessary. Won’t be as many people there to back you up as I'd like there to be, but like I said, we're stretched thin."

"Gotcha. No worries. Later, Joe.”

"Later - oh, Barry!"

Barry pauses and looks at him.

"Be careful going after this Iceman guy, will you?" Joe looks serious. "We don't know who Cold might be going after next - and you've got things to hide."

"Don't worry," Barry tells him. "I'll be careful. Besides, like you said, odds are this Iceman guy gives up, right?"

Barry doesn't really think he will, though, and Cisco and Caitlin both agree with him, making a point of keeping a tight watch over the police scanner.

Sure enough, when it starts getting into the late afternoon, there's an alert from the museum - the curator calls in to report someone having taken the intro tour twice, which Barry immediately realizes is super weird (the way any good Central City boy would - that museum tour is notoriously the worst).

The police that Joe got stationed nearby come to check it out and spot D'Angelo hovering around almost at once. The second he spots them, though, he bolts, leaving the police far behind.

"Sounds like you're up, Barry," Cisco crows. "Round two, going up against the Iceman!"

"Sounds like one of your nicknames, Cisco," Caitlin teases as Barry runs into his Flash outfit and starts to head out.

"Pssh, really? Iceman? I could do so much better -"

Still grinning, Barry is at the intersection next to the museum in a flash. He immediately starts looking around for D'Angelo, trying to figure out where he went.

It takes a less than a minute to spot the guy - he's running into a crowded theater where everyone is already spilling out the doors.

"He could be going for hostages, Barry; be careful," Caitlin warns.

Barry nods and runs in after D'Angelo.

The Iceman must not be in great shape, because he only makes it as far as the main corridor of one of the now-empty theater wells before he stops, his hands on his knees, panting hard. Barry runs straight up to him with a cocky grin spreading on his face, thinking that nabbing this guy is going to be a cinch.

At that point, three things happen approximately at once.

First, Barry abruptly notices that the number of people exiting the theater all at once isn't because a bunch of movies just let out, but rather because someone pulled the fire alarm.

Two, it occurs to him that D'Angelo is standing right in the middle of a deserted theater well, which is basically the most obvious possible place that someone suspicious could go stand and wait if a fire alarm’s been pulled, and also that D'Angelo is probably not as stupid as all that.

Three, he's abruptly hit in the side by what can only be described as a rhino made out of freezing cold ice.

Or, rather, by a blast from some sort of cold-blast-producing gun, which he figures out when he catches himself from staggering backwards and looks over at the guy who's casually reclining on one of the theater seats and smirking at Barry.

The man is dressed all in black except for a deep blue parka with an incongruously fuzzy hood pulled up over his head. He's got what must be the gun the cold beam came from on his lap, its muzzle still buzzing with a triangle of bright blue sparks; he’s pointing the gun straight at Barry, just sitting there, casually, with his legs crossed like he's out on a pleasure jaunt.

He's also wearing a mask.

It's a better mask than Barry's, too: a full-face mask with only sculpted curves to show where the nose and mouth and eyes ought to be, all reflective silver like a mirror, concealing everything about this guy’s features from his forehead to his chin. Even the holes for his eyes are covered with glittering silver lenses.

It should look silly, but it actually ends up looking kind of terrifying. Barry can't see anything about the guy that would help him identify him later: no eyes, no jawline, and even his hair color is concealed by the parka.

It doesn't help that Barry's having some trouble making his legs and arm, the parts of him hit by the freeze ray or whatever it is, start working again, which is definitely new. His super-healing should have fixed the damage by now, but for some reason, he's grounded.

Not good.

"Holy crap, that actually worked," D'Angelo exclaims. He's not panting anymore.

Barry's getting the distinct idea that he never was, not really.

"Of course it worked," the masked man drawls, his voice echoing strangely behind the mask. Makes sense, given that there’s no opening for a mouth, but still kind of creepy. "I planned it, didn't I?"

Wow. What an egotistical dick.

Barry wishes he didn't secretly find that sort of confidence kind of attractive. Now is not the time for Barry's weird thing about people being arrogant regarding things they're actually good at.

"Barry!" Cisco hisses in Barry's ear. His voice is distant and tinny. "What's going on? I've lost half of the suit's monitors - are you okay?"

"Are you hurt?" Caitlin asks. "We can't tell from here!"

"I can't believe you made me go on that goddamn tour twice," D'Angelo is saying to the masked man. “I nearly shot myself out of sheer boredom.”

"It got the police’s attention, and the so-called Streak’s, too, didn't it?" the masked man points out, somehow managing to look amused and superior through body language alone. "Everyone in Central City knows that no one goes on that tour twice. Ever. Not even to case the place." He tilts his head, almost like an inquisitive sort of bird. "Did you get the cow story?"

Barry can't help a snort. Everyone always gets the cow story. That's a good 50% of why the tour is so nightmarish.

"He speaks!" the masked man says mockingly. "And that’s very interesting, thank you."

"What's interesting?" D'Angelo asks. "He didn't say shit."

"He knows about the cow story," the masked man says, sounding mildly long-suffering. "That means he was raised in Central. That, or he's a masochist."

"The cow story is not a consensual form of pain for anyone, no matter how masochistic," Barry says, remembering at the last minute to vibrate his voice in order to disguise it. His powers are coming back; good.

"See?" the masked man says. "Central."

"Whatever," D'Angelo says with a sneer. "Getting him this far's all you paid me for, so I'm out of here. Good luck with your little 'plan', asshole."

He storms out.

"Don't let the door hit you on the way out," the masked man murmurs, sounding entirely unperturbed by his partner’s (?) departure.

He reaches over to the seat next to him and fiddles with a little box he has there. It looks like a radio or something.

"Barry, what's going on?" Wells demands.

"Not now," Barry hisses, feeling his legs again and using the opportunity to steady himself back into battle-ready position. He looks at the masked man. "Who are you?" he demands. "And what do you want?"

"I think that's my line," the masked man drawls. "Streak. Or do you have another little nickname you and your friends prefer to use?"

Barry goes stiff. "What do you know about my friends?"

"Nothing," the man says, "other than the fact that you just confirmed that you have them."

"He's playing you, Mr. Allen," Wells says. "You need to retreat before he shoots you again."

Barry takes a step back.

"No need to leave so soon," the masked man purrs, his voice still distorted by his mask. "We have so much to talk about - a talk I'm sure you wouldn't want me to be having with anyone else -"

His hand is still on the cold gun.

