Word: Luck

Dakavendish, translations at end of story, 3.9k words

"Dakota, get up. We'll be late." The voice huffed as he tugged on the sleeve of Dakota's pajamas. As sweet as he looked like that, they really were running late. "Dakota!"

Lazily waving the hand that Cavendish was tugging, Dakota mumbled into the pillow, "5 m're minut's…"

Cavendish rolled his eyes, it was a wonder that he'd managed to understand his boyfriend. "You've already had your 5 minutes! Honestly, get up, we're already running behind!"

Dakota popped his head up from where it was mushed into the pillow. Balthazar had to throw a hand up in front of his face to keep his smile hidden. His hair was typically curly and unruly but Vinnie with curly bed head- now that was adorable. He couldn't help himself as he ran a hand adoringly through the curls, smoothing them back slightly.

Through his sleepy demeanor, Dakota smiled at him. He let Cavendish run his fingers through his messy hair a bit more before reaching- and missing- for his glasses on the bedside table. Giggling, Cavendish picked them up, tapping the temple tips against his skin as a warning, before slipping them on.

He watched as Vinnie blinked at the orange tint slowly, before raising his arms to stretch. Cavendish watched him, smiling. Once he was done, he turned to Cavendish with a small yawn.

"Awake now?"

Dakota looked at him with a soft smile- before letting his body fall forward, face smushed yet again against the pillow. "Nope."

"Vinnie!" The phone rang from the kitchen before Cavendish could chide him about his glasses possibly breaking. With one last, "Get up!", he headed towards the kitchen, glancing at the caller ID.

"Who's it?"

"Block!"

"I'm in the bathroom then." Dakota replied from his position on the bed.

"Of course you are." Cavendish mumbled, though there was no bite to it. Clearing his throat, he answered the call, giving a wide smile at their boss. "Good morning !"

The man looked up from where he'd been flipping through paranormal paperwork while waiting for an answer. "Cavendish! Good to hear from you! Are you and Dakota on your way to work?"

Uh-oh. "Uhm, not yet, but we're about to leav-"

"In that case, don't worry about it."

Cavendish froze, confusion quickly succumbing to fear of being fired. They still needed a job, even if it was a dead end one. "I'm sorry?"

"Don't worry about coming into work today- we have two trainees today that need to be briefed on your positions, and since you two have done so much overtime lately, we'll just have them do your work for the day so that they can get experience. You'll still come in tomorrow, just have the day off, alright?"

Really? "Wow...thank you! That's-"

Block waved his head, glancing past the communicator as someone seemingly burst into the room. " , sir,-"

"One second, Emilia." Their boss turned back with a somewhat stressed smile now. "No problem, Cavendish. Enjoy the day off, come in tomorrow as usual. Goodbye."

" , we've had confirmation that-"

The device shut off before the voice could continue.

Cavendish was in shock.

Then he grinned.

Throwing the communicator back onto the table, and making sure the coffee he'd been preparing wouldn't burn or the like, he started taking off his jacket, stepping into his and Dakota's room.

By now, the male had gotten up, rubbing at his eyes underneath his glasses sleepily. When he saw Cavendish, concern crossed his face, watching the Brit tugging off his jacket with a theatred frown. "Uh, Cav? What's, uh- what's wrong?"

Sighing, Cavendish sat down next to his boyfriend, having to turn away to keep from bursting into a grin. Maybe this'll teach Dakota not to sleep in. "We're not going in today." He mumbled.

"Wait, what? Why?"

He felt Dakota take his hand, tapping it to get him to look over, but Cavendish knew if he did, he'd burst into laughter. He kept his head turned away, trying hard not to laugh.

"Cav?"

"He asked if we were on our way, and I said we will be, and he said to just...not come in today."

"What?! That's crazy!" Beside him, Cavendish could feel the bed shift as Dakota stood up. The male circled to step in front of him, and he bit his lip to keep from smiling. "That's not fair- you can't fire someone just for not being on the road yet!

"...Can you?"

Cavendish lowered his head, shaking it. He couldn't help the smile that he let slip. It wasn't often he got to prank Vinnie after all. "I don't know- but I know one thing."

"What's that?"

