Chapter Text
The phone was ringing. Tucker grumbled and rolled over.
Specs’ phone was ringing.
He flopped his arm over towards Specs’ direction on the left side of the bed, hitting his target and getting a pissy, “argh, I’m getting it,” in response.
Specs retrieved his phone from his nightstand, sitting on the edge of the bed and rubbing his face as he pressed to receive the call. He stood and walked into the hallway, answering with a drowsy, “hello?”
“Okay, that was Elise,” Specs walked back into the bedroom a minute later, addressing Tucker lying on the bed, eyes closed. “Tucker,” he stood at the foot of the bed, watching Tucker continue to sleep. Rolling his eyes he crossed over to the right side of the bed, kneeling on the carpet.
“Hey,” he gave his face a couple of light pats, “buddy, hustle. We have logistics to discuss here.”
Tucker grumbled, scrunching up his face before shooting him a scowl and shoving at the side of Specs’ head.
“Hey,” he said again, laughing lightly, “watch it.” Tucker looked at him. “Are you ready to converse now? That was Elise on the phone.”
“Fuck you. Wha’ she say?” He mumbled out, barely comprehensible with his face shoved half into his pillow.
“She’s gonna pick us up around 9:30,” he paused, consulting his watch, “which is a little less than an hour from now. So, we should probably get up and ready.”
“She’s picking us up?” He squinted at Specs, freeing his face from the bedding and speaking more clearly. “In her car?”
“Yeah,” Specs folded his hands on the mattress and set his chin on top of them, watching Tucker.
“How? Why?”
“I’ve no idea, she’s the boss. Also, probably has something to do with the van only really having two seats and her car having five,” he smiled softly at Tucker, not wearing his glasses yet and still in his pajamas. “At least she’s got a trunk.”
-
It was a gloomy morning, overcast but without rain. The world felt hazy; riddled with anticipation and positive anxiety for the trip ahead of them.
Elise had mapped out the itinerary for them before they left her house the night before. They would drive halfway Saturday (5-6 hours) and stay in Nevada or Utah for the night. Then, pick up Sunday morning and complete the ten hour trip to Evanston and relax for the night, before meeting with their clients Monday morning. The rest from there would be determined by how much time the case would take, if it was legitimate.
They were lounging on the couch, leaning against each other, waiting for Elise to call and inform them she was on her way.
“This is exciting, huh?” Specs kissed Tucker’s cheek in a random spark of affection, resting his nose against his cheekbone and toying with the sleeve of Tucker’s sweater to quell his nerves.
After waking up, Specs had spent his time in what he would call “a controlled flurry of tasks”, but what Tucker would call “scrambling around the place.” Elise had designated him in control of giving directions, for which they planned to use his phone, but that didn’t stop him from printing out backup directions in case some freak occurrence left them without anybody’s phone. He had also double checked both his and Tucker’s bags (at least three times that Tucker saw) to make sure they hadn’t forgotten any of their personal belongings, before piling them by the front door. After that, Tucker was able to wrangle him in enough to get a quick breakfast.
“Right now I’d define it more as ‘boring’,” Tucker mumbled, head lolled on the back of the couch pressing lightly against Specs’ nose with his eyes closed. They’d only been waiting around for about five minutes, but they were feeding off of each other’s impatience.
“Yeah, I would’ve thought she’d left by now, it’s already almost 9:30,” he checked his watch, eight minutes to go, “but then again, she might be running late dropping Warren off at the-”
There was a soft knock and then the front door was opening.
“Yoo hoo! Are we ready to go?” Elise peeked her head through the door, smiling at them peering at her from the living room couch. “I figured I’d just come over instead of calling first.”
“Oh, yeah,” Specs stood up from the couch, smoothing out his pants and smiling lightly at Elise, “that works.” He walked into the entry to meet Elise and invite her in, shutting the door behind her.
“Hey, Elise,” Tucker smiled, sitting up on the couch and repositioning to face the two of them standing in front of the door.
“Tucker! Good morning, are you excited?”
“Mm, very,” he hummed, standing to join them. “We ready now?”
