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neopuff · 3 years

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title: geneva word count: ~3500 ship: six/holiday summary: Six decides to visit Holiday. Takes place during/immediately after Grounded. warning: sex is mentioned and referenced to ao3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29868594

The Global Field Exercises were meant to test Providence soldiers and scientists for the possibility of more worldwide events - problems that could lead to necessary collaboration between agents of Providence and the hundreds of other smaller, national organizations dedicated to taking care of EVOs within each country.

Though they had the funding to be the international superpower of EVO containment and curing, Providence couldn’t handle everything and not everyone wanted to play nice. And so they started the biannual field exercises in the hopes to smooth over any rough patches with more reputable organizations and to remind the world that their mission was all about peace and a cure.

As Rex had so aptly stated before Six took off to Tokyo - his mission involved ninjas. Specifically, he was asked to reach out to one of the largest EVO-fighting organizations in the world. They were not ninja in the traditional sense, but the rest of the world referred to them as such and they seemed to enjoy the comparison, so they’d named their organization NINJA just a few years after The Event.

The exercises were supposed to be just three days - Holiday complained that it wasn’t enough time for her to get any real work done while Rex whined that he’d be alone and bored for too long. Six felt it was an adequate amount of time since their relationship with NINJA was already very good. Providence had a few bases in Japan and made sure to reach out regularly from their California headquarters.

Six stuffed his hands in his pockets at the realization that he was finished earlier than expected. There wasn’t much for him to do, and White Knight was busy dealing with some Rex nonsense back at home so he didn’t feel a desperate urge to come back and help with that.

He headed back to his jump jet and pulled out his phone to check the time. Immediately he was distracted by a missed text from Dr. Holiday - all it said was ‘Have fun in Japan!’ but he felt bad for having not responded to it for so long.

The words stared up at him and Six huffed out a loud exhale. She was in Geneva at the moment, and if he left Tokyo right that very second, he’d arrive at CERN a little after dinnertime.

He felt his face heat up as he thought more about this. They had recently made...a change to their relationship. Six wasn’t sure what to make of it entirely. Her feelings for him had been obvious for a while and though she seemed generally aware of his feelings, she’d always kept things professional and respected his need for space. It was just another in the long list of things he appreciated about her.

Showing up at her hotel while not technically on assignment was a whole different thing, though. There was a certain expectation for that sort of thing and though he definitely wanted that with her, he didn’t want to rush things. They hadn’t even kissed yet, thanks to an EVO interrupting their first attempt at a date and Rex interrupting the second.

There were certainly a number of reasons why he shouldn’t go to Geneva during his unexpected free time. But...

...he did want to see her, though. No question about it. Perhaps he could just stop by on his way back to the States and tell her he felt like taking the long way home.

She wouldn’t believe him but she wouldn’t call him out on it, either.

With that thought in mind, and remembering the new life rule he’d adopted after his brush with death just a few weeks earlier - Six started up the jet and made his way west. He needed to be more honest with himself and focus less on why not to do something. He could die any day, with or without the Nanite Event, and both he and Holiday deserved to figure out where this could go.

Thanks to being one of the highest ranking officers in Providence, Six enjoyed the clearance to learn exactly where Holiday was staying without having to notify anyone that he was looking. And thanks to his face and suit being the most famous part of Providence at the moment (thanks to that stupid news program), he was able to make his way into the hotel without much trouble.

It was right as he reached her door that Six started to think this was a terrible idea. What was he going to say to her, exactly? That he was in the neighborhood and wanted to say hi? That he couldn’t stop thinking about her and desperately wanted to see her after barely a weekend apart? His thoughts drifted between too casual and too romantic and he didn’t want to push her away by not getting this right.

It’d been over half a decade since he was with a woman and he’d never - not once in his entire life - had a real romantic relationship. Holiday was important to him and if he disappointed her, he’d be tremendously ashamed.

He stared at his slightly raised fist and took a deep breath. He was already here, so there was no turning back. Might as well dive in unprepared and let his brain work its magic in real time.

Three knocks later and his heart skipped a beat at the sound of her voice.

“Just a second!”

True to her word, she opened up the door a moment later and her eyes immediately widened in shock.

“Six?” Holiday exclaimed, quickly poking her head out of the doorway and looking down the hallway. “What are you doing here? Is something wrong?”

“No,” he said with a frown as he realized he should’ve brought her flowers or chocolates or something like that. “I just...finished early.”

Holiday stared up at him, one eyebrow furrowed and one raised as if she thought he’d said something very very strange. “So you...came here?”

His hands went right back into his pockets. “I wanted to see you.”

The tinge of pink that hit her cheeks did not go unnoticed and Six was happy to know he must’ve said something right. Holiday smiled and tugged some hair behind her ear. She looked down at the floor for a minute, clearly considering her next move, before looking back at him. “Do you...wanna come in?”

He nodded and made his way inside her room as soon as she moved out of the way. He wondered if the intimacy of this situation was about to become an elephant in the room. Holiday closed - and locked - the door before walking past him to her desk and sitting down to continue what she was working on.

“Sorry, I just need to finish writing something down, give me two minutes,” she mumbled and started scribbling faster.

Six watched her work with slight interest and took a moment to look around the room. With no other chairs available, he sat on the edge of her bed, hands still in his pockets. He thought back to when he was younger and more suave and wondered if Holiday would’ve preferred someone more like that - someone who could really sweep her off her feet.

“Were you able to test your anti-matter theory?”

Holiday finished the sentence she was writing and turned to him, smiling. “Yes! I can’t believe how much I’ve managed to get done in the past two days. Everyone’s been so cooperative and helpful and I worked through the night to quadruple check everyone’s work on the particle accelerator and it’s looking great.”

He raised an eyebrow at her and chose not to comment on how she needed to sleep better. “Last time you were here you said it wasn’t enough time to get anything done.”

She laughed and shrugged. “Well, last time was different. Dr. Moses was here presenting some theories and everyone was so focused on him that I was mostly working alone. Not much of a team exercise.”

Six straightened his back and frowned. “Has anyone here heard from Dr. Moses? Any clue to his whereabouts?”

Holiday placed her hands on her lap and glanced off to the side. “No, no one seems to know anything. They’ve all heard he was a fraud but that’s about the extent of anyone’s knowledge.”

She stood up and walked over to the bed, taking a seat next to Six. “I’m trying not to advertise my gullibility so I haven’t said anything.”

Six turned to her seriously. “He took advantage of you when you were vulnerable. That’s not your fault.” If he was being honest, he did fault her a little bit, but he knew how difficult it was to think clearly when you felt like you don’t have any hope left.

Holiday breathed out a short laugh, staring down at her hands. “Yes, well, my fault or not, I won’t be going on any expensive vacations for a long time.”

Thinking about her emptied bank account set him on edge. Without realizing exactly what he was doing, Six reached out his right hand and placed it gently on top of her left. “I’ll make sure you get your money back. Moses won’t get away with it.”

She turned to him and smiled shyly, a light blush gracing her cheeks again. He couldn’t will himself to look away from her face even as she opened her hand and interlocked her fingers with his.

“Thank you, Six, I really…” She glanced away from his gaze as she considered her words. “...I really appreciate it.”

He turned to stare at their hands. “Don’t thank me til I find him.”

“No, I mean…” She paused and scooted a little closer to him, then leaned against his arm with her head on his shoulder and he could practically hear her heart beating faster. She moved her right hand on top of their locked fingers and squeezed his hand tighter. “...thank you for everything. And for being here now.”

He squeezed back and wondered if his heartbeat was just as loud.

Holiday continued to stare at their hands and took a few moments to consider the situation she was in. The man of her dreams had flown 6,000 miles to visit her and now they were completely alone, for the first time in ages, in her hotel room which was locked and relatively soundproof and oh god she was not prepared at all, she hadn’t been with anyone in years and this was Six and it had to be absolutely perfect and she was so tired but she was so excited to have him here and if they didn’t do this now then when could they? There couldn’t be a better time and place.

“Holiday…”

“Hm?” she responded as she pulled away from him.

“I...um, I realize that my being here is...suggestive.” He was mumbling a bit, which Holiday found adorable for reasons completely beyond her. “But I didn’t come here with any expectations. I just...thought it’d be...nice.”

Nice. She had such mixed feelings about that word, thanks to him. But everything else he said was adding to the warmth in her chest and she knew she had to say something or do something before he got the wrong idea and left. Expectations or not, she had to try.

Holiday ripped her hands away from his and without giving him even a moment to miss the sensation, she’d moved them to the sides of his face and tugged him down just the slightest bit so she could meet him halfway.

Six’s reflexes were faster than most, but it did take him a second to register just exactly what was happening. Holiday’s lips on his felt better than he ever imagined (and he had imagined it quite a lot more often than he’d care to admit). Her thumbs rubbed gently against his cheeks and he quickly wrapped one arm around her waist as she adjusted herself to face him entirely, one of her knees bent under her and her other leg dangling over the side of the bed.

Almost instinctively, Six reached down and grabbed her dangling thigh to pull her fully onto his lap. He would’ve worried that was too forward if not for Holiday immediately grinding against him and lightly biting his bottom lip.

She was going to be the death of him, he could tell. And he really didn’t mind.

Her hands made their way to the back of his head while his hands snaked up her thighs, stopping with his fingertips just under her skirt as she distracted him with her lips and her tongue and her groans.

While one of his hands finally made its way under the fabric to properly squeeze her thigh, he brought his other arm around her waist again and slowly turned them around to lay her down on the bed. Her legs had wrapped around his waist and she kept her lips moving against his, simply humming in affirmation as he kissed her back with fervor.

She tugged at his jacket and Six quickly tore it off without moving away from her, tossing it somewhere and thinking about how he wanted her coat off, too.

Rather than focus on herself, Holiday reached down and started to untie his tie, which proved to be more difficult from her angle than she anticipated. He broke their kiss and backed up a few inches to give her more space to work and as the fabric finally came loose it really hit him that this was actually happening.

Just as that thought came to mind, Holiday seemed to freeze. She was still breathing heavily, her chest rising and falling rapidly, but her hands were unmoving against the top button of his shirt.

He wrapped a hand around one of her wrists. “What’s wrong?”

She blinked up at him and shook her head. “Nothing, sorry, sorry!” she said nervously, moving her fingers back to his button.

Six squeezed her wrist and pulled her hand away from him. “Maybe we should...slow down.”

“N-no, no,” Holiday yelped, shaking her head. “It’s nothing like that, I just-” She was interrupted by her own yawn, which she kept small and hidden under a hand, but her face lit up in embarrassment all the same.

He smirked down at her. “That’s certainly not my best review.”

She moved her hand up to cover her face but knew there was no point in hiding it now. “It’s absolutely not that - I do want y-this, I…” She couldn’t look him in the eyes and turned her head away while moving her hands to his shoulders. “...so much. But it’s just…”

Six moved one of his hands to her face, pushing her bangs out of the way and cradling her temple so his thumb rested under her eye. She looked tired - not the most tired he’d ever seen from her, but certainly not awake enough for this. He thought back to what she’d told him just ten minutes earlier and asked, “When’s the last time you slept?”

Holiday smiled guiltily and squeezed his shoulders. “Um...38 hours ago? Give or take?”

He shook his head and leaned down to kiss her, just briefly, before leaning up again and rubbing his thumb against her cheek. “You should go to sleep, Doctor.”

She nodded reluctantly, a deep red still visible across her cheeks. “I know this is terrible timing when this is literally the best possible time and place for this but I really want our first, um...well, I’m just rather not be so out of it.”

Six wrapped his arm around her waist again and tugged her up into a seated position, feeling awkward trying to have an entire conversation while leaning over her. “I meant what I said before. And there’ll be plenty of other...opportunities.”

Holiday smiled at him warmly. “It’s hard enough to get a full night’s sleep without interruption at Providence, I can’t imagine trying to work sex into my schedule.”

He almost laughed at that - almost; relationship or not he was still Six - and instead leaned closer to her, his mouth hovering less than an inch from her ear. “We’ll just have to go on a trip together, then.”

She shuddered at the feeling of his breath against her ear and blushed somehow even deeper at his words. “I guess we will.”

Six smiled at her and she smiled back warmly, feeling the awkwardness and anxiety of this relationship development completely fading away. She wasn’t unconfident about Six’s feelings for her but she never knew exactly what that meant for them or what he was comfortable with and she didn’t want to push him too far, but god did she want him badly. She had for years and now that she actually had the chance, she was too tired for it. That was just great.

He leaned down and pressed another brief kiss against her lips. “I should head back to headquarters,” he said as he stood up.

“O-oh?” Holiday mumbled. “You don’t have to go. I mean, if you want to stay, that is.” She groaned internally at her own nervousness. Wasn’t she just thinking about how she was feeling more confident about their relationship?

Six stared down at her, glancing at her bed and then back at her. “Do you want me to?”

“Yes!” she answered quickly - a bit too quickly and enthusiastically for her own liking but it was too late to change that now. “I’d...I’d really like you to stay.”

He nodded and sat back down next to her. “I’ll head back in the morning, then.”

Holiday tucked some hair behind her ear again, having just noticed how messed up her bun got during their little make-out session. “That sounds good. If White noticed us coming back together he’d probably make a huge fuss over nothing.”

“He would.” Six didn’t need to regale Holiday with stories of all the things Knight had suggested about their relationship over the years, and he certainly wouldn’t be informing his former partner of this new development.

He stood up and reached down to grab his jacket and tie off the floor. “You should get to sleep, Doctor.”

She followed suit. “And where are you going?”

“Just have to grab some things from my jump jet.” He took a step closer to her. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

Holiday stood up on her tip-toes to kiss him again, realizing at that moment that was going to get addicted to the feeling of his lips on hers. Keeping this from Rex was going to be a challenge, that was certain.

Six nodded at her and grabbed her room key before heading out the door. Holiday watched him go and sunk back down onto the bed so she could properly soak in everything that just happened.

Her heart started beating faster and she couldn’t stop smiling. He was…! They were…! She laid down on the bed and closed her eyes, trying to will her heartbeat to settle down, but she couldn’t stop thinking about the feeling of his lips and his hands and his…well. His everything. She stayed like that for a minute and then tried to sit up, but her entire body had shut down and decided it was time to go to sleep.

When Six entered the room again, he was not surprised to find Holiday fast asleep, still in her work clothes, and only halfway on the bed. He put his overnight bag down and walked over to help her out.

Dragging her into her bed after she overworked herself was something he’d done a hundred times before, but the domesticity was really hitting him and Six felt himself blush as he tugged off her labcoat and boots and picked her up into his arms. He managed to get her under the covers and hesitantly reached down and tugged at her hair tie until it snapped and her bun fell apart.

He stared at the broken elastic and tossed it onto the table. He thought about just leaving anyway, but...she’d asked him to stay. So he quickly changed and put his sunglasses down on the nightstand before quietly crawling under the covers. He felt oddly exposed next to her despite her being fast asleep, and started his usual pre-sleep breathing exercises.

A few moments later, he felt Holiday reach out and grab his arm. He looked over at her and saw she was still very much asleep - even as she tugged him closer and scooted herself over she didn’t seem to have any awareness of her actions. She stopped moving once her head had reached his shoulder and Six felt himself blush at how comfortable and natural she looked.

He could definitely get used to this.

#generator rex #holix #agent six #rebecca holiday #dr. holiday #carrofics #ok after reading this think about six minus six taking place like 2-3 days later #heh

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saiilorstars · 3 years

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Rise Up

Ch.12: For the Girl Who Had Everything

Previous Story: It Had To Be You || Current Masterlist

Pairings: Barry Allen x OFC

Chapter Summary: Team Flash enlists the help of newcomer Black Orchid to save Belén and Barry from Datura's and Poison Ivy's clutches. While they figure out the best course of action, Belén and Barry are each submerged into their own personal worlds...turned nightmares?

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

Taglist: @ocfairygodmother @anotherunreadblog @transformerfan97 @stareyedplanet @perfectlystiles [If you’d like to be part of this OC’s taglist, let me know!]

Author's Note:

Itaclis is for Belén's world.

Bold is for Barry's world.

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

"Belén? You ready to go?" Iris' voice didn't register until the third time she asked the same question.

Belén finally blinked and tore her eyes from the nothingness she'd been entranced with. She blinked a couple times until she realized she was standing in front of a metal table, inside what looked like a laboratory. She herself was wearing a lab coat and some protective glasses. "...what?" she whispered. Where the hell was she!?

"Belén, we're going to be late!" Iris exclaimed. "Don't tell me you have cold feet already!"

"Cold feet—what?" Belén made a face that indicated pure, honest confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"Hey," Linda Park strode into the lab with her phone in hand. "Caitlin says she's already at the store. We good?"

"Yeah, I'm just waiting for Belén to get with the program," Iris chuckled. "I think she's got cold feet."

"Already?" Linda gaped. "You're not at the aisle yet."

Aisle?" Belén repeated, though something inside told her she'd be figuring it out in a couple seconds. Her eyes found her left hand where a shiny silver ring sat on her ring finger. "Oh my God is that an engagement ring!?" she practically screeched.

Now she had the odd stares from Iris and Linda.

"She's out of it," Iris shook her head.

"We gotta go or we're going to be late," Linda said.

Between the two, they grabbed Belén's things, pulling her protective glasses off and her lab coat, and dragged her out of the building...all in the meanwhile she had a meltdown over the news.

"What do you mean I'm getting married!? I can't get married!" she frantically looked between the two women holding her arms. They were walking her down the street as if she'd try to run away from them, and actually...if given the chance, she might just.

"Belén, wake up!" Iris gave her an odd glance. "This has been going on for almost a year now. This is the last fitting of your wedding dress—"

"I don't have a wedding dress because I'm not getting married!" Belén exclaimed. "I never got engaged! I am not engaged!"

"Jesus, Belén, how many hours of sleep did you get last night?" Linda asked, giving Belén the same look Iris had.

"The right amount to know that I never got engaged to anyone!" Belén finally wrestled free from their hooks and whirled around to face them. She pointed a sharp finger at the two women, warning them not to get any closer. "Now listen to me when I say that I am not getting married!"

"Fine, but you're the one who's going to explain that to Barry later," Iris said, freezing Belén in her spot.

The ombre-blonde blinked several times as the words hit her. "... Barry?" she repeated. "I'm...getting married...t-to Barry?" Iris and Linda both nodded their heads. "What…?" Belén felt light headed. Oh yes she did. "...when…?"

When she started rocking on her feet to the point of nearly falling, Iris and Linda hurried to catch her.

"Oh God Belén, don't tell me your already pregnant!" Linda's laugh was no joke for Belén who nearly fell again.

"Don't say that! I'm not—what is going on!?" Belén shouted to the air.

~0~

"Shivhan Jang," Cisco loudly read the name off the profile he had posted on the screen on wall for the others to see, "Twenty-seven year old with no actual priors…"

"Then why is she in our system?" Joe cut him off and pointed to the fact Cisco had the CCPD system open for them to see.

A smile spread across his face. "She had a speeding ticket she never paid."

"Okay, moving on?" Iris motioned them not to get so stuck on that one detail. They were on a time limit here, after all.

"Okay," Cisco clapped his hands together before continuing with his briefing. "Let's see. She and her family emigrated from Korea when she was 5, she's been a part of Central City's school records since kindergarten but we've got no college attendance. She dropped out."

"What about her powers?" Joe asked. "Did she get them from the Particle Accelerator?"

"Yup, there's footage of her in a flower shop the night the Particle Accelerator went off. I'd show it to you but it is not pretty."

"Can we trust her?" Joe wearily asked. He couldn't believe they were relying on a woman Belén technically kidnapped.

"She wants her freedom…" Cisco reminded.

"But how do we know she won't run out on us as soon as Caitlin finishes healing her?"

"Because we're chipping her," Cisco said so matter-of-factly that both Joe and Iris stared at him in shock.

"We're what?" Iris put a hand behind her ear just to make sure she was listening clearly.

"Relax," Cisco waved her and Joe off. "It's just a lie, but she won't know that. We tell her we found a way to switch her powers off. She likes her powers. She will help us."

"I don't know," Joe shook his head. "Sounds like we're being…"

"Shady?" Iris finished for him. "First, Belén kidnaps her, then we force her to help us with lies and deceit?"

"The situation is dire, Iris!" Cisco snapped. "We're not hurting her and we really are letting her go afterwards. Belén can kill us later."

"And you know she will kill us for letting her go," Iris reiterated that part just so they all knew what was going to come after. Cisco seemed more or less prepared for it.

~0~

"Barry?" someone softly called. "Barry?"

The speedster in question stirred awake after about the fourth call of his name. He opened his eyes and met a white sheet bunched up beside him. A bed. He was laying on a bed.

"Barry?"

It clicked to Barry that it was Belén calling his name. He sat upright and rubbed his eyes. There was something wrong here and he couldn't tell what it was.

"Good morning," Belén was sitting near the foot of the bed, to Barry's left, and was smiling at the speedster. "You must have been really tired because I've been trying to wake you up for a good 15 minutes now."

