{There's a softness behind the mask you wear

[myheadisaprison]

PSL with lichtenbergs
i need a drink and a shade of lipstick that will put the fear of god into a man's heart. [TFLN]
Texts
Well, that's embarrasing [Texts gone awk]
We need a better recruiting process. Seriously, who calls the cops on themselves and goes to jail? ...on a Monday. [TFLN]
Captain Cold makes a house call.
You didnt text me back so....I'm on your street with golf clubs [Drunk texts » action]

Comments

[mypriority]

The quips and teasing might make this a little easier. At least the first part. "Please," he rolls his eyes, no real heat behind it. "You're not emotionally stunted and that was overwhelming for you, too." Don't try to play that game with him, Bea. Come on.

He shifts and puts both feet on the ground, leaning forward on his knees a little. His words come out in a slow, cautious cadence. "This..." Oh, good, stumped on the second word. This is going so well already. "thing...that we have between us," there's a vague motion with his hand in the space, literally, between them. "I like that. A lot." There's a pause, because that was the easy part, and he has to gather his words again. "We have...this way of falling into step with each other right now and...I think part of me is worried if we step outside of that, into something else with a different beat, we'll fall out of that rhythm and never really be able to get it back again."

Was that a dance metaphor? Possibly. Wasn't exactly his intention, but it happened anyway.

[lichtenbergs]

Well, he has her there. It was a little overwhelming for her too, but that was mostly because it was a conversation she never imagined she'd be having. Kind of like this one.

She listens to Leonard intently, teasing grin fading to a soft hint of a smile as the mood changes. His worries surprise her. Of all the objections she thought he would have, that never crossed her mind. Their age difference, or their occasional battles as the Flash and Captain Cold, sure. But potentially ruining their friendship beyond repair? That seems unfathomable. And for good reason.

Bea sets her glass down on her little coffee table and scoots across the linoleum until she can sit at Leonard's feet. Though she desperately wants to, she doesn't reach out for him, instead just looking up at him with what she hopes is a reassuring smile.

"I was in love with Iris West before I knew what love really was. She was everything to me. All my hopes, and dreams, and I thought she'd be my fairytale ending. Except she never felt that way about me. And when she figured out that I was pining after her... it was awkward, I won't lie. But we found our footing again. And we're closer than ever now."

She shifts, hand making an aborted gesture as if she instinctually reached for him in the moment, then stopped herself. "Maybe we won't work out. Maybe we'll end up finding all sorts of little deal breakers if we give this a shot. But this doesn't have to end badly if we do. And..." She pauses. Visibly hesitates. "I'd rather try, and deal with the fallout if it comes, than live my life wondering about what could've been."

[mypriority]

A hint of a smile hides in one corner of his mouth as she moves over to sit in front of him. She's cute, it's kind of annoying sometimes.

"That's different," he shakes his head a little at her comment about Iris. "you've known her you're whole life. It's...a little harder to imagine that you two could have just cut each other out like that after all that time. That'd be like me dropping Mick." His gaze drops to his hands hanging loosely between his knees, idly twisting the ring on his finger. "Me and you, though...that's different. It could be worse."

He sees her reach and redirect her own hand and it's what causes him to glance up in her direction again. So his eyes are on her with that last bit about trying and dealing instead of always wondering. It's such a hopeful thing to say and he has to smirk a little because of it. It fades a moment or two later just before he speaks again. "You know, it's not just that... I mean--" He glances at her hands, then back up to her face, "other things, too. Touching, affection," A beat. "Intimacy... it's not exactly an easy ride with me."

He completely expects a blush to crawl across her cheeks at that last one, but it has to be said. Relationships are a lot of pieces built into a bigger thing and she needs to know what she's really signing on for. Admittedly, he thinks some of those barriers are ones she could break through faster than most people--no pun intended, but well received, surely.

[lichtenbergs]

She snorts. Honest to god snorts when he talks about things being difficult. "Like things are all sunshine and daisies with me?"

Her hands reach up and tug nervously at the ends of her hair, and she looks down and away after she says that. It's easy to see why he would be more afraid of his own issues than hers. For all that he knows about the shit that's gone wrong for her, Bea has also tried very hard to keep up a strong front. To not let people worry about her too much. To let them see her struggle, but only when she knows they can handle it, and she can handle it.

"There's still a lot of nights I wake up screaming," she says quietly, voice a little rough. "To the point where I stopped staying over at Joe's some nights because I couldn't handle him worrying about me." Different kind of relationship, but just one example of her own baggage. "And I... haven't exactly succeeded at having sex since I got my powers. They kind of. Act up? And I tend to spark and vibrate. So there's that."

Bea glances up at him, then back down at her split ends. "Point is, neither of us are exactly easy people to be close to. If you really don't want to do this, then... I'll understand. But you should know"--She looks up at him again--"you're not gonna scare me off."

