#blupjeansweek2023

[blupjeansweek]

[ID: A white banner with black text and a drawing of bluejeans with heart patches on either leg. The text reads “Blupjeans Week 2023″. End ID.]

Announcing Blupjeans Week 2023, a whole week dedicated to Barry and Lup from the Adventure Zone Podcast!

The week will run from Friday May 26th to Thursday June 1st, honoring the anniversary of Episode 64. Any creative content is accepted, so feel free to share whatever you create!

For Visual Artists: image descriptions are deeply appreciated! I'd like to make sure this event is as inclusive as possible, and not having to describe all the images myself allows me to run things much more efficiently!

Prompts Are:

May 26- Refuge

May 27- Bet

May 28- Myth

May 29- AU

May 30- Bones

May 31- Free day

June 1- Aftermath

Tag your posts #blupjeansweek2023 and @blupjeansweek to make sure I see it! If your post is not reblogged within a day or two please send me the post through message so I can reblog it here!

Happy Creating!

[anistarrose]

for @blupjeansweek 2023 day 4: AU! coming at you with my favorite type of AU by far, which is of course blupjeans with amnesia shenanigans :D

When Lup gets back to the stagecoach from her grocery run, Taako is on his way right out of it. He makes no move to help her with the bags of flour and beans, instead just eyeing the closed coach door suspiciously.

“Oh, hey, Lup. Coach’s haunted.”

Lup blinks. “What?”

He jabs a thumb over his shoulder, back at the offending vehicle. “I said, stagecoach’s haunted.”

“Yeah, but — how? By what?”

“Oh, uh…” Taako’s brow furrows. “I mean, I guess he’s just some guy?”

Lup stares.

“Totally latched onto all our shit already, though,” Taako goes on. “Like it’s — like it’s prime haunting real estate, or something. I don’t think he really wants to leave.”

“Okay. Okay, fine. I get it.” Lup drops the groceries at the foot of the steps, taking them up two at a time to rest her hand on the doorknob. “I’ll go talk to him, I’ll take that bullet.”

“Hey, he’s — he’s weird to talk to? There’s gonna be a weird energy in there. Don’t say I didn’t warn you about the kinda energy in there,” Taako tells her, and she waves him off.

“Oh, don’t sweat it, T, he’ll be out of our hair in no time. I’ll just make sure to turn on the charm.”

(keep reading on ao3!)

[fandomsnstuff]

Day 7: Aftermath

Last day of @blupjeansweek 2023!

This is a followup to day 5: Bones

Read it on AO3

Summary: Lup meets her future mother in law

Lup and Barry sit in her parked car, staring at the house across the street. It's a cute little white picket fence number. There's a stone path bordered by rows of tiny blue forget-me-nots that leads to a manicured garden, then a wraparound porch with a set of comfy patio furniture to one side of the baby blue door.

Lup turns to Barry and says, "you're sure about this?"

His eyes are fixed on the house, and he nods. She presses her thumb against his cheeks, "unclench your jaw."

He takes a deep breath. "Okay. I'm okay."

"Wait here," she squeezes his arm, "I'll signal you when it's time."

She gets out of the car and crosses the street. She takes a closer look around as she heads for the door. The forget-me-nots poke up through the spaces between the stones. The garden has two different rose bushes in it. There's a little garden statue of a teddy bear in overalls sitting on a side table on the porch.

She raises her fist and hesitates. She's practised what she wants to say, but there's no telling how this'll go. But Barry wants to do this so by god, they're doing it.

She knocks.

It's a long, agonising minute before the door opens. Behind it is a small round woman with blue eyes and short grey hair that has just a whiff of curliness to it. She looks confused. "Can I help you?"

"Are you Marlena Bluejeans?"

"Yes…"

"Hi, uh, my name is Lup. A little over a year ago now, I bought your son's house? And-"

Marlena sighs. "I'm going to stop you there. That house stopped being my problem after I sold it, yet almost every owner since has ended up here. If you think strange things are happening, either suck it up or leave. Goodbye."

She starts to close the door, Lup puts her hand on it to stop it and half-shouts, "wait!" She takes a breath. "You knew your son was still in that house, didn't you? You knew what kind of things he was experimenting with."

Marlena keeps her eyes down, but doesn't close the door any further. "I'm sorry, young lady. If you're here to try to get me to speak to him to calm him, I can't. I tried. I held onto that house for two years trying to talk to him, but he's not himself. He couldn't recognize me. He's angry and volatile, all he wants is to be alone."

Lup remembers Barry telling her that by the time he came back to himself after dying, a family had already moved in. He assumed he just hadn't manifested until then, but what Marlena's saying… he was there, but he wasn't aware or in control.

Marlena looks up at her, and her eyes are brimming with tears. "I'm sorry you had to meet him like this," she says, "he's… he was such a nice boy. And a good son, who always came to see his mother."

"I'm sorry for your loss, Mrs. Bluejeans," Lup says. "But the thing is, I'm pretty stubborn. And I wasn't going to let a cranky ghost chase me away." Marlena smiles a little bit, and it urges Lup forward, "so we eventually came to a truce, and started talking, and we rifled through some old books he had stashed in the attic and, well."

She turns and waves to the car. They can only see the top of his head as he gets out, but once he rounds the car and starts crossing the street, she hears Marlena gasp behind her. She turns back and says, "we found a ritual. And after a lot of prep, we tried it, and… yeah."

Marlena puts a hand on her arm, eyes shimmering, "did you bring my boy back?"

"I did."

"Oh-" she rushes past her and meets Barry halfway down the path, crushing him in a hug. "Oh, my sweet boy. My son." She pulls back and takes his face in her hands, examining him. "Look at you," she says reverently.

Barry smiles, tears rolling down his cheeks every time he blinks. "Hi, mom."

[noodyl-blasstal]

Blupjeans Week: Bet (day 2)

It's @blupjeansweek day 2. This follows on from yesterday's prompt. You can also read on Ao3

-

"It's going to be fine."

"Easy for you to say, you just casually revolutionised thermodynamics, you're gonna walk your viva." Barry could hear Lup rolling her eyes at that one, though he stayed resolutely focused on the raggedy copy of his thesis which was, at this point, 70% sticky notes. Could he read what any of them said because of how much they overlapped? Shut up.

"Natch, evocation is never going to be the same thanks to cha'girl's research, but that doesn't meant you're going to fail, Barold."

"No, they're just going to MPhil me out."

Lup sighed heavily. "Oh no, you worked hard and gained mastery in a subject, how terrible, what an embarrassment."

Barry did look up then, didn't she get it? He’d thought she’d get it. It was an embarrassment! She’d watched him put so much into this, the stupid well thumbed, badly bound paper stack represented four years of late nights, early mornings, cancelled plans, 3am anxiety… he thought she understood. She’d lived it with him, they were working for the key to the next level, if they gave him the wrong one what was even the point? "You think…?"

"I'm being flippant because that's not going to happen. Once again, I've read your work my guy, it's good, in fact, it’s great. In fact, right now, you’re arguing with established fact.” Barry grimaced as Lup spoke, but she ploughed on. “... you've already published three chapters of this thing in peer reviewed journals. 6/6 esteemed peer reviewers agree!"

"But they publish bad science all the tim…"

Lup cut him off. "Barry stop. You know you’ve done good science because a) I would have told you if you hadn’t, and b) peer reviewers might be lazy but you’re not. You know your submissions were solid, just look at the citations.”

“But…” She was right. But Barry still struggled, sure she hadn’t said anything incorrect, he knew he’d done solid work, but he also just knew that he’d fucked this up.

“...But what? But maybe they're idiots who can't recognise genius? They're gonna recognise it, Barry. It's impossible not to recognise how brilliant you are. That thesis is just you yelling “I’m Barry Bluejeans and I know what the fuck I’m talking about, pay me money about it.” Plus, publish a few more chapters and you can do PhD by publication without those losers to worry about anyway."

Barry didn’t even register the second part because Lup thought he was brilliant! Lup thought he was brilliant and she was telling him and he kept shutting her down instead of just being grateful about it. Maybe if he tried to accept the compliment. "Than…"

Lup started speaking at the same time. "In fact…" She paused to let him speak, but he shook his head and gestured to her, he could try being gracious another day. "... Okay, if you're sure." He nodded. "I think, Baraldo, that we should make a bet, you and I. I may as well profit from all this self doubt, so I bet you're gonna pass with no corrections."

Barry laughed bitterly. Whatever she was betting she'd be losing. "Lup, I'm going to fail."

Lup shoved his shoulder gently. "You're not and you know it. Be serious."

"Oh, like yours was serious?"

Lup's ears flicked back defensively. "Serious? Barry, c'mon. Obviously we all know cha’girl’s out here shaping the future of evocation, but you're doing magic within magic on all your spooktacular stuff. The chapter on spell wheels? I'd never considered it, and even if I had, I definitely would have taken at least 10 minutes longer than you to come up with something so elegant. You know what you're doing, I know what I'm doing, it's why we're such a great team."

