Today is my 10 year wedding anniversary with Mr. Crimson. He's at work while I have all day to relax, write, and then get ready for our evening out. I have a BIG surprise for him I am so excited for. But to start my day, here's a little offering for all of you.

Enjoy!

Len glanced at his phone again. The Flash was due to text him to lower his floor's security measures any minute now.

The Flash.

Bartholomew Allen.

Barry.

Len hadn't been sure how to move forward last night, so he'd told Barry to meet him the next morning at STAR Labs, to flash in undetected and that Len would let him in as long as he texted ahead of time when he arrived. They'd exchanged numbers, and Len had made an awkward retreat.

"I'll umm…tomorrow then?"

"What, no request for a ride home?" Barry had smirked.

"N-no thank you," Len laughed in his nervousness.

He'd won. He had his gun back. Barry had agreed to help him. They were at an impasse but a cordial one, and everything would be fine. If only Barry could stop flirting for one minute!

He didn't mean it. It was a façade he wore, flirtatious and cheeky, maybe keeping Len on guard in hopes of figuring out how to turn the situation to his advantage. Len hoped not. He would happily keep Barry out of the limelight with the CCPD and anything else he wanted if he just helped him get the depraved Supers behind bars.

Once he arrived.

Len tapped his desk as he glanced at his watch again. Barry was late. Maybe he wouldn't show up at all. Maybe he was calling Len's bluff.

"What do you think, Gideon?" Len turned to her as she cleaned herself on his desk. "Am I being stood up?"

"Glad to know you consider this a date too."

Len jumped in his chair, whirling about to locate the owner of that voice—Barry, casually walking in from the hallway. "How did you…? You were supposed to text me to let you in!"

"Why bother when your defenses are this shitty." He trailed his fingers along the wall as he entered. "And here I thought this place was a fortress. Might as well be breaking into a paper bag."

He was out of costume but dressed in all black—black jeans, shirt, and a high-collared jacket. He looked very sleek and smoldering like that.

Len shook his head. "The defenses are fine. I designed them myself."

A flash of lightning was the only tell that Barry was going to move, leaving the void of him no longer standing there as streaks of brighter lightning moved in and out of the Cortex. When he finally fully reappeared, he sat beside Len on the end of his desk, causing Gideon to scramble to attention and jump down to the floor.

"Paper bag," Barry said, swallowing a fresh bite of the fritter in his hand, "but in consolation, if you're interested, there are donuts on the floor above us."

Gideon hissed, hackles raised in attack stance beneath Barry's perch.

Instead of using words, Barry leaned down and hissed right back at her.

"Stop that," Len got up to coax her away from, and she dashed across the room to curl onto the cat bed she never used. "Now you've upset her."

"Sorry, didn't realize she was your girlfriend." Barry lifted his legs to sit on the desk cross-legged.

"Very mature. And get your feet down. This is a work space."

"Let's get to work then. You're the one blackmailing me to be here."

"I prefer the term…building a new partnership." Len sat in his chair again. Barry was insufferable, arrogant, and…undeniably miraculous.

"Well if you want to be partners," he dropped his feet and leaned toward Len, "you could have opened with that."

"B-business partners!" Len stammered. "We both benefit from the outcome of locking away the Supers who wish this city and its citizens harm."

Barry sighed. "All work and no play make for very dull boys, you know. But fine. What's the plan, Citizen Cold? I'm not doing this to get my ass handed to me, so you better have a good idea for how we're going to pull this off."

"I have a plan."

"You didn't last night."

"I wasn't sure you'd agree last night."

"So, what would you have done if I'd said no?"

"Turned you over to the police, like I said," Len declared firmly.

"Really?" At last, Barry hopped off the desk, but pinned Len in place with his hands planted on either side of his chair, leaning much closer into his space. "And what if I'd killed you to keep you quiet?"

A shiver shot down Len's spine, but not out of fear. There was something about Barry's eyes that made it impossible to fear him or his powers, a lack of darkness where he pretended that's all there was. "You're not like that."

