#i keep changing the way i draw barry accidentally

[steakout-05]

i present to you: little idiot man (affectionate) doing big sad teary puppy eyes, and the jetpack horse :)

[saiilorstars]

It Had To Be You

Ch.15: The Choice’s Aftermath // Story Masterlist

Fandom: The Flash

Pairings: Barry Allen x Original Female Character

Pronunciation of OC’s name: Bell-en. The last syllable has an emphasis so it’s not pronounced like ��Helen’ would be.

~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~

Chapter Summary: The weight of Belén's choice between her brother and Barry (and, thus, their friends) has truly fell on Belén and now she has no idea what to do with herself.

Belén stepped into her home - rather lonely home - expecting a peaceful afternoon of rest. CC Picture News was having rough days full of news considering the exposure of the Flash had happened, and, apparently, a couple sightings of the Azalea. There were news about them nearly every day. It looked like the article they had once ran against the Flash had disappeared because now everyone loved him apparently. It was fine, it just meant killer days even after a shift was over.

So, it was an understatement to say Belén was surprised to find her older sister, Maritza, placing a plate on the dinner table. Axel was already digging into his plate

"Mar...itza?" Belén arched an eyebrow, slowly coming in and shutting the door.

Maritza smiled upon seeing her younger sister, like nothing had happened only a few days ago. "Belén, good your back. I made your favorite: lasagna."

"Uh...thanks?" Belén dropped her things on the couch as she walked by, coming into the dining room. "What are you...doing here?"

"I've been thinking, a lot, and I decided that maybe it's good if we live together…"

Belén's eyes popped wide.

"You know, it's getting difficult for me at my own place, and I thought...considering what happened to you last week, and then with Dad...I don't want to be so far away anymore. If you're okay with it - considering this is technically your home now - can Axel and I move in?" It was quiet for a full minute, and Maritza wondered if she too were going to be rejected like Rayan.

But then, Belén laughed and threw her arms around Maritza. "I think that is really what we need right now!"

Slowly, Maritza smiled back and hugged get sister tighter. From his chair, Axel cheered, though he didn't quite understand why.

~ 0 ~

That night, S.T.A.R. LABS became just as busy fighting crime building as any other night. Three gang robbers had struck at some jewelry store and while the policemen were actively trying to capture them in a car street chase, the Flash was making a slightly bigger effort to run them down.

Caitlin was monitoring from the computers, along with Cisco. "Oh, Barry, there's an intersection coming up. Hurry!"

Barry sped up ahead of the thieves and disoriented them a bit. "This should slow 'em down!" However, the intersection came up and the three bandits split up easily. Barry came to a skidded halt as he stared in each taken direction. "Guys, which way?"

"Left," went Caitlin at the same time Cisco went, "Right."

"Right!"

"Left!"

"Stop!" Barry cut in before they went further. "You both hear you're telling me two different things, right?"

"Barry, listen up. Listen carefully," Dr. Wells took over the comm. "Belén is making her way there - I'm sending her after the Queen. You, on the other hand, have to handle the other two."

"She's not gonna be able to keep up," Barry said frantically. She was already up far ahead, and Belén was coming in from her own house. How was she gonna do it?

"Excuse you, I'd hit you if I was there," came the cool and collected voice of the woman in question.

"Barry, take a right," instructed Wells, making him immediately zip in the opposite direction.

"Belén, the Queen is trying to make it to the bridge…"

"Got it!" Belén, in her dozen of vines, ripped through the streets, not as fast as Barry, but enough to get to where she needed to be on time.

"Make her go west before Fremont!"

"Ooh, like a detour, yeah?"

"Precisely!"

Belén grabbed several construction blockers and organized them along the street with her vines. She could hear the motorcycle nearing but by the time 'the Queen' reached the site she was forced into a quick delve into the next street.

"All clear!" Belén exclaimed, disbanding into vines soon after.

"Excellent, now Barry, the King is headed for the entrance to the interstate."

Barry was one step ahead, his mind now cleared of some stress. He went on ahead and blocked the entrance with more construction blocking tools. "What entrance?" he said smugly afterwards.

"Atta boy. Check…"

With the construction blocking their way, the three bandits were forced into a second intersection. Only this time the police officers in their own cars had managed to surround them.

Barry went by each in speed from, yelling to them. "Got the keys!" And he left them to deal with their new situation.

~ 0 ~

Coming back to S.T.A.R. Labs, both Barry and Belén were welcomed warmly by their friends. Belén went straight to Caitlin while Barry went to Cisco, and 'high-fived' for triumph.

"Efficiently done, Mr. Allen," Dr. Wells congratulated and glanced at Belén who was in the middle of finding her clothes with Caitlin. "As did you, Belén."

"Thank you," Belén mumbled, more focused on finding her clothes.

"We need a picture," Cisco announced, and didn't even wait for answer before he hurried to find his phone.

Barry looked after him. "Pretty sure rule number one of having a secret identity is not taking pictures of yourself in your super suit without a mask on."

Cisco, turned back with phone. "Oh, come on, please! This is just for us. This is to document all this."

Wells swayed his head as he came to with the idea. "Who knows? Maybe people in the future will want to know how all this happened."

Barry nodded, resigned to. "All right, well, if you want the future to have the whole story, then, we all need to be in it."

Caitlin put hands to her face. "First, let me put on some makeup?"

"The future does not care about your makeup, Caitlin," Cisco tossed his phone over tossed Barry.

"Don't be so rude, Cisco," Belén scolded and gently brought Caitlin to where Dr. Wells was, ready for the pictures.

Barry prepared to take the photo. "Okay. Big smiles. Three... two... one-" he left the phone to go be in the photograph then returned a second later and caught the phone before it even had the chance to fall. "Ha!"

Caitlin tilted her head, wondering. "Does that count as a selfie?"

"Absolutely," Barry pointed at her while giving Cisco back the phone.

"Sick," Cisco laughed at the resulted photograph. "Came out good."

"I really have to get home," Belén set loose her hair from the root invasion she usually pinned it up with when she went Azalea. "Maritza's probably waiting for me…"

"Your sister is at your place?" Cisco glanced over, apparently surprised.

Belén nodded. "Actually, she moved in."

"When?" went everyone except Wells, much to her amusement.

"This afternoon," she laughed at their reactions. "Yeah, she surprised me too."

"I suppose after what you went through last week, she just wants to be close with her sister," Caitlin reasoned logically and gained agreement from everyone else.

"Yeah, well, I love it, but it does make things trickier with this whole secret fighting thing. Now, for example, I gotta go home - she's making it movie night."

"If you'd like, I can speed you there," Barry offered kindly.

But Belén instantly shook her head. "No! I...I can get there on my own, thank you." There was an awkward silence between them soon after, and Belén wanted not to be further questioned. "I have to go. Goodnight," she hurried off without looking at anyone in the room.

Caitlin rose from her chair and tapped her fingers along the desk, looking after their friend. "She left without changing."

"What's going on with her?" Cisco asked, confused. "I thought we were...you know, cool again?"

"I keep telling you, it has something to do with how she escaped from Snart's warehouse," Barry was tired of telling them.

It had been nearly a week since the defeat of the Rogues but Belén refused to talk about the incident. They don't know how she escaped considering there was a bomb strapped to her chair. But, Belén just wouldn't talk.

"Belén is just disoriented from all that's happened lately," Dr. Wells said matter-of-factly. "We just have to give her time to...fall back into the normal routine."

Barry couldn't help the sourness in his words as he said, "Well I just don't understand why she's taking it out on me."

For that, neither Wells nor Caitlin or Cisco had a response. They were well aware on the distinct distancing Belén had taken against Barry, and none of them could figure out why - not even the man from the future posing as a paraplegic.

It was all just a mystery.

~ 0 ~

That same night, Iris made a stop by Belén's home and was surprised to find Maritza and Axel there as well. Axel, upon seeing her, hopped off the couch and ran up to greet her.

"Iris! Hi! Hi!" he hopped excitedly at her side. "Do you want to see the drawings I did today!? My Mommy says I'm really good at them!"

Iris, who was holding a box in her arms, could only chuckle in response. "Hi, Axel. What are you doing here?" discreetly she looked up to Belén asking her the same thing.

"We're living here now!"

Iris' eyes widened, but made sure to hide her very shocked face from Maritza who was coming in from the kitchen. "Hello Iris," Maritza greeted and took her son away from the woman. "We're moving in back home as Axel said. And, speaking of Axel, it's your bedtime."

"But I wanted to show Iris my drawings!" the boy stomped his foot.

"Maybe you can show them to me tomorrow, yeah?" Iris tried helping out Maritza. "We can even put them an album for you to look over whenever you want."

Axel's face lit up with excitement. "Okay! Goodnight, Iris! Goodnight, auntie Belén."

Belén smiled. "Goodnight Axel." She waited until her sister and nephew were gone before speaking again. "What are you doing here, Iris?" she eyed the box in her friend's arms. "Did you and Eddie already have a lovers' spat?"

Iris playfully rolled her eyes. "Oh, ha-ha. No. I realized I accidentally, for some reason, packed in a couple of your things with mine." She walked into the living room and put down the box on the couch.

"Oh, well thanks," Belén followed and leaned over the couch from behind. "I did wonder where some of my things went, but I just thought I left them in Barry's room."

Iris opened the box and pulled out several items that Belén did realize she'd been looking for. "I really hope this wasn't a diary," Iris laughed as she passed a purple journal to Belén.

"No, it was work notes," Belén smiled to herself, eyeing several other clothes that went into the box by accident.

"Uh oh," Iris stopped at a gray shirt in her hands. "Man, I suck at packing."

"Why? That's-" Belén was halfway pointing when Iris cut her off.

"I put in one of Barry's old shirts by mistake." Iris exhaled and shook her head, re-folding the gray shirt to put back into the box.

"...I thought that was yours," Belén meekly said a couple seconds later. Iris looked at her friend with a teasing smile. Belén rolled her eyes, half-expecting some of the words that would be coming out as a response. "It was lying around, and considering you are not a neat woman...I thought it was yours," she turned her head to the side in thought. "Although that does explain why it was a bit too big…"

Iris busted out laughing, much to Belén's irritation. Iris put away the now-folded shirt into the box and pushed back her hair as she took a deep breath in. "You gotta admit that was funny."

"Whatever," Belén muttered and went back to reading the notebook in her hands. "You're just lucky that I love you because if it were any other person now they would not tell you what I am about to tell you."

"Yeah, like what?" Iris crossed her arms and waited.

Belén's eyes looked up, and completely seriously, announced, "They've asked me at CC Picture News to extend a job offer to Iris West but...I may just change my mind."

Iris' eyes had never looked so big at that moment. "Oh. My. God! Are you...are you kidding me?"

"No, I'm no-"

In her excitement, Iris hopped onto the couch and went to be face to face with Belén. "Annah-Belén Palayta, please tell me that's not a joke, please?"

"No, it is not a joke," Belén said with a crooked smile. "One of our co-workers quit a couple days ago and they've been looking for someone. I reccomended my good ole friend who also wrote a famous blog-"

"It wasn't that famous," Iris waved with a hand.

"Do you want the job or not?"

"Oh yes, please!"

"Then your blog is famous, period. So, what do you want me to tell them?"

"That I will be there first thing tomorrow morning of course!" Iris squealed and threw her arms around Belén's shoulders. "Oh, you are such a good friend to me! I owe you big time!"

Belén smiled and pulled away. "It's nothing, Iris. I'm gonna like working with you. Although, considering Noah and I have Linda as our mentor, you'll probably be paired with someone else."

"Doesn't matter, we're gonna be co-workers," Iris smiled the widest possible. She got off the couch and continued taking out what was left in the box. "I have to get back to Eddie's and tell him about this."

In her excitement again, she pulled out Barry's shirt and placed it onto the couch. "Iris, that's not mine!" Belén exclaimed but Iris ignored her as she babbled on.

"Nine a.m. right!?" Iris called from the door.

"Yeah, but-"

"I will see you outside so you can give me like a little tour or something cos I definitely don't wanna be that dork on her first day-"

"Okay, but Iris, this isn't mi-"

"Oh this is gonna be so much fun!" Iris laughed to herself and hurried out.

Belén raised her hands in resignation and went around to gather what Iris had brought in. Maritza came back down the stairs and mused. "What was that all about? I could hear Iris from upstairs."

"Oh, I told her about CC Pictures giving her a job offer and she went...all excited," Belén smiled in the end. She was happy Iris was finally going to be recognized by an official company for her talent.

"So you're gonna be working together, then?"

"Yeah, that's the plan."

"That's good," Maritza came up behind the couch and looked down at the various things left across. "What's all this?"

"Just some of my things Iris accidentally packed while I was staying with her and Joe. I'm gonna take it upstairs right now."

"This isn't yours," Maritza chuckled as she pulled up a bright neon pink blouse.

"What - oh for God's sake!" Belén took the blouse from Maritza with a loud sigh. "That woman really does suck at packing."

"And neither is this," Maritza then pointed at the gray shirt.

"Yeah, that's Barry's. I'll be bringing these by tomorrow for Iris to take," Belén took the gray shirt and stuffed it back into the box along with the pink blouse. "I'm gonna go get some sleep too."

"Mhm, you do that," Maritza smiled and watched her sister go upstairs with the things that actually belonged to her in her arms. Once gone, Maritza's smile vanished and she turned around.

Well, if Iris was going to be working at CC Picture News, then it would make it a lot more difficult for Belén to slip away and see that Flash. Noah and Iris were going to take the shift there - unknowingly to Iris - and Maritza herself planned on taking the shift at home. She promised Rayan that by moving in with Belén it would become more difficult for Belén to continuously see that Flash. Plus, living together, she could hopefully push Belén in the right direction towards her family.

~ 0 ~

As promised, the next morning, Belén arrived to work and saw Iris anxiously waiting right outside the doors. Belén couldn't help laugh a little as she saw the practically bouncing woman. "Did you seriously not go inside yet? Iris, you've been in there like a million times already."

"Yeah, but as your friend!" Iris pointed at her. "Not as myself, the new cub reporter."

"I'm one too," Belén shrugged casually and reached for the doors. "It's fine, just be...casual."

Iris took a deep breath and followed her in. Belén led her up to her desk, and Noah appeared a couple seconds later from his own desk.

"Iris, hi," Noah greeted her with a shake of hands. "Belén told us she was gonna be asking you about the offer. Glad to see you took it."

"Yeah…" Iris could think of only that word at the moment.

"Don't worry, you'll be fine here! You've got awesome bosses around here," he said purposely loud as Linda walked by.

"Being a kiss-ass will get you nowhere, Iris," Linda turned around, mockingly scolding Noah. "So don't even listen to whatever this guy has for advice."

Iris chuckled and nodded her head. "I think I'll go with Bells."

"You guys are wanted for the meeting," Linda pointed at the three. "Hurry up, Larkin's here today."

"Yikes," Belén dropped off her bag and left Iris' there as well. "C'mon Iris, time for you to meet the big boss."

"Good luck," Linda told the newest worker before leaving.

The meeting was held across the room, on an elevated platform. There were already several other workers waiting in their chairs.

"Look who showed up," Noah whispered to Belén, but Iris was able to hear perfectly from her spot. He had nodded over to an older, brunette man reaching for some of the hand sandwiches on the table.

"Who's that?" Iris asked them both.

"The snobbiest man ever," Belén spat as they came to take their seats.

Iris took a seat beside Belén, and Noah took the other. A couple minutes later, Larkin showed up. He was an elder man, a small one too.

"Mr. Bridge! Nice of you to make an appearance at a staff meeting," he addressed the man identified as Mason.

"I do love a good shmear."

"Ah, Miss Palayta, I see you have persuaded your friend to take the offer," Larkin had laid eyes on Iris who sheepishly smiled in response.

"I told you she would, sir," Belén said politely. Iris noticed a sort of...dreadful expression take over her face a second later, like she was just waiting for something.

"Well," Larkin placed a hand on the table, "how's about next you give one of our reporters a little something about the Flash for the next round of articles?"

Belén looked anywhere that wasn't Larkin. She pushed back some of her hair and, quite breathlessly, said back, "I would...if I knew anything."

Larkin raised his eyebrows, for a second looking crossed (as Iris noticed) then addressed the entire group. "Everyone, welcome Iris West, our new cub. Anyone want to volunteer to be her mama bear?" Iris expected something like this to happen, but she felt even worse when Larkin gave another word. "Mason, you picked a bad day to actually show up."

"I don't nanny," Mason shook his head.

"I lost the ability to make a joke back in '05. Today, you do," Larkin finalized then, onc eagain spoke to the entire table. "Deadlines. All new stories are due on my desk at the end of the day."

Everyone began to get up and disperse to their tasks. Belén got up quietly and turned to leave as well.

"What was that about?" Iris asked her before she left, eyeing a glum Mason depart at the same time. That would be fun, she noted. "Larkin...asking you about...you know…"

Belén deeply sighed, shaking her head. "Ever since I was...kidnapped last week, everybody won't stop pinning me to the Flash. All the time it's 'Flash this' or 'Flash that' - they don't get that I don't want to talk about it." She almost blurted about the article they'd run about her as the Azalea...thank God she kept her mouth shut.

Iris blinked rapidly as the last words of Belén became louder and more aggressive. She had never quite heard her like this. Without another word, Belén walked away, still pretty upset.

"What...just happened?" Iris asked Noah, the only other possible man to answer her question.

"I just think it was pretty traumatizing, you know," Noah shrugged, the two beginning to walk as well. "And I don't think it helps when all anyone around here cares is whether or not she saw the Flash or knows him. Only Linda and I don't join in on that.

"Yeah," Iris said. "But, I mean, if she did know him, she would have told us right?"

Noah felt so sorry for that woman then. If only Iris knew what her good friend was up to nowadays.

~ 0 ~

In S.T.A.R Labs, everyone save Belén was gathered in the cortex awaiting for an explanation of their newest enemy. Only a couple seconds in, Belén came in looking slightly out of breath.

"Dr. Wells, I am so sorry for not being able to come in earlier to see you," she went straight up to the man, more than concerned over the 'prank' played on him the previous night. She'd gotten the text from Caitlin she and Cisco were going to Wells' home to see him directly, but having to go into work to show Iris around prevented Belén from joining.

"I'm fine, thank you," Dr. Wells showed with open arms how perfect he was for condition.

Belén was relieved to see this was true. She looked around and noticed the profile of a young man in glasses plastered on a computer. "What's going on?"

"I was just about to explain who was behind the attack last night - you just made it," Wells explained.

"The metahuman?"

"He's not a metahuman," Cisco declared in the utmost crossed tone. 'He's worse."

Belén looked at the group, and noticed that Caitlin and Dr. Wells seemed to be in the know of something she, Barry and Joe didn't. "I'm confused, do you guys know him?"

"Hartley Rathaway possesses one of the finest scientific minds I've ever encountered," Dr. Wells said, basically giving the 'yes' for her question.

"Any ties to Rathaway Industries?" Joe wondered.

"His grandfather founded the company, his father expanded it, and Hartley here was set to inherit the throne."

"What happened?" Barry asked.

"He came out to his parents. Old money, old values," Caitlin said sadly.

"They were estranged when we met, but, brilliant. I couldn't have built the particle accelerator without him." Wells mused.

"But I don't think I've ever heard a mention of him from any one of you," Belén remarked, giving them all looks for that.

Caitlin cleared her throat. "That's because Hartley had a...challenging personality."

Cisco rolled his eyes. "What she means is he was mostly a jerk. But, every once in awhile... he could be a dick."

Joe busted out laughing. Barry too smiled, and Belén tried not to laugh as Joe had.

"Let's just say that Hartley, like many outliers, had trouble relating to his peers," Wells tried to downplay that bad behavior of Hartley.

"So if you two were so close, why would he target you?" Joe asked.

"Hartley left S.T.A.R. Labs about a year ago after we had a... a disagreement."

"About what?"

Barry saw that Wells was not feeling like sharing, and so he stepped in. "Look, don't worry. We'll stop him. I won't let him hurt you, any of you," he said to the rest. "Let's get back to my lab, all right?" he said to Joe.

Joe nodded and headed for the doors. Before doing the same, Barry glanced over to Belén, seeing her rummaging through her bag.

"Bells, you want a lift?"

She seemed startled by the way she nearly dropped her phone. "No, I'm good. I don't intend on going back to work yet."

Although knowing his chances were very slim, he insisted again. "Are you sure? It's-"

"I'm fine-"

"-not that difficult to-"

"-I don't want to-"

"-or did you come-"

"I said I'm fine!" Belén exclaimed loud enough to finally cut Barry off. There was a visible urgency, and annoyance in her face that made Barry back off. A little embarrassed, Belén hurried out of the room.

Barry then made a gesture after her for the rest to understand that this was what he meant about her taking something out on him. She was distant with everyone, yes, but he didn't recall her flat-out rejecting and nearly shouting at anyone else but him. It was frustrating, to be honest, and a little hurtful. What had he done to be on her bad list?

~ 0 ~

"Hey," Caitlin's voice startled Belén in Cisco's workroom. After everyone had gone to their separate tasks, Belén retreated into the only room where she could possibly take a break.

"Did you guys find anything about that Hartley guy?" Belén leaned back against a table. It was then that she spotted the newspaper Caitlin was holding in her hands. "You read the newspaper now?"

"Um...sometimes I do," Caitlin cleared her throat. She wasn't sure how to bring it up without further upsetting Belén, because Caitlin was sure she'd found the reason why Belén was acting differently. "I was reading something from a couple days ago, actually. It was the late edition, I think...?"

Belén crossed her arms and shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. I wasn't in those days since, uh...you know...I was kidnapped. Again."

Caitlin's lips stretched into an apologetic smile like it was her fault. "Well, it ran but I guess we all missed it since we were looking after you. But my neighbors, yeah, they don't miss anything. I found this one-" she motioned to the newspaper, "- in the trash and I...I got curious when I saw your name on it. The Azalea?" she unrolled the newspaper and showcased the headline to Belén. "'The Flash and the Azalea Might be the Couple the City Needs?'" Caitlin saw Belén's mortified face only get worse after reading the title out loud. The picture of the Azalea hugging the Flash was certainly not helping the case.

"Oh God I really wish you hadn't seen that," Belén covered her face just as she felt herself get all red and warm.

"And I suspect Barry as well?" Caitlin rolled the newspaper back.

"Well of course!" came Belén's muffled response behind her hands.

"You don't need to be embarrassed by this sort of thing. And you definitely don't need to avoid Barry either."

"But I feel so awkward around him!"

Caitlin gave a tiny smile, one similar to the teasing ones Iris usually gave. "Belén, do you think that maybe the reason you feel a little awkward-"

"Not 'little'. Big. It's monumental awkwardness, actually."

"Okay, do you think that the reason you feel this way is because...you might actually...like Barry?"

Belén dropped her hands from her face to reveal a stunned, wide-eyed expression. "What?"

Caitlin knew she was treading on a delicate pathway, but she suspected Belén didn't have the courage to talk about this with anyone. She wanted to give Belén the chance at a clean, secret talk where Belén could vent whatever she needed without worrying if it would ever make it out. "It's okay, Belén. I would never say anything."

"Caitlin Snow I do not..." Belén had began with determination but just like that it vanished. The air seemed to leave her lungs like she'd been running a marathon. "I don't...no! I could never! And not like in the condescending 'I would never date Barry' but just...I can't."

"Why not?" Caitlin tilted her head curiously.

"Because...it scares me," Belén admitted with a quiet sigh. "Just...just the idea of dating altogether. After Carlton - after he kidnapped me, I just...it scares me."

"You're traumatized," Caitlin realized and walked over to hug her friend.

"I don't know what it is but it just doesn't feel good. I don't know what I feel, but...it scares me."

Caitlin pulled away and smiled. "Well, whatever it is you feel you shouldn't be afraid because - if you happened to like Barry-"

"I don't," Belén said all too quick, making Caitlin chuckle.

"Well, just in case you did...he would never be like Carlton. But right now, I think he's hurt by your distance."

Belén felt guilty for not telling Caitlin the entire reason why she was avoiding Barry, but for right now...she couldn't speak. "Thank you Caitlin," she hugged the brunette again and really thanked her luck for having such good friends.

~ 0 ~

It wasn't long before Hartley Rathaway made an appearance in broad daylight. In a black hooded cloak, he marched up to Rathaway Industries. Matching black hand gloves were extended towards the company building, and sonic waves emerging from it that shattered the glass walls. It took down signs, parked cars and even one nearing police car.

"Peek-a-boo!" someone tapped on his shoulder.

The moment he turned around to 'sonic wave' them as well, something hit him hard against the chest and threw him to the ground.

Belén hovered inches from the ground via vines, and lowered herself to a graceful landing. "Ever watch Doctor Who, Hartley? Because you are so Doctor Who-ing - is that a real word? 'Who-ing?'"

"I've seen you," mused Hartley as he studied the woman in green. "But you're not as well known, huh? What's your name again?"

Belén rolled her eyes at the attempt to make her falter. "I don't care how well known I am. Nice try. Moving on now."

