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The knocking on the door was... unusual to say the least. For one, because there was a giant gate people had to get through before they got to the house, which is usually when Rex would be notified about someone setting foot inside the grounds. For the second, it was bright and early morning, and no one would be stupid enough to launch an attack on him at this hour and in this manner. For the third... There was a doorbell that Rex would say was usually hard to miss.
Therefore, it should not have surprised him when he opened the door and a bright-eyed Chad was standing on the other side of the door, almost looking too chipper for the time of day or the way he obviously had snuck his way onto the grounds. He was dressed simply, not in his hero attire, and had a big backpack slung over his shoulder.
"Chad?" Rex said, his eyes blinking a few times against the sun and the frankly surprising scene in front of him. This was not how Chad usually visited him.
"Good morning," Chad said, and leaned over to place a brief, soft kiss on Rex's cheek, with a little bit of laughter in his voice.
"What are you doing here?" Rex couldn't help but ask, for although he dearly enjoyed every moment with Chad, there were rules for when they saw each other. Steps to take, to make sure no one would disturb their time, or at least figure out what the two of them were up to.
The question did seem to dim some of Chad’s bright mood, but only for a moment before he straightened his back and puffed out his chest, in that way Rex knew only happened when he needed a bit more bravery and resolution behind his words.
"I'm leaving town," Chad said, not even stumbling on the words. "And I just..." At this, Chad hesitated, and a softer look crossed his features. "I wanted to say goodbye before leaving."
Rex knitted his brows as he looked at the man he had been calling his lover for the past couple of months. "Leaving? Why would you be leaving?"
Chad shrugged. "I just thought it was time, but I wanted to make sure to at least let you know. So you're not worried that I’ve been kidnapped or regretting this or.... You know I don't regret this, right?" Chad's eyes seemed to get this intense light in them, as it only happened when Chad really wanted to get his point across. It both scared Rex a little bit and made this warm feeling bloom in his stomach. He did not understand how he had gotten this lucky.
"I know, you've told me multiple times," Rex said, not even caring how he couldn't stop himself from raising his hand to brush away some of the blond strands from Chad's forehead. "But are you leaving all alone?... are you coming back?" He had no idea what was going through that beautiful head, just like he didn't most of the time.
"No, I'm not planning on coming back."
Rex frowned at that.
"But... But I can send you letters. Although... I imagine it's a little bit inconvenient."
"Don't you have a phone for this exact reason?" Rex asked, as his head was starting to work overtime, trying to figure out the in and outs of this entire situation.
"Eh... I left my phone at... well, home. I'm sure it'll be fine."
"Chad."
For the first time this morning, Chad's face finally distorted itself into a pained expression. "Can we not... do this. I just wanted to make sure I said goodbye to you." His eyes, big and vulnerable, and Rex didn't have it in himself to deny Chad, although he was hesitant to just let him run away like he did.
"Okay," Rex whispered, a sad smile on his own lips, as he looked at this beautiful man. What had happened for this to be a thing? "Let me go with you though." He wasn't sure what prompted that, but even as he said it, he knew this was the only right course of action.
"What? No! You can't possibly... You got things here!"
"Well, maybe I need a holiday from everything here, and this way I can be sure you get somewhere comfortable."
"But-"
"Do not but me, Chad," Rex said, straightening his back a little bit. "You can't decide what I can or can't do... unless you don't want me there?" Rex raised an eyebrow.
"No! That's definitely not it at all!"
"Well, then it's settled. Let me just pack my bags, and we can get on the road." It was a small victory, and while he knew that Camille certainly would not be excited to get back and see a note that he was gone for the foreseeable future, it wasn't like she had any say in this either.
-
They had only just hit the highway outside Capital City. Chad had propped up his knees against the dashboard and looked like he didn't have a care in the world, and as Rex glanced over at Chad, he couldn’t quite stop himself from asking. "Why exactly are we doing this?" He hoped now that they were on the way, that Chad maybe would open up about it. Sometimes he just needed a bit of time.
Chad tapped his fingers against his leg. "Hmmm?" He looked over at Rex. "Well, you said you wanted to come along, so I guess that's why."
"No, I mean-" Rex started, but didn't get to finish it as Chad suddenly exclaimed.
"Wait!" He gasped, a look of excitement across his features. "We need to listen to music, get really into the mood."
