#FSFFWeek20

[coldflasher]

Part of Femslash Week, organised by @flarrowverse-shipyard​ :D Femslash Week Day 4 - Bed Sharing/Snuggling

Pairing: Charlie/Zari Tarazi

Rating: Teen (mentions of sex)

TW: mentions of sex and character death

Read on AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23028457 

All That Glitters by coldflasher (capriciouslouis on ao3)

“Most of the rooms down this corridor are spoken for," says Sara. "You’re gonna have to bunk up.���

Thanks to a mysterious shortage of rooms on the Waverider, Zari and Charlie have to share a bed. Neither of them are particularly upset about the situation.

“So can you really shapeshift into anything?”

They’re lying in bed together in Charlie’s bedroom, which looks like a teenager’s emo phase met a museum exhibit in the middle of a tornado. Glossy vinyl records spill out of their sleeves all across the floor like the world’s most dangerous stepping stones. There are clothes abandoned everywhere where Charlie’s stepped out of them and left them there, including a pair of lacy black underwear draped over the lampshade, and battered punk posters of howling singers plastered all over the walls. It wouldn’t have been Zari’s first choice of bedroom, but she didn’t exactly get to choose. When she’d announced she was staying, she’d had a look through a bunch of different rooms and thought she’d finally found a nice one - a little vintage, smelling faintly of perfume - when Sara had grabbed her by the arm.

“Nope. This one’s off limits.”

“Why? There’s no one in here.” And there hadn’t been for some time, judging by the layers of dust. 

Sara hesitated. “It belonged to a friend.”

“Well your friend isn’t here now, and I am, so…”

“You’re temporary,” Sara snapped. “You don’t get to rearrange everything just to suit you.”

“Who made you the boss?” asked Zari. Certainly no one who believed in the importance of manners.

Sara smiled thinly. “Popular vote.” She released Zari’s wrist. “Most of the rooms down this corridor are spoken for. You’re gonna have to bunk up.”

At the time Zari had been deeply unimpressed by this rudeness - the ship was huge, and there were so many empty rooms, so why shouldn’t she take one that was free? But when she’d tried to let herself into another empty bedroom, this time it was the AI that locked her out.

“What is with you people?” she demanded. “Why do you hate me?”

“This room belonged to Leonard Snart,” Gideon told her. “It has remained almost untouched since his death at the Vanishing Point in 2016.”

Zari had been trying to prise a panel off the wall to see if she could have another flash of inspiration that would let her hack her way in, but at this, she paused.

“Wait,” she said. “This room belonged to a dead guy?”

Gideon explained, and she discovered the sad truth of all those rooms lying empty. Each one was a time capsule for a departed team member. Some had left voluntarily, others had passed away - but regardless of the circumstances, each bedroom still remained as its occupant had left it, like a time capsule. As if the team was waiting for their lost and fallen members to come walking back through the door. They could travel back and forth in time, but the people they loved were still lost… and apparently it was easier to leave everything as it was than to move on.

This deeply traumatising discovery had a horrible effect on Zari, who was an empath and highly sensitive. She’d ended up in the kitchen having a staring competition with a doughnut, afraid that Behrad’s peace offering the other day had started a dessert-related backslide that she’d never be free of - and that was where Charlie found her.

“You all right?” Charlie asked, concerned. “You look a bit bummed out.”

“All the free bedrooms are for dead people,” Zari mumbled.

Charlie had given her a big grin that had a strangely uplifting effect, like she transferred happiness across the room with one glowing smile.

“Well. If you need somewhere to rest that pretty head, you can always come and have a kip with me.”

That was how they ended up in Charlie’s disaster of a bedroom, and if Zari’s being honest with herself, she doesn’t hate it. Thanks to her social media following, she doesn’t really have the opportunity to be messy. She has to be ready to turn on the camera at all times, to look pretty and perfect and put-together. Dirty laundry isn’t conducive with her brand. 

“So you can really shapeshift into anything?” she asks.

Charlie turns towards her with a  grin. “Ah, there it is. Knew it’d come up eventually. Come on then, spill the beans. Who’s your fantasy shag?”

“Excuse me?” says Zari.

“You know, your fantasy shag! George Clooney, Gillian Anderson… who makes your fanny flutter?”

“George Clooney’s like, super old,” says Zari, wrinkling her nose. “And for the record, your word choice leaves a lot to be desired. I don’t know how you do things in England, but where I’m from ‘fanny’ is not a sexy word.”

“Sorry. Picked up an English accent back in the seventies and for some reason I can’t seem to shake it.” Charlie stretches lazily, pointing her toes, one painted nail poking out through a hole in her fishnet tights. “But you’re changing the subject. Being in bed with me means you can sleep with anyone you like. Who do you want me to be?”

Zari thinks about it for a while. She looks at Charlie sprawled out on the bed with her fuck-me eyes half closed, her wicked grin and the wild cloud of hair wrestled into its braid, tinged purple at the end; her stripey shirt and mesh jacket. Effortlessly sexy and cocky enough to know it. 

“I don’t think I want you to be anybody. I like you how you are.”

Charlie looks surprised. “Really?”

“Yeah,” Zari says. “I mean I know this isn’t your original form, but it looks good on you. I’m sure you still look sexy with your tentacles or whatever -”

“My original form would melt your brain,” says Charlie. “But I can probably rustle up a couple of tentacles if you’re into that.”

“Maybe later,” says Zari. “That’s not my point. I feel like if I was going to sleep with someone with shapeshifting powers, I’d want them to look whichever way made them comfortable. A body’s just a body. The sexy part is what you do with it.”

“You really mean that, don’t you?”

“Of course. I’m very sincere. It’s one of my most awesome qualities.”

Charlie grinned a little bit at that. Zari found herself smiling back.

“I don’t think anyone’s said that to me before,” says Charlie. Her expression dims slightly and she starts toying with a loose thread on the pillowcase. “This isn’t my real face, obviously. Belongs to some bird named Amaya who lived here a few years back. When I first met the team, I put her face on just to mess with them. Then I kind of got stuck with it for a bit. Now I can change again, but I’ve had it so long that it feels like my face. But they still don’t see it that way. Sometimes I feel like they still look at me and see…”

“Her,” Zari says softly.

“Yeah.” Charlie rolls onto her back. “It’s partly my fault, I know. That’s the whole reason I looked like this, because I knew it would throw them off. But now I want to just be me, Charlie, without some random woman hanging over me making them do a double-take when I do something that’s super anti-Amaya. You’re the only one on the ship who hasn’t met her, the only person who looks at me and sees… me.”

It’s the first time she’s ever heard Charlie be serious. No flirting or wisecracks. For the first time, staring into her eyes, Zari can believe that Charlie is a fate. That she’s seen civilisations fall and the centuries pass like seasons. No one as young as Charlie looks could have eyes so old.

“I get that,” she says quietly, propping herself up on her elbow. “It’s not the same, but… when you grow up famous, people think they know you. It’s like there’s a part of you that doesn’t belong to you. I can never just be me; I have to be the brand. And I love it, I’m proud of it, I spent years building it - I just wish people could see past it. Even my parents don’t know me.”

“I have a confession,” says Charlie. 

“Go on.”

“I don’t have a bloody clue who you are.”

Zari cackles. It’s a horribly unattractive sound she would never have permitted in one of her vlogs, but it feels so good to let it out.

“I’m serious! You could tell me you’re the Queen of Sheba and I’d believe ya.”

