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It's Christmas Eve.
In the living room of his house… of their house… Cecil sits back and surveys the pile of presents he's just finished wrapping. Everything around him is carefully decorated: tinsel on the mantelpiece, sparkling tree in the window, cards hanging in strings against two of the walls, and even a little novelty snowman on top of the Secret Police Monitoring Box.
He's expecting company, after all – not until tomorrow, yes, but it's important to be prepared in advance. His family are coming to spend Christmas Day with him: his sister, his niece, and… OK. Even his brother-in-law. Even… Steve Carlsberg.
Cecil is not looking forward to that part so much. But it's Christmas, and that means he should be nice… or, so his sister says, at least.
He usually goes to their place for Christmas Day. Last year, he even took Carlos with him, and that was…
…that was…
Carlos is not here. Carlos is still not here. Carlos is lost in the Otherworld Desert and Cecil has to spend Christmas without him. And no matter how hard he tries to look on the bright side; how hard he tries to focus on all the good and the festivity and the sparkles… it doesn't change the part where his boyfriend is trapped on another plane of existence.
He's due to call later on, and that will be lovely. But it won't be the same. And the separation… it hurts more than ever tonight. As if the void in Cecil's life where his boyfriend should be is somehow draining all the light and wonder out of everything. As if all the festivity is strangely, but inescapably… less festive.
Cecil sighs softly and paces through into the kitchen, contemplating a final cup of coffee before it gets too late and deciding that there's always time for a final cup of coffee. But, before he can get started on making it, there's a knock at the door.
Odd. He isn't expecting anyone tonight, and it can't be carol-singers because carolling was outlawed in Night Vale three years ago, following the infamous Wassail Incident. So who it could be, Cecil doesn't know.
He heads through to the hallway and opens the front door, thinking little of it, expecting to find someone innocuous on the other side. Maybe a deliverybeing out on a final round, or one of his neighbours wishing people a Merry Christmas without carols. Maybe even one of the Decoration Inspectors, going from house to house making certain that everywhere looks suitably festive. But when he sees who is actually there, Cecil very nearly slams the door shut in shock.
Standing on the threshold is a man: a man who looks just like him, save – of course – for the obsidian-black eyes and the sartorial insistence that orange is a colour people with their shared skin tone can pull off.
Which it isn't.
"Kevin?!" Cecil exclaims, feeling his heart start to race with alarm. It's been over six months since he last saw the man; since the day of the Mayoral Election and the Unravelling of All Things. The day Strexcorp was defeated. The day Steve Carlsberg did the one good deed he's ever done, and threw Kevin through that old oak door.
The day Carlos was trapped in the Otherworld Desert.
"Cecil!" his double exclaims. "I'm so glad I found you. I knew I had the right house."
"Isn't it a bit late for trick-or-treating?" Cecil manages, somehow locating a touch of snark under the very genuine worry.
Kevin doesn't look fazed. "Oh, you," he purrs, putting a hand on his double's arm, which makes Cecil take a marked step back. "You're funny. Can I come in?"
"Absolutely not! Why would I let you in? And, come to think of it, how did you..?"
And then he trails off, the rest of the question left unspoken but obvious nonetheless.
How did you get out of the Otherworld Desert?
Kevin smiles. "Exactly," he says. "Now can I come in?"
"…Fine. Fine. It's probably wise before anyone sees you."
And, hoping he isn't going to regret this, he steps aside and waves his double through the door, before shutting it rapidly behind them both.
"Oooh, I like your place!" Kevin exclaims, brightly. He paces further in, looking around. "Very homey. And, oh my, how festive!" he goes on, peering through the living room door. "I knew it would be. You're such a classy guy."
"What do you want, Kevin?" Cecil demands, trying to keep a lid on his emotions.
His double turns to meet his eyes, clapping a hand to his own chest and beaming even more broadly. "To see you, of course!"
There is no way Cecil is going to let himself be convinced by this. "To see me? Kevin, you and I have met a grand total of five times. The first, you tried to kill me. The second, you tried to freak me the heck out. The third, you had me arrested; the fourth, I had to run you out of my radio studio, and the fifth…"
"…Your friend threw me through that door," Kevin completes, calmly.
"He isn't my friend," Cecil replies, bristling at once. "He's my brother-in-law."
