A/N: Behold, my first venture into the Flarrow-verse! I fell in love with Blackvibe when I saw the way that Cisco and Laurel looked at each other when they first met. Just like that, I decided that I was going to sail this ship even if I had to go down with it. I hope you enjoy these vignettes into the amazing life I think that Cisco and Laurel could have together.
Note: the entire "Star City" thing comes from the trailer for season 4 of Arrow, which I highly suggest you watch.
5 Times Cisco's Life Belonged to Laurel Lance
I
The time he named his goldfish after her
It is the morning after a mushroom-cloud-magnitude team argument when Cisco arrives in the lab carrying a high-tech aquarium and a bag full of live fish. He doesn't expect anyone to speak to him as he carefully clears off a space on one of the counters, and nobody does until much later when he carefully starts to lower the four goldfish in, one by one. He waits until last to drop in the Chinese algae eater, smiling as he shuts the lid to the tank and turns on the color-changing LED display he created himself.
"What is that?" Caitlin is the first to speak, her voice brittle as ice. She hasn't forgiven him for the things he said last night, which he deserves. He may have, at one point, called her the Jehovah's Witness of perfectionism. Excuse me, sir. Do you have a moment to talk about how I never do anything wrong and you continually make shitty choices?
It wasn't his finest moment, but she'd just recently been telling him that he could have gotten Barry killed because part of the suit had malfunctioned. Nevermind that it was actually Barry's fault, because he had forgotten to tell Iris that the suit could not go in the washing machine like normal clothing.
"It's an aquarium," he replies. She is about to tell him off for being sarcastic, so he holds his hands up. "Look, I want to talk to you guys about this." Ronnie stops designing blueprints, Barry hops off the treadmill, and Caitlin only folds her arms.
"Well?"
"Last night sucked. We need team-building. No, we're not going to make towers out of straws or hold hands and sing campfire songs, but I thought it would be nice if we had pets. So I bought these! I'll understand if you aren't on board with the idea, and I will totally take them home and keep them there, but we could take turns taking care of them. It would be like having a class pet—only with four goldfish and a Chinese algae eater. But if we each picked one to name and we took turns taking care of them all, it's kind of a way for us to show each other that we matter, and that regardless of how much we hate each other, we still value each other. 'Think of the children,' so to speak."
He sees the blank looks on people's faces and turns back to the tank.
"Never mind. Forget I said anything."
Barry is the first one to speak. "That's awesome, dude! I never had a goldfish growing up; Joe said their eyes freaked him out."
Caitlin approaches the tank. "They are kind of cute."
Ronnie, who has followed her, tilts his head. "The one with the black spot is mine."
They have lunch together later, and Cisco asks them what they've decided to name their fish as they stuff their faces with sandwiches. Caitlin goes with Ariel because she loves The Little Mermaid, Ronnie has chosen to call his fish Blackbeard ("Like the Black Spot, see?") and Barry, for reasons unknown, has named his fish Wanda.
They all look expectantly at Cisco as he takes a slurp from his soda, and he can feel the blood rushing to his face. The fish he has chosen looks fiercer than the others and somehow more graceful, and so of course her name is Canary. They don't stop teasing him about it for weeks.
"Cisco, did you ever name the algae eater?" A month later, Caitlin is trailing her fingers over the tank's wall and making faces at the fish. "I know that they're good for the tank, but those ones have always freaked me out. Bottom feeders." She scrunches up her nose.
"Oh, him?" Cisco turns around and gives a small smirk. "That's Dr. Wells."
II.
The time he went to visit her on his birthday
Cisco really hates that his birthday is the same day as the anniversary of Starling City's—sorry, it's Star City now—earthquake. He hates that there is so much pain tied to a day that has always been happy for him, and he hates that he can't tell Laurel when his birthday is because she will never want to celebrate it with him.
