Summary: Family is a big deal, whether you're raised Human or Vulcan.
In which Cisco and Hartley meet one another's family members, both spontaneously and planned.
Notes: For Hartmon Bingo prompt I3 - Meet the Parents
Star Trek Fusion - follows after "It's Only Logical" and "Touch"
Not only are Cisco and Hartley meeting each other's parents, but Armando and Dante show up too. This version of Armando is a bit of a diva and, though it doesn't get referenced in the story, he's also alloaro. Dante is married to a lovely Bajoran woman named Marya. (She owns a vineyard and they met when she hired Dante to play the piano at her vineyard's restaurant after hearing him perform on Deep Space Nine.)
Hartley's parents are actually fairly nice people who care about their son's well being, but I rather suspect that raising Hartley taught them they weren't really cut out to be parents... or at least parents to non-Vulcan children. They do much better now that he's an adult, though. And Cisco's parents did their best to provide Cisco and his brothers with a happy, healthy home to grow up in. (With mostly successful results.)
Family Matters
Armando shows up unexpected, because that's just how he is. There's just a banging on Cisco's door one evening - because Mando has never liked door chimes - and Cisco answers with a very disgruntled Hartley in tow.
Their clothes are mussed enough that Mando smirks, knowing exactly what he'd just interrupted. But he exclaims Cisco's name cheerfully anyway and throws his arms around his older brother.
"Mando! I didn't know you were coming to visit." Cisco flicked his baby brother between the eyes, enjoying the scrunched up face and grumbling that received. "You deserved that. Anyway. Hartley," he turned to his boyfriend, "this is my little brother Armando. Armando, this is my boyfriend, Hartley Rathaway."
"Nice to meet you." Armando held out his hand for a handshake, which Hartley awkwardly returned.
Hartley preferred to greet people with the traditional Vulcan hand sign and an exchange of 'live long and prosper' and 'peace and long life' but Cisco appreciates the effort he's putting forth here for Cisco's brother. Armando's lucky; he's not getting the raised eyebrow of doom and no handshake out of Hartley solely because he's related to Cisco.
"So you're the cute guy Cisco was talking about the last time we commed. Guess you two have hooked up since then." Mando then laughed when Cisco hid his face in his hands because why does he have such an embarrassing little brother?
"Come on in, Mando," Cisco says dryly and hopes his baby brother and boyfriend can manage to get along for a short while. "What brings you out this way? I thought you were headed towards Deep Space Nine to paint the Wormhole?"
"Detour to see my favorite brother."
"Please tell me you have guest quarters lined up," Cisco said after a moment of blank silence because Armando only pulls the 'favorite brother' card when Dante has well and truly upset the youngest of the Ramon brothers. Which means Armando isn't here just to visit, he's here to vent. And will probably be sticking around for at least a week.
Cisco loves his brother very much, but they shared a bedroom long enough as kids for Cisco to know that Armando will go through all his stuff and not understand why that's a violation of Cisco's boundaries even if its explained fifty-two different ways. So if Armando doesn't have guest quarters yet, then he will within the next ten minutes even if Cisco has to request them personally.
"Is everything okay?" Hartley asked softly, just quietly enough that Armando can tell Hartley's saying something to Cisco, but not what.
"It's fine," Cisco responded, equally quietly, stealthily brushing his finger's against Hartley in what he hopes passes as a reassuring finger touch. It's something they've only just started doing, but Cisco loves being able to do something distinctly Vulcan for Hartley that doesn't make him uncomfortable at the same time.
"Yes, I got quarters assigned to me. Dropped off my stuff there first, promise." Proof that Armando could learn after all. Hallelujah.
Of course, now Armando was giving Cisco an odd look. Cisco ignores the look for now. Whatever it is can wait until after Hartley goes back to his quarters. Which can happen later. Much later. Cisco needs a buffer right now and Hartley just got himself volunteered.
"So... have you eaten yet? Because we haven't had dinner yet..."
"Oh getting to dessert firs..." Cisco cheerfully elbows Armando before he can finish his statement. "Sorry," Mando mutters, rubbing his ribs.
"I'll replicate us something. Hart, what would you like?"
Hartley names a Vulcan dish that's similar to cobb salad with tofu, which Cisco surprised himself by liking the last time he tried it. So he decides to go with one of those for himself too, which gets him another weird look from Armando, who opted for a spicy chicken casserole.
Their conversation over dinner is stilted at first, but evens out as the meal ends and they wind up having a drink together in the seating area. Armando talks about his time on Risa painting beaches and various nude portraits and the the friends and partners he made there. In return, Cisco catches Armando up on how he and Hartley started dating, with input from Hartley himself of course, and the latest on how his project is coming along.
