Work Text:
Carlos walked into the noisy mansion and was instantly handed a cup of questionable liquid. He sniffed it and crinkled his nose.
It smelled bittersweet and was steaming, yet cold. Carlos set it down on a table and searched for his lab partners, who said they were going to be there and that he should come.
They may or may not have also mentioned that a certain school announcements host would be there too. Carlos came to have a good time and for science, not him.
Totally.
Carlos made his way upstairs and saw other students from school standing around talking and howling up at the ceiling. He saw Marcus and Earl having a conversation – well, it was mostly Marcus talking and Earl staring at the wall opposite of Marcus, but still a conversation.
Carlos scanned the room and saw his lab associates sitting in a circle. They weren’t doing an incantation or setting up a bloodstone circle, which was odd because why else would they be sitting in such a perfect shape?
Carlos came up behind his best friend out of the group, Phil, and nudged his knee with the toe of his converse shoe.
“What are you guys doing? Does it have anything to do with science?” Carlos asked. “We’re playing 7 Minutes in the Imperfect Heavens,” Phil answered.
“What’s that?” Carlos peered over his friend to see a glass eye rolling around and stopping to look up at Cindy, a fellow lab partner. A few of the lab coat-wearing participants let out an “ooo” as Cindy blushed.
A not lean, but not skinny, boy stood and helped her up. They then made their way to a closet, opened it, squeezed in, and shut the door behind them. Soft giggles were made by some participants of the circle.
“What you do,” Phil said, looking up at the perfect teen towering over him “is you roll the eye around the circle, and when it stops and looks at someone you have to go to the closet and do whatever you want for seven minutes. Although time doesn’t really exist…I don’t think we thought this game through.”
It took a minute, but it finally clicked what the “whatever you want” bit meant.
“Want to play?” Phil asked, scooting over to make room for Carlos to sit. Carlos blushed a little and said, “Thank you, but I wouldn’t know what to do for 7 nonexistent minutes with any of you.”
Phil shrugged, but didn’t move back. “Oh well,” Phil said. “We just needed 2 more players for the next few minutes while they’re in there.” Just then, a familiar voice sounded through.
“Oh, I want to play! Can I play?” Carlos looked up to see Cecil making his way towards the (now broken) circle. Cecil plopped down with a smile on his face and looked around before locking eyes with Carlos and quickly looking away, feeling his face get hot.
Carlos stared, mouth slightly gapped open and cheeks turning pink. “Carlos?” Phil said.
Carlos looked down and stuttered, “Y-yeah?”
“Are you playing?”
“Uh yeah, I’ll play.”
Carlos sat directly in front of Cecil, both glancing up at the same time and locking eyes before shyly looking away once more.
Of the duration of the game, Carlos stared at the eye ball, praying to Saint Maria that it wouldn’t land on him unless it was Cecil’s turn. Eventually, the eye was placed in front of Carlos.
“Your turn.”
Carlos gently rolled the eye and held his breath. It spun around a few times before stopping and staring right up at Cecil. There were a few hushed whispers and giggles as Carlos and Cecil looked at one another. Carlos could feel his face heat up as Cecil numbly stood and waited for Carlos to do the same.
“It’s just seven minutes,” Carlos thought. “We’ll probably just talk about science, or at least something I know about.”
Carlos’s heart raced as they made their way to the closet, Cecil leading the way. “After you,” Cecil smiled, gesturing towards the open doorway. Once they were both in, Cecil shut the door behind them and sat down. Carlos followed.
They sat next to each other, arms gently pressed together in the small space with their backs to the wall. “So,” Carlos began. “What do you want to do?” Cecil looked down and said “I don’t know” as a small blush crept over his cheeks.
“Do you want to talk about science?” Carlos offered. Cecil seemed to falter, but brightened up a bit. “Oh yes, please. I’m very into science these days.”
“Really?”
“Oh yes.”
“What’s your favorite thing about science?”
