#Caitlin go to hell challenge (real)

[droogiesanddiscourse]

"Hellfire."

Pairing: Monsignor John Pruitt x F!Reader

Summary: You are called first to receive everlasting life from the angel's blood during Easter Vigil.

Warnings: Spoilers for Episode 6 of Midnight Mass and all the content that comes with it. Language. Taking some liberties with how the angel's blood works uhhh hehe. Millie who's that AU. Going off of the stream of consciousness / dream-like writing I am trying so hard to stay out of my head and just write what comes.

"Brothers and sisters,” Monsignor Pruitt concludes. “On this most holy night I come to you with good news. Not only the good news of the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who arose to forgive us of our sins after three days in the tomb. But, also the resurrection of ourselves."

He clasps his hands together in makeshift prayer, eyes sparkling an unfamiliar orange glow that you've never seen before. That of a feral black cat's eyes bouncing back light. The ones that hunt on the outpost of the island, all teeth and heat and hunger and sex and wild and and and--

Visions of nocturnal holiness.

"I ask you. Trust in me. And God will reward your loyalty heavily. Know that I would not ask of the ultimate sacrifice of your life if I did not have utmost faith in our God for the miracle he is about to bestow tonight."

The silence within the church is deafening. Not a soul rises for his offer, parishioners stunned to their seats. His eyes scan, searching for a familiar face. Finally focusing on yours.

“Please. [“____”]," his voice like liquid honey calls to you, echoing through the church. "I call upon you to take the plunge first, my sweet child. Show the good people of Crockett Island that there is nothing to fear. That there is paradise waiting for us all tonight."

He leaves his pulpit, descending down the steps towards you. His arm reaches out, using his slender fingers to beckon you to him with a "come hither" motion. White vestments flowing, covering his human visage as he moves, billowing out like an angel's wings.

Devils were once just fallen angels. Symbols of purity be damned.

He notices your trepidation.

"One moment of pain, perhaps. But an eternity of youth and love and worship in His name. We have been given a tremendous gift, sister ["____"]. Be brave.”

Beverly Keene remained tucked in the upper corner of the church, stirring the choice of death for this evening. She's always been a witch in your eyes; now the harsh comparison rings true more than ever as she concocts a deadly potion of sickeningly sweet liquid.

The smell reminds you of too hot summers and running against the shoreline as the waves lap against your ankles and buying popsicles at the general store and sticky raspberry juice running between your fingers. Familiar memories and tastes intermingled with rat poison.

“And so Jesus rose from the tomb, trampling down death. As will we. I am with you, and you are with me. There is nothing to fear."

Don't drink the kool-aid, the old adage goes.

But you wonder how vanilla and raspberry taste mixed together.

Jonestown redux is standing before you, with his hand outstretched for you to take; his body backlit by the illumination of hundreds of candles. You look up at him through your lashes, lips slightly parted. Your eyebrows upturned and eyes reposed.

"Monsignor. Forgive me, but I cannot," you swallow hard. Back yourself from that cliff, you have one leg dangling over the edge now! "For I have not taken communion as my sins have been too weighty, too difficult to ever be forgiven. I believe I did not deserve the body and blood of Christ at that time, which is selfish of me. Forgive me.”

John almost considers this for a moment, his thick eyebrows furrowing together as he stares down at you.

"There is no resurrection for me. I will die,” you state bluntly. Your words are finally registering. 

Back away back away, make distance between the cliff.

But he smiles, against your expectations. A tight lipped smile, his eyes kissing at the corners when his cheeks raise. Missed by the miracle of reversed age, not reaching the crows feet that reveal only when he's truly happy.

"My angel. You've taken more than enough of my seed in your womb, and down your throat. The blessing is already inside you."

His hand grazes your cheek, and Hellfire reigns down as the finality of his reveal sets in across the room. Hot and prickling at the back of your neck. High pitched buzzing of bees in your ears. Whore of Babylon comes to Crockett Island. Mary Magdalene weeps. Hundreds of eyes descend upon your form, fragile and ready to break at a moment's notice.

Hell has a special place reserved for you for tasting the most unholy fruits. You wear guilt like a halo.

John positions his index fingers and thumb underneath your chin, tilting it upwards. Your eyes dart away, unable to face him. For sure your very skin would burst into flames if you stared too long.

"Look at me," he demands. "Look at me, angel. Do not be ashamed.”

Oh, you’re more than familiar with this position.

Your eyes tilt back, big and yearning and scared yet wanting more. More of John, more of his smell on your bedsheets, more of his fingers in your mouth more of the salty bitter taste of his skin more breaking the boundaries between heaven and hell more more more more flesh more blood no sin no death no guilt.

Hell has a special place reserved for you in due time.

But real hell is living without him. You slip your hand into his, rising from the pew.

The church is silent, conversations about your unforgivable sin now hushed to murmurs. Somewhere in the distance you hear the gentle song of night crickets that intermingle with your delicate footsteps across decades old wood. A resounding creak and moan of the floorboards that echoes through the small church that makes it become an entity of its own, ready to swallow you whole.

Someone is crying, quietly muffled pathetically behind a cloth. A woman blesses herself using the sign of the cross as you pass.

A dead girl walking, and this is the sound of your funeral march.

Your toes bump into the first step leading up to the chancel. Guiding you by your waist, John spins you to face the congregation. Expressions of the crowd are unreadable.

Are you Joan of Arc or a witch about to be burned at the stake?

Blasphemy, blasphemy stood before your friends, family, acquaintances.

A light. The vision of John blocks you away from their watchful eyes as he stands before you, cupping your face within his hands. Your eyes lock together. Gently, he presses a chaste kiss to the center of your forehead. Lips just barely ghosting over your flesh. You tremble before him.

Bev stands behind you, both arms outstretched forward, bent at the elbow. You’re smart enough to realize she’s ready to catch you for when you involuntarily start seizing, your body putting up its final fight against the poison coursing through its veins.

Life. Death. Rise. 

A sob starts in your larynx, unable to burst fully to the surface The warmth of his hands removed from your face, now reaching for Bev's as he takes the small plastic solo cup of juice from hers into his.

"I am with you," he whispers as he holds the cup up to your lips. "As you walk through the valley of the shadow of death I am with you, and you will come out on the other side anew. Whole. Pure as a reward for your devotion to Him."

Raspberry and vanilla threaten to break the seal of your lips, the cup tapped against it. His other hand snakes his way up your back, weaving his fingers within your hair. The digits tug against your locks slightly, tilting your head back.

"Open."

Saliva gathers at the back of your throat.

You can't, you can't, you can't.

You cannot dare to lose the chance to miss another one of those too hot summer days where the children of Crockett island throw their books haphazardly into their backpacks basking in their first hours of summer vacation and the salty water clinging to your hair making it curly and sticky raspberry juice dripping between your fingers–

But oh the visions of him with and the way he whimpers into your neck when he thrusts into you, his hot mouth on your pulse point, the way his hand pin down your wrists forcing you to stay still. Murmured praises and bedroom hymns whispered as the moonlight coats both of your bodies in a ghostly blue glow. Was it truly ever living without him? No more hiding no more secrets you are his and he is yours. A boundary death cannot even cross–eternity is a beautiful thing to imagine.

A tear slips out of your eye, rolling down your cheek. The pad of John’s thumb gently rubs it away. Sympathy for the condemned.

"Drink."

And you do.

[babbushka]

For Flip Friday, I’d love to hear about Flip hating life while trying to show off his non-existent handy man skills! He should stick to chopping wood instead of trying to be Mr Fix It lol.

Thank you!!! 💗

A/N: Lol my queen hello! Thank you for sending this in of your own accord and not at all being influenced by me whatsoever 😉

1.1k, no warnings, just nonsense lol (inspired by real events)

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The toilet is running. You can hear it even all the way downstairs, where you’re flipping through a magazine on the couch on a scorchingly hot summer afternoon. There’s an oscillating fan blowing air this way and that, and even despite that noise, you can hear the toilet running.

This isn’t the first time it’s happened either, the upstairs bathroom has been acting up more and more lately. Every time you went to deal with it though, it miraculously stopped -- almost like a car that will make noise every other moment other than when it’s at the mechanic’s.

But this time, you don’t dare approach the toilet, figuring that the most sensible thing to do would be to catch it off guard; which prompts you to call out to your dearly beloved husband who is sticking his head in the freezer to attempt to cool off himself, “I’m going to call the plumber, you’re home on Friday right?”

“What?” He calls back, making you get up with a slight groan. It was too hot to move, let alone get up, but the phone is on the wall in the hallway, so you muster up the strength to leave the direct line of cool air from the fan.

“Friday? The plumber?” You reiterate as you pass the kitchen on your way to the phone, and now that he can hear you fully, he immediately begins to protest.

Removing himself from the freezer, Flip furrows his brow and crosses his arms over his chest. He’s not in one of his usual button-downs, instead sporting a white thin tank-top that shows off his muscles deliciously. Whether he does so consciously or not, those biceps of his flex, almost like a challenge for something.

“What the fuck do we need a plumber for?” Frowning, Flip’s eyes dart between you and the phone in your hand as you begin to dial the number.

“The toilet is running again.” You explain, as the line rings, and you’re pretty sure someone was just about to answer when Flip’s big fingers press down on the receiver, effectively hanging up the damn call.

You shoot him a dirty glare, but he’s unfazed by it, instead brushing past you to head up the stairs himself.

“Oh, if that’s all, then I’ll just go fix it.” He says, as if he’s got any experience whatsoever with plumbing.

Flip was a handy man, of course. He worked in a lumbermill for fuck’s sake, he knew his way around wood. You both knew you could count on him to fix a wide range of household maintenance, and he took great pride in being able to do these things for his home. But there were certain skills that required a little more technical knowledge, things like electrical wiring, and, well, plumbing.

He’s halfway up the stairs when you decide that maybe he shouldn’t be fuckin’ around with the pipes in case he floods the upstairs, but you phrase it in the only way that you know how to avoid bruising his ego -- trying to get him to come to the conclusion that the plumber should be called.

“...Are you sure honey?” You start, apprehension in your voice.

“‘Am I sure’ -- of course I’m fuckin’ sure. I helped build this house, I can fix the damn plumbing on my own, I’m sure it just needs a bit of elbow grease is all.” Flip scoffs, lighting up a cigarette and rummaging through the upstairs closet for one of the many tool-kits he has stashed around the house, inspecting it to make sure his wrenches were there.

“Flip -- ”

“C’mon, don’t you trust me? I tinker with stuff around the house all the time.” He points out, and while you agree, still your earlier hesitation lingers.

“I know but plumbing is different than a wobbly table or a stiff door-hinge.” You point out right back, and Flip, filled with more self-confidence than he probably should have, just waves you off.

“You go right back to that fan and magazine and keep cool and don’t worry about it. I’ll be back down in no time.” He blows you a kiss, which you have no choice but to return, before shaking your head and doing as he says, knowing that once he gets his mind set on something, there’s no changing it.

Back on the couch, you wait.

It doesn’t take too long for the first noise to start up -- a loud bang that sounds suspiciously like Flip dropping the toilet tank lid.

“Everything’s fine!” He shouts preemptively, and you have to bite back a grin, the urge to chant I told you so so strong in the forefront of your mind.

Theoretically, you knew how toilets worked; you push the handle, a plug opens and the water drains out of the basin. New water from the tank fills the basin, and then the plug closes, letting a new batch of water fill the tank for the next flush. A buoy in the tank rises, and when it hits the top, the water filling the tank stops -- and this seems to be the issue that this particular toilet has had, for whatever reason, when the buoy rises to the top, the water just...keeps going.

Hence the running.

You know that Flip knows how this works too, but what you’re positive he doesn’t know, is how the hell to make the water stop running, short of just shutting the water line off to that toilet.

And that’s about when you hear another loud crash, this time accompanied by an even louder, “Oh for fuck’s sake!”

Training your ear up to the bathroom, you hear the tell-tale sound of water spraying, and you wince, the image of the inlet valve spitting high pressure water all over your husband and the floor.

“God dammit -- ” There’s all sorts of shouting now, loud cursing that only grows more and more aggravated and panicked, “No! Stop -- fuck -- shit!”

There’s more banging, and a very loud thud that sounds suspiciously like Flip has either slipped on the wet tile, or tripped over something, and you do your best not to ask if he’s okay, because you know you’ll only get snapped at in his own frustration.

The toilet is still running, when you hear the sound of his heavy footfalls coming back down the stairs.

You bite back a laugh at the sight of him, when he finally does come into the living room, standing before you a man defeated. His white tank-top is completely and see-through, his hair is wet, his jeans are unfortunately soaked in a spot that makes it look like he pissed himself, and there are streaks of black grease from the toilet plug smeared across his face, hands, and shirt.

The two of you look at one another for a moment, before he slowly nods his head, clearing his voice and rubbing at the back of his neck, “I think we should call a plumber.”

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---------------------------------------------------------------------------@mochabucky @sacklerscumrag @artsymaddie @bitchydecisions @direnightshade @reyloaddict55 @thembohux @kylorenswhxre @sunflowersinthesnow @babayagakeanu @safarigirlsp @steeevienicks @materialisthicc @hswritingrecs @rosi3ba3z @chapterhappygirl @loverofallthings @groovetoob @bxnnywriting @glassbxttless @angel-bxby3 @smallgirlbigpersonality @lovelyyy-luna @2000andwhat @raddo1975 @cornmousequeen @metsienmenninkainen @caillea @painttheskylineforme @holding-on-to-starwars @caitlin-was-here @canikeepitonplease @icarusinthesea @princessflip @goddessofsprings @sweetlyours @mrs-gucci @baubub @bucky-j-barnes @mindyoshiii @beachwoodmonet @darkhairedmenrule @eagerforhoney

[mosylufanfic]

♗: One falling asleep with their head in the other's lap. With Killervibe, pretty please?

So this has developed into the first of a trilogy around this movie because I hear “simple prompt drabble” and immediately envision an epic.

It Had to Be You

Caitlin grabbed the remote before he could reach for it. "Hey," he said.

"It's my turn to pick the movie," she said.

"I could swear you picked the movie last time. Anyway, I'm the one with a head wound." He touched his sore head dramatically, and made a very real face at the crusty feeling of dried blood in his hair. Caitlin wouldn't permit him to get the stitches wet, and a damp sponge only did so much good.

"And I'm the one who had to stitch it up," she retorted, "so we've both had rough nights." She plopped onto his couch, clutching the remote. While she'd said he wasn't showing initial signs of a concussion, she'd also insisted on staying the night at his place for safety's sake.