"What happened?" Barry dropped his hands from his face, though he was still partially groggy. "I thought I was…" but he trailed off when he finally looked at Belén. "Oh my God…Belén you're-you're…" He could finish the words in one go.

Belén raised an eyebrow at him. "What? Barry, are you okay?"

But Barry was speechless. Now he knew there was definitely something wrong. "You're...pregnant."

Belén's look indicated she was worried for him and not herself, like he was. She gazed down at her pregnant belly, which looked to be around 4 months at least, and chuckled. "Okay, what were you dreaming about that's got you so out of it?"

Barry's mouth was gaping and it didn't look like it would be closing anytime soon. "What!? But you're —"

"Pregnant, yeah," she nodded. "Have been for 5 months now. Did you just notice, or…?"

Barry looked like he would pass out at any moment. "When did that — how did that — what!?"

"Okay, Barry, you're seriously worrying me now."

"I'm... ut you're pregnant! You're—" Barry was stopped only because Belén had put her hand over his mouth. Still, his eyes were wide in alarm.

"I know, pregnant," Belén nodded slowly. "We've been through this. Now I'm going to take my hand off your mouth and we're going to get ready for the day. We've got work. Got it?" Barry slowly nodded and, keeping her word, Belén drew her hand away from his mouth. "There," she smiled, "All better. Now c'mon! I'm craving some chocolate banana pancakes!" She pecked his lips and scooted off the bed, though it was a bit of a struggle.

All Barry did was watch her go with wide, wide eyes.

~ 0 ~

Belén felt like she couldn't breath...and it wasn't because of the wedding dress hugging her body. No, no, it was the world she was living in.

"Belén, you don't look so happy," Caitlin's voice drew Belén's gaze from her reflection. She'd been staring at herself in the mirror for a good five minutes, but she wasn't in-tune with the rest of reality. "You look beautiful."

They were inside the store where apparently Belén had ordered her wedding dress from. Caitlin, Iris and Linda were sitting across her, watching her in delight as they got a full view of the finished dress.

"Yeah, um…" Belén cleared her throat and turned away from the mirror. "I'm just...it doesn't feel real…"

Caitlin smiled. "Yeah, that's understandable."

"You look so pretty, girl!" Linda exclaimed. "Barry's going to lose it when he sees you!"

At the mention of Barry, Belén stiffened. She looked down at her left hand again, where the shiny ring still sat. "I'm…" she swallowed hard. "I need my Mom. Where is she?"

"At home, where else?" Iris gave her a strange look. "You and her don't really talk, remember?"

Well, that rang right.

"I...need to see Barry, then," Belén figured if anyone would tell her the truth it would be Barry. Of course, the others didn't see it that way.

"You just can't wait, huh?" Linda gave her a smirk.

Belén reddened in a short minute. "Oh God, stop!"

"Oh give her a break," Caitlin waved them off, but of course they just burst into laughter.

"I need to see Barry, where is he?" Belén grabbed Caitlin's wrist. "Please?"

Of course Caitlin told her Barry was at the precinct. That also rang truth. Needless to say, Belén dragged Caitlin back to the fitting room so that she could help unzip the damn dress for her. She needed to get away from there and find Barry.

She didn't even think about giving any of her friends an explanation for her hasty leave...but it wasn't like they weren't going to guess. Luckily for her, the way to the precinct was just like it always was. There were few things that seemed just like her world, but this couldn't be it.

She kept thinking that as she walked into the precinct. She was only halfway into the bullpen when she spotted Barry coming out of the Captain's office. Well, he seemed normal.

"Barry?" she called once and had his full attention.

His face brightened and soon he bid goodbye to his co-worker. He came directly to her and greeted her with a kiss that, honestly, felt pretty real. "Hey," Barry smiled at her. "How'd it go today?"

"Hm?" it took Belén a few seconds to realize he meant her trip to the wedding dress store. "Oh, right, um...we gotta talk about that."

"Oh, okay," Barry nodded. "You want to go up to the lab?"

Belén agreed and allowed him to take her hand—her left hand—and lead her out of the bullpen. His hand felt real enough to be him...but there was something inside telling her that this was all wrong.

~ 0 ~

Caitlin finished stitching up the last bit of open skin on Shivhan's shoulder. Soon as she said she was done, Shivhan pulled up the STAR Labs shirt she'd borrowed up to her shoulder again.

"Thanks," Shivhan mumbled and got up from the medbed. "So, what do I do next?"

"Well, we're making you a tracker and implanting a communications system to your suit so we can talk to you while you're out," Caitlin picked up her tablet she'd left on the table.

"And when do I get to go out?"

"Soon."

Shivhan sighed loudly in annoyance. "Sure, take your time. Not like I'm in a hurry to leave."

Caitlin looked up from her tablet. "Why? We could offer you help here."

"I don't need help from you people. You let the Azalea and the Flash get kidnapped. Good going."

Caitlin pursed her lips at the hard jab. She couldn't exactly argue much in their defense there, right? Shivhan seemed to know what she'd done because she smirked.

Caitlin briefly glared in return them added, "And yet you needed my help stitching you back up." That made Shivhan's smirk falter. "Don't have many doctors around you?"

"They tend to get robbed where I'm from," Shivhan meant to leave the room, though she had no idea where she'd be going since she didn't know STAR Labs yet.

"Then maybe we can help you after this," Caitlin's offer forced Shivhan to turn around. "Help out that neighborhood of yours…"

"That is my territory. I will take care of it!"

A ghost of a smile appeared on Caitlin's face. "I guess it's not all about self preservation."

Now it was Shivhan's turn to glare. Caitlin, on her part, just smiled kindly.

"It's okay. That's your home and you have every right to be defensive about it. Why do you think neither the Azalea nor the Flash leave Central City? It's their home too and they want to defend it."

Shivhan rolled her eyes, but secretly she respected that. She was big on loyalty. And right now...she supposed she had to be loyal to the two metas who'd been defending them all this time.

"Dammit," she muttered under her breath. "Alright, let's go get those two metas."

~ 0 ~

Belén stared at her engagement ring while Barry went around his lab to clean up some things before they left.

"Hey Bells," he called, unknowingly using her nickname she was sure he wasn't supposed to know in this fake world. "Could you give me that file?"

Belén followed his gaze to the desk behind her and picked up said file. He nodded that it was that one and so she handed it to him.

"You have a lot of work today?" she asked as a means to keep the silence away and, honestly, to weed out any information that could help her figure out what was going on.

"Just a big case," Barry left the file flat at a table. "I think I have everything good but you know Captain Jang wants everything to be perfect."

"Captain Jang?" Belén repeated.

"Shivhan Jang?"

Belén blinked in shock. That was the bartender she met…

"Oh my God. Shivhan Jang?" she brought an index finger to bite on.

"What are you doing?" Barry walked back to her. "You don't usually bite your nails."

"I don't?"

He pulled her finger from her mouth and shook his head. "No. You work at a lab. You think it's disgusting."

"A lab...right…" Belén pursed her lips there. "What do I do there again? I thought I was a reporter or something…"

Barry laughed. "Right. Like you would ever leave your botany for anything."

"I'm a...botanist…" Belén nodded her head. Oh yeah, there was something wrong here because she didn't have a clue as to what a botanist would do. She loved her plants, but...she was no scientist.

"I think this whole wedding preparation is taking a toll on you," Barry smiled at her. "Thank God it's almost over, right?"

"Hmm? When is…?"

"Next week! Can you believe it?" Barry didn't notice her shock as he picked up her left hand to stroke her skin. "Feels like yesterday was the day I proposed. The park's fountain water was really cold."

"You proposed at our park fountain?" Belén blinked. That...sounded like it could be real. Their park fountain did have special memories.

"Course," Barry smiled at her. "Now I just really want us to get to the date so I can call you my wife."

"Wife…" Belén said the word and felt like she lost air. It did make her feel butterflies in her stomach. "I'm...going to be your... wife…"

No one could take the big grin off Barry's face. Belén certainly couldn't do it, even if she did know it wasn't real.

"Sooo…how's about I take my fiance out for some lunch?" Barry brought her hand up to his lips for a kiss.

Goddammit , Belén swooned. She nodded slowly and silently while her heart jolted in her chest.

~0~

By this point, Barry knew there was something so, so wrong. After a rather quiet breakfast with Belén, he practically raced to get to work. Least there, things seemed normal. The only thing that wasn't the same was the fact Veronica wasn't part of the precinct, neither was Patty. By the time lunch came around, Barry was going crazy trying to figure out what was wrong with his world. When Belén walked in, she found Barry at his desk with his head down and hands over his head's back.

"Barry?" her voice immediately pulled him up in a sitting position.

There she was, looking very...pregnant. He almost did a double take, but it was enough for Belén to notice.

"I know...not very...pretty-" she made a gesture at her stomach. "-appealing."

"No, that's not -" Barry didn't know what to say to her. It was hard enough looking at her. "I'm sorry."

"Instead of an apology, I'd really like to know what's going on with you," she walked further inside the lab. "This morning you were... completely out of it."

Barry nodded. It was a fair request, but it wasn't an easy one to respond to. He turned his chair to face her and offered her a tiny small. "I'm just...having some trouble waking up." Wasn't that the truth.

"Yeah, I know I sleep crazy," Belén sheepishly smiled.

Barry gave her a look. She wasn't a crazy sleeper. He didn't have the chance to sleepover with her a lot, but the few times he did she always slept peacefully. She barely moved.

Just something else that was wrong.

"Can we go to lunch?" Barry asked her. The only way he would figure out what was going on was if he got to talking.

Belén would be the only one he could trust.

~0~

"Hey," Joe strode into the cortex rather quickly if anyone had paid enough attention. "Did we figure out a plan to get Barry and Belén back?"

"Working on it," Cisco was tinkering with a small device in his hands.

"Yeah, uh, we got another problem," Joe informed, making Cisco look up from his work.

"What?"

Joe looked shaky, jittery…

"Where is she!?" Veronica Green's voice carried into the room minutes before she appeared. She looked absolutely furious, and yet...terrified.

"Oh you didn't," Cisco shot Joe a look. The man rubbed the back of his head, to his credit looking guilty. "You told her!?"

"I had to. Her daughter's been kidnapped," Joe reminded. "I already have my own son out there. I know exactly what it feels like—"

"We were getting them back! She's mad as hell!" Cisco flapped a hand in Veronica's direction. "With a gun!"

"Oh give it a break and tell me where my daughter is," Veronica snapped. "I cannot believe you let her get kidnapped! This is exactly why I don't want Belén anywhere near this world!"

"Well she's in it and we're working on it," Cisco nearly snapped himself. "Now would you please stop shouting at me? I'm trying to work on something here!"

"What is it?" Joe spotted the small device in Cisco's hand.

"It's a comm. system for Shivhan," Cisco turned back for the table he'd been working at.

"Who's Shivhan?" Veronica crossed her arms.

"Someone helping us to get Belén and Barry back."

"This is crazy! Why can't we just get the CCPD into this!?"

Cisco shook his head and mumbled something that sounded like 'beginners'. He turned back woman with a polite smile. "Because these are dangerous, poisonous, metahumans that the CCPD is not capable of fighting."

Veronica looked outraged. Her eyes flickered to Joe and waited for him to say something in their defense, but of course he never did. "You're just going to let him say things like that?"

"I ain't fighting no poisonous metas," Joe gave her a crazed look. "I have seen first-hand what those two are like and believe me when I tell you that these guys-" he pointed at Cisco, "-know how to handle it. With some supervision of course."

"Kind of gave the compliment and took it away," Cisco mumbled to him before facing Veronica. "Look, Ms. Green, Belén knows how to handle herself. She can hang on until we get there to help her."

But that didn't seem to satisfy Veronica much. "You just take this so easily. Like it's normal." Before Cisco could say it pretty much was part of their daily meta life, Veronica went on. "I could lose Belén just like I lost Maritza and Rayan."

"You're not losing anyone," Joe pointed at her then moved his finger to Cisco. "And you gotta hurry up. We cannot let Datura and Poison Ivy keep Belén and Barry another minute."

Cisco agreed.

~ 0 ~

"Sooo...we're not getting lunch," Barry confessed as he and Belén walked down the street. They'd been walking for a while now and while Belén had thought of asking him to just speed them to their destination, the act of walking and talking was a better strategy to get more information.

Now though, she looked at him curiously. "What? Why not?"

"I have a surprise for you," he announced with that same cheeky smile he had in real life.

"Well, what is it?"

"It's just down the block," he nodded up ahead. They'd turned down a new block of houses recently but Belén wasn't sure what he was nodding at.

He walked them to the last house of the block. While he didn't say anything, Belén noticed the 'for sale' sign in the front yard now had a bright red 'sold' over it.

Barry stopped them at the front door and reached for something in his pocket. "I did a thing...a surprise...and...well…" he pulled out a key that he held between them, "Surprise."

Belén's dark eyes widened as she looked at the keys and the front door. "You didn't…"

"I did," nodded Barry. "We talked about it but with all the planning we never really got around to looking. I thought I'd do that and I found one I know you'll love."

"Barry, I…" Belén didn't know what to do nor say. Her head kept turning from his soft face to the front door.

"It's ours, Bells," he put a finger under her chin and gently turned her gaze to him. "It's our home."

Belén couldn't help it. Her eyes teared up. It wasn't real, she knew, but she couldn't help wish - for a brief second - that it was. She wished they weren't always in constant danger with metahumans trying to kill them. It always felt like there was more bad than good in their lives, more tears than smiles.

She wished they could just be happy and safe.

She threw her arms around Barry and hugged him tight. Barry wrapped his arms around her and pressed a kiss to her head.

"I love you, Bells," he whispered.

"I love you too," she closed her eyes tight.

~ 0 ~

"You did all that in the span of 3 hours?" Shivhan looked over the magenta colored suit Cisco had apparently made for her.

Cisco had brought the suit to the cortex for her and the others to see. They still weren't very sure of Shivhan but so far, she hadn't tried to run away...though they were aware she was under the lie that she was chipped.

"Yeah, well, I was a bit rushed," Cisco huffed. "But I'll get it done better after we get our friends back."

"Nina's on her way here," Iris looked up from her phone.

Beside her, Veronica shook her head. "I cannot believe Dr. Clarke is in on this as well."

"Goes to show you that everyone can be a meta and still have a life," Iris said as a means to support Belén's life style.

"Or it shows that everyone's a liar," Veronica made sure to look at everyone in the cortex.

"Hey, don't count me in your web, lady," Shivhan crossed her arms and looked Veronica in the face. "I'm here helping your daughter who, by the way," she made sure to look at Cisco, "I still don't know her actual name. But she knows mine? How's that fair."

"She found you fair and square," Cisco raised his hands.

Shivhan rolled her eyes and pointed at her new suit. "Tell me when I can wear this stupid thing, alright? I'm gonna go take a shot before I have to face a murderer." But just as she was leaving, Caitlin came into the cortex with a grim face.

"I think I know why Datura and Poison Ivy have been stealing from labs," she announced.

"She stole some sleep and dream prototypes, didn't she?" asked Joe.

"Yeah, and given everything else that she took, according to Harry...they might have used it to build a sort of...dream inducer."

"A dream what-now?" Veronica frowned at her. Even Shivhan turned around when she was meant to be finding a drink somewhere in the building.

"Harry and I went over it, and we're pretty sure they've put…" Caitlin briefly glanced at Shivhan before continuing, "...the Azalea and the Flash into dream comas. They're dreaming whatever Datura and Poison Ivy programmed them to."

"So they could basically be having nightmares?" Cisco shivered. "Like walking zombies? Or death?"

Caitlin hated he was choosing to put those images in their heads, especially when Veronica was right behind him.

"We need to get them out!" Veronica exclaimed. "My daughter could have the worst nightmare invented by some murderer!"

"Why put them through that, though?" Iris made the question no one else thought to ask. She received quite a look from Veronica.

"Who cares! We just need to get them out of it!"

"It matters because Datura obviously put a lot of thought into this plan," Iris argued. "It's only reasonable we try to figure out a reason why."

"Because she's a psychopathic murderer?" Shivhan shrugged. "Sometimes there's no reason except to just be plain mean."

"She's right," Harry's voice cut in before anyone else could say anything. He walked into the cortex, making it his first appearance since Belén and Barry were taken. The guilt, while he fought it, was burdening his shoulders. "Datura used to be calculating before she came to this Earth. Now she's acting just like Zoom. She wants to be better than the Azalea before killing her. Miss Jang is right. Sometimes there's no reason except to just be mean. And if Datura controls the worlds...she's going to be outright cruel."

~ 0 ~

"Oh yum," Belén took a whiff of her plate the moment it was set in front of her. She'd ordered steak with mashed potatoes and some vegetables.

Barry watched her eat and had to chuckle at her excitement. It definitely felt like her. When Belén noticed his stare, she blushed and stopped eating.

"I had an insane craving today for steak. It's cooked so...we should be good," she rubbed the top of her stomach.

The smile on Barry faltered for a second. Right. That was definitely not real. It couldn't be. But still…

"How, um...how did that happen?" he knew the moment he asked the question that it wasn't worded right and it would definitely put him in an awkward situation.

"How did what happen?" Belén raised an eyebrow at him. Barry didn't say anything but his eyes flickered to her stomach. "What? You mean when did I get pregnant? Barry! You were there!"

"I know, but—"

"I didn't make this happen on my own, you know!"

Barry cleared his throat while he felt his face warm up. "I haven't...we've never…" but of course he couldn't say finish that sentence because apparently it wasn't true here.

"We never what?" Belén demanded to know. "Don't tell me you're doubting your fatherhood all of a sudden."

Barry shook his head. But it was just another face that didn't fit in this reality. Because in his world, he never touched Belén. And she wasn't the type to cheat on him. There was no way in hell she could be pregnant.

"Seriously Barry, what is going on with you?" Belén put her fork down on the table. "All day today you've been so weird. I'm a little worried, honestly."

"I-I'm fine," Barry coughed. "I think I just hit my head or something."

"And you forgot things?" Belén smiled in amusement. "Or is it that dad-shock come early?"

Barry bobbed his head. Dad. It was wrong and he had to figure out a way to get out of it. "Hey Belén, what's your favorite color?"

"Pink, why? You knew that…?"

Dammit, that was right. "Why is it your favorite color again?"

"Um...because it's on my favorite flower, Azaleas."

Dammit, also right.

"Alright, Barry, now you're really - oh!" Belén suddenly froze which, of course, made Barry immediately panic.

"What? What is it—"

"It's moving! My baby's moving!" Belén exclaimed and shifted in her seat so that she could sit sideways. "Barry, come here!"

Barry didn't really know what to do, but for some reason his feet moved without his consent. In 2 seconds he was with Belén but his hands trembled as they went back and forth trying to decide whether or not to touch her.

Belén grabbed one of his hands and gently placed it over her belly. Sure enough, Barry felt the light thump underneath.

It'snotrealit'snotrealit'snotreal, Barry told himself repeatedly to remind himself that he couldn't get sucked into this fantasy.

But the thumps continued.

"She's moving," Belén smiled with tears in her eyes.

Barry's gaze snapped up to meet hers. "...she? It's a girl?" Belén nodded her head.

Oh my God it's not real, and yet as Barry told himself that he just couldn't take his hand off Belén's stomach. He was feeling his baby kick.

~ 0 ~

Barry had brought them into the house which turned out to be beautiful. Belén never really thought about house shopping, and much less house shopping with your fiance. She was letting herself get sucked into this world and she hated it...but she just couldn't snap out of it. As Barry led her into the dining table and the kitchen, describing all the things they could do...she found herself falling more in love.

"And I promise not to burn the house down trying to cook that lasagna of yours," he said after showing her the stove.

A light chuckle slipped through her lips. "It's cute you think you'll ever get my family's recipe."

"Well, I'm going to be part of your family now," he swiftly countered with. "You could make the exception, then…"

"Yeah, we'll see!" she bopped his nose and started heading out. "Let's go see upstairs!"

"But I want that recipe!" he called after her.

They came up to the second floor and found four doors. They poked their head inside the first door's room and found a small room that could be for a guest.

"Or, you know...for a...baby...or something…" Barry said quietly, though not that quietly because Belén heard perfectly.

She smiled to herself. "Yeah, maybe…" she turned and walked for the next room. It turned out to be a decent sized bathroom. "Oh, I love that mirror," she gawked at the long, rectangular mirror hanging on the wall. "Is that a marble counter?"

"Easy, you look more in love with that than me," Barry frowned as she stroked the counter.

She laughed. "Jealous, much?"

"Let's keep looking, c'mon. Our room has a balconyyyy…" he sing-sang for her and got her attention.

"Don't lie to me…"

"I'm not…"

Belén bolted from the bathroom and skipped the third door to go straight for what was meant to be their bedroom. She flung open the door and saw a large bedroom inside. There was a beautiful, sparkly chandelier on the ceiling. But then her eyes found the balcony and she definitely fell in love with it.

"Oh those are so pretty!" she squealed and rushed inside the room. "You know I miss that from when I used to live at my dad's house?"

"Yeah," Barry nodded. "I thought you might like this one."

"I do," she said before opening the balcony doors. She stepped outside and was met with a gentle breeze. "Oh my God I love this."

