Changmin frowned at the blaring alert on his phone, indicating his phone battery life had come to an end. He grumbled under his breath, cursing as he dug through his backpack for a charger. After searching every pocket and thoroughly inside, he began to realize his early mistake of packing his phone charger in his suitcase. In the suitcase –which if he had to guess- was already on the plane even though he wasn’t.

His flight had been delayed for nearly two hours due to heavy rain and his only source of entertainment was playing with apps, until the unfortunate happened. Now, he was not only extremely bored - he can’t even make a phone call if his flight cancels.

Changmin slumped further in his chair with a heavy sigh, glancing through the wall-sized windows to watch the terrible downpour, shading the entire airport in a dark, depressing gray hue. He gazed aimlessly around the seating area, noting that there were quite a few people waiting for their flights and looking as apathetic as he was.

However, something did garner his attention and that was the slender man seated one seat away from him. The stranger was making paper airplanes rather diligently, sharping the creases and drawing in airplane details. Once he deemed the paper airplane perfect, he sent it to fly away but it fell short, landing directly on his sneakers.

Changmin hadn’t suspected that and busted out laughing, finding the whole thing to be rather funny – the look of the man’s disappointment was oddly adorable and hilarious. It wasn’t until he calmed down that he realized the man was staring at him, cheeks burning a bright shade of red.

“Oh. Sorry. I didn’t mean to embarrass you.” Changmin apologized.

The man tilted his head, eyebrows scrunching together in concentration. He opened his mouth, clearly hesitating on what to say. “Sorry. I don’t…speak…Japanese well.” He admitted in broken Japanese, his accent easily apparent. “I’m Korean.”

“Then do you speak Korean?” Changmin asked almost teasingly – some may even call it flirting. The man gave him a grateful smile, clearly relieved that the language barrier would no longer be an issue.

“As a matter of fact, I do.” He replied, dark brown eyes sparkling in amusement. He held his hand out, “My name is Kim Ryeowook.”

“Shim Changmin,” Changmin reached for his hand, surprised by how soft and delicately thin Ryeowook’s hands were. There was a strange spark when they touched, something Changmin didn’t think too hard about as he hesitantly let go. “I meant to apologize before about laughing at you. You just looked like you were having too much fun making paper airplanes.”

Ryeowook smiled sheepishly, the pink returning to his cheeks. “Ah, I…my laptop kind of died on me earlier and there’s not much to do in an airport terminal other than-”

“-making paper airplanes?” Changmin supplied with a smile.

Ryeowook giggled, his laughter sounding like a sweet melody. “Yeah, its quite entertaining.”

Changmin quirked a brow, feeling skeptical about that.

“Do you…Do you want to make paper airplane with me?” Ryeowook offered shyly, pointing at his own carefully crafted paper.

Changmin nodded, moving to sit closer to Ryeowook by switching seats with his backpack. There wasn’t much to do anyway.

“You’re going to have to show me how this is done. I haven’t made one since I was a kid.”

Ryeowook chuckled, before ripping pieces of paper from his notebook. He kindly spent the next ten minutes explaining how to make one and what’s the best way to do it. There was this sort of comforting air around Ryeowook that Changmin just couldn’t quite explain. It just felt like he had known Ryeowook for forever, like catching up with an old friend, despite meeting the stranger a few minutes ago. He liked the feeling though, it was strangely pleasant and easy.

They had managed to create a game out of flying their paper airplanes into the garbage bin. The score was currently one to eight and that was when Changmin realized Ryeowook had horrible aim – his paper planes always managed to land more on poor unsuspecting people rather than making it to the trashcan.

“You at sports, don’t you?” Changmin commented, smirking at the pouting man.

“I do,” Ryeowook sighed. He dejectedly sent another plane flying, gasping when it hit an old, grumpy man in the face. The man grabbed the paper, crushing it in his hands as he searched furiously for whoever threw it.

“You know, that guy looks really angry,” Changmin immediately hid his plane behind his back. “I think we should go before he figures us out.”

“Yeah,” Ryeowook agreed, quickly grabbing his backpack in a panic. “Let’s go…A-are you hungry? I’m hungry, how about you?”

Changmin nodded, hastily pushing the shorter man to walk away before they could get caught.

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“So why did you come to Japan?” Changmin asked curiously, stuffing hands in his pocket. They had decided to walk around the airport after eating lunch together.

“My best friend is a musical actor, so he travels from Seoul to Japan all the time to perform. We hadn’t met up in a while and he insisted I spend my vacation with him in Japan, so I did.” Ryeowook answered honestly, taking a sip of his banana smoothie. “Why are you in Japan?”

Ryeowook took this opportunity to boldly check out his tall acquaintance, fitted in a nice black business suit.