They did make a great team. They’d met the first day of undergrad at orientation. Barry the lone mature student in a sea of babies, then Lup and Taako had appeared, and sure there was The Nerd Incident, but they cleared that pretty fast. They coincided in most classes, worked together in labs, and powered their way through a ridiculous amount of higher education together. There hadn’t been any question about it when the option of choosing housing came up, they lived together off campus and were joined by a rotating cast which had pretty much always featured Taako (well, until this year), but LupAndBarry, BarryAndLup? They were a constant, they worked. “We do work well together.” 

“You can say that again.” Lup glared at him as he opened his mouth to repeat it. “...And you know exactly how smart I am, right?” Lup asked. Barry could taste the trap-ness of this question, she was an angler fish and the question was a beautiful little light, he was going to answer it honestly and wholly and she was going to chomp him down with her big clever teeth.

“You’re incredible Lup, your research is amazing and you’re passionate and eloquent and so smart…” 

Lup’s teeth closed. “Then you know I know my shit well enough to know your shit’s good, so, what’s your bet?”

“I pass with major corrections?”

Lup raised an eyebrow. “Question, or an answer?”

“I pass with majors.”

“Fine. If you want to lose whatever you’re betting then be my guest, Bluejeans.”

“I don’t think I have anything you want.” Barry said, and he wasn’t sure, it was a ridiculous thought, but he could have sworn that Lup’s ears reddened at the tips. She coughed loudly, then almost shouted “Jeans.”

“What?”

Lup coughed again and spoke in a softer tone. “I get rights to your wardrobe. I know your jeans are comfier than mine.”

Barry hesitated. He’d already lost a good chunk of his shirts and sweaters to Lup. Not that he minded most of the time, he usually managed to steal his favourites back briefly on laundry day, but his jeans? He only had three pairs and they all served specific purposes in his life, he couldn't afford to sacrifice them, no matter how cute Lup would look in them. But, <;i>but</i>, there was no way he was actually going to pass without corrections, everyone at least got minors and Barry's supervisor definitely didn't think he'd even manage that. According to the available evidence, this seemed like a safe bet. "Deal!"

Lup grinned big and wide and dangerous . "GuyWhoJustLostHisJeansSaysWhat."

"What?" Barry asked.

Lup snickered. "Just asking what you wanted from me if your externals are somehow struck incapable of recognising brilliance?"

Oh... yeah, Barry had forgotten this part. Lup's brash overconfidence in his abilities had essentially signed her up to do whatever he wanted. He could stick her with dish duty for the next hundred years; make her actually use the dregs of her body wash before she moved onto the next one so the edge of the shower wasn't a terrifying pile of upside down barely balanced bottles; he could ask her to tell him whether there was an expiration date on their whole thing, whether the end of study meant different directions and fond memories, phone calls which dwindled as she remembered less and less… "You have to come home with me." He blurted out the thought before he could properly consider what he was asking. Was that too much? Oh it was probably too much. A trip home meant a road trip, motels, meeting his Mum. There was no way Marlena wouldn't pick up on exactly how he felt about Lup, not that she hadn’t already, but it was easier to lie on the phone. Plus, there was no way his Mum wouldn't love Lup too. How could anyone not? Then he’d only disappoint her when Lup moved on with her life and left him behind. Maybe he could back track, do the dishes thing instead…

"You have yourself a deal, Mr Bluejeans, may as well use that title one last time. Now, I have some outfits to plan, go eat the sandwich I made you, then I'll help with the last minute prep." Lup disappeared in the direction of Barry's room. 

Barry resigned himself to losing another few shirts while Lup investigated his wardrobe and obediently shuffled his way to the kitchen. It was definitely time to eat, he wasn't entirely sure when he last did… probably the last time Lup shoved food at him. He definitely had to thank her when this was over. 

-

"...And why did you decide on Necrostics?" Lup looked expectantly at Barry. 

"It was the most logical methodological approach as it incorporates acknowledgement of the agency held by constructs and the undead while also acknowledging the influence of social and summoning factors. I modified the approach to ensure it was appropriately controlling for the new spells I developed."

Lup clapped her hands delightedly. 

"It was that good an answer?" Barry asked.

"It's that good a wardrobe. I cannot wait to get my hands on it, Barold, you're gonna be living in your pants… although…" Lup narrowed her eyes. 

"Absolutely not, no!"

Lup shrugged. "You can't watch your stuff all the time, Barry. Cha'girl needs some new sleep shorts."

Barry felt his face flame at the thought of Lup sleeping in his clothes, Lup wanting to. "I'd better go now!" He said, too fast and too loud. "Gotta go get it over with."

Lup jumped up. "Cool, I'll grab my book and and few other bits and come with. There's some comfy chairs in the corridor with my name on them."

Oh. Lup was going to come with him. Lup was going to wait for him. "You don't have t…"

"I want to."

–

"Good luck Barold, you've got this." Lup hugged him firmly, he squeezed back. If he didn't let go he didn't have to go into the scary room. Can't defend your thesis if you’re in the middle of a hug, that’s just science. Lup pulled back slightly, then dipped her head to kiss him on the cheek.

Barry didn't have time to react before Lup pulled away and planted herself across the corridor chairs, head buried in her book.

"Are you ready, Mr Bluejeans?" A voice asked from the door behind him. All Barry could do was touch a hand to his cheek, turn, and nod. 

– 

"Congratulations again, Dr Bluejeans, this may be the most enjoyable viva I have ever taken part in." Said Dr Combish, opening the door for him. 

Barry was going to pass out. The adrenaline finally drained out of him, weeks, months of panic, gone. It was over. An outright pass? It was so rare, so ridiculously unlikely. He should be raring to celebrate, but mostly he just wanted to go home and sit very still in the dark. He stepped into the corridor, remembered to thank Dr Combish, and stared numbly at the door as it closed. What did he even do now? It was over. A whole chunk of his life was just… done. He had the keys to the next stage, had the fancy title, had everything he'd worked for and… and? 

"Hey Bear?" Lup nudged his arm gently. "How'd it go?" 

"I… I passed?" Said Barry. "Yeah. They. Well. I passed!" His voice broke momentarily, to say it was so surreal. "Lup! I passed!!!" He grabbed her into a hug. "I did it! We did it! Thank you, thank you thank you thank you!"

"Knew you could." Lup said thickly, hugging him back. They didn’t say anything for a while, just held on tight. “We… we should do something.” Said Lup, eventually. “Celebrate, you know.”

“We’ll celebrate together when you pass next week.” Barry didn’t even have to think about it. Whatever he could do, Lup could do better, there was no way she’d be correcting anything.

“Fine, but we’re getting pizza, from the good place.” Lup grabbed her backpack from the chairs.

Barry stared for a second. “You… you’re wearing my garden jeans. Lup!”

“And they look great on me. Told you I believed in you. Fair’s fair.” Lup winked, wiggled her butt, and grabbed his hand. “Now, let’s get you home, Baraldo. We need to ring Marlena and tell her, she’ll be having kittens.”

Barry couldn’t do anything but nod.

[barry-j-blupjeans]

Day Four - AU

Look. It wasn’t like Lup wanted to mess with the cosmic powers of time and space, but— no, okay, she didn’t really have an excuse. In fact, Lup would actually say that she really wanted to mess with the cosmic powers of time and space. Like, a lot. A lot a lot. 

And she would be lying if she said having her proposal about it getting shot down so many times hadn’t hurt. Lup had spent fucking years developing these plans. It’s not her fault everyone else was boring. But science institution after science institution shot her down because it was “unrealistic” or “risky” or “expensive”.

And that’s where Barry came in.

She wasn’t- okay, yeah, maybe Lup did start talking to him for the money. It wasn’t like she hadn’t done that to other people before. If you got the goods and didn’t know how to protect them, that wasn’t her fault!

But Barry had done more than just indulge her harebrained schemes. He had immediately taken a liking to the idea and when Lup had begrudgingly let him get involved (for the sake of the money at stake, of course), he proved to be a lot more helpful than Lup had expected. Lup had tried very, very hard not to start trusting him- eat the rich, and all that. But goddamnit, it had been very hard.

She liked Barry a lot more than she thought she would. He was smart, yeah, but he was also kind. No one had ever really entertained her stupid middle-of-the-night thoughts before. No one had ever smiled at her that kindly or looked at her with respect and not just pity, or embarrassment. No one got her like Barry did. 

It was terrifying. The last person she had trusted like this had been Taako and—

Well, Lup didn’t really like to think about it.

“Shut ‘er down, babe,” Lup said, placing her safety glasses back over her eyes. All the light in the room immediately cut off. The noise of the AC winded down, stuttering to a stop. And the constant hum from the machines around them died. All that was left was a single blinking light, and, after a satisfying crackle and snap from behind her, Barry’s glow stick.

They had tried this before with the lights and shit still running, but it had drained out all the power in Barry’s huge fuckin’ house, and a few of his neighbors. It took weeks to get everything working again while trying to sidestep how it had happened. Lup was pretty sure Susan from next door still hadn’t forgiven them.

A hand was placed on her shoulder and Lup turned slightly to see Barry standing there, his safety gear on. The glowstick for tonight was a soft, warm pink.

