Joonmyun looked around the airport, eyes hazed over. Everything he did at this moment was automatic, like it was programmed into him.  Soon he’d filled out all those forms and gone through God knows what else, and was only snapped out of his not-so-there state when he’d gone through the last security check and all of a sudden he was standing in the center of the airport, feeling completely and utterly, one hundred percent alone.

He looked at the ring on his index finger, eyes welling up. He knew it hadn’t fully hit him yet, the whole going to another country for two years thing, but he was still hurting. Willing his tears to stop, he preoccupied himself by looking around the stores.

It’s interesting, he thought, the different people you see in an airport. There were people who looked happy, people who looked sad. There were people stressing about missing their flights, and then some people who looked like they were bored of the whole proceedings. There were kids running around, looking in shops and pointing out things they wanted to have. Joonmyun smiled at those, and he hoped one day he’d have a whole lot to look after with Yixing. Or at least one or two…

Honestly, he hoped the next time he came here it’d be with Yixing… He’d always wanted to take him on a holiday. The only place he’d been except Korea was China, and that’s where he’d lived the main portion of his life. Joonmyun hoped that one day he could take him with him to America, because he’d lived there a while of his life too. Korea was his home, by far, but America was special too.

Except he thought he might not want to come back to America for a while after this, so he’d see how they go. Maybe he could take him somewhere else… Britain? Australia… Wait- that was the place with the bouncing things, right? Yeah, Australia.

Eventually the one hour was up, and he could hear his flight being called to board. He was certain the other three would be home by now, and text them as he waited in the queue.

To: Yixing<3
I’m about to go on the plane, I’ll message you when I land and ring tomorrow, okay?
I love you, and don’t forget that! I’ll be back soon :) I miss you already ;-;

To: KyunggieSooPoo 
I’m boarding now! I’ll message you when I land like you said, and I’ll ring soon :)
Don’t miss me too much, I’ll talk to you later.
Give Yixing a hug for me too, and Jongin, if he gets jealous ;)

The lady took his pass, throwing a flirtatious smile as she did though, and all Joonmyun could do was smile back, instead of screaming out I’M GAY AND TAKEN, YOU DUMB HOE like Yixing or Jongin would have said in such a situation (not to say they would in any, but this girls bra was push-up to the max, and Joonmyun was certainly no expert on s but he could tell those were fake).

He took a deep breath as he walked down the jet bridge, unsettling feeling in his stomach. His mother had insisted on him going business class, but he refused, and made his way to the economy class as he was directed. Not that this plane was bad. Each side isle had two seats, but Joonmyun being small and the seats being bigger than usual meant it was in no way uncomfortable. 24B, his ticket said, and soon enough he found his seat and sat down, finding that there was no one next to him. He had to admit, he kinda had hoped for this, but it was a 13 hour flight so he’d kinda hoped for someone friendly to talk to, too. He was hoping they could speak Korean as well, because he didn’t know how much conversation he’d be getting in the future. His parents were fluent, but he had a feeling they were used to English now.

The plane was set to take off in a few minutes, and Joonmyun was looking through his news feed with his iPod plugged in, when all of a sudden, a voice snapped him out of his thoughts, and he found out that he would indeed be seated next to someone on this journey.

“Hey! Sorry, can I just get past? That’s seat 24A, right?” the voice said, as Joonmyun looked up to meet their gaze.

“That’s the one,” he smiled, “It’s nice to meet you, I’m Joonmyun.”

The girl smiled, “You too, you seem a lot friendlier than other people on planes; usually they won’t say a word, the rude bastards.”

Joonmyun laughed, “Well, I figured it’s a long flight, might as well make some friends.”

“I like you,” she stated with a slight smirk, having made her way past Joonmyun and in to the seat next to him. He had noticed before that she was somewhat shorter than himself, around his age, and didn’t seem to really fit into that girl stereotype. Her hair was short and bleach blond- but it didn’t look bad, suiting her quite well. Her outfit, which composed of skinny jeans and a shirt cut off just before the sleeves and a pair of converse was fairly boyish, but with this whole thing she had going on, it suited her very well. “I’m Amber, and yes, I am a chick.”

