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“Excuse me, gonna steal my brother for a second,” Iris had appeared next to him and placed her hand on his arm. She was politely smiling her megawatt smile at the other guests who just nodded when she dragged Barry away from the conversation.
She looked amazing in her skin tight crimson red cocktail dress and her hair was tied back in asymmetric up do. She really looked like a film star. With a certain determination she kept leading Barry through a massive penthouse that was crowded with fancy dressed people. The apartment was beautifully decorated and dimly lighted. Soft music and constant chatter were heard everywhere and the atmosphere was pleasant. They passed a waiter and Iris grabbed two glasses of champagne from his tray. She turned around and handed the other one to Barry and finally stopped walking.
“Everything alright?” Barry asked in puzzlement.
Iris laughed. “Yes, of course. My new movie is a success and I’m celebrating that with the lovely cast and my brother. What could be better?”
“Cheers for that,” he answered and lifted his glass before sipping from it.
“I still don’t understand why you invited me to your cast party,” Barry said with trace of confusion in his voice. He looked around the room and quickly continued, “not that I wouldn’t be enjoying the party. It’s a great party.”
Iris emptied her glass and placed it to nearby table. “We are allowed to bring plus-ones and I haven’t seen you properly in ages. We need to catch up later, brother.”
“Later?” Barry echoed.
She shrugged innocently and small smile was forming on his lips. “I may have had ulterior motives when inviting you here. I want to introduce you to someone.”
Barry groaned and Iris smacked his arm playfully.
“Why are you like that? Just listen to me first,” she started to straighten Barry’s red tie as she spoke. “You gotta meet my co-star. You will love him. I’m sure. You are made for each other.”
“Are you sure about that?” He asked with a sceptical look. He loved his sister dearly but some of the blind dates Iris had set up for him had been less than unpleasant. “Don’t you have something better to do than getting involved in my love life?”
“Yes, I’m sure and it’s not like I’m actively trying to find a significant other for you. I just happened to meet this amazing person through work and one of my first thoughts after meeting him were how much you would like him. I think I even mentioned that to him,” Iris told with a big grin.
Another groan escaped from Barry’s mouth.
“Stop it,” Iris said with a chuckle, “you aren’t losing anything if you meet one person. Besides, you are already here.”
“Fine,” Barry finally agreed.
“Great,” Iris announced and took his hand once again. She started to lead him through the crowd and Barry had no choice but follow her.
“Cisco!” Iris called out and a man turned around. Barry was quite sure the man was the most attractive person he had ever seen. His brown hair was tied in a loose bun and he had incredible beautifully warm eyes. He had a slight stubble and wearing a navy blue suit with black shirt and tie. Barry felt as if his knees went weak.
“Iris!” He greeted her with a tight hug and when he released her from it, his gaze went straight to Barry. He gave him a small smile.
“Cisco, meet my brother,” she did a vague hand movement towards Barry.
Cisco laughed. “You must be the brother. Iris has told me all about you,” he said and shook Barry’s hand.
“Or just Barry,” he offered weakly with a smile.
As soon as he said that, Cisco abruptly stopped shaking their hands but did not let go. It looked like he was connecting dots in his head.
“Barry as in Barry Allen?”
Barry was caught off guard and kept blinking until he could pull himself back together and actually form words with his mouth. “…yes?” He looked at Iris but she seemed to be puzzled as well.
“You are the author!” Cisco exclaimed and finally let go of his hand to Barry’s disappointment. “I mean Iris told me you were an author but I didn’t realise you were the Barry Allen.”
He had no idea what to say as he barely ever got recognised but it seemed that Cisco was more than happy to do the talking. “I just read your book on the plane. Wait a second,” he said turning around and picking up a black bag from the floor. He rummaged it through before pulling out a copy of Barry’s first published detective novel.
Barry was still slightly awestruck by all of this. He tried to think something intelligent to say but it seemed that his brain was incapable of that during that exact moment. “Did you like it?”
“I loved it. It was very captivating and addicting. I read it at one sitting, you are crazy talented, dude,” he said and clapped Barry’s arm..
Barry couldn’t help but smile. “Thank you,” he answered sincerely.
“I’m gonna leave you two to it,” Iris told and squeezed Barry’s shoulder, “see you later, Barr.”
Barry was able to nod vaguely towards Iris who had already disappeared into the crowd. He turned his attention back at Cisco, who was now flipping through the book.
“I’m glad you liked it,” Barry tried to start the conversation again.
“It’s probably one of my favourite books by now,” Cisco’s eyes lit up with excitement when he spoke and Barry found it endearing, “please say that you are going to write more.”
“Uh, yes. I’m actually writing my second book at the moment,” Barry confirmed with a nod.