Barry came up from behind and wrapped his arms around her waist. "I'm glad you do." He pressed a kiss to her cheek and held her close. "Because this is our home. It's our room. And I can't wait to live here with you."

Belén breathed in a shaky breath. "Yeah…I'd love to live here with...you…" she turned around and ran her hands up and down his arms. "We'd be happy here."

"Course we will be," Barry smiled at her. He gently pulled her back into the bedroom. "Now you know why I can't wait for next week. Are you ready to become Mrs. Allen?"

"Uum…" Belén bit her lip. "Well...I would like to be...some day…"

"That day is so close," Barry nuzzled his nose next to hers while she brought her hands to rest on his shoulders. He soon kissed her.

~ 0 ~

In the real world, Datura ran her index finger down the side of Barry's face. The unconscious speedster was placed on a metal bed with a few pads on wires sticking to his face, all connected to a machine behind.

"Don't be tempted," Poison Ivy's smooth voice warned.

Datura looked up from the speedster and scowled. "Never. I just find...it amazing. Pure appearance, though." She gazed down at Barry, who was no longer wearing his cowl as that had been ripped off the moment he was knocked out. "It's too bad Zoom is going to kill him later on. If it was up to me...he'd get to live."

"Really?" Poison Ivy crossed her arms. "You would seriously let him leave?"

Datura rolled her eyes but said nothing more.

Poison Ivy dropped her arms and moved down the room until she came up beside the second bed placed only a few feet from Barry's. This one had Belén laying on it, unconscious and with the same wires on her face as Barry. Her mask had also disappeared. "And this one? Did she ever have a chance?"

"If she didn't have her powers, then maybe," Datura turned to face Belén, but as soon as she did...a deep glare settled over her face. There was only honest hatred towards Belén, whether Datura wanted to hide it or not.

"I don't think so," Poison Ivy shook her head. She passed a hand over Belén's face, thinking it would be so easy to just end her right there...but of course Datura would never want it to be that easy. "I believe that was the plan...until you met her...and saw what she had."

Datura met Poison Ivy's look and glared. "She has the powers that can save my life. That's what I need from her."

"So then let's just take them and leave," Poison Ivy knew her suggestion would be shut down but she had to make a point of saying it out loud. "Better yet, let's just take Belén and go back to our Earth. We can run all the tests we need back there, with people who will back us up, and we can do it all from the comfort of our home."

"No," Datura's voice was hard and final. "She dies here," she said with a clenched jaw. "Where her friends are, where her family is...and where her Barry is. They can all watch her die here. That is what I deserve. Watch her life crumble as mine did." Her eyes gazed over Belén's figure and, without her knowledge, one of her hands started glowing with one of her siphoned powers. "Let's make the nice dreams turn into nightmares." She moved to the machine controlling the dream worlds. "Because if I know Belén, she's getting sucked into the fantasy whether she likes it or not. And that means when it finally crashes down, it'll hurt even more. Let's make it rain with pain." She reached for one of the small knobs on the machine and happily turned it over until a new sound took it over. The faint blue glow it had turned into an angry red.

Poison Ivy noticed Datura's hand glowing again. She always did. She was always aware that her friend slowly slipping from her, and if they didn't do something soon...

Soon there would be nothing left of her friend.

~0~

"I've been thinking of some names," Belén confessed to Barry once the two were out of the restaurant.

Barry, who was holding her hand, looked down at her with the utmost curiosity. "Really? What are they?"

"You can veto them if you'd like. Like what Ross and Rachel did when they were having a girl," Belén's suggestion made Barry laugh. "I'm serious!"

"Just go ahead!"

"Fine. I was thinking about Reneé?"

"Mm, that's almost as bad as Ruth."

Belén rolled her eyes. "Alright. How about Alya?"

"Better," Barry nodded.

"Then there's Ximena. I also kind of like Valerie, Aileen, and Everly."

"You...have put a lot of thought into this," Barry concluded, making Belén laugh. "I like those..."

"Well since I'm not at the lab anymore, there's not a lot for me to do," she shrugged.

"Lab? What lab?"

Belén gave him a glance, waiting for him to take it back but of course he didn't. "My lab? My job? At Mercury Labs? My botany work!"

"... right, right," Barry quickly said in an attempt to keep things looking normal. "You're a...botanist…"

See that wasn't right either.

But he didn't have a lot of time to think about it. All of a sudden, they heard gunshots.

~0~

"When do you want to go to the furniture store?" Barry asked once they were out of the house. He was busy locking the front door of their new house.

Belén rocked on her feet while she thought about the idea. "Ummm...don't know. Whenever I guess."

"Well, I don't think we should waste time. We get married next week so we should have things semi-ready for then…" Barry trailed off when he noticed Belén looking at the bushes of their front yard. "What?"

"That would be the perfect spot to grow Azaleas," she said with a growing smile.

"Yeah? Go look at it, then. We can stop and buy some seeds."

Belén pointed at him, indicating she liked the idea. She moved to step down from the front porch when a strong force rumbled underneath her. "Wh-what's happening!?" she couldn't get her balance no matter how hard she tried. The ground shook with all its might.

"It's an earthquake!" Barry exclaimed.

~ 0 ~

No one seemed to know where the bullets were coming from at first, but the firing didn't stop.

And then people started going down.

Two across the street had blood splatter on their foreheads, on behind that caught a bullet in their chest.

"We gotta get out of here!" Barry exclaimed. His first reaction was to speed them out of there...until he realized he couldn't. "I don't have my powers," he realized in horror.

"Barry, I can't run…" Belén said fearfully as if she knew what was going to happen next.

"It's okay, we'll just go as far as you can," Barry tugged her hand forwards and made her at least sprint. He had no idea where those damn bullets were coming from except that they were nonstop.

He was about to turn them down a new block when he felt Belén's shake and scream. When he looked back, he saw a red dripping from the back of her neck. There was a bullet in the back of her head.

As quickly as the bullet came, the life slipped from her eyes. And Barry got to see it firsthand and up close.

"No! No! NO!" He screamed as he caught Belén's body from falling. Still, with his own body shaking, he dropped to his knees, with his arms cradling her body. "Belén!" he cried out but she was motionless. Her eyes were open, but still.

~ 0 ~

"Earthquakes don't happen in Central City!" Belén shrieked as she clung onto a pillar of the front porch.

"Well, they do!" Barry tried to find his footing anywhere he could.

The house was shaking and grumbling. Belén's eyes widened when she saw cracks started to run down from the pillar she was holding. Her first instinct was to let go, but in doing so she almost fell back if Barry hadn't caught her.

"We gotta get out of here!" he tried pushing them forwards, but every time he took a step the shaking forced them back 2 steps.

"How strong is this house?" Belén's gaze was rising as she saw the cracks spreading on the porch's ceiling. The cracks then became loud groans releasing bits of cement.

"Move!" Barry tried pushing her forwards again. She put all her effort into running but the shaking was too damn hard.

"AH!" she screeched when a chunk of a pillar slid off its place and fell just in front of her feet. She once again moved but with one hand fiercely holding onto Barry's. They just needed to get off the porch and onto the yard where they could wait the earthquake out.

But things went too fast.

"Belén!" Barry suddenly screamed before shoving Belén forwards with all his might. She toppled over the front steps with her own scream, but as soon as she raised her head off the ground she saw the porch ceiling crumble down over Barry.

"BARRY!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. "NO! NO!" she scrambled to her feet however she could and made way for the porch. Her vision was blurry but she saw dust and the pile of ceiling pieces over the porch. She tried to use her vines to take the pieces off, but to her horror she couldn't.

She didn't have her powers.

"No! No! C'mon!" she pulled and pulled at one piece but it was too heavy. With all her sobbing, she didn't even realize the shaking had stopped. All she knew was that Barry was trapped underneath and she couldn't save him. She dropped to her knees in front of the pillage and sobbed.

~ 0 ~

Datura had each of her hands touching Belén's and Barry's arms while she had her eyes closed. Soon as she opened her eyes, she met Poison Ivy's intent gaze from across.

"Well?" the ginger had her arms crossed.

A slight smirk spread across Datura's eyes. She was gleeful but she wanted to show some self control. She drew her hands from each of the metas' arms and sighed happily. "They're so distraught. Poor little soulmates have lost each other in such wicked ways. I only thank these powers of mine for letting me enter the mind."

"What now, then?" Poison Ivy walked towards them. "They're at their weakest, physically and mentally. Let's take Belén and go."

Before Datura could agree or disagree, a powerful blast of air threw her and Poison Ivy across the room.

"You're not taking my friend anywhere," the Tempest appeared in the air with her hands ready for a fight.

"Is this the Tempest I've read about?" Poison Ivy raised an eyebrow at the meta.

Datura groaned in annoyance. "More like a nuisance! Take care of her!"

"Fine, but we're getting the hell out of here with Belén!" Poison ivy got up on her feet and shot a vine directly at Nina.

However, a dark magenta vine ruptured the ground underneath Poison Ivy and chucked her to the side like actual trash. Datura blinked as her partner screamed before crashing down on the ground. When Datura turned back to Nina, she saw the latter was not alone anymore.

Black Orchid, donning a new magenta and black colored one-suit, stood tall and proud. Her face was covered with a long black mask.

"You have a Black Orchid in this world too?" Datura gritted her teeth together.

"It wouldn't be the best world if it didn't," Black Orchid flashed her a smirk.

"You should know I killed her too," Datura's eyes flashed a wicked magenta color not previously seen before.

And that was recorded by both the Tempest and Black Orchid. STAR Labs wanted every angle covered in order to use it against Datura later on.

"You're going down just like her," Datura's voice overlapped with that of a woman's. Purple vines wrapped around her arms as she raised them to fire strong, magenta bolts. At least, they looked like bolts.

Black Orchid's eyes widened before she jumped out of the way. As each of the magenta 'bolts' landed, they spread around.

"What is that?" Nina blinked in horror as she watched it suck the color off the ground it was spreading on.

"Chloroplast," Black Orchid swallowed hard and shot Datura a glare.

Datura just smirked. She raised her hands in an 'I've got more' motion. Black Orchid charged towards her, forgetting her fears for a moment. Datura welcomed her with a series of more chloroplast bolts that Black Orchid would just barely dodge.

"Hey Nina, get Belén and Barry," Cisco's voice instructed from their comms.

"Yeah, I'll get them," Nina nodded and turned for her friends lying unconsciously on their beds. She flew towards them only to be shot down with a vine. Her face hit the ground first, making sure to warn Nina she'd have bruises later on.

"You're not touching them," Poison Ivy was back in the game and was angrier than ever.

With a groan, Nina turned flat on her back. She drew one leg up as if she were going to sit up but instead pushed it forwards to release another blast of air. It rocked Poison Ivy back, despite her efforts to stay still, and gave Nina the chance to get up.

"Where'd they fish you out from, huh?" Datura threw her best punch across Black Orchid's face. She smirked as she watched Black Orchid rub her cheek.

Course her smugness was part of her problem.

Black Orchid swung back then shoved Datura down. "You're one confident bitch, but that's going to be your downfall."

Now it was Datura's turn to rub her chin, and when she did she felt drips of blood from her upper lip. With golden eyes she rose from the ground and delivered a series of electric bolts. "I can't be defeated, you idiot. I am literally invincible," she declared, once again with a second voice overlapping with her own.

Black Orchid might have been a tiny scared there. She retreated to hide behind a crate while Datura began firing the electric bolts. Meanwhile, the Tempest flew to avoid Poison Ivy's entangling vines.

"Nina, get Belén! And Barry!" Cisco exclaimed again.

"I am trying my best here!" the woman snapped.

"We know," Caitlin agreed, "But if you get them out of that coma, it'll be a lot easier to take Datura and Poison Ivy down."

Nina stopped flying all of a sudden and whirled around. Another vine was coming for her so she twirled in the air and forced the vine in a different direction. She then created a miniature cyclone that she released straight for Poison Ivy. The ginger hadn't been expecting that for sure.

There was a clear satisfaction in Nina's face when she heard Poison Ivy's garbled screams. She flew back towards Belén and Barry and landed between their beds. "I have no idea what to do here. Do I just pull the wires off their faces or…?"

"Yes!" went both Cisco and Caitlin.

With a shrug, Nina yanked the wires off Belén's face first. As soon as they were off her skin, Belén awoke with a sharp gasp. She sat upright on instinct with wide, blinking eyes.

"Barry!" she cried horrifically.

"You're fine!" Nina put her hands on Belén's shoulders. "Belén, listen, you're fine! It wasn't real!"

Belén breathed heavily as reality set around her. "I was - I was…" she couldn't even come up with the right words to describe the horrific events she experienced.

"You're good," Nina offered her a smile. "Datura put you in a dream world where she controlled everything."

"Barry died…" Belén swallowed hard, almost crying there and then.

"But he didn't!" Nina moved aside and showed her that Barry was safe (in what fit anyways) and lying next to them. "He's right here. He's in a dream world too."

"Barry!" Belén bolted from her bed, ignoring the fact or feet were a little wobbly, and rushed up to Barry's side. Her eyes looked over the wires attached to his face and without hesitation she ripped them right off.

Like her, Barry woke up gasping and sat upright with the same horrific face. "Belén!" he screamed but Belén grabbed his face and turned his head to her.

"I'm here! It's me!"

Barry quickly looked her over and since he saw her back in her suit and it with no blood on her, he knew this had to be the real world. "Oh my God," he pulled her into a tight hug. "You died…"

"So did you," she choked the words out. She couldn't possibly hug him tighter and yet she needed to be closer to him. "You died saving me and I - I couldn't save you. I-I didn't have my powers and I…"

"I know," Barry kissed her head. "I didn't have my powers either."

"Sounds like Datura put you through hell," Nina's voice drew them apart for a moment. "Might I suggest a little revenge?" She made a gesture to the scene in front of them.

Datura was firing at Black Orchid with silver laser beams.

Belén didn't need to be asked twice. For once, she didn't care about the logics. She only wanted pain. Her skin started turning green and scaley, quicker than it ever had before.

"Datura," She darkly muttered and marched forwards.

"This might not be the best way to fight…" Barry trailed off when he knew Belén wouldn't stop to think about it. If she had gone through something similar to what he had, there was no way in hell she would stop until Datura was down.

Black Orchid's feet we're scraping against the cement as she was being forced back with the beams being shot at her. She didn't know she was about to have backup from the person she was meant to be saving. Belén swing a vine like a lasso and smacked it against Datura's side. Before the Earth 2 metahuman could realize what hit her, Belén struck down another vine that hit Datura right on her face. Needless to say it left several deep, open wounds.

Poison Ivy had finally detangled herself from the cyclone the Tempest sent her way and caught sight of what the Azalea had done to her partner. Just as she was about to run towards them, the Flash zipped up in front of her.

"I don't think so," he shook his head at her.

Poison Ivy's lips curled into a snarl. This plan was about to blow up in their face and of course Datura wouldn't see it because of her rage. She needed to get them out of there now.

Belén had jumped on Datura and punched her consecutively. "You made me think he was dead! I couldn't save him and it was all just some game to you!?"

Datura grabbed Belén's arms and butted heads with her. When Belén hit the ground, Datura paid her with the same coin and jumped on her to punch her. "It was my own personal nightmare just for you! Because I want you to know that I am in control of your life. And that your life...it's going to shatter into pieces like mine did. Only yours will end with your death."

"Get off of her!" Black Orchid kicked Datura's in the face and sent the meta back.

Soon as Poison Ivy meant to act, Barry did too. He swung an arm to stop her but she ducked. She retaliated by sliding a leg underneath and knocking him down. From above, Nina delivered new air blasts. While Poison Ivy struggled to stay on her feet, Barry got back up and started running in a circle as fast as he could.

Poison Ivy knew exactly what that meant. "Datura, we gotta get out of here!"

"No!" her partner screamed. She was facing off Belén and Shivhan with everything she had. Red energy just narrowly missed Shivhan's arm. Electric bolts could have almost fried Belén's left leg.

Belén did her best to keep up her front. She threw her own Chloroplasts, though without the sucking-energy part since she didn't yet own that ability. One of them did catch Datura's leg and it angered her. More fiercely than ever Datura's eyes glowed an orange hue before releasing lasers. Black Orchid swooped in front of Belén and raised tendrils of magenta vines as a shield for them both.

"Datura, LET'S GO!" Poison Ivy furiously shouted. She could see the paleness in her partner's face even from where she was. Datura was over exerting herself all over again. "We need -" her scream echoed in the room when Barry's thunder bolt struck her square in the chest. Her body crashed against the wall, falling over.

Datura suspended her fight and saw where her partner had landed. "No!" The orange hue disappeared from her face. She dashed towards Poison Ivy and without glancing back at the group, Datura vanished with her altogether with an electronic zap.

~0~

Caitlin conducted thorough mental examinations for Belén and Barry the moment they got back. She wanted to be 110% sure that neither were in any harm thanks to Datura.

"It doesn't look like either of you have any residual energy from that machine you were strapped to," Caitlin was happy to report after two hours of exams.

There was a mutual relief amongst the metas as well as the rest of the group crowding their room.

"How'd this even happen to you?" Iris asked the two in question.

Belén exchanged a glance with Barry, neither seeming to sure of their timing. "I was just...I was outside, moping I guess, when I saw this hue of energy at a distance," Belén explained first. "I thought it was Datura so I followed it and it brought me downtown where sure enough she was there. I fought her until she told me she had Barry."

"So you just let her take you?" Barry frowned at her. "Belén-"

She raised her hand to stop whatever he was going to say. "I figured she'd wake me up when we were at her lair or something and then we could escape together."

"But she didn't," Veronica spat. Out of the entire group, she was the only one who looked mad.

"Mom—"

"What are you going to tell me, Belén!? Look at yourself!" Veronica made a gesture at Belén's current appearance.

She had a few bruises on her face, as well as the imprint of the electrodes that had been stuck to her face. There was a cut on her lower lip, but to be honest...Belén felt physically fine. Her mentality, however, was another story.

"You need to stop all this nonsense before you get yourself killed!"

Barry gulped when he remembered his personal nightmare.

"Are you kidding me?" Belén hopped off the bed to face her mother. "Today more than ever proved I need to stop Datura. If I don't fight her, she'll come after anyone and do anything she can to hurt them. She's a danger—"

"That is going to get you KILLED!" Veronica frantically shouted with her entire body practically shaking. For a moment, the others sympathized with her (especially Joe). "Don't you see that!? She could have killed you today, Belén! You were at her mercy! You don't always get lucky Annah-Belén!" She looked around to see if anyone would back her up, or even if Belén would give in.

But she didn't. Belén just gave a small shake of her head.

"Fine," Veronica whispered. "But I will not be here to watch you get yourself killed." She stormed out of the room and the cortex altogether, just barely avoiding Shivhan coming the opposite way.

"You know," Joe spoke up after a few seconds, "Not to side with her, but...I see what she means as a parent."

"I know," Belén sighed, but he shook his head at her.

"No, you don't. None of you do because you're not parents. It's hard watching you-" Joe pointed at Barry, "-go out there, not knowing if you'll come back. I haven't had the misfortune of losing you or Iris, so I can't imagine what Veronica must feel knowing that she lost two of her kids to this metahuman world."

"I'm not saying she's wrong," Belén folded her arms, "But it's not like I'm going to listen to her and stay away. She needs to understand it's my choice and right now, I'm choosing to fight Datura."

"Not today you're not," Cisco pointed at her and even Barry. "You two need to get some rest because those nightmares could not have been easy. Now I've already put a new tracker for your suit Bells but you can take it easy."

"What if she comes back?" Shivhan spoke up for the first time since she joined the group.

"They won't," Barry assured her. "They're back on Earth 2."

"How'd this disappear?" Shivhan then asked when she remembered the odd electronic zap she'd witnessed.

"I think it's a gadget or something..."

"A dimension-teleporter," Harry corrected. "On my world, there's a meta who can...cross dimensions. Reverb. It's well known that he and Datura are pretty...close. He must have created the device and fused his powers with it."

"Well, that's lovely. Give the siphoner the ability to cross dimensions too," Iris sourly said. "It's not like she's deceiving, intelligent, powerful..."

Belén scoffed. "Where is the fairness in that? Do you know how hard it is to fight her? It's like every time I have her, she's one step ahead of me. Whatever I throw at her, she expects it. I don't know how she does that."

"And she's very good at creating nightmares," Barry hated to admit. "She got every aspect of our world right. Like...how would she know that I worked at my lab? That Belén's favorite color is pink because it's from Azaleas. The only thing she got wrong was that Belén is not a crazy sleeper and that she works as a reporter, not a botany scientist."

"Of course," Belén agreed with a small frown. "I barely move when I sleep and I don't know the first thing about botany science."

Something in Harry's mind started working as he thought about these small details no one was probably paying attention to.

"But you're kind of right," Belén said a moment after thinking of her own world. "She got you working at your lab, the Barry from my world knew I liked planting Azaleas in our yard."

