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fandomsnstuff · 11 months

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Day 6: Free day

This is a bit of a sequel to day 3: myth

@blupjeansweek

Read it on AO3

Summary: Barry hasn't heard from Lup in a week when he gets brought on for a new project at work

Barry's at work. He should be working. The Institute of Marine Research and Conservation would probably like him to be marine researching and conserving. And he is, sort of. But he's also checking his phone every ten seconds. She has to reach out to him eventually, right? She seemed receptive, when he inelegantly stumbled over his words as he confessed his feelings to her. He didn't mean to include the part about being hopelessly in love with her, he just wanted her to know he liked her. Romantically. And she reciprocated! She said she loves him too and they kissed! But it's been almost a week since that night, and Lup hasn't said a word to him.

Maybe she changed her mind. Maybe she just said she loved him to spare his feelings and now she'll never talk to him again. 30 years of friendship and Barry threw it all away in a single night. Idiot.

He stares at the small wall of outgoing texts that he's generated in the past week. They haven't been read. He's trying to resist the urge to send an apology when someone behind him says, "Bluejeans."

He turns and sees Lucas. The snotty 20-something kid that got the job of head researcher because he's some sort of marine science prodigy. "I have a project for you," he says.

"Okay."

"Come with me," he turns and starts walking away without even looking to see if Barry follows. He leads him through the snaking corridors of the Institute, passing by all the different labs and enclosures. He takes him through isolated, empty hallways deep in the building, down several flights of stairs, and to a large metal door set into a concrete wall. Lucas stops in front of it and turns to him. "Now, this project is top secret. You can't tell anyone about this. It could change the world, but I need to do this my way."

"Then why am I here?"

"I need a second set of hands and eyes, and you're one of the only people here who worked with my mother. If she could trust you, I figure I can cut you in on this discovery." He pulls an access card out of his pocket. "Are you in?"

He hesitates. Sure, he worked with Maureen, she was a phenomenal scientist. Lucas, on the other hand, is… arrogant, at times. He can be difficult to get along with and he sees this job as a competition to get the best discovery. But whatever this secret project is, it's probably better if someone's there to keep his head on straight. "Alright, yeah, I'm in."

Lucas turns and scans the access card, unlocking the door. As he opens it, Barry asks, "what even is this place?"

"It's an old storage room that I outfitted for my more personal research."

The inside is brightly lit, there's tanks and equipment lining the walls. "Behold," Lucas says, spreading his arms, "my ultimate discovery."

In the middle of the room is a large circular tank, with a set of stairs curling around it up to a platform around the top edge. Barry approaches the tank to see what's got Lucas acting all grandiose, and freezes. Laying at the bottom of the tank, with deep red scales and fins, head resting on her arms, is Lup.

Her eyes open, and she lifts her head to look at him. She pushes off the bottom and floats gently over to him, placing her hand against the glass. He puts his hand up against hers, and they just stare at each other for a few moments. Her eyes drift over to Lucas, and she does a lap around the tank before settling back at the bottom.

"It's never done that before," Lucas says, stepping up next to him.

Barry keeps his hand on the glass, watching her lay so concerningly still. "She's lethargic."

"Yeah, she was pretty violent and agitated when I first caught it, so I had to calm it down." He nods towards a canister attached to the filter.

Barry's fist clenches. "You're keeping her in drugged water?"

Lucas scoffs. "I just showed you an actual, living mermaid and that's what you're concerned about?"

"I'm concerned about a lot of things, actually!" Barry turns away from Lup to face him, "this- this is completely unethical! Was she even injured or anything?"

"No, but I pulled up my net and it was a fucking mermaid! I wasn't about to just throw it back, this is revolutionary!"

"Of course she was violent, you abducted her!"

"Oh, so I guess you're a vegetarian since catching fish is abduction now."

"That's entirely different, she's a person!"

"She's a fish! It's a brand new species we've never seen before! If you can't get behind scientific advancement, maybe you weren't the right person for this job. If you're so against it, you can just leave."

Barry wants to keep yelling at him. He wants to clock Lucas in the jaw. But that won't help Lup. What will help her is keeping Lucas's trust and access to this room long enough to enact a rescue. "One condition."

Lucas crosses his arms. "What?"

"Now that she's here, we keep the study as harmless as possible. Starting with taking the drugs out of the water."

He glances at the canister. "Fine."

"Alright, then. Let's get to work."

Over the next few days, Lup becomes more alert. She's agitated, as any sea creature would be in a tank far too small, only able to swim in circles. But she's calmer with Barry there. Lucas sticks to their deal for the most part. Barry only has to talk him out of exploratory surgery once, and he's able to minimise the number of needles he wants to prod her with.

Luckily, Lucas is also an idiot who didn't put cameras in his secret lab, so when they're alone, they can talk. Barry comes in late one night, and Lup's lying on the bottom. He taps on the glass to get her attention and points up. She gets the message and swims to the surface, Barry meets her up there on the platform.

"Barry," she breathes.

He kneels and leans towards her, "Lup I'm so sorry-"

She wraps her arms around his neck and tugs him even lower as she holds onto him. "No, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to disappear on you, I was just so kinda freaked that night that I went for a swim, and I ended up really far out and got caught in his stupid net, and I don't know what it was made out of, but I couldn't break through it."

"It's not your fault." He unwinds her arms from his neck and takes her hands so he can look at her. "I'm sorry I have to participate in his terrible study of you. But I have a plan, I just need a few more days. I'm getting you out of here."

She smiles and squeezes his hands. "I knew you would."

"Also, I brought you something." He reaches into his bag and pulls out a paper fast food bag.

"Oh my god." She hoists herself up to sit on the platform and snatches it from him. She pulls the burger out, tears open the paper, and practically eats half of it in one bite. She groans. "You're my hero." She swallows and takes a smaller, more reasonable bite. "He only feeds me those disgusting little fish that you feed every other big creature here and, like, yeah, I ate stuff like that for the first chunk of my life, but now? I'm domesticated. I'm a house mermaid. If I'm gonna eat raw fish, it better be sushi." She finishes the burger and inhales the fries. "Did you get a drink?"

He takes out his travel mug, "something from home."

She takes the lid off and inhales deeply. "Coffee," she sighs. She looks at him, "I'm so fucking in love with you."

A few more days pass, and Barry's got a car, an alibi, and Magnus in the security booth to replace any footage of him with empty hallways. He discovered the access cards into the secret lab aren't connected to a network like the ones for the main Institute. They're basically glorified hotel room keys. There'll be no record of Barry being at the lab tonight.

When he arrives, Lup's waiting for him. She's dry as a bone, as human and as naked as ever. He blushes and looks at the ground as he hands her the bag of clothes he brought. He can hear the rustling as she changes and she says, "you know you can look at me, Bear. We are in love and all that."

His blush deepens. "Maybe another day."

She puts a hand on his shoulder and kisses his cheek. He looks up, and she's smiling at him, dressed in a pair of leggings and one of his shirts, as requested. She takes his hand and whispers, "let's go."

Up the stairs, through the halls, out a back door and through some trees, they get to Barry's car, parked in a shadowy spot at the side of the road. They take off and don't look back.

Come Monday, Lucas is pissed. He interrogates Barry, but he tells him he was at his mom's house all weekend. He has no idea what happened to the mermaid. He interrogates Magnus, the night guard for the weekend, and he says that there was nothing on the cameras. No one came in or out.

Lucas tries to question other people without letting on about his "personal" research, but discretion was never quite his strong suit. An anonymous tip sends the ethics board knocking on his secret door, and he gets fired and blacklisted from the marine science community. Barry's offered Lucas's job and happily takes it.

He also makes sure that the secret lab gets torn down and turned back into storage. He even brings Lup in to take a sledgehammer to the central tank.

As the glass cracks and water washes over them, Lup shimmers and falls to the ground in her tail and fins. She laughs, "guess we didn't think that one through."

Barry chuckles and takes off his glasses to wipe the droplets from the lenses. "I'll go grab some towels."

#blupjeansweek2023 #taz fic #blupjeans #barry bluejeans #taz

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ourhousesaudade · 2 months

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I had to put this dream i had somewhere. I have whacky dreams on a fairly regular basis but they're normally filled with existential fear.

However I felt during this dream (mostly bewildered if I recall rightly) I sat down and thought about it this afternoon. After writing it down and reading it back I full on cackled like a hyena, especially at the end bit. I fully intend on doing a piece of artwork based on this at some point in the near future.

For a bit of context.... what there is to grasp, Gemma is an old mate who I haven't seen for years. We did go on holiday a couple of times, but never on a ferry.

"I was on a ferry with Gemma. We were going to the posh restaurant on the top floor which was up a very long flight of stairs. All of a sudden there was a big wave when we were almost at the top. The man who was showing people their table fell all the way down and I ended up falling a long way down and being stopped by a wall. And the people in the queue wouldn't let me get back to the top, the fuckers! There were all these snotty American girls in prom dresses being all prissy and they all pushed their say past me. I was exasperated at this point so I dusted myself off and wiggled my wormy way past them, to cries of outrage. When I got to the top, I joined Gemma and she was, as ever, baring a passable resemblance to a Furby. The food was a buffet but I'd managed to get there towards the end where the only food left was microwaved ham cubes with primula cheese filling and... the microwave juice they came in. I finally managed to get some chicken which attracted the wrath of a wrinkly entitled bag. She looked like a beanbag made of wrinkly skin in a permed wig with bifocals. Gemma was eating ham off a tray like a feral furby. This woman offers her out for a fight and then tells us she could take both of us. The woman started wiggling her abs and Gemma tells her she looks like iggy pop but with more flab. The woman starts screeching at Gemma that she looks like Barry manilo and I'm in the middle of this shit circus with the pair of them screaming wild insults at each other."

#dreams #dream interpretation #dreaming

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starlypenguins · 3 years

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Ibvs week day 4: Pain

Ibvs belongs to @onebizarrekai

He did again.

Isaac found a way to make Edward angry, but this time he was more angry than usual.

So angry that he could hurt someone without realizing.

And that did happen. Currently, he was being thrown into a wall at full force with Edwards strings. That was definitely not how he intended his Friday going.

And then he felt it.

A sharp pain that went through his entire body, and it hurt like hell.

Soon after, he heard even more yelling, followed by a thud, and then silence. That was then followed by footsteps, more yelling, crying, and just straight up panic.

Isaac couldn’t make out anything that was being said, then again he was very close to passing out so it made sense why.

He was trying to stay awake, trying to open his eyes and not cause more panic then he already had, but it was no use. He didn’t have any energy left.

He just let himself drift off into sweet unconsciousness.

---

“Isaac!”

“Isaac please wake up!”

Isaac groaned as he opened his eyes. He looked around to find that he was still in Edwards lair, with Drew in front of him.

“Drew?” Isaac asked, rubbing his head.

“Isaac thank god you’re okay!” Drew said, letting out a sigh of relief. “How are you feeling?”

“I feel like thousands of people just walked over me, pushed me down a flight of stairs, and then walked over me again,” Isaac said, sitting up as straight as he could without hurting himself.

“Ah, yeah that sounds bad,” Drew said, a look of concern forming on his face.

“Yeah but I’ll survive,” Isaac said, trying to remember everything that happened. In the end, he could barely remember 5 seconds of it.

“Hey, what exactly happened?” he asked.

“You don’t remember?” Drew asked, worried that Isaac may have hit his head a bit too hard when he shook his head in response.

“Oh well, you made Edward really angry, and then he threw you into a wall, then me and Cody found you and in an attempt to calm Edward down, he ended up being thrown into a wall too.”

“Okay yeah now it’s coming back to me,” Isaac said, though he didn’t remember the Cody part. That was probably the thud he heard earlier.

“Yeah, and then Edward finally snapped out of his rage, saw what he did, panicked, and then ran away in his panic,” Drew said, looking over to where Cody had been thrown.

Isaac looked over there as well to see Justin and Louis making sure that Cody was okay. He soon realized that he must have made Edward extremely angry if he had hurt one of his own cronies.

Well at least neither of them were dead and both woke up.

“Hey Cody, how are you doing?” Drew asked.

“Well after all the pain I’m currently feeling, I feel like nothing can ever hurt me again,” Cody said from across the room.

“I wouldn’t test that out if I were you,” Louis said, making sure Cody wasn’t bleeding anywhere.

“Is the nerd okay?” Justin asked.

“Yeah he’s fine, in lots of pain, but he’s fine,” Drew said, turning his attention back to Isaac. “Do you think you can stand up?”

“Do you mean without causing any harm to myself or just in general?”

“Preferably without causing any harm to yourself.”

“Oh well if that’s the case then I’m probably going to need a few more minutes.”

Luckily none of his bones were broken, and his drawing hand was okay.

“So any clue where Error ran off to?” Isaac asked.

“We don’t know, I asked Barry to go find him though so I’m sure everything will be fine,” Drew said, hoping Edward hasn’t done anything stupid in his panic.

“Yeah, that would be bad if he did,” Isaac said, looking at Drew. He hadn’t seen the boy that worried before, it honestly felt weird.

“Hey Drew are you okay?” Isaac asked, surprising Drew a bit.

“Well I mean, I wasn’t the one thrown into a wall,” Drew said.

“Yeah I noticed, I was just wondering since you look like you’ve been lost in thought for a while,” Isaac pointed out. “You also seem more worried than usual.”

“Well I mean who wouldn’t, you were thrown into a wall and were unconscious for 12 minutes,” Drew said.

“Fair point,” Isaac said, letting out a small laugh. “God, today has been shit.”

“Well at least you probably don’t have to go to the hospital, that’s never a fun experience,” Drew said, giving Isaac a small smile.

“Yeah true,” Isaac said, beginning to get lost in his own thoughts a bit.

Confronting Edward after this would be well… awkward to say the least. Isaac got the feeling that the king would probably try to avoid him at all costs. Both him and Cody.

His thoughts were interrupted when Drew hugged him.

“Uh Drew?” Isaac asked, a little confused.

“Oh sorry, I just felt the need to hug you,” Drew said. He was about to let go until Isaac hugged him back.

“It’s fine, I don’t mind,” Isaac said.

Drew was a little surprised by that, but smiled.

“Alright.”

Isaac felt a small smile form. Sure he was still in a lot of pain and he was angry at Edward, but he felt like he would be fine. Besides, it’s not like things could get any worse.

Okay it probably could, but he didn’t want to think about that and probably would never think about that. All that mattered to him right now was that he was okay. In pain, but okay.

#ibvsweek2021 #ibvs #i have no clue what triggers to tag this with #so please tell me if you need me to add a tw #isaac beamer #drew jovel #edward quinton #though he's really only just mentioned #the cronies #tw hospital mention

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super-unpredictable98 · 3 years

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Another All Nighter (Tales From the Original Timeline)

Fandom: Misfits Pairing: Nathan x Lydia (OC - Hard Candy’ verse) Word Count: around 1,3k Warning: Strong language, spiders (if anyone's scared of that)

(Masterlist)

Finals preparation was killing me, there was so much to study, so much to remember... My parents and Simon were starting to worry about me, locked in my room all day and night, reading those stupid flashcards and barely eating anything or getting any sleep.

One of those nights, while I was revising my science notes once again, I heard a weird knocking on my window. I thought I was just going mental from the sleep deprivation, but it happened again. When I looked back, I noticed someone was throwing pebbles.

I rolled my eyes with a smile, there's only one person who would waste their time doing this stupid shit for me... I got up to open the window and looked down:

"O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name; Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, and I'll no longer be a Capulet," I leaned over the edge.

"I understood about 30% of what y'just said."

"Heya, Nats."

"Hey, Lollipop," he grinned widely. "Haven't seen you around and Barry told me you've been locked in there for ages, so I thought I'd drop by... I've got food and some beers."

"I suppose a break wouldn't kill me," I tried to ignore the butterflies in my stomach. "Come up."

Of course Nathan wouldn't ring the doorbell and come in like a normal person... He looked down at the floor and it slowly raised, forming a flight of stairs that lead to my room. He climbed up and I helped him in.

"I brought your favorite," Nathan handed me the paper bag. "Cheeseburger with caramelized onions and chili fries."

"Oh, you're an angel," I groaned. "I'm starving!"

"So I've been told..."

"Did Simon ask you to come?" I got into bed and Nathan joined me.

"No, that was actually my idea... Well, mine and Junior's, he suggested the burgers t'cheer you up."

"Aw, I love that little guy," I giggled before taking my first bite.

"He loves you," he chuckled. "I think he has a little crush. He actually wanted t'come tonight, but I asked him t'stay and take care of mummy."

"That explains the proposal last week," I joked.

"Well, the little fella has good taste, gotta give him that..."

My heart raced with that observation and I nearly choked, but that might've been because I was absolutely devouring my dinner.

"Someone's real hungry, huh?" Nathan watched me eating like I've been fasting for a week.

"Don't you judge me..." I pushed him playfully.

"I'm not, I think it's cute," he started eating as well. "You could've given me a call t'let me know your parents aren't feedin' ya."

"My stomach has been in a knot since this shitshow started."

"Glad that I was able t'fix it. So what you readin'?"

"Um..." I tried to hide the fact that I was watching the movement of his adam's apple. "Science, it's zoology."

"Zoology? That's cool, I like that."

"You like zoology?" I said skeptically. "Since when?"

"Since always, I love animals, I'm always watchin' those documentaries about wildlife and shit... I can help."

