mostlyajerk | Then why are you in a cage?

"Is this just how your dates usually end?" Seemed like a legitimate question, he still remembered the stories of nights out that Cisco wouldn't shut up about. Hartley watched Cisco work himself into a panic, not even surprised. He was obviously quite calm himself, finally just looking down at his nails and only looking up when Cisco started threatening him.

"You couldn't even kick my ass if I was unconsc--" Wait. Hartley broke off, taking a step closer with a frown. "Cisquito, are you crying?"

That was pathetic, sure, but it also almost made him feel sorry for him.

"No! Shut up! You're crying."

All valid and brilliant come backs as Cisco turned around and tried to find where the hell the over-ride panel for the door was. He was sure he put one in in case of emergencies... or did he just mean to put one in and he forgot about it? He probably forgot about it. Yep. That was the night he was supposed to do it but went drinking with Barry instead because 'we can do the work on the pipeline any time'. Fuck.

Damn it, Barry! Cisco forced himself to take several deep breaths and kind of clawed at the panel, hoping there was something he could use to over-ride it before either Hartley kicked his ass or he looked like even more a spazz. "I said back up, dude. Now back the hell up. You're still my prisoner." Kind of. Maybe.

"You know, I've been wondering about this." Hartley took another step closer, casually folding his arms. "You really like that, don't you? Me being your prisoner. You're very big on the talk. 'Stay in front of me.' 'Shut up.' Those nice threats you're enjoying so much."

How could he resist teasing him now? Hartley had obviously decided not to even try resisting, it was too much fun. "What's the matter? You get off on ordering me around?"

It wouldn't exactly surprise him, all things considered. But it was definitely good reason to smirk and take another step closer.

"Will you knock that crap off? Stop making this all --" He sort of flails his hands, trying to think of the right word that wasn't offensive because the one time he accused Hartley of making something 'gay', he got lectured and threatened with HR so apparently that kind of talk wasn't allowed. And yeah, Hartley wasn't his boss but he didn't feel like debating hurtful language when on the verge of a panic attack. "-- all you like."

He wasn't going to explain what that meant either so there. Perfect come back. He moved to the other side of the cell, still trying to feel for a panel or some kind of control.

"I don't get off on anything! Especially not dicks I used to work with."

"You don't get off on anything. Sure. That explains why the attractive woman just tossed you into your own cell." Hartley rolled his eyes and watched Cisco, curious and mostly just amused. He didn't think there was any control panel in here or he'd not still be stuck. So he finally moved back against the wall and even sat down on the ground, snorting. "If you think I get off on you ordering me around, you really mustn't know me as well as you think."

"That wasn't a getting off thing, that was a her breaking out and me being slight dumb thing. She's not into me. Trust me." No adds on facebook, no instagram hits up, not even a kiss. And apparently the stain on his shirt was a major turn off. Cisco groaned in frustration and finally turned away from the wall, slumped against it, trying not to think about how small it was in here. Cramped. Not well lit. Oh man, what if they ran out of air? "I don't know, I bet you're into it. You seem kinda kinky. Bet you'd love to be bossed around."

"I'm sure she's not into you, But you seem to be into her." Hartley smiled and raised his eyebrows. "You're actually claustrophobic. You lock people in here without a trial and no comforts whatsoever and you are claustrophobic yourself. That's rich."

While he leaned his head back against the wall and pulled his knees up to his chest, he looked at Cisco with open amusement. "Oh, I'm very kinky. But someone has to be able to sell the part and you just fall short. Not a height joke, it's more tied to personality."

Speaking of. "Deep breaths, Cisquito. You're going to hyperventilate."

"I have to lock you guys down here, you kill people, you hurt people and you have super powers that you would use to escape jail. Hell, I try to make it at least fun." Hence the Cisco disco and the movie nights but yeah, no, he was very aware of the irony and he didn't really want to discuss it. "And I'm not claustrophobic, I'm just not totally chill with cramped little places where it feels like the walls are closing in and we're going to just lose all oxygen and slowly suffocate to--"

And there was that deep breath he was told to take. Oh man. He was going to die in here.

