2025-01-09 - Gabe & Jett's Infinite Playlist

[TXT to Gabriel] Jett: R u off work? I am!

[TXT to Gabriel] Jett: meet u at the arcade?

Jett has taken the time to pick out one of his better outfits. They're still from the thrift store regardless. He's put on a grey, white, and black flannel button down over a black t-shirt, topped with a bunch of necklaces and chains, paired with some black cargo pants that have white patches and other punk patches sewn on, a belt that's white, and dripping with chains. It's not fancy but everything is clean! He's accessorized to make it look more upscale and trendy than it was from the racks of a thrift store. The pale features make him sort of monotone with his clothes though, so the little bits of color on him, like red batches or stitching on the pants, pops out.

He's on his phone standing by the entrance of the arcade, trying to ignore the looks he's getting. He's gotten a lot more looks lately since his 'walking dead' appearance and is blissfully trying to ignore it.

[TXT to Jett] Gabriel: Yup. Hopping on the ferry now

Gabriel, in contrast, is a beacon of color and to a lesser extent, light. The glow is barely visible but it's there, a soft radiance in the blue light spectrum which gives them a slightly more moon-kissed appearance. Their loudly patterned sweater is made up of seemingly every shape and color. It's cropped short, falling just above their navel, but high-waisted black jeans save them from any winter faux pas. Atop it they're wearing their usual well-worn jean jacket and black suede Chelsea boots to round out the look.

They remain quiet until they're about a foot away from Jett who seems distracted enough by his phone anyway. "Hey."

Jett doesn't lose hold of his phone or anything that would suggest he'd been spooked. He simply clicks his phone screen off and slides it into his pocket, lifting his head up languidly enough that it was done with a suave carelessness, emo to the core as his dark eyes flickered to meet the blue of Gabriel's, but not before his gaze swept over the black jeans and the loud crop sweater.

Jett's brows tweak a little, perhaps seeing the faint blue light spectrum illuminating Gabriel in a faint way, "Hey." He considers them a little further, "It doesn't look so bad."

A crooked smile appears on Gabriel's lips in the face of Jett's suave carelessness. They seem utterly amused by it. And of course, now that their eyes meet, Gabe takes a second to properly study all the changes they'd texted back and forth about. Crossing their arms, they tilt their head to one side, then the other, making a show of cataloguing every new detail from the feathers to the gray complexion.

"The Crow had more clown paint. This is giving drow." Uh oh. Nerd alert. As for the half compliment, if it even is a compliment, "thanks. It's growing on me. Even if I'm starting to notice the glow fluctuating sometimes. Not sure what makes it brighter or dimmer but it's the least of my worries right now. Come on, let's go inside." They lift a foot towards the door.

"Clown paint..." Jett snorts at Gabriel, "I could have been more clownish for you if I would have known you'd stand there comparing me to Brandon Lee for the second time. I tell you, I'll be the next Brandon Lee." Then the next question, "A drow? Like.... okay, I don't know what that is." He admits. He doesn't have access to all the nerdy stuff and tends to be more tactical in his hobbies, like basketball or skateboarding.

"Oh it fluctuates?" He looks curious at Gabriel and tries to see if it does, "Like a real glow worm." He smiles at them and follows them inside, "Maybe you need to up against a light for a while to absorb the UV, like glow in the dark paint!" He says with a little too much excitement as if he would totally try that experiment on them. Jett smirks a little, "I like the sweater. You pull it off."

"Look--" Gabriel starts off dryly but soon scoffs with a wave of their hand. "I didn't think I would either. But leave the clown make up to the professionals, yeah?" A gesture up the midway where there are literal jesters performing for the crowd. They turn to regard Jett again for a moment when he says he doesn't know that a drow is, focusing on the new features again. "It's a Dungeons and Dragons thing. Dark Elves. They're all mysterious chaotic evil and live underground and have skin in various tones of..." Gabe takes a moment to think up a proper color, "slate? Smoke? Fossil?"

Right now Gabe's glow seems to be holding steady at a low setting. They roll their eyes just a little when Jett calls them a real glow worm. "You know, most people would be insulted by someone calling them a worm." But somehow they don't seem to be. Or at least not completely. The flare up of excitement has them huffing out a laugh. "I could try that. I hadn't thought of it, actually." And then finally their eyes land on Jett's smirk. "Thanks. I like the feathers. They work for you." Then they open the door and head inside.

