Title: The Sleepovers
Author: Clair-de-Lune
Fandom: DC's Legends of Tomorrow
Characters: Leonard Snart, Mick Rory
Summary: So, here's the thing: sometimes, they sleep together, but that in no way means that they sleep together. Or the other way around, depending on what you put behind stressed words. (Set post S01E03 Blood Ties)
A/N: Thanks to Foxriverinmate for the beta.
So, here's the thing: sometimes, they sleep together, although that in no way means that they sleep together.
Or the other way around, depending on what you put behind stressed words.
When Mick has had a nightmare. When he's restless and even the flame of his favorite lighter won't clear his mind. When he's out of matches, or on the contrary has too many matches in his possession and Len's not sure what he would do with that kind of loot.
When Len can't take his mind off their next job, and maybe-just-maybe, could use a sounding board. When he's had any sort of reminiscence of his (asshole of a) father. When seeing a picture of Lisa has reminded him how much he misses his (precious brat of a) sister.
Best evidence they sleep together but don't sleep together? They don't share a bed, only the room. Len may be smooth and stealthy and ingenious, but there are a few things even he can't do from across a room, right? This is one of them.
It started when they were hardly older than that Jax kid, and junior members of a team working on some heist. Accommodation can be rudimentary when on a job, even more so when you're the junior members of a team, and they had to share a tiny room. They shared other rooms, tiny and larger ones, during the following years. Including in jail where, admittedly, they had even less of a good word to say about the accommodation than during that early job.
They got used to it. They found out there could be upsides to sharing — like when Mick's had a nightmare or when Len maybe-just-maybe needs to think out loud. Downsides too, but all in all, the upsides prevail. They learned each other's idiosyncrasies, to live and sleep with them, to find value in them.
Mick will harvest all the available blankets minus one. Len doesn't mind because one blanket is usually more than enough for him. He will harvest the pillows, though. Mick does mind, but he suffers in silence.
No beer before bed because Mick's not a fan of hearing his bunkmate getting up every other hour to take a leak.
Len likes to sleep in a room as dark as possible. Mick prefers it when there's a flicker of light. They compromise by sleeping in a room as dark as possible. Mick's almost positive this is not what you call a compromise, but fine.
When Mick is too agitated, Len sings him to sleep. The only other person Len has ever sung to sleep is his baby sister, and he'll deny having done that for Mick. Which is just neat because Mick will deny having admitted it... or whatever.
Len snores. He does. He can refute it as much as he wants, it won't change the fact that he snores.
Mick can light up his lighter in his sleep. Len can get up and put it out, also in his sleep. It turned out to be a good thing on more than one occasion.
The cold gun and the heat gun cannot lie within immediate reach. Close enough for grabbing quickly if someone enters the room, sure, obviously, but not so close that they can get them with just a swipe of the arm. And yes, this is because they almost shot one another once (or thrice) on a bad hair day morning.
Mick can cook some mean blueberry pancakes. Len can cook too, but considering, why bother?
Mick will grab the shower first. This is because... let's say that the times they had to share a bathroom with Lisa? She needed less time than her big brother to get ready — and yet she has long hair and uses make up.
Mick radiates massive body heat. Massive enough to warm up a perfectly cool small room.
And this is how — the massive body heat thing — that a few days into their mission aboard the Waverider, Len knows that Mick's slipped into his quarters during the night.
Mick sneaking into his quarters didn't wake him up because it didn't register with him as a threat. Thinking of it, the only person sneaking into his quarters who could have registered with him as being a threat is Sara — but then, he wouldn't have heard anything at all if it had been Ms. Canary, would he?
The heat in the bedroom is unbearable. He pushes back his blanket and lies there, in all the glory of his dark blue silk pajama pants printed with little white penguins.
(The pants are ridiculous but Gideon won't make new ones for him, no matter how skillfully he tried to sweet-talk her into it. She counter-argued that it would be a waste of the ship's fabricant resources, especially since he requested silk pajamas rather than mere cotton or plaid ones like everyone else. The AI has a point, but now Len's stuck with little penguins on his otherwise luxurious pants.)
He turns on the light to the lowest level and looks at Mick, asleep on the floor by his bunk, wrapped in two... no, three blankets, and lying on the carpet. The third blanket belongs to Ray — it has his name embroidered on it — and Len can't help thinking that stealing from Ray is beneath Mick. Stealing from a two year-old would be more complicated because at least the toddler would throw a tantrum.
The sleeping quarters on the Waverider are clean, individual (thank God), and smaller than a prison cell; he knows what's he's talking about here. There's only room for a drawer bed, a small closet, and a so-called table with folded chairs. Len has improved his place with the authentic Persian carpet Mick is sleeping on, although this is hardly standard issue. The carpet is more or less bootleg — more rather than less — but sometimes, a guy's gotta do what a guy's gotta do.
Hence, no spare bunk for Mick. That didn't stop him, obviously.
Feeling himself watched, his guest blinks one eye open, glances at Len, then lets his eyelid slide down again and his head loll back against the soft carpet.
"You okay, Mick?"
"Yeah. You?"
Len doesn't reply because there's no easy answer to that question, and the eyelid slides up again.
"I heard what the computer told you about the new timeline. Your father. Thought you may want the company."
He's a man of few words, his partner-in-crime. He doesn't waste them and goes straight to the point. Len takes pride in returning him the favor.
"Care for another blanket?" he asks him in the guise of an invitation.
"Always."
He kicks his blanket in Mick's direction and goes back to sleep.
END