This is for the polyamory theme for Ciscoshipweek, a day late, and not at all what I was first planning to write. Thereās not nearly as much to this as I intended, itās super short, which means sequels might be happening in the future.Ā
This is meant to go along with the absolutely ravishing gifset made by the incomparable MissĀ shaloved30. AU, no STAR Labs, no super powers, but Iris still works at the News.
When she finds Barry heās made his way out onto the rooftop patio overlooking the entire downtown of Central City. Sheās wanted to see it so she goes out there happily enough, though itās not like him to make her hunt for him.
She spots him standing alone, which is unusual. This is her mentor throwing a party with writers and journalists and no one he has much in common with, but one of the things Iris loves most about Barry is his fascination with people. Heās awkward, no doubt, but he gets along with people well. Heās always interested in them, and that usually draws people to him.
But heās standing alone now, and heās staring out at something, and the look on his face makes her footsteps slow and her chest thump hard.
Summary: Ā Joe West finds himself being drawn to the last person he ever would have expected, but a dark spot from Ciscoās past threatens to to end things before they can even begin.
Notes: Ā This is canon compliant through 1x13, and then it goes astray. That means all the characters are canon, which means thereās a 21 year age difference in the main pair. If that bothers you, nowās the time to head out. Cisco is 23 years old, young but a fully consenting adult all the same, and the age difference is acknowledged (repeatedly, in poor Joeās head) and dealt with respectfully, Iād like to think. This is NC-17. You stand warned.
Okay, Iāll be home from work in like two hours. I have bought many of foods, and I have nowhere to be the next two days (except thereās a couple of karaoke nights I might treat myself with). I am going to write the things.Ā
Okay, I'll be home from work in like two hours. I have bought many of foods, and I have nowhere to be the next two days (except there's a couple of karaoke nights I might treat myself with). I am going to write the things.Ā
I'm currently writing a story for a new friend, which is what's keeping me from finishing the Joesco story, which is the story that's keeping me from Vibe!Cisco, which is the story that distracted me away from Flash!Iris.Ā
So. I mean, I'm working with a whole branched-out complex system of distractions. But I'm off work for two days starting when this shift ends, and I will focus. Hard core. Promise.Ā
And now, inspired by my own whining post, have this little Iris&CiscoĀ ficlet:Ā
"Barry is the Flash."Ā
Iris blinks.Ā
They're having a nice, aimless small-talk conversation, the way you do with people you kind-of-know and sort-of-like when you both show up in the line at Jitters at the same time. Iris is halfway through a summation of how her new job is going (leaving out specifics about the investigation she's working on, of course) when those words spill out of Cisco's politely smiling mouth.
His face is now all eyes. "Oh, man. I am going to die. I can't believe I did that. They are going to kill me."Ā
"Barry. Allen."Ā
"Is the Flash. Oh god,Ā I can't stop doing it!"Ā
She grabs his arm and pulls him out of the line before any of the brain-dead caffeine junkies around them can take interest in the conversation.Ā
Her mind whirls as she hauls him over to a relatively quiet corner. Strange humans with weird powers, STAR Labs being involved, Barry's secretive world since he awoke from his coma.Ā
It makes so much sense that she can't register much surprise. It feels inevitable, like she was one photo or stammered-out-excuse away from finding out anyway.Ā
She's already moving ten steps ahead. STAR Labs know. Her dad knows. Eddie...no, he doesn't know. He's too impressed by the Flash to equate him with Barry. But that explains why Cisco and Caitlin have stayed so present in Barry's life, and where all his time goes now. And why Barry is constantly pushing Iris away.Ā
She's almost glad, for a moment, almost grateful. That means the new stress in their relationship isn't entirely due to her not instantly proclaiming her love for him.Ā
That explains why Barry didn't 'believe' in the Flash at the beginning. Why he told her to stop looking into it. Why he walked away from her - for a few days, anyway - when she refused. Why the guy who was always dreaming of the impossible seemed to stop believing in the one aspect of it Iris got involved with. Why The Flash chose her to open up to.
