Fic: Louder Than Words 1/1 (Sara Lance/Leonard Snart) Teen
Title: Louder Than Words
Fandom: DC's Legends of Tomorrow
Rating: Teen
Pairings/Characters: Sara Lance/Leonard Snart
Summary: Prompt from Anon: Len and Sara always say they don’t like each other, to everyone who wants and doesn’t want to hear it. But they keep worrying about one another and protecting each other. Well, actions speak louder than words.
Timeline: Tags to most episodes from 1.03 through 1.08.
Word Count: 2,322
Disclaimer: I claim no ownership over these characters. I am merely borrowing them from Greg Berlanti, Marc Guggenheim, Andrew Kreisberg and Phil Klemmer.
Betas: Thank you to angelskuuipo and shanachie_quill for looking this over for me.
Author's Note: I struggled with this prompt a lot, so I hope it's what you wanted.
It happened without their knowledge or their consent.
Leonard came into the mission with plans for epic thievery with Mick. If they happened to save the world while making a profit, so be it. He wasn't looking to make friends. He didn't do friendship, let alone any other kind of 'ship, and he was perfectly content that way.
Sara was looking for redemption. She needed to find a way to calm and direct the monster that came back from the Pit with her. So much of her life had depended on someone else - her parents, Ivo, Ollie, Nyssa - now she needed to learn how to trust herself. Without leaning on anyone else.
They hadn't planned on finding someone to complement their darkness. Least of all in each other.
Sure, they claimed that they didn't like each other. They both had images they needed to protect. The cold-hearted crook. The aloof assassin. It's who they were. Or at least who they pretended to be.
Except that they kept slipping up and demonstrating that their words were hollow.
~~*~~
It was late when Sara found herself walking through quiet hallways to the galley. She was finally starting to calm down after the fight with Savage's cult and hoped that a warm glass of milk would help soothe any lingering bloodlust.
She was surprised to find Leonard in the kitchen already, stirring something on the stove.
"You couldn't sleep either?" she asked, grabbing a mug from the cabinet.
"Hardly ever do," he admitted.
"What'cha making?" Sara asked, hopping up on the counter next to him and looking into the pot.
"Cocoa," he answered. "Would you like some?"
"Are there mini marshmallows?" she asked.
"Of course," Leonard said, pulling them from the cupboard.
"Then yes, I'd love some," Sara said. "I didn't know you knew how to make hot cocoa from scratch."
"Only way to do it," he said. "Let's just say, I felt the need for some comfort tonight."
"I hear that," Sara agreed. "I was just going to heat up some milk, but cocoa sounds so much better. May I ask why you needed it tonight?"
Leonard was quiet as he mentally debated whether or not he should confide in Sara. He poured the cocoa into two mugs and handed one to her. Deciding that it was likely that Jax wouldn't keep their outing a secret, he said, "I tried to stop my dad from going to jail today."
Sara tossed some mini marshmallows into her drink and let it sit for a bit.
"I'm guessing nothing changed?"
"The fool tried to fence the gem I stole for him to an undercover cop. Still went to jail. Still became an abusive asshole," Leonard snarled.
"I'm sorry," Sara said, resting a hand on his shoulder briefly before picking up her mug and taking a tentative sip.
"So what has you heating up beverages in the middle of the night?" Leonard asked, tasting his own cocoa.
Sara knew it was dangerous to let her guard down, even a little, but there was something about Leonard that she found calming. Without meaning to, she found herself opening up to him about her bloodlust.
Leonard listened as she explained about the Lazarus Pit and the bloodlust she'd felt since her resurrection. He found that he didn't actually mind her confiding in him. Normally, he wouldn't want to know other people's inner demons so intimately. However, he rather enjoyed learning that she was as damaged as he was, if not more so.
If nothing else, it made him respect her even more, knowing what she was fighting against internally every day. It helped to make his own demons seem not so bad.
~~*~~
"We'll get him back," Sara stated as she pulled out her knives and a whetstone in the weapons room where Leonard was re-assembling his cold gun.
