Disclaimer: "Welcome to Night Vale" is property of Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor.

Summary: Moving is always hard, especially if you're seventeen and on your last year of high school, but it doesn't always have to be. [WTNV High School!AU]

Shoutout to the lovely DesertDaylight who helped me with this!

1. First Day.

Carlos is a simple kid, or at least he likes to think he is. There wasn't much he wanted in life, he wanted to go to college and get a degree in a scientific field, and maybe a boyfriend in the meantime, some friends will be nice too.

He had been living happily in Venezuela with his family, thinking of attending University in Caracas, but then his father got a job offer in a security company in the United States, which was exciting yes, but it had him reevaluating his plans. This country seemed to have a very extensive program for Science fields though. The family had spent two weeks in El Paso, Texas, which was nice, and then took route to a little desert community in the southwest that wasn't even in the map; a small town by the name of Night Vale.

It had to be, scientifically speaking, the most interesting community he had ever seen.

That's what he was thinking as he walked along his parents and younger brother down the aisle in the Ralph's with his earbuds on, listening to some soft rock. He saw his mother piling some stuff in the cart and his father talking quietly to her while holding his brother's hand. He saw Fabian standing on his tip-toes, trying to reach a cereal box that was out of his reach, so he leaned over and got it for him, which earned him a small smile from the little boy as he put it in the cart.

He could see why they were brought along, as well. Statistically speaking, a quiet teenager with music on and an eight year old kid who had been promised he could help and get a candy as a reward for behaving were going to be less of a hassle than a pair of girls made by a twelve year old who is too busy texting her friends back at Caracas because she misses them too much to listen or a fourteen year old picking a fight over the very same reason as she is going through her rebellious phase and doesn't know how to express herself properly yet. Yep. That was the reason why Carla and Carolina were at home.

'Did I ever have a rebellious phase?' he wonders, but it was unlikely, he always got along with his parents and never had a reason to fight with them. Not even now, as he didn't have as much friends in Caracas as his sister Carla did, they weren't going to miss him, either. Which wasn't his low self-esteem talking, he could prove that hypothesis right then and there by checking his phone, which he did, and, what do you know?, none of his old friends had called. Then again, are people who just hang around you during school hours and are always asking to copy your homework really friends?

His father taps him on the shoulder, which makes him remove one of his earbuds and lift his eyes from his phone to look at him. He asks in hushed tones, so Fabian doesn't hear, he supposes, if he could go get some candy, so off to the candy aisle he goes. He keeps one earbud off just in case.

"Carajo" he mutters quietly before pouting when he sees that they don't have the candy bars he likes, he knew that they didn't sell the same sweets that his home country did, but weren't Snickers or even Kit Kats supposed to be from the US? Or was it because he was in a city that didn't even show in the map? Jeez, he really wanted one of those. He didn't curse often, just every once in a while, when his mother wasn't around to chide him for it.

"That's not a very nice word".

His head snaps to the side so fast he hears a faint pop just right behind his neck. There, to his left, is a boy around his age, he guesses, with black hair tied back in a small ponytail and mischievous blue eyes.

"You know Spanish?" he asks, lifting an eyebrow.

"Yup, my grandparents are Cuban, so I speak a bit of the language, you?"

"Venezuelan, born and raised" Carlos answers, hands in his pockets now.

"Nice! I'm Dave" he introduces himself, before sticking out his hand for Carlos to shake, which he does.

"Carlos" is the simple response he utters to the other boy.

He spends some time talking with Dave, but later gets a text from his parents asking where he is, so he bid him goodbye. Dave tells him he hopes to see him at school that very same Monday. As Carlos walks back to his parents with five chocolates bars on his hand and wondering if Dave is going to even remember him if he manages to cross paths with him again, he thinks he hears what sounds a lot like someone gasping behind him, but when he turns, no one is there. Weird. But, then again, this place is the epitome of weird, so he doesn't pay much attention to it.

That Monday, he wakes up much earlier; the sun isn't even up yet, or at least he thinks that it is too early. One look at his clock lets him know that it's actually 7:00 a.m. and the sun was supposed to be up in the sky by now. Wait… that was interesting… how was it even possible? Was his clock broken? No, he could see it wasn't the case when he turns his phone on and it displays the same hour that his alarm clock does.