She wants to go sit in a quiet room somewhere and replay every moment in her life since Barry woke up. But she can do that later.Ā
Her focus falls on Cisco, and she opens her mouth and shuts it a couple of times, unable to form words.Ā
He looks terrified, but not of her. "They were so firm about not telling you. Barry is so stubborn about it, and Joe's going to straight-up wrap his hands around my throat when he finds out I told you. But it's crap, okay? They talk like you not knowing will make you safe, but not knowing never makes people safer. It's always the opposite, every single time, but I tell Barry that and he tells me it's none of my business, and he's right, but here I am, and I just told you, and you...don't look too surprised."Ā
"I am," Iris says, her voice soft, when Cisco pauses to breathe. "And I'm not. I knew you had something to do with these people running around, these bad people with strange powers. I knew it was STAR."Ā
Cisco nods, unhesitating. "The accident, yeah. Everybody all at once, it's not like we're breeding them or anything. And we're stopping the ones we find. Barry's stopping them, mostly, but."Ā
He's a reporter's dream, a man who can't stop blurting the truth once he's started. But Iris isn't thinking about work. She tests his sudden honesty. "Caitlin's cousin?"Ā
"Robbie. Her fiance. He died, now he's a meta. He does cool fire things. And flies. Luckily he's not an evil one."Ā
"Meta?"
"Metahuman. Our term for the people who got affected." Cisco smiles suddenly, bright and cloudless. "And now you know. They're gonna kill me, but whatever, they can't make you not-know now that you do. Oh, man, I feel like I just lost weight."Ā
She smiles after a moment. It feels thin and brittle on her face, though she means it sincerely. "Who else knows?"Ā
"Just us. The lab, I mean. And Joe, he saw Barry doing his thing early on. And a bunch of the metas we've stopped. Oh, and Felicity, and--"
"Felicity? Starling City Felicity?"Ā
"Yep. A few people in Starling, actually, but I can't go into detail about that because that's really not my secret to tell."Ā
Starling City has the Vigilante. So Felicity works with the Vigilante, then? And...and with Oliver Queen, who was in town at the same time a masked bowman saved her and Eddie from...from the Flash himself.Ā
Jesus, it's almost too much.Ā
Iris narrows her eyes at Cisco. "So what else have they been lying about for months?"Ā
He thinks about that seriously. "I think that's it, really. I mean there's probably a ton of little lies they have to tell to make the big lie work, because lying is a stupid ugly spreading cancer that way, but. You know." He frowns suddenly, looking at her carefully. "You said you already knew it was STAR. The metas."Ā
She hesitates, but what the hell. Honesty all around. "My mentor at work has been quietly investigating the lab. I'm helping him now."Ā
"Whoa." Cisco's all eyes again, but only for a moment. The frown tugs at his mouth, like it's an unnatural expression he has to struggle to maintain. "Well. I mean people have investigated us since even before the accident. So no shock, I guess. But it's trickier now that..."Ā
"He's looking into Wells."Ā
"Yeah, that's...a theme these days." Cisco sighs, miserable, until a moment later when he shrugs and lets it go. "People know about The Flash. Unless they're just not paying attention they know there are other metas out there doing bad things. So...good. I guess. That might be a good thing. If people find out then we won't have to deal with it alone anymore. What's his focus on Wells?"Ā
"Mason thinks he intended the accident to happen exactly as it did." Iris watches Cisco carefully, though his feelings are usually so obvious they hardly have to be studied.Ā
But this time she's surprised how obvious he is. His face blanches to a grey, and he takes a small step back, and his hands are fists at his sides. "Is there proof?"Ā
"Not yet."Ā
"Joe said..." Cisco shakes his head. His gaze has gone unfocused. "I keep thinking about it. I can't stop watching him, and thinking...he knew about Barry."Ā
"What do you mean?"Ā
"I mean...there were hundreds of people hurt in different ways after the explosion. Wells only ever focused on Barry."Ā
"Like he knew about the Flash..."Ā
"...before Barry ever woke up." Cisco swallows.Ā
Iris wants to get to work. She wants to be at the paper talking theory with Mason and digging into Wells' entire history line by line. Barry has been lying to her for months, lying directly to her, looking in her eyes and lying, which is something she wouldn't have thought he could even do before this conversation. Her dad has been lying to her, just as blatantly, almost as often.Ā
She's going to deal with that. She is going to stir up absolute hellfire for that.Ā
But that isn't going to stop her from burying Harrison Wells if it turns out that he deliberately hurt Barry to twist him into what he is now. Barry Allen is a liar, and a metahuman, and she isn't sure she knows him at all anymore, but he's still hers. And Iris West does not tolerate people hurting the ones who are hers.Ā
She focuses on Cisco and frowns in understanding at the turmoil in his eyes. "It's not fun being lied to," she states.Ā
He shakes his head, but when he meets her eyes he seems to see something he can draw strength from. He straightens, his chin comes up, and he smiles. "No more."Ā
She nods, sharp. "No more." Because the truth is out. If Cisco doesn't tell Barry and Joe that he told Iris then they'll find out as she tears the both of them inside out for daring to keep life-altering secrets from her. As if she hasn't been the strongest person in this family for years.Ā
And whatever Harrison Wells is hiding, it's coming out. One way or another, everything is coming out.Ā
She returns Cisco's small smile, because at least there's one person in this that she can talk to now.Ā
"Nothing's going to be easy anymore, is it?" He asks it with a wry smile, not needing an answer. "Everything is going to get worse."Ā
She shrugs. Maybe worse, maybe better. Probably worse.Ā
But she'll take an honest worse over a clueless better anytime. She's only mad (furious, it's already growing red in the corners of her vision, she is furious) that that choice was made for her until now, and made wrong.