"Shut up." He said before Hartley could even say anything. Preemptive shut down. "There's nothing wrong with my personality, I could boss you around if I wanted to."

"Breathe out slowly." This was just what he needed. Talking that asshole down from a panic attack while he was arguing about how he could boss him around. "Also, obviously you can boss me around. While I'm wearing handcuffs and the Flash is around the corner. I'm not handcuffed right now and the Flash is nowhere near, is he?" Hartley smiled, but his cheer didn't last long, since Cisco really appeared to be losing it.

He moved closer to him, finally hesitatingly reaching out. "Hey, I've been here for a long while now and it's all good with the oxygen and the walls stay as they are." Hartley put his hand on Cisco's shoulder. "Cisquito? Look at me."

It wasn't that he was scared or anything, no way, he was just legit a little uneasy. Just a little. No way was he just a wuss who was afraid. He kept telling himself that again and again, almost forgetting to trash talk Hartley. When the other moved in closer, he instinctively moved away, ready to shove him back and pick a fight but as soon as Hartley made contact, something really weird happened.

It was trippy but it was like he wasn't in this world any more, it was like he was somewhere else. Everything had a horrible blue tint and vaguely saw something. Something he didn't know how to describe. All he knew was that the moment he came back from it, he flew to his feet and scrambled the hell away from Hartley.

"What the hell?! What did you just do to me?"

"Nothing." Seemed like a good answer, given it was true. "I'm just trying to calm you down."

Obviously a futile effort. Hartley stayed where he was, only turning to face Cisco. "Look, you're having a panic attack, you need to focus on your breathing and try to calm down. Nothing is happening to you in here. It's actually dreadfully boring, since you don't even provide a magazine. I know this isn't logical, but try to focus on logic anyway. You'll be fine. They'll get you out in the morning."

"No, don't you dare try and play headgames you just did something to me. You're in my head? How? I just -- you just." What? Why was he even playing dumb? Cisco stared at him in horror and then raised his hands to touch his own ears, just in case. After what he saw, he wanted to check. "There was just like blood everywhere and your ears, dude, your ears. And the noise. And oh man, oh dude, what the fuck? What the hell did you do to my head?"

Okay, this was just like the worst headache of his life and on top of that, he was trapped in the smallest place and he couldn't catch his breath. Yep. He was going to pass out. Not faint, too manly too faint but he was definitely starting to see the room spin a little.

"...I told you I got hurt when the explosion happened. What are you doing, having flashbacks to my past?" Hartley let out a sharp laugh and shook his head, definitely staying where he was. He was sure that Cisco was just having a panic attack, but he didn't know what to do about that.

Luckily - or not - this was when Shawna returned, gun in hand and stopping by the door. "Get up, boys. Hands against the wall."

Hartley rolled his eyes, but he did get up. Not worth getting shot over. "Come on, Cisco."

"Oh man, I'm gonna puke." Cisco closed his eyes and forced himself to take several deep breaths, moving the best he could as he got to his feet, still feeling like his ears were ringing. God, that noise. And what the fuck had he even seen? Yes, Hartley said but it was like he was there, like he was watching it. Hartley was on the floor outside, his ears bleeding, just screaming in pain. He reached up and touched his hands again without even thinking. They kind of hurt.

He was so lost in the reminder of his vibes, he barely even took in what was happening until Hartley said his name and it all began to kick in.

Going against the wall as far as from Hartley as possible, he put his head to the wall and sucked in another deep breath. "This is just the worst day of my life. I hope you're both happy."

"Exhilarated." Hartley put his hands against the wall and looked back over his shoulder as the door opened. Not exactly the greatest day for him either and suddenly having some girl with a gun snuggle up to him while holding said gun against his cheek really wasn't helping.

"Are you meta, hun?"

"I'm gay." Hey, it got her to back off.

"Shame." Shawna turned back to Cisco, clearly not bothered by his very obvious panic attack. "Are you going to build me a gun, Cisco?"

"You have a gun. You're literally holding one."

What? She was. He closed his eyes and pressed his head against the wall, pretty much nuzzling it as he tried to clear his head. The door was open, the air was less thin. He took a breath as the panic began to ebb away. He turned his head to the side and gave her a look, clearly not impressed.

