#me and my brother actually are pretty obsessed with the plushies we bought from her

[lonely--seeker]

I've gotten so used to sleep with my shark plushie I don't want to leave him ever again. He just fits perfectly and is soft? A pillow could never.

[rbbalmung]

Pokemon SwSh GPL AU: Get to know ______

Guys, it’s time for my favourite pokemon ship. Prepare for loads of fluff. 

Get to Know Gloria x Hop (Postwickshipping/Hpyu): 

1: Who spends almost all their money on the other? I headcannon that Gloria really likes pokemon plushies, so Hop is always unconsciously checking the stuffed animal section of stores to see if there’s any she doesn’t have. Gloria tries really hard to get him books that pertain to his research, but she really has no clue what he studies aside from the fact that it’s legendary pokemon (Legendary Pokemon are his focus). 

2: Who sleeps in the other’s lap? Gloria! They are the cuddliest couple ever. There’s about a foot size difference between them, so she fits perfectly in his lap. (Hop is def the little spoon, tho). 

3: Who walks around the house half-naked and who yells at them to put on some clothes? TBH, they would both walk around the house half naked. They’re comfort first babies, so you know Gloria’s bra is coming off and Hop is discarding his work clothes the second their door is closed. I think it’s kind of a casual thing for them, though. They’ve known each other long enough that this kind of thing doesn’t bother them. 

4: Which one tells the other not to stay up all night and which one stays up all night anyway? Gloria has to drag Hop’s ass to bed pretty much every night. They’re both busy people, but we all know that Hop would lose track of time while working on his thesis. It is a fact that if Gloria doesn’t come to get him, he will fall asleep on his desk. 

5: Which one tries to make food for the other but burns it all by accident and which one tells them that it’s okay and makes them both cookies? They’re actually both pretty good cooks (Gloria’s mama owns a restaurant in Wedgehurst and Hop’s mom is obsessed with cooking), but I think Hop would probably be the one to burn all the food. The only reason why is because he has a harder time focusing solely on cooking instead of trying to multitask. Now, baking is a whole other story. They’re both terrible at it. 

6: Which one reads OTP prompts and says “Oh that’s us!” and which one goes “Eh, not really”? Gloria would be the one to read the prompts and Hop would be the denier (he secretly thinks it’s really cute whenever she does it). 

7: Which one constantly wears the other’s clothes? Gloria. 100% Gloria. She is constantly cold and has a passion for stealing Hop’s hoodies. He thinks its adorable because they’re always really big on her. 

8: Which one spends all day running errands and which one says “You remembered [thing], right?” Hop would be the errand runner and Gloria would make sure he remembered everything. It goes back to Hop’s mind being a million places at once and Gloria hyper focusing on one thing at a time. 

9: Which one drives the car and which one gives them directions? Hop would drive and Gloria would give directions for similar reasons to the question above. 

10: Which one does the posing while the other one draws? Hop doodles Gloria sometimes to keep his hands busy. It’s kind of an absent minded thing for him to do while reading an article/book. Once Sonia caught him doing it, and when I say she teases him relentlessly, I mean it. Hop absolutely does not let Gloria see these doodles (they’re very cutesy and he’d die of embarrassment). 

11: If they were about to rob a museum, which one does backflips through lasers and which one is strolling behind with a bag of chips? Hop would be the backflipper and Gloria would be the follower. Think back to their GPL season: Hop was blazing ahead at all times without a care in the world. Gloria is the slowest traveler in the world because she likes talking to everyone and visiting all the stores.  

12: Which one of your OTP overdoes it on the alcohol and which one makes the other stop drinking? Neither of them can hold their alcohol, but Hop at least has more body mass than Gloria. They’re a pair of lightweights and nothing you can say will convince me otherwise. (Let’s be real: Bede has to be the one to make sure they get home). 

14: Which one keeps accidentally using the other’s last name instead of their own? Gloria. I actually believe that Gloria would keep her last name even after she and Hop get married because it belongs to her mama (after the divorce, they both changed their last names to match her mama’s maiden name). Hop is also a proud Hoffman, so he wouldn’t use the name Park. However, everyone else will mix it up. Gloria gets called “Mrs. Hoffman” all the time if she’s arriving for restaurant reservations or something of the like. Newer reporters/young children call Hop “Mr. Park” because they just assume Park was his last name. 

