#if i had more time id make him neater | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

phoenixyfriend · 4 years

Text

The Naruto/Frozen Crossover

So I was planning on just doing an image ID thing for this post, but apparently the formatting on desktop is such a mess that it’s easier to just make a new post that’s text only. I can also like. Bulletpoint it so that it can be a little neater. All ideas were made with @firebirdeternal‘s help, because they are the most efficient enabler I have.

Also I added some bits at the end.

Under a cut, because it’s Long As Heck.

I originally had two options: either Mid-teens Elsa and Anna being transported to ninja land sometime pre-canon and running into Haku and Zabuza... or just like. Born as a Daimyou's daughters.

Spoiler alert, we’ve got nukenin and I’m a sucker for an intrusive crossover, so transported to ninja land it is.

Suggestion from Birdie:

Mechanism for crossover: Elsa ices over a Wishing Well by accident after having Wished for someone else who understood her, Anna and her fall in and get Ice Mirror Portaled to Ninjaland, falling out of an iced over pond near a shrine that Haku recently prayed at for similar lonely child reasons?

Which I like! They don’t end up there soon enough to run into Haku, because I want a dramatic chase first, but I like it.

Obviously, Anna is forced to learn about Elsa's powers because it's the only thing keeping them safe

Or at least alive

(Elsa will do ANYTHING to keep Anna safe, and if that means she has to get her hands dirty...)

...neither of them knows Japanese, so, you know. There’s that.

I'm thinking that they end up in/near Kiri at first

And they aren't FAST ENOUGH to get away so Elsa panic-enchants a giant reindeer made of snow to run away across the suddenly-frozen ocean.

She and Anna have to ride and Elsa is probably crying the whole time.

Oh shit this is like. RIGHT after their parents die, I forgot. So that’s a thing! They are in mourning and all that fun stuff.

Point is, they use the powers for a Self Defense thing and BBY Haku is just !!! "Master can we rescue them for Ice Cousin reasons?" Zabuza: Yes, and only for those practical reasons and not because I collect endangered children like people collect pokemon cards.

I imagine that maybe they track rumors of a Yuki-onna down, or the Giant Snow Reindeer rides by and Haku’s just like Wat

The girls just tag along with Zabuza because. Like.

Do they like him? No. Do they trust him? No. Do they enjoy the fact that he considers them pathetic civilians? No.

However, Haku is Baby.

Zabuza is REALLY annoyed at them being Useless Civilian Royals “but Haku likes them so I guess they can stay.”

Age at meeting, three years pre-canon:

Zabuza - 23

Elsa - 18

Anna - 15

Haku - 12

Elsa is 90% anxiety/depression master combo BUT if Zabzua protects her then she's WILDLY dangerous so like. Whatever

Elsa's bingo book nickname options, uninspired:

Winter Witch

Winter Queen

Ice Queen

Snow Queen

Something about a Yuki-Onna maybe

She's Very Stately and kinda breakable but Winter is her Bitch

I mean like, the fact that, if protected, she can shut down the agriculture of a fucking country? That's an S-rank even if she's not that useful in a fight.

She's like. Jinchuuriki-level destruction. Generally speaking she wouldn’t. But she could.

Elsa: What the fuck is a chakra? Elsa: my snow monsters are self-sustaining. Elsa: I'm gonna build us a house.

Zabuza has NO idea how her powers work and it is INCREDIBLY frustrating but “there’s no chakra cost to keep these things going and we have shelters on demand” is too convenient to question after a while.

Haku: Delicate, deadly, incredibly fast ninja work. Elsa: I can't dodge a kunai but watch me wreck your entire country's ecosystem in under a day.

Elsa is a siege weapon.

Meanwhile, Anna is really, really into the physicality of ninja practice.

She's clumsy and she's not very good at ninja stuff, but she sure is determined!

Anna also gets on Zabuza's nerves because she keeps insisting that Haku get to be a kid.

Anna: Let's make flower crowns! Zabuza: No, he needs to train, not- Anna: FLOWER CROWNS

Consider: Haku saying Elsa-nee-sama and Anna-hime.

Or just calling Elsa “onee-sama.”

Anna is also younger than Elsa and way more Fun so she probably gets adjusted to Anna-chan or Nee-chan.

If Zabuza calls Elsa “Hime-chan” or “Elsa-hime” or, Sage forbid, “Elsa-sama/dono” then he’s VERY MUCH making fun of her and he’s probably getting his soup frozen that night.

At one point, Elsa... tries to like. Convince herself to have a crush on Zabuza or Kakashi or something until Zabuza just puts a hand on her shoulder and asks "do you even like men?" "...that's an OPTION?"

Zabuza urging her to try and ask out a Cute Kunoichi and Elsa's like.... I can't decide if she's bright red and a useless lesbian or uncomfortable and ace.

I am SO invested in the siege weapon thing.

SHE IS THE SQUISHIEST WIZARD.

It's not her fault that every single other combatant on the continent is Massively Dangerous in melee! She took a very traditional back-line build!

Enemy: Doesn't it GRATE to protect someone so pathetic, Zabuza? Zabuza: She literally froze an entire castle of enemies to death because they harmed her sister, so. No.

Most Ninjas: Sharp Knife. S-Rank Mega Ninjas: Gun. Elsa: High Yield Explosive Rocket Launcher. Literally loses fights to the Knife People, because she can't bring her power to bear on that scale. But if you can give her Time and Prep? No contest.

Long distance AoE

Like you know how Nagato is literally dying of starvation due to illness and can't walk, but he's also capable of leveling powerful villages more or less on his own?

Elsa is the same Vibe.

It’s like sealing a bijuu in a civilian.

She's honestly both more and less powerful? Like it'd be hard for her to kill everyone in Konoha in the snap of a finger? But also, she could starve out the Country of Fire in a summer.

She WOULDN'T, but she could.

I always read Elsa as gay or ace but my brain keeps trying to ship her with dude ninjas and I have to yank it back on a child leash.

People insinuate that Zabuza is interested in Elsa and he's just "What? Ew she's like five."

"I'm eighteen."

"Five."

BUT

Elsa! Might mistake trust and companionship for a crush!

I can see THAT happening despite gay/ace.

Also like. I don’t think Zabuza is straight.

So mlm/wlw solidarity?

And Haku is probs genderqueer.

So Anna is THE TOKEN STRAIGHT.

Anna is like, the Straight Friend who will go to the mat for her queer friends. Like vicious. In-your-face barking like a mean dog at people who were being bigots.

You know how Elsa in the second movie uses her powers to make toys for kids out of ice?

Okay, so her practicing by making things with Haku.

But yeah, Elsa can't really do "throws ice senbon," but she can do Delicate Geometry Things since she apparently, canonically studies math for fun and loves fractals.

Haku: I can trap you in a prison of ice mirrors, and you are at my mercy. Elsa: LOOK AT THIS CASTLE I MADE???

Haku wants to do Pretty Things like Elsa

OH.

Elsa makes... snow bunnies..

For the ninja distraction reasons but also because it's a Soft Thing that makes her feel better about, uh, everything. And Haku likes bunnies.

Zabuza still takes The Dirty Missions but Elsa gets upset when he does something that hurts innocents and Nobody wants Elsa upset. Even Zabuza doesn't want Elsa upset.

When Elsa gets upset, overnight accommodations are suddenly Very Uncomfortable for everyone except her and Haku.

And then Anna gets upset, which makes Elsa even MORE upset.

And then things just keep getting colder.

Zabuza doesn't want Elsa upset for many reasons, not limited to: "Is actually capable of killing me from outside of Sword Range if she's mad enough, even if it’s not that easy" and "the Small Children would be unbearably sad if she died and honestly so might I."

She's more of a friend than a ward and he's not entirely sure he's okay with that.

Zabuza: "Ew, friendship."

He has absolutely no idea how to have a social interaction with people he isn't Bullying, Raising, or Threatening to Kill.

Elsa and Anna have no trouble convincing people they're related, at least. Different coloration with almost identical bone structure.

A tendency to burst into song when they feel emotions.

Identical weird accent that nobody can place.

FOOD

The girls are royalty, they don't know how to COOK.

But they also want food from HOME.

It's a lot of trial and error.

More error than not, since they have both no knowledge and also a language barrier to overcome. It probably takes YEARS before they can describe things like Unfamiliar Flavors well enough for people to say "OH that sounds like spearmint."

When they run into something they know that’s familiar, it’s life-changing.

Chocolate is more common in the elemental nations than in Arandelle and Anna may or may not cry about it.

Anna is loudly bossy, even at Zabuza.

Zabuza is gruffly commanding, to everyone.

Elsa doesn't actually like being in charge, but when she talks, people LISTEN.

(Haku is just happy to be here.)

Elsa radiates two things: Anxiety, and Natural Command, and she basically just fluctuates between those.

"I don't want to be in charge but also I'm vetoing this."

So, obviously, the main reasons that Zabuza keeps the girls around is that Elsa is a living siege weapon and he thinks she could be convinced to help him run a revolution in Kiri, and also that the Ice Queen schtick is like. Really good for Haku and Zabuza can’t really say no to the kid.

HOWEVER, Anna is clumsy and messy and all that, so Zabuza starts training her in Ninja stuff. Elsa joins in on the “I need to know how to Run Fast to get away from fights I don’t want to have in the first place,” but Anna’s the one that’s like “TEACH ME HOW TO SWORD.”

It’s honestly not that hard to teach her, she’s just really, really, REALLY enthusiastic.

Once or twice someone asks why she’s so bad at this yet running around with an A-rank nukenin and Zabuza’s just like “I’ve only had her for a year and a half, shut up!” because it’s not that he’s a bad teacher, it’s that she was a very pampered civilian until like a week before he met her.

He should get a MEDAL for even getting her to low Chuunin.

Zabuza: I'm taking a job from Gato Elsa, who has Training in economics and politics and bureaucracy: I have a better idea.

This is actually not entirely what I’d do but I wanted to make the joke first ANYWAY here’s an actual plot or something.

Oh, also by this point everyone is Canon Ages so Elsa’s 21 and Anna’s 18 and Zabuza’s 26 and Haku’s 15.

Elsa is getting paid to keep the water from interfering with construction, by way of....

ICE COFFERDAM

Elsa with Haku as her Guard while Zabuza is off running his own mission? Which Anna begged to go on because Cool.

Elsa also kind of keeps her involvement on the ice front semi-secret by claiming she’s there as an engineering consultant.

LISTEN canon made her like geometry, I can ENTIRELY believe she’d be excited about the bridge-building.

Gato has hired someone else on the danger level of Zabuza, who is Threatening to Team 7 + Haku? But then when things look bleak Anna and Zabuza arrive and then Scary Sword Man is on our side and oh dear that's a lot of blood.

Which, you know, fun!

Birdie suggested Raiga which I’m not feeling but I do feel the need to bring up as an option.

It’s also not Kisame BUT

Kisame: [giant lake dome filled with sharks]

Elsa: uhhhhhhhhhhh...

Giant lake dome: [is now a giant ice dome]

Anyway

Gato: I'm hiring an army. Elsa: [giant ice wall around his compound] Gato: ... these guys can walk up walls! Elsa: [adds snowman guards] Elsa: ... Elsa: [adds a ceiling]

Just puts Gato's entire mob in a fucking snow globe.

Zabuza shows up twenty minutes late with (Throwing) Star(buck)s just like "Oh, they dead? No? Want 'em to be? Okay cool I'm gonna go pick up Haku, I'll be back in like an hour."

Anna would... LOVE Naruto

ENERGETIC FRIENDLY GOOFBALL

"I found us a baby brother!" "No, we already have Haku." "BUT LOOK AT HIM."

Anna is only a year or two older than Itachi.

OH RIGHT

I wanted to make a joke about how Naruto also vibes with her because he's less judgmental that she can't really... talk properly.

Sasuke is Judgy and Kakashi is Paranoid and Sakura is Uncomfortable.

Meanwhile Naruto is just like "And I Shall Scream."

Anna, who learned Japanese from Zabuza (rude) and Haku (uber polite): WELL FUCK YOU, GOOD SIR Naruto: YEAH WELL FUCK YOU TOO, LADY Elsa, overly formal: I am... so very sorry.

Anyway, generic missing nin fights and all that.

Elsa gets injured in the process and after a variety of arguments, Naruto manages to convince them to take her to Konoha for medical attention.

Elsa is... usually the one getting injured.

Zabuza and Haku are FAST and Anna is at least learning (even if she’s only been doing it for three years), but Elsa is The Squishy Wizard.

If someone throws a kunai... she can’t... really dodge...

So yeah, gut wound.

Normally they find a nukenin medic to patch them up but Konoha is reasonably close and has some of the more skilled medics on the continent and they DID technically help the Konoha nin so like. Gah.

That’s Zabuza’s final thought. Gah.

Just “Fuck it, let’s save the ice queen.”

Elsa ends up in a half-literal-ice stasis state on the way there and it’s happened before (it is not the first time she’s been stabbed), but it’s always terrifying.

Especially to the Konoha genin who are just like WHAT THE HECK IS THAT.

So they get to Konoha, there’s a whole bunch of stuff about extradition treaties and “you are bringing a literal WMD of a woman into our town” and “we can’t just let MOMOCHI ZABUZA in.”

Anyway, it ends up being that Zabuza has to wait outside the village while Elsa is treated inside, and one of the Teenagers goes in. Obviously, it’s Anna, because Zabuza is INCREDIBLY UNCOMFORTABLE with letting Haku enter a village that’s known for having lots of bloodlines, and anyway, Anna’s the sister.

Bunch of stuff, she’s healing, etc, and then one day Anna comes in and is told “your sister had a bad reaction to the anesthetic, we couldn’t save her, I’m sorry, she’s gone.”

She flips out, gets shown the corpse, flips out MORE, gets escorted out to the village walls where Zabuza and Haku are waiting.

Horrified reactions

Zabuza doesn’t want to admit that it’s EMOTIONS because this is his FRIEND, he is clearly just upset about losing the living siege weapon.

Haku is just super confused and goes “But she’s not dead.”

“What.”

“She’s not dead, I can feel her, I can always feel her, it’s like sensing but just her, because we’re both ice. She’s alive, somewhere over... there?”

And points right in the direction of the Hokage Mountain, which for the purposes of this fic and also Drama is where ROOT headquarters is.

YEP we absolutely have that plot point.

Is Danzo overused as a plot device? Probably. Am I going to diabolus ex machina him anyway? Ye.

They kick up enough of a fuss that the Hokage gets called down.

He wouldn’t, normally, he’d leave it to a couple of skilled jounin and call it a day, except Naruto got involved so like. You can’t. Ignore that.

There’s lots of shouting.

Just like. A lot.

And then part of the mountain explodes!

AS ONE DOES

Elsa comes flying backwards out of the hole, catches herself on a spontaneous ice slide, gets to her feet.

Girl is swaying like MAD.

There are absolutely ANBU (both fake and real) coming after her.

At least one of them gets speared through by an ice spike.

Anna runs up to her, tries to hug her, gets batted away.

Elsa’s staring at her in sheer TERROR and starts muttering something about how Anna died years ago, this isn’t real, etc.

Nobody except Anna understands most of it, but Haku picks up enough to translate when Anna’s freaking out.

Elsa starts doing her Ice Castle thing in the middle of Konoha as a coping mechanism, mostly so she can get Up and Away and Shielded By Ice.

This is not a good look.

Especially because she’s singing, which Zabuza always thinks is a bad omen because it means shit is getting real and one or both of the girls are about to get a powerup or be beaten even harder than otherwise. When they start singing, things get More Dramatic And Extreme).

(Zabuza does not like Disney Musical Rules)

Danzo shows up.

There’s a bunch of arguing.

All the medics insist that nothing she was given at the hospital should have caused amnesia, psychosis, hallucinations, delusions, etc.

It’s. Not hard for Hiruzen to guess what happened.

Namely that Danzo, upon finding out that chakra dampeners didn’t do shit since none of Elsa’s powers come from chakra, decided to keep her drugged up and start using genjutsu to make her more malleable.

Because like. An injured WMD just showed up in your village. What are you supposed to do, not try to kidnap her and turn her to your side? Like, come on. What was he supposed to do?

Not that, Danzo. Literally Not That.

IDK how it gets resolved, probably Anna getting to her with the power of love, because Elsa is ultimately Super Disney.

I also don’t really know where to go from there other than “Maybe Jiraiya can get you home, but also I’m pretty sure Zabuza wants you all to get the hell out of here and take over Kiri” but who knows.

Also

IMAGINE ELSA MEETING GAI.

Imagine Ino getting a puppy crush on Elsa.

IDK that’s it for now.

#Frozen #Naruto #Momochi Zabuza #Yuki Haku #Zabuza #Haku #mini fic #Phoenix Babbles #Crossovers #Phoenix Posts

319 notes · View notes

fanfics-with-coffee · 4 years

Text

Dabi and Bakugou rarely got along but when they do, it's to double team you. You had been riling them up every time you entered the bar but never let them get any satisfaction, until you agreed on Dabi's dumb challenge. Drink the Blowjob shot the way it's suppose to be had, from between their legs and using no hands.

(This is a re-post from my AO3 work)

Genre: Smut, just smut, Bar!au Characters: Bakugou x reader x Dabi

The neon sign glared down at the people on the street, illuminating everyone in a bright red light. You basked in the light, surrounded by your giggling friends as you made your ways through the crowd of people. This wasn’t your first time in the light and you knew it wouldn’t be your last either. Best bar in the whole district, the whole city even if you asked any lady leaving the place. But you did agree, if you were going to have a drink anywhere then Valor would be it. If you could be so bold then you’d even call yourself a bit of a celebrity at the place. Everyone there knew who you were and knew how you took your drinks. So you often brought your friends along so both brag and give the place some extra income.

After some shuffling of bodies and holding your friends hands you made it to the front of the people, right up to the entrance. You smiled at the bouncer and he smiled right back, showing off his sharp teeth. He was suited up like usual, the suit pants and white button up fitting well around his crossed arms and muscular chest. His bright red hair was spiked as usual and his face was now highlighted red from the neon sign.

“Good evening, ladies! What can I do for ya?” Kirishima asked as if he didn’t know what you wanted, looking behind you to see the awed looks of your friends as they obviously checked out the cutie in front of you. You placed a hand on your hip, pulling the coat you were wearing a little closer to you to keep the cold out.

“Oh you know, just wanted to show my friends this really nice bar i’ve been visiting.” You said with a coy tone, looking around you as if you didn’t know the layout. You made eye contact with the blondie guarding the other door, the black streak in his hair reflecting the red light. He winked at you with a grin before looking over your friends, clearly curious. But he quickly needed to go back to his queue and checking ID’s so the line wouldn’t be held up for too long. Kirishima followed your eyes while nodding, humming in fake curiosity.

“Is that so… Well why don’t you ladies head in then and order something then? Show them why you like it so much, eh?” The redhead looked past you and at your friends, giving them a charming grin and wink before looking at you again. He took a step to the side, making way so your whole group could enter. You gave him a pat on the arm and mouthed a ‘Thank you’ while you walked past him. He just nodded and watched the rest of your friends also walk past him. As you enter the bar you’re met by the warmth first of all. The bodies filling the place was heating up the whole room but you didn’t mind, it was actually very welcoming compared to the cold outside. The second thing that hit you was the music playing through the speakers. While it was soft the music was obviously from the weeks top lists, the beat of the songs being felt through the air. You started peeling your jacket off of you, eyes scanning over the environment. The whole place was dimly lit, the only bright lights shining being the ones under the bar and behind the shelves filled with alcohol. There were the occasional lamp used to set the mood in the place but they were never at full power. The interior was mostly black with details in gold and the dark wood surfaces. Fancy.

You walked confidently to the wardrobe section, smiling at Momo as she took your coat and handed you a number plate that you placed in your handbag. Your friends did the same but you stopped paying too much mind to them, they could handle themselves and you knew the place took care of their customers so you had nothing to worry about. You had something more important in mind. Eyes locking onto the bar you quickly found a spot you could sit down at, miraculously.

You searched the space between the bar and quickly found one out of the two people you were looking for. The tall young man was pouring a beer from the tap while having eye contact with a girl leaning on the counter, smiling at him. He looked mildly amused, raising an eyebrow as she kept talking. He responded to her, his bright red eyes illuminated by the bar lights but you don’t know what he said. You didn’t particularly care either, most of the girls kept repeating the same conversation subjects. He dragged a hand through his blonde hair but it didn’t do much to deter the spikes from forming again while he handed the girl the glass with a smile. You noticed he had shaved the undercut shorter since last time, it looked much neater and clean cut tonight. He was as always dressed in the bartender outfit, the bright red button up and black vest. You could see from your seat that the top buttons of his shirt was unbuttoned, obviously revealing parts of his collarbone and chest. He had yet to notice you but that was about to change.

