Work Text:
It had been a long day of work for the both of them, and Carlos and Cecil just wanted to plop down on the couch, snuggle up, and watch a movie that wasn’t too scientifically inaccurate. Cecil sat on the couch first and prepared for Carlos to join him and he scrolled through movie titles. Carlos grabbed a knit blanket and relaxed next to him, legs draped over Cecil’s and Cecil’s arm around him. If Carlos were the first one to fall asleep, he could easily lean his head on Cecil’s shoulder, but until then, he could choose to stare at Cecil or the TV. For a minute straight he chose Cecil, and when Cecil noticed him, he blushed and kissed the prematurely salt and pepper hair on Carlos’s temple. Carlos sighed with happiness. He knew this was exactly where he was meant to be. He knew Cecil was the one. As unlikely as it was, the atoms that make up him and the atoms that make up Cecil happened to be in the exact right places and the exact right times as well as every choice they made up until that precise second for them to end up right where they were at that moment, and Carlos couldn’t be happier. He could see in Cecil’s round eyes that he felt the same. Carlos loved to admire the wrinkles around Cecil’s eyes that proved he smiled often. Carlos had originally had a hard time believing that someone could have smile and laugh lines so potent while living in a place like Night Vale where murder was legal and wheat turning into vengeful spirits was just another day, but it just made Cecil all the more marvelous. Cecil saw the best in everything. Carlos liked that they both had features that made them appear older than they were. Though he wasn’t totally sure how old Cecil was. Cecil insists he remembers the exact day the radio was invented and the prophecy about him actually made some sense, but I explained that unless Night Vale used to be technologically behind up until very recently when it would have caught up at a frightening pace, then his memories were incorrect. Both were equally plausible. As Carlos contemplated the fragility of time and memories, he gazed up at Cecil and saw something strange appearing in or in front of the middle of his forehead. It looked like fog was clearing and revealing something that had been there the whole time, but Carlos knew for sure he had never seen this before. He gasped, and Cecil jerked his head to look at Carlos.
“What’s wrong?” Cecil asked, concerned. Carlos got a clear view with Cecil facing him. Right in the dead vertical center of his forehead, slightly above his eyebrows, was a third eye. It was the same deep maroon as the other two, the color of the midday sky, but had no inner corner. It mostly looked at Carlos, but the longer he stared, the more it drifted in different directions from the main two. Carlos just gaped at it. He wasn’t having a negative reaction, but he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. He blinked twice, hard.
“Are your contacts bothering you?” Cecil furrowed his brow.
“No…” Carlos replied quietly and full of curiosity.
“Carlos, why do you have your science face on?” Cecil giggled. “Is there a bug on my face?”
“Cecil… have you always had a third eye?” Carlos asked, preparing himself for the exclamation that he was crazy and must have inhaled some chemicals at work that day.
“You can see it?” Cecil exclaimed instead.
“Wait, it’s really there? Yeah I can see it. You have a third eye.” Carlos commented, not sure what conclusions he was coming to or what opinions he was developing.
“Oh, Carlos! This marks the next big step in our relationship.” Cecil squealed.
“What do you mean?”
“Oh, you know. First date, first kiss, optional first other things, first sleepover, first official relationship report to city council, leaving our stuff at the other’s house, revealing deep, dark secrets, moving in together, letting one person shower while the other uses the toilet in the same bathroom, extra unusual appendages start revealing themselves-”
“You knew this was going to happen?” Carlos was bewildered.
“Well, yes. If you could’ve seen it the day we met, do you think we still would be where we are right now?” Cecil inquired.
“I don’t know. Probably not.” Carlos confessed.
“See, it waited until it was sure you would accept me.”
“Wait, is it sentient?” Carlos blurted.
“No, no, by ‘it’ I mean more like my subconscious. Oh, Carlos, I’m so glad you still love me!” He paused and looked at me. “You do still love me, right?”
“Of course! I’m just confused. Do you have any other odd appendages?” Carlos wondered aloud.
“Like what?” Cecil chuckled. It was a perfect sound.
“I don’t know. Eyes anywhere else? Tentacles? Extra toes?” Carlos half-joked.
“No, the rest of my body more or less matches yours, so I’d say the eye is my only physical quirk.” The third eye spun around. Carlos’s eyes widened.
