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If you asked Barry Allen exactly why he had decided to rent the apartment above the bar that had live music every night, he would never admit to the truth. He’d say it was because it was cheap and close to his work. His real reason was the singer that came in on tuesday and thursday nights.
The Ramon Bothers were a local duet that had gotten a fairly large following in Central City, their home town. Thursday nights, the brothers would cover songs and play new arrangements they were writing. Tuesday nights, the younger brother, Cisco Ramon, would come in for Try-Anything-Tuesday, the bar’s distinguished karaoke night.
Lucky for Barry, the villains of Central City had been quiet tonight. So, with his unexpected free time, he headed down with the list of songs Iris had given him for karaoke night.
“Wear the maroon shirt,” she had said, “You look great in red.”
“Yeah, and a red shirt is going to get me all the hot people, right?” he scoffed.
“No, it’ll just get you that cute singer you’ve been after.”
Barry shook his head and entered the bar. He headed to the bar and ordered a club soda, then scouted out a small, empty table in the corner of the bar next to the stage. He was just in time for the DJ to start the show exactly at nine. She sang the opening song, then promptly started the rotation. Barry put in the first song on Iris’s list, Nothing Without Love by Nate Ruess.
“Barry, you have to sing. The people that go to karaoke bars alone and don’t sing are creeps and you’re not a creep.”
Barry sighed and occupied himself with his phone. He sent Iris a text, then started scrolling through his music library to see if he could find a song that Iris hadn’t put on her extensive list. Two other singers had gone when Barry looked up to survey the bar. He hadn’t noticed Cisco when he came in, and the bar had already been busy at that point. Now it was packed and he still didn’t see Cisco. He silently prayed that this wasn’t going to be the only Tuesday the singer decided to skip. He looked around some more and realized the only table that had an open chair was his. The table was too small for a stranger to really want to sit with him, so Barry figured someone would come to take the empty chair soon. He went back to his phone and continued through his music. He had only just reached the C’s when someone moved to stand next to the empty chair.
“Is this seat taken?” the man asked.
“No, you can take it if you want,” Barry said, waving his hand and continuing to read through his phone.
“Ok, awesome,” the man said. He sat down, pulled in the chair and leaned on the table. Barry sighed and looked up, ready to tell the stranger he wasn’t really looking for company, but the words caught in his throat.
“Hi, I’m Cisco,” the man said with a bright smile. Barry stared at Cisco for a moment, too in shock to respond immediately.
“Hi, um, uh, Barry,” he said finally, shaking himself out of his stupor. Cisco giggled and sat back in his chair.
“You weren’t expecting someone to be so forward, huh?” he asked.
“No, I really wasn’t,” Barry laughed, glancing down at his phone again.
“Are you gonna sing?” Cisco asked, excitedly.
“Yeah, I actually have a song in the rotation already.” Barry looked back up at Cisco. It was hard to keep his gaze in the dark lighting of the bar. “My friend said ‘if you go to karaoke and don’t sing, you’ll look like a creep’.” Cisco laughed at Barry’s impression of Iris.
“Well your friend is right.” Cisco leaned forward again, closer this time, and pointed past Barry to the bar. “You see that guy on the other end of the bar with the crazy hair?” Barry turned and followed Cisco’s finger.
“Uh...ok, I know you’re trying to be discreet, but I have no idea who you’re talking about.”
“Right...” Cisco gently pushed Barry’s jaw with the tips of his fingers. “There.” Yeah, Barry could see the creepy guy at the other end of the bar now, but at what cost? Barry took a second to catch his breath and let his heartbeat slow to non-heart-attack territory.
“The blond guy in the striped sweater?” Barry hoped his voice wasn’t as high as he thought it was.
“Yep,” Cisco confirmed. His hand fell from Barry’s jaw and he gestured as he spoke. “He is here every night, karaoke night or not.” Cisco put his hand on Barry’s arm and Barry turned to look at him. “It wouldn’t normally be creepy, but heavy breathing paired with openly ogling tits and ass put him in the Creep Category.” Barry barked a laugh and quickly covered his mouth. Cisco smiled and Barry finally noticed how close they were. His heart rate spiked again and he could feel his cheeks starting to flush. They were interrupted by the DJ calling Barry up for the next song and Barry silently thanked every higher power that he could go embarrass himself singing before he embarrassed himself some other way.
Unfortunately for Barry, the three minute, fifty-six second song was not enough for him to get his nerves in check. He smiled awkwardly through the applause and headed back to the table. Cisco didn’t stop clapping until he sat down.
“That was amazing! You didn’t tell me you could sing like that !” Cisco exclaimed. Barry laughed and rubbed the back of his neck.
“Thanks.” Barry looked back over a Cisco and smiled. Cisco was leaning on the table again and was looking at Barry with a smile that spread from ear to ear and what Barry could swear were hearts in his eyes.
“I am gonna go get another drink,” Cisco said, grabbing his glass from the table. “You want anything?”
“Just a club soda,” Barry said with an upturned voice and a smile.
It was just past midnight when Barry finally sang the last song on Iris’ list. The crowd had thinned, leaving Barry and Cisco alone in their corner. They had learned a lot about each other over the course of the night. Barry learned that Cisco worked at Star Labs and had gone on a minute long fangirl-rant about Harrison Wells that caused Cisco to almost fall out of his chair laughing. Cisco learned that Barry was a CSI for the CCPD and made a horrible joke about all the criminal activity he was obviously involved in that made Barry snort his soda through his nose. Their conversations had progressed just like all past-midnight conversations did. They moved through friends, avoided family, and shared things that weren’t normally shared between strangers. Their gestures got bigger and their voices got lower. Closing time found their knees pressed together and one of Barry’s ankles hooked around one of Cisco’s. Cisco yawned and leaned his head on Barry’s shoulder.
“I’m too tired to drive home safely,” he mumbled, sagging into Barry’s side.
“I live upstairs,” Barry said. His brain took a second to catch up to what his mouth said and by the time he realized how he’d sounded, Cisco was already staring at him wide-eyed. Cisco opened his mouth to reply, already starting to lean out of Barry’s space.
“No, no I didn’t mean...you know...” Barry started, putting his hand on Cisco’s arm. “I just meant, you could crash at my place.” Barry shook his head. “Not that I wouldn’t want to, I mean, you are very attractive. I just never do anything like this an-hmf!” Cisco cut off his babbling with a kiss. Cisco’s hand was cupping Barry’s jaw and Barry didn’t even have a chance to react before Cisco was already pulling away.
“Shit, sorry, I should’ve asked you first, ahg,” Cisco muttered into the small space between them. “Can I try again?” Barry couldn’t find his voice so he nodded adamantly. Cisco laughed lightly.
“I would love to crash at your place, thank you,” Cisco started. “I would also very much like to kiss you even if that isn’t really what you meant by what you said.” Cisco smiled brightly. “Is that ok?” Barry nodded again.
“Upstairs, yes,” Barry managed to say, untangling himself from Cisco and pulling him up with him as he stood and started towards the front door of the bar. Cisco laughed brightly and followed close behind.