Balthazar let his head raise once more, hiding his smile to look Vinnie in the eyes. He almost felt bad when he recognized guilt and worry behind the ever present orange glasses. Almost.

"More time to sleep in."

With that, Cavendish wrapped an arm around Vinnie, ignoring his personal bubble problems for a second to hold the male close, digging his nose into the other's neck and letting them fall back onto the bed. He chuckled as Vinnie yelped, laughing from the tickling.

"Wait, Cav! This is serious, we should go fix it-"

"Nooo, don't get upppp."

"Cav-"

"Stay here." He breathed. He felt genuinely comfortable and happy. It was a feeling he rarely got to enjoy, with the stresses life threw at them. "I was just kidding about being fired. He gave us a day off because he wanted to train some interns in our positions, and because we've done so much overtime lately. Stay here, please?"

He felt, rather than heard, Vinnie breathing out. "Ya scared me for a second, Cav." He felt Dakota shift slightly, and moved his head up to make it easier for his boyfriend, before returning them. "C'mere. Five more minutes?" A hand rested on his hip, holding him comfortably.

Cavendish sighed happily. "Five more minutes." He agreed.

"It's such nice weather out today!" Cavendish marveled. After sleeping in a bit more and simply enjoying each other's company, they had decided to go out, despite the weather app threatening rain.

"Yeah, no kidding! Rain, my butt." Dakota looked up at the sky, Cavendish following suit. It was true. There wasn't even a dark cloud in the sky. Only soft, fluffy, white ones.

"Do you think it'll last?"

Dakota shrugged in answer. Dropping his eyes again, he immediately "ooh!"ed something as it caught his eye. "Hey, Cav! Can we get some ice cream?"

Balthazar followed his gaze past the small storefronts they were walking by, to an old timely ice cream shop, decorated in bright pink frills and other eye-catching decorations.

"I don't see why not. I assume I'll have to pay, hm?" Balthazar rolled his eyes, already preparing for it. A shiver ran down his spine as they entered the colder interior. He almost let out a yelp as confetti sprinkle down on them, a badly tuned jingle playing from a hidden speaker. "What in the world?"

From the counter in front of them, a young girl with her blue dyed hair tied back waved at them eagerly. "Congrats! You two are our thousandth customers! As a thank you for coming in, and a prize, you can choose whatever you'd like, on the house!"

Dakota turned to him, grinning enthusiastically. "Guess you won't hafta be paying for this one!"

Rolling his eyes, Cavendish answered with a soft smile, "You're just lucky that you don't owe me for today."

"Yeah, maybe." The twinkle in his boyfriend's eyes was what he adored, and he made sure it stayed there as they ordered their ice creams, a strawberry and superman double scoop for Dakota ("Dakota, I'm not certain those two will work together well." "I've made my choice, and I'll hold to it, no matter how bad!" "If you say so."), and a peach and vanilla double scoop with a chocolate flake for Cavendish. Though they were chilled while inside the building, they both dug into their ice cream for relief when they hit the warm air outside.

"Glad I told you not ta wear your suit now?" Dakota teased, elbowing his partner lightly before turning his cone weirdly to lick at a drip.

"Hmph. Maybe." Okay, yes. They were in more casual clothes for once, rather than their signature three piece suit and 80's tracksuit. Something rare to see them in, but a relief on today's somewhat hot day.

"Hey look!" Cavendish glanced up, following Dakota's pointing finger, and grinning when he spotted Milo and his friends. "It's Murphy and co!"

"Hiya Cavendish! Dakota! How are you guys?" Milo, cheerful as always, greeted them.

"Heya kids! We're doin' great- we got a day off from our boss, so we're just out and about. What are you kids up to? Shouldn't you be in school?"

"Well we were on a field trip to the Space Museum. But then, one of the space shuttles on display from the ceiling fell, and we somehow got into it. Then, planet Earth fell off it's display and nudged it, and the janitor was cleaning the floor so it was wet, and the shuttle slid all the way here! So, we decided to get some ice cream before we went back! Is it any good?"

