Prompt #7: Who said "I love you" first? Who ends their arguments in a fight with "because I love you"?
Headcanon: Leonard was the first to say "I love you" because of an argument he had with Sara. It was after another all-hands-on-deck type mission with all the teams, some world ending scenario once again. Sara took a hit for Len during the battle and got seriously injured. He doesn't feel like he's worth her life. She disagrees. As the argument escalates, his feelings are revealed, ones that she returned happily.
It was a couple of months after Leonard Snart was given the clearance to go back in the field that the call from S.T.A.R. Labs came. Yet another potentially world ending crisis loomed before them, and they were needed for help. An alien race of biomachines had landed and were consuming everything in sight in order to gain knowledge. During his time away from his earth, Leonard lived with another band of do-gooders. He'd gained the trust and respect of the darker of the Justice League founders along with his girlfriend, another founder. He remembered being told of a time when the same creatures attacked that earth. Once the Waverider crew arrived, he told them and Barry everything that was recounted to him as to only explain it once. Ray was willing to go in and make their central processor explode just like the ATOM of the Justice League had. That left the others to figure out how to destroy the rest of the spawned creatures. It was an all hands-on-deck scenario; even the Waverider was going to be utilized.
Having a head start on planning really helped the teams of heroes and anti-heroes come out on top with substantially less damage than what occurred on the other earth. After the chaos surrounding the end of the battle they headed back to the lab. While things ended abruptly and solidly, tension was still high. They could all tell that Leonard was quietly angry as he carried an injured Sara. She'd taken a significant hit for him and collapsed shortly after Ray was cleared of the main hub creature, and Gideon used up their main power to blast it and the remaining spawns with everything she had. It was going to take a few hours for her to get back to enough power to do more than simply cloak the ship's presence.
Once in the medical wing of the lab, Len laid her down on a cot so Caitlyn could start checking her over and fix what she could find. He stood eerily quiet at the doorway leading to the hall. The only sign of his agitation being the fidgeting of his fingers that eventually escalated to him tapping them against the metal facing. Mick and Barry stuck near him, watching him closely.
"You know she's gonna be ok, boss." Mick finally spoke as he watched his best friend's restlessness. He could feel the air around the other man primed for a panic attack.
"Mick's right. Caitlyn's seen all kinds of insane injuries. She can handle this. Sara's going to come out of this just fine." Barry kept his voice soft and gentle. It wasn't a coddling gesture, but he also could tell how close the other man was to cracking.
The hall returned to silence beyond Leonard's soft tapping, and the other two men stood as silent sentinels. It wasn't long before Jax stepped out of the cortex. "Caitlyn says she's done. Sara's ok, just a little sore from the stitches. Gideon'll have to take care of some of the deep tissue bruising, but she's fine."
Len quickly brushed past the younger man, his intended target the medbay. The other three shared a look. This was going to end badly was the agreeing thought to pass between them.
When he stepped into the room, relief did flood Leonard at seeing Sara sitting up and talking with Oliver and Felicity, but then he saw the blood stains and her normally well-hidden winces at the pulling of the suture material in her skin and the anger bubbled back to the surface. Her head turned toward him at his arrival, but she went back to her conversation almost instantly. She'd been like that since he came back: skirting around him, not holding any worth while conversations with him, and he was done taking it. If she didn't want to even try to be friends again, then she should just say it, and he'd get off the team. He had a couple of options beyond that.
One more flash of the blood stains, and Leonard couldn't hold his tongue anymore. "You do realize you could have just died, correct?" His voice was cold, a sound much worse than any yell could ever be.
Sara simply rolled her eyes. "Wouldn't have been the first time; more like the third. Besides, if I hadn't done something, that thing would have latched on to you."
"Yes, this was so much better." Sarcasm dripped from his words as he waved his hand toward her wound. "This self-sacrifice thing becoming a common theme with you hero types?"
"You should know, you started it," was her reply. She could see the building tension in the man. They hadn't spoken much since he'd returned. She wanted to give him a chance to come to grips with things and settle back in to their life. Now she was beginning to wish she'd pressed the issue of a talk sooner.
"You know I am no hero." It came out like a scoff, but no joke behind it, only anger.
They both ignored Felicity's less than subtle cough of "antihero". Honestly, Barry, Jax, and Mick would have probably grinned at it if they weren't so worried about the potential explosion getting ready to happen.
"Keep telling yourself that, Snart. Meanwhile, the rest of us live in reality." Sara was trying to dissipate the situation, and it seemed to be working until she moved wrong and her sutures pulled sharply. Subconsciously, she brought her hand to touch the space above them. That was all it took to bring Len right back to why he'd been so agitated.
"I don't need you jumping in to take hits I can survive. You need to take care of yourself and stop being so reckless." He crossed his arms, the leather of the jacket he was wearing strained against the movement. His eyes were set in a glare.
