"Dude, you've seriously never been on an airplane before?"

"Well okay," Ian admitted, "I've been on one once when I was, like, eight or something."

The two young men were in an LA airport at 10:00 in the morning, waiting for a flight to New York, where they were going to a YouTube creators meeting.

Ian was telling himself that being on an airplane wouldn't be as bad as he remembered. After all, it wasn't as though he would really be able to tell how high up they were.

"It's pretty cool," Anthony was saying. "Well, everything except being crammed in a small space with a bunch of other assholes you don't know. In fact, it's a lot like riding on a bus or something in that way." He cast a glance at Ian. "It feels weird to be telling you about this. You're twenty-seven years old and can't fucking remember being on an airplane."

"Shut your ass," Ian said jokingly, trying to keep himself from being nervous. So far, he felt like he was succeeding. Could he still once he was actually on the plane?

"You're not nervous, are you?" Anthony asked, slowing his walking pace as he looked down at Ian. He looked slightly confused.

"No," Ian said defensively. "What the hell, man?" He wondered if that had come out too harsh.

"Hey," Anthony said, fortunately not taking offense. "Be nice." He switched his suitcase from his left hand to his right so he could grab Ian's hand.

Ian smiled a bit. "You're into the touchy stuff, huh?"

Anthony shrugged. "If it bothers you, tell me."

At last, they got to hand their tickets in and board the plane. They made sure to find seats next to each other and Anthony stuffed his luggage in the overhead compartment. Ian had managed to fit everything he needed in one suitcase, but Anthony had ended up taking two and had only checked one of them.

"Well, we're in for a pretty fucking long flight," Anthony commented.

"Yeah," Ian sighed. "When's the first layover?"

Anthony lifted an eyebrow in contemplation, a gesture Ian had always seemed to find endearing. "Denver, I think. Why, did you not bring enough to entertain yourself with?"

Ian shrugged. "No idea. We'll find out."

They sat mostly in silence while they waited for takeoff. Ian was actually physically feeling his anxiety now. It was a sort of gnawing in his gut, reminding him of the fact that in just a few more minutes, he was going to be thousands of feet in the air. Nothing outside of this metal trap except empty air and plenty of gravity to kill him.

He swallowed hard.

Anthony had taken out his phone and was already putting earphones in so he could listen to music of some sort. It made Ian feel very alone.

As soon as the airplane closed up and started taxiing toward the runway, Anthony took his earbuds out and held up his phone for what he jokingly referred to as a 'takeoff selfie.'

As soon as he was done leaning up to Anthony for the picture, Ian said, "You're not even supposed to have your phone turn—fuck!"

"Yeah, I know, but—" Anthony had started to say before Ian cussed. "What?"

"Oh, Jesus. Shit," Ian said, starting to panic. He had never experienced anything like this sensation before. Anthony had the window seat, but Ian could still see the ground drop away beneath them. Before long, all he could see out the window was sky, and yet he could still feel the plane ascending. As much as he didn't like the thought of people being able to read his emotions, he couldn't hide his fear. He shut his eyes hard and his hands tensed into fists on the armrests to either side of him.

"Ian? Are you okay?" Anthony asked, sounding concerned now.

"Yeah. Nope, I'm good," he lied, his voice completely betraying him.

"I'm serious," Anthony said, frowning and taking Ian's clenched fist from the armrest next to him. "Is it—oh!" he said, sounding as if he'd finally figured it out. He had a half-smile on his face now, which pissed Ian off. "It's the height, isn't it?"

"So what if it is?" he snapped, pulling his hand away from Anthony.

"I'm not making fun of you," Anthony said gently. "I'm just a douche for not realizing it until now."

"Just give me something else the think about. I feel like I might be sick," Ian moaned, closing his eyes again.

"Uh…dickbiscuits?"

"Not helping."

"Okay…how about this?"

Ian felt a hand on the side of his face, pulling him a little closer to Anthony. His eyes opened as Anthony's closed and their lips touched softly in a short kiss. They stayed only centimeters apart for a few seconds, sky blue eyes meeting chocolate brown ones, before Anthony pulled away, blushing slightly as his gaze flickered to something behind Ian.

Ian turned his head to look at the people across the aisle from them. It was a young woman and what looked like her two children, the latter of whom were staring.

"Mommy?" one of them said in a sort of stage whisper. "Boys aren't supposed to kiss each other, right? That's icky."

The woman lit up bright red as soon as she caught Ian looking at her, but he looked away, hearing Anthony mumble, "Sorry," next to him.

"Dude, there's nothing to be sorry for," Ian said in a normal conversational tone, not too loud for an airplane but loud enough to sound confident. "There wasn't anything wrong with that." He was slightly embarrassed too, he wouldn't have denied it, but he didn't want Anthony to feel that way.

"Yeah," Anthony said, still flushed as he looked out the airplane window instead of at Ian.

"Well," Ian said, chuckling a little uncomfortably as he remembered his situation, "you temporarily distracted me from the fact that we're a few thousand feet in the air."

Anthony looked back at Ian with a smile, still deliberately not looking behind him. "Good. Now it's just a matter of getting you through the rest of the flight."

"We'll see if I make it without throwing up."

The two of them spent about an hour playing games on their phones, listening to music, or making fun of advertisements in a flight catalog.

"So, you ready to look out the window yet? It's really cool, I promise," Anthony said when they had gotten bored again.

"All there is to see is clouds, right?"

Anthony shrugged. "Usually. Right now you can see a bit of the ground."

Ian shook his head repeatedly. "No. I don't want to think about it."

"Really?" Anthony asked, clearly just failing to understand Ian's phobia.

"Okay," Ian sighed. Cautiously, he peered around Anthony's shoulders to look out the window and down to the ground. He had to admit; it was really cool.

It also made him extremely nauseous. He groaned and leaned away, his foot tapping frenziedly on the airplane floor in his discomfort. "Fuck, I wish I hadn't."

Anthony put an empathetic hand on Ian's shoulder. "I guess I shouldn't have asked."

Ian nodded. "No." He looked up slyly and said half-jokingly, "Maybe you could kiss me again."

Anthony smiled, but hesitated. "Not this time, I think, Ian."

"Stop worrying so much about what people think of us, Anthony," Ian said quietly. "It's hard sometimes, but think about it: they wouldn't blink an eye if one of us was a girl. So they're really just being assholes."

"Yeah," Anthony said, scratching the back of his head and absentmindedly fixing his hair afterward.

"But if it makes you feel better," Ian said as his nausea started to fade away, "I won't kiss you." Instead, he slouched slightly and leaned his head against Anthony's shoulder. He felt his boyfriend rest his cheek on the top of Ian's bowl-cut hair.

"I'm not sure this is much better," Anthony said softly from above Ian. "But I think I could stay here a while."

Ian smiled. "Well, good, because we've got a long fucking flight left."

"Yes we do," Anthony chuckled. "And you're the one I'm worried about not making it."

"I trust you can help with that," Ian said, and allowed Anthony to lace his fingers through his own.

They were still sitting like this, with Anthony asleep and Ian dozing in and out of consciousness, when the pilot announced they were about to touch down in Denver. ●