It is only after he has gotten up, showered, and watched the first half of one of his favorite anime movies that he realizes that his birthday is already going to suck either way. He doesn't have work because it's Saturday. Caitlin and Ronnie are on vacation, and Barry is taking Iris to the opera tonight. He grabs a few of his favorite movies, his laptop, and buys a train ticket online. Clutching the confirmation, he heads to the station to spend hours of his birthday chugging through the North American landscape.
He makes a pit stop at the grocery store before he knocks on her door, praying that she's not patrolling tonight. If Oliver has her on the schedule, Cisco will create something that will allow him to kick the Arrow's ass. She doesn't answer the door at first, but there is light spilling out from under her door and he hears the low tones of some sort of movie playing.
"Laurel? It's me. I was wondering if you'd like some candy." It might be the lamest line he has ever come up with, but the door opens to reveal her with her hair in a messy bun, her face a mess of patchy skin and swollen eyes, and an incredibly comfy-looking purple velour tracksuit on.
She doesn't say anything, and so he gently reaches into one of his plastic bags and pulls out a gigantic bag of Sour Patch Kids. He makes no sudden movements, but merely holds them out to her as if presenting a scrap of food to a dangerous wild animal. She pounces, wrapping her arms around his neck and squishing him into a crushing hug. He drops everything and wraps his arms around her, allowing her to hold him in her doorway and sniffle into his shoulder.
"Come in," she croaks, helping him pick up the discarded candy, soda, and his laptop bag.
He follows her in and smiles. He has been here before, but only dropping her off on his way to the train station. He has never been inside, and everything in here is so delicately Laurel that he has to take a moment to breathe it all in. There are candles lit that smell like pine, and the movie on the screen is a home movie of Tommy Merlyn walking around in the club above the Arrow Cave and smiling at the camera. She makes to pause the movie, but he takes her arm gently.
"I'm not here to interrupt anything. I'm here for you."
She blinks at him before she leads him into the kitchen, fills two glasses with ice, and pours some of the soda he brought over them. She takes his hand and leads him back to the couch, and he has to tell himself that the spark of pure joy he feels from her touching him is not what's important right now. They dig into the Sour Patch Kids, she cries into his Pacman t-shirt, and he holds her as she sobs out a dead man's name.
At some point, he falls asleep. When he wakes up, he's kicking himself when he realizes that Laurel is nowhere to be found. Cisco looks at the clock on the wall—it's eleven o'clock. He hears rustling around in the kitchen, and turns around. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to just come here and invade your space, and—"
Laurel comes out of the kitchen holding a spatula covered in frosting "Taste this," she tells him, and he does. He almost moans—it's cream cheese frosting.
"That is amazing."
"It's my dad's recipe. Don't tell anyone, but he's actually really good at baking."
"Wow. Really? That's. . . I did not expect that."
Laurel smiles, although her face is still heartbreakingly sad. "Go pick out a movie. I'll be out in a bit."
Cisco digs in his collection until he pulls out the best mood-lifting movie he knows: The Princess Bride. Popping it into her DVD player, he waits for her to come back. When she does, her face is lit by a myriad of lit candles stuck into the top of a slightly-lopsided double layer cake.
"Happy birthday, Cisco!"
The smile that threatens to split his face cannot be contained. "How did you know?"
"Your phone was blowing up against my thigh. I may or may not have pickpocketed you to see what was so important. Why didn't you tell me?"
"Today, you needed someone to be here for you."
"It's your birthday, Cisco. Why the hell would you spend all day on a train to see someone who—" she let out a deep, rattling sigh "—who can't celebrate with you without crying?"
"Why would I celebrate if you're sad?" The words come out of his mouth quickly, and he ducks his head. Laurel just shakes her head, cuts him a piece of red velvet, and listens to him wax poetic about her culinary skills.
He drops off to sleep again as the credits are rolling, and Laurel gently lays him out on her couch, covering him with a blanket and dropping a hesitant kiss on his forehead.
"Spend my birthday with me every year," he mumbles, and she smiles as he falls back asleep.