"Really?" Kevin remarks, now looking gently amused. "I can see the family resemblance."
"There is no family resemblance. We share absolutely nothing beyond an affection for my sister, a desire to protect my niece and, it seems, a fundamental dislike of you."
"Oh, Cecil, you don't dislike me. You just don't really know me yet."
"What is there to know? You're my double, you're from Desert Bluffs, and you're some kind of deranged maniac!"
Kevin doesn't even blink at this. "And? You say those things like they're bad."
Cecil rubs a hand over his eyes. "Enough of this. How did you get out of the Otherworld Desert?"
"Easy. I found a door. An old oak door. It took me a while to locate one, but eventually… I did."
"And then?"
"Then? Then I went through it, silly."
Much as Cecil doesn't want to talk to the man, he can't pass up an opportunity like this. "Is it still there? Is… could we use it to get someone else out?"
Kevin gives him an alarmingly understanding look. "You mean your boyfriend?"
Cecil does not want to discuss this with Kevin. Does not. "…Yes," he concedes, partly because it's obvious, and partly because he has to know. "Carlos. He's been trapped over there even longer than you. Since…"
"…the day of the parade, I know," Kevin replies. And then, seeing Cecil's expression, he adds, "my superiors may not have listened to your show enough, but I did. Carlos went into that weird house over in the Desert Creek development, which indirectly prevented our people from apprehending him, and from there he subsequently got into the Otherworld Desert. But he can't leave. Not through those doors. Not like I can. He… isn't from around here, after all. But I am. So… I did."
"And you couldn't have tried to bring him with you?" Cecil exclaims, feeling suddenly hurt. Even though he knows full-well that he and Kevin don't owe each other a thing.
"Cecil, if I could have found him, I would," Kevin answers, with a strange sincerity to his tone. "But I couldn't. So… I came back. And I figured if I couldn't mend things between us by bringing your boyfriend home, I'd go for the second best option."
"Which is?"
"I've come to cheer you up! For Christmas!"
Cecil folds his arms. "I am more than cheery enough, thank you very much."
"Oh, Cecil, you can't fool me," Kevin tells him, clapping a hand on Cecil's shoulder. "I'm your double, remember?"
"How could I possibly forget?"
"Exactly!"
"Don't you have people of your own to bother?"
Kevin looks suddenly wistful. "Sure I do! I can't wait to see them, actually. I haven't been home yet. That door I came through led out into Night Vale, after all. But I knew that had to be prophetic. I knew it was telling me to come find you! That doesn't mean I'm not looking forward to going home, though. I mean, I have been trapped in an otherworldly desert for six months."
Cecil is about to snap something back in response, but then he stops himself because… at the end of the day, the other man has a very valid point. He has been trapped over there for a long time, and Cecil has more than enough in-depth personal experience to know how difficult that is for all concerned. He sighs, softly, shaking his head a little at what he now knows he's about to say.
"…Drink?"
Kevin's expression lights up. "Oooh, yes please," he replies. "I knew you'd like me eventually."
"…This is not me liking you. This is me being polite. Because it's Christmas." A beat. "What's your tipple of choice?"
"Armagnac."
"…Of course it is."
Cecil vaguely waves Kevin into the living room, and goes to pour them both a drink before coming back and handing one of the glasses to his double.
"To Christmas!" Kevin says.
"To Christmas," Cecil concedes.
"So," Kevin goes on, "tell me all about the festive season in Night Vale."
Cecil shrugs. "…Like what? We have pretty much what you'd expect: municipal decorations, the annual decriminalisation of depictions of deer, you know, the usual. City Hall is covered in these strange, purple lights that make it disappear when they turn on… actually we had an incident with them last year and I briefly got to see what may possibly have been another dimension."
"Another dimension?"
"Yes. With purple snow."
"Wow! How exciting!"
Only, this can't help but remind Cecil about last Christmas. About how happy he'd been to be spending it with Carlos. About all the excitement with the lights, and the incident with the CIA bear, and… and Christmas morning, when his brilliant scientist boyfriend actually made it snow for real.
"What is it?" Kevin asks, evidently having picked up on Cecil's expression.
