Carlos hadn’t been to a circus in years – not since he was little. But there had been a raffle at work and Carlos had won a coupon for a free ticket. He kinda hoped that his brother and/or his dad were in town so he could invite them to go with him.
Carlos made his way to the ticket office that was set up, standing in the line with his coupon as he looked at everything around him. Some things were different than what he remembered or imagined a circus to be like, but not everything could be a dated cliche trope he supposed.
Once at the ticket office he smiled and offered the coupon. “Hey… this any good?” he asked in a joking manner.
“N-no,
it’s fine it’s nothing really! Just what the kind of makeup does to my
skin, maybe I’m allergic or something!” He shrugged off the questions,
making up some kind of half assed excuse just to grab up Carlos’s hand
and tug him towards the exit of the circus. He lead him towards a
bicycle but then turned awkwardly to Carlos and pressed, “Maybe you’ve
got a car?”That made no sense, Carlos realized. Skip would know if the make-up made him react. But Carlos decided maybe he shouldn’t push it… especially since Skip was so eager to just get going and forget about it.
Carlos smiled and took out his keys. “Yeah, I’ve got a car. It’s parked in the middle of the field over there, where the parking was set up. Are, uh… any of your friends joining us?” Carlos had been under the impression that it would be a group of acrobats going out for food, but maybe he’d misheard or misunderstood.
“They’ll be there when we get there, everyone carpools don’t you know?” Skip laughed warmly and linked his arm into Carlos’s, following him closely with a faked spring in his step as the moonlight bathed the scene in a stunning paleness.
“How can you be so sweet, Mr. Scientist? I thought those people were supposed to be absolute stiffs, you know!” He chimed, glancing over at the man next to him with a forced smile.
Carlos just shrugged slightly, smiling. “Well, there certainly are some scientists who are too much into their own work that they aren’t very inviting people. But I try to keep an open mind myself… I’ve got to be open to new information, you know?”
He was still worried about Skip of course. “Hey, uh… when we get to Big Rico’s, maybe… I think you might wanna head to the bathroom. Just to wash your face with cold water. It, uh… it can help bring down the… reaction you’re having.” He hoped Skip would realize that the suggestion was out of a genuine want to help.
Unfortunately, the comment only seemed to anger the acrobat as he tugged his arm away from Carlos and wiped at his face self consciously, sighing as he did so and allowing himself to wallow in pity. “Thanks,” He growled, “Maybe I will,”
He wasn’t at all amused with Carlos at the moment, but his crush was still very evident in the way he carried himself. Straightening his clothes and adjusting his hair when the Scientist was looking, and even making sure that Carlos /was/ checking him out.
Oof. Okay… Carlos didn’t know what to do. But he decided to drop it for good now. Skip was fussing with his clothes and hair so he was definitely still very anxious, Carlos thought.
When he reached his car he hit the unlock button twice to make sure all of the doors were open. He slid in and reached over to move some of his equipment from the other seat. “Sorry… I work in this car.”
The Perfect Scientist 