"Chad..." Rex said. He was not blind enough to not realize that Chad was trying to deflect the entire thing.
"Oh it's perfect, and your speakers are so nice in this car as well," Chad said as he grabbed Rex's phone, which had been resting between them, and then started fiddling around with it. Although Rex couldn't help a raised eyebrow, from the fact that Chad didn't even ask for his passcode.
"What shall we listen to… what shall we listen to…" Chad muttered to himself as he was browsing on the phone, until he lit up. "Oh, I know!"
He tapped a few times on the phone and soon enough the tones of I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) floated out of the speakers, and very quickly Chad fell into the song and started singing along to it, with more passion than actually caring about if he was hitting the notes. The kind of singing Rex liked the most from Chad.
Rex couldn't help how the smile was spreading on his lips, glancing occasionally to Chad, as the song continued on, until he found himself softly singing along, which just earned him a bright smile from Chad, who just started singing a little louder, like he needed to let the world know how happy he was in this moment.
-
The smell of farm hit Rex the moment he stepped out of the car, and he felt decidedly unsuitedly dressed for this. "Are you really sure about this?" Rex asked as he looked over at Chad, who was honestly looking like an excited puppy.
"Of course! They said we can pet pigs! How can we not go do that?!" Chad said, his bright eyes looking at Rex, before softening. "You don't want to do this?"
Rex huffed a bit, as they both went around the car so they could stand next to each other and look at the parking area that led up to the big farm. Small families were coming and going. "It's not really my scene," he said defensively, not that he had really tried being out on a farm other than maybe a middle school trip. But it wasn't like he had ever been that good with animals. Only really cats.
"That's okay, it is my scene," Chad said, and offered out a hand. "I'll make sure none of the animals bite you." There was an underlying hint of cheekiness, something Rex couldn't help but love every time it came out of Chad.
Rex looked down on the offered hand, and then up at the bright eyes. Well, he had never been good at saying no to Chad. "Alright then, just for a little visit," he said, and took the offered hand. The metal was a little cool against his hand, but at this point, he was accustomed to it.
"That's all I wanted," Chad said. Their hands had barely touched before Chad was already dragging Rex along with him, a glint in his eyes and soft laughter, as Rex almost tripped over his own feet. Rex just laughed along with him.
-
"Come on, try petting her," Chad said with a laugh, as his own hand gently brushed down the pig's back.
"Absolutely not," Rex said, although still crouched next to Chad, with a wary look in his eyes, as he looked at the offending pig.
Chad pouted a bit as he looked at Rex. "But she is so soft."
Rex huffed. "Chad, it's not like you have any real feeling in your fingers."
This just deepened Chad's pout. "Well, I imagine she would be if I could feel it. See, you could tell me if she was, if you just pet her!"
"You know I'm mostly a cat person," Rex said, although he could already feel himself losing this battle.
"Rex!"
Rex sighed. "Alright," he said, and very hesitantly reached out to touch the pig's skin. It wasn't really soft, as much as Chad wanted to say it was. Kind of coarse, but not too bad.
"She feels like..." Rex chewed a little bit on how to say it. "Like petting an eyebrow," he finally said, as he turned his gaze towards Chad.
Chad stopped what he was doing, as he looked at Rex for a moment or two, before breaking out in a bright laugh. "Eyebrows? Really?" Chad said while laughing.
Rex could feel his own lips mirroring the smile on Chad's face. "Yes, really," he said, because nothing else described it as well, and well... he enjoyed seeing Chad laugh.
-
Rex was looking at the door into their room, in this beat-down motel, the keys still in his hands, and a scowl on his features. He was considering if maybe this was worth arguing for further, but Chad had whined and begged for the real experience of going to a dingy motel, instead of a high-scale hotel that Rex had been counting on.
"Come on, don't look so sour," Chad said, and reached out to grab the keys from Rex. "Look at this like.... It’s an adventure or maybe even an experiment."
Rex's scowl got a little deeper. "I'm not sure what I could possibly want out of his experiment."
Chad let out a bright laughter, as he went to the door and unlocked it, to open it, to what Rex could only describe as an even more rundown room. "Well, to see how much you can push yourself outside your comfort zone," He said, a thoughtful look in his eyes before turning back towards Rex again, bright eyes alight. "Or to see if first-time impressions are really right."