A knock on the door shakes him from his thoughts and he props himself up on his elbow when his mother opens the door. She is already dressed in her work clothes, she works as a nurse and got a position in Night Vale's General Hospital, she is starting today as well.

"Buenos días, Carlitos" she smiles. "I don't know what is wrong with the clocks, but it seems it is seven o'clock. So get dressed and come down for breakfast, okay? You don't want to be late on your first day, hm?"

He reluctantly gets up as his mother closes the door and gets ready for the day, not really looking forward to it.

It wasn't that bad, really. He bumped onto Dave when he entered the place, so he introduced him to a girl named Rochelle and two of her friends: Mark and Nilanjana. Funnily enough, not only were they all new in town like him. They were also into science. Yeah, to say he felt welcome was an understatement. By lunch, he had also met Stan and Louisa, new in town and into science as well; also dating each other.

The seven of them did what new students do and stayed together. They were sitting together in one of the biggest lunch tables, discussing if they should look up the school clubs and create a science one if they didn't have one already, when it happened.

Carlos is hungrier than usual, which he chatted up to the different schedule he had. He has never been to school from eight a.m. to three p.m., only attending in the mornings instead.

"Excuse me" says politely a girl who approached the table. She is petite, with dark skin and wild black curls held in place by a pink bandana. "Hello, my name is Dana Cardinal" she introduces herself, seeing she had everyone's attention. "May I sit with you?"

"Of course!" Rochelle answers cheerily. "The more the merrier!" Dana smiles and sat next to her, leaving a tupperware on the table. "You're the first one to approach, actually" she adds thoughtfully.

"Yeah, everybody in town is a bit like that with interlopers" is the explanation she gives, opening her container, revealing some sandwiches. Carlos thinks it is a strange way of referring to new people but whatever, must be common in Night Vale. "Not my friends and me, though", she clarifies. "Is okay if they sit with us when they come in here?" Rochelle nods eagerly. "Great! In fact…" she turns to look at Carlos, "…one of my friends thinks you're cute and wants to know your name!"

Carlos is taken aback by that. There is laughter and a couple of wolf whistles from the others while he shrinks in his seat, Dave even elbows him in the ribs muttering a playful `you heartbreaker' for only them two to hear. He had never been told that someone thought he was cute, well there was one time, but he knew Camila didn't mean it and she was only doing it for a bet. He looks sadly at his lunch, no longer hungry anymore and faintly hearing Dana calling someone over, he doesn't want to turn and face the girl that had said such thing, mostly because he would have to come out in front of everyone and he is not quite ready to do it in front of his potential friends. However he is greatly surprised.

"Dana? Weren't we going to sit on our everyday table?" is the question asked behind him.

And Carlos has to turn his head; he has to know the owner of that voice; because it isn't a girl's voice. It is a male voice. Was it possible that the one who called him cute was another boy?

The boy in question freezes when he turns towards him. He didn't know what he was expecting, but it definitely wasn't that. He wasn't not tall or short (probably taller than Carlos, though), not thin or fat, but it wasn't his complexion what brought Carlos' attention. It was his eyes. They are purple in color (probably contacts) and partially hidden by glasses with a violet frame. His hair is black but seems to be bleached at the top, since that part was white and styled back. His clothes were equally out of place, he looks like an office worker, with a purple dress shirt with the sleeves neatly rolled up, a black sweater vest and a black bowtie.

"Which one of you has a crush on my friend here?" Dave asks teasingly.

That makes Carlos notice there is a second boy there as well, he is a bit taller than the other, with a red short crew cut and freckles over his forearms and face, and wears a Boy Scouts uniform. Also, Dave had said that he was his friend, which was nice.

"Dana Cardinal!" hisses the boy with the pretty eyes, making the redhead laugh. "Earl Harlan!"

Cute boy or not, he wasn't going to make Carlos look like a fool, so he counterattacks.

"Were you the one that wanted to know my name?" he asks, before stretching out his hand for him to take. "Hi, my name is Carlos".

"Carlos?" the boy repeats dreamily, before taking his hand which lets him see not only the strange purple markings that look an awful lot like tattoos, but also a little bracelet made up of different colored pearls that, together, form a rainbow, could it be…? "I'm Cecil Palmer…"

And, against his better judgement, Carlos grins at him, earning a love-struck sigh from Cecil.