"I know we will," Leonard said. "I'm not leaving my partner in some Russian prison." He shoved the final piece into place a little harder than necessary.
They sat in companionable silence as she began to sharpen her knives and Leonard tested all of the settings on his gun.
Once he was satisfied with the gun he asked, "Do you have another whetstone?"
Sara quirked an eyebrow at him and tossed him her backup. He slowly reached for one of her knives and when she nodded he picked it up and began to sharpen it, grateful for something else to occupy his hands.
~~*~~
Leonard didn't have to stop Sara from killing Stein. He certainly didn't care for the silver haired physicist. He did care what it would do to Sara, though. He knew that killing in cold blood, a target, a teammate, would ruin any progress she'd felt she'd made when she left the League of Assassins. And he couldn't stand to see her do that kind of harm to herself.
Sara felt her walls start to fall when she was around him because of that.
While the team relaxed and enjoyed the stolen vodka, she went to sit in the chair next to Leonard. She didn't say anything, barely even acknowledged his presence, and just drank her vodka in silence as they both watched the others. They remained as everyone slowly began to head to their rooms until they were the only ones left.
Sara finally turned to look at Leonard, but before she could say anything he said, "Don't."
"Don't what?" she asked.
"Don't thank me," he replied.
Sara grinned. "Who said I was going to thank you?"
"You had that look," he drawled. "It made the hair on the back of my neck stand up."
"I didn't know my presence aroused you so much," she teased.
He simply glared at her, and Sara's grin widened.
Rising, Sara circled Leonard's chair, bending down to whisper in his ear. "I just need to say it once. Thank you for stopping me."
They both ignored the involuntary shiver Leonard made as her warm breath puffed against his skin before she placed a light kiss on his cheek and scampered off to bed.
Leonard sat there for a long time, cursing himself for enjoying that brief contact and wishing that her lips had brushed his mouth and not his cheek.
He knew that he needed to build his walls back up when it came to Sara. If only he didn't want to leave them in their current state of rubble.
~~*~~
"You could have gotten yourself killed," Leonard drawled as Sara passed his room on her way to her own.
She paused and backed up until she was standing in his doorway. "Excuse me?"
Leonard stood abruptly, the legs of his desk chair squeaking on the floor from the sudden movement. "You heard me. What did you think you were doing, running off by yourself to try to save a man you've never met in a future that may never come to be?"
"What do you care?" she retorted.
"I don't," Leonard lied. "But you're a part of this team. My team. And you put me at risk because we couldn't leave a team member behind."
"Rip seemed pretty ready to leave me behind," Sara argued.
"Rip's an ass," Leonard said. His voice softened a bit as he repeated, "Why'd you do it, Sara?"
Sara sighed, stepped fully into the room, and leaned against the wall.
"I may not have known Connor, but I know the Green Arrow," Sara said. "I know what it means to be a vigilante fighting a losing battle, and I couldn't stand around and do nothing when the one person who was still trying to save my city was in trouble."
"I thought you hadn't lived there in a long time," Leonard commented.
Sara shrugged. "Off and on since I left the League. It wouldn't matter if I hadn't lived there in a decade, it'll always be home."
"I suppose that if anything were to happen to Central City, I'd feel the same," Leonard reluctantly admitted. "That is why we're all here on this insane mission, isn't it?"
"Yeah." Sara sighed, then with the hint of a smile turning her lips, she said, "So what's up with you and Mick?"
"We had a difference of opinion," Leonard drawled, grimacing.
"Regarding…?" Sara prodded.
"Making Star City 2046 our new home," Leonard admitted.
"I could see Mick wanting to stay," Sara said thoughtfully. "You didn't?"
"I prefer not to live somewhere that resembles a John Carpenter movie," Leonard said.
"I almost stayed," Sara admitted, causing Leonard to jerk his head up to meet her eyes. "I wanted to help them try to save the city. Oliver talked me out of it."
"That's not your city to save," Leonard said. "You can work on saving it by being there when we're done with this mission."
Sara smiled. "That's pretty much what Ollie said."
