“Last call! Last call! Dear Passengers of flight A310 heading to Brisbane, Australia please board your flight now. It will be leaving in five minutes.” An emotionless voice projected over the intercom.

Every five ing minutes.

Currently, a disheveled and dissatisfied man by the name of Lee Donghae was surfing the web for information regarding his (heavily delayed) flight after having failed to sleep due to a certain disruption. Taking a not-so-subtle glare at the speaker right above his head and an obese man who was sleeping beside him and snoring rather audibly, Donghae could only focus his attention towards the compound screen in front of him and try to remain sane.

Glancing around him, he silently lamented his unstrategic position. The entire waiting area was -packed due to several flight delays, as a direct result of the tumultuous weather.

Stupid snow.

This was not even his final destination, nor was it his home country. It was a ing transition airport, for goodness sake. Of all places, why did the plane have to transit in goddamn Russia? The facilities are poor and the WIFI signal so slow, it was aggravating him more every second. And (god forbid) they don’t even have a damn airport hotel! What happened to civilization? Fuming, Donghae checked his watch for the time yet again, only to find that a mere minute has passed since the last time he’d checked. He groaned. This is going to be a long night.

“Hey, keep it down, would ya?” A stout woman sneered at him. “My boys can’t sleep with your constant whining.”

Donghae’s eyes narrowed. Deeply inhaling, he forced a smile. He didn’t want to cause a scene

“Sure.”

Your BOYS need the beauty sleep anyway. Badly.

“I’m sorry.” Donghae grimaced and kept a menacing glare at the family as they turned away.

After what seemed like an eternity, the passengers were finally allowed to board.

“Passengers of flight B410 heading to London, please head over to boarding gate 2.”

Donghae silently groaned at the long line that had formed. But he didn’t complain. Sweet, sweet civilization was just One, Two Three, Four,… Twenty (are you ing kidding me?), Twenty one, … Thirty Two people (again, are you ing kidding me?).

Lee Donghae, inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale. You’ve waited five fours, you can wait for another Thirty Two people! It’s okay, it’s okay. Wait… What the . What the . ING HELL. WHAT THE . That’s the woman from before! Hey hey what are you doing? You’re jumping the queue! Your child is feeling unwell? Come on, he’s ing eight! What the . What in the actual ery. You’re letting them go? You’re letting them cut the damn queue? Oh my god. Oh my ing god. I may actually faint right now. You, flight attendant, what’s your name? Name tag, name tag. Aha! Kim ING Ryeowook. You watch out. You watch out.

“Enjoy your flight sir!” Ryeowook chirped happily as Donghae walked through the gates.

Giving the man a withering glare, Donghae stomped off, promptly stubbing his toe under a mobile desk and screeching loudly in pain. The whole line of passengers looked up from their reverie and sleeping passengers in the waiting room roused from their sleep to stare at Donghae, who’d now sort of understood his very precarious position as a target of very angry (and sleepy) passengers.

“Sir, sir are you okay?” A velvety voice asked and overwhelmed with mortification, Donghae could only nod and limp away without looking up.

Worst Day Ever.

Finally, Donghae reached his seat. Immediately after storing his portable luggage into the compartment above him, he slumped into the velvety chair. His muscles softened, and he leaned his head back.

Ah, the comforts of first class.

“Wow! First class is so beautiful!” A familiar loud, nasal voice interrupted the serenity.

Oh no, not again.

Donghae’s eyes popped open. The middle-aged lady was strolling down the aisle, her two kids in tow.

“QUICK QUICK!! Where’s my seat! Where are our seats?” She yelled excitedly, jumping up and down, not realizing that she looked perfectly like a rabid frog whose nerve was stepped on.

“Over there ma’am, beside that gentleman.” A flight attendant forced a smile. “And the airline would appreciate it if you do not jump again on the flight. The balance may be disturbed.”

Oh no.

Too anxious to spot the hidden insult, the lady promptly pushed the poor attendant aside and in her haste, almost fell as she was squeezing her seat. Luckily for her, Donghae was in just the right place to cushion her fall. he wheezed as the wind was knocked out of his stomach and subsequently, his very head was pushed roughly into the seat as a stepping block for her to get off before scrambling into her seat without a hint of apology. Scowling, Donghae glared at her, only to receive a willfully indignant look in response. Looking up, Donghae scathingly stared at the flight attendant who was currently ushering the woman’s two sons into the seats in front.

