Kyungsoo has only ever seen a plane once before in his life.

He remembers the day like it was yesterday, always has. He’s not entirely sure what exactly drew him to the giant metal tube with wings and engines that can apparently fly across oceans and to the other worlds, but when he saw it he escaped from his mothers grasp, somehow evading four rows of traffic as he scrambled desperately to the barb-wire fence on the other side of the street. He curled his fingers around the wooden poles on either side of him and stared in awe as men in their military uniforms led rows of passengers down a pair of narrow staircases.

“That’s a jumbo jet,” his mother had said to him, when she finally caught up. “There used to be so many of those. We could fly Japan, the Americas, anywhere we wanted to go, with just a passport. They’re only used for military purposes now.”

Kyungsoo didn’t know, he wasn’t alive when people had these kind of freedoms; when the land he lived on was still known as Korea. So he just turned his attention back to the huge plane, trying to figure out how exactly it managed to stay in the sky when it was so huge.

After that moment he was always drawn to them, to their magnificence and beauty. He spent countless hours in his childhood, laying back on fields and scanning the skies, getting excited with every bird that flew overhead, only to be disappointed when he realized his mistake. He was never able to ask for any more information, because his mother always shook her head sadly at him, and told him he shouldn’t be so curious. It will make him miss a world he’ll never have a chance to experience.

19 year old Kyungsoo finds that almost funny, now. He chuckles to himself as he wanders behind the small group of students, making their way across the expanse of black tarmac, towards a giant building made seemingly only of glass. He’s lagging behind and he doesn’t want to inconvenience anyone by this, but he can’t help but stare as he tries to take in his surroundings. It’s all so very new to him.

Zone One. He thinks he remembers something from school, his teacher telling him that zone one is the biggest and most important zone in all of Asia, covering all of what used to be China and more than half of South Korea. It’s the center for the specialized forces, and in a world where the sole focus is the war, this kind of area is where all the government funding goes to. If Kyungsoo ever saw planes flying overhead in his childhood, this is where they were heading to.

A sudden, loud revving noise, much like one of a car engine but times a billion in volume, has Kyungsoo stumbling forward in shock, right into the kid directly in front of him. He mumbles an apology just in time to see two sleek, black military planes shoot down the runway and into the sky effortlessly, and at the exact same time. Kyungsoo saw these planes in the guidebooks, but he never really paid any attention to how small they are.

After seeing that jumbo jet, he always pictured planes to be huge, bigger than even his old house. But these, these are barely any larger than the army trucks he’d grown so accustomed to seeing pass by his home.

He stops completely without even realizing it, stares up at the sky as the two planes begin what he can only really describe as a dance. At first, they fly completely synchronized, taking one trip around the base, and then one leaves the path, the plane tilting from one side to the other as it flies in zigzags across the sky. He grins at this, because it’s an amusing sight to see and he just knows the pilot is having fun, is mocking his companion.

The other plane curves easily, the body rolling in one big circle as he catches up. Kyungsoo is rather taken aback, there, because somehow the plane looks so weightless, so graceful, as it twists and turns through the air, flying in circles around the other, just as teasingly, but with a sort of beauty about it that Kyungsoo can only really compare to a butterfly.

He feels a hand curl around his wrist and he’s snapped out of his trance. He turns from the two planes still dancing in the sky and finds himself staring into a completely new face, someone he didn’t see on the shuttle bus on the way there.

“Hi, Do Kyungsoo, right?” The kid has small, droopy eyes and a bright smile. He nods slowly, entranced by the gentleness of his appearance. “I’m Baekhyun. I am your senior, but let’s skip formalities, yeah? You’re going to see a lot of me over the next few years so just call me Baekhyun or hyung.” His grin widens and Kyungsoo is treated to a view of a mouth full of perfect, straight, pearly white teeth. He looks more like an idol than a military official, that’s for sure.

“It’s nice to meet you, Baekhyun hyung.” He bows his head slightly, doesn’t fight when Baekhyun starts to tug him the rest of the way across the tarmac.

“You’re really cute. You looked like a lost puppy staring at those planes. You’re from zone two, right?”

“Yeah,” Kyungsoo says, his breath short as he struggles to keep up with Baekhyun’s pace. “But nowhere near the city, so I’m kind of new to all of this.”

“I guess that stupid brochure they hand you on the bus really wasn’t enough to get you up to speed, then.” Baekhyun laughs. “But that’s okay. That’s why you have me, I’m your roommate. I’m a medic too, I moved here last year, from the same zone as you, but I grew up in the city...” he sighs. “Anyway, you must be at least as good as I am. They only let the best of the best transfer here, don’t they?”

Kyungsoo doesn’t really think it takes all that much talent to do what he does—they like to call themselves medics, but really they’re just nurses. The only reason he managed to get a transfer to Zone One is because he was very diligent and studious during school, and he’s always just been capable of following orders well.

They reach the doors to the building, Kyungsoo can’t help but stop and turn to catch one last glimpse at the planes, but they’ve disappeared. He’s a little disappointed when Baekhyun gives his wrist another tug to urge him to continue on.

-

The rest of the group is too far ahead to catch up, so Baekhyun takes responsibility for him a little prematurely, giving him a tour that differs greatly from the one Kyungsoo would have experienced if he didn’t get distracted. He’s pleased though, and rather amused as Baekhyun completely ignores everything important and shows him all the best places to hide from officials when he might want to ‘have a good time’.  

They arrive at the medical center and they both act a little more serious here, because it’s where Kyungsoo will be working and he needs a thorough understanding of where everything is.

