Work Text:
As we expected, the weather for this morning will be quite the cold one and we hope that you went out with a snug sweater and a scarf folks! We also heard some reports telling us that traffic might be chillingly slow! So be careful everyone. Best wishes coming from the tristate station!
With the quick radio message finished, the honey blonde Brit gave out a defeated sigh. He hated traffic the most out of anything related to his work. It was exhausting, he was wasting precious time and most importantly, he could be saving so many people if he didn’t have to stop every single second just to advance a millimeter and wait for another ten grueling minutes for the next car to move.
At least it was winter, his favorite season of the year, as that meant he could get himself a very warm cup of tea from his preferred coffee shop and he was free to use more clothes than usual. Today he opted for a green turtle neck sweater, a deep blue jacket and on top of it a brown coat which also had some buttons included on it to adjust its temperature.
He knew he was going to wait a long time for the next move to arrive, so to distract his mind he took a sip out of his plastic cup, taking in the delicious and calming taste of the beverage with a smile. “Hmmm… There’s absolutely nothing better than the tea from Amsterdam’s coffee shop. At least it’ll make the wait less dreadful.” He sighed with mixed emotions, one of peace with the tea, the other with his irritation at the traffic.
Vinnie Dakota on the other hand was just arriving at the Bureau of Time Travel, with his hands inside the pockets of his bomber jacket, wearing a scarf with multiple colors, being comprised of olive green, mustard yellow, creamy white, orange, dull gold and dark purple, coupled with some grey colored winter earmuffs.
It was one of the rare occasions where he actually got there in time, with him walking towards an elevator, seeing his usual colleagues and giving them a wave, with several of them responding back with one of their own, while others just rolled their eyes with him just being there. A face that he didn’t see through the entire stroll was one of a blonde man with bangs and thick, black glasses.
Hmmm… I wonder where Cavendish is. Maybe he caught a cold or somethin’? It’s pretty cold out there and he is pretty slim, so it seems more likely that he could’ve just gotten sick. I don’t think he would want to miss a single day, not even if his life depended on it.
After a few more minutes of walking, he made it to Mr. Block’s office, with the door opening for him to enter and then silently close.
“Well well well, looks like you ended up beating your partner to the punch this time Dakota.” The jet black higher up mentioned with a snarky attitude.
“Yeah… I guess so.” Dakota shrugged, fully knowing that Mr. Block’s comment was more of a reprimand for arriving late so many times before.
“Your and Cavendish’s mission is to not let a pop single come out, due to it starting to cause problematic arguments and fights over it.” Mr. Block said as he read out a paper from his hands.
“Wait, why would I want to get rid of a song? I imagine other people really enjoyed it when it came out right?” Dakota crossed his arms, raising an eyebrow at the description.
“No. Everybody unanimously hated it and the discourse around it devolved so much that people wanted Fridays to no longer exist, as supposedly the song absolutely ruined the vibe of Fridays. As you can probably figure out, weapons were starting to be used and we heard that time bombs were contra banded for this situation. So you and Cavendish have the duty to stop the song from coming out, thus saving Fridays. Is that clear?”
“Wow… Okay, I didn’t think things were gonna go in that direction, but I got it.” Dakota nodded, with Mr. Block wincing at the mention of direction.
“Now, go and try to find Cavendish. If I don’t see any change in the timeline in twenty four hours, you two will be punished with a trip to the great depression, without a single penny!” The man with curly hair ordered, sitting back on his desk and beginning to type some sort of report.
Dakota then made his way out of the facility, seeing a car land from above into a free spot. Soon after, his partner came out of the car, visibly irritated.
“It looks like it will be one of those birthdays…” Cavendish murmured, just loud enough for Dakota to hear, with him becoming excited at what he just heard.
“Birthday!?” The brunette asked, approaching the Brit with a faster pace.
“Oh… you heard.” Balthazar grumbled, passing his hand on his face. “Yes… today is my birthday, and before you ask, no. I did not turn up here late because of my birthday. Traffic wasn’t on my side today due to the cold weather. A lot more people had to drive in the air as the streets were way too slippery for anybody to travel safely.
“But dude, it’s your birthday! You should’ve honestly stayed home and have a good time. I imagine you would like readin’ a book, or do some crocket or somethin’. That’s how you say it right? The one with the horses, the hammers and the balls?”
“No, you dolt. That is polo!” Cavendish pinched the bridge of his nose. “Besides, I do have activities to do with my family today. We were going to have a big dinner with tons of guests, just like we always do.” He huffed with some tiredness present in his eyes. “They always make grandiose displays for my birthday. Sometimes it ends up being quite amazing to be noticed in such a quite level, but I just notice that it has some… emptiness to it. It hasn’t feel genuine for some celebrations, like how they invited some guests that were apparently from my father’s lawyer firm and that tried to encourage me to go back and work for the Queen. Probably to take advantage of my position and do the changes they wanted to do, rather than what the country needed.”
