Davey stumbled into the deserted lobby of the motel, sneezing loudly as he tried to shake off all the snow that clung to his clothes. Jack followed at a slower pace as he rolled his eyes at his friend's antics.

It was just snow after all.

"Finally," said Davey, his teeth chattering as he glanced around the small area. "Phone, phone, phone..."

Jack bypassed him, heading straight for the reception desk and rang the bell twice much to the stuttering of Davey behind him. Jack shushed him before spotting a disgruntled woman stepping out from the office.

"Yeah?"

Jack plastered a bright smile before asking, "You wouldn't happen to have –?"

"A phone?" she interrupted with a dramatic sigh.

"Exactly," replied Jack, keeping the smile even with her rude behavior. "You see, we need –"

"To call a tow."

"You must be –"

"Psychic. Ha. Ha. Ha. Anything else predictable you'd like to add?"

Davey stepped up next to Jack at that point, leaning against the desk and having snow fall off him and onto the wood. "Please, can you call? Our car –"

"Hey! You're dirtying the desk!" she cried, making a shooing motion with her hand.

Davey quickly backed away, raising his hands. "Sorry but can –?"

"Tow ain't coming until tomorrow. Roads are too bad," she explained, eyeing the melting snow in disdain. "I've got one room left. Take it or leave it."

Davey stared at her as he processed the situation before he slowly turned his attention towards Jack, a frown forming.

Jack, meanwhile, was already pulling out his wallet, ignoring his friend. He knew he'd get a lecture and a half later and he'd rather hear it in the privacy of a room in case the woman in front of him wanted to interrupt that too.

"Here." He handed her his credit card, the one Medda had given him in case of an emergency. He'd classify this as one, considering how close Davey seemed to a panic attack.

Davey finally stopped his staring when he spotted the credit card and his attitude did a 180. "Jack! No! I'll pay for it! Don't –"

Jack shushed him once more which gave the woman time to swipe the card and to finish registering his name in the computer.

"Jack!"

"We'll talk later," he explained as he took his card back and grabbed the keys. "Thank you, Miss."

"Sure…" But she was already back in the office.

Davey was about to open his mouth once more but Jack covered it before dragging his friend down the corridor to find their room. Once they did and stepped inside, both quickly spotted the sole twin bed in the room, the only place any of them could sleep.

Normally, that would not have been a problem. Normally, the two were great friends and hung out together on a normal basis. However, what was on both their minds were their friends' last words of 'encouragement' they had given each young man before they embarked on the seemingly short road trip.

Crutchie and Race had cornered Jack that morning and had tag-teamed him question after question on the trip and Davey. Especially Davey. Both had noticed how Jack spent A LOT of time with the other young man, how he looked at him – stared, with a hint of drool as Race had put it. Jack denied every accusation, every remark because…

He did do those things…

He just didn't want Davey to know and to then ruin what they had.

At that same time, Specs and Romeo had cornered Davey. While Specs tried to reason logically with Davey about all the facts that pointed towards a potential crush on Jack, Romeo had started giving hints, advice, and everything that Davey had not been ready to hear.

Especially when he knew Jack could be with anyone he wanted.

Why would he choose Davey?

Jack and Davey had gotten into the car that morning with every semblance of normalcy they could muster. Especially considering the text message that they had both received from Albert stating "Just f*** already!". They had both quickly deleted it from their respective phones and attempted to do the same from their mind.

The road trip itself was supposed to be simple: drive a couple of hours to see Katherine and Sarah, spend the weekend and then drive back.

Simple.

Until it started snowing. Heavily.

Davey had wanted to turn around, he felt uncomfortable driving in those conditions and he was especially uncomfortable that he wasn't the one driving. He knew he was the more cautious of the two behind the wheel but Jack had insisted he finish the trip since Davey had done the majority of the drive. Davey had even suggesting pulling over for a while, to let the storm pass: he didn't care if it was on the side of the road or a motel.

He just wanted to get off the road.

And they had, literarily.

After a very rough section of road, their car ended up in a ditch, over a mile away from any sign of civilization.

Davey had resisted the urge to say "I told you so" all through the trek to the motel and their subsequent single twin bed.

"So…?" began Davey, clearing his throat.

"Yeah, well…"

They couldn't even look at each other as they continued to stare at their only possible sleeping arrangement.

"I should call Sarah," stated Davey suddenly, walking towards the telephone on one of the nightstands.

"Yeah, girls might be worried," muttered Jack as he lifted his useless cellphone over his head. He didn't understand how they had absolutely no signal in the area. They weren't that far from civilization!

And now, thanks to the tow truck that would only show up sometime tomorrow, they were in a motel room without any of their belongings either, just the clothes on their back and useless cellphones.

Davey hung up the phone, shivering as he glanced around the sparsely furnished room. "Jack, really, I can pay for this," he offered once more, turning towards his friend.

Davey was aware that Jack's finances came from the part-time job he had on campus and that he and his foster family were on a tight budget. They didn't need a motel room expense on top of everything else.

"Nah, I said it's fine," replied Jack, waving his friend off. Davey may be aware of Jack's situation but the reverse was also true. The Jacobs family may have some money but, considering both Sarah and Davey were at college on scholarships and Davey still needed to work part-time, Jack knew the family couldn't exactly afford to splurge on an unexpected room.

"Jack, seriously. Let us at least split it" argued Davey.

"Buy me breakfast tomorrow morning then," offered Jack with a smile.

"But that –!"

Jack rolled his eyes before motioning towards the connected bathroom. "Go take a warm shower, will ya? I can see you shivering from all the way 'ver 're."

Davey stopped

When Jack came out of the bathroom, he spotted Davey already in bed, his back turned towards the middle as he stayed close to the right edge, very close to the right edge.

Jack sighed at the sight, feeling a sense of regret build within him. His assumptions about Davey not being interested only seemed to be confirmed…

After closing the light of the room, Jack climbed into bed and imitated Davey's position, resigning himself to the short, bittersweet moment he would remember as sharing a bed with his crush.

With that thought, Jack closed his eyes and tried to sleep.

Davey was the first to wake up. In their group of friends, he always was the first, used to starting his day off early ever since he was young. It was no surprise then that he woke before Jack.

It was surprising, however, how he woke up.

Davey shifted in his half-awake state, burying his face in the pillow as he took a deep breath to –

He paused.

The pillow did not smell like a pillow. Upon further inspection, it appeared the pillow wasn't a pillow at all.

It was Jack.

Davey began to panic as he stayed as still as possible. This was NOT the situation he had ever planned on getting into. He did NOT want to ruin his friendship with Jack if he told him how he felt. And yet, here he was, snuggling against his friend in a motel room.

Davey bit back a sigh as he willed his limbs to move ever so slowly so that he could get out of –

Jack suddenly moved and tightened his hold on Davey, pulling him back flush against him. Davey's face burned. He had not even noticed that Jack had his arms wrapped around him.

Jack had his arms wrapped around Davey.

Davey was having difficulty processing that bit of information but it was clear as day. A part of him wanted to stay that way for as long as possible, until Jack woke up and all Davey had to do was pretend that he had still been sleeping.

However, Davey did not feel comfortable lying to Jack about that, about anything really…

He was just going to need to be –

"Dave…"

The name had been faint but still audible from Jack's lips, making Davey's heart skip a beat.

It didn't help that Jack shifted once more, _