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If anyone had been paying attention- and honestly not many had been -they'd have noticed the odd, almost anxious mood their resident criminals had been in the last few weeks, getting more and more stressed as days went by. It wasn't until Kendra said, "Have you noticed Len and Mick haven't been together much recently?" that the others started talking about it.
"Now that you mention in," Ray popped one of Gideon's replicator fries in his mouth, "they've both been kinda frazzled. Kinda reminds me of how I was in college whenever mid-terms came around."
"I just hope they're not fighting again."
"You do know they've been trying to think up anniversary presents, right?" Sara asked the group at large.
"Anniversary presents? For who?"
"Each other?"
Ray laughed, "What, like celebrating their first heist together? That's a little sentimental for them, don't you think?"
Before Sara could get anything more than a sighed 'oh my god', Jax interrupted, "Mick has been talking to himself a lot. Not like the usual way- you know, muttering about not being able to beat people up and set things on fire. He kept listing things and then calling it 'too dumb' or 'already got one' and stuff like that."
"If it were anyone else but those two," Kendra said, "I'd say it's cute."
"What may or may not be cute?"
Everyone made room at the fry bowl for Stein to join them. "Hey, Professor." Ray pushed the condiment plate toward him. "Just talking about our teammates having 'relationship problems'." He laughed at his own joke.
"Ah, yes," Stein chuckled. "Young love or old, some relationship problems never change."
Three of his four companions stared at him. "You do know we're talking about Len and Mick, right?" Kendra asked slowly.
"Well, yes."
"I don't know what's sadder," Sara shook her head, "those two struggling with anniversary gifts or this conversation right here." No wonder Rip's been making himself more scarce than usual. "I think I'll go talk to Leonard. At least I can attempt to solve that."
"And I think I'm just gonna wash myself of this weirdness period." Jax added, pushing away from the table.
Unfortunately his next stop put him smack dab in the middle of the 'weirdness', going to do weekly maintenance on the jumpship and finding Mick inside, lost in thought. "Oh, uh," Jax looked around the place and took a surreptitious sniff. Didn't smell like anything had been burnt. "Hey, Rory. Something up?"
Mick just rubbed at his forehead, eyes closed, brow creased. "Trying to think up a stupid gift for my stupid partner."
"Why not just go with tried and true? You know- money or gift cards or something."
"Hell no! I can't get Snart something mundane."
"Why not?" Jax sat in the pilot's seat. The last thing he'd expected in his life- asides from fusing into half a superhero and time traveling -was playing advice column to a criminal.
"Last eight years he's gotten me these amazing gifts that I couldn't hope to beat. For once I wanna be the one leaving him speechless."
"That's... sweet?" Was that something Jax should be applying to the people in question?
"We have a rule- whoever gives the better gift gets to be in charge for the day. I wanna win it this time!"
"Slightly less sweet." Jax had to hold back his initial comment about how Len winning the gift exchange wouldn't change much from their normal interaction. But Jax got himself into the conversation, he may as well do what he could to help out. "Well, what kinda stuff does he like? Asides from money and jewels and stuff. Does he like books? Movies? Music?"
"He's picky about everything. I've given up on trying to figure out his tastes, the man's a complete snob."
"Okay, well," Jax puffed out his cheeks in thought. "Does he like sports?"
"Only sport he likes is-" Mick's eyes suddenly snapped open. "Oh my god."
"What?"
"You're a genius."
"Thanks?"
"I think I know what to get him." All of the sudden Mick was crowding around Jax to type something up on the control panel. "This is perfect. This is amazing. I need you to take me to Philadelphia right now."
"Uh, okay? Should we run this by someone first? Let 'em know we'll be gone for a bit?"
"Don't care, Gideon can tell them, let's go!"
Jax wanted to argue but Mick was staring at him with a manic grin, gripping the back of Jax's seat so tight he could hear the material creaking. "Yeah, sure. Let's do this."
While part of Jax was grateful that neither Rogue ever attempted to talk him into more than chauffeuring, sitting around the jumpship for hours at a time was the worst. Anything was better than that. Helping them steal stuff was starting to look pretty good.
Jax wondered how many people turned to crime out of sheer boredom.
Finally there was a knock on the hatch and Jax flicked the door control without bothering to check the exterior camera. The jumpship was cloaked, only someone that knew where it was would've been able to knock on it. "You get it?" He asked, getting the engines started up.
"Lenny'll never be able to top this. Kid, I owe you big!"
"Sure, sure. You just make sure I don't get blamed for-" Jax turned just enough to ensure Mick was seat then did a double-take. "You stole the Stanley Cup?"
"Yup." Mick carefully placed the harness around the trophy. "We're good to go."
"You stole the Stanley Cup."
"Yeah. And now we gotta leave."
"You stole the Stanley Cup!"
Mick rolled his eyes. He liked the kid but if he didn't find a new line fast, Mick was gonna deck him. "It's not the original."
"I saw the seal on the bottom!"
"They made a replica back in the '60s 'cause they thought it was gonna break and they made a third for display back in the '90s." Good thing Len was such a nerd that liked sharing pointless trivia. Sometimes. "Pretty sure it won't be hard for them to make another."
