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When the boy opened his eyes, the light above the seat of the aircraft - indicating the need for a seat belt - was already turned off.
Trying to remember when he had fallen asleep, he reached for the nearest window, but he wasn't given a great view due to the darkness. Instead he yawned - as if he hadn't slept enough - before throwing a sleepy look around him.
Baekhyun-hyung dozed in a seat on the other side of the plane, with his cap pulled up to his eyes with blurry eyeliners on and a large jacket covering his tiny body curled up on one of the seats.
Though he hadn't seen the others, he was sure that somewhere ahead of the plane, Lucas was having a good time with Kai-hung, despite his limited Korean vocabulary.
Normal people bothered the noise - at least according to Mark.
They could never really concentrate, often were nervous or simply irritated by the excess of disturbing elements.
Even the Canadian boy himself was once like this, but now he couldn't imagine his life without this disarray. Perhaps it was because he had become accustomed over time; perhaps it was because he could find his refuge in such chaos.
Either way, he couldn't help but smile - he would surely miss this overgrown creature (named Lucas) full of positive energy.
Finally, deciding to use every last minute he had with the boys, he pulled himself out of his seat and headed across the plane.
While Taemin-hyung - like their eldest - was resting with his head leaning against the cold glass of the window, Taeyong and Ten chatted quietly with a few snacks between them.
"May I?" he asked before the elders looked up at him.
As Taeyong nodded in silence, Ten rose from his seat, "You can sit here, I wanted to rest for a while anyway." he smiled before disappearing into the aisle.
Mark did not hesitate for a long time before he fell to a place beside his hyung.
There was silence - broken only by crunching chips - before Mark decided to speak "What happens now?"
The elder glared at him - he was accustomed to his dongsaeng coming to him for advice, or just ordinary conversations to shorten a moment; but this time he would like to know the answer too.
“I don't know. We all go our own way? ”he said with uncertainty in his voice.
"So no… reunion?"
"I don't know what they have prepared for us."
Mark sighed, closing his eyes "I'm… tired.". His last words were almost imperceptible, but Taeyong still heard them. And although he himself felt exhausted, he wrapped his thin arms around his friend's shoulders "It will be okay. It's worth it."
“”I know, but - I wish I had some time off, you know?. See old acquaintances and ...stuff.”
Again, Taeyong agreed - nothing was worse than constant training to exhaustion and traveling around the world without seeing anything except the music hall - yet he decided not to say anything.
"Do you ever miss the others?"
"Of course I do." he replied without hesitation, a sad smile on his face. "But some of us have it much harder." he reminded the younger.
And although neither of them said it out loud, they both had the same people in mind.
Two dancers - who had built a relationship despite the language barrier - and their empty promises and hope in a reunion that didn't come.
But if they were the only one...
Taeyong never understood why was his company trying to break the strong bonds between some members of their own group(s).
“Did you hand over the greeting from Ten?” Mark continued after a moment.
"Not yet. I didn't want - I didn't want to spoil the mood, ”he confessed. "Sometimes I wonder if I'm a failure when I can't give my loved ones what they want."
And while were the rappers chatting, the Thai boy behind their backs smiled sadly.
'I didn't want to spoil the mood.'
Finally, deciding not to disturb the couple from their conversation, he turned to the lonely boy looking out the window.
"Do you miss them?"
Taemin-hyun jerked in Ten's direction, startled by his sudden presence "Who?"
"Your members." the boy smiled, though there was nothing cheerful in his expression. The elder muttered something back — probably consent — before looking out the window again into the starry sky.
Although their main profession was dance, singing or rap, they were all great actors - they could smile whenever cameras or fans demanded it, and even behind the scenes, in the presence of staff, they put on that cheerful, reckless facade just to show off their pain or concern. But here - where they were alone - their masks collapsed like a house of cards.
The younger patted his senior's shoulders - perhaps in a reassuring gesture, although everyone felt equally miserable.
"At least you'll see them soon," he said, but Taemin smiled painfully, "Not all of them."
"But you'll see them."
"You act like you're not just flying to your group."
Now it was Ten´s turn with a sad expression "Maybe I'll see my members, but not my loved ones."
The two exchanged knowing glances before the plane fell back into silence, interrupted only by the occasional laughter of Lucas and Kai.
*
"At least we landed at night," muttered the still sleepy Baekhyun-hyung, who resembled a raccoon with his blurry eyeliner.
Taeyong - who was the most skeptical of them all, as well as best prepared for any situation - frowned before shoving his cap down into his face "Do you think this will stop the paparazzi from waiting for us in the arrival hall?"
"But nobody theoretically knows when we're coming, right?" another one of them said.
"But that doesn't stop them from staying here all night long," the rapper objected before Taemin pulled his cell phone out of his jeans back pocket. "Some of the staff told me we shouldn't be afraid of this. And even if someone is waiting here - they will be more interested in the nest Mark has on his head than us. ”
They hummed in amusement before the hyung continued. ”They said we should call a taxi. After the turbulence, no one wanted to wait here. ”.
Perhaps to emphasize the late hour when they finally arrived at Seoul Airport, the youngest boy yawned several times before everyone finally entered the arrivals hall.
Of course they weren't alone - although they were famous and undoubtedly rich, they still couldn't bribe the airport staff to clear the entire building for them - but the energy and attention of that handful of passengers sitting around four o'clock in the morning had faded so none of them had to be afraid of unwelcome attention.
Well, almost, because when the oldest - and yet the smallest - saw a tall figure standing on the other side of the glass wall, he left his members just to be with his friend as soon as possible.
"And one less ride." Taemin smirked before he, like the rest of the group, stopped to observe the couple from a distance. "Happy people."
But Baekhyun and Chanyeol did not really do anything special. As always, they just exchanged their stupid smiles and nudging before the tall man took over hyung's luggage and Baek turned around and saluted - just to provoke a wave of boyish giggles - before saying, "You did well!”
Then they both - Chanyeol and Baekhyun - headed home, while the others exchanged glances. "Are we going home?" Mark offered.
Taeyong nodded before turning to the others.
Nobody said anything, they just exchanged hugs.
"Say hello to him," Lucas murmured - his cheery tone gone - when he squeezed his peers with one hand. He didn't have to say a name to let the Canadian know who he was talking about, so Mark gave him a last smile before he and his little Thai hyung set off for another long flight.
It wasn't long before the juniors left the airport, so there were only two older friends left who had no idea where their steps would lead.
"Do you want to go to the graveyard?" Kai said, as if he knew what was going on with his friend.
Taemin hesitated, "Do you have nothing better to do?"
"Nobody's waiting for me at home anyway."