"Well it looks like I could survive it just fine as well, so what does it really matter?" Now her temper was beginning to flare. He wasn't backing down apparently. That felt like he was challenging her abilities and thus questioning them. She didn't take well to that.
"Maybe I don't want to see you ripped apart by some regenerative alien dog creature. Don't really want that as my last image of you of all people." There was a raise in his voice that had Mick slightly worried that Len going to say something he was going to regret.
The larger man made a step to intervene, but between Barry's gentle hand on his arm and the subtle shake of Felicity's head, he didn't. If they wanted to deal with an explosion, well, that was on them. But he did agree that those two really did need to finally pull their heads out of it and talk for once. It was a long time coming, but he just wished it wasn't like this. The conversation they needed probably shouldn't start off with a fight. He knew, logically, that those two never did what was strictly best for the situation, and it usually still worked out. He just hoped this was one of those times.
"You know I can take care of myself. I've been doing it for long enough to not need you ordering me to not do something. I'm the captain; I'm the one that gives orders." Her own voice went deadly quiet as she finally got to the real question she had. "Why do you care anyway? It's not like you've been here to make sure I don't die again this past year or so."
Something nearly deadly flashed through Leonard's eyes. Suddenly, everyone in the room got the feeling they were looking at tiger tensing up for the kill. When he spoke, it felt as if the temperature dropped in the room. "Why do I care?" It was said so quietly they nearly missed it. It was in direct opposition to what he said next as his voice raised to a yell. "Why do I care?! I care what happens to you because I love you!"
A stunned silence followed the declaration. Soon, Felicity was actively holding back a happy squee. She'd seen it coming from the very beginning, mostly because of the background Sara told her she'd had in the Dominators' dream world. It was just solidified when he was back, and she saw his eyes when he looked at her friend. Mick and Oliver broke from their surprise to rub their foreheads in exasperation. Barry and Jax were just too stunned at hearing Leonard actually yell to respond. Quietly, Mick and Oliver ushered the other three out of the room and closed the door. Those two really needed to talk in private, badly.
Once they were alone, Sara's shock began to fade, and she began to take in the man before her. There were small signs of stress everywhere if you knew how to read him. The small nearly unseen tremors coursing through him; the constant movement of his long fingers; the shuddered look in eyes; it was all there, and more. She knew this was a critical moment. This could make or break any future relationship they had: friendship or otherwise.
She collected herself. She had to be careful, completely honest and open to both him and herself. "You love me?" At his sharp nod, she continued in the soft, gentle voice she'd employed. "Even after all this time?" She made sure to keep any disbelief out of her voice. She didn't need him getting any more defensive than he already was.
"Since the engine room," he sharply confirmed.
Something loosened in Sara as she closed her eyes. She felt like the band that was winding taut since the Oculus finally snapped, releasing the tension inside her and leaving her lighter than she'd been since she saw Mick crumbled on the Wellspring floor. Letting out a slow deep breath, she looked into his beautiful eyes to see their turbulent blues and greens warring. "I love you too, Leonard Snart," she breathed.
It took a few moments for the words to catch up to him. She knew the moment they registered: all the tension melted from his body. "You do?" He spoke like someone who's had hope pulled away from them one too many times to let himself fully trust in it again, and she realized with some sadness that that was probably the case. "Raymond told me about all the flings you've had throughout time, including that Alex woman." His voice was confident, but she knew in that moment he was out of his element and thus anything but.
"Raymond needs to keep his mouth shut," she spoke bluntly enough she got a snort of amusement from Len. "But he's not completely wrong, his scale is just off."
He put up a hand to stop her. "You don't have to justify yourself to me, Sara. To you, I was dead. I'm glad you could move on if I did."
She shakes her head. "That's just it, Len, I didn't. Between losing you and then finding out my sister was also dead and I couldn't save her, I made some questionable choices. I don't grieve or mourn well. Three of the last times I did, even if one was a false alarm back in the '50s, I joined a terrorist group or a band of assassins. Even sleeping with Alex was part of that. We were at Barry's wedding, something I knew I would never get because the one I would have eventually wanted it with was dead. I never moved on from you, Len. I don't think I ever could."
He was quiet for a moment before stepping up to her bed. He slowly reached out and gently cupped her cheek. "I don't think I could either." He brushed the apple of her cheek with his thumb. "I didn't, even after I gave up hope of getting back."
One of her hands came up to hold the hand against her cheek. The other brushed against his neck before quickly shifting to his jacket at the brief flash of subconscious fear in his eyes. She tugged him forward, leaning up to meet his lips halfway in a gentle kiss full of promise for the future for her and him and them.
They were suddenly broken apart by a yell from down the hall from Cisco. "Oh my God! You couldn't have warned me, Barry?! I did not need to see those two kissing on my monitors!"
The couple in question rested their foreheads together trying to stifle the laughter both could feel bubbling. They lost the fight when Barry's still shocked voice made its way to them. "I'm still trying to wrap my head around Snart yelling!"