'so pull every pin from every grenade and blow it all up in my face'

Barry glanced around his surroundings once more before shrugging off his messenger bag and sitting cross-legged on the somewhat damp grass beneath the dusk sky. He looked down to his hands and released a breath feeling slightly emotional.

"Hey," Barry murmured "I hope you don't mind me dropping by… from what Joe and Iris have told me it sounded like we became close. Detect- Eddie, sorry, it's weird not calling you Detective Pretty-Boy behind your back with Joe or just Detective Thawne whenever you came by for results." He said chuckling at the nickname Joe had allocated the man. Barry took a moment to organise his thoughts before he looked up at the gravestone "I don't recall much but Joe told me what you did to save me, to save all of us. I don't know if I ever thanked you or told you how sorry I am, I would never have wanted anybody to get hurt on my behalf." He said softly as he moved his gaze to the fallen leaves scattered around him.

Barry wasn't too sure what else he could say, after Joe had continued to fill him in on the events of him being The Flash, his main concern was whether he had ever taken the time to visit Detective Thawne's (he should really call him Eddie) gravestone. When Barry had managed to complete some reports and sort out prints and was able to finish early, he decided to take a detour and visit Detective Thawne's (so it's a hard habit to break!) gravestone.

"I can't wait until we track this meta-human, that way I can gain some insight to see if it is possible to regain my memories. Having that year back would be useful, I mean I ran into this guy at this coffee shop and thought he was good but it turned out he's a nemesis to The Flash and an all-around bad guy so my taste in men speaks for itself there." Barry said letting the words just tumble out past his lips because he doesn't have to be careful here, no one is around to hear him or piece together that he'd actually took a liking to Leonard upon that first meeting.

Barry stood up and rubbed any stray grass or leaves off the back of his legs before picking up his messenger bag "Bye, Detec- Eddie." He said softly before heading out of the cemetery and back home.

It was a futile attempt at jogging his memory or accessing any feelings toward the whole situation but he felt better within himself after visiting Detective Thawne (Eddie!).

He's pleasantly surprised when an alarm sounded when he stepped into S.T.A.R labs, security is slowly being improved yet there was still a lot to be done. Leonard couldn't figure out how they managed to feel safe in a building that anyone could wander into unnoticed until they tripped an alarm. When he reached his destination, he watched Cisco tapping furiously at a screen before he froze in his seat.

"Snart," Cisco said flatly.

Leonard stepped into the room "Cisco," Leonard said as he continued to stand in the door way.

Cisco turned round in his seat and stood up "What do you want? The Flash will-" he started to say when Leonard raised his eyebrows and started laughing.

"The Flash will do what exactly?" Leonard asked "I know maybe The Flash will appear out of nowhere at any second or maybe he won't… I had a very enlightening conversation with Barry Allen the other day, ah what was it… oh yes, The Flash has amnesia so I'm not particularly worried about him. All I want is a couple questions answered and then I'm gone." Leonard said as he stepped into the room.

Cisco was glaring at Leonard as if looks could kill. "What do you want to know?" he asked and oh the venom in his voice amused Leonard to no end.

Leonard started to pace the room "The amnesia," he said "is it permanent?" he asked.

Cisco leaned against a desk as he maintained his glare on Leonard "Given that all the victims haven't remembered being present at any of the robberies we're hazarding it could possibly be permanent," he answered.

Leonard nodded his head as he listened carefully "Clearly there is a block on his speed, is that permanent too?" he asked.

"You'd love that wouldn't you," Cisco muttered before he exhaled and added "we don't know."

Leonard continued his pacing "You don't seem to be presenting any hard evidence to suggest whether this is temporary or permanent Cisco," he said maintaining a neutral tone "not what I had anticipated, I'm quite disappointed in STAR labs." He added.

"What's it to you anyway?" Cisco asked with a frown.

Leonard shrugged his shoulders "It's a curious situation," he said "you will not tell anyone I dropped in for this chat." He said before heading towards the exit "Oh and Cisco?"

"What?" Cisco snapped.

"Lisa sends her best wishes," he said before making his exit.

If there is one thing Leonard Snart liked it would be knowing the specific answers such as how long it takes for police to respond in certain areas, how long a job will take if the exact plan is followed and lastly is a certain person going to wake up in the middle of the night one day and just automatically remember Leonard stomping all over his heart?

So having a definite answer is what eased Leonard Snart's mind.

Maybe Lisa was right in her own way; he did have a way of fixating on the wrong things. Barry was definitely wrong.

One of the advantages of living in a city is that you are bound to come across at least a couple of stores that are open until a ridiculous time in the early morning. It was something Barry had counted on when he was lying in bed still wide awake at 1am and absolutely craving juice. He'd changed his clothes and headed out to find a store that was open at this time. It amazed Barry that it was 01:13am in the morning and the roads were still alive and the streets still had people wandering around with places to go.