"I have to go." She reaches out and squeezes his arm. "Thank you.Ā I won't pretend I don't know the truth now that you've told me, but I can tell them that I figured it out on my own?"Ā
"Thanks," he returns. "But it's cool. I do enough dumb stuff that I know how to own up to it by now."Ā He smiles weakly. "If you need help on that story, a source or whatever..."
"Call you?"
"Keep your dad from murdering me. Then call me."Ā
She laughs. It feels surprisingly good. He was right a few minutes ago: she knows now, and no matter how angry her dad and Barry get they can't take that away.Ā
She just has to decide what to do about it.Ā
As she leaves Jitters (without her coffee, but hey, she had a pretty effective non-caffeinated wake-up call all the same) she ponders how addictive something like honesty can be. How now that she knows more than she did she wants to know everything. She will know everything.Ā
And how the two best men in her life have made themselves habitual liars because they were afraid of being honest with her.Ā
It's interesting, in a philosophical kind of way. If she was an essayist she might give it some thought, try to put it into words.Ā
But she's not an essayist or a philosopher. Iris West is a reporter. And it's time to get to work.Ā
If you're still open to prompts: Everyone assumed Cisco had a crush on Caitlin. He actually had a crush on Ronnie. Cue pining.
(Note: havenāt seen tonightās ep yet.)
"I have to say, I didnāt miss that."
Caitlin looks up from the display sheās been obsessively studying every single aspect of. āHmm?ā
Ronnie sits on the table, sensors pressed into his skin, shirtless in the cool lab air but not complaining. Heās smiling, the same small, unfading smile heās been looking at Caitlin with since he became him again, instead of them.
Ronnie looks back at her, then nods out the clear glass walls into the cortex. āI forgot he does this.ā
Caitlin follows his gaze and sees Cisco sitting at his computers. His eyes are on them, or on the wall dividing them, and heās as still as he ever is as he openly gazes.
Caitlin has a flash of memory suddenly, of a dozen discussions she and Ronnie used to have about Cisco and the way he looked at Caitlin and whether it was cute or potentially harmful towards all of their growing friendships. She hasnāt thought about that in ages. To hearĀ RonnieĀ talk Cisco spent all his time gazing adoringly at Caitlin, but every time Caitlin worked with Cisco on something back before the accident, she never noticed.
And she wasnāt ever blind to the looks of other men. She's a conventionally attractive woman whoĀ got her PhD in bioengineering, she has always been aware of the reactions of men around her. Usually sheās either ignored, resented, or considered a mascot. Doctor Barbie.
But Cisco isnātĀ like that with her. Not before the accident, despite Ronnieās insistence. And definitely not since the accident.
"Was it bad?" As if reading her thoughts and completely misinterpreting them, Ronnie looks away from Ciscoās oblivious staring and turns back to her. "You two have had to work closely for a while, does he ever getā"
"No." Her answer is fast, sharper than she intends. "And donāt start speculating about it, okay? He is literally the only person I had after the accident. Heās my best friend, and he has never been inappropriate with me. Thisā¦this is justā¦" She gestures out the glass partition, and regrets it when in the other room Cisco realizes heās staring andĀ theyāre watching him, and he drops his head instantly and pretends to work. He only uses his hair as a curtain when heās really embarrassed. She knows that.
