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Minho could have been out of the airport four hours earlier. But no, his flight had to have been delayed, causing him to miss his original connecting flight and changing his originally one hour layover into six hours of airport nothingness.
More than anything, he was tired. He hadn’t been able to get any sleep on his earlier flight, and at this point he was considering just hunching over and taking a nap in the airport lounge itself. He would have too, if it hadn’t been for:
- The fact that they don’t announce flight boardings in the business class lounge.
- The walk to the actual gate was a bit too long to be insignificant.
- The guy with the brown hair at the food bar was far too distracting for Minho to be able to sleep.
The brunet had been whipping his head back in forth, his eyes widening every time he discovered something new.
He must be used to coach, Minho thought.
After a few minutes, the guy looked at his phone and let his jaw drop. Frantically, he pushed his full tray of food into the dish cart, making a crashing noise just a bit too loud for the quiet atmosphere of the lounge.
“Sorry!” the guy announced while dipping his head in a mild bow. “Forgive me!”
With that, he nodded once more and dashed out of the doors.
That was weird.
Within a few seconds, Minho’s eyes returned to the boring screen of his phone.
About half an hour later, including a six minute walk through the airport, Minho found himself in front of his flight gate just in time for the end of First Class boarding. He had his boarding pass verified, made his way along the jet bridge, looked along the bottoms of the overhead compartments for his seat, 7B - all the usual. What he had not been expecting was to find the strange brunet from before seated in 7A.
Minho had never flown with this airline before, so he hadn’t realized that the First Class seats for such a long flight would be in doubles. Of course, the guy in the next chair didn’t even acknowledge Minho, too busy looking out the window of his seat. Minho sighed. He could deal with this as long as he could finally get the sleep his body craved.
It wasn’t until after Minho had finished putting away his luggage and settled in his aisle seat that the weirdo from the lounge spoke.
“I hear there’s supposed to be a storm approaching from near Greenland.”
Minho had seen that somewhere on the news as well, but it was pretty light from what they’d predicted and Greenland was nowhere near their destination of New York. He wasn’t quite sure what to reply because of this, especially since the guy still had yet to look at him.
“They wouldn’t let the plane take off if they were worried about it,” is what Minho went with.
“The skies are pretty clear here. Do you think they even know?”
What was this guy on?
“Uh, I’m sure they’re aware.”
The brunet finally turned his head around to face Minho. “You positive?”
Minho nodded.
“Sorry,” the guy sighed with a sheepish smile. “It’s just… this is actually my first time flying in a long time and even though I know it’s a bit irrational, I can’t help but be worried.”
“The chances are less than that of being struck by lightning.”
“Yeah.”
“You’ve never flown before?”
He shook his head. “I did once, when I was— erm, eleven? Kinda traumatizing, honestly.”
“How old are you now?”
“Nineteen. I remember something happened with the oxygen flow and they had to drop those yellow masks from the ceiling. There was a lot of bouncing too.”
“Turbulence.”
“Yeah, that. Since then I’ve been too afraid to get on another plane, though I know the likelihood of stuff happening again is way lower than— I’m so sorry! I’ve been rambling this whole time and I didn’t even get your name! Mine’s Jisung.”
They’d actually been so immersed in conversation that Minho hadn’t noticed either. Jisung is a cute name , he thought. It fits him. Quickly introducing himself as well, they returned to conversation so smoothly that Minho had almost forgotten his tiredness. Almost.
A yawn broke through his lips before he could help it, triggering Jisung’s already large eyes to widen more.
“Oh my gosh,” he mumbled with an awkward laugh. “I’m so sorry. I’m bothering you, and you’re tired. I’ll shut up now. Yeah, you get some rest—“
“No no,” Minho rushed out. “It’s alright, really.” It is?
“Are you sure? You seem tired.”
“I’m not, I swear.” What is wrong with me?
Jisung looked him up and down a few times before replying. “In that case, mind telling me how you’re so calm? I don’t get it… Aren’t you worried in the slightest?”
“I fly all the time.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. I work as a backup dancer for various companies and usually end up joining when whoever I’m working for at the time is touring the world.”
The entire time Minho explained his occupation, Jisung’s eyes remained wide. He kept nodding along, letting out quiet mhm’s and ohh’s as the elder continued. It was so strange, how the words just kept falling from Minho’s lips despite him being someone who typically had trouble talking about himself without being prompted. The brunet’s reactions were just so welcoming and Minho was willing to go on until the end of time if it meant keeping Jisung’s smile from fading.