[mypriority]

There's a deep-sinking earnestness in this whole conversation that has left him feeling awfully exposed. He watches as she fidgets with her hair and glances around away from him and he knows she's feeling a lot of the same.

The explanation about her nightmares gives rise to something of a protective instinct in him but he pushes it down because he can't exactly do anything about it, it's not like she's having one right now. "I get it," He nods a little. "I used to hide a lot of things from Lisa growing up. She got older, got harder to hide, but..." He shrugs. "I don't do so great with sleep these days either, after...everything." He mumbles, a vague wave of his hand, intended to indicate...what? His time with the Legends, dying? He doesn't talk about it much, or at all if he can avoid it. The thought gets a little derailed at the second half of that, though and he tilts his head. "Sparking sounds dangerous," He holds a finger up, "Vibrating could make things interesting." What? He's just being honest!

He laughs softly at that and shakes his head, "I'm not trying to. Or...I'm not actively trying to?" Maybe it's a little under the surface of the things he's saying, but he's not going out of his way to run her off. "I just want you to know the mess you'd really be getting into." But she's not wrong. They are both their own specific brand of mess, and in a lot of ways, it seems like they balance each other.

[lichtenbergs]

"I know." Both what he's doing and what she's getting into. "I run into a lot of things headlong, but this isn't like that." This is something she's turned over and over again in her head. Something she's berated herself for, at times. And ultimately it's something she's decided she wants. Really wants, enough to fight for it through all the mess that's sure to follow.

Bea shifts, sitting up on her knees to get her a little closer to eye-level. She reaches out slowly with one hand, waits for an okay from Leonard to actually touch him. Her palm settles gently on the line of his jaw, and her thumb skims over his cheekbone. This close, she can see the faint freckles splashed across his nose. The scar on his upper lip. Little, endearing things she hadn't been able to spot before.

Her tongue darts out to wet her lips, seemingly suddenly dry. Probably because of the nervous and excited butterflies in her stomach and the hummingbird pace of her heart beat. "I'd really like to kiss you," she murmurs, barely more than a whisper.

[mypriority]

"Good," he nods a little. He definitely doesn't want this to be a rushed decision made lightly. She has a penchant for those sometimes, but she's also pretty logical and level-headed when she needs to be. And he believes her when she says this is different.

Leonard is good at a lot of things, and one of those things is reading body language. When you're as iffy as he is about things like casual touches, you get good at seeing the signs in people that split-second before they decide to make a certain move. So he catches it when she makes the decision to move closer, to reach for him.

He doesn't stop her.

His eyes drop to her lips when she brings attention to them with her tongue before sliding back up to her eyes again. The idea of actually answering her, with words, feels awkward and stilted and so much of this conversation has already been that way.

So he doesn't bother with words.
He leans in and closes the minimal remaining space between them and kisses her.

[lichtenbergs]

Though she would probably deny it if anyone ever asked, this is something Bea has thought about. Daydreamed about in her weaker moments. But reality is so much better than any of her idle fantasies.

It's a slow kiss. A molasses-sweet slide of mouths that leaves her toes curling and her free hand landing on Leonard's thigh so she can steady herself. When at last she pulls away, it's with a soft sound caught high in the back of her throat, followed by a breathy laugh.

"That is definitely something we need to do more of." Now that they've got their shit together. Or as together as it's going to get. "But maybe sometime when I'm not kneeling on the floor." Linoleum and bare knees are a bad combo.

[mypriority]

He can't stop the half-smile that crosses his lips as she pulls away and says that. He nods a little, "Yeah, you might be able to talk me into it." His own voice is a little softer than he meant it to be, and he reaches up to tuck her hair behind her ear.

"Well, then get off the floor," he says, giving her a look that could only be described as suggestive, fingers wrapping loosely around her wrist, gently tugging her toward him.

[lichtenbergs]

A playful smirk pulls at one side of her mouth as she slides from the floor into his lap. She wraps her arms around him, wrists crossing behind his neck, and leans in.

She presses a soft kiss to the corner of his mouth. To the scar bisecting his top lip. Just his bottom lip--this time with a hint of tongue. They're quick things, there and gone in a heartbeat. It's all a tease, meant to provoke him into either returning the favor or taking things a step further.

[mypriority]

This is a position he could get used to having her in, among a few choice others he could think of that might get interesting. But that would be for another time. For now, this was enough.

A slow smirk slides across his lips at the way she toys with him and a low chuckle escapes him. "Tease," he mumbles against her lips as he kisses her, a little rougher than before, but only just, and he doesn't hesitate to press for a little more, letting his tongue dance across her lips.

[lichtenbergs]

She laughs quietly against his mouth, shifting to press closer to him. Despite having the meta-powers she does, Bea's not about to run headlong into this. But she really doesn't mind letting Leonard deepen the kiss, turn it from something light into something that makes a half-shiver, half-vibration track down her spine.

Bea pulls away, only to rest her forehead against Len's and grin. "I think we're going to work out just fine." If they kiss and mesh like that, how could they not?