Jett rolls his eyes at the statement, "Now you don't think I can professionally put on face paint? I guess next time I'll be sure to whip out the thick eyeliner and do some cat eyes or something." Jett was in fact wearing guy liner, emo style. The rest of it he didn't have to worry about because of the dark circles around his eyes now. "Oh shit, this keeps coming up, the Dungeons and Dragons. I was supposed to get with a group to play that, with Ari. I keep learning about it in passing." He marks the game and knows it's origins and then pauses, "Shit. Underground?" He snort laughs, "Maybe the island wants me to be a drow! Look I mean, I have earth magic....! Interesting theory." A beat, "Slate sounds badass. I'll take slate."

"As a man who can decompose things for worms to feast on, worms are my best friends," Jett offers as a side to the could be offended sentiment from Gabe. Then Jett is grinning when Gabriel huffs out a laugh, "Glow in the dark Gabe. You're glow in the dark." Then the sentiment of the feathers and Jett's expression falters and he looks exasperated, "They keep coming back no matter if I cut them off or not." Stuck with them.

He catches the door behind them and notes with an up beat statement to follow, "I got us some extra cred. We can play as long as we want really. What are you feeling up to first? Pinball? Racing? The claw machine? Ooo you wanted to see me do that Just Dance at some point right? That's over there." He points in a vague direction of where the machines were.

"Cat eyes are not clown make up. But if you want to show off, I won't say no." Gabriel actually bites back a slightly wicked grin there, as if Jett will only be doing them a favor by demonstrating proper use of a liquid eyeliner pen. Not that this current emo-liner isn't also getting lingering looks here and there. Sly smiles even. "I haven't played in forever but I'd still remember a drow any day. And it's an underground city, by the way. Not like...in the literal dirt. There's a whole place called the Underdark...I'll stop before I get too technical. You can look it up if you really want to." But then Jett says earth magic and Gabe's brows tick up. "What does that mean? What all can you do?"

And then there's more. Decompose things. "Okay what's that mean?" There's a tiny smile for worms being Jett's best friends though. It makes the whole nickname...cuter? Friendlier? They wave a hand up suddenly when Jett mentions cutting the feathers. "Stop it. I already told you--" then Gabe dramatically mouths out the silent word MOLT directly at Jett.

Inside, the options presented just have Gabriel's eyes flicking from shiny noisy thing to shiny noisy thing, and for a second it looks like they might be completely overwhelmed by all of it. Until the dancing is mentioned. The whole point of this excursion. They gently place a hand on Jett's shoulder and give him a nudge in that direction, towards the Just Dance machines. They still need a second to acclimate to the wall of overstimulation happening.

"Bet," Jett says at the challenge to show off next time. He's aware of their lingering looks and Jett is not at all hesitant to meet the gaze. His make up skills are not scabby at all and in fact he has put some effort into learning how to properly do his eyes, now naturally smoky, with an additional flick of mascara too. "Ahh, not in the literal dirt," he cracks a grin, "The whole lemming thing is out then." A blink at the 'Underdark' wording and it seems to intrigue him enough to add, "Yeah maybe I'll look it up later." A beat at the earth magic thing, "Oh. Uhm..." he scrubs the back of his head nervously as he looks aside, then back, "Well... I can kind of control natural material, like, rock, wood, metals... dirt, sand.. you know, that kind of stuff. I can manipulate it and control it."

There is more! Jett rubs his hand over his brow where an eyebrow ring was, twisting it casually, "Um, yeah about that one. Yeah. Living shit, like plants... you know I can cause to rot? Like decompose. I can probably hurt things with a beating heart too but I haven't wanted to try..." He looks aside, "Like things that can break down over time with like natural processes... I can speed that up." He side glances to Gabriel, "And the last thing I can do...?" He shakes his head, "I can steal someone else's energy or life or whatever... and add it to mine. If I am depleted I think I can restore myself by using another person... but, that person also... suffers." He furrows his brows, "So yeah... the coloring all kind of makes sense doesn't it?"

He snorts a little at the mouthed 'molt' and shrugs, "I was testing a theory! Ooookay?" He half grins and jams his hands into his pockets until he's nudged toward the Just Dance area. He might be aware of how over stimulating the place was, so encourages, "It's not as busy right now as it tends to be on weekends."

Cue Jett's explanation of all his magic. Gabe just stands there listening with a neutral expression. Processing.

For a whole minute.