“So basically,” Baekhyun starts as he leads Kyungsoo through a door with a picture of a smiley face obstructing the view through the tiny window. “This is my work space. I used to share it with someone but he went into active duty, which is why you’re here. There are two medics to each room, and we’re all assigned our patients, so we each have about 10, and they’re ours until they graduate. You’re just taking over his old batch, and you’ll get assigned new patients as they come in. There’s a clipboard on your desk over there,” he points to the corner, there are two tiny desks sitting opposite each other, right under the window. He can tell which one is his, because it’s completely bare except for the clipboard and an empty pencil tin. “It has a profile for each of your patients. You can go over that later on.”

He shows Kyungsoo more about where things are kept, and then they make their way back to the main building, where the group of new draftee’s are collected, browsing around the area at all the stations and machines. Kyungsoo is led over to an area with a large window overlooking the flight zone, about 40 computers lining the wall underneath. A man with light brown, wavy hair is sitting in front of the biggest one in the center, talking into a headset as he points back and forth between each plane and then the ground. Kyungsoo thinks it doesn’t take a genius to understand that he’s directing the planes to a safe landing.

He lets out a huge breath as he removes the headset. He’s surprised when he turns to see Baekhyun and Kyungsoo standing there, but he grins wide and waves at them. “Baekhyunnie!!!” He greets excitedly. “Who’s this?”

“This is Do Kyungsoo,” Baekhyun nudges Kyungsoo foreword slightly. Kyungsoo is at a loss for what to say, this man has a rather wide, blinding smile and is very, very tall. “He’s my new roommate. Kyungsoo, this is Chanyeol! He’s my…best friend!”

“Hi,” Kyungsoo bows his head slightly. Chanyeol’s face drops as he studies Kyungsoo.

“Oh. So our request was denied, then?” Baekhyun nods, looking a little sad himself. “I’m going to be stuck with Sehun forever. My happy virus is going to be healed if I’m around his moping any longer.” Kyungsoo isn’t sure if this happy virus being healed is a good thing or not, so he decides not to comment.  “Nothing against you though, Kyungsoo-sshi! It’s a pleasure to meet you. I work here in commands. I’m in charge of making sure the pilots know the air…traffic and all that. So they don’t crash into other planes. Hahaha…” He scratches the back of his neck, looking awkward. Kyungsoo just on his bottom lip, shifting back and forth from each foot while Baekhyun and Chanyeol begin discussing the latest gossip about someone named Tao who recently got transferred to the marines.

The door slams open suddenly and Kyungsoo jumps, shaking his head slightly to regain his focus. Two men make their way through the room, both looking around Kyungsoo’s age. They’re laughing, loudly, not minding that they’ve halted a conversation, that three people were staring at them as they passed through.

They’re both sweating through their t-shirts, brushing soaked bangs off their sticky foreheads as they continue their conversation obnoxiously. The taller of the two is really stunning, with thick lips and striking eyes, body lean and sculpted in all the right ways. Kyungsoo doesn’t really pay attention to the shorter until he meets his gaze, and then he feels all of the wind being knocked right out of him.

Kyungsoo’s pretty sure he’s never seen someone so handsome in his life. It’s more subtle than his taller companion, but once it hits, it hits hard. His eyes sparkle and it makes Kyungsoo feel like the smile is for him, just for him.

“That’s Suho and Kai, both trainee pilots.” Baekhyun mumbles into his ear, and he jumps again, momentarily forgetting where he is and what he’s there for. “Best this place has ever seen, I’d say, with the way the higher ups treat them. Suho especially. He’s our resident prodigy.” He points to the back of the smaller one. “He’s actually one of your patients. Don’t worry, though,” Kyungsoo bites his lip nervously as Baekhyun grins at him. “Super nice guy. Kai’s got a big head on his shoulders, total hotshot, but Suho’s really easy to handle. Compared to the rest of those s, at least.”

“Rest of them?” Kyungsoo deadpans. He didn’t really think he had much of a reason to be nervous, but now that he knows he’s responsible for some flying prodigy and (apparently) a bunch of s, he’s not so sure.

Baekhyun tilts his head to the side, and then takes hold of his hand, and leads him away from Chanyeol, who barely notices, still grumbling under his breath that he was stopped mid-stream by their interruption.

Once out of earshot, he leans closer. “Are you gay?” He asks, and Kyungsoo’s eyes widen. “O-oh. Sorry. I didn’t mean to ask that so bluntly. I mean. Well. You don’t even have to answer it, I can kinda already tell, you just give off that impression.” Kyungsoo’s a little too taken-aback to form words at this time. But he’s not entirely sure he wants to clarify that Baekhyun is right. It seems like an insult to his pride, even though it’s not. “But anyway. It will just make this job a little easier on you, is all. You’re going to have a whole ton of , -neglected pilots right on your case from day one, just because you’re small and scrawny and have a cute face.”

“That’s....” wonderful. Kyungsoo sighs.

“I get it, but don’t worry, no one will really try anything with you. It’s just that some can be really forward. It that the thing that’s stopping us from being in active duty is our size, but that’s what makes our job so hard on us anyway. Just harden up. That’s what I did. Make them think they can’t push you around.”

“But I’m not a very…hard person…” Kyungsoo winces, the words leaving his mouth sound so incredibly stupid, but they’re true. He’s nowhere near firm enough to be able to fend away a bunch of muscular, pilots.

He sincerely hopes it’s not as bad as it sounds. He’s not as attractive as Baekhyun is, anyway.

-

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okay first chunk down. 

only in the first go at editing. DON'T JUDGE. 

I'll probably post this...every other day? or something? Because as much as I wanna get this out I still have FCC to focus on, and yar. 

off to work now, leave me some love, make me smile cuz omg overnight, and then my other job from 8am to 5-something pm... HOW WILL I MANAGE

anyway I love you all <3

I hope I don't disappoint you with this lol orz, it's my baby.