Work Text:
„We should go to Sweden.“ Mick said, looking up from his phone.
Leonard turned to him in surprise. „Sweden? But you hate the cold. And literally never shut up about Aruba. What brough this sudden change of heart?“
„I just learned about amazing tradition of theirs. Every year they build this big straw goat, put up many many defenses and yet, almost every year, someone burns it down.“ Mick explained with a grin.
„Straw goat? That’s like they are asking people to burn it down.“ Leonard said. If they were so desperate to keep the goat standing, perhaps they should inviest in some fireproof materials.
„Like I said, we should go to Sweden.“
🔥🐐🔥
„Hey, guess what?“ Mick asked and while Leonard had no idea what, it clearly had to be good news, judging by the wide smile on Mick’s face.
„What?“
„The goat burned.“
🔥🐐🔥
„So, how’s the goat doing?“ Leonard asked as he walked from kitchen with cup of coffee, sitting down on a couch.
„Good question.“ Mick said, quickly reaching for his phone and checking the twitter account, frowning as there was no news. „Still standing.“
„Tragic.“
🔥🐐🔥
„I’m sorry, did you say Gävle?“ Leonard asked, turning his attention to the screen and smiling widely, when indeed that was what it said.
„Is that a problem?“ Rip asked, turning around with a small frown. „It’s a Sweden city and if I remember correctly, you would be ten years old, surely you didn’t manage to get into any legal trouble there.“
„No. No. There’s absolutely no problem.“ Leonard reassured him. In fact it was the opposite of being a problem. Although he was sure that if Rip knew, he would argue otherwise, threw a fit, lecture them and possibly banned them from coming along. Not that it would stop them from going out anyway, it would just be annoying. „And while ten year old me was already on his merry way to become a master thief, it was nowhere near Sweden.“
„Alright, let’s gather everyone and go then.“
🔥🐐🔥
„No way!“ Mick exclaimed as they walked further into the city and he noticed the goat standing there, looking so very flammable. „Did you know?“
„Learned about it about fifteen minutes ago.“ Leonard said with a small smile. „Merry Christmas.“
„Oh it’s about to be.“ Mick grinned widely. Sure, they have things they had to deal with here first, but he wasn’t leaving the town until the damned goat was on fire. He could already imagine the flames around it, it would be truly beautiful sight.
🔥🐐🔥
„You!“ Mick shouted, glaring over at Firestorm, pointing his gun at them. All this time and work and waiting. All these damned years and just like that they simply flew over and set it on fire. It was supposed to be his thing! He wanted to stay mad at them for a bit longer but then his eyes caught the flickering flame. Mick slowly lowered his gun, all of his attention switching towards the burning goat. He could be mad at them later. Though, he had to say he was right. It was truly a wonderful sight. The flames definitely suited it better than the ice and snow it was covered in just a mere moments before. He watched the flames slowly swallow the goat and for a moment he felt at peace. Yeah, he was definitely going to be mad at professor and the kid later. For now he would simply enjoy the show.
🔥🐐🔥
„I can’t believe it! We were right there! Right there! And then they ruined it!“ Mick grumbled as he walked over to the refridgerator, grabbed himself a beer and kicked the door shut.
„Yeah, very rude of them.“ Leonard nodded in agreement. „We could steal the jumpship and come back at different time.“ He suggested with a shrug. „We did it before. And Jax can drive again – it’s the least he can do after today.“
„I knew there was a reason I liked you.“ Mick smiled, even though he was still angry about the fact that the kid and the professor managed to steal the burn from under him and they didn’t even know it! Probably didn’t even realize what they did. But the idea of coming back and doing it right this time… Yeah, that did help to supress the anger a little bit. But only a little. He was still going to make them regret it though.
„Mhm, my good looks and sparkling personality?“ Leonard wiggled his eyebrows. He knew Mick was angry and honestly, he had to admire the fact that both professor Stein and Jax were still in one piece an unharmed after what they did tonight. Couple years back they probably wouldn’t walk away to tell the tale. Hell, maybe even couple months ago.
„Sure.“ Mick rolled his eyes.
🔥🐐🔥
„So… Jax. Have any plans for this lovely evening?“ Leonard asked as he came from behind the corner, leaning against the wall.
„No.“ Jax shrugged before almost immediatelly adding: Why?“ He couldn’t help himself but be suspicious when it came to their local thief. There was always some ulterior motive. Especially when there seem to be none like right now.
