Archive of Our Own ^beta

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Leonard had only been here a day, and he'd been brought in so late the night before? He'd been shoved into an empty solitary cell rather than one of the bunk rooms, all day he'd been hearing the other kids whisper about him; about how his Dad was a cop and they doubted he'd make it to the end of the month let alone the week. It was just after dinner that someone finally approached him, he'd been on guard and ready to fight the whole day in anticipation for the moment.

What he didn't expect was the other kid to pull a shiv on him; he also didn't expect a kid who looked to be a couple of years older than him to catch the guys wrist and follow up with a punch in one fluid motion using his free hand well Len was swinging at one of the goons who was trying to distract him. The older boy took out three of the group well Leo took out 2 before the guards who were suppose to be supervising them even noticed the altercation, they were questioned and the guards seemed to not be surprised the other kid had ended up in a fight.

He made it very clear that if it wasn't for the other kid, he'd learned his name was Mick, stepping in he'd have ended up dead or in the hospital; if he was gonna make it out of here alive and back to his baby sister it would probably be a good idea to have this guy on his side. After that they let the two of them go, one of the guards escorted them back to the bunked cell that apparently was the other boy's room. Apparently every roommate they tried to give him he ended up fighting, must have figured that since he'd saved Leonard from dying? There was less of a chance he'd pick a fight with him.

Once the locked door had shut he finally turned to the other and asked the obvious question. "Why'd you help me?" He crossed his arms as he spoke; in a place like this most people didn't just help strangers, especially strangers whose Dad's were cops. Some might not question it but Leonard wanted to know, if he owed this kid some kind of debt he'd figure out a way to pay it; he was pretty resourceful after all. Even if his moves were a bit limited by circumstance.

He almost thought the other was ignoring him when he rolled into the bottom bunk to lounge on the bed, but once he was situated he answered. "No way you could of won that on your own but you fought instead of yellin' for the guards, plus no one should be tryin' ta kill you just because your Dad's a bastard cop. I'm sure you'll do something to deserve it yourself eventually, most kids in here do." He thought about the answer for a minute before leaning back against the wall facing the bed.

"Former cop." He replied, adding on when the other looked over at him. "But you got the bastard part right, I'm Leonard Snart." They'd both already learned each other names, but he figured they hadn't introduced themselves to each other yet. If there were gonna be roommates they should get along, even if they didn't end up being friends. Maybe Mick could help him survive the 6 months he was stuck here.

He saw the other eye him for a minute as if trying to decide if he wanted to bother introducing himself, when he rolled over to face the wall Leonard almost thought he wasn't going to and started up onto the top bunk. He was just about to haul himself onto the mattress when he heard. "Michael Rory, but everyone calls me Mick."

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Leonard was only supposed to be in there 6 months, but it'd turned into 8 and a half between people starting things with him and trying to help keep Mick outta trouble. He'd learned the other boy was only supposed to be in there for 3 months and it had turned into 7 by the time Leonard got there, he also learned about Mick's affinity for fire when he caught the other starring at one of the guards well they lit a cigarette on their break; at first, he'd thought maybe he used to smoke before ending up there. But as soon as the guards lighter went out his fixation on the guard went away almost instantly and he was focused back on the food he'd been eating, it was three days after that that Leonard was able to pickpocket a zippo off of one of the guards.

After that Mick seemed to warm up to him a bit, he hadn't started any trouble with Leonard after they became roommates but they weren't exactly friends either. After he'd chucked the lighter down to him from the top bunk though he tended to stick close to him, they ate lunch together and sat near each other in their mandatory study sessions, with Mick sticking close to him the other kids seemed to back off even more than they had after that first fight. Eventually, they considered each other friends. Leonard told him about his Dad and that he needed to get out sooner rather than later to make sure that his little sister was okay, Mick told him what an ass his own Dad was and the way his mother spent most of her night either drunk or out drinking. Leonard got out a month before Mick did and he was worried that after he left the other boy would fall back into fights and seclusion without him there to steal him a new lighter when one went out.

He was on his way out of the house with a 2-year-old Lisa on his shoulders to bring her to the park on a Tuesday morning though, having skipped school because someone needed to watch her, when he saw a figure standing on the curb facing the road with his hands shoved in his pockets. He slowed his steps to figure out who it was before it clicked in his head and he realized he recognized the head of messy brown hair and slightly hunched shoulders, he didn't realize soon enough though because when he didn't start moving again immediately he felt the palms of tiny hands hit the top of his head and heard the command of the toddler he was holding. "Go go Lenny! Slide!" Leonard saw Mick turning after he heard something behind him but answered Lisa first.