While you were staring at one of your favorite subjects the other had found you before you had the time to find him.

“Back again, huh, dollface?” The hoarse voice welcomed you back to the bar and you already knew who it was. You smiled and turned your face to notice you were mere inches from the owner of the voice. He was giving you lazy grin, the movement of his mouth extenuating the port wine stain birthmarks around his mouth and going down his neck, the thick tattooed on stitches between his normal skin and the birthmarks still in view. You two stayed like that for a moment, daring each other to move away first. His warm breath hit your lips when he huffed and leaned back, shifting his weight from one leg to another. Placing his hands on the counter he made you feel trapped in his presence. You looked at the tattoos covering his arms, full on sleeves creeping up under his rolled up shirt. Finally you met his eyes again, those bright blue eyes staring down at you. You could see the fading scars on the birthmarks under his eyes, a probably long story you had only heard bits and pieces of. Apparently he had gotten in some trouble and the guys had threatened to cut his eyes out and almost did too. He always jokes about how lucky he is to still have sight or he would never have been able say he’s seen an angel. And if you were the angel then it was no doubt he'd be the devil. With the multiple piercings you've seen glimpses of in the light and the jet black hair playfully sticking up everywhere, you wouldn't be surprised if he revealed himself as an incubi.

“Indeed. I mean, I know I can’t be gone for too long without your ego getting too big, Dabi” You smirked back at his lazy grin, watching his hands move to make you a mojito. He chuckled and looked down to measure the content of your glass, nodding in joking agreement.

“You’re not wrong, the girls around here are easy when you look as good as me, you know? Gets boring after a while. But you… You’re fun Y/N.” He points a black straw at you before putting it in your drink and placing it in front of you. You keep the eye contact going as you pick up your glass and take a sip from it, the refreshing sweetness filling your mouth. The tension was palpable and it had been like this every time you hang out here for a long while now. Everytime you were there you’d tease him and play hard to get, only giving him enough to hold onto the hope that maybe one day you'll be another notch in his belt. Never accepting his dumb bets yet never saying no. And you wouldn’t have it any other way.

“Oi, if you two are finished eye fucking each other then maybe emo boy here can get back to work?” The tension was broken by the voice of dear blondie who had left the conversation with the girl and come to join you and Dabi. Bakugou didn’t look pleased as he glared at the taller man and defensively placed a hand on the counter to the right of you, making Dabi lift his own hand from the spot and releasing you from his almost hypnotic hold.

“It’s called goth, hot shot. And I was working, can't you see I provided angel here with a drink?" he motioned to the drink in your hand which you helpfully raised to show the truth of his statement, smiling sweetly towards Bakugou the whole time just to annoy him. He looked at the drink for a short moment before giving it a look of disgust and making eye contact with you again, raising a questioning eyebrow.

"You should keep yourself to your simple fucking shots, you can at least make those right. Leave the actual drinks to the actual…" Bakugou looked Dabi up and down before staring him in the face. "Bartenders. We don't need to pretend we know what we're doing unlike you extra." The two had started to attract a small crowd, some girls because they thought the two men were attractive and some because they actually wanted to know what was going on. You just sat there calmly, this wasn't their first dispute in front of a crowd nor your first time having a front row seat. Dabi didn't move a visible muscle and instead just stood there with a deadpan glare, watching as Bakugou prepared another mojito. All you could see was his chest rising and falling in an even pace.

When Bakugou finished the drink, with some flare of course, he placed it in front of you. It was neater than your first one, a lime slice delicately placed on the rim of the glass together with a mint leaf as garnish. During the time it took to make the drink Dabi had already sighed and poured himself a shot, downing it when your glass had hit the table. He knew he wasn't supposed to drink on the job but he also knew there wasn't anyone that was gonna stop him. Bakugou ignored him and instead took to watching you, impatiently waiting for you to try his obviously superior drink. And so you did, taking an equally big sip as you took from the first one, you knew how picky he was.

"Well… While I appreciate the thought and concern you have, Bakugou, and it's true that your drink was served better… They taste the same. And I'm pretty sure I'll get just as drunk from either." you place your final verdict, eliciting a laugh from Dabi and a look of something akin to horror from Bakugou. Dabi slung his arm over Bakugou's shoulders, leaning heavily on him as a smug grin crept onto his face.

"What was that now again, hot stuff? Didn't need to pretend huh? Sure, sure… Well if I'm better at shots then I am at drinks then I must be a master at them, so how about we have one?" The tattooed man asked, standing up again and pulling up his shirt sleeves again. As he started on those, pulling out three shot glasses for each and every one of you presumably, you looked towards your favorite blonde who had crossed his arms and was bitterly staring at your two drinks.

"Do you want me to pay for both, or do I get one for free?" You smiled at him, sipping on the drink made by him just to appease him a little. While you didn't have as obvious of a sexual tension with him there had been countless moments where you were sure he'd been so riled up he would've taken you on the bar itself you allowed it. The hot headed man might be smooth in front of the ladies coming and going, it's part of the job, but you liked to get just a little too close. A little too on the edge for him to truly be in his element. And it frustrated him to no end. Yet now he just shook his head in vague defeat.

"No, obviously not, why the fuck would you pay for both? And since we made a crowd take both, just don't you fucking dare tell Iida we're drinking shots while working." he gave you a serious glare while you just laughed and nodded, obviously promising to not rat them out.

In the next moment you had three glasses put before you and Dabi once again joined the conversation. You examined the shots and realize what was going through the blue eyed man's head. The whipped cream at the top was the biggest clue but the shit eating grin he was wearing didn't help his case either. You leaned back in your seat and crossed your arms, watching Dabi closely, waiting for his excuse this time.

"Well since you're getting drinks on the house then maybe you owe us a little something. You always decline my challenge with a smug fucking smirk on your pretty face but now I find that you have few excuses, princess. C'mon, for poor Bakugou whose ego you crushed." Dabi patted Bakugou's chest while staring at you, ignoring Bakugou's futile protests. You watched them, glanced at the shots and then looked back up to them.

The light shone from behind them, illuminating them and reflecting off the glasses you were drinking from. Both their shirts had unbuttoned buttons and you had a clear view of parts of their chest, further enticing you to accept Dabi's challenge and maybe show them who's got who wrapped around their finger. You soak in the view for a second before unraveling your arms.

"Well you still haven't issued the challenge, Dabi, or what's in it for me if I win."

"Or lose, Angel. I want you to drink the blowjob shots the way they're supposed to be taken. From between our legs without using your hands. If you don't spill anything then I'll pay for your drinks for the rest of the evening. If you do spill… Well I'm sure we can agree to a fitting punishment when we get there. And you can't spill anything from either of them, deal?" This wasn't the first time Dabi had challenged you, nor were you the first person he'd used this tactic on. You'd usually hear Bakugou complaining that he'd found the two making out in the backroom afterwards, even if the other participant had won. But this time he involved someone else too and well, the look you're imagining Bakugou having during it might just be worth it.

"Pay for my friends drinks too and we have a deal." you informed him on your condition as you stood up, knowing that you'd have to move to find a better fitting spot to do this, away from too many peering eyes. Dabi didn't respond and instead just grinned and grabbed two of the shots, following you out from behind the bar. Bakugou took a second to debate if this was a good idea or not but watching you walk away, your hips swaying enticingly managed to convince him. "Fuck it…"

You knew exactly where you all could get out of the spotlight and moved over to a corner with a booth. You sat down on the end of one of the couches, watching the two men arrive after you. Bakugou had grabbed the last shot and was cautiously looking around for anyone watching you, or a co-worker noticing their absence. Dabi on the other hand had his eyes on you, placing one of the shots he was holding besides you on the table, towering over you. You just looked up at him and smiled. He grinned back before grabbing a random chair from one of the other tables, dragging it so it faced you.

Dabi didn’t hesitate to sit down, spreading his legs apart so you could see the pants straining against his crotch. With one hand he placed the cream topped glass between his legs on the seat, the other arm he leaned the elbow on the back of the chair. His muscles were tensing up under the red shirt as to keep the position and you could just imagine what was hiding underneath. He cocked his head to the side and gave you a shit eating grin, lifting an expectant eyebrow at you.

“Well, dollface?” You made eye contact with him and an involuntary shiver went down your spine going straight to between your legs. You didn’t expect it to affect you this much this quickly. Free drinks sounded really good at the time but now you’re not even sure you’ll be able to stay long enough to enjoy them. Yet you couldn’t give up before you’d even started.

You didn’t dare respond to him and instead hid the rush of blood to your face with a smug smile, straightening your back. You dragged your hand through your hair to pull it back before you bent down, keeping eye contact with those blue eyes. If he was going to try and mess you up then you could at least try and do the same. He had moved his hand from the glass and had instead placed it on his thigh besides your head. You opened your mouth and glanced at the glass to make sure you got it. Before you took it into your mouth you made sure to lick the cream off the top, looking up at him through your lashes.

That got a reaction out of him. The grin he was so proudly wearing dropped and instead he stared down at you with his mouth slightly agape. It looked like he was already breathing heavy and you could see him clench his hand in the corner of your eye. Proud of your work you grabbed the shot glass with your mouth and threw your head back, downing the shot in one go. You gracefully grabbed the now empty glass and then slammed it on the table. You removed some of the cream that had gotten on the corner of your mouth with the knuckle of your finger.

“Next.” You said, confidence dripping from your voice. If the music wasn’t blaring through the speakers then you swear you could’ve heard Bakugou swallow nervously. Dabi just chuckled and stood up but before he had fully turned around you could see the outline of something in his pants, pushing against the fabric. You ego only grew at the sight.

“Your turn, hot stuff.” Dabi patted Bakugou's shoulder, pulling him from his hypnotised staring at your lips. He quickly realized what he had been doing and looked away, not ready to admit to his actions. Despite that he still walked over and sat on the chair.

He mimicked Dabi and spread his legs as well, his pants also straining on his crotch. Even in the dim light you could see that something was pushing against the fabric in his pants as well. Your gaze fell to it and your mind was about to start wandering if Bakugou's hand hadn’t gotten in the way when he placed the shot. Unlike Dabi, Bakugou wasn’t as confident and had a difficult time knowing where to place his hands, deciding in the end to just cross his arms. The action just made the muscles on his arms even more visible. He didn’t dare make any eye contact Once again you could feel your body react, your breathing slowing and becoming heavier but you were hoping they didn’t notice. But with your luck, Dabi must’ve. But you didn’t let him say anything as you just smiled again and leaned down. Bakugou was still not looking though and you just couldn’t have that. So you took your hands and placed them on his inner thighs, grabbing onto the surprisingly muscular meat.

You felt him jump slightly and snap his head to look at you. You just looked back up and smiled, giving him a wink. Bakugou would argue that it was just the red lights but you knew he was blushing mad. You decided to cut his suffering short, afraid that if you turned him on any more it’d start to be painful in those tight pants of his. So you opened your mouth, ignoring the obvious hard on right in front of your face and took the glass into your mouth. But as you pulled back up you heard Bakugou mutter something under his breath.

“Fuck, babygirl…”

His voice had been strained and quiet but you caught it in the middle of all the noise surrounding you despite him trying to cover his mouth with his clenched hand. And you lost it. You choked on the shot and had to grab the glass from mouth before your could down the whole thing. You coughed and placed a hand on your chest, trying to regain your breath. You placed the half empty glass on the table beside the other two. Bakugou shot out of his chair to make sure you were alright but didn’t quite know what to do.

“Shit…” You mumbled, realizing what had just happened. You lost. You looked up at Bakugou who was still worried about you choking while Dabi was closing in from the side. His grin was already giving away what he was thinking.

“Well well well, angel. You talked so big yet couldn’t take a little dirty talking. Cute. But what should we do with you now? Bakugou?” Dabi had snaked an arm around Bakugous shoulders once again, caging you in between the two men. Bakugou just looked at him confused and disturbed before it clicked in his head what he was talking about. He just grunted and looked back down at you, something had shifted in his eyes and they weren’t as innocent as they had been before.

“Let’s get out of here.”

You weren’t prepared for the tone of voice from the blonde. Your heart began beating quicker as you started to form an understanding of what you had gotten yourself into. Dabi just grinned and took a step back, motioning for us to “go ahead”. You looked to the table and saw the last shot and decided to down it too before standing up. Bakugou didn’t take a step back though and you hit his chest with your own, looking up at him surprised. You felt his hot breath against your face and his stare made you weak in the knees. His hands grabbed your waist and without a second thought he picked you up, throwing you over his shoulders.

You yelped at the sudden motion and saw the whole world start to move as Bakugou turned to head out the backdoor. Dabi soon joined your view, casually strolling behind you two, chuckling at the sight.

“Your place is close to here, right?” Bakugou asked, glancing back at the taller male who just nodded.

“Yup, third floor in the building just across from here.” Dabi took the lead and Bakugou followed. You just clinged to the back of Bakugou's vest, trying to see what was happening in the front and hoping not too many people saw you in such an embarrassing situation. But you couldn’t help but feel that maybe it didn’t matter, maybe what was about to happen was worth the embarrassment.

“I swear to god if the apartment is filthy or you haven’t changed the bed sheets since your last fuck buddy I’m taking her and leaving.” You watched the stairs as Bakugou went up them, still carrying you. One hand firmly planted on your ass, either to keep your dress from riding up or just because he wanted to cop a feel. As he finished his sentence you two stopped and you could hear a key turning in a lock and a door opening just after.

You weren’t put down until the door had once again been closed and you were all in Dabi’s apartment. And even then you didn’t have a moment to take in your surroundings as Bakugou blocked your view, grabbing your chin gently. You looked up into his eyes once again, meeting his deep red ones with your wide ones.

“I’ve been wanting to do this since you opened those pretty lips of yours.” He muttered, eyes glancing down at your lips and then up again. Wasting no more time he pressed his to yours and you almost couldn’t believe it. He was pressing firmly, almost as he was afraid it was a dream he’d wake from, tilting his head to the side as his hands found your neck. You closed your eyes, enjoying the moment and moving your hands over the shaved part of his head. That’s when a third pair of hands joined in.

“Don’t forget that this is a punishment, angel, not a prize.” Dabi whispered in your ear, his hands going down your front, finding the hem of your dress and pulling it up, exposing your panties. You gasped at the sudden movement only to have Bakugou use it to his advantage, slipping his tongue into your mouth and brushing it against your own. Your sounds were muffled as Dabi used one hand to cup your boob, the other sneaking down to feel you through your underwear. You knew he could feel your wetness through the fabric.

“Shit, so cute, you’re already wet… At this rate you’ll have to problem taking both of us.” You heard him muse as he looked at you from over your shoulder. You couldn’t respond thanks to Bakugou's invasion of your mouth and only whimpered. Dabi chuckled at your predicament and instead of trying to help you just made it worse by slipping his hands underneath the hem of your panties instead. Sliding two fingers between your nether lips he found the bundle of nerves placed between them. He didn’t even hesitate to start drawing slow circles around your clit.

You had to pull away from bakugou, putting your hands on his chest to keep him from going back for round two too quickly. You were panting and letting out small whimpers, unable to look at his face. He stared at you confused before realizing what the other man was doing and how it was affecting you. The two made eye contact with you in between them, Dabi never relenting on his assault on your bud.

“Oi, don’t you have a better place to do this then your hallway?” You heard Bakugou speak above you. His hands moved to your waist and then your back, pulling you closer to him defensively.

“You’re the one who couldn’t keep it in your pants long enough to move to the bedroom so don’t blame me, hot shot” Dabi finally pulled his hands out of your underwear and you took a deep breath of relief from the constant stimulus. You legs were quivering from the assault on your senses and the sudden lack of it. But before you could truly calm down you were pulled from Bakugou's warm embrace and into Dabi’s arms instead as he started to lead you away. You could hear Bakugou’s hurried steps behind and the rustling of clothes.

You moved through the small apartment and to a bedroom. The double bed was made and you were about to go sit down, give yourself a break. But as soon as you moved towards it a hand grabbed your arm, looking back at the owner of the hand you saw Dabi shaking his head.

“Remember what I said before? Punishment, not reward, babygirl.” You felt your stomach sink but ironically also fill with butterflies.

“Help her out of that dress and underwear, will ya, hot stuff?” You were handed over to Bakugou who looked about as confused as you. Dabi went and opened a cupboard and you heard the clinking of metal from it as he searched it’s content. He hummed in satisfaction as he placed a bottle on top of the cupboard and then something that glimmered in the light coming from the window. At the same time Bakugou had done as he was told, pulling the dress higher and higher and with your help it had slipped right off. The bra was quickly unclasped and thrown to the side as well just like the panties had been. You could feel his red eyes look you up and down, watching the newly exposed skin as if it were gold.

“Here we go… Hands in front, dollface.” Dabi sauntered back to you two and without thinking you obeyed, holding out your hands in front of you. He grabbed your wrists and soon the sound of something clicking shut filled the room. You looked at your wrists and saw handcuffs now hanging from them. The black fur was kind to your skin though and they weren’t too tight so you couldn’t complain. But you still stared in awe at them, as did Bakugou.

“Ain’t too tight? No? Good. Then get on your knees.” A simple hand on your shoulder had you falling to your knees without second thoughts. You began to wonder what these men had done to you.

As you were down there you watched Dabi unzip the black pants which had been getting tighter and tighter the further the three of you had gone. He dropped them to the ground and you watched as if hypnotised by the tent formed in his underwear. You could hear him chuckle above you, amused at your wide eyes stare. He did quick work of his underwear as well, fishing himself out of them with practiced skill. He was semi hard already, a tuft of hair at the base of his slim cock. He lazily started to work himself to full mast while watching you.

“Liking what you see, I take it. Good. I can see your mouth salivating already, why don’t you taste it?” You looked up at him for a split second before looking at his cock again which he’s let go already. You almost timidly pull on it, opening your mouth to take him in. You swirl your tongue over the tip before taking more and more into your mouth. You close your eyes to focus, letting him slip further down your throat. A hand carefully grabs the back of your head and grabs a handful of your hair. He’s impatient, probably from the build up at the bar and start to set a slow pace which you follow. You feel the tip of his dick drag across your tongue and the back again as the pace speeds up. Soon he’s set a reasonable pace and you open your eyes again to look up at him.

He’s panting and watching you closely, his eyes half lidded by now aroused he is. The sight makes you even hornier and you feel that you need some release yourself and move your hands down to your own crotch. But nothing slips past Dabi's watchful eyes and he speaks up before you can do anything about your own arousal.

“Hey, we didn’t tell you you could touch yourself. Why don’t you do something productive and jack Bakugou off instead? He’s been drooling all over you since you started bobbing your head like a good girl.” You looked to the side and saw Bakugou, he had pulled down his pants and underwear without you even noticing, even his vest was gone and shirt unbuttoned as he worked his own manhood. You two made eye contact and you reached out with your handcuffed hands. The blonde sucked in breath from between clenched teeth and took a step closer, letting you take over for him.

The three of you kept this up for a bit, you bobbing your head on Dabi's dick while he controlled your pace with his hands while your own hands were jacking off a panting and cursing Bakugou. You had lost track of time until Dabi pulled out of your mouth, your spit covering his shaft and your own chin. The lack of fullness had you desperately looking up at Dabi who was visibly trying to restrain himself. At the same time you slowed your hands movements, bewildered by the sudden pull out.

“Shit, don’t look at me like that, dollface, or I might just finish in your mou-” He was cut off by Bakugou grabbing your head and pulling you to him instead, taking full advantage of your open and confused mouth. He was much rougher than Dabi, instead of pacing you he was face fucking you, keeping your head still as he pounded your throat. But the moment only lasted so long as even Bakugou had to pull out as to not cum down your throat and cut his playtime short. You sputtered and coughed after the sudden invasion but was ultimately sad he had stopped.

“Sorry, babygirl but I had to know how your mouth felt wrapped around my cock.. It just looked so inviting and I couldn’t stand you looking at juts him like that.” Bakugou confessed, looking down at you, panting after the sudden burst of energy.

