Chapter Text
“Fancy seeing you here.”
In strict defiance of the hellacious day which brought him to Saints and Sinners in the first place, Barry manages a smile at the familiar voice and, though he doesn’t quite yet turn to greet her, offers the seat next to him with an idle wave. “Hey, Lisa.”
The supple leather of her jacket rustles as she perches beside him, one leg daintily thrown over the other. “What, no date tonight with your gang?”
“Could ask the same about you.” It’s half a bad joke, when her ‘gang’ is traipsing across the timeline, but half serious. At least the ‘date’ part.
Lisa laughs softly: a pleasant chime on the air, almost girlish in nature. “Apparently Cisco had a family affair, and I’m not really the kind of girl you bring home to Mom and Dad.” She scoops up her whiskey in one hand and takes a sip. “What’s your excuse?”
“Really, really bad day.”
He can hear the smirk even if he isn’t giving her enough attention to see it for himself. “So you decided to find a hole of your own to crawl in and pretend you can get wasted?”
“Just because you figured it out doesn’t give you a free pass to broadcast it to the world.” He lightly pokes her arm through the leather; were he more comfortable with the notion, or maybe past the point of caring for his wellbeing, the poke might have been an affectionate smack. As it is, he is quite familiar with how one Snart sibling feels when it comes to physical contact and he’s willing to bet the younger is no different.
“Oh, come on…I’m just teasing. Same promise as Lenny made holds for me.” She uses her other hand to make an ‘x’ over her chest and then holds up three fingers in a half-salute. “Scout’s honor.”
Barry has a hard time imagining the woman next to him was ever a Girl Scout, but he lets it slide with only a small, amused huff. “So, if you aren’t in the mood for a meet-the-parents or a quick score, what are you looking for?”
She shrugs. “I don’t know…” Her carefree tone tapers into something more vulnerable, and Barry immediately know where the conversation is headed. “…Just…you know…”
“I miss him too.” Barry tips his beer down his throat and tries to find some comfort in the familiar burn. Lisa offers a small noise of affirmation and signals for another drink. The silence to follow is comforting, which is not something Barry might have previously associated with these circumstances, especially since both Snart siblings (and, he assumes, their pyromaniac partner) know the man behind the mask.
As it stands right now…it just feels like another Friday night.
…And Friday nights are not the time for sulking in a bar.
“Okay, this is already depressing.” Barry finishes off the beer, puts a few bills on the counter, and grabs his coat. “Let’s go.”
“Go where?”
He gives what might be his most genuine smile in weeks and holds out a hand in the gentleman’s pose. “How do you feel about frozen yogurt?”
***
As it turned out, frozen yogurt was only one course sampled before the night was out, accompanied by a taco truck (which included a couple cheap beers) and a giant bowl of popcorn shared on the couch with a movie marathon.
The next morning, Barry is greeted with Lisa freshly showered and in one of his borrowed t-shirts. The hem barely maintains decency, and Barry feels the need to look away before things get awkward. Which is to say, things should have already been awkward. Like, the whole ‘I had a slumber party with the sister of a wanted criminal who may or may not be my frenemy’ thing really should have felt like the morning after of a drunken one-night stand. Instead, he’s at the stove making pancakes.
“Mmm…yummy.” Lisa hops onto the counter, bare legs swinging like a girl on the playground. “Lenny used to make the best breakfasts.”
“Used to?”
“Mick informed him he wasn’t frying the bacon correctly and banished him from the kitchen.” She grins at him. “And yes, Mick cooks. Loves to eat and is more than happy to feed himself on a daily basis.”
Somehow, Mick Rory being at home in the one household area most likely to contain flammable objects does not come as a surprise. “So, your brother is not incapable of still making breakfast, he just wasn’t on par with his partner’s standards.”
Lisa nods around the strawberry she just popped in her mouth. “Wonder what the food is like on that…whatever it is they’re riding around on now.”
“Waverider.” Barry supplies. “And it’s from the future, so that’s anyone’s guess.”
The kitchen table is already cramped for one person, so Barry invites her to breakfast on the couch – which, being a yard sale relic, isn’t much of an improvement. He knows Lisa is summoning full willpower to not comment on the sad state of this dime-store apartment Barry calls home, which he appreciates but having a guest is really making him reevaluate the decisions made when he signed the lease.
“So…last night was fun.” From anyone else, that would be a singularly suggestive comment, but Lisa looks so at-ease nestled on one corner of his couch, a stacked plate of pancakes in her lap, that Barry can only return the smile.
“Maybe we could do it again.”
She grins, like she was counting on him saying that, then makes a sweeping motion with her fork. “But next time, you’re coming to my place. Way better surround-sound system on the TV.”
Considering said system was probably lifted out straight out of Best Buy’s stock, Barry finds he can’t argue.