Work Text:
There was no one Hartley hated more than Cisco Ramon. Intelligent, good looking, warm, likeable… It was despicable.
That sort of perfection wasn’t fair to anybody.
Ramon had walked into STAR labs on the morning of his first day, without having ever met a soul who worked there before, and by the end of the day was seemingly best friends with almost all of the staff.
Meanwhile Hartley had been working at STAR labs for two years now and the only person he had made it to a level of interaction one could deem ‘friendly’ with was his boss….
The lack of personal connection with his colleagues went both ways of course. He had made absolutely no effort to make meaningless small talk with the dimwits he works with in hopes of cultivating any friendships. Work was work in his mind. The job came first. Especially when his work was so integral to the particle accelerator’s success. What he needed was focus and for goals to be achieved. Yep. That was why he never spoke socially with anyone at work. Choice.
But as originally preferred as his solitude may have been, two years of eating his lunch by himself was starting to wear thin, loathe as he was to admit it.
Maybe it was the time to start being a little more open to the asinine water cooler conversation of his peers. Time to praise his colleagues for their rudimentary work accomplishments. To take a genuine interest in the disgustingly heterosexual romance novel antics of Dr Snow and her dim-witted boyfriend. Time to make nice and make friends.
God, it sounded like a lot of effort for so little gain.
Maybe he’d just start small. Be a little more welcoming to Mr Ramon tomorrow morning. Or at least, slightly less sarcastic towards him.
Baby steps.
It was Cisco Ramon’s second official week as a member or STAR labs (exciting!!) and as a member of Hartley’s team (not as exciting!!).
Hartley Rathaway had been an unpleasant aspect of Cisco’s first day, and a continued annoyance for the remainder of his first week, but Cisco wasn’t going to allow the bad attitude of one co-worker (even if he was technically his superior) to ruin this job for him. STAR labs was everything he had ever dreamed it would be. The cutting edge of innovation and technology, and he was a part of it!
Last week had been one of the best weeks of his life. And he already felt like he was carving a nice little niche for himself within the well run machine that was the workings of the Lab. The work environment was overwhelmingly encouraging and inspiring, he could recognise many of the scientists he passed in the halls by their face alone, they were that well renowned in the science community. To even hear some of the casually referenced heads of departments was leaving Cisco dizzy with excitement and adulation. But not even this close proximity with some of the modern day greats of the Science community proved to distract him from his work, on the contrary, it only made him more determined to prove his own worth amongst such success.
What was uncomfortably distracting was the presence of Hartley Rathaway.
His smirking little smile on that adorably mole freckled face, with his stupid glasses and perfect hair that Cisco just wanted to run his hands through and see utterly dishevelled.
As a scientist, Hartley was extraordinary. His mind was something to marvel at and his work inarguably brilliant. Just by working under him for a week Cisco had already learnt so much and improved his own work ethic immeasurably. He was really an inspiration to work with.
It was just his attitude that was his downfall. Great scientist. Pretty awful person.
Yet his horrible attitude didn’t stop Cisco from openly admiring the boys pretty much perfect body.
Yeah he had been as unwelcoming as humanly possible upon their first meeting, and had been generally prickly towards him every day since, but he wasn’t anything Cisco couldn’t handle. His unfairly good looks really helped balance out the negatives of his personality.
Honestly, Cisco didn’t even hear his sarcastic retorts half the time, (which had thankfully decreased as Cisco had proved his worth as an equal) as he was too busy taking in the man himself to focus on his words.
A habit that had really worked against him when he had to ask Hartley to repeat himself once again as he tried to tell Cisco the required adjustments that needed to be done to the previous week’s work for the fourth time.
He thought Hartley was going to have an aneurysm he was trying so hard to repress the urge to kill Cisco then and there.
Taking a second to collect himself, with a noticeably deep breath and long exhale, Hartley once again explained what needed to be done, taking great care to try and keep his voice level.