She knows a lot of things about him. He is the closest person in the world to her.
So she doesnāt finish what she was saying to Ronnie, because no matter how wrong Ronnie isā¦Cisco had been staring. And heās embarrassed to be caught. Cisco isnāt the kind to embarrass easily.
But sheās not lying to Ronnie.Ā Cisco hasnāt been inappropriate. They have spent days on end alone together, working right on top of each other, no one else to talk to. Theyāve gone to dinner together, gotten drunk together, passed out on one or another of their couches while watching bad movies and eating take-out. Sheās come to work in Ciscoās clothes once or twice, but thereās no one around to notice so it was never a big deal.
She and Cisco have made life-altering decisions together. They chose, together,Ā to stay at STAR when everyone else was fleeing to salvage their careers. They chose, together, to involve themselves in this metahuman insanity, at first against Doctor Wellsā wishes.
He is the first one she looks to, no matter what, when thereās something big happening around them. She isnāt entirely sure, honestly, that he wonāt still be. It will take her a little while to get used to Ronnie being the one who should be in that position.
And this, the staring and the shyness and the embarrassment, this is new. And itās old. (She argued with Ronnie months ago whenever he brought it up, but she wasnāt blind. She caught Cisco a few times. Only when Ronnie was around to make her aware of it, though.)
It wonāt beĀ a problem. She knows that. Whatever it is making his old fascination return now that Ronnieās back, sheāll just have to talk to himā¦
Oh.
She understands, just like that, from one thought to the next.
"Heās great! Heās justā¦kind of awkward." Thatās how Ronnie used to describe Cisco. "Funny guy, just needs to get over how self-conscious he is."
But Cisco isnāt, wasnāt ever, self-conscious. Cisco took on Hartley Rathaway his first day of work, and every day afterward, without ever once apologizing or being embarrassed by the flaws Hartley harped at him about.
But she has seen Cisco embarrassed and self-conscious in rare moments. With Bette San Souci, with one of the investigators the FDA sent around to the lab for weeks after the explosion who used to send Cisco out of rooms blushing at the slightest glance.
With, apparently,Ā Ronnie.
Not Caitlin. Ronnie.
She looks back out at Cisco, catches his eyes on them, their little glassed-in room, again. She makes a sound, soft, realization and sympathy and understanding all in one.
He wasnāt looking for Ronnie for her, he said once. She thought he meant he was doing it because of his own guilt. She thought all his choked-up words at the service she had for Ronnie were just to help her get through. She thought he drank so much for a while there because she was drinking too, and he was too nice a guy toĀ make her drink alone.
She thought his sorrow was empathy. She thought his recent obsession was guilt.
She sighs, tearing her eyes from Cisco and his unusual stillness, his vacant, sad gaze as he looks right through her to the man on the table behind her.
Heāll be mortified when she brings it up, and sheās already dreading the conversation. But theyāll have it anyway, because she loves Cisco. Adores him, in a real, deep way, and he would never make her suffer alone, so she isnāt going to abandon him to this.
She looks back at Ronnie with a small smile and speaks honestly. āDonāt worry about Cisco. Iāll take care of it.ā
And she will, because her and Ciscoā¦thatās what they do. Thatās what theyāve done for this last horrible, amazing year. They take care of each other.
I read your post about Cisco having a "dark side" when he weaponized the hearing aids and I would like to hear your thoughts about the cold gun. I think it's interesting that out of all of the STAR Labs team, it's Cisco having the ideas and making the weapons that can take down meta-humans, even Barry. He owned up to the cold gun by saying that he didn't know Barry at the time and what if Barry was evil and had to bestopped. Cisco is smart enough to prepare for the worst, but hope for the best.
Whoo, meta!
Okay, first off, I think Cisco was kind of being shady with his I-didnāt-know-you-then explanation. Because he kind of did. Barry was the first meta he got to know, and Barry had Cisco and Caitlin talked into joining forces with him at the same time they realized that other metas were out there and potential problems. So Iām not sure what window of time Cisco wants us to think he developed that cold gun in, but the timeĀ between Barry discovering his powers and Cisco signing on to help Barry crusade against bad people was really, really short.