"That would be really nice, actually," I smiled to myself. "You're way too nice to me, you're ruining me for other guys."

"That's good, if a guy doesn't treat you as well as I do, he doesn't deserve shit. I'm settin' those standards real high."

"Yeah, that's why I'm single..."

"Sounds like Rick is gone then?"

"Yep, broke up with him last week."

"Good for you, he was a bit of twat," Nathan leaned back, my eyes followed his bicep as he put one arm behind his head. "Never liked him."

"His sense of humor was shit."

"You love a funny guy, don'tcha?"

"I guess I do..."

"Poor fellas at your school don't stand a chance."

"Yeah? Why's that?"

"Cause we're friends, and I'm the funniest guy around."

"You cocky bastard..." I pinched his cheek.

A silence started eating us alive, my gaze moved between his eyes and his lips. Sometimes I thought he knew, he knew about my feelings. What if he knew and all those nice things he did for me was his way of telling me that he liked me too? Or maybe of making me feel less bad about being a pathetic romantic idiot pining after a married man.

"Y'got a little ketchup..." Nathan dragged his thumb over the corner of my mouth slowly and licked it right after.

We were so close, I could feel his breathing against my skin, I could smell his body wash, just one move and we could kiss. What If I kissed him? What would happen? Would he kiss me back or never look me in the eye again?

For a second I thought he was going to kiss me. His tongue quickly wet his lips, he leaned in closer, his hand was firmly on the back of my neck, he swallowed nervously before shutting his eyes and shaking his head as if trying to get rid of an intrusive thought.

"Are you okay?" I asked, slightly worried.

"Yeah, yeah..." he waved dismissively with his usual bravado. "I just thought I saw somethin' over there, but it was a shadow."

"Oh, okay," I felt dumb for even thinking a man like Nathan would even consider kissing me.

I had lost my chance, which wasn't fair to begin with, my chance was when I was 12? Now that I'm old enough he's taken and has a kid... So typical of me to lose at a game I didn't even get the chance to play.

Once we finished our dinner, he grabbed my notes and started looking through them, pretending to understand everything, but it was pretty clear he was a little lost.

"Uh, insects..." he mused, scratching his shy goatee. "Well, what makes an animal an insect?"

"Three body segments and six legs?"

"Well, yeah, but it's more than that..."

Nathan covered the palm of his hand for a second, and when he uncovered there was a beautiful blue butterfly there. I gasped at how amazing that was.

"What d'you see here?"

"Wings?"

"Yeah, lots of insects have wings, but not all of them," Nate slowly stroked the butterfly's wings, it seemed to like it. "But one thing that every insect has is a pair of antennae, see?"

"Aw, it's so cute!"

"You can touch it if you want, d'you wanna hold it?"

I nodded and Nathan placed his hand on top of mine, transferring the butterfly to me.

"So three body segments: head, thorax, and abdomen," I carefully analyzed the adorable creature.

"Exactly," he checked the notes once again. "Now arachnids..."

"Are you just gonna make animals out of thin air to help me study?"

"It's helpin', innit?" he chuckled, making the butterfly turn into a spider in my hand.

"JESUS CHRIST, NATHAN!" I screamed and he laughed.

"It's alright, look at it, it's cute... Look at this adorable little face."

After a closer look, I concluded that the jumping spider resting between my fingers was actually quite friendly.

"Don't scare me like that!"

"Sorry, sorry," Nate sighed amusedly. "So arachnids have eight legs and-"

"Nathan?" Simon's voice made both of us jump.

"Barry, Jesus!" he clutched his chest. "Scared the shit outta me!"

"What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing! Y'mentioned Lyddie wasn't eatin' right so I brought her some dinner, and now we're studyin'."

Simon was gonna say something snarky, but seeing me well fed and all happy with my jumping spider, he didn't have the nerve to. He simply shook his head with a timid smile, closing the door again.

"Next time ring the doorbell like a normal person!"

Tag List: @elliethesuperfruitlover @firstpersonnarrator @spanishmossmagnolia@a-ghoulish-tale @seanfalco

#misfits #misfits fanfic #misfits nathan #hard candy #nathan young #nathan x lyddie #nathan young x oc #fanfic #one shot

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bold-writing · 3 years

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The One With Whiskey Eyes || 4 || Finding Balance

Warnings: Mentions of Abuse.

Words:

Previous || Next

~4~

Barry sat somewhat uncomfortably in the seat that he normally occupied when he was visiting Dr. Fletcher; it was usually a place that he took comfort with relaxing in, but this time he was too on edge to be able to do that. He had come to Dr. Fletcher when he had struggled through a day of work at the zoo. He hadn’t been right since Iris had run off; even the other alters were having trouble sleeping and focusing throughout their days.

“I’m sorry, Doc, I gotta go,” Barry called suddenly, hearing Fletcher shuffling around in the other room. She’d stepped out a while before and he’d heard her speaking with someone on the phone, but then she’d come back in and had tried to offer him food and drinks, maybe a tea that might help relax him. When she left again, once more dialing someone on the phone, Barry was left with his thoughts.

He’d been fighting against the urge to go out and find Iris for the past week while maintaining his steady hours at work and letting the other alters take the light on their off time. He hadn’t been sleeping and even the others who had been in the light since then were much the same—not as bad, but still disrupted and draining.

Rising from his chair to leave as he tucked his hands into his pockets, he could barely hear Fletcher as she rushed back toward him, trying to call him back inside. Barry pushed the sound of her voice into the back of his mind, rushing down the first flight of stairs with such speed that the coat he had on billowed behind him as though caught on the wind.

He didn’t blame the psychiatrist; she’d done her best to help him through everything, but there was nothing that an outsider could do to ease the struggles of an incomplete soulbond. She had tried, and he was thankful that she was there for him even if she couldn’t help him this time. Her words and encouragement were amazing when it came to the situation of him and the other alters, as well as Kevin, but this situation was out of her reach.

Thinking back to his first glimpse of Iris, caught by surprise when she’d opened the door to see him on the other side; he’d been amazed by the soft colour of her eyes. A mix of amber and brown, soft like water but strong like whiskey. Her skin was pale as snow and looked like it would be made of porcelain if he touched it. She was beautiful. But she was afraid. Immediately after he’d spoken, the look that had overcome her eyes made his heart drop.

Had it not been for Dr. Fletcher’s assurances he would have continued to assume that it was his fault; she just didn’t want him. Thankfully, that had not been the case. She had just been afraid due to her own past.

Turning on the last landing of the stairs to finish the steps to the front door, Barry stopped so suddenly that his feet nearly slid out from under him.

Iris stood at the base of the stairs with one foot on the first step, wide eyes focused upward where he was standing. She was in barely more than old grey sweats, stained and covered in accidental bleach spots, and an oversized sweater that hung loose around her neck and down to mid-thigh. Her hood was up, but he could see that her hair was darkened and wet, twisted and pulled over one shoulder to dampen the material of her sweater.

She looked worse than him

Her pale skin was nearly transparent and her eyes had deep bruises beneath them. She looked like she’d been awake since the moment she’d left Fletcher’s building. Where her hand was resting on the banister, he could see the black writing of one of her soulmarks encircling the bone.

“Iris,” he breathed out in shock.

The time apart had made her ill; that much was obvious. He was able to rely on the strength of the others over the week, but she had been on her own.

Her lips parted as though to speak, but no words came out as she continued to stare up at him in something akin to awe. However, he could see even from where he was standing when her eyes watered with the overwhelming emotion. Barry could only imagine what he looked like to her, the both of them thoroughly exhausted and strung out.

“Barry…” the soft whimper barely registered to his hearing, but he could see her lips when they mouthed his name. “I’m so sorry.”

Rushing down the steps, Barry wrapped her tiny form in his arms before she could even step onto even ground again. As soon as his arms came around her the tense muscles of her shoulders relaxed, slumping against him like dead weight. Her head barely came beneath his chin and when he wrapped his arms around her to hold her closer, she felt completely cocooned in warmth.

His chin had pushed her hood from her head, letting him rest against her damp hair as the smell of soap rose to his senses, her body chilled from her journey to Fletcher’s building in the dark. He could feel when her arms slipped around his torso beneath his coat, taking in his warmth as she leaned against him in fatigue and assurance.

“I’m sorry I ran away,” she mumbled softly, her words barely audible enough to be heard over his own pounding heart.

“That’s okay. Everything’s okay,” he assured quietly, shifting to rest his cheek against the top of her head. The hollow pain in his chest began to ease as he hold onto her, the closeness of his soulmate healing the ache from her running away. “You’re okay.”

“I hurt you,” she whimpered faintly, pulling back from him only enough to look up at him with watery eyes. “I didn’t want you to hurt.” Her pale, thin hands came to rest against his cheeks as her thumbs ghosted beneath his eyes. His skin was soft there, but she could see that there was texture to his cheeks and jaw from years of shaving. He knew that she was touching the bruises that mirrored her own, though he could already see that hers were worse.

His hands came to frame her face as he looked at her properly for the first time. Her cheeks were thin and her cheekbones were sharp, making her whiskey eyes look so wide in comparison. She was so slender, fragile and delicate, and her skin was cool to the touch when his hands framed her face. When she swallowed, her throat and jaw worked with the movement as muscles and tendons shifted beneath his hands. He hadn’t noticed before, but she had the faintest trace of freckles on her nose.

“I’m not alone,” Barry soothed, “We had each other. But you…you were alone.”

Having his words confirm what she already knew, Iris closed her eyes while leaning into his touch.

He was warm. So warm. When she had leaned into him, wrapped her arms around him, she had felt the muscle that was masked beneath the thick layers of his clothing. It made her want to hold onto him and not let go. There was security in his arms, which was a concept that was sadly new to her. “I promise, Iris, you won’t be alone anymore.” She looked up at him when he spoke again, doubt hidden very faintly in her expression. No offence was taken when he saw it, knowing from experience that it was hard to trust after having family break that trust.

“Twenty three,” she whispered, holding the steady stare of his soft blue eyes. They widened fractionally when she said the number before flicking down to her wrist, the black writing still lining the joint. He couldn’t see the words clear enough form this perspective, but he knew that it was a soulmark for one of the alters. “Is that how many there are?”

“Yes,” he answered honestly, nodding against her hands. “Kevin had a…difficult childhood. We were born to keep him safe.”

“Kevin,” she mumbled, testing the name. “So, he was the original personality?”

“Yes, Kevin Crumb. The rest of us came to be over time, when he needed us the most. We were there to keep him safe from the life that he once lived. We keep him safe even now.” As he spoke, his fingers caressed her hollow cheeks, down the delicate line of her throat and jaw. “He is too fragile for this world.”

She had suspected that Barry, and therefore all the other alters, had lived a difficult life. It was the reason they existed. But to have it said aloud, confirming her suspicions and the small hints that Fletcher had offered over the phone, broke her heart

“And you,” he continued, “I don’t want this world to break you.”

Iris couldn’t help the smile that faintly touched her lips when he confessed that, the burn of tears increasing until a simple blink brought it cascading down her cheek. Barry immediately swiped it away, the moisture collecting in the palm of his fingerless gloves. “I am stronger than I look,” she assured while trying to fight back anymore tears from slipping free. “The marks…all of your words…they made me strong.”

Withdrawing her hands from him, she stepped back to put space between them and began sliding her right sleeve up. There were scatterings of marks along her forearm, but it was the mark encircling her bicep that drew his eyes. The words that he said to her a week before were messy against her skin, his writing more scratchy from the sketchy way he drew. It was definitely his writing.

Reaching for her arm, pausing long enough to meet her eyes for permission, Barry gently traced his words with his thumb as he took her thin arm in his hand. By doing so he came to realize, as well, that she was thin but she was not as delicate as she appeared. Her biceps had a decent amount of muscle definition—she was still terribly thin when comparing her to his own size, but she wasn’t as unhealthy as he had feared.

“I am sorry I ran away from you, Barry. I’ve never regretted something more…but I was scared to come back.”

Barry frowned as he gently released her bicep, letting his hands lower until they took hers in a gentle hold. Soft. Her hands were so soft. He hadn’t noticed that when she was touching his face; though he had known that her fingers held a distinct chill. From the cool spring air, he hoped, and not because of a health problem.

“What were you afraid of?”

Iris let out a sound that was a mix between a sob and laugh. “I was afraid you’d turn me away. I wasn’t sure if Fletcher was right…about a soulmark for each personality. I was worried you would turn me away once you found out about the other twenty-two marks.” Shaking her head at her own thoughts, realizing now the absolute ridiculousness of her running away—she’d done what she was afraid would be done to her. “And what was done to my marks.”

Barry’s hands briefly clenched hers. Looking down to her arm as he gently turned it, Iris seemed to realize what he was looking for and released his hand to push up her other sleeve as well, turning her arm so that he could see the long scar running down through the mark on the outside of her arm. He’s told us about you, little one, he really likes you. Barry ran his thumb along the scar as rage for her parents welled in his chest.

He wasn’t normally angered to such a degree, and when he was angered he normally had a better hold on his emotions, but this was…inhuman.

Lifting her arm up, Barry pressed a kiss against the scar. “I promise, Iris, that there is nothing you could do, or have done, to turn us away.”

Iris’s battle with her emotions tipped out of her favour when her tears began to flow more freely from her eyes, dripping down her cheeks as the worry and doubt bled away. Barry pulled her sleeves back down as the chill from the entranceway brought forth his concern for her, wanting her to be warm. Then he gently coaxed her back into his embrace so as not to spook her; she immediately buried her face in his chest to hide her tears while her arms wound around his torso.

“Hey, wanna go get coffee or something? I mean, I wanna get to know you better but I understand if you want to go and get some sleep. You look like you’ve had a hell of a week,” Barry proposed as his chin came to rest comfortably against the top of her head.

The vibrations of his voice helped to soothe her, feeling and hearing his words at the same time.

She was the perfect height in comparison to him. Short to his tall, lean to his muscled, quiet to his boisterous. He’d never quite been able to picture what his soulmate would look like, sound like, or even behave like. Yet, now that he had listened to her speak and taken in each detail about her that he could, he couldn’t have pictured anything more accurate.

He couldn’t wait for the others to meet her; she was perfect for them. And he knew that as shy and timid as she was now, there were many of them that would do everything they could to draw out the true Iris—the one that had hidden away to protect herself from whoever had caused those scars. And others would be more than happy to be quiet and subdued alongside her, basking in similar introvert qualities.

Iris’s arms tightened around him before she freed one of them to properly wipe her face of tears, majority having already soaked into Barry’s shirt. Not that he minded. “I’m off all weekend; plenty of time to sleep later. Coffee sounds great.”

Neither took notice of Dr. Fletcher standing just out of view on the landing above them, smiling faintly at the knowledge that the two would be okay.

Exiting the building allowed for the wind and cold air to return to Iris’s awareness, prompting her to pull her hood up to cover her damp hair. “I don’t usually go to cafes, so I hope you know one?” she posed quietly.

“Uh…yea, I think I know one around here. Dunno if it’s still open, though,” Barry admitted bashfully. Iris couldn’t help but to smile as she nodded her head, letting him lead the way. They were heading in the direction of her apartment, so she at least knew they would be close to home. Thinking back, though, she only knew of one café in this area and it was one she passed often while on her way to work. She’d always just made her own coffee or tea to bring to work, instead of stopping to buy one.

“So…what do you do?” Iris asked first, deciding that they had to start the conversation somewhere and she wasn’t interested in walking in awkward silence the entire way.

“For work? Or as a hobby?” Barry asked in return while glancing at her briefly, stepping closer to her as another couple passed them to head in the opposite direction. He was relieved to see that she didn’t flinch when he stepped closer to her, so she was at least somewhat comfortable with his presence. He had a feeling that it was most likely because of the soulmark—them being together had hopefully appeased it.

“Both, I guess.”

“Well, I’m a manager at the Philadelphia Zoo,” he answered immediately, pride colouring his tone as he tucked his hands into his pockets. He had the urge to reach out and loop Iris’s arm through his, but her own hands had slipped into the large pocket of her sweater to keep them warm. “Personally, though, I love art and fashion. I’ve been designing things for a while, sketching out what comes to mind.”

“Really? Have you ever created your designs?” Iris asked curiously as she thought back to the scratchy way he wrote. Now that she knew he was artistic she could make the connection with art sketches she’d seen in the past.

Barry sucked in his bottom lip as he shook his head. “Nah, maybe later but right now I just…enjoy the process of drawing them out. I guess you could say it’s my…stress reliever? Like how some people have diaries or journals? I’ve usually only shown my drawings to some of the others, and Dr. Fletcher, of course.”

“I can understand that,” Iris responded in understanding, noticing the way his expression lightened when he brought up art. “I suppose that makes my stress reliever music. When I was a kid, I would love to hum songs that I knew and when I got older I took some lessons with instruments and singing. Never really used them to perform, though.”

The two stopped at an intersection as Barry tapped the button to cross, leaving them to wait as the wind blew hard around the corner of the building. Iris hunched against the cold, tucking her arms close to her sides as her hands fisted in her pocket. Barry’s keen attention for detail noticed the slight changes and quickly stepped back to shake the coat off his shoulders and down his arms; Iris watched in surprise for a moment before she realized his intention and opened her mouth to stop him.

“No, take it,” he insisted, swinging the coat around her shoulders. Her arms weren’t in the sleeves, but it was large enough that it draped over her like a cape. “You’re too skinny; nothin’ to keep you warm!”

