This Delicate Thing We've Made

genre: Romance

rated: M

authors note: The end...Thank you all for reading this labor of love. I'm so proud of how this story came out and loved playing in the ColdFlash sandbox. Peace and much love!

Chapter 20: I Can't Ever Get Enough of You

"Now I know that in the past I've been much too keen
But your eyes are the kindest that I've ever seen
I guess there are some things you just know
There's a voice inside telling me to hold on
And never let you go
There's a tune that plays, it's a sacred sound
It's a symphony I hear whenever you're around
Now my world is filled
With a whisper of love and a promise of tomorrow
Now my world is filled with so many things
But nothing compares to the touch of your skin
There's a symphony and a melody that pays whenever you're around
I think I've been found "

Smiling, Barry couldn't help but give a big swing of their connected hands forwards as they walked. He heard the low chuckle from Len beside him as he swung their arms just as big backward as they walked hand in hand towards the Cortex. Barry didn't see Len glance down, Barry's left hand clasped in his right. He loved how their fingers fit between each other, how his skin felt on his skin, how beautiful his hand would look adorned in something specially picked out just for him.

"Stop," Len chuckled again when Barry gave another big swing, but when Barry just smiled at him Len couldn't stop himself from using the momentum to twist Barry's body back against the wall, pressing against him, their hands still interlocked, trapping him with his own body. Barry giggled as Len's free hand braced against the wall beside his head as Barry's moved to settle on Len's hip, pulling him closer as he leaned forward. Len could feel the smile in his kiss as he found his soft warm lips with his own.

It was soft, unhurried, Barry's tongue diving shallowly to meet Len's. His tongue slid over his as Len pushed himself closer against him, Barry pressed between his body and the wall. There were no thoughts, mind lost in a love induced haze, just so absolutely engrossed in each other. Len moved his hand from the wall to curve his palm over Barry's cheek, a caressing thumb over the contour of his cheekbone while Barry nipped at his mouth. They melted into each other, the kiss longing, infused with every ounce of love they had. If they could stay in this moment forever they would.

Len could feel Barry's incredible heat even through the T-shirt and burgundy bomber jacket. Barry's hand dipped from Len's waist to tease the curve of his ass but his thought of ducking into the time vault for a quickie as Len's thigh slipped between his fleeted as a voice from a little down the hall called out.

"You know we can hear you out there right?" Cisco called from inside the Cortex. Len laughed and Barry groaned as they broke the kiss, Barry leaning his head forward to rest on Len's shoulder.

"Remember when I asked you to run away with me?" Barry's voice was muffled against Len's shoulder.

"Not today, hero," Len chuckled before dipping his head to settle his lips over the fluttering pulse of Barry's neck and sucking until he marked him. Realizing what Len had done, Barry pushed him away with a laugh, calling him a bastard. Len smiled at him. The hickey wouldn't last more than a few minutes, but it would last long enough till they got to the Cortex.

Barry pulled at the collar of his jacket, trying to cover the mark before realizing it was useless. He sighed, rolled his eyes, but all frustration went away when Len grabbed his hand and walked alongside him as they joined the rest of the team.

"Afternoon Caitlin, Ramon," Len greeted, a self-satisfied smirk. "Iris." He leaned in for a kiss on the cheek as she came to greet them. Over the past six months, since working alongside them to get Barry back from Mardon's, to waiting for him to awaken, to watching him as he healed, he'd developed a bond with Barry's team, his friends and family. He didn't shy away from hanging out with them at the Labs or encouraging Barry to invite them over their home or to go out with them. They were a part of his life now, and he theirs, and Barry felt whole having them all interconnected.

Len had gotten very close with Iris especially, even doing his own version of a background check on a guy she'd begun seeing casually. He let go of Barry's hand to let his lover envelop his best friend in a hug. She'd just gotten back from following a story in Gotham and the two were eager to reunite. She gave Len a wink over Barry's shoulder as he let them have a moment alone, moving across the room to where Caitlin was smiling at him while Cisco was glaring.

"You know I'm a hundred percent on board with this," Cisco said, motioning with his hand between Len in front of him and Barry across the room. Len cocked an eyebrow at him while he moved to lean across the front of the main console. Cisco rolled his eyes. He almost missed the days when he instilled fear in the young scientist but as he heard Barry's laughter echo in the lab, he was reminded this was better. "But you're supposed to be the Captain of Cold, the greatest, sneakiest thief in Central City. I kinda expected your PDA to be a little less..."

"Steamy?" Len drawled.

"Noisy," Cisco tilted his head with a squint. "I love Barry like a brother, a brother who doesn't ever want to hear his moans of pleasure."

"Oh please, I can do much better than what you heard in the hall," Len smirked and Cisco mock gagged, a blush and giggle from Caitlin, and Len was satisfied with their responses. Maybe he didn't instill fear like he used to, but if this is what it meant to have family, then he was glad to trade it.

"So are you really going to do it tonight?" Caitlin whispered, leaning across the console closer to Len. The man reached into his inner coat jacket and pulled out the small velvet bag that held the bands he'd chosen.

