At the university, they ran into a man who seemed like he was part of the faculty. "Hi, do you happen to know Alan Kerry?"

"Yes, I think he's one of our master thesis students. I don't know where he is, though, if you're looking for him."

"Do you happen to know who his thesis supervisor is?" Cisco joined the conversation.

"Yes, Winston Kelly is responsible for those types of works. His office is at the end of the corridor. He stepped out for lunch a good 10 minutes ago. If you haven't eaten yet, I'd suggest you take advantage of our cafeteria and wait for him. He'll certainly be back in an hour, as usual." He pointed them to the cafeteria's direction and nodded in goodbye to them.

Hartley turned to look at Cisco. "So, lunch?" He offered his arm to Cisco, who slipped his own arm around it so they were set as if in a movie from the 1920's. "Agreed." Cisco smiled shyly. Seeing that smile made Hartley ridiculously happy.

As they arrived at the cafeteria, they parted hands and joined the queue of students waiting to get lunch. At the table they sat down and started eating. "It has been a while since I've been to a campus", Hartley pointed out. "The psychology campus is very different to the one I was in."

Cisco smirked. "Yes, mine was very sanitized. Here there are trees and bushes. That one looks to be growing right out of the building", he said as he pointed at a nearby building.

Hartley chuckled. He laid his hand on the table, and ate his sandwich with his other hand. "They are really taking the green wall concept seriously."

"Green wall?" Cisco asked and set his hand down too, next to Hartley's hand.

"They set plants on a wall and hope that they will produce oxygen that will improve the air inside buildings. It's rather popular in universities since their buildings are usually quite old", Hartley said and moved his hand a hint nearer Cisco's hand. "Cisco. Were you listening in on me and David?"

Cisco looked surprised and was clearly working on coming up with a good excuse. Hartley interrupted his thought process. "I'm not mad. I just want to know if it was curiosity or something else."

The corners of Cisco's mouth tightened. "Something else."

"So what was it?" Hartley asked again.

Cisco closed his eyes. "I don't want to trouble you."

Hartley smiled and wrapped his arms around him. "You won't. Just tell me."

Cisco placed his hands on his chest. The gesture turned the hug into something more intimate. Cisco seemed to notice this too, and he opened his eyes. Hartley briefly wondered how he always seemed to end up like this with Cisco, even after they talked and agreed to be just friends. He realized he was too close, so he patted Cisco on the back briefly and detached himself from him. "Tell me", he repeated.

"It's stupid", Cisco sighed and sneezed. Hartley only now realized he was crying. Oh God, what did I do? He handed him a napkin. Cisco wiped his eyes and nose with the napkin. Hartley handed him another one. "I'm sure it's not. But you don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

"It's just that...I've been feeling a bit lonely. With Caitlin and Ronnie gone and Iris and Barry together..."

"I'm sure you'll meet someone. I know everybody always says that, but you are definitely going to meet someone. You're funny, you're smart and you're caring. Those three ingredients make a recipe for a great boyfriend", Hartley reassured him.

"Thanks", Cisco said. "It's nice of you to say."

"Cisco, I don't say nice things. I say things that are true." Hartley smiled at him and tried to cheer him up. Cisco wiped his face and nodded. "Ok. I take back my gratitude."

"Good. Now let's finish up our meals so we can go chat up this professor", Hartley smiled and dug into his sandwich.

A while later they ended up behind the professor's door. It was locked, even though it was way past time for him to have returned. They knocked the door several times, but to no avail. They saw that the door next to his was open, and popped inside. "Excuse me, do you happen to know where Winston Kelly is?"

"He's usually back in his office at this time."

"He doesn't seem to be home", Cisco pointed out.

"Oh, well in that case he's probably at home. He has been known to take his work home with him. I can give you his address if you'd like?"

"That would be perfect, thank you", Cisco said.

"You can take bus number 4, it goes almost straight to his place. All you need to do is drop off at the convenience store and then turn left and walk for half a mile in that direction. The road ends at his place, you can't miss it", the old professor advised them and wrote the address down. Cisco accepted the paper and thanked the man.

They grabbed the next bus and sat down. "I don't know why we're even bothering, the man probably doesn't know anything", Hartley sighed.

"Well, anything that can help the case is worth exploring. If he has notes on Kerry's thesis, we might get some insight on why he's setting these fires."

"He's a metahuman that can use fire, and he wrote his thesis on pyromania. I'm pretty sure the guy just likes fire", Hartley joked.

Cisco pushed him on the side and laughed. "It almost feels like too on the nose to call him Pyromaniac."

"Maybe Pyre?" Hartley suggested.

"That's acceptable."

Hartley was glad Cisco liked his suggestion. He was usually so particular about naming metahumans.

They got off the bus and started walking towards the good professor's house. When they arrived, they noted that, to their surprise, the house was actually several floors in height. It looked more like a block of flats than a house for one man. But now that Hartley thought about it, how did they know how much family he had. "So how many generations of kids does this guy have?" Cisco asked incredulously.

Hartley shrugged and they walked to ring the bell. They heard some sounds from inside and a person going down the stairs towards them. The door finally opened. A man in his late 60's stared at them and looked more than a little confused.

"Winston Kelly, I presume?" Hartley asked him, and winked at Cisco to note that he had used the doctor Livingstone reference on purpose. Cisco smiled back.

"Yes. What is the purpose of your visit? Who are you?"

"We are working with the Central City police force and came to ask you a few questions about one of your students", Hartley said. It was only stretching the truth a little.

"Yes? Do come in. "

He treated them to lemonade and they sat on some sofas he had in his living room.

"I assume this is about Alan? I've watched the news about this fire setting maniac."

