I rewatched Season 1 of Legends so I could watch Legends Season 2, Arrow Season 5 and The Flash Season 2 up to Invasion so me and my mommy could finish watching Supergirl Season 2.
I've been procrastinating on finishing catching up because the Arrowverse is fucking insane and I already got spoilers from tumblr/internet and then other people writing fanfiction gave me more spoilers after I got spoilers from the internet.
-it took me so long to write this that now I've seen Invasion, finished Flash season 3, going to watch Legends next and save Arrow for last, I have to watch supergirl with my mom so I can't binge that.
and I came up with this crazy crossover AU where Mick & Len accidently adopted Ryan if Leo never made it to the adoption center before Seth kidnapped him because of rewatching LoT season 1 and prouvairablehulk saying the Mick Rory is a literal hot dad in Help Save The Youth Of America (author and story found on archive of our own), and I'm like I need to do my own fic of that, and no matter where they live Mick and Len always seem to adopt all the troubled kids in the neighborhood
-Because even if Mick didn't sign up for it, he's still a dad, like him and Leonard were lowkey dating and when they found an abandoned one year old in 2003 at first Leonard wanted to keep the kid for a week to teach Lisa, his sister to be responsible, since based off the actress' age, she was 17 in 2003 while Len was 31, and he's been taking care of Lisa basically on his own for so long since Lewis Snart was an a-hole and their mom died- but Ryan slowly grew on Mick and Len, and you can bet Mick and Len got married in a courthouse as soon as marriage equality was passed 'for their son' (but also for them)
This is my first time writing Coldwave and I'm a little bit rusty at writing angst, even if I just wrote a funeral two weeks ago, and this is a crazy crossover universe, so please forgive me for fucking anything up.
And I would love to write more of this universe, but I'm leaving for college in 10 days (BOOO!)
Having to tell his son that his other dad died was the hardest thing Mick Rory had ever had to do. Not only that, but he needed to tell Lisa that he let her brother die. Conveniently (or inconveniently), Lisa was staying in Bay City to 'babysit' Ryan while him and Len were on the Waverider. Not that he needed it. The kid was 14, and he was fairly responsible as far as kids go, though his friend Spyder was definitely something to be concerned about. Mick did care about making sure that nothing happened to Ryan while they were gone, but him and Len had been left alone at far younger than that, and Mick learned to drive a tractor when he was 8, and shoot a gun after he turned 10.
Mick stopped when he was about to turn the key in the door. Fuck, how was he going to tell the kid? It was Ryan's idea for them to go on the Waverider. 'The world needs to know how great you are, just because you do bad things sometimes doesn't make you bad'; he'd told them in January, while the credits for Frozen rolled on the tv (Mick and Ryan rented it together to tease Lenard about it).
It, well, it was a lot to think about. Rip told them that them taking care of Ryan wasn't the original timeline, it was an altered one, that there were hundreds of possible timeliness depending on what happened when and who did what, and that he respected Len and Mick being parents, and he was surprised with who they ended up being parents to even if he had never said why.
Well, Leonard and Mick already knew that Ryan was a technopath, because of all the superhero movies they had to watch, and comic books they had to read in order to understand those movies, there was no way there was any other explanation at all, from the tv breaking all the damn time when Ryan was just a little kid, barely 2 years old, especially during Mick's baseball and Len's stupid basketball and their football (during the super bowl too!); to how quickly Ryan turned off his alarm clock in the morning. Mick and Len were just as sure about Ryan's technopathy as the fact that Tecton is played by some due named Jilon VanOver in the movies.
Mick turned the key in the doorknob, taking a deep breath as he opened the door. He was immediately greeted by Ryan running up to hug him.
"Dad! You're back! Cisco's trying to stop Aunt Lisa from cooking dinner again." Ryan said, before he looking up at Mick. "Dad, where's da?" He frowned. It's been four months since his dad left to go time travel, they promised they'd both be home. "Dad?" Ryan pleaded.
Mick frowned. "Kid, why don't we do in the kitchen with Lisa and Cisco. We have a lot to talk about." Mick ushered Ryan into the kitchen. Cisco was hovering over a pot on the stove, and Lisa was sitting at the table. Good. That girl could burn ramen noodles if she wasn't careful. Her cooking was one of a handful things that actually scared Mick.
"Hey Lisa." Mick said softly. If he knew anything about Lisa Snart, it was that her brother was her everything, and that she would probably try to kill him. And he deserved it.
