Day 84: In Which They Puzzle

The power was out. Everything was too dark, too quiet, and too empty— so much so that his brain was starting to reach new levels of paranoia with all the nothingness around. They were already rounding the fourth hour with no electricity, seeming unlikely that it'd be coming back any time soon, which led him to procuring a long-forgotten puzzle box from the depths of his messy closet as a desperate attempt to occupy the monotony.

"Maybe we have truly reached the end of the world this time," Elsa suggested as she finished lighting up another candle.

He snorted, ripping the package open with his teeth and scattering the puzzle pieces all over the table. "Great, the world is ending and I'm spending my last moments on this godforsaken planet mounting a stupid jigsaw puzzle."

Gingerly protecting the flickering flame, she took the seat next to his. "You're the one who wanted to do it."

"Because you cheat at cards!"

"I told you, poker is a third math."

"And another third cheating..."

"What do you think you're doing?" She had stopped flipping the puzzle pieces right side up and intently watched as he tried to match a pile of nearby pieces to the one he kept in his left hand.

"Dying of boredom?" he guessed with a scowl.

"Corner pieces first!"

He scoffed, "I don't live by your rules."

"You don't live by any rules, Jack."

"I get that you're trying to insult me right now, but it's really not working," he stated, smirking at her.

Elsa let out a long sigh. "You know, you can tell a lot about someone by the way they mount puzzles."

"Yeah? What does it say about me?" Jack asked with an arched eyebrow.

"That you're bad at building puzzles," she scoffed. "And also that you're probably the last person anyone could ever dream of being stuck with in the apocalypse."

"Talk about a dream come true for you then."

"If you wanna call it that..."

He grinned triumphantly. "You just admitted that I'm the man of your dreams."

"How—" Elsa groaned, rubbing tired circles on her temples. "You need to stop talking."

"And you need to stop denying your feelings for me, Elsa."