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ashboy-3 · 1 year

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He's One Cool Kat

Prompt: Written for ColdFlash BigBang, never got put onto Tumblr accidentally Fandom: CW's Flash Words: 18,706 Summary: Barry is a typical 1950’s nerd with no friends and is a loner, not by choice of course, while Snart is a greaser who rolls with his gang, the rouges. The two are forced to work on a science project together and although they have many differences the two begin to learn things about each other that they would have never guessed.

Ao3 Link

Barry Allen was just a nerd as he walked into the school building in central city. He was wearing his white button up shirt, with a pair of black slacks, and a pair of black suspenders on his shoulders to keep his pants up. He didn’t feel like putting his contacts in earlier this morning, so he wore his big thick black rimmed glasses. The last part to complete his look, besides his black shoes, is his bow tie. He decided that he didn’t want to wear a tie today and he already had a bow tied from the other day. This was how a normal day went for Bartholomew Henry Allen, but he preferred it when people just called him Barry.

Besides him walked a smaller brown skinned girl who wore an orange blouse with sleeves that came down to the elbows, a brown pencil skirt that had a small pattern of dark yellow flowers on them. The skirt also had a thick brown belt to go around the waist, for shoes she wore a pair of brown penny loafers that had a small bow of string tied on the tip of the toes, with matching socks of course. Last to complete the look she wore a small necklace of white beads around her neck and one small bracelet on her right wrist. This was Iris West, Barry’s stepsister.

School was just getting back on track after Christmas break let out and Barry, like always, was nervous. He liked school, especially science class. What he didn’t like were the other kids at the school. They often picked on him and messed with him, the only one who could truly stop them was his sister. Barry on the other hand, usually did the only thing he’s known how to do his whole life. . .

Run.

He would run from the bullies, from the other kids, from the teachers, his adoptive father, his problems. If something was going wrong, he would just run. He knew that wasn't healthy, but what else is he supposed to do? He's not good at anything else but schoolwork.

As he was just about to lose track in his thoughts Iris looked over at him and started to talk to him, “Barry are you even listening?” She finally asked him.

“Uh sorry no,” He admitted.

“I said that I’m going to catch a ride with Caitlin after school and I think that Cisco is coming with us. I need to know if you're staying after school later or not, so I know if he needs to give you a ride. Dad said he’s working late tonight,” she informed him.

Barry just shook his head in agreement, knowing Iris was ready to leave him behind to meet up with her friends, they were in different grades after all. They talked for a few more minutes before they parted ways and Barry walked to his class.

As he walked in the first thing, he noticed was that some of the rogues were in his class and that meant bad news for him. Not only were they the bad kids of the school, but one of them was super-hot and distracted Barry easily, not that he would ever let anyone know that, especially that rouge, no matter how nifty he was.

Seeing as he was the first person to walk into the class, they just stared at him and what Barry would give to run away from there, but he would never dream of skipping class.

To add salt to the wound the two rogues in his class were none other than Leonard Snart and Mick Rory. They both wore roughly the same thing; in fact, all the rouges did. They all wore a white shirt, with a black leather jacket, a pair of white or black socks, and a pair of black shoes. The only thing that really differed their outfits was their pants. They all wore jeans, but it varied in different dark colors. Their shoes were all different from everyone else's as well. They were black with a white outline and a white shoelace.

Barry was a lucky one to never be in a class with one of them, but he always admired from afar now, however, it seems like he’s going to be a main target.

He rushes to take his seat, hoping that the teacher doesn’t decide to move him in the future as he sat the furthest away from the two and waited for class to start.

Earlier that Day

As Leonard Snart walked to school, he made a point to stop by one house that held a certain Mick Rory. He was pulling a cigarette out of a new deck of luckies right when Mick walked through the door. Without a word Mick lit the cancer stick for Len, but he was happy to not partake in the substance, he was happy to just watch it burn.

“We can always skip school today,” Mick suggested, clearly not wanting to go. Mick hated school the whole thing was hard and stupid. The only class he really liked was English and even that was only when he was able to free write. School is just too hard for him to understand.

“My dad will turn me red if I skip the first day of school,” Snart told him, ending the conversation making the two walks in silence, not that they minded. After all, the two have known each other practically their whole lives.

Snart knew everything about Mick and vice versa, and boy did the two have problems. If it wasn't for Snart’s father Mick would be in juvie by now, or worse an asylum. All for loving fire, Snart himself thought that it was stupid, but he can’t be one to judge. If his father ever found out that he didn’t like girls and instead liked boys, he would be killed on the spot.

Before the two knew it, they were at school. They walked to the office to receive their schedules, after all they always take the same class and most of those were one block courses. After that it was revealed that their first class of the day was science. Of course, they would be the first ones there, not that they cared. It usually put the teachers in a false confidence when they showed up and acted like angels for the first week and became hellions the rest of the school year.

The two, with no hesitation, walked to the back of the classroom in the far corner, climbed on the top of the desk and sat down, clearly not in the seats. The two talked about any and everything. They didn’t have anything to catch up on, they saw each other every day during break. There are only two things that Mick currently didn’t know about his best friend at the moment. If his sister made it to school okay, and who his crush is. The first one Mick didn’t really care about as she usually got a ride to school by Len’s ass of a father. The second one, however, bugged him greatly.

Mick knew that his friend had a crush, he’s known since they entered high school. Just not who it is. Just when Mick was about to bring up his favorite topic of conversation to tease his friend with the nerdiest kid in the whole school walked in... well almost, that Ramon boy was nerdier by at least .01 percent.

The second the brown-haired teen noticed the two his eyes widened, and he decided that the perfect place to sit was in the front of the class next to the door, the farthest seat from them possible.

The boy seemed to keep quiet and not want any attention, but as Mick watched his friend and saw Snart’s eyes widen he could tell that this was the boy that his best friend was crushing on and by the looks of it he was crushing hard, but of course Len will never admit it, without help of course.

Mick hit Snart on the shoulder as a way to get his attention and pointed at the boy, “Look at the candy ass,” Mick told him as he laughed.

“He definitely ain’t no cat that’s for sure,” Len agreed as the two laughed, but Mick could tell that his friend was hurting inside at not wanting to reveal his feelings.

Sadly, the two didn’t have time to laugh at the nerd for much longer as the warning bell rang, and the class started to fill up. As more people walked in you could see that they were visibly uncomfortable by the fact that the leader and second in command of the rogues were in their class.

Not a minute passed after all the teens took their seats that their teacher for the class walked in the classroom, slamming the door as he entered.

“You will all be quiet and sit down. No talking, no fighting, no using ridiculous slang in this class. I will introduce myself and then it will be all of you. My name is Mr. Wells. I do not care for you, but each and every one of you will behave in this class, and if you are lucky you just might pass,” Wells said to all of them.

It took up the first ten minutes of class, but eventually everyone introduced themselves, not that Wells was going to care enough to remember their names.

“Now that, that is done. I will explain how this class will work. I will split all of you into groups of two. This is your partner. You will sit next to this person and do all of your work with this person. The only time you do your work by yourself is for a test. You will each do one big project that is due then end of the year. You will work on it starting today with your partner. This will count for sixty percent of your grade, and before any of you ask, yes, I will be picking the partners. Now when I call your name you will be moving seats,” Wells explained.

At the end everyone instantly gained anxiety as to not know who they were going to be with for the next few months, but everyone except the two rogues had the same thought, ‘please don’t let me be partners with them.’

“Barry Allen, Mick Rory. . .” Wells droned on until he had half the class standing. “Now I will tell you who your partner is starting with Barry Allen. You will now be sitting with Leonard Snart,” Wells directed as Barry’s eyes went wide with disbelief and Len’s eyes as well.

When Barry didn’t move in the first five seconds Wells yelled at him, “Well are you going to take your seat or not! We do not have all day!”

“Sorry sir,” Barry said as he ducked his head and rushed his seat over to the taller teen with the cold piercing stare.

Through the entire class period neither one spoke to each other, but they both knew that they would have to talk and figure out what their big project was going to be. It was after class that Len decided he would have to take the initiative and talk to the other first.

“Listen, Barry,” Snart spoke as the other squeaked at being spoken to.

“We will have to work on this project together. I don’t care much for school, but my father however does. I’m also not about half assing things and leaving one person to do all the work. Tell me when and where and I’ll pick you up and we can work on the lame project,” Snart told him, glad that he was able to look cool as he spoke, even when he can feel Mick’s eyes on his back.

“Um okay,” Barry agreed, until Snart motioned for him to continue to speak, “I mean yeah of course. I can’t work after school directly today as I need to go home and tell my father where I’ll be, but if you want you can pick me up at my house in about an hour after school,” Barry told him, happy that he was able to get a full sentence out, he even wrote down an address for the other boy.

Throughout the rest of the day the two didn’t speak to each other. At lunch Barry told Iris that if she could just drop her off at the house that would be fine, and she luckily agreed. For Snart, however, was cornered about his best friend, before they met up with the rest of their friends.

“I saw you talking to the brown-haired nerd at class earlier today,” Mick started to say but he was instantly stopped.

“Mick I’m not having this conversation at school. We can talk as we walk back home. For now, can we please just go hang out with the rest of our friends?” Snart asked, knowing that his friend can get anything out of him if he really tried.

“You owe me a full explanation after school,” Mick said as he glared at his friend for blowing him off, but kept his word and kept his mouth shut as they talked to the rest of their friends, after all out of the whole group, Mick is the only one who knows about Snarts secret.

After school Barry got a ride from Iris and was dropped off at school, as she and Catlin drove off to do whatever girls do. He walked inside his house and noticed that his adoptive father must’ve still been at work. Noticing this made Barry smile as he could get ready and look at least decent with no questions. He really didn’t want to think about what his adoptive family would think of him if they found out that he liked boys, especially Leonard Snart, the worst of them all.

It didn’t take him long, but he was sure to grab a quick snack and anything science related with him before he walked out the door and waited on the street for Snart to pick him up.

Snart on the other hand had to walk home with Mick, as he decided to not drive to school that day and for that he had to endure more of this embarrassment for a lot longer than necessary.

“So, is that the one that you’ve had your secret crush on for a while now?” Mick asked.