Given what it did to Barry, with his super-healing, Barry's pretty sure it would kill a normal person.

Is that what this guy is getting at? Is it a threat, albeit a very oblique one?

"So, tell me, Streak -" the masked man starts to say, but he doesn’t get further.

Cisco cuts in then, shouting, "Barry, you need to get out of there! There's police gathering at the exits - they'll be able to get the guy, but if you don't go now, they'll see you!"

Barry takes one last look at the masked man, who's sitting there, smirking, still speaking.

"He's got something planned," Wells says harshly. "It's a trick. Run!"

Barry runs.

He doesn't think he's given anything away, but somehow the masked man figures out what Barry's going to do a split second before he does it, and acts without hesitation. The cold blast from his gun hits Barry straight in the back, slowing him down, but Barry forces himself to keep going.

When Barry finally makes it back to STAR Labs, he's mostly defrosted naturally from the speed and the friction, but he's still deeply disturbed.

"There was a guy there," he reports. "Not a meta - he had some sort of gun -"

"A cold gun," Cisco says, looking sick.

"Yeah," Barry says. "How'd you know?"

"Because I built it."

"What?"

Cisco is full of explanations, apologies, stuttered confessions of how before he’d gotten a chance to really know Barry, he’d been afraid of what Barry was capable of – how he’d figured out that cold was the antithesis of speed and built a gun accordingly – how the gun had been stolen from STAR Labs sometime when he wasn’t looking -

Wells is incandescently angry, and Barry’s not that far behind, more than a little hurt and pissed off about it. How could Cisco think that..? And design a weapon aimed just at him, too!

"It's not like anyone died," he points out, trying to be fair. They can still defeat this guy and get the gun back.

"Still, they could have," Caitlin says. "Pulling a fire alarm at a theater - "

"That's not the point," Wells says harshly. "The only reason there wasn't any collateral damage was because this mystery man was targeting Mr. Allen specifically. Who know what further steps he might take to try to lure Mr. Allen in again, now that his first attempt has failed? Who knows how many people might get hurt the next time around because Mr. Allen couldn’t stop him this time?"

"The police will have gotten to him by now," Barry protests, taken aback by this unexpected attack. If anything, Wells’ criticism hurts more than Cisco’s invention of the gun – it’s not like Barry didn’t try his best to stop the masked man! "He can't hurt anyone when he's in custody, and we can use that to find out who he is."

"I can hack into the police lines -" Cisco starts to offer.

"No need," Barry interrupts, cutting him off. He's still sore about the cold gun, both literally and figuratively. "I know someone who can handle it."

It’s a good thing Felicity is in town for another visit after her first visit got cut short. Barry runs over to her hotel; it turns out that she can, in fact, handle hacking into the CCPD on her laptop, no problem and barely any questions asked, but she can't make something out of nothing, and nothing is exactly what she finds.

"What do you mean, they didn't make any arrests?!" Barry exclaims. "But there was this guy in a mask - he had a gun -"

"I don't know, Barry," Felicity says, shrugging helplessly. "But they didn’t. There's got to be another way of tracking him down, though. Maybe he'll make another try at the diamond?"

She also has a lot to say about Cisco trying his best and building trust, but Barry's less interested in that and more interested in running around the city looking for the masked man, even if Cisco does call him back a few hours later, evening having turned into night, claiming to have come up with a way of tracking the cold gun and directing Barry straight back onto the path of his newest supervillain.

The cold gun’s signature is at the train station.

"Why would he be leaving town already?" Barry demands, wondering secretly if maybe he should let the guy go.

"Because he got what he wanted," Felicity says grimly. She’s at STAR Labs with Cisco now, apparently. "I just checked the security cameras at the museum; there's no diamond in the display case."

Barry tries to run faster.

"Barry -" Cisco starts. "I just wanted to say -"

"Not now," Barry snaps, and turns off the comms. He's got a bad guy to focus on.

The masked supervillain is sitting in one of the deserted waiting areas, watching the last train to depart pull away from the station and start to gather speed. His cold gun is glowing blue by his side.

Barry comes to a stop a cautious distance away.

"Well, look at that," the masked man - Cisco seriously needs to give him a name already, because angry as Barry is at Cisco, he's also getting tired of fighting someone when he has no idea what to call him even in his head - says when he sees Barry. "You're just full of interesting tricks today, Streak."

"And you've got another thing coming if you think I'm going to let you escape," Barry says.

"What, leave? My own city? Never." The guy even has the gall to put his hand on his chest, pretending to be offended.

What an asshole.

"It's not your city anymore," Barry shoots back. He likes bantering with his villains, but he's wary here: this guy is way too calm.

Even if he hadn't turned off his comms, he wouldn't need Wells' whisper in his ear to realize that this has go to be a trap of some sort.

"Even putting aside the fact that you wouldn't really be able to stop me from doing just as I want, I’d be interested in exactly whose city you do think this is, Steak -" the masked man suddenly cuts off and starts to rise from his seat. "The train!"

Barry would normally assume it's just a "made you look" moment that he's - okay, that he's rather notorious for falling for, but he figures he's fast enough to steal a glance.

And it's a good thing he does - the train is derailing.

No!

Barry runs, desperation pushing him faster than he's ever gone before. He zips through the train from the front to the back, pulling people off each car even as the effects of the crash begin to pulse through the train.

Even as he does, though, he knows he's falling straight into the supervillain's diabolical trap. Sitting there in an empty train station, watching the last train leave, and then the last train derails?

Of course Barry would choose to save the people on the train, just like he chose to save the guard at the diamond heist, and that would leave the door open for the villain's easy escape with the diamond.

Barry has to admit that it’s a great plan, in a sick sort of way. You just have to be willing to risk the lives of all those innocent people.

But what can Barry do? Escape or no escape, Barry can't let these people die.

He pulls the last one off and comes to a skidding stop on the near side of the crash. The train is totaled, but at least he prevented anyone from dying -

The blast of cold hits him right in the back.

It's worse this time, stronger, and he falls, twisting forward as the cold beam hits his legs and freezes him to the ground.

It's the masked man.

"How dare you," the man snarls.

"How dare -" Barry starts, utterly confounded and not a little bit enraged. Who the hell does this guy think he is, yelling at Barry? "What?! What the hell are you talking about?!"

"I bet you think you'll get a medal for this," the masked man sneers. "'Steak Saves Train' - or rather, the people on the train, since the train itself is scrap. Is that what you were thinking?"

