#barry is the only one i trust to sit more than a few rows away

[thedepthsoffandomminds]

Maze runner chapter thirteen

Masterlist

Previous chapter

“Alice.

Barry.

Walt.

Edgar.

Samantha.” Janson called out more names.

“I wanna know what's through that door.” Thomas whispered to you.

“Aaron.”

“Now, we've been over this. You said they were covered up, so you don't know what you saw.” Newt replied

“Dennis.”

“It could've been anything under there.”

“I know exactly what I saw. They were bodies.” Thomas explained again.

“Sally.”

“Aris said they bring in a new batch every night.”

“Who the hell is Aris?” Minho asked.

“Henry.

Tim.”

Thomas pointed to a boy sitting alone at a table not to far away. You all turn to look at him.

“Well, I'm sold.” Minho joked.

“And last but not least, David. Thank you for your attention. Enjoy the rest of your evening.” Janson lowered his clipboard as the chosen teens walked over to him. Newt leaned past you to speak,

“Okay, until we know anything for certain,

we should just keep our heads down and try not to draw any attention to ourselves, all right?”

Thomas nods, his eyes firmly on the doors. He got up and rushed forward.

“What is he doing?” You ask.

“I think he's drawing attention to himself.” Frypan stated the obvious and you all slowly got up.

“Hang on. You weren't called.” The guard stopped Thomas from walking out.

“I know, I'm just gonna be a second.” Thomas said, trying once more to get through the doors.

“This is a restricted area, kid.” The guard told him.

“I just wanna see my friend. Can you let me through?”

“Get your ass back in that chair.” The guard poked his finger on Thomas's chest.

Thomas turned and took a few steps before twisting quickly and rushing the guard. There is a tangle of limbs and Thomas is pushed back into you.

“Control your friend!” the guard shouted angrily. Janson broke through the guards.

“What's happening here? Thomas?I thought we could trust each other. You know we're all on the same team here.” He stopped shouting but his tone was anything but nice.

“Are we?” Thomas heaved his words through heavy breaths.

“Get them to their bunks.” The older man demanded.

“What the hell was that about?” you growled once the bunk door was shut and locked.

“You didn't really think they were just gonna let you through?” Newt folded his arms.

“Nah, of course I didn't.” Thomas pulled out the key card he had swiped, “I'm gonna find out what's on the other side of that door.” he said triumphantly.

“Right.”

“Newt, they're hiding something. Okay? These people are not who they say they are.”

“No, Thomas, you don't know that! The only thing that we do know is that they helped rescue us from WICKED. They gave us new clothes. They gave us food. They gave us a proper bed. Some of us haven't had that in a long time.” There was venom in Newt's next words, “Some of us a lot longer than others.”

The vent cover from under Thomas's bed flicked across the floor

“Hey, Thomas.” The Aris kid poked his head through, “You got it, didn't you?”

“Yeah. Let's go.” Thomas rushed forward.

“All right, look, maybe you guys are right. Maybe I'm just being paranoid but I got to find out for sure. Just cover for me. I'll be back as soon as I can.” He said before slipping through the grate. You watched him, then looked back at the others. Curiosity took over you and dove to the floor, crawling into the vents and following Thomas.

The three of you dropped down into the corridor and Thomas used the key card. Inside the room you were first faced with strange creatures in tanks.

“What the hell?”

“Are they Grievers?” You ask.

In the next part of the room kids were strung up in rows. All of them unconscious as a blue liquid is extracted from them. You feel Thomas rush past you to a girl.

“Teresa?” He uses back her hair,

“It's Rachel. They took her the first night. I told her it was going to be okay.” Aris informed you both.

“You sure this can't wait?” Janson’s voice echoed from the doorway. All three of you jumped and ran to hide. Two men walked through the room with one of them clicking on a screen that Janson stood in front of.

“She was very specific, sir. She wanted to speak with you personally.” The man said.

“As if I don't have enough to deal with.” Janson groaned.

You chance pearing round and you see Ava Paige spring onto the screen.

“Good evening, Doctor Paige. Lovely to see you again. Although I admit… I wasn't expecting to hear from you quite so soon.” There was that false niceness from Janson again.

“Change of plans, Janson. I'll be arriving a little sooner than expected. First thing tomorrow.” The blonde woman spoke. Your heart raced, not even two days ago you had stood over her dead body.

“We'll be delighted to have you. I think you'll be pleased with the progress we've made. As you can see, early results have been extremely promising. Whatever it is you've been doing to them in there, it's working.” He said.

“Not well enough. I just received board approval. I want all the remaining subjects sedated and prepped for harvest by the time I arrive.” you flick your eyes to Thomas who is looking at you, panic in his eyes.

“Doctor Paige, we are going as fast as we can. We are still running tests…”

“Try something faster. Until I can guarantee their security, this is the best plan.”

“Ma'am, security is my job. We're on twenty four hour lockdown here.” Janson tried to reassure her. “I am assuring you...the assets are secure.”

“Have you found the Right Arm?”

“Not yet. We tracked them as far as the mountains.” you could tell he was getting frustrated.

“ So they're still out there. And they've already hit two of our installations. They want these kids as badly as we do. And I cannot, I cannot afford another loss. Not now, when I am so close to a cure. If you are not up to the task, I will find someone who is.” Ava growled through the screen.

“That won't be necessary. Might I suggest we start with the most recent arrivals.”

“Those four are our best hope, Just get it done. Janson. I don't want them to feel any pain.”

“They won't feel a thing.” The screen went blank and the two men marched themselves out of the room.

The three of you all rush back to the vent and climb up.

“Thomas! Y/n!” Newt said as you rushed into the room.

“We gotta go.” You wanted as you helped Aris out from under the bed.

“We gotta go right now.” Thomas repeated your words as he grabbed a sheet from a bed and tied it around the bunk door.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Minho shouted.

“What do you mean, "We gotta go?" Newt asked.

“They're coming. Come on. We gotta go.” Thomas was panicking and rushing around.

“They're coming for us. Paige. She's still alive.” You say grabbing Newt's hand.

“What happened in there?” Frypan asked.

“Aris, what happened?” Winston grabbed him. You were trying to pull a bunk in front of the doors.

“Thomas, y/n, can you just calm down and talk to us.”

“She's still alive.” Thomas finally stood still.

“Who's she? Teresa?”

“Ava.”

“Ava?” Thomas started grabbing things again,

“Will you just turn around and talk to us?”

“It's WICKED! It's still WICKED. It's always been WICKED.” You bellow at them.

“What did you see?” Newt asked you, trying to hold on to your shoulders and stop you from rushing around. Thomas put a mattress against the door, covering the window.

“Come on, come on. We don't have time.” You say pushing the boys to the vents. You all emerge into a corridor that's lined with pipes all painted white. Thomas looked around himself.

“Okay, let's go.”

“You guys go ahead. There's something I gotta do.” Aris said.

“What are you talking about?” You ask him.

“Trust me, it's important. You guys wanna get outta here, right? With everyone? Just go.”

“I'll go with him.”

“Okay, Winston, go! Go!” Thomas agreed.

“You sure we can trust this kid?” Minho asks as you all run towards a door.

“You don't want to know where we'd be without him.”

As your turned the corner you all ran into a female doctor.

“What are you kids doing out?” As you scrambled for something to say the alarm lights began spinning. The doctor gasped as Minho grabbed her and spun her round.

“Take us to Teresa” Thomas demanded. The doctor didn't have much choice; she led you all back through the facility toward the medical bay.

“Freeze, stay where you are!” You hear the voice behind you. Minho wastes no time. He runs full pelt at the guard, using the flat of his shin to drive the guard into the wall and knocking him out. You were all impressed by his strength and quick thinking. He grabbed the guard's gun.

Finally in the medbay you pushed doctor Crawford down amongst the other doctors and Minho used bandages to bind their hands. Thomas finds Teresa on a bed behind a curtain. He gently wakes her up. She was confused but compliant.

“Thomas we gotta go now!” You call out. Thomas scans the room and grabs a stool he slams it against the window but it bounces off.

“Newt!” The blonde boy grabs another and they work together slamming at the same time and glass scatters around the room. Thomas jumps through the window and helps Teresa over, Newt was next and he grabbed you into his arm to bring you over the glass. Minho wasast to hop over, holding the gun pointed at the door.

You run like you've never run before until you reach another corridor. A grey door at the end. This was the one you had first come.in through and you knew freedom was close by. Thomas tried the key card in the door but it continued to flash red.

“Thomas!” Jason stood behind two.guards on their knees.

“Open this door, Janson!” Thomas demanded.

“You really don't want me to.” Janson said.

“Open the damn door!”

“Listen to me! I'm trying to save your life. The maze is one thing, but you kids wouldn't last one day, out in the Scorch. If the elements don't kill you, the Cranks will. Thomas, you have to believe me. I only want what's best for you.” You took the card from him and tried it again.

“Yeah, let me guess. WICKED is good?”

“You're not getting through that door, Thomas.” Janson growled.

In that exact moment the doors opened and you heard a familiar growl.

“Mai Mai!” You rush through the door and wrap yourself around the Tiger. Winston and Aris stood beside her.

“Hey, guys.” Aris smiled.

“You didn't think we'd leave her behind did you?” Winston laughed

“Come on!” You turn to see what Newt is shouting at and see the doors closing. Thomas was running as fast as he could.

“Thomas! Come on! Let's go!” The boys were all shouting together. You room a moment too. Look around yourself and see two backpacks. Quickly glancing in them you see a medpack and other equipment so you grab one and throw the other at Minho. Thomas slides through the door just as it was closing and you all sigh in relief. There isn't time to waste and you all run across the open room to the large doors. To your surprise it only needed a small twist of a red handle to open them.

Sand blew instantly making you all close your eyes for a moment. You felt a hand slide into yours and Newt pulled you along with him. Mai Mai by your side.

Next chapter

@fandomfan-102 @deanstolemydragon @afalls14universe

[spenceraugust]

PLEASE TELL US THE OTHER INSTRUMENTS YOU THINK THE BIRDS WOULD PLAY

OH I WAS SO HOPING YOU’D ASK

First off, Magnus

Obviously percussion, probably insists on being on snare in every song. The other percussionists hate him because he refuses to play the bell parts. Is only willing to go off snare to play bass drum, and timpani (OCCASIONALLY, if it POPS OFF). Proof: Loud boy, probably joined because he wanted to hit things and realized it would be fun. Still not entirely sure how to hella focus in on the music, but so long as you hit the drum regularly and on beat you can get by.

Taako

Trumpet. I have never seen the personification of a trumpet player so clearly demonstrated. In my experience with trumpet players, they have no fucking clue what song they’re playing, what the tempo is supposed to be, or even how loud- there’s one fucking volume and it’s UNBEARABLE. I fucking LOVE trumpets, they’re the best. Proof: Lup probably joined orchestra and he didn’t want to be without her so he joined too. Picked trumpet because it’s the smallest (easy to carry) brass (few buttons) and then was hit with a fucking tidal wave when he learned about lip slurs and air control. Sits last chair, and fucking loves it. People expect little from him and he sits close enough to the percussion to fuck with Magnus when the conductor is doing technical work with the flutes, clarinets, saxes, etc.

Merle

Saxophone, because (hot take) it’s the sexiest instrument and he’s a gross ass little man. He plays alto because it’s smaller and easier to hold/ reach the fingerings for. He’s not that bad, but Merle NEVER practices, meaning that he’s always playing catch up. The conductor hates him. All he needs to do is practice and he’d be fine. Why did he pick a technical instrument if he wasn’t wanting to put the work in. Proof: (see sexiest instrument & gross ass little man) and, personality wise, (in my experience) Sax players LOVE TO TALK! They’re in the center of the orchestra, meaning that if they yell loud enough they can chat with pretty much anyone during warm ups (this is another reason the conductor hates Merle.... all they can hear while trying to do technical work in small groups is him laughing with Davenport)

And speaking of Davenport

Probably euphonium/tuba ! I tossed back and forth for a while between this and clarinet, but he’s DEFFO a euph/tuba (I know they’re different instruments, but you can usually swap them out depending on what is available) player. Occasionally it has some technical bits, but as lower brass, Davvy is usually just holding long ass notes and waiting for shit to be over. Requires extreme focus & patience to not lose count, and keeps him close enough to Merle to chat about old people things and still relatively close to all the other birds to keep an eye on them (sans Barry, but he’s one of the more adult-adjacent players, so he can handle being off on the side on piano). He can play both (they’re pretty much the exact same) but prefers euphonium because it’s lighter and smaller. Proof: We all know Dav & Merle are buds and I bet they’d want to sit together, plus this instrument works both pre/post voidfish. I sat fourish rows in front of the euphoniums in my band and let me tell you... they are strange creatures. They should be studied because they do not have normal brains. Sometimes, they are like the trumpets (minus the part about counting, see: usually sustained notes). They are dazed and unaware and have a tendency of hitting people and stands with their instruments. OR, they’re incredibly competent. They will pick up another brass instrument in a day, and will be playing grade six stuff on it without blinking an eye. We had a euph player named Alvin, and the conductor would call his name and he’d just blink at her. repeatedly. until the trombone player nudged him. and then he learned clarinet (I know it’s not low. brass but still, technical and impressive) and was playing our grade six piece on it by week’s end. An anomaly. Incredibly confusing specimen. I cannot put my confusion into words as to how little I understand the brains of og brass players, despite playing a secondary brass instrument myself.