“Mick I’ll tell you again and again I don’t have a crush. He’s just some stupid nerd,” Len tried to say, but his best friend just laughed at him and boy did he laugh hard.

“Snart, I know everything about you. I know your secret, so you don’t have to hide from me. Just tell me the truth,” Mick said to him, knowing he was right.

“I don’t know. I mean I want to kill this study session, but I know I’ll mess it up. He’s already scared of me because of who I am,” Snart told him.

“Don’t be so low man. You got this and you will kill it,” Mick encouraged him.

It made Snart have a smile on his face the rest of the walk home, and it helped that Mick didn’t mind hearing Snart babble on about all of the little things Snart noticed about Barry from just one class.

Once Snart got home he made sure to freshen up, after all his main goal was to impress Barry, but first to find out if he even liked guys, of course that goal may take a while.

It wasn't long before Snart got in his car and pulled out headed for the street that he was told to meet Barry at, a little disappointed that he wasn't trusted with his actual address.

It was a little less than an hour, but finally Barry was waiting around the corner for the car that would pick him up, and Snart was just down the street looking for the brown-haired teen. Both were nervous, and both had no idea what to say or do, but they both silently agreed that they would make this the best study session ever.

Barry waved his hand our as he saw Snart through the windshield of a 1954 black chevy corvette. It didn’t look new, in fact it looks really broken up, but Barry had a feeling that it was one of the things that, like most guys, Snart took great pride and joy in.

“So, where did you have in mind for us to go and work?” Barry asked a little nervous. No matter how much of a catch Snart may be he’s still a Rouge and Iris would kill him if she knew he was out with him right now.

“I was thinking that we could go to the park. I feel like it would be more comfortable for you then rather an inside space,” Snart answered, he for sure wasn’t going to go to his house. “Did you have any ideas for this big project we’re supposed to be doing?” Snart asked Barry in return as he continued to drive through the city.

“I was thinking that we could do a project on measuring vibrational frequency with light, or one on Molecular Scissors, or maybe even one about devising an algorithm for solving a Rubik’s cube, or even-“Barry was going to continue but he was cut off.

“I’m all for those Ideas Allen, but I don’t think I’m as smart as you, maybe we could lower the IQ level a little bit for something worthy of a high school senior?” Snart asked him as Barry started to blush from being called out.

“Sorry! I sometimes get carried away,” Barry explained to him as he looked down at his feet and started to fiddle with his hands, unbeknownst to him Snart had a small smile on his face as he watched him out the corner of his eyes.

“Don’t worry about it. I get it that you’re some smart kid, but really ya gotta loosen up a little,” Snart told him, as they drove into the parking lot and he parked the car.

“I...,” Barry didn’t really have anything to say to that.

“What?” Snart asked as the car was now parked and just running as he looked at Barry.

“It’s nothing! Don’t’ worry about it!” Barry tells him as he gets out of the car, grabbing his backpack of science stuff with him as the two go sit at a public table.

Barry ranted on ends about science and Snart was even able to put a few points in here and there, but it was mainly one sided, not that Snart cared that much. He learned very quickly that even if he has no idea what Barry is talking about, he could still listen to him talk forever. The bad thing is that the more Barry did talk, the less he understood. It was after twenty minutes of talking with no response that Barry finally snapped his fingers in front of Snart’s face to get his attention.

“Sorry!” Snart said loudly and it made Barry stifle a small laugh.

“If I was losing you all you had to do was say something. I tutor my sister in science all the time and even she can’t keep up with me,” Barry told him.

“Ya gotta sister?” Snart asked him, this was news to him.

“Yeah Iris West,” Barry said.

“The Negro?” Snart questioned, but quickly regretted it as Barry glared at him, and Snart has never seen the nerd so mad. Snart might have found one of the few things that could get the nerd to actually stand up to someone.

“If we have to work together on this project, I would thank you to not call her that. It’s disrespectful,” Barry chided him.

“Ey I’m sorry man. I meant nothing by it. If you don’t want me to call her that then I won’t. All you have to do is say something,” Snart told him, holding his hands up to defend himself.

“I-sorry that I did that,” Barry quickly apologized after he realized who he yelled to.

“Really. I already told you that we’re cool man. If you don’t want me to use certain words or anything like that then just let me know. I might be a jerk but I’m not an asshole,” Snart told him.

“I-thank you,” Barry decided on as he looked down. When he did this, he also caught a look at his watch and finally started paying attention to the time. “I gotta get home,” Barry told Snart with wide eyes. “It’s almost eight! I bet their worried about me,” Barry started to freak-out, but all Snart did was let out a small laugh.

“Calm down Allen. I’ll bring you home. We can decide on a project tomorrow,” Snart reassured him as the two started to gather their things.

It didn’t take long and Barry was back in Snarts car as the two were driving around the city. It only took a short ride and Snart was dropping Barry off at the same place he picked him up from. It was as Snart was getting ready to drive away that he yelled through the passenger window, “See ya Barry!”

Barry waved by as he was shocked into standing for a minute. “He just called me Barry,” Barry said to himself. He ended up walking home with a smile on his face just going over the scene in his head, “He called me Barry!” Barry cheered for himself as he walked inside, but his happiness was short lived as Iris stomped over to him.

“Where have you been Barry! Dad and I have been worried sick! You’ve been gone for a long time and all you told me was that you had to go and study! You could’ve missed dinner” she lectured him.

Don’t get Barry wrong, he loves his sister. It’s just sometimes she treats him as if he’s still in elementary school and that he doesn’t know anything.

“I was out,” Barry answered her, last thing he wants to do is reveal who he was with, even if it was the best time he’s had out in days, weeks, months. . .years?

“Where were you? Were you with someone? You were I can tell that you were!” She questioned him as she walked closer and closer to him, until he finally had to shove her off.

“I wasn’t with anyone. If you must know I was at the library. I had to study for a big project in science class. Not like anyone who’s paired up with me is going to help with the work,” he told her as he looked down, kind of feeling guilty, that he’s making her feel guilty.

“Bear,” She started to apologize, but Barry really was not in the mood.

“I’ll be in my room,” Barry said as he ran up the stairs.

It was the next morning and Snart was not happy at his bastard of a father.

“Get up you ungrateful leech,” his father said as he kicked him to wake Snart up. “I’m bringing your sister to school today so make sure you get there to,” his father said as he walked out of Snart’s room, slamming the door.

“Lisa was always your favorite,” Snart said to himself, not that he was mad at Lisa for it. As long as Lisa is his favorite, he won’t harm a hair on her head, and she gets everything that she needs. She doesn’t have to suffer like he does, and Snart will make sure that it stays that way.

Snart really didn’t feel like driving, so he walked to school again that day and made sure to walk by Mick’s house. Mick soon joined him and of course the first thing he is going to do is tease his best friend.

“So, how’d the date go,” Mick asked him with a smile.

“It wasn’t a date. We just worked on the project together,” Snart told him, with a blush on his face as he remembered the mistake he made at the last second.

“Are you sure it wasn’t a date, your blushing face would like to tell differently,” Mick said as he made fun of his friend.

“I just made a mistake is all,” Snart told him, and at Mick’s questioning gaze Snart sighed as he answered, “I called him Barry right after I dropped him off instead of Allen.”

It was silence for a few seconds before Mick busted out laughing. It made Snart glare at him and finally when Mick was almost done laughing, he patted his friend on the back to help regain his strength. “you my friend are quite the jokester.”

Snart just glared at his friend as he tried to retain his dignity, that wasn’t going to happen. “Can you stop laughing at me for five minutes?” Snart asked his best friend.

“Not a chance. Maybe when you get your shit together ya riffraff. Are you gonna meet up with him again?” Mick asked.

“We have to. We have that huge science project that we have to do,” Leonard told him, getting defensive.

“Yeah but you don’t have to meet up with the nerd every day after school, but if you want to, is a whole different story,” Mick suggested as he got closer to his friend to make love eyes at him.

“Shove off,” Len said as he pushed his friend away, the two slowly coming up to the school, “You know I want to meet up with him again, but I won’t leave the gang without me for long. Plus, I don’t think he enjoys spending that much time with me, after all I’m a bad Kat.”

“yeah I know. I say you go on another study date tonight. Me and the boys can handle another night without our fearless leader there. You can skip school with us tomorrow and we’ll make sure that ass you call a father never finds out,” Mick suggested as Snart smiled, after all the two always looked out for each other.

“Thanks Mick,” Len said as the twos conversation ended, after all they were now at school and the two agreed long ago that, that conversation topic was banned in public.

The two dragged their legs as they walk inside towards the science classroom and were not surprised to see Barry Allen already seated and looking extremely nervous as Snart sat down next to him.

The two were surprised when they could sense that Barry was trying his best to not be angry at Snart as he sat down. “Did I do something wrong last night?” Snart asked himself, deciding to keep quiet for now.

Earlier that Day

Barry woke up as usual to Iris banging on his door yelling at him to get ready for school and to come down for some breakfast.

Once he was dressed Barry ran down the stairs starving, after skipping dinner last night.

“Here ya go Bear,” Joe West, his adoptive father said, as he put a plate of eggs and bacon in front of the teen.

“Thanks Joe! I’m starving!” Barry said happily as Iris sat down across from him, glaring at him.

“You wouldn’t be so starving if you didn’t skip out on dinner last night,” she said passive aggressively.

“Now Iris be nice to your brother,” Joe lightly scolded her, after all he had a hard job ahead of him being the first black police officer in Central.

“But he’s been weird ever since he came home yesterday!” Iris accused Barry as she pointed at him.

“I have not!” Barry shouted back.

“Then where were you. You told me you had this big project, yet when I get home you’re not here!” Iris shouted at him.

“I do have a life outside of this house ya know!”

“You have no frien-!” Iris started to yell back but stopped as she realized what she was saying. She wanted to apologize as Barry got up from his seat, not even finishing half of his food, and walking out the door.

“Barry wait I didn’t mean it!” Iris yelled after him as she opened the door.

“Clearly you did!” Barry yelled back. “Don’t worry about giving me a ride! I’ll walk to school,” Barry yelled at her as he angrily walked.