Barry scoffed but leaned back. "You definitely need me. Other Supers aren't as nice. Lucky you, you guessed right. Killing isn't my style. So, I'll ask again, how are we doing this? You don't even have power dampeners around this place. If you can't think that far ahead, how am I supposed to trust your judgment?"

"I did think of power dampeners," Len dusted the crumbs from his desk left behind by Barry's casual eating, "but they would disrupt my experiments. I wouldn't get accurate results. As for our work, our encounter the other night gave me an idea." He turned in his chair toward the computer to pull up the program he'd been working on. "I used various sightings of your lightning trail, places you'd hit, and the revelation of knowing your face to narrow down where you were likely coming from."

"Which is how you found me." Barry leaned over his shoulder to get a look at the screen, watching Len display algorithms over a map of the city, with each known Super color coded.

"I can do the same with the other. None of them bother to wear masks. Even Reverb's visor barely covers him."

"Just so we're clear, I'm not facing that trigger-happy teleporter until I'm confident we can make this work. He's a serious psychopath."

"You've met him?" Len glanced over his shoulder in surprise.

"Briefly. He tried to get me to team up with him once. He doesn't care who gets hurt when he does a job."

That was all the proof Len needed to know that Barry was the right candidate. "He won't be our first target, I promise. But I can use the various power sets we're aware of, sightings by civilians, places each Super has hit, and facial recognition to narrow down points of origin and potential next targets. If we can get to them before they cause too much more trouble, all you'll need to do is get them in cuffs long enough for me to get the CCPD to take them away. You can even use my gun."

"No thanks." Barry pulled away, turning to lean against the desk again. "No guns for me."

"What? Why not? It will depower your opponents," Len defended, "making it infinitely easier to stop them."

"Which is why you're going to be tagging along to use it."

"I'm not going with you. I'll be your eyes and ears here."

"Where's the fun in that? You said partners." Barry scanned his entrancing green eyes down Len's body, which was nothing to feign interest over since Len was wearing a sweater over his button down. "Just think, every night I could give you that ride you're afraid to ask for."

"I-I… I can't."

"Lenny, you came after me, didn't you? A regular hero in training."

"That was… Well," Len glanced away, feeling a blush creep into his cheeks, "it was sort of thrilling."

Barry chuckled, catching Len's attention again. "You keep the gun, I got the speed, we work together to get those cuffs on these jokers, and I whisk us away for the police to claim their prizes, smooth and simple. Deal?"

This was going better than Len could have hoped for. He really should say no, but Barry made a compelling offer, and wasn't it better if Len chaperoned a little?

"You have a deal, Mr. Allen."

Barry whooped loud enough that Gideon's head jerked up from her cat bed, and she glared at them across the room. "But no more 'Mr. Allen'. It's Barry."

"Barry," Len repeated with a shaky chuckle.

"Or baby. I'm not picky between the two where you're concerned." He winked.

Len sat dumbfounded for how to respond. Thankfully, Barry didn't dwell.

"When do we get started then? You got something for me already?"

"N-not yet," Len nodded back at the screen. "I'm still feeding the system data, but it could be any time. Once we have a potential hit, we'll both get a ping on our phones. We meet here, decide on a plan of action, and it begins."

Barry scanned undeniably down Len's body again. "Whatever shall we do in the meantime?"

"I-I…thought we could replace your suit."

"What's wrong with my suit?" Barry's good humor dropped.

"Your current suit is a symbol people associate with a thief. It's also a little plain for one as…flashy as yourself."

Barry snorted. "Did you just make a pun? You are adorable."

Adorable was better than dork, at least. "I umm…had some ideas for how we might…well…" Len brought up the designs for a new Flash suit on his screen.

"Make a hero out of me?" Barry peered with interest again, looking carefully at the sketch, which was still a full bodysuit and mask in black but with silver lightning bolt accents and a larger lightning bolt insignia on the chest. "Not bad. And how does this go from here," he pointed from the screen to his chest, "to here?"

"Only one of the most powerful 3D printers in the country," Len said. "I just need your measurements."

"Getting me undressed already?" Barry cooed. "Ooo, Lenny, who knew you could talk so dirty."

Len was feeling honestly dizzy with how much blood was rushing to his face, but the consistency was starting to make his stomach churn, knowing it was only a ruse. "You can stop that now."