"Okay okay! We're going to the slide, but you gotta hang on a second." Mick was walking towards them now and he took a couple of steps to meet him partway, shifting Lisa on his shoulders a bit so she wasn't pinching his neck between her leg and his shirt collar. "Didn't realize you got out, Mick." He didn't really know where they stood with their friendship, they'd helped each other get by before but he didn't necessarily need that now and neither did Leonard. Part of him hoped that he still wanted to be friends despite that though, that was why he'd told Mick his address so he could find him if he wanted to.

"Yeah, I got let out Friday. I wasn't able to sneak away from the house until this morning though. Wasn't sure if you'd be home or at school, didn't want to knock just encase." That was smart, Leonard didn't think Lewis would have taken too kindly to some strange kid knocking on the door and asking for him. He noticed him glancing above his head at Lisa, who he could only imagine was studying Mick with a curious look with the face that he could feel her hunching herself down a bit behind his head and holding onto his hair. He did his best to ignore the tugging on his hair as she slipped back a little off his shoulder in her attempt to hide, tightening his grip on her ankles just a bit. "But I just wanted to let you know I was out, if your busy I can go."

"We're not-well I did promise I'd bring Lisa I'd bring her to the park, but if you wanted to come with us I'm sure she wouldn't mind." He tapped Lisa's leg with his right pointer finger well keeping the rest curled around her ankle securely. "You wouldn't mind if my friend Mick came with us to the park, would you Lis?" he expected an interruption from Mick, a quick 'thats okay I got things to do', instead he got silence from him as Lisa made a small 'hmm' noise and he felt her perk herself up more to look more clearly at Mick over his head before declaring. "'ick come to!"

"Well, guess I don't have anything better to do." Leonard felt a sense of relief, he didn't have many friends and was glad this one wasn't done just because they didn't have to help each other out anymore. Making them wasn't high on his priorities list, but that didn't mean that having no one but Lisa didn't get lonely sometimes; even if he did love his sister. After that, he started walking again to lead the way to the park they'd been headed to, him and Mick talking about what they'd been up to since they last saw each other.

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Leonard ignored the third they had brought in when they hit up the bonds business in the lower part of central city, just slamming his door shut after handing over the guys cut and waiting for Mick to get out. As getaways went getting dropped more than three miles from your actual destination wasn't the first choice, but it was better than someone else knowing where their safe house that Mick'd been living at first the last few months was. Quickly enough they made it back to the abandoned warehouse furnished with a futon and a couple of chairs, he dropped the bag filled with cash down on one of the chairs before grabbing a slice of Pizza from the box they had picked up on the way back. He just rolled his eyes at Mick's complaint about his insistence that they just get plain cheese as he sat down, lounging as he laid back on one of the arms and lifted his legs so that they went over the back that way Mick would have room to sit on the other end if he wanted to.

"I'd rather we both be willing to eat the food and Lisa's not snubbing the slice I'm planning on giving her for breakfast." His explanation got nothing but a grumble from Mick but he dropped it, Leonard knew that the other had almost as big a soft spot for his 6-year-old sister as he did so he'd figured he would. They ate in silence after that for the most part outside of a few comments here and there about where they might be able to target for their next job in a couple of months. if Lewis didn't find something that he wanted to force Leonard to help with that was. Leonard let out a yawn when he was done as Mick walked away to use the bathroom, it'd been a couple of days since he had more than 2 or 3 hours of sleep and it was starting to catch up with him. He closed his eyes as he thought that maybe he could get away with a few hours of sleep before he went back home, it was only a little after midnight and as far as his father knew he was working a night shift shelve stocking somewhere; he couldn't get home till at least 5 if he wanted to keep up that lie.

"You wanna stay till your old man won't think your lying that's on you, but I'm going to bed." Mick said when he came back, making a point to knock Leonard's feet off the back of the futon once he was behind it and ready to pull it down. He just let his feet drop with a slight scowl and rolled over to the edge of the side of futon he was already by and closed his eyes, pointedly ignoring the other as he tossed a blanket on him before laying down himself. He mentally told himself that he was only going to sleep 2 and a half hours as he dozed into unconsciousness, which would give him time to stop on the way home to get food for Lisa's school lunch.