Cecil opened his mouth to answer, but quickly shut it, eyes widening in thought of his response. Carlos tilted his head and furrowed his brows together. Perhaps science wasn’t his best subject…
“You know, I’m new in town,” Carlos said after a few beats of silence. “Yes, I know,” Cecil responded hesitantly. “And I must say, this has got to be the most scientifically interesting town on earth,” Carlos said, smiling. Cecil instantly straightened back up and smiled wide at the mention of Night Vale.
“Is it now?” Cecil asked, grinning. Carlos nodded. “Indeed. Time doesn’t exist and mountains aren’t real here. Despite being in the middle of a desert, you are able to have a modern civilization with infrastructure and electricity with only one other neighboring town. Your earthquakes are also massive in size yet no one can feel them.”
Carlos began to drift as he became aware of his surroundings once more. He was in a closed in space with his crush, of all people, and they were very, very close together. Carlos looked over at Cecil, whose eyes shined bright at the talk of his home town coming from the perfect lips of the most perfect boy in the whole school.
“I’m Carlos, by the way,” he managed to say. “I know,” Cecil said, blush dusting itself across his cheeks once more. “Y-You do?” Carlos stuttered. Cecil smiled. “Of course; you’re Carlos, the teen scientist and most perfect boy in the whole school.” Carlos felt his face heat up.
“I’m not perfect, Cecil,” Carlos said shaking his head, not accepting the compliment. Cecil’s eyes went wide. “You know my name?” Carlos looked down at his lap and played with carpet with his shoe. “Of course I do. You do the school announcements every day. You’re honestly the only person who’s helped me understand this town. I also like hearing your voice-” Carlos stopped as he began to feel Cecil getting closer.
A thick lump formed in Carlos’ throat. He swallowed it down and looked up, mere inches away from Cecil’s face. He could feel Cecil’s breath ghost over his lips. His eyes flicked between Cecil’s eyes and mouth.
“You’re perfect to me,” Cecil breathed.
They leaned forward, noses bumping as lips crashed together. Cecil’s toes curled at the feel of Carlos’ soft lips on his. Carlos’ stomach lurched as his heart raced.
Carlos hummed a low note as they moved into a more comfortable position standing. Carlos’ hand flew to the other boy’s waist as Cecil wrapped his arms around Carlos’ neck.
Cecil’s tongue slid along the top of Carlos’ lip, which earned him a small nip on his bottom lip. The small gasp allowed Carlos to invade Cecil’s mouth and explore with his tongue.
Cecil moaned and melted into it – the moment, Carlos’s touch, all of it.
He couldn’t believe it. He was here with Carlos, the most perfect thing in the universe, alone in a closet sharing intimacy and heat. It all felt too good to be real.
Carlos pressed them closer, hips clashing and chests bumping into one another. He began to kiss hungrier and rougher; like he was chasing after Cecil.
Just then, the door flew open and they quickly broke apart. “Time’s up!” Phil called. It seemed that the circle had broken and everyone was standing, waiting on them.
Their eyes were dilated and clothes askew. Their hair was messy and tangled from the other boy pulling it. Carlos became aware of their appearances and flushed dark red. Cecil took Carlos’ hand and led him out of the closet.
They awkwardly stood there, palms sweaty. Eventually, Carlos let go and wiped his hand on his lab coat. Cecil’s heart dropped, but picked back up again when he felt Carlos brush his fingers with his own and intertwine them once more.
Carlos led Cecil to the couch and pulled Cecil down to sit with him. Cecil seemed a bit dazed as all of this happened, but instantly focused when he heard a familiar voice come from behind. “I see you two decided to come out of the closet,” Dana said, a smile creeping up her face.
Cecil whipped his head around and smiled. “Dana!” Carlos slowly turned and smiled up at the girl leaning on the back of the couch. “This is Carlos. Carlos, this is Dana. We work together in the office during announcements.”
Dana rolled her eyes. “I know who Carlos is. You never shut up about him,” she smirked. Cecil flushed red and looked down at his and Carlos’ hands, muttering something about Carlos not supposing to know that under his breath. Carlos let out a small laugh and kissed Cecil on the cheek, making him look back up and smile once more.