Rex scoffed a bit, but followed Chad into the room, not really getting more impressed the further in he got. They even had an old TV, which told Rex that they hadn't bothered updating these rooms in probably 20 years. "I'm sure that I am right in regards to this place being disgusting."
"Don't be such a grump," Chad said, but even Rex's complaints didn't seem to deter Chad from the experience, as he still carelessly placed their bags at the foot of the bed, to just go over and grab the remote for the TV so start surfing through the channels.
"Oh, they even got like live broadcast. I haven't seen stuff like this forever," Chad said, his eyes fixated on the hosts talking about some kind of toddler who had saved his own family. Rex already wanted to tune it out, but the female host's high-pitched voice and the slow drawling of the male host were hard to completely ignore.
"I think that has more to do with you just not having time to watch TV," Rex said, his nose twitching as he still looked around the dingy hotel room, but did, after all, go a bit further into the room. “People seem to still love those kinds of shows as much as ever.” He really hoped this room was cleaner than it looked.
"Huh, I guess that's a good point," Chad said, as he tilted his head to the side, before putting down the remote.
"Well, you're gonna have plenty of time from now on," Rex said, especially if Chad continued on this path of running away. It didn’t even seem like he had much of a plan if Rex was being honest.
“That’s true, although I can imagine a thing or two that’s more interesting,” Chad said, his eyes looking up at Rex, mischief in his eyes.
Rex raised an eyebrow. “Oh really?”
Chad pushed himself off the bed to approach Rex, the teasing energy practically rolling off of him. “Yeah, although you’re probably not too interested.” Chad was right in front of Rex, close enough that it wouldn’t take much to touch each other, as Chad reached out and hooked a finger through Rex’s belt loop.
“Why would you think that?” Rex asked.
“Well, you don’t really seem like you trust this room, and it would involve removing a layer of clothing,” Chad said.
Rex glanced around the room. “Really? Here?” he asked, as he couldn’t quite stop himself from scrunching his nose.
“Or we could… just take a shower,” Chad said, raising an eyebrow, as he tugged at the belt loop, pulling Rex forward half a step. “It has been a while.”
Rex’s lips curled into a smirk. “It has, hasn’t it?”
Chad grinned back at Rex as he started walking backwards towards the bathroom, while pulling Rex along with him. “It has.”
It was hard saying no when Chad was looking at him like that, and making those kind of suggestions, and really Rex didn’t want to say no anyways, so he let Chad pull him towards the bathroom, that looked honestly just as bad as the room, but at least as he was kissing Chad, and feeling his warm body against his, he couldn’t find it in him to care.
-
Rex slowly blinked the sleep out of his eyes as he was coming to it. A smile spread across his lips as he looked at the mass of blonde hair next to him and the scrunched-up face Chad was wearing. He would never get tired of these few mornings he got to wake up beside Chad.
He brushed some of the hair away from Chad’s face, which made the blue eyes flutter open and look at Rex, first in surprise and then amazement, as slowly Chad’s face mirrored Rex's in a lazy smile.
“Good morning,” Chad said, his voice coarse and full of sleep.
“Good morning, did you sleep well?” Rex asked softly as he brushed away some more hair from Chad’s face. He really was beautiful first thing in the morning.
“You know I always sleep well when we sleep together.”
“You’re an easy man to please, Chad,” Rex said, and leaned in and gave Chad a chaste kiss. “Not that I’m complaining.”
“Well… only in the morning.”
Rex smirked. “Hardly only in the morning.”
Chad laughed softly, but didn’t bother answering that; instead, he stretched out and then started to get up.
A small groan escaped Rex. “Already?”
Chad smirked right back at Rex. “Well, it is morning, and we should get some breakfast, shouldn’t we?”
“Don’t they have room service?” Rex said, lying back down again, with his arm over his eyes, in a vague hope they could delay it a little further.
“Pretty sure this is the kind of hotel that might only have a coffee machine if we’re lucky. I think we have to drive out and find breakfast somewhere else,” Chad said, in an almost too smug voice.
Rex groaned just a little louder. There was a reason he liked those small moments, just as Chad woke up. That was before Chad decided he was awake and just decided to start the day, when Rex could have spent at least another hour in bed. But Chad was up, and before long, Rex was sure that Chad would drag him out, but for now... Just five more minutes of lying down and not facing the day.
