cisco_ramon | (no subject)

I refuse to allow myself to get kidnapped today. Absolutely refuse. So I'll definitely see you at 6.

Cisco sends his last text and he hopes it makes him sound cooler than he feels because he's already sort of freaking out. Not in a bad way or anything, he's just always anxious about first dates, though he really shouldn't be with Hartley. It is their first date, yes, but it's not like Cisco needs to try to make a good first impression, considering how well they know each other already.

Still, even as amicable as things have been between them for the last year or so, Cisco hasn't forgotten (and likely will never forget) the way he'd felt when he met Hartley for the first time. It was a lifetime ago now, and as much as Cisco knows that Hartley's attitude back then had been strongly influenced by the situation with his parents (and growing up as a rich only child), remembering some of Hartley's words back then still stings.

But Hartley's ire has mellowed significantly since then, and Cisco has, for all intents and purposes, forgiven Hartley for being so unnecessarily jerktastic at the beginning. Over the last few months in particular Cisco's found himself looking forward to the opportunities they have to work together, and eventually he'd started to realize it wasn't just because he enjoyed Hartley's scientific perspective and intellect.

And now, thanks to the inhibition lowering power of tequila, Cisco and Hartley are going to go out on a real, actual facts date. Of course plans being finalized before ten AM means Cisco has eight hours to agonize over everything he could say or do wrong to screw things up. Rather than spend too much time in his own head he makes the not quite so brilliant decision to go for a run (despite the fact that he hasn't participated in any prolonged cardio in a reasonably long time). By the time he gets home he's a sweaty, exhausted disaster, but his hangover is effectively gone too, so he's going to call it a win (even if it means he won't be able to walk tomorrow).

He spends the rest of the afternoon trying (and failing) to distract himself from overthinking the date. He gives himself several pep talks (which really only make him more anxious), and tries to remind himself that Kendra actually did like him, he only got trumped by 4000 years of reincarnation, so he is totally worthy of being someone's boyfriend. Not that he expects to walk away from dinner as part of a couple (though he doesn't think he'd mind if he did); he just really, really wants things to go well.

Finally around five he lets himself shower and shave and get dressed. He decides to wear a well cut, short sleeved button up shirt rather than any of his t-shirts because he's honestly not sure if Hartley hates them and thinks they're juvenile or if that was all part of his past general, unfounded dislike of Cisco. The Thai place isn't fancy at all and there's no reason to get dressed up, but Cisco still finds himself dithering about whether or not to wear a blazer. Finally he opts not to; it's warm enough he doesn't need the layers and, as much as he feels like he needs to do something to make himself more attractive, he knows it's better if he goes into this just being himself.

Cisco doesn't live that far away and the weather is really nice so he walks to the restaurant, forcing himself to take it slow and breathe so he's as calm as possible when he finally gets there. It turns out he takes it a little too slow and he arrives a few minutes late, spotting Hartley waiting near the doors. He hopes Hartley won't be irritated with his tardiness, but he can't say he hates the few seconds he gets to spend admiring Hartley before he knows Cisco's there, noting the way the afternoon sunlight turns Hartley's eyes a striking, crystalline blue, the attraction Cisco's felt for months reaffirming itself as Cisco takes in each of Hartley's handsome features.

"Hey," he says when he's a few steps away to get Hartley's attention. "I'm sorry I'm late. Barry must be rubbing off on me a little," he adds with an apologetic smile.

Threaded | Flat

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.