15: Which one screams about the spider and which one brings the spider outside? Neither of them are scared of bug pokemon. 

16: Which one gives the other their jacket? HOP. I mentioned it earlier, but Gloria is always cold. Bede asks why he doesn’t just make Gloria bring her own jacket and Hop replies that he likes it when she wears his jacket (they’re freaking sappy).  

17: Who keeps getting threatened by the other’s overprotective older sibling? Pft. Leon? Please. By this point, he’s become the big brother of Gloria as well. The League members are a completely different story. They all like Hop, but since Gloria is one of their younger members and the biggest sweetheart, they’re a protective bunch (Especially Melony and Gordie). 

18: Who’s the first one to admit they have feelings for the other? Gloria, but it didn’t go well. It was right before he was leaving to finish up high school studying abroad, and the timing wasn’t right (aka Hop turned her down because he hadn’t yet realised his feelings for her). Gloria tries her best to move on but never truly gets over him. Luckily, his feelings hit him like a bag of bricks to the stomach when they reunite a couple years later.  

19: How good would your OTP be at parenting? The best. They would definitely be the cool parents (I mean, come on. They’re the freaking heroes of Galar!). I think they’d also be super supportive of their child’s choices. 10/10. They’re made to be parents. (Hop would especially want to be a good dad. He’s initially nervous because he never knew his dad and thinks he might mess up, but Gloria reassures him that he’s doing a good job). 

20: Which one types with perfect grammar and which one types using numbers as letters? Hop would be Mr. Perfect Grammar. Gloria would use mostly good grammar, but her texts would be littered with emojis. 

21: Who gets attacked by a bully and who protects them? Hop is the more confrontational of the two. Gloria tends to believe that people are only mean to others if something bad is happening in their life, but Hop will jump from 0 to 100 if someone even looks at Gloria funny.  

22: Who makes the bad puns and who makes a pained smile every time the other makes a pun? Gloria likes Hop’s bad puns, so everyone else has to cringe in discomfort at the oblivious pair. 

23: Who comes home from work to see that the other one bought a puppy? Hop. Gloria likes catching pokemon and sending them on poke jobs, so there’s a new member to their family at least once a week. 

24: Which one gives the other a piggyback ride when they’re tired? Hop. He’s the only one she would show vulnerability to, and he makes sure not to make her feel ashamed of it. (also, Gloria absolutely could not carry Hop. He’s like, a foot taller than her).  

25: Which one competes in some sort of activity and which one does the overzealous cheering? Both! They’re very supportive of each other to help ease the other’s insecurities. Hop gets really invested in her pokemon matches and Gloria throws him a little celebration every time he finishes a project.  

26: Who takes a selfie when the other one falls asleep on their shoulder? Gloria. Since Hop never goes to sleep at night, it is very common for him to take 5 minute power naps without even realising it. Gloria definitely takes pictures when it happens as a reflex (They were long distance for the first 4 years of their relationship) because she wants to be able to look back at their memories together.  Like Gloria doesn’t know about Hop’s doodles of her, Hop doesn’t know about her phone album of him. 

27: Which one would give the other a makeover if they asked? Gloria? I think they both grow into their separate styles as the get older, but Gloria would push Hop to wear more colourful things. Sonia once told Hop that a man should never tell a woman what to wear because it’s rude. I don’t think Gloria would mind if he suggested something, but he is way too nervous to do it (Sonia scarred him).   

28: Which one owns a pet that the other is absolutely terrified of? Hop is very nervous around Urshifu and Calyrex. Urshifu because he’s terrifying, large, and very protective of Gloria. Calyrex because the pokemon will take over his body without warning to tell Gloria something.  

29: Which one holds the umbrella over both of them when it rains? Hop! If Gloria held it, Hop’s head would be in the umbrella. 