Something snapped inside Harry's brain. 'It's like every time I have her, she's one step ahead of me.' He turned away from the group, his feet moving slowly in the beginning. 'Whatever I throw at her, she expects it.' His feet picked up his pace and before he knew it, he was leaving STAR Labs.

~ 0 ~

"Thanks for coming to help," Belén stood in front of Shivhan. The cortex was empty now except for them two. Before leaving, Cisco and Caitlin had informed Belén what led Shivhan to decide to help them. Belén felt like an apology was very much due here.

Shivhan had neatly folded her new suit and left it on top of the desk. "Yeah, well, I was chipped so..."

"You weren't," Belén awkwardly smiled at her. "It was just a lie so you would help us. Sorry about that. And...I'm sorry for kidnapping you. I was a bit desperate."

"And now I know why," Shivhan sighed. "I heard the stories about this Datura. I actually read your articles about her before any of this. I thought if I kept myself hidden, she wouldn't hurt me. But then there were robberies here and there, and people getting hurt...I couldn't stay away. One month was actually my longest hiding period."

"I'm sorry," Belén shook her head. "I swear I will make her go away so you and everyone else can feel safe again."

"Yeah," Shivhan nodded, "And I'm going to help you however I can. Starting with the Green."

Belén blinked. "What?"

Shivhan smiled, borderlining a smirk. "That bitch Datura is so confident I wanna wipe that smugness right off her masked face."

A small smile spread across Belén's face. "Really? Even after I kidnapped you?"

"Bold move. Kinda like you better for it."

"Oh my God, thank you!" Belén hugged her excitedly, though the bouncing was not something Shivhan was there for. She was a bit taller than Belén so it felt like she was hugging a child.

"Yeah...okay," Shivhan detached herself from Belén. "I'm not into hugs that much. So if I'm staying...does that mean Cisco will make my new suit better?" Belén nodded. "Awesome!"

"Bells?" Barry came into the cortex, though slowly in case the two women weren't finishing talking.

"I guess I will see you tomorrow to start training," Shivhan pointed at Belén then swiped her suit off the desk, keeping it nicely tucked between her arms.

"Wait, what?" Barry's clueless expression followed her as she walked towards the corridor. "You're staying?"

"Yup! See you tomorrow, new buddies!" she winked at them then disappeared.

"Something tells me she's going to be an interesting one," Belén said after a moment's thought.

Barry smiled at her, happy to see she was finally going to get the help she wanted. "You want to go home, then?"

"Yeah..." Belén sighed and glanced back at her suit on display. "It's not like she'll be showing up anytime soon. She got quite her game today. I can't believe we fell for her trap. How did she draw you in, though?"

"She had your suit's tracker, making us think you were there at the warehouse. I went to look for you there and instead I got Poison Ivy," Barry scowled. He still couldn't believe he hadn't seen the ginger coming for him.

"...what was your world like?" Belén asked after a moment. She side-glanced him with an expression indicating he didn't have to share if he didn't want to.

But instead, Barry agreed to answer once they were safe at home in the comfort of each other. He took them to her apartment where they found a spot on the couch. There they told each other what Datura had forced them to dream of; how their perfect worlds turned into nightmares with each other's deaths.

"I didn't have powers so I couldn't save you," Barry held Belén close when he remembered the bullets and the blood from her dream's counterpart. "And then you were gone...with the baby."

Belén snuggled to his chest. "Our baby? I'm sorry she made that happen." She felt her face warm up just thinking about the fact her other self had been 'pregnant' with their child. Of course, it was the same thing when she told Barry about her world where they were just a week from being married.

"I'm sorry she made your nightmare happen," Barry kissed the top of her head. "But you know that I would save you no matter what."

"Your death wouldn't be saving me, idiot," she looked up at him. "So don't you ever get that idea in your head. We either survive together or we die together. That's it."

Her hands found his face and as she stroked soft circles on his skin, they rested foreheads with each other. Eventually, they kissed. And because of the terror they lived, there was a lot to kiss for. Neither would say it then, but their kisses had changed into something deeper. Perhaps it was because of what they'd seen and gone through, or maybe it was the fact they were aware of what the future could hold for them if they wanted it.

~ 0 ~

A breach whirled into existence on Earth 1, allowing Datura to cross over. Soon as she touched ground, she saw Harry standing across.

"First time you summon me," the metahuman folded her arms. "Can I expect Belén's body behind you?"

"I know who you are," Harry went straight for the point. He'd been thinking this over for a few hours now and he couldn't be more sure of it. It all made sense. It was actually so stupid that he hadn't seen it from the very start.

Datura had a laugh. "Of course you do."

"I do," Harry reiterated with a sharpness that silenced Datura. He started taking slow steps towards her while he explained his conclusion. "It's been staring us right in the face and we missed it. I missed it," he put a hand on his chest, exhibiting true offence with himself that he had been so clueless. "Belén's been saying it over and over. You're always one step ahead of her, one step ahead of Barry. You're evenly matched against Belén. Every punch she throws, you expect it and have one better. Even from the very start. You knew who the Azalea was. You knew who the Flash was. You knew all these details about Belén, like what her favorite color was. It wasn't because you did your research. You just knew. And how would you know them? How could you always be one step ahead of Belén?" Harry stopped right in front of Datura, looking her (for the first time since he had the misfortune of meeting her) directly in her dark, chocolate brown eyes. Despite her position, Datura's red lips were quirking into a smirk. Harry remained emotionless, yet still confident he knew what was going on. "You know everything because you are Belén."

The smirk on Datura turned into outright smugness. She brought one of her gloved hands to her mask and carefully pulled it off her face. "Took you long enough." Earth 2 Belén Palayta looked exactly the same as her Earth 1 doppelganger, only she owned a darkness no other doppelganger could match.

Author's Note:

BAM. I've been waiting to reveal that one ever since Datura was first introduced! I originally had it planned to be revealed earlier but I felt like it fit better here. So, did anyone see that coming? It's literally foreshadowed in the story cover page. Hope y'all paid attention to it!

And a lovely little fun fact here: one of the girl names dream-Belén listed is the actual name I'm giving to hers and Barry's daughter in a for their season 5 rewrite. Can you guess which one it was??

#ocappreciation #arrowverseocs #fd: the flash #the flash #barry allen #the flash imagines #barry allen imagines #barry allen fics #the flash fics #oc: Belén Palayta #oc: Belen Palayta #oc: the azalea #fic: rise up

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intoanothermind · 4 years

Text

Doppelgänger - Barry Allen

Word Count: 5.317 words

- Barry Allen x reader

Synopsis: What if you find yourself face to face with a man that resembles the one you love and your mission is to kill him?

Masterlist

Part One (but it can be read as a one shot)

It was not like I was a dangerous meta human, at least not apparently. I avoided using my powers and many times I went unnoticed by people and other metas. I tried my best not to attract attention to myself, especially when the speedster Zoom took the city of Central City and gave two options for all the metas: to join him or die. My efforts, however, were in vain when I was approached on the way home from Jitterbugs. It all happened so fast. In a moment I felt my jacket being gripped from behind; in the next second, I was pulled out of a portal in the middle of a paved area that I didn’t recognize.

“Where am I?” I asked, confused and annoyed, rising from the ground where he had thrown me.

“You have only one mission.” Zoom's figure overcame me in an intimidating way, with a monstrous voice that sent shivers down my spine. “Kill The Flash and you can go home.”

I opened my mouth to ask how I would do it, but in a matter of seconds he had opened a portal and disappeared through it again. I grunted in frustration as I looked around, seeing that there wasn’t much there. It wasn’t difficult to discover that I was in a parallel universe. There were rumors among the meta humans that Zoom was kidnapping the strongest of them and taking them to another Earth. I just didn’t think I would be one of them, especially since I rarely used my powers. Plus, just seeing the city lights not far off, it was clear that this wasn’t the Central City I knew.

There was a hangar a few yards from where I was, and when I came in to check it was empty except for a few wooden boxes. I sighed, sitting down in one of them and trying to think of something to attract that Flash. I couldn’t stay there. I had to go home. It wasn’t like I had someone waiting for me, but I had promised someone else to keep him safe.

It was time to do some research.

I spent days hiding in that hangar on the outskirts of Central City. I didn’t know how that world worked, so I did my best not to attract unnecessary attention. I spent most of my time reading the city newspaper for any information about The Flash. Apparently he was a speedster - just like Zoom - in a scarlet costume that decided to use his ability to help the city. I couldn’t deny that such a gesture made me admire him a little bit, but I also couldn’t let my moral sense overlap my desire to return home. I needed to think of something that would draw him to me instead of having to go after him. Even more that I didn’t have as amazing skills as others. After analyzing my few options, I decided that my plan should be as simple as possible. The faster I finished, the faster I would return to my Earth.

Five days after I arrived, I put the plan into action. I smashed some of the boxes out of that hangar and rearranged the wood in the shape of a huge bolt of light into the cemented floor outside. With my ability to control the senses, I ensured that no one but The Flash could see the wood burning and the smoke rising within a mile. In a period of fifteen minutes, some people and even some policemen appeared, trying to find out what happened, but they turned around when they didn’t see anything. I began to doubt whether it had been a good plan when there was no sign of the masked man.

When I saw a red blur crossing the isolated field, I realized that it had indeed worked.

“Cisco, I can’t see anyone.” The man said.

“Think again, pretty boy.” I said, my voice altered by my power, coming out of the hangar and snapping my fingers when he turned to me.

He widened his eyes behind the mask, turning his face as if searching for me. I smirked even though he wasn’t able to see it.

“Cisco, I can’t see anything” He yelled. “Literally nothing!”

“What do you mean you can’t see anything?” A voice answered through the gadget in his hear and I only could listen to it due to my sharp hearing.

“Who are you?” The Flash asked and I knew it was for me.

“I’m the one who is going to kill you to be able to come home.”

I felt my eyes light as if they were white headlights and he fell to the ground because of the lack of sensitivity I caused on his skin and his nerves.

“Cisco, I can’t feel anything” He seemed desperate. “What have you done to me?”

“I took away your sight and your sensibility. I don’t think you’ll be able to run now.” I hummed as I took a knife out of my pocket.

I approached him, trying to quell my nervousness at the imminence of having to take a life. But I needed to go home. There were people waiting for me - or at least that's what I wanted to believe. I was ready to stick the knife into Flash's chest when something caught my attention in his opaque eyes, trying to see again. Greens. They were light green with what looked like chocolate drops on it.

And I'd only seen eyes like that in one person.

I gasped when I pulled the mask back from his face.

“Bartholomew?!” I murmured, feeling my eyes watering.

“Barry?!” I heard the voice from his gadget. “Barry, what's going on?!”

He dropped to his knees in front of me and I snapped my fingers again to cancel his momentary blindness and reconstitute his sensitivity. Barth looked around, sitting hurriedly, and his eyes widened when he saw my face.

“Y-Y/N? B-but...”

I laughed bitterly seeing his skin go pale.

“Of course you would know my doppelgänger.”

“And apparently you know mine.”

I threw the knife at his feet, defeated.

“You’re right, I know him.” I shook my head with a ghost of a sour grin in my lips. “And I would never kill the man who looks like him. No matter how much I want to go back.”

No matter how much I prepared every single part of my plan, it didn’t matter how close I was to completing the mission that would take me back to my home. When I saw that Bartholomew was The Flash, I gave up on everything and surrendered, ending up in a cell with a reinforced glass door at the entrance of the S.T.A.R Labs particle accelerator of that Earth. I sat on the blue floor, just taking a deep breath and without saying a word as I saw Barth standing on the other side, still in his scarlet uniform, with four people around him - Harrison and Jesse Wells, who I knew came from my universe, and Caitlin Snow and Cisco Ramon, who were completely different from the versions of them I knew. Everyone seemed a little surprised - and suspicious, I might add - of my lack of attempt to free myself.

“I still don’t understand how you surrendered so easily.” Cisco broke the silence. “Yours powers are so incredible that you could end anyone.”

I couldn’t hold my chuckle as the others cast glares at him.

“I must say that this version of you is so much more pleasant”. I crossed my arms and realized that he shuddered at the mention of his doppelgänger. “Oh, I see that you’ve met Reverb.”

“Terrible experience, may I add.”

“Cisco is right, though.” Jesse spoke up and I looked at her. “Why did you give up so easy?”

I opened my mouth to speak, it’s not like it would make any difference after all, but I was interrupted by a familiar voice entering the tunnel.

“Barry, what is happening?” Iris West’ figure was present and all my prayers that her doppelgänger and of Barth’s didn’t know each other in this reality became in vain. “Y/N?” Her voice was surprised, but I didn’t want to see her face.

I lowered my gaze to my lap as I squeezed my arms in my hands. I felt a tear trickling down my cheek and I hoped that none of them would notice. Knowing that Iris and Barth were together on my Earth was one thing, but knowing that their doppelgängers were also together in other realities was even more excruciating.

“Nope.” His voice calmed my nerves once again as it also made me more alert. “It's her doppelgänger from Earth-2. Apparently a meta human that controls the senses.”

“You had to see, Iris,” Cisco said, sounding excited, "she left him blind and managed for him not to move, and okay, I'll shut my mouth now.”

There was a moment of excruciating silence. I could feel everyone's eyes on me, as if they were analyzing me in the smallest details. I was starting to get uncomfortable, but I avoided any eye contact. Gradually I heard murmurs between them and steps getting away one by one until I thought they would close the door and leave me there in the dark. When that didn’t happen, I created the courage to look up and saw Bartholomew sitting in front of me, watching me. We stared at what seemed like hours and I took advantage of this unique opportunity to decorate your features without fears. Just from the similarities with the Bartholomew I knew, I managed to list several differences, starting with the lack of degree glasses.

“Why did you let yourself be arrested?” he finally broke the silence. "Why did you react that way when Iris came in?"

I smiled crookedly. "I thought you would have found it by now, Bartholomew."

“Barry.”

“Barry?” I asked , frowning.

“That's what I'm called here.”

I nodded, remaining a little silent, purposely avoiding his question until he spoke again.

"We can make this deal: I tell you the story of how I met your doppelgänger and you tell me your story of how you met mine. What do you think?”

I looked into his green eyes that were still the same from the Bartholomew I knew. My heart skipped a few beats just from meeting those eyes, even though I was well aware that it was a completely different Bartholomew, and it confused me.

I cleared my throat and took a deep breath before starting to tell my story.

“I met Bartholomew when I was in my first year of high school. We became friends quickly, practically inseparable. He was all I had since I had never met my parents. I've always been in love with him and made the mistake of not saying anything before leaving town to go to college. When I returned , they were already married. I didn't want to ruin their happiness, but I needed to get that weight off my chest, so I ended up confessing. He told me he always knew that I loved him, but that he would always choose Iris, because she was the love of his life.” I let an sour laugh to saying those words out loud and tried to avoid the broken look that Barry threw me. “We had a fight and I kicked him out of my house. Not only did I lose the man I had fallen in love with, I lost my best friend that day too. I cried a lot and kinda without thinking I took medicine to cloud my senses. That was when the particle accelerator exploded. Bartholomew only came to see if I was okay, since so many people had died. I didn't give him much opportunity to say anything, I just promised I would keep him safe even if he wasn't on my side before running away. I began to live in hiding and doing my best not to attract attention with my powers, until Zoom ambushed me and dragged me here.” I took a deep breath again before adding. “And that's why I didn't have and never will have the courage to kill you. Not when you have the face of the only man I ever loved, even though I know you're not and never will be the Bartholomew I met.”

When I finally finished counting, we both remained silent. Barry fiddled with his uniform gloves, seeming to have trouble finding his own words.

“I met Y/N a few months ago, she worked as a clerk at CC Jitters, the correspondent of what you know as Jitterbugs, but it's just a coffee shop here.” He started and I payed attention to every word spoken. “We talked for a few minutes every day, and what I admired about her most was that even with a bit of heartache that she'd missed her job opportunity at Central City Picture News, she wouldn't be shaken. I was afraid to ask her out because I didn't want my Flash identity to put her in danger. It turned out that one day she had to be alone to close the cafeteria and a man came in armed. As I was worried about her, I was already around, so it didn't take long to arrive. She was blacked out after being hit in the head and I brought it here. When she woke up, she revealed that she already knew I was The Flash because of my carelessness a while ago. We were fine, happy, until...” He paused and I noticed his voice failing to continue. “She died almost three months ago. Car accident, not even the drunk driver who hit her survived.”

I swallowed my tears. I can now imagine his pain and the surprise of others seeing my face.

“I'm sorry.” I whispered, but I know he was able to hear. “After that, my story seems like just teen drama.”

He laughed, neither dry nor rude, just empty.

“Being rejected is also a pain that no one should go through. It is like losing a person, and even though you know that they are alive and healthy, you can never have them.” He said, looking straight into my eyes.

We stayed a long time like this. How much longer I don’t know. I just know I couldn't look away from those green orbs. It no longer interested me to know that he wasn’t Earth-2 Barth. This was Earth-1 Barry and he somehow appealed to me. We had more in common than we imagined before. I felt that with that exchange we had inexplicably connected us, and for just a few seconds I felt an irresistible urge to kiss him. Not Barth, but Barry. And it scared me a little.

“Barry?!”the Cisco urgent voice spread by a speaker and interrupted our silent exchange of looks. “We need you in the cortex, we have a problem.”

I got up with him and tried to get his attention before he disappeared. I don't know what was wrong with me, I just felt the need not to let it disappear from my sight.

“Barry!” I called and he turned to me. "I don't know what it is, but I want to help. I can help with whatever you need.” I did my best not to sound as desperate as I really was.

I saw your jaw locking.

“Better not.” His answer was short and the thought crossed my mind made my heart ache, which made me even more confused.

"You don't trust me, do you?" My voice was just a sad whisper.

Barry blinked a few times and looked at me with an unreadable expression.

“It's not about this. I lost a Pietra once and now that I have the opportunity, I won't afford to lose another.”

He sped out of the tunnel before I could answer. Not that I had any answers. His words took me by surprise and, I can’t deny that it brought a smile to my face. One that I didn't open in a long time.

Hours have passed since I saw him. After getting tired of just sitting, I started walking and circling in the small space of the cell where I was. Every few seconds I stared at the door, hoping it would open and Barry would come out safe and sound. I couldn't help worrying, and after the words he had uttered before leaving, I didn't think it would happen anytime soon. I used my expanded sensations and senses to find a way out - I wasn't very lucky at that. I then analyzed the words spoken by Cisco through the speaker, looking for any hint of what might have led Barry out and building possibilities of what happened after that. But Cisco had been too shallow for me to get any useful information.

When I realized I was going to go crazy with worry, I started screaming and punching the walls, hoping that it would catch the eye of anyone watching the camera recordings in my cell. When I almost thought it was useless, the gate to the cells opened and a very angry Cisco appeared.

“What you want?” He mumbled. "We're busy enough to worry about you right now."

“Barry.” I answered quickly, almost squeezing me to the cell's glass door. “How is Barry?”

The expression that crossed his face answered my question even before the words came out of his mouth.

“Badly.” He ran his hand through his hair in exasperation and frowned when he saw a tear trickling down my cheek. “The metahuman just touched him and he began to agonize, complaining of pain everywhere. We had to get him back to the lab and Caitlin still doesn't know how to help him. Neither does Harry know, even though he says he knew Stinger from Earth-2. Apparently they had discovered nothing to counteract.”

I did my best to swallow the lump in my throat as I tried to focus on the name he had said. Stinger. I met him on Earth-2 and there was really nothing discovered to counteract the physical pain that he caused just by touch. Because it was not to be discovered. Because I hid.

"Now, if you'll excuse me..." Cisco continued, oblivious to my epiphany. "My friend is about to die in agony and I'd like to go back to the lab and try to save him."

“Wait!” I exclaimed, louder than intended. “I know how to cure it. Please let me save Barry.”

Cisco analyzed my red features from crying, his own softening at the realization that I was affected by the news but still suspicious.

“Tell me how and I do.” He said.

“No, no, no.” I said quickly. “Stinger's pain is only neutralized if I momentarily take Barry's touch sensibilities, as I did in the hangar.” When he looked at me still skeptical, I begged. “Please. I swear I'll be back in the cell if I have to, just let me save him.”

Cisco touched the panel next to him and the glass doors opened. He looked a little afraid when I stepped outside, but when I stood still, if I tried to escape, he seemed to calm down and guided me to the cortex. When we got there, I saw Barry lying on a stretcher in a glass-walled room with everyone around him, including Joe West. Barry's screams were agonizing to the listener and I soon hurried over to him.

“What is she doing outside the cell?” Asked Joe, taking a weapon from its holster and pointing at me. “One more step or I'll shoot.”

"I took her off, Joe, lower it." Cisco said.

“Why would you do that?!” Asked Iris, frowning.

“She said she can save him.”

Joe lowered his gun at such words and I saw such a gesture as my cue to approach Barry. When I saw him there, yelling and shifting as if something wanted to come out of his gut, my urge to cry only increased, but I swallowed my tears. I didn't want anyone to see me so fragile, Cisco was enough. I looked at Caitlin from across the table and she flashed me a smile that said she trusted me. I held Barry's hand in mine and took a deep breath before I felt my eyes light up with white lights and he dropped to the stretcher, as he had on the paved floor beside the counter a few days ago. I waited a few suffocating seconds, just as a guarantee, and, still holding her hand, brought back his sensitivity. I bit my bottom lip waiting for some sign that it had worked. When those green eyes that I waited hours to see again flickered a few times before focusing on mine, I let out an involuntary sob as well as a huge smile.

