Work Text:
Hartley Rathaway owns a dog.
Scratch that; Hartley Rathaway owns three dogs.
Cisco almost drifts into the opposite lane before coming to his senses and jerking his steering wheel straight again. He rolls to a stop at a set of red lights and glances to his right, watching Rathaway walk along the pavement with a tall, slobbering mastiff, a perky greyhound, and some sort of small terrier cross-breed. They trot beside him in an organised formation- of course Rathaway’s dogs would be ridiculously well-trained.
The blaring of horns draws Cisco away from his thoughts, and he makes a hasty getaway, hoping Rathaway hadn’t spotted him. It’s unlikely, given that Cisco’s mode of transport is a white van with STAR Labs stickered on the side.
Cisco wouldn’t usually be so consumed by the idea of a colleague owning a few dogs- he loves dogs, in fact, and would probably own a couple of his own if his apartment block wasn’t so damn strict about pets. This is Hartley, though, and up until now, Cisco hadn’t been aware the dude actually had a heart.
“Did you know Hartley Rathaway owns, like, fifteen dogs?” Cisco asks nonchalantly, tapping idly at the edge of the desk as Caitlin waits for Barry to send a bunch of test results through from CCPD. “I drove past him this morning. It kinda makes me thing he might be an actual human, you know, with actual feelings.”
“You didn’t know?” Caitlin coughs into her hand and fails to hide a smile. “I guess it was before you started working here. Back when Hartley was less of a…"
“A dick?” Cisco scoffs. “Puh-lease, I’m pretty sure he’s always been an ass.”
They return to their respective work, typing in silence for a few minutes before Cisco speaks up again. “Wait, you said that I ‘didn’t know’. Didn’t know about what?” He wheels his chair back and faces Caitlin. “Did something happen?”
“Before his parents disowned him,” Caitlin says, and they both cringe, “Hartley volunteered at the animal shelter on weekends. You know the one that’s, like, three blocks from Jitters?” Cisco nods. “Well, when his parents kicked him out, he was pretty depressed. It was actually Ronnie’s idea.”
As horrible as Hartley had been to Cisco when he first started, he can’t help but feel a weird sort of connection to the guy. It’s not like Cisco’s family downright exiled him, but it’s not like they’ve ever once been proud of him, either, instead preferring to shower their familial affection on Dante, and Dante only.
“It was Ronnie’s idea for Hartley to adopt three dogs?”
Caitlin’s eyes soften, as though she’s remembering something sugary-sweet. “Ronnie took him to the rescue shelter and Hartley fell in love with Lady. She’s the greyhound. Hartley, well, he saved her life.”
Hartley Rathaway, rescuer of death-row dogs. Cisco feels an inexplicable warmth in his chest. He tries to cushion it with memories of Hartley yelling, Hartley making snarky comments and snide jokes. It only works a bit.
“And what about the other two?”
Caitlin sighs. “Ah. Well, the other big one is named Genghis.”
Cisco snorts. “Like Genghis Khan? How very Hartley.”
“Genghis was only a puppy,” Caitlin continues, ignoring him. She draws circles on the desk with her finger as she talks. “Hartley found him inside a box in the alleyway behind his apartment one night. He, uh, wasn’t supposed to grow that big.”
Cisco imagines Hartley picking up a tiny, wrinkled puppy from a wet cardboard box and holding it close, wrapping it up in his jacket to protect it from the sleet and wind. Hartley Rathaway, his glasses foggy and his hair smattered across his forehead, running to the store in the worst of Central City’s weather to buy wet puppy food and brightly coloured chew toys.
“I’m not even going to ask why he was lurking in an alleyway at night,” Cisco mumbles, although he is genuinely interested. “Anyway, what about the third dog? The little one?”
“Ah, yes, the third one.” Caitlin frowns. “Little Archie. He belonged to Hartley’s parents.”
“Wait,” Cisco says, confused. “Did Hartley steal Archie away from them?”
Caitlin huffs out a laugh. “No.” She bites her lip for a moment, as though trying to figure out how to word her next sentence, before speaking again. “Hartley found Archie at the animal shelter when he went back to volunteer for a day.”
“Oh.” Cisco says softly, looking down at his hands. How could they just throw him away like that? Well, they did do the exact same to their son.
Cisco makes a mental note to be nicer to Hartley the next time they meet.
Cisco doesn’t see Hartley for a few days. He drives to work at the same time each day and keeps a lookout at the same set of lights where he’d first seen Hartley, Lady, Genghis and Archie. He grows concerned after three days have passed.