“Thank you,” she answered quietly, pulling the coat closed in front of her as the crosswalk sign turned to walk.

They quickly crossed the street and kept heading straight, closer still to Iris’s apartment building. “So, what do you do?” Barry continued their previous conversation, swinging it around on her. “Other than music,” he added on before she could reply.

Iris could pick up easily that he had a very social, extraverted personality. For him to have been so calm and patient with her, even up until that moment, made her heart pick up slightly. “I’m a manager at a bookstore,” she started. “I…I didn’t finish school, so I kind of use books to teach myself whatever I wanted to learn. I’ve always loved to read and when I started part-time at a bookstore it was like a dream. I’ve been there for ten years now.” It was slightly embarrassing to admit that she hadn’t finished school; the only people who knew that were her bosses, but they didn’t mind since they hadn’t finished it either when they were young.

“Got a library of your own at home?” Barry asked teasingly, drawing a laugh from Iris.

“I wish; if I had the space, I definitely would. I’m just in a little studio, but I get plenty of books at work to tide me over.”

Barry was listening so attentively to her that he nearly missed the café they were walking passed, but both he and Iris jerked to a stop at the same time when the smell of coffee drifted to them from the opening door as a young woman stepped out in a hurry. “Oh…we’re here.”

The bashfulness in his tone caused Iris to smile, following him as he stepped up to catch the door before it closed. Politely, Barry waved her in first. “Thanks,” she mumbled with a nod of her head, stepping into the small, homey café that was filled with the aroma of coffee and pastries. Barry followed quickly behind her, scratching the back of his neck sheepishly at his easy distraction.

Iris moved to one of the tables further to the back of the room, away from the door and windows. She smiled politely to the woman behind the counter who was already moving out from around the counter as Barry followed Iris over to the table. “Do you know what you want?” she asked while glancing between the two of them with a smile.

“Do you serve decaf here?” Iris asked first, knowing that coffee wouldn’t be a good idea when she was already so sleep deprived.

The waitress’s smile wavered slightly. “Sorry, we used to but it wasn’t very popular so we stopped ordering it. We have a large selection of teas, though.”

“Chamomile?” Iris inquired, relieved to see the smile return to the woman’s face. “I’ll have a large tea, then.” As she was speaking, Iris carefully pulled Barry’s coat off of her shoulders and gently draped it over the back of her chair.

Nodding as she mentally made note, the woman then glanced over to Barry. “And for you?”

“Do you have Chai tea?”

“We do indeed. Large as well?” Barry smile charismatically as he nodded. “Alright, I’ll have those to you in a moment. Will you need any creams or sugars?” Iris and Barry exchanged looks with one another, shaking their heads before they looked to the waitress and repeated the action. Leaving them to their own as the two took a seat at the table that Iris had selected, she immediately began preparing their drinks with practiced ease.

Iris folded her hands nervously in her lap as she glanced between Barry’s focused eyes and the clean tabletop. “I walk passed this place every day on my way to work; never actually gone in, though.”

“Really?” Barry asked with mild surprise. “What’s the name of the bookstore?”

“’Pages of the World’,” she answered easily, noting the moment a look of recognition came to his eyes. “You know it?”

A broad smile lit his features as he nodded. “Yea, I’ve been in there. I can’t believe I’ve never run into you before! To think, you’ve been so close all this time. You guys sell sketchbooks for a good price, that’s usually where I go.”

The soft, nostalgic way in which he spoke caused Iris’s stomach to flutter. “Can’t rush fate—that’s what I’ve been told, anyway.” Barry’s attention was drawn down to where she had shifted her hands in her lap, unconsciously beginning to run her fingers along the writing atop her palm. He forced himself to look away before he tried to identify the writing. That wasn’t for him to see—they were not his words, therefore they were for someone else. One of the other alters.

“We’ve met now, so that’s what counts. Nothing to rush anymore.”

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#Fanfiction #Split #Split Movie #Split 2016 #Barry Split #Barry #Dennis Split #Dennis #Soulmate #Soulmate AU #James McAvoy #The One With Whiskey Eyes #Barry/OC #Dennis/OC #Barry Imagine #Dennis Imagine

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backtothestart02 · 3 years

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The One - 1/? | westallen fanfiction

A/N: Taking a tiny break from JBF to write this first chap. I just loved the prompt for it so much! I hope you enjoy what I’ve written so far. :)

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Synopsis: AU - They met two days before her wedding, but it was more than enough time for him to interrupt the ceremony and yell "I object!"

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Chapter 1 -

In their bedroom in a loft in a sky riser on the east side of town, Iris West – soon to be West-Thawne – thumbed through her summer dresses, debating which one to wear to their welcome party that afternoon.

Eddie, her husband to be, came up behind her and snaked his arms around her waist before kissing her bare shoulder, nothing on her but a lacy pair of bra and panties.

“I love this idea, you know.”

She frowned, still debating between a yellow dress with subtle butterfly pattern and a flowy pink dress that she’d worn the night he’d proposed.

“What idea?”

“Having a weekend wedding.” His chin propped on her shoulder as his fingers drummed over her torso.

“Oh, right. Me too.”

He lifted his chin and tilted his head at her, analyzing her expression curiously.

“You okay, Iris?”

“Hmm?” She turned to look at him, then pulled free of his loose grasp. “Yes, yes, I’m fine. I’m just…torn between dresses, that’s all.”

“Ah.” He took a step back. “Well, if you wear the yellow one, you could wear these.”

She turned to see him opening a black box displaying a pair of drop crystal butterfly earrings. She gasped and placed her fingertips on the box.

“Oh, Eddie, they’re beautiful.”

He grinned, pulling them free of the velvet and handing them to her. She immediately started putting them on.

“You can wear the pink one to the rehearsal dinner.”

She scrunched up her nose and grinned.

“You know, I think I will.”

“It’ll be symbolic,” he commented, stepping back so she could get dressed. She looked at him over her shoulder as she struggled to zip up the back of her dress. He rejoined her and zipped it up carefully.

“Thank you.”

“The night I proposed?”

Butterflies fluttered inside her.

“You remembered,” she gushed, her hand flying to land over her heart.

“How could I forget?” He grinned. “You looked absolutely stunning.”

She turned around and spun once in a circle, letting the yellow skirt fly up a bit and then popping her foot a few inches off the ground.

“You look stunning in that too,” he admitted, then pulled her to him and planted a kiss on her lips. “Flirty too, fun, exciting.”

She pushed him away with a gentle shove and rolled her eyes.

“Alright, Mister, enough of that. We’ll have plenty of that on our wedding night.”

“I have to wait till then?” He pouted.

“It’s two days!” She blanched. “You can wait two days.”

He sighed. “I guess.”

“You can,” she said and slipped into a pair of white heels before moving to exit their bedroom.

“Where are you going?” he asked, following her figure with his eyes, the soft sway of her hips mesmerizing him.

“I have to talk to Linda about the guest list. Not everyone showing up for the wedding is showing up for the weekend, you know.”

“Right, Linda.”

“And what do you have against my best friend?” She raised her eyebrows.

“Nothing, nothing. It’s just…”

She waited.

“Well, she’s never really liked me. Are you sure we shouldn’t have got, I don’t know…a real professional to plan our wedding?”

Iris took serious offense to that.

“Linda is a real professional. She’s had her company up and running for over a year now.”

“No, I know, I know.”

“And she’s dating my brother, so she’s practically family.”

“Right, I’m just saying-”

“She wouldn’t sabotage our wedding either. It’s my wedding too, you know. She wouldn’t sabotage her best friend’s wedding.”

“Even when she doesn’t approve of the groom?” He held his breath.

She sighed testily. “You assume too much. Linda likes you just fine.”

“You want to make a bet on that?” he muttered under his breath.

“What was that?” She raised one eyebrow.

“Nothing, nothing. You’re probably right. I am analyzing too much. Go have fun.”

She offered him her cheek when he leaned in to kiss her again.

“I am right,” she said. “Now go, get dressed. The party is in just a few hours.”

He looked down at his ensemble.

“I thought I was dressed.”

She pursed her lips to hold in the laughter bubbling up just behind her lips.

“I have to put my make-up on and then I’ll head out.” She paused before glancing at him once and then across the room. “Your shirt and pants are on the bed. Wear your cream shoes.”

He looked over at the bed, then back at her – except she’d gone by then, her heels click-clacking on the bathroom floor. He sighed and looked down at himself again before crossing the room to inspect the outfit she’d chosen for him. He tilted his head to the side.

“I guess it is better. Hmm.”

He started to undress and redress himself. By the time he was finished, he could hear his fiancée exiting the bathroom and heading down the stairs. She probably had her hand on the door now and was seconds away from exiting the loft.

The sound of the door closing seconds later told him he’d been right on the money. He walked over the full-length mirror beside their bed and turned to the side so he could see every angle of his body in the new get-up he was wearing.

The sound of the door opening again caught his attention.

“Iris?” he called out.

“Forgot my phone,” she said, snatching it up and heading back out into the hall. “See you at my dad’s in a few.”

Right. Her dad’s. Another person that he felt hadn’t totally warmed up to him.

This would be one hell of a wedding.

…

Half a country away in a low-rent one-bedroom apartment, Cisco Ramon analyzed his own outfit in the full-length mirror just outside his bedroom. He analyzed his hair mostly, making sure each wave was perfect and brushed his shoulders just so. Unbeknownst to him, his best friend had just exited the bathroom and was approaching him from behind.

“You ready to go?”

Cisco scowled into the mirror when he saw the reflection of his best friend. Then he turned toward him, scowl still in place.

“Plaid? Again? Do you ever wear anything else?”

Barry scoffed, taking offense to that.

“Look who’s talking, Mr. let’s-wear-screen-tees-to-work-every-day.”

Cisco looked affronted by that, but he quickly recovered.

“As you’ll notice, I am not wearing a screen tee today.”

“No, you’re wearing a suit. To the airport.” He deadpanned. Then he stepped back to grab a snack from the fridge. “Don’t you think you should save that for the wedding?”

Cisco’s jaw dropped. He couldn’t think of a response to that, so instead he said,

“Again. Plaid!”

“I’m not wearing it to the wedding, Cisco. I have a suit too. This is just for the airport and the airplane.”

“Long sleeves though?” He scrunched up his nose.

“It’s cold on airplanes. I’m just being prepared.”

Cisco sat down on his couch, letting himself sink into it.

“I guess.”

“I’d really do without the blazer, man,” Barry said around a bite of apple.

“It’s not a blazer. It’s a suit jacket.”

“Even worse.”

Cisco scoffed.

“Don’t you want to be comfortable on the plane? It’s a two-hour flight!”

Cisco hated to admit it, but his less than fashion-savvy friend was making a point.

“I suppose I could opt for a long-sleeved screen tee…”

Barry winked and pointed at him.

“That’s the Cisco I know and love.”

“Though Cynthia never approved of those…” he muttered, looking away and locking eyes with a picture of him and his now ex displayed prettily on the end table. He sighed.

“No,” Barry said. “No, no, no, no, no.”

Cisco turned his head to look at him and pouted.

“No?”

Barry grabbed the picture frame and turned it face down on the table.

“Hey, what did you do that for?” Cisco reached for it and Barry held it away.

“If you turn it up again, I’ll throw it in the trash.”

Cisco gasped. “You wouldn’t.”

“I would.”

Cisco sank back down.

“Fine.”

Barry set it down again, still facedown though.

“You know, I don’t know how you can be so…dismissive of the whole thing.”

“What are you talking about?” Barry asked, returning to his apple.

“I mean, you just got out of a relationship too. Aren’t you…mourning the loss?”

Barry snorted. “No.”

“Not at all? You were together for like five months. You had to have formed a bond of some sort. Don’t you miss it? Her?”

Barry shook his head.

“Nope.”

“Unbelievable.” Cisco shook his head.

Barry had to suppress a laugh.

“It was a mutual break up, Cisco. Patty and I just…weren’t meant to be.”

“I don’t believe that.”

This time Barry did laugh.

“Believe it.”

“But you two had so much in common! And you really liked her. I remember how excited you were for your first date.”

Barry shrugged.

“I’m not saying the relationship wasn’t good. It just ran its course. Patty thought so too. It was getting monotonous. We both wanted more, and not from each other. I don’t know how else to say it.”

Cisco frowned again, his eyebrows fusing together. Barry patted his shoulder.

“You’ll understand one day.”

“I won’t.” He sighed, pushing himself further back into the couch. “Cynthia was the one.”

“Maybe she was just the first one.”

“What are you talking about? I’ve been with girls before.”

“But have you ever really been in love? Think about it.”

“Well, I… No, I guess not.”

“Sometimes the first one isn’t the one, if that makes sense.”

“It doesn’t.”

Barry chuckled.

“Alright, then. Maybe the two of you will meet up in a few years, and she’ll decide she was an idiot for dumping you and ask for another chance.”

“A few years? I’m supposed to just wait around hoping this happens?”

“Hell, no. Go out, have some fun. Hook up with a bridesmaid at this wedding we’re going to. Forget about her.”

“Barry.”

“I mean it. Distract yourself until you’ve got her out of your system. If it’s meant to be, it’ll happen. You can only fight for someone for so long until you don’t have any energy left in you for anyone. Even the person who might actually be the one.”

Cisco thought about that.

“When did you get so philosophical?”

Barry grinned.

“It’s a gift.”

Cisco pushed himself up and off the couch, then headed toward his bedroom.

“Alright, just give me a few minutes to get out of this suit and then we can go.”

“That’s the spirit!” Barry cheered. “It’ll give me enough time to finish this apple.” He took another chomp.

“You’re not wearing plaid to the wedding though, right?” Cisco called out.

Barry stopped halfway to his apple and frowned.

“I don’t…think so.”

“Barry!” he warned.

“I’ll go check!”

And off Barry went to where he’d left his suitcase, making sure beyond a shadow of a doubt that he had something for the wedding his best friend would approve of.

…

Linda had deserted her. To be fair, they had spent the last several hours ago. But something had come up at the hotel, something about some guests not being able to be accommodated there, even though they’d triple-checked the guest list and had about four hotels booked for all of their guests. Linda had been on the move, determined to not let a single box go unchecked for her best friend’s big day.

Iris understood naturally, but now she felt somewhere between bored and overwhelmed at the slew of people coming into her dad’s backyard. Luckily the yard was huge, and it was decorated to the hilt, also including drinks, appetizers and some outdoor games that didn’t require too much effort in case people dressed up.

She had dressed up after all. And Eddie, who had still not made his way past the parted bushes serving as a gate, was going to be dressed up as well. If he wore what she set out of course, which she was fairly certain he would.

If he wasn’t stubborn about it, of course. What she had set out actually matched her ensemble without being too matchy-matchy. And she was wearing his earrings. That had to count for something.

She smiled brilliantly as another slew of people came into the backyard. She greeted them as kindly as she could, almost missing the tall, handsome stranger that trailed in behind them, nearly taking her off-guard.

He waited politely for her to finish greeting the people in front of him before he eagerly took one large step so he was directly in front of her and then held his hand out to her.

“May I?”

Her brows furrowed, confused as to what he meant, but held her hand out to him anyway.

“You may.”

Smiling slyly, he took her hand lightly in his grasp and lifted it to his lips, where he kissed the back gently before returning it to her.

Iris felt butterflies rapidly beat inside her chest and told herself to calm down. Certainly this hadn’t been the first man to act this way around her, but it had been the first one in a while who was looking at her like…well, like he wanted to devour her, to put it plainly.

She cleared her throat.

“Who are you, exactly? I don’t recognize you. Are you on the list?”

She reached for the list left on one of the tables by Linda, but he stood in her way, and she eyed him suspiciously.

“You won’t even let me look?”

He chuckled lightly, and Iris felt shivers ripping down her spine.

“No, uh, it’s not that. It’s just…I’m not on that list.”

She blinked. “You’re not?”

He shook his head. “Nope.”

She swayed closer to him, completely oblivious to how flirtatious she was suddenly being.

“So what are you? A party crasher?”

He scrunched up his nose.

“Not that either. I’m a plus one.”

“Oh.” She tilted her head to the side. “Whose plus one?”

She felt a strange sense of jealousy for whatever girl had brought this tall, handsome stranger to her wedding, and where in the world they had found him.

“Cisco Ramon’s.”

That stopped her straight in her tracks.

“Cisco? As in my high school best friend, Cisco?”

“One and the same.”

The voice was different this time, and while Barry didn’t take his eyes off Iris, she took her eyes off him to see her best friend from long ago entering the backyard and approaching them.

“Hey, Iris.” He moved in for a hug, and she warmly embraced him. “I was parking the rental car.”

“Oh, no trouble.” She took a step back and analyzed them both. “You two aren’t… You’re not like…together, are you?”

Both men spoke at once. “No!”

She laughed, her hand flying to cover her mouth.

“We are just friends,” Cisco clarified, squeezing Barry’s shoulder. “This is Barry, Barry Allen. I recently uh…me and my girlfriend, we…”

“They broke up,” Barry slid in.

“Barry and his girlfriend broke up too,” Cisco was quick to add, which earned a scowl from Barry.

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that,” Iris said sympathetically.

“But not because we’re gay,” Cisco said.

“Definitely not,” Barry added. “We are the least gay men you will ever meet.”

“So straight,” Cisco confirmed.

Iris couldn’t help but laugh again.

“Well.” She cleared her throat. “My two handsome straight men.”

