#who only learned to hurt. to be angry. to hate. where iris learned to be kind. to be patient. to nurture | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

colehasapen · 4 years ago

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(ONE SHOT) I tried hating you but the anger is gone DC COMICS

A03

Barry remembers what it's like to be in love. He remembers the fluttery, soft feeling in his stomach when their hands brushed, the warmth in his cheeks when their eyes met across crowded rooms. He remembers gentle words and whispered promises, and he remembers holding his whole world in his hands. He remembers thinking to himself that they'd always have each other, that they'd be together through thick and thin.

Barry remembers being in love, and he remembers learning that love wasn't always good enough. Love wouldn't survive everything, and people wouldn't either.

Once, Barry had held his whole world in his hands, but that had made it all the more painful for it all to be ripped away. One thing after another, until there had been nothing left but tears, and rage, and suffering - his own, and that of others. It hadn't filled the gaping hole in his chest, hadn't made him feel better, but he had told himself no one else would feel that pain again if he could help it.

No one else would lose their child. No one else would have to see the boy they'd raised and loved like their own turn to dust in front of their eyes. No one else would have to sacrifice themselves.

No one else would have their mentor, the closest thing to a father they’d had for a long time targeted because of who they were connected to.

No one else would see a city reduced to rubble, and then learn afterwards that a member of their own family had burned with it, unable to outrun the blast.

No else else would have to want so desperately for the little life inside of them to grow up big and strong, only for it to be taken away from them because some bastard wanted them to hurt.

So Barry had stood back. He had stepped aside and stayed quiet and done as he was told because it meant that no more innocents would have to suffer. He'd beaten down his own morals and ripped away everything that made him a hero, because he'd sacrifice himself so that no one else would have to.

He'd turn himself into a monster if it meant that the fighting would end.

He could understand Superman's pain, his rage and anger, because Barry had felt them both, first when Wally had died to save the world, and again when Zoom had stolen that little blossom of hope he'd held inside of him. He could understand why Joker had to die, he could understand the leap in logic Clark had followed, because Lois and her baby had been innocent.

Innocence hadn't saved them, but Superman had promised them a world where it wouldn't happen again, if only they followed him.

Barry had always been a follower.

A follower, and a coward.

So Barry had followed. He’d followed Superman, he’d followed Hal; he followed them so far that he almost doesn’t recognize himself anymore. He’d once thought to himself that he’d follow them into hell, but he’d never thought it would be a hell of his own making. Barry had walked himself into failure, all while telling himself that he was trying to make the world a better place.

He’d lied to himself. He lied to himself after every death, after every injury and cruelty. He’d kept lying to himself, unwilling to see past his own suffering to see others hurting just as much because of his own actions. He’d clung so tightly to the illusion of peace that he’d ignored the bodies he was stepping over to get there.

He’d already lost Wally, he’d lost Jay, he'd lost Bart, he’d lost the baby, he'd even lost the Rogues, and he hadn’t wanted to lose anyone else.

But then he lost Iris.

Barry’d been in love with Iris for so long that he almost didn’t remember how not to love her, but she’d seen him for what he truly was, what he had been trying so desperately not to look at; a monster and a coward. She looked him in the eye and laid it all out, every single one of his failures, and then she walked away, and for once in his life, Barry hadn’t followed. He’d been angry, and hurt, and it had been a painful knot in his chest that made it hurt to breath as all those soft fluttery feelings turned caustic and poisonous.

Barry had been in denial, but his eyes had begun to see past the illusions he’d made himself.

Nothing she had said was a lie.

When Iris had left them, Barry had turned around and clung so tightly to Hal that he’s surprised he hadn’t choked the Lantern. He knows now that Hal had been struggling just as much as he had been, had been floundering after the loss of Wally, their child, and then Iris, but all Barry had seen at the time was someone to hold onto. He’d been grabbing for any stability he could, and Hal had been there. Hal had always been his rock, just as Barry had always been a beacon to guide him home, but loss had sent them both into free fall, and neither of them knew that they didn’t have a safety net until they hit the unforgiving ground.

This time, it was Barry who walked away.

Shazam - Billy’s death had been the last straw. He had been the one to finally shatter the world Barry had built for himself.

Superman had killed a child.

Barry couldn’t look away anymore, he couldn’t avert his eyes or plug out the sounds again.

So he had started to listen again, he started to act instead of follow.

Barry saves people again, and it had started with Batman, back even before Billy. It had started with Bruce; Bruce who was Barry’s friend, Bruce who Barry was supposed to hate - but Barry’s too empty for hatred.

He had been angry for so long that he wonders if he’ll ever feel anything again.

Changing sides isn’t easy, but Barry never thought it would be. He turns his back, he walks away from Hal. He asks Hal to come, to leave Superman behind and become a hero again, and when he refuses Barry ignores Hal pleading with him to stay with him. It hurts to leave Hal, it’s agony to hear the terror in his voice when he’d told him there was no leaving Superman, but Barry can’t stay anymore. Hal won’t come with him, and Barry walks away. He knows he’s not going to be welcomed among Batman’s rebellion with open arms, he’s spent too long following behind Superman for that to happen, but he doesn’t let the cold reception get to him, doesn’t let the ache in his jaw stop him.

He needs to make it right after all, even if it’s likely none of them will ever trust him again. Even if it’s likely he’ll never wash the blood from his hands, the least he can do is try to prove to them that he’s genuine. To prove that he wants to repent for what he let happen, for what he did, and the people who died because Barry was too cowardly to make his voice heard, or too blind to see.

Bruce’s people don’t trust him, but Barry doesn’t blame them. He doesn’t even trust himself anymore. He lets them put the monitor on him, he lets them glare and whisper. He can feel them watching him, he sees the way they shy away, he knows the doubt. He doubts himself too, he wonders, sometimes, that if it starts getting too hard, will he fall back into the habits he’d developed? Will he kill again if things get too slow, too irritating?

Who will suffer if Barry has a bad day?

They’re afraid of him.

Barry’s afraid of him too. He’s afraid of what he could do, he’s afraid of what he’s done. He’s afraid that someday he’ll go too far again, and he’s afraid that once he starts on that road again, he won’t be able to turn back. He’s already lost everything, and he’s afraid that someday, he’ll decide to throw away whatever is left.

Some days, all that fear gets to be too much for him to handle. Everything gets to be too much. The memories and the what-ifs rise in a tidal wave that not even he can outrun, and they sweep him back out to the sea of misery. He drowns in it.

He just wants it all to end.

It’s during one of these episodes that Batman finds him.

Barry’s folded himself into a dark corner, his head buried in his knees as everything gets to be too much. Sometime, in between the moment his heart and started hammering in his chest and the world had started to get fuzzy, he’d ripped off the helmet, and his hands had found their way into his hair where he’d started to pull as the weight on his chest grew to be crushing. He’s probably vibrating, a distant part of Barry knows, and it’s probably set off one of the many alarms Batman has linked to him, but Barry can’t bring himself to care. All he can think of is the empty yellow and red suit, the warped helmet, the hole where Metropolis used to be. All he can hear is the ragged sound of his own breathing and the voices of the doctors telling him the baby hadn’t survived Zoom’s attack.

He remembers that kid, the one who had thought he was strong enough to fight back, the one who had wanted to do the right thing, and the sound of his back breaking when Wonder Woman and Superman put him down with the intention of keeping him down.

Barry could have stopped them.

But he didn’t.

All he did was watch, and then run away when it got too much and he’d seen the face of a kid who learned that his idols weren’t heroes any more.

He wants it to stop.

“Flash.”

He’d go back if he could. Bruce had told him to restart everything, but Barry had been too scared then, that he’d just make everything worse.

“Flash!”

Why shouldn’t he? It would be easy to just start running. He’d erase himself from the timeline, and maybe the next Barry would be better . Maybe the next Barry wouldn’t fail everything and everyone.

Maybe the next Barry would be fast enough.

“Allen!”

Better yet, maybe the Speed Force would decide that he was unworthy, and Barry Allen wouldn’t survive the lab accident that had given him his powers.

“God dammit - Barry! Snap out of it.”

Barry comes back to himself with a stinging cheek and a gasp. He feels like there’s cotton stuffed in his head, like there’s a vice in his chest and a knife in his guts. Batman - no, that’s Bruce, the helmet is off - is kneeling in front of him, hands on Barry’s shoulders and expression drawn with stress, making the premature age lines all the more obvious around his stormy eyes.

“I-” Barry wheezes, blinking tears out of his eyes as he stares at Bruce in shock, then at where the vigilante’s hands are resting on his shoulders. The warmth of the touch is seeping through his costume, it makes his skin tingle even with the layers between them, and Barry wonders almost hysterically how long it had been since someone had willingly touched him without intending to hurt him. “Bruce?” His voice is a choked rasp, and with a panic dissipating, the numbness starts to set in again.

The touch, however, stops it from settling in.

Bruce is frowning at him. When was the last time he had smiled? When was the last time any of them had had something to smile about?

Barry used to like it when he smiled.

“What just happened?” Bruce demands, but despite the harsh tone, the hands on his shoulders are still gentle, and Barry can only blink at him, a little dumbly. He’s a little too busy thinking about how nice the warmth of another person’s touch is to really give Bruce’s words much thought. “Barry.”

Barry jolts, “I - uh-” he stutters, “-sorry.”

Bruce’s frown is easing slightly, back into that emotionless mask that he’d been wearing for - how long had he been wearing it? He’s studying Barry now, like he’s trying to gauge how much of a threat he is now that Bruce had seen him panicking. “Does that happen often?” He asks blankly, and Barry shakes his head, a little frantic.

“No!” He says desperately; he needs to stay on Batman’s good side. He needs to put his best foot forward, after all the shit he’s put Bruce through over the years. He just wants to do at least one thing right in his life.

Hal and Iris aren’t here to guide him through his attacks. He doesn’t have a lightning rod to draw him back anymore.

“No - no, it’s just - I’ll be fine once the shaking stops.” Barry tells him, “I’m sorry.”

Bruce is still staring at him, “How long has it been happening?”

Barry lets out a bitter, shaky laugh, “Years.” He says, arms moving to curl around his stomach, and he sees Bruce’s eyes follow the movement, sees the moment Earth’s greatest detective connects the dots. He’d had a front row seat to what state Barry had been in after Zoom’s attack had almost killed him. Barry knows he’d been in the Watchtower when Barry had been brought in, covered in blood and barely hanging onto consciousness because he hadn’t been able to fight back against the other speedster. Batman would have seen the medical reports when they’d been added to his file, would have known the extent of the damage Barry’s body had taken.

He knows what Barry had lost. He knows just how much Barry had personally related to Superman.

Bruce is quiet for a long moment, studying Barry as the shaking slows, and his hands stay on his shoulders, a grounding influence that helps the speedster drag himself out of the storm of emotions he had fallen into. Bruce has always been good at it, helping Barry slow down; it’s always been something that Barry’s been grateful for, and he’s been missing the other man’s influence and presence in the last years.

Back when he’d first noticed that Superman wasn’t listening to them anymore, he’d wished that Batman were there, because Bruce had always been the one that Superman would turn to. The one they’d all turn to if they needed someone to talk them down from something, to point out when their logic was flawed; Bruce had always been the best of them, no matter how much the man hadn’t believed them when they’d said it.

None of this would have happened if they’d just listened to Bruce.

“You told me once to change the timeline.” Barry says helplessly, staring up at Bruce with pleading eyes. What he’s pleading for, he doesn’t know; condemnation? Permission? Just someone to hold him?

Slowly, Bruce nods his head, an acknowledgement of the statement, “And you told me that it was something you’d only consider once we’d already exhausted all of our options.” He points out.

Barry’s laugh is almost hysterical in response, “I could just make everything worse.” He says shakily, “But what difference would that make? Everything’s already fallen apart.”

“True.” Bruce agrees, “But there’s still hope we can do better. That we can fix this. We can’t give up that chance just yet.”

It’s almost ironic hearing this from Bruce, a known realist. Barry had always been the hopeless dreamer, the one who always tried to see the bright side in a situation, the one who always urged the others to do the same. But now? After everything that had happened, everything he had lost, everyone who had suffered? Barry can’t see any possible light in their dark world.

“We’re not just fighting for ourselves, Barry. Or the people we’ve lost.” Bruce’s hands tighten on his shoulders, “We’re fighting for a future for everyone else on this planet. A future where they can make their own choices and no one has to live in fear of being heard saying the wrong thing.”

“I don’t know what the right thing to do is anymore.” He admits, “I don’t know how I can fix what I’ve done.”

“All any of us can do is try.” Bruce tells him quietly, and Barry meets his eyes, blue to blue. He sees the sadness there, the numbness and helplessness that he knows all too well. They’d both lost everything; their children, their friends, their futures. Anything they had planned for themselves had fallen apart. They’d lost love and friendship to anger, and to hate, and then they’d lost that too.

What more could they lose?

When Bruce starts pulling away from him, Barry rocks forward almost desperately, not wanting to lose the tiny connection they had made, not wanting to let Bruce slip away from him again after getting a glimpse at the man he had cared for after so long of nothing. He stops at the last second, however, and he stays where he lands on his knees, staring up at Bruce as the man slowly offers him a hand.

“Come on.” Bruce’s voice washes over him, “We’ve got work to do.” Bruce is watching him with a quiet seriousness, the same loneliness Barry feels echoed in his eyes.

He’s offering him a choice.

And Barry?

He takes the hand, and he chooses the future Bruce sees.

#cole writes #DC comics #injustice: gods among us #brubarry #bruce wayne #Barry Allen #trans barry allen #halbarry #westallen #bruce wayne/barry allen #barry allen/bruce wayne

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lieblxng · 3 years ago

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Thinking of bringing more customized Pokémon protags like Lyra from HGSS who only has a Milktank on her team who has a battle lust stronger than most trainers, and a Selene who specializes in dragon-types who has blood in the dragon clan that Iris, Clair, and Lance originate from Elise (Lyra) is a very odd girl who battles whoever she can and revels in the fact that she and her milktank are almost unstoppable as she’s battle through johto and currently battling through kanto - but she doesn’t handle defeat easily and wants to travel around the world after kanto to seek as much battles as she can, and she loves how people are surprised to get defeated by a singular milktank named moo moo who has immense coverage and healing moves. her main, overarching goal is to defeat red so she can be the most powerful trainer in the world Ryoko (Selene) moved from kanto after their mom wanted to reconnect with their roots in alola, who was given a gible for their first pokemon instead though they have the blood of the dragon clan in their veins, their ability to battle is lackluster and they seem to struggle a lot throughout their journey, but as they continue with their gible, pendragon, they start to slowly grow - they’re a passionate person who can be stubborn, but once they see any sign of danger, they immediately clear the room. they're really afraid of getting hurt, but they start to get less fearful as they learn that with their pokemon and friends, they can do anything (the usual pokemon protag smuck, hbksfjgmlkfg-), though they don’t know what they want for themselves other than that they only went on this journey to prove to themselves and everyone else that they can be a strong trainer and person these are obv inspired by my Milktank-only run in SS and Garchomp-only run in Moon, but I love taking new spins on these self-inserts, and just going with the flow of what I start to imagine as I play through these runs, y’know?

I’m even thinking doing Lusamine out of hatred of her (idk man i dont like abusers and i can go off on how usum did the story worse imo for lillie, gladion, guzma and team skull but that’s another day) to figure out what the fuck is with her (my spite is strong; for context, it’s very rare for me to hate characters, especially so consistently as lusamine - guzma is a comfort character to me, and i was having such a good time in sun only to find out the awful shit between him and lusamine so naturally i didn’t like it - not to even mention seeing lillie and gladion go through so much with their abusive mother, and that was too hard for me personally) and even do a canon-divergent Lillie where on her journey, she learns from the people who actually love her that the shit lusamine did to her, gladion and nebby was awful, and she becomes very angry and starts to tolerate nothing - she wants revenge on her mother the most and she’s doing everything she can to get stronger for that fateful day - lillie is immensely strong in her own way and how she handles her abuse is admirable, we all handle abuse differently, but i just wish they did more for her and i think usum did her an injustice - idk it affects me personally and i don’t want to see her passive as i feel like she could get hurt so easily

Would these be good ideas? I wouldn’t add them right away, maybe Lusamine and Lillie or Ryoko first, but we’ll see-

#//this was a large word dump idk what im saying sob #//if i got the dragon clan stuff wrong just tell me!! im doing it out of memory but i can't find much on it #big boy anxiety | OOC

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echoes-of-the-clockwork · 4 years ago

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Book One: Gold (Prompto x Reader) Chapter XIV

After stopping at Leirity Seaside and Spelcray Haven, the group makes it to Cape Caem. Iris departs from the party and heads into the house to see Talcott. While the boys spoke with Cindy, (Y/n) wandered off towards the cliffs. She admired the beautiful view of the ocean with the lighthouse at her back. She inhaled deeply, the salty sea breeze bringing her a semblance of peace. The gentle breeze also cooled her heated skin. She stretched her arms towards the sky with a hum of content. "This place really is nice."

Glancing across the surface of the glistening ocean, (Y/n)'s peace of mind was shattered by Callyx. Unconsciously, she raises a hand and presses it against the back of her neck. Her smile was vanquished by a melancholic frown. Although hidden by her clothes, she felt as if she could feel the one thing that connected her to the empire-the barcode. Unlike Prompto, hers was located on the back of her neck. She knew the truth behind his existence, but he didn't. Nor did he know the truth behind hers.

"Hey!"

(Y/n) was startled from her thoughts when she heard Prompto yelling. She turned around and watched him run towards her. "Hey, I thought you'd be with the others."

"Why would I be when my favorite person is missing?" He asked with a smile. She wanted to smile, but her dark thoughts kept her from doing so. Of course, Prompto could tell she wasn't cheerful as usual. "Y'know, frowny faces aren't allowed here. The view is way too beautiful. What's wrong, (Y/n)?"

She looked away from him. "Dark thoughts, that's all. I thought I had managed to push them aside, but they keep resurfacing."

"Are these "dark thoughts" because of Callyx?"

She nodded her head weakly. "Yeah..."

"You listen to me anytime I need to talk and always know how to cheer me up. Whenever I needed a shoulder to cry on, you were there. You're the reason I've come this far and think I'm actually a worthy person and not just some waste of space. I just want to let you know I'm here for you just like you are for me, and I'm not going anywhere, okay?" Prompto reaches out and takes her hand in his, squeezing it gently.

(Y/n) could feel the sting of tears forming from his kindness. She bit her bottom lip to keep the tears at bay. She couldn't even bring herself to look at him in fear she'd begin crying. All she could do was squeeze his hand in return. "Thank you, Prompto, but I'm afraid this is something I can't share with you just yet."

Prompto didn't want to force her to do anything and respected her decision. "Well, when you're ready, I'll be here."

The guardian inhaled a shaky breath. She managed to turn and look at him, but the thing she was trying to not do happens. The tears she's been holding back spring free and cascade down her cheeks. Before she could even attempt to wipe them away, Prompto was already on it. His hands cradled her cheeks, using his thumbs to wipe away the tears. He was taken aback at her sudden tears and couldn't help but worry. "H-Hey, it's okay. Please don't cry, (Y/n)."