Joonmyun laughed, “I had a hunch.”

Amber’s face turned to a look of concern as she now had a close up view of Joonmyun’s face, noticing how it was blotchy and slightly redder than the rest of his skin.

“Hey, I don’t mean to intrude but… You look like ,” she laughed, “Are you okay?”

Joonmyun smiled slightly, “, that didn’t work out very well then,”

“Oh no! I didn’t mean it like that!” she said, face horrified and panic stricken. “I mean you look like you’ve been really upset, are you okay?”

Joonmyun laughed this time, “I got what you meant, and yeah, I’m okay. I do feel like , though. You probably weren’t wrong when you said I looked like it.”

Amber cocked her head to the side slightly, like a puppy. “Why? If you don’t mind me asking. I mean we’re total strangers but you can talk to me if you want because judging by your face you look like you need it. Do you even want to be here?”

“Not really,” Joonmyun answered, “My parents applied me for university without me knowing and I got in. I didn’t really have a choice. I only have to go for just a bit less than two years, but everything was going perfectly and then I find out this, so it kinda . I finally get the person of my dreams and suddenly I have to away for so long and I don’t even want to.”

Amber frowned, “Man, that . Like, majorly. Where are they making you go?”

“Stanford, I’m doing teaching.”

“SERIOUSLY?” Amber outburst, making quite a few people look at the two of them. “Me too! Wow, thank God I am actually going to know someone there!”

Joonmyun smiled, “Really? That’s great, what are you going there for?”

“Eh,” Amber said, “A bit of this and that. I want to become a designer though.”

“I’m guessing your parents didn’t apply you without your permission then?”

“Nope,” she said, “They didn’t know I applied until I got in.”

“I thought your Korean was kind of accented, you’re Chinese, right?”

“Taiwanese, actually,” Amber said, grinning. “It’s weird though, I’m Taiwanese but I grew up in the states, and then I lived in Korea for a few years. My parents moved back to Taiwan a few days ago, just before I left for here.”

“So you’re fluent in three languages?”

“Damn straight.”

The two fell silent as Joonmyun felt his phone vibrate and pulled it out of his pocket, noticing he’d got a reply from Kyungsoo.

From: KyunggieSooPoo
Have a safe flight! Actually don’t, please. I’m not going to miss you at all ;)
Yixing’s asleep at the moment, I’ll do it when he wakes up :)

He put his phone on flight mode, before locking it and looking at the picture he had set as his lock screen. It was him and Yixing, the two smiling into the camera wearing fluffy animal ear headbands as Kyungsoo and Jongin photobombed in the background, Kyungsoo derping as Jongin stared.

“Who’s that?” Amber asked, looking at the picture, “Your boyfriend?” she asked, wriggling her eyebrows.

“Yes, actually,” he said, turning slightly pink.

It wasn’t the answer that Amber expected, but she didn’t seem to have a problem with it. “ my life, he’s gorgeous. Why do all the hot guys I know or know of have boyfriends? It’s not fair, I tell you.”

“Yixing’s beautiful, isn’t he? I don’t know how I deserve him, and I don’t know how I managed to keep him, even with all this.” Joonmyun said, face turning redder as he spoke.

“Yixing, that’s a Chinese name, right? He’s Chinese?” she asked, Joonmyun nodding.

“Taiwanese and Chinese, pretty much the same place… We’re all hot,” she replied, smiling cheekily. “But hey, you’re hot too!” she added, “I’m glad you two are still together, but… Who are the guys in the background?”

Joonmyun laughed, “Yeah, Yixing is Chinese. The other guys are Kyungsoo and Jongin. Kyungsoo is my best friend, and Jongin is just… Jongin. We’re pretty tight, he’s Yixing’s best friend too.”

“Nice.” she said, before the plane was silenced by the cabin crew as they began their pre-flight announcements.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Joonmyun was thankful for having Amber sit next to him during the flight, because 13 hours was not short, and it was nice to have someone to talk to. Even better, he had someone to enter university with now, and the two exchanged phone numbers and fist-bumps before they got off the plane. He found she reminded him of home a bit- Yixing’s sass, Jongin’s sarcasm and Kyungsoo’s dorkiness all seeming to take some part in her, and it was nice.