He flopped next to her, sinking into the cushions with a sigh. "Come on," he said. "Where's your bedside manner?"

She cut her eyes at him. "If you pick, it'll either be The Princess Bride or something with explosions."

". . . nuh-uh," he said, a hair too late.

"If you do have a concussion, bright lights and explosions aren't good for it."

"What about The Princess Bride?" he challenged.

"I'm picking," she said, turning on Netflix.

He huffed. "Oh my god, at least sign into your own account. You're going to screw up my algorithm!"

"You've completely screwed up mine," she said heartlessly. "The last time I turned it on, Netflix suggested Demon Bitches from Mars."

"A classic of the genre," he said. "Okay, but nothing set before about 1975, okay? I'm not dealing with corsets and repression tonight."

"Noted," she said, typing in a search.

He squinted at the screen and felt his head throb, so quickly un-squinted. "When Harry Met Sally? Isn't that the one with the scene in the deli?"

"She's faking, and yes. Is that all you know about it?"

He thought about that. "Actually, yeah. I don't think I've ever seen this movie."

"I'm not surprised," she said, hitting play. "It has a marked lack of aliens."

He snorted and rested his head in the corner of the couch, massaging his temple.

"Does your head hurt?" she asked under the opening credits.

"Not really," he hedged.

She raised her eyebrow. "I have painkillers."

"I'm fine," he said. "Whoa, whoa, isn't that the guy who directed The Princess Bride?"

"Rob Reiner? Oh, right, he did."

"Well, this might not be awful."

"So glad to have your approval."

A few scenes later, he said, "Isn't that Miracle Max? You didn't tell me Miracle Max was in this."

"Took you long enough," she said. "Yes, that's Billy Crystal."

Cisco cocked his head. "Are we seriously supposed to believe he's, like, twenty?"

"Only for about ten more minutes," she said. "Hush, this part is important."

"That guy's full of shit," he said a few minutes later.

"Absolutely," Caitlin said. "About what?"

He waved a hand. "The whole men and women can't be friends. By his logic, I shouldn't ever have any real friends because I'd want to bang them all."

"Which we know is not the case."

"Plus also, look at you and me. Besties. No sex involved."

She smiled at him. "Exactly."

On screen, dubiously college-aged Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan parted, only to be reunited a couple of scenes later with hair that was doing nobody any favors and an unfortunate pussy-bow blouse. Clearly the early eighties had been a hell of a time.

Cisco shifted positions and regretted not accepting the painkiller she'd offered. But they made him fuzzy and hungover, and he was already fuzzy enough from the evening they'd had.

If he could rest his head somehow, that would help. But his head hurt, and his neck hurt, and he couldn't find the right angle for the pillow without making one or the other hurt worse.

She paused the movie while Meg and Billy were on one of those moving sidewalks at the airport, going over the whole men-and-women-can't-be-friends thing again. "Are you okay?"

"Just sore," he said.

She looked over at her purse, sitting in its usual spot on his kitchen table. "Are you sure you don't want - "

"They make me all hungover."

"I know, but you'd at least be able to rest."

"I just need to find a good position."

"Here," Caitlin said. "Try this." She put the pillow on her lap and beckoned him.

He hesitated, but it was an angle between flat and straight up. He settled down, stretching his legs out on the couch, and let out a sigh.

"Good?"

"Perfect," he mumbled. His head was comforted by the pillow, his neck was finally aligned, and for the first time since a hubcap had bounced off his cranium several hours before, he could relax.

She rested her hand on his neck, then pulled it away. "Sorry, is that - "

"No," he said. "S'okay." The warmth of her hand felt nice. "Hey, if I fall asleep, am I going to wake up again?"

She put her hand down again, running her thumb over the bump at the top of his spine. The repetitive motion seemed to leach all the tension out. "Yes, you'll wake up, I promise. That's a myth."

"Good." He yawned and focused on the screen again. "Whoa doggie, is that Princess Leia?"

"Mmmhm."

"Huh, she's kind of foxy with short hair." Although apparently she was some dude's side piece. That was dumb. You didn't do Princess Leia like that.

He fell asleep while Billy Crystal and his mustachioed bro were talking about Billy's marriage breaking up and doing the wave at the same time.

He felt way better in the morning. He'd slept through the rest of the movie, and Caitlin had woken him up enough for him to stumble to bed. She'd taken the couch for herself. After med school and being the Flash's personal doctor, she could crash anywhere she wanted and sleep like the dead.

That was great for her, of course, but it was less fun for him, trying to wake her up so she could drive them both in to work. He resorted to making coffee and sticking it right under her nose while at the same time playing the most annoying song he could think of on his phone. It mostly worked.

He hated to admit it, but he kind of did want to watch the rest of the movie. With the door to his lab locked, he pulled up Netflix on his tablet and started it playing while he disassembled a misbehaving gadget.

He almost cut off his own thumb at the deli scene. Damn, he was kind of glad he hadn't been awake for that last night. Especially with his head in Caitlin's lap.

By the end, he'd abandoned his project entirely and sat focused on the screen as Harry told Sally, "When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with someone, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible."

It was no "as you wish" but . . . it was pretty good. He had to give it that. He turned it off, frowning to himself.

"Where have you been?" Caitlin asked him when he drifted up to her lab a few minutes later. "I haven't seen or heard from you all morning."

"I watched the rest of the movie," he admitted. "When Harry Met Sally."

She smirked.

"Just to see how it ended, you know I'm a completist."

"What did you think?"

"That deli scene was something. Now I kind of want to get in touch with every woman I've ever dated and ask her - "

"No," Caitlin said firmly. "Do not do that. Leave it in the past. Did you like the rest of it, otherwise?"

"Yeah," he said. "I mean, it was good and funny and they were cute together but - "

"But?"

He cocked his head. "I mean, they had sex. And then they fought about it, and friend-broke-up, and got back together, and got married."

"Did you not know it was a rom-com? That's how they go."

"Of course I did, but doesn't that prove him right? About the whole men-and-women thing?"

"I -" She bit her lip. "Maybe. But it's just a movie. You don't have to agree with everything it says."

“Yeah,” he said. “I guess you’re right.”

To Be Continued!!

[pinkletterday]

Writer's Year In Review

This year has been a revelation. I went from deeply, irrevocably believing I can't write fiction at all to knowing that I'm actually pretty good at it!

It's given me the confidence to find work as a freelance writer and editor in real life, after years of unemployment and anxious paralysis resulting from chronic illness and trauma. A lot of other factors also helped but the fic writing played a huge role in getting my shit together.

General Fic Stats:

Word Count on AO3: 92284

Fics posted to AO3: 23

Favourite Fic:

Kiss It Better (Westallen).This fic is my baby. I love little Iris and little Barry in it so much, the hurt and confusion in each other they attempted to heal, how that healing carried into their adult love and family. It will always and always be my favourite thing I have ever written. Wee!stallen is my jam, and the reason I ship them so damn hard.

Do Not Go Gentle (Westallen). Ngl, I love this for the sheer amount of truly gratifying comments. Every single one of them have been emotional and flaily. It all makes me feel like I may have finally levelled up. Hallelujah. xD

Funniest Fic:

The Care and Feeding (Queenwestallen). This is my ultimate OT3. This fic, written as a list and discussion is 95% humour and contains some of my best banter and (I feel) characterization. An element I'm really proud of is how I managed to center and include all their important non-romantic relationships in their conversations. Iris's boisterous female friends, Oliver's friends, Cisco and Caitlin's snarky commentary all shoehorned themselves into the list with hilarious and wholesome results. 

It's not a popular OT3 but I feel like it's a good first attempt to drag this ship to water. xD

Cutest Fic:

Dancing Queen (Olivarry). Even after a year this contiues to be the fic with the highest kudos ratio (except for the more recent one) and the second most bookmarked. I love getting comments on this because they are all some variation of "my teeth hurt. I have diabetes!" xD Well, I did build it around a rainbow sprinkle icing sugar donut, but there is a significant dollop of angst there in the middle. A flangst donut.

Your Vigil In My Keeping (Westallen). This fic has less than 200 hits but has the highest kudos ratio of all. I guess kid fic isn't everyone's cup of tea, but Wee!stallen is cute af yo. I headcanon the origins of Barry and Iris's steadfast partnership in this story, where her faith and belief in him is as strong as his protectiveness of her, all tied up in the language and innocence of children.

Kinkiest Fic:

WA Smut and Kink Collection. I literally just posted this yesterday lol. So far it's just a face-sitting short, but I have quite a few hard and soft kinks lined up. Westallen needs more hard smut tbh, and they have such a unique powerfully loving dynamic that every kink I'm writing has required me to come at it a little bit sideways with a whole lot of emotional focus.

Saddest Fic:

Three fics I can't choose from.

Do Not Go Gentle (Westallen). This is basically Iris's grief and fear in a raging tempest, and it's strongly implied that the future Nora has warned them of will come to pass regardless of what they do. The fact is that there already is and will be a timeline where Iris loses Barry, just as there must be one where she won't, because that is the nature of potentiality. 

The Paradigm of Uncertainty (Westallen). This was a drabble almost, that ruminates on the probability that speedsters do not erase timelines but abandon them, along those versions of their loved ones. It's as @rkwago's brilliant comment says: "Iris hurts in so many weird, cosmic ways that her life is almost an eldritch horror house," which is the most perfect description ever of what it means to be a time traveller's wife.

The Universal Constant (Gen, background WA). A lot of people find the way Barry goes off on Joe cathartic in this fic, and so do I. But it's not so simple. I don't think Joe was wrong to form the views he did, or that anyone was in the wrong really. As @sophiainspace pointed out, it's a mediation of grief and love, their parallels and continuations between parents and children and lovers. The fact that it takes Henry's death for Barry to find the adult language to articulate to Joe why he will always believe in his father's innocence is a tragedy that cuts three ways.

(This fic is also the reason I have a folder in my drive marked "how to get away with murder" and probably a likely reason to get me arrested one day. xD)

Most Popular Fic:

Strangers In The Cold (Coldflash). The Coldflash fandom is a joy to feed. This was my first smut fic which was preceded by an entire chapter of banter about nothing in particular (except it ended up establishing a background that gave birth to the Coldflash vs Olivarry polyam series) And holy wow, for a newbie writer, the response has been amazing. Looking back, I wince at a lot of writing mistakes and its undeniably rough, but it really bolstered my confidence.

(I feel a little guilty that all my other CF stories are still in my WiP folder while I update the polyam series at snail's pace.)

The Shape of Us (Westallen). I wrote this on tumblr half-asleep one night, half as a rambly headcanon...and woke up to literally one hundred freaking notes. What the hell. Now at over 260, it's the most popular fic I've ever posted on tumblr.

I never consciously intended it to be a body-positivity fic but apparently women really relate to the insecurities of growing older and watching our bodies change with marriage, children and the sheer hectic pace of life. Even my non-fandom friends reblogged it simply for its representation of "real women". Barry's response is my own wish fulfillment fantasy; the sort of total acceptance and validation that we wish we could hear it the times we can't find it in ourselves. In light of the virulent body-shaming Candice Patton has been subjected to ever since she was revealed to have gained a fuller figure in S5, I'm very glad to have written it.

Least Popular Fic:

Carry On (Gen) This character study of Oliver Queen only has 135 hits a year after posting, which is par for the course with gen. But has a solid 12% kudos ratio, which means it's probably as good as I think it is. It's one of my favourite and easiest fics I have ever written.

Love Me Like You Do (Olivarry) Lordy, if my first Coldflash smut filled me with confidence, my first Olivarry smutfic all but ruined it. I struggled with it for a long time, unlike SitC, which I suppose shows in the over-descriptions. I got carried away with the quipping and I guess Barry topping at all is really not popular with slash fans?

Still, I'm honestly toying with the idea of deleting and rewriting it. At least it was a learning experience - don't write smut unless it makes you feel horny yourself.  

Most Challenging Fic:

Do Not Go Gentle (Westallen). I think the reason stories you knock off in two hours are instantly popular while the ones you slaved over for weeks barely get any attention is because the process is reflected in the ease of reading. But this one is an exception. It was an absolute monster, taking three weeks and several revisions to wrestle into submission - and it paid off in spades!  Going by the response, I seem to have achieved the wow factor I was going for.

My only regret is that I posted it on tumblr before the last revision that finally made it work, so that too many readers saw the lacklustre version rather than the polished one.

Honorable Mention:

A Stitch In Time (Olivarry for now, eventual Queenwestallen) Baby's first multi-chapter! Admittedly chapters 3 and 4 have been languishing in my drive for a few months now and this thing has 100% more deleted scenes and outtakes posted to my tumblr than the actual story on AO3. But I'm so proud of it! I learned to write action scenes because of it, how to write climaxes, dream sequences, news articles and tell a story in several different formats. It made me rediscover my empathy for Felicity and write her as a PoV character, think deeply on Laurel Lance's losses and give voice to her struggles, and explore how a real friendship and understanding could evolve between Oliver and Iris out of their mutual love for Barry. (Centering female characters within manpain narratives, ftw! Otoh, I centered Iris so much it veered off the Olivarry rails into Queenwestallen territory on its own)

There is so much meaty conflict and delicious looming disaster in this story that I'm determined going to keep at it, even if slow and steady. If only to bring the light of Barry/Iris/Oliver into the world. xD

Holding On (Olivarry). This real-world disability AU deals with chronic and mental illness and the precariousness and personal demons of that reality. I tore out the rawest parts of my life for this fic and put them on display so that I couldn't bear to show it to anyone for a year after it was written.

I'm very glad I did finally brush it off and put it up because it has struck a chord with so many people, especially other Spoonies. The low number of hits on a fic that deals in hurt/comfort rather stings, as I can't help but think the disinterest is because of the "disability" and "neurodivergence" tags. But I still think it's one of the best things I've written and one I'll always be proudest of.

General Reflections:

Things I've learned over the past year of writing:

- Self-deprecation is not my friend. I need to be honest enough with myself to acknowledge when my writing is good, because either I self-validate and build confidence or I become a black hole of insecurity where validation goes to die. And if I think I'm a bit better than I actually am, it's not just okay but necessary to believe it.

- What I call writer's block is perfectionism, anxiety and physical and mental fatigue. If I don't eat, sleep, hydrate and acheive a relaxed mental state, I won't be able to write. 

- Momentum is more my friend than any amount of inspiration and motivation. Sitting my ass down and make it a habit to churn out X number of words a day, even bad writing, will do more to help me than polishing an idea to a high shine. 

