Homecoming - for @cutepoison

[old_school]

I'll call you tomorrow.

Len should switch off his phone, should stop looking at the damn screen. It was a promise he shouldn't have made but there weren't exactly a laundry list of people he could talk to about what happened to him.

"And I want you to be able to feel like you can ask for it, that you'll be safe or have a place to go when you need it. I'll be here."

Not exactly an offer he'd planned on taking Michael up on, but after the Vanishing Point, Len needed to talk this through with someone. While he could reach out to Mick, Hunter, or anyone else on the Waverider they had bigger issues to deal with. Snart had never anticipated trusting the kid, much less considering him family but here he is, ready to lay everything out on the table.

Falling into time. Dying.

Fuck it. He might have died but he still needs to sleep. Len sets the phone down with far more force than necessary and rolls over with a huff. He can call Michael in the morning.

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The decision doesn't seem any smarter in the morning, but as soon as Len is setting foot back in Central City, he's pulling out his phone to call Michael.

"Think Barry can spare you for an evening?"

Comments

[cutepoison]

Michael was just coming in from a jog when he got the call from Len, which honestly brings a little smile to his face. He kept his word after all.

"I think he can manage. Especially where family concerned." He kicks off his shoes and pads into their apartment. "I think he's got something going on at S.T.A.R. Labs anyway."

He'll lean over to give Barry a quick kiss, keeping the phone away, sparing the other the gushy noises of a happy couple. It's quick though so he doesn't miss what Len has to say.

"Where did you want to meet?"

[old_school]

Len can make out Barry's voice distantly, a brief conversation away from the phone and while that sort of life wasn't for him, he is glad they found each other. They're happy. Good for one another.

"That Thai place over on seventh, seven tonight?"

The food was good, the staff usually too busy to pay attention to conversations at tables and considering what he had to say? That was a good thing.

[cutepoison]

"Sounds great. I'll see you at seven."

And if Len didn't have anything further to say then Michael is perfectly fine with keeping the phone conversation short and sweet. He'll spend the day with Barry, shower, roll in the sheets and then see him off to the Labs. Once the sun starts to set and it gets close to seven he'll head out and arrive at the restaurant early. If Len isn't there, he'll grab them a seat, asking for a booth or something private. The less attention they can draw to themselves the better.

[old_school]

Long phone conversations were never really his thing so he's perfectly happy to keep it simple and let Michael have the rest of his day to do whatever it is young couples do on a weekend.

He checks his accounts, moves a few things around and tweaks the settings on the cold gun before finally getting a shower and changing into something a little more suitable for a dinner out with family. While Len makes it a habit to arrive early, he doesn't keep Michael waiting too long, sliding into the booth after the menus are delivered.

"The sushi is probably the best in Central City. Noodles are good too if you like them hot. They don't skimp on the spice."

[cutepoison]

Michael smiles warmly at his adopted cousin and looks mildly impressed at the suggestions.

"Sushi huh? Color me surprised. I didn't take you for the type." He glances to the menu a moment flipping it to the sushi portion then glancing up at Len.

"The more you know." It had been a long time since he's had good Sushi.

"But something tells me you didn't want to come here just for the good food."

[old_school]

"I appreciate the aesthetic." In addition to the simplicity of it. Len makes his selections quickly before setting down the pencil.

"No. I didn't."

Slowly he spreads his hands on the table, taking the moment to gather his thoughts. "Something happened, while we were out there. Something I haven't been able to get my head around yet and I need to be able to talk this out."

[cutepoison]

Michael watches curiously, trying to peer at what Len's getting so he can get one of something he picked that sounds appealing, then checks a few others for himself. He sets the menu aside to be collected. Michael will smile and nod in greeting to their server ordering a pot of hot green tea for the pair of them when she asks what they would like to drink.

