I've Got Soul but I'm Not a Soldier

Sixty Seconds

The day starts out so well.

A heist is planned, they're getting ready to hit their mark, and then suddenly the sky decides to erupt in chaos. It's a normal, sunny Tuesday morning otherwise; traffic is bad as always, parents are taking their kids to the park, birds are chirping – all is normal.

Until there's this sound, something he can't quite explain. And then the sky is darkening in a whirlwind of black. Some kind of tear in the sky, a hole, a black hole, it seems. And for a long moment, they all stop what they're doing and stare up at it in utter confusion. Lisa is at his side and she breathes out a quick, "Jesus, fuck." Mick stops walking, too, but if he says something it's lost in the whirling noise which overcomes the city as buildings begin ripping upward, into the hole in the sky.

And then Leonard Snart gasps as a streak flits up the side of a building, jumping across floating rubble, toward the epicenter of the hole. The Flash.

"Oh, good," Lisa breathes. "He can fix it, yeah?"

Sure, Len wants to say. He's the Flash, that's his job – he fixes things.

But a much larger part of him is caught up in the whole-

That's Barry Allen, my boyfriend, jumping into a black hole.

Just a normal Tuesday.

Or not.

Len scrubs a hand over his face, which is very unlike him. Keeping his cool in the face of this is a little beyond him, though. Barry Allen. Barry Allen, his boyfriend of four months. Barry Allen, CSI for the CCPD. Who sucks at poker but trades sarcastic quips with Mick nevertheless. Who loves Lisa's pancakes. Who fits perfectly against Len when they are in bed after-

Barry Allen, who is the Flash.

The Flash, who is Barry Allen.

The Flash, who Lisa and Mick don't know is Barry Allen.

He's speechless for a long moment; he can feel Lisa's hand on his arm, hear her voice asking if he's okay. He should be okay, from her perspective; he's friendly with the Flash and admits to having fun during their battles, but there's a difference between sharing a few laughs with your enemy and worrying about said enemy. To Lisa, he's staring up at the Flash and has lost his voice because the Flash is trying to stop a black hole from eating Central City.

Right now said black hole seems to be stabilizing; it stops ripping up buildings as the Flash – as Barry – runs in a circle inside of it, just barely visible due to his yellow lightning tail. He's moving so quickly it's all a blur of yellow and black but Len knows it's him, and it's the only reassurance he has.

Explaining the whole 'Barry Allen, the CSI I've been dating, is the Flash' to Lisa and Mick isn't going to be easy, and it's a conversation he was hoping to put off for a little longer. But he will have to tell them after this. They are tossing him confused, worried looks.

"Look, I'm sure Barry's fine," Lisa says tentatively, tightening her grip on his arm. It's so tight he can feel her painted nails through the parka. "I mean – the station looks intact, and he's a lab rat, right?"

Len grits his teeth, shrugging her off. He'll explain later, but right now he needs to focus. He needs to watch. He needs to see...

A flying, burning man soars into the singularity. Len has heard about him from Barry but never actually met the guy, or fought him in a battle. But he looks like he knows what he's doing, and is heading up there to help, and he's grateful.