- If I don't forgive myself for the stories I can't write I'll never write anything. I am doing this for free, to share the love and joy and therefore obligated to no one. 

- I'm capable of writing things I don't have the first idea how to write. My fingers on a keyboard can paint the picture my brain can't visualize. 

I don't believe in New Year's resolutions, but I am going to make it a personal goal to write at least 15k words per month, learn to stick to a posting schedule where possible.  and end next year with an additional 150k words posted. 

To everyone who follows this blog, commented, reblogged and liked my posts - I see and remember and appreciate every one of you. You're the reason I feel seen and valued and why I am motivated to keep writing through all the difficulties life throws at me. <3<3<3

[tabloidtoc]

Star, December 21

You can buy a copy of this issue for your very own at my eBay store: https://www.ebay.com/str/bradentonbooks

Cover: President Bill Clinton

Page 1: Chrishell Stause has found her knight in shining armor Keo Motsepe -- she was smitten with the Dancing With the Stars pro from the beginning of rehearsals and people noticed the flirty exchanges going on -- fans are just happy Chrishell has found happiness after she was blindsided by ex Justin Hartley in 2019 

Page 2: Contents, Ryan Seacrest 

Page 4: Kelly Clarkson has been awarded primary custody of her kids River Rose and Remington in her divorce from Brandon Blackstock and though she emerged victorious in that battle she may not be so lucky when it comes to her finances because Brandon is requesting a whopping $436K a month in spousal and child support and he maintains he needs the settlement to be a fair reflection of what he’s entitled to

Page 5: Prince William and Duchess Kate Middleton have recently implemented a stern policy limiting the time their children Prince George and Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis spend watching TV and playing video games and using their iPads -- the changes come on the heels of lockdown fatigue and like so many parents Will and Kate relaxed their families’ typical day-to-day routines in order to keep their kids entertained as they spent an unprecedented amount of time at home and as a result the kids enjoyed lazy time and free reign with gadgets -- but now Kate’s since created an at-home rewards program where the trio must earn time on devices by completing productive tasks and even then there’s a three-hour cap on electronics and laying down an iron fist seems to have worked because the kids have become Kensington Palace’s most eager little helpers 

* Despite his tarnished reputation Matt Lauer is still hoping to be the new face of Jeopardy! -- the disgraced TV anchor has asked his former colleagues to put in a good word for him as producers mull over host options following Alex Trebek’s death -- Matt was previously considered a top contender to replace Alex in 2013 when the host was considering retirement at the time but that was before Matt was fired from the Today show after being accused of sexual harassment by multiple women in 2017 and three years hasn’t been long enough to rehab his image

Page 6: He’s one of Hollywood’s most celebrated actors but there’s still one role George Clooney is getting used to: being a dad -- the 59-year-old opened up about the challenges of becoming a father later in life to twins Ella and Alexander with wife Amal Clooney but all jokes aside George couldn’t be more thrilled about being a family man and his age has only made him appreciate the little moments even more

* Heather Gay is paving her own path on The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City -- as a self-proclaimed good Mormon gone bad, she balances motherhood and friendships and her career all while dealing with the pressures of being a member of a strict church -- the mother of three is also looking for love and she knows exactly what she wants in future flames even if it conflicts with her religious group’s beliefs: she dates inappropriate and wild and really young men but there’s one caveat: Mormons are off the menu 

* Star Spots the Stars -- Kim Kardashian West, Malin Akerman, Isla Fisher, Ashley Benson, Vanessa Hudgens, Josephine Skriver and Jasmine Tookes, Teresa Giudice 

Page 8: Star Shots -- Sofia Carson en route to pre-tape her performance for the 2020 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in NYC, Brooke Burke and boyfriend Scott Rigsby in Malibu, Vanessa Lachey in L.A. 

Page 10: Pregnant Karlie Kloss doing yoga in pieces from her new Adidas activewear collaboration, Kelly Rutherford couldn’t resist some canine cuddles with her pooches in Santa Monica, Camila Cabello and Shawn Mendes stepped out for a stroll in Miami 

Page 12: Gossip Girl’s Emily Alyn Lind hugging Jordan Alexander as their costar Thomas Doherty gave off his best smoldering look on the set of the reboot in NYC, Robin Wright and Clement Giraudet holds hands while on a bike ride in L.A., Aaron Paul was none too pleased to be waiting for a tow truck after his classic car went on the fritz in Beverly Hills 

Page 13: Jay-Z enjoyed a solo walk during a getaway in Hawaii, Paris Jackson during a day at the studio in West Hollywood, Hayley Atwell and Tom Cruise took a break from filming risky car scenes for Mission: Impossible 7 to greet fans in Rome 

Page 14: Mom Life -- celebrities dote on their favorite little humans -- Leighton Meester kept her 3-month-old son safely nested in her arms during a family beach day in Malibu, Missi Pyle with her daughter Zooey Rose and a pal at a playground in L.A., Sara Gilbert enlisted son Rhodes to help pick out a Christmas tree in L.A. 

Page 16: 2020 BET Soul Train Awards in L.A. -- Monica, Smokey Robinson and Charlie Wilson, CeeLo Green, Brandy 

Page 18: Normal or Not? Rose McGowan didn’t let a broken wrist stop her from hitting the water in Mexico -- not, Donnie Wahlberg filmed a tense scene in Blue Bloods -- normal 

Page 20: Fashion -- stars make a statement in red -- Danai Gurira, Joey King, Kelsea Ballerini 

Page 21: Ciara, Jennifer Lopez 

Page 24: It should have been a time for celebrating when Tristan Thompson signed a two-year $19 million contract with the Boston Celtics but Khloe Kardashian wasn’t congratulating him because she is heartbroken her boyfriend has to leave her and their daughter behind to move across the country and with good reason: the two gave their relationship another shot earlier this year after splitting in 2018 amid Tristan’s cheating scandal -- although Khloe had previously relocated to Ohio for Tristan’s career this time she plans to stay put in L.A. near her family and she’s insisting they’ll make their long-distance love affair work but everyone thinks it’s a bad idea given Tristan’s indiscretions 

Page 25: Matthew Perry is engaged to Molly Hurwitz -- the two who began dating in 2018 briefly split up in May but they rekindled the romance months later and decided to make it official because they couldn’t stand to be apart -- they’re planning an intimate beach wedding in Malibu which will likely be a booze-free bash as a nod toward’s Matthew’s sobriety -- though the date is still up in the air amid lockdown restrictions the couple have already finalized a guest list which of course includes Matthew’s Friends costars 

* Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas fell in love on set of Deep Water in 2019 but now the film is driving a wedge between them -- the erotic thriller has been deemed too violent for audiences so as a result the couple are back on location in New Orleans reshooting scenes and the extra one-on-one time has proven to be too much for Ana who’s eager to move on to other projects and Ana enjoys her own space a lot more than being by Ben’s side 24/7 -- meanwhile Ben is hell-bent on making sure Deep Water is a success so it doesn’t turn into another Gigli which is the 2003 flop he starred in with then-girlfriend Jennifer Lopez -- the film isn’t the only thing in limbo as Ben and Ana are beginning to crack amid rising tensions and a demanding film schedule and this has been the biggest test of their relationship for sure 

Page 30: Mary-Kate Olsen’s divorce gets nasty -- tensions flare between Mary-Kate and Olivier Sarkozy as they face off in an epic battle over shared property -- the former couple is duking it out in court over an 8000-square-foot NYC townhouse which they renovated to the tune of $3 million 

Page 32: Hugh Grant: Fame Almost Killed Me -- after becoming a superstar in the ‘90s Hugh went on a hard-partying self-destructive spiral that lasted decades 

Page 34: Over-the-Top Celebrity Proposals -- some celebrities spare nothing when it comes to popping the question -- Pink and Carey Hart, Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom, Eva Longoria and Jose Baston 

Page 35: John Stamos and Caitlin McHugh, Kanye West and Kim Kardashian 

Page 40: Entertainment 

Page 48: Parting Shot -- Katie Holmes 

[sunspira]

Like rose McGowan has bad politics but I still felt like she had the right to get angry about being shouted at and discredited in the midst of talking about her abuse. It wasn’t as cut and dry as “privileged cis white gets challenged for first time in life and has a transphobic fit”. She seemed legitimately triggered. Like hell this is all pretty complicated. A trans activist (i mean just a normal person. Not a predator. I’m addressing the situation that happened in real time. Where rose didn’t know who andi was or has done, and had to assume she’s just like a normal person there before her. (Yes what Andi did an evil and calculated thing for discrediting a victim and using her trans identity for power to silence her.)) So a normal non-criminal trans activist has every right to interrupt and point out that she’s leaving trans women out of her activism because rose has said terfy sounding stuff about Caitlin Jenner that could be bigotry or ignorance and that’s important. It has to be challenged. But considering the personal intensity of her talk, you also have to expect McGowan to feel deeply attacked and give some push back given how many people have tried to stop her from speaking out about her own intense abuse and rape. I mean of all times to bring that up, it’s going to be a bit unfair. She doesn’t have to be polite or anything! Just my very vague take because of how complicated this is. I usually really don’t like centrist takes because they end up favoring the powerful but this is a nuanced situation where I really see both sides strongly. I can see why she reacted strongly and that’s ok. and how she needs to be confronted in better situations and do some growing or else succumb to terf hell, and then fuck her

[cheetahsprints]

Beyond the Surface

Words: 2822 Summary: Cisco couldn’t stand Harrison Wells. Crossing his path in an unexpected place would change that view permanently. Rating: Gen A/N: Title inspired by Fly Down - Stephen

Cisco tapped his pen on his mouth. He checked over his grocery list to be sure he got everything. It was just general foodstuff. He added some extra items.

- That new conditioner I heard about - All the bath bombs - Try the candle Caitlin suggested that smells like my kinda man called “Mechanical grease and Angst” - A recorder to piss off my grumpy neighbor. Tell him it's for a hipster band. - Dog food. - One of those big fake owls. It might freak out neighbors cats

Cisco always left without dog food. He underlined it three times. He chuckled at the recorder addition, picturing the constipated expression his neighbor would make. It wasn’t a challenge to antagonize him. Cisco was constantly finding new and creative ways to accomplish his mission.

His neighbor was also his professor. He was the unrelenting Harrison Wells. He cursed the day he incidentally moved to his floor, beside him to boot. The man was intelligent, handsome, and mysterious. Under most circumstances, Cisco would have a crush the size of Alaska. Unfortunately, Harrison Wells needed a personality transplant. He was an infuriating jackass. He gave not an inch, and he enjoyed pushing people over the edge.

Every day he passed the man’s giant door poster. It was a picture of the Grinch (cartoon version) that said: Don't bother me after 8 p.m. or I'll steal YOUR Christmas. The building supervisor had referred to him as only Mr. Grinch, due to this decor.

Cisco was willing to bet it was custom-made. Rumor had it that Professor Wells was a man of many talents. Cisco’s complaints also fell on deaf ears. Because no one else lived on this floor to corroborate his stories. Cisco didn't blame people for moving. On the bright side, he had to pay lower rent for this shit apartment location. The apartment itself was nice, with a big bathtub, walk-in closet, and balcony. It was worth Wells knocking on his door to tell him his party was too loud. Wells threatened to call the cops, but he never did. He knew Cisco would have it cleaned and shut down before they got halfway there.

His cats meowed all hours of the night. Cisco didn't know how he could hear them running around at night. Especially since one was a stick. One had also snuck into his apartment and shredded his stuffed Rocky the flying squirrel. It had been a present from his ex, Lisa. On one hand, technically kind of a good thing. On the other, he had liked that squirrel.

Cisco perked when he heard his six month old brown-and-white shih tzu mix yapping. He strolled out to the balcony. Sure enough, there they were. Wells’ stringy black and white oriental shorthair and tabby maine coon. The maine coon was the chillest animal on the planet, asleep to the tune of barking dog. That was the one that murdered his squirrel. Everytime Cisco left his apartment, the oriental starting yowling from behind Wells’ door. Then his puppy barked her head off.

Stevie, his brindle greyhound, appeared to investigate. He nudged Cisco curiously. He patted his service dog on the head absently. Cisco was prone to seizures. They were mostly random, but could sometimes be caused by distress. He grabbed a squeaky toy to distract Buttercup. He closed the balcony doors. He packed up and got Stevie in his work outfit. He expected to run into the Professor’s dumb face when he opened the door. He always complained about Buttercup’s barking even though he could just bring in his cats. Cisco had nothing against cats as a whole. He had everything against Wells’ disregard for the effects his cats had on others. Cisco was relieved when he was miraculously not there. He either decided to keep to himself or went out. Cisco saw enough of him in class, it just figured he would end up living beside him.

On a positive note, pissing him off was the most entertaining thing. He even drove him crazy in class. On the first day, Professor Wells had began by saying, “Science fact: The world around you is made up of protons, neutrons, morons, and electrons.”

When he said “morons” he had looked directly at Cisco. He wasn’t sure if Wells was presumptuous, if it was an accident, or if the man was prejudiced. Wells hadn’t eased up on him. He had called on Cisco to answer the toughest questions, contradicted all of his answers. Cisco wasn’t a special case, Wells was mean to other students, but they were slackers or whatever. He did have the potential for kindness, immediately helping anyone who seriously required it.

Either way, Cisco went out of his way to make his teaching aspect of life a bit of a nightmare. He pretended to be incredibly dumb in class, forcing Wells to cater to him. He would ace his tests and grin like a little shit.

He would ask the stupidest most basic questions, eyelashes fluttering like an infatuated schoolgirl. Wells was that “hot silver fox professor” as the women, and even some men, all of whom had no self respect, referred to him. They fawned over him. It was revolting. Cisco made them upset too by imitating their behavior. Wells always apparently lost his train of thought. He would sort of freeze on the spot, mouth open. He stuttered over his next words. It took everything Cisco had to hold in his laughter.

He kept the irritation to the minimum at home. Needless to say, but the airheads in his class didn’t believe Wells played the most obnoxious music at four in the morning. They didn’t believe he had a psychic connection to his cats and bid them to drive Cisco up the wall. They didn’t believe Wells pounded on the wall when Cisco played Christmas music. They didn’t believe he would sit on his balcony and throw things onto Cisco’s. Those objects had included: a wrench, a stupid singing toy from a dollar-per-item store, and even a rather large dildo. He had the supernatural ability to know when Cisco was studying. His hobby of throwing random shit would always scare the daylights out of Cisco.