“You gotta join the Z-nation,” Zari teases, snapping her fingers in a Z-formation. “I’ll add you to the mailing list.”

“You’d better bloody not.”

It feels good to laugh, and even better to have someone laughing with her. When she first joined the team and realised none of Behrad’s friends recognised her, it had pissed her off. She’s an icon! She has a make-up range and a million followers and even if the perfume launch didn’t go exactly to plan, she’s still in the running for influencer of the year if she can knock Stormi Jenner off the top spot. But although Charlie doesn’t know her, she doesn’t make it sound like a bad thing. It’s not because she thinks Zari is vapid or irrelevant or beneath her notice. She just… doesn’t know. There’s no prior expectations, no way she can disappoint. For the first time in years, she can be judged not on who she has been for a decade, but on who she is today.

“I may not know you,” Charlie says softly. “But I’d like to.”

“Well then,” says Zari, offering her a manicured hand. “I’m Zari. Nice to meet you.”

She’s expecting Charlie to shake her hand, but instead, she lifts it up to her mouth and kisses it. And like a fourteen-year-old with a first crush, Zari blushes.

“Yeah,” Charlie says with a smirk, knowing exactly what kind of effect she’s having. “I think you and I are going to get along just fine.”

[ameliapll1]

Day two for @flarrowverse-shipyard Femslash week.

Day 2: Role reversal

In which Nora West-Allen goes into the Negative Speed Force a little earlier, and doesn’t- can’t- forgive everyone she loves loved for lying to her, and goes back to 2019 to get revenge/stop her mother from implanting the chip/...something really, really villainous that she’s not quite sure about yet. She just has one tiny problem- Mark Mardon’s unfairly gorgeous daughter.

Joss Jackam was adamant about not being like her father, so when her weather vane implemented with dark matter, no matter how much she was aching to kill him, she did something else to cut him to his core. She worked with The Flash and his team.

She just wasn’t quite familiar with how to handle a black clothed speedster with purple and red lightning who kept on saving her and then disappearing.

[purpleyin]

DCTV moodboards: Lovebirds for @flarrowverse-shipyard‘s Femslash Week - a late Day 5 - Domestic

[ins0mnia-an0nym0us-au]

COLLEGE AU | IRIS WEST X CAITLIN SNOW

Iris studies at the local cafe for her Journalism degree, she notices Caitlin one day studying for what looks like a medical career and at first keeps her distance but over time they grow closer.

Caitlin later reveals she’s autistic and has never flourished in a social aspect, Iris thanks her for telling her but could already tell and didn’t care. Everything about Caitlin was adorable to her, from the way she paid close attention to everything Iris said or did to the way she got sucked into things like studying or her morning breakfast.

Yeah, Iris West was falling hard for Caitlin Snow.

(very late day 1 for the Flarrowverse Femslash Week @flarrowverse-shipyard​ )

[oojei]

@flarrowverse-shipyard ‘s FEMSLASH WEEK 2020 Day 5 - Coffeeshop AU ft. Gideon/Marlize Devoe

Warning: Slight Angst

“Hello, Marlize.” “Who- where are we?”

Looking around, Marlize saw the familiar London coffee shop she used to frequent, before .. all of this.

“How did you bring me here?” “I didn’t,” the woman smiled, “My name is Gideon. I’m pretty sure you have known about my system?”

“You’re the Star Labs AI? Capable of teleportation?” 

But Gideon just smiled. “I am not the Star Labs current AI. That one is a bit ancient. As for the teleportation, do you remember what you were doing before we met?”

“Before?” Marlize had to take a step back, right. She had created something that relives her memories - the happy memories that she had with Clifford, one where he wasn’t consumed with his ambition, yet. A harmless piece of tech that transfers her consciousness to her imagination, her memories.

She has been using it whenever she feels sad, whenever she misses him, whenever she feels regret. Somehow, Marlize doesn’t remember the last time she hasn’t used it.

“I rewired the transfer so I could bring you to my matrix.” “Why?” “It seemed like you need someone to help you move on.”

[purpleyin]

DCTV moodboards: Snowest for @flarrowverse-shipyard‘s Femslash Week - a late Day 1 - Playing with each other’s hair.

[purpleyin]

DCTV moodboards: Nora/Lia for @flarrowverse-shipyard‘s Femslash Week - a late Day 4 - Bed sharing/snuggling

[purpleyin]

DCTV moodboards: KillerGold for @flarrowverse-shipyard‘s Femslash Week - a late Day 2 - Role Reversal

Golden Glider sprays a smooth trail across the casino floor and is sliding across it elegantly, trying to escape before Barry is done freeing the crowd of gold-encased victims.

Lisa is no hero but she can't just let Caitlin Snow get away with the gun she forced Cisco to build, he's been berating himself enough already for giving in to her demands. So Lisa launches herself after the woman, glad for her many years of ice skating coming in handy.

One minute she's gliding over to Snow, easily having her in her sights, and the next she comes over in a chill. A memory flashes up of sliding over ice in an unfamiliar scenario. Not ice skating as she knows, more like this. And so cold.

That's when she comes to an abrupt stop, stuck to the floor. She thinks for a moment she's been gilded to the floor but Snow is just as surprised when she looks down, seeing no sign of why she came to a stop apart from a light covering of frost on her shoes. Lisa feels a spike of fear and confusion and ice spreads out further from under her feet.

"Interesting," Snow says, before she blows an exaggerated kiss goodbye. "Hope I'll be seeing you around, Frosty."

[coldflasher]

Part of Femslash Week, organised by @flarrowverse-shipyard​ :D Femslash Week Day 6 - Snowed In

Pairing: Caitlin Snow/Iris West

Rating: Teen (mentions of sex)

TW: mentions of sex 

Read on AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23031847

Safe As Houses by coldflasher (capriciouslouis on ao3)

“I just can’t understand where this blizzard is coming from,” Iris says, staring out of the window in disbelief.

“Yeah,” Caitlin says guiltily. “Me neither.”

Iris and Caitlin are investigating an abandoned cabin in the woods when a mysterious snow-storm strikes out of nowhere. It’s pretty cold inside the cabin, but luckily for them, there are a lot of ways to keep each other warm.

“I just can’t understand where this blizzard is coming from,” Iris says, staring out of the window in disbelief.

“Yeah,” Caitlin says guiltily. “Me neither.”

When they arrived at the cabin in the middle of the woods, it was a cheerful spring day and sun was streaming between the leaves of the trees overhead, gold spotlights dappling the moss. Just a few hours later, the snow is piling up thickly on the windowsill outside and the glass in the windows shimmer with frost. The front door is stuck shut as if glued. Iris shakes her head at the snow piling up outside while Caitlin looks at the bluish tips of her fingers and flexes her hands to shake off the last remnants of the icy fog that swirls and clings to her like an aura.

The cabin is part of the investigation they’re conducting into a series of mysterious meta attacks that S.T.A.R Labs has been looking into, and Iris has been working on an article to try and set the city’s minds at ease. Caitlin, who’s been acting as her medical consultant and making sure Iris keeps the science straight, agreed to tag along to check out the scene of the crime – not that there’s any evidence left now, everything cleared away, including the markers that stood on every surface like the flags Caitlin used to stick in sandcastles on the beach when she was a kid. It was supposed to be a short trip, but with the snow outside showing no sign of letting up, it looks like they’re in it for the long haul.

