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☆☆☆
Dave and Jack eventually found a hotel that would allow them to stay the night (All the others wouldn’t want to house a purple and orange pair of zombies. Huh. Weirdos.)
It was actually decent, which is a plus; the sheets were mostly clean, service was nice, and it wasn’t like either of them were sober enough to really care.
That doesn’t go to say that they were completely drunk; nah, they was just buzzed. But it was still enough to not notice the… weird white stains on the head of the bed.
Dave was surprisingly thrilled with every part of the hotel, it being both of their first hotels from when they first arrived in Vegas. Well, Dave looked thrilled at just about everything they did in Vegas together, like just setting his eyes on all of the neon lights or walking into a lively casino.
Not that Jack was watching, of course. No. Totally not.
Jack was thrilled, too, for all intents and purposes, but it was harder to tell. He was never really good at expressing his emotions.
Jack opened the door to the hotel room and set his eyes upon the sight: one bed, a TV mounted onto the wall, a desk, minifridge, and one of those spinny chair things you always see in office jobs.
Dave pushed past Jack and plops into the chair, spinning around exactly 16 times before stopping and flashing a smile at Jack. Jack smiled back, before once again settling his gaze on the room.
But, then he realized: They only ordered one bed. Mm. This would be …awkward. They also didn’t have a couch, and there was no way either of them would sleep on the musty floor.
He stood a few inches inside of the hotel room from the door, contemplating his next move before continuing into the room. One bed. Not two. Which meant they would have to sleep together. Because of course they had to.
They should have rethought this. It wasn’t like they did that on purpose. Eh, maybe Dave did while Jack was admiring a random painting off to the side. Wouldn’t put it past him to slip a twenty to the receptionist lady, but that was just Dave for ya.
Ok, this can be…bearable, Jack thought, taking a few more steps before putting his duffle bag down near the bed. He began to put his and Dave’s clothes into the nearby drawers on the nightstand while Dave clicked through the channels to the TV.
Jack heard the mixed sounds of TV shows and movies, before eventually they stopped at some documentary explaining how man evolved.
Jack wasn’t really into stuff like that, but in reality he wasn’t into much else other than technical stuff. Quite literally. His favorite thing to do was repair the most random shit ever lmao.
Being a boring adult was, well, boring. It didn’t get to come with the creativity or open mind that a child has. At least for Jack, it was. It seemed that Dave has kept that childhood sense of freedom.
Speaking of which: Dave seemed to have found something in the brochure they had stolen from the lobby. They didn’t just want to gamble. Right?
On the outside of the brochure, it was what a stereotypical tourist would definitely be attached to. At least, tourists like Dave would be attached to. The Vegas sign on the front page, and what looks like an index on the back. It wasn’t even that big. Why did it need an index?
He seemed to have found a page in which he liked, because he stopped flipping through and started actually reading the text. He creased his brows in thought as he read, his eyes flicking right to left and up and down periodically.
Not that Jack was watching. No, of course not.
After putting away the last piece of clothing, Jack sat down on their (coincidently) shared bed, right at the edge.
It was relatively light out, the sun just setting, turning the sky into a gradient of orange and yellows. Jack wondered if one could see the stars in such a place, it being the desert and all, but thought against it once he remembered what city they were in. Las Vegas. Probably one of the only other brightest cities, minus New York.
Not that he cared much. He never really thought about those twinkling ounces of silent beauty, free for anyone to see, if they’re looking hard enough. He was a boring adult, remember?
He looked back towards Dave who had leaned back in his swivel chair, still reading what he thought was the same page. It turned out he was right: Dave swiveled as much as needed to face Jack and tore his face away from the brochure, flipping it to show Jack.
“Look! An aquarium! In VEGAS???? Have ya ever heard about something like that?” He said, eyes wide, a wide smile on his face. “It even says it has sharks!”
Jack glanced over the text, roughly reading it. Apparently it was relatively close to their hotel. A 15 minute walk wouldn’t hurt, and Jack was kinda restless to do something. Other than gambling, of course.
“Sharks? What’s so cool about them?” Jack asked, looking up from the brochure and straightening up a bit.
“Uh, EVERYTHING?! They swim, and their fins are rad, and, and… they’re real cool,” Dave argued, counting on his fingers for every point (or lack thereof.) “Please?”
He put his hands in a praying position and tucked the brochure under his arm in pleading. He wasn’t going to let it down.
