@alouette: that was... really, really really interesting. It was... Almost cute, in some apathetic way, and I loved it. Loved it.
-
This is sort of... Different for me? I suppose?
---crash / fall / now you're down
Maddox [♂] xxx Jude [♂]
"I forgot how cool this all was, you know?" He smiled and turned to Maddox as the next plane smashed overhead. "But I can't help but think--"
"
What?" Maddox yelled, trying to carry his voice over the propeller.
He laughed. "
I can't help but think that--" The propellers were far enough off that he didn't need to yell, but he kept his voice high, as if it helped his reasoning. "it might be
bad for our
hearing."
They both chuckled heartily. "Yeah," said the pale one. "Probably. But who cares? It's been years since we came up here. Shoot, last time we were here it was... With..." His voice trailed, not wanting to be correct, but waiting with bated breath for the answer.
"Gale," Jude choked, chest tightening. "Gale was with us."
"He was a great guy."
"Always will be, too."
Now they sat in silence, with the exception of the planes going overhead, whipping their hair in their ears. The sky was a hushed blue, with only a few bright values. The city sky was a lonely one when it came down to it, only encompassing a few stars; no stars that were small or tiny or alive or anything, just large stars, stars seen from all angles. Stars seen from all gapes and ganders of the world. For a long while, an extended whisper of the plains, there was nothing. Hardly any breathing, any thought, just stares.
Soon, though, thought tapped on Jude, it smacked him, it hit him right on the head. It clouded his eyes and got caught up in his throat and in the tips of his fingers. All of it. He was consumed. And it wasn't grief for his passed friend, it wasn't happiness for being able to move on; it was butterflies, right in the pit of his stomach, eating away at his sanity. Because it wasn't until times like this that the thoughts he tried to push away came back to him so easily. That, perhaps, when it was all accounted for, he loved his best friend. He loved his friend as a friend, but he loved him as something more, something they could never have. That he loved his best friend as a love, as a crush, but he knew he was to crash if he ever said it. However, as his eyes traced the few stars, he accounted them as his friends- Gale, Maddox, and the others- just a few. And him. But when he looked at Maddox, who was fading in and out of consciousnesses, his heart went, it went to the stars.
He didn't really want to admit that to himself, though. Because Maddox was his friend. Maddox thought of him as a friend. They'd always been friends, from the dawn of their days, and they always would be. Another plane soared and the car they laid on trembled, it giggled, and Jude thought that perhaps it was still shaking long after the plane had passed because his heart was going so fast.
"Are you alright, Jude?" Maddox turned, brows knit, eyes large and hooded. "You're looking a little foggy."
He opened his mouth, but nothing came out, no matter how hard he tried.
"Oh," He looked away for a bit. "Is it Gale? It's alright."
"It's..." Jude croaked it, staring at the stars for focus. "Not Gale, not tonight."
"Oh."
Another plane flew overhead and Maddox silently grabbed Jude's hand, as some calming act, but Jude's blood pumped faster. It rang in his ears and he couldn't take it anymore. His eyes began to weld with emotion and hurt and everything that he shouldn't feel because his friend was right there. But it made it worse, knowing he was right there, of all places, right within grasp. Currently in grasp, even. Their fingers were entwined and even as he noticed it felt so warm and okay, he felt so cold and out there, out of everything. This was
the crash. As tears dribbled down his cheek he didn't notice the stare from the other, and the other didn't question the tears, either.
Another plane.
Another chance.
He took it.
"Maddox," he said- only slightly raising his voice, "I love you more than a friend would."
As the plane died down he began to feel better, okay, even; because even if Maddox couldn't hear him he got it out there. He said it.
With no response, though, from Maddox, he experienced
the fall. It wasn't as bad as he thought it would be, it just happened, and suddenly he felt the weight of the stars on his cheeks. On every lash on his eye.
"You know, Jude," it was really quiet, but there was no plane, no nothing, just breathing. With an incredibly cheeky grin, he turned, reaching out with his free hand to tug on a lock of Jude's hair. "I'm not deaf
yet."
I might write a story for the two, but it depends.
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x 
