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thedistantstorm · 4 years

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Project Compass 19

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This time: Ezra tries to navigate the fallout.

Next time: Un’hee recognizes something from her past.

One step forward, two steps back.

The Chiss didn’t have a literal translation for this phrase, but that didn’t exactly matter. It still counted. Ivant had taught Un’hee the meaning of this phrase some time ago, when she’d heard him mutter it under his breath and not understood what the strange sounds were that made up his peoples’ Basic.

Un’hee had known something was wrong the moment Eli had called her into his office. She’d also known that her being called upon had nothing to do with the first part. Though, she had to give it to him. He played it well. She wouldn’t have known anything had happened, if she hadn’t crossed Commander Mitth’raw’nuruodo on her way to see him. Vah’nya eyed her strangely from the corner of the room.

“You did well, Un’hee. Better than the rest of the Navigators,” Ivant informed her.

“Even better than Vah’nya?”

Vah’nya smiled into the mug of tea she cradled between her hands. “Yes, Un’hee,” She said. “And Bridger, too, though we can hardly consider a first-timer decent competition.”

Ivant was quick to defend his fellow human. “He fell within the limits. He also did a damn good job of getting us back considering he’d never had to navigate a ship this way before.”

“I didn’t have to take the reins, not even once,” Vah’nya considered. "I was surprised."

“So why am I here?” Un’hee asked. “And why is Thrawn-”

“Ah,” Ivant scratched the back of his head. “You ran into him, didn’t you?”

“He was projecting again, Eli,” Un’hee frowned, accusing, “You’re hurting him.”

“Commander Mitth’raw’nuruodo is hurting himself,” Vah’nya defended, instead. “He makes his own choices.”

When both girls fixed each other with glares, Vanto held his hands out in a pacifying gesture. “Both of you need to stop,” He said gravely. “Whatever is happening between me and Thrawn is our business.”

“Right,” Un’hee said, displeased. “No offense,” She continued, playing with the end of her singular braid, “But I know there’s all sorts of ‘need to know’ things happening around here, and this is going to become one of them quicker than you think.”

Vah’nya and Eli shared a look, both showing some array of worry and panic. “Un’hee,” The Senior Navigator began patiently, “Why do you say that?”

The girl shrugged, leaving them in suspense for a moment. Then, “I talked to Ezra last night,” She admitted. “He told me that Thrawn is worried because of what happened on the bridge yesterday.”

“He told you? You haven’t been near him,” Ivant said pointedly.

“I have a datapad,” Un’hee rolled her eyes. “And we’re friends. And,” She emphasized, “Vah’nya wasn’t around to talk to. Ezra actually messaged me because he couldn’t get a hold of you,” She pointed at Vah’nya. “He was worried.”

Vah’nya tilted her head. “I was occupied,” She answered.

“Yeah, I know.” She crossed her arms. “We all know what happened. You had a vision.”

“You all?”

“We’re not stupid,” Un’hee rolled her eyes. “You didn’t cut our numbers back because we’re the weakest of the bunch. I noticed it first, but I wasn’t the only one.”

“You’re getting awful mouthy, Navigator,” Ivant said, his tone not quite stern, but the undercut of a warning lingered all the same. He evaluated her silently, and she squirmed under the scrutiny.

“I just don’t think that pushing him away is smart,” The younger navigator admitted. “I feel like that’s a bad idea.”

Ivant sighed, rubbing at his temples before speaking. The first bit sounded almost like an admission. “I don’t like it either, Un’hee, but it’s not about what I like or don’t like. Those orders came from Admiral Ar’alani. And, regardless of how I feel, it’s the smartest choice. The more he knows about the project, the more danger he’s in, and by extension, you and your sisters.”

She looked down and away, halfway between disappointed and ashamed. “We aren’t going to let the Grysk have him, or any of us,” She urged, looking to him for confirmation. “Right?”

“Not if we can help it,” Ivant assured her. “But I won’t lie to you, Un’hee. I can’t tell you it would never happen.”

Nodding the girl rose to her feet, pressing both hands down on his desk. “I know. I’m just worried,” She inhaled deeply, nostrils flaring as she reigned in the sharpness of her feelings.

“I’m worried too,” He said. She didn’t need him to tell her that, she could see it in the crinkling lines on his forehead, the way he pursed his lips. “I wish there was another way.”

Un’hee wanted to tell him there was, that surely Thrawn could help them, and they could figure it all out together, but she didn’t know what the Grysks were planning. She didn’t want to know. But something told her she’d be finding it out regardless. She turned to look at Vah’nya, but Vah’nya looked down into her mug with blank, expressionless eyes.

Un’hee resisted the urge to shudder. Something bad was coming, and she was pretty sure Vah’nya had already seen it.

Ezra usually gave Thrawn a wide berth when he was like this. The man was not above the occasional bout of cathartic destruction to release energy, but after about an hour of miscellaneous growling and banging and muttering, the Jedi very carefully knocked on his roommate's door and stepped back, waiting.

"What." Thrawn looked put together, but then again, he always did. His eyes were definitely scary though. Very Grand Admiral Thrawn of him, Ezra thought. And it made sense now, looking back. After all, at the end, the Grand Admiral had been out of control. He pushed the thought away, along with all of his thoughts about how if Thrawn snapped, he'd be in big trouble.

"Firing sims." Ezra indicated the weapons belt slung over his shoulder. He didn't waste words, already aware he was poking the beast on this one. "Wanna join?"

Thrawn eyed him, and Ezra saw the faintest indication of a snarl on his lips that came and went almost imperceptibly. "I do not want your pity."

"Pity?" Ezra shook his head. "Look, I don't know what happened, I-" Well, that wasn't quite true. He knew something had happened, he just didn't know the details. Except that Thrawn was clearly reeling from some emotional blow Ivant had dealt him, and everything he'd been talking to Vah'nya about had unironically come true.

"And there it is," The Chiss hissed, reading Ezra's face. "I wish to be alone," He snapped, already toggling the door controls.

Ezra caught it with a hand, reversing the hydraulic mechanism with the Force before Thrawn could turn away.

"Look, I don't pity you,” The Jedi began sharply. “I'm your friend, and I care." He sighed. "If you want to continue slamming things around alone, fine. But you could go shoot something in the sim rooms and that's got to be way more satisfying with a lot less consequence."

"Is that what you do when you are distressed about this sort of thing?"

Ezra's eyebrows went up. "Listen, my teenage years were one big 'ol nightmare, in case you forgot. The girl I liked had just discovered she wasn't into guys." He finished with an innocent shrug.

"Sabine Wren," Thrawn said.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Ezra waved Thrawn's words away like they were a bad joke. "It was obvious to everybody but me. You probably saw it in her art."

"The colors she used in her later pieces were more indicative of self discovery," Thrawn mused, but the human didn't take offense.

Ezra laughed. "Well, if you ever want to hear a hilarious story about your ex-enemy's colossal failure at romance, you let me know." He stepped back, and angled his hands down, indicative that he wouldn't try to stop Thrawn this time if that's what he chose.

Thrawn eyed him carefully for a brief moment, considering. Then, his shoulders relaxed infinitesimally. Ezra considered it a victory. "The sims on the lower levels will be unoccupied at this part of the shift."

"Sounds good to me," Ezra said. He didn't look over Thrawn's shoulder at the chaos that had befallen his belongings, politely ignoring the wreckage the Chiss would have to set to rights later on. He couldn’t, however, help but notice the cracked screen of the datapad on the ground in the doorway, beside Thrawn's left foot. "Do we need to stop at the quartermaster on the way back?"

"My datapad is fine, Bridger."

"Right." He seemed less than convinced, but didn't argue. "Well, if it's not, I think I have an extra one."

Before he took a step, Thrawn glanced down at it. With a nudge of his foot, it skittered to the side. The screen flickered pitifully. "Perhaps,” He relented, “We should visit the quartermaster afterall."

Ezra cracked a smile. "Probably wouldn't hurt."

It had been a moment of miscalculation. At least, that's what Thrawn told himself. After all, what else could it be? It was as if he had been speaking Galactic Basic and Vanto had been speaking Sy Bisti. The translations were similar, but not equal, not entirely. Each language had its own nuances, own minute, tiny discrepancies. Undercurrents. Hidden meanings.

And, most importantly, to his shame, they had been on the bridge, of all places. Otherwise devoid of crew or not, the entire situation had been so vastly inappropriate. If a subordinate had approached him in this manner, he wouldn't have been half as kind. Or kind at all, really. The thought of it brought a rare heat to his cheeks.

Thankfully, his only company at the present was one very overprotective human Jedi who could not see the subtle glow in infrared, and was too distracted by his current simulation to note the mildest purple tint to Thrawn's cheeks, to see the evidence of his shame manifest.

What had come over him? It was not as though he were a fool. He understood desire, though he had not felt it in a long, long time. He would not have acted, he knows, if he did not think his feelings - feelings he was only just understanding the depths of, himself - were reciprocated.

But they were not.

Frankly, he should not feel as surprised as he did to find it so. It was one thing to be forgiven for his transgressions. Returning his feelings was something… other. Something more than Thrawn deserved. After all, Eli might be grateful for the end results of his manipulation, but it was manipulation all the same. As such, Thrawn could hardly blame the younger man for not being similarly interested in him, considering.

But he had cared for Vanto for a long time. Perhaps loved him for nearly as long, too. Hindsight was a valuable tool, but feelings were intricate, crystalline and fragile. And now, in his position, Vanto had to put his command, his duty first. Thrawn understood that as well.

He raised his weapon and unloaded an obscene amount of plasma upon the targets as they appeared. The smell of ozone, the smoky aftertaste of violent discharge did help.

It didn't change the way his chest felt heavy, or the way his mind seemed to cycle through possibilities, producing increasingly infuriating irrationalities, though, and after a third, flawless run of the console's most difficult offering he growled, holstering his weapon.

At this, Ezra stopped. He stepped back, then turned to look at Thrawn. "The Jedi part of me is supposed to give you some sage life advice, I'm sure," He said carefully. "But I've gotta be honest with you. There's nothing I can say to make it better. It just karking sucks."

"I have never-" Thrawn shook his head, as if surprised to find himself in this moment, as if waking up from a dream. Of all the individuals to have this conversation with, he thought sardonically. At least the Jedi was well-intending. Having this conversation with his brother, for instance, would have been far more mortifying. "I do not make these sort of… miscalculations," He said, scathingly.

"You're not perfect, Thrawn. I know that might be surprising to you, but you're not. And that's not a bad thing."

The Chiss looked away from the Jedi's clear blue gaze and ignored his comments entirely. "You clearly got over your previous… infatuation," He said, uncomfortably. "How?"

Ezra looked more uncomfortable than gloating. "Have you never-"

"Of course I have," Thrawn snapped. This entire situation was absurd. And yet, this was the only human for… well, aside from Eli, he might be one of fewer than a hundred in the Unknown Regions, not to mention the only other one within the Ascendancy's ranks of (reasonable trustworthiness), at that. He was a resource, as loathe as Thrawn was to admit he needed the assistance. "But not," He sighed. "Nothing like this."

"Okay. Well, I don't know how Chiss do it, but I kind of let it out…” As if realizing exactly what kind of admission he’s about to lay before Thrawn, he flushes. “I, uh, I don't think - if you'd want me to explain to you now teenage humans do things-"

"I get the idea," Thrawn gestured, leaning back towards the side of absurdity. He could be this brat's parent, he thought, swearing mentally. Jedi wisdom be damned.

"W-well, okay. Look. It sucks. I'm guessing it's worse since you're always right and this time you weren't-" He ducked his head at Thrawn's very displeased glare. "I'm also guessing anyone else you ever saw was either some military fling to blow off steam, no strings attached, or someone who liked you and you got bored quickly." Ezra looked expectant.

"The Force told you that?"

"Nah. We're both warm blooded. Besides, you can't be that old."

Thrawn's eyebrows went up in a sinister arch. "Remind me again how we've gone this long without killing each other?"

Ezra's shrug was over the top. "I'd say it's because we needed each other to survive, but you keep me around for the comedy."

"Right," Thrawn growled, not willing to argue that ridiculous point. "Your point, Bridger?"

"My point is that it sucks for now, sure, but it'll fade. Sabine and I worked through it. Now she's like a sister to me. Maybe Vanto could be like a brother to you."

Thrawn clenched his fists.

"Or," Ezra said carefully, recognizing the sharp snap of the Chiss’s frustration, his miserable anger, "He could come around. I mean, you were on the bridge."

"While I realize you're trying to soften the blow, I do not believe either outcome to be remotely achievable."

"Well," The Jedi shrugged. "If you want, I can talk to my sources and see what they think."

"Absolutely not," Thrawn said. "If it does not happen of his own volition, I'll not have it happen at all. Perhaps in this instance it is best I come to terms with swift and utter defeat."

Ezra tried to argue, but it was clear that Thrawn was finished listening.

#thranto #mitth'raw'nuruodo #vah'nya #un'hee #eli vanto #ezra bridger #eli vanto/thrawn #sw fanfiction #my writing

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pafsplayground · 4 years

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OKAY WELL I REALLY WANT TO RANT ABOUT MY OCS SO YEAH Y'ALL HAVE TO SIT THROUGH THIS FOR A BIT

Page is super self conscious, that's why he's literally the only one in his immediate family who wears a mask.

Lil Meg was found rummaging in the trash by Jiri, she immediately bit Jiri's wings upon being picked up.

The last time Twist had more than two airheads they almost broke their leg after forgetting that their hand isn't attached to their body and tried to dangle from a tree. They were not allowed candy since.

Claymore LOVES coffee. It doesn't have the same effect to him as it does to others (cuz hes an alien) but he likes it.

Kinda obvious but Claymore smells like clay.

Page has a strawberry garden in his and Twist's backyard.

Fluff brings Claymore coffee from the Cafe whenever she visits her brothers.

Jiri, who started as just my internet persona, is now considered a universe jumping being. This is why she plays a roll in Lil Meg meeting Page and Twist despite not technically belonging in their universe.

Tove and Fluff have been friends since 7th grade.

Draca likes all meat EXCEPT for turkey, for some reason. Nobody knows why but that's the ONLY meat she won't eat. She is why ham is present at family dinners during this universe's version of thanksgiving.

Yes, they have a different version of thanksgiving in this world.

Lee, Hunter's daughter, plays Smash Bros and mains Kirby.

She has also completed every run in Undertale. Including all the neutral endings.

Fluff likes musicals. Her current favourite is The Lightning Thief musical. Totally not just me projecting on my own characters

Draca struggled with her sexuality for a while because she was never introduced to the concept of sexuality (not her mom's fault, you can't expect a dragon to think it's important to specify. Her mom is very supportive.)

Probably cursed but in this universe the Cats musical is called Humans and Humans (2019) is just as cursed as Cats (2019).

Fluff makes great smoothies.

Hunter has a Reddit account SOLELY because he frequents r/roastme. He's very well known there.

Lee has TONS of Worms-on-strings. She sells them for two dollars a worm at school. She has multiple packs of thirty sitting in her closet.

Fluff loves buying succulents. She has three on her nightstand.

While Fluff has a green thumb, Draca has a black thumb of death. She can't even water a plant without killing it.

Draca is lactose intolerant.

Which is a real shame because she loves cheesecake.

Fluff's tail gets REALLY heavy after a shower and she spends 30 minutes after showering using a blow dryer on it.

Lee has Minecraft pajamas. Tons of them. More than just the Enderman onesie.

Amari has a tiktok account with 10k followers.

Hunter does his best to be a good dad to Lee. He goes all out on birthday decorations and themes.

The Boone-Kless family get together once a month for DnD. Draca's mom hosts for the atmosphere, she also roleplays the bbeg because it hits different when a 50 foot long dragon is the one monologuing.

Lee has ADHD and uses fidget toys and sensory stuff.

Page loves trail mix.

There is literally no reason for twist to not have an arm I just decided why not and gave them a floating hand and no arms. Their twin sister is perfectly normal.

Oh yeah they have a twin sister.

While uncle Alistair could have raised the Boone kids, he was already dealing with 2 year old Adya and Twist so he didn't want an infant and a six year old to worry about.

The Boone kids were raised by grandma and grandpa Uroe instead.

Fluff was 4 and Hunter was 9 when they found Claymore and his little crash site. (I'll talk about Claymore's story in a separate post.)

Lee WILL talk your ear off about her special interests.

Despite everyone in this universe being furries, pets do still exist. It's like a monkey-human situation.

Fluff wants a pet snake.

Both Fluff and Page are eggnog monsters. During the holidays, it's best to get your cup before they even know it's in the house or you won't get any.

Draca is a great cook. Fluff on the other hand, is better at baking.

Page and Fluff bond over baking.

As much as she loves the latte art Fluff can do, Lee is no longer allowed more than one (1) cup of coffee a week.

Nobody knows why Hunter and Fluff's parents had a hit on them. It's a cold case.

Hunter has nightmares about his parents.

Hunter made some mistakes as a teen and as a result, is a single dad. Lee's mom wasn't a nice person. He blames himself.

Draca can breathe fire but she doesn't use it often. When she gets tired, little puffs of smoke come out of her nose.

Switching universes for a sec, the largest age gap between the Test Subjects is 3 years (Sty 13, Carmen 16)

The youngest known subject was 9 but the "researchers" felt like they were too annoying and stubborn to deal with.

The current youngest known subject is 12. They are not central to the story. If it's any consolation, the Test Subjects do end up busting out the others eventually.

The Test Subjects were captive for 2 years. Adam was 13. Cam was 13. Sty was 10 (and a half!).

After busting out; Adam, Cam, and Sty helped Carmen out. As a result, freeing Julie as well.

Julie is an asshole and never gets redeemed in any way. She manipulated and took advantage of Carmen and deserves what she gets.

Not a single main character in The Test Subjects is straight. Not one.

Adam is aro ace.

Cam is an ace lesbian.

Sty is a demi boy (they/them and he/him) and gay.

Carmen is a lesbian.

Julie is.... Well.... She's Julie. She doesn't care. She's pan, I guess.

Cam spent MONTHS stumbling around before Adam and Sty just went "nope, we are GETTING you a cane"

The "researchers" didn't give two shits about the subjects comfort or pain. They'd regularly perform horrible stitching and this resulted in them just saying "if it bothers you so much, fix it yourself".

Basically the subjects performed surgery on each other to PROPERLY stitch up whatever transplants they had.

They also bandaged them poorly, so the subjects would have their "roommates" fix it.

The rooms they were kept in had one "bed" that they either fought over or took turns on.

They weren't kept in the best condition is what I'm saying.

Carmen is the mom friend of the group.

If I could draw it right, Carmen would have a lip piercing. We'll have to settle for earrings for now.

On the topic of piercings, Draca would definitely have an eyebrow piercing if her scales didn't get in the way.

Speaking of Draca, she was a very rebellious teenager. One time she graffitied a huge green dragon on the side of a building that cut down a ton of trees in front of her mom's cave.

Speaking of Draca's mom, she's bisexual and currently dating a Sapper named Trix.

Back to the dnd thing, here are their most played classes.

Draca tends to play barbarians or paladins. Real tank-y classes.

Fluff plays druid or sorcerer.

Claymore likes playing bard.

Hunter tends to go for rangers.

Twist likes playing a wild mage.

Page prefers wizards or warlocks.

When they let her play, Lee plays a Cleric.

Mipos, Draca's mom, never told Draca what kind of dragon they are.

Lee decorates her room with stickers and posters.

These are the Boone-Kless fam's current PCs

#judy talks #judy's art #judy's ocs #headcanons #headcanon dump #canon facts #ocs #oc #original character #ask to tag #original characters #original story

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sinsiriuslyemo · 4 years

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Happy new year, dearest readers! Let’s start off the new year with a little Rabastian!

10. 2014

DECEMBER 30, 2013

“That was hilarious,” Sebastian said with a grin as he and Rafael walked out of the Walter Kerr theater.

After he’d gotten out of yet another pretrial motion filed by William Lewis’ lawyer, Rafael had been anxious to go see a show with the pianist that had been on his mind the entire day. He’d gone home to change and walked to Sebastian’s apartment. Upon seeing the musician, Rafael instantly felt the day’s tension leave his shoulders.

“Jefferson Mays has never disappointed me,” he said as Sebastian’s hand naturally found his and laced their fingers together.

“I know, he is so amazing, I’d watch him in just about anything,” the pianist replied. “And the fact that he played all those roles--”

“--Oh, I know, he was brilliant,” Rafael said, holding up a hand to hail a cab.

“Thanks again for bringing me,” Sebastian replied, gently squeezing the other man’s hand and dropping a kiss on his lips.

“It was my pleasure,” Rafael said with a smile as they got into a cab.

“You hungry?”

“Yes, actually,” Rafael answered.

"What do you think, Italian?" Sebastian looked over at Rafael, who had slightly curled his top lip as he tilted his head to one side. "Okay, sushi?" The musician laughed at the grin of approval that graced the prosecutor's lips before he turned to the driver and gave him an address. He looked back to Rafael. "You're adorable when you speak with your expressions, you know that?"

"You're adorable, period," Rafael answered, sliding his gloved fingers between Sebastian's.

Ever since their first sexual experience together Christmas Day-night, he'd found himself thinking more and more about he and Sebastian planning a future together. He would often picture coming home to the musician working at his piano while a roast cooked in the oven. Or waking up to the feel of the other man's lips against his neck. He was well into a fantasy of he and Sebastian taking a trip around the world together when the pianist spoke again.

"Hey, listen, I was wondering...you spending New Years Eve with your family?" the musician asked, pulling him from his fantasies.

"No, I usually just spend it at home," Rafael answered. "Why?"

"Well, Casper and I usually spend it at his place and since Katie's living there now, I was hoping that maybe you would want to come too." The pianists eyes shifted nervously to their joined hands before coming back up to meet his own.

A slow smile came to Rafael's face as he shifted slightly to look at Sebastian. "You want me to spend New Years Eve with you?"

"Yeah, I-I know it's kinda last minute...I wasn't even sure if I should ask you, I mean...we've only been seeing each other a short--"

"--Stop," Rafael said softly, his easy smile stretching his lips. "I'd love to ring in the new year with you, Sebastian."

The pianist mirrored his grin and leaned forward to press a chaste kiss to his lips as the cab stopped at their destination. Paying for the cab, Sebastian tugged on Rafael's hand and they walked into the sushi bar together.

"You really spend New Years Eve by yourself?" he asked Rafael in a gentle voice after they'd been seated by the hostess.

The prosecutor bobbed his shoulders, opening the menu. "I usually have work to keep me busy. My mom has always said I could come with her to my aunt's house but...crime never sleeps, apparently. And my aunt lives in Kew Gardens, my mom usually spends the night. I have to work the following day, so…"

"Well, this year, you'll only be a few blocks away from home. No excuse. And no work either. We can leave early if need be, if you really need to get some work done, but while we're at Casper and Katie's, I want you to relax and have fun, deal?"

Rafael's lips stretched into a closed-mouth smile as he nodded. "Deal."

"Good."

"So Casper and Katie live together? How long have they been dating?"

Sebastian rolled his eyes. "Ugh, don't get me started on that. According to Casper, they're 'roommates'." He brought his fingers up to make air quotes as he again rolled his eyes. "And yet they've been sleeping in the same room and fucking for the last seven months. Oh and Katie definitely wants more. Casper's the neanderthal."

"Ugh," Rafael answered in a grimace.

"I know."

"Why hasn't he--"

"--I don't know," Sebastian replied with a chuckle, shaking his head as he looked down at the menu. "I told him he's a commitment-phobe. It's a shame, too, Katie's a good woman."

"Well, to be patient with that arrangement, I'd say she's a downright saint."

"Tell me about it," Sebastian said. "I told him last week he needs to shit or get off the pot. It's time, and the girl's earned the girlfriend title by now."

"I agree with that," Rafael replied. "Speaking of friends, I finally talked to Liv about the dinner party thing."

Sebastian looked up, setting his menu down. "And?"

"She said she didn't think I would go with all the other detectives there, and she apologized for making the assumption."

"See? I bet you feel better after talking to her," Sebastian said.

"I do actually. You were right," Rafael answered, smirking at the pianist.

"I'm glad. She seems nice. She doing any better after the...thing you were talking about?"

"She is...but the trial's coming up next week, I'm not sure she's ready to face him."

"Trial? What happened to her?" Sebastian asked. "Was she…"

Rafael sighed as he shook his head, brows raised on his forehead. "She says no, but I...I honestly don't know. I think she would've told me if he had. But even if he didn't, he still abducted her for three days...tortured her…he would've killed if she hadn't--"

His jaw clenched as he thought about the photos of Liv from the hospital, sleep-deprived, beaten and traumatized. He shook his head, trying to keep those images from tainting his evening with Sebastian. As if on cue, the musician reached across the table and placed a hand over his.

"Sounds to me like the guy deserves to fry," Sebastian said. "And I don't even believe in the death penalty."

"You don't?" Rafael replied indignantly, looking up at the pianist with his brows in waves.

Sebastian was a little taken back by his response, inching away from him slightly. "No...does that bother you?"

"For animals like William Lewis, I wish a firing squad were still an option," Rafael answered. "Some people deserve to die."

"That may be true, but who the hell are we to decide who lives and dies? The death penalty makes us just as bad as they are. Worse, actually...we bring in people to watch it go down."

"Your own mother was murdered, you wouldn't want to see the guy responsible pay for what he did?" Rafael asked, biting down on his tongue after the words had escaped his lips. The musician pulled his hand away and leaned back against his chair as Rafael shook his head and lowered his eyes, mouth hanging open. "I'm sorry, that was...outta line, I'm sor--"

"--You're right, it was outta line," the pianist replied.

Rafael could see a mixture of hurt and anger swirling in the blue of the other man's eyes and he lowered his own gaze, silently cursing his big mouth. He supposed it was only a matter of time before his words would work against him. It certainly hadn't been the first time he'd said something he immediately regretted thereafter. His tongue, however sharp and effective in a courtroom, may very well have just ruined the one good thing in his life.

Swallowing the lump that had begun to form in his throat, he inhaled silently and deeply, pursing his lips before he again reached across the table and looked up Sebastian, who now appeared to either be holding back tears or trying to keep himself from throttling the prosecutor. Maybe both.

"Sebastian, I'm so sorry. I wasn't thinking, I..." The lawyer shook his head and bit down on his bottom lip, a small form of punishment, which paled in comparison to the offense. "I never should've said that."

The musician simply continued to stare at him as their server came to take their orders. It was then that Sebastian broke eye contact and looked up at her with a small smile before he gave her his order. Rafael followed suit, though instead of a polite smile he looked more like a child who'd been caught misbehaving. Only after she'd left did Sebastian speak again, this time directing his words to Rafael.

"I need to know you're not gonna use that against me every time we disagree," he said.

"No," Rafael answered immediately, shaking his head for good measure. "I promise you, it'll never happen again. I'm so sorry, Sebastian."

Sebastian nodded. "Okay," he whispered. "And just for the record, I never said that I wouldn't want my mother's killer to pay. It's just that my idea of vengeance is a lot darker than just a needle in the arm."

"It's justice, not vengeance," Rafael said with a frown.

Sebastian shook his head. "It's a quick fix for us and giving them the easy way out. I'd want to know that every morning I get to wake up, free as a bird, while he rots in a cell for the rest of his life. I'd want the option to be able to go to whatever prison he's in and watch him rot. Watch him suffer knowing he'll never see daylight again. The man who killed my mom doesn't get to rest in peace. I'd want him to live a long, miserable life in a four by four cell with nothing but time to think about everyone he ever hurt."

Rafael regarded the pianist with soft eyes as he picked up his water and took a sip while his eyes roamed their surroundings.

"They changed the lighting in here, I think," he said as his eyes once again settled on Rafael.

Smiling softly, the ADA reached across the table and laid a hand over the musician's forearm until he met Rafael's gaze.

"You're such a good man," he said.

Sebastian snorted softly. "I'm a good man because I want some piece of shit to suffer?"

"A piece of shit who would deserve to suffer. A piece of shit who took something from you that can never be replaced...but still you would spare his life. That's what makes you a good man. Most people would let him die. Want him to die."

Smirk tugging at his lips, Sebastian shrugged. "I'm not most people."

"I know," Rafael replied, using his thumb to stroke over the musician's hair-covered forearm.

"I think we just had our first fight," Sebastian said after a moment.

"Yeah, thanks to my big mouth," Rafael answered, lowering his eyes again.

"I love your mouth," the pianist said, turning his palm to face the ceiling, waiting for the lawyer's hand to slide over it. "Most of the time," he added with a teasing smirk.

Grinning back, Rafael brought the pianist hand up to place a firm kiss on his knuckles as in his mind he answered, I think I love you.

