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Cisco stared at Hartley, wide eyed. Hartley raised an eyebrow at Cisco, then waved a hand in front of Cisco’s face and asked, “Hello? Anyone home?”
“You look adorable.”
The words were out of Cisco’s mouth before his brain could stop them and Hartley’s face turned pink even as he grumbled, “Shut up. Why are you here?”
“Sorry, sorry, that was- That was inappro...pri… Sorry, is that a rat?”
Hartley looked down, then gently lifted the squirming lump of gray fluff from the pocket of his mouse onesie, answering, “Oh, yeah. Cisco, meet Ocarina.”
“...Like the Legend of Zelda game?”
Hartley rolled his eyes, gently settling Ocarina on his shoulder, and answered, “She’s named after the instrument, you heathen. Now, presumably you didn’t come here just to admire me in my pajamas and meet one of my rats, so-”
“You have more than one?”
Hartley looked offended by the question, then answered, “Obviously I have more than one! Rats are social creatures, it would be cruel to keep them alone! I have five.”
From her place on Hartley’s shoulder, Ocarina squeaked like she was confirming Hartley’s statement. Then she stuck her tiny pink nose inside Hartley’s ear and sniffed a few times before sneezing. Cisco let out a coo before he could stop himself, then, mouth moving faster than his brain, asked, “Can I meet your other rats?”
Hartley blinked, then answered, “I… Guess? Come on in.”
He stepped back, allowing Cisco in, and led Cisco over to where an extremely large playpen was set up with four rats inside, running and playing. Hartley carefully stepped into the pen, then sat down on the floor and ordered, “Take your shoes off, then you can come in.”
Cisco untied his shoes and took them off, then stepped into the pen, careful to watch where he was placing his feet so he didn’t accidentally step on one of the rats. Then he sat down across from Hartley and asked, “What are their names?”
Ocarina scrambled down from Hartley’s shoulder, happily joining the other rats in play, and Hartley picked up a small black and white rat, answering, “This is Piccolo. Be careful, she gets a bit bitey.”
Piccolo was placed back on the floor and Hartley lifted another rat, this one mostly brown with a white head, and continued, “This is Shakuhachi. She’s the bravest and she loves people, so she’s probably going to start climbing all over you pretty soon.”
He set Shakuhachi down and picked up an entirely brown rat, introducing, “This is Quena. If you give her treats, she will never, ever, ever leave you alone again.”
He set Quena back on the ground and lifted an entirely white rat, finishing, “And this is Fujara. She’s pretty shy at first, but she’ll warm up to you.”
Cisco held out his fingers, letting the rats sniff him curiously, then, as Shakuhachi clambered into his palm to sniff the rest of his hand, he commented, “The only name I recognized out of the bunch was Piccolo.”
“They’re all named after types of flutes from around the world.”
Cisco snorted, then teased, “Leaning real hard into this Pied Piper thing, huh?”
“Shut up. Just because you can’t tell the difference between a recorder and a kaval doesn’t mean that the rest of us can’t.”
Hartley couldn’t quite hide his laugh all the way and Cisco couldn’t help his smile, answering, “Hey, no judgment here. I respect you sticking to your theme.”
“You’re such a jackass.”
Shakuhachi clambered into Cisco’s lap, sniffing eagerly, and Ocarina followed a moment later, then began scaling Cisco’s hoodie to perch on his shoulder as Shakuhachi crawled into Cisco’s hoodie pocket. Hartley grinned, looking genuinely happy for the first time in Cisco’s memory, and asked, “Want to give them a treat?”
“Absolutely.”
Hartley reached over the pen wall and grabbed a bag of plain sunflower seeds, stating, “Just shake the bag once and say ‘come’. They’ll come right to you.”
Cisco took the bag and shook it, making the sunflower seeds rattle as he stated, “Come.”
