He Was... •cecilos•

In On the Adventure

A/N
i forgot to mention that i will not be providing a description of cecil anywhere in the story if I can help it
i think the beauty of wtnv is that you can imagine each character however you like, and no one can tell you that your description is wrong. bc everyone is different with different backgrounds and norms, so we all have different images of how he looks. and thats what makes cecil, cecil.
went on a philosophical rant.. whoops
anyways imagine him how you'd like! :)
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"Me?" Carlos asked slowly, looking unsure.
Cecil and his friend, Earl, had just randomly popped up on his doorstep at one in the afternoon (or was it ten in the morning..? Who knew anymore in Night Vale.) and demanded to see him when his mama answered the door.
She had offered to make them empanadas, much to Carlos' embarrassment. Cecil had politely declined, growing accustomed to Carlos' strange culture, whilst Earl looked completely horrified at the thought of eating anything with wheat in it.
"Yes you," Earl said, looking vaguely annoyed. After only knowing him for thirty seconds, Carlos had somehow managed to make him mad.
"Please Carlos?" Cecil asked, looking at him in desperation. "You're the only person we know qualified to know enough science to bypass the security systems.."
"Shhh!" Earl hissed, covering his friend's mouth. "They can hear us, you know!" He gestured to the black car belonging to the Vague Yet Menacing Government agent that was permanently stationed outside Carlos' home.
Cecil glared at him and wriggled out of his grasp. "Of course I know that! I'm not that dumb!"
Carlos looked between the two, feeling slightly awkward and out of place. They seemed pretty close, like they'd known each other for a while. And those looks Earl kept giving Cecil.. "Uhh.."
Earl sighed unhappily. "Can we come inside and talk? Maybe the secret cameras in your house haven't been installed yet since you just moved here."
Carlos' eyes widened. "The-The what?"
The scout looked just as surprised. "You know.. The secret cameras? The ones the Sheriff's Secret Police use to watch us? Didn't you have a Secret Police where you came from?"
Cecil patted his friend. "Ah, Earl, Carlos' home is sorta weird like that.."
Carlos raised an eyebrow. Yeah, okay. He was the weird one. "Oookay.. so, do you guys want to come in and talk about your crazy book or..?"
Earl looked even more annoyed then before. "It isn't a crazy book!"
Cecil rested a hand on his friend's shoulder and smiled at Carlos, ignoring Earl. "Yeah, that'd be neat."
Carlos shook his head and held the door open for them, stepping aside as they walked into his house.
He figured he was probably making a huge mistake letting any insane people from this town into his humble abode, but his mom did say she wanted him to make friends.
Carlos sighed and closed the door after them.
"Oh! Carlos! Why didn't you tell me your friends would come in the house?" his mom said, looking slightly horrified that anyone would see their house in any sort of messy shape. They had a reason for it to be messy, considering they'd literally just moved into the place. But nothing stopped her from insisting on cleaning the house top to bottom whenever anyone came over.
She seemed to notice the opened boxes and packing peanuts littering the living room floor, and stepped to the side to try and block the view of the mess.
"It's okay, mama," Carlos reassured her, kissing her on the cheek. He had to lean down to do so. It had been three or four years since he had been shorter than his mother. "They're only staying for a few minutes."
"Alright.." she said, sounding doubtful. His mama smiled at the other boys before returning to her room.
"Your mum is pretty," Cecil said, making Carlos jump. He was standing, like, two inches away from him. Didn't he have any sense of personal space?
Earl looked completely unimpressed. Seriously, what did Carlos even do?
"Uh, thanks," Carlos said, smiling nervously at Cecil. The other boy looked absolutely thrilled that Carlos took his compliment. Carlos didn't question that, either.
~•~•~•~
Cecil had never seen a room like it.
"You can just.. I don't know, sit on the floor?" Carlos said, sounding embarrassed. "Sorry, we haven't unpacked that much.."
His bed was in pieces, still not constructed, and none of his chairs from his old house had been shipped yet. So all there was was a mattress was laying on the floor.
Cecil smiled at Carlos.
He had started to feel weird being in his company. He had no idea why. Carlos was nice. Carlos was cute. But then why was his stomach in knots?
"It's alright!" he reassured him, trying to push down the strange feelings. "Your room is still pretty cool!"
