Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The Rogues were feeling good. They’d just pulled off a pretty big heist, and they were on their way out of town, fast. The back of the van was full of duffle bags stuffed with money, piled on top of eachother.

Leonard had just switched driving with Sam, and was now sat on the passenger side, Lisa pointing at the map he held, from over his shoulder.

Axel perched on some of the money bags, a little handheld gaming device playing music quietly. The death sound in the game played, and Axel moved up behind Lisa to look at the map too.
“Are we almost there? When’r we gonna get there? Actually, where are we going?”

They had clambered over Marco, then over Hartley, getting too in his personal space, so the Piper shoved them back over.

Axel got right back up, and Lisa glanced at the ruckus,
“We’re going out to a log cabin I used as a safehouse for a while, after that score, we’re layin’ real low”

Axel climbed back up to their perch on the moneybags, Lisa pointed to a few more locations on the map,
“See, right, and then you go straight for a while… yeah, and then turn, and you're there”

Leonard nodded,
“An’ then I can lay down”

Lisa rolled her eyes, and moved over to lean behind Sam, who was driving, and kissed him on the cheek,
“Yeah, then you can nap, old man”

Cold scowled, and Lisa moved back to sit squeezed in back with Mick and Piper.

Mick was clearly a little miffed, his part in the heist wasn't as big as it had originally been planned to be, and he was still itching to do something.

Piper had music playing, when the car fell silent it could be heard faintly, and Marco laid in back, trying to sleep. He had had a book earlier, but got mildly carsick, resolving himself to curl up and nap, wedged between the bags of money and back of the seats.

Axel had been keeping him awake, with the noise of their videogame, or climbing around. Marco had long since thrown his book at them, and now there wasn't much to do but try to ignore them.

They kept driving for a while, Leonard occasionally giving directions, the roads winding.
They were deep in the country by now.

There weren't many other people on the roads, out in the middle of nowhere, and coming upon one suddenly, Sam braked sharply, throwing Axel forward again, elbowing Marco in the leg.

Axel climbed back up,
“Damn!! How da’ya have a license?"

Sam eased up, and continued driving,
“I dont? They don't let you renew your license when you’ve got as many warrants out as I do”

“Seriously? Then why doesnt Snart drive?”

Leonard looked back at the mention of his name,
“Ya’ think I’m any better off?”

Axel moved so they could look out the window next to Mick, and those in the front could hear them better,
“Ya’know that makes me feel real safe, havin’ a dingus with no license in the driver's seat.”

The car turned sharply, knocking Axel back over, and Marco chuckled at Axel falling again, luckily not onto him this time.

Sam grinned into the review mirror,
“I’ll show you ‘dingus’”

Axel pouted, and Lisa exclaimed, “Turn! Turn here!”

Sam swerved again into a little driveway, almost invisible from the overgrown bushes.

Axel laid in back holding his hands up in triumph
“You didn’t get me that time! I was already down!”

The Rogues began collecting their bags, and Lisa reached back to nudge Axel,
“Yeah, well get up ‘dingus’ we’re here”

Sam turned and backed into an overgrown parking spot, covered with vines.

Axel was the first one out, practically bouncing towards the house.
Leonard was close behind, “Leave the money, it’ll be there in the morning.”

The rest of the Rogues filed into the house, and Lisa went off to the side of the house to turn on the water and AC.

The house was large, so big it barely qualified as a log cabin, with a large attic. It had a master bedroom on the first floor, and what seemed to be a kids room with two smaller beds, as well as a living room, kitchen, and dining room.
Upstairs there were two beds as well, the attic area was separated into two loose sections for privacy, with the staircase down in the middle.

As they did a lap of the first floor, Mick immediately took to the couch, unfolding a bearskin blanket off it and running his fingers through the fur.
The rest of the Rogues did a full round of the house, and Sam and Lisa called dibs on the master bedroom, and Len picked one of the twin size beds in the kids rooms.

Axel plopped their stuff on one of the attic beds, and began fiddling with their gameboy again.

The rest of the group left them to reconvene in the living room, finding Mick messing around with the fireplace. Lisa came back in from trying to turn on more utilities,
“Mick, gas’s not working, I only barely got AC on, and we’re probably going to still be hot. So no fire either way”

Mick scowled, and sat back on the couch. Marco, Hartley, Sam, Lisa, and Leonard took their seats as well, laying back on the other couch and two armchairs.

Marco turned to Hartley, “You should sleep upstairs with Axel”

Hartley looked at him incredulously,
“No way? I dont think that kid sleeps”

Marco made a turning motion behind his ears “well can't you just turn your things off?”

Hartley motioned to Leonard’s room, “my implants? Yeah, and that’ll help a lot cause Len snores, but if Trickster’s bouncing off the walls, running around, it won't do much”

Leonard grunted, fiddling with the lever on the side of his chair, trying and failing to make himself recline “not sorry”

Marco stood and walked over the Hartley,
“Rock paper scissors”

Hartley stared at him for a second, before shrugging, holding his hands up for the game.

Marco won the first round, but Hartley insisted on best of three, but still lost.

The Piper gathered his stuff, bringing it upstairs, and Marco moved his bag to the bed in the other room, opposite Leonard’s. Lisa walked off too, whispering something about setting something up to Sam.

Hartley came back downstairs, Axel close behind, and they positioned themself on the armrest of the coach Mick had laid out on.

A loud popping brought everyone's attention to Leonard, who had finally figured out the reclining mechanism on the chair. The older man laid back and closed his eyes, clearly much more comfortable. Hartley moved back to where he sat before, and they could hear Marco rustling in the other room.

Mick sat up, patting the seat next to him, looking at Axel
“Ya’ don't have to sit on the armrest, ya’ look like you’re gonna fall”
Axel dramatically fell onto the cushion, then righted themself and crossed their legs under them, tapping their fingers on the cushion under them.

Alongside a bunch of old timey paintings which decorated the inside of the house, was a large mirror. Sam stood and faced the mirror, combing his hair back with his fingers and leaning in to pick a spot on his chin.

Lisa came back into the living room soon, carrying a large machete and some other loose gardening tools piled in her arms.

Sam immediately turned and moved to sit back down, clearly hopeful she would join him, curling up.

She dumped the tools on the coffee table in the middle,
“If anyone’s still got energy theres a lot of plants on the water heater. I’m goin’ to bed though”

She looked at Leonard, sprawled on his back,
“Looks like some of us couldn’t even wait to get in bed”

Leonard didn’t open his eyes, but grunted in acknowledgment.

Lisa giggled and rounded the chair, coming up behind Sam and running her hand through his hair,
“Comeon, lets go to bed hon”

Marco looked up, “and remember me and Snart are next door. No funny business”

“Seconded” Leonard agreed

The remaining Rogues sat around the coffee table full of tools for a little longer, Axel was the next up, clearly bored, going back upstairs, and soon the beeping of his gameboy was heard again.

Mick stood, looking over the tools.
“I’m goin’ out, clear out the brush”

Marco looked at him suspiciously,
“With a machete, right?”

“Yeah, with the machete.”
Mick scowled. He clearly would have preferred to use a blowtorch to clear the plants

Marco stood,
“Well then i’m going to bed too, ‘night”

Hartley got up too, and Mick raised his eyebrows.
“You all going to bed? It's maybe four in the afternoon, sun aint even down?”

Hartley shrugged,
“Long day, big heist and a road trip, i’m not surprised we’re all turning in early.”

He made his way up the stairs, leaving Mick alone with Leonard, who was beginning to snore.

Mick gathered some bush trimmers as well as some sharpeners and went outside. He hadn't had much action at the heist and he felt like he needed to help out, so out he went.

Chapter Text

Mick had eventually turned in, finding Leonard had moved to his own bed, and Mick slept on the couch.

He’d found something in back, a wooden staircase going down. He would have to look further into that tomorrow.
He’d gone to check out the staircase last, and cleared most of the vines off the front, the middle of the staircase luckily less overgrown. But it was getting late, and he decided to investigate further in the morning. It wasn't like it was going anywhere, they would likely have to lay low at the house for at least a week.

The machete and clippers had made pretty decent work of the overgrown water heating unit and what looked like a bunker entrance nearby. He’d cleared that as well, and there wasn't much more to do around the house. He didn't want to touch much else because Lisa knew more about the house than he did.
There had also been some poison ivy in the back, which he had avoided like the plague.
Even before all his scar tissue, he had been ridiculously allergic, and frankly didn't want to spend his vacation time itching.