“Awesome,” Cisco said with a huge grin, and placed the book back into the bag, “but maybe that’s enough about your books. I’d like to get to know you, too, and not just ‘about the author’ page. Wanna have a drink with me?”
Barry let out a small laugh. “Sure.”
-8 months later-
“Barry?” Cisco called out as he opened the door to their apartment.
“Here,” Barry answered even though their apartment was not that huge that Cisco couldn’t have easily seen him sitting on the living room couch with a laptop.
They could have easily afforded to buy a bigger apartment but there was nothing wrong with their current one. Besides, it had sentimental value as it was their first apartment. They had been dating approximately eight months, and Iris had already declared herself as matchmaking queen, and Barry couldn’t be happier.
Barry felt a soft kiss being planted on his hair and soon his boyfriend appeared next to him on the couch. He was wearing jeans and a Star Wars t-shirt but still managed to look ridiculously good. Even after all these months, Barry felt the same as seeing him for the first time.
“How was your meeting?”
“Good, I’ve an audition in few weeks,” he told but seemed to be distracted, “do you have a moment?”
Barry looked sorrowfully at the laptop screen that showed his pathetic attempts of the plan of his third book but pushed the laptop away from his lap. “For you, yes.”
Cisco seemed uncharacteristically nervous. “So, do you remember the movie I was shooting when we started dating?”
“Yeah, of course, the political thriller one. The Control, right? You were really excited about it.”
To be honest, Barry had spent majority of his free time on the set of that movie when they had started dating because Cisco had been extremely busy with it and they still had wanted to spend time together.
“Yeah, because it’s gonna be a cinematic masterpiece,” Cisco said with a huge grin, “anyways, the international press tour starts next week but we start from New York premiere and I was wondering if you would like to come as my date,” Cisco mumbled rest of the sentence and smiled almost nervously.
Asking your boyfriend of eight months out should not have been that big deal but the thing was that their relationship was not exactly public information. Their families and friends knew of course, but the general public had no idea. Cisco liked to keep his privacy and usually dodged the interview questions about his love life. Also, he firmly believed that his sexuality was something that he was not required to publicly state. He was not ashamed, but if straight people did not need to announce their sexualities in interviews or press conferences why should he either. Barry, on the other hand, had mentioned in one literature magazine interview that he had a boyfriend, but the media was not too keen on finding out who he was dating. Heteronormativity also helped to keep their relationship in secret as every time they were spotted on their dates, the media kept telling they were only friends.
“What happened to the no-statements?” Barry asked, not unkindly out of curiosity.
“It’s really not a statement if I just bring my boyfriend as my date,” Cisco explained but added quickly, “you don’t have to come if you don’t want to.”
Barry took Cisco’s hand in his. “Of course, I’ll come.” He told softly.
Cisco’s face lit up and Barry smiled as well. He cupped Cisco’s face and kissed him. “Why are you even thinking that I would not spend every moment with you on the day before you start your three week around the world trip?”
Cisco let out a small laugh. “I’m gonna miss you so much. Are you sure you cannot come with me?”
Barry sighed. “Pretty sure, gotta publish my book which includes a press tour as well,” he chuckled, “which reminds me of something.”
He stood up and walked up to the kitchen counter, picking up a book.
“You know, we should totally start scheduling these press tours so that we are not on the other side of the world all the time.” Cisco told him and Barry hummed in agreement.
He returned to the couch and handed Cisco the book. “Here, this came today, the first copy.”
Cisco took the book and quickly glanced at the cover. “Giving your own book as a present for me? That’s bit egoistic, don’t you think?” He joked.
Barry rolled his eyes. “Yeah, well I’m pretty sure I promised you at some point that you would be one of the first people to read the final version.” Actually, Cisco had probably read the drafts of his second book more times than his publisher. “Besides, it’s dedicated to you, so try to deal with it,” Barry joked as well to hide his own slight nervousness. He could catch the small expression of surprise on his boyfriend’s face as he started to look for the dedication page.
Writing the dedication had felt such a good idea few weeks ago but now he felt slightly nervous. He tried to remind himself that there was no reason to be nervous, it was Cisco. They loved each other. Anyway, Barry tried to distract himself by picking up the laptop again.
He could not help himself, though, and ended up glancing at Cisco and abandoning the laptop once again. Cisco was staring at the page and tracing the text with his thumb.
“Is it too much?” Barry asked carefully.
Cisco shook his head hastily. “No, no, not at all. It’s perfect.”
Barry felt himself relax. “Good. I was kind of thinking it’s too cliché.”
Cisco laughed genuinely. “That it is. But I love it nevertheless and I love you too, but you do realise this is going to make Iris even more proud of her match making skills? It’s going to be unbearable.”
“That’s a price I’m willing to pay for writing that.”
For Cisco. The universe guided me to you for a reason.