“Super weird,” Iris says, shaking her head and letting the curtain fall back into place. “I don’t suppose you can do anything about this, can you?”

Caitlin shakes her head. “Frost and I create snow and ice. We can’t get rid of it.”

“Figures. Oh well. If we’re stuck here, we might as well get settled in.” She unzips her laptop bag and slides her computer out, getting settled on the sofa. “You don’t mind if I get some work done, do you? Maybe being trapped here will get me in the right mindset.”

“Sure, knock yourself out,” says Caitlin. “Uh. I’m just going to…” She gestures vaguely. “Make use of the facilities.”

“Okay,” Iris says absently, already typing.

Caitlin walks into the cramped bathroom, the bathtub so close to the toilet she could sit on it and dangle her feet into the tub – not that she would. She wouldn’t be at all surprised if someone had been killed in there, and there’s a reddish stain around the rim that someone has tried and failed to scrub away. It could be rust or could be blood, but either way she doesn’t trust it. Looking at herself in the rust-flecked mirror, she hisses, “Frost. Frost!”

What?

Caitlin glares at herself in the mirror. “You know what. Why’d you snow us in?”

Chill out, says Frost. There’s no way that pun was unintentional; Caitlin fumes harder. I’m doing you a favour. This crush of yours is getting super old; it’s time to do something about it.

“You created a blizzard just to get me to admit that I have a crush on Iris?”

Clearly it’s working, Frost points out. Now you just need to tell her that.

“You couldn’t have just given me a pep talk?”

Like you’d have listened. Now you have no choice. Besides, it’s romantic – like one of those tedious romance novels you love so much.

“You call this romantic?” hisses Caitlin. “It’s a crime scene.”

A knock on the door makes her jump. “Cait? Everything okay?”

“I’m okay,” she calls, and watches the shadows of Iris’ feet shifting through the crack under the door before she walks away.

As soon as she’s gone, Caitlin’s head snaps up and she glares back into the mirror, clutching the sink. “Don’t you dare leave me to deal with this, you asshole. Frost? Frost!”

Her head stays silent. Frost has abandoned her, leaving nothing but a sense of unbearable smugness in her wake.

Closing her eyes, Caitlin resists the urge to throttle her own reflection and settles for flipping herself the bird. Then she flops onto the toilet and buries her face in her hands.

Being alone with Iris was already starting to make her nervous, and now they’re trapped in close proximity for god knows how long. But the longer she hides in here the weirder things will get when she finally emerges. Taking a deep breath, she smooths the front of her blouse and makes eye contact with herself in the mirror.

“You got this,” she says.

Iris is on the couch with her laptop when Caitlin comes back into the living room. “You good?” she asks.

“Yeah, I’m fine. There was a spider,” Caitlin lies, “so…” She gestures vaguely at the bathroom.

“You want me to handle it?” offers Iris.

The thought of Iris heroically taking on a spider for her makes Caitlin fuzzy inside, especially since she knows from past experience that Iris isn’t too fond of them. “I got it. Thanks, though.”

She goes to join Iris on the couch, and notices that Iris still has her jacket on and has zipped it all the way up to the throat. She keeps rubbing her hands together in between sentences.

“Are you okay?”

“It’s pretty cold in here. No central heating, I guess.”

Caitlin hadn’t noticed. Then again, she wouldn’t. Like Elsa, the cold doesn’t bother her much.

“There’s a fireplace,” she suggests.

“I don’t know how to start a fire,” Iris admits.

Caitlin shrugs. “We’re smart,” she says. “We’ll figure it out.”

Being busy helps. It keeps her from becoming too awkward and stumbling over her words. She finds a matchbook in one of the kitchen drawers, which makes things easier. Iris rips a bunch of pages out of the back of her notebook, stuffing the grate full of scrunched up paper. When they light it, it’s with bated breath – but the fire catches, and within a few minutes the room is flickering with a cheery light that glows like the sunset outside and fills the room with a pleasant warmth.

“Better?” Caitlin asks.

“Much,” Iris says, and goes back to work.

They both get settled on the couch. Caitlin has started carrying books in her purse, and she pulls out an old favourite, a Rebecca Silver romance novel about an alien warrior woman and her space pirate conquest. It’s the definition of a guilty pleasure read, and she all but folds the book in half making sure Iris can’t see the cover – but her attention keeps wandering anyway. She likes watching Iris’ fingers fly across the keyboard, teeth sinking into her lower lip as she concentrates. Every now and then she’ll pause and frown at the screen for a while, thinking, and when the right word comes to her she’ll nod her head with satisfaction as she continues. Aside from occasional interjections of “hey, what’s another word for ‘proponent?’” or “does this sentence make sense to you?” and the crackling of the fire, they’re quiet. It’s soothing.

“Crap,” Iris says eventually. “My laptop’s almost dead.”

Caitlin looks up. The snow has stopped falling, and outside the night sky is almost black with the shadows of the conifers silhouetted against it, flat as paper cut-outs.

Iris double-saves before shutting down the laptop. As she leans forward to add a few more pieces of paper to the fire, she accidentally knocks Caitlin’s book onto the floor.

“Crap, sorry.” She reaches for it.

“No, wait –”

Caitlin tries to intercept, but she’s too late. Iris is already picking up the book, and as Caitlin’s ears grow hot, she wishes – not for the first time – that the covers of Rebecca Silver’s books were a little more subtle. It’s hard to deny the subject matter of a romance novel that has an underwear-clad, three-boobed alien lady straddling a buccaneer on the front. She really needs to invest in an e-reader.

“Is this Rebecca Silver?” Iris says.

“Yeah, but it’s – I mean, she’s –”

“I love her,” Iris says, flipping the pages enthusiastically. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, they’re super gratuitous and a little heavy on the smut, but they’re so fun. I really love the heist scenes; the woman has a mind like a supervillain. So many details!”

Caitlin blinks. She’d been expecting a similar reaction she’d got from Cisco, who had made fun of her mercilessly when he found one of Rebecca’s novels in her purse but later been caught reading one under the desk in the cortex. Instead, Iris is checking the blurb.

“I haven’t read this one.”

“It’s one of her first,” Caitlin says, finding her voice at last. “The prose is a little rougher, but the plot is awesome. She gets a little more formulaic in her more recent novels; I guess it’s hard to keep up with such a huge demand from her readership.” After a moment’s hesitation, she says, “You want to read it?”

“If you don’t mind, I’ll totally borrow it after you’re done with it.”

“Or we could read it together. It’ll give us something to do.” Her brain catches up to her a second later and her thoughts all pile up like a bunch of kids all landing on top of one another at the bottom of a slide. “I mean, maybe not the sexy parts.”

“I like the sexy parts,” Iris says, but she’s grinning.

“Me too,” admits Caitlin, “but they’re a little graphic.”

“We’ll skip the sex scenes, then. Not sure how much of the book will be left, but we’ll figure it out.”

Iris is a good reader. She’s not embarrassed to do the voices and her own voice has a pleasant cadence to it, smooth and relaxing. With that and the fire crackling, Caitlin can’t remember when she was last so relaxed. She closes her eyes for a second, enjoying the warmth on her face and letting Iris’ voice fade into the background…

When she wakes, someone is stroking her hair.

She’s too sleepy to acknowledge it at first. With a happy mumble, she snuggles down and rubs her cheek against the soft fabric she’s resting on, enjoying the sensation of fingers carding gently through her curls, lingering at the nape of her neck. Over and over, like she’s a cat. It feels nice, and she’s about to let herself drift off again when suddenly it hits her.

