#Barry being like ‘maybe I’m not the right lightning rod’

[zahri-melitor]

Me: The Button is a stupid event, why do we need to incorporate more of Watchmen into main DC multiverse, the continued deliberate disrespect for the original terms of the agreement with Alan Moore is rubbing salt into wounds…

Flash #22 (2016):

Me: okay this is still an unnecessary plot but for this aspect YOU ARE FORGIVEN.

[brown-little-robin]

39: Lightning Strike (Part Two)

part one | previous | next | masterlist | ao3 version

The spirit flickers, changing forms too fast for Thad’s eyes to comprehend. It’s formless, it’s too many forms, too bright for Thad to focus on; he can’t tell if it’s tall or short, male or female. For a moment, Thad wonders if it's Barry Allen, his grandfather. The one who started the Thawne-Allen war, here to end it.

But it’s not Barry Allen, he thinks. It feels… inhuman. Too much of the speed force is in this thing for it to be a recently-dead human being. If the spirits are candles, this thing is a bonfire. If the spirits are sparks, this is a blaze. If the spirits are lightning, this is a stormcloud. Besides, it can’t be Barry; its voice sounded like a child.

It called him “Beloved”.

Thad has no idea who it could be, and he can’t speak to ask. His mouth opens, his throat works, but the words don’t come, only fear, fear, fear, choking him silent. His body might be dying right now in that pillar of lightning, and he can’t speak.

“Why did you come back to the speed force, little one?”

The words stick in Thaddeus’s mouth. A lightning rod. I need a lightning rod.

The spirit waits, patient as eternity. Thaddeus chokes and clutches his throat, and the white space around them is as silent and uncaring as the Watchtower.

As silent and bright as the speed force. As silent and bright as death.

Thaddeus looks at the spirit and forces a sound from his throat. Humiliatingly, he hears himself whimper.

The spirit drifts closer.

“Your body can’t take much more…”

Its voice is definitely a child’s—hesitant and high-pitched. Thaddeus nods frantically.

The spirit crouches in front of him and tilts its head. Studies him. Who is it? What is it? It seems so removed from humanity, yet it called him “Beloved”. And it does love him. Thad can feel it in the lightning. The same way he sensed spirits in the speed force, he senses this: it loves him. Fiercely.

If only he could speak!

“You want to be… alive?” the spirit guesses. “And… not scared.”

Thaddeus bares his teeth, fighting to say yes. Just “yes”. That’s all he needs to do, why, why can’t he say yes—

“Go, and be not afraid.”

The spirit reaches out. Thad flinches back, but it leans forward and touches him on the forehead. Warmth and light surge through him, so intense it leaves him squinting.

He’s kneeling on the ground, shaking all over. Oh, he’s back in his body! The lightning is gone, and Thad is shaking like he's been electrocuted but he’s alive and his hands are still in Joseph’s hands.

His hands are in Joseph’s hands! Thad beams.

“Joseph! You kept holding my hands!”

Joseph nods and gives Thad’s hands a squeeze, then lets go to sign “Are you alright?”

“Fine! Great!” Thad can’t stop marvelling at Joseph. He can’t believe he gets to live with him. “Do you know your eyes are the same green as my CRAYDL was? And your eyelashes are prettier than anything I’ve ever seen on a human being. I don’t usually like looking at eyes but I like looking at yours. Do you think it’s because of your powers, or because the green is familiar to my brain?”

Joseph looks over at Raven like he’s startled.

“Is he okay?”

“I’m fine!”

Raven says, “He’s… happy.”

“I’m happy,” Thad confirms, and laughs. He can’t help it. “Joseph, this is so weird. I’ve never felt like this before.”

No, wait. He has felt like this before. When he was very small, winning games without really understanding that he was on a life-or-death mission. Despite the morbid thought, Thad can’t stop smiling at Joseph like a complete idiot.

He’s so happy!

Joseph looks stricken.

“What is it?”

“You didn’t do anything wrong,” Joseph replies. He looks at Raven, then up at Max Crandall, still with that heartbroken look. What’s wrong? How can Thad fix it?

Thad rises to his knees and reaches out to touch Joesph’s face, and Joseph’s hand clamps around his wrist immediately. Thad goes still.

Joseph slowly pushes Thad backwards, and the clone falls back.

Maybe… maybe the problem is something about him.

Joseph lets go slowly, watching Thad like he’s a wild animal, and raises his hands. The clone stays obediently in place.

Joseph signs to Max, “I think the speed force changed his feelings about me.”

Oh! Well, if that’s the problem, Thad has the solution.

“No it didn’t.”

Joseph returns his attention to Thad. He searches his face. Thad stares back at Joseph. He’s being completely honest, but Joseph seems unconvinced.

“I felt like this about you before, too, I was just too afraid to—”

He stops, abruptly remembering that there are speedsters here, watching him. Bart Allen is here. Watching him.

He feels like he should be reacting to this situation differently. He feels like he’s missing something.

“Thad,” Joseph signs, “what happened?”

“I don’t know. There was a spirit, and it touched me, and I think maybe it did something? I think—I think—”

Wait. Lightning rod! Thad forgot!

Thad touches his chest, seeking for that void like a black hole where a lightning rod should be. Instead, he finds an overpowering, sweet desire. It’s like the void got color-reversed—black to white, fear to hope, desolation to a tremulous kind of joy.

He wants. He wants. He wants.

“I think…” he breathes. “I want…”

He looks up. Joseph’s sea-green eyes are intent on his.

“Food.”

Joseph stares at him, eyebrows raised incredulously. But Thad’s certain. Food. Yes. His stomach is cramping like he’s been training all day. He wants food.

“Come with me.”

And before anyone can react, he throws Joseph over his back and sprints away.

He hears a shout behind him, but whatever. He’s got Joseph, and they’re going to go eat, and everything will turn out fine.

The wind in his face helps clear his head. He laughs as he runs. It seems like that spirit gave him a little parting gift; the lightning flying from his heels is white, and it feels like eating ice cream tastes. It is entirely unlike Thaddeus Thawne's own poison-yellow acidic energy. It kind of tickles. This is fun!

He’s intellectually aware that he’s compromised, unfit for direct combat, but he can’t bring himself to care; he’s got Joseph, and everything is going to be fine.

Still, when he looks behind him and sees Wally West in pursuit and gaining ground, he pushes himself faster. He’s not afraid; he just doesn’t want Wally West. He wants to go eat some food with Joseph. Just them.

Together.

Thad grins, bolstered by the thought. He puts a little extra speed in his legs, pushes himself faster, faster, white lightning singing in his head, until he reaches the spot and phases himself straight down.

He falls, vibrating with Joseph, through dirt and rock and water and more rock and the final complex layer of metal and plastic, right into his old lair.

He puts Joseph down gently and looks around at the cables and wires and dark screens, the green glow of the emergency lights.

He swallows hard. He… maybe didn’t think very hard about this. That he’s bringing Joseph into, essentially, CRAYDL’s corpse.

“We’re safe,” he tells Joseph, whose eyes are wide and hands over his mouth. “Nothing can get to us in here.”

Joseph stares at Thaddeus, still frightened.

Thad explains, “Speedsters can’t navigate reliably underground. If we stopped vibrating while inside a solid, we'd die, and the uncertainty makes it hard to navigate. Wally West won’t be able to find us without risking his life. We’re okay.”

Joseph lets go of his mouth to sign “Where?” and gesture around the lair.

“My old lair. CRAYDL.”

“Why?”

“To eat,” Thad says. “Just to eat, I promise.”

He turns away from Joseph, something hot in his throat. Shame. He feels ashamed.

Even like this, even unafraid and happy for the first time in his life, he makes people afraid.

He pulls on the speed force, slowing Joseph to a statue, goes to the nutrient womb, and pauses.

When he lived here, he got rewards of the good food for mission sucesses. He would unhook from the nutrient womb all salty and sweaty and wrung-out and find sweet foods unlocked from their secret compartment by CRAYDL for his accomplishment.

He doesn’t know the code for it. To make it happen. And it’s been… years. CRAYDL has been dead for six years.

He hesitates. Then he does the forbidden thing. He vibrates his hand into the back compartment of the nutrient womb, into the rewards compartment, and pulls something out. Without permission.

The food packet is shiny and crinkly. The barcode indicates that it’s a frosted energy bar. Thad looks at it and laughs.

Take that, Thawnes.

He unfreezes time. Joseph does a double take, then locates Thad and stares at him. Thad waves the food packet at him.

“Food,” Thad says. “I’m starving.”

Comprehension dawns on Joseph’s face. Then amusement. His hands flash: “I heard that speedsters are always hungry. This is the first I’ve seen of it from you.”

“Yeah,” Thad agrees. He tears open the packet and goes back to Joseph. “Usually I don’t have that much of an appetite. Do you want some?”

Joseph holds out his hand. Thad hands him the energy bar and goes for another for himself. Then ten more, because wow, he is starving.

Once he’s wolfed down enough for his stomach to stop twisting, he brings a handful to Joseph and sits down in front of him. He eats at Joseph’s feet. It’s familiar, comforting, to sit and eat with someone much bigger than him standing guard. It’s almost like having CRAYDL back.

The energy bars aren’t bad, surprisingly. Maybe a little stale, though.

Thad gets another hot surge of embarrassment for giving Joseph stale food. Joseph is eating it politely, if slowly. The low green light makes him difficult to see properly, but Thad’s eyes have long since adjusted, and Joseph is looking down at Thad with a sad kind of expression.

Thad’s heart twists. He doesn’t want anyone to be sad.

He just wanted to eat with Joseph.

Whatever that spirit did to make Thad so happy, it’s slipping away now. The fear is coming back.

Joseph looks around, lips parted, taking in the lair. Then he makes eye contact with Thad.

“Why?”

He signs it gently, brows furrowed. Thad almost wishes he’d be harsh. That would be easier to deal with.

“I wanted to eat with you.”

Joseph listens. His eyes are luminous in the low light. Even with his fear coming back, Thad feels safe to tell him.

“I don’t know why I took you here,” Thad whispers, and the whisper is absorbed into the acoustics of CRAYDL’s interior without a single echo except the one in Thad’s own mind.

“Okay.”

“I think the speed force spirit took my fear.”

Joseph listens.

“It didn’t change my feelings. I just wasn’t afraid for a while there.”

His breath hitches.

Joseph waves at Thad. Thad flinches.

“It’s okay,” Joseph signs firmly. “You’re going to be fine.”

“I ran away…”

Joseph starts to sign again, but the horror of it is crashing over Thad like a wave.

“I ran away from the Flash!”

“You’re not in trouble—”

Thad tries to focus on Joseph’s hands, but his breath is coming too fast and he’s—grife—he’s about to have a panic attack. He ran away from the Flash. He kidnapped Joseph!

Yellow lightning skitters up his spine and into his hands. Thad snarls at himself. He can’t have a panic attack here! What if it never stops because there’s no speedsters around to talk him through it and he can’t let go of the speed force? This is just like that time in the rain outside the secondhand store when Max talked him down, only he has no one to help, no one to give him a sweater and speak softly to him—he can't get out of his lair, not like this—he's stuck here in CRAYDL’s corpse in the murky green emergency light, waiting for the Flash to find him, waiting to be punished for kidnapping Joseph—his chest hurts—

A hand on his shoulder. Inertia twists away, balances on his hands and lashes out backwards with his foot—get distance from larger enemies—

And a hand knocks his ankle out sideways. Inertia falls.

He tries to get up, roll and recover, but hand on his wrists, hand on his shoulder, he’s pinned face to the floor. He vibrates away.

“CRAYDL! Emergency hoop!”

Nothing happens. CRAYDL is inoperative. The enemy speedster has his hands up, lightning sparks dying down. Joseph. Joseph has his hands up. It’s dark in here. Emergency lights. CRAYDL is dead.

Thad lets his breath out and feels wetness threaten to rise in his eyes. He blinks hard.

Joseph slowly signs, “Can you understand me?”

“Yes.”

Joseph nods.

“Good. You were panicking.”

Thad winces at the sign for ‘panicking’. ASL is an… uncomfortably literal language. He nods.

“How… how did you…?”

There was lightning on Joseph’s hands. It was shining yellow and unmistakable.

Thad whispers, “Are you…?”

“I think I borrowed some of your speed.”

“How?”

Thad would rather try to understand the mechanics of what just happened, figure out how Joseph tapped into his speed, break down the play-by-play of the fight—the kick, the pin, the vibration tactic—than go back to thinking about feelings.

Joseph signs, “I felt your fear.”

Well, so much for that.

[iheartbookbran]

Hi again, I’m the anon from before about Wally coming back. I actually wasn’t thinking about the heroes in crisis storyline for Wally’s return (although maybe they can use parts of it to examine his trauma coming back to life later on). I was thinking about when Wally and his family were brought back to life in the pre new52 comics. I believe it was called the lightning saga(?); it was a jsa and justice league crossover. Early on in the jsa run, the legion’s starman showed up and was adopted into the jsa except he had jumbled memories (I think later it was explained as schizophrenia? But idk if that was the case here.) the reason his memories were messed up was that the legion had a plan to send back 7 members for a special plan. (Starman, dream girl, karate kid, dawnstar, timber wolf, wildfire, projectra/sensor girl). Each were in the past with wiped memories as well and Starman had the code word to bring the memories back when the time was right. So the jsa and jla help find the legion members, unaware of their plans. Once reunited, each legion member takes a lightning rod and goes to a location that is important to Wally and Barry (I.e blue valley, central city, titans tower, etc). Lightning from the storm they are channeling is supposed to hit one of them, therefore sacrificing that legion member but capturing the lightning) karate kid gets hit but survives and Wally and his family have been resurrected. Except later we learn that their plan was not to resurrect Wally —that was an unexpected side effect —they captured the lightning with someone in it. Turns out, when Wally came back, Bart was killed by the rogues and inertia, so the legion captured him in the lightning so that they later could bring him back when the timeline needed him. Sorry for that long rant! Just really love that storyline and would love to see it! (I do hope at least some of this made sense!)

Hey again anon! First of all never apologize to me for ranting and my inbox is always open for that, it’s really interesting to read your thoughts on this and I kinda love to be receiving DC related asks so thanks!

But back to the topic, I mean I thought they were already doing some of that during the season with how the Legion was looking to save superboy and ended up getting involved with Bart instead, but to be fair there are things that I either haven’t read or don’t remember that well from the comics, so take everything I say here with a grain of salt. I think you’re referring to what happened when Wally retired with his family to another reality and Bart was the Flash for like two hot minutes? And that was before Barry officially came back as the main Flash, no? I guess it wouldn’t work for me because we already saw a version of that in the YJ show with Wally wanting to retire with Artemis before his “death” and also if they’re introducing the whole concept of the sanctuary and how in the comics Wally was dealing with the trauma of being gone for years and feeling like he didn’t belong into the new timeline with his friends having moved on, which realistically is a mindset show Wally would also have if he were to come back.

Then again I might be wrong, and I wouldn’t mind if I were lol.

[fastestloseralive]

Cause okay, I was outling a fic wip of the JLU and yjtv worlds meeting and I was wondering if a meta control collar would work on JLU Wally when his powers actively come from the speedforce in that canon.

I was also listening to a dc podcast once that implied the lightning that struck both Wally and Barry was the speedforce itself because it’s a sentient force in some regard, or maybe even Wally and Barry turning themselves into speedsters from the future.

It just raises a lot of questions like you said. I never thought about GLs your right.

I mean, the meta control collar was technically just supposed to stop a powered being from using their powers. At least that’s how I saw it? Pretty sure they’ve been used on aliens as well as metahumans (for some reason I just now remembered Atlantans exist but I count them and the Amazons under “magical beings” so if that matters at all, yeah).

Although I like the idea of Wally being able to use his powers anyway despite the collar? Or at least in the sense that like if something happened to someone he cared about or something, you know via the lightning rod connection, he’d be able to just use his powers anyway. If that even makes sense. Barry did something similar in the cw show, he was in a cell that was dampening his powers but Iris was in trouble so he just. Ran right out to go get her. And I know opinions on that are mixed but there’s something to be said about little moments like that from that show because it’s adorable and I’ll die on this hill. So theoretically it could work! I’m a big fan of taking creative liberties anyway so I say go for it

[mattzerella-sticks]

Lonely Together (3k, Barry Allen/Bruce Wayne, M)

ao3 link

Barry needs others, yet whether by his enemies or his own actions, he ends up alone. After Iris leaves him, Barry feels as if he drifts through life. Like lightning humming in the air without a rod to ground him.

Until he struck another lonely soul and entered a relationship he never thought possible. Now, months since he and Bruce began sleeping with each other, Barry feels settles. At peace in a way he hasn't felt in a long while. Since he and Iris started petering out.

But it's not love... is it?

           Barry wakes unintentionally, consciousness stirring without say. Currents of electricity that relentlessly hum under his skin strengthen in another’s presence. Especially when it’s familiar. They spark like lightning, striking until he surfaces from sleep’s drowning tides. His eyelids flutter open, though his head remains pillowed by soft down. He watches, shadowed in darkness, as Bruce sneaks around the room. “Hey,” he drawls, voice scratchy from sleep. Grin unfurling lazily while Bruce’s form tensed, “you just swing in?”

           Bruce sets something down on a neighboring dresser, turning. He can’t see fine details, like his self-disparaging frown or furrowed brows interrupted by a wrinkled comma, but Barry imagines them easily. Knows these features intimately. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”

           An unnecessary apology. “I didn’t mean to fall asleep here,” Barry replies, then drags his hand across the comforter. Thumb brushing against a loose seam. “So, I guess we’re even.”