DECEMBER 31, 2013

Sebastian checked himself over in the mirror one last time after he heard the short rapping on the door, which he assumed was Rafael. They'd decided to meet up at Sebastian's and then go to Casper and Katie's together. Taking a deep breath, he tried to slow his racing heart by focusing on his breathing. Why was he so nervous? He and Rafael had been seeing each other for almost five months, they'd been on countless dates together, but never had they hung out with other people for an evening, least of all another couple and close friends of Sebastian's to boot.

It'll be fine, you idiot. Just open the door so he doesn't think you ditched him.

Clearing his throat, he took long strides to his front door and opened it to find Rafael in a pink polo shirt under a tan jacket and jeans, carrying a bottle of expensive-looking champagne. The musician couldn't help the grin that formed on his face as his eyes drank in the sight of the ADA over and over again.

"Wow. You look so good," he finally said, stepping aside to let the other man in as he gestured to the bottle. "You didn't have to bring anything."

"My mother taught me to never show up at someone's home without something in your hand," Rafael answered, closing the space between them to plant a kiss on the pianist's lips. "You look handsome, too."

Looking down at his fitted white thermal and dark stained jeans, Sebastian smoothed a hand over his shirt before his eyes came back up to meet Rafael's. "I may just say fuck it and keep you all to myself tonight."

"Well, you'll have me all to yourself later," the prosecutor replied, smirking suggestively as he laid another kiss on Sebastian's pout.

"Oh, no work this year?" the pianist teased.

"I had a reason to get it all done this afternoon," Rafael said.

There was no stopping the warmth that crept up Sebastian's neck at the thought of Rafael making sure to clear his evening just for him. As if he hadn't already had thoughts of Rafael coming home to him after a hard day in court, now he was fighting the urge to mentally plan their wedding.

"Should we go?" Sebastian asked, grabbing his jacket and putting it on.

"Yes," Rafael replied. "So is this the first holiday Katie and Casper are spending together, too?"

"They were...whatever they are for this past 4th of July, so, not exactly. But it is coming up on nine months they've been fucking." Sebastian locked the door behind him and followed Rafael downstairs and onto the sidewalk.

"You should just call it what it is," Rafael replied with a smirk. "They're dating. Who knows, maybe if you say it enough times, Casper will finally start referring to her as his girlfriend."

The pianist laughed as his fingers naturally laced with those of Rafael's while they walked up the street towards Casper and Katie's apartment building. The streets were relatively clear, the large majority of the city either at a New Years Eve party or in the restaurants that were scattered around The Village. No true New Yorker ever went near Times Square when they could have a far more comfortable view of the Rockin Eve festivities from their couch or on a rooftop.

"That's not a bad idea," Sebastian said. "Who knows, he may not even notice."

"How long have you known him?"

"Since we were, like, twelve. He lived in the building across the street from mine," Sebastian replied. "How about you and Olivia? How long have you guys known each other?"

"A little over a year now. Basically from the time I started working with Manhattan SVU. She's probably the closest thing I have to a friend left. The only other person that I would still consider a friend is...going through some things. I'm not sure if things will ever be the same between us," Rafael replied.

"What happened?"

Rafael sighed heavily, forcing a smile on his face as he looked over at Sebastian. "Alex Muñoz happened."

"That whole thing that went down a couple months back?"

Rafael nodded as they both came to a stop at the corner of the block. "We were all friends as kids. Alex had the looks, Eddie was the muscle and I was the mouth, of course."

"Course you were," Sebastian answered with a smirk, gently bumping the ADA's hip with his own.

Snorting softly, Rafael rolled his eyes just as the white figure appeared on the light across the street, indicating they could safely cross. "Eddie and I always had a special bond. A kind of unspoken connection...and we both always followed Alex. Until I went off to Harvard, Eddie stayed with Alex in the South Bronx, even became his bodyguard when he got into politics."

"So he was probably privy to a lot of the not so kosher shit Alex was doing."

Rafael nodded. "He was. He almost went to prison because of Alex."

"Why didn't he?"

"Because I convinced him to make a deal," Rafael answered in a barely audible voice. "He has a son, a mother to look after. Single dad, he's their only income. And I have no idea what he's gonna do now that Alex has been indicted. That whole ordeal just...it made me feel like a bad friend for leaving him."

Sebastian's thumb idly stroked over the glove covered skin between Rafael's knuckles. "You helped him stay outta prison, Raf. That sounds like a pretty great friend to me."

The corner of Rafael's lips curled upward slightly, his eyes lowered towards the sidewalk. He had never seen the prosecutor look so sad as when he talked about his childhood friends, and all Sebastian wanted to do at that moment was kiss every bad memory away.

"You should invite him to the club some night," he suggested, giving Rafael's hand a squeeze.

"I don't know," the ADA answered in a sigh.

"If he took your advice, that means he values your opinion...and with Alex gone, I'm sure he could use a friend he knows he can count on," Sebastian said as he streered them towards the entrance of a six story building. "Think about it."

Nodding gently, Rafael smiled at Sebastian as they walked to the elevator and waited for the doors to open. "I will."

"Good," the pianist answered, pulling his hand out of Rafael's to wind the arm around his waist. "Because I can't tell you just how badly I wanna hear all about what you were like as a kid."

Rafael laughed, letting his head fall back as he leaned into the other man's frame. "I can tell you. I was a nerd. Older kids in the neighborhood used to beat me up, take my lunch money. Eddie put a stop to that."

"Well then he sounds like a pretty great friend, too."

"He is," Rafael replied.

They stepped into the elevator and Sebastian hit the button for the fourth floor. "We're supposed to be getting a lot of snow in the next couple days."

"Yeah, I am not looking forward to that," Rafael replied in a sigh. "The commute to work is gonna be a nightmare."

"I can't say I envy you," Sebastian answered with a smirk. "That's probably the easiest part about my job, short commute."

"Your job must be nice. You get to play music all night, relaxed setting."

"It's got its difficulties like any other job. Mostly just people who drink a little too much and make asses of themselves. Doesn't happen too often, but still. Plus, it can get a little difficult to keep the sets fresh every night. There are only so many songs that are compatible with a piano arrangement."

"I, for one, wouldn't care if you played the same song on a loop every night. Your voice is so beautiful," Rafael answered, leaning his forehead against Sebastian's temple.

Turning his head to stare into the prosecutor's emerald eyes, Sebastian grinned and closed the space between them just as the elevator dinged softly and the doors began to slide open again.

"THEY'RE HERE!" he heard Katie yell.

Breaking their kiss, Sebastian turned his head to see the petite brunette standing in the hallway with a beer.

"Jesus Christ, woman. What the hell are you doing?" he asked. "You started without us?" He gestured to the bottle in her hand as he and Rafael got out of the elevator and walked towards her.

"Casper didn't think you guys would make it. I knew you would," she answered, leading them both inside.

"Shit," Casper muttered when he saw the two men walk in behind Katie.

"What a way to greet your guests, you animal," Sebastian mused as he took off his winter gear.

"I thought for sure you guys were gonna end up staying at your place so you could bang, if I'm being honest," Casper said with a bob of his shoulders. "I mean, you know, New Years Eve, fireworks and shit."

"Whoa, fancy," Katie said, her eyes on the bottle in Rafael's hand.

"Oh, yes, here. I brought this for us to toast to a new year," the prosecutor said, handing the bottle to Katie.

"Wow! Champagne," Katie replied with a grin. "Thank you, that's so nice. I'll go put it in the kitchen."

"Champagne, huh?" Casper chimed, nodding as the corners of his mouth turned down in appreciation. He looked up at Sebastian. "I like him."

Rafael chuckled as he, too, took off his winter coat, gloves and scarf.

"So what have you two lovebirds been doing?" Sebastian teased.

Casper rolled his eyes as Katie answered, "Oh just hanging around. By the way," she turned her gaze to Casper as she came back into the living room, "you owe me ten bucks."

"Yeah, yeah," Casper replied, reaching into his pocket and digging a ten dollar bill out of his wallet.

"He bet you guys would end up cancelling and staying at your place to bone," she explained to Rafael and Sebastian.

The pianist turned to look at the prosecutor. "See? What'd I tell you? Animal."

Rafael laughed softly before he looked back at Katie. "He means thank you for inviting us over."

"Aw, you're doing that thing where these two act like total idiots," she gestured to Sebastian and Casper, "but you and I are totally on the same page."

"We're standing right here," Casper said with furrowed brows.

Katoe paid him no mind. "Do you guys want some snacks? We've got some cheese I can cut up and crackers."

"Sure," Sebastian answered.

"Do you want some help?" Rafael asked.

Katie's eyes lit up. "I would love some help, thank you, Rafael."

Sebastian watched Katie and the ADA walk into the kitchen as he and Casper sat down on the couch, the latter reaching into a small cooler for a bottle of beer to hand off to Sebastian. The pianist couldn’t help but chuckle as he took the offering. “Something wrong with your fridge?”

“No, this is just easier, I don’t have to get up. So, this is getting pretty serious between you two, huh?” the scrawny man asked, leaning back against the cushions.

“I don’t know if I would say that just yet, but things are going really well,” Sebastian answered. “How about you and your girlfriend?” he asked with a smirk, remembering the conversation with Rafael on the way over to their apartment.

“Oh, I mean, same ole. She really liked the bathrobe, you were right,” Casper replied. “Think I’m gonna--wait a sec, did you call her my girlfriend? She’s not my girlfriend.”

“Right,” Sebastian mumbled, taking a sip of his beer. “So she liked the bathrobe?”

“Yeah.”

“I told you she would,” Sebastian said, grinning. “Hey, I’ve been thinking...I think I wanna take Raf to meet Edna. What do you think?”

“Five months in?”

“No, not right away, but I was thinking maybe for Valentine’s Day we could stop Uptown to see her and he could meet her then,” Sebastian replied.

“And you say it’s not getting serious.” Casper smirked, rolling his eyes and taking a sip from his beer. “Have you met anyone from his world yet?”

“Yeah, I met one of his coworkers one night while we were out.”

“Did you meet her there or did you just happen to run into her?” Casper asked.

“We just ran into her, but Raf still introduced me.”

“I don’t know, man,” Casper mumbled.

“What? He just happened to meet you guys down at the piano bar. That wasn’t planned.”

Casper tilted his head to one side. “That’s true.”

Katie and Rafael came back into the living room with a platter of cheese and crackers, laughing at one thing or another as they set the platter and small plates on the coffee table. For a moment, Sebastian could imagine that the four of them had been together for years and that this was their tradition every New Years. It was a nice thought, especially when accompanied by the image of him and Rafael going home together, falling asleep together.

“So how was the show last night, guys?” Katie asked as she sat down next to Casper, who instinctively put an arm around her shoulders.

“Oh God, it was amazing,” Rafael answered, looking to Sebastian as he too sat down.

“Yeah, Jefferson Mays knocked it out of the park, as usual. You guys should go see it if you get a chance to, it was so good,” the pianist agreed.

“Well, I wanna go see it, but you know Mr. I-Don’t-Watch-Theatre over here,” she answered, as she pointed to Casper with her thumb.

“I just don’t like the crowds,” Casper said, shoulders bobbing.

“This is a really small theatre, so it’s actually perfect for someone who prefers smaller crowds,” Rafael offered, leaning against Sebastian when the musician draped an arm over the back of the sofa behind him.

Casper seemed to consider it for a moment before he idly nodded. “Yeah, okay. Maybe we’ll go then.”

Katie looked pleasantly surprised. “We gotta keep you around Rafael. I never thought it would be that easy to convince him to go see a show.”

“Happy to help,” the ADA answered.

“Hey, let’s play a game!” Katie suggested, handing Rafael a beer from the cooler. “I got Cards Against Humanity from my grandma and I think we might have Jenga somewhere.”

“That sounds great,” Rafael chimed.

“I’ll go get them!” Katie replied, shooting up from her seat excitedly and disappearing down the hall.

For the next couple of hours, they played games while waiting for the time to tick closer to midnight, and Sebastian couldn’t shake the feeling of it all being so...normal. As if they’d been doing this for years with Casper and Katie. Every so often they would meet eyes and share a smile at one another and Sebastian couldn’t remember the last time he’d been so happy. He hoped it would last for the rest of their lives.

Eleven fifty-five came in no time at all it seemed, and Casper suggested they all go to the rooftop to watch the ball drop, just as he and the pianist had done every year. Opening the bottle of champagne that Rafael had brought, they poured four glasses out and began to make their way to the top of the building.

“I can’t believe you can actually see the ball from here,” Katie mused as Casper propped open the emergency exit that led to the roof.

“I mean, it’s not a perfect view, but you can see it as it reaches five seconds left,” Casper answered, leading them to the perfect spot for the best vantage point. Looking down at his watch, he started off the countdown. “Ten, nine, eight…”

“Thank you for inviting me,” Rafael mumbled into Sebastian’s ear before he planted a gentle kiss on the skin beneath the lobe.

“Thanks for coming,” Sebastian mumbled back with a warm smile.

“Three, two, one...HAPPY NEW YEAR!”

With his heart filled to brim with joy, Sebastian closed the space between them and pressed his lips against those of the ADA’s, keeping their foreheads pressed together when, after a few moments of bliss, their lip lock broke. From the corner of his eye, he could see a bright flash and turned to look at Katie, who was holding up her cellphone, pointed at the two of them.

"Sorry, you guys are just so cute together, I literally want to put you both in a frame and keep you always," Katie said.

"When would they pee?" Casper asked, earning a chuckle from Sebastian and Rafael.

“Katie, would you send that to me, please?” Rafael asked.

“Yeah, of course!” Katie answered.

Sebastian couldn’t have helped it if he wanted to, and he definitely didn’t want to stop himself from falling, long and hard for the ADA at that very moment. And he didn’t even care that it might’ve been too soon to feel that way.

#rafael barba #rafael barba x male #thelawyerandthepianobar #rabastian

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istheresomebodywhocanimagine · 5 years

Text

The Call (PT. 1)

wandering-at-midnight said: Hi 😊 I just stumbled across your blog, and what I've seen so far is absolutely fantastic. ❤ I don't know if your requests are still open, or if you'll even want to write this, but I think a fic with Ben!Roger based on either "The Call" by the Backstreet Boys or "I'll be There for you" by Bon Jovi could be quite interesting. If it's not your thing, I understand. Just had to share the idea 😂

(a/n: why am I not surprised that a beat sampled in The Call was Howie D’s fart? Anyways, this is based on The Call, because even though I love Bon Jovi, the video for The Call is funny af to me. Also, I put a little twist on the end bc it’s always fun to play around w the idea a little since it seems to have multiple connotations/possible endings)

“I think I’m gonna call it,” Roger yelled above the noisy music in the club as he pulled his jacket on. Drinking the last of his pint, he stood up and fixed the collar of his jacket, Freddie and Brian groaning as they realized he was serious.

“Roger Taylor, leaving the bar before 2? I can’t believe my eyes, can you Fred?”

Brian looked at Freddie, who was shaking his head and clicking his tongue in disapproval. “What a shame. But I suppose he’s got to get home to the old ball and chain, hm?” After Roger shrugged and gave them a cheeky grin, Freddie rolled his eyes. “Don’t be a bore. Stay and do shots with us!”

He toyed with the idea, mainly because the thought of having to make his way home right now was unappetizing, especially with the boys giving him this much hell about it.

“Oh, Fred, if he wants to go home to Y/N, I guess we can let him,” Brian laughed, taking another drink of his pint. “She’s probably waiting for him, poor thing.”

“Come on, Rog?” Freddie pried, ignoring Brian completely.

“Alright, one more round, I guess,” Roger finally assented, pulling his jacket back off and resuming his spot by Deacy, who gave him a good-natured pat on the back and a knowing look. Freddie called for another round of shots, and Roger began looking around as he waited for them, wondering if you were asleep yet or not.

You hadn’t really felt tip-top earlier that day, so you bailed on going out with them and told Roger to have a good night out with the boys instead. He remembered what you’d said as he walked out, giving you a quick kiss in the doorway and smiling fondly at you. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” you had warned playfully, Roger laughing at the idea.

Obviously, it hadn’t crossed his mind to cheat on you in the earlier days of the relationship. Though his reputation as a ladies man preceded him in most situations, he’d been relatively happy just going steady with you, and you two had even moved in together once you realized Roger was never at his place anyways. But ever since you two had gotten over the honeymoon phase, you noticed Roger hiding things, avoiding questions, and staying out late some nights. It was enough to make you suspicious.

“Here we are!” Freddie yelled excitedly, the shots being lined up on the table by a server who Brian paid double, asking for another round as well. Roger almost rolled his eyes, but he knew the boys were just trying to get him to have a good time. “Alright, boys, to Queen!” Freddie said, raising his shot for a mini-cheers to their recent global success. Everyone cheered, including Roger, and took their shots, which led to another shot, and then one more for good measure.

By the third, Roger was beginning to feel the buzz he’d already had intensifying, and he talked his way out of a fourth so he could go to the toilet. It was on the way back to their table that he spotted her.

She was leaving the dance floor, her hot pants and leotard nearly nonexistent and showing off all of her assets. Roger’s jaw nearly dropped, and for the time being, he forgot you even existed. All he could think about was picking that girl up, and his one-track mind was set in motion.

Her long blonde hair flowed down over her dainty shoulders, and she looked back over said shoulders as she waited at the bar, spotting Roger, who had his eyes locked on her. The unashamed way he continued to stare when he realized she’d noticed made her smile mischievously, and she turned around to face him once he’d caught up with her.

“Hello there, gorgeous,” was all he had to say. She knew exactly who he was, of course, but he didn’t know that. He bought her one drink, and the rest was history. No dancing, no real introductions, just full-on flirting. As soon as her drink was gone, so were the reservations.

Leaning forward so that her lips were brushing against his ear, she smiled and suggested they take off. “Hey, I’ve got a little place nearby. Want to go?”

Roger, intoxicated both by the shots he’d taken earlier and the smell of her perfume when she was so close to him, chuckled at the question. “Lead the way.”

As she dragged him out of the club, the boys did finally spot him. They’d been wondering where he was off to, John suggesting that he’d maybe left and forgot his coat, but Brian noticed his stupid flowery button up being led towards the exit by a mysterious blonde in practically nothing.

“Oh, boy,” Brian muttered, John and Freddie following his line of sight just in time to see Roger exiting, his arm slinking around her waist as he whispered something in her ear that made her giggle. His blood starting to boil, Brian looked away and continued sipping his drink.

“What a bloody moron,” John said, mainly to himself, and he finished his drink before looking at Roger’s coat. “You suppose I leave it here…. No, should I hold it ransom? It’s not a bad coat, innit?” Brian nodded in agreement, and actually started looking over the coat himself, trying to ignore the horrid situation that was playing out right in front of them. Brian was always fond of how sweet you were, so this was royally pissing him off.

Freddie chuckled, shaking his head and feeling all sorts of terrible for you at this moment. “Roger’s a big boy, should we let him fuck up and tell Y/N on his own? Or do we stop it from happening?”

“Let him suffer,” Brian replied plainly, John raising an eyebrow at the malicious undertones to his voice. Freddie, on the other hand, started laughing as he realized something.

“Hold on a second, rewind here, boys,” he said, leaning forward over the table as if he had just had the biggest epiphany in the world. “We know that girl, I swear on it. Doesn’t she seem familiar?” John and Brian both ran back through what they’d just witnessed, Brian sitting back in disbelief when he came to the same realization as Freddie. John, on the other hand, was stumped.

“Who was it?” John asked, eager to be let in on the secret.

“That was Y/N’s old roommate, Maggie,” Freddie said, giving John a look that basically said ‘Roger’s a fucking moron.’ John raised an eyebrow, Brian trying not to laugh at the grave Roger was digging for himself right now. Although he loved Roger, this was his own damn fault. “Well… looks like Roger is going to have a real rough time once he sobers up tomorrow.”

He did. Upon waking up at flat he hadn’t recognized last night but completely recognized today, he panicked. In fact, he panicked so much that he left without saying a word to the blonde, Maggie, who was pouring herself tea in the kitchen.

On the way back to your apartment, he tried to run through last night as best as he can, the memories getting muddy around the time he’d tried to leave the first time. He did, however, remember spotting the gorgeous blonde leaving the dance floor, and he groaned as he realized what he’d done. “Christ, I’m a fucking arsehole,” he muttered to himself as he tried to figure out how he’d talk his way out of this situation. He really did think he loved you, but he wasn’t sure why he couldn’t just remain at your side instead of letting his eyes wander all of the time. Something wrong with his brain? There had to be, because he’d never planned on hurting you, but he had a nagging feeling that he’d really outdone his previous shit this time.

Last night, when he’d been leaving the club, he did have a (very) small redeeming moment where he remembered you and somewhat felt guilty. Stopping at a payphone, he’d called you up and almost gone back on what he was about to do once he heard your tired voice filling his eardrum. “Hello?”

“Hey, babe,” he’d said, smiling at the lovely familiarity of your voice. “It’s me, Rog, how are you?” The blonde that was waiting for him wrapped her arms around his waist from behind, her hand sneaking dangerously low as she tempted him so he’d get off the phone sooner.

“I’m good, Rog, what are you-“

“I’m sorry, listen,” he’d interrupted, his voice a bit hurried as he forgot why he’d felt guilty or called in the first place. All he could focus on was Maggie, who was toying with the button on his trousers. “I’m going to be late tonight, so don’t stay up and wait for me, okay?”

You’d paused for a moment, then sighed. “Where are you, love?”

Roger, who’d been momentarily distracted, hadn’t heard what you’d said, so he asked, “Wait, what, say that again?” After just a second of waiting, he’d shook his head. “Nevermind, I’m running out of time. Listen, we’re going to this place nearby, alright? Gotta go!” You got no ‘I love you’ or ‘see you later’ from him before he’d hung up as fast as he’d called you.

As Roger fled the apartment he’d been in many times before, unbeknownst to him, the blonde in the kitchen smiled even more mischievously than she had last night when he’d first saw her. She knew why he was panicked, and she picked up the phone, dialing the same number that he had last night.

You were already waiting for the call. Still, you answered unassumingly just in case it was Roger calling again. “Hello?”

“He’s on his way back,” Maggie said, stirring her tea slowly. “He did it.”

“That fucking prick,” you sighed, sniffling a bit as you realized he really had done it. “He didn’t recognize you, did he, Mags?”

“No, the blonde must have thrown him off.” Maggie pulled the phone away for a second to yawn, then pouted a bit. “I really am sorry, Y/N, I was sort of hoping he wouldn’t go through with it. I had hope for a second when he called you.”

“No, it’s okay, I suspected as much,” you replied, shaking your head. As upset as you were, you’d desensitized yourself to the situation quite a bit beforehand, so this was nothing compared to what you would have felt if you’d found out he was unfaithful from someone you didn’t know. “I got all his shit packed up last night, just in case. I was hoping I wouldn’t need it, but…” you trailed off, frowning and fighting back the tears.

“You deserve someone better, anyways,” Maggie said, her voice sympathetic as she searched for what to say. “What about that John bloke? He’s a sweetheart, yeah?”

You laughed at the idea, shaking your head and closing your eyes. “No, bless his heart, I couldn’t put him in that position. I do have an idea, though.”

“Well, let me know if you need anything else, sweetheart.” You agreed, and bid her a good day before hanging up and sighing. You had work to do if you were going to get his things tossed out the door before he got here.

Brian was nursing a very small headache when you called. “Hello, Brian speaking?” he’d answered, not expecting a call this early in the morning.

“Brian, hi.” His heart dropped as he heard your voice coming through the speakers of the phone, disappointment lacing your voice. “Are you busy tonight?”

“No, I don’t believe so,” he answered, sitting down in the chair next to the phone and sighing. “Um, how are you feeling this morning?” Not wanting to breach the subject directly with you, he tried to slowly work you up to it, but he didn’t have to anyways.

“Sort of rotten, but I should have expected this from Roger sooner or later,” you admitted, Brian sighing as he realized you’d found out.

“Did Maggie call you?” he asked softly, rubbing his jaw as he sat forward in the chair. Brian felt awful for you, and cursed himself for not pushing you for another date a year ago, back when you were still just Roger’s friend that came around every so often. He’d fancied you quite a bit, but then Roger showed interest, so he backed off out of politeness.

“Actually, I was the one who asked Maggie to shag him last night.” This was news to Brian, who sat in silence for a second, furrowing his eyebrows. “I think he’s been cheating on me for a while now, I just sort of wanted confirmation, I guess? I’ve really just been looking at him as a roommate since I realized he wasn’t coming home some nights for a reason.”

“Oh, Y/N, I’m so sorry,” Brian breathed out, holding his head in his hand and trying to comprehend the situation. Roger, his closest friend, cheating on you when you’d been nothing but faithful, even letting him move in with you. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me sooner, I would have beat on him for you!”

You laughed at that, and the sound of your laugh, music to his ears, made Brian smile. Both of you were quiet for a moment, then you spoke. “So, about that second date,” you implied, Brian smiling a bit more at that and closing his eyes, hardly believing what he was about to do.

“Yeah, so I’m free tonight. That works, I think. Yeah, that works!”

PT. 2 PT. 3

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ellerevelle · 5 years

Text

okay so im feeling crazy and detached again (as usual lately)

but instead of spiraling into absolute fucking panic, I’m deciding to take today to just ... not wholly subscribe to this manner of thinking BUT. JUST FOR NOW. I feel like taking some of the craziness flack off myself and blaming it on some shit outside of myself. Because feeling this weird and detached cant all just be me. So here’s a brainstorming of whats got me fucked up, in no particular order:

Trump is our stupid President

That guy who told me he loved me daily and asked me to be his girlfriend after basically living with me immediately after meeting me and I fell for hard despite a ton of red flags CHEATED on me while I was away visiting home.

And then blamed it on MY bad communication? fuck that guy.

But now I see one of the girls he slept with (multiple times, three days in a row) I see her everywhere all the time in everyones instagrams, at everyones parties... ugh.

Um. People are dying. Close to me. More importantly and spefcifically women I love are dead.

I didnt get to see Inga before she died. I was too busy forging a relationship with CHEATER GUY. Didnt get home in time to see her. Talk to her.

Grandma. This has been the whole first year without her, come November. Its subtle, but terrible and I hate it. She was my last matriarch. The last woman who’s blood is in me.

because Mom’s dead too. And has been since August of 2015. 2015, right? God it feels like forever ago now, probably because I’ve pushed it away. She died unexpectedly and NO ONE IN MY FAMILY HAS SAID THE WORD SUICIDE OUT LOUD even though thats what happened. She OD’d on prescribed opiate painkillers to escape her depression. And we NEVER talk about it.

So I kindof feel insane. Not talking about things that are clearly there. Like, are they not clearly there for anybody else? Now all my women are gone. My brother literally avoids talking about feelings. My dad is a little more receptive but is more the comforting type than the forthcoming, express onesself type. Getting sentimentality out of my brother is like pulling teeth sometimes. But yet if his son does something cute, its God’s Work and he cant help but cry and get that beautiful lovie squishy look on his face.

I’m jealous of my own nephew. I see the way my Mom loved me, in the way my Brother loves his son. And I miss being that perfect to somebody. My Dad loves me forever and always and there isnt a word for how grateful I feel for our relationship. I dont take that for granted at all. It actually kindof scares me because... hah, well what if Dad dies? Like, before I’m ready? I’ll be even MORE fucked!

Anyways. Austins been pissing me off. I’m sorry but although Polyamory is possible and cool and im sure quite beautiful for many,

The Austin poly scene is fucked and tainted and a bunch of slutty people having orgies and not TALKING about anything and its ruining the healthy vibe poly is incumbent upon.

So, whatever I’m angry. So fuck that noise.

I feel like because of cheater guy and my anger at the psuedo poly orgy sexy bullshit scene in Austin, I feel like I’ve broken up with a whole group of friends. Like, I dont want to be around any of it. I dont want to see you eat mushrooms and twerk. I dont want to see your stupid, super naked outfit. I dont think its hot you carry a flogger or can pole dance or slink around like a tarantino character. It used to be hot and thrilling and fun, when I felt like it was connected and for love and sharing and caring. But now it all just is slutty and vapid and useless and cold. Like a sad clown. And thats not sexy, its dark and desperate. *this is about both VERY particular people and broad general strokes. There are several extremely amazing friends in the scene and outskirts thereof that truly inspire me and dont fall into this catagory in my mind, although they’d probably still be angry with me for dissing things ^^ the way I just did but. fuck it, this is MY journal entry and I can be irrational if I want to.

You cant be open fucking minded ALL the time. Sometimes people really arent acting with anyones best intentions but their own. I’ve used up SO MUCH FUCKING ENERGY making myself soften and open and “woke” and trying to go with everybodys flow. And I’m exhausted and over it. I have my own principles and theres nothing wrong with having differing opinions than someone else.