"I did save the people on the train!" Barry protests. He doesn't understand - why didn't the masked man take his chance to escape? Wasn’t that the point? And why does he seem so angry all of a sudden?

"Makes a man wonder how many of your own stunts you've had planned out in advance," the masked man says. He steps forward towards Barry, his cold gun up at ready - his gait is very strange, his shoulders hunched over and his leg swerving outward like he can't unstraighten it, a lurching stagger that somehow manages to be no less intimidating than a smooth stride would be. "Easy enough to be the hero that way, isn't it?"

Wait - is he saying -

"Are you accusing me of setting up the train to derail?!" Barry exclaims. "Just so I could take credit for rescuing them?!"

"Why not?" the masked man shoots back.

"First off, I don't take credit for anything I do! The biggest news about me is on a blog!" Run by Iris, no less, which Barry still can't believe. All those journalism classes, and she fixates on the one thing he doesn't want her to...

"Starting rumors," the masked man counters. "Laying the base for a big debut - like, say, this one."

"I don't want a debut!" Barry exclaims. "And anyway, you already know that I didn't derail the train - you did!"

"Me?!"

"Yes, you!" Barry shouts. "It was your escape plan, wasn't it? Get the diamond, go to the train depot, then use my distraction from the train derailing to escape -"

"I have no intention of escaping," the masked man says scornfully. "Least of all from you, kid."

"To take the opportunity to shoot me in the back, then!"

"I shot you in the back because I thought you'd endangered the lives of dozens of people," the masked man snaps. "Are you saying you had nothing to do with the train?"

"Of course I had nothing to do with - wait, are you saying you had nothing to do with it?"

"Streak, if I wanted to escape you, I'd just turn off the sensors on my gun," the masked man says dryly. "You know, the ones you used to track me here?"

...crap, that is how they tracked him. A weakness in the gun this guy already apparently knew enough about to exploit.

"But then why were you in the empty onboarding area if you hadn't deliberately missed the train?" Barry demands.

"Because the waiting area at a train station right after a train leaves is guaranteed to be deserted, obviously," the masked man says. "And I didn't want collateral damage if you decided you wanted a fight - do you know how hard it is to find a deserted place in this city?"

...huh.

The guy's not wrong.

"Besides," the masked man continues, "I'm not the criminal here."

Wait.

What?!

"Of course you are! You - you stole the Kandahq Dynasty Diamond!"

"Don't be ridiculous," the masked man says.

"It wasn't in its case! And you have that fancy gun!"

"The case made out of glass," the masked man says, unimpressed. "Which someone could probably break with a heavy wrench if they wanted. Wouldn’t have even needed this gun if I’d actually wanted to take it."

Uh.

That’s…a surprisingly good point.

"The museum was advised to put the diamond back in the safe at night until the threat of theft had passed," the masked man says. "As far as I know, it’s in their store room now."

Barry reaches up to his ear.

"- so sorry, Barry!" Felicity is saying on the comms. "I didn't even think check the store room - he's right, it's in there - I can't believe I didn't run a multi-level, collusive search algorithm to double-check -"

"...oh," Barry says, starting to feel stupid. Okay, yes, he can maybe kinda sorta see how his appearance, plus his comments about not letting the man escape, could be misconstrued into a threat about the train. "But, the theater - you were laying a trap for me!"

"Yes," the masked man says patiently. "Because you're a vigilante taking justice into his own hands. Which is illegal."

Barry gapes at him.

"Oh come on," the masked man says. "You must know that it's illegal. Why would you be wearing a mask if you're not perfectly aware that you're committing a crime?"

Of all the ridiculous bullshit -

"You're wearing a mask yourself! Right now!" Barry exclaims. "What's your reason?"

The masked man shrugs, pulling off nonchalant in a way Barry would love to be able to do. "Oh, I wouldn't, normally," he drawls. "Wasn't even planning on it, but my secretary insisted I take it. I've got a lot of enemies just waiting for me to make myself vulnerable, so she told me that I wasn’t allowed out without one. Wouldn't let up on it until I agreed."

"Are you kidding me?!" Cisco hisses in Barry's ear, and Barry's got to agree with him.

He's met metas who can duplicate themselves and turn into bombs and he himself can run faster than most people can see, and this is still one of the most ridiculous things he's ever heard.

"You have a secretary?" Barry yelps. "You?!"

The masked man puts a hand to his heart again. "Now, now, Streak. I'm offended. Why wouldn't I have a secretary?"

"Because you're a supervillain!"

"Listen, even when I was working as a full-time thief, I would've benefitted from a secretary. A good secretary is worth more than gold - or diamonds, for that matter." The masked man is apparently one-hundred-percent serious. Also apparently some sort of thief-turned-supervillain? "You should look into getting one sometime. It'll make your life so much easier; you won't even know how you did without them."

"Uh, thanks?" Barry says, because what the hell is happening right now. Is he really being given a hard sell on getting a secretary?

"Wow," Felicity says in his ear. "This is like totally how I would imagine those terrible multi-level-marketing Tupperware parties go, but for, like, executive management, maybe? You know what I mean?"

Barry kind of does, but only because Iris was a viciously competitive girl scout who recruited other girls in her own multi-level marketing scheme in her bid to be the most successful girl scout cookie seller in her district.

"Now to get back to the point," the masked man says. "You're going to stop."

"Stop - what?" Barry asks, dazed.

"This," the masked man says, gesturing around vaguely. "Vigilantism."

"I can't stop!" Barry exclaims. "There are dangerous people - someone needs to stop them -"

"Yes," the masked man says. "The police. Ever heard of them?"

Barry cannot believe this is happening. He’s getting lectured on crime-fighting by a freaking supervillain! "You don't understand."

"Oh, I understand just fine," the masked man says. "You've appointed yourself an enforcer of the law, but you think you're above the law. Just like the Families do. Just like corrupt cops do. Well, I won't have it, not in my city."

Barry's starting to get angry now. He puts his life on the line every day to protect people from crazy metahumans, which this guy knows exactly zilch about, and this guy is acting all high and mighty like he thinks Barry's the supervillain?!

"I'm doing good," he says stubbornly, forcing himself to sit up. "I'm saving people's lives."

"For now," the masked man says. "These things always escalate. Always. There's always an easier path to take. And I'm here to remind you that you're not above the law, even if it means I have to -"

"Drop your weapon!" a familiar voice shouts.

Barry and the masked man both turn.

It's Cisco, and Caitlin, and Felicity, and they've got a giant glowing gun in their hands.

