Word: Water

1.6k words

"Dakota, would you please tell me where we're heading?"

The landscape passed by quickly, the solid trees and occasional house blurring into a liquid mix of greens, blues, and greys. Cavendish made himself dizzy trying to follow certain objects as they zipped by.

"Can't! It's a secret~!"

Blinking owlishly at another failed attempt to follow a tree passing at mach speed, Cavendish turned to face his partner, who winked at him before turning his gaze back to the road. He scoffed.

"You know, some would call this kidnapping."

"But cha agreed to come on this trip!"

"But I don't agree now!"

"Buuuut, you agreed to come even though you didn't know what was goin' to happen until we got there!"

"But-! I-. Hmph!"

Cavendish had agreed to that. "Whatever."

Dakota snickered as he relinquished. He slowed the car a little, using his blinker to get onto the off ramp.

"Are we at least almost there?" The Brit asked, grabbing the drink they bought in a gas station a few miles back. Which, might he add, was surrounded by absolutely nothing in the middle of nowhere.

"Do I hafta do the whole 'I will turn this car around' thing, too?"

Dakota laughed as Cavendish reddened, sputtering out an indigenous, "No!"

"Relax, Bal, I'm just kidding. But! Yeah, we're almost there. Just a few more miles, yeah?"

Nodding, Cavendish reclined back into his seat, watching the view past his window yet again. This time, it felt strange that the colors and items weren't blending into one. They were entering some sort of small rural town, and had slowed considerably. Actually, they weren't moving at all. Oh, the joy of town traffic.

"Traffic's rough."

"Mhm."

"...I spy?"

Balthazar raised an eyebrow at Dakota's childish antics. "...You're on."

It was another 45 minutes of 'I spy' (Cavendish wouldn't admit that Dakota beat him way too much, he never would), when Dakota finally cheered, stating they were down the road from it, though with open fields on the left and forestry on the right, Cavendish was very confused.

"And...where is here?"

By now, Dakota was beaming, grinning as his eyes were glued forward on the slightly treacherous gravel road. Cavendish didn't have the heart not to be excited alongside him, and he giggled lightly. By now, he was certain they were going to some kind of exotic zoo. He was sure that was the only thing that could possibly excite Dakota like that.

"Gray Rock National Park?" He read the passing cartoonish sign out loud.

Dakota nodded excitedly as he threw up his right turn signal. "Yeah! They've got some cool stuff here. But I wanna show you something specific cuz I don't think- well, you'll see!"

"Okay…?"

Finding parking took them a while, the car slowly crawling forth at a snail's pace as children jumped in front without warning, the parents "are doing a horrible parenting job, how could they allow their children to just run about rampant?!"

"Aww, relax, Cav, they're doing their best."

Cavendish "hmphed", crossing his arms. "I do not agree."

Finally though, they managed to snag a space right as two tired parents buckled in their young kids, waving at them that they were leaving. And the moment Cavendish stepped out of the car, Dakota was beside him in a flash, tugging on his arm.

"Cav, give me yer tie."

"Excuse me?"

Dakota rolled his eyes, pulling on his sleeve once more. He started hopping up and down on the balls of his feet, way too excited. "Give me your tie! I want it to be a surprise!"

He raised an eyebrow. "You wish to blindfold me?"

"Uh-huh."

"But then I won't be able to see!"

"That's the point?"

"But then I'll miss the nature-"

"Aww, Cav, relax! I'll be your guide, won't let go, promise! And we can see the rest of the park after we see this thing!"

"Hmm…"

Dakota seemed really excited for this...whatever it was. Ah, well, who was he to destroy his dreams? He knew Vinnie would take care of him, besides, what was a little surprise now and again?

"Hmmm...alright fine." He sighed, trying to play it off as a difficult decision, just to see Dakota cheer at having him agree. Though he wasn't wearing his traditional three piece green suit, Dakota had insisted he wore the tie. Well, now he knew why.

"Awesome! Here, turn around- God, why do you have to be so tall? I can't reach- thank you. Can you see?"

Cavendish blinked, smiling at the feeling of cloth against his eyelashes. It tickled a little. "No."

"Great! Here- follow me!"

"Woah! Slow down, Dakota, I can't see!"

