airplanes(Thiam)

chapter 4: You have reached your destination

Liam was getting really tired of being woken up by Theo, in Theo's defense Liam was pretty sure he hadn't been trying to wake him judging by the way the radio was off for once and he had yet to utter a sarcastic good morning. His body was stiff from sleeping curled against the car door but he was warm, a threadbare blanket tucked around his shoulders like a large bib.

The scent of coffee seeped into the car as he listened to Theo shifting around, the rustling of a paper bag before he heard the door slam shut

"Do you ever do anything quietly?" Liam asked throatily.

"Go back to sleep." Theo hummed. Liam, as per usual didn't listen to him. He rolled his head away from the window, turning to look at Theo as he sipped on his coffee and started the car.

"Where are we?"

"Arizona." Theo said.

"We're almost there?" Liam inquired, a thrum of energy going through him as he looked out at the dark road ahead of them as if the grand canyon was about to flash into existence in front of the car.

"Almost." Theo said, taking another gulp of his coffee. Liam frowned as he noticed the dark bags under his eyes.

"Have you slept?"

"No Liam. You usually have to be awake to drive." Theo said. "And someone wanted to get here for sunrise."

"We can get a motel, you can sleep while I explore."

"I have coffee. I'm good." Theo said, effectively ending the conversation. Liam shuffled down his seat, tugging the blanket closer around him despite the Arizona heat already seeping into the car, fingers jabbing at the radio until it started playing soft music.

The rest of the drive was silent, a half hour with the two of them watching the road waiting for the canyon to appear, and then it did and Liam was pressing his face up against the window like a little kid trying to peer through the darkest hour of the night to get a glimpse of it.

It wasn't long before Theo was finding somewhere acceptable to park, a quiet ledge overlooking the canyon, away from the viewing platform and the other people beginning to pick their way out into the darkness to take their first glance as the sun rose.

"You have reached your destination." Theo said. "That'll be at least a hundred dollars cab fare." Liam snorted, throwing the blanket off and launching himself out of the car. He raced towards the edge, stopping short, eyes flickering across the horizon. He could see better than a regular human but it was still too dark to see much.

"When is sunrise?" Liam asked.

"Google said around five forty." Theo said, coming to a stop next to Liam, eyes squinted as he peered out over the black abyss. "Wow. It's beautiful." He said, voice edge with the dry sarcasm Liam had come to expect.

"Just wait until sunrise." Liam said. "It's meant to be beautiful."

"Well, I don't know about you but I'm not standing for the next twenty minutes." Theo said. Stalking away, Liam rolled his eyes, looking over the dark canyon waiting for the sun to rise as Theo clanged around in the car behind him. Liam finally turned when he heard the truck moving. Theo reversing it slowly towards the edge.

"Are you committing suicide?" Liam asked watching as the truck crept towards the ledge. Theo didn't reply. Just when Liam started to get worried Theo was actually going to reverse straight off of the edge of the cliff the car stopped. Theo jumped out a moment later the blanket and a pillow under one arm while he clutched the bag of food and an honest to god Thermos in the other hand. Liam watched as Theo tossed the blanket into the bed of the truck before climbing in, setting the Thermos down gently before sitting, back leant against the wall of the car, facing the canyon.