"Well, well, well; these must be the friends you were chatting with earlier," the masked man says. "Are we having a party?"

"The only party we're having is one where you're not welcome," Felicity says. "So it's time for you to beat it."

"And why would I do that?"

"This is a new prototype cold gun," Cisco boasts. "Four times the power. So if you don't back off now, you're going popsicle."

The masked man stares at him for a long moment, then glances at Barry. "Are any of you familiar with the law? At – at all? Specifically the part about threats regarding bodily harm and murder being a crime?"

Barry forces himself to sit up, even though the ice hurts. "Says the guy who shot me up with ice."

"Oh, get off it; you’re clearly getting over it already. Also, as it happens," the masked man says, "I'm allowed to do that."

"Of all the hypocritical -" Cisco starts.

"Put your weapons down and your hands up!" someone shouts from a distance.

This voice is also familiar.

Eddie.

Joe's partner, and someone who is very much not in on the whole Flash thing yet. Joe managed to get his patrol assigned to the train station area once Cisco got him the update about where the masked man was, but he was supposed to be keeping Eddie back in check so that they could serve as backup in case things went downhill with the masked man.

For Eddie to be here, interfering, before they called for help – something's gone wrong.

Barry tenses.

"I guess it is time to go," the masked man says, watching Barry. "Wouldn't want this to escalate any further, after all - at least not until I've got proper backup. Be seeing you, Streak. And remember - I'm watching you."

With that, the masked man turns and starts limping off towards the train platform.

Barry shares a bewildered look with Cisco and the others, but in the interests of not getting caught by Eddie, who would almost certainly tell Iris about all of this, he zips everyone back to STAR Labs.

"Why didn't you capture the masked man?" Wells asks when Barry is done recounting the full story and has mostly finished defrosting. “You should have brought him here as well; we could have put him into one of the Accelerator’s holding cells to make sure he doesn’t cause any more trouble.”

"I don't think he’s a meta, though. Or, uh, that he technically committed any crime, I guess?" Barry says. "Well, assault and battery, maybe, but technically Cisco also threatened him -"

"What was that about him being 'allowed', anyway?" Felicity demands, running her hands through her hair to pat it back down. "That part didn't make any sense."

"Unless Mirror-Mask there is just being a really big hypocrite," Cisco offers. He's still scowling.

“Are we calling him Mirror-Mask?” Barry asks, temporarily distracted.

“No, forget it, it’s a terrible name. He doesn’t deserve to be a rip off of a Neil Gaiman movie like that –”

"Going back to the actual subject at hand, we still don't know whether the masked man is -" Caitlin starts saying.

Barry's phone pings. "It's Joe," he says, reading the message. "He's ditched Eddie for the time being and wants to talk to us ASAP. I'll go get him."

The others scarcely notice the few minutes he's gone, if the way they're still arguing over the masked man's motives is any indication.

"I hate it when you do that," Joe says, clutching at his chest.

"You asked!" Barry protests.

"I know I did," Joe says, his face going grim. "That's how you know what I've got to tell you is serious."

Everyone shuts up and looks at him.

"What have you discovered, Detective?" Wells asks.

"Him," Joe says, jabbing a finger at the display showing a picture of the masked man in his blue parka.

"Wait, you've figured out who he is?" Felicity asks, eyes bright.

"Wait - that was Eddie in the train station," Cisco says, realizing. "And since you're partners, that means you were there, too – you arrested him?"

"No," Joe says.

"He escaped?" Caitlin exclaims. "How?"

But Joe is shaking his head.

"But if he didn't escape, Detective, why didn't you arrest him?" Wells asks. His eyes are narrowed. "Surely, at the very least, his attacks on our Mr. Allen would have given you enough cause, if not the derailed train itself..."

"I don't think he derailed the train," Barry offers. "He seemed really pissed when he thought I’d done it. Like, really pissed."

"Still!" Cisco says. "He shot the cold gun at Barry and threatened me. How is that not enough for an arrest?"

"Because," Joe says, looking extremely disgruntled, "it's not actually illegal to use non-lethal force on individuals who are currently violently resisting arrest."

Barry frowns, and he's not alone. "That doesn't make sense," he says. "That would only apply..."

He trails off.

No.

Surely not.

"The masked supervillain is a cop?!" Felicity exclaims. "No way!"

"Oh yes," Joe says. "And more than that, he's not just any cop, either. You've got yourself a full on police captain on your tail, Bar. And like I told you, Captain Cold isn't the type to stop for anything."

"Captain Cold?" Cisco says. "Wait, the internal affairs guy you were telling us about? That Captain Cold?"

"Got it in one," Joe says. "He might be IA, but he’s still a cop; he's still authorized to go after any crimes in progress that he sees. The mask thing’s a bit weird, guess it’s habit from when he worked undercover, but when we ran up to him, he just pulled it off, casual as can be, and explained that he’d been chasing a criminal. And since he outranks me, there’s absolutely nothing I can do about it even if it wasn’t legal."

"Ohhh that makes so much sense. That’s why he's 'allowed'," Felicity whispers, running her hands through her hair. “Right. It’s legal for him to use force to take down a presumably violent vigilante because he’s a cop acting in fulfillment of his duties. Wow, this explains so much...”

"Hold up, hold up," Barry says, still trying to process everything. "Are you telling me that the Head of CCPD Internal Affairs is a supervillain?"

Barry has no idea what to do with that.

Judging by the echoing silence that follows Joe's nod, no one else does, either.

[ask-svt-hearteu]

Hyung line parenting 101

@svt-seokhoon-17  I have an family au. Cheolsoo are the parents of Vernon, jeonghoon are the parents of seungkwan, wonhui are the parents of minghao and mingyu, hoshi is a single parent raising seokmin and dino. It’s the 7 oldest being the parents and youngest 6 being kids |  Omg yes (like thoes soulmate, best friend bullet point things or something different)

requested by anon: “A Lee family au (father woozi, mother jeonghan, child seungkwan)”

admin note: sorry this is late LEGIT MOST OF THIS WAS RANDOM RAMBLING AND I THINK IT’S FUNNY BUT SORRY IF IT WASN’T WHAT YOU MEANT