Jack raised an eyebrow before eventually sighing and pinching the bridge of his nose. “Ugh, fine. But you have to give actual reasons as to why sharks are ‘so cool’ before you officially get an approval”
“No problem! I’ll explain on the way,” Dave said, grabbing Jack’s arm and leading him towards the door, ignoring his yelp at the suddenness of the situation.
☆☆☆
Jack and Dave continued their walk down the Strip, the sun going down steadily all the same. It had made the sky a deep orange, giving a red hue whenever either of them looked close at the horizon.
It wasn’t as hot as it was earlier; since evening was approaching, it had gotten a bit cool. Not that Jack was complaining, he hated the heat. He didn’t know about Dave, that man could either love or hate it. It depends on his mood.
Weather aside, Dave had been yapping to him about, well, as promised, how sharks are cool.
“And, now, ya see, some sharks can look real cute but STILL be killer predators! Cool, amiright?” Dave finished with a smile and an elbow to Jack’s side.
“...Fine, whatever you say,” Jack said, distracted by a shop they were passing. “I believe you.”
“Thanks!” Dave stopped walking and looked up at the building in front of them. “ I think we’re here,” He said, poking Jack’s shoulder to remind him to stop.
Jack looked up at the building. It was…bright, with blue neon lights kinda….everywhere. Eh, it’s Vegas. What did ya expect.
“Well. I guess we're here,” Jack deadpanned, waiting for Dave to make some dumbass remark. “Now that you’ve seen it, we can go–”
Jack didn’t understand why he ever thought that he could somehow trick them into going back to the hotel, but ooh was he wrong. He was almost immediately grabbed by the forearm and led towards the front doors by Dave, who was smiling all the way.
Um, okay, sure. Guess they can go around and…. do whatever one does in an aquarium? Jack doesn’t know. He hasn’t been in an aquarium since, like, second grade. How was he supposed to know?
They came to Vegas for a reason. To spend time with each other, right? So of course, Jack didn’t really mind if they stayed. He was afraid if he had enough time to think he would start to not mind sharing a bed with Dave all that much. Eugh. And, ya know, think about how much of a crush he has on him. Right. Can’t forget that one.
They walked into the aquarium, the carpet covered in printed-on exotic fish, and looked at their surroundings.
The walls were almost always exhibits to a bunch of fish, with winding halls leading to different directions. For some reason there was no counter to buy tickets, so Jack thought that it was free entry. At least he hoped. It wasn’t like he had much money to spend here, nonetheless to gamble away.
Jack had to admit, it did look really cool. The lights overhead were really dim blue neon, creating a pretty comfortable space that Jack could get behind. It seemed that Dave could, too- he looked too stunned to speak. There were a few other patrons around from where Jack could see, and made a mental note to stay away from them.
“So, uh, I go right, you take left?” Jack said, not turning to face Dave.
“Yea, I guess so,” Dave said, kind of distantly. Yeesh, he must really like this.
“Kay. See ya in, like, 20-ish minutes?” Jack said, already eyeing an exhibit he may be interested in.
“Yup.”
“See ya then.”
☆☆☆
Jack walked, as he promised, to the right and made his way down one of the winding halls, of which being entirely made up of fish tanks, filled to the brim with lively fish swimming about. Most of them had placards of what kind of fish were in them and their history, but Jack wasn’t really interested in those. He much rathered looking at all the funny lookin fishes and mentally making fun of them.
Every now and again he wondered if Dave was having fun, not that he really cared all that much. Nah. Totally not.
God, he really needed to stop thinking about Dave. It felt like that was all he ever did most of the time now; he couldn't help it. Plus it wasn’t like he had much else to think about other than if he’ll get food poisoning from the pizza or whether he should get therapy.
So in that case, thinking about Dave didn’t seem that bad. But then Jack remembered that having a good opinion on anyone would ruin his ego. Or rather what little he had left of one.
And it wasn’t like he had anyone to tell about how he feels about Dave. Other than Dave himself. Which was obviously not gonna happen.
Though a part of him wanted to tell him. Wanted to tell him how he feels.
Eugh. He hated having to come to terms with…that. How he felt. He was never one with feelings. Neither did he ever think he would be one with feelings. But that fact seemed to disappear once he thought about how Dave’s smile seems to lighten the room or how his eyes light up whenever he talks about something he really likes. Like Jack.
And that made Jack think even more. Did Dave like him back? Or was it just cheerful banter, in which he didn’t mean any of what he said? Jack hoped he meant it. For some reason every ounce of his being wanted him to mean it.
God, he was so sappy.
