#i got into barry cuz i wanted to see him realized since no one else woudl write him despite how pop he is

[supurman]

hm its no surprise i love barry so much. hes just a nice guy with optimistic charm and a strong sense of duty that everyone calls boring. hes just superman #2 at that point

[asm5129]

Flash thoughts episode 9x02

Let’s get the headline out of the way—I freaking love Khione. She’s great. She’s interesting, she’s intriguing, and she’s performed really well by the ever exceptional Danielle Panabaker.

Her sincerity and joy is such an interesting contrast to the rest of the team this season—especially Barry, Iris, and Joe who are all dealing with 9 years of superhero life baggage and trauma. She’s also got really interesting and deep insights into people, almost piercing ones. Plus there’s her connection to nature she speaks of. I wonder if that’s some kind of power, or simply a result of her sincerity and fresh eyes on the world, uncolored by a long history of bias and regrets and the like.

It was off-putting to hear Barry and the other heroes talk so casually about sacrificing Khione’s life to bring back Caitlin and/Frost, barely thinking of her as anything more than a reason Caitlin isn’t there anymore, but I think it works within the context of how grief affects us. Even heroes struggle to think of every life as having equal value, because they have personal relationships too, and these heroes just had more investment in Caitlin and Frost—it’s just someone you just met is not going to mean the same thing as someone you’ve known and thought of as family for years. Obviously I’m glad Barry realized he was treating her so awfully.

I definitely miss Caitlin and Frost, but I agree with the team—Caitlin made her choice. For that matter, so did Frost. Both knew the risks of their choices. Khione is the result. And neither Caitlin nor Frost would want Khione to give up her life for them when it’s only just started.

I also think it’s really interesting that what she said to Hartley actually applies to Mark in a really deep way. Mark never really committed to becoming a better man, he just worked to be a better person to make Frost happy. Like Khione said—doing it for someone else isn’t real change. With Frost gone he’s lost the foundation for those changes, hence him “going rogue”, as Barry phrased it. Speaking of—

The new rogue is another strong one. A new version of The Fiddler, and while I liked what we saw of the new Captain Boomerang we got a lot more of Fiddler and I am very pleased with her. I think it’s a fun performance, a cool power set, and a solid presence. She also sold the fear in the scene with Red Death really, really well. Regardless of why these Rogues decided to ally with Red Death at first, it’s clear they’re in over their heads.

It was fun to have Hartley back, and I’m very happy they didn’t pull a bury your gays with his boyfriend but instead did this really neat thing of him and the others being trapped in a vibrational frequency out of sync with reality. It allows them to be saved through Barry’s ability to vibrate at a frequency that can see them, without undermining Fiddler’s claim about it being “a fate worse than death”—for being frozen just out of sync with life forever, I think that’s an apt description, and that doesn’t get undermined just because they could be saved imo. Anyway it’s just a really neat thing to do with sound powers.

Joe meanwhile is in a rough spot as Cecile gets closer and closer to being capable of field work, cuz he’s been dealing with the harsh reality of field work longer than anyone—both as a cop and as the patriarch of the Flash family since the very start. I think with all that experience with violence and pain it makes a lot of sense that he feels like he has to draw the line somewhere, and this feels to him like where it has to be drawn. I’m intrigued to see where this goes.

It’s cool to see WestAllen making sure to keep themselves provided with joy during these difficult times as well—we could all learn from that honestly.

And finally, I think Red Death framing her plan as “serving justice” rather than “getting revenge” is really interesting, especially knowing this is a version of Batwoman. We’ll probably find out soon if my theory is right about this being the Ryan Wilder from the Armageddon future. If it is, from her perspective Barry is the reverse-flash, and he did to The Flash exactly what Thawne actually did in the beginning of season 8. Would be a really interesting way to play with that warped future Thawne created, keeping him as part of the last season while Barry faces consequences for rewriting a timeline in which Ryan was happy, and was even literally about to adopt a child with Sophie. She would have lost not just that but all her other friendships and connections too. In this timeline for instance, Ryan and Iris aren’t friends, they don’t even know each other. All the years of friendship? Gone. Anyways we’ll see.

Overall another really solid episode for the final season.

On that note, it seems like the Arrowverse guest stars will be more of a chance to say goodbye this season rather than wrapping up any of their stories, which makes sense. Better to keep it focused, but I’m glad we will still have a chance to say goodbye.

I’m sad we won’t get to see Eric Wallace’s grand plan he talked about recently come to fruition. Season 10 sounds like it would’ve been amazing, maybe even a proper Justice League story, but instead the planned 200th episode is now the series finale. I have to believe that if the star wars prequels can find themselves real fans, and there can be a desire for The Amazing Spider-Man 3 with Andrew Garfield, the Arrowverse will find its way to the sun again as well.

[cryptocism]

ive been scrolling through ur blog for a while (cuz ur dc opinions are Top Fucking Notch) and i saw what you said abt bart in tt 03 and f:fma and while i totally agree (it killed tt 03 for me lol) im super curious abt how youd do his development if given the opportunity?

I’ve been thinking about this one like A Lot so buckle up this is long: 

it would kind of depend? On whether or not he’d be in an ensemble team like Teen Titans or with his own solo series. 

I understand metatextually why he became Kid Flash in TT, since they needed him to be more mature and a more recognizable character and having him upgrade costumes/codenames is a good shortcut for both. But I’ve already talked about why it didn’t sit right with me. 

So, lets flip the script a little bit - the start of TT would be largely the same. Our boy Bart is on the new Titans team, and things are kind of awkward after YJ disbanded, also Max is gone and Bart’s relationship with Wally is still not doing great. Things are rough, Bart has newfound doubts to deal with, especially now that the world seems to have gotten harsher and everyone seems to have a lot less patience to deal with him. The pressure to be more mature and a recognizable character is coming from other characters now rather than an authorial need: he’s reminded to take things seriously, or that he should know better by now, that he needs to slow down and think more. So Bart decides a change is necessary, and we get the library scene. He reads all the books, he reappears as Kid Flash, saves Tim via bullet catch, disassembles a gun, takes down Slade, etc. etc. Here’s my departure from canon though: it doesn’t work. 

Kid Flash is not a solution, or a magical cure for immaturity. Reading a whole library so he’s miraculously smarter and more mature and capable is, at its core, a pretty naive conclusion. And it makes sense he would think that. But it doesn’t work. He’s still impulsive, distractible, hasty. He can’t put a lid on his own sense of humor. People still think he’s annoying or lazy or careless. And he keeps trying - he knows all this stuff now, he read a whole library! - but he’s still apparently too much the same person as he's always been. And even though he’s trying very hard to live up to the Kid Flash name, it still doesn’t feel like him. Wally doesn’t like it, since Bart is literally just imitating him now, which makes things between the two even worse. And Bart keeps worrying about what’s supposed to come afterwards, since “Kid Flash” is inherently temporary, and while Impulse was only peripherally related to the flash legacy, Kid Flash comes with expectations. 

Bart is trying very very hard to be ‘grown up’ and ‘mature’, but he hasn’t actually learned anything other than a bunch of facts (which are still useful, but) he’s just trying to be who everyone expects him to be. 

And this is what i mean about the ensemble thing, because this arc would be in conversation with the rest of the core four, who are also trying very hard to be people they’re not, but all in different ways. Bart obviously with the codename change, but Cassie, Tim, and Kon all have similar issues, they’re all trying to imitate people. 

Tim is doing his Batman jr. routine, reverting back to the persona he had at the start of YJ. He’s cagey and mysterious and does questionable things without telling anybody, because he’s de-facto leader of the team again, and he has to be better than he is. No more kid stuff, the Titans are serious, he has to treat it like a job, not like a sleepover. And this whole act is putting distance between him and his friends. 

Cassie is trying her hardest to put herself in a support role. Donna’s gone and she has some big shoes to fill (she and Tim could probably bond about that if he weren’t stubbornly trying to brood at all hours of the day) and she’s doing her best to just Be Donna. Cassie and Tim would work better with their team roles swapped, and they both sort of know this - Cassie is naturally charismatic, thinks on her feet, can maintain good PR, and when she’s confident in herself is great at leading. Tim is partial to planning ahead, secrets, and keeping in the shadows, and is better at being a confidant and emotional problem solver among the team (when he allows himself to be open among friends, that is). 

But they’re both trying to fit themselves into what they see as pre-ordained roles: Robin is leader, Wondergirl is a supportive mediator. But Cassie’s got a temper and little patience for people being idiots, and Tim’s not predisposed to spotlights. 

