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Carlos had had a long, exhausting day.
Nothing had gone how he had planned, nothing at all and every single one of his experiments were...well...failing…
He had been trying his best to make his experiments work but nothing had so to take his mind off of it he had tried doing some research, but Night Vale weirdness had prevented him from getting a single scrap of evidence.
He reached his home, his eyes tired, his body felt heavy.
He lazily put his key in the lock with a heavy sigh and opened the door, he didn’t turn the handle, he just pushed the wood and let the door swing open.
Carlos slumped into the house, kicking the door shut.
“Cecil? You home?” Carlos called down the hall.
No reply.
“Damn it…he must still be at the station...” Carlos cursed.
He had hoped to get home and be greeted by Cecil’s smiling face, he wanted nothing more than to drink Cecil’s strange and yet delightfully tasting coffee before snuggling down and watching a movie with a huge bag of popcorn, if he could just see Cecil he would feel so much better, the failings of the day would just drift away and be forgotten like an annoying dream.
But Cecil wasn’t home…
Carlos sighed again, dropping his briefcase on the floor.
He walked into the living room and collapsed onto a chair, exhausted and fed up…’maybe there is some ice cream or something in the freezer…’ he thought to himself. ‘Or maybe I could have some fresh toast? No, Cecil refused to have any wheat or wheat byproducts in the house, stupid Night vale laws…’
Carlos groaned.
The scientist got to his feet and opened the freezer…and of course, there was no ice cream to be seen, his day was just getting better and better.
With a defeated huff, he walked back into the living room and retook his slumped position, staring mindlessly at the ceiling, waiting for Cecil to get home.
Then he spotted the radio out of the corner of his eye.
Carlos stared at it for a moment or two before shuffling closer to the small machine and leaning over the arms of the chair to reach the small buttons on the radio.
It switched on with a click, there was a few seconds of meaningless static and then slowly a voice began to form.
“Six people have reported seeing a man wearing a tan jacket hanging around Old Woman Josie’s house. When we asked these people for more details on the man, none of them could recall what he looked like.” Cecil’s smooth voice boomed from the radio.
Carlos smiled longingly, wishing that Cecil would be home soon.
“In other news John Peters, you know, the farmer, has said he saw some flashing lights above the town, Larry Leroy out on the edge of town has also supposedly seen these lights but no witness has been able to pinpoint it’s whereabouts or even from which direction they have come from. They simply...appeared.” Cecil said before a short pause. “We do not know what these lights are but so far they have done nothing to harm us so...let’s not worry about that now.”
Carlos frowned, he didn’t want to wait for Cecil to get home. Carlos wanted Cecil to be in the room with him at that moment.
He took a deep breath and, all of a sudden,a thought popped into his head.
The scientist jumped from his seat and raced out of the room grabbing his keys as he went.
He opened the front door and swung it closed before sprinting down the road toward the Night Vale Community Radio Station.
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Carlos reached the station, he walked past the large heavy doors. As he stumbled through the doors, he began to bleed from unseen cuts, it didn’t hurt so Carlos closed his eyes for a moment, pretending to ignore it. He remembered the first time Cecil had come home after work,they had never shared a living space before and so Carlos had no idea that Cecil would come home covered in his own blood, completely unfazed (apparently it was just custom for the station doors to be made from blood stones and if he was being honest), he had seen much weirder things.
He cautiously walked through the corridors, passing row after row of closed doors with muffled shouts and conversations drifting from them.
He tried not to let himself get scared by the dim, ominous lights and the horrifying screeching accompanied by the shadows of slashing tentacles coming from Station Management.
“I’m a scientist...A scientist is always fine…” He whispered to himself, his fists clenched and heart racing.
“And now...the weather.” Cecil’s voice echoed through the corridor. His voice was followed by the sound of upbeat music and a female singing voice.
Carlos had never quite understood why the weather was music in Night Vale.
When he had first arrived at Night Vale, it had annoyed him quite a bit.
He never knew what to expect when he went out, it could be so sunny outside but the moment he stepped outside a storm would hit, he had even made his own machine to predict the day's weather. But now, after numerous years spent in Night Vale, he had grown accustomed to the unpredictable weather and now he loved hearing the Night Vale weather hum from the raio.
Carlos sped toward the sound of the music, his footsteps quickening.
He reached Cecil’s studio door, the ‘on air’ sign had turned off for the moment but once the weather had finished it would shine red.
Carlos leant against the doorframe.
Cecil was in the middle of his studio room, his headphones on the table and his eyes closed.
Carlos stared at him curiously, what was he doing?
Then, slowly, Cecil began to dance around the room.
At first he moved subtly, just small little hand sways and head bops, anyone passing by the studio would hardly notice and just walk on by without a second glance. But with every second his dance moves would become stronger and more prominent until he was kicking his legs around and fist bumping the air as the music filled his ears, his movements filled with energy and joy.
Carlos chuckled and silently watched Cecil skip around the room without a care in the world.
Cecil spun in circles before coming to a halt, directly facing Carlos.
He opened his eyes slowly and when he saw Carlos his violet eyes widened and gazed fearfully at Carlos.
Cecil felt his cheeks flush and grow hot. His jaw clenched and his palms grew sweaty.
“Carlos!” He said with a nervous chuckle. “What are you doing here? I...I didn’t think you would come...here…” Cecil rambled. Cecil and Carlos stared at each other, Cecil looking embarrassed and worried, Carlos stared lovingly. “Um...Carlos...I…” Cecil stammered.
Carlos laughed and leapt to Cecil’s side. He looked down at Cecil’s hands and held them in his, then he looked up at Cecil’s flushed face and smiled kindly.
“May I have this dance?” He asked.
Cecil’s flustered frown broke into a beaming grin.
“You may.” He said.
Slowly, Carlos began to sway side to side, gently hopping from one foot to the other, Cecil began to sway too.
Carlos rested his head on Cecil’s shoulder and closed his eyes, and just as he had thought, all the annoying failures of the day vanished. Cecil was the only thing that mattered and the weather was the only thing he could hear, even the screeching coming from Station Management had faded away.
“So why did you come?” Cecil whispered, his embarrassment disappearing.
“I just needed to see you.” Carlos replied. “I had a crappy day…” Carlos said, Cecil rested his head against Carlos’ and his eyes slipped shut as he savoured this beautiful moment.
Then the weather ended.
Cecil and Carlos lifted their heads and looked into each other's eyes.
“Let’s go home.” Carlos said.
“Carlos, I can’t. I still have some reporting to do.” Cecil said.
“We can get some coffee and popcorn, watch a movie or two.” Carlos suggested.
“Carlos, I can’t…” Cecil responded.
“Please.” Carlos pleaded.
Cecil looked to the floor, let go of Carlos’ hands and sat down at the table and put his headphones on.
Carlos frowned, disappointed, turning to leave the station.
“My apologies, dear listeners, but I am having to end my report early so I can spend my evening with a certain perfectly imperfect scientist.” Cecil said.
Carlos turned and stared at Cecil, stunned and confused.
Cecil winked at him and smiled.
Carlos’ heart leapt and a toothy beam forced its way across his face.
“Goodnight, Night Vale, goodnight.” Cecil said, then he turned off his microphone, took Carlos by the hand and left the room, heading toward home.