Cisco nodded. "Yes. Could we see his work? We have a few questions on his views on pyromania."

"I have my computer in my study, it's in the upper most floor of the house."

Hartley stared for a beat.

"You see, I get so little exercise so I try to use the stairs as much as possible and locating the study there gives me the excuse to walk up the most stairs. My old legs aren't what they used to be, but I try to keep active."

"I see."

"Alan has been interested in fire from a young age. His parents were killed in a fire. So he's always tried to understand the appeal, in order to help people with the obsession to set fires."

"It doesn't sound like he'd be a prime candidate to set fires, then", Hartley stated.

"No, I doubt that. But the actual culprit may have used him or his work to set those fires. Alan sent me a few notes a day or two ago that you might be interested to see." He got up and motioned them to follow him upstairs.

Hartley dragged his feet. "Hart, come on", Cisco passed by him and practically jumped up the stairs. "Ugh", he replied.

The building was small but very tall. Every floor except the ground floor had only one room, so the stairs lead straight to the only room in a particular floor and continued to the rooms above.

In the top floor, they sat on some chairs and professor pulled out his laptop. "Oh silly me, I forgot that the USB stick is in the floor below this one. Wait for me here. But here is one of the drafts he sent me", he said and pushed the laptop further away from himself so Cisco and Hartley could see better. They sat together and started going through the document. It didn't seem at all strange considering it was simply supposed to be a study on people who committed crimes related to fire.

"Do you smell something? It's like gasoline." Cisco asked him, sniffing the air.

Hartley sniffed too. "Oh no." They turned around. They could only see the professor from the shoulders up, as he was in the stairs. He had been spreading gasoline with a hose, slowly so they hadn't heard the noise. Well, Hartley had heard it with his super hearing, but he had assumed that he was pouring himself tea or something. He lit a match and threw it on the pool of gasoline, igniting it immediately. The professor ran down the stairs and wet the stairs as well and lit them on fire too. "Just so you don't think about escaping this way", he said and lit the floor below them on fire too. "Goodbye!"

Hartley had at first thought about simply running through the fire down the stairs, but now that that wasn't an option anymore, he ran to the opposite side of the room. The window was nailed shut with two by fours. Hartley tried to see if they would nudge if you just pulled at them a little, but the professor had done a fine work. There were no usable tools around, from what he could see, and the two by fours had been placed in a way that you couldn't pull them with your hands.

He heard a crash, and he turned around to see Cisco using a chair to hit the wall. "Try hitting the window", Hartley suggested and grabbed a chair himself. The chairs weren't strong of build and the first time Cisco hit the window, one of the legs of his chair flew off. "Try the wall next to the window", Cisco yelled. He turned around the get another chair, but the fire behind them had advanced so the other chairs were consumed by the fire. Hartley kicked the wall. He kicked it again and again and, to his surprise as much as Cisco's, managed to make a dent. He took his chair and kept hitting the wall with it. The wall started looking pretty poor, but it was still a wall. There was no escaping through that route.

Half the room was now covered in flames. It was a small room, so really they didn't have much time left. Hartley's ears were ringing from the noises fire made.

"You don't happen to have one of those ice guns with you, do you?" Cisco asked. "I would really love to answer yes to that. Unfortunately, I have to go with no on this one", Hartley replied. He thought for a moment. "Cisco. How tall is this building?"

"Five floors, that makes it at least...15 meters. 49 feet. Why?"

Hartley grabbed one of the drapes. He then used the drape to enter the side of the room already engulfed in flames. He kicked the wall that was on fire, and he managed to create an opening. The wall had been on fire for a while, so it wasn't as strong as it normally would've been. If Hartley had had more time to admire the interior of the building, he might have appreciated the fact that the top floor was different from the other floors in its construction. The part that he had kicked hadn't given in because the fire had helped him unwittingly, it was because it was some sort of a latch that lead outside. Hartley suddenly realized his leg was on fire. He jumped back to the safe side and Cisco. He patted down his leg. Then he pulled off the rest of the drapes and handed them to Cisco.

"Take this."

"What's the plan?" Cisco asked. Hartley looked him in the eyes. He really seemed to believe they'd both get out of there. At that moment, Hartley made his decision. It wasn't a self-less decision. It was the reverse: a purely selfish decision. Rationally, Cisco really was the better of the two of them. The one who deserved to get out of here. But the reason he wanted Cisco to be the one to live wasn't rational at all. It was just...the way he felt about him.

"I made an opening. You wrap yourself in this, and go through the fire to that opening, and jump off the building."

"Okay, sounds good. What will you do? There are no curtains left, and the rug is nailed to the floor."

"I'll be right behind you. I'll use my jacket to shield me and follow you. But we have to move quickly. The fire is advancing." Hartley lied so convincingly that he almost believed the lie himself. He wished he could say a proper goodbye, but if he did, Cisco wouldn't leave without him. Because that was the kind of person he was.

Cisco wrapped himself in the drapes and ran through the fire, pushed his feet through the opening and dropped off view. He left behind his drape, which caught on fire as well, stopping Hartley from even considering following in his footsteps. Soon, Hartley heard a thump. Only one fracture. Good.

He heard Cisco yelling at him. "Hart, come on!"

Hartley closed his eyes. I'm sorry. He opened them again, and laid down on the floor in the last corner that was free of flames. He searched his pocket for a tissue. He found the ones Cisco had been crying on earlier. It was fitting somehow. He pressed them on his lips and nose to at least attempt to filter out the harmful substances he knew all too well were released in a fire. He closed his eyes again. This time for good. He could feel and hear his pants catch on fire. He felt sorry for Cisco because he would lose one more friend. He was already lonely. Poor Cisquito.

At that point he lost consciousness.