If she whispers "As you wish" before she walks back into her bedroom, there is no one awake to prove it.
III.
The time he reminded her that she is the only Black Canary
The next time Cisco sees Laurel upset, she is not tearful. She is angry, and she is literally throwing things out of boxes and onto the floor of her new apartment. He can't say he's upset, though, because her new apartment is in Central City. It's Christmas for him, but she can't know that.
"I'm not mad that she's back. Of course I'm not mad. I missed Sara so much, and her being back feels like I'm one piece closer to being whole again," she tells him as she throws pillows in the general direction of the bed he's just helped her move.
"I just feel like I've gotten kicked out of my own city. I couldn't just stay there, especially not as the Canary. Even if she is the White Canary now, it would just get too confusing. Too many cooks in the kitchen, you know? And with everything happening, I just. . . I feel like she yanked the rug out from under me again. Does it make me a bad person if I say that I wish Sara would just make up her mind about whether she wants to be here, there, alive, dead, or what?"
Cisco watches as the absurdity of her last statement sinks in, and she folds herself up on the beige carpet of her new apartment and clasps her head in her hands. He sits beside her and wraps an arm around her.
"Hey. I know this is tough, and I know that you've got emotional whiplash from how soap-opera-esque your life is, but there are some benefits to moving here.
"Oh?"
"Don't 'Oh' me, Miss Lance. Better tech. Better bad guys. Better co-workers. Plus, you can totally come over to my place and we can have Doctor Who marathons without you worrying that someone will discover your closet obsession. It's all good."
"But I'm going to miss Star City," she says sadly. "I'll miss my dad, and Sara, and already being part of a team. I love you guys, but the adjustment period always sucks."
Cisco shrugs. "Don't worry about that. I'll get you a fish." When she looks at him funny, he just waves her off. He continues, "And here, you have your mom, and you're already a part of my team, so that's got to count for something.
"Besides, I'm really glad that you're here. We have The Black Canary. The Black Canary. The one who is famous for her canary cry and reckless-yet-honorable decisions and for being such a goddamn badass that Star City just couldn't handle her."
Laurel laughs and stands up, pulling Cisco to her feet with her. "Well, do you have better coffee? Because I could use some."
As she slips her arm into his on the walk to Jitters, Cisco wonders if this is a date.
IV
The time he took a bullet for her
Cisco is much more anxious than he has ever been. His palms sweat as he waits for Caitlin to pick up her phone, and he doesn't know what he'll do if she doesn't answer. She does, sounding moderately out of breath.
"Sorry, Cisco. Ronnie and I just got back from a run. What is it?"
"I-have-a-date-with-Laurel-tonight-and-what-the-hell-do-I-wear?"
"Oh. That's great, Cisco!" It speaks to their familiarity that she has no problem decoding his muddled, excited speech patterns.
"Thanks. It's going to be great. I'm taking her to the Titanic exhibit that she really wants to go to, and then we're having Italian food. I kind of rented out the roof garden of Luigi's," he tells her, ducking his head.
"Wow. Cisco, that's really. . . romantic."
"It's too much for a first date, I know, but I don't know if I'll get a second one and I'll be damned if my one and only date with Laurel Lance is not perfect."
"You're precious," Caitlin tells him. "You mentioned clothes?"
"I don't know what to wear, And I sound like a chick. This conversation goes nowhere."
"Relax, Cisco. I think it's great that you care so much. Wear your dress pants, your dress shoes—I know you only have one pair of each—and that royal blue dress shirt I got you last Christmas. Roll up the sleeves to your elbows, and tie your hair back in that man-bun thing you do when you work out with Barry."
"Seriously? That's just to keep it out of my face."
"Laurel will love it. Just do it. Call me tomorrow and tell me how it went."
"You're a lifesaver, Caitlin."
"Well, I am a doctor," she quips. "Bye, Cisco."
"Bye."