Lisa looked up at the sound of Mick's voice, immediately noticing that her brother was not there. "Michael Thomas Rory. You tell me where my brother is right the fuck now or I swear that I will fucking kill you in your sleep."
Mick rubbed the back of his neck, looking sheepish. "I-I can explain."
"You bet your ass you'll explain what happened. Lenny was the only person in my life that ever actually cared about me until you were cellmates with him in juvie." Lisa started out by yelling, but her voice quickly quieted to a whisper.
Cisco flinched, turning off the burner and placing a lid on the pot. He knew how fucked up Lisa's past was, and it still scared him. Even though Ryan was definitely not a little kid, he still shouldn't be around for this. He walked over and grabbed Ryan's hand. "Come on, Chiquito. Why don't we let them talk this out and I'll take you for ice cream?" He suggested. He loved Lisa, but aye Dios mío that girl was crazy.
Ryan frowned, giving Cisco a look once they reached the front door. "Dad and Da fight sometimes, I'm a big boy."
Cisco sighed. "I know, little dude. But this is going to either end in bruises or blood." He winced when he heard Lisa started yelling at Mick again.
"Can I have a hot fudge sundae?" Ryan asked Cisco.
"Of course, little dude." Cisco grabbed his coat and his keys.
Ryan looked at Cisco, following him to the beat up Honda civic covered in various stickers with references to pop culture, and a Bisexual Pride bumper sticker that was parked in front of the Rory-Snart household next to Lisa's Nissan that broke down at least every three months. More often than not, Cisco opened a breach to visit Lisa. But this was a rare instance in which he decided to go on a road trip and stay for a while.
"Are you going to marry Aunt Lisa?" Ryan broke the silence as he climbed in the passenger seat. He didn't know what happened to his Papa, well, he did, and his stomach was filling up with dread at actually learning the news, but Cisco was around a lot more often after his dads left to go on a timeship, and besides being an all around cool dude, and the source of many great movie marathons since him and Lisa started dating a year ago, he had saved Ryan from eating either basically inedible food or an amount of takeout that no human being should eat in the past five months since his dads left to go save the world from future destruction.
"Um, w-what?" Cisco choked as he got into the driver's seat. He didn't expect this question to come from anyone's mouth just yet, let alone the teenage boy who was practically another one of his nephews.
Ryan shrugged, playing with the radio, since Cisco always let him chose the station. "You love her, right? Don't you get married if you love someone? Isn't that why my dads got married last June after Obergefell v. Hodges?" Since he had two gays dads, Ryan had very in depth knowledge about the legal issues surrounding same-sex marriage and adoption, especially since unlike his parents, he didn't pass at white. He wasn't even officially adopted, he was just a government oversight, but because his dads miraculously had all his paperwork, at least he was recognised as a person. Mick Rory and Leonard Snart's criminal record was why everyone outside of his family and friends thought his last name really was Walker, and that he was related to Mark Walker, one of Bay City High's resident jock assholes and Spyder's older adopted brother.
Cisco swallowed. "I guess. I haven't really thought about it." He did love Lisa, but so many insane things had happened in his life, from becoming a member of team Flash, to falling in love with the daughter of a criminal who was kinda a criminal himself, to the fact that he was a fucking metahuman with actual superpowers, and he got theoretically go to any universe he wanted to, even one where Harry Potter was real if there actually was a universe like that.
"You haven't?" Ryan asked Cisco.
Cisco shook his head, pulling into the parking lot of the Big Belly Burger that was five miles from the Rory-Snart household. "But I guess I should. I'm 27 and I still don't know what I want to do when I grow up." He chuckled a bit. "So you have a long time ahead of you to figure out what you what to want to do, I don't."
Ryan chuckled a bit before he sighed. "But you love her don't you? How do you know when you love someone? Do you see yourself spending the rest of you life with Lisa?"
Cisco looked at Ryan. "Is something bothering you, besides the whole, you know, um- possibly dead dad thing?" He winced. Why was he so awkward?
Ryan sighed. "I don't know. Eight grade is when everybody starts gossiping about stuff like who has a crush on who and going into puberty-" He made a face at the worst word that started with the letter p to ever be in the dictionary. "I feel normal, but I don't have anyone that I like like that or anything."
"Have you talked to your dads about this?" Cisco asked, then immediately regretted it.