Donghae jerked his finger to the flight attendant. Yes, it was a rude way to get someone to come over, but Donghae couldn’t care less now. He was too busy trying to see past the red before his eyes to be passably polite.

“Yes sir?” The flight attendant ducked down.

“Are they first class passengers?” Donghae whispered.

“Erm, no.” The flight attendant looked apologetic. “Her son threw up on the seats, and there were no other economy seats, so we had to settle for these replacements. We’re sorry for any inconvenience.”

Seething, Donghae could only oblige and let the man go do his job.

Maybe this isn’t that bad. Just keep your silence throughout the flight.

“HEY YOU! Bring me a Whiskey!” The madam next to him hollered with a gruff voice.

“MOMMY MOMMY!!! David’s not letting me play the video game!”

“Your game stinks! You’ll only waste the battery.”

“Do not!” “Do too!” “Do not!” “Do too!”

“Wes and David, keep quiet.” The mother scarcely looked up from her tabloid magazine.

“Do not!” “DO TOO!” “DO NOT!”

Donghae sighed. This was going to be a LONGGGG Flight.

“Cabin Crew, please prepare for take-off” The plane proceeded to accelerate down the runway.

“MOMMY MOMMY!!!” yelled the little twerp called Wes. “The plane is shaking!”

“AHHHHHH” screamed David. “Wes is kicking me!”
 

Donghae sighed again. Oh God.

“It’s just taking off, don’t worry boys.” The woman smiled, her tone sickeningly sweet.

It’s just taking off, don’t worry boys. Donghae imitated silently, rolling his eyes. His situation was painful. After the heated and very intellectual debate about the video game, Wes proceeded to be the mommy’s boy that he was and ask a question every two seconds, all of them so backbreakingly dry and boring that Donghae could hardly keep his head clear. It was like a nightmare, except he wouldn’t wake up.

The plane took off. The sudden lift off the ground left the plane quiet, and finally, these social animals seemed to be speechless. For once, Donghae felt like a bird flying into the sky, soaring above in esteemed solitude.

“Mommy, why is the sky blue?” The woman beside Donghae just smiled and tried to answer her son’s question (incorrectly) using fairies and something about blue sky paint. Looking over at Donghae, she laughed, expecting perhaps a compliment for her son’s amazing brightness and “adorable” curiosity.

Oh no, not again.

“I’m hungy.” Complained David.

“MOOOMMMMM” yelled Wes again. “Why does David get the window seat?”

“Because I’m better than you are.” David replied.

“MOOOMMMM it’s not fair.” Wes whined. He proceeded to sulk and cry, looking up every ten seconds.

“Oh hush, baby pie.” The woman cooed, leaning forward to cajole her sweet, sweet son.

Baby pie, that sounds disgusting.

“No! It’s not fair that David always gets the better seat!” He started to wail again, this time louder as he realised that his antics were getting him attention.

“Okay, okay, why don’t we try to swap seats?” She now looked calculatingly at Donghae.

Uh oh.

“Sir, could you swap seats with my sweet boy?” She batted her eyes.

Wes got up from his seat and scrutinized Donghae with an evil glint in his eyes, sending shivers down his spine.

“Erm I’m not sure…”

Wes started to cry again.

“Alright, alright!” Jesus, thought Donghae.

Immediately, Wes brightened up and swapped seats with Donghae, who found himself next to an apathetic, mean-looking little boy. Soon after, David kicked him in the shin as he turned around to chat to Wes, without a single apology.

Donghae sighed, and put on some music to try and get some sleep.

Of course, that didn’t work out.

So, a few hours into a flight, a very cranky Donghae was just counting down the time it takes for the plane to land. In the meanwhile, he’s been woken up thrice, kicked five times, and when the airline food came, he couldn’t even have his well-deserved dinner before David “accidentally” sneezed into it. He was one messed-up, angry little boy. Perhaps it has something to do with the obvious favourtism.

Anyway, Donghae was immensely pissed-off. Aisle seats are uncomfortable. He pouted. First class, my .

To make things worse, an announcement suddenly came.

“Please put on your seatbelts immediately, there will be a slight turbulence ahead. Cabin crew, please assume your resting positions.”

“But I want another nacho!” Donghae could hear Wes complaining.

A series of screams interrupted his thoughts as the plane dipped down, to narrowly hit a bump in the air flow which sent the passengers free-falling for a second. Beside him, David started to cry.

Before Donghae could think wimp, a series of turbulences sent the plane bumping dangerously, and down the aisle he could hear things getting dropped, and the food cart rolling uncontrolled down the aisle.

