More than Survive Chapter 1: Prolouge, a milo murphy's law fanfic

—In the year 2175—

Brick supposed there were worst ways to spend New Year's Eve. Granted, none came to mind, but he was sure there was something better than his current situation.

The Bureau of Time Travel always had a New Year's Eve office party, however the event itself was always just a little bit jarring for most. Time Travel often made it difficult to remember exactly how long it's been since you were in your original time period.

For example; a brown-hair girl in a leather jacket had lamented to him how she and her partner had just gotten back from a mission 1980's. She had said that, for her, they had only been in the 1980's for two weeks. However, she and her partner left the past July. Her and her partner returned just today, in time for the New Year's Party.

Brick had gleamed that she and her partner were sent back to make sure some puppeteer agreed to help out with some movie about a girl wandering through a maze to save her brother, which Brick found mildly impressive. The first-class agent pointed out that there were worse missions to be on, but the brown-haired girl seemed to only want to rant to anyone who would listen, so he had quickly excused himself.

Which led him to be in his current situation. One that even he knew was pathetic, but couldn't help but be in anyway.

He had turned a corner to find Vinnie Dakota and Cavendish having a conversation with Gretchen. Brick wasn't able to make out their words, but he saw Dakota gesturing to a nearby vending machine, so he figured it was something along the lines of that. However, Brick wasn't as concerned with the conversation as he was with one of the men participating in the conversation.

Try as he might, all he could see was Vinnie Dakota.

Once upon a time, Brick was sure he had standards. At least, he thought he did. His partners were of a certain age and appearance, and they had at least looked to keep a respectable position in life.

Vinnie Dakota wasn't any of that.

Brick had never really noticed gender when looking for potential partners. It was noted, however, that he did tend to favor the opposite gender more often than not.

Vinnie Dakota had gone and thrown the man off his game, and Brick was scrambling to get back on his feet.

If someone asked Brick to pinpoint when these feelings started—which he hoped to God never happened, because he had a reputation to uphold—he would say it happened by utter accident. One moment when Dakota had accidentally touched him, after stepping on that tiny pistachio tree. It had taken Brick a while to realize (because, among other things, he was being chased by a bear) but when he finally got a moment to breathe, he realized it was as if a phantom hand was still lingering around the spot Dakota had touched.

So, it had started. When at the Bureau, Brick would spot Dakota and he would just stare after the man, for a longer than socially acceptable amount of time; honestly, he's surprised no one's caught him at this point. Then, he started daydreaming about the man. His laugh, his smile, his hair, and Brick caught himself wondering on multiple occasions what Dakota's eyes would look like if he wasn't wearing those sunglasses.

The worst part was when Dakota would so much as brush up against him. He'd be standing in the dining hall at the Bureau, waiting in line, and then Dakota would bump into him. The tracksuit wearing man would apologize, and Brick would stutter out a response, and high-tail it out of there before Dakota could realize what was happening.

To say it was nerve-wracking was putting it lightly.

Yet, here he was. Spending a good portion of the New Year's Party, pining after Vinnie Dakota. If there was a more horrible way to spend a party, Brick would happily take that over this embarrassing predicament.

"—make such a bad business decision?" Cavendish's voice alerted Brick that he and Dakota were getting closer to his current location. Startled, Brick grabbed a nearby cheese platter and pretended to be invested in it.

"Is there any real difference between t'flavors?" Dakota asked.

"I think I remember reading somewhere that the dyes were different? I don't really remember, new timeline and all." Gretchen shrugged, uncaring as always.

"Personally, I think Red Gush is better." Cavendish stated.

"I'm pretty sure everyone thinks that." Gretchen agreed.

Dakota shrugged. "Nothing we can do 'bout it, really. If Gush Co. wanted Red Gush off the market, then it's gone."

"Was it in really any danger to the public?"

"Considering it was banned in the 21st century, when all suburban soccer moms were trying way to hard to keep their children safe and sheltered, I'd say the odds are fifty-fifty."

"Well, it's not like we can't go back and get it if we really want it." Brick watched out of the corner of his eye as Dakota, Gretchen, and Cavendish walked towards the main buffet table. On their way over, Cavendish said something to Dakota, making the man laugh loud enough for Brick to hear.

It made his heart flutter and he cursed himself for it.