All summer I’ve been feeling like I’m a bad person for not liking or not understanding this hyper sexual scene in Austin. I thought, “why am I shaming a scene thats giving me opportunity to really shine and be free?” when, in an IDEAL world, yes thats what the scene could be. But in what actually fucking unfolds -- humans SUCK and dudes SUCK and girls SUCK and everybody (especially when horny) are fucking STUUUUPIIIIIDDDD and ideals get thrown out the window! people arent nearly as “woke” as I gave them the actual credit for. Seriously. So! I’m fuckin OUTTIE!

I’ve felt broken up with a whole scene. FUck cheater guy, fuck poly, fuck orgies, fuck people who are reckless with my love.

Back to the list:

I’ve been eating too much out of boredom. Which I’ll blame on lack of quality social interaction in this town. Where are the scholars? Where are the sexy edgy BRAINY people? I’m tired of hot people in little clothing in the summer.

Ah! Another thing for the list. its been TOO FUCKING HOT OUT. FOR MONTHS. 100 DEGREES FOR MONTHS. thats enough to make anyone insane.

So i’m sick of teenie boppers in their nothing outfits in the heat.

I want old smart people in peacoats. I miss books and weather and frowns. Irritable debates about literature or physics or religious theories.

I only like my own brand of cigarettes.

My roommates are annoying me. I dont really like my house anymore. Theres too many humans and not enough square footage. Four people to one kitchen is TOO MUCH SHIT. EVERYONE BUYS THEIR OWN BANANAS AND THEY ALLLLLL GO BROWN ON THE TABLE. thats four peoples worth of bad bananas. FUcking stupid.

I dont have a hairdresser here. Sometimes when I feel shitty I like to throw money at the problem. Buy something. Get a haircut. See a show. Etc.

And my hairdresser love is in Philadelphia and getting a flight to get a haircut is slightly insane (without a longer visit)

I miss Adam.

What else can I blame my upset on. Shitty politics, shitty weather, shitty social sexual scene in my town, I dont like my house, I dont like my hair. Its too expensive to live here. No one in my immediate acquaintance or friend circle seems interested in the sort of romantic relationship I’m seeking, nor if they did does anyone have the “it” factor I look for which I’ll *try* to describe maybe in another post.

So. I sit inside my room and try to fix stupid remedial things as if itd make a big impact. I tidy and put away clothes in attempt to feel less cluttered but am too scared to make BIG cuts and BIG changes. So instead I light insence and watch netflix and eat too much. I have started going to Barre3 again more and have been semi regular with therapy so thats something.

I really ought to start doing “morning pages” like the book Fiona loaned me suggests in its FIRST GODDAMN CHAPTER. But, alas, I am lazy.

No, I have become recently lazy.

I’m spoiled. I dont do things I dont want to do. Its a major character flaw. I only push and struggle if I see worthyness in it, and lately theres been serious lack of evidence of that in, well, anything.

#depression!

so, I guess in summation- because nothing has been a WORTHWHILE struggle, EVERYTHING feels like a struggle. Humph. thats... thats not good. But it does, because i dont see the worth in a lot of goals or tasks or even relationships, (and i dont mean the greedy “what can I GET for ME out of this!” sort of b.s.) (I mean the... conserve precious energy, is this going to teach me something or help me grow as a person or bring love into my life sort of vibe) ...

when I dont think the energy expenditure is going to pay off, I dont do it. Or I do it half way or lazily or with tentative fear. I guess I could do an experiment and just do everything with HOPE and see if my energy put in will get a different result... but. like. I feel like I did that all summer and he cheated on me. And my “friends” said “dont be angry, be poly” and I couldnt call on my Mom or Grandma and so I call on eating and isolation and running away to visit home where no one cares I dont have a job. where the house is big and the air is cold and my friends are smart.

I really miss Kristian. That was one of the greatest feelings of self love in my entire life. I felt like, if someone that special noticed ME. Saw ME. Little old, semi chubby, not famous ME, and wanted me around for a couple tour dates. Then I ought to believe in myself TOO. I wanted to dance, I wanted to make art, I wanted to take photos, I wanted to be bold, I wanted to be humble, I felt so open and content with myself. I was motivated to work out, I was motivated to eat healthy and clean and small portions. It was easy. It felt so fun. I loved him. I dreamt big. My imagination was so warm and excited. My inner critic was GONE.

But he faded away. He got back with his ex. The shooting star left the sky. I’m still grateful for the experience at all, but.

I feel a little stupid for thinking anything could’ve happened.

And I truly miss feeling so special and excited about life.

I dont want to run away from Austin out of fear. But I cant tell if I’m unhappy and want to leave genuinely, or if this is the spoiled part of me thats like, “this sucks, lets leave.” instead of pushing though, curating something better with some struggle, and sticking it out.

How do people make big life decisions like this? I feel like thats what marriages do. People stay together and fight. But sometimes they get divorced anyways, its just been longer. More years wasted. When maybe it wouldve been healthier to leave sooner and cut the cord and be free to live without, sooner.

I really like a lot of things about this city. But I really dislike a lot too. And I cant tell where I want my life to go, in a grand sense, so its hard to pick which attributes will matter in the long run.

I dont think I should leave yet. Maybe a new house. Or like, serious efforts to declutter this one. Is this just excuses? Ugh.

Declutter this house. If that doesnt feel better, leave the house and move to a new part of austin. If that doesnt feel better, leave austin.

I need a job.

#fml

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creepypasta-fandom-is-trash · 6 years

Note

what is your origin story for EJ

Well…it was something like this….

Warm sun glows and glitters down onto the small boy’s head. His little knees tucked up close to his stomach, leaving only enough room for the comically large book resting in his lap. A tiny pair of glasses slip slowly down the child’s nose as his blue orbs race across the page. Small black frames contrasting wildly against his ivory colored skin and glassy eyes. Little brown curls dance down Jack’s forehead as the wind brushes softly against his frame. The scent of grass and wildflowers engulfing the boy as he frantically consumes the contents of the book under his hands.

“ In summary, the cornea is the clear, transparent front covering which admits light and begins the refractive process. It also keeps foreign particles from entering the eye,” Jack mumbles as he reads, the medical textbook weighing down his miniscule body as he squirms in place. The bark of an old oak tree scratches at the boy’s back through his red t-shirt, but that hardly bothers the freckly kid.

“Jack???” A deep, soft voice calls out from a distance “Jack, where are you??” Upon hearing his father’s voice, the boy curls up tighter in his spot, and tries to hide between the covers of the book. Heavy footsteps approach rapidly from behind him, soft worried huffing following. The sight of his father’s blue jeans out the corner of his eyes causes Jacky to shrink up further.

“I’m not here,” He whispers feebly, trying with all his 7-year-old might to hide from his father.

“Jack, what on earth have I told you about taking my textbooks?” his father crouches down besides him.

“That these are very expensive,” Jack mumbles.

“And?

"And you don’t want to lose me….” A shameful flush crosses the boy’s cheeks. “That’s right Jay,” the father scoops him up effortlessly. Naturally, Jack grumbles and squirms, trying to protest the affection from his father. Because, as all humans know, being loved by your parent is sooooo uncool when you’re in third grade.

“Dad stop,” the boy growls softly, trying to crawl out of his parent’s arms. A heavy sigh leaves the older man.

“One day you'lml wish you had a dad around,” he hums

“Never!” the midget whines.

“Wanna bet?”

“yeah, five bucks!”

Apparently to Jack, five dollars is prime real estate.

“Alright kid. I’ll take you up on your offer….”

A soft gasp escapes Jack’s soft pale being as he jerks up in bed. Papers fall from his messy covers and scatter onto the floor with a dramatic flutter. Panting, Jack runs his hands through his wild mane of near-black hair, trying to will away the cold sweat running down his back. Despite his thin t-shirt, the poor man feels both ridiculously hot and frighteningly cold at the same time.

A sense of throbbing loneliness crosses over Jack as he turns his gaze over to the dark nightstand to his left. A series of small knick knacks lay scattered about. A half-solved rubik’s cube, some broken pens, a picture of mom and dad…A small alarm clock on the desk reads off five-o-clock a.m. The red glow of the little numbers hardly registers in the mind of the man as he sleepily tries to gather himself together.

“Ugh,” Jack grumbles, slipping out of the bed and searching meekly for his clothes. A huff comes from his bunkmate, the weed-scented teen rolling over in his fitful sleep. Cringing, the spindly man slips into his clothes and snatches his backpack off the floor.

“Keep it down,” groans his buzzed roommate. his gastly complexion obvious as he grabs his blanket and drowns his himself in it.

“Shut up grassyass,” retorts the scholar as he angrily storms from the tiny dorm. The halls glow dimly with lights plugged into the wall, just enough lighting to allow those drunk and late-working students to return to their dorms with semi-accuracy. Jack’s time-worn shoes thump against the floor clumsily as he traverses this strange area. Of course the day wont be of any particular excitement. And Jack is very much aware of this trivial fact. And it is in his mind something else to not care about. His mind is on the schedule.

“Advanced Anatomy, Chemistry 104, Med lab no. 2….” Mumbling is what brings Jack comfort as he walks down the many flight of stairs to his earliest classes. Though mumbling is probably an issue when it comes to paying attention to the hallways.

“fuck,” grunts a random student walking down the halls, his shoulders slumped and head cast downward.

“pardon?” Jack hums, turning back to the stranger to see if he is okay.

“You should have bumped into me,” the freak grunts “It would have been a life saver.” And with that, the stranger rushes off, his face pointed to the end of the hallway as if it were an angel sent from heaven. Confusion fills the poor college student as he watches the freakish man stand at the end of the hall.

“what?…” Jack mumbles, slowly turning and rushing away from the teen.

Despite not seeing the strange student again for the rest of the morning, Jack can’t help but feel watched, The burning gaze of unseen eyes trailing along his shoulders and head as he walks briskly around campus.

The warm spring air felt suffocating against his neck as he meandered among the lazy old spruce trees and mildly exhausted students. Nothing felt better than a blast of cool air inside the main recreation center attached to the cafeteria. Sitting inside, the young man munches disdainfully on a sub sandwich, his back hurting from hours of hunching over papers. Softly, as if it were merely from a dream, a soft song begins to play from Jack’s backpack. It’s an old jingle on the piano, one that his mother used to play when he wouldn’t go to bed at night. Quickly snatching his phone from the bag, he answers.

“Hello?” grumbles the student, “who is this?

”“who is this?” Jests a familiar deep voice “Jeez kid I didn’t think you’d forget me like this.” A soft rush of shame crosses Jack’s body as he wiggles awkwardly in his spot.

“Sorry dad,” he hums “I guess I’ve just been on edge all day…”

“I should expect so,” His father replies with pride “My boy is getting his PhD in neurosurgery next month! At the age of twenty-hecking-four!” A blush covers Jack’s freckly face as he looks away from his fellow students.

“Dad…” He grumbles “C'mon it’s no that big of a deal” A scoff comes from the speaker.

“Not that big of a deal my ass, your mother and I are counting down the days until we get to be there for your graduation!!” Warmth blossoms in Jack’s chest as he listens to his father blabber on about his accomplishments. The other students cast him strange looks as they pass by, his awkward form curled up on the floor blushing and listening to his phone. Sadly checking the time, Jack reluctantly clears his throat.

“Dad, I need to go to my next lab,” Jack interrupts, awkwardly packing his things together.

“Okay kiddo,” his father chuckles in return

“We love you, kid.”

“love you too dad.”

Worrying is never a good idea, when it comes to issues it is best to merely assess your options and acquire the tools necessary to fix it. The solution to many problems is just a walk in the park. Or in this case, a walk in the forest. Soft moist earth is crushed easily under Jacks worn red sneakers as the tired boy meanders through the hiking trails by the campus. Old birch and oak trees sway and dance in the light wind. Jack’s favorite thing about being in the woods is the seclusion.

Cool breezes rush over his head and tousle his hair as he meanders down the trail. Finally, after a day of racing around and avoiding the eyes of unseen watchers, it’s nice to relax. With each step Jack finds himself more relaxed, more relieved from his fears. The sun creeps down behind the distant hills, the crickets calling out to each other as the world around them darkens. Owls hoot and holler from their perches on the treetops, breaking the peaceful silence. Soft bubbling of a nearby creek bringing a small smile to Jack’s face. Turning his head, the exhausted college students note several people in a clearing surrounded by heavy bags and random items.

"Campers?” Jack mumbles “on a Tuesday??” confusion fills the man’s chest as he slowly meanders away from the rapidly darkening clearing. Probably just a bunch of stoners, its not uncommon for kids like that to hide out in the forest to hide the smell of their smoke. Nonetheless, the sapphire-eyed man shuffles further into the forest.

Eventually, the sun does set, and the night takes hold of the forest. And, being a man with poor directional skill, Jack finds himself hopelessly lost. Confusion absolutely consumes the tall sleepy man as he paces confusedly in a small clear patch within the forest.

“Hey man, what are you doing here?” A voice cuts into Jack’s worried meandering. Looking up, Jack’s eyes meet dirty blue ones. A dark-haired guy a few years younger than him with bushy sideburns on his cheeks and a tattered old jacket covering his frame.

"I’m lost,“ Jack replies, nervously rubbing the back of his head "Could you point me back towards my college? Faraday University?” The strange, tired-looking man points down a random trail.

“That way…” He grumbles “It’s best not to come to these parts right now, kid.”

“I’m pretty sure I’m older than you, bub,” Jack chuckles, shoving his hands into his pockets “But thanks!” the man adjusts his tan jacket and huffs, shaking his head.

“Jeez,” the stranger mumbles “Richard would love you.” Confused, Jack casts the strange man a soft scowl before racing off down the trail.

“weirdo…” Jack grumbles as he stumbles head first into a projectile rock.

Thunk

Pain thumps through Jack’s head as he wriggles on the ground. A soft trickle of blood racing down his forehead as he squirms. The sensation of rough rope around his ankles and wrists squeezes and tugs at his soft pale skin. Slowly, Jack opens his eyes, the blaring light from flashlights surrounding him.

“He is awake” hums one of the hooded people standing to his right “Prepare the tools.” reality comes crashing back down onto Jack as he looks around. The rope bites down into his skin and causes his wrists to bleed, panic fills his chest like ice water and sweat races down his neck. Arms and legs held apart by rope, Jack yanks and struggles violently against his bindings. A choked sob escapes his throat as two cloaked individuals kneel by his head.

“Hush now,” whispers a soft, feminine voice “This is for the good of the world.” Pure excitement shakes in the young woman’s voice as she places her hands on Jack’s forehead, coating her delicate fingers in crimson as she forces him to lay flat on the ground. A second person pries open Jack’s mouth and jaws with their fingers, not minding the harsh bites they received from the pale kidnappee. Forcing a strange metal contraption into Jack’s mouth, the hooded freak forces the young man’s jaws to be held in place by the mechanism. Soft fearful wails escaped Jack’s maw as he tries to struggle. “Help…” He thinks desperately, his throat growing hoarse from yelling. A third person approaches, sitting on his chest and preparing a metal spike in their hands. Pressing the tip of the spike onto Jack’s front teeth, the stranger pulls a mallet from their cloak. Fear-laced tears bubble out of Jack’s eyes as he wails helplessly.

CRACK

A pain-filled scream escapes the poor college student as the spike snaps his front teeth. Blood fills Jack’s mouth as he gurgles and writhes in place. The spike is placed close to his molars.

CRACK

Horrible screams leave Jack’s mouth, the urge to vomit rising as his tongue is coated in his mutilated teeth shards and blood. Quickly, the metal bit is moved from his jaws and the hooded figures back off. As soon as they do so, Jack heaves and vomits onto the ground beside his head.

“Help me!” He screams “Please! Someone! Anyone!” Slowly, the cult around him begin to dig, burying their hands into the earth and flinging clods of muck everywhere. A large circular moat forms around Jack, his body sore and filthy form. Blood trickles down from Jack’s mouth as he heaves and sobs softly. With some hesitation, Jack closes his eyes to shield himself from the scene. “Mom…Dad…” Jack’s mind wanders in a pain-induced stupor “I’m so sorry…” Hands grab and tug at his shoes and arms, the stranger tugging at his fingers and yanking off his socks.

“I love you both so much”

A metal piece is shoved under his right thumbnail, prying up his nail and yanking it off.

“I wish I could have made you proud of me”

Pliers meticulously remove his toenails, the sickening cracking and snapping of his skin and nails ringing out like gong strikes.

“I wish I could come home”

Soon, his fingernails are gone, the pain pulsing up his arms and legs as blood gushes wildly from his hands.

"I wish I could be there…”

With all of his nails removed, Jack opens his eyes feebly, noting the hot ring of soon-to-be fire in the trench. But this discovery is hardly important as Jack’s head is forced to face the sky. Soft chanting emits from the strangers around him, soft rhythmic chanting from a language that Jack has never really heard like this.

“Thank you,” Whispers a soft, delicate voice from his right “You will make a mighty fine vessel for our lord.” faint confusion fills Jack’s body as he stares up into the starless, moonless night sky.

Suddenly, the metal spike returns, pushing in between his eyelid and eye and digging into the socket. A fresh volley of pained screams escape from Jack’s mouth as the eyelid is stretched wider. A scoop-shaped something pushes up underneath his eyeball, forcing the delicate skin to the sides of his eye to rip open and bleed profusely. Pain pulses through his skin and bones as a wild, animal-like wail fills the air. Soon, with another sharp burst of pain, all sight fades away from Jack’s right eye. A soft, disgusting slurping sound can be heard over the ringing in Jack’s ears. With his one working eye, Jack sees the beautiful blue form of his right eye being dropped into a small jar.

The chanting grows ever louder as a final hooded figure stands over Jack’s legs, straddling his thighs and forcing him to be immobile. With his attention focused on the new hooded cultist, Jack hardly notices the tugging of his left eyelid until the bloody spike is shoved into it. A pained wail is all that Jack can manage as the man standing above him readies what looks to be a large sledgehammer. The scoop comes under his left eye and the familiar sensation of skin tearing by his eyes comes again.

Just as the scoop tears out Jack’s left eye, the man swings the sledgehammer down into his right hip like a wrecking ball.

C R A C K

A violent scream of pain fills the air as Jack’s tailbone snaps, his body flooding with intense pain. The urge to vomit rises up again, yet Jack can’t gather the strength to move, his body broken by the horrible things that have happened. Footsteps indicate that the cult is stepping back.

“ пожалуйста, ребенок, открой себя нашему хозяину” someone in the group grumbles, stepping closer and kneeling down by Jack’s head. Slowly, the group begins to chant softly.

“ восхвалять повелителя , восхвалять повелителя , восхвалять повелителя ,восхвалять повелителя ,восхвалять повелителя….”

And with the finality of a mother whispering softly to their baby, the woman kneeling by Jack’s head murmurs into his ear.

“Chernobog.”

Confusion was short-lived with Jack as his eyelids are pried open and scalding hot liquid is poured inside. The smell of singed flesh and hair filling the air along with the foul stench of tar and brimstone as the liquid in his eye sockets pool down and out from between his eyelids. Pain, anguish, fear, no longer is Jack able to comprehend the world around him as the shock sets in. And the world goes black…

#eyeless jack #eyeless jack origin

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cheerysmores · 6 years

Text

Between Espresso and Roses (Part fifteen)

Just go in.

His feet don’t move, his shoes feeling like they’re melted into the asphalt in front of the flower shop.

Phichit gave up his day off for you so you can’t put this off.

He reaches out to press his hand against the handle, but feels every muscle in his hand seizing up as it makes contact.

Just do it you coward.

He sighs, pulling his hand away and turning around to lean against the cool glass of the door. All the psyching up the world hadn’t prepared him for the wall of sheer terror that has hit him upon seeing the pastel pink sign of the flower shop.

God he was pathetic.

Looking up, he catches a few people outside the coffee shop on the other side of the street suddenly jerking their heads down to look at their phones. He wants to be embarrassed, but frankly he can’t really blame them considering the show he’d been giving them for the last twenty minutes. He must have walked back and forth past the front door of the shop at least ten times before rooting himself in front of the welcome mat, physically trembling.

He thanks whatever lucky stars are still on his side that the shop floor is deserted, the inside of the store still dim. He’d deliberately gone before it opened as he’d rather his pathetic apology wasn’t overheard by a gaggle of customers just there to buy soil.

He lets out another shaky breath, rubbing his eyes behind his glasses and trying to find that tiny spark of courage that had actually got him out the front door earlier. Avoiding the mess of his reflection in the glass, he clenches his fists, muttering some withering encouragements to himself.

“I’ve got to make this right, I’ve got to make this right.”

When his body doesn’t move, he sighs and tries a different tactic, wondering what Phichit would say to him in this situation.

“I was going to work on my peach stencils today and sign up for that skating class I’ve been going on about for ages, but now I can’t because I was nice enough to take your early shift and right now you’re acting like a giant-”

He firmly pushes the door open and strides right up to the counter before his common sense can catch up with his actions.

Thank you imaginary roommate.

Scanning the shaded space behind the counter, he tries not to let his fear seep through as he calls out. “Hello?”

“We aren’t open, come back in an hour.” A rather disgruntled looking blond teenager sticks his head round the door labelled ‘stockroom’, his voice as sharp as his expression.

He lets out a tiny sigh of relief, a small part of him still childishly hoping that Victor wasn’t in… or had decided to move to a different city. “Oh I don’t want to buy anything. I’m actually here to see-”

“Wait.” He cuts Yuuri off as he looks him up and down, the pointedness of his scrutiny almost feeling like a scalpel against his skin.

Suddenly his eyes widen. “Oh my God you’re him.”

“Him?”

He folds his arms, the scowl on his face narrowing. “That idiot Victor’s been so sad about recently.”

Yuuri feels another stab of guilt twist in his stomach at the words, the confirmation that Victor was upset making an entire evening’s guilt bubble cold and thick in his mind. He tries to keep eye contact with the other man but feels his voice catching in his throat at his stony glare. “Yeah… look I know how it sounded, but I never meant to-”

“You’ve really got some nerve coming back.” The jab of his finger in the air cuts him off. “I’m fairly certain he got the message last time you were here. You want to rub it in some more?”

Each word hits him like a punch in the gut, Yuuri not exactly sure how much more guilt his brain could produce but it didn’t seem to be slowing down any time soon. He takes a breath, trying to find the right words despite his grasp on English rapidly disappearing. “Look, I-”

“I mean, I know those bouquets weren’t everyone’s style but did you really have to give him the cold shoulder for a month before you even deigned to show your face?” The other man’s voice sharply cuts through several decibels as he speaks, his eyes venomous. “Do you have any idea of the amount of money and time he wasted on you? How many fucking plants I had to-”

“Listen!” Yuuri feels the words burst through his mouth before he really registers it’s happening, the dam of guilt-fuelled anger in his mind finally snapping. The other man shuts his mouth, regarding Yuuri slightly more warily as he takes a small step back from the counter.

Yuuri takes another long breath to steady himself before he continues, the shame and annoyance pulsing wildly behind his eyes.

“Look, I know I really hurt his feelings and I you have no idea how much I wish I could take back what happened the other day.” He feels himself cooling off a little as he continues, the anger melting into a quieter remorse. “I said some really unforgivable things so I want to make it right.”

“Oh really?” The other man shakes his head, expression cold and sceptical.

“Yes. Really.” Yuuri can feel the rawness creeping into his voice as he continues, his throat sandpapery and sore with frustration. “Look it’s really hard to explain but believe me when I say this is possibly the biggest most stupid misunderstanding of my life and I- I never meant to hurt him.” He looks down for a second, his voice softening. “That’s the truth.”

The other man takes a second to take in his words before letting out a long sigh and leaning his elbows on the counter. “Well whatever, he isn’t here anyway.”

“Oh.”

“He’s taken the day off and frankly I don’t know if he’d even want to see you anyway.” There’s less spite to his voice, his tone shifted to something akin to old frustration.

Yuuri knows the feeling.

“Right.” Okay, well that had ruined Yuuri’s plan A and he isn’t even sure he has the capacity to form a plan B at this point.

Dragging a hand through his hair in annoyance, he starts his pathetic retreat, his voice shrinking with each step. “Look, when you see him, could you just tell him that” -I’m an idiot. A selfish, thoughtless, uncaring- “-that I’m sorry. That I hope Chris told him what happened and if he needs me… well he knows where I work.”

He turns to leave, the shame at what had happened increasing twofold with the realisation that Phichit took his shift for nothing. He lets out another shaky breath, wondering that if he hurried he could take over for him.

“Wait.” The word rings clearly through the air just as he presses his hand against the door. Turning around, the shop assistant is suddenly beside him, his expression a little less bitter.

As Yuuri opens his mouth to question, he shoves a piece of notebook paper into his hand, an address hastily scrawled on it. “Here. He should be in all day.”

His heartbeat jumps a little at the realisation of what he has, that he had another chance to fix this. He looks up, a small smile creeping onto his face at the gesture. “Thank you.”

“Please just sort this out.” The other man doesn’t return his smile, but the bite of his voice seems to have mostly disappeared. “I have no idea what’s going on with you two but mopey Victor is somehow a thousand times more annoying to work with than flirty Victor.”

Yuuri almost laughs at that, his nerves briefly quelled by his words. “I appreciate it… uh, sorry. What’s you name?” If he was helping him out he might as well be a little polite in return.

The other man rolls his eyes, turning back towards the stockroom. “It’s Yuri, now please get out.”

“Yuri,” he murmurs as he exits on to the street, a firm destination in mind.

As he hastily walks away, he wonders why he has a sudden impulse to stick and ‘o’ on the end of his name.

☕️ Part fourteen ☕️ ☕️ Part sixteen ☕️

🌹 AO3 🌹

#yuri on ice #yoi #yuuri katsuki #yuri plisetsky #victuuri #between espresso and roses #my writing

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eccacia · 6 years

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wonderful you came by [part 16]

Summary: Caitlin’s a no-nonsense science major. Barry’s the quintessential charming star athlete. When they’re paired off and forced to interact in class, Caitlin’s determined to resist his charms, but Barry’s also pretty determined to get under her skin… It all boils down to a battle between head and heart, and Caitlin’s not one to give in to her heart so easily. [College AU]

Read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14, Part 15, or read on ff.net

Rating: T

Notes: I know it’s been five months, but… Look! An update! Sorry I’ve been gone awhile. This chapter was tough, life’s been tough, being newly unemployed is tough, etc. etc. Anyway, I miss you all. This is more of a friendship chapter, since I want to wrap up all the loose ends and lay the groundwork for the last plot point. After this, I’m estimating we have 1-2 more chapters to go and then an epilogue (AAAAH! Can you believe it?!) so I hope you’ll stick around. :)

Some shout-outs: To Gaby, as always, for the encouragement, and in celebration of our three-year long friendship on this site. To @panalegs27, for the unwavering enthusiastic support and the messages that make me smile. To @purpleyin, who, to my great surprise and delight, left a review on all my stories and on every chapter in this fic (!!!). To Random Lurker, for leaving such a sweet review; it made my terrible day better. And, last but not the least, to Of Pencils and Penguins (formerly The Pickle System), who beta-read this chapter in a flash (pun fully intended)—he fixed all the pesky grammatical errors, cleaned up my dialogue, and pointed out the scenes that needed tweaking or rewriting. I can’t thank you enough. This chapter won’t be what it is without your help. :)

Disclaimer: Nope, I don’t own The Flash.

Barry parted ways with her outside of her dorm, and as she moved from the open, starry night to the closed, fluorescent-lit hallways of the building to her dark, unoccupied room, unease replaced the earlier sense of lightness she’d felt. She’d been harboring this sense of unease since her fight with Felicity yesterday, but her anxiety about the orals and about Barry had dominated such a large portion of her emotional landscape that this unease had receded into the background.

But now, faced with a Felicity-less room, which had been voided of the sounds of their easy companionship—the scrape of the wheels of her chair against the floor, the quick, light tapping of her fingers on her laptop, the rip of Swiss Miss packets at the end of a long day—Caitlin felt the unease return with a vengeance.

She slumped into her chair. How was it that she managed to push two people who were important to her away in the space of a week? For someone who’d always thought of herself as self-sufficient and fiercely independent, she was realizing how emotionally affected she could be when the relationships in her life went awry.

Well, at least she knew Felicity better than she did Barry. She knew, for instance, that her friend dealt with her hurt by avoiding its cause, and that while she was in this avoidance phase, it was best to give her space. But she also knew that approaching her first was already winning half the battle. So it boiled down to timing—intuiting when enough time had passed since the avoidance started, and intuiting when the best time was to approach her.