Morning did not come early, in fact it came very late, all of the rogues slept into almost noon. Apparently, a stressful heist and then road trip had, in fact, been quite tiring.
Hartley woke up first, and went down to the kitchen, careful not to make much noise. It didn't seem to work, and soon Lisa joined him, complaining about her partner’s blanket hogging.

She rummaged through the cupboards, producing boxes full of granola bars and jerky.

“The guys who lived here were kinda doomsday nuts, so there's a ton of nonperishables. There's more food in a bunker out back but it’s like, crazy cramped and overgrown.” She explained

Piper looked out the window, into the dense forest. He was still half asleep, he’d ended up staying up later than he would have wanted.
Axel had offered to let him try their gameboy, and it had been a lot more fun that he had anticipated.

Lisa patted his arm to get his attention, “you good? Sleep alright?”
Hartley nodded, and grabbed some granola bars,
“Hmm? Yeah, yeah.”

“Kid keep you up?”

“No, can't blame them, i’m just tired”

Lisa moved to some other drawers,
“There's a coffee machine on the fridge, and there should be some k-cups, I know I brought some last time I hid out here…”

“And how long ago was that? Doesn't coffee expire?”

Lisa looked around and gave him a look, "coffee don’t expire, and if it did they’d only be like two years old.”

Muffled video game start up noises came from above, and Hartley sat at the table,
“Regardless, I may pass on the coffee.”

A loud thump and then cursing from the other room signified Mick’s awakening.

The older man lumbered into the kitchen, stretching his arms out behind him.
“Fell off the damn couch… G’mornin’”

Lisa, finding the little box of coffee, stood up, “Mornin’ Mick’!”
She reached up and grabbed the little coffeemaker off the fridge and set it up.

Leonard followed soon after, woken by the noise of Mick falling. He did a bleary lap, opening and closing doors. He found a shoe closet, an empty closet, a pantry, a dark dining room and another bathroom.
Leonard motioned towards the empty closet.
“We ‘kin put all the money in there once everyone's up.

Leonard circled the table, watching Lisa plug in the coffee machine, looking for the button to turn it on. “Relax, i’ll make you a cup after mine”

Leonard grunted and turned to walk back into the other room, and she called after him,
“See if you can get Sam up! I didn't have the heart to wake him up, but i’m going to get started with breakfast soon!”

Cold walked off, and knocked loudly on Sam and Lisa’s room, and then sat back in the old recliner he had claimed the previous afternoon.

Lisa had gotten the coffee machine working, and it whirred quietly while she fished through the pantry, pulling out peanut butter and bags of dried fruit, putting it on the oven.

She spread the food out, and stood with her hands on hips, proud of the collection,
“Mostly soup in the pantry. I think I remember oats in the bunker… I might go and see if i can get in there and turn the water heater on”

She made her way, passing the door to the living room and noticed the brush-clearing tools were gone,
“One of y’all actually cleared out?”

Mick raised his hand, a little sheepish, and Lisa smiled, “I honestly thought we all crashed last night, thanks Mick”

Mick nodded his head in acknowledgement, “Watch out for the poison ivy, there's a lot in back”
Lisa gave him a little salute, and disappeared out back.

Apparently all the doors and noise had finally woken Marco and Sam up, and they came to the kitchen within minutes of eachother.

There weren't enough chairs for both of them and the Rogues already in the kitchen, so Mick gave up his seat, and went to a room on the far side of the kitchen, flicking the light to reveal a very dusty dining room.

He started moving a couple chairs into the kitchen, and Marco peeked around behind him,
“Damn, how big is this place?”
Mick shrugged, "there's a door on the far side in there, but I figure it can't get much bigger after that.”

Sam whistled in appreciation, and Marco looked a little unnerved, “Bigger on the inside than the outside? Read a book about that a little while ago.”
Sam looked at him, still considering going back to bed, “hmm. What book?”

“House of Leaves, its a wonderful abstract work of psychological horror, it's got elements of classic metafiction and-“

Sam cut him off, “Nerd. Wheres Lisa?”

Marco scowled, “Out”

“Out where, weatherboy? I thought we weren’t leaving the house until at least a week past.”

Sam was clearly irritable, having just woken up, and Marco seemed just about ready to punch him, but luckily Axel had finally decided to come downstairs.

Their loud footsteps cut off what was quickly becoming a fight, and they burst into the kitchen, already with a huge gum bubble blown.

“S’ the food for everyone? I’m hungry!”

Mick nodded and motioned towards it, giving them the go ahead. Axel moved towards the oven taking their gum out, and Mick shoved a napkin into their hand,
“Dont go sticking your gum on shit. ‘S nasty”

The kid stuck the gum in the napkin, and threw it in the trash, then moved to grab another napkin and put a mix of dried fruit on it, before wrapping it up, holding the four corners to move it to the table.

The coffee machine whirred to a halt, and Mick took the hot drink out and placed it in front of Hartley, who obviously needed it most.

Hartley had been sitting there with his head in his hand, staring at the side of the stairs since he had gotten up. The motion seemed to wake him up a little, and he picked it up and began sipping, clearly forgetting his previous conversation with Lisa and his concerns of expiration.

He made a bit of a face at the hot black coffee, a little strong for his taste, but kept sipping tentatively.

Mick put another cup on the coffee machine and filled the machine back up with bottled water, leaning against the counter and crossing his arms.
The opening and shutting of the door drew their attention, Lisa was back.

She had a large package and two smaller ones stacked in her arms, and plopped it on the far side of the counter and moved the packs next to each other.
One smaller package was dried milk, and the other was lemonade mix. The larger was oats, and she got started making herself a bowl, mixing dried strawberries and milk-mixture in.

Soon everyone else followed suit, making themself breakfast, and Mick went to the other room to wake Leonard back up.

Not thrilled to be out of the recliner, Leonard reentered the kitchen after Mick, and cleared his throat.
“After breakfast we’re puttin’ the money in the house. After that we’re taking stock of the house and doin’ anythin’ else Lisa says”

Everyone nodded, and the coffee machine finished making another cup. Standing closest to it, Snart grabbed it, and mixed himself oats and peanut butter, then went back to the other room.

Axel pouted,
“Kin’ i have coffee next?”

Marco snorted and Piper raised his eyebrows at the younger rogue,
“You don't need the extra caffeine, besides, I doubt you’d like it”

Axel motioned at Hartley’s mug,
“Yall like it so much, ‘sides i get frappachinos all the time and they’re great!”

Mick smiled a little, pouring more water into the machine, “Piper, why don’t you let them try some of yours?”

Hartley frowned, and looked disgustedly at Axel,, who was looking back at him expectantly.
“C’mon man. I don't got cooties.”

Piper slid the coffee towards Axel and they took a big sip before making an absolutely disgusted face.
“What the fuck? That tastes like ass!”

They wiped their mouth and Sam laughed,
“How have you not had black coffee before? Damn!”

Axel stuffed their mouth with more of the sweet dried fruit,
“How have you!… umm..”
Unable to come up with a comeback, they just grimaced at the lingering taste.

The Rogues finished breakfast, or what based on the time was technically lunch, and Mick went out back.
Knowing Leonard, he would give the rogues a decent amount of time to eat, and in the meantime he wanted to check out whatever was at the bottom of the wooden stairs in back.

Mick’s assumption was a very off, and soon Cold came back into the kitchen to gather everyone. They stood, and Lisa opened the empty closet Leonard had designated earlier,
“We can put the bags in here”
They filed out, and in a few trips they had most of the money in the house, just gathering the odd bill from the back of seats and in crevices.

Mick finally came back, Leonard asked him “where’d you go?”
He seemed surprisingly not angry, so Mick pointed in the vague direction of his discovery,
“Something I think yall are going to want to see. But it can wait. Until tomorrow”

Leonard shrugged, and continued helping Axel pick the last bills out of cracks in the seats. Marco and Piper had stayed inside after all the bags were in, and Lisa had found something by the edge of the property, Sam close to follow her, so Leonard, Axel, and Mick went to join her.

When she noticed them coming over, she held up a hand,
“Wild blackberries! They’re all over”

Upon a closer look, the yard was indeed circled in the bushes.
Lisa had one of the bags they had used for the money, luckily empty, and had it half filled with berries.

Axel moved beside her and began plucking them off, popping the sweet fruits in their mouth.

Mick peered over, into the underbrush,
“Careful, looks like there might be snakes.”

Sam moved uneasily away from the bushes, and Axel grinned,
“Sick! Snakes are cool! I saw a tree frog on the upstairs window this morning!”

They went back to picking berries and eating them straight off the bush

Leonard reached to grab a berry, “should we tell them that we oughta to wash ‘em?”