“It’s nice to meet you, Dana,” Carlos nodded. “And you, Carlos. Although, in another life and dimension, we probably already have met or will meet at a later time. But it was still nice to meet you in this one at this time. See you around!” she said, walking off.
Carlos turned back around to see his lab partners staring. He wrapped his arm around Cecil, feeling very protective all of a sudden. He was so lost in his staring back; he was surprised to feel Cecil kiss his temple. He looked down at him and smiled, relaxing into the sink of the couch cushions.
“Carlos?”
“Hm?”
“You like me, right? This isn’t some bet you made with your lab partners or anything, is it?”
Carlos was shocked by Cecil’s accusation and pulled back to look properly at Cecil’s face. Cecil was biting his lower lip and his eyebrows were knitted together in worry; he was speaking from experience. Carlos kissed the temple of Cecil’s forehead and the corner of his mouth and kissed the worry away, not caring who saw.
“No, of course not Cecil. I like you; I’ve always liked you. My lab partners have even teased me over my crush over you and I thought I would never hear the end of it. They told me to come to the party because you were coming, but I told them I was coming for scientific purposes.”
Cecil quirked an eyebrow, “Were you really?” Carlos nodded his head. “I came to prove my hypothesis: If I were to ask you out you would laugh and say no, based on that you probably don’t even know me and I’m just a science nerd in your eyes. I came to conduct the experiment.”
Cecil smirked and asked, “And?” “And what?” Carlos asked, confused. Cecil crossed his arms and pointed his chin towards Carlos. “You haven’t asked me out yet.”
“Oh.” Carlos began to feel his throat close up and couldn’t find the words – or the air – to ask him. The chance of rejection was lowered based on the closet incident, but was still an option. But rejection wasn’t what was stopping him – it was if he said yes. Carlos could only be so interesting for so long and was sure that Cecil would say “never mind” after their first date.
“C-Cecil,” he stuttered. “Yes?” Cecil purred. Carlos’ mouth moved but no words came out as he stared into Cecil’s beautiful eyes.
A small smile made its way onto Cecil’s face and Carlos could feel himself blush again. “Cecil,” Carlos said, clearing his throat and sitting up straight, faking confidence. “Would you like to go on a date with me?” The words clumsily tumbled out of his mouth like it was some sort of tongue twister.
“No.”
Carlos’ heart felt like it dropped to his stomach. “W-What?”
“I would not like to go on a date with you,” Cecil said, arms crossed and nose in the air. “But…” Carlos began, but was cut off by Cecil’s lips meeting his.
“I wouldn’t like to- I would love to. I would love love love to go on a date with you, Carlos Iglesias,” Cecil smiled into Carlos’ mouth. Carlos was taken aback, surprised, but smiled and kissed back when he processed what Cecil had said. They broke apart and stared into each other’s eyes, sharing soft smiles and chaste kisses.
They stayed like that for what felt like 3 seconds, but in actuality was an hour. They didn’t break apart until Marcus tapped them on the shoulders. “Alright lovebirds, time to go.” They looked up at Marcus, thanked him for having them over, and left.
After walking Cecil home, Carlos turned on his heel and awkwardly stuffed his hands into his lab coat pockets. “So see you in school?” Carlos asked shyly, scuffing the ground with the toe of his converse. When Cecil didn’t say anything, he looked up.
Cecil was smiling warmly at him, admiring his figure under the street light. He moved closer and brushed Carlos’ lips with his own. “See you in school,” he repeated.
By the time Carlos fluttered his eyes back open, Cecil was closing the door behind him. Carlos ran his hand through his perfect hair and laughed light-heartedly, baffled by the fact that he was now dating Cecil Palmer. The Cecil Palmer.
One of the cutest, most admirable boys in Night Vale. The quirky individual who was scared like everyone else, but never not explored because of it. The boy who’s helped him figure out how some of this crazy town worked. The boy whose voice was beautiful, smooth, and gentle - yet excited, static, and full of wonder and secrets to tell. The only person who’s made any sort of sense to Carlos.
Carlos couldn’t help but smile as he entered his room and plopped onto his bed. As he drifted to sleep, he hummed a happy note in thought of Cecil.