#s3 jitters

[gun-roswell]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Star Wars: The Bad Batch (Cartoon), Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types, Star Wars - All Media Types Rating: General Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: CT-9904 | Crosshair & Clone Trooper Tech Characters: CT-9904 | Crosshair, Clone Trooper Tech (Star Wars) Additional Tags: Inspired by Fanart, Inspired by TBB S3 Trailer, S3 Speculation, Ficlet, Part of Series, Family Reunions, Tech Lives, Fluff, Feelings Series: Part 11 of Pre TBB S3 Jitters Shorts, Part 2 of Crosshair/Tech

Summary: They’re reunited, the Bad Batch, Crosshair and Tech. It has also been far too long to dwell on the past, the mistakes made, right?

Part of the Bad Batch S3 jitters / Cross/Tech series

[scienter]

Skipped from TVD S3 straight to s6 & Holy shit! That was the Renaissance of TVD.I don't think I have enjoyed any season of Vampire Diaries like I did s6 after s2 and in my mind,they both get the top rank in the list of best to worst.Then,I thought why not give season s7 a chance.This was the first time I rewatched this season since it aired back when TVD was on and now I am most certainly questioning my life choices.🥲Honestly,how did we sit through such abysmal writing for 8 months or so?Were we sired?After the first episode,it felt like someone made me shut my eyes with the promise of feeding oysters only to point and scream "I just ejaculated in your mouth! HA! HA!" Anyway,there are a few things,specific to Caroline Forbes, that I picked up along the way:

1.Candice (& real life pregnancy)and Caroline Forbes-surrogacy: Keeping the non-consensual,gross aspect of the otherwise outlandish plot aside,I do believe with right motivation and willingness,writers could have easily worked around CA's pregnancy and given emotionally intimate scenes to SC that would have made their relationship layered and deeper.They simply chose NOT to. In fact, I noticed how they didn't use Candice at all not just in terms of her relation with Stefan but with regards to the whole Al**ick thing.Writers simply didn't create any compelling narrative that could convince anyone that Caroline was at all interested in pursuing anything with Ric that eventually led to an engagement. In fact, their sloppy attempt to sell motherhood and biology by giving two glimpses of Caroline's apparent growing attachment with the kids implied she saw the twins as an obligation in addition to her considering Ric as incapable of handling two newborns, leading her to Dallas, which basically served the bigger purpose:write CA out for her Maternity Leave. Post time jump,they could have easily removed her from this dynamic and put her with Liam or me and that wouldn't have changed nothing.Once again, they chose not to SHOW and simply explained the engagement as a decision of a heartbroken,abandoned woman by TELLING.I wonder what they would have done with her if TVD hadn't been renewed.Crossover to TO for ratings ploy?

2.Flash Forwards: I have nothing to say about this narrative disaster but I do think they changed their initial plans with respect to the FFs because CA did an interview where she said writers told her they were going three years in the future,right before she left for her ML,so that Caroline wouldn't have to be pregnant anymore AFTER candice came back from her leave.Does that mean they were originally going to go only a few months ahead in time but cancellation jitters made them change track?Guess,we will never know.

3.Future-Caroline character assessment : Plot contrivance aside, Caroline role-playing a doting mother and devoted wife-to-be & her happiness in the seemingly new life she built for herself is a metaphor for her being a victim of prolonged violence(physical and psychological).She was incapable of feeling anything anymore.She was in a wild state of depersonalisation and derealisation.She was an absolute victim.She just didn't care.She was putting up a class-act in that creepy arrangement but hey,as long as Caroline's "bold decision"(in JP's book) ensured M.Davis's employment,we are all good.

LMAO. Oh, yeah, I remember the whiplash of watching season 7 after season 6. Season 6 was one of the strongest seasons. Steroline was written well, we finally got Bamon, and Caroline had a touching story arc having to deal with her mother’s death. Season 7 on the other hand is in the running as the worst seasons.

I agree with your assessment of Ric and Caroline's relationship in season 7. It was awful. Having Caroline become the twins' surrogate is one thing – having her become their primary caregiver BECAUSE Caroline didn’t trust Ric to parent the twins himself . . . that wasn’t Caroline being a control freak – RIC ALLOWED CAROLINE TO TAKE OVER HIS DUTIES AS A PARENT BECAUSE HE DIDN’T WANT TO DO IT HIMSELF*.  There’s a name for this phenomenon: weaponized incompetence*

I don’t buy any defense of Ric’s actions here. Ric needed Caroline’s help! He was overwhelmed and didn’t know what he was doing! (1) Most first-time parents are overwhelmed because they lack experience. Parenting is on-the-job training. (2) Ric could have hired a professional nanny or an au pair to help take care of his kids. You know – paid someone to help take care of his kids. He didn’t. He was a selfish prick who took advantage of Caroline’s selfless and caring nature. He got a live-in nanny for free!

I hate that they turned Caroline – one of the strongest characters on the show – into Ric’s unpaid nanny. Ric and Caroline’s engagement was adding insult to injury.

I was so disappointed by the flash-forwards on TVD because I’d seen it done so well on The West Wing. Not that I was expecting TWW-level writing on TVD, but I did expect some level of competence.

*“Weaponized incompetence, also called strategic incompetence, is when someone knowingly or unknowingly demonstrates an inability to perform or master certain tasks, thereby leading others to take on more work.” [Psychology Today]

[kitkatt0430]

I've been going through old files, trying to get stuff in order now that I've mostly transitioned to my new laptop. (Thinking of turning the old laptop into something like a Pi-hole instance which should be a fun project.) So I've delved back into some of my WiP files and gotten the next installment of Coffee, Drumsticks, and Social Revolutions almost ready to post.

So it's been... ages since HR last had coffee. There'd been caches of it hoarded like gold - but more precious since once it was used up... that was it. No more coffee. It got imported sometimes, from other Earths by Collectors during their missions. And given HR's connections to the Collectors, he could have easily gotten his hands on some, but he can't remember the last time he did so. Maybe the early 2000s. Certainly not since the fiasco with his book about World War M.

But even then, HR can't remember it tasting quite as divine as the Flash espresso from Jitters that Cisco introduces him to a few days after arriving on Earth 1.

It's fun playing with HR's point of view. He's a bit more serious under the surface than he lets people see, but he's genuinely just a sweet and playful person who maybe tries a little too hard to please everyone else in his life. This fic is mainly just about him settling in on E1 and getting to know the team... and picking up on everyone's secrets to an extent too. Recognizing things like, Gideon is lonely, Caitlin's struggling with PTSD and something else beneath that, Cisco's feelings for Harry that he's not quite ready to do anything about, Barry not trusting himself... mostly little stuff that no one's talking about because they don't want to feel silly about bring it up, but it's still putting barriers up that are hurting the team.

My goal for the series (at least so far as it covers an AU S3) is that as HR helps Team Flash heal and grow stronger, he helps himself do the same. So that by the time Cynthia asks him to come back (not demand for her employers, but ask for the social revolution she'll become part of) he'll be ready to do so.

That's the only one I've really done any noteworthy work on the last week - been busy with the holiday mostly - though I'm hoping to get some work done on a few more requests soon and add on to a few more of my unfinished series in the next while.

[shrinkthisviolet]

1, 2, 10, 12, 16, 21 for the roots asks for Morgan :)

1. How many living parents does your OC have? If they're alive, where are they now and what’s your OC’s relationship with them? If they’re dead, how did they die?

Ooh well right now, 1 with Tina. Though later it'll be 2, because of Henry (and probably later 3, when she comes to think of Harry as a father figure too).

Obviously, her relationship with Tina is very strong—naturally there’s tension at times, especially after Tina finds out about Eowells, but that’s bound to happen. Spoilers perhaps, but uh…they come back from this tension stronger.

For Henry that it’ll be a bit of a bumpy ride given Morgan’s…difficult history with the concept of fatherhood. Calling Henry “Barry’s dad” is far easier than thinking of him as “stepdad”, but…she’ll get there. For Harry, she will probably never actually call him Dad, nor will he ever call her any form of “daughter” to her face, though they’ll probably refer to each other as such when talking to others. (More details about both of these relationships are TBD)

Harrison and Tess…well, Morgan’s relationship with them is ofc complicated. They’re her parents, but she doesn’t remember anything about them—she was too young when they died. Everything she knows about them is secondhand from Tina (or to a lesser extent Eowells*), or vía what she can glean from Harry…though the latter is so E2-specific that it’s still lacking. So really, they’re her parents in a much more distant sense…and she barely even feels like she has the right to mourn them 🥺 more easily referring to them as “Aunt Tina/Mum’s friends” than “my parents”

*about this, btw…he does something quite underhanded that I can’t say too much about. You will hate him more than you thought possible when I reveal it.

2. What was your OC’s first job? Do they still work that job (or in that field), or do they do something else now?

Barista at Jitters! Then in s2, barista at Starbucks. Though once she transfers to CCU in s3 and sophomore year of college gets going, she decides to stay unemployed for a while 😅 juggling college and superhero duties (especially since Organic Chem is one of her classes during s3) is hard enough

10. What’s the first significant injury your OC remembers getting? Did it leave any scars?

Hmm maybe the time she fell off a Razor scooter when she was in kindergarten and got a scrape above her eyebrow. It was a pretty bad scrape, and she had to get stitches, though luckily it healed up fairly quickly.

One of the good memories she has of Eowells is him taking the day off work to spend with her in the hospital, and letting her curl up with him in bed. It was one of the few truly good days she had with him…and as with those good days, it was a rarity undone as soon as the next day

(He took her to the doctor that morning to make sure her stitches had dissolved and that her ill-effects were mild, then dropped her at school around noon before going off to work himself. And with that, they were right back to normal)

12. Does your OC’s family practice any faith or religion? Does your OC still practice? Why or why not?

She’s not really religious tbh, neither were her parents. She celebrates Christmas, but not in a super religious sense, more in a commercial sense (caveat: I do think Christmas is to a degree religious in nature, which is why I don’t celebrate it, but I do think people often do celebrate it secularly. Such is the case for Morgan)

Cut for length (16 and 21 are below):

16. What does your OC’s childhood bedroom look like?

Ooh well she has two: one in Tina's house for the most formative 6 years of her life (7-13, though she does also use it from ages 17-18 (and maybe beyond that)...possibly? Depends on if she dorms at CCU), and one at Eowells's mansion/house that she uses from 1-7 and then 13-16.

Her room at Eowells's house is fairly plain—Eowells had it painted a tactful pastel yellow, though when she was 13, in the early days of moving back in, she managed to convince him to paint it pastel blue instead (her superhero costume may be dark green, but blue is her favorite color). She doesn't have much decoration on her walls, no posters or anything of the like, though she did convince him to let her hang a whiteboard calendar on her wall. She still uses it. She also always keeps her room very neat, because Eowells gets tetchy when even a hair of it is out of place. He also doesn't see much point in knick-knacks or books that he seems "frivolous", so she learns quickly to keep those hidden

That aforementioned calendar was actually a gift from Tina, when she was 12. And her room at Tina's is much more lived-in, much more of "organized chaos"—knicknacks littering her dressing table, her clothes not always neatly folded, books scattered on every surface...though she always remembers to make her bed. And her four walls are alternating dark blue and dark green, the way she likes it 💞

21. If your OC could speak to their childhood self, what would they say?

“You are enough. You are more than enough, just as you are. And you don’t have to settle for him, you deserve better. One day, you will have so much better, I promise.”

oc ask game!

