Coldflash and Legends One-Shots

First, Last, and Only (Rated PG13)

Summary:

When Barry finds out his best friend has to move away, he's heartbroken that they won't be able to check off all the firsts they'd planned on doing with one another. Len is determined to get as many done as possible ... including one that Barry doesn't know about yet.

Notes:

Just throwing this out there to add a little levity during these trying times. This is a re-write of one of my other stories in case anyone thinks it sounds familiar. AU where Barry doesn't have powers.

***

"But ... but I don't want you to go." Barry sniffs, repeating a sentiment he's expressed a half dozen times in the last five minutes. "I don't want to lose my best friend."

"You're not going to lose me," Len insists, rolling his eyes like he always does, which may seem dismissive, but he's only doing it to hide the fact that he hates his having to leave as much as Barry does. He's not just leaving his best friend, but his whole life. A good life. The best life he and his sister have had since his mother convinced his dad to settle down and grow some roots. But now with his mother and grandfather gone, Len and Lisa are pretty much at the mercy of his father's whims.

Because of that, he can't actually guarantee, as much as he'd like to, that Barry will ever see him again.

He'd been unforgivably nonchalant about breaking the news. He'd convinced himself that Barry wouldn't take it so hard.

But Barry looks like his world is ending, and Len can do little to comfort him.

Hard to give someone else hope when you have none yourself.

He blows out a frustrated breath, cursing in his head. He isn't upset at Barry. This situation sucks. He'd never admit it, but he stormed out of the house near tears when his father told him they'd be leaving Central City. And on his birthday, too.

Terrific.

Happy fucking birthday.

He'd considered climbing through Barry's bedroom window and claiming sanctuary, beg Joe to let him spend the rest of high school living in Barry's closet. He wouldn't take up much room. Just a bedroll - that's all he'd need. He'd get a job, pay for food and rent. They'd barely know he was there.

If it wasn't for Lisa, he would have.

They're a package deal, so if Len runs, Lisa would have to run with him. And she would. She loves their father, would worry about him, but she'd choose Len any day of the week and twice on Sunday. And maybe Len would be able to dodge Lewis Snart by hiding out with the Wests, but he's not too certain his father would let his sister go so easily.

The last thing Len wants to do is give Lisa a false sense of security - install them in a stable home with nice people to look after them just to have it ripped out from under her when their father shows up one day, grabs her on her way home from school or after cheer practice, and drags her off to who knows where.

Len could never live with himself if something happened to his baby sister on his watch.

Barry leans forward and curls over his arms, hugging his torso as the weight of this all bears down on him. Len wraps an arm around his friend's shoulders and gives him a squeeze.

"Hey now. This isn't good-bye forever. Not by a long shot. I'll email you and text, and call you every day. You're not getting rid of me that easily, Allen."

Barry nods, comforted, but still feeling like a big chunk of his world is falling apart. He's lost so many people during his short life so far. Len was the one person he didn't expect he'd have to say good-bye to anytime soon.

"I guess there goes the bucket list." Barry sniffles. "We have a bunch of firsts we were going to try and cross off before the summer."

"I know." Len chews the inside of his cheek, thinking about the list they'd put together. Things like learn to play cricket, shoot a bow and arrow, and paddle a kayak were on Barry's side of the list, while participate in a mud run, build a tree fort, and sleep out under the stars without a tent were on Len's. A lot of them aren't complicated. They could start today. "I'm not leaving till the end of next week. We can try to cross off as many as we can before then."

Barry lifts watery eyes. "Do ... do you think we can?" he asks, wiping his cheeks with the cuff of his shirt.

"Sure. I don't see why not."

The shadow of a smile grows on Barry's lips. "Where do you want to start?"

"The only tree we can really build a fort in is in Joe's back yard," Len says. "Do you think he'd let us?"

"I think he'd be okay with it," Barry ponders, "as long as we let Iris in, and it doesn't cause any permanent damage. We can sleep underneath it tonight, start drawing up some blueprints."

"I think I can convince Carl down at the harbor to let us rent some kayaks even though he's not opening up for business till the end of the month."

"Really?" Barry's eyes light with excitement over their forming plan.

"Really." Len smiles, a thought crossing his mind. "Actually, there is one more thing we can cross off. Now, as a matter of fact."

"Yeah?" Barry's brow pinches as he goes over Len's list in his mind. There's a lot of big ticket items on his side. "Which one?"

"This one." Len moves quickly, afraid that if he gives himself another minute to think it over, he might chicken out. He cups trembling hands around Barry's face and presses their lips together.

It isn't much of a kiss. It might not even classify as a kiss to anyone who could have done it better. But for Len, it's the biggest first he's been looking forward to crossing off.

When he pulls away, Barry's eyes are wide, his cheeks flushed a warm shade of pink. Len bites his lip and looks down at his feet, trying to hide the heat in his own cheeks that's a little bit anticipation and a whole lot of fear.

"Wh-- ... where was that on the list?" Barry asks through tingling lips, afraid to move them lest the sensation of that kiss evaporate away.

"Um ... it was between the lines," Len confesses, chancing a glance at Barry, relaxing when he sees the blissful expression on his face.

"Are kisses always going to be that nice?"

"I guess we'll find out."

Barry smiles dreamily, imagining a future of kisses as amazing as that one. But then his smile crumbles, his hands rising up to shield his face.

"What ... what is it?" Len asks, petrified that somehow - even after the blushing, even after the smile - Barry didn't really want to be kissed, and now he would never forgive Len for taking that away from him. "Did I ... did I do something wrong?"

Barry shakes his head so hard his neck cracks.

Len wraps his arms around Barry and holds him tight. "Then what is it?"

"If they are or if they're not ... I don't want to find out with anyone else."

***

"That's when you knew?" Barry looks from the platinum band on his finger to his husband's face.

"Yup," Len replies with a smug grin, hugging Barry tighter, pressing the bare skin of his chest against his own. "That's when I knew."

"But you must have kissed a dozen guys since then!" Barry argues. "That was our first kiss! We were only fourteen!"

"Try seven." Len leans over and kisses his husband, savoring the taste of the mojitos Barry indulged in since it was the first night of their honeymoon and they had nothing more important to do than sit in a hammock on the beach and enjoy one another. "What can I say? Even back then, you were one hell of a kisser."