It was, she supposed, the same way Felicity would tiptoe around her when she was deep in work mode, hazarding guesses at the best time to disturb her. She had guessed wrong yesterday—had prodded her at the wrong time, in the wrong way—and much to her shame, she had exploded.

She grimaced. She could call Oliver right now to ask if he’d seen her, but she was already so tired. There’d been more emotions packed into this day than she’d had in her entire twenty-something years of existence, and even if some of those emotions were pleasant, she still felt incredibly drained.

Tomorrow, then, she thought, crawling into her bed. She’d apologize tomorrow.

The next day, Caitlin set about to look for her friend in all her usual haunts, but as expected, she couldn’t find her in any of them. She texted Cisco on the off-chance that he’d seen her, but he merely replied with, “? u can call her? and aren’t u roommates” and, a few seconds later, “OH wait r u fighting :( idk where she is bt i hope u make up soon”.

So she had no choice but to give Oliver a call, which, in the first place, had been the most logical thing to do.

…But also the most awkward, because she and Oliver weren’t exactly on calling terms. There was also the fact that she had been staunchly against them when Felicity had really started liking him. Sure, she’d been the one to dare her to talk to him, but she’d done it because she’d believed that her friend had more common sense than to fall for the shallowest rich boy on campus, and because she didn’t think that Felicity was Oliver’s type.

Needless to say, Felicity did not have as much common sense as she’d expected, and Oliver turned out to be decent under his party-boy exterior. While she was right in guessing that Felicity wasn’t his type, she hadn’t guessed that he’d fall for her anyway. He’d liked Felicity so much that, upon sensing Caitlin’s unspoken antagonism, sought to prove all her previous notions of him wrong—he cleaned up his act, stopped flirting with every leggy girl he came across, and stopped hanging out with the shadier cliques in the popular crowd—until she finally came to accept them together.

Still, that didn’t mean they would be besties, or that they’d take to each other the same way Felicity had taken to Digg and Barry and Tommy and the rest of Oliver’s friends. They were content to regard each other with civility.

Which brought her back to her current dilemma: She and Oliver were civil, but not on calling terms.

She sighed. Well, it wasn’t like she had much of a choice. They would have to be on calling terms now if they both cared about Felicity.

Having decided on her course of action, she sent him a short text to ask when he was free to take a call. His answer was immediate: “Now is good.” He picked up on the first ring.

“Hey. You’re looking for Felicity?” he said.

Well, if there was one thing Caitlin respected him for, it was his propensity for cutting right to the chase.

“Yes,” she said. “Did she stay over at your place?”

“Yeah,” he said. “But she left for class this morning, and she hasn’t been back yet. I thought she’d headed to the dorm.”

Caitlin frowned. “Well… she’s definitely not here.”

“Oh.” There was a pause. “She’s… been really down the past few days,” he ventured tentatively. “Said something about this being a replay of sophomore year, but didn’t go into the specifics.”

“Oh,” she said.

“Care to elaborate?” His tone was careful. “I mean, when my girlfriend and one of my best friends share a bottle of Smirnoff from my bar because of the same person, I feel like I deserve an explanation from the said person.”

Caitlin winced. “Can said person just buy you another bottle of Smirnoff instead?”

“Nice try,” he said wryly. “Spare me the details with Barry, I know way too much already. I just want to hear about the whole… sophomore year thing. If… that’s okay. She—she usually tells me everything, and I can’t—I don’t know how to talk to her if she doesn’t—talk. To me.”

When he said those last two sentences, Oliver sounded as if he was having a nail extracted for every word he spoke. She could almost see his grimace deepening the more he talked. Strangely enough, it comforted her, because this was something she could identify with. He was nearly as emotionally stunted as she was, stripped of that glamorous façade, and she imagined that she had the same expression that he had now whenever she talked about her feelings. Granted, this was the same reason they couldn’t be friends, and were instead friends with people like Felicity and Barry who were so open about their feelings that they were practically begging to be taken advantage of, but still. This kind of kinship was also comforting. Painfully awkward, but comforting.

So Caitlin took a deep breath and proceeded to tell him about sophomore year—the year they had their first real fight as friends.

It happened towards the end of their first term as sophomores. She’d been swamped with so many requirements and had been putting so much pressure on herself that she’d turned down all of Felicity’s invitations to parties, dinners, and even their hallowed Sunday lunches. Sometimes she didn’t even bother to acknowledge her in the room, because she didn’t want a break in her concentration. This went on for a month, until Felicity gave up trying to talk to her altogether. She avoided all their usual haunts and materialized in their room only to sleep. It was a miserable few months for both of them (and for Cisco, who’d shuttled back and forth between them), and it went on for as long as it did because, ironically, it had been easier to keep snubbing each other than to break their deadlock.

“Eventually, I just swallowed my pride and just went up to her during lunch. And even before I said anything, she burst out crying and hugged me,” Caitlin said.

He chuckled. “That sounds like her.”

“It does, doesn’t it?” she said. She decided to leave out the embarrassingly sappy things they told each other that time, like when Felicity told her, in between hiccups, You know, real talk—I’d get over a breakup with a guy faster than a breakup with you. Like, a friend break-up. Because guys are so… replaceable, you know? And there’s only one of you, and… where’ll I ever find another Caitlin Snow?

She didn’t think Oliver would respond favorably to that.

After their tearful reunion, though, they’d implicitly agreed never to talk about that time again. It seemed they both knew that the smooth continuation of their friendship hinged on completely burying that hatchet. So Felicity continued to tiptoe around her when she was busy, and continued to clam up when she was hurt. Maybe that was why she thought that her recent blow-up was an echo of sophomore year.

“She’s in Jitters, by the way,” Oliver said. “She told me not to tell you, but I don’t like seeing her miserable, and I don’t think I’m the person to cheer her up.”

“Oh,” she said. “Um, thanks.”

“Yeah,” he said. “Just… go talk to her. And make sure that she doesn’t steal too many drinks from my bar.”

Her lips lifted into a small smile. “The former, I can promise. The latter, not so much.”

. . .

In a way, it made sense that Felicity was at Jitters. Since she knew that Caitlin was avoiding Barry, and that Barry frequented Jitters, then she must have thought that there was a good chance that Caitlin would also avoid Jitters.

It didn’t take long to spot Felicity’s messy high ponytail in the crowd, and she was so deeply absorbed in her work that she didn’t even feel her approach.

“Hey,” Caitlin said, touching her shoulder, and Felicity immediately startled in her seat.

“Oh my God! Don’t scare me like th—”

When she saw it was her, though, she schooled her expression into a neutral one. The change was so dramatic that it unnerved her.

“Sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean to scare you.” God, she was terrible at this. “Can I… Is this seat taken?”

“No.”

This was agonizing. Any dim hope she’d harbored of this being like their first make-up was quashed.

“Felicity,” she said. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have snapped at you like that.”

Silence. And then, “Okay.”

“Okay as in…?”

She shrugged. “It’s fine.”

It was decidedly not fine. Felicity was not as adept at hiding her emotions as she thought, because Caitlin could see her trying to hide them. “Felicity…”

Silence. And then, softly, “I’ve been tiptoeing around you for years, did you know that?” she said. “No, wait—you probably never noticed, but I’ve been doing it since we started rooming together. Since our first year. When things would get busy—for both of us, not just for you—you would transform into this ticking time bomb. One wrong move on my part, and you’d explode.”

Caitlin sat very still. “I… never knew,” she said. “It’s just…”

She trailed off. She was about to say that it was a bad habit she’d picked up from her father, who’d regarded disturbances—a category which even his young, too-inquisitive daughter and his flaky wife fell into—with murderous intent, so everyone had always adjusted to him without question or complaint. But this sounded like an excuse, and in a rare flash of human insight, Caitlin saw that an excuse wouldn’t save their friendship.

So she held her tongue.

Felicity continued, “Every time you get like that, I have to worry about how to get you to eat and function like a normal human being without risking our friendship. Do you know how tiring that gets?”

Caitlin exhaled. “I’m sorry,” she said again. “I never meant you to feel like…” She paused to gather the right words. “Like I’d only be friends with you if you never made me mad.”

“Yeah, but that’s how you come off sometimes,” Felicity said. “Would it hurt to say, ‘Hey, Felicity, I’m really stressed and I don’t want to talk about it now’? It’s not hard. I mean, I let you know when I’m about to binge-code so you’d know better than to expect me to clean my part of the room for the rest of the week.”

“Or shower, for that matter,” Caitlin couldn’t help saying. When she realized her misstep she quickly amended it with, “Sorry—”

“God, not relevant, Cait,” Felicity said.

“Sorry,” Caitlin said. She’d unknowingly slipped back into their usual easy banter at the worst possible time. “Sorry.”

Her friend’s expression was now shuttered, and Caitlin had the sinking feeling that she’d blown her attempt at reconciliation.

The silence stretched between them.

“Felicity,” she finally said, unable to bear it, “I’m sorry, I really am. Please don’t shut me out.”

“Oh, you mean like what you do to me?”

Caitlin winced. The accusation rang so true that it hurt. The silence grew more and more tense the longer those words hung in the air, and she frantically reached for something appropriate to say.

“I… It… was wrong of me… to do that to you,” she said quietly. “You didn’t deserve any of it.” A pause. “I’ve been an asshole friend. I’m sorry.”

Felicity fiddled with the keys of her laptop. She gave no indication of having heard her.

A crazy sense of desperation seized her. She felt like she would do anything—anything—to get Felicity to talk to her, anything to draw her out of that damning silence… It made her more painfully aware that this was the same emotional distress she put Felicity (and Barry, for that matter) through whenever she gave her the cold shoulder. She would never do this again, she thought vehemently. She would never make her friends—her best friend—feel this shitty ever again, if said best friend would still care to talk to her. No wonder Felicity had burst out crying last time the moment she approached… Any move to break this kind of silence would have brought on waves of delirious relief.

Felicity continued fiddling with her keys. She uncrossed her legs. She leaned back against her chair. She let out a breath, and since it was so quiet between them, Caitlin could tell that this breath was a beat longer than was normal.

Felicity seemed to be on the verge of speaking. Caitlin braced herself.

“You’re not an asshole friend,” she finally said. She still wasn’t looking at her, but at least she was talking to her. She was talking to her. “You just… revert to assholic behavior when stressed.”

Caitlin held her breath. That was it. That was Felicity’s olive branch. She would have sagged in her seat from sheer relief, but she had to play this right.

“Assholic behavior,” she said carefully.

“What, you’re not used to Feliciticisms yet?” her friend said, finally looking at her. A small smile stretched across her face.

Caitlin blinked. She smiled. Definitely a good sign. Definitely a sign to play along, to ease back into the usual banter of their friendship. “I still can’t figure out how you say that,” she said. “Felicisms would have been a lot easier on the tongue.”

“Yes, but I’m a Felicity, not a Felici,” she said. “Although, come to think of it, Felici sounds a lot chicer.”

“True.” Caitlin paused and took a risk. “Probably why it doesn’t suit you.”

“Hey. You were the one who proposed Felicism.”

She tried to contain her smile. “Because it would be easier to pronounce, not because you look like a Felici.”

“Same banana.”

“No, they’re not. And for the record, there are more than 1,000 discovered varieties of bananas in the world.”

“Okay, just, no,” Felicity said. “How do you even know stuff like that?”

“The same way you know who invented ramen.”

“Technically, Momofuku Ando invented instant noodles, not…” She trailed off. “…Right. Point taken.”

Caitlin nodded. “The internet is a dark place.”

“Ah, yes. Two young, impressionable women frequenting websites with lurid pictures of bananas and noodles—positively scandalous.”

They shared a smile.

“Just… give me that heads-up, okay?” Felicity said, sobering. “So I know how to help you. Like how you fix my bed and buy me takeout when I’m binge-coding, or how you let me interrupt you to whine about how hard troubleshooting a faulty segment is. Even if you have zero idea of what I’m talking about.”

“Okay,” Caitlin said. She would’ve agreed to anything at this point. “I can’t promise I’ll always be able to do it, but I’ll try. I’ll really try.”

“You better,” Felicity said, grinning. “We’ve been friends for almost seven years. I’d say it merits some amount of trying.”

“Well, seven years is only slightly longer than some marriages, after all. I can manage more than some amount of trying.”

Felicity’s smile softened. “So. Friends?”

“Friends,” she affirmed. “Seven years and counting.” She paused. “I think we’re supposed to hug at this point, but can I just give you a mental hug? I’ve reached my sappiness limit for the day.”

Felicity laughed. “Mental hug accepted. I knew there was something weird about you today.”

“Well, I was apologizing to you. I had to summon the appropriate amount of sappiness.”

“Have you been manipulating me with sappiness?”

“I wouldn’t call it manipulation,” Caitlin said primly. “It’s more like scheduling sappiness usage for a rainy day.”

“By scheduling sappiness,” Felicity said, her smile turning wicked, “do you also mean the Saturday night you spent with a certain Bartholomew Henry Allen under the stars?”

“That was an unscheduled and unintentional leakage of sappiness,” Caitlin said. “And how much do you already know, anyway?”

“Only that you kissed,” Felicity said with feigned nonchalance. “No big deal. It was only your first kiss, after all, which you kept a secret for almost a week from your best friend, your companion since girlhood, the sister of your heart—”

“Are you done with the melodramatics?” she said dryly.

“—oh, wait, I’ll have to call Cisco and Jax,” Felicity said, pulling her phone out. “They need to hear this. It’s more time-efficient, too, since you’ll only have to tell the story once.”

“Time-efficient,” Caitlin repeated. “You’re talking to me about time efficiency.”

“Yeah. What, think I haven’t learned a thing or two about your reasoning after seven years of being the foremost Caitlin Snow scholar? Although,” she mused, “it looks like I’ll soon have to relinquish that title soon, since a certain Barry Allen is proving to be a quick study—”

“Felicity, you’re rambling,” Caitlin said.

“That was hardly—oh, fine, calling them…”

“Can you tell them that we’ll meet in front of the library instead?” Caitlin said, casting a furtive glance around them. “Jitters is kind of—”

“His turf, right,” Felicity said. “Got it.” She tucked her phone between her ear and shoulder, and slipped her laptop into her bag. “Hey Cisco, any chance you’re free now…?”

. . .

“Ola, ladies,” Cisco said, making his way to their table with his usual grin. Even from afar, they heard him coming by the tinkle of the many keychains he’d hung all over his backpack. “Glad to see you two have reconciled. I thought I’d have to be your messenger again or something.”

“Yeah, well,” Felicity said. “Signs of maturity, I guess.”

“Boring,” Cisco said. “In a good way, I mean. No one needs drama all the time, am I right?”

“You sure? Because Caitlin has a lot of drama to tell.”

“Oooh, saucy. You sure are getting a lot of drama lately, come to think of it,” Cisco said. “Where was all this in high school? And in the last, I don’t know, two years in college—”

“I don’t know, Cisco, I don’t think one can space out the dramatic events in one’s life—”

“Rhetorical question, chica,” he said breezily, waving a hand. “I’m sure you know what that is—”

“What’s up, guys?” Jax said, sliding into the seat beside Cisco. He pocketed his phone and dropped his duffel bag to the ground. “Is this an update on Barry or what?”

“Well,” Caitlin said, “somewhat.”

“I am so excited,” Felicity said. “I can’t wait to hear your version of the kiss.”

“THE KISS?!” Cisco gaped. “Whoa, okay, slow down, this is too much—”

“I… haven’t even started yet…”

“Her version?” Jax interjected, looking at Felicity. “What other version is there?”

“Dude,” Cisco said. “I can’t believe that’s what you fixated on.”

“I heard it first from Barry,” Felicity said, waving a hand. “Anyway, long story, and not exactly relevant—”

“Not exactly rele—Felicity, what was his version?” Caitlin said suddenly. “What did he tell you?”

“Oh, pretty vague stuff,” she said. “Mostly it was about you breaking his heart.”

Cisco blinked. “Is it just me, or are things moving way too fast?”

“Last I heard you weren’t even sure if he liked you,” Jax said, also confused, “and now you already broke up? And if you”—he gestured to Felicity—“and Barry’re tight, why didn’t you just ask him for advice, instead of asking us?”

“Well,” Felicity mused, “a little Smirnoff goes a long way in solidifying friendships…”

“She and Barry shared a bottle of vodka between them the other night,” Caitlin clarified. “Well, technically, it was Oliver’s vodka, but anyway.”

“Dang,” Jax said. “Any chance I can get an invite to one of those in the future?”

“Yeah, it’d be nice to hang out at Oliver’s pad again,” Cisco said wistfully. “That sound system is to die for…”

“Wait,” Felicity said suddenly, turning to her, “that’s how you knew where to find me—you called Oliver and Oliver told you, that traitor—”

“Yes?” Caitlin said. “You thought I just guessed?”

“Well, I didn’t really—okay, never mind, we’re getting way off topic. So, Cait, tell us what happened last Saturday.”

“We all saw the sing-off,” Cisco said smugly. “And boy, you owe me big time for that—”

“It would’ve been better if you’d given me more drinks,” she muttered. “No chance kissing him if I’d passed out.”

Cisco ignored her. “—and we saw you slow-dancing to that weird Despacito remix,” he said. “Well, Felicity and I did. Jax probably didn’t.”

“I didn’t.”

“Yeah, to fill you in, they slow-danced to a Despacito remix.”

He gave Cisco a withering look. “Yeah, I grasped the concept, thanks.”

“You’re caught up, then,” Caitlin said, pleased. “So after the slow-dancing, we went up to the balcony—”

“The one for VIPs?” Jax said.

“Yes, the one for VIPs,” she said. “Anyway, I was slightly tipsy. As a result of faulty judgment, I leaned in to kiss him. I quickly realized it was a mistake, so I left and ignored him for a week. But we made up again just yesterday, so everything’s fine now.”

Silence.

“You know, you gotta brush up on your storytelling skills,” Cisco said.

“For a moment there I thought I was listening to a weather report,” Jax said.

“Well,” Caitlin bristled, “it’s not exactly something I want to recount in detail, so—”

“How did it happen? How did you let it happen? What did you feel?” Cisco insisted, accompanying his words with hand gestures. “What did he do? What did he say? What did you say? What were you thinking?”

“As I’ve already mentioned, I wasn’t thinking—”

“Okay, I think we’re overwhelming her,” Felicity said. “Cisco, ask her something again, only one question at a time.”

“Oh! Oh! I’ll start with this one,” Cisco said. “I have a feeling I’m going to regret asking this, but I am way curious, so here goes.” He took a deep breath. “Was there tongue?”

Caitlin squirmed. “Oh my God—”

“OH MY GOD,” Cisco said. “OH MY GOD, THERE WAS, WASN’T THERE?”

“OH MY GOD,” Felicity said. “THERE WAS, CISCO, THERE WAS—”

“…The hell is going on?” Jax said. “She hasn’t answered the question yet—”

“If you’re fluent in Caitlin,” Felicity explained, “you’d know that if it isn’t a direct no, then it’s a definite yes.”

“Huh,” Jax said.

“Damn,” Cisco said to Caitlin admiringly. “So you’ve finally lost your tongue-ginity. Welcome to the club.”

Jax scrunched his brow. “I never signed up for that.”

“Did we ever make that a thing?” Felicity said. “I don’t think we ever made that a thing…”

“We totally did. We made it a thing in high school, when I was with Kendra, remember? After we made out in the—”

“Okay, stop,” Felicity said. “I vaguely remember you breaking down that make-out scene, and I don’t want to remember more.”

“I second the motion,” Caitlin said.

“Third,” Jax piped up.

“Fine, this is Caitlin’s show anyway,” Cisco said good-naturedly. “It’s your turn to give us details.”

“No.”

They were all unfazed. “Did he lean in first?” Felicity said. “Or did you?”

Caitlin paused to consider it. “I’m not sure,” she said. “I think we—it was done at the same time.”

“And it lasted for some time,” Cisco prompted, “since there was tongue.”

“Well, it wasn’t unpleasant,” she hedged, “so we were there for some time, but I was the one who put an end to it.”

“Okay, let me get this straight,” Jax said. “You guys made out and you were really into it, but for some reason, you walked away and ignored him after that.”

“…It doesn’t sound very nice if you put it that way, but yes, basically…”

“What made you ignore him?” Felicity said. Caitlin recognized this voice—it was the one her friend used when she wanted to steer the discussion into a more serious direction. “I’d always assumed that he said something stupid, but…”

“Well,” Caitlin said, “he mentioned that we’ve only known each other two weeks.”

“Which is true,” Cisco said.

“Yes, I know,” she said. “Still, I lost it. I just didn’t think that it was possible—for me, at least—to like someone in such a short time. I was scared of it, of myself, so… I ran away. Ignored him. Pretended like ignoring him could reset me to before I met him.”

There was a pause as the statement hung in the air. It was perhaps the most honest she’d been since last week’s debacle, and they seemed to feel it, too.

“Okay, since things are getting serious,” Cisco said, standing up, “anyone want some food? Nachos, maybe?”

“Dude,” Jax said. “Way to ruin a moment—”

“No, I’m pretty sure Cait doesn’t want to talk about her feelings on an empty stomach,” he said, grinning at her. “Just like how you won’t study chemistry on an empty stomach.”

Caitlin smiled. “It’s fine, Jax. Nachos with beef and bacon bits please.”

“And extra cheese,” Felicity piped in.

“And Diet Coke with no ice,” Caitlin said.

“Same, but with ice and no straw for me,” Felicity said. “Save the environment and all.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know the drill,” Cisco said. “Hey, man, how about you?”

Jax looked at them. “You guys are hella weird.”

“But?” Cisco prompted cheekily.

He shrugged. “You’re not bad.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Barry does this thing where I’m not sure if he’s complimenting or insulting me,” Caitlin said. “Is that an athlete thing?”

“Way to stereotype us,” Jax said. “And I’m pretty sure that’s called a backhanded compliment.”

Caitlin snapped her fingers. “I knew there was a word for it…”

Cisco went to buy their snacks, and when he came back, the conversation—even with nachos and the best of intentions (particularly Felicity’s)—didn’t quite stay on track. It was, as usual, one-part insight and three-parts insanity, but Caitlin didn’t mind. It was good to be in their company again.

When Monday came around, Caitlin had the uncanny feeling, as she walked out of her dorm, that she was being stared at.

It wasn’t something she realized right away. After all, she’d spent most of her formative years in a state of near-invisibility. The only exception to that was when teachers announced the highest score in class (which, in science subjects, would almost invariably be her) and she would, for a few minutes, be the spotlight of the everyone’s awe and envy. But after class, she drew no more stares, elicited no more whispers. Smart wasn’t as valuable a currency as pretty or sporty was in high school, and she was perfectly content with that, as she never had to expend energy with the sort of self-conscious thinking that came with assuming that her peers were interested in her.

But today, something strange happened. As she walked down the near-deserted hallway of her dorm—it was still early, and the lone souls who were already awake walked around like zombies in their bubbles of half-sleep—she registered the sound of voices in the early morning hush. Out of idle curiosity, she looked around until she found the source of the whisperings—a group of five freshmen, two of whom quickly turned away when her gaze settled on them.

She blinked, wondering if she’d imagined it, and then concluded that she must have. Freshmen, she thought, were especially prone to sticking in groups like that and over-sharing noisily, in hopes that it might translate into friendship.

But then it happened again. When she passed by two more groups of girls outside the dorm and sensed the tickle of whispers in her wake, she wondered if maybe her intuition was right. It was disturbing to suspect that one was the topic of someone else’s conversation without knowing what, exactly, was being said, and without having the means to confront them about it.

So it was when, upon reaching the foyer and seeing Eliza and Bette deep in conversation before abruptly falling quiet when she approached, she narrowed her eyes and said, “Not you, too.”

Bette raised a brow. “Hi, Caitlin.”

Eliza said, “Good morning to you too, sunshine.”

Caitlin sighed and took her seat across them. With a cursory look, she ascertained that three of the boys from her block were there—no sign of Hartley yet—along with two other people from Applied Chemistry (or was it Chemical Engineering? She could never really keep track). Most of them were half-asleep, using their backpacks to pillow their faces from the cool granite surface of the tables.

“Sorry,” she sighed. “I’ve been having this strange sensation this morning that people have been talking about me. Paranoid, I know—”

Eliza and Bette exchanged glances. Like she and Felicity, the two had been friends for so long that they seemed to be able to communicate just by looking at each other.

Caitlin was immediately suspicious. “What was that?”

“What was what?” Eliza said innocently.

“That look you just shared. It’s suspicious.”

Bette, who was usually quiet and stoic—even more than she was, probably because she was always with the animated Eliza—said, amused, “Aren’t we allowed to look at each other?”

“I think we’re allowed to a few secrets,” Eliza added with a sly smile, “since you’ve obviously been keeping yours.”

Caitlin paused. She knew that these girls meant well—they had a pleasant relationship formed on the basis of their being stranded together in a testosterone-dominated course—but she wasn’t comfortable divulging her feelings to them in the way she had with Felicity, Cisco, and Jax. They were the kind of friends she’d complain on coursework with, not the ones she’d have a heart-to-heart with.

She said cautiously, “If this was about the sing-off…”

“Oh, the sing-off was last week’s news,” Eliza said.

“It’s already been dissected to death while you weren’t around,” Bette said, with an apologetic smile. “It’s common knowledge now that you’re Barry Allen’s new girl.”

Caitlin blinked, feeling strangely violated—or rather erased—by the term. “Okay, no,” she said. “First of all, I am not ‘Barry Allen’s new girl.’ I’m me. I’m still the same Caitlin Snow majoring in Molecular Biology with you.”

“Right, of course,” Eliza said, smiling at her while propping her face up in cupped hands. “But it’s already pretty obvious to everyone that you two are a thing.”

“We’re not…” Caitlin trailed off when she realized she didn’t have anything to say to that, because what were they? They hadn’t gone out on a date yet, so they weren’t dating, but they weren’t a thing, either. Or… were they? In the first place, why in the world did people invent a term as vague as ‘a thing’ anyway? What spectrum of togetherness did ‘a thing’ encompass? And why was it that even before she and Barry had defined what they were to themselves, other people were already clamoring to define their relationship with nosy collective authority? Couldn’t they just mind their own business and leave a budding romantic relationship unlabeled?

Caitlin resisted the urge to press a hand to her temple. She couldn’t deal with this. It was too early in the morning to puzzle out the confusing semantics of human romantic entanglements.

Instead, she said, “Never mind. Second of all, last week’s news? Was there news this week involving him and me that I, of all people, wouldn’t know of?”

“Oh, I’m sure you know this,” Eliza said, giving her an enigmatic look. Caitlin felt like that look was her cue to spill what she apparently knew, but since she didn’t know anything, she remained quiet.

“If you’ll remember,” Eliza went on, when her pause became awkward, “there was a commotion last night at the dorm. Specifically, outside our wing.”

“What commotion?” Caitlin said, furrowing her brow.

Now, Eliza and Bette exchanged looks that were as bewildered as hers.

“You mean you really didn’t hear the commotion?” Bette said.

“No,” Caitlin said. “Should I have?”

“Oh my God, she has no idea,” Eliza said. “One of the hottest guys on campus is courting her—”

“Courting—of all the sheer nonsense—”

“—and she doesn’t have a clue,” Eliza finished.

“That is ridiculous,” she said. “I don’t know what commotion you’re talking about, but he’s not courting me. All I know is that he left a note on my window with ‘Good morning’ written on it.”

That was the abbreviated version. The full version was as follows:

Good morning :) I know, I know, when I walked you back, you said one week of no texts or calls or voicemails, but I’m pretty sure you didn’t say anything about sticky notes on windows. I’m kind of a pain in the ass, as you can see, aside from being a mildly annoying campus cutie and an insatiable hug monster (only for your hugs, though). Just so you know what you might be getting into. Anyway, I lost my main point for this note sometime after the smiley. I think I was supposed to write a poem, but I got sidetracked, and now I don’t have enough space. Well, I’ll find my main point tomorrow. In the meantime, ‘I miss you’ is probably enough. Can’t wait for Saturday. – Barry

“Mmm,” Bette said. “So you’re telling me that clambering up two floors of the girls’ dorms in the middle of the night, with a bouquet of flowers, a gift, and a note in hand, doesn’t qualify as courting?”

“A bouquet of flowers? How is that even—”

“At first I thought it was Cisco,” Eliza said, “because he visits your room sometimes, right, and he always makes so much noise. But when I opened my window to tell him to tone it down, guess who I saw instead?”

“Oh, by the way, here you go,” Bette said, pulling a single, long-stemmed rose from her backpack and handing it to a dazed Caitlin. “Half of the flowers were crushed during his climb,” she added, by way of explanation. “The others that weren’t crushed lost too many petals. This was the only proper rose left.” She pushed a box towards her. “Also, a gift from him. Said it was fragile.”