(The arguement for clarinet is that it is, again, a technical instrument, and we all KNOW Davenport is good with motor skills {see S&S flying the starblaster} but clarinets are just way too meek and timid and afraid for Davvy to be one)

Finally, Lucretia

At the beginning of story and song, she would have played clarinet (see above: technical, requires strong motor skills, meek and timid and usually very afraid of everything). She would have sat in head chair, so she would be used to speaking to the conductor and would have lost her general fear of existence (clarinets are another strange anomaly... if you sit front row you’re pretty cool, but second row and onwards? Don’t think I’ve ever heard any of them speak. They never make eye contact. I know I’m ranting but I cannot stress how much the clarinets do not want to be acknowledged). BUT HERE’S THE PLOT TWIST BOYS! Lucretia DEFINITELY started on clarinet. But she didn’t STAY on clarinet, oh no no. When Lucretia becomes “Madam Director” vis a vis that one cycle where she’s alone on the star blaster, she picks up bass clarinet. Oh, a small difference, you say. Same instrument, but larger, you say. How could that change a personality?

I do not know why, but the bass clarinets are VERY different from the reg. clar. Bass clarinets talk a lot more, but are usually a lot quieter than the other low people. They talk pretty frequently, usually not to the conductor or to the whole band, but they do talk. They are well-liked, if a bit reclusive at times. Usually the boyfriend or sibling of someone popular (I don’t know why this always happens but it does, and it’s probably either Davenport or Taako that is her special link that makes her well liked {I would say Magnus, but see: unwilling to play bells}). Still technical like the clarinet, but now sometimes has prolonged notes that requires focus and counting. Easy to carry, relatively small case. Powerful instrument. Proof: Lucy is a business lady with lots of shit to do, can’t have a huge ass instrument, and if that personality bit wasn’t enough for you, then like... Lucy needs a strong ass, versatile instrument because she is a powerful, versatile woman.

Tldr: Magnus plays percussion (specifically snare, bass drum and timpani), Taako plays trumpet, Merle plays alto sax, Davenport plays euphonium, and Lucretia started on clarinet and then moved to bass clarinet. 

Based off of this post I made, about how Barry and Lup’s instruments suit their personalities well: link

[ceilingfan5]

i want to contribute to the song+pairing askmeme but i don't know any songs with words (remotely applicable to taz) so put playlist on shuffle and pick one at random+taakitz?

i spent over an hour picking a song. isn’t it wild how many songs are about bad relationships? anyway my friend really likes Aurora so i went with Exist For Love

so we already had a proposal today...how about a wedding?

send me a song and a ship and i’ll write you something too!

And then I learned the truth How everything good in life seems to lead back to you And every single time I run into your arms I feel like I exist for love

Lup and Barry talked them into having a wedding. Taako’s initial impulse was to elope and immediately fuck off into an expensive, far away honeymoon, but Lup suckered him into the spectacle, and Barry suckered Kravitz into the gesture. They invite more guests than the venue can hold, and the paparazzi are feral. They have to hold it outside, and the weather is perfect down to the slight breeze that fills every single moment with just that much more drama. Taako makes the cake himself, of course, and Lup makes the food--trust is more important than anything, which may as well be the theme of the event, and the only guests that matter sit in the first two rows. 

Taako is a bundle of nerves, before the show goes down. Kravitz has to be given a pep talk by both Magnus and Merle, neither of which actually help, but he appreciates the thought. Merle does the officiating, despite Taako’s dramatic protests, and they walk down the carpet festooned with blossoms of every variety to a song that makes a lot of people cry. 

But the vows--oh, the vows. Taako tried to forbid them, but Kravitz was adamant that he get to say his piece, and Taako is nothing if not dedicated to retaliation. He still maintains that he doesn’t have to look Kravitz in the eye while he bullshits, and Kravitz agreed with a smile. 

Taako knew Kravitz would shoot to kill. He didn’t expect how badly it would ruin him. 

Things proceed normally, with just a few hiccups and delays, and they walk in to the music, and they stand at the altar, and Merle asks for their vows, and Kravitz pulls out notecards, and Taako withers up and dies right there in his very expensive shoes. But it gets worse. He opens his mouth and starts talking. 

“Taako,” Kravitz starts.

“Good start,” Taako says. “Glad you got my name right. Might’ve walked right back the other way, you know, if not.” The audience chuckles. Kravitz gives him that look that sees right through him. He knows he’s deflecting.

“Taako,” Kravitz continues, with a slight smile. “We’re all here so I can profess my love to you. This is the day that begins the rest of our lives, and we’re going to spend them together. And that’s the most incredible thing I think I’ve ever signed up for.” 

“Radical,” Taako says. “Loving this.”

“Taako...” Kravitz takes a breath, fidgeting with his notecards. “I lived...a very, very, very long time ago. And I served the Raven Queen in my afterlife for a very specific purpose. And I took pride in it, enjoyed it even, but- I questioned why I still existed. And then I met you. And I got to know you, I got to understand you and treasure you and every moment we shared and I had this realization. I think...and I hope my Queen takes no offence to this, but I think I exist for love.” 

Taako giggles nervously. 

“Never before have I felt like I belong somewhere more than I belong in your arms. Never before have I understood myself so deeply than in relation to you. Taako, everything good in life seems to lead back to you, and I never want that to end. I want to be by your side for eternity, and I know- Taako, I know we’ll be so happy together.”

Taako covers his face, turning his body away from their gathered guests, who are all on the edges of their collective seats. 

“I spent so long, Taako, so long not knowing this kind of love, and now I can’t imagine going back. I feel like my life--a new life, a second chance--I feel like my life began again when I met you. And I couldn’t be more thankful.”

Kravitz smiles at Taako, at the expression only he can see. 

“I know it sounds like a lot, but you need to know-” Kravitz begins to tear up, and he can’t do a damn thing about it. “I love you so. And I’m going to love you forever.” 

The entire assembly takes one enormous breath, and every head turns to see Taako’s response to that. But Taako never had any intention of sharing his vows. He laughs, and coughs, and lets his hair fall in the gentle waves in front of his face, and he leans up to Kravitz’s ear and whispers the song in his heart, and Kravitz full on bursts into tears and sweeps him into a kiss. 

“Well shit,” Merle says, looking between the two of them, inseparable. “Do you?”

“I do,” Kravitz says, with every ounce of love in his heart he can muster. 

“Do you?” 

“I hella, hella do,” Taako says.

“Then go ahead and kiss. You’re married.” 

Kravitz dips Taako and they kiss so long they almost forget to come up for air. And if they escape to somewhere quiet to hold each other before the reception, and their first dance together, swaying in tender, loving arms, before cutting the cake and shoving slices in one another’s faces--if they spend a little time treasuring each other in the wake of all that love in peace, then that’s their fucking business. 

[starting-now]

All the Time (Barry x Reader)

-REQUESTS OPEN-

Word Count: 2224

Warnings: none

Summary: THERE’S. ONLY. ONE. BED. 

-------------------------------------------------------

Personally, you didn’t understand why Gene insisted on this trip, other than to make more money from the class. It honestly felt childish, sitting on a bus with your acting class, your best friend Barry sitting next to you. It felt nice though, simpler. 

“Where do you think we’re going?” Barry interrupted your thoughts and shot you a curious glance. 

“I’m not sure, but I WILL bet you fifteen bucks that it’s a museum and somehow there’s a picture of Gene in it.” you said, smiling at him.

“What?” Barry was taken aback “No way! How could Mr. Cousineau get his picture in a museum?” he asked

“So you take the bet?” you retorted, raising your eyebrows.

He hesitated but reached out his hand, you shook it.

“You’re on.” he said.

Gene was sitting at the front of the bus and he stood up in the aisle, making a motion for everyone to direct their attention at him.

“Alright guys, we’re getting closer to our little surprise, I just wanna remind everyone that this is a team bonding exercise! So mix, mingle, and remember this is an overnight trip so you are still paying full price for today as well as tomorrow. We’ll be there soon.” he said and promptly sat back down.

You rolled your eyes and grinned at Barry, who returned the look. You loved seeing him like this. So relaxed and happy. You had been there for the bad days, and you loved to see him having a good time. Plus, he had the most adorable smile.

“Is everything okay?” Barry questioned, meeting your gaze.

“Yea of course why do you ask?” you returned.

“I don’t know you were just looking at me weird.” he laughed and you promptly turned away. 

“Sorry, just zoning out.” you said, hoping he didn’t notice the color rising to your cheeks.

The old bus slowly came to a stop and you all looked out the window to see exactly what you had expected. A museum. The Hollywood Museum to be exact. Barry whipped his head over to look at you, eyes wide and a smile breaking out on his face.

“You called it!!” he said and you shrugged

“Hey, that was only half the bet.” you reminded him, and gathered your things to get off the bus.

Everyone filed off the bus and walked into the museum. Your classmates, especially Sally, marveled at the props, replicas, and stories of fame that they all so desperately wanted. You and Barry hung towards the back of the group, taking everything in. 

You walked through the vast rooms filled with various elements of Hollywood. Batman and Robin suits, Marylin Monroes clothes, and even a replica of Hannibal’s cell from Silence of the Lambs, which you were particularly excited about. 

Barry watched as you bounced from prop to prop, beaming and explaining why certain things were important or interesting, and he couldn’t stop a smile from spreading on his face. Normally, this wouldn’t be his cup of tea. He wasn’t great in social situations most of the time, but with you, things were different. You made him feel safe and…well, normal. As normal as someone like him could ever feel. 

You of course, didn’t notice the look of complete adoration on Barry’s face as you spoke. You had always assumed that your feelings were unrequited, and you certainly didn’t plan on bringing them up to him anytime soon.

As Mr. Cousineau reached the end of his self guided tour, you caught up with the rest of the group and shot Barry a defeated look. 

“Guess I owe you. There’s no picture of Gene here.” you said.

But before Barry could respond, Mr. Cousineau cleared his throat loudly.

“Now if you turn your attention to our last stop, this is a photo from the set of Forrest Gump. And if you look closely about ten rows back from the Washington monument, you will see yours truly. No big deal. But that is me.” he proclaimed proudly.

It was almost impossible to see, even blown up to the size of the museum wall. But it was him. You turned to Barry with a shocked expression which he mirrored. 

“Holy shit.” you both said in unison.

Sasha started asking questions about how he got to be in the movie to which Gene responded that it ‘wasn’t important’ and that’d he be ‘taking no further questions at this time’. Only Gene M. Cousineau would drive his students four hours away just to flex.

Barry slipped you fifteen dollars on the way out of the museum as you loaded up on the bus and headed for the hotel.

Once you arrived there, everyone was given their room and it was left to you all to decide who you’d be rooming with. 

You of course wanted to ask Barry, but you weren’t sure if he’d say yes. You resolved that you’d wait for him to come to you. Unfortunately Barry had the same thought process, so you both stumbled around until you were the only two left. You smiled awkwardly at one another and Barry grabbed the key to the last available room. As he turned around to walk towards the hallway, a nervous grin threatened to form on your face.

Barry opened the door and you wheeled your luggage in, propping it up against the wall before getting a proper look at the room. When you entered fully you noticed something that almost made your heart stop: there was only one bed. 

Barry trailed in behind you, taking note of the same thing and stopping in his tracks. His eyes scanned the room for a couch or anything else he could sleep on, but to no avail. The room had a large desk, two chairs, even a microwave and a mini fridge. But nothing to sleep on besides one queen size bed. 

You and Barry shot each other a nervous look.

“I can just crash on the floor. I really don’t mind.” Barry said, not meeting your gaze and rubbing the back of his neck.

“That’s ridiculous.” you said, “I don’t mind if we both sleep here.” you finished, gesturing to the bed.

You didn’t have anytime to discuss it further before Gene called everyone down to the conference room in the lobby for some team building exercises. You smiled awkwardly and left the room with Barry just behind you.

The team building went by quickly, your mind mostly distracted by the interaction earlier. Still, you had fun doing the various improv and team games that Gene planned. But sooner than you’d like, it was over, and you were all free to go back to your rooms. You were one of the last ones out and you were a bit surprised to see Barry waiting for you just outside.

“Hey,” he started “Sorry if this is weird, I just really wanna make sure everything is okay with the sleeping situation? I mean, the last thing I’d wanna do is make you uncomfortable.” he said, fidgeting with his hands.

You smiled politely “No it’s really no problem, trust me.” you said.

If only he knew why you were nervous. He wouldn’t be worried about making you uncomfortable. But you couldn’t tell him. Your friendship was too important, and you were worried that it would be ruined when you found out he didn’t return your feelings. But you weren’t about to let him sleep on the floor. So you swallowed your anxiety and tried to remain as calm as possible. You told Barry that you’d meet him back at the room and you stopped by the vending machine. 

Barry was in the shower when you got back to the room, so you set up the table with the snacks you bought. He came out of the bathroom, dressed for bed in a grey t-shirt and lounge pants, a smile lighting up his face when he sees your set up. Barry could be a picky guy food-wise sometimes, but you knew the one food he loved the most: Famous Amos cookies, and you had bought out the vending machine’s entire supply. Barry burst out laughing.

“No way, (Y/N)! Oh my god! This is awesome!” he beamed. 

“Please Mr. Berkman, take your seat. These cookies are not going to eat themselves!” you joked and sat in one of the chairs, grabbing a bag yourself and cracking it open.

“You didn’t have to do this.” he said, more seriously.

“Eh don’t worry about it. It was your money anyways!” you laughed as Barry realized you had spent all $15 from the bet on vending machine cookies. You two ate as much as you could and packed the rest into your bags for a later time.

It was your turn to shower and change and when you got out Barry was already sitting on the bed, flipping through channels on the TV. You joined him and he shot you a smile. You wished it could be like this all the time. You loved being around him, everything felt so easy, so right. You leaned back against the headboard and turned your attention to the tv, though you were thinking about other things. 