"My Carlos is trapped in the Otherworld Desert," Cecil reminds him. "I wanted nothing more than to spend Christmas with him. And instead… I get you."
Kevin gives him an understanding pat on the arm. "I know. And I realise it's not the same. But I've made it my mission to cheer you up, and I can be remarkably focused when I want to be."
"That isn't reassuring, you know."
"Awww, Cecil, why not?"
"…Kevin, you do remember the part where your employers tried to take over my entire town, held most of the populace captive for weeks, and then very nearly ended the world by trying to let loose whatever that thing you all worship is?"
"Sure I do! But that was months ago. Can't we just let bygones be bygones? It is Christmas, after all."
Cecil gives him a sideways look. "This would be easier if you weren't being so reasonable."
Kevin beams. "I know, right?"
The man really is much sharper than he lets on.
Cecil sighs. 'How long are you planning to inflict yourself on me?' he tries to say, but what comes out is, instead, "We had a Christmas monolith last week."
Kevin looks at him in interest. "A Christmas monolith?" he repeats.
"Yes. It just appeared outside City Hall. We haven't had one like that for a long time. It was impressive, too: levitation, ominous humming, the works."
"How lucky!" Kevin replies. "Spontaneous monolith appearance was banned in Desert Bluffs years ago, so we haven't had one for ages. But… and don't tell anyone I said this… I sort of miss them."
"Isn't that a bit subversive for you?" Cecil asks, suspiciously.
Kevin gives him another pat on the arm, with a wicked little grin. "We're radio hosts, Cecil. We're supposed to be subversive every once in a while."
It's probably best not to argue with this.
"I'm so looking forward to seeing Desert Bluffs again," Kevin goes on, a wistful edge to his tone. "It's far too long since I've been there."
"Once was enough for me," Cecil murmurs.
"Oh, Cecil, you don't mean that," Kevin says. "I'm sure you'd come to love it if you gave it a chance. Especially at this time of year… oh the decorations are always just to die for."
Cecil looks sideways at him. "You better not mean that literally."
"Not always literally."
Don't ask questions. Don't ask questions. Don't–
"…So what's it like? I mean, you've seen Night Vale. How does Desert Bluffs do Christmas?"
It's like watching a trainwreck in slow motion. From inside his own head.
"Extravagantly, that's for sure!" Kevin enthuses. "The whole city is always bedecked in these beautiful, deep red lights and it all just… glitters. You know."
Red light and blood. Yes. Put a stop to it now, Cecil.
"…What about the trees?"
Trainwreck.
"Oh, they're what's to die for!" Kevin goes on, bouncing lightly on his heels. "Those are our special decorations. It's a great way to deter… inefficiency."
"I'll bet," Cecil manages, dryly.
"It's a long-running policy. You can't have Performance Recognition without Performance Consequences."
"I… see," Cecil replies, trying not to think about it. "So will there be a Christmas party? Or do you only throw those in occupied cities?"
"I'm sure there will have been one," Kevin answers. "I can't believe I've missed this year's. I always look forward to it. Last year we had this thing where… oh. Hmmm. That's odd…"
"What is?" Cecil can't stop himself asking.
"Well, I know something happened, but… Cecil, I can't for the life of me remember what it was." Kevin gives an offhand sigh. "It must have been declared unknowable again. Such a shame when that has to happen. I'm sure whatever it was will have been fine really…"
"Kevin, if your lot have declared it unknowable, I'm confident neither of us wants to find out what it was."
"I guess you're right." A beat. "I bet it was still fun, though…"
"I don't think I want to know what your definition of 'fun' is."
Kevin grins. "It's clearly stated in the Strexcorp handbook. So everyone knows how to get it right."
"I definitely don't want to know what Strexcorp's definition of 'fun' is," Cecil starts out, and then stops, staring at his double in sudden surprise. "Wait a moment. You don't know, do you?"
Kevin meets his eyes. "Know what?" he asks, pleasantly.
"About Strexcorp. Of course you don't… you haven't been home yet."
This gets his double's attention. "What do you mean?" he presses, a strange touch of urgency in his voice: the only emotion other than cheery brightness and lingering menace he's exhibited thus far tonight.