It worked.

“Barry?” I called him, dropping one of my hands to run my fingers through his brown locks, not bothering with the sweat.

“Hey, Y/N.” He whispered hoarsely, blinking slowly and lazily. “Thanks for saving me.”

That was enough for the others to react and crowd around us. Caitlin said she needed to do some testing just for the sake of it and I felt this was my time. I looked around for Cisco.

"Cisco, will you take me back to the cell?" I asked, causing everyone to shut up and to turn to me with wide eyes.

“No way.” Barry said, trying to sit up, but several pairs of hands came forward to lay him back on the stretcher. "You don't have to go back there anymore. I'll get her out of there myself if that happens.”

I didn't think my smile could have been bigger.

"Besides," said Harrison Wells, "I think Pietra will be of great help in capturing Stinger."

"But first," said Cisco, drawing everyone's attention, "she needs a name."

Days later and a draft plan to get Stinger was ready. Cisco had been very excited by the name he had given me - Sensy - since I had none on Earth-2 because only a few people knew about my skills. I became friends with everyone at STAR, even Iris, but I had a special connection with Barry. I would like to think that because of his resemblance to the Barth I loved, but I knew I could no longer lie to myself. And the tension in the air was clear for all of Team Flash. By the time Cisco and Harry - I would still have to get used to calling him that - spotted Stinger, Barry was completely recovered from his last date.

I was ready to finally wear the costume Cisco had made for Sensy. Barry, however, seemed to have other plans.

“You stay.” He said in a firm voice to me, but I would not be standing there while he risked his life.

“No way!” I insisted immediately. “The idea is for me to go there and use my skills so he won't use his!"

“Barry, that was the best plan we could get.” warned Harry.

“You have to go soon, he's approaching the Central Bank.” Caitlin said, her eyes glued to the screen in front of her.

Barry took a deep breath and turned to me. I saw in the twinkle of his eyes that I would not win this discussion, no matter how certain I was.

“I refuse to lose you.” The voice was quiet to the point I was the only one who was able to hear it and hoarse as if he had just woken up. He exchanged his regular clothes for Flash's uniform in a matter of a second and approached me. One of his hands tangled in my hair and his forehead touched mine, allowing me to feel his breath on my lips. Perfect combination to weaken my knees and take any train of thought from my mind. “You can stay here monitoring, but I'm going out alone today. Please… ”he asked in a voice so broken that I couldn't deny it.

“Fine, I’ll stay.” He sighed, looking relieved. “But I have a plan.”

He looked at me confused as we parted a few inches and took his face in my hands.

“Don't look away from my eyes.” I warned .

It only took a few seconds, but it was enough for him to grimace in pain. When I let go of his face, he blinked a few times.

“What did you do? I don't feel anything, literally.”

“I took your touch sensitivity, just the response of the nerves.” I tried to explain as soon as possible. "It will be as if you are feeling your body numb, but not like the day we met. You'll be able to run normally, you just need a little more concentration. If Stinger touches you, you won't feel a thing.”

Barry grinned from ear to ear. “You are awesome.”

I ignored my flushed cheeks and tried to hurry him up.

“Go fast! Never tried it before, I don't know how long it will last.”

He leaned closer to me and before I could process what was happening, he sealed our lips quickly before leaving the lab like lightning. I stood in the same place like a statue, trying to figure out how it all happened and still feeling his lips touching mine. I got out of my trance when a long whistle sounded in the silence and I remembered that there were actually more people in the cortex. As I turned to the computers, I saw Cisco, Caitlin, Iris, Harry and Jesse staring at me wide-eyed until Jesse broke the uncomfortable silence.

“That was intense.”

After my makeshift plan seemed to work, everyone dispersed. Through the GPS in Flash costume, Cisco told me Barry was already back in STAR Labs and Caitlin said his vitals were normal, I ran to the entrance of their makeshift jail. I needed to see Barry. I longed for that moment and took a deep breath before finally bending into the circular tunnel entrance. Barry was already closing the gate when I entered and he quickly turned to me. He opened his mouth to say something, but I gave him no time. I snapped my fingers to dispel the lack of sensitivity and wrapped my arms around his neck to kiss his lips.

He didn't hesitate for a second, wrapping my arms around my waist and pulling me even closer, pressing me against his chest. I laced my fingers through his hair, pulling his mouth against mine more tightly and needily, angling my head to deepen the kiss. It wasn't a calm kiss like I always dreamed it would be with the Barth I met on Earth-2. But I didn’t care. Barry Earth-1's ravenous, needy, passionate kiss made me realize that all my life I was after the wrong Bartholomew Allen. When Barry reached a hand up my cheek to caress it without breaking the kiss, everything about Barth from Earth-2 seemed to disappear from my mind and all I felt, saw, breathed, and experienced was Barry kissing me.

Barry drew back a few seconds to regain the lost air, but then collided our lips again, in an even deeper, more emotional kiss than the last one. I suddenly had an idea and decided to put it into practice. I had all my keenest senses since the day of the particle accelerator explosion, but I always tried to numb them back to their natural state. But not today, not now. I let them blossom again and concentrated on the taste of Barry's lips against mine, the smell of his cologne mixed with the sweat of fighting a human goal, the feel of his hands on my body and I felt it all go out, multiplying to an indescribable level. I passed this on to Barry through my lips and my own hands and the kiss became something even more amazing and magical.

“Wow.” We said at the same time as we parted.

"Your ability is definitely much better than mine." He whispered against my lips.

I let out a laugh, kissing his lips quickly once more.

" Y/N , I..." He began and I decided to remain silent, anxious and fearful for the next words he would speak. “I know I'm not the Barth you lo-loved and you definitely are not the Pietra I loved, but... I-if you are willing, I want to try so-something between us. I can't deny that I'm attracted to you... And not only because you're identical to her, that's not it at all... You're just amazing, and not just because of the thrill of the sensations, but the whole set is perfect and...”

“Yes, Barry.” I interrupted him, looking at him affectionately, just as he looked at me. “I want this. I want it to be us.”

He grinned, but he weakened slightly. “But you have people on Earth-2 who...”

“I don’t have.” I interrupted him again. "I told you I'm an orphan, and it's not like I'm on the best of terms with my best friend or someday we will be. So yes, Barry, I'm willing to stay here.”

Barry flashed a smile that until the moment I hadn't seen on him, only on Barth when he looked at Iris and it caused my heartbeat to fail. Not with the thought of Barth, but knowing that Barry was looking at me that way and that he was sincere.

“That’s his loss.” Barry whispered against my lips before crossing space again and kissing me like I've never been kissed in my life.

I melted into his arms, not caring if Team Flash was watching everything on camera, not caring that Flash was needed right now somewhere in town, not caring that I wasn't the Pietra Montgomery he loved months ago and lost her in a car accident, not caring that he wasn't the Bartholomew Allen I had known for many years and married Iris.

I didn't care about any of that.

Because, after all, even though Iris West from Earth-2 had Barth Allen from Earth-2, I had Barry Allen from Earth-1.

And I couldn't ask for anything else.

#the flash #flash #barry #allen #barry allen #barry allen imagine #barry allen x reader #central city #journalist #imagine #one shot #barry allen one shot #reader insert #flash reader insert

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next-time-on-the-reverse · 4 years

Text

Eobard Thawne - Easy

A/N: Hey, it’s been a while. and this is not great but I’m ready to come back. I’m ready to step back into my shoes and slink into my comfortable seat. So enjoy, please and bare with me whilst I get used to things again.

It would’ve been so easy; so incredibly facile to climb the steps and knock on the door. He’d imagined doing it so many times. The scene had been set in his mind as he’d panic. He would stand there, his fist ready to pound against the wood, and question his generous use of Harrison Wells’ aftershave. Thawne would question whether he should’ve purchased a bouquet of flowers or some cheap chocolate she wouldn’t even eat.

Thawne shook his head; for the fifth time in half an hour he shook his head. It was facetious. Just showing up with a well placed smirk and the same bewildered endearment etched across his features. How long had been?...for her. At what point had she given up on the notion of his coming back. Of him pretending like he wasn’t the villain they’d held him to be.

Their last meeting had been spent in abject horror. She’d staggered backwards as she discovered the truth, her mind was slow at first – he’d seen it in the way she gripped at her hair. Her eyes flicking between the two sides. Eobard hated the fear that had enraptured her. He hated the way that she would move further from his reach at every pleading step he made.

“Why?” He had called at the time, he’d shouted it until his throat had become sore and he could no longer muster the ability to speak through the anger. His neck had snapped to the young speedster, his holier than thou red get up. He despised it; even in a man so young.

This wasn’t a crusade, this had nothing to do with Barry Allen and his family. It had nothing to do with STAR Labs or the particle accelerator. This had been Eobard’s meagre attempt to have something more than his rage in his life. He had clung to this hope – to her, like a scared child in a storm. He would’ve given up his life to protect her.

Eobard ran his hand down his face, he felt the skin tugging beneath his fingertips. When he’d caught the stubble collecting on his chin he took note of how little he had done to keep himself presentable. He’d spent every waking moment stood on the pavement in the shadows. He’d failed on multiple occasions to muster up the courage to simply knock. He just wanted to explain.

His attention had been corralled by the approaching figure, on the opposite side of the street. Eobard’s head lifted, his eyes never moving from the man. The fire that burned through his veins, continued to ravage his system as he watched the man succeed where he had failed. He’d knocked.

When the door had opened and she stood with a soft adoring smile. His heart had frozen, the static electricity had built around him and he struggled to remain still at the interaction continued. Thawne watched as he touched her shoulder, as he pulled her closer to him.

The rage. The chilling rage that had spurred his limbs into action and his throat to grow hoarse as he sprinted through the streets. He’d got a good distance from the city before he had collapsed to his knees and released his screams. He’d promised her – though she had never heard it – to never harm her. Be it mentally or physically. He had promised her that.

#eobard thawne x reader #the reverse flash x reader #the flash imagine #eobard thawne imagine #the reverse flash imagines

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scentedsongrebel · 4 years

Text

CHASE (1)

Pairings: Thief! Bucky Barnes * Thief! Reader (female)

Summary:“Mr. ‘B’ world renounced thief, they call him an artist you see.” He laughs, one devoid of humor and pushes his hair off his forehead as he brings his hand in front of his face, all his fingers touch his thumb to make the ‘fox’ shape from them.

“The beauty with which he crafts his muse. Every robbery a new piece of art. Every stroke careful and planned. Every scheme drawn with precision. He takes pride in his master pieces”.

He shakes his head, his lips setting in a firm line.“For me, well he is just a pity thief. And who better to know a thief than one herself”

Word Count: 3197

Warnings: Robbery, mentions of robbery, Violence, Gun shooting, some cursing…. maybe?

Chapter 1

Dressed in formal this time, he moves through the airport crowd smoothly, without garnering any attention.

He runs his hand through his dark hair, cut short this time to blend in. He also has a little stubble going on which he thinks makes him look years older as he catches a glimpse in one of the design mirrors on the airport walls.

His flight isn’t scheduled for another 3 hours but he likes to be early, prepared and out of the main city as soon as possible.

He hears a young boy arguing over at the check-in counter for a possibility to get a flight before 7 am to which the lady shakes her head telling him the earliest they have available is for 10 am.

The boy runs his hands through his hair roughly as he pulls at the roots moving out of the line.

James (today Robert) moves forward and hands over his ticket and id card getting himself a pass.

He moves to sit on one of the chairs as he waits for the time of his flight that leaves at 4 am. Its 1:00 right now.

As he gets comfortable to read with smugness the article about his achievement and yet another failure of the police, his eyes drift to the news going on on the television.

“Mr. ‘B’ informs CNN of his next target” it reads and James’ eyebrow raises in amusement.

“Just right now” the lady on the news channel says as she sits on the desk at her office “We got a call from the famous thief Mr. ‘B’ informing our news channel of his next target right here in the city-

James folds his newspaper as a smile graces his lips. This is interesting. And while he knows this is a bad idea, he stills looks around.

He always did love a challenge.

—————————

The young boy is suddenly informed of a last minute cancellation and availability on the 4 am flight.

He won’t miss The tennis match.

God bless whoever cancelled last minute.

_——————

Darkness and excess of security. A swap here and running behind the pillar before a guard can turn around, you navigate yourself through the museum before making way towards your target through the AC vents that have been closed for a while but you have your ways. The tiny particles of dust dance around as you navigate through the narrow tunnels.You would have been a sneezing mess if it weren’t for your face mask.

As you wipe the bead of sweat flowing down your chin under your black face mask, you smile at the ease with which you secured your target.

You jump down almost from the top of the room skillfully and look towards the target you were here for.

She’s beautiful. They say she belonged to Cleopetra herself. Gifted to her by one of her lovers. They say her beauty is nothing compared to her owner and suddenly you understand the egyptian men’s attraction for her.

The green diamond shines in the dimly lit room emanating a beautiful glow. For a minute you stay in your position just admiring the beauty before yourself.

The moment last only a short while before you realize your mission and rush you get your hands on the diamond.

“You don’t want to do that”

You quickly whip your head to the source of the voice and look straight at him. Clad in full black shealth suit and a face mask different from yours. While your covers your entire face only leaving a long patch for the eyes, his is more revealing like an eye mask people wear at those fancy parties. His head in covered in a black hat matching both your suits.

He seems to be eating a sandwich. Which he quickly finishes and wipes his mouth with a tissue paper

He stands up pocketing the napkin

“Motion detectors” he points towards the necklace. He then produces a pair of sunglasses “Wanna see?” He asks as he places the sunglasses on your nose so you can see through it

Just as he said red laser lines run parallel to each other around the necklace

“Infra red rays” he takes his sunglasses back “the moment you go to touch the necklace, an alarm would be set off and” he points towards the several gates lining the walls “Atleast three guards from each door would come rushing”

You look at him raising your eyebrows but realize he probably won’t be able to see them because of your mask but he somehow knows you figure going by his smile

“I’m a professional” he stretches his arms “I know how these security dudes think”

You look at him trying to gauge your next move but he is quicker

“You wanna steel it” he shrugs “it’s yours to steel”

You raise your eyebrow again

“Nah this thing is not even on my list” he starts to move closer to you and produces something from the pocket of his skin tight black vest

You quickly take up a defencive stance preparing to reach out for your knife but then he raises his arms in front of you and you realize it’s just a chocolate. He tears the wrapper from his gloved hands and takes a bite

“Oh no need for weapons dude” he says as he takes another bite “I’m just hungry” he brings it towards you “protein bar?”

You shake your head and look back towards the thing trying to decipher your next move. He continues eating

“When you’re done with the analysis just thought I’d tell you, the moment you touch the object, 12 mili-ampere current beams would shoot throught those holes in the walk” he points all around the room “one hit and BOOM paralysis” your eyes widened and he smiles at you taking another bite of his protein bar “temporary hopefully”

You look at the thing again not out of options. This was more difficult than you anticipated. Time to think of something new

He smiles as he observes you going through an internal debate

“Confused” he mocks and you glare at him “you should be, its really a difficult position, I can help”

You look at him with furrowed brows

“Well honey” he mocks “This seems to be a highly one sided conversation. How am I supposed to work this if you won’t talk to me”

You only glare and he finishes the last of his protein bar pocketing the wrapper and zipping his pocket close

He adjusts his mask that only covers his eyes and rubs his hands

“Okay so here’s how this goes” he seems serious suddenly “You tell me why you used my name, I help steel this and its mine cause you used my name and its kinda the main rule of this profession 'you steel it in my name its mine”

He tilts his head and gives you a dark smile that screams trouble and you feel your heart increase its speed

“You may wanna start talking”

You look around amd your eyes suddenly lock on the cctv camera on the top of the room

“Hacked” he says and you turn to look at him “all they can see is this sword undisturbed and right here without us in the frame, we have approximately” he looks at his wrist watch “ 15 mins before they figure it out, so you better get talking”

You look around trying to find a way to catch him off guard but he is faster as he pins you to one of the walls

“Why did you use my name”

His face is really close to yours and you feel your heart rate increase trying to look around but he forces your face to look at him right in the ocean blue eyes

“I-I ” you try to say and he smiles again. You suddenly hate the curve of his lips.

“You?” He mocks and there is a sudden jolt of anger in you at him

You kick him in the shin and catch him off guard moving away from him. He tries to get back at you removing his gun from his thigh holster but you stop him

“Stop threatning and I will talk” he smirks and signals you to continue. You run your hand over your face and continue “I just knew you would be hot and right now, I feel you are hoter than I thought”

He makes a face and you’re sure his eyebrows are raised under that mask

“I mean dude” you move your hands around suddenly excited “You are like the Merly Streep of our world, I mean like totally top, top of the charts”

He smirks at that

“I have always looked up to you” you smile but you’re sure he can’t see it through your mask “I kinda really wanted to meet you and I have a preposition for you and you can’t say no to”

His smirks widens and he crosses his arms “Go on”

“You see like Sherlock needs Dr. Watson, like Cory Mattews and Shawn Hunter, like Chandler Bing and Joey Tribianni, like - like” you click your fingers as you try to come up with more “like like Tom and Jerry everyone needs a partner in crime. You know a little help indeed and well” You motion towards him from both your hands then at yourself “What about a literal partner in actual crime”

He actually lets out a laugh at that and shakes his head

“No thanks”

“What no dude listen” you move towards him “you need me, you maybe famous world-wide but me” you smile “The best of the best locally. Brooklyn has never seen a talent like me”

“I’m just fine by myself” he shakes his head and then moves towards you and bends down so you two are nose to nose “A theif is brilliant only by himself, no threats of betrayal”

Your heart suddenly starts accelerating its speed and you are not sure if it is because of his words or his closeness

“I-I” he turns around and looks at the item

“5 mins left Brooklyn’s best theif” he smirks “Maybe you can show me how good a partner you can make”

You smile at his words and move your hand in through the holes for your eyes in your mask and reach your hand to your hair to pull out a hair pin

“Duck” you scream quickly and he is fast to follow as you both get down on your knees and you throw the hair pin towards the artifact. Several alarms start blazing and just as he said 3 guards each enter running towards the room with huge guns

They corner you both from all sides and you make eye-contact with your fellow theif before you smirk and you are pretty sure he knows you are beneath the mask as you ignore the warnings of the guards to stay on your knees and hands behind your back as you reach for the artefact, clicking the button on your belt that pulls you up towards the vents through the ropes you hand installed and you barely get a glimpse of the guards falling down as the laser beams shoot out and hit them.

You don’t see what happened with the other before you make your way through a different path in the vents you came from and get down towards the back of the museum quickly. Just as you pocket the diamond you hear footsteps running towards you from your right and make eyecontact with a red-head woman not in her uniform but clearly a police inspector

She produces her gun and speaks in her ear-pieve “Steve I have him in the C corridor” She slowly moves towards you with the gun raised “Hands up”

You move your hands up in surrender before there is a gun shot from behind you that hits the red-head right in her hands and she drops the gun screaming in pain.

Before you know it, you body is pushed against thick arms and engulfed and being pulled thorugh the corridors. More officers run down the halls and try to shoot at the teo of you but he is faster and is anticipating each and every move and none even get a glimpse of you both.

Suddenly you are dropped in a corner and and you hear footsteps run away from you. Did he just leave you to run away? What the hell. You feel your pockets and the diamond is gone. Great.

Just as more officers almost reach you, you stand up and decide if you should run before someone has a gun pointed at your back.

“Got him” this guy says to those in front of you through the dark and moves your hand behinx your back and handcuffing “Though he had another one with him, shot officer romanoff, you might wanna catch that one I think he has the diamond”

“You got this?” One if the officer asks him

“Ya” he says “this one seems the weaker one” there is a playfullness in his voice and you immediately recognize that voice and your eyes widen. He moves his head toward your ear and whispers “Be quiet”

The other guys leave to chase 'your partner’ and he guides you through an exit you hand no idea even existed and before you know it you are out of there and quickly pushed in the passenger seat of a car, hands still in hand-cuffs.

Just as he starts the car you get a good look at the guy and your eyes widen as you get a look at the guy in his police uniform and thick mustach. He smiles at you and moves through the traffic. Leaving behind the sirens and commotion around the museum.

“The robbery was brilliant” he says as you hit the highway after a while “perfect in all sense except the running away part, need'ta work on that, you know most important part of being a theif, execution is important and all but if you get caught,everything is in vain.”

“O-okay?” You say now actually really scared and trying to decipher where he was taking you

“Well I’m known for my running away skills and as my partner, you will be too soon”

He genuinely smiles at you and you smile back trying really hard to mask the fear you actually feel in the moment and try to appear excited.

“Also Tom and Jerry were kinda enemies rather than partners in crime”

A small short lived laugh escapes your lips.

