Carlos felt a little dazed from the kiss, but quickly the daze wore off and he stared at Hancock, wide-eyed. For a split second he thought he’d misheard the other man, but quickly he reasoned that there was no way he could have; simply nothing else would have fit.
“Han, I… really?” he asked softly.
The ‘L’ word had occurred to Carlos before, sure, but he didn’t know if what they had was… that. He also wasn’t sure if Hancock was someone who would have even appreciated the use of the word. He just… he never thought he’d hear it.
The silence caused the ghoul to panic slightly, heart racing and dark eyes darting away as he began to rethink the decision to admit his feelings to the other man. He swallowed thickly and took a shaky breath in, nodding his head slowly, committing to this decision. It was already out there, there was no sense in trying to take it back now, it would only hurt Carlos in the long run and that wasn’t something Hancock ever wanted to do.
“Really.” He breathed, glancing back up at him, though he was struggling a bit to keep eye contact. “Do you–– you….. don’t need to….. say anything. You……. you don’t need to feel obligated to say it back.”
Carlos noticed that Hancock was getting anxious, but for once he didn’t feel bad about it. That was because there was nothing for Hancock to worry about at all.
“I wanna kiss you,” Carlos blurted out. “Hard. But… my hands and face are dirty. And I don’t wanna stain your coat.” A he started to flush in his face, but he kept his eyes on Hancock.
The Perfect Scientist 