He tries to sound nonchalant as he helps Caitlin to flush gravel out of Barry’s scraped elbows and knees. “I wonder when we’ll see Hartley next?”
Barry raises an eyebrow, looking at Cisco as though he’s lost the plot. “Hartley, as in Pied Piper Hartley?”
“Do we know any other Hartleys?”
“Guess not,” Barry shrugs, hissing as Caitlin dig around in his skin and triumphantly pulls out a jagged chip of asphalt. “Oh my god, that’s the last time I’m running to work.”
“I doubt that,” Caitlin hums, brushing antiseptic over his skin and wincing sympathetically. “Cisco, I have no idea where Hartley is. You should give him a call.”
Barry looks incredulous. “A call? A call? Since when are we fraternizing with the enemy?”
“He’s not our enemy,” Cisco protests. Sure, Barry had finally cracked and told him about ‘alternate timeline Hartley’ and ‘evil Pied Piper’, but it’s just that- a different version of Hartley. That Hartley is not this Hartley. “He helped us take out the time wraith, remember?”
Barry grumbles something about ‘knowing your enemy’, but keeps his mouth shut after that, even if he does keep shooting questioning glances in Cisco’s direction.
“Anyway,” Cisco says, drawing out the word lazily. “I haven’t seen him walking his dogs in a few days, so. I was just wondering.”
Barry sits up and nearly head-butts Caitlin. “Wait, Hartley Rathaway owns dogs?”
The next Monday, Cisco sees Hartley again. He’s walking down the exact same road as before, walking his dogs.
Two dogs.
Cisco flicks on the van’s hazard lights and turns right down the next street, parking halfway across the sidewalk. Hartley rounds with Lady and Genghis and frowns when he sees Cisco running towards him.
“Ramon,” Hartley says curtly, tangling the dog leashes idly around his wrists. “Can I, uh…can I help you with something?”
“I just,” Cisco pants, “saw you walking Lady and Genghis, and I was all like, 'where’s Archie?'”
Hartley blanches slightly, but quickly recovers. “I didn’t realise you’d been stalking my dogs and I. Wait,” he holds up a finger and sighs. “It was Caitlin, wasn’t it?”
“Yeah. So, what’s the deal? Where’s your other pooch, huh?”
Hartley adjusts his glasses and looks away, his shoulders visibly drooping. “Dogs don’t live forever, Ramon. They age seven years for each human year, and…”
Hartley’s voice seems to fade into the background as Cisco stares at his face. He should’ve known, shouldn’t have been so blunt. Of course Archie’s gone, why would Hartley only walk two of his three dogs otherwise?
“It sucks,” Cisco blurts out, immediately trying to backtrack. “I mean, it’s great that you got to spend so long with him, he looked like an awesome dog. What I’m saying is, it really sucks to lose a friend.”
“A friend,” Hartley echoes. He looks back at Cisco, his eyes slightly glazed as if he’s in deep thought. “Um…thanks, Cisco.”
“Yeah. Uh, do you need a lift anywhere?”
Hartley smiles- an actual smile, not even a smirk- and dangles the leashes. “I think I’m good. You know, the whole point of walking my dogs is to actually walk my dogs. Not drive them.”
Cisco mumbles a hasty goodbye and dashes back to his van. God, he can’t believe himself. He needs to figure out where Hartley lives and bring him a block of chocolate, or something No, not chocolate- his dogs can’t have that. Well, he could bring Hartley chocolate, and maybe some treats for Lady and Genghis.
Cisco doesn’t find out where Hartley lives, and he definitely doesn’t bring him chocolate. He sees Hartley again on his way to work the next morning and beeps his horn, waving out the window and almost rear-ending another car. It’s worth it to see Hartley roll his eyes and give Cisco a tiny wave back.
“Should’a brought him chocolate,” Cisco mumbles into the crook of his elbow. “Im’ma bad friend.”
Caitlin rubs him on the back reassuringly. “I wasn’t aware the two of you are friends, but there’s absolutely nothing stopping you from delivering a block of chocolate to his apartment right now.” She glances up at the security camera in the corner of the Cortex. It’s pretty obsolete now. “As one of two employees here, I promise I won’t dob you in for skipping work.”
“As the other employee, I thank you,” Cisco says, already on his feet. He has to do it now or he’ll chicken out.
Caitlin hands him a folded piece of paper. An address is written in her neat handwriting. “Hartley’s address.” Of course Caitlin would be prepared.