Wind picked up as Barry joined in, now standing on beside Belén. "It's over, Rathaway."

Hartley laughed, apparently amused."Oh, you both know my name. Well I know some names too." He started picking himself again. "Caitlin Snow. Cisco Ramon. Harrison Wells. I can hear the radio waves emanating from your suits. About 1900 megahertz. Is that them on the other end, listening? Are they gonna hear you die?"

"Someone is so full of himself," Belén remarked, rolling her eyes. "Is that a guy thing?"

Barry reacted fast to that accusation. "Hey!"

Hartley took his opportunity and blasted the two metahumans backwards. Barry got right back up and looked over to Belén to see her condition. Her healing was, in comparison to him, much slower, but she seemed only to be groggy from the hit. He went after Hartley instead, preferring to make himself the target in order to give Belén a chance to get back on her feet. Hartley followed Barry's quick movements around the police car, attempting to knock Barry out again. His attempts were futile as Barry easily zipped right back, and past Hartley, while swinging a very hard punch that sent Hartley to the ground. Barry stopped and grabbed him by the cloak.

"Looks like you're not as smart as everyone says," Barry couldn't help feel smug about the easy win.

Hartley, while being captured, didn't look too disappointed with his loss. If Barry had been paying more attention, he probably would have noticed. "Smart enough to have figured out who Harrison Wells really is. You see, I know his secret."

Barry didn't listen to his irrelevant words.

~ 0 ~

Caitlin and Cisco stood across the entrance elevator and waited for Hartley to be brought back to S.T.A.R. Labs. The elevator doors slid open and out came the two metahumans and one handcuffed culprit.

"Being scooped up by a guy clad in head-to-toe leather is a long-time fantasy of mine, so thanks," Hartley shot Barry sly smile as they walked in.

Belén, rubbing the side of her head on which she had hit herself thanks to Hartley's first attack, purposely groaned loudly. "If there is something you can put around his mouth that would be great."

"Let me help you," Caitlin told her, gesturing for them to leave. She wanted nothing to do with Hartley, just like Cisco.

"Not a very good fighter are you," Hartley eyed the already annoyed Belén. "Didn't last very long…"

"Yeah well you didn't last very long either so shut up," she snapped.

Hartley rolled his eyes, sighing so casually it might have been his home he was in instead. "I was thinking of calling myself Pied Piper."

There, Cisco had to cut in. "Hey! I assign the nicknames around here. Although...that one's not bad."

A crooked smile spread across Hartley as he looked to Caitlin - apparently he had some for everyone. "Caitlin...never did get that wedding invite." Belén stormed towards him but Barry gave him a hard shove.

"Shut the hell up!"

Caitlin persuaded Belén to come back with her into the cortex, thanking Belén anyways for the attempted defense.

~ 0 ~

"You should be fine, really," Caitlin concluded as she stepped away from the bed Belén was sitting on. Her head injury, while a bit painful, was nothing more than a light injury at that, needing no stitches or further examination.

"Thanks, Cait," Bells sighed and got up slowly. The pain in her head was subsiding with the pills given to her and she did feel actually a lot better than before. "What time is it? I'm probably dead late for work."

"Iris called…" Caitlin began, making a face.

Barry then came in, expecting to be thrown right back out. "Don't worry, I made up an excuse for you."

"Oh...thanks," Belén's eyes averted him as she walked by him.

Barry turned around and decided to follow, making another response, one more sassy. "Unless maybe you want to go back, you know, away from certain people?"

Belén stopped and glanced over her shoulder. "I think...I think I'll just stay here for a while...if that's okay."

"Why should I care, hm? Not exactly been in your consideration lately…"

Belén made a light noise of surprise as she fully turned around, visibly shocked of the comment. Caitlin, hoping to drive away a looming argument, stepped in between them. "I think we should focus on Hartley."

"There's nothing to focus on, he's been caught," Barry pointed out, eyes, slightly narrowed, still on Belén.

The ombre-blonde in turn remained with a guilty look. She knew deserved the jabs and she wasn't gonna argue a defence for her. "Where's Cisco?" she asked quietly.

"He's in the pipeline," Caitlin said, moving for the desk and hoping to dear God they would follow her. "And, to be quite honest, I don't like that idea of him being alone with Hartley."

"They really despised each other?" Belén was the first to move towards the desk.

"Like you wouldn't believe it," Caitlin turned on the speakers on the desk that would allow them to hear what was being talked about in the pipeline. "That's funny…" she leaned forwards, only able to see Hartley in his cell, speaking with someone alright but not Cisco.

Dr. Wells was in the pipeline instead, and apparently something he had said had made Hartley scoff and loudly.

"Not bad... as far as heartfelt apologies go," Hartley said. "Except that wasn't for my benefit. That was for you, Flash." In his cell, he looked up to the camera, and in the cortex both Caitlin and Belén glanced over to Barry. The metahuman in question was not happy in being brought up, especially when Hartley began directing words to him instead. "Feels good to have the great Harrison Wells behind you, doesn't it? But one day, this man will turn on you...in a flash... And even you won't see it coming. I only hope that he leaves you in better shape than he left me. If you're lucky, you'll only be dead. Because every day I have to live with the agonizing, piercing screaming in my ears." He then turned to face in the general direction of where Wells was on the other side of the cell. "I almost forgot... I told your pet I know your deep, dark secret, Harrison. Have fun letting him in on that one."

The word 'secret' put the three in the cortex on edge, and when Cisco came in and learned of it, he too was put in the same state. Dr. Wells came in a couple minutes later expecting the silent, questioning looks from the group.

"I assume you were all listening. Well, Hartley was telling the truth. I have not been honest with you. With any of you." He took in a breath before he continued. "The accelerator...Hartley warned me that there was indeed a chance that the accelerator could explode. His data did not show 100% certainty, just that there was a risk, but it was a real risk. And yet I made the decision that the reward... that... everything we could learn and everything we could achieve, that all of that... simply outweighed that risk. I'm sorry."

An unsettling emotion took over everyone's faces. Caitlin was the first to stand and speak, and her voice shook as she did. "Then the next time you choose to put our lives, and the lives of the people that we love, at risk, I'll expect a heads up," she looked away and walked out of the room.

Cisco, having no words, but his face practically saying them, decided to make an exit as well. Belén bit her lip, crossed her arms, and stayed put.

"After the explosion, when everyone else left you…" Barry felt extremely uncomfortable, and partially pained from the revelation, "Caitlin and Cisco stood by you. You owe them more than an apology."

"They might soon get more than that what with Hartley so intent on sending me to the next world…"

"I don't think that is precisely what they would want," Belén said quietly. "It's more about trust, Dr. Wells-" she flinched at the quiet scoff Barry gave in return, assuming for her comment.

Having nothing to say then, Barry grabbed his jacket and left the room next.

With a deep sigh, Belén let her arms loose on her sides. "I can't fault you for the decision you made," she continued with Wells, attempting to make it seem like nothing happened. "Though I am very upset, because that decision is what led to my own brother being out there - a metahuman estranged from his family - I can't judge you. We all make decisions...whose consequences we don't quite foresee at the moment."

Wells tilted his head, inquisitive at the response. "You sound like you're speaking from experience."

"Haven't we all had that?" Belén gave a crooked smile.

"I would suppose, yes," Wells nodded. "But, if I may say, despite what you have heard from me, I do care for everyone's safety here, and you are letting those decisions cloud your mind and they are putting you at risk out there."

Belén stiffened, for a minute fearing he knew what exactly those 'decisions' were. "Dr. Wells, I-"

"The reason we have not let your friend, Ms. Clarke, help you or Barry out in the field is because she is not capable yet. Now, if you fail to focus outside, you may become incapable as well and I will have to ask that you not accompany Barry out as well."

As much as it pained her, she knew he was justified. "I...know…"

"I may not be the indicated person for you to speak with, but I suggest you find someone, and fast."

"I know," Belén responded, rather breathlessly. "But...can I say something as well?"

"Sure."

"The trust, while broken, it can be earned back," Belén gave a final smile before walking out of the room.

~ 0 ~

"Feeling better, Bells?" Cisco asked, in the middle of examining Hartley's confiscated gloves. Belén had come to stand by the threshold of the side room, clutching a cup of coffee in her hands. With a weak smile, she gave a nod. "I thought you may have gone back to work…"

Belén scoffed, saying quietly, "Not the place I want to be at."

Cisco stopped working to look at his friend, noticing how troubled - at least more than she had been recently. "Bells, you know...you know you can always talk to me right?" Belén smiled warmly and nodded her head. "You know, I don't know what's going on in your mind but whatever it is...it's kind of uncool for you to take it out on Barry."

"I'm very sorry about that, honest…"

"I'm not the one you need to apologize to," Cisco gave her a light shrug, returning to his work.

Belén sighed and came further inside the room. "I do intend on doing that, trust me, I just...it's very hard...what I'm...processing…"

"Processing?" Cisco looked up from the gloves, though saw nothing as Belén had her back to him.

Belén tapped her fingers along her mug as she debated whether or not to finally confide in someone, and precisely Cisco. She didn't give Caitlin the opportunity but maybe it was better if one friend knew something and the other another thing. It made it easier on her at least.

"Belén, I'm here for you," Cisco said, as if seeing her internal debate.

Belén turned around, wearily coming up to the table. "Can you...for a minute," she tried again, "...can you just...be my friend, please?"

"Bells, I kinda am your friend," Cisco reminded with a cheeky smile.

"Yeah, but...your best friend is Barry and what I need to tell you has to do with Barry - do you see the dilemma?"

"Kind of…" Cisco lied. He saw none of it.

"Let's just, for five minutes, pretend like Barry hasn't woken up from his coma and that you and I are friends. Can you do that...please?"

For her sake, Cisco nodded his head. "Okay, shoot."

Gratefully, Belén smiled. She took in a breath and gently placed her mug on the table before beginning. "When I was kidnapped, I waited for someone to come in and help...get me out of the warehouse Snart and Mick had put me in…"

Cisco nodded, so far on board. "Yeah, Joe and I went out looking for you but when we got there...you weren't anywhere…"

"Right, because, well...someone else rescued me."

"We figured - we all figured. We just can't figure out who nor why you won't tell us anything about it."

Belén sighed and just said it all before she ran away. "My brother, Rayan, and Azul showed up and rescued me." Cisco's eyes widened. "Rayan's a metahuman. He has...I don't know, telekenetic powers, and he, quite literally, floated me out of harm's away."

"Cool," Cisco began to smile. "Ultimate powers."

Belén rolled her eyes. "Stay with me, please. Rayan knows that I've been looking for him, and when we were out of the warehouse, he asked me to come with him."

That got Cisco's attention.

"For so long, I had wanted nothing more than to find my brother," Belén's eyes began to glisten with looming tears. "He said that he would answer all my questions, and he would take me to where he'd been living all this time. We were supposed to reunite that night…"

"What happened?" Cisco asked quietly, assuming the worst. Belén looked down, her coffee becoming suddenly so interesting. "Bells, what happened?" Cisco repeated his question, trying not to sound so impatient. He could see this was in part what was troubling her as of late, but he could not understand what it had to do with Barry.

"I had to make a decision," Belén replied faintly.

"A...decision? What kind of decision?"

Belén looked up, her tears already beginning to loosen at the corner of her eyes. "I was so happy that he had finally come for me - come to see me - but then I saw the beams of the cold and heat guns in the city...and I realized Barry was probably out there fighting Snart and Mick. I told Rayan we had to go help, but he didn't want to," with a hand, she wiped a tear from her cheek. "He didn't care about the Flash, about the city. He wanted me to leave, and when I say 'leave'...I meant like he wanted me to forget about everything here. I kept insisting that...that we needed to go and help Barry, because...because that's what needed to be done."

"But he didn't want to," Cisco guessed sadly, beginning to realize what it all came down to.

Belén sniffed and began clearing up her tears on either side of her face. "I wanted to be with Rayan, but I kept thinking about Barry and how he needed my help. I had to make a decision...and I chose to go find him."

"Bells…" Cisco slowly rose from his chair.

"At first, it hadn't really hit me what I did, but then days passed...and I realized 'holy shit I just gave up my brother for...for…"

"Barry," Cisco finished, connecting all the puzzle pieces at that moment.

"I don't mean to be rude to Barry but it's hard facing my decision every day, everytime he's in the room I'm reminded of what I did. It's not his fault. I made the decision."

"Bells, this is something you should be telling him, not me," Cisco said as kindly as possible. "If Barry knew then he…"

"He would feel guilty even when he did nothing wrong," Belén finished for him. "I know him, and I know that's exactly what he would do. I can't do that to him, Cisco."

"I think you should go and talk to him," Cisco stayed firm on his opinion. "Because, first of all, he needs to know what you gave up for him because wow that was a lot-"

"It's not like that," Belén meekly said, though the tint of pink on her cheeks made it nearly impossible for Cisco not to smirk. It only got worse when Caitlin's words came back to mind.

"Second of all," Cisco forced himself to continue, "I think he deserves reasons for your behavior, don't you think?"

Belén lightly nodded. "Yeah…"

"Sooo…" Cisco plopped back down on his chair, slowly getting back to his work on Hartley's gloves, "...I'm gonna switch to being Barry's bro and say I can't believe you did that-"

"Cisco! It's not like that!" Belén stomped her foot, mortified of where this conversation was headed to.

Cisco smirked widely, picking at some parts of the gloves. "Hmmm…."

Belén shook her head and picked up her coffee mug. "It's not," she repeated quietly, sipping her coffee afterwards.

She repeatedly shot down Cisco's accusations, until Caitlin made (thankfully, Belén internally thought) an entrance into the room. "Anyone seen Dr. Wells?"

"No, he probably thinks we don't want to speak with him," Belén jumped on the subject change fast.

"Barry was right," Cisco announced, looking up at them both. "Hartley was using sonic resonance. The intensity regulator's measuring decibels."

"I'm gonna pretend like I understood all that for the sake of time," Belén sighed and took the last drink of her coffee.

"You know what's weird?" Cisco rubbed his temple. "He had it set to the lowest setting."

Caitlin tilted her head. "What do you mean?"

"Well... He could've completely destroyed his father's building if he wanted to in one blast."

"But...if he could do that...then…" Belén frowned. "Why didn't he just do it and leave?"

Cisco eyes widened as he realized what truly had happened. "Unless he wanted to be caught!" He jumped from his chair and ran to the cortex to the computers. Belén and Caitlin rushed in afterwards and, through the computer, saw Hartley's cell was empty. Cisco moved to the comm. and called for Dr. Wells. "Dr. Wells! There's been a pipeline breach!"

"You think he's gonna come for us?" Caitlin looked at the two beside her.

Cisco didn't stop to answer. He warned them both, "Stay here," and ran off.

"I don't think so, Cisco," Belén rushed after him, ignoring his refusing looks. "I'm a metahuman, and I promise to pay attention."

"Bells-"

"C'mon!" Belén yanked him after her as they made it into the corridors.

What they didn't know was that as they ran towards the pipeline, Hartley was in the middle of making his grand escape. He pulled out one of his earpieces, enduring a high pitch whine in his ear as he placed the piece on the pipeline door sealing him away from the rest of the building. Belén and Cisco made it halfway in before the door blasted them backwards. When Hartley emerged, slightly disoriented from the blast, he was very pleased with the results.

~ 0 ~

Caitlin had heard and felt the blast from the cortex and was trying to get ahold of her two friends whom she feared had been hurt. "Cisco, can you hear me? Bells?"

She felt a presence behind her, and knowing it probably wasn't neither Cisco or Belén, she slowly turned around. Hartley stood there, and promptly smacked her hard on the head. Caitlin turned and fell to the floor, knocked out. Hartley spotted his gloves and ran to retrieve them. As soon as he had them, he ran back to the computers and started typing for something specific through the pages. Something loaded and downloaded and once he had what he needed, Hartley left the cortex and went to find the last person remaining in the building. Before he found Wells, the older man had already called in Barry, and it was only a matter of minutes until he was in.

When Caitlin came to, she saw Barry coming in. "Hey!" he rushed to go help her. "Are you okay?"

Caitlin felt groggy but was conscious enough to remember what had happened. "Yeah, uh, Cisco...Bells...and Dr. Wells…"

Barry understood and left her to go find the others. He came across Wells in the entrance, the man in his wheelchair and pretty collected despite being nearly attacked.

"He's gone," Wells said.

Finding both Belén and Cisco unconscious in the pipeline, Barry brought back both to the cortex to be treated by Caitlin. They lasted a couple hours unconscious, but still enough for them having to make yet another excuse for Belén's absence, this time at home considering Maritza was now there waiting for her. Early dawn saw their awake.

"My head…" Belén kept her eyes shut longer than did Cisco.

"You both need to rest," Caitlin announced from Belén's bed side. "You have concussions. You're lucky."

Cisco leaned up as much as he could. "Please tell me you got him," he looked at Barry pleadingly.

Barry shook his head. "I guess the attack on his family's company was a fake out so we'd catch him."

"And give him direct access to S.T.A.R. Labs," Caitlin sighed.

"So we basically got played," Belén frowned, now trying to sit up.

"I should've known he was up to something," Cisco muttered. "This is my fault."

"Hey, man. This is on me, too," Barry cut in, glancing at Belén to see how she was doing. In his sourness, he had left the place when he shouldn't have. Belén hadn't been on her game lately when they eerie out catching metahumans and he had left her in care for the others. He should have been more conscious instead of focusing on his feelings. "I shouldn't have left before…"

Wells came into the room. "This is no one's fault but mine. I earned the blame... I'm not interested in sharing it. Hartley doesn't think I've paid for my crimes. And he's right. He won't stop until I do."

"Where are you going?" Barry called as Wells turned to leave.

"To earn back your trust."

With those words, he left the group.

"I think one of us should go see exactly what that meant," Caitlin said cautiously. She was still upset with Wells, as was everyone else, but at the moment they couldn't afford to be attacked on their own again.

"I will," Barry volunteered, figuring he had nothing left to do there at the moment. It was very unlikely Hartley would return.

As he walked by, Belén gathered courage from Cisco's urging look and called out to him. "Barry? Can we talk, please?"

"Not right now, Belén," was the very short, curt answer she received. It was enough to shut her down and let him leave.

"I...deserve that," she uttered after a long moment of silence.

"Don't worry about it," Cisco tried to lighten up the mood. "He's just upset by all this."

"No, Cisco," Belén shook her head, ignoring Caitlin's desperate gestures to sit back down. "He's upset with me - and I deserve it for being a jerk."

"Where are you going?" Caitlin sighed in frustration as she walked towards the doors. "You can't leave, it's not safe for you."

"My sister's probably going crazy that I didn't come home to sleep. I won't even go into the fact I haven't been back to work since yesterday afternoon."

"Don't worry about that, we called in and told them you had an accident and that we'd be keeping you in for some observation," Caitlin explained, making Belén turn back to them. "So you see? There's no need for you to put yourself at risk today - not more than we need to anyways. Come back."

"Well...how come Cisco gets to get up?"

"Hmm?" Caitlin glanced back and saw Cisco's empty bed, the man in question already in another side room doing what looked like research on a tablet. "What - Cisco! Come back!"

"No! I need to figure out why Hartley let himself be caught!"

"You're like children, the both of you!" Caitlin scolded them both and huffed as she walked towards the desk, where at least Belén had taken refuge in for 'rest'.

~ 0 ~

"I thought moving in would be a step towards the solution!" Maritza, dressed normally, stood in front of her younger brother who was raiding a medicine cabinet. "I don't need your shouting at me, Rayan."

"And I don't need you talking so loudly, Maritza," Rayan rubbed his temple while the other hand plucked out medicine bottles. "And, if you wouldn't mind, I don't want to speak about...Annah-Belén."

Maritza rolled her eyes. "Using her full name won't erase the fact you're hurt, moron. So she chose to go help, big deal. I already told you that's just her personality! She needs to help others, that's why she became a...a…"

"Partner to the Flash," Rayan turned around, sourly looking at the taller woman. "The person she chose over me, her brother...her twin."

"She's just disoriented. She's been so far from family lately that she...I don't know, she didn't know how to react. But that's why I moved in with her, to make her remember that family is all we've got in this world."

"Well, as you just told me, that idea isn't working so well," Rayan abandoned the medicine cabinet and walked past Maritza. The room was full of cabinets and while there were barely any bottles he decided to go look into another cabinet. The killer headache was on its way to become a migraine.

"Caitlin called me earlier telling me Belén had an accident at S.T.A.R. Labs and that she had a concussion, so she would be staying over there to be monitored." Maritza crossed her arms, muttering, "Though if you ask me it probably happened because of the attack yesterday."

This intrigued Rayan, making him stop and turn his head to the side facing his sister. "What attack?"

Maritza arched an eyebrow. "What? Where've you been? Sulking?"

Rayan rolled his eyes and returned to the cabinet. If she only knew he had been battling constant headaches all day.

"There was an attack on Rathaway Industries yesterday and the Flash and the Azalea made an appearance," Maritza explained. "They say the guy who did it blasted them with some sort...wave thingy? I don't know, point is, that thing hurt our sister. I'm 99.9% this 'concussion' thing had to do with that. How am I supposed to make her remember family when she's out there playing hero with some guy and team?"

"Hey," Noah hurried into the room. "You guys have gotta see what's on TV right now."

Rayan rolled his eyes. "Nobody cares."

"Oh, you'll want to," Noah came up to them holding a tablet in his hands. "It's broadcasting everywhere," he told them.

On the screen of the tablet was Dr. Wells making an exceptional speech towards the public.

"Did he just say he knew the Particle Accelerator could blow up?" Maritza scowled, images of her late husband popping up in her mind. Had he suffered what this man had thought could happen?

"It looks like he just went through with the plan despite the consequences that could happen," Noah looked at the two siblings, wearing pretty much the same outraged expressions as them.

Rayan flicked his hand to the side, causing the phone in Noah's hand to splatter against the wall. He ignored Noah's indignant look and turned away, pressing his hands on the counter. "Harrison Wells knew that he could cause chaos and yet he willingly went through with it."

"He's the reason Christopher's dead," Maritza whispered, although sad her fury masked it perfectly well.

"And the reason my mother's dead," Noah breathed in.

"He is the reason why there are so many unhelped metahumans out there," Rayan turned to face them both. "And what's he doing instead? Getting his Flash and my sister to lock them for good - or worse."

"Belén is not a killer," snapped Maritza.

"We have to get this guy," Noah cut in before they began to argue.

"So we say without an actual plan," Angie appeared behind them.

"That was where Belén was supposed to come into help," Rayan growled, balling up his fists. But, his sister had decided to help someone else instead of her own blood.

~ 0 ~

By the time Wells and Barry had returned to S.T.A.R. Labs, they discovered not much had happened in their absence. Hartley had not made an appearance at all throughout the afternoon, leaving the remaining Caitlin, Belén and Cisco to just...wait.

"I don't know why you think Hartley would try to make contact with us in the same day, Dr. Wells," Belén wearily looked up from the chair she had made comfortable. With the concussion, she felt a headache from the back of her head, and her entireself just felt tired in general. She had her legs pulled up to her chest, and her head resting on her knees.

"Because he's Hartley, and he'll want to have the last word," Wells assured them all.

Barry noticed Cisco fervently working on a tablet in his hands. "Cisco," he sighed, "you should be resting."

"Hmph," Caitlin mumbled underneath her breath, "Been telling him that all day."

Cisco heard her and shook his head. "The answer to why Hartley fooled us into catching him is in here-" he pointed to the tablet, "-and I'm gonna find it." He pointed at them warningly as he made his way to another room. A couple seconds later, Wells went after him.

"Cait, are you sure I can't just...close my eyes…" Belén fought the urge to shut her eyes by attempting to focus on Caitlin's black skirt beside her, "...for a minute?"

"Play solitaire!" Caitlin abruptly slammed a hand on the desk, jerking Belén upright.

"I don't…" Belén yawned, covering it up with a hand, "...want to anymore." She lowered her hand and forced her eyes attention somewhere else for her sake. "Oh, Barry! Can we talk now please?"

"What's brought on the sudden urge to speak with me?" Barry came up to the desk, looking down at her tired form, making it just a little more impossible to be mad with her. "Ever since last week you've done everything possible not to be in the same room with me."

"I know and I'm sorry," Belén said imploringly. "But...but I'm ready to talk, and - and I know I don't deserve it but...you have a right to an explanation."

Barry considered this silently, thinking she was absolutely right and that he most certainly had a right to know what was going on. He glanced at Caitlin, about to ask for a moment when sparks from the ceiling flew below, causing them all to crouch.

"What's that?" Caitlin exclaimed, slowly sitting upright again.

Hartley's voice emerged from the speakers that still surpriginsly worked. "Nice gambit, Harrison. But this isn't over."

Wells and Cisco came out of the side room at the chaos and Wells responded quite calmly. "Hartley, what do you want? What do you want, Hartley? I already gave my mea culpa today."

"The city already hated you. You don't think I noticed that press conference was a pathetic bishop sacrifice? No, no, no. I've played with you too many times to let you get away with that. This is between you, me, and The Flash."