“Yes,” Cisco said.

Barry smiled brilliantly.

“The drinks are over there.” Iris pointed across the yard. “The games are there, and some appetizers are there, there, and there.”

“Ooo, goody,” Cisco cheered, rubbing his hands together.

“I’ll be here if you need me,” she said as they started to walk off. Barry though, was reluctant to do so.

“You sure you don’t need company?”

Cisco tugged on his shirt sleeve roughly.

“I need company. You’re my plus one, remember?”

“Right.” Sending a devilish smile Iris’ way, Barry went with his best friend towards the punch bowl.

“I’ll see you both later,” Iris called, and right as she did, her husband to be finally entered the backyard. “Eddie!” she called, kissing him on the cheek, then muttering under her breath. “What took you so long?” She looked him up and down. “And why are you not wearing what I set out?” She frowned.

“I changed my mind halfway through dressing.” He looked down at himself. “It’s not too bad, is it?”

Iris swallowed whatever angry, irritated words were fighting to come to the surface.

“No, not too. Come, stand with me. We should be together as a unit when people come in.”

“Right, definitely. But uh, I think I’m going to grab some punch first.”

“Eddie, wai-”

But he had left her, and she had to quickly put her fuming to bed as she saw the next slew of people arriving.

“Welcome!” She glowed brightly. “Thank you for coming. How are you…”

#westallen #westallen fanfiction #backtothestart02 fanfiction #the one #chapter 1

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calypsoff · 3 years

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Eighteen

Shaking my head lightly “you annoyed?” Barry asked me between him packing his case and looking at me “a little, she’s barely responding to me. She is busy, like she called me and in the background I just hear someone say Rihanna we need you back, I hate that shit. Like why do I need to be there!?” Barry snorted laughing “you sound like you just want her attention on you, she is working Chris and she wants you to be supportive of that and be there to you know, I don’t know rub her feet. Hug her, maybe she wants you to see what she does, why are you the way you are? I mean seriously, enjoy the time. Hair is being paid for, you just turn up!” Barry is excited but I see it for a different point of view, I just hate the shit. He’s going to be all pointing like that is her boyfriend, I am Chris, shit is weird “but she hasn’t called me back? I’ve called her for the third time now, I could be dying” Barry laughed out “you’re annoying, be there for her. Don’t be a pain, which I see you will be. Shit, I am so excited for this. I’m going to be on Rihanna tour, she followed me you know. On Instagram!” He is so excited, they all see it differently then I do “I got my chains on, these are pussy magnets. Foreign pussy” TJ randomly came in to tell us they “be quiet, but yeah. I will get my shit together” getting up from the bed “if she dumps you I will be the man to take over” shaking my head laughing, Barry so stupid but I just hate that she is not picking up her calls, I miss her a lot. I am not even being funny about it, I just miss her so much. Just speaking about random shit, when she is answering my calls it’s straight to the point, then it’s like because I think she knew I wanted to speak longer she goes haven’t you got some clothes to promote, that pissed me off but it’s annoying me, she knows it and I hate it. Now she’s not even answering but yet promoting this shit tour on her page.

We got an Uber to go to the airport, we got a late flight out and got a cheap hotel because the flight is leaving in the early hours and if I am not there I do not want to hear Robyn about it “I expected more, like where is the driver?” Looking behind me and at the backseat at TJ “and who are you!?” I spat laughing “I am your best friend, I just wanted to be escorted. Like dang we are flying commercial, where the fuck is the good stuff” shaking my head at him “you think your girl is angry at you because of the whole girl thing in Virginia” Barry had to remind me “I didn’t ask for a picture with her, she just took it but I think she is just busy, genuinely too” turning back around, I can’t believe my picture with that girl in the bar ended up on blogs, I looked so wasted and then Robyn didn’t really care for it but she wasn’t amused, she just said be careful and that I need to remember who I am dating like she doesn’t remind me every few days, I think it did annoy her a little. The girl was on my lap and I don’t even remember that part at all. Actually thinking back to it, she could be angry about that, I don’t know anymore. She hasn’t kept in contact with me at all, I am pissed off myself, she hasn’t said anything to me, and I am started to become annoyed.

We checked into the cheap hotel, still Robyn hasn’t contacted me, and I don’t think she will until the day. But she has posted a rehearsal picture, nice of her “I personally think that as her boyfriend we should be held in a higher status, ok maybe not us but you yes, we are in a cheap hotel sharing a bed” I jumped on the bed laughing “it’s cute, I am the big spoon” I pointed at TJ “mhmmm, I like being the small spoon. Just to feel your body heat on me” rubbing my face laughing “nigga dumb, well what we doing then. We in New York?” Barry shook his head “if we have to be there in the morning, sleep that is what” I guess he has a point, looking up from my sneaker seeing TJ recording “niggas on tour” putting two fingers up at him “my nigga Breezy and Breeze” I feel a little fed up and we haven’t done anything, I just feel it because of the lack of contact. I feel annoyed already and this is no good because I know me, I am going to be mean as fuck. I am going to try and be nice but we will see tomorrow. Imagine not speaking to someone that has never been on tour, that doesn’t know what he is doing. It makes no sense to me at all, I would be in contact with her because I would know she is new to it but that is just me.

Barry stared at me, he is annoyed with me but I am more then annoyed with him but I guess we all dumb, we are slightly late but they still processing people and she hasn’t contacted me still, I feel like a second citizen and I am very much ready to go back to Texas. Where the fuck do I go, where do I stand. There is a lot of journalists and fans here in this line, I wouldn’t call it a line. More of a mess of people just stood around “should we be really here? They were screaming earlier because they saw Rihanna’ manager, that is why I asked” TJ is nosey, I nodded my head “I am pissed off, not going to lie. I am here for y’all now. Because I know how excited you all are” that is the honest truth, I did it for them “thanks” TJ said, I chuckled “that is him” TJ pointed “who?” I questioned “manager” he stared at me and I just stared at him, he sniggered, that was not smile. It was more of a snigger but whatever “I don’t care, I don’t even know dude like that, I don’t know what he is smiling at anyways” shaking my head “so is this it?” I am so grumpy right now, but you can’t blame me when this shit is happening, how the fuck am I here and Robyn is wherever, is this her punishment because I didn’t want to initially go with her to California.

Checking my phone, nothing at all. We are currently outside waiting to board to be honest, but there is a lot of waiting around and that alone irritates me but it’s whatever “name?” this girl asked “Barry” seeing a couple of fans starting to run off in a way, I looked to where they was running too “and you?” the girl said, I don’t know who she is “Chris” I mumbled, seeing Robyn walking eith her entourage, black shades on, black tank “excuse me” looking to the lady “you should be up ahead?” she pointed out “nah, that is a mistake. I will be here” walking off, I rather sit with my friends. Looking back at Robyn and she is smiling wide and is going up the stairs at the front end of the Boeing, me on the other hand is entering the back side “shawty got a big crew, she looks happy” pushing TJ to walk, we need to go. I just want to sit and go to sleep, I am tired. Even though we came late, we still left late so it’s whatever.

I am not happy, that is the actual truth and I am pissed the fuck off “aren’t you Rihanna’ boyfriend?” looking up at this random guy sitting in front of us “nah” I laughed shaking my head “uhm I think you are” I shrugged laughing, this guy started to get his phone out and I kind of died inside now because this is awkward, I am sat in the nosebleeds and I look dumb, TJ looked at me and I looked at him, this is not good “yeah, this is you” he turned his phone to me, this is awkward “bro, it’s a mirage” I need him to not “you’re her boyfriend and you’re sat here, already. I am Jason by way, what is it like to date Rihanna? Weren’t you welcome there” this guy is annoying me “just leave it, thanks” I said nicely, I am trying to be nice “did she leave you because you are a criminal” I got up from my seat and gripped his tee “I said fucking get off my dick” pushing him back, the whole flight went silent “sir, can you please sit down or we will need to remove you” sitting back in my seat “I will fuck you up now shut the fuck up” lowering my snapback, I am fucking angry. He is just talking so much fucking shit in my face, how is that even fair.

I feel like the flight is talking about me, I am just going to sleep through the flight. Robyn did call once, that was it. She can go and be what she wants to be “Chris” moving my snapback up seeing Mel “you need to come up front” staring at Mel, do I want to be escorted like a child to the front, no I don’t “I am good here” I said in a whisper, everyone is so quiet and it’s because they are trying to hear “can I just sit in the middle for a minute” Mel said to TJ, he got up from the seat to let Mel sit “I will go the bathroom then” nodding my head, I don’t want to hear it, I am stubborn about this “Robyn wants you to come up front, you shouldn’t be here” Mel said in my ear, rolling my eyes “tell her I am good here, she ignored me all this time and now she wants me to come?” I laughed “we heard, you attacked a journalist, the whole flight knows Chris. Robyn is busy, she will be busy. Don’t be the one to add to it” it’s always about her “I am staying here Mel, it doesn’t hurt to text me and call me. To tell me where to go, shit. Even say we will meet up when I land, nothing. If she wants me to come then she will come herself, and the journalist deserved it” I don’t want to argue with her friends “you don’t do that over here Chris, it’s making her look bad but ok” she got up from the seat, I do not care about that.

TJ did a nervous laugh “we about to kicked out the tour, I guess we get one out of the seven” not going to lie but it made me laugh “nigga said one out of the seven” I said laughing, I expected Robyn to text me, I did. I mean of course she would, to make it seem I am in the wrong, unlocking the phone to see her message.

Twin: What did I say about stressing me out now!? Out of all the days, you fucking HAD to do that, the talk about you being sat there like a fucking dumbass.

Oh she is angry well she can be, messaging her back.

Chris: How yu making this about me when you didn’t message me all fucking day, what did yu want me to do? This is on yu not me.

Twin: Get your ass here NOW! Or this fall out will be bigger then it is

Chris: No

Twin: Tina is coming there, yu come here now

Chris: I will visit

Getting up in a huff “where you going?” TJ asked, side eyeing him, and he let out an oh as he got up to let me out “I will be back” I ain’t staying there, she probably wants to tell me how wrong I was, how I am making her look bad, the usual. This is going to be a long way to the front, not only was I going to attack a journalist now the whole plane knows I am sitting here, and I did that, they know who I am “are you ok sir?” the attendant asked, “uh yeah” walking into the next section up, these are loud as fuck, I mean they are hype as fuck about this trip I guess “party with us Chris?” I don’t even know these people “I will pass on this” I laughed just walking, I don’t want to be in this mood, but Robyn is wrong, now she will be all hurt by it. I feel like I am going to be an ass, I don’t want to be that, but she brings that out of me.

Her bodyguard was about to pounce on me thinking I just came into the first class without being someone in her circle, but he stopped himself, realising who I were. Robyn is busy here I see, having fun. Her smile soon faded, she is not happy, and neither am I. She waved me over and I proceeded to see her, she sat down in her little private seating, nice of her. I didn’t bother to look at others, I am not staying “hey” crouching down to her “why are you sitting there?” first thing she asked “because the very person that is supposed to be there for me isn’t there, you didn’t text me or anything. You haven’t even called, not even a quick text to say hey Chris meet me here, you didn’t even care for me like that, what am I to you?” I am trying to speak at a whisper, but I feel like it is getting higher “I am busy Chris, I expect you to use your brain. And you had to attack a journalist” she thinks I am wrong and I think she is, this is about to be annoying.

#Chrianna FF #Chrianna #Chrianna Fanfiction #Fanfic #Fanfiction

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percywinchester27 · 4 years

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About a boy (Part-11)

Word count: 2.8K

Warning: Suspense, feels, physical abuse, child-trafficking, kidnapping, child-violence, bullying.

Characters: Dean, Cas, Gabriel, Benny, Michael, OCs and… Sam?

Summary: Dean Winchester has a secret. A secret that could really land him in trouble. He never expected to connect with anyone when he walked into the ‘Blue Stone Orphanage for Boys,’ but even then, the walls he has put up are slowly coming down. Now, a series of strange events are threatening to expose him. When everything starts falling apart around him, will he still be able to save the one person that matters the most?

A/N: Okay, I really hope you all like this chapter! <3

Thanks to my lovelies @thing-you-do-with-that-thing and @deanssweetheart23 for beta reading this story <3

About a boy masterlist

“You know what would help? Lightsabers!” Will proclaimed.

Dean laughed and Cas gave Will an amused look.

“You guys think it’s funny, but we sneaked a Star Wars tape last year- you remember that, don’t you, Cas?- and those sabers could light up the whole place,” he reasoned.

“You know Lightsabers aren’t real,” Cas said patiently.

Will rolled his eyes at that. “Of course they aren’t real. I know that! But they must be using something similar during the filming. That’s what we need. We could light this whole place up. No need for dumb flashlights that give out in the middle of creepy staircases.”

Dean smiled indulgently. “That was one time.”

“And one time was enough,” Will said decidedly, his tone effectively dismissing the matter.

It sure had been a struggle, sneaking each night into the record room without letting anyone know. Even more, it was a task to smuggle and return Will from and back to the 4th floor. But if Dean was honest, Will kept them going. He had the sort of brightness and enthusiasm that never gave out… even on the dullest of nights.

It had taken Will a few days to come back to himself, but after that, Will was the driving force behind the ‘Sam search mission.’ In fact, he seemed too bright sometimes. Dean worried if somehow Will was overcompensating, thinking that it was his job to find Sam before he left with his adoptive parents at the end of the month. That was another thing- No one was to bring the adoption up. Dean wasn’t sure it was denial. It appeared more like Will was pushing it deep, deep down. His anxieties only surfaced sometimes in the dark when it was just him and Dean, with their backs to the grill. He would suddenly go quiet and Dean would just know.

“Found another!” Cas announced. “Matt Wilcox. It says he was transferred to Missouri, but no paperwork to prove it.”

“We have twenty-three now,” Dean said, grimly.

They hadn’t found many leads on Sam. Will had suggested that they go by the law of omissions. Eliminate those files that had no chance of being Sam’s. Like all kids who hadn’t been admitted around the age of 6 months, or whose physical descriptions were way off. It was time consuming, but it was still something. Meanwhile, Dean used the same idea to look into Stynes. In the past three weeks since Dean had actually started investigating the matter seriously, they had come across multiple instances of paperwork that wasn’t just shoddy but didn’t make any sense. Most of these were kids who had been abruptly displaced. Dean didn’t know if bad paperwork or a complete lack of follow-up would be good enough for Jody to make a case out of it, but if they found enough files, maybe some other link could be found.

It was serious work, and Will’s periodic complaints about the lack of good flashlights- which had become an essential commodity at this point- was the only entertainment.

Dean stashed his files away and checked his watch. It was just past 4 am.

“We should get back,” he suggested. “You don’t want to fall asleep in the class again, Cas.”

“It’s what the English Lit class is meant for,” said Cas, getting up anyway and stretching his arms. Beside him, Will nodded in agreement.

Dean smiled fondly at him.

Quietly, they made their way back to the left wing under the light of a single flashlight. It was little help, but too much light could attract attention. It was vexing to crossover from the barren left wing each night, but it was much better than risking being sighted.

Just as they landed on the fourth floor, a weird creaking noise came from the further left part.

“What the hell?” Dean scowled, pointing the flashlight. There was nothing there. Acting on an instinct, he shut the light off completely, gesturing with his hands for his other companions to stay put.

As if on point, a dark figure emerged at the very end of the corridor. Dean’s breath hitched; behind him, there were similar gasps of shock.

“Shhh…” he said, pushing them back into a deeper corner. The figure at the end was well-built and tall, and was looking straight at them in the darkness, as if suspecting their presence. After a few moments that stretched too long, the figure disappeared into the hallway ahead.

They stayed put like that afterwards for what seemed like ages just to make sure that they weren’t caught; then at Dean’s signal, took another flight of stairs and reached the 5th floor, opening the door and crossing over to the dorm side of the building.

Cas sagged against the rusted iron door, with his hand over his chest. “What. The. Hell was that?” he gasped, breathing heavily. Will was looking wide eyed, completely silently now, waiting for Dean to answer the question.

“I don’t know,” Dean finally said. “Whoever it was, wasn’t scared of being found, that’s for sure.”

“You’re thinking what I’m thinking?” Cas asked, brow sweaty and furrowed. Both Dean and Will nodded.

Neither of them said it out loud, but if whoever it was didn’t care about being spotted, it was because they thought they had the upper hand. Almost like… they owned the place.

The Stynes.

“Tomorrow,” Dean said. “We find out what the hell is happening there tomorrow.”

*****************************************

All through the day Dean couldn’t concentrate. It didn’t help that Cas kept falling asleep in every class. Maybe it was the complacency from staying in a place as dangerous as the bellstone orphanage for so long, but Cas was taking their impending adventure in stride. He was behaving ordinarily. In fact , he had even prayed like he usually did in the morning.

Cas’s calm energy gradually caught up with Dean and by the time they got back from school, his nervousness was almost ebbed. It was ticking in the back of his mind that Will and Barry hadn’t joined up with them after school as they usually did, but he didn’t pay much heed to it. Lately, the school was conducting weird psych analysis on Will to determine if he was all set for the adoption and subsequently the move to New York.

Dean couldn’t think about it without feeling a punch to his gut, so he pushed the thought out of his head.

“Hey,” Cas whispered as they reached the entrance of the boys home. “I’m going to go see if I can pick some more flashlights out of Garth’s supply closet. Meet you in the dorm room later?”