Taglist (send an ask or DM to be added or removed):

@arrthurpendragon @ocappreciationtag @raith-way @vexic929 @ironverseocs

@thechaoticfanartist @goldheartedchaoticdisaster @negative-speedforce @starstruckpurpledragon @angst-is-love-angst-is-life

[arrthurpendragon]

Gonna take the opportunity to gush about Morgan!

I just love her so much 😭 my poor baby, she's so resilient and deserves so many hugs and so much love. She loses both her parents on the same night and then is raised by the man who killed them...and then Thawne, even though he does come to love her, can't focus on raising her because he's too busy plotting revenge on someone else (Barry, who's not yet the Flash, but Thawne ofc hated him regardless)! So she has to be raised by her godmother, Tina…without her getting any of the mom benefits, since Eowells is still her dad on paper. Talk about complicated 😂

It's so funny to think about, though, how Morgan’s existed basically as long as I've been in the Flash fandom 😅 ever since I watched s2 (maybe about a month after I started the show overall, and mind you this was back in March/April 2020). Ever since I met Jesse Wells (our lovely E2 speedster whom I adore), I've always wanted to make an Earth-1 doppelgänger of her. So Morgan’s always existed in relation to Jesse, which is why I never really intended to write the s1 arc. I figured she'd sorta be involved with Team Flash the same way Iris is in s1: from the sidelines. And s2 is maybe when she'd really become part of the Team. So I didn’t think there was much to say about the s1 period.

Of course, Morgan very much grew into her own person 😂 and I'm so, so glad for it 💞 I can’t imagine her any other way. And I can’t imagine not writing the s1 arc—turns out there is a lot to say!

Ooh and Morgan’s powers also originally weren't gonna be forcefields. I was thinking about super strength at first, but...I didn't wanna give her the same powers as a one-off villain who was shown to very quickly die from them (mostly because I wasn't sure how Morgan could be the exception to that 😅 I thought about nanotech, but that was too much pseudoscience for me).

She also originally wasn't as close to Barry and Iris as she is now. She always had a sibling relationship with Caitlin and Cisco ever since they met, but...her friendships with Barry and Iris came about when I actually started writing the s1 arc (working at Jitters with Iris gave her something to do…and ofc if she’s friends with Iris, and linked to STAR Labs, she’d be friends with Barry too). And now...I can't imagine the AU without those friendships 💞 especially Barry&Morgan!

(Which is gonna make s3 with Savitar sooo good and angsty…but I won’t say too much about that yet!)

It's so neat to see how excited you are for your OC! Morgan sounds pretty awesome and it's neat to see how things have played out, even if a bit differently than originally planned!

Good luck with your creativity going forward!

[rebelmeg]

Rebelmeg’s TSB Mark V Masterpost

@tonystarkbingo​

S1 - Grumpy Coffee Kitten - Chapter 2: A Sleepy Murder Hobo Walks Into a Coffee Shop... | fanfic | Teen | pre-Bucky/Darcy, several other minor and/or platonic pairings

S2 -  Rebelmeg Drabbles - Chapter 18: Operation | fanfic | Gen | Pepperony

S3 - ChaosBot Meets Its Match - TSB Mark V November Round Robin | fanfic | Gen | no pairing

S4 - Hell Hath No Fury | fanfic | Teen | Tony & Rhodey, Pepperony

S5 - Bot Shaming - Part 9 | graphics art/social media post | Gen | Tony & Dum-E

T1 - Rebelmeg Drabbles - Chapter 19: MIT Bros Learning to Cook | fanfic | Gen | Tony & Rhodey & Momma Rhodes

T2 -  First Date Jitters collab with @newnewyorker93​ | fanfic | Gen | Pepperony

T3 - Baby Shower | moodboard | Gen | Pepperony

T4 - Disenchanted with Captain America | fanfic | Gen | Tony & Howard, Tony & Steve

T5 - Go To Sleep | fanfic | Teen | Pepperony

A1 - Vegas Wedding | moodboard | Gen | Pepperony

A2 -  After the Fall | fanfic | Gen | Pepperony

A3 - Stiletto Blades in Stiletto Heels | fanfic | Teen | Pepperony

A4 - Grumpy Coffee Kitten - Chapter 9: Pick Your Power | fanfic | Teen | pre-Bucky/Darcy, several other pairings

A5 - Icarus and Apollia | fanfic | Gen | Pepperony

R1 - Taking Care of You Since 1992 | fanfic | Teen | Tony & Happy, Tony & Rhodey

R2 - The Best Kind of Confetti | moodboard | Gen | Pepperony

R3 - Put Another Dime in the Jukebox, Baby | fanfic | Teen | Tony/Unspecified (pick your pairing)

R4 - Regency Matchmaking | moodboard | Gen | Pepperony, Rhodey & Happy

R5 - I Love You 3000 | graphics art | Gen | Iron Family

K1 - The Start of Something New | moodboard | Gen | Pepperony

K2 - Avengers Bake-Off | moodboard | Gen | Avengers friendships, minor Pepperony

K3 - Rhodey & Mo's Date in the Park | moodboard | Gen | Rhodey & Morgan

K4 - Up Late | fanfic | Gen | Pepperony

K5 - Across the Multiverse | fanfic | Gen | Pepperony

[ao3feed-harringrove]

unum cum dentibus

https://ift.tt/3pQWqMj

by Aubrie1234

After Billy comes back from being trapped in the Upside Down for two months, he's told that Neil is missing. Which, honestly, is both a relief and a jitter-inducing nightmare because he has no idea when (or if) Neil will come back. But then Billy starts wondering where the money went, and why Steve was so angry he didn't get a funeral. So he investigates.

Billy ends up getting a lot more than he bargained for.

Words: 4470, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: Stranger Things (TV 2016)

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Categories: M/M

Characters: Billy Hargrove, Steve Harrington, Neil Hargrove, The Party (Stranger Things), Jim "Chief" Hopper, Maxine "Max" Mayfield

Relationships: Billy Hargrove & Steve Harrington, Billy Hargrove/Steve Harrington, Billy Hargrove & Maxine "Max" Mayfield

Additional Tags: Mystery, Murder Mystery, Pre-Relationship, Billy Hargrove Lives, Billy Hargrove & Maxine "Max" Mayfield Have a Good Relationship, Bisexual Steve Harrington, Gay Billy Hargrove, post-S3 AU, Getting Together, Halloween gift

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/3pQWqMj

[sylaar]

hobbies & interests ;

Depending on where you look at him in the timeline, Sylar approaches his hobbies in very different ways. 

1. He loves learning. We see this before he kills for the first time and after. When we look at the past episodes, S1, E17 Six Months Ago and in S3, E8 Villains, his walls are lined with books of varying topics; science, religion, fiction, etc. After Sylar kills for the second time, we see his table lined with books about the brain and how it works as he searches for ways to acquire abilities. 

2. Despite the fact that he repaired timepieces for a living and took over the business from his “father”, Gabriel actually enjoys that work. We see this in S1, E21 The Hard Part when he pleas with his mother to tell him that it’s okay to be a simple watchmaker. We also see it in S4, E18 The Wall. After being put into a “mental prison” by Matt and coming to the realization he wasn’t getting out, Sylar spends his time repairing timepieces. 

3. Sylar loves to travel. While on his rampage of taking abilities, he go across the US; California, Texas, NY, Nevada, etc. Aside from his being for gain, we also see in S1, E21 that he collects snow globes for Virginia while on these trips. She even says that she almost has all 50 states. At some point, he would love to see the world. While Sylar won’t admit it, it’s part of the reason he craves Hiro’s ability; he could go to any time or place. Maybe, if desired, even prevent himself from killing Brian Davis in the first place. 

4. He is a tea drinker, as we see in S1, E18 Parasite. Coffee is too bitter and gives him the jitters. Because of this, Sylar likes to try carious teas, Chi, Jasmine, Chamomile, Oolong, etc. Wherever he travels, he likes to find a novelty tea shop and try one of their specialities. 

5. Although Sylar loves music, depending on the timeline his favorite genres are classic & alternative rock and certain,  “classical” pieces are his favorite. Country music is okay, but growing up in the city, Sylar never heard a lot of it. He doesn’t vibe with pop or rap, regardless of how popular they have become in the world. 

***more to be added later

[kerbaldevteam]

Kerbal Space Program 1.9: “There’s No Place Like Home” is now available!

Hello everyone!

Kerbalkind has been exploring the vastness of the Kerbolar System for many years: they’ve explored the surfaces of planets and moons, encountered beautiful landscapes, interesting surface features, performed experiments, and even captured asteroids, all with ingenuity… and many explosions. However, sometimes it’s good to look back and appreciate the wonders of your own home-planet and realize that There’s No Place Like Home!

Kerbal Space Program 1.9: There’s No Place Like Home draws its name from the substantial graphical overhaul we’ve given to Kerbin with improved textures and shaders, but that’s far from the only thing you’ll find in this update. Mainly focusing on performance improvements and bug fixes, 1.9 also includes some neat part revamps, a brand new drain valve, and several additions drawn directly from your feedback. Additionally, we’re including some cool stock crafts for the expansions, and advanced control improvements to the blades in the Breaking Ground Expansion.

Let’s go through some of the update’s highlights below:

Visual Revamps for Moho Dres and Kerbin

Kerbin, Moho and Dres have received major visual improvements, with detailed high-quality texture maps. Since there’s no place like home, Kerbin  also includes an Ultra Quality shader option for exceptionally sharp visuals. All in all, the Celestial Bodies in the Kerbolar System are looking better than ever.

Drain Valve

Kerbal Space Program 1.9: There’s No Place Like Home features the FTE-1 Drain Valve. A brand new part that, as the name suggests, is a release valve for parts with drainable resources, such as monopropellant, ore, liquid fuel, oxidizer or xenon. The Drain Valve also allows you to set the drainage over a specific amount of time. 

Part Revamps

The "Thumper" Solid Fuel Booster, "Mainsail" and “Skipper" Liquid Fuel Engines have been given a new look. New geometry, textures and emissive maps make these parts look sharp and realistic. On top of that, the "Mainsail" and “Skipper" are getting a couple of sleek variants for you to choose from.

Quality of Life Features

Drawing from our players’ feedback, Kerbal Space Program 1.9: There’s No Place Like Home is packed with some useful quality of life features like an adjustment to the time warp system that removes restrictions on warping at certain altitudes; a new cheat menu option that allows you to place your craft above the surface of any celestial body; a search box for the R&D Tech Tree; and a new Screenshot Mode for paused shots, and several others! 

Blade improvements 

Breaking Ground players can now enjoy cyclic & collective deflection controls to the blade parts. This will help you build and pilot helicopters and other rotorcraft realistically. Check out this devblog to learn more about it.

And more!