“Ready?” Barry asked.

“Hell yeah,” Lup said. She reached her hands out to the panel in front of her, knowing it by touch now. She found the blinking light. The grip Barry had on her shoulder tightened slightly. Her hand moved right until she felt the button.

“Hold on to your hat, Bluejeans,” Lup said, pressing it.

The effect was instantaneous. The mechanical noise came back at once, along with a bright, nearly blinding light. In front of them, the lights wrapping around the Portal began to light up one by one. Barry’s hand slipped down her arm until he found hers, squeezing it tightly. 

The noise got louder and Lup tried not to wince. It was a violent scrape of metals and the loud whirring of machinery. She listened close for the pops of the transmitter- and yes, there they were. Her heart was beating almost as fast as they were sounding off.

Then— a new light. Colored light. From the center of the Portal, a violet light began to fill the circle, pushing out into the outer edges. Then, indigo, which was quickly followed by blue and green, until the room was lit up in a rainbow light.

The light cut out again. Just for a moment, just enough for Lup to begin feeling absolutely devastated at their failure again. But then the bulbs around the Portal light back up and the light in the center returned. It flickered once, twice, and suddenly, an image began to come through. It took a few more seconds to begin to clear, the colors buzzing around the edges like TV static.

And finally, the Portal showed a living room. It was lit with warm yellow lights, with a leather couch and a stained coffee table. There were photos hung up on the wall that Lup couldn’t quite make out. The armchair to the right of the couch had a cat laying on it, curled up on a cozy brown and tan blanket.

The cat was staring dead at them.

“Oh my god,” Barry said, pushing his safety goggles up. “Did we—?”

She pushed her safety goggles off her eyes, too, her hands shaking. 

“We did it,” Lup said, breathlessly. She had tears in her eyes now. She crashed into Barry for a hug and Barry laughed, lifting her up. Her entire body felt happy. She was shaking, unable to contain it all. The cat was meowing now, very loud, but Lup toned it out in favor of holding onto Barry a little tighter. She was grinning so wide her face had begun to ache.

“Lup!” Barry said, half in a laugh, half in utter disbelief. He pulled back, flushed and grinning.

She loved him. Fuck, she loved him so much.

“Lup,” Barry began again. “Lup, I… I—”

“Garbanzo, we can’t keep doing this.” a voice said. Whatever Barry had been going to say got cut off as they both turned back to the Portal. A sudden chill settled over Lup.

She knew that voice.

A figure stepped into frame. He…

He looked exactly like Lup imagined he would. Well, besides the ears. Lup didn’t know what was up with those ears. And the big wizard hat. Gods, he would have loved that stupid fucking hat.

“You gotta use your inside voice, my man,” the figure said, lifting up the cat. Garbanzo meowed, batting at him, trying to see past his shoulder. He turned. Lup’s heart ached.

He was holding out Garbanzo under his arms like a little ragdoll as he looked them up and down. Lup could see the very obvious pause when he looked at her— looked at her ears, maybe? She didn’t know. She didn’t particularly care what he was looking at at the moment. He was there.

“Uhh,” Taako said, turning to them— a version of Taako, not hers, just- just an alternate one. From the alternate universe they build a Portal to. Lup kind of felt like she was about to pass out. “Hail and well met. Why, uhh— hey, what the fuck is this?”

Lup rushed through the portal.

[ethersierra]

@blupjeansweek day 1: refuge

Barry and Lup are ready to visit Refuge for their second (? Who can keep count in Refuge) time.

[fandomsnstuff]

Day 5 - Bones

It's my birthday so i think you should read this fic (and the others, if you want) and be nice to me :3

@blupjeansweek

Read it on AO3

Summary: Lup commits a crime but she swears she has a REALLY good reason

It's nearing 6am, the sky is just beginning to turn orange, and Lup's been digging since eleven. She's sweaty, exhausted, and covered in dirt. Barry better know what he's talking about, because if she went through all this only for the ritual not to work, she'll kill him. She doesn't care if he's already dead.

She pauses for a moment to give her aching back a short reprieve.

Why did she have to buy the murder house? "It has a story," she said. "It has character," she said. "It's in a good neighbourhood," she said. But who is she kidding? She bought the house that a guy had been murdered in years ago because it was cheap and nobody else seemed to want it. It didn't take long to find out why. The place was haunted as hell. The murdered guy was mad about being murdered and kept scaring people away, but Lup's no quitter. She and Barry fought not just a battle of wills, they fought a war. He wanted her out so he could sulk, she couldn't afford any other house in the area. They eventually came to a tentative truce. Then they started talking, and then Lup was in a lot of denial, but seeing as she's committing grave robbery to complete a ritual that Barry's "pretty sure" will work, she has to admit that she has a stupid crush on the fucking ghost.

Her shovel hits wood with a hollow thunk, and she could cry in relief. She tosses the tool aside, and uses her hands to brush away the dirt on top. Barry said his mom is a simple woman, who always talked about getting buried in a plain box and not getting embalmed, so they were hoping she'd done the same for her son. Cleared of dirt, Lup finds exactly that. A plain wooden box. She grabs her shovel and brings the edge down on the box. After a couple good whacks and a few silent prayers to no one that there isn't a groundskeeper around to hear it, she's able to pull away enough of the lid to get at the remains inside. It's nothing but bones and a tattered suit. She takes a cloth bag from her back pocket and carefully removes the bones from the casket. She ties the bag to her hip, then climbs out of the hole and flops back onto the grass with a heavy sigh.

She doesn't dare stay there for long. She's already been here for way longer than she wanted, and the sun is on its way up. Fortunately, even though she wasn't able to find the "dig a hole" kind of magic in the old tomes she dug out of a dusty chest, she did find the "move dirt back into a hole" and "make grass grow" kind of magic, so she's able to cover up her crime and hustle her ass out of there.

Back home, she's in the basement with the carpet torn up, revealing a stain on the concrete that no one's ever really been able to get rid of. Runes have been carefully drawn in a perfect circle, centering on that spot. She's lit only by candles and the faint blue glow that comes off of Barry's spectral form as she arranges the bones in the middle of the circle.

"Perfect," he says, "that's perfect. Okay, I think we're ready."

"You think?"

"I know. I know we're ready. This will work. It has to work."

"It better," she steps out of the circle and picks up the old leather bound book they found deep in the attic, "I spent all that money getting your new documents."

"Thank you, Lup. You didn't have to do all this for me. You… you're amazing."

"Don't thank me just yet." She jerks her head towards the circle, "get in there."

Obediently, Barry moves so he's floating just above his bones. Lup looks down at her marked page in the book, at the words she's been practising over and over for months. She was never great at latin, but now she has to be. She takes a breath and starts the ritual. All she has to do is read the lines again and again until it's over. Until, hopefully, the spectre and bones are replaced by a living, breathing Barry.

On the first round, Barry's glow gets brighter. On the second, his bones start to glow. Third, the runes light up. Fourth, the candles start to flicker violently. Fifth and sixth, Barry's spectre starts to lower towards his bones. Seventh, he disappears into them and there's a flash of bright light. Eighth, there's a body in the middle of the floor now, but his eyes are closed and he's not moving. Ninth, his chest starts to rise and fall almost imperceptibly. Tenth, Barry inhales sharply, his eyes snap open, and all the candles go out.

It's pitch black. Lup stops reading. She can hear breathing, and it's not her own. She whispers, "Barry?"

"Yeah," he responds, "I'm- I'm here. Can we turn the light on?"

Lup drops the book and stumbles to the wall, feeling blindly for the switch. She winces when it turns on, having to take a moment to let her eyes adjust from one extreme to another. But when she blinks the spots out of her eyes, there he is. Sitting butt naked on the concrete floor is Barry Bluejeans in the flesh.

"Uh, Lup," he says, "could you- the robe?"

"Oh, right." From their table of supplies, she grabs his glasses and the robe she bought for him just in case old taboo resurrection rituals didn't take clothes into account. He wraps it around himself then starts trying to stand. He's a little wobbly, so Lup grabs his arm to steady him.

He's warm.

"Here," she unfolds his glasses and hands them to him.

He puts them on and looks around. "Can we go upstairs?"

"Of course."

She helps him up the stairs, and takes him out into the backyard. He takes a deep breath and looks at her, "it worked."

"It did."

"Lup, you're a genius."

"Glad you noticed, but you're the one that figured out the ritual."

"Run away with me."

She pauses. "What?"

"Lup, I- god, I'm being an idiot right now, but I like you so much, and I think we make a great team, and I can't stay here, but I want to stay with you." He shakes his head. "I'm sorry, this is stupid, the whole reason we even talked was because you wanted to stay in the house, I shouldn't have-"

"No," she cuts him off, "I mean yes. Yes and no. It's not stupid, and honestly I stopped giving a fuck about the house ages ago. Let's run away. We can live in a shitty apartment and you can work your way back up to a PhD and we can complain about people together and one day we'll get a house that no one's ever been murdered in and no one ever will be murdered in."

He smiles at her, and he's so much more handsome in flesh and blood. "I like the sound of that."