For some reason, they did believe when he told them about the time Cisco had returned to his apartment shirtless. Some wiseass at he dog park had knocked him into a puddle of mud. At least, he hoped it was mud. He had thrown his shirt away and stormed home in a huff. Wells had seemed to choke on his own saliva when he saw Cisco. His blushing and stuttering was adorable. It was like he had never seen another man shirtless. 

Cisco figured he might’ve been offended by the tattoo, curling around his nipple and over his shoulder. Cisco had experienced a bit of a phase in his first semester of college. He lost a bet which required him to get the tats. They were pretty, and he luckily didn’t end up regretting his decision. He went through a bit of a ‘only get away with being young and dumb once’ phase. He cleared his less that stellar ideas and urges from his system, to pave the way for responsible adulting. He would have a lot of stories for his kids, if he ever felt like having any. Maybe he would tell the stories to Barry’s or Caitlin’s.

Stevie walked easily beside him in the Starling-Central City Shopping Center. He whistled a jaunty tune. He was having a pretty good day. He had satisfied with his level of studying for the upcoming exams and wasn’t exhausted. His new puppy hadn’t peed on the carpet this week. He hadn’t seen Wells’ annoying face yet.

He spoke too soon. He saw Wells, browsing in the assorted candles and incense. He glared at his turned back. He couldn’t believe the man chose this day to enter society and be shopping for something Cisco was looking to purchase. He tentatively stepped into the section, footsteps light. He hoped Wells wouldn’t see him.

He heard someone scoff and stage-whisper, “Do you see that rat he has in his cart? Like anyone believes that’s a real service dog.”

His girlfriend cackled. “What an asshole.”

Cisco’s gaze riveted on Wells’ little dog. She was a chihuahua-corgi mix named Rocket. Wells was secretive as hell. The only things Cisco knew was that he had a daughter and pets. That was due to the photos on his desk of a young girl in braces, a calm Chorgi with its tongue hanging out, next to the 85 % legs oriental shorthair (same pic) and one of the fluffy Maine coon. And there was a final faded, worn one of a German Shepherd/Dalmation in a doggie wheelchair next to an urn simply engraved Sam - Never Forget. Cisco had asked the little dog’s name, and gotten such a gruff reply that he didn’t inquire further.

It was simple to assume his professor was not much beyond a grumpy old jerk. His humanity seemed to be buried deep. He was robotic, functional enough to take care of pets and teach a class, that was all. Cisco would have to rethink that. Rocket was even cuter in person. Wells had obviously heard and he winced. He picked up Rocket, cradling her close. He marched up to the couple.

“Hey what is your deal? His dog is well-behaved, and he did nothing to you!” Cisco crossed his arms, raising his chin. The boyfriend attempted to tower over him, but he was no match for Cisco’s sheer force of will.

“Back off asshole,” The girlfriend butted in. “No one asked you.”

“I’m the asshole? It’s pretty rude to go around assuming things about someone’s life. For all you know, he nearly lost his life fighting in a war.”

“For all I know, you’re a phony too. Look at that - that thing you have. Is it imported from Africa or something?” The Dude narrowed his eyes at Stevie. And that was the end for Cisco.

“Listen here,” he said dangerously, voice flat. “Judgey tools like you is why we can’t have nice things. You can get that stick out of your ass and -”

Dude started making offended noises. The Girlfriend looked ready to jump on Cisco and tear his hair out. He braced himself. Let them try. A distinct high-pitched bark interrupted his tirade. His mouth shut with an audible click, and he whirled around. Rocket was back in the cart, whining, trying to get to Harrison Wells. He was crouched on the floor, all six feet of him. His hand was covering his eyes. The other hand was braced on the shelves. He was rocking back and forth, making breathy noises.

Cisco rushed over, argument forgotten. He wasn’t sure if he’d go to hell for it, but he gently picked up Rocket and placed her on the floor. He certainly lost his mind whenever someone tried to touch his well-trained greyhound on duty. But this seemed like an emergency. Rocket whined again and snuffled on Wells cheek. He sighed and pulled her close, taking deep breaths. Cisco shifted. He glanced over his shoulder to see that the couple had wandered off. Confrontation wasn’t always the best idea. Sometimes, his anger got the better of him. Stevie watched calmly. He looked a bit twitchy. He was always wary whenever Cisco got himself into tense situations.

Wells gained control of himself. His eyes were glazed for a moment, then it faded. His hands were shaking. Rocket was pressed close, licking at his face. He picked her up and stood, clutching her to his chest. He stared at Cisco with wide, bleary eyes. He had never seen Wells looking so spooked.

“Hey buddy. You good or do you need to call someone?”

“Did - did I hurt anyone? When episodes strike, I black out,” Wells explained at Cisco’s confused look. “I can be prone to violence because I think I’m. Back there.”

His voice was at such a low pitch. Cisco was stiff as a board. He shook out his hands, trying to loosen his muscles. He wasn’t afraid. He just wasn’t sure how to tread here.

“No it’s fine. You were kinda on the floor. Was that my fault?”

“They started it, you were only trying to defend me, thank you,” Wells replied.

He was surprisingly relaxed, for all that they didn’t get along. Cisco felt like a veil had been torn from in front of his eyes. He saw everything in front of him anew. He should really take some of his own advice.

“Well, it got a little out of hand ‘cause I don’t know when to shut my mouth and walk away sometimes. Can I - can I buy you some ice cream or something, Professor Wells?”

Wells blinked. Then he laughed, heartily. “You can call me Harry, Mr. Ramon.”

“Cisco!” He continued, mostly to himself, “Big Belly Burger sounds damn good right now.”

Harry nodded in agreement. Cisco indicated his cart. Harry began to pile his stuff inside. It was more efficient to take one cart. His eyes widened at the Star Wars paraphernalia. So, he was a fellow nerd too. There was probably so much Cisco didn’t know about him. These recent discoveries only scratched the surface. He suddenly had an overwhelmingly urgent desire to know everything that Harry would give him.

On the way to the in-store restaurant, Cisco said casually, “I have seizures. Stevie here, he’ll sit and howl when he senses one coming, so I can find a safe place. He stays by my side and helps me out. Completely necessary just like yours.”

“Some people think they’re smart. The reality being they know nothing at all,” Harry replied.

“I know that all I know is that I do not know anything,” Cisco said and snorted. “That guy didn’t even know how to remove the stick in his ass.”

“There’s no proof of that phrase, but the spirit of it is true.”

They finished their meals, bought separately, and Harry paid for their ice cream. Cisco opened his mouth to protest. He was silenced by Harry’s glare.

“I’m sorry I act empty-headed in your class,” Cisco confessed.

Harry nodded and lapped at his ice cream. He smiled as he scooped some with two fingers and fed it to Rocket. Absurdly, Cisco’s stomach started doing acrobatics. He couldn’t pinpoint the cause. He scratched Stevie’s ears, who made a dog-sigh of content.

“I’m sorry for being a difficult neighbor,” Harry offered. “Let’s promise to be at least civil to one another for now on?”

“Agreed. Life will be much easier. And we’re totally having a Star Wars marathon.”

Harry grinned. He rubbed at his lips with a finger. Cisco gnawed on his cone and watched him for a moment. He felt a stab of guilt. He had despised Harry for his behavior. He was a hypocrite. He saw now he had acted the exact same way and judged him. He knew next to nothing about his private life, because he presumed that he did not have one. What did he think? That Harry went home and hooked himself up to a charger?

The man probably had dreams, hobbies, as many likes as dislikes. Hell, Cisco had known he had a family he must care about, from the picture of his daughter on his desk. Cisco distantly noticed Harry had no wedding ring. Somewhere, under all that brain and bluster, Cisco was beginning to see his heart.

The best restart would be to address the root of the problem. Then they could clear the air. He licked his lips nervously. He locked his fingers in his lap and leaned forward. Harry folded his arms on the table, chin lifting in preparation.

Cisco kept his voice soft and not accusing. “Why did you single me out the first day of class?”

“Are you kidding? I heard you were practically wunderkind,” Harry answered in an incredulous tone. “I was very impressed with your records.”

“Seriously? I grew up in the most obscure town.”

“I’m in the habit of keeping an eye on talent. Finding out you were in my class made my entire week, which isn’t saying much, but still. You are the most brilliant and creative person I’ve met, aside from my daughter.”

Cisco internally preened, a flush of pleasure coming over him. He had a weakness for direct compliments of his talents. He realized that also meant Harry had believed in exactly none of his bullshit. Harry pointed at his own face and raised his eyebrows. Cisco squinted at him. Harry spread his hand and made circles. Cisco scrambled in embarrassment to wipe his face off. He found it wasn’t as bad as Harry indicated. He scowled.

“You say such sweet things. But you’re still a dick.”

“Did you really expect anything else?”

[calorieworkouts]

23 Weight-Loss Tips That Actually Worked For Women Just Like You

There's no question that employing a trusted registered dietitian is the means to go when you're attempting to make a big modification to your lifestyle.

But you understand that else has some pretty damn suitable ideas when it pertains to dropping pounds? Individuals that have really done it themselves.

Here, 23 various women share small tricks that helped them lose weight (and also keep it off).

1. Ditch your trigger foods.

Bags of chips. Tubs of crackers. Additional Halloween candy. Do away with anything that's a weak place, specifically any foods you've binged on in the past. 'If you understand you'll damage into the remaining birthday cake at twelve o'clock at night, throw it quickly,' states accountant Brandy Thele, that shed 130 extra pounds after she was detected with kind 2 diabetes mellitus.

Instead, swap 'restricted' foods for much healthier replacements. As opposed to swearing off treat completely, for circumstances, indulge in fresh fruit after meals. As well as if your partner or youngsters balk at your chucking the gelato, hide it behind the icy edamame so you don't glance it every single time you open up the freezer.

2. Hold on your own responsible ... for every little thing.

Keep a food diary as well as consist of everything (yes, that bite of your toddler's mac and cheese matters) so you can see where the calories come from. Day-care supervisor DJ Gray listed what she consumed and tracked her calories with the SparkPeople app on her way to shedding 115 pounds.

3. Produce an assistance system online.

Social media can be a powerful incentive to stick with your plan and make progress, Christina Donatella, now an individual fitness instructor, established up a Facebook page about her diet plan and workout routines and dropped 180 pounds.

Are you captured up on Jenna Jameson's weight-loss journey?

4. Take note of section dimensions.

So lots of dieters undervalue just how much they're eating. Devices and also devices can help: Teacher Jen Punda downloaded and install the MyFitnessPal app to help her gauge serving dimensions and also dropped 91 pounds, stay-at-home mother Krystal Sanders acquired a portion-control plate, which educated her to eyeball healthy and balanced portions of healthy protein, veggies, and starches.

5. Cook your own food.

Research reveals that individuals that prepare the majority of their own meals take in fewer calories, carbs, sugar, and fat than those who prepare seldom. If you insist you're also overloaded, try this method from paralegal Jessie Foss, who shed 100 pounds: On Sunday, work up a big batch of something healthy and balanced, like soup from a slow cooker, and also eat it throughout the week.

6. Do not nix the fiber or fat.

Fiber broadens in your belly and also requires time to digest, both of which aid keep you really feeling complete for longer. Great resources include entire grains, veggies, as well as whole fruit (not juiced). Healthy fats like olive and nut oils-in moderation-improve flavor, give you energy, and also help your body use specific nutrients. Alexandra Shipper included healthy and balanced fats, such as avocado, to healthy protein sources like eggs as well as fish on her method to going down 55 pounds.

7. Do not really feel required to go to the fitness center.

When you're at your heaviest, it can be frightening to step right into a health club and start running or lifting among the spandex-clad. Exercising in your very own space is likewise merely less complicated to schedule-you can lift weights while the child naps or very first point in the morning without dragging yourself out the door. 'I bought a stationary bicycle so I can function out whenever I want,' states Sarah DeArmond, who shed 100 extra pounds.

8. Job weights into your workout routine.

To drop significant lbs, you require the one-two strike of cardio exercise plus strength training. Resistance assists construct and also protect metabolism-boosting lean muscle mass while shedding fat and is particularly crucial when you hit a plateau. Amanda Eco-friendly lost 15 pounds in 2 months doing hour-long cardio DVDs, but it wasn't till she started running outside and training weights three times a week that she was able to ditch the last 15 of her 30-pound objective.

9. Difficulty yourself by enrolling in a race.

Jessica McMullin signed up for her first race, a 5K walk-run, hoping an obstacle would certainly help motivate her to shed weight-which it did, method greater than she could have pictured. 'I absolutely fell in love with running, it changed my whole life,' she states.

Not only did it aid her shed 60 extra pounds, yet making it a day-to-day practice also helped her overcome her depression. Now she stays motivated by remaining to challenge herself with brand-new race goals. To day, she's completed over 100 different races.

10. Do not promise off your favorite deals with for excellent.

Little treats keep you from feeling robbed, so everyday, allow on your own a little bit of something you enjoy (go for 150 calories each). This kind of small amounts is the distinction between a 'diet' and also a way of life you can stick to for life. For salon proprietor Caitlin Gallagher, who shed 125 pounds, that indicated changing her every night bowl of ice cream with a square of chocolate, social worker Brittany Hicks, that lost 100 pounds, started cooking mini variations of her favorite pies.

11. Always ensure you have a plan.

When going out to supper, follow the lead of law enforcement agent Larissa Reggetto, who dropped 105, and also look up the food selection ahead of time to prevent impulse buying.

12. Stick to a routine.

Too much selection in your diet regimen can tinker your satiation cues and also make you eat way too much, so include some (tasty) monotony to your routine. One easy way: Consume the exact same healthy and balanced breakfast and/or lunch daily during the week, and appreciate new tastes on the weekend break. The most effective feature of that strategy, claims 69-pound-loser (emergency room, champion?) Melanie Kitchen area: 'I really did not need to keep developing new dishes!'

13. Have a positive weight-loss rule.

When Katrina Plyler decided to take control of her weight, she chose to try the Whole30 as a way to reset as well as commit to her objectives.

' That initial day was so tough, I nearly caved and also grabbed the vending equipment at job yet I kept in mind a quote I carried my Facebook web page that claimed 'The only thing standing between you as well as your objective is the bullshit tale you maintain informing yourself as to why you can't attain it' which was enough to make me avert from the machine,' she says.

She completed the entire month of the Whole 30 and stuck to a clean Paleo-style diet regimen afterward. Within a year she was down 46 pounds. 'I always keep that quote close-by and also reread it when I'm really feeling weak,' she adds.