Kon on the other hand has a story that’s less about who he should be and more who he shouldn’t be. The Lex Luthor dad storyline is here (minus the mind control shit, although the threat of it is still brought up) and Kon is doing his level best to do nothing that could be interpreted as something Lex might do. While everyone is doing their best to Not be their own person, Kon has no idea if he ever was his own person. He’s questioning everything he does, wondering if it’s some kind of evil gene showing through when he’s angry or petty or selfish. He’s going through lots of clone angst. 

So they’re all dealing with expectations and who they are or aren’t supposed to be, trying to fit themselves into boxes that don’t suit them and then convincing themselves that this is how it ought to be. Kon ought to avoid feeling or acting in any negative light because any sign of Luthor is a sign of evil, Cassie ought to tone herself down and act like Donna, Tim ought to step up and lead the team and act like Dick, and Bart ought to listen better and be smarter and slow down and grow up and do his level best to just Be Wally. 

Throughout the issues they’d all get a spotlight on their various crises, taking them through complimenting character arcs. Kon would realize through a couple close encounters and chats with ma and pa and talks with his friends and citizens of metropolis that nobody is all good or all bad. Clark can be a real asshole sometimes and Luthor’s actually done a fair bit of good (usually in his own interests, but still we’re gunning for nuance). Turns out he doesn’t have a dark side to be tempted by, he was made from 50% complex person and 50% complex person, just like everyone else. Which means he isn’t destined to be the next Superman, or Superman’s next supervillain. He’s just like, a person. With his own thoughts and feelings that have nothing to do with genetics. 

Tim would wear himself out and hide it from everybody until he killed himself, but it’s only when he sees Cassie also wearing herself out too that his ‘somebody needs somebody’ instincts kick in and they’re actually able to talk about how miserable they both are. Through some trial and error they’re able to figure out a good co-leader system for leading the team, having each other’s backs along the way, which allows for them both being able to help out the other members of their team with their own shit i.e. Kon and Bart’s identity issues. 

Bart is, like Cassie and Tim, wearing himself out trying to be this perfect version of Wally that never actually existed. He actually hates the recognition the new name gives him, because people have expectations for him now, ones he can never seem to live up to. He’s bad at following orders still, which makes him a pretty shit sidekick for Wally, in fact he’s just pretty shit at being a sidekick in general. But, he reasons, he’s supposed to be grown up and responsible now, and responsibility is all about doing shit you hate until you die, so he’s probably on the right track. 

It’s only later, once he gets some support from his friends, who help him deal with things like Max and YJ disbanding and stuff that he’s able to actually sit down and have a heart-to-heart with Wally. Wally confesses that he understands the pressure to live up to a legacy, and how he did his best to just Be Barry when he became the flash. In fact while Bart was trying to live up to Wally and be a good sidekick, Wally was trying to live up to Barry and be a good mentor. Wally’s the one to tell him that Bart’s always done his own thing, and is at his best when he does. They both agree they suck as partners, but maybe they should’ve tried to be family first. And there’s probably a racing metaphor in there somewhere because speedsters love their racing metaphors. 

ANyway Bart returns to Impulse, forging a new path, getting along better with Wally now and hanging out with him just as civilians with no pretense. He learns some valuable lessons about how maturity can’t be learned in a book, and that he’ll get it himself the more he lives and learns from experience. The Titans all get along better now that they’re all sure of their places in the group, and they can all go on just being themselves without worrying about expectations or roles to fill or whatever. 

...If Bart still had his solo series instead though, id actually want it to go in a sort of different direction? The thing about living up to predecessors and trying to be some ideal version of another person works well for the Titans because they can all deal with a similar issue in different ways, but I think it would also be interesting to do the complete opposite. 

Lots of shitty things happened in very quick succession in Bart’s life that he had no control over: Max’s disappearance, having to move in with Jay and Joan (who are nice, but whom he barely knows,) leaving his friends in Alabama, Young Justice breaking up… Basically, things kind of suck for Bart, and all he wants is for them to go back to the way they were. Instead of trying to be grown up or mature or whatever, Bart is resisting every single encroaching thing about coming adulthood. Because all growing up ever seems to mean is that everything changes and either you have to leave the people you love or they have to leave you. 

So this series would focus mostly on that, both in his civilian life; going into high school, not knowing anybody, the few friends he does make are less interested in ‘kid stuff’ and more focused on dating and interpersonal drama, high school itself seems to be geared entirely toward the “what are you going to do with your life” question, when he visits his old friends back in manchester, they’ve all kind of grown up without him. And in hero life; everyone from Young Justice is trying to move on and not talking to each other, his father figure and mentor is gone and he's not really jiving well with the rest of the flash family, and people just seem to have less patience for Impulse now that he’s older. 

Growing up is hard. It’s hard and no one understands. Especially not when you’re also a superhero and have dealt with some quality trauma like losing loved ones and feeling yourself die. So it makes sense that Bart would resist that in every way possible, do his best to pretend like everything is still how it used to be, for once in his life just trying to make everything stay put. He refuses to get rid of his old stuff, he doesn’t want to treat any villainous threats seriously, people in school keep talking about college and jobs and tuition fees and Bart wants none of that, he acts out, refuses responsibility, gets reckless under the pretense that he never used to have to be cautious. 

And this is the part where I’d bring in Inertia, cause Thad was robbed and I want him to have an actual arc that doesn’t end with infant-splosion. Also he can have a good ol companion arc to Bart. Welcome to foils everybody, where two identical boys with opposing life experiences get to thematically compare and contrast with each other as they deal with the trials and tribulations of growing up. 

So, I’m ignoring every appearance Thad ever made after Impulse 1995, picking up instead where his story left off where he swore vengeance on his creators and disappeared into the speed force. And he’s off to do exactly what he said; Thad Thawne II is going to kill his namesake/grandfather/creator - the president of Earthgov. 

But, turns out assassinating the president of a whole fucking planet is a lot harder than he thought - Thad has planned extensively for every moment of his life, so once he starts going off script things predictably go a little off the fuckin rails. Thad fails, obviously. For one because despite how much President Thawne might deserve to die, Thad at this point hasn’t done anything worse than attempted murder, and making him a killer would put a wrench in any kind of redemption arc he could have. Also he’s acting on rage, in a highly emotional state, basically going up against the entire government. Of course he’s going to get caught by the science police and brought into custody. 

Bart, meanwhile is jumping with both feet into any kind of escapism he can find, which involves various time travel shenanigans and lands him in the 30th century. He gets to reunite however briefly with his mom, but the mission he had gets derailed by the appearance of Inertia. 

Every time Bart and President Thawne interact, the president always seems to make a bid to sway Bart to the Thawne side. This never works, which is part of the reason Inertia exists in the first place; a version of Bart that the president could control. When Inertia landed in the 30th century, hell bent on assassinating his creator, the President subdued him and eventually coerced him back over to the Thawne side of the family feud. No longer a rogue agent, Inertia is back to his old self, all about destroying Bart and the rest of the Allens. 

They have a battle, taking place all over the 30th century city, and Bart does his best but Inertia has the entire Earthgov police force on his side, and Bart eventually gets captured. He gets taken to some kind of holding facility, meets with the President who monologues as him while Inertia stands beside him like a good lackey. Then suddenly the speed-inhibiting cuffs or whatever Inertia had put on Bart to stop his speed malfunctions, and Inertia drops the act, now Impulse and Inertia working together to take down the Earthgov people holding them there. 

Turns out as soon as Inertia knew he couldn’t take out the president, what with all the military force President Thawne had on his side, he bided his time until he could. He uses Bart’s help to finally get President Thawne cornered, and the assassination plan is back on track. Except now Bart is the thing stopping him. He makes the argument about how murder bad. Heroes don’t kill, etc. Inertia insists he isn’t a hero. But Bart reminds him that that’s not how Max saw him. 

Inertia hesitates just enough that President Thawne is able to get away, and now the two of them have to make an escape attempt back to the past. Bart insists on trying to take Meloni with them, and they try but ultimately fail somehow (maybe someone has to stay behind to make sure they can make the trip safely, idk. At first Thad is willing to stay behind, since there’s nothing really for him in the past. But Meloni knows that President Thawne would destroy him if he did, and she can’t let harm come to either of her sons - and she does consider Thad her son, just like Bart. She’s had far too little time with either of them, but she loves them all the same. She tells them to take care of each other, and is the first to encourage them to be like, actual brothers.) 

After yet another tearful goodbye, Bart swearing he’ll find a way for them to all be together again, Bart and Thad go back. And they do end up having to lean on each other, because shit’s tough for the both of them. Thad initially wants to apologize and possibly reunite with Max and Helen, and then finds out Max is gone. And Bart has someone who understands exactly what he’s going through. 

