He follows his line of sight and stares over at the guy he points out, nodding his acknowledgment. He makes note of it, because it's good information to have. He'll probably need more soon enough.
He continues to make comments about other people through the rest of lunch and Leonard makes note of all of it. Only when someone calls him away does Leonard actually notice how long it's been, though.
He frowns a little at the expectation that he'd see him again. Sure, it might not be that hard to run into each other in this place, but it sounded a lot more like this guy planned to seek him out. Leonard isn't sure how to feel about it, so all that actually comes out in way of departure is, "'Kay. Bye."
---
The next week are spent much the same. Roryinsists on bugging Leonard whenever he gets the chance and Leonard just...sort of comes to tolerate it. He doesn't always get chatty, sometimes he talks as little as possible, but he doesn't seem to mind, so it seems to work out in both their favors, somehow.
It's later when problems actually arise, from some of the kids Rory had pointed out as troublemakers. And Leonard was finding out first hand how right that label was. They'd taken Leonard's art supplies from him, and while on the surface that doesn't matter much and wouldn't really bother him either way any other time, it's his only connection to Lisa right now. So he got a little livid and a lot mouthy and it's ended in the scene that anyone in the near vicinity might walk up on.
Leonard, scrawny but scrappy as hell, snapping at a a group of about four other boys who had taken to surrounding him. And the whole thing just spelled trouble, no matter how you looked at it.
Friggin gang bangers. Mick was entertained by the new kid, by Snart. He didn't seem to actively avoid him or look at him like he was ten kinds of fucking crazy. Maybe he didn't know his whole story. Who cares? He was pretty. He was interesting. It was some way to pass the time.
But as Mick rounds the corner, hearing raised voices and catching sight of Snart on the ground, his world swims red.
No. Mine.
And with that Mick charges in, furious and swinging with pure anger until he's standing over Snart, chest heaving and knuckles bruised. No. Nobody messes with Snart. Not on his watch.
He held his own well enough considering he'd been jumped, and anyone paying enough attention would notice that for such a small kid, he could really take a punch; but anyone cornered by a group is going to go down.
What he didn't expect was anyone to come to his aid. Least of all, for the whole thing to end with Rory standing over him, bruised and with a fire somewhere in his eyes Leonard isn't sure he's ever seen from the guy.
Leonard isn't entirely sure he likes that look.
"You didn't have to do that," was the defensive bite that rolled out of his mouth as he shoves himself to his feet, dusting himself off. He isn't sure if it's his pride or that vibe of danger rolling off of Rory in absolute tidal waves that makes him jump so instantly over-sensitive, but it's the knee-jerk response he gets anyway as he puts a few steps of distance between them, arms folding across his chest.
The beat thrums with his pulse as he breathes, fists clenched at his sides as Snart pulls himself to his feet with a defensive glare. Nobody gets to touch him. Nobody gets to hurt him. Not on his watch.
The complaint snaps him from his rage and he blinks as the goddamn staff shows up too late. "You're welcome smartass."
And with that he's tackled to the ground hard, forehead bouncing off the floor and the world goes a little grey and fuzzy around the edges.
He doesn't have time to say anything else before he's watching Rory getting tackled by staff, hauled away, surely to be shoved in solitary. Leonard's protests that he hadn't started it seemed to fall on deaf ears and he stops trying with a frustrated huff.
Rory's nowhere to be found for days and Leonard doesn't get that whole scene out of his head. He can't stop thinking about the way he looked, standing over him. It was kind of unnerving in a way Leonard couldn't quite put a finger on, which bothers him almost as much.
He's sitting on an overstuffed chair that looks like it's seen better days, sketchpad propped against bent knees, focused on the drawing he'd been working on since the day Rory ended up in iso. For once, it isn't even something for Lisa; he'd have to do something else for her because a set of eyes, with nothing else at all, is not the sort of thing he'd send his four-year-old baby sister.
He's so focused on fussing with the shading, he doesn't really notice anything in his surroundings.
