Joe had his phone out, ready to text Oliver to head back to the lab, when he heard both of them enter the room. Barry held a plastic cup trying to scoop out the last bit of ice cream from the bottom. Chocolate ice cream coated the kid's chin, cheeks and even nose. A dark stain stood out on the front of Barry's shirt where a spoonful of ice cream must have fallen earlier. Oliver was trailing behind him finishing off his own cup. Joe was happy to know that they both got back without any trouble. Even though he seemed fine with Barry going to the park, he still worried. He was afraid for the kid's safety and will remain so till they reverse whatever the metahuman did.

Joe greeted both of them asking about their outing. Barry immediatly set off talking about some kid named Ben and how they both raced on the park sets, he also mentioned how the woman at the shop gave him extra toppings on his ice cream. The kid continued enthuastically talking about his day even when Oliver bent down napkin in hand, trying to wipe off the sticky mess on Barry's face. He only scrunched his nose trying to talk from behind the napkin causing half of his words to be muffled.

The adorable moment was broken when Cisco, who checked the monitor at his desk, made a weirdly distressed sound that immediatly caught everyone's attention. A few more moments of furious typing passed, before he informed everyone else of what was happening.

"We got a problem.." Cisco finally turned away from the monitor to face the rest of the team.

"What's wrong? Is it Barry?"

"No. Apperently Captain Cold is currently robbing the bank and causing havoc at the park across from the building." The genius nervously wrung his hands together, glancing at Barry, "And the authorities can't handle him alone." Now he directed his attention to Oliver, who immediatly tensed up knowing what Cisco wanted to ask.

"No." He answered the unvoiced question. Everyone in the room was surprised, but Caitlin was the first one to ask 'why', to which Oliver replied with: "Because well firstly its the middle of the day-"

"Well, not really. The sun has already started setting." Oliver gave a small glare at Cisco's helpful input.

"-and secondly: there's probably a bunch of cops at the scene. I don't know if you're aware, but they tend not to like me." Rolling his eyes, Joe stepped forward giving Oliver's shoulder a light shove.

"That's what's stopping you? Like Cisco said its already sundown, meaning there's not a lot of light outside, and I'm sure they can do something about the people at the scene?" Joe reasoned. He turned towards the other two occupents of the room searching for an answer to his question. Both nodded, stating they could have the area cleared out by the time Oliver gets there. The Starling resident frowned, clenching and unclenching his jaw, mulling things over. Eventually a look of defeat filled his posture, before he reluctantly agreed.

-TA-TF-

Leonard Snart, aka Captain Cold, was busy creating anarchy from his spot in the middle of the street. Lisa and Mick had just loaded the last of the duffle bags and drove off, but Leonard stayed behind wanting to slow down the CCPD just a little- plus he was having a lot of fun. When it seemed the cops were busy pulling back, his curiosty peeked, and he stayed for a little longer trying to figure out what was happening.

"Snart." A deep voice called from behind him. One eyebrow crept up, questioning the new voice. Turning around, he smirked seeing the green clad vigilante.

"Well. You're a long way from home, Dorothy." Captain Cold drawled. The vigilante stood far enough from Leonard that he could barely make out what little part of the Starling Vigilante's face is not covered by the hood. "Sorry. What do they usually call you? Arrow?"

He received no answer, which made him frown. Part of the fun was making Flash react to his constant mocking, but the Arrow wasn't showing any form of response. Well they can't have that, time to change tactics. "How's Flash by the way? Enjoying being a kid again."

The sun behind the vigilante was bright, but thanks to his sunglasses it was only a minor annoyance. This time Arrow tilt his head up slightly and Snart could practically see his frown through the green hood.

"Don't be surprised." Captain Cold mocked, his condescending tone grating on Oliver's nerves, "I have contacts everywhere- including your slum of a city." He shot a blast from his gun at the a tree, instantly freezing it from top to bottom on one side, trying either to make a point or because he was bored. Barry didn't talk much about the guy so Oliver couldn't be sure of his intentions. Once again his lack of response seemed to annoy Snart and Oliver fought back an amused smile. He knew that his actions was frustrating the man.