“I was wondering when that explosive personality was gonna play part in this. But enough foreplay, get her on her feet..” Bakugou helped you up, holding onto you so you wouldn’t fall. He pulled you up to his chest and slipped a hand between your legs. Now it was his turn with you and his fingers were much thicker than Dabi’s had been. He didn’t dwell too long on your clit, only playing with it a second before traveling deeper. By now your juices had stained your thighs and he had no problem slipping two fingers into you. Despite the roughing up he had done to your face before he was now slow and calculated in fingering you, pushing in and pulling out in deliberate movements. You were desperately needing something more and ground your hips into his hand. He paid you no mind as his mouth latched onto your neck, sucking on it so he knew it would leave marks. There was nothing you could do but moan and sigh, letting your head fall back on his shoulder.

You two were soon pulled out of your little bubble by the sound of chains falling. You opened your eyes and saw Dabi pulling on a chain from his ceiling. He noticed your staring and just smiled lazily, giving you a come hither motion with his hand. You could feel Bakugous hesitation but you were soon let go, his fingers slipping out of you. You stumbled forward to follow Dabi’s instructions. When you got close enough he pulled you to him by your handcuffs and raised them. Another click and your handcuffs were stuck to the chain, your arms raised above your head. Dabi took a step back and examined you, seemingly proud of his work.

“There we go, angel… Now the fun can really begin.” He stepped in close again and kissed your lips briefly. Then he left you standing there in the otherwise cold room. He went back to the cupboard and grabbed the bottle he placed there before. While he was gone Bakugou had once again snuck back to you, figuring out just what he had planned. He stood in front of you without saying a word, just watching your chest heave. Then he bent down and grabbed the back of your thigh. And then the other. Standing back up he pulled you with, lifting you up into the air and keeping you there, spread legs presenting everything to him. He looked down and then back up, grinning and leaning in close to you.

“Pretty little thing, aren’t you, babygirl? I’m gonna pound into you until you can’t think of anything but my cock in your pussy. How many times I’ve imagined pushing your face down on the counter at the bar and taking you right then and there, letting everyone see what a good fucking looks like. And I bet you would’ve taken it, wouldn’t you? Like a good girl you would’ve begged me to make you cum. Let’s see if you beg like my mind thinks you do.”

You were speechless. The words coming from Bakugou were something you wouldn’t have expected yet he was growling them to you as if he’d practiced it before hand. You swear you would’ve come right then and there if you didn’t know you’d be punished for it. He didn’t make it any easier when he pushed his thick dick inside of you, slowly but surely pushing himself to the hilt.

You were pulling yourself up on the chain involuntarily from the pleasure entering your system. Arching your back you felt your back hit something warm. Another hand joined on your body, one holding onto the underside of your thigh. Then something cold hit the small of your back and running down your ass making you gasp and clench on Bakugou’s cock.

“I see you two started the fun without me… That isn’t fair but I guess it wasn’t your fault, was it (Y/N)?” Dabi’s voice was behind you and you tried to look at him but your arm was blocking you from turning your head. His other hand suddenly appeared, clearly lubed up and pushing at your other hole. You naturally clenched up more and hear Bakugou curse in front of you.

“Shh no no babygirl, relax… You trust us right? We’ll make it feel good, I promise you’ll be cumming and screaming our names in minutes if you just… relax..” Dabi’s soothing voice calms you down and with some effort you managed to calm your muscles enough to let Dabi’s fingers enter. He praised you as he starts to pump one finger in and out of your whole, then two. It’s clear he’s done this before and knows exactly how to work your buttons. Bakugou wasn’t patient enough to wait for that long and was slowly pulling in and out of you himself, one hand having moved to have his thumb rub circles on your clit. Not enough to make you cum but enough to make you relax more.

Soon enough Dabi was able to scissor his fingers in your ass without you wincing in pain. He pulled out and used his now free hand to help hold you up after having lubed up his own dick. He started to push slowly, the head of his cock slipping into you and you gasp and arch your back again. He stops for a second, looking to make sure you’re still alright before he starts pushing again. Soon he’s pushed himself to the hilt together with Bakugou filling up your pussy. You’ve never felt this full and it did feel amazing, both men pushing at your most sensitive spots.

“See? I told you. Now let’s show you what it means to take two men at the same time, dollface. You’re gonna love it.” He whispered the last part in your ear and your eyes widened as they started to move. What started out in synchronised thrusts soon derailed as they picked up pace. Both of them pushing in and pulling out of you at whatever pace worked for them. Bakugou made sure his thrusts were deep and made you feel full as he sheathed inside you while Dabi was much more erratic and quick, stimulating and pounding the sweet spots of your inside. And their moaning, sighing and groaning was mixed together with your own noises as you all chased your releases. And they came quick

“D-dabi… Bakugou…. I’m about… to.. to cum... “ You managed to get out between moans and you hoped the two men heard you. Luckily they did as they both slowed down much to your own dismay.

“Is that so, angel? You’re gonna cum on our cocks as we pound into you, huh?” Dabi asked teasingly from behind you but Bakugou had other plans.

“Beg for it, babygirl. Beg. for. it.” Every word was emphasised with a thrust of his hips and you whimpered. You couldn’t help but hesitate as you looked into his eyes and saw that he was completely serious, his eyes glazed over and primal. But your need for release was greater and won over your own embarrassment rather quickly.

“Please… Please let me cum. I need to cum, I’ve been needing it since t-the beginning. Since I sucked your big cock, I’ve never been so horny. Fuck, please? Please pound i-into me until I can’t think of anything else, I wan’t you two to fill me and fuck me and and fuck shit, please.” You rambled on and on, trying to convince the two men to let you cum while your head felt fuzzy and you couldn’t think straight. You could see Bakugou’s grin grow on his face and he sped up his pace.

“Good fucking girl, begging like that…. shit… Alright, we’re counting down from 10. You can’t cum… until we reach 0.” You felt them both ready themselves to destroy you in those last 10 seconds and yet you didn’t care, nodding your head desperately.

“Good. 10”

They started, with a newly regained energy they went back to their quickest pace, no mercy this time. But you didn’t mind, you head went all fuzzy again and you got a far away look in your eyes.

“9”

“8”

“7”

“6”

“5”

One of Dabi's hands moved from your thigh and started to rub your clit again. You felt his grin against your shoulder and you cried out.

“Little more, babygirl. 4”

You felt the orgasm approach you like an oncoming train.

“3”

It wasn’t fair, none of this, you realized. But why did it turn you on so fucking much?

“2”

“1”

“Come on, (Y/N), cum.”

You didn’t need any more encouragement then that as you let the tidal wave hit you. It washed over you and made you spazz out, closing your eyes tightly as the two men didn’t stop. They became even more erratic in their movement and even quicker to pound in and out of you. As the white light flashed before your eyes you felt them cum too, filling you up yet they still moved. They both went quiet, trying to keep themselves from buckling under their own orgasms. Dabi’s fingers never stopped rubbing your clit.

Your orgasm had come and gone yet they didn't’t. Fucking. Stop. You were desperately whimpering and trying to pull away from the two but there was no way you could from your position. So you took it. Dabi’s fingers were rubbing your over sensitive clit and the two were like wild animals in heat as they kept fucking you. You didn’t know how but you didn’t care either, another orgasm was on its way way quicker than you had anticipated.

It hit you again and tears spotted your eyes, the electricity going through your body and making you shake once again. Only then did the two seem satisfied, slowing themselves down to a halt yet not pulling out. There’s was a moment of just silence apart from all of you panting and catching your breath from the whole ordeal. Then you started laughing

It was quiet but you laughed, exhausted. Soon the two joined in with their own quiet chuckled.

“Shit… That was really fucking good. Didn’t expect to have this good of a fucking time with this loser” Bakugou looked around you to give Dabi a look before looking back to you. He paused for a moment before he leaned up again, giving you a gentle kiss. You felt Dabi take his turn to leave a hickey on your neck as you kissed Bakugou but you couldn’t care less at that moment.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, hot stuff. Thought you knew I was the best fuck in this whole damn place. Apart from angel here, of course” Dabi responded after he let go of your neck, happy with his work.

“So… Whose up for another shot?”

364 notes · View notes

oh-for-fic-sake · 4 years

Text

If They Get Married I'd Be Your Uncle

Masterlist

Warnings: swearing, mentions of sex, flirting, Bruce is frustrated

A/n:So been in a dc mood today and couldn’t get this out of my head i really hope you enjoy it xx

Bruce meets you when you both get called into the school and instantly wants you to himself.

If They Get Married I'd Be Your Uncle.

You grumbled as you walked up to the pretentious school pissed that it wasn't near any bus routes, cos these type of people don't use that sort of thing. The walk was long and arduous especially after the 10 hour shift you just finished cos some stupid little twat decided he didn't feel like coming in today and called in 'sick' at the last minute even tho you heard his giggling girlfriend in the back ground. Sighing you pulled out your hair tie slapping it up into a neater messy bun as you made your way into the school reception stopping ,you raised an eyebrow at the receptionist as she gave you a side glance pretending not to notice you. You looked up to the ceiling praying for some restraint because you'd had just about as much as you could take today and didn't need the snobby attitude of these people. After a few moments you looked at her.

"Excuse me I'm here to see Mr Koleman I'm running a bit late so could you sign me in?" you said as calm as possible she rolled her eyes.

"Mr Kolman doesnt take personal meetings on the school grounds" she said snidely dismissing you , you growled at the implication.

"I'm Jack Cookes sister you phoned me earlier?"

"oh? you have an appointment?" she said. you grit your teeth.

"Trust me if I didnt I wouldnt be here" she gave you the once over then reached a perfectly manicured hand beside her screen lifiting a clip board

" and your Mrs?" you shook your head

"Miss Cooke with an e" a chuckle and whispers rippled through the office as she checked you in and handing you a visitors pass. You snatched it and made your way down to the hall to a mini reception outside the principles office. As you opened the door you spotted your little brother supporting a bloody nose ,cut cheek and eyebrow. Ignoring everyone you ran across the room stopping before him and his best friend.

"Oh for fuck sake Jack, here let me look" you said tilting his face this way and that you looked beside him swivling on your feet pulling the boys face up.

"Damien are you ok- seriously you to?" you cut yourself off seeing a dark bruise on the boys jaw you tutted rummaging through your bag pulling out a pack of ibuprofen and small bottle of water passing it to them both.

"here take these" stopping as the principles secretary snapped at you.

"Miss! you cannot give medication to other student's god knows what they are!!" you rolled your eyes giving the sleeve of tablets to Jack who then popped out two and gave them to Damien before taking his own.

"Happy?" you quipped at her with an innocent smile then turned to Jack

"Jack please please tell me you still have all your teeth" he smiled showing a full set then looked at Damien who copied. You sighed in relief smoothing both boys hairs then placed a kiss on each of their heads. You continued coddling them unaware of the man behind you watching shocked as damien sat still letting you fuss over him. Bruce didnt know you from adam but damien apparently did

"Was it them again? I told you if your gonna retaliate keep it off campus!" you said kneeling in front of them hand on either boys knee.

"We didn't start it." your brother stated and you believed him , he and Damien get themselves into trouble I mean there a couple of teenage boys there bound to act up but he doesn't just 'verbally disrespect people and attack other students' as the teacher on the phone had put it.

"Ok what happened?" you asked they both looked down Damien spoke up first

"They started calling us names again, kyle tripped and blamed Jack for it getting him told off so i called Kyle out on it then they started calling us names again we told Mrs Hatt and she laughed saying sticks and stones" . Jack continued

"So I called her a drunk fat bitch who was at best a fucking baby sitter, kyle slammed my head into the desk for it cos he's a little ass lick." you sighed as Damien took over

"SoIi punched kyle in the face knocking him on his ass and Clarence hit me and Jack headbutted him then we were pulled apart"

"yeah were did you learn to punch like that? he went down like a sack of shit" Jack asked laughing damien joined him laughing you deadpanned as they high five'd one another.

"Ok guys thats neither here nor there the point is your teacher sat back and watched?" they nodded there teacher seemed to have a problem with your brother due to your social class, he'd been accepted as part of a new law that all private schools must accept a certain number of full scholarship students to give everyone 'an equal opportunity' you'd been complaining to the school about the bullying and the teachers attitude but nothing has been one it seems.

"So you didn't hit them first?" you asked Damien shook his head at you. you believed them they were good kids.

"Good but you know fighting isn't the answer right?" they shook their heads you stood up fully taking a seat beside them.

"Damien thank you for helping him and Jack fuck sake don't you know headbutting hurts you more than the other guy. I'm sorry this is still happening guys but I'm gonna take care of it ok? trust me?" they both nodded at you still looking a little sorry for themselves you swung around in your seat only now seeing Bruce sitting opposite you.

"Bruce Wayne, you must be Jacks sister Y/n was it?" you nodded as his hand devoured your in a hand shake.

"Yep that's me. sorry your boy got dragged into this" he chuckled waving it off

"He will always find trouble at least this time its for sticking up for his friend, im glad to finally have a face to put to the name they talk about you alot" you nodded at that couldn't help your breathing hitch slightly at his smile his eyes seemed to burn into you analyzing you. You flushed slightly under his gaze

"Good things i hope" he nodded at you licking his bottom lip damien sighed you loked away before smirking at Jack.

"You really called her a drunk fat bitch?" he laughed proud of himself

"Yeah, sticks and stone and all that thought id test it" you laughed out loud

"To quick for them huh? I see where your going with it tho smart ass" he smiled sheepishly

"Well it worked for you, had to give you a leg to stand on" you laughed high fiving him . Bruce flinched as the display made you look your age. your relationship with your brother was a strange one. One moment you had to be the 'politically correct parent' the next you could return to being his 'cool older sister', there was 12 years between you but it didn't bother either of you , it wasn't that long ago that you were in school so you understood him. You struck up a conversation with the two boys, Damien had been the only one in the school to get along with Jack and you were thankful that they found each other two peas in a pod and he seemed to be coming round constantly it hadn't taken long before you started mothering him to. They were always together at your house or the manor but youd never met bruce jntill today sure damien had spoke about him, convinced that the two of you would hit it off, you just laughed him off saying it was wishfull thinking, but you couldnt help but wonder as you sat across from the handsom man well aware of his eyes watching your every move. Bruce watched fascinated as you seemed to be on the same level as the boys , if he was honest he was happy to see Damien relaxed around someone. Damien constaly gushed about you to him and he could see why as his eye scanned you up and down taking everything in , you was certainly beautiful petite and slightly heavy set you had a young carefree air about you that still held a nurturing aspect , probably what drew damien to you the boy had never had a motherly type of women around him, hell even he felt drawn to you in more ways then one, he noted as he felt,his blood rush south. It had been a while since any woman had coaxed such a strong reaction from him. He'd never been one for the young domestic type but there was something in him that wanted you. He tried reasoning that it was because of the way you had coddled his son, or maybe it was that he missed that motherly affection himself, but no there was something more then that a deep atraction pulling at him.He could see why Damien had taken a shine to you he'd be lying if he said he hasn't already been thinking of a reason to meet up with you outside of school. It was rare that someone caught him by surprise and you had defiantly caught him by surprise. Clearing his throat he re-position himself on his seat as his boxers became tighter embarrassed and admittedly a bit confused as watching you mother the two teens had begun to arouse him. You looked over to him with concern.

"Are you ok Mr Wayne?" he inwardly groaned at the name and way you looked at him so innocently ,no idea what you were doing .fuck. He forced a charming smile

"Yes just wish they'd hurry up." you sighed pouting slightly

"It seems a bit stupid calling this an emergency then making us wait this long. twats." you snipped crossing your arms across your chest huffing he chuckled hearing the barely held back irritation, imagining just how bratty you could be, and exactly how he could deal with said bratty behaviour a shiver ran down his spine, he sucked through his teeth as his cock twitched at the thought his mind racing to other tempting scenarios of you and him, shaking his head he had to snap himself out of it. The door opened and you were both called in. He watched wide eyed as you rose your demeanor changed completely, gone was a fun loving motherly young woman and there stood a less than impressed mama bear under 5ft tall but walked like a giant. He blinked and staggered in behind you thankful that he opted for a longer blazer that helped cover his 'situation' once in the office you set down in front of Mr Koleman the principle a stout balding man that was king of his own little castle and like to let everyone know it.

Mr Koleman looked at you with distaste then smiled shaking hands with Bruce.

"Ah Mr Wayne good to see you again tho I hoped it was on better terms. Miss Cooke I'm glad you could come down today I wasn't sure you'd make it this time." he said condescendingly you smirked putting on your polite 'adult' voice.

"well I've been trying to get an appointment with you about these issues that I'm sure your fully aware of, however you seem fully booked so I'm glad I finally have the opportunity to straighten a few thing out" he grimaced as he took a seat behind the desk.

" Yes well I am a very busy man." he said

"Yes I noticed that when the receptionist mistook me for a personal visitor." you hear Bruce cough covering a laugh as the principle opened and closed his mouth speechless.

"Any way what was it you wanted to discuss Mr Koleman?" he scowled not used to being shut down by a young women. He leaned forward shuffling papers

"yes well we've been having problems with Jack for a few months as your aware-"

"Yes I'm aware that he is being targeted by his teacher and bullied by other students in the class which is being over looked and in some instances encouraged by the staff at this school. but go on." you interupted him staring at him unblinkingly Bruce gapped before collecting himself sitting back to watch the show the distinct feeling that you were going to rip this man a new arsehole.

"Uh-oh i was not aware of that"

"do not lie to me" you growled 'and here we go' Bruce thought he'd been with enough women to know that all hell was going to break loose as the quiet sweetheart form out side became a little spitfire in the office and couldn't help the a quick fantasy of you being this fiesty for him in his office. You pulled out a small red diary from your bag turning to dates in it.

"On the 4th of March I phoned the school and spoke to a Mrs Hatt to discuss cases of bullying she said that it was being taken care of and that I had no reason to worry. March the 12th Jack came home with bruises on his back caused by the same students they had tied knots in there ties and whiped him with them while getting changed for p.e, I had raised concerns about it nothing was done. I phoned again and once again was fobbed off by Mrs Hatt that there was nothing happening, then Jack comemhome with a sprained wrist, then it was bruised stomach, then a cut forhead and a brokennfinger from them smashing it in a door etcetera these incidents continued and I continued to report them and it was always the same names that popped up, the same three boys. I'd had enough on May 21st I phoned and asked to speak to you instead I got through to a Mrs Hamsten? the vice principle?" you watched as his face became paler and paler as you spoke he nodded. Bruced leant back eyes blown finding himself getting hotter as he watched you tear down the man infront of you.

"Yes and she said that the boys had been put into detention for it which turned out to be a lie another student confirmed that nothing had been done. I then put my issue in writing, I wrote a letter sent by recorded post to you about the issue and received a reply, sighed by you, that you have a no tolorence policy and would look into it, nothing has been done and now you have the audacity to call me up and have me come in here because he finally had enough and stuck up for himself because this little shit split his face open on a desk whilst the teacher watched? tell me Mr Koleman do you still want to pretend you dont know what I'm talking about because I've recored all the calls I've made about this." you tore into him as he shrunk further and further into his seat not prepared for you to come at him so direct. Bruce didnt know what the fuck happened to the sweet little thing he saw outside but what he did know was that was one of the sexist things he'd seen as you asserted yourself beautifully not giving the man time to respond. If it wasn't for Mr Koleman sitting behind the desk he'd already have you spread out on it underneath him. 'Another time'he thought to himself he licked his lips tugging at his trousers again trying to ease the ache in his cock as it strained against its confines.

"Ah yes well, now that I think about it I do remeber a letter" he stumbled over his words you nodded your head

"Yes I'm sure you do. Today was the inevitale blow up." He collected himself looking at Bruce for some sort of back up instead the billionaire scowled at him.

"Be that as it may there is no excuse for calling a teacher a drunk fat bitch." you nodded

"I agree how ever it was for science. Your member of staff who has neglected her duty to keeping my brother safe on school grounds ,has brushed off his bullying useing 'stick and stones' so he decied to test that theory by calling her a drunk fat bitch, turns out names do hurt and caused her to become agitated that she allowed him to have his face smashed into a desk by another student cutting open his eyebrow, cheek and bloody his nose. I dont think she should be able to teach if she cant practice what she preaches and certainly shouldnt be left incharge of children if she is that unstable that she would allow an attack to happen because her feeling were hurt."

"yes well he dragged Mr Waynes son into this-"

"Damien and Jack are friends Damien saw Kyle attack Jack and defended him which is more I can say for the staff at this school. I'm warning you Mr Koleman sort it out before I go to the press. How do you think that would look? when your school board find out that Mr Wanyes son was injured defending his friend when the teacher didn't lift a fucking finger. You wanna go there? cos I fucking will I've had enough." he sat up straighter alarmed, Bruce moaned deep in his chest but watching you was really doing it for him he didnt know why or care in all honesty he just wanted more of you.

