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Aurora Borealis

II: Big plans are coming undone

Gray, dark, cold, a breath of fresh air: words that Jack would use to describe the frigid breeze of Iqaluit, Nunavut. The misty clouds covered the sun and shadowed the city in gloom. The harsh northern cold of January seeped through his winter jacket and into his skin, sending chills throughout his skeleton. He took a deep breath through his nose, savouring new smells and alien sensations. He was so unbelievably satisfied with the novelty of this new environment, that he felt he was over the moon. No, no, 'satisfied' wasn't the word for it... He was ecstatic. Although, his contentment did not last for very long, when he was rudely interrupted by Zack grunting in dismay and shivering at the cold, as it assaulted all his senses. He let out a whine, a grim look evident on his face.

"Can't believe that this is what you took out of my joke. How long do we have to stay here?" He complained, turning Jack's mood sour.

Jack nearly slapped his friend in the face, but he managed to hold himself back. It was hypocritical of Zack to complain when he was the one who invited himself over. He didn't want Zack to come with him to begin with, but when he was at the airport and received a phone call from his friend, he felt he couldn't just leave his greatest companion without a word. When he answered the phone, and informed Zack that he was about to leave, he heard shuffling on the other end of the line and then a car door slam. Then he heard him say "Hold on, I'm coming with you."

At that point, Jack didn't have much of a choice but to bring Zack with him.

He turned to look at Zack, watching him struggle with the weight of his duffle-bag. Zack had awkwardly explained in Tampa that he always kept a bag fully packed 'just in case', whatever that meant. At first Jack thought that his friend was ridiculous, but he couldn't bring himself to mock him for being prepared. Jack was extremely unprepared, and he was the one who even planned the trip. He realized he forgot to pack is toothbrush and any pairs of socks when he was in the taxi. When he was at the gate, he discovered he didn't have his phone charger. He was a mess, but calmed himself down by convincing himself that this was what he signed up for when he decided he wanted adventure.

When they arrived at the Frobisher Inn in Iqaluit, Zack had gotten a little more used to the new environment. He still wasn't happy about it, and he made a point to complain, but they were more sparse and quiet. Jack's anger had also settled down, and he made no comment as his friend grumbled in dismay. He simply rolled his eyes, ignored him, and set up his side of the hotel room. The quality of the hotel was alright. It wasn't spectacular, but it wasn't horrible either. The furniture was old fashioned, and the old oak wood floors only made it look more antique. The walls were painted a deep blue, and there was an art piece of a cartoonish owl with its colourful wings spread out, hanging over the bedside table. Jack wasn't complaining: again, it was what he signed up for. He wouldn't be spending much time in the room anyway; it was only there to act as a roof over his head, and a bed for him to sleep in.

He knew he had to find a store somewhere to buy some of his missing items, but he was so exhausted from the flight that he collapsed onto his bed without any thought. He told himself that he would organize himself tomorrow, for in that moment the only thing on his mind was the cloudy thought of sleep.
-------------------------------------------
The Astro Hill Quick-stop was a pleasant sight to Jack the next day, considering how desperate he was for a toothbrush and several more pairs of socks. He found all of the items rather quickly, but soon found himself laughing with Zack at all of the strange food items they had.

"Ketchup flavored potato chips? Oh my god, these can't taste too good." Zack joked, finding it rather amusing that such a product would even exist.

"The maple cookies make sense for Canada, but ketchup flavored anything just seems so random." Jack said, shaking his head with a grin on his face.

Both men woke up that morning in drastically different moods compared to the day prior. Rather than being moody and short-tempered, both were more pleasant and friendly. It was probably because both of them had finally gotten the chance to rest after the hectic day they'd had. Either way, in that moment at the convenience store, the cause for their good moods didn't matter. All that mattered to Jack was that he had finally gotten what he always wanted, and Zack was just happy that his winter-coat was warm enough.

After Jack payed for his supplies and Zack for his ketchup chips, the two friends left Astro Hill with smiles still plastered on their faces. A few feet away from the store, Zack opened his bag of chips, inspecting what was inside. He sniffed the bag, and then grimaced. Jack was watching him intently, and upon seeing the scowl on his friend's face, asked him what was wrong before snatching the bag out of his hands. Zack glared at his companion but Jack payed him no mind, inspecting the contents of the bag himself. The chips were heavily dusted in a red coating, what he presumed to be the 'ketchup' flavor. He took a bite out of a chip, and was pleasantly surprised to discover that it in fact was not repulsive like he had thought it would.