-
Chad had been persistent about them stopping at this curious little shop by the road, and was flitting about. The shop was filled to the brim with trinkets, and old trinkets at that.
As Rex was wandering through the store, it honestly for him seemed to be mostly a bunch of junk, although he had seen a few curious things.
The excited noises from Chad at the other end of the store pulled him back over to him. He was currently going through a bigger basket of various things.
"Rex!" Chad said excitedly as he turned towards him, holding a flimsy little camera in his hands. "They have disposable cameras. The ones you have to get developed. We need one!"
Rex couldn't quite stop himself from raising an eyebrow at Chad. "Why? Aren't our phones more effective?" Which just earned a pout from Chad. Chad, who currently did not have a phone on him.
"But that's not the same feeling," Chad argued. "I remember these when I was a child. And you could never be sure if you got a good picture, but you just had to trust it. It's the perfect imperfection."
"Perfect imperfection?" Rex echoed in amusement as he looked at Chad, who was still looking enamored with the camera.
"Exactly. You only get one shot, and you can't guarantee it's gonna be perfect, which is what makes it so perfect. It feels so much more real and not just like this set up perfect little thing."
Rex had a feeling that this was hardly about the camera. "I guess that is very true."
"Besides, this is the perfect way of remembering our trip." He snatched up another camera. "One for each of us." He smiled brightly at Rex.
Rex's own mouth turned into a smile. "Alright, anything else we want?" He asked, and soon enough Chad had found snacks and other knick-knacks that he put on the counter for Rex to pay.
The first picture on Chad's camera turned out to be a blurry shot of Rex arguing with the shop-owner over some expired candy Chad had wanted.
-
“Oh, this looks delicious,” Chad said, as he skimmed the completely oversized menu he was fiddling with.
Rex twitched his nose. “That’s one way to say it,” he said, as he looked over the options, one thing only sounding more greasy than the others. This was definitely not the kind of spot he would usually eat, unless he was really looking for some kind of comfort food.
“I don’t even know what to pick,” Chad said.
Rex was very much aware of the fact that Chad probably hadn’t ever been in one of these restaurants before, or at least not as long as he had been a full-time hero. His gaze left the menu to look over at Chad, and just study the bright, excited look in his face. When had Chad ever actually been the one to suggest they would pick up something unhealthy to eat. Rex was usually the one pushing the more calorie-heavy things on them, not to mention dessert.
“There are probably more restaurants like this on the way,” Rex pointed out. “So even if you don’t get to taste everything here, we have plenty of options as we go.”
Chad perked up. “We do?” he asked.
“Of course. We could also have found this back home, but there is probably gonna be more novelty about grabbing it while we’re on the road.”
Chad pouted. “You don’t have to make it sound so dull.”
Rex let out a soft laugh. “Sorry.”
Chad went back to ponder the menu, muttering to himself.
“If you want, we can also split. That way, you can taste two things,” Rex ended up suggesting after another five minutes.
Chad looked up once again. “Really?”
“Yeah, I’ll even let you pick which two we’re getting… If we’re also getting dessert,” Rex said, a smirk already on his lips.
Chad looked a bit more suspicious of that, as he narrowed his eyes, glanced down at the menu, and then back up at Rex again. “Alright, we’ll get dessert as well then.”
“Excellent. I have my eyes on both their cheesecake and apple pie, so this works out great,” Rex said, as he leaned back, a grin on his lips, as he left Chad to ponder once again over which two dinners they were gonna get now.
-
Rex sat down on the bed, and scooted back to the headboard to rest against. The bed seemed to be at least a little better than last night's option. Softer somehow, and the room hadn't looked as beat up as the last one, so he was feeling marginally better, especially after his bath, although he still wished they could pick proper hotels.
Chad was sitting with his back up against the headboard, his eyes firmly on the TV, which was showing some kind of soap opera.
Rex’s eyes roamed over the familiar face, and a little sigh escaped him. They couldn’t continue to ignore the elephant in the room, or that was at least what Rex was thinking.
“Chad.”
Chad’s eyes finally looked away from the screen, but only for a brief moment, before he was back at looking at the show again. “Yeah?”
“Can we at start to talk about why we are driving across the country?” Rex finally said, but no response came. “Chad, you can’t just ignore me, just because this conversation is uncomfortable for you,” Rex pressed on, and put a hand on Chad’s thigh, to try to get him to look at him again and just… talk about it.