30: If your OTP went on vacation, where would they go and what would they do? Who would take the pictures? Oh my gosh, they’d go everywhere. I think that after Gloria steps down as champion, they travel to all the different regions for at least a couple of years. Gloria would be the one to take pictures and make a little scrapbook when they return home.  

[pinkletterday]

Butterfly Kisses

(Part 1)

Barry didn't quite know what was so hilarious except the tremulous bubble of joy and hope that he had been carrying felt like it had burst into a wash of sheer exhilaration at Iris's incredulous, happy laughter. It felt like their daughter was already with them.

Iris's eyes were shining as she looked at him and brushed a hand gently against the girl's face. A tear fell on the paper. "Do you think it's really our kid? She really called you Dad?"

"Daddy," he corrected, smiling dopily. His little girl with Iris's smile was going to call him Daddy. His wife's grin mirrored his.

"Should she have done that, though?" she wondered, still carressing the drawing. "Wouldn't she have known not to disrupt the timeline if she was really a time-travelling speedster?"

"Maybe Allens are just genetically incapable of being discreet and not interfering with the past," said Barry ruefully and Iris giggled.

"Oh, we are going to have a very pointed talk when you get back, young lady," she told the drawing fondly.

He chuckled a little deliriously. "You can't be too hard on her. She helped get her old man out of prison after all." Like he had gotten his father out, eventually. Dad, if only you could have seen her too. She looks like Mom and Iris.

"So the babbling is genetic, huh?" his wife teased. "I wonder if she got the chronically late gene and the nerd gene as well."

"As long as she didn't get the brownie obsession gene and the 'lying to Dad and scaling the tree to break curfew' gene," Barry retorted. Then blanched. "...she's actually going to do that isn't she?" He said in horror as Iris chortled. "She totally looked like a little troublemaker. Well, that's on you."

Iris rolled around laughing. "On me! You got into as much trouble as I did! Remember wrapping Dad's car around a tree?"

"You talked me into that!" he exclaimed, wagging an indignant finger in her face. "I was a good kid. You were the one who talked me into half the trouble we got into!"

"You can prove nothing, Allen!" she cackled. "I won't let you slander me like this to our kid!" She shrieked and slid off the couch as Barry tried to goose her in retaliation.

"Do you think we can baby-proof an entire city?" The enormity of the situation started to sink in as he began mentally reviewing the terrible life choices of his youth. "Jesus. Joe is going to laugh himself stupid at me. He always said he would." He buried his face in his hands as Iris succumbed to a fresh peal of laughter on the floor.

"Oh my God," she gasped. "I just realized - this is why you suddenly had a yen to buy something for Digg's kid the other day at the mall!"

Barry blushed. "I just...wanted to browse, okay? I only vaguely remember sitting in on your tea parties when we were kids. Wanted to see what kind of toys they had for little girls now."

"And?" Iris had that expression she got when he was doing something she deemed quite adorable and usually resulted in her jumping his bones. He never could quite figure out the secret formula to this though.

"And I found a Beebo," he said, and at Iris's horrified look hastened to add, "which we are never getting, ever. And this cute yellow bumblebee plushie I nearly bought - it reminded me of her, I don't know why -"

"A stuffed bumblebee reminded you of a college-aged kid?" she asked skeptically.

"I never said it made sense," he said defensively. "She just looked so happy and sunny. I thought yellow was her colour, kind of like how you look amazing in red."

He felt smug when Iris's "Barry-is-going-to-be-mauled-in-T-minus" look intensified. "What else?" she asked.

"And...do you know how few black and brown dolls there are at Toytopia?" he burst out indignantly. "They were right at the back too! What the hell! It's the same with action figures. Obviously our kids are going to have mine but they should have Wally's as well. There were so few Kid Flash action figures in the store." He frowned, making a mental note to see what could be done.

Iris looked at him strangely. "They?"

Barry started self-consciously at his own slip of tongue. "Well...she could have brothers and sisters," he stammered, fidgeting with the drawstring of his pants. "I don't know how many you want."

Iris sat back down on the couch and took his hand gently, drawing his eyes back to her. "I wouldn't mind more than one," she admitted. "I mean, we both grew up only children and even though we lived together after your Mom died, it was never a sibling dynamic."