           “You didn’t mean to?” Bruce asks, advancing. He sits on the opposite side of his bed, finding Barry’s hand and intertwining their fingers. “What were you doing then?”

           “Waiting for you.”

           He arrived earlier, vibrating past security and locked doors. Shouted into an empty apartment where his voice echoed, unanswered. Half-a-second spent checking each room, Barry knew Bruce wasn’t there. Slowly, Barry retraced his steps. Stood near the front door, wondering. Debated if he should leave for Central City or stay in Gotham. Both options similar in that no matter what he decided, he’d be alone.

           They were different types of loneliness, however. He left Central tonight because what he faced was too suffocating. Barry ran and ran, only it waited there behind every corner. Inescapable on well-tread streets he loved. Growing from cracks on sidewalks like weeds, strong despite how many times crushed. Returning even if ripped out of the soil. And while these desolate sprigs littered his city, it didn’t compare to the jungle in his home. Wild, vast, with hanging vines that slithered across his shoulders. Tickled his neck during particularly quiet moments that made Barry acknowledge how empty it seemed after Iris.

           At least, in Bruce’s apartment, it was different. Like being alone in an elevator that crawled upwards.

           Less insistent. More manageable. Its presence didn’t insist recognition, merely a temporary visitor. Disappearing soon as Bruce arrived back. Barry walked towards Bruce’s bedroom, resolute, shedding his clothes along the way. He grabbed a book he hadn’t finished reading since last he was there. Settled down and opened to a bent age corner.

           He can’t feel the book. Bruce must have removed it. Maybe it’s what woke him.

           Leaning forward, Bruce presses a tiny kiss at the seam of Barry’s lips. Pulls him free of his thoughts. “I’m sorry,” he tells him, “I was out later than I expected, than I wanted to be…”

           “It’s okay,” Barry whispers. His other hand slides into his friend’s hair, playing with it. Brunet curls soft and damp from sweat. “I’m okay.”

           He nods, yet Bruce still looks troubled. Dark gaze piercing, staring deeply into Barry’s own. Drifting closer, their noses brush. Bruce speaks again, breath ghosting over his mouth. Warm and intoxicating. “If you’re able and… in the mood…” he offers, “We can…?” Bruce trails off, not bothering with saying the rest. Barry understands regardless. Because of how he hovers, braced atop him, Barry caged in on either side by Bruce’s arms. Because Bruce asks his own way, through gentle squeezes of their joined hands that he repeats in rapid succession. Because they’ve done this before and grew far beyond the rushed unsurety from their first time.

           Barry kissed him, accidentally. Compelled more by a longing for touch than of Bruce. For a distracting, newer sensation besides the soul-crushing hollowness that roared inside his chest since Iris ended things. Needed some reminder he was alive after another harrowing mission that almost cost the League their lives, again. Again.

           Like a rowdy storm, Barry thundered with unexpressed adrenaline that demanded release. A lightning rod he could cling to, grounded and tethered in the present.

           Bruce was there. Offering Barry coffee from their conference room’s private pot, a gesture of solidarity at being forgotten while everyone else fled for home. He accepted the gifted novelty Superman mug, sipping absentmindedly. “It’s decaf, drowning in cream, smothered in sugar…” Bruce said, “that’s your usual, right?”

           It was. Bruised, bloodied, and exhausted from battling ancient, cosmic entities hellbent on planetary destruction, and Bruce remembered how he liked his coffee.

           The mug shattered as he dropped it, but Barry did not hear more than a tinny pop. His drink splashed their feet, leaving brown, splotchy stains he noticed hours later. Barry jumped Bruce, hauling him close by his cape. Kissed Bruce as his mind played static. In rapid succession, that static disappeared. Rationality descending with vengeance, circling, bombarding Barry with explosive truths.

           He kissed Batman. That’s his friend. He kissed Batman. He’s a man. He kissed Batman. Inside the Hall of Justice, where anyone could find them. He kissed Batman. He kissed Batman. He kissed Bruce.

           Drifting apart, he ignored tingling skin to pry a coherent thought out from the overgrown bramble that was his mind. “Bruce,” Barry choked, grip on Bruce’s cape loose and dangling. Gaze dropping, he focused on his chest. Bat fluttering with every exhale. “I… I don’t, I’m so – “

           Bruce wouldn’t let him explain, roughly capturing Barry’s lips in response. Frenzied, trapping Barry between his body and the table. With a passionate reception like that, Barry felt his worry melt. Became a gentle tide coaxing him deeper. Willingly swept farther than his cares might reach. Bruce’s deft fingers trailing, tickling, at his sides made thinking about the empty bed in his apartment very difficult. When he pulled his cowl back, pinning Barry with an indescribable hunger burning behind his eyes, any disappointment over an understocked fridge waiting at home disappeared. And as Bruce slid one glove off using his teeth, second hand preoccupied teasing Barry’s waistband, Barry’s sole concern was unhitching his friend’s belt.

           “Yeah, like that,” Bruce sighed, “let me make this good for you…” He touched Barry’s already half-hard cock, cupping it. Rhythmically sliding his hand while their hips ground together. Barry softly cursed, pressure mounting. Bruce’s dick throbbed against his and tempted him further, headed for the edge. Plummeting when he twisted his wrist, Bruce sucking an aggressive mark below Barry’s chin that joined a loose collection of already fading bruises.

           Barry came, panting, chasing those last few seconds of bliss until his muscles sagged from fatigue. Kept upright by his friend’s strong hold. Bruce joined him with a strangled curse, head resting on Barry’s shoulder. Panting, they lingered in each other’s embrace. Aware that this meager amount of pleasure had redefined their relationship.

           Hours later, Barry lay awake in bed. Mind restaging their sordid affair, body igniting at the memory of where Bruce grazed him. He fondled pale skin, unblemished now that his accelerated healing factor kicked on. Barry wished it hadn’t. Admitting that, then, even as a whisper from his subconscious, terrified him. Grabbing the pillow on Iris’s untouched side, he held it across his face. Screamed his frustration, and again when he realized her scent finally faded from the fabric.

           Those next few weeks were awkward. During meetings, sitting feet from where he orgasmed and pretending it never happened while evading Bruce’s searching gaze. Boundless excuses, lies, of where he needed to be. Fleeing before Bruce could reach him. Volunteering for any mission, throwing himself into heroics where bad guys needed defeating, lives were saved, and he could act like nothing about his world changed.

           Anything that kept him from asking questions he could not answer truthfully.

           Despite his best efforts – his superhuman speed – Bruce pulled ahead. Running a marathon instead of the sprint Barry hoped it was.

           “We need to talk,” he said, “about… coffee, the other night.” Bruce’s grip tightened on the Javelin’s yoke, glare firm and unwavering out at space. Barry, meanwhile, shrunk in his seat. Conversation he dreaded crashing into him like a meteor.

           Oliver radioed Barry for a mission, about a distress signal League channels recorded. From what they deciphered, the code was obsolete and most likely false. However, sparing resources, he figured a small team could check. Confirm their prior suspicions. Barry agreed, racing over. Only he hadn’t realized his teammate for this mission would be the same man he was avoiding.

           Following debriefing and takeoff, they traveled in uncomfortable silence broken with Bruce’s demand.

           Barry reigned back telltale vibrations, hiding his nerves. “Okay,” he said, “Yeah…” He squeezed his fists and chuckled, “You know how I take my coffee?”

           Bruce allowed him this short reprieve. “It always struck me odd, and… hypocritical, how you liked it. Why choose decaf if you’re adding that much sugar?”

           “It offsets the bitter taste, is all.”

           “Barry…” He wrangled their conversation onto its path once more, tone absent of any levity. “What we did, I…” Bruce paused, testing what he wants to say. Lines around his mouth shifting as he cycles through his thoughts. “I’m not sure how we should proceed.”

           “Neither do I,” Barry shrugged, “Not talking about it was working well for me.”

           “You’ve been acting noticeably strange during missions. I’ve been… unsettled, too. At times.” Barry’s chest twinged, an annoyance he dealt with by crossing his arms and scowling. “If this continues, affecting future missions –“

           “Because it’s always about this mission, isn’t it?”

           Bruce sighed, then Barry felt a gentle brush against his elbow. Leaving the Javelin on autopilot, he let his hands wander. They settled on Barry. One at his elbow, another squeezing Barry’s knee. “Do you…” Bruce strained, forcing his next question past with serious effort. It piqued his interest, wondering what he might say. Obviously difficult, Barry sloped forward as the silence grew. “Do you,” he finally continued, “regret… what happened?”

           He should. They were teammates. Friends who stupidly jerked each other off. Bruce… was the first man he ever let touch him that intimately. Combined, these arguments battered down like a hurricane, reasons how everything about what he and Bruce did – what Barry initiated – was an enormous misunderstanding. A mistake that never should have been. And yet he could not cobble together some form of regret.

           Worse, Barry still yearned for more.

           Barry did not believe he deserved more. The ink from where Iris’s name was tattooed on his heart hadn’t fully disappeared; a relic of what he lost, stinging with each beat. Those scant moments, lost in the throes of passion alongside Bruce, were some of the best he had in months. He made Barry forget his failed relationship like a strong drink or the best drug. How was it possible?

           Determined, Barry turned his neck slightly. Readied a false speech, about being tired and shaken. That their tryst meant nothing and should be forgotten.

           Except he caught Bruce’s stare. His naked gaze, cowl discarded when he wasn’t looking. Layers peeled backwards, exposing a vulnerable side of his friend Barry rarely saw. Shoulders hunched, weighed heavily by an answer Barry hadn’t given. Wisps of disappointment hung in the air like smoke from an ashen cigarette. He cleared his throat, going over what he wanted to say.

           Then tossed the script.

           “I… No,” he confessed, surprising both of them. Bruce’s jaw shifted and a small gasp escaped. “I don’t.” It was his turn. “Do you?”

           His hand slid across his forearm, covering Barry’s hand. “No.”

           “…What do we do now?”

           Humming, thumb petting his upper shin, Bruce offered a suggestion. “It’s been… hard for both of us, hasn’t it? The lives we lead… there’s little chance for that kind of peace. Boats with no safe harbors to rest at, not anymore.” Not since Iris, in a cold whisper, explained how claustrophobic and helpless Barry left her feeling most days. Not since Selina and Bruce came upon a crossroads and chose different paths. “I think that if we want to… engage in activities like – uh, like coffee, then why shouldn’t we? As long as we’re mature about it, and what we do won’t interfere with our duties…”

           Barry weakly snorted, Bruce’s clinical description goading him into it. He laid the idea out logically and he found no flaw in his reasoning. A small crack of doubt shoved its way in, that he misheard. Bruce suggesting, put crudely, a ‘friends-with-benefits’ arrangement? But then Barry remembered how eagerly Bruce flew, chasing his lips. That it was his hand edging him into completion. Suddenly, it didn’t seem like the wishful thinking he assumed.

           Especially as Bruce’s hand crept towards his waistband. “What are you -?”

           “Incentive,” Bruce smirked, “Showing you how good this will be. That I can make it.” ‘Let me make this good’ was what he said, while jerking him inside the Hall. “Is that okay?”

           Chuckling, Barry brushed his wavy bangs back. “I thought you didn’t want this to get in the way of our jobs?”

           “Autopilot is an amazing invention. Doing our job at double the speed, leaving more time for… coffee.”

           Barry kissed him, punishing him for such a lame joke by nipping his bottom lip. Soothed it with his tongue while he helped Bruce, shimmying his hips. Pants bunched near his knees, Barry’s cock bobbed between his legs.

           Bruce climbed out of the pilot’s seat, kneeling at his feet. “So,” he growled, breath hot as it hit his twitching cock, “that’s a yes? We’re doing this?”

           “This is dumb. Dangerous. And it’s going to end poorly for the both of us,” Barry muttered, grip twisting in Bruce’s hair after he licked a strip up his cock, “Of course we’re doing it.”

           He was mostly right. During a particularly harried affair, Barry caught sight of his costumed reflection in one of the League’s interrogation rooms’ one-sided mirrors. Watched as he thrust his cock, Bruce’s ass accepting its length. His face, masked, contorted pleasurably. Barry stuttered, taking in the full picture. Flash fucking Batman, like they were a bad porno. If only the camera wasn’t disabled… Scoffing, he relaxed his grip on his friend’s hips. Instead reaching for Bruce’s cowl, ripping it off. His, too, in the next beat. “What?” Bruce asked.

           “This is so stupid,” he huffed, hips rolling slower than before, “What are we even doing?”

           “I think that’s pretty obvious.”

           Barry sighed, “No, like… objectively. Aren’t we too old to be doing this, or… I don’t know, better than it? I doubt this is what most people imagine heroes do in their spare time.”

           “We’re only human, Barry,” Bruce said, grunting as he slammed into his prostate, “We can… can afford a few minutes off the pedestal.”

           “I guess…”

           “Hey,” Bruce twisted, catching his eye in the mirror, “are you having second thoughts?”

           “No.”

           “This is good?”

           He languidly traced Bruce’s spine, cautious of every bump. “The best.” Then, pressing hard at the dip of his ass, he added, “Even if Oliver expected us at training five minutes ago.” Barry orgasmed, Bruce’s laughter booming and stretched hole choking his cock.

           Dumb. Dangerous. Although their situation actually improved since they began, and Barry cannot picture this ever ending.

           Bruce noses at his chin, stubble scratching his neck. “Hey,” he asks, “is this good?”

           “It is,” he responds instinctively, “Sorry, my mind was elsewhere.”

           “Was it?” Bruce lavishes a spot under his ear, one that electrifies his entire body, “Then I guess I’m not really being good, am I?” He sits on Barry’s cock, sliding his ass along its length. “Are you still with me?”

           “I never left.” Barry kisses him, smiling wide enough he ruins their embrace. His hands roam, active participants now. Crossing the planes of Bruce’s body for purchase. However, in his search, he brushes against cuts and wounds different from those he knows. Passing a deep valley at his ribs, Barry’s thumb dips into a small lake. Bruce’s breath hitches, coughing a low whine. Barry ends their kiss to study his wet thumb. Copper invades his senses, and his eyes adjust enough he sees red. “You’re hurt.”

           “Not badly,” Bruce amends. He rests his forehead against Barry’s. “It’s nothing, I… I took a hit, earlier. Harley didn’t see the blade and – it doesn’t matter –“

           “It matters Bruce,” Barry tells him, “Of course it does.” He taps on Bruce’s shoulder, signaling for a dismount. Bruce listens, wincing as he settles onto his side. “This shouldn’t be good for just me. You deserve it, too.” As he speaks, Bruce’s head lists, lashes fluttering. Barry notes the bags pillowing his eyes were puffier and more purple than ever. “Are you up for this?”

           Bruce sighs, “You came all this way –“

           “Yes, I did. But I didn’t ask about me, Bruce.” He caresses Bruce’s face, unbloodied thumb grazing his lip. “What do you want?”

           “I…” Bruce levels his focus elsewhere, gazing past Barry. Afraid. “I’m tired, and I could really sleep. But I, uh… I’d rather not sleep alone.”

           Neither would he. “Okay.”

           “Okay?”

           “I mean,” he turns, staring at the ceiling, “I was already asleep before you got here. And I bet you were gonna slip in beside me, weren’t you? If I didn’t catch you?”

           “I… I was.” Bruce collapses, head landing atop Barry’s chest. Hairs tickling his chin, arms curling around his waist. Yawning, Bruce snuggles him close. “We can finish this later, in the morning… if that’s okay?”

           Barry threads his fingers through Bruce’s hair, smiling. “We don’t have to. If we can’t, then we can’t.” He repeats this, a melody that helps his friend drift off. Barry’s voice fades, soon silence overpowering the mantra.

           Body leaded but unbidden by shame, Barry continues lazily stroking Bruce. Petting him felt nice. Somehow better than the heavier actions previously done. Reminds him of better nights, when he and Iris lay together in bed. Exchanging tidbits about their day until they fell asleep. Before those cracks in their relationship spread and it shattered.

           Thinking about Iris stings, but not like it used to. Dulled by Bruce’s very presence. A man who lived in shadows bringing a new light into his life.

           He glances down at Bruce while he slumbers, heart sparking wildly. A possibility flashing like lightning inside grey rain clouds. That Barry could one day fall in love with Bruce, if he hasn’t already.

[cheryls-blossomed]

In your opinion, where did the TF directors go wrong and what did they get rightand if you could, what would you change?

So, I actually contemplated providing an audio response to this, where I would answer the different points to your question verbally, as I was feeling tired (probably in relation to recovering from whatever ailment I was suffering for the last couple of days), but decided against it, because frankly I don’t know if anyone wants to hear me ramble for fifteen minutes. Maybe another time.

What I think TPTB got right was Barry, as this optimistic and innately kind hero who inspires people so easily and so readily, and who wears his heart on his sleeve. And I think they cultivated quite beautifully the heart of the show in Barry and Iris’s relationship: the notion that Iris is Barry’s heart, and Westallen is very much the bedrock of The Flash and its heart. The narrative wasted no time making it clear that Barry and Iris were the love story and provided this very endearing back story that would lend itself very quickly to the epic, love transcends spacetime romance that is Barry and Iris. The Pilot episode established this, by itself, with Iris racing into Barry’s arms, when they reunite, and Barry discovering his powers, with Iris’s hand on his chest, feeling the rhythm of his heartbeat. I think the premise of the show by characterizing the city was also great; Barry as a CSI, Captain Singh, Iris as a budding reporter, Mason Bridge investigating Wells, etc. I also think there was enough suspense surrounding Reverse Flash and Wells to make his villainous arc a compelling story-line and multi-season threadline. I love the West-Allen family, and I think when the show capitalizes on showcasing the WA family prominently, that’s where its strengths lie. 

