When Barry Allen arrived in Central City, nothing went as he had expected. He arrived at his rental office only to find that the apartment was already occupied by someone else. The only available room he could find was at some cheap dump of a motel. The room he ended up in was dirty and smelled like cigarettes, old pizza, and dirty laundry. Realizing he had to start his new job the next day, Barry decided to go to bed early and try to sort things out in the morning.
The next morning, he woke up and quickly got ready for work. In his haste, he managed to dislodge a photo among other documents from the stack of papers he haphazardly left on the deteriorating motel table. Barry stooped to pick them up, the photo, the sight of it sent a pang of sorrow through his heart. Iris West, the love of his life. Her brown eyes shone with the intensity they once held, brown hair framing her smile. It had been 6 years since the accident. Barry quickly buried the photo in the disrupted paper stack and left. When he arrived at the office, Caitlin Snow, the secretary on his floor and an old high school friend of his showed him around the office and then to his desk.
"Your desk is over here," Caitlin stated, leading Barry over to a particularly empty corner of the maze of desks. "And if you need help on anything, you can ask Mr. Snart, your neighbor…" Caitlin's voice was icy as she mentioned the name. Mr. Snart? Barry pondered the name, what kind of person was he to induce such coldness from warm and kind Caitlin? Unless…Barry frowned, maybe they had a complicated relationship. "Thanks," Barry murmured, as Caitlin gave his shoulder a squeeze and walked back to her desk.
Barry set his stuff down; the desk was rather spacious, shelves and cabinets for various belongings, drawers, and power outlets. There was a new desktop, keyboard, and mouse on the desk. On the screen was a card with "Welcome Barry" written on the front in large, elegant letters. It was Caitlin's work. Barry smiled to himself; Caitlin was still happy-go-lucky, though the thing with Mr. Snart bothered him. Barry sighed and leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes. Then, all of a sudden, he felt a hard prod on his shoulder. Barry's sky-blue eyes popped open to find an upside-down face grinning at him. Barry whirled around and saw a tall man trying hard not to laugh at him. "So, this is who they put next to me…" the man murmured. "Like I want some ugly man sitting next… to…" he trailed off abruptly, studying Barry more carefully.
Barry had to admit, the man was handsome. He looked young, possibly Barry's age, with buzzed brown hair. His blue eyes were lively, like a stormy sky, he had the subtle hints of freckles dusted over his nose and cheeks, barely visible. His ears were pierced, but he only wore a stud in the second piercing on one ear. He was tall, and his build was somewhat elegant, though Barry could see that he had lean muscle through the jacket he wore. The man's appearance was neat, but in a somewhat careless way, there was the barest shine of silver hanging on his neck.
Barry's gaze traveled down slightly before he stopped himself. What was he doing, checking another guy out? Barry frowned and quickly smiled politely at his neighbor. "I'm Barry, I'll be working here starting today.
The man smiled back in a cheeky fashion. "It's very nice to meet you, Barry. I'm Leonard Snart. And whatever anyone tells you about me, only some of it is true," Mr. Snart introduced, his blue eyes alight with amusement and he winked.
Barry felt a blush creeping up into his cheeks and fought it down. "Haha," he laughed. "It's nice to meet you Mr. Snart."
"Call me Len, everyone does," Len said, surprising Barry and he winced.
He paused, what was this? A familiar feeling but directed at an unexpected recipient. Taken aback, Barry attempted to shake the feeling off.
Why were people so casual here? It had barely been two minutes, and already Len and he were on a first-name basis. Not that Barry minded, he liked how Len said his name, a sharp B, and the way it rolled from his mouth…Barry felt brain-dead, swooning over Len, but he remained his composure. "Sure."
Len blinked. "Great, we'll be office partners. Ask me anything, and I'll answer. Emphasis on the anything," Len said, throwing Barry a very seductive smirk.
"Y-yeah," Barry agreed hesitantly, edging away from Len slightly, but his thoughts were roaming now in a very strange direction. There it was again that feeling.
Right before it was time to get out of work, Barry got a call from the motel he was staying at. A pipe had burst in his room and there were no other rooms available so he would have to come pick his stuff up and find another place to stay. While he was on the phone Len sauntered over and began eavesdropping.
When Barry had hung up, Len smirked at him and said "You need a place to stay and I just so happen to have a spare room that you can stay in." Against his better judgment, Barry agreed.
Since they were both done for the day, they packed up, and Len, since he owned a car, drove Barry to the motel to pick up his things and then to his apartment. His apartment building turned out to be the one that Barry was supposed to live in and his apartment right across from the one Barry was supposed to rent.
And now Barry was here…sitting on Len's couch, in Len's suite, while Len was taking a shower. Because of the flooding at the motel, most of Barry's belongings were in the dryer, some in the washer, and others that needed to be re-ironed, Barry had nothing to wear. While Barry assessed his situation, he hadn't noticed that Len had come out of the shower.
As if reading Barry's mind, the man spoke up. "If you don't have anything to wear, you could always borrow my clothes."
Barry glanced at Len, immediately regretting it because Len was leaning casually against the door frame, his chest and abs clearly visible and a towel wrapped around his waist. Barry, beginning to feel the heat rising in his cheeks, averted his gaze.
"Speaking of clothes, you should put some on," Barry muttered, ruffling his hair. Len let out a quiet laugh and disappeared from view. When he reemerged, clothed, he headed to the kitchen and made hot chocolate for both of them. They spent the rest of the night talking as if they had known each other their whole lives. It was in those moments when it seemed as if the facade Len wore had faded into a foundation for something more than the two of them.
Barry ended up moving in with Len permanently and within months they were dating. Barry was so happy that, after moving so far from home and only having one friend here, he found someone he really loved again.
Finally, my work is done after 6 years of unrest. You can finally be happy Barry.