Iris walked back inside, her hunger gone as she sat back down and put her head in her hands, trying to stop the tears that were threating to come out.

“It’s okay Iris,” Joe comforted her as he patted her back, and she finally let her tears spill.

“I didn’t mean it. I just-! I’m so worried about him,” Iris tells Joe as she tries to calm her tears.

“How about I give you a ride to school today. I’ll even pick you and Bear up after school,” Joe offered her.

“I don’t think Barry will want to see me for the rest of the day,” She said as she lifted her head up, finally able to fully wipe away her tears.

“Iris the kid doesn’t have a choice. He lives here just as much as you do,” Joe told her, and it made a small laugh come out of her mouth. “Sure Dad. I’d like a ride,” she told him and the two got finished getting ready for the day as they left the house.

Present Time

Barry really didn’t want to go home later that day, but what Iris had said was the truth. He really didn’t have any friends. Sure, he could count Cisco and Catlin, but they hung out with Iris more than him. The only reason they hang out with him in the first place is because of Iris. They weren’t his friends.

It was when the bell rang and Snart started to tap his shoulder repeatedly that he realized he didn’t pay attention to the entire science class, not that it would matter for him.

“Allen ya good?” Snart asked as Barry snapped his heads up, finally paying attention to the situation.

“Yeah! Of course,” Barry told him with a smile as he was getting up to leave for his next class, but before he did, he took a deep breath and took a stand for himself. “Do you want to work on the project after school today?” Barry asked him.

“Sure,” Snart calmly agreed while on the inside he was freaking out. He had no idea the cute nerd could take a stand for himself like that.

With an instant true smile on his face Barry said, “Pick me up at the same place!” as he walked to his next class.

It was after school and Barry decided that It wasn’t worth it to go home, he didn’t even stop for Iris when she tried to tell him something, he didn’t want to listen to her right now. He just walked to the meeting spot and made sure to hide when he saw Joe’s car coming toward him and realized why Iris was trying to talk to him, Joe was going to give him a ride home.

Barry decided that he would rather spend time with the cool kat who has the cold look in his eyes. He didn’t even walk back to the house to get his stuff for the project. It was around thirty minutes later that Barry saw the black car pull up and with no hesitation he jumped in, surprised at himself that after one day he had no fear of the teen before him.

As Snart started to drive he decided that he had to bring up Barry’s strangeness, “You don’t actually want to work on the project today. . .do you?” he asked.

“Not really. No.” Barry told him the truth as he began to feel guilty for dragging Snart out here.

“It’s no trouble Allen. You’re not the first one to ask to hang out just to get away from your home life, your other friends, or-,” but Snart never got a chance to finish because Barry repeated the words that Iris told him earlier.

“I don’t have any friends.” He made sure to look away from Snart as he said that, not wanting tears to spill from his eyes in front of his crush.

Barry didn’t notice the car park, but he did notice when a hand was placed on his shoulder and Snart looked at him with worry in his eyes. “Ya got a friend Allen,” Snart told him, trying to get the message through to the nerd that he would gladly accept him as a friend.

“You don’t have to pity me and turn me into a pity friend for your whole gang to make fun of when you have nothing better to do!” Barry shouted at him, not believing a word that Snart was telling him, and if Barry decided to look a little closer, he would’ve noticed the sad look in Snart’s eyes.

“Barry, I promise you that we don’t want to make fun of you. If we wanted to do that, we would’ve done it by now. We don’t hang out we people to bully them, that’s too much work and is a jackass move,” Snart told Barry as he grabbed his face to make Barry look in his eyes.

“i-I,” Barry couldn’t form a coherent sentence as he looked at Snart’s eyes and saw only truth in them, so unlike all the other people whose walked in his life.

Without any hesitation Snart pulled him in for a hug. It didn’t matter that he had a massive crush on the boy. It didn’t matter that he didn’t even know Barry that well yet. It didn’t even matter that Snart couldn’t process what he was doing in the moment. It didn’t matter that he called Allen Barry in the moment. What did matter at that moment was that Barry needed a friend and a shoulder to cry on and Snart was going to give him that.

“It’s okay to cry,” Snart told him as Barry finally freely let his waterworks run with no hesitation and Snart comforted him. It was in this moment that the two formed a bond and went from acquaintances and science partners to friends.

As Barry’s tears turned to sniffles, turn to hiccups, turn to silence, Snart finally had to take a look, only to find that Barry cried himself to sleep.

“Shit,” Snart said to himself as he tried to contemplate what to do in this situation. He can’t take Barry back to his house, he very much doubts that Barry wants to go back to his house right now, and he has no idea where the other teen even lived. Their’s not many other options out there.

‘I could always wake him up,’ Snart thought, but completely wiped that thought from his mind when he saw how calm and cute Barry was sleeping.

“I guess we could always just sleep in my car,” Snart finally decided on, not like it was his first time sleeping the night away in his car and it certainly wasn’t going to be the last, as he gently and quietly laid Barry down in the back seat and through his jacket over the brown haired male to keep him warm. He on the other hand decided to just sleep in the front seat.

As Snart closed his eyes to help him sleep he couldn’t turn off his brain about, well anything really. If Barry didn’t have any friends, then that left only a handful of reasons of why Barry didn’t want to leave. He was out of it at Science class, the first class they have. That means it’s something that happened before school. That leaves only three options left. It was either his adoptive dad, his sister, or both. Barry talks to highly of them for this to be something that goes on regularly, which means he didn’t want to be in the house because they don’t fight as often as he does with his dad, “Lucky guy,” Snart said aloud, not really jealous of him, just happy.

“I’m not gonna get any sleep like this,” Snart finally decided after laying down for twenty minutes. Finally coming to a decision Snart did his best to quietly get out of the car and climb up so he was laying down on the roof of it to look at the stars in the night sky, a newly lit cigarette in his mouth.

“Much better,” Snart said as he finally let his mind go blank, they only thing he’s focused on is the stars in the night sky. “I bet Barry would love to see these just how they are,” Snart said to himself.

“Love to see what,” a tired voice said beside him, and Snart almost jumped ten feet in the air when he saw Barry staring at him, with curiosity in his eyes.

“The stars in the sky,” Snart said as he noticed that Barry was wearing his jacket with something akin to pride.

“I won’t say no to that,” Barry agreed as Snart went a little closer to the edge to give Barry some room as he was finishing off the cancer stick.

“Those are bad for you ya know,” Barry told him.

“Nothing I haven’t heard before red,” Snart said, not noticing the nickname he gave Barry, or the blush on Barry’s cheeks. “Why’d you wake up anyway?” Snart asked.

“I heard noise on the roof. Ever since I was little I would wake up or not be able to sleep if too much noise was being made near me,” Barry answered honestly. He didn’t know why, but when Snart is like this, with nothing on his shoulder just calm and relaxed, Barry felt like he could tell him anything.

“Don’t mean to pry, but any reason as to why that it?” Snart began to ask but quickly added a second part, “If you don’t want to tell me then you don’t have to.”

“No, it’s fine. When I was seven my mother was murdered inside my house in our living room. I saw who did it, but no one believed me, so my dad took the blame. That’s why I’ve been living with Joe and Iris ever since. He was good friends with my dad, so I already knew Iris way before. I had to go see a therapist for years after it happened and she said it had something to do with the trauma of watching my mother be murdered in front of me,” Barry told him, a few tears in his eyes as he looked up at the stars.

“I would say I’m sorry for your loss, but I know that’s not what you want to hear. My mom died a few years back as well, at least I think she did. For all I know my bastard of a father just kicked her out and told us she’s dead, but once word spread around the neighborhood people kept on telling me how sorry they were for me. I hated it. They were sorry my mother died but weren’t sorry for anything else. It’s stupid,” Snart shared with Barry.

“Hey Snart?” Barry said in a questioning tone after a few minutes of silence passed between them.

“What is it red?” Snart asked back, using the nickname that makes Barry blush.

“Did you meant what you said earlier. That you were my friend?” Barry asked, his face going redder from even asking that question.

“Of course, I meant it. I bet if I bought you to the rest of the gang, they would be your friends to. We all look out for each other after all,” Snart said as he looked towards Barry’s face to see the other teen has started to wear a proud smile.

“Thank you,” Barry told him, not realizing that he grabbed Snarts hand, and Snart deciding not to say anything. If his crush wanted to hold his hand, then so be it.

With that the two laid in silence for what felt like hours, but knew that they had school in the morning, so finally Barry decided to look at his watch.

“Can you drop me off at my house,” Barry said as he sat up suddenly.

“Yeah of course,” Snart answered back, sitting up a lot slower then Barry, “any reason why?”

“It’s three in the morning! Also, I don’t want them to think that I’m still mad and the best way to do that it to go home and eat breakfast with them,” Barry answered with a smile.

“You’ll still hang out with my group at school, right?” Snart asked, not wanting to lose his crush to the school norms.

“Yeah of course cold,” Barry said, giving the other man a nickname as well that made the teen blush. “I’m just worried about what Iris will say or do. She can get really overprotective of me. I think that’s why she flipped out on me when she asked where I was, she was just worried,” Barry told him.

With that done the two got back inside the car and sat in a peaceful silence as Snart drove him to his house, the only sound being Barry’s voice as he gave directions.

“Careful Red,” Snart said, as Barry gave him a questioning look, “You’re hanging out with the bad kids. Don’t’ start causing trouble,” Snart said as Barry gave a small laugh, getting out of the car, but not before waving bye to Snart and saying he had a good time, trying to not make it oblivious that he really liked the other male.

Barry sighed as he saw Snart pull away and he walked up the driveway, shoving his hands in the pockets of Snart’s jacket.

That made Barry stop in his tracks, “I still have his jacket,” Barry said to himself, not knowing what to do in this situation. Snart’s never been to school without his jacket before, that Barry can remember, and now here he is wearing that said jacket as he walks into his house with the family that will remember that he has never owned that jacket.

“I can figure this out,” Barry said to himself as he took a few more steps towards the door, but then suddenly stopped.