14. Search for things to include to your life, not deduct.

Starting a weight-loss journey can be hard, particularly if you're quiting a great deal of points you love. Shannon Hagen's key to remaining positive while dropping weight? 'I never ever consider it as giving points up, that makes me feel deprived,' she states. 'Rather I concentrate on adding in one little healthy change at a time, until it comes to be a practice.' Instead of being bummed over not having your normal dish of ice lotion before bed, attempt a new healthy dessert recipe to include to your file.

15. Focus on what you wish to acquire, too.

Chronic migraine headaches were what first inspired Amanda Tagge to begin working out. 'I was intending to discover some remedy for my frustrations as well as working out did aid however I realized that if I truly desired to really feel much better I required to overhaul my health habits overall and slim down,' she claims. The even more she transformed, the far better her frustrations obtained and she lost 70 pounds in the procedure which aided her feel even better. Concentrating on right her wellness was enhancing kept her going even when the range wasn't moving.

16. Track your fruits as well as veggies.

Snacking is the crucial to Mary Rogerson's 60-pound fat burning but it's not just exactly how usually she eats yet what. 'I intend to eat at least 7 portions of vegetables a day, in addition to some protein, every couple of hours,' she states. 'And also The finest component is that by the time she's filled up on her rainbow of fruit and vegetables, she's usually also full to eat much else as well as her yearnings for sweets have actually gone method down.

17. Consume something rejuvenating as quickly as you wake up.

' Every morning I consume alcohol a mug of warm water with half a lemon pressed right into it, a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar, and a dashboard of cayenne pepper,' states Michelle Keough. This assists her beginning her time off on a healthy note while obtaining her moisturized after a long night. This technique, integrated with eating meals constructed around healthy protein as well as veggies, helped her lose 20 pounds and also keep it off.

18. Try establishing an 'consuming home window.'

Connie Jory advocates recurring fasting-eating during a certain window of time, like from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. consuming at all.

' In the beginning it was difficult to adapt to but I've found that if I stick to only consuming within my collection home window, the hunger pains vanish and I don't even think of food.' This intermittent fasting method has actually assisted her shed greater than 70 pounds.

19. Make treats a real treat.

' I have one hell of a wonderful tooth, therefore I have to decline to bring sweet, cake, or sweets right into the residence, period,' claim Lin Williams, who's lost 105 extra pounds. Rather, if she desires a reward she has to want it poor enough to get up, obtain in the cars and truck, leave her house, as well as go to the store-a procedure that rarely really feels worth it. As well as on the rare occasion she does indulge? 'I get specifically what I want as well as enjoy every bite of it!' she says.

20. Use a loved one as inspiration.

Finding the inspiration to work out as well as drop weight was difficult and as a busy mama Sabrina Winder can never appear to discover the time. When her son decided to do a biking value badge for Kid Scouts, unexpectedly helping her youngster indicated helping herself also.

' My reason made use of to be that I really did not intend to leave my kids alone to work out, however this assisted me see I can still do it and simply include them,' she states. Currently she's slimming down and obtaining trimmer while setting a healthy and balanced example for her children. 'It's a win-win for our entire family,' she adds.

21. Don't really feel poor for saying 'no' often.

' My father resembles a food-pushing wizard, he's always pulling stuff out of his pockets or showing up with delicious food,' states Mary Mock. While the family members tradition of shock sugary foods was fun, when it came time to lose weight, she knew she needed to place a quit to all that lure. 'At first, he seemed hurt when I kept claiming no yet when I explained it was for my wellness, he hopped on board. Sometimes I still have to remind him though!' she says.

22. Discover ways to treat on your own without food.

Making the connection between her stress and anxiety and also her food desires was a game-changer for Kelly Pedestrian. 'I understood that by the end of the day, I simply wanted something to relax me down as well as so I 'd binge on delicious chocolate,' she states.

' Regarding a year ago, I started looking for other ways to handle my stress and anxiety besides consuming, like washing or doing acupuncture.' She's lost over 40 extra pounds but the finest component is that she feels extra unwinded than she's ever been. 'It ends up that eating all that sugar was making me much more distressed, making a ferocious cycle.'

23. Make your refrigerator a 'healthy and balanced treats just' zone.

Having a healthy option within your reaches when you're depriving can make all the distinction in between sticking to your objectives as well as providing in to temptation. 'I keep little containers of hummus and also carrots, pickles, nuts and dried out apricots, salsa and rice biscuits, and other healthy and balanced combos in the front of my fridge and also kitchen so they are literally the initial thing I see when I unlock,' claims Lita Moreno. 'I don't also offer myself a selection to rip off.' This little change has aided her decrease virtually 80 pounds.

[haelover]

Lava Chasers

Title: Lava Chasers. Words: 1, 429. Pairing: Snowbarry/FlashFrost

Notes: A few days ago, (11 according to Tumbrl) @asmilinghopelessromantic said she wanted this prompt written: 

Barry gets into the annoying habit of randomly yelling “THE FLOOR IS LAVA” and then one day Caitlin gets fed up and freezes his converses to the floor. “You’re protected from the lava now,” she says before kissing his cheek and strutting out like a QUEEN while Barry is calling her back because shit it’s hard to speed himself out of thick ice without help.

I thought it was cute and I need it a time away from my current fic so, here it is, it just a small, and goofy fic. I really hope that you liked it :D

It wasn't uncommon for Team Flash to find new and exciting ways of unwinding after a long week of solving crimes, and saving the city; on some days they would go to Cisco’s apartment to see one of his favorites Sci-Fi movies, on other days, they would go to the bar, where somehow Barry, and Caitlin always mend up singing Summer Nights, on the days where they just were too tired, they often went to CC Jitters to enjoy the free time and the smell of freshly brewed coffee. In the years, they have been together Caitlin has learned to be open to trying new things, like that day when Barry and Cisco convince her to rock climbing, and laser tag, but when it came to finding new ways to bond and relax, things were getting out of hand.

It was a late Tuesday night, when Caitlin in her Frost costume heard Cisco yelled, "The floor is lava!", in no time, The Flash took both Frost and Vibe in his arms, taking them away from danger, but when he placed them back on the floor, to examine the surroundings, he realized the floor where they were previously standing was perfectly fine. "What the frack dude?" Said a rather confused Barry.

 "Don't tell me you have never played that game?" Was Cisco’s quick and cheerful response, without realizing his mistake.

 "What? For real man? I thought that Volcānus* was awake, and you were just playing?" Barry snaps at Cisco’s response, in any other situation the speedster would laugh at his friend’s response, but the fight with Volcānus,  their newest metahuman who could control fire, and whose favorite way to use his ability was in the form of lava balls or converting the floor into lava.

 "Sorry, it's just that Volcānus last attack made me remember that game." This time after seeing Barry’s exasperation, Cisco wasn’t as cheerful as he was moments before, feeling guilty for worrying his friends with his over joy as he saw one of his favorite childhood games come to life right in front of him.

 Upon seeing Cisco’s distress Barry’s features soften, turning from exasperation to amusement at his friend childish spirit, "It's ok dude, and you know what?” Said Barry with a mischievous glint in his eyes, “I think you’re right, the floor is lava." Yelled an over excited Speedster.

 "Not cool man!" Was Cisco quick response, before opening a portal to the nearest surface he could find. While apparently, The Flash and Vibe were too busy trying not to touch the "lava" floor, Frost was left alone with Volcānus and the icy prison she captured him.

---

Caitlin knew that the game where “The floor was lava that couldn't be touched” was go-to for many kids, but played by two adult friends as metahumans, it turned out to be a much more serious challenge, especially when you no longer were a child without powers. The game was simple; when one says; “the floor is lava”, the other has five seconds to get off the floor — by whatever means necessary.

She believed that there was a time, and place to do everything, and playing said game when the three of them were on the outside of the City in an abandoned factory with almost nothing around but debris and dust, following the lead from another metahuman, and Barry yelled the floor is lava, "Oh! Not now!" Cisco yelled rapidly opening a portal, to what it seems from where she was standing like an old garbage can of some sorts — in which of course he fell into.

 "A little help please?!" Eco Cisco’s voice thru the abandon, and derelict factory, followed by Barry's contagious laugh.

 While The Flash kept making fun of his distress friend, Vibe was trying desperately to get unstuck, but having his hands in the garbage bin didn’t help his case at all; "Man, it's not funny! I actually got STUCK in the bin!" Caitlin saw Barry standing next to their friend laughing at his expenses, deciding to teach him a lesson, she decided to take her time to reach them.

 "Finally! Would you be so kind to help your lover over her to get me out of the bin, pretty please with a cherry on top?" Came Cisco’s plea, after seeing the reluctant look on Barry’s face.

 "Barry, please, just get him out of it, I'm really hungry and in desperate need of a shower." But before the Dr. Could finish pleading with her boyfriend he got Cisco out of the trash can. And flashed the three of them to STAR Labs, where they could finally eat and rest.

---

Things continue like this for the past three weeks, every time try got some sort of "free" time, one of them would yell “The floor is lava” and all hell broke loose, but somehow they seem to have a silent agreement to not play the game in STAR Labs, which lead to her tolerating their behavior longer than she should, but when Cisco fell on her from the ceiling she had enough, "Really? Now, you’re playing this silly game in the lab?" When Caitlin was finally back on her feet she was determined to give them the scolding of their lifetime, but when she finessed cleaning herself, the sight in front of her won her over, there in front of her, she saw the most important men in her life looking like a pair of puppies being scolded, and just like that all her anger went away.

Taking advantage of Caitlin’s slip, both heroes answered in chorus, "We are sorry Caitlin.”

Trying to something a little bit more Barry continues pleading to Caitlin’s soft side, "We truly are Cait."

“Yeah! It won't happen again, we swear." Came Cisco’s fast response, not wanting to lose the momentum.

She gives them a measured look before answering them, “Ok, fine, but if I see you playing this game again you will suffer the consequences, deal?”

“Deal!” They answer. She huffs, she wants to believe them, but she knows they won’t be available to maintain their promise.

 Their promise lasted one hour.

Caitlin is in the pipeline when, Barry pass next to her frantically running thru the hall,  trying to look for a place to take shelter, "Barry! Stop! Why are you still running?" Came Caitlin exasperated replied. Barry answers her between labs, making very difficult to decipher his message," Floor. Is. Lava. No. Place. To. Run. To."

"What do you mean?" An exasperated Caitlin yelled to the air that Barry left behind. "Cisco. Hide. Everything." Looking at her surroundings she realizes that indeed every “safe” place was gone, there was no chair or table where Barry could hop on to protect himself from the “lava”.

In a mix of wind and opening portals, Caitlin reached her point of no return, when Barry was back in the room searching once more for a “safe surface” she lowered the room temperature making him slow down to a stop, "Cait? What's wrong? What are you doing?"

“I had enough of this little game of yours." Before he could do anything, Caitlin froze his feet to the floor, creating a thick block of ice between the floor and himself. "What are you?"

 "This way the floor won't do any damage to you." Said a smirking Caitlin to a lost speedster before tenderly kissing him on the lips.

"Wait! Cait! You can't leave me here!" Came Barry’s pleads, trying to phase out from the thick block of ice his girlfriend just capture him, but the temperature in the room was too low and the ice was to tick, it was going to take him longer than usual to get out.

 “Cait! Where are, you going?” And with a tender kiss, Caitlin left the speedster loss of words by her betrayal (yes, it hurt Barry that much), "I'm going to teach Cisco a lesson, I think it's time both of you to end this game."

 But he didn’t have enough time to surrender to his misery because from afar he could hear Cisco’s distressed voice; “Caitlin?! What are you…? Please don’t….! Put that snowball down!”

 “Well done Elsa now my GOT t-shirt is ruined!” Bad move, was Barry´s first thought at Cisco´s reply’s, Caitlin hates when they called her Elsa, and as if on cue, Cisco yelled, “I’m sorry! Please! Don’t go all Killer Frost on me!” Followed by Cisco’s distressed yells and Caitlin snowballs colliding with him.

 Just another Tuesday in the life of Team Flash.

This was lightly based on an article I read about two friends that took the floor is lava game to the next level.

*Vulcan (Latin: Volcānus or Vulcānus; pronounced [wɔlˈkaːnʊs], [wʊlˈkaːnʊs]) is the god of fire including the fire of volcanoes, metalworking, and the forge in ancient Roman religion and myth.

[coldtomyflash]

Am I the only one made super uncomfortable by Cisco's naming thing? I mean obviously it was meant to be funny, quirky or cute or whatever, but it just makes me really uneasy. He gives them secondary names that they have no say in, then pretty much refuses to call them anything else or let anyone else either. It's like stripping them of their identities as people so that they can see them purely as villains, acceptable targets and not real people with thoughts or feelings. And his possessiveness

(Continued) of the "process" is creepy as hell. It just really gets my hackles up, and combined with the Pipeline concept is pretty terrifying

Sorry Anon ^^; While you might not be the only one who feels that way, I’m firmly in the opposite camp. I love the naming thing and how Cisco takes pride in being the one to do it, for the most part.

I think I interpret it very differently than you do though? Your feelings are valid, and I really get what you’re saying about the identity dynamics involved, and how it might lead some people (the public, the cops, the team) to think of villains as not existing outside that identity. So if you don’t enjoy it I definitely won’t tell you to. 

But since you brought it up, I’m going to share my perspective on it and why I’ve always sort of liked it?

I think the crux of the difference in how we see it, and for why I like it, is because I don’t see it as him... ascribing these names to people against their will? Not really? I mean, at first he was searching for something to call Danton Black and only came up with one after he died? Cisco was trying to do a cool codename thing but it didn’t really have any traction. Then with Nimbus, they didn’t know his name and giving him an alias made sense at first. Then Cisco called Len “Captain Cold” to his face and Len laughed and was obviously into it, and then he purposefully retained the monicker and even leaned into it.

By then, it kind of became a “thing”. And for Cisco, there’s reasons for that. One, he’s kind of genre-savvy. He realizes he’s living in a crazy world with superheroes and insane science and people who take on personas in the name of good and evil. So like Len, Cisco leans into it, into that, into accepting this crazy new world they live in. 

For that reason, for it being an acknowledgment of their setting, I also think it’s coming from a place of respect. Names have power. Barry goes by ‘The Flash’ (and before that ‘The Streak’) and that’s... cool? Cisco loves the names. Takes care in selecting his own but takes one for himself too. It’s not to set himself apart or against these other people, it’s about acknowledging this weird space they all inhabit together, a space of metahumans and superheroes and villains.

