A Different Sort of Prison – WTNV (Tangled AU), Cecilos

[thecrazyalaskan]

Title: A Different Sort of Prison
Author: TheCrazyAlaskan
Fandom / Setting: Welcome to Night Vale – Tangled AU
Characters / Pairings: Cecil Gershwin Palmer, Dr Carlos Luis Ramirez (Cecilos undertones)
Rating: K+
Word Count: 742
Warnings / Notes: Written for Round 8 of the Hurt / Comfort Bingo: Imprisonment
Summary: Carlos and Cecil compare their prospective prisons.

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"So… what's with the hair?"

Cecil looked up from the white blonde hair in question. "What do you mean?" he asked, winding and unwinding a section around his hand, just as he'd done for the scientist a few moments prior.

Carlos rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm just very, very interested—strictly from a scientific standpoint, speaking as a scientist—in your hair and the… pseudo-magical qualities it possesses. How… How long has it been doing that, exactly?"

Cecil smiled warmly, chuckling when he saw that Carlos had his journal open and a pen in hand. "Well… forever, I suppose," he replied, shrugging. "The Council always said that when I was a little boy, people tried to cut it and use it for themselves." He looked around the little clearing in which they had settled, peering just past the circle of firelight as if on the lookout for someone who would catch him, before pushing back some of the hair by his ear. A curl of hair, shorter and a darker shade of blonde than the rest, fell into view. "When it's cut, it turns this color and it loses its powers." He let his hair fall back into place, hiding the darker curl. "A gift like this has to be protected, and that's why the Council…" He looked off in the distance. "Well, you found my tower—"

"You never left," Carlos finished. "Don't you feel like it's a prison?"

Cecil looked vaguely offended by the notion. "Why would I think that? It's my home."

"What'll happen if you go back?" the scientist prompted. "What will your… Council do?"

Cecil paused to consider it. "I don’t know," he admitted. "There's no precedent—it's my first time…"

"Is it a home if you've never left it?" Carlos asked softly. "In twenty years?"

He didn’t have an answer for that—but was it a prison if his best interests were being looked out for? But what if the Council wasn't looking out for his best interests? All the possible outcomes made his head hurt, and he pushed them away before looking back at the scientist. "So… heresy?"

Carlos chuckled without humor. "There's a lot to unpack there," he mumbled.

"We're not going anywhere," Cecil pointed out, scooting a bit closer to him.

Carlos huffed softly, then sighed. "True… I've always loved science, and I wanted to study everything. Sometimes that meant… studying things people said I shouldn’t."

"Like what?" he prompted, resting his chin in the palm of his hand.

"Like…" Carlos pulled off his glasses, shining the lenses on his wool sweater. "Why does the moon change? Where do diseases come from? Things that could…" He put his glasses back on, his gaze falling on the leather journal in his lap. "This research could help a lot of people, Cecil."

"But you're still a heretic," he prompted.

He shook his head. "People who don't understand—the ones who want to keep their subjects in ignorance and fear say I'm a heretic. That's why I took up this line of work—it's temporary, but when I can get back to the sciences…"

"You'll go back to helping people?" Cecil finished.

"I'm going to try," Carlos replied. "But if I get caught, between the thieving and my research, I could be destined for a prison cell.."

There was pain in his words, and Cecil's heart twisted for him. After a moment, he reached out and laid a hand on Carlos'. "I don't think you're a heretic," he murmured.

 

Carlos smiled—first at his journal, then at Cecil. They held each other's gaze for several moments before becoming terribly aware of how close they were, and they broke apart. " I should, um... I—I should—I should get some more firewood," he mumbled, tucking his journal into an inner coat pocket.

Cecil watched his stand and start off into the woods. Just before he disappeared into the treeline, he stood. "Wait—"

Carlos paused, turning to look at him, and for the first time in his life, Cecil felt… shy under the gaze of another person. "I think you and your research will help the whole kingdom, Carlos—you're going to be fine."

Carlos' smile was sincere, thankful for the praise, and Cecil felt his heart and stomach flip. "Thank you—and… a scientist is always fine."