Hartley Rathaway

Hartley Rathaway is one of the main characters of the GCAU and a member of the groupchat. He's attending Central City College, studying Physics and Biology, and working as a research assistant at Mercury Labs as of Early 2018.

Early Life
Hartley was born as the only child of Rachel and Osgood Rathaway, the leaders of the wealthy business Rathaway Industries. As they were busy throughout the majority of his childhood, Hartley grew up quite isolated. He was born Hard of Hearing, with his hearing ability seemingly decreasing as he gets older, and his parents debated getting him a cochlear implant but ultimately decided against it.

Sometime during his childhood Hartley met Nate Heywood, as their parents were friends due to being millionaires, but did not become friends.

Demonstrating that he was extraordinarily bright, Hartley entered Middle School early and skipped a class at some point, placing him in the same grade as Cisco Ramon. The two of them were in the same Chemistry class in High School, taught by Martin Stein, and pit against each other since they were the only ones on the same level. This led to a hatred between the two of them, though they did find each other attractive without realizing.

At some point the School hosted an event that required a band to get together; Hartley, while being the only flute player available, chose to play the piano. This brought him into close proximity to Dante Ramon, whom he used bad pick-up lines on.

Hartley graduated High School in 2016 at the age of 17 and started attending Central City College the following year. Here he was, once again, placed in the same class as Cisco Ramon, taught by Harry Wells, and met Ronnie Raymond, whom he became friends with.

i just wanna have fun (and get rowdy)
Hartley became a member of The Groupchat, presenting himself as confidently gay despite not being out to his parents. Despite that, Hartley seems to have had quite a number of hook-ups. In October 2017 a cleaning lady discovered a dildo in Hartley's room, leading to his parents figuring out that he is gay. As a result, they threw him out of the house and disowned him promptly. Hartley then first stayed at Cisco's for a few nights before getting to stay at the Quiver permanently.

Living at the Quiver, Hartley started to become more outgoing and became closer to its inhabitants and the members of the Groupchat. He seems to have taken a particular liking to Laurel Lance and John Diggle, as he jokes that they are his adoptive parents. His story contributed to Oliver's founding of the Queen Consolidated LGBT Foundation, and he was invited by Oliver to make a speech about his parents at the press conference.

Since Cisco helped him despite their personal differences, the two found a mutual respect for each other despite still bickering. At some point after Cisco broke up with Ronnie, he and Hartley made out while drunk and realized their attraction for one another. Hartley, who has never had a romantic relationship, freaked out when the Groupchat discovered their hooking-up and learned that Cisco's feelings run deeper, but sought him out later on. When Cisco shunned him out, Hartley waited in front of his apartment and encountered Axel Walker there, a former hook-up of his. Axel uttered transphobic slurs while talking about Cisco, for which Hartley attacked him - and lost. Still, that action led to Cisco fixing him up and opening the floor for an honest conversation in which Hartley admitted that he's been attracted to Cisco, saying that he'd been the first boy Hartley has had a boner for. The two have been dating ever since.

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After his disinheritance reached the public eye, Harry Wells offered Hartley his help in getting a job at Mercury Labs. While Hartley is not reaching his full potential as a research assistant, he does value the position and views it as a good starting point.

When Wally West and Jax Jackson planned to invent a new kind of petrol for racing cars, Jesse Wells refused to help in the hopes of keeping them from developing anything illegal. As they carried on on their own, though, Bar suggested that they could ask Hartley for help, despite him not being a chemist. The three bonded over their project, resulting in Hartley and Wally becoming close friends.

worked too damn hard for this
Having lived in the Quiver for almost a year, Hartley has decided to move into a new apartment together with Eddie Thawne. The two of them have kept their decision a secret for a while, but as the apartment hunt carried on, they have informed their friends about it.

head in the clouds (got no weight on my shoulders)
During the summer of 2018, Hartley visited Puerto Rico together with Cisco and met his Abuelo and cousins there.

Trivia

 * Hartley is Hard of Hearing. As he seems unable to process any noises without his Hearing Aids, his hearing seems to be almost non-existent.
 * He is a Bottom.
 * Hartley is a polyglot: Next to his native language, English, he has taken Latin and Spanish in Middle School and added French and Japanese (the latter suggested by his parents as they have business connections to Japan) during High School. At some point, Hartley has learnt American Sign Language, though it is not known whether he learnt it in secret since his parents did not seem supportive of the Deaf Community. In 2018 Hartley has started to learn German as well.
 * Hartley is musically interested. Not only does he play the flute and the piano, he is also a fan of musicals. His favourite is the Deaf West's production of Spring Awakening, as it features Deaf characters, but he also has voiced his liking of Dear Evan Hansen.
 * He does not like the Broadway star Alex Boniello, as it seems, though.
 * While he dressed somewhat preppy when he still lived at home, Hartley's clothing style has become more and more emo as he lived at the Quiver.
 * Hartley seems to forget appointments easily.
 * He likes rats. Hartley's adopted a stray rat he found at Axel's apartment and when the others have made him leave it alone, he has requested that Oliver give him a new, tame one.
 * Hartley does not seem comfortable with being the youngest, which could be the reason as to why he's kept his birthday a secret initially. Thanks to his age difference to many of the other members of the Groupchat, he has grown closer to Wally and his partners.
 * He's got quite a gallows humour, expressed by his labelling himself as a "homeless deaf gay man" frequently.
 * Both Hartley and Cisco have voiced their attraction to Harry Wells.
 * Hartley is a big fan of the TV shows Glee and the band Panic! At The Disco.