the night before cosima had to head to the airport, michael walked into the kitchen late at night to his sister, leaning against the counter eating pasta. he didn't want to say anything to avoid any sarcastic response he was bound to get but figured maybe she was too upset to. "michael, what are you still doing up? it's late," cosima said when she looked up and saw her brother.

"i stayed up cause i wanna give you something," michael said and pulled a pair of shoes from behind his back. "got them earlier. i wanted you to have them for when you go to summit, but they're kinda nice so don't ruin them."

cosima gave a light smile. "thank you," she said. "what about shoes for you?"

"i, uhh," justin thought about his busted shoes he wore for dancing, "i'll find a pair, and i wanna give you something else." michael gave his sister a hug. "i wish you didn't have to deal with this."

cosima pulled away and brushed the hair out of her face. "i guess this is karma for leaving him as a kid," she said and her brother chuckled. "and for whatever i'm gonna do in the future."

michael leaned against the cabinet next to his little sister. "you're doing a good thing still going to summit," he said.

"you went," cosima pointed out and shrugged, both of them remembering how stressed michael was about his trip. they looked down at the floor. "why do we have to keep dealing with stuff like this? why can't it just be like back then when we could go to normal schools and meet people who didn't know anything about us? why can't we just dance and only that?"

"because we're dancers. the whole world has access to our lives, we don't have a choice," michael bit the inside of his cheek.

cosima smiled again and her brother gave her a light nudge. she laid her head on her brother's shoulder. she'd never admit it but she enjoyed these moments with her big brother.

~

cosima arrived to the airport with her family, meeting sean's outside the front entrance. "hey, cosi, big sister," matt said, putting his arm around his sister and guiding her away from the families. "you think you can bring me back something?"

cosima shrugged. "i'll see what i can find," she nodded.

as they moved back to the family, their father looked at cosima. "now, look, honey don't forget about the stuff that comes with the hotel room," he said and she nodded.

"alright, dad," cosima said and went with sean and his mother.

~

on the plane cosima put her bag in the compartment overhead and sat down in the window seat. when maya didn't sit next to her, but in the seat behind her which belonged to sean, she furrowed her eyebrows. "sean's sitting here?" cosima asked.

"he asked," she said. "you guys will also be sharing the hotel room." cosima closed her eyes and sighed.

before cosima could say anything, sean had sat in the seat next to her. she took a deep breath, shifting in her seat and faced the front. cosima checked her watch to see that it was only 6:30 in the morning and knowing that she'd be next to sean for next fourteen hours made her tense.

cosima laid back on the seat and watched the sun rise as the plane started to take off. sean had his head back on his seat to watch the sun too, but his eyes continuously trailed to the girl beside him instead.

the morning sun light turned whatever part of cosima it could touch to gold, her eyes lit up just well enough by the sun to see the green flecks. sean could feel in his chest the pain of knowing she wouldn't talk to him. he took a deep breath. there were a million things he wish he could say to her right now.

"um," he trailed off and the sound of his voice made cosima's stomach do a backflip.

"is ysballe here?" cosima asked quickly.

"um," sean cleared his throat. "yeah. i think she's near the back."

cosima waited for the sign that it was safe to move around the plane to come on and got up, moving pass sean. she found ysabelle and sat down. "hey man," cosima smiled.

"you have this different kind of glow when you're not in your garage," ysabelle joked. "you here alone?"

"no, i'm sitting up there with sean," cosima nodded.

"you getting to know him?" ysabelle asked, referencing to what cosima said on live and raised her eyebrows.

cosima smiled awkwardly. "ah, so you saw that?" she asked.

"no," ysabelle admitted. "but i heard. we all did. i'm sure he did too. you should talk to him if you guys are gonna be working together."