She leans her head on his shoulder and admires the gardens. "Do you think I could charge extra for the house since it's been ghost busted?"

"I don't think anyone will want to live where a ghost busted."

[barry-j-blupjeans]

Day Three - Myth

There’s something incredibly disconcerting about being able to see your own breath when you breathe out. For someone like Lup, it was always a reminder of where she came from. Cold, windy nights on the street with Taako, hidden in the back alleys of a city that never really went dark, unless you knew where to look. The chill was part of the reason they had moved away. Starting a fresh life somewhere warm had always been the goal.

It didn’t get cold out here. Even in the winter, the lowest it would drop would be the mid-forties. Lup hadn’t seen natural ice in years.

But here she was.

To be completely honest, being a YouTuber wasn’t the hot shit that it was made out to be. To be even more honest, Lup and Taako often put their lives in major jeopardy with the cryptid hunting videos. They had never actually gotten any solid evidence that the cryptids they were looking for existed, but that’s what video editing was for. Instead, the danger came from being out in places like the woods she was in now. Far enough away from town to lose even the shittiest of wifi, deep enough into nature that no one would know where to find her.

They took a lot of measures to make sure they never got separated. And now Lup was out in the woods by herself, with her way too expensive camera and a sweater not heavy enough for the chill that had settled over the area.

And the camera wasn’t even working. It had been static all night, but now it had dissolved into straight nothingness. There was nothing Lup could do to get the view back in focus, or back at all. Maybe if she hadn’t been so focused on it, she would have felt colder. Maybe she would have watched her step more carefully.

Maybe-

There was a flash of red from her left. Lup staggered slightly, then stopped walking. She aimed the camera towards it, just in case. If she was about to get murdered or some shit, then at least they’d have video evidence.

And she’d not be going down without a fight, thanks to the obsessive amount of pocket knives Magnus had given her. They had gotten her out of more than one shitty situation before and she could do it again.

The temperature seemed to drop lower. Just being able to see her breathe was something, but now the cold was starting to seep into her lips and fingers.

Logically, she should stay put. She hadn’t strayed far from where she lost track of Taako. Or Taako lost track of her, or whatever. But there was a dread creeping up her throat that had started with the static and increased with the chill. If it came down to fight or flight, she couldn’t exactly choose the latter and leave Taako behind.

And it was only when the screen of her camera cracked into shards that Lup realized. Oh.

Fuck.

Despite doing this for several years, they never really encountered a cryptid before. Like, duh. It’s not like they exist. If the Mothman was real, someone deffo would have gotten that guy on camera. If Bigfoot was out there somewhere, he’d probably be trying to buy some fuckin’ Air Jordans or something. If the Red Robe existed, then he would have been recorded already. The flimsy excuse of him “breaking cameras” was supposed to have been a convenient sidestep.

But here she was. Cameraless, freezing, and stuck staring at the red, hooded figure emerging from the trees.

He was fucking terrifying. Where there should have been a face beneath his hood, there was a curling ball of static that dripped down his chest. What could have been hands looked more like inky black claws, curved and pointed, much like the dozens of pocket knives Lup had on her. Past his knees, the robe began to fade away, leaving a wisp behind him, tangled up in static and empty air.

It was horrifying. But when he spoke—

When he spoke, Lup figured that the most awful part of it all was the ache in her chest.

“Lup,” he said, in what might have been some sort of twisted joy or disbelief. “Lup, you came back.”

Fight or flight, baby. And Lup was all out of flight.

She pulled the pocket knife out of her sleeve.

[noodyl-blasstal]

Blupjeans Week Day 1

It's @blupjeansweek! Blupjeans week last year was the thing that encouraged me to start writing fics, so it's been fun to play with it again! Like last year, it's loosely connected (so far anyway!). So, now I'll stop blethering and here's some words. Day 1 - refuge

16 hours to go.

16 hours until he tanked his viva, fucked up everything he’d been working for, and his supervisor says he hadn’t ever believed Barry was capable, he just wanted his fees... Well, John would definitely say that if Barry could get hold of him but it had become abundently clear over the course of his postgrad research that John wasn’t the easiest guy to reach. Which might not be a problem if it wasn't his literal job to support Barry through his PhD.

At this point Barry hadn’t heard from him in two weeks despite a variety of progressively more panicked emails. The last conversation they had was John's particularly un-comforting statement that Barry should “...expect majors" because "it’s not the worst thesis I’ve ever read, but it certainly isn’t the best.” Barry's secondary supervisor hadn’t even bothered to show up for that meeting, so it was anyone’s guess what his take was. Barry assumed it wasn’t great.

He grabbed the pot from the coffee machine he’d abducted from the kitchen a few days ago and perched on his desk instead. He debated swigging straight from it, that seemed more efficient than using a mug, plus, his hand seemed to be shaking a bit and he didn't want to risk trying to pour it into a mug then into himself - he needed every drop to keep him awake long enough to work out how to fix this disaster.

“Knock knock! This is your 16 hour anxiety check in.” Barry’s door creaked open, but Lup didn’t appear. “Barrrrooollllld?” She sing songed, then added hopefully “...have you finally decided to sleep?” 

“Come in Lup.”

“Damn, you’re still up.” Oh, of course she was disappointed. She was probably sick of having to baby him through his anxiety. “...Not that I don’t want to see you, I was just hoping you were getting some rest.”

Barry held up the coffee pot in a cheers motion then took a swig from it. He was fine, this was fine, but if Lup left in disgust he could get back to scribbling increasingly unhinged and hard to read annotations on his sticky notes and trying to work out how to pull this disaster over the finish line. 

"Doing totally fine, huh?” Lup eyed him disapprovingly. “Barry, you have to take a break. You're going to crash in the middle of it if you keep this up. You've got what, like 15 and a bit hours?" She waited for him to nod in affirmation. "Cool, then you've got time to sleep."

He didn't have time to sleep, he had to try and plug the holes in the sinking ship that represented four years of his life. Suddenly Lup was in front of him, he hadn't noticed her moving, but she had appeared and was gently prying the sticky note monstrosity he hadn’t realised he’d picked up out of his hand. "No, I need to…"

"Sleep." Lup said. "You need to rest. There isn't a single thing in here you don't know. It's fucking brilliant, no, don't argue with me, I've read it." Barry snapped his mouth closed, he wanted to protest, but he wasn't entirely sure he could remember what he was arguing with, there was no fight left in him. "Now give me the coffee pot, Barold." He gripped it more firmly. No, not even for Lup. He couldn't relinquish this, it was the only thing keeping him awake. Lup raised and eyebrow. “Barold, don’t make me full name you. I'll do it! Hand over the pot.” Lup held her hand out expectantly.

"I'll fall asleep."

"That's the idea my guy. C'mon, gimme the sweet sweet bean juice. You don't need that where you're going."

"Where I'm…? Where am I? I'm here." Barry looked down to check.

Lup used his moment of confusion to swipe the coffee pot. Usually it wouldn’t have worked… probably, okay, it would have, but slower and he would have protested more. Right now his hands felt too heavy to even think about taking evasive action. "Yoink!" Lup said triumphantly, holding it aloft. Then he blinked and she didn't have the coffee pot any more. Maybe she magicked it somewhere? Barry turned his head to try and find it, and then she was tugging at his hand. "Not here, Bear, somewhere comfy."

"The chair's comfy, it's ergonomic." He paid a lot of money because the guy in the shop was really confident about that.

Lup snorted and tugged harder. "Barold Jorts Bluejeans, you're coming with me." 

"My name isn't…"

"...Ssssh." Lup might have been laughing. Barry wasn’t entirely sure, maybe it was him actually? Should stand? Oh, actually, he was up and moving and Lup still had hold of his hand and maybe she didn't have to let it go and she could just keep holding his hand and he could hold hers and maybe she’d have a nap with him. They stopped.

"This is your room." Barry wasn't entirely sure how they'd got there, time was doing strange things. 

"Yup, cha'girl decided you couldn't be left unattended in yours, it's too full of anxiety, even if I get you to sleep you'll marinade in it. So, we're here." Lup pushed the door wide.

Her bed had developed some kind of blanket canopy, there were string lights strewn around, and he could hear the soft patter of rain even though there wasn't a cloud in the sky. "It's… this is… magic. You made it all magic."

"Uh huh, now get in." Lup lifted a corner of blanket, it revealed a whole mess of pillows and blankets waiting inside. The bed looked so cosy, so inviting, so much better than his boring bed. He shouldn't, he really shouldn’t, he should study more, he couldn't afford to get off track. "That’s it, Bear." Oh. He was in the process of crawling in, and he was comfy. He flopped bodily into the bed and everything smelled of Lup’s orange body wash. Maybe he could just live here.

"I should do more prep." He mumbled, and sank into the pillow nest, rubbing his face on a soft fleece blanket. 

"Uh huh." Said Lup. 

"There's… I need to… you see, I have..."

"I'll wake you up in a few hours, sleep tight, Bear."

“Sleep tight Lup.” Barry mumbled from the depths of his blanket cocoon.

Part 2 here.