The show, itself, has a lot of bubbling potential and still does, but it relies far too heavily on a rather formulaic approach to story-telling that results in more mediocrity than compelling episodes per season. The Team, in itself, worked alright as a construct in season 1, but there’s also no inherent reason even then for Barry to have a team. This is not a team Barry built, himself, because he needed a team for X, Y, Z reason, but was rather a team construct that Barry simply found himself within, mainly to service the arc of Barry being trained by his arch-nemesis. But in reality, once Eobard is found out, the team dynamic ought to have fallen to the wayside, because again, it’s not a team of choice. It’s simply a story-telling device that worked initially, but ended up holding Barry back and the show back. And the show relies far too heavily on the team construct: every new character is quickly inculcated into the team formula, and it’s tiresome. Characters who are not Big Bads can exist outside of the “Team.” The show also has shifted away from the WA family and towards the Team dynamic which reinforces formulaic story-telling and results in a distinct lack of heart often times. 

As for what I’d change: exactly that... The Team construct. I would move away from it significantly. I’d have grown these characters outside of the Team construct. And I’d frankly would have worked to build up the Flash Family. We’re going into season 7, and the Team is becoming bigger, rather than the show moving towards focusing on the Flash Family. It’s become a narrative staple that weakens the story-telling and the growth of the characters. I’d obviously also have focused so much more on Barry and Iris’s respective professions. I’m glad we’re finally seeing more of Iris’s journalism, but her journalism arc deserves far more focus. I would have had far more of Barry and Iris teaming up; they are truth and justice, and that is integral to the show’s own themes, and so it seems like such a missed opportunity not to have them constantly working on cases together and solving them together. I’d have moved, therefore, towards more interesting and more nuanced story-telling that is not formulaic and doesn’t involve every character having to be integrated into a Team format. 

ALSO, I would have focused so much more on Westallen and on the lightning rod connection, and I would have worked to really develop that every single season.

[barryallenis]

An earlier anon brought up a good point about Barry needing to know more about the speedforce and its mythology. I hope they explore more of the lore on the show. Maybe they will since it looks like some new colors came out of it. I remember when people complained about there being too many speedsters in earlier seasons, but those were the best imo.

Yes I think there’s good reason to believe they’ll be exploring the other “forces” based on those 4 colors shooting out when the speed force was restored.

I’m honestly very interested to see how the speed force itself has changed too. They’ve said it’s the same “force” but given that it “died” in a way it never has before, it’s possible things changed, right? Like did other speedsters automatically regain their speed too? Or is, say, Wally, going to have to tap into his own “lightning rod” to regain his speed? Will this play into the return of godspeed? Will the speed force still manifest as Barry’s mother? Will the fact that Iris much more literally played a role in this speed force’s creation put her in a different relationship with the speed force moving forward? Especially since Eric has hinted that upcoming villains will be targeting Westallen as a couple more so than just Barry.

I HAVE MANY QUESTIONS

[splendidshinobi]

FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST 2003 LIVE REACT: EPISODES 21-25

almost halfway done lads how we feelin'

episode 21: the red glow

ah yes barry

"i'm alphonse elric!!!!!" yes u r baby!!!

who just popped over the wall

scar im assuming

"i kill therefore i am".....barry spouting descartes rn

it was scar haha

um

hi greed

thought i saw you earlier

WHY DID THEY DRAW HIS ARMS THAT LONG

ope he found the chimera crew...

jerry jewell's evil laugh gets me every time lmao he's so great

ed has deep philosophical talks bro

also ed is chaotic but his personal morals are unshakeable

who are these prison guards gonna release

oh hey kimblee

oh hey squad

ed take out ur pokeball

um wth is that

OH MY GOD TUCKER WHAT

EW

I THOUGHT IT WAS A GIANT YODA OR A SWAMP MONSTER

he looks FUCKKEDDDD

bro of all the things i was not expecting him

oof ishval flashbacks

young scar why is your hair brown

why is it white now

WHY IS HE NAKED

whos her

lust 1.0 im assuming

ew omg tucker is literally so fuckin nasty lookin idk

idk why but he's worse than rod reiss titan for me

wait a damn minute

wait a damn fucking minute

goddamnit

what is GOIN ON

i need tucker to stop whispering he sounds like fucking voldemort on the back of quirrells head

jesus

episode 22: created human

hughes' pajamas look like armin's futon from aot junior high

the bad place???? was that greed's prison gluttony was lookin at?

im still shook af over tucker and tbh its been like 24 hours since i watched episode 21

STOP WHISPERING TUCKER

driving me up a wall

my poor son looks so tired :(

those moral principles at it again

bradley.......

ewww the way tucker walks STOP

hi envy!!!!!

so all of those prisoner guys gonna get flattened by some alchemy

hey kimblee!!!

so did greed escape with the homies???? cause i feel like he would have made his presence known already....

i feel like im missing a lot because im a ding dong

musty prison kimblee is kinda...hot....physically speaking..oops..personality wise obviously there's MUCH to work on

so envy knows hohenheim

ED BABY

he won't do it

oh no alphonse

oh god memory implants

al's identity crisis CONTINUES

they wanna become humans??? huh....doesnt really make sense for their characters...(maybe envy but more on that at 11)

is ed gonna kill these guys for al

some1!!!!!! hold!!!!! me!!!! im so stressed

is he pretending to do it and he's got another plan up his sleeve!!!!????

honestly he's so depressed i cant even tell

those unshakable moral principles at work again i see

the red water can turn ed into a god???? wtf ed doesnt want to be a god he wants to punch god

oh theres the greed squad! i found them!!! is kimblee joining up with them

maria girly!!!!!!!

THE HOMUNCULI IN THEIR STUPID UNIFORMS I--

who's the lady. i need 2 know.

episode 23: fullmetal heart

alphonse is destroyed again

poor kid

"edward sir" brosh pls!!!

oh excuse me--- ***Bloch

The Ross Slap™

winry <3

pinako takes no prisoners

ed didnt you JUST tell brosh and ross they might be right that you needed to trust adults with more shit and now youre blowing off hughes

ed's DRAWINGS im-

hi sig hi izumi!!!

al is so sad over there in that corner

poor baby son

sometimes i feel like hughes and mustang are ed and al's divorced dads

the little arakawa avatar cows in the back im CRYING!!!!!!!

“bean”

snappy al

ooffffffff

omg hughes plz

elicia is precious though we love her

"dad's friend the bookworm" omg sheska

awwww gracia made edward a cake!!!!!!!

god catch me cryin in the club

CONGRATULATIONS

"whatever" al im crying he's so sad

AL MADE BROSH OR WHOEVER CARRY HIS DESTROYED ARMOR TO THE ROOF IM ACTUALLY YELLING

"you goof"

yes winry you are correct boy is a goof

sir you are being so dramatic

give that baby a hug

"so called brother"

so we all know that was a knife through the heart for ed

al just jumped off a FUCKING ROOF and ED TRIED TO FOLLOW

so im crying

i liked this better when they HAD A CONVERSATION ABOUT AL'S FEARS AND MADE THE FUCK UP

episode 24: bonding memories

guess we're gonna play w my emotions again

sometimes like....one bit characters talk...like villager b ya know? and im like who are you i know that voice

so the nasty military has come to ruin some lives again

and barry for some reason

aww poor al

youre real you are!!!!!!

i just feel like people would know people that wear sunglasses in the rain would be ishvalan

but what do i know

obviously they dont have the white hair thing in this version

poor ed is so sad

these boys need a hug 

let me just *pulls out adoption papers*

well if scar doesnt have queen mei to adopt in 03, he’s got this little toothless boy

dont lie al you do care

ew i dont like her

the drama of this boy

so the nasty military has come to ruin some lives again part 2

apparently they are *mercenaries??? excuse me

i have some questions regarding this kid’s mom

well you know i can see why this kid feels this way about his mom

it does look like she ran off...

al and scar dream team up

HEY ED!!! HEY WINRY!!!

bout time

yall gonna have this talk now????

barry STOPPPPPP

brotherhood barry is the true king there i said it

damn scar you baddie

barry like....you already knew him

anyway

WHAT THE HELL

NO RICKKK!!!!!!

someone save this boy!!!!

oh good his mom “saved” him

ah damn thats pretty tragic

she didnt know they were right in front of her

ow

well my questions were answered

so she attacks with grape fanta. thats one way to do it

ed looks like such an angry gremlin right now this is a heartwarming moment sir please

why are ed and scar being so civil right now this is so weird

bye scar

we’ll see him again

see you later scar

episode 25: words of farewell

maes who let you buy that awful pink suit 

gracia please it better not have been you

mustang ew please

dont open the door lookin like that

what the hell are you doing in here 

so hughes WASNT in ishval here?

i think that takes a lot away from his character but anyway

bradley hangs around like a creep at every possible instant

why would bradley care about ishvalan refugees like hughes cmon

“unspeakable crimes” BRADLEY YOU LITERALLY CANNOT TALK

juliet douglas is this lady’s name

only took me 1000 episodes to figure that out

ED AND AL??? NOT DEALING WITH DANGEROUS THINGS??????? dont make me laugh assholes theyre lying thru their teeth

izumi time lets go

wow we’re still going to rush valley? wasnt really expecting that tbh

elicia i LOVE you!!!!!

ew kimblee “hi”

how did he lightning himself like that

if i were ishvalan i would not go to the south....yet ANOTHER war torn region of amestris but ok

okay

an amestrian desert biker gang rolled up to wreak havoc

HUGHES AHAHAHA 

tbh i wouldnt want to tell roy anything either stupid bitch

anyway

um why do i feel like its hughes’ death episode

he would not be shown tucking elicia in to bed otherwise 

please im not ready to be hurt again

oh no

yeah he just learned something about our girl juliet

ive been waiting for this information 

he’s gonna die before we learn anything helpful

yupppppp

hey lust figured you’d show up sooner or later

i too wish i could look that sexy pulling a kunai out of my forehead

SLOTH????????

did girly just say SLOTH

i- nothing about her seems particularly slothy but ok

u know what!!!!!!!!!!!!

ENVY HEYYY

DUMBASS ROY JUST HAAAAAD TO LEAVE

haha famous last words

oof it hurts every time

not the FUNERAL scene no!

time for me to go 

peace out homies im dead inside

yes my brigadier general 

NOT THE RAIN

COME ONNNNNN

hughes is sneezing six feet under

was ed supposed to be looking at hughes’ ghost

um....right

[backtothestart02]

Return to Paradise - 3/? | westallen fanfiction

A/N: This chap was actually pretty hard for me to write, so I hope it came out okay. I’ll have to put together an outline for this fic, so I actually know where I’m going with it. XD

For @westallen94​

*Many thanks to @valeriemperez for beta’ing.

...

Chapter 3 -

The balmy breeze of Bali surrounded Barry and Iris when Barry came to a stop. For a moment they simply took in the tropical paradise they’d visited a year ago. They were standing almost exactly at the spot where they’d made love on the beach. The realization caused a fleeting heat to sweep through Iris and a similar one to emanate from Barry’s eyes as he gazed over her body from head to toe, lingering on certain curves more than others.

Iris cleared her throat, aware of him watching her, and looked around.

“Do you see Nora anywhere?”

“I doubt she knows this exact spot,” Barry said, reluctantly tearing his gaze from her to glance around them.

“Well, she has all of our luggage, so it would probably be a good idea to find her.”

“Would it, though?” His lips twisted ruefully.

Iris’ eyes landed on him in disbelief, though she really should have known.

“Barry.”

“What?” His voice rose slightly. “This was supposed to be a second honeymoon for us, not… And it’s that I don’t want to spend time with her and make memories we never had, but-”

“I know, baby, I know.” She patted his chest lightly, forcing herself not to get distracted by the feel of him.

“All I’m saying is…what’s the harm in not looking for her right away and waiting for her to come to us? She’ll find us eventually, what with using her speed and all.”

“I don’t know, Barry…”

The bad mother alert was going off in her head, but the horny wife siren was even louder, and she knew she was weakening. She didn’t even try to resist when Barry took her hand and led her further down the beach.

“Nora said she wanted today to be a beach day, right?”

Iris reluctantly nodded.

“So, let’s get started without her. There can only be so many beaches on one island, right? She’ll get to this one eventually.”

Iris gave him a look that spoke volumes, but he pushed her large sunglasses down over her face, and she laughed. He pushed her strands that had gotten caught in the crossfire to the sides of her face and kissed her nose, resting his hand at the base of her neck. He took a moment to catch a whiff of her hair.

“You smell amazing, you know that?”

She rolled her eyes, but she was smiling.

“All right, lover boy, where are we off to? Somewhere shady, I hope. I can already feel myself starting to sweat.”

Barry could think of other ways he could get her to sweat, but he made an effort to move past those thoughts she probably wouldn’t approve of.

“I think I see one of those large umbrella stands down the way. We can rent one and relax on some towels.”

“How are we going to do that without any money?”

“What… You think I gave Nora everything? The wallet you gave me is sacred.”

She stopped, her heart skipping a beat.

“You’re still using that wallet I gave you? The one that-”

“You gave me the Christmas we moved in together? Of course.”

Iris melted. How she wished they were really, truly alone right now and not waiting for their adult daughter to run into them at any moment.

As if he could read her mind, a million different avenues rushed through Barry’s. Romantic and steamy scenarios alike, all ways they could just bask in each other without the worry of any interruption. He loved his daughter. God knows he did. But there’s no Nora without Iris, and he’d almost lost her to Oliver.

“You’re my lightning rod, Iris.”

“I love you.”

Her lips parted and, teary-eyed, she went up on her tiptoes and gave him a kiss.

“I love you.”

He squeezed her hand then tugged her along – or was about to, when a gust of wind blew past them and an exhausted Nora West-Allen appeared before them.

“There you guys are.” She heaved, nearly hyperventilating. “I’ve been searching everywhere!”

“Nora,” they said simultaneously.

She waited for an explanation and almost didn’t get one.

“We were uh, just-”

“This is-”

“Oh, where you had your honeymoon, of course!” Nora proclaimed, spotting the hotel they stayed at from a distance. “I should’ve guessed.” She shook her head.

“So, where did you leave our luggage?” Barry asked, and Iris smacked him lightly. ‘What?’ he mouthed to her, rubbing his arm where she’d hit him.

“At the villa.”

“You found one?” Iris asked, entranced and impressed.

Nora nodded, beaming.

“Told you I would. And guys –” She squeezed between the two of them and slipped her arms around both of theirs. “It’s to die for. You’re going to love it.”

Barry and Iris shared an amused look, but Nora was oblivious.

“Bedrooms are upstairs, kind of an open-loft look. Huge living room and kitchen. There’s a whirlpool in back, a basement with a pool table in it and it’s just around the block from the beach and a public pool. Honestly, it’s perfect.”

“Well, I can’t wait for you to show it to us.” Iris smiled.

“Then maybe we can grab some lunch and head over to that beach that’s so nearby. Do a beach day like you wanted.”

“That sounds great!” Nora squealed. “But after I show you the place, I think I’m going to take a nap. All that luggage was heavy. Then looking for you all over the island…”

Barry felt bad now about not just using his phone to call her. But hey, she hadn’t thought to use hers either, so…

“But you found us,” Iris finished, a reminder that made Nora light as a feather again.

“I did.” She stopped and tugged on Barry’s arm to whisper in his ear.

“Lead the way,” he said, then turned to Iris with a grin.

“Barry,” she warned, but he’d already started to pick her up in his arms.

Nora giggled then disappeared in a flash. Barry was soon to follow. When the two speedsters finally came to a halt, all three of them had to catch their breath.

They had entered paradise.

…

After exploring the beautiful beach for a few minutes, Nora took a sudden turn and guided her parents to the villa at the end of the block. It was just as gorgeous as the beach, and just as Nora had described. After a quick tour, though, Nora promptly passed out on the couch and started to snore.

“She sleeps like you,” Barry commented, amused.

Iris smacked him lightly. “That drool on that pillow is alllll you.”

He scoffed. “I don’t drool.”

Iris raised her eyebrows. “I’ll have to start taking pictures.”

His eyes darkened, and he intertwined their fingers, pushing her slowly back against the wall by the stairs.

“I have absolutely no problem with you taking pictures of me,” he said, huskily.

She laughed, but it was strangled, because how was he so good at turning her on? They were talking about drool, for heaven’s sake.

“I bet you are.”

“Can I take pictures of you too?” he teased, leaning in.

“Since when have you needed to get permission?”

He grinned and kissed her, a deep, passionate kiss that had her seeing stars and curling her toes.

“We can’t do this here,” Iris said promptly, as soon as she could catch her breath.

He smirked. “Do what?” he asked innocently.

She rolled her eyes, smiling until she could get a hold of yourself.

“Not with her in the same room, Barry Allen. Not when she could wake up at any moment.”

A loud snore interrupted them, and they both looked over at their sleeping daughter whose body was half off the couch now.

“I find that highly unlikely,” Barry said with a smirk. Then he looked at her hopefully.

Iris shook her head. “Nope.” Then strode into the kitchen and grabbed a post-it to write on.

Barry followed her lazily. “What are you doing?”

“I am writing a note for our daughter when she wakes up.”

“Yeah?” he asked, coming behind her and pressing a kiss to her bare shoulder. Iris couldn’t suppress the shivers, and he smiled against her.

“Yes.”