You had been sitting much closer than this in class and on the bus but this felt…different. You peeled back the covers and slid under them, making yourself comfortable. Barry did the same, both of you not speaking much besides the odd comment here or there about whatever garbage TV you were watching. Eventually though, you drifted off to sleep, and Barry turned the television off so as not to disturb you and attempted to sleep himself.

A few hours later Barry felt something against his skin that awoke him. Slowly getting a grip on his surroundings he realized that you had turned over, your arm slung over his chest and your head nuzzling into his arm. He stiffened, for fear that he might wake you. He relished the feeling of your skin on his, the smell of your shampoo and body wash, and he felt himself sinking into your touch. A smile spread across his face again, as it so often did with you. He wished it could be like this all the time. He sighed and felt you stir slightly.

You woke up to feel something very…warm against you. To your embarrassment you opened your eyes to find that you were wrapped snugly around Barry’s body, face nuzzled into his grey sleep shirt. And whats worse…he was awake. You immediately pulled your arm back.

“Oh my god I’m so sorry,” you laughed awkwardly, cheeks flushing vibrantly “This is so embarrassing. Um, wow, Im sorry, I promise I didn’t mean-“

“No no, I mean, it was nice.” Barry interrupted you and your breath hitched. 

“R-really?” you asked

“Um, yeah actually, really nice. If you’re comfortable like that.” he said

You hesitantly placed your arm back around him, laying your head next to his. He turned to look at you, his eyes twinkling with the moonlight that seeped in through the window.

 Barry took in your facial features. He’s not sure if he’s ever been this close to you, but he couldn’t get enough of it. And maybe its the tiredness, or the intoxication of your presence but somehow he manages to say it.

“You are so beautiful.” he says and immediately flinches as though even he didn’t know he would say it.

You search his eyes for some kind of joke, but you find none, and one of your hands comes up to cup Barry’s cheek.

“Do you really mean that?” you ask.

He just nods, as he’s not sure he can handle saying anything else at the moment. He can’t help but lean into your touch. You slowly move your head towards his and he does the same, both of you still unsure but letting it happen.

Your lips connect. It is a soft, timid kiss. One full of worry and fear of rejection, but also full of desire and hope. You both become more sure and deepen the kiss. Your hand slips into his dark hair and his arms snakes around you. It’s everything you thought it’d be. His lips were soft, and his calloused hands were gentle as they found their way around your body to pull you closer. 

You broke apart, both smiling. 

“Wow” he whispered.

“Yeah” you returned.

“Listen, I um-I really like you, if that wasn’t obvious. And I guess I just wanted to tell you that, so that you know for sure.” he said nervously. 

Your smile grew wider “All this time I thought I was the obvious one.” you said and pressed another soft kiss to his lips.

You positioned your head to lay on his chest, your legs intertwining, his arm wrapped around you. He knew his arm would fall asleep, but it was worth it. You found yourself drifting off to sleep yet again, comforted by his heartbeat, the fresh scent of wood and pine, and by his fingers swirling nonsense patterns onto your skin. Barry did the same, soothed by the feel of your skin against his, the weight of your head on his chest, and you arm over his waist.

You both wished it would be like this all the time.

And it was.

[frozenflash]

Veritas Vos Liberabit: Chapter 1

This is a fill for the Hurt Barry square on my Coldflash Bingo card from @coldflashweeks. This is only the first scene and a half - the rest can be found on AO3, linked below.

Summary: If you had asked Barry a year ago where he thought he’d be now, he would’ve had it all mapped out. Fourth year of his undergrad, finishing up his degree with a thesis that was no doubt consuming his every waking thought. Fresh off his co-op at the most innovative lab in the country, he would’ve said something about the countless job offers he’d be fielding for when he finally graduated, or maybe about taking the track team to championships for the fourth year in a row and coming back with another gold medal to hang on his wall.

Instead, he’s sitting in the bleachers of the stadium watching his boyfriend score another touchdown, waiting for the game to finish so Len can pretend he doesn’t know him and Barry can pretend he wouldn’t give anything to have just a piece of this — the turf under his sneakers, the burn behind his ribs, the rush of competition.

Read on AO3

The track team at CCU saved Barry’s life. It was hard to explain that to people, and even harder to find someone who understood when he did, but it was true.

He’d been told countless times that everyone struggled their first year in college, that it was normal to feel like you couldn’t get your head above water long enough to take a breath. It was part of the adjustment phase — you just had to grit your teeth, bucker down, and fail a few assignments until you figured out how to manage life in the real world.

Only, for Barry it had been more than that. No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn’t focus on the work he needed to do. It seemed like every time he finally got one thing out of the way, six more popped up. He felt like an alien on campus, like he was an imposter in every room he walked into. The friends he tried to make felt more like acquaintances who only sat with him because it was better than sitting alone. His roommates were distant, uncomfortable to be around, and he couldn’t stop feeling like he was invading their space and that they would be so much happier if he wasn’t there.

He felt like that about most people, really. No matter how kind they were, how far out of their way they went to talk to him, he couldn’t shake the feeling that he was unwanted. And when it got harder and harder to get out of bed, to drag himself to the kitchen and find something to eat, to make the ten minute walk to campus to attend his classes, he couldn’t shake the feeling that he was dragging everyone around him down with him.

It took Joe driving all the way across the city in the middle of the night for him to accept that what he was feeling was more than the college stress everyone else talked about. He spent that night in the hospital, staring at white walls while Joe hovered at his bedside, the picture of the concerned parent.

It was his therapist who recommended the team. Or, well, who recommended some kind of involvement on campus. She thought it would help him to feel less out of place and that it might provide him the opportunity to make more meaningful relationships.

At the time, he’d still been wary of trusting anything she had to say. It hadn’t been his idea to see her, but he’d promised Joe he’d talk to someone after he’d refused to talk to him.

Still, he thought it couldn’t hurt. He’d attend the try outs, not make the team, and he could go back to his therapist and tell her he’d tried but it wasn’t in the cards.

That wasn’t what happened. What did happen was that the coach pulled him aside and told him that while he wasn’t good enough yet, he had potential. He wouldn’t be in any of the upcoming competitions, but he could train with the team and probably be ready in time for the midseason races. It was the break Barry had been waiting to catch, but he almost didn’t take it.

It wasn’t until he’d attended the first training session, exhausted from waking up at five in the morning after another night of being unable to fall asleep, that he really accepted that this was something he wanted to do. It wasn’t just that the environment was more welcoming than anywhere else he’d been on campus, or that the other boys on the team slapped his shoulder and joked around and smiled like he’d been their brother all their lives, or that the coach didn’t scold him for finishing two minutes behind everyone else, just clapped his arm and told him what to change to be faster the next time. It was the one part of it that Barry had been most wary of — the running itself.

Growing up, kids his age had never taken well to Barry. Whether it was because he was good in school but quiet on the playground, or because their parents told them not to play with the kid who’s dad was serving life in Iron Heights, he was the target of all the aggression they couldn’t get out elsewhere. He’d learned quickly not to delude himself into thinking he could defend himself. When it came to fight or flight, Barry always chose flight.

Back then, running had been a means of survival. How fast he could run equated to how many beatings he took. The shame that accompanied the black eyes and insults he couldn’t get out of his head rubbed off on the act of running itself, and it became associated with everything that sucked about going to school.

Running on the track team, though? It was freeing. It was a satisfying burn behind his ribs every time he beat his last best time. It was the turf of the CCU track staining his sneakers more and more green with each early morning training session he attended. It was the air on his red cheeks, turning the sweat on his body ice cold as he passed the other boys. It was the first thing he’d done all year that had felt right.

Barry wasn’t sure where he would’ve been if he hadn’t found that. It had been the foothold he’d needed to finally get his head above water and take that first breath of clean air. Without it, he would’ve surely drowned.

Now that he couldn’t have that, he was worried he would start to lose his footing and go under again.

Barry was very familiar with the parking lot behind the CCU stadium. It was reserved to people with a permit, which consisted of the various team members and staff who used or worked at the arena. This meant that it was either completely packed or completely empty at all times, and never anything in between.

Barry himself didn’t have a pass, but the car he was by wasn’t registered under his name, so the permit sat on the dashboard, announcing to the world that there’d be hell to pay if they towed it. As if the Ferrari logo wasn’t doing a good enough job of it.

Tucking his phone away, he kicked his leg up where he was already leaning against it and stuffed his hands in his jacket pockets. The parking lot was full of cars, but he was the only person in sight. It wasn’t surprising — practice hadn’t let out yet, and anyone else who cared probably had better things to do with their time than wait around like a desperate groupie.

No sooner had he thought it than the back door swung open and a gaggle of boys came pouring out. They were loud enough that it was jarring after twenty minutes of waiting in silence, jostling each other around and shouting light-hearted insults across the parking lot as they all dispersed to their respective cars.

Barry didn’t care about any of that. He only cared about the guy who was now walking toward him, sporting the letterman jacket Barry had made countless jokes about when he first saw it and a look that said he wasn’t entirely happy to see him.

“Hey,” Len greeted when he got close enough to be heard at the hushed half-whisper he was using. He hoisted his duffle bag with all his football gear higher up on his shoulder, glancing behind him to the rest of the team as he came to a stop before Barry. “I thought we were meeting at your place?”

Continue on AO3

[crimsondomingo]

Day 31: Mash up any two

Thank you to everyone who followed my AU a day challenge this month. Today’s ended up so long, I have to put a cut for once, because it’s over 3k! Totally on accident, I guess I just got carried away.

Big thank you to @a-redharlequin for helping me headcanon last night!

And thank you to everyone who submitted ideas for the mashup. I’m going to keep your prompts in my ask and might respond later with drabbles.

Now for what I did choose: Supernatural / High School

For my July AU a Day Challenge

“You know it’s impolite to stare, right?”

Barry blinked. He hadn’t meant to stare. He’d just never seen someone so gorgeous in real life before. And now he was talking to him. “Um…” And his eloquence was living up to its usual level of why me?

“Hi,” the gorgeous boy saved him. “I’m Len. You’re new, huh? Can’t be easy transferring at the start of senior year, no matter where you’re from.” He smiled at Barry like all the world existed only to be his backdrop.

“You too. I mean thanks!” Why was Barry ever allowed to speak? “Sorry, I’m just nervous. I’m Barry. And yeah, it is hard transferring like this, but…well it’s sort of a long story—”

“Say no more.” Len held up a hand as they headed toward the school together. “Like, really, say no more, because we’re on school grounds. Any tough stuff about where you came from, who you are, you don’t have to say anything. We’re all pretty much ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ around here, unless a teacher brings it up. Don’t feel pressured. Here, we’re all normal—even if we’re not.” He winked.

Barry felt a wave of relief at the joke. He’d been expecting to be asked to get up in front of everyone and tell the long, difficult story of how his father died when he was a baby, then his mother when he was ten, being raised by a man he no longer trusted.

Not after getting that telegram on his birthday only a few days ago, explaining that he was enrolled at this school, something his mother had wanted for him and that everything would make sense eventually as long as he got there in time for orientation. He’d run away that moment and never looked back.  

The telegram had included a package with a uniform, which Barry wore now, just his size too. He wasn’t sure he liked being stuffed into a suitcoat and tie, skinny and awkward as he was, but Len filled out the uniform beautifully.

“Oh and ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ doesn’t apply to other things,” Len said with a wink, before pushing the doors open for them.

Barry tried not to trip his way inside. He definitely hadn’t been around anyone that open in his last school. People were fine with him being bi, they just didn’t really care. About him. At all. It was like he’d had this cone of avoidance around him all his life, everyone just sort of overlooked him. But here, now, only days after turning eighteen at a brand-new school far from home, Barry could finally start over and stop being invisible.

He’d already dropped his things off at the dorms—what little he’d brought along when he ran away, with barely any money to his name. He just couldn’t trust Uncle Eobard enough to tell him what he was up to. If he could trust him, why had Eo told him not to go anywhere on his birthday? Why hadn’t he known that the final pieces of his mother’s will would arrive that morning?

Barry didn’t want to think about it, so he followed Len inside. They were in the same class—Class A, which was only made up of twelve people, given the number of chairs. Everyone appeared to be there already, but they were chatting, hovering together in clumps around different desks. Not knowing what to do with himself, Barry headed for a desk in the corner.

“Oh no, you sit by me,” Len said, taking Barry’s elbow to guide him to a seat. Then he got strangely close as he sniffed along Barry’s neck. “You smell amazing, by the way. What is that?”

“U-um…me?” Barry said, since he didn’t wear cologne.

“Well you, Barry, smell delicious.”

“Lenny,” a girl’s voice interrupted Barry's forthcoming squeak, “don’t hog the new kid.” She was gorgeous too, with long wavy brunette hair and the same striking blue eyes as Len.

“Are you two…?”

“Twins? Yep. Aren’t you a lucky one. I’m Lisa.” She held out a perfectly manicured hand.

Barry noticed the other students starting to gather around too. “Uh…hi. I’m Barry,” he said, shaking Lisa's hand and glancing around at the others.

“Wow, you smell great,” a pretty blond boy said with a similar sniff at Barry like Len had.

“Eddie,” a gorgeous, dark-skinned girl giggled. “I’m Iris. Nice to meet you.”

“A new rookie in town, huh?” a brunette boy even taller and ganglier than Barry called. “Finally!”

“Ralph was the new kid before you,” a blonde girl with a dazzling smile offered next. “I’m Kara, student council president.”

Another blond girl who looked a little scary like she could easily beat Barry up, with another girl at her side equally scary but with darker skin and hair—like night and day, Barry thought admiringly—came forward. “You don’t have to tell everyone you meet that you’re student council president, Kara. I’m Sara. This is Nyssa.”

“Hi!” Barry nodded around at everyone, none of whom seemed unfriendly, not even the scary girls.

