“Attention flyers—”

Minhyuk groaned as the monotonous woman’s voice projected itself from the loudspeakers of the terminal for the umpteenth time that hour. Checking the time on his phone, he desperately hoped it would finally be the announcement that his flight was arriving shortly. The past few months of non-stop travel had been lonely and exhausting, and his heart skipped knowing he’d be able to see his friends, family, and cozy little apartment in just a few hours.

“—flight one-sixteen in service to Incheon, coming in at terminal twelve,—”

Kyung cursed himself for his poor planning per usual. He knew going out for drinks the night before was a bad idea, he knew there was going to be traffic, and he damn well knew those hellish security checks took forever and a half to get through; yet there he was running full speed through the airport like a fool. Already going as fast as he could when he heard the echoes of his flight number announced, he briefly considered dropping one of his bags so he could run faster. Missing this flight would leave him stranded and flat-broke. It would also cost him the only real shot he had at his dream.

“—has been delayed. Periodic updates will be made, but as of now the estimated time of arrival is around nine o’clock tonight. Thank you.”

There was a collective feeling of exasperation shared between the flight goers. Some simply voiced their frustration to those around them, while others took it upon themselves to storm right over to the information desk and give those poor workers a piece of their mind. Minhyuk only let out a defeated sigh as he slouched in his seat, raising his eyes to the ceiling. Of course this would happen. Things never worked out as smoothly as he would have liked.

Near-sprinting as he approached, Kyung noticed that the terminal was still completely full of people. Ones that looked more unhappy than people were wont to while waiting around at airports. He slowed and began trying to catch his breath as the announcement was repeated in full, and though the moods of everyone else around him seemed to clash with what he was feeling, he couldn’t help but shout out ecstatically. Still winded from his run, he sought out a place to sit, laughing at himself all the while. Luck always seemed to be on his side.

His messy bleached hair and rather distinctive fashion sense stood out brightly against all the formal business attire. Not one person missed their chance to glare and pass judgement. Minhyuk couldn’t help but stare too, and might have felt just as annoyed as those around him if there wasn’t something about that breathy laugh that brought a small, inadvertent smile to his face...

Kyung reveled in the momentary attention, he always did, but that didn’t mean he wanted to spend the next however many hours sitting among all these older business men and women as they mentally picked him apart for every perceived flaw he had. That’s why when he saw someone around his age, dressed more casually and actually smiling, no less, he didn’t hesitate to take a seat and say hello.

Minhyuk returned the greeting with a somewhat awkward nod, fingers fumbling with his phone out of embarrassment for being caught looking as well as for his lacking social skills. This other guy, Kyung, he learned, was quite the easy-going conversationalist though. Not even an hour after meeting, the two of them were joking around and taking pictures over at the nearby coffee vendor as if they were old friends recently reunited.

----------

“No, seriously, I expected you to have some sharp Western name or something! Minhyuk seems way too plain for you!” Kyung enthused over his second, piping hot coffee. Plenty of cream and sugar.

The ‘too-plain’ Minhyuk rolled his eyes with a small grin, letting himself soak in the flattery for once. “I could say the same thing to you, with your style and all.” Both hands wrapped around his own cup of warming coffee as he brought it to his lips to take a sip. Dark roasted with just a hint of soy milk. “And anyways, plain works out just fine for me, thank you very much!”

“Oh, come on, that’s no way to think! What a waste of potential,” Kyung sighed with faux exasperation.

Minhyuk just chuckled into his cup, “Why? What’s that supposed to mean?”

With dramatics that Minhyuk thought oddly suited the blond, Kyung briefly closed his eyes and brought a hushing finger to his lips before reaching down to dig through one of his bags. A moment later he popped back up, tossing a cardigan and matching snapback over the table. The other’s initial hesitation relinquished with some gentle coaxing by Kyung, but even after switching his light jacket for the cardigan and brushing the hair off his forehead to fit the cap on, Minhyuk still seemed rather unsure of himself.