“We are…going on a…walk?” Barry asked, his brows fused together as he read her note.

She turned around in his arms. “Mhmm.”

“Where are we going?” he asked. “I’d have thought you’d be tired by now.”

She gave him a look.

“Of walking,” he clarified.

“I’ve walked around all of five minutes.” He considered that. “Besides,” she said, draping her arms around his shoulders. “This is our chance to do whatever we want.” She stopped him as he started to open his mouth to speak. “That we wouldn’t be able to do in another setting back home.”

His mouth shut, and he pouted.

She laughed quietly. “You have a one-track mind, babe. Switch it to romance.” She patted his chest lightly, and he smiled.

“You got it.”

He took a step back and clasped one hand around hers. Then he tugged her gently towards the door and stepped outside.

“So, where are we going?” Iris asked, inhaling the scent of the outdoors and the balmy breeze.

“We are going on a walk,” he announced, then paused to wink. “Aren’t we?”

She didn’t know what to say to that, but she allowed him to wrap his arm around her and guide her down to where they’d come from on their way to the villa. The beach wasn’t all that crowded for being as beautiful as it was, so close to hotels, and it being mid-day. It was smaller than most beaches they’d seen, but that made it even nicer.

“Mai tais?” a waiter from a nearby restaurant offered them. They were small, since they were samples, but it was no coincidence they’d come upon them. Iris was certain of that.

“Thank you,” Barry said, handing Iris one with a purple umbrella as he took a red one.

“Yes, thank you,” Iris said, quickly downing her sample. “It’s delicious.”

“Maybe you’ll dine with us one of these nights,” the waiter said, gesturing to the restaurant not too far away.

Iris smiled. “Maybe.”

Barry led her away where they disposed of their cups but kept the tiny umbrellas. Barry plucked a beautiful, tropical flower off a planted bush and tucked it into his wife’s hair.

“Smooth, Barry Allen.” She smirked when he took a step back after it had been perfected. “Very smooth.”

He shrugged it off with a smile.

“C’mon.”

Iris went with him willingly, tangling their arms together as she pressed her head against his shoulder. They walked on the sidewalk at first but inevitably stepped onto the sand and let the texture sink between their toes in their sandals. It was hot at first, then warm and relaxing.

“This was a great idea, Barry.”

“The walk?”

“The trip.” She smiled.

“It was a last-minute thing, but I needed a reminder.”

“Of what?”

Her brows furrowed.

“That you’re still mine.”

She came to a stop and placed his hand over her heart.

“Hey.” She waited till his eyes met hers. “I’ve always been yours. You have always been and will always be the man that I love. Always.”

The words lifted his spirit with the familiarity of them, and he smiled.

“Tell me, Iris West-Allen.” His arms wrapped around her waist. “Have you always been this amazing?”

“Please, Barry.” She fluttered her eyelashes. “That’s like asking if you’ve always been in love with me.”

He chuckled. “Of course. What was I thinking?”

“You weren’t,” she informed him, then gestured back towards the beach. “Shall we?”

“We shall.”

They headed further onto the beach, found themselves a renting shack that offered everything possible you might need at the beach. After payment was made, they found themselves settling down at the most picturesque section of the beach in two lounge chairs and a large red umbrella shading them in the sand.

Iris leaned back in her chair, clasping her husband’s hand, and closed her eyes, inhaling the scent of the sea and the comfort of the beach.

“This is nice,” she said, her voice as melodic as the lapping waves.

“Nah,” Barry said, prompting her attention as he pressed a kiss to the back of her hand. “This is perfect.”

…

It was almost sundown when Nora woke up, drool all over the couch pillows and half her body on the floor.

“Mom?” she mumbled in her drowsy state. “Dad?”

She lifted her head and blinked, intending to see either or both of her parents, but the movement made her lose the little balance she had left, and she tumbled onto the floor.

“Ow.”

No one came running. No one called out to see if she was all right or what happened to cause the sudden thud on the floor.

Summoning her renewed energy, Nora got herself up and looked for any sign of her parents. Of course, the last place she looked was the kitchen, where the post-it had nearly flown off the counter due to her speeding around as she searched. She was relieved to know where they had gone and wondered how long ago they had left this note for her. She was tempted to go back in time to see when exactly but figured it wasn’t the end of the world if she didn’t.

If they had just left, she could wait a half hour or so for them to return. And if they’d left a while ago, she was sure they’d be back any minute now.

The speed rushing through her body with excitement to see them again made it hard to sit still. She needed to do something. She didn’t want to interrupt their alone time, since they had after all let her nap as long as she needed. But she was at a loss for what to do while she awaited their return.

“Think, Nora. Think.”

She paced back and forth for a while, then came to a stop. Her eyes lit up, and she sprung into action. She sped to the house phone and speedily scanned the numbers on the laminated sheet beside it to decide who to call.

“Yes, hi. I’d like to order some food ingredients to make my parents dinner tonight, and… Yes, thank you. I thought it was a genius idea too. Anyway… Yes, I’m a thoughtful daughter, but they deserve it! So.” She sighed inwardly as the person on the other line continued to interrupt her. “Mhmm, yes, but if you could just-”

Nora’s patience grew thin. Debating for a minute just how rude it would be to hang up, she pretended the phone was breaking up and hung up. It was only after the fact that it occurred to her that wasn’t exactly possible on a landline phone.

She shrugged it off, found her cell phone, turned on the wi-fi, and scanned websites until she found the recipe and list of ingredients she needed to make the perfect Balinese meal.

“They’re gonna love it.” She smiled to herself, then headed out the door to go shopping.

…

Another half hour passed by the time Iris found herself roused from an awfully long catnap. The sunset was almost gone, and her husband beside her was out and snoring softly. She smiled and squeezed his hand gently. When he didn’t wake up, she leaned in closer to him and whispered in his ear.

“I think we should head back.”

“Hmm? What?” he asked drowsily, moving around a bit to get more comfortable and then settling in to sleep again.

Iris stifled her laughter.

“Our daughter is going to want to know where we’ve disappeared to.”

“Mmm.”

“We’ve been gone for hours.”

“Mmm.”

“It’s getting late, babe. Aren’t you hungry?”

He opened one eye and turned to look at her, slowly opening the other.

“Oh, I’m hungry, all right.”

He started to lean in, and she put a hand on his chest to stop him just when he was almost within reach of her lips.

“For food,” she clarified. “It’s too late for the other.”

He frowned. “Too late?”

She laughed. “Today, at least.”

“Why today, at least?” he complained. “You wouldn’t let me earlier. Was I supposed to seduce you on a public beach?”

She shook her head, kind of enjoying his extreme disappointment that sex was off the table for the time being.

“Come on.” She pushed herself up off the chair and stood up, picking her sandals up to carry on the way back to the villa. “Nora will be waiting.”

Grumbling the whole way, Barry returned the umbrella and chairs to the renting shack and joined Iris on the now cooled sidewalk, sandals in his hand as well.

“Don’t be grumpy.” She took his hand as they walked back. “There’ll be plenty of time for that later.”

He quick turned to look at her, and she saw the question in his eyes.

“Later this trip,” she amended. “Probably not today though, babe.”

He sighed and did his best not to look disappointed for when they’d return to the villa. That would not be a good look to greet Nora with on arrival. She probably missed them terribly – if she wasn’t still napping. She probably wasn’t still napping. He hoped she wasn’t searching the whole island for them again. Honestly, he didn’t know what to expect. But what he definitely didn’t expect was the heavenly scent that filled his nostrils when he opened the door to the villa and Iris followed him through.

“What is that amazing sme-”

And they both stopped, jaws dropped, as they watched a speeding Nora moving around the kitchen, chopping vegetables, stirring together a salad, cooking something on the stove and in the oven, and making fresh-squeezed juice.

“Oh, hey, guys!” She came to a stop. “Did you have a nice walk?”

Barry and Iris turned to look at each other, then back at Nora.

“You can cook?” They both asked simultaneously.

Nora grinned and nodded.

“How come you’ve never cooked for us before?” Barry asked, walking over to the kitchen area where she was stirring a bowl of something fruity.

“Because Mom was always set on making us food, and then you were set on fixing it.”

Barry guiltily avoided Iris’ glare.

“I always thought I got the cooking gene from Papa Joe, but it’s cool to know I got it from you too, Dad.” She beamed.

Iris approached them cautiously. “It does smell really good, Nora.”

“When will it be ready?” Barry asked, practically salivating.

Iris hit him, but he was unaffected.

Nora giggled. “Ten minutes, Dad. Then we can all eat as a family.”

Iris smiled warmly and shared a tender look with her husband and then her daughter. Perhaps having Nora on this trip with them wouldn’t be so bad after all.

...

*Also posted on AO3 and FFnet.

[robininthelabyrinth]

Fic: An Internal Affair - Chapter 22 (Ao3 link)

Fandom: The Flash Pairing: Leonard Snart/Barry Allen

Summary: Leonard Snart, the CCPD Captain of Internal Affairs, is known as Captain Cold for a very good reason: He hates corrupt cops with a merciless vengeance, and once you’re on his list, you’re in serious trouble.

His next target?

A CCPD lab tech named Barry Allen who’s developed a suspicious habit of disappearing at random intervals.

—————————————————————————————————

Barry's not fast enough.

He's not sure he even can be fast enough, ever - the thought that Wells might've deliberately sabotaged his development as a speedster, ensuring that he's always going to be second best, has gone through his mind more than once - but he knows he's not fast enough now.

And now is when it matters.

He comes to a brief stop, panting for breath, for the fourth time in the last two minutes. He's being worn down, just trying to keep up with Wells' superior speed, and he knows it.

He wonders if Wells is trying to run him into exhaustion, and only when Barry can no longer move his legs, when his will to move is utterly broken, will Wells destroy everything Barry has ever loved.

His dad.

Iris.

Len.

Wells will kill them all.

He'll kill them all because he knows that promise or no promise, Barry would agree to anything Wells wanted if Wells showed him how to get them all back.

Or maybe - maybe Wells doesn't know that.

Maybe he'll just kill them because he can.

"Slowing down again, Mr. Allen?" Wells tsks, coming to a stop a dozen feet ahead of him. "For shame - and you were so promising when you were under my guidance."

"Still happier not to be," Barry spits at him. He can feel his muscles recovering, happy for the break. "You murderer."

"You take it all so personally," Wells says. "The deaths of these unimportant people. You’re always taking it to heart, even though they lead uninteresting, unimportant lives that ultimately mean nothing. You always have. That's a weakness, you know - a weakness that will always be your undoing -"

The wall behind Wells' head explodes.

Even when you can move at speedster speed, you still need a second to process shock.

Barry, who's further away, gets thrown back a few feet, skittering onto his feet and looking around in confusion - Wells is buried in the rubble, too surprised to dodge it properly, but that's temporary, Barry knows -

"Barry! Come here!"

Iris!

He's at her side in a moment.

"You need to run around Iron Heights," she tells him, breathless. "All around the outside corridors; Snart has a plan. It might hurt you, you can't know what it is, but it has to be done and he's sorry and he loves you."

"Why didn't he tell me himself?" Barry asks, surprised.

Iris smiles. "Because I'm your best friend, Bar; I'm your anchor and he knows that. He knows I'll always be there for you, even when you go and fall in love with the second hottest guy in Central City -"

"Eddie being first?"

"Pssh, Eddie, I'm talking about Rory. Have you seen those muscles?"

"Iris!"

She laughs - Iris, beautiful and wonderful as always, and at last, at last, he can love her whole-heartedly without any jealousy or resentment or longing; Iris, who is his anchor, his lightning rod, and of course Len would know whose voice Barry would be automatically drawn to, of course he knows - and Barry can hear the crackle of lightning that is Wells back on his feet and before Iris even finishes laughing, Barry's off again, twisting to tackle Wells right around the midsection before he goes anywhere near Iris.

And then they're running again.

Only this time, Barry's leading - not because he's faster, no, but because Wells saw him heading away and followed, drawn after him like a moth to the flame.

"Where are you going, Barry Allen?" he calls, mocking, darting in front of Barry's path to try to trip him up. Barry dodges and keeps going. "I never took you for a coward!"

Barry grits his teeth and focuses on running. He's not as fast. He needs every ounce of willpower just to stay ahead.

Not that Wells is trying to stop him, not really.

Clearly mockery is much more fun.

"Run, Barry, run," Wells calls, his voice jovial, "Yes, run away from me! Just like you always have - from the very beginning!"

The man who murdered Barry's mom.

The man who put Barry's dad into a cage – into the prison where he spent half of Barry’s childhood and into the cage where he is right now both.

The man who is going to kill everyone if Barry doesn’t find a way to stop him.

Run, Barry, run.

"I'm not stupid, you know," Wells says conversationally, only a foot or two behind Barry now. "I know what you're up to."

Crap. How?!

"You can't hide anything from me," Wells says. "I've been studying you my whole life - even in the far future, before I ever met you."

"Creep," Barry can't resist saying.

"And once I met you, well, that just made it easier," Wells says, the flash of red lightning from his eyes the only sign he heard what Barry said. "For someone who lies as much and as effectively as you do, Barry Allen, you really are an open book to anyone who knows you."

Wells - Eobard Thawne - is probably right.

He knows Barry.

But Barry never knew him - not until it was too late.

Just the way Wells wanted it.

And yet -

And yet -

Wells is still running.

So the plan, whatever it is, is still on.

Barry focuses on running.

"I know you," Wells says again. "You'd never run from me, not really. You've been running to me your entire life, Barry. The Man in Yellow, the genius of STAR Labs, your mentor...I'm everything to you."

Seriously, does Wells not get how creepy he sounds?

"And you, Barry Allen, are everything to me -"

Yeah, no, he's definitely doing the creepy thing on purpose in an attempt to get under Barry's skin.

It's working pretty well.

"- because you're my only way home. And you're going to get me there."

"I'm really, really not," Barry says. He's panting again, damnit. He really hopes whatever plan Len's working on won't take much longer. "Why would you think I'd help you? After everything you've done?"

"Because that way we'd both win! Yes, I killed your mother, but I also give you a chance to get her back!"

Those things are really not equal and Barry has no idea why Wells thinks they are. A lifetime without his mom, versus a chance to destroy every important relationship he's built during that lifetime and possibly himself to save her?

Okay, Barry's not going to lie, he's super tempted.

But they're not the same.

Only a psychopath who doesn't actually understand that the worth of a person is in the time you get to spend with them would think that they were.

And anyway, Barry promised Len he wouldn't.

He's really glad he did, too, because otherwise he might've fallen for Wells' bullshit the way he always has, and then Wells would get everything he'd ever wanted.

Everything he's done, all of that horror and death, would actually have been worth it, in Wells' eyes.

And there'd be no reason that he wouldn't just keep going.

Keep killing.

For all of time.

"Know this, Barry Allen," Wells says. "You will help me achieve what I want. Whatever stupid little plan you and your friends have concocted -"

He doesn't know what it is!

...probably because Barry doesn't know what it is.

Good plan, Len.

Barry knows that there’s probably something bad at the end of it, but he also knows that Len is cold enough to make the call he needs to. He knows that Len knows him well enough to know that Barry would agree to anything, anything at all, if it meant stopping Wells.

Stopping Wells is worth anything, even Barry's life.

Barry just really hopes it doesn't end up killing him before he can tell Len that it would be worth it, because Len will feel awful about it, just the way he felt awful about Mick, and that would suck.

“- just know that it won’t be enough to stop me,” Wells continues. “It will never be enough.”

Is he still talking?

Ugh.

Can’t a guy have a minute for some introspection about his boyfriend right before he potentially dies? Seriously.

They keep running the endless loops around Iron Heights. It's all vacant, now, with all the cons having slipped out and most of the guards safely evacuated as well, so the only time Barry sees anyone is when he passes by the room his friends are in.

Even in that room, though, the speed he's running at makes it seem almost unreal - a series of snapshots, separated by a few seconds, like one of those spinning visor toys that mimics video.

Snap: Mick raising his gun as Nimbus looms above him.

Snap: Mick's gun blasting out a giant wave of flame, all at once.

Snap: Nimbus alight, screaming, a gaseous form lashing out with tentacles aflame.

Snap: Mick ducks.

Snap: One of Nimbus' now-partially-solid 'arms' whips into Mick's belly.

Snap: Mick goes flying, his midsection aflame.

Snap: Kara catches him.

Snap: Mick's midsection is somehow covered by a thin layer of frost.

(Yeah, Barry has no idea how that happened either - he's clearly missed something.)

Or take Iris, instead -

Well, no, it's not quite the same thing. Barry got one snap of Iris standing triumphantly over Tony Woodward's semi-conscious frame, that's basically going to be his mental screensaver from now until he heals from his middle school trauma.

So, like, forever.

After that, though, Iris ran over to help Eddie fight Mark Mardon, which Barry personally thought was not exactly good news. Mardon hates Joe West, might know who Iris West is, and he literally caused a tsunami.

As much as Barry loves Iris, neither she nor Eddie has powers. They shouldn't be fighting Mark Mardon.

Except apparently they should be, because less than ten rounds later they're no longer fighting - he's helping them move wires around or something.

No, Barry has no idea what’s going on there.

He doesn't even know where those wires came from!

Maybe they have something to do with the plan?

Maybe Len is off getting more wires.

That would explain why in all the snaps so far, Barry still hasn't seen him - not since he started running.

Barry would really like to see him.

Especially if he's going to die.

Damn, Barry's a superhero, he should get a dramatic last moment. Ideally with a nice goodbye kiss.

Ideally with magic resurrection happening five minutes later, while he's daydreaming.

