Chapter Text
Taehyung loved working at the airport.
Ever since he’d been a child he had loved watching planes take off and land, memorising the colours and patterns on their tails and being able to tell every airline apart and seeing people from all kinds of countries and cultures mingle inside the airport. He remembered spending hours with his face pressed against the glass of the airport windows whenever he had and his family would visit friends and family overseas, and he always dreamed of spending all of his time there.
He briefly thought of becoming a pilot or a flight attendant, but a crippling fear of heights made riding an aeroplane much less enjoyable than loitering at an airport, and so he found himself at his current job at his airline’s front desk. It filled him with joy to wake up and sit at the desk, watching passengers come and go, chatting with them and getting to know them in the small amount of time it took for them to get everything sorted for their flight. He loved all of them. Well… most of them. The excited children, the couples reuniting after a long time, the travelling families, the ones who were clearly rushing but still spared time to be kind to him, the teenagers and young adults who were setting off to explore the world… There was a place in his heart for all of them.
Undoubtedly, the busiest times of the year, the times when he met the most people, were by far the holiday seasons.
Be it Christmas time, Chuseok or summertime, the airport filled with crowds travelling every year without failure. Some were returning to their hometowns, others were exploring new ones to spend the holidays at, while some were even leaving the country altogether. It was always cheerful around those times, a beautiful atmosphere of celebration falling over everyone… for the most part.
Being the busiest season also meant that trouble was most likely to occur during those times. Some cases may be more predictable than others, but they were trouble nonetheless, and it came down to the airport staff to resolve them as fast as they could so everything wouldn’t suddenly go under. It was stressful, but Taehyung always tried to keep a positive outlook and did his best to treat everyone well, even the most grumpy and demanding ones.
‘They all just want to go see their families,’ he thought, ‘It’s not something strange or unreasonable.’
He knew that he would be so grateful to get a break during the holidays that he could spend with his family.
So far he hadn’t been that lucky, but he held on hope that maybe in the near future he would be able to have a nice Christmas with his family again and spend the day like they used to when he was younger.
This year, however, just like all the other ones, he was destined to watch the time turn midnight and begin Christmas day behind his desk, wearing a reindeer headband that had started digging into the sides of his head after he’d been wearing it all day already. In front of him, a large group of people carrying suitcases was standing and sitting impatiently as a snow storm raged on outside, their eyes all glued to the announcement board over his head with the hopes that the ‘delayed’ next to their flight number would change soon.
There were no updates on when the storm was going to stop, and until it had at least calmed down, no aeroplane was allowed to leave the airport.
Time ticked by, and Taehyung swallowed nervously as he feared what might have to happen.
He gave reassuring smiles to the few people among the waiting crowd he made eye contact with. Most of them looked away right after. He could already feel their annoyance and he didn’t want to encounter it first-hand. In his head, he begged for a miracle.
He sighed in defeat when a few minutes later the message he’d been hoping he wouldn’t have to hear that day played from the airport’s speakers.
“Attention all passengers,” the tinny voice of a woman said, “Due to unfavourable weather conditions all flights to and from this airport have been cancelled. We apologise for the inconvenience. Please proceed to your airline’s check-in desk to reschedule your flight.”
As soon as she had said that, Taehyung braced himself, and sure enough, the next second his desk was being swarmed by upset passengers. He barely had time to breathe before he had to ask them to be respectful and to stand in a line and wait for their turn. The same message as before played in the background, in English this time. To that ambience, Taehyung asked the first person in line to come closer to his desk so they could figure out what would be a more suitable day and time for their new flight.
The first passenger was understanding about the fact that the weather wasn’t something they could prevent or change. It broke Taehyung’s heart to see them as disappointed as they were, however. He could tell that they had been looking forward to the holidays, so he tried his best to lighten their spirit and promised them that he was going to get them on a plane as soon as possible.
Sadly, it turned out that not every interaction of the evening was going to go that way. He wasn’t wishing for people to be happy with the predicament, he knew that was impossible, but he only hoped that they would be as sympathetic as the first one. By the time the next person walked up to his desk, though, he predicted that that wouldn’t be the case.
This passenger snapped at him immediately after Taehyung attempted to offer them a friendly greeting, and he turned his head down to his keyboard and computer screen so he wouldn’t have to make more eye contact with them. He tried to type as quickly as possible in hopes of lowering the passenger’s frustration levels, but to no avail. It didn’t matter how quickly he moved to his next questions or how little time it took him to input the information he received, the passenger always scoffed each time after a few beats of silence. Taehyung already felt drained by the time he was saying goodbye to them.