To learn more you can read the full Changelog here:

======================== v1.9.0============================ 1.9.0 Changelog - BaseGame ONLY (see below for Making History and Breaking Ground changelog)

+++ Improvements * Added Camera mode (unlocked camera movement controls) when game is paused in flight and you hide the UI. * Adjust Kerbal ladder navigation to remove sliding and provide better automatic transition between ladders. * Part Mass and Cost now clamp their value to avoid negative numbers results from Mass/Cost Modifiers - configured per part via minimumMass and minimumCost in each parts cfg. * Revamped Kerbin scaled space planet. * Implement single camera system when running in DX11 for improved performance. * Add new part - FTE-1 Drain Valve to drain resources from attached parts. * Add new Cheat option in the Debug Menu  - Set Position to teleport a vessel to a position relative to the surface of a celestial body. * Added medium and high Quality shader for Moho. * Adjust Wheel brake setting and auto-friction to take into account Gee. Helps with rovers flipping over. * Each KAL Window now persists its screen position with the KAL. * KSPedia slides and assets now load on demand and are released when the KSPedia window is closed. * Add handling for Ships folder in GameData/SquadExpansion where stock craft including DLC parts can be stored. * Added Ultra Quality shader for Kerbin. * Implement new Max Time Warp logic to allow faster warp rates when on rails. This is managed by gamesettings (ORBIT_WARP_MAXRATE_MODE = PeAltitude). * Implement Limit modifier for altitude based Max Time Warp logic so players can tune when the mode is set to (ORBIT_WARP_MAXRATE_MODE = VesselAltitude). * Change Default VesselSwitching Keys ( [ or ] ) to bypass debris and spaceobjects. * Add Mod + VesselSwitching Keys  ( [ or ] ) to include debris and spaceobjects. * Add search box to career tech tree. * Added High Quality shader for Kerbin. * Created new textures with higher detail for Kerbin's low quality terrain shader.

+++ Localization * Fix variant name in selector being cropped in some languages like Japanese * Fix missing font character affecting some KSPedia slides in Russian. * Fix missing font character affecting Orbit Info UI in Chinese.

+++ Parts * Revamped Skipper engine. * Revamped Mainsail engine with silver variant. * BACC "Thumper" Solid Fuel Booster revamp. * RE-M3 Mainsail (New "Full", "Mid" and "Bare" variants). * RE-I5 Skipper (New "Shroud", "Truss Mount" and "Bare" variants).

+++ Bugfixes * Fix tab key switching for columns in the settings screen, it will focus the first available item. * Fix part filter showing no parts after switching between subassemblies, variants and simple mode. * Fix renamed asteroids needing a scene change to update screen and kb info. * Fix NREs where Breaking Ground Science VesselType should not be available without the DLC. * Fix surface attach node handling on Part Variants. * Fix action sets input losing focus when renaming and moving the mouse away from the input field. * Fix errors EVAing in timewarp via crew hatch dialog. * Fix additional launchsite CommNet stations being active even when those launchsites are not active in the currently loaded save. * Fix shadows on KSC filler tiles when lights are shone on them. * Fix NREs and oxygen timeliness checks resulting in kerbals dying when they shouldn't when no helmet on. * Fix NRE pressing Ctrl-Z (undo) many times with symmetry part selected. * Fix audio FX fade when objects move away from player's camera. * Fix dV calcs for boosters with fuel flow priorities changed (specific use cases). * Fix Discontinuity in texture mapping on the Mun with high quality shader. * Fix Walkway textures around level 3 RnD building. * Fix issue where symmetry could break when restoring a held part on a vessel and immediately placing the held part again. * Fix Inputlock manager issue with MenuNavigation breaking single mouse clicks. * Fix SAS target mode misalignment when control point is not the vessel root * Fix NRE when deploying science experiments attached to debris when on EVA. * Fix reentry FX. * Fix target marker disappearing in the Ascent Tutorial. * Fix Terrain shader causing crashes on AMD GPUs. * Fix underwater fog. * Fix log spam when player attempts to drag maneuver nodes backwards through patched conics crossing SOIs. * Fix dV calcs on stages that have different tank priorities in the same stage. * Fix manipulating maneuver nodes unhiding the Navball throughout gameplay. * Fix NRE being generated when staging a service module inside of a fairing in liftoff during flight. * Fix Kerbodyne S3-14400, Kerbodyne S3-7200 and Kerbodyne S3-3600 colliders being visible during Place Mode. * Fix Rockomax Brand Adapter 02 being off-center. * Fix Mastodon and Skiff bottom attach nodes being backwards. * Fix issue with quicksaves loading active vessel about to crash causing the vessel to pass through the terrain. Quicksaves can no longer be made when the active vessel is about to crash into the ground (including EVA kerbals). * Fix contract generation issues in Editor when reputation changes by allowing contract generation in Editor scene. * Fix parachutes deploying on quicksave load or staging when set to only stage when safe and conditions are not safe. * Fixed texturing being broken on corner of Bop. * Fix part highlight remaining on parts when removed from action groups in the editor. * Fix error when manipulating servos that are part of an action group * Fix terrain texturing jitter on celestial body low quality shader when landing from Orbit. * Fix mirror attach on bicouplers. * Fix KSPedia Aircraft/Basics/Balancing act page slide missing in Chinese * Fix opening the In-Flight Action Sets Editor unlocking vessel functions without a Command Module present in flight during gameplay. * Fix the KAL-1000 curve starting below minValue for some parts. * Fix Flight UI mode being locked during Time Warp. * Kerbal Body collider adjusted to reduce collisions while on a ladder.

+++ Mods * Add Per Kerbal PhysicMaterial Accessors for Modders so you can adjust each kerbals bounciness - SetPhysicMaterial, ResetPhysicMaterial. * Fix Issue for mods when copying parts that had modified resource lists. * Fix potential NRE in music player for mods. * Set the KSP Assembly version correctly on game start so KSPAssemblyDependency will work for KSP versions. * Added events for Action Groups in flight visibility changes so mods can handle any UI changes they need to in each mode * Added Pause/UnPause events when the action groups show/hide in flight. * Fix PQS.radiusmax not including some noise PQSMods in the calcs PQSMod_VertexHeightNoise and PQSMod_VertexPlanet. Should mean that radisumax is no longer below any vertex in most cases

Making History 1.9.0

+++ Improvements * Added new stock vessels to be used in any game mode. Some of them are featured in stock missions.

+++ Parts * Retuned Engine Plates mass and costs.

+++ Bugfixes * Fix NRE when launching vessels with Breaking Ground Robotic parts and wheels in missions. * Fix in mission builder where an NRE is generated when a flag planted in a pod triggers a node to destroy the same pod. * Fix a truck collider in the Dessert Airfield. * Moved the mission status check from the physics loop to the main game clock to prevent physics simulation being out of sync with respect to UI. * The VAB and SPH should not be open in the stock Meet me in Zero G mission. * Fix missions getting stuck if they have a mission briefing and the player changes scenes before closing the mission briefing dialog box. * Fix scoring in Trouble in the Void stock mission. * Body collider adjusted to reduce collisions while on a ladder for vintage suits.

Breaking Ground 1.4.0

+++ Improvements * Blade controls are no longer instantaneous. * Blades SAS support improved. * Added new stock vessels to be used in any game mode. * Add new kspedia slides. * Blades auto-detect cyclic vs collective control mode based on location of rotation axis relative to the vessel center of mass, per control axis. Mode indicated in Rotation Control State group in Advanced Tweakables. * Blade authority limiter default set to 3 degrees. * Blades auto-detect inoperable control axis (rotation axis within 5 degrees of control axis). * Blade rotation axis shown as green arrow in aero debug display. Length is logarithmically proportional to rotation velocity (vessel relative).

+++ Bugfixes * Fix cargo part model getting stuck on screen when pressing altimeter buttons. * Fix deployed science power kerbal trait text in AC tooltips. * Fix NRE when launching vessels with Breaking Ground Robotic parts and wheels in missions. * Fix heaviest part autostrut for robotic parts attached in reverse depending on ship part order. * Fix potential NREs using rotate tool on robotic parts. * Fix robotic part animations stutter changing Auto-shift state playing through KAL-1000. * Fix robotic parts losing functionality when auto-restart is enabled. * Body collider adjusted to reduce collisions while on a ladder for futuristic suits.

Kerbal Space Program 1.9: There’s No Place Like Home is now available on Steam and will soon be available on GOG and other third-party resellers. You will also be able to download it from the KSP Store if you already own the game.

Happy launchings!

[gun-roswell]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Star Wars: The Bad Batch (Cartoon), Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types, Star Wars - All Media Types Rating: General Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: CT-9904 | Crosshair & Omega (Star Wars: The Bad Batch) Characters: Omega (Star Wars: The Bad Batch), CT-9904 | Crosshair Additional Tags: Inspired by Fanart, Inspired by TBB S3 Trailers, S3 Speculation, Ficlet, crosshair reflected, POV Omega (Star Wars: The Bad Batch), Angst and Feels Series: Part 16 of Pre TBB S3 Jitters Shorts, Part 68 of Fandom Shorts Summary:

It’s just a shadow, a reflection. And yet it feels so real. The connection made.

Part of the Bad Batch S3 Jitters series

[killervibe]

If you could have written the show, in what season would you have made Killervibe get together, and how would it happen?

Oh that’s easy!! S3 for sure. There’s so many opportunities for that. But just imagine when Julian and Cisco get into that fight where Cisco admits to being afraid of hurting her, instead of saying that, it would be “Because I love her!” as an outburst.

And then messy aftermath ;)

If not then s3, thennnnnn 5x02 during that Jitters scene at the end of the episode.

[ineffablegame]

got tagged by @weatheredlaw - thanks for tagging me!

your name: Ineffablegame.  or Zingiberis.  or Beth.

fandoms you write for: recently good omens, of course, but also sherlock.  I also love Avatar, The Legend of Korra, and Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, but I have no current plans to write for those.  

where you post: Ao3.  Here’s a link! 

most popular one shot: Lozenges, a Sherlock sickfic I wrote a while back.  it’s silly and fun and progresses through Sherlock and John’s relationship, and I’m still very happy with how it turned out!

most popular multi chapter story: Blank Cards and Infinite Stakes, which is a series of one shots based off of one-word and Tumblr prompts.  I’ve been having so much fun working on it.  It ranges from humor to angst and everything in between.  

favorite story you’ve written: ooooh.  let’s see.

I’m very fond of Mr. Psychopath because it’s the first complete fic I’d written, and I like some of the twists I came up for that.  Rated E, it’s a pretty dark story about Sherlock and John going head-to-head with Mary after the events of S3 (i.e. S4 doesn’t exist).  

I also love Blank Cards and Infinite Stakes because I’m obsessed with GO right now and it’s such fun to write for a new fandom.  Looking forward to working on future chapters!  

Annnddd I’m super stoked for two new GO works I’ve got planned, but those aren’t done or even properly begun yet!

story you were nervous to post: i get jitters about posting smut but I’m slowly overcoming that/losing my sense of shame in it haha.  I’m also a little nervous about writing fem!Crowley because I know the topic of gender and sex can be pretty fraught, but I’ve been so lucky to see nothing but support on that front so far!

how do you choose titles: Honestly, I just bullshit it.  All the time.  I don’t even know where a vein of frost came from but whatever, just roll with it.  

do you outline: Scapple!  I fuckin’ love Scapple.  It’s literally just word bubbles on a string but it works so well for me.  I write out a rough outline on Scapple for bigger projects and generally try to follow it, but I try to let the story go where it will and not stick to it too rigidly.  For smaller works, I make notes on the Notepad app and loosely follow those.  

how many of your stories are complete? I think 6 of the 9 posted?

how many of your stories are in progress?  currently two (Blank Cards and a new oneshot I’m doing).  Crazy Wall Clues is sort of on hiatus until I get back into a Sherlock groove and I’m not done with another one, still need to take it down because I lost motivation.  Oops.  

coming soon: New oneshot!  I don’t have a title yet, but believe me, it will be angsty and lowercase and completely, 100% bullshat.  

do you accept prompts?  Yes!  But I’m super super slow at answering them, and on some I just can’t think of something to write, so send them without high expectations haha.  

upcoming story you’re most excited to write? I have an idea for a GO sequel multi-chapter fic that I’m SUPER excited to get to, but I need to finish outlining and working out the finer details/possibly finding some actual people to advise me on the subject material before I get going with it.  

tagging: Anyone who wants to!  