It did get Chad to look at him, but the moment their eyes met, Rex knew that Chad wasn’t gonna talk about this.
“You know, I heard that there is an amusement park around here,” he said instead, and Rex’s heart dropped.
“This is not-,” Rex started.
“It’s supposed to be real old. Something that you just have to see if you’re around here, apparently. The girl at the front desk said so. We should go tomorrow.” Chad put that forced fake smile on his lips, that Rex absolutely hated. It twisted a knife in Rex’s chest, and he just did not have it in him to actually argue with Chad when he was like that.
“Fine, we can talk another day,” Rex said, not hiding the annoyance in his voice, as he let go of Chad, and then properly laid down in the bed, with his back to Chad. “Don’t stay up too late,” he muttered, as he forced his eyes close, knowing full well that he wouldn’t be able to sleep as long as the TV was on, but he was not about to say that.
-
Chad practically pressed his face against the window as the sign flew past them, as they were driving down the country road. "It’s the amusement park! We have to go, Rex. Have to!"
Even through Chad’s excitement, Rex wasn’t really feeling it after last night. "We are not going to an amusement park," Rex said with a scowl on his face, which got Chad to turn back around to look at him.
"But this is what this is all about!" Chad said, a whine in his voice.
"This entire thing is about going to dingy amusement parks, that probably should have been closed 20 years ago, because it's unsafe?" Rex said, his scowl only deepening.
"No! It's about taking a leap of faith. Trying things we would never do otherwise! Just doing what we feel like for once," Chad said.
Normally, that might have worked on Rex, but as the next sign came up, it was hardly making Rex feel better about this, and he shook his head. "Well, what I want to do is to not visit an amusement park." He ran a hand through his hair. Even with the air-con running, it felt humid in the car.
"Why not?"
"I don't do amusement parks," Rex said, holding a bit tighter onto the steering wheel. "And since I am driving the car, I get to decide where we stop and where we don't."
Chad looked at Rex with such intensity that Rex felt like it was almost gonna burn through him, while Rex very determinedly only looked at the road. But soon enough, Chad huffed, crossing his arms, placed his knees against the dashboard again, and looked out of the side window.
An uncomfortable silence laid itself like a thick blanket over the car, which only seemed to be eased a bit as Rex, 15 minutes later, turned on some music and handed Chad a chocolate bar, with a soft murmured "sorry."
-
It was almost so quick that Rex barely caught it out of the corner of his eye, but he was sure enough. They had just driven past a sign of some old medieval city, when he had seen Chad perk up, in what Rex knew was of interest, before Chad had slumped back down again. The mood hadn’t been the best the last hour, and Rex was both looking for a reprieve and making it up to Chad.
“Do you wanna go?” Rex asked, as he kept an eye out for another sign, so they couldn’t miss the turn when it came.
“Oh?” Chad said, his head turning towards Rex. “No, it’s fine.”
Rex shook his head. “You clearly wanna go, so let's go,” he said instead. They could use it, and sometimes getting Chad out and moving made him happier, besides, they probably had some kind of novelty shops which he knew Chad loved. “And I think it could be interesting seeing an old city as well,” he added.
“Really?”
“Of course, there is not that much of the old city left in Capital with Alex destroying anything he touches, so this could be quite interesting.” Rex glanced towards Chad, really hoping that Chad was gonna have it easier to digest the offer, now that it wasn’t just about Rex making it up to Chad, although it definitely was.
“But you didn’t seem keen on seeing anything earlier,” Chad said. “So it’s fine.”
“Chad, that was something completely different.”
Chad crossed his arms, and Rex let out a barely audible sigh.
“Well, if you truly don’t wanna see it, I guess we can just not go, although we would do it just as much for my sake. So what do you say?” Rex said, his eyes flickering to Chad.
“Uhmmm….”
“Well? You gotta pick quickly, the last exit is right there,” Rex said, a slow smirk spreading on his lips, as he could just see how Chad was tensing up as he was making the decision. Typical hero.
“Alright! I wanna go!”
Rex turned the wheel, and not a moment too soon, as they barely made the exit. “Alright. Let’s see what this city is all about.” Rex certainly didn’t miss the now growing smile on Chad’s lips.
-
“So what do you imagine that is?” Chad said, as he was licking the ice cream, they had both bought in a little shop a little ways off to the square they were currently sitting in.
