I've Got Soul but I'm Not a Soldier

Home

Barry leaves the next day, but his day job calls and it's time for him to return to his work as Barry Allen, CSI extraordinaire. Len kisses him goodbye and the kid disappears in a flash. One of these days it won't make his stomach clench.

While he's gone, Len stays at the safe house and thinks. If Barry's going to be staying here so much, he's going to have to change some things around the house. First of all, they're going to need a bigger refrigerator to hold all the food, and a better stove would be nice, too. A bigger bedroom so Barry can move his things in – who knows how much the kid has? They only fooled around in Joe West's house a couple of times, and Len was otherwise preoccupied; he didn't snoop.

The more he thinks about it – and the upcoming December wedding which Barry still hasn't told Iris isn't happening – the more he wants, and when he wants something, he usually gets it. Except for that one elusive thing he's wanted for a while – a normal life.

Len's a criminal, and he's very good at what he does. He loves the thrill that comes with a heist, with counting the seconds, but ever since Barry vanished into the 'time-traveling vortex of doom', none of that has really mattered. He's found something else that gives him a rush, and that's something he's secretly desired for a while now, but never thought possible.

A normal life.

With a white-picket fence and everything.

And Barry.

Barry is a very vital part of that little dream.

And while he's thinking of upgrading the safe house, he thinks about moving somewhere with Barry. And when he thinks of moving somewhere with Barry, he thinks of a white-picket fence and a house shared by Captain Cold and the Flash. He thinks of family, and safety, and home.

It's been a long time since he's thought of home.

Now he wants.

xXx

He spends the day planning. He's always been good at that.

Leonard Snart's records have been erased from the crime database thanks to Barry, but that doesn't mean it's going to be easy to get anywhere with his name.

That'll have to change.

xXx

Barry calls around five in the afternoon, when he should be getting off work.

"We got a case," Barry says somewhat glumly. "I won't be back tonight. Sorry, Len."

Len sighs. "It's fine, Barry. I'm doing a little side project, anyway."

Barry's quiet for a moment. "Crime?"

"It's a surprise."

Barry laughs. "Does the Flash need to know?"

"The Flash can stay home tonight," Len tells him with a smile.

"Alright, then. Love you."

Len closes his eyes. "Love you, too, kid. Catch the bad guy."

"I'll try to. Bye, Len."

"... Bye, Barry."

xXx

Barry is only gone two nights. Well, one and a half nights.

Len wakes from his restless sleep to the bed shifting, and then there's warmth pressed against his side. He instinctively wraps an arm around the warm body, pulling it closer, his own body relaxing from a tense state he hadn't even known it was in. Barry breathes out a contented sigh and Len smiles in the darkness.