“See, that’s what I’m talking about!” Kyung exclaimed while plucking his phone up off the table between them. “A different kind of hat would probably suit you better, but here, lemme take a picture so I can show you how much you’ve improved already~.”

The words were light and teasing, but made Minhyuk cringe inwardly all the same. Waves of self-consciousness washed over him the same moment that Kyung raised his phone to snap the picture.

Minhyuk hated other people taking his picture.

Kyung seemed oblivious though, scrambling out of his seat across the table from him so he could smoothly slide into the one adjacent. He tilted the screen of his phone to show what he thought was a great picture, but Minhyuk only spared a glance before politely asking him to delete it.

“I look really bad in it, that’s all. My nose...” he tapered off with a small sigh. “Please?”

For a split second Kyung seemed completely taken aback by this, his expression then turning unreadable. Minhyuk was just about ready to close in on himself, like he always did whenever people questioned why he wasn’t particularly pleased with his looks.

The expected spiel never came. Instead, Kyung easily deflected back onto their previous topic without a moments more hesitation, his tone carefully light and even. “Ah, fine. But, you know, with this new look you definitely need yourself an edgy nickname now.”

Something about the blond’s expression remained distant, but Minhyuk tried to shake it off, simply thankful that the conversation moved on so easily.

“What, should I just go all out and start calling myself bibum or something? Would that make you happy?” He tilted his head to the side with raised eyebrows, voice dripping with sarcasm.

Kyung’s breathy laugh locked the lighter mood firmly back into place. “You might actually be onto something with that!”

“No! No, I was kidding!!!”

----------

One of the nearby terminals cleared out when an eight thirty flight rolled in. Minhyuk and Kyung took advantage of that and sat along one of the now empty back walls, huddled closely around an outlet with both phones plugged in to charge. Kyung wasn’t usually one to sit around in silence, but with his exhaustion hitting as the caffeine left his system, he did just that while Minhyuk busied himself with texting his mother. He didn’t even try to hide that he was reading over his shoulder.

Minhyuk tried to ignore it, just as he was trying to ignore how oddly comfortable they had become in each others presence in only a few short hours. He wanted to enjoy it for what it was: temporary and inexplicable, but a part of him knew it would leave some sort of lasting impression on him all the same.

For all of Kyung’s light-hearted and joking compliments, followed by his own threats that someone might think they were flirting, a part of Minhyuk hoped that there was something genuine there. But he couldn’t make any assumptions. As far as he knew, Kyung could be naturally flirty with everyone. As far as he knew, Kyung could be just as disgusted with people like Minhyuk as the rest of the general public was. So he wasn’t going to think too hard about it, and just enjoy it for what it seemed.

----------

“Attention fliers, flight one-sixteen in service to Incheon will be arriving at terminal twelve shortly. We ask that families with small children and our Business-Platinum members line up in preparation to board. Thank you.”

Minhyuk perked up at the announcement, scrambling to get all his belongings together so he could get into line. Finally.

Kyung groggily followed after, taking a moment to process the announcement of their arriving flight. “Premium member, huh?”

“Yeah. Like I said, I’ve been traveling pretty much non-stop for the past few months. It saves me some money.” He shrugged his bag more comfortably onto his shoulder as the two of them settled into line between an elderly woman and a man cradling a sleeping toddler in his arms.

Kyung elbowed him lightly, a bright grin finding its way onto his face, “Well, I hope Mr. Big Shot Business Man doesn’t mind me waiting in line with him—”

“Oh, shut up.” Minhyuk elbowed back, trying to stifle a smile of his own.

In response, Kyung simply poked at Minhyuk’s single dimple.

----------

Once actually boarding, Minhyuk’s mood dropped easily into one of irritation and frustration without Kyung there to distract him. He did manage to secure himself a window seat without snapping at any of the pushy people around him, something he felt deserved a bit of praise. While everyone was filling in and trying to find their seats Minhyuk stared through the small window at the dulled night sky, thoughts occupied with the awkward half-goodbye he exchanged with Kyung. He sighed and brought his hand up to rub the back of his tense neck, trying not to overthink the past few hours and failing miserably...

