Catch the Flesh-Eating Reading Bacterium!

a Night Vale fanfiction rec blog

[theflesheatingreadingbacterium]

So is this blog completely dead?

I don’t want it to be--I have a backlog of fics in my AO3 bookmarks that I want to get posted.  But I have ADHD and six other fandoms and bills and a partner and there are currently fourteen orphaned baby animals in the house with me who need caring for at various time intervals in various ways (summer is baby animal season), and I keep thinking “I’ll post a rec soon, I’ll just wait until I have the energy to queue up a few...” and then I never have the energy.  Or focus.  Or executive function.  Also I’m moving out of state in November.

I want to bring this blog back.  I just have yet to do so.

[theflesheatingreadingbacterium]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Welcome to Night Vale Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Carlos/Cecil (Welcome to Night Vale) Characters: Cecil (Welcome to Night Vale), Carlos (Welcome to Night Vale), Old Woman Josie, Erika, The Night Vale Transit Authority, Concerned Deer, Teddy Williams Additional Tags: Angels Summary:

"Let's go on a picnic, he said. It'll be a fun afternoon, he said. I know a great little spot, he said. We can have some alone time, he said. JERK." How'd that work out for you, Carlos? Good time? Not so much? Why don't you tell us about it?

Spoiler level: Through 29 - Subway

Warning for temporary major character death.

[theflesheatingreadingbacterium]

Chapters: 2/2 Fandom: Welcome to Night Vale Rating: Explicit Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Carlos/Cecil Palmer Additional Tags: Anxiety Disorder, Mentions of self-harm, POCecil, Angst, Anal Sex, Oral Sex, Rimming, Smut, Eventual Happy Ending, Masturbation, Voyeurism Summary:

Carlos may be perfect, but he's never been boyfriend material. And he's learned to live with that--until now. Because he very, very much wants to be perfect for Cecil.

Spoiler level: Nonspoilery

[theflesheatingreadingbacterium]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Welcome to Night Vale Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Carlos/Cecil (Welcome to Night Vale) Additional Tags: POV Character of Color Summary:

It's indisputable that Night Vale exists.

Spoiler level: Nonspoilery

[theflesheatingreadingbacterium]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Welcome to Night Vale Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Carlos/Cecil (Welcome to Night Vale) Characters: Carlos (Welcome to Night Vale), Cecil (Welcome to Night Vale), Old Woman Josie, Hooded Figure(s), Koshek (Welcome to Night Vale), Dana (Welcome to Night Vale) Additional Tags: Pre-Slash, small floating kittens, hooded figures make great roommates, Headcanon Summary:

Carlos is absolutely objective. It’s just that it’s quite hard to stay objective when you’ve got Hooded Figures living in your kitchen, radio news reporters stalking you with somewhat dubious baked goods, and everything is so soaked with chemicals, radiation and dark magic that half the time your food disparages your cookery skills while you’re trying to make dinner.

Spoiler level: Nonspoilery

[theflesheatingreadingbacterium]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Welcome to Night Vale Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Carlos/Cecil (Welcome to Night Vale) Characters: Carlos (Welcome to Night Vale), Cecil (Welcome to Night Vale), OC scientists, The Sheriff's Secret Police Additional Tags: Explicit Sexual Content, Dating, Awkwardness, Romance, Oral Sex, Anal Sex, Switching, Fingerfucking, Cuddling & Snuggling, Fluff and Smut Summary:

Carlos has spent his life asking questions, and he accepted a long time ago that the best questions lead to more questions more often than they lead to answers. He just never could’ve anticipated the kind of questions Night Vale would leave him asking.

He never could’ve anticipated Cecil.

Spoiler level: Nonspoilery

Reccer's notes: Not notes but a strategically-pulled quote: "Carlos understands that there are a lot of ways to fall in love. The problem is that it’s not a uniform process, and the multitude of ways it can happen to you aren’t unifiable. It’s slow or fast or both; sudden or expected or neither. It makes up its own terms and then decides to throw them all away. It’s a lot like Night Vale, really; poetic and terrifying, every data point an outlier and everything new potentially destructive."

[theflesheatingreadingbacterium]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Welcome to Night Vale Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Carlos/Cecil Palmer Characters: Cecil Palmer, Carlos (Welcome to Night Vale) Additional Tags: Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, The Void Series: Part 3 of Night Vale fanworks Summary:

"Cecil --" Carlos' voice trailed off. He was in no shape to go out tonight. He hated to cancel a date; what if Cecil read too much into it, what if Cecil regretted what they'd -- it didn't matter. He couldn't possibly go out. He'd be the worst date ever. "I think I need a raincheck."