"What, don't like to be flirted with? Am I not your type?"

"I-I don't like to be mocked. No matter how charming you are."

"Who's mocking?" Barry said with more seriousness than Len had yet heard. "I may be a thief but I'm no liar. If you think I'm not serious, you need to take a long look in the mirror sometime, handsome."

Len had no comeback for that either. Barry was so close, and his eyes had so much green in them with little flecks of gold.

"Aww, did I tie your tongue, Lenny?"

"N-No."

"Need me to strip for those measurements?"

"Yes. I mean not—not here." Len recovered by leaping out of his chair and facing away from Barry. "Only down to your underwear and there's a scanner in the other room. I'm not using a measuring tape."

"Darn," he heard Barry push from the table to come up behind him, "I was hoping for the hands-on experience. Where do you need me to go?"

Len kept his back to Barry as he led him into the scanner room, told him where he could put his clothes, how to turn it on, the amount of seconds he had to get in place, and to simply listen to the program as it told him to turn and crouch into various positions to get the right scans for the most tailor-made fit.

The distraction helped prevent him from lingering his stares with any more longing now that he wondered if Barry wasn't stringing him along just to be opportunistic or cruel.

Not that it would matter! Len wasn't interested beyond a base physical attraction. He couldn't be.

"It should only take about ten minutes, then you can come back into the main room."

"You've used this thing like this before?"

"Not for a super suit, but I have helped tailor make military combat gear for better bulletproof materials and…" Len took a breath so as not to ramble. "It's rare, but yes, before you joke, I have had other half-naked men and women in my labs."

Barry snickered, already removing his jacket. "And you never snuck any peeks?"

"Of course not! That would be unprofessional."

"You're welcome to be unprofessional with me." He reached for the hem of his shirt.

Len turned on his heel to leave. "I-I'll be waiting at my desk."

Air pushed into Len's lungs like he'd been starved for breath once he returned to his chair. He needed to distract himself from thoughts of Barry getting undressed in the other room.

Pulling up his email, he scanned through mostly routine junk, until he reached Hartley's note about the Kord symposium. He'd almost forgotten. He'd promised to reply with any panels he was interested in by the end of the week, and it was the end of the week now. Len didn't want to squash the budding relationship before it began.

He clicked the link Hartley had provided and started perusing. There were several panels he would have loved to attend in person, but knowing how many people would be there, he appreciated Hartley's offer to take notes and discuss things later in a calmer setting.

Len copy and pasted the names and times of the panels he thought most appealing and emailed them back to Hartley, expressing that he only needed to attend the ones he also found interesting, but Len appreciated whatever he ended up doing.

Once you've collected your notes after the event, we can set a date for dinner. As friends, Len reiterated, and hit send.

Only a couple minutes later, he got a reply, simply saying, Sounds great, Leonard! Looking forward to it.

A small ounce of anxiety drained from Len's shoulders. Interaction wasn't so bad. Baby steps.

And vigilantism, apparently.

Barry wasn't back yet. The scanner would take a few more minutes, so Len glanced behind him covertly before returning to his computer to return to where he'd last left off with Ryder and Sofia.

Making love in the gazebo in Sofia's backyard had been wonderful, but afterward, moving into the kitchen to share dinner, just when they were on the precipice of moving forward, her ex-husband showed up. Len actually gasped aloud, though he should have known there would be more conflict. He was only halfway through the book.

Gideon mewed up at him, having finally roused from her sulking in the corner.

"Too much drama for you, my dear?" He snickered as he picked her up and set her in his lap to stroke her head. "I'm surprised, you've always liked everyone who visits down here. Is it the lightning? Is Barry too shocking for you?"

"Wow, you really like the puns, don't you?"

Len jumped again. With Barry around, he needed to situate his desk so his back wasn't to the entrance. As casually as he could, he clicked to a different window so Barry wouldn't peek over his should and discover his romance novel before he turned around.

Barry wasn't wearing a shirt. He had his jeans on, holding his jacket that he tossed on a nearby desk, the shirt in his hands too, because he was currently without the shirt, shirtless, bare chest very lean and defined and…

"Cat got your tongue, Lenny? Or am I to blame for tying it again?" He was distressingly slow and purposeful about pulling the shirt over his head. "I certainly wouldn't mind keeping it occupied sometime."