“He was supposed to sneak the stuff into your room,” Eliza said, “but he didn’t know that your window would be locked. Obviously he didn’t think things through.”

“Yeah, he also wrote his note on the wrong side of the post-it. We had to give him tape so he could stick the written portion against the glass facing your bed,” Bette said.

“Oh, and to clarify, we”—Eliza said, gesturing to the two of them—“weren’t the ones who gave him tape. Someone from the room below did.”

“It became a sort of group effort,” Bette said.

“Although his best friend—can’t remember her name, the one who wrote that article about sexism on campus—”

“Iris West,” Bette said.

“Right, her. She clearly didn’t support it,” Eliza said. “Stormed out of the dorm when she caught wind of what was happening just to tell him that he was an idiot.”

“She wasn’t yelling, but it was so quiet out there that people could hear what she was saying, anyway.”

“Good thing our dorm mom sleeps like a log.”

“Yeah, and good thing everyone loves Barry, so no one’ll tell on him…”

“It’s really strange that you didn’t hear anything,” Bette said, looking puzzled. “He made so much noise.”

It wasn’t all that strange. She and Felicity slept through the commotion courtesy of the remaining contents of the Smirnoff that she’d brought back from her drinking session with Barry.

“Hello, ladies,” came a voice that Caitlin knew all too well. “Finally got to interrogate her, huh? Do I finally get my—is that a rose? Why the hell do you have a rose?”

“Language, Hartley,” Bette said. “As you can see, the subject is still in shock.”

“The rose is from Allen, isn’t it?” Hartley said, scoffing. “Jesus, how predictable. Even I can tell you aren’t the roses kind.”

“Thank you for your valuable input, Hartley,” Eliza said. “Why don’t you run along now and compare notes with Barry, since you’re such an expert on Caitlin’s botanical preferences?”

“Dial down the bitchiness, sweetheart,” Hartley said. “It’s not even nine yet.”

“The rose isn’t the worst of it, really,” Bette said.

“Oh?” Hartley said gleefully, smirking and pulling up a chair from the other table, seeing as Caitlin’s backpack was still occupying the space beside her. “Do tell. Does the worst of it have something to do with this box?”

Caitlin finally snapped out of the daze she was in. She was having difficulty processing all… this. She needed another coffee. Maybe three. “I’m having difficulty imagining how he moved from the staircase to the window holding all this…”

“He had the bouquet in his mouth,” Eliza said.

Hartley’s brows shot up. “What,” he said, “the fuck?”

“What he said,” Caitlin muttered.

“She was kidding,” Bette said, giving Eliza a stern look. “He had a canvas bag.”

Eliza laughed. “Fine, but you have to admit you can totally imagine it.”

Hartley rolled his eyes. “I actually find it more unlikely that he had the foresight to bring a bag.”

“Well, are you going to open it?” Eliza said, gesturing to the box. “Bette and I have been dying to see what’s inside.”

Caitlin gave them a look, and Eliza said, “Hey, you can’t blame us. We’ve been safekeeping it for the last seven hours.”

“This really is beneath me,” Hartley said casually, “but I am curious to see what sort of disgustingly sentimental gift he got you. Gifts are a reflection of the giver, as someone once said. Can’t remember who it was, though…”

“You know, you can admit you’re curious without having to insult anyone,” Caitlin said.

“Where’s the fun in that?” he smirked. “Well? Are you opening it or not? We don’t have all day, Frosty.”

Caitlin sighed and relented, if only out of weariness. She opened the box without ceremony—there was no wrapper so she simply had to lift the flap—and peered inside. Three other heads neared to peer in, too.

It was a cactus.

On the flap, it said, I already got the roses when I saw this, but this is way better. You’re more of a cactus person, I think. ;) – Barry

Hartley barked a laugh. “I take it back. Allen is a fucking genius.”

“I don’t know,” Bette said dubiously. “It sounds like an insult.”

“It’s definitely an insult,” Eliza said. “You’re more of a cactus person—does that mean you have the qualities of a cactus?”

“He’s not wrong,” Hartley said. “Caitlin’s botanical identity aside, though,” he added, “everyone still owes me money, because she obviously accepted his advances…”

Caitlin, on her part, had already tuned them out. Barry Allen was a hopeless romantic and a complete idiot, and he also possibly had a screw or two loose, but he meant well, and he really and truly seemed to like her, and he was…

He was hers to like back.

Still, he had to stop climbing walls in the middle of the night to give her… whatever else he was planning on giving her. She had no clue about what courtship entailed, but she was sure that it didn’t have to be as life-threatening as he made it seem.

Caitlin didn’t think to approach him right away about this, though, because she didn’t think he’d be sending any more gifts her way. She thought he would have desisted with the flowers and the cacti, opting to leave only sticky notes instead.

She was wrong.

Well, not exactly. The next day, she did receive another note on her window, but she also received a heart-shaped box of chocolates and another cactus (both delivered by Cisco). This was puzzling, because she had no use whatsoever for a heart-shaped box, and she had no strong feelings about chocolates. Not that she didn’t like chocolates, per se; she’d just never particularly craved for them or sought them out. She didn’t want them to go to waste, though, so she ate two or three pieces before welcoming Cisco and Jax to finish up the rest.

This, surely, she thought, would be the end of it. Surely he knew that giving her gifts every single day until Saturday, for no particular reason and with no particular occasion, was an absurd and costly enterprise.

But she was wrong again. On Wednesday, she received the requisite note on her window and a teddy bear named Beary—See what I did there? ;) he’d said in his note—sporting a cactus pin. (She must’ve forgotten to lock her window last night after Cisco and Jax had left, so he was able to slip them onto her bedside table.) Now, if the chocolates were mildly puzzling, the teddy bear was downright bewildering, because she had given up stuffed animals altogether at the age of five, when her father had introduced her to illustrated encyclopedias. If she had no use for a teddy bear back at five years old, she had even less use of it now at twenty-one. She was aware that it was common for other couples to give each other stuffed animals, but that was other couples. For some reason, other couples found it cute to give their significant others a reminder of a more infantile period in their lives. Or perhaps the intention was for the recipient to endow the inanimate object with some of the partner’s qualities, so that it could serve as a reminder of the partner when he or she was away…

This was all just conjecture, of course. She’d never quite understood it. Even now that she herself was the recipient of a stuffed animal, she still didn’t understand what she was supposed to do with it.

To be fair, Barry didn’t know that she didn’t particularly care for chocolates or for stuffed animals. But perhaps that was the point—he didn’t know what she liked, and had simply assumed she would enjoy this standard romantic fanfare.

This brought to mind something Hartley had said the other day, about gifts being a reflection of the giver. Irritating as he was, she had to agree with his assessment: These gifts were less a reflection of her than they were a reflection of Barry. They conveyed the sincerity of his intentions well enough, but they also conveyed a startling lack of knowledge of who she was.

Well, not exactly. She did enjoy the sticky notes, and the cactus symbolized an inside joke that only the two of them shared and understood. Everything else, though, puzzled her.

She didn’t want to discard them, because that would mean discarding Barry’s feelings, too. (And, on an aside, Beary seemed to grow cuter the longer she looked at it [him?], which made her more reluctant to discard it [him?]. She made a mental note to Google the evolutionary value of cuteness even in lifeless objects.) But at the same time, the sole function of the rose, the chocolates, and the bear was to convey Barry’s intentions, which had been fulfilled the moment she’d received the gifts. Ergo, she no longer had any use for them. Was she obliged to keep these things around as relics of his affection for her? Then again, she knew that he liked her anyway, so why did she need all these things to remind her of it?

She frowned. She was trapped in a symbolic deadlock. Clearly when she confessed to him she didn’t foresee that things would become this complicated—and this when they weren’t even ‘a thing’ yet…

She sat back to view the gifts on her now-crowded bedside table and considered her situation. The most obvious course of action was to tell him to stop giving her gifts, but she could already tell that it would hurt him. But she also couldn’t think of a nice way to say it. The truth—“Please stop giving me gifts, I appreciate the sentiment but I find them useless” was too harsh, while a white lie like “I don’t have space to put them anymore” was too unconvincing. She could give him a list of what she liked, but she didn’t want to make it seem like she was asking for more gifts. Then again, she could inform him that she simply didn’t make a fuss about gifts, but clearly he made a fuss about gifts, so…

Great, she was back to her earlier deadlock.

Maybe it was time to call a friend. Felicity might know what to do. And, even if she didn’t, she might know how to soften a sentence like “Please stop giving me gifts, I appreciate the sentiment but I find them useless.”

Right, talk to Felicity it was, then.

. . .

On her way out of her room, though, something unusual happened: She bumped into Iris West.

The fact that Iris was here on her floor was already unusual in itself. Iris lived two or three floors above her, and she didn’t seem to have close friends residing on the second floor, so Caitlin had never actually seen her in this hallway.

The second unusual thing was that Iris was alone. Caitlin may have only glimpsed her on campus a few times, but she had no recollection of Iris being alone—she was always either surrounded by her friends from the school paper, or she was with a tall, clean-looking guy—her boyfriend, presumably.

The third unusual thing was that Iris was walking towards her now. Caitlin resisted the urge to look behind her to see if Iris was walking towards someone else, and instead she pasted on a tentative smile, the sort she reserved for people with whom she knew only vaguely, and so wasn’t sure if she should greet or not. If the person noticed the smile and greeted her, she’d return the greeting with relief. But if the person didn’t notice the smile, then she’d look like an idiot, but not as big an idiot as she would have had she uttered an ignored ‘Hi’.

Iris, as it turned out, returned her smile. “Hi, Caitlin,” she said, slowing when she reached her.

A greeting and a slowing down. Clearly she was about to engage her in conversation, but what did Iris have to talk with her about? Did Barry send her to deliver a package, or to do some reconnaissance? But if she was going to do reconnaissance, wouldn’t it be wiser to approach someone closer to her, like Felicity?

“Hi?” Caitlin said.

“I’m glad I caught you on your way out,” she said. “I would’ve messaged you first, but Facebook says you haven’t been online in three days, so…”

“Sorry,” Caitlin said. “I don’t go online often.”

“No, no, don’t apologize,” she said. “I mean, I’m the one asking for your time. Not because I’m spying on you for Barry or anything,” she added hastily. “I just wanted to talk, that’s all. If you’re busy, though, I could—”

“I’m not,” Caitlin said. Her curiosity was sufficiently peaked. “My next class is in two hours. What did you want to talk about?”

“Great,” Iris said. “Could we… talk somewhere more private, like your room? Or my room’s fine, too. Gossip spreads pretty fast around here.”

“My room’s nearer,” Caitlin said. “It’s a bit of a mess, though. Well, Felicity’s side is a bit of a mess, so we could stay on my side…”

They both headed back to her room, and while Caitlin felt like the silence was awkward, Iris seemed completely at ease. She did look out of place in the shabby dorm room—with her red chiffon top, black leather skirt, and knee-high black boots, she looked like she’d stepped out of the pages of Vogue rather than a classroom—but she carried herself with the relaxed confidence of a person who made and followed her own rules.

“I know this is weird,” Iris said, “but Barry has also been acting weird lately, so I felt like I had to do something.”

“Weird, how?” Caitlin said, silently asking Felicity’s permission to borrow her chair. She pulled it up beside hers in front of her desk. She gestured for Iris to sit. “I haven’t known him long, but this”—she pointed to the items on her bedside table—“doesn’t seem too uncharacteristic of him.”

“Yeah, well, that’s true,” Iris said, sitting. From the direction of her gaze, Caitlin noticed the way Iris catalogued details carefully with her gaze: She scanned the usual school supplies on Caitlin’s desk (a plain white mug for writing materials, another one for highlighters, and a tray for bond paper), glanced at the stack of printed journal articles with notes and post-its, and lingered on the books on her shelf—The Double Helix by James Watson, Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA by Brenda Maddox, What Is Life? by Erwin Schrödinger, Einstein’s Dreams by Alan Lightman, and The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales by Oliver Sacks—all with yellowed pages. Those books were the only memorabilia she kept on her desk.

“Why do I feel,” Caitlin ventured when Iris reached the end of her quick survey, “that you’re already mentally writing profile of me?”

She was aiming to sound amused, and she supposed it succeeded, because Iris gave her a sheepish smile. “Sorry,” she said. “Guilty as charged. Had to convince myself that I’m doing the right thing, and after seeing this”—she gestured to her Spartan desk and the books on display—“and that”—she gestured to her cluttered bedside table—“I’m pretty convinced. I’m guessing—no, I’m one hundred percent sure that you’re not the romantic type.”

“Not at all,” Caitlin said. And then, upon realizing that Iris might report all this to Barry, she added, “I do appreciate the sentiment, though.”

“Right,” Iris said, “but not the gifts.”

“Well…”

“Here’s the thing,” Iris said, sensing her hesitation. “I thought about talking to you back when he pulled that crazy stunt in the middle of the night, but for once, I stopped myself from meddling. Which is difficult for me, since I meddle in other people’s business for a living,” she added with a self-deprecating smile. “But I managed. ‘How bad can it be?’ I thought. ‘Who knows, maybe she likes flowers.’ When he gave you the chocolates, I thought, ‘Okay, fine, maybe she likes chocolates, too. Flowers are tricky, but chocolates are pretty safe. A lot of people are nuts for chocolates.’”

Caitlin was about to say that was nuts for neither flowers nor chocolates, but Iris seemed to be on a roll, so she let her continue.

“But when he gave you that teddy bear”—she gave the poor innocent Beary a dirty look—“and named it after him, that was the last straw. I said to him”—she made the phone gesture with her hand and brought it to her ear—“‘You gave her a teddy bear? Are you crazy? Do you even know if she likes teddy bears?’ and he was like, ‘But teddy bears are cute! Who doesn’t like teddy bears?’ and I was like, ‘Barry, if Eddie’—Eddie’s my boyfriend—‘gave me a teddy bear, I’d either donate it to charity or tell him to return it to the fricking store. Honestly, how old do you think she is? Five?’”

At this, Caitlin couldn’t help smiling. She was starting to like Iris. Iris made sense. “My sentiments, exactly.”

“Shit, I knew it,” Iris sighed. “I should’ve stopped him earlier, but it’s too late now. There’s no stopping him once he gets into planning. Although if it’s any consolation, he hasn’t gone this all-out since… Well, since. And there isn’t even any occasion. Can you imagine what sort of production number he’ll come up with if there is an occasion?”

“I’d really rather not,” Caitlin said, wincing. “If it’s going to involve a grand public display of affection, it’s going to be a nightmare.”

“Not a fan of PDA, huh?” Iris said. “This must be really uncomfortable for you. I mean, people have been talking nonstop about what he’s doing. I’ve lost count of how many times someone came up to me to ask about”—here she made quotation marks in the air—“‘Barry’s new girl.’”

Caitlin must have made a face, because Iris nodded sympathetically and said, “Yeah, I know. I was ‘Eddie’s new girl’ for some time, too, although for some reason he was never ‘Iris’s new guy.’ Ingrained sexism, that’s what it is. Really subtle, too, and harder to root out, but since women empowerment is having a moment—right, I’m ranting. Sorry. Bad habit.”

“It’s fine,�� she said. “I’m used to ramblers.”

“Ranters,” Iris corrected with a smile. “Wouldn’t want to be lumped in the same category as Barry. At least I don’t lose my main point while talking.”

Caitlin smiled. “He is prone to that.”

“Don’t I know it. Sometimes I just tune out until like, three hundred words later, when he finds it again. Come to think of it, I shouldn’t have tuned him out when he was spouting all those nonsense ideas… I might’ve been able to stop him from doing all this…”

“Is there really no way to ask him to stop with the gifts?” Caitlin said tentatively. “The sticky notes are okay, just not… this production number, as you called it.”

Iris paused. “I could try to talk to him again,” she said. “And anyway, isn’t he supposed to be giving you space?”

“Yes, well. Obviously he failed. I even have less literal space in my room now.”

Iris laughed. “That’s true.”

They fell into a brief, comfortable silence.

“Hey, Caitlin,” Iris eventually said, “thanks for being honest. I know it sounds like I’m selling my best friend out, but it’s just, he really likes you, and I don’t want him to screw himself over. He can be really eager, you know? When he’s excited he just jumps into things without thinking. Loses all sense of timing and subtlety, too.”

Iris paused as if debating whether or not to continue, but before Caitlin could come up with a response to fill in the silence, she went on. “His mom and dad were also really big on romance,” she said. “We grew up watching them trying to out-surprise each other on their anniversary and on Valentine’s Day. It was crazy, the things his dad did. Once, he decorated their whole house with flowers, because his mom absolutely adored flowers. This other time, he ordered chocolates from France, Sweden, Belgium—you know, places where those fancy chocolates come from—and made it look like a chocolate buffet from around the world. His mom was like that, too. She used to throw him these themed surprise parties. There was one party where she invited everyone—his former patients, his students, his colleagues from the hospital, his colleagues from whatever medical association he was part of—and she had someone from each group give him a toast. He was so teary-eyed at the end that he couldn’t give a proper thank-you speech.” Iris sighed. “His parents had something really special, you know? Even my dad thought so. Everyone who knew them thought so. The happiest couple in the world, people would call them.”

Caitlin absorbed all this in silence. “He does look like someone who grew up surrounded by that kind of love,” she murmured.

“Yeah,” Iris said, smiling. “He was such a happy kid. Still is, actually. And I think—and this is pure speculation,” she added, “but I think that more than having a great career, more than being rich or famous or successful, more than anything, really, Barry wants what his parents had. I’m not telling you should fulfil that,” she added quickly. “I just want you to understand where he’s coming from.”

“I understand,” she said slowly. “This is a lot to take in, though. I’m the antithesis of that picture of his parents you just described, as you can see.”

Iris laughed. “Yeah, that’s pretty clear to me. And honestly, I don’t think he’ll want you any other way. Just give him time to adjust.”

“Alright,” she said. “Thank you for… talking to me. To be honest, I wasn’t sure how to proceed with all this.”

“Oh, no problem,” Iris said, waving a hand. “If you need help with Barry—or anything, really—you can message me any time.” She stood up. “Anyway, I should go. You have class, right?”

“In an hour, yes,” Caitlin said, accompanying her to the door.

“Hey, maybe in the future, we could do a double date or something,” Iris said. “You and Barry and me and Eddie. I’ll take you to all the best hole-in-the-wall places. A lot of the owners know me already, so I get discounts, too. It’ll be fun. What do you think?”

Caitlin blinked. “Okay,” she said.

“Great,” Iris smiled and squeezed her arm. Caitlin tried not to shy away from it. “I’ll go talk to Barry before he brews tomorrow’s disaster. See you around, Caitlin.”

When she left, Caitlin returned to her desk. Well. That was strange, but not entirely unwelcome, especially since Iris herself had offered to talk to Barry. She also found herself relieved that she could get along with Iris. She wasn’t exactly the friendliest of people, but Iris had enough friendly in her for the two of them.

“Now,” Caitlin muttered, staring at Beary’s placid smiling face, “what to do with you? You’re going to want to stick around, huh? A real nuisance you are, just like your namesake…”

She stopped abruptly when she realized that she was talking to an inanimate object, and then squinted warily at Beary. She was beginning to be gripped by this whole stuffed-animal craze, and she wasn’t sure what she felt about that…

. . .

“Cait? Hey Cait, bananas!”

Caitlin looked up from her laptop. “What? What’s happening?”

“Ha, got you to look!” Felicity grinned triumphantly. “You ready to sleep? I’m going to kill the lights now.”

Caitlin gave her friend an odd look, but, being used to such antics (or Felicitisms), she merely saved her file and slipped her laptop onto her table. “Yeah, sure.”

The lights went out. Felicity shuffled to her bed, and Caitlin heard her fold her glasses and place them on her bedside table with a soft thunk.

A few moments later, Caitlin ventured, “Hey. Are you sleepy?”

“No, not really.” Felicity turned to face her. Her face was blurry in the moonlight. “Are you?”

“No.” She paused. “Can I ask you something?”

“Yeah, okay. Shoot.”

“Remember that story I told you, the one Iris told about Barry’s parents?”

“Mmm. What about it?”

“It bothers me.”

“Why?”

Caitlin curled further into her side. Had she been talking to Felicity during the day, with Cisco and Jax with them, she might not have said this out loud. But now, wrapped up in her blanket and enveloped by the warm, inviting darkness of their room, filled with the well-worn and well-loved things they had shared for over two years, Caitlin felt brave enough to be vulnerable.

“He wants a happy ending,” she said. “I’m clearly not his happy ending. He needs someone who can match his… exuberance, I guess. His generosity. Someone who’ll give him what his parents had. I don’t think I can. I don’t think I’m capable of it.”

“You don’t know that,” Felicity said. “You haven’t even started dating yet.”

“I think that’s the point. We haven’t started dating yet and we’re already incompatible,” she said. “At first, I thought admitting my feelings was a bad idea because I didn’t want to get hurt, but now I think it’s a bad idea because I don’t want him to get hurt. I don’t want to disappoint him.”

“Ah,” Felicity said. “So you don’t think you’re good enough for him?”

“Well,” Caitlin exhaled, “more like I’m not right enough for him.”

“Yeah, I get that. I still feel that way with Oliver sometimes, you know.”

“You do?”

“Yeah. Well, we haven’t been together for long, but still. I was terrified, remember? And you were terrified for me, too. Told me that if I had any common sense, I’d walk away from him right this instant, before things got too serious.”

Caitlin smiled. “Fortunately for Oliver, you had zero common sense.”

“Yeah,” she said. “Sometimes, when I’m with him and I’m feeling really happy, I get hit by sheer panic. Like, I start thinking, It’s impossible for anyone to be this happy. He’s going to cheat on me one day, or else he’ll get bored with me and break up with me… Oh my God, if he does, I’ll never find someone like him again, I’ll never be this happy again… and so on.”

“You still think about that?” Caitlin said, incredulous. “Have you seen the way Oliver looks at you? When you’re in the room he literally cannot focus on anything else.”

“Yeah,” Felicity said, with a modest shrug, “but I guess sometimes we sabotage our own happiness.”

Caitlin moved to lie on her back. “I think I’ve felt what you’ve felt with Oliver,” she said quietly. “I just feel… so light with Barry. Or happy, I suppose. I’m not sure. But I know that when I’m with him, I don’t want the moment to end. And when I saw him with Patty—I told you about that, right?”

“Yeah.”

“When I saw him with Patty, I was devastated. But there was this small part of me that was almost… gleeful about it. It’s hard to explain, but that part of me seemed to be saying, You knew this would happen. You were right, he’ll never like you. Good thing you didn’t get too attached.”

“Yeah, I get that,” Felicity said. “Sometimes I hear that voice in my head, too.”

“Why does it do that?” Caitlin said, confusion and frustration seeping into her tone. “Why does our mind do that? Why is it that when we’re happy, our first instinct is to be skeptical of happiness?”

Felicity was quiet for a moment. “Maybe our mind is trying to protect us from getting hurt,” she said. “Maybe we only open a little part of ourselves up to happiness so that when it leaves, it doesn’t take all of us with it.”

Her words sank into the darkness of the room.

“Or, wait, no,” Felicity said. “If Oliver… breaks up with me, yeah, I’ll be devastated, and I’ll probably cry for days, and the part of me that was only me around him will be gone. But I don’t think that means I’m less of a person if he leaves. I won’t be left with like, only a few pieces of my heart or something. Pretty sure I’m stronger than that.”

“You definitely are.”

“Thanks,” her friend said, smiling. “So I guess what I’m trying to say is... we try to protect ourselves from that one painful moment we think we won’t be strong enough to withstand. For me it’s Oliver breaking up with me for whatever reason. For you it’s disappointing Barry. And we sort of obsess over it, that painful moment, because we want to do anything to prevent it. And when we do that we forget to enjoy whatever’s happening now. Or that even if that moment does happen, we can and will survive it.”

“Like having tunnel vision,” Caitlin murmured. “Being scared of the pain is like having tunnel vision. You stop seeing possibilities around you.”

“Yeah,” Felicity said. “Yeah, something like that.”

“You’re saying that I should give this thing with Barry a real chance, aren’t you?”

Felicity grinned. “I’m saying that, or you are?”

“Touché.”

“I’m not saying it’ll be easy,” she said. “You guys have a lot to talk about. I mean, flowers and chocolates and teddy bears are sweet, but they’re just not your thing.”

“So I heard. Apparently it’s common knowledge for everyone besides him.”

“You’ll think of something,” Felicity said. “I think he’s just excited now so he can’t think straight, but he means well. He really wants to make you happy.”

“I suppose so.”

“And if he can’t see you behind all those romantic notions of his, believe me, I’ll be the first one to tell you to stop trying.”

Caitlin gave her friend a smile. “Thanks.”

There was a lull in the conversation.

“Think we should go to sleep now?”

“Yeah, we probably should,” Felicity said, pulling her blankets to her chin. “Oh, before I forget, Oliver says thanks for the Smirnoff.”

“Tell him he’s welcome.”

“You traitors,” Felicity yawned. “Scheming behind my back.”

“Good night to you too, Felicity.”

Her friend smiled and buried her face in her pillow. “Good night, Cait.”

#snowbarry #snowbarry fic #snowbarry fanfiction #barry x caitlin #wonderful you came by #my fic #barry allen #caitlin snow #felicity smoak #iris west #cisco ramon #hartley rathaway #jefferson jackson #oliver queen

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andrewmoocow · 6 years

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Steven Universe Secret Wars chapter 6: Disassembled (originally posted on March 29, 2018)

AN: So, anyone excited for new Steven Universe this April along with all the Marvel movies releasing this year? I certainly am! Welcome one and all to Part 2 of Steven Universe Secret Wars. Lives will be put at risk, friendships tested, and despised enemies become unlikely allies! It's going to be so much fun! But I'm getting bit too excited here, let's get on with the show!

"If I could begin to be, half of what you think of me, I could do about anything, I could even learn how to love." Loki Laufeyson, the God of Lies and half-brother of Thor Odinson, half-heartedly harmonized in his prison cell on the mothership of Thanos the Mad Titan.

It had only been a while since he failed to retrieve the Mind Stone from a little Midgardian town known as Beach City thanks to the efforts of his enemies the Avengers and their new comrades the Crystal Gems. Instead of executing him, Thanos had him locked away on his ship until further notice and now he was just biding his time. "When I see the way you act, wondering when I'm coming back, I could do about anything, I could even learn how to love like you. Love like you."

"Cease your music Frost Giant." a deep voice snarled as its owner stood before his cell. This was none other than Thanos, who had only recently finally obtained the six infamous Infinity Stones and tested it out on the Gem Homeworld and their monarchs. "Besides, you have a new cellmate."

He tossed his adopted daughter Nebula into the same cell as him and shut the door before walking away. "Wait Thanos, didn't you say you would give me a second chance?!" Loki cried clinging onto the bars. "I said no such thing Loki. But perhaps there is a chance for you to redeem yourself." Thanos stated before turning around and showing him a hodgepodge of many Gem shards merged together into one contained within an energy orb. "Are these..." the Frost Giant wondered before his master cut him off. "Yes indeed Loki, collected them from the Gem Homeworld itself. And I have an idea on how you can use them."

Meanwhile back on Earth, the alliance between the Crystal Gems, the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy continued to mourn the near-death of Steve Rogers, aka Captain America. Young Steven Universe was weeping in the arms of Tony Stark aka the invincible Iron Man. The Incredible Hulk had regressed back into his human form of Bruce Banner to comfort his teammate Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow. Hawkeye simply gave Pearl a sorrowful pat on the back. Garnet tried to keep her usual composure before breaking down and the rest just hanged their heads in shame.

"We could've stopped this. One of us could've stopped him and destroy the Gauntlet." Tony muttered letting go of the boy to look over his friend. "I know, but this is something Steve would've done. He could've sacrificed himself for the good of everyone in the universe." Pearl stated wiping her tears away. Just then, the people of Beach City began driving into town again as a large helicarrier hovered over them. A small Quinjet flew out of the aircraft and landed before the heroes. Out of the jet came two people, Nick Fury the director of S.H.I.E.L.D and his trusted confidant Maria Hill. "Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl."

"Old man Fury, is that you?" Amethyst gasped at the sight of him. "I cannot believe you're still alive either. Last I heard from you, I thought Homeworld finally caught up but look where we are." Fury stated. "I've been keeping an eye on you since the Chitauri invaded this town, right Quill?" he said gesturing toward Star-Lord. "Uh, yeah! He totally had eyes on you since then!" the space cowboy nervously chuckled. "Okay to be honest, I had no idea what was going on with him."