Scratch that, he thought, when the biggest boy yet came over, crazy muscly, and unabashedly sniffed Barry like the others. “He doesn’t smell that great.”

“This is Mick,” Len explained.

A very kind looking brunette put a hand on Mick's arm, and he seemed to instantly sag out of his standoffish posture. “I’m Caitlin. Mick doesn’t like anything new,” she said. “But if you have anything shiny, he'll love you forever.”

“Hey. I ain’t that easy, doll,” Mick said, then snapped his attention back to Barry. “You got anything shiny?”

“Uhh…” Barry was hesitant to lift his wrist but didn’t want to lie. “Just my watch. But I need it. I’m always late otherwise.”

“You have a watch?” a new voice called, though Barry couldn’t see who it came from initially. “Come on, guys, let the little guy through!”

When he appeared, he wasn’t that little, just shorter than everyone else, but he had the loveliest hair Barry had ever seen.

Why was everyone, scary or not, so attractive here? Barry felt like the only dull stone on the beach.

“I'm Cisco! Can I see it?” The boy indicated Barry’s watch. “I’m kinda a collector.”

“Of watches?”

“Well, really anything that's—”

The bell rang and everyone hopped to attention, quickly taking their seats. Floundering for a few seconds, Barry scrambled into the desk Len had chosen for him, second row with Cisco on his other side, Kara in front of him, and Eddie behind.

Just as the bell made its final trill, a severe—but still attractive, damn it—man with dark hair and a quick gait entered.

“Good to see none of you forgot your manners over the summer,” he said as he set a briefcase on his desk and perused the class. His eyes landed on Barry sharp enough to make him tense. “Ah yes, our transfer. You were intended to meet with the principal before class, Mr…” he opened his briefcase and started paging through papers.

“Barry?” Barry said too much like a question; he should know his own name! The severe man’s eyes flicked up as if annoyed he’d spoken without permission. “Sorry! I didn’t realize I was supposed to—"

“It's fine. I am the instructor for Class A, Mr. Wells. Since you’re here, Barry, why don’t you tell us about yourself.”

Okay, maybe he was being asked to get up in front of the class to spill his life story like he’d feared.

“Relax,” Wells said. “Short, sweet, and only what you want to share. Remember, first and foremost here, pretend you’re in Anywhere, America, and you are a normal student moving to a normal town.”

Pretend? That was the truth, though the strange directive did help calm Barry’s nerves. He stood to address the class.

“Okay, umm…I’m Barry. I turned eighteen a few days ago. I um…I’m just me, no parents. I grew up with my uncle. And I’m excited to be here because…because I needed something new and this seems like everything I could hope for.” He really didn’t mean for his eyes to land on Len as he said that, but the alluring smirk that aimed back at him made him forget who he was for a moment. “I-I like science and sci-fi movies and far too many types of junk food. That’s all.” He sat like a total goon, wishing he could hide.

A few of the kids snickered, but not in a mean way. Everyone still looked welcoming, so Barry tried to relax.

“Very good,” Wells said. “Why don’t we break the ice a bit more with everyone and then you can go check in with the principal for housekeeping. Students, as you know, you are seniors this year. After graduation, you go out into the world. That means a certain level of professionalism is expected on school grounds at all times. However…” he smiled subtly, “why don’t we let you get any last minute tomfoolery out of your systems now. For the next fifteen minutes, and not again for the rest of the year unless in your dorms…everyone can take on their true form.”

A smattering of laughter and cheers filtered through the students, while Barry blinked confusion.

“Um…what?”

He should have gone to see the principal first, he really should have, because mere moments after that, he was in the middle of a nightmare.

Kara was the first he noticed since she was in front of him, the way she seemed to fade until she was a mere shadow of herself like an apparition. Barry thought he must be imagining it, until he looked around at everyone else.

Cisco at his left had got up to stretch his legs, making him slightly taller now because his legs resembled those of a goat with hooves, and horns had sprouted from out of his hair like little nubs.

Lisa, kiddy-corner from Barry, grew taller too, her feet like a raptor’s, hands monstrous claws, and bat-like wings grew from her back along with a tail and pointed longer horns, all in shades of glittering bronze and gold.

Caitlin, kiddy-corner the other way, was no longer brunette but had almost white hair, with ice hugging her strikingly paler skin that contained a tinge of blue.

Whirling around, Barry looked at Iris behind Cisco, her legs completely gone as tentacles spread out black beneath her.

Then he made a slow circle as his heartrate began to skyrocket and the visions didn’t go away.

Eddie next to Iris, eyes glowing like an animal with fangs in his mouth.

Sara beside Eddie, with even more animalistic eyes, deadly claws, and fur spouting around her body.

Nyssa, beside her, slithered up taller because her bottom half had become a snake, eyes slit and tongue forked as it hissed out between her lips.

Mick in front of Nyssa was like Lisa but different, body covered in red scales around his horns, wings, and clawed hands and feet, with fire snorting from his nostrils.

And Ralph—okay, Ralph was less scary, since at first Barry couldn’t even see him, until he hopped up onto the top of his desk, a little green goblin much shorter than the tall boy Barry had met.

Finally, his eyes rested on the person beside him, not just sitting nearby, but right at the edge of his desk as Len stood there looking down at Barry, very much like his twin, the same creature as Lisa, but his coloring was navy and silver. That did nothing to dim the glow of his eyes or glint of his fangs.

And it didn’t help that everyone’s clothes had disappeared, and no one seemed to care that they were naked!

“Wh-what…?”

“Mr. Wells, I think we're freaking him out,” Len said as matter-of-factly as any student addressing their teacher. “I promised he wouldn't have to divulge everything the first day. I think he’s shy. It’s actually kinda cute.” He winked at Barry with his fanged smile.

Even Wells at the front of the class had glowing red eyes now and symbols on his skin with strange items floating out of his briefcase to hover around him.

Barry couldn’t breathe. He had to be dreaming. He had to be dreaming.

“Are you okay?” Iris's asked kindly, but when he looked down at her hand on his arm, it wasn’t a hand, it was a tentacle!

Barry pushed so hard out of his chair, he knocked it over and fell onto his back, trying to scramble for a safe corner.

“Barry!” Mr. Wells called menacingly. “I highly doubt revealing your true form is cause for such behavior.”

“I-I don’t have a true form!” Barry clambered to his feet, wishing he was backing toward the door instead of the window. “I only have this form! Just me!”

“You mean you’re a wizard like Mr. Wells?” Kara floated closer to him.

“No,” Eddie answered for Barry, tongue running over his fangs as he drew closer too, “he’s human. He must be. That’s why he smells so good.”

Barry was going to die, right here on the first day of school.

“Nonsense,” Wells said. “A human could never find our grounds.”

“He is though,” Len pushed through the others, perhaps scariest of all, other than maybe Mick, with his gargoyle wings and horns and…well, it was all strangely enticing too, which meant he must be some sort of sex demon and was messing with Barry’s mind! Barry should not find claws and fangs attractive!

But that grin coming closer and the glow of his eyes froze Barry to the spot.

“You are human,” Len said, with a clawed hand reaching for Barry’s face.

“Enough!” Wells yelled, and everyone but Barry had a glowing red string around them that yanked them back to their seats without so much as disrupting a chair.

Wells walked briskly over to Barry, did a complicated gesture, creating a glowing sigil in the air that shot forward at Barry’s face.

“Now you’ll all see that he’s actually…” Wells trailed, blinking his red eyes in incomprehension at whatever his symbol throwing was causing him to see on Barry’s face. “Human,” he whispered with a frown. “You are human. That’s impossible. I need to see Principal Singh about this.

“Everyone!” he whirled back around to face the class. “Behave yourselves while I’m gone.” Turning back to Barry with another complicated hand gesture, this time the glowing light was green, several rune-like symbols forming a square that shifted forward and then down at Barry’s feet, like a cage that shot light up toward the ceiling all around him.

When he tried to move forward, he discovered it was a cage because he couldn’t get past the barrier. “Hey! Wait, I—”

“I will be right back,” Wells said and hurried from the room.

Leaving Barry with his…classmates, utterly trapped.

Every single one of them got out of their chairs once Wells was gone.

“P-p-please…”

“Barry, don’t be scared,” Kara said, floating still, mostly translucent like a beautiful blue fairy or wind spirit. Maybe that’s what she was, and as she came closer, part of her became more tangible, or maybe Barry was just getting used to looking at her like that. “None of us would eat you or anything. Well…I suppose Eddie would,” she nodded at Eddie, the vampire, who was looking at Barry hungrily. “And maybe Mick. And I suppose Iris could—”

“Please stop trying to make me feel better,” Barry said miserably as he looked at each of the creatures before him, Len last, who pushed his way to the front again. “You’d eat me too, wouldn’t you? You said I smell good.”

“You do,” Len said. “Like the best meal I could ever imagine. But I’m a Cubi.”

Barry’s eyes bulged, recognizing that the hunger from Len was definitely unique from anyone else’s—well, besides his sister, though she seemed more interested in Cisco, thank goodness. Still, he knew Len was a sex demon “L-like an incubus?”

“I’m more of a switch, I think. I haven’t decided yet. Lisa and I only just had our sexual awakening, so we haven’t fed from a human before.”

“A…switch?”

Lisa smiled at Barry like he was oh so quaint. “Incubus means to lie upon, succubus to lie beneath, no gender involved, honey, just…preference.”

Barry understood with a vivid picture in his mind of Len first above and then beneath him. “O-oh.”

“But the point is,” Kara pressed on as self-appointed ambassador of the group, “no one’s going to hurt you. If there was some sort of mistake, they’ll just erase your memories and send you back to the human realm.”

“I’m not in the human realm now?!” Barry exclaimed.

The others laughed.

“Not anymore, Rookie,” Ralph said, startling Barry with his same voice coming out of that little goblin.

“The whole point of this school is so we can blend in with humans without drawing attention,” Caitlin explained, frost emanating off her in lovely waves.

“Really?” Barry said meekly. “But no…no, I can’t go home either. My uncle, he’s not really my uncle, and I don’t trust him anymore. I think my mother sent me here to protect me from him.”

That had everyone looking at each other in concern.

Nyssa spoke for the first time, her voice a sultry hiss, “And who was your mother?”

“Children!” Wells barged back in, though no one rushed back to their seats this time. “Give me room at least,” he said as he pushed through them, looking startled now and…wary? Of Barry?

He seemed almost hesitant when he waved his hand to dissipate the green barrier, then did one more gesture that drew a glowing red symbol that resembled an upside-down pentagram.

“Apparently, he only seems human because the spell I used before couldn’t detect…this.”

The pentagram flew at Barry like the previous symbol had, and almost instantly, everyone, Wells included, backed up a step, looking fearful.

No…in awe.

“What? What is it?” Barry asked, turning around to look at himself in the reflection of the window. The red pentagram was still glowing in front of his forehead, but it soon faded and was not what caused Barry to stare.

When he was a little boy, he loved books on mythology and monsters and fantastical creatures. What he saw around his otherwise familiar face was an amalgamation of so many of those things that he almost thought he must be looking at someone else.

His eyes were gold and shimmering, the faintest of fangs in his mouth like so many of the others, with red ram-like horns coiling from his head, ending in golden points. His skin had a rosy glow to it, and there was much more of his skin on display because his uniform had disappeared like the others, forming a red sash at his waist to cover him.

His hands had fairly small claws instead of nails, but they were also gold, his feet far more changed since they were almost like lion paws with reddish fur and gold claws there as well. The fur gave way to his skin up his legs, but there were red and gold scales at various places all over him, framing his body like glittering jewels.

From his lower back sprouted a long plume of red and gold feathers, and just beneath that was a long lion’s tail, like he was a griffin, bird and beast and scaled lizard all in one.

Most impressive though was his wings, both feathered and scaled, red and gold like all the rest with clawed hooks at the top and very ends.

When he turned around, everyone but Len was on their knees. Then Len too lowered himself with a whispered, “It’s you. The lost prince.”

“…what?”

Len bowed his head. “You’re the Demon Lord, Barry.”

[fuck-bowers]

Opposites Attract (Henry Bowers x Reader)

request: the reader is really shy (like me) and she has a huge crush on Henry. Henry finds out one day that she has a crush on him, and he teases and flirts with her and does sexual things to her until he gets her to crack and admit her feelings for him. then Henry asks her to be his girlfriend.

a/n: thank you for the request @kaitlinp0rrini, and I hope you enjoy it! this is the cheesiest thing I’ve ever written

It all started when Clark Freeman, number 52 on the Derry High football team, got tripped by Henry Bowers in the first floor hallway in between class periods five and six. You’d been standing by your locker, organizing your papers for science class, when you saw it go down.

Clark was a complete asshole, not only to you, but to everybody around him, one of those popular jocks who thrived on thinking the world revolved around him. No one had ever challenged that idea before. Henry seemed to take it into his own hands to fulfill such a task single-handedly, while walking towards the cocky quarterback one fateful Monday afternoon.

You’d heard a rumor that the whole football team had a secret fear of the Bowers gang, a club of four delinquents that made games out of terrorizing their peers. You’d never thought much of them, until you turned around and saw a flash of a letterman jacket fly to the floor before you.

Clark gasped as he turned around to see the perpetrator of the crime - Henry Bowers in the flesh, turning around to look at his victim with a sneer.

You froze, anticipating to be in the VIP section of the fight of the century, but saw nothing of the sort transpire.

Clark scrambled to his feet, keeping his eyes on Henry, giving a death glare that was undermined by his body language.

“You wanna fuckin’ go, Bowers?” He asked, though it seemed he didn’t want to know the answer, as he scurried away without another look behind him.

