Chapter Text
“What about this?”
Barry, who is looking through the table with security blankets, glances toward where Len is currently standing and barks a laugh of surprise when he sees the little rompers in his hands.
An elder woman, who is most likely here to pick something up for her daughter or grandchild, shoots him a disapproving frown as he walks over to the other man, who is still proudly presenting him the piece of baby clothing.
“You have to be kidding me,” Barry says, much more quietly, and chuckles as he eyes the little cartoonish Captain Cold at the chest of the romper suit.
This is just adorable!
“They even gave you a little Cold gun,” awes Barry and takes hold of the little onesie to get a better look, which causes him to hum appreciatively as soon as he touches it, “And it is really soft too.”
“It looks the best of all the Rogues themed ones,” Len remarks and seems adorably pleased by this little fact. Barry shoots him an amused glance before he really grasps what the other man has just said.
“They have ones with the others on them as well?” He turns to the rack with the playsuits from where Len has picked this one and studies it with raised eyebrows. “I am not sure whether I should be worried about that they make rompers with the Twins’ most infamous criminals on them or not.”
“They have good taste, nothing wrong with that,” Len steps closer and lays an arm around Barry's back so that his hand is resting on his hip. He pulls Barry a bit closer and kisses his temple before he adds in a lower voice. “They even have one with you.”
“Oh god, I don’t wanna see it…”
His merchandize usually looks horrible, like seriously horrible. Much to his dismay, both Iris and Lisa love it, though, which is the reason why he ends up with a ton of that stuff on his birthdays and every holiday that deems giving presents appropriate. Cisco suggested to hand them out to people he saves as a little memento but Barry thinks it would come over as rather arrogant.
Thus, he has started to collect them till he has enough for a bonfire. Len and the other Rogues - excluding Lisa, who must never know any of it - usually are all for burning stuff with his alter ego on it – which is probably something that should unsettle him much more than it does – so that they have introduced a tradition to meet up whenever his collection has gotten too big and make a BBQ while they watch that junk burn.
“It looks cool,” Len assures him with a smirk and Barry gives him an annoyed frown because he has to start with those lame puns again. “Chill-“
“Len, please, no puns,” cuts Barry off and pinches the bridge of his nose in a mixture of unwanted amusement and annoyance.
A moment of silence passes between them and Barry just waits for what is inevitably going to follow now.
“That’s cold of you,” Len grins and Barry rolls his eyes but doesn’t put up a fight when he is pulled into a kiss. His hands move up against his partner’s chests where they come to a rest and Barry hums happily as this is so damn nice and normal and just what he has needed after the last couple of weeks.
Someone clears their throat rather pointedly nearby and Barry quickly pulls back, not really surprised to spot the elder woman from before who is giving both of them a rather piqued glare.
“Sorry,” says Barry embarrassedly and lifts a hand in apology, which causes her to huff in annoyance before she turns back to the table with the baby bottles next to her.
“Frigid,” Len doesn’t even try to keep his voice down and chuckles when Barry digs his elbow into his stomach in response. “What? The old h-“
“Come,” Barry cuts him off with a warning glare, “Let’s go back to where they have the baby booties.”
Len doesn’t protest but Barry doesn’t miss how he nods his head to the old woman as they pass her. She wrinkles her nose at them and mutters something under her breath probably neither of them wants to hear.
“Do you always have to be so childish?” Barry asks as soon as they are out of earshot and pulls his hand away when the other man tries to grasp his wrist.
“Do you always have to be so conscious of how everybody sees you?”
“I am not!”
Len snorts and steps to the shelves with the baby shoes.
“I am not worried about how others see me,” Barry insists and stops next to him, feeling very much annoyed about this little remark. “You just don’t make out in public places.”
It is infuriating how Len only shrugs as he picks up one of the tiniest white shoes Barry has ever seen in his life. He turns his attention to it as well and wonders whether Iris’ and Eddie’s daughter would really have such little feet.
“You like them?”
Barry glances up to Len, who is looking at him with an intense expression he isn’t sure what to make of.