Fujara, Quena, and Piccolo all scurried over immediately and Shakuhachi clambered out of Cisco’s pocket as Ocarina scrambled down from his shoulder. Cisco grinned, then pulled out a few sunflower seeds and offered one to each rat, grinning as they all happily crunched on the seeds. Then, as Quena crawled into Cisco’s lap and sniffed at his hands for more sunflower seeds and Fujara skittered back over to climb into the pocket of Hartley’s onesie, Ocarina and Piccolo began chasing each other around and wrestling and playing. Shakuhachi scaled Cisco’s hoodie to take Ocarina’s spot on his shoulder, sniffing curiously as his hair, and Hartley smiled, then grabbed his phone and snapped a picture. Cisco and Hartley watched and played with the rats for a bit, chatting first about the rats and then about their hobbies, and Cisco was surprised to find that he and Hartley apparently had more in common than he’d thought. And… Well, while Hartley hadn’t been nearly as much of a douche after Fake-Wells was gone, Cisco had never expected to end up actually liking the guy. Now, though… Now Cisco could actually see himself being friends with Hartley. Or maybe even…
Cisco was pulled out of his thoughts when Hartley grinned and reached over the pen wall to grab a bowl of what looked like whole hazelnuts, still in the shell, which he held out to Cisco. Cisco took one and Hartley stated, “Roll it towards me. The girls love chasing them.”
Cisco obediently rolled the hazelnut towards Hartley, though it barely made it a foot before Piccolo caught it and darted off to one of the cardboard boxes along the walls of the pen with it. Shakuhachi, Fujara, and Quena all scrambled to join the game as Hartley rolled another hazelnut towards Cisco and held the bowl out for Cisco to grab another. Soon, all five rats had a hazelnut of their own and Hartley stated, “Once they finish their hazelnuts, it’s time for them to go back into their enclosure so I can head to bed.”
Cisco glanced at his watch, surprised to see how late it had gotten, and answered, “Oh, right, yeah. Sorry, I… I hadn’t realized how long I’d been here. Has it really been an hour and a half?”
“I know, right?”
Cisco smiled as Piccolo came pattering out of her box, clearly on the hunt for more hazelnuts, and Hartley scooped her up, rubbing behind her ears and cooing, “Sorry, little lady, no more snacks tonight. It’s time for you and your sisters to go to bed so that Papa can go to bed.”
Oh god, when did Cisco start finding Hartley cute?
One by one, the rats were returned to a large, comfortable-looking enclosure with lots of toys and hammocks and places to hide. Once all five were safely back in their enclosure, Cisco stood and asked, “Need any help cleaning stuff up?”
“Oh, uh, if you don’t mind helping, that would be great.”
“Yeah, of course, man. What can I do?”
Hartley handed Cisco an empty coffee can, then requested, “Do you mind putting all the toys in this?”
“Sure.”
Cisco began gathering the various toys that were scattered throughout the pen as Hartley placed the cardboard boxes that were along the walls of the pen in a larger cardboard box. He picked up the fluffy blanket that was bunched up in the corner, shaking it out and rolling his eyes when it rained peanut shells and toys, then folded it up and set it on top of the cardboard boxes before disappearing into the kitchen to grab a broom and dustpan. Cisco set the container of toys next to the box, stepping out of the pen so Hartley could sweep, and then helped Hartley fold the pen up and put everything under the table with the rat enclosure on it. Once it was all cleaned, Cisco put his shoes back on and checked his pockets to make sure he still had his phone, wallet, and keys. Hartley shifted from foot to foot awkwardly, then blurted, “This was fun. If- Um, if you’d like to come over some other time, I’m sure the ladies would love to play with you. It would be good for them to get to know new people, I think.”
Cisco smiled, hoping his blush wasn’t as bright as it felt, and answered, “I’d love to. Um, next time, though, I’ll try to text beforehand. Sorry again about showing up unannounced.”
Hartley blinked, then frowned slightly and asked, “Oh, yeah, why did you come over?”
“...I can't actually remember.”
Hartley snorted, then awkwardly reached out to pat Cisco's shoulder as stated, “I’ll see you tomorrow Cisco.”
Cisco nodded, then headed out, trying to ignore the way Hartley’s smile and touch made him feel all warm and giddy.