"No, no theres no need for that. We can sort this out between us no need for the governors or press. Mr Wayne is there anything you'd like to add." he said trying hard to wrap up this meeting. You looked at Bruce who frankly you forgot was even there he shook his head looking strange, shifting in his chair uncomfortably.

"I think Miss Cooke summed everything up wounderfully, and she has my full support sort out these kids, I know that they have been causing Damien problems name calling getting him in trouble such and he has said the teacher dosn't do anything about it. I wont stand for it any more , if its not sorted out by the end of the week I will bring Miss Cooke with me and we will speak to the school bored in person." You let out a breath you didnt know you was holding relief flooded you as he said this slightly worried that he'd throw you under the bus. He locked eyes with you his pupils were blown wide and he was breathing heavy he winked subtly, you flushed looking back to the man behind the desk as he cleared his throat.

"Right well I will see to it personally and it will be sorted by the end of the week, you both seem to have concerns with Jack and Damien's teacher so as of tomorrow I will have them moved into another class whilst I investigate. I will phone you both up to check in with the boys I'm terribly sorry that it has been left this long." he stood motioning for you both to do the same ending with.

"The boys can leave early today while I deal with this." Bruce opened the door letting you through growling as the principle made a point to oogle your ass as you left, quickly standing between you blocking his veiw of you he glared at the fat prick his message was clear. That hot little spitfire is mine so back off. He stared down at him chest puffed out standing taller and broarder intimidating the little weasel until he looked away. Bruce smirked then left the office slamming the door behind him finding you explaining to the boys what was happening, joining you as they stood up getting there bags .

"you boys go out and wait by the car while we sign out at the front." Bruce instructed they nodded running ahead to the school enterance.

"The car?" you asked looked up at him shyly

"Yes i will give you both a lift" he said leaving no room for argument. You thanked him then spoke quietly looking down trying not to freak out as he stood closer then you thought was neccasary.

"Thank you for sticking up for me in there, I dont usually get like that but you know I get a bit protective." he chuckled at you showing off a brilliant smile

"Its no problem, to be honest I found the whole mama bear thing very sexy your lucky we we'rnt alone" he said winking you blushed

"Wh-what? sh-shut up" you squeeked out he shook his head at you as he put an arm out over you holding the doors to main reception you thanked him queitly skipping through feeling small catching yourself breathing deeper to smell more of his fresh scented cologne.

"No I'm serious any where else and well" he wiggled his brows at you making you giggle

"and the way you are with damien?ive never seen him like that" he asked trailing off

"Yes well he is a sweet kid, he comes over quiet a bit as you know Alfred drops him off and the boys go off doing their thing, just sort of started to mother him a bit sorry" he smirked at you

"Well if I'd known how stunning you were it'd be me dropping him off. And dont apologize I'm not mad just a bit jealous. Tho not for long" he said handing his pass to the snooty receptionist who gave him bedroom eyes before glaring at you for keeping his attention.

"J-jealous? of Damien why?" you stuttered then bit your lip blushing. He groaned the site of it as he throbbed agin nearly cumming as his cock rubbed harshly agains the soft cotton of his boxers, he just couldnt control it. oh he was definatly gonna have you for himself, somehow you turned him into a horny teenager all over again.

"Well he got to have all your attention earlier, hurts a mans pride when his son can capture a beautiful woman's attention and he cant." you looked away from him giving your pass to the secatary who snatched it with a snarl.

"Im hoping you'd show some mercy and come out for lunch with me?" you gasped snapping your gaze at him.

"Wh-what you mean to talk about the school?"

"No as in a date" he explained you froze feeling butterflies in your tummy looking at the gorgeous man.

"Date? now? like right now?" he nodded smirking thoroughly enjoying you being so flustered.

"yes now I dont have anything else planned for today." you gulped when he gave you a heated look you felt like a meal taking a step back

" I'd love to but I have to clean up Jack and-." you began your excuse only for him to cut you short.

"Nonsense he can come to the manor and spend the day with Damien, Alfred is a good nurse he will patch them up." you blinked trying to think of another reason as he stood staring you down at you waiting to for to decide feeling like a deer in the head lights you realized this alpha of a man wasn't going to give you much of a choice.

"O-ok if your sure alfred wouldn't mind watching him." you nodded shyly Bruce gave a triumphant smirk and threw an arm across your shoulders tucking you against him walking to the main doors.

"Alfred wont mind watching the boys." you both walked outside to the boys Damien sighed at his dad before Jack spoke up.

"Told you he was looking at her ass"

"JACK! He was not!" you screeched at him damien laughed and bruce unlocked the range rover

"I thought I was being subtle about it" you gaped at him speechless as he opened the passenger door the boys gagged getting in the back. You got in the car pouting to yourselfand Bruce climbed in.

"Fucking hell I've never seen her speechless, how'd you do that?" Jack said Damien scoffed

"Dad just keep your boner in your pants until were out of the way."

"Yer shes my sister dont need to see her sucking face." You blushed trying to shush the boys

"DAMIEN! He does not have a boner!"

"Uh yer he does look."You tired not to look you really did but it just sort of happend you squeeked covering your mouth faceing forward and jumped as bruce leant over buckling your seat belt whispering in your ear.

"I did tell you the mama bear was sexy" puljng away he spoke to the boys

"Dont worry boys, we will behave until your out of ear shot" You gapped as they cringed with cries of 'ew dad no' and 'come on thats my sister' he laughed at them patting your thigh before pulling out of the school

"So you asked her on a date yet Dad?" Bruce raised and eye brom looking at him in the rear view mirror pulling out onto the main road.

"Well we are dropping you both off at the manor does that answer your question?"

Jack groaned not sure if he likes the idea of his sister dating his best friends dad.

"dont you hurt her Mr Wayne I know where you live" you smiled at that finding it cute him trying to be the protective little man. The drive was quiet for a while before jack piped up.

"Holy shit if they get married I'd be your uncle" you groaned holding you face in your hands bruce only laughed

"Jack its one lunch date jesus"

".....Can I walk you down the isle?"

"JACK?!"

"What she means is well cross that bridge when we come to it" you stared at Bruce as he smirked enjoying teasing you the boys snickered in the back. You sat back wondering just what you'd gotten youself into.

#batman x y/n #bruce wayne x reader #bruce wayne imagine #batmom imagines #bruce wayned fic

990 notes · View notes

nissakii · 3 years

Text

Scent. a Haikyu!! Fanfiction pt.16

[want to read all chapters right now? Our fanfictions get updated every monday on our blog, click here to continue reading!]

“Why don’t you tell me something about omegas and how you react to them”. The phrasing maybe wasn’t that ambiguous, but the words were spat out with poisonous intention. Words that should enter your head and linger for a while not until one realizes they consume you. At least that was my intention on that day. I’ve heard enough times that those kinds of mind games were allegedly ‘horrible’ and ‘insulting’, but I never understood what the big deal was. It’s not like I’m taking away a toy from a child. We are all adults here, and life isn’t about who is the nicest. It’s about who succeeds. And if some little mind game is what gives me the head start. I’ll do it. Albeit possibly that I lost my chances to be friends with Oikawa, I must admit my words to him were pretty harsh, I felt like he took it well. Which isn’t good. He wasn’t fazed by it at all, I had noticed his smile maybe twitching a little but he only retorted with a smart explanation of how natural pheromones worked and made me look like an idiot country bumpkin. I still remembered his smile as he asked me if I understood what he meant, and maybe I was just angrier than usual but I could swear he was being all smug about it too. So I found someone who was willing to play the same game as me. Hm. The other interesting thing on that day, which keeps replaying in my head, was that omega girl. It was honestly shocking to scent an omega for the first time. My curiosity ran with it and I was glad she was fine with me being so close, I have heard stories in which omegas retorted with less ‘accommodating’ ways. I even caught her gaze after a lecture of mine, but she didn’t budge and I wasn’t up for conversation. Still, the way she looked at me after coming for Oikawa was insane. She didn’t yell or tried to fight me, she didn’t shy away either. She just looked at me. And it was terrifying. Her eyes were piercing through me as if to provoke me to continue, her scent had doubled up in intensity which I wasn’t expecting at all, and her sweet caramel scent suddenly burnt to crisp. Her voice was sharp but not too emotional, it was distinct for me to listen to. “I would ask you to mind your own business”. Stone cold, I gotta say. It made me take a step back and raise my arms in defense with a smile and the situation immediately deescalated, Oikawa had caught her scent and was just as aggravated and I realised the rumours I had heard were partly true, but the incident seemed a lot more severe than I had imagined. I mean it was the first thing I heard when I came here, it was on social media and every other first year told me the same thing. “It’s good you’re an alpha, the rest don’t have it easy here”. Maybe I really shouldn’t have meddled too much, it’s still a school I really wanted to go to and Osamu is here as well, so I really shouldn’t destroy my own chances that much. The caramel girl was technically right, I should mind my own business. But was that fun? Nah. The door creaked open as what I would assume could only be my brother entered the dorm room I was in. “Samu!”, I chimed excitedly. … I only pushed in the door a little bit and already heard my brother squeak my name. “Samu!”, he chimed and I entered the dorm with a greeting. “Ossu”, I placed the plastic bag with some utensils I needed for my classes on my bed and looked at Atsumu sprawled on his side. The dorm room we were given was actually quite small. I was used to having a bit more space to myself, but with the scholarship I was glad I atleast got a twin room with my brother. Although when I looked at him I sometimes thought differently. The two beds were pushed to the far end of the room and to the walls on the sides, a desk separating the space in between. In front of Atsumu’s bed, which was the one on the right, the other desk was situated which was supposed to be mine. I remember when we moved in here the dorm looked horrendous, but with enough cleaning and the right duvets and covers it felt a lot better. And of course my side was a lot neater than his. “S’that my

shirt?”, I recognized the pattern on the front and he merely scoffed at me. “Uh, no?” “Really?” “Uh”, he intelligently mused to himself and I sighed. “Nevermind, you take what ya want anyways. Make sure to wash it later, I gotta head to the library”, I left the bag with the supplies on my bed and instead fished out a list with the literature I had to get. “Alright, see ya” “See ya”, I retorted and headed back outside. I grabbed the list in my hands and tried to check which building I had to go to. “Why are there multiple libraries?” Linguistics? Human sciences? Okay I definitely don’t have to go to the law department. With at least twenty minutes of running around campus I finally went up to someone outside and asked for help. “Oh yeah that’s pretty confusing I guess, uh so you need to search for building 4, the library should be the glass building right next to it!” Nodding and bowing with a slight smile I made my way to the mentioned building. The way over there was very pretty, the pathways went under huge trees and the ambiance felt really good, but I had no time to walk around exploring. Finally, I looked at the beautiful building in front of me. Still belonging to the campus, but it was obvious that it was either newly built or otherwise rebranded. The walls showed a tinted version of the life inside, the higher stories dimly shining in a warm light. I approached the entrance and two huge doors slid open when I wanted to step inside. Murmuring was to be heard everywhere, and for the fact that it was a library I was a little shocked at the rumbling noise. As if I was entering a mall, tall metal gates that I had to go through demanded my student ID. I saw other students move swiftly between the poles and swish their ID quickly at a screen and I tried to emulate the gesture, completely overwhelmed with all of the technology. With I beep the gates opened and I stood still to admire the interior of the building. Standing in the middle, and elevator right in front of me lead to the different levels of the library. When I looked to the right I saw a reception and an information center, and to the left the toilets and another gate leading to a cafeteria where to be found. Stepping into the elevator I looked at the signs that signalled me which level I had to go to and I pressed the button. Floor 7 out of 12. This crap is huge! More and more students entered and left the elevator again, stopping at every floor to change its inhabitants. After some minor bumps in the road, I finally got to my desired floor. When the metal doors opened, I finally felt the silence. Shelves and more shelves of book were to be seen, students rummaging through them to find what they were looking for. Maybe it was the fact that the library was so huge, but i didn’t see too many people here. Looking up at a sign that read “Arts and human sciences” I knew I was at the right place. Walking inside I started to look for my books. Big mistake. The labels on the books were highly confusing, and I had no idea where to look. I peered at my list again. Introduction into Culinary Arts vol.1 – [1998-TR-CA-54] Huh? What about the good old alphabetization? I had no idea what those codes meant, and after only finding books on history and other weird subjects, I had to check for help. I went back to the entrance of the library and followed the arrow sign that said ‘reception’ until I found a desk with a young woman sitting behind it. She was focused on her laptop, quickly typing away as I approached her. “Hi”, I whispered and she shot up in her seat. “Oh, sorry, uhm can you help me find these books please?”, I whispered again as she visibly relaxed and smiled lightly. “Yeah, sorry I’m a bit jumpy today. What books are you looking for? Wanna read them here or rent them?”, she asked in a hushed voice and I realised I didn’t have to whisper all too much. “Rent please, but I have no idea where to find these. The codes are really weird”. She stood up from her stool and walked around the desk towards me. “Are you new

here? The codes are confusing at first but you’ll get used to it”. I nodded and handed her my list, and she concentrated on that for a moment before showing me something. “See that code? It’s made so you can narrow your search. [1998-TR-CA-54] means you look for the shelf number 54, then for CA which stands for culinary arts, then the authors initials which are ‘Tatum Rebecca’ and then the release year 1998”, her fingers pointed on each letter combination and then to the shelves around us. Puzzled, I still looked at the myriad of shelves in front of me and she must’ve caught my expression because she stifled a laugh and took a step towards the shelves. “Want me to help you?” I nodded and she replied with a hum as she started walking. “The library gets a little confusing at first”, she mused as I walked next to her, “I think I might’ve seen you on a library tour before? Are you new?” I nodded, “I just moved here, so everything is a little weird to me still”. Her eyes crinkled shut as she stifled another laugh and suddenly looked a bit taken aback, she looked to the floor and back up at me but not fully, “Yeah I felt the same when I came here for my first semester”. She turned around to face me and I looked down at her nameplate. Asami. Beta Committee. I pointed at the name plate with a cocked brow, “so you’re a beta?” She stopped in her tracks and gave me a look. “Uh yeah, I am”, she followed my gaze and suddenly started talking really fast, “Oh my god! I didn’t even introduce myself. You’re new you must be taking everything in still!” “It’s fine, I mean I saw it on your nameplate. Is Asami okay?”, I inquired and she nodded lightly with a shy smile. “I’m Osamu Miya, nice to meet you”, I slightly nodded my head as well and she beckoned me closer to follow her. As she walked through the shelves and pathways she explained more about the library. There were way too many faculties and abbreviations to remember, but luckily they hung up a lot of flyers that showed which abbreviations stood for which topic. I only needed a couple of these, but after finding the first two books my head started to buzz with all the information. “And here you have the department of culinary arts, its quite remote from the rest of the library but I guess you’ll have your peace and quiet here!”, Asami chimed happily, her voice raising a little bit as there were almost no students here. It was actually quiet nice to have no background noise. It reminded me of home, when I walked to school and I left a sleeping Atsumu behind. The breeze catching my face as I made my way to school. I hummed and looked around to locate the last books on my list. For my business and economics classes we had already found the book I needed, well Asami found them, but this time I tried to get the book on my own. Walking towards the shelves before the beta could even move, I already found the correct number out of sheer luck and started to check for the right letter combinations. I felt Asami roaming behind me, I could smell her rosey scent behind my form but she didn’t budge. “Ah”, I exclaimed as I pulled out the book I needed with a little too much excitement. She clapped quietly and nodded proudly. “You caught on really quickly! We could use a bit of help from someone like you in the committee!” “The beta committee?”, I asked with my index finger pointing to her name tag again. “Yeah! We always have a place for new students, and you could even work here in the library”, she concluded and I smiled a little. “Well I am flattered I guess, but I am not a beta”. She staggered for a moment and looked at me confused, until I saw her nostrils flare up and she held her hand to mouth as she realized her mistake. “Uh, uhm I- I’m sorry I-“, she started stuttering and I cut her off with a relaxed shake of my head. “No worries, I actually get that a lot”. “Ugh, no it’s not fine, I shouldn’t have assumed your secondary gender that so weird”, she slumped a little and took a step back, her eyes not even reaching my face anymore. “It’s no big deal, I get

this often even at home. People think my scent is a bit more subdued so” She nodded but still looked away, a weird silence brooding between us now. It’s really not that big of a deal though. “Oi!”, hushed yell came from the door and we both looked towards it to find a lean man leaning onto it. “The reception was empty, what are you doing?” “Oh, no”, the beta mused and clasped her hands together anxiously before looking back at me, still more distant than at the beginning of our conversation. “I’m sorry, that’s Akaashi I have to go back to the reception!”, and she turned around to meet the other guy before I could say anything. She was so jittery all of a sudden. “Uh, yeah”, I mumbled back as I watched her interact with said Akaashi, before I turned back to my list. They both left soon after that, and I was left alone in the silence of the shelves trying to find the few books I had left. After a couple of minutes and endless shuffling, I counted off my list and stopped with a satisfied huff when I realized I had everything I needed. The books were actually quite bothersome to carry, so I snagged one of the book trolleys that were laid out to help with transporting the literature and leisurely pushed it next to me as I approached the reception again. This time, there were a couple of students standing around the computer, and I curiously walked closer. “No way, I can’t take Thursday. I have extracurriculars there!”, another male beta I assumed argued with Asami who was typing frantically on her computer. “Well I don’t have any other slot for you, I’m sorry. It’s either Thursday for you or Akaashi, and Akaashi is already taking Friday this time”, she mumbled a bit more annoyed than I expected. She really was different when calm. I already released when she assumed I was a beta that she felt comfortable, but when she suddenly drew back I felt her environment must be very precise for her to relax. Good thing Tsumu isn’t here. “I can take both days”, Akaashi mumbled, and I took another step and cleared my throat to interrupt. “Sorry, can I just check these out?”, I asked and Akaashi immediately nodded and typed up something into the computer even though Asami was still sitting in front of it. As a result she retreated into herself with a squeal and grumbled when Akaashi slightly pushed away her swivel chair. “Can you give me the books you wanna take with you?”, the aloof beta asked politely and I pushed the books towards him. As he scanned every item on the list, I felt the eyes of the other male beta on me. I wasn’t sure if I had seen him before somewhere, but he looked at me with slanted eyes before scrunching his nose and inhaling my scent. He suddenly calmed down a lot and even smiled a little, as if his cause for concern was suddenly gone. “You’re new here aren’t you? What’s your name hm?”, he tilted his head and leaned forward on the counter. “Uh, yeah. I’m Osamu Miya, nice to meet you”, I prompted back and the beta nodded, like he was pleased with the answer. “Any interest in joining the beta committee? It’s very-” Asami nudged his arm and furiously shook her head to signal something and I couldn’t help but stifle a laugh. Is it really that ambiguous? “What Asami? I’m trying to recruit fresh meat here! We need the help!” “Actually I am not a beta. I’m an alpha”, I retorted lamely, and I felt a twinge of surprise when Asami’s eyes shot up to me in fear. “What is it?”, I asked and felt annoyance crumbling up slightly. “Oh”, the beta I was talking to shot back with venom in his voice and Akaashi only sighed while typing in codes for the books,” and alpha are you?” I nodded with scrunched eyebrows. What is he getting at? “Well, then you can leave”, she kissed his teeth and looked to the side as if disgusted. “Futakuchi! You can’t say that! It’s borderline discrimination at this point!”, Asami pulled at the guys sweater and he broke away but kept looking at her as he spoke. “No way! We have enough alpha’s strolling around terrorizing us! What about us hm?!” “Don’t mind him. He’s very”,

Akaashi looked at Futakuchi and then back at me with disdain written in his features, “passionate”. “It’s about beta’s not getting the recognition they deserve! Beta supremacy!”, he whisper yelled at Asami who only sank her head into her hands. Beta supremacy? Somehow that didn’t feel right to me. Personally I didn’t take much care into being an alpha, the whole secondary gender thing wasn’t of much interest anyways. I generall talk to the people I wanna talk to, and when it comes to more serious relationships, I tend to not have a type. Although most Alpha’s go for omegas and vice versa, and most beta’s tend to stay in their own bubble, I felt it was almost restricting to think about that when choosing somebody. “Pay them no mind please”, Akaashi pushed the rented books towards me and I pulled them towards the small trolley with a nod. “You can take that one to your dorm, but please bring it back as soon as you can”, the calm beta continued and I thanked him with another nod. That Futakuchi guy still kept on glaring at me, while Asami swatted at his arm when she realised I stared too. “Yeah I’ll bring it over later, thank you”, I looked at the beta girl until she finally looked back and thanked her as well. She nodded and I turned around to get back to the dorm. My phone buzzed before I could even start moving and I checked my text messages. Tsumu: bring me pudding pls? You’re insufferable… Tsumu: thx o3o With a sigh I pushed the phone back into my jeans pocket and left the library behind.