"Fine. Not much of a talker." Captain Cold clasped the edges of his hood, which had fallen down at some point, bringing it back up to cover his head, "Just make sure you help the Flash back to normal." Oliver was confused at the statement, not entirely sure why one of Central's criminals would care whether the Flash was back to normal. Leonard seemed to have picked up on his trail of thoughts, because he smirked in a way that immediatly unsettled Oliver. "Without the scarlet speedster heists are incredibly easy which means they're boring. I like a challenge."

Captain Cold made as if to walk away so Arrow knocked an arrow, brought it up and released it a split second later ,not willing to just let the man walk away. Experience from fighting the fastest man alive made sure Len's reflexs improved, enabling him to move his body so instead of the arrow driving through his thigh, which would immobilise him, it instead hit the hard bone of his hip, at least this way he had a chance of getting away. A grunt of pain escaped him. Okay this was another thing he wasn't used to. At least Flash never shot him with sharp pointy things- and the vigilante seemed to get this since his stance all but screamed 'smug'.

"You're coming with me." Arrow finally spoke up again, his voice as deep as the first time he spoke. Clasping a tight hand over the wound, Captain Cold smirked causing Arrow to take a weary stance.

"One thing you have to know about me," his drawl seemed even thicker now, as he shifted backwards slightly, "I plan heists thoroughly."

A whirring and click sounded from somewhere, out of the corner of his eye Arrow noticed something fly towards him. He rolled away narrowly missing the glinting device that embedded itself on the road were he himself stood not seconds ago. It gave another click and a hiss like escaping gas followed. Ice and snow started piling from the device, creating a cold barrier between the two men.

Too late Arrow realised that it was only a distraction. He cursed loudly when he looked up, seeing that Captain Cold had dissappeared. Standing up, he passed his bow to his other hand already comming Cisco and Caitlin.

-TA-TF-

The arrow resisted slightly, before sliding out. Leonard cursed, applying pressure on the wound. The offending weapon clattered down the alley. He pressed his back to the wall hearing the far off sound of emergency service sirens. They were to far to actually pose a threat. He didn't realise he had closed his eyes till a young voice spoke up and he opened them to find a small kid standing a few paces from him. The kid had a weary look on his face, starring at Leonard, who raised his eyebrow in a questioning manner.

"You should not be out alone, kid. There's bad people on the street." He said, pushing down his hood and removing his sunglasses.

"Are you a bad person?"

The question made him laugh. He took a better look at the kid. The green jacket was at least a size to big and the ends of his jeans were frayed from where the kid kept stepping on them. A familiar pair of eyes stared up at him from below a brown mess of hair.

"What is your name?" Lennard asked, already knowing the answer. His hunch was proven right when the kid answered with 'Barry.'

He shook his head, unable to believe this situation. So it was true, the scarlet speedster managed to turn himself into a little kid. A tiny, dark part of his mind was telling him that he should take advantage of this situation, get rid of the Flash once and for all, but it quickly died down. Leonard felt slightly disgusted. Not even he would harm a kid- no matter who they were when they grew up. Besides it would be too easy.

"You're hurt." Barry mumbled, vowels being half pronounced like little kid's have the tendency of stubbornly doing before they hit a certain age. The kid touched his arm lightly and Snart drew it back, revealing the crimson coating his fingers. The digusted look that washed over Barry's face was mixed with one of concern. Of course the damn kid was caring of everybody even at such a young age. Rolling his eyes, Snart assured the kid that it was nothing. "Just a scratch. Nothing a little dissenfectant can't fix." He joked. Actually he hasn't taken a close look at the wound yet so he's not sure how bad it really is, but he's not currently laying sprawled on the floor bleeding out, so that has to be a good sign.

"Barry." A getting-familiar voice called from the opening of the alleyway. Turning around, the kid grinned noticing Arrow.

