Hartley's tries to keep himself busy in the hours leading up to their date. He's already a little nervous, and he refuses to psyche himself out by thinking of all the ways things could go wrong. Instead, he focuses his attention on other things, like cleaning up around his apartment (on the off chance that he does bring Cisco back to his place), and playing with his pet rats as the hours slowly inch by.
A little over an hour before he's supposed to meet Cisco, he decides it's time to start searching through his closet for something to wear, which takes longer than expected considering how long it's been since his last date. But he eventually settles on a button down dress shirt and his nicest pair of dark jeans. He foregoes a tie and blazer, since neither are necessary for the restaurant they're going to and would certainly be overkill if they do decide to go for drinks afterwards. He briefly considers switching out his glasses for contacts for the day, but quickly decides against it. Cisco might like his eyes, but there's nothing attractive about twitchy, irritated eyes, so he sticks with the glasses. Finally, once he's showered, dressed and satisfied that he'll look presentable for their date, he heads out to the restaurant.
Hartley lives fairly close to the restaurant himself (the proximity to STAR Labs made it easier to spy on the goings-on there back when he was doing that sort of thing), so it doesn't take him long to get there. In fact, he's actually a few minutes early, which gives him some time to get his head together. There's still a part of him, a very small part, that fears this will all turn out to be a joke. That Cisco won't show up, or if he does, it'll be to laugh at him. It's ridiculous and he knows it. Cisco may not be a pushover and he can certainly give as good as he gets when he wants to, but he's never been outright cruel. Besides, they been getting along strangely well this past year or so and Hartley has no reason to doubt Cisco's intentions are anything but sincere. So he pushes the last of his doubts aside, allowing his excitement to build again as he waits for Cisco to get there.
He does worry a little bit when he realizes Cisco's late, not because he suspects some kind of a trick, but because he knows that with the kind of city they live in, there's every possibility that he did get kidnapped. Or some metahuman craziness came up that requires his immediate attention. Or there's another black hole forming somewhere in the city. This is Central City, anything could happen. But Cisco's only a few minutes late, so it's probably a bit premature to worry about those things. And it turns out there's nothing to worry about at all, because there Cisco is.
"Hey," Hartley replies, smiling as he turns to look at him. He was already distantly aware that Cisco's a good looking guy, but he's still surprised by how attractive he looks right now. Now that he knows that he can be interested in Cisco, it's like he's seeing him in a whole new light. "It's okay. It's only been a few minutes. But I'm going to assume you're not being literal about Barry rubbing off on you," he teases.
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A little over an hour before he's supposed to meet Cisco, he decides it's time to start searching through his closet for something to wear, which takes longer than expected considering how long it's been since his last date. But he eventually settles on a button down dress shirt and his nicest pair of dark jeans. He foregoes a tie and blazer, since neither are necessary for the restaurant they're going to and would certainly be overkill if they do decide to go for drinks afterwards. He briefly considers switching out his glasses for contacts for the day, but quickly decides against it. Cisco might like his eyes, but there's nothing attractive about twitchy, irritated eyes, so he sticks with the glasses. Finally, once he's showered, dressed and satisfied that he'll look presentable for their date, he heads out to the restaurant.
Hartley lives fairly close to the restaurant himself (the proximity to STAR Labs made it easier to spy on the goings-on there back when he was doing that sort of thing), so it doesn't take him long to get there. In fact, he's actually a few minutes early, which gives him some time to get his head together. There's still a part of him, a very small part, that fears this will all turn out to be a joke. That Cisco won't show up, or if he does, it'll be to laugh at him. It's ridiculous and he knows it. Cisco may not be a pushover and he can certainly give as good as he gets when he wants to, but he's never been outright cruel. Besides, they been getting along strangely well this past year or so and Hartley has no reason to doubt Cisco's intentions are anything but sincere. So he pushes the last of his doubts aside, allowing his excitement to build again as he waits for Cisco to get there.
He does worry a little bit when he realizes Cisco's late, not because he suspects some kind of a trick, but because he knows that with the kind of city they live in, there's every possibility that he did get kidnapped. Or some metahuman craziness came up that requires his immediate attention. Or there's another black hole forming somewhere in the city. This is Central City, anything could happen. But Cisco's only a few minutes late, so it's probably a bit premature to worry about those things. And it turns out there's nothing to worry about at all, because there Cisco is.
"Hey," Hartley replies, smiling as he turns to look at him. He was already distantly aware that Cisco's a good looking guy, but he's still surprised by how attractive he looks right now. Now that he knows that he can be interested in Cisco, it's like he's seeing him in a whole new light. "It's okay. It's only been a few minutes. But I'm going to assume you're not being literal about Barry rubbing off on you," he teases.