[barry-j-blupjeans]

Day One - Refuge

The cave Barry tugged Lup into was cold, damp, and lacking any comfortable place to sit down, but it still beat the storm raging outside. Earlier in the morning, they had set off from the ship to try and track down the Light. Taako and Magnus had taken the high road through the mountains the Starblaster couldn’t fit through, while Lup and Barry took the foothills at the bottom. They still hadn’t developed a great system for finding the Light yet, but it had to have landed somewhere nearby. Magnus swore he saw it further up the mountain but it was best to cover all their bases.

But with the storm, it might be a lost cause no matter where Magnus thought he saw it.

It had arrived with very little warning time. First, the gentle breeze had picked up into a howling, whipping gust. And then, the bright and sunny sky got swept behind big, dark clouds. The rain came down in one big downpour. Getting back onto high ground had been their biggest priority. But now, in this cave, Barry didn’t really know what else to do.

To be fair, this wasn’t exactly something he had trained for. Hell, what he had trained for is trying to figure out what unknown substances were and how to properly take samples without damaging the thing he was taking the samples from. Now, they were four years into what was supposed to be a two-month trip and he was not having the greatest of times. His back hurt, his legs hurt, his head hurt, his heart hurt-

Okay. No. Back on topic. C’mon Barry.

Lup was pacing in front of the cave entrance, snapping her fingers at her side as she walked. Barry was reminded very strongly of a tiger in a too-small cage.

He and Lup were… not close but not distant? It was hard to be distant when you have spent four years living with someone. But like, Barry was close to Magnus and Davenport and everyone else. Lup mainly stuck with Taako. Taako mainly stuck with Lup. Barry had a feeling that if- that once they all got back to the ship, no one would be asking them to go on separate missions for a while. It had been hard enough getting her here. At least she trusted Magnus.

Not that she didn’t trust him. Maybe? Maybe. Barry didn’t actually know. But Magnus was very big and pretty, uh, pretty strong, so Barry had to assume that made him more reliable. Taako’s quip of “Magnus will look after me, you can look after Barry” before they split up wasn’t super reassuring.

“It’s just rain,” Lup said. It took Barry a moment to realize she was talking to herself. “We don’t have to hide from rain.”

“We, uh, we don’t have to,” Barry said. “But, uh—”

“Like what’s the worse it can do? Get me wet?”

“L— Lup—”

“Taako’s probably still out there. We can at least do some retcon and—”

“Lup—”

“What?” Lup snapped, rounding on him.

There was an awful crashing sound from outside the cave. Lup back turned to watch a heavy tree fell down the hill in a rush of water. The wind swept towards them, causing the ends of Lup’s robe to flare. She turned towards him again, jaw set.

“Uhm,” Barry said. “I— I don’t think that’s a smart idea.”

Lup groaned, running her hands through her hair.

“But if Taako—”

“He’ll be fine,” Barry said. “He’s, uhm, he’s a good wizard. And he’s got Magnus.”

“But he needs me,” Lup said. She looked like she wanted to resume her pacing. Instead, she just balled her fists up at her side. One hand started snapping again, restless. Barry swore he could see little sparks flying from her fingers.

“Does he?” Barry said. Lup’s look intensified. Barry shrank back a little. “I mean, you know him best! B— but, I mean— he’s— he’s a good wizard, Lup. He can get himself out of shitty situations. But we can’t really help any— anyone if we get swept away or something.”

Also, Barry didn’t know how the fuck to swim. But that was not something he needed to admit right now.

“And you’re a— a helluva wizard yourself, Lup, but I- I would feel safer if we stayed here until it lets up a little.” He swallowed. “We’ve got a nice little refuge up in this cave and if— if we need to, we can go higher up and figure it out. We still don’t know if death is like, a thing for us, and I— like, preferably, we’d test that out in a safer environment-”

“You’re a fucking dork, Bluejeans,” Lup said. But her fists had unclenched, her voice a touch lighter.

“I— I mean, takes one to know one.”

“Ha!” Lup said. The chill that had settled over Barry’s chest felt lighter hearing her laugh. “Fair enough.” She stepped away from the cave’s entrance, rubbing her hands together. Those were definitely sparks. “What’d’you say to a little campfire to warm us up?”

[barry-j-blupjeans]

Day Two - Bet

Barry was eleven years old when he first met Lup. He and his moma moved from the great empty plains of Georgia into the bustling city of San Diego in California. It was a pretty drastic change, but Mama’s sister lived out here for them to stay with, so Barry was trying not to make a huge fuss about it.

Still, it was weird here. Living in the city was far too loud. Barry didn’t know how anyone could sleep with all the noise. Even at night, there were car horns and bright lights and just- too much, sometimes. Way, way too much. He couldn’t hear the crickets over all the noise. He wasn’t sure California had crickets.

And the kids here were different. Back home, they’d get into scuffles a lot, but they’d always make up after each other. Barry had known the kids there his whole life. Their school was small enough that he knew every face, and everyone knew him. Here, there was more than one classroom per grade. He had already been dreading middle school, but he felt like he could Barry breathe in the hallways with so many people around.

But Mama— or, now just “Mom”, because someone overheard that he still called her Mama and started picking on him- knew what she was doing. She worked a lot more now. Barry supposed that came with the new territory. He was trying to get used to it.

But it was very, very hard.

She was never late picking him up from school on purpose. Sometimes she just ran a little behind. And his aunt and uncle were gone this week for a holiday, so they couldn’t come pick him up. He was trying to learn his way home, but every street corner looked the same here. Barry didn’t remember which towering building their apartment was in, let alone which of the endless streets it was on.

And it was raining.

The line for student pickup was slowly winding down. Barry kept his umbrella over his head, his eyes trained on the parking lot. She should be here soon. Unless she got hurt somehow? Or got fired and she was too sad to pick him up? Or something absolutely terrible had happened—

“Hey!” said a voice above him.

Barry jerked back, nearly falling off the bench. Standing there was someone he just vaguely recognized— from orchestra, maybe? From orchestra, definitely. She was carrying a violin case, which she set on the bench next to him. The bottom half of her pants was covered with mud.

“Uhm,” Barry said. “Hi.”

“Bet I can make a bigger splash in that mud puddle than you,” she said, pointing to a puddle further away from the school doors.

“Uhm,” Barry said again. “Prob— probably?”

“That is not the response I wanted,” mud girl said, somewhat critically. “But I’ll take it. C’mon, I’m gonna prove you right.”

Lup was… wow. Lup was. And from that moment forward, she Was with him included. She didn’t fix all his problems- he had too many of those. But over time, the harsh words from the other kids meant less and the sound of Lup’s laugh meant more. Life wasn’t better, but it was something. She was something.

Barry wouldn’t say that Lup was perfect by any means, but she made it a lot easier on him. Any time he’d get an “anxious face” (which he didn’t know what the fuck looked like, but Lup said it was very obvious), she’d nudge him and say-

“I bet I can talk to our waiter more than you can.”

“I bet I can get dressed faster than you.”

“I bet I can do the solo better than you.”

And Barry’s responses began to build from blubbering excuses into laughter into,

“Yeah? I bet you can’t.”

Barry— man, Barry will admit it, he was not a smart guy. Sure, his grades were good and he got into a good college but, it was sometimes hard to see what was right in front of him. It took several people to make him realize that his affection towards Lup might kinda be crush behavior. And it took over a decade to realize that, oh! Duh! She liked him back.

“Hey,” Barry said, nudging her. They were sitting in the back of their friend Magnus’s shitty pickup truck, deep into the country. There were crickets chirping around them. Barry always thought it was wild how you couldn’t see the stars in the city. Lup said she didn’t get the big deal of it all until the first time Barry brought her out here. The expression on her face when she first truly saw the sky was one he’d never forget.

“Hm?”

“Bet I can propose better than you can,” Barry said. Lup raised her eyebrows, her mouth quirking up into a smile.

“Oh?” she said. “Is that a challenge, babe?”

“Maybe,” Barry said. “If you want it to be.”

“You are going down,” Lup said, winding her arms around his shoulders. “I am gonna propose to you so hard.”

“I look forward to it,” Barry said, leaning in to kiss her. 

[noodyl-blasstal]

Blupjeans Week: Myth (day 3)

Following on from the last two days prompts! Part 1 | Part 2 Today's @blupjeansweek prompt was Myth. -

Barry couldn't fathom how Taako managed it. Of course he, more than anyone Barry had ever met, could feign nonchalance on such an important day, but still. Barry knew he must be anxious deep down - no one cooked as much as Taako had been lately when they were fine, but aside from his occasional toe flexes Taako was sprawled loose limbed and casual across the chairs in the corridor.

"Stop worrying so loud, Barold." Taako didn't raise his head. Barry couldn't even get a read on his face because his ridiculous hat was tilted down over his eyes. 

"I'm not worr…"

"Then what am I hearing, Barry? What distress is accosting my delicate elf ears? Taako's busy trying to nap and you're spreading your anxiety everywhere. It's not hygienic, my guy."

"Uh." Barry countered. Perfect, got him.