You couldn’t help but start to laugh. It wasn’t something you did often - you were extremely shy, and hated drawing too much attention to yourself. However, it was just too funny. You fucking hated a majority of the football team, it was chock-full of assholes like Clark. Finally, you saw one of them get a taste of their own medicine.

The other witnesses around you looked just as shocked, just as amused, but you were the only one to outright laugh, granting you the momentarily undivided attention of Henry himself.

His eyes locked with yours, and before you could nervously look away, he spoke.

“Somethin’ funny, sweetheart?” Henry questioned with the ghost of a smile. Your eyes widened as his scanned over you, making eye contact once again before stalking off.

That’s all it took for you to develop a crush on the most dangerous boy in school.

Patrick Hockstetter loved people watching.

People watching at Derry High was like studying an ant farm. Students and teachers scattered mindlessly wherever they needed to go, and interacted with each other for arbitrary reasons, and all looked so normal until you picked just one to study and tried to figure out its motives.

Of course, it was never very hard to do, but it was a way to pass the time far better than paying attention to the teacher.

One day in science class, Patrick picked you as a specimen.

Quiet people were usually the most interesting to watch, and were always the best fucks - you were even one of the more attractive girls in that class - but the potential of developing even remote interest in you hinged on whether or not you were entertaining to observe.

You were very entertaining, much more than he anticipated, but not because of your unconscious mannerisms - you’d kept your eyes on Henry for a majority of the class period.

Henry attracted many girls, but Patrick noticed that they were a particular type of girl. The loud, raucous ones, or the dangerous, wild ones made up his fan club. Very rarely would the quiet librarian type develop feelings for him, or at least make it as obvious as you made it, without using words.

Only at the end of class did you turn and notice Patrick staring at you one row over. Face reddening, you looked down as the bell rang, folding your textbook into your arms and walking out of the classroom in a rush.

Henry approached Patrick, hands in his pockets.

“We goin’ downtown today?” He asked, apparently completely oblivious of how you’d stared at him all period. Patrick smiled slyly.

“Sure thing, Henry.”

Patrick intended on telling about you later that night, but that evening he’d completely forgot by the time the Bowers gang was huddled around a table at Barry’s Burgers, and it had completely slipped his mind.

“You guys should’ve fucking seen it.” Henry laughed, taking a bite of his burger. “He fell like a ton of fucking bricks, and ran the fuck away like the pussy he is. It was hilarious.”

The guys laughed with him.

“I would’ve fucking paid to see that. Did any teachers catch you? They basically worship the football team.” Vic sarcastically questioned.

Henry shook his head. “Not this time. Thank fuck. I’ve had enough bad shit with teachers.”

“You had an audience though, right?”

A nod. “Yeah, everyone looked fucking thankful I did it. This girl from my chem class burst out laughing when I did it, like, loud, and she’s one of those quiet girls. He must’ve fucked her over or something.”

Patrick immediately perked up.

“What?”

Henry blinked, taking another bite before his reply and talking as he chewed. “Everyone was happy I tripped that little bitch. You guys should’ve been there. It was like, two months ago.”

“You said a girl was there?”

Henry smiled when he thought of you. He swallowed.

“Yeah, I think her name is Y/N? She’s in our science class. She was there when I tripped him, and she laughed out loud about it. He must’ve fucked her over or something. Or she just hates him like everyone else. Surprised more people didn’t laugh. He’s such a dick.”

Patrick smiled.

“That’s interesting.”

Henry scoffed. “What, have you met Clark? Cuz-”

“Do you like that girl?”

Henry had thought you were hot since the beginning of the year, but had a feeling you were one of those out-of-reach girls, either with a boyfriend, or with standards too high for the head of the Bowers gang, much less any of the other members. Henry rarely attracted shy girls, and he was positive that he’d never heard a single peep out of you before the day he tripped Clark.

“She’s a babe.” Henry said, furrowing his brow at Patrick. “Why?”

Patrick had gained the attention of Vic and Belch, and the whole table stared at him.

“That girl’s totally in love with you. She spent the whole fucking period today staring at you.”

Henry blinked, perplexed, trying to imagine you doing such a thing without him noticing.

“How the fuck would you know?” He asked, nearly insulted.

“I had nothing to fuckin’ do, and I looked around the room and I saw she was fucking staring at you, like, the whole period. Like a freak.”

“Don’t fucking insult her man, you’re a freak.”

“Fuck you.“

Henry had already known about Patrick’s tendency to people-watch. Maybe he was telling the truth. There was no reason for him to lie anyway, and Henry had caught you looking at him a few times.

As Vic and Belch picked up a conversation, the gears in Henry’s head began to turn, and he smiled, turning to his best friend.

“Well, thanks, Pat. I think I’ll put it to the test.”

Patrick rolled his eyes. “You really don’t fuckin’ trust me?”

“I do. I just wanna see how right you are.”

It was perfect, it really was - on most days, you’d sit with desks about two feet apart. On testing days, they’d be even farther apart, sometimes positioned in random opposing directions - but due to an upcoming project, Mrs. Baxter was sure to separate people into partners for the week ahead. Fifteen minutes before the end of class that Friday, Mrs. Baxter began her weekly process.

The two of you had never been paired before. Henry knew full well it was time to strike.

“I think I’ll pair you with Roger this week, Calvin… and Y/N…” the teacher glanced around the room, until she spotted Henry with raised eyebrows, as well as a raised hand.

“Yes, Henry?”

“I’ll be her partner.” He volunteered.

Your heart nearly did a backflip. What was he doing?

Though it caught you off guard, you weren’t about to turn down such an offer.

You swallowed and nodded at a crossed-brow Mrs. Baxter.

“Yeah. We’ve never been partnered up before.” You added. Henry shot a smug glance at you from the back of the room.

“Alright.” She said, moving onto the next student.

It was the protocol to go to your partner and talk about the study guide, start going over the first page if you had the time. As you turned to look at the boy you’d been partnered with, it seemed that he wasn’t going anywhere. You’d have to go to him.

You stood up, your textbook and your notebook wrapped in your arms, nervously walking towards his seat in the last row. You passed Patrick Hockstetter, who wore quite an ominous smirk, staring at you intently. Shifting your gaze to the floor, you continued, looking up only once more to see Henry.

His stare sent waves of butterflies through your stomach, blue eyes bearing the same sly grin that his lips did. He probably loved how nervous you were.

The end of class was near. You could do this.

For a minute, neither of you spoke. Mrs. Baxter reminded everyone of the test date, the material being tested on, and asked everyone to become familiar with their partner and inquire about study sessions outside of class, if possible. No one ever met up for science studies.

Finally, it was silent, and she momentarily left the room, everyone breaking into conversation.

Another moment passed, your mind racing for something to say, wondering if you should say anything at all. That’s when he spoke.

“My friend Patrick said you stare at me a lot in class.”

It felt like your ribs caught fire. You stared down at your paper, embarrassment washing over you. Thanks for that, Patrick.

You swallowed before speaking, organizing your messy thoughts, flipping open your notebook to distract yourself.

You could feel him staring at you merely inches away.

“W-Well, I don’t. He must’ve gotten me mixed up with someone else.”

Henry leaned back in his seat. “You can admit it, babe, a lot of girls are obsessed with me.”

Immediately, you scoffed, underlining sentences of your notes randomly. You refused to look at him.

“I’m not obsessed with you.” You quietly remarked.

“Then why do you stare at me in class?”

You shrugged. “Patrick lied to you.”

“Why would he lie about that?”

You finally turned to him, and your anger was offset by his jovial, entertained expression.

“Patrick is crazy.” You said, as-a-matter-of-factly.

Henry cocked an eyebrow, looking at his nails. 

“I dunno, Y/N. Crazy people stare at other people in class. I’ve never caught Patrick staring at me.”

You let out a sarcastic laugh. “He was staring at me the other day!”

Henry smirked. “Sounds like a match made in heaven. Two crazy people.”

The boy looked at your lips, making you nervous all over again. You turned back to your notes and flipped open the study guide.

“You don’t talk too much, do you?” He teased in a low voice. His voice turned you on.

You hesitated a moment before replying. “You never talk in this class, either.”

“Well, I fucking hate science. Is that your excuse, too?”

The fact that the guy you’d developed a crush on months ago was finally flirting with you now was a high you’d ride out until it died.

“Yeah, science sucks. But… I mean, my friends all say I’m shy. So I guess I really am just shy.”

After a moment of hesitation, you suddenly felt his hand on your knee.

Goosebumps spread over your skin, from your legs up to your back. Henry smiled at you, tracing his nails over your kneecap.

“You’re not being too shy with me, today.” He said.

Your cheeks must’ve been bright red, your heart beating a million miles per hour.

“Neither are you.” You nervously joked.

Mrs. Baxter had left the room. None of the kids facing forward remotely seemed to notice Henry’s advances. At least you didn’t have an audience.

His fingertips gently trailed up your thigh, going further up and further inside. He tightly grasped your leg, making you gasp.

You put your elbow on the table and rested your face against your hand, covering your face from his view.

“I can’t help myself. You’re so fucking hot.”

The compliment made your heart flutter, but also put a bad taste in your mouth. He was probably one of the boys you’d been warned about by your parents and the TV shows - saying anything to butter you up and get in your pants.

Please let the bell ring, you mentally pleaded with the clock on the wall, edging closer to the end of class, his fingers edging the hem of your skirt.

Though part of you absolutely loved the attention, the pursuit from the guy you’d wanted it from most, you were so nervous, so unsure of what to do. Mrs. Baxter reentered the room, and seemed completely oblivious, sitting down at her desk. She was probably used to ignoring Henry.

“Why are you doing this?” You asked, in a nervous yet enthused, moving your arm back down to rest on the table. You didn’t have to look at him to know that he was smiling.

“Cuz I know you like me.”

You rolled your eyes, still turned away from him. “I told you Patrick was lying.”

“Even if he was, I know you still like me.”

You finally turned to look at him.

“How?” You sarcastically questioned. He answered you very simply.

“Because opposites attract, sweetheart.”

Your nerves were at an all time high as he gently moved his hand in between your thighs, ever so slowly, the eye contact single-handedly killing you - right as the bell rang.

“The study guide is due Monday!” Mrs. Baxter said, almost pleading, as the room broke into loud conversation and laughter. In the midst of it all, you quickly stood up, grabbing your books and walking away with them in a rush. Your only goal was to get out of the school as fast as possible, leaving Henry in the dust.

You felt scared, so exhilarated, and you knew there was no real reason for it - but he was too bold, too terrifying, to have anything to do with you.

You threw your books into your backpack and speed-walked out the door, melting into the throng of students moving through the hallway. Within minutes of urgently flowing through the crowd, you made it out the front doors, and finally you felt the first waves of calm. That was, until someone gripped your shoulder.

“Y/N!” Henry Bowers groaned, in an exasperated tone. You nearly jumped, turning around with wide eyes to see him. He was breathing heavily.

“I’m sorry.” He said.

You didn’t expect him to follow you. For a moment, you just stared at him.

“For what?” You asked.

“I think I scared you off.”

You took in a slow breath, unsure of how to phrase your concern.

“I like you, Henry. I just think we’re too different.”

Other students passed by, but the two of you barely noticed, completely focused on the other.

“Sure, we’re pretty different, but it’d be boring if we were the same.”

You looked up at him, blinking in the sunlight. He stepped closer.

“I like you. A lot. And if Patrick wasn’t lying about you starin’ at me, I wanna take a chance on that.”

He smiled, putting his hands into his pockets. You were surprised how he seemed so… Nervous.

“Do you…” He picked up his gaze from the ground and looked at you. “Do you wanna go out?”

You narrowed your eyes at him, hiding all signs of mental explosion that you experienced.

“You mean, hang out after school to study for our test?” You coyly questioned, cocking an eyebrow, unable to hide your growing grin.

“Do you wanna be my girlfriend?” He finally asked, smiling back at you.

He was bold, he was terrifying, but you couldn’t say you didn’t like those things about him. It was true - you had no idea how well you'd do on the test - but you knew for sure in that moment, he’d proven to you that opposites attract.

Holding eye contact, the two of you beamed at each other.

“Of course.” You quietly replied.

[suddenrundown]

                                 All the Time in the World: Chapter 7

Read previous chapter

She hadn’t seen Barry all day.

It wasn’t that Lup was worried about him; there were plenty of days that their paths just didn’t cross for whatever reason. Today she had been out scavenging and looting the ruined areas of the city with Taako while Barry did... whatever he did when she wasn’t around. Probably sciencing the shit out of something. It was his job after all, and while she definitely got a kick out of working with him, he obviously wasn’t going to stop just because she wasn’t helping him out.  

But on those days, she missed him.

Continued under the cut, or you can read it on ao3

Well, there was really no reason to sit around missing him if she could just do something about it. She hopped up from her spot at the Starblaster’s cafeteria table and looked down at the hunched over blob that resembled her brother. Running around scavenging took a lot of out the guy. She poked his arm.

“I’m going for a walk.”

Taako gave some sort of muffled garbled response, and she got nothing intelligible out of it except for “effort”.

She gave him a smile he couldn’t see and a pat on the back. “I’m not asking you to go, I’m just telling you.”

A noise that sounded like a question. She was feeling restless now for some reason. “Just gonna go talk to Barry.”

Taako moved and turned his head, peeking up at her. After a moment, he shifted back, hiding his face once more. Another mumble.

“Love you too,” she laughed, sing song, as she turned and left the room.

Now to find that nerd.

He probably wasn’t that far. They’d given up on finding the Light here months ago, and after seventeen years of knowing him, she knew he didn’t tend to stray too far from the ship if he wasn’t looking for it. And if he did, he’d take someone else. Normally her. At this point, it just made sense.