The date goes far better than he has anticipated. She wears a tight black dress and earrings that—if he is not mistaken—are in the shape of canaries. She is beautiful and amazing, and all he wants to do is kiss her. She is a little speechless when she sees him at first, and when she pulls him in for a hug, she tells him that he looks sexy. He blushes, but she just takes his hand and leads him into the museum. They are overdressed, but they don't care as they learn about icebergs and classist undertones and how incompetent people really can be. It is horribly sad, but Cisco cannot stop smiling. Laurel can't seem to, either, and the dimpled smile that she gives him is absolutely stunning.
She is amazed when she sees that he has rented out the entire top floor of Luigi's, and as they both drink fresh strawberry sodas and eat delicious food, Cisco is struck by how soft her features look in the candlelight. He says something about how he's been looking forward to this moment since the moment he met her, and she leans across the table to kiss him.
"Wow." He says, and she sits back down and takes a sip of her soda.
"Wow," she agrees.
They talk about growing up, about favorite books, about music and always feeling like they were competing with a sibling, and by the time Luigi himself comes up the stairs to tell them the restaurant is closing, they have completely lost track of time. They follow him down the staircase, Cisco having paid in advance for their evening, and Cisco leans over to whisper something in Laurel's ear.
He's asked if they can stay to walk Luigi, who is getting up there in years, out to his car. Laurel thinks it is incredibly sweet, and Luigi is grateful to them. Laurel waits until he drives off, then leans her head on Cisco's shoulder.
"You're adorable," she tells him, and slips her hand into his as they walk back towards the restaurant towards an ice cream shop that stays open late. As they pass Luigi's, a shattering noise causes them both to jump. A guy dressed all in black is breaking in, and Laurel doesn't even think before she runs towards the restaurant. Cisco swears and runs after her, stopping beside her just as the guy pulls out a .38.
"Back away from here, sweetheart, and forget you ever saw me." He turns his gaze to Cisco. "You too, Casanova."
"I don't think so," Laurel says, starting towards him. He puts his finger on the trigger, and Cisco only has time to think not her before he jumps in front of the bullet.
It hits him and he feels like an elephant just kicked his shoulder. There's a scuffle, a bang, and Laurel yells at someone (a bystander, he presumes) to call for two ambulances. He feels cold, and it's hard to breathe. Laurel kneels over him, pressing her hands to his chest. Her hair is wild and loose, just brushing his shoulder and smelling sweet.
"You don't get to not be okay," she tells him. "You can't just take a girl out on the best date of her entire life and then not be okay." He sees the tears in her eyes and it hurts worse than the bullet.
"Hey," he tells her, "I'm not going anywhere. The best, huh? Better than Oliver?"
She sniffles and smiles. "Better than Oliver."
He wants to fist pump, but his vision turns dark.
When he wakes up, Laurel is asleep beside his bed and Caitlin is watching from the doorway. She smiles when she sees him awake, and then walks up to him and flicks his ear hard.
"Ow!" he whisper-yells, trying not to wake Laurel. "What was that for?"
"That was dumb. She is the Black Canary. She could have handled it. Even worse, she won't shut up about how perfect you are. It's horrible." Caitlin rolls her eyes and walks out of the room.
Cisco grins, calling out "Really?" as she walks away.
Moments later, Laurel pulls herself up, looking sleepy but lighting up the second she sees his face. She kisses him soundly, and he hears his heart monitor pick up the pace and smiles against her lips.
"We're dating," she tells him when she finally pulls back. "Exclusively. And I might have told the doctors that we're engaged so I wouldn't have to snap any necks to get in here."
"That might be the hottest thing I've ever heard."
"Might've? I need to up my girlfriend game."
"And my morphine. Can you up that, too?"
V
The time he asked her a question
Cisco is good at building things, and so his first thought when he knows it is time to propose to Laurel Lance is to build her a TARDIS. He scratches the idea quickly, deciding that it's not special enough. If she says yes, he can always do that for her birthday or for Christmas.
