Hartley dreamt. Everything was blue and purple, there were weird shapes that all felt familiar somehow. He tried to reach the shapes but his arm was no longer his arm, it was an ellipse. All of his body was made up of different balls. They weren't even attached to each other. They just floated near one another. It was like he was a sketch in an artist's notebook. He closed his eyes. His eyelids were also ellipses, and they just floated in front of his eyes. Even so, he closed his eyes.

He heard a voice. "You need to talk to him."

It felt too harsh. Too loud.

"And what if there's nothing?"

Louder still. Yelling.

"But what if there is? And they just don't..."

Hartley tried opening his eyes. It felt as if his eyelids were nailed shut and opening them would result in him tearing his skin. He groaned.

He tried again. One of his eyes opened. The other one remained shut. He stared directly into the light. He closed the eye. He groaned again, a little louder this time.

"Get a doctor", he heard.

A moment later someone placed their hand on his forehead and attempted to open his eye, the one he hadn't managed to open before. Considering how violently it was pulled open, Hartley expected to feel pain, but felt none. He opened his other eye as well. He was staring into the light. He winced.

"Hartley, can you hear me?"

"Ummggh", Hartley answered. "Mmees", he tried again. "Yes". The light was taken away, and after seeing black for a little while, Hartley could finally see properly. An unknown doctor, Iris and Barry.

"What happened?" Hartley asked. "Who is this man?"

The old man cleaned his glasses and looked at him in an understanding way. "I'm doctor Shelby. You are in Central City hospital. We just took you out of a chemically induced coma. You were in the coma for a week. Do you remember what happened to you?"

Hartley's heart skipped a beat. He was in a hospital. He looked around him. "Where is Cisco?!" He yelled, tried to stand up but the doctor jumped to push him down on the bed. "What happened to him?"

Iris approached the bed. "Cisco is fine. He just went outside to get us some sodas. He should be back in a minute." She smiled reassuringly.

"Now, please answer the question. Do you remember what happened?" The doctor resumed his question.

Hartley tried to remember. Everything seemed a blur. "You were looking for the guy who set all those fires. You and Iris went to see the likeliest candidates. Cisco and I were to interview that professor. Who probably didn't know anything."

Barry seemed guilty. "Unfortunately we miscalculated. The professor trained the metahuman, and they together set those fires. The meta is in custody right now. As is the professor."

"Good." Hartley moved his right arm a little, and discovered that it was unharmed. At least there was that. But he didn't feel normal. In fact, half his body was in searing pain. "Doctor Shelby. What kind of damage did they fire do to me?"

"You breathed quite a bit of toxic fumes, so we gave you oxygen. You are quite fortunate that the Flash got there in time. The fire did, however, burn the skin on your left leg quite extensively. Not badly enough to stop your ability to walk, but there is extensive scar tissue on it. As well as on your left arm. Again, you probably won't be winning beauty pageants for the most clear skin, but as far as we can tell the arm and leg both still work, so you should see that as a blessing. Of course, if you are interested, there are cosmetic surgeries that can help, skin grafts and such."

Hartley nodded. "Thank you doctor."

"Well, I'll leave you to catch up with your friends. Though I suppose not much has happened to you per se", Shelby smiled and walked out of the room, revealing Cisco behind him.

"Cisco", Hartley breathed. His heart jumped with joy at the sight of him.

Cisco just stood there with his crutches. He bit his lip. One of his legs had a cast on it.

"Cisco", Hartley repeated, pleadingly.

Cisco looked down. Then he looked at Barry and Iris.

Iris got the hint. "Actually, I'm famished, aren't you Barry?"

Barry replied "Always, but he just woke up-"

Iris looked at him in a way that made him understand.

Barry rubbed his stomach. "Actually, I could eat a whole cow right now. We should go pick up some take away for you guys." He walked out of the room, followed by an insistent Iris.

Cisco nodded at the two as they passed him. His face was calm. Not serious, not happy. Just calm.

The door closed. Cisco limped closer to him with his crutches and finally sat on a chair next to him. He sighed. He set his crutches to rest against the machines and put his hand on the mattress.

Hartley reached out his right hand. He placed it near Cisco's hand, brushing the skin just barely.

"Hey", he whispered.

Cisco became uneasy. He looked away. His upper lip trembled.

"Cisquito", Hartley breathed.

Cisco collapsed and leaned forward. He wrapped his arms around Hartley's neck and started sobbing against him.

Hartley sighed and placed his right hand on the small of Cisco's back. He couldn't use his left arm to return the embrace due to the burns on it. But one arm seemed to suffice, as he felt the other man slowly calm down. Hartley noticed that Cisco had climbed on the bed to lay next to him. Despite his attempt to hide his satisfaction over the sudden closeness, he felt the corners of his lips curve upwards.

Still, he didn't want to feel like he was taking advantage of the other man, so he tapped him on the back to give Cisco an opportunity to detach himself from him, but discovered that the man had fallen asleep. Cisco's arm was on his chest. It was a great feeling. You treat me like a man. I can't tell you how much I appreciate it.

He covered him with his blanket and closed his eyes as well. He felt awfully tired all of a sudden, despite having been in a coma for a week. And since Cisco wasn't even awake to talk to him, there was little point to be awake.

He drifted back to sleep, hoping he would dream of the same thing as Cisco did.