-I don't know why I like this couple so much right now, but I do. Sorry Carlos XD-
Cecil was NEVER coming to another party ever again. Not after this one.
Not only had he gotten wine spilled on the sleeve of his suit jacket, but he had to sit through a nauseating speech from Steve Carlsberg. Seriously, who had even invited him?
And to top it off, he was alone. Terribly, horribly, noticeably alone.
It didn't help that every person in Night Vale could see their "perfect, wonderful" radio host standing at the sidelines, single. Watching other couples spinning around on the dance floor in a circle of white-clothed tables. It was a beautiful limo, really, the ceiling high and domed and everything in shades of red velvet and gold. He'd have to tell Old Woman Josie what a great job she'd done with it. It was fantastic, actually; you never would've guessed there was this much space just looking at the white limo pulling up to you.
"Wonderful," he commented under his breath, wistful. The tips of his long fingers curled around the stem of his glass. But he was steadily losing his appetite for champagne. Steve was out on the floor with Cecil's sister, Abby. Dear god, they were dancing all close to each other and making loving eyes, and ugggghhh Steeeeeve. Even Carlsberg had a better love life than Cecil. Not that he should be too surprised. Steve was human, after all. Steve looked human, after all.
Across the room, the shining wall just barely showed the reflection of Cecil Palmer: the rumpled wave of pale hair, the extra two crescents beneath his eyes. If opened, they'd show, well, they'd show a freak, so he kept them closed. But his normal eyes were freakish enough, gaudy awful purple, like spilled ink. No wonder no one wanted to believe around him, be with him.
Now Steve was freaking laughing like an idiot at something Abby whispered in his ear. God damn him. Cecil really shouldn't have come.
"Excuse me? You wouldn't happen to know where Mr. Palmer is, would you?" It was a high, bright voice, like sunlight. And it was coming from right next to him.
Cecil jumped with a hiss, then glanced to his right and saw the man standing next to him. His heart dropped straight to his stomach. Oh, Gods, not this too. If only Dana hadn't insisted on Night Vale letting the Strex crazies move in...
Kevin grinned teasingly. "Hi, Cecil!"
"Shit," Cecil muttered.
"Isn't this just a wonderful party?" Kevin asked, evidently taking "shit" as an invitation to start a conversation. He swept an arm out toward the golden lights. "I can't remember the last time I saw Night Vale folks so happy!"
Cecil went back to staring into his champagne, idly considering suicide. "Oh really?"
"Absolutely! You know," Kevin added, with a devious tone, "I bet you'd all feel even happier if you had a Smiling—"
"A Smiling God, I know." Cecil rolled his eyes. "Sorry, but I'm pretty sure we'll pass on that one."
Kevin's shoulders lifted in a shrug. "Your loss," he chirped, shifting to look back out at the crowd.
Wrinkling his nose at the Desert Bluffs host, Cecil gave him a doubtful once-over. They were doubles, after all. He wasn't going to go look in a mirror anytime soon, so this would be a good way to gauge how he really looked tonight.
Kevin was actually wearing a similar suit, though the flashy yellow tie didn't match Cecil's. Just above his collar was a thin strip of leather with tiny devices littering it. Cecil squinted and saw that the back read in blocky lettering: PROPERTY OF STREXCORP. A pang of unexpected sympathy hit him then. They weren't able to get the collar off of Kevin, as medical teams in Night Vale had determined that the device was deeply encoded in his nervous system. To take it or turn it off would ultimately kill him.
StrexCorp bastards, Cecil thought. Shaking the memory away, he continued his slow examination. Short blonde hair nudged the top of the collar and lengthened near the top of Kevin's head. It was parted and styled in a cute sweep across his forehead, strands drifting across his eyebrows. Cecil blinked, having realized that he'd just thought that Kevin was cute. What the hell?
"Cecil!"