"Okay, what's the damage here?" Maria wondered moving toward Rogers' comatose body. "We believe Miss Hill that our friend has had a near-death experience in the hands of Thanos." Doctor Strange replied. "Believe?! We all saw it before our eyes you caped clod!" Peridot shouted catching the S.H.I.E.L.D agent's attention. "So you must be the Gem that interrupted those broadcast signals a while back." Maria said kneeling down to Peridot's height. "Kind of expected you to be taller."

"That was the old me, this is the all-new all-different Peridot!" the little green Gem snickered pridefully as a group of paramedics wheeled the out-cold captain onto the jet. "Okay everyone, time to go!" Nick called for the Avengers to get on board. "Actually, could we make a quick stop in Wakanda first? My people need me." Black Panther suggested. "Very well then. The rest of you, get on!"

One by one, Earth's mightiest heroes began to say their farewells and condolences to the Crystal Gems as they boarded the aircraft before suddenly, Amethyst started following them. "Wait, where are you going Amethyst?!" Steven cried after her. "Oh yeah, about that." the Kindergarten quartz nervously said. "After what happened with Thanos, I just feel like maybe he was right. We pretty much failed our mission so now it's time for me to find a new one."

"Amethyst, you're being irrational here! Thanos may have broken us all emotionally but that's no reason to leave Beach City!" Pearl firmly chided her shorter comrade. "I know but after what Thanos did to us, I'm pretty sure we failed in what Rose wanted us to do: protect Earth!" Amethyst shouted looking like she's about to cry. "Guys please, no need to fight." Garnet said trying to stop their argument. "Okay, you're right Amethyst. We did fail in defending the world." Pearl finally accepted. "Which is why I'm leaving too, with Doctor Strange."

"Oh, can I come with you too Amethyst?! I always wanted to see how Earth superheroes fight!" Mantis exclaimed. "Okay man, you can come." the purple Gem said. "Oh come on Mantis, you're leaving us too?!" Star-Lord complained. "We're just breaking the fellowship here, aren't we?!"

All the heroes began arguing amongst themselves except for Steven who just looked on in worry, Thor looking off into the horizon and Peridot who walked over to Lapis with a concerned look on her face. "Well at least we're still together right Lapis?" she asked her roommate, who simply didn't reply before staring at Thor. "I fear I will have to leave Midgard for a while, to search the other Eight Realms for a way to stop Thanos." the god of thunder mused to himself. His thinking suddenly caught Lapis's attention and she stepped forward next to him. "Can I come too?"

"WHAT?!" The arguing halted immediately when they heard Lapis ask Thor to accompany him. "Why did I have to open my big mouth?! Peridot screamed marching up to her. "Listen P, when I came back to Earth I was told I can be free from Homeworld if I fight them. But Thanos is on a whole other level!" Lapis explained her decision. "He could be out there somewhere wreaking havoc across the cosmos and pretty soon, Earth will be next!"

"I understand you want be as far away from Thanos as possible Lazuli, but look around." Thor stated. "Your comrades are here to support you, and always have been." Lapis smiled sadly but she had already made her decision. Walking over to Steven and Peridot, she gave them a bittersweet hug that seemed to last for quite a while. "I'm sorry you two, I promise I'll be back when this all blows over." Letting them go, she moved to Odinson's side and shook her head in confirmation. "Verily then." Thor said before raising Mjolnir skyward. "HEIMDALL, OPEN THE BIFROST!"

With that, a bright ray of rainbow light crashed down on the duo and when it disappeared, only an Asgardian symbol was left ingrained in the sand. After more silence, Peridot tip-toed towards it before dropping to her knees in tears. "I just got you back Lapis! Why do you have to leave me again so soon!" Steven moved to his green friend's side and gave her a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Oh dang, sorry about Lapis Dot." Rocket apologized putting his paw on the other shoulder. "But hey, least it can't get any worse!"

"Well, guess it's decided then." Tony finally stated. "Avengers, disassemble." It was finally settled, this ultimate alliance between the Crystal Gems, the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy was no more.

He, Banner, Romanoff, Barton, Mantis, Peter, Danvers, T'Challa, Hank & Janet began boarding the Quinjet away from Beach City back to New York while Pearl & Amethyst hugged their young teammate farewell. "No matter how far away we all are Steven, we'll always love you." the former servant said before she left with Strange through a portal while Amethyst became the last to board the jet and it took off, leaving Steven, Garnet, Peridot and the Guardians sans Mantis behind in front of the temple. Then Steven turned to Garnet. "You're not going to leave here too, right?"

"Of course I won't Steven, you know I would never abandon Beach City." the fusion confirmed kissing him on the forehead. "I'm gonna go back to the barn to check up on Pumpkin. I'll see you later." Peridot said her own goodbyes walking into the beach house and disappearing on the warp pad. "And we're gonna follow her just to be safe." Star-Lord added boarding the Milano. "Farewell young Steven, until our paths cross once more." Drax said while the rest followed suit.

"He was right, it did get worse!" Peridot sobbed looking upon what was once their barnhouse home, now in complete shambles. "Why is it that bad things mostly happen to me?!" Just then, she heard an excited yip that could only belong to Pumpkin. "Pumpkin, oh thank the stars you're still alive!" she cried as the orange canine rushed into her arms before an Outrider popped out of nowhere and swiped at the two, only to be immediately killed by Yondu's arrow. "Damned Outriders, this must be their handiwork."

"I am terribly sorry about what happened to the barn Peridot, we promise we can fix it." Gamora said kneeling down to the renegade technician's height. "Looks like we're gonna need tons of duct tape for this." Rocket commented trying to fit two pieces of wood together. "I am Groot." Groot said. "Of course they can fit together you ninny, I just need duct tape!"

"Hey Connie, really sorry about what happened. I just didn't want Thanos to kill you like he did to all those innocent people in the past." Steven spoke as he texted Connie on his phone. "I don't mind if you get mad at me again, I'm pretty mad at myself either. Please text back soon." Putting down his device, he let out a deep sigh and lied down on his bed to contemplate what has happened over the past few days.

On one hand, he was ecstatic to meet and fight with some of his favorite heroes, go into space again, meet the Guardians of the Galaxy again and go on a universe-spanning treasure hunt. But on the other, his home planet was once again put at stake and while they did manage to convince Thanos to leave it alone for now, it came at a great cost. Captain America was nearly rendered dead by the Mad Titan and the Crystal Gems were split apart after what he had told them. Amethyst became an Avenger, Pearl left with Doctor Strange and Lapis had once again abandoned Earth to travel with Thor.

Now he, Garnet, Peridot and Connie were the only members to remain in Beach City after the battle, but from what he heard the barn was destroyed by the Outriders and the Guardians elected to stay on Earth to help fix it.

He thought for a few more minutes before finally closing his eyes to take a nap. When he opened them, he found himself in a black void with he himself as its only inhabitant. Or so he thought.

"Salutations little Universe." the all-too familiar voice of Thanos greeted him. Recoiling in fear, Steven summoned his shield ready for another fight before the titan halted him. "I am not here for a rematch child. Rather, I am becoming intrigued by your abilities, specifically on how you can enter my dreams."

"Wait, what?" the half-Gem boy stuttered lowering his defenses. "Why do you say that? Do you want me to join you?!" he wondered. "No Steven. I simply want to talk. I have been thinking lately and it seems the Amethyst was right about us, we're two sides of the same coin."

With a wave of his hand, the tyrant created astral projections of both the boy's loved ones and those who feared Thanos. "You claim to be a kind-hearted loving mortal adored by your peers but I am an all-powerful war-mongerer bent on balancing the universe that is both feared and despised by all."

Snapping his fingers, Thanos caused the projections to disappear. "We both have powers that are considered amazing by the human eye, but you use yours to treat others with kindness but mine are used to destroy." To demonstrate, Thanos created an entire planet out of nothing only to obliterate it. "Okay you're right about those, but you're just so...mean!" Steven rebuked. "You hurt my friends, you hurt all these people across the cosmos, and you even hurt your own people as well."

"So you think I'm "mean" child?" the dark lord wondered bending down to meet Steven's gaze. "You may think that all you want, but it seems you aren't any different." He produced more images, that being of three Gems whom Steven wanted to help but they refused. "The mighty Jasper who's mind was corrupted by vengeance." He gestured to the image of Jasper's corruption at the Beta Kindergarten, specifically her last words revealing her former allegiance to the late Pink Diamond. "My Diamond! Your Diamond! PINK DIAMOND!"

"The fanatical rebel who simply wanted to free her people." Thanos made the image of Jasper disappear and pointed to Steven accidentally poofing Bismuth with his mother’s sword. "Then you really are better than her." the blacksmith chuckled before her physical form finally vanished leaving only her gemstone. "And the soldier hungry for honor." Finally, there was the projection of the Eyeball Ruby being tossed out of Steven's bubble and into the black void of space. "They simply wanted to see their dreams come into fruition only for you to get in their way."

"But why are you like this? Why do you only want to destroy?" the son of Rose asked. "I'm glad you asked young one. Allow me to regale you my origin story." Thanos then conjured up another image, this one of himself when he was young and then an entire city surrounding them. This city looked rather similar to the city on Titan, only it was more glimmering and pristine. "I was born the son of the Titans A'Lars and Sui-San along with my brother Eros."

As he spoke, he produced a few more images, this time of three humanoid beings similar to him. One had long white hair with green robes, the second was a woman with black hair & a rather distorted mouth and finally a young man with red hair clad in a red-and-white bodysuit with a leather jacket. "I was ostracized for a certain genetic deformity that made me resemble my race's sworn enemies, my father was barely around and my mother tried to slaughter me when I was born. My life was like Hell whilst my brother was adored by all."

"So you just wanted a friend? Maybe I can help you find one." Steven said. "I know quite a few people who would really enjoy your company." He was suddenly interrupted by the Titan with a roar. "No, I didn't want a friend! Let me finish." He continued on with his backstory. "When Titan was faced with a catastrophe that could destroy the planet, I proposed on an idea that could save us all. But they rejected it because it would be far too drastic. Once again dismissed, I eventually learned that the only way to save Titan was to destroy it. And that's when I met her."

The scenery then changed to an altar in a desolate realm where a woman dressed in black robes stood, her back facing an approaching Thanos. "I know the name of every soul that ever lived, died and ever will. Yet I do not know yours mortal. Explain."

"Greetings Mistress Death, I am Thanos of the planet Titan and I seek your assistance." Thanos greeted with a cordial bow. "My people are being faced with a world-ending crisis and my idea on how to survive it has been rejected so I seek advice. Please, I beg of you." he stated. "That reminds me of a problem of my own I've been facing." Lady Death declared. "I fear that this universe is growing far too much and that half of it needs to go. Would you be willing to help me carry this out?"

"And so, I made a deal with Death that in exchange for me wiping out half of the universe, she would become my bride. And wipe out I did." Thanos declared erasing the images. "I had slaughtered and enslaved billions all for her love, but as time moved on she refused to pay attention to me. That was when I decided to search for the legendary Infinity Stones and here we are now."

"So it's all because you love someone that just doesn't care?" the boy wondered. "Indeed so Steven, but I will succeed one day. When I'm done, half of the universe will still exist." the dark lord declared. "The only difference is that remaining half will be under my control and you all will be powerless to stop me. Make of that what you will and we shall meet again someday."

Steven finally woke up from his dream to find Garnet shaking him awake. "Steven, are you all right?!" the fusion cried before noticing that the boy finally opened his eyes. "Oh thank goodness you're awake. What happened?"

"I had a nightmare. Thanos was in it." Steven explained. "He told me about how he wanted to impress this Death person by killing half of all life in the universe." This statement alone was enough to send shivers down Garnet's spine as she began quaking in her boots. "Thanos! What does he want with Steven?!" she muttered to herself, no doubt it was a representation of Ruby and Sapphire panicking. "He obviously wants to control him! Why did the others have to leave when he could attack at any moment! Please calm down Ruby! How can I calm down when-"

Suddenly, Garnet finally defused into the smaller Gems, with Ruby nervously pacing around and Sapphire sitting quietly contemplating the situation. "Ruby, Sapphire, what's wrong guys?!" the boy cried trying to console his two guardians. "It's nothing Steven, just stress. It's actually been happening a lot lately." Sapphire stated as her hands fidgeted.

"Thanos could still be out there, he might actually go back on his promise and attack Earth!" Ruby fretted before the two put a stop to her. "Things would be so much better with the others around." the red Gem finally sighed before embracing the two. "I wonder how they're doing."

New York City. The Big Apple, the City That Never Sleeps, the home of Earth's Mightiest Heroes.

The glimmering beacon of dreams rests on the coast of New York and within it, Manhattan. This part of the state is home to some of the world's most famous superheroes such as the Defenders, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men and especially the Avengers.

Within their mansion headquarters that formerly belonged to Howard Stark, their newest member Amethyst let loose in the training room, taking out holograms of villains such as Whiplash, Attuma, Ulysses Klaw, Taskmaster, Baron Zemo and Graviton. "ZOO-WEE-MAMA, WHAT HAVE I BEEN MISSING?!" she screamed knocking down the hologram of Whiplash before tying down Taskmaster. Just then, an entire army of training robots resembling the villain Ultron came into view chanting "Ultron intelligence online." This alone got the small Gem even more excited. "Your mom is online ya trash cans!"

Amethyst curled up into a ball and speeded right into the Ultron dummies, knocking them all down like bowling pins. "Training simulation complete. Well done Amethyst." a female mechanical voice congratulated her as she walked out of the training room. "Hey thanks Jocasta, that was just amazing!"

Ever since the original Avengers disassembled, a new team led by Captain Marvel had been formed consisting of Amethyst, Mantis, Black Widow, She-Hulk, Vision, Falcon and War Machine. Clint had returned home to his family, Bruce was assigned to try & help Steve and Tony was desperately searching for a way to stop Thanos. Now it was just them protecting the city from evil. Many of the reserve Avengers had already received word of the battle from Spidey, Hank & Janet and were equally heartbroken.

"Very good there Amethyst, you have quite the fighting spirit." Vision congratulated her. "Kind of reminds me of Pietro. Makes me wonder how he and Wanda are doing back in Sokovia."

Just then, mechanical doors opened and Captain Marvel walked out from behind them. "TEN-HUT!" she shouted like a military commander forcing everyone in the room to line up beside her. "Good show today everyone, but let's not forget why we're all here today." Carol explained. "There have been rumors that HYDRA is planning another attack. We don't know their precise target but rest assured we have to be on patrol at all times until they make an appearance. Okay Avengers, move out!"

The other members followed her commands and prepared for an eventual fight with Hydra while Amethyst was left by herself. Then Falcon walked up from behind her. "Hey Amy, what's up?" he asked. "It's nothing Sam, just that I'm happy being an Avenger and New York is awesome, but I really miss Beach City, Steven and the other Gems."

"Hey, I know where you're coming from. We're all still grievin' what happened to Steve so much that aside from the original six, everyone else like Pete, Hank & Janet and Kamala went solo, the Maximoffs went back to Sokovia and I don't know what Wolverine is up to!" Sam said. "Probably off brooding in some other part of the world."

And brooding in another part of the world Wolverine was. After word got out of Captain America's fate, the reserve Avengers also separated, with the mutant returning to traveling the world. A particularly famous destination of his was Asia, but this time he was traversing through a forest in Korea. "That DeMayo owes me big time." he snarled pushing more greenery out of the way until he heard a rather low, somber voice. "You would not believe what has happened Pink." the voice said. "Thanos has finally defeated us. Our home was lost, every last Gem except for me, Yellow and our Pearls shattered. I don't even know what to do anymore."

"Oh damn, who's this big lady?" Logan wondered trying to get a better view of the owner of the voice. Upon further inspection, he discovered a large figure dressed in a dark blue cloak along with a much smaller female that bared a striking resemblance to Pearl in front of some pink object. "I truly do miss you Pink, I just wish things hadn't turned out so terribly."

"My Diamond, I think I can see something." her Pearl stated looking around before spotting Wolverine trying to hide from them. "What is it Pearl?" the giant wondered. "Okay, you got me bub." Logan said finally revealing himself to the two. "It's another human my Diamond, though it looks rather peculiar." the Pearl explained. "Okay listen here Alice, I ain't just a human. I'm a mutant." the savage Canadian declared popping out his claws for them to see. "A mutant?! I haven't seen one of those in centuries!"

"So I guess you have heard of us." James stated retracting his Adamantium claws before staring at the pink object before them. "So what the hell is this ol' thing?" he asked pounding on it. "Please be careful there mutant!" the giant woman cautioned him. "This is the palanquin of a very good friend of mine, but she unfortunately was killed so many centuries back." she said remorsefully. "Hey, I know how ya feel babe." Wolverine sympathized with her. "I've been alive since the nineteenth century and I've lost so many people throughout my life. My dad, my boyhood friend and God knows how much more."

Suddenly, a portal appeared before the trio and out of it came Thanos, turning his head to examine Korea's environment before glaring at Blue Diamond. Behind him was one of his loyal minions Corvus Glaive who immediately stabbed Wolverine in the torso with his namesake weapon before tossing him away. "Blue Diamond, why are you here when you can be bowing before me?" the Titan asked. "For the last time Thanos, I will never obey you!" the Diamond shouted glaring daggers at him. "You may have destroyed my planet, shattered most of my kind and enslaved me & my sister, but I refuse to listen to your demands!"

"Do you know just who I am?" Thanos boomed as Wolverine tried to get up from being attack by Glaive. "I am Thanos the Mad Titan, destroyer of worlds, conquerer of all, servant to Death itself and I command your respect or face oblivion." He then turned to the fallen palanquin. "And what could this be?" Thanos asked staring at it." That is Pink Diamond's palanquin, one of the remains of her legacy." Blue Diamond answered in a fretful tone. "Whatever you do, please don't touch it!"

Thanos simply rolled his eyes and with a snap of his fingers, destroyed the palanquin in a fiery explosion much to the Homeworld monarch's terror. "You said I shouldn't touch it." he reiterated with a wry smirk. "Now come, we have much to do." Blue then remorsefully followed him back into the portal with her Pearl following behind and it suddenly vanished.

Logan finally arose from his fall to see just what had happened. The palanquin that giant blue lady treasured so much was now a smoldering wreck thanks to Thanos. Now it was up to him to find Steven and warn him of what's to come as he raced away.

"Hey Steven, I got your texts. I'm not mad at you like what happened last time, I'm just super worried." Connie spoke typing a reply message to Steven on her phone. "Worried that this Thanos might come back. The Avengers & Guardians spoke about how powerful he can be. Hope we can talk again someday."

Putting her phone down, Connie sighed to think about what had happened over the past few days. From what she had heard earlier, Thanos could have the power to wipe out everything with a literal snap of his fingers and has been seeking the Infinity Stones for centuries. She knew Steven did the right thing by leaving her out of it because Thanos would be sadistic enough to kill her to provoke him, but she still wanted to protect the universe she lived in alongside him.

Just then her mother came in. "Is everything all right Connie?" she asked. "I'm fine Mom, I've just been thinking lately." Connie answered. "Steven wanted me to stay behind while he helped out the Avengers and now look what happened! The Crystal Gems have now separated because they lost their friend and think they failed to protect Earth! It's things like these that make me scared to lose him because well, he's my best friend."

"I know you're nervous Connie, but you know they'll find a way eventually." Connie's mother assured her. "Priyanka, can you come down for a bit?!" her husband called her from downstairs. "I'll be with you in a bit Doug!" She hugged her daughter and walked downstairs. "That guy is still out there. Wonder what he's up to?" Doug asked peering out the window to spy on a man dressed in a black hoodie just standing outside their house. "I think it's best we pay no mind to him. That way he can leave us be."

The man turned away from the Maheswarans' residence to talk to himself. "That Connie might be of use to us." the man said stroking his chin before walking away.

"Cherry man." Tony Stark mumbled sadly as he tried to work on a way to defeat Thanos. Out of all the Avengers, Steve's fate hit him the hardest. Although they butted heads a lot, they were still close friends and an unstoppable team. But now with the team disassembled, he had now secluded himself to his lab building armors and drinking. "Wonder how the others are doing?"

"Mr. Stark, Ms. Potts found Amethyst looting through your belongings." J.A.R.V.I.S said to him before a disgruntled Pepper walked in dragging a drunken Amethyst along. "Can you explain what she was doing in your bar?" she said tossing the wasted Gem to his side. "Whoa, talk about a demon in a bottle here!" Amethyst slurred cradling a wine bottle before collapsing flat on her face. "Oh good grief Amethyst," Tony groaned smacking his face. "if you want to puke don't lose it all over me, or Pepper, or my stuff. Y'know what, don't barf all over anything."

Amethyst then immediately retched into a nearby trashbin before her vomit was gathered up in a plastic trash bag by a mechanical arm and tossed into an incinerator. "Thanks Dum-E." Tony thanked the arm before returning to his work. "So what brings you here?" he asked the former Crystal Gem. "I just wanted to check up on you while me and the other new Avengers are out searching for HYDRA." she replied trying her best to smile at him. "We're buddies right?"

"Okay, kinda. We barely had some time to chat while we were searching for those stones. Now can you hand me a wrench?" The Quartz complied picking up the tool and tossing it to the inventor. "Listen Tony, I know you're super depressed over what happened to Steve, but Amethyst is as saddened about it as you." Pepper tried to convince him to talk with Amethyst about their loss before they were disturbed by Amethyst's Avengers ID beeping. "Hang on guys, gotta take this! Go Jenny!"

"Amethyst, we found HYDRA! We're at Times Square, get there post-haste!" She-Hulk cried before the transmission ended. "Hate to come and run so soon guys, but duty calls!" the purple Gem exclaimed before spindashing out of Stark's lab and into the city streets. "Sometimes I wonder just what is up with her." Tony said.

"Search this entire location men, I've been hearing of Gem activity around here!" the Red Skull commanded to his militia while they had the famous Times Square occupied. Along with him were some of HYDRA's other leaders, Baron von Strucker, Arnim Zola, Baron Zemo and Madame Hydra.

Meanwhile, the new Avengers charged into battle. Captain Marvel and Vision flew in first before being joined by Falcon & War Machine, followed by Black Widow on a motorbike, She-Hulk, Mantis and finally Amethyst. "Alright team, you know what to do!" Carol commanded activating her Binary powers making her hair stand up and a mask form around her head. "Mighty Avengers, assemble!"

"Hey guys, need a little help?" Spider-Man offered swinging into battle. "More than ever Pete!" Amethyst responded smashing into a HYDRA soldier before finally stopping in place. "Hey Tomatohead, over here!" she called insulting the Red Skull. "YOU!" the terrorist screamed turning to point at Amethyst. "You're the same purple midget that humiliated me seventy-one years ago! Men, destroy that foolish fraulein!"

The HYDRA soldiers began firing at Amethyst but luckily for her, she dodged them all and tied most of them down with her whips. "Get 'em gang!" she called to the other heroes and they charged into battle. Spidey kept the citizens safe by forming large web barriers that the terrorists' ammo bounced off of. Mantis put another platoon to sleep with her psychic abilities leaving them distracted long enough for She-Hulk to beat them up. "This one I like for her style!" the jolly jade giantess complimented the alien woman. "Thank you my friend."

"Airships at 11 gang!" Rhodey called firing at HYDRA jets with the machine gun on his armor. "Already on it bud!" Danvers responded charging at the Terror-Carrier deploying them. Screaming as loud as she can, she pierced straight through the aircraft in a single strike causing it to crash into the Hudson River.

"What are you idiots doing?! Get up and keep fighting!" Schmidt commanded getting more furious before he noticed Zemo and Ophelia preparing to leave by helicopter. "Where are you two going?" he shouted to the two. "Helmut and I have decided to take our leave Johann. We think it's best to leave you with your obsession with minerals." Sarkissian stated. "And we're leaving behind Zola and Strucker to take the fall for us." Zemo added before they were suddenly cornered by Vision who knocked them out with a blast from his solar gem.

"I can't believe it, being made a fool out of again!" Skull complained to his two remaining partners. "Viper might be right Skull, you are taking your obsession with these Gems a bit too far." Arnim commented before his screen was suddenly broken by Natasha. "They are right, we should leave immediately!" Strucker exclaimed trying to escape before he was tackled by Amethyst's Purple Puma form. "You fools may have decimated my army and my dignity, but you'll never take yours truly!" Red Skull shouted. "Prepare for judgement!"

Suddenly, he made a large suit of armor rise up from behind him and hopped inside of it, preparing to finish this once and for all. "Must be his new project, a battle armor based off of Tony Stark's designs made to combat rather large threats." Vision exposited. "Large threats, eh?" Carol cracked her knuckles. "Let's see if he can handle this!"

The captain grabbed a webline from Peter and spun him around like an Olympic hammer. Parker then grabbed Amethyst by her whip and their combined strength was enough to graze the Skull's battle armor. "Woo, that was nuts!" Amethyst cried. "This had gone on long enough fools, I've had enough!" the HYDRA leader screamed preparing to stomp on the Gem and shatter her before an electric shock was spread around the suit's systems, blowing it up and knocking him down for good. "Okay, which one of you was that?" Peter asked. "I'm guessing it was you Vis."

"I do not think it was any of us Peter. By the way, thank you for your assistance." the android thanked the webslinger before he swung off, leaving the Mighty Avengers alone. "Well whoever it was, we should give them our thanks too." Carol stated flying off. "Avengers, let's head back to base."

The crew followed their flying leader while someone in the distance spied on them. The man wore a black outfit with a matching vest, had long brown hair and a mask on but his most unusual feature was a metallic left arm with a red star on it. The man pulled out of his vest pocket and in it was a picture of Bucky Barnes and Captain America. "That one was for you old friend." he muttered sticking the photo back in his vest. "I'll be with you til the end of the line."

On Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village rested a three-story Victorian-style townhouse with a rather distinctive window on its roof. This was the Sanctum Sanctorum, home and headquarters of Doctor Stephen Strange, the Sorcerer Supreme. This house was filled with various mystical whosits and whatsits galore from throughout the ages and many a hero have visited here to seek guidance for magical problems.

Sitting down in the living room, the doctor and his new guest Pearl were discussing Sherlock Holmes over some tea while examining the damage caused by Thanos. "You know, I've actually met Sir Arthur Conan Doyle myself and I still can't figure out just how he made Holmes so intelligent." Pearl commented. "Indeed, Sherlock is quite the brainy character." Strange responded. "But we're getting ahead of ourselves, let's see how much havoc Thanos has wreaked across the cosmos."

Using his magic powers, Strange created an image of various planets that were left in ruins by the Mad Titan. "Let's see what we have here." he said. "Klyntar, home of the Symbiotes. Our empowered community has actually had a run-in with these creatures, mostly Spider-Man." Stephen explained. "Sakaar, ruled by the Red King. Mr. Banner actually found himself there once and when he came back to Earth, he wasn't happy."

"But what about this one?" Pearl wondered pointing to one particular planet. "I think this might be of interest to you my friend." Strange stated zooming in on it to reveal various structures that were all too familiar to the white Gem.

"The Gem Homeworld, ruled by the Great Diamond Authority! Did Thanos destroy this too?!" she exclaimed beginning to cry. "I'm afraid so Pearl. I suppose you must be familiar with them?" Strange wondered. "Yes, I once served under one of the Diamonds for thousands of years until I met Rose Quartz, who taught me how to be my own Gem. They may have been evil, but they certainly didn't deserve this!"

"We understand where you're coming from Pearl." Strange's servant and teacher Wong stated sympathizing with the Gem as he refilled their tea. "We lost someone close to us as well, haven't we Stephen?" he said. "Indeed, the Ancient One was a noble woman even if she dabbled in the dark arts a bit."

"Thank you for your kindness you two." Pearl graciously thanked them. "But who knows just what Thanos could be up to now?"

In a distant corner of the universe, far off from any civilization rested a planet made up of remains from other planets decorated with tributes to Lady Death. This was Battleworld, the new kingdom of Thanos inhabited by himself, his beloved and his minions. Stepping out of a portal, Thanos, Blue Diamond and her Pearl stood before a large white palace on the planet's moon bearing sculptures of Lady Death herself. "Come my minions." the dark lord commanded the two Gems walking up the steps to enter.

Finally inside, Thanos moved toward a throne before him with Lady Death standing next to one side and the demon Mephisto next to the other. Chained to it were Nebula and Yellow Diamond's Pearl with Yellow Diamond herself towering over the throne. "Do you like what you see my beloved?" Thanos asked Death. "Are you pleased by how much I have destroyed, how many innocent souls I have wiped out all for you?"

The personification of death gave no answer as she turned her gaze away from him. Thanos immediately began looking furious as the two former Homeworld matriarchs became petrified thinking he might destroy something in a blind fury. He raised his Gauntlet-clad fist skyward only to calmly lower it, consoling himself. "I suppose she might not be interested in you my lord." Yellow suggested. "You claim that wiping out half the universe would make you her equal when in actuality, you might've become superior to her."

