Chapter Text
It started when Cisco ended up in the hospital. It hadn’t even been a metahuman they’d been tracking down, just some crazy thief with some sort of weird mirror tech, but Cisco still hadn’t been able to keep himself safe, and because Barry had to run him to a hospital, Mirror Master had gotten away. It was his fault and he wasn’t about to let it happen again. He’d gotten the idea from some of Hartley’s tech and sonics research, now all that was left was to implement it.
He’d kept it a secret until everything was ready, he’d even picked out what he thought was a pretty badass name, Hardline. And then his first attempt at joining Barry on a mission just didn’t go so hot. Now he was bruised and battered around both the ego and the chest, and his new tech was sparking. He should probably be more worried about that, but Barry was already there and hauling him to his feet.
“Cisco! Are you okay?” Barry had shoved his hood off while running and was looking him over, and really it just wasn’t fair. Cisco tried to get Barry to back off some, and not let the puppyish expression of worry on the Speedster’s face get to him, but it was really a losing battle.
“I’m fine, Barry, really. See?” Cisco smiled before a pop and a hiss killed the expression and had him frantically hopping in place as he shucked out of the still sparking and now burning technology he’d been wearing. “Okay, so I’ve been better, but really, I’m fine.”
Barry looked down at the smoldering pile of tech Cisco had spent the better part of the last several weeks working on before his gaze flicked back up to his face. Cisco did not need to be any level of genius to understand what was going through Barry’s head.
“Look, Cisco, I know you want to help but..” Cisco cut Barry off before he could get any farther along.
“I work better in the lab and should leave the actual metahuman chasing to you and the cops?” He couldn’t help the anger that slipped into his voice, mostly because he didn’t want to risk voicing the hurt that curled up in his chest.
“Well, yeah, but that’s not a bad thing, Cisco. You still do a lot of good. And you aren’t as likely to get hurt.” And even though Barry’s voice was kind, even though Cisco knew the words really were out of concern for his well being, it didn’t stop them from adding to the hurt.
“Yeah, I get hurt. I got hurt. But you know what, Barry? So do you! You think I don’t worry about you running around on your own against guys like Captain Cold and Mist? People we know are killers?” He watched Barry’s eyes widen, watched as the mind of the man who could run fast enough to create a sonic boom raced to try and predict where this whole spiel was going. “Well I do. And this gear, this tech, it wasn’t just to try and make myself feel safer, because Dios mio do I feel scared. It’s about trying to keep you safe too!”
There was more that Cisco wanted to say, but before he could get the words ordered in his own head, Barry was kissing him. It was clumsy, and kind of rushed, but Cisco stopped caring when he felt Barry cup his face and they both shifted and it was suddenly much better. By the time the kiss broke, Cisco had ended up with his hands in Barry’s hair and a stupid dazed look on his face.
“You know, I don’t normally kiss before the first date,” was the only thing he could think of saying. Barry laughed and gave Cisco an easy smile.
“You wanna get dinner tonight?”