Sigh.
Bailey looked out the airplane window.
Fluffy clouds the color of pink cotton candy.
Reminding them of their sheep, they checked their photo album on their phone.
They took a screenshot of the last post that they made with their friends before they left Dublin.
Bailey looked at their little brother.
Sleeping like a baby, Jackson rolled over and was...drooling.
Gross. Bailey thought, tucking him in with the blanket he brought.

Their mom was on the other side of the aisle, reading a magazine that she found in the seat when she sat down. She was sitting next to a toddler and his mother, who was chatting with her as she was reading.
Jackson was sitting next to a.....sleeping teenager? Bailey thought that they recognized the teen.....

"Hex?" Bailey whispered. "I thought you were in France!"

Hex woke up slightly, their fluffy blue and white hair floofed up in the air as they rose.
"Yea....who-" They looked up in surprise, embarrassment, and terror.

"H-heyyyyy Bailey!" They trembled, sitting up. "How's it hanging?"

"Hex, why- no, HOW are you on this plane?!?!" Bailey huffed.

"I- uh- didn't move to France? I was in Westport for a while." Hex sighed, and bit into a cookie they had in their bag. "Cookie?"

"I missed you so much! Why didn't you call or text?"

"....my phone broke. I lost all my contacts." Hex tried not to cry.

Bailey took a deep breath. Their cousin, Hex, had came out as Nonbinary two months before Bailey came out as Genderfluid. That same week, Hex was supposed to move to Paris for a coding class. Bailey hadn't heard from them since. Still, why were they in Westport instead?

"I...was going to tell you, but the class moved locations, so I took a class in Westport instead." Hex explained, without a word slipping from Bailey's quivering lips.

Bailey relaxed. They couldn't be angry at their cousin. They were the last person to be mad at, after all, they were best buds ever since they met when Bailey was 1 and Hex was was 2 1/2.

"Hey...Hex? Wanna get some breakfast?"

As the two of them told the flight attendant what they wanted, Bailey felt 2 years of anxiety slip away, as joy filled the empty space it left.