"I'm sorry, Prom," she sniffled.

"Don't apologize, silly." Prompto presses his forehead against hers with a warm smile. He wipes her tears away for a little longer before slipping his arms around her smaller frame and hugging her gently. She didn't hesitate to reciprocate the hug and wrap her arms around his torso. They remained in each other's arms until they heard Noctis shouting their names. Prompto pecked her on the forehead before grabbing her hand and rejoining Noctis and the others.

Once back with the others, Ignis explained how they learned where to find the mythril to repair the boat from Talcott. Their next destination would be the Vesperpool. As they were about to make their way into the house, Gladio stopped them. "So yeah, gonna have to ask you to handle this boat business without me."

Prompto gaped in shock. "Say wha?"

"Got some business of my own to deal with," the shield vaguely responded.

Noctis knew Gladio all too well and didn't try to change his mind. "Do your thing. Not like we could stop you anyway."

"You know me too well." He walked past the three boys and came to a stop beside (Y/n). He patted her on the shoulder. "Keep these guys in shape while I'm gone, short stuff."

She smirked in amusement. "You can count on me. Take care of yourself, Gladio."

"Don't have to tell me twice. See ya 'round." With that, the shield left.

<-------------<<<<<

Several days later, everyone minus Gladio was in the Regalia. Noctis was driving, Prompto was in the passenger's seat, and Ignis and (Y/n) were sitting in the backseat. The strategist recognized their surroundings from their earlier expedition in the area. "The waterfall cave was right around here."

"That means the lake should be somewhere north of here," Prompto said.

"Be wary, though-where we go, the empire seems to follow."

"Which means we might see Callyx again..." The marksman muttered with a slightly angry undertone.

"You hate the guy that much?" Noctis asked.

"Yeah, I do!" Prompto sat up in his seat with a huff of annoyance. "He hurt my beautiful goddess!"

(Y/n) chuckled slightly at his reasoning. "Trust me, I made sure he felt some pain before I left."

Eventually, they pull up to a tunnel whose gate had previously been locked. It opens and allows them passage. Prompto was puzzled at the entire thing. "Wait-what happened to "under imperial lockdown"?"

"They all but turned the key and left the gates open for us-as if awaiting our arrival," Ignis commented.

"And if anyone's waiting for us, I bet it's those guys," the sharpshooter grumbled.

"Chancellor Izunia and Callyx."

"Can't complain as long as they let us in," Noctis said.

"Who's to say they'll let us out? Not to mention we're a man down. Would that the marshal were with us," the advisor stated.

"But we have (Y/n) now!" Prompto chanted. "And whatever happened to that guy?"

"As I understand it, he's put his tomb raiding on hold to help the hunters take care of some troublesome beasts."

"No rest for "the immortal"," the prince said.

(Y/n) was curious to ask about Cor since she's only heard a few things about him from Prompto, but her train of thought was derailed when Noctis slammed on brakes. She braced herself as the car swerved from the harsh braking, her nails digging into the leather of the seat. Wondering why he made a harsh stop, she looked up to see an imperial blockade consisting of an MA Veles and imperial troopers.

"No way through," Noctis mumbled.

"So they give us access to the Vesperpool, but still intend to stop us by setting up other blockades," (Y/n) stated as she got out of the car.

"Yeah, it totally doesn't make any sense," Prompto commented. "But what do you expect from the empire?"

"Good point," Noctis said.

Once everyone was out of the car, they summoned their weapons. Ignis, wielding his daggers, warned his companions. "We must be doubly cautious."

"Right. No Gladio, no room for error."

Even without Gladio's presence, the battle went smoothly. They were able to easily dispose of the imperial forces and continue down the road. This time, Ignis was behind the wheel. Noctis, even with (Y/n) in the backseat with him, was able to spread out. "I could get used to havin' all this room back here. Too bad Gladio isn't as small as (Y/n)."

"It is quite cozy back here without him," the guardian said, stretching her arms into the air as her (h/c) locks were tousled by the wind.

Prompto glanced into the backseat at his best friend and girlfriend. "I'll let the big guy know you guys said so."

After a few more minutes of driving, Ignis parks the Regalia near the Vesperpool. Everyone exits the vehicle and heads into the nearby swampland in search of the ruins they heard about from Talcott. Down the trail, they spotted two familiar cars. One was red and the other was black.

"Oh, great..." (Y/n) groaned.

As they come near the ruins, they find Ardyn and Callyx waiting for them. The female spirit smirked in satisfaction seeing her fellow guardian's right eye was foggy. The skin around it was pink and puffy from where she burnt him. The boys also noticed the man's maimed eye. Prompto leant over and whispered to the golden-eyed spirit. "You did that to him?"

"Yeah. He deserved it," (Y/n) replied.

"Damn..." Noctis mumbled at seeing the damage.

Ardyn addressed the group as they made their way over to him and Callyx. "Gentlemen." He then took off his hat and bowed in (Y/n)'s direction. "And lady. What a pleasant surprise."

Prompto glanced between the two men with a groan. "Ugh! Told you they'd be waiting!"

"With my imperial friends, no less."

"Splendid," Ignis rhetorically retorted.

The chancellor quickly tried to assuage their concern. "But fear not-I'll put in a good word. Well, come along, then." He turns and begins walking toward the ruins. Callyx, on the other hand, didn't budge. He glared at the girl with his only remaining eye. He took a few steps towards her, but was stopped by Ardyn. "Do behave yourself, dear friend."

Callyx gritted his teeth, clenching his fists tightly. "If I could, I'd rip into your flesh again, right here and right now."

(Y/n) wasn't afraid of the man and stood her ground. "Did you not learn your lesson the first time? Guess you didn't and now don't wanna keep your left eye. I don't mind burning it like I did your right one."

"Why you little-!"

"Callyx," Ardyn gently called out in warning.

The male guardian reluctantly backed away with a snarl. He turned his back to his fellow spirit and followed after the chancellor.

Ardyn smiled at the group as Callyx took the lead towards the ruins. "I do apologize for his unruly behavior." He adjusted his hat and walked alongside his spiky-haired companion. "Now then, don't stray too far, lest you get left behind. And surely you'd rather avoid unnecessary scuffles, seeing as you're now a quartet. Oh, dear. Touchy subject?"

"One we won't discuss with you," Ignis quipped rather harshly.

"Then let's discuss why you're here. Hmm.... It can't be archaeology... Mythril, perhaps?"

"This guy's reading our thoughts!" Prompto gasped.

"Mythril-it's a precious resource. We can't just let anyone get their hands on it," Ardyn claimed.

"But you'll help us get ours on it, right?" Noctis asked.

"I never said that!"

"Of course you didn't," Prompto muttered.

"Where is the fun in that?" The chancellor questioned. "I thought you'd rather dig it up yourselves."

"We'll make you all do the damned dirty work yourselves. You're capable enough even with one person missing," Callyx sneered.

(Y/n) couldn't hold her snarky remark at bay. "Oh, so you won't dirty your hands for mythril, but you're fine with killing your own people. Nice to know."

"You're making it very difficult to not kill you," Callyx growled.

"You won't because your tail wags for your master."

"So does yours," he retorts.

"But mine doesn't keep me on a short leash and actually trusts me."

Callyx's self control shattered. He reached out to grab the girl, but his arm was grabbed by her and she twisted his arm behind his back. Using her foot, she kicked the bend of one of his legs and forced him to a single knee. He grunted in pain as he struggled against her, but his current position made it difficult.

The guardians' argument didn't go unnoticed. The boys and Ardyn had watched the entire thing unfold. The chancellor was smirking in amusement while the others were shocked. The auburn-haired man strolled over with a chuckle. "As I believe this is a suiting punishment for Callyx, I do beg of you to release him, my dear. His punishment will come at a later date, I assure you."

(Y/n) glared at the chancellor before releasing Callyx. The male spirit got to his feet, rolling his shoulder and trying to ease the pain. "Damn you..."

She crossed her arms with a victorious grin. "Run along, kitty. Your master's tugging on your leash."

Without another word, Callyx walked away. Prompto watched the emerald-eyed guardian stalk away, clearly consumed by anger. He then looked over at his spirit with an astonished expression. "Wow, (Y/n). I've never seen you so angry before."

"I'm not someone who usually is easily angered," she sighed. "But Callyx just grinds my gears. Knowing he's willingly working for the empire and killing our people is what irks me the most."

"By that display, I do believe we won't be needing Gladio's assistance for this endeavor," Ignis said.

Noctis glanced at Callyx's retreating form before looking over at the golden-eyed girl. "I thought you were gonna break his arm."

"Oh, trust me, I wanted to. I already broke it once, but I'll gladly do it again," she responded. "Guardians are more resilient than humans and our injuries heal quicker, but it seems Callyx is still experiencing issues with his arm after I broke it at the fort."

"Indeed, he is," Ardyn sighed. "You did quite a number on him, my dear. The poor man was brought back to me with his eye singed and arm shattered."

"And you're not mad?" She inquired.

"Of course not. Callyx fought and lost. Tis a mere outcome of battle."

Hearing Ardyn's confession, (Y/n) felt a tinge of sorrow for Callyx. The chancellor wasn't saddened if the man was injured in battle. He doesn't care for him like Prompto does her. She shook her head, ridding herself of the thoughts. "Putting all this aside, aren't we here for mythril?"

He tipped his hat with a faint smile. "Right this way."

They continued to follow Ardyn down the trail until they reached the ruins. Outside the entrance to the ancient structure stood the woman they had fought against at Fort Vaullery. Beside her were two imperial officers.

Ardyn turns to Noctis and the others. "Fear not-I'll be but a moment." He walks over to the woman and begins to speak with her.

Prompto looked over at his best friend. "A moment doing what?"

Noctis shrugged his shoulders. "Beats me."

(Y/n) looked around at the number of imperials were stationed in the area. She could feel their eyes on her as their grips on their weapons tightened. She grimaced at the unsafe feeling she was experiencing. She was the conduit, the spirit the empire was seeking to kill. Now she was standing in the middle of an imperial hornet nest, afraid she'd stir the insects and wind up dead. "I'm not so sure I should be here..."

The prince glared at the imperial troopers who were eyeing the spirit. "Nah, it's fine. If they really wanted to kill you, I'm pretty sure they'd already done it."

"Perhaps the chancellor is the reason they remain inactive," Ignis speculated.

She rubbed her hands up and down her arms. "I just hope we get this mythril as quick as possible..."

Just then, Ardyn calls out to them. "All clear! Go ahead."

The group approaches the woman, who was eyeing them closely. "So, you're the "new recruits" they sent over for "special training." Nice cover, runaway prince."

"Thanks," Prompto replied.

Noctis groaned at how casual the blonde was being. "Oh, c'mon!"

The woman shook her head with a sigh. "At ease, "recruits." There's nothing in it for this ex-mercenary to turn you in."

"Well that's a surprise," (Y/n) muttered.

This caught the ex-mercenary's attention. "Good thing because your name and the prince's are on the empire's list. The very top, I might add." She took a few steps towards the girl and examined her appearance. "But I know I'm already gonna like you, firefly."

The guardian blinked in surprise. "Why's that?"

"You're the one who fried Callyx's eye. If you hadn't done it, I would've. Bastard's been a thorn in my side for a while now." She patted her on the shoulder, grinning. "I look forward to working with you, firefly."

(Y/n) glances up at the sky, noticing the sun was beginning to set. "Then let's get this show on the road."

Her grinned widened. "Took the words right out of my mouth. Let's get moving, "recruits"."

Seeing the group had become acquainted with the ex-mercenary, Ardyn chimed in. "I trust you'll be civil. Commodore Aranea Highwind, I leave them to you."

Aranea puts on her helmet and guides the group towards the entrance of the ruins. As they trudged through the shallow water, Prompto noticed the strange design of the ruins. "What kind of place was this? Any idea, Ignis?"

Ignis was also intrigued by the ancient structure, but he had no answers for the blonde. "None."

"Gee, I wonder what happened to the locals."

"Why not head inside and look for 'em?" Aranea suggested.

"I'm not so sure if we want to find the locals," (Y/n) said. "Who knows if they're hostile or peaceful."

"Guess we'll figure out the hard way if there are any locals," Noctis spoke up.

When the sun set behind the horizon and the moon rose into the sky, the entrance to Steyliff Grove was open. As they entered the ruins, (Y/n) took note of the design. She ran a hand across the wall. "Hey, Prom. Don't these ruins look a lot like the ones we hid in a while back?"

Prompto also analyzed the structure of the ruins. His eyes widen when he too saw the similarities. "Oh, yeah!"

"You must be talking about Costlemark Tower," Aranea voiced. "Place is crawling with daemons and has the same strange mechanism that prevents anyone from entering during the day."

The marksman glanced over at the ex-mercenary. "Does that mean this place is gonna be crawling with daemons too?"

"Most likely."

"Oh, yay..."

Previous Chapter || Next Chapter || Masterlist

#ffxv #ffxv x reader #final fantasy xv #final fantasy xv x reader #prompto argentum #prompto x reader #prompto argentum x reader

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alternate-pokemon-next-gen · 4 years ago

Text

Ketchum Family Trivia

Ash’s Trivia

~Ash had spent a lot of his time with Pokemon more than people due to other kids bullying him.

~Ash hadn’t met his first human friend until he was six where he met Anabel.

~Ash and Anabel became very close since both of them could understand Pokemon and grew close to each other.

~Ash had met Serena a little after meeting Anabel, the three of them were close friends.

~When they met up again in Kalos, Ash became a wingman for Serena when he found out about her crush on Aria.

~Ash had gotten attacked by his main bullies and ended up being put in the hospital for a few weeks.

~Ash didn’t encounter Team Rocket due to the fact that Team Rocket was disbanded by his father Red and Red’s friends Blue, Green and Yellow and the revival of Team Rocket was stopped by Gold, Silver and Crystal.

~Ash was childhood friends with Gold and Crystal’s younger siblings Jimmy and Marina.

~Ash loved music ever since he was a baby as his parents would sing to him or play music for him when he was a newborn.

~It’s because of that, Ash is an incredible singer and his aura abilities are connected to his love of music.

~Ash didn’t meet or travel with Brock, Misty, May, Max, Dawn, Cilan, Iris, Serena, Clemont and Bonnie. He traveled with Gold, Silver and Crystal in Kanto, Orange Islands and Johto. Silver and Crystal in Hoenn. Silver, Anabel and Molly in Sinnoh, Unova and Kalos.

~Ash had befriended Jessie, James and Meowth due to them not being part of Team Rocket due to it disbanding before they could join. As such they’re all good friends.

~Ash was going to turn down the offer to be a Frontier Brain when Brandon offered, but when he realized that he could be closer to Anabel he agreed to be a Frontier Brain.

~When Ash met Anabel again and she offered to have him and his family come to her house, he happily agreed and when Silver asked about his battle Ash had simply said “Screw the battle!”

~Ash is a big fan of idols and Pokemon performers, a love that had passed to his older son Lazarus.

~When Ash was little, he could use his aura to read another person’s aura which helped him point out scammers, criminals and con artists who were pretending to be good people.

~Ash could also track someone’s aura so long as he’s seen and analyzed them before.

~Ash was known to befriend all kinds of wild Pokemon, he was so close to them that if he was in trouble wild Pokemon would help him even if they never met him before.

Anabel’s Trivia:

~Anabel used to live in Hoenn before she moved to Kanto.

~After moving to Kanto, Anabel would pretend to be a boy due to other kids from Hoenn saying she couldn’t be a Frontier Brain if she wasn’t an attractive girl.

~When she befriended Ash, she told him that she was a girl but Ash already knew and didn’t care that she was a girl.

~Anabel had befriended Serena around the same time they met.

~Anabel was slightly worried that Serena would try to be with Ash when they were older, but she was reassured by Serena that she wasn’t going to take Ash from her.

~After meeting Ash, she grew out her hair and stopped pretending to be a boy, saying that she’ll become a Frontier Brain because she has someone who believes in her and she wants to battle him one day.

~When she heard Ash was put in the hospital she visited him everyday, sadly he was either unconscious when she visited or so loopy from pain killers that he didn’t know who she was while she was there. She didn’t mind and stayed by his side for as long as she could.

~Anabel has psychic abilities that she’ll only use for emergencies or to help Ash when his aura isn’t enough.

~Anabel enjoys listening to Ash sing and enjoys singing with him.

Silver’s Trivia:

~Silver was childhood friends with Gold and Crystal, he teamed up with them to stop the revival of Team Rocket.

~Despite being Giovanni’s son, he completely rejects any notion of being related to Giovanni. To Silver, Red is the only father he has.

~Silver doesn’t have the same interest in singing as Ash does but he is a good singer when no one is looking.

~Silver was deeply upset when he got word that Ash was put in the hospital and wanted to beat up the bullies who did that to his little brother, but wild Pokemon beat him to it, which amused him.

~Silver always had a crush on Crystal and got annoyed when Gold or any other guy would flirt with her, even if they weren’t dating at the time.

~Before Ash was born, Silver made a promise to Red to always protect his younger brother or sister and keep an eye on them. He always feels horrible when something bad happens to Ash and he either couldn’t stop it from happening or wasn’t there to protect him.

~Silver has a Kyoto accent that comes out when he’s really angry, he always hates it when it pops up.

Crystal’s Trivia:

~When Crystal’s arms were broken when she was little, Silver was there to help her heal even though he had no idea how to help. She appreciated the gesture which is what made her develop a crush on him.

~Even after that day, she felt weak and unworthy of being near him and vowed to never be in that situation again

~Crystal still works with children when she isn’t being a professor’s assistant.

~Crystal finds Ash to be cute and often calls him ‘sweetie’ out of affection.

~Crystal is close to her younger sister Marina and always supported her relationship with Jimmy and Vincent.

~Crystal enjoys cooking and is very good at it, being the cook of the group (and kicking Gold when he would make a sexist comment about when she was cooking)

~Crystal would later teach Ash how to cook when he was older and she enjoyed teaching him how to cook.

Lazarus’ Trivia:

~Lazarus has a great singing voice like Ash, but he sucks at dancing.

~Lazarus has a huge love for anything dealing with stage performances, which is one reason why he really likes Ariel.

~Lazarus is aware of Ariel’s crush on him and does like her back, he just wants to wait for the right moment to confess his feelings to her.

~Lazarus does have a Pikachu as part of the Ketchum family tradition, his Pikachu is just more of a companion and acts as the Battle Frontier mascot.

~Lazarus’ dream is to create a new kind of Battle Frontier that matches that of the Pokemon gyms and the Elite Four.

~Lazarus is just as reckless as Ash was and Ash can’t even scold him for being reckless without sounding like a hypocrite.

~Lazarus’ battle style is similar to his father’s he plays to his Pokemon strengths and uses his quick thinking skills to create unique counters.

~Lazarus didn’t go to school or daycare when he was younger, preferring to just learn from experience than in school.

~Lazarus’ favorite color is white, he doesn’t know why.

~Lazarus’ favorite food is pancakes and his favorite drink is orange juice.