Things get a little more lighthearted from here. Bart and Thad don’t get along well at first, since they’re both going through rough times and lots of changes and their first instincts are to lash out at each other. But eventually they form a sort of camaraderie through shared grief, then shared fish-out-of-water experiences. Which evolves into shared inside jokes and video games and comic books and they become slow but steady friends. 

They upgrade into brothers when Bart defends Thad against the repeated (and not entirely undeserved) suspicion he receives from the rest of the Flash family. Jay and Joan take him in, but it’s clear they don’t trust him, and neither does Wally. Bart stands up for Thad, arguing that he’s as much of a Thawne as Thad is, and treating Thad like he’s the next Cobalt Blue is just going to ensure that history never changes and stupid family feuds are forever. After this, Thad starts trusting Bart a little more, and kind of solves Bart’s problems regarding encroaching adulthood with his friendship. Neither of them really had a childhood, and Thad hasn’t experienced 21st century life at all, much less the societal expectations to grow up. So Bart gets to have fun again, and Thad won't judge any of his games or his books or his attitude or interests for being childish or lame because he’s fascinated by the experience of anything regardless of the target audience. 

And from there it's a series about these two becoming brothers and growing up and the different lessons they learn and wacky characters they meet along the way. Thad ironically also puts Bart in a position where he has to take on more responsibility, since even though Thad can imitate heroic actions and is actually pretty good at it, he doesn’t understand what makes them heroic. Bart has to draw on a lot of the things Max taught him and now has to teach them to Thad. 

There’s crossover comics with Superboy, where Bart laments about having to deal with grown up stuff, and Kon gives him a new perspective on the whole “being young forever” thing, since that was a reality Kon actually had to deal with and it sucked. 

Through various misadventures they meet new and familiar characters to give them different perspectives on the whole passage of time thing. Villains who despise children or childish things, villains who embrace it but probably too much. People who talk about growing up as the worst time of their lives, others talking about it like it was the best. Kids and adults alike trying to force Bart and Thad to act a certain way while treating them another. 

The two of them come to opposing conclusions about this; Thad wants to embrace change completely, partly because he wants to experience firsthand all that life has to offer, but also his worldview depends on believing that anyone can change, and anyone can be better, because he has to believe he can be redeemed for all the shitty stuff he did. Bart, on the other hand, knows his life isn’t perfect but thinks, based on recent events, that it’s all just going to get worse from here, and so resists change as much as possible. 

Thad, in his haste to experience everything, sometimes ends up going too far, either burning both of them out, or pushing them into situations that they’re not ready for or are ill-equipped to handle. Bart, on the other hand is so resistant to change or responsibility that he stops them from doing actual necessary things like planning their futures or doing chores or making new friends. This acts as the crux for their main conflict that slowly builds throughout the series, and then in a finale to the arc, they both figure out a way to get Meloni back to the past, and to raise some stakes they have a falling out in the middle of the mission about it. 

Bart accuses Thad of trying to leave him behind, or trying to be the better version of him again, and that old insecurity about Thad replacing him crops up. Thad thinks Bart just can’t handle anything outside his personal bubble and wants to force him to live in the real world. Plus he also feels kind of abandoned by Bart, who often would leave Thad to do the scary adult things on his own. 

Tensions still high, there's suddenly an external threat to deal with - probably president thawne and the science police - and they attempt to continue arguing even while fighting the president. I’m making this up as I go so lets say yada yada big climactic moment it's looking like the two might fail to get Meloni back and they’re both still angry with each other and Bart just… can’t take it anymore. 

He keeps losing people, and the ones he keeps he always seems to screw up with. And at the end of the day he’s just a kid who wants his mom. Is that really so much to ask? So there’s a reversal, a parallel, if you will, of the assassination attempt from the beginning of the series, this time with Bart. Or, because I don’t think many people would buy that Bart would actually ever for real kill someone, maybe he’s finally about to get his mom back, but she doesn’t want to go (since she made that deal with the president that he wouldn’t harm anyone of the Allen family so long as she stayed with him) so he’s trying to force her, risking the lives/well-being of the entire Allen bloodline across all of time. 

This time it’s Thad who has to talk him down, who has to remind him about being a hero, who has to remind him that trying to go back to some magical time in the past where things were better is just going to stop him from learning and growing as a person, and that doing anything and everything possible to get there is just going to lead to Bart doing something he Actually Can’t walk back from. 

Alright but here’s the thing because having Bart be forced to leave his mom again for like the billionth time is tired and overdone, and personally the whole message about heroics involving extreme and damaging amounts of sacrifice can only go so far. So here; Thad and Bart are both right. 

Like on the one hand, yeah, it’s childish and selfish for Bart to want to be with his mom at the expense of literally everyone else in his family. On the other hand, the fact that they can’t be together because some asshole is upholding a stupid grudge is bad and unfair and wrong. The issue needing to be fixed is not the kid who wants his mom, it’s the jackass keeping them apart (and who also wants to kill/imprison people). So Bart convinces Thad that they have to save Meloni, and Thad convinces Bart that there has to be another way - one where they get their mom back and the Allens don’t have to be hunted. 

The whole story would be leading up to the two of them coming to this conclusion; the healthy middle between the two extremes. Where they have the maturity to plan ahead and sort through their differences and figure out the best course of action with the least amount of collateral, but they don’t let go of that adolescent need for justice and fairness - that thing that makes you dig in your heels and say “no. That’s not fair, that’s not right.” 

SO here’s where I’d put the title card: “Bartholomew and Thaddeus Take Down The Government”. How do they do it? No idea! I’m flyin by the seat of my pants here! Do they run for office? Do they publicize the president’s crimes in such a way he gotta go to jail? Do they somehow turn public opinion against him enough to get him out of office? idk!!! And I don’t remember enough about Earthgov’s political situation to put an accurate read on what exactly they might do to disrupt it. 

Either way they don’t kill him, manage to free their mom, and they all go back to the past together. And a new arc would involve the three of them getting settled in the past; Meloni would be a main character now, and hers is a two-pronged fish out of water story where she’s trying to figure out how shit works in the past, with overtones of the struggles of being a single parent. 

And... I’m not going to say any more about that because this is long enough already oof. 

TL;DR I think a coming of age story would be cool for Bart, and having to deal with growing up when he never really had a childhood. Also the comic itself would be aimed at younger audiences, who can probably relate to having a Bad Time in the Teens and wacky hijinks with friends and siblings.

[n-anon]

Jack Brody Theory

So my friend @kathrinesunspot21 and I were chatting a while ago (around the end of August) about how Jack could be the son of Chase cuz of the whole time is broken scenario, since they’re unable to post it cuz phone no workie they have asked me to do it for em so here goes:

Because time is broken, so many things are possible now. My theory is this, that "Seán" is not telling us the truth, but he can't tell us. "The pieces are in place for us, we just have to find them"- the great words of Scott Cawthon are applicable here. Jack has laid a trail of clues,  and he needs us to find the end of that trail before it's to late. He is not who he says he is, but he has to tell us lies, or else he'll lose everything he's tried so hard to protect by the hand of Anti. He's lying to us to protect us. So, I'm trying to figure out what needs to be lied about, relay the message to the rest of us, and- hopefully- complete the puzzle.

 So, without further ado, let's start from the beginning. The very beginning. The power hours. Schneep's power hour and Chase's power hour were around the same time, until the second Bro Average comes out we won't know which was first. Barry has a secret isn't as clear as I'd like it to be when it came to figuring out who we are watching. I think that it is Chase who says that "(we) weren't supposed to find (the hand)", and one of the kids who found it. If Anti is in Chase's head when whatever happened, happened, then Chase would act like that after whatever Anti made him do. He wouldn't want his kids to know what he's done. Whether or not he actually killed Stacy is still a possibility, but I don't like it. Then Dark silence, obviously,  and here is where things start to fall apart. Clearly, it's Chase looking for his kids, who were kidnapped by Anti, however this means that either Anti is already a entity at this time, long before Say Goodbye, or he found a time loop and went back and fuck everything up.

 And keep in mind, Chase doesn't know who he is. "Where are they, what do you want from me". He is clueless, confused and scared. The "they" part is very important. This explicitly says that there are more than one kid here. Jack and Marvin. (Jackieboyman is still a major question mark, because until we get more cannon lore we don't know if he is Jack, or another of Chases kids. I'll update this once we get more answers.) Jack and Marvin do escape, and they have to get aliases to make sure that Anti doesn't find them again. The "Jacksepticeye" nickname could still be kept here, since Chase does still call him Jack when they meet again (stay with me). Jack has said in the past that the whole thing was a family nickname, and Chase is family.