“Do you have it now?” Hartley pleaded, not unkindly. More exasperated and exhausted then furious, which Cisco counted as a win.
“Yeah, yeah I got it. I’ll get right on it.” He replied with a grin.
“We’re on a tight schedule.” Hartley warned with a pointed look at Cisco’s already irrevocably untidy desk.
Handing him the tablet he was holding which was showing their team’s accomplished work to date (a file which now Cisco himself had contributed to) and the specifications for the required changes to be made, Hartley started to make his leave. Pausing thoughtfully, the man seemed to wrestle with himself for a moment before he sent Cisco an incredibly small genuine smile as he walked away. “Keep up the good work Ramon.”
Making his way to his way over to his own work area and out of sight, Cisco had to consciously lower his eyebrows which he noticed had risen to his hairline in shock.
Okay, that was unexpected. Seems he was really growing on the man after all.
Hartley sat down heavily in his chair, face burning after his talk with Cisco. The other man had looked ridiculously attractive with his hair down, and the way he kept looking at Hartley was distracting to say the least. He almost couldn’t be mad at him for making him repeat himself over and over again.
Almost.
With a sigh Hartley pushed his chair back from his desk, rubbing his hands over his face. Only a few days into his mission to be Slightly Less Cruel And Make A Friend and he was already distracted at work and getting attached. It was all Cisco’s fault.
Stupid, distracting, perfect Cisco.
Okay there was definitely more emotion for the man than hate or apathetic toleration.
He wanted Cisco. There. He accepted that. And with the looks he had caught Cisco giving him he was almost certain that Cisco was at least mildly interested, though he was sure the man had a plethora of better options available to him.
Hartley was going to lay it all on the line. Ask him out for a drink tonight. And keep any criticisms of his work ethic to the absolute minimum.
He hadn’t been lying when he had praised his work before, the man had proved himself a worthy member of their team. It was just his work attire and desk clutter that Hartley could never get behind. Everyone had their limits.
Standing up with renewed purpose Hartley resolved to get his new goal achieved as soon as possible. His plan to make relationships with his co-workers was moving much faster than he had anticipated he thought smugly.
Turning the corner to see Cisco chewing on some sort of red candy while he focused on the documents in front of him, he felt his footsteps slow as he watched the man’s mouth at work. Reaching his work area, he knocked slowly on the wall to announce his presence.
Cisco looked up, smiling when he saw Hartley back again so soon.
It felt like Hartley’s brain had just stuttered to a stop. How did he ask someone out again?
Why was his mouth so dry...?
This wasn’t a good idea.
Hartley stood there, jaw opening and closing as he tried to get his brain to work again for what felt like forever as Cisco looked on expectantly.
“No eating in the Lab.”
That wasn’t what he’d meant to say dammit! But already Cisco’s gaze had hardened at the reprimand.
Hartley’s face reddened, fingers twitching and trying desperately to think of a way to recover, he resorted to a tactical retreat, turning on his heal and leaving Cisco without another word. Practically flying down the corridor as he tried to put the interaction as far behind him as possible.
Only stopping once he had made it to essentially the other end of the building, Hartley finally allowed himself to stop and reassess what he had just done.
What a success that was.
Letting out a groan and covering his face with his hands, his body filled to the brim with embarrassment.
He felt like a teenager, why did Cisco have to make him act like this?
He was out of practice that was all, he tried to reason with himself.
Sure he’d made a fool of himself, but he’d just go back and try again. Think of something to say before he was in front of the other man again. And hopefully avoid insulting him.
His plan to Make Friends (And Maybe Something More) depended on him being able to say more than a few nice words. He could do this.
Twisting to turn around and head back in the direction he came, lost in his thoughts as he was, his foot twisted onto an innocuous loose piece of paper that had been left on the floor, his sudden shift of weight on the slippery surface causing him to slide and lose his balance.