It wasn’t until the intercom crackled with a “flight attendants, please find your seats for take-off” and a baby from the back of the plane began to wail that Minho’s words drew to a halt.
“Oh,” Jisung whispered. “I guess we’re going now.”
“It’ll be fine,” Minho reassured. “The pilots know what they’re doing; there’s nothing to be afraid of.”
Jisung had already turned his face toward the window at that point. His eyebrows were furrowed and his right hand was clenched tightly around the left.
The plane started moving at a painfully slow rate.
Minho worriedly eyed the younger.
The plane’s speed was increasing rapidly.
Jisung swallowed; Minho’s eyes were glued as his Adam’s apple bobbed.
The front wheels were off the ground now.
Jisung’s eyes squeezed shut; Minho’s body reacted before his mind could process the action.
He reached over and pried the younger’s fingers apart, slotting his own tiny hand into the small gap he managed to create. Jisung’s eyes snapped open, head turning down, then to the right where the elder sat. Minho blushed for a moment, panicked at what he’d just done, but soon smiled softly, moving his hand further between the younger’s to interlock their fingers.
“It helps,” he spoke softly. The brunet carefully eyed his seat partner for a few moments with eyebrows furrowed even deeper than before they’d taken off. Then, he squeezed the elder’s hand gently, and looked away with a quick nod.
It was quite strange, Minho thought, how close they had gotten in the past half hour before the plane’s departure. He wasn’t sure what it was about the brunet that made him feel so comfortable, but he couldn’t say he minded either.
They remained in their positions for a while without speaking, only giving each other gentle squeezes of reassurance, even after the plane had successfully reached its planned altitude and the vehicle’s sharp turns had ceased.
About an hour later Minho broke their silence.
“How are you holding up?”
“I’m okay, I think.”
Of course, that’s when the shaking started.
The plane jolted upwards a bit at first, and Jisung let out a small gasp. The more the wind pushed their plane around, the more Minho could tell that Jisung was not by any means okay.
“Hey, hey,” he started, reaching his other hand over to rest on top of their clasped fingers. Jisung’s palms were sweating. “It’s just turbulence. Every flight gets it at least mildly. It’s quite normal.”
Jisung nodded rapidly. “Yeah, I know,” he forced out. “I just can’t help it. This was what happened right before the masks dropped last time oh my god —“
A particularly intense jolt occurred. A baby’s cries, likely the same one from take off, could be heard even at the front end of the plane.
“D-don’t think about it, yeah?” Minho rushed, not quite knowing how to keep the younger calm. “Can I distract you? We can talk about whatever again although I basically already told you everything there is to know about myself. Do you wanna talk about home maybe? Or something else works too I’m not really…”
Minho felt his hands being squeezed again and watched Jisung take a deep breath.
“I’m sure that wasn’t everything there is to know, but I can tell you about my life too since we’re a bit uneven right now.”
“I’d love to hear it.”
“What about a game?”
That was unexpected. Minho let his thoughts known with a slight jaw drop and a “huh?”
“Never have I ever,” Jisung explained. The plane jerked a bit more and his talking speed increased. “You know how to play, right? I know it’s mostly a teenage girl slumber party thing to get gossip material but it is really helpful in getting to know a person.”
Minho wanted to say no, he really did, but his mouth was saying yes long before his brain could put a stop to it. That seemed to be a trend today. At Jisung’s sparkling eyes however - which had squeezed shut at that moment when the plane was pushed again slightly - Minho didn’t mind. The younger’s effect on him was terrifying.
“Okay, you start then?” Jisung nodded with grin, lips curled upwards.
Minho thought for a moment. "Never have I ever been afraid to ride an airplane.”
"Hey!" Jisung pouted. "No fair. This was supposed to be a distraction.”
"Okay, okay fine. Practice round?" Minho stuck out his pinky. Jisung scowled for a moment but it softened as he rolled his eyes and linked their pinkies. "Never have I ever dyed my hair besides slight lightening.”
“You got me at that one.” Jisung put his thumb down with a sigh. “I’ve dyed my hair a whole bunch. Brown, black, blond, you name it! Once I even had this weird orange pink. I thought it looked fine but my best friend thought otherwise.”
“Your best friend?”
