(five years later)

Sehun keeps the hand not holding Jongin’s carry-on on the blonde’s waist as he kisses him slowly, the bustle of the airport around them entirely ignored as he locks Jongin in his embrace. Jongin gently runs a hand through his boyfriend’s hair, memorizing the texture of it beneath his fingertips, savoring the taste of Sehun’s lips against his. Kyungsoo rushes down the hallway of the airline terminal then, giving the couple a passing glance as he walks by. 

A second passes before he slowly backs up, giving the pair a longer look from a distance that’s a little too close. Jongin notices him first, pulling back a little and tugging on Sehun’s jacket to get his attention.

“Sehun, I thought it was you,” Kyungsoo grins after a moment when Sehun turns to look at him. “Do Kyungsoo.”

Jongin’s eyes widen a little at the name, and he tries to subtly hide his face in Sehun’s sleeve.

“Kyungsoo, Kyungsoo, how are you?” Sehun smiles back, heartily shaking his hand.

“How’re you doing?”

“Fine, fine.”

“I thought it was you,” Kyungsoo says again. “Still with the D.A.’s office?”

“I switched over to the other side,” Sehun tells him. “What about you?”

“I’m working for a small company— political consulting.”

He and Sehun both nod, and there’s an awkward pause while Kyungsoo seems to finally notice Jongin hiding behind Sehun’s arm.

“Oh, Kyungsoo, this is Kim Jongin. Do Kyungsoo. We used to live in the same building.”

“Hi,” Kyungsoo says, a tiny crinkle appearing on his forehead as he looks at him. Jongin nods politely, squirming a little under the weight of his gaze.

“Well great to see you,” he says after a moment, tearing his eyes of Jongin to smile at Sehun again. “I’ve got a plane to catch, but see you around.”

Sehun smiles and pats him good-naturedly on the back. Kyungsoo gives Jongin one last look, obviously deep in thought, before shaking his head to himself and walking away.

“Thank god he couldn’t place me,” Jongin says with a frown as he watches Kyungsoo’s retreating back. “I drove from college to New York with him five years ago and it was the longest night of my life.”

Sehun’s defined brows draw together at the information as he redirects his attention to Jongin’s face. 

“What happened?”

“He made a pass at me and when I said no, he was going with a friend of mine, uh…” Jongin hesitates, focusing his eyes on the pattern on Sehun’s tie as he thinks, “…oh God, I can’t even remember his name!” He laughs, grinning up at his boyfriend. “Don’t get involved with me, Sehun, I’m twenty-six years old and I can’t even remember the name of the person I was such good friends with that I wouldn’t get involved with his boyfriend…”

“So what happened?” Sehun asks again, raising an eyebrow and looking down at Jongin’s still smiling face.

“When?”

“When he made a pass at you and you said no—”

“Uh… I said we can just be friends.” The smile drops off of Jongin’s face as he recalls, “And this part I remember, he said that two gay men couldn’t really be friends.” He looks up into Sehun’s face. “Do you think that’s true?”

Sehun thinks for a second before shaking his head.

“No.”

“Do you have any gay friends? Just friends?”

Sehun hesitates for another moment before replying. “…no. But I’ll get one if it’s important to you.”

Jongin smiles brightly, slowly leaning up to catch Sehun’s lips again and pulling away at the last second.

“Luhan!” he cries, shoulders slumping in relief. “That was his name. Thank God.”

Sehun laughs lightly, pulling Jongin closer. “I’ll miss you,” he says, pressing another soft kiss to Jongin’s lips. “I love you.”

Jongin positively lights up at the words, beaming up at Sehun in shock. “You do?”

“Yes,” Sehun nods, returning the smile.

“I love you,” Jongin says after a second of gathering his voice before stealing one last kiss.

—

Jongin sits on the plane some time later with a book in his lap and a soft glow about himself. He’s in the center seat of the economy class, but he’s still got a dreamy smile on his face as he gazes off into space, Sehun’s confession echoing in his head. Kyungsoo’s in the aisle seat in the row behind him, and he peers curiously over the headrests as he tries to remember where he’s seen him before. Jongin doesn’t notice, and Kyungsoo slowly settles back into his seat, features troubled.

“What can I get you?” the stewardess asks as she stops her cart beside Jongin’s row.

“Do you have Bloody Mary mix?” asks the blonde.

“Yes,” the stewardess confirms as she begins to pour.

“No, wait,” Jongin stops her. “Here’s what I want. Regular tomato juice, not too much ice, and fill it up about three quarters, and then add a splash of Bloody Mary mix. Just a splash. And a little piece of lime, but on the side.”

“The University of Chicago, right?” Kyungsoo’s head pops up again, this time with a smile on his face. Jongin startles, looking over his shoulder before quickly looking away again.

“…yes.”

Kyungsoo’s head disappears for a few seconds, but he pops right back up like an irritating whack-a-mole. “Did you look this good at the University of Chicago?”

“No,” Jongin quips, pointedly avoiding eye contact. Kyungsoo grins playfully.

“Did we ever…?”

Jongin laughs in disbelief at the implication before looking back again. “No, no, Jesus.” The man on the aisle in Jongin’s row watches the exchange with raised eyebrows, and Jongin pleasantly informs him, “We drove from Chicago to New York the day after graduation.”

“Would you two like to sit together?” he asks, and before Jongin can take a breath to object, Kyungsoo’s on his feet.

“Great, thanks!”

Jongin sulks as his seat mate trades places with Kyungsoo, trying his best to angle his body the other way as Kyungsoo makes himself comfortable.

“You were a friend of… oh jeez…”

“Lu,” Jongin reminds him with a roll of his eyes. “I can’t believe you can’t remember his name.”