Kevin blurted it suddenly and Cecil nearly had an aneurism. "God, what?" he demanded, brow lowered in a glare.
Kevin paid it no mind and smiled at him like they were best friends. His eyes took their time in roving over Cecil from head to toe, and back up again. "We're doubles, right?" he asked, voice taking on a tone that Cecil thought was way too suggestive.
"Erm, yes," he answered uncomfortably. "I suppose. Why?"
"Oh, nothing. I was just wondering if I've always looked so handsome in a bowtie." Kevin's smile hooked up higher at the side, turning devilish.
It took Cecil a moment to get it. Then his mouth dropped open and he glanced down at the violet bowtie at his neck, then up at Kevin. The English language escaped him. "...huh?"
"Oh, don't play dumb," Kevin laughed brightly. His vibrant yellow irises glinted amusedly, bright against the black sclera. "I said you look very handsome, silly."
Oh. My. Gods. Kevin was flirting with him. Kevin was flirting with him. Wasn't this illegal?! This had to be illegal! "Um," Cecil stammered, clearing his throat. "Thanks."
"You're welcome!" Kevin answered at once. He flashed a toothy grin with all those rows of sharp teeth before watching the dancers once more.
Cecil stared at him, baffled. It wasn't that he...he liked Kevin, that was plain wrong. On so many levels. Yet... He blinked down at his shoes, fingering the stem of his glass. That was it? A nice compliment, a flicker of a smile, and then nothing? That was not how flirting was supposed to go, he decided. Since Kevin was hopeless and did it wrong, Cecil was going to have to fix it. It was only because it was totally against the law for unfinished conversations to last more than five minutes. Wouldn't want the Secret Police finding them, now would they?
Taking a deep breath and a last sip of his drink, Cecil gave a little ahem. "You, um, you look nice too, Kevin," he mumbled. Oh my gods, he sucked at this.
Kevin turned a wide-eyed look on him, lips parting in disbelief. Then he beamed like Cecil had proposed to him. "Really?" he asked, hand coming up to fiddle with his tie and dammit, that was kinda adorable. "I was worried about all the..." Trailing off, he gestured at the collar and the tiny stitches marring the places where his second eyelids would be.
Cecil couldn't speak for a moment. He'd never expected Kevin to ever admit to being insecure, not when he was so bubbly all the time. "Don't worry about it," he said, surprising himself with how firm he was. He felt himself smiling. "You look great." Okay, this might be going too far...
"Thank you," Kevin said, softer now and with a shy glance off to the side.
Wow, okay, maybe it's not too far. "Have you ever danced before?" Cecil asked.
"It wasn't a productive hobby, so no," Kevin replied promptly. "Strex was never in support of nonproductive behaviors."
Cecil leaned over to set his glass down on a table. Then he faced Kevin with his heart pounding in his chest and feeling his tattoos glowing under his suit. "Do you wanna try it?"
Grinning that manic grin, Kevin's lashes drooped to give him a simply diabolical look. "Why, Cecil, are you asking me to dance with you?" he asked in a purr.
In that moment, Cecil's doubts were washed away by one thought: suddenly, he really wanted to dance with Kevin. "Yes," he replied with a warm smile. He offered his hand out.
To his surprise, Kevin grabbed him by the lapels instead and dragged him out to the dance floor. "Whoa!" He stumbled over his feet as Kevin guided him between people and out into the center of the floor. Yelping, he skidded to stop as Kevin leaned in toward him, eyes bright. "Okay, teach me to dance!"
There was a breath of space between them and Kevin was so enthusiastic, so excited, that Cecil's lips curved up again. "Okay then... Uh, take my hand." He took the hand that had ahold of his lapel and curled his fingers around it. Something about the feel of their palms together sent a giddy jolt up his spine. "Now, put you other hand here." He guided Kevin's hand up to rest on his shoulder. "And then I put mine here." Fingers a little shaky, he slipped his free hand down to Kevin's side. He was warm through his suit and there was a surprising lack of bloodstains. "Now, you move like I do."