Rex tilted his head. “Maybe a rhino?” He suggested, taking a lick out of his own ice cream, as he studied the sculpture in front of them.
“No, definitely not,” Chad said and shook his head. “It looks more like a unicorn.” He nodded to confirm with himself and possibly Rex that they were in agreement, which they really weren’t.
“It looks nothing like a horse, though. Its body is too big and stocky.”
Chad turned towards Rex, defiance in his eyes. “Some horses are stocky!”
“Not like that.” Rex gestured towards the statue with the hand that luckily wasn’t holding an ice cream.
“Yeah, they do,” Chad whined and turned his head up a little bit.
“Look, we can just go find the sign or just look it up on my phone to check it out.”
Chad pursed his lips as he considered it, before nodding. “Alright, look it up, so we can know that I am right.”
“You are so not right,” Rex said with a smirk, and maneuvered the phone into his hand to start searching for it, which was always a little harder with only one hand. But eventually he got it, while his ice cream was trying to melt from him, which he only half paid a mind to.
“Alright, here it is,” he said, and cleared his throat before reading out loud. “The Eternal Wanderer depicts the artist's interpretation of what a narwhal possibly could be, should it wander the earth instead of the oceans…” Rex stared at the offending screen as his voice trailed off. They couldn’t be serious. He could feel Chad’s eyes staring at him, probably in just as much disbelief.
But as Rex finally glanced up at Chad, Chad just broke out into a bright, loud laughter of the absurdity of it all, and Rex couldn’t help but follow, because that was the stupidest thing he had ever encountered.
-
The market spread out in front of them, and Chad was already pulling Rex along with him, only to stop almost at every stall they were passing, just to look at what they had. “Who would have guessed that they had just hidden this,” Chad said as he placed down some glass earrings that had caught his eye.
“Certainly not me,” Rex said with a soft laugh, his own eyes looking over the glass figures that the stall also had, before Chad pulled him along again. “It seems to mostly be handcrafted things.”
“I wish I could make stuff like that,” Chad said in a wishful voice.
“You probably could,” Rex pointed out, although most arguments fell through, as Chad just raised an arm and wriggled a bit with it.
“I really wish,” Chad said and shook his head. “But oh, maybe I could…” Chad stopped both in his walking and what he was saying as his gaze got a little bit distant.
Rex looked worriedly at him. “Chad?”
Chad shook his head discreetly, although it was hard not to notice it for Rex. “Maybe we could find something for Camille that you could bring back home? I’m sure that will ease her anger, after you just ran out of on her like that,” he said with a bit of a forced laugh, which just got Rex to squint his eyes a little further at him.
“Sure,” Rex said. “She does like things no one else has. Do you have any suggestions?”
Chad tilted his head. “We could see if there was any jewelry or any statement pieces for your home. Honestly, anything pretty, I think she will like.”
It really wasn’t the time to ask Chad about what had just happened, so for now Rex let Chad pull him along on the quest to find something for Camille, and if Chad seemed to stop every time he found something, that very much was not something for Camille, but something better suited for someone else in Chad’s life, well Rex let it go for now, while they were still around people.
-
The sun was slowly setting, as Rex and Chad had found a patch of green grass, where Chad had put down a blanket, so they could watch it together.
"We did this on our first date as well," Chad noted, as he looked at the setting sun, while Rex was more enamored with the way the orange glow bounced off Chad.
"We did. If I recall correctly, I had been trying to get you to tell me what you wanted to do all day, and you blurted out that you wanted to watch the sunset with me 30 minutes before it was setting, so we had to improvise with where we could even get a good view of it."
Chad leaned back on the palms of his hands, still his eyes on the sunset. "It was probably the most beautiful sunset I've ever seen."
"It was just a sunset, Chad," Rex said with a hint of fond amusement in his voice.
"But it was with you," Chad turned his head and finally looked at Rex, with that kind of intensity that always stole away Rex's breath.
A beat of silence between them, before Rex found his voice again. "Which is why I don't understand why you're running," he said softly.
Chad's gaze looked away, and he tensed his jaw.
"Chad... love..." Rex said, and he placed his hand on Chad's face to gently force him to look at Rex again. "Can we please finally talk about why we're out here?"