He woke up a little more than a two hours later, making a pointed decision not to open his eyes right away and get up. He could feel that he was uncovered and his blanket was tangled down at his feet now, but he still felt a comfortable warmth; which his half-asleep mind only vaguely questioned. He felt more rested but at the same time his muscles felt sore, as soon as he came to the realization it clicked that he must have had a night terror. He tensed when he realized that there was a weight of an arm around him, and the distinct scent of a campfire mixed with charcoal and dust filling his nose. His eyes flew open and just as suddenly as he confirmed what he thought he felt cold rush around him as Mick rolled over and muttered. "Night terror, couldn't sleep with you yellin' an' flailin' like that."

Leonard didn't say anything at that and just rolled off the side of the bed, pocketing some of the money from the job the night before and walking to the door that led out of the back of the building as calmly as he could manage and completely forgetting to grab a slice of the pizza for Lisa. When he stopped to stock up on food for her lunches for the week he grabbed a container of oatmeal and some berries and bananas, he'd just have to make her some breakfast as well as packing her lunch. Luckily enough his Father was already out of the house when he got home but Lisa was still sleeping, he showered before quietly getting her breakfast ready before going to get her up and dressed well it cooled enough for her to eat and making her lunch well she ate.

When he got back home after walking her to school he finally sat on the edge of his bed, reaching up to cover his face with his hands with a groan of frustration now that he was alone. He could almost still feel the arm on his waist and smell the smoke and charcoal scent that has been surrounding him as he woke up, it wasn't the first time he'd crashed at Mick's for a few hours before going home; hell it wasn't even the first time he had a night terror around the other. It was however the first time he'd woken up like that rather than him just waking Leonard up from the terror. He mentally steeled himself, massaging his temples with his middle and ring fingers as he hunched slightly over the edge of his bed and pushed the thoughts surfacing in his mind back as he got up to take care of the housework that Lewis very much expected and thought Lisa did. He worked so hard trying to distract his mind? by the time it was time to get Lisa he had the house nearly spotless.

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They had lost the cops a while ago but Leonard and Mick still hadn't stopped running, going around a few extra blocks before slowing just before they made it into Mick's apartment building. His place wasn't much as far as apartments go, there were some stains on parts of the ceiling that were obviously water damage and the pipes made a rattling noise if you turned on more than one faucet at a time; it was better than squatting in an old warehouse though. They had moved the old futon into the place and eventually Mick had gotten a bed for the small bedroom that was in there, Leonard scowled as he kicked his damp shoes off his feet once inside the door. He'd stomped through a puddle that had been deeper than it looked and he could already feel the wet fabric of his sock digging into his left foot. He scowled slightly as he realized that they would either have to go to a pawn shop out of town or wait a few weeks before getting rid of the items they had managed to snatch now, luckily? It had just been the two of them this time around so they didn't have to worry about someone else getting caught and ratting them out.

He only managed to kick one of his shoes off his feet before noticing Mick moving closer to him and looking up just in time for him to put a hand on either side of his waist and lean in to kiss him; he froze for a second in shock before his eye started to shut and he almost reached to put his own arms around the other but instead pushing him away and saying in a whispered yell, knowing that the walls to the other apartments weren't exactly soundproof and not needing his neighbors making assumptions or giving them dirty looks. "What the hell Mick!?" He figured that the other had just gotten caught up in the adrenaline the chase they had just escaped, Mick was impulsive and a lot of the time did things without thinking. He almost put his shoe back on and left before deciding against walking the mile and a half home with wet shoes, and instead wedged the other off as he walked away. "If you wanna blow off some steam go find a dumpster to light up."

"I ain't trying to blow off steam, Lenny." Leonard turned around and narrowed his eyes a bit at the other when he felt him grab his arm, the look on his face clearly saying 'yeah right'. He'd pushed down his feelings for Mick for years now and he doubted his partner knew it, he wasn't going to let Mick's impulsiveness break a wall in him that he didn't know if he could rebuild; not if that was all it was. "Okay fine, maybe part of it is. But I ain't as stupid as I let people think and you know that, you really think I ain't noticed?" If Leonard was honest then no he didn't think that Mick had noticed; he'd been careful for a few months after the incident a few years back that first time he'd had a night terror and woken up with Mick holding him, he'd stay up with a book or something rather than napping before going back home to keep up his lie and just sleep once Lisa was at school. He hadn't slept before going home until Mick had gotten an actual apartment and eventually a bed and Leonard could take the futon on his own. 

