mostlyajerk | Too Cool for School

"What." It was said very flatly, because Leonard was expecting something annoying. Not as if he was doing anything particularly important, he was stretched out on his bed, looking through a magazine, but still. Not in the mood for some ridiculous nonsense right now. However, he was the adult here, so... "Come in."

"Hey, man." Cisco let himself in and shut the door behind him, leaning up against it. Lisa was downstairs, the TV so loud it could be faintly heard up here, she was watching some weird reality show and had shushed Cisco every time he opened his mouth so it seemed like a safe bet that now was a good time to go here unnoticed. "So, I was talking to Hartley today and he said that I should talk to you." Wait, no. "Not socially! This isn't like when Lisa says I should and I try and it's just a God awful trainwreck... not that this isn't already becoming one."

"If Hartley said so, then I guess we have to talk." Leonard was only partly joking, since the fact that it involved Hartley's recommendation and the precise way in which Cisco was fumbling had led him to assume that this was an actually serious topic. It was a low bar, but out of Barry's circle of friends, Hartley was the most reasonable one. No, the bar really wasn't very high, between Barry being Barry, Cisco being Cisco, Caitlin's intensity and Ronnie, Iris and Eddie really not having a lot of an idea about the problems they were facing.

So he sat up, put the magazine to the side and looked at Cisco. "What's up?"

"So, okay, remember the guy with the face tattoo? The drop out? The scary guy? Oh yeah, dated your sister too." Yes, because that was the best detail to put at the end of the list, not at the start. Cisco smiled sheepishly and racked his brain for a good reference for his situation. What was a good film that would link up to his current issue? Oh! Maybe this could work. "Okay, so, have you ever seen 'I know what you did last summer?' ooor a least know the basic deets?"

Oh yeah, he was going with a slasher film. Great reference to go for. "Good film, actually. More of a thriller than a horror. Has the girl who plays Buffy in it. She's cute, I like her. Very badass. Oh, hey, you know who you sort of remind me of? Now I'm on the topic of Buffy. There's a guy in season three on the swim team and you know what? You two look alike. I was watching it the other day with Barry and he said you were hotter but I think that#s just boyfriend biased." Oh no, he was babbling.

"Yeah, I remember him." Lisa might have dated a lot of assholes, but not enough for Len to not vividly recall every one of them. "But no, I haven't watched that movie. Didn't seem up my alley." Why were they talking about movies and now Buffy? It was Cisco. Len wasn't even surprised. It honestly was easiest to just go with it, annoying as it could be. Cisco just babbled even more whenever he tried to get him to focus.

"I get that sometimes. Him and some guy from a Mariah Carey video." Not the best picks, but he didn't get a choice in this. "So what?"

"Oh, Caitlin forwarded me that." What? It went around the school when Axel tweeted it all 'Leonard Snart?!?!' and then everyone speculated if it was like an older brother or something. Now there was a whole missing Snart conspiracy theory. "You do look a lot like him actually. Do you have an older bro-- you know what, nevermind. That's very off topic but I do want to circle back to it."

Cisco didn't know how to do this so he just sort of shoved his hands into his pockets and glared aggressively at the floor. "Before I start giving you the full deets, I have to ask. Do you ... do you know about me?" He frowned a little. "You should know what I'm talking about if you know so just say now."

Leonard just gave Cisco a look until he stopped talking about the Mariah Carey thing. There were things he didn't feel like speculating over, especially not where his father might have procreated. Although, really, he just put the similarity down to a coincidence, it happened. Not as if they actually looked identical. Besides, he mostly got his looks from his mother, so it wouldn't make any sense anyway.

Instead he focused on what Cisco was finally starting to actually talk about and as he nodded, he decided to cut it short at least a little. "Yeah. The asshole giving you a hard time over it?"

"They want me to pay them to not tell everyone. They said if I don't give them money, they'll tell everyone at school. All my friends will know." Barry, Ronnie, Eddie, oh man, all the guys he liked were going to know and he had no idea how they were going to react. He couldn't stand the thought of all these people he loved thinking about him differently. "They said people should know about it."

Cisco didn't look down at his feet because it was very hard to have this conversation as it was without adding eye contact to it. "I was going to give them one of my grants and Hartley said they'd keep asking for more and then they could go after Lisa and I can't stand that idea. I mean ... they already threatened to do some pretty gross stuff to me, I don't want them to do it to Lisa."

"I told you before, Cisco. You point them out to me and I'll take care of it. You don't have to hold back with stuff like that. If you're in danger, if Lisa is in danger, you don't have to explain it, just tell me who to deal with." Leonard was thinking already, reaching for his phone so he could scroll through the contacts. "I'll deal with it. Don't you dare give them any money, how are you ever going to take care of my sister that way?"

"I thought giving them the money would take care of it. I know it was stupid but I just wanted it to go away." When it came to issues like this, Cisco had to be quick on his feet, he had to stomp it out before it got ruined. With a nervous frown, Cisco adjusted his shirt and finally looked back up at Leonard, obviously unsure of himself. "So... it doesn't bother you?" Cause it bothered most of his family and so far, only Hartley and Lisa seemed pretty cool with it. He was naturally uncertain.

"I get it, Cisco. But unfortunately problems are often harder to solve and sometimes you can't do it alone." Leonard arched his eyebrows, tilting his head to the side. "Mind what? You asking me for help with this? No. You're family. I'm keeping both of you safe, no matter what."

Leonard knew that wasn't what Cisco meant, but he felt it would be easier to act as if it was. He wasn't good at the heart to heart. "You're the only boy that's ever made my sister happy. That's what I care about."

Man, he did not want to get emotional in front of Leonard but that was literally the nicest thing anyone had ever said to him that wasn't Lisa saying 'I love you'. Cisco felt himself well up and no, no, he could so not cry when he was trying to prove he was a guy. He sniffed hard and bit down aggressive on his lip to try and hold it all back.

"Thank you." Why couldn't he hear those kind of words from Dante? His heart hurt and he just stood there, staring at Leonard, tears threatening to spill.

Edited 2016-07-18 19:05 (UTC)

"You'd do the same for me, I'm sure." It was said drily, but mostly Leonard just wasn't sure what exactly to say to all of that. He didn't mean to make Cisco cry here. "Go and pick a movie that you and Lisa can agree on, I might come watch for a bit."

"Okay." Cisco was still just sort of stunned and staring, knowing he should be less emotional over this but it was basically like wish fulfilment, the kind of words he was desperate to hear from his actual real family. Cisco nodded his head slowly and dumbly before he fumbled for a retreat because he didn't want to look any more pathetic in front of him. "I'll maybe see you in a few, dude."

Too Cool for School

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