“I’m a videogame developer. Just like your friend, I have to travel back and forth from Korea to Japan a lot. I actually spent the last four months living here, and now I want to go home. I miss the taste of Kimchi,” Changmin continued to whine about at all the Korean food he was missing out on. He couldn’t stop grinning when Ryeowook started laughing at him. Ryeowook playfully slapped his arm a few times, before taking another generous sip of his smoothie.

“So that’s what you miss the most? Not your friends or your family, but food? You’re such a rotten son,” Ryeowook shook his head in mock disapproval.

Changmin rubbed his arm, wincing at the assaulted area. For someone who looked so tiny, Ryeowook carried a lot of power.

“You know, for stranger, you hit really hard!”

--------------

Minutes turned into seconds and Changmin never felt time fly so fast. The heavy gray clouds cleared up miraculously and flights were moving again. Announcements were being relayed over the intercom, while people in the waiting area shuffled to gather their things and check the new schedule.

Changmin and Ryeowook decided to look at their flight together – having figured out, by some strange coincidence, they were on the same plane but different seats. Even though parting wasn’t imminent, it felt like it was to Changmin. He had so much fun talking to Ryeowook, he just didn’t want to moment to end. Ryeowook had a strange charm about him and Changmin was enchanted.

An awkward silence had settled over the pair as they walked towards Gate E.

Changmin fiddled with his dead phone in his pocket, wondering if he should ask Ryeowook for his number. Honestly, he didn’t want this moment to end either – to part separate ways and stay out of each other’s lives. That was too sad and sounded too much like a bad melodrama. Just the thought of never talking to Ryeowook sent his heart in a panic. However, he couldn’t bring himself to ask anything from Ryeowook. They were strangers –acquaintances at best. Did he really have the right to ask anything from this gorgeous man?

Nervousness kept him from uttering a single word. His only relief was they were walking slowly, providing him with more time to be together.

“It’s a good thing the weather cleared up, right?” Ryeowook mentioned conversationally, hoping to dispel the odd tension in the air.

“Ah…yeah,” Changmin belatedly agreed.

They spent what little time they had together in silence, approaching the gate. Knowing they won’t have much time to talk on the plane, Changmin tried to push his anxiousness aside.

“I, um, Ryeowook,” Changmin muttered. Ryeowook looked over at him, wide brown eyes looking at him almost pleadingly. “Um…”

“Yes?”

“Ah, I…” Changmin couldn’t do it, the fear of rejection gripped his heart and all uncertainty came rushing back. “It was nice meeting you.”

Ryeowook stared at him, trying to fight off his disappointment. “…Yeah. You too.”

Changmin bit the inside of his cheek as he watch Ryeowook board the plan first, before following after him once his ticket was checked. He felt incredibly dumb. Wallowing in self-pity, he stored his backpack away before slumping in his seat. He sighed heavily, feeling like he just made the biggest mistake of his life.

He looked around the plane, immediately catching sight of the familiar dark brown hair. A silly smile played on his lips when he noticed Ryeowook was seated on the right side of the plane, three rows in front of him. It was a good thing his chair was closest to the hallway or Changmin doubted he could find him so easily.

Ryeowook kept shifting in his seat, almost as if he was uneasy. Changmin wanted to believe the Ryeowook was looking for him too, but he couldn’t fully believe it himself either. Where had his confidence gone?

An idea popped into his head during the flight safety procedures. He beckoned the nearest flight attendant, asking for a piece of paper and a pen. She returned promptly after the plane ascended into the air, handing him the materials before checking on the other passengers.

Clumsily, he wrote down his confession before folding it into a paper airplane. He called the flight attendant again, shyly asking her to deliver to the paper plane to his ‘friend’. Though staring at him warily, she took the paper plane, turning around to point at the person sitting across from Ryeowook, who just so happened to look like him.

Changmin shook his head immediately, pointing frantically at Ryeowook. It would be extremely embarrassing if a stranger read what he wrote and got the wrong idea.

She nodded in understanding before handing the paper plane to a confused Ryeowook.

He waited nervously by bated breaths as he watched Ryeowook read the letter. His sunk further in his seat, gripping the armrest anxiously. He let out a tiny squeak, averting his gaze, when Ryeowook turned around to look for him.

He didn’t realize how long he was staring at the floor until a paper plane was shoved in his face. He glanced up, nodding grateful at the flight attendant turned messenger.

He opened the letter, a silly smile spreading widely across his blushing face.

I can’t shake this feeling that we are meant to be something more than just strangers. I know this sounds incredibly cheesy, but when we land in Korea…Will you go out with me? - Changmin

I’d love to. – Ryeowook

Changmin chuckled at all the contact information written on the bottom.

When they got off the plane, Changmin pulled Ryeowook aside with a wide grin on his face. He made sure to do the thing he had wanted to do to Ryeowook since the minute they meet.

He kissed him.