Jack decides to follow in his father's footsteps and start his own YT channel. Everything starts off well. He covers up his tracks by saying that his real name is Seán McLoughlin, and no one knew differently. This can explain why we haven't canonically seen Marvin since his power hour which is the next thing that got switched around. Anti got him. And so Jack cracked down on the secrecy. Until 2016. The 10th of October, 2016. Fnaf sister location gets uploaded, and lo and behold, Anti's found him. Despite his best efforts, it keeps getting worse, throughout the rest of SL and the first two episodes of Layers of Fear. Chase and Schneep get brought to our generation, but they still think that nothing's changed. When they meet Jack again, he is the only one who realized what's happened, so Chase and Schneep see him as a friend. The man with Anti as the parasite, the leech, the tag-along. If Anti was a thing before all this, he had to start somewhere, but that's another theory. All you need to know for now, is that the man before Anti took over was a friend of Chase's and Henrik's.(4/?)Then comes the big one. Say Goodbye. Jack gets his neck slit and KJSE follows immediately after with Schneep trying his best to save Jack, and he does. But Jack gets sent into a coma, while Schneep get taken over by Anti and disappears until Mayhem 2018. Chase takes over the channel, hence TIE, and the Stories untold 3. When Jack wakes up in Stories untold 4, he realizes what he's up against so he leaves it to us to figure out the story before Anti does. 

[bisexualdanavidan]

oh boy oh boy my friend tagged me in a WIP tag meme thing!  thank you @thepartyresponsible, you don’t even go here and you’re still my favorite 

we’re gonna go under a cut cuz i can’t ever shut the fuck up

i wanna tag uhhh @orgyforone @sweetiefiend @theseusinthemaze and whoever else that follows me that wants to do this, i don’t want to impose!! 

1. wip #1 (“and start again”) is a three-part thing about arin & co living in a little oregon town where arin is the elementary school art teacher and dan is a single dad to a seven or eight year old

The farmers’ market starts the first Saturday of September and ends the last Saturday of November.  It’s always been that way - it’s certainly been that way since he moved here, six years old and starting out the season in shorts and a t-shirt and ending it bundled up behind the little stall his mom rented to sell bread and muffins out of.  He’s made it a longstanding habit to get up early on Saturdays year-round, and it pays off by the time fall rolls around - he’s almost always the first person to get his stall set up on the town square.

It isn’t that he has anything very interesting to sell.  There are other gardeners and farmers with better tomatoes, and Mrs. Culver talks about different breeds and cross-strains of blueberries like his mom used to talk about horses, and anybody with opposable thumbs can grow herbs like he does, even if he does have twice as much mint and lemon balm as anyone else because he let it overgrow a couple summers back and never did get around to wrangling it back to a more manageable level.  He kind of likes the way it looks, more garden than yard on three sides of his little house.  

[...]

“Hey,” Ama’s dad says, “I’m sure Mr. Hanson has stuff to do,” even though Arin’s pretty visibly not doing anything other than talking to them.  Arin takes a moment to look him over while he’s distracted by his kid: they might be the same age - Arin might be a little older - but he looks harried, Arin thinks, and thin in a way that suggests he’s getting over a long illness rather than that he tries to stay that way.  He’s pretty, in a skinny sort of way, with Ama’s long face and curly dark hair.  

2. wip #2 is a record/bookstore au; dan is a former opiate addict whose grandparents/parents set him up with a small shop to run so that he would have something to occupy his time that wasn’t drugs (and set him up with an “employee” aka babysitter in the form of barry, who’s grandma probably went to shul with danny’s or something); arin moves to new jersey, which is as far away from los angeles and his cheating jerk ex-boyfriend as he can get without leaving the country, and ends up spending maybe too much time in this weird little shop; also, arin has a dog

(Part of him is aware what a romantic comedy this is - the whole post-breakup-get-a-dog thing - but there’s not a ton about his life that feels romantic <i>or</i> funny right now, so maybe that specific cliche isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.)

The guy at the front desk seems delighted that he's coming in with the express purpose of adopting a dog.  "If you don't fall in love with someone today," he says after he gets Arin's basic information, "we can get your email or your number or, like, your Facebook or whatever, we get surrenders all the time.  But we've got a really, really great group in right now."

He's short-ish, with a dense scrub of dark beard and bright, clever brown eyes, and his nametag says <i>Hi, I’m Barry</i>.  He's cute, Arin thinks, but there's no spark of legitimate interest like there might have been a couple years ago back home.  <i>Back in California</i>, he corrects himself inside his head.  He leads Arin with a surety through the shelter, past offices and vet tech rooms until they get to the actual anima holding areas.  

"Are you thinking, like," Barry says, "a puppy?  Size preference?"

"Not a puppy," Arin says immediately, because the little brown-and-white terrier puppy that's eyeing him from a couple kennels down is cute as shit, but he's never actually owned a dog by himself before.  "Do you have, like.  A beginner dog?"

3. cw for domestic abuse, skip to the next one if you aren’t cool w it; wip #3 is yet another normal-world-never-famous au where ross and arin are art students in philly and dan works a series of odd jobs in between open mic nights; arin befriends him and gradually tries to ease him away from his piece of shit boyfriend (mostly i want to write about the dynamics of a bad relationship where at least one half of the relationship cares about the other despite being able to acknowledge the toxicity/abuse and avoid the trope where there’s One Final Straw and they make a clean break the first time and live happily ever after)

There’s a chunk of hair ripped out, Arin thinks, and then realizes faintly that it’s not hair, it’s scalp, too, that there’s dried blood matted into his mess of curls, dry and flaky under his fingertips when he reaches to touch it.  Dan jerks away infinitesimally, breathes in, careful, and seems to make himself relax.  

“Sorry,” he says, and when he looks up, Arin can see the hemorrhage in his left eye, a little explosion of scarlet that makes his breath catch in his throat.  He still smiles, though, and it’s small and tight around the edges but almost believable.  “Sorry, that’s - uh - that’s pretty gross.  Sorry.”

4. wip #4 is weird and way overambitious; tl;dr egobang medieval semi-realistic fantasy where arin gets the attention of the seely court and gets arin-napped and dan, who is wildly unsuited for rescue missions, has to venture through the fae forest to get him back 

Morning comes cold and wet to the farm. Mist hangs low over the pastures and stables, clinging to the gardens like a lover; Dan wraps his cloak more snugly around himself before he steps outside, burying his fingers in the thick grey fur lining in search of the cords that lace it tighter.  It's Arin's cloak, made for someone far broader of shoulder, but there’s no one there to see how foolish he looks in a cloak twice his size. The wind from the east is brisk and cold, and it only seems to grow colder as he checks everyone over: the chickens first, who flutter their wings at him and cackle the news of the morning’s bounty - and the goats, the little doeling and her mother, who nips at his sleeve and vainly tugs him forward to her stall - and then all fourteen of the horses, the handful of colts and their nosing mothers and the three raw-boned geldings, ready to be traded.  Ice clings to the very tops of the long grass in the near pasture, and crunches under his feet as he walks the fenceline.

It seems lonely in a way that the farm rarely does.  He lingers in the barn with the hens, scatters more barley than usual so that they peck and prance around his feet, and even offers a handful to the goat doeling.  <i>It’s the cold,</i> he decides.  The doeling snuffles at his empty palm and bleats, a thin, piteous little noise.  Reflexively, he reaches into the bag for another palm’s worth.  <i>The cold has come too early, and without Arin - </i>

He stops himself there, shakes his head as if that will shake the thought away from it.  He’s given to spells of melancholy, and has been since he was young: they’re worse when Arin is gone away, but he only has only one more day to wait.  

so yes those are the myriad things i am Struggling with!!  tbh if any of those catch yr fancy send me an ask, if people seem like they’re more interested in one over the other it will probably be Much easier for me to write them lmao 

[myloveofwords]

Do You Believe?

Original Imagine: hi! I love your writing! it’s absolutely amazing! I was wondering if I could have a one shot request where the reader gets critically injured bc Barry wasn’t fast enough to save her. super angsty and sad? thank you! @zbvbble (Sorry it took so long Sweetie! hope you enjoy, cuz it almost killed me!)

Reader Gender: Female

Word Count: 2,000

Warnings: ANGST. SO MUCH ANGST. UH. OH MY GOD. I’M SO SORRY.

Author: Contrygal7

                                                     * * * * *

If I didn’t believe in you.

The words cut deep into your head, the first thought of the day and recalling fights hurt. This isn’t the first time you’ve heard those words, though. Of course the first time wasn’t nearly as depressing.

No.

