if you’re still accepting from this list, #23 of the incredibly specific aus, with Lup and Barry would be amazing! love your writing!!
omg you're so sweet!! tysm!! "pretending to be married for this high stakes heist is kind of distracting not gonna lie" from this list! [still accepting]
“Lup, I don’t know about this,” Barry murmurs. He and Lup stand a few meters away from the palace’s entrance. Barry watches as guests weave past them, wearing finery and laughing easily. He wishes he could be having as carefree an evening as them. He wishes he was doing nearly anything except this.
“It’s gonna be fine, I promise.” Her eyes barely dart over to the heavily armed guards at the door; one of them appears to be watching the pair of them suspiciously. She smiles fondly and brushes his hair back. It’s bizarre how easy she can fall into this charade, Barry thinks to himself. She places her hand on his chest, toying with his tie. “You remember the plan, yeah?”
He nods. “We’re rubbing elbows with the wealthy, getting intel where we can, and keeping an eye on the crowd. Taako and Lucretia are sneaking in through one of the side doors to extract Merle from wherever he’s being kept. Magnus is our ripcord in case something goes south,” he recites the plan like a mantra.
“Exactly. And honestly? I bet we can swipe some cool shit once these bastards get some drinks in ‘em.”
“Lup, this whole thing is already giving me hives without the petty theft aspect,” Barry says mournfully. Lup grins and adjusts Barry’s tie.
“Gotcha, babe. Only swiping stuff of the utmost importance,” she winks and makes grabby hands for Barry’s arm. “Let’s knock ‘em dead.”
“Remind me how we got roped into this part of the plan?” Barry asks, offering his arm like the perfect gentleman.
“Because Magnus is a terrible liar, nobody trusts a random pair of twins, you’d sooner pass as Luce’s dad than her husband, and Taako and Lucretia’s last try at a lavender marriage did end with us having to pay off like, fifty people,” Lup grasps the crook of Barry’s arm as though it was made precisely for her. “Besides Bar, it’s kinda fun playing pretend for a night, huh?”
Barry smiles tightly. “Yeah. I guess it is.” He fishes out their artfully forged invite as they approach the guards.
The taller guard takes it and scrutinizes it for a moment. “Dr. and Mrs. Bluejeans?”
“Drs. Bluejeans,” Barry corrects firmly. “My wife and I are both experts in elemental and planar physics as well as applied arcana.”
Lup squeezes Barry’s arm and gives the guard a sweet smile as he ushers them inside. “My hero,” she whispers as soon as they’re out of earshot.
“Hey, nobody’s going to downplay my wife’s accomplishments.” Barry smiles at the sight of the tips of Lup’s ears turning a sunburnt shade of red.
Lup laughs and taps a tipsy guest on the shoulder, distracting from the fact that she’s extracting a glimmering dagger from his pocket. “Oh, Erskine you really are too much! If you’ll excuse me, I must be getting back to my husband but I do hope to see you around,” she sends him a wink and rolls her eyes the minute her back is turned. Schmoozing comes easy to her but she does loathe to do it. A quick survey of the ballroom and she finds Barry talking with an air genasi woman dripping with jewels p with her eyes practically glued to Barry. He seems to be handling himself just fine, talking animatedly about gods know what; still, Lup feels beckoned over to the pair by some kind of force, some flip in her stomach. Must be nerves.
She saunters over to the pair, feeling that odd flip, that clench in her stomach when she sees this woman paw at Barry’s arm. In a moment, Lup sidles up beside Barry, resting one possessive hand over his shoulder while tucking herself beneath his arm. Without even thinking, she cups Barry’s face with her hand and kisses him, eliciting a small noise of surprise.
She realizes what she’s done a moment too late. Oh well. She pulls back from Barry’s soft lips and rests her forehead against his. Immediately she can see somewhere just south of seventy emotions and thoughts racing through his mind. “Hi baby,” she purrs before glancing back at the air genasi woman. “Who’s your friend?” she asks innocently, a sugary-sweet smile springing to her lips.
“Oh! This is Lady Aurai. I was just telling her about you and I have been working on this year,” Barry says, his voice surprisingly steady.
“Yes, Barry seems very excited by the work you’re doing,” Lady Aurai says blandly, eyeing Lup over.
“Anything I do with Lup is exciting,” Barry looks to her fondly before pressing a kiss to her temple. He catches glimpse of Taako slinking into the shadows, Lucretia close behind. “We should dance, love, I think the band’s really going to pick up in a minute.”
Lup nod, picking up on Barry’s tone. “Well, good talking to you, Lady Away, we should be going.” She turns on her heel, following Barry to the dancefloor. “Sorry about that,” she murmurs into Barry’s ear as the two comfortably sway to the music.
“Don’t worry about it. Gotta keep up appearances.” It’s odd. Lup almost wishes for more of a frazzled reaction. Barry’s hardly hunky-dory at the moment, mind you, though Lup’s uncertain how much of that is normal stress and how much is kiss stress.
As the music swells, Barry grins and twirls Lup around before bringing her in close.
“You’re really good at this, Barry,” Lup says breathlessly, not used to how foolish Barry can make her. Which is an odd thing to say about a friend, Lup amends mentally.
“I try. Easy when I have such a dazzling partner,” He smiles and holds her face in his hand. A moment too long of hesitation and a loud bell is struck; the unmistakable sound of Magic Missiles gives Barry and Lup all the heads up they need. They make themselves scarce in the ensuing scuffle and meet back up with Taako, Lucretia, Magnus, and Merle.
Everyone back on the Starblaster, good as new, and absolutely without anything else to discuss.