Once she's gone he'll turn his attention to his cousin, brows knitting softly. He can't imagine what must have happened for someone like Leonard Snart needing to talk about it and get it off his chest. Let alone need to confide in him, though he's feeling somewhat honored the guy trusts him enough.

"Sure. You know I'm here for you in whatever capacity you need."

[old_school]

This is the hard part, laying it all out in the open and hoping that somehow Michel can help him fill in the blanks or at least make sense of things.

"We learned that the Time Masters, the body that Rip had trusted and worked for, were working with Savage. Manipulating time and manipulating us into doing what they wanted. They took everyone off the ship except for me and Sara, tried to turn Mick back into Chronos."

Long fingers wrap loosely around the teacup. He doesn't drink, but it does give him something to occupy his hand with.

"The only way to stop them was to take away their ability to manipulate time. We had to destroy something called the Oculus."

"It's where I died."

[cutepoison]

Michael quietly sips his tea and listens intently to what Len has to say. He tones out all the white noise of people moving in the kitchen or servers going from table to table to give Len his undivided attention. He takes each word to heart, putting what he can together from just this little. He can see how this actually bothers Len and he can't say he's really seen the guy shaken before, so this is new. Obviously it's important. Michael wants to do what he can to put his mind at ease and figure things out.

Until he utters those last four words. Michaels eyes widen as he pauses, lips pursed. He's slowly set the cup down, brows knitting as his mind ticks over that truth. But... clearly he's alive? How is that possible?

"You... what?" He almost doesn't comprehend it. "How?"

[old_school]

"I don't know." And it's maddening to have to admit that. He's alive and Leonard Snart doesn't have the first idea how it happened.

"The Oculus was powered by a giant supercomputer. I'm sure Ray could bore you to tears with the technical specifics but in attempting to blow it up, he tripped a failsafe. Someone had to stay behind to blow it to hell." His eyes go distant for a moment. "Mick wanted revenge. But I couldn't let him do it."

"I stayed." He couldn't let his partner destroy himself because Len couldn't imagine his world without Mick in it. It was selfish, but he was okay with that. He'd have to talk to Mick sooner or later, but first he needed to understand what had happened to him.

Slowly Len rubs his forehead. "I remember the explosion. I remember falling. I remember being surprised that there wasn't any pain."

"I woke up in Central City three weeks later and I don't know how I got here." And it might be enough if that was all, but like everything else in his life, it only got more complicated from there.

[cutepoison]

Michael swallows raggedly as there's a sort of belated grief. He knows Len is sitting across from him, somehow alive, but the idea that he'd died... He died to protect everyone and give them a real chance by destroying the thing controlling them all. There's a part of him that is almost upset that the guy chose to die, as if he didn't have anything to lose. But Michael knows he can't, because in this, he and Len are very much alike. He'd sacrifice himself for the people he loves, he has before.

More over his empathy is twisting him up inside because he knows that this isn't something easy for the other to swallow. He's happy that Len is alive, but the why and how go unanswered. Michael wishes he had some way to explain it for him so it wouldn't be eating at him the way it clearly is.

"Maybe you survived it somehow?" But how does someone come back from an explosion in one piece.

"I can't even begin to understand time travel or some of the stuff you've probably seen. Maybe someone saved you somehow." But then there's the matter of who and what that means. Did the person have ulterior motives for keeping Len alive? Would he get a call from this person when the time came? Or was it just a friend or someone that cared about keeping him alive?

"This just might be something you'd have to try not to let get to you Len, you're alive. You're with us and your friends are safe too. That's what matters, right?"

[old_school]

Len hadn't gone on the mission to be a hero. He hadn't intended to die on that mission as well, to feel like he was part of something bigger, to sacrifice himself to save his friends. His team.

"Can't do that," he bites out. "Falling into time, into the time stream itself, I think it changed me. I need to know how. I need to know what it did to me." If he's a danger to anyone else. More than just his typical need to stay in control and be hyper-aware of everything around him, Len has to know.