The first time it was warm. A fuzzy kinda warm that slowly seeps its way into your bones almost as if its igniting your entire body in a tantalizingly slow burn. The early morning sunshine, the whole world cascaded in a pink tint, as it fell lazily over the small bedroom in your even smaller studio apartment that you currently shared with your full time boyfriend part time superhero, Barry Allen.

The whole day seemed to reflect your mood, everything a stupid, can’t possibly be real kinda happy. Then you heard it, you’d heard it before of course, but singing in the shower was one thing… This was something different all together.

♪ If I didn’t believe in you♪

♪We’d never have gotten this far. ♪

♪If I didn’t believe in you♪

♪And all of the ten thousand women you are. ♪

He was actually singing. Like he sounded like he knew what the hell he was doing, now your boyfriend was many things. Goofy. Cute. Adorable. A super dork. Charismatic as hell when he wanted to be. But a singer? It just didn’t seem like it was actually him.

… Until he accidentally dropped this solid one liner into the air in front of him.

“Maybe I should just ask her… Nah. No. It’s too soon. Yeah. It’s wayyyyyyy to soon. But is it? Seven months? Maybe. I mean, ugh. I don’t know. I mean I know it’s what I want. But is it what she wants?”

Elevated heart rate, which Barry can hear, or sense or whatever the fuck he does. He turns around faster than your eyes can see, but living with a speedster you we’re used to it.

His deep blue eyes seemed to mirror your own terror as the two of you stood in the bright sunny kitchen, the tension palpable. You could feel his anxiety from across the small room as he too loudly asked “Coffee? You need coffee. I need coffee. I think we both need coffee. I’ll…”

Barry was gone and back in seconds two coffee cups from CC Jitters. You smile sweetly at his terror filled face as a single hand cups his cheek “Thank you sweetheart. Did you have something you wanted to ask me?”

His eyes screamed yes, but somehow he kept his dorkiness to a minimum as he, as slowly as a speedster can, dropped down on one knee. His big puppy dog eyes are what sealed the deal, he opened the small black velvet box in his hands. You looked down, catching glimpse of the shiny red bone shaped dog tag nestled inside.

BUT back to present day … Barry had left this morning with out a single noise.

You woke to a dark room and cold sheets. Glancing quickly at the alarm the 5:13 there glared at you with bright green neon. The world around you seemed to darken, you didn’t like fighting with Barry but sometimes he was just so stubborn.

The fight seemed to cycle and cycle thought your head. You overthought everything said and remembered everything. It was torture, sitting alone in a bed meant for two. Cold and alone. A single tear fell from your cheek as the words said came into razor focus:

“WEll, I’m sorry Barry! I’m sorry I can’t be everything that you want me to be! I’m sorry I’m not a doctor like Caitlin, or a superstar reporter like Iris! Shit Barry.“

"Who said anything about Caitlin or Iris?”

“And you’re never home! You’re always with everyone else but me. You leave me for days, sometimes weeks at a time with no explanation.”

“I have responsibilities (Y/N)! I can’t be here every time you have a feeling!”

“Like you’d know anything about me feelings, Barry. You’re never home. You’re always gallivanting around the city, fighting bad guys and ignoring ME!”

“I do NOT ignore you (Y/N).”

“Well you certainly don’t pay attention.“

"And when am I suppose to do that (Y/N)? The three hours I get to sleep at night? Or maybe you’d like the thirty minutes before hand when I eat before I pass out. Oh! Or maybe you’d like the eight hours when I’M AT WORK EVERYDAY.”

“OR you could come home before the goddamn crack of dawn. Or when you do come home, you always find some kind of excuse to leave yet again!“

The click of paws on the floor snapped you from your memory so you figured Flash, the lovable dalmatian that you and Barry adopted together, needed to go outside.

Without hesitation you stumbled your way through the dark gathering Flash’s leash and your shoes before hustling him outside.

The air was cold and wet. The rain fell around you, chilling you to the bone. You didn’t see anything until it was too late. The sweet smell filled your nostrils and the last thing you remember is the cool sensation against your face as you feel into the darkness.

                                           * Barry’s P.O.V *

I should have went back this morning. I should have went home and crawled into bed, held her close and never left. My neck is sore from sleeping on the couch at the lab, my body aches from lack of sleep, and my head is spinning in regrets.

I should just go home now. Call the captain, tell him I need a personal day. Pick up some flowers and some pizza from that place in Gotham she loves so much. Meet her back at the apartment and lay in bed all day.

Hell, she’s never going to say yes to marrying me if I keep treating her like this. My hand instantly goes to cup the diamond ring in my coat pocket. I shake my head as I realize that I’d been carrying it around since the second month we’d started dating.

She is my everything. I have to make this up to her.

I take out my phone and begin to execute my brilliant plan, until my phone lights up and Cisco’s name pops up. Damn it.

”Cisco, whatever it is let Wally handle it. I can–“

"Barry. It’s (Y/N).”

I was in Star Labs before the call ended.

“What’s happening Cisco?”

“The Meta-finder got something. It’s him Barry. And he’s got (Y/N).”

“How long?”

“I don’t know. Neighbors place her walking Flash at 5, and he just popped up on my radar. We have no account of his whereabouts for in between.”

“That’s 3 hours Cisco.”

“Yeah, man. It’s bad. Want me to call Oliver?”

“No.”

I didn’t finish my sentence. I left her alone. Scared. In the middle of a fight. And now I may never get to see her smile again. I suited up and headed face first into a hurricane.  

                                                 * * * * *

You woke with a throbbing in the back of your head. Your stomach growled causing you to slump forward, you realized your hands were bound behind you. You shuffled forward trying to regain some kind of bearing, and that’s when you heard him.

“Comfy?”

“What the fuck do you want?”

“Oh I think we both know the answer to that question.”

“Well your not going to get it. He’s not coming.”

“Oh but he is.”

“Oh, but he’s not. Asshole.”

“Uh oh. Trouble in paradise?”

You tilted away from him, hoping to terminate any and all conversation which worked. For a whole half a second.

“It doesn’t matter anyway. He won’t get here in time.”

“I’m not taking the bait, asshole.”

“What is it with you and that word?”

“OH I’m sorry. Douche bag. There’s another word for ya.”

“What does Mr. Allen see in you anyway?”

Your eyes widened and you were thankful you’d turned your body away. How in the hell did he know? Your head began to throb again and you cried out.

The last thing you remember is Barry’s face as the darkness slowly took over. You stumbled over the words as they left your mouth. You didn’t know if he could hear them or not, but they needed to be said.

“I believe in you, Barry Allen.”

Your eyes closed slowly and your breathing soon followed. Everything blurred together. Then black.

                                        * Barry’s P.O.V *

I saw the light leave her eyes and I cried out. I don’t remember much after that. Caitlin says it could have been that my body was moving faster than my brain could keep up with. Wells says it could have been too traumatic and I’ve blocked it out. I don’t know. I don’t really care.

All I know is she’s in a hospital bed, on life support and I’m still breathing. I haven’t figured out the how or the why yet.

Another tear falls down my face. It seems like that’s all I do now. Cry.

I feel nothing, I feel empty. I don’t eat. I don’t sleep. I just sit here and stare down at the love of my life. And pray that she will wake up.

Her last words bring a sharp pain to my chest.

I believe in you, Barry Allen.

Why? Her last words, she had to have known they were going to be, yet… She didn’t cry out for help. She didn’t try and plead for her life. She didn’t scream at the top of her lungs…

She told me exactly what I needed to hear. A single phrase and I felt I could take on the world. A conclusion of words that made me feel invisible. A solid string of syllables that connected the two of us in a way I didn’t even realize she was capable of.

A single memory came into mind. One with white curtains and yellow sunshine. Dirty dishes and happy times.

♪ If I didn’t believe in you. ♪

♪ We’d never have gotten this far. ♪

I took her hand into my own, feeling the warmth and smiling down at her.

♪ If I didn’t believe in you. ♪

♪ And all of the ten thousand women you are. ♪

I laughed slightly remembering how she hated when I sang that part to her. Part of me hoped it would piss her off enough she’d wake up.

♪ If I didn’t think you could do ♪

♪ Anything you ever wanted to ♪

♪ If I wasn’t certain that you’d come through somehow ♪

♪ The fact of the matter is, (Y/N). ♪

♪ I wouldn’t be sitting here now. ♪

She never once moved. I watched as the machine assisted her with each and every breath. The rise and fall of her chest and the sudden stillness of her seemed to be too much all at once.

I raised my hand to my face, feeling the sobs begin to tear through my body. I walked over to the machine and with a trembling hand, flipped all the necessary switches.

I watched though tear filled eyes as the machine took her final breath for her. Her eyes never once opening.

21:17

The clock taunted me beside me. I swear I could feel my soul leave my body.