Lisa grinned,
“Nah, remember when we were little, and you would take me on your bike and we would go pick wild blackberries at the end of the street? We would put them in the freezer and mash 'em up like ice cream. We ate plenty of them raw, an’ we turned out fine.”

Leonard almost smiled at the memory, and popped a berry in his mouth,
“Fair nuff”

Mick had walked a couple feet down, and went deeper into the brush, completely disregarding his own warning about snakes,
“Theres some curly dock down here, i’m going to grab some”

Sam peered over, through the thick foliage,
“Didnt think you’d be a foraging type, Mick”

Mick didn't turn around,
“Hrmph. Was in boy scouts”

“Bet that went great. You and an open fire”

Lisa brushed against Sam
“Did you wake up itchin’ for a fight or something?”

Sam tried to lean into Lisa,
“No, i was just joking,”

Lisa shoved him playfully, and went back to picking blackberries, Leonard occasionally handing her some to put in the bag as they moved along the edge of the yard.

Axel had begun moving down the yard, in the opposite direction, but yelped, and walked over behind them, sucking their pinkie.
They’d got a thorn in their finger, and managed to push it out pretty easily, but had lost the taste for berrypicking.

Mick had started bringing leaves and clusters of red berries, he had called them “smooth sumac” and brought them along with the curly dock out for Axel to hold whenever his hands were too full to continue.
They held out their oversized shirt, using it to hold the plants.

Eventually the group circled the yard and the sun dipped in the sky, so they headed back inside

Lisa filled a noodle strainer with the blackberries and Axel dumped his pile of Mick’s collection on top.
They moved away, grabbing some more dried fruit and went upstairs, the beeping of the videogame audible when they opened the door, Hartley had swiped the gameboy again

Mick moved in, taking the smooth sumac clusters of berries out of the strainer, the holes were big enough that those berries could fall through, and he placed them to the side, sorting their findings and preparing for dinner

Lisa had went back into the living room, Sam, and Leonard behind her, to find Marco going through some old boxes stuffed behind a sofa.
When he heard them enter, Marco straightened,
“Lotta old records. Pipers going to be thrilled.”

Lisa looks over at the boxes, disinterested,
“Hmm. I’m going to take a shower, I got hot water working, and i’ve been in these clothes for two days, hope I find somethin’ that fits.”

She turned to address the other rogues,
“That goes for the rest of yall, take what you want from the house, free range”

Marco lifted his arm, smelling for body odor,
“I’ll probably shower after you’re done, do we have shampoo? I didnt see any in the main bathroom”
“There's another bathroom with a closet connected to me and Sam’s room, it’s full of stuff, and that's where the working shower is. I couldn't get the hot water connected to the other one.”

Len snorted, “Or you could just use soap, stead of all those prissy-ass potions”

Marco ran his fingers through his, at this point, rather oily hair, “you think this comes from soap and water-“

Lisa interrupted him, incredulous, “Len, do you not wash your hair properly? You can’t just use soap, how are you not crusty or bald?”

Leonard, obviously regretting his previous admission, ran a hand through his hair, suddenly self-conscious.
“Well, most of the time, but I mean, we dont always have access to it, and Iron Height’s conditioner gives me hives-“

Lisa ignored him.
“Thats gross, I’m going to shower, and leave Mr nasty-ass dandruff to y’all”

The elder Snart scowled, more than usual as she left, and Mick peeked in from the kitchen,
“I don't use shampoo or conditioner”

Axel slid by Mick, coming back downstairs to the living room, and smacked Mick’s head, as they passed.
“Yeah! Cause yyyyyou’re bald!”

Mick nodded solemnly, “damn straight” and went back to the kitchen.

He had been picking the red berries off the smooth sumac and was boiling them to make a drink.
Lisa had brought some lemonade mix in in the morning, and the first one had the seal broken unfortunately and was a solid block, but the second was sealed and fresh.
Mick intended to mix the sumac with some lemonade to sweeten it a little, but in the meantime he set the berries to boil

He had been cleaning and putting the curly dock into another large bowl, and had found enough other supplies to make a decent vinaigrette, despite the kitchen’s limitations.

He had called up to Piper to watch the stove, and when the musician came down, Mick went out to the bunker out back to see if he could find any suitable spices.
The selection of non-perishable spices wasn't huge, but Mick still brought a decent armful back inside.

Piper sat on the counter, not moving when Mick came back in. When a few minutes passed, and he still didn't go anywhere, Mick asked him about it.

Piper shrugged,
“When you were out Axel went back up. They're probably on the game so I figured i’ll sit for a while.”

“Hrmmph. They got a lotta dill.”

“What?”

“Out in the bunker. There's a bin of big pound bags of dill.”

Piper just raised his eyebrows and fiddled with the napkin holder.

Chapter Text

Eventually Lisa came out of the shower, her hair all wrapped in a towel, and motioned for Marco to take his turn. She had found some clothes, an almost comically old-timey nightgown and an old brown housecoat she‘d slung over it.
She curled up next to Sam and he moved to put an arm around her.
She put his arm back down and waggled her finger.
“Nuh uh, stinky man pits!”
Sam made a face, but clearly wasn't too bothered as she nuzzled into his shoulder.

Leonard scowled at the PDA and went into the kitchen to check on Mick.

He stood behind Piper for a little while, watching Mick work,
“Anyone went into the far room?”
Leonard gestured towards the dark dining room he had peeked into earlier.

“No, have at it”

Snart went over, flicking the light on and disappeared through the far door.

Mick continued, happily stirring the berries and mixing the salad, Lisa called out from the other room.
“Mick?”

“What?”

“Tupperwares top shelf on the right, make whatever you want for dinner.”

Mick nodded and started rooting through the pantry. He found some pasta and canned tomato sauce.
He carefully examined the packaging, making sure none of it was broken, and laid it out on the counter.
Before he could start making pasta, he had to finish the smooth sumac lemonade to make room on the stove.

He mushed some of the berries against the side of the boiling pot, and once satisfied, strained it into a pitcher to cool. He ran out of room in the first pitcher and found another and continued to progress until only the strained berry bits remained, which he washed out in the sink.

Leonard's voice came from the far room, “Hartley, come in here”, and Hartley obliged, following where the older man had gone moments earlier.

Mick continued cooking, reusing the pot, refilling it with water and adding some salt and the dry pasta. He put it back on the stove, and soon Leonard and Piper came back through, holding an old looking TV.
They stumbled through the kitchen and Mick tried his best to squeeze against the counter, a difficult feat for a man as large as himself.

Some more struggling and eventually them setting the TV down was heard from the other room, before the two men came back to the kitchen, pausing before their next trip.

Mick didnt look up from his cooking, “do we even got something to put on the tv?”

Hartley leaned against the back of the chair he had been sitting on earlier,
“Yeah, there’s a shit ton of VHS tapes back in there. Some furniture too, weights, few inner tubes, lot of camping stuff”

Len went back into the other room and came back a moment later with a laundry bin of the aforementioned VHS tapes.

Hartley made his way back up the stairs, and Mick called after him, “tell Axel’s dinners in thirty”

Hartley gave him a thumbs up and disappeared upstairs.
Mick moved to the other room, making the same declaration, he got a round of nods, and went back to the kitchen.

The elder Snart was still working to set up the TV, trying to find a table to put the box on. He eventually found a big basket and just put it upside down, and then the TV on top of it.

Marco eventually came back in, a far too large tee-shirt with an ambiguous business logo on it, and obviously women’s pajama pants, covered in big pink stripes with white hearts.

He had combed his hair all the way back, and it wasn't fully dry yet, still occasionally dripping onto the back of his tee shirt.
He frowned at Lisa,
“You left the floor soaking wet”
Lisa just shrugged,
“Forgot a washcloth and my hair was wet by the time I remembered.”

Marco just rolled his eyes and went into the other room, the one he and Len had slept in, closing the door behind himself. Sam stood up, smoothing his hair back,
“I better go get a shower, gotta stay fresh n’ clean for the missus,”
He leaned in to kiss Lisa and Leonard scowled to himself at the TV.

He disappeared into the master bedroom, and Marco came back into the living room soon after, now wearing a normal pair of sweatpants.
He sat down opposite Lisa, and kicked up his feet,
“Sam went to shower?”

Lisa nodded and he continued, “Our room,” he gestured to Leonard, and then the room they had shared, “got all the real clothes, wonder what he’s gonna come out wearing”

Lisa snorted, “i didn’t check all the drawers, but i’ll take your word for it, since those pants were the best you could find”
Marco grabbed a book from where he had left it on the closest shelf,
“I got lucky with the shirt, can’t wait to see”

A while passed, and Sam came back, peeking his head out the door,
“Hon, could you grab me some clothes? There’s nothing good in here.”
He ducked back behind the door, and Lisa got up, giving Marco a ‘better luck next time’ look.

