#carsel

i wrote more carsel (no one is surprised) the title is from coldplay's new song atlas ("[i'll] carry your world and all your hurt") and this is basically almost-boyfriends carsel hurt/comfort

pairing: carsel words: 1612 rating: pg-13 (for mentions of violence/bullying)

It’s a Saturday afternoon and Carson and Russel are in Russel’s room, studying. Well, Russel’s studying; Carson’s just staring at him. He doesn’t mean for it to keep happening, but there’s something about the way Russel looks when he’s talking excitedly about the all the Chemistry they’re supposed to know for their next test…

pairing: carsel words: 1274 rating: pg (not g bc sexual references??)

“Take the trash out, would you?”

Carson sighs and begrudgingly gets up from the kitchen table where he had been eating lunch. He normally would have refused, as his mother is perfectly capable of taking it out herself, but if she’s still hung over at noon, well, he figures he can give her a bit of a break. He trudges over to the trashcan and hauls the bag out of it, but he underestimates its weight so it slips out of his hands and some of the trash spills out onto the floor.

“You have got to be fucking kidding me,” he mutters under his breath, bending down to clean up the mess.

Carson puts everything back in the bag and is just about to pick it up again when he sees it. Deep in the bag, barely visible, is an envelope and a piece of paper folded into thirds. It could be anything. There is no reason to get his hopes up; it’s probably a bill. But he has to check, just in case.

Carefully, Carson reaches into the trash bag and fishes out the envelope and the paper. He catches sight of something purple on the envelope and almost drops it and the paper in shock. It’s from Northwestern. Carson pauses, frowning. Why would a letter from Northwestern be in the trash? Had his mom found it, read it, seen that he had been rejected, and wanted to save him the heartbreak? No, there’s no way he’d been rejected. But why else would it be in the trash? There’s only one way to find out.

Carson props the trash bag against the wall and takes the letter to the table. With shaking hands, he flattens the letter onto it. As soon as he reads the first line, he lets out a sound halfway between a gasp and some sort of triumphant yell. He got in.

Carson has to fight the grin that’s threatening to spread across his face; he can’t let himself be happy about this until he’s confronted his mother about why it was in the trash. Grabbing the trash bag in one hand and keeping the letter firmly grasped in the other, he storms over to where Sheryl has already fallen back asleep on the couch.

“Why was my Northwestern acceptance letter in the trash?” he demands.

She only blinks up at him groggily. “Why was what where?”

Carson grits his teeth and tries again. “Why was this,” he holds up the letter, “in here?” he finishes, holding up the trash bag.

Sheryl sits up a bit, a deer-in-the-headlights expression on her face. Ah, so it wasn’t a mistake. Typical of her, really, Carson muses.

“I don’t want you going to that school. You’re only going to crash and burn out there. I wanted to protect you.”

Carson makes a face. “If you knew me at all, which you clearly don’t, you’d know that that’s never going to happen. And even if it does, shouldn’t I at least get a chance? Throwing my letter away so I can’t go isn’t fair.”

“Life isn’t fair! That’s what I was trying to teach you!”

Carson makes a noise in his throat that’s a mixture of disbelief and disgust. This is why he hadn’t wanted to confront her; he knew it would only make him angry. He doesn’t want to let this ruin his good mood. Carson turns away and heads for the front door.

“I’m going to Russel’s. Let me know if you want to try to ruin my life again!” he calls over his shoulder and nearly slams the door behind him before she can say anything.

As soon as Carson is out of the house, he lets the happiness overwhelm him. This is actually happening. He’s going to Northwestern next year. He’s whistling softly to himself as he tosses the trash bag in the bin and goes through the excessively difficult process of starting up his car. He feels incredibly free on the drive to Russel’s house, and it isn’t just the fact that he has the top down. He’s actually going to get out of Clover, and he can’t stop grinning about it.

Carson’s all but vibrating as he walks up the steps to Russel’s front door, and he can’t wipe a huge stupid grin off his face. As he reaches the door, he’s suddenly worried Russel’s mom will open it (it’s happened before and been awkward, even though he’s pretty sure she likes him well enough), but luckily his fear is unfounded. He’s so excited that he can’t help but knock almost continuously until a surprised Russel opens the door.

Russel’s confusion quickly melts into an easy grin, which only makes Carson smile wider.

“You’re unusually smiley,” Russel notes.

Too distracted to come up with something witty to say back, Carson just holds up his letter excitedly. “I got into Northwestern!”

Carson wishes he had a camera to take a picture of Russel’s face, because at that moment, he’s positive it could bring him out of any bad mood he might ever be in. Russel’s whole face has lit up, and he almost looks happier than Carson himself. Almost, but not quite, because there’s no way anyone could possibly be happier than Carson is then.

Russel launches himself at Carson, throwing his arms around his neck and making Carson stumble a little before he regains his balance and hugs Russel back.

“I knew you would get in! I’m so happy for you!”

Carson just grins even wider, squeezing Russel before pulling away slightly. Russel still looks like he’s the one who got into the college of his dreams, and Carson loves that about him, that he’s so happy even though it’s not him that something this amazing is happening to. It’s moments like these that make Carson wonder how the fuck he managed to get someone as amazing as Russel to be his boyfriend, because this kind of reaction is just unreal.