I listened to the tantalizing beeping of the heart rate monitor.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

I listened closer as it begin to flat line signaling the end of her life.

BEEEEEEEEEEEPPPPPPPPPPPPPP.

Silence. It filled the room. Filled my head, my heart. Everything. There is no moving on from this kind of pain.

This is it.

The end.

Beep.

.  .  .  .  . Then again… Maybe not.

[cisco-fics-4-all]

The Privacy Policy

This was a request by @shanjedi for: “HR got the ciscogram’s ‘my love of science’ line from a video Cisco let his gf shoot of him where he’s goofing off and he’s really hurt by the idea that she would’ve shown HR, or that HR was snooping on her phone”. It’s not EXACTLY what you asked for, but I hope you still like it!

“I’m sorry, did you make a hologram of me?!” Cisco demanded, pointing at his projected image standing a few feet away.

You, HR, and the others smiled in amusement, Barry seeming particularly tickled by the stiff bodied hologram before them, “Ah Francesco,” HR soothed, accenting his incorrect pronunciation of Cisco’s first name, “you made it perfectly clear, that you didn’t want to be a tour guide, you’re not, you’re a virtual tour guide.”

Cisco was still not amused, “Guess what, that falls under the umbrella of ‘not wanting to be a tour guide’,” he replied dryly, giving HR the stink eye as he did.

You rubbed his back gently, “Oh come on Cisco, he’s got a point,” you commented, “we should at least see what it’s like.”

HR nodded gleefully, pressing a button on his remote to continue the hologram’s functions. As the projected version of Cisco spoke, his image flickered in and out like a radio with bad reception, but despite the glitches you began to recognize his speech, and your brow furrowed in confusion. Under your hand, you felt Cisco’s shoulders clench, his eyes squinting slightly as he too began to recognize the words his hologram was speaking.

When the hologram’s speech ended, Cisco turned to HR with a biting smile, “Wow,” he said, gesturing to where the hologram had been.

HR nodded, smiling back at him with pride, “Thanks,” he said quickly, before Cisco laid into him.

“Heres the thing,” Cisco began, his voice hard and angry as he spoke, “I don’t sound anything like that,”

HR’s smile fell instantly, his mouth opening to respond just as the hologram flickered back to life, this time glitching much more as the audio that accompanied it slowed and warped. After futilely whacking his little remote against his segway a few times, HR gave Cisco a small pleading look, “Yeah, I’m gonna need you to take a look at that,” he faltered, to which Cisco was already shaking his head.

“See, I can’t do that, cuz I’ve got important things to do, so y’know,” he was already walking off as he spoke, Caitlin soon following, making the excuse of some errand she needed to run, leaving you, Barry and HR with the glitching hologram.

Barry peered down at the projections base with an awkward frown, clearly trying to find some excuse to escape like Cisco and Caitlin had; lucky for him, you had a bone to pick with HR. “Hey, HR can I uh…talk to you for a second?” you glanced at Barry, nodding that he could leave if he wanted. Barry silently thanked you before scurrying off as HR stepped down from his segway obligingly.

“Sure thing Y/N, what did you want to talk about?” he asked, his usual sunny demeanor back in place.

You gave him a stiff little smile, “Well,” you began, trying to find the right words so that you didn’t come across to harsh, “I couldn’t help but hear some pretty obvious similarities between your hologram of Cisco and a video that I showed you a couple days ago, on my phone, remember?”

HR nodded, “Of course I remember Y/N, and yes, before you ask, that is precisely where I got the audio from,” he smiled again as you nodded and sighed, “I had to run it through some voice recognition programming of course, I found this neat app that lets you form full monologues of speech with just a sample of someone’s voice, it’s really quite interesting, I could show you if you like-”

“No,” you cut him off quickly, “no thanks HR, I just…I was just wondering how you got the audio to begin with?” you knew you sounded slightly annoyed by the way he seemed to flinch, but you pressed on, “I mean I didn’t send you that video, it’s only on my phone, so either you went in my phone without permission and stole it, or-”

“Y/N, please,” HR interrupted you this time, putting a hand on his chest as he gave a little bow, “I would never snoop through yours, or anyone else’s personal cellular device, ok? No you see, I had my recorder on when you showed me,” he pulled out the small gold, pen looking device that Cisco had discovered in his things before, and flicked it on, the sound of your voice and his playing from it’s tiny speaker, “I had been dictating a new story idea earlier that day, and simply forgot to turn it off before some meta or another came menacing the city, so I simply put it in my coat pocket when I went up to the cortex to watch the Flash at work,” he explained as the audio from the device seemed to stop, save for the faint sounds of someone speaking as if from far away, “I went listening back through it later that evening and realized I’d recorded our whole exchange, and funny enough, the audio from the video of Cisco that you’d showed me; so I uploaded it to my own computer, enhanced the audio, and as I already explained, fed it through the app I found and voilà!” he switched the recorder off with a grin, “I’ll admit the speech pattern seems a little unnatural, but I’m sure Cisco will be able to fix that.”

You nodded, having already finished listening at the words ‘recorder’ and ‘forgot to turn it off’. With another sigh, you explained, “HR, that video was kind of private…I mean I know I showed it to you, but Cisco didn’t know that, and I don’t think he’s very happy now that he knows.”

HR’s brow creased as he listened, a small apologetic frown on his face, “Oh my sincerest apologies Y/N, I hadn’t realized…”

You nodded, “It’s…it’s ok for now HR, but maybe next time you accidentally record something, come talk to one of us before using it?”

He nodded back vigorously, “Absolutely,” he agreed, “in fact, I’m gonna,” he held the recorder up then, before bending it between his hands, an electric sounding fizzling noise emanating from it as it snapped, “I’m gonna get rid of this, and stick to writing my ideas down from now on, alright?” he tossed the broken bits over his shoulder as you nodded again.

“That’s great HR, thank you,” you affirmed, “now I’m gonna go let Cisco know what happened alright?”

“Of course, and please, extend my apologies to him as well,” HR called as you walked away. You waved back at him before quickening your steps, the hope that Cisco wasn’t too upset spurring you onward in your search for him. You found him where you expected him, sat at his desk in his workshop, his hands working on some new piece of tech or another as you entered slowly.

“Whatcha working on?” you inquired softly, your tone sweet, hoping to diffuse any lingering annoyance he had.

Cisco glanced up at you for a second, his eyes hard and his brow furrowed, “I dunno,” he replied quietly, “it depends on whether I’m being filmed or not.”

You pouted at that, “Cisco,” you sighed his name, “it’s not what you think, ok?”

Cisco scoffed, “Oh really?” he asked cooly, “and what do I think Y/N?” he set his tools down and turned his focus on you, “I mean in general I would assume you did, considering we’ve been dating for nearly a year, but then I find out fricken’ HR has my voice chopped up and reassembled from a video on your phone, and I gotta admit I’m a little confused as to how he got it unless he went through your phone, or you showed that video to him.”

“Cisco please just listen,” you began calmly, “yes, ok, I did show HR the video, and I’m sorry alright? But you’re so hard on him sometimes, I just wanted to prove to him that you’re not always so grumpy-”

“Ok I’m gonna stop you right there,” he cut you off irritably, “because HR is neither deaf, nor blind, he sees how I interact with the rest of the team, it’s just him that gets on my nerves! With his weird greetings, and his hovering, and his obsession with giving me coffee; maybe if he wasn’t so annoying all the time, I’d be nicer to him.”

You frowned sadly as Cisco vented at you, wondering why HR bothered him so much when you found him rather well-meaning and almost charming. When Cisco was finished, you went to him, sitting on the edge of his desk, “Cisco,” you said his name softly, gently, “I know HR gets on your nerves, and I can understand why, but sweetie,” you put your hand on his cheek, tucking a lock of hair behind his ear as you smiled down at him sweetly, “he’s just trying to help, ok? I mean that’s what we invited him here for in the first place, remember?”

Cisco rolled his eyes, “Yeah I remember, I also remember the fact that he lied to us in order to get here, and hasn’t really been useful since he arrived,” his tone was that of an annoyed grumble, but he put his own hand over yours on his face, clearly softening in his anger.

“Ok I admit, the lying was pretty messed up,” you conceded with a smile, “but babe you gotta understand, he thinks you hate him…couldn’t you be just a little nicer to him sometimes?”

Cisco narrowed his eyes at you, “Babe, whether he thinks I hate him or not is no excuse to show him a video of me, being a doofus, in my underwear, with you,” you couldn’t help the laugh that escaped you at the memory of it; him in his novelty ‘may contain nuts’ boxers that you’d given him for Christmas, pretending to host a terrible cooking show in his apartment one morning after you’d spent the night, his occasional shouts of “SCIENCE!” as he threw things into a pan haphazardly.