A movement which wouldn’t have been too much of a problem had he not been a foot away from the top of a stair case.
Stomach dropping and arms flailing Hartley tried to reach out for the hand rail to catch himself, his fingers barely scraped against it before he was toppling down the stairs to the level below.
~
He felt his back and head exploding with pain from the impact as he reached the bottom of his cascade. Vision whiting out with pain, gasping as his diaphragm seized from the wind having been knocked out of him.
Eventually catching some of his breath and his vision returning slightly, though smattered with stars, he automatically tried to lift up his body to sit himself back up. His head not making it a few inches off of the floor before his muscles seemed to stutter and it became impossible to lift himself up any further. Resting his head back on the floor he tried to breathe through the pain radiating through his body.
Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow.
Taking a minute to reorient himself the best he could, he painstakingly rolled to his side before slowly getting his arms and legs under himself, limbs wracked with pain as he rearranged them to take his weight.
He hadn’t even considered calling out for help. Whether in defence of his pride or from sheer stupidity, he shuffled his way into a standing crouch, trying to get into a position where he could walk back to his office in the illusion that he was okay.
World tilting around him he shuffled towards the wall where he leant his side, to prop himself up into a standing position. Grimacing in pain, arms crossed over his stomach to hold his sides and vision swirling he slumped more of his weight against the wall, sliding down until he was barely upright. In too much pain to bother about what was happening any more, Hartley let the roaring in his ears overcome him as he closed his eyes.
Cisco found him a few minutes later.
He was searching for his team leader after the weird interaction they had just had. Seeing Hartley all but sprint away from him after gaping at him like a fish with a red face and then randomly berating him had been concerning behaviour to say the least. Following him down the corridors he saw him take but at a much more sedate pace he froze when he heard a pained groan coming from the bottom the northern stair well.
“Hartley! Dude! You okay?” he gasped as he took in the sight of Rathaway hunched over, face ashen with his weight slumped against the wall at the bottom of the Stairs.
Cisco felt his heart ratchet up with fear and concern.
Racing down the stairs he ran to the small huddled figure.
“Are you hurt? What’s wrong? Should I get help?” he rattled on, reaching out to gently touch Hartley’s shoulder
Hartley only groaned back, not looking up from his bent position. He didn’t appear to be fully conscious as his eyes stared unfocusedly downwards.
“What am I saying of course you’re not okay. did you fall down the stairs? Can you hear me Hartley???”
Lolling his head to the side, Hartley’s unfocused gaze seemed to search for Cisco’s.
“Cisssco” he slurred.
It was then that Cisco saw the blood dripping down the back of Hartley’s neck, staining through the shoulders of his clothes.
Head wound, not good. Probably concussed, Okay. Okay. don’t panic he’ll be fine, just got to get him actual help.
Pulling out his cell phone with shaking hands, he called the recently used number for STAR labs administration who he had been in contact with through his hiring process.
“Hi, um, there’s been an accident on the fourth floor of the northern stairs, someone’s had a fall, can you get some help? I don’t know first aid and he’s not looking good, please help?”
The women on the other end responded that she was sending some security and first aid staff to meet them and that she would call an ambulance. Relieved, he turned back to Hartley.
“Okay, first aid is coming and they’re getting an ambulance too. Everything’s okay. We’re under control, you just need to stay awake or something?”
“Cissssssssscoo” Hartley called out again. Before mumbling something else that was indecipherable to Cisco.
“Yeah Hartley?”
“Drinkss w’me?” he slurred slowly, eyes sliding shut again.
Letting out a startled laugh Cisco gently reached for Hartley’s shoulder again.
“Stay awake Hartley come on, eyes open.”
As his eyelids lifted slowly Cisco bobbed his head to manoeuvre his face into Hartley’s line of sight, unfocused as his eyes may be.
“Hospital first, then we’ll see about drinks. Okay?”
“Mm’kay.”