They didn't keep him too long - Mick may be volatile but the staff knows he isn't one to go picking fights if he doesn't have to. The state of Snart was enough to bolster his argument that he'd waded in to keep the kid from getting shivved.
But still. Rules are rules and all that usual bullshit. A week and a half in iso and he was ready to climb the damn walls when Frank finally came to let him go free.
And instantly he's off in search of Snart. Just to make sure the kid is okay. That's all. No other reason. But he still breathes a relieved sigh when he sees him tucked in the stupid overstuffed chair.
Leonard hadn't actually done so much drawing as he had since he'd been here, and he'd forgotten how lost in the process he could get. Like he was in another world entirely.
Which is probably why even that simple greeting was enough to make him tense and jump.
He looks up and has to physically stop himself from doing something stupid, like smiling at the sight of the only friend he had in this whole place.
"Hey." There's an awkward shuffle as he snaps the sketchbook shut, realizing it might be pretty weird to see your own eyes staring at you on a piece of paper. ...Yeah. He thought maybe if he was physically able to look at the fire he'd seen in Rory's eyes that day on paper, he might be able to figure out why the whole thing bothered him so much.
And if a hint of a smile is ghosting Mick's lips, well. Maybe he's just happy to see that nobody else has been hassling Snart while he was stuck in iso. He drops into the chair next to him, nodding at the book. "Get some more stuff for your sister?"
He nods a little at the question, glad he didn't call him out for being so suddenly weird about the sketchbook. "Yeah." He puts the book and art supplies aside. "They didn't keep you in iso very long." And he sounds kind of glad about that, despite himself.
Shrug. "Shrink says I don't do well in iso," he offers.
Mick saw him snap the book shut and while he's curious, he doesn't want to weird Snart out by asking. If he wants to show him he can. "Guess it's been quiet out here?" Most of the time after someone gets shoved in iso it gets quiet for at least a few days. Maybe a week at most.
"Oh." He frowns a little, not sure how to take that very off-hand comment.
"Yeah, it has been," he confirms the assumption with another nod. "Kinda weird, but I guess people get more on their toes after someone else gets in trouble." Even though it was stupid that Rory was the one that got the punishment in the first place.
So far, Snart has been the only one that hasn't asked about the fire, or even looked sideways at him for always being forced to talk to a shrink. Mick knows his head is fucked up, but it's kind of nice being around someone who doesn't seem to be that bothered by it.
He shrugs. "And next week someone else will want to start shit all over again. That's the way it goes in here." A glance. "Least they won't mess with you." He'd made damn sure about that.
Truth of it is, Leonard would probably benefit from something like that himself, but he doesn't have cause to make the detention center to force him into it and he'll never ask for himself. Not even with all the resources of this place at his fingertips the way it is right now. But the fact that Rory is made to do it? Doesn't really make a difference to him, either way. He has issues. Cool. Who doesn't? Especially in a place like this.
"You're a silver linings kinda guy, are you?" He asks, eyes sliding up toward his face as he smirks.
It startles a laugh out of Mick, and damn if he doesn't like that sly smirk on his face. Yeah he's got issues. Will he probably wind up in jail later on? Probably. But most of the guys here will so no big deal.
"I'm stuck in here until I'm eighteen, so why worry about shit I can't control?" And then? Then he's cut loose wth no damn idea what to do with the rest of his life. But that's a while down the line.
"May as well look at the good, the quiet rather than the next time I wind up in iso."
The smirk only broadens at the laugh that his comment earns him. This may be the one thing about this place he'll miss; he doesn't really get to be himself at home. But it's kind of nice to know his actual personality is accepted-- even if it is by someone who everyone around here views as a literal psychopath. Leonard just doesn't see it.
But that comment has him curious and he can't stop his mouth from working before he has time to process that maybe it isn't the kind of thing he should ask. "You end up in there a lot or something?"