He barely looked up from his book, mumbling “Shame, I was low on blackmail for him.”

Lisa brought some black sweatpants and a green shirt into the other room for Sam, and soon Mick called everyone in for dinner.

He had made a nice spread on the table, a big bowl of salad and a platter of Spaghetti in the center. He hadn’t put out dishes, so as the Rogues filed in, they grabbed their own from the cupboards.

Eventually most of the Rogues came into the kitchen to sit at the table. Unfortunately, there wasn't much room, so they sat crowded around the table, and Axel sat on the far countertop.

After a while Lisa and Sam weren’t back, so Hartley went to go grab them. He thought it was fine, because the door had been left open, but as soon as he walked in, Lisa could be heard yelping, and he turned on his heel, going back to the kitchen.
“Kissing.” He said shortly as an explanation, and grabbed another serving of the salad.

Soon Sam and Lisa came back in, smiling and leaning against each other.
Once they entered, Axel began,
“Scudder and Lisa sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-“
Leonard reached behind his back to smack Axel’s leg before they could finish the rhyme.

Pretty much everyone finished their first serving, and a few went back for more. Once it seemed like everyone was finished enough that they might start leaving, Mick stood to give his announcement.
“I found a place to swim down the stairs in the back, I'm goin’ down tomorrow morning.”

Lisa leaned against Sam, “are you inviting us? Cause there’s a bunch of swimsuits in the top of the closet.”

Mick nodded, and a round of nods and ‘i’m downs’ indicated everyone would go.
Leonard was the last to agree, but once everyone else was going he’d figured he have to.

Mick nodded, “Oh, almost forgot. I made sumac lemonade too”

He got a pitcher of the reddish lemonade out of the fridge and put it on the counter and made himself a glass.

Axel grabbed himself a glass next, and Mick made his way back to the living room,
“If y’all run out, theres more in the fridge”

He laid back in the living room, leaving the rest in the kitchen to finish.

Leonard was the next to go, announcing that it was Marco’s week to do dishes, then passing Mick to go into the master bedroom to shower.

Marco grumbled, but stood and began wiping down the dishes.
Axel began rummaging through the pantry, craving something sweet, the lemonade not satisfying their craving.

Hartley, Sam and Lisa remained at the table, Sam and Lisa were trying to remake the spaghetti scene from lady and the tramp, but were doing an awful job.
Hartley picked at his remaining salad, occasionally looking up to scowl at the lovers.

Axel eventually found some granny-style caramels, and popped one in his mouth,
“Yall excited to swim?”

Hartley looked at the candies distastefully,
“You know those expire, right?”

Lisa pulled away from Sam to everyone’s relief, “I’m excited! it’s been forever that i’ve swam somewhere non-chlorinated, besides, I found a cute bikini top in one of the dressers.”

Marco turned away, pausing from the dishes,
“There are normal swimsuits too, right? Like board shorts?”

Lisa shrugged, “yeah, and some swim shirts for those of us who sunburn easy”

Lisa nodded towards Hartley and Axel, indicating them as the aforementioned people who sunburn easily.

Hartley shrugged, and Sam spoke up, “we can all swim, right?”

Lisa nodded, “Mick and Lenny can, I’ve dragged them along to the pool before…. I know you can”

Sam frowned, “yeah… but it’s been a couple years”

Marco put a suds-covered hand up, “I swim.”

Hartley grimaced, “Last time I went swimming I lived with my parents. But it’s like riding a bike, right”

“I mean, kinda? How about you Axel?” Lisa asked

Axel, put their hands behind themself, “Well… not really. I mean I can probably figure it out? I watched some youtube videos a while ago…”

“So you cant swim”

Axel frowned, and crossed their arms
“No, not really”

Lisa clapped her hands and stood up, “So one of us will have to teach you.”

Sam stood to join her, “how can you not swim? Marco, like, regularly floods places”

Axel goes back to his candies, “yeah, but not ever above the waist, an’ I can always just fly off”

Sam scoffed, “Your shoes always get wet so you can't fly, an’ then you mope about it ‘till you can fix ‘em

Hartley got up too, putting his dishes on the counter for Marco,
“Speaking of water getting in technology, i’m going to go make sure all my hearing aids parts are waterproof, otherwise i’ll be signing to you for the next few weeks”

Lisa smiled and clumsily signed “good luck” to him

Axel nodded solemnly and signed “bullshit”. They had been learning sign language and someone had taught them it, making ‘bullshit’ their new favorite sign.
Much to Hartley, and pretty much everyone else’s annoyance, they tried to slip it into everyday conversation. Or just randomly.

Hartley rolled his eyes and disappeared back upstairs.

Lisa and Sam went back to the living room, and Marco followed soon after. Mick had been working to figure out the VHS player and old television, but eventually gave up, leaving it to Scudder and Walker, the Rogue’s techies.

Axel had loudly proclaimed that “I don’t know how to use all that old stuff” and Sam ended up setting it up.

Honestly pretty much any of the other Rogues could have figured it out, but it was just easier to pass it off to Sam, and if he complained, they would stroke his ego a little for being ‘the only one smart enough to do it’

About the same time as the TV started working, Leonard came back to the master bedroom, with a towel wrapped around him. He looked pissed, and quickly walked to the other bedroom.
Axel called after him,
“Put a shirt on old man!”, and Leonard flipped him off, before closing the door behind him.

Lisa sat with her legs crossed, picking through the plastic laundry bin of VHS tapes, and separated them into little piles, and Axel had settled in behind her, occasionally commenting on movies.
Hartley came back down, peeking through the doorway,
“Is anyone in the shower?”

Marco shook his head, “no, but i’d wait to grab clothes from my room, less you want to wear a frilly-ass nightgown. Give it a minute though, Snarts changing.”

Piper waited in the doorway, but peered over at Lisa’s movie pile.
“Ooh… they’ve got The Empire Strikes back. And Miss Congeniality… I haven't seen that one in years… Are there any musicals?”

Marco snorted, “Course you’d want a musical.”

Piper raised his eyebrows, playfully accusatory, and Marco rolled his eyes,
“No, not because you're gay- I mean cause your whole gimmick is music. It's like I wanted to see…”

Marco paused, unable to think of a weather related movie.
Axel offered “Cloudy with a chance of meatballs”, and Lisa said “Sharknado” at the same time.

Marco nodded, “yeah, a weather movie”

Leonard came back out of the room, now changed into a huge black sweatshirt with a big American flag on the back, and some navy sweatpants.
Piper slipped by him, into the room, and grabbed himself a change of clothes, before going into the master bedroom for his shower.

The elder Snart plopped back on the recliner he had claimed, “Right, now Pipers in, only Mick and Axel gotta shower?”

Mick nodded, and Axel shook their head, “I’m just going in the water in the morning an’ then i’ll just be gross again”

Leonard frowned, Axel was notorious for forgetting to shower, “I’ll let it slide. So long as you shower tomorrow”

Axel nodded and Leonard continued fiddling with the reclining mechanism on the chair, cursing until it jolted into place.

Lisa held up a VHS to the group,
“Naked Gun! What do we think?”

Sam leaned over, “what’s it about?”

“Its a Comedy, the kind of thing I think Axel’d like, it’s a classic. You ever see Airplane? It’s kinda like that”

Sam shrugged, and Axel held up some tapes, “Jaws? The Great Train Robbery? Terminator? Phantom of the Opera? E.T?”

Lisa looked at the tapes in the kid’s hand, “Mick loves Terminator, Pipers talked about liking Phantom… The Great Train Robbery looks good though. A little old…”

Sam leaned into her, looking at the tapes, “I’d be fine with Phantom of the Opera… The Great Train Robbery sounds good though too… is that Sean Connery?”

Axel squinted at the tape, “Yeah, I think so”

Lisa looked at the pile, “I don't see much else, a lot are unlabeled. Show of hands for Phantom of the Opera?”

Marco raised his hand, and Lisa continued, “I’ll count a vote for Hartley on that one, he loves that show. Votes for The Great Train Robbery?”
Axel, Sam, Leonard, and her hand went up.

“The Great Train Robbery it is then”

Axel began piling the VHS tapes back in. “Who’da thought a bunch of thieves’d pick a heist movie.”