Apparently he hadn't been careful enough though, he regretted not putting more distance in between them when not pulling jobs together. He pulled his arm free and stepped over so he was standing in front of Mick; he had been a little shorter for a while during his teen years, but now they were nearly the exact same height and he was glad for that fact as he looked into the other man's eyes and spoke. "Noticed what? That I have feelings for you? So what, you wanna make out on the couch like a couple of teenagers and see if this'll go anywhere? What makes you think that either one of us has the capacity for a healthy relationship?" A thought of 'to close' ran through his head and he ignored it, instead he focused on the situation itself.

He felt Mick's foot bump against his own before the other took one more step towards him so that there was almost no space between them, it took everything in Leonard not to bolt right then; if this was anyone but Mick he knew he would have the second he'd kissed him. He had to remind himself to breathe when Mick started speaking. "We ain't a couple a teenagers Len, and I wasn' waiting longer for you to say somethin'." He felt hands on his sides again and bit his tongue to help him concentrate and keep his breathing even well not breaking eye contact with Mick. "If you don' wanna try this then say so because all I heard so far is lame-ass excuses, but nothin' about this not being what you want."

Leonard didn't answer him, staying silent for about 30 seconds to process the other's words. He was just starting to see the usual impatience give way in Mick's eyes when he finally reached up and put one hand on his shoulder and the other on the back of his neck, being the one to pull him in for a kiss this time. After a minute and with his back now against the wall he pulled away and finally said something. "I swear to god Mick, if this was just a heat of the moment thing to you I will shoot you myself." A bit dramatic? Maybe, but better than the truth that he would likely be curb-stomped by a 10-year-old in his sleep.

Mick let out a laugh and said. "I don't expect anything else, boss."

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Leonard wiped his feet on the mat outside before opening the door to step inside, he and Lisa still had 2 hours before his Dad got home which gave them plenty of time to clean and then for him to get her some food and shut away into her room with the excuse of homework. He froze when he opened the door and saw broken glass at the bottom of the stairs, spots of blood clear to see even in the dim light of the house. A flash of panic went through him before he slammed the door shut and completely ignored that he heard his Dad yelling from the living room, he didn't care if the other care after him at the moment and hurried up the stairs and to the bathroom. When he got in there he found Lisa with her shirt pulled off treating a deep cut on her shoulder, it didn't seem to be bleeding enough to have hit any major arteries but he moved over quickly anyway as he shut the door. "Lis, what happened?"

He grabbed the cloth she was holding as he spoke, gently wiping the area around the cut. "He-he came home early, when he saw that the cleaning wasn't done he pushed me down and I dropped the glass I was holding, a piece of it..." He didn't push her to finish, he got the gist of what had gone on and a hard look came to his eyes as he stood up and moved to hold the door shut so he could finish talking to her before their father could open it.

"Put your shirt on, go into your room, put on a black sweatshirt and grab your go-bag and then go grab mine well I deal with him. Don't wait for me, just go outside. You know where we're going, I'll catch up to you." Lisa nodded and tucked the cloth so that her bra strapped was holding it in place over her wound before pulling her shirt on just as Lewis started banging on the door, Lisa walked over and put her hand on Leonard's arm. She was trying to get him to calm down before facing their father and he knew it, she didn't want him to do something for her sake that she thought he might regret later. "Are you ready?" When she responded with a nod Leonard opened the door, standing between her and Lewis as the other started yelling at him once the door was open.

"Who do you think you are slamming my doors and ignoring me when I talk to you!? This is my house, I don't need to let you keep staying here. Your 25 years old, most men would be out of their parents house but here you are still acting like a boy entitled to my property." Normally Leonard just took the yelling and occasional hit from Lewis, preferring to deescalate the situation for Lisa's sake so that he wouldn't have to worry about not being able to be there to protect her from him. Because of that he expected the shock on his father's face when he didn't back down and instead took a few steps towards him, he might have been small and lanky as a kid but now he was at least 3 inches taller than his father and with their age difference? Could more than likely take him in a fight, he  felt Lisa squeeze between him and the door frame to run to her room right as he started talking.

"Your house!? The money I manage to get is the only reason you still have your house, I'm the only reason your house doesn't look like some sort of halfway house. Most 25-year-old men wouldn't have to keep staying in their parent's house because they're afraid that their little sister will end up dead if they leave her to their father's care." He continued walking as he spoke, pushing Lewis back when the other tried to push him back towards the bathroom. "And that's done, I'm not taking it anymore, and you're not going to be going anywhere near Lisa anymore." He heard steps rushing down the stairs behind him as he backed Lewis into the wall, not bothering to turn around and making sure the other's attention was still on him. "You might have your connection Dad but so do I, and most of mine don't take kindly to ex-cops." He reached out and shoved Lewis, his shoulder banging hard onto the wall behind him before turning around and heading down the stairs and out the door himself after Lisa.