He reached a store that he deemed fit enough to meet his needs: be open and sell juice, any juice as long as they had some! It's a medium sized quaint store which is surprisingly half-filled at this early hour but Barry picked up a basket and started his way around the store. It's not until he's contemplating what juice to buy that he felt someone's gaze on him.

Barry turned to look around the aisle, gaze falling on an middle-aged man looking like he was mentally debating whether to buy coke or pepsi when someone come to stand beside him and said "Personally I'm more prone towards drinking coke, what about you?"

"Leonard," Barry said and turned to face the man who stood beside him with a basket half full with various food items "so do all criminals shop at this hour or is this just something you do?" he asked unable to hold back the playful tone.

Leonard looked down at the watch on his wrist before giving a look around the aisle "I thought I was early to the criminal meet up in the drinks aisle, apparently everyone else is just late." He said sounding just as playful.

Barry suppressed the urge to roll his eyes at the man "That was ridiculous," he pointed out.

"It made you smile," Leonard pointed out.

Barry shook his head lightly as he tried to shake the ridiculousness of the whole situation "That's not even… it's not…" so Barry didn't know what he wanted to say apparently and his mouth communicated just that.

Leonard looked mildly amused "You didn't answer my question, coke or pepsi?" he asked.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Barry said.

"It's a harmless question," Leonard said "come on red."

"Coke," Barry answered "now answer my question." he added.

Leonard's lips quirked upwards "I had some time on my hands to kill and the kitchen cupboards were a bit bare," he said answering Barry's earlier question before he gazed down at Barry's basket "do you need all that juice?" he asked.

Barry glanced down at his basket before gazing at his supposed nemesis who was being oddly nice to him "I couldn't decide between orange, tropical or apple." He said.

"So naturally you just decide to buy all three?" Leonard asked.

Barry shrugged "I won't be in a hurry to buy juice for a while," he answered.

There was an uncomfortable silence between the two of them for a couple of seconds before Barry gestured to the basket in his hand and continued down the aisle to pay for his items. He was very aware of Leonard following behind him.

"So red," Leonard said when they were both stood in the line waiting to pay "fancy going to grab a bite? I know a café that's open all night and serves a mean waffle."

Barry felt this was all surreal; he would have jumped at the chance to grab food with Leonard before he knew what he knew now yet all Barry knew about Leonard was what he had read, heard from others and gathered himself from their previous run-ins. Half of him was leaning towards saying 'yes' while the other just thought 'what would Joe say if he finds out'. Leonard had been somewhat nice and playful towards Barry every time they'd conversed and that velvet voice of his was the ruin of Barry's dreams.

His stomach was doing this nervous thing that made him feel nauseous as he let the word "Sure," slip out before he could comprehend what he was letting himself in for.

"Great," Leonard said in response and if Barry felt him step a little bit closer so that his basket was brushing the backs of his legs then he certainly did not blush at what that could possibly mean.

A strange feeling washed over Leonard during the car ride with Barry to the small café he'd come across a while ago. The car slowly heated up as rain poured down from the darkened sky and battered the windscreen of his car as the music from Lisa's home-made CD quietly filtered through the silence between them.

'It's the beat that my heart skips when I'm with you, But I still don't understand, Just how your love can do what no one else can.'

"You like this song too?" Barry asked breaking the silence.

"Yeah," Leonard answered honestly "you played it repeatedly on your phone then it caught on with my sister and then I just couldn't escape it. So I figured if you can't beat them might as well join them."

He looked at Barry in amusement "I cannot believe you're not sick of that song yet," he said finding it ridiculous how many times he listens to that same song repeatedly.

"It's a good cover and deserves some recognition," Barry replied with that grin that lights up everything around them.

"I'm surprised you didn't freeze my phone then," Barry commented lightly.

Leonard pulled into the somewhat empty car park beside the café "I was tempted to on numerous occasions," he admitted before cutting the engine.

It's a bit like reliving a memory from months ago as he followed Barry from the car park and into the warm café which was occupied only by three other patrons. He motioned for Barry to be seated in a booth as he carried on up to the counter to order.

"Hey Len," she said "the usual?" she asked before moving to get a peek at who he had entered with.

"Thanks," he said as he handed the money over to her and collected the receipt.

Barry's checking the time on his phone when Leonard moved to sit opposite him in the booth. He bit his lip as if he was trying to decide on something but fuck did he not know how distracting that was?

"I told you I'll be honest," Leonard said when he sensed Barry was conflicted between asking a question "so ask away."

Barry nodded his head looking slightly embarrassed "I don't get all of this," he said simply "why are you being… so… I don't know, nice."