Once again, Barry still wasn't pleased to be brought into this. However, once he thought of the damage that guy had done so far he wasn't so against fighting Hartley on Wells' behalf.

"You don't want to play for those kind of stakes with me, Hartley," Wells warned.

"Actually, I really do. What do you say? One last game of chess?"

"You and I both know that the winner of the game is the one who makes the next-to-last mistake, and you clearly have a move in mind."

~ 0 ~

From his spot at a roadside, Hartley had caused the pay machine across him to blast into pieces. Cars were barred from their journey.

"You're right," he smiled, continuing his 'conversation'. "And I'm already at the board. So why don't you move your precious scarlet knight while I take out a few pawns."

More sonic waves emerged from his gloves, pushing back several cars while blasting front view glass.

~ 0 ~

Barry wasted no time in switching into his suit. There was only the matter of finding Hartley. "Cisco, where do I go?"

Cisco tried to locate Hartley from the computers but seemed to be unsuccessful. "I can't trace the signal. He could be sending his messages from anywhere."

Wells came in closer and ordered, "Cisco, scan for seismic activity. If Hartley's using sonic blast, the vibrations could cause tremors."

"Barry," Belén made her way over to him, "maybe you should I come with you-"

"With a concussion?" Caitlin cut in, quite firm on her opposition. "I don't think so."

"But I-"

"It's fine," Barry told the ombre-blonde sternly. Though he was still upset with her, he didn't want her getting hurt yet again on his account.

With some help from Dr. Wells, they were able to locate Hartley in the Keystone Cleveland Dam, not that far from the city's outskirts. Hartley was in the middle of blasting cars over the edges when he found him.

"Barry, you need to disarm Hartley immediately," Wells warned as soon as possible. "Immediately! Do you hear me? He is a master of distraction. He is a master of hiding his true endgame."

Hartley stepped forwards and blasted several waves towards Barry. Seeing that was a fail, he changed targets and went for the cars on the road that still contained drivers. Barry went in and got everyone out in time, and this time he didn't wait for another proper confrontation and sped straight up to Hartley.

~ 0 ~

"Aha!" cheered Cisco who'd come running into the cortex with his tablet, having left Wells and Caitlin to take control of the computers. His smile vanished after a moment. "Uh oh…"

"Mm, no, let's go back to that 'aha' thing," Belén had taken her spot back on her chair again.

"I figured out what Hartley stole from S.T.A.R. Labs, why he let himself get caught!"

"And that brings us to the 'uh oh'," Caitlin said dreadfully.

"He has all the data on Barry's molecular scans."

Belén looked between the three scientists, hoping for an easy explanation. "And...what exactly can he do with that?"

Wells had the answer straight up. "He can get Barry's frequency." He moved over to the comm., intending on warning Barry. "Barry, you need to get out of there! You need to get out of there immediately!"

~ 0 ~

Barry had disarmed Hartley and thrown the gloves to the side. Hartley had been pushed to the ground but yet again he didn't look too disappointed.

"It's over! You lose!"

"Amazing," Hartley breathed in, truly looking awed for the moment. "He replaced me with you? Total moron. I got you with the same trick twice."

The gloves Barry had thrown to the side began to vibrate on the ground. As seconds ticked by, the vibrating grew louder and violent. Out of the nowhere, Barry felt a ripple of pain within him. He clutched his head and stumbled around, crying out in pain. "Ah! Uhh!"

Hartley smiled, satisfied with the results. "I got the idea watching you and Harrison chit-chat...to use your suit's own speakers to kill you." Barry fell to the ground, coughing up blood. Hartley neared him, lowering himself just slightly. "That feeling? That's your organs shearing apart. And you activated the frequency when you disarmed me. In chess, we call that a discovered attack. You don't see it until it's too late. Right, Harrison?"

~ 0 ~

"Barry's vitals are bottoming out," Caitlin looked up from the computer in front of her that was flashing red in warnings.

"I should have gone!" Belén had jumped from her chair to see for herself the mess they were now in. "We need to do something - I've got to go there!"

"You won't make it," Wells discarded that idea as he fiercely typed on another computer.

"What are you doing?" Cisco eyed him much like Caitlin did. Belén was looking at her own suit, as if wondering whether or not to listen to Wells' warning.

"Barry's on the travel road of the dam, at rush hour, surrounded by cars. Many of those cars are going to have satellite radio. Satellite sends a signal to the car, song comes out the speaker…"

"Yes! I know how satellite radio works!" Caitlin interrupted him. "How does that help?"

"Well, I'm gonna have the satellite send something other than a song. Hartley is about to hear something he was not expecting... a sound wave that will meet the frequency of and destroy his weapons."

~ 0 ~

Barry had turned flat on his back and was practically choking on his own blood. His hearing only contained a ringing that, for the love of God, would not go away. He see a blurry Hartley hovering on his side, still speaking but God knew what. And then, just like that, the ringing began to fade away.

Hartley heard a loud sizzling coming from his gloves and ran to see what was happening. "No! No! No!" he snatched them from the ground and tried to fix them again, but this time it was he that heard a loud ringing. He screamed as something warm dug into his palms - the gloves had began to hurt him instead. He let them roll off to reveal bloody palms and fell to his side, unconscious.

Slowly, Barry picked himself up and blinked rapidly as he recollected himself.

"Barry, can you hear me?" he heard Wells, partially, from the comm.

"Sort of!" Barry shook his head, hoping to finally get back to normal. "Okay…" While he wasn't quite there yet he was able to see perfectly again, and when he saw the unconscious Hartley across he felt more than at peace.

~ 0 ~

While Hartley was being placed away in the pipeline again, this time for good, Caitlin forced Barry to undergo a thorough exam to see if there had been any long-lasting effects from Hartley's attack. A few minutes after Caitlin asked Belén to help Barry get his face cleared of the blood leftover from his fight. She then walked out of the room to gather the results, which on a face to face basis already looked good, Belén gathered her little remaining courage to once again try and speak to Barry.

The metahuman was sitting at the edge of the bed, no longer in his suit but still with dried blood on the bottom of his face. Seeing her come in reminded him they did indeed have a pending conversation. Belén stayed near the threshold, in case she was sent back out - she honestly wouldn't argue if that was the decision Barry took. She deserved it.

"Can we...can I...talk?" she tried again, feebly. "Please?"

"Are you going to actually explain? Or leave midway?" Barry knew he was sounding rude, but at this point he was just tired of so much secrecy.

"If you're willing to listen...I'm willing to tell," Belén promised him. When Barry gave a nod, she took the moment before he changed his mind. "I guess you're smart enough to know this has something to do to when I was kidnapped last week?"

"Very," Barry nodded. Part of Belén was relieved to know he hadn't seen that stupid newspaper. "We all figure that much. What I just can't finish comprehending is why you're giving me the sour treatment. I mean, what did I do?"

"Nothing," Belén reacted fast and urgently went up to him. "You did absolutely nothing wrong."

"Then...what is it? Why don't you want to talk to me anymore?"

Belén felt awful when she heard his words that were laced with confusion and hurt. Instead of giving the flat out response, she told the story. "My brother showed up to rescue me in that warehouse. He, along with Azul, got me out safe and sound."

Barry's mouth fell open, shocked. "You're brother came!? H-how did he...there was a...Joe said there was a bomb!" And that detail was what struck all of them the most odd. They wandered without a possible reason as to how Belén had managed to escape without setting off the bomb herself.

"Rayan is truly a metahuman. He had telekinetic powers and he used them to get me out," Belén explained. "He...he told me he'd been watching me, knowing that I've been looking for him. And when we were about to leave, he...he asked me to come with him. But...bet if I left, I was leaving for good." Belén has to make that clear so that Barry could at least understand a little why she reacted the way she did. "He wanted me to come with him, and in exchange we would be reunited...and he would answer all my questions."

But clearly that didn't work out, thought Barry. "So...so what happened?"

Belén lightly smiled. "I saw the gun beams shining from the city. I knew you were in trouble, so I told Rayan we needed to go help first. But he...didn't want to. In fact, his refusal was so big that in the he gave me a choice: leave with him at that moment and not look back, or leave him to go help you. I turned it around it on him, making him choose but...I guess by doing that I told him how I basically chose you."

Barry's eyes widened till they couldn't anymore. It was like a brick had hit him on they head, and he was sure it wasn't part of Hartley's hit. Suddenly everything made so much more sense.

Belén couldn't take his stunned look, feeling embarrassed and partially guilty she was laying this all out for him. She went to a nearby table and picked up cotton swabs and some alcohol to help clean off the dried blood from Barry's face.

It was a long two minutes before Barry could say some words. "You…you chose...you left your...brother...for me…"

"To help you," Belén corrected, turning around and coming back. She gestured what she was gonna do and then proceeded to gently dab at a side of his face. "I don't want you to feel bad about this. I'm just...telling you all this because you had a right to know. I acted like a complete jerk and you deserve better."

Barry was still overly thinking about this revelation, and immediately feeling his own guilt. "Bells, I'm so sor-"

"You don't have to apologize. This was a decision I made, and-"

He grabbed the wrist of her hand that was near him and looked up at her. "That was a huge decision you made. And you didn't even talk to someone about it."

"I talked with Cisco earlier," Belén tried to make it look less bad than it was. "He's the one that made me realize you needed an explanation."

"That's not what I meant," Barry gave her a sharp look.

"I know," sighed Belén, gently wiggling her wrist from his grip. "But, like I said, this was a decision I made. I just, at that time, didn't realize I would have to face it everyday."

"And by 'facing it' you mean me…"

"Not in that way but...yeah, and I'm sorry. It's just hard, and I know that is no excuse but…"

"You hadn't seen your brother in a near year and the only chance you had you gave it up - that's a good excuse," Barry released air he'd been holding in without consciousness. "A very good excuse."

Belén couldn't come up with anymore words other than her repeated apologies. "I am so sorry. Lately, I've been messing up and repeatedly apologizing, but this will be the last time - I promise."

"But your brother-"

"Everything seems to be in perfect condition," Caitlin came in looking at the results in her hands. "You are one lucky man, Barry Allen."

"Not so much luck as it is speed," Belén remarked quietly, thanking for the interruption. She got what she needed to get off her chest. "I think I am done playing doctor for the night-" Belén walked up to Caitlin and handed her the medical tools she was using on Barry, "-and I will go back to being a journalist. I gotta get home."

"I agree on that one," Caitlin nodded and took the tools. "And as far as Maritza knows, you just had a concussion, remember?"

"Got it," Belén did a thumbs up. She glanced back at Barry, looking nervous despite already having apologized. "I'll...see you tomorrow?"

Barry smiled at her, giving a nod and quiet 'of course' that made her beam. She waved once more to Caitlin before walking out.

"Well, is it safe to assume you guys are back on good terms?" Caitlin walked to the table on Barry's other side to put down all that she carried.

"Yeah," Barry cleared his throat, his voice lowering when he asked her, "do you know who rescued her last week?"

"Her brother," Caitlin made a face, still partially in shock the famous twin had made an appearance and yet none of them knew till now.

"Yeah - how did you know?"

"Oh, Cisco told me, after Bells told him it was alright to tell me anyways."

"Why would Belén go and tell him first?" Barry found himself asking out loud, much to Caitlin's amusement.

"Because they've always been a little closer," she turned around to continue what Belén had, unknowingly unsuccessful, tried to do.

"Why is that...again?" Barry further questioned, letting her swab away the blood from his face.

"Um, well, I don't know. They just seemed to hit it off initially. Why?" Caitlin pulled away for a second to teasingly smile his way.

"No reason," Barry quickly said, eyes darting to the other side.

Caitlin kept her comments to herself, but her teasing smiles were everlasting.

~ 0 ~

"I am actually very stuffed, Mar, I can't eat anymore," Belén promised Maritza as she pushed away an empty plate from her spot.

Maritza chuckled and too pushed away her own plate. She glanced at Axel who was still puncturing his peas with a plastic spoon. "I'm glad you were able to eat with us, though. I thought maybe after your concussion you might have wanted to go straight to bed."

"That was the idea," Belén admitted as she took a last sip of her drink. She'd gotten home intending on finally getting some needed rest, but Maritza had coaxed her into having a proper dinner. Feeling bad she was lying straight to her sister's face, as well as having not seen her for an entire day, Belén agreed to some dinner.

"Well I'm glad you stayed," Maritza looked at Belén with a sweet smile. "Because, well, family's kind of all we have right now."

Belén coughed awkwardly, wondering how Maritza would react if she knew their brother was still up and breathing. "Yeah…"

"I mean, I know we still have Mom and a couple of members but they're in Italy so, really, it's just us right now. Everyone else moved away."

"Their loss," Belén discarded their extended family members without a care in the world. "I always liked Central City better than any other place."

"Even Starling City?"

"Yup. I mean, don't get me wrong I love the people there, but this is my home. And I intend on staying here for many, many years to come."

Maritza acknowledged the statement with a nod, then, hesitantly, added, "Because this is where we grew up right? It's a...family sentimental thing?"

"Yeah," Belén nodded. "This is where...all of my memories are. I wouldn't give up any of this for anything."

"For your family, you mean…?"

"Yeah," Belén eyed her sister curiously. "What's with you? Are you alright?"

"Mhm," Maritza forced her mouth shut. Of course she couldn't say anything about knowing how awful Belén had been to their brother, nor how they were hoping she would recapicitate and come to them.

Belén pushed her chair back and got up. "Well, as family genes go, I'm gonna get some sleep. And, just like you, I'm gonna key into my hard-sleeper habits and sleep for another day."

Maritza smiled lightly as Belén cleared up her space and left the room.

Upon finally entering her dark room, Belén was able to release a large sigh. She locked her door and pulled off her jacket, tossing it to her bed. She rubbed her face, liking to think that this way all her problems would just disappear. But, coming back to the real world, she spotted one portrait she had on her vanity desk. She walked up to it and picked it up, unsure how to feel about it now. It was her graduation day, or rather, hers and Rayan's high school graduation day. Both dressed in golden cap and gowns, they beamed with radiant smiles as their picture was taken.

"How far have we come from then, huh, Rayan?" she whispered, tracing a finger down the edge of the frame. With another sigh, she put the portrait face-down on the desk. As she went to her drawers to take out her pajamas, she heard a distinct, quiet knock against her balcony doors. With the blinds covering the view, Belén slowly made her way towards them, expecting it to be some sort of hallucination her concussed mind had made up as a trick. But, upon pulling the blinds, she found Barry on the other side. She unlocked the door and slid it to the side, allowing Barry to come in.

"I don't mean to be rude but what are you doing here?" she asked him quietly in case Maritza was nearby.

"I was thinking about what you told me earlier," Barry ignored her and paced like he was in his room. "About Rayan, and how you left him, and-"

"Barry, shh!" Belén urgently told him, rushing to cover his mouth. "My sister is awake, please just...shhh!"

Nodding his head, his mouth was uncovered. He took in a deep breath and began once again. "I was thinking about what you said about your brother, and...I realized how much you gave up, and...Bells, I don't want you to give up anything that'll cost you your family. You need to find your brother, and you need to make amends right now or-"

"Barry, I won't do that," Belén declared firmly, yet her voice was low. "Rayan is not the brother I thought I was looking for."

"He's a metahuman," Barry tried to remind. "Of course he's going to be different. I mean, I'm sure you're much more different than when he last saw you."

"It's not just the biological differences. It's the way in which he acted...the way he's acting as of late." With a sigh, Belén walked over to the graduation portrait laying on her vanity desk and picked it up again. "My brother was a genius, a total nerd. He loved to build things - he was head of the engineer club in high school, and that's what he was going to be become in college: an engineer. He was a very kind man, though he had his moments with attitude. Now that man is gone. He's in league with rogue metahumans. He doesn't help people, he robs them. He manipulates feelings and gives ultimatums. That is not my brother anymore." Swallowing hard, she looked up to Barry, maintaining a pretty firm look. "I don't want to look for Rayan anymore."

Barry couldn't believe what he was hearing. She was going to give up the search for her brother!?

"He made his choice of becoming who he is now, and now I'm making my decision."

"But he's...he's your brother, your family," Barry weakly argued back. He could see the battle was already lost by seeing her eyes.

"Yes," Belén agreed with a nod of her head. "Once upon a time. Now...he's...a metahuman. And, if he's a metahuman that's going rogue...we have a responsibility to lock him up."

"Bells," Barry sucked in a breath, totally astonished with her words.

Belén's face showed signs of falter as she went on, but she did actually go on. "Thank you for all your help, but I don't need it anymore. I'm also going to call Felicity and tell her the search is off. Ultimately I got what I wanted. I found Rayan. I just found a different version of him that I simply cannot agree with."

Barry accepted her wish with a small nod. He couldn't very well force her to search for someone she no longer wished to. All he could do now was just be a supporting friend. When Belén walked up to hug him, he did not continue pushing but just hugged her back. She'd gone through so much lately he should just be glad she hadn't fallen apart.

But that was Bells for you, she was much stronger than she appeared.

[stillthewordgirl]

CaptainCanary fic: With Eyes Wide Open (ch. 1 of ?)

In a world where Rip Hunter never formed the Legends, Leonard Snart is trying to mend his ways and work with Team Flash, though sometimes it's easier than others. Meanwhile, Sara Lance is gradually dealing with the blood lust left behind by the Pit and trying to get used to being a hero again herself. When they encounter each other one day in Central City, it seems like a match that just might be meant to be.

But nothing with these two is ever easy.

*

This is going to be an accidental pregnancy fic, one in which both contributors to said pregnancy decide to continue their relationship and do their best with it. If you don't like such things, be warned.

I don't usually write this trope, but an idea grabbed me. Hope you enjoy. And happy birthday to Tavyn and crazygirlne! (And many thanks to Pir8grl!)

Can also be read here at AO3 or here at FF.net.

*

Leonard Snart doesn’t really want to be here.

Sure, he’d been kinda working with the Flash and the other heroes for a few years now. He’d done that of his own free will, even, driven by the need for something new, for a challenge, for yet another way to prove that he wasn’t (and would never be) his father. And while the CCPD (and some of the more general populace) still weren’t sure what to make of the change in Captain Cold, he was generally accepted as being more or less on the side of the angels these days.

(Of course, he kept his hand in. Wouldn’t do to let the old skills slide. But as long as Team Flash and the CCPD don't know, no harm done. Right?)

Still, even though he’d been one of those who’d helped quash this newest threat to the city—a tech-talented meta who’d gone the giant-robots-for-world-domination route—this celebration at STAR Labs is a little...squeaky clean for him. Boring, even. Heroes from a couple of different cities earnestly rehashing the fight, comparing notes and costumes and tech, exclaiming as they run across old friends. (They all seem to know each other. It’s a little creepy.)

Someone had acquired beer and pizza—they’d probably even paid for it, given this lot—and Ramon’s put on some music. Nothing to Len’s taste, of course, just modern crap with an awful lot of bass and no intelligible words. It’s become a real party, with a few people dancing (if you can call it that) and a great deal of laughter.

Ugh.

Leonard himself is slouching in a chair off to the side of the cortex, watching them all from hooded eyes, abandoned beer at his side. He kind of wishes that Mick was here, just to have someone to help him mock the whole thing—but he and Mick are on the outs again, over the fact that Leonard’s still hanging on to this “weird hero gig” (in Mick’s words) and hasn’t given up and gone back to a life of crime. 

It’s not going to happen—at least, Leonard’s pretty sure it’s not. But Mick won’t accept that. (It’d hurt, if Leonard allowed himself to actually think about it. He doesn’t. Much.)

He’s not sure why he hasn’t left this stupid party. Maybe because Lisa’s still here, teasing Ramon out on the “dance floor,” and he wants to keep an eye on that. Maybe because it’s entertaining, at least, to be the one to puncture Allen’s high spirits over a fight that’d gone so well.

Maybe because he’s a little bored lately, looking for a new challenge and occupation, and at least this keeps him from backsliding. Maybe he’s...actually a little lonely.

Maybe it’s partly her.

He’s never seen her here before, the blonde in white who seems as alone as he is, just on the other side of the room. She’s just a little on the short side, lean muscle and long, golden hair and fierce blue eyes, and she’s fought like he’d never seen before. No powers short of being an utter badass, as far as he can tell, but that just makes her more interesting.

She’d been assigned with both him and that Atom nitwit to the city’s South Side, and he hadn’t caught her name. Some sort of a bird-themed hero moniker? He doesn’t recall, mostly because the incredible shrinking schmuck hadn’t shut up enough to let either of them get a word in edgewise. But once they’d been on site and the fighting started, she hadn’t needed words.

Her actions did plenty of talking.

Leonard gives his head a shake, chasing away the recollection of poetry and mayhem in motion, and stood, stretching and glancing across the room again. She also looks like she’d almost rather be anywhere else, and he’s not too sure why she hasn’t left yet.

Maybe the same reason he hasn’t.

Which is to say, maybe neither of them is really sure.

He should probably leave. Insult Allen one last time, scare Ramon, say goodbye to Lisa, and get outta Dodge.

But he doesn’t. In fact…

“I don’t recommend that stuff. Don’t know who bought it, but I’d suggest waterboarding them with the crap.”

The blonde looks up from her perusal of the beer as Leonard strolls toward her. She lifts an eyebrow, but he also sees her lips twitch just a little, and she puts the unopened bottle back down in its nest of ice.

“Suspected as much,” she says smoothly, folding her arms and considering him. “Thanks for the warning.”

“Least I could do.” Leonard parks his hip against the desk beside her, pauses, then inclines his head. “Didn’t catch your name earlier. Our ‘teammate’ was talking too much.”

“He’s prone to that.” Her lips twitch again, but she nods, considering him. “Sara Lance. White Canary.” She glances away, across the room, toward said “teammate.” “From Star City, like Ray. When Barry called for help, there was a lot going on. I...my sister asked me to come.”

Sister...he’s heard of Laurel Lance, even met her once. He hadn’t realized there was another Canary. “And was it all you’d dreamed?”

That gets a low laugh, one that sounds sincere. (He feels vaguely victorious.) Sara glances around, then shrugs, looking back at him. “Well, it was nice to get to hit things for a while. I’m not really sure I fit in with this gang though. They’re just so...so...”

“Shiny? Annoying? Heroic?”

“Hmmm. All of the above?” Sara studies him. “I know you’re Captain Cold,” she admits finally, “but I didn’t catch your name either.”

Leonard bites back a surge of dismay that she hasn’t heard of him. He’d thought his heel-face turn had made enough news, both publicly and in the circles these people moved in, that he was quite recognizable, in more ways than one. Still…

“Leonard. Leonard Snart,” he says smoothly. “Nice to meet you, Sara.”

That gets an actual smile. “I have heard of you,” she admits, “but I wanted to be sure.” A pause. “I’ve been…out of town, out of touch, a lot, of the past few years.”

It’s mentioned in a way that’s curiously both apologetic and oddly confrontational, and Leonard cocks his head at her, wondering. “OK,” he drawls. “Well. I’m me.” He holds his hands out to either side and smirks at her. “Central City’s most wanted.”

Sara gives him a wry look at the innuendo in his tone. “I thought you reformed.”

Her tone is teasing. Leonard lets his smile grow. “Well,” he returns, folding his arms. “I did. Sort of.” He pauses. “As far as any of the heroes know, anyway.”

“Well, you’re telling me.” Her tone is dry.

“Are you a hero? You said you didn’t think you quite fit in this lot.”

He regrets the flippant words nearly immediately, though, because a shadow crosses Sara’s face—although she seems to try to force it away nearly immediately. She shrugs, glancing away and toward the others, then back at him.

“Maybe not,” she says quietly. “But I’m trying.”

Sympathy is unexpected. But there it is, and Leonard finds that he doesn’t want to fight it.

“Yeah,” he admits, even more quietly. “Me too.”

And then, after another moment of quiet in which the two of them regard each other, he abruptly, uncharacteristically, takes a chance. “Wanna get out of here?”

Sara lifts her eyebrows at him. “And…what?”

It’d been so much a whim that he’s not sure, but he’ll be damned if he lets on. “Some decent bars around here. Bars that aren’t so…stuffy. Cheap beer that’s better than this shit. High chance of punching.”

He’s right. Her eyes brighten. “Yes. Please.”

*

Sara lurks in the corners, watching as this Leonard Snart bids a laughing young woman…well, a woman about her own age…farewell, glaring at Cisco Ramon in the process, then fades away into the crowd. She shakes her head, amused, then heads for one of the exits herself.

She can’t help smiling about it, though. This Snart—god, that name—has managed to intrigue her more than she’d ever expected. He’s hot, that helps…those eyes, that lean, muscular build--but Sara hasn’t really thought much about that sort of thing since the Pit. It’s a surprise that the knowledge keeps nagging at her, stirring her awareness and attention.

And to be honest, the sheer degree of understanding in his expression was even more of a draw. He just seemed to get how she was feeling, an assassin—former assassin--there in the midst of all those heroes. Given his own origins, Sara can understand that, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t appreciate the understanding all the more.

Briefly, she wonders if Snart knows who she is, beyond her name and maybe her connection to Laurel. Likely not. Since she’d arrived in Central City, it’s become apparent that although Barry and co. know the basics of what had happened to her with the Pit, the Laurel and the others in Star City had stayed quite close-mouthed about any details.

