Coming Home [Completed]

Ch. 26: Freakin' Out on the Interstate (NYE, Part I)

With one side of their extended family separated from them by an ocean, the Broussards were expert air travel passengers. Theo had mastered the art of sleeping on a plane during an overnight, transcontinental flight, no easy task to say the least. He'd had the same neck pillow since he was twelve and it still did the job.

Sleeping also meant he had a too-brief respite from worrying about the fate of his relationship with Charlie. They'd kept up texting in the days since their emotionally-charged facetime, but with the time difference and familial obligations of the holidays, their communication was sporadic and superficial at best. This torturous purgatory had left Theo alone with his thoughts, principally his doubts, and that was never good. He fretted over whether their whole conversation was even real or just a figment of his imagination.

He tried to push all that into the deepest corner of his mind as the plane taxied on the runway in Philadelphia. His cherished neck pillow had stayed around his neck as he exited the aircraft and through baggage claim. It was just one less thing to worry about when one also had to manage a backpack and a suitcase. As they went through customs and exited baggage claim, they passed through the doors leading to the arrivals lobby. They weren't expecting anyone to be there for them, as their car was currently in the airport's parking lot.

Theo thought his eyes were deceiving him when he saw Charlie standing there, seemingly waiting for him, with a big handmade sign that read "WELCOME HOME BROUSSARDS," with the subtitle "(BUT ESP. THEO)." Theo imagined dropping his bags and running over to Charlie for a big, romcom-style public display of affection, but he'd stopped in his tracks and was too stunned to move, much to the anger of the people behind him, for whom Theo was now an obstacle between them and leaving the airport.

Finally, Theo regained control of his legs and got out of the way of the disgruntled travelers and joined his family around Charlie. He was still nearly-speechless, though, "Charlie, why...? How did you...?"

"I would be responsible for the how," Mrs. Broussard informed her son. "Young Charles texted me a few days ago to ask me when our flight would be landing and which terminal we'd be leaving from and I happily supplied him with that information."

"As for the why, I think that's a conversation for the two of you," Mr. Broussard chimed in, as he led the rest of the family away to give the two teenagers some space.

"I couldn't wait to see you and I'm actually supposed to go to Julia and Tate's for New Years' Eve, so it'd have been a few more days before I saw you if I hadn't come here."

"Oh," Theo said, becoming aware that their time together would be brief if Charlie had to hit the road again soon, in the opposite direction.

Charlie rubbed the back of his neck with his hands, in obvious nervousness, before asking "unless you'd want to come to New York with me, for New Year's?"

"I don't know if..."

"I already cleared it with you mom, don't worry. She surprisingly doesn't hate me," Charlie chuckled as he said that last bit.

"Then, let's do it," Theo said with a smile.

________________________________________________

Charlie and Theo left the airport after a short conversation with the latter's parents, in which Mrs. Broussard went through a litany of safety instructions and Mr. Broussard just gave Charlie a suspicious look the entire time, before giving him a really firm handshake as they departed. Charlie wasn't exactly sure what to make of it, but he tried to reserve judgment on that.

They didn't make it very far by car. Charlie only drove them to Trenton, a short trip from the airport, so they could take NJ Transit into the city. After they'd exchanged farewells with Theo's family, the boy had been mostly quiet on the ride to Trenton, primarily staring out the car window at the passing scenery.

Once the train started moving, it was more of the same. They were traveling at an odd time between rush hours so their car was mostly empty. Eventually, Charlie decided to break the tension.

"Did I read this whole thing wrong?" He whispered, so as not to disturbed the other passengers.

"What?" Theo's response was that singular, confused word.

"Like, should I not have surprised you at the airport?"

"Of course, you should have. Charlie, that's the sweetest thing anyone's ever done for me and, to be honest, I'm pretty sure you hold at least the top five sweetest things anyone's ever done for me."

"Then why have you been so quiet?"

"I guess I'm just in shock, honestly."

"I didn't know I'd had that effect."

"Of course you do. You've always had that effect on me."

"It's just that I think about how much time we wasted—correction, I wasted—when we could have been together if I hadn't been so stupid."

"You're not stupid, Charlie."

"I sure as hell act like it sometimes. Why couldn't I have just sucked it up and been willing to be out with you from the start? You're so much braver than I am."

"It just seems that way. I never had to be as brave as you."

"I should have been brave for you and I wasn't."

"Well, I should've been more supportive and not pushed you. You would've come out on your own time."

"No, I don't think I would've. I was too used to being one of the guys and, for some reason, I valued that over being who I am. I didn't want to give up that privilege I had."

"You're spiraling, Charlie. There's no sense litigating the past."

"You've changed so much since we were together before, though. I missed so much of your life that I should have been there for."

"And same here, but we'll be there for each other from now on."

"Is this your way of asking me to prom?" Charlie asked with a chuckle.

"Don't get ahead of yourself, Holloway. Let's get through tonight first and, if anything, you owe me a promposal first."

"Oh, that's supposed to be on me?"

"It's only fair."

Charlie quirked his right eyebrow at that but didn't say anything, instead looking out his window as the train went through a tunnel under the Hudson and New Jersey disappeared from view. They soon gathered their belongings and exited the car into the crowd of Penn Station.

Charlie took Theo by the hand and led him through the throngs of tourists and travelers into the connected subway station. They were a bit confused by the process of getting MetroCards, but once that was figured out, they went down to 4th Street on the A train. Their train car was packed and the two were smushed up against each other for the entire ride, which neither really minded.

They emerged from 4th Street and started making their way to Julia and Tate's apartment on the other side of Washington Square Park. However, they did take a brief detour to stop in the park, which was covered in the rapidly-descending snowfall. Theo had kept his hand attached to Charlie's and dragged him into the park, on the pretense of taking pictures.

Once they were in a perfect spot, Theo turned around to face Charlie and just hugged him.