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Nolan was having a particularly bad day for his migraines and all he wanted was to eat some chicken nuggets and fries from McDonald’s. Travis was the one that had picked Nolan up and driven him to the McDonald’s drive-thru to acquire the food.
As they were driving out of the parking lot after having acquired the food, the stoplight at the exit of the parking lot abruptly changed from green to red. Travis slammed on the brakes so hard it made Nolan’s chicken nuggets and french fries go flying all over the front of the car.
“Shit,” Nolan swore, looking at Travis angrily. “Thanks, asshole.”
Travis shrunk in his seat as he watched the traffic in front of him. He decidedly wasn’t looking at Nolan, who had taken to stabbing eye-daggers into the side of Travis’ head.
“Do you want sushi instead?” Travis asked, attention still focused on the road. The light turned green then and he drove through, glancing at Nolan to see his expression. It had softened somewhat but he still looked like he wanted to murder Travis.
“Yeah,” Nolan replied. “That would be okay.”
Travis reached over and squeezed Nolan’s knee. Nolan froze at the touch, his heart hammering in his chest and ears. His head started pounding viciously, vision blurring from the rush of endorphins his system was getting. Nolan brought his hands up and squeezed his head, grunting softly.
“Nolan?” Travis sounded concerned. “Are you alright?” He squeezed Nolan’s knee again; Nolan knew he meant well but that only made the problem worse.
“Head…” Nolan mumbled, voice strained and distant. His voice sounded foreign as he spoke; it usually did when his migraines were this bad. “Hurts… hurts…”
After a few moments, Nolan’s vision had shifted slightly back to the realm of normalcy. He glanced at Travis and noticed he looked devastated to see Nolan in this state. He was adjusting his grip haphazardly on the steering wheel and mumbling something to himself that Nolan was too incapacitated to understand.
It was a few minutes later when the car was switched off and Travis was getting out. Nolan wondered what was going on but he was still too incapacitated to ask. Travis opening Nolan’s door a moment later didn’t leave him wondering for very long.
“C’mon,” Travis said, reaching his hand out for Nolan to grab. “Let’s go lay in the shade of those trees.”
Nolan grabbed Travis’ hand, not registering where they were. He faintly heard Travis close the door before he was being led toward what he assumed were the trees Travis mentioned.
“Hurts…” Nolan mumbled, falling against Travis when they reached the shade of the trees.
“I know, Pat,” Travis said, guiding Nolan onto the grass and putting his head in Travis’ lap.
Travis carded his hand carefully through Nolan’s hair, gently massaging Nolan’s scalp and forehead as he went. Nolan groaned, moving his head frantically at the sensation.
“So good,” Nolan said, voice slurred by the pain and contentment. “Feels better. Keep going.”
Travis hummed as he continued to massage Nolan’s scalp and forehead. Nolan continued to move his head frantically at the sensation, adding in a contented groan and sigh every so often.
The massage went on for about fifteen minutes before Nolan stopped moving his head. He blinked up at Travis, eyes owlish. Travis smiled shyly at Nolan and continued carding his fingers softly through Nolan’s hair.
“What happened?” Nolan asked, blinking a few more times as he looked around him. “Where are we?”
“You had a really bad migraine,” Travis said. “I took us to the nature preserve to help calm you down.”
Nolan smiled softly, sitting up and dropping his head against Travis’ shoulder. Travis wrapped his arm around Nolan and gently rubbed along his upper arm. Nolan hummed.
“I love you, Travis,” Nolan blurted. Nolan wanted the ground to swallow him almost as soon as he said those words. Travis wasn’t supposed to know that. They were supposed to stay best friends forever because Nolan couldn’t ruin their friendship with his stupid feelings.
Travis grabbed Nolan’s chin and turned Nolan’s face so they were face-to-face. Nolan’s heartbeat sped up when he noticed the soft expression on Travis’ face. Travis didn’t say a word; instead, he moved forward and connected his lips with Nolan’s. Nolan melted into the kiss, bringing his hands up to cup Travis’ face. Travis smiled into the kiss, biting Nolan’s lower lip at the same time. Nolan groaned softly and pulled back.
Nolan dropped his head onto Travis’ shoulder, Travis wrapping his arm around Nolan. Travis kissed Nolan’s temple and pulled him closer to him.
After a moment of comfortable silence, Travis directed them to lay on the grass, wherein Nolan placed his head atop Travis’ chest over Travis’ heart and cuddled as close to Travis as he could.
Listening to Travis’ heartbeat was calming to Nolan; it was making what little migraine pain he had left diminish greatly. Travis kissed the top of Nolan’s head and squeezed Nolan closer to him as he began to hear Nolan’s breaths even out.
Just as Nolan fell asleep, Travis kissed and whispered into Nolan’s hair.
“I love you, too, Nolan.”