Leonard had wondered that as well over the past week. "I can be nice," he said "despite what you may have heard red, I've never intentionally gone out of my way to harm you. I released those meta-humans before you could ship them off to a private island because I was saving you from yourself. What you were doing wasn't right holding them in a prison without any sort of trial."

The waitress placed two big steaming mugs in front of them with a somewhat cheery smile that can be mustered at 01:48am in the morning "Two ordinary hot chocolates," she said before returning to the counter.

Barry grinned at him "I'm definitely not living that down," he commented before his smile faded slightly "I guess I can see it from both sides but I can't be at fault for being wary about you. I've read a lot about you and you tell me we were rivals and now I suddenly don't remember this past year and you're-" he added before stopping abruptly looking like he'd almost said something he hadn't wanted to.

It intrigued him.

"And I'm?" he asked prompting Barry suddenly very intrigued indeed.

Barry exhaled "You're being," he said slowly "not what I expected."

"In a good or bad way?" Leonard asked.

Barry looked like he was contemplating his answer before he looked at Leonard directly "Both," he said "it's very contradictory in my head with what I already know about you and what is out there about you."

"You're confused," Leonard said "it's to be expected."

Barry dropped his gaze to the table "I don't know what it is about you that makes it so easy to just talk," he said softly and then he looked back to make eye contact with Leonard "I barely know you personally and I feel like I could just talk to you about everything which CCPD would probably advise against me doing."

"Probably," Leonard said "it's always been easy."

"Joe would shoot us both if he knew I was here," Barry pointed out.

Leonard wrapped his could hands around his warm mug just as the waitress appeared with their plates of food "Enjoy," she said as she placed the plates in front of them and then handed them their cutlery before returning back to the counter to look somewhat awake.

"I wouldn't put it past Detective West," he said.

Barry's lips turned upwards slightly "Can we just not talk about how weird this is or about Joe and just talk about something normal?" he asked.

"Sure, kid." Leonard said as he picked up his cutlery to start eating.

Barry did the same and when he put a bit of waffle in his mouth he looked surprised. "This is so good!" he said "I want you to call me by my name and not by red or kid."

The clock on the wall struck 02:00am and Leonard had never felt more awake. "Okay, Barry." He said.

"So," Barry said before he put another bit of waffle in his mouth, chewed and then swallowed "how did you find this place?" he asked.

"An acquaintance of mine said he wanted to meet here once," Leonard answered.

Barry chuckled and shook his head lightly "I'm not surprised you would refer to your friends as acquaintances," he said.

"Mick is just a partner in the work I do," Leonard said "we're not friends."

Barry held his hands up in a mock surrender "Okay," he said "but how do you think that makes Mick feel?" he asked.

Leonard looked at Barry for a moment before leaning closer over the table slightly "When did you give up being a CSI for counselling?" he asked.

"Just the other day actually," Barry responded immediately with another one of those grins.

Barry was in the dark kitchen placing the juice he'd forgotten about completely on the side when he thought over the past hour and a half and had to refrain from laughing at the craziness surrounding his life right now. He'd been so hesitant to agree for the super early breakfast with Leonard ("If I'm calling you Barry then you have to call me Len,") or rather with Len (Barry liked that. Len.) and during the course of that hour he'd quickly become comfortable around the man to the point where his earlier concerns hadn't even crossed his mind.

He was aware that he was grinning right now and it's because Len has this charming quality that Barry isn't sure Len is even aware of.

"Pull it together, Allen." Barry muttered to himself as he leant against the kitchen side.

Barry found it was so different being around Len, the man didn't have this look of constant worry staining his eyes like Cisco, Caitlin, Joe or Iris did when they looked at Barry. It was nice to be in someone's company that wasn't constantly asking if he was okay, if he remembered anything or if he wouldn't mind running some more tests. It was refreshing.

It was bad.

It was so, so bad.

Len is a criminal. Joe would kill him if he found out.

"I never can understand why you insist on planning at such a ridiculous time in the morning," Lisa said before she covered her mouth to yawn.

Leonard looked up from the various amounts of paper he head scattered across the table "Why aren't you sleeping?" he asked.

"Mick called," Lisa said from the doorway immediately grabbing Leonard's whole attention "it didn't work out with that woman he was seeing."

"You hide all the flammables?" Leonard asked as he started to gather up the papers while he vividly remembered the last time one of Mick's relationships broke down and he'd set a perfectly good safe house alight.

"Done," Lisa said immediately "the ice cream is out to soften as well." She added.

"I'll get the vodka out and ready as well," Leonard said as he moved the papers into a drawer and locked it before moving to follow Lisa from the study to the kitchen to prepare for Mick's arrival.

Leonard noticed Lisa had set three spoons beside the ice cream pot as well as three shot glasses "It might be a good idea to take the gun and put it somewhere before he starts drinking," he said.

A/N: Hey guys, thank you all for the lovely reviews they really do make it worth carrying on (: