i was going to delete my tumblr acct but instead iām going to post part of a fic i started a good 6-8 months ago and will probs never finish.
Juvie is fucking boring.
Just a bunch of spoiled kids who got caught on their first B and Eās trying to steal some stereo equipment or something equally dumb. Snot-nosed babies who cry in their cells at night, who wait for their mommies to visit on Saturdays. Losers who try and prove their toughness by picking fights with only the smallest and weakest.
They tried it with Mick, in the very beginning. Before he set fire to Johnny Cortezās mattress while Johnny was still on it. The kid was fine, nothing a skin graft wonāt fix. And those eyebrows will grow back, most likely. But still, they leave Mick alone now, let him fail his GED prep course and run laps around the yard in peace. He does three miles a day, even in the rain. Runs around in a circle like a fucking hamster on a wheel.
One day, one day, one day. His mantra every time his foot hits the ground. Out of this playground and on to bigger and better things.
Or, thatās his mantra until some of Cortezās lackeys start pounding on the new kid in the yard.
Scumbag guards, they donāt do a thing but pretend not to see as itās five on one. The new kid is scrawny, but he sure as hell has a mouth on him. Heās taking quite the beating, but he still lets insults fly as much as his attackersā fists do. And Mick isnāt quite sure whyāmaybe itās the fact that five against one is bullshit, maybe itās the fact that new kid tells that asshole McGee his mother doesnāt suck dick as well as his father doesābut Mick breaks out of his rounds at the two mile mark and hits Tim Kennedy in the back of the head so hard he falls right down.
Thatās when the guards finally decide to get up off their asses and do something. The crowd starts to scatter and the new kid looks up at Mick with narrowed eyes. Then a smirk breaks out over his face, cool and a little bit scary. āHey,ā he says.
Ā So Snart starts following him around and Mick doesnāt mind all that much, especially after Snart manages to procure a pack of cigarettes (not that hard) and a book of matches (pretty impressive). They smoke in the corner of the yard; they run the three miles, Snart trailing behind at first, until eventually he starts to catch up. They fall in step together somewhere around the second month.
Snartās mom dies after six months; he gets leave for a week to go to the funeral and mourn before they lock him back up like nothing ever happened. Ā When he comes back, thereās something different about him, something colder and more cautious. Mick isnāt the sort of guy to ask whatās going on, or to pass along condolences. He is, however, observant enough to work out the fact that Snartās old man likes to use his fists as much as some of the dumbasses in here. Mick doesnāt know how Snartās mom died, only that she was often on the receiving end of those fists.
āI have to get out of here,ā Snart starts muttering daily. āLisaās there alone with him.ā
Lisa. Mick caught a glance of her once when Snartās mom brought her to visit. She was maybe three years old, but she clung to Snart like he was saving her from the boogey man (and maybe he was). Snart cares about her like he cares about nothing else.
While Snart tries to get his dad on the phone to check on Lisa dailyāthereās never an answer at the Snart houseāMick wonders if itās better to have parents who disown you instead.
Ā Mick gets out first, but itās only because he turns eighteen before Snart. He gets a job slinging burgers and a shitty apartment above a decrepit Blockbuster. The guy who manages the Blockbuster is a terrible flirt and also an idiot, so itās not hard for Mick to lift twenties out of the cash register. He lives on free burgers and stolen Skittles.
Heās not waiting for Snartās juvie sentence to be up, but heās not not waiting, either.
Ā Lisa eyes Mick warily. Sheās a tiny little thing, all elbows and curly hair, and she has that Snart distrust on her face.
āWhoās this?ā she asks.
āThis is Mick,ā Snart says distractedly as he burrows through the duffel bag on the table. āMick, Lisa.ā
āIs he your boyfriend?ā
Mick expects there to be italics on the word āboyfriend.ā They donāt come. Lisaās tone stays even.
āNope.ā No italics in Snartās answer, either. Mick files these things away for later. āLisa, you have to stay here while Mick and I go out for a little bit, okay? Just stay inside with the door locked and donāt let anyone in.ā
Lisa crosses her arms over her chest. āI need help with my math homework.ā
āWhen we get back, okay, Lees?ā Snart picks up the duffel bag and nods to Mick. āLetās go.ā
He drops a kiss on Lisaās head as they walk out the door.
They rob the bank and then come home and work through a first grade math worksheet. It becomes the new norm in Mickās life.