Previous Next

4 notes · View notes

goonlalagoon · 4 years

Text

Okay so I know there’s a post around about the Beanstalk Crew mapping nicely into an Agent Carter character set up, but I’ve never watched Agent Carter and I’ve been reading various Avengers fic lately so we’re going with that for some AU rambling…

Jack and Cap have some obvious parallels - little guy with a chip on his shoulder and a heart big enough for the world (also: a shit ton of trauma and survivor’s guilt around the losses of the past), who thinks hero and means someone who can help every single person they meet.

Which puts George neatly as our Bucky; she’s a reluctant soldier but a damn good one, caught in the push pull of wanting to just rest but not being able to walk away from Jack (yet).

She goes down in the long fall and wakes up without her memories, in Thorne’s control…and then goes AWOL when sent to take down the Captain, because there are pieces of a picture niggling at the Slayer’s mind.

In some ways that suggests Liam as Erskine, but that doesn’t quite work for me in terms of time with the other characters, so I’m gonna go with Liam being one of the Howlies and Bea being our Peggy Carter equivalent (who founds Shield, so…I guess Bidi is all grown up in this AU? Or she’s a granddaughter not a daughter?)

Still on the Joneses, I superficially like Laney as Hawkeye for the sniper angle, but I feel that Black Widow has a lot of potential for her - it seems like a bit of a cop out, but it fits for me with the calculation edge to both of them, the way that Laney uses whatever she has to do the job and takes a long time to trust. It also gives the potential for some handwaving around Liam being her brother, and potential for conflict around how much Jack knows about her past, especially if we assume that Bea/Liam wasn’t a known thing

My immediate impulse for Grey is Iron Man (tiny snarky tech genius)…but I’m also going to mash him up narratively with Thor, I think - powerful and dangerous father, sibling a cold mirror with whom there’s a tense relationship, more power at his fingertips than anyone can dream of.

But let’s make it a bit neater, make him a demigod, not a god - a human father and a goddess for a mother, two children born before she vanishes back to her own world, no longer able to stay this side of a bridge. A father who had his hands buried in Nazi research and a hundred excuses and alibis on his tongue, who made it through the war intact and respected and had enough politicians in his pocket to make an arms empire that dealt under the table with the US (and to raise his children, for a given value of ‘raise’, and a given perception of ‘children’ that made them tools). His sister had already juggled things so that he disappeared off to the states with false ID for college before their father died in suspicious circumstances, and they haven’t talked since

He’s probably going to hear from her soon. It probably won’t be pretty.

Rupert is our Coulson; he’s the team leader who always has the briefing, an ear on the comms to check on everyone, no powers or special enhancements, just organizational skills, strict morals and a work ethic that’s almost unbelievable.

Heads is I guess is therefore Fury? Only less ‘waste my time and you disappear’ and more ‘please just follow instructions once in your life, I am not paid enough for this’

Sez (and Sally) aren’t SHIELD but Rupe takes on a lot of tips, direction and other unofficial missions for the Avengers from Sez

I don’t really have any clear ideas on who picks up Hulk and Hawkeye’s roles, though given I already merged Iron Man and Thor into one snarky bundle and also don’t have any clear fic plans for this, this isn’t a big issue right now

Ditto Falcon

I have not seen any Avengers films other than Captain America, Winter Soldier, and Avengers Assemble so that’s about it in my list of people to Assign Thematic or Superficially Coincidental roles to

The important point is that they all end up fighting crime and having post-mission movie nights together

Yes I am still stuck in the Avengers verse where they’re all living happily in Avengers Tower

#Leagues and Legends #AU rambling #I'm never sure with these things quite how much I want it to map exactly #honestly this was mostly me thinking about Jack as Cap and George as Bucky and snowballing from there #my writing #L&L fic

48 notes · View notes

saiilorstars · 4 years

Text

It Had To Be You

Ch.16: I’m Crazy For You // Story Masterlist

Fandom: The Flash

Pairings: Barry Allen x Original Female Character

Pronunciation of OC’s name: Bell-en. The last syllable has an emphasis so it’s not pronounced like ‘Helen’ would be.

~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~

Chapter Summary: Caitlin prompts Barry to start facing his thoughts regarding Belén. Some of those thoughts are actually feelings and Caitlin might have a way to make it so that Barry can come to a conclusion. If only either of them knew what plans Belén made for her dating life a while ago.

"Pay up!" Belén laughed and held her hand out to her older sister. "Hey, just remember that it was you who wanted to play Monopoly. I just wanted to watch a movie."

With a glare, Maritza handed the required cash over to Belén. "You are so cheating."

"See this is why I don't like playing games with you - you are a sad sore loser!"

Maritza gasped in offence while Belén counted her fake Monopoly cash. Suddenly, her cell phone went off. She picked it up beside her and took the call without even seeing the ID. "Yellow?" she said then blinked ghastly. "Oh my, that was such a dorky thing to say. Forget I ever said that please-"

While Maritza could not hear who was on the other line, she had a good idea who it might be judging by the sudden rapidness in Belén to leave the house. There went her tenth attempt to have a proper family night.

"Where are you going?" Maritza called but Belén was already halfway towards the door.

"I, uh, completely forgot I had to go help Caitlin with, uh...painting!"

"Painting?"

"And drinking!" Belén closed the door behind her, figuring that excuse could be valid. She rushed off the porch steps and ran down to the streets where, in a couple more seconds, she turned into nothing but vines and went towards her destination.

~ 0 ~

An upturned car under a livewire was the center of the needed appearance of the vigilantes. A couple was trapped inside, and neither could figure out how to get out of it. Outside there were several firemen arriving on the spot to help.

There was a tap on the passenger seat, and the woman glanced to see a woman in green smiling kindly from the other side. "Hang on, we're gonna get you out."

While Belén worked on her side, Barry stood on the other side intending on helping the man there out. Using his vibration methods, he was able to get the driver's door off its hinges and thus the man out as well. Meanwhile, Belén was using her thick vines to pull the door off its hinges. As Barry took the man out of the car and brought him towards the firemen, Belén reached in for the woman.

"You'll be okay now," Barry promised the young man who literally feared for his life.

Just as Barry glanced back towards the car to see how Belén was doing, a spark from the livewire managed to touch spilled gasoline on the ground. A great flame sprouted that quickly spread towards the car and immediately caused an explosion.

The man beside Barry nearly lost it thinking his girlfriend had been consumed by the flames. Barry was in a similar state thinking Belén had not been fast enough. In his mindset, he forgot who they were at the moment and where they were as he called out to her. "Bells!"

"You know, the whole point of having secret identities is so people won't know who you are," he heard a perfectly calm voice behind. When he turned around there stood his partner with a scared woman beside her, both untouched from the flames.

"Dana!" the rescued man called with great relief as his girlfriend ran to his side.

Barry wasted no time in coming up to Belén to inspect her for any noticeable injuries. When he saw nothing, he gave her great, big hug. Surprised, Belén just laughed.

"Thank you," the phrase from the saved man cut their moment short.

"You're welcome," Belén cheerfully waved them goodbye before taking off with Barry.

~ 0 ~

Once the two metas were back at STAR Labs, Cisco got to work on a mildly charred suit.

"Dude. That was insane," Cisco was still in awe over the recent incident. "I mean, that was just...wow! Although," he sobered a little then, "I'm having trouble understanding how you dirtied up my suit while Bells here came out without a single mark."

"Mm, that's because girls are neater," Belén called from the computer desk where she, Caitlin and Dr. Wells were.

Barry, who sat nearer Cisco, frowned. "That's not true for every guy."

"Yeah, it is. Look, my brother was a slob and he was a genius. My dad, same story. Cisco, I'm sorry but it's true as well. And you, Barry, are the same story. Don't forget I stayed in your old room for sometime. You're all slobs!"

Caitlin snickered from the side, while Barry and Cisco exchanged unamused looks.

"I think perhaps it's time to call it a day," Dr. Wells declared after a minute, eyeing them all with a slight smile. "Proper rest is what you all need."

As he left the room, Cisco came up with an alternative option. ""Better yet, what we all need is a proper drink. Who's up for a round?"

Barry got up and went up to his draped jacket left near his suit. "Oh, dude, it's... It's movie night with Joe. I can't. But I'll see you guys tomorrow, all right?"

"Yeah, I can't either," Caitlin shook her head, getting ready to leave as well.

"I'll go," volunteered Belén, having Cisco perk up instantly. "I don't feel like playing monopoly anymore. I could do with a drink."

"Excellent," Cisco pointed at her. "And I know your favorites!"

"I'm not drinking vodka, though!"

Silently, Barry watched them go back and forth about what drinks they would be buying. He couldn't understand it yet, but he didn't feel too ecstatic about the two going out...on their own. Why would they need to go out on their own anyways? Why couldn't they wait until they all went out as a group instead?

"Barry," Caitlin's call made him snap out of his thoughts. He looked at her with slight widened eyes. "Your phone is ringing," she pointed.

"Oh," he fished out his phone from his pocket and saw Joe's name on the ID. "It's Joe, I'm late. I should...go…" Caitlin smiled and nodded for him to leave, but as he left he kept throwing looks back at Belén and Cisco who were in deep conversation of where they were going.

Caitlin waited for the two to sort of end that conversation so she could get to something important before she too left. "Cisco?" she called and grabbed his attention. "Funny thing, I was looking for my tablet at your workstation, and I found this." She held up his tablet that was on an article of F.I.R.E.S.T.O.R.M.

Cisco blinked rapidly. "I can explain. I know you said we should stop looking for Ronnie, so I... didn't stop looking for Ronnie."

Belén giggled at his honesty.

Caitlin was in no mood to laugh at the moment. "Why?"

"Hartley. He said he knew what happened to Ronnie-"

"Oh, Hartley Rathaway, who is currently locked up in our super-villain basement jail for going psycho with sound waves?"

"Yeah, he's not a very reliable source," Belén apologetically looked to Cisco.

"He's made some poor choices. There's no argument there," Cisco nodded his head in agreement. "But I looked into what he was saying and…"

"Cisco," Caitlin interjected, "Ronnie's gone, and it's time for me to move on with my life,"

Cisco looked at her a moment before mumbling. "Doesn't seem like it."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Look, I'm not an expert on love, but I think in order to move on from Ronnie, you actually have to move on."

"And he means that in the nicest way possible," Belén added after an awkward pause, throwing Cisco a warning look to stop talking. He did, and with the nicest smile possible, Belén led him out of the room, leaving Caitlin to ponder on Cisco's last words.

~ 0 ~

Next morning, early morning, Iron Heights became the new spot for a CCPD crime scene. Barry inspected the lonesome cell that once belonged to a Clay Parker who, as of last night, had mysteriously made an escape without needing to unlock the cell door. There was no clue as to how he did it.

"Hey," Joe walked into the cell holding a small notepad in hand. "The security cameras in half the prison are shut down. Then Clay Parker, according to this data log, who was still locked in his cell, somehow vanishes."

"Not completely," Barry shook his head, coming to show Joe a small vial that seemed to contain black specs of some sort.

Joe eyed the vial. "What's that?"

"It's some kind of organic particulate residual. I found it on the floor in here, just outside the cell, out in the hallway. Trail led me all the way outside…" Barry stopped at the sight of his father walking in from the corridor. "Dad!"

Henry chuckled at his son as he was given a hug. "So... Word around here is, Parker pulled a Shawshank?"

Joe nodded. "Yep, and none of the other prisoners heard or saw anything."

"Well, they wouldn't talk to you about it."

"Leaves us with not a lot to go on," Barry sighed, though he could not feel an ounce sad about it when he had his father right in front of it.

"Well, if there's anyone who can figure out how Parker got out of here, it's you, Son," Henry smiled.

The guard that had brought Henry by rugged him by the arm. "Come on, Allen, let's go."

"Duty calls," Henry sarcastically told the other two.

Barry waved him goodbye then turned to Joe suspiciously. "So, my dad just happened to come by?"

"The guard owed me a favor," Joe shrugged.

"Thank you," Barry sighed, for once actually happy.

~ 0 ~

"Where are you going?" Belén asked Noah when she saw the young man leaving his desk to accompany two other of their colleagues.

"Working on the new escape case in Iron Heights," Noah studied Belén's reaction. "You...don't know about it?"

"I know about it but not that we were working on it," Belén clarified, rising from her chair to look at the other two colleagues behind Noah. "Why wasn't I asked to join?"

One of the colleagues, a middle aged man, gave her a scornful look. "We figured you wouldn't want to tell us anything you knew of."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Belén frowned.

The second colleague, a brunette woman, responded equally rude. "Since you don't want to let CC Picture News in on anything why bother to write with us?"

Belén blinked, but said nothing more. She knew exactly what they were talking about then. Noah gave her an apologetic look before following the other two away. A couple minutes later arrived Iris, who more or less assumed what had happened.

"I can't believe they're still holding my own kidnapping over my head," Belén plopped back on her chair. "I can't take more of this I swear."

Iris comfortingly patted her shoulder. "It'll blow over, you'll see."

Belén scoffed. "It's been weeks now, Iris, and they still won't give it up."

"Give what up?" Linda walked by and stopped at the sight of Belén. "What's happened to you?"

"They still think Belén is holding back on them with her kidnapping details," Iris explained, but Linda remained unfazed.

"Still?" she looked at Belén again. "Well, we are dealing with journalists. It's their job to hammer people down."

"But she says she does not know anything," Iris then spoke lower about the real problem. "She didn't actually meet the Flash."

Linda sighed, but she looked almost as disbelieving as the rest. "Well, maybe Belén is...you know, holding out. Which I Would totally understand considering the parahnas we have around here."

Belén looked up to Linda with a disappointed face. "Thanks, Linda, my mentor and she isn't on my side."

"Oh calm down," Linda playfully rolled her eyes. "I'll see what I can do, but you'll have to toughen up in the meantime and, you know, it wouldn't hurt to come up with a killer story for this week."

"There's no way to do that when they won't let me into the group anyways," Belén huffed as Linda walked away, letting her head drop into her desk. Iris came back and amusingly smiled at her friend while trying to cheer he up a little.

~ 0 ~

Figuring there was something overly odd in this case, Barry and Joe moved to STAR Labs for some help. They pulled up on a computer the evidence Barry had found in the cell.

"Not even Barry's cells move this fast. I've never seen anything like it," Caitlin remarked in awe.

"So Clay Parker is a meta-human?" Joe asked for some confirmation.

"Not so fast. The particulate residue Barry gathered at Iron Heights does contain Clay Parker's DNA, but also DNA of a woman," Dr. Wells revealed and made everyone look back at the screen to see for their selves.

"Run her DNA against the CCPD criminal database," instructed Barry. "See if you get a match."

Cisco typed for a moment before exclaiming, "Yahtzee!" and pulled up a profile of a young, dark-skinned, woman on the screen. "Her name's Shawna Baez. Mostly petty crimes, and this girl likes to party, apparently. Long list of disorderly conducts at local bars."

"So I'm guessing we find her, we find Clay Parker," Joe concluded.

"Yeah," Barry moved to leave with Joe.

Wells did the same with his team. "In the meantime, let's track these particulates and see how they work."

"I'll be right with you guys," Cisco called towards them, but after they left he moved in an entirely different direction...towards the pipeline.

~ 0 ~

Later that evening, Barry met Iris for some coffee before going home. He was pleasantly surprised to see Belén arriving with Iris. He realized he hadn't seen Belén all day since last night...when she went for drinks with Cisco. The mere thought put him in a mood he did not yet understand why.

"What's your smile about?" Iris greeted him with that.

"I saw my dad today. No glass, no phones. Just me and him, face-to-face," he shared delightfully. "Joe arranged it,"

Iris smiled softly. "That must have been amazing, Barry."

"Yeah. I really needed it."

"Were you there investigating the breakout?" Belén curiously wondered as she walked to their table with a to-go cup tray.

"Mm-hmm," it was then that Barry noticed something was off with her.

"That is a big story," she sighed, sliding Iris her cup. "That I am not a part of."

"Why not?"

Belén wondered if it was right to tell him considering it had a lot to do with him, well...most of it. Iris saw no problem in sharing for her.

"The editor and the writers think she's holding out on the deets of her kidnapping."

"Which I told them a gazillion times I'm not," Belén clarified meaningfully to him.

"But no one believes her," Iris finished for her. "They think she knows the Flash and is just hiding it. They want the story. Even Linda seems to doubt her."

"Yeah, but I'm okay with her - I know her," Belén waved that one off. "Plus, she would never do what the others are doing to me. She's a good colleague."

"Uh, hello?" Iris sarcastically waved at her.

"Along with Iris West," Belén added with a small smile. "And, I guess, Noah. But other than them I'm screwed. I really think I could lose my job if this keeps up."

"What can we do?" Barry quickly asked, but Belén knew what he really meant. What could he, as the Flash, do to help her?

"Nothing," Belén gave him a sharp look. She didn't want him to do anything on her behalf that could jeopardize his secret identity.

"I think what Linda said is true," Iris said, missing the exchange of looks. "I bet if Bells writes a killer story about this recent breakout in Iron Heights, this will blow over." Unfortunately, while Iris seemed sure, Belén failed to do the same.

~ 0 ~

Caitlin moved to the computer desk after seeing Belén and Barry coming in. She had found something interesting she needed to show them in case they came across either Shawna or Clay, or perhaps both.

"Little down, Bells?" Caitlin asked as she turned the computer on.

"Nothing to worry about," Belén discarded it, much more interested in what Caitlin had to show them.

"I was analyzing the particulates that Clay Parker and Shawna Baez left behind, and I found something very interesting," she began to explain. "When Clay's cells come into contact with Shawna's, they adopt her properties," she began biting her lip endlessly that both Belén and Barry had noticed in a snap.

Amused, Barry asked, "Something bothering you?"

Caitlin let go of her lip and looked at them. "Why would you ask that?"

Belén chuckled. "Because you're doing that biting your lower lip thing that you do when something's bothering you."

Caitlin cleared her throat and straightened up, looking positively offended. "Cisco basically said I don't have a life! And Bells was there as a witness."

The pointed finger her way made Belén chuckle. "He said it in the nicest way possible."

"There is no nice way to say that!"

"But, I mean," Barry awkwardly coughed, "You don't, do you?"

Caitlin frowned. "I do! I cook and I eat and I read and I help you guys-"

"So, what you're saying is, you do everything that has nothing to do with having a life."

This time, Belén smacked him on the arm. "And he means that in the nicest way possible."

Caitlin grumbled, crossing her arms. Barry chuckled. "If it makes you feel any better, I'm not doing any better than you. My social life consists of running at superhuman speed and Netflix."

"I'm more or less the same," agreed Belén with a weary sigh. "The only good thing right now is me getting my practice on with the aerial dance team. Oh, and, Hulu is much better."

Caitlin was about to declare them all losers when the computer chimed an alert. "There's an armed robbery in progress. Two suspects, male and female in their 20s. Sounds like our meta-human Bonnie and Clyde are at it again."

"We should go," Belén started for her suit.

"How could you think Hulu is better than Netflix?" Barry still found time to ask about that as he followed her. "It has commercials!"

"Then pay you cheapskate!"

"It's free on Netflix!"

Caitlin smiled to herself while the two metas went back and forth. She was just glad they were able to get a move on despite ending on disagreeing sides.

~ 0 ~

Shawna and her recently freed boyfriend, Clay, were certainly in action stealing money from a bank truck. While Clay kept the driver and passenger of the truck occupied via gun point, Shawna grabbed two full bags of money and teleported to their getaway car. When she finished placing the bags in the trunk, she heard a wind pick up and looked around to see the Flash.

"Oh, I've read about you," she mused, putting her hands in her back pockets like it was a casual moment. "You're The Flash. I've heard you're real fast. Let's see if it's true." She teleported a distance behind Barry, calling out, "Catch me if you can."

Barry took the easy challenge and sped up behind her, easily grabbing her. "I can."

Shawna rolled her eyes and teleported again, this time appearing on a staircase landing of a construction building.