He was at the bottom of the steps when Lewis finally broke from his shock and moved to the top of the stairs to yell after him. "You better watch your back boy, because I will get to you and when I do you're going to regret today." Leonard ignored him as he opened the door and went out, slamming it shut behind him as he did. He jogged down the sidewalk in the direction he knew Lisa had gone, finally catching up to her about three blocks from Mick's place and taking both her bag and his own from her. They walked the rest of the way together, stopping at a pharmacy so that Leonard could buy a first aide kit before getting to Mick's place.

Leonard didn't bother knocking on the door when they got there, but as he opened the door and shoved his key back into his pocket he called. "It's just me and Lisa." encase the other was home and heard them come in. He didn't hear Mick say anything in response but he did hear what sounded like his boyfriend digging around in the fridge as he directed Lisa into the bathroom had her sit on the closed toilet seat, he set the first aide kit down on the sink before telling her. "Wait here, I'm gonna go boil some water so I have something to clean the cut with. Take off your sweater and your shirt so that I can get to the wound, but be careful you don't jerk it around too much."

After that he headed out of the room with their bags, throwing them onto the couch before he headed to the kitchen and started digging out a pan without saying anything to Mick. "Len?" He didn't answer, just turning on the water before setting the pan on the stove and turning it on. "Leonard." He felt Mick reach out to grab his arm and turn him towards him and narrowed his eyes spitting out a clearly annoyed "What!?" Towards his partner, at the reaction? He felt Mick's hand leave his arm and almost felt bad, but he was still filled with anger at his father and guilt for not getting home before his father so that something like this wouldn't happen. "Boss, what happened? Is Lisa okay?"

Leonard turned back towards the stove as he spoke, waiting for the water to start boiling. "She'll be fine, but she's got a huge gash on her shoulder thanks to that bastard. I grabbed a first-aid kit on the way here to take care of it." He paused for a minute before turning away from the water to look at the other again, he could see that Mick was fuming. He reached out and put a hand on either side of his face to try and anchor him, he didn't need Mick losing his shit and going after Lewis right now. "...Mick I can't ask her to go back there." It would have been easier if they could have made it another 4 and a half years till Lisa turned 18, then he couldn't do anything if he took her out of there. But Lisa had never ended up hurt this way before, every other time Leonard had been able to get between and shield his sister from Lewis's outbursts and anger. Sure he had a few scars of his own from that, but that was better than Lisa having them.

"Good. Neither one of ya is going back to that bastard's house, I say you shoulda put a bullet in him years ago." He reached up as he spoke, pulling Leonards hands away from his face before saying. "Go make sure Lis is okay, I'll bring you the water when it's done and grab a clean cloth." Leonard nodded and walked away to check on Lisa, soon enough the wound was cleaned up and they had some steri-strip over it and covered some gauze and medical tape. He went to grab her bag for her so she could put some clean clothes on to sleep in and saw Mick putting a pillow and blanket down on the futon for her; soon enough she was done cleaning up, had some food in her, and was laying down to sleep.

Once Leonard was she that Lisa was out he went to clean himself up before changing into a pair of loose pants to sleep in and going and sliding into Mick's bed, accepting it when the other wrapped his arms around him and hooking one arm around the other's neck and resting his forehead in the crook of his neck. "I should have been there Mick, now she's going to have a reminder of that asshole with her forever."  at the comment he felt Mick reach his hand up, trailing his fingers over a scarred patch on his upper arm where Lewis had thrown a pan Leonard had been cooking with a couple of years back and boiling water had splashed onto him.

"There's a lota scar she don't have because you were there Len." His hand moved as he spoke as if to prove the point, trailing over the scar on his back where Lewis had shoved him through the screen door in the kitchen, a nail on the deck outside of it scraping him when he fell once he was through it. That one was older, he was 16 when that happened. "You shoulda let me kill that bastard years ago."

"I don't need him dead, I need him out of our life." He wasn't even surprised by the response "Great way ta do that is make 'im dead." Leonard just rolled his eyes at the response, pulling his head away from Mick before moving back towards him for a kiss. He appreciated the sentiment but he also thought that death was too easy of an out for Lewis. One day? He'd make sure his father paid for everything he'd put him and Lisa through but now wasn't the time, right now it would hurt Lisa more than help her. He let the events of the day slip away for now and smiled into the kiss when he felt Mick roll them over so that he was on top of Leonard, biting his cheek to muffle a small moan when he felt his lips slipped down to his neck.