Chetari’s Trivia:

~The main reason why Chetari was adopted by Ash was because he heard her sing and he has a weakness for anyone who can sing.

~Chetari’s Jigglypuff is the son of the Jigglypuff that would draw on someone’s face if they fell asleep after she was done singing.

~The reason why Chetari has a rapping Swablu was simply because the idea sounded funny.

~Chetari studies human health as well as Pokemon health, someone has to make sure her adopted brother doesn’t hurt himself too badly.

~Chetari’s off color Gallade was based off of a idea me and unknownwolf1996 had where Chetari caught a Kirlia that was the same color as a character from Danganronpa, Kiibo the Kirlia then became a bit of a running gag.

~Chetari has a Zorua because that’s her signature Pokemon no matter what.

~Chetari has a Vaporeon both because I felt she needed an Eeveelution and because Vaporeon wasn’t taken by anyone yet.

~Wanted to replace Draco with Nuzleaf because it would be more fun that way.

~Chetari also has a Pikachu but like Lazarus’ Pikachu, she’s a companion.

~Chetari’s favorite food is pork buns and her favorite drink is tea.

Jewel’s Trivia:

~Jewel loves being with kids and is always happy to catch a Pokemon for them.

~Jewel often has to scold her cousin Lazarus for when he does something reckless.

~Jewel is a very good artist and photographer, she also enjoys scrap booking and is very good at it.

~Jewel is an amazing dancer, but she isn’t the best at singing.

~Jewel had went to school when she was younger before she applied as an assistant for Professor Cerise.

~Jewel knows her younger sister is afraid of Pokemon and often tries to get her used to Pokemon she catches, sometimes it works.

~Jewel is happy to provide Pokemon to help her cousin’s dream.

~Jewel always ties her hair in a bun or in a ponytail when she’s flying to avoid having her hair in her face and when she’s in the field so her hair doesn’t get in the way.

~Jewel also has an outfit for field work she wears as she doesn’t want to get her kimono dirty or ripped.

~Jewel’s team is built for capturing Pokemon similar to Crystal’s team with Meganium being her land transportation, Pidgeot being air transportation, Gothia using Mean Look to prevent Pokemon from escaping, Hitmonlee to be a battler for stronger Pokemon, Foongus to make Pokemon easier to catch with status effects and Pawniard to use False Swipe.

~Jewel was given Hitmonlee as a opposite to Crystal’s Hitmonchan.

~Jewel’s favorite color is red, which is why she loves her hair.

~Jewel’s favorite food is ramen and her favorite drink is green tea.

Morado’s Trivia:

~Morado’s hair was a lot lighter when he was younger, it got darker when he got older due to him spending a lot of time in the sun.

~Morado doesn’t like interacting with kids his own age as he thinks other kids aren’t as interesting as Pokemon.

~Morado doesn’t openly trust other kids despite his optimism.

~Morado likes music like his father and brother, he enjoys playing with drums.

~Morado has an interest in sports and wants to take up some sports when he’s older.

~Despite wearing purple and his name meaning purple, Morado’s favorite color is actually blue.

~Morado’s favorite food is omelette rice and his favorite drink is milk.

Tamako’s Trivia:

~Tamako loves her long hair and refuses to have it cut, even if her bangs are in the way of her vision.

~The barrette she wears was given to her so she didn’t have to cut her bangs.

~Tamako enjoys being with other kids her age and has a lot of friends at school.

~While she is afraid of being near Pokemon she isn’t familiar with, she still will heal them if any of them are injured.

~Her slight fear of Pokemon came from an incident she doesn’t like talking about as it brings up too many bad memories.

~Tamako speaks with a Kyoto dialect, though she often hides it as she finds it embarrassing.

~Tamako’s favorite color is turquoise.

~Tamako’s favorite food are dangos and her favorite drink is lemonade.

#Pokemon #Next Gen #Pokemon Next Gen #Trivia #AbilityShipping #SpecialJewelShipping #Lazarus Ketchum #Jewel Ketchum #Morado Ketchum #Tamako Ketchum #Chetari Ketchum #Main Cast #Children #Fan Kids #Pokemon Fan Kids

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mila-dans · 4 years ago

Text

Happy Horror Awaits: Visit to a Small Planet

Chapter one of “Happy Horror Awaits.”

Pairing: Sam x Reader

Word Count: 2787

Summary: Doing it alone is your life motto, especially when it comes to hunting. Sure it may be dangerous and sure the Winchesters might not like it but you do. Or that is at least until a certain change of events lead you to believe maybe being alone isn’t the best option.

Just So You Know: This is only my second fanfiction series so please let me know how I’m doing! Any comments, words of wisdom, or constructive criticism you have, be sure to send my way. The chapters will vary in length but do know, cliff hangers and twists are my specialty! (Gif credit to the amazing: @jarpadandjensens )

Deep breaths. Deep calming breaths, Y/n.

You slowly gain consciousness as you awake out of your dream.

Sweet, sweet dreams. Wouldn’t I kill for just about five more minutes? I never get good sleep. At least not in my time being alive. And that’s been a while.

You start to turn your face as you grip onto the pillow even more. As you start to adjust yourself even more, you feel something. Something on you.

Hm? What the--

You open your eyes under the comforter to see a silk lavender nightgown that you, apparently, are in.

Wh--What? What is this?

You then realize that your hands were on a comforter. A big, white, fluffy comforter. Never in your life have you ever had an actual comforter. You shut your eyes believing that you were still in a dream.

Okay. Okay, Y/n. This is the universe's way of saying, “Go back to sleep You’re still dreaming.” We don’t want to ignore the universe, do we?

You then stuff your face in a soft and luxurious pillow that, once again, you have never had before, and return back to glorious unconsciousness.

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

Sweet, sweet, dreams…

You take your hand up to your bloodied and bruised face as you walk away from the fire.

Okay… So not, sweet, dreams…

You can feel your heartbeat race as the sirens start to sound. Really? You thought to yourself. This is what I get for killing the damn monster. A broken nose and having to run away from cops. This is what tended to happen.

Hunting was a full time job. Meaning, hunting was your life and who you are. This work was no piece of cake either. Take this case for example: A simple haunting, average poltergeist. Or so you thought. Instead it was a difficult poltergeist and a ghoul that was living in the attic. Fun times. After you handled the bone muncher, Casper decided to drop in. Actually, drop in. As in drop into the body of the mailman and have him come after you. Lots of paper cuts. Realizing that the situation was the fact that the ghoul killed several people in the attic, most of which became one big collective poltergeist, the only clear option was to burn the house down. Mailman out of harm's way of course. Up in flames she went. Thankfully, it was being remodeled and unoccupied at the moment. Burn ugly grandma wallpaper, burn.

You headed down the block before the cops saw you commit the arson. You found a little shed back behind a house and stayed inside until the literal smoke cleared. Taking some supplies from a nice little first aid kit, you were able to fix the appearance of your ever so damaged face. With an hour passed, you found your cue to leave the shack and head for the hills.

You decided to take a ride in a silver Subaru as you headed back to the bunker. Boys are gonna be pissed. You knew it. You knew that they would hate the fact that you ran off again. Especially Sam For some reason, he always seemed to be more agitated by your disappearing-solo act. They don’t understand that you like to work alone. Always have, always will. True. Especially the “always have” part. The boys are brothers so they’ve had each other. Even Cas has a whole family tree that he only knows some of. None of them knew what it was like to be alone. Not like you did. You, the ever so vivacious and fun-loving you, were deemed unadoptable at a very early age. Too hot to handle. You told yourself. No family for you. No friends either. After seeing your Aunt Iris get slaughtered by an invisible force, let’s just say no one could top that story at share time. Couldn’t believe it either. No one ever believed. Luckily, one day, at eighteen years of age, you escaped from that hellhole that you were forced to call home, and sought off to find out where Aunt Iris hid her millions and why she just so happened to die ten years later after she acquired it. And a hunting we delve.

You parked the car half a mile back from the bunker and left a little note on the dash saying, “Oops. Thought it was mine. ;) ” You had always wondered what the faces looked like when they read your notes. I mean, I already stole the car, why not try and steal their hearts too? And some people say that you use humor as a defense mechanism. The only people who ever really saw through your charade were the one and only: Winchesters.

You opened the bunker door and quickly walked down the stairs. Good. No one was sitting in the library or war room. All clear. You then headed to your room, hoping that no parents noticed your previous lack of presence. It's only been three days since I’ve been gone. You assure yourself. You move past Dean’s room and very quietly, try to sneak past Sam's. You take a deep breath as you steadily crack open your door. Phew. You turn around, prepared to jump in the comfort of your not so perfect, perfect bed. Home sweet ho--

“Where the hell have you been?!” You hear a low and angry tone from the chair behind the door. You take a big sigh. So close. You think as you still continue to jump in your bed. “Really? Y/n? Not gonna answer me?” The voice continues to speak with an annoyed tone.

“Well, what do you want me to say? You’re smart enough to know that I was off hunting. Why should I hide it?” You stuff your face into the pillow as you hear the voice stand up and pull your body down towards the foot of the bed. “Really, Sam?” You say as you turn around to face the Winchester.

“Yes, really!” Sam crosses his arms and you just fall back on the mattress. “When are you gonna learn that you shouldn’t go out on hunts alone! You could get hurt and from the looks of it--”

“--I already have!” You continue. “Yeah, Sam, so what? I got hurt so what are you gonna do? Cause you can’t stop me from going out again. You never have been able to in the first place.” You give a sarcastic smile in his direction which gets met by his classic bitch face. “Listen Sam, I--”

“--No! You listen, you have been gone for days!”

“Three! Only three days, Sam! It’s not even a big deal.”

“Three? No, Y/n. How about you try five? Five days you have been gone without leaving a single trace as to if you were okay or where you were going!” Sam takes a seat in the chair.

“Sam,” you say with a stern tone, “I’m not gonna fight you about this again. I don’t need you to protect me. When you met me, you invited me to come with you and help. I did. I do! I’m still here whenever you need me!”

“But you continue to go off and leave without saying anything to anyone! Like where were you this time?! Cuba?! Canada?!” Sam says with a sarcastic tone.

“Haha,” you mock as you roll your eyes. Sam stands up from the chair.

“Seriously though, Y/n. How the hell am I supposed to keep track of you? How do I know if you’re okay or not?!”

“You don’t have to know! No one is asking you to! I am great by myself!” Sam looks at the cut on your face and you shrug it off.

“Y/n, I’m tired of you going out and hunting by yourself. You could get killed! There is a reason me and Dean hunt together. Strength in numbers!” Sam retaliates.

“Well, Sam, I don’t have a Dean. I don’t have someone that’s what like you two are to each other. I never have. I go at it alone and I like it that way!” You army crawl back up to the pillows. Sam once again pulls you by your feet back down to the bottom of the bed. “Would you just--Gah!” You sit back up.

“Who do you think we are, Y/n? The bunker residents? You think we just do our thing and let you do yours? No! We help each other out. We’re a team. A family! Why can't you get it through that thick skull of yours?!” Sam throws his hands up in the air. Thick skull? Thick skull?! You stand up and go towards Sam.

“I do not have a thick skull! You do!” You stand on your tiptoes as you try to meet his eyeline. “Listen to me Sam Winchester,” you raise your voice and cause Sam to start to back up as you press your pointer finger into him, “I do what I want, when I want! And I never will ask for your permission because it is useless! You gave me a roof and a room just over a year ago and I am grateful for that, I really am. But I don’t need to stamp a time card whenever I decide to kill a vamp or go for a joy ride!” You turn back around and back towards the bed, trying to get a handle on your frustration.

“Then why the hell did you move in?” You hear Sam say, starting to regain his composure. “Why are you here if you’re never here?” Sam moves closer to you, seemingly looking for a real answer instead of your usual quick witted one.

“I like to be alone. That’s the way it's always been!” You answer. Sam runs his fingers through his hair.

“Then why don’t you just leave then?! Clearly, Y/n, yourself, and you can’t stand it here. And you also believe for some reason that I--that me and Dean and Cas are just nothing to you. So tell me, what’s stopping you from leaving? Huh? What’s stopping you from just walking out the door right now?!” Sam gives you a look that seems to be unreadable. You stare at him for a moment. Only one thought comes to your mind and it's been your natural response for all your life.

“My cue,” you respond. You stand up and grab your go bag as Sam stands like a statue, loss for words. You pause before leaving and put your hand on his shoulder. “The show’s over.” You pat his back as you walk out from your room. “So long, Sam.” You walk down the halls as a sleepy Dean goes after you.

“Hey!” Dean calls out. “Y/n! Where are you going? Where have you been?!” Dean catches up with you in the war room. He reaches for your arm and holds you back. He gives you a confused look as he sees the faint bit of water in your eyes. “Y/n,” he says softly, “Look, whatever Sam said, he--”

“--He said that I should probably leave, Dean. So that’s just what I’m gonna do. One last order from Sam Winchester.” You knock Deans hand away and head up the stairs.

“Come on! Y/n! Don’t go!” Dean shouts. Sam joins the party and watches as you open the door.

“Y/n, I l--”

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

Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...hhhh...h… Stupid, stupid, dreams.

“Momma!” A voice says.

“Mommy!” A different voice says.

Huh? Wha… what?

“Momma!” The voice says again.

Okay...um...what?!

You rub your eyes as you feel something hitting your back and what sounds like children, calling for their mom. You just take a deep breath and wipe the slobber from your lips.

“Hey,” a deep and familiar voice says, “Come on guys, give your mom a break.”

Hm?

You slowly begin to open your eyes as much as they are willing to when a bright light surrounds the environment. The beating on your back continues.

“Guys! What did I just say?” The deep voice asks. “I said, give her a break. Not to break her!”

A sudden laughter erupts from what sounds like children and the familiar voice.

“No!” The children shout, trying to hold in their excitement. “No daddy!”

“Dadda!” A little girl’s voice calls out followed by a little squeal.

Wha?

Your eyes adjust to the similar sight that you saw earlier: a white comforter. The sun coming from a big window causes the comforter to seem much brighter than you deem necessary. You notice the window and a white wall.

Why so much white?

There appears to be some picture that you can barely make out hanging next to the curtains. There is also a nightstand by the side of the bed that you are on with an assortment of goods. A coffee cup with “Y/n” written on it. Some green books about green things. A little potted plant. A rose gold watch. And an alarm clock that reads, “8:34 A.M.” You look in the bottom corner and it says, “Tuesday. February, 28th.”

No. No, no, no, no. Nope. No. Nu-uh. It is Monday. I hate Mondays, but I know for sure that it is indeed a Monday.

You start to focus your attention back on the noises and motions that you feel on the, extremely, soft, bed. The little hits on your back have stopped but the laughter continues. As does some motion on the surface.

“Dadda! Momma!” A child, as you’ve determined, calls out.

“Shh,” the familiar voice replies, “Let her sleep, jellybean.” The motion on the bed shifts back onto you. You feel a creature crawl up on your back and pull down the covers. You shut your eyes praying to God himself that this was all just some dream. The small creature makes its way up to your head and puts its small hands on your face. You feel what you think is a toddler’s hands on your cheeks.

“Momma,” the child whispers. “Momma!” The little girl again whispers. Her hands go all over your face and to your eyes. She brings her tiny fingers to your eyelids and slowly opens them. You stare at the little girl. She appears to have hazel, hooded eyes, light brown hair and the smallest set of teeth that you have ever seen. She must be about two years old. “Momma,” she speaks again. She smiles at you and brings her hands to your forehead as she kisses it.

Uh--U--Wha--Huh--What?

She continues to smile at you until a big hand scoops her up and takes her behind you.

Okay. Okay. Jus--just stay calm. This has just got to be a dream. I mean, what else could it be? I didn’t get drunk last night. Right? Wait, did I? Wh--what? Why can’t I remember?

“Alright guys,” the familiar voice says, “Let Momma wake up on her own.”

“But Daddy!” The other child complains.

“No ‘but!’ Just go downstairs.” The children huff but you hear their feet scamper off. “Jack, keep an eye on Charlie!”

Jack? Charlie?! What?!

You remain in your still as you feel the child scooping hand rub your shoulders and back.

This is a dream. This is a dream.

The hand makes its way up to your arm. You feel a big body move closer to you. Your heartbeat rises as you become very aware of the fact that you are only in a nightgown and can feel that whoever this man was, he was muscular and shirtless. He moved his fingers to your hair and slowly brushed it away from your neck.

Um…

He leaned his head down just a bit as he kissed your neck, leaving no part untouched by his extremely soft lips. “Good morning, Baby,” he whispered in your ear. You practically forgot to breathe as he started to kiss your cheeks.

Um… Wh--What? No, seriously, what the hell?!

You decided that now was the time to face whatever dream or planet or reality that you were in. You turned your head ever so slightly as the man’s lips perfectly hit your own. You closed your eyes as the man continued to kiss you and you, unwilling to take the situation for granted, kissed him back.

Oh, wow… That was um…

You took a peak at the mystery man as your eyes grew ten times bigger. Smiling down at you, with the sun glowing on his face and eyes sparking hazel-green, he pressed his lips into yours once more. This time, you didn’t reciprocate. “Uh,” you started to mumble as he gave you a confused look. “Um…”

“What is it, Y/n?” You stared at him in shock. “Baby?” You rub your eyes again at the startling sight.

“Uh, Sam?”

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Next chapter out shortly!

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Let me know your thought and theories! Thank you for reading. Hope you enjoyed!

Tag list (is open!):

@swallow-carrying-a-coconut�� @sl33pybo1

#sam winchester #sam winchester x reader #supernatural #supernatural fanfic #supernatural fanfiction #supernatural imagine #dean winchester #castiel #hahaha Jillian got you!

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iam-kenough · 4 years ago

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Will you ever notice me? (Arthur Morgan x Original Female Characters)

Summary: Dutch and his boys found a girl hidden inside wrecked shack near their camp. She introduces herself as Iris and starts leading outlaw life with Van der Linde gang, quickly developing feelings towards one, special cowboy. However there is big year gap between them and Arthur sees Iris just as a kid...And girl won’t take that!

Authors notes: TO THOSE WHO READ THIS - THANK YOU! I can see some of you leave hearts under my post on regular basis and even if it’s only one or two people, I will write for you. I have a question for you - would you see a crossover in this story? I have an idea for The Witcher crossover happening in 10 to 15 chapters. Any feelings about that? It’s just another chapter and you can find the rest of them following masterlist on my blog if you want to read more of my fanfiction. Hope you gonna enjoy it! Words count: 2816 Chapter 14 Arthur got up from bed with shitty mood this day, thinking about events from few night's before. How could Iris be so cold to him? Man couldn't get away from these thoughts. But he also knew that he deserved much more than only few harsh words. He was a bastard so she was dealing with him like with one. Woman was merciful enough to keep him around, at least that's what Arthur told himself. One thing couldn't get off his head. Where was she? Whatever he tried, Arthur couldn't find her recently, but the tent was here and girl's presence was visible, marked with her clothes, thrown on the floor or on the bed. He suddenly heard that someone is breaking glass behind the trees somewhere around the tent he was sleeping in.