“Uh, yeah, I think we’ve got everything,” Specs glanced at their bags, “the rest of the stuff we’ll get from the van, yeah.” He looked up at them both, “if Elise is ready, we’re ready.”
“I’m so ready,” she grabbed both of their hands, squeezing them lightly before dropping them, “I’ll head on outside and get the trunk situated.” She opened the door and slipped out, shutting it gently behind her.
“Well,” Tucker began, “Elise is here.”
Specs smiled at him, amused with the situation, before walking around them to grab their bags from the floor. They only had two bags, one for each of them, though Tucker insisted they could have shared. Specs did not agree.
“It’s just not pragmatic, asshole. Our stuff will get mixed up and we won’t have enough room so we’ll both make sacrifices that we’ll regret making later and it will just be too much of a hassle.”
Tucker eventually gave up when Specs lobbed Tucker’s empty overnight bag at his head.
It was a chilly morning and the overcast skies added to the effect. They were all wearing long sleeves; Elise in a navy blue shirt with a knitted vest overtop, Specs in a long sleeve white t-shirt he’d gotten from a coffee shop on a trip to Seattle years previous, and Tucker in a black t-shirt spouting a quote from Hellraiser with a dark green knit sweater overtop.
After giving the place a once over they left the house; Tucker closed and locked the front door behind him before heading to the street to unlock the van. He lugged out the equipment trunks, setting them on the asphalt to shut the van doors, and joined the other two at the awaiting trunk of Elise’s car. He heaved them into the empty trunk, the car bouncing from their weight for a moment before settling. Hot suddenly from the exertion, he removed his sweater and chucked it into the backseat with their bags.
They all climbed into their seats; Elise taking first shift driving while Tucker rested behind her and Specs gave directions from the passenger seat. They pulled off from the curb and onto the roads, heading northeast.
-
The beginning of the trip had been relatively busy for Elise and Specs, merging from one highway to another before they settled onto one that they’d be driving on for a consistent while. It was around this point, the boring parts of the drive, that Specs began to wish he’d brought a blanket or sweatshirt with him into the front seat. Tucker had been dozing practically since they started out, and he didn’t want to disturb him from his sleep to ask for his sweatshirt. But then a crunch broke him out of his thoughts.
He whipped his head back, Tucker looking up at him and pausing mid chew in alarm, he gave Specs a confused scrunch of his eyebrows, continuing to chew.
“You’re awake.”
“Should I not be?” Another pretzel.
“No, I just thought you were asleep,” he paused, “would you grab me a sweatshirt or something from my bag?”
Tucker nodded, popping the pretzel he was holding into his mouth before shifting to face the bags. He looked them over for a second, before grabbing his abandoned sweater off the top and tossing it at Specs.
“Here, just use this.”
Specs picked it up, looking down at the soft material bundled in his hands and lap before switching back up to meet Tucker.
“You sure? You aren’t gonna need it?”
Tucker nodded again, “Mhm, I’m fine right now.”
“Okay, thanks,” he pushed the chest strap of his seatbelt behind him, leaning forward to slip the sweater over his head. He righted his seatbelt and slouched down in his seat, smelling Tucker on the ill fitting sweater and zoning out into the ease of the ride. Elise smiled at Tucker in the rearview mirror.
-
Around the two hour mark they pulled off for gas. Specs awoke when the car slowed and came to a stop at the gas pump. Tucker unbuckled and opened his door, stretching before leaning back into the car to address his boyfriend.
“Gonna go inside to pay for the gas, wanna come with?” Specs had his glasses off, rubbing his eyes with both hands.
“Mmm,” he hummed contemplatively, unbuckling and turning his head to look at the other, “yeah, I’ll come in.” He got out and stretched, the sleeves of Tucker’s sweater sinking to his mid forearm when he reached his arms up. Over the sound of the gas station’s outdoor speakers he could hear Tucker at the driver’s window, asking Elise the same question he was asked.
The two of them met at the tailend of the car, facing the gas station’s store, waiting while Elise got her things together. Specs got on his tiptoes and threw his arms snuggly around Tucker’s shoulders, closing his eyes and feeling his arms wrap loosely around his own waist. He pulled away, keeping his hands at the back of Tucker’s head while dropping back to his relaxed height. Resting his forehead on his clavicle, taking in the comfort of his warmth and familiar smell while they waited for Elise to join them.