"we don't have to-"

"go," ysabelle said.

cosima groaned and went back to sit down next to sean. "this is great," she sighed and faced the window. sean looked at her again and bit the inside of his cheek.

it was time to start his plan to win her back. "i, uhh, i brought a book for you," he said and dug into his bag, pulling out The Old Man and the Sea.

cosima looked at the book and then up at the boy. "that's..."

"like your favorite book," sean finished her sentence.

cosima placed her hand on the book, feeling the warmth from his hand. "thanks," she said and took it. cosima rested forward on her knees, beginning to read and sean smiled to himself, watching the girl.

~

a few hours had passed and cosima had finished reading The Old Man and the Sea and had began reading the next book she found from digging through sean's bag. sean, who had almost finished editing his second world of dance behind the scenes video, was asleep in the seat beside cosima.

his laptop still on his lap and resting forward over his crossed arms. to anyone else, he'd look uncomfortable but he'd found just the right position to keep cosima from sneaking pass him while also not getting in her space.

cosima had gotten used to being around sean without saying anything. she was actually happy that he'd fallen asleep, that was until there was a bump in the plane and sean's head  now laid on the bag in cosima's lap. she put her hands up and stared at the boy. she knew waking him up would take more effort out of her than just letting him be and so she tried to sit him back up but didn't succeed.

cosima sighed and let him lay across her lap. "why do you do this to me?" she asked and shook her head in disappointment.

"you guys are cute," dylan said, turning around.

"shut up, dylan," cosima sighed.

"i'm not the one with a boy on my lap," he chuckled.

"you know what he did," cosima argued.

"and somehow you still love him," he said.

cosima looked down at the boy on her lap and shook her head, looking out the window. she leaned back in her seat and dylan smiled, knowing he was right and faced forward.

~

when sean woke up he groaned at the weight on him and furrowed his eyebrows, wondering what it was. shortly after sean had fallen on to cosima's lap, cosima fell asleep on top of sean. he smiled and laid there, not wanting the girl to move.

he checked her watch and counted that there were eight hours of the flight left. "hey—" dylan started as he turned but stopped when he saw sean. "you are gonna make this the longest trip, aren't you?"

"not if she's not gonna talk to me," sean groaned.

"oh, she'll talk to you," he chuckled. "only to keep it professional in the public eye."

"but i want more than that," sean breathed.

"then do something about it," dylan said. "you're gonna have to."

"like what? how am i gonna be able to do anything if she's ignoring me?" sean asked.

"do something that'll take her by surprise," dylan said. "something nice. honestly, you'll figure something out on this trip. tell her she's beautiful."

"that's kinda lame," sean said. "i mean, she is beautiful but that's so basic."

"you could always kiss her?" dylan suggested quietly.

"woah, what?" sean asked, moving and accidentally waking up cosima. "great."

cosima opened her eyes and yawned but the minute she felt herself on top of sean, she jumped up and leaned back to look out the window. "sorry," she said quickly.

"it's fine," sean said quietly and sat up.

"cute," dylan said and faced forward.

over the next few hours, the two still hadn't talked much or come into contact. there were three hours left of the flight and the sun was about getting ready to set. cosima stared out the window. "it's nice outside," sean spoke up.

"isn't it the most beautiful thing you've ever seen?" cosima asked softly. she felt so at peace, staring out the window that nothing was bothering her.

"yeah," sean said, resting his head back in his seat as he looked at cosima. again he wasn't talking about the girl. "but sometimes i like to imagine that i could leave the plane and sit right on the clouds."

"i think if anyone had the chance to sit out there, they'd live their lives a lot differently," she said.

"how so?" sean asked.

"they'd see that a lot of their problems are much smaller than they make it seem," cosima added.

"like our problem?" sean asked.

"sean," cosima sighed and shook her head. "out there on the clouds, everything means something and down there on the ground nothing is any different."

"but—"

"but you shouldn't have brought it up," cosima sighed.

"i didn't mean to—"

"yeah, i know," cosima cut him off. "you don't mean anything."

cosima watched the sun set in silence and the two to spent the rest of the flight in the same way.