- Glad it ain't your job - Iris was leaning against the tree. She looked different today, fresh, happy and she wasn't hangover. Girl was dressed similar to Arthur, black trousers with suspenders, dark green shirt, gun belt, high boots and her hair was collected in messy bun on the top of her little head. She was talking to Sean, who was shooting towards empty beer bottles.

- What about you, you can't do that to, can ya? - boy's accent was strong and thick, Sean visibly mocking Iris.

- Maybe you want to go with me and see me in action so you won't underestimate me anymore - woman threw him challenging gaze.

- What are you both up to, kids? - Arthur approached them, taking position on the opposite side to Iris's.

- Sean decided he's gonna train shooting skills. But there is one thing, bastard's drunk.

- That gives you twice much chances to shot someone! - Arthur spreaded his arms as honest and hearty laugh escaped his lungs.

- Stop scolding me, you are not even older than me, Iris! And by the way, you were the one who went yesterday downtown and killed some folk to pay your bounty, when half the state is hoping to shoot you for two thousand dollars. It was supposed to be a secret between her and Sean and Arthur threw her angry look right away. She wouldn't use his help and she meant it. The crease between his brows remained deep and his ocean eyes were locked on very certain person.

- Well, look at me, paying two thousand dollars fine for my head and killing multiple fellers when all you have to do is shot 5 bottles that ain't moving and you can't do that, can ya?

- I asked you to help me, not to scold me - Sean approached her, lowering his tone to calm and obedient so Arthur wouldn't hear what comes next - Don't make me ask him, he would laugh me off.

- Oh, that's who you are afraid of! Never would thought about that - she said out loud, looking at Arthur and smirking - Ye knew I learned form him, eh?

- You think you are so much better? Okay, give it a go, your best shot, Rhiannon! Iris threw him look of someone who's done with his shit and in the nick of time she pulled out a gun and almost at the same moment bottle cracked. She wasn't as fast as Arthur, but it was still impressive.

- Grow up - she said and turned around on heel.

- Oh come on, I'm paying you for that, don't go away, please? - Sean changed his tactics immidiately.

- You're paying for my compliments, not for real advices, attaboy. And I cannot be bought. Arthur stayed out of it, but it was amusing to watch as Iris is roasting everybody around wherever she can. That's his girl.

- I think you are too harsh on me, that's all - Sean got back to shooting, throwing looks above his arm to be sure Iris is still watching him.

- Oh, poor boy, some little lady is making you cry. You can ask our old Arthur for help, if ya don't like me - she patted Arthur's arm and Sean frowned.

- I won't listen to no Englishman!

- I don't like the way you talk to her, kid - Arthur scoffed, giving boy judgemental eyes - Guess you just lost chances with both of us.

Sean threw him disappointed look and got back to his task. Iris left Sean and Arthur followed her, grabbing her arm suddenly and turning her around.

- I told ya not to go anywhere alone, I offered you the money that could save you, why you keep pushing me and my help away? - he was towering her, looking down with disappointment. Iris's back rested against the tree and she tool deep breath.

- Arthur...darling...I told you I can't use your help, especially when it comes to money. Look at us, the last thing I need is to be financialy dependent. We don't get along at all.

- And why is that, what is wrong with me taking care of you? - man's palm rested near Iris's head when the elbow was straightened, closing one of possible ways for her to leave him hanging right now.

- You're not the one that should do that, Mister! You have woman you care about in your life, Arthur, her name's Mary.

- It's different with you - he murmured, averting his gaze.

-It is, you are right. There is nothing between us and you try to pretend it is.

- Nothin' between us, huh? And all those feelings we share? Since I met you my heart is fluttering as soon as I see you and I feel like a fool - Arthur muttered under his breath, it was crystal clear he hated speaking about his emotions.

- Feelings aren't enough sometimes. I shut this door, Arthur. It's over.

- You're breaking up with me?

- Arthur, we were never properly together in the first place, so calm down - her tone was serious but girl caressed his cheek and smiled - I'm sure I'm not the only girl that can warm you up at nights.

- You are the only one to me - he shaken his head with disbelief and clenched his jaw righ after, looking away like betrayed dog.

- I am not, you think I am naive enough to believe in that? You have past and it's chasing you, I ain't girl for you.

- What are you saying, kid? - Arthur's eyes narrowed.

- You're sleeping with Mary, right? At least that's what all red lights were showing me. All those letters, staying away, not coming home at night. I can't blame you, she's beautiful and more mature...more like you - Iris's voice was full of jealousy. Arthur suddenly grabbed her chin and kissed her. The feeling coming with the kiss was unbearable, sensation fallin on Iris, tying up knot inside her stomach. She suddenly felt butterflies trying to get outside her chest and blood running faster in her veins. But girl quickly realised it's her heart, racing so much it almost hurt. His chapped, plump lips were doing the job with softening her fasade, that's for sure. Iris couldn't help but run fingers through Arthur's golden hair. His breath was warm and stubble on Arthur’s face tickled a bit, causing shivers in lower part of Iris’s spine. That was it, he hunted her down again. She purred, sucking onto his lower lip and smiled dreamily.

- Do you think I could do something like that with anyone else but you? - Arthur asked - How could you assume I cheated on you and wasn't even asking me for my side of the story? I never did, especially not with Mary.

- Wait, does that mean that all those things that happened to us...are my fault? - girl's face suddenly dropped, brows forming into frown.

- I'm not blaming you, even if it is I can't - Arthur's forehead rested against hers - I should say something too, but I just thought I am too old for you, or maybe too stupid or to harsh when it comes to our intimacy and that's why you are slipping from my hads so quickly - Iris noticed that his eyes were glimmering.

- Hey, I am cold bitch but I wouldn't treat you so badly only for those things - she whispered surprised, her breath unsteady.

- I am not much to look at, I assumed you just wanted someone better...but I am the best for you, girl, I can feel we match just like puzzles does - it was the smoothest line Arthur Morgan ever used on anyone.

- You are unbelievable! - she scoffed - And that's why you were gone all days every time there was a letter from Mary?

- I am a fool - Arthur run fingers through his hair in nervous manner - I shouldn't help her, yer right, it looked so bad when now I remind myself...I just had this very wrong feeling sayin' I owe her somethin'. She was asking me about lot of things and I felt like idiot running her errands thinking it's just help that she needs after becoming a widow and I soon as she tried to...convince me I should ignore some young girl running after me and make love to her I escaped from Mary, a-and then I was diagnosed, assured by doctor I'm gonna die, I couldn't let you watch it- - Arthur was rambling on and on, falling apart at the same time. But then Iris grabbed his both arms, looking at him firmly but with genuine and consider smile on her rosy lips.

- I would never leave you, even if you'd die tomorrow. Heart doesn't work like this, I care about you, even if we don't have good time every day, Arthur. I would stay by your side, no matter what- Arthur's eyes became stromy again and he pulled Iris into tight embrace, burrying face in her hair. Man tried to hide it but Iris knew he's iritated with her little sugarcoating. Her small hands were running circles around his arms and back, letting him calm down a little.

- I was afraid...to infect you, Iris. I was already dirty, living like a savage, no need to do the same to ya.

- Shh, I'm not mad anymore - her heart was melting away on sight of Arthur Morgan who's trying to get her back. Maybe she was simple, so what?

- That means you gonna stay? I think you suit there.

- I will stay even if it's gonna be here, in this camp till the end of the world, you know it - she pecked his nose gently - We just have to sit down someday and talk about communication between us.

- You sound so smart sometimes even though all you do is stupid and reckless - Arthur mocked her.

- Its more about me without you, I need to be protected - she whispered to his ear, observing as this boyish grin appeared on Arthur's lips. Iris planned to do that more often, clearly seeing through him and his low self-esteem. Man needed to be reassured once in a while that he’s important.

Arthur cheered up suddenly, grabing Iris into rough bear hug, messing up her hair a little and grinning like stupid.

- And mister? I told you to quit smoking! - girl barked out trying to be intimidating but it caused only vibrations in Arthur's chest as he couldn't help but laugh.

Iris thought that she was light headed and drunk with love, but Arthur was just whole new level. All man was doing all days was following Iris around the camp as much as he could, looking ridiculous. If she was washing his shirts, he was scolding her for overworking herself, every time Iris chopped vegetables he was chiming in, helping her and kicking Mr Pearson out and hugs from the back happened often, usually stuttering her since Arthur could take really silent steps if he wanted to. Iris didn't mind though, she was adoring idea of hot, dangerous gunslinger falling on their knees for her even if for a second. Every moment she was reminding herself first time she met Arthur's stormy gaze, her knees were a little bit shaky.

Days passed and girl still couldn't figure out how to ask Arthur if they can share a tent. It should be obvious but on first night after their reconcile he mumbled ''goodnight'' and disappeared behind tent's flaps. Iris couldn't tell if she should follow, so stayed away and now it was another stupid problem she made up to have thing to worry about. In her head it looked like small gesture showing he's not ready for her to come and turn his life upside down again. She sighed and started getting herself ready to go to bed, undressing and stretching her muscles, listening with satisfaction as her whole skeleton cracked. She still was hurt after train robbery, that one was tough and running away from bounty hunters one day was even tougher. Air was warm tonight, a bit stuffy also dark clouds presaged storm. Iris decided she's gonna sleep naked and clothes she owned were throwed inside big, wooden trunk.

- Hey, Iris, can you come over for sec- - Arthur froze in place seeing her naked with eyes wide and mouth open in "o" shape.

- Go away! - she squeked, throwing pillow in his face.

- Jesus, I'm sorry! - Arthur looked away quickly, but his cheeky smile showed otherwise.

- You should knock, Mister! - girl said, covering herself quickly, not noticing small peeks Arthur was throwing at her ass and hips when she was turned around.

- Sorry, I wasn't expectin' you like that...- he said with goofy smile.

- Like what? It's too warm tonight to sleep wearing anything and suddenly I think I'm gonna melt away - Iris waved her hands with motion towards complexion, causing a little bit of cold air caress her glimmering face.

- Yeah, you- I mean, it's hot, y'er right - Arthur's hands became fidgety, he was picking on his nails nervously, blushing like a boy.

- And you should knock 'cause there are plenty things I can do naked - Iris mocked him, causing motion of his hands to speed up.

- Girls do that too?! Are you thinking of me when you-

- You pig! - she thew another pillow at him.

- I'm sorry, I wasn't expectin' you- I wasn't expecting that - his eyes eagerly run from up to down - Iwantedtoinviteyoutocomeoverplease.

- Huh? Are you drunk, Arthur?

- A bit, yes - it clearly wasn't a bit, Iris could tell, chatty tongue, jazzy hands, next thing is gonna be yelling how much he wants to cuddle her - I wanted to show you my new bed, it's bigger.

- Well, good for you, you always whined your back hurts - Iris shrugged.

- It's bigger so you could sleep with me - suddenly he got bolder, approaching her and slithering his hands onto her waist.

- Oh, I thought I wasn't invited - Iris pretended to look away and being irritated.

- You're right, I should do it properly. My lady, would you follow me to my bed and spend the night in my arms? - Arthur offered her a hand like he was asking Iris for a dance.

- Now that's something I like to hear, I would be honored, Mr Morgan - Iris said, picking up pillow from the floor and bringing it along with herself to Arthur's tent. New bed was really big and he was so creative to place few candles around, making mood more intimate and romantic. Iris whistled, showing she's impressed and rested on his bed, trying it out, rolling around for a minute.

- Ah, sorry, I should ask you. I'm little bit sticky - she said, her face glimmering from sweat.

- No no, go on - Arthur said, plastering his eyes to her body. He rocked a little bit in place as erection was growing hard in man's pants. Arthur's trying to look anywhere around, but it was impossible. Small feet, then slim calves, tights that had just enough cushion do lie down on them comfortable and then those round hips with neat buttocks.

- How much did you have today, Mister? - Iris raised her brow.

- A few beers, they lured me into that, I swear - Arthur said trying out his convincing tone and waving hands to show he's innocent.

- Surely - she purred, lowering her voice in sexy maneuver - I heard your voice, how it was again, hmm, ring dang doo?

- Maybe - he said, blushing briefly. Oh, Iris could do anything to him now and he would wag his tail like a puppy.

- You wanna come here or what?

- Y-you know, I'm good here for now - he rocked on the chair again. Iris noticed small tent rised in his pants and smirked.

- That's a shame - she sighed with fake disappointment - But I'm perfectly comfortable here so - she said stretching a little bit, her nipples showing of through chemise - Goodnight, Mister. Arthur gulped. She's gonna be the death of him.

#arthur morgan #arthur morgan x oc #arthur morgan x original character #arthur morgan x original female character #arthur morgan fanfiction #arthur morgan fanfic #arthur morgan romance #arthur morgan fluff #arthur morgan smut #rdr2 #red dead redemption arthur #red dead redemption 2 #rdr2 fanfiction #rdr2 tag #arthur morgan angst

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subtleshenanigans · 4 years ago

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Just something I wrote - probably won’t do anything further with these characters.

In Bloom

————

Birch Brickpaw, mother of the dibbuns of Redwall. Brickpaw for her speedy cuff and sizable paws.

Badgers don’t name in clans like otters, not in a traditional sense. They like codes and riddles and secrets to share. It’s about fitting a long name, a meaning, into something simple. Like Hares, but not broadcasted.

Birch had grown up in the plains, in a humble home. Her mother grew flowers and herbs, her father farmed. It was a simple life.

“My little garden,” her mother would say. “See the flowers? They bloom in their own time. But the week you were born, my oh my! It made no sense. Borage, Iris, Rosemary, Catnip, Hyssop - they all bloomed with one another, so I named you for them.”

“I thought daddy said I was named after a tree,” Birch had asked in puzzlement. They looked over to where her father was splitting logs.

Her mother had winked. “Well, that’s what he thinks.”

It was happy, and simple. Her father called her ‘little sapling’ and marked as she grew. Nights were warm in summer, they holed up in winter at Redwall Abbey, came back for spring and sent gifts from autumn harvest.

Until one day they went to Redwall in late summer, and her father and mother kissed her brow, worry etched on their features.

The Abbot held her paw as they watched them leave, with the Skipper of otters and his entire crew.

And the door shut behind them.

And her parents didn’t come back.

———-

She would always be thankful for the otters, who under a new skipper, had tried their best. They hadn’t hid what had happened to them, and she was thankful for that as well.

Abbot Verum wasn’t that old, even as she was full-grown now. He had raised her, and trained her, and though she still held a temper after losing her parents, she was a kind, loving creature.

It was customary to have a Badger Mother at Redwall, and while Abbot Verum assured her that she need not take the position, she found caring for the little ones soothed the hurt in her heart. Even with the add-on of Brickpaw, she was gentle, and kind, and never raised a paw in anger. Discipline, don’t punish, and only if truly needed was her motto.

Many dibbuns were under her care throughout the seasons; the mischievous and the shy and the clever and the kind. She took in orphans and helped raise those who had parents. Life was beautiful, even if the hurt never truly left.

So when Skipper Wagrudder and his crew came one somber day, five rescued oarslaves and an orphaned babe, who was she to say no?

Until she found out it was a rat babe.

“Birch-“

“No, Verum.” She growled. That thing needs to be taken out of the abbey, immediately.

It was the first time Abbot Verum had ever been mad at her.

“That thing, as you put it, is a babe, with no family, and no home. He will be staying at Redwall Abbey, regardless whether you take him on or not.” He folded his paws into his habit sleeves, and his gaze softened. “I know you’re angry, and you have every right to be. But my child, don’t blame him for what happened.”

She watched him leave, the hurt aching.

—————

He’s a rat! Vermin, he’ll grow up one day and murder us left and right.

. . . but he’s also just a little baby. Will he really?

All vermin are the same!

. . .but, art they?

She remembered something her dad said once.

“Well, sapling, vermin are vermin, it’s true. But I knew a weasel once, and he wasn’t so bad. He made tools for cooking - I can tell you he shocked me right out of my fur when he first pointed that knife at me! But he wanted me to try it out. Gave me some of our nice spoons and ladles too. Said if I cooked him something and he liked it, I could keep the tools. Odd weasel, just liked making useful things I suppose.”

————-

The babe is wrapped in a shawl, chewing on the fabric and making it wet. It’s fur is gray with a blueish tinge. It doesn’t look too different from a mousebabe.

“They called him Houndstongue, according to Skipper,” Sister Fallow says, rocking the babe. The Abbot sits in the great armchair. Cavern Hole is empty this late at night, except for them, and Mother Birch, who watches from afar.

“Hmm, well we should change that. A new name for a new start,” the Abbot looks right over his glasses at Birch. “Any ideas?”

He reminds her of a periwinkle. “Pervenche.”

She doesn’t realize it was even her who said that, until she flees, his voice echoing up the stairs.

“A lovely name, I think.”

————-

By time he’s toddling around, which isn’t too far off, her fears come back tenfold, as does her doubts.

It will kill everyone I care about-

But-

But he cries, the first time he sees a fire lit, and crawls to hide behind the Abbot. He’s scared to take food without asking, and even then is scared to ask.

And he plays, tentatively at first, but then joins in more. Skipping and twirling and giggling with the other dibbuns, who look at him no different from themselves.

He holds his tail in his left paw, when he’s nervous, and chews on his right. He wants to learn to spell, doesn’t want to learn to swim, and likes cloudgazing with the others.

And Birch grumbles to herself, berates herself, because her she was, judging a child. A child who will grow and learn, and who better than her to teach him.

“Everyone is able to love, as much as they are to hate,” Sister Fallow mused, that night he was named. Before Birch fled. She hoops his nose, and he sneezes. “And this little fellow needs a lot of love, I think.”

————

Seasons pass, and he is walking instead of toddling. He’s wary of Birch, but knows the other dibbuns trust her.

“Ma Birch! Lookit meeee!”

It’s Ringul the squirrelmaid, hanging from a branch by her tail. Birch gently plucks her off. “Naughty little Ringul, you’ll fall on your head.”

She sets her down. “Now go off and play.”

“Butter kite stuckina tree!” Edin the otterbabe huffs. Thankfully, Birch is used to hearing baby speech run together.

Sighing, she crouches down, “Well master Edin, I’ll have to go get Addle, but for now-“

There’s a tug on her dress. “Mama, I’ll get it.”

And before she can respond - it’s the first she’s heard his voice - he’s scrabbling up as well as any squirrel, and back down, slipping a bit but using his tail to wrap around limbs and branches.

She wonders, then, is it really only because they corsairs rats are good at climbing?

——-

Pervenche still calls her Mama instead of Mother Birch or Ma, and she, in bewilderment, allows it.

Pervenche is still scared of fire, too, so he turns his back to it to enjoy its warmth. He wakes in his sleep with silent cries, and Birch only knows because she checks on the dibbuns every night.

But as he grows, he learns. He gains good friends, finds a skill in penmanship; Brother Mells teaches him how to plant crops.

“All the dibbuns are shaping up to be fine abbeybeasts, aren’t they?” Abbot Verum comments, one evening. Most of the young ones are helping set up for a late summer supper; Ringul and Pervenche helping with the lanterns.

And Birch thinks about the hurt that has steadily begun to leave; about small, tentative smiles and how he snuggles in her arms as she brings him up to sleep.