Which he shouldn't be, because he's in the middle of a supervillain boss battle against the guy who killed his mom.

Bad time to let your mind drift.

Personally, Barry blames the running - he's always found it easy to daydream while he's running -

"In the end you will come to understand -"

Holy crap, Wells is still talking!

"Seriously?" Barry demands, not breaking pace. "Could you can the monologue already? It doesn't matter what you say -" Like Barry was even listening. "- it doesn't change a thing! I'm never going to help you get back to your time period!"

"Oh, you will," Wells says. "You see, because of your refusal to help me, I'm going to brutally murder every one of your friends - and it'll be your fault that they die."

Ouch. Right in the sore spot.

"And because I'm a speedster, too, I can keep you from going back to save them - let the timeline settle - make it permanent - or, at least, permanent enough for you to only be able to change it if you agree to aid me. What do you think about that, Barry Allen?"

"Honestly," Barry says, "it's about what I thought you were going to say, so - mostly bored?"

"Bored?!"

"It's the running," Barry says, faux-apologetically. "I'm so used to daydreaming, my mind drifts if there isn't anything worth paying attention to -"

Why yes, Barry can do some damn good passive-aggressive bullshit if he does say so himself.

(He might be an Allen, but he was raised a West.)

Wells looks murderous, which to be fair is how he normally looks when Barry is tweaking his nose, so Barry takes the moment to leap onto the wall and catapult himself forward for a little speed advantage.

That gets Wells' attention back on the race.

But he's still scowling, still murderous, and if Barry doesn't keep his attention, he's going to stop and Len's plan, whatever it is, will be ruined.

He has to keep running.

All his life, everything he loves, comes down to this race.

He runs.

"Faster, Barry!" he hears Iris shout.

He stops daydreaming, puts his head down, and runs faster.

Faster and faster, till he's going as fast as he can go -

"Faster, Barry!"

That was Len.

Huh, look at that.

Looks like Barry can go faster.

Even Wells is concentrating now, mockery gone as he focuses on keeping pace, his eyes crackling red lightning, his steak of light besides Barry's.

Faster, Barry.

Faster.

"Run, Barry," he hears his dad say. "Run."

(Run, Barry! his mom shouts in his mind. Run!)

Barry puts everything he's got into his legs.

His heart, his soul, his mind -

Everything he's got.

He runs.

He doesn't even see snapshots of his friends anymore - it's all blurring together around him, streaks of light turning into smears of color. It's beautiful and unearthly, an impressionist painting gone mad, and it's something Barry knows at once he'll never be able to show anyone who isn't a speedster, that this is their secret alone. This is how it looks when he's about to travel in time, but there's no other-Barry running beside him to signal that he's broken that barrier, no sign of any time travel, of any anomaly.

Just Barry.

"The Speed Force!" Wells hisses behind him, his voice half-awed, half-jealous, and Barry realizes that this is what Wells couldn't achieve on his own: this detached euphoria, this moment where his mind is empty, his heart is at peace, and everything he is has been given over to the pure act of running.

Where everything, everything at all, is speed.

There's no space for other people here. No room for fear, no room for care - no room for anything at all.

It's suddenly easy. The running, the movement - it locks into place, a runner's high like no other, and suddenly Barry feels like he could do this forever. It's all clear now: how he could run through time if he wanted, how he could return Wells to his time or to go back and rescue his mother in hers, how Barry could do whatever he wanted, but why would he ever want to?

Why would he ever do anything but keep running?

Keep running.

Keep accelerating.

Keep moving.

No one can touch him here. No one can hurt him, or disappoint him, and make him vulnerable. No one to make him care about them. No one to disturb his perfect equilibrium, no one to knock him off his stride, no one to make him stop.

Perpetual motion.

Perpetual speed.

Perpetual peace.

And no one can touch him again, not even another speedster, because Wells is trapped in his own euphoria just beside Barry - visible but separate - distant - and who cares, anyway? This is why Wells doesn't care, Barry suddenly understands, this is why he murders with impunity those people who could never understand this, because what's it worth, what's any of life worth, in comparison to this bliss, this unending perfection? Nothing else matters, not anymore. All that matters is here and now.

All that matters is the speed, the joy of running, the ecstasy of acceleration, because he's left everything else behind.

He couldn't leave this place even if he wanted to, but why would he want to? All there is for him outside of here is pain -

"Barry!"

Len.

Len's voice, not strong but certain, splitting through the indifference of perfect, empty, vacant bliss like a lightning bolt.

Len, who is waiting for him; Len, who is counting on him; Len, who hurt him -

Len, who loves him.

Love.

Love.

That's what this place is lacking, this 'Speed Force' that Wells wanted to reach so much, this place of pure joy.

It lacks love.

Because love isn't all joy, no, it's terrible and wonderful, painful even when it's good: it's the heartbreak and the reconciliation, the cold loneliness of missing someone and the fireworks of seeing them again, it's the inside of your lungs being squeezed out of you because you're so happy to see someone, it's your throat catching and choking on emotion so thoroughly fused that you don't know if it's good or bad, it's every tear you've ever shed for love coming back all at once - the agony and the ecstasy both.

Love.

Barry loves Len.

And if he stays here forever, he'll never see him again.

No!

"Barry!"

That's not Len - that's Iris.

Iris, his best friend, his past love, the one who he first began to love when he was a child and never stopped. The person who knows him best, the one who'll always be there for him, the one who has his back even when she's breaking his heart.

Love.

"Barry!"

Dad.

God, Dad. Barry might have lost his mom for good at age eleven, but he lost his dad as well - every holiday soured by their absence, every birthday bittersweet. Speaking to him only through glass, sadness drowning him but unwilling to give it up because the joy of seeing his dad, even like this, was so much greater. Telling him the best and worst parts of Barry's life, telling him about school and becoming a CSI and the hope that burned in Barry's heart - burned hot and ugly and painful, but a fire he tended to faithfully no matter how it hurt him - the hope of putting this wrong right one day.

Love.

"Barry!"

His friends. Friends already made and held dear; friends only in potential - Cisco, Caitlin, Kara, Mick - people he knows and people he can't wait to get to know. The fear of the unknown warring with the excitement of discovery.

Love.

Barry's anchors are all here.

So is Barry.

And suddenly, leaving the Speed Force behind is the easiest thing Barry's ever done.

Suddenly he’s just running again – strong and without pause, suddenly filled with more energy than he’s ever had before, but he’s not trapped in that blank trance, the nothingness and emptiness and loneliness of being utterly alone.

“Barry.”

That’s Len’s voice again.

Len –

“I’m sorry, Barry,” Len says, and his voice is anguished. “Ramon, Rathaway, hit it!”

Ramon is Cisco, yes, but Rathaway? Isn’t that Hartley Rathaway, the one Cisco’s been calling the Pied Piper? What is he doing here?

And why did Len say he was sorry –

The world explodes.

It’s like being hit by lightning all over again. Not pain, exactly, just shock: every synapse blazing at once, every sensation - good bad mediocre - all bleeding together the way the light had earlier, hitting every single sense - touch sight sound smell taste - all at once as if the sensitivity of every single input in his body suddenly got turned up to eleven and he can feel it but at the same time his brain is just unable to process it all and opting to just give up, shutting down, going from color to black and he can't see and he can't hear and -

And suddenly he's tripping and falling and the world is spinning, spinning, spinning and everything in his body - mind belly brain - all seized by the strongest sense of vertigo he's ever experienced.

His stomach roils, his brain screams, his muscles spasm -

And then it's over.

Whatever "it" was.

Honestly, Barry couldn't give a damn what it was; he's just happy that it stopped. He's still dizzy, still a little nauseous, but it's fading; he's still shivering and shaking a bit, but that overwhelming shockwave of sensation is gone; and sure, he's a bit sore all over but hey, he's not falling anymore.

So, in summary: he's sitting (well, lying) still, he's not about to throw up, he sees nothing but darkness behind his closed eyes, and his brain isn't on fire.

All good important things that Barry really hasn't appreciated properly up until now.

He’s going to appreciate them now. At length. While continuing to lie down and not move, because not moving sounds great right about now.

At least until his ears stop ringing.

" - arry!"

Someone needs him.

Ugggggh.

They always need him. Barry really needs to learn how to say no to things.

Maybe Len could give him lessons.

Sexy lessons.

Mmmm.

"Barry!"

Oh, okay, fine. He's getting up already. Stop yelling.

Barry cracks an eye open.

The world is blurry at first, which is a bit concerning, but then it all stabilizes back into a depressing blank grey slate roof. Very prison decor.

...because he is, in fact, in a prison.

It all comes back to him in a rush: Iron Heights! His dad! Wells! The Speed Force! Wells about to murder everyone!

Barry's eyes shoot open and he starts trying to scramble to his feet, except he feels heavy and slow and clumsy and -

"Barry, are you okay?" Iris demands. She's kneeling beside him, Len right next to her, and they're both pushing him down from getting up.

His two favorite people, yay.

"I'm fine," Barry says, though he's pretty sure it comes out as something more like "Mmfin."

"Are you in pain?" Len demands, looking pale and guilty and -

Oh, right, the plan.

The "it might hurt."

The "I'm sorry" that Barry still doesn't entirely understand.

"I'm fine," he says again, forcing himself to enunciate clearly. "What happened? Was that the plan?"

"Yeah," Len says, still looking distressed. "But you're sure you're okay? No pain?"

"Just dizzy," Barry assures him. "Wells..?"

"He's waking up!" Cisco yelps. "Guys! Someone! Do something!"

Len and Iris turn immediately, Barry forcing himself up to a sitting position - with some help from both Len and Iris - to see as well.

Wells is, in fact, waking up. Worse, he's getting up - grimacing with an expression that suggests he's got some of the same nausea and vertigo that Barry had, but that he's powering through it.

"Whatever you did," he rasps, his eyes fixed on Barry, "it won't be enough. You can't stop me."

And then he runs straight at Barry.

Except -

He isn't moving at super speed.

He's just - running.

At regular speed.

He stops the second he realizes, coming to a half only a few steps away from them. "What have you done?" he shrieks.

"Holy crap that actually worked," Cisco marvels.

"Of course it worked," Hartley sniffs. And then, begrudgingly, he adds, "When we put our heads together, everything we do works."

Cisco looks thunderstruck. "Uh," he says. "Yeah. Definitely."

"Can someone catch me up to what happened?" Barry asks.

"You remember how Ramon installed a miniature version of the Accelerator in Iron Heights to keep the metas in?" Len asks.

"Yeah?"

"We exploded it."

"You what?" Wells shouts. “You did what?!”

"Technically," Hartley says, smirking at Wells, "we just followed your lead, O captain - after all, you were the one who designed the Accelerator to explode if it got overpowered."

"Say, by two speedsters racing through an environment not built to tolerate it the way STAR Labs is," Cisco says. "Barry, remember how your powers disappeared when Blackout hit you with his lightning drain? Like that, just - bigger."

Barry blinks. "So - my powers - they're gone?"

"Theoretically, yeah," Cisco says apologetically. "We needed you and Wells to over-power the Accelerator, so we couldn’t shield you from the blast. We theorized that the second blast would nullify the dark matter in your system -"

"Or blow your head up," Hartley says cheerfully. "One or the other."

"They're gone," Barry repeats blankly. "I'm - normal again."

He doesn't feel like he's normal again.

He doesn't really see no-powers as "normal" for him anymore.

Wait. If his powers are gone -

He looks over to where Wells is standing, his mouth hanging open in shock.

"Wells' powers should be gone, too," Iris confirms.

"Now we can arrest him," Len adds. "Bring him to justice - free your dad -"

"No!" Wells shrieks, and then he moves - not a speedster, but fast and unexpected, darting down to the ground and back up and suddenly he has Cisco's discarded vibration gun in his hands. "I'll see you all dead first -"

Len brings his crutch down on Wells' head.

Wells collapses onto the floor, unconscious.

Everyone stares at Len.

"What?" he asks. "I told you they make good weapons!"

Kara starts laughing first, but Barry's right there behind her, and it's only a few minutes before everyone else is cracking up, too.

"Not to interrupt," Barry's dad says archly. "But as funny as this is, could someone please let me out of this cage?"

"On it!" Caitlin says, grabbing the vibration gun from where Wells dropped it and heading over.

"On that note," Mardon says dryly, "I'm gonna duck out before you decide to put me back in prison. I wanna get in a few hits on the Families before I leave town."

"Just keep it to Families," Kara warns. "Or we'll find you and stop you."

Mardon snorts. "Whatever. You already took my powers. What more you gonna do?"

"Iron Heights's regular wing ain't that much fun, either," Len drawls. "Go on, get."

"How come he agreed to help?" Barry asks as Mardon jogs out of the room. "Didn’t sticking around mean he'd lose his powers, too?"

"He really hates Wells," Hartley says dryly. "And he's not alone." He shakes his head. "I'd better catch up with him; I'm probably his only means of transportation out of here."

"It was - weirdly fun working with you," Cisco offers hesitantly. "Like, when it's too much of an emergency for you to be a dick. So, you know, if there's another emergency - not that I want another emergency -"

"I'll call you," Hartley interrupts. "Maybe we can see how we work together when Wells isn't playing us against each other."

"Yeah! Yeah. That."

"See you around, Ramon."

He leaves.

"All things considered, leaving's not the worst idea in the world," Mick says, reaching down and scooping Wells over his shoulder like an unwieldy sack of potatoes. "City's on fire, the people are rioting, the Families and the Feds are brawling in the street, and I'm pretty sure the boss authorized all of it."

"...on second thought, maybe I should’ve let Wells get me," Len says, looking mildly horrified.

"You're not dying," Kara says. "Not after all this effort!"

"Wait, we have to do more?" Cisco asks. "But we already defeated Wells!"

"The city's still going crazy," Eddie points out. "Our job doesn't end until peace is restored."

"That's why being a pig is a shit job," Mick says wisely.

"I'm going to recruit you into the CCPD," Eddie tells him.

"Don't you fucking dare."

"You did good work here -"

"Stop!"

"- probably great with scaring kids straight -"

"Kids?!"

"Mick, he's pulling your leg," Len says. "Stop letting him."

"I don't know," Iris says thoughtfully. "If he’s not going to be a thief anymore, he does need a new job now -"

"That can wait till later," Mick says quickly. "City to finish rescuing, remember? Besides, this guy needs to go somewhere secure 'till the boss can read him his rights."

"Detective Thawne can do that," Len says hastily. "I'm sure it'll be cathartic and all, what with him being his ancestor."

Eddie looks at him, his lips starting to curl up into a grin. "Captain, I hope you don't mind me asking -"

"That ain't a good way to start a sentence."

"- but have you ever read anyone their Miranda rights? Do you even know what they are?"

A moment of silence.

"...I've had them read to me a bunch of times?" Len offers.

That sets them all off laughing again.

"I know what they all are!" Len is protesting when Barry finally manages, with the help of Iris, to get up. "I know them inside and out - probably better than any of you - it's just that saying them feels weird, that's all -"

Barry taps him on the shoulder.

Len looks at him.

"Barry," he says, levity suddenly gone. His eyes are intent on Barry's face, his expression solemn, and suddenly Barry can barely breathe with how much he loves him. It's like the entire world just shrinks down until there's no one there but them. "Barry - your powers - I -"

"Screw my powers," Barry says, interrupting. "We did it. We beat the bad guy. Together."

"But -"

"You didn't betray me," Barry says, because he knows Len well enough to know what's bothering him. "You knew how I felt about defeating Wells and I trusted you to do what needed to be done - and you did."

"You trust me," Len repeats.

"Yes," Barry says. "Because I love you."

Len breaks into a smile. "Yeah," he says. "And you ain't too shabby, either."

Barry laughs, pulls him into his arms, and kisses him.

Len kisses him back.

And it's - perfect.

Not the empty vacant perfection of the Speed Force, but a real perfection: love and joy and relief and pleasure and the hope of a future to come, a future together, a future untainted by the threat of Wells.

That sounds pretty much perfect to Barry.

Someone clears their throat.

Barry ignores them.

Someone clears their throat a second time, and this time taps Barry's shoulder, too.

Barry really doesn't want to stop kissing Len.

But then again, if he stops just long enough to tell whoever it is to buzz off, he'll be able to get back to kissing Len in an uninterrupted manner.

Barry pulls away reluctantly.

Then he turns his head and -

Oh.

It's his dad.

It's his dad!

His dad just saw him making out with his boyfriend!

"So, Barry," Henry Allen says, his eyes dancing with mischief. "Are you going to introduce me to Mr. Snart here, or am I going to have to call on our previous acquaintance from back when he was a fellow inmate?"

Oh god.

His dad just saw Barry making out with his boyfriend before Barry's even introduced them and he thinks Barry’s boyfriend is a felon!

"I'm a police captain now, actually," Len says.

"Really? That's nice."

"Yeah. Your son's pretty nice, too."

"I know he is. I'd offer to shake your hand, but you seem pretty reluctant to get it off his ass."

"He has a very nice ass," Len says, even as Barry buries his head in his hands. "One of the many nice things about him, really."

"Please," Barry says. "Both of you - just stop talking."

He considers.

"Also, erase the last five minutes from your memories," he instructs. "I refuse to let this be how you two meet."

"Too late," Iris cackles. "We've all seen it now. This is already filed, documented, and going into the Barry Allen File Of Embarrassing Moments forever."

"No!"

"Is that a real thing?" Mick asks.

"We're breaking it out for his wedding rehearsal dinner," Iris says.

"Really. Say, boss, would you consider -"

"Mick. Finish that sentence and I punch you in the face."