The inside of the gas station was small. And hot. Claustrophobic. There were three rows of merchandise consisting mostly of snacks, travel sized medicine and toiletries, and the occasional souvenir. The right wall was all drink refrigerators and the left wall held the cash register. Elise looped her arm through Specs’, weaving him to the souvenir display while they left Tucker to handle paying for the gas.
“Aw, Steven,” she smiled and laughed lightly, picking up a hat from a rotating rack and turning it to face him. He looked up from the magnet display to read ”HOT DAD” sewn onto the hat’s front. “This is just the thing you need.”
“Uh,” he huffed a laugh, taking it as she handed it to him and examining the white embroidery, “unless you know something I don’t I have to disagree.” He put the hat on, allowing her to take a picture for the sake of the memory.
“Well, you know, Tucker and I talk,” she trailed off, grinning now as she continued to take pictures.
“Oh, yeah? He told you before he told me?” His smile grew as he looked at Elise over the top of her phone.
“What didn’t I tell you?” Tucker walked up behind him, bumping his arm and chewing on something (presumably peanuts from the sleeve of them in his hand.) Specs turned to look at him, allowing him to read the hat right as he responded.
“That you’re expecting and I’m soon to be a hot dad because of it,” he attempted to deadpan, but broke at the end, twisting his mouth to suppress it.
“Actually, now that you mention it I actually have been meaning to tell you something.”
“And what’s that?” Specs played along, taking off the hat and holding it in his hand.
“That you can expect to be a hot dad soon.”
“Oh, great,” Specs said, laughing with the rest of them. He placed the hat back on the rack and they followed Tucker out to the car. Elise got in the back, taking over Tucker’s seat, while Specs climbed back into the front passenger seat.
He rolled his window down, folding his hands on the frame and resting his chin on them, watching Tucker set up the gas pump and waiting for him to notice. He looked up, eventually, after inserting the nozzle into the car’s gas tank, setting it to fill on its own and making his way over to Specs, who raised his eyebrows at him as he approached.
Upon reaching the window Tucker quickly reached up and pinched Specs’ nose, holding up his closed fist proudly afterwards.
“Gotcha.”
“Huh?” Specs asked, confused and amused.
“Your nose,” he clarified, smirking, “I got your nose. And I’m not giving it back.”
“Well, why not?”
“Cause,” the gas pump thumped to a stop, reaching the amount they’d paid. Tucker walked over, removing the nozzle and putting it back before snatching the receipt and glancing back at Specs sticking his head out the window. “This way I’ve got a piece of you to carry around all day.”
Specs flushed and watched Tucker walk around the back of the car. He righted himself to face forward as Tucker hunkered into the driver’s seat.
“Directions ready?” Specs nodded, pulling his phone out of his pocket and resuming the directions. “Off we go.”
“Off we go,” Elise cheered back.
-
Once they passed from Arizona into Utah they came to the unanimous decision to settle down for the night. Elise was driving again (they had switched again after stopping for gas an hour and a half earlier) and she pulled into the first hotel parking lot they saw.
The hotel was two levels, with outdoor hallways connecting everything. Its light up sign read “Hot Rock Hotel” and the building was painted a vibrant orange, with white accents on the balcony railings and window frames.
“Looks only a little skeezy, I guess,” Specs commented, looking out his window as Elise pulled into a parking space in front of the office.
“So long as they have vacancies I’ll take it,” Elise smiled at him, before turning off the car and slipping out into the chilly night. He watched her cross in front of the car and go into the office, disappearing behind the door’s blinds.
“You look nice in that sweater,” Specs looked back at Tucker as he was addressed, “it’s very cute the way you swim in it. You’re very short.”
“Gee, I’m blushing,” he joked, though he was, “you really know how to compliment and degrade a guy in the same sentence.”
“All for you, babe.”
Specs turned around more fully in his seat, facing Tucker instead of craning his neck to look at him.
“I’m very tired.”
“Yeah,” he had his eyes closed, head leaning back against the headrest, and Specs watched him for a bit, waiting for Elise to return.
