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Don't worry about it. I don't exactly advertise. Just ended up telling Mick, way back when. [He shrugs his shoulders, at least not outwardly bothered by his own sacrifice.]

I'm just saying. Not a clear cut case with these things that happen here. If it wasn't for here, I'd just be gone. But here I was and here I was confronted with a Mick who looked at me like I'm the devil. Took a while to work through that.

Still— [ Piper's glad for the waitress coming back with their fresh drinks, not just for the alcohol, but for the brief interruption. As she leaves, he sighs and takes a long drink. ]

I've sort of been an asshole about the whole thing, since you two got together.

So I hear. As long as Mick's not swayed, I can't be bothered to care that much. I was closer to my partner than I ever was to anyone else since I was in juvie with thirteen. That was in the Eighties. I ain't exactly used to people approving of who I'm with.

[He shrugs his shoulders, looking down at his drink.]

Sure you can relate.

No kidding. I was still actively a Rogue in the 80s, and I was barely out of the closet. I had to deal with all sorts of shit from the other guys. [ He rolls his eyes. ] Mostly Boomerang and Weather Wizard. [ A snort. ] Please, like anyone who likes Mark Twain that much is heterosexual.

I barely believe anyone's straight. Just look at Mick. Anyone I can fluster that much never had a very convincing act.

[There's a moment.]

Like James.

I gotta admit, I didn't see that coming. Mick always clocked as pretty straight to me.

[ He laughs briefly into his drink as he takes another sip. ]

James, on the other hand... I mean, he lived in West Hollywood in the 80s. I'm amazed he's only just admitting he's bisexual.

Reckon he's had some time coming to terms with it. Been here a while, hasn't he?

[He wonders how far he can push that while still vaguely fitting into this 'subtle' category.

Eh. Whatever.]

Longer than you.

Yeah, I think he said like a year or so before the rest of us got here? Maybe a year and a half? And there's plenty here that's weirder and harder to get used to than a crisis of sexuality.

Oh yeah. Like versions of people you know, from other times or other worlds. Or even exactly the same, after you've been here for that long.

[So...

Subtlety. Right.]

Ever ran into something like that?

Oh, yeah. You don't happen to know a David Singh, do you? He's with the CCPD in at least one version of our worlds.

[ He takes another drink. ]

Apparently, in his version, he's my boyfriend. He sprung this on me by kissing me at the swear-in, and I... sort of punched him in the face.

David Singh? Yes, I do. Captain of the CCPD where I'm from. But last I checked he was married. Not to you. I can't remember his husband's name right now, but I'd know if it was yours.

[Which doesn't mean that he couldn't also have a boyfriend, sure, but it still sounds like that isn't his world's version.]

I can meet him some time, see if he thinks I'm less ugly than usual. [The ultimate test.]

You talk it out with him?

Captain? Huh. Must not be the same one. He said he's the director of the crime lab.

[ He toys with his mostly empty glass, letting the ice cubes clink at the bottom and spinning them around idly. Maybe he should order another one, or maybe that's a bad idea. He laughs at Len's comment, though. ]

Sorry that's our test, but you are kind of an anomaly. Anyway, I think so, but who knows. It seemed like he had a hard time reconciling the idea.

It ain't an easy thing to adjust to. Trust me.

[He'd know, after everything. It's a small miracle that it ultimately worked out the way it did and it had taken a lot to get to that point.]

Y'think James ever had to deal with it? Since he's been here a while.

Yeah, I'm kind of getting that.

[ He does genuinely feel bad to an extent for being such an asshole about Len and Mick's relationship. He may not think it's the greatest idea either of them has either had, but knowing that Len—Leonard Snart, Captain goddamn Cold—had actually sacrificed himself for someone else? Out of what definitely sounds like genuine love? He's not above admitting he might have been wrong about this Len. He is, however, still not about to go about admitting it out loud and to his face.