Cisco’s eyes narrowed further at your laughter, prompting you to bite your lips together before defending, “At least you were wearing underwear…”

Cisco’s eyes widened, but he too started laughing, “Y/N I swear to god, if you show anyone those videos, especially HR, I will personally smash your phone to bits.”

You were full on cackling now, clutching at the pocket in your jacket where you’d put your phone, “I won’t show anyone, I promise!”

Cisco stood up, leaning into you to kiss you, “Better not…” he kissed your forehead before pulling your into his arms for a hug.

You hugged him back, closing your eyes as you nuzzled into his hair, “So does this mean you forgive me?” you asked with a hopeful little smile.

Cisco chuckled, “Yes I forgive you,” he replied, “but you’re still in trouble,” he pulled back, a mischievous smile on his face as you frowned at him curiously.

“How do I get out of trouble?” you asked, putting on your best pouty face.

His smile grew as he pulled out his own phone, “Fair is fair, I get to video you dancing around in your underwear later tonight,” he informed you, brandishing his phone as you began to grin back at him.

You shook your head, struggling to hide your grin, “The things I do for love…” you sighed before pressing your lips to his.

BONUS: This is what I imagined his underwear looking like in the vid ->

[canaryatlaw]

Okay, so today was pretty good. Didn't actually do all that much, lol, but it was good. Alarm went off at 7, I groaned and told myself I can sleep when I'm dead (this is actually something I tell myself on a regular basis as a motivation to get out of bed and I'm not even kidding) so I got up and hopped on the bus to work. Hang out for a bit, trying to see if anyone has any work for me, no luck there really so I go down to court and just hang out for most of the morning. I can't really remember anything about the cases so I probably wasn't paying that much attention and/or they weren't all that interesting. Went back up for lunch and decided I would stay up there for the afternoon, I did eventually get an assignment from my supervisor but it was like "take the incident reports dated before January 2015 out of this binder of incident reports that organized into sections by attorneys in chronological order" so all I had to do was flip through the section till I hit January 2015 and take the rest out, so it took a total of like, 20 minutes lol. Didn't do anything else productive for the day though, no complaints there. Their calendar meeting had gotten rescheduled for this afternoon (I'm not sure when it regularly is but it's not while I'm around) so I sat in on that and heard them bitch about problems like comp days and the scheduling issues they have in the courtroom. They're doing a breakfast thing on Thursday for some reason, which is also my last day and they want to take me out to lunch, so I'm getting two government sponsored meals on Thursday? Lol, I'll take it. Gotta figure out where I wanna go, cuz I'm tempted to just say pizza but then they're having a calendar pizza party on Friday.....I may just do the bakery cuz at least there's a selection there and I can still get pizza that I like, lol. At one point my friend from last semester stopped by because she had to drop something off over on my side of the office (we're literally on completely opposite sides of the building) so we talked for a bit and she told me about her crazy case and what DCFS is opposing paying for for her client, and I recounted my painful experience in DV court last time we were there. She mentioned she like almost called me the other day because she had a client wanting to get an order of protection and had a few super basic questions but they got it figured out but just hearing that made me feel really cool haha like I'm an authority on something people would go to for information (and tbh I do know a lot about the process). Headed out around 4:50 because I wanted to make the 5:02 bus since I was so happy I couldn't go straight home after work for legit the first time this semester haha so that was good. It was also nice to ride home while it's still nice out, even if it's still a bit of a longer ride in the evening (it goes from like 1 hour to an hour and 10 minutes, not much but enough) it's nice to just sit and see it still being light out, and the farther north we get the people on the bus start to trickle off, so by the time we get to my stop there's usually only a handful of people left, so sometimes I'll like stretch my legs out and take up two seats or something silly like that that I'd enjoy, lol. Got home, made dinner (I did the roasted nectarine oatmeal again because I still had the other half of it and it was cut and imminently going bad and it was super delicious, and also leftovers because I'm determined to eat them now, which I don't like that I have to be determined to do to actually do, but oh well) and then tuned in for the flash, which I have to say was an all around strong episode. I couldn't pass up commenting on future Barry's haircut because like ffs man I know you're depressed and that can make menial tasks seem monumental but please just get yourself a haircut already, lol. And seeing everyone else all old and abandoned was sad. The whole "we're gonna change the future to change the past" thing was kind of ?? Like okay, getting the team back together is nice but I don't think it's gonna make a difference here? Lol. Oh, and future Barry said he trapped Savitar in the speed force after he already killed Iris.....but Savitar killed Iris because Barry trapped him in the speed force....time loop, anyone? Haha though I doubt they'll address that, given the show's track record with logic in regards to time travel. But yeah, overall I liked it and Jesse L. Martin pretending to be old Joe was so!! cute!!! I really couldn't handle it. So stupid me thought I had an hour between flash and prison break from some reason, and I had wanted to make cookies because while I was making oatmeal earlier they have an oatmeal raisin cookie recipe on the container which I'm rather fond of so now I wanted to make some, except I didn't have any raisins haha so I used dried cranberries instead, and they turned out quite nicely (I briefly considered using the yogurt covered raisins that I do have, but decided that would be an adventure I'd save for another day). When I finished around 8:45 I checked Twitter and realized I fucked up the times of the shows so I started prison break then (thanks for always saving my ass, dvr). Man, what an episode. Really on the edge of my seat for most of it. Of course I was sooooo happy to finally see the brothers reunited and just being so happy to be able to hug each other and I'm like oh damn I have feelings!!! Haha. I wasn't doing all that great at keeping track of the factions fighting and whatever else was going on in Yemen, but I get that they apparently just pissed off the entirety of ISIL (side note: does anyone know why they chose to use ISIL and not ISIS? Is that how it's referred to in Yemen? I'm just curious as to what went into that decision) and now they somehow have to get out of Yemen with all these crazy people hunting him. They've had worse, really, haha. I have faith in them. Sara didn't get to do much, but we had the whole Kellerman and T-Bag plot, and I'm sorry but I refuse to 100% believe Kellerman is dead when they didn't show the shot of him actually being dead, just showed a gunshot going down in his direction....I mean, it's not like they haven't pulled shit like that before, especially with him. And believe me, I REALLY want that bastard to be dead, but the bastard is like a cockroach so I want real confirmation. T-Bag can bleed out for all I care, but I'm yet to see how he fits into any of this. But yeah, liked the episode a lot. Then I went to Brooklyn 99 which was hilarious and perfect as always, then went to 13 Reasons Why, watching episodes 10 and 11, obviously both very heavy episodes. I didn't remember enough details from the book to recall exactly what Clay's transgression was, but I thought it was something along those lines, at which point I'm like goddammit Clay you've been holding out on us going around the whole time being like "what did I do????" when you damn well know what you did, even if you didn't see how it related. I felt so sad for her in that moment though, that what was supposed to be a consensual moment was ruined by her past abuse experienced at the hands of men, like that makes me so sad. I liked episode 10 too though, I especially liked that Sherie was going to the older man's house to help him and that Clay went to Jeff (is his name Jeff? I think it's Jeff)'s family and told him what he knew at least- that was some sign of redemption in what's mostly been a story about how shitty people are to each other, so that I liked seeing. The lawsuit subplot continues to drive me up the wall with realism, at least they got the "oh the school would want to settle" thing right, and I loved that conversations between Clay and Hannah's moms in the bathroom, and I SO still want to see Clay's mom storm out of her firm and quit the case, but at this point I doubt we're gonna see that happen, especially because what they just revealed which has to be the BIGGEST conflict of interest I've ever seen that they are just smoothing over entirely and not even acknowledging. Like, are you kidding me? The son of the defense lawyer is being called as a witness for the prosecution???? If that's not a conflict of interest I don't know what else could possibly be one, lol, so them ignoring that irritated me. I wanted to keep watching to see what was gonna go down with the whole Jess/Bryce/Justin situation (side note: I know we're not really supposed to like Jess and I mean she is a bitch but I honestly just feel so bad for her) but I did need to eventually get to sleep so I stopped and got ready for bed and here we are. Tomorrow I have PT, then a PAD meeting at school that's probably gonna run into the crim pro review class, so we'll see how long I end up being there for. Alright, that's it. Goodnight folks. Stay classy.

[kaedekisaragi]

Kaede Kisaragi Watches The Flash S3E14 - Attack on Central City

Pack your toothbrushes, we going to the restaurant at the end of the universe.

Barry Allen is one awesome bf. He has gotten a full course breakfast PLUS balloons. All before 6:30. V-day and all, yes? Meanwhile, at the labs, Harry is very much stunned by HR's giddiness. Or HR's unhealthy curiosity on how Harry brushes his teeth. Harry demonstrates his love for HR by spitting toothpaste in HR's coffee. Class act.