"So...let me get this right. Earth magic, slate complexion, making living things decompose at will, and stealing someone's life energy..." A beat. "You're a necromancer basically?" Gabriel's just going to say the quiet part aloud because in all their years of life, they've never been gifted the chance to actually meet someone who is, in fact, a necromancer. They're also staring at Jett with a keen intensity that mirrors the night of the Winter Ball when they were trying to figure him out in the gazebo. "I should get Stephen King on the phone to make sure." They pretend to reach into their pocket for their phone but don't really get it out, instead just turn a soft smile Jett's way.

"Ooookay," they mimic Jett's tone in response to his testing of theories. It's good to know it's not as busy as weekends though and they nod a little. As they walk, Gabriel makes a sort of evasive noise. Like they want to say something but might also be somewhat embarrassed to reveal it. Another moment passes before they finally pipe up, "I might have discovered my magic earlier this week."

Jett recognizes the processing and he waits for them to let it sort of sink in. It was a lot and by Jett's own nervous expression he doesn't talk about it with many people. He tucks some hair behind his ear which some of the feathers pop it out and he has to fuck with it for a minute to get it to stay, which leaves him hissing against his teeth over it. "Pretty damn close to one... yeah, I'd say," he gives a little half chuckle, "I can't re.. I mean... maybe I can reanimate the dead. Holy shit. I need to try that now..." Bones falls under organic material of the earth right?! Maybe the combination of both magics will help let him rebuild a skeleton or something. Jett flashes his gaze back to Gabriel once he's done plotting out grave robbing or something, "Uhm, well, maybe don't! I don't need that kind of attention." He waves his hands as Gabriel goes for his phone but then ultimately doesn't, realizing he's been gagged, he rolls his eyes. "Shut up..." he looks aside with one corner of his lips crooked up.

Jett checks out other gaming stations as they work their way through the arcade, though there's a big difference when it comes to people now managing to get out of his way before he has to navigate them. Mostly the stares are curious and in awe, nothing that shows disgust and he does double check sometimes and catches a curious person waving or taking photos. He tries to ignore this as they ferret their way around the arcade made to the game station, Just Dance. It's a big open platform which is different than dance dance revolution. Instead of just four spaces that clearly have weight sensors underneath them, the whole platform seems part of the game as well as all the sensors that pick up body motion.

Yet before Jett can get into the game, Gabriel had made that sound, which Jett had been half curious over but mildly distracted by the other people that he didn't prod them over it. Still, what Gabe drops is not exactly what Jett was expecting, nevertheless, he is curious. "Oh yeah? Something to do with ... moonlight?"

Gabe can see where Jett's going with the whole reanimate the dead thing from like a mile away and lifts a finger quickly to calm some of that building excitement. "There are rules, Jett. We respect the dead. If there will be any experimenting...it has to be done right and with mindfulness. Said by one supervillain to another." While their tone is serious, it's relatively gentle. And then yes, they totally psych him with the fake phone call. The shut up just makes that smile tug wider.

The looks that Jett's getting from the general public are hard to ignore, but even Gabriel, who loves to glare back at people, seems to understand that they come from a gentler place. Therefore, no hard scowls are tossed around in defense. This is an arcade, after all. A place of fun. A place where millions of dollars can be spent on high tech looking games that suddenly make Gabe feel incredibly old. They stand off to the side, staring at the platform.

"It just...sees you, then?" Yes Jett, explain it to them like they're five. They know what a drow is but not a motion sensor.

As for the magic, "Not entirely. But we can talk about it after you impress me with your dance." Their eyes flick up to Jett's feathers, an impish smile twisting up their face at the same time. "Like one of those big birds in the rainforest."

Jett gets the LECTURE FINGER. Jett stares at the upraised finger like it was the kill joy of his realization that he could animate dead things. "Mindful," Jett says as sort of a compromise and an understanding that the dead things must be respected. Though it seems not to stay long with Jett as they wander further into the arcade, it is likely that Jett will not do anything too disgusting with his powers, adding as an aside, "For experimenting." Yes he heard and in those minutes he agreed.

Jett grins at Gabe once they get to the platform, "It's a pretty good work out, honestly. And you can dance with a group too. If you want to try I can show you how?" He offers that to them before he considers the platform, "I'll play first then maybe if you want to give it a go we can do one together? Or you could try. It's like DDR but you gotta move everything."

"Yes?" he looks back to the screen then back to Gabriel, "With all the motion sensors. You wave your hand and stuff at the beginning so it picks up your body. I'll show you."

"Wow, no pressure!" He snorts at Gabriel then steps onto the platform. OF COURSE he's going to pick a dance from the extreme levels. Not even the beginner! Gabriel can see him going through the sync up motions before he gets to the song choices and Jett ops out of the easy shit and goes right to the hard stuff. "This one is challenging for me," he says back to Gabriel, "I sometimes don't make it all the way through. I've been practicing!"

The song is "That Power" and the dance moves are energetic and fluid with very little breaks in between the beats. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXgZTiCXF9M

Jett seems to be keeping up and staying with the extreme dance!

For experimenting. They're agreed. For now. Until the LECTURE FINGER needs to come back later for any reason.

Gabe's making a face at the platform, like they can feel every bone in their body all the sudden. "I'll watch you first and then decide if I want to be humiliated again this week already." As vague as that sentiment is, they take a couple steps back to give Jett enough room to dance (and themself enough of a good view).

The no pressure gets a smirk and an innocent little shrug. "Just have fun, sure. And also, know that I will be judging every second of this performance." More dry teasing. And then it starts.

Look. Did Gabe come in here expecting some sort of robotic, trite, overdone dance moves game-ified to sap the wallets of the wealthy tourists? Probably. Yes. What happens...is not that. It's actual dancing. And for what it's worth...it's good.

"Ohhhh my goddddd," they drawl out, eyes wide in awe and former smirk fulling wiped right off their face. "Like," now they're yelling over the music like some belligerent teenager, "you LIED so hard?! You lied. I'll never forgive you for lying the very first time we met you liar mcliarface--" Gabe's talking so much shit but also looking surprisingly impressed at the same time. So much so that they lift both hands to cover the lower half of their face because they're smiling too much for their own liking. "God I kind of hate you right now," they laugh.

"We can do the easy one! Trust me, you'll be able to do it!" Maybe if it was the archaic robotic stiff movement of the 90s or whatever the original DDR was, but nope, probably the easy mode on this is going to make a body SWEAT. It was legit dancing and Jett has spent a lot of money ... doing this game. He's not even self conscious as a person would be for the first time stepping up to play.

"Judge away, but remember I can feel your eyes on my ass," Jett says with a fast glance back and likely a smirk that registers for a split second, "Your entry fee is only going to go up." He reminds with two fingers in a 'gun' sort of gesture waggling by his head as a way to say remember that!

What he does is check his shoes for them being tied. He also rolls up his sleeves and checks his chains. Things are bound go to flying if they're not secured. Once he's tapped through the levels and selected the song, he notes backward, "This one even has some bird moves in it." He is the one after all, with the feathers!

Jett isn't the best at the moves and he isn't getting all perfects but he is maintaining the game so it doesn't fail him. He doesn't strike out at any point in it despite the more complex moves. His foot work keeps the fast timing when the parts demand him too and his arms even do the wibble wobble flappy motion to simulate flying, the open flannel button down helping to make him seem more flappable. He starts to laugh as he hears Gabe behind him, "What did you think a supervillain tells the truth?!" He nearly misses a step to his own laughter but he keeps up and recovers. It's clearly a work out and a bunch of the moves are repeated, which makes the level at least something a person can accomplish once they got the moves down. "Ahhah, so I'm a god!!" he wiggles and does the whole fast paced bit, smile on his face as he flaps around the stage, "I must have impressed you then!"

And finally the three to four minute dance comes to an end and Jett is working on catching his breath, slicking his hand through his hair and looking over to them, extending a hand, "Want to try it?"

Judge away, but remember I can feel your eyes on my ass.

Gabriel has no witty reply to that...for it is a truth and they will not deny it. They just meet Jett's smirk with one of their own and stand there looking innocent as ever. Butter would not melt in their mouth! INNOCENT.

There are times to be coy and this ain't it. Jett's doing too much bird flapping and hip popping for Gabe to look away. They can't. They are glued to this sight for better or for worse. Even as Jett laughs and nearly misses a step because of it. "I did not say anything about you being a god. Watch that ego. And your feet." The smile is there, though, impossible to miss no matter how hard they're trying to physically hide it.

The song ends and Jett turns around. Gabe's eyes get caught staring at Jett's fingers slicking back his hair. This is a rare moment in which the blonde isn't completely cool or collected or stoic as usual. But then they seem to quickly realize that and cough out a laugh. "Wow. Um? Do I? No, not really." And yet...Gabriel shrugs out of their jean jacket and lets it fall to the floor, then reaches to take Jett's hand slowly. Their eyes meet his in a flash of barely hidden fear laced with excitable thrill. "Don't make me regret this."

Jett really didn't have a whole lot of time to worry about what that innocent look meant because the game was lighting up and he had to get into the rhythm of those fast more energetic moves.