When Hartley does eventually leave so he can shower and sleep at his own place, however, Armando says the second the door closes, "what the hell is going on with you Cisco?"
"Well that's just rude," Cisco muttered. Louder, he added, "if I knew what you were talking about, I'd probably smack you. So I'm going to go grab one of my couch pillows that way I'm ready to do exactly that once you enlighten me." And then Cisco did indeed grab a couch pillow.
"You're dating a guy who was raised Vulcan. You're doing that Vulcan finger-kissing thing. You're eating Vulcan cuisine. What happened to the Cisco Ramon who detested all things Vulcan?" Armando was promptly thwacked in the face with a pillow. "Oh, come on, you can't tell me this isn't weird. You're being really weird."
"I didn't detest all things Vulcan," Cisco protested, flopping back onto the couch. "I detested having Vulcan stereotypes shoved in my face by everyone, including mom and dad, and being treated like I was doing something wrong for not being able to turn stoic at the drop of a hat. And it's not finger-kissing. Vulcan finger-touching is more on par with hand holding than kissing."
"You hate hand holding."
"Because palms get sweaty and gross easily," Cisco countered. "Finger-touching is nice and sweaty palms free."
Armando snorted in amusement. "Okay, fine. But, really, you're happy with that guy? Even though he's so... unemotional?"
"He's reserved, not emotionless. I like learning how to watch for the details with him. And when he does smile or laugh he just... he lights right up, so beautiful..." Cisco blushed a little remembering the way Hartley had called him adorable just the other day. "When I'm with him I feel like I can ask all the questions I've always had about our Vulcan heritage without it being assumed that I want to completely change who I am."
With Hartley, Cisco felt like he could be all of himself. Whatever that might end up meaning.
"All right, all right. You're in love. I get it." Armando sighed and mock fluttered his eyes and got the pillow smacked in his face again.
"So what did Dante do this time?"
"Ugh. I don't wanna talk about it."
"You insulted my relationship with my boyfriend and cast aspersions on the fact that I was eating a very delicious salad. And you knocked on my door when I'd just gotten Hartley shirtless and was about to get on my knees for him. Fess up or I'm tossing you out an airlock."
"First, TMI TMI TMI!" Armando shuddered and Cisco smirked. "Second... you'd put me in a zero-g suit first, right?" Armando waited for a response. Upon receiving nothing but silence, he went, "aw come on, Cisco, please? I don't wanna."
"I'll comm Dante. It's morning on Bajor." Which, now that Cisco was thinking about it, made it even more obvious why Armando had detoured from his Deep Space Nine visit.
"Jerk," Armando grumbled, and then proceeded to tell Cisco how Dante had insulted Armando's artistic vision.
"What's this I hear about you having a Vulcan boyfriend?" Dante demands when Cisco answers the comms a few weeks after Armando finally left for Deep Space Nine.
"My boyfriend's name is Hartley Rathaway," Cisco responded with a sigh.
"Doesn't sound like a Vulcan name," Dante observes. "How'd Armando get that wrong?"
"He didn't. Hartley was adopted by Vulcans, so he was raised in their culture. Thus it's not totally inaccurate to say he's Vulcan." Cisco glanced at the chrono. Eighteen minutes before Hartley would be arriving for their date. "What else did Armando tell you?"
"He said you two were having sex when he showed up at your door." Dante was snickering now.
"I might've been in the middle of undressing Hartley when someone started assaulting the door to my quarters, yes," Cisco allows. "Have you made up for criticizing Mando's artistic vision yet?"
"Enough that he's forgiven me but not so much that he's keen on dropping in to visit at late hours of the evening when Marya and I have better things to be doing. Though it may just be he learned his lesson with you and Hartley."
"How is your better half doing?" Cisco asked.
"We... uh... I haven't said anything about this to Armando yet 'cause he'll spill to mom and dad, so keep this under your hat for now, okay?"
"Sure." Cisco tilted his head to the side. "Also you've totally got my full and curious attention here."
Dante laughed and grinned. "We've decided we're gonna try to have a baby."
"Hey, that's awesome." Cisco beamed.
"Marya's already had her birth control implant deactivated, but it turns out the hormones it used to prevent pregnancies also interacted with the anti-depressants she was on. So she's actually been really down lately," Dante frowned pensively. "She's going to be trying a new medication, something that's supposed to be safe to keep taking when she does become pregnant. So, you know, we're thinking ahead here. Or at least trying to anyway. But until that gets sorted out, I'll be keeping my implant active. We want a baby, but... not when Marya isn't at a good place mental health wise."
"Give her a hug for me," Cisco told him. "Actually tell her its from me this time," he added as an afterthought. "What do her hours look like right now? I want to comm over the weekend and talk to her in person."
