plot - it had probably never occurred to zack to change his phone lockscreen - good thing hodgins was more that happy to do it for him
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Zack was far too funny to mess with. It was something Hodgins had discovered very early on in their time working together. At first it had just been a joke - what was better than messing with Dr Brennan’s new dorky little intern, after all - but as they got closer, it became a thing between them, a fundamental part of their newfound friendship.
It became normal for them to do stupid little things just to mess with one another - putting things out of order, replacing sugar with salt in coffees - nothing significant, just enough to be irritating, and piss off the other enough to keep their “stupid prank war” (according to Angela) going.
Upon the discovery that Zack had what was officially the worst password ever - seriously, Hodgins couldn’t believe that anyone under the age of 80 actually used the passcode 1234, let alone a certified genius - Hodgins was struck with what was an incredible idea (according to him, at least, and fuck what anyone else had to say about it).
The guy still had one of those ugly preset lockscreens, because of course he would - it had probably never occurred to Zack to change it to anything else - and Hodgins refused to let that stand. He silently thanked God - or Angela - for the wonderful photos she had taken that first time that they had all gone out, and Dr Brennan’s intern had gotten more than a little bit wasted.
He quickly messaged one of the photos of the man doing something Hodgins assumed was intended to be dancing over to Zack’s number, downloading it, and setting it as the phone’s wallpaper, before deleting the message and putting the phone back, waiting for Zack to return, as though nothing had ever happened.
Hodgins tried to resist laughing the moment he saw Zack reach for his phone out of the corner of his eye, awaiting the surely hilarious response that the intern would have. Carefully pretending to be focusing on his work, Hodgins looked back at Zack, and watched as his eyebrows furrowed as he realised something was amiss. Hearing the sound of angry footsteps making their way towards him, with what took a fair amount of effort, Hodgins managed to make himself look vaguely more composed and less like he was on the verge of a laughing fit.
Wait for it… Wait for it… Just a moment more…
“Hodgins! What did you do to my phone?”
Lying through his teeth, Hodgins put on his best innocent face, even though he knew that he wasn’t fooling anyone. “What are you talking about?”
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The next time that Hodgins decided to use that same prank wasn’t for another few weeks, but he decided that after the previous night, when Zack had slept beside him in his bed, that there were no special boyfriend privileges in avoiding pranks - none at all.
Hodgins felt a little bit more reluctant to do it this time, because the plain, boring lockscreen was gone, and in its place was a family photo, from when they had all spent that Christmas isolating in the lab - but not reluctant enough to not do it anyways, not by any means.
This time he switched it out with a photo from the morning, of Zack’s long, shaggy hair a mess, as he snored away softly, oblivious to Hodgins and his cell phone camera. He looked ridiculous, albeit adorable, and the photo made Jack smile - even when Zack found him later, pissed off because “What if Dr Brennan had seen! Or Agent Booth!”
That just made him laugh.
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Although he had intended to, Hodgins never ended up messing with Zack’s lockscreen again. He hated to admit it, but his resolve to do so broke when he next went to change it.
He hadn’t noticed, but sometime in the interim between last time Hodgins had switched his wallpaper and then, Zack had changed his own lockscreen, but not back to the old family photo that it had been before, but instead to a photo of the two together, smiling at each other lovingly, unaware of the camera on them, that must have been taken by one of their friends.
It brought a smile to his face, more so than watching Zack’s reactions to any other photos had, no matter how hilarious it always was to see.
“I love you,” Hodgins said for the first time, when Zack found him sitting there, still staring at the photo.
Two Years Later (And You Still Annoy Me Sometimes)
Rating: T
Pairing: ZackJack / Zodgins
Summary: Over two years Zack Addy and Jack Hodgins went from one end of the Earth to another in terms of closeness. Over those two years many things happened that led to this certain closeness, but I just depict the necessary.