Spoiler level: Nonspoilery

Reccer's notes: CARETAKER CECIL. 'Scuse while I roll around on the floor; I love characters taking care of each other, it is absolutely my favorite thing ever. Add Carlos falling into an "any child would know about that" pitfall of Science in Night Vale and some really gorgeous reciprocal sex, and you've got a gem that I would mount on a chain and wear around my neck forever if I could.

[theflesheatingreadingbacterium]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Welcome to Night Vale Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Carlos/Cecil (Welcome to Night Vale) Additional Tags: public confession, First Time, Frotting, Anal Sex, True Love Summary:

Cecil is tongue-tied when he's with Carlos, but he's never at a loss for words when he's on the air.

Spoiler level: Nonspoilery

Reccer's notes: There will never be enough early-relationship fics about how these two dorks start fitting into each other, and this one is gorgeous. The intensity and desire come through so strongly they'll leave the reader nearly as breathless as the characters. And this is one of my favorite depictions of tongue-tied Cecil with the smooth radio delivery.

[theflesheatingreadingbacterium]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Welcome to Night Vale Rating: Mature Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Carlos/Cecil Palmer Characters: Cecil Palmer, Carlos (Welcome to Night Vale) Additional Tags: Post-Episode: e049 Old Oak Doors Part B, post-reunion, Established Relationship, Long-Distance Relationship, Carlos' Homecoming, Post-Coital, Brief Explicit Language, Angst, Comfort/Angst, Time Doesn't Work, Timelines, Reunion, Present Tense, POC Cecil, Cecil has Vitiligo, Sentient Vitiligo Summary:

“I was starting to lose my mind waiting for you, Carlos. But I did it. I waited. How long are you going to make me wait this time?”

When Carlos finally comes home, Cecil doesn't expect that he won't be able to stay.

Spoiler level: Major through 49 - Old Oak Doors

Reccer's notes: This fic has a companion, which I will link to without mentioning the title, as the title to the second fic could be considered a spoiler for this fic. Collectively, the pair should be considered a WIP; this first fic is complete but leaves things unresolved, and the second is still a WIP.

[theflesheatingreadingbacterium]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Welcome to Night Vale Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Carlos/Cecil Palmer Characters: Carlos (Welcome to Night Vale), Cecil Palmer, lots more of the Night Vale gang Additional Tags: shared food is important, professionalism's also a big priority for them both, moving towards cohabitation, everyday Night Vale life, Fluff, Domesticity, food as home, and culinary traditions and experiences as home, and creating home in one's chosen place, and all that Summary:

Five times Carlos and Cecil don't manage to share dinner, and one time they do. In which shared cooking and food is important, and in which they're both utterly dedicated to their jobs and the community, and in which they may adore each other, but learning to co-exist together is an ongoing process.

Spoiler level: Vague through 30 - Dana

Reccer's notes: A sampling of everyday life in Night Vale, and a series of snapshots of a developing relationship.

[theflesheatingreadingbacterium]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Welcome to Night Vale Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Carlos/Cecil (Welcome to Night Vale) Characters: Carlos (Welcome to Night Vale), Cecil (Welcome to Night Vale) Additional Tags: Sharing a Bed, Night Vale Official Moan, Cuddling & Snuggling, The Weather (Welcome to Night Vale) Summary:

"I didn't realize what that meant. We didn't have dissonance storms in California."

"No?" Cecil said, and then, with a slyly amused look, "I suppose the mountains blocked them?"

Spoiler level: Nonspoilery

Reccer's notes: Actually this time I just want to leave you with a short quote:

Carlos suspected that Cecil was not only better at speaking than he was, but also really good at hearing things Carlos utterly failed to actually say. So far the things Cecil heard seemed to be mostly things Carlos thought he probably would have liked to say to Cecil if he knew how, so he wasn't questioning the phenomenon too much.