Dakota tugged lightly on his hand, slowing a little bit as they entered what Cavendish spotted earlier to be a forest. His hand felt a little warm, Cavendish noted. Sounds and smells and movements felt like an eerie blur, completely unlike the soothing, if not slightly nauseating, earlier blur from the car. At least he could stop it then by closing his eyes if he wanted to.

Yet all he could do now was put his trust fully into Dakota as he was dragged who knew where through the national park. Mother's voices scolding children, who screamed for joy were the loudest sounds. Past that...water? A waterfall? Goodness, where was Vinnie taking him?

And the ground...it was a little rocky. It felt like it was originally hard cement, worn down and a little bumpy...probably from pebbles and dirt, he assumed, since they were in a national park.

"Dakota, are we almost there? I can practically feel people looking at me."

It's true. He could.

"Almost! Just a bit more! Slow down, there's a step."

At least Dakota was true to his word. After hardly two more minutes, they stopped. The air felt strange around him, and Dakota replaced his intertwined fingers with...a wooden beam? Yes, that felt right. There were less noises- he assumed there weren't as many trees around to bounce childish screams and motherly talks.

"Alright, Cav, we're here! Wait, wait, don't take it off yet-! Okay...three...twoooo...two and a half? Okay, okay, take it off now!"

And Cavendish did as he was told, tugging the fabric down to his neck. In front of him was a simple open field behind- he was right- a wooden beam. Nothing extraordinary. Just rocks and holes in the ground. And a few puddles and..steam?

"What? Dakota, what in the world is this tomfoo-"

Yet before he could finish, the ground shook right underneath him slightly. It hardly lasted a few seconds, and before Cavendish could question it, a large FSUSSSHHH sounded the air, and a stupendous gust of water shot into the air from one of the holes.

Balthazar watched with shock and amazement as the water shot a few feet up, steam swirling around the water, making it like some sort of strangely calming oil painting. Little droplets of water turned into momentary rainbows as it fell just right, and the water splashed back down, into what he realized now was a geyser pool.

"Pretty neat, huh?"

Cavendish turned to Dakota, still shocked and awed. Dakota chuckled at the look on his partner's face, before elbowing him just enough to snap out of it.

"Wha- I- yes, that's incredible! But how did- I thought- Extinct?"

A nod answered his unasked questions. "Yeaah, geysers are extinct in the future...but they aren't here! Gotta tell you, it took me way too long to plan it just at the right moment for you to see, eh heh."

Vinnie...planned this? He planned for Cavendish to reach it in time to see it?

...Damnit, he was too sweet.

"Heh, I, uh, I remembered we were talkin' bout geysers one day and ya said ya wanted to see one on one of our missions, but we never got to. Well, I remembered, but didn't know if it was in this time period, till Murphy mentioned a project on it he was doin'. I brought him here, and, well, started planning."

He...remembered? How badly he wanted to see a real life geyser explode? That conversation was so long ago even Cavendish didn't remember it!

"So...do ya like it?"

"Like it? Why- Vinnie this is amazing! I can't believe you even remembered it!"

He shrugged, saying , "Well, you seemed really excited for it! Course I remembered!"

Cavendish let out a chuckle, pulling Vinnie in for an unusual hug, which left Dakota squeaking in surprise. "Thank you. That was incredibly kind of you."

Dakota stepped back, red dusting his cheeks (though it could have just been the sun), a hand on his neck. "Course! Hey, if we do a loop round that way, we should be back in time to see it erupt again!"

Cav raised an eyebrow. "And you know this...how?"

"Heh...I mighta accidentally put a bit too much plannin' into this?"

"Oh, so that's why you stayed up so late these past few days!"

"Yeah...sorry for that."

Cavendish chuckled, untying the tie that stayed resting on his collar, handing it to Dakota to hold onto it. Gently, he took the Italian male's hand, pulling him in the direction he mentioned earlier.

"That's quite alright, dear. C'mon, as much as I appreciate all the work you've put into it, I'm sure there's more of the park that we have yet to see. Plus you said that we should be able to see it again if we loop this area quick enough."

Vinnie laughed, a sound that warmed Cavendish. "Yeah! Plus, I'm sure there's time to grab some of that ice cream over there…"

The Brit followed his partner's gaze, chuckling as Dakota pulled him to the Dip n' Dots vender, the shadows of the forestry area they were heading into comforting. He couldn't wait to see the geyser with Vinnie again.

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