"Oh, you gotta be kidding me," Barry groaned. Perhaps he could have instead taken up the task of getting Clay and the two civilians, but Belén had quickly volunteered to do so herself. So, he sped up to the landing but the moment he touched Shawna she teleported, and this time with him, to the second floor. Hanging awkwardly from the rails, Shawna smirked down at him.

"Not too many men can keep up with me," she waved and teleported near the car again.

"Then let's make it a ladies' fight," Belén had appeared beside her and flat out punched Shawna across the face. "I can disappear too, you know."

Shawna, clutching her cheek, got back up with a fury of danger. She teleported behind Belén and effectively kicked her on the back. She wished she had some sort of weapon to have a better defence.

Belén whirled around, angry herself. "Well!" She felt the other side of her powers absorb that anger to turn it into something else. You can't lose control, you can't, she told herself repeatedly. She flexed her hands and took in deep breaths in hopes of calming that side down.

She didn't get the chance to actually retaliate when she heard a ringing shot behind her. Halfway turning, Barry pushed her out of the way and the two rolled to a stop on the ground. Belén blinked rapidly out of shock and looked up at Barry. Their closeness factored in pretty fast for the two but their masks were enough to hide their red faces.

"Your arm..." Belén gasped when she saw the bullet embedded in Barry's right arm.

"What...?" he got off her and spotted the bullet in his arm. He'd barely felt the thing!

~ 0 ~

Caitlin was not an ounce happy treating a particular injury on Barry. "This is a bullet wound," she declared as if repeating it would make it more severe. "You're lucky it just barely grazed the skin."

Barry took her scolding silently, more or less bored. Meanwhile, Belén who stood on his side, looked more concern for the both of them. "I thought I knocked Clay out," she said once again, "I don't understand how he was up and ready to shoot me."

"We're thankful he didn't," Dr. Wells said, less concerned and less upset than both women.

"Barry, I'm sorry," Belén turned to him. "That is the last time you literally take a bullet for me, okay?" she blamed herself for being so focused on her powers. She missed the obvious - a man with a gun - and nearly caused her friend to get shot.

"It's no problem," Barry shrugged as he grabbed his jacket lying on the end of the bed. "I don't even feel anything."

"I owe you big time," Belén sighed, thinking of how long that list must be by now.

"It's fine, Bells," Barry said for the last time before going into their main discovery of the day. "Shawna Baez. She can teleport."

Caitlin blinked. "As in, 'Beam me up, Shawna'?"

Wells seemed much more excited as he laughed. "Yes, of course. Quantum entanglement. The ability to manipulate interconnected particles over an infinite distance. Or, as Einstein put it, 'spooky action at a distance'."

"Every time I got close, she'd disappear," Barry sighed. "It was like we were playing a game of…"

"Peek-a-boo!" Caitlin suddenly exclaimed, receiving odd looks from the trio. "Come on. Can't I name one?"

Belén smiled at her a moment then moved on. "How can we capture someone if we don't know where she's gonna be?"

"Everybody has limits," Wells reminded. "Now that we know Shawna's powers, we'll focus on those limits."

"That would be great," Belén sighed, now more determined than ever to capture Shawna.

"C'mon Bells," Cisco led her out the room. "Let's just get you home, yeah? It's all fine."

"Mhm," the woman gave a small nod as they left.

"I told her I was fine," Barry said after it was just him and Caitlin. "Why did she go off with Cisco again?"

Caitlin smiled to herself, something Barry caught, as she returned to the cortex. "Any particular reason why that's bothersome?"

"I didn't - no, I didn't mean it like that," Barry came walking after her. "I was just...I was just asking a question-"

Caitlin bumped into him when she turned around, surprising him in the process. "Really? So that face is just meant to be casual?"

"I - Caitlin!"

Caitlin chuckled as she went around the desk. "It looks like I'm the winning the bet after all."

"What bet?" Barry frowned at her.

She sheepishly smiled and pushed some of her hair behind her ears. "Well, don't get mad, but, um...Cisco, Dr. Wells and I made a bet about you and Belén."

"What?" Barry's frown further deepened and was mixed in with some offence. "How...this is a joke right? Right?"

Caitlin shook her head. "I thought it was a playful thing, you know. But I ended up winning. Three months and you're ready to ask her out!"

"Caitlin Snow I never thought you were capable of such a thing!" Barry turned away, mostly because his face was getting warm and red.

"I know," Caitlin said, but her laughter made her sound not that apologetic about it. "But if you ask me about it, I think you and Belén would make a nice couple."

"Caitlin..." Barry gave her a sideways glance, "I'm not...asking...no. I...I'm not."

"Why not?" Caitlin earnestly asked.

Barry gave a little smile, almost nervously laughing. "We're not actually doing this, right?"

"Doing what?"

"Talking about...this?"

"We don't have to," Caitlin raised her hands, showing him this was all up to him. "I just gave my opinion, but no one is forcing you to do anything you don't want to."

"Well, it's not that I wouldn't like to..." Barry swayed his head, really trying to ignore how warm his face felt. He had been admittedly thinking a little more about Belén than any other friend. In a very short time he discovered she was incredibly sweet, quirky and she definitely rambled a lot. He liked when she rambled a lot. "She's...she's my friend..." She was a really good friend...and perhaps that was the problem. There was a risk that maybe Belén didn't even see him that way and it would just end their friendship if he did anything beyond that. "What if I end up ruining it by actually asking her out?"

Caitlin warmly smiled. "Being scared is normal, especially if it is between friends. But I guess you just have to ask yourself if you really want to try things with Belén - do you think it's worth it?"

"I...I don't know," Barry felt terrible answering. "I've only just started thinking about this. I'm not sure about anything."

"Then just think about it," Caitlin said. "No rush at all."

"Yeah," Barry nodded, really intending on doing that. He bid her goodnight and returned home. He found the West residence completely empty. Joe and Iris must be still working. He found the kitchen empty and, unfortunately, empty of food as well. After a moment's pause, he pulled out his phone and dialed for Caitlin.

"Hello? Still need to talk?"

Barry playfully rolled his eyes. "Ha, ha, no. I just wanted to know what bars did Shawna go to again?"

"Uh, mostly south side dive bars. Why?"

"I was just gonna check 'em out. See if they fall into any old habits."

"That's a good idea...mind if I join you?"

"Sure!"

The two exchanged details of their first stop before hanging. Just as Caitlin was about to put her phone down she got another idea. Oh, she was being sneaky and she was never sneaky. Cisco might have been proud of her right there.

~ 0 ~

The bar Barry chose had a karaoke stand where literally anyone could get up on and unfortunately not everyone who went up had the right singing voice. He was having himself a drink, just for show considering he couldn't actually get drunk, while watching a man attempt to sing. He was on alert for Caitlin who was supposed to be coming in any moment now. So, when he saw not Caitlin but Belén crossing through the doors, nicely dressed, he nearly choked on his drink.

"Bells…?"

Belén seemed just as surprised as Barry was when she saw him. Still, she scurried through the bar towards Barry's table in a pair of black heeled shoes. "Barry, hi," she said rather breathlessly as she set her purse down.

"What are you...doing here?" Barry couldn't help giving her a look-over. She was dressed in an off-the-shoulder emerald blouse with short sleeves, tucked underneath a black leather skirt. Her lips were painted a deep red which were twisted into a smile. It was quite a sight.

"Caitlin called," Belén answered, never noticing that her appearance was being checked out. It's also why she missed Barry's face falling flat when she mentioned Caitlin's name,

Caitlin you sneak, Barry silently cursed.

Belén pushed back some of her curled hair after taking the seat next to Barry. "She was in a hurry but she said if I wanted to go out and since I wanted to get away from Maritza I said yes in a heartbeat. I guess she just forgot to mention you were here too."

"Is that a problem?" Barry asked, momentarily confused.

"No," Belén laughed. "Although now I'm self conscious of my clothing choices. I guess this is metahuman work time?"

"No, no, you look nice," Barry assured, and by the third look over Belén caught on and blushed.

"So tell me, what are we doing?" she cast a look towards the karaoke stand. "That looks...interesting..."

"Uh, well, so far just...listening," Barry pretended to flinch when the singing man didn't hit a high key the right way.

"Guys!" they heard Caitlin calling for them. She arrived wearing a tight, shiny black dress with her curled hair. With a beam she plopped down across them.

"Thanks for half explaining things to me," Belén mocked a scold.

"This is where Shawna Baez and Clay Parker used to hang out?" Caitlin looked around but discreetly smiled at Barry. There was no shame in pushing a little, she told herself after she made the call to Belén.

"It is, according to the files," Barry nodded.

"Is that what we're doing?" Belén said glumly as she looked down at her clothes. "Man, I could have worn jeans for this."

"I thought we could kill two birds with one stone," Caitlin shrugged.

"And what would that be?"

"Look for them and get ourselves back out there," Caitlin announced, startling the two. Yes, maybe she was pushing a little but it was fair game as long as she did not disclose anything both Barry and Belén had told her about them.

This surprised Belén, and for some reason she glanced at Barry. "You want to date?" she definitely did not mean to ask that in a disappointed manner. The words just came out of her mouth before she could even think.

Barry blinked, caught off guard by her question. "Uh - well, n-not...not e-exactly…"

"Oh, c'mon!" Caitlin ignored their awkward moment and reached for the drink Barry had been mindlessly drinking. "I'm pining for someone who bursts into flames and wants nothing to do with me, Belén's a bit traumatized from her last relationship and Barry's not gathered enough courage to ask someone out. We're kind of - for a lack of a better word - losers."

"Well, I mean, she's not wrong - wait, you want to ask someone out?" Belén had just processed all of Caitlin's words and now looked at Barry again.

"What? You're afraid of moving on from Carlton!" was Barry's genius response.

Caitlin buried her nose into the drink that wasn't even hers. She might have gotten a little carried away there. Whoops.

"Well, I think I'm justified," Belén said, mildly offended. "My last boyfriend kidnapped me. That's far worse than anything. Your petty fears are nothing. Girl's going to be lucky," she looked down at the table, processing the way she felt at the moment. She didn't want to say she was upset or anything just because Barry was thinking about asking someone out, but...yeah, she might be actually.

Caitlin had finished the glass in her hand and shifted on her chair to call a nearby waitress. ""Excuse me? I would like to start a tab."

"Oh, this cannot go well," Belén mumbled to Barry.

True to her word, Belén was witness to a different version of Caitlin...a much more drunk version of Caitlin. She and Barry tried stopping Caitlin at one point but she was adamant to keep going and to have some fun. Belén went up to the bar counter in an effort to get some water for Caitlin, but she had to wait for the bartender to get rid of other customers. Barry had volunteered first but for some reason the bartender seemed to ignore his calls. Still, Belén was taking an awful long time, so much that eventually Barry went over to check on her.

"Hey, what's going on?" he asked, taking a seat on the empty stool beside her.

"Long line," Belén gestured to the crowd at the end of the counter. "Um, where's Caitlin?"

"At the table," Barry pointed to...their empty table.

"Where is she!?" Belén straightened up, ready to jump off and go in search for their drunken friend.

There was a noise from the stage up ahead and next thing they knew, someone was calling for…

"Mr. Barry Allen! Come on down! Or up!" Caitlin giggled to herself, using the microphone to sustain herself.

Belén covered her mouth with her hand to hide her growing smile. She was wrong- this could possibly end well.

Barry, mortified with the extra attention he was now getting from the audience, repeatedly rejected the idea. "I'm not doing it…"

"Come up here with me!" Caitlin insisted, motioning with a hand for him to come over. "Oh, come show 'em what you got!"

Barry did a cutting motion across his neck, shaking his own head. "No...n-no…"

Caitlin refused to take a 'No' and called upon the audience to encourage him on. She was a relentless drunk by the looks of it. "Barry! Barry! Barry!"

Barry rubbed his face, thinking of an evil way to get back at Caitlin for all of this. He owed her a lot tonight! Suddenly, he heard a distinct voice joining the cheering crowd. He dropped his hand and glanced to his side to see Belén teasingly smiling his way, actively cheering.

"No, not you too…" he shook his head.

Belén laughed, gently pushing him forwards. "Go on, Barry!"

Caitlin raised a fist pump into the air when she saw him coming up to the stage. "Ooh, look at him go. He's so fast!" she slapped a finger to her lips and made an 'Oops' face as he stepped on.

Barry shook his head at her. "You know I'm not much of a singer. And you're not much of a drinker."

"We are gonna bring this place down!"

Barry could not see himself getting away from this situation anytime soon. "Okay, just…"

Belén made herself comfortable on her stool as the song 'Summer Nights' began playing. She was not surprised to hear Caitlin singing off key - it was rather amusing. She pulled out her phone in time to catch the singing session.

"Summer lovin', had me a blast…"

"Summer lovin' happened so fast, I met a girl, crazy for me…"

Belén was shocked to hear Barry's perfect singing voice. In comparison to Caitlin, it sounded like Barry had been practicing forever. She abandoned her teasing plans - sort of - and listened to the entire song.

When the song was over, she purposely cleared her throat loudly. "You're fast, you're a scientist and you can sing?" Barry responded in a light chuckle, not realizing Caitlin was lagging in catching up. "I'm starting to think you are the triple threat here."

"No...no," Barry sat down beside her, blushing red as she laughed.

"I'm so happy I can show this moment to everyone else tomorrow," Belén waved her phone in front of him, showing him the video of him and Caitlin singing.

Barry's eyes widened in alarm. "No!" Belén jerked her hand to her chest before he could snatch her phone away. "You are….evil!" Barry couldn't find the right words to express his horror.

"Mm, I think I was more...smart...or clever...no wait, that's the same thing," Belén tilted her head as she thought out loud. "I wonder what I would be like if I was evil?"

"You can't be evil," Barry flat out told her, almost laughing at the idea.

"What? Why?" Belén eyed Caitlin who was failing to show up because she had stopped at a random person's table. They would eventually have to go get her.

"Because you're too sweet to be evil."

Belén felt her face warm up at the comment, and so she smiled. "Aw, thank you."

"Guys! Look who I found!" Caitlin exclaimed, making them look over to see her walking with Noah and Linda.

"Hey!" Belén beamed at the sight of her two colleagues, missing the sort of disappointed look on Barry's face. "What are you guys doing here!?"

"Noah owed me a drink," Linda shrugged.

"For what?"

"My team losssst," the man glumly said, although there was something quite off about him.

"He's kinda drunk," Linda mocked a whisper tone as she explained.

"Ah," Belén eyed her indeed drunken co-worker with some amusement. "I think he and Caitlin are about to hit it off then."

"We were about to leave…" Linda grabbed Noah by the arm but the man shook her off and stumbled his way to the counter, howling towards the bartender to give him another round.

"Don't you dare, Stevie," Linda called to the bartender who was halfway down before she told him to go away.

"Guys," Caitlin's face had suddenly turned pale, and she placed a hand on her stomach, "I don't feel so well."

Both her friends could easily see she had finally reached her drinking limit. Barry nodded, half reluctant, towards Belén signifying he would take care of it. "C'mon, Cait," he quickly got up and hurried out the door, speeding away once they were outside before she would end up vomiting.

"Woah, where'd your friends go?" Noah laughed and took Barry's place beside Belén.

"Noah," Belén chuckled, placing an elbow on the counter to rest her cheek on her palm. "I think it's time for you to go home too."

"Yeah, I'm gonna go close the tab," Linda said, moving towards Stevie the bartender.

"I thought you said drinks were on Noah?" Belén glanced back.

"You really think I'm gonna let him pay right now?" Linda shook her head. "I do have honor, Belén."

Chuckling, Belén returned her attention to Noah, squealing when she saw him so close to her face. "Noah! You scared me!"

"I like your eyes, you have pretty eyes," he remarked without a car in the world.

Belén smiled. "And you have a freckle on your nose. We're all discovering new things about our friends tonight apparently," her smile widened as she thought of Barry and his apparent singing talent.

"What color are your eyes, Belén? Are they black?"

"No, they're brown. And sit back down before you fall!"

Noah ignored her and continued asking questions of her facial features. "Your cheeks are pink!"

"Because it's hot here! Now sit down-"

"You have straight teeth too!" Noah poked Belén's cheek which made her laugh.

"I should take a video of you and show it to you tomorrow," she thought out loud. "I'm just scoring videos tonight!"

"Belén, I like your lips too…"

"You're losing it, Noah. For real."

At this time, Barry had returned to the bar, after leaving Caitlin safely in her apartment. He saw Noah sitting in his place and quite close to Belén.

"Do you think...I could…" Noah's other fingers joined Belén's cheek then lowered near her jawline. Before Belén knew it, he had planted his lips over hers for a kiss.

A twinge of actual jealousy surged through Barry as he saw this literally feet away from them. Linda returned from paying the tab at the same time and had gasped in honest surprise when she saw them.

Belén pulled away as soon as she could. She was a bit disoriented for the first couple of seconds. She had no idea where that came from and she genuinely wasn't quite interested in having it repeat itself. Putting a hand over her mouth, she slid out of her stool. "Oh my God…"

"Glad to see you two are having fun," remarked Linda, arms crossed, as she walked up to them.

"H-he's drunk," Belén was still gathering herself from the moment, one hand in her hair. She met eyes with Barry, and instantly he could see her discomfort- which did put him in a less tensed stance. "Can we go home, please?"

He nodded. "Let's just get the tab closed, okay?"

Grateful, she grabbed her purse, intending on waiting for him in her spot. However, halfway passing by, Noah made an attempt to grab her arm, making Barry backtrack and practically yank Belén to his side.

"Goodnight," he spat to the drunken journalist, giving a somewhat lighter look at Linda.

"That was something I so did not expect," Belén confided in him after paying the tab and walking out of the bar. "And I...I didn't think I gave him signals to - oh my God, he's gonna think I gave him signals. Oh my God!"

"Bells, it's…" but Barry couldn't really find the right words to say at the moment. He was fighting the urge to go back and punch Noah. At the same time, he saw Belén feeling guilty, like this was her fault.

Belén sighed, speaking without receiving an ounce of comforting. "Can you drop me off at home please? I don't want to think about this."

"Of course," Barry nodded, hoping this would blow over by tomorrow.

Swooping in on Belén's porch was quick and easy. But, much like Caitlin had earlier, Belén was a bit rocky on her feet in the first couple of seconds after coming to a stop. Nearly losing her balance, she latched onto Barry's arms and he grabbed her tighter as well. She chuckled in her embarrassment and looked up, intending on apologizing but she realized how close they had gotten and immediately blushed. Barry too had stopped to look down at her, and for the first time thought about her as above what a 'friend' was to him.

For one, she seemed to easily fit between his arms. He could probably hold her and sway her for hours. Her hair was neatly curled over her shoulders, still looking as if they'd just been done minutes ago. Her blonde tips seemed to shine with the street lights. Even her deep chocolate eyes were looking different to him. For a minute, Barry remembered the last time he'd gotten the same feeling. Right after Oliver and Felicity had come to visit, at Jitters. He never figured out what made Belén seem so different to him that day but he did know that she had looked more pretty than usual. It was the same 'different' that made it harder for Barry to want to stop holding hands with Belén that day. Now that feeling was back and it was stronger.

Even the way Belén was smiling was different but this time Barry knew why. It was still the same soft smile she always had on for everyone, but tonight's smile was causing a swirl of feelings to start in the pit of his stomach. They were tantalizing. He wouldn't have to lean so much to touch her lips with his.

Belén was very aware that she had Barry's face just inches from her but unlike with Noah, she didn't feel uncomfortable. - actually, she felt quite a home. She felt safe. He has taken several bullets for you, she reminded herself. She knew there were moments where she would inevitably steal glances from Barry but who could blame her? He was cute, he was incredibly intelligent - she knew he was far too smart for his own good - and he was far too kind to people even when they didn't deserve it. All this Belén had decided a while ago but she kept it all in the deepest parts of her mind. She thought she had a good handle on it, but then came moments like these. She was too close to Barry and now she could see his perfect features.

Forget 'cute' he's hot, Belén blushed like mad when she thought that. Her eyes dropped from his gaze but that hadn't been the right choice because now she was realizing Barry's lips were right in front of hers. Maybe she could lean just a bit...

You can't! Belén remembered. She couldn't think about him like this. It was Barry, after all, and he deserved someone better. With that mindset, she pulled away, out of Barry's arms, to a safe distance from him. The abrupt action startled Barry but he kept himself in his spot. Belén offered him a small smile from where she stood. "I know it was unplanned, and perhaps not the ideal night out...but I had fun. I'll have to thank Caitlin for that tomorrow...if she can remember."

