"Found 'em."

Jack tried very hard not to roll his eyes at the sixth person to say that, walking by the clown fish tank.

Pitch felt no such need, even adding a derisive snort to his eye roll as if the tourists might still hear him.

"Pitch, that's rude," Jack chided, but his attention was already on a new tank, where an octopus was curled so tightly into itself that it might as well be no more than a ball with eyes. Something about it made him smile. If only he knew how to comfort an octopus.

"They think they're clever," Pitch defended, resting his chin on Jack's shoulder to see what had caught his eye. He wiggled his fingers in a little wave to the hiding animal, "They're not clever."

Jack leaned his head against Pitch's, amused by his passive spite. Pitch had never had to get along with anyone, had he? "Come on, there's a touch pool over there."

Pitch scampered happily along, more than willing to forget the unclever tourists in favor of petting the sand dollars. He loved the way the little starfish would cling to his palm. Animals were so honest, and he loved them. If only he could trust himself to be responsible for them.

He was in the middle of gently running the backs of his fingers along the shell of a horseshoe crab when Jack came up beside him. Despite his good intentions, the crab buried deeper into the sand to get away, and Jack laughed, "Hah, 'Fuck you. I'm not a tactile crab.'"

Pitch pouted.

"Don't worry, Babe," Jack soothed with a comforting hand, "I'm sure it's not you, it's your fingers."

Pitch rolled his eyes at Jack this time, and moved on to the starfish who always loved him. It was the crab's loss, surely.

Jack watched him pick up one after the other, two at a time, placing them right back where he found them, and spent the time doing a little soul-searching. He thought it was amazing that the same delighted smile on Pitch and Emma's faces brought an ever-so-slightly different feeling to his heart. It should have been exhausting, having a man-child for a boyfriend, and yet…

Boredom crept up faster. He was ready to move on long before Pitch was. He could barely stand staying still this long, much less for as long as it would take for Pitch to decide he'd petted the fish enough. And there were even more fish to pet, he could see. Best he move them along asap.

"Hey, Pitch, wanna go high-five the rays?"

"What?" his boyfriend's head snapped up so fast Jack was a little worried for his neck.

So he just pointed to an open tank several yards away and said it again, "The rays."

Pitch's whole face lit up and suddenly he was setting all of his accumulated starfish back into the pool, murmuring sweetly to them, "Don't worry, Darlings, I'll be back," and Jack was absolutely sure that was true, but at least he'd get a change of scenery for now.

And the rays were almost active enough for the both of them, swirling about the bottom and sides of their tank in a whirl of constant motion. They broke the surface all the time, their bodies waving rhythmically in the air. It only took a couple tries before Pitch got the hang of it, actually managing to high-five them as they passed. It was super cute and Jack was fine with watching for a while until he noticed…

Tunnels. Kids' tunnels. And he didn't know where they led, but…

"I'm going for it."

Pitch almost missed looking over, so enraptured with the rays as he was, "Wait, what? Jack, no, those are for children."

"I'm kid-sized," Jack reasoned as he made his way over, "I'm sure nobody'll mind."

Pitch shook his head, but he knew he couldn't stop Jack, so he went back to his fish with nothing more than an amused chuckle and a sense of resignation. If they got kicked out, he would make sure to tell the starfish who to blame.

Jack lied. He wasn't actually kid-sized, but he was small enough to crawl through the tunnels. Just because it was tight didn't mean he couldn't do it, but it did take him almost three-quarters of the tunnel before he realized Pitch would totally get a kick out of this, but his thoroughly adult-sized body would never be able to fit.

Pitch was back tending to his beloved starfish when Jack snuck up behind him and draped his arms around Pitch's shoulders, phone in one hand. He was startled, but not too startled to watch the tiny video that began to play, of crawling through the darkened tunnel to the immersive aquarium on the other side. The kids that smiled at the big boy in their territory were cute and the fish that swam by overhead and all around were absolutely gorgeous, but Pitch's favorite part was the audio. He could hear Jack's laugh as the kids ran by, he could hear Jack's awe as a shark passed close, his giggle when a fish stared him right in the camera, and he swore he was falling in love all over again.

It filled his heart enough that he was finally able to bid farewell to his fish and follow Jack to the rest of the tanks, where adults were not only allowed, but welcomed.

Where he met the second love of his life, a beautiful eel that moved through the water with a grace unheard of on land. Pitch tried to hold back, but he found himself pressing his palms to the cool glass anyway, leaning in to watch it swim. "Gorgeous…"

Jack shrugged, but there was a small, amused smirk on his face, "He looks pretty evil, though."

Pitch didn't hesitate, "I'd hug him."

Jack laughed, "Yeah, well you look pretty evil too, so."

Pitch couldn't be offended. Not only was it true, but the eel had swum right up to the glass to meet him, and Pitch was helplessly enamored.

That is, until he met the cuddle-size sharks. They were adorable. They were his people. They were his soul-mates!

...Save Jack.

The point was, Pitch loved them. Pitch adored them. Pitch wanted a picture of them, chasing the cute little hammerhead around with his phone. The shark was too fast, and every shot was blurry, but Pitch kept at it for a good fifteen minutes. Jack tried to help with his own phone, but fish in motion weren't terribly good at posing. It wasn't their fault, and Pitch forgave them instantly.

Still, if he couldn't have a picture, then Pitch needed some other kind of souvenir. As soon as they had reached the end of the tanks, they made a beeline straight for the gift shop.

Where Pitch was thoroughly disappointed to find there was exactly zero eel merchandise, and he felt betrayed. That eel deserved far more love than that, more respect than that. He was a part of this aquarium, too!

And it was as Jack watched Pitch's shoulders slump and the frown pull at his lips that he knew he had to do something. A quick glance around and he had an idea.

"Hey Pitch," he called, grabbing up the closest majestic sea flap-flap plushie and waving one side of its body at Pitch, "High five!"

Pitch didn't really feel like looking over, but it was Jack, and Jack deserved his attention even if he was feeling righteously indignant on behalf of a beloved eel. He should have known. He should have known that Jack could only make things better.

The delighted gasp that left him took with it everything negative he'd been feeling. "Oh, Jack…" Pitch breathed, reaching out to cradle the chocolate sea pancake plushie that had been picked out for him. He loved it. Instantly, he loved it. And then he gave it a little high five and hugged it.

And took it straight home.

Where it still was some years later, on yet another Saturday Jack planned to spend getting some of the dust out of their apartment. It wasn't often, but even the plushies needed dusting here and there, if not a wash, and every single time Jack did it with a smile because he couldn't believe he was an adult, a working, functioning adult, with a huge collection of stuffed animals.

He blamed Pitch.

He blamed Pitch even as he took each plushie from its resting place. He blamed Pitch even as he set each one in the laundry basket for cleaning. He blamed Pitch especially when he pulled the wrong plush and started an avalanche of cute on his head.

He blamed Pitch thoroughly when he picked up the little brown ray they'd bought on a date way back in college, and cleaned the bits of dust from those adorable beady eyes. He definitely blamed Pitch for the way he gave it a tiny high-five before setting it in with the rest.

He blamed Pitch every day for shit like this, but he loved him even more.