Hartley flinched but gritted his teeth, moving inside and shutting the door, laughing humorlessly as he saw the leopard print boxers and the typed note wadded up on the floor. “So what’s your excuse for that, huh? Some robber broke in and left some underwear and a note thanking you for the night and signed it ‘your neighborhood gay?’” Hartley plopped down on the couch, his eyes flicking over all of the memorabilia of the night. The blanket and the pillows and the TV with a discarded Hobbit DVD. “I just thought you were different. I thought we had so much in common and we understood each other. We both loved Wells. We both were promised the same things. We both were betrayed. And then you telling me that you’re bi. It was just all too good to be true. I mean, no one has ever said ‘nice ink, dude’ to me before. It was pleasant in a… colloquial way.”
Cisco wandered behind Hartley, picking up things as he went along and puting them away, hardly listening to what Hartley was saying. Things were going in one ear and out the other. He was putting the DVD back in it’s place when he heard ‘you’re bi’. It was all he had comprehended, and Cisco felt his anger go from 10 to 100 in seconds. He whipped around, running to Hartley and grabbing fistfuls of his shirt and pinning him against the wall. “Who told you?!?” He yelled before plunging into the darkness of a vibe.
It started with finding Hartley sitting on a curb outside of STAR Labs. Cisco watched himself talking to Hartley, with a smile on his face. Not his usual smile though. He seemed…different. He blinked and the scene changed. They were in a wooded area, and Cisco was communicating with his hands. Sign language. He remembered learning sign language for his former coworker. Blink. They were now in Cisco’s apartment, drinking. Things are blurred. There is yelling and Cisco realizes its his voice. Blink. They’re on the couch, Cisco’s arm around Hartley as The Hobbit plays on the television. Blankets draped over their legs and pillows from the couch strewn across the living room. Cisco watched his own actions and realized how different they were. Why was he acting like that? Like he hadn’t a care in the world? This was hella freaky, man. Hartley was now using his thigh as a pillow – WHAT? This was getting weird. Blink. Cisco is guiding Hartley to his bedroom. Now he’s brushing his teeth while Hart gets ready for bed. ‘Nice ink, dude’ he heard his own voice say. Blink. Hartley is leaning over Cisco. ‘I need to test something.’ He could feel his heart begin to race. Blink. Cisco watches as he cuddles into Hartley’s chest and falls asleep. As he snaps out of the vibe, he gasps.
“Holy mother-” Cisco stops, quickly letting Hartley’s shirt go and taking a few steps back.
Cisco backup 