"Would have been weird if it was," said Barry dryly.

Iris smiled at him. "It was pretty cool growing up in the same house as my best friend," he kissed her hand. "But I'll always wish I had had Wally too. I hate that I missed his whole life."

"He'd have been a brat and broken your toys and driven you up the wall," chuckled Barry.

"He would," she agreed laughing. "And I would give anything to have experienced that."

They subsided into quiet contemplation. "So you don't think I'm crazy to be creeping into kids' stores getting all worked up about toys for kids we may or may not have?" asked Barry sheepishly.

Iris turned him to face her and slid her arms around his neck. "No," she said, gazing at him adoringly in that way that made him melt. "I think it means you're going to be an amazing father."

He put an arm around her shoulders as she snuggled against him, holding her contentedly. A warm, glowing happiness ran unfettered through him and he truly relaxed for the first time since Christmas. Why did he always forget how good Iris was at easing the knots in his chest, putting things into perspective? His protectiveness sometimes made him forget that she, more than anyone, was his grounding force. It was foolish of him to have kept this from her for so long.

He was dreamily wondering whether his little girl would like Singing In The Rain too when he felt a dampness against his neck.

"Iris?"

He gently pushed her shoulders back to see that she was crying. His heart jolted in pure dismay. Iris so rarely cried. "Baby, what's wrong?"

"Do you really think we can have this?" she asked him, tears sliding down her cheeks unchecked. "Have her? Or is it something we're going to dream about for years only to have it taken away?" She clutched at him desperately, "What if someone erases her from the future? What if something takes her from us? What if -"

"Hey hey hey," Barry gathered her into his arms, heart breaking at her distress as she buried her face in his shoulder again. "That's not gonna happen."

"You can't know that," she sobbed. "Every time we think we get to be happy and safe something always happens! All I wanted to do was get married and spend our lives together and you keep being taken from me! Again and again and again!"

She was wracked with sobs now, wrapping herself desperately around him as though bodily trying to stop anything taking him away from her. Barry's heart splintered in his chest listening to her cries, helpless to soothe her with promises he knew were empty. His own tears fell on her hair as he allowed himself to be crushed in her frightened death grip, holding her bruisingly hard right back.

After a while her sobs trailed into hiccups and she started to draw away. He held her fast on his lap, kissing her hairline. "I'm sorry, Barr," she sniffled. "I don't know what came over me."

"Don't be sorry," he said tenderly stroking her hair. "We've been put through the wringer and you've been so damn brave and strong through all of it. You get to break down when you need to."

Iris leaned against him, sad and tired. "I wanted to be strong for you."

Barry gently pulled her chin toward him to look him in the eyes and kissed her swollen eyelids. "You are the strongest woman in the world," he said, "but I'm your husband. Your best friend. I'm the person you get to be weak and scared in front of." He drew his hand along her cheekbone and she nestled her face into his palm. He pressed his forehead to hers.

"I can't promise you that we'll get to have her," said Barry sadly. "I can't even promise we'll have kids at all. Or even a dog, what with the life we lead. I can't promise that the future we want will happen or that we'll be able to protect our kids from everything the world throws our way.

"But what I can promise you, Iris West-Allen," fierce resolution set his blood afire, stinging his eyes, his voice cracking with the pressure in his chest, "Is that I'm going to fight with everything in me to stay with you. I promise you we are both going to fight tooth and nail to protect our family."

He slid both hands under her hair to cup her face with fierce tenderness, her loveliness blurred in his vision. "We are going to fight for her, Iris. Together."

She brushed her thumb against the tears tracking down his cheek. "Yes," she said gently, "we are."

They sat in a pensive blanket of silence, bathed in the glow of the firelight, listening to the slowing of each other's breaths in the stillness. Their daughter's face smiled up at them from the drawing fallen at their feet. 

"Barry," Iris whispered softly, "will you make a baby with me?"

In answer, he slipped his hands under her nightshirt and slid it off her body. Slipping out of his own sweats, he pulled her and the blanket down with him onto the soft shag rug in front of the fire and drew it over their bare skin, creating a cocoon to shut out the world as they melded together beneath it.

End.