"It's hard to talk to people when they're time traveling for four months. I love Aunt Lisa and she's great besides her cooking, but she's not my parent." Ryan said.
Cisco nodded. "You should talk to your dads- er, dad. Sorry. Let's just go get ice cream, little dude." He got out of the car, walking with Ryan into Big Belly.
When Cisco and Ryan returned home, they found Mick and Lisa hugging and Mick holding an icepack to his cheek.
"Hey dad." Ryan said, practically climbing into Mick's lap. He'd been gone for four months, and the weight of his Da not being there was starting to set, especially since Lisa would never raise a hand to anyone unless it was completely necessary.
"Hey kid." Mick pulled Ryan further into his lap. "Where did you go?" He sighed, knowing that Cisco did the right thing by taking Ryan out of the house, even if most of the yelling stopped before they left. Lisa Snart had always had a hell of a right hook, though.
"Cisco took me to get ice cream." Ryan answered Mick, leaning into his side.
"So he could spoil your dinner?" Mick chuckled a bit, holding Ryan close. Being gone for so long was difficult, even if it had actually only been four months. Not having the kid made the time go by slower. The kid have been with him and Len since they found him as a one year old in 2003, even if they were originally going to only keep him for a week to teach 17 year old Lisa how to be more responsible.
Ryan shook his head. "Uncle Cisco said that it's ok to have dessert first sometimes. He made arroz con pollo." He looked up at Mick. "Will you tell me what happened to dad?"
"Which I probably need to reheat." Cisco commented offhand, feeling very awkward.
"Of course, kiddo." Mick sighed. "Len saved the whole world, at least for now. But he's also an idiot. I was supposed to be the one staying behind while the damned Oculus blew up, so he could come home to you. He's always been the better parent out of the two of us. And then he had to go and knock me out and force me to go back on the ship."
Ryan hugged Mick tightly. "You're still my dad, dad. Just because Da is the one that does most of the thing around here doesn't make you any less of a parent. Who taught me how to hotwire a car, or how to shoot a gun? You did, even though Da told you not to do the last thing. I love you dad." He stated with tears in his eyes.
"Aww, kid, I love you too." Mick hugged Ryan back. Damn, the kid really had grown up a lot in the past few years. "Len still doesn't know I taught you how to shoot, but I guess he knows now if he's up there."
Ryan looked up at Mick. "What are we going to do without Da?"
Mick sighed. "Well, you're going to have to help around here a lot more. I may not be as good as a cook as Len was, but I'm a much better cook than Lisa, at least."
"Hey!" Lisa whined.
Cisco rolled his eyes, turning the burner back on and stirring the pot. "Chica, you know it's true. You cook like a bachelor who lives by himself, and that is not a compliment."
Mick chuckled a bit. That Ramon kid had grown on him a lot in the past few years, and he was good to Lisa. Lisa was his little sister too, even before he married Len. He'd watch that girl grow from a scared little girl to the grown woman she was now. He held Ryan on his lap, which was a little awkward since Ryan had grown about an inch or two since him and Len left for the legends, but was still feasible. "I'll try to make sure we can keep the house, but if we do end up having to move, I'll make sure you don't have to transfer schools so can still hang out with Harris and that Spyder kid easily."
Ryan nodded. "Ok."
Lisa went in the pantry, pulling out a bottle of scotch before she got four glasses from the cabinet.
Mick gave Lisa a look.
Lisa poured scotch into each of the four glasses, filling one with only about a shot's worth. "Let's toast, to Len. Ryan's almost an adult, and we're not going to let him do anything stupid." She passed the glasses around.
"To Leonard Snart, the best damn husband a guy could ask for." Mick drawled, raising his glass and clinking it with the others.
"He was the best brother a girl could ask for." Lisa declared.
"And one of the two best dads in the world." Ryan smiled.
"I didn't know him that well, but he loved his family, and he would've done anything for them." Cisco said quietly.
Ryan took a sip of his scotch, his face twisting around before he downed the rest of it.
Mick laughed. "Lisa, I swear you made the same face when Len gave you a sip to try and turn you away from alcohol when you were 15."
"Didn't help, did it?" Lisa chuckled, refilling her glass.
Mick rolled his eyes. "Let's just eat dinner."
Ryan climbed off Mick's lap and went to go set the table.
Cisco laughed, taking the pot of arroz con pollo off the stove and setting it on top of a hot pad already on the table.