"As much as I hate to agree with any hero, I'm glad you listened to him."
"You saying you'd miss me?" Sara teased.
"Hardly," Leonard scoffed.
Sara huffed out a laugh and headed for the door. "'Night, Crook."
"Good night, Assassin," Leonard responded, closing the door behind her.
~~*~~
Sara was waiting for Leonard in his room after he left the ship with Mick. Spending hours alone together nearly freezing to death tended to forge a bit of a bond between two people.
When he opened the door to find her pacing in the center of the room he wasn't all that surprised and was in no mood for a lecture.
"What do you want, Sara?" he asked setting his gun on a table, too emotionally raw to put any venom into it.
"I wanted to make sure you were okay," she admitted. "I know that must have been hard for you."
Leonard made sure the door was closed and approached Sara.
"You have no idea what that was like for me," he hissed.
"I've had to kill friends before," Sara said. "None as close to me as Mick was to you, but friends nonetheless."
"Mick's not dead," Leonard confided.
Sara's face scrunched up in confusion. "But you said…"
"I said I'd take care of it," Leonard reminded her. "I never said that I'd kill him."
"Then where is he?"
"Out there," Leonard said, gesturing in the general direction of the clearing.
"You're just going to leave him here? Wherever here is?" Sara asked calmly.
"What choice did I have?" Leonard asked. "Like you said, I can't kill him. Maybe this way he at least has a chance of finding a town and starting a new life."
"I'm not saying what you did was wrong," Sara said. "I'm the last person to tell you that killing would have been the right thing to do when you know how much I struggle with not killing."
"Which is why I didn't let you take him out," Leonard said. "You would have done it because it was what was expected of you. It's what was expected of me, too, which is why no one will know he's still alive."
"You're not going to tell the others?" Sara asked, surprised.
"Mick's safer if they don't know," Leonard said.
Sara knew he was right.
"Don't make me regret confiding in you," Leonard cautioned.
"You won't," Sara promised.
~~*~~
"Time travel is a crazy thing," Sara said, slowly entering the med bay.
Leonard was still sitting in the chair, staring at his new hand. He looked up at Sara as she approached him. "I think the past couple of days has proven that."
"Past couple of years," Sara corrected him.
"Right. That's going to take some getting used to. I can't seem to wrap my head around the fact that for you it was two years since Chronos - Mick - took me prisoner, but for me it was only days."
"What was it like seeing him again?" Sara asked, pulling up a stool next to him.
"Is this share time now?" Leonard snarked.
"We're getting reacquainted," Sara said. "It has been two years and a re-indoctrination for me, after all."
"Friends get reacquainted," Leonard pointed out. "We're not friends."
"Two years gives a girl a lot of time for reflection. Especially when training with the League," Sara said; she stood and moved closer to Leonard. "Do you know what I thought about?"
"Don't tell me you spent two years pining for me," he said with smirk.
Sara rolled her eyes and continued as if he hadn't spoken. "I realized that we moved straight past friendship to become confidants."
She tentatively reached out and set one of her hands on Leonard's regenerated one. He looked down at her hand and then back to her face.
"What are you doing, Sara?" he asked. "I've had a very stressful few days and I'm not really up for games right now."
"I think we've played enough games," Sara agreed.
She lifted her free hand to Leonard's cheek and brushed her thumb against the stubble there. Moving slow enough to give him time to tell her to stop, Sara leaned in and kissed him. Just a soft brush of her lips against his at first, waiting for a sign that this was something he wanted, too.
As if a dam had broken, Leonard reached out with his free hand and wrapped it around Sara's waist, pulling her between his legs as he pressed his lips firmly to hers.
Sara sighed into the kiss even as she parted her lips and brushed her tongue against his upper lip, seeking entry. Which he readily granted.
Time ceased to exist as they eagerly explored each other's mouths, only parting when breathing became an issue.
"Don't ever leave me behind like that again," Sara said, panting, her forehead pressed against his.
"We didn't do it on purpose before, but I'll be damned if it happens again," he swore and then sealed his promise with a kiss.