“Alright.”

They had put their heads together and deduced that there was no way Garth was involved in any of the stuff going around here. As Dean made his way to the shower room, he thought to himself that it may very well be possible that Garth was completely unaware. He lived down in the town, a good five miles away from the orphanage, and rode on his decrepit motorcycle every alternate day to do the essential maintenance or janitorial stuff that boys in the home couldn’t take care of. On occasions, he had stayed over late, but it was plausible that he didn’t know that there was something sinister going on here. Besides, anyone who had met Garth knew him to be absentminded. Good, but lost in his own tune.

Somehow the thought was uplifting for Dean. Not everyone in the staff was horrible. He hadn’t given the cook and the two henchmen like dudes that seemed to hang around with Andy the benefit of the doubt yet.

The shower did its work and Dean felt alert as he made his way back to the dorm room. As he reached the 5th floor main corridor, he saw Will.

Will was white. His forehead was clammy with sweat and his eyes were wide in horror.

Every thought abandoned Dean except for a nameless alarm over Will’s horror. Was he hurt?

Before Dean could utter another word, Will came barreling forward, almost tripping over his own shoes.

“Dean!” Will said, the name falling out of his lips like both a call for help and a prayer of relief.

“What happened?” Dean asked dreading the reply

Tears Swam in Will’s eyes. Tears of helplessness and fear. “They took him, Dean,” he sobbed. “They took Barry.”

With that, he collapsed on the floor, his knees completely giving out beneath him.

Dean rushed to him, falling on his own knees. “Barry?”

Will’s lips were quivering, but his voice was surprisingly strong. “I saw him at school in the morning, but he said he was feeling sick, so they let him go early. I-I just had a bad feeling about this so I skipped the class and came back here, but Barry was just gone.”

“Hey, maybe he’s just hanging around somewhere,” Dean tried to rationalise. “Maybe he went into town instead. It’s just 6 in the evening. You don’t know that he’s decided to play hooky and be somewhere else.”

“No-no,” Will shook his head. “Barry isn’t like that. You know him! I’m his only friend and he always sticks by me. Besides, I asked this other kid who had stayed back from school today, and he said Barry had definitely come back.”

“We need to ask Andy,” Dean said. “He’ll-...”

“I asked already!” Will cried. “He said Barry was transferred.”

Shit!

“I- I,” Will said, looking around wildly. “We need to go to the left wing. I know that’s where they are keeping him. They have to be!”

Dean didn’t think it was possible to be more horrified… but somehow he did.

“Will!” Dean shook his friend by the shoulders to get him to snap out of it. “Listen to me! We will find Barry. We will go there tonight and bring him back, okay?”

Will’s eyes stilled, the black pupils were so dark they overpowered the hazel around it.

“You promise?”

Dean cursed internally, but outside, he said, “I promise.”

So fast that Dean didn’t have time to react, Will flung his arms around Dean’s middle and hugged him hard. Dean’s own hand instinctively came to rest over Will’s head, his fingers weaving into the soft brown. He could feel Will’s sobs wracking his own body, the tears staining his shirt, but Dean held on, tightening his grip on the boy, as if by sheer willpower he could fix everything that was wrong.

A part of him did not want to let go. Something deep inside was just screaming at Dean to hold on to Will and make a run for it. Leave everything behind to just protect this kid. But there were lives at stake here. He could picture Barry’s crying face when that bully at school had raised his arm at him, then the absolute faithfulness with which he looked at Will.

Dean ran his hand over Will’s shoulders, over and over till his heaves subsided.

He moved back ever so lightly to look Will in his tear stained, anguished eyes. “You listen to me now, Will. Go back to your room and wait for us to signal you at night, okay?”

Will nodded,with implicit trust in his eyes and Dean wanted to kick himself for lying.

**********************************************

Dean sprinted all the way back from Will’s room, after having walked him down there, and skidded to a halt in his dorm room, almost banging into Benny. He let out a yelp of surprise at the intrusion but then gave Dean a brief, hesitant smile. Benny had been trying to be nice after his blow out almost a month ago. Sometimes Dean could see he was struggling to say the words, to make it okay, but hadn’t been able to.

Today, he actually tried. “Hey, Dean-,” he started to say but Dean cut it off quickly.

“Where’s Cas?”

“He’s not back yet.”

Dean turned around and kicked the foot of his bed. “Damn it!” he yelled.

“Dean!”

Behind him, Cas had just entered the room, slightly sweaty and breathless, two flashlights clutched to his chest.

“Barry-”

“I know!” Cas said, forehead crumpling. “A couple of kids were talking about it.”

Dean gave another frustrated yell.

“What? What happened?” Benny asked, vigilant now, all awkwardness gone.

Hurriedly, in a low voice, Dean repeated everything that had happened with Will. When he was done, both Cas’s and Benny’s faces were identical masks of horror.

“We have to go to the west wing, Dean!” Cas said decidedly, his voice grim.

“Yes,” Benny agreed.

Dean sank down on his bed with a thud. “You can’t come with us, Benny.”

“What? Why-” Benny started to protest but Dean cut him off. Again.

“You can’t come with us, because I want you here, standing by the door, making sure no one knows or follows us.”

“I don’t see the need,” Benny reasoned. “No one will be up at night.”

Dean exhaled, slowly. “We are not going to wait for nightfall. We’re doing it now, in an hour.”

“But Will? You just said that you promised him we’ll go after the lights go out...” Cas trailed off.

“This is because of Will,” Dean said through his teeth. “I lied to him. He’s just a kid. Sneaking into the record room at night is one thing, but dragging him into this? When even I don’t know what’s waiting there? I can’t do it. Better for him to be angry with me tomorrow than risk his life. Besides, he is in no shape to go anywhere. He’s scared out of his mind for Barry.”

Dean knew everything he was saying made sense, but the real reason behind lying to Will was that Dean knew he'd be himself paralysed with fear for Will, if he was to go anywhere near whatever crap was happening in the west wing. The mere thought of Will being in danger made Dean’s knees give out.

“In fact, Cas,” Dean said slowly, “I can’t ask you to risk your life for this either.”

“Oh, shut up, Dean!” Cas sais, exasperated. “How old do you think I am? 12? I can make my own decisions and I’m coming with you.”

Dean felt his body loosen slightly with relief. While thinking of Will in a dangerous situation filled him with dread, knowing that Cas was going to be with him, made him feel relieved. Friendship was unpredictable like that… you couldn’t guess how it would make you feel.

“Alright, then,” Dean said, “This is how we do it.”

**********************************************

It was as dark as it always was in the west wing, despite it being just over 7 o clock, and the lights in the compound still on. Both Dean and Cas had their flashlights throwing lights into the far end of the corridor as they made their way through the stinking, grimy passageway. Benny had deftly taken his place next to the door, without any hesitation. Dean had handed him the set of keys and decided on a certain knocking rhythm so he would know it was them when they returned and opened the door for them. The door opened easily from the outside, and unlike the long nights, today Dean didn’t have the luxury of trying all the keys in the dark till the right one fit.

With precise coordination that only came after weeks and weeks of sneaking around in dark decrepit places, Dean and Cas moved along the decaying wall towards the end of the corridor. From what Dean knew of the building footprint, having extensively inspected the form from the outside, the corridor should lead into something of a hallway. Even as they rounded the corner, a sense of foreboding gripped Dean. In all of their nightly excursions, they had never ventured this far into the west wing. The hallway opened up into another short corridor that swiftly made a left turn, blocking all view.

Dean quickly exchanged a look with Cas, confirming that they both agreed upon continuing further ahead. The swift left turn wasn’t in fact a turn, but a narrow, crooked staircase. What was more? There was light emanating from the bottom of the stairwell. It was dim and threatening, but there was definitely something going on there. With another cautious look, Dean started descending the staircase, now switching off the flashlight. Behind him, Cas did the same. Together they climbed down, clutching the wall for support.

The staircase led all the way down till what would be the first floor. The passageway ahead was lit with less wattage bulbs emitting a dull reddish light. It was menacing. The floor itself was like the dormitory wing he slept in. Rooms on one side, next to each other, all connected by a single, small passage. But unlike the dorm, the wall opposite the rooms didn’t have a line of windows; it was blank and solid.

Suddenly there was a banging noise. Without thinking, Dean dashed ahead, passing small rooms with grilled iron doors. His peripheral vision caught something and he came to a skittering halt.

One of the rooms was unlocked and the rusted, the metal door swaying off his hinges. Inside, hanging from the ceiling were long chains that ended in shackles. What was worse? There were dark splashes on the wall- dark brown in colour- of what suspiciously looked like blood.

Dean’s stomach turned and he looked away. If there had been anything in his stomach, it would have come out now.

“Is that… is that…” Cas was too disgusted to even complete the sentence.

The banging echoed again and Dean rushed towards the door it was coming from. That particular room was in darkness as the light within had been turned off. However, there was movement in the shadowed corner.

“Dean?”

The voice was muted and hopeless… but it was definitely Barry’s.

Dean banged against the door. “Barry! Oh thank God you’re okay.”

But he had said it too quickly. For Barry’s small figure dragged its way across the small room towards the door, and in the little light reflecting from the bulbs above, Dean could see the dark wetness of blood against his face. Barry’s spectacles weren’t on him, and his leg was twisted in a way that was anything but natural.

“My God,” Cas whispered, and fell against the grill, trying to shove his hand between the rod to get to him. “Barry!”

Barry broke down completely. His face was bloodied and bruised but the most horrifying thing was the hopelessness in Barry’s eyes. He had given up.

“Barry!” Dean reached out so the tips of his fingers touched Barry’s brown hair. “I’m gonna get you out of here.”

Barry just shook his head. “They’re coming for me, Dean. I heard them, the car is right outside,” he cried, in a dead voice. “You can’t help me.”

“I’m not giving up, Damn it!” Dean said fiercely. “I’m going to get out of here and inform the police. I have a pager stashed under my clothes. They’ll free you.”

They had to free him.

“Cas,” Dean said, “Stay here and raise a riot if you see any movement or hear anything, okay? I’m gonna head up and contact Jody.”

Cas’s chin jerked up in quick acknowledgement and he shuffled closer to the grill.

Dean turned to Barry, his eyes stinging at the corners. “You hold on, Barry. Cas is right here with you. I’ll be back in a moment.”

At long last, Barry nodded, a small light of hope in his pained eyes. With one last look, Dean bolted back towards the hallway, and up through the staircase. Nothing seemed real to him anymore. He banged three times as they had decided, and within seconds the door opened. Dean stumbled out and onto the floor.

Benny was next to him in a flash. Maybe it was the look on Dean’s face or Cas’s absence, but Benny stiffened.

“I- I need to get to the pager,” Dean heaved breathlessly.

Benny didn’t ask for an explanation or even what had happened. He moved quickly and helped Dean to his feet which were starting to feel like the bones were beginning to melt. Somehow, Dean managed to stand straight and reach his room. Once there, he hauled his duffel bag from under the bed and yanked the zipper, frantically digging into the base of the bag to find the rolled up wad of socks in which he had hid the pager.

Soon, his hand wrapped around the small plastic object and he pulled it free of the clothes. He hurriedly turned it on. It seemed like an eternity before the pager beeped to life and the small line blinked on. With shaking hands Dean typed-

EMERGENCY. COME NOW.

He hit send and the pager tumbled out of his shivering hands. It would take Jody at least an hour and a half to get here. And Barry had said that the car was already here to take him. Till then Dean had to do all he could stall them.

“Get a grip!” Benny said, laying a hand on Dean’s shoulder. His voice was gruff, but kind. Dean felt a welling gratefulness towards Benny.

“Benny,” Dean said, getting to his feet. “We have to hurry, but there is one more thing I have to do.”

“What?”

“Hide Will here!”

There was a sick feeling in his stomach that refused to go away, and it only multiplied whenever he thought of Will. “I’m going down to fetch him, and then we’ll lock him in our room. I know it sounds stupid but I just… I…”

“You don’t need to explain, brother,” Benny said. “I understand how you feel. I would have done the same for Jaime. I’ll go find Castiel in the west wing, you find Will.”

Dean quickly explained the location of Cas and Barry, and then Dean was running again. It was dinner time so he rushed to the dinning hall first, but in all the crowd, he couldn’t spot Will’s particular mop of brown hair. With rising alarm he looked in the library, the game room, even the godforsaken record room, but his friend wasn’t to be found anywhere. Finally, almost on the verge of nausea, Dean reached Will’s room. His sandy haired roommate was sitting on the bunk bed, shuffling through laundry clothes.

“Will?” Dean asked, throat parched. “Where’s Will?”

The kid gave Dean an odd look. “He’s not here,” he said. “Left with Andy a while ago.”

The blood in Dean’s veins seemed to go cold.

“Andy?”

“Yeah,” the kid shrugged. “Andy said his adoptive parents were here for him, for some urgent formality. That their car was waiting outside. Will wanted to say goodbye to you, but Andy said he could say it when he came back.”

The car was waiting outside.

Blood thundered in Dean’s ears, and without his mind directing, his body moved, taking him upstairs in a desperate numbness.

Outside, his body collided with Cas’s.

Castiel was crying. There was a thin stream of blood trickling down the side of his face, along his ear and neck.

“Barry is gone,” he said, voice completely hollow. “I was waiting there, but something hit me hard on the head and I clocked out. When I came to, Benny was standing over me and Barry w- was... gone.

From the grounds, there was a sharp sound of an engine revving, and all three of them turned to watch through the north windows as two cars drove away from the fence… their tail lights becoming pinpoints as they disappeared into the night.

*******************************

A/N 2: Man, I am soooo sorry for the cliffy! If it helps, the next chapter is written. I’ll post it within the week!

Please do tell me what you thought of the chapter? I live for comments!

If you wanna be tagged, please send me an ask

About a Boy taglist:

@sdavid09 @deanssweetheart23 @blacktithe7 @thing-you-do-with-that-thing @cosicas-cuquis @chalicia @anathewierdo @mrswhozeewhatsis @protectteamfreewill @firefly124-writing @spnbaby-67 @hoboal87 @rizlow1 @donnaintx @starmission @gh0stgurl @tftumblin @emily-a-c11 @ericaprice2008 @jotink78 @charliebradbury1104 @ohgodwhybloggg @i-dont-get-cold @bobbie3939 @samsexualdeancurious @dancing-the-hellfire-rumba @cookiechipdough @wildfirewinchester

#dean winchester fanfiction #spn fanfic #supernatural fanfiction #spn au #weechesters au #aab 11 #anawrites #anawritesspn #Ana writes Dean #Ana writes aab #q

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littleredwritinghoodxx · 4 years

Text

Eyes Turned Skyward

Original Publication Date: October 19th, 2019

Rating: T

Genre: Romance/Angst

Summary: She was a little bird, always afraid of flight and staying on land, where she could be safe. Yet she longed for the freedom of it, and had always wondered how it would feel to break free from her cage and soar. She gripped the paraglider in both hands, steadied herself, and then leaped.

Word Count: 4,590

"The moment you doubt whether you can fly, you cease for ever to be able to do it." – J.M. Barrie

It was a cool spring day, leading into summer in that little Hateno Village. The snow covering the hilltops had finally melted away completely a few weeks back, and now the gentle swish of the breeze tickled at Zelda's nose, and held a promise of a beautiful summer.

Zelda was walking down the winding hills from the Hateno Ancient Tech Lab, enjoying the solitude and the faint echoes of voices and people from down below in the village. She had spent the day up at the lab, working on a project with Purah, and before she knew it, the time had slipped away, as all of Hyrule was now cast in stunning shades of magenta and gold, the sun slipping away behind the clouds, not to be seen again until the next morning.

Link had been with her at the lab as well, however, as she readied herself to leave, she was met with a fleeting glance and a promise that he would meet her back at their house soon, he just had to finish up something for Symin.

Which left her nearing the bottom of the hill in Hateno Village, the roads winding down to that main village center, houses and farms becoming closer together, the inn coming into full view. From here, Zelda could hear the conversations of the villagers as they finished up their day and prepared themselves to turn in for the night. The kids were being wrangled inside by their mothers as supper was being finished, the lights from the inside of the homes shining bright and warm into the twilight.

Even after two years of living in Hateno Village with Link, Zelda was still stunned and in awe of the magnificence and splendor of Hateno Village. It didn't matter the time of day, or the time of year, the village was always a beacon of beauty in its own right, nestled beneath the peaks of Lanayru.

She was startled out of her daydream when a gust of wind settled at her right side, and in a blink of an eye, Link was there, placing a kiss on her cheek. She laughed as his hand snaked its way around her waist, his lips trailing upwards towards her temple.

"Link, you have a knack for appearing out of thin air!"

He smirked, an impish thing, "Paraglider," he replied, as he began folding up the device in his hands.

Zelda playfully pushed him away, "You mean to say that you flew all the way from the top of the hills down here on your paraglider? Link, that's reckless and unnecessary!"

"It's also fun; you should try it sometime!" Link said, closing the distance between them once more, "I thought about trying to beat you back to the house and surprising you there, but I got distracted by a beautiful maiden in the center of town."

"You know, I ought to find out who this woman is who keeps distracting you!" Zelda mocked, a knowing smile on her face, "Is she prettier than me?"

"She's about on par with you."

"Is she smarter than me?"

"Depends on the day."

"You're such a nerd."

"I love you."

"I know."