Mick watched as Lisa hugged Cisco. Crap, if Len was dead, then he would ask for his blessing if he wanted to marry Lisa. He shook his head. Hopefully that wouldn't be for a while.
"What are we going to do for dad?" Ryan asked quietly between mouthfuls of rice.
Mick sighed. "Well, where he died, in the Vanishing Point, there's nothing left of Leonard Snart, so we can't prove he died."
"We could still have a memorial service, and sit Shiva." Lisa suggested.
"Len doesn't really believe in that religious stuff anymore." Mick shook his head. How could any god just sit there and watch as the world burned? Not that Mick didn't want the rest of the world to burn. He just didn't want his world to burn.
"Still, we need to do something for him. He was still a hero, and I can't just sit there knowing that we did nothing for Lenny." Lisa looked at Mick.
Mick winced. "Could we at least talk about this in the morning? Some of us have been traveling space and time for months, and it would be really nice to sleep in my own bed." He didn't mean to snap at Lisa, but he really was exhausted. Of course, he probably wouldn't be able to sleep without Leonard there, anyways.
Ryan couldn't sleep. He didn't know whether it was the fact that he would never see his da again, or the fact that his dad didn't seem or want do do anything for his husband. Sure, they didn't really practice religion much, but he had had a bar mitzvah just like his best friend Spyder, even if Spyder had a lot more family come and visit and a much larger party. And his da deserved to be honored for what he did. Not many people would be willing to die to save the world. Quite the opposite actually, considering what he knew about his dads, and his aunt Lisa, and how shitty their childhoods were.
Ryan made a face when the lamp on his nightstand turned back on. Yeah, he really needed to get a handle on this technopathy shit, before it got worse and somebody noticed.
Ryan slowly got out of bed, quietly creeping down the hallway. He knew Lisa was a light sleeper, and he didn't want to wake her or Cisco as he crept towards his dads' room.
Nothing had changed in the four months his dads were gone, there was just maybe a thin layer of dust over everything, since Lisa hadn't wanted to invade their privacy. His dad hadn't even changed the sheets when he returned.
Ryan slowly turned the doorknob, pushing the door open. He knew his dad wasn't asleep because he hadn't heard any screaming- Mick often had nightmares, especially when he was sleeping alone. "Hey dad?" He whispered, stepping into the room.
"Yeah Ry-Guy?" Mick sat up slowly, covering his mouth with his hand when he yawned. "Are you alright?"
"I just can't sleep." Ryan sat on the edge of the bed. "Dad, could you tuck me in? Like you and da used to when I was little?"
Mick wrapped his arms around Ryan's shoulder. "Why don't you sleep here tonight?"
"Ok, just let me go get Mr. Woobie." Ryan smiled at Mick.
Mick chuckled. Ryan was so attached to that bear. But he couldn't blame Ryan, plus it was kinda adorable. "Alright, kiddo."
Ryan got up and left, quietly sneaking down the hallway again until he got to his room, grabbing Mr. Woobie from his bed before returning down the hall. He laid down on his dad's side of the bed since Mick was laying on Len's side of the bed. "Goodnight, dad." Ryan yawned.
"Goodnight, kiddo." Mick said before turning onto his side.
In the morning, after Lisa was up and dressed, she walked in Mick and Len's room to wake Ryan and Mick up. She woke Ryan up first, shaking him to wake him up. "Hey, kiddo. Cisco made breakfast."
Ryan yawned. "Good morning Aunt Lisa." He stretched before getting out of the bed and walking out of the room.
Lisa sighed. Mick looked so peaceful when he wasn't having nightmares, and he was even harder to wake up than Ryan. She started to shake Mick.
Mick screamed, flailing one of his arms up.
Lisa barely had time to dodge and grab Mick's arm. "Mick, Mick, It's me, Lisa. You have to wake up, it's just a nightmare." She shook Mick again.
Mick grunted, his eyes snapping open as he took in her surroundings. "Oh..."
Lisa sighed. "I already woke up Ryan. Breakfast is on the table. Don't worry, I didn't make it, Cisco did." She gave Mick a small smile, not addressing the elephant in the room. Instead, she just walked back out to the kitchen.
Mick rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, groaning a bit as he got out of bed. His back creaked and popped, a result of the aging mattress and the fact that Len wasn't there to get him in a comfortable position. Len would never be able to hold him again, let alone see their son graduate high school. It was because of Ryan that they tried to be better, just doing the occasional heist. Of course, they were a hell of a lot more careful. If both of them go arrested, then Ryan would have went straight into a system, with the stigma that his parents were criminals, he wouldn't be a likely candidate for getting adopted, let alone as he got older. There had definitely been quite a few times where one of them willingly got caught so the other could go home to the kid. Better one parent then none.
