Jaehyun rolled his luggage through the airport as he and Yuta walked to their gate to board the plane. If the short, five minute walk could be summarized in one word, it would be awkward. Yuta, walking fast, was not making any contact with Jaehyun, who was staggering behind him, trying to catch up. It was like the older man did not even want to acknowledge his presence, Jaehyun thought. Once the group of flight attendants reached their gate, Yuta looked at him with a menacing look.

    “Do you have your ID with you?” he asked. Jaehyun nodded, and held his lanyard up so he could see it. Yuta simply grunted and continued along to the boarding gate.

    The two scanned their lanyards and began walking through the jet bridge to the entrance of the plane. Once they got inside, they were greeted by Johnny, who was counting the number of pre-made meals they had in his designated section.

    “Find something to do guys. We have 20 minutes to get the plane ready before passenger boarding,” he stated. Jaehyun looked around and noticed Doyoung was putting pillows and blankets on each seat. He ran up to him in a desperate fashion.

    “Mind if I help?” he asked.

    Doyoung shook his head. “I need all the help I can get,” he chuckled, “there’s so many seats that I have left. How about you put all of the pillows down and I’ll do the blankets?”

    Jaehyun agreed. After a few minutes, the two of them had successfully placed the amenities on every economy seat. Doyoung ran up to Johnny to ask what else they could do to get the plane ready, while Jaehyun stayed in the back tidying up the flight attendant corridors. Doyoung came back with a cheeky grin on his face. “They don’t need us to do anything more for now,” he retorted.

    Jaehyun flashed a smile back at him. “Let’s stay back here for the last few minutes,” Doyoung said. The pair ended up sitting in two of the economy seats and began to talk.

    “Doyoung,” Jaehyun beckoned, “is Johnny rude to you?”

    Doyoung squinched his eyebrows. “Of course not! He’s actually super sweet! Not to mention extremely hot,” he said while winking, causing Jaehyun to burst out in laughter. “Why do you ask? Is something wrong with Yuta?”

    Jaehyun didn’t know how to respond. “It’s weird. He doesn’t talk to me, and when he does, it’s condescending and filled with spite. I don’t know what I did to him!” he exclaimed. Doyoung was looking down in a thoughtful manner.

    “Maybe he’s just hard to open up,” he said, “and after a while you guys will get close. If things really get bad, I’ll ask Johnny to switch your position and mine.”

    Jaehyun looked at him. “You would really do that? You would give up your position with your boyfriend for me?” he said while smirking. Doyoung’s eyes widened and started blushing.

    “JAEHYUN! I just thought he was good looking! He’s not my boyfriend,” he yelled, trying to regain his composure.

    “Not your boyfriend for long,” Jaehyun mused. “Anyways, I should probably head up to my position. Good luck! I know you’ll do great!”

    Doyoung smiled. “You too! Good luck with your position and with Yuta!” he exclaimed. Jaehyun waved goodbye and started heading up to his assigned section. Upon arrival, Yuta was going through a final checklist, making sure everything was ready for the flight. Jaehyun turned away from him and pretended to fidget with the in-flight catalogues in the back of the seatbeds. The overhead speakers began to bellow with Johnny’s deep voice, echoing through the cabin.

    “Flight attendants, prepare for boarding,” he commanded.

    The crew began to scurry around the plane to their positions. Yuta and Jaehyun were assigned to general boarding, meaning they would help those in need of assistance with their luggage or any other needs. He quickly went into the bathroom, gazing at himself. He looked down at his turquoise and white uniform, adjusting his name tag, before quickly exhaling and looking back up at himself.

    “Here goes nothing,” he muttered before stepping back outside into the cabin.

    From that moment on, a smile was plastered on his face as he greeted the weary passengers boarding the plane. Yuta and Jaehyun inadvertently divided and conquered, with Yuta helping people with their luggage while Jaehyun directed people to their seats.

    While Jaehyun was helping direct an old woman to her seat, he noticed that Yuta stopped helping passengers put their luggage in the overhead compartments and was rather squatting down next to a young girl, presumably around 4-5 years old, who was crying. He could hear him asking the girl what was wrong, with her mother sitting next to her telling him that she forgot her favorite stuffed animal at the gate. Yuta got up and smiled (to Jaehyun’s surprise) at her, telling her that he would be right back. Jaehyun, in a state of confusion, returned to helping everyone find their seat.

    A minute later, Yuta returned with a stuffed rabbit in his hand. He made his way up to the row where the girl and mother was sitting, and put the object behind his hands. He got onto his knees again and smiled.

    “Guess what I have,” he exclaimed. The girl looked at him quizzically. Yuta then pulled the stuffed animal from behind him and handed it to the girl, flashing a smile in the process. The young girl squealed in delight.

    “Look mommy, it’s so cute!” she yelled. The mother looked at Yuta and grasped his hands. “Thank you so much,” she exclaimed, “I don’t know what I would’ve done without you!”

    Yuta grinned at her. “It’s the least I could do. Let me know if there’s anything else you need,” he said. The woman nodded enthusiastically at him.

    At the end of that ordeal, everyone was seated and their bags were stowed. Jaehyun made another round up and down the aisle, making sure everyone’s carry-ons were below their seats and that they were buckled in, while trying to process what had just happened. “Why doesn’t he smile or act friendly around me?,” he kept wondering.

    Johnny came on the loudspeaker, welcoming the passengers and giving them the general information about the flight they were on. At the end of his speech, he announced to the passengers that the flight attendants were going to give a short presentation regarding safety, cueing them to scatter throughout the aisles and prepare for the briefing. Jaehyun took his place and began demonstrating the safety procedures while Johnny narrated the basics: how to unstrap your seatbelt, finding the nearest emergency exit, and what to do in event of various emergencies. Once that was complete, Johnny announced for the flight attendants to prepare for takeoff, indicating that they had to return to their seats.

    Jaehyun walked over to his jumpseat and strapped in. Across the aisle was Yuta, who was nonchalantly looking out of the window, waiting for takeoff.

    The full flight began to taxi from the departure gate, and once they reached their designated runway, the plane began to pick up speed and slowly rose off the ground. Jaehyun watched the passengers for any suspicious activity while the plane began its steep ascent into the night sky. After a few minutes passed, a monotonous two beeps rang through the plane, notifying flight attendants that they were safe to unbuckle and start preparing for meal service. Jaehyun walked over to the area where all of the meals were located and began to heat them up while waiting for Yuta. He finally arrived without any words, and began to fill their cart with various drinks and ice. The preparations were completed without any words exchanged (well, Jaehyun attempted to make light conversation, but Yuta never responded), and the pair slowly moved the cart into the aisle to begin meal service. As soon as the two were in the public’s eye, Yuta began smiling at Jaehyun, to Jaehyun’s shock. Yuta carried on as if he didn’t noticed the shocked expression painted on Jaehyun’s face, and started to ask passengers what type of meal and drink the wanted. Jaehyun, confused at this point, attempted to ignore what just happened and focused on serving the passengers.

    As the two moved more and more down the aisle, Yuta began to talk to Jaehyun, asking him for more drinks and meals on his side of the cart. Jaehyun merely obliged and tried to soak in all that was happening while maintaining a professional ambience for the passengers. Thirty minutes from the start of the meal service, Jaehyun and Yuta finished serving meals to their area, and wheeled the cart back up to the front. Jaehyun was hoping that Yuta was in a bad mood on the ground and had moved past it, but upon getting back into the flight attendant corridors, the smile vanished from Yuta’s face and he stopped talking. It was at this moment that Jaehyun realized that he was faking his mannerisms only to appease the customers on the flight. Jaehyun’s heart sank to the bottom of his chest, clearly sad about the situation. He hoped that the two of them could get along, but that was apparently not going to happen, as Yuta was acting, quite frankly, y towards him.

