You're All That I Hoped to Find

Jack decided to take Gabe's advice to heart. As much as he hated being Fate, he knew it could be much worse. He used to be pretty close with the old Empathy until she was demoted to Dismay. Needless to say, not many of the immortals wanted anything to do with her after that. And that's exactly what Jack was scared of. So, he decided to try and connect with his humans on a personal note. To do so, he was going to try and do everyday things that humans do, and hopefully he'll end up connecting to them, and understanding them. First item on his agenda: ride the subway.

It was a lot worse than Jack expected it to be, and that was saying something. It smelt, it was grimy and don't even get him started on how crowded it was. No wonder humans are always in bad moods. Jack made the decision while gripping a bacteria infected pole, that he would find a human who stood out to him and follow them around, and see what an ordinary day is like for them. However, they all seemed the same to him. All around him, humans were on their phones, talking loudly, texting, or playing what looked like ridiculously stupid games. Jack sighed and took an empty seat after the next stop. And that's when he saw the man sitting across from him.

He looked to be in his mid-twenties with burgundy colored hair and dark brown eyes. He was wearing a flannel shirt, black jeans and old vans, much like the ones Jack was wearing. But the thing that stood out to him was the fact that he was reading a book. He was completely disconnected from his surroundings, and cell phone nowhere to be seen. Jack tried getting a read on him, but nothing came up. He was on the path of Destiny. Of course he was, Jack is never lucky enough to get actual intelligent people on his path. Jack quickly made a mental note to spend some time with Luck soon, it could do him some good.

The man got off two stops later in the city, and naturally Jack followed him. The brunette shoved his book in his backpack and took a walk across the city, eventually ending up at a small record shop where Jack soon realized he worked at. At this point, Jack chose to make himself invisible, it made it much easier for him to continue watching the man, whose name turned out to be Alex. One would think Jack would become very bored and tired of watching him work, but he didn't. Alex fascinated him for some reason and Jack selfishly wished he was on his path rather than Destiny's.

"Have a crush Jack?" Jack jumped at the sound of the unexpected voice.

"Wasn't expecting to see you for another decade," Jack remarked to the red head. Destiny laughed, and tucked her hair behind her ear.

"Yeah, well I'm just full of surprises. Much like Alex, over there." She mused.

"I'm just doing my homework. I had a meeting with Gabe last night, I need to connect more with humans he said."

"Yeah, your humans, Jack. Not mine." Jack ignored her and kept looking at Alex as he sorted different albums. He had a slight frown on his face and his tongue poked between his teeth. It was rather cute actually.

"Tell me about Alex."

"You're fascinated by him." She observed, raising her perfectly waxed eyebrows. Once again, Jack ignored her.

"What does his future look like?" He pressed on.

She smiled at Jack. "I don't know."

"How do you not know? He's on your path." Jack said, exasperated.

"He is on my path. But his future is shadowed, and I can't get a clear reading from him."

"So what does it mean if his future is shadowed?"

"You sure are inquisitive today, Jack. It just means that nothing is certain at this moment. His life could go two different ways. They're both very good, but he'll have an important decision to make sometime in the near future. That happens every once in awhile." Jack nodded, finally tearing his eyes off of Alex and glancing at Destiny. "What do you say we catch up for awhile?" She offered. Jack bit his lip in thought. In all honesty he didn't want to leave Alex. He knew he wasn't going to miss much. But he was...well, intrigued by him. Which was surprising. Humans very rarely catch Jack's interest. However, Jack agreed and went and got a coffee with Destiny.

- - - - -

The rest of the day was uneventful. After talking with Destiny for a few hours, he observed a few other humans, but on his path this time. However the whole time he could only think about Alex. His future was a mystery not only to him, but to Destiny too. And he couldn't get that out of his head. Not to mention he was really fucking attractive. Suddenly, Jack was hit with an overwhelming feeling of wanting to talk to him, and meet him. But surely that broke rule number one, right? Don't get involved. But then again..Gabe told him to find a way to connect to his humans. And this could be that way, right? So technically he wasn't breaking any rules. He knew that was Conscious whispering in his ear, that technically it wasn't breaking any rules. And damn, he was very convincing.

So, he made a plan for the next day to casually run into Alex somehow and strike up a conversation. Regardless if it was a good idea or not, Jack was already set on it. And for the first time since The Prohibition ended, Jack was excited for something.

That night, Jack took his time assigning fates to humans, trying hard based off things he saw that day. One of them, Jamie Blake was set to be an Assistant Manager at a local restaurant near his hometown. Another was set to be a loving and caring stay-at-home mother, whose kids were her pride and joy. Fates continued like this, he tried setting the bar a little lower, and he lowered his hopes and expectations. And Jack actually felt pretty good at the Fates he assigned for the first time since the Vietnam War.

And he had his humans and Alex to thank for that.