He’s no longer a little babe, but the worries she had had long since faded.

He sees her and the abbot staring, waves a paw after elbowing Ringul so that she’ll join in too.

“Yes,” she says at last, “they really are.”

#Redwall #fanfic #long post #ocs #prejudice #species #headcanon #one shot #birch kept wanting to autocorrect #I love the idea of this dude #just shoves a knife in your face #but on second glance #he’s trying to hand them to you #and remembering safety he’s holding them by the habdle

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backtothestart02 · 5 years ago

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Mixed Drink - 13/? | westallen fanfiction

A/N: Commissioned by @travelattwilight. I hope you all enjoy!

*Many thanks to @valeriemperez for beta’ing.

...

Chapter 13 -

The tension between the four of them could be cut with a knife. Iris stayed staring at her brother, and Jesse didn’t know which one to look at or which choice would be more dangerous in the end. Stacy stood her ground by Iris, ready to defend her if any more accusations came her way, but inevitably there were complaints from the customers behind Wally and Jesse in line, so she had to open another register and start taking orders.

“What are you doing here?” Iris asked finally, not accusatory, almost scared.

Wally raised his eyebrows, coldly amused.

“I mean…” Iris cleared her throat. “I haven’t seen you in Central City in years.”

Regrettably, Jesse blushed.

“That…would be on me.”

Iris switched her gaze to the pretty girl next to her brother, waiting for more of an explanation.

“It’s not your fault, Jesse,” Wally said, though he was barely looking at her. “You didn’t know. Hell, I didn’t know, or I would’ve suggested someplace else.”

Iris felt as if he’d kicked her in the gut. The fact that he would’ve gone to such lengths just to avoid seeing her hurt like nothing else. The last time they’d spoken he’d at least sympathized with her. But now it felt like he was on the verge of telling her to go to hell.

“Wally,” Jesse scolded, and Iris was grateful. She felt some hope rise within her.

Wally, to Iris’ great surprise, didn’t come back with anything. He actually looked down for a moment, as if embarrassed.

Iris wanted to talk to him one-on-one, see what had changed. But she couldn’t do that in the middle of a rush the first week back at her old job. Instead, she summoned all the courage she could muster and returned to a topic that she hoped was safer.

“Well, there’s no need to go anywhere else,” she said. “The least I can do is take your orders and give you a quality drink.”

She looked at Jesse who offered a smile and dared to tease Wally.

“Whatever else you think of me, you can’t say I don’t make one hell of a latte.”

Wally looked at her and nodded.

“Okay.”

Jesse looked at him and waited for him to say what he was going to order, but he didn’t so much as look at the menu and Iris was already pressing buttons on the register.

“Wally?”

He sighed and reluctantly said, “She knows what I like.”

Jesse gave him a curious look, but he said nothing more. After he’d paid, ignoring Iris’ slightly slumped shoulders when he pulled out cash and then changed to a credit card so he could avoid touching her, Jesse gave him a stern look that he purposefully ignored. Instead, he guided her to the far side of the counter where they’d await their drinks from the blonde standing next to her who had gone through the rest of the customers that had been standing in line.

After Wally and Jesse had left and the rush had calmed down some, Stacy came to stand beside Iris who was just barely holding it together.

“Hey, girl, how are you holding up?” she asked, wrapping an arm around her waist.

Iris sighed shakily. “Like I’m going to break if I think too hard or stop…being busy.”

“Maybe you need a break,” she suggested.

“Uh…did you not hear what I just said? A break will probably make me start crying, and…I don’t know if I’ll be able to stop.”

“What if you called Barry? Talk about it with him?”

“Oh, God, no.”

Stacy frowned. “Why not?”

“We just started dating, Stace. He doesn’t know the whole story, and I don’t want him to. Not yet.” She sighed again. “I’m just…going to have to get through this one on my own.”

“Not on your own.” She pulled her closer. “You’ve still got me.”

Iris forced a smile. “Thanks. I appreciate that, but…”

Stacy shook her head. “Why don’t you do refills. I’ll clean up back here, and by the time we’re both done, I’m sure there will be a heap of new customers here to make us lose our minds in how the hell we got so many menu items that are so different, and yet…so the same.”

Iris laughed, and Stacy smiled.

“That sounds absolutely wonderful.”

Stacy kissed the side of her forehead and released her.

“Go get ‘em, Babe.”

Iris ducked her head with a little smile and then grabbed the pitcher of coffee to start making the rounds.

…

They rounded the block for the third time. Just like every time before, whenever they passed Jitters, Wally made a point to only look straight ahead. He would not look inside to see if his sister was still there. He would not.

Jesse, however, was no idiot. And even if she had been slightly out of the loop, she figured out exactly what was going on when her boyfriend nearly crushed her hand in his grip whenever they went by the coffee shop. Not only that, but Wally’s jaw locked, and he ground his teeth. All of these things abruptly stopped when they turned the corner.

She hadn’t made a single comment about it, but enough was enough. They didn’t talk about his family much because she knew it was hard for him to talk about, and a lot of the time she was a distraction for him, so he didn’t have to think about it. She was glad she could be that for him, but there was a point when things had to be discussed. Plus, if she took one more walk around this particular block, she thought she might just go crazy.

“You know, if you want to go in and talk to her, I don’t think there are many customers right now.”

“Talk to who?” he asked, his grip growing tighter.

“Ow!”

He stopped and looked down at what he’d done to his girlfriend’s hand. Immediately, he released her.

“Oh, God, sorry, Jess. I didn’t mean to-”

“I know,” she said, immediately flexing her fingers. “Your body’s acting on its own involuntarily.” She massaged her hurting hand with the other. “It’s because you’re not dealing with your feelings, so your body is taking matters into its own hands.”

He took her hands into his and kissed each one.

“How’d you get so smart?”

“Psychology major, remember?”

“Ah, yeah, that’s right…and a genius father who hates my guts.”

She rolled her eyes. “My dad hates everyone. It’s in his DNA. You’re lucky all I got from him is his brain, or I’d probably be intolerable.”

He smirked and leaned in to kiss her. “Lucky me.”

She savored the kiss for a moment more, the heat ever-present between them before returning to the original topic.

“So, as I was saying, your body is-”

But he cut her off.

“I know something else my body could be doing right now,” he teased with a grin.

She barked a laugh and shook her head.

“That was a switch.”

He shrugged and looked at her with a boyish charm. She linked her arm through his and crossed the street with him when the walk sign lit up.

“Why are we crossing?” he asked, confused.

“Because we went around that block three times, Wally West. And if you refuse to admit you want to make things right with your sister, the least you can do is take me down another block.”

He smiled. “Yes, ma’am.”

It wasn’t the end to the conversation she’d wanted, but she knew she’d get no more out of him right now. He didn’t do well when pushed. Hell, neither did she. But the hurt look on Iris’ face was eating at her. She didn’t know the girl at all, but she doubted she was as bad as Wally let on. From the six months they’d been dating, Jesse had learned a few things about Wally West. One was that the things that made him the angriest, that he projected onto others, he usually at least partially blamed himself for.

That left two options on the table. Either Wally blamed himself for Iris’ actions or he blamed himself for the way the family had basically driven her away. And Jesse, well, as fond as she was of Wally, she wasn’t about to let him brood over this when it could be fixed. He’d thank her later.

At least, she hoped he would. Regardless, she needed the whole story.

…

Barry stared at his phone and wondered if there was something wrong with it.

He’d been trying to get a hold of Iris all day. While he missed her every day, today was particularly lonesome because he’d finished up his latest assignment and was free both today and tomorrow. His body was aching for her. His heart was aching for her. His mind was aching for her. His soul was aching for her. It was unlike anything he’d experienced since his parents died his first year in the military. Or, that’s what the organization called themselves.

Later down the line he’d have it drilled into him that he’d been taken advantage of, and he shouldn’t blame himself. He was living a better life now. But wasn’t he being taken advantage of by that person even now? Wasn’t he just being passed from one organization to the next, each one claiming to be the right one, the “good” people he should be “proud” to work for?

He’d heard it all before, and no matter what anyone said, he just knew his parents would be so ashamed of him. And beyond that, he knew if he’d been home, they wouldn’t have died. His martial arts skills would’ve stopped that robber in the night, and he’d have him pinned to the floor and arrested in seconds. Instead, the robber was never caught because there had been no witnesses and no real evidence in the aftermath.

It made Barry so angry inside, and for so long he’d used that anger to hurt nameless, faceless people. They had to be that way to him, or the guilt would build up even more. He shut down emotionally. He didn’t feel love and he didn’t feel pain. There was only the job.

It took Felicity a full year to break through that hard exterior, and even she hadn’t broken through the hardest parts. Yet somehow, despite lying to her occasionally, as most spies needed to for those in their families uninvolved with that part of their life, Iris had broken through all of it. She’d shattered that exterior, so all his soft parts glowed brilliantly and came alive. And damn, if it wasn’t the best feeling he’d felt in the longest time.

So, he didn’t give up.

He dialed her number again and waited.

This time she picked up.

“Hello?”

Her voice sounded off, sad maybe, or tired. But he couldn’t concentrate on that immediately, because all he knew was that she had answered.

“Iris!”

His excitement burst through the line, causing a genuine giggle out of her.

“Hi, Barry.”

“You picked up!” he informed her gleefully, but much to his disappointment that comment brought the return of her saddened/exhausted tone of voice.

“Yeah…I’m sorry about that, Barry. Today has been…well, it hasn’t been good.”

His face fell. “Tell me about it. What happened?”

She sighed. “I don’t…really want to talk about it.”

“Iris.”

“I know you want to help, Barry. I know. And I appreciate it. But this is just…this is family stuff.”

Barry felt as if he’d gotten a blow to the chest.

Family stuff.

She hadn’t meant to wound him, but she had. Unintentionally, of course.

Because he didn’t have a family anymore, and after her mere presence had revealed his softer side, he didn’t like being reminded of that fact.

But she was oblivious to his inner struggle.

“Can we just…talk about something else?” she asked on a sad sigh.

And he wanted so badly to give her what she wanted, but he couldn’t just…switch like that. Not when his walls had all fallen down, not when he’d just been thinking about the sad fate of his own family.

But still, he tried. For her.

“I understand,” he said, and he really tried to. “What would you like to talk about instead?”

She sighed. “I don’t know… Just, not that.”

He fought to think of something else. He didn’t want their conversation to be over, no matter how many feelings were buzzing through him right now. This is not what he wanted their one interaction today to be about.

“I love you, Iris.”

Static filled the line, and he wondered if she hadn’t heard him, and maybe he shouldn’t have said it over the phone an ocean away. But he missed her, and he wanted her, and he wanted to help her, to make everything better. And he was so sure now, positive, and he wanted her to know.

But maybe it was too soon.

The line cleared up.

“Barry? Are you there?”

She hadn’t heard.

“Uh, yeah? I’m here.”

“Did you hear the static?”

His head was spinning, but he forced himself to answer her question.

“Yeah. What’s the last thing you heard?”

“I think we were trying to come up with a topic?”

“Oh.” He paused. She hadn’t heard it. “Right.”

“You said something after that, but I couldn’t make it out. Can you say it again?”

He cleared his throat.

“Right. I…uh, just said that I miss you.”

She crumbled on the other end.

“Oh, Barry, I miss you too.”

...

*Also posted on AO3 and FFnet.

#westallen #westallen fanfiction #backtothestart02 fanfiction #mixed drink #chapter 13 #commissioned by travelattwilight

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saiilorstars · 4 years ago

Text

It Had To Be You

Ch.22: The Queen Bee // Story Masterlist

Fandom: The Flash

Pairings: Barry Allen x Female OC

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: Barry struggles keeping his suspicions about Wells a secret and Belén conducts her own investigation against Noah. Along the way they discover killer bees and one Queen Bee trying to enact a revenge plan.

"So I just heard something interesting," Belén walked into Barry's lab yesterday in the afternoon.

Barry sat at his desk, working on a current case, when he looked up to see her already standing beside him. Her face spelled a mixture of annoyance and confusion. He leaned away from his work to properly give her his attention.

Belén cleared her throat before beginning. "I talked to Iris, and, uh, she told me something...interesting."

"Interesting?" repeated Barry, still not getting the jist of the problem. But he was sure this was going to end with him being in trouble. "What kind of thing?"

"The kind where Eddie has told her not to worry about Mason because he's in Brazil hitchhiking with some girl," Belén now crossed her arms and settled quite the sharp look on Barry.

Yup, he was going to get into trouble. Barry immediately shifted in his chair despite silently telling himself not to blow it. He, Joe and Eddie had all come up with that plan and all promised not to say anything. Somehow, he saw it wasn't going to work for him. "Th-that's...that's weird…"

"Yeah I thought so too," Belén agreed with a small nod. "Because…" she started to walk behind Barry's chair, her nails lightly dragging over the tip of it. Barry felt he was in one of the interrogation rooms and this cop was not going to let him go until she learned the truth. Belén leaned down beside him. "Mason would never go to Brazil. He hates it. He once went there to cover some story and he came back complaining about some stupid bugs. He vowed to never return. And I doubt he would go back for a woman."

Barry met her challenging eyes. She was no cop but the reporter side of her was intense enough to be a cop. "W-well...people change their minds…"

Belén tilted her head in a 'really?' manner. She straightened up and moved to lean against his desk, just beside his chair. "I've known Mason for three years. He doesn't change his mind. He still hasn't changed his opinion on my talent as a reporter. Wanna tell me what's going on before this ends up with me smacking you?"

"Um…"

"I assure you it's your best option."

Barry gave up with a long sigh. "It's a long story…"

"I've got time," she promised him. "I wanna know why Eddie lies to Iris that way and more importantly, why you would belittle not only Iris' intelligence but mine as well thinking you could fool both of us with that lie."

"First of all," Barry pushed himself out of his chair, "I did not mean to belittle anyone's intelligence. I was doing this to keep you safe-"

"Safe?" Belén frowned. "Safe from what?"

Barry took a moment for himself, considering the two pathways before him. If he kept everything from her, they would definitely get into an argument. They hadn't been going out for very long and he was not interested in creating their first big fight.

So, he spoke.

He told her everything he and Joe - featuring Eddie - suspected from Dr. Wells and how Iris' life had been put at risk from their search for the truth. They had no option but to give Iris a false story just so that she would stop digging into Mason's disappearance. Barry never intended on feeding Belén the same lie.

"So you're saying…" Belén now freely walked about in the lab, thinking, "...that Dr. Wells is this...Reverse-Flash?"

"Shh!" Barry rushed up to her and gently covered her mouth. "We can't discuss it here, it's dangerous."

"Sorry," she lowered his hand. "But, okay, just for clarification, why do you believe this again?"

"When Wells was talking me through phasing so I could get the Trickster's bomb off my wrist, the way that he described my being The Flash, running, feeling the wind and the power, it's like he was talking from experience. I know it's him." Barry knew what he said sounded completely ridiculous, but he knew in his gut that it was true.

Belén thought it was ridiculous - the idea that Dr. Wells was actually an evil man who murdered Barry's mother? It was ridiculous; it was a fact. But Belén also knew that Barry wouldn't just throw this accusation at the man he basically idolized for God knew how long. He wouldn't come up with all this if he wasn't 100% sure of it. She could see even now, when he explained, that it pained him to admit that he'd been working with the man who murdered his mother, who destroyed his family...who murdered her father.

"So...how do we get him?" she asked in a determined stance.

Belén spent countless nights thinking about that conversation with Barry. He disclosed everything he, Joe and Eddie had in their case against Wells. It made her sick that she'd felt support and affection for the man who murdered her father - the murder Wells had expressed condolences for. She made fistful grabs of her blanket as she turned to the side and looked at the bed stand where her family portrait stood. Her family was no more, and Dr. Wells took a big responsibility in that with his Particle Accelerator.

She forced her eyes shut and prayed that she could get some sleep. She already had an idea of what she would be doing the next morning.

~ 0 ~

Noah had seen better days. Granted his double life was difficult sometimes to maintain, but at least he could freely go to one place and the next. Now his days were pretty predictable living in a squared prison beneath the frikin ground. So when he felt his entire compartment begin moving forwards, he quickly got up and moved towards the wall where he could see light getting closer. He took quite the surprise when he spotted Belén waiting with crossed arms and a grim face.

"Well…" he had only managed to say when Belén cut him off, her voice unusually cold.

"Let's cut the crap and go straight to the point," she stepped forwards, glancing back to see if anyone was passing by the pipeline. "You and your crew have hated STAR Labs and everyone in it. Why?"

"We told you why. The Particle Accelerator ruined each of our lives. I lost my mother in the chaos, Plasticine lost her partner, Pixel lost her sister...and do I even have to say what your brother lost?"

"Who are they?" Belén's question came in fast and demanding, not sounding like a question really. It was more like a command and it made Noah smirk. "Who's Plasticine? Pixel? Say something!"

Noah brought a finger to his lips, still wearing that annoying smirk. "I'd rather wait till you find out on your own. I just wish I could see your face when you do."

Everything that Barry had told her about Wells was coming back to her and it just made her even angrier. People truly loved to mess with her and her friends. Did they have a sign on their faces saying 'come and mess with us, please' or what?

"There's something else," Noah tilted his head. He was studying Belén while the woman was in her pensive state. He'd worked with her long enough to know that she was harboring something else. "I make you mad but there's something else that's making you even more mad...what is it?"

"You, my brother and your stupid team is enough to make me angry for ages," Belén meant every word. "Every day I have to live with the fact my brother is off committing crimes for fun. You think that's easy?"

Noah gave a carefree shrug. "Eh, if you knew these days he's not really doing much." Belén raised an eyebrow at that, wondering what he meant. "Those powers of his are messing with his head."

"What do you mean?"

Noah sensed the interest and immediately shut down the topic. If he was going to remain in prison, then would at least keep something over her. "Nothing."

Belén scowled. "What's wrong with my brother!?"

Noah's snort irked her even more. She never realized how annoying he was. "Now you want to know about your brother? He's been wanting you to join him and you've dissed him at every opportunity you got. And for what? Speedy in red?" Belén's scowl grew and deepened, but it just made Noah smirk. "You think I didn't notice? I wonder how your CSI boyfriend would react if he knew his girlfriend had a thing for another guy?"

Belén pursed her lips, forcing herself not to laugh at him right there. It was better if Noah hadn't made the connection Barry was the Flash, but it didn't stop being funny. "Listen Noah, with you here I know the others are going to come after my team and I. So, I'm going to make sure they all end up here to keep you company...in different pods, of course."

"That include your brother?"

"I told you I'd lock him if I have to and with what you told me, it sounds like Rayan really needs to be at STAR Labs for his own health." Belén didn't want to hear more from him so she shut the pipeline down.

She watched him disappear into the pipeline and couldn't help feel prickly tears fill her eyes. The feeling of betrayal wasn't a new feeling for her, but it didn't mean it hurt less. This had been her co-worker, and granted they've had their differences...but she never would've guessed he would turn out to be one of her enemies. It just seemed like everyone was betraying them.