It was a completely ridiculous dance honestly, the rolling of arms to look like he was flying was the most comical if taken out of context, though he did seem to get more of the fancy foot work down and over exaggerate any of those hip movements or the chest pumping jerky motions. Knowing that someone was watching him made him try not to fuck up twice as hard and while he might not have hit 'perfect' all the time he really hit those pops of feet back and forth when he had to use the whole stretch of the platform. He laughs back at Gabe, though he doesn't have the span of mind to dance and talk so he sticks to the dancing since it was intense and required a lot of focus to keep time with the arm movements and foot movements.

Though when he's looking back at Gabe as the song ends, he might catch that stoic mask of Gabriel's a little unsorted. That only means his lips curl a little more at the corners as he stretches into an impish 'he knows what he did' sort of smirk. Then with his hand extended, his mouth cracks into an bright smile that somehow looks strange on Jett's face because he doesn't openly smile that wide or brightly when Gabriel takes his hand. "What could possibly go wrong?" He looks around and while Jett's dance on the machine may have caught a few people's interest, most folks were into their own gaming. He looks back to them and notes, "You can pick the song. There's a list of couple songs." He pulls Gabriel up onto the 'stage' as it were and gestures toward the screen, using his hand to flip through the pages until he gets to the couples songs.

Perhaps it's not entirely easy but he points out, "How about that one? Time of my life?"

Truth be told, Gabriel doesn't know Jett all that well. Still. The caliber of his bright smile when he helps pull them onto the platform captivates them for another moment, and in turn has them smiling wider as well. It's one of those mirrored gestures that can't be helped, especially for two people who rarely show that kind of genuine glee.

"I could break a foot," Gabe casually says as to what could go wrong. "Sprain an ankle. Dislocate a shoulder. Actually have fun." That last bit gets an overtly wide-eyed look, as if it's the worst thing that can happen. A little smirk plays on their lips as they let go of Jett's hand to turn to this arcade machine. What song to pick. This'll take a second.

Or. It won't! Their brows lift at the suggestion. "Nobody puts baby in a corner." Jett will either get it or he won't. "Okay let's do it. Though if there's a lift..." it trails off into a dry laugh. There can't be a lift. Right?!

Jett soaked in that moment of genuine glee, for the few seconds he could. There was some serious business afoot here with picking the song that he turned his attention too. It might even be with a slightly nervous energy too and multiple stolen side glances to check in with Gabriel and their fun'o'meter readings.

"You could," Jett announces as casual as Gabe indicates that was a possibility. Then the list of injuries that could transpire has Jett nodding along as if Gabriel was listing the risks of riding a rollercoaster. This was sort of a rollercoaster? Maybe. A deeper drawl is used when he responds, "Fun could happen." As if that was the biggest risk of them all, his look over toward Gabriel causing him to add on, "It's dance at your own risk." A beat, "At least there's no rose bushes here."

"I always get the last dance," Jett conspires to say and maybe indicates that maybe he watched the movie once. He had no phone for all this time! There are reasons! His brows pop up at the idea of a lift being in the game, "I don't... think so? But maybe. I don't play the couples levels... for reasons, one of them being, I haven't had a good partner." He looks back at the song, "C'mon, let's try anyway."

He picks the level and they go to the character position screen. "Skirt or pants?" Jett looks over at them, "I'll give you the option. The characters icons are kind of limited."

At least there's no rose bushes here.

Gabriel turns a sly look Jett's way, one hand lifting to lightly curl fingers into the flannel at Jett's shoulder. They lean in just an inch closer to lower their voice into a conspiratorial whisper. "I'm sure a garbage bin could do in a pinch." Then there's a thwap to said flannel with the back of their hand as they stand up straight again.

Oh snap. They've both watched this movie? For some reason that makes Gabriel's smile flash wider before they remember to stifle it again. "Well. I make no guarantees if I'll be a good partner," they murmur dryly, "But I will make an attempt not to step on you. Maybe."

The level better be EASY. Jett's question has their gaze bouncing back and forth between Jett and the game screen for a second. "Hm." They rake their fingers through their hair, mussing it up in thought then cracking a lopsided smile. "I'm feeling pretty today so give me the skirt."

Jett tenses up a little bit as he feels the fingers curling into his flannel so the fabric pulls slightly at the shoulder; his dark eyes flicker toward the fingers that are holding him and the face that leans closer to whisper. His eyes widen at the truth that was an option to the rose bushes. "You wouldn't...!" Jett whispers with a horrified hard 't' at the end. He watches them with shock written all over his expression for the violence that had been perpetrated against him, his mouth hanging open with his eyebrows hitched in an 'how could you' resting there and a twitching laughter barely constrained behind his eyes and the tweak of his lips.