“No! I can’t go in there. When I walk down the stairs for breakfast their going to know that it’s someone else’s jacket. On one hand they love me, but on the other hand they are never going to accept this side of me. Maybe I can just put it in my backpack till I get to school and then put it on. No! I can’t do that either. Then Snart will know that I made a sure decision to wear his jacket around the school, but I also don’t want to give it away,” Barry stressed over the jacket, until finally he came to a decision.

“I’ll wear it, give it back to Snart when I see him and if anyone ask then I was borrowing it from a friend, not that Iris will believe that, cause according to her I have no friends, but I do!” With his master plan formed Barry walked inside his house, now close to four in the morning to get a few extra hours of sleep.

Barry woke up, not to Iris telling him to get up, but of his alarm clock that he sets up in case Iris forgets, not that she has ever forgotten. With Barry now awake he dressed himself, being sure to add Snart’s jacket to his outfit and with both calm and confidence he walked down the stairs to see Iris sitting at the table eating breakfast and Joe, once again cooking breakfast. Joe looked happy to see him, as Iris looked a mix of apologetic, surprised, and happy.

Without any warning Iris jumped up from her spot to hug him, “I’m so sorry that I said those things! I didn’t mean any of them! Please forgive me,” she said to him, a few tears rushing down her face.

“Iris I forgive you. You don’t have to worry,” Barry said happily as he hugged her back, but the hug soon stopped as Iris pulled away from the feel of the new material that Barry was wearing.

“Barry what is this?” she asked him, knowing exactly who at school wears the leather jackets.

“a friend let me borrow it last night,” Barry told her, emphasizing the friend to get his point through, but felt a little guilty about it as he saw Iris look down. “sorry about being harsh. My friend just wanted to make sure that you knew that I wasn’t a loner and yes, I do have friends. He felt like me having his jacket would help prove that. I’m supposed to give back today anyways.,” Barry informed her as she took the apology, after all she just made up with her brother, she certainly didn’t want to fight again.

“Well I for one am glad that your making friends and patching things up with Iris Bear,” Joe told him as he gave his son a supportive pat on the back.

If Barry was being honest, he didn’t like that he was calling Snart his friend, he wanted to be more then friends with the cold teen, but knew that, that was highly unlikely to happen, after all who could love him. Snart would’ve never been friends with him in the first place if it wasn’t for this stupid science project.

The conversation soon came to a stop however when all three of them heard a car honk outside their house. All three went to check it out, and why Iris and Joe were confused as to who could own that car, Barry’s face lit up with a smile as he grabbed his stuff and raced out the door with a smile on his face, saying that he has a ride to school.

“I didn’t know you were going to start picking me up to school,” Barry said as he got in the passenger side of Snart’s car.

“and I wasn’t expecting my jacket to be stolen,” Snart said back in a joking manner, and Barry didn’t feel threatened at all, in fact a smile grew on his face at the banter Snart was giving him.

“In all fairness I had no idea that I even had your jacket until after you dropped me off. You should be more careful about giving it to people to use as a blanket,” Barry told him.

“Touché Allen,” Snart told him as he started to drive away, but Barry glared at him as he put a lucky in his mouth.

“Really again, Barry said as he yanked it out of his mouth. “Didn’t we have a talk last night about how these are bad for you,” Barry told him.

“I’m not forcing you into trying them,” Snart said in his defense, as he tried to get it back. If Barry ever started his bad habit, he would kick it right out of him. He was already gone to his demons, no need for perfect Barry Allen to get warped up in it as well.

“Fine,” Barry said dejectedly, not wanting Snart to continue, but letting him. “Just be more careful,” Barry said in a sad voice.

“I promise,” Snart told him, not knowing at the time how much that promise meant to him.

“Thank you!” Barry said as he turned around to face the window, his arms crossed and his nose turn up, in order to look like he was fighting but it only made him and Snart laugh.

“We’re not heading towards the school,” Barry said calmly as he watched the roads Snart was taking.

“Not yet. I have to go pick up another person. I think he wants to meet you,” Snart said, hoping that Mick doesn’t embarrass him in front of Allen.

“Oh! That reminds me,” Barry said as he turned towards Snart “Do you want your jacket back?” Barry asked, starting to take it off, after all he wasn’t planning on keeping it, no matter how much he wanted to.

“Nah,” Snart said as he tried to keep the red off of his face. “You can keep it for now, besides I need to get another one anyways,” Snart said, trying to cover up the fact that he enjoys how Barry looks with his jacket on, especially knowing that it’s his jacket that Barry is wearing.

Finally, the car came to a stop as Snart rolled his window down to point to the backseat, making Mick left an eyebrow. Front seat has always been his and as far as he knows only one person can take it from him, a smile began to form on his face as he opened the door to the backseat to sit in the middle to find he was right. In the front seat was none other than Barry Allen and, Mick’s eyes widened when he saw what he was wearing, he was wearing Snart’s jacket.

Barry looked nervous as Mick got in, not so good with new people, and he might get along with Snart, but who’s to say Mick will be as nice.

“Snart finally got to ya?” Mick asked as Barry looked confused and Snart glared at him from the rearview mirror. “Mick,” Snart said with warning in his voice.

“I was just curious is all,” Mick said in his defense as he leaned into the seat. “So, are we skipping today?” Mick asked to change the subject, but the question put Barry in a panic as he glared at Snart.

“You didn’t tell me we were skipping!?” Barry yelled at him.

“Calm down red,” Snart told him, “Everyone needs a break every once in a while. Skipping one day of school will not kill you and if anything, it’ll get blamed on us and you’ll get away with a slap on the wrist,” Snart told him.

“But that wouldn’t be fair to you,” Barry pointed out, not wanting someone to take the blame for something that he did.

“Allen just relax,” Snart told him, trying to calm the other male down. “We’ll all be fine and if you don’t want to skip again after this then we won’t make you, but you did have a stressful day yesterday and you need to rewind,” Snart told him, and well Barry couldn’t argue with that logic. “Plus, we’re going to meet up with the rest of the gang,” Snart added with a smile on his face that made Barry go into a whole other mode of panic.

It didn’t take long until they were at the park that Snart took Barry to for them to do their science project. As Snart was parking Barry could make out three figures, who he could tell from a mile away, are a part of the Rouges.

Snart parked the car as he and Mick got out, Barry following close behind, scared that he was going to get ditched at the last minute.

“Finally, are strong and fearless leader deciding to grace us with his presence,” one of the younger teens who looked to be in a lower grade said, he had dark brown hair and wore glasses, but fit right in with the group.

“ooohhhh! Who’s this? A new friend?!” another one of other teens shouted as he ran up to Barry to wrap him up in a hug, but he seemed to be older.

“uh- hi,” Barry introduced himself, feeling a little awkward as the older teen hugged him. This one had blonde hair that looked to go in any direction, but he didn’t seem to care.

“Would you two please calm down,” Mark said to the other two, but he was as just curious as who this new person was.

“Where’s Digger?” Snart asked looking at the other three.

“How should we know! He’s always late,” Hartley complained.

“Ay I heard that ya ingrate,” Digger yelled as he walked up to the two, and Barry could clea.rly see that he was also a senior along with him, Snart, and Mick.

“Well if ya don’t want to be made fun of then start showing up on time,” Hartley yelled back.

“We didn’t agree on no time,” Sam said, and as he spoke Barry could hear an accent.

“Would the two of you stop,” Mick finally said as he got out a flask to take a swig from it, not really caring about the consequences and that only made Barry sigh in defeat.

“If you would all please be quiet, I would like to introduce you to a new member of our group,” as Snart said that they all looked at him in confusion, even Barry. He didn’t agree to be a part of the group, but he sure as hell isn’t going to say no to it. With that decision made in his head Barry smiled and went along with Snart.

“This is Barry Allen and he’s now going to be a part of our fun little group. Barry this is as you’ve already met, Mick,” Snart said as Mick just dipped his flask towards him and Barry waved. “The shorty over there is Hartley, but don’t let his size fool you, he’s a genius. In fact he skipped two grades and is now junior,” Hartley looked at Barry with distrust in his eyes, but gave him a polite smile and a wave anyways, “Don’t feel bad he doesn’t trust easily,” Mick added in to the conversation as Hartley glared at the alcoholic and the two started to fight. Snart just ignored them as he went on with the introductions

“This asshole who is always late is Digger,” Snart said as Digger took a sip from his energy drink and waved, giving Barry a nice smile to show that he trust him if Snart trust him. “he’s a senior like us, but I doubt you’ve seen him around school. He normally sleeps in,” Snart explained.

“The serious one looking over the blonde,” Snart said as he pointed to a taller male that was standing next to Hartley and the blonde, “He’s the babysitter, you’ll find out why soon enough, but his name is Mark.”

“Finally, is the blonde who hugged you earlier. He doesn’t really know what personal boundaries mean sometimes, so sorry about that. This is James and he’s actually older then us, he graduated last year, but let’s just say that his family didn’t want to deal with him and we volunteered to look after him,” Snart finished as James looked at him with stars in his eyes at his new friend.

“We can play darts with him later! Right Lenny?” James asked as he ran back to Barry.

“If Barry wants to,” Snart said as he looked at Barry.

“I’m not that good at it, but if you want me to play a game with you later then sure,” Barry agreed happily as James smile grew wider, he demanded that they keep him.

Eventually they were all talking and laughing, but Barry felt like he needed a small break from all the interaction he was doing and decided to walk towards the back of the car to catch a breather.

He sat down and was staring at the ground lost in thought until he heard a voice, “You know he’s only letting you hang out with us because he feel sorry for you,” the voice said and Barry knew that it was directed at him, so he lifted up his head to see Hartley standing above him.

“He’s not doing this because he feels sorry for me,” Barry told the younger teen, after all Snart assured him that he wasn’t a pity friend.

“Of course, you are. You’re just like everyone else he brings to hang out with us. Something isn’t going right in your perfect life, so you decide to join the bad kids and tears us all away from each other! Well guess what! We don’t need some perfect nerdy freak to ruin our perfect friend group. You might as well give that jacket back, after all he doesn’t need you running it,” Hartley said, not caring how sad Barry felt. “Just go home. No one wants you here and we never did. After all Lenny is just taking pity on you. He would never want you for a friend,” Hartley would’ve continued but at the same time two things happened. Barry got up to run away, back to the same place he would run to when he was a child and Len heard what Hartley was saying to his crush.

