Of all the places to spend a sleepless night, the rooftop is definitely the best.
Night Vale's stars are beautiful. The desert nights are often clear and bright, creating the perfect setting for watching the light of the distant, dying suns. That's what stars are after all - the slow decay of the universe on display. Cecil thought that was beautiful. Stars have the unique effect of making life itself and all it's little nuances - hesitancy, pain, fear - all seem so very small and insignificant. Cecil thought that was beautiful too. The scuff of socks against the shingles drew his eyes and thoughts away from the blanket of stars overhead to the shape settling next to him on the darkened rooftop.
"Isn't being insomniatic my job?" the scientist smirked. Cecil hadn't realized how cool the evening air was until his boyfriend's warm body was snuggled sufficiently close against his own.
"With a view like this, who needs sleep?" he replied easily. Carlos wriggled a moment more before propping himself up on an elbow and studying Cecil carefully.
"I agree the rooftop is by far the best part of the house, but why aren't you sleeping?" When Cecil stayed quiet, Carlos tried again gently. "Is it something you want to talk about?"
"It's just questions. Lots and lots of questions," Cecil breathed, directing his attention back to the myriad of glistening freckles stretched across the dark sky. "About the near future, what's coming next. And work. And the long distant future. And stars."
"I don't know if I have any answers," Carlos admitted as he followed Cecil's gaze towards a cluster that glimmered with a particular fervor. "But I can try my best, if you'd like."
"The stars - how far do they go on? Are they endless?"
"As far as we know," Carlos confirmed. "Our entire world is a tiny speck in a system in a galaxy in a universe that as far as we can tell is infinite." Overhead a single star fell out of place and tumbled across the sky before flickering out of view. "It's reassuring though, isn't it? That everything is so endless, and yet here we are in our infinitesimal sphere of existence still persisting, still living. We can imagine and create and feel boundlessly. And it's so beautiful." One of the things Cecil loved most about Carlos was his fascination with simple things like existence. Through his eyes, life itself was its own thrilling scientific anomaly to be handled delicately and researched with the utmost dedication. Cecil stopped watching the stars outright then, choosing instead to watch the way they reflected in the scientist's dark eyes. He had a theory that somewhere in those same brown eyes he could find an entire infinite universe all its own if he looked long enough. It was a theory he very much wouldn't mind taking the time to prove. Carlos caught him staring and gave him a curious little smile half-lit by the brightness of the gibbous moon. "Any other questions you think I might know the answers to?" Cecil looked back up at the sky for a long time. An immeasurable universe, a negligible existence, and yet he still felt so much trepidation at the idea of asking a simple question to the one person who had managed to give his comparatively miniscule life meaning.
"Do you want to get married?" He kept his voice steady and his eyes fixed on a single bright star as he forced the question through his uncooperative lips and out into the quiet night. There was a terrible moment of absolute stillness before Carlos replied.
"Is this a hypothetical question?"
"Of course," Cecil stumbled. Immediately he began to silently curse himself for the cop-out.
"Well, I guess I've never really thought about marriage," Carlos explained. "I was never much of a romantic before I met you. I only believed in things I could prove with science. But things change over time. People change. I suppose I believe in quite a few things now, so anything can happen." A pause, then a deep breath. "So am I acceptive to the idea of someday getting married? Hypothetically yes." Cecil went quiet. Words were always so natural to him until they suddenly weren't - usually when he needed them the most. Next to him, he could feel Carlos fidgeting in unease. Cecil inhaled slowly, exhaling the fragmented remains of the conversation that he couldn't quite piece together in favor of changing the subject.
"Why can't you sleep?" Cecil asked instead. Carlos pushed himself up into a sitting position, tucking his knees up to his chest.
"Just too many thoughts," he mumbled. "I can't get my mind to shut off. It happens a lot. I guess I do fall asleep for a while, but it's that kind of sleep where you can still feel your mind racing. I inevitably wake up again pretty quickly and then," he shrugged. "When I woke up, you were gone. I figured if I came up here I'd find you." Cecil sat up to match his position, carefully adjusting for the slant of the roof.
"You should wake me more often when you can't sleep. If nothing else, just for the company." Reaching out a hand, he brushed it along the scientist's cheek, traced it down his neck, dropped it to his hand where their fingers fit together so naturally. A hint of a smile danced along Carlos's face at the simple reassuring contact.
"It's the worst because I'm so tired. I want so badly to sleep, but every time I close my eyes there's just too much noise."
"Why don't you just focus on one thing to drown the rest out?" Carlos gave a dismissive little shake of his head. "I promise it's worth a try," Cecil persuaded. "Here, why don't you try lying down?" Carlos did as suggested, cautiously resting his head in Cecil's lap without upsetting their precarious balance. "Close your eyes, and focus on nothing but my voice," Cecil instructed with a kiss to his forehead.
"The moon is bright," he began in a soothing tone, not entirely unlike the manner he adopted during shows, but a touch softer. It was a voice he only ever used on specific occasions; the smile that immediately spread across Carlos's face implied that he recognized the special inflection only ever meant for him. "The world is quiet, and the night is beautiful." Softly his fingers began to twirl between the scientist's curls in wandering little circular motions. "On the opposite side of the moon, the secret lost pet city is abuzz with puppies and hermit crabs and salamanders all clamoring for attention. On the opposite side of the world, people are rushing through their day, attempting to balance the endless list of demands placed upon them. But this all happens far away. Right here all is, for once, peaceful." Carlos squirmed in his arms, adjusting into a more comfortable position facing away, but he kept his eyes closed obediently. Cecil continued at an even pace without pause. "The night is alive with whispers. The wind is sharing secrets with the trees; they're probably talking about you." Carlos ceased his restless stirring, and Cecil heard his breathing even into the patterns of a light sleep. He stopped watching the sky again, instead watching the way the moonlight refracted in little prisms off the silver patches in the scientist's hair as he tucked it carefully behind his ear. "The moon is beautiful, and you are so beautiful. The trees are still telling secrets that we will always be too young to know, but I will leave you with one last secret for you and me to share." For the first time in the private broadcast, his voice faltered momentarily before resuming its sonorous patterns at a level barely above a whisper. "It wasn't a hypothetical question. If you had known, I wonder what your answer would have been."
"Definitely yes," Carlos murmured drowsily into the flannel of his boyfriend's pants. Cecil's breath caught in his throat. He doubted Carlos would remember any of this in the morning, but at least for that singular moment, the answer had really existed somewhere between asleep and awake. For now that was all the reassurance he needed. With one last look at the distant stars to help steady the sudden flurry of emotions rippling through his body, Cecil leaned down to finish the broadcast in a whisper.
"Goodnight, my Carlos." He pressed one last kiss goodnight to the scientist's cheek as he slept soundly now in his lap. "Goodnight."
End Notes: I got a request for a stargazing proposal fic and because that is the cutest combination ever, this happened.