Paying no attention as she headed for the Starblaster’s exit, she rounded the corner and bumped straight into Merle, knocking him over. At least Lucretia was there to catch him.

“Shit, I’m sorry Merle!” Lup exclaimed, reaching out to offer him a hand.

He took it. “Geez, where’s the fire?” he asked, rubbing his head a little.

“No fires,” she promised, still apologetic. “I was just thinking. Speaking of, have either of you seen Barry around here?”

Lucretia shook her head. “I’m pretty sure he’s still out working. Merle and I have been just outside the Starblaster for a while now, so we would have seen him.” She held up a light blue journal for Lup to see, excitement evident. “We’ve been going over some of the stories that the robots have told us about this world and their history, it’s really fascinating.”

“I bet it’s kick ass, Lucretia dear, and I want to hear all about it soon.” Lup smiled. “Right now, I’m off to find our science man.”

“Try not to run over any bots while you’re at it,” Merle quipped.

“I’ll do my best,” she promised.

As she continued on her way, Lup smiled to herself. She was grateful for the friendship she had with Barry. No doubt, she’d definitely say the same about everyone else in the IPRE; they were all pretty rad in their own ways. But it had taken a hell of a lot longer to get to any sort of relationship beyond formal colleagues with Barry than it had with some of the others, which sort of made sense. Barry kept to himself a lot, especially in the first few years of their journey.

Actually, that wasn’t really fair or accurate; Barry was always there. Lup often watched and she could tell that he was always engaged with what was happening around him, it was more like he kept his thoughts to himself. He didn’t always speak up, even if he had something to say. Understandable; there were people much louder than him who did a fair share of talking. Herself included, she could admit. That was no one’s fault.

She could also admit, however, that the teasing probably contributed to his reserved nature, and she could take some responsibility for that one. While she never meant to be cruel, she loved to tease, and she sure did a shit ton of that to Barry. As did everyone else, but she didn’t think anyone got such a kick out of the way he blushed and stumbled over his replies like she did. It was sort of adorable, she thought, but probably not from his perspective. She had, after all, called him a nerd that first day at the IPRE conference all those years ago. A little over the top and definitely unnecessary, and looking back, probably influenced how he seemed to tip toe around his words when she was nearby. Unfortunate, but she definitely tried to make up for it, which only made him blush and stammer more, which encouraged her, and on and on the pattern went.

The turning point, as far as she could tell, was back when she found him crying during that fucking awful fifth cycle. She definitely didn’t think less of the guy for having a breakdown (hell, if she didn’t have Taako around, she might have had one herself), but it completely broke her heart to see him that way. She was glad she was there, though, and happier still that he trusted her enough to let her be.

That night changed something about their relationship, and it was definitely for the better. Lup still teased and Barry still turned the color of his IPRE robe, but it didn’t feel uncomfortable anymore. It felt good-natured, even if Barry still had moments when he didn’t say much of anything back. That was just Barry, and she could appreciate that. But for all the moments he was silent, there were just as many where he wasn’t. As it turned out, Barry liked to talk when given the chance, especially if the subject was science related. He knew a lot of shit, and what he didn’t know, he was eager to find out. His enthusiasm rubbed off on her, and she quickly got involved in hypothesizing and running tests and hypothesizing some more. The two of them learned about whole societies that way, and figured out the Hunger’s deal, too. Who knew being a science nerd was so cool?

They didn’t just talk science though; they talked about everything else too. As a good science nerd, he knew how to ask questions, and Lup was more than willing to give answers. She liked telling him about her life, and she also liked learning about his. They talked about the worlds they’d been in, the people they’d met, the days they’d had. Maybe it wasn’t exactly special, but she treasured his friendship nonetheless.

“Hey Lup!”

Lup looked up to find Magnus coming towards her. “Magnus, my dude! What’s up?”

Magnus stopped in front of her. “Just headed back to the Starblaster to eat. Was down a tier finishing up that robot arm for the ship,” he told her, pointing his thumb over his shoulder back towards the way he came. “Barry’s still down there, I think.”

“Awesome, that’s who I was looking for!”

“Well then you’re in luck. I’ll see you in a bit.” He held his hand up over his head.

She held hers up as well and jumped a bit to reach his, making a satisfying smack. “See ya!”

Magnus chuckled, then continued to trek back up to the ship as Lup headed down.

After seventeen years, the IPRE were more than just her fellow crew members. The seven of them were the only constants in this crazy life they led, and Lup considered them to be more her friends than her colleagues. She would go so far as to say that she loved and cared about all of them, which she never thought would be the case when she and Taako signed themselves up for this whole adventure. It had never been all that difficult for her to fit in with other people back in their home world though, so the fact that she got along so well with the five other people in the ship she wasn’t related to didn’t necessarily surprise her. Like she said, they were all rad.

It was just somehow different with Barry. She liked the moments he was quiet just as much as the moments he wasn’t. She liked his capacity to care about literally every living soul he came across. She liked the work they did together, tiring though it was at times. There was just…something about Barry.

Something.

Well, who really cared what it was? Analysis was for nerdy stuff, not friendships.

Now down a tier, Lup stopped and surveyed the area. Most of the buildings here were still standing, but they were showing signs of decay. Vines crawled in and around them and some of them looked to be crumbling in places. Everything was still. It was kind of cool, honestly, and made scavenging with Taako feel like some kind of adventure. But that wasn’t her mission at the moment.

Barry probably wasn’t far. She hesitated a brief moment before heading towards the left side of the dilapidated town, not knowing if she was going the right direction but feeling drawn towards it anyway. She walked for a few minutes passed rows of houses, being careful not to trip over debris, when she suddenly heard a familiar voice not too far off.

Score. Giving herself a mental high five, she walked past another building and into what looked like an old marketplace. Shops were arranged in a wide circle, giving plenty of room for past inhabitants to mingle, and a non-functioning fountain in the middle. And sitting on that fountain’s edge, next to an unfamiliar-looking robot, was Barry.

Lup didn’t remember feeling tense before, but she let out a breath and felt herself relax upon seeing him. She felt kind of silly about it, but shook off the feeling as she neared, listening to Barry as he talked at the robot.

“Look, you aren’t being all that helpful,” he chastised, gesticulating with what appeared to be a screwdriver in his hand. “And if I’m out here trying my best despite having no clue how to fix this issue, then the least you could do is just, you know, not do that.”

“What are they doing?” Lup interjected by way of announcing herself.

Barry turned quickly towards her, only slightly startled, and smiled as he pushed his glasses back up. “Oh, hey Lup. I’m trying to fix them, a hinge in their gears is loose, but every time I start making progress, they keep—Shit!” Barry jolted, pulling his hand away. “Shocking me!” He turned toward the robot. “Stop that.”

Lup raised a hand to her mouth, trying to hide her amusement. “Maybe they aren’t doing it on purpose?”

“Well, they’re getting an awful lot of entertainment out of it for that to be the case.”

The robot did, in fact, look pleased with itself, as much as a robot could look. The screen displaying the eyes look squinted in delight, and it made continuous beeping sounds that sounded like it might be laughing.

“Give up, maybe?” she suggested.

“I’m about to,” Barry replied, looking pointedly at the robot, who stopped beeping immediately. He sighed, and stuck the screwdriver back in.

Lup stifled another chuckle, and knelt down on the other side of the robot.

“So, what brings you here?” Barry asked without looking up, concentrating on his task.

Lup hesitated, suddenly self-conscious for no real reason. She didn’t really have a need to be here beyond seeing Barry, but admitting that sounded stupid. Thankfully, she suddenly remembered something else she wanted to tell him.

“Taako and I found this sort of weird energy back down at the lowest tier we can get to while we were out scavenging today. So we asked the bots about it and apparently, it’s coming from this place called Underton.”

“Oh yeah?” Barry asked, interested.

“Yeah, and we talked to Davenport about it, and he said that we should probably make our way down there and figure out what it is. Maybe we can take it with us, so that whatever it is doesn’t get swallowed up by the Hunger when it comes next week. No clue what it is or what it does, but definitely don’t want the Hunger to have it.”

Barry nodded. “I definitely agree with that. But you said it was passed the lowest tier that isn’t covered with water, right?”

“Right.”

“So…how would we get to it?” Barry asked nervously.

“Swimming down to it, I guess,” Lup laughed. “Taako was talking about using the Water Breathing spell, so apparently, we’re all gonna sprout gills and swim down there!”

Barry didn’t laugh with her. “Maybe someone should stay with the Starblaster?” he asked.

She laughed again. “I don’t think that’s really necessary. Besides, who’d want to stay behind from that awesome field trip?”

He looked up at her then back down quickly. “I mean, I will.”

“Aw, really? But why?” Lup pouted, disappointed.

“It’s just that I don’t—I mean, I just think someone should stay in case there’s a problem, you know?” Barry stuttered out. “Someone has to pilot the ship out of here.”

“I mean, I guess,” Lup said, cocking her head to the side. “As long as you’re sure you’re fine with staying.”

“Mhm, yeah, definitely,” he replied, sounding suspiciously nonchalant.

Lup wasn’t sure what that was about, but decided not to press the issue. It probably was a good idea for someone to stay behind anyway.

Barry jolted again, dropping the screwdriver on the ground. “What the hell?!”

The robot beeped in laughter again. Lup snorted, and then covered her mouth when Barry looked at her.

“You’re just as bad as they are, you know.”

“Hey, I didn’t shock you,” she replied innocently.

He picked up the screwdriver again and pointed it at the robot. “Last warning, my friend. I’ll just leave you to deal with your problem by yourself if you do it again, alright?”

The robot let out a quick beep and then fell silent, and Barry sighed and went to work once more. The three of them sat in silence, the only sounds coming from Barry’s work.

Lup broke the silence after a moment. “Oh, so while Taako and I were out, guess what I found?”

“What did you find?” Barry asked with amusement.

“Another gun. It was sick as hell.”

Barry chuckled. “Was it, now?”

“Hell yeah! Added it to the collection, obviously.”

“Of course. Never know when things like that might come in h—holy shit! Damn it!” Barry threw his hands up in the air as the robot beeped loudly. “Hey, this isn’t funny!”

Contrary to his words, the robot continued its noisy beeping, and Lup was unable to help herself this time. She leaned backwards and laughed louder than the robot, so hard her sides hurt.

“Actually, Barry,” she howled between laughs. “It sort of is!”

After a moment, Barry laughed, as well. “Maybe a little.”

Lup wiped a tear from her cheek, trying to steady herself. “Are you alright?” she asked, slightly apologetic.

“Truthfully, nothing really hurt but my pride.”

“I think you gave that up when you gave them a third chance.”

This time, Barry was the one to laugh hysterically. “That’s probably right!” he cackled.

She watched as Barry, red faced, pushed his glasses up once more as he laughed. A normal habit, but her heart suddenly skipped a beat, and Lup stopped laughing immediately, stopped moving altogether. The gesture, familiar though it was, made her feel something completely unfamiliar.

No, not entirely unfamiliar. She recognized the hitch in her breath, the quickening of her heart, as something that probably happened before, a lifetime ago. But here, now, as she sat watching Barry completely lose his shit, she could hardly concentrate on anything else but the overly warm, fuzzy feeling that she could feel quickly spreading outwards from her chest.

Holy shit.

Barry got a hold of himself and looked over at her, and then suddenly seemed concerned. “Lup? Are you okay?”

She had no idea what her face looked like, but she quickly tried to fix her expression to something normal, so that maybe he’d stop looking at her long enough for the fire she hoped wasn’t entirely evident on her face to die down. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine,” she lied. “Super fine.”

She didn’t think she sounded entirely convincing, but the answer seemed to satisfy him anyway. He looked up at the sky. “It’s getting dark, I think we should probably head back.” He looked down at the robot. “You can come and see if some other brave soul will fix you.”

The robot beeped happily, and the three set off in silence, comfortable for all except Lup.

She was quiet, but she felt like each step she took screamed that something was different, that something had changed, but that was stupid. With the fire gone from her face, surely none of the feelings she was currently being bombarded with were obvious to anyone but herself. She was sure she needed to keep it that way.

Barry was her friend, her science buddy. Her colleague.

Who she might be in love with.

And she didn’t know what the fuck to do about it.

[braidsfanfiction-blog]

Wanna Bite (v.2)

sorry for the big-ass titlecard!

Characters: Dean Winchester & WOC!Reader Summary: The reader is going on a diet and Dean wants to make sure she’s okay. Works for Plus-sized reader (like myself lol), but really we are pressured into body insecurities? Wordcount: 2100-ish Warnings and Ratings: Fluffy, romantic flirting, sexy talk; Body insecurity, little bit of angst A/N:  I made a few changes to my racially-neutral version. This was fun to write. Would love to hear your feedback - pushing myself to finish and share more of my SPN story ideas.

Happy Reading, shoetingstar*

**** "Wanna bite?" Dean's voice nearly echoed through the quiet of the Bunker Library. He holds out a fork full of pumpkin pie to your mouth, playfully teasing you with the creamy harvest orange creation, daring you to give in. You want a taste of something alright, but he's not offering that just now. You do get a tiny thrill from his little wicked smile, as you make him wait. "Nope. I'm on a diet," you announce. "Since when? Come on, I need your opinion." Dean had bought 6 different pumpkin pies, including Patti Labelle's brand, for taste testing. "Plus, I told you where I'm from we eat Sweet Potato Pie." But you can't bring yourself to break his Pie-loving heart. You open you mouth for Dean and catch the pie on your tongue. "Mmm...I give pie number three 4 stars outta 5...I know, you probably can't tell..." He must be surprised in some part because of the pizza you chowed down on with him last night. And now this. You couldn’t resist - you have to live, right?! You ignore the tiny bit of guilt that is clinging to your conscience. "But yeah, I have to do something." "About what? What’s wrong with you?” His eyes scan your body from head to toe, for the thousandth time since you’ve known him. He catches your eyes and frowns in disapproval. He's not co-signing your dieting decision.

