WTNV: Baby Makes Three
Title: Baby Makes Three
Author: Mad_Maudlin
Fandom: Welcome to Night Vale
Pairing: Cecil/Carlos (natch)
Rating: G
Warnings: Substantially less traumatizing than the canon
Summary: There's something new in Carlos' lab. Cecil, despite the best efforts of the Sheriff's Secret Police, is curious.
At some point, hanging around the lab became A Thing That Cecil Does: munching on a slice of Big Rico's or just sitting on one of the stools, studying the softly tinted contents of various flasks and drafting some material for future shows in his moleskine notebook. (He did a whole week of chemistry puns shortly after the hanging-around-the-lab because A Thing; station management were displeased.) Sometimes Carlos talked, and sometimes he didn't; sometimes he talked about whatever he was working on in tones that ranged from eager to horrified, and sometimes he asked Cecil questions about growing up in Night Vale as if he'd never heard of a bloodstone circle before. ("I haven't! I mean I didn't before I came here!"
"What, were you raised in a barn?"
"I was raised Catholic, thank you very much."
"Oh, like that's an excuse....")
Cecil mostly didn't ask questions, because he had already demonstrated with The Neat Incident that his ability to think intelligently about anything other than Carlos essentially vanished when Carlos was in the room. Also because he was still pretty skeptical about the whole "thermodynamics" thing, but Carlos tended to get very overexcited when he said so.
But sometimes there were things that Cecil just had to ask about, because of journalistic observation or a dark, dirty thread of curiosity that no amount of re-education could quite stamp out of him; there were times when he just had to ask things like, "What's with the fish tank?"
(Did that sound sufficiently casual? He hoped it sounded casual.)
Carlos didn't look up from pipetting to ask "Which fish tank?" Because there were in fact several, of different sizes, lined up on a counter that had previously only held glassware; one had been painted black on all sides, one was half-full of cloudy water with something moving fitfully underneath, and one had a heat lamp trained on a corner where a small, glistening lump of gray matter sat, not doing much of anything in particular.
"The one in the middle," Cecil said, because spatial identifiers seemed safest.
Carlos looked up and pushed his goggles up to rest on his forehead (an unbearably attractive look, in Cecil's opinion.) "Oh. That's....a thing."
Cecil wasn't sure what to say to that. "Oh. Okay."
"When I realized the clocks were wrong," Carlos continued, looking pensive, "when I pulled all that--stuff out of them. I needed to run some tests. I've been monitoring that one for signs of life."
Cecil peered at it closely; at this range, it did actually seem to giving off a very faint ticking noise, though upon further consideration that might've been a heartbeat. "Is it? Alive, I mean?"
"Tests are inconclusive," Carlos said gravely.
"Does it...uh..." Cecil tapped on the glass; the lump did not react or change. "Does it have a name?"
Whatever Carlos was doing on the lab bench, it made a loud thunk! momentarily. "It's a lump of unidentifiable, possibly organic matter that I found in my wristwatch where the circuit board was supposed to be," he said quickly. "Why on Earth would I name it?"
"Of course, that would be silly," Cecil agreed quickly. He hoped Carlos wasn't looking at him; he hated it when Carlos saw him blush.
After a few moments, Carlos mumbled very quietly, "Cecil Junior."
Cecil almost fell off his stool; he did drop his moleskine, and as he clung to the edge of the counter for balance he found he did not care whether Carlos saw him blush now or not. "You...named it after me?"
Carlos was very seriously seriously swishing something purple in a flask, and blushing too. "It's an unholy abomination that defies sanity."
"You named an abomination after me?"
"...had to call it something."
Cecil picked up his moleskine and put it securely in his pocket because work. Then he bounded over to Carlos and threw his arms around his neck. "We're a family now."
"It's not part of our family."
"It's a blessed event."
"Did you miss my use of the word ungodly a moment ago?"
"I know what story's going to lead tonight!"
"Cecil, no."
The station staff congratulated them heartily, and Old Woman Josie sent a fruit basket; Carlos mostly sighed with his face in his hands, but also called dibs on the pineapple, which Cecil was happy to concede.