It wasn’t when he pulled out his phone and sent a message to Kyungsoo and Yixing saying he’d gotten there alright and that he’d ring them later (because he didn’t want to wake them if they were sleeping) that it hit him. It wasn’t those then thoughts of what he had left behind (or more like dragged away from, because it wasn’t his choice), nor was it the feeling when stepped out the door of the airport, the smell of American air hitting him like a wave. It wasn’t as his mother ran up to him waving her arms and flinging her arms around him, making both he and his father laugh. It wasn’t as he gazed out the window, staring at the sights he hadn’t seen since he was a kid, slowly answering questions because he was too tired from travelling to think, and it wasn’t when he reached his parents’ house, either. It was when he collapsed into bed, and woke up he-didn’t-even-know-how-many-hours later to multiple text messages.

From: KyunggieSooPoo
Well , I’ll need to get my money off the pilot then ;)
Ring soon, and sleep well baby.

From: Yixing<3
Yeah, well I don’t miss you >.<
Don’t come back soon.

From: Yixing<3
I was just joking you know I was joking right please don’t think I don’t love you I really do.
But Kyungsoo tried to hug me on your orders and of course Jongin joined in. I don’t know what he has touched. He is Jongin. I blame you for this v.v
Come back quickly, okay? And ring me as soon as you can.
I miss you, and I love you so much. Always love me, okay? ^-^

From: Baekhyuna (Yixing had done that to everyone’s phone)
I hope your flight was good, message or ring me and Yeollie when you can, okay?
You’re so far away now ;-;

From: Sehyuna (also the work of Yixing)
Hyung, how’d your flight go, you miss me yet? ;)
Did you throw up like you did on that simulator?

From: Taohyuna (okay, what is this)
Did you get there safe? Kris and I both want to know :P
Message back soon~

It started to hit him that he was really gone now, that he wasn’t in some westernized Korean place. The final blow was when his phone vibrated as he was writing a reply to Kyungsoo’s message, and he got another one.

It was a photo of him, Jongin and Yixing out at breakfast at a café they frequented since high school. Kyungsoo was pulling some stupid open-mouth-attempted-fierce expression, Jongin had his cheeks puffed out, eyes crossed, the two of them holding V-signs with their fingers. Yixing was squished in the middle, looking absolutely terrified. He could see that both Yixing and Kyungsoo’s eyes were still kind of puffy, and it hurt.

But what cracked him was the message that he’d sent it with.

From: KyunggieSooPoo
Ayo hyung, brunch with the kids ^0^ we’re missing you! Bom asked where you were. I said another country. She was sad you didn’t say good-bye, and she said she’d have given you free food. She wouldn’t give it to me hyung, whyyyy D:
You could have at least told her before so I could get that food.
Now Yixing is telling me to stop complaining and I’m telling you that he is being mean.
XingXing says he loves you, call us soon so he’ll stop complaining~

He missed the three of them so much, too much. He hadn’t even been gone for a day and he didn’t know what he was going to do because Jongin was his bro and Kyungsoo was his rock, and Yixing was his everything.

Tears streamed down his face as he thought of everything he was missing out on, from Yixing’s dimples to Kyungsoo’s cooking and Jongin’s constant . Hell, he’d even miss Sehun’s cooking, and no one should ever have to eat that, ever.

He dropped his phone on the bed, wrapping his arms around his legs as he fell apart, sobs ripping through his throat and his toes curling into the mattress.

His parents heard, but they knew they didn’t have the right to disturb him.

It was only when his mother came in, telling him that dinner was ready that he shook his head and began to calm down. He’d never hated his parents before- he never could. Even when it got to this and it was literally their fault he was here he couldn’t hate his parents, but he could hate the decisions they made. His mother sat down on the bed, pulling him into her arms as she his hair and whispering apologies and ‘You’ll be back before you know it, don’t worry’.