~ 0 ~

CCPD was brought upon a curious murder case in a University parking lot. Barry had finished taking what he needed to come up with a reason for death when Joe came by. The corpse of the woman had been placed into a gurney with only her face visible - full of purple, sizable bumps - as the rest of her body had been placed into a proper bag.

"Victim's name is Lindsay Kang, engineering professor at Hudson University. Just got tenure," Joe explained what he had learned from the witnesses.

"Her whole body's covered in these puncture wounds you see on her face," Barry gestured to the woman's face. "Bite marks maybe. Whatever it was, she must have gone into anaphylaxis."

Joe leaned forwards to get a closer look and immediately went wide-eyed. "Daaaamn."

Yeah. The blood sample should tell us everything we need to know. I'll run tests back at my lab."

"They can do it faster at STAR Labs," Joe gave him a pointed look for his odd behavior.

Barry shifted in his spot, thinking it was obvious why he would be reluctant to take everything to that place now. "Well, yeah, but, I mean, it's just…it's kind of weird being there right now."

"Barry, you know we have to play it cool with Wells. If he finds out we suspect him…"

"I know. I get it," Barry assured, but sighed. "I just think that we should tell Cisco and Caitlin. They could help us."

Joe shook his head in disapproval of this idea. "The more people who know, the more chance Wells is gonna find out we're on to him. Don't think I'm too happy you told Belén about this. I mean, what if one of slips up? Or panics? Or what if…"

"What?" Barry arched an eyebrow.

"What if they're not on our side?"

"Wait," Barry stepped back. "You want me to consider the idea that my friends - that my girlfriend - are involved in whatever he's planning?" he honestly couldn't think of a more ridiculous idea than this one.

"I mean, Wells is Caitlin's and Cisco's boss, their mentor. They've been with him for a long time. I've seen plenty of people make the wrong choice for loyalty. Please do not include them until we can be sure."

Barry hated when Joe made sense like this. But still, he refused to believe it all. "Belén met everyone after me. She came in afterwards. It's impossible for Wells to even consider she would have more loyalty to him than me."

"Okay," Joe relinquished that idea after deeming it logical, "And Cisco? Caitlin?"

Once again, Barry despised this logical side. "Fine," he mumbled and walked away.

~ 0 ~

Belén was pouring herself some coffee from the refreshment table at work when Iris approached her.

"Hey Bells," she greeted and received a very quiet 'hello' back. Considering she herself was having problems, it wasn't very difficult to figure out Belén had some of her own. Iris leaned forwards to catch Belén's falling gaze on the table. "Hey? What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Belén snapped out of her thoughts and turned to her friend, plastering on a smile for the sake of no more questions. "But um, what's wrong with you? I, uh...I hear there's some...things happening between you and Eddie?"

Iris made a small noise that basically told Belén the rumors were true. She reached for a styrofoam cup on the table and poured herself some coffee. "Hmph, lately Eddie's been very distant with me. I get the feeling he's hiding something. I mean, I try to get him to talk to me but he keeps giving me these lame excuses. Sometimes-" she paused just as she was about to pour sugar into her cup, "-he doesn't even give me an excuse. He just goes 'uuuh' and leaves." She rolled her eyes and dumped more sugar than was needed into her cup. "Can you believe that?"

"I mean, cops…" Belén bit her lip nervously, "...they're so...complex...and weird. That entire business is skewed."

"It isn't," Iris disagreed with a shake of her head. "Does Barry tell you things? Like...what he's feeling?"

"Um…" Belén tried finding a honest answer that wouldn't release anything that shouldn't be, "...sometimes I have to ask him...over and over...at times, I have to interrogate him. See? They're just like that. There really is nothing to worry about." And at this moment Belén hated herself for lying straight to her friend's face, the friend who had helped her through so much. Feeling overwhelmingly guilty, Belén gave a widened smile and hastily walked away.

On her way to her desk, she happened to pass by Noah's...and her feet seemed to stop automatically. The days were passing and people were beginning to notice Noah's absence at work, but thankfully no one had gotten through to anyone of Noah's family. It made Belén conclude that he truly didn't have anyone. It also made her realize that his place had to be empty too...and with no one there to guard his things…

She plopped down on Noah's desk before she knew it. Knowing where most of his things were, she went directly for the last drawer on the bottom of the desk, hoping to find a clue of where he lived. She couldn't believe that in all this time she hadn't bothered asking him where he lived in the city. It proved she really didn't know him.

How could she have been so ignorant?

~ 0 ~

Going against his primary instincts, Barry had brought the case to STAR Labs for the others to look at it and offer up different opinions. They had pulled up the profile of Professor Kang on one of the computers on the wall.

"Death by apitoxin," Caitlin said, sounding a bit bemused. "Honeybee venom."

Unlike her, Cisco was almost glued to the spot he stood as he stared at the profile. "Bees," he pretended to shiver. "Why did it have to be bees? Y'all, I don't do bees. Ain't nobody got time for bees."

"But when a honeybee stings, the stingers are literally torn from their abdomen, and they die," Caitlin said as she took a look at the tablet she held which contained the apparent evidence of murder of the woman. "But there were no stingers in the body and no dead bees in the car. A honeybee can only deposit .1 milligrams of apitoxin when it releases its stinger."

"And yet, Ms. Kang was found with enough venom in her system to kill a herd of elephants," Wells recalled the information. "It appears not only is a meta-human controlling these bees but also increasing their toxicity."

"Bees communicate by releasing pheromones. Maybe this meta's controlling them through secretion?" elaborated Barry.

"Anyone want to join me in getting a beekeeper suit?" Cisco said, eyes still glued to the screen.

"I'm pretty sure I can outrun a bee," Barry smirked.

"Just don't run into a lake," said a very familiar voice from the entrance. Everyone turned to find Felicity Smoak standing there with one of her quirky smiles. "Bees will wait for you to come up for air and then they'll sting you. Discovery Channel. Turns out there's a lot to discover."

While everyone was pleased to see the blonde techy, Barry couldn't feel this was the worst time possible for her to make a visit. "Felicity, what are you doing here?"

Felicity thought her answer would be better suited outside. "Can you guys come outside for a sec?"

Five minutes later, everyone stood outside the building waiting for whatever it was Felicity was going to show them. But then passed on more minutes and nothing happened except Felicity staring into the sky.

"What exactly are we waiting for, Ms. Smoak?" asked Wells after a decent moment passed by.

Felicity beamed at the sight of a figure in the sky. "Up there!"

Caitlin squinted her eyes trying to get a clearer look. "Is that a bird?"

"It's a plane," Cisco said, making a face as the figure grew closer.

A man in a metal red and gray suit came to a rather wobbling landing on the ground, actually making several cracks from the force.

"It's my boyfriend," Felicity anxiously announced, gesturing as the man removed his helmet.

"Hi," he beamed a flashy smile. "I'm Ray."

~ 0 ~

Meeting Ray Palmer turned out to be quite an interesting sight. As soon as he got his suit off Caitlin took him in for a check up while Cisco and Dr. Wells began examining his suit.

"So...he seems a little tall for you," Barry remarked as he and Felicity watched Caitlin and Ray behind the glass wall of the side room.

Felicity faked a small gasp. "Barry Allen, are you jealous?"

"He better not be," Belén surprised them both with her presence. She'd come in taking quite a surprise at their new visitors.

"I'm not!" Barry exclaimed defensively, raising both his hands.

"That's what I like to hear," she came by his side and pressed a kiss on his cheek. Then she turned to Felicity wearing her first expression after hearing of the blonde's arrival. "Felicity, what are you doing here!?"

Felicity chuckled and gave Belén a hug. "My boyfriend-" Felicity jerked a thumb towards the room Ray was in, "-needed some help with his suit." She then gestured to the ATOM suit on the metal table.

Belén looked into the wall for a better glance at Ray Palmer and was deeply impressed. "He's your boyfriend?" Felicity nodded her head. "Wooooow."

"Ahem?" Barry coughed, making a face at her dazzled face.

"Hi," Belén smiled at him, in the dark of his brief moment of jealousy. "Now shh. He's cute...what is he exactly?" she asked Felicity.

"Businessman - really rich businessman."

"Daaaamn," Belén looked to the side as if she were it considering this for herself.

Barry could not believe her and waved one hand in front of her face. "Hello!?"

Belén looked up in confusion. "Barry, I already greeted you."

Ray and Caitlin emerged from the room after a nice check up that bore no consequences as far as Caitlin saw.

"Ah, well, my ears popped, so that's something," Ray cheerfully said.

"You're lucky you didn't break your neck," Caitlin felt the need to point out. "What is it with billionaires being superheroes?"

"I think they get bored," Belén said in thought then looked at Ray. "Did you get bored? I'm Belén, by the way."

Ray laughed but shook his head to answer her. "Ray," he shook hands with her.

"So have you... picked a name yet?" Cisco inquired afterwards.

Ray nodded excitedly. "I'm kind of partial to The Atom."

Cisco squinted his eyes at the name, not quite feeling it. "Sooo, you married to that, or...?"

Wells turned away from the wall computer after a thorough examination of the suit's compartments. "Your ATOM suit... it's quite the technological achievement, Mr. Palmer. I'm impressed."

"And he is never impressed," Caitlin added afterwards with a tiny smile.

"Well, thank you, but I can't quite seem to keep it up," Ray had innocently said, prompting Felicity to run for him to clarify.

"He means the suit!"

Ray quickly went to clarify as well. "Yeah, I mean the suit."

Barry's eyes widened in horror as the two continued trying to clarify what they'd been referring to. Belén giggled and buried her head in his chest, hoping to god they would just stop talking.

But they didn't. It seemed like they were incapable of it.

"I can attest that everything else works just fine. There's nothing we need to fix in…" Felicity clicked her tongue, "...that area."

"No, no, no. The sex is great," Ray sounded like he was letting his words tumble out before he thought of them completely.

"My God, there's two of them," Caitlin whispered to Cisco but she was heard by everyone else.

Ray shook his head, paused for a moment to recollect his thoughts, and explained himself completely. "I know from Felicity that you have been very helpful with Barry and the Flash suit, and I was hoping to get another set of eyes on my...problem…"

"Please don't continue elaborating," Belén pleaded when she saw Ray opening his mouth again. "We really do understand what you're trying to say."

Wells jumped in as well before anything else was said. "Any friend of the Arrow's is a friend…"

"Hell, yes!" Cisco interrupted excitedly.

"Uh, guys. We kind of have a lot going on already," Barry made the unusual call for everyone to slow down. "There's the meta-human killer that can control a whole swarm of bees?"

"Cool," Felicity blinked.

"There's a what now?" Belén looked up at him like he was crazy.

"You missed news," he explained distractedly to her and consequently missed her frown.

"I'm sure Caitlin and I will provide ample support, Barry," Wells assured, not that it mattered to Barry. His words meant nothing now.

"And I will be happy to sit this one out," Cisco raised a finger.

Seeing Barry was overly disappointed - because he was beginning to see what Joe was talking about in regards to loyalty - Belén stepped up for the job. "I can help," she volunteered cheerily.

"Thanks Bells," he smiled softly at her. He gave a kiss to her hair and looked at the others, meeting Felicity's eyes. The blonde was even more wide-eyed at them now.

"Ray, why don't you stay here and work on your suit while Barry, Bells, and I run to Jitters for some java?"

"Sounds like a plan," Ray shrugged, glancing at Cisco to see if it was alright with him. Cisco gave a thumbs up and turned for the suit to continue the examination period.

"I, uh….can't," Belén said once they began heading out of the cortex. "I've got, um...a work thing…"

"Oh, you can't go later?" Felicity made a small pout with her lips. She really wanted to know how Belén had advanced in her powers dilemma, plus she wanted to know when the hell she and Barry ended up together.

There was a nervous flicker in Belén's eyes that neither Felicity nor Barry noticed. Belén shook her head, gripping the strap of her bag as she picked up her pace. "I really have to do this today - but I'll catch you guys later okay? We can work on that bee problem."

Being who he was, Barry watched her leave making a mental note to discuss this with her later...because he was sure there was something she wasn't telling him. Felicity didn't give him a chance to think more about the subject as she practically dragged him to Jitters for that pending conversation.

When they received their orders from the counter, Felicity got straight to business. "You know I left Starling City to get away from the mood and brood, but it looks like it followed me here." She sipped her cup while narrowing her eyes Barry, prompting him to speak now.

"I know. I'm sorry. It's like I said before, now is not the best time," Barry was running out of ways to structure that sentence. He didn't want to tell Felicity anything that might put her danger.

Felicity sat down at an empty table and watched him take a seat across her. "Barry, I have been through enough with you to know when you're holding something back. Is this because I told Ray your secret? Because he is trustworthy, Barry. He wants to help people, just like you."

"I know, that's not what I'm worried about. It's... I really don't want to put anyone else in danger."

Felicity scowled and put her cup down. "In danger of what?"

Eddie chose this moment to approach their table, but in his defence he had quite the problem himself. "Barry, hey."

"Eddie, hey. You remember Felicity," Barry gestured to the blonde who gave a small wave and took to her coffee.

But the more she looked at Eddie, she realized - and was not remotely surprised - to see the similar expression on his face as Barry's. "What is wrong with you? Is everyone in Central City in a bad mood? I thought Central City was supposed to be the fun one."

Eddie gave a tilt of his head, muttering, "It's, um... It's not…"

"Felicity knows," Barry said once he realized Eddie was trying to be incompsicious.

"Wow," Eddie glanced at the blonde. "So everyone but Iris?"

"It feels that way…"

Eddie sighed and turned to Felicity for some honest answers. "How do you lie to everyone you care about?"

Felicity made a humming sound as she thought. "For starters, don't think of it as lying. Think of it as protecting her from getting hurt... with a fib."

"But Iris can tell I'm hiding something, and it's putting this distance between us!"

"I have an idea. Why don't we all go to dinner tonight?" Felicity suggested, glancing at Barry. "We can get Belén to come too. A little wine and dine is sure to bridge the gap. Come on, we all had fun last time."

"Suuure," Barry mumbled under his breath, thinking this dinner would be full of awkwardness and deceits.

"It'll be fun, I promise," Felicity said to both men when she saw their grim faces for her idea.

~ 0 ~

"He's not going to answer, darling," an elderly woman with short, white hair said after hearing the first knock on her neighbor's door. "Hasn't been back for days now. Probably out doing God knows what. Youngsters," she chuckled and went inside her own apartment.

As soon as the woman had locked her door, Belén stepped impossibly close to Noah's apartment door. She placed her hand on the doorknob and put all her focus on getting one of her vines - an extremely small one - to go through the locks. Having no key was a pickle, she admitted to herself, but not impossible for the Azalea. The moment she got the lock picked she stepped right inside and shut it as quietly as possible, locking it too.

She turned around to face quite an unusually clean apartment. Her bag was left to drop right on the carpet floor as she stepped further inside. Her eyes passed over the dull, gray walls that held several family portraits she assumed had been Noah's family. Getting a closer look at them, she saw an older blonde woman she suspected was Noah's deceased mother.

"If she could see you now, Noah," Belén whispered and turned away from it. She stopped by the coffee table that held several papers, some of them - she realized - were newspaper clippings.

She sat down on the couch for a moment as she stifled through them. Very quickly she discovered they were news about the particle accelerator before it had been activated, then its aftermath including cases of missing people. She paused at some of the obituaries.

"Lucianna," she read aloud the name of Noah's mother. She'd died in an accident caused by the particle accelerator. Belén sighed and lowered the clipping to her lap to think.

Noah's mother had died because of the accelerator and somehow, he too had gathered powers. What she wanted to know was how the hell Noah came in contact with Rayan. If she got lucky, she could even discover who Plasticine and Pixel were. She kept the clipping on her lap but continued to go through some more. Seconds later she began to see trends: most, if not all, were about the Flash and Dr. Wells. There was nothing about her and Belén wasn't sure if this was a good thing or not. She remembered something about being 'off limits' apparently thanks to her brother.

~ 0 ~

Barry had just finished his coffee when he felt his phone vibrate in his jacket's pocket. He took it out and saw Cisco's text. "Another bee attack. Folston Tech."

Eddie nodded his head, making a move to leave. "I'll see where Joe is!"

"I'm gonna call Bells," Barry said as he too got up to leave. He dialed her number when Felicity gave a very poor call.

"Bee careful!"

Barry turned around with a face. "For real?"

Felicity winced. "Bad pun. Sorry. Just don't die. Same for Bells."

Barry shook his head and went off, still trying to reach Belén on the phone.

~ 0 ~

Inside her bag - still on the floor - vibrated Belén's cellphone. The woman in question however, was moving through the clippings that now had a lot of Plasticine's latest crimes of that week.

"What was your obsession with her…?" she couldn't understand as she flipped through them. There was plenty of Plasticine's odd robberies that included milk and other various snacks. She remembered her previous investigation and how stumped she was when she saw the things that Plasticine would steal. She gathered the clippings into one neat pile and left it on the couch where she would come back for them after finishing the rest of her search.

Her phone continued to vibrate as she walked into the hallway. This time the call rang from Cisco.

Belén walked into Noah's bedroom that had been left unmade. She looked around and saw nothing out of the ordinary.

She extended several vines from her palms that did most of the job for her. Drawers were opened and ransacked, closets were opened and clothes were sifted through - everything was going to be searched through.

~ 0 ~

Barry had arrived at the building in trouble where people were already running out in terror. He'd come straight to the office of the man but found he was too late as the man's corpse was languidly lying on his chair.

"I'm too late," he spoke into the suit's comm.

"Where are the bees?" asked Cisco who thought it should be a number one priority.

"I don't know. There's no sign of them," Barry said after a quick look around. But then he began hearing a small buzzing noise he configured to be of a bee's. He leaned forwards after seeing something poking out from the man's mouth. One bee came out...and then a swarm did. Barry stumbled back. "Found them."

Not a minute was wasted in him getting away. However, the swarm of bees chased after him.

"Uh - how do I get out of here?" he called for his friends' help.

"Take the northeast crossway. It's the quickest way out of the building," replied Cisco not a moment after.

Barry followed the instructions but came to a glass wall where more of the swarm was already waiting for him. "Guys, they're everywhere. I'm surrounded!"

He looked around and saw many more bees coming for him. Seeing no other way out he decided to go through them, despite it costing him parts of his skin. He felt many of the pricks on his face and parts of his suit, but he managed to find another exit through the back, downstairs.

As soon as he made it out, he collapsed on the ground. Thankfully, Joe had made it to the site in time to see him get out. He got out of the car and ran for Barry. He could tell he was unconscious and when he checked for a pulse he was terrified to find there was none. He pulled out his phone and dialed for Cisco's number then placed it on the ground beside Barry.

"Barry, stay with me!" he began performing the first aid rituals in which both hands pushed on Barry's chest. As soon as the call was picked on, he shouted. "Cisco! Barry doesn't have a pulse."

"Step away from him!" Cisco exclaimed, running for the desk.

"What!? Why!"

"We need to jumpstart his heart. There's a defibrillator in the suit," he quicky set up the program on the computer and let Wells take over.

Caitlin stepped behind him and gave the command. "Charge it to 360 joules."

"Charging in three, two, one!"

Back in the field, Barry's body did a jolt as a the surge of electricity went through. Still, he remained unconscious.