"We're out here to watch the sunset," Chad mumbled, and straightened up, just to pull his knees to his chest and place his arms around them to hug them tightly against his chest.
"You know what I mean. You’ve been spacing out all day, and I know it has to do with this," Rex said, letting go of Chad's face, which just meant that Chad buried his face in his knees as well. "It doesn't mean I'm gonna force you to go back, or regret that I came along with you. I just want to know."
Chad curled more into himself, with a soft, shaky breath. For a while,e there was just silence between them, until Chad finally lifted his head and looked over at where the sun was almost gone from the horizon.
"They found out about us," Chad finally said, his voice quiet and a little shaky.
Rex took a breath in. He had not expected that. They had been careful, hadn't they? "Your parents?" he still wanted confirmation.
"Yeah." Chad nodded. "They were obviously not excited. They just went on and on about how I couldn't date you, especially because you are a villain, and what was I thinking. They had plenty of other candidates, much better suited, even if I wanted it to be a man. Because I definitely needed to know that they were not doing this because they were being homophobic." It seemed like everything was just suddenly pouring out of Chad. "And maybe it would have been easier if it had just been a question about me dating a man or a villain, but they longer they went on about it, the more it just felt like... like they wanted to control every single aspect of my life, even who I'm dating, and that they have been doing it my entire life, and I just got enough."
"So you ran."
Chad nodded. "I just needed to get away. To another place where they couldn't control me and my life, and I could make my own choices."
Rex placed a hand on the upper part of Chad's back, which had the desired effect of Chad looking at Rex once again.
"But are you ready for what this entails?" Rex asked softly. "Are you ready to never see me again, or Diego, Dave... Morgan." Rex let a beat of silence pass. "And what about Ducky? You adore him."
Chad's eyes were misty, and Rex was not surprised to see the tears slowly starting to fall. "But I can't.... I can't live like that anymore."
"I'm not saying you should." Rex reached over and gently dried off some of the tears. "I'm just saying that there are other opportunities other than running away. You don't have to do what your parents say."
"But how can I not?"
Rex looked into those blue eyes he loved so dearly, and not for the first time, his heart broke for Chad. "They love you. Put down your foot about it, and if that still doesn't work, then you don't have to be around them. You can cut them off and still have everyone else in your family if you want to. They can't actually force you to never see me again."
Chad sniffled a bit. "But even then. It's gonna be so much harder, isn't it?" He whispered. "I don't even know if I can keep my ground against them. All my confidence just... disappears around them."
"Well, if you ever need the help, you know I'm here, and the same is Diego and Dave. They would go through hell for you as well," Rex whispered. "And you know my door is always open for you, if you need anything at all."
Chad slowly let go of his legs. "Yeah?"
"Yeah," Rex echoed. "There is always time and room for you, especially when your parents get a bit too much." But it had to be Chad making that decision, because the last thing Rex wanted was to be as controlling as Chad's parents were. "But if you really feel like this is for the best, I will still drive you the rest of the way. If you promise to call me sometime." He couldn't go no contact with Chad, not when this was the reason.
Chad's tears just kept falling as he looked at Rex. There was so much conflict in his eyes.
"Come here," Rex whispered, and finally put his arms around Chad to pull him into a hug. "We can figure it out. It'll be alright." Because it had to. He placed a soft kiss on the side of Chad's head, as he just let Chad cry on his shoulder.
It was only as the sun was gone down, and only the moon and stars kept them company, that Chad softly whispered, "I'll go home, and I'll... figure it out."
"We'll figure it out," Rex whispered back and just held him for a little while longer.
-
The mood in the car had been rather dull since they had started the drive that morning, and while the sound of Chad's newly made road trip playlist was still playing, it didn't do much to lighten the mood, when not even the bright sun outside could. It was definitely a much more dull trip going home, if this was going to continue, but Rex didn't have anything to say. If Chad was angry with him, it would be easier, but no, it was the dread of going home.
Rex let out a little exhale, letting his fingers thrum on the steering wheel, and as they passed another sign, Rex finally got an idea. "Hey, we're going to pass by that amusement park you wanted to go to," Rex pointed out.
"Hmmm? Ah... right," Chad said, who just seemed to slump further back into his seat.
"And while we agreed we were going back, there is no reason why we have to do it all in one stretch." Rex tapped another few times on the steering wheel. "So we could go visit it for a bit, or anything else we find on the way back? We have to make the most out of this little vacation, don't we?" He glanced out of the corner of his eyes at Chad, who seemed to have perked up.