“THAT’S ENOUGH!” Snart yelled and it made Hartley turn around in shock and fear. “Barry wait!” Snart yelled, but he wouldn’t stop.

“I’ll talk to you later,” Snart said with a glare as he chased after the upset teen.

Hartley walked back to the group looking down, but he knew that none of them felt sorry for him, even if he was the youngest.

“You really messed up kid,” Mick said to him.

“He doesn’t belong in this group. He’s a nerd. He wouldn’t fit in anyway. I don’t know what Len was thinking! Bringing him into our group!” Hartley ranted, as James looked sad that his family was having a fight, the other two glanced at each other and then stared at Mick, waiting for his answer, after all he knew Snart better than all of them.

“Listen kid,” Mick started as he saw tears filling up Hartley’s eyes, “you don’t know what Allen has been going through, or what Len’s been doing for him. The two are helping each other and if Snart wants Allen to join then Allen has a right to join,” Mick explained, but only got a glare from Hartley.

“But you do know what Len is going through! You know better than the rest of us, after all he tells you everything,” Hartley accused Mick, and Mick can’t blame the kid he was right.

“I do know a little bit more about their situation then you, but I don’t know Allen’s side just Lens’” Mick told him as he looked away from Hartley.

“Then why doesn’t he tell us!” Hartley complained.

“Because he doesn’t want to lose you,” Mick said confidently, and this shocked all of them, except James, Mick knew that no matter what they told James he would always be a part of their group.

“He can’t get rid of us that easily,” Digger said with his arms crossed and Mark agreeing with him.

“I’m not going to tell you guys what’s going on, but I will tell you this. If his dad found out, then he would put Snart six feet under. You understand,” Mick told them with a glare as they all became aware of how serious this was turning out to be. “When Snart is able to get Barry to calm down Hartley you have to apologize,” Mick said with a serious tone and glare.

“What!” Hartley tried to fight, but quickly took it back as he looked down at his feet guilty, “Alright I’ll apologize.”

With that the conversation ended, but around the same time their conversation started Snart was still chasing after Barry, trying to find out where he ran off to.

“Barry!” Snart shouted as he turned down another road, not expecting to get a replay, but hoping none the less.

“Go away!” Barry shouted back from inside an old word down fence that Snart took a few minutes to find the entrance to. When he did he saw that he was in another park, but this one was a lot more run down, with a busted swing set, Barry sitting on the only good one, and a slide that looked like it would break if anyone tried to climb it.

Snart walked towards Barry sitting down on the ground next to him, considering the other swing was broken.

“I’m sorry about Hartley. He just gets overprotective about us. He doesn’t like new people when they first show and usually does something like this to make them run away. He did the same thing to Sam at first as well, and now look at how well the two of them get along,” Snart explained, not wanting Barry to cry anymore. “Please don’t cry,” Snart said as he looked up towards Barry’s face, seeing him trying to dry his tears. “I don’t like it when you cry. It makes me sad as well,” Snart said with a small smile on his face, trying to get Barry to cheer up.

“You’re not a pity friend. I told you before and I’ll tell you again. I’ll tell you as many times as I need to. Also, I don’t really bring new people into the group that often, like I said Hartley just doesn’t like new people so he tries to keep them out so they can’t ruin us,” Snart told him, looking down at the ground again.

“You sure?” Barry asked, trying to keep his tears down.

“Yeah! Of course, I’m sure red!” Snart told him with a reassuring smile.

“Their you go calling me red again. What is it with you and that nickname?” Barry asked, his tears gone.

“You don’t think I see you blush as often as you do,” Snart teased as Barry blushed more.

“I don’t blush,” Barry tried to fight but it only made Snart laugh.

“You’re doing it now,” he said as Barry fell off the swing making Snart stop, until Barry busted out laughing and Snart soon joined him.

As their laughter died down Barry stared at the sky, a happy smile on his face as he spoke, “Ya know, I haven’t had this much fun in a long while.”

“I think that I might have to agree with you on that,” Snart said as he rolled over on his side to stare at Barry.

“You’ve changed my life! My whole world view! You gave me hope again!” Barry said happily as he sat up and spread his arms wide, only to fall down on the ground and roll on his side so he can face Snart as well.

“I’m glad I could give you that,” Snart said happily as he closed his eyes and when he did he was not expecting for Barry to choose that moment to smash their lips together, making his eyes go wide with a brief hesitation, before he closed his eyes and pushed into the kiss.

Snart decided to take control and push Barry fully on the ground as the two broke apart for a brief second to breath and Snart pushed his lips back on to the other male’s.

Snart positioned one of his legs to go over Barry’s and the other to go between Barry’s thighs, getting a soft moan from Barry, but he wouldn’t dare go farther than that.

“Barry Allen dare I say that I love you,” Snart said and it made Barry’s eyes go wide.

“You l-love me!” Barry shouted, not knowing how he should feel about that. On one hand he was crushing on Snart hard and he still is, but on the other hand he just found out that Snart was gay and loved him, which means he’s been crushing on Barry for a while now to.

“Arry-!” Barry heard his name being shouted and he got back to what he was to stare at the cold and calculating teen.

“You don’t have to say it back yet, so get out of that calculating brain of yours and just relax. For now, just let me be your boyfriend?” Snart asked and Barry could live with that. A smile on his face he wrapped his arms around Snart’s neck and bought him in for a kiss, but Snart had to pull away to be snarky.

“Does that mean yes?”

“What do you think?” Barry asked back and Snart took that as a que to bring Barry back in for another kiss.

“We should go back before they come looking for us,” Snart decided after another minute had passed.

“Do they know about you?” Barry asked, worried that the gang was going to like him even less now.

“Only Mick does. In fact, once I tell him about us, he’s probably going to punch me for taking so long. Then he’s going to punch me again when he finds out that you kissed me first,” Snart said as he got up and then helped Barry up, but what he said only made Barry laugh.

“What about you?” Snart asked and it made Barry freeze.

“I know that Joe and Iris will always love me, but I haven’t gotten up the courage to tell them. I really think Iris will accept me, but I think if she finds out that it’s you, I’m dating, well she might kill you,” Barry decided on as Snart gave a nervous laughter.

“I want to tell them, just as I’m sure you want to tell your friends, well their more like your family, I’m just nervous about what will happen,” Barry said as the two cleaned themselves up.

“I know what you mean. If my dad ever found out he would put me six feet under,” Snart said and Barry looked at him worriedly.

“Len are you okay in that house,” Barry asked worriedly, still not knowing much about Snart’s home situation.

“I’ll survive the rest of the year Red. You don’t have to worry about me,” Snart reassured, but wasn’t expecting Barry to hold out his pinky finger and give him a serious look.

“Promise you’ll be careful,” Barry said, and it made Snart think back to when Barry last made him promise this, but this time it felt more serious.

“I promise,” Snart said as he intertwined their pinkies, not expecting Barry to give him a peck on the lips, “and we seal it with a kiss,” Barry said as he let go. “That way if you break the promise you also break my heart.

That felt like an arrow going right through Snart’s own heart. He didn’t care about what happened to him, but Barry he cared. If him getting hurt would break Barry’s heart, then he was going to do everything in his power to make sure that his dad never finds out about them.

It took the two boys a few minutes to get presentable again, after all they did have Snart’s, and well now Barry’s, group of friends to face.

As the two got closer and could start to see an outline the others Barry would be lying if he wasn’t a little bit scared of what, not only Hartley, but the others might think of him as well.

Snart on the other hand would be lying if he wasn’t a still a little pissed at what the youngest Rouge did, but he would do his best to keep his temper in check.

“Hartley has something he liked to say,” Mick said as the two got closer and he pushed Hartley forward, making the younger boy feel even more guilty.

“I’m sorry for what I said to you and for making you run away. You can come hang out with us any time,” Hartley said, the first part was a little forced, but the second part was genuine and that’s what made Barry smile.

“It’s no problem,” Barry said happily, even if the kid didn’t fully accept him yet, he would slowly warm up to Barry as they see more of him, especially around Snart.

Mick saw a difference in his best friend as he saw the small, barely noticeable, smile on his leaders face and that was all Mick had to see to know what was going on.

“Bout time,” Mick whispered gruffly to Len as he elbowed the said teen.

“Ow! Was that really necessary?” Len asked him, trying to not alert the others to what was going on, they failed however as Digger noticed and alerted Sam, who got James, which then alerted Barry and Hartley, but they kept it low that they were watching.

“Yes. You’re such a dumbass sometimes. Can’t believe it took you this long,” Mick spoke as he took a sip of his drink.

“I’m sorry if what I was trying to do wasn’t exactly normal!” Snart complained as Barry went to stand next to Mick, slowly making his way over to his boyfriend.

“Does this mean we finally get to know what’s up with you?” Sam asked and it only made Snart sigh in defeat as he looked towards his best friend and boyfriend for help.

“I didn’t tell them anything,” Mick said as he shrugged.

“Don’t look at me. I don’t want to cause more trouble,” Barry said, which made Snart sigh in defeat once again.

“Wait he knows what’s up with you!?” Hartley asked in a shocked surprise.

“Trust me kid. When he decides to tell you what’s up with him, why Barry knows is going to make perfect sense,” Mick said with a smirk as it made everyone else think about what it could be.

“Why don’t you just tell them?” Barry asked him, and it made Snart stare in a pleasant shock. “I’m not telling you that you have to or anything, but after Hartley made me runaway because he didn’t want me messing up your group, I knew that they would accept you for anything, but it’s your decision.”

“But it’s not just my decision anymore. If I tell them then it involves you as well,” Snart told him, worry clearly on his face.

“I gave you my permission when I bought the idea up,” Barry told him softly, and in that moment Snart knew exactly how he was going to tell his friends.

“gosh I love you,” Snart said as he bought Barry in for a short kiss.

“Yay! Lenny found a prince,” James cheered as the two separated with a smile.

“I guess you decided to tell them after all,” Barry said with a smile as they looked towards the rest of the group.

“I fucking knew it,” Diggory shouted as he pointed at Snart, “and you didn’t tell me! That hurts man,” and Snart knew that Dig accepted him, even in his weird way of showing it. That left two.