Carson can’t help but voice his thoughts aloud. “How are you this happy for me?”

Russel steps back and gives him a look like he can’t believe Carson is even asking that question and Carson shrugs a little in return.

“Because this is what happens when you feel… this way about someone,” Russel says seriously. “You being happy makes me happy, Carson. And this is the happiest I’ve ever seen you, so it just kinda makes sense.”

As is often the case when Russel says overly sappy things like this, Carson doesn’t know what to do. Does he say something sappy back? Does he make a snarky comment? Does he stare at Russel like an idiot? (Carson would prefer the second or even the first option, but unfortunately he ends up doing the last option more often than not.)

“Oh, yeah…,” Carson responds, sounding exactly like the eloquent writer he is, and definitely not like a love-struck teenager.

Thankfully, Russel chooses not to tease him about his lack of eloquence (though he’s smirking enough to make Carson feel defensive about it), and smiles again. “We should celebrate. Do you wanna go get ice cream or something?”

Carson takes this opportunity to regain his metaphorical footing and leans closer to Russel, now smirking himself.

“I think we should go celebrate in your room,” he whispers, hoping he sounds seductive.

thank u

who cooks normally?: russel bc carson's only good at like 3 dishes

how often do they fight?: they bicker/banter all the time but they actually fight very rarely bc even if carson says something hurtful when he's not thinking russel understands and forgives him but then rarely they have big fights and it's sad

what do they do when they’re away from each other?: text/call/skype all the time like almost every day when possible and make plans to visit each other and miss each other a lot (they go to college in different states so being away from each other is unavoidable)

nicknames for each other?: carson doesn't have any for russel but russel always calls carson pet names like honey/sweetie/sweetheart/etc and carson pretends to be annoyed by it but he secretly likes it (and russel knows it)

who is more likely to pay for dinner?: they switch off bc it's usually whoever can get the money out first bc they both want to pay

who steals the covers at night?: russel turns into a little blanket burrito and then carson wakes up cold and steals them back

what would they get each other for gifts?: well one time in hunter and my carsel rp carson had a pizza sent to russel's dorm room bc carson was an ass and for russel's birthday he sent him a dildo as a gag gift and then a digital picture frame with pictures of them and of carson idk what russel would get carson though

who remembers things?: russel does but carson wrote down their anniversary everywhere so he wouldn't forget and disappoint russel

who cusses more?: carson does but they both swear a lot i think

what would they do if the other one was hurt?: omg it depends if they get hurt by accident or if someone hurts them but if it's by accident: russel would make sure carson's comfortable and has everything he needs to heal and carson would do pretty much the same but he'd be super worried and pace a lot too bc he needs russel to be ok and then if someone hurt them: pretty much the same but first carson would like hunt down the person who hurt russel and someone would have to hold him back bc he'd try to attack them and he'd succeed at least verbally attacking them and he'd probably try to get back at them some other way and then if someone hurt carson well you know what russel would do i mean you've seen the short film (he probably wouldn't do that exact thing but you know)

who kissed who first?: well russel wanted to kiss carson for a while before it actually happens but he wouldn't actually do it bc he doesn't want to mess up their friendship and bc carson's said some pretty anti-relationship things before so eventually it's carson who kisses russel but idk if this would be like after school in the journalism classroom or behind the school with carson like pushing russel against the wall or at one of their houses or if it'd be super heated or sweet but yes carson'd initiate it

who made the first move?: i'm not sure if this is the same as kissing but i think if it's not kissing then russel would like he'd ask carson out first (even though they go out to movies or dinner etc before that this time'd be different and they both know it) and maybe around the time they start dating maybe before the kissing or not idk russel'd grab carson's hand to hold it and carson'd be like "!!!! ... ok"

yes *u* carsel is my fave

Who cooks: russel does let's be honest carson doesn't know how to cook very well but i think he knows a few dishes but not as much as russel

Who does the laundry and other chores: russel does the laundry but he makes carson do the other chores even though carson complains a lot

How many children do they have: carson hates kids and russel loves them (it's a struggle) but i think maybe eventually russel manages to convince carson and they have one

Who’s more dominate: carson but russel surprises him a lot

Favorite nonsexual activity: cuddling and watching movies (though carson'll never admit it) also writing together

Their favorite place to be together: bed ;D no in their rooms with their laptops writing together or anywhere together really

Any traditions: i'm not sure but russel makes carson have an 80's movies marathon with him as often as carson'll cave in

Their “song”: i can't pick

What they do for each other on holidays: nothing special (besides gifts on their birthdays/christmas) just spend time together (they both agree valentine's day is stupid and commercialized even if russel likes the romance aspect of it)

Where did they go for their honeymoon: ummmm this is a hard one i don't think they went anywhere fancy probably just somewhere they could spend a lot of time together and not worry about work

Where did they first meet: russel moved to clover from new england around middle schoolish and got bullied a lot and one time carson saw this and defended him (though they had seen each other around before) (see hunter's fic)

Any pets: maaaaybe a cat but carson wouldn't want to at first

What do they fight over: they tease each other a lot and sometimes it goes too far but they're never angry for long