They'd always been better at talking without words anyway.
The End
Fandom: DC's Legends of Tomorrow
Rating: Teen
Pairings/Characters: Sara Lance/Leonard Snart
Summary: Prompt from Anon: Len and Sara always say they don’t like each other, to everyone who wants and doesn’t want to hear it. But they keep worrying about one another and protecting each other. Well, actions speak louder than words.
Timeline: Tags to most episodes from 1.03 through 1.08.
Word Count: 2,322
Disclaimer: I claim no ownership over these characters. I am merely borrowing them from Greg Berlanti, Marc Guggenheim, Andrew Kreisberg and Phil Klemmer.
Betas: Thank you to angelskuuipo and shanachie_quill for looking this over for me.
Author's Note: I struggled with this prompt a lot, so I hope it's what you wanted.
It happened without their knowledge or their consent.
Leonard came into the mission with plans for epic thievery with Mick. If they happened to save the world while making a profit, so be it. He wasn't looking to make friends. He didn't do friendship, let alone any other kind of 'ship, and he was perfectly content that way.
Sara was looking for redemption. She needed to find a way to calm and direct the monster that came back from the Pit with her. So much of her life had depended on someone else - her parents, Ivo, Ollie, Nyssa - now she needed to learn how to trust herself. Without leaning on anyone else.
They hadn't planned on finding someone to complement their darkness. Least of all in each other.
Sure, they claimed that they didn't like each other. They both had images they needed to protect. The cold-hearted crook. The aloof assassin. It's who they were. Or at least who they pretended to be.
Except that they kept slipping up and demonstrating that their words were hollow.
~~*~~
It was late when Sara found herself walking through quiet hallways to the galley. She was finally starting to calm down after the fight with Savage's cult and hoped that a warm glass of milk would help soothe any lingering bloodlust.
She was surprised to find Leonard in the kitchen already, stirring something on the stove.
"You couldn't sleep either?" she asked, grabbing a mug from the cabinet.
"Hardly ever do," he admitted.
"What'cha making?" Sara asked, hopping up on the counter next to him and looking into the pot.
"Cocoa," he answered. "Would you like some?"
"Are there mini marshmallows?" she asked.
"Of course," Leonard said, pulling them from the cupboard.
"Then yes, I'd love some," Sara said. "I didn't know you knew how to make hot cocoa from scratch."
"Only way to do it," he said. "Let's just say, I felt the need for some comfort tonight."
"I hear that," Sara agreed. "I was just going to heat up some milk, but cocoa sounds so much better. May I ask why you needed it tonight?"
Leonard was quiet as he mentally debated whether or not he should confide in Sara. He poured the cocoa into two mugs and handed one to her. Deciding that it was likely that Jax wouldn't keep their outing a secret, he said, "I tried to stop my dad from going to jail today."
Sara tossed some mini marshmallows into her drink and let it sit for a bit.
"I'm guessing nothing changed?"
"The fool tried to fence the gem I stole for him to an undercover cop. Still went to jail. Still became an abusive asshole," Leonard snarled.
"I'm sorry," Sara said, resting a hand on his shoulder briefly before picking up her mug and taking a tentative sip.
"So what has you heating up beverages in the middle of the night?" Leonard asked, tasting his own cocoa.
Sara knew it was dangerous to let her guard down, even a little, but there was something about Leonard that she found calming. Without meaning to, she found herself opening up to him about her bloodlust.
Leonard listened as she explained about the Lazarus Pit and the bloodlust she'd felt since her resurrection. He found that he didn't actually mind her confiding in him. Normally, he wouldn't want to know other people's inner demons so intimately. However, he rather enjoyed learning that she was as damaged as he was, if not more so.
If nothing else, it made him respect her even more, knowing what she was fighting against internally every day. It helped to make his own demons seem not so bad.
~~*~~
"We'll get him back," Sara stated as she pulled out her knives and a whetstone in the weapons room where Leonard was re-assembling his cold gun.
"I know we will," Leonard said. "I'm not leaving my partner in some Russian prison." He shoved the final piece into place a little harder than necessary.