And I think part of why he does it is due to the heroism angle? Think of the most noted people with aliases in the world when Cisco starts this: the Arrow, the Red Arrow / Arsenal, the Canary, soon the Black Canary, Speedy, soon to be Spartan. And The Flash (The Streak). Like at this point, codenames have positive connotations? He definitely didn’t mean anything negative when he provided a codename to Bette by episode 5. 

So although he’s giving these names to villains... it’s not because he doesn’t respect them? Which is part of why I don’t think of it as him ascribing the names, but rather, providing them (and working hard to do it well, it seems). And sometimes people pick their own: Pied Piper, Heatmonger (a name that Cisco affirms for the villain in court like “it’s a great name” - he likes that others have got with the trend of picking aliases I think?). He accepts input from Caitlin, if with some ribbing, and Wally (who picked Kid Flash on his own, more or less), and Martin too, if memory serves. Plenty of people have picked their own without his interventions, including villains.

As a bit of an aside, I personally suspect that another reason why Cisco does this is because early in the story, Cisco is the youngest member of the team (as stated by Carlos in an old interview: he thinks Cisco is younger than Barry and looks up to him, at least in S1) and this is something he gets to contribute that makes him feel special? Something unique that isn’t tied to his science, and is more artistic in a way? Something that helps them navigate their day to day challenges that isn’t tech-based?

All in all, I feel that it connects him to the metas more than it distances him. I agree wholeheartedly that the Pipeline is 100% terrible and awful. And I agree that if someone ever didn’t want an alias, it would be on him to respect that, of course. To a certain extent, I get the impression they like their aliases (Lisa goes out of her way to ask for one, but she might be an outlier) but obviously that might not be the case for everyone.

[forever-danielle-panabaker-blog]

I’m not too worried about the “cure”. 

I don’t think that she will accept it, or use it. People love KF to much and want her to be an anti-hero in the show  to kill off the storyline going in season 4. Danielle enjoy playing her to much. 

If they give her the cure, they will kill KF for real this time. They will have to make one hell of a story if they want to bring her back in the future after giving her the cure.

My theory is that Caitlin Frost is back in control since 3x21. You can tell, KF fully in control wouldn’t try to talk down Savitar or challenging him by using Iris memories. KF wouldn’t use the name “Caitlin” since she wants to get ride of her at all cost. 

 In the finale, she will realize how her powers can help the team and that no matter if she has powers or not they will accept her in the team. 

She will reject the cure and possibly Julian. Telling him that she needs time for herself and to learn how to control her powers going in season 4. That leave them the possibility to bring him back from time to time in the future. They also can keep the cure if Caitlin go south again. 

[illustratedbydae]

Frost | Chapter 1 - " New beginnings "

summary; After deciding she wasn't going to take Julian's cure to reverse her powers, Caitlin went on her own journey to find out who is she now. Another earth, doppelgangers, some old friends, new responsibilities, new secrets and love interests; a new adventure ready to be lived by Caitlin. — Chapter 1 - New Beginnings Team Flash was in the cortex room, all waiting for Cisco to start reading the letter from Caitlin. The young man have been tensed since he first read what she wrote, he couldn't believe his eyes, but somehow he knew this moment would've come sooner or later. " You can start now, Cisco. " He sighed, "fine. " Slowly, he began reading the paragraph his best friend wrote. " By the time you'll be reading this I'll be long gone, I know that I've said a lot of harsh things to you and I'm truly sorry. I didn't want to hurt you. Deep down in my heart I still care about you, I hope you feel the same. I have to do this on my own, to find out who am I, what I like, how to use my powers for good. " Cisco stopped reading for a moment just to wipe his tears away, reading this always made him cry, then he continued, " I can't do this here, so I asked Gypsy to help me get away. I'm sorry again, I left without saying goodbye, but I hope this letter will do. One day I'll come back to you, can you wait for me? If you won't I understand, I don't know how much time I'll be gone, but I promise that I'll be back. I'm always going to come back for you. See you later, Cisco. " When he finished reading the letter out loud, everyone stared at him in confusion. He was still sobbing. Julian gasped, " She just ran away, to another earth?" " Indeed she did. But—" " We have to get her back!" "—but she'll come back on her own, dude." " Excuse me? Cisco, she's your best friend—" " Exactly, Julian. I know what she wants: to be left alone , especially by you. So, back off. " "—you should want her back." The long haired man sighed, " of course I want her back, but she's an independent woman who doesn't need a man, so let her find herself and then her way back to us. " Cisco shot a deadly glare to Julian, Caitlin's ex boyfriend, then he exited the room, the tension was floating there. "What are we going to do now?" Iris asked, " she's still our friend." " She'll always be, but there's nothing we can do for her now. " Barry said " Let's hope she'll come back. " " She'll come back, Barry. But until then we still have one more problem to deal with." Iris said, glaring at Savitar who was sitting in a corner, analyzing them. The team found a way to save him, just like how Barry promised, but now was the real challenge coming. — " Are you sure you'll be fine here?" Caitlin smiled, " Gypsy, thank you for your concern , but I'll be fine. Jesse is probably inside S.T.A.R Labs, you know? I'll go to her for now." " What will you do when Jay comes back? This is his earth, after all." " We could go to earth two, Jesse's home. I'll be fine." " I know you will, you're an ice queen, I never doubted you." The white haired woman smiled, she was about to start a new life, a new journey, things should finally work for her. " Thank you, Gypsy. " " Anytime, you just have to call me and I'll be right here. " the short woman smiled friendly, " but now I have to go, see you soon?" " Sure. " With a flick of her hands, Gypsy conjured a portal that send her back to her home, her earth. Caitlin turned around, facing the huge building, S.T.A.R. Labs looked exactly like the one from her earth, of course the difference was that this one was functional. She remembered talking to Jay about this once, he told her that Harrison Wells from his earth was successful or he used to be, he died years ago. The building was bought by Joe West, his closest friend. On earth three, he was a manager, helping Harrison with his bussines, but after he passed away, Joe promised to himself to keep his company functional, he hired a new scientist, Tracy Brand and she was very interested in meta humans, so she helped the flash from this earth. Jesse was working now with her, so Caitlin's guess what that her friend would be in this building eventually. Frost wanted to make her way into the building, but she was stopped by the security guard. " I'm looking for someone named Jesse? Jesse Quick?" The guard gasped, " you mean the flash?" " Yes, her. Is she inside? I'm one of her friends. " " Your name, miss?" " I used to be Caitlin Snow, she knows me by this name. " " I'll send her a message, miss Snow." Caitlin nodded, she moved her gaze from the guard, to the building, to the far way mountains, letting her emotions fly. She decided to leave her home in order to find herself again, but deep down she knew it was because she couldn't look at her friends anymore. She tried to hurt them, to kill them; how could she still stay there? Even though Caitlin knew they wouldn't hold a grunge, especially Cisco, she still chose to leave. Her evil match, Savitar, was now locked to at S.T.A.R Labs, until they'd find a way to give him a life, to make up a story to why did he looks just like Barry Allen and who he really is. Her friends managed to save him, a broken, evil, almost psychotic time remnant of Barry. They saved him. "Of course they succeeded" she thought, " they always do". Hell, Julian even found her a cure,but that wasn't the answer. Caitlin knew that Killer Frost was now a part of her, that she wasn't only Caitlin Snow anymore,the woman knew she had to find herself all over again, but taking a cure, riping away a part of her wasn't the answer, it will never be. " Caitlin?" The woman turned surprised to the sound of her friend's voice, " Jesse." " Oh my God — " The speedster girl pulled her in a tight hug, without hesitation Caitlin hugged her back. No one hugged her since she became Killer Frost, no one except Savitar a voice in her mind whispered. Jesse realized how cold Caitlin was now, her skin was colder than the snow during winter. " What happened?" " I — I don't know. I guess Caitlin Show lost the fight after all. " Jesse pulled away slowly, " No way, you're still you, I know it. You wouldn't have come to me if you'd be a killer, right?" " Right." "Now, let's go inside and you have to update me to everything that has happened. Deal?" Caitlin smiled, " deal. "

[swiftsuburbanlegends]

Okay so I kind of stopped watching Arrow/Flash/Legends/Supergirl a few eps before the end of each season, and I'm just really confused about what the hell is going on in the dctv universe. Do you think you could give me a rundown of what's been going on?

I can try. Let’s start with Legends because it ended months before everything else.

Legends:

The Legion got the spear and made this DoomWorld thing, where all the heroes were dead except the Legends because Thawne wanted to screw with them. Mick got them all back but the spear got destroyed. So they went back in time to before the Legion got the spear making two sets of them together in the past. And Sara got the spear wishing that it couldn’t do anything so they saved that. Amaya decided to stay around longer even though she knows she’s destined to have a daughter and then granddaughter, who is also a hero. Rip left on the spare ship thing, and the Legends crash landed in 2017 LA where dinosaurs were roaming the streets and advanced tech was everywhere. They basically broke the timeline again.

Supergirl:

Queen Rhea, aka bitch extreme, used Lena to create this thing that brought all the remaining Daxmites to Earth. Cat Grant came flying back in with the president to save the day. Well Rhea kidnapped Mon el and Lena and was gonna force them to marry and produce an heir (apparently Daxamites can do this without sex). But Supergirl saved them with the help of Cadmus. Only of course Rhea brainwashed Superman and they fought. Kara won making her the best. She challenged Rhea to basically a trial by combat, and winner gets earth. All the while Lena and Winn (with Lillian) work to reprogram this device Lex made to get rid of Kryptonians by filling the atmosphere with kryptonite, but instead they will fill the air with lead so the Daxamites can’t stay. All of them. well Rhea didn’t give up when she lost so they had to activate the thing. Killing all Daxamites, but Mon el was able to hold off because he’d been on Earth for a while. Well the put him in Kara’s pod, after she tells him she loves him and gives him her mother’s necklace. And he leaves. Alex proposes to Maggie. Also M’gann came back and started making out with J’onn.

Flash: 

A time remnant of Barry, from the future turned out to be Savitar.  Who hated the team because after they took down Savitar in the future they shunned the remnant because he wasn’t the real Barry. So in order to ensure that Barry became so desperate to make remnants in the first place, Savitar had to kill Iris. They end up around this because HR used his face changing thing to look like Iris and he died instead. So Savitar opened the speed force to try and harness the power I think, to become a god. He almost killed Cisco, and Caitlin/KF saved him. Jay came and helped. Iris ended up shooting and killing Savitar. They sent out the save the dates for their wedding, but this giant lightning storm attacked the city. It was the speed force because there was no longer a speedster in the prison. And Barry realized the only way to stop it was to sacrifice himself to the speed force and he left.

Arrow:

Chase kidnapped all of Oliver’s friends and family, and took them to Lian Yu. So Oliver teamed up with Merlyn, Nyssa, and then grabbed Slade and Captain Boomerang from the island prison. The mirakuru finally worked out of his system and he’s remorseful now. Of course Boomerang already made a deal with Chase. And it looked like Slade might betray them, but he didn’t because he’s awesome. They lock Evelyn in a cage and go looking for Chase. Oliver tells Malcolm to get Curtis, Thea, Samantha, and Felicity off the island and come back. Felicity kisses Oliver telling him she doesn’t want anymore regrets between them. They go. Slade tells Oliver he has survivors guilt that started with his father’s death. Thea steps on a landmine and Malcolm forces her off and takes out the people following them and himself. Nyssa and Talia square off in the most BADASS FIGHT. Slade pretends to betray Oliver so he could get captured and give Dinah this device so she can use her canary cry even with sonic dampeners. Quentin calls her THE BLACK CANARY. She squares off against Black Siren, in an equally matched fight, which I still think she would have won if she hadn’t slammed into a shelf. And BS was going off about bullshit and then Lance bashed her head with a beam. Oliver fights Chase, who wants Oliver to kill him. Which Oliver won’t do. He tells Chase that he “can blame me for your father’s death for the rest of your life, but I am done blaming me for mine.”

Chase runs because he has William on a boat. Oliver follows. They are on a boat. But Chase has planted explosives all over the island. And apparently it’s set to a kill switch. So if Oliver kills Chase, then the island where all his friends and family are blows. Chase has William, tells Oliver to either kill him and save William, or watch as he kills William. Oliver shoots chase in the leg and pulls william to him. But Chase had a gun and shoots himself in the head. and the whole island blows up AND WE WON’T KNOW ANYONE’S FATE UNTIL OCTOBER. 

[barry-writes]

Feud

Requested by Anonymous: The reader and Barry are dating but they're keeping it a secret from everyone and someone is flirting with the reader and Barry gets really jealous.

Requested by Anonymous: Barry and Wally both loving the reader but she loves Barry.

Pairings: Barry Allen x reader

Word count: 2601

A/N: I am back with the requests (finally)! I’m sorry it took me so long to post something, I’ve been with a little writer’s block lately, but hopefully that’ll change :) Anyway, I hope you enjoy this story and thanks for requesting!

Masterlist

You slowly started to open your eyes when the morning sun shined through the white curtains of your bedroom, gently illuminating your face. You looked down for a moment and took sight of the lean, long fingers wrapped around your waist as a charming voice hummed against the shell of your ear.

“Good morning, beautiful”, Barry sweetly said.

“Good morning!”, you replied in the same tone, lazily smiling.

You shifted in your place until you were completely turned around and facing him, pressing a long kiss to his jaw.

“Did you sleep well?”, you quietly asked, running your fingers through his soft brown hair.

“I always sleep well with you”, he smiled down at you and connected his lips with yours, resting his hand on your cheek.

You kissed for a moment until a knock on the bedroom door made you two pull apart immediately.

“Y/N, are you awake yet? We’re gonna be late”, Caitlin, your best friend and roommate called.

“Shit”, you said under your breath. “I forgot I have to go to an appointment with her today”.

“Ugh, seriously?”, Barry sighed annoyed as he slumped his head back on the pillow.

“You need to leave!”, you whispered.

You jumped out of bed and got rid of Barry’s shirt you were wearing, quickly getting dressed with the first items you could find around the room. Meanwhile Caitlin was impatiently knocking again, calling your name louder.

“I’m awake, Cait! Just give me two minutes, please!”, you shouted and then you could hear her groaning behind the door.

Lately every morning has been like this. Barry sneaks through your balcony door and stays the night, then the morning is an absolute mess of him getting away without being noticed and you trying to convince Caitlin that the voices she heard in your bedroom were just Netflix. You honestly didn’t understand how she was buying that. Everything would be okay if she knew you were dating Barry. If anyone knew, really.