At some point while he was helping out a passenger who was anxious about being on a tight schedule and missing their flight, a child started crying somewhere further back in the line. The child wailed and screamed, its voice travelling through the entire airport building as its parents seemed to not be willing to do anything at all about it. When the crying finally ceased, Taehyung’s aching head had gotten significantly worse, leading him to write a date completely wrong and have to restart the process from scratch. The passenger he was helping out only gave him an annoyed huff and stormed away when he was done.
“It’s unacceptable of you to make us wait here for hours like this,” the next person said, slamming a hand down on his desk.
Taehyung jumped in his seat and cleared his throat. “I’m very sorry, ma’am, but we couldn’t have known that the storm would get this bad,” he replied.
The woman in front of him looked offended; at what, he wasn’t sure. “Leaving us all stranded here,” she continued, “Where are we supposed to go now with that blizzard going on?”
“There are rooms available at the transit hotel,” Taehyung informed her.
“Oh, wonderful, stuck in a dingy hotel room for Christmas,” the woman rolled her eyes at him.
“I’m sorry,” Taehyung apologised again, unable to do anything else, “That’s all we can offer you for tonight. Now please let me help you book another flight. You're holding up the line.”
He was scared for a few moments that the woman would complain or snap at him again, but it appeared that her wish to make it to her destination was stronger than her combative spirit and she agreed to cooperate with him. She was civil until she had a new ticket, at which point she gave him one last rude remark and walked away.
She was followed by more and more disappointed passengers, including the family of the child whose crying had caused a ruckus, and with each one the anger and frustration among them only increased. Many didn’t hold back from making scalding comments and expressing their dissatisfaction at him.
It got exceptionally bad when he dropped a suitcase he’d been trying to weigh to determine if its owner could board a flight close to its baggage limit, causing some of its contents to fall on the ground.
“They couldn’t even find someone capable to help us,” he heard someone say as he picked up the scattered belongings, “What terrible service.”
His heart sank, but he swallowed down the knot in his throat and shut the suitcase before returning to his desk and finishing off helping that passenger.
“I’m never flying with you again,” someone else told him as they took their passport and new boarding pass.
“We’re really very sorry,” Taehyung said, “Have a nice Christmas.”
The passenger never replied.
The last person in the queue didn’t give him too much trouble, only a snide remark about him taking too long and a sarcastic, “Well I was planning on being there for Christmas,” when Taehyung asked which date they would prefer their flight to be moved to.
Once they were finally sorted out, though, and Taehyung watched their back retreating in the distance, he let out a deep breath as if he had been holding it in that whole time since the announcement had gone out. The airport in front of him was empty save for a few shop owners and other employees like him. They were also dealing with the last of the flight changes the storm had caused. He only hoped that they had been treated better than he had been.
Now that it was over, he found it hard to contain all the sadness the ordeal had caused him. It was never easy to be treated badly by others when he was just trying to help them, but the fact that it had happened on Christmas Eve, a time of year that had always made him so happy and when everyone spoke about spreading kindness and cheer, made him feel worse than he remembered feeling in a long time.
He looked down at his desk and tried to tell himself that there were still some hours left of the day for it to turn around. He still had a chance to enjoy his Christmas Eve and to welcome Christmas at midnight with a smile.
He blinked back the few tears that gathered in his eyes and repeated that to himself.
Then, suddenly, a red coffee cup was placed on the desk in front of him, followed by a paper bag.
Confused, Taehyung looked up and he almost did a double take because in front of him stood the most beautiful man he had ever seen. His eyes glistened with kindness and he had soft features, grey blond hair and shiny plump lips. He was dressed in a long red plaid coat and a black scarf and in one hand he was holding a cup identical to the one he’d given Taehyung, while the other was resting on a large suitcase. One of the passengers whose flight had been cancelled then. So why hadn’t he gone home? Had he not booked a new flight already? And why was he bringing Taehyung a drink?
Questions ran wild in his mind, and he didn’t have time to externalise any of them before the man said, “Hi. It looked like you were having a bit of a hard time.” His voice was so soft and the tone he was speaking in made his words sound like a warm embrace, and Taehyung fell right into it seeking comfort.