She sits bolt upright, alarmed, and there’s a slithering sound as Iris’ jacket – which had been draped over her like a blanket – falls to the floor. The fire has died down to almost nothing. Caitlin looks at Iris, who’s startled and has pulled her hand back like Caitlin burned her.

That’s when she realises she fell asleep with her head in Iris’ lap.

“I’m sorry,” Iris says, “did I wake you?”

“No, I –” She’s mortified. How long has she been napping with her cheek resting on Iris’ thigh like that? “How long have I been asleep?”

“Not long. Just a couple of hours.”

“Oh my God, I’m sorry –”

“Don’t worry about it –”

“I can’t believe I did that –”

“It’s fine, really –”

“I wasn’t even that tired, I closed my eyes for just a second and then I woke up and I was –”

Iris silences her with a kiss.

Everything stops. The world. Her heart. The flurry of panicked, anxious thoughts flying around her brain like sharp-edged snowflakes, creating a blizzard she can’t seem to see past. All of that fades away and there’s only Iris, who reaches up to caress Caitlin’s cheek as she kisses her, tucking her hair behind her ear and stroking the red mark on her face where she’d slept strangely, then sliding her fingers into Caitlin’s hair until her hand rests on the back of Caitlin’s neck, a reassuring weight.

They part, and for a moment Iris’ forehead rests against hers in a gesture almost more intimate than the kiss before she pulls away.

“Oh,” says Caitlin, startled.

“Oh,” Iris says, smiling.

For a moment Caitlin sits there, dazed. Iris reaches out to tuck her hair behind her ear.

“You with me? Seemed like you were freaking out on me for a second there.”

“Maybe a little.” She hesitates. “Um. Do you kiss every person that starts freaking out on you?”

The smile becomes an impish grin. “Only the ones I really like.”

Another oh, but this one inside. The sensation of things clicking into place, the realisation that this isn’t as one-sided as she’d thought. Things are beginning to make a lot more sense, now. The fact she’d been invited along as a medical consultant but hadn’t been asked a single question about biology, for example… and the way Iris had kept glancing at her as she read aloud from the book. The hand in her hair when she’d thought Caitlin wasn’t awake to see it.

She feels a rush of warmth that was nothing to do with the fire.

“Well, it worked,” Caitlin says. Then, unable to believe her own daring, “Maybe you should do it again.”

“Yeah?” asks Iris, her smile growing.

“I mean, at this point it’s preventative,” says Caitlin. “Which is better than a cure.”

“Is that your professional opinion, Doctor Snow?”

“Absolutely. Super professional.”

“Well,” says Iris. “If it’s what the doctor ordered…”

She pulls Caitlin close to her and they collapse into one another like a snowdrift, sinking into the sofa. For once, Caitlin’s mind is silent. There are no thoughts to torment her, no worries or fears. Just Iris, her reverent touch and her gentle mouth. The fire in the grate is almost extinguished, but there are better ways to keep warm.

Outside, the snow is beginning to thaw.

[purpleyin]

DCTV moodboards: Westlily for @flarrowverse-shipyard‘s Femslash Week - a late Day 3 - Royalty AU (Cinderella!Lily & Princess Iris) 

[coldflasher]

Femslash Week Day 7 - Unexpected/alternate meeting

Pairing: Nora West-Allen/Jesse Wells

Rating: Teen (Fade-to-black sex scene)

TW: mentions of sex

Read on AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23066806

Can’t Outrun Love by coldflasher

“Maybe you should introduce yourself,” said Nora as they circled one another.

“You first,” the other speedster said.

“They call me XS,” said Nora, and went for a super-speed roundhouse kick.

Her form was perfect, and the speed-force sang in her system as she swung – but the stranger caught her ankle before the kick could connect, holding Nora’s outstretched leg in place. Shocked by her audacity, Nora stared and tried to pull her leg free, but the other woman had a surprisingly strong grip.

“Nice to meet you, XS,” the woman said. “I’m Jesse Quick.”

An unfamiliar speedster shows up at S.T.A.R Labs, and Nora’s keen to prove she can take her down. When it comes to Jesse Quick, she might’ve got more than she bargained for.

Nora was playing on a Gameboy in the staff lounge when the alarm went off.

Her mom had brought it to her earlier in the afternoon. It was a slow day with no bad guys or rogue metas on the loose, and Nora was bored, doing endless laps of the speed-lab just to kill time. Her dad was at the CCPD catching up on paperwork; after one too many attempts to explain how archaic the precinct’s systems were compared to how they were in the future, which had culminated in her trying to give her dad’s computer an upgrade and almost blowing it up, Nora had been banned from ‘helping’ for the foreseeable future. So not shway.

“Whoa, easy tiger,” Iris had called as she entered the lab. “You wanna slow down for a sec?”

“I’m bored,” Nora whined as she skidded to a stop in front of her, making her mom’s hair fly crazily like she was caught in a gale. “What on earth is it you do around here when there’s no bad guys to fight?”

“It’s called working,” Iris said mildly. “It’s how we keep a roof over your head.” But she didn’t look mad. “Come on,” she said. “I have something to show you.”

An offer like this usually meant good things, so Nora eagerly bounced over to the desk and perched on it, swinging her legs. She knew it was kind of lame to get so excited over looking at old photo albums and flicking through her parents’ yearbook, but there was so much stuff in those things that hadn’t made it to the Flash museum. After years of family history being walled off, a little thing like a photo of her dad hanging out in the cortex in the Flash suit still hadn’t lost its novelty.

What Iris produced, though, wasn’t a photo or a piece of high school memorabilia. It was a weird plastic square. Nora took it and turned it back and forth, before discovering that it opened up to reveal a tiny screen.

“It’s called a Gameboy,” Iris told her. “One of the OG handheld games consoles. It belonged to your dad. We used to fight to the death over this when we were kids.”

“Shway,” Nora breathed, pressing buttons until the screen lit up, bathing her face in light. “It’s so old. It’s like something from the stone age.”

“Ouch,” said Iris, but she was grinning.

“Sorry,” said Nora. “But you have to admit the graphics are terrible.” She looked down at the shapeless blob of pixels that was supposed to be her avatar and shook her head in amazement.

“Oh, for sure. Even in 2019 it’s a little dated. Still fun, though. It might give you something to do around here; you don’t want to tire yourself out by running around all day. If there’s an emergency, you might need your speed.” Iris nudged her. “And between you and me, if you can beat your dad’s high score then you have to promise me you’ll rub it in his face. I never managed to beat him and he’s never let me forget it.”

“Challenge accepted,” said Nora, already mashing buttons.

She was lying on her back on one of the sofas in the lounge, trying to manoeuvre the little Mario-blob across a maze of green pipes, when the familiar sound of alarms made her jump out of her skin. Immediately forgetting the console, she sat bolt upright and put her finger to her ear to activate the comms unit. Wearing it 24/7 was overkill, she knew that – but it made her feel close to the rest of the team, hearing their voices in her ear whenever she needed them.

“Guys, what’s happening?”

“We’ve got some unexpected activity in the breach room,” said Cisco. “But –”

“I’m on it,” said Nora, sprinting downstairs.

She flew through the corridors, stopping for just long enough to grab her suit and throw it on – no bad guys were catching her unmasked – before skidding into the room where the breach pulsed and flickered in the centre, its blue going brighter.