A few months ago Barry opened up his heart for you and you started dating, but decided to not tell anyone. There was just too much going on and you didn’t want to take the focus out of the important stuff. I mean, there was Cisco dealing with his brother’s death, Caitlin and the Killer Frost problem, Wally training his new found speed and on top of that Savitar was still around, so yeah, no time for that kind of announcement. You just had to settle for the secret dates, the sneaking around and the stolen kisses when no one was looking, at least for now.

Barry was staring at you and stifling a laugh as you wiggled your butt to put on your skinny jeans. You just glared at him with a playful stern look, motioning with your hands for him to get out of bed. He got up and in the blink of an eye he changed his clothes as well, walking over to you and placing both of his hands on your hips.

“I’ll see you later?”, he whispered loud enough so only you would hear him.

“Yeah”, you smiled and quickly kissed him goodbye.

You felt that very familiar gust of wind around the room and just like that he was gone through your window. You slightly laughed to yourself thinking about how ridiculous it must be for him to run down 7 floors on the outside of the building. Thank God no one could see him.

You were suddenly pulled out of your thoughts with an annoyed Caitlin knocking on your door again, so you finally opened it and greeted her. You just took a quick sip of the coffee she had brought to you and then you headed to her appointment.

It ended a couple of hours later and you were both on your way to STAR Labs when Caitlin decided to confront you.

“So, was your mystery boyfriend over this morning?”, she asked nonchalantly, making you choke on your saliva.

“Mystery boyfriend? Caitlin, what the hell are you- ”.

“Oh c’mon, do you really think I’m that dumb?”, she said raising an eyebrow. “I’m one hundred per cent sure you are seeing someone, I just don’t know why you don’t wanna tell your best friend about it”, she looked at you pouting.

“I am not!”, you slightly chuckled at her expression. “I don’t understand why you would think that”.

“Well, because you’ve been way happier lately, you’ve been distracted, daydreaming about your boo I suppose”, she smirked while bumping your shoulder with hers, “And I can hear you talking in your room, I highly doubt it’s only Netflix”.

“You’re just imagining things”, you laughed it out trying to divert her attention from the subject. “Nothing’s happening in my love life, quit thinking about it!”, you said as you two stepped into the cortex.

“Keep fooling me, Y/N Y/L/N! I’m gonna find out the truth!”, she said with a faux drama in her tone.

“Find out the truth about what?”, Cisco asked turning his chair to face you.

“Nothing!”, you rapidly replied. “Just something about a case I’ve been working on”, you forced a smile.

“Okay...”, he said raising his eyebrows and returning to work on his computer.

You shrugged it off and greeted the rest of the team, grinning widely when Barry waved his hand at you. You were discreetly making your way over to him when you felt wind blowing in your face. When you managed to get your hair out of the way you took sight of Wally standing in front of you.

“Y/N, hey!”, he smiled.

“Hey, you!”, you replied returning the smile. “Were you out there training?”.

“Yes, I was! HR said I’m getting almost as fast as Barry!”, he excitedly told you.

“That’s great, Wally! Just don’t let him know that, though”, you joked and he laughed.

“Oh, while I was out I thought I’d get you something”, he said holding up the brown paper bag in his hand. “It’s a brownie from your favorite place”.

“No way!”, you gasped taking it from him. “Thank you so much!”, you said pressing a small kiss on his cheek.

“Anything for you, Y/N”, he chuckled. “So, I was wondering if you’d like to go to the movies tonight? You know, like a date...”, he asked in a quiet tone.

You froze when you heard the word “date”, standing there looking at him in surprise with your mouth hanging open.

“I- I actually already have plans for tonight, Wally. Sorry”.

“Oh, okay. Maybe we can do it another time?”, he asked hopefully.

“Uh, I don’t- well I- maybe we can see if it works out. I’m just real busy for the next few days”, you tumbled all over your words, trying to fake a laugh.

“All right then...We can talk about it later”, he slightly smiled.

“Yeah, yeah, sure”, you said walking around him to finally make your way to Barry, but he wasn’t sitting there anymore.

“Uh, where’s Barry?”, you asked confused.

“He ran off about a minute ago while you were distracted chit chatting”, Cisco answered you with his eyes still fixed on his screen.

You didn’t pay much attention to that since Barry always rushed away without saying anything when he remembered he had something to do. You only started to worry when a few hours had passed and he still hadn’t come back and was not answering your calls.

Fortunately he was okay and closer than you imagined, running around in the training room. Of course, he was in the cortex to witness Wally’s move on you and he didn’t like it at all, specially because that wasn’t the first time. He was frustrated because there was nothing he could do since your relationship was a secret, what made him even more upset.

Wally walked in and all he could see was Barry’s yellow lightning trail around the room.

“Wow”, he shouted, catching the speedster’s attention and making him stop moving. “So, you have heard about my powers, huh? Are you training to beat the competition?”, he teased with a smirk on his face.

“Ha! You wish”, Barry scoffed and the boy chuckled.

“You’ve been here this whole time? Everybody’s looking for you up there”.

“Yeah, I just needed to let off some steam”, Barry replied sitting on a step on the floor, Wally walked closer and stood in front of him.

“So...”, Barry started. “What’s up with you and Y/N?”, he asked trying to sound as casual as possible.

“Uh, nothing’s up...at least not yet”, the boy blushed while his lips turned into a soft smile.

“What do you mean ‘yet’?”, Barry raised an eyebrow.

“I’m trying to get her to go on a date with me, so”, he shrugged and Barry looked down, sighing.

“Dude, that’s not gonna happen”, he shook his head.

“What?”, Wally asked confused.

“Don’t you think you’re a little too young for her? I mean, she’s a woman and you’re just a boy. Y/N needs a man”.

“A man like you, perhaps?”, he asked annoyed.

“Wh- What do you mean?”.

“Well, maybe you’re just throwing me off because you like her too, isn’t that right, Barry? Huh? Don’t you have a crush on your best friend?”, he challenged crossing his arms to his chest.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Wally”, Barry said trying to disguise his feelings. “Exactly because she’s my best friend that I’m telling you that. I know Y/N very well”.

“Do you really?”, he asked in a mocking tone.

“Yes, really”, Barry smugly quirked an eyebrow.

“Maybe you’re wrong this time. Maybe there are things you don’t know about her. I’m not gonna stop trying to be with her, wether you like it or not!”, he said angrily stomping to the exit.

“Wally, I’m really just trying to protect you here. Y/N doesn’t like you and she won’t be with you. She likes someone else. The sooner you realize that the less you’ll get hurt”.

“Wait”, he turned around on his heels. “She likes someone? Who?”.

“I can’t tell you. But I can assure you she’s happy, so if you really care about her you should just leave her alone. Specially because she’ll get really sad for letting you down”.

“You know what? I don’t buy what you say”, he pointed at him and finally left the room, leaving Barry huffing and puffing.

Throughout the rest of the day you still didn’t hear from Barry, even at night when you were waiting for him at your apartment he didn’t show up. You plopped yourself on the bed sighing, throwing your phone aside and giving up on the calls.

The following day you arrived late, not even Caitlin’s knocks and shouts were able to wake you up. When you entered the cortex you said ‘good morning’ to everyone and they turned to you, your face falling in a disappointed expression when you locked eyes with Barry. He just offered you a sad tight lipped smile.

Unlike Wally, who smiled brightly at the sight of you, this time bringing a cup of coffee he had picked just for you. The gesture wasn’t making the situation any better for Barry and you (and everyone else) noticed when he loudly sighed.

“Um, Barry?”, you quietly called. “Can we talk? I need to run some things by you”.

“Yeah...sure”, he said getting up from his chair and following you into the nursing room.

“What the hell is your problem?”, you asked after you closed the door behind you. He didn’t respond, he just kept looking down.

“Barry, c’mon!”, you walked over to him. “Everything was great yesterday morning and then you disappeared without a single word. You straight up ignored me and bailed on our date. What happened?”.

“I just wasn’t feeling well. I kind of had a fight with Wally yesterday”.

“What? Why?”.

“Because of you, Y/N”, he said scratching the back of his neck. “He likes you and as far as he knows you’re single, so he’s making his move and that’s really bothering me”.

“Aww, so you’re jealous?”, you looked at him with a smile.

“This is not funny, you know?”, he shook his head. “We’re all gonna get screwed in this story”.

“Baby, everything’s gonna be okay”, you said snaking your arms around his neck. “I’m trying my best to not lead him on, he just doesn’t seem to get the message”, you slightly pouted.

“Then you need to try harder, Y/N. He’s really determined”, he sighed as he placed his hands on your waist. “I don’t want to see him getting his feelings hurt and I for sure don’t want to see him all over my girl”.

“Your girl, huh?”, you smirked.

“Yes, all mine”, he smiled down at you as he leaned forward to kiss your lips.

Just then the door swung open and Wally walked in on you, freezing in his place when he saw what was going on. You three just stood there in shock.

“Looks like you really know her, don’t you, Barry?”, he angrily said before running off.

You tried to call for him but he was already gone. You two walked back to the cortex and everyone was looking at you confused, asking what happened with Wally.

“He saw Barry and I kissing, okay? We were kissing because we’re dating! Barry’s my boyfriend! We’ll discuss that later, now we need to find Wally”, you lashed out heading to a computer.

To say everybody’s mouths (including Barry’s) were hanging open in shock is an understatement and there were so many questions hanging in the air, but Wally was the priority right now. However, neither of you were capable to track him down so you just stayed in the lab waiting for him to come back, but he didn’t.

When the night fell down you headed with Barry to Joe’s place, finding Wally sitting alone in the porch. You went over and sat next to him, Barry entered the house to give you two time to talk.

“I’m sorry, Wally”, you quietly said.

“Why didn’t you just tell me?”, he asked looking up at you.

“We just thought it would be easier to not tell anyone. Apparently we were very wrong”, you winced.

“Yeah...”, he agreed.

“I hope you don’t stay mad at us forever. We really care about you”, you looked at him with pleading eyes.

“I know you do, don’t worry about it. I’m just a little shaken”, he assured you.

“Well, I’m sure you won’t be in a little while. You will find someone that will really love you”, you smiled. “Someone your own age, for example...”.

“Oh, c’mon! I’m not that young!”, he protested.

“Yes, you are”, you said scrunching your nose and you both laughed.

“Barry really likes you, you know? I kind of always knew that”.

“Yeah, well...I really like him too”, you chuckled and he smiled. “Are you gonna be okay?”.

“I think I will, yes”, he nodded.

“Good”, you smiled and gave him a loving hug. “Now we should probably tell your father we found you, he’s got police cars all over town after you”.

“Sounds like something he would do”, he shook his head laughing.

You quickly got up and walked in the house with Wally. Him and Barry then made peace as well, talking a little and shaking each other’s hand. 

You felt like things were starting to fall into place now that everything was out there and everyone knew and showed support. You and Barry could finally have the free relationship you deserved after months of hiding.

[lady-divine-writes]

Coldflash one-shot - “Racking Up Points” (Rated T)

Len following Barry around Central City started out as surveillance, a way to learn The Flash's secrets. But the more time Len spent following Barry, the more he got it into his head to start helping Barry out here and there ... so Barry would end up owing him one. Yup. That's the reason. (2416 words)

Warning for mention of injuries.

Originally written for the @coldflashweek2016 prompt 'saving each other'.

Read on AO3.

Following The Flash wasn’t supposed to become a past time for Len. It had started out as research. Strategy. Barry Allen was Len’s only real roadblock to getting anything done in Central City, and now that Len had decided to extend his stay, he needed to know how to defeat him. Len had already learned two of Barry’s biggest weaknesses – his compassion for others and his secret identity. But those were no longer leverage enough. Len had to really wedge himself underneath Barry’s skin like a splinter, become a permanent presence, but not as a simple adversary. He had to evolve into something that would spark Barry’s interest.

A pet project.

Len had to constantly blur the line between good and evil, be ambiguous enough in Barry’s eyes that no matter what he did, Barry would see him as redeemable.

That way, Barry would always give him another chance.

But following The Flash around had become fun. When Barry wasn’t in the midst of a battle, performing superhuman stunts and flinging witty one-liners, he was actually a bit of a klutz. In the time since Len had started chasing him down, he’d watched Barry smack into more flagpoles, trip over more air, and destroy more asphalt than Len thought humanly possible.

If Barry wasn’t a superhero, Central City would be shaking him down for millions in repair costs.

Len kind of regretted not recording all of Barry’s foul ups and uploading them to YouTube. He could sell his videos to the news stations and make some serious bank. And with the amount of conspiracy theorists trolling the Internet, searching for clues to The Flash’s secret identity, maybe he could start a subscription only service and live off the residuals. Then he could hang up his cold gun for good.

If anything, it could be a way to transition Lisa out of this life of crime he’d unintentionally initiated her into. She could be the face in front of the camera, talking before the clips, and Len could work behind the scenes, providing the content.

The only downside was that if anyone found out that the recordings came from Len, they might stop seeing him as a credible threat and start seeing him as a fanboy. He’d have to quit crime altogether, possibly join Team Flash, and fight for truth, justice, and the American way.

Len chuckled at the absurdity. Like that could ever happen. Still, in another life, it might be something to think about.

For being a superhero with a secret identity, who performed secret experimentation in a secret lab, The Flash wasn’t that difficult to find. It didn’t matter that Len hadn’t finished high school, which Dr. Snow kindly kept reminding the members of their team. It didn’t take a lot of intelligence to use a screwdriver and a soldering iron. Or to buy a police scanner and a drone. S.T.A.R. Labs had their fingerprints on tech all over the city. Even with the cheap, electronic devices readily available to the average thirteen-year-old who’d swiped their parents’ credit card, tracking S.T.A.R. Labs wasn’t rocket science.

The trick was not to let them know that Len was watching. The second they knew, they’d find a way to knock him out, and then he’d have to start over from scratch. But by then, they might up their game. Len wasn’t afraid of a challenge. He was always up for improving his skill set. But there was no reason to make things harder than necessary.

But lately, Len had gone from casual observer to participant, and it happened quite by accident. The first time, it was to save his own skin. He was made by a guy during a robbery The Flash was thwarting. Whoever he was, he thought Len was an undercover cop. Len was fine to leave him be and let The Flash handle him, take him to jail with all the other rejects, but the man called Len out. So Len took him out of the picture. Len realized later that by doing so, he’d eliminated a threat for The Flash.

And it felt good.