Knowing it didn't work, Caitlin gave a second command. "Hit him again. 400 joules."

"Charging in three, two, one!"

The second jolt of power did it for Barry. He awoke with a deep gasp and began coughing. He didn't really remember quite what happened but he was sure it would come back to him eventually.

As soon as he made it back to STAR Labs, Caitlin took him straight to one of the exmination side rooms. He had come in with sizeable bumps on his face - one that had made Cisco declared to stay far away from him for the time being - and Caitlin wanted to make sure he was alright.

Afterwards, Cisco had taken a look at the suit and was forced to come to the conclusion that it no longer worked. "That is it for the defibrillator. It is completely fried."

"You're lucky to be alive, Mr. Allen," Wells shook his head.

Felicity was giving Barry a very serious look as she reminded him, "I was very specific that you not die."

"Yeah, that's a pretty big thing for her," Ray mumbled.

"Cisco, what happened out there?" Barry glanced at his friend, completely puzzled. "I followed your directions exactly."

"I'm sorry. I led you the wrong way. The schematics that we had, they... they weren't up to date."

Barry frowned. "What, they weren't up to date? What do you mean? That's never happened before."

"What, you think Cisco was trying to get you killed?" Felicity meant as a joke but chose the absolute worst time to use it.

"No. Why would he do that? That doesn't make any sense," Barry frantically looked around, unable to keep hearing Joe's words run through his mind.

"I know. That's why I was joking," Felicity tilted her head at him.

"Barry, it's our job to protect you, and today, we failed, but that'll just serve as a warning for all of us to be more vigilant in the future," Wells managed to continue being calm despite the awkard silence that had followed.

"Good news... the apitoxin is out of your body," Caitlin declared as she studied the results of his check up on her tablet. "Your levels are back to normal."

"Terrific," Barry sped out of the place and returned a second later wearing a gray suit with a white, buttoned up shirt. "Ray, Felicity, Bells and I will you for dinner-" he paused and looked around, "Where the hell is she actually?"

"I don't know man, we called like crazy for her to come help you but she never answered," Cisco shrugged his shoulders, giving off his light worriment over the woman.

"We tried calling her home too but no one answered either," Caitlin felt the need to add.

"I'll find her," Barry nodded, determined to figure this little issue out as soon as possible.

"You know Barry, we could just cancel-" Felicity began to say when Barry immediately shut her down.

"I'm fine. Alive. Hungry. All right?" he shrugged. "We'll see you there. I've gotta find my missing girlfriend." And with that, he sped out of the place, leaving everyone with no choice but to continue with their pre-made plans.

~ 0 ~

Belén had everything she had taken from Noah's place spread around her bed. She had her bedroom door locked in case Maritza - or even Axel - decided to barge in. Clippings where everywhere along with other papers and...even a laptop. Yes, she had even brought Noah's laptop with her. It would've been grand...if she could figure out the password on it.

"C'mon!" she growled and banged on the side of the computer after another failed attempt of logging in. "How can I figure out what you're up to when I can't even get into the frikin computer!?"

The tapping on her balcony door made her jump in her spot, gasping loudly. On instinct she shut the laptop's lid and looked up to find Barry making a gesture to let him in.

"Uuh…" she slowly got out of her bed and looked down at her mess. If Barry saw any of it she would be in a full-on interrogation session. She grabbed a blanket set against the wall and dumped it over everything.

Afterwards, she rushed to go open the balcony door.

"Hey, I've been looking for you everywhere," Barry said as soon as he got inside. "I went to the park, to your work, made a fool out of myself in front of Linda Park-"

"Not a surprise," Belén couldn't help flash a little smile at him. Linda had taken to making fun of Barry after discovering he got flustered really easily.

Barry rolled his eyes. "And then I went to your old college just in case, followed by your community theater meeting - which I have to say I don't quite like-"

"Wha - now wait a minute," Belén crossed her arms. "I love that place."

"I don't like those guys that stare at the girls-"

Belén laughed. "I can assure you it's all platonic. We're a team - well, I'm kind of a special team member but-"

"Bells," Barry cut her off laying a hand on her arm, "Where the hell have you been? Everyone tried calling you earlier and you didn't answer. There was another attack today and a man died. I almost died."

Belén gasped. "Oh my god, are you okay!?" she quickly looked him over for any signs of physical injuries.

"I'm fine now," Barry took hold of her arms and captured her attention, "But I'd like to know if you are."

"M-me?"

"I know you're doing something behind my back - behind everyone's back. You weren't doing a work thing, I know because I asked Linda."

"I...I was…" Belén pulled away from his hold and walked a couple steps away. "It doesn't matter," she shook her head. "What are you doing wearing a suit?"

"We have a dinner date with Felicity, Ray, Iris and Eddie tonight," Barry responded and went after her, gently grabbing her by the arm and turning her back to him. "But you still haven't answered my question. "What have you been up to, Ms. Palayta?" He tried being fun with her but she couldn't find it in her to follow his game.

"Like you have your secrets, I'd like to have mine," she came out with instead. Barry was taken aback by her so blunt response. "At least for the moment," she added with a quiet sigh.

"You...you're realize what you're asking me right?" he scratched his head. "You're…"

"It's just for the moment, trust me," she gave him a warm hearted smile he simply could not return.

It was that word that plagued him with terrible turmoil. He didn't realize it would be a problem between him and Belén, until now. Joe's words followed him once more, and for a split second, he had to wonder if he could truly trust Belén at a time like this.

"Just for a bit, I promise," Belén reiterated and gave him a short, sweet kiss. "So, we're having dinner then?" It took a long moment for Barry to force himself to just go with her plan for the moment. He gave a small nod and watched her backtrack towards her closet. "Fancy restauraunt I imagine if Ray's inviting…" she hummed to herself as she began searching through her closet.

Meanwhile, Barry continued to stare at her, feeling enormously guilty for beginning to consider if he could trust her like she had asked him to. Could he?

~ 0 ~

It wasn't long before everyone met up at the restaurant Ray had chosen for them. Iris and Eddie had been waiting for the two couples at the entrance bar, and it appeared they were having a small disagreement.

"Wow Iris, check you out," Felicity praised the tight, white dress Iris had chosen for the night.

Iris chuckled and looked at Felictiy's bright red dress. The woman had abandoned her usual glasses and curled her hair. "I think we're all looking pretty good," Iris declared, then glancing at Belén. She'd worn a baby-blue, laced at the top, dress and mildly curled her hair for the occasion.

"Guys, this is Ray Palmer," Felicity introduced the man to Iris and Eddie formally now.

"Hi. Nice to meet you," Ray shook Iris' hand first then Eddie's.

The lead waiter came in from the grand room inside. "Bienvenue chez Massimo Restaurant. maitre d': Mr. Palmer, your table is ready."

"Great. Shall we?" Ray looked at the rest of the group who nodded, for the most part eagerly.

"Hey, how did he get a reservation here?" Iris whispered to Barry as they walked in. "We've been trying for months."

"I don't know," Barry admitted with a light chuckle.

"Could be the rich part," Belén added from his side with a chuckle of her own.

The waiter led them into an entirely empty restaurant save for one decorated table designated for them. "Here's your table, sir."

"I thought it'd be nice if it was quiet, so I bought out the entire restaurant," Ray cheerfully said to the group was looking far too surprised for his taste. "Too much?"

"Just a tad, sweetie," Felicity patted his arm, looking very unsurprised for this event.

And so everyone took their appropriate seats. After ordering their respective meals, they conversed to pass the time.

"You know, I'm a little surprised that I never got a phone call from you Belén..." Felicity swayed her head in Belén's direction. The woman in question blinked in confusion so Felicity just said it. "I didn't know you and Barry just magically started dating!"

"Oh," Belén laughed shortly and glanced at Barry. The speedster was more strained in his expressions but he did smile at her. "Sorry, I guess we never remembered...?"

"Yeah," Barry agreed. It truly had slipped his mind but in his defense there was a lot going on in his life.

"They were so slow, it was agonizing," Iris' remark made the two metahumans blush.

Felicity kept her laugh to a minimum seeing the red-faced metahumans. "Well, I'm happy for you two."

"Thank you," both Belén and Barry simultaneously said.

"So how did you two meet?" Eddie inquired from Ray and Felicity.

"Work," both scientists answered him.

"Well, actually," Ray cut in to explain, "I bought the company where Felicity was employed, and so she was forced to join me at Palmer Tech."

Felicity made a face and quickly clarified. "It's not as creepy as it sounds."

"Leave it to you two to make it awkward," chuckled Belén who took a sip of her drink.

Iris, on the other hand, seemed far less cheery than normal. "So you two work closely together?"

Felicity nodded her head. "Mm-hmm."

"Interesting," Iris said innocently, although her gaze was leaning now towards Eddie. "I guess you guys share all of your thoughts and feelings and…"

"Yeah...I share everything with Felicity," Ray said, beginning to get confused.

"It's nice that you guys have that level of communication."

It was then that Ray noticed the tension between Iris and Eddie and ventured to at least try to help Eddie. "Oh, well, no, not every-everything. I mean, sometimes it's good to just shut up."

"I get that," Eddie laughed with him. "Some things are better left unspoken."

Iris frowned at him, almost taking offence to that. "Really?"

Eddie didn't know what to say anymore. Barry spotted the waiters coming by with their food and mumbled, "Oh, thank God. It's the food." He cleared his throat and spoke to the others. "Food's here."

"Our first course on the tasting menu is a quail egg frittata. Bon appetit," the lead waiter placed a plate in front of Ray while the rest attended to the others.

"Barry, I got to admit, I envy you spending so much time at STAR Labs," Ray chuckled as he admitted. "Harrison Wells is, like, a personal hero of mine. I mean, it's amazing just to actually be in the same room with him." Barry nodded very slightly, but his insides were screaming for him to tell Ray how wrong he was. In fact, the more Ray went on, the more sick Barry felt...that and frantic. It felt like a ticking time bomb had been placed and Barry wasn't sure when he would explode.

He got up fast from his chair, like an instinct. "I'll be right back. Just excuse me." His break away from the room didn't go unnoticed.

Belén cleared her throat and put her fork down, giving a small smile to the rest as she stood from her chair. "I...have to go to the restroom," she weakly made the excuse and rushed off in the direction Barry had gone into.

By the time she caught up with him in a winery room, Barry had been pacing back and forth letting his mind fill him with different thoughts.

"Okay, what the hell was that back there?" she tried not to sound angry seeing he was clearly upset himself. He wasn't one to act this way, and she had a pretty good hunch why it was happening now.

"I can't - I can't take it anymore, Bells," he frantically gestured to himself. "Can I - can I trust you? Can I trust him? Can I trust Caitlin? Cisco? I don't...I don't know!"

Belén's neat eyebrows rose simultaneously. "You think you can't trust me?" it appeared she had been wounded.

Barry felt worse, but he couldn't keep quiet anymore. "What weren't you telling me today? Why didn't you answer your phone when we needed you? What were you doing?"

"I didn't know this was going to be an interrogation," Belén frowned, crossing her arms and pursing her lips together. "At least when I did it, I knew you, Eddie and Joe had lied to Iris but you have no basis on accusing me of anything."

Barry stormed up to her with a ferocity Belén had never seen before. "Just tell me what you were doing so that I can trust you!"

There was flicker of pain that crossed through Belén's eyes, along with the inevitable disbelief. "I'm going to do something," she spoke quietly, swallowing hard, "I'm going to leave, and I'm going to hope that you come to your senses and see how ridiculous you're acting." She shook her head and turned to leave.

The feeling of desperation had never been so high for Barry. He watched her go feeling like the worst boyfriend yet still, on the other side, feeling justified in asking for her explanation. He balled his fists and growled turning away just as she opened the door and left.

On her way out, Belén almost bumped into Felicity. "Woah," Belén shook her head.

"Oh my God thank God you're back - Iris and Eddie are having a bit of a problem," Felicity quietly, and quickly, said to Belén. She nodded back to the table where indeed Iris was once again hassling Eddie for the truth she knew he wasn't telling her.

Belén sighed. "Men are idiots but I'm pretty sure metahuman men are morons. I want nothing to do with them tonight."

"What?" Felicity frowned as Belén went past her. She grabbed onto the ombre-blonde's arm and stopped her. "What happened?"

"Iris, please," they heard Eddie pleading, clearly their argument getting no better. Belén turned around in time to see Iris frustrated dropped her napkin and fork.

"Okay, so it's my fault that we're not having a nice evening? I am your girlfriend. Who you live with. I shouldn't have to beg you to talk to me."

"If I could talk to you about this, I would, believe me. But I can't," Eddie was also growing impatient with her.

Iris' eyes filled with tears. "You know what? I am not hungry anymore," she got up from her chair and grabbed her plate. "You know what? When you are ready to act like we are two people who love each other, call me. I'll be at my dad's."

"Iris," Belén hurried towards her friend, grabbing her bag in a hurry, "Wait up. I wanna go home too." Iris seemed surprised of this request, able to realize she'd also had some sort of argument with Barry. Well, Iris wasn't going to judge. She nodded her head, with that look of 'solidarity and understanding', and the two walked out of the place.

Awkwardly, Eddie excused himself as well, calling it a night. Felicity made a gesture with her arms at the disaster this date had turned into. As she turned to Ray, the winery door opened and out came Barry. While surprised to find the table empty, it didn't confuse him as to what must have happened.

"Iris and Eddie had a fight," Ray explained thinking he hadn't yet connected the dots.

"And apparently so did you and Belén," Felicity crossed her arms. "Care to explain?"

"Felicity," Ray gave her a meaningful look. However, Felicity was done asking questions. She wanted answers and she was gonna get them.

"Barry? Explain. Now."

Barry looked between the two and figured what more could go wrong after tonight. With a deep breath, he began his story. "Okay. Joe and I found out that Wells isn't who he says he is. He...he is the man that killed my mother."

Felicity's eyes widened, her arms dropping to her sides. "Oh, my God. But he's been helping you. Get faster, stronger."

"I know."

"Why would he do that?" frowned Ray.

"I don't know. I don't know anything anymore, especially who I can and can't trust!"

Felicity raised an eyebrow then. "What? So you think Belén, Cisco and Caitlin are helping him? Barry, that's impossible."

"I keep telling myself that too but then...then I start to doubt-"

"-then stop doubting!" Felicity exclaimed.

"I thought that Wells was a great man, and I was so wrong about him. What if I'm wrong about everything else too?"

Felicity shook her head, the idea far too crazy to even entertain. "Look, I may not know Caitlin and Cisco as well as you do, but I do trust them. And what's more, I do know Belén, and I can assure you - swear my life on it even - that she's not in league with Wells. She's always been with you."

Barry sighed, of course he knew that. But it was that little paranoia bug inside his mind that didn't allow him to see it completely. Hearing his phone, he cut short the conversation. "Uh, emergency at STAR Labs."

Felicity looked nowhere near done, but for the sake of the others she let him go. "Go!"

~0~

At STAR Labs, there sure was an emergency - a bee emergency. Caitlin and Cisco stood back to back, Caitlin holding a fire extinguisher and Cisco a small gray device.

Containment breach. Foreign object detected.

Caitlin thought she saw said bee and activated the extinguisher. But, at the same time, Cisco thought he saw it and fired with his device at the desk. A good chunk of the desk vanished into melting metal.

"Did I get it?" Cisco quickly asked and looked around. "I think I got it."

Caitlin wasn't too sure and just held the fire extinguisher for protective measures. "Where is he?"

Wells had come out of the side room, completely calm until he saw the bee heading his way. Well, he wasn't going to allow himself to be killed by an idiotic bee. He'd rather get up. And he was going to do that when Barry sped in and captured the bee in a tiny jar.

"Thank you," he smiled at the metahuman.

Cisco took the jar with the tips of his fingers. "Let's see what makes this bee so poisonous."

"You saved my life," Wells once again thanked Barry, but only god a small nod in response.

Cisco had gotten the 'bee' under a microscope in the side room again. Caitlin leaned beside him and squinted her eyes at the motionless bee.

"That is one odd-looking bee," she mused at the sight.

Cisco soon realized there was more to it. "That's because it isn't a bee at all. It's a robot."

"No way," Caitlin took a turn on the microscope to see for herself. "Unbelievable."

"This bot's got a 360-degree vision system," Cisco began to explain as Barry and Wells entered the room. "I mean, we're talking multiple micro-cameras all coming from various angles at the same time. Which means…"

"It can see all around the room at once," Wells concluded. "That is…"

"Amazing," went both.

"Disturbing," Caitlin sharply corrected them.

"It's also next-gen hardware that's nowhere near the market," Cisco added as they began filing out of the room.

"So we're not dealing with a meta-human?" Barry asked, just to be sure.

"It's just a mad scientist."

"Robot bees?" Belén's voice called their attention to the entrance where she, Felicity and Ray had just come through.

"Can you believe that?" Cisco didn't know whether or not to be impressed or even more terrified of those bees now.

Belén thought about it for a moment then quickly nodded her head. "Actually, I can." She walked further inside, heading for one of the desks where she took up a computer. "Because I know someone who once had a maniacal experiment with robot bees."

"You do?" went the entire room, much to her amusement.

She rolled her eyes and continued to type. Eventually, she pulled up a profile of a young blonde woman with thick-rimmed, black glasses. She looked up just as everyone else noticed the profile. "Her name was Brie Larva," she stood up from her chair, casting narrowed eyes on the stranger's picture.

"And how do you know this woman?" Cisco made a funny face for her.

Chuckling, she crossed her arms and replied. "She used to work at Mercury Labs. I sometimes saw her when I visited. She was like...ridiculous smart status."

"What happened?" Wells inquired.

Belén shrugged. "My dad never told me the full story. He just said that Brie had different ideas than the ones Mercury Labs had and she had to be let go. But I saw her once, with her mechanical bees, and she looked creepy. She yelled at me to leave, though. Apparently, I wasn't going to understand the purpose of her oh-so-grand experiment."

Taking all this into consideration, Wells called for Cisco to perform a task for them.

"Cisco, you said the second victim, Bill Carlisle, was a robotics engineer. Let's cross-reference his previous employers with those of Lindsay Kang."

Felicity practically broke into a desperate run for the nearest computer. "Allow me. Mama's been away from a keyboard for far too long." In no time she had pulled up the two profiles needed and sure enough they had a similar employer: Mercury Labs.

"They both worked at Mercury Labs," Wells mused, unsurprised.

"I don't know who they are," Belén said after a well thought examination of the two victims' pictures. "But if you ask me, Brie is probably coming for some revenge."

"Which means Dr. McGee might be in trouble," Caitlin looked at the rest in alarm.

"I think it's time we paid a visit to an old friend," Wells resolved quick.

Belén gave them an approving nod. "From my part, that's all." And for that, she looked directly at Barry. "I only came because Felicity told me the problem."

"Actually, we could use your help," Dr. Wells said, surprising her. "Dr. McGee might not be so welcoming towards us anymore considering what happened the last time we visited."

"I-I mean...is that really necessary?"

Wells nodded. "Absolutely. Unless…" he began to look between her and Barry, "...there is a problem we don't know about…?"