They rounded the corner and made their way across the bridge towards their little home in Hateno Village. It wasn't much: a small little one-room house with a loft on the second floor, but it was home, and after living in the castle for so long, and then keeping the calamity prisoner there for even longer, it was a welcome change to be have a much more quaint space to call her own.

As they neared the house, she could see little birds perched atop the roof, and saw them fly away in a magnificent flight off towards the west at their approach. They made it look so easy; being able to simply spread their wings and soar. She had always wondered what it would be like to fly high above Hyrule, to feet the heat of the sun against her back, or to see her shadow cast against the ground in the pale moonlight.

It must be terrifying, she thought, for a baby bird to first flap their wings and leave the ground for the first time. It must be daunting to leave the safety of the ground and leap, but its what birds were meant to do. They were meant to fly and see the ground beneath their wings: they were meant to soar.

That night, Zelda got an idea.

It was late into the night, likely early in the morning, when Zelda slipped out from Link's strong grip in their bed on the loft in their little Hateno home. She slipped down the stairs quietly, not trusting her ears or her sight that Link had not woken up yet. When they had first begun living together after the defeat of the calamity, nearly two years ago, Link would be startled awake at the sound of a pin dropping. Even if she had woken up just go to around the house to the washroom, Link would stir at that. However, as the weeks turned into months and the months turned into years, Link gradually became a deeper and deeper sleeper, to where she could make her way to the washroom and back, or step outside briefly for a breath of fresh air, and come back without him waking.

This was proving to continue to be true, as she could hear the light sounds of his snores downstairs from the kitchen.

She slipped underneath the stairs, to where the pantry was, as well as where Link stored his gear and weapons. Zelda fished around his knapsack, until she found what she was looking for. She pulled out his paraglider, bringing it out into the kitchen, where the moonlight from the windows illuminated its design. The paraglider was Rito in design, exquisitely crafted, and was well over one hundred years old, having stood the test of time. When she had asked Link about how he got it, he had simply said that he had gotten it at the Temple of Time on the Great Plateau, shortly after he had awoken from the Shrine of Resurrection.

She felt giddy: rebellious, almost, as she quietly slipped out of the front door of their little Hateno home, closing the door quietly with a firm click. It was dark outside, with nothing but the stars and the moon to guide her. She knew that Link would let her use his paraglider if she just asked, but she didn't want him to feel like he had to help her. She just wanted to try it, see if she could do it, on her own. In this moment, she was feeling courageous.

She made her way across the yard to her left, and made for the winding path leading up towards the Ebon Mountain. The grass was soft and wet beneath her feet, dewy and cold, and she could feet the paraglider in her hands growing moist and cold as she trekked up the mountain.

She didn't go very high at all, only just to a small rocky cliff side that overlooked Hateno Village and their little cottage. To the east, Zelda could see just a hint of dawn peaking from the horizon, dark blacks and blues mixing with purples and dark oranges. To the west, it was still dark in Hyrule's twilight, its residents sleeping soundly under the blanket of its security. No longer was Hyrule under the threat of Ganon, of monsters, of the Yiga. Hyrule was in an era of unprecedented peace and prosperity, something its residents had not seen in a century.

Zelda looked down from the cliffs, something in her stomach dropping as she calculated the drop. She was not very high up, not as high up as she could have been, anyways, but it was still a drop. She had always been a little bit afraid of heights, but also felt a sense of excitement about them. She unfolded the paraglider in her hands, feeling the firm weight of the quality wood, feeling the way the tight, strong fabric unfurled from its position magnificently. It was a fine work of craftsmanship, delicately and meticulously made, and Zelda felt a strange sense of pride of holding it in her hands.

She was a little bird, always afraid of flight, and staying on land, where she could be safe. Yet she longed for the freedom of it, and had always wondered how it would feel to break free from her cage and soar. She gripped the paraglider in both hands, steadied herself, and then leaped.

For a moment, Zelda couldn't breathe, the breath caught somewhere between her lungs and her lips. She realized then that her eyes were closed, shut out against the world, and she knew that was no way for a bird to live.

When she opened her eyes, any breath that she was holding onto was stolen from her, as she felt the wind dance around her figure like wisps in a flame.

She had always known that her little land of Hyrule was beautiful, but she had never seen it like this. From high above, her world looked so small, so minutiae and delicate, as though it were one of her play sets from an age long past. The stars and moon twinkled down on the land gently; casting the terrain in a soft, blue light. The sun was beginning to rise from the east, fighting and winning dominance in the sky, casting the topography in vivid, rich colors.

She was flying towards the Ginner and Midla woods, with Hateno Village and Mount Lanayru to her right, and the beautiful East Necluda to her left. She flew directly over their cottage, her feet dangling from the paraglider. From her vantage point in the sky, she could see the lava flowing from Death Mountain, neon and vibrant.

As she descended, the homes to her right began to grow bigger and bigger, the leaves to her left in the Midla and Ginner Woods growing sharper and more detailed. She made a plan to land, aiming for the archway into Hateno Village. Though she hadn't landed on a paraglider before, she felt confident already in her abilities, in the short time she had soared. She made a quick turn at the Ginner Woods, circling back towards the entrance.

She didn't calculate, however, for the condensation that would form on the handles of the paraglider.

It was her left hand that slipped first, her body swinging to the right as the paraglider tilted down towards the right, its arch swinging away from the archway to Hateno Village and towards the Midla Woods. Zelda gasped, trying desperately to grab the handle again, but in its tilt, it was much too high for her to grasp.

At this angle, she was gliding to the ground at an alarming rate, and saw the tops of the woods come at her dramatically. She felt the tops of the trees scratch at her feet, before she tumbled through the tree branches, the leaves and twigs catching at her hair and arms, before the twigs turned to branches and her momentum was stopped suddenly, as she cascaded down and down, before landing on the forest floor with a dull thud.

She laid there for the briefest of moments, slightly disoriented, collecting her bearings. The fall had knocked the wind out of her, and she was sore all over, but after a careful evaluation, she didn't think anything was broken.

Slowly, she stood up on shaken limbs, taking a moment to put a small bit of weight on each leg before she determined they were suitable to walk. Her hair was tangled, with leaves and small twigs still caught in it, but she didn't have the energy to pull them out. Her left side was covered in dirt, having landed on it, and her arms and face were littered with small scrapes. Overall, she determined that the damage was superficial, and nothing that a hot bath couldn't fix.

The rays of dawn were beginning to shine through the leaves, casting lovely little shadows across the woods. She dusted herself off, turned around, and then stopped dead in her tracks, staring at the remnants of Link's paraglider.

The rich wood was splintered in places, the untouched wood inside it facing upwards in jagged, sharp points. The cloth embroidered with the Rito symbol had a giant slice down the middle, the cotton fibers fraying at the edge. Twigs had poked holes here and there, some twigs still remaining and some lost to the crash.

Zelda picked up the destroyed paraglider in her hands, the beginnings of tears welling in her eyes. Panic bubbled in her chest as she wondered how she would explain this to Link. She had to fix this somehow before Link woke up. All she would need would be some ties to splint the wood together and a needle and thread for the cloth. Maybe some glue if she could find some. Yes, that would do.

Pushing down the panic in her chest, she made her way up the winding path towards Hateno Village, noticing distantly that she was either much farther away from the village than she had thought, or she was walking at a much slower pace. By now, all shadows of twilight had been washed away by the rays of dawn, and the village would soon, if they hadn't already, be starting their day. She needed to get this back and fixed somehow before Link woke up.

In the wake of the defeat of Calamity Ganon, Link and Zelda had spent their days lazy, and now, nearly two years after his defeat, Link spent his days sleeping long after the sun had risen. Zelda knew that she had roughly an hour – maybe less – until he woke up and made his way downstairs. She decided it might be best to grab everything that she needed from inside the cottage and make her way outside with it. He would be wondering where she had gone, however, so she knew that she would have to make haste.

Their little cottage was quiet with activity, it seemed, which was good, as Zelda crossed the bridge to their humble abode. She found herself favoring her right side as she walked, as her left was still sore from having fallen onto it. She paused in front of the door to their home, listening for movement and hearing none, before opening the door as quietly as she could, the ruined paraglider still being cradled in her arms.

She shut the door with a tiny click and froze, listening and waiting for the deep inhalations and exhalations of sleep from her partner. She was rewarded then, when she did hear him sleeping soundly from upstairs, but knew that she had to be quick. Carefully, she set down the paraglider onto the kitchen table, making for the pantry where he stored his gear, and rummaged around his bags, looking for some kind of rope, or adhesive, and a needle and thread.

She found some small, thin rope, like a twine, and a small needle and thread, but no adhesive, but she would just have to make do. She set up shop on the floor beside the kitchen table, taking the devastated paraglider in her hands and getting to work. She started on the cloth first and stitched it up, noticing that though the thread was white and was not a perfect match, the stitches were tight. She made quick work of it, and noticed offhandedly that the Rito symbol was off kilter in some places, having not been sown back together straight. Ah well, she thought, she would fix it later if she had time.

Now, she had to try and fix the structure of the paraglider, and holding up two pieces in her hands, the panic in her chest began to bubble up again. She had no idea how these went together, and she was not sure that she trusted herself to fix the paraglider, and deem it safe for Link to fly on again. And what if the twine didn't hold out? She didn't know a lot about the physics of it, but she did know that the structure and weight distribution of it was probably very important for flying. One small deviation in design, and Link could go toppling down, whether it be from a few feet in the air, or the top of Mount Lanayru.

And boy, did she know how often her hero liked to jump from really tall places.

A drop of blood splattered onto the wood of the paraglider, and Zelda frowned. Was she bleeding? Gingerly, she reached her fingertips up to her forehead and gasped, the wound stinging from where she placed her hand. She had a modestly sized gash above her eyebrow, her fingers coming back red. How had she not noticed this before? She had only found a few minor scrapes from her fall when she had picked herself back up, but this was a bit more substantial than a minor scrape.

She froze, hearing the tell tale signs of Link waking up upstairs, hearing him groan as he stretched. He must have woken having heard her gasp from her wound.

"Zelda? You downstairs?"

Yes, he definitely had heard her.

Frantically, Zelda gathered the pieces of the paraglider, and, in a panic, shoved them into the pantry, behind his gear on the shelf. She rounded the corner as she heard Link coming down the stairs. Unsure of what to do, Zelda settled on the weak choice of busying herself in front of the Champions' weapons.

She wasn't sure what kind of a state she was in, appearance-wise, but if she was in any state of dishevelment, Link didn't seem to notice as he wrapped his arms around her waist from behind, placing his chin on her shoulder, "You're up early."

"Yeah, I couldn't sleep," Zelda said, softly, trying to calm the waver in her voice.

Link, ever diligent as he was, noticed this, lifting his chin from her shoulder, "You okay?"

"Yeah," Zelda said, holding her ground to keep him from turning her around to face him, "Just tired, is all."

She tried to side step out of his hold, perhaps to walk around the table and out the door to the pond, where she could escape his gaze for just a moment longer, but his hold around her waist tightened with one hand, as the other snaked from her waist to her hair, reaching towards it and grabbing a small twig from it, placing it in front of her line of sight.

"New hairstyle?" Link asked, the ghost of a laugh on his voice, any remaining traces of sleep bleeding out from his voice entirely.

Zelda froze, her ears ringing, and before she could shake herself out of his grasp and run, he had her turned around in his arms, and she met his alarmed, intense eyes. Even coming from sleep, with his hair still tousled and messy, he was still beautiful, but those beautiful, soft features she had come to fall in love with were hard and intense in concern, his hand reaching up towards her forehead, flinching slightly when she gasped at the contact of it.

"Zel, what happened?" Link asked, his eyes searching her face for answers.

She found that she couldn't speak, her voice lost somewhere between her lips and her chest, and even if she could, she knew not what to say. Link led her over towards one of the kitchen chairs and she let him set her down in the chair and knelt down in front of her, meticulously looking over her arms and legs before deciding that the only real harm was inflicted on the gash above her eyebrow.

"We need to get that cleaned up," Link decided, standing up, "I've got some potions and gauze in my pack over there, let me go get it and –"

"No," Zelda said, the alarm rising in her voice as Link went towards the small pantry.

He looked at her then, an incredulous look on his face, "Zel, you're bleeding, that's going to get infected if we don't do something about it."

"Link, I'm fine," Zelda whispered, the waver in her voice becoming more pronounced, threatening to turn to tears, "Don't worry about it, I'll clean it myself."

"Zelda, what has gotten into you?" Link said slowly, questioningly, taking a step towards her, "And you still haven't told me what happened to you in the first place."

Zelda was backed into a corner with no way out. Carefully, she stood up on her feet from the kitchen table, placing herself between Link and the pantry, "If I tell you, do you promise not to get mad?"

"Zelda," Link sighed, reaching a hand out towards her arm, "Why would I get mad? What's going on? Talk to me."

Zelda sighed, her breath shaking and her limbs quivering, "I wanted to know what it felt like to soar using your paraglider... so… I jumped."

"You jumped?" Link said, slowly, "From where?"

She pointed vaguely towards the back of their little cottage, "The Ebon Mountains."

"You jumped from the top of the Ebon Mountains?" Link asked, his voice rising in fear and panic, "Zelda, you could have seriously gotten hurt. You could have died."

"Not from the top of the Ebon," Zelda backtracked, her voice picking up speed, "Maybe about a third of the way up. I just wanted to see if I could do it, see what it felt like."

Link breathed in sharply through his nose, letting out a sigh, "Zel, I would have shown you what to do if you had just asked. Flying is the easy part, it's landing that can be disastrous. Everyone needs a spotter their first time."

"You didn't have a spotter your first time."

"I didn't have a choice my first time."

They stood in silence for a moment, staring at each other.

"There's something more you're not telling me, isn't there?"

"What makes you think that?"

"You're an open book, Zel."

Zelda sighed, gathering up what little courage she had left, "I need you to promise me that you won't get mad."

"You're scaring me, Zel."

"Promise me."

"Where else are you hurt?"

"Link, promise me."

They stood, staring at each other for a moment longer, before Link grasped the bridge of his nose between his fingers, his eyes clenched closed as he breathed sharply from his nose.

"I promise."

Gingerly, Zelda turned around and took a few fleeting steps towards the pantry. Once inside, she spared a glance back towards her knight. His eyes were trained on her, never wavering, and she felt herself shrinking under his gaze. She reached towards his gear on the shelf, reaching behind it to where she had haphazardly stowed the damaged paraglider. She felt it on her fingertips, took a deep breath, and then lifted it from its hiding spot, turning her body back towards Link.

In his defense, if he was thinking anything, he didn't show it. His expression was cautiously neutral, locked on the splintered paraglider with careful, trained eyes, before he looked back up into the eyes of his princess.

She held it out in her arms, as a sort of pitiful offering, and Link placed it in his arms wordlessly. Tears began welling up in her eyes as she did so, threatening to fall. He looked at the paraglider for a moment, a string of unidentifiable emotions shifting through his eyes, before he placed the rubble onto the kitchen table and in two long strides, made his way to the pantry and began rummaging through his pack.

It was silent, save for the sound of their breathing and him digging through his pack, and Zelda's anxiety was skyrocketing, "Link," she breathed, "say something."

"We're going to need a disinfectant for that cut," Link said, "It might sting a little, so I apologize in advance."

"Link, what about the paraglider?"

"What about it?"

"It's broken."

"I can see that."

Link strode back over to her and in a swift motion, placed her back down onto the kitchen chair wordlessly. Zelda fell back slightly, a sense of shock overwhelming her emotions as Link knelt in front of her once again, and began dabbing at the wound on her forehead. Zelda winced, the promise of it stinging proving to be true. The paraglider sat on the kitchen table next to her, all but forgotten by its previous owner.

A tear rolled down Zelda's cheek, Link's eye flickering towards it for a second before going back to her forehead, "I'm sorry," Zelda whispered.

"What are you sorry about?" Link muttered, his voice neutral.

"Your paraglider," Zelda said, exasperated now with Link's indifference, "You were supposed to be angry about this!"

"Did you want me to be angry about this?" Link asked, a careful look in his eyes, "If I remember correctly, I did make a promise not to get mad about this."

"So you are mad!"

"I never said that."

"Link," Zelda grabbed his wrist, which was clearing her forehead. He stopped at that, his eyes meeting hers, "I broke your paraglider."

"And if I had to, I would break it again."

"I don't understand."

"Zel," Link sighed, rolling back onto his heels, his forearms resting on his knees, "It's just a glider. It can always be replaced. In fact, I could even go to Rito Village tomorrow and have an exact replica made, if I so chose to. In hindsight, I don't care about a piece of wood with a fancy cloth strapped to it. I care about you. No matter how hard I try, I can't go to Rito Village and have a brand new Zelda made for me. That's not how it works. So yeah, if the worst thing to come of this was a gash on your forehead and a broken paraglider, I'm okay with that. I can live with that. I would take that any day than what could have happened."

Zelda sighed, a small laugh escaping her lips as she turned her eyes skyward, trying to stop the tears from falling.

"I'm glad to see that your duty towards me far outweighs anything I could do to make you angry."

"Don't make a habit of testing the bounds of my patience, love."

Zelda laughed, the last bubble of panic escaping from her chest.

"Just promise me something," Link murmured, tilting her chin up towards him, his lips feather light on hers, barely touching.

"Next time, promise me you'll let me catch you if you fall."

"Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return." –Leonardo Da Vinci

fin.