[beautifulterriblequeen]

Hi! I just want to say I love your tdp blog soooo much your commentary does not go unheard or appreciated (you actually calm my jitters about the show with your analyses) I wanted to ask, thoughts on Zubeia? Also why is she so majestic and mighty and has just been in the shadows this whole time? I’d actually be more scared of her than Avizandum! Also 3 hip hip hoorays for Luna Tenebris not being the dragon queen. This will just deepen lore and her own character arch!

Aww, shucks, anon. You’re super sweet! And I’m glad that my ramblings help calm your jitters. Tbh I find focusing really tightly on just one or two details at a time calms me, too. 

Zubeia! I love her design. Fluffy horn tuft stuff! Very clever. The biggest reason I thought Luna Tenebris might be Dragon Queen was for dragon politics, but there was no way we weren’t getting dragon politics either way. 

So: a gorgeous Dragon Queen. Zym’s mom. Avizandum’s widow. Ruling Xadia, ordering assassin hits on foreign dignitaries. You know, the usual.

Thing is, she’s only been a secret to us. Everyone in Xadia knows she’s the Dragon Queen. Runaan’s most likely met her personally when he was given his mission. And maybe all his other missions, if he works exclusively for the crown. That Sun queen in the trailer probably deals with her from time to time, as rulers do. Rayla knows who her parents went to work for. And everyone knows she’s been in charge since Winter’s Turn. 

What I’m currently mulling over is the poster pose. The first two posters for S3 show antagonistic standoffs: Ziard vs Sol Regem, and Harrow vs. Avizandum. They’re in battle, confrontational. And in each case, one of the characters on the poster has died.

However, the poses in the third poster are different. Zubeia’s head is pointed away from Ezran, so there’s no antagonistic vibes. And Ezran has her son Zym with him. It’s a much softer, more hopeful image, and I like the deliberate shift from the earlier conflicts. A child truly is freer than a king. Although technically Ezran is now both a child and a king.

Sol Regem has been shown to have very racist opinions about humans. Avizandum has killed untold thousands of humans at the border--including three queens, which may or may not have saved Runaan a trip or two. You’d think that would be standard defense technique, but Lujanne manages to defend the Moon Nexus without taking lives. So I have very strong opinions about dragon morality and mental flexibility.

Dragons live so long they can outlive any problems that humans or even elves have with them. They don’t think they need to change. They consider themselves to be the gold standard, and everyone else is varying levels of inadequate. As long as dragons rule Xadia, no one will be able to adapt at a pace better suited for their societal development. Not elves, not humans.

Zubeia may be more flexible, maybe because she has a child’s future to think about, maybe because she’s still young for a dragon, maybe because of personal experiences. She may be a better foil for Ezran, as willing to work with him as he is with her. 

But probably not.

The trailer shows Zym going to a small stone chamber, with a Skywing elf and the Dragaang nearby. If the creators were serious about their “Zym goes through his whole life cycle” in S3 comment, maybe that chamber is where it happens? Why would they do that to sweet baby Zym??

Because of the same exact reason Viren wanted the egg of the Dragon Prince in the first place. Viren saw the massive power that a grown Storm Archdragon had when he watched Avizandum kill three human queens, and he marked himself down as both scared and greedy. He stole Zym’s egg and practice hatching big ostrich-type eggs in his secret dungeon oven, because he wanted his own magical badass dragon, fighting for the humans. He and Zubeia know the same truth: nothing in Xadia is stronger than an adult Storm Archdragon.(see, I told you there’d be dragon politics)

But Zubeia only has a baby one. So it’s possible she just decided to insta-grow her own son into an adult dragon, so he can fly out and fight in a fresh new war.

How motherly of her. Maybe she’s looking away from Zym in the poster because she doesn’t want to get too attached. Maybe, just like Viren, she sees her offspring as tools to be used as she sees fit.

I already think that the best thing that could’ve happened to Zym was meeting the Dragaang (and Lujanne and Phoe-Phoe) upon hatching, so he could bond with Ezran and experience what young humans and elves are really like. Maybe the worst thing that could happen to Zym is going home to his mom.

Yeah, I love problematic dragons.

[kurokoros]

Faking It || Chapter One (SPxOC)

Title: Faking It

Rated: T | Warnings: cliches abound, language, possible future violence.

Words: 6,134

Pairing: Sweet Pea x OC

Summary: “A fake kiss. A Contract. And a mutual want to piss off Reggie Mantle. That’s all it was supposed to be. Rosie and Sweet Pea never meant to fall in love in the process.”

AN: This is twice as long as it was supposed to be and I hope you enjoy it. This was loosely inspired by To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before and @starryeyedauthor encouraging me to write this monster, so here it is! 

Canon has been ignored. Midge is alive. The Black Hood wasn’t Hal. Reggie, Sweet Pea, and Cheryl are all Seniors at Riverdale. idk a Riverdale S3.

The Hayes house is unusually quite for a Wednesday morning.

It’s not that they’re a particularly crazy family, especially when compared to other families in Riverdale, but there are five of them living in a house that’s just a little too small for all of them, with two bathrooms meant to situate two teenage girls, a preteen that thinks she’s a teenager, a sassy eight year old that likes to sing in the shower, and their personal accountant father that also likes to sing in the shower. Loudly and very out of tune. To hits from the eighties.

It’s already seven in the morning and Rosie hasn’t heard so much as a word from upstairs, which would be understandable given the time on most Wednesday mornings, aside from the fact that today happens to be the first day of Riverdale’s fall school semester. The fight for the bathrooms should have started over an hour ago, but so far she’s the only one awake, which doesn’t bode well for the rest of them.

Morning showers are going to be a massacre.

The stairs creak behind Rosie, gaining her attention as her father comes down the stairs and frowns when he sees her already awake and dressed on the couch. “Morning,” she calls over to him, turning back to the book perched in her lap, fingers drumming against the hardcover absently.

“Mornin’.” He runs a hand through his dark hair, yawning and rubbing at the stubble on his jaw. “How long have you been up, Rose?” he asks, looking at her in something akin to confusion, which is understandable. Rosie never has been much of a morning person, usually thriving in the dark. Usually it’s a struggle to get her out of bed anytime before ten o’clock, so her being out f bed without a fight is a clear sign that something isn’t right.

She’s always had trouble sleeping when there’s something on her mind. That’s one thing that hasn’t changed over the summer.

Rosie just shrugs in response, setting her book down on the coffee table as she stretches out her legs, sock-clad toes brushing against the cat sleeping at the other end of the couch. “About an hour,” she replies, nonchalant, glancing at the orange tabby cat sleeping at her feet. Charlie’s tail flicks against the couch cushion, the cat ignore the humans in the room easily as he curls up into a ball.

“First day jitters?” her dad asks, glancing at the cat by her feet as well, Rosie refusing to meet his eyes.

Hesitating, Rosie bites her lower lip. “Yeah, something like that,” she says after a beat, not wanting to disclose why she’s so nervous about going to school today. She’s managed to avoid Reggie for the last month since their breakup, but she won’t be able to do that once school officially starts, no matter how much she wishes she could.

He’s a hard person to ignore, among other things.

Her dad sighs, shaking his head with a soft chuckle, still hovering at the bottom of the steps. “I can’t believe it’s already your last year in high school,” he mumbles, stepping further into the room and walking around the couch to plop down on his favorite chair. He stares at Rosie with narrowed eyes, deep in thought about something she doesn’t really understand.

She quirks a brow at him, sitting up on the couch and crossing her legs underneath her, a teasing glint in her eyes. “You’re not going to go all empty nest syndrome already are you?” she jokes, setting her book aside and resting her chin in the palm of one of her hands, amusement flickering across her face. “You still have ten more years of sending kids off to school, Dad.”

Daisy, being the baby of the family, won’t be graduating for at least ten more years before going off to college and officially abandoning the nest. By then the rest of them will be done with college and living lives of their own, which is strange to think about sometimes. The ten year gap between Rosie and Daisy is odd. Just another product of their parents trying and inevitably failing to save their marriage.

He snorts, grinning at her, oblivious to her thoughts. There’s something almost wistful in his eyes, but it’s gone before she can really recognize what it is. “You kids just grow up so fast,” he mumbles, so softly that Rosie almost doesn’t hear him. “I suppose I better get started on breakfast before your sisters come down. You know how Laurel gets when she doesn’t eat.” He moves to stand from the chair, but Rosie rolls her eyes, hopping to her feet before he can.

“Sit down, Old Man,” she jokes, waving a dismissive hand in his direction. “I’ll handle the food. You make sure everyone is awake.” She has nothing better to do for the next hour until school starts anyway, already ready for the day and then some. And she’d much rather do the cooking than try to wake up Iris, who gets cranky in the morning. She flashes him a smile over her shoulder as she heads for the kitchen. “Besides, my hash browns are better than yours.” Rosie ducks away before he can say anything in his defense, snickering to herself as she thinks about what to make for breakfast.

By the time Rosie decides on making omelets in an old pan, the rest of the Hayes family is awake, or at least mostly awake. Iris is the only one perched at the island behind her, the others still getting ready for the day as she squints down at the script for whatever performance Riverdale High will be doing for the winter play. Tryouts are Friday and Rosie knows that Iris is gunning for a major role, even if she is just a Sophomore. She’s always been good at acting, so much so that sometimes Rosie isn’t sure if Iris ever really stops.

Behind her, Iris wrinkles her nose as she flips to the next page, frowning at whatever she sees on the page. “So I’m thinking about trying out for the Vixens this year,” she says casually, tapping her fingers against the counter top as she swings her legs back and forth, long hair pulled back in a loose bun.

“Yeah?” Rosie hums in response, glancing at Iris over her shoulder as she raises a brow. Cheerleading was never really Rosie’s thing when high school rolled around, but Iris has a talent for being good at anything she does, having a certain knack for anything with a dramatic flare. “I’m sure you’ll be good at it.”

Iris only shrugs in response. “Kelsey said she’d try out, too, but she’s…” she trails off, waving her hands in front of her awkwardly, unsure how to phrase it.

“Terrified of Cheryl?” Rosie finishes for her sister as Laurel walks into the room, the eleven year old lighting up when she sees food being made. “Tell her not to worry. Cheryl runs a tight ship, but she’s more bark than bite.” Rosie would know. While she was never a Vixen, she did use to help Cheryl with choreography back when they were both in their earlier years of high school. Before Riverdale went to shit for their Junior year.