“This is why you invited Barry into our group. To become one of us?” Hartley asked, not in a menacing way, but an angry way.

“I wasn’t planning on hiding from you all forever. I guess I just needed someone who could give me that final push to tell you, and Barry gave me that. Mick knew for a while because he found out in middle school. The jerk just out right asked me as we were walking home one day. Caught me completely off guard and I couldn’t deny it,” Snart explained.

“he was a dumbass then and he’s. dumbass now,” Mick said in a serious tone, but it didn’t last long as he busted out laughing at his own joke.

“What does this mean for us?” Hartley asked, as he still glared at Barry.

“Barry is joining us unofficially because I love him. Is it really that bad?” Snart asked him back.

“It’s not the fact that you love someone,” Hartley defended, “It’s the fact that we know nothing about him. He could be using you for all we know!”

“Hart you need to calm down. Barry isn’t using us. These two have apparently been crushing hard on each other for years,” Mick said as he gave Hartley a supportive pat on the back.

“I’ll admit that Len is a good excuse to not be at home when me and Iris get in a fight, but he was there for me when no one else was. I’m not big when it comes to the whole friend’s category, but Len changed that for me. He gave me a new light in my life,” Barry explained, and Hartley had to admit that he was a little bit disgusted at the hearts that are shining in the brown-haired teens eyes.

“Okay okay! I’ll give him a chance just don’t get all lovey dovey around me. You know I hate that crap!” Hartley said as he pushed Barry towards Snart and let himself flop onto the ground as they laugh at their youngest member.

It was three hours after school was supposed to get out and you find Barry and Len in his car as he drives to drop Barry off at his house, dropping Mick off five minutes earlier.

“Thanks for the wonderful day. I didn’t know I needed this until now, I feel . . .more relaxed I guess would be the right word for it,” Barry said as he looked towards Snart who was trying to look serious, but was actually holding back a blush and it only made Barry giggle.

‘Fucking giggle!’ Snart thought as he failed even more at looking cool. “Everyone has those days. They just don’t know they need them until it’s all done,” Snart answered the brown-haired teen.

“Wise and brave,” Barry joked to himself, but only made Len bring his free hand to wrap it around Barry’s shoulders, and Barry willingly leaned in, making it easier for Len to drive the car.

“I wish we could stay like this forever,” Barry said in a whisper.

“Me to red but every good thing has to come to end at some point. If you get in trouble then you can blame it on me,” Snart said as he pulled up and parked the car outside of Barry’s house.

“With any luck they won’t know a thing, but that’s only wishful thinking,” Barry said as he looked at the house in dread.

“I’ll pick you up tomorrow,” Snart said with a cheeky smile.

“We don’t have school tomorrow, it’s Saturday,” Barry pointed out with a confused look.

“Exactly,” Snart said as he leaned in to give Barry a peck on the lips as a goodbye.

“Alright tomorrow,” Barry agreed as he got out of the car with a smile, wearing Len’s jacket with pride as he walked towards his door and hearing the rev of Len’s car leave.

“Barry! We have to have a talk!” Joe screamed from the other room as he could hear his teenage son walk through the door. Barry only sighed as Joe came into view, he knew this conversation was going to happen.

“Sit!” Joe demanded as he pointed to a spot in the living room and Joe sat in the chair across form him. “Why were you not in school today?” Joe asked, waiting for Barry to come up with an excuse.

“I just needed a break from everything. It was getting to be too much for me. I’ve always had perfect attendance and straight A’s! I don’t know why missing one day is such a big deal!” Barry defended himself, and Joe was shocked at his answer.

“You needed a break?” Joe aske, but Barry didn’t respond so he continued, “from what Bear? Iris? Me? School?”

“All of it! It’s not like this is gonna become a habit! I took one day off! What’s the big deal!?”

“I’m just worried Bear,” Joe finally admitted as Barry looked confused, feeling guilty for yelling at the man who took him in.

“’Of what?” Barry asked.

“It’s your new friends. Ever since you met them you’ve been coming home late, fighting with Iris, skipping school,” Joe pointed out and Barry sighed at how much he must’ve been worrying the older male.

“Joe I’m sorry. Iris and me. That has nothing to do with my friends. The whole reason the fights started was because she said I had no friends then when I finally found some, she was judging me for it. I’ll make up with her over it. I promise. I was angry with Iris and I didn’t want to come home that’s why I was out so late. On the whole skipping thing, I didn’t know I was skipping till it was already done. They promised not to force me to skip again unless it looked like I needed it, like today, even then I’ll do my best to convince them to wait till Saturday.”

“Why don’t we just clear up this whole mess and invite your friends over for dinner?” Joe suggested and Barry had to think on that. On one hand it would be nice, but would they accept. It would also be Barry introducing Len to his family, without coming out to them, but he also knew that Joe wouldn’t let this go. Barry sighed as he thought of a decision.

“I’ll ask them next time I see them, but I’m not going to promise anything. Some of them don’t trust easily,” Barry said as he thought back to earlier that day.

“That’s all I can ask for Bear. Do this one thing for me and I won’t ground you,” Joe said as he patted Barry on the back and walked away from the chair he was sitting in.

Barry smiled in delight at how Joe was being. He had to make up with Iris, which will be easiest to do if he says sorry.

“Iris!” Barry called out as he knocked on her door.

“Come in!” She shouted as Barry walked in the room to see Iris laying on her bed, textbook and notebook open with a pencil laying down as Iris sat up on her bed to glare at him.

“I just came to talk, no fighting,” Barry said as he sat down in a chair and she sighed, losing the glare.

“I’m just worried about you Barry. I didn’t mean to start this big fight. Just tell me what’s going on. Talk to me like how we used to back when we were kids,” she said as she closed her books and set them on her desk, grabbing Barry’s hand forcing him to sit on her bed.

The two got in a comfortable position as if they were children again. “Where do you want me to start?” Barry asked, prepared to tell her any and everything, no more secrets before them.

“Let’s start slow. I’m sorry for saying you have no friends. It’s just. I thought Cisco and Caitlin were your friends, but I guess they’ve been more of mine then yours,” Iris apologized to him.

“I haven’t had many friends since junior high. It wasn’t until I got stuck with this science project that I was able to gain some friends,” Barry told her with a smile.

“Are you gonna tell me more, especially cause that jacket has been bothering me since you came home wearing it, and this is the second time.

“The first night we did the project, then we got in a fight so he helped me not think about it and I accidentally fell asleep, it wasn’t until way later in the night did I realize how late it truly was, then today we skipped and not counting all of the fights we’ve been having it’s actually been a really good week because of him,” Barry said, and Iris could see a light in her brothers eyes that she hasn’t seen in a long time, then a thought struck her.

“You’ve been saying him or he, not them? I thought you made multiple friends?” Iris questioned him.

“I did! It’s just he was the first one,” Barry answered her, but Iris wanted to know what that light was about, not that she wasn’t happy, she was just curious and worried. Last thing she needs is for some “friend” to break her brother.

“There’s something that changes about you when you speak about your friend. What’s his name?’ Iris asked and she could hear Barry take a gulp, but he answered truthfully.

“Leonard Snart.”

“Barry! He’s bad news!” Iris started to lecture him.

“No! You’re not going to do this. Listen to me speak then you can make judgements all you want, but I’ve talked with him. We have common interest and he’s a friend,” Barry told her, feeling guilty for not being able to tell her his true feelings, as Iris shook her head for him to go on. “He let me hang out with him when I lied about wanting to work on the project, he said I could always come to him if I needed a shoulder to lean on. He let me borrow his jacket when I fell asleep and let me keep it afterwards. He defended me against one of his friends after he made me cry. Len for all the bad rumors about him is actually a decent guy, but no one gives him the time of day,” and as Barry continued to speak Iris finally recognized what the light was that she saw in Barry’s eyes and had to stop him.

“Barry?” she asked, and her brother stopped and looked at her, worried that something was wrong, “You love him. Don’t you?” she asked, and she almost regretted asking as she saw fear replacing the light. Iris never wanted to see fear in her brothers’ eyes and will fight anyone who thinks they should scare him.

“Barry you need to calm down,” Iris told him as she could feel his breathing quicken. She calmed Barry down as she matched his breathing and slowly got him to match her slower pace, but the downside is that his cheeks were filling up with tears.

“Barry don’t cry,” she told him, but he had a hard time stopping it.

“I wanted to tell you so badly, but I didn’t want you to hate me. I felt guilty every time I couldn’t tell you. I wanted to be able to tell you myself, but I guess you beat me to it,” Barry said, trying to stop his tears with a laugh.

Iris laughed at his silly joke, but instead of saying anything she decided to bring her brother into a hug and as the two hugged Barry knew at this moment that his sister accepted him for who he was, and she would have his back through thick n thin. “I love you Iris.”

“Love you to ya big nerd,” she said back and the two laughed as they pulled away from the hug. “So are you dating him?” she asked, eyeing the jacket her brother was wearing.

“We started today actually. . .”he trailed off with a blush forming on his face.

“But. . .?” Iris asked.

“But we’ve kind of been crushing on each for at least a year now,” Barry said awkwardly, but it only made Iris laugh.

“I’ve never been happier for you Barry,” She told him as he started to get up.

“Same here Iris, but I’m gonna go and get some sleep,” Barry said but before he could even get up Iris stopped him.

“What did I say earlier. Like we were kids. Sleep with me in here and we can stay up as late as we want telling each other stories,” She said with sneaky smile, and Barry couldn’t stop the smile from his face forming.

‘Just like when we were kids huh?’ Barry asked himself but agreed.

The two actually weren’t able to stay up much later as they both passed out on the bed laughing, but when Joe went to check on them a smile formed on his face. He knew his son wasn’t telling him the full story, but he was okay with it for now. His kids are getting along again, and Barry will tell him what he’s hiding when he’s ready. When Barry decides to tell him Joe will listen with an open mind. With that done Joe went to his own bed to get some sleep for himself.

Snart was having a less fun night. Once he got home his dad was pissed that Snart wasn’t at school and while Snart wasn’t going to run and hide he was yelling back, but he was also trying to calm down his father because Lisa was right in the next room.