"These are nice shoes," he does note, "I didn't Scotchgard them, so dirt will show." They're all black really. They're skater shoes and look like he's been wearing them for the last year; there are holes, the rim around the shoe is separating from the fabric and there is barely any tread left on the bottom... which would be why they squeak a lot when he's doing some of those fancy foot moves.

Hopefully it's easy?! Uhm. Jett doesn't declare one way or the other. His gaze might happen to watch Gabriel's fingers running through their hair rather than paying attention to the difficulty meter. The decision has Jett smirk, "You'll have to trust me then." Lift or dips or whatever else. He triggers the characters going to their relative positions on the floor and the countdown starts.

Gabriel will notice almost immediately that Jett slides behind them and starts to get super intimate with the pull of his hand toward Gabe's jawline and then a hand on Gabe's waist... bowing toward them as if he was going to dip them again! And it's TRUE. He's dipping Gabe in a quick but languid bend and pull back up.

Jett's horror and shock at Gabe's antics only amuse them to no end. Laughter bubbles up in their throat but doesn't quite break through the placid smirk they're desperately trying to keep from wibble-wobbling all over the place.

Their eyes dart down to Jett's shoes at the mention of Scotchgard. "Vintage. It'll be a shame to ruin them." Yeah they're just going to assume Jett's going to get toes squashed at least once, sorrynotsorry.

The fact that Gabriel's even here, standing on this platform, means a level of trust has already been achieved. They don't say as much since it's probably painfully obvious. Instead, they turn their gaze to the countdown, squinting when the neon dressed avatars start doing their thing.

It's a lot. The upcoming dance moves are floating onto the screen quite quickly. Gabe's aware they're the avatar in the dress and still find themself surprised by Jett appearing behind them. Is this part of it? They're now looking at him, not the screen, momentarily transfixed like a shark being turned upside-down when the space between them vanishes and Jett's hand sweeps under their chin. The other around their waist...

Their eyes close for a brief second-- then they remember the game. Right. Jesus. Hell. It's a game. They glance at the screen and realize one arm needs to be on Jett's shoulder. Gabriel barely manages to drape it before Jett dips them, slow yet short of distance. The cropped sweater rises up to about the middle of their ribcage, showing a peek of a teal brushstroke tattoo decorating their left side.

No sooner do they stand upright do they burst out laughing, unable to contain it anymore. But they're still going! They're looking at the screen again, tossing one hand up into the air as instructed, their sweater riding up once more. Bad choice of an outfit today.

"They're one foot step away from being totaled," he explains very matter-of-factly over the state of his shoes. The horror and shock of the garbage can threat lasted as long as it took for him to speak of those vintage skater shoes, which puts his expressions back to the neutral as he too tries to keep his composure and act the emo he was dressed to be.

Jett may have lied again! Maybe. Maybe he saw the beginning of this dance before or maybe he's just got sick mad reflexes and can balance watching the screen with sorting out the dance moves. Either way he's stepping forward behind Gabe as his red and black avatar does behind the skirt on the screen. The way that Gabe sort of stares transfixed at Jett is witnessed first hand of course, near eye to eye and allowing that slow movement to draw Gabe's chin toward him. It was very Patrick Swayze (what a legend!) of Jett to even hold eye contact, not unlike the first dip. There might even be a little smolder behind Jett's eyes; he knows what he's doing!

Jett's second hand comes along to curl around Gabriel's waist to support their weight as he does arch them back and leans into Gabe so that his face is damn near close enough to lick that tattoo peeking out. He does get a bird's eye view though, studying it for a half second before he does have to bring them back up.

Jett's face is full on smiles and he cannot help it. He's grinning like a fool behind Gabe when they take a step forward and fling their arm up. His own arm follows a moment behind, silhouetting behind Gabriel's hand. Though unlike the dance move on the screen, Jett wiggles his fingers over Gabriel's fingers playfully before he drops his arm in sync with Gabe, only to grab their opposite hand with his own to reposition them side by side. He of course does a clearly comical EYEBROW WAGGLE at Gabriel. "Get ready!" He up nods to the screen as their individual side by side parts start.

Jett...is good at this.