"Yeah," Barry says, unable to resist. "Because as an unquestioned authority in the subject, I can tell you that that would definitely be moving too fast."

Len kisses him again, just for that.

[barryslightningrod]

Homecoming

“You’re my lightning rod.”

Barry and Iris reunite after the switchback. 

{Homecoming Series}

As soon as he, Kara, and Oliver had restored reality to its original state and ensured Keegan was stowed away in Arkham, Barry had raced back to Central City immediately to check on Iris and Nora. While he was more than relieved that the two of them were safe (and reinstated as his wife and daughter), he was shocked to discover that neither of them had any recollection of the preceding events, forcing him to sit them down and explain what had occurred, to Nora’s intrigue and Iris’s horror.

“A book that masters all of reality? Schway!”

“I was married-to Oliver???”

Presently, Barry holds his rightful wife in their bed while their daughter sleeps downstairs.

“You really don’t remember anything?” he asks her, still amazed. “Not a single thing that happened over the last twenty-four hours strikes you as odd?”

Iris sighs, exasperated but amused.

“For the last time, Barry,” she insists, “As far as I know, I woke up today, ate breakfast with you and Nora, endured my daily rant from Scott about how slow our newsroom is compared to the Gazette, fulfilled my STAR Labs duties by making zero progress on Cicada’s whereabouts, and came back home in time to catch The Daily Show with Nora before you burst in here begging us to call you anything but Oliver.”

Barry chuckles to conceal his shudder at the memory of Iris’s skeptical eyes on him that turned babydoll the moment they fell on Oliver. He rubs her shoulder affectionately.

“You’re not-hurt or scared or anything?” He inquires earnestly, recalling how tentative and afraid she had been on the balcony at STAR labs. “You’re okay?”

Iris snuggles further into him, tucking her head below Barry’s chin.

“I’m okay, Bear,” she promises. “I’m telling you, I don’t remember any of this, and if Oliver was my husband, I sure as hell don’t want to.”

Barry laughs along, aware that the slight relief flooding him shouldn’t, but accepting it as inevitable. He can’t help it: the thought of anyone with his Iris is too unpleasant to bear. And because he’s still recovering from such an unpleasantry, the urge to gloat is irresistible.

“I love how you’re unfazed by a Book of Destiny, but can’t fathom being with Oliver,” he boasts, certain his smirk is audible in his voice.

“My adult daughter from 2049 is downstairs,” Iris states, to which Barry snickers. “At this point, nothing fazes me.”

Barry keeps at it, needing to hear it from her again: “Nothing...except being married to Oliver, right?”

Iris giggles, shifting to glance up at him.

“Are you positive you’re not Oliver Queen?” she teases, eyebrows raised. “You sure are acting like him.”

Something stirs then in Barry, at her loving face appraising him where it had Oliver, at the smile playing her lips that she’d worn for Oliver, at his proximity to her in the bed Oliver had wakened in, and most importantly, at being able to touch her again, where she had hesitated at his contact before.

He sweeps forward to bury his face into the side of her neck just because he can, the press of his lips to her skin so searing and unexpected that she gasps.

“How about I show you I’m really Barry?” he suggests huskily, the bait of her aroma tempting him.

“Mmmm,” she inhales deeply, and he wishes he could kiss her throat and see her pleased expression at once. “And just how are you going to do that?”

He lays her back against the pillows and tops her, sucking the salt from her skin, from her tongue, the moans she emits stiffening his cock. Instinctively, he lurches against her, hunting for friction. She corresponds with her own tiny upward jerks, and they build together until he’s raised, until their clothes become a barrier. He relieves himself before he strips her, knowing the sight and smell of her flesh would harden him further, and they do, such that he’s flush against his navel.

“You’re pretty convincing as Barry so far,” she grins, her eyes raking over his body until they darken, sinking to dangerous depths: “But I want more proof.”

She wraps her fingers around him, the soft warmth of her exquisite. She works him once, twice before tugging him toward her. They connect with ease, her folds already slick with anticipation.

“You know how I’d really know you’re Barry?” Iris huffs as he commences his thrusts inside her, bringing her lips to his ear. “Tell me what I love to hear.”

He knows what she’s referring to even in the throes of his passion. But he won’t oblige her-not yet.

“Only if you say my name,” he challenges through his motions. He didn’t usually do this, hold a ransom against her. In fact, he was always willing to give her whatever she wanted, but maybe-maybe seeing her with Oliver had him acting this way.

“What?” she heaves, shifting her hips upward.

His mind summons the memory of Iris in disbelief, insisting he was Oliver, and his thrusts take an urgent turn.

“I don’t wanna hear you call me Oliver ever again.”

She chuckles, seemingly not expecting that, and feigns innocence: “I never called you Oliver.”

“Say my name,” he growls, taken aback by his own ferocity, but relishing their game.

“Woah. That was pretty rough,” she pants as she moves, but jests nonetheless. “Are you sure you’re not Oliver?”

“Say it.”

“You did look pretty hot in the Green Arrow suit,” she persists, conscious of the impact of her words. “Brought out your eyes-“

“Say my name,” he grits, with a thrust so forceful, she gasps.

“Barry,” she breathes, surrendering, her jaw falling slack and her head tilting back as she climaxes. “Barry.”

“My lightning rod,” he concedes, reverting to himself as he edges on release at the sight of her own.

“You’re my lightning rod,” he repeats, linking his hands with hers. Remembering her timid demeanor with him on the balcony, he squeezes her palm.

“You’re my anchor,” he murmurs, his pushes desperate. He was so close-

“You’re my rock,” he grunts, and he twitches at last, emptying himself inside her.

The succeeding air is still, filled only with their harsh breathing as they collapse together. He disturbs the calm to pull her close, whispering in her ear his only truth: “You’re my Iris.”

[sunshinesunsethappiness]

It seems I’m in a speculating mood. The subject this time? Crisis and Barry potentially disappearing.

I know there are theories about how Barry will not disappear (I’ve seen Nora sacrifing herself for him and then being Born as part of the tornado twins, for instance) but what about if Barry does disappear?

(I admit I find the thought of Barry not disappearing during the crisis a little strange. Not that I want him to disappear. I obviously want a happy west-allen family, but it has been such an important headline/event for 5 season now, for it not to happen would feel a bit.... strange? Whether Barry disappears or not, I hope they give this story the weight and time it deserves.( I expect with Nora’s plan of trying to save her dad in the open now that we’ll see more of it. ))

This speculation isn’t very likely, but it’s fun to speculate.

Before I go into my speculation, I want to quickly look at the options if Barry does disappear:

-Barry disappears and per what we already know he’s still missing 25 years later in 2049. Like in the comics he re-appears 25 years later. While pretty interesting, if they’re doing Crisis on Infinite Earths next year I can’t see them going this route unless they do a permanent flash forward. And 25 years seems a lot of time to jump

-Barry disappears but he reappears much earlier than the 25 years. While a legitimate option, it does seem very close to Barry disappearing in the s3 finale and reappearing in the s4 premiere. Also, if the crossover takes places in the middle of the season, will the rest of the season be Iris and the team trying to find him? It would be like a longer version of the s4 premiere and the writers tend to like to go to the status quo of team flash beating crime as soon as possible. I think the longest non status quo arc concerning Barry has been the prison arc, he went to prison at the end of 410 and was released at the end of 413, so about 3 episodes.

-And another option, one I want to speculate about today, is Barry disappears, but Iris and Nora disappear with him.

Elseworlds was very much a set up crossover for Crisis on infinite earths. Which also means that you can look at the themes and ideas they decided were important enough to put into these three episodes and assume they’ll be carried forward or play a role in Crisis on infinite earths.

That brings me to their decision to have Barry talk about Iris being his lightning rod. Lightning Rod was used twice in the episode, once in an important moment in the episode.

Now I was confused by the way they used Lightning Rod in this episode. One, just because I didn’t really like the way they used it. imo it trivialized not just the concept but Barry saying it. (But that’s just my personal opinion.) But where it becomes relevant for this speculation is in that what Barry said was not even true.

We’ve only seen Barry use the line one time and it was not to convince Iris of anything. He was sort of giving up and thinking they were done for. He said it and it sparked an idea in Iris. So why shoehorn in the use of this term into the episode in a way that isn’t even consistent with what we’ve seen on the Flash?

-The episode poked fun at a lot of Flash things, so it could be just that they used this concept to continue with that and make it funny regardless of how it was used before. I’m not ruling this out, because I do feel that the writers take liberties or exaggerate issues and things that actually happen in the shows

-But... they didn’t have to specifically use Lightning Rod. So maybe they needed to introduce the lightning rod idea into the crossovers specifically as a preparation for the next crossover (it’s been introduced on The Flash but not in the crossover) so they shoehorned it in while keeping with the tone of the episode.  Later in the episode it was used again in a more serious moment (that imo again as much as I loved it was a little trivialized by what he said before) .

So maybe Iris being Barry’s Lightning Rod will come into play in Crisis On Infinite Earths.

That this concept, one way or another, will or could come back in crisis on infinite earths is imo compounded when the writers tweeted out a picture with Barry’s lightning rod quote and a picture of Wally and Linda having a speed force type moment, that is a type of Lightning Rod moment, but it’s not a typical lightning rod moment where the person who is being pulled in by the speed force is grounded to our world by their lightning rod.

It’s a moment from infinite crisis where Wally appears in front of Linda to say goodbye to her because he has to keep running and he feels he’s being pulled away, but she refuses to say goodbye, kisses him and they all disappear.

Now, Lightning Rod is mentioned right before this scene. Wally tells Linda he loves her more than anything and that she is his lightning rod, but that he has to keep running.

However, it’s not Linda functioning as a Lightning Rod here keeping Wally to Earth. It’s Linda refusing to let Wally go and thus she and her family go with him to wherever he is going. It’s a type of lightning rod moment I think, but not a normal/typical one where one person keeps the other from disappearing in the speed force..

They could have posted  the Rebirth Barry and Iris lightning rod moments like ‘as long as I remember Iris I’ll be alright’, The writers know full well that this is linda and wally, but this is first of all about the concept of a speedster and their lightning rod and second, I think this situation is actually potentially relevant for crisis on infinite earths because its It’s a picture of a flash disappearing.

Sounds pretty familiar with what is potentially happening in Crisis On Infinite Earths, right? Barry disappearing. (in the comics by this time Barry had already disappeared, so I suppose it’s the other way around, the picture reminds (vaguely) of Barry disappearing, but Wally’s wife and children go along with him)

He appears in front of his wife to say goodbye, he has to keep running despite how much he loves her. But his wife refuses to let their family be broken apart and they all disappear ( I’m not 100% sure, but I think it turns out later that they’re alive living in an alternate reality)

Could we perhaps get a scenario similar to this? Probably not this, but something where Barry does disappear, but Iris (and Nora?) this time go with him? It could be the shows nod to Barry and Iris ‘disappearing’ to the future together in the comics. (I actually once made a post about potential endings for the show and of them was that Barry and Iris to the future and another flash takes over Barry’s mantle in the present, but that has nothing to do with this, lol)

This option has the same problems as the second one. Where do you go from there and how long would it last? it could be interesting to see the other angle. Instead of just seeing how the team is trying to get them home, we could see how Iris and Barry are in the speed force and their adventures there/trying to get home. But again, the show likes returning to the status quo  of the team working together pretty fast, especially when Barry is involved.

In infinite crisis, Barry actually also makes an appearance. He appears out of the speed force to help Bart.

Like I said, it’s not a very plausable theory, but about the lightning rod concept in general, when you think about it, when would it be more appropriate to fully show the lightning rod concept than during the big event of the flash (maybe?) disappearing? It would be the most dramatic way of showing it.

Or, maybe it will be Iris being his Lightning Rod that will keep him from disappearing or make him reappear at the end of the crossover/faster?

They introduced the lightning rod idea to the crossovers, tweeted out an image of a flash disappearing with his family. At the very least infinite crisis and this particular image is/was on their mind while writing (also, twins!)

[pinkletterday]

One More Time

Pairing: Barry Allen/ Iris West

Rating: All Audiences

Summary: Barry comes home to Iris one last time.

All the world is lightning.

It is deja vu. Except instead of a red dawn it is the night sky that the dimensional rip splits apart. Electric whips of gold and blue and red crackle through the portal and thunder stamps down on the earth.

Iris watches it unfold, heart in her throat. It is a sight she hasn't seen in fifteen years, since her husband had disappeared and left her alone with Nora. The child who has also now run headlong into the entity that swallowed her father.

Fear and desperate hope both beat against her ribcage as she stares, rooted to the ground.

And then her daughter steps through.

Iris's heart bursts out of her chest in relief. "Nora!," she screams as she runs. "Nora!"

She catches her baby in her arms, her stupid, precious child. "Baby, are you okay?"

Nora seems unharmed, whole and safe. She clutches back at Iris.

"I'm okay! I'm okay, Mom!"

"How could you do that to me? How could - do you have any idea -,"

"Mom, Mom, listen!," Nora's eyes are alight. "I found him!"

"You found -,"

A man is outlined against the rip, lightning crackling and zinging around his scarlet-clad body.

Iris moves forward as if in a dream, not sure if this wasn't one after all. She has had this same dream for the past fifteen years. Maybe she is asleep in her office right now.

"Barry?"

His smile is just as she had dreamed as well. As though she is the only other person in his world.

"Iris," he carresses the syllables of her name the same way, as though he has never been gone. She touches his arm. The familiar electricity courses through her blood, warm and strong but insulated somehow from its burn and shock, running into the earth as though she is indeed a lightning rod.

"Is it really you? Are you real?"

He catches her hands and presses them to his lips. "It's really me, Iris."

Floppy hair and a red backpack. "Iris! Do you wanna play dinosaurs with me?"

"You sleuthe and I science," he declares, windmilling his lanky teenage arms grandly as she laughs. "We're gonna the coolest crime fighting partners in the world!"

"I love you, Iris," it falls like a leaf in the wind from his lips and her whole world tilts.

The ring sparkles between his fingers but it is light in his eyes that steals her breath away. "Iris West, will you marry me?"

She frames his face between her hands and is transported into a field of barley glowing in the sun. "You came back to me."

He wraps his hands around her wrists, dizzying warmth irradiating from his touch, his eyes.

Always.

But he doesn't say it.

And she knows.

"Please don't leave me again! Don't - don't go! Take me with you!"

His sad blue eyes are infinite as the universe. "Iris."

"No, no please please don't ask me to be strong again," the terror and grief finally breaks her apart after fifteen years, safe in his arms once more. "You've asked me to be strong and I have over and over but it's been so hard, Barry! I can't - please!"

She grips the hands framing her face. "You promised me forever. You promised me."

"I did," he says. "I do."

Hope flares anew. He leans his forehead against hers, thumb wiping the tear tracks from her cheeks, holding her gaze in his own.

"Iris, listen to me. I still promise you forever. But right now, our children need you. The world needs you."

"I don't care about the world anymore!," hasn't she given it enough? "Nora is grown up now, she can - I looked after them all like you said, they'll be fine, they have -,"

"Nora still needs her mother. And her children will need a grandmother. Our family needs you to guide them through the dangers that are coming. You're not done in the world yet, Iris."

He draws her closer, and she is dizzy with his scent of storms and rain, the feeling of his body against her own once more. "You're going to let me go. You're going to walk Nora down the aisle, give her our rings, hold our grandbabies and great grandbabies for both of us. You're going to find love again, and happiness and live a long, full life."

The thought is unbearable. "Not without you."

"No. I'm going to be with you, right here, every step of the way," he presses his ungloved hand against her heart. "I'm going to watch you be heal and discover happiness again. Be able to remember our life together without hurting. Do so many more incredible things. Going to be so proud of everything you do" His voice finally cracks, and tears now filling his own eyes. "You're going to keep being the amazing woman I love."

"Just one more time, Iris," his beautiful face is so close to hers, calm and loving even through both their tears. "Be strong for me one more time. And then when you're done, when you've finished all that we set out to do, I'll come for you. And I'll never let you go again."

"One more time, Iris," he whispers against her lips. "Let me go."

Then his mouth is moving against hers and it's a thousand kisses at once - their first on the steps of her father's porch, the one after their wedding vows, the one after she pushed Nora out of her body. The ones over breakfast tables and casual goodbyes and desperate relief after danger. Kisses of faith and belief and love over a too-brief eight years and all the ones they should have had after.

His lightning settles into her soul.

"Okay," she whispers. "One more time."

Releasing his hand is like letting go of gravity. Only the steady faith in his eyes helps her do it.

Her heart falls to pieces at the peace in his smile. "I love you, Iris."

The golden reeds of light encasing them disappears. Stardust and darkness now whirl around him, standing serene in the eye of the storm, face full of love to the last.

And then he is gone.

[that-shamrock-vibe]

TV Review: The Flash (Spoilers)

Season 5, Episode 9: Elseworlds - Part 1

Spoiler Warning: I am posting this review the day the episode becomes available to stream online so if you haven’t seen it yet or are waiting for the entire crossover to air before watching then don’t read on until you have done that.

Overview:

I cannot tell you how much I got a kick out of this episode. I have not done any TV reviews for a while because of my university commitments but I did partially review Crisis on Earth-X last year and wanted to review this crossover because of what is promised but also because it’s the big superhero event on the small screen. I love an elseworlds story in any genre and show/movie that I watch, I love it when they do parallel worlds and alternate realities, I love it when they have dream worlds and any situation or story where the characters we know and love are portrayed differently. This wasn’t exactly that, but it was still so good. I loved the comedy, the Easter Eggs, the callbacks to previous seasons and the change in dynamic, but also I LOVED the new additions to the Arrowverse and will be talking about them down below.