„I was thinking… What would you say for a little trip? Just you, me and Mick.“
„Hell, no. No. I don’t care what other skeletons you two have, we are not going back and trying to fix them.“ Jax protested, shaking his head. „Again.“ He added after a few moments. He’s been there before, he was not going to make the same mistake twice. There was no way. Absolutely not. No matter how tempting or exciting Snart could make it seem.
„No skeletons. No changing history. Just a small field trip.“
„No. Nuh-uh. Find someone else.“
🔥🐐🔥
Jax wasn’t entirely sure how it happened, but despite his previous protests, somehow he found himself on the jumpship. Again. With Rory and Snart. Again.
„If anything goes wrong, I’m blaming you two.“ Jax took a quick look over his shoulder at them. Why did he let himself be talked into this? He had no idea, but here they were – Gävle, Sweden, 1974. For some reason. He didn’t ask. The less he knew, the better. Most likely.
„Whatever, kid.“ Mick patted his shoulder. „Thanks.“ He said as he got up and left the ship.
„It will be fine. Relax.“ Leonard reassured him, which not so surprisingly had the exactly opposite effect. „Come, see for yourself.“ Leonard nodded his head towards the exit and followed Mick outside.
„Holy shit it’s cold!“ Mick exclaimed and pulled his jacket closer to himself once he stepped from the Waverider into the dark and cold. He already missed the warm decks of the timeship and would’ve gone straight back if it wasn’t for tonight’s goal.
„It is December and middle of the night.“ Leonard shrugged. Mick shook his head, still not quite understanding how could his bastard of a partner not be bothered by the bitting cold. Sure, he was wearing his parka, but it was freezing and one simple jacket shouldn’t be enough for someone to walk around like it was a lovely summer day. Mick could swear he was getting frostbites just from being here. „And it’s about to get warmer soon anyway.“
„Damn right.“ Mick grinned at the reminder, barely managing to stop his teeth from chattering, and continued on. Luckily, thanks to Jax’s excellent driving skills, they didn’t have to walk for far too long and only couple of minutes later they were standing in front of the big straw goat. Again.
„Seriously? That’s what this is about?“ Jax asked and not for the first time wondered about if maybe perhaps they lost their minds. Or maybe he lost his. He never should’ve agreed to this. He opened his mouth to make more protests, but they all died down quickly because Mick wasn’t wasting anymore time and just like that the goat was on fire. Again.
🔥🐐🔥
Mick grinned wildly as the fire ignited. He watched the flame flicker and spread across its torso, slowly swallowing whole goat. He took a step closer, enjoying the heat that was emanating from the inferno in front of him, almost embracing him. In the good old days, he would probably took a few more steps, but right now he was content where he was. Watching the flame roar and for once, he felt completely at peace.
🔥🐐🔥
„You two are absolutely fucking unbelievable, I hope you know it.“ Lisa said as she glared at them both. „You have a timeship, but a murdering psychopath has to kidnap me, just so I can see you!“ she glared at them both. „And I can’t believe you went to Sweden without me! Twice! Again, you have a ship that travels through time and space, but nooo, coming to pick me up would be such a problem.“
Leonard grinned in response and outstreched his hand towards Mick who rolled his eyes, took the money out of his pocket and pressed them into Leonard’s hand.
„Seriously?!“ Lisa threw her arms up, unbelievable! Or maybe totally believable, given who she was talking about. Still… „Jerks.“
„Love you too.“ Leonard smirked. „How about this, next time – once we are done with this and don’t have to worry about being wiped out of the timeline – we’ll make a trip. Should be more fun nowadays anyway.“
„Promise?“ Lisa asked and while she knew better than to get her hopes up, she still caught herself looking towards to it anyway.
🔥🐐🔥
„He’s such a jerk.“ Lisa muttered as she glared at the notes and plans. She should’ve known something like this would happen. That’s what she got for getting excited about things. As if she didn’t know better. Stupid, stupid her.
She glared at the papers in front of her. Only Leonard would somehow manage to plan the whole thing and then die. She was tempted to destroy it all, tear it to pieces, set it on fire, something, anything. Because if anything was bound to bring Leonard back, destroying the perfect plans may just be it.
„Yeah.“ Mick nodded. In fact, jerk had been only a mild description. Or so he thought at first. He already had more then enough time to be angry and he was… for a very long time, now he was just tired. He wasn’t even sure why he brought the plans to Lisa… Thinking about it now it probably wasn’t the brightest idea, but it already was too little too late. „We don’t have to go.“
„What? No, we are going. I’m not spending the holidays here. In fact, give me one hour and we can leave. I’ve had enough of this city and I hear Sweden is lovely this time a year.“
„It’s actually cold as fuck.“ Mick pointed out, just in case she got her information about the lovely weather from Len, who was under no circumstances to be trusted when it came to cold climates.