Iris is about to respond, but she’s cut off by a sudden shrieking sound as a wild blur of red hair rushes into the kitchen and practically tackles Rosie to the ground, Daisy a mess of limbs as the eight year old wraps herself around her oldest sister’s legs, nearly knocking the pan right out of her hands. “Rosie!” the youngest Hayes girl shouts, voice muffled against Rosie’s leg.

“Daisy!” Rosie greets in return, laughing to herself as Daisy peeks up at her with big green eyes alight with humor. “Look at you,” she coos down at the little girl, Daisy wearing a pretty blue dress, “all ready for your first day back at school.”

Daisy shoots her a wide smile, tugging lightly at her shorts to gain her attention. “Can you braid my hair?” she asks politely, tilting her head to one side cutely as she waits for an answer from the oldest Hayes.

“Of course I can!” Rosie agrees, reaching down for Daisy’s hand, the little girl tugging at the hem of her shirt. “Iris,” she says, turning to the fifteen year old, “serve up the eggs.”

Iris gives a lazy two-finger salute, still flipping through her script. “Aye, aye Captain.”

Dropping off her sisters for the day is almost as big of a hassle as it is trying to get ready in the morning, if only because of how many schools there are in Riverdale.

For what’s supposed to be such a small town, Rosie is always a little baffled by how many school buildings there are, and how spaced out they are, for that matter. Riverdale Elementary is closer to the local park then the other schools, which makes sense, though it is annoying to have to drive Daisy clear across town from where the rest of them need to go. Riverdale Middle School is, thankfully, located just across from Riverdale high, making things less of a scramble for the oldest Hayes sisters.

And that doesn’t even include the middle school located on the Southside of Riverdale, still standing despite the high school being closed down during the previous spring semester. It’s strange, having two separate high schools located in the same town, but Rosie has never been one to question the way Riverdale works. Going along with the town’s nonsense and simply ignoring the oddities makes her life easier.

Pulling into Riverdale High’s parking lot is about as easy as expected. The lot is crowded between the amount of flashy Northside cars and Serpent bikes, and Rosie half expects to get into a fender-bender only minutes after arriving at the school. Because that’s exactly what she needs on the first day back at school.

Between potentially having to interact with her douche bag ex and trying to find a free space in the parking lot from Hell, Rosie can already tell it’s going to be a great day.

Rosie parks her car in the high school lot, carefully wedging the old Impala between a beat up truck and an ugly powder blue jeep nearly parked over the line separating the parking spaces. “I swear, the parking jobs get shittier every year,” she murmurs, rolling her eyes at the blue jeep to her right. She’d think that by now people would learn how to park and not be an asshole, but maybe that’s asking too much from dumbass high school students. Rosie catches Laurel’s gaze in the rear-view mirror, making the younger girl giggle.

“All right, everybody out,” she says, shutting off the ignition and throwing her door open, mindful of how close the  other cars are. Iris follows suit without a word, grimacing when she’s unable to fully open the passenger door because of how close the next car is. Laurel slips out the same side as Rosie, grinning as she drags her bag out behind her, practically bouncing in place as she glances at the Middle School just across the road.

Sighing, Rosie tosses her bag over her shoulder, locking the car with a click as the three of them pile out. Iris pulls out her phone as she walks around the car to come stand beside her sisters, paying them no attention as Rosie turns to Laurel, the eleven year old smiling back as she fixes her glasses, excited for her first day of middle school. “Ready, Kiddo?” she asks, the question more rhetorical than anything. Laurel blinks back at her with wide green eyes, nodding rapidly and sending her curly hair flying around her face. “Okay, remember what I told you?” Rosie lifts her to-go cup to her lips, quirking a brow at her sister.

Laurel’s expression turns serious for a moment, her brows furrowing as she tries to recall Rosie’s advice on surviving middle school. “Stay away from the cafeteria food and if a boy touches me inappropriately, punch him in the throat,” she recounts gleefully, clapping her hands together in front of her.

Rosie chokes on her coffee slightly at the unexpected statement, and behind Laurel, Iris snorts, shaking her head slightly before going back to typing out a message to one of her friends. Blinking down at Laurel, Rosie opens her mouth to chastise her, but closes it again a moment later, shrugging. “Not what I meant, but fair enough.” That’s the kind of advice she would have liked in middle school. “Stay out of trouble and I’ll see you after class.”

With a salute and a megawatt smile, Laurel is gone, practically running to the crosswalk separating the schools as she calls a goodbye to Rosie and Iris, waving manically at the over her shoulder. Rosie watches until Laurel is safely across and headed for the front doors before sucking in a deep breath and turning to Iris, who doesn’t pay her any mind.

“You ready?” Rosie asks, turning on her heel to head towards the school, Iris keeping pace with her easily, despite being distracted.

The younger teen shrugs, frowning down at her phone, oblivious to the herd of Freshman boys headed their way, crowing loudly to each other and overall just being obnoxious. “Not really,” Iris says, shrugging slightly, nose wrinkling in thought. One of the freshman shoves another, nearly toppling the boy into Iris, but Rosie yanks her back, shooting the boys a nasty look that they either don’t notice or simply ignore.

She’d put her money on the latter if she had any.

“Sucks,” Rosie quips back, already ready for the day to be done with. “Meet at the car after class. If you’re not there by ten after, I’m leaving you to walk home,” she continues, patting Iris on the shoulder before skirting around her and taking another sip of coffee, grinning at the taste.

Behind her, Iris sputters, her steps faltering for a moment. She shoves her phone into her back pocket, practically jogging to catch up to Rosie. “There was literally a serial killer in town last semester,” Iris reminds her, voice higher than usual as she shoves her bangs out of her eyes. “You do remember that, right? Because that was an actual thing that happened, Rosie. There was a serial killer in Riverdale.”

“Technically, no one can prove those shootings were connected.” Iris scoffs, making Rosie smile. “And serial killer implies that multiple people died. That’s kind of in the title.” Rosie can practically feel Iris’s eyes rolling at the comment, but she doesn’t respond as she follows her sister to the school, only mumbles something Rosie doesn’t catch as she shoves open the doors.

Iris disappears as soon as they walk through the doors of Riverdale High, absently waving at Rosie over her shoulder and calling out a goodbye that’s lost in the loud hallway. Rosie watches her go, shaking her head with a fond smile as Iris is swallowed up in the crowd of Sophomore students headed to their lockers, glad not to be lowest on the food-chain anymore.

Carefully sidestepping a pair of confused freshman, Rosie heads to her own locker, heels clicking softly against the tile floor as she goes. A few seniors smile at her as she passes, looking about as excited to be back in school as Rosie feels. She returns the smiles with her own strained ones, pointedly ignoring the stares of a pair of Bulldogs leaning against the lockers to her right.

The boys mumble something as she passes, nudging at each other and sharing smirks, but Rosie only continues to sip at her coffee, choosing to ignore the fact that they’re very likely discussing her breakup with Reggie over the summer and the circumstances surrounding it. She doesn’t recognize the boys, leading her thoughts to Freshman followed closely by not worth her time.

Her heels click sharply against the floors as she walks, but the sound is drowned out by the chattering of students crowding the halls, talking with their friends and waiting for first bell. Turning down the hallways housing the senior lockers, Rosie immediately finds her own, situated right between Piper Farrow and Michael Higgens, just as it has been for the last eight years of their school careers.

Alphabetical order can be a bitch sometimes, but at least she has Piper in the locker right next to hers. Michael is a different story. He asks her out every single semester and Rosie declines every single time because all she can ever think about when it comes to him is that time in second grade when he shoved a crayon up his nose, got it stuck, and then snorted so hard that it flew out and got stuck to Missy Bradford’s cheek.

That was the most scarring moment of her childhood, if she’s being completely honest. Watching crayon bits and mucus slide down Missy’s cheek is about the biggest turn off of the century.

With a frown, Rosie glances down the hallway, eyes narrowing when she doesn’t see Piper or Sophie anywhere. While it isn’t unusual for Sophie to run late, the blonde prone to losing track of time, Piper is always early to everything, to the point where it’s almost concerning. There’s still fifteen minutes left until classes start for the day, but Piper makes a point of being to school thirty minutes before first bell. It’s odd not seeing them already leaning against her locker, Piper nodding along with whatever Sophie is saying, unable to get more than a few words in between Sophie’s babbling and hand flailing.

She means well, but the girl is exhausting sometimes. Rosie loves her anyway though, both Sophie and Piper. She would’ve been a lot worse off after this summer if it weren’t for the two of them.

Rosie shakes the thoughts away, determined not to think about what happened nearly a month ago as she fiddles with her locker, opening it with a fluid twist of the wrist, only half-aware of what she’s doing as she grabs her books from inside, stuffing them in her bag one by one.

She’s lucky not to have many classes this semester, only the required core classes and a series of art classes she’s been waiting to take since her Freshman year. It’s less of a strain class wise than it was last year, or even her Sophomore year, but that doesn’t mean she’ll have much free time between her senior showcase project, her AP classes, and whatever shenanigans she has to get Sophie out of this year.

Shoving her final notebook into her bag, Rosie nudges her locker door, letting it close with a slam as she tosses her bag over her shoulder, careful not to spill her coffee as she does. She takes a step back from her locker, casting another glance around the crowded hallway before pulling her phone from her back pocket, checking for a message from either of her friends. Rosie raises her cup to her lips, about to take a sip when someone slides up behind her, a pair of arms coming around her from behind and giving her a brief squeeze. “Guess who?” a familiar voice whispers in her ear.

Laughter bubbles in Rosie’s throat immediately as she spins around on her heel, breaking the arm-lock Sophie has around her waist as she turns to face her friends. Sophie smirks down at her, tucking her short blonde hair behind her ear as she rocks back on her heels, combat boots scuffing against the floor as she does. The smile on Sophie’s face is all teeth, her blue eyes crinkling at the edges with how wide her grin is.

Rosie’s gaze slides to Piper still halfway down the hallway, amusement bubbling inside her as she realizes Sophie must have run up to her upon spotting her at her locker, leaving the third member of their trio lagging behind.

“There you guys are!” Rosie says, hefting her bag higher on her shoulder and shoving her phone into her back pocket, a smile immediately forming on her lips as Piper walks up behind Sophie, rolling her eyes at the blonde’s behavior as she finally reaches them. Rosie locks eyes with Piper, raising an amused brow at the exasperation painted across her face. “Usually you’re here before I am.” Her expression turns teasing as she glances between her friends. “I was beginning to think Sophie finally convinced you to ditch class,” she jokes, biting back a laugh at the sour expression she gets in response.

Piper scoffs, rolling her eyes again and crossing her arms over her chest. “She wishes,” she snarks, jabbing a thumb in Sophie’s direction and ignoring the pout that forms on Sophie’s lips. “I almost thought we weren’t going to make it on time because someone slept in today.” She shoots Sophie a pointed look, making Rosie giggle at the affronted look in Sophie’s eyes.

“I forgot school started today!” Sophie blurts defensively, throwing her hands up and nearly knocking the coffee straight out of Rosie’s hands.

Piper sends Sophie a look practically dripping with contempt, her expression unamused as she crosses her arms. “I reminded you yesterday,” she says blankly, shoving her wild curls away from her face. “You kept me awake until two sending me texts about how you want to do musical theater this year but Eric Morgan told you that your singing makes dog’s bark. Which is a fact, by the way,” she finishes, pulling her orange cardigan tighter around herself, the pumpkin shade popping against her dark skin.