"I'm not villain tech support. I'm drawing a line. No more weapons."

"How about build me a weapon or I'll shoot you again and this time it will hurt?"

Hartley looked at Cisco in surprise, wishing there wasn't still a gun to his head but mostly focusing on the stain on his chest. Huh. "Orange juice, really? Must be the acid..." He quickly quieted himself down, because he didn't much feel like becoming villain tech support either.

"You don't really have a choice, Cisco."

"You can't shoot me, my shirt makes me unstoppable. And people laughed when I brought it." And spilt juice on it. But the point was, check it, unshootable. That was pretty cool. Sucked to be Hartley right now but whatever, he just whammied him. "I would step in and valiantly save that dick but he just fucked with my head and have me the worst headache so you know what, he can ask nicely."

Yes, Cisco was picking a tense moment like this to be a petty child. The panic had definitely given away and both metas were kind of fighting each other so that left Cisco a little smugger than he should have been.

What? The gun wasn't on him and he was pretty sure he could make a run for it soon if they were distracted enough.

"Are you for real?" What the hell was wrong with him? Hartley hissed when she literally pistol-whipped him, wondering whether Cisco thought this was a joke. He knew he wasn't very high on Cisco's list of people he cared about, but that was just cold.

However, it did lead to her training her gun on Cisco's head instead, which meant that the focus was off him, so maybe he stood a chance at getting out.

"Tell me what you need to build me the gun."

"Woah! Chill, don't hit him!" Geez, it was a joke. Seriously? Like he was just messing. Apparently not was not the time to just mess. And then the gun was on him and oh yeah, so not the time to play around. Shit. "Erm. I don't know! There's so many different things that I'd need and you really need like paper and a pen to write them down because it's not like three things, there's at least twenty plus components."

And then some, he had no idea what he was even going to make. Laser gun? That was just insane.

"Look, come on. I can't actually build you a laser gun. It won't work for anything useful. It'd just be showy lights."

"You can build a gold gun that's actually useful, but not a laser gun?" Shawna leaned her head against Cisco's shoulder, which would be sweeter if she didn't still have a gun against his cheek. "You must like her a lot more than me. I think you can come up with something. Something glowy and useful."

Right. Cisco was crumbling here. Hartley wondered if he should do something to draw her attention away.

"No, she had a scary older brother and that brother had a weird burnt boyfriend who kicked my ass. It was three against one. Look, come on, it's not that I like her more. I like you both equally." Well, he did and they liked him about the same too. As in they totally didn't. "Come on, please? I don't want to build more guns. I can't! I have to stop making weapons that kill innocent people."

And that was a hard thing to say with a gun in his face. Literally. The barrel was right in his cheek and he could feel it through his jaw. "Can't I make you something else? I can make you a hell sweet costume."

"I can build you something." Hartley had no idea why he spoke up. Maybe because Cisco looked close to breaking and he had more of a chance to keep a cool head. "I used to work above Cisco. If you want quality, you're better of coming to me. I build my own weapons."

Shawna didn't move the gun, but she did turn her head to look at Hartley. "Is that true, Cisco?"

"If you'd rather trust someone that works for the Flash with this, that's your call."

"He didn't work over me and dude, shut up, you never had better quality. My tech is worlds above yours. I cracked those gloves in like half a se--" Wait. What was he doing? Why was he trying to sell himself to her over Hartley? Cisco groaned in annoyance and decided that as much as it burned, and it really did burn, he was going to have to concede.

And cheer this asshole on.

"Hartley is amazing. He can do all kinds of cool tech things." The tone of voice was very underwhelmed but what more did they want? "... His gauntlets are actually pretty cool, I guess."

"Fine. Then come on." She finally let go of Cisco, grabbing Hartley's arm instead. "Let's go."

Hartley let her march him out, not as if he had much of a choice, since he now had a gun pointed at him. She didn't walk out of the cell, she used her powers for that and the door closed. However, then she was suddenly smiling, turning to look at Cisco.

"Remember how you turned the light off in my cell?"

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