🔥🐐🔥
„Not again.“ Mick sighed resignedly. They were early on purpose, just so something like this couldn’t happen and yet they were already too late. And this time Mick didn’t even have someone to point his gun and glare for weeks at.
„Wonderful.“ Lisa huffed. Apparently she and Mick simply couldn’t have nice things. She just didn’t know why it even surprised her anymore. After all, their whole lives were proof of that. One would expect that at their age, they would know better, yet here they were. Disappointed by something that was entirely predictable. „Wanna go get drunk?“ Lisa asked, reaching to pat Mick’s shoulder in hopefully at least slightly comforting manner. „Hey, we can always come back next year,“ she added after a moment.
„Nah, it’s fine. The plans would be useless anyway.“ Mick pointed out, putting his hand around Lisa’s shoulder, turning away from the fire. „Let’s go get wasted.“
🔥🐐🔥
Santa and a Gingerbread man. If Mick didn’t make his peace with the fact that his sanity was gone, he would definitely question it now. Not only were they going back to Gävle, in December nonetheless, which on itself was bit weird. They hardly ever came to the same place twice. But the fact that the magical fugitives were Santa and Gingerbread man… Incredible. It made Mick wonder what these two did to end up in jail. Or maybe just the Gingerbread man. Santa was easy. Breaking and entering. Unlawful surveillance and privacy violations. Slave owning. Animal cruelty. Driving under influence. Intentional infliction of emotional distress. Airspace and Customs violations.Tax evasion. Mick was sure he would come up with more if he really tried, but ultimately he didn’t really care. Although he bet it was the taxes that did it. Same as Al Capone. They may not get you for most of the above, but taxes… It’ll get you everytime.
🔥🐐🔥
As it turned out Santa and Gingerbread man were fucking menaces. Not only they took forever to deal with, which meant that Mick was forced to spend hours in the freezing cold. But of course that couldn’t be enough. No. The assholes also had to go and burn the goat! Because apparently the smart thing to do after getting out of jail was commiting more crime. Okay, he was being hypocritical, right now, but he honestly didn’t care. He was freezing, miserable and then they had to take the one thing he was looking forward to from him. And he couldn’t even kill them!
🔥🐐🔥
And this time there wasn’t even anyone to take him back. Sure, he could do it himself. Thanks to the Time Masters he knew how to fly the jumpship. He knew a lot of things now and every single one of them was so useless. So, yeah, if he really wanted to, he could take the jumpship or even the Waverider and go back in different point of time, but what would be the point? It just wouldn’t be the same. And going there alone just didn’t seem right. Or fun. Sure, he would love to see the goat going up in flames again, but… but. He cursed and went to the fridge for another beer. Getting drunk and not having a single thought sounded like the best idea right now.
🔥🐐🔥
The pub was warm and loud, filled with music and conversations. It wasn’t overcrowded, but full nonetheless, as it so very often happens on Friday nights. Most people still blissfully unaware that only few blocks away from them the goat has been once more set on fire and burned down. Although it wouldn’t take long for the word to spread.
The door opened and three figures walked inside, shaking off the snow that managed to settle on them as they walked through the night streets before stepping inside.
They found themselves a free table in a corner, ordering drinks and food as they settled down. They sat in silence until both get delivered, not wanting to get interrupted or overheard by the waitress.
„That was awesome.“ Mick grinned widely, once the food and drinks were on the table and everyone else was safely out of hearing distance.
„I almost feel sorry for the guy.“ Lisa said and sipped her chocolate, warming her hands on the mug.
„I don’t.“ Mick shrugged, taking one of the bites and stuffing it into his mouth. „Wrong place, wrong time, happens to the best of us.“
„What he said,“ Leonard pointed towards Mick. „He’ll be fine. And it’s not like he’s completely innocent, we just got there first is all.“
None of them could argue with that. They’ve all been there before. Wrong place, wrong time and not completely innocent. And if Lisa was entirely honest… She didn’t really feel bad. The guy didn’t even really matter in the end. No. What was really important was that they were in this stupid pub, all of them together. Something that she thought impossible only few months ago. But here they were, sharing food and drinks and bickering. All of them alive and well and most importantly together. Lisa was never too fond of Christmas, but maybe just this once they weren’t too bad.