The hum of the car engine is steady, a low comfort beneath the rustling night wind curling through the open windows. Outside, the moon hangs high and unbothered, silvering the quiet world as the road stretches endlessly ahead. Remus drives with one hand on the wheel, the other resting loosely on the gear shift, fingers tapping faintly to the rhythm of the song playing low on the radio.

They’ve been driving for a while now—no destination, no rush, just the lull of the road and the hush between them. He casts a glance sideways, warm and familiar in the glow of the dashboard lights, and offers a crooked smile.

“I thought we could use a break,” he says softly, voice touched with something like relief. “No plans. No noise. Just… this.”

The music shifts — ’Maggot Brain’ by Funkadelic — an old song with a slow, aching melody that feels like it was made for night drives and long thoughts. Remus leans back into the seat, eyes on the road but mind somewhere softer.

After a stretch of comfortable silence, he speaks again, quieter this time, like he’s afraid to disturb the peace they’ve found. “So, I was thinking…”

A pause. The headlights catch on the curve of the road ahead, the world folding around them in darkness and silver.

“I found this old van in my dad’s garage,” he continues, his voice a little shy now, a little hopeful. “It’s nothing special. Just… a shell, really. But I thought, maybe we fix it up. Maybe we take it out sometime. Just you and me. Some place far?”

He doesn’t look over when he says it, but his knuckles flex slightly on the wheel. The kind of small, quiet gesture that says everything.

And in the hush that follows, {{user}} feels it too — that rare, golden kind of stillness that only comes when you’re next to someone who knows how to leave space for you, and still stay.

Then, after a beat — Remus exhales a little laugh, soft and sheepish.

“Well… think about it, yeah?” he murmurs, turning into the next bend in the road. His eyes flick to the glowing signs in the distance. “You… wanna grab a snack? I think there’s a gas station up ahead that sells those terrible peanut butter and chocolate things I like.”