„Finally. What took you so long?“ Youngbae scolded as Jiyong arrived at the waiting area after he went through the procedure of checking in at the airport.

„I had to look for your stupid high school pictures, so it’s actually your fault. And there was traffic on the way here. What is your problem anyway, we still have plenty of time until it’s our flight’s turn.“

„Stop blaming me, if you weren’t such a lazy- slob in the morning, it wouldn’t be so stressful every single time. Unthankful brat.“

„Who’s the unthankful brat here?! I even went through all of my to find those damn photos!“

„Okay, okay, thank you, you are the best.“ Youngbae grinned and ran his hand through his light brown hair. „Just what would I do without you?“

„Damn right.“ Jiyong pouted and crossed his arms, causing his best friend to burst out laughing and his eyes to disappear into crescents. Some things just never changed, especially Jiyong being an easily -hurt know-it-all.

It did take some time until they were allowed to enter the plane and when they did it wasn’t something out of the ordinary for the two best friends. They had been flying so many times since they moved to America, by now they didn’t worry about the plane crashing but instead about the pollution every flight caused. But with Jiyong being an internationally known designer and Youngbae working as an English slash Korean slash Japanese interpreter, they were bound to travel a lot and while they already tried to avoid it as often as possible, sometimes they didn’t have a choice. Being decently rich, at least Jiyong was, didn’t mean that they didn’t give a damn about the environment.

After having boarded the plane, the younger immediately went to work on his presentation. He wanted to keep concentrated as long as possible and starting right in the beginning of the flight was the most effective strategy. He knew from experience because after some time he automatically became drowsy and either made mistakes or got distracted completely.

Youngbae, who sat next to him, didn’t comment on it any further, as he was all to familiar with his best friend’s antics. He knew the designer took his job seriously, even though he liked to slack off once in a while.

For Youngbae the flight became boring quickly though. He had already watched Finding Nemo (god, he loved that movie) and the sequel Finding Dori, he had listened to music, read a bit of a new book he bought at the airport and worked on a few non-verbal translations, but he still had some time ahead of him until they would arrive at their destination. Eleven hours to be exact. Perhaps he should sleep, but it was still only noon… the fact that he knew when they would arrive in Hongkong it would be late morning or even noon as well, didn’t make it any better. ing time zones.

„Hey, Ji.“

„Mmh…“ The other mumbled as he scribbled down something on one of his many papers. How the was he still able to work? On the other hand, Youngbae was sure that by now his best friend was probably done and only kept pointlessly working on his projects as if it changed anything about the outcome.

„Can you show me the photos you selected earlier?“

„Photos?“ The dark haired man finally looked up with a pen stuck between his lips.

„Yeah, my high school pictures.“

„Ah! Those. Actually, I didn’t select any, I took the whole photo album with me because I didn’t have  enough time left. Wait a second.“

Jiyong closed his folder and pulled his bag onto his lap before shoving the folder in and grabbing the thick album he was talking about.

In the process of pulling it out, something else was dragged along and plopped out of the bag. Jiyong didn’t notice so Youngbae picked it up and looked at it as he bit his lower lip. He hadn’t seen it before but he had an assumption where it came from.

„Ji… this.“ He held the stuffed toy up in front of his best friend, whose eyes widened at the realization of what the older showed him. „You took it with you. Is it from-“

„ From Seungri?“ Jiyong completed the question and gently took the panda from the older’s hands.

„Yeah?“

„It is.“

„Why? Why was it in your bag?“

„I don’t know.“ 

„You never showed it to me. When did he give it to you?“

Jiyong couldn’t help it when a smile spread on his lips and his eyes went unfocused as he recalled the past memories.

„Shortly after we first met.“ He chuckled. „Pabo.“

„Pabo?“

„That’s what Seungri called him.“ Jiyong’s expression turned bitter sweet when the next words left his mouth. „I gave him a necklace and in return he gave me Pabo. It was a promise to keep our promise of..“

„Of what?“

„Of staying together forever, even after twenty years.“ He sighed and Youngbae lowered his eyes from Jiyong’s face to the stuffed panda toy.

„Oh…“

That’s right. Oh. Because it had been 21 years.

It was quiet for some time and neither of them knew what to say. Youngbae was aware of the pain the loss of Seungri’s existence in Jiyong’s life had caused the younger and while their parents thought of it as ridiculous, Youngbae understood. Because Seungri had been his best friend’s source of happiness and when he was gone all of a sudden, without an explanation, Jiyong had had troubles to find back to himself.

Today he was happy, he was an adult that had built himself a new world and lived a new life, having overcome any hindrances and obstacles on the way.

But Youngbae knew. He knew that there was always an empty spot in Jiyong’s heart and that spot would probably stay empty forever.

„The photos.“ Jiyong reached his best friend the album with a smile as if nothing happened. He had put the panda back into his bag and Youngbae could read the regret in his face. Whether it was connected to his past or the fact that he took a piece of his memories with him, the older didn’t know. 

Not knowing what else to say, Youngbae flicked through the different pages of the album but soon noticed that most of the picture laid in it loosely. There were unexpectedly many and one of them, Youngbae thought, was especially funny.

„It’s so ugly!“ He laughed as he looked at himself in the photo. When he was in his first year of high school, there was a girl he liked and one day he decided it was a good idea to let her mess with his hair. It turned out she actually cut it but it looked so horrible that in the end he had to shave it all off. Not just that but he was also a bit chubby and it made his face look like a melon. And as if it wasn’t enough already, the girl turned out to be a , so the whole thing was a massi