Lisa and Sam curled back up on the couch, Lisa kicking her legs over his lap, and Axel stayed on the floor, pushing the VHS tape in and pressing a few buttons. Once the TV flickered on, they moved back against the couch, between where Lisa and Sam cuddled, and Mick sat.

Once some commercials played, some banging came from the master bedroom and Hartley came out, his wet hair wrapped in a towel. He was still grumbling about ‘that damn dresser drawer” but moved to sit on the couch next to Marco.

Marco moved his feet down, he had previously had them sprawled, and Mick stood back up.
“My turn to shower”

Lisa got up too, “wait, i’m going to grab the polish from the bathroom and do my nails”

Mick shrugged, and she slipped in front of him to the bathroom.
Axel turned around to Sam, “How do you pause it?”
Sam shrugged, “i dunno. Lisa will be right back so it doesn't really matter”

Sure enough, Lisa was back, and the faint sound of water running could be heard when she reentered.

In her arms was a plastic bucket, full of nail polishes, and Axel immediately got to laying them out. Mick had flipped the light-switch off, so they held each bottle out at an angle, to gauge the color by the light of the TV.

Lisa sat down, back next to Sam, and leaned down as he put his arm around her lower back. Axel handed her up a pretty golden color that shone red at an angle, and looked at her questioningly.

Lisa nodded and took it, turning it in the light,
“Does nail polish expire?”

Axel shook their head, making a face that indicated that that the question was a ridiculous one.

They picked up another bottle, a neon yellow, but frowned when they noticed it was just a top coat, moving onto a green with blue flecks.

They unscrewed the bottle, struggling a little, but eventually uncapped it, revealing a thick sludge.
“I take it back, this is definitely expired.”

Lisa had uncapped the gold-red polish, and it seemed normal, “Lucky not all of them are”
She did a swatch on the skin at the base of her thumb and turned the polish in the light.

Marco quietly shushed them, and Lisa put her hands up in mock surrender, before immediately going back to grab a rose gold polish from the bucket.

She made another swatch under the red-gold, and showed it to Axel, silently asking which they thought looked better. Axel looked at her, squinting at the colors, and pointed to the rose gold.

Lisa shrugged and nodded, and began painting her nails the rose gold, except one ring finger, which she left for a ‘glam finger’

Axel had found a set of matching metallic polishes and was alternating fingers between four of the bright colors.
Once they deemed their nails to be dry enough, they did a top coat of a chunky confetti glitter. They held out their fingers and leaned against Lisa and the couch, splaying their fingers and waiting for them to dry so they could paint their toes next.

Leonard let out a loud weird grunt, and soon it became clear he’d fallen asleep and was snoring. It took away from the movie, listening to him dad-snore, but nobody seemed to care. Sam was content watching Lisa and Axel paint, and Marco had picked up a book, occasionally looking up if something loud happened.

Lisa’s first layer had dried before Axel’s and she leaned forward again to look through the polishes, holding up a green to Axel, “for my glam finger?”
Axel nodded, it was a nice emerald, and the muted rose gold made it pop, plus the fine glitter was of a consistency similar to the gold, so they almost looked made for each-other.

Lisa began carefully painting the final nail, and Sam leaned over her shoulder, “matching my costume, huh“

Lisa leaned into him, focusing on not getting the paint on her cuticles, “Maybe..”
She smiled slightly, and stuck out her tongue, focusing.

Axel decided their fingers had dried, and moved to their toes, digging through the polishes, and finding a white polish with blue chunks mixed in. They looked up at Captain Cold, asleep in the recliner and got a bad idea.

They held the polish up to Lisa and pointed at the sleeping Snart. She immediately knew what they wanted to do, and snickered, giving them a thumbs up.

Axel snuck over and got at an angle so they could paint Leonard’s toes. Luckily, he hadn't put on socks after his shower, otherwise Axel might not have been able to take them off without waking him up.

Just as Axel had finished the first foot, Leonard snorted and moved his arm, and Axel jumped back, looking to see if he’d woken up.

Luckily Leonard just seemed to have shifted in his sleep, and once Axel was sure of his unconsciousness again, they moved onto the other foot.
They finished quickly and moved back to Lisa, barely containing giggles, and giving her a double thumbs up.

Lisa grinned, and Piper got up to leave. When Cold woke up he would probably be furious.
Well, if he didn't just stumble into bed and actually looked at his feet he would be. But Hartley wasn't taking that chance and took it as a sign to turn in early.

Lisa whispered after him, “There’s toothbrushes in the hall closet”
Piper nodded, and grabbed some, going to the far bathroom to brush teeth and then go to bed.

Lisa painted a topcoat on her nails to keep them shiny and Axel started on their toes. They found an obnoxious fuchsia and painted their big toes with that, and then painted the little toes alternating blue and yellow.

Mick came back in, he hadn't bought clothes into the bathroom, so had been forced to pick from the women’s pajamas. He’d found a huge teal nightgown that was just about the only thing that fit him and plopped down on the far side of the couch Lisa and Sam sat on.

Marco was tempted to take pictures to use as blackmail later, but he doubted Mick would care enough for it to be of any use.

The movie was at the climax, close to its end, so Lisa hurriedly painted her toenails the same fuchsia as Axel had on their big toes. She lifted her legs off the ground, wiggling her toes in the air in an attempt to make them dry faster, and Axel scooted away from the wriggling toes.

They’d found a fine tip white polish and were doing little polka dots on their fingers, hoping they would dry by the time they went to bed.

As soon as the movie’s credits started rolling, Marco got up, and went to brush teeth. He expected the Rogues would soon clog up the bathroom and wanted to be out by the time that started.

Sam kissed Lisa on the cheek and went to grab bushes and toothpaste from the closet and brought them back to the bathroom in the master bedroom.
Axel waved their hands in the air, watching the credits roll, waiting for their nails to finish drying, before following Sam to drop off the nail polish back in the master bathroom.
Leonard was still fast asleep, and Mick had dozed off too at some point during the movie.

When Axel went to brush teeth, he found that Piper had dug up some masking tape and labeled his toothbrush, and Marco had done the same thing, following his example.

They got ready for bed and went upstairs.

Axel walked up behind Piper, who was fiddling with something.
“Whatcha doing” Axel asked, but for no response.
They got closer and saw why, Piper had taken some parts of their hearing aids out and was tinkering with them. Axel moved around in front of him and spoke, signing along with the words.
“What are you doing?”

Piper looked up and rolled his eyes,
“Switching out my mods for waterproof parts”

Axel leaned in and peered at the parts. They didn't know much about Piper’s gadgets, but all the precise bits still were interesting.

Hartley put a hand up and flicked Axel on the forehead, making them move back.
They pouted and made a show of sadly walking over to their bed, before flinging themself dramatically onto the bed.

Piper just ignored them, switching pieces out. A lot of the modifications were just weapons he had built in, but didnt need to hear, and still more were for better control of volume along with a few experimental parts that could minimally read brainwaves, so he could activate gadgets with a thought.

He obviously didnt need all the weapons for a swim, so he took most of them out, leaving some of the water proof gadgets and pieces that would disrupt other functions if removed
He placed the delicate technology in a cloth lined box, before tucking it in with his stuff and going to bed.

He looked over to see Axel had already fallen asleep, upside down, with their leg on the nightstand. Piper reached up, and turned the light off.

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

The wooden stairs were in decent shape, all things considered. A handrail had kept it relatively clear of overgrowth, but it was hard to hold the whole way down due to vines.
The wood was somewhat cracked in places, and splintered up in others, but the sections were easy enough to avoid.

There were a couple sections where the path went flat and they turned to walk, and soon enough they came upon the river. There was a nice clear pond-section, where the water was deep between two waterfalls on both sides. The stairs didn't go all the way down, presumably a little rockslide or heavy rain had collapsed all the wood to the edge of the water.
A more intact set of stairs branched back upwards to a little outlook.

Mick made his way down the side of the mountain, not necessarily gracefully, but pretty easily making it down to the flat dozen feet within the water’s edge. The rest of the Rogues were left to try and follow his steps, Lisa and Axel making down first.
Mick had already waded into the water up to his waist, and was making his way towards the deeper section.

There was a line along the shore of three to four feet, but after that the water got deep, fast. By the time Mick had gotten to the deep end, the rest of the group was back on solid, flat land, and Axel, Lisa, Hartley, and Leonard were wading into the water. Axel made it up to their chest, and stopped there, Hartley and Leonard stopped close behind.
Lisa swam out to Mick, and splashed him, and Mick splashed her right back. Sam looked hesitant to get in the water, but eventually made his way in.
Marco chose to lay out a towel on the shoreline, and pull the book he’d been reading out.