Author: Mad_Maudlin
Fandom: Welcome to Night Vale
Pairing: Cecil/Carlos (natch)
Rating: G
Warnings: Substantially less traumatizing than the canon
Summary: There's something new in Carlos' lab. Cecil, despite the best efforts of the Sheriff's Secret Police, is curious.
At some point, hanging around the lab became A Thing That Cecil Does: munching on a slice of Big Rico's or just sitting on one of the stools, studying the softly tinted contents of various flasks and drafting some material for future shows in his moleskine notebook. (He did a whole week of chemistry puns shortly after the hanging-around-the-lab because A Thing; station management were displeased.) Sometimes Carlos talked, and sometimes he didn't; sometimes he talked about whatever he was working on in tones that ranged from eager to horrified, and sometimes he asked Cecil questions about growing up in Night Vale as if he'd never heard of a bloodstone circle before. ("I haven't! I mean I didn't before I came here!"
"What, were you raised in a barn?"
"I was raised Catholic, thank you very much."
"Oh, like that's an excuse....")
Cecil mostly didn't ask questions, because he had already demonstrated with The Neat Incident that his ability to think intelligently about anything other than Carlos essentially vanished when Carlos was in the room. Also because he was still pretty skeptical about the whole "thermodynamics" thing, but Carlos tended to get very overexcited when he said so.
But sometimes there were things that Cecil just had to ask about, because of journalistic observation or a dark, dirty thread of curiosity that no amount of re-education could quite stamp out of him; there were times when he just had to ask things like, "What's with the fish tank?"
(Did that sound sufficiently casual? He hoped it sounded casual.)
Carlos didn't look up from pipetting to ask "Which fish tank?" Because there were in fact several, of different sizes, lined up on a counter that had previously only held glassware; one had been painted black on all sides, one was half-full of cloudy water with something moving fitfully underneath, and one had a heat lamp trained on a corner where a small, glistening lump of gray matter sat, not doing much of anything in particular.
"The one in the middle," Cecil said, because spatial identifiers seemed safest.
Carlos looked up and pushed his goggles up to rest on his forehead (an unbearably attractive look, in Cecil's opinion.) "Oh. That's....a thing."
Cecil wasn't sure what to say to that. "Oh. Okay."
"When I realized the clocks were wrong," Carlos continued, looking pensive, "when I pulled all that--stuff out of them. I needed to run some tests. I've been monitoring that one for signs of life."
Cecil peered at it closely; at this range, it did actually seem to giving off a very faint ticking noise, though upon further consideration that might've been a heartbeat. "Is it? Alive, I mean?"
"Tests are inconclusive," Carlos said gravely.
"Does it...uh..." Cecil tapped on the glass; the lump did not react or change. "Does it have a name?"
Whatever Carlos was doing on the lab bench, it made a loud thunk! momentarily. "It's a lump of unidentifiable, possibly organic matter that I found in my wristwatch where the circuit board was supposed to be," he said quickly. "Why on Earth would I name it?"
"Of course, that would be silly," Cecil agreed quickly. He hoped Carlos wasn't looking at him; he hated it when Carlos saw him blush.
After a few moments, Carlos mumbled very quietly, "Cecil Junior."
Cecil almost fell off his stool; he did drop his moleskine, and as he clung to the edge of the counter for balance he found he did not care whether Carlos saw him blush now or not. "You...named it after me?"
Carlos was very seriously seriously swishing something purple in a flask, and blushing too. "It's an unholy abomination that defies sanity."
"You named an abomination after me?"
"...had to call it something."
Cecil picked up his moleskine and put it securely in his pocket because work. Then he bounded over to Carlos and threw his arms around his neck. "We're a family now."
"It's not part of our family."
"It's a blessed event."
"Did you miss my use of the word ungodly a moment ago?"
"I know what story's going to lead tonight!"
"Cecil, no."
The station staff congratulated them heartily, and Old Woman Josie sent a fruit basket; Carlos mostly sighed with his face in his hands, but also called dibs on the pineapple, which Cecil was happy to concede.