Chapter Text
“C’mon, c’mon, c’mon!” Owain calls. He tosses his duffle bag into the back of his car and waits with his foot tapping and his eyes glued to his wrist. There’s not actually a watch there, but he’s making a point. Inigo rolls his eyes at him, but he tosses the last of his bags into the back of the car too.
“We’re not on a deadline,” he says.
“Actually we are!” Owain argues. They both walk around the sides of the car. Inigo sits down in the passenger seat, and Owain settles into the driver side. He starts the car and pulls away from the hotel and back out onto the main road. “There’s a meteor shower tonight.”
Inigo laughs. “We can see that no matter where we are, Owain. We won’t miss it.”
“I know, but there’s a whole festival for it… uh…” He looks away from the road just briefly when the light turns red. He reaches into the glovebox and knocks Inigo’s knees in the process. He unfolds it and there’s a red circle there that wasn’t there before.
(There are a lot of red circles, though, and many with crosses through them.)
“It’s here! There are fireworks after, and food and rides! I want to get there in time.” He shoves the map back into Inigo’s lap when the light turns green, and before he knows it they’re merging onto the highway headed east. Inigo folds the map up best he can. It’s sort of a mess by now.
The road is long and open, and it’s not a huge highway with lots of lanes. Just a country road with two lanes, trees and fields of cows for days, and after a while it’s just… them.
He rolls the window down. He shifts until he’s got his feet hanging out the window and he’s lounging in the seat. Owain glances at him but rolls his eyes.
“My greatest rival! You’re bound to lose your foot to the mercy of a kicked up rock or car that speeds by.”
“I’ll survive without it,” Inigo hums. He reaches for the usb cord and plugs his phone into the car’s speakers. They have a long drive ahead of them, and music can’t hurt.
Owain scoffs. “You dance for a living!”
It’s true. Inigo smiles softly… and then starts playing on his phone. Eventually, he goes to clear out the notification on TimeHop and he hesitates. “Hey,” he says, “It’s been a year since we left.”
They left Ylisstol, that is. Their families were both loving and wonderful, of course, but they wanted different things for their sons. Owain’s parents hoped he would become a journalist or reporter, and Inigo’s mother wanted him to teach. They weren’t too far off base. One night the two of them just decided they wanted to leave. They had about five hundred dollars saved up between the two of them, a full tank of gas, and a battered map. So they left.
Since then they make money as street performers. Owain tells dramatic tales that Inigo choreographs, and they live like that. Motels, hotels, hostels, shelters, couch surfing… they barely get by, but they’ve been so many places. They’ve been to festivals, they’ve gone to see natural wonders, they’ve gone to tourist traps… they’ve seen things they may never have seen if they hadn’t left.
“Oh. Really?” Owain asks.
“Crazy, right?” Inigo flips through the photos. Sometimes he misses home, but he’s not ready. Someday they’ll go back. They’ll fall into the roles their parents expected. Inigo thinks he wants to teach, after all, and Owain loves to write. They want to have a big wedding, for their families. They’re already married, actually, but they did that on a whim three months after they started this road trip. They don’t have rings yet, even, but they have a paper signed by a judge that says they’re family.
He almost just gets lost in scrolling through twitter, then, but he stops when he hears the song that came on. Then he scrambles to get his feet back in the car so he can squirm back upright and turn it up. “I love this song,” He says.
“Really?” Owain asks, “It just makes me think of Shrek.”
“Well that’s because you have no taste,” Inigo counters. “Come on, man! Surely you can see the beauty here, this song is about us!”
Owain laughs. “Us? Don’t be absurd! We are two voyagers paving our own roads, creating our own memories and legends to be passed down to our grandchildren! I don’t think our story has been captured in a song from Shrek.”
“It’s not from Shrek. It’s Willie Nelson! He’s a legend!” Inigo turns it up louder. Owain laughs again.
“You know what we should do after the festival? Watch Shrek. It’s been years since I saw that movie.”
“Owain,” Inigo says softly. “This song is already halfway over and if you say Shrek one more time I might hurl myself out the window.”
“Okay, fine,” Owain flashes him a grin. “But I’m gonna turn it on later.”
“Shouldn’t you be focusing on the road, darling?” Inigo asks.
On the road again
Goin" places that I"ve never been
Seein" things that I may never see again
And I can"t wait to get on the road again