Mick swam around, doing a full lap of the pond, and diving down to check deepness at regular intervals. He had brought his welding goggles, which were airtight, so could also work as swimming goggles.

Lisa came back towards the shoreline, out of the deep water to join the larger group. She stood up, her feet finding solid ground again.

Leonard was looking at the shoreline, looking to see if there was an easier way to get up the hill, and Lisa came up behind him, jumping on his back. At the sudden weight, he stumbled forward, face first into the water. Lisa moved back, laughing.

Leonard stood back up, his wet hair now plastered to his forehead. It’d been growing out a little, he relied on the Iron height’s monthly haircuts, but he’d been in and out of jail around the time they happened, so the wet strands were all in his eyes.

He cursed,
“Fuck? What was that for?”

Lisa shrugged, “gotcha!”

She turned to join the others and Leonard dipped back in the water, doing back underwater, and coming up face first so his hair wouldn’t drip in his face. He wandered out a little further to watch Mick, who had come up on the other side of the pond and was messing around with something in the underbrush.

Piper dipped under the water, not wanting Lisa to try and dunk him next, but she just grasp onto Sam’s arm, looking over to Hartley,
“Hart, d’ya think you can teach Axel to swim. They said they couldn’t”
Hartley bent his legs underwater, so that just his head was above the surfice.
“No? I havent swam in like… almost 20 years?”
“Old” Axel quietly muttered

Hartley heard them, you couldn’t get away with muttering anything around him.
“Ok, so I’m definitely not teaching them.”

Lisa looked to Sam, and he averted his eyes nervously. He wasn't confident in his own ability to swim, but wasn't about to tell Lisa that.
“No thanks.”

Lisa lowered herself in the water.
“Alright, take your legs off the bottom and try to stay afloat. Tread water.”

Axel tried to do so, bobbing a little before getting the hang of it. Sam covertly did the same over her shoulder.

Lisa stood again, “great job. Now do it forwards and you’re doggy paddeling.”

Axel still struggled a little, but kept repeating the motions, occasionally standing back up to catch their bearings. They took to it well, the antigravity of their airboots must’ve given them some vital core balance that helped they keep their bearings.

Sam stood as soon as Lisa turned back around to splash with him, and Hartley looked out over the water.
“What the hell is he doing?”

The group looked up to see Mick climbing out of the water at the far end of the pond, disappearing into the underbrush. Leonard shrugged,
“Eh. He’ll be back.”

Hartley looked at him a little worried, but Lisa broke him out of his concerns,
“Marco, come join us, the water’s great!” she called out

He called back, “We just ate, you’re not supposed to get in the water until thirty minutes after!”

Lisa looked back to Sam and he shrugged, “I think i’ve heard that before? Apparently you can get cramps?”

She looked at him a little incredulously, but Mick hollered out over the water, taking their attention,
“Lookit what I found!”
He held something over his head,
“Antlers!!”

Axel called back, “Can ya bring it over here? I wanna see!”

Hartley called out too, “No, you don’t have to do that!”

Mick held the bone above his head, waving it for Axel to see, before diving back into the water and swimming back. He was very fast, not what would be expected of a man in water, who’s element is definitively fire.

He surficed again near the group, standing, and holding the antlers up to show the group. Hartley makes a face and steps away, while everyone else leans in to look at his find.

Mick ran his finger over the bone, “looks like deer. Surprised to find any this late in the season though.”

Hartley didnt look impressed. “Aren’t there like bacteria that can live on there? Especially if it was connected to a dead thing?”

Mick held an antler out towards Hartley, waving it because he noticed the Piper’s hesitation,
“Nah, not dead, deer’s shed their antlers. My uncle was real into deer, big hunter, we ate a shit ton of venison.”

Mick trudged back to shore, bringing the antlers with him. He dumped them next to where Marco leaned against a rock, reading. The Weather Wizard looked up, and then at the find.
It was about thirty minutes, and everyone else was in the water, and everyone else was in the water, so he decided to get in, pausing briefly to watch Mick climb back up the stairs.

He winced at the squish of the dirt at the bottom of the water and made his way out to the group.

Hartley warily watched Mick ascend the stairs, the arsonist taking not the way vack to the house, but the other way when the stair split, up to a littl outlook, a little over a half dozen feet off the ground. It wasn't far, but Mick paced up there for a while, looking around and swinging his rope and plank.
He kicked the handrail off part of the outlook and Hartley looker to Cold, for an anwser. Leonard waved off his concern,
“He’s just building a swing, don’t worry so much.”

Lisa perked up, “a swing! Oooh!”

Mick started throwing out the swing, trying to loop it over a thick tree branch that split at just the right place to not worry about the rope moving too much.
The plank splashed into the water a couple times, but Mick pulled it back up by the rope and eventually landed it on the overhead branch. He called out for someone to grab the swing and bring it towards him, Lisa quickly seam out to retrieve the plank, and Mick gave the swing extra rope, so it sat in the water.
She grabbed it, and made her way to the bottom of the outlook where Mick stood, and he looped some rope around it and pulled it back up.

Once she was sure Mick had the swing, Lisa climbed back up the hill

Mick had fastened the rope, and was at the edge of the outlook, sitting on the swing, and boucing a little to make sure the rope didnt snap under his weight. The rope was solid all the way through and didn't have any give.
Lisa had made her way up the hillside and sat behind him, watching him.
He grabbed another rope and tied it aroundthe swing, letting it hang loose. It was to retrieve the swing after someone went, but he didnt attach it to anything in case it was too short.

Mick pointed out right of the outlook, over the water,
“Try an’ go that way, its deeper out there”
With that, he swung out over the water, sliding off the swing at the highest point of the arc, and cannonballing into the water below.
Lisa grabbed the retreival rope, it was more than long enough, and pulled the swing back in.

Sam watched as Lisa swung, in awe as her braid trailed out behind her, and the grace with which she dove into the water. He wanted to try as well. His swim skills were admittedly sub-par, but when Lisa swam back up, and beckoned for him to join him at the outlook, he waded to meet her.

Axel must’ve thought the invitation was meant for them, or just wanted to try as well, so he joined, with Marco following close behind

Mick came up to the outlook as well, but soon disappeared over the handrail into the forest to the side. They could make him out after a little while, picking through the rocks.

Lisa climbed the hill quicker, only waiting up to make sure Sam didnt fall. Once he was on more even ground, she quickly pulled the swing back again, and climbed on.
She swung out, leaning back and looking at them upside down. She straightened again, and swung back towards the outlook, waiting for the second swing out to jump. It came, and she slid off the swing, diving into the water.

Axel hurried to pull back the swing after Lisa was off it. Sam tried to stop them momentarily, to make sure Lisa had gotten out of the way, but she was fast, and Axel hopped onto the swing.

They tried to jump onto the swing feet first, but the back of their feet slid, and they ended up with the swing under their knees. They seemed unbothered, and when they hit the farthest point of their swing, let go of the rope and dove straight down, head first into the water.
Given their lack of experience swimming, Lisa lingered a little to grab them if they needed it, and Leonard inched towards the deeper section.

Axel came up from the water just fine though, and shook their head rigorously, trying to get the water out of their hair and splashing Lisa, before messily doggy-paddling back to the shallower water.
Leonard gave them a once over glance, before returning to watching Mick’s rock climbing. Hartley had taken to diving under the water and bringing up little clams. He’d asked Leonard if they were alive, and he shrugged,
“Open ones are alive. Closed are dead I think.”
So when Hartley found an especially large open one, he brought it back to shore and made a little pile next to Marco’s book and towel.

Up at the outlook, Sam looked at Marco, rasing his eyebrows to ask, ‘Can I go next, or do you want to?’

Marco shrugged, and Sam hesitantly climbed on the swing. He could still swim. Probably. He could tread water like Lisa had shown Axel, and he’d be fine. He nervously bounced on the balls of his feet, before his foot almost immediately slipped on the wet wood, and he swung out.

He crossed his legs, terrified to fall off on the first swing out. Once he went back towards the outlook it clicked that he probably should’ve jumped off. When he neared the little platform, he probably could’ve reached out and touched Marco, now that Marco’d moved forward a little.
But he didn't do that, instead white-knuckling the rope until he went back over the water, he let go of the rope, and straightened his legs, tumbling into the water. Not graceful by any measure.

Luckily Sam righted himself relatively easily, and kicked towards the surface. Apparently his fears of having forgotten how to swim were unfounded.
He didn’t remember how to do all the fancy strokes, but he got to the surface, and swam back to Lisa, where she ran her fingers through his wet hair.

