I don't know if this is what you were asking for, but here's your fanfic request:
tw for kidnapping and possession.
If Flash was honest, he didn't fully understand what possession meant. What it meant that Octavia is was possessed. He knows it must've been bad, because Cicero had been depressed the last few months, and the Ovenist genuinely horrified once they learned the truth.
But he didn't understand exactly how it worked. The best understanding he had was that Cheeser now had control over Octavia, the same way someone would have control over a video game character. One of those role-playing stories.
He'd never asked Cicero to clarify because she was barely holding on as it was, and he'd never asked the Ovenist because he'd been busy. Busy trying and failing to find Cicero, busy trying to convince the Ovenist to not ask Dr. Keh for help. Then busy failing to find Cicero. Then busy watching Dr. Keh for any signs that he'll change his mind and betray them.
Flash still doesn't know how the Ovenist even managed to convince Dr. Keh for help. If the Ovenist and Dr. Keh were dating secretly and Dr. Keh was secretly more fond of the Ovenist than he let on, or if the Ovenist had blackmailed him into it. Flash suspected the second.
If Flash hadn't seen it-seen how dedicated Dr. Keh was to making sure the dough was frozen properly-he wouldn't have believed it. So he didn't really blame Cicero for not believing him when he said that Dr. Keh helped. She'd even asked the Ovenist later for confirmation, and looked even more bewildered afterwards. But then again, she'd been bewildered ever since she got back from wherever Cheeser was imprisoning her. Flash had asked her about that once, and she'd said that she had a hard time believing it was real. Which was a strange thing for her to say, considering she was the reason everything had turned out fine. But maybe she'd felt a lot more hopeless about saving Octavia than she'd let on.
Flash may never know. He tried to avoid asking Cicero for too much information. She still looked upset whenever she was reminded of last month.
Everyone in the family has been acting strange since Cicero and Flash managed to freeze the dough. No one has talked to Cicero about it lately, and Flash has his suspicions of why-the case was a lot more personal for Cicero than it was for Flash.
Cicero was trying to save her best friend, and her family, and everyone in Pizza City. She was the one who was calling all the shots, and had continued to do that even after asking Flash for help. She'd been very explicit on that. Cicero would do the work of finding the tablet pieces. All Flash would do is keep her informed on the case. And keeping her aware of any tablet pieces the Ovenist had (which was all of them. Cicero hadn't been happy about that, and she'd been even less happy when he suggested that she ask the Ovenist for them.)
Flash, on the other hand, was just trying to keep Cicero from being arrested. He hadn't understood at the time that Cheeser was dangerous, dangerous enough to literally kidnap Cicero (He honestly should've known, especially considering how Mother had literally begged Cicero to give up). All he'd known at the time was that Cicero had already dug herself a hole by stealing the dough, and would need help to not get arrested after that. Flash knew from his time in the Deep Dish Gang how quick and efficient the WPA could be. And Cicero wasn't even good at stealing (Flash felt guilty for thinking this, but she was not good. Really bad at it, actually. Like 'it's a miracle she managed to hide that she stole the dough for that long' bad.). Flash knew she'd be caught eventually. Which she had-and the Ovenist hadn't even been investigating Cicero when they found out.
Sometimes you didn't have the choice to give up. Sometimes you were stuck, unable to back out. You just had to dig yourself out of a hole. Flash knew that from painful experience.
Would Flash have helped Cicero as much, if he had to do it again? Probably. He knows the only reason Cicero wasn't arrested was because he'd convinced the Ovenist. But he thinks he'd be more wary, knowing that Cicero could be kidnapped if she was caught.
Did Cicero know how lucky she was that everything turned out fine? Flash thinks she does.
Octavia and Cicero were hanging out again. Flash hasn't seen them apart ever since Octavia was un-possessed. Well, he has seen them apart sometimes, but it felt like they were together all the time. It most likely was Cicero's way of making up for not interacting with Octavia for...however long she'd been possessed.
Flash thinks he'd act the same way if he wasn't able to interact with his friends for a while. Maybe that was the right way to think about it? He didn't understand how Cicero could go from enemies with Octavia Cheeser to best friends with her, but he believes that he'd do the same if his friends were temporarily cursed to hate him. Or something like that.
He still didn't really get how this possession thing worked. Maybe he should ask the Ovenist.
One of the more noticeable things was that Cicero was much happier lately. She'd been faking it earlier, really well too. But Flash knew that she wasn't doing as great as she seemed. It was the small things, like how she seemed distracted all the time, or wouldn't eat unless reminded, or how Buratta's Pizzeria would get dirtier the longer the case went on.
But now Cicero was...practically ecstatic. Ecstatic to the point that she wasn't acting the same. She'd refused to do much else besides visit Alicante during the case, but now she was trying out pretty much anything Octavia suggested. Which was weird, because she usually hated going to the amusement park (she genuinely didn't understand why anyone would want to do that) or ice skating, but now she was doing pretty much anything. It was a bit eerie, seeing her act differently, but Flash is happy for her.
AUUUGHHHHHGAAHAAAAAAAAA THIS IS AMAZING! I had like, a faint inkling of their relationship, but this is just *chef's kiss*.
All I remember of them interacting was her using his lockpick but giving him an alibi. This is so cool, thank you so much!
