For herstar

[timetopaythepiper]

Hartley was pretty sure inviting his boss over to drink with him was a terrible idea. They may have been close once upon a time (admittedly not close enough to feel comfortable getting drunk together), but their relationship seriously suffered after the particle accelerator explosion and all those months Hartley spent distancing himself from everything Harrison and STAR Labs related. Even now, two years and a reluctant (on Hartley's part) reconciliation later, their relationship still wasn't quite what it used to be. So yes, this was probably a mistake. A mistake Hartley couldn't bring himself to give a crap about at the moment.

Hartley had already begun drinking when Harrison offered to let him be his problem, and he wasn't sure if it was the alcohol or his apathy that made him agree, but by the time he heard the knocking at his door any worries he may have had (about making a drunken fool of himself, about Harrison being judgemental and preachy, about getting too mouthy and finally losing his job...)  have mostly all faded away.  After all, the point to this was that he was someone else's problem for the night.

"Hello," Hartley said, eyeing Harrison warily for a moment before gesturing for him to come inside.

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[herstar]

Harrison had no intention of being judgmental or preachy, and not just because he was rather incapable of such things. Sure, he could be a bit grandiose at times, but he'd never blame Hartley unfairly for anything. In a way, he felt guilty. Perhaps if he'd paid better attention before the incident, if he'd encouraged kindness from all sides, they wouldn't have been so distracted and Hartley wouldn't blame himself for what happened. Learning what Hartley had found had devastated Harrison. But all that followed was too much to ever address it properly.

In his own way, he was perhaps as hesitant about this as Hartley was. He was never one to be social with his employees in such a way. He wasn't one to be overly social in any way, too absorbed in his work. That went double now that he was trying to make up for what his work already did.

"I hope I'm not too late," he said, striding in rather briskly. He'd lost track of time and honestly didn't know if there was a time he'd been expected. "I got hung up with--" he shook his head and cut himself off. "Nope. Work stays at the lab, right?"

[timetopaythepiper]

"You're not late, Hartley said, shutting the door behind him before turning to give him an amused glance. What else was there for them to talk about if work became a banned topic? "Work doesn't have to stay in the lab. I don't really care one way or the other, but I don't exactly have much else going in my life right now besides science and vigilantism, so..."

Well no, that wasn't entirely true. He was in the process of slowly reconciling with his parents. That was something, wasn't it? Not that he particularly cared to discuss that.

"So what would you like to drink?" he asked, making his way past Harrison to his tiny kitchen to grab another glass. "I've been making myself Long Island Iced Tea for the past hour or so, but I can use the ingredients to make other things. And I have some whiskey around here somewhere. Or there's beer and wine if you want to be boring."

It was so weird having someone inside his apartment after keeping to himself for so long. It was even weirder that out of everyone, it was Harrison he was finally allowing to see this small piece of his world.

[herstar]

Someone else in his position, someone with his face but not his mind, may have taken advantage of the situation, scrutinized every last inch of that space and had six different plans laid out before he even stepped through the door. But not Harrison. He barely even glanced around the place, the honor of being allowed into such a space lost on him. He just assumed Hartley was like himself, not so much private and secretive as busy and distracted. No time for dinner parties and entertaining when there were important science matters to tend to.

After a moment's thought, he shrugged slightly and said, "Surprise me. I'm open to anything." He couldn't recall if he'd ever had a Long Island Iced Tea before.

"Perhaps I should rephrase, I will not be talking about work. If I do that, there's no end in sight, and tonight is about you. If work is what you'd like to talk about, then that's what we'll do. But the one caveat is that you must, at some point, tell me why it is you want to be someone else's problem for the night."

[timetopaythepiper]

There really wasn't much to see in Hartley's apartment. His sonic gloves were resting on his coffee table (he'd been tinkering with them a bit earlier, before the urge to drink overtook him) and his pet rats (and he probably should have warned Harrison about them, but whatever) were playing and chasing each other around the living room, but other than that his place was pretty boring. He kept most of his other tech, and anything else worth seeing, either hidden away in his bedroom or the safe house he only held onto for sentimental reasons. This probably wasn't the most interesting place he could have chosen for them to drink, but at least it was tidy for the most part.

Hartley shrugged and began preparing another Long Island Iced Tea. He was pretty certain Harrison would like it, especially since this one wasn't nearly as strong as Hartley's own drink. "I used to love discussing work with you," he said, his tone a bit wistful. "But I suppose we can find other things to talk about. Does my brief life of crime count as work?" he asked, only half kidding.

He garnished Harrison's drink with a lemon wedge, sticking a straw in before finally handing him his drink. "I'm sick of being my own problem. It's exhausting, boring and would likely lead me fall off the redemption wagon eventually," he finally answered, deciding to get that caveat out of the way.

[herstar]

Warning? Who needed a warning? In fact, the moment he spotted the rats, he knelt down and tried to get them to come over to him with his hand out and hoping to coax them closer. He was still trying when Hartley finally brought his drink over, and it took him a moment to realize the other was standing there. With a startled, almost bashful look he pushed back up onto his feet and took the drink from him.