And Snart, while seemingly accepted and welcomed into the group here, seems to linger on the outside enough that he probably doesn’t know even that.

Sara pauses outside the building, listening carefully, then turns at the faintest of sounds, watching as Leonard strolls out of the twilight toward her. He moves quietly—though more, she thinks, by habit than any desire to surprise her—and she sees the appreciation in his eyes as he realizes just how quickly she’d marked him.

By all her instincts, it’s mingled with other appreciation too—she hadn’t missed him watching her across the room earlier or the smooth and thorough once-over as he’d introduced himself. But her instincts are telling her something else, too, and given how long it’s been since she’s felt this growing ripple of attraction for someone, it’s something she wants to be clear on.

“So,” she asks him innocently as Leonard starts sauntering away from the building and she falls into step besides him. “How’s the gay scene in Central? I haven’t been out here much.”

Those blue eyes flicker her way, and Sara sees a smile touch his mouth. But he doesn’t stop, and he doesn’t seem surprised.

“Not bad. I’m told,” he says in that sexy drawl. “It’s not really my style. I tend to keep to myself.” He pauses. “Excellent gaydar, though. I’m pan, if you’re looking for a label.”

Ah ha. Sara nods, accepting both the tacit confirmation that he could very well be attracted to her and the suggestion that he’s not usually one to just...hook up randomly. She finds she’s rather pleased at both.

“And you?” The tone is curious and cordial. They’re both testing the waters here.

“Ah.” She glances his way. “Bi.”

That doesn’t make his gaze so much as flicker. Instead, he just nods, and they walk on.

*

Was that question the gentle bit of fishing for information that he thinks it was, instead of an actual query about the scene? He’s pretty sure it was.

Or was she just suggesting she’d rather go somewhere like that, the queer bars down on Morse Street? But then why would she just drop it instead of asking? Although he had said it wasn’t really his style...

There are reasons he doesn’t really do the dating thing, Leonard thinks grumpily. He’s not used to second-guessing himself like this. He’s not used to caring enough to second-guess himself.

Why does he?

But Sara’s speaking again, as they walk, and he listens.

“So,” she says, "I get the impression you wanted out of there as much as I did. Why’d you even hang around? After the fighting was over, of course. You live in Central; presumably you have a place to go.”

“Mmmm.” He turns left at an intersection, crosses the street with Sara pacing him, still considering his words. “Good question. My sister was there...”

“Golden Glider.”

“Mmhmm. And that meant I was...obliged...to put the fear of me into Ramon.” He smirks at her as she rolls her eyes. “What?”

“The ‘protect the baby sister’ act? Really?” She flashes a grin at him. “Would you do it if it was a girl she was flirting with?”

“Would. And have.” He points at her. “Don’t get any ideas.”

Sara chuckles. Leonard finds he really likes the sound. Enough that he wants to get her to do it again.

What the hell is happening to him?

But there’s no more time for confessions at the moment, though, because they’ve arrived at the very dive bar he’d had in mind. It’s not Saints & Sinners—people know him there, and he finds he doesn’t really want to be known right now—and frankly he’s not even sure it has a formal name. But there’s neon in the dark windows, a whiff of cigarette smoke about the place although Central has banned smoking in restaurants for years, and a scarred, heavy door with a handle polished smooth by years of hands. So many of the harbingers of a “good” local dive.

Sara hums in appreciation, looking at it. She reaches out and pulls open that heavy door, and they move inside.

The bar looks, Leonard thinks, rather like a throwback to the ‘70s. There’s a jukebox in the corner, faded posters on the walls, and more of the scarred, heavy wood like that of the door…the tables, the bar, the support beams. There’s even a disco ball hanging from the ceiling. And, of course, there are the incurious eyes of a dozen or more biker-ish types, all denim and bandanas for the men and short-shorts and crop tops for the women.

And here’s Sara in her white leather and him in his black, sauntering in like ying and yang, and oh hell, this is going to be trouble.

He finds he welcomes it.

Beers are acquired—not so much better than that crap at STAR Labs, but that doesn’t seem to matter anymore—and Sara takes a sip of hers, giving Leonard a thorough once-over of her own as someone messes with the jukebox behind them, starting up a song that seems vaguely familiar.

“You want to dance, Leonard?” she asks then, gaze challenging.

Don’t mess around…

“You go right ahead,” he tells her. “I’ll watch.”

There’s a gleam in her eyes, and she hands him her beer. “Suit yourself.”

And she walks out, into an empty space that could barely be called a dance floor, and starts to move.

Hell.

Ain’t gonna set you free now…

Leonard keeps the smirk on his lips and his eyes on her steadily, doing his best not to let on to the intensity of his reaction. It’s inexplicable, really. He barely knows her, and he tends to need to know someone before being truly attracted.

But both body and mind and…he won’t admit to heart being a part of this…are. They’re attracted. Very much so.

Then the inevitable happens. The burly man who accosts Sara clearly isn’t politely offering a drink—and her response, glancing toward the dark-haired woman he’d left at the bar, is just as clear. And—just as inevitably—he grabs her.

Crack.

The man yells. Several of his buddies converge on them. And Sara glances over her shoulder at Leonard.

“I got this,” she assures him.

Of course she does.

When those girls start hanging around

Talking me down…

Watching her fight is even better than watching her dance. Leonard tries not to be obvious about swallowing, working some moisture into his dry throat.

He almost glances over his shoulder involuntarily, to give Mick that “are you seeing this?” look. But Mick isn’t there; Mick doesn’t understand why he’s doing what he’s doing these days, doesn’t want to understand why Leonard wants to change, and that hurts—it always hurts—but maybe it hurts a tiny bit less, because—he suddenly thinks, with the shock of realization--Sara does.

She gets it.

Hear with your heart and you won't hear a sound…

She’s amazing, but either the first idiot had a lot of friends or there are simply a lot of people up for a barfight tonight. No sooner has Sara swept the floors with the first lot than more are converging.

She glances at Leonard again. “Now I could stand for a little help.”

He doesn’t need to be asked twice.

'Cause I really love you

Stop, I'll be thinking of you

Look in my heart and let

Love keep us together…

*

“Dad?”

Joe West looks around as he shrugs his coat on, smiling at his daughter. However, that smile quickly runs away as he digests the concern on Iris’ face. “What’s wrong?” “Oh....” Iris shrugs, but the concern is still there. “Nothing, probably. Have you seen Sara?”

“Sara Lance?” Joe glances around involuntarily, but the blond woman, of course, isn’t in sight. The celebration has started breaking up a little, but most of the assorted hero types in Central City to help Team Flash with…what had Cisco named that guy? He forgets…are still there.

“Not in a while.” He studies her. “You worried about something?”

“She was really quiet. And you know, she’d been gone for so long…” Iris bites her lip, then shakes her head. “I’m sure it’s fine. She probably just went for a walk.”

“Who’s she staying with?” One of the drawbacks to getting so much help was then trying to find couches for everyone to crash on.

“Caitlin. Who also hasn’t seen her in a while. And Sara doesn’t have a key to her place.”

“Hmm.” Joe sighs. “I’ll keep an eye out. But she probably just needed some air…or decided she wanted to go get some rest.” He winks at his daughter. “I don’t think the lack of a key would stop Sara.”

Iris smiles reluctantly. “True.” She hugs him. “ ’Night, Dad. Say hi to Cecile.”

“Of course I will.”

His daughter turns away, moving back to where Barry, Ray Palmer, Professor Stein and Jax are good-naturedly debating something, and Joe sighs, giving the rest of the room one last scan. And then another, because his mention of breaking-and-entering has called another “hero” to mind.

He’s still not completely convinced that Leonard Snart has changed his spots, though the man was certainly helpful enough today—and has been for a while now, honestly. Barry’s tendency to see the best in everyone is source both of amusement and occasional consternation, but maybe (Joe admits) he had it right this time.

Maybe.

The former criminal had probably ghosted out the door earlier with some of the better booze Joe knows perfectly well that Wells has tucked away. That’s not Joe’s hill to die on.

He’s no sooner out of the door from STAR Labs, though, when his phone—his work phone—rings. With a sign, he answers, getting into his car and leaning back against the seat.

“What now,” he says, closing his eyes. “After everything…”

Then he listens.

“Yeah, I’m near there. I’ll stop. But…OK, OK. Just a few minutes.”

It’s a dive bar not so far from STAR Labs, really. Joe’s not sure it even has a name that hasn’t been lost to time. He sees the flashing lights—a few patrol cars, an ambulance—and finds a parking spot, then leaves his car and walks toward the scene, wondering again why the lieutenant had called him.

He finds out soon enough.

“Hi, Joe!” Sara Lance says, sounding much too chipper, a smile on her face as she leans against the brick wall of the abandoned house next to the bar. She’s still in her White Canary outfit, which is presumably how the lieutenant had identified her. Joe stops in his tracks and stares at her, then allows his gaze to drift slowly sideways to the smirking visage of Leonard Snart, who inclines his head slowly toward the detective.

Joe takes a deep breath. Thanks his lucky stars that at least the lieutenant had called him rather than simply arresting two people hailed as heroes earlier in the day in the city. And then fixes his gaze on Sara and decides to ignore Snart for the time being.

“What,” he says carefully, “did you do?”

Sara’s chin goes up. “Just wanted a drink. And someone wouldn’t take no for an answer.”

Joe takes his hat off and runs a hand over his face. “You sent…eight? Nine?...people to the hospital with mild to moderate injuries. And there are more who wouldn’t go.”

“Yes?” Sara’s tone is a mix of obdurate and innocent and oddly pleased with herself. It’s a strange combo. “It was all self-defense.”

“Of course it was.” Joe shakes his head, then looks at Snart. “And you,” he says with a sigh. “You get your record clean and this is what you do with it?

Snart’s smirk grows. “Didn’t do anything,” he drawls. “Just helped the lady here take out some trash.”

There’s an interesting note in his voice. Is he...

Joe glances back and forth between the two briefly. Oh, hell. If this isn’t trouble in the making, he’s not sure what is.

But he’ll be damned if he’s going to give Leonard-friggin-Snart a lecture on hooking up with a cop’s daughter—or Sara Lance a lecture about doing the same with a “reformed” crook.

Joe draws in a long breath again, then lets it out and jerks his thumb away from the scene. “Get outta here.”

The pair look at each other, then back at him, faces unreadable.

“Seriously. I’m not explaining this to your father,” he says to Sara. “And I’m not explaining to the press why you got locked up for…self-defense…just hours after helping save the city.” He glances at Snart. “And, oddly enough, the bar owner doesn’t want to press any charges.”

“Imagine that,” Snart drawls, inspecting his nails.

“Right. Imagine. Now, get outta here. And Sara, text Iris. She’s worried about you.”

*

Sara: Hi. Im fine! Don’t worry.

Sara: Joe told me to tell u.

Iris: OMG you just vanished! Where RU?

Sara: Out. Having fun. Don’t wait up

Iris: Alone?

Sara: Nope. 😊

Iris: Sara Lance…

Iris: Did U hook up????

Iris: With someone from here????

*

Sara turns the sound off on her phone and tucks it away again, grinning to herself. She turns to Leonard, who’s been watching her without comment, and lifts an inquiring eyebrow, a clear “What’s next?”

His lips twitch. They’d moved off into the shadows after Joe had turned away, but neither of them had, quite clearly, wanted to go back to STAR Labs. Sara had obliged the detective’s request, but now she’s watching Leonard with another gleam in her eye and a challenge in her expression.

Leonard doesn’t, quite frankly, want another bar brawl, no matter how much fun it would be. (He’d slipped the bar owner enough cash to keep his mouth shut, but he doesn’t particularly want to do that again either.)

But there’s something both a little wild and a little longing about the woman with him; Leonard doesn’t know quite what it is, but he’s not going to let her down now. So he leans a little closer and says, “Wanna see the Central City Museum?”

It’s not what Sara expects. She considers him momentarily until a smile suddenly lights up her face, the gleam in her eyes brightening. “After hours, I take it?”

“In a…manner of speaking.”

“Isn’t that across the city?”

She’s right. It’d be quite a hike, and Leonard had left his motorcycle back at STAR Labs. Still, he smirks at her. “Wasn’t that guy whose nose you broke wearing a Nickel City Swords hat? The one who went to the hospital to get a possible concussion checked out?” That hadn’t, as a matter of fact, been his or Sara’s fault. The guy’s buddy had intended to break a chair over Leonard’s head and…missed.

“Yeeesss?”

He takes a step toward the street. “What would the odds be?”

Sara looks…and grins at the sight of a Nickel City Swords bumper sticker on the small red car there. “And he’s not going to be looking for it right away, if I know the emergency rooms this time of night.”

“Indeed.” Leonard stretches his fingers. “I can…”

“No need.” Sara’s already moving toward the car. “I got this, too.”

*

Leonard’s impressed. Obviously impressed, although he doesn’t say a word and lets Sara go to work on the car without more than a raised eyebrow and look of appreciation. And she likes that, she finds, likes his assumption of competence without even question. Instead, he stands guard, watching her back, and only takes the driver’s seat when she asks him to, after the engine roars (well, sputters) to life a few minutes later.

It’s…alluring.

She’d had no more than a sip of weak beer, Sara thinks, looking out the window of the “borrowed” car as the city slips back around them, but she feels a bit drunk. Giddy. Part of it’s because the bloodlust hadn’t taken over in the barfight, and she thoroughly pleased and relieved by this. Part of that is because she’s with a handsome man who seems quite impressed by her skill set and doesn’t seem to give a rat’s ass about her past.

Of course…he doesn’t really know about all of it.

“Where’d you learn to fight like that?”

Lovely timing. Sara turns her head at Leonard’s low murmur, studying his profile. And then she takes a leap.

“League of Assassins,” she tells him baldly, counting on the likelihood that a former career criminal will know of what she speaks. “Kind of a long story how I got there, but I was with them for years. Not anymore, though.”

The league doesn’t—generally—let its people go, and he’s likely to know that, too.

There’s a moment of considering silence. Sara, watching, sees Leonard lift his eyebrows. He doesn’t seem concerned, though, and there’s no moment of disbelief or revulsion—both of which she’s seen far too often in people who are supposed to be on her side.

A drawled “impressive” is the only comment.

Sara smiles.

*

Oh, Leonard’s impressed all right. Impressed, and curious, and more than a little turned on.

OK, well, he’d been that already, but he’s always found competence sexy, and danger nearly as much. Sara is very distinctly both competent and dangerous, and combined with her obvious intelligence and other attributes, it’s all one very gorgeous package.

Down, boy.

No wonder she seems to get him, the crook who’s trying to find his place amidst heroes, if she’s an assassin who’s trying to do that same. And he hadn’t missed the look on her face when he had simply accepted her words without judgment or distaste.

He gets it.

He parks about a block away, and they leave the car, Leonard leading the way toward the museum—not the front entrance, of course, but one of the little-used side entrances for employees. He hadn’t really been prepared to do a little breaking-and-entering tonight, but…

Oh, who is he kidding? He’s always prepared.

They find a place nearby to watch unseen, and Leonard waits until he sees a security guard appear in the small pool of light by the door. The woman pauses, glancing around, then radios in to report the all-clear to the main security office. Leonard knows how it works. He makes…made it his business to know how it all works.

Then she continues on her route, going around the corner, and Leonard moves, Sara right on his heels. He pauses behind a pillar as the overhead camera sweeps by, then moves again as it turns slowly in the other direction, pulling out his lockpicks.

He has a minute. He only needs…let’s see, 42 seconds. And then they’re in, the door closed securely behind them.

Sara lets out a breathless, near-silent laugh—but she gives him an inquiring look before saying anything. Leonard nods, and she laughs a little louder, shaking her head.

“That was amazing,” she tells him, glee in her voice. “We’re OK in here?”

“Yep. They don’t have cameras on most of the areas inside. And indoor security guards only during the day. Gotta love budget cuts.” He glances at her, then decides it doesn’t make sense to ignore what she’d told him not long ago. “Picking the lock, you mean? I’d think maybe that’d have been something you learned in your…previous line of work.”

Sara’s lips curve in an expression that’s not quite a smile.

“Not really,” she demurs, looking around the entryway. “We generally went…other routes.” Her eyes are serious again as she looks at him. “I like your way better.”

Ah. But Leonard leaves the implication alone. Instead, he just holds an arm out with a slight flourish, inviting her into the museum at large. “Now. What would you like to see?”

*

Iris is studying her phone as she walks down the corridor in STAR Labs. She really would have rather been home by now—it’s been a long day—but the puzzle of Sara’s whereabouts is still nagging at her, especially since she thinks she has all those who’d been at the lab earlier accounted for. She glances up briefly as she emerges into the Cortex, registering that Barry is standing there waiting for her, but glances back down nearly immediately, sending one more annoyed text before putting the device away.

“I don’t get it,” she sighs, looking up at her husband. “She’s still ignor…���

The look on Barry’s face makes her stop. “What? Is everything OK? Barry…”

He holds out a hand hastily, though, reassuring her although that dubious expression is still there. “It’s OK. I think. Just…” Barry lets out a long breath. “Um. Well. Snart’s motorcycle is still parked outside. And no one’s seem him in hours. He was here, with everyone else. And then…he wasn’t.”

Iris stares at him, absorbing that. “You think that…”

“Erm.” He shrugs, giving her that kind of sheepish grin she usually likes so much. “Well…I suppose if you think about it…I could see them hitting it off…”

Iris frowns at him, just digesting this. “I always…I guess I thought Snart, well, liked guys.”

Barry blinks at her. “No? I…why would you think that?”

His voice is honestly perplexed. Iris stares at him a moment longer, then closes her eyes. After a long minute, she opens them again. Her beloved, sweet, clueless husband—whom Snart flirts with madly whenever possible—is still looking baffled.

“Never mind,” she sighs. “Well…I guess Sara didn’t say she was hooking up. I just got that impression.” She thinks a moment. “Although, Sara likes girls too, so maybe he’s similar. Makes sense.” A reluctant smile crosses her face. “He’s pretty flirty with almost everyone, actually. And he is kinda hot.”

Now Barry looks vaguely appalled. “Snart? Really?”

Dear, sweet baby. “Really.” Iris pauses. “You text him. Ask if Sara’s with him. I just want to be sure she’s OK.”

Barry shakes his head again, but he pulls out his phone.

*

Barry: Is Sara w/U???????

Barry: C’mon, Iris is worried

Barry: Snart…

Leonard: Yes.

Barry: good

Barry: U guys ok?

Barry: Snart?

Leonard: Fine.

Barry: good

Barry: what u doing?

Barry: If u don’t mind saying.

Barry: Iris thinks your hooking up. hahaha

Barry: Snart?

*

Leonard shakes his head, turning his phone off entirely and putting it back in his pocket before glancing at Sara.

The blond woman is standing just a few feet away, studying a painting intently. Leonard’s no kind of fan of modern art, but the colors of this piece are appealing, and Sara certainly seems to be intrigued. After just a minute, though, she turns, grinning at him, and he smiles back.

“I think we’ve seen most of the largest exhibits now,” Leonard says quietly. “Except for the jewelry exhibit.” His smile grows a little. “They did put a camera in there.”

“And why do I think you had something to do with that?”

“No idea.”

Sara laughs at the innocence in his tone. “Yeah? Like sparkly things, do you?”

“I like beautiful things.”

They hold glances for long enough that it feels distinctly warm when they both look away. Leonard clears his throat. “Is there anything else you’d like to see?”

Sara’s lips twitch, but she doesn’t take the (mostly unintended) bait. “We can head out.”

Getting out of the museum is much like getting in, except that no lock-picking is necessary. The two stroll away as if they’ve never thought of such a thing, and Sara keeps a straight face until a block away, when she busts out in giggles.

“Ahhh,” she says, spinning in place. “That was fun. Thank you.”

“Always nice to show off the skills,” Leonard acknowledges. He glances around. “Hm. Want to get a drink now? Without a barfight.”

Sara nods, but gives him a curious look. “Where? I’m presuming we’re leaving the car where it is.”

“I know a place nearby.” It’s on the way back to his apartment, too, but he’s not going to presume.

“Lead on.”

It’s late enough that Saints & Sinners isn’t full, but there are people there. Still, Leonard—despite his…newer occupation—is known, and people don’t fuck with him. Especially since his times on the hero gig tend to be helping the Flash and co. in dealing with metas and bigger problems, not the smaller-time crooks that often congregate here.

They find a booth, and Leonard, after a quiet query, makes his way to the bar, returning with two glasses of a rather nice scotch, if he does say so himself. He pushes one over to Sara without comment, smiling a little as she takes a sip and hums in pleasure, looking back at him.

“Thanks,” she says, then takes another sip, glancing around. “Saints & Sinners, eh?”

“Truth in advertising.” Leonard takes his own drink. He honestly doesn’t drink much, but when he does, it’s the good stuff. (The scent of stale beer, the funk of cheap liquor…these still scream “Lewis” at him, make him want to vomit.) “You good?”

“I am.” Sara studies him, taking another sip. “Tell me. What led you to…to ask me if I wanted to get out of there before? STAR Labs, I mean. Just then.”

Ah. Leonard inspects the amber liquid in his glass, takes another drink. “I was curious,” he admits. “I’d enjoyed watching you fight. And you didn’t look…completely comfortable there.” He pauses. “Rather like me, I guess.”

It strikes a chord; he can tell it does. Sara very nearly takes a gulp of her scotch, coughs, then regards him.

“Thank you,” she says again after a moment.

“You’re welcome.”

*

The scotch is very good.

Sara gets them both a refill after a bit, raising her eyebrows at the cost but paying without a qualm. She takes the glasses back to the table, and they continue talking.

She learns that his sister, Lisa (vaguely to Leonard’s horror) is just about Sara’s age. She learns that the last mark on Leonard’s record before it’d been expunged was the killing of his own father—and why, a tale he tells without a flinch, watching her with calm eyes that nonetheless seem to be watching for any sort of revulsion.

Revulsion Sara doesn’t show. Because she gets it. In fact, she thinks, watching Leonard’s still face, if Lewis Snart was still alive, she very well might go looking for him herself.

To get that look off his face—how has that face become so important to her, in such a short period of time?—she speaks up herself. She tells him more about the League. And then, almost to her surprise, the Amazo. Lian Yu.

At some point, Leonard gets them another drink.  Then Sara—a little buzzed and more than a little reckless--gets them another.

Someone follows her back to the table.

Leonard stands as the other man—a weaselly sort wholly unlike the brawny thug back at the other bar—grabs her arm as she goes to sit down. But he doesn’t butt in, waiting to see what happens.

“You don’t wanna stay with this guy,” the newcomer says, not even looking at Leonard. “He’s a cop squealer, now. If you’re one of us, babe, you’ll want to come with me.”

*

The look on Sara’s face is incredible.

Leonard isn’t sure whether to smirk or sigh as she darts that “are you fucking kidding me?” gaze at him. He keeps his expression mildly interested as he glances at the nitwit holding her, one Ethan Kozarovich, a not-so-bright and relatively small-time thug who’s always thought he was far more than he actually was.

The question in that gaze is unmistakable. And Leonard can’t deny Sara the chance to fulfill it.

“Got your back. But take it outside,” he says quietly, before downing the drink she’d brought him. “Got an agreement here.”

Sara nods. Then she turns that look on Kozarovich—who seems like he’s suddenly, vehemently regretting his life choices—and snaps, “Outside.” Then she downs her own drink, slamming the empty glass down on the table.

“Here is…”

“Outside.”

Kozarovich looks like he wants, quite suddenly, to wet himself.

*

Not so long later, Sara and Leonard are strolling away from Saints & Sinners, both trying (and somewhat failing) to keep from outright laughter.

It shouldn’t feel so good to knock down a minor-league jerk-ass like the Kovarovich, Sara thinks. But it does.

It does because the bloodlust hadn’t taken over. It does because the asshat who’d dared to grab her is still alive, just slightly damaged. It does because Leonard is looking at her with a gleam in his eyes that says just how very impressed he is, and that gleam is doing things to her, things she knows, knows she wants to explore.

It’s been a very, very long time since she’d truly wanted anything like that.

They’re cutting through a park, and Sara spins around in the night air, taking a deep breath and letting it out, then turning to Leonard, who’s watching her intently, pausing in his own stroll.

“I feel alive,” she sighs with a deep, completely pleased sigh, then continuing immediately, recklessly as he watches her. “No, you don’t understand. Leonard…I was dead for a year.”

His steps slow. “Pardon?”

“Dead,” Sara tells him recklessly, looking up at the stars to avoid seeing his face. “Cold and dead. Three arrows to the chest and abdomen. Dead before I hit the ground. I was mourned, I was buried. I…well, presumably I did what dead things do.”

She looks at him, then. “My sister...well, she found a way to bring me back. About two years ago. But I wasn’t...I wasn’t myself for a long time afterward. I’m only starting to feel that way again. But I felt more alive tonight than I have in a very long time.”

If he shows any disbelief…any sort of revulsion…

He doesn’t. He blinks, slowly, and considers her, but years of familiarity with the oddities of Central City—and maybe his own instincts--seem to lead him to believe her.