Freaky Sunday:

So I was going to call this a Freaky Friday before thinking it would be funnier to say Freaky Monday but then realized this episode would have aired yesterday so am calling it a Freaky Sunday. Anyway the movie I am parodying is referenced by Barry because of the situation that he and Oliver find themselves in at the start of this episode.

At the very start of this episode we have that same clip that played at the end of Supergirl, Arrow and The Flash last week, so this is now the fourth time I saw it, which shows John Wesley Shipp’s Flash who he portrayed nearly 30 years ago struggling over a warzone of Easter-Eggs, I mean dead heroes, and speeding away from a weird man with a destiny changing book. This man is called The Monitor and I will talk about him when he is focused on more.

Fortunately this isn’t all of the opening scene otherwise I would have been very annoyed and the rest is Oliver waking up in Barry’s bed with Barry’s wife Iris calling him for breakfast. Oliver is now Barry Allen and has his life including speed, wife, friends and most likely job. The interesting thing is even though this an obvious re-written reality, the same storylines that have been happening in all seasons are still going on. So Oliver has just got out of prison, joined the SCPD as a vigilante and now finds himself as Barry Allen the Scarlet Speedster of Central City. It was funny watching him grasp this realization and to be fair to Stephen Amell he does allow himself to have some much needed fun this episode after all the doom and gloom he has been through this season.

However, because he’s new to the speedster game, he almost screws up in thwarting a robbery attack on Ivo Laboratories. Whether or not this new reality created Ivo Laboratories in Central City or not isn’t confirmed but this is a place that has never been mentioned in previous episodes.

Regardless, despite giving the wrong vigilante line before stopping the bad guys, he does stop them with an impressive trick shot of his lightning throw. How he knew how to do that without guidance is a mystery but I digress. Also for any comic-book fan that knows Ivo is a reference to Professor Anthony Ivo, they’ll know the robot Oliver’s lightning bolt accidentally hits.

But then we arrive at S.T.A.R. Labs, which has not changed, and Oliver is scanned for abnormalities I’m presuming because his takedown of the bad guys was unlike Barry’s normal quality, yet to all the brilliant minds in that room, as well as Iris and Ralph, no one can deduce that Oliver is not Barry. Oliver and Barry are the only two on their Earth that seem to not have had their memories affected by this altered reality...so naturally Oliver goes to find Barry to try and make sense of the situation.

We then cut to Star City and Barry seems to have woken up in the middle of a sparring match with Diggle at ARGUS. I have to say, I am slightly confused about John’s position at ARGUS, I know Lyla is the director but does that make John the Deputy or Acting Director as Lyla never really seems to be there?

Anyway, Dig thinks Barry is Oliver and Barry knows he is Barry but when he discovers his body has been changed by this altered reality due to his tattoos, he too suspects something is up. However there isn’t time to contemplate this fully like Oliver did because he is told to suit up as Green Arrow is needed on an ARGUS mission...Green Arrow who was almost arrested last week for being an active vigilante before joining the police force as their agent is suddenly allowed to join ARGUS in a mission...logic!

As with Oliver, Barry takes to his new vigilante fighting skills rather well, possibly because the basis of vigilantism is training in fighting and coordination, but after subduing the threat he and Diggle are sped away by Oliver. Diggle throwing up after speeding is still funny but just seems like it is in there as a cheap Easter Egg.

Somehow ditching Diggle, Oliver and Barry go to the disused Arrowcave which made a return last week and while Oliver has his serious face on trying to understand their current predicament, Barry is weightlifting up that old bar pole that my sister used to get a kick out of every time Oliver used it...Barry has used that pole before and with super speed so has done it better than how he is doing it now so why he was so happy with it I don’t know.

I did like how Oliver was trying to get Barry to be serious because it is very telling of the tone the two shows have. Arrow has always been rather dark and like a Batman story whereas The Flash has always been more like a Marvel Movie or Superman pre-DCEU. However on this point I have to say I was on Oliver’s side because the situation is these two are currently not themselves and Oliver wants his life back, funnily enough after Oliver lets slip he woke up with Iris that morning Barry gets his serious face on.

This early mid-section of the episode is where I lose a lot of respect for Team Flash because they know of the multiverse, time travel and Flashpoint yet they don’t quite grasp the fact that maybe something happened to change reality so that Barry is now Oliver and Oliver is now Barry...none of them, you have a biochemist, a mechanical engineer, two detectives and a journalist yet no one has the perception to even conceive that what two people they know rather well is telling them is a possibility?

Also, when this is all over and fixed and Oliver is Oliver and Barry is Barry, Iris needs to sit down with Oliver and talk out their differences because I did not know Iris had this much dislike for Oliver. I can’t even call it dislike because she must like him on some level, I mean she openly admitted to fancying either him as Oliver or the Green Arrow during the Invasion! crossover but here, because of what has happened to Oliver recently, she cannot seem to get her head around loving Barry as Oliver because the Oliver she knows who in actual reality is at this point her Barry is a man of pain and vengeance. I do like how this is picked up with the two guys later but I’m getting ahead of myself. Iris needs to sort herself out.

Because of Iris distrusting this situation she drugs the man she supposedly loves while Ralph knocks out the man he believes is Oliver and they are locked in a cell in the Pipeline. I love the fact that because they’re not really catching Metahumans of the week anymore these crossovers are really the only time we see the inside of these cells.

I love how Barry and Oliver interact in this episode and the prison scene is one of my favourites because they have to play to each-other’s strengths due to the fact they have each-other’s abilities. Barry dislocating his thumb was hilarious not just because of how it looked but also because Oliver was so blahzay in telling him to do it just like it was a walk in the park. “Just break your thumb, your body has been conditioned by Anatoly in this reality so you can do it”. Also Oliver’s reaction to actually seeing a broken thumb was slightly bizarre because surely he would have seen his own thumb before. Oliver phasing through the door was slightly overkill because he hasn’t found the breaks on his speed yet, also why was everyone so confused by phasing in this episode? It’s a cool power to have, it can get you out of prison cells, or stop a plane from crashing into buildings. One thing I didn’t understand is Barry said the cell was designed to dampen powers so how was Oliver able to phase?

Anyway regardless of continuity errors they escape and plan to use the only interdimensional extrapolater they have left, despite Sherloque breaking it I’m guessing they fixed it, to go to Earth Thirty-Eight to get Kara’s help. Iris apparently predicts this and beats them to getting the extrapolater...incase anyone isn’t paying attention I don’t like Iris in this episode, I don’t know why but something about her just seems off.

Barry however finally manages to get through to his wife by recalling a memory only they would know and finishing it off by calling her his lightning rod, which he told Oliver to call her and he called stupid, and agree I agree with him. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for sentiment but I never understood the lightning rod metaphor. I guess it’s how lightning conducts to the rod as an analogy for how Barry would always return to Iris but it just never sat right with me. It does with Iris though and she gives Barry the extrapolater and they go to Earth-38.

I laughed with joy at this moment and this scene because entering Earth-38 the episode has Remy Zero’s “Save Me”, also known as the Smallville theme song playing over it. Anyone who keeps up to date with behind the scenes gossip knows they were using the Kent Farm from Smallville as the Kent Farm for Earth-38′s Smallville but with the theme song playing and I think even the tractor is the same. Although on Riverdale last week they also used the Kent Farm in another capacity so maybe the CW, which broadcasts all the DC shows and Riverdale like that set, I know I do. It’s such a feel-good nostalgia trip seeing it. Also that song, I just love it!

We are reacquanted with Tyler Hoechlin as Clark Kent and, despite not appearing in Season 3 of Supergirl he did easily slide back into the role. I mentioned in my first reaction to seeing Tyler Hoechlin as Superman that I was won over by the acting and look just the choices taken by costuming threw me. Here we see more of Clark Kent then we do Superman and for me it works. However my biggest issue right now is if they are trying to make out as if this Superman is the same one we saw the origin story for during Smallville played there by Tom Welling. With the theme song playing and the same farm being used it does seem that way. I would be very happy if ti wasn’t as that would obviously mean this Supergirl is the same that Laura Vandervoot portrayed and her Kara was more evolved as a superhero than this Kara.

Also, we meet this Earth’s Lois Lane, portrayed by Elizabeth Tulloch. I like her as Lois Lane, I think she has the same level of drive and bite as Erica Durance and Teri Hatcher did in the role and isn’t as wet and dull as Amy Adams. Interestingly enough when it comes to Superman mythos, the small screen seems to get right what the movies get wrong.

Kara is visiting her cousin after being fired from the D.E.O. and is debating whether or not she should have revealed her identity to Clark looking I guess for justification in her decision, Clark obviously tells her she did the right thing because secret identities are there to keep loved ones safe and that is obviously the right thing to do.

Barry and Oliver arrive giving Lois a fright but it seems whatever alternate reality was put in place only affected Earth-1 because Kara still knows them as themselves. Barry and Oliver are formally introduced to Superman at both are a little bit starstruck but handle it in different ways fitting their characters.

Then when it comes to Barry and Oliver training as each other, Barry has to target practice while Oliver runs at him being a moving target.

The only issue with this setup is while is it is done to make an excellent callback to when Oliver trained Barry, Oliver still thinks he is training Barry here and gets very offended when Barry doesn’t take playing him seriously.

Lois is great in this scene as the impartial spectator and calls it how she sees it calling Oliver a dick. Hilarious.

Barry and Oliver then have a heart-to-heart and discover that in order to be each-other they need to embody what makes each other work as vigilantes, Barry is very light-hearted and positive whereas Oliver is very grounded and serious. So for Barry to be the Green Arrow effectively he needs to be grounded and serious while Oliver being The Flash needs to be upbeat. As I said before I love the meta referencing of how the two shows and characters are so different from each other yet exist in the same space, then Kara comes along who is a bit of both, it’s the trinity right here. DC’s original Trinity of Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman has been made DOA thanks to the movies so the small-screen has a new trinity of Green Arrow, Flash and Supergirl.

Cisco arrives and tells the group that they need to come back to stop A.M.A.Z.O. and both Kara and Clark tag along for the ride, with Cisco finally meeting Superman.

Ambushing A.M.A.Z.O:

Back on Earth-1 and sure enough A.M.A.Z.O. makes his debut as these crossover events need badly CG’d robots in them. A.M.A.Z.O. as his comic-book counterpart does, is a robot who mimics powers so as he battles he just gets stronger. Here this is done through displaying symbols of each person mimicked on his chest...the only issue with this is while I understand Killer Frost’s symbol I do not get Vibe’s.

After having their asses handed to them, Cisco decides they need Oliver and Barry, but Iris says she let them go due to believing their story and Cisco goes along with it going to Earth-38 to get them. Whether or not the extrapolator knew where Kara was and so ported Oliver and Barry there is one thing but how did Cisco know where they were? I guess he vibed them but it is never shown.

After returning with Barry, Oliver, Kara and Clark what follows is an amazing battle and it’s only the first part of the crossover. Okay yes the CG on A.M.A.Z.O. is shoddy but so was the CG on Red Tornado and Metallo last year, here the focus is really on Barry and Oliver working as Green Arrow and Flash respectively.

They figure out a plan that includes the Super-Cousins as they are used essentially as battering rams to hold A.M.A.Z.O. in place, I am just thrilled to finally see at least 2 members of the original Justice League working side-by-side, I know Martian Manhunter is coming up most likely in the Supergirl part so I cannot wait for that.

Team Flash acquire a virus that would destroy A.M.A.Z.O. because turning him off manually has been made impossible. In order to install the virus, Barry had to shoot the virus at A.M.A.Z.O. but to make sure he couldn’t phase it through, Oliver had to counteract his phasing. So you had Barry waiting for the right shot while the other three held him in place. They succeed and, after a familiar line from the Green Arrow, A.M.A.Z.O. is no more.

Future Repercussions:

This part got me excited, this was Iris, coming round to the idea that Barry is actually Barry, and warning him not to turn into Oliver. Again the girl has some sort of issue with Oliver being dark and miserable all the time and while Barry is playing Green Arrow for the moment, doesn’t want him to become Oliver.

This got me thinking, what if the events of this crossover have a lasting effect on the future of the Arrowverse? What if by learning how to be each other’s vigilante personas, both Barry and Oliver are changed when they return to their respective personas? I would love this crossover to make that possible as I feel it would make both series’ more compelling going forward.

Preluding the Bat:

So at the end of the episode, Cisco mentions a scattered vibe he had earlier in the episode of this mysterious figure who we know as The Monitor. Again I won’t go into much detail here because we are not given much as is but the vibe shows him with this lecturer John Deagan who he gave this all powerful reality writing book to and caused the events of this crossover.

While no one else really knows who the men are, Oliver spotted a key fact as to where they are, a Wayne Enterprises building...tomorrow’s Part 2 episode will bring about Gotham City and more importantly Batwoman who is seen atop a rooftop from a far distance but it is definitely her. I cannot wait!

Easter-Eggs:

So many Easter-Eggs and this is only episode 1. We see a barrage of dead heroes in that opening scene, these include Captain Cold, either Jesse Quick or Speedy, Hawkman and Hawkgirl, The Ray and a Green Arrow who is in the Green Arrow suit used in Smallville.

Smallville is an Easter-Egg cache of itself here due to that cameo plus the theme song and the farm all being used, most likely just fan-service but I loved it.

I don’t really want to rate the separate parts of the crossover and will rate the whole thing at the end of the event but I think this is a great start to the crossover and I cannot wait for Part 2.

So that’s my review of Elseworlds - Part 1, what did you guys think? Post your comments and check out more DC TV Reviews and well as other TV Reviews and posts.

[journeysintowebcomics]

Girl Genius Liveblog #170

UPDATE 170: That Could Have Gone Better

Last time a plan was formed. Agatha will recharge the Castle with the lighting weapon, once she gets to a tall place and modifies it to increase the intensity of the charge. Sounds good! So let’s do it.

As expected, Mechanisburg is full of soldiers and clanks wandering around and destroying everything. They encounter some sort of robotic manticore – very cool concept – they could salvage a few useful things from. Agatha and Tarvek strengthen the rod, Da Boyz destroy the machines that contain the pieces they’ll need. It’s a good team and everyone is happy about their role! Except Moloch, who is dragged along because he’s the one who can tell Da Boyz what the pieces they’re looking for look like. Go team! Only when Gkika arrives Moloch can stop being in danger and having to resort to hitting drivers with bricks and common sense. All in all this is bound to go well.

Even Othar contributes, by taking a look at the weapon, going to a clank, and ripping it apart to look for the right piece.

Honestly I also had forgotten that. Must be because he’s a spark completely different to everyone else in the story. Less madness when it’s about building stuff, more madness in...a lot of other ways, really.

Soon enough there’s a viable weapon that has been improved many times by all the sparks here. It’s looking pretty formidable, actually! I like it! Now all that remains is to get through the crowds and to the observation tower. Agatha revs up the rod, and zaps with it. Bam! Everyone gets electrocuted because seriously, you’re activating it in middle of the rain and while I certainly may be wrong, it still seems very risky to do that in such a place! Thankfully, nobody in Agatha’s party is electrocuted, and it all goes well.

In some bizarre meaning of the word. Hey, what matters is that the lighting weapon is ready and has a lot of power, all Agatha has to do is use it on the Castle and it’ll all be okay. True, the observation tower is a bunch of rubble right now, but surely there are other options, right? Second highest tower near the Castle, perhaps? Also hello there, Vanamonde, nice of you to drop by, when did you arrive?

Apparently there aren’t. Well that’s a problem. They need altitude, so Othar suggests using the flying machine Gil made. Tarvek isn’t happy with that suggestion. Offscreen someone asks Agatha if she needs to fly, and judging by the dripping dialogue text, this can’t be good.

Nevermind, this is plenty good! Franz will fly her! Vanamonde is much more skeptic, Franz insists he can, he just...cheats a little. What’s that supposed to mean?

Oh my god, that’s precious. I love this page. This is great! Thanks, Barry, for making it possible. This flying machine looks like something Da Vinci would have made. I think it’s because of the...the things on the top of the page. Franz’s help will let her shoot the Castle with electricity and give it a good jolt.

I’m willing to leave the details to Agatha, but standing right on the roof of the building you’re going to electrify...um. Why is it that lately when something involving electricity is done in this story I have problems with it? Maybe it’s because my mindset regarding thunder and stuff is ‘stay the heck away from it’. You know, like everyone else! It’s not ‘stick as close as possible to where the thunder will strike’. The characters being so close to electricity makes me really nervous.

Franz is right that flying in the air makes them a target, though. I hope that doesn’t happen. He doesn’t remember seeing the Castle so weak before, so he doesn’t know if it’s safe for it to get zapped with the rod. Chances are that it is! I doubt the Heterodynes wouldn’t make sure it’d endure the strongest voltages. And if it isn’t...well the town is screwed.

Agatha won’t retreat because Mechanisburg is the last bastion of the Heterodynes’ life and influence. If they lose Mechanisburg, well, what do they have left? I’m inclined to agreeing with her. You know, even though Agatha has been in this town for, what, three or four days, she’s already rather attached to it and everything it represents. This town is her main motivation now. So much of who Agatha is depends on Mechanisburg. I think it’s nice. It makes aaaaall the journey to arrive here much more significant, instead of being just a journey to get to a place. I don’t mean to say it didn’t have meaning before, because it did! But her attitude gives that journey more meanings.