"Isn't it obvious?" You reply in confusion, why did you decide to even discuss it with him? It was a sensitive topic that you never discussed with anyone.

"What's obvious is that you are too hard on yourself," Dean replies. "Takes one to know one." "Yeah, you told me before. Now, I'm giving the favor right back, Sweetheart. Okay, try this one." He lifts up another bit of pie to your lips. "How dare you use my words against me," you joke, to smooth over the awkwardness. You had no idea you would be discussing your health and body issues with Dean Winchester, but here you were. You taste pie number four.“Mmm...This one is better. Might be my favorite of the bunch.” "I'm just sayin' there are things about you to appreciate," he says. "Well, I appreciate that, but..." "No buts...There are things that I appreciate about you," he said firmly."But since you started it... You definitely have a great butt," he paused when he saw your wtf look. "If you don’t mind me saying so." "I'm strangely...not offended," you admit carefully. "Okay then, Y/N has an amazing butt. It's law." His hand slammed the library table to make it official and reaches for pie number five. "I thought you were a boob guy," slips out of your mouth before you can take it back. You had accidentally found one of his "special magazines" in one of the bathrooms once before. You said nothing, and but later that day they were gone, never to be seen in public again. "Not going to lie, I do. But when I see your body...It's like...You're into Art, right? You appreciate each painting for different reasons...Just because you like the Van Gogh, it doesn't mean you don’t enjoying Caravaggio." So he actually listened when you babbled on about Art? "You want me to go into detail about your frame? The background, the foreground, the color scheme, body placement...?" Shit, he was paying attention. You felt a bit more self-conscious, out of habit. You were so used to downplaying your body and staying away from the spotlight. You couldn't argue with Dean's "art theory" though. He went on before you could accept or deny his offer. "This wasn't because of the other night, I hope?" Oh that….You were hoping to forget what happened and was hoping he had as well. You get up quickly. "Can I get a drink before you stuff more pie down my throat? A beer maybe?" You make an attempt to change the subject as you head toward the bunker kitchen. Dean follows you. "Oh we are definitely talking about this. You don't even like beer." "Well, I'm thirsty. And someone has been drinking my wine faster than I can." "What can I say? You inspire the softer side of me." You try to ignore this comment, one of his many flirty remarks toward you. Was he staring at your "amazing butt" as you tried to get away? You definitely would be locked onto his backside if the roles were reversed. You reach for the orange juice, the one beverage outside of the consistently well-stocked beer arsenal in the Winchester fridge. Dean is so close on your heels, you bump into him when you turn around, the orange plastic juice jug hits his chest. It doesn't even faze him, he's like a dog with bone.   "...Now back to the other night..." He says. You let out an involuntary groan while you sit a glass down at the table and pour. Now that you've finally stopped moving, he catches your gaze, keeping you hostage. He would be so pissed if you were doing this to him. But usually, he would consider what you said and you had to do the same. You didn't have to like it though. "Okay, you mean when we were at The Rusty Fork and I made a fool of myself? That place? That night? That's what you want to talk about?" "I knew it bothered you more than you let on! That hipster douche was just a drunk asshole and I took care of him." Whatever Dean said or did, didn't take away the sting you still felt. That jerk had been stealing your attention all night, talking to you, laughing at each other's jokes. You thought there was a connection. "I only remember the part where he admitted to talking to me just to get to my "hotter friend" aka the much taller and skinnier, Talaya." Talaya was a sweet girl, but when you were around her, you felt invisible, or worse. She even got Dean's attention. That hurt the most though you had no rights to him, technically. The facts were that you two were getting closer, he practically made you move into the bunker since the Wraith had killed your roommate, and he openly flirted with you. It all just watered your growing crush until your feelings bloomed into scary level of intensity. The only way forward was down, the only direction you expected any romantic attachment to Dean to have. And that night had been a huge learning experience. No one should go after someone who doesn't feel the same. It was emotional suicide. "You conveniently forgot some of the facts," Dean said. "Like that other douche you exchanged numbers and social media accounts, and who knows what else with early in the evening." "You mean Barry?" "Yeah, Barry. Another bearded, hipster that you were attached to, before the other stuff went down." "Well, we there was a lot to like there," you admit, sheepishly. You could feel yourself blushing, if you were paler Dean would see it too. "He's an illustrator, he has two cats - AND his apartment might be haunted by some ghost kid. So I got us a case as well.. I was working, multi-tasking." "Honeybunch, you were working it alright. And I had a front row seat." If you didn’t know better, you would think Dean was...jealous?! You had nearly forgotten about Barry, his sweetness was overshadowed by later events. Plus, you thought he was just being nice, nothing more. "We just played pool," you say defensively. "And he lost because he was so distracted by you." "First of all, he was just sucked at pool. And wait - how did you see everything? You were busy with Talaya." "Don't you know by now that I always keep my eyes on you? Nothing's going to happen to you on my watch." "Well, I wasn't in danger and you were pretty busy." Why was he challenging your memories, what was his point? "I don't trust anyone around you, especially at a bar. And Talaya - We drank and we talked. What else did you see?" It had been simple just minutes ago. Jerk Douche pretending to be interested in you but really wanting to meet Talaya. Jerk Douche calling Talaya "the hot one," to your utter embarrassment. Later, Dean left the bar with Talaya.  Barry had been long gone and forgotten by then and you got out of there as fast as you could and into your own car. "You left with her!" You considered that your mike-drop and walked to the tv room, "Her friend that does Uber picked her up. She so was wasted. I just wanted to make sure she was okay. When I came back you were gone. How did you get pass me?" "I went out the back way." You sat your glass on the coffee table, and the two of you sat on the brown leather sofa that was more comfortable than it looked. "I called you! I even called Sam." Shit. He had called you. You didn't know until the next morning. You had been too embarrassed to bring it up. "I came home and saw you were in bed, got outta my clothes, and binge-watched Luke Cage until 4 in the morning." "Good show choice," you approved. You were a little distracted. The visual of Dean stripping off his clothes was fighting for attention. "So Dean...What are you trying to tell me?" "What I'm saying is don't feel bad, because of one fucker who doesn't deserve you anyway." "Thank you. That's very sweet." And you mean it, he's so serious and earnest about it, you accepted his compliment, for once. It seemed important to him. "Also, Confession Time: I'm doing it for myself. Heart problems run in my family and losing the weight helps. You know being around you guys is enough of a health risk!" "True that...So it's not about Bearded Douche?”

“Nope. fuck him.” “Good. If that's what you want. I'll support it. I'm proud of you." “So you support me fucking him?” you play dumb. “Fuck no. I support your thing - your diet thingie. I want you to be around a long time.” You beam in the light of Dean's encouragement. There was one more thing that was bothering you though. "So who deserves me? I'm almost afraid of your answer!" He turns his body towards you. He took a moment to think and then said: "No one. “Ouch!” “No, silly. I mean you’re up here…” He lifted his hand in the air, above his head. “So I’m some cold bitch who’s destined to be alone?” “Jesus, will you stop looking for something negative, Woman?! The space between you gets smaller as he moves a few inches closer. “Look, the guy who always looks out for you….The guy who likes you right now, the way you are...The guy sitting here who wants to do some taste-testing on your lips...down your neck... travel  to some other places, many other places. Maybe you can give him a shot?" You feel thoroughly chastised, and it is a good thing in this case. "Well, that guy should come over here so we can work this out." Then he's leaning into you, no more space between the two of you. It’s like a light switch went from dim to full light, bright, electric energy. He brings a hand to your back, works up to the nape of your neck, messages the sensitive skin there. His other hand slowly rubs your thigh. "How will you support me? I don't need the food police, okay?" You enjoy the delaying him a bit more. "Nah, Sam is good with the healthy eating. Now, me....Cardio is good for the heart, right?" "I believe so.” Your thinking is fuzzy, nothing insightful can get through now. "I'm sure I can get your heart rate up." "Show me," you whisper into his waiting lips as they hover over your own. "You sure you ready? I don't want you to quit on me, when things get nice and hard, and deep..." "I’m all in." You barely know what you’re saying anymore. "It's better if I show you." He demonstrates in the most convincing way possible. The kiss began slow and sensual, but only heightens your mutual thirst and hunger. "Aren't we skipping a few steps here?" You weakly protest between smooches. "We can stop now..." "No!" You said louder than you intended to... He smiles into your mouth, lips still attached to yours. Now I can teach you the rest of my workout program. We have to get these knees up first..." THE END.

[mldrgrl]

Once Upon a Quarantine

by: mldrgrl Rated: PG Summary: for @txf-fic-chicks post-ep/missing scene challenge - At the end of Firewalker, Mulder reports that they are in day 4 of a month long, mandatory quarantine.  So, what was that like?  Thank you @sunflowerseedsandscience for narrowing things down for me!

After the first week of the quarantine, they relaxed our decon status to level 3.  It still meant the same checks, same blood samples, same fluid samples, same vitals taken, just less often.  The week after that, they relaxed it even further down to level 2.  Which was still the same tests, less often, only this time the personnel weren’t required to wear masks.  At the very least, Scully and I weren’t isolated.  Not from each other, anyway.  

Those first two weeks we were kept in a ward resembling a hospital, complete with adjustable beds and every kind of monitor known to man.  It was just us, ten empty beds between us, and a rotating staff of CDC doctors and nurses who were pretty excited about a possible fungal contamination when we first arrived, but quickly grew bored with our complete lack of presentation of any symptom and generally left us alone if they weren’t drawing blood.

Scully read a lot.  They had a whole library of material to choose from to keep us biohazards from going stir crazy, but Scully wasn’t the type to sit down with the newest Michael Crichton novel.  She requested textbooks on pathology to kill time.  I would rather swallow nails than read a textbook.  I did get to consult on some behavioral profiles that were sent over for me to offer input on, so I did get something done.  One evening, I amused myself by turning on all twelve TVs in the room to MTV, turning out the lights, and tried to convince Scully to come party in Club Quarantine.  I even sweet talked one of the nurses into providing me with a tray of test tubes and I filled them with gatorade.  Scully humored me by doing one shot and then went back to her little corner of textbooks while I played air guitar to some new Aerosmith video.

I wasn’t worried about a fungal contamination at all.  From what we witnessed out at the institute, we’d have been long showing signs by now if we were exposed.  What I was worried about, was Scully.  In all honesty, I didn’t think it was a good idea for her to return to work so quickly, but she was adamant about it.  And though she cleared her physical tests and her recertification training, I just thought that taking a break to deal with the abduction, which she has no memory of, would be wise.  The only reason I agreed to sign off on her reinstatement was because it meant I could keep an eye on her myself.

I don’t know if she knows it, but she’s had nightmares almost every night since we’ve been here.  I’m not much of a sleeper, so I stayed up late watching TV down on my end, volume low, and I could hear her soft whimpers from across the room.  I didn’t really know what to do, but I didn’t want to wake her.  What exactly would I say, for one thing?  And if I know Scully, she’d be so mortified she may not sleep again the entire month if she knew I saw her like that.  I suppose the cat would’ve been out of the bag if she was more like me and woke up shouting, but she just whimpered with a furrowed brow.  I put my hand on her shoulder and eventually she relaxed.

Three nights in a row I was pulled from bed by the same whimpering cry and then nothing for the next four nights.  Towards the end of the second week it was happening more frequently and multiple times a night.  She never woke up and I never did more than touch her shoulder and wait for her to stop.

The third week of quarantine, they moved us into a unit that was more like a hotel.  It had a separate bedroom and a pull out couch and a kitchenette.  Gentleman that I am, I gave Scully the bedroom and I took the pull out couch.  It wasn’t all that comfortable, but the only TV in the place was in the little living room and I could make do.  The best thing about the new digs was that they let us make requests for groceries and it turned out that Scully actually likes to cook things.  She also wasn’t half-bad, even if she prefered things that are rather bland.

Now that we had a real room and a VCR, Scully grew less interested in her textbooks and started joining me for movies at night.  Most of the time, she went to bed before they were over and considering she shut the door to the bedroom, I have no idea if the nightmares continued.

We were in the home stretch with only a week to go of this imprisonment when she fell asleep next to me during movie night.  Another nice thing about the new stage of quarantine was they let us wear actual pajamas instead of hospital scrubs and she had on this pair of pinstriped flannel pj’s that looked pretty cozy.  I had stretched out on the pull out, propped up by cushions and pillows and Scully curled up on her side, propped up on her elbow.  I saw her lay down at one point, but I didn’t realize she was asleep until the nightmare started.

It was just a little whimper and I picked up the remote to mute the TV.  The light from the TV made her skin glow and I could see a tear trickling from the corner of her eye and glistening down the inside line of her nose.  

“Shit,” I whispered.

Crying was something else.  She hadn’t cried before and my heart felt like it was being squeezed in a vice.  It brought back memories of nights when Samantha was little and she’d run to my room after having a nightmare, after our mother had told her one too many times to go back to bed.  I would hug her and tuck her back into bed and look in the closet for monsters until one night when I’d just gotten too old and impatient to deal with an annoying little sister who came running every time she heard a noise.  I told her to stop being a baby and stop barging into my room and I don’t know what she did to comfort herself after that because less than a year later, she was gone forever.  If I’d known then what I know now, I never would’ve turned her away.  

Scully isn’t Samantha.  I can’t hug her and tuck her in and pretend to have a bottle of super potent monster repellent hidden under the bed to chase all the bad guys away.  I can’t tuck her in and tell her I’ll stay until she falls asleep.  Scully isn’t seven and she doesn’t hero worship me and think I can do no wrong.

