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“We’ve got an alert!” Caitlin hurried over to one of the computers. “Just a few blocks from here.”
“Ramon,” Leonard exclaimed while he pulled on his parka hastily, “what’s wrong with your stupid app?!” He grabbed his gun and attached it to his boot, when Barry rushed in with two coffees. “I’m here! Sorry! I’m here! What’s wrong?” he asked as he put the cups down. “Well,” Len snarled, “someone decided to light up that old warehouse, again.”
Barry rolled his eyes. “So no coffee?” He was in his suit a second later.
“Wait, why didn’t you get me coffee,” Cisco pointed out.
“You should really learn to keep your husband under control, you know.” Barry picked Len up and ran him to the place in question, where he put him down to look at the ablaze building in front of them.
“Nothing’s wrong with my app by the way, Citizen Cold,” Cisco mocked over the comms. “Rory’s not a meta,” he argued.
“Well-” Leonard cut himself off realizing Barry had disappeared. He returned a few seconds later. “No one in there,” he told the former thief.
“Well,” Snart started again, “I’ll just call him. And Cisco, stop calling me that.” Barry chuckled, and Len pulled his phone out of his pocket to ring his speed dial.
Mick picked up after the second ring.
“Hey, babe!”
Leonard managed to keep his voice stern at the cheerful greeting his husband gave him. “Was it you?”
Mick’s cheer morphed into confusion. “Was what me?”
Leonard rolled his eyes. “The warehouse downtown is going down in flames.”
Some rumbling could be heard from the other side of the line. “Mick?” Len lowered his voice dangerously. “Did you do it?”
“What? No, of course not! I mean, I’m on my way to see the spectacle, but- I promised I wouldn’t, you know that!”
Leonard swallowed. “Sorry, I just thought-”
“That I can’t keep a simple promise. That I can’t control this. I get it. I’ll just stay home.”
“Mick, wait-” Len started, but the other line went quiet. “Damn it,” Leonard mumbled. “I gotta go, Scarlet. Can you handle the rest of the day?”
“Sure,” Barry smiled, “go save your marriage. Want me to drop you off?”
“Oh, no, that’s-” suddenly, the man stood in front of the door to his apartment. He rolled his eyes. “Thanks.” He took a deep breath and opened the door.
“Mick?” No response. He walked down the hall slowly. “Mick, I’m sorry. Are you okay?”
“Fine.”
Len hurried down the hall towards the origin of his husband’s voice, opening the door to their bedroom. Mick was sitting on the edge of their bed, looking at the small flame coming from his favourite lighter.
Leonard didn’t say anything. Instead, he came over to the bed quietly and sat next to his partner. He looked at the flame with him in silence, noticing now and then when his eyes flickered, that Mick’s gaze was pointed immovably to the fire in his hand.
“It ain’t easy, you know,” he spoke suddenly. “It’s fucking torture, managing without it. Feels like I’m starving every minute of every day.” His eyes tore away from the flame, moving to Len’s. “But for you to not trust me is a whole lot more painful.”
Leonard opened his mouth to say something witty, then closed it quickly when he realized that the look on his husband’s face was pure hurt. So he managed to stuff all the sarcastic remarks he could think of into the back of his mind, and just gave out a soft “I’m sorry.” He put his hand on top of Mick’s slowly, squeezing gently.
“I know,” Mick answered. “I get it. I wouldn’t trust me either.”
“No,” Leonard gave him a pointed look, “this isn’t your fault, okay? You didn’t do a thing wrong. This is my fault. I’m sorry, but you shouldn’t be.”
“You oughta stop apologizing to me,” Mick grumbled. “You’re the hero here.”
Leonard smiled softly. “To the city, maybe. But you’ve been my hero since the day I met you, whether you like it or not. It’s always been okay with me that you don’t wanna be some stupid vigilante like Barry and I. And I’m kind of a jerk, you know that better than anyone. But I do love you, and I made a dick move assuming you started that fire, so I’m gonna fucking apologize for it,” Len explained. He then lowered his voice down to a soothing tone as he added an uncertain “Okay?”
Mick nodded softly but frantically. Leonard then noticed a very un-Mick glimmer in the corner of the other man’s eye. “Babe, are you crying?”
The pyromaniac didn’t answer, just buried his face in Leonard’s neck. The other put his hand on the back of Mick’s head supportively.
“Told you it wasn’t easy,” the older man mumbled. “Yeah,” Len replied softly. They sat in silence for another few minutes like that, Len caressing the nape of Mick’s neck in an attempt at comforting.
“I love you more than fire,” Mick whispered suddenly. “You know that, right Lenny?”
Leonard was quiet for a moment, processing that new information. He knew this, subconsciously. But to have Mick say it out loud to him suddenly made it feel like a very big thing.
Though a few seconds later, he gave his husband a gentle “Yeah, babe. I know. Love you too.”