Chapter Text
Hartley looks right through Cisco, most of the time. And when he doesn’t, it’s with a look that could kill a Rancor. Generally, the look is directed towards whichever shirt Cisco’s wearing that day. Or towards the coffee he’s drinking in front of the computer, even though theytechnically aren’t supposed to have it in the lab, but hey, you’ve gotta have something to stay awake.
And so of course, Cisco starts to avoid Hartley as much as possible. He hangs around Caitlin and Ronnie, and only rarely catches himself staring at the matching silver splotches on their palms. He wonders if it hurts- some people say it does, but parents and teachers and other responsible adults deny it. (He could ask, of course, but that would be really awkward. “So I was wondering about, uh, your connection on the deepest possible level with another person,” and all that.)
People have all kinds of soul marks, always silvery white but different in every other way. Cisco notices them, even though he knows he maybe shouldn’t, but they’re just so bright andshiny- except when they aren’t. Take Dr. Wells, his mark, a blotch on his cheekbone, is tarnished black.
Hartley vanishes only a few days before the particle accelerator goes online. He vanishes only a few days before the particle accelerator rips a hole in the city. He vanishes only a few days before the world changes forever. Cisco could almost miss him- it was weird, not having Hartley glare at him for something, and when the accelerator starts to fall apart Cisco glances at Hartley’s computer, expecting to see the other man typing frantically. But there’s nobody there, and Ronnie is shouting something, and Cisco turns away.
He wasn’t expecting Hartley to come back, with fancy sonic gloves and a name that… okay,might be better than what Cisco was going to go with, but that’s besides the point. The point is that it’s Cisco’s job to name metas, and not-so-metas. (Does Hartley have meta powers? If he does, he’s good at hiding it.)
And of course, he very definitely didn’t expect Barry to appear from the future, and what Barry tells him before he runs back into the time stream.
Ronnie’s alive.
But that can’t be right, can it? Cait’s soul mark isn’t all the way black, but it’s dark and dull and there’s a red-blackness at the edges, spreading into the middle. Cisco always assumed that soul marks turned black when your soulmate died, but now he thinks maybe the darkness comes from a broken heart.
Cait’s mark turns a brilliant silver again, when Ronnie finally comes home. Ronnie has two marks now, there’s an extra one on his left forearm that’s very faint, but silvery and bright.
Meanwhile, Hartley is still in his cell in the Pipeline, at the insistence of Dr. Wells. Cisco talks to him, sometimes, and once you get past the layers of sarcasm and the general… villainous demeanor, Hartley’s actually pretty fun to be around. (He hates Dumbledore even more than Cisco does.)
Cisco talks to Caitlin, and Caitlin talks to Barry, and one afternoon when Dr. Wells is out, they open the pipeline. “Thanks,” says Hartley with an edge in his voice, but Cisco’s gotten better at seeing through Hartley’s sarcasm.
“You’re welcome,” he says, with the same tone, and Hartley smiles.
“I don’t suppose you’d give back my-”
“Nope.”
They let Hartley out while Dr. Wells is gone, and over the days and the weeks Cisco grows more suspicious. And it occurs to Cisco that just maybe, Hartley would be able to solve a problem that’s been bothering him for weeks.
He convinces Cait to distract Wells, while Barry’s away dealing with the Weather Wizard(Cisco’s very proud of that name.) He takes Hartley to look at the containment field, and replays the hologram from that night.
“Oh, I’m not like the Flash at all,” says the hologram, and there’s a quiet voice from the back of the room.
“Some would say I’m the reverse.”
Out of everything rushing through Cisco’s head, Wells isn’t paralyzed?? is, surprisingly, not the most prominent. Neither is I’m so fucked. I’m so fucked.
Actually, out of all the thoughts tumbling around as Wells steps forwards, Cisco’s loudest thought is, Maybe Hartley can sneak away. Maybe he can still get out.
“You’re incredibly clever, Cisco. I’ve always said so.” Wells- or whatever his name is- nods at Hartley. “You too. I’m… glad to see you’ve finally learned to work together.” His attention is on Cisco again now, and Hartley begins to edge away, circling around the room. Wells doesn’t seem to notice, and he keeps walking towards Cisco. Maybe he knows he can catch Hartley, thinks Cisco despairingly.
“You and I have never been truly, properly introduced,” says Wells. “I am Eobard Thawne.”
Cisco’s brain turns into a maelstrom, and he asks questions he knows the answers to. This day is impossible enough already, and now Wells- Thawne, Thawne is going to kill him. He’s going to die. He’s going to die.
“In many ways, you have shown me what it’s like to have a son.”
And Cisco doesn’t have time to yell to Hartley, who is almost at the door and is holding a phone (isn’t that my phone? how did he even-) and recording the exchange with wide and horrified eyes. Cisco only has time to choke out a syllable that could be a Hart-
Hartley runs forwards, and Thawne whips around, and Cisco can feel the warmth leaking out of his heart, Hartley somehow dodges underneath Thawne’s hand- Thawne can’t use the Speed Force all the time, can he? If he could, he could just go home, Hartley can outrun him now- but instead of running Hartley grabs Cisco’s arm, and his fingers brush against Cisco’s skin at the edge of his sleeve and it suddenly burns like touching a hot stove, and Hartley’s fingers turn silver as Cisco’s vision fades to black.
And Cisco has his answer- touching your soulmate for the first time hurts. But it sure as hell doesn’t hurt as much as getting punched in the heart.
“His name is Barry Allen,” chokes Cisco, and there are tears on his face. I’m a traitor, he thinks, and he barely pays attention to what happens around him- Lisa Snart bundles both brothers into a van, one to a hospital and one dropped off in a parking lot a few blocks from STAR Labs.
Cisco doesn’t know if he deserves to go back there. But at least, everyone else deserves to know he’s alive. When he finally stumbles into the lab, his legs aching with bruises from being tied, he’s surprised to see Hartley standing there, and he’s even more surprised at what happens next- or is he?
“Cisco?”
Hartley grabs Cisco by the wrist, and suddenly it feels like he’s just brushed against a hot oven, and burning silver spreads across his skin and Hartley’s fingers alike. Cisco would have fainted- but this feels familiar somehow, it feels like a misplaced memory. But he’s never touched Hartley before.
Hartley lets go of his wrist, and Cisco almost laughs at the other man’s dumbfounded expression. But he has something even more important than soul marks to deal with, and he turns to Barry with his face falling.
But in the end, everything turns out right. In the end, he still has a lingering feeling of guilt, but it’s mostly drowned out, because finally Cisco’s found his soulmate, and he thinks his soul mark is the shiniest one he’s ever seen (actually, maybe Hartley’s is shinier. When he tries to compare them, Hartley rolls his eyes and pulls his hand away, but he laughs anyway. Either way, they’ve got the best soul marks. The best ones ever.)