"Yeah, that's what Taako thought. Now, why are you doubting Lup?"

"I would never doubt Lup! She's smarter than both of them put together." Barry replied indignantly, he couldn't believe Taako, of all people, was accusing him of not believing in Lup. As far as Barry was concerned, if she told him she was gonna grab the moon right out of the sky his only concern would be where they were going to put it. 

"Well then." Said Taako definitively as if the case was closed.

Barry looked at the door again. It had only been an hour. Anything up to four was relatively common. He knew she had this, but he just wanted to skip to that bit right now thank you very much. Maybe if he paced, did a little exercise, that would get rid of the nervous energy.

"Don't even think about it." Said Taako. "Sit down, read your book, it's going to be fine."

Barry sat obediently. He tried, he really did, but he was on what must have been his thirtieth attempt at reading the same page when the door finally cracked open. Barry barely had time to register it before Taako vaulted off the chairs and rushed over. 

"Thank you again, Dr Tacco. Congratulations!" 

Lup emerged from the room, finger gunned, and closed the door behind her. "Guess who's got two thumbs and a PhD?" She said as Taako slammed into her and knocked her sideways.

"Barold." He mumbled into her hair.

Lup pretended to try and wriggle out of his hug. "Fuck off, Goofus."

Barry wrapped himself around them both. "I'm also going with me. I checked, one, two." He prodded Lup in the back with each thumb in turn to make his point. 

Lup laughed hard and long and wild. "I hate you both."

"We love you too." Said Barry and Taako together. 

Lup stuck her tongue out. “Terrible, awful, what did I do to be cursed with you both?”

“I don’t know, Dr Lup. What did you do?” Barry grinned. Dr Lup! She’d done it. He knew she would. There was no universe in which she didn’t, but still. It was over.

“Dr Lup Tacco.” Taako said quietly. “You did it.”

“I did it.”

–

“You got the car snacks, Dr Bluejeans?” 

“Of course I have, Dr Tacco. But, Dr Tacco, have you set up the playlist?”

“Dr Bluejeans, I cannot believe you’d doubt me, your good friend, Dr Tacco. Of course cha’girl’s got the playlist sorted.”

“But, Dr Tacco, is it the one we  agreed on, or the one I saw you making to torture me?”

“I cannot believe these wild accusations that you are levelling, Dr Bluejeans. Of course it’s the one I made to torture you. Rude of you to entertain any other thought on the matter to be honest.”

Barry snorted. He still wasn’t entirely sure why Lup had agreed to road trip home with him despite not losing the bet, but maybe the allure of a second wardrobe full of vintage Barry threads (as Lup had designated them) had been too strong to resist. Either way, the car was packed, backup maps were in the glove box, roadside attractions had been scoped, their motel was booked, and his Mum was expecting them in a few days.

–

“There! There! There!!! Pull over, Dr Bear.” Lup pressed her face to the window and wriggled in her seat. “I knew we were close.”

Barry steered the car to the side of the road and parked on the gravel at the side. “We’ll be fine here. The road’s pretty dead and we shouldn’t be long.”

“Speak for yourself.” Said Lup, already unbuckled and clambering free. 

By the time Barry had hauled himself out of the driver’s side and stretched out his rice crispy spine Lup was already halfway up the scrubby embankment. Barry smiled fondly, he wished he had half the energy reserve the twins seemed to possess. 

“C’mon Bear! Look.”

The grass was sharp and the scree slippery, but Barry eventually made it, red and panting, to the rock.

“I love him.” Declared Lup, petting the top of the large, terribly painted frog she lounged across. “Take a picture for me please? Taako’s going to hate it. I’ll frame it for his birthday.”

 Barry huffed out and laugh and snapped some photographs. Lup looked perfect in every single one, because of course she did.

“Now c’mere, we need to get some for the wall.” Lup spun herself round and made grabby hands at Barry. The photo collection had started during undergrad. Lup had read something about tangible photos being lost because of technology and decided to be a one woman task force to combat it. She religiously took photos, got them printed monthly, and strung them up around the house using a seemingly endless supply of tiny colourful pegs. The strings were a timeline of friendships, charting the day that Magnus appeared in their lives and decided they were going to be friends actually; Lucretia’s increasing appearance at events; Kravitz moving from glowering at the twins in the background of a shot in a lecture hall, to standing awkwardly at the edge of a group shot, to kissing Taako’s cheek and making him blush right to the tips of his ears. They charted bad haircuts (Lup), terrible fashion choices (Barry repeatedly begged Lup to take down the evidence of his pork pie hat era, but she resolutely refused), and covered the mundane to the sublime - book days, beach days, lecture halls, labs, picnics, hikes. All of it.

Barry walked over to her then waited for direction, Lup’s creative vision wasn’t something to be trifled with. 

“Okay, can you hop up here with me? I’m just gonna go prop the camera.” Lup scooted off the edge as Barry found a solid foothold to push himself up with.

“Aye aye, Dr Captain… Captain Dr?” Barry saluted from the top of the frog and Lup laughed, mission accomplished. He still loved that he could inspire that reaction, after all this time she still loved his stupid jokes.

“Right, it’s on a 10 second timer… GO!” Lup sprinted and hopped deftly up the frog. Barry realised at the same time as she did that there was no way there was room for both of them to sit on top. Lup glanced at his lap and grinned, “...incoming, Barold!” She threw herself onto his knee and somehow produced a smile and a peace sign. There was no way Barry had been looking at the camera, he was definitely staring at Lup with the ‘lovesick’ face he’d bribed Taako into deleting or editing from photos so many times before. 

“Uh… can we do that again? I think I blinked.” Maybe he could delete the last attempt before she saw it once they were back in the car. He’d managed it before, there was only so many times you could be photographed staring longingly at someone before they worked out you were probably a bit in love with them.

“Sure you aren’t just trying to keep me in your lap? You could just ask, you know?” Barry was going to expire, right here right now. She could stay in his lap forever as far as he was concerned, but she was joking and he would be serious about it if he asked her to stay put and she’d laugh, his heart would break, and she’d feel weird about the last 10 years of their lives.

“I… well… er… I… just… the blinking.” Perfectly eloquent. He nailed it. There was no way she’d pick up on the fact he was combusting.

“No problemo. Save my spot!” Lup started to wriggle free, but Barry scooped her instead, cradling her briefly before setting her down on the very edge. “Thanks Bear! You’ve been working out.”

Barry had very much not been working out, unless you counted frantic note taking - which they definitely hadn’t in high school, he’d checked.

“3-2-1, comin’ in hot!” Lup clicked the button and set off running back to the rock. Barry watched her go, laughing at the smile on her face. He should probably just have volunteered to use mage hand for this, but Lup was having too much fun. She ran up the side of the rock, and Barry caught her, tugging her down into his lap. 

“8-9…” Lup raised her arms and Barry heard the familiar whoosh of flame. Gods, she was ridiculous and he loved every inch of her. He focused resolutely on the camera. “Think you managed without blinking that time?” Lup asked.

“Yeah, yeah, that was a good one.”

“Okay, stay put, I want one more of you with the frog please… Oh, do you still remember some of those bard spells Johann showed you?”

Barry nodded tentatively. “I do.”

“Cool, a cowboy hat please.” It was done before she’d slid back to the ground, and the raucous laugh she let out meant he’d definitely made a good choice. “The pink fuzzy trim really adds a mystique to the look, Barold. Have you been studying at the Taako school of headgear?”

Barry yee hawed instead of answering and Lup snapped away as he wielded his imaginary lasso.

Back in the car he felt a bubbling sense of pride as she set one of him high in his imaginary frog saddle as her screensaver and laughed again.

–

“It should be the next left, Bear. I hope you’re excited.” Lup uncurled herself from the scrunched up position she’d adopted for reading.

“”I’ve got a surprise and you’re gonna love it” can usually go either way with you and Taako, so I’ll reserve judgement for now.” Barry pretended to frown, but he knew Lup saw through it. He’d trust her with anything, she was the person his Mum’s ‘if your friends all jumped off a cliff’ lecture should have focused on. He wouldn’t have done it for Juan or Glennis, but Lup? He’d be straight over the side knowing she’d have figured out some way for them to fly. “Hang on… Lup, is that Mothman?”

“Maaaaybe. Turn in here.” 

“... and that’s bigfoot?”

“Yep.” Lup popped the p and looked incredibly smug.

“Why’s the rabbit… oh, it has horns. Jackalope?” 

“Jackalope.” Lup confirms.

“Lup, is this a cryptid hotel?” Okay, so the kitschy vibe was fun, but this was definitely more for Lup than for him. She didn’t usually miss with her surprises, but there was a first time for everything.

“It is, yes, but they also have a collection of academic papers you can view on the topic. There’s loads of really great evidence, according to the website.” Lup side eyed him.

“There’s research I can get angry at?” Okay, now she was talking.

“Bear, I hear those methodologies are real unscrupulous. There’s likely some inconsistencies in the referencing too, if you know what I mean.” Lup waggled her eyebrows. 