Setting down the cheese platter, Brick contemplated heading home early to drown in his own suffering, but then he heard a scream. A sudden, ear-piercing, pained screaming coming from the next room over. Instincts kicking in, Brick dashed into the other room, only to find the other agents standing in a circle. Most were just staring in shock and horror at what lay at the center, a few were filming on their mobile devices, and Brick spotted about three agents (Mr. Block included) actually trying to help the poor man in the center of the circle who was screaming bloody murder.

Brick spotted Savannah by the wall, craning her neck to see what was happening. He approached her, craning his own neck to try and see what was happening. He couldn't tell who it was exactly, because Block was in his way, but he saw a man with curly-hair writhing in pain on the floor, clutching his head and crying out in agony "It hurts, get it out! Get it out!"

However, what caught Brick's attention was the same brown-haired girl he had talked to earlier at the party. She stood right behind the man on the floor with a peculiar look on her face. She didn't seem to be perturbed by what was happening at her very feet. Instead she seemed to watch curiously, as if the spectacle was a scientific study.

As if sensing eyes on her, the woman glanced up and, upon seeing Brick staring at her, her eyes widened in fear. Brick blinked once, and she was already halfway through the crowd, Brick blinked again and found she was already out the door.

He had a feeling she wasn't going to get help for the man on the floor.

Block was screaming for someone to call an ambulance as he tried in vain to calm the man down. Soon after, the man on the floor made an unhuman gurgling sound, violently twitched, and slumped to the floor unconscious.

As Block and a few others tried to revive the man, Brick heard sirens and glanced up to see Cavendish and Dakota directing the medics through the door towards the man in question.

Brick turned to his partner and asked, "What happened?"

Savannah shrugged. "I have no idea. Everyone was sort of just talking and mingling when all of a sudden that guy started screaming and spazzing out."

"Who even was that guy? I didn't get a good look at him."

"I've seen him around the Bureau, but I don't remember his name. Chad or Chet, I think? I think it started with a C."

It took a while, but the man who had the freak out was loaded on the ambulance and whisked away to the E.R. Block had loudly asked the room if anybody saw anything that might have caused this or if anyone saw anything suspicious. Brick's mind immediately went to the brown-haired girl who had run away form it all, but he dismissed the thought. Maybe she had a history of panic attacks and was nervous around the whole scene? Even he had to admit that idea was farfetched.

Either way, Brick stayed quiet and everyone else more or less reported the same thing; they hadn't noticed the man until he started screaming and no one saw anything out of the ordinary beforehand.

The New Year's Eve party came to an unofficial end at that moment.

Block had muttered something about going to check security footage, and had barked at Gretchen to follow him, the latter dragged her feet in response. Savannah had talked to Brick and a few agents for another ten minutes or so before grabbing her coat and mentioning something about needing to get a drink. She smiled and wished everyone a happy new year as she left.

Brick eventually found himself nursing a few drinks and partially listening to a conversation about a new change in the timeline; something about a drink from the 21st century being discontinued? Red Gush, maybe? He wasn't really paying attention.

Dakota's laughter caught his attention and Brick's gaze snapped to the man in question, who was laughing at something Cavendish said before pulling on his winter coat and pulling car-keys out of his pocket. Cavendish followed suit and soon the two men were leaving the building together.

As they did, Brick watched Dakota sling an arm over Cavendish's shoulder. For once in his life, and he is loathing to admit it, but Brick was jealous of Cavendish and how Vinnie Dakota just seemed to naturally gravitate towards him.

Brick decided then and there that it was going to be a long year.

—In the 21st Century—

Dakota and Cavendish shot out of the time stream and into a convenient store parking lot. Dakota checked the time-period on the dash of their vehicle and smiled. "Cool, we're in Milo's time-period, and I don't think Red Gush has been taken off shelves yet!"

"I'd hope so. Otherwise we'd make this trip for nothing," Cavendish said.

"Eh, it's not like we couldn't go back again to a time where it was being sold."

"I don't know how you want to spend your New Year's Eve, but I am not particularly fond of spending it jumping from year to year in search of a soda-pop."

"Who says soda-pop anymore? It's either soda or pop; pick one." Cavendish looked as though he wanted to retort, but upon entering the convenient store, the older man had to duck out of the way of a baby duckling sailing towards his head while also trying not to slip on the peanut oil that was covering the floor. Dakota wasn't doing much better, not only had a bunch of jellybeans landed in his hair, but he had to quickly move out of the way of a swarm of frogs hopping towards the exit.

"Aren't frogs supposed to be hibernatin' this time of year?" The younger man asked his partner.

