[ Cisco makes a mental note of that. Of course, it makes sense, given the circumstances she'd just described, but it's rare he meets someone as new as she is who isn't eagerly looking for a way to go home. Even he had wanted to, when he first arrived. It had taken a little while for him to admit to himself that he wanted to stay. ]

Gotcha. Your friend's probably right. It's for the best.

[ But no sooner are the words out of his mouth than Cisco is wincing, head tilting to the side a little as he adds: ]

Unless you're a bad liar, or one of you forgets for a second, or he overhears the two of you talking, or sees a text you didn't mean him to, or somebody else you tell like me mentions it - I mean I'm not gonna mention it I'm just saying loose lips sink... secret ships... and if he finds out and he realizes you knew and you didn't tell him, hoooo boy that's not gonna be good. I mean that'd be real, real bad. Especially if he's... "fragile".

[ Cisco does air quotes around the word. He'd seen something like this play out between Iris and Barry and Joe, after all. A secret that was supposed to keep her safe, that ended up being months of elaborate lies and deception. ]

I guess. Maybe he'll chill out eventually and then you can suggest it? Like... just say it'll prove it once and for all?