Personally, I blame the script for that. It soundsĀ pat for Cisco to say he did it before he got to know Barry, but why not just have him say ābecause you have super powers and youāre my bro but someday we may need to stop you. And youāll want us to have a non-fatal way to do that if it ever happens.ā Because that makes perfect sense. What if Barry runs into a mind-control meta who turns his body against him? What if his powers flake out and he goes all Red Shoes and just canāt physically stop? What if - foreshadowing omg - they run into another meta with the same power?
It makes absolute sense to have some kind of something around that would be able to counter the powers Barry has. What I think is super interesting is that when Cisco was challenging himself to come up with that counter, he came up with an iceĀ gun. A thing that would stop Barry, but would also be fatal to anyone elseĀ who got hit with it.
So, yeah, this is one of those things that points to Cisco having a darker side than his bubbly personality seems to show on the surface. Between Barry waking up and the gun becoming canon there was Mardon, Multiplex, andĀ The Mist. The interesting thing is that Ciscoās cold gun could theoretically have stopped or slowed down every one of those metas. It could have affected Mardonās weather, Multiās clones could have been frozen off and taken out, and absolute zero is more than enough to freeze gasses right in the air.
(Incidentally it also probably could have frozen Plastiqueās bombs before they blew, frozen Tony brittle enough to be easily hurt, obviously could have stopped Reverse Flashā¦I mean thatās one handy little weapon that couldĀ affect all kinds of metas.)
Thereās a moment in the Arrow crossover when Cisco tells Diggle and Roy that people like Barry are the hope for saving people like them, against the metas and superpowers and craziness. And that, to me, says more than anything about why someone like Cisco would have invented that cold gun. I think he suddenly realized that the world around him was a hundred times scarier than it used to be, that there were suddenly potentially hundreds of literally superpowered bad guys out there, and normal people were way out of their league.
And Cisco, despite his words about Barry being their hope, because of his past or his own potentially-dark nature, doesnāt want to rely onĀ Barry, andĀ he wants a method that can stop Barry too, just in case.Ā He wants a weapon, and to be able to tackle things on his own if it comes down to it.
Hereās a fun thing to think about: after the gun was discovered and he took such heat for it, they ran into both a mind-controlled Barry using his powers for bad things, and a Reverse Flash. So what do you want to bet that Cisco didnāt just let it lie? Personally I think heās got like four different alternate methods in development now. And I doubt that cold gun the cops returned to him actually got destroyed.
Responding to the anon from today, I am a Latina, a (one-time) Detroiter and a Cisco fan myself. I felt it was completely obvious that Hartley was slapping stereotypes onto the bare facts of what he knew about Cisco's life, and Cisco had a deep love and affection for where and who he came from. Enough that anyone who didn't respect either could DIAF and moreover get the hell out of Cisco's bed. - mosylufanfic
Oh man, thanks so much for sending this. Like Iām legit worried about it now.Ā
Okay. I mean. Thereās an element of cliche in his background the way Iāve written it, mostly because the original Vibe was a really grossly stereotyped character but I still like to throw some of the comics in the mix. And Iāve never actually been to Detroit, so thatās a thing Iām not all too confident about writing about.
But I think thatās the problem with the lack of representation in fandoms like this. If I write Cisco as being from Detroit, as having Los Lobos in his history, as having immigrant parents, and thatās the entire representation of Latino charactersā¦. then thereās no examples to combat those things. Like of course Iām not saying because heās from Detroit there has to have been gangs involved in his life, but thereās no other characters from Detroit to show another side of the city.Ā
And just because heās Latino doesnāt mean his parents have to be immigrants. Iām third gen American myself. But I also donāt want to avoid assigning him anything that might be seen as cliche, because that could also be seen as ignoring any trace of heritage. Maybe he learned Spanish in high school the way I did, or maybe at home because his parents speak four words of English because they went right from Colombia to a heavily Latino neighborhood in big city America. Theyāre both valid representations of possibilities, and thereās a world of possibilities between those two examples. (I make him Colombian because of Carlos himself, and that ragingly sexy accent he speaks Spanish with makes it canon enough for me.)
Who knows, the showās not sticking with comic canon involving him, maybe heāll turn out to be from small-town Iowa or something. But until we know what they have in mind we create our own things, right? And I donāt mind using some aspects of his comic book past. I like the drama of it, and the levels that come with this broke big city kid finding his way to becoming a genius mechanical engineer.