He stopped at an exhibit with a bunch of stereotypical tropical fish. He wondered how the workers got these huge tanks into the building, it being seemingly endless. Not to mention where they got all of the sealife; it was Vegas though, so he supposed just like how they got anything into this city. Illegally.
A clownfish seemed to take an interest in him; it swam up to him near the glass and waited, almost like Jack was supposed to do something. It did perk Jack’s interest, though, so if the clownfish wanted attention it was getting it.
“Hey little guy,” Jack said under his breath, lifting a finger and very gently tapping it against the glass. The fish swam around it.
It seemed to garner the attention of some of the other clownfish, too, because a few more came over to see what was goin on.
“Aww, there’s more o’ you guys..” Jack said, yet again under his breath so no passersby could hear his babytalk. Not that he expected any, anyway. There weren’t many when they originally walked in, and he hasn’t seen any in the hallway he was in.
Jack was pretty fascinated by the little fish. They were pretty cute, in his opinion. And seemed to be pretty social too.
He wiggled his finger a few more times before hearing someone running down the hallway he was in, turning his head towards the direction of the sound. He almost immediately dropped his hand awkwardly.
Well, would you look at that; Dave had somehow found him and was approaching. Quickly.
“SPORT SPORT SPORT SPORT!!” He was shouting, sprinting towards Jack and almost knocking him off his feet while grabbing his hand and intertwining their fingers. Like friends. Yeah. Totes.
“Woah, big guy, CHRIST–” And before he knew it, Jack was being dragged away by the hand to.. somewhere.
☆☆☆
He almost tripped 3 times before Dave stopped, and once he gathered his thoughts, actually started to look around himself.
They were somewhere in the middle of the aquarium, where a big cylindrical tank was centered, filled with a bunch more sealife.
“Sharks,” Dave said, still grabbing onto his hand and pointing up to the tank in front of them. He wasn’t wrong; there were sharks, much to Jack’s amusement.
“You are so autistic,” Jack said with a smirk, glancing at Dave before squeezing his hand and looking up at the sharks in front of them.
They were huge; well, of course they’re gonna be huge, but Jack didn’t think they’d actually be that big. It’s different when one sees them for themselves.
Dave squeezed his hand back.
Jack looked down at their intertwined fingers and felt his face warm, a smile tugging at his lips. Of course Dave liked him. There was no way he didn’t. And maybe Jack liked him back, too. Maybe.
Probably.
God, he was wrapped around this man’s finger.
Dave elbowed his side. “Did ya know that mako sharks are the fastest shark species? Well, fastest discovered species, and that also doesn’t mean that other sharks can’t be faster than a mako,” he said, turning his head slightly to face Jack, a soft smile on his face. “Another shark has just never been recorded being faster.”
Jack scoffed. “No, Dave, I didn’t know that,” he said, rolling his eyes, but there was no bite to his words. He looked back up at the shark swimming in front of them, which had swam to somewhere out of view.
“Hey! Well, now ya do. Oh, and, by the way, I gotta use the mens room real quick, I’ll be right back,” Dave said, letting go of Jack’s hand to touch his shoulder while turning to leave.
“See ya,” Jack said, feeling the warmth of their hands slowly leave his. That left a pit in his stomach. For some reason.
Jack looked back at the cylinder tank. There were other tiny fish swimming about from where Jack could see. Not that he was very interested, the clownfish was where his interest was, but just the overall atmosphere kept him hooked to this place.
That was until all of the lights in the place suddenly cut out.
☆☆☆
Jack looked around himself, not being able to find much of anything in the dark. He could hear distant gasps, but again couldn’t see anyone. Or anything. Yeah, that too.
He tried to feel around for something, maybe a wall??? But was almost immediately grabbed by the wrist and led away from his original location.
He tried to tug away, having no clue who the fuck was dragging him, but his attempt was to no avail. This person had a steel grip on him– so much so it hurt.
“Hey! Asshole? The flip are ya doing, man?” He tried to yell, getting the grabber’s attention somewhat, but still not getting them to stop.
Jack felt the crisp cool night air on his skin once he realized that they had made it outside. “Hellooo? Why are– Dave?” He said, getting his first good look at whoever had been dragging him.
And lo and behold, there he was. Dave in all his… purple glory. Damn, he was strong. His hair was mussed, for some reason, and he seemed out of breath. “Heya, Sportsy!” he greeted.
“Dave?” Jack said again, so much more confused this time. “I thought you went to go to the bathroom?”