Instead, he subtly cases her collection of chick flicks the next time they spend the night at her apartment, and when she's out on Official Hero Business, he calls Sara.
Sara is not out on Official Hero Business, and she picks up the phone right away. Cisco taking a bullet for Laurel really buttered her up, and Sara likes Cisco a lot. "Hey, Cisco."
"Hey, Sara. How are you?"
"I'm good. Do you need us in Central City?"
"No, no." He feels his palms begin to sweat. "Nothing like that, at least not yet. I just wanted to ask you if you knew what Laurel's favorite grand gesture was."
"Grand gesture? I'd have to say you taking a bullet for her is pretty up there, Cisco."
"Not that," he says, touching his scar. "I mean, like from one of her chick flicks or whatever."
Sara is silent for a while, but he knows she's thinking. Finally, she asks him if he's seen 10 Things I Hate About You. He groans inwardly, but tells her that he has.
"She loves the part when Heath Ledger's character—"
"—hires the marching band and sings Frank Sinatra to Julia Stiles, right?"
"Cisco, I didn't peg you for a chick flick sort of guy."
"I like Shakespeare. It's based on Taming of the Shrew," he says defensively.
"That's fitting," Sara quips.
"Hey! Do not call my girlfriend a shrew!"
"If the shrew fits…"
"Sara, stop it."
"Alright, alright. I couldn't help myself. But seriously, she always used to say that there was no way anyone could top that. What are you planning?"
"I'll let you know once it's planned. Thanks, Sara."
"Um, sure. And Cisco?"
"Yeah?"
"She's lucky to have you."
Cisco feels warm and fuzzy when the get off the phone, and he's glad that he's (hopefully) going to marry into a family of heroic and awesome people. His next call is to Dante, who is still unable to believe that Cisco of all people has snared "Laurel the hottie." Still, he is willing to help out on the condition that Cisco agrees to let him be a groomsman in the hypothetical wedding. Cisco agrees and inwardly apologizes to Barry and Ronnie because Dante looks better in a tux than either of them do.
The phone calls continue all afternoon, and by the time he is finished, he's set the date for three weeks from now. He texts Sara the details, telling her he's going to meet up with her dad on Thursday to ask for his blessing. Sara sends him back a string of hard-to-decipher emoticons, but he thinks they mean that she's happy.
The meeting with Detective Lance is not as worrisome as he had anticipated. They meet in a diner, and they're not even cutting into their French toast before "Call me Quentin" is dropped. He's halfway through his first cup of coffee when Quentin wipes his mouth, stares across the table, and says,
"Cisco, of all of the people my daughters—yes, including Felicity-have dated, you're the one I've never really wanted to kill. So if you know that you can keep Laurel happy for the rest of your lives, then that's great. If you hurt her, though, you might want to worry more about what she will do to you than what I will."
Cisco nods. "Yes, sir. I live with a healthy dose of fear when it comes to your entire family."
Quentin beams. "I knew you were smart. Yes, Cisco, you have my blessing."
Cisco can't control his own smile, so he tries to hide it behind some coffee. "I'll see you in Central City, then?"
"You will."
The sudden trip to Star City is not easy to explain to Laurel without lying to her, and so he vaguely says that he had some family business to take care of.
"I didn't know you had family in Star City," Laurel remarks.
"It's . . . a new connection. By marriage," he tells her, and she doesn't bring it up again because they just went to his cousin's wedding last week and she thinks it's something to do with that.
He hops in the shower and tries to peel off the sense that he has just done something terrible by essentially lying to her. She'll appreciate it later, he tells himself, but it still makes his insides squirm, anyway.
The big day dawns with a clap of thunder, and he tries to tell himself that this is not an omen. He gets dressed in some of the clothes Laurel has bought him in the months they've been dating—a yellow shirt, grey dress pants, and a grey sport jacket. The yellow pocket square is his favorite part, because it is embroidered with a small canary that he can keep close to his heart.
