Chapter Text
It was a casual, loaf around kind of day for Cecil and Carlos. Carlos’s team of scientists was taking the day off and more or less demanded that Carlos do the same. After a brief argument and an even briefer show of resistance, Carlos was out of the lab and in his hybrid. After some deliberation, Carlos decided to drop by Cecil’s apartment and surprise his boyfriend. Much to Carlos’s own surprise, Cecil was still in his pajamas and had been in the middle of some household chores. Carlos had offered to come back later, but Cecil insisted that Carlos stay, ushering the scientist inside. Carlos then offered to help clean the apartment, but was shot down by Cecil.
“Really, I insist that you relax,” Cecil said, pushing Carlos down onto the faded rose and orange couch. “You spend days working on science, you need to relax. I’ll be done in a bit and then we can either go out to do something or stay in. I’m going to go change and then get back to work.”
Carlos opened his mouth to argue that, scientifically speaking, having two people cleaning would be more efficient, but then thought better of it and nodded. Cecil grinned and dropped a kiss on Carlos’s cheek before sauntering out of the room with a goofy look thrown over his shoulder. Carlos shook his head and chuckled, leaning back on the plush couch. He could hear Cecil puttering in the other room and Carlos grinned. He started brainstorming things that he and Cecil could do later that day and after a few minutes, Cecil walked back into the room fully dressed and iPod in hand.
“I’ll probably be another half an hour or so,” Cecil said as he placed one earbud in each ear. “Help yourself to anything you want from the kitchen, but you might want to stay out of the freezer. The Faceless Old Woman’s been…. experimenting.”
“Sounds good Cec,” Carlos replied.
Cecil flashed Carlos a wide grin, pressing play on the iPod and dropping it into his pocket. Cecil walked back down the hallway and left Carlos alone in the living room. Carlos sighed, pulling his feet up onto the couch. He had time to kill and had no idea what to do with it. Carlos pulled out his phone and sent off a few emails and text messages. He checked the time; he wasn’t entirely sure, but by Carlos’s estimation only eight minutes had passed. Carlos stretched before putting his phone into the pocket of his lab coat and pulling out his own iPod. Carlos untangled the earbuds and put them in his ears before scrolling through the music on the device.
“I don’t remember there being this much Fall Out Boy on here,” Carlos mused, selecting the band, then their newest album. “Must’ve been one of the grad students or one of the post docs.”
With a shrug, Carlos pressed play on a track he was sure he had heard before.
“LA-doe-DA-doe. Low-doe-DA-doedoe, low-do-DA-doe-do-doedoe! When Rome’s in ruins, we are the lions free of the coliseums,” the singer belted, accompanied by claps, drums and an acoustic guitar. “In poisoned places, we are anti-venom. We’re the beginning of the end.”
As the pre chorus began, Carlos tapped his feet to the rhythm of the drums, then leapt to his feet and began dancing around with the chorus. He flailed a bit as he caught Cecil’s eye as his boyfriend came—walking? No, dancing—into the room.
Carlos grinned at Cecil and danced over to him, mouthing, “Well come on make it easy, say I never mattered. Run it up the flagpole. We will teach you how to make ‘Boys next door’ out of assholes.”
Cecil smiled in return, mouthing, “Memories that I black out, if you were mine. You’ve got a pocket full of reasons why you’re here tonight, so baby tonight just be the death of me.”
Carlos swayed back and forth, rocking his shoulders and Cecil mimicked him as they both launched into lip syncing their respective choruses.
“We are wild! We are like young volcanoes!”
“Oh show me your love, your love! Gimme more, but it’s not enough!”
“We are wild! Americana exotica. Do you wanna feel a little beautiful baby? Yeah!”
“Show me your love, your love! Before the world catches up. Cause there’s always time for second guesses, I don’t wanna know. If you’re gonna be the death of me, that’s how I wanna go.”
The two stepped apart, moving to their own songs. Cecil’s rhythm was more fluid than Carlos’s, his limbs flowing gracefully as he swayed to the music. Carlos’s own rhythm was much choppier as he bounced in time with the claps and drums. Cecil’s hand shot out and grasped Carlos’s, pulling the scientist into the radio host. Cecil gave Carlos a quick spin under his arm before pulling back from the scientist. Carlos responded in turn by grabbing Cecil and dipping the taller man back. Carlos gave Cecil a lopsided grin which was returned with a boisterous laugh. The music in Carlos’s ears ended with drums and claps and Carlos pressed the pause button on his iPod. He pulled Cecil upright and Cecil pressed pause on his own iPod. The pair removed their earbuds and grinned at each other.
“Panic! at the Disco,” Cecil explained, slightly out of breath. “You?”
“Oh, Fall Out Boy,” Carlos responded with a shrug. “Young Volcanoes.”
“Collar Full,” Cecil said. “I think I’m done with cleaning for now. Anything in particular you want to do?”
Carlos smiled, “Join me for another dance?”
Cecil laughed, “I’d be delighted to.”