ā¦and I really didnāt mean to turn your message into a character sermon, sorry. And thank you again. <3
Iāve gone back and forth on how I want to write Ciscoās history myself (before the show makes a canon for us). Is writing him as a middle-class Latino kid from the āburbs erasing the validity and possibility of inner-city kids? Or is writing the poor kid from the crime-riddled neighborhood reinforcing the gangbanger Latino stereotype?
And of course you get into all sorts of questions about his background. Which gen? From where? Or maybe multiple wheres because Iāve never known anybody that doesnāt have different threads in their family tapestry. Comics Cisco was Puerto Rican. My brain defaults Mexican because thatās mostly who I know. But then again, Carlos is Columbian, like you say. Different countries, different traditions, different cultures. Did a family member even ever immigrate, is that story part of his family, or did the border cross over them with the various purchases, cessions, and treaties that built the Western/Southwestern states? I kinda like having him from Detroit because mostly people think itās an auto graveyard (and if we avoid the gang thing then thatās another representation of the city), but he could be from any-damn-where in the States, or out of it.
When I wrote Resonance, I gave him a fair amount of his teenage years living in Ypsilanti, which is Eastern Michigan Universityās college town about 30 miles outside of Detroit but still within the general sort of metro area. He was living with an aunt who was a professor. I enjoyed that. At one time I even wrote a drabble where Caitlin tried to speak to him in Spanish and heās like āYeah, no, I donāt speak Spanish because my parents werenāt allowed to speak it in school and eventually lost it. Sad but true.ā Which is a totally shit thing that happened in this countryās past. Of course we got Spanish-speaking Cisco in the show so I never put it out there but I enjoyed writing it particularly because Caitlin got so embarrassed her head nearly exploded.
One of the reasons for my love of Cisco is that heās a brilliant scientist where the stereotype is violent dropout or maybe HS diploma, and an uber-nerd with all the game of a twelve-year-old where the stereotype is the smooth Latin lover. (And tangential rant: You know how many scientists of color we have in pop culture? Itās not a lot, and thatās sad.) I really hope that the show continues with an interesting story for him that steps out of the well-worn pathways.
I actively wrestled over whether or not to have Cisco speak Spanish in fics before it became show canon. Choices like that become so important when dealing with underrepresented characters. And yeah, the problem with having a wide-open backstory is that when you pick one option you exclude every other one.Ā
I would absolutely buy Cisco as suburban or inner-city, middle class or poor, first gen or fourth. I'd buy him as being an utter nerd, or I'd buy him as an ex-gang kid who put on the nerd shirts as a costume as a way to fit in when science started taking over his life.Ā
That's why I'm drawn to more minor characters like him, I think. Because Carlos is so specific in his choices the character could go a thousand different ways. I mean, I didn't understand the surprise when he laid a beat-down on Hartley, and I love the way they did it because it instantly slams about a thousand more levels to the character than we knew were there before. But nothing that contradicts anything that came before it, just adds more possibilities.Ā
Keep him brilliant and enthusiastic and a little naive about people and he's IC for me, no matter where you say he's from or what you say his life was pre-show. (And yeah, this ficlet I wrote about his past and how Hartley was one of a thousand similar bullies was inspired by a friend's post about the difficulties people of color face in real life when they go into STEM work. It focused on women, but the point's valid either way.)
Responding to the anon from today, I am a Latina, a (one-time) Detroiter and a Cisco fan myself. I felt it was completely obvious that Hartley was slapping stereotypes onto the bare facts of what he knew about Cisco's life, and Cisco had a deep love and affection for where and who he came from. Enough that anyone who didn't respect either could DIAF and moreover get the hell out of Cisco's bed. - mosylufanfic
Oh man, thanks so much for sending this. Like Iām legit worried about it now.Ā
Okay. I mean. Thereās an element of cliche in his background the way Iāve written it, mostly because the original Vibe was a really grossly stereotyped character but I still like to throw some of the comics in the mix. And Iāve never actually been to Detroit, so thatās a thing Iām not all too confident about writing about.