He pulls his hair back, which Laurel does find incredibly sexy, and tries not to feel as if he's going to combust. Everyone is in place. He's created a group text, and he's received the okay from everyone on his list. He pins a mic to his lapel and shakes off the idea that it makes him look like a southern Baptist preacher before he gets in his car and drives to the police station.
When he gets there, he goes into the back and meets Barry, who has agreed to direct this shebang. The others are in the lobby, waiting.
Barry's smile is huge, and he pulls Cisco into a hug. Cisco replies with something that he cannot remember later, but that Barry swears was "You're my brother from another mother, Barry, but if you screw this up, then I will kill you with one of my many deadly weapons."
Regardless, he waits upstairs, pressed up against the wall until he hears her voice.
"Where is he? Is he okay? Why the hell didn't anyone call me sooner?"
The cover story is that he's been robbed at gunpoint, and he only has time to feel a little bit bad about it before he gives Barry the signal, who gives Dante and his orchestra the signal. The intro to "Can't Take My Eyes off of You" starts playing, which is the cue for everyone else to come out. Cisco has invited Laurel's mom, her dad, her step-mom (who is also Felicity's mom), Sara, Nyssa, Felicity, Oliver, Caitlin, Ronnie, Dr. Stein, his parents, his grandparents, and (of course) Dante and Barry. The cops have agreed to stick to the walls for the five minutes that this is going to take, and so the room is his.
He steps out from behind the wall and starts the first few lines, fully aware that he is an absolute fool for attempting this. When he locks eyes with her, he truly doesn't care. He has rehearsed this ad nauseum, and the dance moves that he's put into it as he walks down the stairs come to him easily. Cisco had never been a good dancer before the particle accelerator, but now he is excellent and he has no idea why.
By the time he gets to the second chorus, he has reached the bottom of the stairs and Laurel is covering her mouth with both hands, tears sparkling in her eyes. He subtly gives the orchestra their cue to fade, and they do so artfully.
"Laurel," he tells her. "I knew that I loved you from the moment I laid eyes on you in the dingy interior of SCPD's bullpen. I think it's only fitting that our story, which has always been strangely tied to police matters, has another important landmark here in Central City Police Department. Over the last several months, you have made me do a lot of crazy things. This might be the craziest, but all of these things were fun and exciting because you were involved. You excite and inspire me. You're my own personal hero. I hope that you'll continue to wear that title with another one attached: my wife. Dinah Laurel Lance, will you marry me?" He sinks to his knee and pulls out the box containing the ring, which Laurel promptly ignores as she pulls him into the most passionate kiss of his lifetime. She dips him, and by the time she pulls him back up and they separate, Cisco isn't sure what year it is anymore.
"Is that a yes?"
"Yes, Cisco. That's a yes."
He opens the ring box, which he is still clutching, and slips the marquise-cut diamond on a thin, diamond-encrusted band onto her finger. The way it looks there almost takes his breath away, and he is still holding both of her hands when he turns to the family and says, "We should probably head over to the restaurant so these nice police can get back to their jobs." He is met with applause that drowns out the thunder outside, and he doesn't think that the grin on his face will ever go away.
"The restaurant" is Luigi's, where he and Laurel always get free meals. He has paid to rent the roof garden again, though, although they have to put up a tent to keep everyone dry. Felicity, Sara, Nyssa and his mother have decorated it with swags of black and yellow tulle, twinkle lights, and bouquets of sunflowers, which are Laurel's favorite. Their engagement cake is shaped like a TARDIS because Cisco can't help himself, and Laurel almost starts crying again when she sees it.
As they sit there, surrounded by friends and family, he realizes that her dimples have not gone away since the moment she saw him at the top of the stairs. She leans her head against him. "Cisco?" She says.
"Yeah?"
"Our marriage is going to be awesome."
A/N: I hope this was as fun for you to read as it was for me to write : )