Cecil is not at all sure how Kevin is going to react to this, but he can't avoid saying it now. "Strexcorp," he starts out, head full of the inescapable memories of early summer. "The day of the election; the day you… the day Steve threw you through that door. Strexcorp was defeated, and the angels – who do not exist – bought it out. So the company you knew… it's gone, Kevin."
There's a long, heavy silence. "You mean… both cities were liberated?" Kevin asks. "Night Vale and… and Desert Bluffs too?"
Cecil nods. "Yes. All the former employees went home. We don't hear from them so much anymore."
Kevin stares at him some more. "Desert Bluffs is free?" he whispers.
"Yes. Yes, it is."
The other man's stunned expression suddenly breaks into a radiant smile – and one far more genuine than those he usually favours – and, without warning, he puts his glass down and throws both arms around Cecil, hugging him tight.
"You're hugging me," Cecil manages.
"I know."
"Could you maybe stop?"
It's another moment before Kevin does, though. At that point, he picks up his glass and downs the rest of its contents.
"Wow. OK. Wow. I… Cecil, this may be the best Christmas present I've ever been given."
Now Cecil is staring. "You're happy about it?"
"…More than I can put into words. Seriously. I… wow."
Glass down. More hugging. Cecil starts to wonder if it would be safer to just make a run for it as soon as Kevin lets go of him, even if certain things are beginning to make rather more sense.
"So… you think maybe your lot will do something about all the blood now?" he decides to try asking.
Apparently the trainwreck thing isn't done yet.
The weird emotional moment over, Kevin takes a step back and breaks into another of his more normal grins. "Why would we do that?" he asks. "We like it! It's so dramatic."
"Dramatic? It's horrifying!"
"Says the man living in the town with the forbidden dog park."
Cecil finishes his own drink, sets the glass down beside Kevin's, and manages something of a glare. "That is a municipal installation. It is not the same."
"Not the same, but similar," Kevin muses. "Like us."
"We're not similar. We just look alike."
Kevin headtilts. "Uh, about that…"
"…Oh, shush. I am not arguing semantics with you now. Or, you know, ever."
This gets him another of those little pats on the arm. "Oh, Cecil, lighten up. It's Christmas!"
"Christmas it may be, but that doesn't change the part where I've got my maniac double in the living room. Or the part where my boyfriend is lost on another plane of existence."
"Ah, but it does," Kevin insists, and, seriously, how is it the man can just keep going like this? Especially after the shocking news he's received tonight, which Cecil knows he's still trying to process, even if he's also trying not to look as though he is.
"How?" Cecil pushes. If nothing else, keeping Kevin from getting distracted will probably reduce the risk of more hugging.
"Cecil, seriously, you're an intelligent guy, but sometimes you're not all that smart."
"And what is that supposed to mean?" Cecil demands, bracing for another heated exchange.
But, instead, his double just puts a hand on his arm and gives him an alarmingly sincere look. "I told you I got out of the Otherworld Desert but couldn't bring your boyfriend with me. As if I would ever be so callous as to do something like that and then saunter straight over to tell you all about it. Especially on Christmas Eve."
Cecil suddenly feels like his heart has stopped. "…What are you saying?" he manages.
"I'm saying, Cecil, that I brought you a present."
And, with a smile, Kevin headtilts over to the doorway; the doorway that Cecil hasn't been looking at because he's been too distracted by all the conversation.
The doorway that is no longer empty.
"…Merry Christmas, Cecil," Carlos says, with a nervous little grin.
"…Carlos?" Cecil manages, voice cracking. "Are you..? I mean… you're really..?"
His beautiful scientist boyfriend nods. "Yes. I'm here. I'm… home."
The space between them hasn't been so small in months, and yet it feels like a chasm he'll never cross. Every step seems to take an age, every movement a lifetime, as if all the seconds they've been apart have magnified a millionfold.
And then? Then the space between them is gone and they're collapsing into each other's arms, holding on so tightly that it would hurt if it wasn't the most fundamentally wonderful feeling in all of creation. Cecil can hardly breathe. Carlos is in his arms, hugging him too, every heartbeat palpable and real and – with every one – it's as though all the light and colour is exploding back into the world.
Cecil can't speak. He tries several times, but his mind can't parse the words and in the end the only thing he can do is kiss the man in his arms, over and over, feeling like the totality of existence is going to shatter under the sheer joy of the moment.