Marco was next, a lot less fearless then Sam. The air was his element, any fear of hights gone from his time flying about as the Weather Wizard.

He managed to jump onto the swing standing, like Axel had been trying to do, only succeeding. He let go at the highest point of the arc of the swing, tucking his leg into his body and extending the other, leaning back, doing a can-opener.
The dive was known as the one that would make the most splash, and that it did. Marco had went out at such an angle to get a little closer to where the team (minus Mick) stood, and managed to lightly splash Sam and Lisa who were out deepest.
The breif sensation of diving was nice, He immediately knew he’d go right back to dive again.
Marco surficed, the front of his hair fell out of his little ponytail, and stuck, wet, to his face.
He swam back to shallower water and stood, fishing through his hair for the hair band. He found it, and ducked back underwater, coming back up face first, so his hair would be slicked back.
He tied his hair back, and joined the group,
“You takin’ a turn Lenny?”

Leonard looked up the outlook noncommittally and shrugged, “maybe later.”

Marco looked next to Hartley, who looked up at the swing for a second, considering it. “Sure… I mean, I did water polo for a year… I suppose It can't be too hard”

He followed Marco up the hillside, clumsily climbing up to where the stairs broke off.
Sam looked over to Leonard, “What exactly is Polo?”
Leonard grunted “rich kid sport. Like croquet or tennis.”

“Yeah but what it is?”

Axel snickered, watching Hartley and Marco awkwardly making their way back up to the outlook, “I think it has horses? i dunno”

Lisa shook her head, “Normal polo has horses, water polo is like pool soccer with your hands”
Sam nodded thoughtfully.

Mick climbed back over the far railing at the outlook, making it back from his adventure the same time Hartley and Marco reached the top.

Marco was the first on the swing, rushing a little to get on before Mick, and swing out, leaning with the gravity of the swing, before diving gracefully headfirst.
He felt the wind rush around his ears, and it was a wonderful feeling, usually when he flew he had to focus on the wind and keep his balance so he wouldn't fall, but to be able to glide without concern as liberating, knowing he could just dive into the water.

He came back up, again annoyed by his hair in his face and wiping his eyes. Marco quickly swam out of the way, Mick was tugging the swing back and he didnt want to be in the way.

Mick rushed, swinging out ove the water, and perhaps inspired by Marco’s previous dive, did a can-opener as well. He tried to aim as much splash towards the other rogues as he could, managing to hit them with a wave of water.

He surfaced back towards the group, having swam back towards them.
The rogues lingered for a little in the water, Hartley continuing to grab shells from the shallower water, and making a pile.
Sam came up behind Marco, pointing for him to get down, “crouch, lets do chicken!”
Marco snorted at the childish game, but did, his head disappearing under the water, and Sam climbed onto his shoulders.

Axel looked to Mick expectantly, and the older man shrugged, also ducking down for Axel to climb onto his shoulders.
Leonard eyed them warily, but didn’t consider stopping them.
Marco and Mick made there way forward, and Sam and Axel extended their arms to grasp at the other, trying to knock them down.

Axel swayed on Mick’s shoulders, but shoved at Sam, using him somewhat to hold themselves up. They grabbed at their swim shirt, but Lisa called it a foul, and the two continued trying to shove each other.
Mark tried to send a wind to blow Axel off, but again Lisa called a foul again.
Piper wolled his eyes as Sam finally knocked Axel over, Mick fell backwards into the water with them once he realized they lost.

Sam flexed and posed, “Marco, take me on a victory lap!”, but the Weather Wizard intentionally fell forward, dunking the victor.

The Rogues splashed around a little more, until the sun was straight above, indicating it was almost noon. When Mick commented on it, Leonard took it as an opportunity to go back up the house, and soon everyone else followed.

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Another week passed, without anything important happening, Axel and Mick had taken a couple trips back to the river, Piper tryed to set up a card game, or really anything to keep from succumbing to the boredom.
Being constantly on the run was quite a difference from this, and the lack of constant energy was a big change, leaving the group desperate for something to do.

Mick sat at the kitchen table, with Sam next to him, Lisa perched on his lap, playing cards. Axel sat on the stairs, playing his handheld game, beeping occasionally. Hartley looked over his shoulder, watching the game.
Leonard had been taking a nap, but woke up, coming into the kitchen, still visibly groggy “it’s been what. A week?” He scowled out the window "there's a gas station seven miles north someone oughta go get a newspaper.”

Immediately all hands went up except Marco’s, wanting a reason to get out of the house. Leonard sighed hard through his nose in annoyance and looked from rogue to rogue, finally gesturing at Sam and Lisa, “you two. Get all civilian lookin’. get beer.”
He turned and went back to the other room, springs creaking as he collapsed on the couch once again.
Sam and Lisa got on their way, dressing in clothing intentionally different from their usual style, Sam chose to shave a mustache from the little beard that had been growing since they went into hiding. They could hear Axel bitching from the bathroom, complaining about being stuck in the house much to the apathy of a napping Snart.
As Lisa was finishing putting her hair in a long braid and fishing a ballcap out of a drawer, Axel seemed to wear themself out and give the rest of the house sweet silence.

The lovers made their way back through the house on their way to the car, Mick handed them a grocery list, as did Hartley a sticky note with a list of mechanical parts he wanted, assuring them they likely wouldn't find them but it would be appreciated if they did.
Lisa rolled her eyes, but tucked them into her purse and they went out to the car, immediately struck by the heat. They had to leave the windows open with the ac running for a few minutes, as the the seats were just too hot to touch.

Sam touched the wheel again deeming it not-scalding-enough to get in, and Lisa slid into the passenger seat. Sam turned the car on, and Lisa fiddled with the radio as he turned around in the grass to pull out. Once they were on the road, Lisa reclined her chair as far as it went, leaning back, and a faint yelp sounded from the backseat. They both jumped, and Lisa turned to find Axel had lodged himself in the foot space in back. She moved her seat back to her normal seat, and they climbed to sit normally in the back, crossing their legs innocently “oopsieeeee! Caught me!”
Sam rolled his eyes, but said nothing, as Lisa turned and rested her chin on the chair’s shoulder, looking over the kid.
He was cleaned up a little bit, all their piercings taken out and their horrendous blonde hair brushed into a more reasonable style, underneath a battered beige cap.

At least the Trickster looked like a normal teenager for once, her, Sam and them were unrecognizable compared to their look in costume.

Axel leaned up, messing with a panel on the radio, trying to get it on, but only getting jumbles stations. The kid frowned and kept messing with it. Sam looked down to were the kid leaned forward, obviously not thrilled about them all in his space.
Blissfully unaware, Axel opened a compartment, attaching and detatching wires, and by all metrics fucking around.

Although, within a few minutes, a clear station rang through the car, and Axel grinned triumphantly.
Lisa looked at the radio, and all the wires and now exposed bits. “Mmh. How did you do that?”
Axel held up a wire, smiling, “I made my whole body the antenne!” He dropped the wire, and the radio switched back to static, and touched it again, bring the station back to song.

Lisa hummed at them. Maybe impressed, but more in a ‘kids do the damndest things’ way.

Axel continued to change stations, finding a rock station but quickly growing bored of it, switching through it, a modern hip-hop station, and an alternative station as the songs suited him.

Sam just focused on driving, he was of the belief the driver chose the music, but if he spoke up, Axel would just drop the wire and let them listen to static.

Soon enough they arrived at a gas stop, and swiftly got out, Lisa fluffed her hair. She had put her makeup on intentionally badly done, to avoid any resemblance to her normal appearance.
Sam had slicked his hair straight back and had Lisa darken his eyebrows.

Although Axel looked the most different. With the Skrillex-esque haircut left to grow out, and their lack of accessories, they looked freakishly normal, the only recognizable bits left were their bright blonde hair and piercing holes.

Lisa did a double take, before playing it off and starting to walk into the gas station. She led the others into the dingy gas station, brightly lit with fluorescent lights. Sam did a lap, grabbing gummy snacks and a big bag of chips, before picking up a couple boxes of beer, while Lisa ordered a bunch of food for the group from a little hot food station. She handed Axel the Piper‘s shopping list, and they wandered off to the back, presumably browsing energy drinks or getting a snack they wanted

Lisa watched the TVs in the corner, but every story was about politics or some community story. Once her food was ready, and she came up to the register, she looked through the newspaper, feigning boredom at her companions for taking so long.
She found a couple back issues with the Rogue’s likenesses and warnings, but nothing else within the last few days or on the front page.
That was good. Sam soon came up behind her, and the worker began ringing them up.