"I believe so," Cavendish plucked a duckling's feather off his jacket, "but what are the odds of—" Suddenly the absurdity of the whole situation dawned on them and they exchanged knowing smiles.

"Hey Milo, how's ya New Year' Eve going?" Dakota called out in the direction the chaos had originated. Sure enough, Milo, Melissa, and Zack all approached them, looking worse for the wear but smiling nonetheless, and each carrying an assortment of snack-bags and bottles of pop.

"Pretty good so far," Milo told them, "how about you guys?"

Cavendish shrugged, "Well, we can't complain."

"What brings you guys here? I thought New Year's Eve in a time travel agency would be a big deal." Melissa reached over and plucked a few jellybeans from Dakota's hair.

"How do ya know it was New Year's in 2175?" Dakota asked with a smirk.

"Lucky guess?" Melissa shrugged with a knowing smile.

"Good guess, as it was New Year's Eve when we left." Cavendish smiled slightly at Dakota, who quietly mumbled something about him being a spoilsport. "And New Year's Eve is a big—if not slightly confusing—'deal'."

"Confusing?" Milo asked.

"When you hop from one time to another, you tend to lose track of what your original timeline is." Dakota explained.

"Ok, but why'd you leave that party to come here?" Zack asked, perplexed over why they'd leave what he assumed was a pretty awesome future to slum it in the 21st century.

"Well, for one, there was some weird accident, or somethin', and the party kinda flat-lined after that," Dakota's bluntness was sometimes a blessing and a curse, Cavendish observed as the kid's faces quickly turned to surprise and mild concern, "and apparently, this is now the only place in the time stream to get our favorite soda. Notice what I did there, Cav? One word. One-word only."

Cavendish rolled his eyes as Dakota walked over to a nearby cooler and plucked a couple of Red Gush's out for them. Zack blinked in surprise. "Wait a minute, Red Gush is discontinued in the future? That's terrible!"

"You children like Red Gush?"

"Of course, we do!" Milo exclaimed. "It's only the best brand of soda in the world."

"It's better than Green Gush anyway." Melissa wrinkled her nose in disgust. "I can't stand the taste of it."

"Oh, well in that case, here," Dakota reached further into the cooler before tossing the kids their own bottle of Red Gush, "drink up."

The kids smiled and went to go pay for those drinks, and the various amounts of snack food and drinks they acquired themselves. Cavendish insisted they be the ones to get the Red Gush, as the kids already had enough to pay for. The kids did not argue over this and happily let the two time-travelers pay for their drinks.

"So, what're you kids doin' here?" Dakota asked as the party exited the convenient store.

"Our parents always host a New Year's Eve party for our friends, and this year, it's at my house." Milo explained.

"That sounds exciting," Cavendish said.

"It was all going ok until the horde of mockingbirds showed up and destroyed the snack table." Melissa shrugged.

"And then the frogs showed up and, well, you can guess how it went from there." Zack said.

"I don't think we could." Cavendish smiled.

"Wait, aren't mockingbirds suppose' to be down south for the winter?" Dakota questioned.

The kids shrugged, chorusing "Murphy's Law, what can you do?"

"What can you do?" The time travelers parroted back, before sharing a laugh with the kids. Cavendish nodded towards the car. "Well, if you kids like, we could give you a ride back to the Murphy residency. The snacks should be relatively safe in there."

"Sure! And then you guys can stay for the party." Milo smiled.

"You sure your parents would be ok with that, Milo?' Dakota asked.

"Why not? You helped keep me safe when the 'Pistachion Incident: Part Two' occurred, besides, my parents are pretty easy going." Milo shrugged, dropping a few chip bags into a mud puddle as he did so.

"Besides, it's only—" Zack shifted the bottles of soda he was carrying into one arm, so he could check his phone. "—9:45. You guys can still catch the New Year's ball drop… Wait, do they still do that in the future?"

Dakota shrugged. "It's probably a bit flashier than what you guys are used too." The younger man turned to his partner. "What'd ya say Cav, wanna catch the New Year's ball drop? Dakota wiggled his eyebrows suggestively and Cavendish turned a bit pink, yet he agreed nonetheless.

After loading the remaining soda bottles and snack bags into the trunk of the busted-up time vehicle, the five-man-band set out for the Murphy house. Of course, Murphy's Law intervened, and they of course got stuck at every red light possible (though no one seemed to mind), got deterred by a sudden water-tower collapse (which scared Cavendish and Dakota more than it did the kids), and were forced to stop by a sudden stampede of crocodiles in the road (which Dakota knew better than to question this time around).