"You don't have to go all out for me," he said, noticing it even had a garnish. "It's like I said," he barely even paused, addressing what Hartley had said before when he'd been distracted, as if no time had lapsed at all. "We talk about what you want to talk about. However--" He seized Hartley by the arm, dragging him to sit on the couch. "--that's avoiding my question without answering it. In what way are you your own problem?"

[timetopaythepiper]

The rats were inching closer to Harrison's hand when Hartley came back in with his drink. No one ever came over, but they were very social rats and they loved attention, so they were more curious than afraid about this new person in their home.

"You're the guest," he pointed out. "I don't get to do this sort of thing often, so I'm having fun with it." And it was more that he was showing off his drink making skills than anything else. "Are you my therapist?" he asked, allowing Harrison to pull him over to the couch before taking a sip of his own drink. "Sometimes I'm a mess," he said, shrugging. "I get stuck in my own head, overthink things and then I make bad decisions. It's not a big deal. I just... didn't want to deal with that tonight. I needed a distraction." From himself.

"So I decided if I'm going to make bad decisions anyway, I might as well get drunk first. I was going to go out, but you coming over was much more convenient. At least with you here, I'm less likely to make anymore ill-advised drunk texts."

[herstar]

As Harrison settled on the couch, he set his drink down so he could focus more on Hartley. But being as he was it may as well have been gone for as much as he'd remember it was there. Because now he was incredibly concerned. How much had he missed that Hartley was feeling this way? He was by no means a therapist, he was frequently not all that good with people in general. But when it came to those he was close to, he could be, and time was that he and Hartley were as close as could be. The loss of that still stung sometimes, but at least they were getting another chance.

He settled facing Hartley, one leg folded on the cushions, arm stretching across the back of the couch. "Of course it's a big deal, if it's upsetting you this much. I think maybe...it's easy to get wrapped up in your head. It's hard when the people you're supposed to talk to might not understand a lot of it." His gaze drifted away from Hartley for a moment, his lips pressing into a tight line. Those months after losing Tess had not been easy. But he dragged himself away from it, snapping back to Hartley. "So, I suppose I'm here to be your distraction. I'm not sure how to do that, but here I am."

[timetopaythepiper]

Hartley sighed and decided to take another, longer sip of his drink so he could avoid looking at Harrison. "It's really not a big deal. I don't feel like this very often these days. I just had... a very long, very complicated day, so I wanted to turn off my mind for a little while," he said, finally setting his drink down on the coffee table and shifting to face Harrison. It hasn't escaped his notice that Harrison's drink has barely been touched and he intended to fix that.

"I think you getting drunk with me would be a satisfying distraction," he said, smirking. "We were friends for years and I still don't know if you can hold your liquor. Or what you're like when you're not..." he waved his hand in Harrison's direction. "like that. Come on, make bad decisions with me. It'll be fun."

[herstar]

Giving a sort of wordless apology in the form of lifted eyebrows and a bashful huff of a laugh, he reached to take his drink back. "I can actually tell you the answers to all of those," he said as he took a moment to inspect his drink. "As to tolerance, I have very little, so you won't have to wait long." Genetics, physique, lack of heavy drinking even in his youth were all a cocktail for incredibly low tolerance.

He took a tentative sip of the drink, looking rather surprised for a moment. It was all at once stronger than he expected and yet far more tolerable than he'd anticipated. All of the burn of alcohol without the awful taste of it. He took another sip before continuing. "As to what sort of drunk I am, I am just more..." he sort of mimicked Hartley's gesture at himself. "So, I doubt I'll be making the sort of bad decisions you're hoping for."

He actually managed to hold his tongue on what he was actually thinking. He doubted Hartley wanted to hear about how alcohol lowered inhibitions so to allowed people who were keeping parts of themselves hidden to bring those things out. Without the barriers people built for themselves, it was easier to express the more forbidden aspects of their personalities. Saying so might give implications that he didn't mean, as he very much thought Hartley should let those things out more often, but his former protege would likely disagree.

[timetopaythepiper]

"Good to know I might not have to break out the shot glasses after all," he said with a quiet laugh. Because he would have if it had come to that. In fact, he still hasn't ruled out the possibility of doing that at some point just for the hell of it. But for now he was just relieved that Harrison finally appeared to be getting with the program.

Hartley watched curiously as Harrison took a sip of his drink. Hartley made it strong, but not nearly as strong as as his own (he may have overdone it with his own drink), so he was feeling optimistic that Harrison might like it. The fact that he hasn't spit it out or choked on it yet seemed like a pretty good sign. "So no bar fights, texting exes in the middle of the night or running naked through the streets, then?" he asked. "That's a shame. I was hoping I wouldn't be the only one embarrassing myself tonight."

Hartley's own inhibitions were already considerably lower than they usually were, which was why he'd chosen to text Harrison in the first place. There wasn't a chance in hell he would have thought getting trashed with his boss/former mentor was a good idea if he'd been sober. As complicated as the past couple years and their relationship has been, and despite the distance he's put between them, there was still a part of him that wanted Harrison to think well of him.