Feeling how hot his cheeks were becoming, Len turned back to his computer to check the 3D printer. The scans had been successful, and it was already working on getting the suit created.

"My, my, you are frigid, eh, Cold? Come on, tell me. Got a boyfriend? Messy breakup recently? Secretly a prude who's never been touched?"

"I—" Len spun back around at how close that had hit to home. "I am not a prude," he defended. Being a prude and a virgin were not mutually exclusive.

Gideon started a low growl as Barry moved closer.

"You know, everyone comes around to me eventually," Barry said to Gideon, though with an obvious wink at Len. "I am a delight." He gingerly reached his hand toward her and she reared back as if offended that he'd even try, then leaned forward to sniff him cautiously, only to rear back sharper and hiss again. Barry sneered. "Great. Built in cock-blocker. Maybe we can try this again without the bitchy kitty present."

"We are a package deal." Len hugged Gideon closer.

"That a promise?" Barry grinned. "I get the furball to like me, you'll agree to a date?"

"What? Wait, I—"

"It's a deal. And a date."

How did Barry twist everything up so fast? Len had no idea how to counter him. "That is…all I need from you today. You can go now."

"Getting rid of me already?" Barry slid his jacket back on but moved to hop up onto the end of Len's desk like he'd claimed it as his chosen spot. Gideon curled tighter on Len's lap.

"I'll message you when the suit is done," Len said, tensing from Barry's proximity—and how his romance novel was only a tab away, "or if we get an early hit on another Super."

"So straight and narrow. Well not too straight." He bit his lip in the most excruciatingly sexy way.

He was too young for Len. Too morally grey. Too maddening. And literally multiple of Len's fantasies rolled into one.

"I realize you're the one trying to make me a hero, but you'd make quite the supervillain," Barry said. "All tech smart and ensnaring me in your web to get what you want. You even have the cat and a swivel chair." He tapped his foot on Len's armrest to prove his point, swiveling him slighting left.

"Can you really imagine me as a supervillain?"

"No, I really can't. You sure there aren't any other perks you want out of this arrangement?" Barry leaned closer like he couldn't bear being more than a few inches apart at any given time.

"Wh-what else would I want?"

"You tell me, handsome."

It was easy to be drawn toward Barry's lips and sparkling eyes…

But Len swallowed and took a breath. "I suppose I am interested in—"

"Yeah?"

"What you've done with your collected wealth."

Barry snarled in disappointment. "I'm collecting it. It takes time to fence stolen goods, set up bank accounts, stay off the radar."

"For?"

"Once I have enough to pay my debts and live comfortably for the rest of my life, I'm out of here." He jumped down to stress his point. "Don't worry, it won't be any time soon. Your blackmail is still valid."

"Where will you go?"

"Haven't decided yet. Preferably somewhere sunny and warm without homicidal assholes around." He glanced at Len and softened from his well-masked persona—even without the mask on currently—like there had to be an earnest center in there somewhere. "See you around, Lenny. Feel free to message me for unprofessional reasons too." He winked and was gone with a flicker of light.

Gideon grumbled a half-hearted growl as she stood, turned once, twice in Len's lap, and plopped back down with finality that he was not allowed to get up for a while.

"Your feelings on the matter are noted," he said, "but hardly necessary. I'm not going to give into his advances. Gorgeous though he may be, we would be a terrible match. Catastrophic."

Gideon merely grumbled again.

XXXXX

The suit was done the next day, and Len was gearing up the courage to text Barry to come over when he got a ping on his phone, so aptly timed, he couldn't have planned it better for their first case.

Before he finished messaging Barry, the man appeared with a whoosh and rustle of air, landing right in his spot on Len's desk.

"Remind me later," Len said, "that one perk I could use with our arrangement is any ideas you have to up my security."

"We'll see how round one goes," Barry said. "Now where's the suit?"

Len had made sure to get Gideon cozy in her cat bed before Barry's arrival. He led him now to a central display case in the Cortex that he usually reserved for his most important projects, which this definitely was.

