Summary: Frustrating lab partners and the other perils of college.
Hartmon Fest 2019 – Feb 28th – college
Five (Plus One) Perils of College
One
Hartley would have liked pretty much anyone else for a lab partner. Cisco Ramon is bouncy, cheerful, and just... too much energy. Does he have to smile all the time? (Such a pretty smile.)
He snaps at Cisco one too many times and sees that (lovely) smile start to dim.
Guilt gnaws in Hartley's gut all week until, finally back in class together, Hartley apologizes. Cisco's (beautiful) smile brightens the classroom.
Two
Cisco side-eyes his roommate hoping the guy won't flip out when he puts up his new pan flag. Hartley is so stiff and formal and disapproving of all that is Cisco that this could really turn into a big problem if the dude turns out to be pan-phobic.
Still, Cisco really wants to put that flag on the wall right over his bed. So he pulls out the flowy fabric and some pins and the next thing Cisco knows he's got his pride flag on display just like he'd wanted.
Hartley is watching with an unreadable look. Then, quietly, he says, "my parents are really queerphobic. It's why... it's why I'm not out as gay to anyone... except, well, you now. But, um. If they come to visit, would you mind if we took that down just for those times. I really don't... I don't want them to cause trouble, but they will if they recognize the pan flag."
For all Cisco's problems with his parents, they've never made him feel unsafe the way Hartley's have clearly made him feel. So Cisco crosses that invisible dividing line in the room, sits beside Hartley, and gives him a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "It's fine. Just stick it in the top drawer of my desk if I'm not here to take it down myself. Are they likely to visit often?"
Hartley shook his head. "They won't visit often and there'll be plenty of advance notice when they do. Thank you... for understanding."
"You're welcome," Cisco replied, returning to his own side of the room, but resolving to get Hartley some unobtrusive rainbow pens or pencils so the guy could start taking pride in himself, even if it was just a quiet thing for now.
Three
It's an ungodly hour of the morning and Hartley just wants to sleep, but he's got four hours to finish this essay and send it to his professor. He'd actually finished it two days ago, but then his computer keeled over and died. And while some of his files were salvageable, this essay had been lost to the ether.
So here he was, re-writing the essay at the last minute. He was pretty sure his writing quality had dropped to utter shit and he'd run out of caffeine - and the will to scavenge for more caffeine - an hour or so earlier.
His eyes shut and he started to lean forward... a hand shook his shoulder. Hartley jerked awake. Panicked, he looked at the time on his computer, but if he'd dozed off then it had only been for a few minutes.
A fresh cup of coffee appeared beside Hartley's new laptop. "Anything else I can do to help," Cisco asked, settling on to the couch in the spot to Hartley's right.
"I've got a paragraph left. And then I need to reread it to make sure it makes sense and I'm writing all the words I think I'm writing. If you'd proof read the essay when I'm done, I'd appreciate it."
"Sure thing. You can nap while I read; you look like you need it."
"I'm going to pass out in all my classes today."
"It's snowing," Cisco told him, kissing his cheek. "All electronic stuff is still due, but classes themselves just got officially canceled. They sent out an email five minutes ago."
"So once I send this to my professor I can sleep?"
"All day if you want to."
"Hallelujah."
Four
"What are you doing to that printer?"
Cisco looked up at a pretty face scowling at him. "Fixing it. It jammed internally because whoever loaded the paper last somehow managed to screw that up. And I don't have time to wait for the actual repair guy to show up and fix it because I've got a paper due in," Cisco checked his watch, "twenty minutes. So I need it to print my paper now."
He wasn't really supposed to be doing this, but the librarians wouldn't let Cisco use their printer behind the main desk. So it was either he clandestinely fixes this printer himself or he heads to one of the computer labs to fight for printing privileges there. Nobody used the library printer, though, and now Cisco knew why.
It was a piece of crap.
Still, Cisco was pretty sure he'd just successfully un-jammed it. He shut the casing back up and hit the print job button, fingers crossed.
His seven page paper printed without a single jam or evidence of low ink. Now he just had to staple it and turn it in.