“Seriously? They end up inviting a bunch of snobs to your parties just so they can rub shoulders? That’s pretty messed up man. That’s not really a birthday, that’s just a fancy party disguised as a celebration.” Dakota frowned, a small percent of frustration present in a brief grumble he gave while thinking of the situation. If he was in Cavendish’s position, he would probably never get in contact with his parents never again. Although, that wouldn’t matter too much, as he’s already currently doing exactly that.
“It is kinda nice when they dedicate a whole day just for me however. There was one time when they got me a submarine trip, thanks to one of their friends offering to do so. There was no ulterior motive or anything alike. He just wanted to do something special for me in my birthday, even if I was already eighteen at the time.” Balthazar smiled, his eyes going to the ground for a second, seeing for a moment the vivid image of a transparent glass with fishes swimming right beneath his feet.
“Hey, then how about we do this? To counteract whatever happens with your parents later. Let’s do a ditch day!” Dakota raised his arms to the air, excited for the idea.
“Ditch day?” The Brit responded with his brows furrowed, shrugging and shaking his head.
“Yeah! Basically, let’s just not go to work for now. We have some fun before you have to go to that fancy dinner with your parents. Then we actually do our job a bit later so that Mr. Block doesn’t yell at us and sends us to the great depression without any money.
“He wants to do what!?” The taller man’s eyes widened, full of concern. “And you want us to not do our job, knowing what could happen!?”
Dakota dismissed his partner with a drop of his hand. “Pff, come on Cavendish. We can handle that kind of mission pretty easy. It’s just getting’ rid of a dumb song so that people don’t go into a rampage and decide to get rid of Fridays. I’ll be a piece of cake!”
“Getting rid of Frida-what even are you saying at this point!? Are you intoxicated from Eggnog!?” Cavendish leaned closer to Dakota, crossing his arms and starting to inspect him, smelling him and squinting his eyes, distrust present in his movement.
“No man. You can go ahead and ask Mr. Block about the mission. I found it to be pretty weird myself too, but a job’s a job. That isn’t even the point though; the point today is that you should be free to do whatever the heck you want in your birthday until you have to meet up with your family and before we have to do that mission. Whaddaya say?” Dakota grinned, already preparing himself for Cavendish’s response.
It honestly was hard for Balthazar himself to think of something to do that wasn’t related to his social life, school, work or anything that was forced on him by his parents. But something did come into his head, something that he was already familiar with.
“Well… I haven’t gotten to go ice skating in quite some time now. Perhaps that could be our diversion for today. I really don’t like the idea of having to leave work just to goof off and do something completely unproductive… but that expression of yours is kind of unsettling. You are way too excited for somebody’s birthday.” Cavendish remarked with an odd glare at his partner.
“Birthdays are fun man! I like seeing how people end up celebrating theirs and I definitely like helping people out with them. It’s the day you were born! I feel everybody should be happy about that, because other people don’t even get to do that, or their life is so boring and unfun that they forget about letting themselves loose every once in a while, or that it’s okay to appreciate who you are. Don’tcha think you deserve that?”
That last comment left Cavendish speechless. He didn’t know his partner could be that retrospective, insightful and supportive of something as simple as a birthday. He couldn’t help but smile at the brunette’s contagious joy. “Yes… that sounds reasonable enough. Very well then, let us go to the ice rink. Today is a ditch day!” The Brit took his finger into the air, exclaiming with excitement.
“Wooo! Yeah!” Dakota accompanied with a fist striking the sky, now walking alongside his friend, then followed soon after with something else. “But could we do a few things before we go there? I kinda wanted to eat and also enter a snowman contest.”
____________________________________________________________________________
A bit later, Cavendish and Dakota had finally arrived at the ice rink with the orange sky beginning to fade into a darker blue. “We only have an hour left before I have to go with my parents, so let’s try to make this quick, all right?”
“Aaawww… But I thought we were gonna have more time for this. Can’t ya let your parents wait for ya to arrive later? You are the birthday boy after all.”
“No. I’m already pushing things with delaying work for so long. I will not push for another delay, especially with my parents and their guests being involved.” He shook his head, walking towards the ice rink clerk.
After the pair now got hold of their skating gear, they made their way on to the glacial field with Cavendish and Dakota now beginning to hover in the air, as rather than being equipped with a metal blade, the shoes instead use some anti-gravity technology that synchs alongside the ice to simulate the feeling of their feet sliding.
The Brit was skating around with ease, having his hands behind his back with a relaxed smile, while Dakota was clearly struggling to even just stay standing.
“All right Dakota, you really need to quick playing around. Come with me, let’s coast this ice together.” He turned himself to stare at the struggling brunette.