“Okay guys, what am I looking at?”

There was a crackle in the comms, but nothing clear. Frowning, Nora tapped her earpiece, but there was only static.

“Guys?”

The breach yawned like the maw of a gigantic beast. Nora threw her arm up to protect her face, and then a figure leapt out of the maelstrom and landed lightly in the centre of the room. It was a young woman around her age, wearing a red and yellow suit with a mask over her eyes. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail.

Nora didn’t waste a second. When it came to masked intruders, her policy was ‘punch first, ask questions later’ – and with that in mind, she launched herself at the stranger, lightning crackling all over her body as she drew her arm back in preparation to punch.

When she tapped into the speed force, Nora was used to everything around her moving as slow as glass, their motions almost imperceptible. She wasn’t expecting the woman to turn her head and look at her at a perfectly normal speed, like Nora was an interesting specimen under a microscope.

The stranger’s hand came up, catching Nora’s fist in hers and stopping it mid-swing.

Frozen with shock, Nora stared at her. Her lightning flared, and an answering yellow blaze illuminated the other speedster, crackling in her eyes.

“Who are you?” Nora demanded.

“I could ask you the same question,” the speedster said, and swung a punch with her free hand.

Nora intercepted it in time, but only just. They broke apart and she backed off to a safe distance, wary all of a sudden. She’d never fought another speedster before, though she’d known it was a possibility – there were so many of them. Casting her mind back, she tried to remember what her dad had told her about battling someone whose abilities matched hers. Without her natural advantage, it would be like fighting with a hand tied behind her back, and although she’d taken her turn with a punch-bag and taken some self-defence classes gifted to her by Papa Joe on one long-ago birthday, she wasn’t awesome at fighting. Her speed was what gave her an edge.

“I’m surprised to see another speedster around here,” the stranger said, circling Nora with a toss of her head that made her pony-tail fly. “Guess I shouldn’t be. It seems like there’s a new one every year.”

“Bad news for you,” Nora said. “That means we know how to beat them.”

A grin broke out on the other speedster’s face. “Well, you’re welcome to try.”

That smile did distracting things to her, and she didn’t like it. Now would be a really awesome time to turn off the switch. Knowing her family history of flirting with villains – her mom still liked to tease her dad about his crush on Captain Cold, which he denied with a blush – she supposed it made sense that she’d be attracted to overconfidence and evilness in equal measure, but right now she needed to focus.

She flew at the other speedster and tried to jab her in the ribs. The other woman dodged and aimed a punch to the face that Nora ducked. Crap, she’s fast. As soon as the thought had occurred to her, Nora rolled her eyes at herself. Duh.

They exchanged a flurry of blows, most of which didn’t land. They were pretty evenly matched, which did good things for her ego. Her plan was to wrap the woman’s pretty brown hair around her fist and yank, knowing that her own shorter hair protected her from a similar attack – that was half of why she’d cut it off – but she couldn’t get close enough to get a good grip.

They both backed off, sizing each other up again. Nora found that despite her instincts, she was enjoying herself more than she’d like to admit – and judging by the way the look on the other woman’s face, she wasn’t the only one.

“Maybe you should introduce yourself,” said Nora as they circled one another.

“You first.”

“They call me XS,” said Nora, and went for a super-speed roundhouse kick.

Her form was perfect, and the speed-force sang in her system as she swung – but the stranger caught her ankle before the kick could connect, holding Nora’s outstretched leg in place. Shocked by her audacity, Nora stared and tried to pull her leg free, but the other woman had a surprisingly strong grip.

“Nice to meet you, XS,” the woman said. “I’m Jesse Quick.” And she yanked Nora off her feet.

Nora went down hard with a yelp of shock, landing on her ass. For a moment she lay there staring at the ceiling with the breath knocked out of her, trying to figure out what the hell had just happened. Then a face appeared overhead. Jesse Quick was standing over her with a self-satisfied expression.

Nora was going to wipe that smug look off her face. Lightning crackling, she prepared to launch herself at Jesse –

“Nora, stop!”

Barry leapt between them, arms outspread as if to hold them back from one another. Nora’s heart crashed into her ribcage. He wasn’t wearing the Flash suit.

“Dad, your mask –”

“I’m sorry, did you just say Dad?” Jesse demanded.

“Stand down,” Barry told Nora. “We know her, okay?”

“We do?” said Nora.

Slowly, she picked herself up off the floor. She was sore from the beatdown in more ways than one. With her dad still standing between them, she took a second to get a proper look at Jesse Quick in her red and yellow suit – form-fitted, as all their suits were, for better aerodynamics. Compact, but softer than all the male speedsters Nora had encountered, a body more like her own. Still lithe from all the running, but with curved edges.

Removing her mask, Jesse looked at her with bright, interested eyes. Nora’s stomach gave a lurch. Uh-oh, said a voice in the back of her head. Jesse was cute.

“You’ve got some explaining to do,” Jesse said, eyes fixed on Barry.

“Yep,” he said, lowering his hands. “It looks like I do.”

 The explaining took time. Understandably. It wasn’t exactly a normal situation. She hadn’t really considered what a weird story it was until she’d listened to her dad trying to explain it, with Iris cutting in at regular intervals whenever he left out anything important – but given that she already knew all the details, she wasn’t really listening. There was something a lot more interesting that had caught her attention.

Nora found her gaze kept wandering back to Jesse. The curve of her spine as she leaned against the desk, the way the light caught her hair as she tucked it behind her ear, the sparkle in her eye. It was the first time she’d gotten close to another speedster who wasn’t family, and she was trying to commit all of her to memory, like a fascinating science project or a new Flash story she hadn’t heard.

Jesse looked up and caught her staring. Feeling her cheeks warm, Nora gave her a sheepish smile before looking down at her feet. Jesse’s look lingered, and when Nora looked up again the other woman was still watching her. Seeing she had Nora’s attention, Jesse looked up and down Nora’s body in a clear once-over before her lips curved and she looked away again, returning her attention to whatever Barry was talking about. Nora turned her head and hid her smile in the collar of her jacket.

She’d thought she was being subtle, but apparently not so much. Iris caught her eye and raised her eyebrows encouragingly. Nora shook her head and looked away, but Iris coughed and flicked her eyes at Jesse again. Her meaning was clear: talk to her!

Nora rolled her eyes. Mom!

Iris gave her another look.

If she didn’t do something soon, there was a real danger that her mom might try and do it for her. The only thing more embarrassing than her ridiculous crush was the idea of her parents trying to matchmake on her behalf, so Nora cleared her throat and took things into her own hands.

“So, Jesse… do you guys have Big Belly Burger on your Earth?” she asked casually.

“We sure do. It’s one of my main food groups.”

“Me too! Do you want to head down there and grab lunch? I’m really craving their fries.”

“Sounds awesome,” Jesse said.

“Great idea, I’m starving,” said Barry.

“Uh,” said Nora.

“Babe,” Iris said.

“What?”

“I think Nora and Jesse need a little girl time.”

“Girl time?”

She gave him a meaningful look that slid off him like water off a duck’s back. For a few seconds they stood having one of their wordless conversations, Iris raising her eyebrows progressively higher while Barry continued to look bewildered. Eventually, Iris nodded at Nora and then at Jesse and gave Barry her most meaningful look yet, and finally things clicked.