He started a simple sway and Kevin's feet mirrored him across the dance floor. They danced in a slow circle, Kevin catching on pretty fast; he stopped watching his feet and met Cecil's eyes happily. "This is so much better than Strex made it out to be," he remarked.
"Did it ever occur to you that maybe Strex wasn't that great?" Cecil asked, only half-joking.
Kevin shook his head. "Never!"
"Of course not."
"But it did once I moved here."
Cecil's eyebrows rose. "Really?"
"Yeah," Kevin replied with a nod. "They insisted that Night Vale wasn't reaching its full potential, but now I see that they must be. Everyone here is so happy and hopeful, it's intoxicating! And you!" Cecil started, not expecting himself to be included in this little speech. "They said you were the worst of all, but that can't be true. Not if everyone loves you so much."
Feeling his cheeks heat up, Cecil shifted his gaze down toward the floor. "I don't know if everyone does..."
"Well, I do."
Cecil's head jerked up again, mouth opening but no words coming out. Did Kevin even realize what he was saying? Apparently he did, because he grinned like the devil and then hooked a foot around Cecil's ankle. Cecil squeaked as he toppled backward and an arm snaked around his waist. He was left gaping as Kevin dipped him smoothly in the middle of the dance floor, their faces inches apart and Cecil clinging to his shoulders. "I thought you didn't know how to dance," he accused, somewhat breathless.
"I don't," Kevin answered cheerfully. "But I'm a fast learner."
"Apparently," Cecil muttered. Trying to catch his breath, he realized just how close they were and the suggestive position they were still in. They were in front of the whole of Night Vale and Desert Bluffs, and he could already hear the faint whispers around them. He looked to Kevin to put this out, then stopped.
Kevin wasn't smiling. It was the first time Cecil had ever seen such an expression on his face and it stole the air out of him. He was gazing at Cecil with a look akin to longing. A lock of fair hair fell over his left eye and those burning irises were fixed on Cecil's mouth. Cecil's stomach curled nervously. "Um, Kevin?"
Kevin's voice was a quiet confession. "I wanna..."
"Kiss me?"
"Yes."
Without warning, Cecil stretched up and pressed their mouths together.
Probably should've thought that through because every citizen watching them gasped and someone might've started calling the Secret Police. Honestly, Cecil didn't give a shit. Kevin tasted like copper, like blood, but sweeter, softer. He made a little noise when Cecil initiated it and then angled his head to deepen it. His arms trembled with the effort of holding Cecil in his dip and wrapped around him tighter to keep him in place. Cecil fought the sudden want to loop a leg around Kevin's. One of Kevin's hands left Cecil's waist to bury itself in his hair and Cecil would've moaned if he wasn't in front of the entirety of two towns. Kevin's teeth pricked his lower lip and he grabbed at his tie to stay closer, closer. He could've done this for hours.
But his back was starting to hurt and poor Kevin couldn't hold him up that long. With a half-pained, half-disappointed whimper, Kevin straightened them both up and broke the kiss. They stood face-to-face, still in a loose embrace, and with equally dazed expressions. Cecil's second pair of eyes were open and foggy, a glazed violet.
Then Kevin giggled, bringing his hand up to cover a wide smile. "I just kissed my double."
"Yeah, you definitely did," Cecil breathed, touching his lips in disbelief.
Giving a dramatic shiver, Kevin coiled his arms around Cecil's neck, eyelids sinking flirtatiously. "You're voice sounds amazing after you've been kissed," he murmured.
Cecil's mouth quirked up into a faint smirk. "Yeah?"
"Mmhm," Kevin hummed, their foreheads resting together. "Wonder what it'd sound like after—"
"OKAY, that's enough," Cecil cut him off, blushing fiercely.
Kevin laughed, twinkling like bells, and Cecil found that he had to smile back.