“Yeah,” he nods and picks it from his hand,” They are cute and… so small. God, it is hard to imagine that Iris’ baby will be tiny enough to wear this booties.”
It is an oddly humbling notion…
A hand touches his and he turns from the little thing back to Len.
“You will see a lot of her,” Len tells him and pulls him closer till their chests are nearly touching. He lays his hands loosely onto Barry's hips and there is an odd tightness to the smile he gives him next. “You will be her godfather, you will see enough of her to quickly realize how annoying those little brats really are.”
Barry’s expression softens and something painful uncurls in his chest as he realizes what this is about. He moves his hands up, so that they are cupping Len’s upper back – careful not to let the one little shoe drop he is still holding – and leans a bit towards him, so that he can kiss the corner of his mouth.
“I am sure,” he agrees quietly before he kisses Len on his lips next, where he lingers for a moment. Barry pulls back again to meet his gaze reassuringly. “And I have you and the others, I really don’t think that I can handle another temper tantrum throwing noisy brat in my life.”
Len chuckles as some of the tension starts to leave him again. The fondness and adoration Barry can make out in those blue eyes right then makes him want to pull him even closer because they may never talk about it but they both know that they will never be able to have what Iris and Eddie are having, or even just what Caitlin and Ronnie do.
There will be no wedding rings for them and no little boy or little girl keeping them up at night because they need a diaper change or are hungry. There won’t even be a place that is really theirs. At least not on paper.
It is a bit sad but it just isn’t meant for them.
Barry sometimes yearns for this notion of normalcy but at the end of the day he doesn’t regret the choices he has made. Not being the Flash, not letting Iris go and definitely not letting this notorious criminal with the love for ridiculous puns into his life.
Len kisses him lightly above his eyebrow and lifts a hand to cup his right cheek.
“I can’t let you go,” he tells Barry quietly and there is real sorrow in his eyes as he does so. “I can’t because you would take everything there is for me with you.”
“I am not going anywhere, Len,” Barry takes hold of the hand that is touching his cheek and gives it a reassuring squeeze. “You are stuck with me.”
The smile Len gives him is tentative, unusually soft for the other man, and Barry welcomes the warm lips as well as the hot tongue and the taste and feeling that are so familiar and so comforting, like a warm cosy blanket on a cold winter’s night.
Barry would never regret choosing this. No matter what the others may think, he loves him and Len’s love for him in turn is so fierce in its intensity at times that he thinks it could smother him – that it could be the thing that will put an end to it all for him one day… and maybe it will, because like Len is willing to do anything to protect him, so is he.
A familiar, very miffed sounding harrumph reaches them from a couple of feet away and Barry can’t help but groan in frustration and embarrassment while Len grins against his lips before he pulls back.
“Sorry, it’s all that jazz about making babies, you know?” Len explains to the elder woman who glares indignant daggers at him in response. Barry doesn’t even bother to tell him to shut up – and really, did this old hag has to follow them over here?
About half an hour later, after walking through the whole store another time, they settle on a rather cliché diaper cake, seven onesies, – each with another Rogue on them and one with the Flash, even though Barry fought tooth and nails not to get it –, the first pair of teeny-tiny baby shoes they have seen and a gift card in a value of 100 dollars.
“The notion that you’ve just spent over 250 bucks on baby stuff is chilling,” remarks Len seriously as they walk out into the warm summer air. He is the one carrying the cake while Barry has the bag with the rest of the presents.
Barry steps closer to him so that he can lay his arm around the other man’s back and press a kiss on his shoulder. “You know what else would be chilling after this ice little shopping trip?”
Len glances over to him with a mixture of surprise and pride and Barry really doesn’t understand why everybody insists that he is the dork in their relationship.
“Now, what would that be?” grins his partner and he gets that hungry glint in his eyes that promises him that they would probably not leave the bed for the rest of today should no emergency occur.
Barry hopes he is fine with a small halt in between. “Some ice-cream.”
Len’s expression falls a bit and he studies him with a slight frown.
“Y’ know… that was a lame use of ice-puns.”
“Oh, shut up.”