They sat in companionable silence as she began to sharpen her knives and Leonard tested all of the settings on his gun.
Once he was satisfied with the gun he asked, "Do you have another whetstone?"
Sara quirked an eyebrow at him and tossed him her backup. He slowly reached for one of her knives and when she nodded he picked it up and began to sharpen it, grateful for something else to occupy his hands.
~~*~~
Leonard didn't have to stop Sara from killing Stein. He certainly didn't care for the silver haired physicist. He did care what it would do to Sara, though. He knew that killing in cold blood, a target, a teammate, would ruin any progress she'd felt she'd made when she left the League of Assassins. And he couldn't stand to see her do that kind of harm to herself.
Sara felt her walls start to fall when she was around him because of that.
While the team relaxed and enjoyed the stolen vodka, she went to sit in the chair next to Leonard. She didn't say anything, barely even acknowledged his presence, and just drank her vodka in silence as they both watched the others. They remained as everyone slowly began to head to their rooms until they were the only ones left.
Sara finally turned to look at Leonard, but before she could say anything he said, "Don't."
"Don't what?" she asked.
"Don't thank me," he replied.
Sara grinned. "Who said I was going to thank you?"
"You had that look," he drawled. "It made the hair on the back of my neck stand up."
"I didn't know my presence aroused you so much," she teased.
He simply glared at her, and Sara's grin widened.
Rising, Sara circled Leonard's chair, bending down to whisper in his ear. "I just need to say it once. Thank you for stopping me."
They both ignored the involuntary shiver Leonard made as her warm breath puffed against his skin before she placed a light kiss on his cheek and scampered off to bed.
Leonard sat there for a long time, cursing himself for enjoying that brief contact and wishing that her lips had brushed his mouth and not his cheek.
He knew that he needed to build his walls back up when it came to Sara. If only he didn't want to leave them in their current state of rubble.
~~*~~
"You could have gotten yourself killed," Leonard drawled as Sara passed his room on her way to her own.
She paused and backed up until she was standing in his doorway. "Excuse me?"
Leonard stood abruptly, the legs of his desk chair squeaking on the floor from the sudden movement. "You heard me. What did you think you were doing, running off by yourself to try to save a man you've never met in a future that may never come to be?"
"What do you care?" she retorted.
"I don't," Leonard lied. "But you're a part of this team. My team. And you put me at risk because we couldn't leave a team member behind."
"Rip seemed pretty ready to leave me behind," Sara argued.
"Rip's an ass," Leonard said. His voice softened a bit as he repeated, "Why'd you do it, Sara?"
Sara sighed, stepped fully into the room, and leaned against the wall.
"I may not have known Connor, but I know the Green Arrow," Sara said. "I know what it means to be a vigilante fighting a losing battle, and I couldn't stand around and do nothing when the one person who was still trying to save my city was in trouble."
"I thought you hadn't lived there in a long time," Leonard commented.
Sara shrugged. "Off and on since I left the League. It wouldn't matter if I hadn't lived there in a decade, it'll always be home."
"I suppose that if anything were to happen to Central City, I'd feel the same," Leonard reluctantly admitted. "That is why we're all here on this insane mission, isn't it?"
"Yeah." Sara sighed, then with the hint of a smile turning her lips, she said, "So what's up with you and Mick?"
"We had a difference of opinion," Leonard drawled, grimacing.
"Regarding…?" Sara prodded.
"Making Star City 2046 our new home," Leonard admitted.
"I could see Mick wanting to stay," Sara said thoughtfully. "You didn't?"
"I prefer not to live somewhere that resembles a John Carpenter movie," Leonard said.
"I almost stayed," Sara admitted, causing Leonard to jerk his head up to meet her eyes. "I wanted to help them try to save the city. Oliver talked me out of it."
"That's not your city to save," Leonard said. "You can work on saving it by being there when we're done with this mission."
Sara smiled. "That's pretty much what Ollie said."
"As much as I hate to agree with any hero, I'm glad you listened to him."