Mick walked past the mirror in the hallway, sitting at the dining room table across from Ryan and Lisa. "So, what is for breakfast, anyways? Even if I'm glad that Lisa didn't make it."
"Pancakes!" Ryan said. "Aunt Lisa can't even make them from a box."
Cisco chuckled a bit. "And eggs and bacon." He kissed Lisa's cheek as he sat at the table.
Mick shook his head. "You're lucky I like you, Ramon."
Cisco rolled his eyes, setting a plate of bacon on the table before he sat down.
"Be nice, Mick. Lenny likes Cisco." Lisa rolled her eyes.
"Only because you threatened him otherwise." Mick snorted.
"You can't prove that." Lisa gave Mick a look.
Ryan shook his head. At least he still had his crazy family.
As Mick watched Lisa poor an absurd amount of syrup, a blue portal suddenly opened up into the kitchen. And out came Leonard Snart.
"Da!" Ryan yelled, knocking over the chair when he jumped up,
"WHAT THE FUCK?!" Lisa yelled. "I know you're my brother but you better fucking explain!" She punched Leonard in the shoulder.
Leonard stood there for a moment, trying to figure out how he should explain. He didn't even try to dodge when Lisa punched him.
"You fucking idiot asshole I thought you died and I had to tell our son and your sister you died!" Mick yelled, before he hugged Leonard.
"I'm sorry, ok? Haircut was supposed to blow himself up but I couldn't let him do that. So I saved the idiot. It felt like I was dying, but for some reason the time masters brought me back. And there's this." Leonard held up his hands, which steam was coming off of.
"So you're literally cold now? How come you have superpowers and I don't?" Mick scoffed.
"Maybe the time masters like me." Leonard grinned, hugging Ryan and being careful not to ice him. Almost dying definitely made you appreciate life a lot more.
"Ok, well I'm helping you with your powers because you can't be icing everything." Cisco deadpanned.
Lisa lightly shoved Cisco, going to get a Leonard Snart hug after her nephew let go. "I'm warning you. Never do that again. Time travel is one thing but you being dead is another. If you ever die on me I swear I'm going to reverse haunt you. And it ain't going to be pretty."
Leonard chuckled, wrapping his arms around his sister. "Wouldn't have it any other way, sis."
"Ok, I hate to interrupt the hugfest but someone just rang the doorbell." Cisco said, before he decided to just go get it himself. "Um, there's a pretty blonde lady in a supersuit at the door!" He shouted. "That's my supersuit."
Sara raised an eyebrow before she chuckled. "You must be Cisco Ramon, because you're certainly not Mick."
Cisco laughed. "Cisco Ramon, metahuman specialist and Team Flash's resident tech support. I'm also the only one in this goddamned superheroing business that can make proper supersuits. Those bionic kids? Their suits really need the Cisco touch."
"Sara Lance, White Canary. Where's Mick?" Sara asked Cisco.
"Right here." Mick walked to the door with Len, holding Len's hand.
Sara blinked. "How did Leonard get back here? Nevermind, we don't have time to discuss that right now."
Mick raised an eyebrow at Sara. "We gotta finish this thing?"
Sara nodded. "We gotta finish this thing." Only then did she notice the teenager boy behind Mick and Len. "I didn't know you had a kid."
"You don't know a lot of things, blondie." Mick shrugged.
Ryan looked at Mick and Len. "Are you going to leave again?"
"Kid, I got powers now. I promise I just have to do one thing and then we'll be right back. Though it'll probably be dinner time by then." Leonard said.
"Promise?" Ryan asked.
"Kid, since when did I ever break a promise?" Len shook his head before turning to Sara. "Let's go."
"We'll be back, kid." Mick said. "After I change out of my pajamas."
Sara chuckled. "It's nice to know that you sleep shirtless." She giggled.
"Okay, my virgin ears." Cisco winced.
Lisa shoved Cisco. "You know that's not true."
Leonard raised an eyebrow. "Now I know who I need to kill when we get back."
Cisco yelped, hiding behind Lisa.
Lisa rolled her eyes. "It's not like I haven't heard you and Mick before. Go save the world, I'll be waiting right here with your son."