“You’re just an ungrateful Brat!” his dad yelled at him, but Snart yelled back.

“You’re a drunk who’s wasting his life savings on alcohol instead of helping his children!”

“Punk!

“Drunk!

The two shouted insults and swears at each other, but it was right before Lisa entered the room that ended the fight. It was at this moment that Lewis took a final swig to empty the bottle of alcohol and punched his son in the left eye.

“Fuck you!” Snart shouted at Lewis, but grabbed his eye and walked towards Lisa, to stop her from seeing the damage their father had done not only to his son, but also to himself.

“You okay Lenny?” The eight-year-old asked.

“I’m fine Lisa. You and me we’re going to go and hang out with my friend’s tomorrow. Okay?” Snart asked her, putting her to bed thanking God that Lewis had enough father decency to feed her.

“Okay Lenny!” She said excitedly. After all, Len always takes her to have a fun time when his friends are involved.

“Good night Lisa” Snart said as he leaned in and kissed her forehead as he tucked her in.

“Goodnight Lenny!” She said as she saw her brother walk to the other side of the room and tucked himself in his pallet of blankets on the floor.

It was the next day when Barry had just got done eating breakfast that the house heard a honk outside and the same car as last time was outside in the driveway.

“Remember what we talked about Bear!” Joe called as Barry confirmed while running out the door.

The confusing thing to Barry when we got in the car was in the front, the middle, was a small elementary girl whose black hair was in pigtails as she wore a red dress, a white shirt under it, a pair of pumps, and white socks on her feet. She looked really happy to be where she is, that’s for sure.

Barry just put a smile on his face as he sat next to her and talked to her. “What’s your name?”

“My Name’s Lisa and I’m eight years old!” she said happily, to the point of jumping up and down.

“Lisa calm down! I told you that you can’t jump around when I’m driving!” Len shouted at her, but the weird thing was he made sure to keep all the anger out of his voice.

“Sorry Lenny.” The girl said disappointed, but Len just smiled and ruffled her hair with a smile.

“I know. I’m just worried about you. Now I know you haven’t met my new friend yet so let me introduce you to Barry Allen,” Snart told her.

“So, you’re Lenny’s new friend! Hey, Lenny, are we going to pick up Micky as well?” Lisa asked him and Barry raised an eyebrow at all the nicknames this happy girl seemed to give.

“I thought it would be a good idea if we only hung out with Barry today. We can bother Mick some other time,” Len told her as she started to pout, but it was when Snart took a look at Lisa that Barry caught, very briefly mind you, a glimpse of a dark colored spot on his left eye.

“Len what is that?” Barry asked, but Once Snart felt like he was being caught he turned his head to hide it again.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Len tried to defend himself, but this is the bad part about having little siblings.

“Lenny and Daddy got in another fight,” Lisa spoke sadly making Barry glare at Snart for trying to hide it.

“Len turn the car around. We are going to go back to my house, and I am going to clean up that bruise. With the way it looks it can get infected if nothing is done,” Barry said demandingly.

Snart wanted to fight his boyfriend on the subject, but he felt like a worse fight could break out if he did, after a minute of thinking Snart decided to take the car around the block and brought it back to Barry’s house. He parked the car and helped Lisa out, but anytime he looked at Barry’s face he saw anger in his brown eyes, and that did scare Snart, because he had no idea where that anger was directed at.

“Joe! Iris! I’m back. I have a few guests with me as well!” Barry shouted as he entered the house.

“That was quick,” Joe said as he greeted him, a cup of coffee in his hand as he walked out of the kitchen, it was when he saw Snarts face did he give Barry a questing glance.

“Is this your new friend you’ve been hanging out with?” Joe asked.

“Yeah. Joe meet Leonard Snart. Snart meet Joe,” Barry introduced them.

“And who’s this cute girl?” Joe questioned, sensing the anger radiating off of Barry and knowing it has something to do with the bruise now sporting the other males face.

“My name’s Lisa and I’m 8!” She said happily.

“My sister,” Len explained before more questions could come in.

“I’m sorry about this Joe but could you or Iris watch over Lisa for a few minutes for him. I have to yell at an idiot and get him fixed up,” Barry asked, but Joe had a feeling that something more was going on between Barry and Snart, but didn’t voice his opinion and instead got Lisa to the kitchen to feed her when he found out she had yet to eat that day.

Once they were out of sight Barry grabbed Snarts hand and dragged the other male up the stairs towards his bedroom and told him to stay as he grabbed the first aid kit.

It was as Barry was fixing him up that the two finally talked. “You promised me you were safe in that house,” Barry started. “You told me you were being careful! I knew I should have done something, but do I ever listen to my gut when it’s right!? No! Never!”

“Barry, I think you need to calm down,” Snart said bravely, and after he said it, did he find out what a mistake that was.

“Don’t you dare tell me to calm down! I have a right to be pissed off! Any closer and this could’ve seriously hurt your vision in your left eye! But you’re right let’s just calm down and not worry about it!"

“Okay I see your point. I just didn’t want you to worry about me,” Snart defended himself.

“I was worried about you since you hinted that your house wasn’t that good of a place to be. I don’t want you or Lisa to go back to that house. You can stay with us and I’ll talk to Joe. At least for a week. Please just give it a try and if it’s better than we can talk to Joe and he can help you.” Barry told him, but Snart was just in shock.

“Help. . .me?” he questioned.

“Yes! Joe is a fucking police detective! He’s well liked amongst the community, even with all the critiscm he gets! Believe it or not, but yes, he can actually build a case for you. Aren’t you almost 18?” Barry ranted and ended with a question.

“In a few months yes, but what about Lisa?” Snart questioned.

“Joe can get custody of her until you’re eighteen, then he can grant full custody to you. All I’m fully asking from you is to not go in that house and if you do to not get hurt,” Barry said the last part quietly as he leaned in to Snart.

It was as the two took this moment to kiss gently, that Snart felt the tears running down not only his cheeks, but Barry’s as well.

The two pulled away as Snart answered his question, “Okay. As long as I have Joe’s permission, we’ll stay with you.”

The next kiss was happier as Barry was smiling into it and practically throwing himself at Snart in happiness.

It didn’t last long however as a voice came from Barry’s doorway. “Isn’t this a surprise.”

“Iris!” Barry shouted as he jumped away from Snart and the two looked guilty at being caught, but Lisa, who was right next to her ran towards Snart with her hands in the air!

“Lenny has a girlfriend!” It would have been funny, and Len would correct her on the term, but being caught by Iris was different.

She strode confidently over to where Barry was, and with Barry shaking and scared of what she would do as she lifted her hands towards him, and Snart was ready to pounce on her, female or not Barry was his love and he won’t let anything or anyone hurt him, but both boys were wrong to be scared as all Iris did was bring Barry in a strong hug and whisper quietly in his ear, “I accept you and still love you. You’re my brother after all.”

It was after those words that Barry broke down into tears and hugged her back, “I love you to sis.”

“Now to you,” Iris said as she released Barry from the hug, her emotions doing a 180 as she got into protective sister mode. “If you even think about hurting Barry for a second I will hunt you down and castrate you, especially if you make him do something he doesn’t want to do,” she threatened as Snart gulped in fear.

“Don’t be mean to Lenny! He didn’t do anything!” Lisa shouted at Iris, but she only smiled and leaned down to Lisa.

“That’s our jobs as the siblings. We go to whoever our sibling is dating and threaten them, so they don’t break our brother’s heart,” Iris explained to her as Lisa caught on and walked away from Snart towards Barry.

“Don’t hurt Lenny!” Lisa shouted as she jumped up and landed on Barry’s foot, making the teenager grab his foot in pain and the other two teens in the room laugh at his misfortune.

“You should tell dad about Snart’s home life, you know he would let them stay here until their situation get better,” Iris told Barry and he agreed, but Iris wasn’t finished, “I also think you should tell him about you and Snart. Dad is a really accepting person. He’s not going to say no and he’ll be able to help Snart and Lisa better.”

“I’ll think about it. It’s not just me I would be outing. Len has to be okay with it as well,” Barry told her.

“And I am okay with it,” Len said, getting tired of the talking as if he doesn’t exist.

“Are you sure?” Barry asked him.

“I’m having some weird déjà vu,” Snart said with a smirk as Barry looked at him confused. “This is the same conversation we had in front of the boys; the only difference is that we swapped places. Right now, I’m the voice of reason. I told my friends; you can tell Joe.”

“We can tell him together,” Barry decided as he grabbed Snarts hand.

“We’ll be there to support you,” Iris said as she grabbed Barry’s shoulder, holding Lisa’s hand.

Once the group had made their decision, they all went downstairs to greet Joe, Barry making sure to let go of Snart’s hand for now. He was now dressed in normal clothes; no longer pajamas. Barry was just lucky Joe didn’t have to in to work today. Iris pushed him and Snart fully into the room, saying Lisa and her will be listening, but not in sight. Barry was glad his sister did that for him because it gave him comfort.

“Something you need Bear?” Joe asked as he put his book down to see his son and friend standing in front of him, the former looking much better now that he was cleaned up.

“I have something to tell you,” Barry said nervously, and Joe saw the other male put a comforting hand on Barry’s shoulder. Now he was curious as to what his son has to say to him.

“Is this about your attitude recently, or how you skipped school? We already talked about that and I told you I’m not mad. Just don’t let it become a habit and if you do then at least let me know before hand,” Joe told him.

“Sorry sir, but that was my fault that he skipped. I didn’t let him know until it was too late,” Snart apologized and Joe just smiled, but didn’t get a response as Barry stepped I, “But I still agreed to it.” Now when Barry defended the other male is when Joe raised an eyebrow, that wasn’t like his son.

“Barry what was it that you wanted to tell me?” Joe asked him, putting the conversation back on track.

He saw Barry close his eyes as he took a deep breath. He opened his eyes a second later and grabbed Snart’s hand with his own and looked Joe straight in the eyes and spoke, “Joe I want to reintroduce you to my boyfriend Leonard Snart.”

Joe didn’t say anything for a few seconds, he just closed his eyes put his hands together and took a few deep breaths, but the longer he was silent the more worried Barry got.