Cheolsoo family

their kid is currently in elementary school

tbh Joshua and Seungcheol are the proudest hype parents ever

they’re proud Hansol can find his way from the house to the bus station

or if he remembers their phone numbers

they hype everything he does

even if it’s just putting on his shoes

nothing Vernon does can be called stupid to them

except for that one time he tried eating a mud pie made from mud, clearly

and Vernon isn’t a stupid kid

no not at all

he just likes hanging out with friends and watching youtube videos more than coloring in pictures of George Washington and reading short chapter books about a magic tree house

he only colors when he knows the homework is due the next day

and then he colors outside the lines because why would you want to color inside the lines, that’s boring

he somehow always finishes his math hw though

without fail

it’s like magic

he hangs out a lot with the Lee family’s kid, Seungkwan

not because the kid does Vernon’s math hw for him or anything

they’re best friends but Vernon denies this

which sometimes hurts Seungkwan’s feelings

but then they play tag or watch some mine craft videos together

and they make up and Vernon finally admits they're best friends

and Vernon protects his best friend from the bullies on the playground

bullies being the girls who call Seungkwan ugly

Vernon will throw tanbark at them no joke

and you know he'd be that one kid that gets in trouble for putting gum in a girl's hair but she was asking for it by making fun of Seungkwan 

and he pushes Seungkwan on the swings a lot too

never complains about it 

Joshua is the parent who works from home

because his child’s education is really important and they need to have one parent home at least

according to his how to be a parent book

also in charge of the school's PTA 

so everyone knows Vernon

Joshua is always planning like fifty bake sales and a bunch of fundraisers 

also tries convincing the school to host a carnival

just so Vernon can ride the Ferris wheel

he also drags the whole family to church on Sunday

he always tries cooking dinner with an apron that says “Thank God for this chef”

but he can’t cook

at all

so Seungcheol always has to put out whatever fire is roaring in the kitchen

and then order takeout

Joshua’s one of those classy af parents sipping wine in the driveway with a book while their kid runs past screaming

“You’re doing great sweetie, don’t kill the neighbor’s cat like last time.” without even looking up

really loves his family though

reads bedtime stories to both Seungcheol and Vernon even though Vernon insists he stop

always packing Vernon’s lunch in a little brown paper bag with a heart drawn on it

which some people tease Vernon for

but he will fight them if they mess with it

and he secretly likes how much his parents care for him in the randomest ways

they have a pool in the backyard

so they’re always throwing neighborhood parties

Seungcheol can actually manage BBQ’s pretty well

so he makes stuff like hamburgers, hot dogs for Vernon and Joshua

he works downtown

pretty nice office space with a nice view

normal eight-hour work day type deal

never comes home and complains though

and always that parent dragging their kid out on the lawn to run through the sprinklers in summer

and tends to set things on fire with sparklers

rest in peace that poor rose bush

the one to mow the lawn in something embarrassing like just underwear

with Joshua covering Vernon's eyes and yelling for him to put a shirt on there are children what are you doing you need Jisoos

Seungcheol also the one to go to the hardware store for a lightbulb and ends up getting the idea to build a treehouse

and makes Vernon help him

even though it ends up being Joshua putting all the planks together and Seungcheol meekly hammering them together

they often go on family vacations too

so they don’t have a pet

it probably wouldn’t survive

camping often because nature

though secretly they all bring like ten portable battery chargers each and use data to check SNS

they all drive to the beach and take lots of family photos

photos end up on the fireplace mantel

everyone who sees the pictures can't deny how cute this family is

Vernon and Seungcheol teaming up to play a prank on Joshua, with whip cream

but they get caught

and end up being given a long lecture

Seungcheol nodding his head pretending to listen

Vernon mimicking Joshua

but mess with Vernon, or any of the family

and even Joshua can turn savage

next day your car is covered in soap or post-its

and you bring it up at the home owners' association meeting

Cheolsoo will high five each other and smile innocently

like "we have no idea who could have done that"

fights are nonexistent

they all think alike too much

they all love each other

they’re family

Jeonghoon family

tbh if savagery were parents

Jeonghan always bringing in the latest gossip from the other neighborhood parents

ranting on and on to Jihoon about how one person didn’t trim their lawn

or how their cat keeps pooping in the petunias

like how dare they

and Jihoon just nods

until Jeonghan brings up the neighbors that party too loudly

then Jihoon joins Jeonghan’s roasting fest

as they both criticize their neighbor’s music taste

“why even throw a party at all?”

“I’d rather die.”

they're always plotting their revenge on some random kid or neighbor

they tolerate the Cheolsoo family

though they low key like being neighbors because they can watch Seungkwan for them whenever he hangs out with Hansol

and then they can chill and do whatever they want

and the Cheolsoo family has lit pool parties

a bit suspicious of Vernon, but they love Vernon too

low key savage to their own kid too

“do whatever”

but they always secretly worry

and Seungkwan can tell this from their questions

“How’d you do on the spelling test? Not that we care it’s whatever.”

Seungkwan is a really smart kid

though they sometimes think he might be a pushover

so they try toughing Seungkwan up

going camping like the Choi's

doesn't go exactly as planned

too many mosquitos

not enough high speed internet

so the whole trying to toughen up their kid

doesn’t go so well

Seungkwan could end up crying

so they give up and give the kid ice cream

parenting experts clearly

Jihoon has an at home-studio

works on stuff and lets Seungkwan run around

might complain about annoying Seungkwan is

but let's Seungkwan do whatever he wants

the kid running around and testing all the sound equipment

and listening to the music his dad is composing

being brutally honest and savage

because he learned rom the best

"you sure you want to put that key change there?"

"get out"

Jeonghan just stays home and watches reality tv shows

“Seungkwan, I swear if you keep doing that kid’s math hw… actually go ahead, we like that family.”

and Seungkwan will sit and watch too

and criticize the show's plot points

before Jeonghan tells his kid to be quiet

but Jeonghoon love Seungkwan a lot

Seungkwan is always bring them his pictures, drawings, paintings, hw, tests, etc.

and they don’t say much

and so you'd think they don't acknowledge the kid

but you're wrong

all the drawings are hung up somewhere

the bathroom

the fridge

on the garage door

everywhere

and the tests always end up taped to the window with the perfect scores facing outside

and they’re always bragging about Seungkwan to their friends

“Yea my kid is a genius, I bet he could do algebra better than your kid” even though Seungkwan’s only in elementary school and doesn’t know algebra

Seungkwan’s always leads for the chorus shows and school productions

no one even fights him for it

the teachers just know

and he always drags Vernon into the shows

and on opening night Jeonghan and Jihoon are sitting front row center

with a huge af sign with Seungkwan’s name on it

not even caring they’re blocking other parents

proudest parents in the world that would never admit that nonsense

and they’ll tell you no recording because respect the school's rules

but you know secretly they’re recording the whole thing on their phones too

to send to friends and family like they do every year

"The Lee Family would like to say Season's Greetings"

and buy Seungkwan a flower bouquet afterwards

and all the ice cream the kid wants

maybe going with the Choi family

Jeonghan always buying takeout and putting it on fancy dishes to pretend he cooked it

fools Jihoon but not Seungkwan

who's learning to be more savage each day from his parents

"If I wanted takeout, I could just eat next door."

also Jeonghan's the parent to smear the frosting on store-bought cupcakes to make it look home-made

"They'll never notice"

Jihoon always the one doing the cleanup, washing dishes, mowing the lawn, changing lightbulbs (despite being short)

with Jeonghan telling him every five minutes “good job” without looking up from his drama series

the parents that prank all their neighborhood friends

"Quick we need to TP the house before they call the cops!"

