Lup with “I made a bet. I lost. Simple as that.”
Barry woke up to the sound of someone ramming a broom into the ceiling on the floor below. At least, that’s how heinterpreted the sound; it could have been anything. He got up, rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, and began to search for his glasses.
And still the broom continued to thump against the ceiling. “I’m coming, goddammit,” he grumbled. “Who the hell could that even be ?”
He trudged down the stairs, and looked around. And then he noticed that Lup’s feet were on the ceiling. “What. The. Fuck.”
Lup sighed. “Morning, babe.”
“Morning,” Barry said. “Lup, why are you on the ceiling?”
Lup grimaced. “I made a bet. I lost. Simple as that.” She shrugged.
Barry blinked a few times. “What kind of bet makes it so that you got stuck on the ceiling? Who did you make a bet with that ended with you being stuck on the ceiling?”
“Taako,” Lup responded. “I bet Taako that I could stand on one foot longer than him.”
Barry snickered. “And you lost?”
“Yes,” Lup conceded. “But it was only because he cheated!” she said defensively. “He used Mage Hand to knock me off balance, then denied it ever happening!”
“And that’s why you’re stuck on the ceiling?” Barry asked, raising his eyebrows.
“And how long are you going to be up there?” Barry asked.
Lup shrugged. “He was obnoxiously vague about it!” she said. “He said that ‘you’ll need Barold’s help to get down,’ or something like that.” She made air quotes around Taako’s words.
“I’m sure that the spell has a time limit,” Barry said. “I have no clue how to get you down.”
“Dammit, Taako!” Lup groused.
Barry sighed. “I guess we start experimenting.” He grabbed a notebook so that they wouldn’t try the same idea multiple times.
First, he grabbed Lup’s hands, and tried to pull her down. He just ended up hanging in midair by Lup’s arms.
“Ow!” Lup exclaimed. “Babe, that hurt my arms.” Barry let go.
He tried walking Lup over to the wall, and then having her walk down, which didn’t work either.
Lup tried to take off her shoes and see if that did anything. The shoes fell to the floor. Lup did not.
The pair used Detect Magic to see if any particular item was the cause of the spell, which it wasn’t.
Barry tried to pull her down with a rope. This actually worked, except that the moment he slackend the rope, she went straight back up to the ceiling.
“DAMMIT!” Lup yelled, stomping on the ceiling.
Barry sighed. “I can’t think of anything else to do,” he said irritably.
Lup laid down on the ceiling. “Maybe I could climb down something?” she suggested. “But the moment I let go, I’ll fly into the ceiling again.”
“Try casting Blink, and I’ll grab onto you,” Barry said. “We can get you somewhere with low ceilings until the spell wears off.”
“That could work, I guess,” Lup said. She disappeared, and Barry held out his arms, giving a thumbs up to show Lup that he was ready.
A few seconds later, Lup was right next to him, grabbing onto his sleeves as she started to zoom upwards.
Barry grabbed her wrists. “Gotcha!” he said triumphantly. He tugged her downwards, until they were seeing eye to eye.
“Alright,” Lup said, grinning. “Now let’s get to another room that doesn’t have super high ceilings.”
Barry nodded and walked through the door, towing Lup behind him like an elvish balloon.
“This was a pretty good idea,” Lup said, and Barry could hear the smile in her voice, even if he wasn’t looking at her.
“Thanks,” Barry said. “You’d do the same for me, right?”
“Probably,” Lup said as they walked through the hall. “It’s also possible that I would leave you on the ceiling and make fun of you.”
Barry laughed. “Yeah. I wanted to do it too,” he admitted.
“You should have,” Lup said.
Barry walked through another door, into a room with significantly lower ceilings. He turned to face Lup. “I’m gonna let go, okay?” he warned.
Lup grabbed his collar. “Hold up,” she said.
“What?” Barry asked, confused.
Lup kissed his forehead. “Thanks babe,” she said. “Alright, now you can let g-” Lup’s personal gravity suddenly righted itself, and she tumbled into Barry.
“I’m gonna fucking kill Taako,” Lup said, even though she was laughing. “He said that I’d need your help, but I admit that I didn’t think that was he meant!”
{This is also on my Ao3 book, which you should check out. Also, leave me requests. I love to write them!}