"You might be right Yellow Diamond," Thanos said before reclining his head on his fist to think. "but what can I do to truly win her over?" he pondered. "Here's an idea master, why don't you gather Earth's champions to fight your minions?" Yellow Pearl proposed. "Surely the bloodshed might be entertaining to her?"

After moments of contemplation, Thanos grew a wicked smile on his purple face and decided what he should do.

In Beach City, Wolverine raced through the streets of the beachside town in a desperate search for Steven, hoping to warn him of Thanos. He charged right past most of its townsfolk before finally reaching the beach house and pounding on the door. "Open up kid, this is an emergency!" the mutant screamed before it finally opened. When Logan expected Steven to answer it, instead he got a short blue-skinned woman facing him. "Hello there." she politely greeted him despite the sweat staining her face. "What...the hell...are you?"

"Oh, we are terribly sorry!" another woman around the same height, this one being red, nervously apologized. "I'm Ruby, this is Sapphire and we make Garnet!" Ruby hastily grabbed Sapphire's hand and they refused back into Garnet. "Is something the matter?" the fusion asked. "I came here for the kid! He has to hear this!"

"Steven, someone's here for you!" Garnet called for Steven. "Coming Garnet!" the boy shouted racing downstairs from his bedroom to face the mutant. "Hi there Wolvy, what's up?" he asked James. "I've come from across the world to find you. Where are the others?"

"Amethyst and Pearl both left for New York, and we're the only ones left." Garnet explained sitting him down on the couch before they heard a sudden meow. Looking down, the three saw a small Calico kitten with a single blue eye looking up at them. "Oh hey Cat Steven, didn't see you there!" Steven said sitting the feline on the table before motioning Wolverine to sit down. "Didn't know you were a cat person." he commented staring at the cat. "This is my pet cat Cat Steven." Garnet said presenting her pet to him. "Oh I get it, like Cat Stevens."

"So what did you want to tell us about?" Steven asked. "It's about Thanos. He ain't done with us yet." the mutant revealed to the two Gems' horror. "I saw him in Korea chattin' it up with this big blue lady & her little friend and then he blew up this pink thing the blue lady was getting' all sad over." he explained. "Are you saying he met Blue Diamond?!" Steven cried before they felt a slight rumbling.

STEVEN UNIVERSE AND GARNET, YOU HAVE BEEN CHOSEN!

The two Crystal Gems began disappearing into light trying to escape, but to no avail. "What's happening to us Garnet?!" Steven cried. "I don't know Steven, but whatever's happening won't be pretty!" the fusion exclaimed before reaching out to Wolverine. "Listen Logan, I want you to get help! Find Con-" Before she could finish, they completely vanished leaving only Wolverine and Cat Steven alone in the house. "Now who could she be talking about?" the mutant mused scratching his head with one of his claws before he came to a conclusion. "That's it, Connie!"

He raced outside, bursting through the door to hunt down the swordsgirl and help them save the universe.

The snowy realm of Nidavellir was one of many realms that had allied with the Allfather Odin and was home to the Dwarves, a race of master blacksmiths and their enemies the Rock Trolls. The two currently traversing the land were Odin's child Thor and his new companion Lapis Lazuli, who was getting cold from the intense chill of this realm. "Is there any way for us to get warm around here, I'm freezing!" she shivered clutching her arms. "Allow me my cerulean comrade." Thor said grabbing his own cape and tearing it off, wrapping it around Lapis like a shawl. "Thanks Thor, but what about you?"

"Oh stuff and nonsense Lapis! I know someone who can make me a new one." the prince of thunder chuckled heartily before they continued on their path. "Eitri, Eitri! It is I, Thor and I seek your assistance!" he called. "So who's this Eitri guy you're calling for?" the ocean Gem wondered following behind. "Eitri is the king of the Dwarves and one of my closest allies. He originally forged my trusted Mjolnir using a dying star, which happened to be the same object that destroyed your realm's dinosaurs."

"Wow, your stories are actually really cool!" Lapis said in awe of the Asgardian's tale. "Thank you my aquatic friend, now we proceed!" Thor shouted pointing onward before a loud rumbling sounded. "So we meet again Thor!" a voice called and its owner stomped into view. It was a large orange-skinned hairy monster clad in green armor with a mouth full of fangs. "Ulik, can't you see we are busy here?!"

"We've heard rumors you've got a Gem on your hands, and lookie what ya have here!" Ulik exclaimed leering menacingly at Lapis. "Whaddya say we do with her boss?" one of the Rock Trolls asked his leader. "I say we take her back to base and see what makes her tick!" another shouted before he was suddenly cut off by Lapis splashing him into the snow, freezing him. "I've been everyone's prisoner for far too long, and I won't let you be my new captors!"

"Very well then fools. You have made a grave mistake Odinson." Ulik declared preparing his fellow Rock Trolls for battle. "Oh please, grave mistakes are what builds character." the Asgardian champion responded spinning his hammer while Lapis raised an aquatic column with a wave of her hand. "Now bring it."

With a roar, Ulik and his army charged at the two. Although they had brute strength and cunning, the teamwork between Asgard's finest warrior and the terraformer proved to be an even match. Lapis put even more of the enemy on ice while Thor smacked another in the jaw with a mighty swing of Mjolnir. "This Lapis is even tougher than I thought!" one of them cried before he was swallowed by a water barrier she formed around Thor, leading the god to make lightning literally strike twice, adding electricity to the barrier and electrocuting all the Rock Trolls.

"ENOUGH!" another more elderly voice boomed causing Ulik and the remaining trolls to flee. Looking up, Thor and Lapis discovered a short humanoid male with graying hair and a suit of armor wielding an appropriately sized sword standing before them. "Eitri, it is a pleasure to see you once more!" Thor warmly greeted him. "Oh hello Thor, how have things been?" the Dwarf king casually said. "Wonderful old friend. I'd like you to meet my new comrade Lapis Lazuli!"

"A Gem! I haven't seen one since I joined Odin and his crew in the Rebellion thousands of years ago!" Eitri gaped in awe at Lapis examining her form. "And it's a Lapis Lazuli too, quite a powerful Gem! Tis a shame they're mostly used for digging out Kindergartens."

The Dwarf suddenly interrupted himself when he noticed the makeshift shawl wrapped around her shoulders. "Is this Thor's cape? Oh my, this must be fixed post-haste! Come with me!" He led the two out of the forest clearing towards his forge.

Stepping into a nearby cave, Lapis's jaw dropped at the sight of the forge, seeing numerous dwarves work tirelessly building weapons using the lava beneath the surface. "Welcome to the mines of Nidavellir miss! We dwarves worked in here for as long as we could remember and definitely show no signs of stopping!" Eitri made a grand gesture introducing the Gem to their way of life before taking the duo to his personal forge. "So what brings you two to Nidavellir?"

Thor took off his chestplate and began explaining their situation as the dwarf began making a new cape. "The reason why we have come here is because Thanos has come once more. He now has all the Infinity Stones once more and exterminated half of all life in the universe, which is why we seek your guidance."

"As much as I would be happy to assist you son of Odin, I'm afraid I must decline." Etri said sadly. "Our kind may have extraordinary capabilities and even mightier weapons, I fear we might not be enough against Thanos." He finally finished the cape and handed the chestplate back to Thor. "Thank you Eitri, and I'm sorry you had to decline but it is for the best." the god thanked him taking Lapis back outside and raising his hammer. "HEIMDALL, OPEN THE BIFROST!" Within seconds, the two found themselves flying out of Nidavellir and landing in a golden palace solely inhabited by a muscular dark-skinned man holding a sword. "Welcome home Thor."

"Heimdall, it is good to see you once more!" Thor boomed. "Lapis, meet another one of my comrades. This is Heimdall, guardian of the Bifrost Bridge, gifted with the ability to see pretty much anything in the Nine Realms." Heimdall stepped forth and gracefully shook Lapis's hand. "Welcome fair maiden, never expected we'd get a Gem visitor after our encounter with the rebels all those thousands of years ago."

"Wait, you actually met them?" Lapis wondered. "I would elaborate further on how a pilgrimage to Midgard would lead to us siding with the Crystal Gems, but it seems Thor that there are a few warriors expecting your return." Suddenly, Thor was swarmed with four other Asgardians excited to see him. The first was a black-haired woman in a red tunic with silver armor over it. The second was a large rotund man with a bushy red beard. The third was more slender, wore green and bore blonde facial hair. Finally, the last one had a blue scarf and a dark-colored mustache.

"It's been so long old friend, how has avenging been?!" the large warrior excitedly asked. "And who is this fair maiden you have brought with you?" the green-clad man added gracefully kissing the Gem's hand. "My name is Lapis Lazuli. And I assume you must be some of Thor's friends?" Lapis inquired.

"Indeed Lady Lazuli, I am Sif and these are my comrades the Warriors Three." the female warrior introduced herself and her companions. "Call me Volstagg the Voluminous! You can guess why I'm called that." the fat champion said. "You may refer to me as Fandral the Dashing." the swashbuckler struck a pose and shot a loving gaze at Lapis. "And I am Hogun the Grim." the horned warrior concluded the introductions.

"Say, you ever wanted to tour Asgard?" Thor asked taking the Gem's hand. "No, but that does sound pretty fun." Lapis said before she was suddenly dragged away from Heimdall's observatory across the Rainbow Bridge all the way to Asgard's capital city.

Thor and his friends showed Lapis all of Asgard's famous landmarks like the Hall of Asgard, Odin's Vault, the training grounds of the Einherjar and the grand dining hall. "And this is you might find Volstagg sometimes." Fandral quipped spreading his arms wide. "Plus we hold a feast following the Day of the Great Hunt here every year! Speaking of which..." The Warriors Three left Thor, Sif and Lapis at the hall pumping their fists in the air while chanting "Boar! Boar! Boar! Boar!"

"I think I shall return to guard post. See you two at the feast." Sif said her farewells before walking away. "There's two more people I know on Asgard that I should really introduce you to." Thor stated leading his blue friend away from the dining hall. "And they are my parents and king & queen of Asgard as well."

"And you're the prince, right?" Lapis asked following her thunderous companion behind. "Exactly!" The two of them strolled into the royal palace until they were met with the iron gaze of the Allfather himself, Odin with his wife Frigga alongside him. "Welcome home my child." Frigga welcomed her son back with a hug. "It's a pleasure to see you once again mother."

"And we see you have brought a guest, a Gem no less." Odin added looking at Lapis. "Hello there your majesty, my name's Lapis." Lapis greeted him with a curtsy. "Greetings Lapis, I am Odin, ruler of Asgard and defender of the Nine Realms." the Allfather boomed, his tone stern yet fatherly at the same time. "And this is my wife Frigga."

"Tell us, how do you like Asgard?" Frigga asked. "I actually like it here! All of Thor's friends are really nice, it's super pretty and I feel so protected because you're all so strong!" Lapis exclaimed discussing all she adored about the kingdom. "I would really like to stay here, but that would mean leaving all my friends on Earth behind, especially Peridot." Her voice suddenly became somber as she knelt down on the floor before the royal family. "I can only assume this Peridot you speak of must be a dear friend of yours." Frigga guessed. "Yeah."

"Come now Lapis, I felt the same way when I first traveled to Midgard." Thor sympathized with her. "Before becoming one of their mightiest heroes, I was a stubborn & arrogant prince who was banished for starting a war with the Frost Giants and stripped of my powers. Eventually I made friends and learned a bit of humility and I willingly decided to stay and protect Earth."

Suddenly, the doors flung open and in charged Sif, looking heavily damaged as if she came back from a nasty battle. "Your majesty, I have terrible news!" she cried clearly out of breath. "Loki has returned, and he has an entire army of crystalline beasts with him!"

"Wait, who's Loki?!" Lapis wondered getting up from the floor and staring at her now livid friend. "My brother. He has menaced me and my comrades for as long as I can remember!" the prince shouted readying Mjolnir. "Though I wonder where could he have gotten those creatures." he added before Odin rose from his throne grabbing onto his spear. "Assemble our forces son, these geode monsters could be unlike anything we've seen before."

Thor obliged, rushing to Sif's side and allowing her to fetch the Warriors Three. "Wait, we're actually going to fight this guy?! But I remember what happened last time we were side-by-side!" Lapis panicked trying to fly away before Thor caught up to her. "Do not worry, Loki may be manipulative and especially deceitful, he is nothing like Thanos." he assured her. "Besides, I'm sure your aquatic arsenal would be of great use to us!"

"Okay then, I'll come with you." the terraformer finally gave in putting on a confident smirk. "Very well then, let us make haste! For Asgard!" Odin declared marching out of the throne room before he and his son were stopped by Frigga. "Before you leave, I have but one request." she stated. "Do go easy on Loki. He may be a villain, but he's still family."

"We'll try my dear." Odin said giving her a kiss before the three of them set off. To Lapis, this was simply another fight but to the Asgardians, it was family vs family, father vs son.

Brother vs brother.

"Thank you for taking me to this place. What do they call it again?" Pearl asked a blonde woman dressed in a black domino mask and a white bodysuit with blue highlights & billowing sleeves as she dropped the Gem off an airborne bike in front of a large building off the coast of Manhatten. "This is the S.H.I.E.L.D headquarters, the Triskelion." the woman explained. "Oh well, thank you Bobbi." Pearl entered the building which was packed with various men and woman dressed in suits, presumably to do their espionage duties.

"Now where did Bruce say his room was?" she muttered gazing at a piece of paper with the numbers 1, 9, 6 and 2 on it. She was so immersed in the paper that she almost bumped into a brown-haired man wearing a navy suit speaking into an earpiece. "Oh I am terribly sorry sir! Please I didn't mean to, I was searching for Dr. Robert Bruce Banner." the former Crystal Gem hurriedly apologized before the man stopped her. "It's okay miss. You said you were searching for Banner?" the man asked. "Why yes. I'm Pearl, a friend of his. And you are?"

"Phil Coulson, agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. Pleased to meet you." Phil said. "I've already heard of you from Fury." he stated. "Oh, so where is Nicholas now?" Pearl asked. "Off on some secret mission." Coulson replied before beginning to walk away. "So as I was saying, you were searching for Bruce?"

"Yes, do you know where Room 1962 is?" Pearl asked beginning to follow him. "That's on the fifth floor. Want me to come with you?" the agent offered. "Alright then." The two of them took the elevator all the way up to the fifth floor and when it stopped & they disembarked, Pearl began scouring the hallway for Room 1962. "Let's see, 1941, 1963, 1965, 1964, ah here we are, 1962!"

Entering the room, Pearl laid her eyes upon her old comrade still comatose in a hospital bed with various medical equipment surrounding him. Off to the side was Bruce working on a computer unaware he received a visitor. "I'll leave you two alone for a bit, have some business of my own to attend to." Coulson stated walking away. "Hello there doctor, it's me Pearl." she announced finally catching his attention. "Oh Pearl, what brings you here?" Bruce asked turning to her. "I came her from Strange's place to see how Steve was doing. Oh, Steven was just so heartbroken to see his idol end up like this."

"I know Pearl. We removed the halves of his shield so he'll be back soon enough, but I fear he won't recuperate on time." Banner solemnly confirmed before they heard footsteps enter the room. "Where is he?" a man asked. This man in particular had long brown hair and a robot arm in place of his left arm. Pearl retaliated by immediately summoning her spear ready to defend her friends. "Stay back Banner, he might be dangerous!"

She took a mighty jab at the intruder but he fought back grabbing the spear and tossing Pearl in a cupboard full of medicine. The Gem let out a war cry and clashed her weapon with the man's mechanical arm before she looked into his eyes and recognized just who this stranger was. "No, it can't be!" she gasped. "James?!"

"Pearl?" the man gasped removing his mask, revealing that he is none other than James Buchanan Barnes, her old friend from World War II. "I can't believe it, you're alive?!" the Gem exclaimed in sheer astonishment. "You gave up your life to save Steve, we were all told you died!" Pearl began panting in sheer befuddlement, panicking at the thought that Bucky was alive. "Can someone get me a chair, I think I'm going to faint!"

"It's all right Pearl, I'm fine." Bucky tried to steady her. "And in case you're wondering, I was taken an experimented on by Arnim Zola which is where I got this arm." he explained bringing attention to his metallic limb. "I suppose you must be here for Captain Rogers as well?" Bruce asked getting between the two. "Yes. After catching word of what happened, I turned to vigilantism because fighting evil is what he would've wanted." Bucky said. "I know you're doing what your friend thinks is best, but I don't really think vigilantism is the best course." Pearl responded before they heard a sudden pinging noise coming from Banner's desk. "My Avengers ID?!"

Picking it up, Bruce tapped on the A on the card to receive a hologram of Mantis. "Hello, is Pearl with you?!" she exclaimed. She seemed very frightened which meant something was horribly wrong. "Pearl? Oh yeah, she's right over here." the gamma radiation expert answered handing the card to the Gem. "What's the matter Mantis?"

"Some of my teammates are gone! Amethyst, Widow and the captain vanished without a trace!" the alien frantically said. "And I've heard news that the magician is gone as well!" Then there was a faint rumbling before a voice loudly spoke.

PEARL, CAPTAIN AMERICA AND THE INCREDIBLE HULK, YOU HAVE BEEN CHOSEN!

Then the three of them began fading into light. "Do you think this is what happened to them?!" Pearl exclaimed dropping the ID card in fear. "I'm pretty sure but I'm also not sure just where they've gone!" Banner answered before they, along with the still knocked out Steve vanished from the room, leaving only Bucky gaping in awe. "I have to tell someone!" he exclaimed racing out of Room 1962, fearing about what could happen to them.

Meanwhile on Asgard, a great battle was about to take place.

On one side was the Allfather Odin along with his son Thor, his companions Lady Sif & the Warriors Three and their new friend Lapis Lazuli along with platoons of Einherjar & Valkyrior. And on the other was his adopted son Loki with an army of hideous creatures with multi-colored bodies, multiple limbs and gemstones adorning their bodies.

"By Odin's beard, what even are these abominations?!" Volstagg exclaimed readying his mighty sword. "They could be Gems, but they're nothing like the ones we've seen during the Rebellion!" Sif added. "Could they be casualties of war?"

"I think they're Cluster Gems, shattered remains of former Crystal Gems used by Homeworld to create prototypes of a superweapon!" Lapis explained standing beside Thor. "Those Diamond dogs! They were so desperate to wipe out Earth they even resorted to turning their own kind into weapons!" Odin snarled glaring at one of the Clusters before his son stepped forth and pointed his hammer at Loki. "Brother, why have you come here with these mineral monstrosities?!" he exclaimed. "Why it's simple brother," the Frost Giant replied. "I've come for revenge."

"You heard him men! Attack!" Fandral cried leading the soldiers into battle against the Cluster Gems. The Einherjar broke a few of them to pieces while the Valkyrior, led by Bruunhilda, soared high above them on horseback dashing down with their swords. "So did you say these things are made up of parts of Gems?" Hogun asked Lapis. "Yes, but where did that guy get these? Also, I don't really see the family resemblance."

"So you say little Lapis?" Loki commented snidely suddenly teleporting from behind her. "Well how about I show you?" He then magically turned his skin blue and incredibly cold to the touch with red eyes to boot. "In truth, I am actually a Frost Giant adopted by Odin after my birth parent left me to perish in Jotunheim." the trickster explained grasping her chin. "And I see you seem lost. Do you think siding with such a boorish fool like Thor is better than allying with someone who has enough minions to protect you?"

"NO!" Lapis screamed slapping Loki's hand off her face and splashing him away. "What was that for?! I was just trying to propose an alliance!" he exclaimed reverting to his more human-like self. "You'll only just treat me like a slave or some kind of tool! And I refuse to ever be used again!" She let out a mighty yell launching an entire tsunami on him, nearly drowning him before Thor stopped her. "Lapis, wait! Frigga told us to go easy on him!"

"I know, but he's just so smug it keeps reminding me of someone I knew in the past." Lapis weeped ceasing the tsunami while Loki ran for the hills. "She was a brute, forcing me to fuse with her and we fought each other for months." She quietly sobbed into Odinson's chest before Sif noticed Loki fleeing through a portal. "Hey look, he's getting away!" she cried pointing straight at him. Lapis ceased her crying and replaced her misery with rage as she flew after him. "Get back here you!"

"Lapis, wait!" Thor exclaimed chasing her and his brother through the portal before it suddenly vanished. "Thor!" Sif and the Warriors Three cried. "Where do you suppose he went?" Fandral asked. "I do not know, but I fear wherever they are, they're in for the fight of their lives." Odin answered.

This first chapter was quite a doozy! So many new characters making cameos, new plotlines to be resolved in future chapters, I pretty sure this might be longer than the final chapter of Clod on the Run! Well no time to waste now, join us next time for the next chapter of Part 2, Welcome to Battleworld!

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laurabelle2930 · 7 years

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Olicity Prompt: Cramped Spaces~Part 4

Original prompt from @captainolicitysbedroom

Warning: Again for me super explicit so tread carefully...

Read it here on AO3

Chapter 4

Everything was going according to plan…

Felicity had arrived in a simple green dress; it fell to her knee with a tight bodice and collared neckline. The fabric below her waist flowed like silk being chased by a stiff afternoon breeze. Her hair was pinned at the sides but the rest remained comfortably around her delicate neck. Oliver’s suit was black with classic clean lines and a dark blue shirt to match. He marveled at how they moved with harmony and grace as they each smiled lightly upon their approach.

Laurel waved brightly while he remained green faced and frowning. Oliver pulled Felicity’s chair out and, she of course gave him a smile that reminded him of Anna’s. It was simple, reassuring, and most shockingly loving…

As the waiter took their drink orders he let his distracted mind wander even further into the murk invested waters of his darkening soul…

About three months ago...

He came to with a violent shudder. The room around him appeared dark if not a bit muddled by the stagnant air around his nose. He shifted and immediately groaned when the back of his knees racked roughly over what he swore were metal chains. He slowly tried shifting his ankles and cringed when instead of bone hitting bone he felt metal hitting harshly against more cold, hard metal. “Dammit,” he swore lowly as he attempted to blink away the blurred aspect of his vision. The pain in his throbbing head continued pulsing away like an angry heartbeat as he gingerly leaned forward...

“Oh my darling I’d be far slower when endeavoring to move...” the voice purred from the darkened corner.

Ray’s tired eyes felt heavier the more he struggled. His wrists seemed to burn each time he weakly tugged at his arms, his hoarse voice seemed to echo numbly through his chest, “What the hell did you do to me?”

The voice laughed coldly with ice and precision chipping away at the remaining warmth in the room, “Oh I simply saw an opportunity and I seized it...”

Ray’s eyes fluttered, “The bar...” he mumbled. “You’re the woman from the bar,” he concluded with horror edging its way past his drug laced voice.

She took a small step forward, her skeletal leg made him struggle once more against the sharp edge of the metal restraints. “Laurel...” he sneered when he caught the edge of a very familiar tattoo.

She tapped the toe of her shoe along the blackened floors and giggled in sheer delight, “I told you when we met Mr. Palmer that getting in my way would be your ultimate undoing...”

His glare was hidden by the darkened room but his voice betrayed his ire, “Oliver turned the job down, I simply was the last resort.”

She stepped further into the lone light of the otherwise lightless room. Her tresses shined beneath the dim lamp. He felt the sweat from his brow beginning to trickle downward when her face finally came into view. Her painted lips reminded him of the devil that lay beneath any woman’s flawless beauty. With curved lips she leveled him with a parting threat as she moved towards the bedroom door. “Yes darling you were a last resort and now in order to get back what I’ve taken you’ll see me as yours...”

With that she tossed the keys to the cuffs at his stomach. The metal landed over his ruffled shirt soundlessly as her well heeled shoes clacked dangerously along the floor. He called out frantically, “You can’t just leave me this way!”

Laurel tossed her long, flowing locks over her slim shoulder and chuckled lowly, “Oh yes I can if I have any hopes of obtaining your help...”

Before Ray could reply back she’d left him, alone, half dressed and bound to his bed frame. The last sound he heard before Anna came home was a cruel, “I’ve lost my love and now you’re going to lose yours...”

Present Day...

Laurel’s elbow jabbed along the lines of his ribcage when his silence became noticed. “Honey, Felicity asked you a question I do feel you should provide her with an answer.”

Ray’s glassy eyes fell upon the couple before him. Oliver’s left arm was presumably anchored to Felicity’s waist since everything from the elbow down was hidden from view. His right handed fingers were innocently drumming along the crisp white table linen, his strong jaw was flexed in concern as he breathed, “Palmer are you alright over there?”

Ray struggled with his tie knot, his strained fingers felt heavy as he attempted to work the knot down. Felicity lifted her right temple from Oliver’s shoulder but, kept her hidden right hand placed over what Ray hoped was his knee. Her brows furrowed in confusion when she asked, “Ray seriously are you alright?”

He coughed nervously when Laurel’s cat like nails pierced through the fabric of his black dress pants. “Ummm...” he gulped roughly, “Fine...” he finished seconds later.

The couple in front of him nodded slowly but it was Oliver’s eyes remaining steadily focused on his face that caused him to nervously sweat. Having those deep, blue orbs focused on him so intently made him see the strength of character that Robert had often spoke of. Ray swallowed and his throat bobbed. Oliver’s fingers dragged along the tablecloth, Laurel’s harsh laugh seemed even emptier than minutes before, Felicity’s false smiles made his heart ache as the scene before him continued to play out.

“Well as I’ve told Ray, Felicity my dear you truly have created what will be the cornerstone of Robert’s company. It’s just so impressive that you managed to think it all up out of thin air, right honey?”

Ray caught the signal, her plan was about to be hatched. With a fair amount of foreboding he cleared his seemingly clogged throat. Felicity’s innocent eyes shifted from Laurel’s to his. He flushed in shame, his hollow words echoed through his empty chest, “I can’t do this...” he mumbled as his once proud chin fell. “I can’t no matter the cost...” he sighed as Oliver’s fingers froze.

“You can’t what Ray?”

Laurel’s voice sounded off next with nothing but venom lacing the once soft tone, “Yes Ray, what can’t you do?”

“I can’t hurt them they way you hurt me...” he breathed shamefully.

Laurel’s protests were loud...at first but his guilty heart was louder. She screeched angrily, “You worthless traitor!” He noted the many faces of other restaurant goers that suddenly flashed from their dinner plates and towards their table.

He laughed emptily, “I’m only worthless if I say nothing...”

He saw her twitch beside him. He could feel Felicity’s concerned eyes and, he could feel Oliver’s anger as he lifted his shameful gaze and began to weave his mournful tale.

Laurel’s nails dug at his skin as Oliver’s clam voice eased his fraying mind. “Ray whatever it is I’m sure I already know.”

Ray’s eyes flitted between them. Oliver was holding her comfortably while she found peace within the simple embrace. His touch upon her skin wasn’t frenzied or hurried like before; it was calm, and sure much like their eyes as they each gazed at him not in anger but in concern. His smile was genuine when he replied, “I’m sure you do but this isn’t about what she’s done this is about what I’ve done...”

Both exchanged soft looks of shared bewilderment before Felicity took the lead. Laurel was shaking beside him with fury as Felicity’s soft voice replied, “Ray what’s really going on here?”

He shook his head then grumbled, “It all started three months ago...when Laurel drugged me.”

Both their mouths fell as Laurel screams of “NOOOOO!!!!” shattered the relative peace of the surrounding diners.

Three Months Ago...

Ray pushed the buttons gingerly and waited for the slight chime. The elevator rose slowly, each floor he passed made his heart shudder in shame. The scene from mere hours before flashed through his mind like a maze of endless torment. The first memory was of Anna seeing him bound and half naked on the bed they shared. Her voice when she meekly begged for the truth was the second; her face when he found he couldn’t provide it was the third. He kept hearing her last trembling words as the door closed behind her, “I loved you...I never betrayed you...”

He kept hearing those sobbed phrases until the doors of the elevator finally opened. Robert of course was standing there grim expression and all. Ray gave him one shattering look before the older man gingerly enveloped him in his open arms.

“I see you didn’t take my warning seriously.”

Ray’s forehead bobbed harshly along the older man’s broad shoulder. “If I do as you ask you’ll help me fix it right?”

Robert’s aged voice chuckled gently along Ray’s ear, “Yes Ray I’ll make it right...” as he guided them both into the open office just behind them.

Ray took the seat closest to the door while Robert took the seat beside him. The windows allowed the light of the midday sun to cast a warmed shadow of hope upon every surface before them. Ray’s eyes squinted as the light caught the elderly man’s cufflink. He smiled bemused and lowered his arm, “So Laurel’s gone and made another fine mess I see.”

Ray eyed him carefully before slumping into the cushioned seat. “Define mess,” he begged oddly.