"Nice," Barry said when the doors opened to reveal the black and silver suit on a mannequin. "What about you? You're not going out in that parka and goggles again."

"No," Len said with some affront. "I have something new of my own."

"Mmm, I like the thought of you in that scanner, all alone, in nothing but your underwear, wishing for someone to join you."

"That is hardly what happened!" Len pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, more for distraction than because they were falling. "But if you're going to insist on calling me Cold, I thought the fur was appropriate to keep. One moment."

Len made scarce before Barry could make any smart comments about them stripping together. He already had the bodysuit portion on under his clothes. He'd wanted to test its durability and comfort, like a second skin, similar to how he'd created Barry's suit but in shades of blue and silver instead of black.

The parka and accessories, which Len had in his personal locker, were now a sleeveless duster with a fur-lined hood and an augmented reality-equipped visor with Len's prescription built in.

"Thoughts?" he asked when he came out with the hood drawn up to find Barry already dressed. The only thing missing was his mask, which allowed Len to see the way Barry raked his eyes down Len's body but then frowned.

"Can I see it without the vest?"

"I…suppose." Len pulled back the hood and slid the duster from his shoulders, turning about in trepidation when Barry kept frowning. "What?"

"Just as I thought," Barry hummed. "Your ass looks better uncovered."

Len huffed and promptly put the duster back on.

"Come on, Lenny. We gonna play dress-up all day or take care of this guy?" He moved toward Len's computer. "Who is it anyway?

"Professor Tech," Len said, keeping his visor in place as he sat down since it acted like his glasses and worked so well with the ensemble. "Given trajectory of sightings, recent hits, and his MO, he's on his way to Mercury Labs."

"The Professor, huh? Police haven't had many encounters with him. He tends to lie low, get in and out as easily as I do."

"Which is why he should be the perfect first encounter." Len looked at Barry with a genuinely excited smile. "Time for a test run?"

"I thought you'd never ask."

"Wait—" Len realized his poor choice of words but all too quickly the whirlwind had him and oh—oh it was exhilarating.

For a few brilliant seconds, all he knew was wind and a rush and the chaos of Barry's lightning, then it was over, and he was wobbling on his feet inside Mercury Labs. The alarms hadn't even been tripped. Everything was still.

The going theory with Professor Tech was that he was a technopath, able to manipulate technology with his mind. While Len appreciated the idea and the name, he preferred to think of these people by their real names. In this case:

Harrison Wells.

Len was about to reprimand Barry for being so reckless, especially since he didn't have his—

When his gun was thrust into his arms.

"Let's find this guy," Barry said, mask on now, his voice beside Len as well as in his ear through their shared comms. "I'll line him up, you depower him, I'll get the cuffs on to leave him for the police." He dangled a pair of meta dampeners from his hands. "Easy."

"Where did you get those?" Len demanded.

"We'll discuss your security problems later." Barry's grin was audible through the full-coverage mask.

"Why are there no guards?" Len asked once he realized they were in the security room, watching the monitors, but it was empty.

"Probably because they're unconscious." Barry pointed to the laid-out bodies on several screens.

"You didn't—"

"Of course not, but the Professor did." He pointed to another screen where Wells could be seen disabling a security door into one of the more top-secret labs.

Mercury Laboratories was a direct competitor of STAR Labs run by Tina McGee. Leslie hated her, and Leslie didn't hate anyone. McGee was just so conniving, far worse than Kord at doing questionable work by questionable means. It almost would have made Len hesitate to stop Wells from whatever he was stealing—until he realized what was being worked on in that lab.

"He's after their klystrons."

"Their what?"

"Amplifiers for high radio frequencies, even all the way up to microwave generators."

"That sounds dangerous," Barry said warily.

"In multiple ways."

"Then let's get him."

"Barry—"

"Flash. We are in public, you know."

"Sorry, but how—"

"You get ready to aim, I'll take care of the rest."

"Wait, I—"

Getting a word in edgewise with a speedster proved impossible, since the next thing Len knew, he was not looking at Wells on a monitor but at his turned back as he was placed right behind him.