“Yeah,” he said, “I wasn’t expecting all that, honestly. I’m sorry, do you want to reschedule your flight?”
“I did, don’t worry,” the other replied, “I’m flying with another airline anyway. I was about to go home when I saw those people yelling at you.”
Which ones from the many who had done so he was referring to Taehyung wasn’t sure, and that made him feel a little more miserable.
“I thought you might like some hot chocolate,” the man told him, “It always helps me when I’m having a rough time. I got you a cookie too.”
For a moment earlier Taehyung had thought that he was going to cry. Now, he felt like that again, but for a completely different reason.
This selfless kindness of the man right after the chaos of the previous hour was coming so unexpectedly and it was more than anything he could have asked for. He felt so warm and happy suddenly that the blackness inside him that had been threatening to overtake him turned into a bright rainbow of colours
He reached out and took the cup of hot chocolate in his hands. Its heat spread across his palms and the sweet smell rising from it made him smile.
“Thank you,” he said.
“You don’t mind if I stay for a little longer to have mine with you, do you?” the other asked, “You look like you could use some company.”
“I would really like that,” Taehyung answered.
He had always believed in angels, and now it seemed that one was standing right in front of him.
The man gave him a blinding smile that made his eyes crinkle, and Taehyung’s heart felt like it was doing cartwheels inside his chest. In those seconds the man had become even more beautiful.
“Great!” the stranger said, “I’m Jimin by the way.”
“Taehyung,” the airport worker introduced himself.
The two of them spent the remainder of Taehyung’s shift sipping their hot chocolates together and talking. Taehyung learned that Jimin was a model, which didn’t surprise him at all, and that he had been planning on flying out of the country to join his family on a holiday until the storm had derailed his plans. Taehyung couldn’t help but feel a little bad knowing that, but Jimin reassured him multiple times that he didn’t mind changing his plans so long as he still got to see them, which he was going to. He felt a bit better knowing that.
After finishing his drink, he opened the bag Jimin had laid down next to it and found a large snowman-shaped cookie inside. He smiled at the cute decorations on it and bit into the pastry, letting the buttery dough melt on his tongue and fill his mouth. Having the hot chocolate before that made the taste even more heavenly.
“Thank you for these, Jimin,” he said after swallowing the last of the cookie.
“Please don’t thank me,” the other replied, “I just wanted to do something to make you happy. It’s not fair for someone to be treated like you were, especially not during the holidays. Those people were so selfish. I know they probably just wanted to go to their families, but I’m sure you would also much rather be spending the holidays with your family instead of helping out strangers at the airport.”
“I love my job,” Taehyung told him, “But days like today are always hard. They do make me wish I was with my family instead.”
“Are you going to see them tomorrow?” Jimin asked.
“I can’t,” Taehyung replied sadly, “I have to come to work.”
Jimin’s face fell when he heard that. “I’m sorry,” he said, “That must be hard.”
Taehyung gave a small hum in response. “If the storm is any better tomorrow it should be alright,” he said. He didn’t think he would be able to handle more interactions like that day’s ones.
“Why don’t you come spend the day with me then?” Jimin said, “At least until you have to go to work.”
Taehyung’s eyes widened and his mouth almost fell open when he heard that. Was he hearing correctly?
“You—” he spoke, still in a state of shock, “But we just met.”
“You seem like a nice person though,” Jimin answered, “And you have been all this time that we’ve been talking. I’d like to see you happy, and besides, isn’t Christmas about opening yourself up and showing more kindness?”
Taehyung felt that perhaps it was still an odd proposition, but the way Jimin was putting it, and the way Taehyung felt attracted towards him made the chances feel worth taking. He thought about it a bit more, but he had already made up his mind.
“Alright,” he said, “I would really like to spend Christmas together.”
Jimin smiled that bright captivating smile of his again. “Great!” he exclaimed, “What time do you have work?”
Taehyung shared his schedule with him and they figured that it meant they would have most of the morning and some of the afternoon available. It was when Jimin asked where he lived that the proposition extended even further than that.
“I live much closer to the airport than you,” Jimin said after finding out, “Please feel free to say no if you don’t feel comfortable, but you could spend the night at mine so you don’t have to go all the way back to your place and so you can have more time to enjoy Christmas tomorrow.”
While Taehyung had hesitated to say yes before, if only for a brief moment, that didn’t happen this time around.