#legend of zelda #zelink #you thought this would only be fluffy #nah I live for the angst #angst #breath of the wild fanfiction #legend of zelda fanfiction #everyones favorite things #blood angst and kisses #bite-sized zelink #angstfiction?

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cocoisbestgirl · 4 years

Text

Fanfic I can’t think of a name for pt 4

Felicity couldn’t help but smirk at seeing Lynna look away defeated. Something about her failure always made Felicity feel just a bit better. Something about it made her happy. That girl tortured Felicity her whole life, now it was finally a...slight revenge. She felt her brain pressuring her to play up Magda’s injuries if only to make Lynna’s day a touch worse.

“Miss Felicity, I have some gifts for Magda. I hope she can forgive the Jorcastles.” Tilla suddenly began to walk away back to her carriage. Felicity saw a slight argument. It all ended with Lynna in tears and Tilla walking back to Felicity with some sort of box. Tilla’s servants were carrying the box. It looked heavy like something used to carry tools.

It took a few seconds before she realized what was shining. It was gems and jewels... expensive looking ones at that. It looked like something Maggie would buy just to show off. It may have been flashy even for Maggie though. It looked like some type of wood and it was decorated by gems that seemed to be almost stuck on whenever one part wasn’t gem-y enough. It was not a pretty sight, and Felicity’s standards weren’t exactly sky-high.

If Tilla hadn’t handed Felicity a key to the box, Fel would’ve honestly thought it was just junk. She knew better. She knew the duchess was not the type of woman to give away well...anything really, but more importantly she wouldn’t just give away something useless. She had an image to protect, after all. Felicity made a very unladylike, ‘Huh!’ when the box was released into her hands by the servants. Felicity could almost hear Eliza’s lessons on being a lady. She pushed those back into her head before looking up at Tilla. Whatever the heck was in that box was either: A: some huge dress that had already fallen way out of fashion by now or B: A dead body. Felicity couldn’t decide which one she would prefer.

“I cannot wait to see Miss Magda wearing them at the next ball!” Tilla said before bidding farewell and leaving the Ellenstein property.

Felicity walked into the house with the massive box in hands. She used the back of her foot to close the door with a loud bang before purposefully dropping the box onto a nearby table. The box clunked a bit.

“M-miss what’s in there?” A maid said as she carried a basket full of full perfume bottles through the house. The maid stopped when she saw Felicity struggle to carry the box.

“Dead body,” Felicity said while wiping the sweat off of her face.

“W-what!? I-I won’t tell anybody I swear!”

“Nah, not really don’t worry about it. I wouldn’t be that surprised though.”

“W-what!?”

“Some of the stuff I have heard that woman say, a dead body wouldn’t be that hard to believe.”

“What does she s-say?”

“A weird amount about murder and assassination. Like a really, really weird amount. Probably has a hit on Lynna,” That last part Felicity was originally going to make it a joke. She soon realized it may not actually be…

“A-Anyway,” Felicity took the key in her hand, and opened the box.

No wonder the box was THAT heavy. It was nearly filled to the brim with all sorts of jewelry. At the top was a golden tiara with sapphires decorating the top of it and onyx dotting the bottom of it. Felicity saw quite a few smaller boxes buried underneath of other jewelry. The maid watched in sheer awe as Felicity opened one of the smallest boxes. Some of the most gorgeous, and probably most expensive, rings either of them had ever seen were stored away there. Ruby, emerald, diamond, whatever gem or material was there.

‘Tilla just gave these away like they were nothing!’ Felicity thought, ‘Just how rich is she!?’

The maid looked around nervously and whispered in Felicity’s ear.

“M-may I have just one of those rings or a necklace? Even a bracelet?”

As much as Felicity desperately wanted to give the poor girl something. She felt unable to. This wasn’t hers. It was all Magda’s. Stealing from an injured woman was...

“I’m sure Magda will give you something. This, uh, isn’t really mine.”

The maid’s shoulder’s dropped a bit. Just as she began to pick her basket back up. Felicity held out one of the less glamorous rings to the maid. Felicity put one finger in front of her lips and winked at the maid who happily took the ring from Felicity’s hand. The maid nearly skipped up the stairs. Felicity felt good inside for a few seconds before she heard footsteps down the stairs. She already knew who it was. Goddess help her…

“Felicity? Who was at the door?”

“Ah! Mom. It was Til- Duchess Jorcastle,” Felicity quickly shut the box, almost crushing a pearl bracelet in the process.

“Felicity? What’s behind you?”

“A gift. For Magda!”

Eliza’s face shifted a bit in shock. Then into fear in under a second.

“The duchess knows of Magda then…”

“It’s not a bad thing! I don’t think…”

“Daughter, I tried to raise you to be obedient...I really tried.” Eliza closed her eyes

Felicity had heard those words many times, but never in a sad tone... and definitely not with that face

“M-mom, If I knew this is what would’ve happened I would have never done it. I would’ve told everybody she’s my maid. I didn’t mean for her to get hurt..”

“I wish you would have. Dressing her up and portraying her as a noble…. When in reality she was just a maid.. She could be killed.”

“W-what!?”

It was a convincing lie on Eliza’s part. Felicity knew none of Finsel’s laws, and she knew Felicity would never look into it further.

“If anybody finds out...they could have a bounty set on her..”

Most, all, of this was a big lie. A woman so desperate she was willing to risk everything just to climb even a step higher in status, she was willing to make such elaborate lies that if they were ever uncovered….

“T-that can’t be true!”

“Please, Felicity go to your room…”

Felicity didn’t bother staying downstairs for the argument and ran upstairs to her room.

Eliza smiled. Her plan didn’t go exactly as expected. It went better. She looked down at the box. Not only had Magda become the talk of the nobles, but she became a sympathy machine at the same time.

“Perfect,” Eliza said to herself.

Magda made her way home in a carriage much better than the Ellenstein’s one. She had met the man who had made sure she was alright. Barris Sakan. Magda squirmed a bit at actually meeting him. She had no issue with him, but she really wasn’t used to being near nobility. Her eyes stayed on the windows as they rode to the Ellenstein Residence.

“So, Miss Ellenstein,”

“Hm?” Magda looked over at Barris

“What is your relation to Felicity?”

“Um...I-”

“I apologize. That was a rude question..”

“N-nonono! You’re completely fine!”

Magda then realized that now she had to explain how she was related to Felicity. Which she obviously wasn’t. Her and Felicity looked nothing alike. He wouldn’t believe they were related in any sort of way. Maybe, just maybe he’d believe she was a cousin...

“Our relationship is....complicated,” Magda said. She was so nervous she didn’t even have to fake her answer. It was technically not a lie.

“How so?”

“Well,” Magda started as she began to look out the window again, “I really only see her as somebody above me, yet she treats me like I’m on the same level as her. I see her as a friend at best..”

“Sibling relationships are difficult. I would know.”

“S-siblings?”

“I know this whole situation must be very confusing for you.”

‘What situation?’ Magda thought to herself. Magda was an only child as far as she remembered,so did Barris really think her and Felicity were…

Before she could finish her thought Barris interrupted.

“We’re here. Would you like me to walk you to the door? Just in case”

“No, thank you though. Magda picked up her dress slightly as she got out of the carriage and walked towards the residence. Her head was still foggy, but she was able to walk by herself to the door.

She looked down to the ground as she gave a tiny first knock. Only to be happily greeted by another maid before she even thought to knock twice.

“Hello, Magda!” She near shouted as she grabbed Magda by the arm and dragged her into the living room. The ring on the maid's finger gleamed in the light.

Magda’s head spun around and she felt nauseous again. Luckily the maid stopped before Magda had to hurl out whatever she had eaten that day.

“S-sorry. I was told to get you straight to bed.”

Before Magda could even think of a response she was being neared shoved up the flight of stairs leading to the second story. Before she even knew it she was in her bedroom. Well, her new bedroom anyway. It was huge compared to her old room. It had a big closet and a balcony that she could see the stars out of. There was an empty vase in the middle of a vanity that decorated part of her room. On the door was a full body mirror...

The moonlight dimly lit up her bed. Magda forgot that this was her new room, and just thought about sleep. Magda undid the buttons on the front of her dress and let it drop uselessly to the floor. It was scrap now, anyway. She curled up on top of her blanket, too exhausted to even move under the covers.

The whole day almost felt like a big blur. She remembered getting knocked over, and, nearly, dancing with a noble. The rest was all a big void in her mind. She kicked her shoes and stockings off, before finally shutting her eyes to rest.

The morning sun beamed into Magda’s eyes and startled her awake. The second she sat up her head throbbed with seemingly every heartbeat, and her eyes instinctively shut. Her hands went to grab her head, but she was startled by her door suddenly opening, which made her hands retreat back to her sides.

“Magda, me and-” It was definitely Eliza. Magda tried to hide her pain, but Eliza was smarter than that.

She walked from the door to the windows and pulled the blinds shut. The pain in Magda’s head was still aching, but the darkness made her able to at least function.

“I’m,” Eliza paused, “I didn’t realize how bad it actually was.”

Eliza’s eyes softened a bit, “Please come down when you are well. I will have the cook make you something.”

“T-thank you, Miss Eliza,” Magda managed to croak out, “You really are too kind.”

“Please Magda, for your own sake. Call me Mother.”

#helix waltz #helixwaltz #magda ellenstein

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brittle-bone-gabe · 4 years

Text

The Forgotten: Chapter Five - Truly a Small World

Chapter One, Chapter Two, Chapter Three, Chapter Four, Chapter Six, Chapter Seven, Chapter Eight, Chapter Nine, Chapter Ten, Chapter Eleven, Chapter Twelve, Chapter Thirteen, Chapter Fourteen, Chapter Fifteen, Chapter Sixteen, Chapter Seventeen, Chapter Eighteen, Chapter Nineteen, Chapter Twenty, Epilogue

Summary: Barry Berkman couldn’t remember much of his childhood; he knew he used to live in Derry, Maine, but that was about it, besides being taken by his “Uncle Fuches” at age 16 to move to Cleveland, Ohio. Eddie Kaspbrak moved from Derry, Maine to LA, becoming a police officer, surprisingly enough. Normally things were quiet for the most part, besides the occasional drug busts, but it’s when someone named Barry Block enters his line of sight as a possible suspect for the recent string of murders he has to push the feeling of remembrance to investigate. Pairing: Adult Reddie (Richie x Eddie) Or, technically, Barry x Eddie Read on Ao3: Here

Early the next day, Eddie made sure he got up early enough to pay Sally Reed a visit; he had managed to find her address with the notes that Janice had left behind when she did all the hard parts of the investigation. Eddie had all the pieces in front of him, he just had to put them together so they made some sort of sense. The address was listed as a last known address, so he was hoping it was still correct, well, it should be, it wasn’t too long since it was noted. He had to be getting close to something, right? The past few days of running around trying to get ahold of some sort of lead had to be getting him somewhere. This was not going to be for nothing; Janice’s death wasn’t going to be nothing. That was his best fucking friend and he was going to make sure this case would be finally solved for real.

Before getting out of his police cruiser, Eddie had to close his eyes, taking a few deep breaths to calm himself before going up to Sally’s apartment. The other night he almost lost his emotions around Gene, which he absolutely could not do while on the clock, whatever he was feeling couldn’t play a role in this case. The only thing he was allowed to feel was determination in closing this case; he sure needed it since it felt like a lot of dead ends and was starting to get frustrated. Breathe, Eddie, it’ll be okay, he thought to himself, opening his eyes, they were now burning from the sunlight entering through the windshield. Okay, he was ready.

Eddie made sure he had everything on him, the file, his notebook, yeah, he was ready to go. Letting out a sigh, getting out of the car. He made his way to the building that belonged to Sally, going up three flights of stairs. At least it gave Eddie some time to figure out what he wanted to say, what he should and shouldn’t bring up about the night Janice got murdered. He had a vague idea about what was already asked a bunch of times, he knew what he needed to ask, even if it meant he had to repeat questions.

You’ve done this hundreds of times, you know what to do. You got this, you’re okay, Eddie thought to himself, standing at the top of the stairs, catching his breath. Get in, get out, get the answers, move on with the case, you’ll be fine. Eddie moved down the hallway, finding the door labeled with 41 plastered on it.

Eddie knocked on her door, standing there awkwardly while waiting for someone to answer. He chewed at his bottom lip, going over everything he hopefully could ask and question Sally about. Just get in, get out, you’ve done this many times, he reminded himself again. There were footsteps on the other side of the door, someone was talking and laughing softly as they approached the door.

“ ...oh, hold on,” Eddie heard the person on the other side say before the door unlocked, opening up. A woman with blonde hair and green eyes opened a door, a smile on her face opened the door. The moment she saw Eddie’s police uniform her smile dropped. She put the phone back up to her ear. “I’ll call you back.” She said quickly before hanging up the phone. “Oh… hi,” she said awkwardly, “is there something I can help you with, officer?”

Eddie gave her a small smile. “I’m Officer Kaspbrak; my badge number is 27988.” He pointed at his badge that was above his left chest pocket. “Are you Sally Reed?” He asked as a precaution.

“Yeah, that’s me.”

“Would it be alright if I come in and ask you a few questions?”

“Of course.” She moved aside, holding the door open so Officer Kaspbrak could come inside her small apartment. Suddenly she was feeling embarrassed, she wasn’t expecting to have company of any kind, so her place was a mess. “Sorry about… all this,” she gestured towards the mess on the floor, “I wasn’t expecting anyone.”

Eddie shook his head. “It’s alright, this shouldn’t take too long.” Sally motioned towards the small dining room table that sat in the middle of her kitchen.

“Did you want anything to drink? Water…?”

“No, I’m good, thank you.” They both took a seat across from each other. “I just wanted to ask you some questions about what happened the night Janice Moss was murdered. Gene Cousineau said you were there at his cabin the night it happened?” Eddie took out his notebook from his pocket.

“Yeah, me and my… then boyfriend were both there.”

“Barry Block?” Sally nodded, fidgeting with her fingers as she was kinda nervous. She thought this case had been closed. “Did you hear anything that night at all? Gunshots? Screaming? Maybe anything that could come close to a struggle?”

“No, I slept through the night. I’m a pretty light sleeper, so I think I would’ve woken up if I did hear something, y’know?” She watched as he scribbled something down, she couldn’t quite make out what he wrote down.

“I haven’t had a chance to look at the cabin yet, but was there a sign of a break in? I’m sure that would’ve been in my notes if there was, right?”

“Yeah, no, nobody broke in. I don’t even think anyone came into the house that night. The doors are pretty creaky.”

“And you would’ve woken up if someone did leave the house?”

“For sure.”

Eddie quickly jotted that down, making sure he got every detail right. “Where was your room as opposed to Gene and Janice’s?”

“Right across the hall.”

“Alright, so yeah, you would’ve heard if someone left. Thin walls I assume?”

Sally shuddered, remembering what she heard that night when she and Barry were trying to fall asleep coming from the room across the hall. “Unfortunately.” Eddie smirked, writing something else down.

“So what happened the morning when nobody could find Janice? Tell me about that.”

“Gene woke us up at like… ten in the morning, saying that Janice wasn’t in bed and he couldn’t find her around the cabin. Which was like… weird, because I didn’t hear anything all night like I said. Her stuff was still in Gene’s room, but her car wasn’t there anymore.”

“And nobody could narrow down where the car went?”

“I think the officers that came out said there were tire tracks in the dirt, but it just…” Sally turned her finger around, “lead around in circles and they gave up.”

Eddie had originally made it a point to check out the cabin, but he wasn’t sure if it would’ve done any good at this point. However, he did want to see what tire tracks she was talking about, the car had to have hidden up somewhere and Eddie was going to find it. While Sally was being a huge help but telling Eddie everything she knew, it was mainly what he already knew.

“I think I just have one more question,” Eddie finally said, tapping his notepad with his pen gently, “where does Barry Block live? I didn’t see it anywhere in the notes, I could only assume Janice couldn’t find his address.”

Sally shifted awkwardly in her seat. “Oh… yeah, I…” she let out a small laugh, “I actually don’t know where he lives.”

Eddie couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow, instantly starting to think that she was covering up for him. “How is that possible if you been dating off and on again?” He asked, resting his chin on his hand that was propped up on the table.

“Well, he’s never really invited me over. It’s always been at my place or we just go out for the night and go our separate ways, but we never hung out at his place before.” Alright, that answer was good enough for Eddie. “But if you want to talk to him, he'll be in class tomorrow.”

No, Eddie couldn’t wait another day, especially if that was Barry who sped out of the parking lot the other night. If that was Barry, Eddie couldn’t help but assume that they had something to hide, they booked it out of there and Eddie couldn’t pinpoint where they sped off too. He must’ve checked, double checked, and triple checked before heading back to the theater to talk with Gene. Eddie could only assume that Barry was quick, so he needed to be at least two steps ahead of him.

“Or,” Sally started again, snapping Eddie out of his thoughts, looking back up at her, “sometimes he hangs out at that bar called the Beer Garden. Always sits in the back alone. Couldn’t miss him.”

“I’ll check it out, thank you for your time, Sally.” He stood up, pulling his card out from his front uniform pocket, handing it over to her. “Call me if you need anything,” he said with a small smile before heading to the front door, hearing Sally saying thanks, I will.

Seeing himself out, he knew that he had to find Barry before tomorrow in case he would try to ditch the class.