    Jaehyun sighed as he sat down in one of the chairs in the corridors, hoping for the flight to go by quickly so he can end his shift with Yuta. He closed his eyes, attempting to take a power nap, but as he fell deeper into sleep, he felt a presence plop into the chair next to him. He opened his eyes and sitting next to him was Doyoung, complete with his cheeky smile.

    “How’s it going so far?” he asked. Jaehyun dejectedly sighed. “Not good. He’s acting friendly to me while around passengers, but when we get out of their eye, he’s as cold as ice to me.”

    Doyoung gave him an empathetic glance as he pat him on the back. “I’m sure it’ll be fine, don’t worry about it!” Doyoung looked down at the clock on his wrist. “Anyways, I have to head back, we land in twenty minutes.”

Jaehyun immediately jumped out of his seat. “TWENTY MINUTES?!” he exclaimed. Doyoung nodded. “I’ve been asleep for the past hour then! ! Who’s been doing all of the duties for the passengers?” he yelled while heading out to the main cabin. Upon arrival, he was shocked to see that Yuta was there, picking up the trash and making sure everyone was fine. Jaehyun started to shake. “So he’s been the one taking care of all of my duties while I was asleep,” he thought in his head. Doyoung looked at him, giving an expression notifying that he was leaving, and heading back to his section. Jaehyun immediately started helping passengers with their belongings and preparing the cabin for landing. Once that was done, Johnny came back onto the loudspeaker and announced that they were landing in the next few minutes, and that all flight attendants needed to get back into their seats.

Jaehyun buckled into his jumpseat once again, and looked over to Yuta. The young man was once again looking out of the window, ignoring Jaehyun’s presence. The flight slowly began to descend, and after a final few minutes filled with turbulence, the plane touched the ground and skidded across the runway, slowing to a complete stop. Johnny came back on the loudspeaker and thanked everyone for flying with the airline, and that he hoped to see everyone soon. The plane made its way to the gate at Sapporo Airport, and once it did, passengers unbuckled their seatbelts and grabbed their luggage. Jaehyun and Yuta were assigned to the exit of the plane, so the two of them headed there to wish everyone goodbye. Again, (not) to Jaehyun’s surprise, as they got to the exit, Yuta put on a smile and began thanking everyone who was leaving the plane. Jaehyun did the same, trying to think about how he completed his first flight rather than the man next to him. Once all of the passengers were off the plane, the flight attendants went to go get their luggage and head off the plane. Jaehyun picked up his luggage and made his way off the jet bridge and to the exit of the airport, where a large minivan was waiting for all of the flight attendants to take them to the hotel. Jaehyun navigated the exit and soon found the man with their flight number printed on a piece of paper he was holding up, and put his luggage into the minivan and climbed on board. Soon, the other flight attendants started following suit, until they were all in the minivan. The flight attendants were all chatting with each other, minus Jaehyun, who was looking out of the window and was trying to analyze all that had happened on the flight.

The van slowly made its way through traffic before arriving to small hotel located near the airport. Johnny got off first and received the room keys and assignments for the evening. He announced who was sharing rooms with each other that night, and to Jaehyun’s happiness, he was assigned with a flight attendant other than Yuta, a young Chinese boy named Winwin. Jaehyun met up with Winwin, who he remembered from the group introductions, and proceeded to head to the room with him, complete with light talk that helped ease the mood for Jaehyun.

The two reached their room, and Winwin slided the room key through the door, unlocking it. Jaehyun carried his luggage into the room and set it by one of the beds. He immediately took off his uniform in favor of something more comfortable, a worn out pair of pajamas that he's had for years. Winwin went into the bathroom to take a shower, allowing for Jaehyun to have some time for himself after hours of having to be in close proximity with others. He decided to get into bed and try to get some sleep. While he closed his eyes and made himself comfortable, his mind was racing, trying to comprehend the events that marked today. Jaehyun, with the sole image of the young Japanese man taking over all of his thoughts, slowly drifted off to sleep, attempting to put everything that happened that evening to the side.

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A/N: Here is chapter two! Sorry it took so long to update: I've been super busy with the beginning of school as well as college applications. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this update, and please look out for more coming in the near future! :)