Seungkwan's just shaking his head being dragged into it like

"Again?!?!?"

"They forgot to bring in their garbage cans, this is deserving."

end up all running away in the dark

and hiding in bushes

and laughing together as a family

before they start getting a bunch of insect bites from the bush

and rush home to shower and help each other with the anti-itch cream

they all love each other

they're family

Wonhui family

appear as the family that’s most got their ish together

with Wonwoo being a smart professor with a library at home

and Jun with his artistic performance arts stuff at the local theater all the time

gives lessons to Seungkwan for shows

which Jeonghoon is ok with because it's free

and Wonwoo tutoring Vernon

pretty calm and quiet parents at social events

except if they're the ones hosting

then ish can get crazy

don't play charades at the Jeon household

tbh their kids are always trying to ship the other to Canada or somewhere

“Hey dad I need a box.”

“How big?”

“Mingyu, how tall are you?”

“I need a box as big as Mingyu.”

“HELP MINGHAO IS TRYING TO SHOVE ME IN A BOX.”

“Minghao stop trying to ship your brother to Canada, you can’t afford the shipping fee anyway!”

Wonwoo always running around trying to stop the kids from fighting

Jun just casually in a corner, sipping wine and staring at the chaos

not even trying to help

just shakes his head and continues whatever he's doing

and Mingyu is the actual adult of the family

like yes his parents pay the bills

but they can't cook

he and Minghao may be in middle school

and Jun and Wonwoo may be the parents

but he’s always the one to cook and change light bulbs and make everyone else's lunch

wearing an apron too big for a middle schooler

but he's tall

Minghao denies being his sibling at schoool

even though Mingu is older

Minghao's like "Mingyu who?"

Mingyu always trailing after Minghao to annoy him but also to get attention from him

Mingyu also teasing Minghao for being taller than him

and people tend to call them 2Ming for short

which they hate

don't ever

unless you want a fight

separate friend groups at school but always sit together for lunch on fridays

and although they often argue

pray for Wonwoo and Jun if they decide to team up for a prank

let's just say 2Ming is still grounded after the last "incident"

middle school = angsty teens

but Minghao and Mingyu are surprisingly well behaved

sometimes

they both have a lot of extracurriculars  

hecka busy schedule this family

never enough time for anything

Jun's performances at night

Wonwoo's lectures in the morning

martial arts class for Minghao

home economics class for Mingyu

Minghao always being done with the rest of his family

"How am I related to all of you?"

secretly loves his crazy family though

especially when Mingyu sticks up for him when people say he's a crazy nunchuck wielding ninja

which he is

they both do really well in school though

cuz smart parents

Mingyu always reminding everyone about important dates and appointments

being the mature parent one minute

and acting like a giant puppy the next

too busy for family vacations

so they just go out to fancy restaurants to eat every weekend

the one family to sing along to songs together in the car

but if the kids see someone from school

"I swear I don't know them, my family actually lives in Antarctica."

don't prank other neighbors either

mostly because they argue how extreme it should be

so generally when the Lee family strikes

they do four separate things

which is chaotic

but functional enough

Wonwoo always the one trying to calm everyone and be logical

Jun not helping whatsoever watching everyone struggle

Mingyu trying to fix everything by peaceful terms

and Minghao wanting chaotic means

they're a mess, but

they all love each other

they're family 

Kwon family

Seokmin is in middle school with Mingyu and Minghao

often hangs out with them

though he can't decide which friend group

so he floats from one to the other

like's hanging out with Chan too

but Chan is still in elementary school

a year younger than Seungkwan and Hansol

Soonyoung doing that hard carry as the single parent

dance classes for the whole family though

it's always lit at their birthday parties

choreos always on point

you know they rehearsed for that wedding they attended

"we have to nail the choreo to wow all the grandparents"

tbh also has a who's the adult crisis like the Wonhui family

with Chan having to scold Soonyoung for forgetting to pick him and Seokmin up

and Seokmin just being a huge happy fluffball

like idk what's going on but I love you all

Seokmin likes singing in chorus

so ends up seeing the elementary school choral director

and volunteering to teach the little ones

like Vernon and Seungkwan

and drags his dongsaeng Chan along

likes planning out all the costumes for shows too

and gets his dad to teach them choreos

and to just choreo the whole show

and Chan's just trying to hide the fact he's related to two huge dorks

but he's a dork too

and just gives up

he's a smart kid

like a genius

he's skipped a grade already

and can sometimes help Seokmin with his hw

which surprises Soonyoung who doesn't know what to do

but give his unending support to both his children

Soonyoung always asking the other parents for advice

but tbh do any of them know anything about parenting at this point

lots of full street block parties

Soonyoung is just glad to be included

his kids have friends within the neighborhood which is nice

probably the only family able to have a pet and still function

though Chan is like "Why get a pet, isn't that what Dokyeom-hyung is for?"

which gets him in trouble with soonyoung

and he apologizes

Seokshine is still smiley

they get a puppy

and that puppy leads them to get fishes too

and another puppy

and that's a lot

so Chan takes care of the fishes

and Soonyoung and Seokmin walk the puppies

Chan also does most of the cleaning

and god forbid there's a SpIdER 

because none of them will be able to catch it

except maybe Chan

and maybe Soonyoung, if he learns how to use a flamethrower safely

Seokmin always relying on Soonyoung

don't mess with Soonyoung's kid unless you want a hurricane to hit you

Chan really relies on Soonyoung too

since he's kind of quiet at school

he'd never admit it

but Soonyoung's stupid dad jokes and silly dances make him laugh

Soonyoung would legit fight a dragon for his kids

they don't travel often

but when they do they always have crazy stories to tell when they come back

like the trip to the beach

where Chan fell into a tide pool

and Seokmin fell in after him

and Soonyoung slipped trying to save them

so they all ended up in a tiny tide pool

with fish swimming between them and starfish surrounding them

would probably dance as a family for money at a birthday party

and they're pretty good too

they all love each other

they're family

MASTERLIST

[litkpopscenarios]

Anoymous

Admin Marie

A/N: I am back with the third chapter! This is not the last chapter though, I haven’t decided how much longer it will be it may get to 5 chapters but I have no idea. I am really enjoying writing this, so I hope you do to! Don.t forget to send in requests!