“I love you.” Blurted Barry, then tried not to think about that too hard as he parked the car. That was fine. You could tell your friends you loved them, he’d told Lup he loved her before. He told all of them he loved them because he did. She didn’t need to know that he meant it in a different way when he said it to her.

“I love you too.” Lup nudged his arm. “Now let’s go see which theme the rooms are. I’m hoping for the Hodag, but I think you’d prefer Champ.”

“Oh, I see how it is, pawn me off with budget Nessy. I’m Jackalope or broke. You go ahead, I’ll grab the bags.” Barry cracked the back door and started the slow task of sorting through the detritus of the day. He wasn’t entirely sure where Lup had managed to accrue four souvenir bags, but he didn’t want to risk damaging anything. He piled them carefully to the side, then tracked down the overnight bags, and double checked to make sure he’d locked the car properly. Shouldering the rucksacks he headed into the reception, glad that Lup was sorting the rooms. Frankly, he didn’t want to have to speak to anyone other than her before he’d thrown himself into a long shower and felt a bit more human. 

“Hey Bear.” Lup gave him a small wave from the electric blue sofa near the door. “There’s, well, there’s good news and there’s bad news. Which do you want first?”

Barry hesitated. You were definitely supposed to get the bad news first, but the day had been so nice that maybe he could just put off whatever was going to ruin it a little longer. “Give me the good?”

“Buy one get one free on frozen margs. The glasses are massive and they have wild flavours. I need to try at least three, you know, for science. One of them is goldfish and I don’t know if they mean the creature or the cracker.” 

“Or both?”

“It could be both.”

“… and the bad news?”

“There may have been a tiny bit of a mix up. Just, like, the smallest amount. A little communication thing. You’ll barely notice it.” She smiled winningly, just like the time she broke his favourite mug, tried to fix it, somehow melted the shards, recruited Taako to fix it, and the resultant puddle became pudding.

“Uh huh.”

“We’re sharing.”

“Oh. That’s absolutely fine, I don’t mind.” It was better news than the margheritas, frankly.

“And there’s only one bed.” 

“I don’t mind if you don’t.” They’d shared before, he could deal with another night sleeping on his arms so his stupid subconscious didn’t decide they should be cuddling, actually.

“...and-also-they-might-think-we’re-married.” Lup said in a rush.

“Sorry, what? I don’t think I heard you right.”

Lup blushed brighter than he’d ever seen. “They think we’re…”

“...Ah, Dr Bluejeans-Tacco, I’m so delighted to meet you.” A tall man in an ascot and cosy looking jumper appeared by his elbow before Lup could finish. She definitely couldn’t have said what he thought he’d heard. That was ridiculous, there was no way. “As I explained to the awe inspiring Dr Bluejeans-Tacco here, we’re always so pleased to see newlyweds at Myths and Bed-gends! Marriage is such an honoured tradition, a delight, a union of souls! We were so excited when she let us know this trip was a surprise as you were celebrating an important life event. Now, do let me show you to the honeymoon suite, but don’t forget to visit the gift shop or the CryptoNOMica restaurant later tonight!”

Before Barry could say anything the man strode off towards the corridor. Lup gave Barry a panicked look, seemingly undecided as to whether she should follow the man or flee the building. Barry knew he should probably be freaking out right now, but truly he couldn’t find it in himself. Most of all, he needed to get his back under some hot water and maybe lie down. Lup could explain what was going on after that, but right now she looked more uncertain than he’d ever seen her, and there was no way he was having that.

“Come on then, Dr Bluejeans-Tacco.” Barry grabbed Lup’s hand. “You were definitely right about this place being a surprise.”

[barry-j-blupjeans]

Day Five - Bones

Becoming Reapers was not exactly what Barry would call a happy ending. But considering the other decision would have been “you get thrown in death prison for all of eternity”, this outcome was manageable. At the very least, he wasn’t getting cut off from his friends and family again. He had already spent several years trying to work his way around the rules, but for some reason, becoming a Reaper had never crossed his mind. He supposed that was because the only Reaper he knew was constantly trying to drag him to the Eternal Stockade, thus preventing him from saving the family.

And the rest of the world, too.

Still, it wasn’t his preferred outcome. It’s not like they ever had the time to be choosing beggars in the past, so he didn’t know why he was so hung up about it now.

“Babe,” Lup whispered. 

“Hm?” Barry said, turning his head slightly. Lup’s arm was around him, his back pressed against her chest. Bedtime had turned into “let’s sit in a room and talk to each other” time a long time ago.

Lup lifted her arm and the flesh melted away into bone. Barry blinked.

“I’ve decided this is rad, actually,” she said. “Look at this shit.”

She made an “okay” sign with her finger bones. Barry snorted, batting at her arm. For some reason, he hadn’t really expected to actually feel bone. Barry paused. Lup paused.

“It’s kinda fucked up, though,” Lup said after a second.

“Yeah,” Barry said.

“In a cool way,” Lup said.

“Yeah,” Barry said again.

They lapsed back into silence. Lup tapped her bone fingers against his chest, her head pressed against his back.

Becoming Reapers was a very long process, apparently. Their initial meeting with the Raven Queen was hours long, and only wrapped up because Lup and Barry had been expected at Angus’s soccer game (and he was pretty sure they only got out on time because Kravitz, too, was invited, if only unofficially). They worked on the terms and conditions of this deal for months- long enough to get Lup back in her body. After that, the process had sped up.

Removing the lich magic from their souls hadn’t been fun. And the Reaper magic had taken a whole new hold on their bodies. Barry had died and lived again over a dozen times and it was nothing compared to what Reaper magic felt like. It very physically felt like he was alive. He felt the bones and muscles beneath his skin, could hear the air inflate his lungs.

The lack of heartbeat was pretty concerning, too. It wasn’t gone all the time. Just… when he felt bad. Or he was alone. Neither of those were ideal.

“D’you think being a Reaper will actually be worth it?” Barry asked. Lup hummed, shifting slightly behind him.

“What d’you mean?”

“I mean that— that we’ve got, uhm, a very long way to go still,” Barry said. “Y’know, with the whole magic and the melty flesh or whatever.” He held out his own arm, which had started to drip down into bone. Barry didn’t yet have the handle on it that Lup did. “I’m just… real tired.”

“Mh, I get that, Bar,” Lup said. She wiggled her fingers, calling the flesh back onto her arm. “I really do. Like, we saved the world finally! Now here’s a nine-to-five job.”

“I wish it were nine-to-five,” Barry said. Lup chuckled, leaning a little bit more on him.

“Your sleep is already fucked up,” Lup said.

“And who’s fault is that—”

“Point is,” Lup said, “I get it. And I would love nothing more than to just like, chill on the beach for a solid few years. But I’d— I’d rather we do it than have someone like Magnus be a Reaper. I think we can handle it. And it sucks some major ass to always have to be the- the responsible one or the one carrying everything, but I think we’d do that anyway. It kinda gets engrained after a hundred years or so.”

“True,” Barry sighed. Lup’s hand came up to his head, winding her fingers into his hair softly. “I’m glad it’s with- with you. And it’s not just me.” He swallowed, his throat feeling a little dry. “I— I spent a lot of time thinking about shit like this before Lucretia, uh, recruited the boys. I was kinda— I mean, it was hard. Being alone.”

“I know,” Lup whispered, and she did. In a weird, awful sort of way, they both truly knew how hard it was to be alone for so long. It was in two vastly different ways, sure, but still. After a second, Lup continued with, “I would do everything with you, given the chance. You know that, right?”

“You do do everything with me, at this point.”

“Tch, details.” She pressed a kiss to the top of his head. “Love you.”

“Love you, too, Lup,” Barry said. “And I know.” His heart thrummed in his chest. There were still doubts about it all in his head- of course, there were. That’s how he worked. But he was a hundred percent sure they could figure it out. They always would.

They circled back around to another silence, this one more warm and comfortable. Barry was actually beginning to feel rather sleepy.

“Do you think Kravitz’s dick is an actual boner?” Lup asked.

It was going to be a very long always.

[barry-j-blupjeans]

Day 7 - Aftermath

It was weird, still being in the world after it almost ended. They had spent a long, long time wondering what a plane would look like post-Hunger, but Lup figured that this was probably the best outcome they could hope for.

The sense of rebuilding and community here on Faerûn wasn’t completely new— there had been several worlds that actually heeded their warning and prepared for the fight. But seeing it afterward? Seeing that strength and love persist even though the Hunger had tried to destroy it? It was truly beautiful.

And, honestly, made Lup feel a little bit shitty about not exactly feeling up to help.

It was— she was a mess. To put it in simple terms. Lup had spent an entire decade imagining what it would be like when she finally got out of the umbrastaff and now that she was out she couldn’t bring herself to go through with a lot of her plans. Sure, she did most of the plans that involved hugging people, or fuckin’ talking to people, and all that. But otherwise, she just felt… shitty. And out of touch.

The crew had moved on without her, especially after Lucretia’s help. Honestly, Lup couldn’t bring herself to be mad about that. She could very easily where Luce had been coming from. Like, Taako and Barry would have kept searching for her no matter what. Hell, Barry had. And she loved him for that, she really did, but in all honesty? She was kinda glad Taako— and Barry, for the little pieces he got to— had the chance to live without her being missing hanging over his head.

