Ugh, I'm so sorry, I didn't realize ffnet had eaten my scene separators. It's fixed now, and as an apology, two chapters this week, one today and one tomorrow as usual. Story goes canon divergent here.
Destined to Need You
It's when they nearly freeze to death that she's able to admit that Leonard has really, truly gotten under her skin. She thinks she might've been drawn to him even without the whole soulmate thing, might've still found herself here, now.
He asks her what it's like to die. She answers as honestly as she can, though she can't quite resist a little jab at him. She pretends he's not her first choice for company in a situation like this.
Sure, it'd be nice to see her family again before she dies, but she's not putting them through this again, and she thinks she and Leonard together have a better chance than either of them would alone or with others. It's that feeling of rightness that she can't shake.
Not that she wants to shake it anymore. It's become a part of her, as much as her past, as much as her death, as much as anything else she calls hers. Sara Lance's soulmate is Leonard Snart, and as much as she hated it at first, she'll admit it now, at least to herself: she needs him, and she's glad he's here with her in this otherwise shitty moment.
It's when they nearly freeze to death that he's able to admit that Sara's gotten under his skin, that she might've found her way there even if they weren't soulmates.
He opens up about things he doesn't expect to. His childhood and his father are one thing; they're both behind him. This is maybe the equivalent of a death-bed confession, though, trapped with Sara in a situation much less hospitable than a well-lit closet.
Plus, it's Sara. It's his soulmate, and hell if he's going to hide from her if this might be the last time they get to spend with anyone.
She's aware of the lingering the tension between him and Mick—it was obvious since Mick is clearly still putting time into getting them together, despite his annoyance—so it makes sense that he'd come up in conversation, even if the topic seems unrelated. Leonard tells her about when they met. It's an important moment for him, not one he's really shared before.
As fucked up as he is, he knows that not everyone is only out for themselves, and that's mostly been thanks to Mick. So telling her about it, about the incident that sealed their partnership, friendship, whatever it was…
It's showing her a part of him. It's showing her a part of himself he doesn't hate, doesn't try to ignore, doesn't fight. It's not exactly a sweet story, but then, Leonard isn't exactly a sweet guy.
They check the doors again, fruitlessly, then sit back down, closer this time, trying to conserve heat and energy.
They talk until it's too hard. They talk until she can't feel her hands, until everything she can feel is pain, until she can't stop shaking and doesn't think she'll ever be warm again. And through it all, Leonard is there.
Of course he is; he's stuck there as much as she is. Still, his presence makes it easier, as does the conversation. It's easier to pretend they aren't stuck here. It's easier to pretend everything is normal. It's easier to pretend they aren't about to die.
It's easier to remember that they're not alone.
So when she can't take the cold anymore, when she needs to do something but knows that anything active will just make things worse, it's not a stretch at all to lean into him, to wrap her hands around his arm and pull herself close.
Despite everything, or maybe because of everything, he has to look away when she grabs his arm and pulls him close.
He considers telling her that he's ready to give them a shot, ready to see whether this soulmate stuff carries over into other aspects of a relationship, but he's just so damned cold.
It hurts everywhere, and he doesn't want to associate their beginning with this much pain. Even Sara's touch almost sharpens it, and now they're both shivering too much to talk, so that's how they stay until the bulkhead opens.
Gideon is able to warm them up enough that they aren't in active danger, and Sara puts an arm on his as he heads toward the bridge to see what's going on with his partner.
"What is it?" He turns toward her, and her blue eyes are fixed on his. He fights impatience; something is wrong with Mick, he knows it. She doesn't keep him long, though, just watches him for a couple seconds, her arm still on his, as she says what she needs to.
"Thanks."
"Back at you, Sara."
And then they find the others, and then Mick is with the pirates, and Leonard feels like he's being torn in half, Mick on one side and Sara on the other. Leonard says he needs to choose a side, and Mick's eyes bore into his before he gives the slightest nod, the one that's always said they're on the same page.
The one that says when Leonard starts shooting the pirates, he won't be choosing between his partner and his soulmate. Something loosens in his chest, and he smirks a little, despite himself, before he fires. Mick turns and immediately fires on the intruders, too, before the team has time to decide he's a target.
Leonard Snart in Western getup is nearly sinful. And she can feel him watching her, wearing something between a smirk and a smile.
She's gotten used to him watching her. Things have felt different since they nearly froze to death.
There's a moment in a diner when it's almost like they're on a double date with Kendra and Ray, who are posing as a married couple. Then Kendra and Ray get left behind, and though the team is able to dispatch the person sent to kill them, there's some sort of malfunction with the Waverider, and they end up coming back late, and not by a few minutes, either.
Then there's time with Mick. Things are still tense at first, and Sara's able to pry a bit of information out of him. As much as she doesn't usually hate Rip, she really wants to punch him after hearing what he told Mick when the whole thing with the pirates went down. Sara's glad Leonard isn't there to hear about it.
The two friends get their heads out of their asses eventually, though. It's better after that, and Mick is with Sara and Leonard as often as they're alone.
The team as a whole has a rough patch when there's the debate about killing a kid to save the world. It seems like a common theme with Rip, she thinks, killing one to save so many, but it's not a call she'd ever be able to make on her own, and she wouldn't want to have to, either.
They hide out in the temporal zone for a while after that. Sara gets more downtime with everyone, but especially with Leonard, and it gets progressively harder to ignore certain things.
Not the soulmate bond anymore. She's not even pretending to fight that. They haven't really talked about an actual relationship, but they've fallen into one anyway, and she's not sure exactly when it happened. One thing, though, is definitely still missing, and Sara craves the physical intimacy more every day.
It doesn't help how often he turns those eyes on her. It doesn't help when she catches him staring at her after a hard training session. It doesn't help when she sees him in a sleeveless sleep shirt and she's faced with muscles and scars, both of which make her want to touch, if in very different ways.
The casual touches have increased, if only a little. He doesn't flinch when she puts her hand on his arm to get his attention. She tries not to take his hand when his fingers brush hers as he passes her a drink, the touch lingering much too long and often accompanied by eye contract and a wry smile.
And while they're in the temporal zone, she manages to keep her urges under control. Being around him, around Mick, having a purpose on the team, it's helped to settle her blood lust, and she's mostly able to channel that control into avoiding full-on fantasy.
But Leonard Snart dressed up like a damned Old West outlaw, minus the bandana over the lower half of his face, tips her over the edge.
He's watching her, and it's like he can tell exactly how much she wants to jump him in this moment, and yet they haven't even kissed.
It's getting harder and harder to figure out why.
