“It’s not that I don’t trust you-” Cisco started before Hartley suddenly scampered away from him. The words Hartley said brought tears to his eyes. Was that really what he thought? “I trust you, Hartley! I would never do any of those things! I’m just not really ready to tell my family and take another shot to my already shattered mental state.” Cisco thought about physically reaching out to Hartley, only to pull his arms and legs closer to his body instead. “I love you Hartley. More than I have ever loved anything or anyone.” He paused, wiping his eyes with one of his hands. “No estoy listo para enfrentarlos.” Cisco mumbled after a decent amount of silence, hiding half his face behind his knees.
“You have no reason to love me. And I’m not going to stand in the closet again just because another man that I thought I was in love with viewed me as a defect. As a blemish to be covered up just because he’s scared to tell his mom and dad,” Hartley spit out. “I won’t be an experiment, Cisco. I won’t do this half-way.”
“You’re not a defect.” Cisco whispered. It was taking everything in him to not burst out in tears. “Why- Why are you even still here if you think all of this?” He whimpered, pulling his legs in closer. “And you’re not an experiment.”
Cisco backup 