***Okay, so, I have no gift for coming up with titles, I'll admit it. I also have no gift for writing summaries, but few people do xD This one-shot is based off a prompt I got on Tumblr: "Len and Barry are boyfriends. Len is Captain Cold, Barry is the Flash, and they're trying to make it work. And because it's difficult, sometimes Len just needs to sleep on Barry." This is what I came up with. I hope you guys like it. 3
"Whaddya doin'?" Len asks, pulling up behind Barry where he's sitting at his drafting table, sketching a blueprint at phenomenal speed, stopping every few seconds or so in between to double check a measurement or readjust an angle.
"Oh, uh…" Barry stammers when Len wraps his arms around his torso and rests his chin on Barry's shoulder. "I'm helping Cisco with the design for a new piece of tech that…technically you're not supposed to be seeing."
"Why not?" Len mutters against Barry's neck. He's not trying to kiss him, not really trying to obstruct him from his work. He's just there, clinging on to Barry like a sponge.
"Because, for all intents and purposes, you're still kind of…you know…a bad guy."
"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I'm not looking." The soft murmur of Len's voice makes it obvious that he's drifting off to sleep. Falling asleep, standing behind Barry, latched on to him like a sloth.
Barry doesn't move. He's caught between a rock and a hard place. If Len insists on being Captain Cold, then he really shouldn't be privy to the things that Barry is working on for Team Flash. Then again, Len promised when they started dating that he wouldn't take advantage. He's an opportunist, there's no denying that, but not where Barry is concerned. And even though Barry actually has more reasons to distrust him than to trust him, the fact remains – Barry loves him.
And when it comes to Len, Barry leads with his heart.
"Do you mind?" Len asks, starting to sound farther and farther away.
Barry sighs. This isn't the ideal working condition. If he doesn't want to jar Len, he's going to have to slow down, and he promised Cisco he'd have this sketch done by tonight. On the other hand, it's not very often that Len and Barry get time like this together, away from Barry's superhero-ing (as Len calls it) and Len's…work.
"No," Barry says, tilting his head to kiss a quietly snoring Len on the chin. "I don't mind."
"I can't believe…are you intentionally trying to blow this for us, or are you really just that stupid!?"
Barry hears the one-sided argument brewing in the hallway, becoming a loud rumble as it approaches the door. From the frequency of it (which Barry can determine and calculate in his head), Barry has half a minute to go before Len arrives – enough time to finish the page he's reading.
"No, I don't want to hear your excuses! I want to know how you're going to fix this!"
Len storms into the apartment, not stopping his bellowing the way he normally would when he sees Barry sitting on the sofa.
"Just fix it!" Len yells, slamming the door, taking the time, regardless of how furious he is, to throw shut the many locks and secure the two chains. "Don't tell me about it! Do it!"
Len hangs up his phone and tosses it away. Where it lands, Barry has no idea. They'll find it later.
"Bad day?" Barry asks calmly as Len barrels towards him.
"Yup," Len snaps, stripping off his gun and dropping it on a nearby recliner. Barry used to cringe when Len did that, worried that the thing might misfire and freeze something unintentionally. But late one night, Barry snuck Cisco into the apartment to secretly fix that, so it's no longer an issue.
"Is there something I should know about?" Barry watches Len peel off his shirt and drop it on the floor, then start on the laces to his boots.
"Nope." Barefoot and shirtless, Len climbs onto the sofa between Barry's legs, and Barry sets his book aside. But where Barry assumes Len is going to attack his lips, maybe tear off his clothes, the man crawls beneath Barry's S.T.A.R. Labs sweatshirt instead.
Barry raises an unseen brow at his boyfriend. "Do you…want to talk about it?"
"Nope," Len grumbles, burrowing until his cheek rests against Barry's chest over his heart. He shifts his legs until they're comfortable and his body so he's not crushing anything important. When he's situated to his satisfaction, Barry feels Len sigh, that one exasperated breath soaking into Barry's skin. Len goes completely still, arms snaked around Barry's waist, fast asleep in an instant.
Barry stares at the lump huddled beneath his sweatshirt that is his boyfriend, Leonard Snart. The apartment is silent again except for the signature snuffle of Len's snoring, and the tick-tick-tick of Barry's mother's clock on the kitchen wall.
Barry retrieves his book and opens it back up, moving on to the next page. "Alright then," he whispers with a twitchy half-smile, and picks up where he left off.