"You mean that?" He asked, his gaze on Rex, almost burning holes in him. "You did say you didn't do amusement parks."
"Of course I mean it, and I would hardly know if I do amusement parks since I haven't been to one since I was a child," Rex said, his eyes staying on the road, as they passed another sign. "This is also a little bit of a break for me after all, and well.... It's hard to deny that this trip hasn't been quite nice."
"... Thank you," Chad whispered.
"You're welcome." The corner of Rex's mouth turned up in a smile. "But if you wanna go, you gotta say so, because we will miss the exit very soon," he pointed out.
"Yes! Yes, I wanna go!" Chad said, the excitement back in his voice.
With a laugh, Rex took the next exit, so they could visit the amusement park that Chad, for some reason, had thrown his love at. Rex could, after all, compromise a little bit on his dignity for Chad.
-
Rex was eating his breakfast when he heard the knocking on the door. A shiver ran through him on pure instinct, but then, as he put down the cutlery and heard the knocking once again, another thought entered his head. It had only been a little under two weeks since this situation last had happened.
He got up from the chair and walked back down to the door, and pulled it open, just be faced with the bright smile of Chad, who had a bag pulled over their shoulder, just like last time.
“Please tell me you’re not running away again,” Rex said with a bit of a sigh, as he pinched the bridge of his nose. He thought they had talked this over already.
Chad shook his head, “Nope.”
Rex removed his fingers and properly looked at Chad. “Not that I’m not happy to see you, but then why are you here?” It was way too early for Rex to hide some of the bluntness in his voice, but he was really not sure why Chad was even here then.
Chad shifted the weight on his feet, looking a bit thoughtful. “Well, as you know, I spoke with my parents about you,” he started out.
“And they were not too pleased, as far as I understood,” Rex said slowly.
“No, and since we still haven’t come to an agreement, I thought it was about to say ‘fuck it’,” Chad said, the smile reappearing on his lips. “And well, since they technically own my apartment, I grabbed the most important things and thought I could crash here.”
Rex felt the whole world stop for a moment, as he blinked and just looked at Chad. Was he serious? “You mean here? With me?”
“Well, if it’s not a problem,” Chad said, his big eyes catching Rex’s. “But you did say that you would have time and room for me should I ever need it.”
Rex let out something that could only be between a relieved sigh and a laugh. “You idiot,” he said and shook his head. He reached out and grabbed Chad’s hand and pulled him closer. “Of course it’s alright, but are you absolutely sure about this?”
Chad’s free hand curled into Rex’s shirt. His eyes glittered in the morning light as his whole face lit up. “Of course I’m serious about this. It’s not just about you and me. It’s about finally making some decisions for myself and well… I feel like this could be a good decision.”
Rex smirked. “And what if I don’t have a spare room?”
“Well, I know your bed is big enough for two.”
Rex cupped Chad’s cheek. “And for how long?” he whispered.
“Until I find something else or… or when you’re tired of me.” Chad’s voice wavered a bit.
Rex let out a soft, short laugh. “I don’t think I’m gonna get tired of you.”
“You won’t know,” Chad countered, his eyes narrowing.
“And if I do, I can always make you share with Camille,” Rex said with a laugh. “I’m sure she won’t mind.”
Chad blinked, like he hadn’t really thought about the fact that Rex didn’t live alone, although they regularly ran into Camille when Chad came by.
“You sure she won’t mind me being here?” Chad’s voice was a lot quieter and more unsure.
Rex leaned further in. “I am absolutely sure, and even if she did mind, there is a thing or two I could say about how much Becky is staying here. But I know she adores you.”
“Really?”
“She says you’re the best thing to happen to me since I married her, which I would say is a pretty big compliment coming from her,”
Chad laughed at that. “Alright then,” he said. “I’ll trust you on that.”
Rex leaned in and placed a soft kiss on Chad’s lips. “Shall I show you around then? So you know where things are, now that you’re gonna live here?” He asked with a smirk as he pulled away.
“I think that’s a good idea,” Chad said with a similar smirk on his own lips. “I particularly want to know where my bedroom is gonna be.”
“Let me show the way then,” Rex said, before he started pulling Chad along to show him exactly where he would be living going forward.