Shrug. Mick looks down at his hands. "Got a messed up head. Sometimes I can't think right, sometimes somebody pushes me into a fight I know I shouldn't get into but.. I do."
"My old man used to kick the hell out of me for being too slow, too stupid, too messed up."
Leonard frowns a little at that first comment, he's not sure he likes the way that sounds. Like maybe he believes it. "Pushes you into it, how? What do you mean?"
There's something instantly more drawn in about him at that casual mention of his dad beating him in the past. "Oh... really?" He's stilted and awkward, no idea how to respond to that because it strikes something all too close to home. Even if the reasons are different. Actually, Leonard isn't sure Lewis even has reasons.
Tell a person something too many times, a voice of authority and sooner or later they start to believe it. Mick wants to be better, but he's not sure he's quite bright enough, not stable enough.
"Means that sometimes I know I shouldn't. But it don't matter. Sometimes I just.. I can't stop it." He hasn't had a familiar hand to steady him, to talk him through his anger and his rage.
Unfortunately, Leonard understands that concept far better than he'd like. Not that he'd admit it.
"Oh..." He shifts a little, obviously a little uncomfortable with the conversation at hand, even though he had asked in the first place. He's heard a similar speech before, but it was in the aftermath of a bad night with Lewis, thrown at him as an excuse on why he'd have to come up with a reason for the new bruise around his eye if anyone asked.
He'd like to think the only friend he had here wouldn't be like that. But he's not sure. It makes him think of that look in his eyes that day in the courtyard.
The other side of that discomfort in him is that he's terrified of ending up like that, too. Of one day just reaching a limit and snapping and completely losing the death-grip of control he tries to keep on everything at all times.
Not that Mick would ever even think about raising a hand to Snart. Hell, he's the only one who hasn't looked at him like he's some kind of monster or maniac who is only one beat away from losing it and killing everyone in sight.
But he also knows when he probably said too much and Mick shrugs a little, shoving his hands in his pockets and turns his eyes towards the window.
Snart is the closest thing he has to a friend. He doesn't want to lose that if he can help it.
Leonard didn't mean to make the conversation stop, and he isn't entirely sure how to start it again. He fidgets a little, twisting his fingers together, trying to think of something to say, anything at all. Which, he realizes is strange because he's not typically one that feels so desperate to fill silences, but this one is awkward and hard to deal with and definitely his fault.
"So...how much of what they say is true? About you." The rumors that float the detention center, the whispers Leonard hasn't given much mind to.
Mick doesn't even notice the way he curls in on himself in the chair. Like he's trying to fend of some coming blow. He doesn't want to talk about it. He doesn't. The fire had just.. gotten away from him. A roughened voice that he couldn't place if his life depended on it saying ".. it wasn't your fault.. just a dumb kid.."
"Didn't mean for it to happen," he manages, but it's so so hard to breathe, his chest going all tight.
Leonard sees it, the way he looks like he's trying to escape from the entire world just then and he hates it. He hates that he caused this. All because he was too curious to keep his own mouth shut.
"Hey," he almost reaches out, but thinks better of it, instead he just leans against the arm of the chair, almost hovering over him, so there was no chance he didn't look up and see the sincerity. "I believe you."
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Date: 2018-03-04 12:28 am (UTC)He continues to make comments about other people through the rest of lunch and Leonard makes note of all of it. Only when someone calls him away does Leonard actually notice how long it's been, though.
He frowns a little at the expectation that he'd see him again. Sure, it might not be that hard to run into each other in this place, but it sounded a lot more like this guy planned to seek him out. Leonard isn't sure how to feel about it, so all that actually comes out in way of departure is, "'Kay. Bye."
---
The next week are spent much the same. Roryinsists on bugging Leonard whenever he gets the chance and Leonard just...sort of comes to tolerate it. He doesn't always get chatty, sometimes he talks as little as possible, but he doesn't seem to mind, so it seems to work out in both their favors, somehow.