Word Count: 2375

Genre: Angst, fluff, mystery

Member: Someone from BTS

Summary: Every morning when you get to work, there is a new message on your white board. The real question is: Who is writing on your whiteboard?

Warnings: Language, Sexual references and jokes

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 4(coming soon)

The night you have to go to Namjoon and Seokjin’s house arrives and you're very reluctant to go. You spent the whole day laying on the couch with Yoongi and watching horror movies and comedies. He stands up, cracking his back and pulling you up.

“Get ready for the party, cause we have to go buy some alcohol,” Yoongi says.

“I’m feeling sick so I don't know if I should go,” you lie. He rolls his eyes and shakes his head.

“Y/N you can't fool me. You'll have fun,” he says and walks to his bedroom to get ready, leaving you alone in the living room. You sigh, walking to your room and starting to get ready. You loosely curl your hair and stick a black beanie over your hair and after a lot of searching, settle upon a pair of light blue high waisted shorts that go halfway up your stomach and a black tank top that you tuck into the shorts. You apply makeup in your mirror and stare at your reflection. A knock sounds at your door.

“You can come in,” you say. Yoongi walks in, dressed in a black T-shirt and ripped blue jeans. He smiles at you.

“You look gorgeous, Y/N,” he compliments and grabs your hand before dragging you out of your bedroom. You groan but follow him anyways. You slip on black flats and follow Yoongi out the door. You two buy random alcohol from the store before driving to Namjoon and Jin’s house. When you get there, you're awestruck. You knew your CEO was very wealthy and you knew your boss was very well off, but their house is amazing. It’s huge, three stories and has huge windows, giving it a modern feel.

“Yoongi-ah, why so you all hang out at your shitty apartment when you could come here?” You ask in amazement. Yoongi laughs and drapes his arm around your shoulders.

“Because you're at our apartment and we all know you won't come here,” He says.

“Why are you all so considerate towards me?” You ask. He smiles.

“Because you're a sweet person, Y/N. They all care about you, even if you don't know it,” Yoongi says. You smile to yourself at the compliment and you two grab the two bags of liquor before walking up to the front door. Yoongi knocks on the front door and Taehyung opens it, showing off his adorable box smile.

“Come in!” He exclaims, taking the bag you're carrying from you and ushering you both inside. You are even more dumbstruck by the inside. It is huge, with high ceilings and modern furnishing.

“Hey guys!” Hoseok exclaims, running to the front door and grabbing you by the elbow and dragging you deeper into the house. He comes to a stop in the living room and your heart is racing at the loss of Yoongi by your side. You look around for him but he's nowhere to be seen.

“Don't be nervous, it’s okay,” another voice says after Hoseok let's go of your arm and walks over to tease Jimin. You look over and see Jungkook.

“I’m not nervous,” you assure, smiling.

“I saw your face when you lost Yoongi. He's in the kitchen with Jin and Joonie,” he says. “Just stick with me, it’s just us,” he says. You’re comforted by your intern’s sweet words but you're still tense. A girl you've never seen before walks over to you. She's a little taller than you and looks exactly like Hoseok. She offers you a kind smile and you notice how pretty she is.

“I'm Jung Jiwoo. You must be Y/N,” she says. You smile in return and bow lightly.

“I am. Nice to finally meet you,” you say. She smiles and pulls you into a friendly hug. Jungkook lingers by your side and you're grateful, not knowing what you would do if he wasn't right there. You return Jiwoo’s hug and you both pull away.

“I can show you around if you want, none of the guys will,” she says playfully, sticking her tongue out at Jungkook.

“Sure,” you reply. You follow her out of the living room.

“You and Yoongi are best friends, right?” She asks, linking arms with you, to your surprise.

“Yeah, we grew up together,” you reply, smiling to yourself.

“He’s such a sweet guy,” she says. You feel a pang in your chest, but you quickly decide to shake it off.

“I wouldn't call him sweet. He's rude,” you joke. She laughs.

“This is my favourite room,” she says. Jiwoo smiles at you and opens a door. On the other side of the door is a spacious room with a hot tub and pool.

“No way!” You exclaim. She laughs at your excitement.

“We can always go in later,” She says. You shake your head.

“I don't have a bathing suit or I would,” you say.

“Namjoon or Jin just give me one of their shirts to wear in the pool when I forget a bathing suit,” she says. You laugh.

“I hardly know anyone here,” you admit.

“Hoseok has told me a lot about you actually. I think you know them more than you think,” she says. “I have noticed they all think of you like a little sister,” she says. “Or an older sister, depends on who we're talking about,” she backtracks. You laugh. You decide to tell her about the whiteboard in your office.

“Then it has to be one of them!” She exclaims excitedly. “Let's solve this tonight, I'll help you,” she says. You smile widely.

“Let's do it,” you say. You two hear someone calling both of your names so you shut the door to the room and walk towards the voice.

“Guys! We're playing truth or dare,” Taehyung says. You and Jiwoo walk into the living room and sit in the circle with the others. You take a seat between Jimin and Yoongi and cross your legs. Yoongi slips his arm around you waist and shifts you closer to him, holding you against his side protectively.

“Taehyung,” Hoseok says. “Truth or dare.”

“Dare,” Taehyung replies confidently.

“Show us all the last selfie you took,” he says.

“Hoseok that's weak,” everyone chides.

“I'm starting off simple,” he defends and crosses his arms. Taehyung opens his phone and clicks away for a while and then the phone is handed around. When you look at it, you see Taehyung and Jungkook in your office, both making peace signs and stupid faces. You can see though, in the corner of the room, a message on your whiteboard.

“When did you take this?” You ask.

“Today,” Taehyung replies. The message on the whiteboard is simple “I'm in love with you, Y/N” is all it says.