Ā Lewis Snart is in and out of jail for the next few years. Len claims that he needs to keep a low profile so social services donāt realize that Lisa is technically on her own without any parental supervision. Lisaātwelve years old with an attitude to matchāclaims that she doesnāt need anyone looking after her. Mick secretly thinks sheās right, but doesnāt dare voice that opinion to Len; Lisa is the one thing Mick keeps quiet about.
So Lisa lives in their janky apartment, sleeping in Lenās bed while he crashes on the couch, and Mick steals what they need to survive. Itās not an ideal situation, and itās certainly not what Mick thought heād be doing with his twenties, but itās surprisingly not the worst.
(Mick would kill himself before heād admit it, but living with the Snarts, itās sort of like having a family, and ever since Mick was renounced by his real one, he doesnāt exactly hate it.)
āIf the kids in juvie could see you now,ā Len jokes one night as Mick and Lisa put together a DNA model for her science project.
āTheyād see that Iām really fucking good at science projects,ā Mick says.
Lisa giggles. āHey, Mick. Weāre out of tampons.ā
Ā Lisaās fourteen when Lewis gets out of jail and comes looking for her. Itās the first time Mick meets him and god, does he hate that son of a bitch. Len is so tense the entire time heās in the apartment that Mick is pretty sure heās about to crack into five thousand pieces.
Lewis is moving to Coast City, he says, to try and get a new start. He wants to bring Lisa with him. Lisa looks up at Len and Mick and bites her lip. Itās the first time Mick has ever seen her look scared. He doesnāt like it.
In the end, Lisa goes with Lewis because he threatens to get social services involved. Theyāve been so good and hiding and lying low and now itās all for naught. Len stops talking for a while, and when they go back to pulling heists, Len has this destructive air about him. Mick doesnāt say anything, just backs up Len as best he can.
When they both get thrown in jail, itās not too much of a surprise. Mick gets out first, and when he gets home, the box of tampons is still under the sink.
Ā Mick is used to stitching himself up. Needles donāt make him nervous, and when Len takes a through-and-through in the leg itās a quick and neat clean up. Mickās the first aid guy; Len doesnāt have the temperament to be gentle with anything when he doesnāt want to be. Mick knows when itās time.
Itās raining when Lisa bangs on the door, the collar of her shirt soaked in blood. Sheās seventeen with a tongue like acid, but now she has tears in her eyes. Len disappears after the story of Lewis and a whiskey bottle, flies out into the rain with his shoes untied.
Lisa looks up at Mick like heās the only thing left in the world, and he pours her a vodka and ushers her toward the couch. āDrink this. Itāll help.ā
She shrugs off her coat and pulls down the strap of her tank top. Itās a deep wound, still bleeding, a perfect line right across her collarbone. Mick gathers the supplies and cleans up the blood with a gentle hand.
āIād say maybe seven stitches,ā Mick says once all the dried blood is cleaned up. āShouldnāt be too bad.ā
āHave you done this before?ā Lisa hiccups. She sounds young, more like the little girl who had nightmares about thunderstorms.
Mick scoffs. āYour brother and me, we arenāt too careful.ā
Lisa drains the vodka glass and screws her eyes up tight as Mick works. She only whimpers once, when the needle first goes in, and she grips Mickās leg harder than he thought her capable, but she doesnāt cry anymore. Sheās tough. Been hanging around him and Len for too long.
āYouāre still here,ā Lisa says once the wound is closed. Sheās slurring a little, drank the vodka too quickly. Mick thinks she must weight one-fifteen, tops. A glass of something strong would do her in, no matter how many wine coolers she sneaks at parties on the railroad tracks.
āWhere am I supposed to be?ā
āNo, I mean,ā she flaps her hand around. āI mean with my brother. With Lenny. Youāre still here with him. No one else has ever stuck around before.ā
Mick shrugs. āWhere am I supposed to be?ā he repeats, eyes firmly on Lisaās collarbone as he ties off the last stitch.
Lisa hums a little. āYouāre one of the good ones, Mick.ā
He runs a towel over the stitches, cleaning up the excess blood. āNo, Iām not, Lisa. You have to remember that. You have to be able to tell the difference.ā
āI can tell the difference,ā she insists. āYou think me and Lenny would have survived without you? Youāre crazy if you do.ā
He tucks her into Lennyās bed after making sure she drinks a full glass of water and swallows three aspirin for the pain. Mick never wanted a sister; itās just his damned luck that he got one anyway.