Gabriel realized that when Jett did the whole Bird of Paradise Courtship Dance and they're realizing it all over again right now. The held eye contact. The well-executed dip. The smolder. They'd been relatively immune to it at the Winter Ball but right now? With their guard down attempting a friggin' arcade dancing game? A slight flush of pink dusts up their cheeks. Look, it could very well be from the effort of dancing. It's hard to discern.

What's painfully obvious is the level of vulnerability on display here. Case in point: Gabriel boiling over with nervous excitement and laughter that keeps cropping up in short bursts. They clear their throat repeatedly, only for more laughter to filter out. "I can't..." they murmur between chuckles as Jett wiggles his fingers over theirs. "This is...beyond..."

They squeeze Jett's clasped hand as he repositions them side by side, another bright laugh appearing at his brow waggle. "I'm trying to FOCUS!" they giggle-shout, eyes zipping back to the screen. Oh shit. There's a whole cha-cha thing now.

Without having Jett to rely on to move them around, Gabriel actually sucks in a breath and holds it to quell the laughter, following the arm churning movements and moving their legs according. Cha-cha to the front. Cha-cha to the back. Okay maybe this part isn't as hard as it looked seconds ago.

It's really all the micro-expressions that Jett watches, observes, and stores away for later use. He might wonder if the lighting was at play for the slight pinkish dusting on Gab's cheeks, or if it the game was already too much for Gabriel, or if they truly flushed at his teasing. Admittedly he does flash a quick toothy smirk that was very boyish in the way that it made his eyes turn up like half moons. Hard to determine in those few seconds when the music and the video game was demanding!

"You can!" Jett encourages after the teasing wiggle of his fingers above their own. It was encouragement because while this dance was sort of easy it was probably easier to fail quicker too if they got too many missed movements in there.

The bright laughter is infectious and he cannot help but to laugh back in response. It was one of those gleeful moments that were probably few and far between for him. No matter that he was practically black and white now and no matter that he was dressed the way he was and with all that dark makeup, Jett looked legitimately happy.

Even as they moved into the cha-cha thing. Front and back. Then slide with big open arms, back and forth. Jett's expression was a whole pile of warmth and amusement; if he had barriers they were down. Then the cha-cha at each other, with the big sweeping arms to follow, and the W-flapping arms with head bobs. Jett of course keeps making little cutesy faces at Gabriel every time their eyes meet. "We got this!" He does a whole rolling bowling of his arms with the front foot bobbing before they have to link arms and do some sort of tower pose with rainbows arcs at the end. So fun!

Gabriel's eyes keep wrenching away from the screen to look at Jett who's giving all those boyish smirks and and happy faces. It's quickly turning into a feedback loop-- Gabriel laughing because Jett's laughing. The encouragement helps, especially when Gabe starts to miss some of the quicker transitions or forgets how to discern their left from their right.

In this moment, with Jett looking at them like that, it's hard to even see the grayscale. He looks brighter than ever somehow.

"Ah, fuck!" Gabe snort-laughs when they straight up bump into their dance partner. That's what they get for not paying attention. "I'm good. I got it. I think." There's so much now. Like how do people dance with another person while also looking at a SCREEN? Sweepy arms! Roundabout! Cutesy faces-- Gabriel just grins at those. "This is so goddamn hard," comes the lament as they kick their feet out in another one of those side-to-sides. You'd think they'd get the hang of it by the end but no, they fully give into the giggles with their hair all in their face and just try their best not to step all over Jett in the process. (Note: they only stepped on him twice).

The song comes to an end, and of course, there's the iconic lift. No, they don't have to actually do it, but at the same time...how does one do this song and NOT attempt it?

"I think you can do it," Gabriel says to Jett with all the misplaced confidence of someone who just floundered for four minutes and thirty-two seconds of dancing.

Jett bounces off of Gabe when they get into his pathway and miss the perhaps going 'around' each other part. Jett laughs and tries to sweep them around in a way that recovers and gets them in position for the next parts. "You sure? My shoe is marked up..." he gives a low exasperated mocking tone for the truth that his black shoe probably had some shoe prints on it or at least the bottom of his pant leg. Though the grins keep coming and the fun times keep rolling with the antics of this dance. The THROWING arms is probably the most ridiculous moves that was out there but Jett was full on professional, stretching out his arms and making a little kissy face taunt at Gabriel as they got close together only to SWAN backward with big arms. Oh the fun that Jett had with this dance!

By the end of it, Jett is sweating. These dances aren't necessarily easy and they keep a body moving - and this was his second one!

However... Gabe poses the challenge in a form of encouragement.