Sophie’s pout only deepens. “Piper, you know I’m like a goldfish!” she whines, tossing an arm around the shorter girl’s shoulders and ignoring the jab about her singing. Where Sophie is nearly five feet eight inches tall, Piper and Rosie are lacking in the height department, though Piper has a few inches on Rosie. “I don’t remember shit!”

“Obviously,” Piper drawls, yanking open her own locker as she shares an exasperated look with Rosie. “I’m not waiting for you that long again,” she warns Sophie, voice stern as she pulls her textbooks out of her locker, sending Sophie a look that’s only half-serious, “next time you’re getting here on your own.”

The look on Sophie’s face can only aptly be described as horrified. “But I’m a lesbian!” she cries, gaining a few odd looks from some of their classmates nearby, though Sophie doesn’t appear to give a shit.

Piper sends her a baffled look. “So?”

“Lesbians can’t drive!” Sophie hisses, grabbing Piper by the shoulders and giving her a rough shake. “You know this!”

Rosie is only barely able to swallow her laughter, her mood easily lifted by Sophie’s dramatics and Piper’s practicality. Sometimes it’s a wonder that the two of them are even friends, what with how different the two of them are, right down to the way they dress, but Rosie wouldn’t change a thing about their strange dynamic. Piper is the more logical of the two, preferring a softer approach to things, whereas Sophie is all rage and threats of bodily harm against anyone that upsets Rosie or Piper. It’s how they’ve always been, right back to the first time they met back in the third grade after Sophie broke Dallas Brenton’s nose for pulling Piper’s hair.

“She’s right you know,” Rosie teases Piper. “Sophie just barely passed her drivers’ test on the third try.”

It was a miracle that Sophie even passed at all, given her utter refusal to ever drive anywhere. Granted, that’s probably for the best. Sophie being behind the wheel has always been a terrifying experience; Rosie’s fairly certain that her life expectancy has shortened just by being in the same car as Sophie.

“Hey!” Sophie snaps, releasing Piper to point a finger at Rosie, her eyes narrowed playfully. “I would have gotten it on the second if it weren’t for that ice cream truck!”

Piper snorts, shaking her head and using her hip to slam her locker shut. “Right, blame the ice cream truck.” Her nose scrunches up as she looks down at her reading list for Advanced English, eyes rolling when she sees a title she doesn’t like. “It couldn’t be that you’re just a safety hazard on the road.” Sophie goes to snap something back, hands on her hips, but Piper continues before she can, looking up at Rosie. “Anyway!” she starts, turning on her heel and linking her arm through Rosie’s before starting down the hall, leaving a sputtering Sophie rooted in place in front of the lockers. “What are you going to do when you see Reggie, Rose?” Her voice dips to something barely above a whisper, her expression turning serious as she glances at Rosie, worry flashing in her eyes.

Rosie’s response is immediate. “I won’t.” She’s resolved to not have anything to do with Reggie this year so long as she can help it. As far as Rosie is concerned, he no longer exists. Reggie can go fuck himself for all she cares. He’s no longer any of her business.

“What are you going to do?” Sophie asks, finally catching up to them. “Close your eyes whenever he’s nearby? Because I’m sure that’ll work out fantastically.”

Piper swats at Sophie, who ducks around to Rosie’s other side, hiding behind the much shorter redhead. “Sophie, you’re not helping,” Piper hisses as Sophie laughs.

“Hey,” she defends herself, “I offered to beat him up, but you guys said no!”

Rosie rolls her eyes, wishing this wasn’t the third time she’s had this conversation in the last month. “We are not committing assault,” she reminds Sophie. Again. As much as Rosie loves the other girl to death, she’s not willing to be arrested with them, at least not while they’re still in high school. Maybe after college. And certainly not for someone as pathetic as Reggie Mantle.

Sophie groans, looking more put out than she should be by Rosie shutting down violence as a plan. “Motherfucker has it coming though! After what he fucking did to you I ought a give him a Russian Corkscrew.” The last two words light up something in Sophie’s eyes, much to her friends’ collective horror.

Rosie has no idea what a Russian Corkscrew is, and she’s pretty sure she doesn’t want to know. It sounds fake, but anything with the word Russian in it is probably painful and also dangerous.

“I actually agree with Sophie on this one,” Piper says after a beat, shrugging slightly as she looks at Rosie. Her hand finds Rosie’s, their fingers lacing together as Piper gives her a reassuring squeeze, giving her a half-smile for a half-joke.

Sophie tosses an arm around Rosie’s shoulders, the fabric of her flannel soft against Rosie’s bare shoulder. “Thank you, Pipes!” she crows at Piper, blue eyes alight with mischief as she turns to Rosie next. “See, Piper agrees with me!”

“We are not committing assault,” Rosie repeats, trying to keep her voice firm, though a smile twitches on her lips, Rosie unable to bite back her amusement at her friends’ ridiculousness. They’re only trying to cheer her up, not wanting her to fall back into the slump she was in for the latter half of summer, and Rosie couldn’t ask for better people in her life.

Pursing her lips, Sophie narrows her eyes in thought. “What about vandalism?”

Rosie hesitates, catching sight of another Bulldog staring at her from down the hall, Moose Mason wrapped up with his girlfriend Midge as they both watch her. “Ask me again after first period,” she finally mumbles back, forcing herself to look away from Moose and Midge, anger bubbling under her skin at the sympathy in their gazes.

Sophie gives a little cheer at Rosie’s almost-agreement, yanking her into a clumsy hug that nearly pulls Rosie right off the ground, causing Piper to snicker from her other side. Sophie releases her just as quickly, twisting around to walk in front of Rosie and Piper, walking backwards through the hallway and forcing the students behind her to avoid being run over. A few of them roll their eyes at Sophie, but most only move aside, used to her antics after so many years of knowing her.

Frankly, Sophie wouldn’t be Sophie if she wasn’t being a public nuisance.

The three of them are quiet for a moment until Piper suddenly frowns, looking down at her class schedule. “Sophie, don’t you have Barker for math first period?” she asks suddenly, sending the other girl a critical look.

Sophie, for her part, only shrugs, looking unbothered by Piper’s question. “I mean, technically, yeah,” she tells them. Rosie snorts at the way Sophie only waves off Piper’s indignant squeak at the nonchalant response.

“Soph, you can’t skip math on the first day of classes,” Piper chastises, looking at Sophie with an expression that’s equally exasperated and fond.

Rosie smiles, opening her mouth to back up Piper, but the words stick in her throat when she catches someone’s eye from the other end of the hallway. She jerks to a halt as she sees the pack of Bulldogs crowded around a group of lockers, eyes finding Reggie easily in the group, looking for him almost instinctively, and she hates herself a little bit for it.

Reggie’s eyes widen when he sees her, and he shoves away from his locker and the surrounding Bulldogs, straightening when she looks at him. Her chest goes tight with anger, but she can’t bring herself to look away from him, momentarily paralyzed with shock at seeing him so soon. She was hoping to avoid him for as long as possible, but luck clearly isn’t on her side today.

Sophie and Piper continue to banter, oblivious to Rosie’s sudden shift in mood. “Ugh, fine, Killjoy. I’ll just skip tomorrow instead.”

Rolling her eyes, Piper glances up at Rosie for backup, noticing her expression for the first time. “Oh shit,” Piper gasps, following Rosie’s gaze down the hallway, stopping short of a comeback to Sophie’s quip. Frowning, Sophie stops walking as well, her head cocking to one side in confusion before she looks over her shoulder, her entire body going tense when she sees what’s caught her friends’ attention. “Fuck boy alert,” Piper continues, tightening her grip on Rosie’s hand before grabbing Sophie by the arm with the other, holding back the now fuming blonde that practically hisses when she sees Reggie standing on the opposite end of the hallway.

“Son of a bitch,” Sophie sneers, hands tightening into fists as Piper holds her back.

Piper’s eyes go wide as Rosie stares at her ex, Reggie sending her a grin from down the hall when their eyes meet. Rosie makes a show of ripping her eyes away from his, panic crawling in her throat when he takes a step towards the three girls, his intent clear. He hasn’t stopped calling her since that night and she was an idiot to think he wouldn’t try to corner her at school too.

Reggie always has had a way of getting what he wants.

Hands shaking, Rosie lets go of Piper, wide eyes searching for something in the hallway to distract her from Reggie’s advance. Her eyes land on a group of Southside Serpents in the hallway, a familiar face catching her eye. Sweet Pea’s gaze catches hers for only a second, but it’s enough for Rosie to make a split-second decision that she’ll probably regret later in the day.

A sudden, petty need rises up in Rosie, hurt turning to anger in her chest. She rips her hand away from Piper’s, eyes on the Serpents as she steadfastly ignores Reggie walking towards her. Her anxiety only grows as he gets closer and she moves without thinking, desperate to avoid Reggie at all costs.

“Rosie, what are you doing?” Piper calls after her, still holding Sophie back as they both watch in bewilderment as Rosie heads towards the Serpents, bots clicking across the floor as she goes. “Rosie!”

“Sweet Pea!” Rosie snaps as she walks up to the tall Serpent, trying to keep her voice light despite the heavy weight of Reggie’s gaze on the side of her face. She ignores the students that turn to look at her, nearly half the hallway watching whatever is going on between Rosie, Reggie, and the Serpents. Anger burns in her throat, but she swallows it back when Sweet Pea meets her gaze, his eyes bright with amusement.

“Hey, Doll,” he greets, straightening to his full height as she steps up to him, towering over her by nearly a foot despite her heels. A lazy smirk pulls at his lips as he looks down at her, hands slipping from his pockets as his head tilts to the side in an almost endearing way. The Serpents he’s standing with all send her looks as she walks up, more questioning than anything else. She and Sweet Pea aren’t friends. Not really anyway. They shared a few classes last semester and would talk when he came to Pop’s during her shift, and that was the most of it.

And if there was a little harmless flirting in there too, well, that was on him.

Sweet Pea’s gaze crawls up her frame in a way that makes her shiver, his eyes lingering on her bare thighs and the teasing hint of skin showing between the waist of her shorts and the flowy purple crop-top she’s wearing. His smirk grows as his eyes lock with hers once more, Sweet Pea wetting his lips as he stares down at her. “What can I—”

Rosie doesn’t give him a chance to finish. She can feel Reggie’s eyes burning against her back, rage boiling just beneath the surface, and that spurs her to do it. Quick as a snake, she grabs at Sweet Pea, fingers wrapping around the collar of his leather jacket as she yanks him down to her, lips meeting his in a kiss that’s borderline bruising. She presses up on her toes to reach him, grasping at his jacket so tightly she’s afraid the leather might tear.

Sweet Pea’s sharp inhale isn’t lost to Rosie, the sound muffled by her mouth on his. His big hands wrap around her instinctively, and open palm pressing against her lower back to keep her flush against him as the other finds her hip, fingers curling around her tightly. His thumb brushes teasingly against the bare strip of skin at her waist.

Her heart begins to beat faster, practically slamming against her rib cage, and she briefly wonders if Sweet Pea can feel it against his own chest. One of her arms slinks around the back of his neck, dragging him down further to meet her. She sighs against his mouth, Sweet Pea’s lips warm against hers, their mouths moving together easily.

