Note: This is the first in a series I'm doing called Since You Came Along. It's going to be the different ways that Sara and Leonard discover that they're soulmates. None of them will be connected; each one will be a complete story on its own.
To find your soulmate meant that your world quite literally became a brighter place. Once it happened, your vision changed from black and white to color, only changing back when your soulmate died.
Leonard had spent his whole life seeing the world in nothing but shades of gray. As he'd gotten older, he'd figured that it was appropriate with how his father was and what it was like in that house.
Color had no place in a house like the one he grew up in.
It said something about his life that he'd hoped getting thrown in juvie would change things for him. He'd actually hoped that he'd meet someone there and finally see something other than black, white, and gray. When Mick had stopped the other kids about to attack him, Leonard had looked up at him and a small part of him had hoped that he'd see something more than the usual lack of color.
Nothing had changed though and Leonard could admit, if only to himself, that a part of him had given up then. He may have only been a teenager but with the way his life was going, he wasn't sure where else the son of a dirty cop was going to meet their soulmate.
Still, not all of his hope had died and a small part of him kept waiting for that person that would light up his world.
The Flash was never going to be his soulmate (he was too much of a do-gooder for that) but that didn't mean Leonard didn't find the kid—and that's what he was; hell, he looked like he should still be in school—interesting. No, Barry had found his soulmate when he was just a boy. He'd been seeing in color for years. Barry had talked about how he knew Leonard had good in him, that there was more to him than just his past.
Barry Allen believed that Leonard was going to realize that he was one of the good guys. He had faith that Leonard would someday do the right thing just as he had faith that Leonard was going to get some sort of happy ending.
Leonard may not have given up completely but he also wasn't going to hold his breath that something was going to suddenly change. He certainly wasn't going to go out and start helping to protect Central City like some sort of hero.
Of course, that was when the universe decided to prove him wrong.
"The name's Rip Hunter. I'm from East London," the man announced, striding forward. "Oh...and the future."
Dramatic, Leonard thought even as he straightened and focused on Rip, listening closely as he announced that a man named Vandal Savage was going to put the world in danger, which was apparently just the thing to say to catch the two bird people's attention as they each protested, saying that they'd destroyed him with the help of the Green Arrow and Flash.
"And therein lay the problem. Unless you or Mr. Hall delivered the death blow, Savage can be restored but from a single cell," Rip told them.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Mick demanded, his tone indicating exactly how annoyed he was with this conversation.
Bird Boy looked over at them. "Vandal's immortal. Kendra and I reincarnate."
"Yeah," the woman in the heavy coat said, drawing Leonard's attention. "I've done that." She glanced back at them and Leonard froze as his gaze met hers.
Her eyes were blue.
He didn't know how he knew that, he'd obviously never seen the color blue, but he knew.
Her eyes were blue.
Leonard couldn't place the emotion that flickered through her eyes as she looked at him before she turned back to listen to what Rip Hunter had to say and Leonard couldn't help but be intrigued.
It seemed like his soulmate had a poker face that rivaled his own.
He listened to Rip's (what a name) sales pitch and then shot down the idea that he was any sort of hero.
Leonard told himself that he was imagining the disappointment in blue eyes as he walked away.
Except he couldn't stop thinking about the color of her eyes or the way he'd caught a glimpse of a tan coat out of the corner of his eye when he'd turned away. He stared blankly at the page of the Newstime issue he was holding before flipping to the next page.
To his left, Mick swore and Leonard tilted his head back so that it was leaning against the cushion of the couch, thinking about what she'd said on the roof about being reincarnated.
Yeah, I've done that.
Leonard let out a quiet breath, not that he needed to worry about drawing Mick's attention; the sound of Mick's power tools would have covered that small noise. He wanted to know her. He knew that being soulmates wasn't a guarantee of happiness, he'd heard the stories of soulmates meeting and deciding not to be together or even, in some cases, in each other's lives. There was nothing that said he needed to do this except his own instincts and Leonard had learned to follow those a long time ago.
The only thing he had to do now was get Mick to agree.
"I think we should go on Rip's little jaunt through time," he said just loud enough to be heard, deliberately keeping his voice casual.
Mick looked over his shoulder. "What?"
"I think we should go," Leonard repeated. "Imagine what we could do."
Shaking his head, Mick raised his voice to be heard. "I can't believe you're thinking of hooking up with the Englishman. We're thieves. Crooks. Criminals." He turned the machine off and headed towards the fridge. "I have no desire to save the world. Especially a hundred years after I'm dead."
That's what Leonard had been afraid of. This was where he had to pitch this just right for Mick to be interested. "He said across time, Mick. What about the years before? Before fingerprints and surveillance cameras and DNA analysis?" Leonard turned his head slightly, letting more passion for the subject slip in to his tone. "Why did we become criminals?"
Mick didn't even bother to turn around. "Because we hate working and we love money."
Leonard's lips twitched as he snapped the magazine closed and tossed it to the side. Well, that was one reason at least. He swung his legs to the floor and pushed to his feet in one fluid motion. "We could steal the Mona Lisa straight off DaVinci's easel, snatch the Hope Diamond before it was discovered," he said, lifting his hand and curling his fingers in to a fist to emphasize his point before poking Mick in the shoulder. "This is everything we got in to thieving for in the first place." He paused and thought of bright blue eyes before turning around, his voice getting lower and more serious than before. "More than everything."
He walked back to the table and stared down at the things scattered across it, turning his head slightly in acknowledgement when Mick spoke.
"You want me in, I'm in. But I'm not going to be anyone's hero."
Leonard lifted his gaze towards his partner and let the satisfaction flow through him, a smirk appearing on his face.
He loved when things went according to plan.