But I think thatās the problem with the lack of representation in fandoms like this. If I write Cisco as being from Detroit, as having Los Lobos in his history, as having immigrant parents, and thatās the entire representation of Latino charactersā¦. then thereās no examples to combat those things. Like of course Iām not saying because heās from Detroit there has to have been gangs involved in his life, but thereās no other characters from Detroit to show another side of the city.Ā
And just because heās Latino doesnāt mean his parents have to be immigrants. Iām third gen American myself. But I also donāt want to avoid assigning him anything that might be seen as cliche, because that could also be seen as ignoring any trace of heritage. Maybe he learned Spanish in high school the way I did, or maybe at home because his parents speak four words of English because they went right from Colombia to a heavily Latino neighborhood in big city America. Theyāre both valid representations of possibilities, and thereās a world of possibilities between those two examples. (I make him Colombian because of Carlos himself, and that ragingly sexy accent he speaks Spanish with makes it canon enough for me.)
Who knows, the showās not sticking with comic canon involving him, maybe heāll turn out to be from small-town Iowa or something. But until we know what they have in mind we create our own things, right? And I donāt mind using some aspects of his comic book past. I like the drama of it, and the levels that come with this broke big city kid finding his way to becoming a genius mechanical engineer.
ā¦and I really didnāt mean to turn your message into a character sermon, sorry. And thank you again. <3
Honestly, as a Detroiter + a Cisco fan, your ficlet really upset me. Lots of the things you included in it, particularly Hartley's racist/classist words about Cisco and Detroit were reductive and went mostly uncriticized (or weren't criticized WELL). I understand it was a ficlet so you must not have put that much thought into it. But be careful when you regurgitate stereotypes that mirror people's actual lived experiences without actual doing anything to refute them. Even in fanfiction.
...like but the point was that everything Hartley said about every aspect of Cisco's presumed background was absurdly wrong. And Cisco's own reflections about his life showed that from their direct contrast to Hartley's words. I mean no, he didn't argue out loud, but that's because at that point he realized that Hartley really wasn't worth his breath.
The entire point of the prompt was that a rich, classicist guy like Hartley hears 'Detroit' and comes up with an entire complete mental image that's obviously narrow and short-sighted and relies on everything he's ever heard about 'those people' growing up. Just like he knows Cisco's Latino and makes a huge chunk of assumptions about his family and his home from that alone. The whole revelation Cisco has about Hartley is that the very limited facts he does know about Cisco's life have painted him in this ridiculous stereotyped light in Hartley's mind.Ā
I suppose I assumed the stereotyping was so obviously over the top that a direct refutation wasn't even required. SoĀ I'm sorry if that didn't read clearly, or if it somehow read that any of Hartley's impressions about Cisco, his class, his heritage, or his city were at all accurate. The entire ficlet was meant to be a criticism of Hartley's beliefs, if that wasn't clear then that's my bad.Ā
In regards to your AO3 question, it varies depending on the person. Some make a 'prompt fic' where each chapter is a prompt, and others make a linked series, where each story is a different prompt. It really depends on weather you intend to do more than on chapter for a prompt. If you do, then the best way to go about it is a series, that way people don't have to backtrack through the chapters to find the previous parts of one story.
Hurm. I think I'll go with the prompt fic idea. If one is gonna get more than one chapter I'll just make that a separate fic.
prompter anon here-- Do what you like with it, it's your story. You were kind enough to answer others I submitted so I already feel really spoiled. (Will you considering posting them on AO3?) Thank you for being awesome.
<3 Thanks, bb.
Oh, yeah, I should do that. Should I just make a random prompts story and add each one as chapters or just make them separate? How do people do that?
I'd be all about a fic where Hartley was Cisco's emotionally manipulative ex-boyfriend and while he wasn't a monster he was utterly horrible for Cisco, even when he was trying not to be a dick. Seeing Hartley again brings it all back and it's a mess. I'd love even more if Cisco is into Barry and getting new perspective on everything, rethinking how he approaches relationships.
Just an fyi for this anon, I am totally working on this right now, but. Um. Current budding relationship is not with Barry. Itās someone else. Hope thatās okay.Ā
Okay, everyone. So this tumblr is a side tumblr that I started off an RP blog I was playing around with (I was Barry, I was totally good at it too), but the game has died and given me a chance to reclaim.Ā
SO! From now on theflashfic is just gonna be for my fic links and prompts and snippets and stuff, and I am going to be bumming around my actual new un-RPed flash blogĀ for random observations and headcanons and chats and whatever's left. And I can now friend the fuck out of some of you, so expect that to happen. :D
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