"Wow, sounds like Murphy's Law threw you for quite the trip, hm? Yes, the ice cream from over there's very good!" Cavendish pointed towards where he and Dakota just left. When he turned to continue his conversation, he noticed what seemed to be a truck wheel heading their way. Without thinking too much of it, he reached forward and tugged on Milo's sleeve, pulling the kid to the side just fast enough to let the wheel pass by innocently. "Though, I don't recommend trying Dakota's 'super strawberry man' combination, as he calls it. He says it's fine, but I don't believe him." Cavendish finished his sentence, too used to Murphy's Law at this point.

"That was close! Thanks Cavendish! And, we'll take your word on Dakota's, ah, invention." The trio of children giggled as Dakota protested his mixture, joking with Melissa about the taste. Somewhere nearby, glass shattered and a cat yowled in the air, some wild animal shooting past them.

"Whoops! I think that's our cue. Besides, we should hurry back to the museum. Oh! That reminds me! I found these tickets in the museum-" Milo rummaged through his bag as a sign post fell next to him. He pulled out two flyers, and handed them to Dakota. "We can't really use them, since it's soon, and we have school, so I thought you two wanted them!"

Cavendish glanced at the papers in Dakota's hand. Dance Beneath the Sun. An orchestrated music/dance party in the park. Interesting.

"Wow! Thank you Milo, we appreciate this!"

"No problem! But we should get going. Bye Cavendish! Bye Dakota!"

Everyone stepped away, saying their goodbyes as they left. Cavendish gingerly took the papers from Dakota, not wanting his partner to get ice cream all over them. "Well, that was kind of them."

"Yeah! And Murphy's Law was pretty calm, too." The Italian glanced over the papers, licking at his cone. "You think we should go?"

"Well…" It looked like it would be nice weather for the rest of the day. And, if there weren't too many people there, how much harm could it do? At the very least, they'd get to walk through the park. "If there aren't too many people, I don't see why not."

"Sweet!" Dakota sent him finger guns, which Cavendish rejected with a roll of his eyes, but took his hand nonetheless. "Says it'll start soon, and the park's a bit away. Should we get going?"

Balthazar nodded, squeezing his hand as the other pulled him forward, an indigenous, "Vinnie!" falling from his lips.

It took them a few minutes, but they finally reached the park, the ice cream long gone. They settled into a comfortable silence as they walked, hand in hand, through the park. Cavendish had long since dispelled his fears of being seen, being comforted by the kids and Dakota that the time period they were in was friendly upon his and Dakota's relationship. Now, he occasionally squeezed his boyfriend's hand as he chattered on about the different birds they spotted, sometimes interrupting with tree facts he'd learned in Boy Scouts. They tried to match the bird's calls, but ended up with giggle fits when it definitely did not go right.

They wound their way through the gravel walkway, neatly trimmed grass just about settling over the edges. The trees above them offered some shade, and flowers dotted the field around them. Little ankle-height fences marked off the grass, but it was more for decoration than protection, as families picnicked on the grass, and kids played tag. It was a beautiful day.

Coming around a cornered tree, Cavendish drew his eyes to the gazebo, where he spotted a few people packing up. "Oh dear. We might be too late."

Following his eyeline, the shorter male frowned. "But we're only a few minutes late? Wait, hang on! Cav, c'mon." Dakota dragged Cavendish by their still intertwined hands over to the gazebo, and a man with a mustache and glasses glanced up. His Skimmer dipped down a bit, and the man used one hand to fix the hat, the other tugging at his dark red vest.

"Hello good sirs! I must say, I enjoy your style, sir." The man sent a wink towards Cavendish, which sent him in a fluster and Dakota into a small pout. He was in different clothes, he couldn't still look 'old timey'! ..Right?

The man chuckled, sticking out a hand for them each to shake. "Well, whatever pleasure do I have to meet you two on this fine day?"

Cavendish fumbled in taking out the papers Milo had given them, still a bit flushed from the unexpected wink. "Uhm- we, uh- we thought there'd be a bit of a musical here? Did we miss it?"

The dressed up man took the flyers, eyes saddening slightly. "Oh, I'm so sorry boys- we were told by the park district that we couldn't do it today. And unfortunately, we're a travelling group, so we could only play in the park today." He handed the flyers back to Cavendish, their fingers brushing. The Brit retreated his hand quickly, feeling invisible bugs crawling over the area they'd accidentally (accidentally?) brushed.