Barry gave a slight nod, unable to will himself to speed away just yet. Belén moved to unlock the front door, and before going inside, she turned around again, hand on the doorknob.

"You know, if what Caitlin said about you earlier was true...then I don't think you should be afraid of asking that girl out." Belén smiled, and for a split second Barry could swear it was a sad smile. "I think any girl would love to go out with a…" she paused and titled her head to the side, her eyes drifting up in thought, "...a fast-moving, signing scientist."

A smile broke across Barry's face, as well a surge of heat that rushed up to his face. "One could say the same thing about a fast-talking, passionate journalist who can dance in the air."

Belén chuckled, momentarily looking down to cover her own blush. During that moment she missed Barry almost making a move towards her but he stopped himself. He heard Caitlin's words about him all over again. Would he be willing to risk a friendship in the hopes of something more with Belén? Did he consider it worthwhile? Because after all, this was Bells, his fighting partner, his friend.

"Goodnight, Barry," Belén said softly, waving as she turned the doorknob and went inside.

Almost immediately, a deep exhale came out of Barry. His thoughts rearranged in that one second.

Ooh..but this was Bells...

A quirky girl who just happened to make him feel things he hadn't quite understood till then.

~ 0 ~

The next day, Belén came into work like nothing, thanking God she had not drank as much as Caitlin because she was sure a migraine would make things even worse. She was suffering, once again, at work because everyone refused to speak to her. Thinking she knew the Flash and was just being snobby by keeping all the details from them, they left her out of nearly every article being written for the week. If this kept up, Belén was 99.9% sure she would lose her job.

Hell, even Iris was being admitted into the group and she was barely a couple weeks old at the place. But, unlike the others, Iris was far kinder.

"I keep trying to tell them you've got nothing to hide," Iris sighed and crossed her arms, looking disappointed she was failing to help her friend. "But...they're all snobs."

"I learned that on my third day in my internship," Belén in a weak attempt to lighten the mood between them.

"But this is so unfair!"

"Yes, it quite is."

"Belén?" Noah was cautiously coming up to the desk, looking worse for wear. Belén imagined Caitlin looking something like him considering the amount of alcohol they drank last night. "Can we talk?"

Belén gave a small nod and motioned to Iris she'd only be a minute. Moving a safe distance from the desk, she crossed her arms and waited for Noah to begin what she knew must be related to last night.

"I just want to apologize for last night. I...I was so drunk and not right in the head," he clapped his hands together. "I don't want you to think I'm that kind of guy, because...because I'm not. I'm really sorry." He was sure Rayan would kill him if he ever found out what happened last night so Noah hoped to God Belén wouldn't tell her sister about it.

"Now that you got that out of your chest…" Belén started to softly laugh, much to Noah's surprise. "...go get yourself a headache pill because I bet your head is just killing you right now."

"What? You're...you're not mad?" Noah sounded doubtful, and with great reason too.

"I was never mad, because like you said, this wasn't you. I've done my share of bad things when I get drunk. Although I will admit to being caught off guard and a bit uncomfortable."

"I'm so sorry about that. Trust me, it will never happen again. I promise."

"I'm holding you to that," Belén pointed at him with a kind smile. "I think we work best as a writing team."

"Yeah, I think so too."

Belén gave him a last smile before returning to her desk where she was sure Iris was merely pretending she had not heard anything. The woman fiddled with some papers left behind on the desk.

"How much did you hear?" Belén decided to get straight to the point.

Iris dropped the papers and got to business. "Everything. What happened? Where did you go last night?"

"I was at a bar with Caitlin and Barry and we met up with Linda and Noah."

Iris stayed motionless for a couple seconds while Belén went around the desk to take a seat. "What...what were you, uh...what was the reason-"

"It was a friendly get-together, Iris, nothing more," Belén warned before Iris could finish.

Iris began to laugh mirthlessly and whirled around to face her friend. "N-n-n-no, the last time you were out with Barry, you came home with this goofy grin and-"

"Caitlin was there too," Belén reminded sharply.

Iris crossed her arms, now smirking. "Then why are you blushing?"

Belén clapped a hand to her cheek to feel the warmth she didn't realize she was giving off. "Am not." She was definitely not thinking about how close she'd been to Barry last night, nope.

"So are," Iris rolled her eyes. "You guys are slower than sloths."

"Iris...go away, please," Belén said in a hushed voice, preferring no one heard her. Iris shrugged and walked away, but Belén was sure this wasn't the last she would hear of this.

At the same moment, she heard her phone 'ding' on her desk. She didn't know if it was because of what Iris said, or perhaps of what happened last night, but she felt a jolt of nervousness when she read Barry's name written across. It was a simple text message with a simple question - why was she acting like a such a dork?

I'm heading to STAR Labs, do you want a pick up?

Belén smiled and immediately texted a response back.

Yes please! I want to share my video with the others!

Very soon, she got another text back.

...you suck. Be there in a bit.

Belén laughed to herself, acquiring some looks from co-workers passing by. Shyly, she put her phone down on the desk and started gathering her things together.

"Going out?" Noah called upon her, walking by with a file in hand.

"Uh, yes," Belén smiled sadly. "I don't think anybody here really cares if I skip out a couple hours before."

"Hey," Noah put a hand down over hers on the desk, "This will blow over okay? You'll see."

Belén tried to keep his optimism in her heart with a tight smile. "Put in a good word for me, though?"

Noah chuckled. "I will do that as much as I can."

There was a clearing of a throat from a distance. "You ready to go, Bells?" Barry stood there, attempting to hide his dislike as best as possible. He had seen them 'holding hands' from outside and he resisted the idea of speeding in and taking Belén without announcing himself. That was rude...apparently.

"Yes!" Belén exclaimed, then silently questioning herself if that had been too fast of a response. She pulled her hand from underneath Noah's and stood up from her chair, swiping her phone off the desk and dumping it into her bag. "Can you tell Iris I probably won't be back today?" she asked Noah.

"Don't worry," Noah smiled. "See you later," he told both Belén and Barry then walked off with his file.

"Soo…" Barry awkwardly began as they walked out, he letting her out first.

"He apologized," Belén turned to face him, figuring where his thoughts were at the moment. "And I forgave him. He was drunk, and he had no idea what was going on."

"Oh, really?"

"Yes. Besides, both he and I agreed we didn't exactly want to go further than...friendship you know. We work fine as co-workers."

"Alright, c'mon. It's time to go see what Caitlin did to get up today."

"I suck apparently?" Belén arched an eyebrow before he could move them.

"Uuh…" Barry thought about a good response but came up with nothing. Instead, he sped them off for STAR Labs and hoped she would forget about it all.

Five minutes after they had gotten to the place, the elevator doors dinged open and out stepped Caitlin in thick black sunglasses clutching a water bottle like her life depended on it.

Holding the urge to laugh after glancing with Barry, Belén stepped forwards to greet her. "Hi there Caitlin-"

Caitlin flinched like Belén had just screamed at the top of her lungs. "So loud. Oh, ho-ho."

Barry stepped up beside Belén, and added, "Everything...okay?"

Caitlin sucked in a small breath. "Let's just say I envy your inability to get drunk. I don't remember much from last night."

She walked past them, heading for the cortex. Belén turned and walked beside her, leaving Barry to do the same. "Well, if you ever want to remember I think Bells has something that could help…" Barry sideways glanced at Belén.

Caitlin, confused, did the same and Belén pulled out her phone from her bag. She pulled up the video of Caitlin's and Barry's karaoke session and waved it at them, mimicking for them, "Summer lovin'..."

"Oh, God," Caitlin gasped in absolute horror. "That I do remember!"

Belén burst out laughing. She only stopped upon entering the cortex room where Cisco and Dr. Wells were, the latter with arms crossed at the former. It was easy to tell something was off.

"What's wrong?" Barry was the first to break the silence.

"Cisco... Has something he needs to tell you," Dr. Wells sarcastically said.

When all eyes turned on Cisco, he took a breath and declared, "Hartley's gone."

Belén gasped. "He escaped again!? How?"

Cisco shook his head and clarified. "I let him out." He took a moment to see how Caitlin was reacting but he was at a loss. "Are you mad? I can't tell with those glasses on."

Caitlin had remained perfectly still throughout the discussion, and for a good reason. "I'd like to yell and wave my arms, but I'm afraid I'd throw up."

"Why? What were you thinking?" Barry exclaimed, completely lost on this ridiculous idea of Cisco's. "You know how dangerous he is."

"Hartley said he knew what happened to Ronnie-"

"I told you to let it go," cut in Caitlin, removing her glasses. "I didn't want you looking into that for me."

"I wasn't doing it for you. I…" Cisco sighed, deciding to come clean once and for all, "I sealed Ronnie into the accelerator before it blew. He told me to wait two minutes, and I waited, but he didn't come back. And I can't stop thinking, 10, 20 seconds and... Ronnie wouldn't be like he is right now. I've wanted to tell you so many times. I'm so sorry."

Caitlin softened up as she went around desk towards him. "So you carried that around this whole time?" Cisco nodded silently. "Do you know what Ronnie would say if he was here? He would say that you did the right thing. It wasn't your fault. What happened that night wasn't anybody's fault. Come on. Don't we have a teleporter to catch?"

"Do we have progress on that by the way?" Belén asked once they had moved on.

"We do," Wells was happy to announce as he went up to the computers. He pulled up a tab of Shawna's cells that were flickering in and out. "Take a look at this. Now, this is the normal behavior of the particulate that Shawna left behind. Watch what happens when we remove light." The tab was exchanged for one of Shawna's cells in a neon green background that now had each cell motionless. "Shawna can only become entangled with something she can see. Take away her ability to do that…"

Barry realized, "She can't teleport."

"So, we just need to get her into a dark space," Caitlin commented and got to thinking. "How do we do that?"

Barry's phone began to vibrate and so he moved a distance to take the call while the others continued discussing.

"It's a valid question," Wells agreed.

"What...we can wait till night and fight her off in the dark?" Belén made faces as no other better ideas were being given at the moment. "Or...turn the lights off."

It was easy to tell something was completely wrong with Barry after he hung up his call. His face was pale and his eyes widened with distinctable fear.

"What's wrong?" Wells asked him instantly.

"M... My dad. He's been stabbed," he shuddered a breath just thinking about it. He was then ushered by the group to go see his father, but one of them - a tall ombre-blonde predicted an angry flare would soon rise and then something would then occur.

~ 0 ~

By the time Barry got the Iron Heights, Joe was already there with Henry, who was put to immediate rest after his injury. "Dad, what happened?"

"A rather stern reminder, I'd say, not to poke around Marcus Stockheimer's business," Henry was none too pleased that the only job he had, had been terminated so quick and easily.

"Dad, I told you to stop-"

Joe cleared his throat before Barry could finish. "Your dad called me with more intel. It helped us track down Clay and Shawna and arrest Stockheimer."

"I managed to screw up Marcus's big heist, too, so…"

Barry looked between the two men in disbelief. "You two kept working together, and you didn't tell me?"

"It isn't his fault. I did it to help you," Henry said before Barry would have a go at Joe. It didn't, however, ease things between him and his son.

"You getting stabbed and beaten is not helping me!"

Henry sighed, knowing Barry had a right to be upset with him. "Look, I... I... I don't get to feel useful very much in here. So if I can help you for a change, I'm gonna want to be there for you. Just like you've been there for me all these years."

Barry hated that he could, on a level, understand that. It was family, after all, that made people do crazy things sometimes.

"You said Marcus had a big heist coming up? Do you know anything else about it?" asked Joe.

"Dad, tell me who did this to you," Barry very much ordered. The anger inside him was flourishing just at the thought of the culprit thinking he could get away with stabbing his father.

Henry shook his head. "No, it doesn't matter, slugger."

Barry moved over to the side of his father's bed. "But you said you want to help me. So help me."

Henry saw that even though he wouldn't say a word, Barry would go on and find the answer himself. With another sigh, he answered, "One of Marcus's boys. Julius."

~ 0 ~

"I should have I bet on it," Belén sighed earnestly after Barry informed them all of how they would be getting some information on Shawna Baez. He'd gotten ahold of a specific inmate and extracted the needed information to get Shawna's location.

"Was that a joke?" Cisco sent her an odd look as she walked past them all ready in her suit.

"Of course…" but the way in which she assured him left him, well...not so sure.

Barry had stopped Shawna and her boyfriend underneath a tunnel and was having trouble keeping her from teleporting. In the car, Clay impatiently waited for Shawna to finish up fighting the metahuman. When Belén arrived, Shawna had just pushed off a construction worker off a machine. As Barry went to rescue the man, Shawna took opportunity and teleported back into the car with Clay.

"We have to get the lights!" Belén told the other speedster, looking up the light bulbs planted on the ceiling in a straight line. Who knew her idea of turning off the lights would become so relevant. She flinched as the car zoomed past her, but she didn't wait for an exact plan either. Thrusting both her hands upwards, she smashed the nearest light bulbs and swung forwards to continue smashing the next ones.

Seeing her plan, Barry sped forwards and passed Shawna's car to take a turn at the end. In a powerful blast, he smashed the front window and forced the car to an inevitable stop. Belén dropped beside the car and opened the car door to find a lonesome Shawna inside.

"...he left me," Shawna whispered, glancing at the now empty driver seat beside her.

"Men," Belén rolled her eyes, and as sorry as she felt for Shawna, she pulled out Shawna to bring her down to the pipeline. A bad relationship did not excuse crimes.

~ 0 ~

Shawna was placed into a cell in the pipeline, and as much as she tried teleporting out of it she would only reappear mere inches from her spot inside the cell. On the other side, which she could apparently not see, stood the rest of the team except Wells.

"Is there any way she can teleport out of this?" Barry curiously asked Cisco beside him.

"She's not looking at us," Belén commented from Cisco's other side, making a face, "So that's a clue…"

"It's one-way glass," Cisco answered the both of them. "It's mirrored on the inside. No one dangerous is ever gonna get out of this thing again."

Belén patted his arm, glad to see he was feeling a little better from his Hartley experience. "Next time don't let them out in the first place," she whispered with a teasing chuckle and walked away with him.

Meanwhile, Barry was going to have one last word with Shawna, at least to make her realize the reality she was now in. "Shawna. Clay left you. He's out there, and you're in here."

Shawna stopped teleporting, and looked to the side in utter disappointment. "You know what the crazy thing is? I still love him."

"Crazy is right," Caitlin made a face as she closed the pipeline down.

"Some people are worth being crazy for," Barry walked her pace back into the cortex.

Caitlin's smile widened in embarrassment. "Look, I'm sorry if I was a bit - well, a lot - of a drunken mess last night."

"Actually, it was pretty fun," admitted Barry.

"Even the part where Bells got a video she can now blackmail both of us with?"

Barry reluctantly gave a small nod. "Sort...of…"

Caitlin chuckled. "I'm also sorry for...pushing things a little too hard on you and Belén. I-it wasn't my place."

Barry took in a breath and motioned her not to continue. "Actually, I'm glad you talked to me and that you got us to the bar. It made me think and it made me realize...that maybe getting out there isn't such a bad idea."

Caitlin nodded her head. "If what Cisco says is true, that Ronnie merged with Martin Stein, then he's not alive anymore. Time for me to move on. Find someone new to be crazy about."

"Crazy thing is...I think I found someone I can be crazy for," Barry smiled to himself. "You think you and Cisco can help me out with a little something?"

Curious of what he had in mind, Caitlin nodded and paid close attention to what Barry was beginning to tell her.

~ 0 ~

"I don't even know why I'm going back there," Belén huffed like a child would, ignoring the laughter from Iris on one side and Linda on her other side while the three walked down the street.

"Because it's your job you worked for years now?" Linda tried to be funny but earned herself a small glare in return.

"I could be sleeping right now!"

"Oh shush!" Iris whacked Belén's arm, rolling her eyes. "And woman up - you are not going to let those co-workers intimidate you out of your own job because they don't believe you."

Belén said nothing more. She was resigned to yet another workday where people would give her dirty looks and scorn at her. All three women stumbled back when a strong force of wind hit them. Two out of the three were familiar with that 'wind', but only one was happy to see the other.

What is he planning? Belén wondered, admittedly concerned, as she turned the corner into an alleyway with Iris and Linda behind her.

As the Flash, Barry stood at the end of the alleyway. He was enjoying the look on Belén's face due because she had no idea what he was doing. "That's for you," he pointed towards a lone file left on top of a dumpster.

"That's the Flash," Linda gaped.

"Why are you here?" Belén could not help the tiny bit of anger in her tone - a concerned anger that Barry recognized. She was probably thinking how stupid it was for him to expose himself to yet another woman.

"I thought maybe you could help me out if you're willing," Barry shrugged oh-so-innocently it tugged a smile out of Belén. She got what he was trying to do.

"Oh, really?" she crossed her arms.

Iris moved behind them to pick up the file designated for Belén and skimmed a couple pages. "This is about the breakout at Iron Heights."

Linda snapped out of her stupor to check the file herself. "Belén do you know how big this is right now!?"

"Yeah, I do," Belén released a breath as she reached for the file herself, eyes still on Barry. "It's the story they're not letting me do right now."

"Why are you giving this to her?" Linda then asked him, no upset of his choice but overall curious. All in the meanwhile, none of them saw Iris discreetly pulling out her phone.

"Because she's an underestimated reporter and I want that to stop," Barry met gazes with Belén, the woman already flushing, "The world needs a woman like her putting the stories out there."

Belén had that look that said 'I'm gonna get you for this' with the widest smile ever. With a rather smug smile, Barry sped out of the alleyway.

"Oh my God, you have met him!" Linda exclaimed, still awed. Belén turned to her friend with a growing smile, taking Barry's plan with a small laugh. He would pull something like this.

~ 0 ~

That night in his lab, Barry got word of how his plan had gone. He'd heard it from Iris earlier and he did his job of pretending to be so surprised. Now he only had to wait for Belén to come see him. So he waited. He was working on a new case when he heard the familiar squeals nearing the lab. Barry jumped out of his chair though seeing how excited he was too, he took the few seconds to calm himself down.

"Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God!" Belén ran into the room and went straight for him. "Oh my Goooood!" she threw his arms around his neck and hugged him tight as ever. Pleasant with this sort of greeting, Barry hugged back. "I thank my lucky stars every night for meeting you," Belén whispered, dead serious yet enough to make Barry laugh.

"I take it all is well at work again?"

Belén pulled away slightly to look at him, eyes filled with suspicion yet happiness. "What the hell was that for, Barry Allen? You exposed yourself to Linda Park and you basically confirmed to them that I indeed I know you."

"And they told the others at work right?" Barry asked.

"Well, clearly!" Belén whacked his arm but ended up laughing. "You should have seen Larkin's face when I put my article together with what you gave me. And then when Linda started telling them how I got the story. Suddenly, I'm everyone's favorite now."

"Well, you're my favorite," Barry cheekily smiled, making her laugh.

"And you are my favorite!" she was so happy that she needed to give him another hug.

Barry forced himself to sober up enough in order to find some courage and ask her - as casually as possible - a question. When he pulled away, she was still smiling but more flushed now.

"Bells, you think...do you think we could...I don't know, go get a cup of coffee or...something…?" Yes, that had not been exactly how courageously he wanted to ask but at least the question had been put out there, or so he thought.

"Oh yeah, sure!" she exclaimed, misunderstanding the intention of the question. "We could get everyone down at Jitters and-"

"No, no," Barry gestured that he needed another moment. "I meant...um...do you, maybe, want to have coffee or lunch or...maybe dinner, I don't know...together?" he pointed between them. "Alone."

"Oooh…" Belén's smile faded and her hand gripped the strap of her bag. Her heart hammered under her chest. "...alone…" She looked to the side, so many things popping into her head yet she knew that one thing overrode them all, no matter how many butterflies those other ideas gave her. She couldn't be selfish, not to him.

And so, as much as it pained her, she gave her answer in one word.

“No.”

#barry allen #the flash #ocappreciation #ocapp #barry allen fics #the flash fics #barry allen imagines #barry allen fanfics #the flash imagines #the flash fanfics #caitlin snow #cisco ramon #iris west #oc: Belén Palayta #oc: Belen Palayta #fic: it had to be you

9 notes · View notes

paulineguillouzichnd1 · 5 years

Text

Clean White

Material: using effectively the material (lightmeter and lights) to set up your cleanwhite background effectively.