At the comment about James, he can't help a short laugh. ]

What, meeting someone from another version of home that he's romantically involved with, or vice versa? That would require any James in any universe having the attention span for a long term relationship.

[ He feels a weird twist in his stomach and finishes his drink quickly. ]

Could have had a relationship here, I guess.

[He doesn't comment at the speed at which Piper finishes his drink, just leisurely sips his own and gets the attention of the waitress. Seems like they definitely need another round.]

Tell me what he says if you ever ask him.

[Subtlety, nailed.]

Well, he hooked up with Harley Quinn, apparently. Which might have been some mutual narcissism more than a relationship, but that might be as close as he gets.

[ Oh, okay. Piper should definitely not have another scotch and soda without ordering food to go along with it. When the waitress comes back over at Len's gesture, Piper orders a couple of sliders to go with his drink. ]

Edited 2017-10-19 08:37 (UTC)

Always got the feeling he liked you.

[Skirting the line of that subtlety, so he figures he can make up for it with a playful dig.]

Though that might just be cause I was wondering why else he'd put up with you. That's like Mick putting up with me, it's gotta be attraction.

What, romantically? We've been friends for a long time, that's all.

[ He rolls his eyes at the "put up with" comment, though he's glad for the diversion. ]

Mick "puts up with" me, too, you know, and there's no attraction there. Hell, I'd probably still put up with most of the other Rogues, and they're way more hard to get along with than I am.

[ Once a Rogue, always a Rogue. Except Roscoe, because fuck that guy. ]

That's just Mick. He's nice, he'd like anyone.

[He's known some of the assholes Mick had chosen to befriend and he's criticised him to his face, he feels pretty justified making that claim.]

We never got to that point. Rogues. You say it like there's a capital R. Most I ever had was Lisa and Mick. Then the time travel team, but that was a hero gig. Ain't counting that.

Yeah, Mick's nicer than most of us deserve.

[ Piper frowns when Len mentions Lisa—not the usual disapproving frown he usually has around Cold, but something distant and sad. But he hides it quickly enough, replaced with an odd sort of nostalgia. ]

I can't imagine the Flash without the Rogues. Though I think it actually kept some of us from causing more trouble for him on our own. I'll give the Cold in my world one thing, he was strict with the rules: no drugs, no killing unless absolutely necessary—and never a Flash. No hurting women or kids, either, not that most of us wanted to in the first place.

I have a code too. [Not that dissimilar, come to think of it, even if every now and then a code was more of a guideline.] These days the rule is not to do anything I can't get Mick to stop talking about by taking of my shirt.

[It's a good rule to live by, all things considered. Right now the quip also serves to distract him from that inkling of something where Lisa is concerned. His sister, in any universe. He'd want her safe.]

Do I want to ask what rule excludes?

[ As much as he doesn't want to talk about Len and Mick's personal lives, he also really, really does not want to talk about Lisa. ]

I don't kill. I don't maim, if I have the choice. Or if someone's really asking for it.

Honestly, I haven't tested the full extent, some of this stuff just seems best avoided when dating someone who's trying to stay on the straight and narrow. He don't mind the stealing too much, but I ain't about to pile onto the moral conflict.

[Not that he was ever going to stop stealing, but hey. It got them a nice place.]

I'm sure Mick's not the only one who prefers that you don't kill and/or maim folks.

[ He's seen what a cold gun can do without fatal intent, and that's more than enough, thanks. ]

Out of curiosity, though, how much stealing?

[ He doesn't actually sound judgmental, for once. It's more a mild, conversational sort of professional curiosity. ]

I prefer it that way too, honestly. Unless someone's just asking for it.

[Since they were being honest here. And now he's smiling, because stealing seems like a safer topic with these reformed people.]

Pays the bills.

[Which is saying something, given the independent housing he purchased.]

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WHAT THE FUCK I REMEMBER TAGGING THIS WHY IS THERE NO TAG HERE

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