“Uh… Y-y-yeah! I’ve got it! I’ve got it!” He said as his body contorted in various directions in an attempt of retaining his balance, efforts that were ultimately in vain. Fortunately for him, the safety feature from the anti-gravity field prevented him from slamming his face into the cold surface, instead making him float a few centimeters above.
“You don’t know how to skate, do you?” Cavendish asked with disdain, wrinkling his face.
“Uh… No. I kinda wanted to just go with ya to hang out and have fun but… I never have gone skatin’… haha.” Dakota said with an apologetic smile while switching his body around to now look at Cavendish while in his fallen position.
Cavendish’s response was a softer expression, giving him a jovial smile. “What am I going to do with you? Just always messing up.” He lifted the shorter man up with his hand. Dakota thanked him with a grin, then began to struggle again.
“Wo-wo-wow!”
Then, his hip was held tightly by the blonde, with him leaning closer to his face. “It’s okay. I’ll hold you so that you don’t fall again.”
Dakota’s cheeks became red almost instantly. He really wasn’t expecting Cavendish to get that up close and personal with him. “T-thanks… hehe. I think I’ll be able to get the handle of this if I just start watchin’ ya do your thing. You think you could skate a bit more?”
“Certainly, but try to not move too much, okay? I don’t want you to fall over again.” After making sure that Dakota was in a stable enough position, he unhinged his arm from his hip, now starting to slide his feet around in a slow pace to let Dakota see his movement.
Cavendish’s style was so elegant, seamless, perfect. It was clear that he had years of experience with this activity and Dakota was mesmerized at the man. It felt like he was watching a performer from the Olympics gifting him a dance.
Having seen enough, Vinnie armed himself with courage and tried to do the same leg strides that his partner had been doing for quite a few minutes. His style wasn’t as graceful or flawless as Cavendish’s, but he was able to actually get to skate, now not falling to the ground and having a good time.
“Wooooooooow! Yeaaaaaaaah! Look Cav! I’m doin’ it! I’m doin’ it!” Dakota celebrated with his hands up in the air.
Cavendish however wasn’t very keen on having the brunette lift his arms like that. “Dakota! Don’t do that! You will start to lose your balance again!”
And just as told, Dakota began to trip on his steps, sliding out of control and into a couple that was busy in a kiss.
The turtle neck wearing Brit slapped the front of his head, dropping it down in disappointment.
The situation was eventually resolved, with the man from the couple having told Dakota many insults, but apologizing afterwards, with Cavendish and Dakota toning down the individual’s anger with a well laid explanation. To the dismay of the Italian however, his partner had to leave to his parent’s dinner, but he seemed to be disheartened by having to leave.
That… wasn’t how Cavendish felt about going to his fancy dinner earlier today. He was mostly neutral on it, but now he was… sad that he had to go. That most definitely meant that Dakota had done something right today and he couldn’t be happier about it.
He waved him goodbye, hoping for him to return soon so that they could finish their mission and spend more time with him. It was a long time for him to be free, but before the clock hit eleven o’clock, Cavendish had arrived at Dakota’s home, with the two of them handling their situation before twelve. It wasn’t as easy as the brunette thought it would be, but thanks to some of the producers deciding to abandon the project entirely, the song was never made and thus, Fridays were saved. Now the two of them were on their time car, relaxing after their endeavor.
“Phew… I’m glad we got that over with. Honestly, Mr. Block could’ve pulled something under the rug, sayin’ that the twenty four hours expired when twelve hit or something, so I’m glad we did it now.” Dakota started while eating a chocolate bar.
“I doubt he would do anything like that. He most likely would have respected the time limit, with that being eight in the morning. You really should try to trust your superiors more Dakota.” Balthazar scolded.
“Yeah, just like we did today with the ditch day huh?”
“Hmph… That was just an exception. It was my birthday.” Cavendish crossed his arms, staring at his window of the car.
“I dunno. I think we deserve to take more breaks as a whole man. We’ve been doing this for two years now! Shouldn’t we get some reward for doin’ so much for others?”
“A hero doesn’t expect a reward. A hero acts and does because it’s the right thing to do.”
“Heh. That’s honestly how a kid would end up sayin’ it Cav.”
“I am not a child! And you know it!” The blonde reclaimed with more frustration, now with his hair becoming ruffled and one of his bangs dropping off with the sudden movement.
“Haha, look at your hair!” Dakota pointed with his finger and with a gleeful beam.
“Ugh, you’re just so insufferable!” Cavendish then flopped back into his seat, pouting and frowning with, readjusting his hair briefly.
Dakota stood still, eyeing his partner’s attitude with a chuckle. “And you can be so stuffy and glued to the rules.” He inserted the key on the car and made it rumble, finally ready to leave. “Hey… happy birthday Cavendish.” He said in a softer tone.
Cavendish glanced over, his brow going into a more neutral state. “Thank you… Dakota. Thank you for everything today.”