It's later when problems actually arise, from some of the kids Rory had pointed out as troublemakers. And Leonard was finding out first hand how right that label was. They'd taken Leonard's art supplies from him, and while on the surface that doesn't matter much and wouldn't really bother him either way any other time, it's his only connection to Lisa right now. So he got a little livid and a lot mouthy and it's ended in the scene that anyone in the near vicinity might walk up on.
Leonard, scrawny but scrappy as hell, snapping at a a group of about four other boys who had taken to surrounding him. And the whole thing just spelled trouble, no matter how you looked at it.
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Date: 2018-03-04 01:57 am (UTC)Mick was entertained by the new kid, by Snart. He didn't seem to actively avoid him or look at him like he was ten kinds of fucking crazy. Maybe he didn't know his whole story. Who cares? He was pretty. He was interesting. It was some way to pass the time.
But as Mick rounds the corner, hearing raised voices and catching sight of Snart on the ground, his world swims red.
No.
Mine.
And with that Mick charges in, furious and swinging with pure anger until he's standing over Snart, chest heaving and knuckles bruised. No. Nobody messes with Snart. Not on his watch.
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Date: 2018-03-04 02:12 am (UTC)What he didn't expect was anyone to come to his aid. Least of all, for the whole thing to end with Rory standing over him, bruised and with a fire somewhere in his eyes Leonard isn't sure he's ever seen from the guy.
Leonard isn't entirely sure he likes that look.
"You didn't have to do that," was the defensive bite that rolled out of his mouth as he shoves himself to his feet, dusting himself off. He isn't sure if it's his pride or that vibe of danger rolling off of Rory in absolute tidal waves that makes him jump so instantly over-sensitive, but it's the knee-jerk response he gets anyway as he puts a few steps of distance between them, arms folding across his chest.
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Date: 2018-03-04 02:34 am (UTC)Mine.
The beat thrums with his pulse as he breathes, fists clenched at his sides as Snart pulls himself to his feet with a defensive glare. Nobody gets to touch him. Nobody gets to hurt him. Not on his watch.
The complaint snaps him from his rage and he blinks as the goddamn staff shows up too late. "You're welcome smartass."
And with that he's tackled to the ground hard, forehead bouncing off the floor and the world goes a little grey and fuzzy around the edges.
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Date: 2018-03-04 02:53 am (UTC)Rory's nowhere to be found for days and Leonard doesn't get that whole scene out of his head. He can't stop thinking about the way he looked, standing over him. It was kind of unnerving in a way Leonard couldn't quite put a finger on, which bothers him almost as much.
He's sitting on an overstuffed chair that looks like it's seen better days, sketchpad propped against bent knees, focused on the drawing he'd been working on since the day Rory ended up in iso. For once, it isn't even something for Lisa; he'd have to do something else for her because a set of eyes, with nothing else at all, is not the sort of thing he'd send his four-year-old baby sister.
He's so focused on fussing with the shading, he doesn't really notice anything in his surroundings.
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Date: 2018-03-04 03:05 am (UTC)But still. Rules are rules and all that usual bullshit.
A week and a half in iso and he was ready to climb the damn walls when Frank finally came to let him go free.
And instantly he's off in search of Snart.
Just to make sure the kid is okay. That's all. No other reason. But he still breathes a relieved sigh when he sees him tucked in the stupid overstuffed chair.
"Hey."
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Date: 2018-03-04 03:18 am (UTC)Which is probably why even that simple greeting was enough to make him tense and jump.
He looks up and has to physically stop himself from doing something stupid, like smiling at the sight of the only friend he had in this whole place.
"Hey." There's an awkward shuffle as he snaps the sketchbook shut, realizing it might be pretty weird to see your own eyes staring at you on a piece of paper. ...Yeah. He thought maybe if he was physically able to look at the fire he'd seen in Rory's eyes that day on paper, he might be able to figure out why the whole thing bothered him so much.
