Title: coffeeshop blues
Fandom: The Flash (TV)
Rating: PG
Length: 700
Content notes: No
Author notes: For fan-flashworks for the cake challenge. Also for trope bingo for the futurefic square.
Summary: Barry needs to have a very serious conversation with Len. Len needs a very serious cup of coffee.



Barry sped over and stopped right in front of Len, who was standing on the sidewalk outside CoffeeBucks.

“Banks are one thing. Robbing mom and pop shops is not cool,” Barry said, crossing his arms.

Len frowned. “If I’m going to listen to this level of self-righteousness this early in the morning, I’m going to need caffeine first,” he said wearily, then headed into the coffeeshop.

“I’m serious,” Barry whispered as Len got in line.

“They were the only place in town that had the part Mick needed,” Len said with a tired shrug. He turned to the barista and said, “Large coffee, black. And one of those chocolate peanut butter cupcakes.”

“You’re having cupcakes for breakfast?” Barry said, wrinkling his nose.

“Say one more judgmental thing, kid. See what happens.”

“Fine. Sorry. But the owners of the shop are really upset. The only had minimal insurance.”

Len grabbed his coffee and cupcake and sat at a table. Barry sat across from him, and repeated, “The shopowners.”

“Kid, we steal stuff. What do you expect?” He drank a long sip of coffee, closing his eyes in pleasure.

“I expect you to think about who you’re hurting.”


“Not really my style.” He took a bite of his cupcake then.

“It could be. You could be a different class of criminal,” Barry pressed.

“Wow, this is really good,” Len said, looking down at the cupcake.

“You could show the world that you’re not just some common criminal, that you—”

“Stop flattering my ego, kid, and try this,” Len said, shoving the cupcake right by Barry’s face.

Okay, the cupcake smelled really good.

Barry took a quick bite.

“Okay, yeah, that’s… amazing,” Barry said, still licking the peanut butter frosting that had stuck to his lips. “But, my point is, you could—”

“Just say what you want, kid.”

“…Give some of that stolen bank money to the couple who owns the shop.”

Len smirked at him a little, then took another bite of cake. “So you want me to steal from the bank and give the money to this couple?”

“No. You already stole from the bank. But I think if you just gave a small amount to cover the part you stole—”

“So it’s okay to steal as long as you share?” Len said, smiling wider.

“That’s not — I just mean, you have all that money, you might as well — you know what, you know what I mean!”

Len looked at him a long time. Finally, he raised his eyebrow and said, “Okay.”



Barry paused. “Okay?”

“Yeah. We’ll drop some cash on their table tonight. But next time you decide to annoy me at this ridiculously early hour, you have to buy the coffee.”

“…Yeah. It’s a deal.”

—

“So, that’s how it went down. Weird, right?” Barry asked them.

Caitlin and Cisco looked at each other.

“Barry,” Caitlin said, “It kind of sounds like that was a date.”



“Wha - no. Definitely not.”



Cisco crossed his arms. “You went out for coffee with him. Dude, you even shared a cupcake.”



“That’s not - it wasn’t like that — I mean the frosting was so good, that was why — you know what, you guys aren’t making any sense!”

“And it sounds like you basically just agreed to a second date,” Caitlin pointed out. Cisco just nodded, as if it were obvious.

Barry put his face in his hands. “So what do I do?”



“Interesting,” Caitlin said, voice full of smirk, “Some people would have said ‘Ew I’m totally not interested.’”

“I’m not interested, he’s a criminal!” Barry said.



“So that’s the only reason you’re not interested?” Cisco said.



“No, I mean, I don’t know, I— what are you guys saying?”

Cisco and Caitlin looked at each other again, in a way Barry didn’t appreciate at all.

“We’re not saying anything,” she said, smiling.

“Just that you asked a supervillain to pay for something he stole, and he said he would in exchange for you going out to coffee with him again. That’s all we’re saying,” Cisco said.

“I hate you both,” Barry said, rolling his eyes.

“The truth hurts, buddy,” Cisco said.

Caitlin nodded.

Barry sighed. “Why do I tell you guys anything?”