Dakota didn't seem to notice. "That's a shame. We were getting pretty excited for it!" He squeezed his hand just a little bit, tugging Cavendish back, but not breaking eye contact with the man. Maybe he did notice after all.

The man hummed thoughtfully, looking at Dakota intently. He sent him a wink, which Cavendish frowned at, before turning to three other people dressed just like him, who seemed to be packing up.

"Ey, Patryku! Myślisz że możemy jeszcze czegoś pograć?"*

The two ex time travellers glanced at each other, confused. Dakota raised his eyebrow, to which Cavendish simply shrugged.

"No a po czo?"**

A gruff voice replied as a head popped up behind the back barrier of the gazebo.

"No hey, przyszli te dwie tu! Szkoda by było- i też są całkiem ładne!"*** The man turned back to beam at them, and for some reason, Cavendish huffed, pulling Dakota in front of him to hug him, leaning his back against his chest, resting his chin on the curly fluff of his hair. He tried not to be rude, but he couldn't help the little glare he sent to the man, Dakota's giggling breaking his glare to laugh with him. "Ah, szkoda tylko że są parą."***

Yet another person wearing the same outfit padded up to the original man, and gave them a little wave. She had her hair tied up in a low bun that somehow stuck out underneath her Skimmer, and she wore a knee length skirt as opposed to the other three male's long black pants.

"Hi, nice ta meet ya!" She had a heavy southern accent, but when she turned to the other three, she spoke the same language, something Cavendish was beginning to suspect was...Russian? Ukrainian? Polish, maybe? "Dlaczego nie? Jeszcze mamy nasze sprzęty tutaj."**** She turned her smile back to them. "What song do you boys want to hear?"

"I thought you weren't able to play here today?" Cavendish leaned forward a little with the question.

She shrugged. "We're not. But, we haven't put away our equipment just yet, and we don't want a wasted trip. If you have a song request, we can play one before we leave?"

Dakota shifted out of Cavendish's hold, craning his neck to look at him. "You got a song, Cav?"

He smiled. "Ah, I don't. Besides, you're more inclined to popular songs than I. Anything in mind?"

"Peppy or melancholy?"

"Big words." Balthazar teased his boyfriend. "Well, whatever may be easiest to play."

Dakota stuck his tongue out, thinking for a second, before turning back to the European band. "Do you know 'I Will Follow You Into the Dark' by Death Cab for a Cutie?"

The first male whistled. "Wow, haven't heard that song in quite a while. You've got quite the musical taste young man! We'd love to, and add a little remix if you don't mind?"

Dakota beamed at the compliment, nodding. Cavendish yelped as he was suddenly dragged atop the gazebo, which was just big enough to fit the band and the two lovers, and then some.

As the four set up a guitar and portable keyboard, Dakota pressed into his partner's chest, a chaste kiss to his cheek surprising him. Cavendish sighed contently, returning the gesture.

The band started the song, something soft and sweet, though a bit livelier with the remix. Dakota sang along to some lyrics as Cavendish listened, the two dancing along to the song. At first, Cavendish was embarrassed at dancing in public, but with Dakota borderline belting out the lyrics- well, he might as well enjoy it while he could.

As the song wound to a close, the two were laughing and holding on close to one another. As the three males packed up, the woman followed them as the duo stepped off.

"Thank you so much for that! We were really bummed to hear that we weren't going to be playing here today, especially after the eight hour drive! Getting a chance to sing, especially for such a lovely couple, was exactly what we needed! Here-" She brought out a piece of paper that she'd grabbed along the way. "We were meant to have dinner at a restaurant nearby, but we decided to just move on with our tour, so we were going to cancel. You're more than welcome to take our reservations! Everything's prepaid too, so no worries!"

Dakota took the reservation papers. They both stared at her with wide eyes, until Cavendish managed to find his voice again.

"My goodness! Thank you so much! But, we can't possibly take this, we can't repay you, we simply can't take such an offer-"

"Oh, really, it's our pleasure, sir! Like I said, you seem like a wonderful couple, and, well, we were going to cancel it anyways. And you've already repaid us- it was such a wonderful break to get to sing when we weren't expecting to, and such a lovely song too! Thank you for stopping by, enjoy the meal!"