“Hey, Tucker,”
Tucker hummed in response, opening his eyes, but before Specs could finish Elise opened her door and slid into her seat.
“Okay! We got two rooms; queen beds, no smoking, color tv. They’re on the ground floor, which is nice and easy.” She started the car and handed Specs the room keys, plastic cards encased in a protective paper envelope with the wifi directions printed on. Room 107 and 108.
-
The rooms were...interesting. They went to dinner before dropping their stuff off in the rooms, wanting to be able to actually settle once they were in them. So, after a quick meal at the Ruby Tuesday’s they split off to their respective rooms, saying goodnight and agreeing on a wake up time.
Upon opening the door they were immediately greeted with bright yellow walls and a ceiling painted blue with white fluffy clouds adorning it. Furniture wise, the room was fairly simple: a bed with bedside tables on either side, a table with one armchair, a closet with a safe in it, and a tv stand.
“Wow,” Specs flipped on the light switch and a cow skull novelty lamp on the bedside table flickered on, “it just keeps getting better.”
“Yellow was an interesting choice,” Tucker set his bag on the chair next to the left side of the bed, sorting through to pull out his pajamas.
Specs followed suit, setting his bag down on the bed’s green cowboy comforter and sitting next to it.
“You can use the bathroom first, I’m probably going to take a shower before bed,” Specs told Tucker, yawning and lying back on the bed, keeping his feet planted on the brown cow print carpet.
“Okay,” Tucker went into the bathroom, closing the door and beginning his nighttime routine. Specs got up and set the alarm clock on Tucker's side of the bed. He then went to turn on the tv, grabbing the tv remote and searching through the channels. He stopped on a weather station, the next day’s forecast calling for partial sun and a winter chill to the air.
Tucker exited the bathroom, wearing a long sleeve t-shirt and his boxers. He gave Specs a thumbs up and accepted the remote when he handed it to him. Specs got up from where he had been sitting at the foot of the bed, grabbed his change of clothes and a towel from the closet, and headed into the bathroom. Stopping immediately in the doorway.
“Oh,” he cut himself off and turned back towards Tucker, “we weren’t gonna bring this up?” He asked, gesturing back with his thumb towards the bathroom.
The bathroom was painted a red-ish brown and it was decorated similarly to the main room. There were wagon wheels hanging on the walls, as well as vintage looking advertisement posters for fake local saloons and rodeo shows. The shower curtain displayed a wretched assembly of saloon girls dancing and lifting their frilly skirts that Specs found, frankly, distasteful.
“This might just be the scariest place I have ever been. And we literally go to haunted houses for a living.”
“I kind of like it,” Tucker smirked at him, “what guy doesn’t wanna live like a cowboy for a night?”
“Me,” Specs responded, deadpanned and straightforward, “the me kind of guy.”
“Well, that’s just lame, we’ll be dueling at high noon over it,” he said nonchalantly, eyes back on the tv.
“I’m shaking in my boots,” Specs smiled, pushing off the door’s frame and returning to the unsightly bathroom to get ready for bed.
-
When Specs exited the bathroom, freshly showered and minty, and placed his glasses on the nightstand before lifting his side of the covers and collapsing into the mattress, face pressed into the pillows. Tucker chuckled and rubbed his back, asking him if he was ready for bed.
“Not hell nor high water could stop me from passing out right now,” he flipped over onto his side and watched Tucker turn off the tv, placing the remote on the table and turning off the lamp.
“Long day,” he said.
“Long day,” Specs agreed.
“Good day,” Tucker said, quieter.
“Good day,” Specs murmured, eyes closed still.
Tucker shifted to lie on his back, pulling Specs to rest his head on his shoulder. He complied, rolling onto his stomach, and put his arm around Tucker’s waist. Tucker kissed his head, grimacing slightly at his wet hair, and rubbing his back softly.
“Goodnight, love you,” Specs mumbled into Tucker’s neck.
“Goodnight, love you too.” He smiled, closing his eyes.
“Oh, and Tucker?”
Tucker hummed in response.
“When do I get my nose back?”
Tucker smiled, but didn’t respond, drifting to sleep.