“Y/N? What's wrong?” Yoongi asks.

“Just read the whiteboard,” you say. He zooms in and his jaw drops.

“Okay, that's enough. Which one of you asses are writing on Y/N’s whiteboard?” Yoongi snaps. No one says anything, everyone just blankly looks at each other.

“I guess we'll find out as the night goes on,” Namjoon says, downing his shot.

“Joon, that looks a lot like your handwriting,” Jin says. Namjoon looks at Jin with a straight face.

“Whatever you say, Jin,” he mutters. Is it Namjoon? You can't deny, he has showed special care towards you and has always made sure to fire the people causing you trouble, but you just assumed it was because you were a good worker and Yoongi’s roommate and friend. You look up at Namjoon and he is already looking at you. His cheeks flush red and he looks down quickly.

“Y/N,” Taehyung says, grinning evilly. “Truth or dare?” He asks.

“Dare,” you reply, not wanting to have to spill your life story.

“I dare you to kiss Jimin,” he says. You sit bolt upright.

“Yah! Kim Taehyung! That's going too far,” Yoongi says, gripping your hand tightly.

“Are you saying you want to take a forfeit dare?” Taehyung asks.

“Yes,” you say. Jimin, who is beside you, is tense and his breathing is unsteady.

“Do seven minutes in heaven with Namjoon,” he says. You stand up boldly, you would rather play seven minutes in heaven with Namjoon than kiss Yoongi’s close friend. Everyone looks shocked for a minute but then Namjoon stands up and shrugs.

“Which closest?” He asks. Jin stands up and walks to a closet in the hallway and opens it. It’s nearly empty, only a few cleaning supplies are stored there. You walk into the closet, your confidence wavering. Namjoon follows you inside and Jin shuts and you hear the click of the lock.

“Does this closet lock from the outside?” You ask curiously.

“Yeah, Jin and I didn't see a reason for us not to be able to lock it, especially because this door is really like easy to open so it would just randomly open and it would freak us our so now we lock it,” he explains. The situation itself is awkward. You’re pressed up against a wall, the CEO of your company standing across from you, your torsos touching.

“Sorry for them,” he apologizes.

“Don't apologize. I enjoy hanging around all of you,” you say.

“Is someone writing on your whiteboard?” He asks. You nod and shrug.

“That doesn't matter anymore,” you say. “At least not right now,” you correct. You look up at his face and he's looking down at you already. You two stare at each other and you're positive it’s just you, but you feel the temperature in the closet rise a couple degrees. “Why are you so nice to me at work?” You ask.  

“Do I have a reason not to be?” He asks.

“No. You have no reason to be so nice to me either,” you counter.

“Even if I told you, you wouldn't ever understand,” he replies. He leans down, his nose brushing yours. You don't move, frozen to the spot, waiting for him to make his next move.

“I want to kiss you,” he whispers.

“Why don't you?” You reply.

“I don't want to face the consequences,” he replies. The statement makes your head spin. What consequences? Is he drunk? The two of you stay like that for what seems like hours, lips millimeters apart when the door flies open. You two instantly jump apart, your head slamming against the wall and Namjoon instantly exiting the closet.

Someone screams, “NAMJOON AND Y/N WERE KISSING!” You stay rooted to your place for a couple seconds until a hand grabs your arm. You jump, the touch startling you and you're met with Jimin’s kind face.

“You can come out now Y/N,” he says. You follow him into the living room, sitting beside Yoongi again. You look to his face and he's glaring daggers at Namjoon. You place your hand on his and he pulls you close, one arm around your waist and his hand on your thigh. He draws little circles into your thigh and it seems to soothe him. Truth or dare goes on for a while, you end up on Yoongi’s lap, Yoongi ends up shirtless, Jin has to kiss Namjoon’s neck, Hoseok ends up tipsy from having to drink a lot, Jimin ended up prank calling a pizza place, Jungkook had to let Taehyung text his brother, Taehyung ended up being locked in the backyard and Jiwoo had to jump into the pool fully clothed.

“Okay! I say we quit truth or dare and start with drinking games,” Yoongi declares.

“Never have I ever?” Jimin suggests. Everyone agrees. Jin gets an 50 pack of plastic shot glasses, Namjoon gets the alcohol and Taehyung and Jungkook pour the alcohol. You get off Yoongi’s lap and he slips his shirt back on and Jiwoo changes into Jin’s hoodie and Namjoon’s sweatpants.

“Okay, Jimin, you're up first,” Namjoon says.

“Never have I ever had my first kiss with someone in this room,” he says. You and Yoongi both take a shot. Everyone stares at you two in shock.

“You two had your first kiss together?!” Hoseok shouts. You and Yoongi nod and refill your shot glasses.

“Do tell,” Jungkook says.

“Nah,” Yoongi says. “It’s a secret.” You giggle at that and nod. You two had your first kiss when you were 8 years old. You two were on the swings in a park and he kissed you and proclaimed his love for you and asked you to marry him. You, of course, said you would. You were both very weird children.

“Now I'm curious!” Jiwoo complains.

“Never have I ever cheated on someone,” Jin says, cutting off the awkward silence. Everyone is silent, looking around for anyone who is going to take a shot. Jimin sighs and does. You all gape at him.

“I was drunk and thought the girl was my girlfriend!” He exclaims, defending himself.

“Never have I ever gotten fired,” Jungkook says. Taehyung, Hoseok and Jiwoo take a shot.

“I was working at a fast food place and I forgot to go to work one day and got fired,” Taehyung says.

“Jiwoo and I got fired from the same place at the same time for falling asleep on the job,” Hoseok says. The siblings laugh to each other. Yoongi huffs and takes a shot.

“We’re not going to talk about it,” he says.

“You got fired?” You ask curiously.

“Yeah,” he says. You take a mental note of him getting fired so you can grill him later.

“Never have I ever had a wet dream about my best friend,” Namjoon says. Yoongi, Jimin and Jungkook all take shots. You laugh along with the others and then freeze. Wait… If Yoongi had a wet dream about his best friend… Doesn't that mean it was about you? You freeze and whip around, staring at your best friend.

“Yah! Min Yoongi! Do you have something to tell me?” You ask. He laughs, hiding his embarrassment.

“Nope,” he says. “Nothing you must know about,” he says and winks at you, pinching your thigh. You yelp and hit him.

“Never have I ever fallen in love with someone very close to me,” Jiwoo Says. Everyone in the room, except Jiwoo, takes a shot.