"Lose something?" Snart drawled, trying to provoke the man. Barry took a few steps toward Arrow, but Leonard shot his hand out catching him by the shoulder. He's against hurting children, but right now he might need the kid's help in gettting out of this. "Hold on, kid." He mumbled before turning his attention to Arrow, "Look you seem like a smart guy so you know how this goes: you let me go, I let him go, everyone's happy. But-" Snart took his freeze gun out of its holster, bloody fingers slipping slightly on the cold metal. The green-clad vigilante immediatly tensed up. "-Well you know."

"You should know that it did not end well for the last guy who tried that." The Arrow practically growled. Smirking, Snart made sure he did not look fazed.

"My guess is the other guy was some pathetic junkie," He cocked his head to the side, "do I look like a junkie to you?"

Both men stared at each other, neither willing to back down. Eventually it was Barry's small voice that broke the silence; "Don't hurt someone again like you did the other guy."

If Snart was willing to break his stare he would've given the kid an amusedly astonished look. So it was true, someone had tried something similar to this and it had probably ended with the man heavily injured or worse- dead. If he didn't know how fucked up this world already was he would've been appalled at the fact that someone would kill in front of a kid- then again the vigilante did not seem like the parent-of-the-year type.

It didn't matter since what the kid said seemed to work, because the Arrow gave a kurt nod, but kept a tight grip on his bow.

"Let him go and leave." His voice undeniably held the promise that if he had to he would not hesitate in using the bow. Snart gave one more once-over before loosening his grip, stepping back. Barry immediatly rushed over to Arrow. While the vigilante was distracted in checking the kid over, he slipped away.

Oliver swiflty gave Barry a once-over, checking for any visible injuries. He glanced up, but Captain Cold had already dissappeared. Turning back to Barry, he gave the kid an experate look.

"How do you always manage to slip out after me?"

What scared Oliver the most was the fact that Barry might just be scared of him. For some reason that knowledge made his gut churn uneasily. That fear he saw in the kid's eyes reminded him so much of how Tommy looked at him when he first found out that he was the vigilante. He could feel bile crawl up the back of his throat and he hopes he'll never have to see Barry look at him like that again.

-TA-TF-

Hours later already found him on his way back to Starling City. Once Barry and him had gotten back to the lab Caitlin had informed him that they were done with the serum. They had found a way to turn Barry back to his dorky, normal self. Oliver had experienced a strange sad feeling in his chest at the words. Of course he was happy that Barry will be back, but he can't help the growing feeling of dissappointment. The kid unexpecticly managed to worm his way into his heart. Joe must have had a sixth sense or something, because he came up to him joking about how Oliver was suffering from seperation anxiety like a true mom. (Oliver had colourfully told Joe how he felt about that statement and earned a horrified gasp from Barry who was not pleased at Oliver's use of 'bad words')

They told him that it would take a couple of hours, maybe even an entire day or two, for the serum to kick in. He wanted to stay till he could see for himself that Barry will be fine, but in the end he decided it was time to take his leave. There was no need for him to actually be there anymore. For the record saying goodbye to the kid had not broken his heart one bit. Nope. Not at all.

Barry, however, sported a dejected look after finding out that Oliver was leaving. Racing over, the kid had wound his arms tightly around his waist hugging him to which Oliver bent down, returning it in irnest.

Yeah, he is definitly going to miss four-year old Barry.

-TA-TF-

..Aaaaand its done. Not gonna lie; this feels bitter sweet! The first multichap storie I finish and its all thanks to you guys and your continued support 3 . Seriously, I'm grateful to all of you. I wanted to have atleast one Central Criminal in this story before I ended it and thus why Captain Cold made an appearance.

Even though I'm done with this story its not the end! I was thinking of posting another story which will consist of one-shots of Oliver and lil!Barry moments that did not make it into this book. But the one shots won't follow up on each other, they'll just be random moments or drabbles.

Anywho, once again thanks for all the comments/favourties/follows and even just for reading :)

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