His Carlos is home. His Carlos is home, and all of reality is glowing.
"…How?" he manages, finally, halting the kisses so as to meet Carlos' eyes. "I mean… I thought… you… for science…"
Carlos looks a little sheepish, and he headtilts over in Kevin's direction. "He made me promise."
Cecil turns at once, staring at his double, who has been watching this exchange with a quiet smile on his face. "Promise what?" he asks, carefully.
Kevin gestures in Carlos' direction. "I ran into your lovely boyfriend at least a couple of months back. I've been keeping an eye on him ever since. He… wasn't overly happy about it at first, but we're on better terms now."
"But…" Cecil looks between his boyfriend and his double. "…Carlos and I have talked on the phone almost every night. How did this never come up?!"
That sheepish flicker is back in Carlos' eyes. "Well, I knew you'd freak out if you realised Kevin was around, so I made him promise to leave me in peace whenever I called… and not to 'borrow the phone to say hi', like he threatened to on the first few occasions."
"So… those times we… he wasn't..?"
Carlos has the good grace to blush. "No. No, I was alone."
Though from the expression on Kevin's face, he clearly knows what they're talking about.
"…Wait a second," Cecil now says, glad to be able to direct the conversation somewhere marginally safer. "You said he made you promise. But that sounds like you made him promise."
Carlos nods. "Yes. It was two promises. One each. More of a deal, really. I made him promise to let me talk to you in peace, and Kevin…"
He trails off, looking over at the third man.
"I made him promise," Kevin continues, "that if I could find us a way out of the desert, he had to come with me. No more of that 'for science' stuff. He had to come home."
Now Cecil can't take his eyes off his double. "Why?"
"So I could bring him back to you. In the hope that you might let bygones be bygones."
"…You brought home my Carlos as a peace offering?"
Kevin shakes his head. "No. I brought home your Carlos as a Christmas present. Though… I'm hoping you might take it as a peace offering too."
Cecil is not entirely sure what to make of this. On the one hand, he wants to be immediately distrustful of the whole thing, because it's Kevin and he's… well, he's Kevin. But the look in his eyes when Cecil had told him about Strexcorp's ultimate fate, and the way he's smiling now…
…and the truth of it all is, when you have what matters, somehow everything else doesn't so much anymore.
"And I'm glad he did," Carlos chips in. "I mean… I was doing a lot of very important science out in the Otherworld Desert, and I am sorry it's over, but… coming back to you makes it all worthwhile. I see that now."
"Friends?" Kevin asks, quietly, when Cecil still doesn't speak.
It's a lot to process. It's a lot to process but somehow it all just falls into place.
"Friends," Cecil replies, which gets him another of those radiant smiles in return.
"Plus," Carlos goes on, curling into Cecil's side, arm around his waist, "now I can start my new project."
Cecil looks sideways at him. "Oh?"
"Yes. I'm going to do comparisons on the two of you! How often do you get a pair of non-related identical doubles to study?"
"…Wait, what? You're going to do science on us?!" Cecil exclaims.
"Sure I am!" Carlos tells him. "How could I pass up a chance like that?"
"Exciting, no?" Kevin adds. "I'm looking forward to it. Just think, Cecil, you'll get to see lots more of me now!"
Somehow this is far less alarming than it would have been half an hour ago. What this means, Cecil isn't sure. Or… possibly he is.
It is Christmas, after all.
"Well," Kevin goes on, "I'm sure the two of you have plenty of in-person catching up to do…" He is of course able to make this sound wholly bad, though Cecil finds he doesn't mind so much. Plus the man is quite right. "I'd better go find out what's happened to my Desert Bluffs. But I'll be in touch!"
And he starts to make for the doorway, which – it should be noted – the other two are still standing in.
Carlos looks at Cecil. Cecil looks at Carlos. Carlos flicks his eyes over to Kevin for a moment, then back to Cecil.
Oh. Oh.
Well, that would be… actually rather…
Cecil smiles. Carlos smiles. And, as Kevin moves to walk past them, Cecil grasps his double's wrist, making the man stop in mid-step and stare at them both.
"Don't go?" Cecil asks, softly.
Kevin smiles.
Looks like it's going to be a very merry Christmas after all.