"So, you kids got any big New Year resolutions or plans?" Dakota asked as the last of the crocodile stampeded pass.

"Our class is putting on a musical in February, and I got the lead role!" Milo exclaimed happily.

"Good on you, my boy. What's the musical?' Cavendish asked, happy that, despite his luck, Milo could still get the lead role in something as harrowing as the school musical.

"It's called Be More Chill." Melissa explained. "It's about this high school kid who gets tired of being the loser and gets this weird pill to help him be cooler."

"And then pill starts to turn everyone to zombies; it's really fun!" Zack smiled.

"Sounds like it," Dakota said, but the look on his face told Cavendish he thought the concept was a weird.

Apparently, he wasn't the only one to notice as Zack continued, "I know it sounds farfetched, but the music is really cool and fun to dance too."

"What reasonable person says 'farfetched' anymore?" Melissa questioned.

"I say 'farfetched' from time to time." Cavendish came to Zack's defense.

"I repeat; what reasonable person says 'farfetched' anymore?" Melissa repeated, this time with a more teasing edge. Dakota and Milo chortled as Cavendish rolled his eyes and Zack playfully shoved the girl in question.

After a few more minutes of (thankfully) uneventful driving, the gang arrived at the Murphy's residence and, after parallel parking on the street, helped the kids take the snacks into Milo's home. The boy in questioned announced their arrival.

"We're back~!" Milo sang as the front door loudly banged open, chipping the wood.

"And we have 80% of the snacks we left the store with!" Melissa added.

"That's a new record," Mr. Murphy said proudly.

"How'd you manage that?" Sara asked from her spot on the couch.

"Cavendish and Dakota helped us. Where do you want this stuff, Mrs. Murphy?" Zack asked.

"Just set it on the kitchen counter for now." Mrs. Murphy moves out of the way as Milo and his friends dump the drinks and snacks on the counter behind her before they unceremoniously shed their winter clothing and run to join Sara and Milo's classmates in the living room.

Mrs. Murphy moved over to the two time-travelers, extending her hand to them. "Bridgette Murphy, my son talks about you two a lot."

Flattered that Milo mentions them, Dakota shakes her hand. "Vinnie Dakota and Balthazar Cavendish. Nice to meet'cha."

"The adults are playing Uno in the kitchen, why don't you join us?"

"That sounds lovely," Cavendish smiles and lets Mrs. Murphy lead the way.

In the kitchen the two are introduced to Martin Murphy, Richard Chase, and Eileen and Marcus Underwood. Martin explains the other kid's parents had their own plans, and Richard smiles and says those parents are missing out. Marcus deals the two men in and Bridgette hands them each a glass of champagne.

"Last one left," She says, pouring Cavendish a glass.

"None for me, thank you, I'll be driving." The older man declines.

Dakota reaches for both glasses and smirks, "I'm not driving, I'll take his glass if you don't mind."

The party continues in a relatively calm manner. The adults laugh and talk over their Uno game, and laugh even more when Martin accidentally spills some salsa over the card deck. Occasionally, Dakota would take a break from cards at the kid's insistence to play their dancing video game. Milo had tried to convince Cavendish, but the man said he wasn't much of a dancer and politely declined. Dakota tried to convince him to join, and pouted when the man continued to say no.

If Cavendish was being honest with himself, the pout was almost his undoing.

Of course, this was not new information to him. As of late, a lot of what Dakota did made him melt. His smile, his laugh, his teasing (despite what he said aloud, he did enjoy Dakota's sense of humor, most of the time anyway), his kind heart, and then there was what happened at the Christmas Party.

The two hadn't talked about it much, aside from the mention of how it was cool their future selves went to all that trouble to make sure they didn't end their friendship over an eggroll. Of course, they had gotten closer in that short time since it happened. With Dakota coming clean how hurt he felt when Cavendish called him selfish and Cavendish admitting that he actually appreciated Dakota more then he let on.

Then there was all the accidental touches that Cavendish was starting to suspect weren't so accidental. The way the younger man's arm would sling around his shoulder without a second thought, the arm grabs, and—the one that gets Cavendish's heart racing—the hand grab just yesterday at the end of their shift. It lasted only a second, and Dakota had seemed to reluctantly yank his hand away when he noticed what he did, but he didn't care.

Cavendish would take what he could get. After all, it was Dakota, what else was he going to do?