The truth was Iris had actually returned yesterday. Len had asked to meet with her and Joe, seeking their blessing to ask Barry to marry him. It wasn't permission, Len didn't believe in that antiquated notion, but he did want to show them the courtesy of requesting to be a permanent fixture in their lives. Almost two decades ago they took a young Barry into their lives, created a family; Len felt it only right to ask to be a part of that something special they built together. He knew where Iris and Joe stood on their relationship. Iris had been supportive from the start, had quickly become one of Len's favorite people. He had a love for her like Sara Lance, someone he admired for her fierceness, her femininity, her strength, and compassion. Joe had been accepting ever since they rescued Barry from Mardon and then embraced their dynamic immediately after just witnessing the love between them. But marrying this young man they all loved so much, Len thought it might be expecting more acceptance than they were willing to give. Joe and Iris, however, disagreed, and barely let him finish the sentiment before they embraced him, literally.

An hour later, Len had met Caitlin and Cisco at S.T.A.R. Labs while Barry was at CCPD. He poured it all out, apologized for what he'd done to each of them in the past, thanked them for their understanding in this past year, and they both had brushed him off saying it was all water under the bridge, neither giving him a chance to further explain before bombarding him, Caitlin asking him to see the rings and Cisco nagging him about how grand of a gesture he was thinking because he 'had a few ideas'.

The truth was, Len had thought of a dozen grand gestures but all felt wrong somehow. It wasn't them. Their lives were big, their masked personas larger then life, but Barry and Len were simple. Their love was effortless, their dynamic easy. It all came down to love, to feeling at home. So tonight at Joe's during movie night was where it would happen, in a moment relaxed and surrounded by everyone Barry loved that was still with them.

Suddenly the alarms went off, the screens came alive, indicating a police chase on the freeway. With a quick gust of air, Barry was in his uniform pulling up his cowl.

"Why don't you guys head over to Joe's. I'll meet you there," Barry offered as he approached the console.

Len grabbed the front of the uniform and pulled him in for a kiss, a long inhale as he crushed his lips against Barry's.

"For luck," he murmured with a smile against his lips before pushing Barry away. "Now get going, Scarlet." Barry yelped as Len smacked his ass but he smiled at him, the glint in his eyes as impish as it was genuine. Len thought he was going to call him a bastard again, maybe blush in embarrassment for the display in front of his friends.

But time slowed down suddenly as, with a gentle tug, Barry grabbed the front of Len's shirt, pulling him in for another kiss. Lightning surrounded them, the world stilling and the rest of the team frozen as Barry pulled him into the speed force aura. They might as well be alone, the only two people in the world, because even without being in Flashtime, Len felt that way every time he looked into those green eyes.

It was just a soft, gentle glide of lips meeting and it felt like the world had stopped moving all over again, suspended in time with their lips connected. And then Len could feel that delicious spark as Barry pulled away.

Barry smiled at him, his eyes shining, saying everything they both felt, and then just as quickly he was gone. Len watched as the trail of lightning disappeared after him but kept his gaze on where Barry had just been. He wondered if he had any idea about Len's plans tonight if he'd snuck around and caught sight of the rings. He didn't know.

Their lives were defined by not knowing, taking the hits as they came, and embracing the wins they were blessed with, evolving as they moved forward. In their past, they didn't know when they'd first stared each other down on that train that they'd spend every night being the last thing the other saw before closing their eyes. They didn't know that their elaborate lives would one day lead them to each other, living a simple kind of life in the middle of the extraordinary. They could never have guessed in the past how it would lead them to this kind of present.

Len didn't know just exactly how he would propose tonight, not until they were in the middle of the movie when Barry was curled up against him, hands entwined when Len slid the ring on his left finger. He didn't know that Barry would look down and then meet his gaze with tears in his eyes and kiss him so hard in front of his family. He didn't know it would be one of the happiest moments he'd ever felt in his whole life when with a smiled whisper against his lips, Barry would say 'yes'. The only thing he knew about their present was he ready to start his future with this man.

It was a future where they didn't yet know that the news article from the time vault had changed, that Barry wouldn't disappear in the crisis a few years from now because Captain Cold wasn't originally there to fight alongside them. They didn't know that in the near future the name Leonard Snart would be a name that became synonymous with security and safety in Central City and Keystone, to the point where a few friends in high places encouraged him to run for Mayor. They didn't know that in a couple of years they'd foster a pair of young twins, a boy and girl, who were saved by the Flash but lost their parents, only to end up adopting them not soon after.

But that was all to come, there ever after was only just beginning. What they did know was that in this life, this timeline, this corner of the multiverse, they were exactly where they wanted to be. They had been swept up in something they never thought could be nearly as beautiful as it had been. They'd been through a lot in their year and a half together, been through a lot before that, all of it guiding them where they were now, so ready for what came next for them as a couple but also content at exactly where they were. They could get through anything and wanted to go through everything with the other by their side.

What they did know was they were Captain Cold and the Flash, Leonard Snart and Barry Allen, Len and Scarlet, all of it and none of it, any and every faction of themselves fit together so imperfectly like a beautiful piece of abstract art. What they did know was how deeply they loved each other, and it wasn't just enough, it was everything. It was a delicate thing they'd made together, delicate like a diamond in its beauty but designed to withstand; delicate like a Sunday morning wrapped in each other's arms with soft whispers of breath against skin that felt safe and solid.

They were exactly where they wanted to be. For Len, it took most of his life to feel like he truly belonged, somewhere he didn't have to prove his worth, his value, like he didn't have to fight to earn another day, where the only thing he had to steal was moments with the man he loved. For Barry, it was like his entire life had been out of order, time travel disrupting his future, but for the first time, it felt like he had the chance to truly have a future. Life didn't make it easy to find their way to each other but the love between them was what made them truly found.