“Oh,” he said. “Right. Girl time. Got it. I mean, we wouldn’t wanna cramp your style or whatever…”

He gave actual finger guns, and for the first time in her life, Nora experienced what it was like to be embarrassed by her father. She resisted the urge to hide her face.

“Did you just say ‘cramp our style?’” Jesse said incredulously.

“He’s trying to do the Dad thing,” Iris said, patting him on the shoulder. “I’ll get him out of your hair.”

Ignoring Barry’s protests, she steered him out of the cortex, giving Nora a wink on the way out.

“Well that was super weird,” Jesse said.

“Yeah,” Nora said, putting her hands in her pockets. “I should probably mention that I’m sorry for trying to kick your ass and all. I kind of thought you were evil, so…”

Jesse shrugged. “That’s okay. Better to be cautious, right? And for what it’s worth, I’m sorry for actually kicking your ass.”

“You caught me off-guard,” Nora acknowledged. “But I could totally take you.”

“That’s fighting talk.”

“You bet it is.” She paused and ruefully massaged her shoulder. “But we might have to take a rain check on the rematch. I’m still a little sore from the first round.”

“Aww,” Jesse said playfully. “You want me to kiss it better?”

Fireworks went off in Nora’s head. YES! Her gay brain yelled – but common sense quickly reined it in. There was a pretty good chance Barry and Iris might still be lurking around the corner listening in and the last thing she needed was for her parents to catch her making out with a sexy speedster lady in the middle of the cortex.

“Maybe later,” she said.

“I’ll hold you to it.” Jesse rolled her neck. “Come on; it’s Big Belly Burger time. I’ll race you.

Without warning, she rocketed down the corridor like a bullet from a starting pistol, leaving the air tingling with static and the afterimage of lightning flickering in her wake.

“Hey!” yelled Nora as she flew after her.

It wasn’t like she wasn’t used to running with other speedsters by now, but she’d known for a while now that her dad was going easy on her. It made sense that he’d be faster; he’d been running longer, training harder, had years of experience she didn’t – but they both pretended she was almost a match. Jesse Quick, however, had no qualms about showing her just how outclassed she was. It was refreshing to run with someone who wasn’t scared to show they were out of her league.

Jesse turned to glance over her shoulder and stuck out her tongue. Laughing, she piled on the speed and left Nora in the dust.

Grinning, Nora pushed herself harder. There was no way she was catching up, but she was damned if she wasn’t going to try.

 Big Belly Burger was a good call. It was cheerful enough that she could pretend they weren’t on a kind-of-date, loud and bustling and full of chatter so that her heart stopped buzzing speedster-style and her stomach actually stopped doing backflips for long enough to let her eat. Jesse ate her fries one at a time, waving each one around as she talked like she was conducting a miniature orchestra and dipping it in her milkshake before she ate it. Nora, who had been ridiculed her whole life for thinking fries and vanilla shake was a good combination, was kind of obsessed with her. There was this energy she gave off, a kind of effortless confidence that Nora felt like she’d spent her whole life chasing. After discovering her speed she’d unlocked a side of herself she’d never known was there, but she felt as though it had come with an extra helping of uncertainty. All of a sudden she had become unknowable, with a new set of abilities she barely knew what to do with and, until recently, a mentor who could only teach her by proxy from within the walls of a cell. She felt like a teenager again, trying to figure out everything all at once – her speed, her weird new family dynamic, her relationship with the father she’d never known who was only a few years older than she was. Jesse looked like she had it all figured out, and Nora found herself once again with the quandary all queer girls faced: did she want to be Jesse, or be with Jesse?

Both, her brain supplied helpfully. Both is good.

“So you were born a speedster? Not made?” Jesse shook her head. “That’s so crazy. I can’t imagine growing up like this. You must have been a real handful.” She dipped a fry in her milkshake. “You must have had all these years to develop your speed. Look at what your dad’s like and he’s only been like this for what, five years? I can’t even imagine what kind of crazy shit you can do.”

“I wasn’t born with speed, actually,” Nora said shyly. “I mean I was, kind of – but I couldn’t access it. I didn’t know I was a speedster until recently. I’m still getting used to my powers.”

“That makes sense. It’s a pretty big adjustment.”

“That’s an understatement. …You’ve been doing this for a while, right?”

“Couple of years.” Jesse stirred her milkshake a couple of times before popping the lid off and drinking the last of it, her head tipped back.

“Do you ever get used to it?”

Jesse considered this for a moment. “Kind of. I mean you get used to being fast; your speed becomes a part of you, so it’s hard not to – I think you just get used to things being weird. When I think about it too hard, nothing in my life makes sense. I mean, look at me. I’m sat eating Big Belly Burger in a parallel universe. We don’t even have this milkshake flavour on my Earth – which is an absolute tragedy, because it’s amazing.” She shook her head at the polystyrene cup. “I spent months living in a different universe. After a while it became my new normal – but I still missed home.”

“Yeah,” Nora said. “I get that. I’m from the future and everything here is so different. I love being with my parents – meeting my dad, finally having a good relationship with my mom… when I’m from, we don’t get on so well.” She sighed. “But I do miss home sometimes. I think the worst part is that I can’t talk about it. If I ever try to talk about the place I’m from, everyone around me covers their ears in case it screws up the timeline or whatever.”

“You can talk to me,” Jesse offered. When Nora looked dubious, she said, “Not my Earth, not my future, remember? I won’t tell the fam. No spoilers.”

Nora’s instinct was to decline. But she wanted to talk about it, she realised – the life she’d met behind. The mom who was a stranger compared to the one she had now; the technology she’d taken for granted until she lost it; the museum she’d walked through as a kid and later learned was filled with family history; her college experience and her childhood friends and Lia, who she still missed in a part of her heart that had crystallized, turned sharp and jagged as a geode because she wasn’t allowed to talk about her any more.

“Yeah,” she said. “I’d like that.”

 The Big Belly Burger employees had to kick them out at closing time.

As two speedsters, they could both put away crazy amounts of food, so it wasn’t like they hadn’t eaten enough to justify the length of their stay – but Nora was still shocked when she realised the restaurant was empty and the staff were starting to mop the floors. The hours had melted away while she and Jesse sat talking, and night had fallen outside.

Jesse had a lot of stories about Barry and as usual Nora drank them in like she’d finally found an oasis in the middle of a dessert, even the ones she’d already heard – the fresh perspective made them new again, like brushing the dust off old heirlooms and finding the shine underneath. But they’d also talked about where they were from, their lives before the speed, setting the universe to rights. A few hours in, Nora had been hit with a realisation: Jesse got it. She hadn’t realised how desperate she was for someone to understand until she’d found someone who did.

“That was fun,” Jesse said as they reached Joe’s front door. Nora was staying with Papa Joe and Mama Cecile to save her back from the sofas in the staff lounge – they were great for napping on, but not so much for long-term sleeping arrangements.

“Yeah, it was,” Nora agreed.

They stood lingering on the doorstep, the knowledge of what was about to happen making the air tingle between them.

“So,” Jesse said, stepping closer and lowering her voice. She laced her fingers with Nora’s and her thumb danced lightly over Nora’s knuckles, the touch setting her skin on fire all the way up her arm. “I think I owe you a kiss.”

“Maybe more than one,” Nora said breathlessly. “You kicked my ass pretty hard.”

“I can work with that,” said Jesse, and she leaned in.

