High Energy Collision [Completed]

Chapter 50 - The Call of the Mountains

"I want a window seat!"

Win's excitement upon entering the train harshly pulled Plan out of his musings. He watched his ex-boyfriend jump unto one of the window seats in an empty compartment, and allowed Viola to usher him into the seat facing Win.

Apparently, it was worth looking out of the window on that trip, and the three rich kids of White Hand all agreed that Win and Plan should sit by the window, since they themselves had seen the views before.

Plan had briefly wondered why they were travelling to Viola's grandfather's chalet in the alps by train, but before he could ask, she had explained it to everyone unprompted: the village where the chalet was located at, had banned the use of combustion engines on vehicles decades ago, to preserve the air quality. Even if you went there by car, you would have to park it at a lower point and either take the train up, or call an electro-powered taxi.

In contrast, a journey by train was agreeable, and would bring them directly to the village centre, where the housekeepers of the chalet would wait for them.

While all of this was interesting and foreign, Plan's mind hadn't stayed on that for long during breakfast and the taxi ride to the train station. He kept falling back into calculations and theorisations based on the insights he had gained at the conference.

He had already spent most of last night sitting propped up against the headrest of the bed, scribbling down notes and formulas into his notebook, occasionally consulting a scientific paper on his phone or sending out messages to his newfound physicist friends if he needed their input.

It had annoyed both Win and Mean eventually:

Win had moved out of their room into the smaller one that was free since Laure had left, mumbling something about how unexpected it was that he moved because of Plan's physics and not because of what Win had called couple cringe.

Mean had covered his eyes with a sleep mask, plugged his ears, and had demonstratively turned his back towards his boyfriend before he drifted off, too.

Plan had only felt marginally guilty. The conference was for the benefit of his research group, after all, and if he was making progress in that area, he needed to focus on that.

Judging by the relaxed smile on Mean's face now, as he dropped into the seat next to Plan on the train, he didn't resent him for it, either. They had both been busy before the trip, too. Respect for each other's work was a prerequisite for their relationship.

Still, Plan exhaled contently, when Mean gave him a hearty peck on the cheek before he leaned over to rest his head on his shoulder. It would be nice later, after they weathered the publicity storm of coming out: just being open about their affection for each other.

These last days, they had talked a lot about what that step would entail, both among themselves and consulting with Prof. Foster and his husband. They had introduced them to other queer people at the conference, too. There were more of them than Plan had expected: meeting one of them had naturally unlocked the door to finding the rest of the tribe.

Their new friends had been happy to help and give their perspective on it.

Luckily, they had the support of Mean's entertainment agency as well, as per contract.

The agency had managed to incorporate their decision into the promotion schedule for Mean's music releases so naturally, that Plan suspected they had had that plan in their drawers, ready to be pulled out and executed at any moment.

They had sent an adapted script for the music video almost instantly.

Plan didn't care anymore.