“Yep, his name is Felix and he’s Australian. Jokes on him though because he made the mistake of dyeing his hair this weird caramel brown a few days later and let’s just say it did not look good when he combed it for one of our school dances. He looked kind of like that bitch ass dog meme.”
They both lost it at that, Minho first with a slight laugh which set Jisung off too. Then they were both overcome in fits of giggles that took them far too long to calm down from.
“I’ll show you a picture some time,” Jisung said, gasping through his still heaving chest. “You’ll laugh I swear.”
And Minho believed it. He wished he’d gotten a more solid visual, rather than letting his mind come up with a poorly photoshopped picture of the popular internet meme on top of a human body as Jisung’s best friend.
“My turn! Never have I ever liked orange skittles.”
“Agreed. Never have I ever eaten instant ramen.”
Minho gasped. “You should be ashamed! How can you say you’ve lived?”
“I’ve just, never felt the need for it,” Jisung giggled. “I lived next to a ramen shop when I was young, so why eat instant when you can have the real deal, right?”
“I guess so…” Minho stared skeptically. “But, I’ll have you know you’ll definitely break that resolve. When we’re off this plane you’re trying some cup noodles whether I have to force it into your mouth or not.”
“And if I dislike it?” Jisung teased with a smile.
“You won’t.”
“So we’re meeting again after this, huh?”
Minho registered that for a moment. “Yeah, I guess we are.”
“Lovely. Your turn.”
Eyebrows furrowed, Minho couldn’t think. What more did he want to know about the younger? Everything . That’s when it hit him.
“Never have I ever believed in love at first sight.”
Jisung put his finger down.
“So you’re a romantic?”
A smile played on Jisung’s lips. “Guilty.”
“Can’t say I’m surprised. Your turn.”
“Never have I ever tried to get out of a parking ticket.”
Minho sighed and put his finger down. “How did you know?”
Jisung hummed. “Lucky guess?” He smirked devilishly and threw a wink. “So are you going to explain?”
“I thought we were playing this to get to know more about you?”
Jisung furrowed his eyebrows and pouted fake angrily.
“Fine,” Minho laughed. “I was like eighteen and got pulled over for speeding. I’d been going 107 in a 100 for God’s sake. Anyways, the officer came to my window looking relatively young — and pretty hot, I won’t lie — so the words kinda just fell out.”
While Minho cringed at the memory, Jisung giggled. “So what did you say?”
“I may have asked him if he’d be wanted to go get coffee with me after writing me up.”
There was a pause then. Jisung stopped giggling. “Him?”
Minho’s hands started to sweat. He loosened his fingers, still interlocked with the younger’s.
Tentatively, he asked, “is there a problem with that?”
Jisung’s eyebrows jumped and his left hand flew up, waving the other off as if he had just realized the implications of his question. “Of course not! I was just surprised is all.”
Minho released the breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding.
“Me too,” Jisung smiled sweetly. “I mean, yeah, same… Uh.”
At the younger’s obvious distress, Minho laughed and once again squeezed their interlocked fingers. “Good to hear it.”
They continued on like that for a while, Jisung learning that Minho’s police officer incident had only been one of many similar situations and that the dancer was quite the flirt. “The officer was pissed,” Minho had said with a sheepish smile. “Apparently he was forty five and married with three kids. I mean, how was I supposed to know?” Jisung had laughed so hard he almost went into a coughing fit.
Minho in return learned that Jisung was quite clumsy, decent at acting, and known as the loud one amongst his friends. None of these things surprised him to say the least, for Minho probably could have guessed them himself. There was one thing he hadn’t been expecting, though.
“I like music a lot.”
Not that.
“Singing is something I really enjoy.”
Not that one either.
“I’m a SoundCloud rapper.”
Oh. Minho was sure he had misheard. At seeing the elder’s eyebrows raised and jaw slightly dropped, Jisung blushed.
“It has a bad rep, yeah? Definitely not looked at under the best light… I guess. But it’s really fun for us— by us I mean my friends. Oh yeah it’s me and two my friends… we formed a rap trio. Nothing serious but we perform sometimes and I’d say we’re pretty good? At least for amateurs— I don’t think any of us are confident enough to pursuit this kind of thing professionally; I’d love to though! Doesn’t really make enough to survive off of though…”
The younger trailed off, and Minho realized he’d kept talking because of his own silence. He didn’t want Jisung to stop.
“It’s not what you think, really. We don’t rap about fake love experiences or trying to get girls - actually there was this one song Changbin wrote but that was a one off and the song was good.”