Scrambling to right his gun, Len took aim and fired at Wells' crouched form.

Only for the rippling waves to hit some sort of force field. Len's anti-Vertigo tech dissolved the field instantly, clearly something Wells had created with his powers, but it still prevented him from being hit directly, and Len needed a few seconds between shots.

"Crap."

Wells turned with a sneer, seeing Len, seeing the gun and how his force field had disintegrated, and jutted his chin forward, sending four tiny whizzing disks Len's direction.

Len froze and held his breath.

The small explosions where the discs landed forced the breath into his lungs, but he was thankfully on the other side of the room rather than in the middle of it.

"Cold," Barry hissed in his ear, arms wrapped protectively around his waist from how he'd whisked him out of harm's way. "Get it together!"

"I-I…"

"I see," Wells called to them, standing as the door he'd been working on finally opened.

He had various floating pieces of unidentified tech all around him, his supervillain attire a visor much like Len's, with a plain black bodysuit and a white lab coat, quit fitting as the evil scientist who could manipulate technology.

As he took a step toward them, his force field rippled back into existence, which meant Len's next shot would be as useless as the first, unless they could time it for Barry to grab him in the interim.

"So that's the tech that brought in Vixen before we could get to her," Wells said.

"We?" Len repeated. "You're working with someone else? Why do you want Vixen? What do you want with the klystrons?"

Wells cocked his head with a frightening twitch to his grin. "Aren't you a little too clever. That won't do at all, but I will take your gun."

Barry's grip tightened on Len's waist as four more of those flying discs headed toward them. The whirlwind brought them the opposite direction this time, behind Wells, and Barry pushed Len aside as he used the new explosions as cover to zip up behind Wells—

"Stop!" Len called, but with someone so fast, he was far too late.

The force field disrupted Barry's lightning with shocks of its own, causing him to cry out in pain and sink to his knees. Wells turned around slowly with an irritated expression.

"Is that The Flash? Nice suit. And here I was told you didn't do team-ups or domestication."

Barry tried to zip backwards to get away from him, but his powers were fritzing like a circuit board, and he only made it a few feet. "Cold, shoot him!"

Len raised his gun, but before he could fire, dozens of the pieces of tech around Wells formed into the shape of a deadly spear.

"Go ahead. First shot's free, but as soon as my shield drops, I'll send this into Flash's chest. Unless, of course, you think he's fast enough to dodge, Mr…Cold, is it?"

What was Len thinking, imagining he could play hero when these people were madmen? With a slump, he let the gun drop back to his side.

"CCPD has been outfitted with those." Wells nodded at the gun. "It's only a matter of time before I get a hold of one. I'm sure it'll be of great use to us in the future, but I have other business to attend to."

He turned toward the lab he'd opened as if Barry and Len were mere nuisances to be ignored. As soon as he passed through the door, it slammed shut behind him, and all that tech he'd hacked snapped back into place to keep it locked.

"He's getting those Krypton things," Barry said, flashing to Len's side now that his powers were back under control.

"Klystrons," Len corrected.

"Whatever. Come on, Cold, we gotta get in there. Cold? Len," he hissed more quietly when Len didn't respond.

Len startled, heart still racing from the encounter, but he knew they couldn't sit back and do nothing.

"Can you open the door?" Barry asked.

"I-I… I think so."

"Then do it."

Racing forward, Len raised his gun to shoot the controls. "Wells unlocked the door the old-fashioned way, but he's keeping us out with his abilities. If I disable the Vertigo cells being expelled—"

"Just do it."

Len fired, and a moment later, the door powered down and opened once more.

In the center of the lab, Wells had the klystrons floating around him like the rest as he glared back at them. "And here I thought McGee was the troublemaker, always coming up with fancy new tech to slow me down. You don't want to get in my way, Cold. And Flash… This time I'll let you live, because we would so love for you to reconsider our offer, but next time, I won't be gentle."

Len fired before Wells could finish speaking, dissolving his shield like before, but as Barry zipped forward to take advantage, a dozen of those tiny discs shot out, attaching to surfaces all around the lab. The force field rippled back into place, and Len realized they had seconds to get out.