————–

“I really thought you betrayed me” The blonde says as he stands besides you at the concert, the music blazing through the speakers

“And go where” you glare at him “not many places left where I could go and your men are not around”

“Kinda need to do that” he shrugs “can never fully trust you not to run away”

“Great makes me feel so special” you say and wince as the rapper takes some verse and the girl besides you loses it, screaming her love for him

“Did we really have to meet here” you ask covering your ears as he continues looking forward and shakes his head

“Crowded places reduce the risk of him seeing you with me and getting suspious”

You nod

“So what is his plan” officer Rogers then asks folding his arms on his chest

“Plans?” You shrug “I don’t know. It has been just 2 days since we met you really think he will tell me every one of his plans?”

He sighs and shakes his head

“And it is all your fault” you hiss through the noice “You were supposed to catch him there I did everything.” You move your hands around exasperated “distracted him with the partner proposal, took the diamond and ran the way you told me to and was even surrendering to your officer”

He glares back “you got her shot, Agent Romanoff is one of my best officers and now she has to go through all these physiotherapies before she can even hold a gun”

“I got her shot??” you look at him disbelievingly “he shot her and took me”

He just shakes his head and you sigh

“Listen he is coming here today so just catch him and let me off this”

“Ya right arrest him for making friends with you cause that is a real crime” he shakes his head “Listen to me carefully Y/N you cannot catch a theif without proof and theifs like him, leave no proof, unless we actually catch him during the robbery we have nothing against him”

You shake your head “What am I supposed to do now after you failed so miraculously”

“Be his partner” your eyes widen “report his every move, his plans, everything back and help us catch him”

“No- I-I can’t do that” you yell through the youngsters singing the rap with the rapper

“Yes you can and you will” he says sternly “Listen I know its hard but now you are deep in it and you are my best chance, also you have to do this if you really want to avoid the atleast 10 year prison sentence which would come if I by mistake provide the jury with your file. Just saying”

His threat almost causes tears to form in your eyes but you hold it in as you cross your arms

“What will he do to me if he finds out” you whisper and even through the noice he hears you

“He will kill you” BOOM the loud screeches of the drum signalling the end of the song accompany his words and you nod trying to hold back the tears.

“Stay in contact” he says and then he’s gone. You don’t even try to see where he went, instead trying to calm your racing heart

It is another song that has kids in front of you going crazy as the singer- you don’t even remember the name- of removes his shirt and throws it to the audience”

A body pushes against yours and this hippy guy with shoulder length hair in just a halve sleeved jacket shimmering in some design opened up to reveal his shirt-less torse (which btw is swoon worthy), his arms bathed in different bracelets and rings smiles at you through his teeth to reveal his lip piercing.

You frown and turn back to look at the stage before he tries to gather your attention again

“Hey its me” your eyes widen and you look at him again and he smiles. You can recognize that voice anywhere

“You changed your look again” you scream as you look around

“Kinda my thing” he shrugs and then offers you the plastic glass in his hand

“No thanks” you shake your head

“Take it” he forces the glass in your hands and you look inside to find no drink in it instead a paper of some sort “Ticket, for the plane and the passport is beneath it, don’t be late”

And with that he is gone just as the singer bids his goodbye.

—————————-

#bucky barnes fanfiction #bucky barnes imagine #bucky barnes fluff #bucky barnes angst #bucky barns x reader #bucky fluff #bucky imagine

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bloodyfeverdreams · 5 years

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Whumptober Prompt #20- Trembling

Okay I gotta admit, I lost my way about halfway through this. Maybe a quarter into it. I thought I had a good idea and then it spiraled and it is no longer a good idea. Especially the ending. So I’m posting it because it’s done but it’s not good. Know that going into it, it’s Coldflash trash. By the way, I haven’t proofread this. Like at all.

...

Len never minded the rain, in its proper place and time. Len always enjoyed the days when he could curl up under a blanket, make himself some hot coco, and find a nice documentary on Netflix. But sudden storms? Sudden storms, such as the one from the night the Particle Accelerator exploded, changing the very fabric of his city? Storms that flew in on clouds that had no business going that fast, bringing a humidity he couldn’t stand, mystifying the weather reports so no one knew to bring an umbrella, suddenly going from dry as a bone to soaking wet in a matter of seconds? Those he hated with a burning passion.

Len all but threw himself into Jitters, he didn’t really do coffee shops where people he didn’t trust handled his food, but it was open and he could sit for a while without having to do much. Plus, Jitters did have some famously good hot chocolate and in this weather, he was willing to hover like a hawk while they made his drink. Anything to warm himself up. The line was longer than he expected for three in the afternoon, but he didn’t care. Jitters was warm, and it felt good against his damp, shivering skin.

The barista was a young woman, with a name tag that read Iris, who took his order for the biggest hot chocolate they could make with a smile. He thanked her, paid, and picked a spot right where he could see everything the baristas were doing. An unfamiliar heaviness pulled at his eyelids, but he fought it, unable to trust that no one recognized the new villain Captain Cold and could potentially hurt him. Thankfully, there were no issues with his drink when they called out the false name he’d given the barista. After that, he tucked himself away in a quiet nook in the back, where he wouldn’t be disturbed.

“Are you alright?” A familiar but nameless voice asked, sending a chill down his spine.

Len looked up and saw an attractive young man, tall, lanky, with green eyes, and a concerned smile on his face.

“You’re just, ah- you’re dripping wet.” The man continued when Len didn’t answer him. “I thought you might want a jacket.”

He held out a jacket that clearly belonged to himself, one that wouldn’t fit around Len’s shoulders if he tried. It was a sweet gesture though, and he could appreciate the thought.

“Thanks, kid, but I don’t think that’ll fit me.” Len replied. “Maybe my sister.”

The kid laughed, blood rushing to his cheeks. “I’m know I look skinny. Got struck by lightning, can’t gain weight on me to save my life now.”

That piqued his interest. The kid had muttered it lowly, as if chastising himself. “Struck by lightning?”

The kid nodded. “The night of the Particle Accelerator. I ended up in a coma for nine months. And now I’m like a whole size down.”

“Shit, kid.” Len said, now noticing the skinniness did seem a little unnatural. The kid seemed almost gaunt, with pale cheeks and deep bags under his eyes. Being in a coma must’ve completely changed his body type. A bit of pity entered Len’s heart. “I’m sorry. I can try on the jacket, couldn’t hurt.”

He wasn’t sure why he was trying on a jacket that wouldn’t fit him. But the kid perked up immediately, and Len decided this was no mortal, it was an adorable puppy in a human suit, and well, he had always liked dogs.

So he peeled off the jacket he’d have to wring out when he did get home and took the offered clothing. Surprisingly enough, the jacket wasn’t too tight. It fit around his shoulders, but he couldn’t zip it up, though it came close. How much weight had this kid lost during this coma?

“Thanks.” Len nodded. “Have a seat.”

The kid smiled, and joined him at the table.

“You got a name to go with the outfit?” Len asked.

“Oh, I’m an idiot, I’m Barry.” Barry said, blushing again. “Barry Allen.”

“Len Winters.” Len offered his hand and Barry eagerly shook it.

“Good to meet you, Mr. Winters.” Barry said, laughing lightly, completely oblivious to Len’s actual name.

“Just Len. No need for formalities when I’m literally in your clothes.”

Barry outright laughed at that. Len allowed himself to join for a moment.

“So what brings you over here?” Barry asked. “I know like all the regulars around this time, and I’ve never seen you here before.”

“Oh, you work here?” Len asked.

“My sister does.” Barry explained. “Iris, she works here to help pay for her journalism degree. My job has unusual hours, so I hang out here on my break and just chat with her. I’ve gotten to know all the regulars here, it’s really nice.”

Len smiled, of course this kid would make it a point to get to know everyone at a workplace he didn’t work at. Seemed very in character for what little he knew of the kid.

“And your job with unusual hours?” Len asked, entertaining himself with this kid.

“Oh, I’m a CSI with the CCPD.” Barry replied cheerfully.

Man, Len had the shittiest luck. Of all people who could’ve offered him a jacket, who he would’ve allowed to sit with him, it had to be a literal cop.

Len’s years of practice kept his face neutral. Though he had to find an extraction quickly, lest this kid begin to realize who he’s just shared his jacket with.

“What’s that like?” Len asked, before coughing away from the kid. The cough was real, but he timed it so he could easily claim he wasn’t feeling well so he could get home.

“It’s really fun, using science to solve crimes.” Barry frowned at him. “I mean, it’s kinda just like being on TV except we don’t cut the corners or work the magic they do. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” He denied on instinct, unused to the kid’s freely shown concern. This kid was putting a lot of effort into a stranger. “Probably just the weather.”

Barry pursed his lips but went along with it. “What do you do?”

“I freelance.” Len replied with his usual answer to anyone new. “Odd jobs here and there, but they pay well.”

“That’s really cool.” Barry smiled, a smile Len found entirely too infectious. “What was your last one?”

“Uh, I worked with the train system.” Len said, the lie slipping off his tongue easily. “I made them more prepared for another attack should some villain attack again.”

Technically, that was true.

Barry’s eyes lit up. “That’s so cool. Do you do security or tech?”

“Bit of both.” Len replied. “Like I said, odd jobs.”

“Wow.” Barry said. “What do you think of the new safe that Mercury labs just designed? Because I was looking at the schematics they released for public production and I thought that it was impenetrable but I’m sure you know more than I do.”

The kid had seemed so relieved to ask, like he’d finally found someone who understood what his life was like, understood his passions, and he hated to break the kids heart but a known thief talking about safes was not a good idea. Not when his parka and gun were still plastered all over the news.

He forced a cough a little more, which set off a reaction and his lungs actually tried to escape his chest.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Barry asked, his voice laced with such unease and worry. “You’re trembling.”

“I said I’m fine, kid.” Len said, ignoring the tremors in his hands. “Let me give you your jacket back. Think I’m gonna head home.”

Barry opened his mouth to protest but Len simply took off the now damp jacket, though it sent a shiver down his spine. He didn’t realize it had been so cold in here.

“Thanks for the jacket.” Len made to stand up but his legs didn’t work as well as they should’ve and he stumbled.

Barry gently pushed him back into his seat. “I’m really sorry, but you seem really sick.”

Barry put a hand on his forehead, and Len flinched at Barry’s cold hands.

“You seem warm.” Barry muttered. “Did you drive here?”

Len shook his head, cursing his own weakness. “Took the subway.” He was a goddamn supervillain, the number one nemesis of the Flash, and he couldn’t even go out into the rain without getting sick.

“Look, I know you don’t really know me and I don’t really know you but can I offer you a ride home? I can steal my sister’s car.” Barry offered.

“You don’t drive?” Len found himself asking.

“Nah.” Barry said. “I like to run. Can’t afford a car anyways.”

He knew he shouldn’t get in a car with strangers, knew he definitely shouldn’t get into a CSI’s car, even if it was his sisters, but he was feeling worse by the minute so he decided to screw logic and accept the generosity of the strange young man before him.

“Well, I suppose I have always depended on the kindness of strangers. Lead the way.”

Barry smiled, relieved. “Wait here, I’ll get Iris’s keys.”

Len watched as Barry walked over to his sister, the lovely barista who had taken his order, and he pointed back at him. The woman frowned. If Len had the strength, he would’ve run right then and there. The kid had to have recognized him, or maybe something had been left at the train station- no, he was careful, he never left evidence, was the cold gun traceable?

“Whoa, you okay?” Barry asked, returning with keys in hand. “You look like you’re about to be sick.”

“‘M fine.” Len muttered, squashing the nausea that had been building in his stomach. He couldn’t outrun any cop like this, no matter the adrenaline in his system. His legs felt weak, his chest hurt, and fatigue pulled at his eyes. Mick would have to break him out and he hated when Mick had to do that. It always left such a mess.

“Okay, well, her car is parked back in the employee lot.” Barry explained. “Come on. Let’s get you home.”

Barry offered his hand and Len took it. May as well not tell the kid he knew the kid was onto him.

“So Len, where do you live?” Barry asked, gently wrapping Len’s arm around his shoulder. The kid had some strong muscles underneath the pale skin, so he wondered if even the coma story was true.

“On Grand.” He answered. Grand was one of the main streets he used to get home so it was a safe enough answer.

“North Grand or South?” Barry asked.

“South.”

Barry nodded. “Got it. So I’m taking the seventeen to exit on what, Tower Street?”

“The seventeen just past Tower.” Len replied, answering honestly so he had less of a walk to lose the cop. “On Crimson.”

Barry nodded and they arrived at a beater car.

“This is her car?” Len asked, before his mind could tell his mouth to shut up. “It’s older than you.”

Barry laughed. “Yeah, this is Gloria. She’s a 2002 but she’s still going strong.”

Len nodded as he got into the car. Inside was kept in good condition so this Iris did try to take care of what she had.

“Gloria was the cheapest car her dad would let her buy.” Barry said, still going on. “Joe is really protective, her mom died in a car accident.”

“Joe?” Len asked. “You call your father by his first name?”

“Joe isn’t my real dad.” Barry blushed. “Well he is. Actually, Joe adopted me after something happened to my dad. My dad is Henry Allen, but Joe took me in when I was eleven.”

Henry Allen, that name rang a bell. A bell in Iron Heights, a doctor he’d often seen in solitary to protect him from the gangs and families.

“That was nice of him.” Len responded simply.

“Yeah, Joe’s a really good guy.” Barry said, getting onto the freeway. “He treats me like his own so Iris is my sister and Joe is kinda my dad but I call my dad Dad so it gets a little confusing.”

“Makes sense.” Len answered, his nose stuffing up. He wasn’t sure if he’d already been sick before the rain or something in his hot coco was making him sicker. This cold was coming on almost unnaturally fast.

For someone without a car, Barry drove pretty well, easily managing talking and driving. The constant chatter was keeping Len awake so he was grateful for it. He hated to give up his safehouse off grand but what was necessary was necessary.

“What about you?” Len realized that Barry had now focused his attention back to him. “Do you have any siblings?”

“A brother.” Len lied. He and Mick could be called brothers in a decent light, had passed for family numerous times. It had always worked. “Older. Dominic.”

“Is he an asshole?” Barry asked, chuckling. “I’ve heard that older brothers are always assholes.”

“He can be.” Len allowed himself to answer honestly. Dominic Winters didn’t exist so it didn’t matter how Mick was described. “Sometimes he’s the biggest dumbass in the world, making too many decisions out of spite instead of thinking things through, but he always gets my ass out of trouble so I can’t hate him too much.”

Barry smiled, getting into the correct lane for their exit. “I know what that’s like. Iris fights Joe on a lot of the overly controlling stuff and I get dragged in more often than not but they’re my family. I wouldn’t trade them for the world.”

“What about your mother?” Len asked, trying to get the conversation off himself. “You haven’t mentioned her.”

Barry’s eyes went solemn, his body slumping slightly. “She’s dead.”

“I’m sorry, kid.” And he was. He knew what it felt like to lose your mother at a young age.

“It’s okay.” Barry replied, making his way to Grand. “She died when I was eleven, it’s been a while.”

Ah, that was why he remembered Allen’s name. The doctor that murdered his wife but now suddenly couldn’t harm a fly. Copying a fifty year old movie would not get him out of prison, no matter how “original” Allen thought the move.

“Still, I know what it’s like to lose your parents.” Len said, casually omitting that his father was still alive. Though, if he had his druthers, it wouldn’t be for long.

“You do?” Barry asked, sounding relieved and guilty and sad all at the same time. “I’m sorry for your loss.”

“Likewise.” Len said, seeing the shortcut to his apartment pass by. “This next one is me.”

“Cool.” Barry pulled into a gated driveway. “Will it open?”

“I’ve got my keys.” Len said. “Thanks for the ride.”

“Of course.” Barry said.

As Len was getting out, Barry shouted, “Wait!”

Len froze, ready to run at any moment.

“Can I… can I give you my number?” Barry asked, blushing wildly.

Len stared at him. That had not been the direction he’d been expecting.

“Okay I gotta be honest, I didn’t exactly just come over out of the goodness of my heart.” Barry admitted. “I was checking you out and Iris made your drink and she said if I didn’t go over and talk to you, she was writing my number on your cup.”

Len gaped at him. “That… was a surprise.”

“Oh my god, I told her you weren’t into men!” Barry groaned, hitting his head on the steering wheel. “I’m so sorry, just forget I asked, I can’t believe myself-”

“I didn’t say I was straight, I’m just married.” Len said, hating to break the kids heart but he wasn’t going to date some CSI. He knew the rules better than that. “I’m flattered though. My husband would adore you.”

That was true. If he and Mick were married for more than legal reasons of spousal privilege, and Barry weren’t a CSI, Mick would’ve loved to bring Barry into the mix. Young, naive, puppy dog eyes, that was Mick’s entire type.

Barry sighed. “I’m still sorry.”

“Don’t be, kid.” Len said. “Word of advice from an old man. Always shoot your shot. You never know who’s gonna say yes. I thought my husband was straight for the longest time.”

Barry managed a small chuckle.

“Thanks for the ride, Barry Allen.” Len said, finally getting out of the car for real this time. “Maybe we’ll see each other again soon. Next time, hopefully my sinuses won’t be trying to kill me.”

“Goodbye Len Winters.” Barry said as Len closed the door.

Len headed to the gated community, easily and discreetly picking the lock. He knew this community, there were two entrances. He could easily fool the CSI into thinking this was his apartment. As he walked home, still shivering, still coughing every little while, he thought of the cute CSI and what his life could have been like if his name had actually been Len Winters.

#whumptober2019 #no.20 #no. 20 #trembling #this sucks #coldflash #Leonard Snart #Barry Allen #different first meeting #sort of #out of costume anyway #seriously guys this sucks #I don't know what I was thinking #work has been killing me #so my mind broke #meant to post this yesterday but work got in the way

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stillthewordgirl · 4 years

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LOT/CC fic: Holiday Jitters

It's Sara's first day at CC Jitters. And there's this annoying--if hot--guy who won't put down his phone...

I know. I have a lot to be writing on. But I've had a hellacious week that gave me no time for personal writing projects at all, and once I did have few minutes, I couldn't kick my muse into gear on existing things.

I had to get out of my own head on it--so I tried to think of a popular fluff-trope I'd never written.

And here you go. My first coffeeshop AU. Sort of. I tried to keep it short (for me), but I'm already considering continuing it if anyone's interested.

Many thanks to Pir8grl. Can also be read here at AO3.

When Sara decided she needed a change of scenery from Star City, it seemed to make sense to make it Central. Her mom lived there, after all, and it wasn’t like the city was unfamiliar with the presence of vigilante/hero types. Not since the particle accelerator thing, anyway.

But even a hero needed some way to make ends meet—and the work she was doing with the martial arts studio and the women’s shelter didn’t pay much. So, here she was, standing in the employee coatroom at CC Jitters with her new friend Kendra and preparing to take on her first shift as kinda-a-barista.

It couldn’t be that different from working as a bartender. Right?

Kendra, whom Sara had met because she volunteered at the shelter, laughed as Sara determinedly plopped her fuzzy red and white Santa hat on her head. “Don’t look so unnerved,” she chided good-naturedly, reaching out to grab her nametag and handing Sara her own. “I’ve been seen you hand grown men three times your size their asses. What’s to fear at a coffee shop?”

Sara, attaching the tag, considered responses, then went with the truth, though she knew her friend wouldn’t understand all the background. “It’s just so…normal…”she sighed, glancing out toward the front of the shop. “And I…”

Her voice trailed off, but Kendra, bless her, just nodded. She didn’t know the full story, but Sara had danced around the edges enough when explaining her supposed martial arts training that she knew Sara had been in some not-so-normal situations, with a not-so-normal background.

“You’ll be fine,” she said gently, touching Sara’s elbow. “Now, let’s get out there. Oakley’s been on their feet since 5 a.m., and Amanda needs to get more baked goods in the ovens.”

And Sara took a deep breath. Nodded. And followed her friend out to deal with that most erratic of opponents—the public.

A few hours later, Sara had to admit, it wasn’t going too badly. Not nearly as badly as she’d feared, anyway. The customers had been nice enough, the regulars welcoming in their own way, and while Sara deferred to Kendra to make the more high-octane espresso drinks, she’d put her own spin on a few simpler things in a way that had been well received.

As the morning rush subsided (but before the lunch rush began), Sara took a deep breath, then turned, grinning at Kendra. The rush of triumph, she’d admit, was a little unexpected.

“I,” she pronounced with satisfaction, “actually liked that. And I think it’s going well.”

Kendra smiled back. “Well,” she said, starting to clear a space of the back counter, “it’s only partway through your first day. But you’re doing great.”

Sara heard the door open behind her, then, but didn’t turn around just yet. “Well, I know I’m not working too many hours here, but it’s just nice to be…”

She turned around mid-sentence and paused.

The man walking toward her…well, he caught the eye. Her particular eye, at least. Just something about him, a way of moving, grace and power despite his lean build.

Tall…yes. All in black, slacks and a sweater. Old enough for the close-cropped hair to be all salt-and-pepper, but definitely not in an unappealing way.