“That’s amazing,” he says after a moment, as Sara watches him. “But…you’re OK? Now?”

Concern wasn’t what Sara had expected. Of all the possible reactions to this story, she finds she likes that one best.

“I’m OK,” she agrees, then impulsively reaches out and takes his hand, pulling him toward her a little, putting it over her heart, which is beating strongly. Leonard studies her as she looks up into his face, smiling a little, her hand over his own. His own face is very serious, but not in a way that seems problematic.

“Alive,” she repeats. “And happy. And not at all cold.”

After another moment, Leonard cracks a smile.

“No, you don’t feel cold to me,” he says quietly, moving even closer. “And I know cold.”

Sara snickers. “Now, that’s a line.” She pauses, studying serious blue eyes. “You don’t feel cold to me, either.”

“Good.”

And he kisses her.

*

That first kiss is, perhaps, just a little tentative. Exploratory. Both of them seeing if the spark they’ve been feeling is really there.

It is.

The second kiss, after a brief pause for air, is a good deal less tentative. In fact, Leonard, much later, finds bark from the tree he’d been up against pressed into the soft, broken-in leather of his jacket. (It falls to the floor as he shakes the jacket out. In a rare display of sentimentality, he saves a few pieces. Later, they sit in a small bowl on his dresser, with the gold locket Lisa had worn as a kid, his grandfather’s lucky silver dollar, a pack of matches filched from Mick’s coat, and a few other things.)

By mutual agreement, they head for his apartment, the one in city center, acquired by a much-younger Leonard Snart before the area started toward gentrification and still owned today under an assumed name. It’s after midnight, now, and the building is mostly quiet; they don’t see anyone in the hallways or the elevator.

Which is good, because he decides it’s his turn to take the lead, boosting Sara up against the mirrored wall and continuing the kissing.

When the elevator door opens, neither of them is inclined to separate, so Leonard simply carries her down the hallway toward the door, as Sara wraps her legs around his waist and her arms around his shoulders and keeps kissing his neck, his jaw, his mouth, caresses passionate and just a little bit rough in a good way. Somehow, he managed to her his keys out and into the lock, then maneuvers them both into the apartment.

If not quite all the way to the bed.

*

Iris: Sara? Ray’s here. Says u were gonna ride back to Star w/him

Iris: Should he wait?

Iris: Sara, pls let me know your OK.

Sara: I’m good! 😊

Sara: tell him thanks, but I’m staying around here a few days

Iris: OK

Iris: Do I wanna know where?

*

Sara, having fished her phone from the tangle of clothing strewn across the floor, bites back a laugh at the suggested irritation in Iris’ words. She chooses not to respond, putting the phone safely on Leonard’s dresser before turning back to the bed (where they had, ultimately, wound up).

The man in question is sprawled across the surface, nothing more than a sheet tugged over his hips, watching her from hooded eyes, a smile/smirk on his face. They hadn’t fallen asleep until early morning, and although it’s now after noon, he doesn’t look at all inclined to go anywhere. Sara runs her eyes over him, smiling herself, content and relaxed in a way she hasn’t been in a very long time.

They had been very well suited.

“Everything all right?” he drawls.

“Mmhmm. My ride is planning to head back to Star City soon.”

Leonard’s face shows a flicker of…something…but he quickly conceals it. “Ah,” he says quietly. Sara, watching, sees his shoulders tense before he sits up smoothly. “You have to go?”

There’s very definitely disappointment in the words. Which makes it easier and somewhat less awkward to stroll back toward him, smiling, and admit, “No. I said I wanted to stay around here a few days.” She pauses, suddenly feeling awkward anyway. “I mean, I can stay with Caitlin, help Team Flash clean up…”

But there’s a smile in Leonard’s eyes too, and he lowers his lashes again, watching her.

“Or,” he says smoothly, reaching out, catching her wrist gently, pulling her toward him, “you could stay here.”

Sara laughs, relief coursing through her. “But whatever would we do with our time?”

“I’m sure we could think of something.”

[peppersandcats]

Hartley. And, sure, why not - OC?

Ohcrap things got away from me. Rightthen. For the headcanons meme:

For Hartley (this is going to be TV!Hartley);

He has known Thea Queen forever. He has known her since before her idiot elder brother went missing (and didn’t he have something to say when he figured out what said idiot older brother had gotten her involved in). He draws parallels between her family and Star Wars when he wants to tease her.

He also hugs her. Casually, comfortably, as if it was the most natural thing in the world. It weirds out everyone who’s used to his usual body language the first time they see how it changes around her. (I have an entire post on hugging headcanons for him here.)

The unspecified sixth language that he speaks is German. He picked it up because a lot of foundational physics (Heisenberg, Hertz, Plank, Einstein) was discussed in German, and he wanted to catch the nuances.

When he’s been working for a day straight or longer, you can get him to fall asleep by getting him to take his glasses off. Lisa figured that one out. She usually just asks him to pass them over because there’s a smudge on them, and then he just rests his eyes for a second, and boom.

He has (very carefully; he is extremely careful about what gets on to his hearing aids) loaded a collection of music and scientific lectures onto his hearing aids and he listens to them when he wakes up in the middle of the night and can’t sleep.

When he was a child, he kept a journal. In Latin. So that people wouldn’t read it.

His first pet rat is named Squeaks. This is an explicit shout-out to @katzedecimal‘s excellent comics!verse fic “Out of the Silence”, which I highly recommend. (That poor kid…!)

He accidentally started a… a community foundation, I guess? Initially it was just to keep the diner where he liked going from closing, but it sort of spiralled. He funds it from heists and embezzling from his parents, and calls it the Lewis Hamelin Community Preservation Society.

Of all the people at work, he was most comfortable around Caitlin. She usually shrugged off the needling, and her area of expertise wasn’t physics or engineering, so he wasn’t competing with her for Wells’ attention.

He figured out Barry’s secret identity before Len did. (Remember those files he grabbed from STAR Labs? I believe that Caitlin was conscientious about not putting Barry’s name in them, but I bet you Cisco wasn’t.)

For Virginia, OC;

Ray does meet her, eventually. He thinks Ginnie smells like a barbecue at a drive-in theatre (it’s the only context he has for the cooked meat and popped corn and cigarette smoke), and finds it cute.

The strings of her guitar are not gold, but they shine gold.(This is absolutely a nod to another character, from some quite old stories, and no it’s not Fflewddur Fflam from The Black Cauldron.)

She is always respectful of cats. Sometimes they talk to her; sometime they simply take it as their due.

She used to be right-handed. It depends, now, on what kind of mood she’s in.

Whether she punches left-handed or right-handed, she punches hard. Unusually so.

She is always losing doorkeys. Can’t help it. It’s not quite so bad with vehicle keys, but after years of dealing with this nonsense she has actually gotten very good at hotwiring older models of car.

She wouldn’t call it magic, obviously, but she knows… small things. Never turn your back on the altar when inside a church. Put a silver dime in each shoe to keep from getting lost. When you speak in accidental chorus with someone, hook your little finger with theirs. Cut off all the peel of an apple in one piece and drop it over your shoulder, away from your shadow, to learn a name.

She is both very good at starting fires and very cautious about doing so.

She’s of two minds over which kind of music she likes best (the top contenders are rock music and hymns), but she’s got an amazing ear for most things, and can pick songs up very quickly.

She is not fond of either roses or barbed wire. The way they catch and tear is very uncomfortable.

[robininthelabyrinth]

Fic: Jonah (ao3 link)

Fandom: Flash, Legends of Tomorrow Pairing: Barry Allen/Mick Rory/Leonard Snart Series: Flashwave Week 2018 (Destiny Series)

Summary: In which Barry goes to sleep and wakes up to a very different universe.

And it's all because Leonard "Destiny of the Endless" Snart couldn't keep his big mouth shut while reading the literal Book of Destiny.

Oh, well.

A/N: @flashwaveweek - Flashwave Week: Accidental Marriage

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Barry, as he so often does, wakes up feeling tired.

Not physically, of course; his powers make sure that even minimal amounts of sleep are enough to fully revive him.

Wouldn't want the world to go without one its heroes, Barry thinks bitterly.

Most of his mornings are spent like this, now: awake, but trapped in bitterness and regret. He's not sure when exactly it started, this endless frozen atrophied bitterness - when Joe's new baby died, maybe, or when Wally was killed, or when Caitlin was mind-wiped until she didn't remember any of them, or when Cisco went temporarily evil and killed so many people that even the defense of mind control didn't swing the jury back in his favor.

He has new members of Team Flash to back him now, but it's not the same. He knows he can't let himself get close to them or they'll just be targets as well, more than they already are.

Everyone he's close to is a target.

Like Iris.

Oh, Iris...

Maybe that's when the bitterness started, when Iris sat him down - months ago, now - and held his hands and told him that while she still loved him, she thought it'd be better for both of them if they weren't married anymore.

Barry doesn't blame her. He wouldn't want to be friends with a Jonah like him, either: mysterious disappearances at every turn, weird twists and turns what feels like every week, never any normal life, and poisonous honey to draw in every maniacal villain in existence, it felt like.

Even the Justice League, in which he put so much hope, is fracturing: Batman's latest protégé brutally murdered and Batman lashing out against them all as a result, Superman's identity and Earth parents under threat, Diana offered an irresistible chance to go home again for a rest, Hal sent far away...no one has time or interest in their alliance beyond the moments of utter necessity, which seem to happen about once a year or so.

Nothing like the group of friends who can understand the pressures of heroism that Barry wanted it to be.

And that leads him back to where he is: bitter and tired and unable to get up.

"Bar!" Iris' voice rings through the door, causing Barry to violently start. Iris hasn't lived in what was once their mutual apartment since she'd moved back home to take care of Joe, who was near-catatonic with grief. Sure, she still had a key, but she never used it... "Barry Allen, I know you have super-speed, but if you don't get up now, you're going to be late. Or, more importantly, we're going to be late!"

Barry doesn't recall any plans he had with Iris. Honestly, Barry doesn't recall the last time he spoke with Iris, even though (even after everything) she's still his anchor.

Is this another trick? Another villain's scheme?

Only one way to find out.

He gets dressed and goes into the kitchen, where Iris is rifling through the fridge, though she looks up when he walks in.

"There you are, lazybones," she says, grinning at him, and Barry has to take a step back, because he hasn't seen Iris this healthy, this whole, this happy in - years. Even before she moved out. "Don't tell me you're getting cold feet."

"Cold feet?" Barry echoes helplessly.

"More like hot feet, I'd say," another voice says with a laugh from his blind spot, and now Barry's really twitching because it's been forever since he heard that voice, it can't be, he's dead, but no, Barry turns and there he is.

Eddie Thawne is sitting at Barry's kitchen table with a newspaper and a wedding ring.

"You're letting the puns get to you, babe," Iris says, going over and giving him a kiss on the cheek. "You planning to go villain on us?"

"Hey, I don't necessarily get my puns from the villains," Eddie protests mildly, smiling up at her with that devoted, loving gaze he's always had for Iris, the one that won him Barry's affection even despite their competition. "Maybe I get it from my wonderful pun-using award-winning journalist wife. Have you considered that possibility, Mrs. West?"

"I have indeed, Mr. West," Iris says haughtily, but with a grin. "And I'll have you know that your wife just reports what's out there - Barry, you're pale. Did you forget your midnight snack again? You know your metabolism goes screwy when you don't eat enough."

Barry shakes his head and shrugs. He can't think of what to say. He can't think of - anything.

They look so happy.

"Sit and eat," Eddie says, looking at him with a frown. "Did we - did we actually wake you up? We didn't mean to."

"Like Barry would've slept through our kids getting ready to go school," Iris says, but she sounds doubtful. "They're total elephants and we do live right upstairs..."

Barry and Iris didn't have kids. They'd wanted to, of course, in the beginning, but then there was what happened to Nora and they'd never quite managed to get over that enough to start trying, not before the tragedies started - or worsened, really, it wasn't like their lives weren't full of tragedy before...

"Nora?" he croaks.

"No, Don and Dawn," Iris says, looking puzzled. "They're the maniacal little kindergarteners; little Nora's still cooking." She taps her belly, which now that Barry pays attention he notices is curved out slightly. "As you well know. Are you okay?"

Barry opens his mouth to tell them that there's been a timeline alteration, that someone's changed something - Eddie's alive, after all, and he shouldn't be - but then he stops.

If he tells them there's a timeline alteration, then they'll want to help him try to fix it.

They'll want to send him back.

Back to a world where he lives in his big apartment alone with the wreck of all his dreams, where Iris has quit her job to care for Joe, where...his friends...his friends...

"I think I have temporary amnesia," Barry says apologetically. "Can you catch me back up?"

"Uh, sure," Iris says, blinking at him. "Is this a Justice League thing?"

Barry shrugs apologetically.

"I'm going to text Diana very angrily about this," Iris says, who's never had Diana's phone number. No one had Diana's phone number, and once she went back to Thermiscyra it was a moot point anyway. "Or maybe Selina."

"Selina?"

"Batman's wife? Catwoman?"

"Oh," Barry says faintly. "Right. Her."

Batman got married?!

"Barry, please sit and eat something," Eddie says, coming over and putting a warm hand on his back. "Whatever's gone wrong, we'll help you fix it, you know that."

"I know," Barry says, his throat tight. "Uh. Can I ask you - about everyone else?"

"Sure," Iris says. "But then - as soon as we finish our appointments today - we're taking you to STAR Labs for Caitlin to check you."

"Caitlin's - at STAR Labs?"

"Well, no," Eddie says. "Only sometimes. She got that job in that hospital - Head of the Metahuman Wing, remember? Her and Killer Frost both?"

"Of course he doesn't remember, Eddie," Iris says. "He has amnesia."

"Well, I don't know how far back the amnesia goes -"

"Cisco?" Barry interrupts, a little desperately. "Joe?"

"Cisco's at STAR Labs," Iris agrees, clearly puzzled. "Probably setting up for his first class of the day -"

"Class?"

"Yeah, the Flash Engineering Corps," Eddie says, looking amused. "Best scholarship program in the Twin Cities - plus you get to work for a superhero while saving up for college. Iris' idea, of course."

"Shush, you. Joe's - well, Joe's probably dropping Jenna off at school after her dentist appointment, then dropping Cecile off at the DA's office, and then going into work at the CCPD as usual, I guess?"

Barry swallows hard. Caitlin herself, Cisco free, Joe aware...

There's got to be a catch.

"Oh, crap," Iris says abruptly. "Our appointment! Barry, we can deal with your amnesia later, but if we miss this, they won't let us have another, and then you won't have a suit for your wedding!"

...wait, what?

"Uh," Barry says.

"Listen, here, Barry Allen," Iris says. "I know you and Mick would probably get married in your underwear and a bathrobe if we let you, but damnit that is not going you happen, you get me?"

"Yes, ma'am," Barry says automatically, saluting her so that she laughs and punches his arm lightly.

His mind is still reeling. Mick? As in, Mick Rory? Formerly the supervillain Heatwave, most recently member of the Legends, kind of depressed almost all the time?

They're getting married?!

This can’t be right.

Barry checks his phone for confirmation. There’s a WhatsApp group chat titled “Justice League” that’s filled with jokes, that’s the first thing he notices – did Batman really just send around a bat emoji? really? will wonders never cease? – but Barry’s Facebook definitely seems to suggest that he’s marrying Mick Rory and that everyone is sending him congratulations on it.

“Barry,” Iris says. “Appointment. Time to get moving.”

There's a knock at the door.

"I've got it," Eddie says, and is at the door opening it before Barry can say anything - you don't open doors, you don't know who's waiting behind those doors with a gun and a grudge, that's how we lost Cecile, except here they didn't lose Cecile. "Oh, Snart, what are you doing here?"

Snart?

Wait, no, this is good - in Barry's universe, Snart had recently returned from the dead to assume some sort of mystical magical position or something, something Constantine called "Destiny of the Endless". Barry's not entirely sure what he does - it seems to involve a lot of reading - but it did mean that he spends most of his days in his garden house outside of time.

And if he's outside of time, he wouldn't be affected by the timeline changes!

"- just need to borrow Barry for a bit," Snart is saying apologetically. His hood is up over his head and his eyes are glowing that inhuman blue that Barry's still not used to, and he has his ridiculous Book in hand; he's definitely still Destiny here. "I'll get him to the fitting, don't worry; just meet us there."

"Fine, I'm trusting you," Iris says, shaking her head at him. "C'mon, Eddie; you can drop me off before you go to work - Barry will catch up later, apparently. But don't you dare be late, Bar!"

"Uh," Barry says.

"Later than usual," she amends.

"Okay," he says, because that seems slightly more plausible.

They leave and Barry turns onto Snart. "Do you know -" he starts, only for Snart to interrupt.

"I'm sorry," he says.

Barry stares at him. "Oh god," he says. "It's affected you, too."

Snart scowls at him. "It has not," he snaps. "But I promised Mick those'd be the first words out of my mouth."

That seemed pretty plausible. Mick could get Snart to do just about anything.

"And I am," Snart adds grudgingly. "Sorry. I guess."

That sounds more like it.

"You're behind the timeline change?"

Snart winces. "Bit more than a timeline change," he says. "I'm - listen, I'm new at this whole Destiny thing, okay?"

"...yeah..?"

"I was - multitasking."

Barry's never heard that word imbued with such gravitas portending doom.

(Does the ability to do that come with the Destiny job?)

"Okay, and?" he asks.

"Turns out that's a bad idea," Len says grimly.

"What did you do, Snart?"

"I was reading from the Book," Snart says. "You know, the one that describes how reality operates?"

He shakes it pointedly.

Barry just gives him a look.

"Anyway, Mick was on my case about - something - and he mentioned you a few times - as a good influence or something - and, uh, I may have lost my temper a bit -"

"Snart. What did you do."

"I said, 'if you like Barry Allen so much, maybe you should marry him'," Snart says, looking hideously embarrassed.

As he should.

"What are you, five?" Barry asks. "I haven't heard that used as a comeback since first grade."

Possibly third. Maybe even fifth.

Barry was never really good at comebacks.

That's not the point.

"The point is," Snart says, "is that by saying that while reading the Book, reality got a little...confused."

"Confused," Barry says flatly.

"It - may have reshuffled itself into a world in which you and Mick are getting married."

“No kidding,” Barry says. He’s already figured that out. “And I don’t remember the new backstory because…?”

“Speed Force,” Snart says with a shrug. “Protects you from timeline shifts for the most part, or at least your memories. You should start getting the memories from this timeline in a few months, though.”

“Just like it was with Flashpoint?” It’d taken all summer before Barry’s old memories started fading in favor of the new ones.

“Yeah, like that,” Snart says.

Barry considers this. “…can it be changed back?” he asks after a long moment.

“It can,” Snart says. “But Mick doesn’t really want to – there’s some friends of his on the Legends that died. Sometimes in pretty nasty ways. Anyway, they’re back now. But he says I have to check with you as to what you want.”

“My memories of this world will start coming in in a few months?”

“Yeah. You’ll still remember the old world, though; it’ll just be overlaid with, like, important event memories so that you're not always asking about backstory.”

“Okay, then,” Barry says.

“…what does that mean?” Snart asks suspiciously.

“It means ‘okay’,” Barry says. “Thus far, this world seems a lot better than the one I left behind so, you know, screw that.”

He wasn't able to stay in Flashpoint because what he had to give up was so great, but the world he's left behind now? The world of misery and death and the endless despair of being a Jonah?

Seriously.

Screw that.

“You have a whole brand new set of enemies,” Snart warns him.

“Not exactly a new experience,” Barry says with a shrug. “Cisco and Caitlin can catch me up until I get the memories.”

“My sister’s developed plant-related powers and lives in Gotham now.”

“…weird and not exactly on-theme for her, but that sounds like Batman’s problem, not mine.”

“You kind of have to marry Mick.”

“Have to?”

“The entire reality rewrite is based on it,” Snart says. “The whole thing won’t fix into place until you both say ‘I do.’”

“But we could theoretically get divorced afterwards?”

“Yeah, no problem. It’d take you a year, legally speaking, but you can do it.”

A year married to Mick Rory, in exchange for Iris happily married with kids (and living upstairs, no less), Joe still functional, Cisco free and teaching, Caitlin at a hospital, a proper Justice League friendship group, and even some of the Legends brought back?

Yeah, like that’s a tough choice.

“I’m in,” Barry says. “Can I talk with Mick about this? He remembers everything, right?”

“Yes, he does, and he’s coming back tomorrow,” Snart says. “Legends, you know, they’re not always great on timing.”

“I do know that,” Barry says. “Uh – how does Mick feel about it? The marriage thing? Does he just want to pretend our way through it, or…?”

It’s not like Barry would really object if Mick wanted to give the marriage thing an actual go. He’s touch-starved, he’s apparently single, and he’s always been aware that Mick is ridiculously hot.

No pun intended.

(Damnit, villains!)

Snart smirks.

“Like I said,” he drawls. “He likes you. In fact, he likes you so much that he oughta marry you – and look at that, so you are.”

Barry shakes his head. “Whatever,” he says. He’ll talk about it with Mick directly; that’ll make more sense. “Now, if you don’t mind, I’ve got a suit fitting to go to.”

Maybe, if he’s lucky, he’s arrived early enough to still help out with the cake-tasting selection…

(Mick ends up making all the cake samples. Barry would marry him just for that.)

[the-stories-in-my-head-95]

Love at First Punch- Part 2

Damian Wayne x Reader

Summary- Reader is the daughter of green arrow and black canary and first meets Damian a couple weeks after he starts to live with Bruce. He says something rude and you punches him in the face and it’s been happily ever after ever since. When you are 18 you, Damian and Bart Allen get sucked into another universe. One where Thomas Wayne, your grandfather and Nora Allen are all alive and they are founding members of their justice league. In an attempt to get back to your universe Bart accidentally brings you to another universe where you are ambushed and taken into custody by none other than the Avengers. Will the three of you make it back home?

Message- Here’s Part 2! It’s kinda long! The three of them meet their grandparents for the first time! Sorry if it sucks!

Background  Part 1

Word Count- 1952

“That is the most exclusive night club in the country! How exactly are we going to get in?” Blue Beetle asked. It had been a little more than 10 years since Damian’s and your “wedding”, the two of you were still together and still very happy.

“We’ve got it taken care of, Blue. Don’t worry about it.” You say as you look at Damian.

“Okay, White Canary.” Blue Beetle huffs.

“Now that we have that taken care of, let’s go over team assignments.” Nightwing says. “Alpha squad- Robin, White Canary, and Impulse. The three of you will be in the club- undercover.” The three of you nod. “Beta squad- Blue Beetle, Miss Martian and I. We will be look out, and will be staying outside of the club. You three should go get ready and then head out. Miss Martian will establish a link when we get there.”

“Wait, they are going in without us there? No way that’s too dangerous.” Blue Beetle asks.

“TT, it is to protect our identities and we can take care of ourselves.” Damian growls. You put your hand on his forearm and he looks at you and sighs. “But thank you for your concern. Canary, Impulse, let’s go get ready.” You and Bart get up and follow Damian out.

“Don’t worry, Blue. I’ll see you after the mission.” Bart says as you walk out the door. You hear a faint adios as you walk down the hall. “So what’s my cover? I mean you’re Y/N Queen and Damian’s a Wayne, the two of you are considered American royalty. Of course they’ll let the two of you in, but I’m no one. I’m a leech who’s attached themselves to two heirs to two multi-billion dollar companies.” Bart says.

“Hey, you’re Impulse and you’re super smart and funny. Just because you’re not an heir to a huge company or whatever doesn’t mean you’re a nobody and you’re sure as hell not a leech. You are our friend, Bart. Hell you were the only person at our wedding all those years ago. Where is this coming from?”

“Some asshole at school said something to me before the semester ended.” That made you sigh, the three of you had just finished your first semester at Ivy University. Damian and you were renting an apartment for the three of you near the school.

“Don’t listen to assholes like that, Bart. You’re my oldest and closest friend. Damian and I don’t think of you like that and it hurts me to think that your thinking about yourself like that.” You say as you pull him into a hug.

“Thanks, Y/N.” Bart murmurs.

“You’re welcome. Come on, we need to get ready.” You say as the two of you walk to the exit of the cave, where the zeta beams are. “Also, I think you’ve been holding out on me. What’s going on with you and Blue?”

“What!? Nothing! We’re just friends! He’s not gay! I mean I don’t think he is.” Bart stutters out as he blushes.

“But you like him don’t you?” You ask.

“Yeah.” Bart sighs.

“TT, what took the two of you so long?” Damian asks.

“We were just gossiping, my love.” You say as you wrap your arms around Damian and then you give him a quick kiss.

“We should get going, Beloved.” Damian says and you nod. The three of you walk through the zeta beam.

***

The three of you were dressed to the nines. You were wearing stiletto heels, a black bodycon dress and a fur coat. Damian and Bart were both wearing slacks and button down shirts. You had stashed your gear in the ally way behind the club. There was a long line on the side walk but the three of you walked right up to the bouncer. Damian wrapped his arm around your waist as you stopped in front of the bouncer.