Jett swings his head one way as if to be that gif of that woman who tasted something she wasn't completely sure of, then swishes his head the other way as if to express maybe it was okay. Either way there was no third switch of his facial expressions as he takes position, "You have to come at me!" Because he's not the skirt! But he will absolutely try to LIFT Gabe up like good old Patrick did in Dirty Dancing! ...

Is it successful?! Professionally speaking, no. They were amateurs playing a damn video game. The best that can be said is that Jett doesn't immediately crush like a slinky onto the ground?! He holds it for a few seconds! His arms shake. He's a lean athletic guy sure but he has no Swayze arms! Maybe for a second ... Gabriel can pretend to be 'Baby' for half a heartbeat!

Gabriel just rolls their eyes at the shoe being marked up comment. It's true. It is. They will not deny it but they will also play it off like it's a risk Jett clearly wanted to take for all of this. What is this? The arm throwing. The ridiculous arm throwing that is too easy to mess up yet too silly to do with a straight face. So when Jett makes those kissy expressions, Gabriel just scrunches up their nose in a BLEH, tongue sticking out. Backwards they swan, like a drunk ballerina.

It's great. They're also sweating and their cropped sweater sits astray but it's great.

Gabe stares at Jett, brows lofted, waiting for an answer to the lift question. You have to come at me. "And you have to catch me!" Look at all this trust laid bare before them. Either they both go down or this ends up being a crowning achievement. They take a few steps back...then a few more, fully leaving the platform to give Jett plenty of room to see them coming. And then...they run.

Directly at him, full speed. No pressure. Baby chickened out like twenty times in the movie but Gabriel's ready to flatten Jett if it comes to that. It somehow doesn't though?! Gabe's marginally more lithe in the muscle category, but there's strength there. Core strength. It gets activated immediately as they hop up and Jett lifts them off the ground. Both arms shoot up to the side for balance, which isn't film accurate okay but it's helping maintain these miraculous few seconds where Gabriel can see clear across the arcade.

"Nobody puts me in a corner!" Comes the victory shout. Then it's over. They're back down on earth and laughing hysterically. "I can't believe we just fucking did that?"

The responses that Gabe has to the silly faces that he's making continues the laughter and the fun that goes along with this dance. It makes it a little less ridiculous especially when they are both trying to do the backwards swan movements with their arms and all that shit. Jett is barely holding it together enough to not die of laughter through the last part of the song and every damn time they have to do that throwing of arms move!

Though the pressure mounted when Gabe stared him down like that. When he told them that they'd have to come at him like Baby to Swayze. "I'll catch you!" Jett reassures, but really he's praying to all the Gods he knows exist and none that he's ever prayed to before that he doesn't get railroaded by the ... running Gabriel. Nerves of steel boy! Nerves of steel! On any other day, with any other person, Jett may have just taken the flying tackle instead of attempting this insanity. It would probably be easier to be creamed like a cartoon coyote from the steamroller of doom.

But then Gabriel is COMMITTED. There's a last minute wheezed out 'oh fuck' when Gabriel is racing toward him. Jett has no idea how many blooper reels Baby had! He didn't watch the behind the scene clips but this was happening! He commits to it! With a secondary 'shit' hissed out as he clamps his glutes tight as he bends his knees at the last moment and .... LIFTS....

His eyes are wide and read the exact expression that he says when he puts them back down, "Holy shit." He laughs with a sudden glee of victory and sportsmanship, "We fucking did!" He glances around and then back to Gabriel, "You will tell no one...!" He says it with a mocking threatening tone, finger lifted. Then astonishment, "You fucking ran at me full force! Like... You WENT for it!" He shakes his head back and forth, then flicks his fingers through his hair again.

They have 'people' watching them.

Despite the watchers, Jett is grinning ear to ear, "Time for the real rides?"

Credit goes to Jett's nerves of steel for not running away in the face of a sprinting, blonde Enby.

Because that whole thing was less than perfect in execution but exactly right in so many other ways.

Gabe's still very much in Jett's airspace when he puts them down, so much so that they are practically wheeze-laughing in his face. They grab onto his shirt again, right at his shoulder. It's just a little bit to stabilize them through their giggle fit. Oh, now the LECTURE FINGER comes out for them. They bark out a louder laugh and swat it away with a hand. As for going for it-- "You told me to trust you," they grin, then the expression softens a little as their eyes linger on his face, "so I did." Then Jett's flicking his fingers through his hair so Gabe releases his shirt.

"Yes," they grin right back at him, "time for the real rides." Then off they go towards the door. There's a Haunted Estate with their names on it.