The Castle’s lightning rods will work! They’re made so the Castle gets hit by lightning once in a while, that way it’d have energy. At some point the fuses or something got tripped, so now they’re not working like they should. Agatha simply fixes that in a second and decides it’s time to do what she came here to do. Before she can do so, a voice shouts her name from offscreen.

Hoh! I went to the next page. This looks like a bit development, so I think that’ll be for the next time.

Next time: in six updates

[3wishesandthensome]

Flash Episode Idea (w/ the twins)

Okay, so last night after the episode with “Dawn”, I started thinking about how most likely next season WestAllen will be parents. Iris is either gonna find out she’s pregnant towards or at the end of this season. There have been too many hints to suggest otherwise. So, with that in mind, I figured they’re probably gonna skip over the pregnancy (since we already have a Cecile pregnancy; seems kind of repetitive to do another one, although I hope we get at least a few episodes of pregnant WestAllen it’d be extremely cute) and next season the kids will be either toddlers or children. I thought maybe if they did a couple years time jump the kids would be toddlers or full grown children, if they rationalize that the kids maybe grow at an exceptional rate because of their speed abilities (kind of like Renesmee from Twilight). But anyways, I was trying to fall asleep last night and I couldn’t stop thinking about WestAllen trying to parent two little speedsters so I kind of came up with my own episode. I’m not a fanfiction writer so I kind of just saw the episode in my head and I’m just going to describe it out to you guys (with some dialogue). I personally think it could actually be an episode in the future!

This is going to be very long so keep scrolling if you don’t want to read! Btw, in this scenario, there’s really only been a time jump of about 3 years but the twins are physically and mentally the age of around 8 or 9 (I know this wouldn’t really happen, but for the sake of the idea, it only really worked if they were this old). Also, they usually refer to Dawn as Nora since her name (I think we’re all assuming) is Nora Dawn, but still sometimes call her Dawn or Dawny.

Enjoy!

So the episode starts out with the twins running around the house at lightning speed, even though they know they shouldn’t be. Barry comes down and wrangles them up, because both he and Iris know telling them to stop won’t do much.

“I’ll take Don,” Iris says, bags under her eyes, indicating the amount of sleep, or lack-thereof, she got last night due to the twins incessant running around.

“Why do you get the easy child?” Barry groans. He hadn’t gotten much sleep either. Actually he’d probably gotten less since he was the only one who could catch them.

“Because I pushed both these kids out of my -”

“Yes, okay, fair point. I’ll get Nora.”

“Thank you,” Iris says with Don already in her arms. He was the less problematic one. He always listened to his parents, unless Dawn told him not, then all bets were off. He followed his twin sister wherever she went and did whatever she did. This didn’t always lead to great results.

Iris left to drop Don off at school while Barry sat down with Dawn and tried to explain to her the importance of only using her powers when absolutely necessary. They go back and forth for a while but she eventually concedes and he gets her to school on time.

The episode goes on and they fight their weekly villain with the usual hurdles. The first fight goes wrong and the villain gets away. Team Flash regroups at Star Labs and goes over how to stop them. As they are deliberating the twins speed in from school to everyone’s surprise.

“Beat ya!” Dawn exclaims.

“Nuh-uh! I was through the doors first. I didn’t know you meant whoever was in the lab first wins, so I stopped running downstairs.”

“Not my fault you don’t get how racing works.”

“What are you two doing here?” Iris interrupts, clearly upset. She tried not to let it show how worried she got for her kids about their powers but sometimes she couldn’t help it. The city doesn’t know the Flash has kids. If their powers were ever discovered, it would only be a matter of time before people started putting two and two together to figure out who they were and that would eventually lead to the Flash’s identity being revealed.

Barry stood with his arms crossed in front of his kids waiting for an explanation, Iris behind the dashboard with the same body posture, while Harry, Caitlin, and Cisco, slowly exit the room, knowing the storm that’s about to be brought towards the young children.

“I wanted to prove to Don that I’m faster since I’m older.”

“By one minute!” Don quickly pointed out. Both Iris and Barry rolled their eyes.

“Still! I won so I’m right.” She shrugged and walked off with Don to the training room to start her homework, as they usually do after school.

Both Barry and Iris have their heads in their hands at this point, not knowing what to do about their persistent and stubborn children.

“Bare, we have to do something about this. If they don’t quit using their powers, something is going to happen to them. I won’t be able to live with myself if something happens to our babies.”

“I know. I know.” Barry slowly walks towards Iris and wraps his arms around his lightening rod. While in an embrace, he adds, “I didn’t get my powers until I was an adult. I could be trained and I had enough sense to know the responsibility that came with these abilities. They’re just kids. They don’t get it. I can’t imagine what how they feel. I mean even without powers kids just want to run around and have fun. It’s kind of like that but 100 times worse.”

Iris leans back to look him in the eyes and smiles. “Lucky us, huh?”

He returns her smile. “Yeah, lucky us.”

The next day, Barry goes to Harry with a favor. He asks him to build two small power inhibitors to suppress the twins’ powers, but subtle enough so they won’t know they have it on. Harry builds one into a bracelet for Don and another into a headband for Dawn. Barry takes the twins to Star Labs before school.

“Guys, I got you two some cool presents. I thought you could wear them to school.” Barry pulls out the new accessories for his kids. Iris watches lovingly, not knowing the gifts’ true intentions.

“Cool!” Don exclaims as his dad puts on his new bracelet.

“Cute.” Dawn says, a little less enthusiastically but still happy to have something from her dad that she oh so admired.

“Do you like them?” He asked his kids as he knelt down to their level.

“Yes!” They both said. Barry smiled so wide, knowing he made both him and his kids happy, for different reasons. “Good! Now, I’m giving these to you on the promise that you won’t use your powers for anything but absolute emergencies, okay? That means no racing, no speeding through your schoolwork, and no running home after school. Got it?”

“Yes, daddy.”

“Alright, Mommy is going to drop you off at school and I’m going to pick you up later. Love you guys. Give me a kiss.”

They both gave him a kiss on the opposite cheek and skipped off with their mom who was waiting for them by the door. Dawn looked back at her dad one last time before he was out of sight. Barry gave her an affectionate wink. Barry didn’t have a favorite child, of course. He loved his kids both to the moon an back equally. But he and Dawn had a special connection. She was just like him; not as he was as a child, but as he is now. She was always itching to help someone and oh so stubborn when it came to someone telling her not to do something. He admired her for her bravery just as she admired him for simply being her dad.

The episode goes on with Team Flash dealing with the uncaught villain and side storylines with Caitlin, Harry, Cisco, and Joe. At the end of the school day Barry goes to pick up the twins (it’s become a running gag in the show that Barry and this other carpool dad always get into it because they always end up blocking each other when picking up their respective kids). So while they’re getting into another argument, Dawn is walking out of school, with Don close behind her. There is another kid in front of them bouncing a ball carelessly. As the twins are walking towards their dad (who is still arguing with the other parent) the child with the ball loses control of the ball and goes out into the street to retrieve it, without looking to see if there are cars coming. Dawn, being the innate hero that she is, runs to push the child out of the way of an oncoming car because she knows she’ll be fast enough to save the kid without getting hurt. She runs to push the kid out of the street, and she does, but now she’s in the middle of the street, helpless without her speed working, and a car approaching quickly. A few parents scream, not knowing what to do, which draws Barry’s attention. He sees his little girl seconds away from being critically injured.

“NORA!” He screams and runs as fast as he possibly can to get her. He grabs her just in time. He cradles her tightly her on the sidewalk, not letting go even for a second, knowing he almost lost his baby, and it was his fault.

Back at Star Labs, Caitlin is caring for Dawn in the medical lab, just to make sure she’s not too traumatized from almost being hit by a car. She tucks her in while Don cuddles her from behind, making sure his sister is okay.

“How is she?” Iris asks anxiously, rising from her chair.

“She’s still a little shaken, but she’ll be alright. Don is comforting her. Two peas in a pod those two.” Caitlin says admirably.

“Can we go in and talk to her?” Barry asks. His head hangs down like it usually does when he’s upset or saddened by something.

Caitlin hesitates before speaking, knowing they’re not going to like her answer. 

“It’d be a good idea to give her some space. I think she’s a bit embarrassed.”

“What could she possibly be embarrassed about?” Iris asks, wanting nothing more than to just hold her daughter and tell her it’s all going to be okay.

“She said her dad is the Flash, a hero that saves people every day. And she wasn’t able to save this one kid. She just really wants to make you proud.” With that, Caitlin walked off, unknowingly making Barry feel like the worst father in the world.

Iris sighs and looks on her children through the glass. “I’m just so glad she’s okay. She could’ve been seriously hurt. You saved her. Why do you look so defeated?” She asked her husband.

Barry can’t look her in the eyes. “Bare?” She asks again.

“Iris, I... I messed up.”

“Barry, what happened?”

He sighs, then let’s it all go. “You know the bracelet and headband I gave them this morning?” She nods. “They had power inhibitors in them to suppress the kids’ powers. I didn’t want them being reckless and I knew they weren’t going to wear them if they knew what they were. Iris, I’m so sorry I thought I was helping.”

“Barry, Dawn was almost killed today! What were you thinking?”

“I know, I know, and I wish I could take it all back! I thought this would protect them. All I’m trying to do is protect them!”

Iris backs away from Barry. She knows he meant well, but she also knows they were supposed to be a team, as partners and parents. He should’ve told her what he was doing. But he didn’t and now that’s all weighing on him.

“Iris, please, listen to me. I’m so sorry. I know you’re mad, but listen. The inhibitors were supposed to just keep them from using their powers until we could teach them the importance of -”

“Barry.” Iris interrupts, not looking at him, but behind him.

“I just wanted to protect -”

“Barry, stop.” She says, with a finality to her tone. He follows her gaze to their children who left the medical room and entered the main lab with their parents moments ago, just in time to hear what their dad had done.

“How could you do that to us?” Dawn says, anger radiating out of her. Both Barry and Iris had never seen her so mad. Hell, they’d never seen an 8 year old this mad ever. Don hovered behind his sister, clearly upset and hurt, but not as vocal about it. He had always been that way. It reminded Barry of how Barry and Iris used to be as kids. With her taking the lead and him always following her. Maybe that’s why Barry had such as strong connection with Dawn. Maybe it wasn’t that she reminded him of himself, but of Iris.

“Guys, I was trying to protect you -” Barry tried to muster up some fatherly strength, to not seem weak in front of his kids, but he’s defeated. He feels so guilty about what happened  - or almost happened - to his kid. He can’t forgive himself.

“You’re always saying that, but all you do is lie! You tell us not to use speed unless it’s an emergency, but you use your speed to do whatever you want! You use it to do dishes, to get to work, to cook dinner, even to get us to school! You tell us to be honest with you but you lied to us and almost got us hurt! You’re supposed to be a hero. Heroes don’t lie.” With that, Dawn threw her headband on the ground with such force, Iris actually gasped. Then she sped off.

“Dawn!” Iris yelled after her, but she was long gone by then. She quickly turns to her husband. “Barry you have to go after her. Who knows what kind of trouble she could get into.”

“On it.” He says without hesitation. But he’s back within the minute without his daughter in tow. “I checked the house, the school, Joe’s, Harry’s, Cisco’s, and Caitlin’s houses. She’s not there.” They both turn to their son. “Don, do you have any idea where your sister would go? You know her better than anyone.”

They look at Don expectantly, but to no avail. He shakes his head sadly, not knowing what to do. Iris pulls him in for a tight hug, wishing she could do the same for her other child, but at least she can make one of them feel better.

Team Flash stays at Star Labs for the rest of the night searching for Dawn, but nothing is helping. Barry is normally tracked by his suit, and neither of the twins were wearing the one Cisco had made for them to wear for training. Wherever she was she was being still because there was no indication of a speedster showing up on the radars.

It’s very late at this point but the team is still at it. Iris and Barry are trying to stay calm for their son’s sake but they are both freaking out on the inside. All of sudden, the monitor in the lab pops up with this week’s villain. He turns the camera to Dawn, who is tied up to a chair with rope and her mouth is duct taped shut. Iris immediately gasps and starts crying at the sight of her baby being held captive. The villain tells them if the Flash does not come he will kill the child (A/N: in my head he was basically threatening to burn her with acid like the trickster episode so obviously that wouldn’t be reused but since this is a fake ass episode I’m going to use it lol). The villain isn’t aware Dawn is the Flash’s kid but he knows he wouldn’t let an innocent child suffer. He starts the timer at 15 minutes. After it runs out, the acid will consume her.

Iris covers Don’s ears, not wanting her son to hear the horrible things this man plans to do with his sister. Cisco takes Don out of the room while Iris loses it and runs out into the hallway, almost to the point of hyperventilating. Barry goes out to comfort her. He tells her he’s going to bring her back. He won’t let anything happen to her. He promises.

He goes back into the main lab and puts on his suit. Cisco advises him not to go just yet, seeing as how they don’t have anything to combat the acid and Barry will most likely get hurt.

“I don’t care! That’s my daughter and I’m not going to let anything happen to her!” He screams with determination.

Harry says, “Barry, it doesn’t do us any good to send you in and you get killed. Nora will still get hurt and Iris loses her husband and her child. We have to come up with a plan.”

“He’s right.” Iris says with tears still in her eyes. “We have to have a plan in order to save her.”

They come up with a plan (one I cannot be bothered to actually think of) and they head out. Before they do, Iris looks at Barry. “Barry?”

“Yeah?”

“Bring our baby home.”

He nods with certainty. “I will.”

At the warehouse that Caitlin and Iris triangulated the signal to be coming from, Barry, Cisco and KF show up to get their youngest member. The clock only has 5 minutes left on in. The villain takes the tape off of Dawn’s mouth so she can plea.

“Help me daddy! Please!” She cries.

The villain looks shocked. “Well, well, well. I had no idea the Flash had procreated.” He smiles sinisterly. “This must be so hard for you.”

“Let her go!” Barry says, his voice not wavering. He’s trying to stay strong for his frightened daughter. “This has nothing to do with her. This is between me and you.”

“Not anymore. Tick tock, Flash. Tick tock.”

The 3 superheroes fight the villain but they are each quickly defeated. Barry feels helpless as his little girl looks to her dad with desperate eyes, screaming his name every time he’s injured.

The clock is down to 2 minutes. Barry, on the ground and feeling hopeless, pleas with the villain. “Please… just let me talk to her. I need to say something to her before… before she…”

The villain sighs. “Ugh…I suppose. Better make it quick. 1 minute left.”

Barry is on the ground, so injured he can barely move. But he manages to muster up enough strength to look at his daughter, straight in the eyes. “Dawn, listen to me. Are you listening?”

She lets out a sob, but she nods. “Yes, daddy, I’m listening.”

Her little voice, sounding so scared, breaks Barry even more than he already was. But he knows he has to tell her. “Remember last year for your birthday party? All the kids had already left and mommy was putting Don to sleep?” Dawn nods. “And it was just me and you? You had had so much cake you were practically bouncing off the walls. And we started to dance,” Barry starts smiling at the memory, despite the current circumstances. “We danced so much and we were having so much fun. And you, Dawny, you started to shake so fast, and you had no idea how you were doing it. Remember that?”

Dawn nods, making sure to keep eye contact with her father, sensing something about to happen.

He looks her right in the eye, and says, “Do that again.”

Barry musters up all the strength he has left to leap at the villain, catching him off guard and tacking him to the ground. Dawn vibrates as fast as she can and the rope breaks off from her. The timer goes off just as Dawn is free. Barry runs to pull her from under the acid just as it starts to come down while KF has regained consciousness and freezes the acid before it can touch anything. Barry holds his girl in his arms so tight, she can barely breathe. But Dawn doesn’t mind. She’s so happy to be in her father’s arms again.

The episode ends with the WestAllen crew at the loft a few nights later. They’re watching a show they all hate except Dawn, who picked it. And since she had two near death experiences that week, she was allowed to pick the nightly entertainment.

Once it was over, Iris announces, “Okay kids, time for bed. I want those teeth brushed and polished by the time we come up and tuck you in.”

“My teeth are always polished. See?” Don opens his mouth as wide as it can go and shoves his mother’s nose in his mouth so she can smell his stinky breath.

Iris pulls back, laughing. “Gross!” As he runs upstairs she slaps him on the butt and he laughs.

Dawn pulls out a folded up piece of paper from her pocket and hands it to Barry. He looks puzzled but she doesn’t indicate what it is. She kisses both her parents before running after her brother.

“What is it?” Iris asks curiously, leaning closer to Barry on their couch.

“Not sure. Let’s see.” He opens it up for both of them to see. It’s an assignment they had to do at school that day. The assignment was to talk about your favorite superhero. Barry reads it out loud for them both. “’My favorite superhero is my dad. His power is being the best dad ever. He’s my favorite because he’s always there for me. Even when I don’t listen, he’s always there to catch me when I fall. He’s the best dad ever.’”

Iris didn’t realize but there were tears in her eyes. Barry wiped them away when he saw and kissed her on the forehead. It made him feel great to know that even though her dad was a literal superhero, she still saw him, Barry Allen, as her hero.

“Lucky us, huh?” Barry said with a smile.

“Yeah, lucky us.” Iris reciprocated. The two shared a tender kiss, and then went upstairs to put their kids to sleep.

So that’s it! In my head that’s basically how the dialogue went. I had a lot of fun writing this. I’m not by any means a fanfiction writer so that’s why is was very clunky. On top of that I wasn’t really trying to make it a story like on fanfiction, just a description of what I saw in my head. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed! I hope we get something like this down the line. I can’t wait to see WestAllen as parents!