-----

It wasn’t unusual for Barry to be out drinking alone at a bar, his favorite being the Beer Garden, a bar not too far away from his hotel. He would either be there alone or sometimes he’d go with Fuches, maybe even Sally if they were on good terms at that moment. No, tonight he was alone, he needed to be alone as he was stressing out and didn’t want to be worried about pleasing the other person by striking up or holding a conversation. All Barry wanted was to sit in silence, alone, get drunk and forgot all his issues. Was that a healthy coping skill? Absolutely not. Did it work for him? Sure.

Barry was slumped in the booth he always sat in at the back of the bar, fidgeting with the beer bottle in his hand as he was trying to drown out his thoughts as best as he could before getting drunk. He wanted to know if he could at least shut his thoughts down by himself for a little bit before letting the alcohol take over. God, what a sad person I am, Barry couldn’t help but think to himself as he stared down at the table, zoning out as he was starting to dissociate. Fuck, he hated feeling detached, but maybe that’s what he needed to stop feeling all these worthless emotions. Maybe he needed to learn to shut down.

Honestly, Barry lowkey wanted to invite Sally out to drink with him in a way. While he wanted to stay quiet and do nothing, he knew that Sally would fill the silence if it ever got too much. It didn’t matter if he responded or not because she would keep on talking about her day, and honestly, it made Barry smile whenever she did. Sally surely knew how to brighten a room. Maybe he needed more of that in his life. Unfortunately they had gotten into an argument a few days ago, so Barry didn’t want to push anything besides that conversation they had in the parking lot in class the other day. Yeah, she must’ve wanted space away from him, right? Or, at least that’s what Barry convinced himself that’s what she wanted.

While Barry was deep into his thoughts, he took another sip of his beer, looking over at whoever was standing next to his table. When the memory finally clicked in Barry’s brain that he was looking at the same cop he had encountered at the house the other night, the same cop he had shot in the foot to save both of them so he could flee, the same cop Barry was sure followed him to class last night standing there looking at him with his arms folded over his chest so Barry sat up quickly, almost choking on his alcohol. Oh, shit. How did Officer Kaspbrak find him? Did he follow him here? If so, how long had he been following him? Barry had started coughing from the burning sensation that was now lingering in his throat, causing Officer Kaspbrak to take a step back in case he was sick or something. There was no way he was catching someone else’s cold.

“Wh-...” Barry started to say, looking back up at the officer who gave him a questioning look. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, still trying to find the words to say to the officer without sounded suspicious. “What… uh…” this was not working out well. “Hey,” Barry finally settled on, kicking himself mentally for that.

“Uh, hi,” Officer Kaspbrak answered awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Is there something you needed?”

“Barry Block?”

Barry’s eyes went wide, already seeing himself getting arrested. “Yeah, yeah, yeah,” he answered quickly, tapping his fingers against the beer bottle nervously, “yeah, that’s me,” he forced a smile.

“Mind if I have a seat?”

“Yeah, sure, that’s fine.” No, that was not fine. Barry wanted him to go away, he felt like everywhere he turned Officer Kaspbrak was there, waiting for some evidence to fall from the sky, waiting for Barry to do something wrong. Well, granted he did do something wrong, but the officer didn’t need to know it was him. He still had that forced smile on his face as Eddie sat in the booth from across from him. “What do you need?”

For the first time, Barry noticed that Officer Kaspbrak was carrying a file with him. Whatever was in it was making Barry nervous, this whole situation was fucked up and he didn’t want anything to do with it anymore. He was starting to think maybe killing him would’ve made his life easier, at least that way he wouldn’t be looking over his shoulder constantly, not staying up all night wondering if the police sirens from outside his hotel room were coming from him, he just wanted to go back to his semi decent life where he gave up his job and was focusing on the class.

Officer Kaspbrak took the old photo from the lipstick cam that Janice had made up, passing it over to Barry across the table. Trying to calm his shaky hands, Barry picked it up, studying it for a moment, trying to look close to make sure his face wasn’t at all in it. He should’ve known that it wasn’t, otherwise Janice would’ve had the original case opened and closed in a matter of days.

“What is this supposed to be?” Barry asked, acting dumb with another forced smile on his face, looking at Officer Kaspbrak who didn’t look at all amused by his comment.

“Drop the act, Barry,” Officer Kaspbrak responded, a neutral expression now on his face, causing Barry to drop his fake smile, “you know exactly what you’re looking at. You’ve seen that picture before. Detective Janice Moss showed you, along with your entire acting class, that photo.”

Damn, he was good.

“Right… right, right.” He looked at it again, trying to act interested in what he was being shown.

Officer Kaspbrak proceeded to pass over two new pictures that Barry has never seen before. Barry’s heart slammed against his chest now as he saw that they were stills from security footage from the house he was in last week. Fuck, there was more than that one camera? Barry thought, switching out the lipstick cam photo for the two stills. He was doing everything he could to not seem nervous, trying to stop his hands from shaking as he looked at them, studying every piece to make sure there was no way to tell if it was actually him. His hood was covering his face in the front door camera and his ski mask in the other, nothing was reflective to reveal that it was him. Okay, that’s good.

“They kinda look the same, huh?” Officer Kaspbrak basically said as he squeezed his hands together. Judging on his tone, Barry knew that he wasn’t actually asking a question, but more of a fact.

“I wouldn’t know,” Barry started, “I’m not a cop.” He gave a small shrug, sliding the pictures back over to him.

Officer Kaspbrak only nodded in agreement as he put the pictures back into the file where they belonged. When he looked back up at Barry, he knitted his eyebrows together as he was starting to get lost in thought. There was something about him that he recognized but couldn’t exactly put his finger on it. Like… somehow he knew him from a long time ago. Although, Eddie would’ve been sure if he had met Barry before, he was cute, someone that he wouldn’t have forgotten easily. Fuck, this was going to drive him crazy.

“Where are you from, Barry?” Officer Kaspbrak finally asked. Irrelevant, but he needed to know.

“I was born in Derry, Maine, but when I was six-teen I moved to Cleveland with my uncle.”

Officer Kaspbrak now had a confused look on his face. “Small world. I’m also from Derry. Don’t remember much of the damn place though…” he trailed off, trying to pull something from his memories but his mind was failing to do so. He snapped out of it, looking at Barry again. “There was a reason I came to talk to you tonight, Barry.” Barry just nodded, picking at the label at the beer bottle. “You were there with Janice that night she went missing, right?”

“Y...yeah.”

“So what happened the night before she went missing?”

Barry shrugged. “We all just talked, we had dinner, went to bed. Nothing really unusual,” he said, trying to remember the exact things they did that night so it didn’t seem like he was lying.

“And you didn’t hear her leave the house? Anything that sounded like a break in?” Barry shook his head. Officer Kaspbrak let out a sigh, he didn’t know where else to go with this, he had a strong feeling that Barry knew more than what he let on, but right now he was tired. Tired and was trying to remember a past he couldn’t force out of his brain. “Alright, well…” Officer Kaspbrak pulled the same card he gave to Sally from out of his shirt pocket, handing it over to Barry, “call me if you hear anything.”

Barry gave a small smile, nodding. Officer Kaspbrak held out his hand to him, which Barry shook, feeling small tingles of electricity run through their hands.

“Thanks for talking to me tonight, Barry.” With that, Officer Kaspbrak left the bar without another word.

Barry let out a sigh of relief once he was out of line of sight, chugging the beer sitting in front of him.

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suicidalalarmclock · 5 years

Text

The Ivy Years

Annalise and Eve FF

Coontinueeeeedddd

Xxx

One would think that out of control binge parties were reserved for undergraduates fresh out of high school. This was far from the case. Most of Eve’s Harvard 2L year, at the ripe age of 23, had yet to give up the lifestyle. Many found a delicate balance of work and play . . . more so they functioned on high levels as alcoholics. The constant performance anxiety was handled more easily after a drink (or three.) Although, the drinking was mostly done after hours in bars or behind the closed doors of home, it wasn’t a normal practice to be this social. She hadn’t been to a “house party” in years.

Ellen lived off of the Charles River in Cambridgeport on the top floor of a charming row house apartment. Eve circled the block twice before finding a suitable parking space a block and a half away. Approaching the house students sat outside smoking on the porch steps discussing the would-be downfalls of having the government regulate moral behavior. They were clearly in the right place. She eyed the house in suspicion; she could not afford to get tangled up in whatever insidious debauchery was brewing.

“You weren’t joking.”

“I wouldn’t tease you for nothing. Come on, before all the Jouët is gone.”

Daniel pulled her by the elbow and led her up three flights of stairs to the top apartment. The door was already opened and classic guitar music filtered out onto the landing. La Cathedral was playing. Eve smiled to herself as she’d been obsessed with Agustín Barri as a child and had yet to visit Paraguay. She would have gone more the En Vogue route for a party, but Ellen was classy. She had to give her that.

The living room was filled with people socializing; a cluster of familiar faces mingling and drinking. Every group seemed to be in excited animated conversation. They passed a forgotten charcuterie platter and Eve grabbed at the sopressata in vain as Daniel pulled her toward the alcohol in the back. A few brave souls lined up shots of whiskey atop the bar of the kitchen’s breakfast nook. Eve found herself trying to squeeze past them when a hand upon her waist halted her to a stop.

“You’re supposed to be studying.” Eve’s heart fluttered in her chest as she turned to face her favorite person.

“Annie!” Eve was having a hard time understanding how Annalise was standing in front of her and how affectionate she could be in this place. They had rules. Rules that drove her crazy but rules that she had agreed to nonetheless.

“Don’t Annie me.” Annalise chastised in a playfully mocking tone before pecking her lips modestly. Eve’s body melted into the touch. Her lips were incredibly soft and apparently Annalise didn’t care who saw them here, which meant so much more than Eve cared to admit. Annalise slipped her hands further down her back and Eve’s entire outlook on the evening had now changed “How’d you end up here?”

“Daniel! And I don’t know anything except that he is back from Peru.” She explained quickly smiling from ear to ear. “What about you?”

“Long story, but I’m avoiding everything. Champs?” Annalise procured a glass of champagne seemingly out of midair.

“I said I was only staying for one glass.”

“You’re preaching to the choir.”

Xxx

One drink made her feel warm and fuzzy inside and she didn’t want to lose the sensation so she filled another glass. By three glasses in the party finally came alive and now a shot later her mind felt significantly calmer or maybe just numb. It was a welcomed change from the constant daunting pressure of class work.

Eve was half listening to her friend Marcus, who had been gossiping about his ex for the past 20 minutes, while giving Annalise eyes from the opposite side of the room. Annalise had adopted a new fashion of fitted strapless dresses made casual by pairing them with oversized blazers. Her legs looked amazing as her calf muscle flexed when she shifted her weight to one side. Even the arch of her foot in Eve’s thin violet pumps was a picture of perfection.

Eve felt a wave of possession rush over her as she watched Annalise laugh at her friend’s joke. It was a genuine laugh, she could tell by the way her eyes crinkled at the sides. Eve had this outrageous opinion that she should be the only one who could make her laugh like that.

Catching sight of Eve starring Annalise made a show of stalking toward her. It was amazing to see her so confident with her shoulders thrown back and extra sway to her hips. Law school definitely looked good on her. Or maybe she was just as happy as Eve. As happy as one could be while enrolled in hell.

“No one ever told you it’s rude to stare?”

“No.” Eve giggled while circling her arms around Annalise’s neck. Her breath was hot against her ear. “I love that you’re wearing heels.”

“I figured you wouldn’t care. You never wear them.”

“They are yours now. They look better on you and I don’t want to always be the tall one. . .” Eve’s eyes closed as she whined. “Why’d you let me get drunk?”

“You seemed tense. Don’t tell me you are regretting it?”

“No. . . I missed you today.”

“Oh stop. You saw me this morning. There’s not much to miss.”

“I completely disagree, but I know I’m being dramatic.” Eve’s legs felt a bit wobbly more from Annalise’s proximity than the champagne.

“You didn’t eat anything did you?”

She shook her head shyly. “I had all these plans to do things but then I get distracted and can’t get shit done.”

“The least you can do it is eat. Come on, let’s get out of here and I’ll take you to lunch.”

Annalise’s hand pressed to the small of Eve’s back as she navigated their way discreetly out of the party. She pushed Eve forward through the doorway just as another woman opened the door to step in. Both women jerked to halt completely caught off guard.

"Desi?” Eve blurted out the question uninhibited from the alcohol.

It was Desiree Lennox, Eve’s ex-girlfriend or more specifically the woman Eve left to be with Annalise, staring at her intently.

XXX

#annalise x eve #how to get away with murder #annalise keating #eve rothlo #writers on tumblr #fanfic #htgawm fanfic #writing on tumblr #lesbian drama #first love

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shakespearesglobeblog · 5 years

Photo

Taking up space: The Lady Members’ Room.

Rachel Reeves MP for Leeds West is one an incredible line up of people participating in our Women and Leadership: A Symposium on 17 May that also includes Dr Farah Karim-Cooper (Shakespeare’s Globe), Claire Van Kampen, Morgan Lloyd Malcom, Professor Liz Shafer (Royal Holloway), Dr Sumi Madhok (LSE), Winsome Pinnock, Dr Will Tosh (Shakespeare’s Globe), Baroness Kingsmill CBE, Rachel Reeves, Stella Kanu and Gillian Woods (Birkbeck). They will discuss women in history, their own experiences in leadership roles, the pay gap, ‘likeability’ and what kind of leadership do women or ‘should’ women cultivate?

This blog is an extract from Rachel Reeves’ book Women of Westminster in which she gives insight into the Lady Members’ Room in the 1920s.

‘I find a woman’s intrusion into the House of Commons as embarrassing as if she burst into my bathroom when I had nothing to defend myself, not even a sponge,’

Winston Churchill famously quipped to Lady Astor. She rebuffed him with a wry smile: ‘You are not handsome enough to have worries of that kind.’ Yet Churchill’s attitude was typical of male views towards women in Parliament.

Westminster was, and remains today, a male-dominated institution. Charles Barry, who designed the Houses of Parliament, had designed a number of male-only private members clubs; in many ways Parliament was just another club with a debating chamber appended to it. The physical barriers to women’s acceptance within Parliament were particularly pronounced in those early years of women’s representation. The scarcity of the new women MPs, combined with institutional sexism, meant that they were often made to feel unwelcome in the Commons. There were numerous cases of women MPs being mistaken for secretaries, as well as generally being treated with distrust and a continued sense of disbelief at their very existence.56

‘The dungeon’

The Lady Members’ Room, a designated room where women MPs could respond to correspondence and dress themselves, served as an office for all women MPs. Known as ‘the dungeon’, it was a small, stuffy room in the basement of the Palace of Westminster. Mark Collins, Parliament’s estates archivist and historian, described it as ‘a dark place with wooden panelling.’57 When Wilkinson first entered the House in 1924, the nearest ladies’ toilet to the debating chamber was a quarter of a mile walk, along three long corridors and two flights of stairs.58 In 1929, the Lady Members’ Room was moved down the corridor to accommodate the larger pool of women, but it was still small and lacked a changing room or an annunciator to alert MPs as to what was happening in the debating chamber. It wasn’t until the 1970s that the facilities were improved.

Meanwhile, male MPs had a much greater purchase on the space of Westminster. Unlike women, male members had access to baths (particularly useful during all-night sittings) and dining rooms. Ministers (almost exclusively male) had their own offices, and not even Nancy Astor dared to enter the smoking room, ‘where a whispered word may sometimes have more effect than an hour’s speech thundered in the debating chamber’, as Ellen Wilkinson described it.59 The physical infrastructure both facilitated, and was facilitated by, elite social networks. In almost a physical extension of the parliamentary estate, male members would go to their private male-only clubs (including the Athenaeum, the National Liberal Club, the Garrick and the Carlton) to discuss politics.

‘I am not a lady – I am a Member of Parliament’

Ellen Wilkinson was the first woman MP to enter the smoking room. As she bounded up to the door, she was stopped by a policeman who informed her that ladies did not usually enter. ‘I am not a lady – I am a Member of Parliament,’ she responded peremptorily as she opened the door. Wilkinson continued to push the boundaries of Westminster convention. In 1928 she used her position on the Kitchen Committee (a select committee dedicated to the domestic arrangements of the House of Commons) to initiate a campaign for women to be admitted to the Strangers’ Dining Room. As it stood, while male parliamentary secretaries of ministers and opposition leaders could eat in this cheaper dining room, women had to eat in the more expensive Harcourt Room. Despite opposition to Wilkinson’s campaign from others on the committee, including her only other female colleague (Mabel Philipson), the motion passed. The speaker decided that a lady guest could be admitted for dinner, but not for lunch, on the dubious grounds that there was a shortage of accommodation. Astor intervened, saying: ‘Do not women need luncheon, too?’ Nevertheless, this was primarily a moment of celebration and Wilkinson entertained a party of female guests in the Strangers’ Dining Room (a meal which was, interestingly and unusually for the time, a vegetarian and non-alcoholic affair). But she continued to push forwards, and when appointed to the committee once more in 1930, she was active in the campaign to admit women for lunch as well. In October 1931, Labour MP Edith Picton-Turbervill made a request for a women’s dressing-room, which was granted in the next Parliament. Women were beginning to ‘take up space’.

Women and Leadership: A Symposium takes place at Shakespeare’s Globe on 17 May.

Image: Ellen Wilkinson MP in 1926. Source: Library of Congress.

#women and power #parliament #politics #women and space

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