But it also left her in this situation. The Hunger was gone, the world was saved, and Lup had no true connections with anyone besides the crew. And even then, they weren’t the same exact people she had left.

Merle had kids! He had been married! Magnus had married too, but it was a bit of a different story from what Lup knew. Taako found people who loved him, with his show, with Kravitz— at the very least, Barry had gotten the chance to know the world, if not many of the people in it. Lucretia had the entire Bureau and people she had met along the way. Davenport was the one closest to how she felt, but at the very least, people knew him, even if wasn’t who he really was.

Lup didn’t have anything. Aside from Cyrus, which didn’t go great for either of them. All she had was a weird, fleshy body and a family who had changed when she was gone.

“Lup?”

The door to the study opened. Barry peeked his head inside. The hallway light flooded through the small gap in the door. Lup had the lights in here down low, so the contrast made her squint a little.

“What’s up?”

“You okay?” Barry asked.

“Not really,” Lup said after a moment of hesitation.

Barry shuffled into the room, gently closing the door behind him. Lup leaned against one of her hands, turning a little so she could see Barry when he leaned up against the side of the desk. He held out a hand and she took it, squeezing softly.

“Can I do anything for you?” Barry asked.

Lup would literally never get tired of him. She got so, so lucky being stuck on a ship for a hundred years with this man.

“Mh.” She brought their hands up to her cheek, pressing against it. Barry smiled. She had missed him so fucking bad. “I’m just… thinking.”

“Well, there’s your problem,” Barry said.

“Stupid,” Lup said, but she was smiling anyway. “I— it’s just… Like, we thought about what it would be like after the Hunger for so long, but now that we’re here I’m— I just don’t know what to feel about it, y’know? It’s— it’s so much, sometimes.”

“I get that,” Barry said quietly. “It’s— it’s been hard.”

“So hard,” Lup said.

“Yeah,” Barry said. “And I— Lup, I can’t even imagine how hard it’s been for you, with the— the being trapped and everything. You’re doing so good, and I know it’s been rough. I just… it’s hard to think of what can make it feel better, y’know? Do you— is there anything you wanted to do? When you were in the umbrastaff, I mean. Like, we can make a bucket list-”

“Most of it was just wanting to hold you again,” Lup said. She cleared her throat, blinking away tears. Barry squeezed her hand again. “I— the world is just so different than how it was during— when I left. I can’t— I don’t know how to adjust to a world where I don’t know anything or anyone.”

“It’s hard,” Barry said. “We could, uhm. We could go on a road trip?”

“Go on a road trip,” Lup repeated.

“Yeah,” Barry said. “So, uh, so you get to know more of the— the lay of the land and all— and we can go places where I know someone or— or where Taako knows someone, and we can talk to them, and get you acquainted, at least—”

“I don’t wanna assume your friends wanna be my friends—”

“Babe,” Barry said. “Anyone who doesn’t wanna know you is full of horseshit anyway.”

“Yeah?” Lup said.

“Yeah!” Barry said. “Like- you’re Lup! Look at you! One, you’re hot as hell-”

“Barry—”

“Two, you’re super kickass? Like, I don’t know if you’ve been hearing the news-press, but—”

“Ugh, the news—”

“I know, right?” Barry said. “And three, you’re— Lup, you’re so genuinely kind and funny that I can’t imagine anyone wouldn’t be jazzed to meet you. You gotta— I know this is your line, but you gotta stop worrying so much about it. People love you. If you wanna go out and meet ‘em, then I’m gonna be right there with you, okay?”

Lup finally let go of his hand, if only to wipe her eyes. She was smiling, though.

“You think so?” she said.

“I know so,” Barry said. “Just… think about it, okay? Doesn’t have to be a road trip, we could just— take a vacation. Gods know we deserve it—”

“We do.”

“Just let me know,” Barry said. “And I’ll be there with you, okay? Now you gotta come eat before everything gets all cold and gross.”

“You’ve convinced me,” Lup said, pushing her chair back. “This bitch is ready for spaghetti.”

“You’re always ready for spaghetti.”

“It’s a character trait, babe, keep up.”

[barry-j-blupjeans]

Day Six - Free Day

Barry hadn’t played the piano in… a while. Though he had some decent excuses! For one, where the hell was he going to find a piano? It’s not like they conveniently popped up in every plane they visited. For another— well. Actually, no, the apocalypse was Barry’s one excuse. His one non-shitty excuse, at least.

His mom taught him to play piano when he was younger. She’d always rope him into more lessons promising sweets or, on one very memorable occasion, a new telescope. And Barry did genuinely like playing the piano. But after she died, his passion for it kinda… went with her. The piano had been her thing. From there on out, any misplaced note felt like a disappointment to her.

He missed her a lot. He missed home a lot. The house he grew up in, the neighbors he came to know so well, the cats that roamed around the neighborhood, and the birds he learned to play to. How could he possibly even attempt to play the piano when he wasn’t in the right place?

“Keep your eyes shut,” Lup said.

“They are shut,” Barry said, before running directly into the wall. Lup laughed, loud and way too close to his eyes. Barry squinted his eyes open, rubbing his head, but Lup said,

“Close ‘em, Bluejeans!”

And he had no other choice but to obey.

The apocalypse wasn’t all bad. Barry could have been stuck with a much shitty group of people. He could have been stuck with someone who wasn't Lup, which sounds like a very horrible version of hell. Sure, he had to deal with trying to hide that he was in love with her, but he was doing a pretty good job, if he did say so himself. No one besides Taako suspected a thing. Or Magnus. Or Merle. Or Dav. Or Luc—

He stumbled, holding very tightly onto Lup’s hand. Normally he’d be incredibly weary of her trying to lead him somewhere for a “surprise”. Last time this had happened, he ended up covered in a shit load of green slime. And Barry didn’t even wanna talk about the time before that. But Lup had seemed so genuine and earnest this time that he didn’t want to spoil it, even if he did end up covered in slime.

He knew they were in a building this time. Where in the building, he wasn't sure. A door groaned and they stepped through. Lup finally stopped.

“Okay,” she said. “You can open.”

Barry opened, blinking his eyes a few times to adjust to the light. The room that they were in was pretty small, but it was filled up as much as it could possibly be with various different broken down musical instruments. There were guitars on the wall and a disassembled drum kit on the floor. There was a clarinet snapped clean in half in the corner. 

And in the center of it all stood a beautiful upright piano, not a sign of wear or tear in sight. The wood was polished, shining in the flickering light above.

It was almost like the one at home. It was- the wood was different, but it shined the same, or it had until Barry let the dust collect up on it. The seat had a cushion exactly like the one his mother used. Barry felt like something was caught in his throat.

“Do you—” Lup was looking at him, looking pleased. “Do you like it?”

“I—” Barry sniffed. He wiped his eyes. “I, uhm—”

“Oh, I— I’m sorry, I thought you—” Lup hugged her arms together, a little red in the face. “You said you used to play, and I was like, hey, I know where there’s a piano, and— I’m sorry, I shoulda asked if it was like, cool to bring it up again or—”

“No,” Barry said, his voice cracking. He rubbed at his eyes, desperately trying to wipe away the tears. “No, I— this is great, Lup, I love— I love it, for real, it’s— I’m— My mom would have loved you. This. Would have loved this.”

“Ah,” Lup said. “That’s… kinda a sore subject for you, sometimes.”

“Some—” Barry cleared his throat. “Sometimes it is, but in— in a good way, I swear. I, uhm— thank you, Lup.”

“You like it?”

“I love it,” Barry said, a little breathlessly. He meant it as a I love you, but the message came across super platonic, he was sure. She smiled at him, still sort of apprehensive. “Really. Do you wanna— any song requests? I can’t promise it’ll be good, but we can try.”

He walked towards the piano, resting his hand on top of it. God, it felt the same. He knew that was how wood worked, but it did make him have to blink back a few more tears.

“I think anything you do will be good,” Lup said. Aw geez, he really was all tears today. “Maybe, uhm— damn, I didn’t think this far ahead.”

“I might still know Fantasy All Star,” Barry said.

[barry-j-blupjeans]

Blupjeans Week 2023

I had a super fun time doing these this year!! If you read and reblogged anything of mine, thank you :O!!

You can now find all of these on AO3 here! Or just in the links below!

Day 1: Refuge - Barry and Lup take shelter from the rain.

Day 2: Bet - Barry and Lup grow up together, and grow confident together.

Day 3: Myth - Lup and Taako run a cryptid-themed youtube channel. But it's not like cryptids like the "Red Robe" actually exist, right? ...Right???

Day 4: AU - Lup has a plan to access other universes through a portal. Barry is a lovesick rich guy she picked up along the way.

Day 5: Bones - Barry and Lup talk about becoming Reapers.

Day 6: Free Day - Barry hasn't played a piano in years. Lup finds one for him.

Day 7: Aftermath - Lup struggles with all she missed while trapped in the umbrastaff. Talking to Barry helps.