"I have to know." He has to know before he can really talk to Mick, reach out to his old friend and partner again.

[cutepoison]

Michael frowns softly and turns his eyes down to stare at his cup of tea as he turns it in his fingers, thinking, calculating.

"Maybe the others at the Lab can help you figure that out?" He sighs.

"I know that's not what you want to hear but they would probably know more about this kind of stuff? They can run tests. Try to see what happened to you. Or at least confirm for you that nothing has changed." He shrugs.

"It might put your mind at ease."

[old_school]

No, that's not what he wanted to hear at all. Len knows that it's the truth and that sooner or later he's going to have to reach out to the more scientifically-minded for help but it still boils down to asking for help and he's never been good at that. "I've never been one for doctors."

"Something has changed." Reaching out Len pulls a packet of sugar from the little caddy and rips it open, pouring a few grains into his cupped palm. "Been working on this little talent for a couple of weeks now."

When he turns his hand over the sugar doesn't spill immediately to the table. It drifts down slowly as if somehow suspended.

"I need to know what else might have happened to me but I won't wait it out in the Pipeline while Ramon and Wells argue like an old married couple about what I'm turning in to." And that's it. His fear. That something is being done to him and he can't control it, can't see what's coming next.

[cutepoison]

Michael's brows furrow softly as he watches Len turn his hand and the grains of sugar slowly fall as if in slow motion. He tilts his head and reaches out to try and touch the sugar or the field and when he does he gets some resistance, as time slows the movement of his digit. He'll pull back and pick up a packet of his own, throwing it sideways through it, watching it sail slowly, bumping grains of sugar aside before flying out the other side at a normal rate and probably landing in Len's lap somewhere.

"Huh." He sips his tea and contemplates things, too distracted by what he's seen to notice their meal arrive.

"You said the thing you blew up... it was a machine that controlled time, right?" His eyes are still fixated on the sugar which is now laying on the table top.

"What if... somehow you did survive, ejected into the time stream by the machine, and though it's gone, it sort of transferred to you. Popped you out where you wanted to be most." Home. His time.

"With practice you may be able to jump through time or at least effect wider areas."

[old_school]

Slowing down time in small areas comes easier to him - to simply wish things to go slower and to know that it's going to happen. What concerns Len was the risk. What happens when he's startled and someone gets hurt, someone gets trapped in a time ripple and he can't break them free. What if he hurts someone he cares about?

"Yes," he answers after a moment, fingers loose around his tea as he watches the liquid swirl around the ceramic cup. "It was a machine they used to control time and control our actions. We were manipulated into helping Savage at every turn."

Slowly he sweeps the sugar to the side, fishing the extra packet from his lap and tossing it back onto the table. "I was thrown into the time stream after the explosion, that much I remember. The rest, I can't be sure."

[cutepoison]

Fingers gently tap the table in thought, brow knitted as he mulls it over but he really sees no other way around this.

"If it helps, I can go with you? I'll make sure they don't just lock you up like some dangerous lab experiment." He'd have his back, he's not afraid to stand up to Wells.

"I can't think of anyone else that would be more suited to figuring out your abilities and answering all the hows, whys and whats for you." And Len knows he's right.

"Let us help you Len." Because even if he doesn't feel like he does a whole lot at the labs, he's been adopted into it and does work with the team where he can help.

"I wish I knew the answers but I only know structures and buildings. Not super powers and time travel." The team at the labs, they're scientists and doctors. And it does somewhat bother him he can't really help Len much other than to be there for him as support through this.

"Just know I'm here for you, no matter what. Okay? If you need me, I'll do whatever I can."

[old_school]

"You can't tell Mick." A beat. "Or Oliver. They can't know about this until I'm sure whatever happened to me isn't dangerous." Bad enough he's exposing Michael to the potential, but Len won't risk anyone else.

"I know you will," he answers after a moment. That was why he'd come to him in the first place, because Michael was one of the damned few people he could count on. "I trust you."