Cecil & Felix, cast party (May 3)

[om_ghost]

Felix convinces Cecil to dance -- or at least perform a reasonable facsimile. They have another conversation that veers wildly from mundane to bizarre, and finally, Felix offers to help Cecil figure out what dreams are.​

Felix kept to the center of the party from the beginning, safely surrounded by dozens of people. Plenty of other people were conveniently disappearing for a little while, and returning slightly rumpled later, but Felix pretended not to notice. It was safe to be surrounded by people, and besides, he was having a wonderful time.

Wearing a gray t-shirt with a cute sparkly pattern, and the leafy, light-green scarf Pietro had given him for his birthday, Felix smiled brightly when he caught sight of Cecil after the duet with Benton. Giving a quick wave, Felix trotted over to the other boy's location. "Cecil! Hello. I've never heard that song before. I think I got a bit lost in the middle!"
​
​"Hello Felix," Cecil returned brightly and grinned as he turned in his direction. "It's a very good song. I'm glad I could introduce it to you, then. Very meaningful."​

That was not really what Felix had thought when listening, but Cecil did have knowledge of a great many things that seemed otherworldly to him. "Is it? There were so many, um, images, I couldn't really sort them all out. I'm usually better with metaphors." A small frown darkened Felix's brow. He wasn't sure, now, if he should be annoyed with himself for not understanding.

"Meaning is in the eye of the beholder," Cecil said, somewhere between statement and reassurance. "Or ear, I suppose. The best things are the ones you give your own meaning to."

"So I should determine for myself if you're the Eggman or the Walrus?" Felix extrapolated, his frown fading in the face of Cecil's certainty. It was no less than he believed, himself, after all.

​"Or both. Or neither," Cecil agreed brightly. "Perhaps I am simply the narrator."​

Felix was delighted with that, clasping his decorated hands before him for a long moment just so he didn't applaud outright. That might be a little too weird. "I don't believe you're anything simple, Cecil. You... have a very nice singing voice, by the way."

"Everyone is simple. We are all just people. But thank you!" Cecil gave him a bright smile. "Do you want to go up? I'm sure we can find something else."

Very quickly, Felix waved his hands as if trying to ward off a not-very-slow bee flying before him. "Oh, gracious no. I can't carry a tune in a bucket. Listening to me sing is not a very pleasant experience. I prefer dancing, if there's music."

"Oh, well. You could do that, then."

"It's more fun with someone else," Felix countered. "If you'd like to dance, with me, that is."

​"Alright," Cecil said after a moment of thought. "I'd hate for you not to have fun."​

Felix tilted his head, his eyes widening as he considered Cecil. "Is that the only reason?"

Cecil met his gaze easily, curiosity somehow visible in his black eyes. "Should there be another one?"

With a little laugh, Felix suggested, "Because you want to? That would be the preferred reason, I would think. So we have fun together. Right?"

​ "Right. Of course!" Cecil smiled, though there was still something faintly confused in it. Then again, he was fairly sure mild confusion made up his expression three-quarters of his day, lately. "Shall we, then?"​

Pleased, clearly, Felix wiggled his fingers toward Cecil as if to draw him along, and led the way toward the semi-clear space before the music speakers where several of the other students were already dancing. He was already moving by the time he got among the others, bouncing lightly on his toes to the rhythms. Felix wasn't particularly graceful or natural, but he did enjoy dancing immensely. Blaine and Alison had taught him the basics, gliding his hips and his feet, and the rest had come fairly easily.

He turned and beckoned to Cecil again, but he didn't reach out or try to make physical contact. The music was too quick and light-hearted for that.

​Cecil followed along without further urging, and promptly launched himself into movement once Felix had stopped. It didn't often have much to do with the actual rhythm being played, but Cecil seemed to be enjoying himself anyway. ​

Watching Cecil have a good time was what made Felix smile, and he didn't care at all if neither of them were the center of attention. What Felix liked best were people who weren't afraid to be themselves, and Cecil definitely fit the bill. "What kind of music did they play at your radio station?" he called over the music.

"Oh," Cecil said as he hopped around, "not often music, as such. Mostly news or the sound of your heart beating as time passes. That sort of thing."

Well, that probably explained why Cecil didn't seem to understand musical rhythm, but to be fair, Felix hadn't when he'd first arrived either. Learning from Dazzler and Anthem had helped quite a bit. "Peaceful," he laughed, carefully stepping so he wasn't in Cecil's way. Or anyone else's. Felix's personal space bubble was quite large.

"Do you have a favorite band? Or singer? I have no idea what's playing right now. Pietro knows a lot more music than I've ever heard of."