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Date: 2018-03-04 01:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-03-04 05:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-03-04 08:15 pm (UTC)Mick saw him snap the book shut and while he's curious, he doesn't want to weird Snart out by asking. If he wants to show him he can. "Guess it's been quiet out here?" Most of the time after someone gets shoved in iso it gets quiet for at least a few days. Maybe a week at most.
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Date: 2018-03-05 02:29 am (UTC)"Yeah, it has been," he confirms the assumption with another nod. "Kinda weird, but I guess people get more on their toes after someone else gets in trouble." Even though it was stupid that Rory was the one that got the punishment in the first place.
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Date: 2018-03-05 04:37 pm (UTC)He shrugs. "And next week someone else will want to start shit all over again. That's the way it goes in here." A glance. "Least they won't mess with you." He'd made damn sure about that.
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Date: 2018-03-05 05:04 pm (UTC)"You're a silver linings kinda guy, are you?" He asks, eyes sliding up toward his face as he smirks.
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Date: 2018-03-05 05:35 pm (UTC)"I'm stuck in here until I'm eighteen, so why worry about shit I can't control?" And then? Then he's cut loose wth no damn idea what to do with the rest of his life.
But that's a while down the line.
"May as well look at the good, the quiet rather than the next time I wind up in iso."
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Date: 2018-03-05 07:07 pm (UTC)But that comment has him curious and he can't stop his mouth from working before he has time to process that maybe it isn't the kind of thing he should ask. "You end up in there a lot or something?"
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Date: 2018-03-05 09:28 pm (UTC)Mick looks down at his hands. "Got a messed up head. Sometimes I can't think right, sometimes somebody pushes me into a fight I know I shouldn't get into but.. I do."
"My old man used to kick the hell out of me for being too slow, too stupid, too messed up."
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Date: 2018-03-05 10:58 pm (UTC)There's something instantly more drawn in about him at that casual mention of his dad beating him in the past. "Oh... really?" He's stilted and awkward, no idea how to respond to that because it strikes something all too close to home. Even if the reasons are different. Actually, Leonard isn't sure Lewis even has reasons.
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Date: 2018-03-06 02:03 am (UTC)"Means that sometimes I know I shouldn't. But it don't matter. Sometimes I just.. I can't stop it." He hasn't had a familiar hand to steady him, to talk him through his anger and his rage.
He probably never will.
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Date: 2018-03-06 03:29 am (UTC)"Oh..." He shifts a little, obviously a little uncomfortable with the conversation at hand, even though he had asked in the first place. He's heard a similar speech before, but it was in the aftermath of a bad night with Lewis, thrown at him as an excuse on why he'd have to come up with a reason for the new bruise around his eye if anyone asked.
He'd like to think the only friend he had here wouldn't be like that. But he's not sure. It makes him think of that look in his eyes that day in the courtyard.
The other side of that discomfort in him is that he's terrified of ending up like that, too. Of one day just reaching a limit and snapping and completely losing the death-grip of control he tries to keep on everything at all times.
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Date: 2018-03-06 05:53 pm (UTC)But he also knows when he probably said too much and Mick shrugs a little, shoving his hands in his pockets and turns his eyes towards the window.
Snart is the closest thing he has to a friend.
He doesn't want to lose that if he can help it.
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Date: 2018-03-06 06:37 pm (UTC)"So...how much of what they say is true? About you." The rumors that float the detention center, the whispers Leonard hasn't given much mind to.
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Date: 2018-03-06 06:45 pm (UTC)Mick breathes.
"Fire killed my family. Pigs said it was my fault." And after a few years of getting that beaten into his brain, maybe they were right?
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Date: 2018-03-06 07:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-03-06 07:21 pm (UTC)"Didn't mean for it to happen," he manages, but it's so so hard to breathe, his chest going all tight.
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Date: 2018-03-06 07:30 pm (UTC)"Hey," he almost reaches out, but thinks better of it, instead he just leans against the arm of the chair, almost hovering over him, so there was no chance he didn't look up and see the sincerity. "I believe you."
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