[theflesheatingreadingbacterium]

Chapters: 3/3 Fandom: Welcome to Night Vale Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Carlos/Cecil Palmer Characters: Carlos (Welcome to Night Vale), Cecil Palmer Additional Tags: First Time, Kink Negotiation, Fluff, Oral Sex, Intercrural Sex, Biting, Blood, Aftercare, Comfort, Orgasm Delay/Denial, Subspace, Dirty Talk, Kinky First Times, Obedience, Sub Carlos, switch Cecil, Sub Drop, Dom/sub, Praise Kink, Consensual Kink, Explicit Consent, Hand Feeding, Kneeling, crawling, Trust Kink, Honesty, Hair-pulling, Fear Play, Cecil is Mostly Human, I will fight you for nonbinary Cecil, all Carloses are trans Carloses Summary:

"I'm nervous," Carlos admits. "I... haven't done this much, and I want to be good for you—I mean. I want it to be good. I want to do well. Don't." He swallows. "Don't say anything. I just wanted to get that out."

He leans in to kiss Cecil's sharp mouth, and lets the kiss and their hands soothe him, relax him, ease him back into this moment. He breaks the kiss and turns his face into their palm, then curls his head so that their fingers slide into his hair.

Spoiler level: Nonspoilery

[theflesheatingreadingbacterium]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Welcome to Night Vale Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Carlos/Cecil (Welcome to Night Vale) Characters: Carlos (Welcome to Night Vale), A talking cat. Additional Tags: Trans Character, transCarlos, Gender Issues, Developing Relationship, Relationship Advice, Original Character - Freeform, original cat - Freeform Summary:

Carlos, a scientist, contrary to popular belief, does not actually live in his lab.

Spoiler level: Nonspoilery

Reccer's notes: I love this cat, inviting Carlos to talk and then soothing his worries. In exchange for belly rubs and food, of course; it is a cat, after all.

[theflesheatingreadingbacterium]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Welcome to Night Vale Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Carlos/Cecil (Welcome to Night Vale) Characters: Carlos (Welcome to Night Vale), Cecil (Welcome to Night Vale) Additional Tags: Sharing a Bed, Trans Male Character, Asexual Character, POC Cecil Summary:

It's late or maybe early and Carlos is exhausted and his mind is wandering. Because he can't sleep, because Cecil is terrible at sharing a bed.

Spoiler level: NOnspoilery

Reccer's notes: This is SO CUTE OMG. And it has trans Carlos and asexual Cecil and grownups having grown-up conversations about things that matter to them, and also--Cecil's eyes! and sleeping habits! and basically I have melted into a pile of happy gooey fluff.

[theflesheatingreadingbacterium]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Welcome to Night Vale Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Carlos/Cecil (Welcome to Night Vale) Characters: Cecil Palmer, Carlos (Welcome to Night Vale) Additional Tags: Romance, Fluff, Asexual Relationship Summary:

Cecil is worried because his relationship with Carlos doesn't follow the Standard Relationship Progression Directive (Ages 21-40).

Spoiler level: Nonspoilery

Reccer's notes: Did you need some sweet asexual Cecilos relationship negotiation? Yes, you probably did. We all did. Here it is!

[theflesheatingreadingbacterium]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Welcome to Night Vale Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Carlos/Cecil (Welcome to Night Vale) Characters: Carlos (Welcome to Night Vale), Original Characters Additional Tags: Awkwardness, Episode: e027 First Date, Awkward Romance, Awkward Conversations, Do You Get The Theme Here, Carlos POV, poor communication skills Summary:

Carlos's reaction to the first date involves a lot more anguished cries than Cecil's, though to be fair, they're only anguished cries of "Why did I do that, why did I say that, why am I allowed to interact with other people" so they're still better than at least eighty percent of Night Vale's late night wails.

Spoiler level: Specific for 27 - First Date

Reccer's notes: I adore awkward, nervous Carlos almost more than anything, and I love learning-to-fit-into-Night-Vale Carlos, and I love how these two dorks are being two huge dorky dorks in love.

[theflesheatingreadingbacterium]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Welcome to Night Vale Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Carlos/Cecil (Welcome to Night Vale) Characters: Cecil (Welcome to Night Vale), Carlos (Welcome to Night Vale), Dana (Welcome to Night Vale) Additional Tags: Nail Polish, Sparkles, femme Cecil, basically femme everything Summary:

In which Cecil has about a million different sparkly nail polishes, and Carlos is a terrible scientist.

Spoiler level: Nonspoilery

Reccer's notes: It is a favored headcanon of mine that Cecil wears nail polish, and that occasionally Carlos asks him to paint his nails, too.