So, I did what I’d done the first weeks of quarantine and I put my hand on Scully’s shoulder, but still she whimpered and still the tears continued to trickle.  I wondered what the nightmares were about.  The abduction?  Something else?  I wished she’d confide in me, but honestly, one of my biggest fears  since she’d been returned to me was that she blamed me for what happened.  I wasn’t there to answer my phone.  I didn’t track Duane Barry down in time to stop it from happening.  And I spent months looking, but still I never found her. I’d understand if she didn’t trust me anymore, but I really wanted a chance to earn it back.

Suddenly, Scully gave a jerk and her eyes opened.  She shivered and her eyes rolled in confusion.  Her breathing was quick and shallow.

“It’s okay,” I said, quietly, giving her shoulder a gentle squeeze.

“Mulder?” she whispered, voice thin and breathless.

“Unfortunately.  You okay?”

“Fine,” she whispered.  “I’m fine.”

“Bad dream?”

She pulled at the collar of her shirt a little and smoothed her hand up and down her throat as she nodded slightly.  She brushed her hand across her cheek and then pulled her fingers away and a look of surprise crossed her face when they came away wet.  

“I don’t remember,” Scully answered.

“Was it about the spores?”

“I don’t know.”

Scully curled her body up a little tighter and I was surprised she hadn’t already gotten up to leave.  I was hesitant to do it, but I put my hand on her head.

“If you wanted to talk at all,” I said.  “We can.”

“I told you, I don’t remember.”

“Not just about the dreams, about anything.”

“I meant the abduction,” she said, quietly, her eyes slipping shut.  “I don’t remember.”

I moved my hand away and put it in my lap.  “I know.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry, Scully.”

She took a deep breath and sighed as she exhaled.  She shifted slightly and curled up a little bit more.  Quietly, I leaned forward and grabbed the blanket from where it was folded at the end of the bed.  I opened it up and draped it over her, adjusting it over her shoulders so she wouldn’t be cold.  She sighed again and one of her arms flopped out towards me.  Slowly, I leaned back again and when a few minutes passed and she hadn’t moved, I reached down and put my hand in hers.  Her fingers twitched and reflexively curled over mine.  There weren’t any more nightmares for her the rest of the night.

The End

[captainwhogotthecanary]

With This Ring (2/2) (A Snart, Mr. & Mrs. story)

I’m so sorry this took so long! Would you believe I kept forgetting I hadn’t finished it? It was done in my mind, so I kept forgetting to work on it. I’d remember and then forget again.

With this finished, I’m going to mark the series complete. I may add to it eventually  (and I am willing to entertain requests), but this (including the Christmas fic already posted that takes place after it) is everything I had planned from the start.

Thank you so much for coming along on this ride with me! And thank you to Tavyn for reading through and calming my pre-posting jitters :)

On AO3 if you prefer.

It’s not that they decide to rush things after that. It’s just that they don’t really see any reason to wait.

“So, you have everything else ready?” Barry asks from outside the dressing room a week later.

“All but the dress.” Sara frowns, smoothing down the material that’s much fancier than it looked on the hanger. “There are perks to having Gideon help with the planning. Plus the whole time travel thing.” She unzips the dress, frustration making the zipper louder than it should be.

At least she doesn’t break this one.

“So… Not that dress either, then?”

“I can hear you smirking, Allen. None of these are right.” Sara reaches for the next dress, slipping it on absently. At least she can tell which way is front, unlike one of the earlier dresses.

“And Gideon can’t help with that? I know you get your disguises or whatever from the ship…”

“That might’ve been my fault,” Kendra pipes up. “I told her she couldn’t have a time ship make her a wedding dress. There has to be some tradition in a wedding, right?”

“If this dress doesn’t work, I’m getting a dress from the ship, and tradition can go to hell,” Sara grumbles, wrenching up the zipper and glancing in the mirror. She stops, irritation fading as she runs her hands along the garment. The straps are tiny, decorative rather than functional. There’s some subtle beading at the waist, and the skirt is cut so that it hangs in waves over the bottom layer, giving the dress some body. It comes to a stop just above her knees.

“Okay,” she says, stepping away from the mirror, “What do you two think?”

“You mean we actually get to see a dress?” Barry jokes as she opens the curtain. “Oh, wow.”

“Sara, you look fantastic,” Kendra adds.

“Yeah?” Sara twists, walking forward so she can see in the trio of mirrors to the side of the sitting room. She spins, watching the skirt flare gently, not high enough to worry about accidentally showing more than she should in public, and feels a tug at her lips. She went along with this whole dress-shopping thing because Kendra mentioned it, when she got her invite, and Barry did the same. She only agreed to it if they came with her. She didn’t expect to actually find anything she liked, anything that made it impossible not to picture walking up the aisle to a waiting Leonard.

“It’s not too… sweet?” she asks, running a finger over the beading.

“Not on you,” Barry answers. He turns pink and runs a hand over his hair. “I’m… not sure that came out right.”

“What he’s trying to say,” Kendra cuts in, “is that it suits you.”

“Yeah. That.” Barry nods vigorously. “So, this is what you’ll be wearing Sunday?”

Sara runs her hands across the beading once more, staring in the mirror and seeing Leonard staring back. “Yeah,” she says. “This is what I’ll be wearing Sunday.”

***

Leonard already has a tux–it helps to be able to blend in somewhere fancy on short notice–so he doesn’t have to deal with having help getting dressed until Sunday.

“I’ve been dressing myself for years,” he mutters, stepping out of the bathroom in the room he’s using to get ready. He finishes a button, then looks up to see Mick, Raymond, and Lisa waiting for him. While the Boy Scout looks surprised and impressed, Mick and Lisa are smirking.

Of course they are.

“Lookin’ good, Boss,” says Mick. Leonard ignores him, moving to stand in front of the tall mirror on the wall.

He does look good. The tux still fits, and the deep navy brings out his eyes while making some of the gray in his hair less obvious.

“Yeah, Lenny, you look all grown up.” Under Lisa’s snark, Leonard hears some genuine emotion, and he turns to his sister. She’s still wearing that smirk that reminds him of his own, but her eyes are glistening. “Give us a minute, will you, boys?” she says, definitely more of a demand than a question. She doesn’t even bother looking away from her brother.

There’s silence for a moment after Mick and Ray leave. Lisa looks torn, though he can’t quite identify the emotions she’s battling; Lisa’s always been good at showing what she wants to.

“How do you know?” she asks finally. “After all the crap we went through growing up, how can you believe… How do you know she won’t hurt you?”

Like everyone else we love goes unspoken.

Leonard doesn’t answer right away, thinking. Despite his penchant for planning, nothing with Sara has gone according to plan, not from the start. “I know,” he says aloud, “because I know. The same as I know that even though you’re family, you won’t beat people smaller than you, won’t hurt me intentionally, not really.” Cruel words thrown out in teenage tantrums didn’t count, and even those weren’t as bad as they’d have been if she’d meant them. “I’m never gonna trust easy, and a lot of that is because of how we grew up. But that doesn’t mean I have to let fear run my life when I find something good.”

Lisa nods and throws her arms around him in a way she hasn’t since she was little. “I’m happy for you, Lenny,” she says.

He returns the hug, patting her gently on the back. “Me, too.”

“It’s still gonna be weird, though,” she says, pulling away, “you being an old, married man.”

He smirks at her as the door to the room reopens.

“Time to head down there, Boss,” Mick says. Leonard can just barely hear Ray’s protests about interrupting, following by arguing with himself about punctuality.

They all make their way downstairs and outside. It’s a gorgeous day, but they knew it would be; it’s handy having an AI who can confirm the weather with the accuracy of time travel rather than scientific predictions. There are just a couple rows of seating, to be filled by the Waverider crew and a few visitors from Star City. Their guests are currently mingling. Iris sees them approach and turns from Quentin Lance to smile at Barry.

Leonard and his groomsmen (and groomswoman) take their places at the simple, arched trellis at the end of the short aisle formed by the chairs, and people start settling into their seats. Leonard looks at Rip (apparently the whole ship’s captain thing applies to time ships, and Rip can marry them without jumping through any hoops) and nods, then turns back toward where Sara will be appearing soon.

And then they wait.

***

Sara catches a glimpse of Leonard through the trees before getting to where she stands to wait her turn, and it’s enough to ratchet her impatience higher than it already was. She shifts her weight from one foot to the other as her half of the wedding party leaves her.

It’s not that she’s nervous; she’s just ready to get started. It’s early afternoon, and she’s been primped and pampered and kept away from Leonard since early morning. Now, he’s standing so close, waiting, and while it still shouldn’t make a difference, they’re going to make it official.

She jumps when her father comes up beside her, then grins at him, relaxing as he takes her arm.

“You ready for this, baby girl?” he asks.

“Yeah, Daddy, I really am.” As if on cue, the music changes. She takes a breath, and they step forward.

The first thing she sees when they get past the trees is Leonard. His eyes have already found hers. Next to Leonard are Mick, Lisa, and Ray. Waiting on Sara’s side are Barry and Kendra, an empty space left between them for Laurel. It’s nothing like a traditional wedding party, but it works.

Her eyes pull easily back to Leonard, who’s watching her with something like awe. His eyes shine, and his mouth is open ever-so slightly. The look of awe only lasts a second; when she raises her eyebrows, he shifts to his typical smirk.

Well, almost typical. There’s still something soft about it, something knowing.

This is the man she’s going to marry. Her arm linked with her father’s, her footsteps never falter, and her restlessness subsides.

***

Sara looks amazing walking toward him. He barely even sees the dress, too focused on the way she’s watching him, wearing probably the biggest smile he’s ever seen on her.

They’re getting married, and for a second it doesn’t feel real. He hasn’t done anything to earn this.

Then he sees her again, sees her smile, and relaxes. It’s Sara. It’s nothing to do with who’s earned what, only that they’ve chosen each other, chosen this, and they’re about to tell the world.

Or at least their friends and family and the courthouse. Two years ago, he’d have said it was more likely for him to try to rob the courthouse than to submit for a marriage certificate. It took some hacking to ensure that there wouldn’t be any conflict with dead or criminal people filing for marriage, with the officiant someone who hasn’t been born yet, but they got around all that, and now they’re here.

He’s dimly aware of Quentin saying something to Sara before kissing her on the cheek and letting her go with a smile at Leonard, and then Leonard’s reaching for Sara’s hand. She takes his and comes close, smiling up at him.

“Hi,” she says in almost a whisper.

“Hi,” he returns.

Rip smiles almost fondly at them before addressing everyone present. “Anyone here knows that these two are decidedly non-traditional, so you’ll not be surprised that they have chosen to share their own vows rather than repeat standard lines about obeying each other.” A chuckle runs through the guests, and Mick guffaws. “And since I know you’re all here for them, not to listen to me, I’ll let them take it from here.”

It falls quiet, and Leonard watches Sara. Between them, both her hands are clasped firmly in his.

“I didn’t know you were the one when we met,” she says, “or anything clichéd like that. But almost right away, I knew that we worked well together. It wasn’t long before I knew I couldn’t live without you, didn’t want to, and that scared me.” She takes a breath, and Leonard runs a thumb soothingly over her hand. He knows how hard it was for her to take that leap. “And then you showed me it was worth it. It’s all worth it, and we can get through anything as long as we’re together.

“So I’m here today to tell you that I mean it, forever.” She lets go of one hand long enough to retrieve a ring from Barry. “And I’m not gonna say any of that ‘til death do us part’ crap, because been there, done that, and I know that even if it happens again, I’ll still feel like I do today. I love you, Leonard, and I always will.” She slides the ring onto his finger and takes his hand again.

Her eyes aren’t quite damp, but they’re brighter than usual, and Leonard has to swallow twice before he can speak.

“You had a part of me from the first time I saw you fight,” he says. “I just didn’t know how big a part it was, not at first. It didn’t take long, though. I realized how much trouble I was in when we almost died, and none of my regrets had to do with being with you. Even then, my regrets were that I hadn’t acted. I waited for the right moment, even tried to make the right moment, but life doesn’t always happen according to a plan.” He reaches back for Sara’s ring. “And I’m glad it doesn’t, because I’d never have thought to plan this.” He slides the ring onto her finger. “You showed me that it’s worth it, trusting that things will go right. I love you, Sara, and I always will.”

Rip’s voice is rough when he breaks the silence. “And with that, I pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss the bride.”

Leonard leans forward, and his lips meet Sara’s in what he really intends to be a relatively chaste kiss, but he’s kissing his wife, who isn’t exactly unenthusiastic, and before he knows it, they’re breaking apart to loud cheers and raucous catcalls. Sara’s smiling, and he doesn’t try to stop himself from leaning forward and kissing her one more time.

Rip sounds genuinely proud when he speaks again. “May I now present to you, for the first time officially, Mr. and Mrs. Snart!”

***

The reception is light, with a lot of food, a lot of music, and a bit of dancing. Even with their relatively small numbers, Sara feels like she can’t find time to talk to everyone, and her eyes are drawn over and over to Leonard.

To her husband.

One of these times, he reaches over and covers her hand with his. She knows he’s had a lot of touching today, a lot more physical interaction than he usually tolerates from anyone but her, but he’s still smiling more than usual.

“Everything okay, Mrs. Snart?” he asks, raising an eyebrow at her. She’s torn between the desire to snort at the clichéd use of the last name and the thrill she gets at hearing it.

She settles on a smirk. “Yeah, Mr. Snart. Everything’s great.”

He turns his hand over so he can lace their fingers together, and as she watches their friends and family mingling, her husband’s hand in hers, she knows she’s wrong:

Thing’s aren’t great; they’re damned near perfect.