All this observation was in a heartbeat as he strolled up to the counter—unerringly, despite the fact that he hadn’t looked up from his phone once. Sara moved toward him, hearing Kendra say…something…behind her, torn between an unexpected attraction and irritation at the man’s focus on his tech.

“Can I help you?” she asked, trying to keep both from her tone.

He…muttered something. In a low, incredibly sexy voice, sure, but still muttered. Unintelligibly.

Sara kept her cool. “Pardon?”

Another mutter. His brow furrowed, Mr. Rude Hottie tapped his phone again. Was he sending a text?

So much for cool. Sara snorted.

“You know,” she said, placing her hands on the counter and leaning forward, ignoring Kendra making choking noises from behind her. “This would be a lot easier if you put that thing away and actually looked at me.”

The words—or the tone, or both—got through. Startled, the man glanced up at her.

Ooh. Oh, those were beautiful blue eyes. Sara kept her face stony, though, unable to regret her tart tone.

“It’s OK,” she finally registered Kendra saying behind her. “I know…”

But the man put the phone down, on the counter. He even pushed it aside, toward the pick-up area, giving Sara his full attention.

And…whoa. That full attention, complete with intent blue eyes and slight smile/smirk, was apparently enough to send a ripple of attraction through her in a way she hadn’t felt in rather a long time. Sara kept it from showing, she thought, and gave him a cool smile in return.

“I’m sorry,” the man actually said, in that voice, sounding fairly sincere. “I was being rude.” A pause. “I’m here regularly enough that I’m generally on autopilot. I apologize.”

Well, then. Sara tipped her head toward him as Kendra sighed behind her. “Thank you,” she acknowledged. “Now, what can I get you?”

Those blue eyes crinkled at the corners. “Just a coffee. The dark roast. One cream.”

“I got it,” Kendra volunteered, and Sara let her, content to continue her mutual inspection with the customer.

He glanced away first, eyes flickering toward the small chalkboard sign Sara had set out with her new creations. “Peppermint mocha, eh?”

“It’s good,” Sara informed him, wondering if he was a purist. One of those often-snotty “flavored coffee drinks are the work of the devil” types.

A shrug. “It sounds good,” he acknowledged. “Will admit, though, every one of those I’ve tried have been far too sweet for my taste.”

Ah. A challenge. Sara perked up.

“Try it out,” she informed him, turning aside. “On me. If you don’t like it…”

A good enough conclusion doesn’t come to mind. So, at the man’s chuckle, she merely reaches out to grab a cup. “Your name?”

The eyes crinkle again. “Len.”

“Len.” Sara writes it on the cup with a flourish, resisting the thoroughly inexplicable urge to add her number. “Got it. Give me just a minute.”

She lets Kendra take his money for the plainer coffee, focusing on the drink she’s making. Dark roast coffee instead of the more-often-used breakfast blend, dark chocolate syrup instead of the sweeter milk chocolate. Just a splash of cream. Enough peppermint to taste, but not enough to overwhelm. A mere sprinkle of the crushed candy canes they kept on the side.

With a grin, she moved to the pick-up counter, where this Len was waiting, other coffee in hand, leaning against the surface in a casual slouch. He put the other cup down and took the drink with a lifted eyebrow and the shadow of a smile, raising it in a toast to her before he took a sip.

The mobile eyebrows both went up. Sara resisted the desire to pump her fist and cheer.

“This is good,” he said, looking down at it, then up at her again. “Thank you…Sara.”

Right. Her nametag. Sara kept herself from shivering at the way he said the name. “Welcome,” she told him, leaning on the counter herself, angled toward him. “Sorry. Just the first one’s free.”

That got a chuckle. He took another sip, eyes on hers. “So, it going to be a regular menu item now?”

There was something in the question that led Sara to think he was asking about more than the drink. (And Kendra’s giggle from behind her backed that up.)

“When I’m here anyway,” she said easily, watching him. “Which will be mid- to late mornings, a few days a week, anyway. At least through the holidays.”

He tipped his head toward her again at the information, straightening from the slouch. “Good to know.” There was a pause…and then Len turned for the door with one last glance. “Thanks again, Sara.”

She stuffed down the flicker of disappointment. “Nice to meet you, Len.”

Leonard Snart was a busy man. He hadn’t really meant to be rude. He was just…distracted.

Juggling a security business with other…extracurricular…activities could get hectic, after all. He’d been out so late last night that he’d gotten an even later start than usual, and he’d had texts that were both business related and extracurricular related. He wasn’t precisely a chatty or social guy at the best of times, and the folks at Jitters knew him. He had, perhaps, presumed a bit too much.

Until he’d heard a new and slightly biting voice, and glanced up into a pair of sharp, bright blue eyes.

Smiling a little, Len took a sip from the unexpectedly delicious peppermint mocha as he sauntered down the street away from Jitters. The other drink was certainly getting cold, but he could reheat that when he got to his office. It wasn’t so far away, after all. Maybe he’d even go back later…though she’d said she’d be working mornings…

Len was so busy examining his unexpected interest in the new barista that he was nearly all the way to the end of the block before he realized. Crap.

He’d left his phone back at Jitters. His phone, full of information (though couched in rather coded language) about various activities that just anybody really shouldn’t see. All because he’d gotten distracted by…

“Len!”

Blinking, Leonard turned to see Sara hurrying down the sidewalk after him. She’d pulled on a coat, but the snowflakes drifting down from the sky were collecting on her golden hair…and his phone was in her hand.

He shook off a feeling of relief, stepping back toward her to take it.

Sara grinned at him. “I yelled at you a few times, but you seemed to be a little lost in thought,” she said, relinquishing the device. “Sorry. I didn’t notice until you were well out the door.”

“No, thank you.” Len studied her, then nodded, giving in to an impulse. “You working tomorrow?”

“No.” She looked a little regretful, putting her hands in her pockets and studying him in return. “But I will be the next day.”

“Good.” Len pocketed the phone. “Gotta get to work. Thanks again…Sara.”

“Welcome, Len.” She waited, then, until he was a few more paces down the street. “If you miss me at Jitters on Wednesday…well, you have a way to reach me.”

Len paused. Then he turned, watching Sara walk away, back toward the coffeeshop. And then he pulled out the phone.

There was a new contact added: “Sara—Jitters.”

Huh.

A smile crossed his face. Maybe she hadn't thought he'd been that rude, after all.

#captain canary #captaincanary #sara x leonard

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starletwriting · 5 years

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Killervibe Week Day Two: Canon Divergent

Word Count: 1051

Notes: You remember that one episode in season one when Cisco died in an erased timeline? That episode sure was angsty, wasn’t it? I wonder what could make it even angstier. Oh, I know!

Takes place during 1x15, in the few minutes in between Cisco’s death and when Barry resets the timeline.

Disclaimer: When I refer to Dr. Wells in this fic, I’m referring to Eobard Thawne in disguise as Dr. Wells, but seeing as how Caitlin doesn’t know his real name at this point, I’m calling him Dr. Wells.

Warning: Major character death (albeit one that was shown in the actual show, but still); mentions of blood and fatal wounds; coping with a betrayal; coping with loss of a best friend; blaming oneself for something that isn’t their fault; angst without a happy ending