“Oh --”

Minhyuk hastily pulled the hat off his head, snapping around in his seat to seek out a bright blond head of hair. His brief panic blinded him to the fact that said blond was standing right in front of him, baggage having been placed in the carrier above them only moments before. Kyung laughed, teasing Minhyuk’s mussed hair and look of relief. He then slid into the seat next to him, telling him not to worry about giving the clothes back just yet.

They didn’t originally have their seats together, but when everyone was settling in and securing their baggage, Kyung managed to slip around and sweet talk his way into switching with the woman that initially sat beside Minhyuk. At first, a small part of Kyung worried that he was coming off too strongly or as an annoyance to Minhyuk, but brushed that aside when he decided he didn’t have much to lose anyway (as was the case with most other things in his life). To see Minhyuk’s face light up when he sat down made Kyung feel somewhat embarrassed at his own feelings of relief.

----------

Exhausted as they were, the two didn’t talk quite as much once the plane had taken off, opting instead to share Kyung’s earphones and listen to his music in comfortable silence.

Despite what it seemed at first, Minhyuk realized that Kyung had actually talked very little about himself personally. He felt like he knew more about Kyung’s friends than Kyung himself; and with those friends apparently all involved in entertainment or the arts, Minhyuk couldn’t help but wonder what Kyung did for a living. He couldn’t help but wonder if Kyung was like that intentionally. It made Minhyuk feel a bit exposed—foolish, even—for talking about himself so easily to an absolute stranger.

Was he really that lonely?

----------

“Yo, wake up...” Kyung yawned, lightly shaking Minhyuk’s shoulder in an attempt to rouse him.

Minhyuk jerked awake, blinking the sleep from his eyes and wiping the bit of drool that accumulated at the corner of his mouth. “Huh…landed?”

“Mhm.” Kyung stood, pulling both of their bags down. Red lines ran across the side of cheek where he fell asleep against Minhyuk’s shoulder. The other passengers also gathered their things and stood in preparation to disembark, more than ready to get on with their lives at last.

Minhyuk stretched in his seat with a low groan, trying to feel a little bit less like he’d been hit with a truck. When it was finally time for their section to file out, Minhyuk rose and stiffly took his bag from Kyung, following after him. Minhyuk grazed his hand over his pocket to pull out his phone, barely able to register that it was missing before Kyung fell into pace beside him as they exited their terminal, holding something out. “Before you freak out—your phone. You knocked it out of your pocket when I woke you up.”

“Oh, thank God," Minhyuk sighed with relief. “Wait, hold on a second—” he continued, moving out of the way of the other people walking by before pausing to set down his bag. He pulled off the cap and cardigan Kyung lent him, exchanging the clothing for his phone with an embarrassed smile stretching over his lips. “Thanks… for everything.”

Minhyuk mentally cursed himself for how painfully awkward that sounded, but Kyung grinned and pulled him in for a quick goodbye-hug. “Hey man, take care, alright?”

Minhyuk laughed, slinging his bag back onto his shoulder. “Yeah, you too.”

----------

Tugging his jacket tighter around himself, Minhyuk shivered from the brisk night air as he waited for his mother’s car to come pick him up. He pulled out his phone, intending to check if he had received any messages from her. Upon unlocking it though, the first screen he saw was his contact list with “Park Kyunggie <3” marked as his most recently added contact.

Feeling his face flush, Minhyuk cursed under his breath. “This guy—how the hell—!”

His head swarmed, thoughts going a mile a minute when a car horn let out a small honk and pulled him back down to earth. Looking up, Minhyuk saw his mother inside her car, smiling wide and waving her hands at him in utter excitement. He glanced down at his phone again, swallowing hard as he shut off the screen and shoved it back into his pocket. He then hurriedly grabbed his bags and hurried over to climb in and greet her, all the while trying to think of what to say if she asked him how the wait was.