The two waved goodbye as they walked back down the gravel path, staring at the paper in shock.

"Well...should we go?"

"Hell yeah."

The restaurant was in a well off neighborhood, and seemed pretty fancy. To Cavendish's delight, there weren't too many people, so it wasn't too loud, and they were put in a quiet corner with few other people. Dakota was elated to find out that their corner was fairly dark, and the whole restaurant was dimmed in general. He took off his glasses, a rarity at home, and even more so in public, and put them on the table. Cavendish didn't waste the rare chance to look into Vinnie's curious heterochromatic eyes, smiling softly. Dakota blushed at being the center of attention, another rarity.

"Cav, stahp, you're embarrassing me…"

The Brit laughed quietly, raising a hand to cover his mouth. "I can't help it dear. If you're going to look that pretty, you need to deal with the consequences."

Dakota sputtered, covering his face with his hands to hide the tomato red dusting his cheeks. It was hard to see in the darkened room, but Cavendish knew his other half well.

"Good evening- ehrm. Excuse me gentlemen, but this table is reserved already."

Dakota quickly slipped his glasses back on while Cavendish provided the reservation papers, explaining how they were given the spot. After a quick discussion with the manager and a call to confirm they hadn't simply stolen it or were some stalker fans of sorts, they were finally able to order what they wanted, having it already covered by the reservation.

"Well, that could've gone better." Cavendish said as he watched the waiter shuffle away with their menus.

Dakota simply shrugged. "Could've gone worse, too." He pointed out. "At least we get free food."

"Indeed. We've been incredibly lucky today. First work, then the cold deserts and Murphy's Law being quite calm, the band, now this? We should buy a lottery ticket." Cavendish joked, but, actually, it wasn't that bad of an idea. This was probably their luckiest day to date- they should chance it.

"Tell me about it. Let's try it after dinner."

"I do wonder where our luck came from. Usually, we practically attract bad luck!" He thanked the waiter as he gave them their drinks, saying that their food will be out shortly.

"Well, what can I say- it's my luck of the Irish."

"Dakota, you're Italian."

"Eh, we're close enough to 'em."

Cavendish rolled his eyes. "Dakota, no." Before he could chastise the male further for his cultural and geographical nonsense, their food arrived. And it was amazing. They spoke about small nothings as they enjoyed it, catching up and looking at their future as people flitted in and out of the restaurant.

When they stepped out of the restaurant, the sky was ablaze with red, orange and purples, the day turning into night. They followed the concrete sidewalk, still somehow lit up with fading sunlight, as though their walkway was the only source of light around. As a partial joke, they found themselves heading to a gas station, too tempted by the lucky day to not try. But when they stepped out of the store again, Cavendish was laughing and Dakota was sticking his tongue out at his partner.

"Well, I suppose our luck couldn't last for too long. At least we got three dollars!" Cavendish smiled at Dakota, who handed him the money as a return for previous food outings.

"Shame. It would've been a cool ending to the night." They crossed the street, finding themselves at the entrance of the park where they walked through earlier, the moon now up and shining through the tree leaves brightly. Stars twinkled above them, looking just as beautiful as they did in space, though a little dimmer.

Rolling his eyes at Dakota's little pout, Cavendish held out a hand to stop him. When Vinnie looked up at him, confused, he did the only logical thing. He leaned in, grabbing Vinnie's shirt gently to pull him up into a kiss. When they parted, Dakota looked up at him, starstruck.

"Well. I don't think I could have a better ending to the night than that."

Cavendish chuckled lightly. He held onto Dakota's hand, which was warm despite the cooling air. "Come on, lucky boy. Let's get home."

*Ey, Patryku! Do you think we can still play something?

**What, why?

***Two guys came here. It would be a shame if we couldn't- they're quite handsome! _ Ah, just a shame that they're a pair.

****Why not? We still have our equipment out.

Hope the translations helped! Also, it is, in fact, polish :D Thank you so much for reading, views are appreciated! Hope y'all have a good morning/afternoon/evening/night! Take care of yourselves!