“Name?”

“We are not on the list.” Damian says.

“Then you all need to wait in line.” The bouncer says.

“Do you know who we are? We don’t wait in lines. Get your manager.” Damian growls, acting like the spoiled heir he often uses as a public persona. The bouncer rolls his eyes but takes out a walkie talkie and asks for the manager. A couple of minutes later a man in a suit comes out and looks at the three of you. His eyes go big as he recognizes you.

“Mr. Wayne, Miss Queen! I’m so sorry you had to wait. Please come in, the two of you and your friend are more than welcome to come in.”

“Thank you, we didn’t mind waiting.” You say as you walk into the club. The manager flutters around you for a couple minutes, but you tell him that you would like to go to the VIP area. He leads you there and then leave the three of you alone.

Nightwing here. Are the three of you in? You hear in your head.

Yes. You think back. The link is left open as the three of you look keep a look out for anything suspicious. The intel that Batman had found was vague. Then you see him. Klarion. You watch as he goes into the back room.

“Bart, get our gear.” You whisper. He nods and speeds off. He’s back in seconds. The three of you rush off to change and then Bart runs the three of you into the backroom.

What’s going on? Nightwing says through the bond.

Klarion Bart thinks.

Wait for us to engage Miss Martian says.

To late You think as Klarion spots you. You draw your bow and arrow and aim it at him.

“Well, Well. If it isn’t the Junior Justice League.” Klarion says “I don’t have time to deal with the three of you, right now.” He says as he waves his hand and opens a portal. Then you uses his magic to push the three of you in. It happens so fast that not even Bart has time to fight back. You feel metal as you fall back through the portal, then before you can do anything it’s closed. You look to you left and see Damian and Bart laying in a similar position. Then the three of you get up and look around.

“He transported us to the watchtower?” Bart asks.

“I guess, but it looks different. Darker almost.” You murmur. Then you hear a door open and you turn to see who entered the room. A man dressed in a darker version of your Dads suit walks in. He looks like your Dad but older. Maybe you had traveled through time. “Dad?” you ask. The man gives you a strange look.

“Who are you? How did you get up here?”

“Dad it’s me. I think that we’ve been gone for a long time, but you’ve gotta recognize your own daughter. Where’s mom?” You ask.

“I don’t have a daughter.” The man says and then he quickly shoots three arrows towards the three of you and a black gas fills the space around you. Then everything goes black.

***

You feel cold water hit your face and you jolt awake.

“Good you’re awake. We’ve been waiting on you.” A women dressed in a flash costume says. You look around you and see Damian and Bart tied to two other chairs. They both have inhibitor colors on and then you realize that you do to.

“Are you okay, Beloved?” Damian asks.

“Could be better. But yeah, I’m okay.” You say.

“Stop taking!” A man dressed a batman says. “How did you get here?”

“Answer him!” The man you had mistaken as your father says after a short pause.

“He said stop talking!” Bart yells at the three men. “Now, what did you do with the Justice League? Where are you holding them?”

“Justice League? Don’t you mean Justice Society?” The woman asks.

“Oh my God! That stupid little witch boy! I’m gonna kill him when we get back!” You yell. “My name is Y/N Queen, my dad’s name is Oliver Queen.” You hear the man dressed like your father take a sharp breath in. “That’s Damian Wayne, his dad is Bruce Wayne.” The man dressed like batman’s jaw drops. “And that is Bart Allen, his dad is Barry Allen.” The women dressed as the Flash gasps. “I’m guessing that the three of you are Robert Queen, Thomas Wayne and Nora Allen. I’m right, right?”

“Beloved, what are you talking about? Our grandfathers and Bart’s grandmother are dead.” Damian says.

“Oh my God, this is a different dimension isn’t it? One where you all survived and your sons died. I’m guessing Oliver died in a ship wreck, Bruce died in a mugging gone wrong and my dad was killed by a man in a yellow suit? But his father was arrested for the murder.” Bart says.

“H-how do you know all that?” Nora murmurs.

“Were your grandkids, from a dimension where you all died, but your sons lived. They lived and then had us and they trained us to fight and to protect our cities and our world.” You say. “If you don’t believe us, run DNA tests.” You say. The three of them leave and come back with scanners. After a couple minutes the three of them nod at one another and move to release you. You move towards Damian and he pulls you into a kiss.

“Ugh, I swear, the world could be ending and those two would find time to make out.” Bart says to your grandparents.

“So, our grandkids are…” Thomas starts.

“Hopelessly in love, together, married, childhood sweethearts, or disgusting. Take your pick.” Bart says as he rolls his eyes.

“Your just jealous.” You say as you pull away from Damian. Bart shrugs.

“You guys are what, 18. How are you married already? Is that normal in your dimension.”

“We’re not legally married, Bart married the two of us at Wayne manor when we were kids.” Damian says as he takes your hand.

“I was 8 and he was 9. It was the day we met.” You say as you smile at Damian. “He was a real jerk to me and Bart. So I punched him in the face.”

“Then we both apologized and we started to play. I asked her to marry me in the garden while we were playing hide and seek.” Damian murmured.

“The wedding was a private affair, since we were afraid the grownups would stop us. So Bart was the only one there. After the ceremony we danced. Then I asked my dad to have a father-daughter dance and all hell broke loose. I’m pretty sure my dad demanded we get a divorce.” You say as you smile.

“That’s adorable.” Nora says as she looks at the three of you.

“Yeah, there parents came around to it eventually.” Bart says.

“The three of you have had a pretty crazy day. Why don’t you get some sleep and we can talk more tomorrow.” Your grandfather says.

“Sleep actually sounds really good right now.” You murmur. Your grandfather nods and you all follow him out of the room. He leads you to the medical wing.

“Sorry, we don’t have any spare rooms with beds up here.” Nora says.

“This is fine. Thank you.” Bart says as he sits on one of the medical coats. Both you and Damian do the same.

“We will bring the three of you breakfast in the morning.” Thomas says.

“Thank you.” You murmur as they shut the door. “This is insane.” You say to Damian and Bart.

“Yeah.” They both say back. Then you lay down and try to get some rest.

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[an-bouwer]

Favorite fics 2017

Hello! First of all, my English is very bad, lol—so, this gonna be ‘a bit badly written’. I apologize for my awful English but I wanted to do it by this way. And that all, thanks for reading! 

Well, I was just thinking about how much fanfiction I’ve been reading this year, and with that, what were my favorite, so I want to make a list of my 10 favorite fanfictions. Although they are not ordered by number or something, they are all equally great and fantastic.

→ Tumbling Together by RedHead [you can find her in her Tumblr too]

When Barry and Len discover that they’ve accidentally become neighbors, they learn to navigate their new living situation amongst misunderstandings and a surprising amount of common ground. AKA the fun-as-it-comes Neighbors!AU which turns into a Pretend Relationship!AU filled with tropes, hijinks, and some vague notion of a plot.

This is my first fanfiction about ColdFlash, a friend mine was reading it and I was interested. IT WAS AMAZING. The situations in which Barry and Len put themselves for pretending were so funny. And RedHead’s writing was so exactly, so in character.

→ An All Too Jagged Snowflake by RedHead

When Leonard and Barry discover that they're Soulmates, they struggle with the many, many issues this causes. It might be easier without the collective difficulties of the Rogues, a meta-gorilla, and the military, but life has never been simple for either of them.

Another ColdFlash and another from RedHead, yep, I know. But, what can I say?

I was not really into Soulmates but when I read this, just—well, I love it. JUST THE ANGST, AND THE FREAKING POLT, AND—I can’t. Is too much for my heart. Len and Barry made me angry every time they something stupid, and that was often.

I love this fic so much, really, so much that I wanted to translate it into Spanish and RedHead gave me the permission to do [she deserves love]. So I do it! If you want read it, you can do it here -> Un Copo de Nieve Demasiado Afilado.

→ Dead Like Us by theoriginalicecreamqueen  [you can find her in her Tumblr too]

Barry Allen had a great life. He loved his job, his family, and his best friend (even if he hadn't told her yet). When Barry died, he never would have guessed that his afterlife as a Grim Reaper would make him feel more alive than ever.

When I start read this I was no sure ‘cuz the ‘Slow Burn’ tag and the incomplete fic, they were things that hurt me, but I’m a masochist, hahaha—but now, I’m waiting for the next chapter. Barry makes me want to protect him from everything. HE’S TOO PRECIOUS FOR THE WORLD. Not, but, the fic really is very good, the plot about reapers doing their job is interesting. And fics about Rogues are my jam.    

→ By Any Other Name by cardinalstar

Since gaining ice powers in the wake of the particle accelerator explosion, Detective Leonard Snart has been on the front lines of the CCPD’s fight against metahuman crime. At first, the Flash is just another in a long line of superpowered criminals, but the arrival of the Scarlet Speedster brings new problems for Central City’s finest. Len soon finds himself in an odd stalemate with the enigmatic metahuman who's making a place for himself in the criminal underground - and who also seems determined to become Len’s friend.

Len is sure he’s got all the weird he can deal with – until he meets Barry Allen, newly-transferred assistant CSI from the CCPD.

Other ColdFlash fic, sorry, this year was about this OTP. The au fics, more those of canon divergence are my favorites. A different story that other one we know is the best, it’s like the things really did not change much, because the holes in the plot are filled. So, about the fic, Len with powers and Barry a little badass is something wonderful, another thing I like. The plot is awesome, no a just pwp fic.    

→ *Seeking Comfort by ColdSerenity [you can find her in her Tumblr too]

Barry's life is changing as he finally starts college, but he still continues to harbor feelings for Iris. After meeting senior Leonard Snart who is in a similar situation, they begin to use one another for comfort. Unfortunately, things quickly turn very serious for Barry, and he is left to wonder where Len stands in this 'make believe' relationship.

Is the last, I promise!   Au, ya know, is the best. Plot, porn, otp = SUCH AMAZING. The characters are in character (lol) and the story is simple but nice, so nice, if you want something without angst but good to read, this is the option.  

→ Are We Dating? by Hermineuh [you can find her in her Tumblr or FanFiction too]

Dean is a cop who spent five years undercover in a notorious criminal organization. Now that his work is done, he must readjust to a civilian lifestyle, learn to say goodbye to loved ones and embrace what he left behind. And he tries. Oh, does he try hard! He wants to take his time, go at his own pace, but this damn blue-eyed guy keeps pushing him out of his comfort zone.

A no-ColdFlash fic, yeah!

I am in the Supernatural Fandom since 2 years but I never read this fic, and in Tumblr I found the drawings by vinnie-cha and with that the fic. Dean as a policeman falling with his psychiatrist it’s enough for me. Like, yeah! And both, story and art is so seriously great. I love it. And, well, I asked for the permission to translate it, if you want read it into Spanish you can do it here -> ¿Estamos Saliendo?

Well, from here they are crossovers.

→ *Emrys Ascending by tricksterity [you can find her in her Tumblr too]

In the depths of the Crystal of Neahtid, Merlin sees the resurrection of Lord Voldemort, an event that will tip the balance of the world so far out that only he has the power to intervene and set it right, or stop it from ever happening. For that, he'll have to pose as a student and attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

The only problem is, he's been chosen instead of Cedric Diggory as a Triwizard Champion, and there's a recently reborn Arthur Pendragon in Gryffindor House.

JUST. LISTEN. READ. THIS.    

MERLIN BBC X HARRY POTTER. NOW READ IT.

It’s like, agh! In the years that I have been in the fandom [both] never search for something like this, but I do it and I love it. It’s a shame that there isn’t more material so good like this [or at least I haven’t searched well]. BAMF!Merlin is so…! I love him.     

→ 480 Days by wisepuma23

Merlin has long stopped questioning the sights of strange men and beasts, he only now---what do the youngsters call it these days?---he "rolls with it".

A multi-crossover of a lot of fandoms with Merlin. GREAT! And make me cry. BECAUSE MERLIN KEEP WAITING.  

→ Across the Universe by bettername2come  [you can find her in her Tumblr too]

Sam and Dean search out a way to re-open the portal to the alternate universe to save Mary. Good news: they find an alternate universe. Bad news: it's not the one they were looking for.

And, my head just wonder ‘The Flash-Supernatural crossover exists?’ and yeah, it does. This is so wonderful. And then, in my hype I ask for the permission for translate it and bettername2come said yes! If you want read it, you can do it here -> A través del Universo

→ The Triwizard Tournament featuring the Legends of Super Flarrow by StillNotGinger10 (lilshorty7923)

This year, Hogwarts is hosting the Triwizard Tournament. This means that Barry and co. are in store for a lot of excitement, new adventures, and new students this year.

And this. THIS. The Flash was a really influential this year... I like Hogwarts au and I found this. It’s no really just one fic, is a series about Barry and his friends in Hogwarts [duh] when The Triwizard Tournament is carried out. And yes, is amazing. I like a lot and I waiting for more.

And that’s all. Just the best 10 for me. I hope real more fanfiction the next year and do this one more time.

The fics with the * is because I have the permission to translate them—I’m a such obsessive with that, idk, I like to share fics I like with people who can’t read them in their original language, and I also like to share incredible stories in another language so that more people know them.    

[totesmccoats]

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Secret Empire #7

How are there still three more issues of this?

Black Widow and her Red Room prepare for their final mission of assassinating Steve Rogers. Meanwhile, the fight outside the shield gets more desperate, to the point where Carol Danvers begs for Quasar to wake up from her coma to help. And a prediction from Civil War II might finally come true.

This book suffers from the poor pacing of this event, as most event books nowadays does. Maybe two things of note happen in this entire issue, both within 3 pages of each other, and neither of which seems to matter all that much two pages after. That’s not good storytelling.

And, neither is the big reveal of the who the Red Room was rescuing a few issues ago either. It’s one of those mystery boxes that it doesn’t make sense to keep in-universe, and involves an obscure enough character that their reveal isn’t that spectacular out-of-universe, either.

  Black Panther #16

While Ororo handles the storms raging across Wakanda, T’Challa goes to New York to investigate the kidnapping of Asira, which leads him to finding “the black Bruce Banner.”

I wanna give a mention to T’Challa’s suit at the beginning of this issue, because that outfit is perfect.

And, for what feels a little like an issue-long diversion, T’Challa’s trip to New York is dense with racial tags, from this issue’s villains repeatedly calling T’Challa and his allies monkeys to T’Challa’s talk with Doctor Franklin about why he’s more than just the “black” shadow of a white man.

I’m not sure exactly how this will connect to the larger arc, but if you’re gonna sidetrack from a story, this is how you do it.

  All-Star Batman #12

The issue begins with Batman using two torpedoes to launch a sinking submarine out of the water, but then focuses on Alfred’s connection to the mysterious and talented new villain.

This issue is mainly exposition, as Alfred tells Bruce about the Nemesis program, and the origin of the new villain. To be honest, the narration’s through-line comparing Batman to a pirate story doesn’t really do anything for me, but the way that Snyder borrows from The Dark Knight to flesh out Nemesis does. Also, Batman getting on a sinking submarine’s PA system to announce himself as “Captain Batman,” and then being saved from drowning by mermaids is the sort of stuff I read comics for.

But the thing that stood out most for me this issue is how boyishly Albuquerque is drawing Bruce Wayne in this story. He has rounder features than usual, and we see him visibly scared in moments, which makes us look at Bruce the same way Alfred does – as a child often outside his depths, someone needing care and protection, which ties into Alfred’s narration in this arc about how he’s raised Batman.

Also, I’m noticing for the first time how much Albuquerque and Scavone’s writing, and  Fiumara, Mulvihall, and Loughridge’s art style – in the backup story – is influenced by Miller and Mazzucchelli’s work on Year One, which, if you’re going to emulate a Batman story, is one of the better choices.

  Wonder Woman #27

Well, the bomb from the end of the first issue is a non-issue in this one, which makes this issue start off feeling very cheap. And the rest of the issue doesn’t do much to change that feeling, with the one negative repercussion from the explosion being very minor; and the villain being beaten without any real drama in the fight.

  The Flash #27

They broke Barry Allen.

This issue is a whopper. With negative speed-force coursing through his system, Barry loses his control and gives Eobard the beat-down he’s always deserved. But what Eobard has done to Barry can’t be beaten with a punch. To say much more would spoil things, and if you like the Flash at all, you should go into this issue fresh as possible. Needless to say, I can’t wait to see where Williamson takes things from here.

  Saga #45

Petrichor gets captured and hung from a tree by the centaur bandits who want her to snitch on the location of the others; and Alana is accidentally creating the ghost of her terminated son to play with Hazel at the cost of her own cardiac health.

And yet, this is one of Saga’s more uplifting issues. It’s one where things end on a kinda high note, even if ambivalently so. With some help, Petrichor finds a way to beat her captors, while Hazel gets to spend time bonding with the brother she’ll never have while also learning to use her powers. And nobody dies this issue! So, you know, that’s a plus.

Hazel may be getting older, but she’s no less adorable, as evidenced by her playing with the projection of her brother. There’s just something so…pure…about her reaction to getting farted on by her phantom brother; oh and I guess the hug between the two is cute too. But if there’s one thing I know from Saga, it’s that Staples can illustrate a fart with emotional weight.

  Crosswind #2

Cason and June get a phone call from a man claiming responsibility for putting them in each-other’s bodies, and promising punishment should either of them misbehave. Luckily, and refreshingly for this genre, they each adapt pretty quickly to their new lives. June uses her background as an aspiring author to fake her way through talking to fellow criminals, and her experience looking after two men to clean the crime scene while the body gets disposed of. Meanwhile, Cason prepares one of his mother’s dishes for June’s Husband’s boss coming over for dinner, and even manages to discipline her son.

The last issue established each character’s lives and gave us an idea of their “types,” and this issue does a great job of fleshing Case and June out as people deeper than their circumstances. We find out that the previously timid June is actually quite level headed during a crisis, while manly-man Cason doesn’t mind a little homemaking and ain’t a half-bad host, neither.

Next issue seems to be the start of the conflict of how each will solve the other’s problems given their own unique takes on the circumstances; and if Simone is able to expand each character in the same ways she did in this issue, then I’ll be excited to see where she can take this story.

Comic Reviews for 7/26/17 Secret Empire #7 How are there still three more issues of this? Black Widow and her Red Room prepare for their final mission of assassinating Steve Rogers.

[canaryatlaw]

Today was......I don't know. It was emotional. Which I guess shouldn't be surprising given its events, but it's never been like this on this case before, at the other hearings. It was just all so real today. But, I'll start from the beginning. I fucked up walking up somehow, I don't even remember how because I was still half asleep, but I got a text off to my supervisor saying I'd be in at 11 and that was fine since we didn't have any morning obligations. I'm never happy when I do things like that because it makes me feel lazy and unmotivated, but oh well. I got to work at 11 and did some more prison call listening (and candy crush playing) which didn't reveal anything all that rich. Idk if I told you, there was one call from the other day that was like the motherlode, they were insulting everyone in the courtroom and saying they should be prosecuted for what they've done and how the GAL has it out for the caseworker and just all of these absolutely ridiculous statements that I couldn't even write down fast enough, so I think that'll be plenty. We were scheduled for 1:30 for our case to come back up but their courtroom was running late so I kept popping into my former boss' office to see if he was up here yet haha, around 12:45 he arrived and not too long the foster parents were there and we were ready to go. The proceedings were.....interesting. So it's the second phase of the termination trial, where the subject is only the best interest of the children, not the parents constitutional right to parent or whatever. The state and GAL (us) had already rested, so it was just time for the 3 defense attorneys to put up their cases, which of course got hectic. Dad #1, who wasn't involved in "the incident" but is just a gang member who deals drugs, went first, so he testified about loving his kids and such and then they had his mother and his sister testify as to how they had rented a house where they could all live if they let the kids return home to them, but like, the dad was already found depraved because of his felony convictions, plus he's done zero services, so that's going be a stretch. I do genuinely have empathy for the family members because they haven't done anything wrong here, but again, this is about the best interest of the children, not the family members. So then dad #2 went, which was probably the most interesting point. First she had the dad's grandma testify with a Spanish interpreter, I guess just about how she wanted her great grandkids in her life and how close their family is and all that. There was a great moment on cross when she said something about telling the dad they didn't like his "girlfriend" and the ASA was like REALLY LETS EXPLORE THIS and I had to cover my smirk, which is really something I need to get better at because I get far too amused during court proceedings. The real show through was with the letter dad #2 wanted admitted to the judge but we wouldn't stipulate to foundation, so the dad (when I'm talking about this dad, remember he's actually a 17/18 year old) had to get on the stand to establish he wrote the letter and such, and then of course it was time for cross and we wanted to get into the contents of the letter, but the judge kept the scope pretty limited, but that's TBC....I don't think moms attorney actually called any witnesses, she just admitted some certificates of classes mom had completed is jail. I mean, there's really no valid argument she could've made there given the circumstances. Anyone they put on the stand could be massively screwed on cross. So then she rested and there gets to be "rebuttal" and we were kind of colluding with the ASA and we decided to call dad 2 as our witness and ask about the letter which were are allowed to do, though his lawyer objected since the GAL doesn't have the burden of proof they shouldn't be able to do rebuttal, but the judge overruled that. So they got into the letter and really grilled him on it, a lot of it was argumentative by nature cuz he's like "I'm a changed man since I've seen my children born" so the question is "so before this you didn't know it was wrong to starve a 4 year old to death?" Part of the reason we called him though instead of the state is because then technically the state gets to cross and has a better scope. I was watching his attorney while the questioning was happening and it started to look like she was maybe giving him cues for answers??? Like I couldn't tell if she was just kind of nodding along in solidarity or cueing him when to say yes, so I motion for the ASA and tell him and we both just end up looking at her for the rest of the questioning. It was probably nothing, or if anything harmless, but I felt kind of proud of myself for noticing it and bringing attention t it, lol. The letter started with him saying "first I just wanted to say I'm sorry for everything" and the ASA just stood up and was like "so what are you sorry for?" And he goes to answer but then his lawyer jumps up and is like MY CLIENT IS ASSERTING HIS FIFTH AMENDMENT RIGHT AGAINST SELF INCRIMINATION AND REFUSES TO ANSWER so the judge just asked him are you going to take your attorneys advice? And he said yes and didn't answer and it was epic because that was EXACTLY what we wanted to happen because it makes him look guilty as sin, and it's something the finder of fact is allowed to draw negative inferences from. So that was great. Then it was just closing arguments, and things got heavy. State went first of course, and laid out the trauma these kids have experienced and how they now have permanency in each of their foster homes and it was in their best interest to have their parental rights terminated. So then we went. Since our clients are the kids of course we talked more about them, and my former boss was talking about what the siblings said in the VSI's about how they lived in the home with the corpse of their dead sibling for days while having to listen to the mom and boyfriend talk about ways to dispose of the body, including, which I hadn't heard up until this point, knocking his teeth out with a baseball bat so they couldn't identify him by dental records. And for whatever reason, that fact was my tipping point. I could feel my heart just sinking in my chest and I closed my eyes for a few seconds to try and compose myself. And I managed to do so for when I had to. The defense closing arguments were like- dad #1- well he wasn't involved in killing the kid and he has good family support, dad #2 cited some specific passages of the juvenile court act about culture and tradition and then just said to consider the age of her client and how is rehabilitatable. I think moms attorney just adopted their argument about culture and stuff and that was pretty much it. At the start the judge told us he wasn't gonna give a ruling today, he'd take it under advisement and return for a ruling on another date. So we got another date, June 22nd (of course over a month away). I can't blame him though, because this is such a high profile case he has to make sure he gets everything right because no matter what this case will be appealed and he has to do everything he possibly can to make sure that doesn't happen. We might actually get a written opinion out of it, which I'd be super interested to read (we almost never get written opinions out of trial courts). But yeah, that about ended the day. Bus home, made dinner quickly and accidentally melted part of the plastic handle of the rubber spatula by leaving it in the pan and having it rest on the side....oops. At least it was minor. And then it was time to watch the flash. Spoilers ahead, obviously. I think I had actually managed to not get myself too worked up about Snart returning and was going into it with the mindset that I may not get what I want here, so I think that made the overall actions, although still disappointing, at least more bearable. But yes, I'm disappointed that they didn't take this as an opportunity to bring him back to life when they could've easily worked it into the storyline. There was a moment, when Len was trapped in with King shark and Barry was on the other side of the door I was like OH SHIT because the timeline damage if Len got killed right there instead of the oculus.....??????? Like holy fuck, that could've gone in so many directions. But that was quickly handled so crisis averted. I did very much enjoy captain cold in the episode, he was at top snark level and pretty much everything he did was fantastic. On the rest of the episode, well it felt extremely weak to me for Lyla to be like "no" upfront and then after Barry fucking breaks into ARGUS and like potentially compromised national security she was like "oh take it because it's true love!"......I was just like, really? That was the best you could do? Just...ugh. Return Len to Siberia, as has been noted is not a location that we know of the legends visiting yet, was interesting, but I feel like this is more them retconning and being lazy in not exactly wanting to establish when during season 1 of LOT did they grab him from rather than we're going to go to Siberia in 1892 with Len on the waverider in the future. I would love to be proven wrong there, though. The ending...I wasn't expecting them to go as far as they did because they still need a fucking season finale, but they did go there and I'm sorry, I don't believe for two seconds that Iris is actually "dead" and the fucking season finale is just them mourning. Like, no. I've never for a second believed they were actually going to kill off Iris, and that's only gotten stronger as the season goes on. That being said I have no idea how they're gonna fix this next episode, but they've come up with enough creative/ridiculous solutions to seemingly impossible problems before so I'm sure they'll figure something out. I could probably keep going but for times sake I'll move on because PRISON BREAK. Just yes, all the Wentworth Miller on my tv screen <3 and Michael and Sara reunited and it was the most precious thing ever and everything I could've dreamed of and then FUCKING HANK HAS TO SHOW UP AND RUIN EVERYTHING WHEN I TOLD YOU ALL HE WAS A BAD EGG TO BEGIN WITH. FUCKING HANK. (If you're really confused right now, just know that I refuse to refer to Jacob by his actual character name because I hate him too much). It was a good twist though, but now I'm like ahhhh for Michael Jr and Sara's safety as this fucking nut job is running around and of course Linc and Michael and crew have to find their way back into the US, so that'll bring all sorts of new adventures. So that was good. I didn't do much of substance after that, so I think I'm gonna call it here and go to bed because it's really late and I have to actually force my ass out of bed at 7 am. So goodnight babes. Stay sweet.