There was a spark as their lips met, static flaring between them. Startled, they both leapt back. Jesse looked so surprised that Nora couldn’t help giggling – and to her relief, Jesse started laughing along with her. Her hand cupped the back of Nora’s neck as she leaned in and kissed her, and Nora reached up to slip her fingers into Jesse’s hair.

They swayed on the doorstep, the kiss never breaking. There was a bump as Nora’s back pressed into the front door, but she barely felt it. All she was aware of was the warmth of Jesse’s body aligned perfectly with hers, her thigh slotted between Nora’s legs. The kiss had started off gentle but before long it became more urgent, and when they finally broke apart with bright eyes, they were both breathless.

“You’re sure you don’t want to come inside?” Nora asked.

“Well,” said Jesse. “If you’re offering.”

Grinning, Nora took her hand and pulled her forwards, and they both phased through the front door and flitted up the stairs silent as ghosts.

The bedroom door closed behind them and they stood in the middle of Nora’s borrowed bedroom, kissing over and over. When Jesse pulled her shirt over her head and it hit the floor, Nora stood and stared for a solid thirty seconds. She was wearing a white bra covered in purple flowers, with a small diamante nestling between her breasts and lacy straps pressed against her shoulders. The colour of the flowers stood out against her creamy skin.

“Is everything okay?” Jesse asked, uncertain for the first time.

“This is probably kind of weird,” said Nora, “but first of all, I love your bra, and just so you’re aware, my underwear is nowhere near as cute as yours.”

“Well,” Jesse said. “Good thing I’ll be taking it off.” Then she pushed Nora back onto the bed.

A little squeak of surprise left Nora’s mouth as she hit the mattress, but Jesse was already on top of her, straddling her as she kissed her, the silk of her underwear soft against Nora’s fingers as she ran her hands down Jesse’s spine and then settled on her waist.

“Have you ever slept with a speedster before?” she asked.

Nora shook her head.

Jesse gave one of those grins Nora was coming to like so much. “Well then,” she said. “This is going to blow your mind.”

 There was something soft, warm and heavy pressed against her.

Sleepily, Nora stirred. Her eyes slowly blinked open. The first thing she saw was light brown hair on the pillow beside her that absolutely wasn’t her own. Then she focused. Jesse was lying beside her, blue eyes fixed on hers.

“Morning, sleepy head.”

“Good morning,” Nora said, stretching slightly.

They were quiet for a while, each of them admiring the view. Jesse’s fingertips danced down Nora’s arm, and Nora smiled shyly, ducking her head as a blush touched her cheeks.

“You were right,” she said.

“I graduated high school at fifteen and majored in five separate subjects in college, so I usually am,” said Jesse. “Right about what?”

Nora grinned. “It did blow my mind.”

Laughing, Jesse pulled her in for another kiss, morning breath forgotten.

They were very busily making out when there was a brief knock and the bedroom door immediately opened, with Joe standing in the doorway.

“Hey, Nora, Cecile and I were wondering if you –”

He stopped dead. Everyone in the room had frozen. Painstakingly slowly, as if dealing with an animal who would attack if there were any sudden movements, Nora pulled the duvet higher.

“I can explain,” she said.

“You know what?” said Joe. “I’d actually prefer that you didn’t. I’m going to go back downstairs and whenever you two are ready you can come down and we’ll all pretend this never happened.” Pausing, he said, “Uh. Nice to see you again, Jesse.” Then he backed out.

There was a momentary pause. Nora buried her face in her hands.

“So that happened,” said Jesse.

“Oh my God,” said Nora. “What is it about my family?”

“They’re pretty involved. I’d forgotten what that feels like. It’s kind of nice, actually.”

“Well if you stick around for a while, I’m sure you’ll get a chance to experience it a little more.”

She’d been aiming for casual, but Jesse saw right through her. Her smile was knowing. Embarrassed, Nora refused to look her in the eye.

“I can’t stay for too long,” she said. “I have a team back home, and I can’t leave my city undefended. But I’m sure a couple of extra days wouldn’t hurt.”

Unable to hide her delight, Nora said, “I mean, if you want. If it’s not too much trouble.”

“I’m starting to think you and trouble go hand in hand,” Jesse said, leaning in to kiss her. “But luckily for you, I kind of like it.”

[oojei]

just two not-so-baby-sisters anymore, hanging out at a college party away from their cities and their superhuman responsibilities

@flarrowverse-shipyard ‘s FEMSLASH WEEK 2020 Day 1 - College AU ft. Thea Queen/Jennifer Pierce

[flarrowverse-shipyard]

A RESOUNDING SUCCESS FOR FEMSLASH WEEK

A big thank you to everyone who took part and made this event so great.

We have been inundated with fic, moodboard, manips and drabbles for popular ships, rarepairs and even the odd pool noodle, and we’ve been loving it.

We’ll continue to monitor the tag #FSFFWeek20 in case there’s any late submissions, and we’ll keep the collection open too.

Thank you: @ginger-canary @lovevalley45 @sophiainspace @coldflasher @evilregalswen108 @purpleyin @oojei @ins0mnia-an0nym0us-au  @ameliapll1  for your submissions!

Because of you, the femslash tag remains strong 💪

[oojei]

sweet dreams, you four

@flarrowverse-shipyard ‘s FEMSLASH WEEK 2020 Day 4 - Bedsharing AU ft. Mona Wu(Wolfie)/Caitlin Snow(Killer Frost)

This is just crack and I have no excuse

[flarrowverse-shipyard]

FEMSLASH WEEK 2020 DAY 7: HAPPY INTERNATIONAL WOMENS’ DAY!

“Sick!fic” or “Unexpected/Alternative Meeting”

Go Here to read the full event guidelines.

We’re also totally accepting of headcanons / recs / character studies etc for those who don’t write/art. Anything Arrowverse Femslash, send it our way!

When posting please @flarrowverse-shipyard and tag with #FSFFWeek20

Our AO3 collection is here: https://archiveofourown.org/collections/FS_Femslash_Week_2020

[coldflasher]

Part of Femslash Week, organised by @flarrowverse-shipyard​ :D Femslash Week Day One: College AU Pairing: Nora West-Allen/Joslyn Jackam Rating: General Audiences TWs: Mentions of sex and alcohol

Read on AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22978678

Life of The Party by coldflasher (capriciouslouis on ao3)

“Is this really all that you’re afraid of?” Joss said. “You’re scared to go to a college party because you’ve never been kissed?”

Nora nodded.

“I can fix that,” Joss said. “If you want.”

It’s Nora’s first day of college and her new roommate wants her to come to a party. Unfortunately, there are a lot of things standing in her way, and the biggest one? She’s never been kissed.

Nora sat on the bed in her new dorm room, boxes still strewn across the floor from where she hadn’t finished unpacking, and messed with the gold chain on her watch as her new roommate put the finishing touches to her make-up. She’d already done Nora’s, taking over immediately when she saw the sorry state of Nora’s make-up bag with its single tube of mascara, solitary eyeshadow palette and three neutral lip colours, turning her head this way and that with light touches to her chin as she turned her into a stranger. Looking at her new face, Nora saw someone almost unrecognisable looking back at her and wasn’t sure how she felt about it.

“I don’t know if this is a good idea,” she said.

“Of course it’s a good idea,” said Joss. “I came up with it.”

She went back to blending out her contour. Nora watched their reflections in the mirror at the dresser, chewing on her lower lip.