Sweet Pea exhales through his nose, practically sighing against her, mouth pressing against hers with just enough pressure to make her head spin as he pulls her flush up against him, arms coiling around her back. Rosie is assaulted by the smell of cigarettes and motor oil as she presses herself up against him, tilting her chin up to deepen the kiss as best she can. Sweet Pea leans into her, tilting her back as he kisses her harder. His teeth nip at her lower lip suddenly, followed by his tongue brushing over the same spot. A small sound leaves her throat, but he swallows it quickly, pressing closer.

There’s a sharp wolf-whistle behind her from one of the Serpents and Rosie suddenly remembers the audience they have, a significant portion of the student body watching—and probably getting more of an eyeful than they bargained for.

Rosie lurches back, breathing heavily as she stares up at Sweet Pea, releasing her grip on his jacket and pressing her palm against his chest, feeling his heart racing beneath her hand as she pushes away from him, taking a step back. He blinks down at her in bewilderment, lips parted and smeared with her lipstick.

“Thanks,” she breathes up at him, unable to say anything else as she forces herself away from him. A smile finds its way to her lips, Rosie, biting her lower lip as she takes another step away from him. She gives a brief nod as she turns on her heel, practically skipping back to Piper and Sophie, who stare at her in disbelief.

When he gaze drifts back to the other end of the hall, the Bulldogs are all staring at her, eyes wide with shock.

Reggie is gone.

Tag List: @daisylennss, @isabella-bby, 

[pinkletterday]

westallen + 'break me'

The Words We Never Said

Pairing: Barry Allen/Iris West

Rating: Teen/Mature

Warnings: heavy, heavy angst, relationship dysfunction, season 3 tw

Status: WiP

Summary: S3 AU. Navigating a new relationship is hard enough without the grim spectre of impending disaster hanging over their heads.

Savitar doesn’t help either.

A/N: *crashes in* I CAN EXPLAIN!

So this was supposed to be a drabble. And it was sorta. I brushed off the end bit and wrote it out nicely. But then thought why not post the whole shebang? Cause it would be a shame to waste a permanent WiP and the prompt did say “break me”. And I hope you really meant that cause this one was saved under a folder named “Westallen trauma submarine”. As in I see your angst sandwich and raise you:

It should have been the happiest time of his life. After years and years of secretly hoping, wishing, fantasizing, Iris was finally with him, sharing a bed with him. He was finally allowed to drown in her lips, sink deep inside her body and whisper his unbearable love while looking into her eyes, as though it was a breath trapped inside him for half a lifetime releasing. He had made a home for them both, a place where he could keep her safe beside him and surround her in all the riches of his love he had had to keep restrained and unspoken till now.

Sitting across the room from her now, watching the streetlight outside spill amber over her sleeping shoulder, Barry had never been more miserable.

She’s going to die because of you, his mind whispered. You killed your mother and your father and you nearly got Patty killed. You let her go to keep her safe but you were too selfish to do the same for Iris. Because she was your dream.

In many ways she still felt like a dream. A lifetime of friendship and sharing a home and secrets and embarrassments and fights and the fact that she was his lover now seemed surreal. Best-Friend-Iris seemed somehow like a similar but wholly different creature to Girlfriend-Iris. The former had manhandled, kicked, elbowed, flopped on and cuddled him with impunity. The latter still touched him deliberately, almost tentative and hyper-aware, as though he was someone almost unfamiliar.

“Babe?” Iris’s voice was rough with sleep in the dark. “What are you doing?”

He slid off the chair and back into the bed before she could sit up. “Nothing, go back to sleep.”

Strong fingers wrapped around his biceps and tugged him insistently toward her. He crawled over her, bracketing her sleep-soft body beneath his. She stroked his face, blinking drowsily at him.

“Is this normal for you?” she rasped. “I get that you have speedster metabolism but I didn’t realize you only needed…what. An hour or two of sleep a night?”

He needed more but didn’t want to tell her that. Or lie to her. He shrugged non-committally.

“Go back to sleep,” he said, kissing her forehead. “You need way more than me and we fell asleep late.”

Iris chuckled throatily. “Mmm. And whose fault was that, huh?”

It’s supposed to be sexy, he knew. This dimension of their relationship was very new but even so he’s been a voracious lover, taking her almost every night she’d have him. She seemed to have no complaints and obviously she is that intoxicating to him but also…

She did not know of the sword hanging over her head. Did not know he had put it there and he couldn’t tell her. Couldn’t bear to see that innocent happiness and love twist into fear and disbelief. He could only mutely press his desperation into her skin and try to drown his guilt inside her.

This is your fault.

“Barry?” her eyes were alert now, searching his face in concern.

Barry made himself smile reassuringly. “I’m good, sweetheart,” the endearment still felt like something stolen on his tongue. He kissed her eyelids closed, careful to keep his weight off her, “we’ll talk about my metabolism in the morning.”

He could feel her gaze slitted upon his face for a long while after he feigned sleep.

***

She should be with Eddie, not you. He deserved her and she knew it.

They were having coffee at Jitters with Cisco and Wally. He had long since zoned out the engineering discussion happening between them, although Iris was gamely trying to follow along. “If I’m going to contribute something to the science fiction movie that is our lives then I better at least learn to understand nerdspeak, Barry.”

“I’ve been talking nerdy at you for years. You mean you haven’t been listening all this time?”

“I was mostly paying attention to how cute you were.”

Then why hadn’t she ever said anything. Why let him ache and doubt and hang on tenterhooks for a smile or a word or look that she might feel the same and then choose Eddie if she had felt anything for him?

Because he was the better man, idiot. His mind answered. He didn’t dither about asking her out for fourteen years, then lie to her, get her fiancé killed and the city blown up. He didn’t let his own selfishness hand her a death sentence.

It is not a death sentence! He snarled back at himself. He would split himself into atoms and cast every one of them into the universe before he saw Iris too, stabbed through the heart in front of him -

“Barry?”

He snapped back into awareness to see the other three staring at him.

“I’m sorry, what?”

“Where’d you go, man?” said Cisco, eyeing him. “You totally zoned out.”

“Yeah, sorry, I’m just -,” he caught Iris’s eye. Ah shit. She’d know if he tried to fib. “A little out of it, this morning.”

“I knew you needed more than two hours a night,” said Iris, concerned.

“Two hours?” Cisco looked between them in bemusement. “He needs more than that. Why are you getting only two hours? What are you even doing?” He swivelled his head to fully face Barry.

“I’m fine, guys,” he shrugged nonchalantly.

“You can’t be fine, Barry, you’ve been having trouble sleeping since we moved in,” Iris protested. “Did anything happen with a meta or at work or -”

“I said I’m fine!” He snapped. The table fell silent, startled. Shit shit shit. He had not meant to do that at all. He saw Wally’s face clouding in anger and Iris’ looking shocked. God damn it.He couldn’t remember the last time he’d snapped at Iris like that.

“Sorry,” he said contritely, feeling like a shitheel. You don’t deserve her. “I…just. I’ve been a little out of sorts. I guess just…dealing with everything that’s been happening, you know.”

He caught Cisco’s eye in trying to avoid Iris’s and felt another dull stab in his chest. They were slowly healing their friendship but it would never be the same. Some days he would look at the man who had been his alter ego’s life raft since the beginning and not recognize him at all. He wondered if Cisco felt the same about him.

“I have to get back to the station,” he said brightly, jumping up. The others simply looked more nonplussed.

“On…Saturday?” said Cisco looking even more like he was questioning Barry’s sanity.

“Yeah, I have a…big backlog of reports,” Barry fumbled, keenly aware that he was exhibiting every liar’s tell he had and wholly unable to stop himself. “I’ll see you guys later -” and all but flashed off, as if this was remotely a way to part with your live-in girlfriend.

***

He got takeout from her favourite Chinese place for dinner and a bouquet of orchids as a peace offering that evening, to find her on the floor painstakingly unpacking their boxes.

“Hi,” he said tentatively, unloading his parcels onto the kitchen counter.

She didn’t look up. “Hi.” Her tone was absent rather than curt. Barry decided this was a good sign.

“You should just leave those, Iris,” he said helpfully. “I can unpack everything in two minutes.”

Iris paused unwrapping a photo frame and tilted her head questioningly at the wall without looking around. “You want to use super-speed to unpack our apartment?”

“Why not?” He again experienced that feeling of being about to make a step that would end in a grim squelch. “Have it, might as well use it, right?”

Iris’s shoulders slumped as she dropped the frame back into the box, the line of her back making her seem small and tired. Squelch. Oh no.

You don’t deserve her. “Or, if it’s important to you we can do it together, no rush,” he offered hurriedly.

This did not seem to make anything better. “Important to me,” she repeated dully. “Uh no. It’s. You go ahead.” She got up, dusted her knees off and headed to the bedroom without looking around.

“Hey, where you going?” called Barry, “I got you fried rice from the Lotus Garden that you like -”

“Not hungry,” she called back from the bedroom.

He grabbed the orchids and hurried forward. “Um, I also got you -”

The bedroom door shut. Barry stood rather foolishly with the flowers in his arms, adrift in a sea of wadded packing paper and boxes.

***

The nightmares seemed to escalate after that. It wasn't just seeing Savitar run his horrible talon straight through her breast like he was skewering a rag doll. He dreamed of her floating away from him into the Speed Force, expression blank and indifferent, as he cried out and entreated her to take his hand. Eddie and Leonard Snart sneered at him from the shadows, deriding him for his moral failures. Eobard smirked malevolently and told him he would never truly be happy.

When he woke up, Iris didn’t stir. He was never quite sure whether she really hadnt woken up or simply pretended to sleep on. Either way, the sight of her face, somehow sad even in rest, made him feel as hollow as if he was watching her float away from him again.

A week later, Iris bled out in his arms for the twenty-fifth time. He was practiced enough now at stealth that his scream was strangled in his throat before he was even fully awake.

He spasmed like a fish flopped out of the water for a minute, trying to force breath into his burning lungs as quietly as possible, and turned to find her gazing at him.

They looked at each other for a moment.

“Are you ever going to tell me?” her dark eyes were so sad and resigned. As though something had been lost to her before she ever had a chance to know it. “Were you ever going to tell me?”

Panic seized him. “Tell you what?”

She merely kept looking at him until sheer sorrow seemed to weigh her eyelids closed, the furrow in her brow deepening to a hurt. Barry could feel her slipping away from him, blank, cold and indifferent.

In the morning, he could almost tell himself it was another dream.

***

(more scenes where Iris is told about Savitar and an explosive things-come-to-a-head fight later)

***

Outwardly she was as still and cold as the crisp spring night, shoulders drawn tightly into herself. But Barry saw the storm in the lines of her silhouette as she sat on the stoop of the house they had grown up in, the streetlight that had haloed their kiss in gold now turned harsh and glaring.

She resumed the conversation as though they had just paused it to venture outside, rather than having spent the day barely able to stay in the same room as him.

“Am I supposed to be ashamed of having loved him?”

“No!,” he exclaimed, gut twisting. It wasn’t her fault that Eddie had been better for her in every way than he, Barry, had ever been. “Of course you loved him, Eddie was a great guy -”

“I did not love Eddie just because he was a great guy,” she gritted. ”I loved him because when you were comatose, my Dad was half-checked out and I had no one, he was there! He took care of me. He was kind to me. I don’t fall in love by comparing people’s greatness!”

