Altitudes

Miles was going to die.

His first flight alone was quickly beginning to look like his last. There was a burst of unsettled chatters and people pulling out their phones to presumably text their loved ones. Miles read the last few messages he exchanged with his parents. They would be so distraught, their one and only son being swept away by a plane crash when they finally let him go and explore the world. He should have known, he wasn’t strong enough to do this, he could barely get to school the first time on his own or stay at home for too long on his own.

Miles' chest burned before it constricted, he grasped at the centre as though it would help, but it didn’t stop how his breath grew faster against his will. Of course this has happened by now, that’s what his parents were so worried about. He couldn’t control as the trembles racked his body, grimacing when the first tear fell. He was stupid, sooo stupid for thinking that he could ever follow through with travelling on his own, he could have been at home, doing what he always does but instead he was here, minutes before potentially-

He was going to be sick, he could feel the waves in his stomach as they moved up and down and side to side, it made him want to gag, to pour out his entire guts for some sort of relief. His toes and arms were slowly disconnecting, almost like they weren’t here at all but still trembling, whether that was the plane or himself he couldn’t tell. There were so many tears streaming from his eyes but all he could do was let them fall one by one, in no means to even do a simple task to wipe his face. He was so useless, he couldn’t even wipe his own face, how on Earth could he even imagine going half way across the world.

“Can I touch you?”

A voice

Yes.

“You’re alright, breath with me,”

Hobie held one of his hands to his chest and Miles could feel the way Hobie’s chest just rose and fell in regular patterns, the other hand was held tightly in Hobie’s other hand, so his tremors weren’t as prominent as before but he could only watch to be aware, it’s almost as though Hobie wasn’t touching him at all. “You’re doing so well,”

Miles tried to focus on Hobie’s steady rhythm, the beats of his heart and the rise and fall of his chest, so much so he don’t feel like his breath was moving as fast anymore and he wasn’t as blurry and before, the seat in front of him coming back into to focus and feeling in his legs was able to return slowly, staring from the tips of his toes and melting up his legs. It took a while but by now the plane had stopped shaking. His thoughts calmed their voices down and the ocean in his stomach turned to the gentle lake with butterflies that it was before. He was still shaking but that was to be expected. They wouldn’t just magically go away the minute he remotely calmed down.

“You’re fine,” Hobie moving a thumb over their joined hands and the tingles in Miles hands started again but it wasn’t as scary as before , Hobie moved his hand up gently, he looked at Miles in the eyes as though he was asking for confirmation and wiped the tears that had balanced on his cheek.

“I’m fine,” His voice was a bit more shaky than he had wanted, but it was better than not being able to speak at all he supposed. “Thanks,”

“We’re not dead yet luckily,” the shaking in the plane had subsided massively and the plane returned to the swift smooth cruise it was before. “Drink,” Hobie held some water to Miles’ lips and Miles took the bottle.

“I’m sorry- that was- um..,” Miles stared at their joined hands for a few moments as though he was trying to reckon with how to say this.

“You don’t owe me an explanation,” Miles visibly relaxed once he heard that, he would go ten ride them out alone because often than not it would involve a conversation afterwards one that he most definitely didn’t want to have. Or people simply didn’t know what to do and do all the wrong things without even knowing it.

Miles lay his head on Hobie’s shoulder once again, the wave of exhaustion hitting him like a truck, of course, Hobie let him.

“Rah, still got hours left on this flight,” Hobie says after aggressively tapping on the screen in front of him and probably pissing off the person who sat there.

Maybe… for Miles that was a good thing, he could dwell on this a little bit longer, he had beaten the possibility of death and was sitting next to the most amazing person possible, and the flight attendant was sneaking him and Hobie extra food. So maybe it was in his best interest to be here just for a while longer before he had to be slapped back to the reality of desperately trying to find a hotel.

Miles yawned a little bit louder than he would have liked and Hobie chuckled. “Tired?” Miles simply nodded “Shall I read you a bedtime story?”

“Shut up,”

“Once upon a time there was a dashing young man called Miles-,”

“Shush, and let me sleep,”

“Boring,” his voice was slightly sing-song and he seemed to crack himself up as a small hitter of laughter followed. .

Miles closed his eyes as though to show Hobie he surrendered, flipping up the hood and settling comfortably. Hobie, on the other hand, didn't seem to think it was time to call it quits.

“But Miles, what if I need to piss,?” Hobie said his normally monotone voice fluctuated a tiny bit at the end. It made him either want to sob of how perfect Hobie was or laugh at the irony of someone like Hobie acting like a child.

“Then tell me Hobie, stop keeping me awake,”

“I apologise princess how dare I get in the way of your beauty sleep,”

Miles just kept quiet after that, he wanted to say it was to assert dominance but instead he was scared that if he spoke it would come out as a noise with a deadly frequency that would shatter the entire plane. So he kept his eyes shut, trying his best to fall asleep because beside the little chit chat he could actually feel his eyes stinging from the exhaustion that only seemed to hit you when you were on the plane. He felt his head being tousled a little bit but he didn’t move, he could feel the hesitation as the feeling on his forehead came and went shallow a few times until it finally decided to settle. Hobie was resting his head on his