“I believe you,” Minho said with a nod. Jisung was clearly getting anxious; he seemed confident in himself and his music but afraid of the stigma. “I’d love to hear sometime.”
“Really?”
“Yep.”
“I actually have some of our songs downloaded? If you want to listen to some right now. Not all obviously but just a few.”
Minho squeezed Jisung’s hand and grinned. “Just play me what you want to. It’s a long flight so we have lots of time.”
Jisung’s face lit up and he was soon handing one earbud to Minho, keeping the other for himself.
“This one is called ‘Tik Tok’,” he announced as he hit play, a pendulum-like sound flowing through the earbuds. “It’s one of my favorites.”
The confident “ yaya ” that came next was not something the dancer had been expecting. He wasn’t sure what he had been expecting, but it certainly wasn’t this. It wasn’t low or high pitched, not quite lazy, but still said with a drawl; however, it was definitely Jisung. As the song progressed into a pleasant rap, Minho suddenly felt ashamed for doubting the younger’s ability for even a moment.
“Are these two your friends?” he asked at the sudden shift in voices.
“Yep! That’s Changbin, and the one singing is Chan.”
“No honorifics?” Minho smirked.
The younger blushed. “Force of habit. Chan is Australian, so he says he doesn’t enjoy people talking up to him when working with them.”
“Interesting mindset.”
The song finished, and Jisung quickly queued more songs. Minho couldn’t say all of them were necessarily his taste, but Jisung and his friends definitely had talent. He found the lyrics especially captivating, laughing especially at the younger’s verse in ‘Wow’.
After a while, Jisung hesitated while hovering his finger over his phone.
“You okay?”
“Yeah,” he nodded. “There’s this one song I worked a lot on - with Chan’s help of course - but I’m not sure if you’d like it.”
“Even if it’s not my typical, I’m sure I’ll like if knowing you made it. All of the other songs you’ve played so far have been quite good, so I don’t doubt it’s good regardless.”
Jisung didn’t say anything. He just stared into Minho’s eyes, as if looking for any trace of dishonesty. Finally, he gulped and nodded, with a slight grimace. His finger dropped to hit play.
The sounds of an electric keyboard played lightly and Minho perked up. This was different. Then it went quiet for a moment, and Jisung’s voice found their way through the earbuds. Minho could not think for the next few minutes. He was taking in the younger’s voice, his passion, his emotions, through the sentimental and nostalgic rapping. It was amazing, and he didn’t know how to formulate it into words.
Hence, the first thing that came out of Minho’s mouth was, “Your friends weren’t in that one.”
He internally face palmed as the younger looked confused. “Oh! Yeah… That one was just me. I hope it wasn’t too boring for you.”
The dancer cringed. “Boring? Not at all! That was amazing. I swear. Sorry I can’t verbalize things properly. Ah, you’re clearly far better with words than I am.”
Jisung blushed, a small smile finding its way onto his face.
“But yeah… I liked it. I liked it a lot.”
“It’s really personal to me, so I’m glad. I can send you a link to all our stuff when we get off this plane, if you’d like. This one is called ‘I SEE.’”
“I’d really like that.”
There was a comfortable tension between them. They were still holding hands, and even though Minho figured his hands were sweaty and gross by then, Jisung never showed any signs of wanting to let go, and he was more than fine with that.
He was about to speak again, when the plane suddenly jolted. Jisung tensed.
“Shh, it’s okay,” Minho assured softly, giving another squeeze. “This is normal, remember?”
“Right.”
The fasten seatbelt light turned on.
“It’s actually kind of lulling,” Jisung said, as if trying to convince himself. “It’s making me pretty sleepy.”
That was when Minho remembered his own tiredness. He had been awake for twenty seven hours now, and had been more than ready to collapse and pass out upon boarding the plane, but forgot all about it upon meeting the rapper.
“We should sleep then, yeah? There’s about nine hours left in this flight, so it’s a good chance to get some shut eye anyways.”
Jisung groggily nodded as the two proceeded to recline their seats. Minho loved flying first class for all the benefits. He loved the lounge, the service, the food, but more than anything he loved the fully reclining seats. As he was about to close his eyes, he was interrupted.
“Wait,” Jisung peaked his head over the armrest. “Do you mind, um…” He seemed embarrassed. “Do you mind not letting go?”