When Joe opened his eyes he also stood up in his chair and walked closer to Barry, taking notice on how Snart looked ready to pounce on him, but all he did was grab Barry’s free hand and spoke to him, “Barry Allen. You are smart. You are intelligent! You have the brightest eyes I have ever seen! You are gay! But most importantly is the fact that I Joe West am proud of you. You might not be mine by blood, but hell! I’ve raised you since you were just ten and I couldn’t be prouder of you. I just ask that you be careful with who you tell. After all our sad world isn’t that accepting of a place and the only thing I want for you kids is to be safe and happy,” by the end Joe had not only Barry, but Snart as well wrapped in a hug and tears streaming down both the father and son’s eyes.

Once the two pulled apart is when Barry looked serious again, “can I ask you for one more thing?”

“Whatever you need son,” Joe answered with a smile.

“Len and his sister need a place to stay,” Barry said as Lisa ran towards her brother and he wrapped his sister in his arms, Iris following behind the younger girl.

“Please sir! Our father. . .he won’t take kindly to Barry, or me for that matter. I just need a place to stay for a few months until I turn eighteen and then I can try and get full custody of Lisa. I just need a few months,” Snart said, ending the last sentence in a repeated whisper.

“I want to know everything, and I’ll do my best to help you.” Joe demanded as he sat down and offered a spot for Len next to him, Barry sitting next to Len for moral support.

It took a few hours, but Snart finally came clean to everything that his dad has done to him since his mother died. It made Barry cry, but Len always held him and told the brown-haired male how he was fine now. Joe was in detective mode since they started the conversation, grabbing a notepad and writing everything down. Then it was too the hard questions.

“Did your father ever lay a hand on Lisa?” Joe asked.

“Never! If he did I would’ve killed him. That was the deal he messes with me and leaves her alone,” Len said with fierce determination.

“Did your father ever sexually abuse you?” Joe asked and in all honest he hated asking these questions to the kid, he didn’t deserve the life he was given. He should be in a loving household with a loving dad.

“He tried once,” Snart said as he looked down ashamed, but Barry’s grip on him kept Snart in reality as he took a deep breath and continued, “but he didn’t get fair as he was really drunk and I kicked him in his sweet spot,” Snart ended with a glare in his eyes that everyone, but Lisa, could tell was directed towards his father.

“Is that all the question?” Snart asked, not really wanting to answer anymore, but knew he had to for Lisa.

“Yeah that’s it. I’ll go talk to the captain about it and you are welcome to stay here for as long as you need, Lisa as well. I’ll do my best to get full custody of her until your eighteen, on your feet with a place, a job, and a high school degree,” Joe told him.

“Joe’s not gonna let up on the degree, it’s mandatory for him,” Barry explained to him as Joe got up to put a jacket on along with his keys so he can get to work.

“I’ll be gone for a while I assume. Be safe and make good choices,” Joe shouted as he walked, receiving a chorus of goodbyes.

The three teens and one child entertained themselves until it was seven around four when Iris started cooking, she then made sure to feed everyone by six. After this Snart took Lisa to get ready for bed, wearing one of Iris’s pajama shirts as a sleep dress, she was in bed by eight, sleeping in the chair in the living room. Iris wasn’t far behind, leaving only Barry and Len up in the house, with Joe still not home yet.

They were talking about anything and everything in Barry’s room as they cuddled, well Len had his arms around Barry as Barry faced him and snuggled into his chest. Their conversations didn’t last long however as Barry soon fell asleep in Snart’s arm, but the older male only looked down and smiled softly, he wished he could stay like this forever.

A soft knock and Joe entered in the room, “I thought I’d find you in here,” he whispered as he gently sat down on the bed, making sure to not wake Barry.

“Sorry. I know I shouldn’t be sleeping in the same bed as him, we were just talking,” Snart quietly rambled, but was stopped by Joe’s hand and laugh.

“It’s okay Snart. As long as you two don’t do anything under my roof that kids should not be doing, I don’t mind. I’ve never seen him look that peaceful as he slept,” Joe told him.

“He doesn’t usually sleep well?” Len asked truly interested.

“He has nightmares often ever since he saw his mom die. I’ve tried doing everything I could to help him, but he really trusts you, so don’t break his heart okay kid,” Joe said to him.

“Yeah I never planned on it. How did it go?” Snart asked.

“Well they are building a case for you now. They know nothing about you and Barry dating, but you are forced by law to live here until this case is closed, at the very least,” Joe explained.

“So, Lisa and I, we don’t have to go back to that house?” Snart asked, just to be sure.

“Even if your father shows up and threatens you, he can’t legally make you leave. It’s the same for school. I’ll be dropping Lisa off tomorrow to give them the paperwork. I told them how you were an emergency situation. It’s also why I was gone all day,” Joe explained. “Well I’ll let you get some sleep,” Joe said as he stood up and started to walk away but was stopped by Snart.

“Joe.”

“Yeah kid?” Joe asked as he turned around to look at him.

“Thank you.”

“No problem Len. Get some sleep the next few months are going to be hard on you,” Joe said, ending the conversation.

A few months passed after that and the two new tenants to the house got into a routine easily. After Joe and his partner walked up the steps to Len’s house and give his father the paperwork, as well with collecting a few of their important things that they requested such as clothes and toys for Lisa.

It’s easy to say that their father did not take it well, losing not only his precious princess but his anger and stress relief. Snart and Lisa on the other hand were happy to never see the man again for as long as they lived.

At Joe’s Snart was able to stay in Barry’s room while Lisa was happy to share a room with Iris. Every morning they all woke up and got ready for school, Len no longer skipping and getting better grades. Once dressed and ready they all had breakfast together. Joe will then be proceeded to drop Lisa and Iris off at school, but Iris will sometimes ride with Snart and Barry, if she felt like it.

All four of them will go to school then they come back, Joe picking Lisa up and sometimes Iris. Once home they will grab a bite to eat and all help each other with their homework. Once homework was done Snart took that as a cue to head out for his part time job that Joe helped him get to save up money for a place where he and Lisa could stay.

Saturdays was spent with Len working all day and the others either laying around the house or hanging out with friends, but Len was always sure to take Sundays off to hang out with his boyfriend and friends no his family, cause that what all these people in his life are to him, they are all his family.

One Sunday it was just Barry and Snart as the two went to the place they both truly started to fall, looking under the starts. Snart was smoking again, no matter how much it annoyed Barry, but he noticed that this was something different Snart was doing, it even smelled different.

“What is that?” Barry asked.

“Just something to help my body relax,” Snart answered as he lit it and started to puff from it. It took a few minutes, but Barry noticed that Snart was really out of it and wondered what the hell he just did to himself.

“Can I try?” Barry asked, not really wanting to put smoke in his body, but at the same time he wanted to know what his boyfriend is doing.

Even out of his mind Snart contemplated for a moment and told Barry he’s going to get it second hand, just be sure to blow it out. Snart talked Barry all the way through it and once Barry was sure he was knowing what he was doing did he trust Snart enough to let him try it.

Snart took a big huff of the rolled up smoke and kissed Barry, letting the smoke float into his own mouth and Barry held it in for a few seconds before releasing. Barry will admit that this hobby is not right for him and he would never actively do it on his own, but as long as he can shotgun it off of Snart he would happily do it again.

They had many days like this one up until it was the second to last week of school and Barry and Snart just finished their presentation, happy that they both got a strong A, but that wasn’t the only good thing to happen on this day. As the whole household made it back home Joe was there with a smile on his face as he showed adoption papers for Lisa written in his name and a contract that stated custody will be handed over to Leonard Snart once he turns 18.

It was the start of a perfect chapter. The next thing to happen was when school officially ended and three of them were all part of the graduating class. They all waited to celebrate it so they could celebrate Snart’s birthday at the same time.

It took one week and as Snart was happy that he would be able to raise Lisa in a happy home life, he was worried about Barry. He kept on looking worried, stressed, and kept disappearing at weird times, but Snart wasn’t able to do anything at that moment as Joe wanted to go for a ride with him.

“Where are we going?” Snart asked him, truly wondering.

“I need to pick something up for Iris, I didn’t think you would mind keeping an old man company,” Joe answered smoothly.

“Yeah, no problem,” Snart said, not really knowing how to respond, but to agree.

The drive wasn’t long, but Joe told him to close his eyes and even though Snart was beginning to feel a bit of anxiety, he listened and closed his eyes as Joe led him into a store, it had a strong coffee smell, but that was all he could tell about it with his sense of sight blocked.

“3. . .2. . 1,” Joe said as he uncovered Snarts eyes and everyone from the rouges to the west jumped out from different counters and hanging from the celling was a sign that said happy graduation and happy birthday.

It was a good party all together, but what made the party really special to Snart was when the night was closing to an end and Joe was able to make all the workers disappear, years later Snart would ask him how he did it and Joe would just laugh and say Iris worked their and they let her close that night. The night calmed down and Snart had to catch Barry as he was pushed towards him.

Snart smiled as he saw Barry blush and it was at this moment that Barry got on one knee and Snart’s eyes widened.

“Leonard Snart I Barry Allen love you with all my heart. I’m not asking for your hand in marriage that will be determined by our government instead I’m asking you for something different and better. I’m asking you for a promise that you will always be there for me and I will always be there for you. I love you so much and never want to be without you. I neve want to be apart whether it be for days hours or seconds because I love you. Instead of marriage I want you to take this ring as a promise to love me for the rest of your life and in return I will love you. Through the good. Through the bad. Through the sun. Through the storm. Through all the stars in the sky that we have yet to seen I promise to love you if you promise to love me.”

“I-“ Snart was doing his best to not cry, but at the same time he couldn’t get the words out without the tears spilling so he did what he knows how to do best. He worked through his actions not his words. He lifted Barry up and kissed him as cheers erupted around them.

“I’m taking that as a yes?” Barry asked.

“Yes! Yes! And Yes!” Snart shouted as he kissed Barry again.

Their story wasn’t over in fact to them their story was just beginning, but they will get through everything together and face all their problems with ease. Times might be hard for them, but they will always hold on to that hope that things will get better.

#coldflash #coldflashbigbang2020 #barryallen #leonard snart #dc comics #more tags on ao3 #ao3 link

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