Tags: @thatkillervibe @shakesqueer-writes @narniasfinestavengingsociopath

~~~

Caitlin’s mind was still reeling. When Cisco had told her that he suspected Dr. Wells, she thought he was mistaken. Not that she doubted Cisco, of course, but… it was Dr. Wells. He wasn’t evil. Or at least she thought.

She couldn’t shake the image from her mind. She was in Jitters, ordering the coffee to go, and she turned around and he was gone. Like that. The only thing left behind was his wheelchair. Dr. Wells has been paralyzed ever since the particle accelerator explosion. It just wasn’t possible. He couldn’t so much as stand without his wheelchair, and for him to have left Jitters in the few seconds it took for Caitlin to order the coffee… Forget just being able to walk. He would’ve had to have been a speedster.

Which means Cisco was right all along.

Dr. Wells isn’t just working with the Reverse-Flash.

He is the Reverse-Flash.

Their boss is the man who killed Barry’s mother.

All Caitlin could feel was the adrenaline. There were a million thoughts racing through her head. The only thing faster than them was her heartbeat, thumping in her chest at a thousand beats per second. She had looked up to Dr. Wells since the very first day she came to work for him. He wasn’t just her boss. He was her hero. He helped her, guided her, inspired her. He was her friend. He helped her cope with Ronnie’s death. A day ago, Caitlin would’ve vouched that Dr. Wells was one of the most compassionate men she knows. Now, Caitlin knows the truth.

He’s a murderer.

Her heartbeat froze in terror as a thought occurred to her.

Cisco’s in trouble.

Cisco was investigating Dr. Wells. If Dr. Wells knew he was in danger of being found out, who knows what awful things he could do to Cisco.

She ran into Star Labs calling Cisco’s name. Each time she spoke it, she became more frantic, her heartbeat raced a little faster. Her mind started to fill up with fears, the dread started to sink into her stomach. She took a deep breath and tried to calm herself before continuing.

The basement.

Of course. Cisco said he was going to be in the basement.

Caitlin ran down the hallways, all the way to the Star Labs basement. The adrenaline made her run faster than she ever had before, but she didn’t care about how fast she was running. All she cared about was seeing Cisco again.

Finally, after what felt like centuries, the doors opened, letting Caitlin into the basement.

The sight sickened Caitlin so much she wished she had never stepped foot into the basement at all.

There he was. Cisco Ramon, her best friend in the whole wide world, the only person who truly knew how to make her laugh since Ronnie passed away, the guy who brought her chocolates and a movie when she was feeling down, the guy she had spent countless lunches at Big Belly Burger with, laughing endlessly at some joke. He was just a few yards away from her.

And he was dead.

She was too late.

Caitlin rushed forwards and kneeled by his side. There was a fresh wound right in the middle of his rib cage, directly where his heart is. Wet blood stained his shirt. His lifeless eyes were still wet with tears that hadn’t quite dried.

“No, no, NO!”

This was all her fault. If only she had stalled Dr. Wells for a bit longer. If only she had arrived sooner. If only she had been there. She’s a doctor, she could’ve done something, anything to save him, she would’ve given her own life in his place if she had to-

Caitlin couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t see, she couldn’t feel, she couldn’t hear her own pained screams. Tears trickled down her cheeks and she didn’t care enough to wipe them away. She felt lightheaded, but she didn’t care enough to do anything about it.

Her heart twang with regret. If only she had more time. She would’ve binged the Walking Dead with him no matter how confusing it was to her, she would’ve brought him Big Belly Burger to repay him for the time he bought her lunch, she would’ve treasured each and every moment they shared. She would’ve told him how much he meant to her.

Cisco’s laugh could light up a whole room. His eyes twinkled with enthusiasm whenever he spoke about his favorite classic movies. Caitlin always chastised him about his enormous sweet tooth, but sometimes he’d share his candy with her, even though he never shared with Barry. He ordered the same thing each time at Big Belly Burger, but every time without fail he’d study the menu for a few minutes as if he was going to change it up this time. He never did.

Caitlin grasped Cisco’s hand in hers as she sobbed.

Now she’d never experience any of that again.

Her best friend was gone. The person who knew her best, the person who could make her laugh when she was feeling down, the person who stood by her side no matter what… gone.

Caitlin’s tears felt heavy against her cheeks.

The lump in her throat only intensified, making it harder to swallow or breathe. She clutched Cisco’s shirt in her fists, holding onto him even though she knew he would never respond, even though it hurt her more to hold him and not feel a heartbeat.

This was all Wells.

He killed Cisco.

Caitlin didn’t know how, but… she was gonna make him pay.

She clenched her fist with a newfound rage, and stormed out of the basement.

#killervibeweek #killervibeweek19 #killervibe #the flash #cisco ramon #caitlin snow #kv angst #killervibe angst

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spacetimewithstuartgary · 4 years

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Why didn't the universe annihilate itself? Neutrinos may hold the answer Alysia Marino and Eric Zimmerman, physicists at CU Boulder, have been on the hunt for neutrinos for the last two decades. That's no easy feat: Neutrinos are among the most elusive subatomic particles known to science. They don't have a charge and are so lightweight--each one has a mass many times smaller than the electron--that they interact only on rare occasions with the world around them. They may also hold the key to some of physics' deepest mysteries. In a study published today in the journal Nature, Marino, Zimmerman and more than 400 other researchers on an experiment called T2K come closer to answering one of the big ones: Why didn't the universe annihilate itself in a humungous burst of energy not long after the Big Bang? The new research suggests that the answer comes down to a subtle discrepancy in the way that neutrinos and their evil twins, the antineutrinos, behave--one of the first indications that phenomena called matter and antimatter may not be the exact mirror images many scientists believed. The group's findings showcase what scientists can learn by studying these unassuming particles, said Zimmerman, a professor in the Department of Physics. "Even 20 years ago, the field of neutrino physics was much smaller than it is today," he said. Marino, an associate professor of physics, agreed. "There's still a lot we're trying to understand about how neutrinos interact," she said. Big Bang Neutrinos, which weren't directly detected until the 1950s, are often produced deep within stars and are among the most common particles in the universe. Ever second, trillions of them pass through your body, although few if any will react with a single one of your atoms. To understand why this cosmic dandelion fluff is important, it helps to go back to the beginning--the very beginning. Based on their calculations, physicists believe that the Big Bang must have created a huge amount of matter alongside an equal quantity of antimatter. These particles behave exactly like, but have opposite charges from, the protons, electrons and all the other matter that makes up everything you can see around you. There's just one problem with that theory: Matter and antimatter obliterate each other on contact. "Our universe today is dominated by matter and not antimatter," Marino said. "So there had to be some process in physics that distinguished matter from antimatter and could have given rise to a small excess of protons or electrons over their antiparticles." Over time, that small excess became a big excess until there was virtually no antimatter left in the cosmos. According to one popular theory, neutrinos underly that discrepancy. Zimmerman explained that these subatomic particles come in three different types, which scientists call "flavors," with unique interactions. They are the muon neutrino, electron neutrino and tau neutrino. You can think of them as the physicist's Neapolitan ice cream. These flavors, however, don't stay put. They oscillate. If you give them enough time, for example, the odds that a muon neutrino will stay a muon neutrino can shift. Imagine opening your freezer and not knowing whether the vanilla ice cream you left behind will now be chocolate or strawberry, instead. But is the same true for antineutrinos? Proponents of the theory of "leptogenesis" argue that if there were even a small difference in how these mirror images behave, it could go a long way toward explaining the imbalance in the universe. "The next big step in neutrino physics is to understand whether neutrino oscillations happen at the same rate as antineutrino oscillations," Zimmerman said. Traveling Japan That, however, means observing neutrinos up close. The T2K, or Tokai to Kamioka, Experiment goes to extreme lengths to do just that. In this effort, scientists use a particle accelerator to shoot beams made up of neutrinos from a research site in Tokai, Japan, to detectors in Kamioka--a distance of more than 180 miles or the entire width of Japan's largest island, Honshu. Zimmerman and Marino have both participated in the collaboration since the 2000s. For the last nine years, the duo and their colleagues from around the world have traded off studying beams of muon neutrinos and muon antineutrinos. In their most recent study, the researchers hit pay dirt: These bits of matter and antimatter seem to behave differently. Muon neutrinos, Zimmerman said, are more inclined to oscillate into electron neutrinos than their antineutrino counterparts. The results come with major caveats. The team's findings are still quite a bit shy of the physics community's gold standard for a discovery, a measure of statistical significance called "five-sigma." The T2K collaboration is already upgrading the experiment so that it can collect more data and faster to reach that mark. But, Marino said, the results provide one of the most tantalizing hints to date that some kinds of matter and antimatter may act differently--and not by a trivial amount. "To explain the T2K results, the difference needs to be almost the largest amount that you could possibly get" based on theory, she said. Marino sees the study as one window to the fascinating world of neutrinos. There are many more pressing questions around these particles, too: How much, for example, does each flavor of neutrino weigh? Are neutrinos, in a really weird twist, actually their own antiparticles? She and Zimmerman are taking part in a second collaboration, an upcoming effort called the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE), that will aid the upgraded T2K in finding those answers. "There are still things we're figuring out because neutrinos are so hard to produce in a lab and require such complicated detectors," Marino said. "There's still room for more surprises." TOP IMAGE....A visualization of the first detection of a neutrino using a device called a hydrogen bubble chamber. A neutrino collided with a proton where the black lines form the shape of an arrow; CENTRE IMAGE....A graphic showing neutrinos emitted from the sun over a period of 1500 days; LOWER IMAGE....Diagram of how the T2K experiment sends and detects beams of neutrinos. (Credits: T2K Experiment) BOTTOM IMAGE....Eric Zimmerman (left) and a colleague work on a "magnetic horn," a device that helps the T2K Experiment generate neutrino beams. (Credit: Glenn Asakawa/CU Boulder)

#space #science #Astronomy #physics #cosmology

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theflashfics · 5 years

Text

Phoenix // Cisco Ramon

Pairing: Cisco Ramon x reader

Summary: You encounter Cisco on at Jitters and reveal you are a professor of biomechanics and bioengineering, so he figures he could use your help on a fire-wielding meta case they are calling Phoenix - unaware that the meta is you. You eventually turn to him for help, burning a building in the process.

Warnings: Mention of family death, arson, very mild kissing

Word Count: 5182

Requests: Open!

A/N: If you see this, go to my inbox and request a oneshot - can be smut (I’d be more than happy for that). I’m really needing some inspiration and I think some dirty Flash oneshots would do the trick! I don’t care what kinks, pairings, just give me all the requests.

The line at Jitters was irritatingly long for that mild Monday morning. You were already late and the early morning chatter of Central City citizens felt like little bugs crawling on you – annoying. People weren’t your favourite. You just needed your Flash coffee and to get to work. You worked as a professor at the local college, majoring in biomechanics, bioengineering, and had a doctorate. The only part of your life you could salvage after the particle accelerator exploded and changed you. The students loved you even if you weren’t so fond of them – with a wry smile and a flick of the hand, you made everyone feel as if they had an inside joke with you. But they were tiring, and it took a great deal of energy to keep your composure in the early morning lessons, so coffee it was. “Damn, this line is taking forever,” you voiced your concerns under your breath. “Amen, sister,” someone grumbled. The voice, it turned out, belonged to the cute guy with shoulder length charcoal hair in front of you. He turned around to greet you with a toothy grin. You paused for a second – he was so cute. And you were sure you knew him from somewhere; maybe it was the hair…

You must have hesitated for a second too long because the cute guy waved his hand in front of your face and said, “Hello? Earth to…” “Y/N. And you.” You snapped back to life, grinning. “Cisco at your service,” he did a comical bow and came back up smiling, tucking his hair back – which you found matched his eyes, like melted chocolate. “And so, Cisco, do you wave your hand over the faces of all the girls you meet in cafes?” “Just the pretty ones.” He stuck his tongue out and moved up a spot in the line “Fuck off,” you said roughly, trying not to blush, pushing him up to the counter. “Ooh, spicy. Caliente.” He laughed and turned his attention to the waitress. “I’ll have one black coffee and a-“ he turned to you. “What?” You hissed, then begrudgingly said, “A Flash.” “Please?” He raised an eyebrow. “You offered,” you said, shrugging. “And a Flash for little miss cinnamon.” Cisco said. He payed for the coffees and took a step back. “By the way, I’m not sticking around. I’ve got to work.” You said, looking at your feet. Since the explosion, you’ve never really been good with talking to people. A bit rough around the edges, you might say. “What do you do?” “Professor.” “Of?” “Bioengineering and biomechanics,” you replied drily. Cisco’s eyes narrowed a tad and you could almost see the cogs whirring in his mind, but instead had a usual snappy reply.

“Oh, she’s a smart one!” “Uh-uh.” “Not really one for small talk, are you.” “Nope.” “It’s a good thing you’re pretty then, Scary Spice.” You blushed considerably and let down your façade a bit. “You seem to have a thing for nicknames,” you commented. He nodded, grinning, and said, “You betcha.” He gave you another look that resembled the one after you told him what you had majored in. “Something you need?” You said snippily. “Would you take a day off work and help me out at STAR Labs with something?” He asked, twiddling his thumbs and looking apprehensive. You were glad you didn’t have your coffee because you would have choked on it. Instead, you raised an inquisitive eyebrow at Cisco. “Well, because me and my team are trying to find this metahuman who’s been destroying the city,” he hastily explained himself, “and you might be able to help us out, with what you know about bioengineering and mechanics and all that, it could be a massive help. If you want to, I mean.” You pretended to think about it, then shrugged. “I’m sure I could get a substitute to teach the class today. The syllabus is quite easy currently in the semester. So, sure. I’ll help you out.” Cisco fist pumped and then, seeing you looking quizzically at him, crossed his arms over his chest and tried to look nonchalant.

“Just a warning, I’m not the best with people.” You reminded him. “Pffft, you’ve got a bunch a bunch of classes. You must be good. You’re good with me.” He said merrily. “Having students doesn’t mean I have friends,” you said coldly, collecting your coffee from the counter where it waited for you. It wasn’t a lie – you didn’t have many friends. You pushed away the old ones and anyone who tried was put out by your standoffish and faintly rude behaviour. Cisco frowned and followed quickly after you. As he caught up to you, you smiled to yourself. You liked him. But it was dangerous, because you had a feeling the meta that Cisco’s team was looking for was someone you knew really well. Plus, you had an uneasy feeling the you knew Cisco, and not in a good way. You arrived at STAR Labs with Cisco fifteen minutes later and patted your skirt down. You were wearing your teaching gear, a black pencil skirt and a tight black top, paired with fiery red heels that you walked in with scary purpose. Your H/C hair was straightened and fell in sheets beside your face. Makeup was only utilised because you thought it made you look intimidating; you used red lipstick and black eyeliner so sharp it could cut a man. Cisco remarked on how fiery it made you look. He wasn’t wrong – just scarily right. You walked through a concrete hallway to reach the main workplace of STAR Labs.

“Welcome to the Cortex!” Cisco exclaimed, throwing his hands out as if presenting the place to someone important. You surveyed the place; mostly white, super advanced tech that your hands were itching to get a hold of. “What the fuck,” you said under your breath as a group of people walked into the Cortex. You recognized the slender brunette as Caitlin Snow – you had consulted her briefly while studying before the explosion, back when you felt normal – but you weren’t familiar with the others in the group. “Hey guuuys,” Cisco drew out the last word as they looked immediately disapproving of someone new in the lab. “This is Y/N,” he continued, “And I think she can give us a hand with this meta case.” “And you picked her up off the street…?” “No, Harry,” Caitlin jumped in, adressing the tall man firmly, who you assumed was Harrison Wells, “This is Y/N Y/L/N. One of the smartest people I’ve ever met. And she can most definitely give us a hand in figuring out this meta’s weakness.” You smiled gratefully at her but let it drop fast. The others mumbled, and Caitlin and Cisco tried to reason with them. “Enough of the foreplay, what’s this meta we’re talking about.” You chimed in, walking over to a computer and beginning to type. Cisco gave a pointed look and a grin to the rest of the group and they complied, following your steps and beginning to explain.

“Well, if you’d let me get to my computer, I might let you know, little miss cinnamon,” Cisco said playfully shoving you over. You rolled your eyes and smiled, saying, “I liked Scary Spice better.” “Scary Spice it is. But anyway, this meta has caused millions of dollars in property damage. And do you know what her power is? Fire.” He pulled up images and videos of a leather clad woman who was on fire, throwing balls of flames towards buildings, laughing manically. But what really drew your eyes to it was the fire behind her, creating long, feather-like wispy flames, that resembled wings. You stared upon it all, and your heart sunk to your feet. The meta they were trying to find wasn’t just anyone - it was you.

Since the particle accelerator exploded, you’ve had strange things happen around you – because of you. Things bursting into flames, people getting first degree burns around you in winter, your hands literally catching fire. You’d become one of the metahumans that were terrorising the news. At first, you tried to hide your powers, you were sweet and mild and normal before them; and after all, the Flash would come and take you to a prison. That would suck. Especially since all your family had been murdered in a freak fire the night of the particle accelerator incident, so no one would visit you. But in the end, so much bitterness and anger and hate built up inside of you that you wanted to destroy things, to watch it all burn. So now it was your name that was dancing across the news – not your real one, of course.

“I call her Pheonix,” Cisco announced proudly. You gave a tight-lipped smile to the group and nodded. A thought popped into your head – maybe if you helped them find you, and became their friend, you could infiltrate STAR Labs and burn everything. It was what they deserved for what they did to you. But Cisco, a voice in your head reminded you. You pushed that thought away and formulated a plan. A tall brunette, who Cisco had earlier referred to as Barry stepped in and starting speaking. “So, uh, the Flash told me-“ he shot a nervous look at you and you rolled your eyes. “Barry, I know you’re the Flash.” You said without taking your eyes off the computers. Everyone around you fell silent for a half second, then erupted into a mass of “What?! No!” You figured it out as soon as you walked into the room. The Flash had tried to find you and defeat you before – perhaps defeat is the wrong word, maybe subdue? – but was unsuccessful. It wasn’t hard to see from Barry’s build and voice that he was the Scarlet Speedster. “Oh, shut up!” You said, exasperated, “I honestly couldn’t care less. But I think I know where you could find your Phoenix next.” They turned their attention back to you and urged you on. You tapped away at a keyboard and pulled up a map of central city and the buildings that the Phoenix had burnt – the buildings that you had burnt.

“It’s a pattern. She’s hitting every third building diagonally, going in some sort of triangle. So, going off that, next place she’ll hit is that massive expensive hotel. Plus, she’s been striking every third day so she should be doing it tomorrow night at nine o’clock.” That was true, and you felt a twinge of irritation as you told Team Flash your plan, but if you were reluctant to help because of Phoenix they may think you are in a team with her, or maybe even figure out that you are her. Cisco hummed in agreeance. Barry nodded as well, “So, let’s set a trap for her.” “No,” said Cisco firmly. You were glad the rest of the group looked just as confused as you are. He realised no one was catching on so he stood up and explained further. “We did that last time, remember? And Barry and I ended up with a second-degree burn.” He turned to you and quickly said, “I’ve got powers and my other name is Vibe. I’ll explain later.” Your mind instantly clicked. Of course! That’s where you knew him from. You nearly ended up having to fight him but instead dived out of a burning window and flew away with your flaming wings. Afraid of looking too shocked, you just nodded and let him continue. “But that’s not the only reason. I don’t think she’s that bad, y’know?”

Wrong.

“She tried to burn down two buildings, what’s right about that,” Harry said, furrowing his eyebrows. Cisco shrugged, struggling to get his point across. “But I saw something in her. She didn’t want to hurt people.” Team Flash looked dubious. “You know how she hit the eighth floor first?” They nodded. “That floor was under construction. No-one was working there, not even the construction workers. And she waited until Barry here had gotten everyone out of the building before she started burning everything.” “That’s true,” Barry chimed in. “And,” Cisco went on, “When she burnt Barry, I don’t think she meant to. And she most definitely didn’t want to fight me. She looked angry. Angry and scared.” You swallowed hard. They were getting closer to the truth with every word they said and yet they couldn’t seem to see that you were right in front of them. “Maybe she’s like me and Killer Frost? A different personality,” Caitlin suggested, walking to take a closer look at the videos still rolling of you ravaging the accounting building.

“See, pause the video there,” she said, pointing at the freezeframe of your face, “Looking at her eyes; they’re like Killer Frost’s, except instead of ice, it’s fire.” “She’s not like that.” You said way too quickly. Everyone’s heads turned to you and you tried to explain yourself, your mind not finding anything. “I don’t know, I’m just getting a feeling.” “A vibe?” Cisco joked. “Funny.” “I am funny,” he mused. You shook your head, smiling at your feet. Cisco looked back at the group. “Look, we know that she doesn’t want to hurt people so let’s not hurt her. We’ll just talk to her. I think she’s good.” Stupid. They’re so stupid. I’m literally trying to burn the building down. “What if she’s not,” you said coldly. Team Flash stared at you, confused at your sudden mood change. “Some people aren’t good. And she’s not good. She’s hurting people. Maybe not physically. But what has she done for the city? Nothing but damage and destruction. She’s a meta. She’s a monster.” I’m a monster. “Y/N-“ Cisco started but you cut him off, picking up your purse. “I shouldn’t have come here.” You said shortly, collecting your purse off the desk and walking out, leaving Team Flash with questions.

A knock on your apartment door startled you. You had skipped out on all your remaining classes, letting the old substitute teach them. God, you hated that substitute. That’s all that seemed to flow through you these days – hate, anger and fear. Literally the worst emotions possible. And then finally, you met Cisco! He was cute, and sweet, and made you blush like a schoolgirl. What luck you had when he asked you to help out on a case about a dangerous meta – until you found out that meta was you. You ran home, swathed in self loathing and loathing for everyone else, as well. They were right, in some respects – you weren’t going to hurt anyone. But you were a monster. How did a plan to burn down STAR Labs manage to sneak into your mind? You had spent the rest of the day sulking in your messy apartment, entertaining yourself by sitting in the bath and creating small, inextinguishable fires underneath the crystal-clear water. It was an unusual sensation, prickly and fun. But it reminded you of what you were doing tomorrow night, so you got out of the bath, ordered a pizza, and sulked on your couch instead.

You begrudgingly got up to answer the door and nearly slammed it close again when you saw Cisco. “What are you doing here?” You narrowed your eyes, all traces of makeup gone. “That’s not how you should greet your sexy newfound friend,” he pouted. That would have risen a smile out of you in other circumstances, but nothing could right now. “How did you find me?” You said dully. “Satellite.” “That’s creepy, you know.” “Haven’t you ever done a creepy thing?” He said in his usual fun manner. You sighed. “What are you doing here?” You repeated, fidgeting with the lock on the door. His smile fell a bit. “I was worried. Phoenix could have taken you.” “Why would she want anything to do with me?” You laughed dryly at the irony of the situation. Cisco shrugged. “Maybe I just wanted a reason to see you again,” he smiled sweetly, tucking a lock of chocolatey hair behind his ear. You perked up for a split second, grinning, then remembered what you’d done. “Trust me, you don’t.” You said bitterly, closing the door on him. You closed your eyes hard, then walked to your closet, pulling out a leathery suit, identical to the one Phoenix was wearing – the one you were wearing. “Hello, old friend,” you whispered, then began devising a plan.

It was the next night, and everything was going to plan. You had arrived earlier than Team Flash were expecting at that massive expensive hotel, disguised as the head janitor with your leather suit underneath. The plan was: send all janitors to different floors, set the janitor floor on fire with only you in it, wait for the Flash to come rescue everyone in the hotel, burn it to the ground, and leave. Leave Central City. You had no clue where you were going. Maybe Starling City? Maybe Paris? Just somewhere where they could fix you, take away your powers, leave you normal again. As you ordered the janitors away you felt guilt rising in your throat. Images of Cisco and his stupid gorgeous hair and stupid gorgeous eyes kept appearing in your head, and it didn’t help that you were going to see him tonight. You snapped back to life when you realised all the janitors were off the floor, so you stripped of your ugly uniform and revealed the leather underneath. It was black, with red detailing – quite similar to your outfit the other day when you met Cisco...Damnit, he’s in your head again. You pushed that aside and burnt the janitor uniform, leaving it as a pile of ash. Once again Cisco popped into your mind, grinning, laughing, touching you… In a split second there was a chink in your armour, and your mind took it, leading you to a lone computer in the janitor’s closet. You tapped away at the keyboard, sending a message to STAR Labs.

“Oh, shit!” Cisco said, sitting up straight in his chair with a worried look on his face, “Pheonix is early.” Barry swore under his breath. “Where?” He was in his red suit in a heartbeat. Cisco quickly redirected the satellite and told Barry of your whereabouts. “She’s burning the janitor’s floor. No one is on it – again.” Just after Barry whooshed away, STAR Labs received an alert. The shorter male frowned and displayed it onto the various screens in the Cortex. “Oh, no no no no no. This isn’t happening.” Cisco panicked, tucking his hair behind his ears. Through the intercom, Barry heard him and asked what happened. Cisco swallowed hard. “We just got a message from Pheonix. She must have hacked into a computer or something.” “OK, what does it say?” Barry urged Cisco on as he reached the burning hotel. There was a short pause, then a gasp (elicited from Caitlin as she read the message).

I HAVE Y/N.

“Oh, Scary Spice,” Cisco’s jaw hardened as he read the message repeatedly. How had this happened? “I should’ve stayed with her last night. Then this wouldn’t have happened.” He berated himself, head in hands. Harry walked in with his usual blasé expression and tone. “Nothing you can do about it now, Ramon. If Phoenix has Y/N then we get her back,” the scientist reasoned, shoving Cisco over so he could talk to Barry. “Get everyone out of that building,” he directed, and Barry responded with a grunt of affirmation. Cisco was biting his tongue – all he could think about was the danger that you were in. He stood up abruptly. “I’m going.” He stated, picking up his suit and Vibe gear from where they sat in a nearby duffel bag. “Cisco,” Caitlin chided, “You could get killed. Phoenix doesn’t sound so lenient this time, if she’s already got a hostage.” “I don’t care,” said Cisco roughly, “I’m the one who got her into this so I’m going to get her out.” Caitlin gave a furtive glance at Harry who shrugged. “Be safe,” she ended up saying. Cisco grinned, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “I’m always safe.” He then walked into a breach that led to your burning hotel floor.

You tapped your foot impatiently. There wasn’t much time left before this floor would crumble and bring the building down with it. Luckily, your fires could only be put out by you. They were inextinguishable by anything (you’d fooled the Flash into thinking it was him who put out the fires, but it was really you) and it was very hot. You felt a familiar gust of wind and smiled deviously, turning around. “Hello, Fla-“ You stopped in your tracks, instead finding Cisco standing in front of a breach. Your mouth fell open but you pulled yourself together. “And I suppose you’ve come here to find Y/N,” you said nonchalantly, as if discussing the weather. Cisco – Vibe – took a step forward. “Where is she?” He growled. If he wasn’t disgusted by you then, you would have thought it rather sexy. “Why the urgency? For little ol’ Y/N?” You felt dirty saying it – like a jewellery thief taking words out of people’s mouths. “You’re not answering my questions.” He took another step forward. “And you mine,” you snarled. His façade faltered a slight. “Is she… hurt?” He said. “Not yet.” Which was partially true. You were going to be hurting a lot when he started fighting you to find Y/N. It was all rather ironic, you thought.

“I know you don’t want to hurt people, Phoenix.” Cisco’s hair fell in his eyes, and you felt the urge to tuck it behind his ear, but you realised you weren’t exactly in the position to do that. “What if I do?” You nearly yelled, igniting your hands with flames. Cisco cocked his head in a birdlike tilt. “What if I do?” You repeated. “I’m burning a building as we speak! I’ve burnt others, taken peoples jobs and maybe even homes! You don’t know anything about me. I’m a monster.” You tone fell to a whisper on the last sentence. Before Cisco said anything, the Flash whooshed into the room, making the flames flicker. “Phoenix, stop what you’re doing.” He said, preparing his hero speech, “I can stop you.” “Try,” you shrugged feebly. Barry instantly began whirring his arms, creating a vacuum in the room – but the flames thrived even more. “It’s not working,” he put a finger to his ear, talking to Harry. “Don’t bother talking to them,” you said, waving a hand, “The fires have only been put out the other times because I put them out. Not you and your windmill act.” Cisco and Barry exchanged worried glances.

“You need to stop this,” Cisco said, moving closer in a fighting stance. You didn’t move, only making your hands burst into flames once more. “I don’t want to dance this dance again, Vibe,” you said weakly. “You’re gonna have to, because I’m not letting Y/N be imprisoned by a crazy arsonist,” Cisco warned, holding his hands up. You looked around you, still in the same slouch you stood in when they arrived. Flames were swallowing the floor, nay the building. It was going to come down soon. Was this really who you were? Some crazy arsonist who befriends people only to burn down the place they work? You shook your head and gave a faint wave of the hand. Instantly, all the flames were extinguished, leaving a blackened ashy mess of a floor. You felt weak, you hadn’t slept in a while. Taking a shaky step forward, you saw how confused Barry and Cisco looked. There was only one way to make them take you back to STAR Labs and fix your powers. “Sorry about this,” you mumbled, then charged with all the strength you had at Cisco. In the split second you ran at him, he sent a flurry of vibrations towards you, knocking you down. You melted into darkness, and you were out cold.

“Do you think she’s dead?”

“Obviously not, Cisco. Look, she’s breathing.”

“Maybe it’s the steady pulse of death.”

“Ramon, I thought you were a scientist.”

“I am, Mr Tall Dark and Handsome. Can you brood somewhere else?”

“Guys, shhh. She’s waking up.”

Figures began swimming into your vision, voices making their way into your ears. You were lying down in some sort of cell. It had padded blue walls and a huge glass door, and there was a camera sitting in the top corner. You knew where you were: the particle accelerator had been refashioned into metahuman cells. Cisco had told you eagerly about them when you were there days earlier. How ironic it was that now you were on the other side of the thick glass cell. Of course, that meant that it dampened your powers. You tested it, giving a small flick of the hand, but could achieve nothing but a prickle in your fingertips. You opened your eyes fully, blinking the figures into vision – Harry, Cisco, Caitlin, Barry. “That’s not going to work, you know.” That voice belonged to Barry Allen. You let out a weak laugh. “If only it was always like this.” The others looked perplexed. You remembered they didn’t know that you, Y/N, were actually Phoenix. And they couldn’t have found out by taking off your mask, either. It had melded to you, and only you had the power to take it off. “Where’s Y/N?” Someone said, walking up to the cell. It was Cisco. You pushed yourself to sit up with your back against the back wall, knees up in front of you.

“Always with the questions, Cisco,” you attempted a grin, but your previous endeavours – the burning hotel one – had tired you out and the smile fell short. The chocolate haired male frowned and leaned up against a wall with his arms crossed. “You know my name.” It was a statement, but it sounded like a question. You nodded. “How?” He asked. “Not important.” “Where’s Y/N?” “Not important, either.” You deflected his questions. Cisco clenched his fists and his jaw hardened considerably. “Where. Is. Y/N. And stop doing those stupid little answers.” He growled. “What can I say, I’m not much for small talk,” you smiled faintly, and your words struck familiar in his mind. You could almost see the wheels turning in his head, remembering back to two days ago in Jitters. Team Flash, whom you’d almost forgotten were there, looked thoroughly confused. Cisco turned back to you, eyebrows furrowed. “Have you been spying on me? On Y/N?” He accused, getting angrier. “For a smart guy, you’re not being that smart right now,” you laughed humourlessly. Cisco cocked his head once again in that birdlike motion. “I don’t have Y/N,” you stated. The group stared blankly at you. Upon realising their confusion, you peeled your mask from your face and shook out your hair, smiling weakly up at Cisco. “Surprise.”

Cisco’s face contorted from emotion to emotion, irritation, anger, betrayal, before landing on sadness. He shooed team flash out of the room and they quickly obeyed, knowing he needed to talk to you. You could see him trying to find the words as he paced before you. “I-“ He began, then put a hand up and started walking away. Sadness flooded through you, but he stopped at the control pad, opening the cell and then closing it again. Before it shut indefinitely, he squeezed through the crevice as it closed. “That was athletic,” you made a weak stab at a joke. He shrugged sadly, sitting down next to you in the same position – though looking far more put together than your dishevelled self. “I didn’t want to talk to you like that. Like an animal in a cage.” He said. “Am I not?” You said lightly, but Cisco’s face darkened and he said, “No.” You were silent for a few seconds. “Do you hate me?” You said, a tear slipping down your face. “Of course not,” Cisco murmured, taking hold of your hand; your heart gave a jolt. “I’m not mad, just… confused. Why are you doing this?”

You exhaled loudly. “I’m so tired. I’m tired, and angry, and scared. And I needed to release all that anger on something – not someone, I’m not a murderer – and when I got my powers it just became obvious that I should be doing that. So I became one of the metas on the news. It’s not like I enjoy doing it! I feel like absolute shit after it all happens. I just want it to go away. I don’t want my powers, Cisco.” You were sure you looked a treat – ashen face and tears rolling down your cheeks, but Cisco didn’t seem to mind. He reached up and pressed the pad of his thumb to your cheek, wiping away your tears. He looked at you with a sad expression on his gorgeous face. “Don’t pity me,” you said bitterly. “I’m not going to pity you, but I can help you.” You snapped your head to look at him. “You can get rid of my powers?” You asked feebly. Cisco shook his head and your smile faltered. “No, but I can train you,” he suggested. You let out another weak laugh. “So, I can be like the Flash? A hero?” “Absolutely.” There was more promise in his voice then you’d heard your whole life.

“Oh, Cisco,” you smiled, “What do you see in me?” A lock of his hair fell out from behind his ear and you finally lifted up your hand and pushed it back, your hand lingering. Suddenly, Cisco took hold of your face and kissed you, soft and gentle. “I see-“ he said between kisses –“a gorgeous-“ he slipped his tongue into your mouth -“smart girl-“ you moaned against his lips –“who may have gotten into a bit of trouble-“ he pulled away and rested his forehead against yours –“and is most definitely not a monster.” And for a few moments, all you heard was each other’s steady breathing. “Thankyou, Cisco.” You let out quietly, pressing a chaste kiss to his lips and he mumbled a “You’re welcome” against you before deepening the kiss. His hand fell to your hips and kept a loose grip there. His lips were soft against yours but you were hot, fiery, caliente.

“Hey, um, can you guys keep it PG in there? There’s cameras and it’s kind of awkward.” Barry’s voice came over the crackly intercom and you both let out an irritated groan. “So,” you said playfully, “How do you presume we get out of here?” Cisco shrugged. “I could use my natural athleticism to break us out, or,” he pulled you onto his lap, “we could do something else athletic.” “RAMON.” Harry’s voice was now at the intercom, but you just leaned into Cisco, laughing against his lips.

#cisco ramon #cisco ramon oneshot #the flash #the flash oneshot

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