“Hyukjae! Be careful!” A female voice screamed from behind and Donghae saw a blonde girl tottering unsteadily down the aisle while trying to avoid the flying objects.

Another dip and to Donghae’s horror, he saw Hyukjae just lifting off the ground, and she was about to hit the ceiling. Immediately, he reached forward (thank god for fast reflexes) to grab her left wrist and pulled her into his open arms. His eyes widened in shock as Hyukjae landed right into his lap. Hyukjae was a he.

Being the flaming homoual that he was, he pulled back to catch a glimpse of his partner’s blushing face. Pretty. He smirked to himself. A series of bumps and their groins rubbed against each other. He could hear his partner moan, before covering his mouth daintily and flushing redder. Donghae almost laughed. Cute.

Hoping to break the awkward silence which naturally comes when someone straddles a perfect stranger, Donghae cleared his throat and whispered, “What’s your name?”

“Hyukjae.” A meek voice replied.

Another bump and Donghae took the opportunity to wrap his arms around Hyukjae’s waist tighter. Aisle seats don’t seem so bad now, after all.

“Well, Hyukjae.” Donghae purred into said person’s ear, forgetting momentarily how inappropriate it was for him to ually harass someone he’d just met. “I’m Donghae and since it would seem that we’ll be stuck in this position for some time, why don’t we get to know each other?”

“Erm, okay. Well, I’m a flight attendant. Why are you going to London?”

“For business reasons. I’m Korean and my transit flight was in Russia.”

“Well that’s a stupidly long route.”

“I know. Tell me more about yourself.”

“Well, I live in Seoul with my noona Sora and my parents, and I have a dog called Choco”

“No way, I’ve a dog called Bada!”

“Wow, they should meet someday.”

“We should meet someday. Are you staying with your airline crew?”

“No, I’ll stay a while longer for a vacation. We’re each entitiled a free one a year.”

“Wow, it must be destiny. I’m staying a while after the business trip too. You have a hotel yet?”

“No.”

“You can check into mine.”

Hyukjae blushed, his hands still clinging on to Donghae’s shoulders. He consequently buried his face into his chest, earning a chuckle.

Suddenly, all that’s around him had disappeared into a mindless mess. He no longer heard the screams, David’s cries, Wes’ questions despite all the chaos; he forgot about his really bad day. All he cared about now was the little blonde bundle in his arms.

“Why are you so pretty?” Before he realised it, those words had come out of his mouth. Wincing at his blunt confession, Donghae could only try to salvage the situation. “You’re more beautiful than the setting sun.”

They looked out, the beautiful sun was just setting, despite the turbulence.

“But like the rising sun, you really know how to brighten up my day baby.”

“Is it because we’re so close to the sky? But when I hear your voice, I hear angels singing.”

“When we land and I see a garden, I’d put your tulips and my tulips together.”

While racking his brain for more cheesy pick-up lines, he heard the cutest whine ever in his life.

“That’s so cheesy.” Came a muffled reply.

“I can be cheesier, baby.” Donghae chuckled.

The head buried deeper into his chest, and Donghae insisted that he look up. The cutest blush ever adorned those fair cheeks, and a pout graced his cherry lips. The sight took Donghae’s breath away.

“I was wrong about the setting sun. Your pinkish glow is so much more beautiful.”

Before Hyukjae could reply, someone cleared his throat.

“Erm, Hyukjae, the turbulence is over and it’s time to get to work.”

“Sorry!” Hyukjae looked up apologetically and got up from Donghae’s lap.

Immediately after he left, Wes tapped Donghae on the shoulder.

“Ahjussi, what were you doing with that flight attendant lady?” Donghae looked around to see that he’d attracted the attention of the entire first-class cabin. A series of tuts interrupted his observation.

“Young man, I would appreciate it if you kept your hormones to yourself.” The mother was complaining. “I don’t want my boys to learn the wrong things.”

Just then, a flight attendant arrived, while the same emotionless voice announced their arrival at the London airport at 6:30 pm.

“Coffee for you, sir.” She winked.

“I didn’t order one.” Donghae tried to protest, but she’d left. Lifting up his spoon to stir the brown concoction, he noticed a small piece of paper tucked underneath the cup.

94929493. Meet me at the arriving area at 7? –Hyukjae.

Donghae’s lips curved up into an idiotic grin. He looked behind him and apologized happily to the grumbling madam. No matter what you do today, my mood will be great.

Suddenly, travelling by air doesn’t seem that bad.