"You saying you'd miss me?" Sara teased.
"Hardly," Leonard scoffed.
Sara huffed out a laugh and headed for the door. "'Night, Crook."
"Good night, Assassin," Leonard responded, closing the door behind her.
~~*~~
Sara was waiting for Leonard in his room after he left the ship with Mick. Spending hours alone together nearly freezing to death tended to forge a bit of a bond between two people.
When he opened the door to find her pacing in the center of the room he wasn't all that surprised and was in no mood for a lecture.
"What do you want, Sara?" he asked setting his gun on a table, too emotionally raw to put any venom into it.
"I wanted to make sure you were okay," she admitted. "I know that must have been hard for you."
Leonard made sure the door was closed and approached Sara.
"You have no idea what that was like for me," he hissed.
"I've had to kill friends before," Sara said. "None as close to me as Mick was to you, but friends nonetheless."
"Mick's not dead," Leonard confided.
Sara's face scrunched up in confusion. "But you said…"
"I said I'd take care of it," Leonard reminded her. "I never said that I'd kill him."
"Then where is he?"
"Out there," Leonard said, gesturing in the general direction of the clearing.
"You're just going to leave him here? Wherever here is?" Sara asked calmly.
"What choice did I have?" Leonard asked. "Like you said, I can't kill him. Maybe this way he at least has a chance of finding a town and starting a new life."
"I'm not saying what you did was wrong," Sara said. "I'm the last person to tell you that killing would have been the right thing to do when you know how much I struggle with not killing."
"Which is why I didn't let you take him out," Leonard said. "You would have done it because it was what was expected of you. It's what was expected of me, too, which is why no one will know he's still alive."
"You're not going to tell the others?" Sara asked, surprised.
"Mick's safer if they don't know," Leonard said.
Sara knew he was right.
"Don't make me regret confiding in you," Leonard cautioned.
"You won't," Sara promised.
~~*~~
"Time travel is a crazy thing," Sara said, slowly entering the med bay.
Leonard was still sitting in the chair, staring at his new hand. He looked up at Sara as she approached him. "I think the past couple of days has proven that."
"Past couple of years," Sara corrected him.
"Right. That's going to take some getting used to. I can't seem to wrap my head around the fact that for you it was two years since Chronos - Mick - took me prisoner, but for me it was only days."
"What was it like seeing him again?" Sara asked, pulling up a stool next to him.
"Is this share time now?" Leonard snarked.
"We're getting reacquainted," Sara said. "It has been two years and a re-indoctrination for me, after all."
"Friends get reacquainted," Leonard pointed out. "We're not friends."
"Two years gives a girl a lot of time for reflection. Especially when training with the League," Sara said; she stood and moved closer to Leonard. "Do you know what I thought about?"
"Don't tell me you spent two years pining for me," he said with smirk.
Sara rolled her eyes and continued as if he hadn't spoken. "I realized that we moved straight past friendship to become confidants."
She tentatively reached out and set one of her hands on Leonard's regenerated one. He looked down at her hand and then back to her face.
"What are you doing, Sara?" he asked. "I've had a very stressful few days and I'm not really up for games right now."
"I think we've played enough games," Sara agreed.
She lifted her free hand to Leonard's cheek and brushed her thumb against the stubble there. Moving slow enough to give him time to tell her to stop, Sara leaned in and kissed him. Just a soft brush of her lips against his at first, waiting for a sign that this was something he wanted, too.
As if a dam had broken, Leonard reached out with his free hand and wrapped it around Sara's waist, pulling her between his legs as he pressed his lips firmly to hers.
Sara sighed into the kiss even as she parted her lips and brushed her tongue against his upper lip, seeking entry. Which he readily granted.
Time ceased to exist as they eagerly explored each other's mouths, only parting when breathing became an issue.
"Don't ever leave me behind like that again," Sara said, panting, her forehead pressed against his.
"We didn't do it on purpose before, but I'll be damned if it happens again," he swore and then sealed his promise with a kiss.
They'd always been better at talking without words anyway.
The End