It takes him about twenty minutes to reach Hartley’s apartment building (not including the time he spends wandering up and down the aisles of the supermarket, trying to decide between milk or dark chocolate.). It’s nothing special- in fact, it’s pretty similar to his own. He rides the elevator up to the fourth floor (at least this building has a working elevator) and stands outside apartment number 3 for at least five minutes, shuffling his feet awkwardly across the blue carpet.
He finally plucks up the courage to knock, being met with the sound of claws scraping against wooden floor. A low boof escapes from the gap under the door. It must be Genghis- it’s the sort of bark that only a great big mastiff would be able to produce.
“Calm down, Genghis.”
Cisco breathes a sigh of relief at the sound of Hartley’s voice- at least he’s got the right place. His heart simultaneously skips a beat, though, and he honestly contemplates legging it down the hall before Hartley has a chance to open the door.
He doesn’t, though.
“I’d say this is a surprise, but it really isn’t,” Hartley says once he sees Cisco. “Especially seeing as how you’ve been stalking me.”
“I’m not a stalker,” Cisco says a little defensively. He rustles the plastic bag he’s carrying. “I brought you something. I have presents for Lady and Genghis too.”
Hartley steps aside and allows Cisco to step inside his home. He’s instantly met with two cold, wet noses pushing at his thighs and sniffing around his red sneakers. Their tails wagging impossibly fast, Lady and Genghis nudge at him for as many pats as he can give. They mustn’t see too many visitors here.
“How do I know you won’t poison my dogs with your presents?” Hartley takes the plastic bag and looks inside suspiciously.
“Uh, do I look like a dog-poisoner to you?” Cisco flutters his hand over his heart. “I’ll have you know that I think your dogs are great.”
Cisco squats down and allows Genghis to coat his cheeks in drool. He feels Lady lean against him, eager for a pat.
“Well, they seem to like you,” Hartley says, emptying the bag onto the kitchen bench and sorting through Cisco’s purchases. “I guess that means I can trust you. Why did you bring three blocks of chocolate?”
Cisco joins Hartley in the kitchen. “I wasn’t sure what flavour you like.”
“And the dog treats?”
Cisco examines the bag of beef jerky chews he’d chosen after much deliberation. He puts it down and picks up the chicken-flavoured bag. “I wasn’t sure what flavour they like.”
Hartley opens up both of the bags and calls his dogs over, commanding them to sit. He hands Genghis a beef-flavoured chew and Lady a chicken-flavoured one. “They each prefer a different favour.”
“Fussy,” Cisco says. He watches as Hartley chooses a chocolate- the dark-mint-choc one- and makes his way to the couch. Cisco joins him, perching tentatively on the edge of the old leather seat and picking stray hairs from his jeans.
“Sorry,” Hartley says. “Genghis is shedding a bit.”
“All good.”
Hartley turns on the television and they watch in silence for a while. Cisco’s just about to lean back and get comfy when Hartley turns to him, his eyes narrowing. “Why did you come?”
“It’s like I said the other day,” Cisco says, his voice low. “I know what it’s like to lose a friend.”
“You’re one of those people,” Hartley says. His voice is steady, and Cisco can’t decide if he’s angry or upset or...ugh. “You don’t see dogs as pets; you see them as friends. As family.”
Cisco nods slowly. “I’ve never had a dog betray me. People, on the other hand…”
“People can’t love unconditionally. Dogs can.” He sighs and scrubs a hand across his face. When he looks up, he’s…smiling. “Man’s best friend, right?”
“You must miss Archie,” Cisco says hesitantly. “I haven’t owned a dog in a long time, but I remember how much it hurts when they're gone.”
Lady climbs onto the lounge, her lithe limbs dangling over Hartley’s knees. Genghis, on the other hand, is a traitor. He sits at Cisco's feet and stares at him through dopey eyes.
“I gave him a good life,” Hartley says, sniffing. He looks like he’s trying to hold back tears, but at the same time, he looks as though he can’t cry anymore, as though he’s spent all his tears already. “But of course I’ll miss him.”
Cisco shifts uncomfortably. “Look, I’d better go. I just wanted to make sure you were handling everything okay.” He gets up, untangles Genghis’s paws from around his ankles, and makes his way to the door.
“Wait.” Hartley chews at his bottom lip, looking down and scratching Lady behind her ears. “I was thinking about ordering in. Do you like Thai food?”
Cisco grins. “Yeah, I do, actually.”
“Good.” Hartley gestures towards the remaining two blocks of chocolate on the kitchen bench. “Because we’ve already got dessert.”