​ "I have things I enjoy but no specific favorites. I find it easier that way." Cecil seemed to stumbled a little, and then spun with a grin. "Choosing a favorite seems awfully permanent."​

Instinctively, Felix put his hands up when Cecil lost his balance, but much to his relief, Cecil managed to catch himself. That might have been terribly awkward and uncomfortable for a moment! "We're much too young for commitment," Felix giggled in agreement. "Though I might marry David Bowie if he asked."

"You could always ask him. Why wait?"

"I don't know his phone number!" Felix exclaimed, bursting out in delighted laughter.

​"A shame," Cecil declared solemnly, and twisted around in abstract patterns that clearly made sense to himself. ​

"He's terribly famous and I hate cameras. So it might not work out anyway."

By this point Felix was only dancing a little bit, and mostly watching Cecil blossom in a dance that obviously expressed his essential sense of self. How inspiring! Felix could never let himself go like that in public. Or private. Or anywhere. Felix's expression had taken on a dreamy cast, but the party and the music was too real around him, and he couldn't quite focus his astral vision. In fact, he'd never seen anything astral around Cecil at all. Cecil certainly seemed like someone who would have a strong astral presence. Felix wondered why he couldn't ever seem to get his vision to work around the other boy.

​It took him a moment or so to notice, but when Cecil twisted back in Felix's direction he finally registered that the other boy had all but gone still. Cecil slowed to a stop himself, head cocked curiously. "Are you alright?"​

Felix made a small, affirmative sound, though he was watching Cecil like he was trying to look through him and not getting very far with it. "Some people carry their dreams around with them," he tried to explain. "And sometimes I can see it. Betsy's butterfly. Kurt's night. But I don't see yours, and it seems like I should. Interesting people usually have one."

"Perhaps it's not something that can be seen," Cecil said as if it were the most reasonable thing in the world. "Perhaps it can only be experienced, like a long pleasant afternoon." He paused. "Though granted I'm not certain what it would be."

"Seeing is just my metaphor," Felix answered promptly, because he had become very sure of it. He'd slid back into dancing again, idly curling his hands around the back of his neck and then lifting his arms lazily as he moved. Distractedly, still watching Cecil with that intent-yet-distant gaze, Felix added, "But I haven't experienced anything with you yet either. You do have dreams, don't you?"

"I think so?" But Cecil sounded a bit unsure for the first time. "It's very hard to tell what is a dream and what is something your just not expecting to see right away. Or it was, in Night Vale. I haven't encountered that as often here."

Despite Cecil's hesitation, Felix began to smile, and it only grew. This was undoubtedly his territory. "I can help you figure it out. I'm very good at dreams. No one else is better. If you don't know how, I can show you." Only then did Felix duck his head, some of his old shyness coming through, though he'd tried so hard to overcome it. "I mean, if you want."

"Alright," Cecil said instantly, not a second needed to think about it. "I should warn you, though. I'm given to understand that some of my experiences are not what people consider normal." At least, if the reactions he'd been getting so far were any indication, they weren't.

In a very, very rare moment, almost a miracle, Felix actually took a step closer to Cecil. Over the volume of the music, and the sound-dispersing openness of the outdoors, he couldn't really tell Cecil a secret, but he leaned nearer like he might. "Neither are mine," Felix confided. "I spent half my life in a world that I made up. We'll be fine."

Cecil smiled a little and leaned in himself, happy to play along with at least the image of stealth. "Then I'd like to hear about them," he said happily. "Or see, as the case may be."

Cecil's eyes really were sort of entrancing; Felix could see a shade of himself, and the rest of the party, reflected in the total blackness. If it weren't so terribly rude to stare, Felix might have, for quite a long time. "It's... a little dangerous," he warned, the words escaping him only half-controlled. He could only really try to polish them a little, clean them up so they didn't reveal too much. "A fantasy world like that. It can be hard to leave."

​ "That's alright," Cecil said with something like a hum, the words not quite sing-song but with a rhythmic quality to them anyway. "There are many worlds and quite a few of them are dangerous. I'm sure between us we will manage great things."​

As ever, Felix appeared enthralled with Cecil, and his seemingly endless supply of deeply thoughtful statements. He barely noticed that his dancing had gotten closer to the other boy over the course of their conversation. Really, he just felt so relieved to be understood the way Cecil understood him. "You might actually see the way I see," Felix said, softly, hopefully. That would be a kind of miracle.

"Perhaps," Cecil said with a small smile, "you might also be able to see the way I see. We can only hope."