"You stole the Stanley Cup." At least Jax was working the controls again. "I can't believe I'm an accomplice for this."
"It's not the damn Declaration of Independence, kid. Get over it."
~*~*~*~
"You stole a... a..."
"Stanley Cup."
"Thank you, Mr. Jackson- that thing?"
Mick rolled his eyes even harder. "Can't be that important to history, Captain, if you don't even know what it is."
"It's a very important sports trophy of some sort, obviously." Rip said, running a hand over his face before placing both on his hips. "Why on earth would you steal it?"
"To give to my partner."
"It's actually a pretty good idea."
Mick grinned while Rip rounded on Sara, "Ms. Lance-"
"No, really. No one's going to admit that they completely lost their sport's equivalent to the Holy Grail. Do you know how much bad publicity their club would get?" Sara leaned on the table, "Gideon, what's the word?"
"The Stanley Cup has not been reported as stolen."
Rip looked up at the ceiling, unconvinced. "Are you certain? In this timeline. Right now."
"There are no public records of it being missing at this time and location."
"No public records."
"There is paperwork for a replacement trophy, but they are not easily accessible."
Mick's grin turned triumphant. "See?"
Defeated, Rip could only level a glare at the man. "Don't do something like this again."
"You really think he's going to like it?" Kendra looked dubious.
"I don't see why not," Ray looked more tickled about the Cup's presence than anything else. "Assuming Len likes hockey enough to care, anyway. Plus Mick stole it for him, that's gotta count for something, right? Makes it extra special!"
Ray's optimism caused doubt to visibly gnaw at Mick. Stein patted the larger man's shoulder. "I'm sure he'll love it. It's quite romantic when you think about it."
"Yeah. I helped Leonard come up with a gift for you and trust me, this blows it out the water."
That put a grin back on Mick's face. It faltered slightly when Len drawled, making his way down the hall, "I hadn't realized everyone was so invested in our anniversary that you'd-" In the doorway Len froze the instant he saw what was on the table. He looked from the trophy to his partner- grin back on full bream -and back again. "Is that... Did you..." He walked up slowly, like he might actually spook the Cup.
"Happy anniversary."
"Did you really steal the Stanley Cup? For me?" Len let out a breathless laugh, the smile curling his lips genuine, not a trace of an edge or smugness anywhere. Ray had his phone out, recording the scene because how often did anyone get to see Captain Cold like this? "This is amazing- Mick... I don't..." his hand hovered over the surface, wanting to touch it but afraid what would happen if he did. When he finally did, Len gave another breathless laugh, unable to believe this was actually happening. He traced the names on the base, going down the rows of legends and boyhood heroes. When Len finally read the name of the last winning team- the team the Cup currently belonged to -his eyes went wide. "No." Mick's grin nearly spread off his face at Len's thunderstruck expression. "You didn't."
"Damn right I did."
Len stood up straight, arms hanging at his side and the rest of the team exchanged glances- this was nothing like the snarky thief they'd gotten used to traveling with. "You stole me the Philadelphia Flyers' Stanley Cup?"
"Since the Combines never won one," he said with a shrug, like it was no big deal, "figured yanking it off their biggest rivals was the next best thing."
"You absolute, magnificent bastard." Then, to the shock of half the crew, Len went up to Mick, took his face in both hands and kissed him thoroughly. Mick tugged at his jacket, growling in approval.
"Okay, um," Kendra flushed and politely averted her gaze, clapping the heels of her palms together because she didn't know what to do. "This is a surprise."
"Is it?" Sara asked. "Because they've been saying from the start they're partners."
"I didn't know they meant that kind of partners."
"This is astounding- are you and I the only ones that picked up on this?" Though he was asking Sara, Stein was watching Ray and Jax's flabbergasted expressions that they were pointedly turning away from the two Rogues.
"I knew because I hang out with them a lot and neither of them are what you'd call subtle. How'd you know?"
"I've been married for nearly forty years, I know what a lifelong commitment looks like. And, as you said, neither are particularly subtle."
When he finally pulled away from the kiss, hands spread over Mick's broad chest and pressing against him like they couldn't get close enough, Len fairly purred. "Baby, there's no way I can beat that."
"I can think of a couple things," Mick rumbled back, dropping his hands down to squeeze Len's ass. Which got a squeak out of Ray, his forgotten phone clattering to the floor.
"Gentlemen," Rip broke in abruptly, "could you please continue your anniversary celebration elsewhere? Preferably where the rest of us won't potentially stumble upon you?"
"Speak for yourself!"
"Sorry, Canary," Len stepped back, moving towards the table like he was unable to take his eyes off Mick. "Another night, maybe." When he turned to look at the Stanley Cup again, Len broke out into a huge, giddy smile. He picked up his gift, cradling it like a baby and then was promptly swept up in his partner's arms. "Mick!" It was not entirely a protestation.
"You know the rules, Beautiful." Mick grinned impishly, hand once again finding the curve of Len's ass. "I won best present this year, I'm calling the shots."