“Oh, no, I did. I just so happened to somehow find the power breaker and uumm…. look at it in its glory,” He said, starting to fidget with the hem of his shirt, avoiding eye contact more and more towards the end of his sentence.
“Oh, yeah, like I’m gonna believe th– woah,” Jack said, getting distracted mid sentence.
He got to look at his surroundings for the first time since the blackout, and boy was it worth the worry. Dave had lead him out to the back, where there was nothing other than desert and the outskirts of the city. It seemed that somehow the power to the entirety of Vegas had been turned off, almost like someone flipped a switch. It left only the moonlight to shine light into the surrounding area.
It was gorgeous; the stars were some of the only things you could see. Everything else required squinting and extreme vision.
“Dave,” Jack said, poking Dave’s lower arm, not taking his eyes off of the horizon and skyline. “Dave, look.”
“I’m lookin’, Sportsy..” he said, also not taking his eyes off of the skyline.
They stayed there for a moment, looking around themselves at the beauty of the dark. Well, mostly dark. The moon helped illuminate a surprising amount of things in the distance. The entire city looked…kinda dead, in all honesty. The entire point of Vegas’ attraction was the lights, and without it it looked weirdly uncomfortable. But still somewhat strangely beautiful, nonetheless.
And then Jack realized. There was no way Dave just so happened to grab Jack right after a blackout, know exactly when that was going to happen, and ALSO bring up the topic of breakers.
“Dave,” he asked, trying for nonchalantness.
“Yeah?”
“You had something to do with this, didn’t you?”
“...”
“Would you be mad if I said yes?”
Jack sighed. He turned to look at him, making eye contact and accidentally putting on a genuine smile. “You are so fucking stupid, ya know that?” he said, it somehow turning bashful turning the end of his sentence.
“Well, now that ya put it that way, I –”
Dave was cut off by Jack suddenly grabbing him by the waist with one hand, the other along his jawline, and kissing him.
Dave almost immediately leaned into him, wrapping his arms around his middle, and embracing the kiss. Jack moved his arms to wrap around his neck, deepening it, fireworks going off inside his brain.
He didn’t understand why he didn’t do it sooner; it wasn’t even that hard. Sure, he did have butterflies in his stomach, but they all died in a fire when he actually made his move.
Not to mention how deeply he loved Dave. He loved how his hands framed his face, or how he somehow always made something not funny make Jack laugh so hard his sides hurt, or even how much he just seemed to want to include Jack in everything. He loved it so, so much. No matter how much he grumbled or rolled his eyes, he would still love it.
So he enjoyed every second of…whatever had happened. That was, until he remembered how he did this on a whim. For just about no reason except for ‘the sky looked pretty.’
Jack slowly leaned away from Dave, putting his hand on his chest to steer him away from himself. They broke apart, both reluctantly, and stared at each other, before realizing that they were still holding onto each other. After seperating their arms from each others bods awkwardly, they stood a couple of feet away from each other, standing side by side and rethinking life choices.
Jack rubbed his arm, getting distracted once again at the stars that illuminated the desert. The edges of the palm trees that lined the entry way to Vegas were soflty glowing. It was so incredibly beautiful, Jack almost couldn’t take it.
And then Jack remembered something.
“Dave.”
“Yeah.”
“You still need to tell me how this even happened.”
“Oh.”
Dave reached up and scratched the back of his neck, avoiding eye contact as he spoke. “I noticed how much ya kept looking up at the sky on the way to the aquarium, so I just thought you wanted to see the stars. Can’t see shit with how much light pollution there is, right?”
Jack supposed he had a point. He hadn’t even realized he was gazing up at the sky earlier. “So you somehow found a way to cut out power to the entire city?” he asked, way too casually.
“Only for ya,” Dave said, looking back at Jack and smiling softly. “It’s not like you hate it, so I don’t wanna see any head shaking or grumbles.”
Jack scoffed lightly. “Not for something as special as this.” He smiled. “Not for this.”
Jack turned to Dave and held his hand out, silently asking to hold it. Dave obviously obliged, once again intertwining their fingers.
Jack led the two to a spot where grass started to die out and turn to sand, kind of like a beach, and sat down, Dave in tow. They sat shoulder to shoulder, craning their necks to look at the sky, speckled with stars like freckles.
“I am seriously surprised with just about everything you do,” Jack said softly, smiling.
“Is that a ‘thank you,’ I hear?” Dave said smugly, elbowing Jack’s side.
“Sure,” he said, soaking in the moment.
And so they just sat there, and enjoyed the silent beauty of hundreds of millions little blinking specks of light.
☆☆☆