-> I started working and learning on Clean White Background by making sure I could use the material (lightmeter, studio lights, tripod, flashes...) effectively. I have always felt interested in working in a studio, however, I had little experience and I felt I really needed to step up my game if I wanted to 1. work independently by being able to set up the lights and the material effectively 2. produce good photos in a limited period of time (we only had the studios available for a short period of time so that each student could work on their project!)

-> With the permission of one of my lecturer, the help of one other student from my class who had a similar experience with Studios and who wanted to work and achieve similar results, I used a Studio on Wednesday 9th October, for 2 hours, with in mind 5 goals :

1. getting more familiar with the material

2.being able to reproduce what we’d been showed the week before on Friday afternoon to get a white background

3. work on using a reflector

4. eventually, working on shadows (how to control lights and shadows on my model’s face.

5. More than anything else, gain confidence and explore the possibilities of working in a studio, and develop my problem-solving skills.

We set up the studio the way we thought we did it when we were working on the ID project, with a white background. None of us were happy with the background because it looked grey and we had the model’s shadows in the background. We were also using a tripod, and had to figure out the basic set up (using a light meter, flashes, setting up the background). Fortunately, one of the lecturer was around and helped us with:

-> the model was too close from the background thus the shadows on the background. We had to take the light measures from the background, making sure that it was at least one stop brighter than where the model was posing. We also learnt to check that the background was white by using the histogram on our camera.

-> the third light (key light) wasn't on already, but at least we managed to get a background that was nearer to white.

First attempt at shooting a silhouette. We didn't use any boards to flag the model (I think by that time we were running out of time).

Although the background was not completely white, at least it looked a lot closer to our first attempt.

We eventually started using a key light in the background and managed to try different positions to see how the shadows would affect my face.

Video on Different types of lights (in French though)

Video on Using a lightmeter (in English)

Article on Three-Point Lighting Technique

INSPIRATION: a few photographers were mentioned during our brief on CleanWhite Background and I thought I’d start finding new photographers and insipiration with these names (also because they were seen as key photographers, and therefore, I might learnt a few things from them).

Richard Avedon:

I was extremely impressed with two things : the use of the frame (borders in black) which made the whole picture neater. I also thought that I liked the unusual way Avedon had framed most of his models (in French we call it Plan américain and they didnt feel static anymore, I know that this sort of framing was used in Westerns so that the viewer could have a look at the actor’s gun. It keeps the viewer on their toes: “What’s going to happen next?”

All models had an attitude, looking at the viewers in the eyes, very direct,almost intimidating. That’s a type of framing I want to reuse...

Annie Leibovitz:

David Bayley: His biography says he is a fashion and portrait photographer but he has also directed TV commercials, documentaries and he also paints and sculpts.

His photos show models who have a bit of an attitude (if I compare them to Avedon’s where they seem almost suspicious). Lots of movement (hair, eyes, body) but I wondered how he took his picture (froma higher angle than subject? Which lense). The models are almost confrontational with the viewer.

Other photographers...

Terry Richardson: American fashion and portrait photographer. He is very inspired by the punk rock scene and started his career by photographing young people partying and other nightlife. I think that in lots of his pictures are often provocative. His own personal work (Terryworld for instance) works a lot around sexuality and is extremely provocative.

Andrew Zuckerman:

Annie Liebovitz:

David Bayley:

I decided to then ask one of my classmates to model for me on the first Friday after the first attempt session. I found that setting the white background was more difficult. I was struggling with the lights, positioning them so that the light would be equal on the background (uniform). Mark helped me by adjusting the lights (they were too high and not oriented in the right direction, crossing and creating different measures with the lightmeter). I managed to get a better silhouette of Reka.

The rest of the photoshoot was better than my first attempt with Karen but I was missing a lot of things:

-a clear idea of what to do (poses, frame and inspiration)

I was struggling on these points because I actually did some research but I didn’t really feel convince with what I found. The photographs I found had their particular style but I felt a bit lost because I didn’t manage to stick to an inspiration and my first few attempts with the clean white background felt a bit like swimming without knowing where I was meant to go to.

I thought about doing a ¾ photography portrait but realised that I didn’t have enough space in the studio (nor thought about how to deal with space in studio), that I actually liked close portrait better.

I thought that I would change my model and used someone else. I think that I should have asked someone else as I knew this person and his history and wanted to use his scarf (from Kurdistan). I did have four examples of photos I wanted to try, from different angles.

Setting up the background was getting easier, and I had the whole studio for me so we used four panels instead of two.

Again, I think that I didn’t really know how to talk to my model and didn’t have a clear idea of what I wanted to do with him. Some of the pcitures are nice but I didn’t really use his scarf well: I should have been probably more direct in the way I was talking to him, and also checked my photos and taken my time to double-check the pictures (framing, pose). I found out that what actually matters more than thousands of pictures is working little by little and solving as many problems as you could from the beginning and come as prepared as possible.

I felt that some shots were nice and quite basic: I used two soft boxes on each side of my model’s face and it didn’t suit the model, or better didn’t really emphasise his personality and was pretty flat. The poses chosen were not adapted to the kind of pictures I was looking for and I felt more frustrated both by the lack of time but also because I couldn’t pintpoint exactly what wasn’t working.

I then went for another session with one of my classmates, better prepared because I thought more carefully about what he was to wear and how I wanted him to stand. We had the full studio for ourselves. Tutor advised us to use as much space as needed and he helped me to set the studio quite far from the background.

I think I wanted to get away from a more conventional and eye-level portrait, by trying the ‘contre-plongee’ (low-angle shot). I set the studio, using two soft-boxes on each side of my subject and having him alternatively standing or sitting. I realised that for some of my frames, the top of the background was in my shots. I then decided that I’d take the pictures from further away. It really got me thinking about how I was using my space, background. I felt that I needed space and would need to push the panels away. Space needed to be taken into consideration: how do I use, how much do I need it, how do I show tension in my shots, how do I guide the viewer’s eyes? How do I want them to feel?

I wasn’t happy either with those shots, not entirely: I felt that they looked ok but were not punchy enough.

I then went back to what works well for me, that is drawing: what do I see in my mind, how can I put it onto paper and then shoot it?

What works in the Frame, different faces, different clothes, different scarves, hands position, portrait/landscapes. Freda was helping me creating a real life ‘draft’ of what my final image would be. The lighting/model would be different but the idea was to see what was working or not.

I wanted this picture to be very geometrical, little/no make up and simple, not much to look at but my model’s face and her facial expression.

I based my project on different things I came across in my personal life, books I have read and that were inspiring me: I didn’t want anything particularly beautiful, but more something that would say ‘don’t touch’.

EVALUATION:

I think that the most powerful pictures were the one where she wasn’t actually shouting. I was told about the “waste of space” (bottom right) because there was nothing there. I cropped the final picture and tried to move the hand further down but it somehow blocked her eyes and didn’t look nice at all.

I started the photoshoot with the digital camera and continued with the digital camera. I felt that it helped me to understand what I was shooting.

When I tried to print the film version of my portrait, I found that borders were difficult to do, so I was really had to go back to fundamentals and start from the beginning. As I just started working with analogue cameras, I am still building my knowledge of how to manipulate the camera but also how to print.

I started the photoshoot with the digital camera and continued with the analogue camera.

I’d say that using an analogue camera is still new to me, but it really helped me with understanding exposure. I asked my classmates some feedback on the film version of my portrait and they said that the composition was good but the eyes were a bit out of focus / could have been sharper. Either because my focus when taking the picture wasn’t on the eyes or because when I printed it, the negative was a bit out of focus. There is also a tiny white spot on my picture that I’d need to colour in. It might be dust (although I used a ‘blower’) or a defect on the film (it kept on coming back on several films exactly at the same place).

Post-production wise (difital), I burnt the gloves, change the highlights and the skin tone (very yellow), I also cropped the picture.

#cleanwhite

1 note · View note

caddy-whump-us · 5 years

Text

Here’s some comfort for after the events of this post. The narration starts off in Ryan’s head (because I don’t do enough with him and he’s basically 6 feet of Goofy Big Brother mixed with Natural Leader and I love him), but I think that changes part of the way through. I’m just going to call it “experimental fiction” and roll with it.

At this point, Julian was recaptured by the lab/corporation that made him (see link above) and they’ve blocked his memory and his speech again and gotten him back into, well, “fighting shape.” He’s back to being their “meat machine” again. But in the course of an intercepted mission, Ryan, Jack, Marisol and the others standing against the company succeeded in catching Julian. Now they’re just waiting to see if he’ll recover his memory and come back to his senses. But there’s also someone new hanging around with them...

So back to square one. Sure. But it could be a fuck-ton worse than it was. Right now, the worst was that Phillip was about to go nuts with not being able to get to Julian’s new injuries (especially the self-inflicted ones when he’d made moves to escape), let alone remove the new tracking chips that were in him (without a doubt). He heals fast, but it’s never fast enough for Doc Phil.

At least it wasn’t too much of a botched up interception getting him back. Could’ve been neater, but like that’s going to happen dealing with these guys--we’re not exactly by-the-book on our side either, I guess. The point is, it was successful with no fatalities. That’s points for us.

They processed him back in fast, though. Like, just a couple of days back in the lab and there’s reports that he’s back out in the field. I guess they got all their measurements done the first time. Now it’s just like resetting him to factory default--fuck but I don’t like thinking about it like that, though.

And, okay, so now the boyfriend was involved--not his fault. That’s the kind of move the lab would make, setting up somebody as bait, to get their favorite experiment back.

Shit, at this point, Julian wasn’t even an experiment. He was a full-blown success, put out in missions multiple times and retrieved each time. The lab was just kind of the maintenance and repairs department. Julian belongs to the company now. He’s a weapon out in the world.

So the boyfriend’s involved, thanks to the lab or the company or both, and the (heh) mother-in-law too, even if she doesn’t know it. And she’s gonna keep on not knowing it too, fuck. Jack can deal with that side of things, keep up protection without her even knowing. Maybe it was a bad idea to bring the boyfriend here, but it gets him out of harm’s way.

But Marisol is right, like, most of the time about this stuff: he might trigger Julian’s memories. You get one to break free and there’s a cascade--that’s how it went last time. Fuck that was exhausting, though, with him randomly crawling into closets and shit and crying, not even knowing why he was doing it at first, crawling into bed next to me and not sleeping until he was content with everything being secure, getting himself under beds because he needed to hide and he didn’t really know fuck-all why. At least “got your six” calmed him down after a while. Like he needed to know someone was keeping a lookout. These paramilitary bullshitters, I swear. But that’s the pot calling the kettle black, Ryan. You don’t get to forget how long you were in with them. And everything else. Better watch it.

But, see, that’s what you get when you strip it all away. You kill the personality, you kill the human warning systems, you kill the emotions, you kill the individual, and you start getting this thing that runs on conditioning and instinct like some kind of machine and fuck me but I gotta wonder if that’s actually any better than a drone or some nanotech.

I guess they kept his brain intact enough that he can act and react better than a drone. He can understand mission objectives, he can actually learn, he can adjust as needed and make changes on the fly. I mean, you can see him working things out. You can see it in his eyes. He’s as close to a machine as you want to get--to keep the best parts of both a human and a machine. It’s that old “perfect soldier” shit. He’s probably waiting for extraction right now.

He’s never gonna shake the conditioning, though. That’s probably going to stick around forever. No matter how many memories come back or how much he actually feels after all this, they rewired him in ways that he doesn’t even realize yet.

He’ll have to realize it all eventually, though.

Ryan took the stairs by two, heading back up into the isolated research wing of the hospital (card access only; Phillip hadn’t liked it when he’d stuck a “Staph Only” sign on the back of the door, but he seemed okay with the “Better Living Through Chemistry” poster in one of the labs--or maybe he just hadn’t noticed yet; so serious, Phillip).

The entire wing was guileless glass and steel: nothing to hide here, nothing meant to be left unseen, all natural light and open explanations, even if the reason for this entire section’s existence was more than a little obscured. Sure, public health and infectious disease research were important, but that’s just what the labels on the outside said. Inside was something else. And deeper down was something else.

Ryan turned deeper inside, walking down muffled and carpeted halls, down past offices all encased in glass, all windows and papers and bright computer screens.

He stopped at one, hand over the doorhandle. Inside was a, well, a kid, really--Julian’s age, but lankier, sitting in the desk chair with his back to the door, watching the traffic in the hall beyond, twisting side to side and back and forth in the desk chair, and waiting.

Ryan opened the door and Avery spun to face him.

“Hey. I’m Ryan.”

“Hi.” He was squeezing at a bright and doughy stress-relief toy pulled from the shelves beside the desk.

Ryan perched on the corner of the desk. Avery kept on twisting the toy, folding bits of it into itself, letting them pop back into place.

“So, listen. We’ve got clearance to go downstairs.”

Avery’s eyes snapped up. “So we’re going.”

“We’re going,” Ryan said as Avery pushed back the desk chair (it bumped against the glass wall of the office). “But you need to understand: he’s in rough shape.”

Ryan all but blocked Avery’s way, sitting on the edge of the desk as he was. Avery stopped in front of him. His eyes were bright and sharp, a hawk’s eyes. “I literally do not care.”

Ryan went on: “I’m telling you that so you don’t freak out when you see him cut up and bleeding, okay?”

Avery shrugged. “Yeah? I’ve seen blood a couple times before.”

“And I’m telling you that so you don’t freak out when he doesn’t act like himself.”

This time Avery looked down at his shoes, at the appropriately professional gray carpet under his feet. “Yeah.”

Ryan reached out and set his hand on Avery’s shoulder. “Don’t dwell on it too much right now, all right? It’s not going to do you any good. You know now that they fucked with his memory. So you know he might not remember you.”

Again, quieter: “Yeah.” And Ryan squeezed his shoulder.

“The thing is,” Ryan went on, “and you have to hold onto this, is that he heals fast. You saw him when he was healed up last time. You know, when he snuck out to meet you. So all the stuff they did to his brain won’t last. That’s one of the things about their method or whatever you want to call it: he heals fast. I don’t know how long it’ll last this time, but you and I both know that it didn’t last before.”

Avery kept his head down; his eyes and face were hot.

“So if he doesn’t recognize you right now, just be patient.”

A long silence passed. Avery nodded.

“All right, c’mon.” Ryan jerked his thumb over his shoulder. “We’re going downstairs.”

Ryan scanned his ID card and his right thumb at the elevator. Avery leaned over to watch as Ryan typed in the code for the underground floor.

“How deep does this thing go? Like, there are more floors underground than above ground. What was this place built for, anyway?”

The elevator bounced once, then began its sliding silvery descent, blue digital numbers ticking by on the screen above the door.

“Research--contagious disease research, actually,” Ryan said.

“I saw that on the wall.”

“Yeah, so it’s got the kind of checkpoints and security we want. Or, I guess if you think about it, it’s got the kind of checkpoints and security you’d want for contagious disease research, so you might as well do that too. Works both ways.”

“So you’re using honest medical research as a front.”

“Not like they’re not discovering new vaccines in the meantime. We’ve got Julian housed in what should be a high-risk quarantine room right now. It’s the safest place for him.”

“Not a dungeon.”

“Definitely not a dungeon.”

Still the hall onto which the elevator opened was blue and dimly lit--soothing, in a strange way, like being at the bottom of the ocean. More of a tunnel than a hallway, though, with the walls and ceiling rounded over. It was quiet, but something hummed, deep and distant, beyond or below the hallway--less a sound than a sensation. It was peaceful--more peaceful than the usual blazing white hospital hallway and something to the light and the low rumbling sound made Avery speak only in a whisper.

“Here?”

“Yeah.” And they stepped out.

A doctor, labcoat, clipboard, and all came quietly down the hall towards them and the elevator. Ryan tipped a nod. The elevator doors closed.

Avery was shaking his hands at his sides. Ryan gave him a pat on the back.

“Stay cool, Avery.”

“I’m fine,” he answered.

Ryan didn’t answer, but started down the blue hallway (hands in his pockets) and Avery followed. At a branch in the tunnel, they turned left, and more glass-fronted rooms began to appear in the wall, but not at all like the glass offices upstairs: these rooms had more in common with aquarium exhibits or zoo enclosures. Each one had a pale blue curtain drawn across behind the glass. If anyone was in these rooms, Avery couldn’t tell and Ryan wouldn’t say.

“I can talk to him, right?” Avery said at last.

“You can, but you can’t expect too much of an answer. When they modified his brain, one of the places they hit were his speech centers.”

Avery rubbed at his eyes for a moment with the heels of his hands. “I fucking hate when you say ‘modified his brain.’ Can’t he write?”

“He’s not ‘supposed’ to write.” Ryan waggled his fingers around his ears. “That’s what he told us before. Draw a map? Sure. Give a count? Sure. Write down what he saw? Not as easy.”

“What, did they make him forget how to write?”

Ryan started, thought better of it, licked his lips, sighed, and finally said, “It’s not quite that.”

“Oh my God, you’re all so fucking obscure. Surprise: I’m not an idiot. You could tell me shit, but no, you just talk and never say anything. You, everyone I’ve met here, even him--”

Ryan stopped in the hall and turned to him. “Hey, hang on. I could tell you every last thing they did to him that got him where he is today. All right? We got all that. We know all of that. But if I tell you that and you go in there and you see him, you’re going to be thinking about each and every one of those things. You love him, right?”

Avery was quiet a moment. “Yeah. Like crazy.” He frowned to hold back a few rogue tears.

“So I want you to see how okay he is before I start telling you how not okay he is. Okay?”

“Yeah. Okay.”

They passed through the last part of the hall in silence and turned down another corridor. Here there was a light shining out of the glass wall that framed off the quarantine room and the curtain was drawn back. Ryan stopped a few steps back. Avery drew a shuddering breath and stepped forward.

The room was small and bare, only what was needed: a sink and a toilet molded into or out of the blank back wall (no pipes to trip over, nothing to cause injury), a bed that was more like a bench with no blanket, but only a cushion (covered in, what, blue Naugahyde? vinyl?). The bed was untouched: no smears of blood or dirty handprints. (Sure, if someone was lost in the wilderness of fever or hallucinations, you wouldn’t want much in their room.)

But Avery, like as not, hardly saw the room. His eyes went straight for the far corner.

Julian was crouched in the far corner, balanced on one knee, sleepless but still. Still filthy with dirt and blood, the circles under his eyes darker than ever, but apparently unconcerned. If anything, he just looked annoyed.

With Julian’s clothes ripped near on to shreds, Avery could see, for the first time, the identification tattoos and marks (“meat tags” Ryan called them, but not around Avery) that ran up his arms and across his back.

He’d put up a fight (and somewhere, deep in him, Avery was proud of that; Ryan was too).

Avery kept his tears in check, kept his face blank, and crouched down in front of the glass wall that separated him from Julian.

A long silence, undercut by that low humming, held between them. Avery pressed one hand against the glass.

Julian was very still: only his eyes moved, flicking across Avery’s face, Ryan’s face, the wall between them. He shifted his weight back further on one heel and raised one hand--but only to his chest--and gestured.

Julian: [See.] [You.] [I understand.]

Avery turned to Ryan. “What’s he doing? Is that sign language?”

“No,” Ryan said slowly, now walking closer to the glassed-in cell. “It’s like close range engagement hand signals.” He paused, frowning. “But kind of also not. I bet it’s their homegrown system.”

“You can answer him, right?”

Julian: [See.] [You.] [I understand.]

“Do my best.” And Ryan signed back: [I don’t understand.]

“What, you don’t know it? I thought you knew these guys.”

Julian: [OK.]

Ryan’s hands drifted back to his sides. “Yeah, well, they keep changing shit and I don’t know everything.”

In an instant, Julian had lunged, low and catlike, across the floor of his cell and come up against the glass. Avery fell back and Ryan dove half to catch him and half to guard him--but no need: Julian stopped just against the glass.

Ryan held Avery up by the collar of his jacket. They both stared.

Julian: [You.] And he pointed at Avery. [I understand.]

A deeper silence fell across the humming hallway and the glass room.

“What’s it mean? Ryan?” His voice cracked. “Ryan?”

“He recognizes you.”

Avery, pulled himself up to his knees and pressed his hand against the glass again. Julian, his face still an empty, vicious mask (the face of a captive wolf, the face of a taken hawk, waiting for an escape), held still a moment and then, fast, pressed his hand against the glass to match Avery’s.

Crouched there on his knees in front of Julian’s prison box, Avery dropped his face in his hand and burst into tears.

#whump #OCs #julian #avery #ryan #dogs of war #injuries #captivity #mute #human experimentation #dehumanization #comfort #recovery #memory recovery #emotional whump

5 notes · View notes