“Why didn’t you tell me before?” Joonmyun choked out, “Why didn’t you at least tell me you applied me?”

Mrs Kim stayed quiet; honestly she didn’t know the answer. She should have told Joonmyun before- they knew he’d get in, and now he was hurting this much.

Ignoring the question she stood up, pulling Joonmyun with her.

“Come on, dinners ready, let’s go before it gets cold. We have a lot to catch up on too, and your father’s waiting.”

Joonmyun silently nodded, following his mother out the door and down the stairs until he reached the dining room, where he sat down. His mother had made Korean food, knowing that’s what she usually cooked here anyway. As much as he wanted to eat in silence, his parents made it impossible, engaging in a full length conversation which lasted a lot longer than he’d hoped. All he wanted to do was call home, this wasn’t his home.

His parents asked every question they could think of, ranging from how people were going at home to how much he liked the food on the airplane. When it came up across the subject of Yixing, Joonmyun’s eyes clouded over and he bit his lip, throat constricting as he tried to speak.

“Yixing is good. He got into the University of Arts and he’s going with Jongin. He’s going to become a dance teacher and once I go back and we’ve graduated and earned enough money we’ll move in together and we’ll buy him a dance studio.”

Joonmyun’s mother smiled, whilst his father looked unsure, “Are you sure that you two’ll-“

Joonmyun cut him off, “I want to be with him, but I want him to be happy. If he breaks up with me then I’ll let him go because I want him to be happy, but I’m only going to think about that when it happens. I love him, dad. I’m not going to stop making plans for my- our future, just because I’m far away.”

Joonmyun’s parents beamed at him, realizing just how much their son had really grown up.

“What time is it there now Joonie? You’ve been squirming for ages, you can go now,” his mother said, cheekily smiling.

His eyes widened, “You don’t want me to-“

“Your father can take care of that, go ring your boyfriend.”

Joonmyun nearly ran up the stairs as his father groaned.

“I thought this is why we had him?”

The lady rolled her eyes, “Go clean up the kitchen, .”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Yixing squeaked and dropped his phone as it began ringing, scaring both Kyungsoo and Jongin who had been sitting next to him, watching some rerun of some drama that they’d missed the name of. Kyungsoo’s hands were laced with Jongin’s, who was laying down behind him, arms around Kyungsoo’s stomach.

He’d been staring at his phone for the past few hours, begging it to ring, and because of this, of course it took him off-guard when it did, and he screamed at Kyungsoo and Jongin to mute the TV as he scrambled to pick it up and answer.

“Too slow, turtle!” Kyungsoo yelled as he rolled out of Jongin’s hold and grabbed the phone, threatening to answer first, before Yixing pouted and he handed the phone back.

Yixing put it to his ear and answered, and his eyes lit up as he heard the voice on the other side of the line.

“Yixing-ah…”

“Joonmyun…” Yixing whispered, soon followed by a yelled version of the same thing courtesy of a certain couple. “H-how are you? How is America? How was your flight?”

“YOU DIDN’T THROW UP LIKE THAT TIME YOU DID WHEN WE WENT ON THAT SIMULATOR WITH SEHUN, RIGHT?” Jongin yelled in the background.

Joonmyun laughed, and even over the phone, it still managed to take Yixing’s breath away. He started to speak, before he was cut off by Kyungsoo telling Yixing to put it on loudspeaker.

“Fine, fine,” he grumbled as he pushed the button, “You’re on loudspeaker now, say hi.”

“Hey guys,” Joonmyun said, “What’s happening?”

“Well Yixing’s been moping like a little -“

“YOU HAVE TOO, KYUNGSOO.”

“He has a point.”

“Jongin, you’re meant to back me up here.”

Joonmyun laughed, they were still the same, obviously.

“How are you? How is America? Was your flight alright?” Yixing asked again.

“I’m okay, super exhausted though. I’ve only been here since I got here, but the air smells funny, and the flight was okay. I sat next to a girl who it turns out is going to Stanford too, which is nice, but how are you guys?