So the team is also similarly uncertain about HR's decorating. He also has made them Friends' day Cards, the equivalent of V-day in his earth. And hey, look, personalized cards: "You have sped into my heart, Jesse quick". Wally agrees, anyway. And seems that the two have not yet told Harry. Wally is nervous. Barry cheerfully agrees that HR is right, they do deserve to celebrate their win over Grodd. Iris is all too happy too, kissing her "friend" Barry.

Jessie and Wally go tell Harry. Harry drops his shit when she tells him. But he acts very cool and casual, accepting Jessie's happiness comes first and foremost. But given his pause and questioning her about it being WALLY she loves, I think he obviously does not take it as well as he seems. But anyway, time to look for a place to live! Wally is nervous.

Cisco is bitter of being permanently in the friendzone, not helped by Caitlin saying she and Julian are just friends. As Caitlin assures him someone for him might be just around the corner, Gypsy leaps out of a breach... And blasts a smiling Cisco. She also blasts Flash too, immobilizing him, but she's caught offguard by Harry and his gun. One lockup at the pipeline later, they interrogate her and discover that she had been manipulated by grodd. And they realize this must mean he's in Earth-Prime too, else he couldn't manipulate her.

The gorilla army stands in the hills, looking off towards Central City.

Barry has a broken moment where he realizes Grodd keeps evolving, while they always fight him the same way. They need to change how they face him. Harry suggests using their knowledge of the future to predict Grodd's attack and stop him preemptively. Harry has an idea to modify Vibe gear so they can have cisco see the future he doesn't know of yet. He goes off to work (on the only pair, mind you) and drags Wally with him... Weird. Cisco goes to talk to Gypsy so she can help, because no way she'll say no to him. Which she does. He charms her into staying, after she drops a 'Luke Starkiller' reference that geeks him out in a multiple-earth level, saying she gets to get revenge on Grodd and spend time with 'his face'. She says she saw the horrors Grodd has in mind for Central City, and she won't take part in this fight. Cisco, upset but relenting, lets her leave.

Wally is good following Harry's instructions, and he also is glad for how well Harry took to the news of him and Jessie. Harry says his daughter deserves happiness, and Wally makes her happy. Wally says they'll visit him a lot too on earth-2... And Harry reveals that his health is not what it once was. He's been to a doctor. He doesn't know how long he has. He asks Wally not to tell her.

Team all set for Cisco's vibe experiment.

Cisco "Harry, if this thing fries my brain..." Harry "It's an improvement~" Cisco "Was that Rocky?" Harry "Yeah, Burgess Meredith."

Harry loves his BFF Cisco ^^ Or would, if Harry didn't reveal right there that the amplified vibing can be possibly deadly. Cisco vibes blindly... Intersection State and Oakhill. They assemble the SWAT on the place, but... It's too late: Grodd speaks through Joe, knowing Joe is important to Barry. He pulls his own gun and SHOOTS AT JOE'S TEMPLE, AND FLASH MANAGES TO BE FASTER THAN A SPEEDING BULLET, THE BULLET JUST GRAZING HIS FOREHEAD! This was all just a distraction... Grodd's real target is a limo carrying an army guy.

Joe's alright, and when he got controlled, he got glimpses of Grodd's mind, just like Gypsy. Harry has an idea about using the kind of machinery used for treating depression to help Joe recover Grodd's memories, assuming the mind control goes both ways. Joe's okay with the plan. Iris goes to barry, who is hitting a deep low, feeling nothing he does can stop his loved ones from being brought harm. He can't just send Grodd away... They gotta kill him. Iris doesn't like that. He counters that even Ollie has killed and still remains a hero. She shoots back that this weighs on Ollie's head every day. Barry is considering this only because if he kills Grodd, the attack won't happen and Iris may live. She says his kindness is why he's so beloved, and he should never compromise. Her life isn't worth that.

Wally tries to tell Jessie to spend as much time with her dad as she can, but naturally, he has poor choice of words. He tells her about her dad's sickness. Jessie... finds this unbelievable and stands up to go talk to him. And by the looks on his reactions, he really WAS bullshitting Wally to keep Jessie for himself. She lays the ultimatum. Not losing a beat, he resumes the experiment on Joe. Joe's brain is lit up, and he makes a portrait of the man Grodd captured. Who is unknown to them. Grodd, meanwhile, uses the general guy to infiltrate Fort Reynolds, a NUCLEAR MISSILE TRANSPORATION BASE!

Barry beats up on a poor sandbag with his flash-fisticuffs. Breaking it open. Harry walks in, and shows himself to be on Iris's side, saying he is not proud of all the stupid ideas he's had, and Barry should not kill grodd. If he kills Grodd, it'll only make easier to kill the next enemy. The team is called to the cortex, because HR got an idea thanks to renowned Alfred Yankovic, a poet from his world (Yes, Weird Al, cuz of that hair). General guy has a military hairdo. They found his identity: General Mcnally. And he has the highest clearance, being able to fire nukes in seconds. Which he just did. Yay. Barry goes by himself, since if he fails to stop the missile, kid flash and jessie gotta evacuate everyone to safety.

Flash arrives at the ballistic launcher, and he has little time to disarm the launch. They don't know the disarm code. Only that the code is five-digit. So Flash, in a frantic few seconds, rapidfires all possible combinations until he lands 45127. Grodd, seeing it failed, sends his gorillas to attack. STAR Labs detects them. Barry is decided not to kill Grodd, so he'll need everyone's help here.

Earth-19. Gypsy gives intel on someone to a guy in aviator glasses and scarf. As soon as he leaves in a flash, Vibe is there to talk to her. Vibe defies her shutting him down, saying he is able to vibe her feelings and knows she's a hero like him, not just an officer. He needs her help getting something to stop grodd. On Earth-Prime, Jessie Flash and Kid Flash are waiting to meet the enemy army. With few odds on their favor. The kid speedsters do their job distracting the main army while Flash rushes Grodd... and gets swatted aside. Kid Flash is next. And then Jessie. Grodd mocks Flash for not being willing to kill him...

...Flash reveals his trump: Vibe and Gypsy bring Solovar to the fray. Gorilla on Gorilla brawl! The battle goes to the top of a building, then Grodd gets pushed off the building. Solovar is victorious. The army submits to him. Solovar is about to kill Grodd but Flash stops him, reminding him how he spared Solovar, and vows to keep Grodd on Earth-Prime. Solovar accepts.

ARGUS is called in to take Grodd. Barry feels bad, but Caitlin thinks what little good Grodd had on him is gone, and for all she cares, he can rot next to King shark. Cisco would pay for that fight. Gypsy tries to leave, saying she only helped for the city's sake, but Cisco aggressively confronts her on her feelings for him. She aggressively kisses him and tells him she is too much for him. Cisco swears to marry her XD

Harry is leaving for Earth-2. He makes clear he'll murder Wally ANYWHERE in the multiverse if he hurts Jessie. Wally swears he'd need to be dead before anyone hurts her. They shake hands.

Barry fixes a romantic night for him and Iris on their apartment. He's realizes that there's always another way to fix the future... Like making it THEIR future... POPPING A RING AND KNEELING! WITH A RING THAT BELONGED TO HIS GREAT-GRANDPA IN WORLD WAR II WHEN HE WANTED TO PROPOSE! HE ASKS IRIS TO MARRY HIM!

Stinger. Wally and Jessie watch Casablanca. She doesn't get it, but it's his favorite movie. She says she's in mood for burgers, so he runs off to get some... AND HELLO SAVITAR IS HERE AND HE'S DASHING TOWARDS WALLY WHAT?!?

...Seriously, is this the way to end an episode? Bad show, no donut for you. I kid of course.

Harry being an asshole even when he's not in mortal danger was expected, so was his constant annoyance and elitist attitude towards HR's 'moron qualities'. We should give these two a spin-off. Cisco being the aggressive flirt was a nice change from deer-in-headlights Cisco. Especially since Gypsy is TOTALLY fem-cisco. And I'll admit, I genuinely did not expect Barry to try and marry Iris this season. This makes me worried. Very worried.

I wish that they'd have spent more time fighting the gorillas. I mean, both this and last episode we had a shortage of gorilla brawls. Speaking of brawls, solovar vs grodd... felt too fake. The CGI on CGI all out brawl on a CGI background... yeah, too much CGI. It felt fake. It was nice to callback to Barry's sparing of Solovar, maybe using this as a building brick for estabilishing Solovar as a future ally of the team, in any future gorilla city forays.