“I didn’t mean -,”

“You have no idea what it was like!,” she threw the words at him, like she was ripping out something that had been too painful to dislodge till now. “No one knew what was wrong with you. Dad barely ate or slept. We could only sit there and watch you die over and over again. Every single time it was like I was dying with you.”

“I went to church. I went to a fucking faith healer. I’d make stupid bargains every day with - I dont even know. Like if you went the whole day without a seizure I’d never eat another chocolate muffin. And if you made any voluntary movement I’d give away my favourite sweater. The day STAR Labs finally stabilized you I donated my grandmother’s earrings to a widow’s fund. It was like I was holding my breath, walking a tightrope every day and there was no one to catch me - until Eddie.”

She swallowed convulsively. “I loved him because when I had no one, he saw me. He was there. And he didn’t ask for anything in return.”

His chest hollowed out deeper. “Iris, I’m so -,”

“Don’t say you’re sorry. I don’t care. I just want you to see me!” she finally whirled around to face him and her expression was a fist to his face.

“I do see you!,” he said desperately. You’re all I can see. “I see you, Iris!”

She began to laugh, derisive, with an edge of hysteria. “Do you, Barry? Is it really me you see? Or do you see some fantastic, too-good-for-you girl you can idealize at a safe distance?,” tears choked her laughter, glimmering golden in her eyes. “When did I stop being your best friend? Am I even real to you anymore?”

***

“I chose Eddie because he was the only choice I had.”

Again she broke the silence, this time ín the darkness of their bedroom. It had persisted all the way to the loft, while they had wordlessly showered in the same bathroom and changed for bed.

He breathed out carefully. “What do you mean?”

She was sat up next to him against the headboard, profile outlined in the molten glow seeping through the curtains.

“You were going to go into the past and save your mother. The best case scenario would have been that our whole lives, every choice I’d made in this life since we were eleven, would be erased, and I would wake up as maybe your wife, none the wiser. The worst was that you’d disappear into history forever and live out an alternate timeline while in this one we carried on without you.”

“Actually, who’s to say that hasnt happened to some version of me?” she mused, head slightly cocked in abstract curiosity, “Maybe there’s a me that’s still waiting for you on our porch steps.”

“That’s not how it works, Iris.” He really, really hoped it wasn’t.

“That you know of,” she dismissed. “I saw a version of you become vaporized in front of me. He was real. He was you and existed beside you. He died alone to save us and we didn’t even mourn him. Do you ever think about that?”

“Yes. A lot.”

He had surprised her, finally. She turned to look at him.

“That could be me one day. I could be the one that dies. And you would go on to live out your lives with the one that gets to stay.”

It was one of those things he tried not to think about during his waking hours, dogged as it was by gut-churning terror and a strange sense of grief.

“I know,” she whispered.>

He ignored the echo of his own fear in her voice to follow the self-punishing compulsion to see this through. “You told Eddie you’d marry him because I might not have come back?”

“No. The third option was that it wouldn’t work and you would come back,” her voice grew hard. “And if that happened I wanted you to know that I’d chosen the man who hadn’t lied to me.”

It was a dull blow to the gut, richly deserved. “Iris.”

“I was so angry,” she continued. “So trapped. Everyone telling me who I was going to be and what I really felt while hiding and manipulating and dictating my life. Even you. My best friend. The one person I trusted more than anyone betrayed me,” the bleak bitterness in her voice stabbed deep, “And I didnt get to feel mad about any of it because I was just trying to catch up, wrap my head around it all and falling to pieces over first Eddie and then you…there was never any room to breathe”

“Eddie was the one who had never wanted to lie to me. He stood up to my father to propose to me, to date me. He was the only one who had chosen me, thought of what I wanted, what I deserved.”

“So yeah, he was the only real choice I had left,” she let out a shaking breath, “It was never because I Ioved him more. It was about trying not to drown, Barry.”

The tight lines of her face dissolved into an empty sadness he could feel even in shadow. “But if you really want to know, I can’t imagine a world where I loved only one of you.”

***

“I lied.”

Another day of false leads and desperation, trying not to look at the hours slowly, inexorably slipping away one by one like mourners at a funeral. The anxiety was coalescing into terror now, a not-so-distant wolf howl nipping at their heels.

Iris was wrapped in her bathrobe, staring at the flames dancing in the fireplace. Drifting.

“About what?”

“I lied. I told you I didn’t love either of you more.”

His stomach dropped into a deep pit, dragging his heart with it. “…you don’t have to -”

“When we heard the gunshot, for one awful moment I thought it had been you,” she continued, and blood bloomed on white again between them. “And I thought I was going to die. Then I saw Eddie fall, and the first thing I thought was “Barry’s safe.”

The world went very still. “Iris -,”

“I chose you the moment he turned his gun on himself so he could be my hero,” her eyes burned in her face, staring steadily into the blinding heart of the flames. “And I. Hate. Myself. For it.”

Be careful what you wish for, Barry thought distantly with an absurd desire to laugh. You just might get it.

“Maybe it’s the reason why all of this is happening. I lied to and I betrayed both of you because I was angry.”

“No! That could never…none of this was your fault, Iris,” I was the one who betrayed you. I was the one who cursed you. “Savitar has nothing to do with anything you did.”

Her mouth twisted into a bitter smile. “I wish I knew whether that makes it better or worse. Maybe I just want something, anything I did to have mattered.”

///

[ranger-of-estel]

#2, Captain Canary, please! (Also sent as a comment on the post)

Captain Canary2. “You can’t be offered something you already have,”

So I put a read more because this got a little out of hand…but I didn’t think you would complain to much.Also, this is an AU where Laurel and Tommy live and Len didn’t die (This is set S3-ish?)

               Leonardcounts the cars as they drive by Jitters, absently walks through the ways hewould rob the surrounding stores and the occasional passerby. It keeps his mindbusy, stops him from dwelling on the unease he’s been fighting all morning.

               Laurelarrives right on time, offering a quick smile before motioning that she wasgoing to go get a drink. He nods, trying to at least look as if he’s relaxed. Acouple more minutes pass and the woman is settling across from him.

               “I’msurprised Sara isn’t with you, she never passes up a chance for coffee.” Laurelsets her own drink on the table.

               “Sara andLisa are out, inevitably causing trouble, together.” Leonard dips his head slightly.“And it was important I speak with you, without her.”

               Laurellooks at him curiously, “alright, go on.”

               He restshis hands on the table, “I am not one for…tradition,”

               “Nevernoticed,” Laurel rolls her eyes.

               “But,”he gives an irritated look, “there are some things that deserve to be done withmore respect than others.” Laurel remains quiet, waiting for him to continue. “Saraand I have been together almost two years now,” he dips his head slightly. “I cameto ask your blessing to ask Sara to marry me.”

               Laurel’shands are laced together before her on the table, any hint of teasing gone.Leonard wonders if this is what the criminals feel when she has them in the witnessstand; it’s no wonder she’s become Star City’s DA. Finally she gives one word. “No,”

               His guttwists at the word, the finality of her tone. He’d known it was possible, andit wouldn’t stop him. But….but her lips have tilted up, and there’s a familiarsparkle of Lance mischief in her eyes. And then she laughs. “You can’t beoffered something you already have.”

               For amoment he just stops, voice lacking his usual drawl. “What?”

               “I maynot have approved when my baby sister brought home a criminal,” Laurel reachesover, the callouses he feels the only hint to her vigilante past. “But as time haspassed; I have not only seen how much you have changed, but also what a supportyou are to her.” Her voice is soft, “when we lost dad…” she shakes her head. “Youbrought back a life, a playfulness I thought had been lost.” She’s smiling again,“so yes, Leonard, you have my blessing.”

               “Thankyou,” it’s a struggle to keep the emotion from his voice. He and Laurel had warmedto one another over the years, but he didn’t realize exactly how much heropinion had changed until now.

               Amusementplays at the other woman’s lips once more, “but you do realize Sara would havea fit if she realized you were asking someone else’s permission to marry her.”

               Lenscoffs, “I asked your blessing; it was never going to change my decision.”

               “Gee, Ifeel so important.” Laurel laughs again, then tilts her head. “Do you have aring yet?”

               Henods, fishing it from his jacket in preparation of her next question. She takesthe blue velvet box excitedly, opening it with a small gasp. “Leonard!”

               “It’snot stolen, if that’s what you want to know.” He frowns.

               Sheglances up at him, “No, you have too much honor for that.” She runs her fingerover the inlaid diamond, blue quarts on either side. “It’s beautiful.” Shechuckles, “And looks sturdy.”

               Thatpulls a smile from him, “couldn’t have her breaking off the stones in a fight.”

               “Obviously,”Laurel closes the box and returns it to him. “it’s perfect.”

               “I hopeso,” he tucks it back into his jacket. He tilts his head, motioning toward therings on her hand. “And how is your family?”

               Shesmiles, “Tommy is good, away on business this week.” They chat until they’veboth finished their coffee. As they stand to leave she stops before him. “You,Sara and Lisa should come to dinner while you’re in town. I’d love the company.”

               “Youshould call and ask her.” The smirk is on his lips again, “she’s suspicious ofme as it is, if she finds out we’ve met.”

               Laurelnods, “understood.” She tilts her head, a silent question.

               Hemakes a show of sighing but holds his arms to the side slightly in invitation.She grins, stepping in to wrap her arms around him in a short embrace. Despitehis show of exasperation, he’s immensely grateful for Laurel’s understanding ofhis boundaries.

               Shesmiles as they pull away. “See you later, Snart.”

               “Seeyou around, Lance.” He replies habitually, offering a short wave before turningto make his way back to the safehouse they are using until they return toCentral City. He realizes, for a man who’s spent his whole life avoiding attachments.He’s come to treasure the family he’s found in both the Lance’s and his crew.He chuckles, shaking his head. “Guess I’m going soft after all.”

               “Geez,I leave you one afternoon and you get sentimental?” Sara’s voice draws his attention,she and his sister approaching from the opposite direction.

               It takesonly moments for Sara to be in his space, arms draped around his neck as sheplaces a soft kiss on his lips. “Maybe you’re what made me soft?” he accuses,one brow lifting.

               “An Assassin,making the thief soft?” she grins. “I don’t believe it.”

               “Youtwo are disgustingly cute, you know that?” Lisa draws their attention to whereshe stands with arms crossed.

               “Envious?”Leonard smirks.

               “Hardly,”she scoffs. “Have you met Cisco?”

               “Yes,and I don’t know what you see in him.” It’s a lie, Leonard actually likes CentralCity’s resident geek. But he finds even more pleasure in terrifying the kid,and Lisa would be disappointed if he didn’t complain. Plus, Team Flash can’tknow he doesn’t resent working with them…Barry’s insufferable as it is, he can’timagine if the boy knew how much he appreciated them and what they have donefor him and Mick.

               “Hey,so Laurel called earlier.” Sara draws him back to the present, “want’s to knowif the three of us would join her for dinner.”

               Lenshrugs, “whatever you want.” The answer seems to suffice, and Sara turns tochat with Lisa as the three continue walking. A smile pulls at his lips as hewatches the two women, arm in arm as they laugh, his fingers brushing the smallbox in his pocket. Yes, it’s time to tell the world that Leonard Snart has found his family.