“Awwh, Joonie is tired~” Kyungsoo cooed. “We’re good! Ugh, I wish you’d told Bom you were going though, you could have given the free food to me.”

“Shut up, Kyungsoo. Go a .” Yixing said, hitting him.

“He can mine.” Jongin smirked, and Kyungsoo turned bright red and Jongin grabbed his shoulders and started to push him towards their room.

“But- Joonmyun- phone-“

“Talk to you later, hyung! We’ll leave you two alone now!” Jongin shouted as he pushed Kyungsoo into their shared room, before shutting the door and taking Kyungsoo by surprise by pulling him onto the bed and holding his hands instead of down on to the bed or against the wall.

“Let them be alone, Kyunggie. You can talk to him while the two of us are at dance practice, okay?”

Kyungsoo pouted, “But I want to talk to him now~”

“Yeah,” Jongin said, “But Yixing needs to talk to him right now. I know he’s your best friend and you’re missing him and you’re really going to miss him, but Yixing needs him alone right now, you know he does.”

Kyungsoo nodded, he was right. He did really miss Joonmyun, but he had Jongin. “So what do we do now?”

“Well,” Jongin purred, leaning in and pressing kisses to Kyungsoo’s collarbone, “I wasn’t joking about that .”

“I miss you, Joonmyun.”

“I miss you too, Yixing. So much.”

Yixing fought the tears that were threatening to fall down his face as he spoke to Joonmyun on the phone. He could hear the tiredness in his voice, and he knew it was time to stop being selfish and let the kid sleep. They’d been on the phone for an hour, and he’d relocated to the spare room when he couldn’t hear noises from his friends (trust them to keep his word).

“Baby, you should sleep; you sound exhausted.”

“But I want to talk to you~”

“No buts, sir. Go to sleep.”

He knew Joonmyun would be pouting about now, but Yixing also knew Joonmyun could feel the glare he was sending.

“Fine. I’ll message you tomorrow and we’ll video chat, okay? I want to see your beautiful face.”

“Alright loser, I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

“I love you, .”

“I love you too, Joonmyun.”

“I love you more!”

“I love you most!”

“Nope, I do!” Joonmyun said, before quickly hanging up and grinning, imagining his boyfriend’s face as he was cut off. His phone began to ring and he answered, knowing exactly why they were calling and planning on hanging up before he got a word in.

“I love you more! Now sleep, Joonie.” Yixing said, before hanging up once more. Joonmyun tried to call back but gave up when Yixing wouldn’t answer.

He turned his lights off and curled into bed. Although it wasn’t late, he was jetlagged and he needed to sleep. He lay in bed, a smile on his face, but a contradictory tear running down his face.

He missed them, but they still managed to make him so happy from so far away. 

∩( ・ω・)∩ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  Authors Note  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  ∩( ・ω・)∩

AND SO AMBER ENTERS, WHO ELSE WILL I INTRODUCE SOON?
And yes, this is Amber from f(x). Bias right there and second female bias after Hyuna (look what you've done to me Yixing).

So clearly I can't keep things all that angsty for all that long. 
Or sad, or whatever you want to call it.
Really, I hate it how AFF puts the tages in alphabetical order, because angst goes to the front ;-;
TALKING ABOUT ANGST, I have a HunHan oneshot/twoshot thing that I wrote a few weeks back, but I haven't posted yet. Anyone interested? 
It's totally different to anything else I've written, even though it's kinda angst/romance/fluff.

AND I'VE NEARLY HIT 100 SUBS SO PLEASE PLEASE give me any suggestions for things to do, I am dying here :P

I know I say this a lot but I feel like I can never say it enough, thank you everyone who is subscribing/commenting/upvoting, you guys are the best!
I really love it when you leave comments so I think you should definitely consider it ;)
Katie stahp

Please also feel free to message/follow/whatever me on Tumblr and/or add me on here. I'd love to talk to you :3
Thank you for sticking with this story so far. I hope you are all enjoying it and I hope I keep the standard up ^-^ If I don't tell me and I'll rethink my life decisions okay XD

Stay cool, guys ;)