[ancientbooshartifacts]

More Tomfoolery

Author: The_Leechwife

Year: 2006

Rating: PG-13

Pairing: Naboo/Saboo

A swollen moon hung low over Wickham Caves, casting its wan light over the packed field of revellers, heaving like a huge single-minded disco-entity in time to pounding music. Somewhere near the middle of the throng, a very small man in a lopsided blue turban and a tall individual with ginger hair and a raincoat accidentally knocked into each other. “’Right Barry!” Naboo yelled over the thumping trance. Barry squinted through the strobe lights and his face lit up with recognition. “Alright Naboo, haven’t see you in ages!" The gangly Welshman slapped Naboo on the back so heartily that he was almost knocked of his feet. “Not since Morocco last year!” Naboo grinned fondly at the recollection. “Yeah, you ate that whole sheet of acid because you didn't think you could get it through Carpet Customs.” “I know, I lost two days!” Barry wiped a tear of merriment from the corner of his eye. “What’s new with you, Naboo?” “I’ve found myself a new familiar, met him at the zoo, he’s alright. Hey Bollo!” “Huh?” The gorilla was accosted mid-boogie and turned round, lowering his two handfuls of glow-sticks. “Barry, this is Bollo. Bollo, Barry.” “Alright Bollo!” Barry shook hands with the ape as best he could. “Alright.” Bollo peered over his holographic visor to regard this strange cagooled figure with the massively dilated pupils. Naboo had only hired Bollo three weeks previously, and this was his first festival as an official familiar. He'd never seen so many people off their tits in one place! “’Ere, Naboo, I can’t hear bugger all, let’s pop in there for a bit.” Barry nodded at a huge white marquee at the edge of the field. “Yeah alright, c’mon Bollo” The trio entered the chillout tent and picked their way though the groups of wizards, shamans and assorted occult personages in various states of intoxication. Barry and Naboo found a place on a heap of cushions set up round one of numerous hookahs, there were several other figures in white robes sprawled nearby, but they were mainly transfixed by the patterns of the blue lights, staring up and giggling intermittently. Both shamans picked up the nearest hose and inhaled. “That’s better,” Barry looked around in satisfaction, “I was goin’ a bit mad out there. I’m pilling my face off!” “Get us some drinks, would you Bollo? Get one for Barry too while you’re there.” Naboo patted the gorilla on the arm and he lumbered off with minimal complaining. Barry squinted at his hairy back though thick glasses. “He’s a bit bigger than you usually go for isn’t he?” “Yeah, those frogs were doing my head in, cheeky sods. And there’s no chance of me accidentally smoking Bollo either.” “Ha ha, yeah. You and those frogs. Mental.” Barry turned to pass the hookah hose to the person next to him, and did a double take when he managed to resolve her features into a coherent picture. “Alright sexy, I’m Barry. Remember that name, you’ll be screaming it later.” The ample woman adjusted her robe around her frankly enormous bosom. “I’m Blossom, I’m here with my sisters.” She giggled coyly. “Sisters?” Barry’s smile widened. Blossom gestured to the two prone figures beside her, both in the same shapeless white dresses, “Not actual sisters, we're druids. This is Peaches, and that’s Acorn.” Peaches, a slimmer version of her sister, managed to raise a languid hand in greeting but Acorn, a tiny woman with scruffy pigtails, had long since passed out. “Ladies.” Barry beamed courteously if redundantly. Naboo chuckled at Barry’s indefinable appeal with the opposite sex. He was a divvy in a raincoat, but no one ever seemed to notice. The tiny shaman noticed Bollo, laden with drinks, looking lost. He waved and caught Bollo’s eye, but as the ape changed trajectory he smacked straight into a tall man in black heading in the opposite direction. He was knocked right over, and insult was added to injury when the three glasses Bollo had been holding were emptied onto him. Bollo looked blank for a second. “Shit.” He managed. Naboo and Barry hurried over as Bollo helped the unfortunate newcomer to his feet and received a barrage of curses. “Damn you, you complete and utter knob!” raged the soggy individual as the wet feather on his hat drooped down into his eyes, “I’m with the Board of Shaman you know! You’ll get what’s coming to you, mark my words!” “Hey, it’s that Saboo chapie.” Barry grinned, too blissed-out to acknowledge bad tempers, “Naboo, you remember Saboo?" "Yeah, I went to his workshop on 'Dimensional Portals You Already Own' last year. Good stuff." "Alright Saboo?” “Alright? No I’m not all right! This idiot monkey has just soaked me!” Bollo’s face darkened. He thought this fellow was over reacting slightly, even if he was slightly drunk. Though a pacifist by nature, the put-upon primate was beginning to think that this Saboo character would benefit from a ‘Chico’ haircut. “Chill out, this is supposed to be a party.” Naboo raised his hands, placating, “Let us get you another drink.” “Yes, Mick Jaggers all round!” Barry cried jubilantly, “Come and sit with us, we’ve just met these three gorgeous girls. Three of them, three of us…” Saboo looked as though he was trying to stay in a bad mood, but eventually conceded. Bollo went off to make a second attempt at getting drinks while Barry and Naboo led Saboo to their little nest. "He might just have a chance with the unconscious one." Barry added as an aside to Naboo, who sniggered and elbowed his friend into silence. Saboo's dark eyes flicked about pensively as he sipped his third drink and regarded everyone with a critical and slightly squiffy gaze. His feathers had begun to dry out and fluff up again, and this drink, whatever it was, apparently just sugar and alcohol, was excellent. He hadn't meant to lash out a Bollo like that, but he'd only been with the Board a few weeks and found he was always edgy and paranoid as to what was expected of him. He was embarrassed about this weakness, and to cover himself he glared daggers at the ape who he'd somehow ended up sitting next to. Saboo also did not reckon much to the talent round here; Barry was whispering sweet nothings of ever increasing lewdness to Blossom, who was practically offering herself up to him, the second girl, Peaches, had only just come round and looked set to keel over again any second, and the scrawny one had begun to snore. There wasn't enough booze in the world, Saboo thought to himself. The short-arse with the ridiculous 'jack of clubs' hair do was prettier than these three. He opted to draw a line under that train of thought immediately. "Alright?" Saboo started, he hadn't realised he'd been staring at Naboo. "Yes, fine." He snapped, looking over at Peaches who was spinning her wand on the ground, apparently fascinated. He looked up again despite himself to watch Naboo conversing in low tones with his familiar. Naboo peered up into Bollo's face; he could tell Bollo was really drunk, because he had gone all blurry. "Run that by me again?" "I met dis Valkyrie before, said she could get me a shot as DJ at club in town." Naboo looked doubtful. "Aw please. Anyway, dis guy keeps lookin' at me like he wants a fight." He cocked his head at Saboo, making no effort to be discreet. "Oh alright then, off you go." Naboo conceded, "I'll see you later, yeah?" Bollo clambered to his feet. "Meet you by the hemp turban stall?" "Cool." As Bollo plodded off back to the dance floor, Naboo smiled amiably at Saboo and patted the cushion where the ape had been sitting. Saboo shifted over apprehensively. "Bollo's alright really, he's just new. He didn't mean any harm." Naboo was determined, in his hazy way, to smooth things over. "Yes, well." Saboo tried to remain disapproving. Naboo just smiled with the innocence of one who is too far out of his head to begrudge anyone happiness, and held out his hand. Saboo relented and shook it. "What's your name again?" "I'm Naboo, that's who." Saboo was silent for a while, then: "Did you really like my workshop?" "Yeah, it's come in really handy a few times actually." "Oh?" "Yeah. I've got these friends, they're basically idiots but they're alright, and they're always-" "Hey!" Blossom's high-pitched squeal cut in and made them both wince, "That's a great idea!" She snatched the wand from Peaches and spun it on the floor, slightly frustrated when it didn’t point to anyone in particular. Peaches looked bewildered, took a long drag from the hookah, and passed out next to her slumbering sister. "What?" Naboo looked misty-eyed and confused. “We used to play this at summer camp, you have to make out with whoever it points to!” "Good grief, how old are we?" Saboo scoffed. “Are you allergic to fun?” Saboo gave a snort of derision, “You’re the only woman still awake, what if I have to kiss one of these two?” he waved his hand vaguely at Naboo and Barry. “Are we not quite secure in our masculinity?” Barry mocked good-naturedly. “Of course I am.” Saboo brandished his glass, sloshing liquid down his hand, “I’ll take on any one of you. If you felt the power of Saboo, you’d be bent for life, my friend.” Barry wasn’t listening, and had spun the wand and stopped it blatantly with his finger when it pointed to Blossom. Blossom grabbed hold of Barry and bent him backwards over her knee, kissing him with full-force. Naboo spluttered with laughter, his smile lighting up his face. Saboo pretended he didn't notice. "Get a room!" Blossom released Barry with a noise like a blocked sink. His eyes uncrossed and he glared at Saboo. "Fine. It's your turn." "This is so purile." Saboo rolled his eyes, but spun the wand with a flick of his wrist. Barry was not keen on people who were opposed to a good time. He was moving into the 'hallucination phase' of his evening, but had enough consciousness left to stop the wand with a discrete bolt of magic as it pointed to Naboo. Naboo raised an eyebrow. Saboo panicked. "I'm not kissing him!" "What's wrong with me?" Naboo took on an expression of mock indignance, "I've been told I'm charming." "It would be unethical for a man in my position to-" "Methinks the shaman doth protest too much." Giggled Blossom. "Hey, if he's uncomfortable with his sexuality, leave the man alone." Barry laughed. "You're all mouth and no trousers." Naboo jibbed. "It's not that! I'm just-" Before Saboo knew what was happening, Naboo knocked his hat off with a deft back-swipe, took hold of his face with both hands and kissed him hard on the mouth, then sat back smugly. Saboo blinked in astonishment, and tried to frame some sort of retort, but nothing seemed forthcoming. "I knew it." Naboo slurred triumphantly, "You talk loud enough, but when it comes to the crunch-" "The Crunch? Don't you bring the Crunch into this," Naboo had inadvertently touched a nerve, "I practically invented the Crunch!" And with that Saboo grabbed the smaller man by the shoulders and kissed him back. He tasted sweet and sticky from the alcohol, and was soft and responsive as their tongues met tentatively. Much to Saboo's consternation, the look in Naboo's twinkling eyes when he pulled away did not say 'Well, that taught me a thing or two about the nature of the Crunch'. Saboo determined to teach the insolent tyke a lesson if it took him all night, which he rather hoped it would. It occurred to him that he shouldn't be getting into it this much and that he'd regret it tomorrow. He felt Naboo's hands inside his jacket and decided that rather than worrying he would gently push the little shaman back onto the cushions and make out with him some more. Through his scrambled consciousness, Naboo concluded that this Saboo wasn't as much of a twat as he'd first thought. He sighed happily as he breathed in the smell of burning paper and incense. He felt slender fingers slide over his hips and fumble with the sash at his waist, and in return he pressed himself against Saboo's hardening crotch, satisfied at the sharp intake of breath this produced. Saboo pulled away for a moment and looked Naboo in the eyes; having never propositioned a man before, he was at a loss as to how to put it. "Listen, Naboo, I'm… I really…" Naboo smiled, "I know, me too." Saboo sat up, taking Naboo's hands and pulling him up too. Naboo got to his knees unsteadily; getting up had produced the revelation that he'd really had way too much to drink, and was beginning to feel distinctly dodgy. An ominous stirring in his stomach told him he had to get out of here right away. He put a finger to Saboo's lips and tried to look at him with what he hoped was a seductive and fathomless gaze. "Hold that thought, I have to, y'know, take care of something. I'll be back, wait here for me." "Don't be long." Naboo staggered to his feet and swayed perilously for a moment as his head protested against standing vertical. "I won't. Stay just as you are." He attempted to wink, though he suspected he was just squinting, before hurrying out of the tent as nonchalantly as possible. On his way out he noticed Barry speaking garbled, unrelated nonsense to Blossom, who was beginning to realise this man was in no state to give her the sweet loving she'd been promised. "I can see outlines as if they were… colours… look at that!" Barry had become fascinated by a cushion tassel. When he got outside, Naboo looked about urgently. Most people had gone back to their tents or fallen asleep where they fell, a few were still dancing or wandering from one place to he other. The booze was really fighting back now, and Naboo realised he was going to be sick. He managed to get a few paces before his legs gave up on him. "Ooh it's all gone wrong." He observed meekly as he sank to his knees. His stomach lurched and, finding no better alternative, he took off his turban and threw up in it. Bollo had been roused by a bad feeling, and had gallantly left the dance floor and his potential conquest to look for Naboo. He spotted a small, unmistakable figure hunched on the ground, his glossy black head bent over something he clutched in his hands. Bollo decided he was getting good at this whole intuition lark. Naboo looked up through bleary, watering eyes and spat blue as Bollo approached. The ape knelt down in front of him and gently lifted his head. "You're the best familiar ever, you are." Naboo conjectured before hiccuping and slumping forwards. Bollo caught him before he landed in the mess he'd made and picked him up. "Come on den." He sighed, hefting the limp little body over one shoulder and picking up the discarded turban with his free hand. Naboo moaned something indistinguishable as he was carried back to his own tent. As they made their way across the field, Bollo noticed Barry running wildly with his anorak tied round his shoulders like a cloak, holding a cushion out in front of him and yelling at the top of his voice. These shamans, when they let go they really let go. "Ooh, my head. What did I do last night?" Naboo groaned as a tremendous hangover descended upon him the next morning. "It must have been pretty good for me to end up like this, eh?" Bollo merely grunted as he handed his boss a plastic cup of coffee and two aspirin. Later, they loaded their tent and bags onto Naboo's magic carpet, unaware they were being observed from a distance by a dark, glowering figure with a high feathered collar and hat. Saboo hadn't been this furious since that time in college when Tony Harrison had told Saboo's girlfriend he had crabs. He had waited most of the night for this hot shaman sex he was promised; that idiot Barry had got so far off his chops that he had run off screaming with a cushion, the fat girl had gone to find him, and Saboo had sat there with two unconscious women for three hours feeling like a complete fool. He was vexed and humiliated and all manner of fumingly, seethingly, angry. One day, he thought, maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but one day he'd deal that little bastard such a slice of Crunch he wouldn't know what hit him. He shook his fist in impotent furry and stalked off to pack up his things.

[itsmajel]

Majel Reads - July 2018

Flash / DC - Coldfalsh

[What is this?]

Lovesick by Crimson1

Barry is broken and looking for an outlet, any outlet, as he spirals deeper and deeper into depression. Enter Leonard Snart, the perfect escape. He hurt Barry and his friends more than once, so Barry decides to hurt him back, but not with violence. At worst, Barry will get some no-strings-attached sex out of the deal; at best…he’ll get Snart to fall in love with him and then break his heart to spite him. What Barry doesn’t expect is to fall for Snart in the process.

[Explicit] [238,592 Words] [Read on AO3 here]

Tumbling Together by RedHead (  @coldtomyflash )

When Barry and Len discover that they’ve accidentally become neighbors, they learn to navigate their new living situation amongst misunderstandings and a surprising amount of common ground.

AKA the fun-as-it-comes Neighbors!AU which turns into a Pretend Relationship!AU filled with tropes, hijinks, and some vague notion of a plot.

[Mature] [178,182 Words] [Read on AO3 here]

An All Too Jagged Snowflake by RedHead (  @coldtomyflash )

When Leonard and Barry discover that they're Soulmates, they struggle with the many, many issues this causes. It might be easier without the collective difficulties of the Rogues, a meta-gorilla, and the military, but life has never been simple for either of them.

[COMPLETE. Diverges after the Season 1 finale]

Long fic, best read in three instalments: Chapters 2-17 (Soul Mark), Chapters 18-34 (Soul Bond), Chapters 35-50 (Soulmate).

[Explicit] [276,521 Words] [Read on AO3 here]

Got A Melancholic Temperament (that's what they said to me) by RedHead ( @coldtomyflash )

A new meta with a strange ability has public opinion divided on whether she’s a menace or a miracle-worker. The jury’s still out on the matter when the Snart siblings get caught in her crosshairs.

Or: Leonard and Lisa end up temporarily de-aged. It’ll wear off, but in the meantime, Team Flash has to figure out what the heck to do with them and how to keep them safe. Inviting them to live at the West house seems like a natural, if terrible, solution.

[Set after S2, ignores Flashpoint/S3]

[Explicit] [77,848 Words] [Read on AO3 here]

he's my latest accessory (wanna carry him 'round all over town) by RedHead , Swing Set in December (swing_set13) (  @coldtomyflash )

Having a dual identity has never been so frustrating

[Teen And Up Audiences] [5,864 Words] [Read on AO3 here]

Saints and Sinners by bealeciphers

Leonard Snart is a very simple man who wants one, easy thing from Barry Allen.  It's Barry, surprisingly, who takes it a step further

[Mature] [5,198 Words] [Read on AO3 here]

How Are You, My Future 'Something' by bealeciphers

Leonard Snart is lying in his room in the waverider, after a visit to the year 2024. The Flash is lying beside him, unmasked and comfortable, but this Barry Allen isn't the one from 2016. Trying to get information, Len engages this Barry in conversation.

[General Audiences] [2,001 Words] [Read on AO3 here]

Face Blind by nirejseki

Barry's just a regular CSI. Totally 100% boring, normal, and standard.  

Except for the fact that he's dating a supervillain.

(Prompt: Barry's just a regular CSI, and he takes his super villain fiance to his high school reunion. Maybe Len scaring the crap outta Woodward?)

[Not Rated] [3,107 Words] [Read on AO3 here]

Request for Proposals by nirejseki

In a world where marriage is an extensively negotiated contractual arrangement, getting Leonard Snart hitched is nothing less than a monumental task.

And Mick Rory's the sucker whose job is to find his best friend just the right spouse.

[Not Rated] [19,130 Words] [Read on AO3 here]

Your Mind, Like a Parasite by writerdragonfly

The Flash and Captain Cold accidentally end up stuck in each other's heads, only it doesn't stay that easy.

[Mature] [2,409 Words] [Read on AO3 here]

Surrender by cocoa_the_maniac, ladyofpride

“There are no negotiations for an ‘unconditional’ surrender, Barry. It’s either a yes or a no.”

Barry hums a little under his breath, contemplating his options. “You would get off on catching the fastest man alive, wouldn’t you…”

[Explicit] [7,559 Words] [Read on AO3 here]

So your Soulmate's a Jerk by The_Dancing_Walrus ( @thedancingwalrus-blog​)

It was like an acid burn, for a moment everything felt normal and then it was like Barry's whole body was on fire. It was like the biggest shot of adrenaline, like he was suddenly way too aware of everything from the pain in his ribs to the smell of the front offices. He gasped at the same time Snart did, hand going up to his cheek which was still too hot and-

He turned, it felt like it took a lifetime, and Snart was on the floor staring up at him-

His whole hand had turned a red so dark it was almost black. A Lichtenberg figure, the analytical part of Barry’s brain supplied, Leonard’s Mark looked like a lightning burn.

(Russian and Chinese translations available)

[Teen And Up Audiences] [7,621 Words] [Read on AO3 here]

Tastes Better When It's Stolen by asimaiyat

“There are no negotiations for an ‘unconditional’ surrender, Barry. It’s either a yes or a no.”

Barry hums a little under his breath, contemplating his options. “You would get off on catching the fastest man alive, wouldn’t you…”

[Explicit] [7,559 Words] [Read on AO3 here]

Sugar and Spice by Liu

“You bake when you’re stressed and sometimes you give me cookies, but recently you’re giving me whole baskets each day, now I’m not complaining but are you okay?”

[Teen And Up Audiences] [2,292 Words] [Read on AO3 here]

Home Remedy by Liu

Barry is caught in a snowstorm and takes shelter in a coffee shop. He doesn't expect to stay for five days.

[Teen And Up Audiences] [5,021 Words] [Read on AO3 here]

call me (a hooker) maybe by Liu

Barry decides to solve his problem by calling a shady phone number.

[Teen And Up Audiences] [3,477 Words] [Read on AO3 here]

a look, a kiss, a time by Liu

Things are all wrong between them, before Barry runs back in time to save his mother and changes everything.

[Teen And Up Audiences] [3,295 Words] [Read on AO3 here]

Ever After by Liu

When Barry runs back in time to save his mother, he definitely does not expect to find out that in the new timeline, he's Leonard Snart's boyfriend.

[Teen And Up Audiences] [12,641 Words] [Read on AO3 here]

5 times Len saw Barry cry & 1 time when the tables turned by Liu

tumblr prompt fill for "Reacting to the other one crying about something".

[Not Rated] [2,622 Words] [Read on AO3 here]

Rock the Night Away by Liu

Barry is alone on Christmas Eve. He doesn't expect to find company in Captain Cold.

[Mature] [10,645 Words] [Read on AO3 here]

since we've no place to go by Liu

The first time his driveway is miraculously cleared in the morning, Barry is too tired to even appreciate it properly; he sighs in relief and goes back to bed, because it’s just one of those days when he’s constantly exhausted.

But it keeps happening.

[Teen And Up Audiences] [6,289 Words] [Read on AO3 here]

when you say nothing at all by Liu

There's a new barista at Jitters... and Barry's got a crush.

[Teen And Up Audiences] [2,001 Words] [Read on AO3 here]

Retrograde Motion by Liu

Leonard Snart is a name known to every forensic scientist this side of the Atlantic, and probably quite a few in Europe. It’s a name that graces the covers of a good half of Barry’s old university textbooks – or would, if Barry didn’t throw them all out years ago. Cisco’s not exaggerating (much) when he says the man is a legend… but Barry has exactly zero reasons to be excited about his impending visit.

[Teen And Up Audiences] [6,837 Words] [Read on AO3 here]

keep my mind (off the edge) by Liu

Len is diagnosed with an early onset Alzheimer's.

[Mature] [9,017 Words] [Read on AO3 here]

eventually, a beginning by Liu

Barry runs through the singularity vortex to find himself in a world where some things are NOT as he remembers them.

[Teen And Up Audiences] [8,768 Words] [Read on AO3 here]

this could be by Liu

Barry starts going to karaoke bars. It's pretty relaxing - until one day, Captain Cold shows up

[Teen And Up Audiences] [3,372 Words] [Read on AO3 here]

with the (poisoned) wind by Liu

Barry needs to get to a crime family's house to look for clues. Pretending to date Leonard Snart is his only ticket.

[Teen And Up Audiences] [8,080 Words] [Read on AO3 here]

keep on holding me like a grudge by QLaLa

What Barry calls "getting left in a panic room with Leonard Snart for two hours," Cisco calls "being a good wingman."

[Explicit] [3,886 Words] [Read on AO3 here]

costumes optional by QLaLa

Call it a hunch, call it intuition; Len was pretty sure his plans for the night had just gotten a lot more interesting.

[Teen And Up Audiences] [4,666 Words] [Read on AO3 here]

Since We've No Place to Go by QLaLa

A blizzard leaves Barry stranded on Christmas Eve, but there might just be one person left in town who's willing to help him pass the time.

[Explicit] [9,811 Words] [Read on AO3 here]

and in your heat I feel how cold it can get by QLaLa

“I saved your life," Barry said. He tried to grin, and managed a quirk of his lips. “The least you can do is share some body heat.”

Part 1 of draw me close

[Teen And Up Audiences] [2,366 Words] [Read on AO3 here]

wandering through our city to find some solace at your door by QLaLa

“You left in kinda a hurry this morning,” Barry said, and Len closed his eyes against the almighty hell he knew that sentence had just unleashed in the room behind him.

Part 2 of draw me close

[Mature] [3,689 Words] [Read on AO3 here]

in the middle of the night (when the wolves come out) by QLaLa

"A little chillier reception than I was expecting, Barry."