Robert pushed the black mug of some steaming liquid forward. His kind brows crinkled as he folded his arms over his proud chest. With crossed legs and a tilted head he said, “Laurel’s been dating my son for the better half of three years and in that time she’s driven him from three colleges and now because she won’t let him make up his own mind he’s about to turn down a position that could bring him actual happiness.”

Ray cocked his tired head grumbling, “Happiness?” as he slowly reached for the mug before him.

Robert’s easy laugh would lull even the most suspicious person into a false sense of security. He leaned backward a bit as the black couch wrinkled beneath him, “Didn’t you read over the information I gave you?”

Ray nodded slowly, “Yes but what does Anna’s old college roommate have to do with making Oliver happy?”

“I see Laurel hasn’t been by to see you today has she?” Robert asked knowingly.

“No,” Ray mumbled. “She’s waiting I’m sure for my panicked call.”

Robert sighed, “Anna was Felicity Smoak’s roommate for two months.”

Ray gave him a shocked look, “How did you know that?”

“I knew,” he swallowed, “because of Felicity of course.”

Ray pushed the mug of coffee aside and straightened his back, “Stop beating around the bush and tell me how you intend to fix this whole mess.”

Robert’s kind eyes turned cunning in a matter of seconds, “Bottom line?”

Ray gulped gratefully, “Yes bottom line.”

“I’ve known Felicity for almost two years. She’s the person who found the original hack, stopped the virus and then restored my son’s trust fund. She’s the one whose made this company what it’s become and, she’s who I want my son to end up with.”

Ray’s shoulder slumped instantly, “You want to fix up your son and Felicity by making them partners?”

The older man laughed lowly, “No neither of them would ever forgive me for that interference but...”

“But you think if they meet they’ll click right?” Ray interjected.

“Yes and now that Laurel’s pushed him too far he’s rejected the offer to be her CFO and partner.”

Ray leaned forward and tapped his fingers along the rim of the glass covered coffee table, “Since I’ve already agreed to take his place what is it you want me to do exactly?”

“Keep an eye on Laurel. She’s not done given how far she went to divide you and Anna.”

Ray laughed harshly, “Yeah and how are you going to fix that or any of this really?”

Robert reached into this jacket pocket and pulled out a small thumb drive. He slid it across the table and grinned contently. “Felicity saved my son, hell she saved my family and for that I’ll be forever in her debt but,”

“You think she’s right for him don’t you?” Ray commented as the lightbulb suddenly flared to life.

Ray’s interruption made Robert’s eyes crinkle, “My son called me yesterday for the first time in two years...”

Ray leaned forward, “Why does that matter?”

Robert smiled and tapped at the thumb drive, “He called to tell me about a conversation he had with his upstairs neighbor, and apparently he felt he should take his own advice.”

“She’s his neighbor isn’t she?” Ray concluded quietly.

The grey haired man smiled, “Keep an eye on Laurel, make sure Felicity continues to travel on the days I assign and I’ll take care of the rest. Just make sure my son meets this girl...and,”

“And you’ll convince Anna to forgive me?” Ray hoped aloud.

Robert tapped the drive, “Everything you need to win her back is on this so do we have an agreement?”

Ray reached for the drive; his fingers tingled when they fell over the plastic covering. He hiccupped a bit when he lowly agreed. He did however ask for one additional favor, “Once I’ve made sure they’re together I get to tell them the truth deal?”

Robert nodded, “Agreed,” as they both fell into a vaguely comfortable silence.

Ray focused on the pair before him...

Oliver’s lips looked pale, not pale like he’d just come in from the cold but, pale like the blood had just completely drained from his face. “My God Laurel have you gone completely insane!”

She batted her array of feathered lashes and smiled sweetly, “He’s full of shit Ollie, you know me… I’d never do something like that.”

Ray swallowed a contrary opinion but, lost the will to remain silent when she added in a sugary tone, “I mean come on I’m so much smaller and weaker than he is…”

“Really?” Ray’s voice boomed. Knives and forks including Felicity’s dropped with harsh clangs over their dinner plates. “You drugged me!” He screamed harshly. “You slipped something into my drink when I refused your advances! You then paid the bartender who was apparently an ex of yours to help haul my body back to my bloody apartment where you then proceeded to strip me while he bound my wrists and ankles! You’re sick and depraved and what now that we have an audience you put on the innocent flower act!”

His lungs burned with energy, her face flushed to the color of hot coals when her murmured beneath her booze laden breath, “There’s no way you could know about Eddie…”

“Oh you’re right but thankfully the bar had a security camera…” Ray announced proudly.

Laurel sneered, “Robert…” before their attentions were diverted by a slight chuckle.

It was Oliver who laughed, “Eddie? Really you paid that Neanderthal to help you? What did you use sex? Or let me guess you promised him a piece of my trust fund once you’d taken on the Queen name…” he finished with such a smug tone that even Ray had to lowly clap.

Felicity blushed a bit then whispered, “Who’s Eddie?” towards Oliver’s ear.

“He’s another man she cheated on me with,” Oliver replied just as lowly.

Felicity nodded but did nothing more than mouth “Oh” as she leaned further into his extended arm.

Ray pushed the issue further when he said, “You ruined my life and I’ll be damned if you ruin them! You said he’d break her heart! Well guess what Laurel she doesn’t look very broken hearted!”

She huffed but said nothing. Ray pursed his lips nervously once his eyes fell on the couple before him. His staggered words felt rushed as he spoke, “I never thought things would go this far...”

Oliver’s brow wrinkled in anger before Felicity’s calming voice echoed through his constricted chest. “Ray?”

He glanced at her with slanted, nervous eyes. His words slipped past his lips with small tremors, “I knew Felicity...I knew what Robert really wanted and yes I aided when asked.”

She blinked rapidly, “I didn’t even ask my question,” she stated swiftly.

Oliver’s response was somewhat muted, “Were there any other players in this entire screwed up matchmaker plan?” Ray saw the blue of Oliver’s eyes shifting to grey as his temperament began to sway. He saw the way his jaw clenched as the silence between them grew longer.

Ray muttered slowly, “Mandy called your father after Felicity’s first flight...” he saw the fires of betrayal rising in those stormy grey depths. “Before you think she betrayed you she didn’t...not really,” he breathed heavily.

Oliver groaned sadly in mere acceptance to whatever role she’d played, “She wanted me to me happy and, because of her I am.”

Felicity’s fingers stroked along the side of his tilted cheek, her eyes held his own with nothing but complete understanding. She pushed her fingers against his jaw slowly; Oliver compiled by tilting his head downward; as their foreheads met Laurel’s low, icy voice broke through the stillness of the intimate gesture.

“She’s the one who lost you your trust fund, she’s the one who created the firestorm that cost us our future and, now you’re what choosing her over me?”

Ray watched in awe as Oliver’s forehead remained steadily upon Felicity’s. He listened as Oliver’s breathes began to level out, he admired his tone as his carefully chosen words passed from his lips and over Felicity’s soft smile. “There was not choice to make Laurel, it was never going to be you, it was always going to be her...”

Ray’s eyes slid from Oliver’s profile and landed on Laurel’s. He saw the mask she’d so carefully constructed beginning to crack. The lines of black mascara stained the corners of her eyes and ran in smudged rivets down her cheeks. Her lips trembled with ire, “I gave you purpose...” she seethed. “I gave you everything and you’re telling me it was always her...Her who you’ve known for ten seconds when compared to me...”

Ray’s eyes danced back to Oliver’s face. The way Felicity’s fingers trailed down his whiskered skin made him blush with pure envy. The corner of his mouth inched upwards as he spoke, “Yeah but you couldn’t do what she did without hesitation...”

Laurel gaped, “What? Sleep with you within hours of learning your name? Hell baby I slept with you an hour after we met.”

Oliver growled, “She accepted me before she even saw my damn face.”

Laurel bit back sharply, “How did she do that?”

“By taking the advice of her faceless neighbor,” he chuckled knowing that no one besides Felicity would understand the meaning in those few words.

“Only a fool loves blindly Oliver...” Laurel snarled with crossed arms.

Ray caught Felicity’s annoyed flicker as her fingers stilled along the side of Oliver’s face. Her soft, “Then I’d rather be the fool...” was muttered as the two lover’s lips met in one very chaste but, reassuring kiss.

Laurel gagged dramatically, “Please he’s got a wandering eye. Trust me Fe-lic-ity he won’t ever be blind when it comes to other women...”

“I love her Laurel...” Oliver stated with no dramatic license.

Laurel snarled, “You don’t know what love is Ollie...”

He choked back a hearty laugh, “Then I guess that means I never loved you now doesn’t it?”

She choked on her next words, “You couldn’t possibly love her! It’s been 24 hours for Christ sakes!”

He answered evenly with no anger in his easy tone, “Yet here I am in love...”

Ray broke between the verbal sparring by interjecting, “When did you realize it?”

Laurel’s eyes darted to his stark face. Oliver’s never left Felicity’s gaze but, his words reached their intended target. “I knew I loved her when she told me the truth.”

The words hit him like a wave as it crashes along the rocky shore. Ray smiled lowly then murmured, “I’ll step aside Oliver she always wanted it to be you anyways...”

He grinned but it was Felicity who whispered, “Thank you, Ray.”

He was about to nod in acceptance of her passing gratitude when Laurel’s low snarl broke through the lightly brokered peace. “Of course now you’re willing to be who you’re supposed to be…”

Ray’s eyes darted to her thin lips then back to the pair before him. “I think he’s willing to because for the first time he sees a future with someone,” Ray suggested lightly while Oliver’s lips gently brushed once more over Felicity’s.

“Yeah with a geek,” she suggested quietly.

Felicity said nothing in her defense nor shockingly did Oliver, all he managed to grunt was a soft, “Any other tales you’d like to shed some light on?”

Laurel huffed, “No,” in immense irritation, while Ray reached into his jacket pocket. His fingers brushed over the cool plastic one last time as he placed it softly on the table. Laurel eyed the device angrily, “What’s that? Robert’s final stand against me?”

Ray laughed sadly, “No it’s something you apparently could never understand…”

He pushed the device forward until it was resting along Felicity’s salad plate. Laurel cocked her head gingerly, “Seriously Ray what’s on the drive?”

He tapped it once more then breathed as his fingers slipped over the rounded edge, “The truth Laurel, it’s the truth.” With that he did what he’d been yearning to do for almost three months. He threw his napkin onto the tablecloth and stood. Oliver and Felicity’s forehead’s parted briefly while Laurel’s head shifted into an awkward slant. “And where do you think you’re going?” she bellowed in amusement.

“I’ve done my part, Robert’s task is complete so if you three don’t mind I’m going home,” he stated with a bright smile. Seconds later he was pushing his chair in beneath the table and moving rapidly towards the double doors. Before he left he glanced once more over his shoulder, Laurel’s cold features now were glaciers as her emotions froze all around the curves of her sharp face. Oliver and Felicity’s eyes were downcast upon the silver device. He smiled whispering to himself as he departed, “Be well you two, be well.”

With that Ray Palmer left and never once bothered to take another step back toward the life he never wanted.

Felicity flipped the switch with weary fingers. Oliver followed behind her with both palms over her shrugging shoulders. She tilted her head until her cheek was resting firmly over his knuckles. He in turn brushed his lips over her upper temple, “Do you think we should look at the drive?” he mumbled against her skin.

Felicity nudged his knuckles with her upper cheek bone, “Get the laptop from our room?”

His soft smile didn’t go unnoticed when he mumbled, “Sure baby.”

Felicity sighed a bit when his warm touch was gone. She kicked off each shoe and stepped down into the dark living space. She turned on the lamp that rested on the couch side table before folding her legs beneath her. She leaned back softly until the welcoming warmth of the couch’s plush cushions were pressed along the line of her spine. The lights of the city were hidden by the sheets of rain that seemed to fall in curtains upon the land below. She mused quietly that the sky must be mourning but, over what she still didn’t know. “Oliver?” she called out into the shadows of the room.

He came out with the slim laptop in one hand while his other rested over his hip. The soft smile that initially drew her in was there across his rugged, handsome face. His curved, welcoming mouth made her stomach flutter as he said, “What’s on that beautiful mind of yours?”

She tilted her head while she raked her fingers through her slightly undone tresses, “What if the drive holds nothing but more secrets and lies?” she asked him while he moved across the small expanse of the room.

He fell before her bent knees and placed the computer beside her. With his fingers grazing over the fabric of her dress he replied, “We can always just throw the damn thing away.”

She agreed with a slight head tilt. He placed his chin over the soft dresses many layers as he slowly moved his fingers up the soft skin of her outer thighs. Felicity’s head fell back a bit when his fingers reached the crest of her pelvic bone. “Are you trying to distract me?” she mumbled lowly while he tenderly kissed the now bare skin at her knees.

“Is anything going to change what we are?” he asked gently.

She let the question roll around her mind for a moment while he continued to graze the pads of his fingers up and down the exposed skin along the line of her pelvic bone. She hummed in low appreciation then mumbled, “No, but I still want to know what Ray felt was so important that he kept the damn thing on his person for the past three months.”

His fingers paused over the edge of her parted thighs, his lips lingered over her taut skin while she brushed her fingers through his coarse hair. “We’re going to have this conversation tonight aren’t we?” he asked knowing she’d say yes.

She lifted her head and pinned with hopeful eyes, “If we want more than a now forty-eight hour fling then I think we have to,” she told him while he trailed his fingers back down toward her bent knees.

“I’m ready when you are,” he grumbled nervously.

She let her fingers itch towards his clenched jaw, “I love you,” she mouthed before she lifted the computer’s screen upward.

Like she had hours before he mouthed, “I know,” before her eyes slid to the well worn keyboard tiles. She pulled the zip drive out of one of the hair clips and inserted into the USB drive. Oliver remained on his knees with his palms along the skin of her lower thighs. She ignored the patterns he continued to draw along the lines of her skin as she pulled up the contents of the drive. He mumbled, “The little crinkle between your eyes is kinda cute,” when her brows furrowed in concentration.

“Hmmm it’s not hot or sexy?” she teased back while she worked on decrypting the stored files.

His lips brushed over her knees, “With you cute is just another version of sexy Felicity,” he whispered into the soft kiss just as she broke through the last flimsy firewall.

“Eureka!” she exclaimed before finding the video file.

She shot Oliver a light glance then uttered, “You ready?”

His whispered, “Yeah,” was felt over her skin as her index finger hovered over the mouse pad within the laptop’s frame. She took a deep breath then mumbled, “Please let this last,” beneath her breath then gently pushed play.

The screen crackled to life a few moments later. The screen at first was filled with a fuzzy, distorted image of a man moving around what appeared to be a glass lined wall. Oliver’s furrowed brow made her ask, “Do you recognize the space?”

He nodded upon her knees, “Yeah it’s my father’s office back in Starling,” he answered in shock.

She attempted to get a better visual by increasing the screen’s resolution. At first the image just became fuzzier with undefined edges and moving blobs of light and shadow. Oliver cleared his throat as she groaned in frustration, “I created a software empire, this shouldn’t be so….oh wait a minute…” she bit at her lower lip when she found the right algorithm, “and just adjust that line of code and….tada…” she finally breathed. “We my friend have a clear picture!”

She brushed her fingers over Oliver’s furrowed temple. His wrinkled forehead smoothed at her soft touch. He smiled then told her in a whisper, “I’m okay Felicity, I’m okay.”

She brushed her fingers down to his jaw mumbling, “So…the guy is your father on that we both agree?”

He squinted at the clear image and sighed in reply, “I knew this would be a can of worms.”

She said nothing and let the video file resume. Robert moved about the space silently. His salt and pepper hair looked the same Felicity noted as the silence consumed them. She could feel Oliver’s nerves as his fingers continued to trail along her skin. She too kept her fingers over his jaw while she placed her chin on her other palm. She glanced down at the lapsed time; her eyes flickered in annoyance just before a pair of shoes clacked loudly over the seemingly marble floors. They both seemed to inch closer as the faint voice filled the small speakers and then the room. “You asked to see me sir?”

Felicity’s mouth fell slightly when she whispered, “Anna?”

Oliver’s thumb brushed over the edge of her knee as the video played. Felicity’s hand dropped to his shoulder when Robert’s soft voice filled the void. “You’ve been working here for what a month now?”

The woman who stood in the shadows of the camera seemed to nod. All they could see on the screen was her long brown hair as it cascaded down her back. She seemed to hiccup, “Ummm yes sir.”

“You’re aware of the company wide breach I assume?”

She let out a clipped, “I know what the report says and I’ll say it one more time I’m not responsible for the hack.”

Felicity gasped but kept her angry, “No,” trapped within her throat.

Robert moved around the desk, he edged his buttock over the lip of the glass surface and leaned downward. He then crossed his arms and tilted his head. His soft eyes remained calm and unwavering in their subject. With pursed lips he asked her softly, “Do you know a Felicity Smoak?”

“It can’t be…” Felicity murmured as her eyes scanned for the time stamp near the edge of the screen.

“Yes we were roommates for about 2 months why?” came Anna’s reply as the video moved forward.

“Can she be trusted?” Oliver’s father then asked.

Felicity scowled but kept her lips tightly shut. Oliver appeared to be doing the same since she could feel his frustrated breathes over her skin. Anna’s voice came out lowly, “Look whatever you think she did she didn’t. Cooper Sheldon is responsible of that I can assure you. If she’s offered to help you then take it but be warned she’s independent and won’t take kindly to your methods of looking into her past.”

Felicity muttered, “Damn right,” as Oliver grunted, “Unbelievable.”

Robert’s image appeared to smile brightly before he gave his swift reply. “Oh I know all about her independent spirit and I also know who was behind the hack but that’s not why I asked you to come in today.”

Anna’s voice cracked with nerves, “They why did you?”

“I asked you,” he began, “because I think she’d be good for my son.”

Felicity grumbled, “Oh you’ve got to be kidding me,” just as Oliver then groaned, “Please don’t tell me he did this…”

Just as Robert was about to respond the video went black. Felicity moved her fingers over the keyboard looking for any corrupted data when the screen flashed to blue then back to a dull grey. Her fingers paused as small lines of fragmented pixels filtered their way over the dulled screen. She sighed but waited as another voice called out from the darkened room. “It’s going to be about how you Felicity saved the company and then Oliver’s trust fund.”

The couple at the same time muttered, “What the fuck?”

The voice laughed slightly but remained concealed within the shadows. “Anna told him about you Felicity, she told him how smart you were but, she also told him how honest you were. After that conversation the plan to get you two in the same room was formed. Anna didn’t have any real involvement until Laurel drugged Ray. She’d come to work apparently in tears so her supervisor called Robert, he then called her to his office and she explained. After Robert learned who she was dating he was able to connect the dots…”

“I know that voice,” Oliver whispered dangerously.

Felicity silenced him with a pinch to his shoulder as the voice rattled on. “His plan was formed after you turned down the job Felicity. He wanted someone with backbone to be dating his son. He knew all Oliver needed was someone to believe in him as he was with no strings attached. He sensed that given your guilt you’d immediately decline any offer of a meeting so he took another route.”

“Seriously Felicity, I know that voice,” Oliver implored once more. She simply hushed him and listened with what could only be described as rapture.

“When you accepted his offer to jumpstart your company he was thrilled, it was then that he began to plan.”

Oliver pinched her knee. Felicity screamed, “What!” as he shouted, “I’m telling you I know that voice!”

She groaned, “Okay then who is it!”

He growled lowly, “How much more time is left?”

Felicity glanced at the lapsed time, “About fifteen minutes why?”

He pushed himself up and over her knees until he was able to reach the mouse pad. Then he moved the arrow down towards the time bar. Felicity tried to stop him but he just shrugged her off with his forearm and moved the video forward to the last minute. The voice filtered through the speakers once more. Felicity glared then groaned, “What if she had more information? What if Robert only…”

Oliver let her mentally fill in the blanks then grumbled, “He funded the company so when you were ready he could force me back into the family business Felicity. He did it because somehow he figured that if I was in love with my partner I’d be less resentful of his actions. That’s why he let Laurel push herself out of my life and that’s why he remained close to Anna he knew who all the players were…it was rigged from day one…”

Felicity’s fingers danced over the mouse pad as the video played on. “In the end what he did was wrong Oliver but it came from a good place. Laurel only wanted you for your trust fund and, he wanted you to have more. Using Ray and Anna was wrong and he did mend the error by showing her the bar footage from the night that Ray was drugged. She forgave him and actually helped him understand you Felicity. She’s the reason that Ray was so easy to work with and, Oliver she’s the reason that Mandy pushed you into talking to Felicity.”

Felicity paled as the voice finally revealed her face. “Anna and Mandy are a sister’s…that’s why Mandy helped…she wanted you to be happy Ollie, in the end we all did.”

Oliver grumbled in anger, “I told you I knew that voice.”

Felicity’s head fell, “Thea I presume?” she asked him almost silently.

His grunt was the only conformation she needed.

The video came to a close. She closed the window and scanned the remaining files; some where video’s others were just packets of information about the how and why of each meeting between the schemers. Oliver’s chest heaved over her thighs, “I can’t believe my baby sister helped them do this…”

Felicity felt his anger in her own bones as she breathed, “Are you angry that we met or that it wasn’t by chance?”

His eyes flickered to hers, “We did meet by chance we just didn’t know it…”

Felicity argued, “Baby he made sure I moved into your building.”

“But he didn’t force us to speak…” he rebutted. “He didn’t make you see me through rose colored glasses, he didn’t sell you a story, you fell for the man who told you to do what was best for you, you fell for me before you even saw my face and, that I’ll never regret.”

Felicity smiled, “So then why are you so upset?” she remarked as she slowly closed the laptop’s screen.

He inched backward until his knees were firmly on the floor, he then gently rubbed his forehead over the soft fabric of her dress; Felicity could feel his breaths over her slickened folds. Felicity began massaging his temples gingerly. He closed his eyes and let her touch soothe the frayed edges of his heart. Her body teemed beneath his with a kaleidoscope of feelings that ranged from passion all the way to fear. He heard her breath catch when he slowly walked his fingers up towards the hem of her panty line. She scolded him softly, “Oliver we need to talk about this…” but he simply mumbled…

“I’m upset because if it weren’t for him I might have missed you…”

Felicity moaned when he hooked his thumbs beneath the fabric that was closest to line of her upper thigh. “So you’re glad he interfered?”

Oliver rubbed his nose along her parted thighs. The fabric brushed along her heated skin. Oliver’s soft pants of longing brushed through the thin fabric and rubbed along her swollen skin. He muttered with lust, “I couldn’t be happier.”

Felicity giggled loudly, “Oh really?”

He laughed lowly, “Yeah really,” as he gently began to pull the fabric of her panty’s down. Felicity’s fingers raced toward the nape of his neck, his fingers brushed along her skin recklessly until his fingers fell over her knees. She felt the soft cotton falling down her tight calves; he glanced at her; she gave him a wink telling him silently to proceed. “We can talk if you want…” he offered.

Felicity’s fingers fell over his ears and down to his broad shoulders. She enjoyed how his muscles twitched in hunger beneath her greedy touch. Wetting her lips she whispered, “We’ll talk later…”

With a suggestive wink he pushed her legs apart as she slowly slipped down the back of the couch. His touch seemed to burn her skin as his fingers traveled slowly over the curved lines of her legs. Her own touch grew harsh as he began pushing the fabric of her dress higher, a soft, “yes…” tumbled from her lips when his fingers brushed over her already swollen clit. He instructed her gently, “get closer…” she eyed him oddly so he gave her a bit more incentive. With a cocky grin he roughly pushed the pad of his thumb down over her tight, little bundle of nerves until she screamed, “Fuck do it again!”

“Then move you damn ass down to my chest and I will,” he lowly growled.

“Look who’s all aggressive and bossy,” she mocked as she parted her legs further and starting sliding down towards his grinning lips.

Oliver pressed his thumb pad over her clit, torturing her with pleasure as she began to play a little game of her very own. First she yanked at his shoulders roughly. He eyed her curiously but kept up the punishing pace along her aroused bundle. She then slowly dragged her knees along his upper torso until she had enough space to place her slender calves around his neck.

Oliver’s lips curved, “Someone’s growing bolder…” he asserted as her fingers fell from his shoulders.

She nodded shyly given the positions they’d been in and coyly replied, “How so?”

His eyes fell to slits when she raked her fingers along the bone of her calves and towards her knees. His touch grew rougher when she finally placed her thumb over his own. He choked in shock, “You wouldn’t?”

She laughed seductively, “Well you wanted me to take some ownership earlier….”

Felicity smiled in delight when his eyes flew open. She licked her lips again as she used her own hand to position his index and middle fingers along her quivering entrance. Oliver sighed, “You’re too good to be true…”

She audibly agreed, “Just wait I get better with time.”

He snorted in humor but sobered quickly when she pushed his fingers against her welcoming inner walls. The motion brought her calves closer to the columns of his neck. Her ankles latched over his upper shoulders as her head fell back with a low scream. She quivered when she began to control the rate of his fingers movements within her. She heard him snicker in enjoyment each time to he moved his hand deeper into her warm core. “Enjoying this are we?” he asked lightly.

She groaned, “What do you think?” as she once again pushed his fingers inward. Her calves bucked around him just as her hips did, her body was awash with the burn of a thousand fires as she continued to control his rhythm. Each time his touch shifted along her constricting walls it made her yearn for another harsher sensation. She lifted her dizzy head and asked him with flushed skin, “What if I wanted to feel your tongue?”

Oliver licked his lips suggestively, “As you know your wish is my command.”

She gulped in all the air around her head and then stammered out, “I want to feel your tongue…” moments later his slick, somewhat sticky fingers were anchored along the outer aspect of her bent knee. His other hand was anchored in the same way; his eyes disappeared as she moved her roaming fingers down the skin of her thighs. She first felt the tip of his nose as he slid it along her drenched skin. Her eyes slammed shut as he then trailed his tongue along the same sinfully erotic path. Felicity let her fingers tangle with his hair while her body adapted to the feelings his foreign touch elicited along her tender skin. His tongue felt rough as it slid along her smooth skin. She felt him tasting her slowly with no regard to anything but their bodies melding into one. She squirmed a bit when he took his first taste along her inner walls.

He pulled back so instead of his rough tongue all she felt was how soft his lips were while they moved along her tingling skin. He asked worriedly, “Are you alright? Do you want me to stop?”

She shook her head along the seat cushions and mumbled, “God no…this feels…”

“Incredible?” he supplied when she became lost for words.

She muttered, “Exactly” as his smile burned along her skin of her entrance. She could feel his nose pushing along her clit right before the roughness of his tongue began to mix with the sensation of her building climax. He moved within her with slow, practiced precision as he took his time. She in turn let her body move along his mouth; she began to move her hips and then fingers so they matched his slow, sensual rhythm. It wasn’t rushed or frenzied but slow, and mutually gratifying for both involved. She swallowed a yelp when he pushed her knees down over his shoulders. The pace changed suddenly within that moment. Now he wasn’t merely exploring her with another type of touch he was devouring her with a heightened hunger.

She screamed, “OLIVER!” as his tongue moved quickly along her walls. His nose pushed along her abused mound while his talented fingers dug into her soft skin. Her hips bucked around his ears, her fingers yearned for control when she pulled at his short hairs, and her body felt like it was free falling through a star lit sky as he drove her higher and higher above the darkened clouds.

The fabric of his shirt brushed her skin, the sensation burned as his movements quickened, she moaned gratefully, “Thank you, baby…” as her body shuddered and her release coated his very talented tongue. Her pants of elation filled the room as she muttered, “I should have asked for that on the damn plane…”

She felt his wet lips littering her skin with small sucking kisses when he mumbled, “Given the space I’m surprised I was able to fuck you at all…”

She used her legs to squeeze at his neck in a show of annoyance, “We don’t fuck Oliver…” she corrected him sharply.

His lips were brushing along her inner knee when he asked apologetically, “Then what do we do?”

“Love silly, we make love…” she breathed as her heart rate fell back into a normal pattern.

Oliver’s soft laughs made her heart sing, “Well now that you’ve corrected my oversight how about we get you cleaned up?”

She barely had time to nod before he had her moving upwards. Her legs were still dangling off his shoulders when she gave him a lopsided smile, “Are you happy Oliver? Like truly I can’t believe my good luck kind of happy?”

He smiled softly, “I’m happier than I’ve ever been,” he offered before he kissed her knee. She moved her legs off his shoulders as he began to stand. He in turn offered her a hand, she cocked her head then asked, “We sharing a shower?”

He brushed his lips over hers, “And perhaps a bit more…” he murmured before she took her first unsteady steps toward the bathroom door.

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#arrow #arrow fic #olicity #olicity fic #au #prompt #flight attendant oliver #same old felicity #soulmates #smutty #almost done

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