The next couple hours continued with minimal incidents. Although, after Dakota's few turns at the video game the kids were playing, Milo had stepped up to take his place. The TV had fallen over, cracking the screen, and causing some smoke to billow out from where it was broken, which of course set off the smoke detectors, sending Diogee into a fit.

Milo, as always, was prepared and had a miniature fire extinguisher to make sure the smoking TV didn't get to out of control. And Richard and Melissa were able to get the smoke detectors to silence, by throwing them into the bowl of punch the parents had set up for the kids. Everyone shrugged it off, saying it could've been worse.

Sara, who had been quietly texting with her own friends on the couch, announce that the Ball would be dropping in five minutes. With the TV out of commission, the Murphy's had rushed into their bedroom to bring out their spare TV (Cavendish found it a novel concept, because of course they would have a back-up TV) and allowed Sara to hook up her laptop, which had live coverage of the event.

Milo and his friends at this point were scrambling; they were grabbing party horns, noise makers, confetti poppers, cans of silly string, pots and pans, and donning hats and glasses that announced the upcoming year.

One of Milo's classmates, a girl with a magenta coat, handed the time travelers some noise makers, a can of silly string, and a two party hats. Before they know it, everyone is counting down.

Dakota places the hat atop his fluffy head and raises the can of silly string as if toasting him. "To another year, partner?"

Cavendish smiles and, not having anything else to toast with, raises the noise maker he was handed. "To another year."

Dakota slings an arm around his partner, beginning to chant with them, oblivious to Cavendish's reddening cheeks and how suddenly tense he is.

Cavendish lets himself relax, after all, it's not like Dakota felt the same way. His future self had only come back to save a friendship, nothing else; despite what Cavendish dared to hope. No, Dakota was Cavendish closest friend, and he wouldn't ruin what he had with… whatever it was he was feeling for Dakota.

Besides, it was forbidden to have romantic interludes with your partner.

Cavendish wrapped his arms around Vinnie's shoulders, holding his partner as close as social standard allowed, yet reveled in the warmth of his partner. Despite his own feelings, and knowing Dakota didn't feel the same, Cavendish would be fine with this.

"Happy New Year!" Cheers erupted and suddenly pots were clanging, horns were blaring, and all the noise the children were making made it hard for Cavendish. However, he noticed something right away. Most adults, and a few of Sara's friends, were now kissing to harken in the New Year.

The married ones exchanged kisses with their spouses, Richard went over and gave Melissa a peck on the forehead, which she returned with one on the chin before going to making as much noise as possible, Sara seemed to share a shy kiss with a light-brown hair boy around her age, and Diogee had all but tackled Milo to the ground to lick his face.

Suddenly in the middle of all the kissing couples, Cavendish became aware of his closeness to Dakota, something he revealed in moments earlier. The two exchanged tense glances, and Cavendish noted that Dakota's face looked as red as his felt, before they detangled themselves.

The awkwardness that usually followed such interaction was prevented, however, as suddenly Zack had launched a silly-string attack at the two men.

While Cavendish spluttered indignantly, Dakota wiped most of the string off himself, before smirking confidently at the boy, "You really wanna start this, Zack?"

"You know I do." Zack replied calmly, holding his weapon at the ready.

"Then it is war, then." Dakota smiled before launching his own silly-string based attack on Zack. Though, the man should've thought it through more. While he got the first good strike in, suddenly Dakota found himself in the middle of a silly string battles with all of the kids.

In the end, Dakota more resembled a ball of sticky string than a man.

Cavendish smiled fondly and picked a few pieces from the man's hair. "What am I going to do with you?"

"While I'd prefer dinner and a show, I'll settle for some help getting me out of this sticky web I'm in for now," That teasing smirk that made Cavendish melt was back. Despite his, more than likely, obvious blush, Cavendish helped his partner to his feet, smiling just a bit at their close proximity.

The spell, if it had even been there, was broken when a shattering in the kitchen was heard. Everyone turned to see Milo and Diogee surrounded by a few shards of glass, the leftover punch, and the broken smoke detector on the floor. "My bad, everybody! Go back to the party."

Dakota laughed, and Cavendish rolled his eyes fondly. Both men decided then and there that this was going to be a good year.

This is the psychotic brainchild of reading to many Dakavendish fics during breaks at school, listening to the Be More Chill album on repeat for two weeks, and a certain post on Tumblr that suggested a gay redemption arc for Brick. You're welcome, fandom! (Also on Ao3 under the same story name)