Minho softened. “Of course not.” He quickly switched his position so he was laying on his side. “This should make things more comfortable.”
The younger was already asleep. Minho quietly chuckled to himself and let himself give into his own fatigue, giving Jisung’s hand one last squeeze.
Not much happened for a while. The two slept for a solid seven hours, and probably could have lasted until the end of the flight had they not been interrupted by the plane lurching to the side.
Minho’s eyes snapped open, and he immediately sat up to check on his new friend. Jisung was still laying down, eyes wide and mouth slightly open. Minho never fully understood, but this is what author’s meant when they wrote characters paralyzed with fear. He hated it.
“Hey,” he said softly. He ran his hand through Jisung’s hair. “It’s okay. You’re okay. I’m here.”
There was another bounce, and this time even Minho flinched. A few high pitched shrieks were let out from other rows.
“C’mon sit up. It’s safer.”
Jisung obediently did as he was told, still silent, unblinking. Then, “Where are we?”
“Huh?”
“The map. Where are we?”
Minho was confused, but checked the status anyways.
“Wait what?”
Jisung leaned forward abruptly, eyes blowing even wider. “No. No way.”
“How is this even possible?” Minho’s eyes furrowed again. They took the arctic route, over the North Pole. How did they end up so close to Greenland?
“I don’t know.” Jisung’s voice was monotone.
The intercom suddenly crackled.
“ This is your captain speaking. Due to some unexpected wind currents we’ve ended up a bit off course. The ride may be bumpy for a bit, but myself and the crew will do everything in our power to ensure you all a safe landing. ”
The plane jolted once more. Reassuring.
“Minho,” Jisung said quietly. “We’re going to die, right?”
The dancer let out a deep breath. “I don’t know if it’s to that extent yet.”
They were suddenly pushed to the side. Something crashed further away from them.
“It’ll be okay.” Minho reached his other hand over such that he held Jisung’s right in both of his. “I’m here for you.”
A few more agonizing minutes of this went by. How long had it been? An hour? No, that’s too much. Half? Maybe.
That was when things really started to get bad.
The plane shook, and shook, and shook until the lights went out for a moment, and yelling could be heard from the cockpit. Jisung looked just about ready to throw up. Suddenly Minho recalled their earlier conversation.
“You know how we were playing ‘Never Have I Ever’ earlier?”
The younger was distracted. “Yeah.”
“You put your finger down when I said I didn’t believe in love at first sight. Remember?”
Jisung’s lips parted slightly as his lower jaw dropped. “What about it?”
“Why is that?”
“Maybe not love at first sight,” he gulped. “But love at first meeting? I always fantasized about that.”
“I don’t believe in that stuff,” Minho sighed. It was true, every word he’d spoken since getting to know the younger had been true. He was never a dishonest person per say, but there was something different about Jisung, and the elder realized just what. “At least I didn’t, not before I got on this plane.”
Wide eyes stared up at him. “What made you change your mind?”
“ Passengers, ” the pilot was breathing heavily now.
“I met you.”
“ I’m doing my best, but please hold on tight. ”
Jisung gave a weak, tight lipped smile. “That’s really cheesy, you know.”
The plane jumped a bit, a pink bag slid towards Minho’s feet.
“I thought you liked cheesy?”
Another jolt, the sound of glass breaking could be heard as a child wailed from the economy section.
“I like romance movies,” Jisung spoke weakly. “And I guess I like you.”
“Good to know the feeling is mutual.”
The lights flickered violently. More screaming surrounded them.
“So are you going to kiss me now?”
“ Passengers I’m sorry to say this— “ the intercom crackled once more.
Minho leaned in until he could feel Jisung’s breath on his lips.
“Less than the chances of getting struck by lightning, huh?”
“I guess those were higher than I thought,” Minho chuckled, slight sadness seeping through. “We’re the unlucky ones, I guess.”
“But there are seven billion people in the world,” Jisung looked down at their hands that had not let go since the plane took off hours ago. “The chances that I’d end up meeting you and getting to talk like this were also pretty slim.” He looked up with a grin, no sorrow present on his face, despite the chaos around them. “So I’d say I was pretty lucky, in the grand scheme of things.”
“ Prepare for the worst .”
“It’s okay, remember? We have each other.” Jisung whispered, squeezing Minho’s hand again. “Thank you.”
And that was when Park Airline’s Flight 4419 from Seoul to New York City crashed left wing first into the Arctic Ocean.