Before leaving home, she’d asked everyone she knew for their advice about surviving the college experience. The responses she’d gotten varied in usefulness. Caitlin told her to eat well and study hard. Cisco told her to always keep Advil for hangovers. Papa Joe told her to be good and stay off the booze. Ralph gave her a knowing look and a huge heap of loose papers labelled ‘The Book of Ralph Mark 2: Ralphie’s Guide to Kicking College’s Ass. (She’d thrown that one in the trash before she left; she didn’t like the look of the stains on it.)

The best advice she’d gotten, as always, was from her parents.

“Make the most of it,” her mom told her while her dad nodded sagely from the doorway. “You only go to college once. Try new experiences – and don’t think too hard.” She tapped playfully on Nora’s forehead. “You think too much, XS. Just go with the flow.”

So that’s what she’d decided to do. Go with the flow. And apparently the flow wanted her to go to a frat party with her super-cool new roommate, a budding meteorologist with eyeliner sharp as a knife and a wicked smile that made Nora’s heart flutter. Nope. No crushing on the roommate. They would be living together for the rest of the year and she didn’t need that kind of stress in her life.

Unfortunately, her heart didn’t seem to have gotten the memo.

“It’ll be fun,” Joss said. “This is what college is all about.”

“It’s supposed to be about learning.”

Joss rolled her eyes. “Then maybe you should be learning how to have a good time.”

Nora looked down at her feet. She’d tried, but when your brain moved as fast as hers did it was hard to stop yourself from envisioning the worst-case scenario.

“Anyone would think you’d never been to a party before,” Joss said, laying down her brush and turning her face this way and that to check if the contour was even.

“Of course I’ve been to a party before,” Nora said. “I just haven’t been to a college party before.”

She’d been to a few high school parties with her best friend Lia, but they’d all been sort of lame. They’d hovered in the background clutching red solo cups and watching everyone else get progressively drunker while music thudded in the background and Nora felt herself fading away. Parties had never been fun for her – they’d just made her feel invisible, like a chameleon standing there under the strobe lights.

“A party’s a party,” Joss said, standing up and tugging her dress down. It was black and sequined, the light shining off it every time she moved. Tousling her hair, she gave herself a satisfied smile in the mirror before turning her back on herself and perching on the edge of the dresser.

“Maybe you should go without me,” said Nora. She’d stay safely tucked up in bed with her Nintendo Switch while everyone else drank cheap vodka out of Listerine bottles or whatever other tricks the internet had taught them to avoid the intervention of the RAs, and when Joss tumbled in at four in the morning she’d pretend she was asleep and not lying awake thinking of what kind of college experience she could’ve had if she was someone – anyone – else.

“Not a chance,” said Joss. “Come on, what are you so afraid of?”

Nora folded her arms. “I’m not afraid,” she said defensively. “I’m just not a party person.”

“That’s the best part,” Joss said, sliding off the desk and heading over to her. “You are now. This is college; nobody knows you. You can be whoever you want.”

They both looked at their reflections: Joss, all lithe limbs and sharp smiles, confident and dazzling in her black dress; Nora beside her feeling like the ugly duckling. She’d done her make-up and put on a playsuit and still felt like a fraud – and a head shorter than Joss even in wedges.

“What’s the worst that could happen?” asked Joss.

“A whole bunch of things. I could get drunk and end up in the hospital.”

“So don’t drink,” Joss shrugged. “Or do. I’ll take care of you.”

Nora’s heart gave another little squeeze at that. “I could do something embarrassing and get caught on camera so that the whole university finds out.”

“Deeply unlikely.”

She reached into the bottomless pit of her fears and threw out another. “Some stranger could come over and hit on me.”

Joss threw back her head and laughed, silver bangles clinking on her wrists with a sound like handcuffs. “You’re scared of someone flirting with you? What’s so bad about that? If you don’t like them, you say no. If they won’t take no for an answer… pepper-spray.”

“I’m not worried about what happens if I don’t like them,” said Nora. “I’m worried about what happens if I do.”

Joss’ forehead wrinkled in confusion.

Twisting her fingers together, Nora said, “What if they try to kiss me?”

“I feel like I’m missing something here.”

“I’ve never been kissed before, okay?”

It was one of her most private secrets, one she’d only ever talked to her mom about. A few weeks before leaving for college she’d ended up with her head in her mom’s lap, crying, because what kind of loser went to college without being kissed? Her classmates were afraid to show up on campus with their virginities still intact whilst Nora hadn’t even made it to first base. Iris stroked her hair and said all the right things, told her that everyone moved at their own pace and she wouldn’t be the only one, and recounted the story of her own terrible first kiss to make Nora laugh, and she’d felt better at the time – but now she felt ashamed all over again. There was no way Joss hadn’t been kissed; she oozed charisma. Every move was so confident and self-assured. She probably wasn’t a virgin either, though Nora blushed even thinking about that.

She had half expected Joss to make fun of her, but instead her expression softened. Sitting on her bed with a creak, she reached for Nora’s hand and pulled her down to sit beside her.

“It’s so embarrassing,” Nora said.

“It’s not embarrassing.”

“It’s not like I never wanted to kiss anyone,” she said, frustrated. “I’d like to kiss lots of people. It’s just that no one’s ever wanted to kiss me back. And I’m scared that when someone does try to kiss me, I’ll be bad at it. Or I’ll freak out and spoil everything.”

“You’re a worrier, huh?” said Joss. She reached out and tucked a loose lock of hair behind Nora’s ear.

“I’m sorry. I’m being ridiculous. You should go to the party and have fun; you don’t have to sit here and listen to my problems.”

“True, but I’m a good listener. Besides, I want you to come with me.”

Joss looked serious all of a sudden, her eyes locked on Nora’s. It made her feel strange and fluttery inside. No one had ever looked at her like that before.

“Is this really all that you’re afraid of?” she said quietly. “You’re scared to go to a college party because you’ve never been kissed?”

Nora nodded.

“I can fix that,” Joss said. “If you want.”

Her gaze flicked down to Nora’s mouth.

Nora’s brain, usually so quick to jump to conclusions, didn’t quite catch on until Joss leaned in. Glacier slow, giving her plenty of opportunities to back off or turn away – but she didn’t want to turn away. Her heart was pounding again, her eyes wide – and as Joss tilted her head, Nora instinctively closed her eyes. She felt the tip of Joss’ cold nose press against her cheek, and then her soft mouth brush against Nora’s. Just the lightest brush of lips together – and then her hand rested on the curve of Nora’s waist and she deepened the kiss, still gentle, coaxing Nora’s mouth to move with hers.

She couldn’t believe it was happening. Her head was spinning like its own solar system, but her mind had gone blank. All she could feel was Joss’ lips against hers, the hand resting on her hip and the other reaching for her hand, threading their fingers together.

It was sweet and soft and romantic. Gentle, a guiding influence that managed not to make her feel overwhelmed or embarrassed by her inexperience. A kiss that lingered.

When they parted, Nora instinctively reached up to touch her lips. They tingled underneath her touch.

Leaning back, Joss said, “Congratulations, Nora West-Allen. You’ve had your first kiss.” A moment’s hesitation. Her confidence slipped just for a second, giving her a glimpse of nervousness as she looked down for a moment and tucked her hair behind her ear. “…Was it okay?”

Nora couldn’t keep the smile off her face. It must have been infectious, because seconds later Joss had a matching grin.

“It was perfect,” she said.