"I'll message them to you," Dante promised. Perking back up, he asked "so, when do I get to meet your better half?"
Cisco stuck his tongue out at Dante on principle. "He's on his way over, actually. Stay on the comm and you can say hi when he gets here."
So that's what Dante did and, precisely on time, Cisco's door chimed.
Hartley looked good dressed down. He had his professional clothing for work, but on their days off he'd wear more casual outfits that just... got Cisco hot all over to see him wearing.
"Do you mind if we run a few minutes late to the holodeck?" Cisco beckoned Hartley inside. "I've got Dante on the comm and wanted to introduce you two."
"That would be nice." Hartley looked nervous, but he followed Cisco over to the comm terminal anyway.
"Hartley, this is my older brother, Dante. Dante, this is my boyfriend, Hartley."
Dante held up his right hand, fingers split in the traditional Vulcan salute. "Live long and prosper," he said.
Automatically, Hartley returned the salute. "Peace and long life." He looked a bit flustered. "Thank you."
"Well, I was always a little more interested in our Vulcan heritage than Cisco was. I'm glad he's found someone who makes him more comfortable learning about that part of our family." Dante smiled widely and Hartley relaxed his shoulders.
"He's helped me to become more comfortable with myself as well," Hartley said, giving Cisco such a look that... Cisco couldn't help but kiss him on the cheek.
"You two are adorable," Dante said with a laugh. "Marya is going to want to meet him. Have Hartley around when you comm this weekend, okay?"
"I'd be happy to meet her as well," Hartley agreed.
Hartley wants to pace outside the airlock. He's been increasingly agitated all week, as his parents arrival became more eminent, and now that their shuttle is docking he feels like he has all of this energy wound up in his chest and no idea how to get rid of it.
His parents won't be pleased if the first thing they see on arrival is Hartley behaving like an antsy child.
Cisco puts a hand on Hartley's shoulder and slides it slowly down his arm to briefly intertwine their fingers. A human style hand-holding instead of a Vulcan finger-touch, though Hartley's grateful for it. Vulcans would find it an unseemly show of affection, but the feeling of their hands entwined grounds Hartley.
He's especially grateful because he knows Cisco doesn't really like hand-holding all that much.
As the airlock door starts to open, Cisco gives Hartley's hand a quick squeeze and then lets him go. They stand side by side as T'dana and Slokar walk onto the STAR Research Station.
"Mother. Father," Hartley greets, raising his hand in salute and giving them each a deep nod.
They each greet him with a salute and nod along with his name as well.
"I would like to introduce the two of you to Francisco Ramon, whom I am courting." Hartley turns then to Cisco. "Cisco, these are my parents, T'dana and Slokar."
Cisco raised his hand in salute and the customary salutation. And that's when Hartley realizes that Cisco has his hair pulled back... but not covering up his ears.
He does that a lot. Keeping the tips of his ears covered. A habit, Cisco had told him once, that came from a desire for people to stop acting like it was scandalous he was more human than vulcan. But to wear his hair like this now, of all times...
"You have Vulcan ancestry," Slokar observes.
"That's correct. One of my great grandfathers, on my mother's side of the family, was part of the House of Tardek." Cisco keep his voice even. "My more Vulcan features were something of a family surprise."
"The House of Tardek," T'dana echoes and Hartley wants to be amused that Cisco startled her enough to show that much of a response, but he's rather surprised himself.
The Vulcan House system was akin to to human surnames, presently used for tracking family lines. Typically the head of the House was the one whose name was referenced, but it could also be a famous ancestor. Tardek had been a Vulcan Ambassador of some note and his family still used his name to denote their house; for Cisco to be descended of that house, however, likely meant Cisco's great grandfather had been one of the Ambassador's sons.
Hartley hadn't realized Cisco knew the House his family descended from.
"Tardek was known as a great negotiator and one of his children stayed behind on Earth after his term as Ambassador ended," Slokar observed.
Cisco nodded. "Toshan, my Great Grandfather. My Great Grandmother was his first wife, though after her death he left Earth and was married to a Vulcan woman. I'm afraid I've never had the opportunity to meet that side of our family."
"Should you be interested in making their acquaintance we would be willing to assist you in that endeavour," T'dana offered.
"Thank you."
"I've arranged for your guest quarters," Hartley spoke up. "Shall we take your things there and then replicate lunch? I would like to hear what it is that brought the Skelk within the vicinity of the STAR Research Station."
The Skelk being the research vessel his parents crewed. It was a mixed race research team, but predominantly Vulcan.
