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.
Skip
picked up some of the equipment and blushed as it’s cold surfacing gave
him chills, he didn’t understand what any of these things did. Was he
supposed to?“I think it’s very smart of you, like you never set down a pencil..
Like you can just never stop, almost like Science controls you..”Carlos smiles slightly and put his finger in front of his own mouth in a shushing gesture. “Pencils are illegal,” he reminded gently. “But I understand and sort of agree with your sentiments. Science is a very big part of my life, and I’m almost always thinking about it.”
His face paled a bit at his wording, a quick hand to his mouth before pulling it away and whispering with a gentle and worried voice. “I-I’m sorry, I’m new in town.” He excused, looking over Carlos once more.
It took all the courage in his pounding heart to muster up the courage to add, “I think it’s very important for someone to be so dedicated to what they love, I work every day of my life to be perfect for the crowd. You do too, and that’s admirable.” He cooed soothingly, a hand trailing up Carlos’s shirt and feeling over the fabric.
Carlos just nodded. “Yeah… There’s no point in disliking my work, or I wouldn’t be doing it,” Carlos said. “Anyway… let’s get rolling.” He reached over and pulled on his seatbelt. “Seatbelts are in fashion, so go ahead and wear it.”
Skip huffed angrily at his failed romantics, but instead of fussing over it he simply grabbed the seatbelt dramatically and tugged it over his body, clicking it taut and crossing his arms.
Prude.
“Carlos-“ He began again, looking over at the driver and sighing deeply, “I don’t know if I can go out in front of all those people, maybe you and I can just grab a burger or something?” He pulled his shoulders towards the window, his voice in a whimpering manner as he gazed to the stars and waited with an internal smirk.
Carlos was confused. “Uh… what? But I meant it – I hadn’t had my mandated pizza slice yet. I don’t know how the laws are with visitors, but I think you should have some too just to be safe. What’s… what’s wrong with eating in front of your team mates?” Was it because he wasn’t… feeling well? “If you’d rather do this another day then that’s okay… if you need to take a break…”
“No, I mean I just.. Well I eat with them every week you see, it gets boring and you sure don’t seem boring.” He added in, a soothing tone in his voice as if something hypnotic lingered behind it in a menace. “Maybe I could get to know you better! I sure would be interested in it.. “ Pausing, he glanced over his shoulder and purred. “Don’t you wanna get to know me?”
He was beginning to feel that- Hunger.
“Well, uh… there’s still time for that,” Carlos said, though an uncertain tone started to creep into his voice. “Um, but SSP are serious business, and I’d rather not deal with them over the mandated pizza. Today’s my last day for the week to get one.”
The Perfect Scientist 