The smell of smoke stung his nose, but when he took in his next breath, he wasn't engulfed in flames but outside in the room they'd started in. Barry was an ideal partner, if only they could get the rest of their timing right.

Slumping against the wall, Len tried to stay calm while Barry disappeared, seeing sparks of his lightning in the other room to prove he was looking for Wells, but he came back empty-handed.

"He's gone. I don't get how, he's just…gone." Barry sounded as frustrated as Len felt.

"Get us back, please," Len said, knowing how small and pathetic he sounded.

For once, Barry didn't make any smart remarks, just took hold of him and was off. It had all happened so fast, not only because of Barry but all of it. Len wasn't used to failure and failing at lightning speed stung worse than he could have anticipated.

"Not our best trial run," Barry said when they returned, pulling off his mask while Len slumped into his roller chair.

"I-I can't do that again," Len said with shaking hands, barely managing to set the gun down without it clattering.

"What? You're not bowing out now." Barry dashed to his side. "The Professor is up to something big, you heard him. He must be working with Reverb."

Reverb, who'd approached Barry for a team-up and had to be part of that we. "Something involving other Supers working together…" Len realized, then looked at Barry in surprise. "I thought you didn't care, that you were only doing this because I was blackmailing you."

"Well, mostly," Barry shrugged, legs dangling as he sat on Len's desk again, "but I still figured it'd be a good time. That was way more fun than stealing alone."

"He could have killed us."

"I'm pretty sure that's the job," Barry said, like Len should have realized that.

He should have and had to let it sink in now because going after Barry had been easy, but Wells…

"You're really spooked," Barry said with a gentler tone. "Hey, it wasn't a total loss. We learned good intel. Plus, I grabbed one of these." He pulled out a small device from behind his back—and where exactly had he been keeping that?

"You stole one of the klystrons?" Len accused.

"The Professor left it behind. Figured you'd need it to learn what he's up to. After that, I can sell it on the black market." Barry balanced it lengthwise on one finger like it was something to play with.

Len tried to snatch it from him, but Barry grabbed it with his faster reflexes and held it to his chest.

"Hey, I thought this was a partnership."

"We are not stealing from the same people we tried to prevent a theft from in the first place."

"It was Mercury Labs! Plus, they'll think it was all the Professor."

"Barry."

"Don't I even get a thank you?" Barry pouted.

"Thank you," Len said sardonically, "but when I am done with that, you are bringing it back."

"Yes, Mom," Barry droned, handing the klystron to Len like it was a great sacrifice. "Does that mean you're looking into it? We'll try again?"

Len may be a fool, but at least he wasn't a fool alone. "We need to practice working as a team a bit better."

"More quality time sounds lovely, handsome. Kiss for luck?" Barry leaned toward him.

"W-We already failed the mission."

"I mean for next time." He leaned closer, all set to pucker up, but Len held his ground. "Fine. I know I'm wearing you down. I'm gonna change, and then we are going to discuss strategy and how to up your security before any Supers we piss off figure out how to find us like you found me." He hopped off the end of the desk to head into the other room.

"A-And…" Len sputtered to shout after him, "some of that strategy involves you not flashing me around without warning me first!"

"Aw, but I like flashing you." He glanced back with a wink.

It should be illegal for him to do that while in a skin-tight suit, making a dramatic exit.

Len sank deeper into his chair and reached for his cell phone that had been left on his desk since it was blinking at him with impatience. He must have missed a call.

No, a text.

From Mick.

That he was on his way to the Labs fifteen minutes ago!

"Shit."

"Imagine my surprise on my way to take you out for drinks as congrats for that Vixen capture earlier this week, when I get an alert about a break-in at Mercury Labs," Mick said as he entered from the opposite direction of Barry—not that it would save Len for long. "And what do I see on the security footage but a vigilante with a very familiar gun working with someone who is obviously The Flash."

Len opened his mouth to speak but had nothing to defend himself with, especially since Mick could see the gun and that Len was still in costume. He really did need to up security.

"What the hell are you thinking, Lenny?"

Gideon hopped up onto the desk at that moment, looked at the gun in distaste, then at Len as if to say, I told you so.

TBC...