Lunch with Hartley's parents felt stilted. Particularly compared to how Hartley's mealtimes had changed since Cisco came into his life. Before Cisco, Hartley had been a loner, awkward and respected by his colleagues... but not sought out for companionship or friendship. But since Cisco had begun pursuing him romantically, Hartley had learned to relax and feel less awkward around others. He'd begun to make tentative friendships with doctors Snow and Allen and often had lunch with them, particularly appreciating their company when Cisco would occasionally work through lunch. (Admittedly, more Hartley's bad habit than Cisco's.)
Unfortunately, after lunch Cisco had to go back to work, having only taken the morning off.
"He's not usually so reserved in his mannerisms," T'dana observed when the door to their guest quarters shut behind Cisco.
"No. He's very... human," Hartley replied.
"You seem... happy with him," Slokar said quietly. "He's good for you. We were concerned that you would be isolated from your peers here, with so few Vulcans at this station."
"He does make me happy." Hartley felt a bit stunned as he spoke those words because... it sounded like his parents rather approved of Cisco.
("Thank you," Hartley murmured between kisses that night, so grateful for how Cisco had acted around his parents. Tempering his emotional responses wasn't something that came naturally to Cisco and he certainly couldn't have enjoyed it.
"I love you," Cisco replied, pulling away for a moment to speak seriously. "I just hope I did a good job of making them feel at ease around me. I want them to approve of us as a couple."
"We made a good start today." Hartley kissed Cisco's ears, soft little nips that made Cisco gasp. "But I'll miss your smile by the end of their visit if this keeps up. So... be a little more emotional... for me?")
Hartley had thought he had been nervous about introducing Cisco to his parents. Not that he should have been; Cisco was charming and well mannered and their match was quite logical. He made Hartley happy. There was nothing there for T'dana or Slokar to find fault in.
This was nervous. This was terrified.
Logic did absolutely nothing to calm Hartley's nerves as he followed Cisco up the front walk to Sofia and Mateo Ramon's house.
Dante approved of Hartley, as did Marya. But Hartley suspected Armando of misgivings towards his relationship with Cisco. What it Cisco's parents felt the same way? What if they thought Hartley was a terrible match for Cisco and disapproved of their courtship. What if...
"I love you," Cisco said quietly, instead of knocking on the door. "You looked a bit twitchy, so I just wanted to make sure you remembered that," he added, caressing Hartley's cheek with those lovely, dexterous hands of his.
"Nerves getting to me," Hartley admitted. Sometimes he wondered if he'd have a better handle on his anxiety if he were a stricter adherent to the teachings of Surak. But he'd made a deliberate choice upon reaching his majority to be less concerned with following those tenets than the average Vulcan. He wanted to feel comfortable - not guilty - about embracing a bit more of his human heritage.
Logic was all well and good, but there was something to be said about trusting his instincts as a human. Though on days like today when those instincts were putting him in a panicky fight or flight mode for no good reason...
Hartley breathed out, reassured by Cisco's touch. Perhaps a little telepathy in there, sending warmth and love... or maybe it was just that Cisco's very presence gave Hartley the feeling of being stronger and more put together.
If things went wrong, they'd leave together. Maybe go somewhere else on Earth before they had to be back at the station. They were going to move in together once they got back from vacation and no amount of parental disapproval would change that. So Hartley might as well calm down and take the risk that things might actually go well.
"Are you ready?" Cisco asked, concerned.
"I'm ready."
Cisco knocked on the door. It opened moments later and the woman who answered the door was clearly Cisco's mother, Sofia. Cisco favored his mother in looks, with the distinctly Vulcan ears and slanted eyebrows and the similar shapes of their faces. Cisco's smile was like hers too.
Sofia hugged her son first, quietly exclaiming her happiness to see him. Then she turned and said, "you must be Hartley, the young man who has brought my Cisco such happiness. I'm so glad to finally meet you." She offered him the Vulcan salute as a greeting, which Hartley returned.
"I'm glad to be meeting you as well," Hartley offered her a handshake as well, which somehow turned into one of those half-hug embraces that humans seemed fond of.
Still jittery as he followed Sofia and Cisco into the house - he'd yet to meet Mateo, after all - Hartley felt some of his anxiety ease away at Sofia's obvious acceptance of him. The house felt warm inside. There were holos all over the walls, still frames that showed snippets of Cisco, Armando, and Dante's childhood. Happy family moments that made Cisco pause and smile fondly at the memories those images brought to mind.
Hartley liked that expression on Cisco's face. It confirmed Hartley's feeling that this must have been a good home to grow up in. Despite the difficulties Cisco had faced, he'd been happy here.
In the living room, Mateo Ramon looked over at Hartley and smiled. Hand raising automatically in the Vulcan salute.
As he returned the gesture, Hartley had a feeling he'd be happy here too.