Barry cleared his throat, eyes on Belén. "Not really," he spoke quietly. "Bells?" immediately after saying that he knew Belén was eager to tell him he wasn't at liberty to use her nickname at the moment.

But, for the sake of time, and lives, Belén swallowed down that urge and agreed. "Course. After you guys," she languidly gestured the way out with one arm.

Yes, everyone could see the tension then.

~0~

After talking to Joe, it was agreed the best they could do was warn McGee of the possible attack and also to verify with her if they were truly talking about Brie Larvan. Using their strongest weapon - who was still in fancy gear - Belén walked into the office of the woman first.

"Evening, Dr. McGee," Belén greeted politely as she walked towards the desk.

"Belén, how nice to see you," McGee reached over her desk to shake Belén's hand. "How are you?"

Belén recognized the meaningful look on the older woman's face. It had been long since she entered the lab building, and to be honest McGee thought it would never happen again. "I'm doing better now," Belén replied with a slight nod.

"What can I do for you?"

"Well...see," Belén nervously smiled, "I don't know if you've heard about some recent killings in the city with potential evidence of it being animal vs human sort of thing."

"I haven't," McGee shook her head, momentarily stumped on where Belén was going with this.

"Um, well, see I have friends in the police force and they told me something interesting about the culprit. She's killing them with robotic bees."

The moment the words left Belén's mouth McGee was on board. "Brie Larvan," she automatically said. She remembered the young scientist quite well.

"You think it's her too, then?"

"Has got to be."

"Good, so then, uh…" Belén cleared her throat and looked back at the open door, "...you guys can come in. It's her."

Before McGee could question who Belén was talking to, she saw the familiar faces of Wells, Barry and Joe coming through her door. "I didn't know these were your friends, Belén."

"Conditional," Belén clarified, shooting a warning look to Barry.

McGee was frowning at the three now. "Twice in one year, Harrison. You really are vying for comeback scientist of the year."

"Always a pleasure, Christina," Wells gave a widened, fake smile.

Mcgee sighed and looked at Belén in question. Belén quickly jumped in To clarify their purpose. "They're just here to clarify and to give you protection."

"Protection?" McGee nearly laughed.

"Brie Larvan, remember?"

McGee sighed. "Brie was a brilliant roboticist who went down the wrong path. But I assure you she can do me no harm. I can tak care of myself."

"But Dr. McGee-"

"Good day, Belén," McGee gave her that look that said it was over.

Belén sighed and looked at the others to see what they could do. Unfortunately, McGee made herself very clear again and the group had no choice but to leave the building. And even though Belén tried once again to leave, it was made impossible with the reminder Brie Larvan was still out and probably scheming her final blow.

"So is this Queen Bee going down soon?" Felicity asked after Belén and Barry returned to the cortex. Dr. Wells had stayed back to speak with Joe in the hallways.

"She'll show up, eventually," Belén shrugged carelessly and walked up to a screen where Caitlin was currently watching. Felicity arched an eyebrow at Barry, gesturing what the hell were they still doing angry with each other. "What are they doing?" Belén questioned Caitlin once she saw Cisco and Ray working over Ray's suit.

"They're working on the suit in hopes of getting it done," Caitlin mused, crossing her arms. "It is so fun to watch grown men play with their toys."

Belén snickered. "Rayan used to play with these little metal things for hours in his room. I used to make fun of him for that." Caitlin looked at her from the corner of her eyes, apparently disagreeing with Belén's actions. "What? He made fun of me for aerial dancing. It was only fair I get him back where it hurt."

In this meantime, Felicity had been expectantly looking from Belén to Barry as if one of them would come up and say they needed to discuss their previous argument. But, seeing this wasn't going to happen on its own, she jumped in. "Belén?"

"Hm?" the ombre-blonde glanced back.

"Can we talk?" Felicity pointed at the threshold and before Belén could give her answer, she pointed another finger at Barry. "You too - let's go!" And she began a hasty walk towards the threshold.

"What?" went both metahumans, exchanging a quick look between each other before turning.

Felicity merely stopped underneath the doorway and nodded her head to the corridor. "Let's go."

Caitlin giggled as she made way for a side room, of course not before teasing, "You guys are in trouble."

"What is she doing?" Belén broke in a stalk after Felicity, Barry doing the same beside her.

"I - I don't know!" he answered truthfully, although looking more mortified than anything.

"This isn't getting you out of anything, mister-"

"I don't intend it to-"

"Good," Belén shot him a look.

Barry sighed. "But it wouldn't be bad if maybe we talked…"

"Oh, what for? To accuse me of leading a metahuman riot against you now? What other false accusations are you gonna give me?"

"Look, I'm sorry! I shouldn't have said what I said-"

"But you meant it," Belén stopped abruptly to face him, her eyes soon to tear up. "And that's what hurts."

Another sigh escaped from Barry. He happened to see Felicity standing across them, now smiling warmly at them. Giving her a small nod, she slipped away into a nearby room to give them some privacy.

Belén was still waiting for him to make a response, while simultaneously doing her best not shout again.

"I shouldn't have said that," Barry began after taking in a small breath. "Not because it was wrong, but because...you could never do that to me."

"Is that what Felicity told you? Or is it because you believe it?" Belén crossed her arms and waited for his answer.

"It's what I believe. I promise."

Belén kept her eyes locked on her boyfriend whom she knew was possibly going through the most horrible time of his life. With a sigh, she placed a hand on his shoulder and stepped closer to him. "You can trust me, okay?" she whispered, "With anything and everything." Barry nodded, although couldn't help let his head hang a little in shame. "Listen," Belén began after a moment's pause, lowering her voice to a faint whisper so that only he was able to hear her, "I do have something that you don't know about. It has nothing to do...with him. I need your help, Barry. Again."

Barry raised his head to see her concerned eyes, and instinctively matched his own with hers. "Wh-what do you need?" Belén bit her lip nervously, eyes roaming the hallway as she considered if this was the best place to reveal. "Belén?"

The woman snapped her attention back in front of her. "Maybe you can...come to my room tonight?"

"O-okay," Barry agreed to her terms without a single word of argument. Although he was a bit curious why he needed to visit her at a late hour just to hear this secret.

"Guys!" they heard Caitlin's call from the cortex. Almost immediately, they ran back to their friend thinking they were in danger again. A couple seconds later, Felicity joined them as well.

Caitlin was frantically watching Brie's lonesome bee buzzing underneath the computer it had been placed at. "It must have re-activated."

Felicity smirked. "And if it's being controlled wirelessly, I can trace its signal and figure out where it's trying to go!"

"I'm going to get Dr. Wells and the others," Caitlin moved towards the desk to get the comm. And missed the looks of the other three.

"Oh, no. Oh, boy," Felicity gaped as she pulled up street security feed for them to see. A swarm of bees was heading its way down to Mercury Labs.

"Dr. McGee is in trouble," Belén gasped. "How do we stop them?"

Wells, Cisco and Ray entered the cortex with anguished expressions as they figured what was going on.

"She's got to be remotely piloting those bees from somewhere," Felicity was in the middle of explaining.

"We need to stop this bug-eyed glasses woman," Cisco shook his head.

"And her mini bandits," added Ray.

Something clicked in their minds and they quickly looked at each other as both said, "Bug-Eyed Bandit. Bug-Eyed Bandit."

"Not one of your best ones," Belén side-commented, earning herself annoyed looks from the both of them.

"Got her. She's in an abandoned greenhouse," Felicity glanced back at the others with a widened smirk.

"You have to take out Brie," Wells said to Barry and Belén. "It's the only way to stop these nanodrones."

"I'd love to get a piece of Brie Larvan," Belén smirked at the idea, surprising Barry with the comment. "What? Did I forget to mention that besides being stupid smart she was ridiculously a bitch?" Now Barry tilted his head at her, eyes slightly widened as he rarely heard her curse. "I don't like her!"

"We can tell," he couldn't help chuckle.

Belén smiled, now giddy, but glanced back at the screen where they could see the bees on their way. "But what about Dr. McGee?"

"The defibrillator in Barry's suit is broken and I am not letting you go anywhere near bees," Cisco warned her with a pointed finger her way, making her chuckle. However, Barry had a different look set on both of them. There was that little feeling again, the very one Iris advised him not too long ago to get rid of.

"Bees can't penetrate my suit. I'll go," Ray volunteered, holding a hand up.

"Whoa. We haven't tested out the new power system yet," Cisco reminded him, now turning to him in concern as well. Did no one understand how dangerous bees were? Even more so that they were talking about robot bees!?

"We'll do it now," Ray assured, waving them to get going.

"I'm following you," Cisco said as a warning.

Caitlin nodded and made to leave as well. "I'm driving."

Felicity got up from her chair and rushed up to Ray. "And I'm kissing you!" she cupped his face and planted a kiss on him.

"You don't get a kiss yet," Belén warned Barry in case he got any ideas. "That's your punishment."

Barry swayed his head, letting it hang back in the end. "I deserve it."

"Yeah, you do," she patted his arm and turned for her suit.

~0~

Ray soared through the city night to find the robotic swarm of bees. With the sight so illuminated it wasn't as difficult. "Found her. Felicity, can you jam their frequency?"

Felicity had remained back on the computers to hopefully help them. "I already tried, but I might be able to redirect them onto a new target. Ray, get ready for incoming."

Ray smirked just a little, and Felicity knew that. "We have the technology."

~ 0 ~

Brie Larvan sat on a raised platform, inside what looked like a makeshift hive where all her computers and equipment were set up. She was busy overseeing her bees through one screen when she heard a...rubbery noise? Least that's what it sounded.

But then Barry came in, and remained a bit behind. "It's over, Brie. I know you're trying to kill Dr. McGee. You think that she betrayed you. I can imagine how that feels."

Brie turned on her chair, her delicate eyebrows furrowing together as she took a look at the speedster. "You think you understand the sting of betrayal? I'll show you what it means to be stung."

On command, a new swarm of bees flew up from behind her desk and went straight for Barry. He had no choice but to speed away for the moment.

Just when Brie thought she'd have some quiet again, something cold latched onto her arm. "Eugh!" It turned out to be a green vine, and it swung her chair over to face in the direction Barry had been seconds before.

"Hello, Brie," Belén stood straightened and did her best to hide that ill feeling she still got when using her powers. While it wasn't the same fear she had weeks ago, she still felt like at any moment her other side would try to come out. "We gotta talk about your stupid bees."

Brie made a quick move back to her desk to activate more bees when Belén used two more vines to turn her back around.

"I wouldn't do that, I can use poison too you know," Belén gave a half smirk as she released a tint of pink poison through her lips. "And I assure you mine is deadly too."

Brie struggled to move with the vines around her arms. "You can't stop my bees from hurting your friends anyways," she said as a last resort.

But then Felicity made the announcement she had managed to get control of the bees.

Belén smirked at Brie then. "Look at that - you're out of a hive."

Although that struck a chord inside, Brie maintained a glowering look on the metahuman, reminding them, "I still have a swarm outside - good luck getting them."

Perhaps it was just all of Belén's pent up frustration or maybe she really did just hate Brie, but she snapped and used a vine to punch Brie across the face. The blonde scientist was out cold before she hit the ground. Barry was able to return after the swarm of bees after him literally dropped dead. He blinked at the unconscious scientist then gazed over to Belén. All she had was a smirk on her face and no regrets.

It felt really good.

~ 0 ~

Ray had managed to stop the remaining bee swarm by leading them into the city ocean. Now as Cisco gave a little lookover on Ray's partially wet suit, Ray and Caitlin had stepped from the van to take a little break.

"Ah. Some kind of team you have here," Ray remarked, feeling quite euphoric after that triumphant battle. His suit was a little ruined but he was confident it wasn't something permanent.

"Helps to have friends in your corner," Caitlin gave a small smile.

Just as Cisco was coming to them, he heard a buzzing noise behind and turned to find one remaining bee making way for them. He didn't think properly but automatically blocked the way to Ray and Caitlin, allowing himself to be stung. Hearing him drop to the ground, both Ray and Caitlin turned around.

"Cisco!" Caitlin ran for her friend who was already going unconscious. She pulled out her phone and dialed for STAR Labs, immediately shouting, "Cisco's been stung!" the moment the line was answered.

"He's going into shock!" added Ray loudly for the phone.

~0 ~

"Go," Belén told Barry in a hurry. "Brie and I will wait for the cops."

Barry nodded and hurried for Cisco and the others. He found Ray trying to do cpr on Cisco to a failed attempt.

"Hold on. Back up. I'm gonna try something." Barry began vibrating his hands until they managed to conjur up electricity. Like a machine would, he pressed his hands on Cisco's chest and watched his friend jolt. He waited another couple seconds and thankfull Cisco came to life again.

Cisco coughed violently but was otherwise alright. "Either my fear of bees is over or it just got a lot worse."

Caitlin laughed happily and hugged him. "Thank God you're okay!"

~ 0 ~

The moment she was back at STAR Labs, Belén went to see how Cisco was. Needless to say she had him hugging for a good, straight five minutes.

"Bells, I'm really okay," Cisco couldn't help release a couple laughs here and there, patting her back.

"Why the hell would you purposely let yourself be stung by a robotic bee!?" she pulled away and smacked his arm.

"Ow!" Cisco clapped a hand to his beaten arm, taking a good step back. "What happened to you being worried?"

"You know how crazy Brie is," Belén sighed, shaking her head. She walked back to the desk where Caitlin and Felicity sat.

"Hey, you know what I just realized," Cisco began pointing at Belén, the widening smile telling her this wouldn't be good, "We finally figured out a person that did hate Bells."

Barry chuckled as he saw Belén gape at the statement. She seemed in disbelief, which only made it funnier.

"I don't get it," Ray spoke up after pausing his suit examination from the other side of the room.

"See-" Cisco turned around fast to explain, "-Barry, Caitlin and I are all self-proclaimed nerds who got bullied at school but Bells over here-" he gestured with both arms towards the ombre-blonde who was now crossed-armed and glaring his way, "-apparently had no bullies whatsoever."

"I didn't," she assured.

"Until today," Cisco pointed at her. "Brie Larvan!"

"She wasn't at my schools!"

"But she still hated you."

The face on Belén spelled utter doom. "I punched her and I sent her to jail, so I win."

It was then that Barry decided to cut in before he saw his friend murdered. "I think we should call it a night," he walked towards Belén who still had a glare glued on Cisco. "Coffee?" he tried to get her attention but she wouldn't budge. With a sheepish smile at the others, he tugged Belén out of the room.

"Everyone likes me," she huffed as they left.

Barry chuckled at her seriousness. "Of course they do." He slipped an arm around her waist and gave her a kiss on the head. "But no one more than me."

"Cheesy," she playfully rolled her eyes.

While he did enjoy their quality happy moments, Barry did have a high curiosity about her apparent secret he'd been sort of right about. He stopped them down the middle of the hallway and turned to face her.

"Wanna talk?" he asked cautiously.

Belén took a quick scan of their area before she answered. "My room?"

Barry nodded and in less than a minute he had taken her to the balcony of her bedroom.

"One of these days someone is going to see you," she couldn't help but joke as used his vibrating powers to get himself through the door and thus open it from the inside. As soon as she walked in she made a beeline for her bed. "Now, I really didn't want to cause any problems between us-"

"I know, I really do," Barry nodded quickly, "It's just with everything that's going on with Wells-"

"I get it too," Belén promised him. She bent down beside her bed and reached for something underneath. "And I should have known better than to ask you to trust me on a secret. It was my problem, not yours."

"So what is it, then?" Barry curiously asked, taking a step forwards once she had pulled out a bag from underneath the bed.

Belén sighed as she stood up again. "I thought that maybe for once I could solve things on my own instead of getting you and the others to help. But, as usual, I am horrible with technology." She sighed deeper and handed him the bag so he could see for himself.

He dug a hand inside and felt the curious feeling of papers inside along with a couple of other objects he couldn't quite make out there. "What is this?" he took out a file and let the bag fall to the floor as he began going through.

To say he was surprised to find a file about his girlfriend's family was far from what he felt. He was utterly lost.

Belén waited until he looked up at her again. "Weird, huh? Imagine what I felt when I found that in Noah's bedroom."

And perhaps she could have worded that sentence a bit better, for now Barry was close to losing it. "You were where now!? In his bedroom!?" for a moment he forgot that Maritza Palayta could be in the next room.

Thankfully, Belén knew her sister was out with some friends. "Barry, calm down, it's not what you think."

"You said you got this from his bedroom so you were-"

"Ransacking his place this afternoon," she finished for him with an amused smile. "I snuck in and took what I found." She then turned to her bed and pulled down the covers to reveal Noah's laptop underneath. "I also took his laptop which I can't seem to get into."

"Bells you're going to have to help me here," Barry shook his head and let the file fall flat on her bed.

"I wanted to know what Noah and my brother were up to, maybe even learn who Plasticine and Pixel were. So, I went into Noah's apartment and I got all this stuff."

Even with his speed it took Barry a couple minutes to understand it all. "Belén, you broke into an apartment?"

"I locked the door on my way out," Belén said as if that made it all better. "I was just so mad that I've had an enemy so close to me - working with me - and all this time he's been laughing at me."

"Yeah, I get that..." Barry gave a small nod of his head. "People you thought you trusted...turn out to be completely the opposite…"

"I just can't believe it. And it makes me even more angry when I remembered how hard he fought just to make you look bad in my eyes as the Flash. It makes sense now. My brother wanted Noah to convince me to come work with him so what's a way to do that? Make me see that my partner is not what he says he is."

"Oh, now I'm mad," Barry turned to the laptop beside him and reached for it. "Trying to make me look bad in front of my girlfriend - I don't think so!" Belén giggled and inched closer as he opened the laptop. "So what do we have here, then?"

"I wish I knew," she sighed, getting a look from him in return. "I haven't been able to get through the password. I was kind of hoping my super-duper intelligent boyfriend could help me with that?"

"Oh, you got it," he smiled. Belén looked up at him with a smile of her own.

"Thank you," she said quietly, curling one hand around his. "And I'm really sorry for keeping all this from you. I just thought I could do it on my own."

"You don't need to do it on your own anymore, Bells. We're a team," Barry leaned down a bit kiss her cheek but at the last moment surprised her with a kiss. "I'm sorry I forgot about that for a moment."

Belén took a leaf out of his book and stole a kiss from him. "I forgot too, but the important thing is we're together again. We won't forget ever again."

"We won't," Barry agreed.

"And you know...maybe it's time we're all together. As in...Caitlin and Cisco? I don't think they could ever be with Dr. Wells in all this. No matter how much loyalty they have for that man, neither of them would ever condone murder. They're first and foremost, you friends, Barry. Our friends."

Barry decided to gamble on that. There were too many things coming at them and it would make things easier if they were together when the storm hit.

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

Author's Note:

I loved this episode simply because it guest starred the wonderful Emily Kinney (Brie). Spoiler alert I love her and her music. I was so sad they only had her for one episode and that she wasn't a metahuman .

#ocappreciation #arrowverseocs #the flash #barry allen #the flash fics #barry allen fics #oc: Belén Palayta #oc: Belen Palayta #fic: it had to be you

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