By The Way ||RHCP fanfic|| Anthony Kiedis

Chapter Five: Fell On Black Days

The flight back to Washington is far from pleasant to begin with, other than the friendly looking stranger sitting next to me and the little packaged peanut bags they hand passengers every two hours or so. I'm starving now, longing for some real food and a bed, and my stomach has been grumbling non-stop for what feels like sixteen years, but we don't have much longer to go until we reach rain and clouds- back home, where we belong. The transition between sunny skies and black days is unnerving, almost, as though I'm traveling through a different planet, and the world just spins while my head turns on its side. We can't be far from Washington because the turbulence has been keeping me wide awake for the entire flight. 

 I turn to the friendly young man sitting next to me, noticing that he seems equally as tired as I do, eyes drooping; long heap of hair a mess, munching on those disgusting packaged peanut shits out of pure hunger. He's got this distinct face and hair the likes of which I've never laid eyes on..it looks soft, so curly and frizzy, and it's long. Ripped jeans and a Nirvana tanktop. It screams grunge. The suspicions are aroused when I notice a white string- two of them, hanging down his shirt, leading to both ears. He reminds me of Anthony...almost, that is, except maybe, just maybe, this one isn't a total dick. I tap his shoulder and he turns to me, these gorgeous crystal blue and green tinted eyes piercing into me, and I can't help but smile. It's almost like he did that on purpose. 

"I've got a serious question to ask you." He perks up, then, waiting for me to go on with an eager posture. "Does the airplane food always taste this shitty?" I quiz, pointing to my half-eaten pack of disgusting packaged airborne peanuts. They taste more like plastic wrap than actual peanuts. The man gives a sympathetic grin and snatches a peanut from the pack in my hands, chewing it only for a moment before scrunching the bridge of his nose, showing a face of clear disgust. Someone across the aisle chuckles at the expression.

"Yours taste as shitty as mine do, so I'm assuming the answer is yes," he responds with this faux logical tone, a playful smile stretching across his face, pushing the skin of his cheeks out of the way to reveal something absolutely genuine and certainly not something you see every day. Most people fake their smiles, they fake their happiness for other people. Either this man is a rare ray of bright sunshine in the world of nothing but darkness, or he is one hell of a pretender. Those same blue eyes are clouded with anxiety if you look deeply enough- it's obvious once you see it, he hates talking to strangers, probably hates a lot of things, but damn does he play it off so well.

"I'm Chris, by the way. Chris Cornell. Or 'Peanut Tester Extraordinaire,' if you'd prefer." He extends a friendly arm toward me, hand outstretched for a greeting, and his hand looks so soft and inviting, fingers just barely separated from one another as he waits for me to meet him halfway. He's shaking only a little with nerves but his face still doesn't match it. I take his hand and shake it as firmly as possible a couple of times, trying to match his smile though that's nearly impossible. We make brief eye contact but it's comfortable.

"Name's Dani. Or, ya know, whatever you'd like to call me. You looked lonely over here by the window sitting all alone. By the way, you should definitely go into acting. You'd make millions." He cocks his head to one side, a confused expression spreading across his face almost immediately, but before he can question my awkward conversation starter, a bubbly girl comes up to us dressed in full flight attendant garb offers us some more peanuts as if on cue. Chris gives me a quick glance, eyes holding this perfectly placed slight sarcasm that I'm surprised I've caught onto so quickly. He leans over me only a little, making direct eye contact with the lady across the way.

"Yeah, I'll take about twenty packs of those things. Mostly for this wonderful lady here. She absolutely loves them, can't get enough." Chris gives me a wink when we make eye contact again and takes one look at the alcohol options sitting discreetly underneath all of the candies and various snack foods. "Oh, and uh, how about twenty of those bottles. We'll take all of those."

I roll my eyes and rest a hand on the lady's shoulder, a silent apology of sorts for her passenger's childish behavior. She isn't sure what to say but her eyes say it all. 

"Forget the peanuts, ma'am, he's only joking about that. Those things are disgusting and you should highly consider getting better snack food options for this airline in the future." Chris sniggers softly at my extensive wording and I keep eye contact with the flabbergasted flight attendant. Chris leans in more and adds a muffled, "Just the alcohol for us today, thanks."