Cecil wasn't lying. It was a pretty neat room. The walls were blue, and some posters with the periodic table, Einstein quotes, and presumably science puns were tacked onto the wall. A dresser was pushed into the corner, and some glass beakers and test tubes were scattered across the floor. A door to what Cecil guessed was a bathroom was on a bare wall.
"Thanks," Carlos said. He smiled and admired his own room. Cecil swallowed heavily and couldn't seem to get his mind to stop racing. Carlos was a beautiful, beautiful person. He understood that he wouldn't be able to fully comprehend his feelings for he boy for a while- he was still young, he would admit that much. But he knew he felt something. A crush. An attraction. Something along those lines.
Cecil was absolutely fascinated with the newcomer. Maybe that was all he felt- fascination. It wasn't like it was a crime to be curious about a new kid, especially in this desert town. It was nearly impossible to reach the little community, after all.
He was completely absorbed with his thoughts, flying at a million miles per hour as he tried to step back and observe them unbiased as he would if it were a news story or traffic report. He was totally out of it until he remembered Earl was with him, and he snapped out of it.
"It's fine," Earl said begrudgingly. "Anyways, we do need your help getting the Registry."
"Why do you have to have a record of all of your crushes?" Carlos said, frowning.
Earl blinked, looking absolutely bewildered.
Cecil cleared his throat. "It's what the universe wanted. We've had our Registry of Middle School Crushes for as long as Night Vale has existed." He and Earl exchanged a look. "Of course, we just assumed that all of the United States did the same.."
"No. We definitely don't." Carlos rubbed his face with one hand. "But why do you need me to get your book? Whose crush do you want to look at?"
The other boys turned red.
Earl cut in quickly. "W-We aren't trying to find anyone's crush!"
Cecil nodded. "Yeah! Earl just says that he knows about a secret section in the back of the book!"
"Not so loud!" the former boy snapped.
Carlos looked intrigued. "Secret section? What secrets are in a book violating kids' privacy?"
Cecil started to answer then looked at Earl. "You know, you never actually told me what the secret was."
Carlos and Cecil stared at the third boy in anticipation. Earl clearly enjoyed the attention drawn to him. He rubbed his hands together.
"You're right, Cecil.." he said slowly. "Legend has it that the back of the Registry of Middle School Crushes contains a list of.."
He looked between his friend and the new kid. They had both started to lean closer to him without thinking.
"A list of soul mates," Earl finished, crossing his arms.
Cecil immediately looked at Carlos, then looked away as quickly as he could.
"Soul mates?" Carlos asked, frowning. "You want us to risk our lives for a list of something impossible?"
"Impossible?" Earl repeated.
"Impossible!" Carlos confirmed. "Soul mates aren't real! The universe cannot plan how our lives are going to play out! Everything is determined by a string of events and the butterfly effect. No one could have predetermined who anyone is going to marry. If something minuscule hadn't happened in the past, like my grandparents not meeting in the grocery store while my abuelo was traveling around South America, or if your mother had died in a car accident before she had you, we wouldn't even be here!" He took a deep breath. "Such a thing can't exist."
Cecil had totally blanked out halfway into that speech. All he had gotten out of it was that Carlos' voice was very nice when he went into a rant. And he made a range of facial expressions that made everything so much more animated.. "That's very sciency."
"I know," Carlos said.
Earl raised an eyebrow. "Well, it exists. At least in scout campfire stories."
"You want us to go off of a campfire story-?"
"I think we should do it," Cecil cut in. Carlos looked at him in confusion.
"But Cecil, surely you out of everyone would know that this whole thing can't be real!" Carlos groaned.
But Cecil already had his mind set.
A list of soul mates? That would be the most amazing discovery ever! Then Cecil could date this soul mate, and he would never have his heart broken ever!
Wait.
Wait.
What if his soul mate was Carlos?
Oh dear god, what if it was?
Then he could date Carlos!
Not like he was dying to or anything. That would be weird.
But Carlos had just moved here. Could the Registry have predicted that all along? Like the tablets in City Hall?
"I think it wouldn't hurt to just go see for ourselves," Cecil said slowly. Earl looked pleased that his friend had agreed with him, but probably for a different reason. Carlos looked between the two and sighed.
"Fine. Fine! I'll go. Just tell me what you want me to do, and I'll do it." He scratched his head. "Just stop coming to my house while I'm still in pyjamas. It's embarrassing."