Work Text:
Max sighed as he looked down at the sleeping figure of his companion. It had been a long couple days of trading off driving shifts, and the two were both understandably exhausted. They had finally found a motel that only slightly looked like something out of a Steven King novel a couple hours ago. After they had gotten a room and gotten their overnight bags in said room, Izan had promptly passed out on the very creaky bed, not seeming to notice or care that there seemed to be multiple mattress springs broken or missing.
While Izan had had no trouble falling asleep, Max was wide awake. Sleeping problems were far from foreign to them, but he had assumed that the very rocky previous few days would have at least somewhat assuaged those, even for just a few hours. Instead, there he sat, staring at the peeling old wallpaper on the wall across from the bed. He wanted to peel the rest of it off himself, the muddy green being less than appealing, but they figured that would probably land them in an even worse situation.
Resigning himself to a boring staring contest with the clock on the bedside table, Max lay back down. He wished they would have had the foresight to make sure his phone was charged before leaving the car, because of course the room they had gotten had only one outlet that they had been told not to touch.
Only a few minutes had passed before the silence became too suffocating. Max pushed himself up and left the room, hoping Izan was sleeping deeply enough to have missed the sound of the door. Looking around, they noticed a dumpster close enough to one of the lower areas of the roof. Max checked around him quickly but, assuming it was dark enough to go unnoticed, headed over to try to climb up. It proved to not be too difficult. The wheels on the dumpster had apparently taken too many heavy loads and were now permanently out of commission. The rest of the climb was easy enough, and within a minute or two, Max had settled on the edge of one of the higher parts of the main roof.
The sky was clear that night, showing the myriad of stars it often kept hidden. Max lay back slightly to look up at them all, trying to pick out a few of the constellations they knew from some middle school science class. Tracing the shape of a “W” with their finger, he smiled as they recognized Cassiopeia. Although most people would have picked out the Big Dipper or Orion first, they had always remembered Cassiopeia most out of any of the others. The idea that a “W” shaped constellation was named something without any semblance of the letter always amused him. Logically, they knew it was based off of some myth, but it was still a bit funny to think of.
Max smiled slightly, letting his arm rest over his stomach as they let his gaze roam among the sea of stars. The light breeze that drifted over him calmed them. It was a beautiful night, and they were very grateful to be out of the moving car again. Although he didn’t mind the long drives in between stops, it got old pretty quickly when the only scenery they had had were the extremely repetitive telephone poles with the occasional gas station in the middle of nowhere. As much as their road trip was, in a thought, a trip to nowhere, Max wasn’t fully keen on actually being nowhere.
The sound of something hitting the hard ground below drew Max out of their thoughts.
“Ow,” came the mumbled response from the figure now sprawled out on the ground. “How the hell did you even get up there?”
Max raised an eyebrow in reply before realizing that Izan really wouldn’t be able to see the gesture from where he was.
“There’s a dumpster on the other side,” they replied finally. “I’ll show you how to get up over there if you want.”
“Sounds good, after I pick my broken bones up,” Izan groaned, slowly pushing himself up on clearly unbroken legs. “And my pride,” he muttered.
Max snorted, finding the whole thing more amusing than he possibly should. Izan was alright, more or less, however, so they decided the humor wasn’t harmful.
A moment or two later, Izan finally reached the back area where the dumpster sat. Max tried and failed to hold in another laugh as they saw the state of Izan’s now muddied sweatpants and t-shirt. He held out a hand for Izan to grab onto and helped pull him up from the dumpster.
“How do you always seem to find your way to the highest point wherever we are?” Izan asked in an amused tone as the two sat down by the edge Max had been at before.
Max shrugged in response. “Feels like- mm.”
“Like a bird?” Izan supplied.
Max shook his head. “Like- Like a cloud, maybe.”
“A cloud?”
Max hummed and nodded their head. “Like- far up. Just- far from anything, I guess. Nothing bothers a cloud.”
“What about airplanes?” Izan joked, resting his cheek on hand, facing towards Max.
Max absentmindedly played with his fingers. “Airplanes are like- mm- like something passing by without being an actual obstacle. I don’t know,” they finished quietly. “It’s a stupid analogy anyway.”
“I don’t think it’s stupid. I like it.” Izan smiled, nudging Max’s leg lightly with his own.
Max nudged back, smiling slightly.
After a moment or two of silence, Izan shifted to sit facing more out towards the edge. “Couldn’t sleep?” he asked.
Max shook their head.
“Was the luxurious bed not enough?” Izan joked sarcastically.
Rolling his eyes, Max shook his head again with an amused smile. “Just wasn’t sleepy, I guess.”
Izan raised an eyebrow. “Everything ok?”
Max shrugged.
Izan nudged their shoulder lightly. “Talk to me?”
Shrugging again, Max looked down with a slight sigh. “Just don’t really like sleeping sometimes.”
“Any specific reason?”
Another shrug.
After a moment, Izan asked, “Can I help at all? Your body probably could use the rest after the last few days.”
They shrugged again. “Sorry, I know it’s dumb.”
Izan poked at them. “Hey, no, stop that. You’re banned from that word, Max. No more “d” word,” he said with a mock angry expression.
Max chuckled. “So I can’t say di-”
“Max!”
They laughed. “What? What other “d” word is there?”
Izan pouted and said, “You know exactly what word I meant, you ass. And it’s not dumb- I get it, sort of.”
“It’s a bit dumb.” The use of “dumb” earned them another poke to the shoulder. “Fine, it’s a bit stupid then.”
Izan glared at him. “Maaaax. It’s not stupid either.I doubt it’s even all that abnormal. Does anything particular help sometimes?”
Max shrugged but looked away. “I dunno,” they muttered.
“That’s your ‘I do know but I don’t want to say’ tone.”
Sighing, he crossed their arms over their chest and muttered something too quietly to hear.
“I don’t have super hearing, you dork. I promise it’s ok to say, no matter what it is,” Izan assured, holding out his pinky. Max took it in a “pinky promise.”
“Sometimes sleeping downstairs with the dog helped. Not- not in a weird way. I guess the warmth was just nice.” Max shrugged again, tightening their arms around himself. “Told you it was dumb.”
“It’s not dumb, Max. I get it- I mean maybe not fully but- I get how that could help.”
Max nodded in acknowledgement, still looking away.
Izan bumped his shoulder lightly. “I know I’m not a dog, obviously, but maybe- I don’t know. Maybe we could figure out something similar?”
With a raise of their eyebrow, Max turned back to face him. “You mean like- like-”
“Yes, I mean cuddling, Max,” he said with an amused smile.
Max quickly looked back away, uncrossing his arms to play with his hands again. “You’re so weird,” they said, no hint of malice behind it.
Izan laughed. “You like my weirdness. Besides, I didn’t hear a no.
Max rolled their eyes with a sigh. “Fine, we can try it.” He got up and reached a hand down to help Izan up as well.
Izan accepted it with a smile, and the two made their way back down to solid ground before heading back to their room. After changing out of his muddy clothes, he lay down on his right side looking up at Max.
“Ready?” he asked, propping his head up on his hand.
Max nodded climbing into bed next to him. They lay on their left side, facing Izan, but didn’t look up until Izan gently guided his head up with a soft hand on their chin.
“You don’t have to be nervous; you’re safe,” Izan said softly, his thumb gently stroking Max’s cheek.
“You’re a dork,” Max whispered, resting their forehead against Izan’s chest and closing his eyes, letting Izan’s breathing lull him to finally fall into sleep.