Little by little, Len started interfering more – took out a henchman here, tripped up a metahuman there, sometimes with his gun, sometimes with his bare hands. He liked to think that he may have saved Barry’s neck a couple of times. Len had no intention of jumping ship, but he did find himself embracing his inner chaotic neutral. It didn’t seem fair that Barry was out on the streets, risking his neck on his own, with his whole team watching from the safety of S.T.A.R. Labs. Len would think that at least Cisco would be willing to get his hands dirty. Cisco had the balls. He’d defended Barry against Len with that super powered cold gun (which Len had discovered later through spy drone surveillance was actually a super powered vacuum cleaner), but Len hadn’t seen Cisco hit the bricks since.

Maybe Len was giving Ramon too much credit. Maybe he was just a one and done kind of guy.

And yeah, Barry had the CCPD on his side, but it seemed like they’d slack off a bit once they heard that The Flash was headed for the scene.

It seemed to Len that the police in this town needed to get off their asses and earn a buck.

Well, if they weren’t, then Len would.

Not because he felt sorry for the kid, but because he liked The Flash owing him one. He’d keep racking up the points and then turn them in for something big later on. And as for watching Barry’s back, well, all those brownie points that Len had been accruing wouldn’t be worth anything to him if Barry was dead.

Yeah. He'd keep telling himself that. Considering the fact that he wasn’t keeping any evidence of the good deeds he’d done, the likelihood that he’d be able to convince Barry that he’d been giving him a hand was next to nil.

Tonight, Len was stalking Mr. Incredible while he rescued textile workers from a structure fire. The warehouse in flames was located only a few miles outside of town, but Len didn’t know why fire crews hadn’t shown up yet. The fire had to be visible for miles around. Deep in his gut, Len had a bad feeling that this might be some sort of inside job, but he didn’t have the connections to check on that hunch. For now, he’d have to wait things out and make sure that Golden Boy didn’t get himself into too much trouble.

If Barry did go up in flames, Len had his gun on him. He could just cool Barry off.

Sweep after sweep, The Flash raced in and out, pulling singed workers to safety two at a time and depositing them God knew where. Couldn’t be Police Plaza, because then they’d be here to lend a hand, wouldn’t they?

Just as Barry zipped back in from his last delivery, a gold Buick Century pulled up and parked not too far from Len. From the make and model of their vehicle – widely available and highly forgettable – Len knew that whoever was driving had to have something to do with this. Len slouched down to watch as two men dressed in black got out. They weren’t firemen, and they definitely weren’t cops, but Len had a feeling that they were here to lend a hand.

They stood in front of their car and watched the building burn. Len watched, too, wondering where Barry was. Did he get everyone out? Was he doing one final sweep? Did he notice the men pull up and decide to lay low, wait to see what they’d do?

Was he stuck inside, in some sort of trouble?

“Seems to be flaming up pretty nicely,” the first man said with a self-satisfied chuckle.

“Yeah,” his cohort agreed. “But it’s gonna take a while to burn completely, ain’t it?”

“Yup.” The first man reached into his jacket and pulled a black package out of his pocket. “So why don’t we help it along?” He tossed the brick-shaped package overhand into the flames. Both men raced back and ducked behind their car. Len hit the deck as far down to the floor as he could.

He wasn’t sure what was about to happen, but when you’re on a sinking ship, you follow the rats.

Before Len could even consider Barry in all this, the building blew, walls crumbling, windows shattering, fire spitting out so hot Len could feel it through the sturdy metal doors of his own boosted Buick Skylark with the windows rolled up, parked some 50 feet away. Len didn’t know if there had been anyone left in that building, but the only person Len was even remotely worried about had been shot out a fourth floor window. With his head down, Len heard Barry hit the ground, an Oompf! of pain the last sound he made, but Len couldn’t look up right away to check on him. A second, more powerful explosion followed the first, this time shattering the windows of his car and spraying his bowed back with glass.

“Jesus Christ!” one of the men crowed. He yelled something else that Len couldn’t hear over the ringing in his ears. But when something close to words started to penetrate his brain again, Len made out the words “… think it’s The Flash.”

“It is The Flash,” Len heard, the words accompanied by the crunching of glass and the kicking of rubble as the men walked the distance from their car to Barry’s body. “Do you think he’s dead?”

“I don’t know. That was some killer fall he took.”

“Well, he ain’t moving.”

Len held his breath. He’d seen Barry take a hit before. Hell, Len had shot him before. And each time, Barry recovered, gotten to his feet and fought back. But from the sounds of it, Barry wasn’t this time. Len didn’t know if it was a part of some elaborate plan on Barry’s part, or because he couldn’t. But his friends would know. They monitor his every move. Where the hell was the S.T.A.R. Labs van? Where was Caitlin and Cisco and Joe to save the day?

“Hey! Wanna make this a double payday?”

“Whaddya mean?”

“Let’s check under the mask. Find out who this Flash character really is. That’s gotta be worth somethin’ to someone, right?”

That was the point when Len knew Barry needed him. Not Caitlin or Cisco, not the police or the fire department. Him. Leonard Snart.

Besides, the only criminal in Central City who knew who The Flash really was was Leonard Snart, and Len refused to share that franchise.

Len climbed off the floor and got out of his car just as the two men started crouching down. The first man, the man who had thrown what Len guessed was some kind of explosive into the burning building, was fingering the edge of Barry’s mask when Len called out, “Hey!” By the time they turned around, Len had his gun powered up and raised. “No peeking.”

It wasn’t one of his best quips. His powers of snark weren’t as strong as Barry’s. But at least the men didn’t get the chance to clap back.

Len froze them both where they stood.

Len didn’t run over to Barry right away. He watched, waiting for him to spring up off the ground and zoom away like he usually did, but this time, Barry wasn’t moving. With the two men frozen stiff beside him, Len couldn’t even tell if Barry was breathing.

“Shit!” Len hurried across the debris-strewn asphalt. He still didn’t know why emergency vehicles were nowhere to be seen, but Len had to assume they would arrive any time. He had to move quick before anyone actually got it into their thick skulls to show up. “Barry!” Len hissed as he got closer. “Barry, are you alright? Barry! Why aren’t you getting up, Barry?”

Len heard more crunching of glass and gravel before he saw Barry’s head move. “Snart?”

“Yeah, it’s me,” Len replied, trying not to sound relieved. “That’s quite some fall you took there. How ya feelin’?”

Barry looked up at Len with an unfocused, squinty stare. “Peachy.”

Len laughed at having his own sarcastic remark thrown back at him. “Seriously. What’s the deal? I thought you were indestructible.”

“Well, there’s a first time for everything, isn’t there?”

“You think anything’s broken?” Len asked, eager to get a move on.

“No. I … I don’t think so.” Barry tried to sit up, but after raising his torso about an inch off the ground, he gave up and settled back down. “Did you do this?”

“Sadly no. Not this time. But I’m here to help you.”

Barry’s total confusion was almost more painful to look at than the black and blues blossoming across his face. “Why?”

“Don’t know. I think it has something to do with that face you make when you realize that you owe me.” Barry’s face scrunches, and Len points. “There it is. That’s the face. Now, come on, Flash. Let’s get you outta here. You need medical attention. You look pretty banged up.”

“No,” Barry said, giving Len no assistance whatsoever when the man tried to help him to his feet. Though, to be fair, he’d just been thrown from a burning building and landed on his spine. “Just leave me here.”

“Now why would you want me to do that?”

“It hurts less.”

“No dice. I don’t know where the cops are, but I’m here. I might as well get you out of harm’s way.” Len took off his parka and wrapped Barry up in it, not just to keep him warm, but to shield him from prying eyes, both good and bad.

“D-don’t you n-need your c-coat?” Barry groaned, suddenly shivering as Len carried him away from the fire, his adrenaline levels dropping, his body shutting down to help him recover faster. “It’s the m-middle of winter. It h-has to b-be fr-freezing out here.”

“Meh,” Len said. “The cold never bothered me anyway.”

“No … No!” Barry groaned. “You c-can’t rescue m-me if you’re g-going to quote F-frozen.”

Len wasn’t actually quoting Frozen, but now that he knew it bugged Barry, he did what he felt any true chaotic neutral would do.

“Let it go, Barry.” Len smirked, carrying Barry to his waiting car. “Just let it go.”

[jade4813]

Rewatch of 2a. It's a painful endeavor, but I keep going back to what a wasted opportunity they had with Patricia. I know she was a 10 episode guest star, but how much more compelling would she have been if they had made her Zoom? I know we would have to had put up with her for the entire season, but this way they could have spread out her episodes. Plus, all that stalking she was doing of Barry at the beginning would have made more sense, instead of her turning out to be a thirsty fangirl.

I agree with you that Patty was wasted (and why are you rewatching 2A? Love yourself!) And that Zoom was even mishandled. But I don’t know that I would have made her Zoom - though I also see your point about her stalking. But the problem is, they have to stop introducing the villains as Barry’s friends in some way. I mean, at a certain point, when everyone new you meet tries to kill you, you should maybe stop making new friends. Or do such a thorough investigation of everyone you meet that you could tell their proctologist a thing or two.

Since Patty was supposed to be his “escape” from the reality of his life as Flash (something else they didn’t show very well, though I accept it was their intent), I actually think they had all the tools they needed to do something very interesting with her.

From the beginning, they kind of rammed home this backstory of her, about her father being murdered by a metahuman and that being what caused her to want to be on the metahuman task force. Okay, that makes sense. Hell, they made a task force…that they then did nothing with, really. Like, at all.

If Hunter was supposed to be Zoom, that’s fine. Don’t do the wishy-washy story with him that they did, trying to decide if he’ll be Zoom or not. Incidentally, what was their plan B? Or, rather, who? Have him also be on the task force and decide he can use Patty’s anger and hatred of metas to his advantage, not letting her know who he is, of course. She can either meet Barry because she’s hella thirsty and a little stalkery or because he kind of subtly pushes them together (”Why don’t you go see if the CSI found anything we can use” kind of thing.)

Patty and Barry meet. He’s drawn to her as an escape or avoidance of his real life. Maybe actually have him seem to be actually INTO her, even if it’s just because of that. Instead of kinda remembering she exists on occasion and really treating her like a convenience. They grow closer. They even start dating.

But, here’s the thing. Have her actually hate Flash too, and have her make that clear from the onset. It made NO sense she was like “all metahumans should be stopped but you know the Flash teeheehee!” At the very least, she should have been dubious of him, and Barry can’t really talk her out of it. Maybe she even INSISTS on unmasking him - like he is her Number One Target (after the guy who killed her dad if they want) - because “even if he’s doing good NOW, we’ve all seen what they can do. What happens if he’s playing us, or if he goes bad in future? The only way to be safe is to know who these people ARE so they can be stopped if they need to be.” So now he’s dating this woman who really likes Barry Allen but really doesn’t like or trust Flash.

And at first, that’s okay! Sure, it makes it so that he can never tell her his secret, but isn’t that in part the appeal? She isn’t part of his life as Flash and he doesn’t want her to be, so it’s okay he can’t tell her. And her dislike of Flash means they don’t talk about him and when he’s with her, he can pretend the Flash doesn’t exist, too.

Except he does, and the longer that Barry is with Patty, the more he realizes that he can’t entirely deny that’s who he is, not even as an occasional escape. In fact, he doesn’t want to. So while he uses Patty as an escape from his life as Flash, it’s actually his relationship with her - and that effort to pretend he’s something he’s not - that makes him realize that even with the bad that has come with it, Flash is who he IS. And he’s not really happy denying that part of himself.

You could have Patty come around and grudgingly accept the Flash, but ultimately, it doesn’t matter. She isn’t really able to accept who he is, and he can’t forget that the whole appeal of her was to be someone he’s not. The relationship ends. Maybe she’s even angry he kept it from her and Zoom uses that anger, as well as her hatred and fear of metahumans, against her, telling her it’s proof Flash can’t be trusted. So she almost helps Zoom kill Flash. And perhaps then, it’s revealed that Hunter was Zoom, and he was playing Patty, feeding her hatred of metas, feeding her distrust of Flash, and using her to know how to get close to Barry. And it’s at this point that he actually starts being more tied to Barry’s story. Not because he started out with Barry as a “friend” but because he was on this metahuman task force that Patty was involved with, and that gave him all sorts of info on metas in the city he could use to stop Flash. Not to mention all of the tools and information he needed to study Flash before they even met - who he loves, how he fights, the best ways to take him down both physically and emotionally.

In the end, Patty realizes what Hunter was up to and that she was wrong about Flash, and she helps Flash stop (in some way, even temporarily) him as her redemptive arc. And then she decides to leave town and go be a CSI or SOMETHING because she realizes that the hate that had driven her was actually used against her. The worst of the metahumans used it - and thus her - to almost stop an actual hero. So now she has to decide where she goes from here, and how she can use her abilities moving forward without being driven by the hate. And, ultimately, while she may love Barry, every time she looks at him, she’s reminded of how blinded she was and what she unwittingly became, in being Zoom’s pawn. And what her hatred and fear almost drove her to do.

And Barry, meanwhile, has realized and really embraced that he IS the Flash, and even if he could continue to pretend not to be, it wouldn’t make him happy. He’s happier as the Flash, even with the sorrows that come with it, and he’s proud of what he can do for the city.

Hell, maybe even the metahuman task force, through Zoom and thus Patty, had started to turn the city against the Flash, or at least made them question whether they should fear what he could become. I mean, at the very least, Zoom is a possible “After” in some sort of Speedster Road to Villainy. Iris would have been struggling against that growing unease and uncertainty with her articles, continuing to fight the fear Zoom was sowing in the citizens of the city. Hell, maybe as the person on the front lines, she was the first to realize where it was stemming from and the first to wonder if there could be something rotten in the state of Denmark.

And in the aftermath of everything, the metahuman task force maybe isn’t disbanded but there is more caution in how it’s used and who is on it. Because maybe Hunter destroyed a lot of innocent people’s lives using the task force along the way - people who had powers but never used them for evil and maybe never would have done. Plus, then we’d see some metahumans who get powers and don’t turn evil (or even necessarily good) but just kinda continue on with their lives, only now they have the ability to turn roses yellow with a wave of their hand, or to give dust bunnies temporary sentience, so when they’re lonely, they can make themselves very dusty pet pals for a half hour or so.

Iris still has to fight to try to heal the invisible wounds Zoom - and fear - left behind. And Barry realizes that even with the new challenge of a city that is rocked and uncertain by recent events, he’s STILL the Flash and he still wants to be their hero and prove to them that they don’t have to be afraid because every time he’s knocked down, he’ll still choose to get up and keep fighting. For them.

As a bonus, you would have missed out on the terrible Caitlin/Jay storyline and it wouldn’t be a bit of black humor that everyone she loves dies.

Anyway, that’s what I think they could have done with Patty, just using the pieces they already had.