“How does it work?” Carlos marveled. His scientist was coming out.
“Um, let’s see… I have enhanced depth perception. I can move it separately from my other eyes, but you know what’s weird? I can’t cross my bottom two eyes. They only go in the same direction. Hm… I get fleeting visions of future prophecies unfolding, but-”
“What? You get visions? Sorry to interrupt.” Carlos added. Cecil nodded.
“There’s a bunch of people around here who have prophetic visions, though, so it’s not super special. Oh, it has enhanced colors. Or my other eyes have muted colors. I can’t tell. Sometimes, along with the prophetic visions, I can see things happening as they happen. That’s how I usually know what I’m reporting on my show without anybody coming in to tell me. It’s not perfect, though. Some people have told me it changes color based off my moods, but I think that was more of a romantic sentiment than a scientific observation.” Cecil explained. Carlos listened intently.
“Were you born with it?” He asked.
“No. When I was about nine, a flash of white light blinded me for a full sixty seconds, and a searing pain stabbed the flesh where they eye is, and when both events subsided, I was reciting my prophecy to become the next radio host in a deep, unnatural voice. Someone pointed it out to me, and I caught my reflection in a window. Some of the kids used to make fun of me for it, but whenever someone is cruel to me, I see their death. The school counselor just suggested I tell the bullies how they’ll die and they’d back off. She was right.” Carlos thought this was an interesting suggestion for a school counselor to make, but he kept quiet.
“Does it blink and close with your other eyes?”
“Only if I want it to.” Cecil demonstrated by closing all his eyes, and then opening up only the original two. Eventually Carlos could no longer see the third one.
“Wait, where’d it go?” Carlos jumped.
“You have to look closely. If I keep it closed, it sinks into my head again. It’s weird.” Carlos leaned in closely and looked at the middle of Cecil’s forehead. Sure enough, he could faintly make out the short eyelashes and the delicate lid. Cecil opened it, and stared into Carlos’s eyes with his. Carlos blushed when he realized how close their faces were. They had been this close and closer so many times, but neither of them ever got used to it. Each act of closeness and intimacy was just as exhilarating as the first time. Their relationship was aging like a fine wine, except a lot sweeter. Carlos dipped his face down and kissed Cecil on the lips, a long, drawn out, but soft kiss. He let his arms droop around Cecil’s neck. Cecil smiled through the kiss.
“What?” Carlos grinned back. Cecil’s joy was contagious, but Carlos liked catching it.
“I’m just so happy to have found you. My perfect, beautiful, genius, lovely Carlos.” Carlos had to fight back the well of syrup-sweet joy that rose up in his throat and threatened the moisture level of his eyes. He felt the same. He kissed Cecil again, harder this time. Cecil pulled Carlos closer by the hips, and Carlos hummed appreciatively. Carlos spun around and crashed onto Cecil’s lap before kissing him again. He drifted his mouth to Cecil’s jaw and neck, expertly hitting each spot that made Cecil groan. Carlos knew he had never been, and never would be, an expert on sex, but he was as close as you could get to an expert on Cecil. Cecil’s hands slid and caressed Carlos’s torso and arms. He hit a spot that made Carlos shiver and blush. Carlos’s slowed his kissed and pushed his mouth back up against Cecil’s. Carlos gave him small, individual kisses, each one more drawn out than the last, until he pulled away and nuzzled his face into Cecil’s chest like a cat. Cecil kissed Carlos’s head and brushed his hair out of his face. Eventually, Carlos’s breathing slowed. Cecil heaved up and carried Carlos, bridal style, into their bedroom. He was glad Carlos was already dressed for bed. He fumbled with the covers and gently lied Carlos down in the bed they shared. Cecil would never stop thinking about that and smiling. It was their bed. Carlos subconsciously moaned at no longer being touched, but Cecil was stripping off his PJ pants, because Carlos laying on him had made his legs hot, and snuggled up with him. As soon as he hit the bed, Carlos’s arms grabbed him. He didn’t even have to be awake, the habit was ingrained in his being. They fell asleep, not as Carlos and Cecil, but as a jumble of tangled limbs (and five eyes) that made up two people in love.