LINKDING

<blockquote>"The colloquial name is bloodstone," says the man from StrexCorp's Acquisitions division. "Heard of them?" Carlos shakes his head. "No, but I'm not a minerologist. Are you certain this wasn't intended for the geology department?" / Carlos is a loyal company employee, who has never been to any place called Night Vale and never met anyone named Cecil…which doesn’t explain the mysterious woman appearing in his lab, or these dreams he’s started having…</blockquote> ➤ My god, it's finally finished! I've been following this WIP from the beginning and it's been a great experience. What a good fic!

<blockquote>But Cecil is never passive-aggressive. Cecil is never confusing. Cecil says exactly what he means exactly when it occurs to him—which is usually while he’s speaking on public radio. When Cecil fell in love with Carlos, he declared it immediately, and Carlos never had to go through the agonizing process of trying to puzzle out his true feelings through complex layers of communication and unreliable body language and words that never mean quite what they say.</blockquote>

<blockquote>The video, when they Skype, is clearer, though the sound is delayed on Carlos's side. Or rather, the video is premature; at Carlos's best estimate, he receives the visual transmissions ten seconds before they're sent. He's getting used to seeing Cecil's expressions in reaction to what he's just about to say.</blockquote>

<blockquote>StrexCorp makes its move against the Voice of Night Vale, and Carlos struggles to handle the aftermath and its impact on Cecil, as the entire town rallies to save their community.</blockquote>

<blockquote>The men in their well-cut suits and sunny ties are courteous, though they make it clear their invitation isn't optional. Carlos obediently gets into the yellow helicopter, and doesn't try to look out the window, doesn't watch Night Vale falling away beneath him as they climb.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Of all the things that had and could happen to Carlos in Night Vale, becoming a vampire was practically mundane. Hardly worth mentioning, really. One day you're a regular mortal human, and the next night you wake up with fangs...</blockquote>

<blockquote>Carlos runs into yet another Night Vale peril, but maybe he shouldn't have called Cecil for help this time.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Cecil has tentacles. He minds this far more than Carlos does.</blockquote>

<blockquote>“Let us approach a much more modest question: not whether we can know the universe or the Milky Way Galaxy or a star or a world. Can we know, ultimately and in detail, a grain of salt?” – Carl Sagan or Immediately following the events of Episode 25, Carlos realizes he’s been asking the wrong questions.</blockquote>

<blockquote>The night that his research partner (and sort-of ex) shows up at his apartment with a gun, Carlos decides to take a mysterious but exceptionally well funded two-year research posting in a town called Night Vale. A story in which Night Vale is there for the people who need it, Cecil's propensity to wear his innocent heart on his sleeve is perceived as a threat (until it isn't) and no one is allowed to hurt the Scientist. No one.</blockquote> ➤ I was wary when this fic introduced Cecil with sweatervests and sleeve tattoos (...that particular headcanon seems to go along with fics/arts/ideas I'm not into) but no turns out this fic is awesome ➤ ALSO it's an asexual romance that DOESN'T involve the romance partners engaging in sexual activity but instead involves the sexual partner being extremely respectful of the asexual partners boundaries! ➤ Also this is the fic with the Orphanarians and the invisible orphan lab assistant ➤ as of bookmarking it says it's one chapter short of being finished but it reads as finished as it is so I'm guessing it's just an epilogue coming.

<blockquote>Carlos doesn't know what to say. Cecil does.</blockquote> ➤ encountering homophobes

<blockquote>When Cecil said, "I've heard many couples find it romantic--it's a fun bonding experience!" Carlos considered the Night Vale definitions of 'romantic', 'fun' and 'bonding', then took out another life insurance policy. ~ Housewarming, Night Vale-style.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Science was his mistress and his lover and his bosom companion. Carlos was happier losing himself in the ecstasy of discovery, stealing secrets like kisses from the endlessly beautiful universe, than he could be trying to satisfy any human partner. Then he came to Night Vale.</blockquote>

<blockquote>When Carlos woke up, everything was backwards. (Even Cecil.)</blockquote>

<blockquote>Carlos is really terrible at taking care of himself. Fortunately, Cecil is happy to do it for him.</blockquote> ➤ or: cecil the service top

<blockquote>Dana's back. Intern Vithya is new. Cecil and Carlos are just the same, but different. Today, Night Vale is the safest place on earth.</blockquote> ➤ or: Night Vale during the US government shutdown

<blockquote>When Carlos invented a spacetime machine and took off into the wild, unexplored territory of the future, this isn't quite what he was hoping for.</blockquote>

<blockquote>"Today the City Council announced that all citizens will be taxed progressively, based on the number of times they utter the word 'cheesecake.' In related news, the Chamber of Commerce has announced that five new Cheesecake Factories are being opened in Night Vale. Attendance at the grand openings is mandatory. You will be expected to make a speech." </blockquote>

<blockquote>by-sabinelagrande: hands up for top!Cecil tying Carlos up and not letting him go until he's worshiped every inch of his perfectness me: *catches that pass and runs for the end zone*</blockquote>

<blockquote>It's -- topography, Carlos thinks, of a person, of two people, it's so complicated, it's so much easier to just go it by yourself. He doesn't want to hurt Cecil but he doesn't want to keep any part of himself from Cecil, either, and it scares him that that's true, and it scares him to know it's what Cecil wants.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Night Vale didn't reward those who hoped in the permanence of gravity—but Carlos didn't think it necessarily punished those who hoped.</blockquote>

➤the trope meme

<blockquote>"Starscreen," Cecil says, as though that were an explanation. He sits down and unbuttons his shirt, sliding it unselfconsciously off of his shoulders.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Night Vale, Carlos has decided, is like deserts everywhere: vast and unknowable, with bad cell phone reception. Also, there are angels.</blockquote> ➤another of those "i left this open in a tab scrolled to the bottom so I must have liked it" fics ➤(skimming over, it seems to be the one about how people get to Night Vale)

<blockquote>Hallucination or not, Carlos takes Cecil on a date to the Night Vale Harbour and Waterfront Recreation Area. They have a picnic. And there's also a hydra. That’s the thing about time in Night Vale: perfect moments last forever. Literally. Somewhere.</blockquote> ➤also, incidentally, this is the one where Carlos is actually a social anthropologist

<blockquote>In which there is science! And also there are Pop Tarts! And dead animals falling from the sky! But you should not, in any circumstances whatsoever, be afraid!</blockquote> ➤see title

<blockquote>Carlos was born perfect.</blockquote>

<blockquote>A typical PTA meeting in Night Vale. You know, glow cloud possession, picking senior prom decorations, fistfights over grammar, the usual.</blockquote> ➤author's notes: <blockquote>An anon over on tumblr has been encouraging my hate-shipping tendencies, which honestly isn't very difficult to do. This fic fulfills the fistfights and anger management squares on my idfic bingo. (Actual anger management does not take place - it's more like just anger. But it is my id, ok.)</blockquote>

<blockquote>It's indisputable that Night Vale exists.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Carlos suspects, deep down, that this is a crucial aspect of the town's strangeness, the way that people and objects change while watching, while being watched; that he could know everything about Night Vale if he could just know this.</blockquote> ➤or: Cecil neglected to fill in the appropriate paperwork to allow them to have sex after their second date