“What do you mean? I remember. Lulu, right? Lunan.”

“Han.”

“Han, right. That’s what I said. Whatever happened to him?”

“I have no idea,” Jongin admits, pretending to read the book still open on his lap. 

“You have no idea? You were a good friend of his. We didn’t make it because you were such good friends.”

“You went out with him.”

“But was it worth it? This sacrifice for a friend you haven’t even kept in touch with?”

“Kyungsoo,” Jongin says as he lowers the book, a smile playing on his lips as he looks the elder in the eye. “You may not believe this, but I never considered not sleeping with you a sacrifice.”

Kyungsoo raises an eyebrow, but his smile doesn’t waver. “Fair enough,” he capitulates, leaning back in his seat. “Fair enough.”

“You were going to be a gymnast,” he says a few seconds later. 

“A journalist.”

“Right, that’s what I said. So did you…?”

“I’m a journalist. I work at the News.” the younger informs him.

“Great. And you’re with Sehun, that’s great.” Kyungsoo peers over Jongin’s shoulder to look at his book. It’s the beginning of a mediocre a he’s read a dozen times. “You guys have been together, what, three weeks?”

The blonde looks up. “A month… how do you know?”

“You take someone to the airport, it’s clearly the beginning of the relationship. That’s why I have never taken anyone to the airport at the beginning of a relationship.”

Jongin stares at him, and know’s he’ll regret asking, “Why?”

“Because eventually things move on and you don’t take someone to the airport, and I never wanted anyone to be able to say to me, ‘how come you never take me to the airport anymore?’”

“It’s amazing,” Jongin deadpans after a beat of silence, “You look like a normal person but you’re actually the angel of death.”

“Are you gonna marry him?” Kyungsoo asks lightly, and it catches Jongin a little off guard.

“We’ve only known each other a month. Besides, neither one of us is looking to get married right now.”

“I’m getting married,” Kyungsoo tells him. Jongin immediately looks back at his eyes to check for laughter, but he’s not kidding this time.

“You are?”

“Yep,” Kyungsoo nods matter-of factly.

“You are?” Jongin asks again after a second, not even attempting to hide his disbelief.

“Yep.”

Jongin smiles at him in awe. “Who is he?”

“Kim Jongdae. He’s a lawyer.”

“You’re getting married,” Jongin confirms again, this time with laughter bubbling up behind the words.

“What’s so funny about it?”

“Nothing, it’s just so… optimistic of you.”

“You’d be amazed what falling madly in love can do for you,” Kyungsoo smiles at him, and Jongin can’t help but return it with sincerity.

“That’s fantastic, Kyungsoo. It’s nice to see you embracing life like this.”

“Besides, you just get to a certain point where you get tired of the whole thing,” Kyungsoo adds with a vague wave of his hand.

“What whole thing?”

“The whole life-of-a-single-guy thing. You know, you meet someone, you have the safe lunch where you decide you like each other enough to move on to dinner, you go dancing, then you go back to his place, you have , and the minute you finish, you know what goes through your head?”

Jongin shakes his head.

“How long do I have to lie here and hold him before I can get up and go home? Is thirty seconds enough?”

Jongin stares at him with his eyebrows furrowed slightly. “That’s what you're thinking? Is that true?”

“Yeah. Lots of men think that.” And his voice softens a little when he asks, “How long do you like to be held afterwards?”

He gives Jongin a second to blush and stutter before continuing. “All night, right? That’s the problem. Somewhere between thirty seconds and all night is your problem.”

“I don’t have a problem.”

“Yes you do.”

—

The plane lands an hour later in D.C., and Kyungsoo manages to catch up to Jongin on the moving sidewalk in the airport terminal.

“You staying over?”

“…yes.”

“Would you like to have dinner?”

Jongin looks at him suspiciously over his phone. 

“What? Just friends.” Kyungsoo insists.

“I thought you didn’t believe gay guys could be friends.”

“When did I say that?”

“On the ride to New York.”

“No, no, I never said that,” Kyungsoo waves his hand dismissively. After a moment of thought, he relents, “Yes. That’s right. They can’t be friends.”

Jongin rolls his eyes and looks back at his phone.

“…unless both of them are involved with other people,” Kyungsoo adds, leaning against the handrail as he thinks it over. “Then they can. This is an amendment to the earlier rule. If the two people are in relationships, the pressure of possible involvement is lifted.” He furrows his eyebrows, “Although that doesn’t work either, because what happens is the person you’re involved with doesn’t understand why you need to be friends with the person you’re friends with, like it must mean something’s missing from your relationship and you have to go outside to get it. And when you say ‘no no, it’s not true; there’s nothing missing from our relationship,’ the person you’re involved with accuses you of being secretly attracted to the person you’re just friends with, which you probably are, let’s face it, who the hell are we kidding? Which brings us back to the original rule before the amendment, which is two hot gay dudes can’t be friends. So where does that leave us?”

“Kyungsoo,” Jongin finally cuts in, lifting his chin and looking the elder in the eye.

“Yes, Jongin—”

“Goodbye.”

Kyungsoo looks at him for a minute before shrugging lightly, shaking Jongin’s hand in farewell. Jongin turns and continues walking down the sidewalk, and Kyungsoo walks beside him. The blonde tenses with annoyance as they continue in the same direction, pausing after a few seconds of awkward silence to give Kyungsoo a look.

“…I’m going to stop walking,” Kyungsoo tells him upon seeing Jongin’s expression, still smiling as Jongin takes a deep breath and walks away. Kyungsoo rides the conveyor as he watches his back retreat until he disappears into the crowd of the airport.