"Yes!" Cisco fist pumped and then gestured to pretty guy. "It's all yours."
Pretty guy wasn't scowling anymore. In fact, he looked kind of impressed. "Not bad work," he said, then held out a hand. "I'm Hartley."
"Cisco."
"It's nice to meet you, Cisco," Hartley replied, expression turning a touch flirtatious.
Well, today was starting to look up after all.
Five
"Aren't we a little old for cartoons now?" Hartley asked, though he settled onto the couch with the popcorn all the same.
Cisco rolled his eyes, propped his feet up, and snuggled up against his boyfriend. "I'm pretty sure we're in She-Ra's target age group, Hart. Besides, cartoons are for all ages. Shaming adults for watching cartoons is for stop-having-fun guys."
"So what's She-Ra about, anyway. Wasn't she He-Man's sister or something?"
"In the original show, yes. But this is a total reboot and I've heard there's no He-Man connection this time around. At least, none so far." Cisco grinned and turned on their PS3 to log into Netflix. "This is gonna be awesome and definitely the best part of celebrating our exams being over."
"You still have that one last paper due, though, right?"
"Monday, Hart. That's three whole days away and finishing that will get its own celebration. All I've got left is proofreading and fixing that one paragraph that I wanted to stab with knives because it kept coming out wrong."
"Don't stab your computer, Cisquito," Hartley reminded him dryly, the same thing he'd said the evening before when he'd gotten home to find his boyfriend swearing in two languages at his final essay for what was supposed to be an easy elective course on Hayao Miyazaki's anime and manga.
"Yes, yes. The point is, relax tonight, get back to work tomorrow."
"Sounds good to me." Hartley settled an arm around Cisco's shoulders and kissed him on the cheek.
Plus One
Hartley groaned and heaved into the toilet and made the same resolution every college student with their first hangover makes (and often also break). "I'm never drinking that much ever again."
"I'm surprised you drank that much in the first place," Cisco said, sitting on the edge of the tub and reaching over to rub Hartley's back.
Kneeling in front of the toilet, Hartley put a hand on his stomach and urged it to stop fitting the definition of 'roiling'. "My parents disowned me. Harrison was supposed to cut me off after a few drinks, but... I guess I couldn't really count on him. He disappeared on me a few drinks in."
"Yeah, he left the party with someone right as I got there," Cisco told him. "Found you a while later and... I sort of thought maybe you'd been roofied, you were so drunk. But Caitlin keeps SipChips in her purse and your drink was clean. You were just really smashed. So I brought you here. Um, the house that my friends and I are renting. I wasn't sure where home is for you right now and, well, I didn't think you should be alone."
Moaning softly in pain, Hartley buried his face in his hands as much from embarrassment as from the fact the bathroom lights were hurting his eyes. "I regret everything right now."
"Yeah, alcohol does that," Cisco responded dryly.
"Thank you." Hartley added, still hiding his face. "For looking after me. I know I'm not your favorite person."
"Yeah, well, I couldn't justify leaving you like that, especially not at a frat party. And since your grad student friend left you in the lurch..." Cisco shrugged. "It was the right thing to do." He paused a beat, then said, "so are you ready for coffee and toast yet?"
"I'm ready for my soul to realize my body has died and just float away," Hartley muttered. Then he looked up to see Cisco's amused expression, he sighed. "Coffee and toast sound awful, but are probably good for me. I'd like to brush my teeth, though, if there's a spare toothbrush I can use."
"Yeah," Cisco stood up and reached for a drawer in the sink cabinet that squeaked as it opened and shut with a sound that was clearly sent from hell itself. But a clean toothbrush was presented to Hartley. Once Hartley had taken the offering, Cisco moved to the door. "I'll go start the coffee and toast. Kitchen's just down the hall, okay?"
"Yeah. Thanks." Hartley waited for Cisco to disappear before reluctantly standing up and flushing the mess in the toilet away. "My hero," he muttered. But the sarcasm he'd been aiming for fell flat.
Cisco really had pretty much saved him, after all. And if he was that nice to someone he didn't like, then what must he be like to his friends? A thought for a time Hartley wasn't so hungover, perhaps.