It seemed like their disguises were a waste of time. The teenage worker was so visibly tired and hungover they probably could have shown up in full costume. Once the cashier was about halfway through Lisa’s seven meals and many sides, as well as Sam’s, Axel popped back up.
They plopped some sodas, other assorted snacks, and mechanical bits on the to-scan pile, and stood awkwardly behind Sam. They all waited for the cashier to finish, and Lisa paid in 20s -harder to track, and Sam grabbed a handful of all the sauces, before the group made their way back to the car.

They loaded the prepackaged snacks onto the floor and hot food onto the seats next to Axel, who took their previous spot leaning between the front seats to manipulate the radio again.
It wasnt long after Sam pulled out that Axel handed him and Lisa ice cream treats.
Sam looked back at him “Where’d you get these? We didnt buy them?”
Axel made a shocked face “‘Me!? A theif! How dare you??”
“No, you know what I meant. Like- youre in shorts and a tank, where‘d you even hide these?”
Lisa took a bite of her ice cream bar, “ Gift horse. Mouth.”
Sam sighed, and opened the ice cream, and Axel took it as their cue to turn the radio all the way up, annoyingly switching station as the songs suited them.
Lisa squinted back at him, trying the figure out where they had his the bars… the kid’s socks were skintight, but she examined the way they moved, finding them moving hesitantly when bending their knees too much or shifting up.

Once they finished their first ice cream, she watched him like a hawk.
They reached under the hem of their basketball shorts, pulling out a ice cream sandwich. Lisa felt accomplished- they had sewn pockets in the bottom of their shorts. An ingenious scheme. And she had passed the time taken to get to the house.

They filed out, loading the food into the house and leaving it on the table, before yelling to the general space around to announce the arrival of food.

Chapter Text

Axel immediately began eating, claiming a chair and container of now room temperature nachos, and Lisa grabbed a snack, wandering back to the bedroom, Sam close behind.

On the bed, she bowled him over, knocking him onto his back, and wrapping her arms around his neck.
She curled up against him in a manner that would have any of the other rogues gagging at the sight of their romance.
Lisa listened to Sam's heatbeat, and he stroked her head for a while. Full from gas station food and on eachothers arms, they were content for a while.
A loud thump quickly brought them out of their cuddling though. Sam looked up, frowning. He remained still, it was probably a bird landing on the house or something one of the other rogues could deal with. He went back to enjoying Lisa in his arms.

Another thump and Lisa groaned, getting up to investigate. She slid off to the side, stretching her arms up to crack her back, and making her way out. Sam was up soon after, quickly following his lover.

They went around, along the way spotting Leonard and Mick sitting on lawn chairs, already opening the new beer. Continuing to walk around, they spotted Axel and Piper sitting on the edge of the roof, both tucking something away quickly. Sam squinted up at them. He called up.
“What’r you two up to.”
Axel looked guiltily to the side as if Sam was speaking to someone else on the roof,
“Oh just hanging out. You know. Yeah”

Piper gave a hardy thumbs up, grinning.

Sam, unimpressed, eyed the side of the house, considering his best route up to the roof. Finding nothing, he looked up to the duo. “I know you got edibles, I can see your eyes.”
Piper looked spooked, “you aren't gonna tell Snart are ya?”
“You know his policy on drugs…” Sam looked back to Lisa, mock concerned and Piper and Axel eyes them nervously
Lisa crossed her arms from behind Sam, “Please. Him and Mick’ll be blackout by sunset, he hasn’t got a foot to stand on. We wont tell, so long as… we get our share.”
Axel looked up, rolling their eyes hard, and Piper nudged them. “Hey. We gave Marco some to get me up here. And then nobody else will ask for any”

Axel shrugged their shoulders dramatically, before tossing a plastic baggie with a couple gummies down.
Sam picked them up, stuffing them in a pocket, before looking back up, “where is Marco? Are yall even able to get down?”
Axel held up a blanket that he’d been sitting on, and motions to the various pillows and blankets they were sat on “ We’re sleeping here! City’s so damn bright, an’ I want to see stars! Hartley was in all sorts of fancy classes when he was little so he probably knows constellations and shit!”

Hartley gave the younger rogue and annoyed look, “No… i had pretty normal studies, i was just tutored for a lot of it..?”

Axel did a fancy British accent, “ah hah! My tutors taught me about normal things! I’m Hartley!" They huffed and stopped the voice, “why do i even share my edibles?”

Hartley flicked the back of their head, “cause I know what you’re rants are about usially.”
Axel grumbled and flicked a pine needle down at Lisa and Sam,
“Tumblr user”, Hartly said in a derogatory manner

Sam, understanding it might be a good time to leave, took Lisa’s arm, and made their way back to the bedroom.

They passed Mick and Leonard and headed back to the bedroom. Faintly hearing Mick and Len arguing unintelligibly arguing through the wall

They were arguing about whether women liked men with piercings. They had been talking about bird mating seasons, and the time Leonard’s uncle had been attacked by a hawk. Their conversations moved all over

Mick was for it, claiming from his experience in the circus that he had known an extreme body modification actor who had a new woman or occasionally man every night.

Leonard was of the belief women would prefer traditional men, obviously circus customers would have outliers, body mod fetishisers and such attending.
Mick pulled up his tank top to reveal a belly button piercing. He proclaimed his victory, “I have this! And get so much more than you.”

Leonard grumbled into his beer, scratching his head. His hair had gotten shaggy after not having a razor out in the woods.

Trying to change the subject he asked, “how’ve you been shaving? Youre still as hairless as always.”
Mick shrugged, “brought a razor. Unlike you”
He was on a roll, ragging on his friend, but tried to be nicer, “you mind if i start a lil campfire? There's a little pit i cleared out. “

Leonard grunted, leaning back in his lawn chair. “Nothing out of the circle”

Mick quickly got to work, a little fire crackling. He kneeled next to it, watching and putting his hands against it. Anyone else would find it far too warm a night to do such a thing, but he liked it.
Marco came out as the sun began to dip, watching the neon clouds at the horizon. He had brought out a lawn chair opposite Snart. He propped his wand up against his seat and read what novel he had brought with him.
Leonard sat back in the lawn chair, observing the arsonist and fireflies as they began to emerge

They sat like that for a while Mick working on the fire and Leonard and Marco drinking and kicking back, Axel and Piper watching the sun go down, Lisa and Sam cuddled up quietly .

Mick heated up three of the gas station hot dogs he had put in the freezer over the fire, bringing one over the Marco and one for Leonard. Finding Leonard with a baseball cap over his face, he tapped him.
Marco looked up. “He’s been out. Not sure if he's coming in tonight.” Mick sighed, handing Marxo his hotdog. “Nah. He’s coming in, if he gets mauled by a bear, or rabies from a bat or something else that wouldnt be good. He owes me a lot of money.”

Marco eyed the hotdog suspiciously. He wasn't trusting of the gas station but watching Mick calmed his fears. No bacteria could survive the roasting Mick had given it.

Marco shut the book, putting it to the side. “I’m turning in soon. You want help cleaning up.”

Mick shrugged noncommittally, which Marco immediately took as a yes. He grabbed his wand, and a little puff of rain took out the fire, and a gust of wind lifted Snart into the air. Leonard grumbled something sleepily, but didn’t fight. Marco floated the older man into the house, dropping him unceremoniously onto the couch, before disappearing back upstairs.

Mick made sure his head was propped up and went back out, stacking the chairs and putting them to the side of the house. He could hear Axel heartily ranting, and Piper occasionally said something.
He peeked around the corner but saw them curled into two little blanket nests on the roof. That was alright. They didn't seem at risk of falling so he headed in for the night, leaving the door unlocked for the kids.
He washed his hands in the sink, looking out the window at the now cold fire pit. He wished the rogues didn't treat him like he was a fool around fire. He could damn well handle himself. He wasn't a child, just a little mentally… off.

Scowling, he banished such thoughts, going into the living room, he found a blanket and put it over Leonard. The older man snorted and turned his head.
He stank like the cheap beer, but didnt seem actually too drunk tonight, that much was good. Mick grabbed another couple blankets and took the recliner Lenny had previously claimed. He wouldn't mind, so Mick wrapped himself in the blankets and dozed off as well.

The next morning, Leonard spoke to Lisa, once she and Sam emerged from their bedroom, going over what she’d seen in the news from the gas station. It sounded like the manhunt was off, so he began packing, instructing her to do the same. Mick hadn’t packed much, so he swept all his stuff back away, and went out to holler at Axel and Piper. “We’re going home. This afternoon- get packed!”

It wasn’t long until they piled back into the car, and backed out, returning to Central City