"Try one," he handed the bag back to Zack "they're actually not that bad."
In the distance, Jack could hear a man yelling something incoherent. He ignored it, busy with the task at hand which was watching his friend apprehensively try a chip. As Zack was about to take his first bite, something quite large and fluffy bounced on top of him. Zack toppled over, and the over-excited animal, which Jack noticed was a very large dog, sniffed Zack aggressively, shoving his snout into his neck, face and hair. Zack was desperately trying to shove the dog off of him, but failed miserably. Jack stood there stunned. He wasn't sure whether he should be amused or scared, so he settled for being both. He wanted to help his friend, but the dog was obviously unnaturally strong if it could knock Zack over. Zack was athletic and well-built; most of his weight came from muscle. If not even he was able to successfully wrestle this canine, there was no way Jack could do it. Relief washed over the raven haired man as someone came running from Queen Elizabeth street towards them. The man was loud, and Jack realized that his voice was the same one that was yelling in the distance just moments ago.

When the man finally made it, he grabbed the dog and pulled him off of Zack with only a little reluctance on the dog's part. He was cursing as he tried to hold the dog still, and looked at both Jack and Zack apologetically.

"I'm so sorry, oh my god," he said "my dog, he--he loves ketchup chips. He can smell them from a mile away. I think he must've smelled the bag when you opened it because he suddenly just got so excited and-"

"Why don't you keep that thing on a leash?" Zack spat, clearly annoyed. "That's not a dog, that's a fucking wolf. It could've killed me."

The stranger stopped rambling, and looked at Zack with clear anger. "He's not a thing, he's a dog. He's a husky, actually, and he's a sled dog. I'm sorry he jumped on you like that, but as far as I can tell, all he did was sniff you. He didn't try to kill you. Get over it." Evidently, the stranger did not appreciate this man insulting his dog. Clearly, the husky held a lot of significance to him.

Zack opened his mouth to retaliate, but Jack interrupted him before he could speak. "Ok, let's just settle down, guys." He said, getting between the two. "Nobody's hurt, it's all good." He turned to the stranger. "I'm jack" he introduced, offering the stranger a smile.

The stranger returned the smile, "I'm Alex." he nodded. Jack looked at Alex properly, taking in his appearance. His hair, styled in a fringe, was the colour of coffee, and he had eyes to match. His lips were thin and were a light shade of rose, and the cold air had caused a pale blush to form on his cheeks. Jack wasn't going to deny that Alex was one of the most attractive men he'd ever seen. In fact, he couldn't help but stare longer than what was necessary. Alex, noticing Jack's long gaze, looked away out of awkwardness.

"Well Alex," Jack said, catching the man's attention again, "you're pretty cute."

Alex's cheeks turned an even darker shade of pink, and he tried to wrack his brain for an appropriate response. He didn't usually like being complimented, especially by strangers, and this time was no exception. "Thanks." He said, deciding that that was a justifiable reply. Frankly, Alex was more than uncomfortable; he was even a little angry.

Jack spent 10 more minutes trying to flirt with Alex, but said man wasn't falling for any of it. He was gay, sure, and Jack was quite attractive, but in the few minutes that he had known him, the raven-haired man had managed to make him feel more uncomfortable than he had ever been in his life. His husky, which Jack learned was named Amaruq, had settled down once Zack surrendered his bag of ketchup chips. After multiple failed attempts to get Alex's number, the Nunavut-native sighed.

"Look," he started, coming up with a plan just to get this stranger off his back "I'm having an art show next weekend. If you really wanna see me again, which I doubt you will after the week has passed, then come show up. It's at the Iqaluit Fine Arts Studio."

Jack couldn't even respond to the invitation or ask for more information. Right after Alex had finished speaking, he was walking away and whistling to Amaruq to join him. Jack turned to Zack with a smirk on his face, not bothering to take notice of Zack's upset expression.

"I hate you so much" the muscular man shook his head. In that moment, he really did feel like he hated Jack.

Notes

guess who's back with a second chapter :)

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