Barry rubbed his eyes and cast an exasperated glance up at the ceiling.

“It’s four in the morning, Snart. Spare me the temperature puns.”

[Teen And Up Audiences] [1,500 Words] [Read on AO3 here]

those three words over even "I love you" by QLaLa

Missing scene from episode 2x03, "Family of Rogues."

Later, he'd wonder if they all could've walked away from the heist in one piece if Barry had just called him Leonard.

[Explicit] [13,083 Words] [Read on AO3 here]

- - - - - - - - - -

( All summaries are the official summaries of the author. Stats and infos as according to hosting site or information given by the author. If any of the authors that have been tagged don’t want to be tagged, or if any of you know the tumblr names of the ones I haven’t tagged please let me know!)

Looking for more reading inspiration? Check out my fic rec tag here on tumblr, this month reading list masterpost for what I’ve read in other fandoms this month, my all-time reading list masterpost for more of this fandom or just check out my AO3 bookmarks.

[trendingnewsb]

The bright spots in the dark era of Trump Twitter: political parody accounts

Image: mashable composite: Christopher Mineses

Over the course of his first months in the White House, President Trump notoriously turned Twitter into his personal outlet for unhinged political venting. That of course inspired the creation of dozens of parody accounts that became tools of resistance, coping mechanisms, and light-hearted distractions from the political chaos.

A simple Twitter search for “Donald Trump Parody” reveals a collection of over 50 accounts, and though each tackles Trumps presidency with a different approach, they all set out with a common goal: to make Twitter in the Trump era a bit more bearable.

SEE ALSO: Hit Trump where it hurts (his Twitter account)

To get a better sense of what it takes to challenge Trump on his favorite social platform, we reached out to the creators of two of the most popular Trump parody accounts on Twitter and uncovered some intriguing facts about the 24/7 job.

For instance: One of the most thought-provoking accounts on Twitter was inspired by Trump’s spat with the musical Hamilton.

While accounts like @RealDonalDrumpf and @mechanicaltrump attempt to imitate Trump’s unique online behavior, tweeting with an excessive amount of exclamation points and bashing Obama and the Democratic party every chance they get, others, like @aTinyTrump, give followers a good laugh with the help of Photoshop.

Wouldn’t it just be terrible if @realDonaldTrump saw our page and threw a little tantrum like this? That would just be tremendous. http://pic.twitter.com/twbHwJxPjI

TinyTrump (@aTinyTrump) February 19, 2017

The more serious parody account @DTrumpExposed, meanwhile, provides followers with essential information related to Trump’s presidency and his administration, serving as an alternative source of news for those who want to stay in the loop.

@IfHillaryHad imagines American politics in an alternate reality, tweeting on a day-to-day basis as Hillary Clinton had she won the election. @BRIDGETTRUMPSD1 is a depiction of Trump’s diary entries if they were written in the style of Bridget Jones. You know, very normal stuff.

Which brings us to @HalfOnionInABag, the scrap of a vegetable just looking to get more Twitter followers than Trump. It hasn’t quite reached the president’s 28.4 million, but 739,000 followers is still pretty impressive for a vegetable.

What if this account that is simply half an onion in a Ziploc bag ended up with more followers than @realDonaldTrump? http://pic.twitter.com/D28lODPZLO

Half An Onion (@HalfOnionInABag) January 20, 2017

Trump now with maturity!

If there’s anything we’ve learned from the overzealous, typo-ridden 140-character messages posted to the president’s Twitter account, it’s where there’s a Trump tweet, there’s room for improvement.

One man decided to take on the taxing job of editing those tweets to try and make the president’s words sound more, well, presidential. Under the promise of anonymity, the 52-year-old creator of Mature Trump Tweets spoke to us about the inspiration behind the thought-provoking account, how life has changed since starting it, and what kind of impact he hopes his revised words have on the world.

Here’s how he edited one of Trump’s tweets about “fake news”:

The independent media have an important job to do. Informed Americans can ferret out the truth w/out my need to try to sully or discredit. https://t.co/URR1qsHxly

PresidentialTrump (@MatureTrumpTwts) February 25, 2017

Since several early followers wondered if Barack Obama were behind the account, the creator has decided to go by the nickname Barry.

“I think he’s failed to recognize, or worse doesn’t care, that his words matter.”

He began the account last fall, a few weeks after Trump won the election, as things on Twitter got more and more surreal.

“I think he’s failed to recognize, or worse doesn’t care, that his words matter,” Barry said. “I became almost numb due to the Twitter assault that seemed to attack first amendment rights and lack of civility in his tone,” he went on, identifying the president’s Twitter beef with the cast of Hamilton as one of the events that drove him to create the account.

“I needed to do something because I felt powerless. So I decided to recreate his tweets and tweet the way I think a true diplomatic statesman would. It was cathartic for me, and I had a hunch it would be for others too.”

Watched @nbcsnl for laughs b4 turning in. Just need @AlecBaldwin to purse his lips a bit more :-)If we can’t laugh at ourselves, we’re sunk. https://t.co/qOFVb2sg8n

PresidentialTrump (@MatureTrumpTwts) December 4, 2016

Throughout the course of the young presidency, Barry’s goals for the account have evolved. “Originally it was selfish. I needed an outlet,” he explained. “I also was determined to not allow this type of tone to be normalized. That’s a scary proposition.”

Retweets from powerful social media voices like J.K. Rowling, Ricky Gervais, Seth McFarlane, and Mark Cuban were soon to follow. Mature Trump Tweets has 123,000 followers, some of whom have reached out to tell Barry how important the account is to them, offering to start GoFundMe or Kickstarter campaigns to ensure it remains up and running.

The first 90 days of my presidency has been humbling. I’ll work tirelessly for you & this country. We have much yet to accomplish, together. https://t.co/9OvgFOoObr

PresidentialTrump (@MatureTrumpTwts) April 17, 2017

“Today, I have bigger goals,” Barry admitted. “I think this could be a counter movement. One that espouses kindness, civility, decorum things I think Americans and people around the world truly want and crave.”

Maintaining an account that directly responds to Trump’s relentless Twitter activity isn’t always easy. “I usually retweet Trump when he tweets, which means daily usually early in the morning or late at night,” Barry said.

Barry also tweets whenever he feels the president should be tweeting, even if Trump remains silent. “Those are often the most popular, because it demonstrates the fact he seems tone deaf on what’s important and what the majority of Americans want to hear from him.”

“W/so much negativity in headlines right now, know we really can & will build a better, kinder world together. Pls keep believing.” – Barry

PresidentialTrump (@MatureTrumpTwts) April 20, 2017

Embracing the chaos through humor

During Trump’s first month in office, executive order signing became something of a sport for President Trump and it wasn’t long before 34-year-old Mike Gaines took notice.

With each document Trump presented, Gaines thought he resembled a proud little kid showing off his drawings to his parents. Gaines was inspired to take a more lighthearted approach to manage his political frustrations. Trump Draws a brilliant collection of photoshopped GIFs was born.

kat http://pic.twitter.com/ra55wo0ulW

Trump Draws (@TrumpDraws) January 31, 2017

When Trump fired Sally Yates, the deputy attorney general who refused to defend his travel ban, the Los Angeles-based visual effects artist decided to transform the proud president into an ambitiously doodling toddler with the help of his iPad Pro, the app Procreate, and Adobe After Effects.

Gaines began posting to the account several times a week, showing Trump dramatically revealing drawings of cute little animals and holiday greetings, with timely political references. He misspelled captions (in too-real Trump fashion) and occasionally even doodled with his non-dominant hand to really capture the youthful aspect of his photoshop creations.

me http://pic.twitter.com/R64NwAYGKu

Trump Draws (@TrumpDraws) January 31, 2017

“In this increasingly divisive political world, the account somehow cuts through all the BS,” Gaines said. It’s “simply a way to laugh at the doodles of a very proud man, who just happens to be the president of the United States.”

After the account which is currently at 439,000 followers received such a positive response from Twitter users, Gaines decided to expand the endeavor to include paintings in the White House, presentation tools, and really any other white surface begging to be memed.

my office http://pic.twitter.com/rqjbKxRxgr

Trump Draws (@TrumpDraws) March 1, 2017

my lemonade stand http://pic.twitter.com/1T8SxB0BkQ

Trump Draws (@TrumpDraws) April 5, 2017

“I feel like these accounts really are a bright light in a pretty dismal world right now, he said. “Laughing and comedy are the best way to cope.”

Though Gaines refers to Trump as “a diamond mine for comedy,” he thinks the president’s seemingly unfiltered, unprofessional Twitter account is a true cause for concern. “Dude needs to pick a new game … maybe trying to run the country instead?” he suggested, clarifying that he’s not trying to use Trump Draws to make a political statement.

“I really just want to add some levity to this crazy political climate,” Gaines said. “Sometimes you just need to see Trump childishly draw an elephant to get you through the day.”

So simple, yet so effective.

my job http://pic.twitter.com/H0FL6n8JP5

Trump Draws (@TrumpDraws) April 28, 2017

Parodies FTW

Though its tough to say definitively whether Trump is the most parodied president in history I mean, even George Washington was subject to sketches The Donald does seem to have a big target painted on his back in the social media age.

Even when it comes to more recent presidents, a search for “Barack Obama parody” yields eighteen results on the platform. “George Bush parody” reveals a mere three. (Though, to be fair, Obama was elected when Twitter was only in its infancy.)

The takeaway? When it comes to being parodied on Twitter, Trump is winning. So much winning.

WATCH: Trump accidentally stood next to Darth Vader and this is why symbolism exists

Read more: http://ift.tt/2pvd9FA

from Viral News HQ http://ift.tt/2qrR3kI via Viral News HQ

[caveartfair]

The Little-Known Artist Prize That Made Moonlight Possible Is Changing Artists’ Lives

Photo courtesy of United States Artists.

On a recent Monday evening, in a pseudo-Gothic room in downtown Chicago, dozens of artists and philanthropists gathered to talk about the state of the arts. Or, as one speaker put it, to think about “what art can do, and who it’s for.”

It was the annual three-day-long convention of the United States Artists (USA), a little-known art-funding organization that has quietly been handing out $50,000 cash prizes to artists of all media and disciplines for the past 10 years. Among its success stories, the organization was an early and important funder of Barry Jenkins when he was making Moonlight, which won three Oscars this year.

“Nobody was talking about queer black masculinity,” said Deana Haggag, the organization’s charismatic new CEO, over coffee the following morning. “Now it’s in the mainstream.”  

Haggag joined USA’s team from her previous role as the executive director of Baltimore’s The Contemporary just seven weeks ago. She has arrived at a critical moment, one in which the organization is taking stock of its achievements and its flaws—and grappling with its identity just 10 years since its founding. And as the Trump administration threatens to eliminate the NEA and federal arts funding finds itself hanging in the balance, the stakes for private funding of the arts have been raised considerably.

This is especially true for an arts funder like USA, whose awards are large enough to make a real impact on the creative community, and, the organization hopes, American society at large—and, crucially, whose grants for artists are completely unrestricted.

Artists are not required to use the money for new work, though more than 80 percent do. A smaller number use the funds to equip new studio spaces, buy software, fund other artists, or in some cases simply to cover general living costs or medical bills.

Though there are upwards of 2,600 award programs in America, with some 1,800 of those being cash grant prizes, the vast majority of them are small, said Holly Sidford, a consultant and strategist for arts organizations who has conducted influential and high-profile reports on arts funding—and who has just produced a 10-year impact report on the USA’s funding efforts for the organization.

“Around 80 percent of award programs are under $10,000, and a lot are limited to one discipline,” said Sidford. “Programs that work across as many as nine creative disciplines? Those are so rare as to be virtually non-existent. The scope, scale, and diversity of USA makes it unique.”

Photo courtesy of United States Artists.

The organization may be doing vital work, but Sidford found in her research that its low profile means that artists who receive the award draw little press attention and can’t capitalize on the platform and prestige in the way that recipients of a McArthur, Guggenheim, or Creative Capital award can.

“We joke that we’re the $25 million organization no one’s ever heard of,” said Haggag. Indeed, two attendees at the Chicago assembly admitted to never having heard of the award, or thinking it was spam, when they received notification. “Having less visibility has been good in really not putting any expectations on the artists,” Haggag said, “but it feels like today we need to amplify the voices of these artists.”

USA was founded in 2006, partly to fill a gap that the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) left when it cut individual artist grants in 1995. Following a report published in 2003 about the experience of artists in America, four founding donor organizations—Rockefeller, Rasmuson, Ford, and Prudential—joined forces to create USA. In order to effectively survey the whole country’s artist pool, they chose a model in which some 1000 nominators are tapped to provide names of talented candidates, who are then considered by a committee.

Each year, current awardees and alumni (who now number 488) assemble to present their art, to discuss how to improve the program, and to catch up. “We all fall in love with each other,” said Tanya Aguiñiga, a Mexican artist and 2006 USA Fellow who is based in L.A. She creates furniture and textile works, many of which engage with the politics of the U.S.-Mexico border.

Among other fellows who presented at this year’s event were well-known artists like the Indian writer and journalist Amitava Kumar and the American sculptor Janet Echelman—who creates vast, ethereal artworks made of netting that she suspends mid-air between buildings in urban spaces, so that they appear like architectural auroras in the sky.

But the award list also includes individuals—largely in the categories of “Craft” and “Traditional Arts”—for whom few such funding opportunities exist.

Cherice Harrison-Nelson, a traditional beadworker from New Orleans who creates beaded costumes for Mardi Gras, told me over breakfast that, where she’s from, people are the museums; they wear their art. Ernie Marsh, a cowboy from Oklahoma, was in attendance to represent the extraordinarily intricate metal belt clasps that he crafts by hand. And Vicky Holt Takamine, a Hula dancer from Hawaii, in a presentation of her work, spoke of the way she uses Hula as a form of resistance and activism.

“I keep thinking about the kind of person in my life, who’s not in the arts, who I wish had been in that room yesterday for those presentations, because they’re so moving about humanity,” said Haggag.

Photo courtesy of United States Artists.

Indeed, one of the points of feedback that USA has received from former fellows through the report is that, for the prize to increase its value—not only to individual artists but also to communities across America—the organization should find a way to broaden its visibility and use that platform “as a bully pulpit” from which to make an argument for why art matters.

“I love being here because it’s reminding me that I don’t actually live in a bubble,” said Haggag in a closed-door session about how to illuminate the value of artists in America. “Culture does not exist in a bubble. It’s all over the country. Art is being made in every culture, in every state.” One artist in the audience offered: “Our story is the story of arts in this nation.”

The way in which USA captures a snapshot of cultural practices around the nation isn’t accidental, nor has it been overlooked as a key asset—the organization has sponsored artists in every state except Delaware over its 10-year lifespan, and they’re working hard to find the funds to make it to all 50 states. The challenge, now, is to broadcast that picture around the country.

“Being here, you see this microcosm of American life,” Haggag reflected in person. “I really needed that this year in light of everything that’s been happening. And to know that these people are initially strangers to each other. We’ve gotten to a place where we identify more with people who hate one another than people who don’t.”

“I feel like the arts is one of the few places where any progress can be made in that arena,” she said. “It can make people more empathetic.”

—Tess Thackara

from Artsy News

[raynareveur]

Rayna’s Recent Reads February 2017

Welcome, welcome, to another edition of Rayna’s Recent Reads! This one is also late, but hey, it’s only by one two days! I’m getting better. At this rate, I’ll actually be able to get the March edition posted in March.

These are the books I read in February:

Jingo by Terry Pratchett

This was an interesting book, and certainly timely. This is probably the most political of Terry Pratchett’s books that I’ve read, and I’m not entirely sure how I feel about that. But political or no, this is still a Pratchett book, which means I of course enjoyed it immensely.

And, I mean, come on. A secret agent Vetinari? (Even if he got less screen time than I wanted.) This was me when I first read the description, along with every time he came on.

Caraval by Stephanie Garber

I finished my most anticipated read of 2017 in just two days. And it does live up to the hype. The writing is beautiful, the setting is wonderous and magical, and it has tons of gorgeous illustrations inside as well. Some scenes are chilling (looking at you, chapter 2), some are beautiful and heartwarming, and all of them are wonderful. Caraval reminds me of one of my favorites, The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, with the same gorgeous writing and mesmerizing circus setting. But Caraval definitely has a faster-moving plot (not that The Night Circus wasn’t interesting, it just had a slower buildup and a more literary feel) which definitely grabbed my interest immediately and held on to it till the end.

One small quibble: I wasn’t too fond of the ending. Anyone else feel this way? Leave your thoughts down in the comments!

Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi

I actually read this book for research purposes, as opposed to pleasure reading. (Not that this wasn’t an interesting read.) I’m writing a dark YA retelling of Pinocchio and Peter Pan with a creepy island and murderous fey that live there. Think Caraval meets A Court of Thorns and Roses, but less magical and more creepy.

Pinocchio was quite short, with chapters only a few pages long, which really helped me speed through this. One thing that really surprised me was how dark this is; I haven’t watched the Disney version, but I'd be surprised if all of it made it into the movie. Within a span of 262 pages, we have:

- Breaking and entering that results in murder

- Pinocchio accidentally burning his feet off while sleeping (he didn’t feel anything, but still, that’s some nightmare fuel right there.)

- Pinocchio almost being burned alive as firewood, ending up having his plea for mercy granted and almost getting his friend burned alive in his place (This is horrible but I’m so using this in my retelling)

- Pinocchio getting attacked, beat up, and hung to a tree

- The Land of Toys/donkey transformation

- Lampwick’s death (this made me unusually sad because I was imagining Thomas Brodie-Sangster as his role in this movie)

And did you know that in the book, Jiminy Cricket (called the talking cricket) is the ghost of the anthropomorphic cricket Pinocchio murdered? I’m going to have a field day with this one.

The morality messages were a bit too on the nose, but then again, this was from a time when that was the norm. All in all, it was an interesting read, and more importantly, gave me tons of story fodder. Keep your eyes peeled for more updates about my project, and be sure to subscribe to either my Tumblr (right here), Twitter, or newsletter to get the news first!

Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie

I read this for the same reason as I read Pinocchio, and while the level of darkness was about the same, Peter Pan had better writing (in my opinion) and an older, more nostalgic feel. 

Let’s talk about the writing first. If I was to use one word to describe the writing of the two book, Pinocchio would be functional and Peter Pan would be lyrical. What do I mean? Well, the writing of Pinocchio feels to me like merely a vessel for the story. Which, I mean, is what writing at its heart should be. It gets the story across clearly and concisely, while the simple, no-frills writing fades into the background. It’s not bad, but there’s nothing special either. It’s just there, and supposed to fade into the background while the story shines through. There is nothing in that book that I can quote on demand. There’s nothing wrong with that, of course, just different than what I’m used to.

Peter Pan, on the other hand, has beautiful writing that shines on its own. It has beautiful phrases that would look great on a poster (and there are plenty out there), and other quotes that people love to quote or embroider or draw or tattoo onto themselves. I read the free Kindle edition, and one of the neat features of Kindle is that it shows you quotes that a lot of people highlighted. There are a ton in Peter Pan, and tons on Goodreads as well. For example:

“All children, except one, grow up.”

“To die will be an awfully big adventure.”

“Stars are beautiful, but they may not take part in anything, they must just look on forever.”

"I'm youth, I'm joy," Peter answered at a venture, "I'm a little bird that has broken out of the egg.” 

“Just always be waiting for me.” 

These are all beautiful and deep, and worth repeating and pondering for a long time. 

Towards the end of Peter Pan, there’s a sort of haunting, nostalgic sadness hanging about the book. There’s something about growing up, changing your view of the world, and having to let some things go forever. To move on, to forget, to know that you’ve moved beyond certain things, and the only way you can experience them again is through memory, which you are also slowly losing. Like looking at a faded old photograph decades later, being a little scared at how faded it is, and a little sad at how you can’t ever make the colors bright again, no matter how hard you try. But also a little proud that you’ve come this far, and happy that you at least have these little gems of your memories to stay with you, albeit in their wistful, faded state, forever. 

This feeling soaked the last chapter, and that was the only part that made me genuinely sad. Because I hate the thought of losing something, of letting go. 

And that’s what growing up is, really; letting go.

And, I’ll admit, I’m a little bit afraid of that.

I think a lot of people are. That’s why this book speaks so strongly to so many people.

And that’s exactly the feeling I want my book to capture, the nostalgia, the wistfulness, the fear and grief and joy all melted into one confusing mess. And the feeling of faded, shifting memories, which can’t always be trusted. In short, I want it to feel like growing up, and then being yanked straight back into childhood, with your mind stuck somewhere between those two places.

Also, on a less wistful note, does anyone else think Peter’s a delusional psychopath? I present my evidence:

“’There's a pirate asleep in the pampas just beneath us,' Peter told him. 'If you like, we'll go down and kill him.’”

“And when [the Lost Boys] seem to be growing up, which is against the rules, Peter thins them out.”’

“The difference between him and the other boys at such a time was that they knew it was make-believe, while to him make-believe and true were exactly the same thing. This sometimes troubled them, as when they had to make-believe that they had had their dinners.If they broke down in their make-believe he rapped them on the knuckles.”

“But you never exactly knew whether there would be a real meal or just a make-believe, it all depended upon Peter's whim.”

“I forget them after I kill them,' he replied carelessly.”

Oh, and I don’t have a quote for this since it’s a whole scene, but let’s not forgot the massacre on the pirate ship. Yes, they were pirates, yes they kidnapped the Darlings and the Lost Boys, no, that shouldn’t justify a killing spree. And he doesn’t even feel a modicum of remorse or empathy afterward.

So in conclusion, Peter Pan is a haunting, beautiful, and slightly sad piece of literature, while Peter Pan is a remorseless, unstable, delusional, kind of abusive, and violent murderer who sees everything--especially killing--as a game and in many instances literally can’t empathize with his victims.

Cross that with an immortal, amoral fairy and you get a whole lot of fun. For me, at least. Not for my characters.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by J.K. Rowling

This one was actually an unexpected read for me, since, unlike 90% of the book lovers on the internet, I actually am not a huge fan of Harry Potter. (*Gasp!*) Don’t get me wrong, I liked the books and they were an enjoyable read, but as far my all-time favorite books, or childhood defining ones go, Harry Potter isn’t on the list. (In case you’re curious, my all-time favorite is Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series, and the books that defined by childhood were Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians series.)

However, when my parents dragged me with them to Sam’s Club, I made a beeline for the books section (mainly ‘cause there was no food, my other great love) and found this gem. I had heard a lot about it, and it seemed interesting enough, so I figured, hey, why not? and picked it up.

I was really surprised at how much I liked it. 

This story, as other reviewers have pointed out, is less magical than the original series, instead more character and relationship driven. There are still spells and magical creatures and trinkets and all sorts of cool stuff, of course, but those don’t take center stage. The characters, especially Albus and Scorpius, do. And I loved them. Especially Scorpius, who is an adorable innocent ray of sunshine that I want to hug. 

^ How I imagine the two main characters.

The Cursed Child also dealt a few surprise kicks in the feels as well. J.K. Rowling really knows how to pull at your heartstrings, and I think a main reason for this is that the stakes and problems are smaller in scope (say, hurt feelings instead of dying) and more emotional. And I genuinely care about the characters, especially Scorpius, the aforementioned innocent ray of sunshine. Basically any time Scorpius was sad, my heart crushed a little bit. 

A lot of people have said that they don’t like the play script writing style, but I feel the complete opposite. I absolutely adored it. I think one of the reasons I loved it so much because it was such a quick! I finished it in a few hours. Which I guess makes sense, since in the play, everything is happening/being spoken in real time, and you can’t exactly keep people in a theatre for twelve hours. (Well, Rowling probably can...she could probably keep people on the Titanic for twelve hours if she did a book signing or talk or something.)

I wasn’t bothered at all by the lack of detailed descriptions, and in fact I think that enhanced the reading experience for me. Something most people don’t know about me is that I have a weird habit of reading the summaries/synopses of a lot of books and movies before I read or watch them. I mean, there are so many great books and movies and I won’t have time to read them all, so it makes sense to maximize my reading time by only reading the books that are interesting enough to be worth reading. For everything else, I get some enjoyment out of the summary and get to find out all the big reveals and see everything resolved, on a fraction of the time it would take to read the whole book. And how does this apply to The Cursed Child, you ask? Well, reading The Cursed Child felt like reading a (really well-written) summary. The plot isn’t bogged down by a ton of writing, the few descriptions (for stage directions and setting) were short, and the whole plot happens in the form of dialogue, which was a breeze to read. It’s like getting all the juicy plot in half the time because you cut out all the unnecessary trimmings, like writing.

(Yes, I’m a writer and I just said that.)

All in all, The Cursed Child is a quick, fun, but also surprisingly emotional and deep read.

Well, that’s the end of the February edition of Rayna’s Recent Reads. Be sure to follow me here or on Twitter to get updates, and check back at the end of this month for the March edition!

Have you read any of these books? What did you think about them? Any other thoughts about books, writing, or anything else? Let me know in the comments!

<3,